Convergence Sessions 31 - 40

Session 30 Rolf explained what he and Venatrix had been up to: hunting Heralds of Aevilok and combating extraplanar monsters brought forth from the ensuing chaos of the dome over Eodur. They had managed to find a stronghold of the Heralds, but when they moved to investigate, Amalgam took control of Venatrix and turned on Rolf. He was captured and kept in their dungeon for several days until Ven's Flying Carpet helped him escape. Now he sought the Alliance's help to find Venatrix and help her.   Christoph believed a rescue mission was inadvisable, but Aefaren believed it was worthwhile; if not to save a life but to prevent such a powerful demon from falling into the hands of the enemy and possibly disabling the Herald's ability to summon the Elder Elementals, as they were continuing to do so across the province. Brynn recommended sending another team to help, fearing that sending the party could be playing into a trap. Ultimately though, at the urging of Echoless, they decided to join Rolf and go after her.   They spend the rest of the night resting up and making preperations. Allston and Christoph took some time to study the prosthetic arm and Heart Eater (which Leona's use of legend lore revealed it as a weapon forged by the efreeti to fight the giants way back when. It was also inhabited by sentient being that constantly hungered for life essence). Bran got sauced in the tavern in badger form and pumped druidic energy into the Tower's gardens (including coffee beans Leona planted taking a load off from his arduous escapades with the other druids. Buttons stole a lock of hair from Mul's chambers so the group could scry on him, Zel slept with Ysbetta, and Echoless and Leona had a heartfelt conversation on the Tower's battlements; the former expressing regret over "letting" Venatrix make a deal with Amalgam but the latter encouraging her for respecting her friends autonomy.   In the morning, they set off to Mudan via MAD to make the journey into the Oran foothills where the stronghold would be found. They quickly left the city by way of wind walk and found that the Slaadi horde was within a couple days' march of the city walls, though they themselves were able to bypass them with little effort. They also came across a small hamlet completely frozen over by an eldritch storm; a phenomena no doubt caused by the Dome. After a few hours of travel, they came to their destination. Bran scouted out the manor in bird form and ultimately the party agreed that the sewer spillway was their best means of quietly entering the keep, as the exterior was heavily guarded by slaadi.   Inside the sewer, the party encountered four gray slaadi who moved to intercept them. When it became clear they would not overpower the party, they attempted to go alert the keep, but the party was able to cut them down. In the dungeon proper, the party moved up into the manor to find the way barred. Echoless and Zel used dimmension door to bypass the block and found themselves in a store room with two Heralds and a floor covered in a gritty, sand-like substance…   XP earned: 3,000 each   Session 31 The party pressed on into the fortified manor, opting to cut a path through the Herald's and Slaadi's defenses. They encountered black powder traps, disguised green slaadi, and checkpoint ambushes, even encountering a cannon nest that knocked Zel on his ass. They took a few brief respites to question a couple of cultists that they were able to resuscitate, learning that the party was expected (and even wanted) and that Venatrix was being treated as a "guest." One of the cultists ended up offing himself with the cloak-emblazed shocking rune that the party had previously encountered the Herald's utilizing, while the other was killed by Bran in crocodile form once he no longer proved helpful (real good guy behavior lol).   The party found the greatest resistance at the intersection of a main thoroughfare where the aforementioned cannon nest had been positioned. Despite the numbers advantage, the party was able to overwhelm the defenders with their strength, cutting down the slaadi and cultists and smashing the cannon. A gray slaadi attempted to flee, calling out to defend the elf but he too was cut down. Now the party had to decide if the slaadi was genuinely trying to fortify Venatrix's position or lead the party astray…   XP earned: 7,500 each   Session 32 The party scouted out the direction the gray slaadi fled and found a promising set of intricate double doors, only having to ambush a solitary blue slaad to get to them (another pair were overheard in the kitchens, but they had opted to finish eating a roast boar before investigating the noises they heard).   