Shian Sat Campaign Log

[Zyraen]

17.2 Successful Rescue
22-Sep-13 (Sunday)[/b]
The Heroes followed the directions provided and located a cove under a cliff that opened into the Silt Sea, where they found crates of military supplies, and a single trapped chest with many small and fully charged soulgems. They were busy splitting the small gems up and did not notice that a strange ship partly made of bone from a gargantuan creature had arrived in the cove and discharged guards who started carrying the crates on board.
Fortunately they were around the corner and managed to tactically surprise the enemy and rush onboard the strange vessel before being hemmed in by guards. Each guard that was brought down exploded into two familiar looking Abyssal Plague Swarms (see 12.0-12.3), though by now the Heroes were too potent for the swarms to be a real threat. These were joined by a large pincered demon creature similar to what they encountered earlier as well (see 12.1), but enhanced with the jagged obsidian bone spikes like the golem in Tyr. Thanks to the narrow confines within the vessel and the area damaging powers used by the Heroes, the enemies could not press their numerical advantage before falling.

As the vessel seemed to pull away and sink down into the Silt Sea, the heroes subdued most of the rest of the crew with relative ease. In the back of the vessel they found a gigantic artificial dome like structure, the lowered ground bathed in acid and elevated sealed off huge metallic cylinders that each emanated intense waves of psychic and necrotic energies. One cylinder was in the centre of the room, while four other cylinders stood amidst the acid, protected by black leather clad agents that were perpetually blurred, and teleported about while firing at the Heroes. The Heroes found the magically sealed cylinders held the divided portions of a shadowy dragon that radiated intensely damaging psychic, necrotic energies, likely the Night Dragon form of Kalid-Ma that they sought. Without ranged attacks, the Heroes had little choice but to brave the acid and the pounding, devastating attacks of the Agents to try and figure out the arcane runes on the cylinders and get them open to seize the pieces of the Dragon. Those that took hold of the pieces were first burned by the intense necrotic energies, before being overtaken by its dark will as it forcibly brought them back across the acid to the cylinder in the middle of the room, whose multiple wards started to fade away with every piece added. The Tyrian Agents soon found the horror of attacking Heroes joined to Kalid-Ma's form as in retaliation, the dark limbs of the dragon unleashed waves and bolts of dark energy on them, killing one of them and later on bloodying two for their attacks, but nonetheless they fought valiantly to try and stop the madness.

With the strong healing by the party though, the Heroes eventually gathered all the four pieces up in the centre, causing the final wards on the central Cylinder to tear apart as the head of the Night Dragon was revealed laughing manically as its form solidified up under it. With a flick of its claws, it killed two other Tyrian Agents with bolts of dark energy, and the last one survived to teleport away. The Night Dragon laughed with glee, black scales glowing blood-red, emanating waves of dark energy that filled the chamber that once imprisoned it, though it generously offered to spare the Heroes as thanks for freeing it.

Characters (Players) - 66E (Even) / 62% XP 23 in 2 Sessions
Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 1 / 3 XP 23
Level Up! - Hadarai+ (Rubern) : 2 / 3 XP 22
Level Up! - Quinn+ (Yi Jeng): 1.5 / 3 XP 22
Ardent (Shaun) : 2.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Varius (Jeth) : 1.5 / 3 XP 22
AFK - DM-Jit Babo (Andy): 1.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Alex* (Alex Liang) : 0.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Argon** (Alex Kong) : 0 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Mage* (Andre) : 3 / 4 XP 20
AFK - Zedd* (Chien Hsiang) : 3 / 4 XP 20
New Char XP : 2.5 / 4 XP 19

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP
** - played 1 level higher in the past, hence the next Encounter treated as 1 level lower.
+ - retroactive half session XP for out-of-table RP. awarded on 13 Oct.

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 22: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 20 / 19 respectively.
Two Encounters completed.

Party Treasure
3x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis, Elhan?)

Individual Treasure
+18,500 Gp to Sylvannas, Hadarai, Quinn, Ardent

[Zyraen]

Shaun's Rendering of the inside of the Vessel where pieces of the Night Dragon was stored in Cylinders.
i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/zyraen/Shian/nuke-sub_zps4f441135.jpg

[Zyraen]

18.0 The Return of the King
29-Sep-13 (Sunday)[/b]
Realizing that the Night Dragon would not listen to them, the Heroes took out the Orb that Thakok-An gave to them. Initially the Dragon ignored the Orb as well, then a huge black arm reached out of the Orb to seize hold of the Dragon, shattering the Orb but granting it some control over the Dragon. The creature then flew the Heroes out of the depths of Silt Sea and back to Kalidnay, where it located a Shadowfell rift through which they beheld a huge black clawed humanoid - the Nightwalker. The Night Dragon then attempted to draw the Nightwalker into Athas, but then the Heroes shattered the Black Diamond Kistarra had given them. This created a vortex of souls that disrupted the Dragon's ritual and drew the Heroes' souls and eventually the Night Dragon back into the Shadowfell, though the Defender put on Kistarra's Circlet before that happened.

The Heroes regained consciousness and emerged from chambers at opposite sides of the third lowest level within the inverted ziggurat in Kalidnay within the Shadowfell, where they beheld what looked like a shadowy Night Dragon dismembering and absorbing the Nightwalker. A black robed hooded lady that they recognised as Thakok-An watched over the transformation, and seeing the Heroes she activated a portal, telling them to be on their way as promised. A few checks by the now-wiser Heroes revealed she seemed truthful, even as Kistarra's enchantment activated and wreathed the Dragon / Kalid-Ma in a swirl of psionic power, but that dissipated too soon. As way of thanks for sparing Dalanar earlier (see 15.0), Kistarra psychically admitted that she was not able to weaken Kalid-Ma like she had hoped, though the Hero with the psionic link thought he heard her presence communicating about Kradgar and Nightshadow. The Heroes alerted Kradgar to an impending attack on the city, but he said he was unable to defeat post-transformation Kalid-Ma given the current state of affairs, and suggested that they quickly deal with Urishtar so they might hopefully save the city before it was completely destroyed. The Heroes then escaped through the portal, but not before the last Hero fired an intrepid shot at Kalid-Ma, surviving what would have been a fatal reprisal and earning the ire of the metamorphosising Sorcerer-King.

The Heroes emerged from the portal and found themselves in a deep crevasse joined to the subterranean reaches of Nightwyrm Fortress, where they were faced with two doors, one with the symbol of a snowflake, the other with skulls and bones. Realizing that the doors were rigged so two waves of enemies would simultaneously attack intruders, they were deciding what to do when a familiar vampire - Dalanar (see 7.4, 8.5, 14.1, 15.0) - arrived leading a small band of undead. He kept a distance from the Heroes as he mentioned he was under orders to expedite their entry into the fortress, and offered to handle the undead so the Heroes could deal with the frost-based enemies, which Heroes accepted.

The Heroes found themselves faced with various Ice Archons teleporting into the magically warded area while Dalanar's forces dealt with Wraiths and Ghouls that appeared. After defeating the Archons, the Heroes took a breather while the undead were disposed of by their allies. Another larger group of Archons faced them with an initially strong homeground advantage and freezing some of their enemies, but large bursts of psionic energies swiftly turned the tide in the Heroes' favor.

