The Edge Of The Abyss

Still in the Temple Of Venca the group discusses what to do with their newly found Remnants Of Vecna. They are tempted to touch and examine them but after seeing what had happened to Rook they are cautious. No one looks forward to turning slightly (or even not so slightly) evil.

Rook in the meantime has tired of having half of his vision disturbed by visions from some one else's perspective. He continues to get glimpses into someone else's life. A life within a palatial mansion, with hooded servants who bring him sacrifices. Rook tells the others he is ready to rip the eye out. Together they concoct a plan to immediately heal him after he removes the eye.

Eye Surgery

The others surround Rook as he begins to dig the eye out of its socket. As soon as he removes the eye it returns to the size of a grapefruit. Black with a deep orange glow within. Smallfang heals the damage Rook has done as best he can and then Hope steps in to help Rook regenerate the missing eye. Soon enough, Rook blinks and looks at the world through both of his own eyes.

After talking among themselves and the Sword Of Kas, they begin to realize that they are now heading towards opposing a god, or perhaps gods. Rook is determined to come to the aid of the Raven Queen. Rook creates the illusion of a shrine to both Bahamut and The Raven Queen, back to back. Both Rook and Smallfang kneel and pray to their respective gods, asking for advice and direction.

Praying To The Gods For Help

The statue of Bahamut comes to life, its stone head turning to gaze upon Smallfang. It speaks with a deep resonant voice and tells Smallfang that Vecna's plans must not be allowed to come to fruition. Vecna has already succeeded in relegating Falazure, Bahamut's brother, to the confines of his own demiplane. Lost in his own insanity from the enchanted eye Vecna tricked him into taking, Falazure will no longer oppose Vecna for control of the claim to be the god of death. Vecna now seeks to kill The Raven Queen. When she is dead no one but Vecna will control the souls of the dead. He can create a never ending army of undead to sweep over the known planes. Once he has accomplished this he will become an all powerful god. Subservient to no one.

Bahamut tells Smallfang that Vecna is even now gathering shards of a long ago defeated primordial, one of the few objects that can kill a deity. Perhaps it is not too late.

The others stop their deliberations on whether or not to take on the remnants of Venca and replace them back into their separate bags of holding. Making sure that no one person is holding all the remnants, lest they be more easily taken.

Approaching the dais, they, one by one, enter the portal at the bottom of the sarcophagus.

Into Elemental Chaos

On the other side of the portal they find themselves in a plane of swirling clouds of red and orange. The black cracked rock they stand on floats in this vast sea of starless sky, along with a multitude of rocky islands that litter the sky around them. As they walk towards an odd feature in the sky they finally approach close enough to make out a large ship floating in the air. It is moored down by 4 massive chains which are anchored within a stronghold which resides on a far off rocky land floating off in the swirling mists of this plane.

Off to one side of the group, a great portion of the sky is dominated by a large spiraling vortex. The surrounding clouds, the color of fire and blood, twist and fall into the black of the center of the vortex. Judging by some of the rocks that slowly move around the elemental whirlpool, the elemental vortex must be enormous as well as far off.

They quietly approach the floating ship. It is made of dark wood and the swirly glow of some sort of energy emanates from multiple places on its deck above. Katya's Sword Of Kas grumbles from within its scabbard. He wishes to see what is going on. Katya reluctantly unsheathes the sword and tucks it beside her within her belt. The sword excitedly exclaims he is pleased to see they are on the Elemental Chaos and that, surely the swirling vortex off in the distance must be an entrance into the Abyss. The ship above is one of the few ways to navigate into the Abyss.

The Sword Of Kas, who refuses to answer by any nickname Katya attempts to give it, excitedly tries to convince Katya that their mission lies ahead, in the Abyss. For surely, that is where Vecna lies, unaware that his demise approaches closer and closer with each of the group's steps.

Aboard The Shevaithan

The group decides to board the ship and investigate. Rook flies straight up and moves cautiously near the railing. From there he drops a rope for some of the others. Hope casts fly on herself and Adrasteia. Katya and Smallfang climb up the rope. Once near the deck of the ship Rook and Adrasteia watch as they see two creatures, long limbed and bearing silvery armor, talking to each other. Rook casts comprehend language and he listens to the two creatures talk.