Through the doors and across the corridor behind them, the party found their goal: Venatrix had been bound to a wall in a small library currently occupied by two death slaadi, several Heralds of Aevilok, and their leader, the Harbinger. The Harbinger welcomed them in and words were exchanged. He claimed that the bindings were for Venatrix's own protection as she was no longer in control of herself. Zel was allowed to inspect her from a distance and in trying to communicate with her only got a prolonged look from jet-black eyes in response.   The Harbinger was also surprisingly forthcoming that this was a trap, but as the party learned quickly, it was not a trap for them. Rather, Cataclysm needed them away from the White Tower so his hordes could attack it. Hoping that they could quickly free Venatrix and return to the Tower, the party attacked. However, when Zel cut away Ven's restraints, she did not budge; her arms still positioned as if they were held back by the chains. Further inspection revealed her to be nothing more than an illusion. Despite this, the party was able to overpower the Heralds and Slaadi with targeted strikes and a swathe of dragon fire from Bran. The Harbinger was felled (twice), but during the commotion, a planar gate opened at the far end of the room. Shortly after, Venatrix's magic carpet, which had been accompanying the group, flew into the rafters and retrieved the real Venatrix, who compelled the party (and specifically Zel, who she had been communicating with via sending stone) to follow her, taking two deadly shots at Leona on her way.   Rolf, of course, was set on following Venatrix, but for the rest of the party, their course of action was heavily considered. Allston, who was rather banged up from the fight, was extremely hesitant to jump through the portal, but eventually decided to follow his teammates. Meanwhile, Echoless grabbed the Harbinger's grimoire on the sly before heading off to continue the chase.   The portal led into a twisted reflection of the manor the party had just fought through, but rather than occupied my men and monsters, it was occupied by demons. A Marilith ambushed them in the first chamber while Venatrix continued to pepper them with arrows as she bobbed in and out of the room. Rolf banished the demon, allowing a combined attack to destroy it on its return. They chased Venatrix deeper into the manor with Buttons eventually overtaking her and using his wall-running ability to tackle her off her flying carpet. But even as they tumbled to the ground, shadowy creatures began to coalesce around them as Venatrix struck with an attack that drained Buttons of some of his wisdom. As the rest of the party struggled to catch up, Buttons began to wonder if running ahead was such a good idea…   XP earned: 9,500 each   Session 33 The party continued to pursue Venatrix through the demonic manor (with the exception of Allston who opted to sit this one out). She used her phasing abilities to evade being locked down and using hit and runs to whittle down the party. Aspects of Amalgam popped up throughout the manor and attacked their minds with psychic damage. She led them directly into a balor which would have killed Zel were it not for his rage-fueled tenacity. Ultimately, with the help of Echoless' amulet blast and solid teamwork between Zel, Buttons, and Rolf, the balor was felled. Not to be deterred, Venatrix attempted to target the healers, stunning Bran with power word stun and using feeblemind on Leona. In the end, however, the party was able to overwhelm her. Bran broke free of the stun lock, restored Leona's mind, and broke down a wall Ven was hiding behind, allowing Zel to go full rage monster on her. In a poetic twist of fate, Rolf was the one to strike her down, hesitating but a moment before dealing the final blow. He did call for her to be stabilized, which the party agreed to. They bound her in extra-dimensional shackles and disarmed her before reuniting with Allston and plane-shifting back to the tower, which they were aware was currently under siege.   They returned to the main courtyard to find the battle in full swing. So far, the walls held, but slaadi were clambering over each other to scale the walls while the massive earth elemental, the Zaratan, slowly marched across the bridge to the main gate, the ground shaking with its every step. Meanwhile, Kruzikmaar was locked in an epic aerial battle with the Elder Tempest, doing everything in his power to keep it away from the gates as well.   