Post by Stix on Mar 12, 2010 1:05:55 GMT -5
I'd hoped to have a good chunk of our original PC group when getting to the end of the story arc -- here's a rough outline of the way things would have gone down, after which the PCs' decision would have changed the multiverse forever.
Gathering the waters from Lake Serene. The encroaching beings are Moon Dogs, the "wolfhounds" of the Upper Planes, with no intent of starting a fight, only to stalk the PCs and let everybody know what's at stake. The forces of good are paying very close attention, but cannot decide whether or not to intervene, as some good may be accomplished no matter what. The Moon Dogs remind the PCs that the Water of Serenity can erase even the most terrifying nightmare.
A brief sidebar. Abaia wanders away from camp that night, returning in the morning with a freshly-slaughtered unicorn to share as a feast, wholeheartedly believing that she is performing a good act. She apologizes to John for wounding him, telling them all what happened on the Plain of Infinite Portals: a new petitioner arrived from the Prime as she was hunting tanar'ri, and she chased it for an easy meal. The petitioner, for some reason, had the spark in him, and with his destruction, it tried to tether itself to something nearby. The closest being was Abaia. The spark left her with Ybdiel's last instinct -- to head for Principality by any means -- and knowledge of the gates to use to get there.
Retrieving the gem from the phoenix nest. The phoenix is mostly unaware of the events surrounding the deva and bebilith, and is shocked to see the beast approaching its home. It's been preoccupied with gathering belongings to prepare for its death and rebirth, and has woven valuables into its nest, including the necessary gem to contain the spark. If it can be convinced of the need for the gem elsewhere, it would be open to trade; a particularly persuasive argument might convince it to give it freely.
A persistent stalker. Since meeting the PCs at the Rollicking Crescent, Beris dispatched a Harmonium spy to follow them and reconnoiter their findings. If a Hide or Move Silently roll should fail (80% in both skills), one of the PCs would discover her. She would do her best to pass herself off as a curious innocent bystander, but an especially perceptive character might see through her lies. Her last recourse is to flee for her life.
Nycaloth revisited. As the PCs are passing through the woods to find the Labyrinth of Accord, gravity again gives way under them (several saves and Str/Dex checks to catch a tree limb and avoid being hurled into the air). Garrish uses all his powers to full effect (command, dimension door, dispel magic, enlarge/reduce, invisibility, mirror image) to single-mindedly attack the bebilith, but does not gate any mezzoloths, for fear of further treachery. If Abaia is killed, Garrish returns to the Lower Planes. Quick thinking can still capture and save the spark, but the PCs will have to locate Ybdiel to have any hope of saving him. If Garrish is killed, Abaia tells the PCs to go on to the Labyrinth without her, and that she will meet them there with the deva.
We interrupt this, uh... we... stop where you are! Everybody's favorite lawman, Beris Onea, has formed a perimeter around the Labyrinth of Accord with the aid of his fellows, the local petitioners, and even a number of other factioneers (especially Ciphers, who lost a few faction-mates to Abaia's mad rampage). The PCs can charge a weak point in the barrier and fight their way through or sneak past if they so choose, but parlay is more likely to succeed (assuming honesty and a respectful attitude). Planewalkers may realize that Elysium won't create barriers for the truly virtuous: they may turn around and walk in any direction, and still reach their destination.
No time left. Abaia meets the PCs at the entry to the Labyrinth of Accord, a great hedge maze. With her is Ybdiel, or a withered, aged and unconscious human vaguely resembling him (little is left of his deva nature; Abaia, meanwhile, has taken on Ybdiel's rich brown coloring, and scintillates with multicolored hues in the light, with an effect something like oil on asphalt). As they begin to walk the Labyrinth, five dryads step out of the walls of the maze to confront the PCs and set the nature of their task before them: to pass the tests of the Labyrinth with goodness in their hearts, and to use the spark to the end they see fit. With each step closer to the center of the Labyrinth, the chalice, water, and gem begin to glow with a lambent white light.
Ybdiel's test. Turning a corner, the PCs come to a dead end. As they turn around, day turns to black night in an instant, and before them is a burning building, with panicking children at the second-story windows. Dozens of bystanders have formed a great ring around the building, and Ybdiel -- powerful and angelic -- calls out to them all: "I can save them! Who has my spark?" One by one, the bystanders all claim to have it, their teeth gleaming in fiendish grins and their eyes alight with hellish fire. Ybdiel begins to wither before their eyes, howling in agony and collapsing in fevered exhaustion. "I could not have given my spark to a thing of evil!" he cries. The bystanders only laugh as the first child leaps from the window to escape the flame, helpless with no one to break her fall. John will notice that all the bystanders look exactly like the petitioner Abaia slaughtered in the Abyss. The first PC to catch a falling child sees a silhouette of Ybdiel's spark careen through the air toward him and feels its light invigorating him. "You would have been a much better recipient," he says as he falls unconscious again and the scene fades back into the Labyrinth.
