Session 9-7-08

?? CR (date unknown): The four heroes find themselves in an ancient, dusty and grime-encrusted mausoleum.  Elven and orcish heroes seem to be buried side-by-side in tombs dating back to the late Vernal epoch, before the orcs' mass exodus into the Underlands.  At the far end of the huge mausoleum, which is at least 120' long by 80' wide, two shimmering globes of energy - one blue, and one purple - each seem to hold a figure inside.  The first, in the blue globe, appears to be Anilmathien - an aspect of the deity Jenoic himself - dressed in full elven plate as a knight and standing calmly.  The other is a large, red-skinned and massively muscled humanoid with an indeterminate face... its face seems to shift through an ever-changing pattern of skulls and death-masks.  This one breathes heavily, leaning against the rounded edges of its purple energy globe.  The four friends have seen its face before... this is the same being that seemed to have infected Merin Jewelshine with a calcified tumor of itself during the party's surreal planar journey.  That being seemed to be of split personality at the time, believing itself somehow to be Jenoic... but these two are clearly separate beings.  Could the being in the purple globe be the "Zadonite" that Merin Jewelshine mentioned... the being which Jenoic sought to engage during the Convergence?

Harsh voices at the far end of the tombs signal the arrival of Ebon Triad cultists.  Embodying the most horrific aspects of their conjoined demigods - the Elder Banes - six cultists charge into battle against the heroes.  Fascistic proclamations spew from the mouths of red-hooded Tyraudon worshippers, as the scarred and mutilated faithful of Ethoar charge naked and screaming into battle, warm blood dripping from fresh cuts in their own skin.  A pair of plate-armored warriors wielding sharp-tined mancatchers calmly advance behind the screaming shock troops.  Following up these nightmarish terrors are three listless, glassy-eyed females who have had their tongues cut out and their lower jaws removed and replaced with snapping razor-teeth.  These drugged, diseased minions are spurred into battle by Zara's true quarry: the blackguard Kothaer Cradan. 

"So good to see you again!" sneers Ethoar's vile champion, giving Zara and the others a mocking salute with his four-fingered hand.  "I do hope your time spent in Chaal-Nathra was a pleasant visit," he giggles, brandishing his jagged-bladed longsword in one hand.  "Now, ladies... show them a good time."  The three enthralled females shamble ahead with surprising speed, joining the chaotic melee.  Zara's spear flashes as she and Telenvor flank their foes and press the attack while Nathaniel and Essedar fire spells and arrows from the back rank, their backs pressed against the edge of a dangerous looking, purplish magical barrier at the edge of a massive tomb.

As the battle continues, Kothaer hangs back and refuses to engage in melee.  He goes so far as to flourish his weapon in wasteful fashion, snidely sheathing it as he watches the mad cultists fall before the party's defensive fury.  Given the odd figures encased in energy fields and the tomb behind them (also glowing with a purple light), more than a battle against viscious cultists seems to be afoot here.  Collectively, the party comes to a realization: all three of the types of Ebon Triad cultists they are fighting are hybridized, taking on complimentary aspects of each Elder Bane (Ethoar, Tyraudon and Yshunor), but the cultists' ability to speak and communicate is also compromised.  The fascists of Tyraudon can only speak in cliched phrases of tyranny and domination.  The raging murderers of Ethoar seem to have lost all ability to speak coherently, grunting and growling or babbling to themselves in a frenzy.  The unfortunate victims of Yshunor - the drugged, altered human females - have had their tongues and mouths cut out and replaced. 

"End their sorrows!" whispers an insistent chorus of voices into the minds of the four heroes.  This chorus speaks with the voices of orcs, elves and human simultaneously, and is both male and female.  As they fight, each companion begins calling out to the gods who they favor, as they strike their enemies down in mercy.  "Aeren, Anushar, Anilmathien!"  calls Zara as her spear skewers the female cultists.  "For Jenoic, Ijruk, Irindix!" cries Nathaniel as his lightning bolt fries the fascists of Tyraudon.  Even Telenvor prays for victory, albeit awkwardly.  Kothaer continues to observe the battle, retreating to the far end of the tomb to torment the Aspect of Jenoic within the blue globe.  He twists his blade in the Aspect's side, but it seems to have no effect beyond drawing significant blood.

