The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 65th! Stumbling in all late and what-have-you, but here nonetheless.

Spoiler: Continue to the Inner Ward

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The party groups back up after Talvosh and Puck come back to life (Talvosh stares somewhat accusingly at Puck), and they keep walking in the same direction. There's no more transformer-style construct ambushes, but after about another hour, there's a big friggen wall! Made of the same swirling mix of adamantine and orichalcum, it stretches from floor to ceiling seamlessly and out of sight in both directions. However, Sona and Puck look closely, and they can see pulsing lines of magic travelling through the wall, all flowing in the same direction. Following that direction, it's another half-hour or so of walking along the perfectly smooth wall before the gang encounters a gate. It's a broad opening, but the opening is filled with an ominous humming green light.

Said green light reads to the party's magic-vision as a DISINTEGRATE.

(It's in all capitals to emphasize how powerfully it pulses to magic-vision)

No-one is willing to just run through the gate, to my great disappointment. Instead they carefully study the gate and the magic circuits flowing to it, and Puck pulls out his adamantine axe. Swinging as hard as he possibly can, the Forged hacks into the plating surrounding the edge of the gate. It's quite slow going, but after a few minutes Puck starts to expose part of the "circuitry" powering the gate. He also cuts a little too deep and gets zapped! His axe makes the save, but since this is a Maximized Disintegrate that's still 30 damage to the axe. It smokes and warps a little, but it's intact. Puck is a little more careful with the final few chops, as it won't take too much more of that to ruin his axe. Sona looks up close, and cranks her UMD check to figure out a way to shut down the gate.

Only downside is she has to reach into the gate to do it.

She makes her save and is blasted with 30 damage, I was really hoping to dust her with 240 damage...

The light sputters and goes out, and everyone waltzes through the gate. It's then another couple hours (close to 3) of walking through eerie silence, and then they come across a pathetic little Fire. It's barely a hand-length tall, and it flickers hesitantly, but it is still a Fire. Angelena attunes to it, and feels a little sad in hindsight. Next to this Fire, though, is a gigantic hatch. It's quite similar to the entrance to this moon-prison, just not quite as large. The humongous chains are sheared apart and tossed to either side, though, and the hatch is open a few inches. Leaning right close, all Spotter and Puck can see his what looks like metal catwalks and shiny silver sheets...or strings...or maybe webs stretching all about. The martial members of the party decide to use some elbow grease, and heave-ho! It takes Spotter, Puck, and Talvosh all working together, and taking a 20, but eventually they manage to lift the hatch enough for everyone to be able to crawl through.

Spoiler: The Inner Ward

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Puck floats in to scout things out. As he descends slowly, it's quite a sight. This massive room is full of numerous catwalks and walkways at multiple levels (stretching out of the range of his darkvision), but they seem almost incomplete, with numerous gaps and openings all over the place. Puck also notices a colossal metallic band, or curved pillar, or something along those lines stretching around much of the room as well.
A high enough Craft/Intelligence roll lets him realize that the band is a mind-bogglingly huge ring - and the gaps in the walkways would be to allow the rings to rotate and move around.

All of this is rendered moot, though, by the shining silver spiderwebs clinging and coating practically everything. It's a careful, deliberate descent to avoid snagging on any of the webs. The tangles of gleaming web vary from hair-strands to tangles thicker than a man, and bind everything together.
Puck just as carefully floats back up, and the party takes an inordinate amount of time to decide on how to descend the 60 feet or so into the Inner Ward (it's normally what I think is the minor stuff they get hung up on often). Eventually everyone piles into the Portable Hole, and Puck gently floats down, managing to avoid tripping on any of the webs.

And yes, the webbing looks just like the silver threads the party have been seeing more often, especially Puck and Sona.

There's some magical writing partially obscured by webbing up ahead on a pillar, and as the party debates which way to go, Sona decides to use her new spell - Vision.

She staggers as knowledge floods her mind!

-This moon is a divine prison for Zophiel
-It was made by Adremmelach with the aid of at least one other god
-It is a spherical prison, with multiple layers: The Outer ward (which is what the party has been travelling through), the Inner ward (which the hatch in front of the party leads to), the Final Ward, and then the Cell of Zophiel
-The entrance to each ward is located as far from one another as possible (so you have to traverse to the opposite side of each ward to progress further
-The Outer Ward is defended by clockwork constructs
-The Inner ward houses gyroscopic ward rings that weaken Zophiel and help seal her prison (and while they're active, make the Inner ward dangerous to navigate
-The Final Ward is protected by one of the mightiest servants of Adremmelach
-The only being meant to be able to travel through this prison was Adremmelach

Sona shares this info with everyone, and then it's time to go further in. If they go to the left, they'll also pass by the controls for the Gyroscopic wardings. Seeing as the rings they saw peeks of through the web would have to be hundreds of feet in diameter, our heroes decide not to try and turn the wards on. Instead they weave their way down to the floor of the ward, and go to the right.

It's about an hour or so of walking in a surreal sort of forest - the support pillars steely trees, and the catwalks and webbing standing in for an eeire canopy - before Spotter gets the overwhelming feeling of not being alone.

There are ominous thrums of webs being plucked, and almost as ominous rustles.

"Guests? So unusual."

"No sibling, not guests."

"Perhaps those fools who struggle and writhe against destiny, sibling."

"Yes sibling, perhaps. Or are they actually guests?"

There is a horrible bluff check attempted, and it's answered with hungry rattling hisses. Initiative!

There are three Spider-spawn of Zophiel, and they're pretty quick monsters. One bursts out of the webbing above to try and drag Spotter to an untimely demise!