The party engaged with the Zaratan along with the defenders on the battlements. Echoless hit it, along with the bridge and surrounding slaadi, with a meteor swarm while Buttons and Zel hopped on its back and started chipping away. Bran leapt down and assumed the form of a massive dragon turtle and met the Zaratan head on (though finding himself swarmed by slaadi as he did so). The weight of the battle proved too much for the bridge to maintain, and it collapsed beneath them, spilling them all into the chasm below. Not particularly phased by the fall, Zel and Buttons tag-teamed the killing blow on the Zaratan, reducing it to a pile of inanimate rubble. The celebrations of the beast's defeat were short lived, however, as a mighty roar reverberated throughout the mountains, heralding the approach of the ancient red dragon, Yolgorah.   The dragon swooped from the clouds and let loose a blast of fire as it passed over the defenders on the walls before making a beeline to Christoph's tower. The party threw what they could at him as he passed, including Leona's ability to make him vulnerable for a short time, which she used in tandem with a sunburst from Echoless. Despite this, he carried on to the tower and began pummeling away at the walls; rending the stone from its foundation and crushing its supports in his jaws. A dawning realization hit the party: he was likely after the orb of dragonkind that powered much of the tower's mechanisms. With most of their resources already spent, the situation was quickly becoming grim for the party and their alliance…   XP earned: 8,850 each   Session 34 As Yolgorah tore his way into Christoph's tower, the party rushed to intercept him, flinging everything they had left at the dragon. Despite this, the dragon was able to penetrate the tower, though he was momentarily met by the astral form of Rahnorok who materialized to defend his orb. Buttons also ran up and into the tower invisibly, though right as he found the orb, he found himself teleported back outside and onto the ramparts. Christoph had removed both Buttons and the orb from the tower, handing the latter to him and asking him to run away with it. Allston offered to simply teleport it away, but Christoph feared Yolgorah would simply tear apart the tower if he could not retrieve the orb. He needed to chase it.   And so Buttons ran, easily hitting speeds of nearly 40 miles per hour under a haste spell from Christoph. Yolgorah pursued, tracking the orb's presence even as Button's himself was invisible. The rest of the party (as well as Kruzikmaar, who was finally able to fend off the Elder Tempest) did their best to keep up with Buttons and Yolgorah, the latter of whom pulled out every trick in the book to stop Buttons, finally being able to close the gap when an earthquake spell slowed Buttons movement. Ultimately though, when Yolgorah was far enough away from the tower, Allston teleported to Buttons and then teleported the both of them safely to Crucible.   In a rage, Yolgorah turned on his pursuers and opted to absorb Kruzikmaar's soul instead. The red dragon grappled with the silver dragon and Bran in white dragon form. It quickly became clear that Kruzikmaar was going to be killed if the melee continued. Kruzikmaar wished to stay to the end, believing that Yolgorah would be satisfied with his soul and leave. Bran disagreed and plane shifted Kruzikmaar to the feywild, saving his life. This had the unfortunate side effect of bringing Yolgorah's full attention (and rage) onto himself. Yolgorah overwhelmed the druid, crushing him beneath his tail and claws and dousing him with volcanic fire. Fortunately for Bran, Buttons and Allston returned moments later, having stashed the orb in Allston's extra-dimensional chest (they also had a poke around the ruins of Allston's shop, finding evidence of fiendish arson). Christoph also teleported with Leona and Echoless to the battlefield (they had previously been aiding in the battle on the ramparts), followed shortly by Zel (who had been fighting on the battlements alongside Ysbetta) who was sent by Aefaren.   Yolgorah tore into the party, knocking down Christoph, Leona, and Bran (several times) in the process. But thanks to some quick healing and lucky death saves, they were able to stay up long enough to force the severely injured dragon to flee. Or at least, he tried. After a disintegration blast left Yolgorah on death's door, he attempted to escape by way of an extraplanar portal, but a powerful attack of opportunity by Bran in brontosaurus form struck the dragon down as he passed through the portal. It was a mortal blow, but unfortunately, the portal closed behind the dragon's body and they were unable to truly confirm the kill.   