Session 36: Land of the Dead

We played again tonight, the penultimate session of the campaign. Our heroes have died and their souls pass into the underworld.

Scene 1: The Barge of Souls

They wake, Morn and Azhanti chained to the oars of the barge of the dead. Artemis is free, death has no claim on his soul but to pass back into the land of the living he must leave his friends behind. He chooses to remain and the group is delivered to a bleak and barren shore with many more of the dead.

Wraiths descend on the newly arrived souls but shy away from our heroes, sensing their strength. They are greeted by the soul of Nabonidus who tells them that he has been sent by the Seneschal of the House of the Dead to be their guide. He offers to lead them wherever they wish to go.

The group decide to visit his master and look for a way back to the land of the living. Their trek through the wasteland of the underworld is fairly uneventful. They scavenge weapons and armour from an ancient battlefield and learn some of how the world works.

The ghosts who inhabit this grey world all have something they hold on to. Those who lose who or what they are find themselves drawn into the sea of souls, lost forever. The group don’t ask what is holding Nabonidus here.

Scene 2: Ambush!

The group approaches the City of Gloom, its tall spires and large slum regions reminiscent of the City of Kings. As they pick their way through the rubble they are set upon, the shade of the wizard Paldemar has conjured Hounds of Death to consume them, his final chance at revenge for the many humiliations they have heaped upon him.

Without their signature weapons or armour things initially look dire, the hounds tear great wounds in the bodies of the dead. However, Paldemar makes his first and last mistake, he descends into the group possessing Azhanti. Azhanti is unamused, he has been possessed by a Dragon God and no mere Wizard can hold him for long.

Expelling the possessing spirit the group descend on him with terrible fury. His chance for revenge gone he has nothing left to hold him here and his shade collapses to flow down to the sea.

Scene 3: Old friends, or is that enemies.

The group head into the City, they pass the great clock tower which marks the ages of the world, skirt the pit in the centre of the city where the catacombs of dead gods are interred and finally reach the Grey Palace.

Nabonidus heads inside to announce them and returns some time later. They are denied admittance and told to be gone, beggars and ruffians are not welcome in the Palace of the King of the Underworld.

They decide against pressing the issue and are quickly spotted by an enterprising soul with an eye for profit. He offers to introduce the group to city’s foremost broker of souls, information and power who he is sure can provide them with what they want. All he asks is a small price, a few of Morns grave goods (such articles being currency and a way of influencing the mortal realm). Morn is not having any of it and bullies the minor shade into helping them.

They are taken to The Pit, a hive of scum and villainy in which all sorts of perversions are practiced. Necromancy, soul stealing, blood oaths and more are the lifeblood of this place and the master of it all is the bloated shade of The Grub. He was an occasional ally and enemy of the group from their earliest days whose life they ended but he does not seem to hold any grudges. His palace is opulent and he has collected the markers for many powerful people.

Morn asks to speak to him in private. He offers the Grub a deal. Help them get into the Palace and Morn will release him from the Underworld in the next era. The Grub is tempted but demands a mark of good faith taking the golden chain forged from the sacrifices made by his Northmen on their funeral pyres. Even if Morn fails to free him he will now exert significant influence over parts of his growing cult, feeding them with an overwhelming desire for wealth regardless of how it is obtained.

The Grub tells Morn there are only three ways into the Palace. Over the walls, through the Labyrinth beneath or with the agreement of the Seneschal, Lord Dust (a Lich they have slain twice before).

Scene 4: An Interlude

Before they tackle the Palace there are a couple of detours. Azhanti visits the Temple of Vulcan on the isle of the mad, only fools and lunatics are said to travel there. On the island he finds a ruined Temple and the shade of his old mentor Nihlil, his eyes burned out because he lost his faith. Vulcan has left the Underworld and returned to the land of the living. Azhanti raises up his old friend, heals his wounds and instils a new faith in him, he claims Nihlil as his first Exarch.

Meanwhile Morn and Artemis visit the crumbling villa of the Trak’ar family. Once it was a grand edifice, its ancestors well honoured until Morn and his friends destroyed them in the City of Kings. Now only two sad figures reside there, the shades of Kyia (Morns one time mistress and lover) and her father Akaran. Both were killed by the group and Kyias shade has been driven quite mad.

Akaran tries to consume Morn with his sorcery but it is utterly ineffective. Akaran rages against the two of them but they learn that the Seneschal greatly desires Kyia and if they were to gift her to him then they could certainly ensure their admittance. Morn decides that they will take her (and maybe steal her back later) and as they leave the shade of Akaran collapses, protecting his daughter being the only thing keeping him here.

Scene 5: You must know who we are by now!

