Avlis Campaign 1, Part 5

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Chapter 13

After receiving their revelations about what was about to occur on Avlis, things got really quiet for the heroes. Angadar informed them that he needed some time to think and plan what he would do about his predicament. This gave the heroes a lot of time to relax and wander Angadar's realm. Almost immediately, Andrinor, Ari, Tupaia, and Orianna gravitated towards the library where the shades there were very helpful in helping them select tomes for improving their personal qualities. The other adventurers decided to take the free time as a vacation from the horrors which they recently went through. This lull proceeded for around seven days, as near as they were able to tell by the unchanging crimson skies of Baator. On that seventh day, Stephanus and Bobil came to the door of Jade's dwelling and informed the party that they were being summoned to Angadar's audience chamber over in the palace. When they got there, the usually smug deity looked very grave. He immediately greeted the heroes and launched into a long oration about how it was necessary to foil Valok's plans for the sake of his own life (and, oh yeah, the lives of lots of others too). In foiling Valok's plans to enter Avlis, he informed them that they will also be foiling his plans to shift the vortex of magic origin from the plane of Arborea to Baator. This he cared little for, but it was a side effect nonetheless. In order to do all this, he explained, a full scale assault on Valok's realm would be necessary. For Angadar and the adventurers it would be suicide to directly challenge Valok. But Angadar meant only to disctract him, while the small party of powerful heroes sneaked in through a back realm. The plan was to use a full assault on the gates of Valok's realm as a decoy battle. The adventurers would then be teleported by Angadar to a little known realm at the heart of Valok's fortress. This realm belongs to the goddess Tianna, Valok's lover, and the matron of Deceit and Trickery. They were to navigate their way through that realm which would put them close to the center of Valok's fortress where nearby a ritual conducted by Quilan and some powerful mages would be in progress. When they got there, they were to stop the ritual at all costs.

Angadar announced that they would need further preparation before they left. At this point, he summoned a planetar into the room. The planetar was an agent of the god O'ma, whom both Tupaia and Vanoviel worshipped. In a lofty gesture, the planetar announced the arrival of O'ma's avatar to the plane. The god's likeness appeared in a flash along with some other minor avatars. Van and Tupaia were stunned by the appearance. The rest were respectful, if impressed. O'ma looked down on all of them and smiled benevolently. He introduced himself and his companioins, and then reiterated that Angadar's plans were for the greater good of Avlis, and that their goals were in agreement on this. Valok must be stopped. He announced that he had constructed some items for the party in cooperation with Angadar. They would need them in the battles ahead. To each hero in turn he gave enhanced items to help them on their way. Ari was given a powerful shield with the ability to reflect magic spells back on the caster. Orianna was given bracers to help her steady her bow aim. The others were given items of like strength, and more. The last person covered by O'ma was Vanoviel. To her he gave an important title. She was appointed as the head of his new holy order of warriors: The Champions of O'ma. Her new orders were to immediately start training new members for the order upon arriving back on Avlis from Baator. In the meantime, he gave her two gifts. One was an extremely powerful sword crafted with god magic. It lent its weilder the ability to resist spells, as well as the ability to inflict minor amounts of pain on weak demigods. The other gift was a matching short sword which was able to provide its weilder with a measure of protection like armor. With these weapons came permission to use them, for up until this time, O'ma's clerics and templars were forbiddent to use sharp weapons. Van accepted them graciously, and immediately after, the party was wisked away to the battlefield by Angadar.

Once there, Angadar said they would mount the attack immediately. All of Angadar's army of followers were present in formation with O'ma's cohorts. Directly in front of them lay Valok's fortress.... and unimaginably large metal building with numerous towers and parapets and multiple layers of battlements. Above the fortress and in front of it swarmed countless devils and petitioners.

