130: Greater Gods

Afternoon of Talsil 2nd
Experience: 190,000 total

Returned to Saspien, many had news and information to share, but no revelation was as stunning as the advent of a new goddess Kalia (and the 'disolving' of two of the old), greater than any that had come before her. The Chosen of Kalinda and Tez had combined the divine sparks of Kalinda and Tez to form Kalia. The ramifications were mind-boggling, and Shard and Tyvis reeled from the idea, then railed against its principle and its ramifications. There were practical supporters, however, in Diana, Thamior, and Mikhail.

Isabella appreciated both sides, but whatever diplomatic angle she might have established fell away when she revealed that, like the other Chosen, she'd taken her coven to the lowest Heaven of Lunia and retrieved Altan's divine spark from renegade angels. She'd created a second greater god, Laan, embodying aspects of the old god Altan and Hecate. He dwelled in the darkest reaches of the Wyld, and would prove most vexing for Sev. Well, if Tyvis was reeling before, he was beside himself now with the implications for Arinew, Eglantine, and the Wyld as a whole. The witch-queen tried to reassure him, but he proved largely inconsolable. So much had changed, seemingly, overnight. Huge decisions had been made, decisions Narra wasn't convinced were thoroughly considered, and yet which Diana and Thamior insisted were of the utmost necessity given what little time they had.

The assembly ignited into debate, and stances were taken. Renato and Isabella were particularly venomous to one another, and the witch-queen was threatening to cast him into Hell as a time-out. Quickly enough, the master assassin was daring her, and poof, he was gone. Little did anyone know, but Renato did not find himself in the tortured dimension of the devils. Fueled with the power of the god Laan, Isabella has flung her ex-lover into His version of Perdition. It was the most nightmarish experience Renato suffered in all his existence, deadening him inside. Back at the assembly, the rest of the party scoffed and brooded over such an arrogant display of power, but Isabella felt justified and the conversations continued. Narra made sure to claim the Astralheart, which had be curiously left behind, though it never once communed with the psion, erecting defensive measures around its psyche.

Despite her sadness, Shard voiced what had become a reality of this alliance, that what had been done by one or more members could not be undone, and therefore they should focus on the future. Every moment they delayed was time lost in the face of total annihilation. Talk moved to which of their many targets to address first, and ultimately it was decided to descend upon Tir'buk, rescue the tabari and end the menace of Tenebrous, his dragon army, his mass mind control, and his demon underlings for good. Isabella would stay behind and prepare the portal to the dark continent, while the others fetched Kaylan from the Etherian temple. They met some resistance, however, opening a portal in the confines of the Holy City, as if some immense will blocked them (the will of, say, a goddess).

Renato returned then, changed. Luckily the witch-queen was nowhere in sight, for he'd murder on his mind. He ended up following the others through the portal, though all could tell that the unflappable vampire had been humbled, and that in itself was frightening. Astraea proved the only balm for his soul, what little she could manage.

The fellowship did ultimately enter the former offices of the high priestess, only to discover they were now the offices of High Priest Giers. The new goddess had made this place her home as she had the Temple of the Wheel. It was very, very good for parents to be reunited with children, and Thamior and Kaylan seemed rejuvenated. Christina seemed thrilled to see Tyvis, and offered the Archdruid a note for Chiela (after accidentally stumbling upon Finduilas' pleasure-wand hidden deep in the raptoran's desk, courtesy of "M").

Renato also had words to share with Giers out in the hall, words one party member may or may not have overhead. Upon returning, Giers assured a concerned Kaylan that the goddess would see them through, and offered a whispered apology to Thamior for her to deliver at some point in the future. At long last, Giers could say that he no longer hated the fel.

It was decided after some deliberation that Christina and Christopher could not stay at the temple, not with Finduilas such an unknown. Diana welcomed them to the Observatory, and Mikhail stepped up as their guardian. Afterward, they decided to collect Isabella and make for Tir'buk, though again, after reviewing the list of viable targets. There may have been a loose consensus that after Tenebrous, they could address the Ythlord Gabriel, then the Queen of the Universe. Unfortunately, planning so far in advance rarely panned out in these times.

There was also the matter of the Nebul Jihad, and the mere five months before the first strike, which would come against Cadavera. Diana was adamant about addressing the concern, lest every other effort be in vain. Some in the party believed combining ships and focusing fire could eliminate these hurtling orbs much like combined fire annihilated the star-toad, thus justifying a beeline for Tenebrous' pyramid. Others still waited on plans from their respective patrons, or their spy networks, but Diana had it in her head a radically different path.