Abaia's test. The hedge maze takes a great, winding turn that empties into a wasteland of red dirt and burnt orange sky. All around are a horde of terrified petitioners and manes, fleeing in panic from Abaia and seven vrocks, all of whom wade through the throng, slaughtering the lesser creatures wholesale simply for the joy it provides them. Her feral and wicked nature slowly shows through, and her celestial changes begin to fade as every second she more closely resembles a creature of the Abyss. If the PCs can convince her to stop killing, the vrocks mock them for weaklings, voicing all the inner turmoil with which Abaia has been wrestling since the spark took hold of her. With the help of the PCs, Abaia turns on her darker emotions and defeats them (quite literally, in a brutal combat).
The PCs' test. The Items of Accord glow with a brilliant white flame as the group reaches the center of the Labyrinth: a shimmering pool of water. The deva and bebilith both seize with fevered dreams, falling to the ground. Between them, barely a foot from the ground, hangs a small, but pure light, glowing like a small sun: the Deva Spark. Three tendrils of light tie it to the deva, and six to the bebilith. Slowly, the light begins to rise, and one of the tethers to Abaia snaps. The pool of water begins to boil, and from it rises a bebilith far more monstrous and horrifying than Abaia at her worst. It moves for the spark, slashing fiercely at the light connecting it to the two beings. Each round, one tendril is severed; the PCs discover that all attacks against the bebilith cause it only to grow and become more hideous and enraged. If the PCs use the Waters of Serenity against the creature, it disperses in a burst of steam. If Abaia and Ybdiel are splashed with the waters, the monster fades away into nothing. If a good-aligned PC holding the Gem of Harmony plunges it into the spark and succeeds at a Wisdom -4 check, the spark is held in place and the bebilith is helpless to break the tie between the two creatures.
The choice. The PCs have overcome all challenges but the last: what to do with the spark.
Here's where I'd like some feedback. I'd hoped to have a great number of PCs involved, some of whom with ulterior motives, that would then turn this into a very tense scene.
The dryads reappear, informing the PCs that the lives of the deva and bebilith are tied to the spark and the Items of Accord. One suggests they could return the spark to its rightful owner, the deva. One says that Abaia should receive it, so that she can finish the metamorphosis into the creature of goodness she's becoming. A third says that the rightful owner of the spark is technically the Power of this realm, and it should be set free to return to the god. The fourth says that Ybdiel wasted the spark and took a foolish risk, and doesn't deserve to carry it at the expense of the bebilith -- it should be divided between them so that they both survive, but at a fraction of their full potential. The fifth states that combining the strengths of the deva and bebilith into one is the greatest good, and that the spark should be used to fuse the two into new life.
There is no wrong answer. What would your character have done? How hard would you have fought for it? (Feel free to roleplay it out, if you choose.)
Gathering the waters from Lake Serene. The encroaching beings are Moon Dogs, the "wolfhounds" of the Upper Planes, with no intent of starting a fight, only to stalk the PCs and let everybody know what's at stake. The forces of good are paying very close attention, but cannot decide whether or not to intervene, as some good may be accomplished no matter what. The Moon Dogs remind the PCs that the Water of Serenity can erase even the most terrifying nightmare.
A brief sidebar. Abaia wanders away from camp that night, returning in the morning with a freshly-slaughtered unicorn to share as a feast, wholeheartedly believing that she is performing a good act. She apologizes to John for wounding him, telling them all what happened on the Plain of Infinite Portals: a new petitioner arrived from the Prime as she was hunting tanar'ri, and she chased it for an easy meal. The petitioner, for some reason, had the spark in him, and with his destruction, it tried to tether itself to something nearby. The closest being was Abaia. The spark left her with Ybdiel's last instinct -- to head for Principality by any means -- and knowledge of the gates to use to get there.
Retrieving the gem from the phoenix nest. The phoenix is mostly unaware of the events surrounding the deva and bebilith, and is shocked to see the beast approaching its home. It's been preoccupied with gathering belongings to prepare for its death and rebirth, and has woven valuables into its nest, including the necessary gem to contain the spark. If it can be convinced of the need for the gem elsewhere, it would be open to trade; a particularly persuasive argument might convince it to give it freely.
A persistent stalker. Since meeting the PCs at the Rollicking Crescent, Beris dispatched a Harmonium spy to follow them and reconnoiter their findings. If a Hide or Move Silently roll should fail (80% in both skills), one of the PCs would discover her. She would do her best to pass herself off as a curious innocent bystander, but an especially perceptive character might see through her lies. Her last recourse is to flee for her life.
Nycaloth revisited. As the PCs are passing through the woods to find the Labyrinth of Accord, gravity again gives way under them (several saves and Str/Dex checks to catch a tree limb and avoid being hurled into the air). Garrish uses all his powers to full effect (command, dimension door, dispel magic, enlarge/reduce, invisibility, mirror image) to single-mindedly attack the bebilith, but does not gate any mezzoloths, for fear of further treachery. If Abaia is killed, Garrish returns to the Lower Planes. Quick thinking can still capture and save the spark, but the PCs will have to locate Ybdiel to have any hope of saving him. If Garrish is killed, Abaia tells the PCs to go on to the Labyrinth without her, and that she will meet them there with the deva.
