GoCorral

This session was attended by Jamie, Will, Avery, Trajan, and a new player! Our new player’s screen name is Tyler. He’ll be taking over Aldarian from Trajan. Tyler is a friend of Trajan’s that got introduced to the group through our weekday sessions of League of Legends. He got integrated pretty well and may be one of the only people we add successfully to the group since our fateful meeting more than a decade ago.

A Dagger’s Desire

With the lich gone, the darkness dissipated, but Korm’s desire for control did not. He stabbed at Amalius’ mind. The psion’s fortifications were strong, but had become idle with his reliance on magical protections. A thousand knives poked and prodded at Amalius’ mental bastion until a weakness was found. Korm seized his chance and broke through. Amalius was now under the dagger’s control.

Korm ordered Amalius to dismiss his mind blank and step out of the antimagic cone created by Hektor. Then Amalius was made to manifest temporal acceleration giving Korm three more rounds of control within accelerated time. Korm made Amalius use up as much of his power points as possible by manifesting energy adaption as a swift action, dimension door as a move action, and overchanneled disintegrates at the feet of Torin and Tagenadi as a standard action. Korm’s final actions within the time bubble were to manifest moment of prescience and to dimension door back to Amalius’ start location just outside of the antimagic cone.

When the time bubble ended, Korm made a foolish mistake and made Amalius manifest schism. It had become clear to Amalius that Korm was attempting to burn through his power points as quickly as possible. The schism would give him the ability to do a few more when the time came. But the second mind that schism created could resist Korm’s control over Amalius’ body as well. Amalius’ second mind fought and wrestled with the dagger’s commanding influence and successfully distracted the weapon to allow Amalius to break free. The secondary mind faded away as the primary took hold once again.

The others freaked out a little bit. Tagenadi climbed out of the pit created by the disintegrates and pulled Torin up after himself. Torin sought about quickly for an invisible attacker and cast flame strike on an area he thought he’d heard something in. Hektor flew to the ground and assumed an iron golem form to protect himself from any magical attacks.

Amalius prepared to tell the others that Korm had assumed control for a moment, but he felt the dagger invading his mind once again. The knives assaulted his mental fortress again, but this time Amalius was prepared. With his magical items restored to functionality, the gaps in his mental wall were filled once more. Korm could find no weak spot. Amalius maintained control.

Amalius threw the dagger to the ground, turned off his invisibility, and shouted to the group, “Korm took over my mind! It was only for a second! I’m in control again!”
Torin was suspicious, “How could all that be Korm?”
“He used my powers. He used my time altering ability to create pits at your feet.”
“Why wouldn’t he just escape with you as a hostage?”
“I don’t know. I think he was trying to use up all my mental energy for some purpose.”
Korm broke in saying, “Torin, he’s lying! Pick me up! Pick me up!”
As Amalius explained what had happened in detail to Torin, Korm continued to rave about lies and that Torin should pick him up. Torin trusted Amalius over a dagger known to once belong to Amalgami. Korm was picked up by Amalius and put into his portable hole to silence the weapon’s continual shouting.

Still Exiled

Hoping that the dispelled darkness would attract the town watch or the Björn himself, the party waited at the site of the destroyed palace. In the afternoon a group of five people began walking up to the palace. When they came close enough the group was recognized as Astyanax, Björn, Arendil, Titandra, and Terolio.

Astyanax shouted upon seeing the party, “I should’ve known you scum were behind this!”
Amalius tried to explain, “It was a lich. We were just protecting the Björn’s Pa-”
A mental message from the Björn cut into Amalius’ thoughts, “SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT US!”
Tagenadi explained, “We were dealing with the Bane, a lich from the desert. He destroyed the palace, not us.”
Astyanax said, “A deed done by one undead or another. It matters not to me. You are banished from Alliance lands. These are Alliance lands. Now get out before I make you get out.” The masked paladin drew his sword.
Everyone started speaking at once, trying to justify the party’s presence at Dalleer. During the cacophony the Björn sent another telepathic message to Amalius, “Meet me at the shrine in Monkey’s Forest tomorrow at sunset.”
Astyanax grew tired of the bickering and said, “If you aren’t out of here by the time I finish counting, I’ll lay you low. TEN!”
The party gathered up to teleport, but Torin wasn’t done. “You can’t make us get out! You’re insane! The banishment doesn’t extend here and even if it did you can’t require us to leave immediately!”
Astyanax continued to count as Torin spoke, “NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO!”