With Yolgorah's defeat, the horde of slaadi withdrew into the mountains, with Allston taking pot shots with the wand of wonder at the retreating monstrosities. Afterwards, the Alliance did their best to regroup. In a combined meeting, the casualties were reported, with only the beltaine De'lan falling in battle (at least of those with a personal connection to the battle). But there was still the matter of the Tower's location being compromised. Christoph and Aefaren had strong, differing opinions on how to proceed. Christoph wished to continue as is but in a new base in Sigil, which Emperor Aurum welcomed. Aefaren, wary of Christoph and Aurum's political motivations (they openly admitted they wanted to fill the power vacuum left by Eodur to preserve the peace), wanted to pair down the Alliance to just the specialists dealing with the Spires and letting the garrison go home to protect their families. Ultimately, the party's views fell more inline with Aefaren's, and so they began to make preperations to continue their battle against Cataclysm from their old turf in Crucible…   XP earned: 7,750 each   Session 35 The party took some time to recover from there excursions and tie up some loose ends at the Tower before the Alliance fully moved out of the mountain fortress to Sigil and Crucible. They checked in with Alliance members like Ysbetta, Mul, and Mist of Morning (who seems to have overcome the Ollamh Harp's defenses) to see who all was sticking with the main Alliance, who was following them to Crucible, and who was going home.   Their primary concern though, was what to do about Venatrix. Aefaren walked them through what could be done to finally exorcise Amalgam, making it clear that the demon would have to willingly part with Venatrix. A few ideas were discussed, but they landed on "offering" Aefaren to Amalgam as a new host, as he was both a powerful mage as well as an influential leader (Tria and Christoph were considered as well, but the former did not want to go against Ximon's wishes in the matter and Christoph was deemed too dangerous). The party successfully convinced Amalgam that they wanted to save their friends, and Aefaren was successful in convincing the demon he sought an Alliance to compete with Christoph's "corruption." When Amalgam transferred to Aefaren, the party and Rolf leapt into action to restrain him; successfully keeping him in place and allowing Tria, who was given instructions on Aefaren's astral exorcism ritual, to begin the incantations.   Within Aefaren's psyche, the party found themselves in Eodur in the midst of the Twilit War. Atop the Mithral Spire, they found Aefaren and his comrades (including a "younger" Christoph) engaged in combat with a shadowy figure drawing power from the Spire. Amalgam offered his usual conundrum of trying to obfuscate who was Aefaren and who was the demon, but ultimately the party found him out (he was the shadowy figure) and engaged him in combat. The demon fought hard and summoned wraiths to his aid, but Leona's turn undead ability dispersed the minions, and Amalgam, though certainly strong (though weaker here in a new host) proved no match for the seasoned warriors. With that, Amalgam was finally separated from Venatrix and sealed within a prison which, for now at least, would be kept safe in Allston's extradimensional chest.   The party's other big problem after Venatrix was what to do with the Phantom Knight, as he could not be left in the Tower after the Alliance had vacated it. The party opted to speak with the death knight and learned some of his history as the head of the House of Phantoms and how their contracts worked (learning that a contract is only ended if it is fulfilled or revoked by the original employer and that physical records are kept somewhere that could potentially be tampered with). Seeing no way to nullify the Phantom's contract on Bran for the time being, the party opted to transfer him to Crucible where they could hopefully find a safe space to keep him.   Meanwhile, Echoless had done some research on the Harbinger's grimoire, which she managed to take from their manor. In it, she learned of some of the hidden machinations involved in Cataclysm's decade-long plot, as well as some information that would likely be highly interesting to Zandre and the Church of the Triumvirate.   Finally, Ezra Donneur, the Way of Mercy Monk and ex-Herald of Aevilok confessed to revealing the Tower's location to the enemy. He did this because he believed the Alliance was only causing unnecessary suffering in prolonging the world's end. He did not regret his actions but was willing to accept their consequences. He was brought before Christoph who called for his head, but ultimately deferred to Leona and Aefaren who requested he be taken with them to Crucible to be imprisoned.   