Paladirzt 18^th, 951

• The Peas came face to face with Inglis Alexandar, surrounded by many members of the Divine Branch
  • Breaking a staring contest, Inglis held his shining sword aloft, sending out a blinding light that removed all glamours, revealing Phaelnah’s true form and reverting Seamus back to normal
    • The crown quickly removed itself after Seamus changed back, and he removed the amulet as well
  • The party attempted diplomacy at first but Inglis wouldn’t have any of it, listing off various misdeeds the party has done, and declaring he would not play the fool any longer
  • Among Inglis’ accusations was that the party had assisted devils conduct their evil across the land, including delivering an ancient artifact to the Jackal, bringing implements of corruption to Peralas, destabilizing Hymathel with a demon, and opening the way to something precious in the Tomb of Zelvass.
  • Inglis expressed his disbelief towards the party being able to enter the tomb, as it required someone who had the Blood of Zelvass to open.
• No longer interested in talking, the Peas engaged the Divine Branch in a confusing, chaotic battle
  • Low on health and still hoping to settle matters peacefully, the party did not engage as Inglis burned them with radiant energy.
  • Confused, the Divine Branch members did not immediately attack, and the battle started to de-escalate with the druids attempting to simple tie up the party
    • Phaelnah attempted to persuade Inglis alongside an illusion of the symbol of Aeltra conjured by Wander, casting Aeltra’s Healing
    • Inglis faltered, and the druids began to restrain the party non-violently
    • Phaelnah attempted to persuade Inglis, speaking of the Nightblight
  • Soon, the earth began to churn and the sky grew dark as devilish legions began to march out of a crevasse in the ground
  • Phaelnah and Leadbelly, who were wearing their enchanted items from Peralas, were suddenly assaulted by them, losing out to a wisdom save as the tendrils from the items drilled into their bodies
    • The two gained a surge of strength from the items, refilling their hit points
    • They gained a great bloodlust towards the elves, allying themselves with the devils
    • Seamus noticed the tendrils coming from his bow, and he threw it to the side
  • Steeling his resolve, Inglis began to hit the party with his full power as the rest of the Divine Branch began to attack
  • The devils continued to pile out of the hole, clashing with a perimeter made by some of the Divine Branch
    • Eventually, a large devil holding a spellbook emerged, cackling as it obliterated the elves with bizarre magic
    • Smaller clones of the large devil took the elves out in exploding attacks as they died
  • All the archers missed their shots
  • The druid Lesh’van attempted to restrain the party further, but eventually turned his attention to the devilish threat
  • Tyerjon tried his best to restrain Leadbelly, but the dwarf (FOR ONYR) traded a few blows with Inglis regardless, who began to smite him in return
  • Phaelnah began wildly lashing out at the elves, sending unfocused spells across the battlefield
  • Journey casted Dimension Door across the battlefield to address an elderly elf, Maelasha, who was attacking her with elemental magic from a distance
    • Maelasha warned Journey that she did understand what powers she was meddling with, but the tiefling instead decided to take the crystals on the woman’s staff for herself, eventually succeeding in acquiring an orange crystal, giving her the power of force
  • Seamus began to do what he does best and began to fight with some of the Divine Branch skirmishers as well as Yuleyan
    • As the battle progressed, Seamus downed Yuleyan with a powerful blow, carving a grievous gash across her face, down her neck and into her chest
  • Wander, still wishing to talk this out, made multiple attempts to dissuade Inglis from attacking before finally plunging his Ashen Talon into the cleric’s side, after encouragement from Etarus and seeing Inglis attack Phaelnah.
    • The dagger stayed stuck for a moment before Wander was able to pull it out
  • As Inglis downed Leadbelly (the famous folk singer), Phaelnah brought him back up, but at this point the dwarf was suddenly in control of his senses, freeing himself from the vines holding him with herculean strength
    • Thinking fast, Leadbelly tore the shoes off his hooves, and axed the squirming tendrils until they ceased movement
  • Tyerjon managed to pull the patch off of Phaelnah, ripping the tendrils out of her body, but causing her to regain her senses
  • With a few choice words from Wander and Phaelnah, Inglis silently turned away from the party and began to lead the Divine Branch to clash against the invading devils
• As the battle raged, a towering spirit of the forest slowly approached the party, gigantic in size
  • The Divine Branch began to route the demons as they followed behind Inglis, but suddenly, the cleric turned around and began destroying his own people
  • The Divine Branch devolved into chaos, attacking randomly and falling to the power of the bolstered devils
  • As the devils advanced, the party began to notice yet another presence converging on the battlefield, a group of masked figures in dark clothes
  • A magically inclined assassin apparently commanded a flying wooden turkey, and sent it crashing through the skull of a Divine Branch ranger as they laughed
  • Even though Wander attempted to stop the giant spirit with a Grease spell, it steadily moved forward towards the battle undeterred, absorbing people into its mass as it grabbed them with its many arms
  • After a member of the Divine Branch knocked off the mask of an assassin, Seamus’ repressed memories surfaced, and he recognized the face of the man who killed his parents, with 5 scars in the shape of a star on his face.
