Welcome to tonight's Exandria Unlimited. Strap in. Also, you won't even believe what was said before the camera started rolling.
This is the FUN episode. The final one. (Your definition of fun may vary.)
Within tales of woe, this story is told for a love of stories. Things will get SAD.
Brennan isn't going to kill all of them. Some of them may kill each other... Prepare yourselves. We begin.
"Hey, gang." Get it all out now, we haven't started yet.
The Destruction of the Tree of Names
Fire. Everything feels slow. Movement and heat. The only sound heard is breath. It's theirs... but also a stranger's.
Things are expanding once again. In glass time, Zerxus takes note of his oldest friends, suspended in time, the beginnings of a force more powerful than he's ever experienced, picking them up.
The sundered Tree of Names is erupting in fire. Zerxus has a front row seat for what will happen to Loq and Patia.
Brennan rolls dice. The branches of the Tree that struck at Patia deals 17 damage. Loq takes 9 points of damage. Zerxus sees it glance off Loq, but strikes Patia's clavicle.
The moment the limbs strike, the rest of the tree is engulfed in fire, all happening within a fraction of a fraction of a moment. Con Save from Patia. The DC is 18, and she WANTS to fail this.
Nat3 for 8 is a failure. She takes 39 damage. Is she weakest at the elbow or the shoulder? Her right arm below the elbow is severed and left in the tree, and is not pinned to it.
The magical effects begin to reach the rest of the party. Zerxus still feels a protection from good and evil. Nydas confirms they are still within 10 ft of Zerxus.
Patia is at 49 HP. Now, we are going to do a fair amount of dice rolling, resolving a simultaneous number of effects that all take place in the span of a single second.
The tree is going off like a fireball. Everyone go over their magical items. Roll a Wis Save for each of your item. DC 23 per item. Zerxus will not need to roll for his Holy Avenger, but all other magic items will be rolled against this DC.
Patia goes first. She succeeds against her Staff of Power and Ring of Protection. She takes 26 force damage as her Ring of Mind shielding explodes, and loses three fingers on that hand. Her mind is bombarded by all the thoughts she has processed from her work over the centuries. Patia is twisting to the limit of her body. The elements of the Legend Lore suddenly expands to everyone as the dams of controls are destroyed.
Loq loses his Ring of Protection, Shiftweave clothing, and Pneumatic Missives. But he rolls Nat20 to maintain the ether Laerryn gave him. As Loq is about to take 67 force damage, Laerryn sends her Arcana Ward, moving through time to cover him to reduce his total damage to 34 total. The ward is now gone.
Quay, in his true changeling form, is in tatters. He's covered in hundreds of thousands lacerations. White fey blood scatters, though in this time, it has yet to hit the floor.
Nydas: Success on Defender Scimitar and Ring of Protection. Failure on the Bag of holding. 26 force damage as it explodes like a landmine, gold coins pelting him in an explosion of soft metal.
Laerryn saves on her All-Purpose Tool, but her Ring of Masks shatters for 28 force damage. The ceramic shatters, heading for her face, eyes, and neck.
Travis, whose character is absent, thinks that Brennan is being far too easy on them.
Zerxus succeeded on everything except his shield. The shield is sundered as he takes 33 force damage.
Zerxus looks down, his eyes moving faster than everyone else. All the items are being disenchanted and exploded. Good thing, Patia's Staff of Power saved, since it probably would have killed everyone here had it exploded!
Zerxus looks at the Holy Avenger. It does not erupt or explode like the other items. It corrodes, diminishes, rusts. They saw the same thing happen earlier to one of the heavens’ bows. It is unmade in the presence of what comes now.
Now. We can deal with the fire! We are almost to a full second from whence things kicked off. Dex saves for everyone present as the fire consumes them. Disadvantage for Patia and Loq. Magical effect, not a spell.
With disadv, Loq still hits 25. Laerryn also saves with a Nat20. Zerxus saves. Everyone else fails.
The DC is 23. Everyone insults Brennan as he rolls dice.
Failure is 71. Save is 35. That is JUST the fire damage.
Patia is KOd.
Now we roll bludgeoning damage. Patia's total HP is 86. She takes a grand total of 143, 71 fire and 72 bludgeoning. She is dead, flat out.
