Session XXII

Bahamut's Power Stones

Nurpus, Gertrude, and Maple finished their night of carousing at Stratios' home and headed back to the temple to get a good night's rest. Nurpus let the guards know where Stratios was hiding, but first made sure Stratios would know they were coming so he would have ample time to hide.
The next morning the party was woken up early by acolytes at the temple and led into a special ritual chamber where the Grand Priest Antilochus was waiting. Nurpus received a reward for his information about Stratios' whereabouts, though the philosopher had not been captured. Then, a trial was held for Rabbadon, with Melvin acting as his solicitor. Rabbadon was sentenced to exile for life, never being allowed to return to Carasus.
Antilochus then performed a ritual that sent them to Bahamut's Palace. They lost corporeal form and then reappeared on a bridge leading from nowhere onto a great mountain where a gleaming palace made of precious metals and gems shone in the sun. They were approached by Kuyutha, Bahamut's lieutenant, and some of his Dragonborn paladins. They were led into a grand chamber where Bahamut himself was waiting, a colossal platinum dragon, incredibly beautiful, regal, and yet savagely intimidating.
The party let them know of the current situation in the Feywild and the encroaching Yuan-Ti army. The god decided to aid them, but only if they proved their worth by participating in 7 trials. They agreed and he asked them if there was anyone else they wanted to bring along, and they decided they would like to reacquaint themselves with their previous companion, Nue, who had stayed behind in Ancaepya. The dragon sent Kuyutha to retrieve her and then breathed a misty cloud over all of them once she arrived.
They appeared in a dark room with a lit candle above a closed treasure chest and a lock on the stone wall on the other side of the room. After worrying over the puzzle for a while and having to defeat several elementals, they finally managed to get the key, which allowed them to continue into the next room. They found themselves in a circular room with 7 doors, one of which they had just come through. There was a statue in the middle of the room staring straight at them, and they soon realized they needed to rotate him and point him towards the room they wanted to go in next. Each room had a Draconic rune inscribed above it, and luckily some of the party could read Draconic, so they discovered each room corresponded to one of Bahamut's Great Virtues; Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Gratitude, and Humility. They first entered Gratitude.
Most of the party easily passed the test, but Rabbadon and Melvin were having some issues. Melvin finally figured it out and swallowed his pride and reappeared back in the statue room with the rest. Rabbadon, although he knew what he had to do, refused to show his gratitude to anyone that aided him in the strange dream world. He was brought back into Bahamut's palace where the god decided to punish him by turning him into a rat.
While the rest of the party completed the remaining five trials, Rabbadon the rat scampered around the palace trying to make one of his Dragonborn paladins annoyed enough with him to kill him and return him to his ordinary form. He succeeded and then thanked the paladin, which satisfied the god enough to allow him to retain his form and to ask him if he wished to perform the rest of the trials. Rabbadon refused, forgoing the reward the rest of the party received after they successfully passed the trials.
Bahamut gave all of the adventurers but Rabbadon small blue rocks, which they could activate with a simple phrase and which would grant them incredible power for a limited time. They would use these to defeat Sseth, which would cause the rest of his army to revert to their non-corrupted form.