[4e] Adventures in the Planes - IC

[DSCrankshaw]

Lucan - Half-elf bard

"Yes, let's do that," Lucan says. "We should leave immediately!" He hops to his feet with the aid of his Acrobat Boots, and immediately staggers. "Whoaa!" He stumbles into an unoccupied chair and slumps down into it. "As soon as I can stand."

[Hzurr]

DM Post

A decision made, everyone quickly leaps into action (except for Lucan, who is still a bit wobbly). A message is sent to Eltain with instructions on what to do with his mother and the Prince of Frost. With only a little effort, you're able to secure a suitable vessel to take you through the elemental chaos, and you spend the last few hours in Sigil shaking down some last minute contacts & catching up on the latest rumors to find out what details you can about the Lich and his fortress deep within the elemental chaos. From what you've seen, should you emerge victorious, the last impediment to true peace in the Feywild will be removed.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Ok, I need everyone to give me a post about what preparations you're making, and how you try to get information about the Lich's fortress. (Quick trip to the library, beating it out of an informant, a quick drink with an old ally, consulting an oracle or the Rule of Three in Sigil).

In addition, I need everyone to provide me with two facts about the Lich's stronghold, one positive & one negative. One I have one from everyone, I'll choose 3/4 positive things, and 3/4 negative things (or of the 5, if Toric is able to catch up), and those facts will be true. I won't tell you which ones I choose. Again, you're talking epic level evil spellcaster, so theme things appropriately. By positive thing, I mean where a hidden relic or artifact might be located, or a cool feature of the fortress that you'd have available to you if you took it over, or maybe a secret passage or entrance that would let you bypass the Lich's defenses. By negative thing, I mean the types of things that make you say "HOLY CRAP, WE'RE SCREWED." Or, if you're really feeling clever, you can combine them. For example: "The Helm of Tarrasque Command is guarded by 666 Clockwork Demiliches." That's a bit extreme, but it contains both a ridiculous treasure, and a ridiculous challenge you'd have to overcome. And the ones I think work the best or I simply can't not include because they're so awesome will worked into the Lich's tower.

[DSCrankshaw]

Lucan - Half-elf bard

Lucan is still woozy as he goes out to check his sources, but he knows it's important that they get the best information possible, and Lucan's lived in Sigil long enough that he has very good sources. From a beggar who was once a high priest of Vecna, he drags a long lost secret: "The lich sits on a throne of skulls. Heh, who doesn't, you ask? I've been known to enjoy a nice bone seat myself. But these aren't just any skulls. They are the skulls of scholars and mystics, wizards and priests, and the lich has captured the spirits of their owners and imprisoned them in their skulls. Now, when they aren't groaning in grief and torment, they advise him with their vast knowledge. He has hundreds of geniuses at his beck and call. The only problem is, they bite."

When he consults a rebel hive mind of cranium rats, they tell him, "Sometimes we bring him eyes. Big, little, human, devil, rat, he doesn't care, he needs them all. He is placing them throughout his palace, in every nook and cranny, so that he can see all that happens within."

He consults with others. A beautiful woman who ages from child to crone everyday, only to be reborn of herself in the night. A creature from the Far Realm, a thing of tentacles and eyes and grasping claws, alien in every aspect, but an avowed pacifist. A being of light and sound, who supposedly hears everything and sees everything in all the planes at the same time, but who has the understanding of an infant. And finally, he talks to his father, who knows a thing or two about ambitious and greedy wizards. "The thing to remember," Edgren says, "is that a being like that will always have an out, a trick, one last secret held in reserve for when things go bad. But, never forget, we're never as smart as we think we are. There's always something we overlook." He grins at Lucan. "Maybe that something is you."

[Orsik Vondal]

Asheroth Durant - Tiefling Hexblade

Ash leaves The Lady's Favor and heads to one of his old haunts. He takes an abrupt seat opposite a surly looking dwarf. More surly than usual. The dwarf is taking a long pull from his mug when Ash sits down jostling the table making the dwarf spill ale down his front. The dwarf looks up intending to be angry.

"That'll cost ya stran--!"

"Hello, Willder."

Being one of his old demon-hunting contacts, Willder calms down instantly a grave expression on his face. He knew the drill. "What can you tell me about a lich with a stronghold in the Elemental Chaos?"

"Well, that damn lich has attuned his little tomb of horrors to attract dispatched demons and devils and the most horrid and tortured souls from any plane. Through a series of portals linked to teleportation circles the decrepit souls find their way to him. It's like a mini-Sigil. He entices the demons and devils to guard the place and the mortal souls he uses for experiments and as servants. You won't just be fighting undead."

Ash leaves the bar and flies to the Temple of Pelor. He gets some odd looks when he enters, but they soon disappear. He heads to the Archive, the knowledge repository of all the different undead quests taken. When he asked about notable incursions into the lich's stronghold, the Archive's face darkens. She looks up with tears in her eyes.