The two githyanki speak of the crew of the ship growing tired of waiting. The cargo is stowed and ready for transport. If it wasn't for the captain's weakness for flesh, they would be on their way by now. One of the gith, wonders aloud why they cannot take over the ship if the captain is unworthy. The other gives an exasperated sigh as he explains, as if to an idiot, that only the captain bears the crystal. Until the captain returns they can do nothing except wait.

As the two creatures leave, Rook and Adrasteia climb on deck. Rook casts an illusion to turn them into the images of the creatures they have just witnessed. They now look like githyanki.

They move about and see that upon the ship sits a large tiered structure, similar to a fortess, that stands in the middle of the large deck. At the stern of ship lies three teleportation cirlces and a fourth lies in the middle of the ship. Only the middle stern circle glows with arcane energy. Aft of the middle circle lies an enormous crystal orb of roiling red energy. It is suspended in the air by a series of ropes which cradle the orb. The orb has two sibling identical orbs to the starboard and port of the ship, each in their own cradle of thick ropes.

Rook and Adrasteia, freeze as they hear voices approach from a large staircase which descends from the fortress in the middle of the ship. Rook feigns muteness by showing the gith officers an illusion of a severed tongue within his mouth. The gith laugh heartily and move along. The two adventurers quietly call up the others.

The Battle For The Shevaithan
22,600 XP

The group gathers on the main deck of the ship and they investigate and debate their next move.

The Sword Of Kas shouts to Katya to turn around. Katya turns just in time to parry a silver sword slicing towards her as she sees several githyanki begin to surround the party.

Hope uses a burst of hypnotic pattern which dazes and stops a large part of the attacking party. Many githyanki stand motionless and useless. But this doesn't stop the others. Many of the githyanki jump vast distances to position themselves as they attack descending out of the air. Some jump from the railings of the fortress in the middle of the ship to descend upon the group.

Katya is soon dropped unconscious from one to many sword hits but is soon revived by Smallfang.

As the adventurers begin to whittle the numbers down, one being held by an illusory stockade breaks loose and breaks for the teleportation circle at the stern. Just as the teleportation circle is activating Smallfang charges ahead and tackles the gith. Both Smallfang and the gith are teleported away from the ship as the others wait nervously.

Arriving At The Death Gate

Smallfang and the gith reappear on one of the rocky outcrops floating in this world. They stand at the courtyard to the stone fortress to which the ship is anchored. Striding from the massive front gate is a red skinned balor. The balor stands 20 foot tall with wings which span the same as his height. At his waist is a flaming whip. He laughs as he sees the lone dragonborn come to stand in front of the balor guardian.

Smallfang immediately activates the teleportation circle once more and he stands again on the deck of the ship in front of his companions.

"Uh....there's a balor down there."

The Shrine Of Vecna

The group passes through the portal at the bottom sarcophagus and enters a vast stone building. The circle of stone archways lies in ruins around them. The portal they step through vanishing behind them in the center of the circle.

They move through the building finding almost no corner untouched by battle and ruin. Walls are crumbled into rubble. The central ring of stones is made up of mostly of only remnants of the great stone pillars. The rooms themselves have been mostly picked for any remaining items of value.

Two large wooden doors at one end of the vast room beckons but the group needs rest first. Each finds a place to secure a place to sleep as Rook prepares his usual mirage arcane, in case its needed.

Entering The Temple Of Vecna
32,200 XP

After resting, the group moves on to the large wooden doors at the end of the chamber. They are heavy but open easily with a loud groan. Inside is an ornate room. There are statues of a robed wizard posed imposingly in the four corners of the room. At the far end of the room is a raised dais upon which sits a beautifully carved sarcophagus. In the center of the room sitting upon a raised pedestal, is a statue of a monstrous creature, each of its four arms holding a massive long chain which collects at the base of the statue. Scattered around the room are massive amounts of bones.

As the adventurers move hesitantly further into the room, they tell each other to avoid going to close to the statue. They fear the statue is the source of the many bones around the room. They do not wish to add more bones to the collection.

A woman comes out from around the sarcophagus at the far end of the room. She is dressed in beautiful robes but her face is withered and dry. Her skin is shrunken and horribly stretched across the protruding bones under her flesh. She laughs when she sees Rook and she claps her hands in joy as she tells them she is glad that he has brought her the Eye Of Falazure. She is Osterneth, greatest servant of Venca. Together they shall return it to Vecna.

