We travel through the astral - - we come to the bands that Nezbit had mentioned to us.   In comparing his notes to what we see, I observe that  the bands seem to be tapping energy of the ley lines on the prime/oerth to create this bounding energy.  This seems to be capturing the energy of a world to create an mini-multiverse.

As we are sitting about, a portal opens. Two celestials come out, carrying a box.  Turns out the celestials are really bone devils.

We show up in Istara's realm and discover it is under assault - B'durna is keying in the gate codes to explode this whole place.

Istara tell us - that he is using the last of his power to stop the universe around us and give us secrecy, privacy.  What I have put togheter - - what is behind this, is asmodeus.  Asmodeus is the lord of all devils, the king of the nine hells.  All other devils answer to him.  He is the king of the princes of hell.   Asmodeus, has, for time eternal, been trying to become a full god by collecting worshippers that will allow him to rise to being a full deity.  This world represents an attempt to do that.  By encapsulating the entire world, he hopes to raise up followers to his cause and become a true deity.

This place was constructed by mortal magic - the number 5 has come up so many times, I know there are 5 places or keys - that will guide this place out of Asmodeus' control.  Given B'durna and Asmodeus are destroying this place - i think i have unlocked all that you need to know.

You must not communicate this information (other than that you are looking for the 5 locations) - the city of moil will give you the info about the 5 locations.   In order for you to have this knowledge and not be immediately destroyed as I am, we will have to fight each other, and the battle will have to look real.

Time resumes - Asmodeus shows up.

We escape to.. darkness.

Nothing is here.  Nothing is apparently one of 3 beings that existed before the creation of the multiverse --- the others being the Queen of the Doors, and the Quat'l.   This nothing - is the one that wants to undo everything.  He gave great secrets - to vecna - to others - this thing thrives on the lack of hope - Those that disbelieve in existance - fuel him.

Some gods fear this thing.  For example- on Toril - souls that do not worship are locked away in the wall of suffering.  All these things.. I hope to undo.

Long ago - a wizard messed with time - creating 2 time streams.  When that was corrected, this one spun off - and I captured it, kept it existant, yet hidden from the rest of the multiverse and the prying eyes of gods.  The world you know - goes back perhaps 1000-2000 years.  I have been erasing and recreating this world for millenia upon millenia. I have put rules in place so that knowledge is forgotten.  This fuels the rise and fall of suffering.  And you have been excellent stewards in giving me those kinds of souls.

There is a cult of the priest of jubilex - we see his face as his belief was shattered and his soul winked out - much like Tavernus - with Weijass.  We see us fighting on the demon-wing - she calls on her goddess, and her power fades away....  and again with Rahotep.  You have been my servants through all existance.  You have created a wealth of souls that don't have hope - fuelling my power not only here but in the greater multiverse.  You have been such good servants.  NOw that you have learned what you have learned -- we must talk.  You have the unique ability to help me destroy not only this world, but the next.  I need only the brightest burning hopes of a few powerful souls so that I can reveal myself to the Queen of DOors and the Quat'l.  I can see it in you - plotting ways -- eventually you will break, you will lose that hope.  And when you do, it will be enough for me to break free.  Go find the 5 things, see what you can undo.  But eventually you will lose hope, give up, and you will be mine.

Good luck - I'll be waiting

The blackness fades, and we find ourselves on the island of new Verdinica

All conditions are cleared as we rest up.

We make it back to Pelor’s realm with Claris’ soul. Everything is just as it was before, except now there is a black cloud following Nesbitt around.

Read more »

We meet Claris and he decides he is going to retire and build an inn.

We meet Pelor and discover we've been gone nearly a year.

Pelor has learned, through the church, that the demon and devil cults destroying places of knowledge (rival religion texts, libraries in cities, etc) are getting extra powers when they do so.  If knowledge disapprears from the prime, it will disapprear from the outer realms as well.  This is kinda bad, Ray... .mkay?

SF cities have been burning, organized cities have been falling apart - the areas between cities grow increasingly dangerous.

We need to find out what is causing all this - so we will go on Istara's quest,....

The sky whirred by, and more bone demons appear.

"There - that should give us enough time to talk" - and time went back to normal.  These last demons are even more brutal and powerful, and crafty too.  They attempt to wall us in, and use tactics to stay invisible and mirrored.  We struggle to kill them, but eventually through the application of many spells and some good old fashioned brute force - we manage to defeat them.

Read more »

We part our ways with Dantessa - she has restored our friend Nesbit to full health and life as a parting gift for our effort.  In the books in Weijass's bedroom, we found amazing books of her research.  One key piece of information we find is a codex of the gates.  It is so complete, we feel we could reactivate and navigate the gateways of the world.