The Forged archer is entangled in a sheet of horribly sticky silver webbing, the other end of which is attached to an absolutely nightmarish arachnid.
The size of a house, its flesh is some bizarre mix of petrified wood and pulsing chitin. There are too many legs, some of which are disgustingly fluid, and it's hard to keep track of how many eyes there actually are. Another ensares Talvosh in a tossed web, and Puck rockets at the first Spider-spawn.
It snags him out of midair with a tentacle/limb, and stops his charge dead with a REALLY high grapple check.

A massive swarm of argent spiders the size of coins rains down on poor Angelena and Sona, countless bites pumping venom into their bodies. Angelena is reduced to screaming and babbling as the poison overwhelms her, while Sona holds it off a bit longer before being bit again and confused.

Sona manages to Dimension-step everyone out of the webbing (or path of the swarm), and the party starts hitting back hard. Talvosh gets grappled swiftly again, though, and his flesh starts rotting away instantly! He takes 10 points of con drain over a couple rounds, but that just means he's as healthy as a regular person. While this is happening, though, Puck lands enough hits that the first Spider-Spawn discorporates into a swarm of tinier spiders. Even with their supernaturally potent venom able to affect Puck, he shrugs it off and mostly ignores the legion of creepy crawlies gnawing on him.

Spotter lurks around and waits for his moment to shoot a spider while it's large, rather than the harder to injure swarms.

The swarms going after Angelena and Sona get Wings of flurry-ied and Slime waved, and that plus some initial damage from Spotter sends one of the Spawn to the afterlife. The other two follow fairly swiftly - they can't hold up to Talvosh/Puck/Spotter when they're gigantic beasts-and as swarms they get punished by Angelena and Sona. I deal some more damage chomping into party members, but the remaining Spider-Spawn are defeated thoroughly.

A major factor of this fight was me flubbing several rolls against being blinded by Holy Aura, with 2/3 of the baddies spending most of the fight blind.

We end it there for the night

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Still 56

50 HOURS REMAIN

[curious-puzzle]

Alas, no game today, so 2 weeks until we return to the Moon-prison and the end of the world. In the meantime though, I'm curious.

The past several months (so 4-5 pages or so) have a secret hidden in the posts. I'm curious if anyone's noticed it - let me know! Reply in spoilers though, please. And first person to do so will win...er, something!

*Something does not guarantee anything more than online accolades and/or smartass commentary*

[PrismCat21]

Has anyone voiced a thought about possibly putting a muzzle or collar on Puck?
Like in Unleashed?

Also, when this game is all over, are y'all thinking about a more low power adventure as a little break? E6 maybe?

[curious-puzzle]

Has anyone voiced a thought about possibly putting a muzzle or collar on Puck?
Like in Unleashed?

Would you kindly be referring to a trigger phrase? (SERIOUS spoilers for Bioshock, but if you haven't played that by now shame on you go do that right now)

Spoiler: Someone's thought of it

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Also, when this game is all over, are y'all thinking about a more low power adventure as a little break? E6 maybe?

We shall see. I have a google doc full of ideas, plus other people have ideas and/or stuff we've already been playing but not as regularly. I wouldn't mind playing something higher-level, but I think I've had my fill of running high-level for a bit.

[Lazarias]

(gets popcorn and catches up on the thread since Samael left)

[Picanet]

Also, when this game is all over, are y'all thinking about a more low power adventure as a little break? E6 maybe?

Well the Pathfinder Strange Aeons game I was running back in October (and hope to take us back to once this is done) takes the party up to 15th level I think... with some options for higher level stuff. :3 They're actually not far from the end of book 2 in the journey. They happened to jump past a lot of stuff that might make certain encounters a wee more difficult than they were hoping for... potential character deaths with no res mechanic? >:3

I updated that journal a month ago btw. Puzzle harassed me SO hard on that lol.

[PrismCat21]

I updated that journal a month ago btw. Puzzle harassed me SO hard on that lol.

I must've missed it! I'll go back to it tonight. :D
Tell Puzzle, good job.

[curious-puzzle]

Tell Puzzle, good job.

Good job, me!

(gets popcorn and catches up on the thread since Samael left)

There will be a multiple choice + longform test at the end!

[Picanet]

I must've missed it! I'll go back to it tonight. :D
Tell Puzzle, good job.

He doesn’t need the back patting lol. I assure you.

[curious-puzzle]

He doesn’t need the back pattingis wildly unappreciated and needs it. I assure you.

This is accurate.

[curious-puzzle]

Accurate summary of getting all the stats ready for the final battles:


And no-one has found the little easter egg I was talking about yet? *smug*

[PrismCat21]

He is wildly unappreciated and needs it. I assure you.

This is accurate.
...
Accurate summary of getting all the stats ready for the final battles:

And no-one has found the little easter egg I was talking about yet? *smug*

It's so sad your players don't appreciate you the way we do.
Extra back pattings for you.
Oh no. I definitely noticed. I just didn't want to draw attention to it :D

[danielxcutter]

TBH I *do* suppose making as challenging encounters as the ones that you throw at the players without instant TPK... yeah, can't be *that* easy.

[curious-puzzle]

Bam! We played tonight, and last weekend for a double header session! Means that the next journal entry will be a double header as well...and said upcoming entry will be the penultimate writeup.

Might take me a little bit, but I'll try not to procrastinate much.

[danielxcutter]

Woot! All aboard the hype train!

[Spellbound]

Looking forward to it.

[curious-puzzle]

Double mega-session write up DEESSSTTTIIINNNYYY (guitar riff)

Spoiler: Keep going

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The party doesn’t take long at all to heal up and keep moving. There’s definitely a bit of urgency now, it seems. It still takes another couple hours of weaving around platforms and getting tangled up in creepy silver webbing, but eventually the gang struggles through the metallic forest.

