138: The Hollow Ones

137: Dermis

Afternoon of Talsil 11th
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.

It begins...

tonight.

I. Demon Queen's Enclave (the Siege of Tsojcanth), based in an increasingly permanent settlement known by the drow as Phaervorul. Renato has some experience in this place, the same crowded encampments and outposts he and his late sister traveled to reach the Nexus. The vessel and the placid lake it hovers over are accessed through the tunnel labeled 'Slopes down'.

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.