Rook tells them that he wont be accompanying her or giving her credit for the Eye. She pauses with a raised ratty eyebrow and casts a spell towards him. She tells him to kill his companions. The spell cannot take hold on Rook so she begins the utterance of another spell. As she does so the bones around the room begin to move towards each other, finally coalescing into a giant ball of bones which moves using its various hands and feet made of partial skeletons.

The massive corpse mound rolls towards the group and it flings sharp bones towards them hitting Katya and pinning her to the ground. As the corpse mound rolls over the others the boney hands and fingers try to grab onto them and pull them inside of the rolling death mound. As the group pulls themselves out of the rolling death mound, several bones drop out of the ball and rise to form zombies which harass the adventurers.

As the group moves into attack the central statue grinds to life as the statue begins to rotate faster and faster, its chains rising with the centrifugal force and they lash out at the group. Rook finds himself entangled in the chains and he is flung around the room. He is able to misty step out of the chain before it does too much damage.

Between Osterneth and the corpse mound the group is in dire straits.

Of Pixies and Polymorphs

Adrasteia summons 16 pixies which surround the corpse mound and Osterneth. The pixies fire polymorph spell after polymorph spell which hits both the mound and the mage. They are transformed into rats. Which are then are put to sleep, again, by the pixies. The rats are then easily picked up and tossed into one of the party's many bags of holding.

The group realizes that once the spell wears off the corpse mound will be too large to be held in the bag of holding....and that's ok. Once the bag is torn, the contents, including their enemies will be scattered into the Astral Plane. Too far away to do them any harm.

Flying up, Rook places the bag upon the top of the statue in the middle of the room. As the group watches expectantly, soon enough the bag ruptures, with a <phewp> and collapses on the head of the statue. They look look at each other with looks to say, "that was it?"

The Remnants Of Vecna

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Finally able to move about the temple, the group discovers that each of the four statues are of Vecna and on each of the statues there is a piece of Venca that replaces the corresponding body part. On one statue there is a desiccated, but real hand replacing the statue's hand. On another a foot. On another its a piece of scalp. On the fourth statue there is a place for a heart in the chest cavity but the heart is missing.

Smallfang approaches the statue with the hand. He pulls the hand off of the statue and holds in his own. It calls to him. He know now what he needs to do to acquire power. He must replace his own hand with this hand. Just as Rook had done with the eye. He pulls out his sword and prepares to perform the crude surgery.

The others, seeing this rush to him. Adrasteai, summons sea hags which are able to paralyze Smallfang and he is then polymorphed into a weasel. Katya takes the item from Smallfang as well as the others, being careful not to touch the items. She then places them in a bag of holding for safe keeping.

The Sword Of Kas

Katya then moves towards the dais upon which sits the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is ornately decorated with the image of Vecna carved in relief upon its lid. As Katya moves about she can hear voices coming from within the sarcophagus. She opens it and finds that there seems to be a portal again in the bottom of the sarcophagus as well as on the lid is a sword.

The sword speaks to Katya and tells her that she is now destined to be the one to kill Vecna...with it's help of course. It explains that they must travel to the Abyss to stop Vecna as he is planning to kill The Raven Queen. He wishes to be the sole ruler of death. Death shall cease to be the end. He shall create an army of undead. He has already tricked the god Falazure into trading eyes and through Vecna's tainted eye, has turned the dragon god insane. It is only with the power of Vecna can they remove the curse from Falazure and his eye.

As Katya picks up the sword of rush of power injuring her courses through her body and she is bonded to the sword.

The sword, the Sword Of Kas, swears that he and Katya shall not allow this to happen.

Katya isn't so sure of her new sword.

Through The Maze Of Portals

The group continues to inspect the ring of stone archways. They choose the portal that seemed the most peaceful, the one that seems to drastically change in seasons within just a few minutes of entering and leaving the plane, and Rook activates the portal between its towering stone pillars by pushing arcane energy into the stone's ancient and weathered runes. A shimmering and swirling silvery portal opens up and one by one the group passes through the portal.

