Coming to the End

Eorin pilots the group to Absalom so we can do some shopping. We bought the stuff so his legs wouldn't get ripped off. The mood in Absalom is awkward because lots of weapons and metals are being shipped north. There's worry of war happening up in Ustalaav. The orcs in Belksen are mobilizing. The party acquires a  scroll of Planar Ally, Greater to try and summon something to pilot the ship for us. Eorin casts it and a bathos appears. They are neutral outsiders: they wander the plains trying to keep the natural balance of things.

The bathos scans our thoughts, and communicates with us telepathically. Like they do. Eorin was feeling super depressed, and wanted to die, so it disintegrated him. He did not resist. It then begins to try and gather the ingredients together in a very neat, obsessive compulsive sort of way. Kyle touches the ash that Eorin turned into, and it started clumping together in her hands as if reforming. Kyle demands that the bathos bring Eorin back to life, and it makes Kyle confused briefly.

Meanwhile, Eorin sees the light at the end of the tunnel. It isn't coming every closer. The same thing is holding him back. He tries to force it to release him, but nothing seems to affect it. He prays to Pharasma to let him pass on.

The party gets in a flanking position, and the bathos finishes arranging all of the objects to its satisfaction. "Why did you do that?" Kyle demands again. It shows Kyle the natural process of life. Van takes a swing at it. Combat ensues.

Pharasma comes to Eorin. "It isn't your time yet. You have something you must do first." Eorin stops trying to resist the thing holding him. "Don't go towards the light again. He's trying to get you."

Meanwhile! The dust on the ground is turning back into Eorin. Everyone stops fighting to watch. Eorin is back! But naked. They're in a neat pile next to him. Kyle throws a dire lion cloak onto him. Eorin re-dresses. The bathos starts shooing everyone towards the exit, flashing images of the tavern into their heads. The party obeys.

We go to the bar! It's the bar for Cayden Cailen supposedly left from to go to the star stone. It's awesome. For some reason, all the drinks are on the house for everyone. Then a very familiar, suave individual sits down with us. We recognize him as Cayden Cailen. He hands Portia an envelope - it's a thank you letter. Cayden Cailen tells us good job for getting all the stuff, and that they decided to send an agent to get the thing from the aberration planet. Unfortunately, that doesn't help with our problem on Galerion. He explains that Tar Baphon has been extending his influence and amassing a cult/army. He says we need to prevent Tar Baphon from getting his hands on Eorin. So we need to stop his armies from amassing. Portia suggests an army of devils. Cayden Cailen keeps the whisky flowing.

We discuss how to get to the armies we need to stop (undead orcs, army of exploration, zealots). Eorin decides to go to the library to research Tar Baphon. 

Eorin's Research:

Tar Baphon encountered a demigoddess and killed her. The gods at this point had introduced a new god (God of Red Mantis Assassins) b/c it was horrifying that anyone could kill a deity. This is when the horde of paladins imprisoned Tar Baphon. Later the paladins tried to take on the nation of Geb. Geb laughed at them, brought the demigoddess back as his wife. She is the current queen of Geb since Geb has gone missing. She was crazy for a while, but she's become more sane recently. There's very little about the time Tar Baphon rose and how he rose b/c members of the Whispering Way tend to not write things down. There's a device in the past known as the Devil's Box. It can for the most part perfectly imprison anything. Catches: it has to appropriately be made for the thing, and it can be easily broken and release the thing (but it's significantly reduced in power). We are in the ideal place to commission one. Devil's Boxes only have 9 charges - each charge is an attempt to capture him. And we would need to get into his cage.

It would cost 60k gold, and 30 days to create the Devil Box. Then we remember that we have a sword with wishes. So Eorin wishes for a Devil's Box that can trap Tar Baphon. We get it, but it's a stone sarcophagus wrapped in iron with a few spots for these odd locks. Zelara can carry it, but can't fight with it. The box has instructions on it, and reassures that it will shrink down once something's in it. We buy a scroll of miracle, which takes three days to create.

The next day we wake up to find out war has broken out. We finish shopping. Eorin buys lots of cool things and tithes 10k worth of jewels to the Church of Pharasma. They decide to overlook his undead-ness. The war is a battle of three armies. It started out just the paladins versus the zealots. Now an army claiming to be the Army of Exploration has joined in against the paladins. Taldor is assembling an army to eradicate the posers.

Eorin uses the second wish on the sword to wish the party into Tar Baphon's lair. it is very dark, and the air is stale and musky. Porita casts dancing lights and we see horrific statues made of human bones tied together with strips of sinew. Zelara's eyes are glowing brighter than ever, and she can feel in her bones that HE is here. We hear a shushing sound in our head. "Shhhh if you come upstairs we can save them all." It does not sound like the Tar Baphon we have talked to before. There are bolted doors and a lever. The lever is a light switch. All the bone statues are being lit up. Next to each statue is something that looks like horrible poorly taxidermied hounds. There's eventually a landing with a great big arcing doorway. It leads into the largest room any of us have ever seen. It contains a colossal metallic elephant. It's an ancient golem of the jistka imperium that is very, very new. It's inactive. 

We go past and up some more stairs to another landing. It is a mess! Books everywhere! They're open and bent, and cups not on coasters! There are seen servants, that are apparently doing research. We continue on and finally meet Tar Baphon. He's a lot shorter than we expected. He looks very excited about the research being able to be completed. Zelara thinks something isn't right here. "I don't think that's really him."

He tries to puff himself up. "I am Tar Baphon!"  Eorin hits him with shovel, and it knocks him down. There is a burning imprint of the shovel on his forehead. Then someone casts disrupt undead about fifty times and he explodes. We look up the stairs, and we see the real Tar Baphon coming striding down the stairs. He shushes us. Eorin suddenly is grabbed and lifted up by an invisible force. Kyle tries to do a running tackle to get Eorin and gets very hurt by his aura. Zelara activates the box and it starts to pull Tar Baphon in. Pontia casts Hydrolic Push at Eorin and knocks him free from Tar Baphon's grasp. Zelara rushes Tar Baphon with the Devil's Box, and gets severely hurt by his aura. Tar Baphon rips Eorin's scalp off and pulls it towards him. Kyle tries to bullrush Tar Baphon and shove him into the box. Pontia fire balls Eorin's scalp, and it burns to cinders before it gets to him, and he pulls into the box. It locks, and one of the locks disappears to represent one of the charges being used. The sarcophagus shrinks up in such a way that there's almost a vacuum effect. Then the whole mountain begins to shake. Eorin casts miracle to send us back to the bar in Absalom. 

