Session 54 - Midwives of the End

General Summary

The air in the manor’s common room was thick with unease as Damaris Glimmerstone paced, clutching his red scarf like a lifeline. The halfling’s eyes darted, his words teetering at the edge of panic. But when he spoke - his voice, for once, steady - it became clear that fear was the only thing keeping him lucid.   He laid bare truths too long buried: the artifacts held by the Faceless One were not trophies or tools. They were sacred relics, stolen long ago from the hoard of Dragothalax, an ancient black dragon of apocalyptic legend. The thieves, holy men of Asmodeus, Dahak, and Norgorber, had unknowingly passed their stolen burden through generations of blood-stained hands.   And now, the Faceless One sought not to awaken Malgorath, as the faithful believed, but to release something far older - Kyuss, the Worm God. The demon was a distraction, a story for zealots. The real plan was made manifest in decay. Undeath given purpose.   But Damaris had seen too much. He had read what no one should. And as he confessed, something shifted. Shadows bent toward him. Light fled the room. Oathgar moved quickly and sure, but too late.   A soundless scream. The smell of damp soil and spoiled meat. And then... worms.   They poured from Damaris’s skull as if he were a cracked vessel. The halfling’s eyes went black. The voice that emerged was not his. Kyuss spoke through him, mocking, cruel, and calm. He called the heroes his "midwives," praised their efforts as accelerants to his birth. He promised an ending: not just of lives, but of gods.   From the ruin of flesh rose something taller, twisted, translucent. A figure of torment and a gift from Kyuss, the Devoured Voice. Worms coiled through its sockets, spilling from ears and throat. Its scream ripped the room apart, sound turned to force. Declan fell, lifeless.   Panic fractured into action. Tike struck with brutal precision, gauntlets crashing against the incorporeal form. Cal shouted through the madness, calling out the creature’s nature - an undead echo, born of Kyuss’s hunger. Alfie dashed to Declan’s side, drawing breath from death itself.   The Voice lashed out with elongated fingers, each ending in a ring of teeth. Tike gritted through the pain as dark energy sapped his strength. Oathgar’s axe sang, each swing carving against a ghost. Cal cast, trying to pin its shadow to reality. The spell failed.   Alfie raised his holy symbol high. Light surged.   The Devoured Voice shrieked, unraveling in a cascade of divine prairie grass, glowing with sacred energy. It wrapped around the horror like a memory of peace and pulled it down.   Silence followed.   Damaris’s body was emptied of life. Only a shell remained. Cal retrieved a carved fish from his belongings—a gift for his niece, Clover, perhaps the only piece of Damaris not corrupted. Oathgar lit the body. Worms sizzled in the flames, bursting like fruit overripe. Inside, there was nothing but rot. He had been hollow for some time.   And still, the world turned.   The companions gathered themselves, their path grimly clear. Lucius Blackthorn had crossed into the icy hell of Cocytus, hunting a shard of wrath locked within Torvus, a world between worlds. Two prophecies remained. Two doors stood between them and the return of Kyuss.   They had survived the Devoured Voice.   But the world was still dying.

Rewards Granted

XP

• Each character earned 5,760 XP for this session.
• Current total: 132,820/145,000 XP.

Notes

• Damaris Glimmerstone revealed the secret that kept him protected in Salisgrad: The Faceless One’s true plan is to free Kyuss, not Malgorath.
• Artifacts held by the Ebon Triad were stolen from Dragothalax’s hoard long ago.
• These artifacts passed through history as religious relics tied to Asmodeus, Dahak, and Norgorber.
• The Dragonsoul Crucible was crafted from the souls of Tynathria’s children; it once belonged to Cal’s uncle, the drow Vaelin Sunshadow.
• Damaris read the Faceless One’s journal, confirming Malgorath is a decoy to manipulate cults.
• Dragothalax is a dracolich, once Tynathria’s consort, who made a pact with Kyuss.
• Damaris’s body was hollow, fully consumed by worms.
• His fish carving curio was salvaged for Clover.
• The body was burned; worms resisted but were destroyed.
• Lucius Blackthorn is in Cocytus, seeking the Sihedron Shard of Wrath.
• The Crimson Basilica may serve as a gateway to Torvus, a pocket dimension between layers of Hell.
• Two prophecies remain unfulfilled; the party prepares for a journey into Hell.

The Prophecies of the Ebon Triad (from the book Way of the Ebon Triad)

• "When the dead walk from desolate graves, the end is nigh."
• "A tree of demonic birth shall breach unseen walls, heralding chaos."
• "From the heavens, fire descends, marking the world's end."
• "The herald of destruction falls in the shadows of Armageddon."
• "The hand of the Dark Queen shall be claimed by a forsaken soul."
• "In a world between worlds, a lost soul shall be found."
• "The red death crosses the land, and countless fall in its wake."
• "Greed returns, and with it comes conflict. The golden city shall witness the wrath of dragons and the might of giants."
• "On the eve of the Age of Worms, a fallen hero shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead."
• "A Tripartite Spirit shall once again become one, and at its advice will the Mighty be undone."