Finally, on a cold February afternoon, the party traversed the Nexus and found themselves in Crucible in the midst of a celebration in honor of King Havik's second year as king of Crucible; a surprisingly uplifting break in the gravity of the events that had transpired and what was still yet to come…   XP earned: 3,500 each   Session 36 The party got to take a much needed breather and peruse the festivities of Crucible while they waited for the rest of the Alliance personnel travelling to Crucible to get set up at Shadehaven Manor. They set out with the goal of commissioning a massive cake they could put a prostitute in for their butler Reginald, whose birthday was a few weeks ago, apparently. Bran acquired himself a small barrel's worth of ale while Zel and Allston shared the latter's beer-filled alchemy jug.   Leona commissioned a big ol' cake from a team of bakers working on a cake-replica of the Palace of Chronicles that would be prepared in a couple days. Meanwhile, Buttons engaged in an archery contest where he narrowly pulled out a win over a friendly noble archer, whom he gifted a surge arrow for being just a swell guy. Simultaneously, Zel was crowned the Swine King for his performance in a pig wrestling contest, even getting a fun little crown for it. He then wandered into a fortune tellers hut and received a strangely accurate Tarokka card reading that said he was in pursuit of great power and that his relentless pursuit of it would undo him. Allston also got a reading that cautioned him against attempting to use wealth to allay the "burden" he was carrying it, as it would not play out how he'd hope.   Throughout the revelries though, the party noticed that not all was sunshine and rainbows; stalls had been shut down, guards were constantly breaking up altercations and chasing down thieves. Leona spoke to a guard and learned that the garrison was spread thin dealing with external threats and couldn't adequately cover the city to deal with the rise of organized and random crime. With this in mind, when they spotted a trio of crooks making off with the fortune teller's Tarokka cards, they leapt into action, with Buttons cutting them off while Bran restrained with entanglement. Upon questioning, the thugs revealed they were paid to cause a ruckus by a shady guy in a warehouse closer to the mid-wards. The party opted to pursue, believing a game to be afoot.   They did get sidetracked a bit on their way, with Allston opting to combine Fate's Hair and Devil's Root and taking them both on a dare; subsequently passing out, seeing visions of a fiery devil prince, and having to be resuscitated. Bran opted to engage in a game of chance involving two tamed mimics and a chest with a treasure within, coming away with a neat little bobble. Finally, they made it to the warehouse where they saw more shady thugs coming and going from within. They deliberated on how to go about infiltrating the place with some heavy favor towards just walking in "because they're just guys." Ultimately, they agreed that Bran would scout it out in animal form. Upon doing so, he saw that three men seemed to be directing a dozen or so thugs to target big festival areas to cause chaos in order to make King Havik look bad. The leaders appeared to possess some degree of magic, but ultimately, the party opted to barge in with Bran in dragon form as a show of force.   The gathering of criminals recognized the party as "the merchants of death" and quickly surrendered. Button's bloodlust was triggered a bit upon learning these guys were trying to besmirch his pal, but ultimately, everyone left with their lives. The trio revealed they were simple servants to noble houses, and the one being primarily interrogated revealed he worked for House Martin and confirmed that they indeed wished to make Havik look weak because the Martin's had lucrative arrangements with the old King. With that, the party marched over the Martin's estate (with some directions from Reginald), and found their personal garrison to have taken up defensive positions. Though they too did not seem eager to stand against these "merchants of death"…   XP earned: 475 each   Session 37 The party confronted the Martin's private militia outside the estate and were told that the head of the house wasn’t in. Further more, it was "privileged information" as to where he was and when he'll be back. Ultimately, the party decided to leave it at that and simply pass on the information to King Dorian. With that, they returned to Shadehaven Manor to find a royal welcome waiting for them (Leona made a brief stop at the House of Golden Treasure to hire a halfling hooker for Reginald's birthday party). The rest of the Aefaren's Alliance had arrived in Crucible and King Dorian, his siblings, and a compliment of royal guards were mingling at the manor. They had some lively chats, Dorian made a suspicious face at Bran, Zel disappeared into a closet to clean some skulls (freaking the hell out of the ghost Lucien in the process), and Bran, Allston, and Buttons got high on the same drug combo that almost killed Allston early that day (in a twist of cosmic irony, it almost killed him again).   