Sadly, the church of Cayden Cailen burnt to ashes again b/c of the party that was had after we got there. We hear that the mountain crumbled. The paladins were fine, and the army of zealots ran. The army of Taldor arrived just in time to help wipe out the army of exploration. So now it's just a matter of what to do with the box. Eorin heals his hair back, but there always looks like there is a white handprint on his head.

We take a proper journey to the academy to see if they'll take the box. While on the voyage, Eorin begins to feel more alive again, but ages at an accelerated rate. By the time we reach Korvosa, Eorin is an old, old man. We reach the Academy, and Amadeus Ares (the current man in charge of the Academy) goes right away to make sure the box is protected and will never be found again. Unfortunately, shortly after, Eorin dies. Kyle still needs to see the world, and the Firebirds have a branch in Arcadia which few people have been to. Zelara goes back to help her family with her business and secures trade routes with Belksen. Van goes with Kyle to Arcadia. Portia wishes to master the ways of her magic and hires herself out as a very expensive guard, and eventually goes back to claim her rightful place among Chelaxian nobility and became the first tiefling to successfully claim noble title.

Eorin's funeral was a small simple affair. Starchy the gravedigger was the one who conducted the funeral, and he buries Eorin properly at the newly rebuilt graveyard in the newly rebuilt Poe-dunk. He was the only gravedigger who still had faith in Eorin. It was a small affair. Joseph and his three children show up, along with the party. The Academy begins the "Eorin Apprentice Scholarship" for people who develop magical powers similar to sorcery but without being sorcerers (aka anyone who takes the eldritch bloodline powers without being sorcerers).

After Eorin's death the Church of Pharasma went through a lot of cleansing of corruption within the ranks. It's a lot simpler now, the priesthood are mostly only there for births and deaths. Members of the church still wander around hunting undead, but they try to talk to them first.

Kyle and Van went to Arcadia. They had many adventures, and went to the very western coast of Arcadia and founded a tavern there and decided to go for that missing continent that's kinda like Australia.

Zelara improved the trading routes to Belksen, and the routes between Varisia and Ustalaav which helps the people there protect against undead better. The paladins who had been guarding Tar Baphon decide to go work on that world wound problem right away.

Illythan had made it into the Star Stone by using a wish on the sword. Unfortunately, the wish to succeed ended at 12:01, so he never achieved godhood. But Nethys decided to grace him as one of his servants.

Orias never got reunited with his family. He had killed one of the gillmen workers in the sewers in Iskgur. He had angered an abolish who had been watching humanity for eons. He decided there was only one thing wrong with society: adventurers. He was going to leave the adventurers be, but Orias had killed one of the gillmen. A hard working man. So the aboleth killed him in the same way: a crossbow bolt in the back, in the dark.

Tar Baphon with only glimpses of his true goal and who it could have been accomplished, trapped in the Devil Box with nothing more that was on him, is able to open the box with the dagger and send one last message to his followers. But that is for another time.

So You're Undead Now!

Eorin realizes that the little people are disguised as fae, but they're not fae. Van greets them, and, in once voice, they say "Return the book." They repeat this phrase and point to the house. Then they say "you may also want to read the first page." The first page says "this is not for you" written in dwarven. Kyle explains to them that we need the book to save the world. Eorin studies the book and realizes it's -that- book. There's always the stories of the books that create, and then there's the stories of the books that unmake. There's a reason spell books work. Eorin isn't sure which one this is. We try to pursued them we won't read the book. It doesn't go well. Pontia asks them if they're the dwarf. "What dwarf?" "The skeleton that's in the house." The not-fairies seem to have a small existential crisis and begin to blur out. We begin to be capable of seeing them for what they really are. They're indistinct shapes, not quite human or animal, vaguely nightmarish, things. 

COMBAT ENSUES! (and yes, they're evil, Kyle finally checks. And there are 7 of them) Eorin casts a necromancy spell, and all the plants die in the yard and we heard movement in the ground. And then, suddenly, Eorin get killed by phantasmal killer spell. Combat continues. Pontia figures out the creatures are animate dreams. Combat continues, and then, bodies erupt from the ground to pull the dreams into the ground and then go away. The ones that could run, run away. Eorin feels himself being pulled away from the afterlife and back towards his body. He begins to start coughing. He doesn't look any different, but no longer has a heartbeat. Kyle looks Eorin over and determines he is dead, but isn't evil. They decide to not kill him right now, so they don't have to drag his corpse to a town, but plan to kill him and pay to have him raised at a temple at the first earliest convenience.

We go to Numeria. They think they found what we were looking for. But, they need more money because they dug it up. It's big, it's metal, it's spherical, and has three legs. Eorin confirms it's the vessel they need. So we have all the items we need except for the thing that's in space, which we need this vessel for. They also suggest we need Tar Baphon with us - because he's the only one with the knowledge and power for where we're going, also they want him off Galerion. Eorin gives them the money they need. 

Eorin allows them to kill him so he can get resurrected. He turns into a pile of ash. He finds himself looking at his own pile of ashes. The thing that dragged him back to his body before is there with him. It's one of Eorin's ancestors. The party pays for a true resurrection out of Eorin's funds, and the cleric freaks the fuck out when Eorin comes back… as undead. The cleric recommends they to a scientist. They find a scientist and he's interested when we tell him how the True Resurrection brings him back as undead. The scientist treats him as a patient and explains to him that unlike every other undead he's encountered, Eorin is still suffering from entropy. His body is still changing, and the scientist hypothesizes that it's Eorin's natural next step ala evolution. Zelara and Kyle test stuff on Eorin and learn that Disrupt Undead does indeed harm Eorin, but positive energy neither heals nor harms him.