They enter a different plane. It is a beautiful summer day. Blue skies. Green fields of grass surround the small hill upon which stands the same circle of stone archways. Far afield the group sees several horses moving about. The band of horses begins approaching as the group hails them over. As the herd moves closer the group realizes they are not horses but centaurs. The centaurs approach with one taking the lead. He stands easily at least a foot taller than the group as he enters the stone archway circle. He introduces himself as Balaphan.

A Peaceful World Created Out Of Evil 

The group asks questions about what his people know about this world. Balaphan tells them that stories tell of an ancient war where the evil Vetta had been chased from world to world. He had created this world to aid his escape but he was eventually slain and his land was allowed to remain, for the Chosen people had been found to be a loving and peaceful race. They, the Chosen, have lived in peace and harmony in this world for time beyond time. He welcomes them to rest and stay for however long they wish.

As Balaphan welcomes them the rest of the herd cheers and approaches. Each talking to a different adventurer as they have never seen the like of the group before. Each in the group is vastly different from any they have even heard of. Elves; Tabaxi; Dragonborn; Aarakocra (Rook's current form).As everyone becomes familiar with each other, the group notices that the centaurs seem to avoid approaching one of the stone archways. As the group looks they also notice that even the grass is ungrazed near that archway. They ask about the significance of that particular stone archway. They are told that they should not go through there. The portal has slept for time immemorial, and that is a good thing. Through there the dead are jealous of those with the spark of life.

As the conversation turns dark and eerie, the herd is silent as they remember those that left and never returned, through that portal. Rook scares the younger centaurs near him and when the young ones realize, one of them, Ropas, laughs at the others for being scared. As they herd leaves the group to rest on the hill among the stone pillars, Rook casts grease under the hooves of Ropas. As he slips and repeatedly falls and stumbles in his attempts to regain his footing, all the other centaurs laugh joyously. Ropas eventually, is able to begin to run off, tears streaming down his face in humiliation, but not before Rook can catch him.

An Evil Gift
2,000 XP
(for following the forced alignment change)

Rook, with an evil twinkle in his eye, offers Ropas a whip. Ropas, confused, asks what it is. Rook gives him a demonstraion of its ability to hurt and scare. Ropas eagerly takes the gift and after practicing a bit runs off.
After resting the group decides their best lead to continue is the stone archway portal, that the herd is afraid of. Rook begins to activate the portal, and after several minutes, the space between the stone pillars shimmers to life with a portal. Smallfang steps through first followed closely by the others, all holding hands.

Feeding Grounds For Ghouls
8,400 XP 
(partial only)

They enter a world that is grey and drained of most of its color. The shape of the world is twisted and odd, as if it were made of taffy and pulled in different directions. The ground is littered with corpses in various states of decomposition. As they look around they find bodies of various races with ancient armor rusted and rotted into hints of their former glory. Weapons too are strewn about with arrow heads with only traces of their shafts left in such abundance that any handful of earth carries with it at least one arrowhead. Obviously a great battle took place here. But time is funny and it the group cant tell how long ago, as some bodies look ancient while others look not long dead.As they begin to move about they notice something near a body on the far side of the stone archway circle. It is mostly hidden behind a body laying on the ground but it is obviously feeding off the body in some manner. They move cautiously but soon the creature notices them and it rises up into the air, a swirling mass of bones fragments and dust. It flies quickly through the air and settles back into a solid shape before them as it attacks. Rook casts an illusion of a large glass jar upended over the creature and then turns the illusion into reality. The creature bangs upon the inside of the jar again and again trying to escape. Unfortunately, two more of the creatures are alerted by the noise of battle and join in for the potential of a fresh meal.

The Death Of Lirath

The group is battered again and again by the swirling mass of bones fragments, that make up these ghouls. The groups collective life being quickly drained from them upon each attack. The group quickly realizes their dire predicament and make for a hasty retreat. One by one they break for the portal they had come from and dive through. Each make it to safety until there is just Smallfang and Lirath. As Smallfang makes it to the portal he turns to see Lirath, engulfed by two bonepowder ghouls as he dies a horrible painful death. Smallfang turns and jumps through the portal. Rook on the otherside is ready and smudges the runes on the stone to deactivate the portal before anything can come through.

As the group, still battered and disoriented, eventually take in their retreat and the death of  Lirath. They slowly get to their feet. The land around them has changed in the few minutes they have gone. It is now late fall. The air has a crisp chill and the ground is damp.

