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Session Notes: Investigating Undead Incursions
The party is 20th level presently and searching for a way to break into 21st level, but to reach such an epic platform of power can only
be done by a great deed and by exposure to great powers. They're presently dealing with
Vainegal, one of the Three of Shadow, whom they would normally
consider a terrible enemy, but presently he has chosen to assist them on their mission to defeat the ambitions of a demon prince's
called Titalus. They aren't so much joining forces from him; Vainegal's part in the campaign is a complex one.
They accidentally released him back around 5th level, from his imprisonment and torpor, since then he's
kinda kept a watchful eye upon them and played a part akin to an anti-hero. They later became embroiled in a conflict against a
demon prince which has subverted the worshipers of a presently defunct god, hoping to use that power of belief for itself.
At this point, it has been a couple of years since Vainegal had been awoken by the adventuring party.
Vainegal has voluntarily, without their asking, helped the group with monetary support to complete items they commissioned in
preparation for entering the dead lands of Saul, impassable without means of protecting one's soul from corruption and wasting.
So, in between adventures they decided to travel off to an old village they had visited, having heard
tale that it had been ravaged by undead. Upon arriving at the village of Jette they found that the Kingdom of Arend had built a
fortress there to guard the area. Guards of the border keep pointed them to the northwest and told them that this was where undead
were coming from.
They traveled that way on foot for a couple days, fought some undead things, mostly stuff they could
crush without a second thought, but there were a couple things that gave them a bit of pause. At one point, from the mouth of a
recently slain zombie came a mysterious voice which asked them, more or less, "why are you causing my minions so much trouble?" Al-Rathis
said something about not negotiating with undead and punted the head into the forest like a football.
Later on they encountered some elfin rangers from Greentree who had entered the region to investigate the
undead uprising. The rangers told the party of some towers that had been built in the mountains and which seemed to be the source of
the undead. They also mentioned curious news of undead fighting against demon kind up in the same mountains.
The adventuring party already knew that there was an open planar gate deep in the earth of the
mountains to the north, but until this point had presumed that the two evils, the undead and the demons, were on the same side
as each other. So, they traveled towards the mountainous towers, hoping to figure out what was really going on.
On the way they began to see signs of a unexpectedly intelligent approach that undead might take to
staking out their territory, some actual patrols and the like, and skulls hanging from trees with glowing eyes as though they were
sentries. The elfin guide who had shown them this far refused to travel any further; too dangerous to go on he said.
A little more travel and they came upon some old dwarven ruins that were nearby. This is where a
terrible groaning began to raise up the dead all around them. Hundreds of minor undead, mostly skeletons, zombies and the like.
Such minor undead, even numbering in the hundreds, would have been no problem except that suddenly the adventurer's magical and
supernatural powers ceased to operate. Without aid of their magic the prospect of being surrounded by hundreds of even minor
undead was a precarious situation.
Sasha, the druid, had a minor
artifact, powerful enough to still function in the antimagic area, and so she used it to escape from her companions plight. Traveling
ahead of the party and deeper into the ruins she spotted a beholder floating above the undead and decided to attack it alone. This
perilous decision was to be her downfall, though it did allow the rest of the group to escape from the undead hordes. The beholder
turned out to be undead as well and possessing powers unlike a normal beholder. With one ray it feebleminded Sasha, then
as their combat continued it struck her twice with enervation attacks, a contagion that ravaged her health. Her body
weakened from the onslaught of negative energy, she perished when the undead menace struck her with a finger of death ray.
Moments later arrows shot by other party members felled the creature, but it was moments too late to save Sasha's life. The rest of
the party eventually fought their way to the wall of the ruins and escaped from the undead hordes.
Since Sasha is pretty anti-religious there was no plans to resurrect her. Instead, they called upon her
old tutor, Belar to reincarnate her. So, now she is a
Tenerthor elf now. On the bright side, it will be a lot harder
for her evil family to hunt her down with her new body and all.
They entered the ruins to see what had been making that groaning sound which raised the undead
about them and in the heart of the building, in a great tower room, they found a disgusting
giant head which had swollen to the size of a large hut with the
putrescence that infected it. The head gurgled mostly, its entrails twisting through the carnage and bodies that filled the floor
of the room it rested in, and in a way it introduced itself as an interested servant of someone more powerful.
Strangely, the player's actually listened to what it had to say. Maybe they were too shocked and grossed
out to attack it straight off or perhaps they reasoned that as immobile as it was, that it wasn't going anywhere and they could come
back and deal with it after "crushing" it's master. It spoke with them, saying that its master was interested in meeting with them and
that it would provide a guide to escort them to where its master laird.
They accepted the invitation and a shadow
as a guide. It led them from the dwarven ruins and into the hills behind it. After an hour of travel they arrived at a tall, round tower.
They climbed its winding stairs to the roof where a strange gate was opened. Though the sun rose, the shadow remained, which perplexed
them a bit since normally such creatures flee from sunlight.
Since they desired to have their party in full power to meet this undead master, this was the point at which
they contacted Belar, teleported to a rendezvous, and had Sasha reincarnated; this took a couple days for them to accomplish since Sasha
was pretty disoriented after the traumatic affair of dying and being brought back to life in a new body. Her personality changed slightly
as well. In some ways she is the same, in others she is different. She tends to remember events as though she'd always been a
Tenerthor elf, which is amusing to the rest of the party. After a few days of reorientation they returned with magic to the top of the
tower, where the portal remained open.
They passed through the portal and find themselves in the old throne room of Agod, whom they knew to be the body which Vainegal possessed when released. Sow it was,
there is Vainegal, who happens to be behind all the recent undead problems. He tells them his minions are searching for one of the
Key's of Divinity, these are the three disks invested with the belief essence of Qo, and that his minions battle against the demons
in the north. He explains to them that while he was trapped in torpor that a minion of Titalus stole the password to the Anvil Gate,
the place which the demons are using to gain access to the Material Plane. Now, Titalus's minions are freely passing through it
to wreck their fiendish will on the world and hasten Titalus's plans.
For a moment the party is conflicted. Here is this shadowy undead power from their past, whom they released,
yet who has helped them and is obviously willing to continue helping them to defeat a greater evil. Yet it is plain that Vainegal is also
an evil creature. Thus placing the adventurers of choosing to work with the lesser of two evils. They also put two and two together and
realize that it was Vainegal who funded their deathward rings, which will protect them from the soul draining powers of the dead
lands of Saul, a land that they will need to travel into someday if they ever hope to thwart Aoran's vile plans.
The party asks, "So why are you attacking our kingdom with undead?"
To which Vainegal answers, "I sent warning to them that my minions would be looking about their lands, but
would pose no threat, yet they attacked me first! Then they slew my messengers who brought them my second warning. What am I suppose to
do? Such a powerful item hides itself from scrying and must be found by laborious manual searching. My minions must defend themselves if
they are to accomplish this important task of finding Qo's Key of Divinity."
The adventurers considered this and agreed that however unsavory the situation might be, Vainegal did have
a point in his defense. So the evening came to an end with Vainegal offering to send them, by magic, to wherever they desire.
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