Amalius grabbed Tagenadi and Torin before the dwarf did anything rash and teleported away to Lakatia. Hektor followed soon afterwards. Hektor’s position within the Alliance Council was not threatened as the other Council members could not recognize him in his shapechanged form. With few teleports remaining, the party rested for the rest of the day and the next day as well after Amalius told them of the planned meeting with the Björn.

Monkeys and Patrons

At sunset everyone (Hektor, Amalius, Aldarian, Torin, Eathirilu, and Tagenadi) teleported to Monkey’s Forest right outside of Dalleer. They walked down the path to the shrine in the middle of the forest, with monkeys hooting and hollering at them on the way. The forest soon thinned to reveal a clearing with two short stone towers on either side of a giant stone statue of a monkey. Rubble laid at the feet of the statue and three stone steps led up to the monkey. The Björn stood upon the steps, waiting.

The Björn spoke, “We need to talk about what happened. Your actions yesterday greatly endangered my relationship with the Alliance, which cannot be risked.”
Amalius nodded his head.
“Til now, I have been able to work with you as I was not a direct member of the Alliance, but that will change soon with my marriage. You can no longer stay in my palace nor come within the bounds of Dalleer. To do so would further disrupt an already delicate situation. However, while the Alliance is not your friend, I remain so. Using undead to defeat the dragovinians would not be my first choice, but I understand the necessity of the situation. I doubt the Alliance will win if you do not aid them.
“In the future, all contact with me will be via telepathic messages. If I need to speak with you, I shall send you a message indicating what time and where we shall meet. You should do the same. I have chosen this location as the wild monkeys keep nearly everyone away. We should use it again for any future meetings.”
The party told the Björn that they understood and asked if they could make up for what they’d done.
“I think it’d be best if you stayed out of the spotlight in Dalleer for now. No help will be needed.”
Amalius added, “And congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Would you like us there?”
“Frankly, I can’t promise that Astyanax won’t organize guards with true seeing active. Given that, if you do choose to come, only do so under a disguise that true seeing cannot pierce. The wedding will be held at Bradel Fields now that Astyanax feels the Dalleer Cathedral is not safe from you.”
“What was up with that Cathedral by the way?”
“The magic of the Cathedral prevents one from seeing anyone they do not need to see while they are there. People often wish to conduct their religious business in private. The Cathedral sees hundreds of worshippers every day, but none of them are ever aware of any other person inside save themselves, those they entered with, and the priest they speak with.”
“Ah… We understand.”
“I trust you will deal with the lich permanently. I can’t afford to lose any more palaces.”

When prompted the Björn updated the party on the situation of the war.
Greshendale remained neutral.
Rumors out of Phoenix made it clear that the Xorians had it as a new base of operations. Dragoviniysm was taking hold there. Faced with death if they did not submit and a chance at immortality if they gave in, many gave in. The Mercenaries Guild in particular had almost all turned to become dragovinians. The Wizards, Clerics, and Adventurers guilds were all wiped out. The high ranking members of other guilds joined up. Relief would be welcome by the common people with no chance at the immortality of Dragoviniysm, but that relief would be long in coming.
The Xorians had halted their offensive due to a strong revolt in the town of Gazeara. The Rebels attacked and took the city with help from inside. The large Amazon contingent in the Xorian army had peeled off from Phoenix to besiege Gazeara. The siege had only just begun, so it was hard to say what the outcome would be.
With a little more knowledge gained, the party popped back to Lakatia.

The next day the party went on a grand shopping spree in Greshendale, the flying, neutral, and extremely magical city. The loot from the Bane was shared out amongst everyone. A few people chose to buy new items or sell old ones. The unused loot from the Bane’s hoard was sold and spread out among the party or kept in a rainy day fund.