Our mission complete, Weijass gives us claris'soulm and  a rune of warding that will supposedly grant us safe passage in the realm of Istara (no promises that we would be granted immunity to attacks, however).

She activates the portal to Istara, and we step through the portal - and for just an instant - we find ourselves in Istara's bedroom.  Before we can so much as take a breath - we are teleported outside into the blistering heat of the desert.

Read more »

We are in the library of the church of Rau.  Weijass still has the horific scarring on half her body - concealed by mask and cloth in this vision.  In the library memory, there are davas interested in research -- we overhear a conversation and determine that she is here paying pennance to rau by amassing him an incredible library; she is close to being granted back her celestial form.  There was a high priest here doing research in a side library.  She is very focused on the rules and order of her library.  (There is a restricted area no one is allowed into).  The books on the shelves are full of gibberish.

We talk to the high priest - he is researching lost areas in the astral plane, including an area that contains a whole set of planes within.

This guy is high up enough that weijass herself had to collect books at his beck and call.

We enter the restricted area.  As we attempt to penetrate, Weijass would show up and tell us it is restricted.  She would force us to sleep if we tried to pick the lock.  We determined we needed to pick the lock while distracting her.  By having her busy with the high priest, we get into the restricted area.  Note - there is no flying or running in the library (she will show up).

In the restricted area we find a den - an altar to rau.  Behind a hidden door we find a statue and art studio - within is a beautiful statue to grazat.  Blood stains on the statue.  We see signs of a conflict.  In a closet, we find 3 dead davas, encircled by runes so they could not escape as outsiders.

Weijass appeared at the secret door entrance, raving about people entering the private sanctum.  You didn't listen - just like the others - and now you must die.  We enter combat with blood-sucking construct books (drain 1 CON per round) as weijass watches on.

Hack claws through half of the books in a great cleave frenzy -  I finish the job with a blast of sand.  Weijass screams "No!" and plows through the wall.  Nesbit, our guide, appears to have taken lethal damage from the sand blast.  We hear the far-off crash of glass.

We use the keys to exit - to Weijass's bedchamber.  They keys say "You have earned the ability to enter Weijass's bedchamber - do not be disrespectful or you will be ejected."

As we journey through the clouds, we start to hear the sound of a music box playing; we step out into a giant bedchamber, luxurious carpeting and appointments; a fully appointed table.  Sitting at the table is claris, and an attractive, not burned being that we know as Weijass (15 year old human female)

She restores the petitioner Nezbit, and introduces herself as Geldressa.  She used to follow Rau - the god of knowledge.    What made you evil?  I lost sight of being kind - I lost sight of, forgot these things.  I also -- matured -- with the help of Grazat.  The other memories, occasionally like to remind me.   I banish them back to where they came from.  I struggle so long to change things - to make a difference -- the creatures of this world worshipped nothing that was real.. did so much to try and make it real.  Those below -- some made unfortunate choices and deals.

Nezbit explains - she can overpower everything that is real - you can overpower the past.  The ones that believe in me -- i can hear them.  "If you release them - they will go on believing in you".  I could do that - I would lose those devoted - it would be so empty.

We convince her to release the trapped ones, because it is the good thing to do.

We find out she has her books - and gives us permission to read them.  In the books - we find some of the missing pieces of the puzzle - The fact of why this is happenening:  Weijass put together that those who are worshipping fake gods are doing so to be fooled into a lifetime of servitude to a demon; weijass has info that shows that is not the case; those that are worshipping the demons/devils - matched fairly well with the idealology.  There was a pattern of gods/godlings whose cults that were being destroyed at the hight of their power. THeory: those that see the fall of their ideology lose hope, and their very souls disappear from the multiverse.  Her church was cultivating those whose belief in their cult werre absolute.  She was just starting to question this.   Several areas highlighted where a dark elf involved - most recently the downfall of a cult that worshipped a slime god.  On a completely separate note - she has information on the gates - compiled over the years - pieces that indicate they are related to the lost souls.  There is enough information in the codes that we can reconstruct all our gate locations.

Where are you from Galdressa?  I served under Rau - after the disgrace in the church of Rau - after the indescressions - Forced a high priest to tell her about strange pockets where you could lose yourself - tortured the priest until he told secrets. Found this hole in the astral plane.  When we arrived here, we found this multiverse full of lesser beings pretending to be gods - we even destroyed a few of them.  Then we realized we could form our own religion.  Unlike some of the others - she helped her followers.