    • The man thoughtlessly killed various people as he bee-lined towards Seamus, and the furious half elf met him head on, unleashing the stored necrotic energy in Voidspeaker, who was more than happy to draw blood
    • The assassin answered back with blood, downing Seamus and tearing into his unconscious body, pushing him to the verge of death
    • Despite Tyerjon restraining Maelasha, Journey attacked the assassin with a Mindspike to assist Seamus
    • Wander stood over Seamus’ unconscious body in an attempt to protect him from further danger
    • Tyerjon pulled Seamus out of danger and stabilized him as Phaelnah got him back on his feet
    • Journey took the big assassin down, and the caster assassin opened a Dimension Door and escaped with him
  • Leadbelly attempted to communicate with the team, but everyone was off doing their own crazy thing, so he sliced some guy’s arm off
  • With Lesh’van, Yuleyan, and most of the Divine Branch taken care of, Inglis and the devils turned their attention towards the giant spirit, creating large gashes in its form as it began to leak a dust-like energy into the sky
    • The spirit began to pick up any living creature it could, disintegrating them into pure energy
    • Phaelnah casted a Dimensional Tendril on the form of the spirit, ripping into it with insane damage, constraining it and Inglis
    • Freed from the grasp of the spirit but still held in the air by the tendrils, Inglis got to work smiting the apparition was the vines and flowers across his armor began to wilt
    • Wander sent a well-shot arrow through a bulk of energy in the spirit, deflating it as the energy escaped into the sky, leaving behind a growth of mushrooms
  • The surviving members of the Divine Branch hid out in the tomb entrance, scared of what Inglis had become
• Albeit alongside devils, the group started to see the tides turned as the number of assassins and Divine Branch thinned out
  • Journey went for Maelasha’s crystals, freezing her with a Cold Snap
  • Lesh’van sent out a wave of healing energy
  • NO WITNESSES! Leadbelly dropped his axe in a botched attack as Tyerjon polished off the kill
  • Nearby Seamus a small, barely noticeable mote of fire appeared
  • Drawing the connections, Wander peered out into the forest and spotted everyone’s best friend, Mardyth
  • Phaelnah blasted Mardyth with a Nightseeker’s Blessing straight out of the gate, paralyzing him
  • Journey got two more crystals from the unconscious Maelasha, earning a dark blue one and a light green one
  • Tyerjon directed Lesh’van down into the Roomy Chest, alongside Yuleyan and another Divine Branch skirmisher
  • The mote of flame exploded, catching Seamus and Tyerjon
  • A booming yell thundered across the battlefield as Arghan Highmaker Athuniano flew out of the treeline and beat the face of the large devil in with his Warhammer, pulverizing its skull into pulp
  • Facing Inglis alongside Gresely and Gruggly, the two powerhouses began to trade blows, Inglis weakened somewhat by his battle against the spirit
    • Wander sent a Screamtongue arrow through Arghan, but the goliath resisted it
  • Seamus entered the Roomy Chest to go find Razodon, and also ensure he wasn’t murdering the Divine Branch as Tyerjon stood guard
  • Leadbelly ran up at full speed to Mardyth, who had already ignited his flames, his hand twisted into a flaming spike, downing Leadbelly
  • Wander convinced Arghan to take the Orc Ham Razor, but it seemed to have a minimal effect because of his low intelligence, and he just used the cleaver to continue hammering on Inglis
• Seamus finally re-emerged from the chest, bringing Razodon with him
  • Maelasha accused Journey of being cursed, making old woman noises
  • Mardyth began to focus on Phaelnah as she and Journey engaged him
  • Razodon, with the assistance of a magic ring, flew over to where Mardyth was standing over the dead Leadbelly and let loose a fireball
  • Inglis and Arghan continued their mudfight, with Inglis nearly falling to the cleaver. Gruggly and Gresely dispelled the magic controlling Arghan, leading to him dropping the cleaver and engaging Inglis with his fists
  • Tyerjon and Seamus ran in to engage Mardyth, attempting to box him in
  • Maelasha broke the earth apart, sending a quick moving flow of water down through the environment
  • Phaelnah rushed back over to Leadbelly
  • Journey kept herself from being swept away, saving Phaelnah’s creepy patch with her Mage Hand
  • Razodon wracked Mardyth’s mind with a powerful spell
  • Mardyth pierced into Seamus, downing him, and then stabbing him again
  • Tyerjon, cutting into the fiery man, saw the second rune on Frosthold light up, apparently charged by Mardyth’s power. He cut into Mardyth with his new power, blinding him with mist
  • Wander sliced into Mardyth, nearly killing him, and Maelasha joined in, completely confused
  • Arghan and Inglis continued to go at it
• Rushing over to Leadbelly, Phaelnah placed her hands upon his lifeless body and casted Revivify, plant life growing up around her and completely covering the dwarf
  • Soon, Leadbelly sat up, breathing the painful air of life
