Archdruid Session 50 & Epilogue

Archdruid Session 50
Shuldash's children wasted no time attacking and a battle of epic powers ensued, the vast cave quaking from the clash between Serren's hydra and Sirocco's missiles against the king of the trolls and his half-troll children. Sev removed himself from combat, resolved to protect the children and heal when necessary, though they were STILL scared to death of him, especially when he made a passing jest about eating them.

In a most unexpected turn, a flash of magic revealed a dumbfounded Izaki, transported through a Beholder's eye beam he'd managed to splice with Seven Caged Tigers. With a quick hello, he entered the fray, making mince meat out of the troll giant bounding for Serren. Meanwhile, Sirocco played a game of cat and mouse, one that eventually turned the giant into the scared rodent. Serren had the hardest fight of all, as Shuldash just refused to go down, even with immortal magic and the hydra's many attacks launched against him. However, through what seemed more a shear battle of wills than anything else, the troll king was about to succumb when...

The third entity that kept itself cloaked in the background ordered a chilling halt. The trolls immediately obeyed, coming to the side of their master. The shadows spread and formed a staircase which the skeletal lich lord, adorned in what was obviously some very powerful magic items, casually descended. That might have seemed bad news enough, until he revealed his name as Laz, God of Death.

While Serren was unconvinced at first, the rest froze in their boots. Laz then shared with them certain secrets of the universe, malice and distaste heavy in his voice:

He explained Lordanna, Delilah and Thorm were not the only gods to perish during the Winters War, that in fact the entire pantheon died. The races, more than being just troops or pets, were also divine insurance plans. If any god died, their essence could return in one of their races, with the potential of unlocking their true heritage and ascending to godhood once more.

And just guess who Shalraza really is. It seems the Ice Queen actually harbors the essence of Delilah, goddess of murder, madness, destruction and the night. Laz explained he should be thrilled by this news, as she's so close to victory, but for the fact the goddess of madness has indeed gone mad.

When Chrysaor split a part of itself to form Laz, it was meant to be a limited engagement, lasting as long as it took to destroy Raya's creation. However, Delilah has gotten a taste for existence, a perverse pleasure in corrupting and torturing it, and now seeks to return to godhood so she can tear down Raya's and Lordanna's legacy and rebuild an abominable shadow creation too horrible for even Laz to imagine. In a universe of perpetual agony, she would rule as dark queen over an existence filled with demons and aberrations.

Such a creation would pain Chrysaor even more than Raya's and be almost impossible for Laz to destroy, thus why the god was before the group now in the husk of one of his races. He wasn't sure exactly how to reascend to godhood (or else he'd be doing it), but he's almost certain Delilah knows and is taking the proper steps as they speak.

He bade the group enter the bowls of the Lost Cavern's Greater Caves and find the tomb of Tsojcanth, a fallen demon general whose festering, fungal blood was so potent it could even poison a god. Her followers bottled it below in hopes of using it to resurrect her someday. Then they were to go to Veluvia's ruins, where they'd find old allies to slip into the demon-infested city and retrieve the Hoping (the key to On-High, which can be used by a true believer of good to call on an army of angels for one battle). Maybe, just maybe, with those two advantages the group could hope to fight, bargain and sneak their way into the presence of a fully-realized demon lord harboring a goddess and win...

It was quite a lot to swallow, yet there was one more piece of the puzzle. Didn't it seem odd that two goblins, one a druid no less, an immortal, and a ronin loner somehow came together, to say nothing of the group members not present? It wasn't all happenstance. Something drew the group together, what Laz revealed to be divine sparks. Each group member was actually harboring a god or goddess's essence within them, which he revealed privately to each. Then Laz vanished, saying something about having to tell the other group.

The four left the caverns with the rescued children, who, once freed from the pouch, ran the hour home, despite their starvation, sicknesses and injuries, just grateful to be alive. A joyful reunion was had between the Lordani and their next generation. Seeing some of them injured or maimed, the Lordani began to mobilize for an invasion of the caverns, while the group took care of business with Dr. Phooka's wagon, rested, then went back in.

Epilogue
Within the course of another week, Sev, Serren, Sirocco and Izaki fought their way through the remainder of the Lesser Caverns, supplemented by Lordani warriors. They defeated such enemies as wild clay golem herds, umber hulks, hook horrors, planar spiders, dread wraiths, half-demon gardeners and other initiate members of the Cult of Tsojcanth rooted in the complex. Almost every child and fey was found, but for the son of the Lordani chief and the princess of the Heartwood fey.

The group found the gem fangs that opened the portal into the Greater Caverns, descending into some of the darkest, foulest territory they'd ever seen. Many Lordani died against the full blooded demons, mind-bending aberrations and unhallow magic beasts, prompting Sev, Serren, Sirocco and Izaki to go on alone. The Lurker of the Fields, their Couatl ally, joined them through the twisting tunnels and natural caverns. As Serren feared, Shuldash's mate was revealed to be a mountain landwyrm which ravaged the group out of revenge, in the process the Lurker (and nearly everyone else!).

They continued on, fighting the bulk of the Cult of Tsojcanth in five well-organized attacks consisting of demons, defilers and plant monsters. Each was headed by one of the remaining Sons of Tsojcanth numbering down from 6 (the 7th killed in the Lesser Caverns). In the final chambers, before the massive, root-entangled sarcophagus of Tsojcanth herself, the group fought the First Son of Tsojcanth, a plant demon of awesome power who used the terrain and the many who died within it to launch crushing barrages and sweeping attacks.

When the dust settled, Sev was the only one standing, and barely at that. Harnessing the most powerful of his druid magics, he resurrected the entire party, nearly killing himself in the process. They collected the blood needed and left the Lost Caverns once and for all, the druid using the last of his strength to seal the dread complex and cause it to sink into the muck.

After several days of rest and medical treatment, and the last sales with Dr. Phooka, the group began their trek west for the ruined city of Veluvia...


((Other group's epilogue coming soon!))