They decide to just leave it for now, and go test out how to work the space ship. Eorin goes to his bunk in the caravan to sit quietly and pray. Zelara keeps him company. Everyone else inspects the space ship. It looks like it's power source is people, or perhaps a powerful mage. Pontia inspects the place where you could hook a person in, and feels like were she to hook herself in, she could make it fly, but would probably never be able to leave the ship. Eorin investigates it and figures out that he would be able to pilot it better than Pontia because he's a full caster, and that since he's undead, he's more likely to be able to recover from being unplugged. They discuss getting the litch professor in Korvosa to help them pilot the ship instead of getting Tar Baphon, since Eorin isn't powerful enough to facilitate space travel. Suddenly, they're in Korvoa. Eorin lands the ship, and the rest of the group goes to find the litch professor at the academy.

Joseph agrees to help once he finds out Eorin (his favorite) is the one trapped in the ship, and that Eorin is also undead now. Eorin does not feel the need to obey his every whim, which is good. Joseph extracts Eorin from the ship, which is painful, but not nearly as painful as it would have been for a living person. Joseph gives Eorin a seminar on how to exist as an undead (like how to heal and stuff) and the rest of the party decides to sit in as well. He's heard of three instances of this particular kind of undeath before. Eorin has met them before. He gives Eorin a bowl of candies (inflict minor wounds). We ask Joseph to call a colleague in planar studies to inspect the ship and help us figure out how to pilot it better. He takes us to a house in the city, which becomes a mansion once we're inside. Then he leads us to a study full of heavenly globes. There's a gnome there who we recognize as the judge from Eorin's trial. We explain the situation to him, but he doesn't want to leave to go look at the ship b/c he's very old and this room is time stopped. 

He explains that the planet we want to go to isn't a planet. It's alive. In the same way that aberrations are alive. And it will change us while we are there. He gives us a list (high school yearbook) with certain people highlighted that might be willing to help us in lieu of Tar Baphon. There's one that Eorin recognizes - Jedah, the man who caused the Day of the Red Ribbon and one of the head of the Pathfinder's Society.

A Shift in Manpower

So. We wake up, and realize that Illythan is missing. He's left us all notes and bags with stuff in it. The note he left Eorin reads: "Desperate times require desperate measures, and my decision is pure as well as mildly selfish. Only the wind can show you where I've gone." Kyle and Zelara go to ask around and see if anyone saw Illythan. While they do that, Eorin inspects the letter Illythan left him. Its a magic device of some kind, and Kyle is able to figure out how to use it. It reads: "I've gone to where men are forged into gods." This fits with what Kyle found, which was that people saw Illythan enter the Starstone. The party decides to ask the Firebirds for help, because we're two people down. The package from Tar Baphon arrived, and it had two things in it: an ancient Azlanti art object, and a piece of amber with a bee in it (which is one of the other objects we need). We sit down in the Firebirds dining hall where there are lots of people eating waffles. Eorin creates a survey with a variety of questions pertaining to adventuring and ethics and hands it out to everyone in the dining hall.

Hello fellow Firebirds! We have some vacancies in our party! We are on a holy quest to save the world! Please complete this survey and return it and return it to Eorin upon completion. 

1) What do you do in a fight? 

• Magic 
• Range combat 
• Melee combat  
• Other (Please explain) 

2) What god/goddess do you worship? 

3) If you encountered a person in distress on the road, what would you do? (answer with at least two complete sentences) 

4) How important is it to follow the law? Please explain. 

5) What do you use your money for? (other than basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter) 

6) If someone in a position of authority (guard, general, mayor, priest, deity, etc) asked you to do something, how would you react/what would you do? Please explain. 

7) Do you have any prejudices, blood feuds, grudges, or other hatreds/emnities we should be aware of? Please explain how they affect your life. 

8) Do you have any phobias? Please list all that apply. 

9) Do you have any allergies? 

10) What languages do you speak? Please note if you can read and write them also.

Among the people present, there are two that stand out. There's a woman with jet black hair, violet eyes, and pallid skin, a long sword, and nice clothing. She's wearing a signet ring belonging to a very obscure noble house in Cheliax. Her name is Pontia Renaut. She burns the survey when Eorin hands it to her. There's a small built elf with blueish green eyes, blonde hair, tan skin, a curved sword, and travelers cloths over chain mail. His name is Vananedlon Smith. He fills it out happily. Zelara and Kyle take go and speak with those two. Eorin goes to retrieve their records from the Firebirds.

Van's records say that he's very skilled, but a bit green. They're worried about how he'd do in an actual dungeon scenario. Pontia's say that she's a former professional soldier and the sole survivor of her previous adventuring party. The incident they perished in has been stricken from the record. Two others filled out the survey as well, but one's records says that he's a dick, and Kyle didn't like the survey answers of the half-orc. Eorin refuses to allow Pontia in the party until she fills out the survey, however, so Kyle asks her to do so with a long suffering expression. Eorin still likes the Kupala of Valcano (the half orc) better than Pontia, especially after interviewing him to get more information on his survey answers. Kyle relents and extends an invitation to Kupala as well.

Kyle explains to the three new members that we've been given a mission from the gods to save the world from Rovagug. She explains about the Army of Exploration's work to release Rovagug and the gods quest to recover five items and a vessel to stop it. She explains how we're now going to Isgur to exchange this art object for the statue we need. We have this conversation inside the caravan, and Pontia says she's come along as long as she can hire an interior decorator for the caravan. Kupala says "Volcano says go left." Pontia looks to her left and sees a stall that says "Decorators" out the window. She goes there and is apparently the 100th customer, and gets the caravan re-decorated for free.

We contact Kavka, the crow dude. He's better dressed than anyone else in the party. He transports us to Isgur, and volunteers to make the Lenorm scales into armor for us. We find the halfling cook that works for the River King, and Kyle returns his kitchen knife. He tells us that the accountant couldn't meet us because his brother was murdered by a cross-bow bolt in the night (same as our friend Orias). Kupala hands Pontia three grenades of grease, and goes back into the caravan to work. We decide to visit the accountant after we make the exchange for the statue.

We go into the sewer, which is still as prison and clean as always. We go to the River King's lair, and he's looking as dapper as ever, still sitting on his throne in the water. The River King gives us the statue in exchange for the art object, and he gives us a folder pertaining to Orias' mother. He also makes it clear that the person who killed the accountant's brother, was Orias (it was a sewer worker back from when we first infiltrated the River King's base). Zelara and Kyle heft the large statue, and lug it out of the sewer.