Search and Destroy

The day after that, the party returned to the Lich Shade to find the Bane’s phylactery. They had two clues thus far, the words of the demon they’d freed, “His phylactery is contained within the pillar of the Lich Shade itself.” And the words of the giant’s head, “Tunnel through the center for what you seek.” The party surmised that the phylactery was at the central axis of the gigantic stone pillar of the Lich Shade, probably halfway up or close to the top.

Tagenadi summoned his nightmare mount from the outer realms and commanded it to make the party ethereal. With ghostly forms the party sailed up through the pillar, thoroughly checking for the phylactery. Tagenadi ended up finding it at the dead center between bottom and top and between the outer edges. The phylactery was a metal box, two inches on a side, with a intricate design. A looped chain connected to the box at a ring on a corner. The box was encased within the stone, with no air on any side.

Now how to get to the box? The party figured the best way was by disintegrating. Amalius went back to the ground and became corporeal once more. He spider climbed up the outside of the Lich Shade until he reached the right height. He used his telepathy powers to communicate with his ghostly companions as he blasted his way into the Lich Shade. He created a tunnel inwards and then a room around a ten foot cube containing the phylactery. Tagenadi then went to work, using his ancient mountain hammer strike to carve out an area around the phylactery. Now only a two foot wide stone cube hung from the ceiling containing the phylactery.

The party debated what to do next. Would disintegrating the box invite disaster? Would ancient mountain hammer prove disastrous as well? What was the best means of destroying the phylactery if they removed it? Time dragged as they discussed. Enough time it seemed for the Bane to return to life.

The Bane materialized within the constructed room. Everyone’s eyes went wide. Tagenadi and Aldarian were the first to gather their senses. They prepared to strike the lich if he began casting any spells. The Bane did cast a spell and was hit with a shattering ancient mountain hammer from Tagenadi. The Lich then cast a second quickened spell and disappeared. The more experienced in the party recognized the spell as a time stop.

Fearing for their lives, the party wanted to escape as quickly as possible. Amalius commanded everyone to gather up for a teleport. As they did so he blasted the final stone block with a disintegrate. The spell removed the rock. The metal box glowed white hot as the spell’s energy entered it. The spell could not conquer the box though. The energy released in a beam directed straight back at Amalius. He lived, but felt the sting of his own spell.

The needs of the moment took over. Amalius rushed forward and scooped the phylactery into his portable hole. Torin teleported the party away to his suite in Jord just as he’d done before.

“What do we do with it?” was the question on everyone’s minds. They needed to destroy it fast before the lich used it to locate them. And could they prevent the lich from scrying them somehow? No one could prevent the scrying, so a constant sense of impending doom dominated the conversation.

Could they throw it into a volcano? But the only volcano they knew of was the one that composed the city of Greshendale. Who knows what the lich’s phylactery would do to the city. It might interfere with the magic holding the city in the air, crash it, and kill thousands if the party tried to throw the phylactery in the lava of the floating city.

Disintegrate had been tried and failed. What about ancient mountain hammer? Tagenadi borrowed Aldarian’s dagger and took a swing. The dagger burst into shards of metal upon impact. That would not work either.

A sphere of annihilation perhaps? There were a few that roamed the valley below Greshendale. But the party feared the Bane’s vast intellect could turn that plan against them. The spheres could all start homing in on the party members, picking them off one by one.

The party latched onto the idea of taking the phylactery to Hades for him to destroy. An attempted plane shift squelched that plan. The realm of the underworld is not so easily reached in the Greek mythos. Instead of plane shifting to Erebos, the party found themselves in the sewers of Bradel Fields.

Amalius suggested revisiting the disintegrate idea. He could survive another blast of his own magic or Tagenadi could block the spell for him. But that was only needed if he failed to penetrate the phylactery’s spell resistance. If he used his power penetration ability and pierced through the phylactery’s defenses, then maybe they stood a chance of destroying the box. If it failed, they were only out a disintegrate and some healing magic from Torin. Amalius readied himself and blasted the box.

It worked! The Bane’s phylactery turned to ash. His green soul emerged and flew away to the east, presumably where the Bane’s body was. The lich’s phylactery was gone, but the lich still remained alive. Now both sides would play for keeps in their next engagement.