- Narra overcame her immediate despair in order to keep her Abyssal portal in check, vanishing for a time to collect herself (and maybe something else, too).
- Meanwhile, the rest of the party fled the wider destruction of the ship, following Mercy's lodestone to the far south wall. With concerted effort, they broke through the wall, circuitry, a force barrier, and the very hull itself thanks largely to the archdruid's quickened ritual 'earth elemental form' and a massive spike of damage (I think we got near 1000 dmg in a round, didn't we?).
- The ruined ship plummeted into the boiling blood pit seen previously through the glass floor of the seminary. Those who could magically fly caught those who could not, all still in their earthen form. Rocky skin provided protection from the intense heat and allowed a grisly view of thousands upon thousands of skewered souls slipping slowly, inexorably, into the churning soup. Eilessa sensed without doubt that below the bubbling cauldron lied a powerful Yth, perhaps even a Ythlord.
- Guided on instinct, Mercy tried to pry two souls loose from their spikes and watched helplessly as the spirits disintegrated into nothing. She quickly shrugged off the maddened souls reaching for her and entered one of the portals. The others followed, adamant the party not be split again.
- The party materialized on a rose-colored gem-asteroid floating in STARRY space, emblazoned with three seals marked Hate, Terror, and Destruction. Beneath, three terribly potent souls powered a funnel of other souls across this universe (Narra discovered this was, in fact, a parallel universe!) back to the Siege proper.
- The bloodyth of the Siege was being fed potentially trillions of souls from multiple afterlives across several universes. The likelihood this is a Ythlord has greatly increased...
- Isabella decided to recreate her own sort of explosive runes set on a timer and destroy this place, but not before an Eilessa/Mercy tandem could fish out the genuine orb from two false ones embedded in the crystal core. Upon retrieving the real sphere, two stairwells on the edges of the asteroid extended upward into infinity. As something slowly descended the one, the party took their cue to leave..
- Isabella, last to escape as she finished setting the timer for her impromptu explosive runes, recognized those clicking heels growing steadily louder on their way down. She met with the lich-wraith Queen Victoria. Yet the young Shade Queen was no longer daunted by the shadow of her mother, having come too far and suffered too much. She detonated her runes and fled through the portal.
- Without a power source (orb) or a crystal isle, it's very likely the Siege is no longer able to draw souls from that universe. The portal connecting them ceased and the fate of the lich-wraith Victoria is unknown.
- Those materializing back in the Siege found a similar fate and the tortured souls, impaled on hooks and spears, but Narra's speedy intervention prevented prolonged agony and potential soul drain (though the ordeal inflicted 2 necropotence on everyone).
- Faced with trying another portal or flying up into the ruined remnants of the seminary, the party took shelter on a shattered outcropping of thick glass near the ceiling.
Objectives:
- Use the ritual books in Isabella's possession to summon forth two planetary spheres upon the Altar of Seven World Trees within the Mothers' Cloister (somewhere in the unexplored halls adjacent the seminary).
- Retrieve Orcus's prized skull from the white baths of the Shrine to Kishar (a great boon being you actually have Kishar as an ally) in return for two planetary spheres and his aid in the fight against Gabriel.
- Brave the other three portals along the blood pit into parallel universes to retrieve orbs.
- Kill Gabriel and claim the Gate (whoever lands the killing blow).
- Perform the ritual to attune the Gate to Mercy.
Experience: With the conclusion of the Siege efforts, the party levels 26.
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