On the table is an adamantine holy symbol of weijass.  We take this as proof.  She fades us back into the "real" realm into Dantessa's room.    We meet Dantessa, show her the truth of the death of Weijass.  We return her to Galdressa's room.  She gives us claris and permission to leave.  She gives us a runestone with a symbol of istarra.  If you bring this with you, istarra is obligated not to destroy you on sight, not destroy you, and allow you safe passage across his/her realm.  I recall that istarra never really picked a gender.

You have something of Weijass's - something written in her own hand.  I feel if I can collect the things that belonged to her - I can extend how long this seems real.  For claris to travel with you - he must travel as a formed soul - it will keep him safe.   She touches him and he collapses into a small orb.   We are free to use the portal

After successfully outsmarting the planetar, we are ported out of the pocket dimension, and into a fragment of the tower, which Nezbit thinks is another pocket dimension.

Read more »

Came here as a petitioner, was a formerly powerful mage in the church of Weijass.

His devotion to Weijass was recognized early on, Weijass herself called him into service and put him to task to help build up her libraries, which were already considerable since they'd been here over 500 years.

Read more »

We proceed onward through the 3rd floor.

Read more »

The party continues its exploration of the tower.  In the southern room we find an ooze factory with one very overgrown gray ooze.  We make short work of it thanks to Psycho's... eagerness.   Gray oozes disolve metal and organic materials.  Mental note - immune to fire and cold.   It appears that someone was trying to grow oozes here.

Read more »

We begin sneaking through

Read more »

Ahead of us are a large Mefit, some smaller mefits, and several fire elementals.
Nesbit approaches the guardian of the portal, who informs him that "there is a toll."   The portal burbles a bit, and the guardian says "Uh, stay there."

From the portal emerges a bearded devil and a Erynes (Female devil; like a succubus but devilish).  Bearded Devil glaive causes infernal wounds (resistant to healing) and diseases with claw and beard.    The devils pay the mefits in some form of items; including two books.

The Mefit spills the beans that his master was a servant of Weijass - he had a purple tower.  The Mefit took a bunch of stuff on his way out, but there was more to be had.  We agree to bring back 10,000 gp worth of books in exchange for passage now.  We stride through the molten lava and come out in the volcano.  It's friggin hot here, in ghenna.  The plane itself stands in our way; non-lawful and non-evil characters suffer -2 (for each)

As we journey down the mountain, we encounter hellcats.  Other than being invisible in full light (20% concealment here).  DR5/good.  Resistenance to fire.  Smart creatures, telepathically communicate.  large, 900 lbs, do not have reach.

We spend time observing the city (the halls of enlightenment) and determine we can sneak our way to the purple tower, and hopefully beyond into the main complex.  It will be a complex skill check.  We spend the night on the mountainside; fight off some fiending dire mountain rams, and successfully rest up for the AM.  We set out for the town.

The party concludes its business in Pelor's realm.  Things of note:

Snake is going to stay with Pelor to resolve his split soul issues.

Smiley gains a new soul through the miracle of Pelor -- party members reinforce Smiley's soul through contributions of XP which are allocated to Smiley as extra PEPs (Pelor's favor) 100 XP per pep.

Smiley and Torch learn new tricks from the Books of the Winding Way (Smiley: +1 Wisdom; Torch: Dodge feat)

We learn that staying in Pelor's realm accrues a desire to stay there (100 points per day).  If these points are greater than our XP, then we no longer desire to leave.  We stay for 11 days and then depart.

After much deliberation, we decide to travel via astral-ethereal-plane of fire-ghenna, to Weijass' realm to save our friend Claris.  We equip for climbing and traversing Ghenna and the Astral.

Along the way, we encounter an astral storm (we hide in a pocket space which is a mage's personal shitter), we kill a ethereal ooze.  We kill that and take it's home for resting the night.

There's a big steam mefit (6 feet tall) and 3 greater fire elementals (female) - steam bitches.  Nezbit suggests that we negotiate.  We pause here for the night.

So, we're sitting in the hall of Pelor talking about what's going on, thinking that we are able to catch our breath, and two bone devils show up and try to kill us.

I guess they'll let anybody in here.

Read more »

March 7 - CY 2321

The party is in a large hall in the Cathedral to Saint Assys; We are talking to saint Assys' avatar about finding Claris, and suddenly there is a "whoomp" sound and there are barbed demons amongst us.  They seem to be interested in me (Torch).