With a second wave of his hand, Angadar placed the party into Tianna's realm. At first, the heroes thought they were inside a castle, like any other. But once they started to walk through the halls, they realized that things were not what they seemed. Walls were sometimes illusionary, and hallways were often just walls. The layout of the place also made absolutely no sense when they tried to decipher it. They were in a maze that in effect could change its own route. As they wandered, they became restless. Andrinor suggested using magic to find their way, but he had none that would do the job. Tupaia was also unable to use her direction sense. They were going blindly. Eventually, a curious figure showed up. She was a female with dirty blonde hair and a girlish figure. She was short of stature and dressed in very roguish finery. She eyed the party down and asked them why they were intruding in her realm. When the heroes failed to offer a feasible answer, she decided it was time to "play" with them. Upon hearing that, Van rushed in for an attack and hit her with her sword. The curious lady took the hit and squealed in alarm that such a weapon would harm her. She then became very angry and opened a pit at Van's feet which she fell into. The spikes at the bottom of the pit cut her sligthly. The other party members saw this as an illusion, but Van did not. At that point Andrinor gated in a planetar to fight the woman. When the planetar arrived, the woman looked unnerved, and immediately split into two identicle copies of herself, both of which tried to dismiss the creature. The dismissal failed, but when the planetar swung his great sword at one of the ladies, it passed right through them without harm. The demigoddess laughed. But by this time Van had climbed out of the pit and attacked the original copy of the goddess, thereby dissapating its form. The other form scowled at him and disappeared into the wall (after throwing a fireball down the hallway at the other adventurers for good measure). The adventurers then came to the stunning realization that they had just fought against a demigodess, and she was only toying with them. This lead them to the conclusion that they had better find a way out of her realm fast. They asked the planetar for help and he tried as best he could for the duratio of the gate spell.

He led them close to a doorway which opened into a series of rooms (after Orianna checked it for traps of course). The room was crowded with hundreds of thief petitioners still engaged in the wheeling and dealing that occupied their mortal lives. Andrinor tried to talk to one about where to find the exit, but he was not very helpful, even with payments in shadow gold from Van. However, his advice led them to stumble on the door not long afterwards.

Once through the door, they found themselves in a castle courtyard. To one side the sky was alight with flashes and the sounds of battle. There was only one door leading out of the courtyard, not counting the one they came in from. During his battle plans, Angadar informed them that there would be a cavern under the courtyard where the ritual was being cast. They had to find the entrance to the cavern and enter. Andrinor used his clairvoyance abilities to spy on what was going on. He caught the mages as they were just finishing the ritual to open the portal! Alarmed, the heroes jumped into action. They clung close to Andrinor while he hasted them all, and then casted a timestop spell. From there, he teleported them all down into the cavern and used the rest of the timestop spell to obliterate all but one of the mages in a single onslaught. The last mage alive was a lich named Xackon. He was impressed, but once his turn came, he used a timestop as well and hurled an onslaught of his own against the party thereby killing Ryn in the process. Before his timestop ended however, he teleported away.

Stunned, the heroes looked at the carnage before them and realized that the portal was open. Valok could go through at his leisure. Nothing they tried would close the portal. At that time, Tianna showed up again, and she was angry. She explained that she would kill them now, but not by toying with them. She immediately changed into her true energetic form. Just as she was about to permanently smite them all, another form of energy swooped down and pushed her through the portal. The form then coalesced into the smugly smiling form of Angadar. He watched her go through the portal and compact into her physical form. She looked confused, but once she realized where she was she became alarmed. At that point, a giant hand came down from the sky and wrapped around her. It then squeezed her until she exploded into thousands of tiny shards of energy. The hand then changed into the form of an impressive warrior in steely gray full plate armor and a glowing gray rune etched sword. It was Mikon, god of Neutrality, and creator of the humans on Avlis. He stepped throught he portal into Baator and Valok's realm. Valok himself, a warrior in bronze full plate armor with a rune etched sword of his own appeared next to the party. He looked angry. Mikon then launched into a tirade at Valok for trying to get into the Prime. Valok explained that Mikon was not supposed to know about it, but Mikon told him that a cleric of O'ma named Sarmon informed him and Sarmon heard it from the adventuring heroes themselves. This angered Valok, and so did the death of his lover, Tianna. Mikon then explained that he killed Tianna as punishment and a warning that no god should try to enter the Prime Material Plane. He then looked at Angadar gravely. He told him that he was doomed for as soon as he left, Valok would kill him. He could not help him there, but as a consolation he would give Tianna's mantle of Deceit and Trickery to Angadar. Mikon opened his hand and a blue ball of energy flew out of it and went into Angadar, who immediately changed back into his energetic form. The energy form that comprised him then got larger and brighter. Angadar cackled with glee. He was now what was known as an intermediate god, and he ruled over Deceit and Trickery, as well as his previous followers.