Even before the meeting with Kharrush, she was convinced the only option was her 'friendly Yth' theory. Shard could only shake her head at the notion, and others had more muted doubts, but Renato and Narra considered the plan as likely as any other of working and gave their quiet approval. As the party took a short rest in the confines of Narra's artificial tavern, Diana shared that she would be leaving them, intent on appealing to these Yth-like beings for aid. Goodbyes were had, luck wished, special rings given, and she exited with the children and the druid to make arrangements. Kaylan also took the time to ask for another chance to know Narra, and the two found equal footing despite their ancestral differences.

After sharing some bitter spirits with Shard, Renato took the opportunity to share his suspicions of this Laan character, and advised the party to keep a very close eye on Isabella. Kaylan leaped to her friend's defense, but others in the fellowship were not so hasty to rule out the possibilities. Few thought the witch-queen was purposefully deceiving them, but most considered the possibility Laan was not what he seemed, and that if Isabella has direct control of a god, the results would be catastrophic. And with that notion in their heads, they arrived in Saspien.


Expended Resources: Hecate's spark, Altan's spark, 2 rings (Narra), Diana...

Returning NPCs: Mikhail (guardian of Kaylan's children), Giers (now high priest)

Plot Developments

• The Nebul Jihad will strike the worlds according to their orbits, starting with Cadavera in several months time and moving inward from there. Alistar predicts 5 months (mid-Gent [August]).
• Laan, now a Greater God among the new and old gods, has concentrated the combined aspects of Hecate and Altan and assumed the spheres of Magic, Politics, and Shadow. Twice as powerful as the gods before him, he is awake and active in the darkest reaches of the Wyld: the Court of Shadows.
• Laan has his own interpretation of Hell, independent of the devils', a place Renato considers far, far worse. Renato is convinced Laan is not a god at all, simply channeling the power of two sparks. In his words, Laan is "a monster".
• Isabella's ties to the god are strong, and presumably she is the Prophet of Laan. Kaylan is the Prophet of Kalia.
• All of Hecate and Altan's unclaimed aspects revert back to the entities which normally command them, thus making these beings even more powerful. Hecate's claim on Hell now siphons into the princes, queens, and archdukes of Hell, as well as into Asmodeus. Altan's notions of honor, civilization, and brotherhood return to the pool of mortal emotion, and great beings heroic and protective.
• Control of Hell now rests on Isabella directly. She alone keeps the queens in line, and stands in direct opposition to Asmodeus. With Laan's backing, it's uncertain if even Asmodeus can contend.
• Laan and Kalia are on equal footing as Greater Gods, two of the most powerful forces in Creation. Chrysaor's approach does not weaken them, nor the corruptions of the Yth. There have never been gods this strong before.
• Four sparks yet remain, to be combined, or consumed, or left to die: Sigafrid's (war, storms, strength), Freyjar's (song, trickery, secrets), Krysarok's (demons, dragons, destruction), and Gabriel's (death, winter, night).

Next Session: Tenebrous' time has come! The liberation of the dark continent is at hand! How exactly that'll work is still up for discussion, something about distractions and stealth and deposing a psychic shadow wyrm with blood magic, alien technology, demons and ancient dragons at his command (in the heart of his Anubian pyramid, no less). Meanwhile, Diana visits alien and non-Euclidean corners of the Astral Sea to seek aid from Yth-like entities regarding the Nebul Jihad.

K5: The Holy Mother, Kalia

Morning of Talsil 1st - Afternoon of Talsil 2nd
Experience: 188,709 total

Accepting the time had finally come, Kaylan and Giers met with the high priestess over the matter of Kalia's awakening. Finduilas was devastated, which led to an angry and tearful exchange in the privacy of her office. While apologetic at first, Kaylan found a new conviction in defense of the goddess she herself barely knew. After using this new-found presence to politely command Giers to leave (which he obeyed!), the priestess laid into her mentor and adopted mother. The Chosen had been faced with an impossible choice, and ultimately she, the prophet, made it, while others defered judgement, turned their heads, and hid behind their walls. The accusation Finduilas purposefully hid, combined with grief, sent the raptoran wailing up into the rafters.

Kaylan could feel Kalia moving through her then, heard Her voice welcoming the half-elf into Her grace. For accepting Her, the goddess promised to protect those Kaylan loved, and accepted the burdens and trials of the half-elf's family as if they were Her own. Kaylan offered Finduilas the same chance, but the old bird had lost her divine connection, and was in effect no longer a cleric at all. Terrified, the aged creature could not accept Kalia, even when she had so adamantly loved Kalinda. Finduilas did not see Kalia as Kalinda's waking form, but an imposter. She refused Kalia's love and vanished through the aid of some magical item left over from her adventuring days.