At a certain point, Dorian pulled Buttons aside and asked him if and why he trusted Bran. Through the conversation, it became clear that Dorian was the one affected by Bran's pulling of the Rogue card from the Deck of Many Things, which Buttons tried to explain. It seemed that Dorian was unable to accept this, though it was clear he showed confliction. Buttons tried to at least convince him to revoke the assassins' contract, but Dorian became vague and dismissive about any relations with the House of Phantoms.   As the crowd dispersed, Buttons went to check in on Venatrix, as Rolf revealed she was awake, just not particularly talkative. True enough, Buttons was greeted with an arrow to the door and not a word from Ven. Meanwhile, after chatting with Reginald about his butler duties, Allston conspired to craft him a Ring of Prestidigitation, for which he enlisted the help of Apprentice Idius, Leona, and Bran, who stayed up all night to work on it.   In the morning, the party had two very important tasks to take care of: 1) decide on which planar spire they would tackle next, and 2) prepare a surprise belated-birthday party for Reginald. For the former, they opted to go to Mechanus, hoping the lack of travel time needed to reach the Spire would make it a quick in-and-out. For the latter, they set about all day gathering supplies and keeping Reginald occupied (Echoless and Bran took him out on the town under the guise of getting Bran acclimated to city life). Leona and Zel put up decorations while Buttons went about inviting the entirety of Reginald's rolodex to attend and Allston went out with instructions to buy drinks, food, and party favors (stopping briefly to watch a conman hawk "potions of confidence" that ultimately turned out to be basically soda). Buttons also took a moment to speak with King Dorian again in regards to Bran while Allston recovered what was left from his burned-down shop.   Finally, as evening fell, the party reconvened at Shadehaven and commenced a lively party for their surprised but delighted butler. The evening was serenaded by the musical stylings of the bard group Panic! At the Brothel. Everything went swimmingly and Reginald even seemed to know the stripper, Vari, based on his reaction to her emergence from the cake. With that, the party enjoyed a night of revelry (with Venatrix making a surprise appearance to wordlessly man the bar) and decadence before their return to more serious matters come the morrow…   XP earned: 500 each   Session 38 With their revelries behind them, the party plane shifted to the realm of Mechanus while Aefaren and other members of the Alliance traveled to the Abyss; both seeking to disable the corresponding Spire on each plane. The party quickly found themselves surrounded by chattering modrons, who informed them (using Mr. Buttons as a translator) that Mechanus was closed to an "internal audit." However, with some convincing that they could assist with the problems with their Spire, they were allowed entry and were told that their creator, Primus, wished to speak with them.   They made their way to the center of the massive gear they found themselves on (taking note that it and the wheel above them seemed to be stalled out). Along the way, they found a few indications of life beyond the rigid hierarchy of the modrons in a curated wooded park and drones fetching produce for an artificer called Bildri. Not to be deterred however, they made their way directly to the Grand Modron Cathedral where they found a towering brass statue of a man in a thinker's pose and a half-orc acolyte called Nesh who attended the party while they waited for Primus to arrive.   Shortly after drinks and seats were arranged, Primus appeared out of the head of the statue, appearing as a stereotypical steampunk tinkerer. He asked the party of their intentions and prior experience and informed them of the situation: a paradox has spread like a plague through the modrons and turned them rogue. Now they serve the whims of Cataclysm; seeking to tear down the flawed system of the cosmos in order to create a new one. The rogue modrons were currently contained within the Spire, but they were attempting to break out by way of the Hall of Concordance at the base of the wheel called Fulcrum. From there, they could access extraplanar doors that led all over the various planes. Primus also touched on his similar nature to that of Cataclysm (he himself is a fundamental avatar of order) and offered his aid against him should they successfully disable Mechanus' Spire. Additionally, he warned them that disabling the Spires alone would do nothing to thwart the inevitable collision, though they did not go into the specifics of what this meant at the time. Lastly, he made reference to another group of adventurers that had come but left abruptly from a realm called Atolakah; simply wondering if the party knew the place and what was going on there.   