Nydas, Loq, and Zerxus are KOd.
Laerryn is the only one standing. (Also Cerrit.)
There is a final save. All three KOd companions immediately fail a death save. Laerryn makes a strength save: Nat1. Aabria requests Brennan roll low. This is not a spell effect. This is physics. This is only 10d6: 37 damage. Still up.
Laerryn is thrown past all of this. She is thrown from the Calix. Her companions are thrown into the walls.
Time slows down even more. Laerryn rolls Arcana: There is a Time Stop. Something has messed with time. She is locked out of it, no reaction.
Zerxus regains 3 HP.
As Nydas sails to the wall, he has an expression of sadness. He wanted the city to be great. He feels he failed. This is his fault. He enabled this failure. He is saddened by the horror that has knocked him unconscious.
The fire enveloping Patia, twisting her face last. What is her last expression? She processes all of the knowledge she's been flooded with. She realizes you can hold all the knowledge in the world, but it doesn't matter if it dies with you. Grim realization.
Quay sees Patia's expression as he feels her ribs thud into his own. His body and face is now liquid, changing rapidly. It morphs between several faces: Elena, Cerrit, Laerryn, the mask of the Matron of Ravens last before unconscious.
Laerryn passively watches Vespin Chloras' long, fiendish arms crawl from the tree. Images behind him, K'nauthi have completed the ritual to summon him. And behind him, something older and more evil than her vast intellect can comprehend.
Laerryn never took her eyes off Quay. She is sobbing. "It wasn't supposed to be like this." Laerryn beholds the Calix. The ruined tree. So much ambition and greatness and pain and suffering. It shouldn't have been like this. It should not.
The Return of the Lord of the Hells
Time Stops. Zerxus alone becomes aware that only he is moving. His body is still flying, heading to the wall, but something has restored him. Perception 14.
Above, the tree is expanding. The blight was the finishing stroke. The energy had already been cut off, it had already been weakened. Blight pushed it over the edge.
Zerxus sees small, translucent blinking light in the branches. And then he sees, in the fiery scene, a foot has stepped through, if it can be called that, of shadow and flame.
The being is as tall as a man, as tall as the sky, all at once. "It is good to be home." In the fire is a heart. Within the heart is a writhing humanoid figure. But the face is golden, for but a moment. The horns fade to bright red hair. Something tortured, in pain.
There is something not of the flesh but spirit that would allow Zerxus to reach out. He does. He turns the power of his spirit... in this moment of his friends flying, the tree blinking, the tormenting behind the fiery seal...
The Lord of Hells has more than one form. There is one form that is in agony. Zerxus looks at each of his companions. He saw the golden figure of Laerryn rushing to protect Loq. He wants to go to them. He can help. The answers are in the fire.
Zerxus reaches into the flame. Beginning to manifest is a hand, deep ruby red. The fire does not burn it. It seems an eternity away. His hand alights, feeling the burning hot skin of the figure in torment.
Zerxus tells the figure not to be scared. Take him. Do you know him? "Zerxus. I promised you I would never forget." The figure claims Zerxus will die here, in this place. Then come here! Zerxus pulls the true heart of the Lord of the Hells into Exandria.
The ruby red hand smiles. The massive form vanishes. The explosion is still happening in slowed time around them, but this hand pulls the Lord of the Hells through. Shadows move with him. He moves across the threshold. He is in the world.
The hand is Zerxus' blood. It's the wound from the erinyes. The Lord of the Hells holds onto this. His face changes: he looks a lot like Zerxus. The erinyes walks through, smiling and weeping. Zerxus' blood is still on her sword.
The Lord of the Hells is sobbing in joy. Zerxus offers to clean him up. The Lord of the Hells puts a hand: "Let's clean ourselves up." Zerxus asks what will happen to him. He should know, he is an oracle.
Brennan plugs in his computer while Lou represents all of us: awe and terror.
The Lord of the Hells cures Zerxus for 40 HP. (None for the homies.) Whatever Zerxus wishes to happen can happen. The Lord of the Hell is floating in the air, held by the explosion, which has been slowed by the Time Stop. Zerxus' hand moves from the chest to face, holding it gently. He asks what he remembers of his existence, before he found his way here. "Everything. I remember everything."