The Rise and Fall Of Ropas

Soon enough the centaurs return but they are different in more ways than one. Many of the centaurs the group recognizes as they hail the return of the "outlanders" but they seem unhappy and nervous and there is no sign of Balaphan. When the group asks about Balaphan the herd looks silently at one another nervously. It is not long before a younger brash centaur strides up to the group. It is Ropas. On his side he carries the whip that Rook had given him, the "day" before. Ropas is grown and carries the look of one who expects to be obeyed. The others give him, and his whip, wide berth.It does not take the group long to conclude that the change in the herd is from Ropas' abuse of power. The whip he was given, has lent him the power he had lacked before. Now he rules the herd under threat of whip. There was never death or life taking before. But since the life had left their former herd leader, Balaphan, the herd is now ruled under the sharp anger of Ropas. Rook takes no small amount of pleasure in witnessing this.

This does not sit well with Smallfang. The centaurs lived a life of peace and love before their intrusion. He must fix this. He singles out Ropas and challenges him to single combat. Ropas feels the pressure of the herd's anticipation as well as he feels that with the whip he cannot be beaten.Smallfang gives him a week to prepare.

Once the week passes the herd and the adventurers gather in a glen a little ways from the stone archway hill. The centaurs are nervous and not sure what either outcome of the battle will mean for the herd. Eventually both Ropas and Smallfang enter the ring of people and the fight begins.Of course it is not long before Smallfang has disarmed Ropas of his whip and Smallfang destroys the whip. Ropas is at a loss and as he looks around at the expectant faces of the other centaurs...he runs away. Once Ropas is dethroned as the leader, the group asks the herd what happened to Balaphan. They are told that it is suspected that he was fed the red untouchable berries and his life ended as a result.

Balaphan At Rest and a New Companion

Rook asks if someone could take him to see where the body of Balaphan was buried. He is told that they do not go there as they were told by Ropas never to speak of or see the body of Balaphan. It is hard to convince them to do so now. One centaur quietly pulls the group aside and tells them that he will show them the body of Balaphan. He tells them his name is Adrasteia.
Adrasteai takes them on a long journey that takes the better part of a day. They finally come to rolling hills which then drops off towards a large body of water. Just beyond the shoreline over the water is a hazy grey shimmer which fills the sky. It is the border of their world. Nothing is beyond but emptiness and loneliness. Near the shore they find a mound made from stones branches and earth covering, what they are told, is the body of Balaphan.

Adrasteia asks if he can accompany them when they leave. He wishes to see the world beyond. The group debates heavily on what to do next. The one way forward they know of seems to lead to near certain death, at the hands of the ghouls in that world. But eventually, it is decided to move forward anyways. They prepare to move as stealthily as possible as soon as they cross through to the next plane. They activate the portal and move through crouching down and staying near Katya to have her aid them in remaining hidden.

Rook moves towards the stone archway that they need to activate while the others take various hiding spots. But the portal's activation draws the attention of at least one of the ghouls. Seeing this Smallfang tosses a rock in the opposite direction, trying to distract the ghoul. It works allowing Rook enough time to activate the portal.

As soon as the portal is active the group dashes forward through it and never looking back.

A Dark Word and A Dark Friend
7,500 XP

The enter the next world. It is pitch black as they find themselves again in a similar circle of stone circles. This time there are two small dwellings in the center. Simple earthen and thatch houses. Rook sends his raven Allan to scout ahead. Through the eyes of the raven Rook sees on the opposite side of the dwelling, several bodies stacked in a pile. It is dark and hard to make out details but it is not a good sign.

Smallfang takes it upon himself to scout. He moves around the building and he too sees a collection of bodies just outside the door of one of the dwellings. As he passes the window opening of the first building he peeks inside and finds it is probably a stable for horses but nothing moves within. As he approaches the second building he peeks through the window opening for this one. He sees a table covered in blood and a counter with what appears to be body parts. In the far corner of the one room building is a shallow rectangular pit, dug into the earth. It is approximately the size of a grown man. Otherwise the dwelling is empty.

