Previous: Chapter 101: Carceri
The Final Rest
As the party walks inside the fortress, Kal decides to turn back around and heads over to the planetar again. She uses flash recall to prepare planar ally, then casts it, compelling the planetar to join them. The planetar looks down at Kal, calling her her full name, saying that they will aid, as it will be a way for them to return back to their home. Kal thanks the planetar, asking them what they are called. The planetar says she can call them Aphra. Kal greets Aphra, and asks if they want to join the party in the fortress for the night. Aphra says they do not eat mortal food, but will accept the company.
Safely inside the fortress, the party spends the rest of the day relaxing and preparing as best they can for the next day. Thistlethorn sends a prayer to Faunus, using sticks and rocks she’s picked up over the journey, to ask him to look over her family if she should not return. She doesn’t get a response back, but is sure that the message has gone through.
Kal takes out the Deck of Many Things, laying it out on the floor, asking Shehemis for any aid whatsoever for what’s coming the next day. Penny hears this, and plays a tune on Harmony, giving Kal a bardic inspiration. It seems to work, as the deck suddenly shuffles itself, before another card materializes on top of it. They all look at it, worried about Shehemis’ trickery, but Penny declares the pull, taking the card, revealing it to be the card that can erase one event as if it never happened. She immediately uses it to remove the curse of bad luck she has been plagued with for some time.
Towards the end of the night, the party partakes in a heroes’ feast for one last time, before going to sleep and rest. Aphra sits on the floor polishing and sharpening their sword, wanting the party to rest, as they don’t need to. The next morning, Aphra is standing in the open doorway, looking out at the pedestal which marks the prison of Vuthul. They ask if the party is ready, which they nod to. Aphra then says “then let us go and finish this beast.”
Elmroot summons Master Elk, Lord Elk and Wolfsleigh from the gray bag of tricks. Relic and Penny have both used their wish the previous evening to cast mind blank on themselves, while Kal uses stormseeker to summon a storm above them. Thistlethorn wild shapes into a giant eagle, flying around the pedestal in anticipation. Aphra is walking ahead, and stops next to the pedestal, waiting for the party to make their move.
The party sees the outline of Vuthul deep beneath the ice, and sees the slot for the Key on the pedestal. Penny puts her hand in the bag of holding, pulling out the Key, hearing the whispering from Vutuhl return as her skin touches the metal, but is not influenced by them anymore. She places the Key in the slot, and it immediately merges with the pedestal.
Beneath them, the gold, silver and platinum from the pedestal expands outwards like roots on a tree, filling the entire area beneath them with liquid metal that expands further and further down. It then suddenly vanishes, as the whole area collapses, causing those who are unable to fly to fall to the depths below, but Relic uses a feather fall to slow their descent, and then summons a crown of stars when they land.
As they land, the large figure of Vutuhl stirs, as he rises to his feet, revealing his form to be around 4-5 meters tall. He stretches, and immediately scratches a point on his back, remarking that he’s been wanting to scratch that itch for about a thousand years. The party just looks at him, ready to pounce, but Vuthul offers them a choice, allowing him to go free, and in return he will spare their families and friends, but oppose him, he will make an example of everyone they love, stringing their flesh across every city to show what happens when you oppose him. Aphra, who can discern truth, confirms that the offer is real, but the party declines, saying that his reign of terror ends now. Vuthul smiles, then says “so be it.”
Showdown
As the battle begins, Thistlethorn takes to the skies in eagle form, casting Investiture of Storms and invoking the Blessing of Udall. Vuthul reacts immediately, lashing out with necrotic energy at Thistlethorn, Kal, and Aphra, but then Aphra steps forward, blade in hand, and strikes at Vuthul, but only manages to hit him once. Penny follows up with a devastating shot from Harmony, finding that it penetrates Vuthul’s magical resistance.
Vuthul shifts the battlefield, warping reality around them. A pulse of negative energy strikes the group, Kal and Relic are hit the hardest and are teleported right in front of Vuthul, while Peny and Aphra both manage to resist some of the damage. The area around them releases negative energy, causing Relic, Lord Elk and Wolfsleigh to become exhausted.
Relic blinks through the chaos with Misty Step, sending a searing lightning bolt into Vuthul’s side. In response, Vuthul turns invisible. Wolfsleigh runs over next to Kal, trying to bite at where Vuthul was standing a second before, but doesn’t manage to make contact. Kal decides to cast Holy Aura, shielding the party in divine light, and summons the blessing from Udall on herself. Lord Elk charges forward as well, ready to fight the invisible god.
Thistlethorn shifts form again and calls down lightning where Vuthul vanished. Vuthul tries to absorb the spell, but Thistlethorn manages to resist, causing the spell to bypass his resistances. She summons a bear totem in the snow to grant the party a fair amount of temporary health, but Vuthul suddenly appears, exploding with a burst of necrotic energy, damaging everyone around him. He then lashes out at Penny, Relic, and Thistlethorn, causing Penny to lose a spell slot. Relic blocks the blow with Shield, while Thistlethorn takes a hard hit, but manages to resist Vuthul draining her magic.
