Pulling the Thread, Chasing the Dead: Campaign Diary

The battle began in earnest. The visages were startled and confused, but very quickly managed to set illusions in the minds of their foes: the Salience’s eagle statues animated and attacked the planewalkers; illusory fire filled their throats and eyes; and armies of monsters assailed the heroes. Ragados fought to maintain his superhuman speed, while 12-Bar fought for his life. M’narr tried to draw away attackers, but ultimately was forced to battle his way back to his friends. After a lot of hacking and attempting to push the visages into the wall of fire, the tide turned when 12-Bar turned invisible and M’narr used steel wind strike to inflict heavy damage on the fiends. Chasing down the final visage, our heroes took time to rest and explore the area before returning to Crux. Conversations about the steam mephit filled the journey. Who in Thanatos was behind all this? How might the party get to the Negative Energy Plane, or the Bottom of the Multiverse?

Back in Crux, the party arrived at Veridis’ house just in time to catch breakfast. M’narr helped himself to Veridis’s wine collection, raising eyebrows in the process. The meeting was useful, if unpleasant. Veridis was grateful. He belatedly told the party to careful not to die around the visages, owing to their ability to devour souls (so that’s why the pay rate was so high…). Veridis had heard of Thanatos (“the demonic realm of Kiaransalee, I believe?”) and even the “Bottom of the Multiverse”, directing the players to a connecting portal inside an old temple on Ranais.

The heroes could think of no reason *not* to go straight there, so that was that. Ragados sobered up M’narr with an oral injection of some lesser restoration serum, which the Gith immediately regurgitated down his robes. On then to Ranais. Searching the ruins, a temple was soon found: pristine; jet black in colour; and surrounded by a parade of hooded cultists that beckoned to our heroes as they watched. There was brief talk of storming the temple doors, but Ragados inspected the creatures and the illusion suddenly evaporated. Approaching the true, ruined temple, the party found a portal of twisted and fused rams’ horns. They stopped only to divine the portal’s key (the act of extinguishing a light) before activating it and leaping through.

The trio were plunged into cold, hungry darkness. Through the gloom they could just about maje out a dark, metallic sphere encompassing them with several branching corridors. Sensing the sphere itself was the return portal, M’narr tested their escape route. He extinguished his light, and darkness again swallowed them. The portal did not stir. The return key would be something simple though, right?

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