Once again they encounter a titanic sealed hatch, this one still with the absurdly oversized chains stretched securely across. This perplexes the party somewhat. The outer gate was fully sealed, which makes sense. The gate between the Outer and Inner ward was forced a little open, all right. But then the gate between the Inner ward and the Final ward is still sealed? Where did the beasties come from, then?

Spotter does a thorough inspection of the hatch, and manages to find three minuscule holes punched through it. Barely the thickness of a pinky finger, they are very definitely forced from the inside though. And if the big ugly spider-beasties could dis-corporate into a swarm of little ugly spiders, that explains how they got through.

Looking at how thick the chains are, and how solid the hatch is, it’s agreed that another Spark is needed. Angelena coaxes one more Primal Spark to come forth.

ONE PRIMAL SPARK REMAINING

The chain grudgingly jolts into motion, booming clangs as the mechanism drags the chain across the hatch. As it speeds up, the chain glows and brightens with heat, until a molten-white line is all that can be seen. As the chain vanishes, the hatch opens with a groan that shakes the party!

All that can be seen within the hatch is opaque white fog [maniacal laughter].

Now considering how much flak I got for the last fog gate (that was a combo of solid fog and Greater dispel magic), I’m a little surprised when Puck hops in with nary a glance. I don’t announce that he dies messily (and no-one in game hears the sounds of gruesome dismemberment), so the rest of the party hops in one after the other. I manage to dispel everything off of Talvosh, and a couple spells off Sona and Angelena, but Puck and Spotter survive with all buffs intact.

Everything goes white…

Spoiler: THE END

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Spoiler: Puck

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You had done it, slain a Goddess. You and Angelena, and the rest of them. And you hadn’t lost yourself again, managing to resist the urge to consume every drop of Vitae that spilled out of Zophiel. You were all flush with power and pride, and life as the Curse faded.

And then Maria came. With a word, your will was no longer your own. You numbly cut down Talvosh, and Sona, and Spotter, and-

“It’s just as I’ve told you, my child,” Maria rasped as you slowly choked the life from Angelena.

“Your Heart is mine.”

Puck struggles with all his willpower, but his body refuses to obey as it continues to strangle Angelena. Desperately, he takes hold of the Vitae coursing through his body, and ignites a piece of it! His arm erupts in shimmering black flame, burning the musculature away and dropping a gasping Angelena to the ground.

“Willing to go so far? Admirable, if misguided.” Maria seems relaxed for someone with a spiky doombot screaming towards her - but Puck’s axe passes through her as if it were merely a shadow.

“Would you kindly die for me, Puck?” And so he does.

Spoiler: Talvosh

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You don’t remember what happened in the final battle. You entered the prison, and then just red. When everything cleared, you were in a cage. Alone, and so weak you could barely move. It felt like days before you regained your strength and managed to force the bars apart.

And then they came, and killed you. Over and over and over and over and over. Every time, no matter how hard you swung, how much blood you spilled, they outlasted you and struck you down every time. And with every death you reawakened in the cage, a little less strength in your hands, a little more tremble in your limbs.

You don’t know how many more times you can do this…

I barely manage to describe things to Talvosh before he’s busted out of the cage, and armed himself with a rusty bar and...a ripped off leg from a nearby corpse. I start to describe the figures that appear around the corn-

Talvosh: “I charge.”

I shrug, and the furious orc flails fruitlessly at his spectral opponents. They laugh and giggle amongst themselves at his antics, and then drain the life out of him.

Spoiler: Angelena

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With the light of Pelor, and the strength of your companions next to you, you defeated the dark goddess Zophiel. The destruction of Artaith was averted

But the Curse did not break. Hearts heavy, you returned to Logos to try and search for another way - but it was so hard to put as much effort into it. If killing a goddess was not enough, what else could be done? Slowly your companions faded, until only you and Puck remained.

You did your best to shepherd and guide the remaining lost souls and share the light of your faith with him. But every time you led them in praise, a little seed of bitterness grew.

Where was your god? Why were you still here when you had done everything asked of you and more? Why were you letting the might and power of such blind faith go to waste…

...when you could turn it to a more worthy cause, such as yourself?

Years later, your Heavenly tower was complete, and with every remaining Hollow singing their devotion to you, prepared to cast aside your mortality and Ascend.

With your faithful Beast next to you.

Angelena comes to at the top of her Babel tower, with an expectant Puck holding the last Unhollowed by the throat. Conveniently, when Angelena forcefully “relieved” Alexandria of her status as Firekeeper, it restored Alexandria’s youth and vitality. The woman had served others her whole life, what was one more act of service?

All that is required is for Puck to toss her over the edge. And all Puck waits for, is a nod from Angelena.

This setup throws Angelena for a loop as all the events of the past decades slam into her mind. Frantically she tells Puck to wait a minute. Suddenly full of doubt and confusion, Angelena falls back on ingrained habits, and begins to pray. She reaches to Pelor, to Adremmelach, to any spirit listening. Is she walking the right path? Is this truly the way to achieve her goals, to finally be free of the Curse? Is she alone?

Her prayers are met with nothing but silence, because I’m a terrible human being. Also because I’m a terrible human being, Puck then blurts out, “One minute!” And heaves Alexandria off the tower.

Angelena doesn’t hear Alexandria hit the ground miles below, but she feels it. A building tension quickly boils over into searing pressure, and then simply pain. Her joints lock and twist, and roots burst from wrists and ankles! More roots tear their way free as Angelena swells and grows, unable to even scream. There’s a particularly agonizing pulse behind her left eye before a branch rips its way free.

Angelena’s last conscious thought is that she can hear cruel laughter as she becomes the new Tree of Fate, and then she dies.

Spoiler: Sona

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All your research, planning, strife, all for this moment, when you struck down a goddess.