Ba'Bau demons - sneaky and sly, sneak attack, spell like abilites (darkness, see invis, teleport); protective slime that causes anything touching it to take damage.  Can summon friends (40% chance of success). DR/10  cold iron or good.  Immunte to electric and poison, resistance to acid/cold/fire.  SR.  7 HD.

"You know too much - so now you must die!"

It seems that in the absence of the scarlet fatherhood, the others are struggling for control (humans, in the world)

There are only a few that truly understand that I am not Pelor.  I present the image of pelor to create the worship necessary to sustain this place (he is saint Assys).

Something is not right; this world is really a prison for those inside of it.  Most of the things pretending to be gods are evil demons an devils.

Pelor lives in the blessed field of ELyssium.  The most strongly good aligned plane on the great wheel.

People that are dying are ending up in pocket outer planes (if they are not good) -- the other "gods" are creating their own pocket realms.

We have a long philisophical discussion about what is happenening to souls in this realm - this pocket existance somewhere in the astral plane.

I discover I can think about math again... I also note that demons seem to be coming at scheduled intervals (2 min...4 min...).

I will have Merrick come to help you (Merrick was the guy who started the path of the winding way).

While we wait to test my theory, Assys takes us on a tour of Elyssium.  Lion headed men and winged creatures and lantern archons (glowing balls) are everywhere. The demons do come on time.

We are introduced to Merrick.  Assys shows us some of our past on a big screen, and introduces us to him, and vice versa.

Merrick informs Assys that he will not be our guide, because we have not shown enough respect for LAW and Order.   "I have fought very hard to uphold the ideal of good and the challenges of duty, honor...You have some work to do in that department"

You are travelling into realms where your philosophy and belief may have more power than your physical capabilities.

We are welcome to stay here as long as we want, but we must remember our purpose, or we will be bound to stay here forever.  We go out and see new elysyium and are able to shop, etc.  We buy and trade a bunch of stuff.

Pelor requests our presence...Back in his chamber, Pelor informs us he has found us a guide, knowledgeable of the planes, that will take us through what is before us... please meet Nesbit.

Nesbit explains that the universe is not indeed infinite, and that there are bands at the edge of the astral plane.  He says he is not from here.  He was born the elemental plane of air.

We are going to take some time to finish crafting items -- 11 days for a wand of CSW,  Brian is going to recraft his adamantine longsword.

To be continued.

As we emerge from the gate the bone devils appear - - they seem to 'fold' into space and time, more related to the Duer mathematics that we've seen. Osiluths - Devils - Humanoids - Claw-like hands, scorpion-like poisonous tail.

THe demons put us in an ice sphere (me, stick, and smiley).. now we will eat these other two... first I must play with my food! It has been so long.

Read more »

Torggik - we found his axe after killing lamias. Hidden away in the hand -- The stupid wizard told him to write all this down and use a cipher in case his information was lost.
Took me three days to write.

Ciphered below : They've hidden the key back in time - Gate code xyzpdq

We questioned the one remaining Lamia - they were converted by the Duer or the dwarves.(likely the duer). This was about 450 years ago. It was one duer. The key will change things, and that will be bad.

Read more »

We dig through the treasure in the cavern, spread the wealth. I discover a series of formulas that can be used to use arcane magic to raise the dead, or resurrect them, or create clones of them. There are caveats - we use the resurrection capabilities to get Stick back up - however he will be soulbound to the tendorax -- the tendorax that we are about to destroy. We return to the surface. Stick collapses and the veridium pours out of his nose. This gives us enough to make our antidote potion. We hole up for 3 days, during which time Psycho goes apeshit. We end up having to cast hold person on him and subdue him, and medicate him to keep him under while I complete brewing the potion.

In the end, we all drink up.... and our mutant-ness is reduced.

Torch Introspective:

We've been on the run from the Scarlet Fatherhood forever. It seems almost unreal that we've finally gathered enough veridium dust to try brewing an antidote. And we've also finished securing the Tendorax locations, so we are free to set the master gate to a new set of codes, destroying the Tendoraxes near the gates in the process. Somehow, I thought we would never get to this day. And now, I'm not so sure this is what we wanted. We are mutants. Why are we giving this up? For the greater good, I suppose. But in a way, it seems like we are giving something up of ourselves.

We head into the ways to go to the master gate. We hear some SF in the ways - grousing about this form of travel. ...were close to closing the deal with the caralites. They were recalled - priority 1 - at all stations - and close down all the sites. "I don't know what kind of pull that damn drow has, but appearently he says something, and other people jump."