Mikon then bowed and left through the portal, closing it behind him. Valok screamed in rage and swore he would kill them all right there. Angadar was fast, however, and he managed to teleport them away back to his realm.

The heroes thought they were finally safe, but Angadar was unnerved. He grabbed a staff with a red gem on it. As soon as he did that, the bottom level of his realm exploded, and Valok's scream could be heard coming through after them. Angadar said that they were being chased and it was time to flee. He had a spell in the staff that let him open a portal capable of pulling his entire godly essence through it. Such was not possible with normal magical gates. Gods could send avatars through, but not their entire essence. Angadar needed to get off of Baator entirely, else Valok would surely kill him. So he opened a portal and everyone went through.

They emerged on a barren land made entirely of iron. The sky was a dark gray. All around them, large iron cubes floated through the air.... some of them were miles across. It then occurred to them that they were on a cube too.... all around them on every cube there were battles taking place, including theirs. On one end an army of goblins approached an army of orcs coming from the other end. As soon as these realizations hit them the armies clashed all around them. They were caught in the middle. Angadar then said, "Welcome to Archeron... land of battles. Hold them off while I rest, will you? That spell is exhausting." While the adventurers and O'ma fought the orcs and goblins on all sides, Angadar rested in the center oblivious to the swords that would pierce him occasionally. Soon after the great battle started, Valok burst through a portal of his own on a neighboring cube. Angadar was horrified. He never thought Valok would take his entire essense onto the neighboring plane to try and destroy him. The chase was on....

Angadar immediately got up and casted a mass fly spell. He told them all to go straight up and look for some kind of crack in the surface of the cube. They found a crack running along one length that turned a few times at right angles. At the end of the crack was a small glowing portal. Angadar said that portal would lead to another cube. They immediately made for the portal, and after interrogating an orc on where it lead they went through. They emerged into another crack on a faraway cube. This crack was occupied by fire giants who were very annoyed at the intrusion.... another fight broke out. Angadar said soon he would be ready to open another portal. After ten more fire giants met their deaths, Angadar opened a portal. "Next stop, Mechanus.", he said.

The crew emerged on another metal surface, but this one was that of a gigantic cog, more than a mile in diameter. Another cog interfaced with it on each end forming a seemingly endless chain of them leading into space in all directions. Angadar told them all to rest, and that the safest thing to do on Mechanus was stay in one place and not talk to anybody. Unfortunately, this peace was short-lived, for the next cog over to them exploded into tiny shards as Valok popped in after them. Angadar told them all to flee for their lives. The destruction of the cog summoned hoards of modrons to investigate the area. They were not pleased with their findings, and they immediately went after the adventurers to detain them for questioning. When Ari realized what was going on, she suggested that they all surrender themselves so they could be taken away from Valok. The rest of the party thought this was a good idea. They were then wisked away towards the Ciminal Investigation and Processing Center Alpha-2473. Upon arrival, they were placed into a cell and quickly separated for interrogation. Each member of the party was submitted to exhaustive questioning invariably ending in threats of arrest and "correction". Just when they couldn't take it anymore, Angadar gathered them in the cell and opened a new portal.... this time to Arcadia.

O'ma was apprehensive about Arcadia. He told them that the plane had a tendance to force people to "sacrifice" themselves for the greater good, and that anyone who was found to be evil was immediately attacked. He stated that for a goodly plane, it was not so good all the time. Angadar took refuge on a hilltop overlooking a town with perfectly rectangular streets by fields with perfectly straight rows of crops and a perfectly straight river that ran through it and made a right angle turn exactly a mile down stream from the town. Even the forest nearby had its trees arranged in straight rows. O'ma gathered the heroes up and told them they should go into town and inform them of Valok's arrival. At the local tavern, Andrinor whipped up an audience and explained to them that they should quickly mobilize a force to distract Valok while they make their getaway.... because it was for all their greater good. Oddly enough, they fell for it and a dwarf in the tavern summoned a planetar friend of his who was immediately set to the task. Just then, there was a clamor on the hilltop.... Valok had come through early and was engaging Angadar. The heroes and O'ma quickly returned to him, and Angadar opened a portal, this time at Andrinor's suggestion the portal opened to the Outland plains on Concordant Opposition. From there, O'ma used his true form in Elysium to open a portal for them from the other side, and before they knew it they were safe... for the time being.