You failed.

Every trick, every ounce of power, all your tactics, and the five of you died. And again. And again. No matter what you all did, she couldn’t be stopped, not with all the power at hand.

So you decided to get some more. Talvosh died a final time to give you time to open the gate. Angelena burned like a second star to let you and Spotter step through and block it off. Once again you stood below the Heart of darkness, an entire world’s worth of Vitae.

Certainly enough to kill one goddess.

“Whatever you’re planning on doing, do it quick. I don’t think Puck will hold out by himself for very long.” Spotter seems a little nervous, but that’s to be expected. The party had agreed that this was far too much power for anyone to safely channel - but desperate times etc etc.

Sona’s left eye throbs with a dull ache, but she chalks that up to stress as she wracks her brain for ideas. Unfortunately, this is about the only thing they haven’t tried. Floating towards to roiling mass of Vitae, the sorceress goes all in and thrusts both hands into the Heart of Darkness.

She can briefly see her bones glowing through her flesh before she is utterly consumed with a soft ‘pop.’

Spoiler: Spotter

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The five of you faced a goddess, and you put the mad thing out of her misery. But then to stop Puck and Talvosh from becoming monsters themselves, you claimed the remainder of her power yourself.

Who else could you trust with such a responsibility?

As the divine force flooded you, the web of fate stretched out before your eyes. You saw the terrible path your companions strode.

The Beasts they could become. You had to stop them now, before this just started all over again.

Spotter’s hands twitch as Puck and Talvosh berate him for greedily snatching all that Vitae up. Talvosh in particular demands that they need to go find some more Vitae for him real soon, or else.

Spotter shakes his head as the vision in his left eye sputters and sparks. A thought pops out of nowhere;

What did Zophiel look like?
They just fought her, she was a terrible monster, she--what did she look like?

How did they defeat her? By working togethe-

How did they get from the Final Ward to here? What happened in between?

Something's wrong

He clutches at his eye, and focuses his will. The world around Spotter shatters into darkness.

Spoiler: What, wait?

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Spotter’s vision clears, and everything is different. He’s in a massive spherical chamber, 400-500 feet across easily. He’s sprawled out on a platform of sorts, along with his companions. As Spotter tries to sit up, he notices the chitinous tree roots snaking and coiling about him - and the rest of the party.

That pain in his left eye? It’s because a root has worked its way past his eye and is pressing on his optical nerves. He immediately burns one of his dimension doors and warps behind the slumped-over Puck, grabbing one of Puck’s axes. Time to do some trimming…

Spoiler: Puck

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Puck finds himself strangling Angelena again, with Maria calmly watching. He tries to recall the fact that he just went through this, but fails with a throb in his left eye. This time, though, Puck tries a different tactic. When Maria tells him to kill Angelena, Puck demands Vitae in exchange. Maria chuckles and agrees easily. Puck holds out an expectant hand - he wants it now. Nodding indulgently, Maria produces a vial of glittering darkness and tosses it into Puck’s hand.

Except Maria underestimated how much Vitae was already pulsing through Puck. All it would take is just a small fragment more to overwhelm any semblance of control, of sanity. As he claims the Vitae, Puck feels himself grow. Armor plates buckle and shriek as he swells, and spider legs gouge into the stone beneath him. Maria takes an alarmed step back as Puck feels his mouth snap open, jagged metal fangs wrenching their way out. Angelena is now like a doll in his hand as he gazes at her. The priestess is full of delicious Vitae.

And he’s so HUNGRY.

Puck barely notices Maria teleport away as he devours Angelena. It doesn’t matter, though. All that matters is finding more food.

Spoiler: Talvosh

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Talvosh once again comes to in a cage, this time in the ruins of some rustic tribal village. It seems slightly familiar, but Talvosh is already ripping his way free and looking for something to swing. Once again he hears a noise and goes charging in wildly - and gets level drained to death again.

Spoiler: Angelena

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Angelena finds herself back on her Tower of Babel, but with the twin sensations of deja vu, and that something is horribly wrong. She commands Puck to bring Alexandria to her (being very careful not to just say, “let her go” :D ), who sullenly lobs Alexandria at the sun cleric’s feet. Questioning Puck about exactly what’s been occurring, Angelena is more unnerved. Puck has a mouth now, and what seem to be a lot of sharp jagged teeth. And he keeps mentioning that he’s hungry.

And if Angelena isn’t going to use her, can Puck have Alexandria? He’s hungry.

Aaaallll aboard the train to Nopesville. Then as she’s trying to process this, Angelena’s vision fractures and splits.

Spoiler: Sona

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Abruptly Sona is whole and not completely obliterated again. She clutches at her left eye in pain as everything seems incredibly familiar as she gazes upon the Heart of Darkness. When she doesn’t immediately attempt to channel its power though, Spotter goes from a voice of caution to subtly pushing her. Seems somewhat out of character...Sona points this out, and catches Spotter’s hands subtly drifting to his bow. He replies that it’s their only option, Sona said it herself. To back down now would make everything pointless.

Logical enough - but something still seems wrong. As Sona’s mind races, her vision fractures and splits.

Spoiler: Choose another path

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Spotter slices the root that has slipped into Puck’s brain, and then begins work chopping the others free. Puck carefully yanks the root out of his head (and saves successfully to avoid losing a piece of his brain with it), and does the same. Quickly the rest of the party is freed (and successful saves / teleporting magic means no-one gets an impromptu lobotomy courtesy of the mandible-tipped roots).

The roots hiss and wave menacingly, but they’re not fast or strong enough to be threatening to an awake party, and they chop the roots back. Peering over the edge of the platform they’re on, the source of roots is revealed.