Their bargaining tool in hand the group head to the Palace. Lord Dust cheerfully admits them taking the girl and preparing to marry her so he can access her gifts of prophecy.

The group head into the Palace seeking to find the soul of the Blazing Sun so they can bring back a new sun god with them and to reach the Lord of the Underworld to bargain for passage through the Gates of Hell. They are however opposed.

Chaos has sent an Emissary to whisper in the Kings ear and his guards are out in force. Artemis leads the group quickly through the Palace to the Garden of Remorse where they find the Blazing Sun sat by a dark pool staring at a reflection of his lover the Moon. The group try to convince him to come with them but he will not. He explains that passage through the Gates is not without a price and the only thing he has left is his love of the Moon. Morn counters that true love will out, the Gates may take his memories but that will mean he will have the chance to love her anew. Convinced the young sun god agrees to come with them.

Next however they need to convince the Lord of the Underworld to let them out. That will be difficult as Blazing Sun explains that the Lord is his father, Ashura, one time Primordial of life who the group slew.

Before that they need to get to him and chaos has set its behemoths in the way. The group break through but it takes time and guards begin to swarm them. Artemis leads them deep into the Labyrinth where they lose them but the return trek takes a wrong turn and the chase is on again. Morn and Azhanti try to hold them off as Artemis heads off to rescue Kyia from her marriage to Lord Dust. As Artemis slays Lord Dust Azhanti and Morn are captured by a horde of screaming demonic warriors.

Azhanti wakes in a cell, it’s bare and cold and damp with little room to move. In the darkness it would be easy to forget who you are but he refuses. Unveiling his full power he transforms himself, assuming his draconic aspect and shattering the cell door.

Morn finds himself chained to a pillar, tormented by demons and facing once more The Unfettered God. They tear chunks of flesh from him and cruel barbs twist in his innards. His nemesis simply looks on smiling, ignoring him until Morn remembers who he is. His tattoos flare, his wounds heal and he shatters the pillar he is chained to.

The Unfettered God flees and two enraged demigods begin tearing through the Palace. The disruption is more than enough to allow Artemis to slip through an unguarded door into the Throne Room.

Ashura is waiting for him, dressed all in grey and the room is haunted with the shadows of the Kireshi, bound to their creator in death as in life. The two talk for a little while, Ashura will open the Gates if Artemis will return and assume the Throne when his tasks are done. Reluctantly he agrees and order is quickly restored to the Palace.

Ashura passes Artemis the keys to the Gates of Hell and the group make haste. Outside the Clock of Ages begins to sound the ending of the world. The Gates of Hell open, flames fill them, flames which purify any who try and pass through. However, stay too long and they will take all of who and what you are. As the group enters the flames The Unfettered God makes his last play for Morn, grabbing him and trapping him in the fire.

They struggle and Artemis and Azhanti come to his aid, their souls on fire. The four titans battle in the flames and Morn calls for his friends to flee before they are destroyed. They relent and Morn and his old sponsor contest directly with each other. Tattoo magic clashes with demonic might and with a heave Morn slams the gates shut, utterly consuming the Chaos Lord in the fire and escaping, but not without a cost.

As the party erupt back into the living world they see the Blazing Sun rising into the sky in his father’s chariot, a ball of fire encompassing him. Far away bells begin to sound, the end of the world is nigh and the Membin Stone calls all of those who would claim rights to this world to present themselves before it.

*cut scene*

The sun rises for the first time in many weeks and the world grows brighter, a little hope restored. Many of the undead which plagued it are destroyed by its healing light but many survive. In the closed realm of the Shrouded Oasis armies of skeletal warriors battle against the Pashtun desert people; beneath the mountains of the south the dwarves fight pitched battles against beastmen and ghouls; in the hidden world of Frosthome a renegade tiefling priestess enslaved by Reptos raises zombie hordes while outside an army of slaves assaults their mountain city and in the Labyrinth beneath the City of Kings vampires prowl under the command of Hu’Maa, last High Priest of Sopias. Chaos beasts and demons plague all the lands and the world itself seems to be in revolt. Vast armies clash in the final battles of this world. Soon each of them will be tested and only the strong will survive.

What did they give up?

Each member of the group had to give up something important to them in passing through the Gates. This had to be something with a bit of dramatic weight. Morn had to give up two things as he remained in the flames longer.

Artemis gave up his hope of rescuing his mother from the clutches of Reptos.
Azhanti gave up his dream of transforming the Dragonborn into True Dragons.
Morn gave up his connection to the Dwarves becoming a purely human God along with Kyia who was lost to the flames.

At the end of the session the group hit level 30 and the next session is our last. It is also on Friday which is giving me palpitations as it is the culimation of two years of gaming.