The Age of Worms / The Zenith Trajectory pt. 11/ Fos the 22nd, 3593 CE / 9-5-21

Not By Choice are locked in battle with fanatical Ulat-Kini cultists in the central altar of their bizarre complex deep in the caves of the Everlasting Night. While Milton and Harrov clash with crossbow-wielding guards on the temple's upper gallery, Nari uses her sorcerous magic to snipe the priests standing before their ominous glowing idol even as Lulu works her way down the stairs to the central pedestal atop which priests idol stand. With each fallen fish man the tide of battle seems to be turning to Not By Choice's favor. Even as Lulu gets close enough to start engaging the last of the wicked clergy in melee battle with her magic staff, the air before idol crackles with malicious purpose, and a lightning bolt surges updwards towards Nari and Kade. Nari, fearing to lose another follower, shoves Kade to the ground taking the full blast from the magical electricity. However with a few expended charges from a wand of magical healing, Nari is restored, though a little worse for wear. On the upper levels Milton has slain the last of the guards on the eastern gallery as Jōzu engages the enemy on the western rise. And from her vantage down below at the foot of the glaring idol, Lulu sees an ominous portent, as the shadows draw thick and fold in on themselves, creating a tear in reality, a portal through which emerges the figure of a woman soaring aloft on blackened wings, an angel perhaps. But this is an angel of vengeance. No righteous savior, Aushanna of the Fallen announces her furious purpose, to extinguish all goodness from the temple complex. She demands to know what beacon of virtue drew her forth from the Nine Hells! Nari, greatly misreading the situation, hopes that the goodness in her heart has in fact freed the angel from the depths of the Abyss. But Nari's reward is swift and harsh as in the blink of an eye Aushanna fires two flaming arrows that lay her low. The dark angel then decries all other allies of goodness, searching for any who would dare claim the dying child. Nari's cohort Kade cries out in defiance that he had stared into eternity and knows that this is not the end for Nari. Attacks against the powerful angel appear futile, but Kade once again takes up his magic wand to revive his fallen mistress. Her magic surging with this restoration, Nari acts with heroic speed. Her very soul resonating with the small gods of this cavern, they give her insight that the angel is bound by the dark idol, compelled to serve its purpose. Knowing now that she must fell the vile spire in order to set Aushanna free, Nari raises as much sorcerous energy as she can muster. Emulating the beam of force with which she once saw Tarrus the One-Eyed slay a treacherous Amarathian lord, Nari concentrates and the base of the towering idol disintegrates in an instant. The remaining height of the idol falls against the upper gallery sending shudders through the cavern. The shadowy portal evaporates into nothingness and the idol's glowing eyes go dark. Aushanna, shaking off the compulsion of the now-defunct idol, changes course, bursting through a door at the back of the altar. The party hears her angrily proclaim “You!” as some unseen figure dies screaming.