Session 34: Into Eternal Midnight

Primal Aspects

Summary

Lunia, Mount Celestia

Devil Wings in Water

Sulphaxus, Redeemed

Galenthias Repairs His Armor

Voraxan, the Hound Archon

The Pavilion of Courage

Rise

Korvash, the Guardian Archon

The Party Camps in Celestia

Karasuthra, the Eternal Midnight

Lilia vs. the Hyena

Arriving in Lunia's Silver Sea, the party bottled holy water and watched Sulphaxus's redemption -- a devil's wing melting like wax as he emerged mortal and wept into his family's arms. Galenthias declared "It is done," then answered Bahamut's call and streaked toward the mountain.

The lantern archon Iolan cataloged Celestia's paths of ascent, then passed them to Voraxan, an honesty-bound hound archon who smelled the blood on Octavius. At the Pavilion of Courage, devas sang over a pool of mortal bravery; the party watched a fallen boy rise glowing at the lead deva's "Aris." Iridienne revealed Vistra had passed two days prior, hunting the spectre Andren -- a carpenter who betrayed the rebel Tovaal to save his family and lost everyone anyway. Was it cowardice? Perhaps "a failing but not always a sin."

Through Khorvas's gravity-flipping pool, they surfaced in Karasuthra's eternal midnight. An eight-foot doe pointed toward the Wolf Lord's domain; the plane marked them with horns, plumage, paws, and tentacles as flight and fire failed. Lilia failed to intimidate a Sigil hyena. The party continued their pursuit, a day and a half behind their quarry.

XP Award

• The Owlin's Sight: 1300 XP for witnessing Octavius's vision of devil wings melting in water
• 500 XP for helping Iridienne name the vision of Andren
• 500 XP for being hot on Vistra's trail
• Total: 2300 XP
• Current XP: 69964 XP -> 72264 XP
• (Required for next level: 85000 XP)

Things That Happened

The Silver Sea

• Date: 1st of Mirtur, evening, 1372 DR
• The party arrived at Lunia, the first layer of Mount Celestia, plunging into a warm waist-high endless ocean.
• The sky was starry, featuring two moons, and an infinitely tall mountain shrouded in mist was before them.
  • At its base a small fort-like town was visible, made of white stone.
• From the waters new arrivals emerged, often meeting with others on the shore, with golden globes of light floating among them.
• A school of strange aquatic creatures leapt from the waters in a school, wharking at each other.
• Party members of a good alignment felt the plane's beneficience and received the effects of a Bless spell.
  • Octavius felt nothing.
• Diedric identified the ocean as holy water.
  • Everyone greedily began filling vials and their bag of holding with holy water.
• Unit 137 retracted his spikes, looking as innocent as possible.
• Galenthias watched the waters bubble where Sulphaxus must have arrived.

Sulphaxus's Redemption

• A devil wing floated up from the waters, melting like wax. (An Octavius vision fulfilled.)
• A dark-skinned man erupted from the waters, gasping for breath as two helping globes of golden light placed white robes around his shoulders.
  • His face vaguely resembled that of Sulphaxus's.
• Galenthias bore witness, years of tension melting away.
• Another golden globe, a lantern archon, backlit a family waiting on the shore.
• Sulphaxus asked "Ilara? Denya! Sulilia!", and struggling to swim without his brutish strength, made his way to them, collapsing and weeping as all three embraced him.

Bahamut Calls

• Galenthias, Paragon of Discourse, declared that "It is done."
  • The party had a brief discussion about harems and sacrificing power which slightly offended him.
  • He noticed part of his chest strap was missing and conjured a new one in holy radiance.
• A fiery call, like a platinum crucible, bellowed from the mountain, drawing his attention.
• "Bahamut calls to me, and I must answer. The lantern archons will guide you. Farewell."
• He flew away in a streak of green light toward the mountain, the force of his launch causing a hemisphere of water to recede from the party.
  • A silver crab, revealed, stood perfectly still with its pincers in the air -- until the waters shrouded it once more.
• A lantern archon approached, warmly introducing itself as Iolan.
  • The party asked about Vistra, and he knew that she had gone to the Pavilion of Courage, and that he would lead them to a trailguide.
• The group asked him questions about Celestia, and he introduced its many paths to ascend the mountain's layers, a journey that could take many lifetimes.
  • The Eightfold Path -- patience, pacifism, courage, joy, discipline, generosity, kindness, teaching others.
  • The Path of Five Virtues -- complete honesty, charity, hope, moderation, tolerance. Few past the sixth layer.
  • The Path of Valor -- good deeds, not words. Daily acts or stumble. Popular among the Ciphers in Sigil. Few past the fifth.
  • The Path of Renunciation -- charity to anyone who asks, poverty, mortification of the flesh (flagellation, fasting, vow of silence or chastity).
  • The Path of Mystic Union -- meditation, cleansing, fasting, trances for visions. Strictures interfere with adventuring.
  • The Path of Gnosis -- scholarly retreat. Study of ancient lore, faith, ritual. Few past the fourth.
• Any of these paths will grant +2 to a chosen attribute. They need to be sworn oaths to a representative of a Power and require a sacrifice.
  • The party lit up, asking for examples of a sacrifice. He gave losing memories as an example.
• He also introduced the dual hierarchies of Celestia -- archons and devas.
  • Archons: Lantern → Hound → Warden → Sword → Trumpet → Tome
  • Devas: Movanic deva → Monadic deva → Astral deva → Planetar → Solar
• Iolan explained that all archons are petitioners, but that some petitioners arrive as their original forms, depending on the Powers they worshipped.
• Upon reaching the shore, Octavius added to his sand collection.