There’s the corpse of a gigantic bird sprawled out across the bottom of the sphere (its wingspan must be 100 feet), and the mass of nightmare roots seems to be entwined and emerging from the corpse’s ribcage. With the application of FIRE BURN IT NOW, the roots quickly ignite and are burned away - as is the bird corpse except for ash and some bright red and yellow feathers.

Now that they aren’t trapped in a nightmare reality doomed to endless death and sinful failure, the party can look around. The spherical room that they’ve dropped down into has only three notable features:
The ashen remains of the giant bird below them
The wide platform they stand on, which is also connected to
the pitch-black sphere of metal in the center of the chamber, about 40 feet across and completely smooth. Just looking at it gives a chilling sense of doom.

This is the true prison of Zophiel.

The party huddles up for a conference before any headlong charges. They don’t want to stop now, that’s definitely the Final Boss ™ up ahead. But after a bit of thinking, they realize that the remains below are that of a Phoenix. And they could definitely use an ally. So Angelena burns a Miracle to bring the final guardian of Adremmelach back.

With a roar of heavenly fire, the Phoenix lives once more! Speaking in archaic Celestial, the guardian is both ashamed at failing in its duty and incredibly grateful to the party for bringing it back. Quickly, the phoenix grasps the severity of the situation, and offers to aid the party in attempting to cancel the apocalypse.

ALLY GAINED - THE DAWNSTAR

As the party is making sure everything is prepared for the battle to come, Sona asks the Dawnstar if it knows what became of Adremmelach?

“He hast been with thee your whole journey. Hast thou not used the Bonfires?”

With that sad bit of info, Angelena calls for the final Spark. It drifts into the pitch-black sphere, and with a hiss of escaping gases, part of the sphere slides open to reveal a just-as-dark entrance.

The party steps through, followed by the Dawnstar-ony to find themselves in a forest meadow?

In front of them is an absolutely absurdly large tree. It makes redwoods look twiggish, and stretches up out of view. The roots tangled about the meadow jut up from the earth, easily 10 feet thick and tall. Despite the seemingly peaceful surroundings, the tree grates on everyone’s nerves. The shapes and bulges bring to mind a hulking predator, waiting with inhuman patience. As the party walks closer, a figure appears on one of the branches.

Despite the distance, everyone can see the young woman’s appearance clearly. She’d be beautiful, if not for her eyes. Pure crystalline malice and hatred, just a brief glance is enough to demonstrate whatever this being is, it is Evil.

“Ah, my chosen puppets arrive to throw open the doors of my prison. Well done, all.” The cruel voice is one the Angelena, Sona, and Spotter have all heard in their visions and nightmares.

This is Zophiel.

The party isn’t in much of a mood to banter, so they simply state their intent to stop the goddess.

“And what makes you think you are here for anything other than my will? Every action, every choice, simply another part of my plans. You have prepared everything perfectly, every “heroic” deed simply another cog in the machine.” Zophiel laughs, all hateful eyes and toothy smile. “And now it is time for the pawns to be swept from the board.”

The party respectfully disagrees, and challenges Zophiel to put up her dukes, Marquess of Queensbury style for some honorable fisticuffs….*cough*

IE they’re going to murder the *********** out of her. Zophiel loses her smile.

“Fine. Then you will Suffer.”

With a deafening groan that shakes the world, the tree moves. Massive branches bend and twist into the approximation of arms. The colossal trunk ponderously shifts upwards and forwards. Across the front of the Tree, knots and bark break and twist into the shape of a hateful woman sneering.

OOBBBEEEEYYYYY roars the young woman and the tree in tandem.

Spoiler: Zophiel, the Three faced goddess of Fate

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Struggle against Fate itself

Spoiler: DM NOTE

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Zophiel consists of three aspects; the Maiden (the young woman), the Matron (the giant tree) and the Crone (you’ll see shortly)

The Maiden is the fastest, and starts the fight with a Mass Suffocation. I had evil giggly thoughts of instantly taking out the entire party except for Puck and Spotter, but Angelena, the Dawnstar, and Talvosh make their saves, only being staggered as the air is ripped from their lungs. Unfortunately for Sona, she fails and immediately starts suffocating.

The Matron lumbers forward, and with a wave of her hand calls for monstrous writhing roots. 6 of the giant things burst from the ground and surround the party, hideous mandibles growing randomly from the bulging roots.

The Dawnstar sweeps forward and calls forth a Firestorm, but fails to beat any of the goddess’ spell resistance. So it’s an anime-style moment as the smoke clears to reveal the fire had no effect!

Puck and Talvosh hack away at the roots, shredding several of them - they also find out an unfortunate ability. If anyone ends their turn close enough to the roots and fails a save, they are forced to dictate their next turn to me right then, and are forced to hold to those intentions even if they aren’t valid or useful anymore. They pass at first, but this ability messes up everyone at one point or another during the battle.

The dangers of battling an Architect of Fate…in addition to this, I’m forcing rerolls all over the place, up to three a round even.

Emerging from the darkness underneath the Matron’s roots is what seems to be a swirling cloud of absolute darkness. In between the clouds can be glimpsed the silhouette of an old woman briefly, and then a hideous arachnid shape, and then an ominous nothingness.

The Crone floats forward, and the only magical effect Puck can see on his visor is, “Oblivion.”

Angelena dispels the magic suffocating Sona before she dies, but because Sona failed against the Dictate fate ability, the sorceress spends an extra turn flopping on the ground trying to not die of asphyxiation before entering the fray.

Sona and the Maiden snipe spells and hexes back and forth with each other, Acid fogs and Cloudkills and such flying back and forth to hinder each other. Spotter warps and darts to flanking positions, but all of the goddess’ aspects prove quite difficult to hit.