Kaylan flew into a panic, terrified what the raptoran might do in such a state, and called on all hands to find her children and bring them to her. After a terrible wait came a joyous reunion. Gathered together, Kaylan and Giers formed a new pact, one predicated on understanding and platonic love. Kaylan had truly inherited the title of prophet, as surely as if she'd fallen on a sword, and Giers assumed the vital role of high priest. He seemed, more than ever before, at peace with himself and the world. Christina mentioned she, too, heard Kalia's voice, reassuring her that things would be better now. Despite all the chaos and evil in the world, here, now, things were good.

Feeling Thamior's subtle call, Kaylan startled. Someone was trying to open a portal into the office. Initially worried it was something hostile, why else would Kalia block it, Giers and Kaylan readied for a fight, urging Christina with Christopher back.

To their relief, the majority of the fellowship entered through the spacial gap.

Gained Resources: Prophet of Kalia mantle (Kaylan)
Expended Resources: a mother in Finduilas


Returning NPCs: Giers, Mikhail, Finduilas, Christina, Christopher

Plot Developments

• Etheria meets the changing of the gods with a wiser, more matured Giers as high priest of Kalia's church, and by virtue now chief authority of the Holy City. Finduilas is nowhere to be found, her despair turning to tragic unpredictability.
• Giers is on much better terms with Kaylan, and even Diana. The former senses the ethrey at peace with himself, the latter more or less considers him finally grown up. Kalia has helped him temper the fire within him, curb the anger, and focus his passion toward more protective and productive aims. 

Thus concludes the K series.

K4: Our Last Hope (+ side)

Afternoon of Ulanra 27th - Evening of Ulanra 29th
Experience:

The Triad plus Mikhail arrived in the Heartwoods of Loranna, having avoided watchtowers, imperial dragoons, Yathnoc, and other obstacles in the war south. After some intense hiking through the cold, snowy depths of the primeval forest- in which Diana was all but miserable - Mikhail found the spot where Tez was strongest. He opened the primal gates, and the four entered into Nature's Manse, held aloft by pillars of the many raw elements, the ceiling and walls interwoven with hale plants and shifting animals spanning all climates, all seasons. It was quite beautiful, if somewhat Edenic.

All eyes were on Mikhail, who called for the spark with a rumbling mixture of sadness and conviction. He was challenged by, of all things, a blind mole, who turned out to be a druid in his own right and the keeper of the spark. The rodent urged caution, though he understood why the group was here. After some discussion, and with a heavy heart, the mole relinquished it into Mikhail's care, who would not rest or let down his guard for however long he cupped the green mote in his huge hands.

With the weight of two religions on their shoulders, the Chosen returned to the sloop and after some deliberation the Temple of the Wheel was decided as the location for the union of Kalinda and Tez. Two days and nights it took, during which many quiet feelings were had, among them concern, perhaps fear, but also a grim certainty, and the smallest glimmers of hope.

In an intimate tabernacle within the ground floor of the temple, lit through reflective tin paneling powered by the Sunsword, Mikhail brooded over the choice being made. There were clear doubts on his face, the gravitas of the situation threatening to crush him. Kaylan came to him, then, and joined him in blood oath, binding their fates as they would their religions, and assuring him she would always stand beside him. Diana settled for patting him on the back, and Giers sympathetically did likewise. The bear gingerly placed the spark upon Kalinda's altar. It looked so fragile, then, and Kaylan caressed it, inspiring Kalinda's spark to manifest around it like a halo. The sparks were still too weak, and Diana and Giers both placed their hands beside Kaylan's, inspiring a much brighter glow. After a deep breath and a final decision, Mikhail clasped all of their hands with his own, binding them, and bringing about the change in all-consuming white.

When the light abated, things began to change immediately. For one, the brightness of the temple lessened some, and the solar fire of Giers' equipment became a more earthly red-gold. Mikhail took on a more blonde aspect, and noted feeling decidedly stronger. The changes for Kaylan and Diana were more difficult to discern. At least it seemed they were all favored by the new Goddess, whose name was Kalia, and whose portfolio encompassed Motherhood, Passion, and Rebirth.

After bringing the news to Gertruda and her close circle, cries to come quick brought everyone to the Sunsword, which seemed to be having a nuclear meltdown, sputtering bright molten lava and sloughing away. Diana watched in wonder, Kaylan and Giers with panic, as the greatsword refashioned itself Kalia's favored weapon: the scimitar. It was beautiful, though the light it offered was not as great as Kalinda's. Days would be shorter and dimmer in Barovia.

It was decided then Finduilas deserved to be told. Kaylan and Giers would go to Etheria and confront high priestess, while Diana would return to Saspien and offer the rest of the alliance the good news.