Zara slams her spear into the last of the mancatcher-wielding brutes, cleaving into the final cultist on the backswing.  She bares her teeth and stares down Kothaer, who spryly retreats beyond the mausoleum doors down a corridor to the left.  As he steps away, the blackguard gestures to the Aspect of Jenoic and the Zadonite in their respective globes.  "Are they the same?" he asks mockingly, escaping down the corridor beyond.  At that moment, both figures raise their eyes to look upon the four adventurers, and a vision overtakes them.

Zara, Nathaniel, Essedar and Telenvor share the following vision: Twenty-two years ago or more, during the peak of the Convergence, a meteor of purple light streaks down from the sky - its purple radiance actually a perfect mix of red and blue light - and impacts the valley of Ijruk's Blind.  When the dust from the fallen star settles, they see two figures (Jenoic and the Zadonite) standing atop a hill looking down at the resultant crater: therein, a humanoid being is in the final throes of its own creation, as though two bodies' worth of essence - one red and one blue - are being pushed into one lifeform.  The gestalt being finishes its painful, strained birth throes, beating the ground in agony and stress.  At last it stands, a strange eidolon of violet light, featureless with a tall, lean body like that of a half-elf or human, but lacking eyes, ears or any other distinguishing feature.  Suddenly its purple skin flares to life with countless runes of every language known and unknown to Gaian minds.  All who look upon the eidolon can read its runic messages, which change and flow as quickly as one's eyes can follow.  The being stands up, looks around, and begins to examine its surroundings with curiosity.  It looks to the sky, to the ground, and raises its arms skyward, as if waiting, or perhaps plaintively crying out without a mouth to be heard.

Pouring from the mouth of a nearby cave are dozens of cultists of Ethoar, Tyraudon and Yshunor.  Unlike the hybridized Ebon Triad cultists of today, these Bane-worshippers of twenty-plus years ago display no signs of unity among them except the impulse to torture and slaughter, to bring pain and suffering.  They spill forth from the caves of Ijruk's Blind like a swarm of carrion insects, sweeping over the man-sized purple eidolon and committing unspeakable atrocities upon its newborn flesh.  After an indeterminate and horrendous period of time, they bind the ruined, broken creature and take it inside the tomb.  Within their lucid vision, the four companions realize the warded tomb they appeared next to is probably the same tomb in which the eidolon is now imprisoned.  Were the cultists of the Ebon Triad somehow presciently aware of the fall of Jenoic and the Zadonite?  They seemed to be waiting for the eidolon to be formed.

The two figures on the hill - Jenoic and the Zadonite - watch the carnage visited upon their eidolon with impassively.  As the cultists bind and trap the purple runeskinned avatar within the tomb in Ijruk's Blind, the two beings meet each other's gaze and nod.  The gesture carries respect for an adversary and an equal.  "We are the same," they intone as one.  The two turn from each other and walk away, growing larger with each step, as the vision blurs and fades out to a celestial body hanging in darkness - the planet Gaia herself - while collosal red and blue footprints seem to form across her surface.  The vision ends, and the heroes find themselves standing alone in the tomb.  Both of the energy-encased figures are gone.

Back in real time (though with the exact date and time elapsed still unknown since their jaunt into Chaal-Nathra), the party gathers its wits and prepares to do battle with more cultists.  Whatever the mystery behind the visions they have received, they will need to find Kothaer and put a stop to the plans of the Ebon Triad.  To no one in particular, more to the walls of the ancient tomb, Nathaniel cals out.  "Help us.  This cult, the Ebon Triad is the real enemy!"  Together, the four friends move down the corridor to the left in pursuit of the hateful blackguard Kothaer and his three-headed cult.

Falling Stars, Rising Hope