... For me, there is no greater justice than what is going to come. Sodorn, in his infinite wisdom, is soul linked to the Tendorax. And one learned one wonderful bits of news; if two tendoraxes in the world are destroyed simultaneiously, any clone-linked individuals are destroyed permanently and irrbtvcably. Sodorn, your time is coming.

There is a 20 foot tall monk statue on the east wall. As we creep into the room, the stone golem activates and moves to attack snake. Snake retreats and psycho charges in, followed closely by hack. This appears to be a very large stone golem, probably of 20+ HD. The golem makes short work of hack and piles into psycho. We notice a small panel open and there is a crystal inside. Psycho attacks the crystal and the destruction of it seems to shut down one of the golem's arms. It continues to pummel on psycho. A second panel open on its chin and another crystal pops out. Psycho bites it and it glows. The golem is stunned for a round. This panel stays open for several rounds, and psycho managed to keep it stunned while smiley runs around and gets hack up and heals psycho a bit. A new panel opens in the chest. Psycho hits it and the golems staggers. From there we whittle it down using whatever we've got - acid, alchemists fire, bits of melee damage. It dies in a firey mess, alchemists fire potion exploding and killing it.

We arrive in the next room, and the key seems to be resting and being silent for some great deal of time. We send in snake to do the job. He succeeds, and in the process, we get some much needed R&R. 11 hours and a bit later, we move on through the room, rested and respelled.

Two statues, a fanged human being (fizage of torment and anguish) - hands hold a kalibash. The right is a woman, sitting serenly, also holding a kalibash. We figure this is the anguish of life and the serenity of death. The door to the north does not have an arcane lock.

The room beyond is a fighting hall. 4 pillars and a lecturn are in the room. There's a weird glass sculpure and a tome on the lecturn. A quarterstaff lies discarded at the base. The room's walls are lined with bamboo, roof of thatch.
A lone monk with 6 dots (2 rows of 3) on his foreheed sits in the lotus position, hands resting in his lap.

His eyes bulge and glow with light, teeth are fangs. for a moment. then he is serene and calm again.

"Come, my student" - "Do not fail me for I have lost the winding way". This is marik. Have you lost? I contain the sickness, I cannot hold it much longer. You must destroy what comes. When you destroy it, you will destroy the others.
If you fail, they will walk across the face of the earth, with the thing that I have become at their lead.

The things in the past room - are the second to last test of the winding way. On the podium rests the winding way, in a single tome. It also has on it, a water clock to measure a 2 minute combat.

Are you prepared?
His head pops out of his body as he explodes. The head pops off and the guts and entrails hang from the body, animating and whipping around.

Psycho charges in. Idiot.
Snake sneaks in.
We throw some light fire at him (mages), and he smokes us both, but not before i buff the smack out of hack, enlarge and haste for the win. Hack makes short work of him.

The book of the winding way is a large tome with 3 sections written by marik draven.
Section 1: Philosophy of the Winding Way
Section 2: Physicality of the Winding Way
Section 3: Spirituality of the Winding Way
There is a beyond human insight that guided the hand that wrote this. I get the impression that, if I successfully understand a section, I will gain permanent benefits.
This is a minor artifact

We fix up our bodies and rest up, and head out looking for the Tendorax.
We journey into the lake, and after 2 hours, we manage to find a portal, covered in runes, that leads to ???
We open the portal, and a water-like platform appears, and we ride the water-geyser down a shaft of stone into air. We are below the depths of the lake. We go down about 200 feet, and it opens into a cavern. Stones and fungi glow below, there is another large subterranean lake here. The walls here pulse with a familiar blue glow. As the water geyser subsides, the pulsing does too. There is a lake down here, and there are some mounds and what looks like a backpack.

Searching reveals some very old backpacks - maybe pre-cataclysm - they have been magically treated to withstand the test of time. Inside: adventuring equipment and piecing together parts, we find journals written by different hands. This equipment was worn by a group called the Black Company. The straps have been broken off, belt loops torn from the bag - they were forcibly removed from their owners (forced up by a column of water). This is in the underdark, or what was left of it. Dum-De-Dum!

Found Abbot Serras (Dead) at the top of the tower - Marik had written him a note describing the door.

We find Marik's quarters after defeating the monk. A note to Serras - Remember what we discussed and your passage will be easy.

Asererak's tomb was below - spawning of undead minions that could procreate. He was slain and buried deep in the mountains - with his seeds. I must only pray to get the spells to destroy it.

We go to the door - we touch the medallion to the door and it opens. Inside is a circus of spinning knives and shit. Looks like it is going to hurt a lot; snake takes away the pain, and we manage navigate the room unharmed.

Short notes this week, got here late.