The Dawnstar swoops at the Matron, and the giant avian and even more giant Matron begin a Kaiju-style brawl! Meanwhile the Crone floats ominously closer, and a nearby piece of scenery brushes against her and simply - vanishes. Even with this ominous foreshadowing, Puck gets up within range and charges the Crone! Even with her AC and incorporealness, he lands some heavy blows and resists being simply turned to dust by her retaliatory strikes.

However, when Puck lands several massive crits (his dice performing as usual and throwing double crits out like candy), the Crone simply Twists Fate and makes it so the blows never happened. I get some serious cries of B.S for that, but I just counter with, “Well, yeah: it’s the final boss.”

After tussling back and forth (and meteor swarms and firestorms and walls of fire), the Matron smashes the Dawnstar to the ground one final time, and the Phoenix moves no more. But that was numerous rounds, enough time for Talvosh to shred all of the Tree root monsters and charge the Matron!

And an AOE sends him flying back :P

But the fight goes into a brutal slugfest, with the party throwing everything they have into Zophiel. Only the most powerful magic and most accurate blows manage to get through, though.

Puck is getting dangerously close to the point where a single touch will destroy him, save or not, when he lands another set of crits. This one can’t be undone, and then Spotter pops up and launches one of the shrunken Anathemic Lances from his bow.

You know, those horrible spears that could harm a deity? Yeah.

The Lance pins the Crone’s arm to a nearby root, then expands with a thunderous detonation. The Crone’s arm is blown apart, but she is still seemingly pinned in place, and the oblivion swirling about her fades!

Spotter gets some nasty magic hurled his way for that, and beats a hasty retreat out of sight to begin lurking about again. This gives Puck enough time to briefly fall back, regain his sense to burn a Vitae, then kick it into Overdrive (Frenzy) again and hurl himself back into the fray!

Angelena and Sona keep blasting away with everything they have, hurling Cometfalls, Bolts of Glory, Wings of flurry, Heightened Disintegrates, Dimension Steps, but Zophiel keeps coming. Talvosh hacks away at the Matron, and even he has a hard time cutting into the bark. Puck keeps wailing on the hindered Crone, noticing that the blows landed on her reflect onto the Matron. Even armless and trapped, she’s still a danger, though. Spotter fires another Lance at the Maiden, but it shoots through without expanding and pinning her.

Then the Maiden gets close enough to Heal the Crone, and things look dark. Swarms of silvery spiders are called forth, and the party has to contend with their poison again before Wings of Flurry blows them apart. Multiple Vitae are burned to reroll saves and attacks, and keep the fight going. Sona dies, but Angelena is right next to her and Revivifies her immediately. I like to see it as her catching Sona’s escaping spirit by the throat and chokeslamming her back into her body...

Spotter repositions and manages to shoot the Maiden in the back of the shoulder and pin her into the Matron! They both scream with agony and are stunned briefly, and everyone keeps pouring the damage and attacks out. Painfully, the Matron manages to yank the Lance out of her back (freeing the Maiden) and hurls the Lance directly at Angelena!

Luckily for her, Sona is close enough to extend a Wings of Cover, though the force drives them into the earth. Puck and Talvosh keep battling the Matron, only able to endure her massive blows through sheer will to keep killing. The ground is shaking and beginning to break apart, fissures opening everywhere! The Maiden is absolutely livid at this point, and she divebombs towards Angelena and Sona, baleful magic crackling between her hands.

And Spotter pops up after retrieving the third Lance and shoots it straight through the Maiden’s chest. Then it EXPANDS and does a mortal-Kombat style fatality.

With that, there is a ear-bursting shriek! The Crone’s darkness completely engulfs her, and with a shockwave, begins to slowly pull and compress everything around it. The Matron-tree is crushed and compressed slowly into nothing, and the party fights to keep their footing and not be pulled into the Event Horizon (supermarine music). They need to get out of here!

Well, everyone except for Talvosh apparently. As the rest of the party flies, jumps, runs, and scrambles epic-parkour style for the edge of the clearing, Talvosh swan dives into the blackness.

*shrug* Admittedly he was at something like -300 health, but still *shrug*

The rest of the party manages to escape, piling through the rapidly narrowing portal and spilling back out into the spherical chamber. As they back up further and watch, the black prison sphere compresses and crushes in on itself, continuing to tighten and shrink until only a fist-size ball remains. Then it falls to the ground and leaves a 30 ft crater as it impacts!

As everyone lays sprawled out, gasping for air, they feel a burning sensation in their left hands. As they watch, the Mark of the Curse slowly fades away, and with it, their souls are whole once more.

Angelena seizes the last moment to burn several Vitae right before it’s too late, and forcefully Yanks Talvosh back to the land of the living. He reappears, but with part of his body horribly frostbitten and scarred.

Spoiler: DM NOTE PLAYERS KEEP OUT

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And a permanent Tomb-tainted soul feat thanks to being touched by pure nothingness, but we’ll find that out later

A survival check from Spotter reveals that the Moon is moving, and getting faster. They need to get out of here. Luckily, Sona has enough teleports left that while they can’t go from one Ward to another, they can warp to the gate separating each ward, and turn an entire day of running into a few minutes. When they reach the Fire, it’s barely a candle of light, fitfully trembling. At their approach, though, the flame grows and shines into a Portal. One more walk between fires, even without the Curse empowering them. They step through slowly, returning to Adremmelach’s Throne Room.

There’s a bit more that happens, but it will fit better with the next session in a couple weeks.

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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63 and several Vitae burned in one fight

[Picanet]

*ahem* would the DM care to share what the save was for the very first thing that happened that fight with the suffocation?

You know, the one that could have TPKd the group if the cleric hadn’t rolled a nat 20? Lol

[curious-puzzle]

33...