We sit in the caravan and pow wow about the best way to get to Numeria to get the next item on the list. Kupala knows how to use a scroll of teleport, but he's never been to Carrion Hill, which is the closest town the party has visited to Numeria. He is, however, from Belkzen, and can get us there. He gets us to Wyvernsting, and there are wyverns there that can fly us to Numeria. We pay them with the Lenorm head. They take us to the border of Numeria near Karcau. We look for a small town to buy some new horses to pull the caravan. After procuring horses we make our way to Starfall.

Kyle and Van gather information in Starfall to find the object, which is an odd shape that we can't really identify. Kyle finds an expert to pay to better identify what the object is. It'll take him a month at the rate of 3 gold a day. We decide to go to the Worldwound while he researches. We buy a clockwork horse to help us get to the Worldwound faster. It folds up a little bit and will fit under a bed. We get to the border between Numeria and the Worldwound. There's a sign that says "Abandon all hope ye who enter." We stop in Gundrun to try and find some information on the book we're looking for in the wound. It's a hive of villainy, scum, refugees, and demons. There's local legend that 20 years ago some dwarf warrior came into town. They haven't seen him since, but you can follow the trail of bodies (they don't bury demons here). There are several trails, but we're told to follow the ones that are most in tact. 

Zelara follows the trail out west towards the Shutterwood. At some point some demons pop out and look like they're going to attack the caravan, and then explode. Lightning everywhere. Pontia figures out its a delayed blast fireball, but with lightning. Van saw a cloaked figure that was there briefly in dark purple hues and then disappeared. It seemed somewhat short - dwarf short but not dwarf broad. Close to 5ft tall.

We reach the edge of the Shutterwood. There are posts with demon skulls everywhere, and there are carvings of eyes on the foreheads of the skulls. Eorin recognizes the eye from a haunted house a year ago. It was a wizards rune of some kind and pertained to the Peacock King somehow. Pontia recalls a story about a party of adventurers about forty years ago (one of whom started the Library of Ustalaav) and there was a sorcerer who one day just appeared in the Worldwound and has been there blowing up demons ever since. Eorin, after hearing this, recalls that he's been seen in too many places at once, so he probably has apprentices to help him. We go further into the woods and come across a small gnome village. 

They greet us in common. "Hey! Just trying to stave off the bleaching! Every day here is interesting!" Van asks them about the eyes on the skulls, and they explain that the fae do them. There's apparently a high fae population in the woods. Van asks about the sorcerer in purple, and the gnomes tell us that somewhere deep in the forest is a spot that neither demons nor fae go to. It's the only location they can think of where the sorcerer might live. Kyle asks about the dwarf, and the gnomes tell us he came through two decades ago and went to the spot they just mentioned. We continue on! Kyle detects a great amount of evil. We come across a clearing, that isn't so much a clearing as a crater. There are a few great muscular blue creatures with hors everywhere blocking the route. They look like they may have caused the crater. They don't appear to have noticed us yet. Van scouts ahead, but gets noticed. Pontia knows what kind of demons they are and informs the party of their weaknesses and their ability to enslave souls. Combat ensues. We defeat the demons and rifle through their pockets for loot.

We come across a cottage in the woods. There's a fence around it with a rope gate. The door has the eye sign on it. Kyle knocks, there's no answer. Kyle tries the door and finds it open. It's a one room cottage. There's a large stone pedestal in the room with a book chained to it, and a dwarf skeleton. The book is chained to the dwarf, and the dwarf is clinging to the pedestal like he was holding onto it for dear life. The dwarf itself forms a complex lock. Pontia and Van try to extract the book and both find themselves cursed to protect the book. Eorin removes the curse. They now have three of the five items required. We exit and there are tiny (only a few inches tall) little people in the yard looking up at us. They all have conical hats and the theme is purple.

Sailing to Azlant

Orias has gone missing. We have no idea what happened to him. (His player had to leave the game)

We sit and talk about how we plan to get to Riddleport. Eorin buys several scrolls of teleport and Illythan successfully teleports them to Riddleport. We find a vessel already heading to the Azlant islands, and agree to work in exchange for passage. Eorin gets mildly seasick, but Kyle cures him. Illythan uses Gust of Wind to speed up travel, and we make it to the islands in half the time (one month). Kyle learns the joys of gambling with sailors. 

We reach the northern most point of Azlant - it looks very wet. We find a set of ruins. It's an ancient Azlant gazebo. It looks like this area might have been a park at some point, and there are a lot of fish up there. Zelara finds a chessboard with engraving along the edge. It explains that "there are eight queens of Galerion. All will kill each other unless none in each other's way." None of the queens have any specific color, and there is a single pawn in addition to the eight queens. It's a puzzle that clearly unlocks something if we get it in the right configuration, and there is a button to press when we think we have the correct configuration. After puzzling over it for a while, we realize that there is a pattern to the figures: the eastern and western shield maiden, a demon and an angel, a cleric and a litch, a light elf and a dark elf. After they think they've figured it out, Kyle pushes the button. The pawn moves diagonally.

Illythan notices that each piece radiates the energy of a school of magic. The pawn is "universal." Eorin ponders the pawn and thinks that pawns don't matter and that anyone can manipulate pawns. After much pondering, Eorin finally figures it out. They press the button, and four stone staircases leading downward appear in the floor around the chessboard. The chessboard itself is collapsing, and there's a pouch within. In the bag is a full collapsable chess set and a skull. The chessboard is not on the list of Azlanti artifacts. 

We decide to head down the south staircase. There's a glowing ion stone orbiting Zelara's head. We walk down the hallway and come to great big double doors. There's a fake trap with a bunch of letters on the floor that don't say anything and none are made to be pressed down. The door is made of brass. Zelara pulls out a crow bar to open the door. There's a room with a pedestal and a 10 x 10 obelisk behind it. There's nothing on the pedestal other than a cushion. There's no writing on the obelisk. There are ropes in the corners coming from the ceiling. Each rope is attached to a counterweight. Zelara figures that the rope can bear her weight without moving the counterweight, so she shimmies up the rope. She sees that the counterweights are on pressure plates. Illythan realizes that he counterweight is a lodestone. Kyle scrutinizes the lodestones and notices that only three are on pressure plates.