Characters (Players) - 68E (Even)
Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 3 / 4 XP 23
Varius (Jeth) : 3.5 / 4 XP 22
Hadarai+ (Rubern) : 4 / 4 XP 22
Quinn+ (Yi Jeng): 3.5 / 4 XP 22
Level Up! - Psion (Shaun) : 1.5 / 4 XP 22
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 2 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Jit Babo (Andy): 2.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Alex* (Alex Liang) : 1.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Mage* (Andre) : 0.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Zedd* (Chien Hsiang) : 0.5 / 3 XP 21
New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 20

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP
+ - retroactive half session XP for out-of-table RP. awarded on 13 Oct.

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 22: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 20 / 19 respectively.
Two Encounters completed.

Party Treasure
3x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis, Elhan?)

Individual Treasure
+24,500 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Hadarai, Quinn, Psion, Argon

=================

XP Notes: As agreed by Players, we will be switching from Sessions to Encounters.
Part of this will also speed up Advancement, so there's no need for a benchmark anymore.
To (partly) compensate for the switch, all the Level Up requirements for levels 22 onwards will be increased to /4 instead of /3. Requirements for lower levels will not increase so they can catch up.

[Zyraen]

18.1 Burning Frost
05-Oct-13[/b]
After a rest, the Heroes found a spiral stairway leading upwards, where there were traces of Ice Archons having retreated up it. Midway along the stairway they found a side entrance that opened up into a door, where there were three other stairways at three other sides and one central stairway that was sealed off by two magically warded doors. The Heroes had ventured out from a door with a Snowflake, and the opposite stairwell had one with Skull and Bones. One other stairwells had a Book icon on it, and the last had the a Bastion with a Raven over it. Examining the sealed magical wards that likely led to the same stairwell, the Heroes determined they could go after the Snowflake and the Book to open one door, or the Skull and the Raven Bastion for the other.

They chose the former and carried on back up through the stairway they had came from. As the temperature started to fall, some Ice Archons tried to ambush them from atop, while others charging down the stairwell with the icy terrain letting them walk on the walls. Even then, when those in front were dispatched the remaining Archons quickly retreated.

At the top, the more cautious Heroes peeked into a chamber to try to locate possible targets, and managed to sneak in a burst of radiance, then planned a counter ambush should an enemy open the door. Though the first part seemed to go smoothly, a Hero rushed in, compelling another unfortunate comrade to follow. Anxious to aid their comrades being pummelled inside the room, both Healers ended up getting blown into the chamber then impaled with ice spikes and frozen by a large, spiky, ancient-looking elemental frost archon. The situation looked grim as the party wizard turned up the heat with a flaming wall, and another helped the healers recover. The heals provided kept the Heroes up, buying them enough time to literally "fire" the large archon into unconsciousness.

Characters (Players) - 70E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 2 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 2.5 / 4 XP 23
Level Up! - Hadarai+ (Rubern) : 3 / 4 XP 23
Level Up! - Quinn+ (Yi Jeng): 2.5 / 4 XP 23
Level Up! - Jit Babo (Andy): 3 / 4 XP 22
AFK - Psion (Shaun) : 3 / 4 XP 22
AFK - Argon* (Alex Kong) : 1 / 4 XP 22
AFK - Alex* (Alex Liang) : 0.5 / 4 XP 22
AFK - Mage* (Andre) : 2.5 / 3 XP 21
AFK - Zedd* (Chien Hsiang) : 2.5 / 3 XP 21
New Char XP : 3.5 / 4 XP 20

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP
+ - retroactive half session XP for out-of-table RP. awarded on 13 Oct.

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 23: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 21 / 20 respectively.
Two encounters completed, but XP counts as 3 Encounters.

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)
-1 Cure Medium Wound Potions used by Sylvannas

Individual Treasure
+27,250 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Hadarai, Quinn, Jit Babo

[Zyraen]

18.2 Tormented Darklord
12-Oct-13[/b]
After the Heroes promised freedom in return for information, Zaldrex the ancient Ice Archon shared what he knew. He revealed the spire with the book symbol led to a library of Researchers, who were all Rakshasas, and they aimed to find something to help Urishtar leave the domain of dread Elshezan. He also revealed that the Fortress itself was once not part of Elshezan, and only recently was enveloped into the Realm of Dread. For his part, Zaldrex agreed to consider aiding at the assault on Nightshadow, but he would only assist if help was needed and trouble was not too overwhelming.

The Heroes then arrived in a small library and found themselves faced with three Eladrin researchers busy going through tomes and books. They were not hostile but asked the Heroes their business, and in meantime the Heroes detected that they were ensorcelled, as well as most of the room's walls and ceiling, and just about half the bookshelves were illusions. Considering the environment, the Heroes tried to talk their way through and managed to interest the head researcher Lorishto sufficiently with the prospect of replacing Urishtar with another Darklord, suggesting Kalid-Ma since none of the Heroes were sufficiently powerful. With that possibility in place, one of the librarians obtained approval and accompanied the Heroes back to the central chamber where they unlocked the stairwell to the central peak of Nightwyrm Fortress for the Heroes.

Halfway up the spire in the open air overlooking most of the domain, the Heroes were attacked by burning necrotic gargoyles, greater soulbinder wraiths and a wraith dragon, and managed to overcome the disadvantageous terrain to defeat their enemies. Arriving at the top of the spire, they were faced with the Darklord Urishtar herself, who seemed weary of the prospect of dealing with intruders. She was naturally amenable to an outcome that did not involve yet another fight to death, and that might actually help her to escape from Elshezan to seek out her mate Nyxramas. However, she started to bristle when the Heroes asked for the Orb of Kradgar that she had in order to deal with Kalid-Ma's invasion and draw him towards Nightshadow. Fortunately, the Heroes managed to persuade her to hand over the Orb, and that cemented the deal between the parties.

Urishtar and her Rakshasa ritualists would make ritual preparations for causing her to fall into death and attune a new Darklord, leaving the Heroes to the task of drawing Kalid-Ma to Nightwyrm before Urishtar could pass on into the shadow of Death. Fortunately, she let them set up a Linked Portal ritual for the purpose of returning quickly to Nightshadow, while Lorishto gave them a sneak preview via Scrying to see how the invasion of Nightshadow was going. The Heroes saw that Kalid-Ma's forces were invading via a flying ziggurat, the upright version of the inverted spire they had visited in the ruins of Kalidnay, and the walls of Nightshadow had already fallen. The fighting was spread throughout the city, with pockets of resistance trying to avoid the brunt of the undead forces fielded by Kalid-Ma, while the Night Dragon itself was nowhere to be seen.

Characters (Players) - 74E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas+ (Merlvyn) : 3 / 4 XP 25
Level Up! - Hadarai (Rubern) : 3 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 2.5 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 2.5 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 1 / 4 XP 23
Level Up! - Alex (Alex Liang) : 0.5 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 1 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Jit Babo* (Andy): 1 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Zedd* (Chien Hsiang) : 2 / 3 XP 22
New Char XP : 0 / 3 XP 22

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP
+ - extra RP experience for spearheading all the negotiations

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 24: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 21 / 20 respectively.
1 Encounter completed, with extra Encounter awarded for convincing Urishtar.
XP counts as 4 Sessions for Encounters completed and talked through.