The Lantern Road

• Iolan led the party across criss-crossing paths, some of which could be seen to lead further up Mount Celestia, into areas shrouded in mist.
• There they met Voraxan, a wolf Hound Archon in simple clothes with a brass collar, which Lilia admired wholly.
• Iolan: "These ones seek the Pavilion of Courage. Please lead them, Voraxan."
• Iolan left, and Voraxan introduced himself, thankful that he witnessed the redemption of the fiend. He asked the party if they were servants of Galenthias, or redeemed themselves.
• Voraxan shared that he walks The Path of Five Virtues and must be completely honest, even when he does not want to be.
  • He shared that he could smell blood on Octavius. Octavius at length explained the party that it's old blood and doesn't need to be reapplied constantly.
• The party passed other slightly-glowing petitioners on the flagstone path, including a gnome in prayer at a shrine and two dwarves arguing scripture.

The Pavilion of Courage

• Voraxan led the party to where the main flagstone trail ended, leading to a dirt path downward into a hollow where a white marble open-air pavilion ringed a rectangular pool, with seven winged figures visible in the distance.
• Voraxan: "The Pavilion is a place of the aasimon, the devas. The seven who sing there watch mortals at the worst moment of their lives, and the bravest, often the same moment. I'll walk you to the edge of the hollow. Then you go in alone."
• On approach, the party could hear a hymn being sung by the seven devas, each a different color. Now and then a Celestial word would rise, like "Courage" or "Steadfastness".
• On arrival, the party could see the reflecting pool showing images of other locations, often moments of courage:
  • A woman standing to speak against a great hall full of robed men.
  • A soldier kneeling beside a fallen friend, refusing to leave.
  • A scholar holding a book aloft as men shout her down.
  • A farmer with a shovel between his neighbor's door and the riders cresting the hill.
• Each of these appeared for a few moments, were named in Celestial, and then the next image would appear.
• The party politely waited.
• The image shifted to a young boy, ten or eleven, leading a younger girl in a torn dress through a catacomb. Animated skeletons rose and pursued them.
  • He fought one with a chair leg before being cracked in the temple by a stone from a sling. He fell to the ground.
    • Every level 1 wizard felt that.
  • The hymn stopped, then the lead deva (blind folded, with golden wings and teal hair) strode into the water.
  • She reached into the image, grabbing the boy's wrist and saying "Aris" (Rise), pulling him up.
  • The boy awoke with a shout, his eyes and body glowing with golden light.
  • He dropped the chair leg, and the first skeleton he punched shattered into pieces.
  • He charged the skeleton with the sling, and a single strike felled that one as well.
  • The hymn resumed, the image fading away, then the hymn paused, the devas taking a break. Some began chatting with one another in soft voices.
• The deva with pale gray skin and lightning crackling in her wings approached the party.
  • She introduced herself as Iridienne. She knew that Galenthias had sent them, and would not have if their cause were not just.
• The party asked if devas always intervened. She explained that, like fiends, there were some Prime worlds with compacts preventing or regulating intervention from the Seven Heavens or Nine Hells, and that this reflecting pool was a way to understand the nature of courage.
  • Iridienne mentioned that some among her order preferred even more direct intervention. The lead deva grimaced and flew away.
  • "Don't mind Zariel. She means well."

Courage, Cowardice, and Sin

• The party inquired as to the spirit seeker, Vistra.
• Iridienne confirmed she had been there two days past, in pursuit of a spectre that haunted its way through Celestia, being chased away by Lantern Archons.
  • Vistra is on a contract for the Mercykillers, the Red Death, in pursuit of the spirit for past crimes.
• It had gone through Khorvas's Pool to the Beastlands, which is where she led Iridienne.
• Vistra was very driven, so Iridienne did not reveal to her that her order had seen this spirit in life, not wanting to dissuade her from her duty.
• She explained that they had bore witness to Andren, the spirit, a carpenter in life -- with his wife and infant with swords to their throats, as he was threatened by a warlord to reveal the location of a rebel who had burned his grain stores.
  • Trying to save his family, he revealed the cellar that the rebel, Tovaal, had been hiding in.
  • The warlord immediately murdered his wife, his infant, then Andren, then the rebel Tovaal.
• The devas could not agree on what to name this event, and moved on to another scene.
• Iridienne asked them what they would have named it.
• The party debated on the nature of courage. Some felt his failure was cowardice or inadequate planning or strength. Others saw the nature of an impossible situation.
  • Octavius took notes on the judgment and logic.
• Iridienne reflected that perhaps "cowardice is a failing but not always a sin."
• The party reconnected with Voraxan, who admitted he was curious about what they saw. The party shared.
• He led them on a short walk to Khorvas's pool.