Eorin notices that the obelisk is containing some kind of pure elemental magic. He sees that the pedestal and pillow radiate necromantic magic. We put the skull onto the pillow and it speaks in Azlanti "please complete the circuit." Kyle shimmies up the rope of the lodestone that isn't on a pressure plate to put it into place. The head then says "You must pass the challenge by defeating the guardian of fire." The obelisk is opening and inside is a large fire elemental. Combat ensues. We kill it. The spot where the energy thing was now contains a red crystal. It is a portable gateway to the elemental plane of fire.

We go back and decent down the north staircase. More brass locked doors which we crowbar open. The room down this staircase has four statues with light coming out of their eyes. There is a pedestal and an obelisk in this room as well. We put the skull on the pedestal, and it once again says to "complete the circuit." We turn the statues so the light all points at the obelisk. An air elemental comes out of the obelisk. It gives Illythan the air elemental equivalent of "yo!" Illythan and the air elemental talk for a bit, and it says "I assume you want the crystal?" "Yep." "Alright then, watch out for the tree." And it hands Illythan the crystal.

East staircase next! Same brass locked doors + crowbar = open. The obelisk is on the ceiling with the pedestal underneath it. "Oh you're not going to like this one" says the skull. The far end begins to open to let out a large brass golem. The golem then asks The Riddle in Azlanti. We figure out it's "The Azlanti" rather than "Man" however, because the Azlanti thought they were better than all other humans. The golem goes away and an earth elemental falls out of the obelisk. Combat ensues, it dies, and we grab the crystal.

Finally, the west staircase. We get down about ten stories  before we hit salt water. Illythan turns into an elemental to scout the hallway. He opens the door. And there is exposed ocean, and a pedestal. "Yea, you're not going to finish this one." says the skull as Illythan puts it on the pedestal. Basically, it's already been completed, but it tells Illythan that he can still get the item, but he has to go down very, very far. Illythan keeps the skull on the pillow and returns to the party. We talk a bit, and eventually realize that the skull is really Tar-Baphon. He is talking to us through the skull. He is willing to send us one of the items on the list. Tar-Baphon chats with Illythan about how Tar-Baphon wants to help us with the whole Rovagug thing, because his plans won't mean anything if there is no more Galerion. They talk for a bit, and then Tar-Baphon tells Illythan that Eorin needs to sever the connection. Eorin looks confused, because he only cast one necromancy spell. His eyes are still glowing. Illythan holds the skull closer and Tar-Baphon walks Eorin through a series of mental exercises that return his eyes to normal and sever the connection between Tar-Baphon and the skull.

We decide to teleport back to Riddleport, instead of taking the boat. There's someone waiting there, and they wave at us. We don't recognize them. It turns out to be the crow that was bossing Orias around and Orias' familiar. They've come to tell us that Orias is dead - killed by an arrow in the night in his hotel room in Isgur. The crow familiar can't talk anymore because it's not a familiar. Zelara remembers she has a crow amulet that allows her to speak to crows! The crow tells us that there were two people that looked like the former master, one was speaking angrily and the other shot him. They smelled like the sea. The crow can't tell us anything else. The man then asks us if we need a ride anywhere, and we tell him "Absalom." There are crows everywhere, covering every  inch of us, and fly away. Basically, crow magic. And now we're in Absalom awaiting a package from Tar-Baphon to trade for the statue that the River King has. The man wants to buy the crow amulet from Zelara. We agree to give it to him in exchange for a ride to Isgur later. We go to see the Firebirds. No package has arrived for us yet, but they have rooms ready for us. We take baths and sleep in big beds. Breakfast is delivered in the morning.

OUR FIREBIRD ACTION FIGURES ARE IN! We come in a set, which is a little sad since Orias died. They added our main villain into the set as well: Tar-Baphon. And the next day, our package arrives.

Aboleths and Outsiders

"HI!" Kyle greets awkwardly. "I bet you're the River King aren't you?" The River King sits back down in his chair, which is made of pipes. "Well, we, um, came to talk to you. Well, specifically about one thing. Really what we're interested in is that statue behind you."

"You come into my sewers, murder my workers… Also, you destroyed a vast collection of mine."

"Well, your house is a little shoddy on the foundation work. Also it was an accident. And Eorin here feels really bad about it"

"You expect me to believe that this boy with a shovel cast the lightning bolt that caused the cave in?"

"No, I never said the person who did it felt bad about it. So we would like to deal with you about the statue"

Zelara gestures to Illythan. She noticed the water is slowly rising. Kyle and the River King continue talking, and he taps some tubes on his chair, causing the water to stop rising.

"Who sent you?" He asks

"That's a complicated question. Lets just say we're here."

Eorin blurts out the story about the Lenorm and the gods having sent them. The River King clearly does not believe us. We speak a little bit more, and then the River King goes into Eorin's brain.

After rifling through Eorin's thoughts, he comes out and says "You are not as ignorant as you appear."

The River King then attempts to look through the minds of the rest of the party, only succeeding with Zelara.

"Interesting. We will have to deal with this elsewhere."

The teleportation rune is back on now.

"You may go. I will send one of my men to bargain with you."

We go back through, and end up back in the house.

Illythan inspects the bag on Eorin's arm more extensively. It's a vastly superior version of Iron Flask. Whatever's in here could be as dangerous as those avatars we met. The conjuration on the bag summons and binds them. If you release them, they have to fulfill their bargain with you. While there are only 6 slots for demons, if you release one, you can put another one in. Illythan looks at Eorin and sees that Eorin is under a powerful enchantment. We figure out it's probably a Geas or quest spell, and that it will take a wish spell to rid Eorin of it, and that very bad things will befall Eorin unless he fulfills the geas.

We go back to the ladder and climb up it into the store room of the very inn we've been staying at. Zelara goes to reunite with Chubby Baby, as the rest of us contemplate what to do about the bag. Illythan suggest a temple of Asmodius. We decide to go there, and find ourselves at the doors. They charge 20 gp per head for non-believers to go in. They write us a receipt, and Illythan donates five extra gp. We try to go in, and there is a barrier preventing the bag from going in, and it tightens around his arm. Eorin feels the wards on the temple giving, and decides to wait outside. Illythan asks to speak to a priest and is given a number and told to wait in line. Kyle decides to wait outside with Eorin.

