Experience: 246,813 xp total
Gained Resources: Tavishan's tail
Expended Resouces: ritual components (Isabella)
New NPCs: a few dozen drow sentries (nameless; stationed in watchtowers across the siege-city of Phaerovul); a Nalfeshnee (nameless; shattered a portal crystal just to spite the party); a Handmaiden (nameless; one of the royal yochlol who launched a hundred demons, drow, and malign abominations on the Black Stair toward Isabella, Mercy, and Tyvis)
Returning NPCs: Tiberius Strangeheart (Jeda's willing ally, he followed her bidding without the use of a helm to slake his thirst for destruction), The Queen of Spiders (felt remotely through the Nexus; her will reunited the split parties for some sadistic reason, and she removed the har'venoth before Kaylan could gain control of the ship via the helm).
Hazards: The Dermis (a startling Anubian analog to organic systems, putrefied and corrupted as is the cancerous nature of the Void on which it was modeled; suffocation, acids, techno-diseases.); Nexian Fumes (poisonous gases which kill over time, deactivated by Kaylan through the use of the helm, and completely neutralized with the removal of the har'venoth).
Monsters: Nalfeshnee, Yochlol, Apocalypse Stirge (looking like bat-winged tarantulas that move in hive-mind flocks.)
Plot Developments
- With the party joined, Isabella and her coven managed a complicated transportation ritual. However, unlike the Pyramid, the forces of the Octahedron and the siege-city without knew well of their coming. Layers and layers of disruption rituals, and active interference from drow archmages and powerful demons sent the Witch-Queen's ritual spiraling out of control. The party was split.
- While the one party navigated the dangerous alleys and watchtowers of Phaerovul, dissuading sword-spiders, threatening demons, and barely escaping the vile processions of the Black Stair, the other half of the party managed their way inside the Nexus almost right away, then having to squeeze, swim, and shove their way through the abominable layers of techno-organic material affectionately dubbed the Dermis. It nearly claimed Kaylan's life, save for her new robes taken from the Tenebrous' hoard.
- Though the party was at a considerable disadvantage so divided, it was the Queen of Spiders herself who wished them reunited, for reasons no doubt fueled by pride and sadism. Soon the expedition was joined, and the real horror show could begin.
- The Strangeheart made its presence known, mocking the party in their current predicament. To the party's surprise, Tiberius, as Diana once called him, willingly serves Jeda's ends, enjoying the havoc and destruction that inevitably resulted. It was his intentions to devour everything upon her victory, and though chided and questioned, remained largely undeterred- especially while having the ability to torture Tavishan for any logic spoken from Shard's lips.
- Kaylan triumphed over personal demons to gain mastery over Maab's Ring, the Helm of the Void. Before she could exert her will over the whole of the Nexus, Jeda removed Strangeheart from the core. Now the once tumorous ship has petrified into a deep indigo mineral, creating a freeze-frame dungeon winding down through the depths of the vessel's octagonal dimension. Frozen throughout the lava-tubes and strange caverns are many of the queen's drow and demonic minions, trapped during the solidification in grotesque poses. Some even survive, most certainly a kind of living hell.
- In a bizarre ritual, Tavishan's severed tail was turned into a compass, directing the party to his prison. It slithers before the party, mimicking some sort of crude sentience. Likewise, Shard possesses a map which has aided in revealing this dark and twisted sprawl, though neither is capable of discerning any grisly details of what lies ahead.
Next Session: The party seeks Tavishan, and ultimately Jeda the Anansiel, knowing full well a slew of horrors awaits them.
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