[PrismCat21]

DEATH COUNT: 63 and several Vitae burned in one fight

Shoot. Just a couple deaths shy of an average of one per session. :,(
All the times that Vitae was expended to heal, to avoid death helps of course. But still... SO close :P

An awesome campaign, three years of playing. Holy crap. Applause all around :D thank you everyone for sharing this.

[curious-puzzle]

There's still time for them to do something stupid...pick a fight with something nasty :P

[PrismCat21]

There's still time for them to pick a fight with something nasty :P

We can only hope :)

[Ionsniper]

Theres still Maria of Logos to deal with. I have a feeling she is more dangerous than they realize. Hopefully she will get what's coming to her.

[danielxcutter]

Holy. Frigging. Crap. That was AWESOME!

Edit: Oh btw, can we get the stats for Zophiel?

[Spellbound]

After all the excitement I can say that my I was still blown away. This was fantastic and I thank you for sharing this with us.

I would also second the request for Zophiel's stats.

[PrismCat21]

I'm sure I missed it/forgot about it somewhere along the way, what's been happening with the cursed Mark on their hands?
I don't recall it being mentioned recently.

[curious-puzzle]

Thank you very much, I'm glad everyone has enjoyed our silliness!

And yes, here is Zophiel:

Zophiel, the Three-faced Goddess of Fate

She's a mishmash of - a witch (seemed a fitting spellcaster) with nasty stats, an elder treant with better feats, and a combination of a sentient sphere of ultimate destruction+the cooler abilities of a horrific Vasuthaunt. As with the Beast, if your players don't have multiple lives due to a Curse and/or ready access to resurrection magic, use caution with these beasties...

I'm sure I missed it/forgot about it somewhere along the way, what's been happening with the cursed Mark on their hands?
I don't recall it being mentioned recently.

As everyone lays sprawled out, gasping for air, they feel a burning sensation in their left hands. As they watch, the Mark of the Curse slowly fades away, and with it, their souls are whole once more.

[danielxcutter]

Thank you very much, I'm glad everyone has enjoyed our silliness!

And yes, here is Zophiel:

Zophiel, the Three-faced Goddess of Fate

She's a mishmash of - a witch (seemed a fitting spellcaster) with nasty stats, an elder treant with better feats, and a combination of a sentient sphere of ultimate destruction+the cooler abilities of a horrific Vasuthaunt. As with the Beast, if your players don't have multiple lives due to a Curse and/or ready access to resurrection magic, use caution with these beasties...

...Huh.

Zophiel's Aspects are very, very powerful, I see.

Though, to be honest, they're actually a little LESS ridiculous than the Beast, which is strictly specialized for melee beatstickery, while the ridiculousness of the Aspects are a bit more spread out between the three - caster-type, brute-type, and outsider-with-a-bunch-of-SLAs and gimmicks-type.

I mean, waaay more POWERFUL than the Beast overall, just not specialized in a single trick(beating face) as much as it is.

[curious-puzzle]

The final session. Oh, and that last fight showered everyone with enough XP that everyone is 20th level now.

Spoiler: Finale

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As the party reappears at the base of that gigantic staircase, they are faced again by the throne's guardians. There's a moment of tense silence, then the angels drop to a knee and bow their heads.

"Finally...it's over." Slowly, the guardians fade to nothing, leaving only fragments of armor and wisps of smoke. The Solar is the last to remain, and he draws his sword and plants it smoothly into the stone before disappearing. The party spreads out a bit, some going to check out the shiny sword, others walking to the large window-wall.

As Sona stares out at the sun's-eye view of Artaith, the moon is becoming more and more distant, and as it does, she begins to see threads of green and blue poking through the ashen clouds. Meanwhile, Puck picks up the sword - and suffers 2 negative levels. Protesting that he's immune to such things, I reiterate that he's not immune to those ones holding that sword. The evil robot hands the sword to Angelena unhappily. As she holds it aloft, its true nature is revealed. It's a large +5 holy cold iron greatsword that can be wielded as a medium longsword by good-aligned characters, and grants the spellcasting abilities of a 20th level paladin to the wielder. It's packed away quickly, and after a quick glance around, everyone agrees that it's time to go. Linking hands, Sona Greater Plane shifts everyone back to the Central Church of Logos. As they all stagger into the church (suddenly feeling things like thirst and hunger and normal aches and pains after so long without that is a little jarring), the remaining inhabitants stare in disbelief.

There aren't many left (Alexandria, Bulwark, and Noctis, plus 1-2 dozen of various citizens/soldiers), but they all drop to their hands and knees and prostrate themselves before the Pilgrims. There are tears and laughter - the heroes have somehow saved the world. So many have died, but not all.

The dramatic moment is broken by stomachs collectively growling, and a chuckling Alexandria (who seems much more lively than anyone's seen) calls forth a Hero's Feast. Everyone digs in like they haven't eaten in a year - oh wait it has been at least that.

Quietly, Puck skitters off for a walk by himself while the rest celebrate. Unlike the others, the loss of the Curse has left him feeling emptier than before. Whatever that power was...

...he wants it back. Spotter notices him sneaking off, but decides that of all nights, tonight is one that he can simply let Puck be.

Puck's wandering takes him back to the Forges (the city is empty, all the ash wraiths having crumbled into nothing as the Curse was lifted), and as he walks in, there's the sound of someone clapping. But it sounds like someone clapping while wearing one metal gauntlet...

"Magnificent, my child. You did the impossible." Maria stands there, clapping softly. "I'm very proud of you." Puck's usual denial of being her child is met with the usual indulgent shrug, and Puck paces back and forth. "Yet in the moment of your triumph, you seem displeased. What troubles you?"

"I want it back. The Vitae. The life. The power." Maria nods slowly in understanding.