While we're waiting, the accountant from the River King's house comes to find Eorin and Kyle. He asks where the rest of the group is, and we explain that they're in the temple. He gives us a piece of paper and says he'll wait for us there, since he needs to speak to all of us. The address is the nicest restaurant in town. Illythan finally reaches the front of the line. He explains the problem, and they tell him they can't help him with the problem. The temple at the capital in Cheliax can. Their best recommendation is to kill Eorin. The offer Illythan a variety of poisons for sale, that are very lethal but painless which he passes on. They decide to go to Abdar's temple after meeting with the accountant.

We decide to go to a public bath house first to become not gross. We notice that there are water fountains and lots of bath houses, which are very clean due to the fantastic sewer system. Illythan goes to a tailor and gets a fantastic new outfit. We then go to the restaurant, which is very nice. The accountant says that first off, certain fees are to be paid due to the death of a sewer worker. The accountant then asks for the location of the Lenorm's minion's lair to know that they can trust us. Kyle tries to debate otherwise, but Illythan takes the map and draws the incorrect location. Eorin, who is completely guiless mentions that the location is wrong. After some back and forth, Illythan decides to show them the correct location. The accountant then suggests that we could send the demons in the bag after the Lenorm, so the demons will be death cursed instead of us.

The accountant then tells us that since the statue we seek is the only one left after the destruction of his home, the River King wants something in exchange instead. The accountant pulls out an old tome, that's waterproofed and written in ancient Azlanti. It describes beautiful art of the time, and the accountant tells us that any one of the pieces listed in this book would be highly desired by the River King. Kyle asks for information about Orias' mother. The accountant gives us the mother's location, and adds that if we bring back the statue, then they'll also give us the man we're looking for. We conclude the negotiations and head to the temple of Abdar.

This temple is much smaller than the temple of Asmodius. Eorin cautiously enters the temple, and finds he's able to do so. Eorin explains the situation to a priest, and is told they don't have a cleric that can help. After much debate, Eorin decides to order the demons back to their home plane and never to return to this plane, and lets them out of the bag. Five of them think this is the best deal and happily return to their home plane. One cannot, because it's a native outsider. Kyle attempts to detect evil, and she promptly goes blind - her eyes turning black. Unsure of what to do, Eorin orders to it to go and kill the Lenorm, but he cannot kill anything else. The outsider is frozen in place, explaining that he can't move because there are tiny microscopic lives that you kill just by moving around. Eorin amends the order to allow for the deaths of anything microscopic. The outsider begins to float through the air. The bag falls off Eorin's wrist, and Kyle pics it up. There are thick rope burns on Eorin's arm.

The Pathfinder society sends us notes on where we might be able to find old Azlanti art. Eorin reads through the notes and figures out the best place to look would be Riddleport. The outsider returns and has a very, very large bag over its shoulder. He starts pulling out corpses and piles them onto the ground. They're all undead, and the outsider asks if this is okay, and he's been consuming their souls. Eorin attempts to reprimand him, but the outsider tells him that he can't tell him not to consume souls. The outsider leaves, and everyone goes to sleep. Eorin decides to pray, HARD.

Sometime, in the middle of the night, the innkeeper knocks on Eorin's door, telling him that a "man" is here to see him. Eorin goes downstairs and is greeted by the outsider. He places the Lenorm's head on the table, and presents Eorin with a variety of sacks containing, a lifetime supply of Lenorm meat, scales, claws, bones, an undead lady thing with a scythe for a hand, rocks with holes in them, random shiny objects, and a goblin. He pulls the goblin out of the bag - it's wearing the same cloths as he is, and he clearly finds this entertaining. The outsider then goes upstairs to say "hi" to Kyle as Eorin and Zelara attempt to put as much of the stuff into the caravan as possible. He orders a few bags of holding through the imp to hold all the meat. They decide to leave the bags of rocks and random shiny things behind seeing as how they're not worth much. Zelara kills the goblin. 

The outsider asks Kyle if she's feeling better, and ruffles her hair. Kyle stabs him in the arm. He doesn't seem bothered, and begins to heal over the knife. Kyle pulls out the knife and attempts to kick him down the stairs and retrieves her bow. The outsider heals and stands at the bottom of the stairs dusting off his suit.  "Give me your soul bright one!" the outsider demands as Kyle fills him full of arrows. "Not too shabby! See if you can survive this!" Kyle takes 3 dex damage as her bones fuse together. She takes a step back and fires again. The melee continues ferociously, and Zelara and Eorin hear the noise and come rushing back into the inn. Illythan wakes up from where he was passed out at the bar and turns into an air elemental. Zelara rushes into the fray and Eorin goes to heal Kyle. Kyle attempts to use the bag to trap the outsider again. It doesn't quite work, but the bag is now on his head, blinding him for three rounds. The outsider stuns Kyle for ten rounds, and Zelara attacks him ferociously. He slowly devolves, saying "I'll be back, and next time, I won't return!" His suit and mace fall to the ground. Eorin heals and restores Kyle, while Zelara and Illythan have words about the wisdom of attacking a very powerful outsider. 

Voices in the Parlor

Eorin wakes up from his nap to see his friends gone. He asks the Kobolds where they went, and one offers to take him to the entrance. Eorin climbs down the ladder and finds the door locked. He investigates and realizes it requires a magnet to open. He sighs and climbs back out to go and buy a magnet. 5 silver later, Eorin opens the door to find sewers! Eorin realizes that the sewer is bizarrely clean due to the oozes that are about. He sees two corpses in one, but quickly determines that they're not anyone he knows. He comes to a "Y" intersection, looks directly down, and sees nothing but lots of murky water. He goes to the left and finds a hobo den with a bugbear corpse. There's an odd tunnel that leads to the city graveyard.

Eorin then goes to the right and finds another area with a filter, but it doesn't lead anywhere other than a pipe system. Eorin returns to the intersection. Eorin goes into the water, and is surprised how well  he can see. Must be a side effect from the dragon's blood. He can see that there are three more sections underwater similar to above, and a strange pillar sticking out of the middle. He sees a teleportation room and goes through. He finds himself in an unremarkable room with a staircase. The staircase leads to the parlor of a very wealthy person's home. He goes through the only door and find himself looking upon a large orgy scene being enacted by statues, with Orias attempting to participate. Illythan and Kyle whip towards him, thinking he might be a threat, before lowering their guard. Orias notices something with the statues and freaks out, quickly extracting himself. He tells Eorin that he fears they might have once been real people.