We interrupt this, uh... we... stop where you are! Everybody's favorite lawman, Beris Onea, has formed a perimeter around the Labyrinth of Accord with the aid of his fellows, the local petitioners, and even a number of other factioneers (especially Ciphers, who lost a few faction-mates to Abaia's mad rampage). The PCs can charge a weak point in the barrier and fight their way through or sneak past if they so choose, but parlay is more likely to succeed (assuming honesty and a respectful attitude). Planewalkers may realize that Elysium won't create barriers for the truly virtuous: they may turn around and walk in any direction, and still reach their destination.
No time left. Abaia meets the PCs at the entry to the Labyrinth of Accord, a great hedge maze. With her is Ybdiel, or a withered, aged and unconscious human vaguely resembling him (little is left of his deva nature; Abaia, meanwhile, has taken on Ybdiel's rich brown coloring, and scintillates with multicolored hues in the light, with an effect something like oil on asphalt). As they begin to walk the Labyrinth, five dryads step out of the walls of the maze to confront the PCs and set the nature of their task before them: to pass the tests of the Labyrinth with goodness in their hearts, and to use the spark to the end they see fit. With each step closer to the center of the Labyrinth, the chalice, water, and gem begin to glow with a lambent white light.
Ybdiel's test. Turning a corner, the PCs come to a dead end. As they turn around, day turns to black night in an instant, and before them is a burning building, with panicking children at the second-story windows. Dozens of bystanders have formed a great ring around the building, and Ybdiel -- powerful and angelic -- calls out to them all: "I can save them! Who has my spark?" One by one, the bystanders all claim to have it, their teeth gleaming in fiendish grins and their eyes alight with hellish fire. Ybdiel begins to wither before their eyes, howling in agony and collapsing in fevered exhaustion. "I could not have given my spark to a thing of evil!" he cries. The bystanders only laugh as the first child leaps from the window to escape the flame, helpless with no one to break her fall. John will notice that all the bystanders look exactly like the petitioner Abaia slaughtered in the Abyss. The first PC to catch a falling child sees a silhouette of Ybdiel's spark careen through the air toward him and feels its light invigorating him. "You would have been a much better recipient," he says as he falls unconscious again and the scene fades back into the Labyrinth.
Abaia's test. The hedge maze takes a great, winding turn that empties into a wasteland of red dirt and burnt orange sky. All around are a horde of terrified petitioners and manes, fleeing in panic from Abaia and seven vrocks, all of whom wade through the throng, slaughtering the lesser creatures wholesale simply for the joy it provides them. Her feral and wicked nature slowly shows through, and her celestial changes begin to fade as every second she more closely resembles a creature of the Abyss. If the PCs can convince her to stop killing, the vrocks mock them for weaklings, voicing all the inner turmoil with which Abaia has been wrestling since the spark took hold of her. With the help of the PCs, Abaia turns on her darker emotions and defeats them (quite literally, in a brutal combat).
The PCs' test. The Items of Accord glow with a brilliant white flame as the group reaches the center of the Labyrinth: a shimmering pool of water. The deva and bebilith both seize with fevered dreams, falling to the ground. Between them, barely a foot from the ground, hangs a small, but pure light, glowing like a small sun: the Deva Spark. Three tendrils of light tie it to the deva, and six to the bebilith. Slowly, the light begins to rise, and one of the tethers to Abaia snaps. The pool of water begins to boil, and from it rises a bebilith far more monstrous and horrifying than Abaia at her worst. It moves for the spark, slashing fiercely at the light connecting it to the two beings. Each round, one tendril is severed; the PCs discover that all attacks against the bebilith cause it only to grow and become more hideous and enraged. If the PCs use the Waters of Serenity against the creature, it disperses in a burst of steam. If Abaia and Ybdiel are splashed with the waters, the monster fades away into nothing. If a good-aligned PC holding the Gem of Harmony plunges it into the spark and succeeds at a Wisdom -4 check, the spark is held in place and the bebilith is helpless to break the tie between the two creatures.
The choice. The PCs have overcome all challenges but the last: what to do with the spark.
Here's where I'd like some feedback. I'd hoped to have a great number of PCs involved, some of whom with ulterior motives, that would then turn this into a very tense scene.
The dryads reappear, informing the PCs that the lives of the deva and bebilith are tied to the spark and the Items of Accord. One suggests they could return the spark to its rightful owner, the deva. One says that Abaia should receive it, so that she can finish the metamorphosis into the creature of goodness she's becoming. A third says that the rightful owner of the spark is technically the Power of this realm, and it should be set free to return to the god. The fourth says that Ybdiel wasted the spark and took a foolish risk, and doesn't deserve to carry it at the expense of the bebilith -- it should be divided between them so that they both survive, but at a fraction of their full potential. The fifth states that combining the strengths of the deva and bebilith into one is the greatest good, and that the spark should be used to fuse the two into new life.
There is no wrong answer. What would your character have done? How hard would you have fought for it? (Feel free to roleplay it out, if you choose.)
