Session 098

Previous: Session 097; Next: Session 099

Start: 8th of Flosculus, noon, flying above Solithar's Spire with the assembled mages and Hydra Collective about to decide what to do in regards to the Ends of Empyrean.

With the threat of the constructs resolved, Liora Gentavar questioned Bill's Bimbos, asking if they recognized the constructs or knew why they had targeted their group. Aoife Sweeney shared their suspicions, that they were of Solithar in his attempt to retake the Infinite Scroll. Returning to the matter at hand, Bill's Bimbos discussed their opinions on the Ends of Empyrean and decided to support the notion of attempting to repair the barrier with the powers gathered here now. Noon came, and all the wizards and spellcasters of the group channeled their power through Maelith, whose glow increased to that of Solen itself. He raised his hands above his head, and the radiant singularity they conjured connected with Solen and began to repair the barrier. With all the spellcasters aiding, and some inspiration from Shell Silverstein and Arwa Hathspelt, the barrier was significantly repaired (40 ability check). With that, Maelith collapsed, and the group began to disband. 

Rosa Goethe left immediately, Dekalb Murkus took the opportunity of bringing the paralyzed Caen Zauber to lecture him on student safety as they returned to Astralreach Academy. Liora Gentavar thanked the party for their contributions and warned them of returning to Sedesend with their continued status as domestic terrorists (though she doubted the Goldguard could really do much to stop them regardless. She brought Maelith away to rest as well. Qafiali approached, and acted quite coy and mysterious about the book he'd taken from Caen Zauber, and congratulated the group on their influence of this ritual before bidding them adieu and disappearing. Mortain Donnaden and Cedahlia Ozmil stuck around but did not engage with the party, Shell Silverstein gave a warm greeting before heading off to Castle Darkstone for a Skallywag Squad reunion, and the remainder of the group convened in Magnus "Johnson" Thaumalor's office within Astralreach Academy.

Vijkastra Misseer was more relaxed and assured in her new station, and after some catching up, she and Arix returned to their work in the Iron City of Dis. Now, Bill's Bimbos, Azaetha Starstride, and Magnus "Johnson" Thaumalor delved into their suspicions of what was happening in the world as well as making a short rest to allow Aoife Sweeney and Nesdin to attune to the Far Soul and the Infinite Scroll, respectively. 

With the history of Al'tehrun as written by archmages of legend at his fingertips, Nesdin began to understand the contents of the Infinite Scroll. He read about the duel between Solithar and Ronin, which could barely begin as the Far Soul had reacted to the potential destruction and had sealed both wizards within itself to prevent Solithar's probable demise. Flipping ahead to recent entries, it was seen that Qafiali had not written anything in the book. On the other hand, Caen Zauber had over a decade of journal entries and notes. Primarily it was in the development of his own Enchantment magic and his work to discovering a new Power Word ("Control"). In his studies about enchantment magic and resistances, he wrote about discovering creatures with innate enchantment capabilities and were commonly resistant or immune to the effect - vampires. He had been at the helm of the excavation of Rivelish and it was the great castle found underneath the ice that seemed to hold a small population of vampire-type creatures and individuals. It was noted that one vampire-adjacent individual, one Drow named Rahadin, had been found frozen but alive, and was captured, imprisoned, studied, and experimented on before being discarded and sent to a peer of Caen's: the headmaster of the College of the Swan, Cygnus Klief.

He also read about another wizard of that time who Ronin seemed to be familiar with - the first champion of Duxen and pioneer of research into lichdom, Hieronymous. It was this name that connected in to Caen Zauber's writings about a tome he had discovered relatively recently, and studying his notes, it seemed made a profound impact on his psyche: the Book of Vile Darkness. It led him to great discoveries and development in his Enchantment research, and he largely passed over the Necromancy portions. Even still, the book influenced him to become more selfish and less concerned with safety or restraint. it seemed that his was the tome Qafiali had stolen, though to what end was unclear.

Researching further, Nesdin found many accounts through the centuries of archmages with the Infinite Scroll encountering other Codas and the individuals who wielded them. Along with those described by Falun Terani, there was also the staff of Zortea that was heavily associated with the Court of Oresco, Fate Twister. Additionally, they found writings about an item whose physical form was never consistently described, but had allowed magical tinkerers and artificers great leaps forward in technological development, known commonly as the Awe Inspirer.

Finally, looking for references about the Original Sin (Poison) and the Folding Halls within, there was a wizard who had discovered the demiplane and ventured inside, but the last entry was written just after navigating the maze chamber. The Infinite Scroll was rediscovered much later in a set of ruins within Wethucia.

The gang disbanded: Azaetha Starstride returned to Qir'ellan'alak to share her experiences with Xan'alith'alan, Magnus "Johnson" Thaumalor was given the journal Nesdin found in Caen Zauber's tower about the Volker Program to investigate it, and Bill's Bimbos headed out to Blooming Brew to check in on Bill Brouwen.

Opening the front door, Calliope mistakenly bashed Bill Brouwen, causing him to knock into a shelf and spill a slightly caustic potion on his head. Seeing him, they observed he was wearing an apron with the title "Assistant Brewer", and that Sheri Bluesum was at the register entertaining some orphans from next door. Bill Brouwen was worried about their arrival, but greeted them. They all regaled him with their recent adventures, and excitedly implied he would be coming along for their quest against Mother (this terrified him deeply). Sheri Bluesum laughed at the display, and egged him on too, pointing out his incredible development after his last foray into the underground with Bill's Bimbos. He pointed out he made some real potions which were on sale (Heroism, Invulnerability) as well as another faulty one (100 does of ClairBuoyance, which makes people named Clair float in water). The party told him they would be picking him up bright and early tomorrow morning, which he had no power to dissuade them. They party left, and Bill Brouwen dejectedly gathered his adventuring gear and his crossbow and single bolt for tomorrow morning (they will not return to pick him up, much to his relief when that time comes).

The gang decided to teleport over to Castle Darkstone and rest there for the evening, ready to pursue further leads across the realms tomorrow.

End: 9th of Flosculus, morning, after long resting in Castle Darkstone alongside all of the Skallywag Squad (except for Inazious the Inebriated), all of their pets, and Tar Runo who was left here to guard the pets.