Vuthul teleports to higher ground, taunting the party, asking “is this really the best the gods had to send?” Aphra answers with radiant bursts of holy energy, but Vuthul just stands in the light, smiling. He strikes at Relic again, who uses another shield to deflect the beam of entropy. Penny sends a Conjure Volley at him, landing the blow and then teleports further away from the enemy.
Vuthul tries to counterattack with another attack directed at Penny, but she manages to dodge out of the way. The lair flares again, causing Penny, Wolfsleigh, and the elks to feel a burning sensation inside their chests, draining some of their vitality. Relic, unfazed, channels a lightning bolt at the god, who tries and fails to absorb it, causing him too to bypass the resistance. Vuthul hits back with a force wave, nearly killing Master Elk. Kal sends out a Guiding Bolt, marking Vuthul for the next attacker. The summoned beasts hold their position, staring him down, as he is beyond their reach on top of the rocks surrounding his prison.
Thistlethorn gets hit by Vuthul and is knocked out of wild shape, but Relic saves her from the fall. Vuthul turns his full fury on Kal, who’s aura is helping the party resist Vuthul’s attacks, striking her three times in a row, but she holds steady through the pain, maintaining concentration on the holy aura. Aphra lands another holy burst, while Penny fires again, still chipping away the gods vitality. Shadows reach for her from below, but she shakes them off.
Relic activates his staff’s arcane potential, casting a disintegrate beam at Vuthul, but he casually steps out of the way, causing the beam to hit the side of the ice wall, taking out a large chunk of it. Kal is hit again. She looks up at the god, mocking him about his daughter being killed by the party. Vuthul doesn’t take it well, hammering her with more attacks.
Thistlethorn changes her bear totem into a hawk and throws a storm javelin, but Vuthul catches it midair and absorbs its power. He then uses the energy to attempt to unmake Kal. Her concentration breaks, and the holy aura fades. Aphra rushes in, slicing at Vuthul again. Penny gives Kal a bardic boost and takes another shot at the god.
The lair tries to restrain Kal, Penny, and Thistlethorn, but only Thistle is caught. Relic fires off a disintegrate. Vuthul tries to absorb it but fails. The spell hits hard, burning a hole in the robe of the god, followed by a mote from his crown of stars, hitting true. Vuthul retaliates, slamming the party with another force blast and teleporting Kal, Penny, and Master Elk away from the others.
Kal quickly flies back towards the center of the prison, using a watery step to teleport the rest of the way back, using her 9th level spell to resummon the holy aura. The storm above rumbles with renewed energy, powering up her spear who longs to fight the evil god.
Thistlethorn uses her watery step to escape her restraint and tries to strike again, but Vuthul absorbs another storm javelin. He teleports to the center of the valley and releases a wave of entropy. The blast hits everyone, causing Master Elk to disintegrate. Aphra returns fire with more holy bursts, while Penny lands another shot and uses Mass Healing Word to patch up the party.
Vuthul reaches out his hand towards Penny, who tries to resist, but she suddenly disappears, reappearing 100 feet above the ground, and then immediately begins to fall. Luckily for her, her feather fall token activates, slowing her fall, much to the annoyance of Vuthul, who glares at her slow descent.
Relic hits him with a fireball, following up with more radiant energy from his crown of stars, while Kal Watery Steps closer, trying to stay in range. Vuthul continues his assault, continuing to focus on Kal. He tries to unmake her, but she manages to resist the worst effects. Aphra releases another flurry of strikes from her blade, but only gets one solid hit in. With that strike, Vuthul breathing grows more labored, and the party realizes that the time has come.
Penny teleports right behind Vuthul, taking out Soulkiller. She holds it up to her face, whispering a name into it.
The whole plane shakes from the release of Vuthul’s true name, and the god freezes, looking back at Penny with a face of both rage and surprise. “Impossible!” he screams, as Penny lunges the sword into his leg. The necrotic energy spreads throughout his body, causing black lines to spread out from the wound, as the god has been weakened.
Vuthul freezes. “No. It’s time we end this,” he snarls. His whole body begins to shake, as his robes tear away, revealing tentacles which burst out from his skin. His face distorts, splitting open as a massive toothy maw appears, while he grows into more than twice his height. The beast, the devourer, roars, as the party realizes that he just became even more dangerous.
Relic steps into the aura, striking at Vuthul with an attack, causing Vuthul to run towards him, slamming him with a crushing blow and flings him across the battlefield. Wolfsleigh lunges and gets one last hit in before Vuthul tears him apart with one of his tentacles. Kal strikes him hard, Stormseeker crackles as she delivers a lightning-charged blow, but he slams her back and grabs hold of her. Lord Elk strikes at the god, finally getting a good hit in.