The party opted to enter the tower by way of the Hall of Concordance rather trying to navigate the access tunnels from the Cathedral. Before that, they stopped by the workshop of Bildri to see if he could offer any assistance. The gnome offered them augmentations to their armor and provided Mr. Buttons with oil of slipperiness, which he applied with gusto. From there, Nesh escorted them to an airfield where they took a lift up to Fulcrum and proceeded through an area seemingly linked with some of the Upper Planes. From there, they entered the Hall of Concordance, which they found filled to the brim with modrons manning fortifications against their corrupted brethren. From there, they were allowed to enter the Spire, but were warned the doors would be closed behind them (in theory this was no big deal as Allston could simply teleport them).   Inside, they found the rogue drones had also built up fortifications and were deeply entrenched. Despite this, the party was able to cut through the drones with relative ease, though they took some scrapes and scratches as they waded through the constructs that seemed to be able to replenish their numbers indefinitely. They fought their way into a chamber filled with gears that turned the battlefield into a dangerous obstacle course as they continued to push through the drones. For now, they were making decent progress, but it remains to be seen if they'll be able to keep it up as they climb higher into the Spire…   XP earned: 600 each   Session 39 The party continued to push into the tower, clearing the gearbox room and coming to a fork. Zel ran headlong up the righthand stairs before the rest of the group could see where he went. Hearing a commotion from the left-hand stairs, they opted to head that direction. There, they found swarms of modrons attempting to breakdown a heavily reinforced door, but no sign of Zel. Meanwhile, Zel had encountered the turntable chamber where flying quadrons were searching for structural weak points they could exploit. Zel proceeded to investigate the room and its oscillating door-plate on the other side and was met by a hail of arrows from the drones. He found the door on the other side locked and blocked by the metal plate as he was continuously peppered with arrows. Fortunately for him, Buttons came to the rescue, both dividing the drones attention as well as jamming the metal plate with his immovable rod and picking the door open, revealing more corridor. The pair then returned to the main group with angry quadrons hot on their heels.   Fortunately for the party, they were able to form a chokepoint at the stairs to funnel the quadrons and were able to quickly dispatch the swarms before them, leaving them in front of what they believed to be the doors to the production factory Primus had mentioned. Allston teleported them inside where they discovered a pair of human men sequestered away amongst the massive amount of raw material being configured into new drone bodies. The pair of brothers had been trapped in their for some time and were grateful to see friendly faces (and drink the wine Allston supplied them). They gave them information on the modrons movements and directions on how to get to the central chamber. Ultimately, the party opted to backtrack through the room Zel and Buttons cleared in order to avoid another swarm of drones trying to break into the factory on the far side.   