O'ma explained that if Valok came to Elysium he would battle him personally on his own home plane. But in case things got ugly, he needed the heroes to retrieve an item from his realm.... the item was familiar to Angadar, for he was the one who took it from Nemeril the evil wizard during his mortal days.... this was the same sceptor used to slay the Emperor Curass, and used to ban O'ma from Avlis. O'ma's dismissal from Avlis was ended by Angadar, which brought about their odd friendship. The sceptor was affectionately known as "The Sceptor of Godslaying", for although it could not actually slay a god, it could banish a god's influence from a plane....

Chapter 14

With their arrival on Elysium, O'ma and Angadar began to prepare for Valok's invasion. While they were readying themselves, O'ma spoke to them about retrieving the "Godslayer" from his fortress. Just then a horrified look came over the deity's face. He seemed to be searching for something in his mind that he was unable to find. After a short time he announced a change of plans. The sceptre had been stolen at the most inopportune moment. He did not know who did it, but just then it was too late to ponder because Valok made his appearance. He hastily bid the heroes to find the sceptre.

Chaos broke loose at that point. Angadar and O'ma transformed into their true energetic forms and attacked the invader. Servants of O'ma followed their leader into battle against the hoardes of devils that came with Valok.

As the battle started, Andrinor remembered his conversation with Angadar previously about the Negerai tome that would enable him to take control of the Vortex of Mortal Magic. He recited an incantation from the tome that cut his mental link to Angadar, who was too busy to notice. Then he started the ritual for control of the Vortex. As he strained through the incantations, his concentration nearly broke several times, but he managed to hold on. As the gods fought above him, he utilized their energies in his spell, and finally after a long hard recitation, the ritual was complete. At first he did not feel any different. But then there were some changes. His body started to feel like a small confining shell from which he needed to break free. His consciousness expanded at the speed of light... it was almost too much to bear. But then the transformation culminated: Andrinor's body exploded in a brilliant flash of light... but he was not destroyed.

In his new energetic form, Andrinor was free. He was able to contemplate thousands of tasks at once, and he had total control over the vortex and all magic emanating from it. He even felt the presence of a new vortex, which was not under his control. This one was the magical source for all of the gods.

His revelations were cut short however when he felt an irresistable pull. Confused, he tried to resist, but he was unable to halt himself from being sucked into a large portal that opened up near him. When he was taken through, the landscape was changed. He found himself in a cavernous land of gorges, canyons, and fiords.... Ysgard. The land where he stood was an island floating on a huge river made of earth. He got the feeling that this island was to be his new home, and it was his to shape.

Meanwhile back on Elysium, the battle raged on. The heroes were riveted by what just happened to their comrade. Only Orianna knew the complete story of what happened, and Jade filled in the rest. Once that was settled, the heroes decided they need to go find the sceptre.

This was only a momentary notion, for immediately after two minions of Valok arrived. They were Pit Fiends, among his top aides, and one of them was carrying the sceptre with an eye on O'ma. The heroes knew that if that fiend was allowed to hit O'ma it would be disastorous. So the entire force of heroes lashed out immediately.

They had an advantage at first, for the fiends' backs were turned towards the deific battle overhead. This gave Orianna a clear shot at the head fiend's back, which got its attention and made it turn around. The other fiend soon turned and a fight broke out.