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)
-163 Gp to everyone for Linked Portal Ritual

Individual Treasure
+30,000 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Hadarai, Quinn, Argon, Alex

[Zyraen]

19.0 Angelic Saviours
20-Oct-13 (Sunday)[/b]
The Heroes arrived via Linked Portal to the outskirts of Nightshadow, and quickly headed to the waterfront area where the they could survey the battle and see who to rescue across the long stretch of the beach. Warbands of Bodaks and Psurlon Mindworms were steadily wearing away at Nightshadow Guards led by angelic Astral Warwings, who were each struggling to protect groups of civilians amidst the attrition.

As the Heroes rushed to the rescue, the situation initially looked bleak, with two furthest bands of Warwings and guards quickly decimated by their undead enemies in the first two rounds, while the Heroes were a long distance across the grey sands of the beach. The undead tied up the people and shadowy wyverns shortly descended from the skies to carry large bundles of restrained humans towards the flying Ziggurat, while glowing pinpoints of ghostly burning light floated about 50' up, as if daring any one to fly too close.

Fortunately the Warwings started to get their acts together, and although the enemy squads were dangerous to Heroes, they still rushed forward in daring advances to distract the hard hitting Bodak Reavers. Despite coming under fire early on, the Healer rushed forward fearlessly to keep faltering Astral warwings in the fight, and on the other side, another Hero used a Cyclone to tie up one warband while engaging another. The rest of the Heroes generally backed them both up, firing and slashing at the enemies and keeping each other up in the fray.

When the dust had settled, although many guards were taken out, almost half the Warwings were still combat-ready, and more than half the civilians had been rescued from an unknown fate in the fortress. For now, the beaches were secured and the people safe, but the shadow of the flying Ziggurat loomed over the war torn city, and Kalid-Ma was still lurking somewhere, watching and waiting.

Characters (Players) - 76E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas+ (Merlvyn) : 1.5 / 4 XP 26
Level Up! - Hadarai (Rubern) : 1.5 / 4 XP 25
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 1 / 4 XP 25
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 1 / 4 XP 25
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 0.5 / 4 XP 24
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 2.5 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Jit Babo* (Andy): 2.5 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Alex (Alex Liang) : 2 / 4 XP 23
AFK - Zedd* (Chien Hsiang) : 1 / 4 XP 23
New Char XP : 2 / 3 XP 22

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 25: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 23 / 22 respectively.
XP counts as 2 Sessions, with extra 0.5 session XP awarded for rescuing more than 50% of the Allies.

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)

Individual Treasure
+42,000 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Hadarai, Quinn, Argon

[Zyraen]

19.1 Travails of the Sorcerer-King
27-Oct-13 (Sunday)[/b]
Using invisibility, the Heroes skirted most of the wyverns and glowing lights, flying a big round to land on the highest level of the 9-Level flying Ziggurat. There they found Dalanar (see 7.4, 8.5, 14.1, 15.0, 18.0) had already infiltrated the upper floors, and directed them to the 7th level where they found Thakok-An commandeering the Ziggurat via an Arcane globe of energy, with a group of watchful Flame Wights and a Duality Soulflame. With marginally more difficulty than expected, the Heroes drove Thakok-An away and secured the Ziggurat.

They also found a Teleportation Circle that might be used by magic users to retreat here, and contemplated how to get Kalid-Ma to Nightwyrm Fortress. With some prodding, they had Dalanar fly the Ziggurat towards Nightwyrm Fortress, while they headed to the Central area of Nightshadow where the mausoleum-museum of Kradgar was in search of Kalid-Ma. The Heroes hoped to make him retreat to the Ziggurat, so that he would be in close enough proximity of Lorishto's ritual such that Urishtar could have the potent Kalid-Ma take over the mantle of Darklord in Elshezan.

When they arrived, though most of the Astral Warwings had fallen, there was only token undead defence, and they prepared themselves with protective warding spells and potions, as well as informed Urishtar via Sending, before entering the mausoleum. There they found an old man working to open the glass sarcophagus with Kradgar's body, and most of the Arcane energy that used to originate from the room had already vanished. The Heroes' arrival made the old man Kalid-Ma act a little quicker, finally opening the glass cover and attacking Kradgar's inert body with burning black flames. He seemed to expect some reprisal, but only saw Kradgar's body burn away to ashes, and seemed perplexed by the lack of challenge from the supposed Lightbringer.

His thoughts were soon set aside as both sides sprang into action, with the Ranger claiming first blood against Kalid-Ma, although consequently struck by necrotic ray. The old man polymorphed into a Gargantuan shimmering Blue Dragon, using Dragonfear and blinding most of the Heroes with his Breath of Night. However, the Healer used her Orb to cause Kalid-Ma's shield of souls to turn against him, significantly weakening him, so the Warlock could hurl him into a different dimension while the rest quickly took the chance to fan out. Though Kalid-Ma was a fearsome, mighty opponent, but with the prepared Resistances by the party and the strategic use of powerful abilities - one of which even caused the fearsome Sorcerer-King to fall unconscious! - he was quickly driven to retreat via a Portal.

The Heroes had however memorised the Teleportation Circle's sigils, and only paused for a few rounds to heal and regroup, before summoning a Portal and stepping through it together to appear in the Ziggurat, where Kalid-Ma seemed to be amidst recharging his Shield of Souls and transitioning as Darklord of this domain. Though the Sorcerer-King managed to dominate the Ranger, the coordinated attacks by the rest proved devastating for him, and when the Ranger's domination was ended by the Healer, his arrows quickly put paid to the Kalid-Ma. The Sorcerer-King Dragon could only give an impotent howl of rage before falling and dissipating into black smoke, presumably to await his time to return as Darklord.

Characters (Players) - 78E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas+ (Merlvyn) : 0.5 / 4 XP 27
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 0 / 4 XP 26
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 0 / 4 XP 26
Argon (Alex Kong) : 3.5 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Jit Babo (Andy): 2 / 4 XP 24
Level Up! - Alex (Alex Liang) : 2 / 4 XP 24
AFK - Hadarai+ (Rubern) : 3.5 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 0.5 / 4 XP 24
New Char XP : 1 / 3 XP 23

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP
+ - slight bonus XP for allowing use of his Char, with full understanding of Risk involved

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 26: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 23 / 22 respectively.
XP counts as 2.5 Sessions, with extra 0.5 session XP awarded for RP-related Matters

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)

Individual Treasure
+48,750 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Quinn, Argon, Alex, Jit Babo
+16,250 to Hadarai (With the Party in Spirit)
+20,000 Gp to All/Whole Party (10,000 Gp from Nightshadow, 10,000 Gp from Urishtar)

[Zyraen]

20.0 The Beleaguered Raven
03-Nov-13 (Sunday)[/b]
The triumphant Heroes left the Flying Fortress to find that Urishtar had been left for dead by her departing servants, and in compassion the Healer decided to raise the Shadow Dragon. In gratitude, she rewarded the Heroes (see 19.1 Reward) and joined them as a somewhat less obtrusive draconic lady. They then proceeded back to Nightshadow, where the undead had mostly retreated and they were hailed as saviours and presented what reward the city could muster given the extensive need of repairs. It was plain to see the loss of Kradgar's body weighed heavily on the city, and they were in need of a replacement power source.