Back at the turntable room, the party found that a scouting group of drones had come to see what became of the last group here. They were hardier than the other drones previously encountered, but the party was still able to quickly dispatch them with some higher level abilities. As a highlight, Bran used the momentum of the spinning floors to launch himself in mammoth form at one of the octodrones, goring it. With that, they followed the path that would lead to the tumbler chamber to see about this construction project the men had warned them of. Inside, they found a host of drones in the last stages of assembling a mechanical dragon of sorts. They discussed dealing with it now but ultimately decided to double back and try the alternate route in the hopes that dealing with the Marut first would allow the dragon to be more easily dealt with. As they headed back though, they were met with the oncoming clanging of heavy metallic footsteps coming up the stairs…   XP earned: 3,700 each   Session 40 The party pushed their way past the pair of decadrones approaching from behind, only being slightly taken aback by the steam breath generated by the lumbering drones. Heading back the other direction, they encountered the Piston Palace and found a treacherous walkway over a large, exposed network of gears absolutely swarming with modrons. Fortunately, Allston noticed what appeared to be the entrance to a service tunnel, which the party was able to use to sneak beneath the drones hard at work maintaining some sort of contraption the room was powering.   In the next chamber, the service tunnel was blocked by crushing pistons, as was the room above, which had more space to maneuver but was also occupied by a few drones as well. The party opted to sneak through the room, hoping to avoid detection by the handful of drones. The party was very nearly successful in timing and dodging the smashing pistons in one piece, but Bran and Allston both had trouble and found themselves smushed a few times. Allston, in particular, was knocked unconscious and had to be retrieved and revived. Unfortunately for the party, they still had the Killing Room to contend with. But as luck would have it, Echoless was able to locate another service tunnel entrance, though this one was currently occupied with a number of drones. Echoless was able to time a lightning bolt to the hammering of the pistons to conceal the blast, though, and destroyed the drones in one hit.   Beyond the Killing Room, the party found the machine the drones were running: a massive drill attempting to bore out of the tower walls. Hoping they could disable it somehow from the central chamber, they snuck around it and proceeded up to the final level. There, they once again found the door barred by an obsidian seal that called for a card from the Deck of Many Things to be drawn. Allston again volunteered, drawing the Idiot card, which had the unpleasant affect of diminishing his intelligence score and also presenting the option to draw again, which he did. This time, he drew the Donjon card, which instantly teleported him to a hidden prison in a state of suspended animation; never to be seen again.   Or at least that's what would have happened, had he not previously drawn the Fate card, who's power he used to undo the drawing of the first card entirely. Now, with that traumatic experience under his belt, he offered for Zel to draw a card instead, who drew the Moon card, granting the eccentric barbarian the ability to cast the Wish spell. Once.   With the door now opened, the party could now face the Marut and its swarms of modrons within the steam-filled central chamber. Living up to its name as an Inevitable, the Marut proved a fierce foe; striking with unerring accuracy and inflicting heavy damage. Zel was brought to the brink of death very quickly, with only his undying rage keeping him in the fight. Recognizing Leona as a healer who could keep her comrades in the fight longer, the Marut also targeted her intently, knocking her unconscious a few times as her friends desperately tried to get her up. Ultimately, the party wore down the constructs defensives, and with some powerful blows from Leona, Echoless, and Bran, as well as consistent, incessant damage from Buttons, Zel, and Allston, the Marut was felled by a slaying shot from Button's bow.   Allston was then able to figure out the mechanics of the central control console to deal catastrophic damage to the remaining rogue modrons by reconfiguring the tower's chambers and opening the way to the modron cathedral "above." With only Cataclysm's tethering orbs to deal with but hoping to do it in a way that didn't tear a hole through the middle of the tower, the party returned to Primus, who was busy creating new drones now that the way to the assembly factory was clear. He was pleased to see them return in one piece and suggested using some means to negate the orb's magic (the rod of neutralization). Otherwise, he was confident that his modrons would be able to mop up the rest of the rogues. He chatted a bit about the nature of Cataclysm and his "tethers," and explained why disabling them would not spare the apocalyptic event that would occur when the Planes collided. He did, however, intend to think on a solution, which he would give to the party once they took a moment to rest from their excursion…   XP earned: 12,500 each