Zerxus places his hand on Evandrin's Name Stone, and casts Cleansing Touch, feeling a portion of the uncompleted Ceremony of Atonement. In this moment, he feels his cleansing touch.
Zerxus does everything he can to get the Lord of the Hells to the purest version of himself.
He rolls a saving throw.
"I think you may be the most exceptional mortal I have ever known." Zerxus begins to perform the ceremony of atonement. The Lord of Hells holds Zerxus' hand.
...The spell should be working. And it's not. The Lord of the Hells looks at Zerxus, and wonders what's wrong.
Zerxus knows it should have succeeded. The figure is also confused.
What is supposed to happen? Does the Lord of the Hells remember? He remembers all. This is a ceremony of atonement, correct? He thinks he knows what may be happening.
Evandrin's resurrection didn't work because he didn't die.
You're trying to atone the Lord of the Hells from his wrongdoing, and he DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. He stabs Zerxus in the heart.
Zerxus shoves him off, and argues that yes, he HAS done wrong! They, the mortals, started here, were always here. This was their home, their place. The gods were wandering in the abyss, lost. They didn't create anything. They came HERE and shaped and took, but they didn't CREATE. He is no god. The Lord of the Hells is a child, and he is LOST.
The Lord of the Hells says that the mortals always referred to themselves as the children of the gods. No. They were a first draft, and they will be discarded. These "humble" wizards, this "humble" paladin who would teach HIM a lesson. This is why the Lord of Hells loathes Zerxus' "redemption": to reach a hand down to someone, they have to be BENEATH YOU.
He pulls the skin off Zerxus' skull, killing him.
The Lord of the Hells brings back Zerxus. Zerxus casts Resilient Sphere. It is easily countered with a 9th level spell as the Lord of the Hells kills him again. He brings him back, then kills him yet again, all within the Time Stop within a Time Stop.
Zerxus said that he would help the Lord of the Hells confront the people who did this to him. WAKE UP: IT WASN'T THE PRIME DEITIES. It was YOU, the MORTALS, the FOOLISH PAPER DOLLS. The Prime Deities are his SIBLINGS. His quarrel is not with them. The mortals did something to his siblings, the mortals are responsible for his siblings’ betrayal. THEY are the ones at fault. The Lord of the Hell's greatest heartbreak is that when all of the mortals are in his pit, he will only have eternity and no more to punish them.
Resurrected once again, Zerxus is sending instructions to Tempus. "Wait. You're right." He tries to speak.
Zerxus rolls insight: 21. He looks into the eyes of the Father of Lies. It was so easy for him. Zerxus has fought abomination and undead, things with an alien need for destruction. Those were destruction for destruction’s sake.
There is an infinite hatred behind these eyes. This destruction has a driven purpose, one of the purest hatred. There was a golden face that is long gone. Only the hatred persists. He doesn't hate humanity in an alien way. He wants them to know that they deserve it.
Zerxus only has pity. The Lord of the Hells goes mad.
"You hate everything so purely. You poor thing. Look at how much you hate yourself."
"You know what your fault is, Zerxus? Other than being trusting? You truly believe you are above all of [this]."
But at least he didn't leave his son in that city below for his devils to find. Zerxus will make a very good champion.
He kills Zerxus, his spirit leaving the body. He apologizes for the destroyed Holy Avenger; he has that effect. But he can come up with an alternative for his new champion.
The Lord of the Hells smashes Xartaza, who thanks him in her death. She turns into a mace with a black crown.
If Zerxus wants to be physical, pick that up. You know the cost. But if not, the afterlife awaits.
Zerxus' spirit is floating. He has agency. There is a gleaming, infernal artifact before him. The afterlife also calls him. He tries to grab the name stone. Its spirit is with him too. Both his own and Evandrin's are on his chest.
Zerxus touches Evandrin's namestone. "(gasp) Darling, no."
And we move on to the next scene. After a brief recovery period...
Laerryn’s Retreat
We return to the rest of the party as time returns to itself. Laerryn has 22 HP. She may act at any time, but sees effectively four corpses. She is 40 ft away from Quay.
70 ft away, she sees something her mind registers as a figure cloaked in red. Laerryn accounts for how far counterspell is. She dimension doors away to a secret sanctum.
A feed from Dweomer is on the screen. Dweomer is flat on the ground, but her feed continues. Laerryn casts Tongues to understand the conversation happening in the next room.