The Heroes decided to pool their funds to help the City, purchasing an Orb so the Healer could split the Orb of Kradgar so that the spare Orb could served as a conduit for his power, and as they watched fallen Astral Warwing reanimated and buildings and walls of black stone started to mend themselves. For this act, the city commemorated the Heroes by starting to build statues of them around Kradgar on the ruins of the mausoleum. However, with the mausoleum and Kradgar's body destroyed, no one in the city could remember how he looked like, so they settled for just building statues of the Heroes around a statue of the Orb bearer. The Heroes would certainly be remembered, though by the statues were yet to be completed when they left.

Returning to their Flying Fortress, the Heroes found that they could leave the realm, and the Orb of Kradgar was used to guide them to the realm of Letherna, similar to Elshezan, but with portions covered in wintry terrain, snowy peaks, and large swathes of coniferous forests with rivers of frigid black water. Shortly after, they were visited by a pair of Sorrowsworn accompanying a robed figure, who greeted them in the name of the Raven Queen. Before he let them communicate with the Raven Queen, one of the Heroes asked his name, to which he offhandedly introduced himself as Kradgar. Urishtar seemed wary of him, though he summoned up an image of the Raven Queen, where she acknowledged their heroic deeds and somewhat grudgingly, asked for their help in dealing with a demonic invasion, while offering a reward in form of a favor they could call upon when their souls were to be judged by her. The Heroes suggested something more concrete, whereupon she authorised her servant - Kradgar - to hand over to them a crystal skull of a raven as a good will deposit for their service.

Thereafter, they were led to the Raven Citadel, where the walls were held by Sorrowsworn and the Shadar-Kai Ravenguard against waves of demons. The defenders had been wearied by the seemingly unending waves of invaders, and the Heroes were to hold the walls while they recovered. Nonetheless, two Sorrowsworn and Urishtar joined in to help the Heroes hold the walls, as they found themselves beset by all manner of demons, including a band of Evistros, a shrouded Nabassu Deathwing, a burrowing Bebilith, a charging Goristro, led by a huge flying Glabrezu, and shortly after joined by a Marilith. Initially caught offguard by the magical bursts and devastating pincers from the Glabrezu, as well as the soul-draining attacks of the Nabassu, the Heroes were struggling to hold their position, but eventually recovered from the setback and eliminated all the Demons in that wave.

Characters (Players) - 79E (Odd)
Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 2 / 4 XP 27
Hadarai* (Rubern) : 1 / 4 XP 26
Argon* (Alex Kong) : 1.5 / 4 XP 25
Jit Babo* (Andy): 0 / 4 XP 25
Alex* (Alex Liang) : 0 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 0.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Varius (Jeth) : 0.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 1.5 / 4 XP 24
New Char XP : 1 / 4 XP 24

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 26: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 24 / 23 respectively.
XP counts as 1.5 XP

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)

Individual Treasure
+33,750 Gp to Sylvannas, Hadarai, Argon, Alex, Jit Babo
-5,000 to All/Whole Party (Power Restoration to Nightshadow via Orb +4, Nine-way Split)

[Zyraen]

20.1 The Crossroads of Life & Death
10-Nov-13 (Sunday)[/b]
After the wave of demons had been defeated, the Heroes were relieved by the rested Ravenguard, and were sent to investigate a cavern which emitted lightning strikes and fiery beams that directed Demons entering the plane towards the Citadel. There they were confronted with a huge Balor, and vanquished it after a fierce battle. After their victory, the demons entering Letherna were undirected and started to scatter across the realm instead of only being channeled towards the Citadel walls. For the Heroes' accomplishments, the Raven Queen thanked them personally with items and gold, and the enigmatic promise of a favour when their time came.

She also had more work for them - as the Goddess of Death, within her dominion was Death's Reach, where the souls that did not remain in this existence passed into the great beyond. The Law among Gods was that no Gods were allowed to venture into that place, unless the guardian was slain, and only then would the God holding the portfolio be summoned as the final guardian. Recently servants of Orcus and some others have entered Death's Reach, so she requested the Heroes to go and root out intruders while making sure her Guardian was in no danger. In meantime, she also asked them to retrieve a tome from the place, called the Book of Life & Death, that she intended to use to secure herself against Orcus, and possibly destroy him once and for all.

Under the direction of a Staff provided by the Raven Queen, the Flying Fortress flew up through the clouds of Letherna and arrived unharmed through a vortex to arrive in a cloud-covered area, akin to a small demiplane. A swirl of souls streamed from the vortex where they entered to a large gate at the far end of Death's Reach, and the light seemed brighter up here. No guardian was in sight, although when they reached the Gate, the Heroes perceived there was a Red Dragon circling on high. As they were considering whether or not to engage the Dragon, a voice of a weary old creature telepathically spoke to them, telling them to leave the Dragon be, and saying that they bore on them the mark of the Raven Queen's favour. When asked about the Dragon, he said it gave out demonic energies and yet seemed to be an Ancient Red Dragon of some kind, and it was seeking only the Guardian himself thus had no interest in the Heroes. The Guardian in turn was only called upon to protect the Gate, and he saw no reason to engage the dragon lest he be slain and the Raven Queen be drawn here, away from the defenses of her citadel. For now, the voice directed them to one of the many ancient looking structures dotting the cloud realm, where they expected to face servants of Orcus.

They entered the mausoleum that had murals depicting an ancient God of Life and an ancient God of Death, which seemed to date from before the Dawn War. Instead of meeting undead or demons, they came across living, breathing humanoids, mainly denizens of Underdark, and seemingly dominated. With the element of surprise, the Heroes quickly dispatched most of them, which proved fortunate as they were set upon by invisible creatures that soon revealed themselves as Mindflayers. With most of their protective thralls down, the deadly but frail Mindflayers were pulverized just in time before anyone had their brains sucked out, and seeing their fate the surviving Mindflayers beat a hasty retreat.

Characters (Players) - 81E (Odd)
Sylvannas* (Merlvyn) : 1 / 4 XP 28
Varius (Jeth) : 3.5 / 4 XP 26
Level Up! - Argon* (Alex Kong) : 0 / 4 XP 26
Level Up! - Alex (Alex Liang) : 3 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Hadarai* (Rubern) : 2.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 2 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Jit Babo* (Andy): 1.5 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 0 / 4 XP 25
New Char XP : 3.5 / 4 XP 24

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 26: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 24 / 23 respectively.
2 Encounters, XP counts as 3 Sessions

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)

Individual Treasure
+98,750 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Argon, Alex

[Zyraen]

20.2 Two Sides of the Same Coin
24-Nov-13 (Sunday)[/b]
The Heroes delved deeper into the mausoleum with the steps sinking more gloomily into darkness, and came upon a set of double doors with images of hooded persons in the tapestry on either side. As they opened the doors, the images changed to show their faces in the tapestry. After they had entered, they were faced with two sets of giant steps, the lighted left steps going upwards and the dimly lit right steps going down, but they were both leading to the same platform in the distance, that curiously enough, appeared flat.