Eorin takes a closer look and determines that yes, they were once people. He informs the rest of the party and says that he can't reverse the petrification effect. He also says that there is no mass petrification spell, so whomever cast this was very, very careful and skilled. Or a basilisk slithered through the room. Zelara says that she feels as though they're still underground. She doesn't hear anything suspicious at the first door. At the second she hears bubbling water. And at the third she hears nothing. Orias checks the second door for traps. He doesn't find any, and we open it.

It's a very nice kitchen! It is stocked with the finest of supplies, and there's an open trap door to a storage room. Kyle sneaks over to the trap door and looks down. The room looks like it has been flooded and repaired. It's mostly storage and there's a table with somethings that have been cut up. There's a root vegetable that's only been half cut up. Orias looks into the pot and sees vegetables and sausage cooking in broth. It looks like the stew was started today, but that the veggies were sautéed first. In the cellar, we find a sausage making machine with bones from normally eaten animals nearby. There is a masterwork set of kitchen knives and many, many crates as well. Kyle sees that some of the crate lids look disturbed and not put back properly. They all contain vegetables that were in the soup. We can't find anyone down here. Orias finds a case that's about the size of a bread box that looks like ancient Tien art. It doesn't have any traps, but has a pressure plate under it which connects to a series of wires which would drop the thing holding all the masterwork knives. Orias goes and gets the thing that you use to retrieve bread from the oven to get the box. The trap sets off and comes clattering to the floor. The box says "The Only Blade That Shall Bring You Happiness" on it. There's a big cleaver inside. It doesn't look pretty, and the whole thing is one piece of black metal that's been hammered by hand. The cleaver isn't magic, but the box is a box of mending.

Orias goes to turn off the stove, and finds it already off. Illythan sees that the oven itself is a magical device. It's a mixture of continual flame and unseen servant. We decide to go back into the orgy room and close the kitchen door behind us. Kyle opens another door and lots of vials of oil, marital aides, and bdsm gear. Orias checks each and every one for magic. Eorin sits calmly and meditates. Orias checks the big double doors for traps. It's not trapped, but it is locked. Eorin puts the supply closet back in order while Orias picks the lock. The door opens into a main entry hall. But there's dirt outside the windows, as though the mansion has been sunk or buried. The interior is very impressive and well maintained, however. There's a double staircase and a portrait of a gentleman with a nicely trimmed beard. He's tall and gaunt and looks very much like a nobleman, with a tattoo of three eyes on his ankle. It's the River King. Below the painting is the man himself with six men with bows. The River King is standing in the same pose as the painting. Orias shoots at him, and the River King catches the bolt in his fingers.

COMBAT! The bad guys' arrows put people to sleep. D: Illythan blasts them with a fireball which kills four of them, but the building starts to creak and shake. Stuff starts to fall from the ceiling, killing the remaining two archers. Orias and Kyle wake up, and we discovered the River King is gone. There are now cries of pain from the room we just left. There is a mass pile of mostly corpses. There a few people crushed under large pieces of debris. Despite Eorin, Kyle, and Zelara's best efforts, those who survived the initial falling debris do not survive their wounds. Orias throws a dagger to the ground in rage and searches the main room for where the River King might have gone. Illythan stays to help him. Illythan figures out that the painting is an illusion creating device, so the River King was never there. Orias fiddles with the door handle and there's a trap. There's a painting under the painting, with a painting on the back, and another painting, and another, and another…..

Eorin consecrates the ground as Kyle and Zelara help move the debris and bodies into neat rows so they can be identified later. Orias and Illythan loot the bodies of the bad guys. Eorin determines that the ceiling would not have collapsed if Illythan hadn't maximized his fireball, though it would have eventually due to the pressure from the sinking building. Eorin also determines that each of the people who had been turned to stone had some sort of incurable fatal illness (Lycanthropy, mummy rot, etc.). He deduces that they may have been turned to stone to preserve them until a cure could be found.

We go through one door at the top of the stairs and find what was once a woman's room. We hear someone calling from help within a side room, the door of which had been blocked by a heavy piece of furniture that had fallen over. Her name is Udarrin. She appears to be of Azlanti descent and is young, but older than the party. She looks terrified. She is wearing fancy cloths and jewelry. Eorin treats the cut on her head and speaks to her in a soothing tone of voice to calm her done. She's the moll of the River King. She had been in the bathroom when the house shook and she found herself trapped. She tells us that the River King is gone to a meeting, and that he's sometimes gone for weeks. She doesn't know where he usually goes for meetings because he never takes her with. Orias figures out that she's hiding something and threatens her. Udarrin hides behind Kyle and Eorin. Kyle attempts to mollify her, and she asks us to promise not to kill her if she tells us.

We all promise, and the glamour disappears. She's a medusa. She isn't evil. She tells Orias that the River King has four different routes in and out of the building, and she only knows how to activate one of them. She then tells Eorin that the petrified people were those who had gone out to find rare antiquities for the River King's right hand man and had gotten sick along the way. The statues were his way of keeping them immortal, though thoughts toward a cure were not considered. Those petrified were there willingly. She offers Illythan a vial that will remove the aboleth mucus from his system so he can breathe air again.

Udarrin shows us the various exists form the mansion. She doesn't know anything about the cleaver. There's a halfling fellow who stays with her though, and he's probably around somewhere. He's usually cooking in the kitchen, though we didn't see him there. Zelara and Kyle move debris out of the way of the other upstairs doorway. We learn that the River King is an aboleth, and he gets there are teleportation circles in the library and the parlor, with aboleth mucus and water as the activation ingredients.

The rest of the party goes and investigates the rest of the house while Eorin reads books about the experiments the aboleths did on the Azlanti to make humans better. Also on the process of making gillmen.

The rest of the party almost sets off an explosion mucking about and finds a bag made to contain evil shit like aberrations inside a drawer. The bag whispers to Orias to open it. He vehemently refuses. Kyle reaches towards the bag and feels it super radiating heat. Orias notices that it doesn't get warm for him. It keeps trying to tempt Orias to open it by saying it can help him get revenge or save his mother. The party leaves the room and goes back to the library, running into Eorin who is heading for the parlor. The voices then try to get Eorin to come to the parlor to open the bag by telling him there's a way to save all the petrified people. Kyle has to bodily restrain Eorin. They then all go through the teleportation circle.

