136: Preparing for the Worst

Morning of Talsil 11th
Experience: 234,763 xp total

Gained Resources: Jeda's location (Nexus)
Expended Resouces: ritual components (Isabella) 

New NPCs: n/a
Returning NPCs: Tavishan (through telepathy, injured and perhaps dying, kidnapped by Jeda); Jeda a.k.a. Queen of Spiders a.k.a. Anansiel (as seen through the mirror), High Priest Giers Oranar (informed the party of Celinduil's death, and left offended by the party's arrogance).

Plot Developments

• The aligned powers of Loranna met within the banquet halls of Etheria to discuss their next strategy. Through charm, subtlety, and compromise (or the lack there of) Jeda was identified the next on their list. Throughout the conversations, it became increasingly apparent certain party members were pursuing their own personal agendas off and to the side. Some used their vast networks to glean important information and a few startling insights, though what was actually shared is a different matter...
• Tavishan has slain Mala Hati, but at a great cost. The Cat Lord is mortally wounded in the Underdark- and now in the clutches of Jeda's forces. 
• Jeda has assumed the full mantle of her obscene mother, having devoured all of her tiefling sisters and transformed into the new Anansiel, Demon Queen of Spiders. She knows the party is coming, and challenges them to enter her web if they dare: stretched across the dark gulf of the Nexus.
• Celinduil the Gold is dead, slain by Yathnoc the Red in a climactic fight over the Stygian Chasm. Despite the honor-bound lesser golds, nothing prevents the red progenitor from fire-bombing alliance towns at will. The Northern Alliance is on borrowed time unless this great menace can be deterred.
• At Kaylan's behest, Isabella sought to rewrite the prophet's memory and remove the horrific events that night in the cornfields of Darling so that she might face her long-time foe without the crippling fear that accompanied even the mention of the name, 'Jeda'. Interrupted though she was by a concerned husband, the ritual seems to have gone off without a hitch. Yeah...
  

Next Session: The party makes all haste to the Nexus, below the feet of the Mountain of Power in the lands of budding Isolde. Negotiate a siege army, rescue a Baast, infiltrate the most malign of the Anubian vessels, face the horrors at Jeda's disposal, and try and gain an audience with the Queen of Spiders is all in a day's work.