Session 70

The battle begins between the party and Aubron, who begins by causing the bodies of two women in the pile of corpses to twitch and spring to life. He taunts the party by saying how they had been useful at one time, and implies that they were used to ensure magistrate Eldar's cooperation, implying that this woman and the child next to her are the bodies of Eldar's missing wife and daughter, Sarya (daughter) and Celeval (wife). This enrages Dain, who flies toward Aubron and bashes him repeatedly with his divine wrath. Meanwhile, Aubron unleashes his dangerous magic, using Arcane Hand to shove Dain across the room and hitting him so hard that he actually went down. However, with the rest of the party's support, the increasing number of zombies being animated in the room were dealt with as Dain and Merrick dealt with Aubron. Eventually, Aubron unleashed his strongest magics, using Power Word Stun on Dain, and even using Power Word Pain on both Dain and Merrick. However, they were able to shrug it off and continue the assault. During the battle, they discovered that the odd crystals on the walls were more than just decorations as they began healing Aubron. However, after the first time he did this, they began overloading and exploding after giving him diminishing returns, putting him in a frenzy. At one point, Aubron disables Icarus by trapping him inside of a Resilient Sphere. However, after a long fight, the party eventually manages to put down his undead minions and Dain rushes in for one final assault, brutally smashing Aubron in the face with a vicious divine smite, putting him down for good… or so he thought. Shortly after going down, Aubron rushes for his altar, where he mutters a quick incantation, and informs the party that while he may not live to see it, the 40,000 undead he has unleashed on Arak will ensure its destruction.

After dying, Estrea appears and coaxes Aubron's soul out of his body and debates his choices as Aubron spits his vitriol at her. She apologizes for failing him and letting "Emir" poison and corrupt him. However, Aubron is beyond redemption, and Estrea says her final goodbye before opening a portal to something she calls "The Vortex", where Aubron's soul is dragged into it, screaming in agony the whole way.

After the portal closes, the figure that emerged from Aubron at the beginning of the battle that Orick attempted to fend off appears through a shadow in the room and tosses Orick's limp and battered body across the room against the far wall and mocks Estrea, who informs him that he will not be able to lay claim to Aubron's soul, as she has already taken it, and she will not allow him to become one of this "Emir's" Voidspawn. The figure seems unbothered and mentions how Aubron would have made a good general and possibly been healthy competition for Drixir, but seems to not care about the outcome, and simply leaves, but not before taunting Estrea by saying that the souls he will claim as a result of Aubron's army washing over Arak more than make up for his failure. He then disappears in the shadows in the room. Orick coughs and Estrea thanks him for his intervention, which likely spared the party. He assures Estrea that he's quite alright and only his ego is bruised, before he goes quiet, falling over and crumbling to dust. Estrea chuckles and seems unbothered by Orick's disintegration. She tells the party that the black shard on the altar must be destroyed and it is what is controlling Aubron's army, but that they will not be able to simply dispel it. She urges them to find some way to break through the barrier protecting it as soon as possible and to destroy it. She says she will contact them after they have done so and tells Merrick that she will serve as his patron now, alluding to Orick, and then walks through the wall and leaves.

The party attempts to break through the barrier by means of Dain's divine-infused strikes, but to no avail. They notice a line of bright blue energy trailing from the barrier to a large crystal in the center of the room hanging from the ceiling. They attack and manage to destroy it with some effort, but even after doing so, even the Sunbeam from Icarus' Bow of Sunlight seems insufficient, severely weakening the barrier, but not managing to bring it down. They see energy similar to the line of energy that was trailing towards the crystal swirling around in the barrier, repairing the damage done by the Sunbeam, but the damage remains. They began frantically searching Aubron's rooms, looking for clues, but find nothing except some research notes, novels, and treasure. They do however, find a locked door that once unlocked with a key found in the treasury, reveals a staircase leading up another floor…