Thistle changes her totem to a unicorn totem, and then casts a 9th-level Mass Cure Wounds. The Devourer lashes out with tentacles, hitting Aphra and Penny, grabbing hold of them with his tentacles, then smashes Lord Elk, who miraculously still stands. Thistle dodges the final blow. Finally, Vuthul pulls Kal closer, trying to swallow her. The teeth bite down around her, but she activates her shield tattoo, causing a bubble of energy to stop the maw from making contact with her. Enraged, he screams at her, releasing a barrage of spit and foul smells.
Aphra tries to attack, but is having much difficulty landing a blow since they’re restrained. Penny tries to strike Vutuhl with a Psychic Lance, finding him to no longer be resistant to magic. The prison rumbles once more, draining Aphra from some more of their vitality. Relic casts a fireball at Vuthul, then teleports away from his reach.
Kal calls down fire with Firestorm, then slips from Vuthul’s grasp. In a desperate attempt, she activates her sands of time, granting her some more time, then slams her spear into the ground, making a desperate plea from her god.
“Udall Grant upon us Thee divine intervention: Rejuvenate the winds of our souls and grant us the might to defeat this fucktard.”
A lightning bolt appears from the sky, striking Stormseeker, which in turns sends out a burst of rejuvenating energy at all of Kal’s allies, granting them all the benefits of a long rest, recharging all their abilities, healing them all fully.
Thistlethorn casts Sunburst at the god, burning Vuthul with divine energy. He then makes new tentacle attacks at Kal, Penny and Relic, grabbing hold of them all, pulling them closer to him. Once more, he tries to swallow Kal, but through sheer determination, she manages to hold back the teeth, stopping him from devouring her.
Aphra tries to break free from the tentacles, but he’s too powerful. Penny uses another psychic lance at Vuthul, but he uses his last strength to resist the attack, causing the party to realize that victory is near. New shadowy shackles emerge from the ground, grabbing hold of Thistlethorn. Relic summons a volley of meteors from the sky above, slamming them into Vuthul, who takes one straight to the face, causing massive damage. Kal follows up with a strike from Stormseeker. Throwing it through the air at the god, a lightning bolt from the storm above shoots down, driving the spear harder into her prey, striking him hard, causing him to stagger.
Vuthul lashes back with a brutal slam and grabs hold of her once more. Thistlethorn uses another watery step to avoid Vuthul’s tentacles, and then fires a sunburst from her hands, striking at the god. Vuthul lashes out at the whole party, hitting Penny, Relic, Kal, grabbing hold of them all. He then once more tries to devour his main target, Kal, who tries, and fails, to resist, causing her to be swallowed whole. Her holy aura, now contained inside him, cannot aid the party any longer.
Aphra retaliates with radiant bursts at the god, hitting him twice, since he now is having a harder time resisting the magic. Penny steps forward, holding the knife. She utters a single command:
“Rot in the soup you crawled out of.”
She releases a word of power, aimed at the god. The light suddenly disappears from his eyes, as Kal is violently ejected from his maw, landing on the cold ice. Vuthul begins to shrink, dropping everyone from his tentacles. In the end, he lies on the ground, small, broken, and laughing. He utters his final words.
“I still win.”
Suddenly, Vuthul explodes in a burst of energy that envelops the party, and then continues onwards into infinity. The god is dead. The day is won.
Aftermath
The party suddenly feels a shill down their spines, and then senses the terrible meaning of his final words, as several of their magical items begin to lose their power. Relic feels that the weave itself has been wounded by the cataclysmic event that just happened, sensing that magic itself will never be the same again. The party looks at each other, incredulous at their feat of defeating one of the most dangerous creatures that have ever existed.
Aphra comes walking over to them, declaring that the deed is indeed done. As they finish the sentence, a shimmering light appears at the center of the prison. A crack of energy in space appears, opening up to reveal a gate back to the material plane. Looking around, they spot a solitary piece of cloth, the only remaining part of Vuthul, stuck on one of the stones, fluttering in the storm. Relic and Thistlethorn look at each other. She nods, causing Relic to light it on fire, erasing the final part of their enemy.
Tired, and done with the place, Penny walks through the portal, followed closely by Relic. Thistlethorn and Lord Elk follow after them, with Thistlethorn standing in the opening, waiting for Kal, who walks over to Aphra, thanking them for their help. Aphra thanks her in return for allowing them to finally go home, wishing a desire to see them all again. Kal hopes so too, and then watches as Aphra looks up to the skies above, flying up, back to their own home, finally.
Kal turns to the portal, and walks through it to join the rest of her friends. They realize that they have emerged a few miles away from Rivergrounds, where their whole journey started. There is still darkness, but shortly after, the horizon begins to light up, as the sun slowly becomes visible, coming to full strength after a few seconds. The party stands in the field of grass, looking upon the sun, signaling their victory.
Penny suddenly gets a sending from Morgan.
“I assume this means you did it?”
She answers him, smiling.
“Yes, I believe we did.”