As the first of the Heroes was crossing the steps, a ghostly Beholder emerged out of the ceiling while swirls of wind, one on either stairwell, intensified into Elemental Galestorms surrounded with arcing lightning and thunder. The ensuing barrage was electrifying and thunderous, and with the Beholder's debilitating Eyerays, combined with the haphazard falling away of steps beneath the Heroes into darkness, the situation looked grim. Fortunately, one of the Heroes used a self-sacrificing prayer to call upon the Divine to sear and blind Enemies that attacked his allies. As a direct result, one of the Galestorms sparked itself into oblivion when retaliating to Attacks by a Hero, and after that a timely dismissal of the Beholder gave the Heroes some space to prepare themselves and blast it into oblivion.

Once the trial had been completed, the doors at the far end opened, though both led to the same corridor. The Heroes elected to go left, and after some time passed by another pair of magically sealed doors at the side of the ongoing corridor. They paused to unseal them using Arcana and looked in to see a chamber with a pair of stairs, similar to what they had gone through, and deduced it was another entry point, possibly from a separate structure within Death's Reach similar to the one they had entered.

At the end of the corridor, they found brightly lit white stone stairs leading down into another pair of double doors, only this time there were pictures of cloaked humanoids with tiger, lion, eagle, fox heads. Urishtar was present with them and recognised them as the Rakshasa in her employ, and was eager to punish them for leaving her for dead, but after hearing of their abilities from her, the Heroes decided to try and negotiate. As they opened the doors, their faces formed up on one side of the tapestry, while the other side was now occupied by all the Rakshasas. Beyond the doors they met with two robed Eladrin in an elegant, ivory, gold like chamber, with a pedestal upon which there was a globe of force encasing half a book. The Eladrin ( Rakshasas in disguise ) seemed pleased that the Heroes did not wish to battle, and revealed they did not mind the Heroes taking the Book of Life and Death for themselves, but they only sought to look at it first to obtain knowledge of a place. The Heroes recognised their new robes as that of servants of Vecna, and also learnt that to free the Book, there would have to be death in this chamber, so that the chamber of Life would fall to Death, releasing both books. They also realized there were other hidden Rakshasas, who would probably take attempts to see their invisibility badly. The Heroes then decided to try the right end of the corridor where probably lay the chamber of Death, and along the way used Sending to contact the Raven Queen. They learnt that the Rakshasa likely sought the location of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, which was the diametric opposite place to Death's Reach, where all Life comes into this existence, which was under Pelor's protection and likely protected by his Guardians.

At the other end of the corridor, they found dimly lit onyx stairs leading to double doors with tapestries of Mindflayers, including one that appeared undead, probably an Alhoon. They entered with the intention to negotiate as well, and found the dark chamber with curtains hanging from the ceiling, and a pedestal shaped like a large black claw seizing a globe of force encasing half a book. There were a fairly large number of underdark humanoid thralls wandering about aimlessly, but there were no Mindflayers to be seen. Unseen creatures then telepathically communicated with the Heroes, indicating that though they might return the debt of blood earlier visited upon them, except that would do nothing to release the Book that the Mindflayers sought on behalf of Orcus. After some conversation, the Heroes learnt that the Mindflayers sought only to look at the Book, though they did not specify what for save that it would "unleash" something. Nonetheless, the Mindflayers seemed weary of serving Orcus, but the Alhoon leader rejected joining the Raven Queen as she was typically known for being extremely anti-undead, save for Revenants. They also revealed they were partial to revealing to information to Vecna as well, and were aware of the Rakshasas as competitors but ultimately serving the same end. The Heroes noted that hence both groups were unlikely to engage in bloodshed with each other, and that the Mindflayers were reluctant to split up from outside the chamber to the presence of the Heroes. They asked if the Mindflayers would "lend" them thralls to slaughter in the Life Chamber to release the Book, to which the Mindflayers told them to use the thralls that they had already subdued upstairs.

The Heroes then left the Death Chamber to consider their options, and even performed a Sending to Orcus to reveal the intention of the Mindflayers to join Vecna, to which Orcus seemed indifferent so long as he could destroy the Raven Queen, and asked the Heroes to join his cause. The Heroes also deduced a small amount of Life or Death was not sufficient to flip the Chambers, they had to either slaughter their enemies in the Life Chamber, or sacrifice 8 thralls there. Alternatively, they could carry the 4 slain Mindflayers to the Death Chamber and raise them, but that would also put them at a sharp numerical disadvantage against the Mindflayers in the Chamber. They also realized that in order to get the book without a fight, they would have to let at least one or both groups look at the Book of Life and Death first.

After a long time of debating, the Heroes tentatively decided to slaughter both groups, starting with the Mindflayers first.

Note: For Detailed Information revealed during this Session, please refer to the Information Log.

Characters (Players) - 82E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 2.5 / 4 XP 28
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 1 / 4 XP 27
Quinn (Yi Jeng): 3.5 / 4 XP 26
Argon* (Alex Kong) : 1.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Hadarai* (Rubern) : 3 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Alex (Alex Liang) : 3.5 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Jit Babo* (Andy): 2 / 4 XP 25
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 0.5 / 4 XP 25
New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 25

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 26: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 24 / 23 respectively.
1 Encounter with 50% extra XP

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)
-30 Gp to All (3x Sending Rituals)

Individual Treasure
+43,750 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Quinn, Argon

[Zyraen]

20.3 Flailing Flayers
30-Nov-13 [/b]
As planned, the Heroes entered the Chamber of Death and engaged the Mindflayers and their Thralls. Their initial success at quickly bloodying two of the Ulitharids took a more dangerous turn when the Alhoon drained them to strengthen the force, potency and frequency of its psionic attacks, and used its powers to prevent near-death Heroes from recovering. Though it came close to killing two Heroes by eating their brains alive, it was ultimately foiled and in its final moments, the Alhoon tried to escape through the door only to find it sealed. It could only utter impotent threats before its body crumbled to dust.

Characters (Players) - 84E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 0.5 / 4 XP 29
Varius (Jeth) : 3 / 4 XP 27
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 1.5 / 4 XP 27
Level Up! - Hadarai (Rubern) : 1 / 4 XP 27
Level Up! - Jit Babo (Andy): 0 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Argon* (Alex Kong) : 2.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Alex* (Alex Liang) : 0.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 1.5 / 4 XP 25
New Char XP : 1.5 / 4 XP 25

* - yet to level up, ie treated as one level lower than your XP

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 27: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 24 / 23 respectively.
1 Encounter counts as 2.