Khorvas's Pool

• A dark square pit of still black water was guarded by another hound archon, this one like a tan-colored egyptian hound, with a polished silver collar, full plate, and a longsword.
• Khorvas and Voraxan exchanged a foot-scraping greeting, and Khorvas allowed them to pass, explaining that they need to swim to the other side.
  • He clarified that this pool leads to Karasuthra, the third layer of the Beastlands, one that is in eternal night.
• The party asked for his leave to make camp, and he grunted a consent.
• Diedric erected his tiny hut and Lilia studied the stars, taking notes.

Karasuthra, the Eternal Midnight

• Date: 2nd of Mirtur, morning, 1372 DR
• In the morning, the party packed their things and dove into the pool, Glenn leading the way.
• The black liquid was not water, and one could breathe in it.
• Halfway down, gravity flipped directions, and the rest of the distance felt like swimming upward.
• The party ascended into a forest at midnight where all proportions were exaggerated. The moon was four times bigger than on Faerun, trees taller and thicker, and even the doe drinking from the pool stood at eight feet tall, eyeing them curiously.
• She (they have the horns even if they're female okay) tried to direct them to Brux, a layer up, assuming they were seeking the Seelie Court.
• Octavius, through his encyclopedic knowledge, explained that the Beastlands were where wild animals went after death, until they fell here too, at which point they would be reborn on a prime world.
• The doe added that the layers were ruled by Animal Lords, the Cat Lord and Wolf Lord being chief among them on this layer.
• She knew of the spectre, since it smelled wrong, and that it had fled into the Wolf Lord's domain.
• She indicated the direction, nudging a pine cone that the spirit seeker had trambled, calling her quiet but ungraceful.
• She advised to "Stay in your pack" and lept away.

On the Hunt

• Resummoning Unit 137 and Smokescale, the party tried to leap on their flying carpet, only for it to be inert.
  • Octavius informed them that magical flight did not work here, and that even lighting a torch would fail.
• Lilia turned into a wolf, and lent her goggles to Glenn so he could see.
• Unit 137 produced a flashlight from his head, but it was dimmed by the plane's influence.
• Smokescale whistled appreciatively at the plane.
• With Diedric leading via a Survival check, the party followed Vistra's trial, which was also following the spectre's trail, as in its wake grasses and shrubs had blackened and died.
• Climbing up to a stone reminiscent of pride rock, they observed a stampede of bison being hunted by large wolves, and a single dire raven that picked up one of the great beasts and flew off with it.
• Several hours into the wilds, the chaotic aligned characters (Lilia and Diedric) both manifested primal aspects -- Lilia growing a stag's horns and Diedric manifesting golden and blue plumage on his body. Both felt an urge to run rather than walk, an energy building up from within.
• The party made camp for the night.

Being Hunted

• Date: 3rd of Mirtur, morning, 1372 DR
• Upon awakening, other party members were now affected by the plane's influence. Glenn had bear paws and feet, and Octavius had eight octopus tentacles sprouting from his back.
• Periodically Diedric's warhammer would ring a warning and beasts surrounding the party for an ambush would flee, the element of surprise lost.
• After the third time, a hyena in a pack shouted "Pike!" and fled.
  • Lilia, still in wolf form, called back, explaining that "Hey, you said pike! You were probably from Sigil!"
  • The hyena retorted "Yeah, so?"
  • Lilia: "I wouldn't mess with us -- I can conjure a swarm of bats that--"
  • Hyena: "Uh huh--"
  • Lilia: "You wanna go?! Woof woof bark bark!" [rolls a 1 on intimidation]
  • The hyena laughed and joined its group.
• The party continued their pursuit, presumably 1.5 days away from Vistra unless something delayed her.
• The session came to an end.

NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)

• Suug'ma, the Vos'Ultok Waiter
• Tormuund, the Gryphon Keeper
• Andren, Vistra's Quarry
• Dama, the Skypainter
• Krix'krix, the Disassociative Dragonborn
• Solam Fleetfoot, the Table Champion

Memes

• An alternative interpretation of the golden globes of light.

DM Thoughts

• Avoid anthropomorphic wolves with this party.