Gained Resources: The Natural Spark (Mikhail), the new goddess Kalia
Expended Resources: precious time, Natural Spark, Solar Spark

New NPCs: blind mole druid (nameless; guardian of Tez's spark)
Returning NPCs: Giers Oranar, Prophet Mikhail the Bear, Shae

Plot Developments

• Kalia, now a Greater God among the new and old gods, has concentrated the combined aspects of Kalinda and Tez and assumed the spheres of Motherhood, Passion, and Rebirth. Twice as powerful as the gods before her, she is awake and active.
• All of Kalinda and Tez's other aspects unclaimed by Kalia revert back to the other powers which share them, making them in effect more powerful. In terms of Kalinda, hope and joy find their way back into the pool of mortal emotion. The aspects of the sun again become the domain of the spirits of the sky, fire, and summer. For Tez, her unclaimed portfolios greatly increase the power of the Primal Spirits, but also siphon into the Primordials, as well as the Green God.

Next Session: Kaylan and Giers return to Etheria to inform the high priestess of Kalinda's becoming, while Diana convenes with the greater fellowship, shares the good news of Kalia, and helps decide the party's next target.

129: Spawn of Tsathoggua

Noon of Ulanra 25th
Experience: 10,509 xp each (188,709 total)

Following the combined trail of wholesomeness resonating from the hidden artifact and the awful tremor of the Yth presence, the party emerged from the catacombs before the ancient archdruids' table, piled with moldering filth and warded by blight barons. Despite the group's brutal ambush (which obliterated one of the barons and its rotwing resurrection), a second baron was far enough from the strike to remain unscathed. It called up from the blasphemous grounds a horrible legion of tortured elementals.

As the party spread across the battlefield, engaging the monsters with steel and spell, all could sense a growing menace. The Yth was near, though it wasn't until Thamior plunged his legendary blade into the fouled soils that it appeared. It was a titan of a toad, suffused with seeping tumors and extraneous flesh tags. It exuded a horrid stench, and its blubbery lips dribbled slimes of such vile potency they could make a ghoul retch. Shard recognized the monster as the spawn of Tsathoggua, one of the Ythlords that destroyed Erdu, and called it to task. The entity was not nearly as simple-minded as it appeared, and chided the party for braving his corruption, which already affected the majority of the party in a variety of unexpected psychosis and neurotic ticks. He tongue-lashed, pounced, and invoked twisted psionics, but the party weathered the initial attack well, particularly the feladrin, who managed to roll away from being crushed. Unfortunately, his luck would not last, as he was promptly swallowed whole.

Thamior's state inspired the Queen of Saspien into casting the aberrant into the deepest pits of Hell, not an all together easy task given the Yth's might. Her success freed Thamior, but the fel contracted a hideous disease in the gut of the star-toad, and quickly took on the likeness of a green-hued rotwing, which he managed to dispel only with great difficulty.

While the spawn was absent, the party focused on removing the surviving baron from the field, and thus avoided impending crops of tortured elementals immune to their attacks. When the Yth did return, dazed from the ordeal, Shard shouted for a clear path and unleashed the power of her mythic spear, Lazshil. Transmuting into a primal streak of white, the lightning bolt cut the battlefield in half and carried the Yth to its final resting place, impaled without any chance of escape. Slouched and wounded upon the electrical current, it called to its brethren in the racking discord of Deep Speech, a warning perhaps.

Wounded, the spawn wouldn't have perish had Narra not triggered an event through Shard's Crystal of Erdu that took even the aberrant by total surprise. Harnessing the forces of multiple worlds, focused into an irresistable power by the former goddess, not even the extradimensional putrescence of a Yth could endure. It seemed to scour all facets of existence clean of the monstrosity and furthermore reverse the very sands of time, restoring the estates to a stunning natural equilibrium. Unfortunately, the vampires of the fallen House did not return with the health of the land, but the stain upon the queendom was entirely undone in a force which inspired hope. Perhaps fighting the Yth was an option after all...

Encouraged, the party returned to their ships, castles, and agendas, promising to return soon and choose the first of many targets. Each night they were apart only underlined the urgency, every last star in the sky dead and gone, save nine red lights.

Gained Resources: Hood of the Far Seer (Tyvis), the health and security of Saspien
Expended Resources: House Calalas (wiped out)

New NPCs: Spawn of Tsathoggua (dead): An accomplished Yth of greater stock, part of an aberrant genus specializing in corruption and the decay of host worlds. It was responsible for the fall of the House of Calalas, and the ruinous seed that germinated into the Green God.

Plot Developments

• The combining of power sources through Shard has proven the bane of the Yth. There is the potential to oppose them by uniting, both Creations varied armies AND in the powers of the party. It seems to add another level of purpose for why the Ythlord work so adamantly on sewing strife and creating despots.
  

Next Session: The party attends to pressing matters before reconvening and coming to a consensus who or what will be their primary concern for the immediate future.