Party Treasure
2x Cure Medium Wound Potions (held by Sylvannas.
1 each belong respectively to Jit Babo, Arranis)

Individual Treasure
+51,250 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Quinn, Hadarai, Jit Babo

[Zyraen]

20.4 Sweet Vengeance
07-Dec-13[/b]
With the Ilithids dealt with, the Heroes moved to the Chamber of Life where the Rakshasa awaited them. Though the Heroes had been concerned about the Rakshasa's abilities, their enhanced initiative made what might have been a more deadly fight considerably easier. Although at times just over half the Heroes were afflicted by the Rakshasa's debilitating powers, victory was never in doubt, and the battle ended with all of the Rakshasas unconscious in their true forms, save one who had been slain. In order to free the book, the Heroes executed all of the clearly evil Rakshasas except the leader Lorishto, who was turned over to Urishtar. The Shadow Dragon slowly dug open his flesh, savouring her vengeance before he finally succumbed to death amidst the excruciating pain.

The Chamber of Life dimmed and fell into Death, transforming into a form similar to other chamber, and freeing half of the Book of Life and Death. The Heroes then went to the other Chamber of Death where the other half had been freed as well, and combined them to form a blank book. However, one of the Heroes was able to make sense of it as having an uncountable, incomprehensible number of names, including those of greater beings and Gods like Vecna, Orcus, and the blotted out true name of the Raven Queen. The Heroes also realized there was a sealed hidden chamber between the two Chambers, and elected to raise the slain Thralls from their earlier battle.

The unsealed chamber had a half-opened sarcophagus on a slightly raised dais, and with portrayals of a God of Life and a God of Death facing each other on the left and right sides of the walls. Though hooded and robed, the God now appeared clearly to be one and the same, and the depiction showed many humans walking from the left wall to the right wall. Beneath all of the ancient depictions was the torso of a serpent, that ended at either side of the door, and the head of the serpent with its jaws open was immediately left of the door, while the tail was immediately right of the door. Without any effort on the Heroes' part, they could sense that a potent presence was once resident in this chamber, but was no longer here.

The Heroes left the ancient mausoleum with their prize and could no longer sense the Red Dragon circling Death's Reach. The Guardian's telepathic message bade them thanks, saying that the Dragon had left, though it was concerned that if it returned to attack the Gate, it would have little choice but to confront and be slain by the Dragon. Urishtar then elected to stay behind in Death's Reach, so she could assist the Guardian, and if the Guardian was killed she could serve as the Raven Queen's Guardian of Death's Reach so as to delay her being drawn to Death's Reach.

The Heroes then departed on their Ziggurat, moving down through the Vortex at the bottom of Death's Reach with little trouble, but then they perceived the Red Dragon from earlier, shrouded by seething fire and swirling winds. From across the distance, the Dragon informed them that though he was done with Death's Reach, he would teach them a lesson for interfering with his affairs. The Heroes were about to fly out from the Ziggurat to face the Dragon when they realized a very large swarm of demons and undead were flying up to the Ziggurat and spreading out to attack various floors all at once, even as the Dragon disappeared up into the clouds.

The Heroes quickly planned how to foil the invaders, deciding to secure the 6th floor where the Ziggurat's arcane flying controls were, and having their crew provide support fire from the 5th and 7th floors. The onslaught of creatures to the 6th floor were quickly taken care of, even as those on the unguarded floors headed towards the 6th floor, but when the defender was dragged outside he realized the - colossal! - Red Dragon had descended from on high to the top of the Ziggurat, starting to melt it away beneath his claws that emitted lava, and filling the air outside with burning demonic fire. The Heroes sensed the Dragon was not that committed to the fight, only intending to demonstrate his superiority, but they did not dare commit the resources to drive him away lest they be overwhelmed by the high number of invaders. The defender decided to hurl a Cyclone at the Red Dragon, missing his target but disturbing the Dragon sufficiently that he unleashed a fiery beam to that restrained the Defender outside to be beset by foes, even as the Heroes' crew were overrun by invaders.

Though the defender got healed and managed to slip into the tower out of the burning air, the other Heroes soon found themselves fighting a desperate battle in the control room with over 10 enemies, even as their only Healer was battered unconscious, and meantime the Dragon's flames had melted away the highest 9th floor and was midway through the 8th floor. An unpleasantly timed critical from the defender's Cyclone knocked the Dragon off his perch and in irritation, he flew down and caused his burning aura to pour through the 7th and 6th floors, before unleashing a torrential inferno of fire. The explosion tore through the side of the Ziggurat, blowing the wall section apart and knocking the defender unconscious while catching another hero in the flames, albeit burning some of the invaders. Fortunately, the Heroes managed to awaken their Healer, and one of them fortified himself as the other ducked out of the way. This left only one target to the horde of the demons and undead, and 20 of them converged on one Hero, only to have the brunt of their attacks absorbed by his protections. This critically turned the tide, as the convergence allowed their target to turn the tide and catch most of them in his area attack, then seizing the day to repeat the attack to obliterate most of them, and the Healer got the rest back on their feet as they prepared to take on the Dragon that had returned to complete burning down the 8th floor of Ziggurat.

The Heroes then moved to engage the Dragon, but one of them was caught by the fiery beam - strangely similar to a Balor's Flaming Whip - and was pulled up close to the Dragon, who claimed to have heard a lot about him. The Dragon invited him to choose between his life and destroying the Ziggurat, and the Hero's rude - if heroic - reply resulted in him being incinerated by another explosive inferno that caused the ceiling of the 7th floor of the Ziggurat to collapse in flames and burning stone, before being eviscerated by the Dragon's claws into unconsciousness. The Dragon then delivered the death blow with a Bite, spitting the burning ashes out into the blazing ruin below, and emphatically stated that the insult had been repaid, before flying off into the sky. Thanks to the Raven Queen's artifact, the Hero was returned to life not significantly worse for wear, but considerably eager to meet the Dragon again and even the score.

In the aftermath as the Ziggurat limped down from the skies over Letherna, the Heroes realized that the Dragon might have been seeking the location of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, but by destroying both the Illithids and the Rakshasas, they had foiled the plans of Vecna and/or Orcus to enlist his aid in their nefarious schemes. They also received a very urgent summons from the Raven Queen, that bade them to return to her quickly with the Book of Life and Death, that she might be able to turn the tide.

Characters (Players) - 86E (Even)
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 3 / 4 XP 28 - Revived by Bloodcrystal Raven Skull
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 1.5 / 4 XP 28
Level Up! - Hadarai (Rubern) : 1 / 4 XP 28
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 2.5 / 4 XP 27
AFK - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 2.5 / 4 XP 29
AFK - Alex* (Alex Liang) : 3.5 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Jit Babo (Andy): 3 / 4 XP 26
AFK - Psion (Shaun) : 1.5 / 4 XP 26
New Char XP : 1.5 / 4 XP 26

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 28: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 26 / 25 respectively.
2nd Encounter grants 3X XP.

Party Treasure
1x Cure Medium Wound Potion
-10,000 Gp to All (Epic Raise Dead Ritual) OR subject to appropriate Daily Expenditure

Individual Treasure
+87,500 Gp to Varius, Quinn, Hadarai, Argon

[Zyraen]

20.5 Gone in Six Seconds
14-Dec-13[/b]
As the Ziggurat came within sight of the Raven Queen's Citadel, the Heroes could see the devastation around the walls that had literally fallen outwards, apparently having crushed a huge number of demons in the process in what was likely a final desperate measure by defenders. Still, there were still hordes of demons that were battling within the grounds against the Sorrowsworn and Raven Guard fighting from various buildings on the inside. However the centre of the courtyard was noticeably empty, only a wide swathe of bodies leading through the shattered doors of the main keep itself.