"Lysander. My love. He journeyed to rid the Planes of that foul abomination! Pelor had blessed him with a suit of armor that would grant him protection from the undead. It radiated light and warmth when he wore it, and the undead could not long withstand it's brilliant aura. When he left to dispatch that creature, we were set to be married, but the lich took him from me! As a taunt the lich sent back his head with a message that issued from Lysander's mouth. The indecency! It said
'Thank you so very much for sending your betrothed to me. He was a slightly better challenge than the others. The rest of him and his armor is hanging in my throne room. It adds a nice ambiance to the decor.'
My poor Lysander! To think of it is unbearable."

The Archive collapses in a heap of sobs and tears. Ash lets the clerics console her. He heads back to Lucan's tavern to tell what he has learned.

[Mando Knight]

Aramil searches the library of Ioun for more clues as to what a fortress within the Elemental Chaos could contain, focusing on the nature of the arcane engine lying within, channeling scarcely imaginable power to the Prince of Frost's scepter.

After consulting many tomes (some where the public copy was missing vital pages, but Aramil's previous visits and fame as a scholar as much as a warrior afforded him access to the original codices), he found that the underlying calculations were simple and familiar after all, but scaled to troubling magnitudes.

Although the titanic blasts of ice required to freeze Titania or shield the Prince's citadel required long charge periods that limit their tactical applications (lengthened further by the inefficiencies of transmitting that level of power between Planes), the device could easily provide enough power to run powerful elemental traps throughout the lich's lair, with secondary focusing devices being easy enough to construct and attune to the engine. It possible, even probable, that the engine itself was developed primarily for this purpose, as a defense for the phylactery (with the latter possibly even running as a "key" for the engine, to prevent its use by others). Running through the fortress would likely be akin to fighting the Elemental Chaos itself.

On the other hand, should the engine be recovered, it could be used for the same purpose... perhaps directed against Asmodeus's fleet or the myriad layers of the Abyss rather than the denizens of the Feywild.

[dariathalon]

Pavick - Gnome Wizard

Pavick is not like many wizards. His first instinct when looking for information is not to head to the library. Of course there was nothing wrong with delving the depths of a pile of books for information. He loved it as much as any other wizard, but Pavick figured that some of the extensive network of contacts he'd built up over the years would be equally able to help.

So Pavick locked himself away sending message after message via ritual to other wizards looking for whatever bit of info any of them might have found about this lich over their decades of study.

It took several hours, but Pavick did eventually get a response. "I've found a possible lead. His keep is built over a vast network of interconnecting tunnels, probably some of which are likely to be trapped or inhabited, and according to the tales, they form maze as difficult to navigate as any that has been found. And due to the chaotic nature of the plane, the maze is in a constant state of flux. Still, it should be easier to find your way through than trying a frontal assault on the place."

Pavick waited a while longer, but no further information was forthcoming, so he went back to meet with the others.

Spoiler

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Sorry that the lead isn't all that great and so long in coming. My creative juices have pretty much dried up lately due to working too many hours.

[Hzurr]

DM Post

Favors called in, research completed, arms twisted, and cerebral rats questioned, you finally set off on what should be your last quest before peace is brought to the feywild.

Despite the fate of his last crew, Zyrr is able to call in a few favors and procure a new Astral skiff capable of navigating the lightning rivers of the elemental chaos, and within the day you set out. The trip is not without event. Swarms of Slaadi attempt to attack the ship, the occasional gith pirating band on the backs of red dragons try to board you, yet each one is tossed aside as you continue to your goal, racing to get there before the lich has much time to prepare his defenses.

Navigating through the chaos is difficult, and just when you begin to give up hope of ever finding your destination, you stumble across it. Emerging from a cloud of poisonous gas, a chunk of living obsidian floats through the vastness of the chaos. Plumes of lava pour out from the sides, tumbling down towards the infinite blackness of the Abyss far below. Crawling across the surface of the undulating obsidian is a skeletal creature larger than any you dreamed possible. Well over a thousand feet long from head to toe, the skeleton crawls slowly over the surface of the obsidian, an undead light burning in its eyes even as the rock below it shifts and compresses beneath the massive weight of the creature. Though you've never seen one, there's little doubt that this skeleton once belonged to a primordial, ancient as the universe, now animated as an undead to serve a new master. Built into the ribcage of the crawling creature, a fortress of steel, stone, and ice sits unmoving, oblivious to the crawling and thrashings of the creature that bears it. There is no name or symbol on the tower, no banners flying above the fortress, yet the unholy energy that pulsates off of it gives little doubt as to who inhabits it.

A single, solitary gate at the base of the primordial skeleton's skull looks to be the only entrance to the palace, flanked on either side by a set of chained, mummified meriliths bathed in unending elemental flames. Set into the archway above the door a single, dual-pupiled, unblinking eye of lightning and fire stares at you, waiting.

------------- END OF PART ONE OF ADVENTURES ACROSS THE PLANES -------------

[Hzurr]

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