"I know of a way. But it will require you to be strong, child. To not be hampered by such weakness as sentimentality." Puck nods, and Maria explains a terrible cosmic secret. With such knowledge, Puck takes his newest level...

..In Soul Eater.

The next morning, the party emerges from the church, reveling in the sensation of actually feeling full and rested. The mood is dampened a bit when Sona notices a neatly wrapped scroll tucked in the handle of one of the church doors - sealed with a blob of wax with a neat "M" pressed into it. It's magical, but conjuration rather than abjuration - so Sona is pprreettyyy sure it isn't just some ridiculous supercharged Explosive Runes. She cracks the seal and reads -

When you are ready to return home, burn this to call upon me.

Maria

Strongly not wanting to have to rely on the sinister wizard, Sona concentrates and attempts to open a Gate of her own. It takes an additional spell slot burned, and a caster level check, but she succeeds. Slashes of gleaming light shiver through the air, and then time and space shatter in a gate. Sona hadn't specified anywhere in particular, so she's a little discomfited to peer through and notice that it leads to the original tomb where they first encountered Maria. Where they first died to be pulled to Artaith. Satisfied that she can do it at least, the party takes one final day before departing.

Angelena (and Sona) offers to try and take the few remaining survivors away from Artaith with them - the world may seem peaceful, but can it really survive with so much dead? Alexandria is grateful for the offer, but declines. She has faith that she will find more survivors, and through their own strength and through the remaining gods, they will build something new.

Spotter decides that he will stay along with Alexandria and Bulwark, to help the survivors and find a new place to build.

Sona also sneaks over to the Library one last time. She manages to convince the outer bulkhead door to open with the offer of a written transcript of the party's encounter with Zophiel. Once inside, Pathos doesn't speak to her, but a single Willowisp servitor bobs above a box to drop the transcript into. It then bobs above six sizable tomes set out on a shelf, then bobs towards the exit. Walking over, Sona finds that each tome is one of the Tomes of ___, one for each stat. Scooping them up, she quickly scurries back to the others with her shiny rewards. Spotter ends up with Dex and Intelligence, Angelena Wisdom, Sona Charisma, Talvosh Strength, and Puck Constitution.

Speaking of Puck, he trundles back to the party later in the morning, and keeps relatively quiet. There is serious tension between him and Spotter, but neither say anything nor act on it. When Sona is alone, though, Puck approaches her with a request to summon a creature up. Shrugging, Sona calls forth the unluckiest goblin ever. Before he can even do anything, Puck snatches him up and devours his life-force like a Capri Sun. The Goblin lets out a strangled squawk, then crumbles to dust. Puck feels a surge of strength, but it fades too quickly (what with summoned creatures not really being there). Sona is more than a little creeped out, but she fails her Knowledge (Religion) to recognize the Energy Drain that just happened. She also doesn't mention it to anyone else, possibly out of just wanting to get out of this place. Doing a bit of thinking, Sona also figures out that the Gate spell automatically targeting where they first were pulled to Artaith is most likely do to sympathetic resonance - and maybe a bit of subtle manipulation.

In the evening, Angelena does something that she has deliberately not been doing, something that she's pretty certain she doesn't want the answer to. She casts Detect Evil and looks square at Puck. And seeing as how with a level or so of Soul Eater, I'm ruling Puck as registering like an evil outsider, she sees Evil.

Angelena lets Puck know just how disappointed she is, how she was hoping that Puck would become something better. Puck replies that he is just as he ever was, and that everything he has done was for a reason. Angelena cannot deny that Puck has always acted towards finding a way out of Artaith, and has always been the lesser evil compared to what they faced. But now that they've succeeded, Puck may not be the lesser of evils for too much longer. And while Angelena may not want to have to fight someone who has saved her life so many times, she cannot and will not tolerate a monster preying on the innocent. Perhaps she shouldn't let him come back to their world at all if something like that is going to happen.

Puck is incredibly still during this conversation. He also warns Angelena to not stand in his way, that he Will be returning home. But he doesn't just lash out against something that is threatening him unlike usual. Because while Puck may be a monster, he genuinely does not want to harm Angelena. He would do many things to avoid harming her - just not change his nature. Instead, Puck offers a compromise by making two promises. The first is that after they step through the Gate, they will not see one another again. The second is that he will only go after those who are 'evil.'

Angelena perhaps deliberately does not pick up on exactly what Puck means by "going after", and slowly agrees. As a champion of Good, probably shouldn't do something like that. As a mortal sitting next to a comrade whom you've risked death and damnation with, and faced impossible odds with, you can see her logic.

The morning comes, and after a brief goodbye, the Pilgrims unceremoniously step through the Gate.

Waiting in the chamber for them are four floating chests, with a handwritten note pinned to the front of one.

"Well done on making your own way back, but I couldn't resist having the last word. A minor reward for you.

-M"

Sona grinds her teeth a little at the arrogance, but is willing to overlook it when they open the chests to reveal bricks of platinum. 250 000 worth for each of them in fact. After a bit of shuffling and logistics to account for the weight, they Teleport and begin making their separate ways throughout the world.

GAME OVER

And that's a wrap to a little over three year campaign, from 6th-20th level. Thanks again for all the kind words, and hope our b.s. was entertaining!

I'll have some mini-epilogues up for each of the party members up very shortly, and then one final part:

Achievements!

[danielxcutter]

Puck. Dude.

Also HOO BOI was that a ride! I mean, seriously, combat-wise this is literally THE best of the best campaign journals I've read - and while I haven't read many, the ones I have are the cream of the crop; Silverclaw, Tales of Wyre, that kind of stuff. And now another to that list.

Great job guys, great game.

Edit: BTW what was Spotter's planned ironic fate?