The Lord of the Hells is giving orders to Vespin Chloras. All the mortals he was relying on are dead. Disappointing, as always. At least the K'nauthi have completed their runes. Full devils crawl out of the chests of the K'nauthi all around the city as their runes light up.
Laerryn sends this feed to anyone who is conscious to act.
Death save for Loq: 6. Second failure.
Death save for Nydas: 16: 1 success, 1 failure.
The Lord of the Hells chuckles at Vespin's report. The current god of death is a mortal. He HATES TO TELL HIS SIBLINGS HE TOLD YOU SO. Well, he can't wait to meet this Matron of Ravens. He can't even remember his sibling's name anymore. Not his mistake, though. The Lord of Hells knew it was the Prime Deities’ mistake to make, and the consequence they had to reap, their brother struck from their memories by one of their paper dolls.
The Primordials can handle Avalir. The Lord of the Hell's business is in Vasselheim. The emperor and empress, get it done, Vespin. He opens a gate, and pulls in a second betrayer. "Brother! Great Ruiner. If you're not busy, I thought we could destroy the Dawn City, together." The door closes behind him as the Lord of the Hells begins suggesting some things they can do for fun and destruction.
Another set of death saves.
Loquatius: 6. Loquatius is dead. "Another six. Six six six."
Sam tries to ruin the death with a bunch of dicks.
Meanwhile, Nydas rolls 15: two successes, one failure.
Laerryn feels that Quay is gone. That ether... It couldn't have done anything for him.
"The last phallic shape you see looks like Brennan."
Cerrit’s Home
We move to Cerrit, flying over the city. It's 4 am. Explosions are noticeable. People scream, seeing devils charging the corners. A porter yells to not crowd the platform. A terrified spellcaster casts Command on the porter to get them out of there.
The teleportation bisects all of the passengers, too many people on the platform for them to safely be taken out. K'nauthi corpses lie on the ground as the devils rush from them.
Fires break out over the city. It will be a while, as most people don't know what is happening. Cerrit is rushing to home. Normally he's one of few eisfura, but now there are many mages also in the air.
Maya and Kir are both home. They look up at him. Maya tries to defend herself about the drinking. Cerrit assures her that he didn't see this coming. Kir drops from the rafters.
Cerrit looks out the windows for any threats in the next 30 seconds. Perception check: 23. No invisible presences. Distant noises. He's rattled. Kir and Maya haven't realized there's a threat yet.
Maya asks her dad what's wrong. Cerrit will tell them all about it, at some point, he promises. But for now, he has a surprise for both of them. His kids point at his hand. Why is his Ring of Lie Detection glowing? He claims that it glows when danger is near.
Cerrit gives each of his kids their stone tickets. It will take them to their mother. Don't come back until he finds them. It's very important they listen to him. Cerrit takes both of their hands. He loves them both so much. He closes the stones around their hands, and close them shut.
Kir starts crying. Cerrit tells them they've done nothing wrong. He will always have his eye on them.
Cerrit closes their hands around the stones, crushing them. They disappear, out of the city.
His ring stops glowing. It's quiet. It hasn't been quiet in years. He looks at the ring, the emblem of the Eyes of Avalir.
It occurs to Cerrit how much time this ring took from being in this home. There may never be the sounds of home and hearth, life and laughter, in this place again. Insight check: 26. The Eye is sculpted to look down, ever watchful. He found many threats to the city. Long years of being exceptional, clever, perceptive.
On 26 insight, most of the threats Cerrit found over the years were without friends or connections. The Eyes of Avalir never looked up. He still doesn't get to hear the laughter of his children in this home, after years of devotion and service.
Cerrit takes the ring off. He walks to his home office, down the hall. It's a wreck, with papers, pictures, drawings, dishes. Remnants of his obsession and craft.
Cerrit is furious. He snatches a candle, and holds it to the wall, watching it dance up.
He steps back into the hallway. The last lie he told was to tell his children to get out of here.
Outside his office, he sees indentations where young kids got food-stained hands on the wall, ears placed against the door to hear what he was working on in solitude.
Cerrit walks over to the kids' rooms. He stands in the threshold. He takes in how long it's been since he's just looked, really looked, here. Not outside, just here.