They end up in a room with vats full of Azlanti, sleeping. Eorin recognizes them as preservation chambers. There's a small human sleeping there, who, upon waking, tells us that they are the aboleth's souvenirs. The then explains that aboleths have racial memory (they remember the memories of their parents and grand parents, etc). He helps us use the teleportation circle to send us back to the house.

The voices start up again for both Orias and Eorin. Eorin begs to be allowed to go into the parlor to retrieve the books. The party begins to think that's a good idea, since the teleportation circle int he parlor will lead them to the River King. Then the human accountant tells them that might be a bad idea since the River King has those circles ready so he can have men ready to shoot anyone that comes through the circle uninvited. They go back to the parlor and Eorin retrieves books on curing disease, reversing petrification, and scrolls of raise dead. The goes to put them in his haversack and sees a bag there. He pulls out the bag in confusion and the rope holding it closed attaches around Eorin's wrist. The voices are now audible to everyone. They say "The deal has been made." Everyone tries to figure out how to get the bag off Eorin's wrist and come up with nothing.

So we decide to deal with it later and step on the teleportation circle. On the other side is a cistern. There are about ten thugs with bows of varying degrees of fanciness and awesome pointing at the circle. There's a man in a chair that's slightly into the water. He does look like the most dapper merchant we have ever seen. We are slightly in the water, and there are jars on shelves that could be easily pushed into the water. Some of the archers are about to kick over the shelves when the River King tells them to stop, because he sees the bag on Eorin's wrist.

GM Guest Post (edited by Eorin)

After dealing with Orias' bird problem, the party got word from one of their kobold helpers, that the only known entrance to the River kings lair was in the sewers.  Kyle went about gathering information about the cities sewers, and this is what she learned:

1. just about everyone in the city had running water and proper toilets.

2. no one official was incharge of these, what did you call them? sewers?

The kobold was further questioned on how he got his information, and explained he spied on some local thieves.  Orias and Zelara decided they would try their luck at spying on said thieves.   Having found them in a tavern in bad part of town, our two adventurers nonchalantly followed the theives until the went to "the bathroom".  After some distractions and quick lock-picking, Orias got into the same bathroom to find not a toilet, but a small tunnel and ladder leading down into the sewers.  While Orias explored down below, Zelara needed to distract the barkeep to make sure she could follow her ally. This is when we learned that Zelara would make a decent theif or assassin, or possibly a bad-ass vigilante.

Our sneaky heroes found an alternate entrance/exit to the sewer, Orias checked for traps praying there were none. His prayer was answered.  After making it outside to the river, they fund a ladder going up back to town, and a staircase going down into the river.  Zelara checked the stairs to see where they went, finding they lead to the bottom of the river. She spotted to people swimming underwater towards the stairs, but they had not spotted her.  Zelara quickly got back up, and she and Orias climbed the ladder back into the city, made sure to mark where it was hidden, and went to find the rest of the party.

Our heroes, now having a way into this crime lords den, debated if it was better to go immediately or wait until day when thieves where less likely to be working.  Not having an actual schedule of the activities going on in the sewers, they decide to go immediatly.  I'm assuming they left the kobolds with Eorin.

They went back to the sewer entrance by the riverside, Orias, sneaking ahead, found that there where two gillmen (knowledge local: race of humanoids that breathe water, somewhat handsome, but gills!) they seemed to be cleaning out a filter of anything valuable, they spoke to each other in Aklo in hushed towns (linguistics: they speak in a manner of someone who was raised speaking a language, rather then in the dramatic tones of a cultist or mage who speaks in a strange language to sound more impressive.) Ilythan is sadly not as stealthy as the rest of the party, and is spotted by the gillmen, they seem to only know the words "go away" in common.  Orias kills one of the gillmen with a well aimed crossbow bolt, and does a non-lethal shot to the other.  The dead gillman's body falls into the filtration device, which is re-veiled to be a series of gelatinous cubes.   After some moral debate on what to do with the non-murdered gillman, he is left outside the sewer, and our party of murderhobos starts to explore the sewers.

The sewer are clean, too clean.  The design resembles that of the ancient azlanti style.  Kyle stares at it all mind boggled, attempting to figure out how the whole thing works, when dire rats attack!

Illythan launches a fireball to deal with the problem, amazed that one survives. Kyle shot some arrows into the last one, the first arrow seeming to fell the beast, the 2nd seemed to turn it into a human.  Worried that she had murdered an innocent Kyle quickly treated the naked, formerly a rat, man to find he was mostly feral and rabid. Zelara did a mercy killing.  Illythan and Orias  proceeded to dump the body into the sewer water. Then Kyle was shot by a hidden archer, with an arrow that stung more then it should have.  Zelara spotted a bugbear and pointed it out. Illythan, being ever quick on his feet, shot a ball of lightning in the general area of where the arrow came from. The bugbear seemed unharmed but the lights from the spell made the would be sniper more easily seen, allowing Kyle to return fire and kill him.  They searched the body, took its loot, and proceeded to explore, finding the bugbear's nest, which, like the rest of the sewer, was too clean.  Apparently the bugbear had dug out of the sewer into the towns graveyard where he could collect bramble to make bramble-sick brandy.

Our party then proceeded down a ladder into the lower sewers to find where the water was purified and three more tunnels which only had a slight trickle, at the end of each of these tunnels was a series of valves, levers, and pipes, each set very similar to the other. After experimenting they found a valve which released more water, but this water was murky, like there was something in it (but not like poo water). The more water that was added to the center purification chamber, made a hidden doorway rise out of the center of the room, so the party turned all the water valves on, flooding the chambed and finding the secret door which lead to a teleportation circle which activated only what it was fully submerged under water.  The gang went underwater swimming through the odd mucus that made the water cloudy, and went through the circle.

They where transported to a flooded basement, the water reach to just below (Zelara's) shoulder height, there was a staircase leading up. But before the party could proceed, Illythan found that air had become impossible to breathe.  Orias realised that the mucus in the water must have been aboleth mucus, which allows people to breathe water, but not air.  He jury rigged his water skin into a breathing mask so he could follow the party into the mansion.

The mansion was of grand design, and Zelara determined it was still underground.  There where statues of armored  guards and things where gold plated.  The 2nd chambed was similar except the statues along the wall where locked into an eternal orgy, Orias was, in his usual jovial manner, pretendng to be part of it and realised these statues were all really well made.