Soon they detect something coming towards them from outside the stone circle. They watch through the darkness intently as someone comes forward towards the dwellings. When he finally enters he sees the group and demands who they are and what they are doing here. The group draws their weapons and stands ready to fight. The creature draws its lips back in a sardonic smile exposing his fangs. The group hears the howls of many wolves which are running towards the stone circle from the woods beyond. The vampire waits for the wolves to finish off the group for him. It has been awhile since he's last been entertained.

Talking Themselves Out Of Trouble Again

The groups calls for a halt. The vampire stands puzzled but they convince him that they are not here for him. Their mission lies elsewhere. They are simply passing through. The vampire introduces himself as Corbin. He invites them into his dwelling to sit and talk.

The group asks Corbin what he knows of these worlds. He explains that during the war against the followers of Vecna, Vecna had created these worlds to slow his foes and he laid traps within most. Corbin has long ago been tasked with stopping those who would pursue and vanquish Vecna but that was many centuries ago. Corbin has a quiet life here with just enough sustenance. He desires little more. The group finally convinces him to tell them exactly where to go to find the Shrine Of Vecna, as they have something of his they wish to return.

Corbin lays out a map for them to guide them through the portals. As they approach the portal which will carry them forward towards Vecna, they ask if there is anything they should know about the next world. He simply says, as he walks away, that they should hold hands.

Smallfang steps through, the others behind him, each holding on to each other. The next world is completely empty, save for the stone archways in a circle. Around and beyond is a black void. The stones remain in their circle configuration, standing on nothing. As Smallfang steps through he is immediately disoriented by the complete lack of gravity. He begins to float away, held only by the hand of Rook behind him. One by one, each of them step through carefully holding on to each other and the stone archway that bore them here.

They soon get their bearings and find the archway they need. A rope is attached to a crossbow bolt and fired across to form a guide which they pull themselves across with. Some more graceful than others, Katya simply enjoying the experience.

Activating the portal and leaving this world behind they step through to the next plane.

Ice In The Air
12,500 XP

The next world is cold. The adventurers breath is turned to clouds of ice and the ground crunches with frost and snow beneath their feet.The same stone circle remains but the world is cold and they stand in a large shadow which takes up most of the interior of the circle. They look up and see that they are beneath a giant slab of ice which drops just as they look up.

The group leaps for safety but not before most of them are hurt horribly from the massive block of ice. It is then they see what was holding the slab, a huge white dragon. Frost and ice encrust its scales and horns. It looks old beyond reckoning, and it tells them that he is Kymynth, Eater Of Sheep and that they will not have Vecna for their prize.Thinking that outright battle with an ancient dragon might not be the best tactic, Smallfang steps forward and talks to the dragon. He introduces himself and tells the dragon, that they are in fact seeking out Vecna but to return something of great value that is his. This gives the dragon pause.After some negotiations, Kymynth agrees to let the party pass but they must sacrifice something valuable of theirs to him. The group debates quickly but cannot agree on anything. Kymynth sees their small dragon youngling which accompanies them. He will let the group pass if they leave the young dragon with him. Katya immediately yells out "never!" but the others have a plan. They have been trying to teach the young dragon some magic, which the dragon loves to practice. He has trouble with many of the spells due to their physical costs but the verbal ones he has been taught, he is capable with.

They whisper something to the young one and then turning to Kymynth, they tell him if that is what he demands then so be it. They say their goodbyes to their young friend and make their way through the next portal. One by one they all leave, Smallfang being the last. As Smallfang is about to step through he yells, "now!" and the young dragon uses misty step to escape the Kymynth's grasp and appears at the portal as they both escape.

A Tired Guardian
1,000 XP

They enter a dark world, illuminated only by an ethereal light shining down upon a white marble sarcophagus lying in the middle of the circle of stone archways. A elderly man sits beside the sarcophagus. He slowly rises as the group approaches.

He asks them who they serve. When they begin to tell him that they seek out Vecna he scoffs and will not let them pass. They tell him that they have killed the great ancient dragon, Kymynth and that if he thinks that he is stronger than that dragon then he can feel free to take them on. Otherwise, if he wishes to live, he should let them pass.The group proves quite convincing and the old man doesn't feel he could prevent a group that could kill Kymynth from doing as they please. He lets them pass.

They approach the sarcophagus and Smallfang pushes aside the top. Inside there is the familiar glow and shimmer of a portal at the bottom of the sarcophagus.

One by one they step through.