Cerrit's mind pieces together stories. The corner of a turn on the notebook on Maya's desk, her incredible mind toward history. The telltale upturned carpet throw of small hand axes Kir was hiding under the bed.
The flames lap the wall as Cerrit solves the mystery of who his children were. As it burns, he thinks of where he came from, where his family has gone. He lets all of it die. For now. There has to be focus for what comes next.
What comes next, Cerrit?
He thinks back to that one-second blur in his telepathic bond. Laerryn relayed everything she saw. He knows where she is: in the Meridian Labyrinth, a secret compartment. He steels himself, and heads there like a bolt.
Cerrit leaves his burning home behind him as he bolts for the Meridian Labyrith.
Nydas rolls his third death save: he is stable on the ground, still unconscious.
Zerxus and Evandrin
We return to the Astral Realm. Zerxus, in a sea of silvery mist. Tempus approaches for a moment. No, not Tempus. A body composed of starlight. Evandrin steps through the mist.
Evandrin reaches for Zerxus, but Zerxus tells him not to touch him. He couldn't bear it right now; what has he done? Evandrin has longed to touch him. Zerxus believed, and that is NOT a fault.
Evandrin loves him more than the stars and the moon and life itself. Is he in this place because Laerryn sent him? No, Laerryn didn't do this. Or maybe she did. Does Evandrin know what happened? Evandrin knows about the tree, but... Evandrin missed Zerxus. They embrace.
Evandrin has been between this space for 7 years, to have him for but a moment. He can't lose Zerxus now. Zerxus gives Evandrin his namestone, and Evandrin puts it around his neck.
Evandrin would have told Zerxus, but they didn't understand. It was the role of the first night to journey into danger. He told Laerryn it had to be him. Evandrin wanted Laerryn's dream to come true. He was protected here, but when he returned, they didn't understand the tree or the Calix. The druids didn't trust them with that knowledge.
The tree didn't kill Evandrin. He became anchored to this realm. Exandria was killing him; he was foreign in that realm. The tree was pushing him into the Astral Plane, where he belonged.
If Evandrin could have communicated past this, he would have. Laerryn's vision wasn't that of a one-time trip like the threshold crests, but to be whatever they wished. They didn't know the spell the tree was writing.
Evandrin isn't quite alive. Zerxus tells him that their son is still there, still in Cathmoíra.
Why is Zerxus here, right now, if Laerryn didn't send him? Behind him is the mace. He is a spirit. He may tarry for a time, but he is moving on. "I failed. I fell. And now I'm here." Evandrin sobs no, repeatedly.
Evandrin says they will find something out. There's two of them now, they will find a way! Zerxus says he knows he can't stay here. He looks at the mace.
If Zerxus moves onto the afterlife, Evandrin will find a way to get to Zerxus. He hasn't found a way back to the world, but he can find one, surely.
Zerxus turns to look at the mace. He turns to Evandrin: He had no idea that the life of the First Knight would be so lonely. Evandrin: "I failed you, and I made it lonely."
Evandrin saw through Tempus' eyes. There is a place beyond the stars that Zerxus heart can reach. He knew that the first day he met him. That is where Zerxus' place is.
Evandrin looks at the mace, and narrows his eyes. He doesn't like what he sees. "Yes. You can go. If you have been killed, we will find a way. There are resurrections."
Zerxus believes in his heart that Evandrin will find a way. But he knows him, and Zerxus knows that what he believes is true. He will never give up. The Age of Arcanum is dead. What comes next?
Zerxus reaches for the mace. If that place among the stars is where he belongs, he will end up there. Evandrin has been trapped for many long years. If Elias is to be saved, Zerxus knows what must be done. If any of them are to be saved.
Zerxus grasps the mace. What follows the Age of Arcanum must eventually be the Age of Salvation.
He grabs it will all his strength. His gleaming armor is burned beyond recognition. Two rams horns grow from his skull. Evandrin screams Zerxus' name: “No!”
Zerxus knows the bargain he has struck by accepting this power.
Evandrin looks are Zerxus, moving through fire, unburned. The form isn't why he isn't being burned; the devil wants his followers to hurt. The love as profound as any surrounds Zerxus, protecting him from the blaze. He hears Evandrin's voice in his mind. Evandrin didn't know how deeply Zerxus has sacrificed, but there is no god he worships more than Zerxus' heart.