In the distance, a large group of Sorrowsworn and Ravens approached the Ziggurat, led by Kradgar. The mage explained that after the demons scattered across Letherna and the attacks on the walls greatly reduced in intensity, groups of Raven Guard were despatched to destroy them. While they were away, a huge force of demons led by none other than Orcus himself attacked the Citadel, cutting a bloody path to the citadel with devastating effectiveness. Kradgar said he would deploy the Sorrowsworn and distract the battling demons above ground so the Heroes could enter the lower chambers of the citadel, where the Raven Queen held her last stand. He warned them they would have to destroy 4 demonic obelisks underground to get to where Orcus and the Raven Queen were, and also spared what Sorrowsworn he could to accompany them. He informed them of Orcus' use of necrotic energies and that he could easily control undead, so Kradgar was electing to stay out of the battle for now.

Thereafter the Heroes proceeded as planned, entering the lower levels to find their way blocked by 8 undead-like demons guarding 4 Obelisks. Despite an initial attempt to blaze through the demons, the Heroes soon changed their tactics to quickly focus on disabling the runes on one Obelisk after another, even while distracting the Demons with Sorrowsworn and the Defender. With the last Obelisk destroyed, the way to the Raven Queen's subterranean lair was open.

There they found the Raven Queen had entombed herself in a protective block of ice, but a glowing red shard that hummed with energies was embedded in it so its point was directed to her chest, and it slowly pressed through the ice so eventually it would impale her. Orcus himself faced them with 2 guardian wraiths, but the Heroes had been eagerly looking forward to battling Orcus for some time now, and committed themselves wholeheartedly to taking down their foe. Even with his unholy resilience and his sudden bursts of demonic - even godlike - speed, Orcus was no match for the Heroes and his protectors proved just as futile. In barely six seconds, the Heroes had reduced the fearsome Demon Prince of Undeath, renowned through the Planes, to only a pile of ashes with his implement wrapped around by his wings.

The Raven Queen was soon freed from the threat of the pulsing red shard, and though severely weakened, she used the Book of Life and Death to destroy Orcus once and for all, consigning him to death as the wings then the Wand of Orcus beneath it crumbled to nothingness. She also summoned her servant Kradgar to be the balancing foil, giving him Life from his Undeath in return. However, a spark emerged from within the remains of Orcus, and just as suddenly drew the red shard towards it, another spark emerging from within. As the two came together there was a dark shadow that swept over the place and where Orcus had fallen, now stood a Lich-like figure swathed in black and purple robes, skull and single eye staring out with a satisfied smirk at the Heroes and the restored human mage Kradgar, even as the zones placed by the Heroes faded away with his coming. As an even more intense wave of necrotic energy washed over them and the swooning Raven Queen, they knew the figure before them needed no introduction - Vecna, the God of Secrets and Undead.

Characters (Players) - 88E (Even)
Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 2.5 / 4 XP 30
Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 3 / 4 XP 29
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 1.5 / 4 XP 29
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 3 / 4 XP 28
Level Up! - Alex (Alex Liang) : 1.5 / 4 XP 28
Level Up! - Jit Babo (Andy): 1 / 4 XP 28
AFK / Level Up! - Hadarai (Rubern) : 0 / 4 XP 29
AFK - Psion* (Shaun) : 1.5 / 4 XP 27
New Char XP : 1.5 / 4 XP 27

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 29: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 27 / 26 respectively.
Both Encounters grant 2x XP
Special: Hadarai gets 50% more XP and half Gp for "contributions" in absence.

Party Treasure
1x Cure Medium Wounds Potion

Individual Treasure
+198,125 Gp to Sylvannas, Varius, Quinn, Argon, Alex, Jit Babo
+99,062 Gp to Hadarai

==================

In view there is no Short Rest still, the following Notes apply:

Daily Powers In Effect
- AW Sanctuary (Sylvannas)
- Pull out the Stops (Hadarai)
- Lightning Dagger (Quinn)
- Goad of Blood & Bless Weapon (Argon)
- Wraith Form (Jit Babo)
- Mass Resistance (Party-Wide) : Resist 14 Necrotic

Reserves Remaining :
(to be updated when records are on hand)

Level Up Notes
- When you level up, you gain the number of HP that you would get from Level Up to your Current and Max HP.
- You gain a Lv X Item as usual from Level Up (see Drops & Epic Attendance)
- You do NOT gain any AP (eh, who needs it? lol) or Daily Reroll from the Milestone
- You can regain any 1 Daily when you level up, but not a Daily that was used during the 2 Encounters
- You can forgo regaining the Daily to Roll 11+ on 1d20 (Pls roll at Table) to regain ANY Daily that you have used during the Encounter and is NO longer in effect. If the Daily is below Level 10, you automatically regain it without having to Reroll
- If you do not wish to regain ANY Daily, you can get back an Encounter Power. This can be a Class feature (Healing Word, etc). For Power Point users, you can regain 4 PP.

[Zyraen]

20.6 Not Worth Undying For
21-Dec-13[/b]
As the Heroes faced off Vecna, the Raven Queen fell from the wave of necrotic energies washing over her only to be encased in a block of ice again, cast by Kradgar, and he then proceeded to use the Book of Life & Death against Vecna. Unfortunately, he missed - twice! - and though one of the Heroes incredibly managed to detect the real Vecna and hit him while he was at full strength, he shrugged off the effect that would have bought the Heroes some time. Fortunately, the Defender managed to destroy the Simulacrum to interrupt its attack, forcing the real Vecna to act in its stead, and then one of the Heroes granted Kradgar another attack, resulting in a hit. This weakened Vecna somewhat, so that the Heroes would have a fighting chance against the God, and he kept it up for the rest of the fight.

Even with his defenses weakened, the battle became a downward spiral towards death as Vecna's simulacrums allowed him to hide even from those who could see invisible creatures, his Rays of Enfeeblement weakened those it struck, his rapidly recharging Finger of Death was applied to one Hero after another to nullify their ability to recover, and his Darkfire Web caused them to suffer fully from his Aura while hiding himself even after his Simulacrum had gone. The day might have been lost if not for a string of fortunate criticals by the Defender, including one on himself that though excruciating, blasted him out of the Web and granted him a free attack against Vecna that bloodied the God. However, Vecna recovered to escape back into his Darkfire Web, and killed the Healer with yet another Finger of Death.

Fortunately, the Healer revived and helped his ailing comrades to recover, freeing the Defender from the strands of the Darkfire Web so he could move and swing blindly in the dark. Fortune smiled on them and he struck true, causing Vecna to use a last-ditch effort to try and destroy the Heroes. But when the dust settled, most of the Heroes were still conscious, and Vecna could only curse in frustration before choosing to retreat by discorporating, to plot and scheme until another such opportunity might present itself.

In the aftermath, the second Ice Block melted away to reveal it was empty, as Kradgar thanked them on the Raven Queen's behalf and explained he had taken precautions to summon her to Death's Reach so she could recover from her ordeal. The Heroes surmised that her disappearance might have been the reason why Urishtar chose to remain behind in Death's Reach.