  • Journey brought Seamus back from the brink of death, and he immediately wanted to get back into the fight
  • Razodon summoned a giant ribcage from the ground, pinning down Mardyth and tearing open his chest, revealing a tiny sun, the source of his power
  • As soon as the flowers and ivy receded, Leadbelly heard the voice of his god booming in his mind: FORGE
  • Rushing over to the pinned Mardyth with hammer, axe, and ore in hand, Leadbelly deftly went to work reforging his axe using Mardyth’s sun-like power source
• The group took a breather while Razodon caused untold agony to Mardyth
  • Wander conferred with Inglis, and he advised the tiefling to “use what he gave him”
  • He asked Wander for Ashen Talon back, but Wander refused, and Inglis (Etarus) attacked him, downing him quickly
  • Tyerjon rushed the paladin, downing him with a terrifying strike and causing him some internal trauma
  • Seamus disarmed Inglis, giving Phaelnah his sword and staff as Tyerjon stabilized and woke up Wander, who stood up and punched the unconscious Inglis in the face
  • Seamus took Inglis’ enchanted armor, but could not wear it currently with his arms the way they were, tossing it in the Bag of Holding
• Wander drained some vials of Inglis’s blood, casting Infernal Library
  • Wander offered information about Tarisi, and the library returned with information about how to kill a child of Erudia, by sacrificing him to the “void”, freezing him with Patalir’s ice, cutting him with the Nophian scythe, feeding him to the old thought phages, or simply leaving him to age to death
  • Additionally, Wander used his extra time with the ritual to discuss removing a devil from a body, offering his knowledge about the ley lines and what the party experienced
    • Wander learned about Talon Bonds, and learned that someone would need to enter the plane of the controlling devil, and also that the host of the bond would have been to the hells before
  • With a little bit of prodding, Phaelnah decided to use her Extract Being spell on Mardyth, tearing the energy out from his core, and distributing it to the party
  • With his core depleted, Mardyth’s body became decidedly human, with his spike arm turning into flayed strands of flesh
    • Razodon released his spell and calmly took off his clothes as he transformed into a Rakshasa, tearing into Mardyth and consuming his flesh in revenge for his brother.
• With Mardyth finally dead, and all other threats taken care of for the time being, the group took a small breather
  • While sitting out the adrenaline, the party made conversation with Razodon as Wander looted the battlefield
  • He spoke to the party about the Shadow Guard, an organization used by the Sanarian Government to stamp out any remnants of the Zelvass bloodline. He confirmed that one would need the blood of an heir to enter the Tomb of Zelvass.
    • Wander commented that there were now 3 nobles in the party
  • Razodon spoke of Eilon Terix, speaking of his underhanded nature, and suggesting that the assassins might have been sent by him.
  • Razodon spoke of the power of the sigil, and told the party that it was the key to many things still lying throughout the kingdom
    • Seamus almost ate the sigil
  • Wander spoke to the group about Etarus inhabiting Inglis’ body, which meant that at some point, Inglis had been to hell
  • Razodon noted that Vetraxu had been active lately in Madrioc, worried about Etarus
    • Additionally, he mentioned the group knew who Burvakos
  • Leadbelly got Journey’s rope
• Wander went around collecting the thrown items from Peralas, grabbing the mushrooms that grew from the spirit, a band and book from the large devil, restocked his arrows, got some books, some suicide pills,
  • Journey and Tyerjon hacked the tendrils off of their items from Peralas, but Wander’s was not affected
• The party re-entered the Tomb of Zelvass, hoping to use its protective wards to keep them safe from more threats
  • The group closed the door behind them by using a Darkness spell on the crystal
  • Making their way to the room of Mavenla of the Flowers, the group took a well-deserved long rest
• Waking in the morning, Wander and Seamus headed to On’vyal’s library with two more books, the The Truth About Clouds and Phaelnah’s book on gods, and traded them out for the final two volumes of On’vyal’s studies of life alchemy
  • Seamus traded the smut he borrowed from Journey for a book on the Zelvass family bloodline.
• Wander spent a chunk of time Identifying the many items the party had gotten a hold of, including the Staff of Silence, the very nice hat, Vantradil (the sword from the Collector Knight), Darkvire Gloam (the armor of the Collector Knight), the Collector Helm, Dragovanes, Sindalien’s Strength, the Quaking Crystal, Soulcaster, and the Glorious Crown
  • He began to investigate the other items as the session came to a close
• Phaelnah took aside the possessed Inglis, bringing him to the shrine of Aeltra she had previously consecrated within the tomb

Gripping Dragastir firmly in her hand, the staff spoke directly to her mind, introducing itself while belittling her ability to communicate

mange