Evandrin buries Zerxus name on this stone. And one day he will bring him home.
Picking Up the Pieces of the Ring of Brass
Zerxus arrives back in the chamber.
Nydas, stable on the ground. Loq and Patia are dead on the ground.
Zerxus has 40 HP, and the spell slots he had when he was alive. And he has a mace. Laerryn sees Zerxus return, curved horns, no shield, holding a mace that has the contract to his soul, currently in the process of being written.
Vespin Chloras is in this chamber. He sees a fellow fiend, and screeches appropriately. Zerxus orders him to leave this place. It's now under his control. Persuasion, with Emissary of Peace for a sense of calm.
Laerryn asks Zerxus through Dweomar’s communicator what he has become. If you're him, BRING THEM BACK.
34 persuasion: Vespin looks at the shrieking Dweomer, blasting her with a fireball, destroying her. He stalks down the hallway. Before he leaves, Zerxus stops him, saying the master had magic for him.
Time is ticking away for some important moments.
Insight on Vespin: 22. Vespin has a look of pain and recognition, something that was not in the Lord of the Hells’ eyes. Zerxus rushes to him, and touches him, using his cleansing touch.
This is the 5th round. The contract sealing Zerxus soul will not require many more rounds to be complete and ratified. With a DC 18, Zerxus will fail all saving throws for the next minute, but give a corrupted soul a chance toward redemption.
He does what he attempted to do on the devil, an opportunity for redemption and understanding, the very act that doomed his soul. Evandrin thought this belief was beautiful, this belief in redemption, a belief that may have doomed both himself and the world. The Lord of the Hells is older than the world. Vespin was once but a man. The power of stars flows through Zerxus for perhaps the last time. In this instance, Vespin has the chance for redemption.
Vespin gasps, his fiendish face filling over with human skin. Vespin’s eyes gain clarity. He casts Time Stop, and grabs the mace. He doesn't know who you are, but... Vespin doesn't know the power Zerxus holds, but thank you. The redeemed-for-the-moment Vespin quickly intervenes in the contract before it finishes. He interjects a clause into the contract, giving Zerxus until morning for it to take effect.
Vespin’s face is human, his body fiendish. Vespin tells Zerxus they don't have much time. He doesn't know what's happening. He doesn't have the power to stop the contract, but what Zerxus did bought them a moment.
Vespin was an infernalist. He sought... He thought he could do it. And the world will remember him as its greatest villain. Zerxus tells him history hasn't been written yet. But they have time. He casts Revivify on Loq. The magic seeps into Loquatius. He wakes. "What's happening?" Zerxus laments not having the spell energy to bring them all back. He rushes to Nydas to cast Lay on Hands, but the Time Stop is about to end, resuming time, time that will counter his ability to revivify their fallen, had he had the magic to cast it.
Loq holds the raw ether up to Zerxus, who uses it to cast Revivify on Patia, who is also back to 1 HP.
Vespin groans against the returning fiendish nature. He will tell them what he knows in the time he has left. He will leave the city, get as far from them as he can before his mind is forever lost. Find the first oracle, the Hall of Prophecy!
Before he dimension doors out, Vespin turns. Do not bother with his name. He asked beyond all things to not be forgotten. He saw his name was to be darkened, and the Lord of the Hells will see that wish through. Hope that you are forgotten. He leaves.
Laerryn watches all this through the viewing window. She hears a shriek in the labyrith. Vespin now permanently belongs to the Lord of the Hells. Zerxus gave him a moment, and a moment only.
The party regathers in the chamber. Laerryn sobs, and apologizes to Quay. He tells her that she couldn't have known. What about Zerxus? He only has a day. Nydas hits him. You made a DEAL? For what?! "For you."
Laerryn angrily tells Zerxus she saw him stand next to that figure when everyone else was down. What did you do? Don't look away!
Patia says they all played a part. Cerrit says not all of them. Loq says that, regardless, they've all made deals in the past. Laerryn says there's no time for this. They have to find the gate and stop this. They can fix this!
The Prophecy
Zerxus turns their attention to the oracle. There is little time, and few places to go.