Characters (Players) - 90E (Even)
Level Up! - Quinn (Yi Jeng): 0.5 / 4 XP 30
Level Up! - Argon (Alex Kong) : 2 / 4 XP 29
Level Up! - Alex (Alex Liang) : 0.5 / 4 XP 29
Level Up! - Jit Babo (Andy): 0 / 4 XP 29
AFK / Level Up! - Sylvannas (Merlvyn) : 0.5 / 4 XP 30+1
AFK / Level Up! - Varius (Jeth) : 0.5 / 4 XP 30
AFK - Hadarai (Rubern) : 1.5 / 4 XP 29
AFK / Level Up! - Psion* (Shaun) : 0.5 / 4 XP 28
New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 28

Note : The Party that has gone through 4E / 6E / 8E (Encounters) have extra 20% / 40% / 60% XP. This is reset to 0 on Extended Rest or 2 consecutive Short Rests, and is used to measure the XP awarded to the Benchmark Character.
Party Level 30: 50% / 100% more XP for those of Level 28 / 27 respectively.
1 Encounter grants 3x XP.
Special: Sylvannas gets 50% more XP and half Gp for "contributions" in absence. Everyone - including AFKs - level up if they have sufficient XP.

Party Treasure
1x Cure Medium Wounds Potion

Individual Treasure
+146,900 Gp to Quinn, Argon, Alex, Jit Babo
+73,450 Gp to Sylvannas

================

DM's Note: In view the campaign has effectively only one more session left, to have everyone recover all their Dailies would not be ideal. With the Level Up, you all regain a Daily and can also roll to recharge a non-Epic Daily.

DM's Note: Forgot that Sylvannas has the Shadowfell Signet that allows taking 10 HP damage in place of Surge loss. Hence retro-actively, she did not die to Finger of Death and did not expend revive.

[Zyraen]

Interlude / Pre-Epilogue: From Darkness to Light

After your rest, when you emerge victorious from your long battle, you see the once proud citadel of the Raven Queen has had most of its core smashed open, although what is not rubble is also generously littered with the remains of what might once have been demons and some Shadar-Kai bodies. No demons or Sorrowsworn remain on the battlefield, and the surviving Ravenguard are war-weary and search the battle field for survivors. The Ravenguard said that Kradgar led the Sorrowsworn to destroy the remaining demons, then flew up to Death's Reach to watch over the recovering Raven Queen. Before he left, Kradgar left behind some items for you, as well as a Portal Scroll that would take you back to Nightshadow.

When you use the Portal scroll, you (and your flying Ziggurat in the background) return back into a dazzling sunlight, and you have been used to the poor light in Shadowfell so long that it stings your eyes for a bit, before realizing it is day. You are at the gate of the wall of Nightshadow, only the restored obsidian black walls seem to have been turned to marble and ivory, and the forest around actually seems vibrant and teeming with life instead of dark and threatening. The sun from on high shines around all of you, and a rudimentary check confirms that you are no longer in the Shadowfell, but instead in its polar opposite, the Feywild.

The gates open on their own, and though you can still see the Astral Warwings orbiting the skies above the city, most of the city has changed visibly. The dark ebony on buildings have been replaced by wood similar to the living world, and most of the dark stones in the city have been replaced by ivory and marble, with no trace of the devastation left by Kalid-Ma's invasion.

More immediately before you however, is a teeming crowd of citizens that greets your return with cheers and even reverence, and amidst the crowd you see a few familiar faces, though the crowd is visibly missing Shadar-Kai. The City Council comes out to meet you, and most of them remain hooded, though you are greeted by one of them who lets reveals his face to greet you, and who you recognise despite his change - Dalanar, but now an Eladrin, and it appears his change was somehow permanent. He says that because he is the newest member of the Council - and you're quite sure there's a Lich somewhere among the Council - he has been tasked to welcome all of you back personally, and not least, because he owes you all some personal debt of gratitude.

As he accompanies you all to the centre of the city to the raised dais where the Council meets, you all seem to walk as if accelerated through the air and over the roofs to the cheering crowd. Dalanar explains their enthusiasm is not only because of your ending the invasion by Kalid-Ma and re-powering the city, but it was also due to your aid that the favor of the Gods came upon the city and as was promised, it was transported from the Shadowfell to the Feywild. After its transformation, the city was renamed from Nightshadow to Daylight. Most of the Shadar-Kai did however chose to remain on in the Shadowfell and were brought to Letherna instead, hence are no longer in the city. About his personal debt, he says that he has been restored in part due to your efforts, though there is something about him that makes you think of the term "Exalted", and in view that his brother will be restored soon as well, he seems to have no overt enmity towards you.

From the dais you can see that the city appears to be positioned next to what appears to be the Astral Sea, with two actual ships actually calling at two piers, with a third pier under construction, and the trading area on sands seems more lively than when you first visited. There is no trace of the ghost ships that used to visit the place.

Dalanar bids you all well for your visit, and departs with a word that some people are looking for you, and a group of artisans wander in asking for your time so they can refine their work. They lead you to where the mausoleum to Kradgar once stood, and in its place is a fountain circled with fine and elaborate statues of each of you, with the statue of the healer in the middle atop the fountain holding over her head the Orb that you replaced earlier, and under it from which flows out the water for the fountain as well as power for the Astral Warwings on high. Each statue has an artisan that asks you over to the statue to make sure that they got the finer details right, and scribbling new drafts of your clothes and fine details of your features so they can alter the statues later. There is however, no artisan for the statue of the Healer in the middle of the fountain, and you can see the statue has an uncanny likeness, even depicting items obtained after your first departure from Nightshadow.

If you ask around, you verify that though the people indeed worship Kradgar who they now also call the Lightbringer, none of them seem to be able to remember how he looks like since his crushed body is no longer to be found. They do however, come to give their offerings that are deposited into slots under each of your statues. You gather that the slots are actually some sort of mini-portal, each one leading to separate locations within the city, possibly under the care of different Council members.

(Everyone who actually read this post gains a Lv 20 Item from Kradgar, or increases a Level 10-13 Item to a corresponding Level 21-23. Those who read this, don't tell the rest )

After a while in the city - including often being stopped to sign on some personal belongings - you are visited by a pair of radiant Angels. They leave you a letter with the mark of Pelor, especially since a few of you are carriers of his blessings, that he has a task for you to attend to. It seems that an area known only to a precious few has recently been visited by a demonic primal force. The guardians of the place have all but melted in the tempest that was that force, and while Pelor had half-expected to have to deal with it himself, it seemed to have kept his last guardian alive and so under the law over the Gods, he cannot enter the area to personally deal with it. He fears that if left unsubdued, it could bleed much life from the multiverse as it seeks to rejuvenate itself in that place.

The second half of the letter is a ritual that affects only its reader and will help you get to that place in return for submitting to a Geas to proceed to that place soonest possible after reading it, and to forget the location once you arrive. For those that carry on reading, the words effects the Geas and provides you directions to a place in Pelor's care, the wellspring of all life into the multiverse - the Bastion of Unborn Souls.