After taking a hit from a fireball thrown by the main fiend, the party advanced. Ari charged the fiend and hit it with her sword. Jade casted a spell to speed up the heroes movements enabling Vanoviel to rush in full throttle and attack. The attack was executed from behind the fiend after she jumped clear over it, and it devastated it. Tupaia lended some other magical support while the fighters finished it off. This took a large toll on them however because the fiend fought with sceptre, tooth, claw, wing and tail. The other fiend did the same, in addition to hurling magic into the fray. One such spell slammed into Vanoviel and was negated by her sword. Eventually, the fiends fell one by one, and Van snapped up the sceptre. With the help of her ring, she jumped high into the air and swung into Valok's shimmering field of energy.

A wave in Valok's energy rippled outward from the impact. Inside their heads, the heroes heard a terrible scream, and a few seconds later Valok's form winked out of existence... back to his home plane. All of his minions immediately retreated.

Calm once again reigned over Elysium. O'ma turned his attention to the heroes and thanked them. Angadar did the same, and then he immediately set out back to his home plane in order to repair his realm and make amends with his former friend.

The heroes healed their wounds and recieved O'ma's thanks, along with gates to any location they desired. Tupaia requested a gate back to her home forest, and the rest of the heroes requested their gate to open up at the home of Rajivik Roan, the infusor who helped them what seemed like ages ago. They wanted to repay him for his kindness by informing him that the curse over him and his lover could be lifted if they only apologized to the Romini lady who placed it. Rajivik received them well, and he put them up for the night before their long journey back to T'Nanshi.

Epilogue

After their long and arduous journey, the heroes were anxious to get to their homes. The long sailing voyage from Rajivik's tower went uneventfully, as did their respective overland journeys.

Aratelda Rinthong eventually patched up her differences with her father and the rest of the family. House Royal, the ruling family of Elves, took notice of her from the stories which were circulating of the epic deeds which the heroes had recently committed. They dubbed her with an official title, "Savior of the Elven People", and they gave her command of the standing elven army of T'Nanshi. Aratelda accepted her awards gracefully.

Soon after, other Ringthong family members who had affinities for the warrior way started to consult Arie for instruction. This displeased the more magically inclined family members who themselves were descended from the warrior Solerion Rinthon, a hero from the Great War. At some point in history the name was changed to Rinthong by the ruling sorcerers. This rift in the family eventually forced Arie and her followers to part with their magic using cousins and reform House Rinthon after a warrior's fashion. The two houses, Rinthong and Rinthon stayed amicable towards each other, but separate.

Andrinor took some time to get used to his newfound power. He went about his business of making himself known to the magic users on Avlis as well as building his realm on the plane of Ysgard.

Orianna journeyed immediately to Mikona, the capital city of M'Chek where she began assembling her own Rogue's guild. She ran into some early troubles carving out territory from the already existing guild in Mikona, but with the help of her contacts from the city of Andarr, including her old friend Derot Slimshadow, she managed to work out a nice living. Even her old mate Vanoviel Niltaurwen stayed in contact with her.

Vanoviel, charged with a sacred duty from her god, started construction of her order, The Champions of O'ma. She chose a small area in the northern part of T'Nanshi to construct her keep, which is eventually to be expanded into a castle, and even a town later. Her order was founded with the help of her old comrade Sarmon, the cleric of O'ma. He accepted a commission as a Champion and began training. Today he is one of the top members of the order and generally runs business in the keep when Vanoviel is away. The first batches of Vanoviel's Champions were sent in small groups to the border with M'Chek to oversee the battle against the humans. A few other small contingencies were sent northward and eastward.

Tupaia settled down in her home forest very close to Champion's Keep. She began to tend to the forest area around it as well as training some fledgling druids who began coming to her for knowledge. Eventually, her following developed into an order of druids working for O'ma. They watched over the forests of T'Nanshi and made sure that business with the Titanean fairies never got too much out of line.

Rynn stayed nearby Rajivik's tower in the Kurathene Empire. He felt it would be more interesting to spread his new tail in the north part of the continent. Thus from Rajivik's place, he went to Kuras, the capital city of the once renown Kurathene Empire. He makes his living to this very day singing about his epics in the local taverns. Jade went to T'Nanshi along with Van, Ari, and Tupaia. However, she journeyed to the capital city and retook her position in the government as a foreign ambassador. She requested a position far far away from Mikona.....

Sources

Chapter 13 notes

Chapter 14 notes

Epilogue notes