Zerxus casts Lay Hands on himself as Nydas casts 3rd level healing words on Patia and Loq. Loq returns the favor with a 3rd level healing word to Nydas. Laerryn recovers her Mage Armor.
The party rushes to the Hall of Prophecy. Arcana from Patia: 16. She can't name it, but she feels something holding ether in her body from the Tree of Names. She got something from the Legend Lore, something big and powerful. She wouldn't survive releasing it.
Patia was dead. Everything has gone to hell, the city in flames. But she feels the power from the tree. She knows of the emperor and empress: Emperor Rau’shan and Empress Ka’Mort.
It is 4:15 in the morning. The sun will rise before 6 AM. There are devils attacking people in the street. Zerxus has less than 2 hours.
Laerryn asks Cerrit about his kids. They are gone from the city. He hopes it was worth the risk.
Excelsior plaza is a vision of hell on earth. Chaos and ruin. Zerxus sees his part in this all. He closes his eyes, holding on to the cosmic connection one last time. He uses the banner as he flies on Tempus over the city.
Zerxus doesn't shout as he flies. He flies silently, but the silence is deafening. All who are within sight see him, gaining 19 temp HP, inspiring people to act to the city's defense. It's still chaos, but anyone asleep is awakened to act. (The banner is used for the populace, but Inspiring Leader has already been mechanically used. No 19 temp HP for the Ring of Brass.)
The party rushes inside the Hall of Prophecy. Karwen is asleep, in bed, magic circle around her. "Break it. I'm not mad. None of us are mad." Nydas dispels it. The oracle awakes, healthy and powerful. She casts Mass Healing Word, 10 HP to the whole party.
Karwen speaks the prophecy: "When crowned fire and a throned earth stride forth to join ancient war anew, then Mother and Father shall fall to the hands of their imprisoned kin. And all the stars will weep until the death of light for lost Exandria, whose every ashen breath will wish for death, and never knowing peace, shall stumble ever more to seek in vain the end of horror without name."
The party try to determine where they need to be to stop this. Fighting for every roll, they squeak out a 16 with inspiration: There is a world where they fix the helm in the next hour and a half. They would need to know everything Akami Rowe knew.
Laerryn has paid very dearly for her astral leywright. With the Calix destroyed and Drushari tithe irrelevant, they could work great magic with the leywright itself. The ruin has already come, and they have a device never seen in this world.
Laerryn knows that leylines are attached to Exandria itself. The world is in and of itself of the primordials. If you can move a leyline... what might you be able to do to a primordial?
Laerryn tells the party that everything she built still works, somehow. They could move the city, or they could move the Empress and Emperor themselves. The best Laerryn's got is that she could move the primordials to another plane. Patia knows where they are; she saw when she touched the tree. She thinks this could work. This has to. They can still fix this, with 11 batteries.
Cerrit goes over the options: prevent the city from connecting with Cathmoíra with the broken helm (no permanent guarantee with the Betrayer Gods now in play), or move the primordials.
Karwen knows what she saw. If the Empress and Emperor join battle with the Betrayers, all is lost. Exandria will have no new dawn.
Loquatius will say this once to Laerryn: please ignore him and go get to work!
Nydas will get more automatons and meet them there. Zerxus will also meet up later. Loq thinks he has a duty to report, to save lives. Laerryn interrupts him to kiss him. He kisses her back, giving her Cure Wounds.
Laerryn knows she has a miracle, and engine that works, to do something that has never been done before. She knows they can't keep Avalir in the sky forever.
Nydas summons the dragon, and interrupts him. THEY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR CATCHPHRASES, STFU, WE GOTTA GO. Loq hops onto the dragon behind Nydas.
Zerxus has a little more than an hour before he loses himself. Zerxus holds Laerryn's head, kisses her on the forehead, and tells her he forgives her for anything she thinks she's done. And so does Evandrin. Laerryn pushes the locket into Zerxus's hand before turning to work.
Patia asks Cerrit where he sent his kids. With his mother. He doesn't know where that is.
Patia heads to her grandfather's statue. Zerxus flies down to find his son. Cerrit, suspicious that Zerxus is leaving the city, follows after him.
Doom has come. Betrayers walk the world. Karwen and the Hall of Prophecy predicted this, and what might befall this world if the Primordials rise. The Ring of Brass have precious little time. And we'll go to break.
