The heroes depart Greyhawk by flying on the back of the
dragon form of Samilar and make it to a nearby copse of wood where the find
several refugees of Greyhawk huddled, frightened and pleading for help. The heroes had already decided to move on to
their next stop to rest, which was to go back to the giant fortress in the Rift
Canyon which is near to where Dragotha’s lair was located. The heroes agree to take the refugees with
them and they use Samilar’s druidic magic to move through a large tree and to
return to the druidic circle left in the fortress by the Order of the Storm a
thousand years ago. Within the fortress that is now oddly quiet and seemingly bereft of giants, the heroes provide
provisions to the refugees and rest and plot their next moves. First, Halimyr attempts to scry in on
Dragotha’s lair by focusing on the monolith, but instead of seeing it within Dragotha's lair as they expected, he
sees it on an island in a jungle, surrounded by giant Kyuss Worms and with the enormous vermin-form of Kyuss working on the monolith’s runes. Kyuss somehow senses the scrying and crushes
the sensor, breaking the link.
Now
wondering where the monolith was, they decide to have Samilar do reconnaissance
of Dragotha’s lair to see what the best way in would be and what the potential
threats were. Samilar turns into a bat
and flies the 30 miles or so to the lair and sees that the giant army has taken
the fight to Dragotha…and is losing.
There are two levels to the lair; one on the surface of the canyon where
there is a large fissure that the dracolich uses to fly in and out of and a
ground level entrance that is located on the canyon floor. Both were swarmed with thousands of Kyuss
Spawn and gargantuan Kyuss Worms. The
giants were battling on both fronts, seemingly closer to their target at the
top of the canyon, but also apparently being overwhelmed on both fronts by the
sheer number of enemies. To compound the
problem, every giant the fell rose again as a Kyuss Spawn to fight against
them. In addition, the ground level
entrance was also guarded by four dragons – a white, red, green and blue. The fissure at the top of the canyon was
itself guarded by five gargantuan worms that could snap at any who attempted to
fly into the entrance.
Samilar returned to the giant fortress and the group decides
to use magic to get a close to the lower level entrance as possible. They materialize behind the giant army and
see that things are worse on the ground than what was visible from the
air. The princess of the giants, whom
had fought beside them against Brazzemal the dragon, had already been turned
into a Kyuss Spawn and many giants were starting to flee the battle. The heroes decide to go to the surface
entrance instead and just attempt to fly in past the guardians. Captain Olaf, wearing Micah’s Wings of
Flying, leads the way, drawing the
initial attentions of the worms, but as they attempt to snatch him out of the
air his magical displacement effect protects him from their bites and allows
the others to fly in behind him unhindered.
The group wind their way through the fissure and emerge in an
enormous cavern filled with Kyuss Spawn.
The gigantic skeletal form of Dragotha rises up to greet them as it
senses their arrival and green flames of necrotic energy flares up within its
eye sockets and rib cage. The heroes,
expecting an immediate attack, are surprised when the dracolich speaks and invites
them to talk. The heroes cautiously
descend from the ceiling, spreading out to avoid being the target of a breath
attack, and Dragotha proceeds to tell them that they have been manipulated from the start to get them to this point. The
dracolich beckons another to join him and from a side chamber the early nemesis
of the group, the man known as the Faceless One, emerges and joins the undead
dragon’s side. The two proceed to tell
them that they have been led to this point in order to do what they could not,
which is to rid the world of Kyuss and to end the Age of Worms. The heroes were skeptical, pointing out that
the two were servants of Kyuss, why should they believe them? Dragotha and the Faceless One state that they
are both weary of being servants to Kyuss and, much like Lashonna sought
freedom from Dragotha, they seek freedom from Kyuss. In addition, the Faceless One wanted more
than anything to be restored to human form.
And finally, neither wanted the endgame that Kyuss sought to bring
about, which is the annihilation of this multiverse so that his master,
Tharizdun, could emerge and recreate it in his image. The Faceless One informs them that, since their discovery of the Whispering Cairn, they were set on the path to restoring the Rod of Law to destroy Kyuss. He tells Micah that she was
chosen to be the bearer of the Sword of Annihilation, which is the only thing
that can destroy the obelisk that serves as the prison to Kyuss and as the
gateway for Tharizdun, as the sword could only be wielded by one of the
bloodline of the Flames of Sunndi who created the weapon. Dragotha and the Faceless One manipulated the
heroes, using pawns such as Lashonna, to lead them where they needed to go in
order to grow in power and gain the artifacts needed to end the Age of Worms.
The dracolich shows the heroes a box engraved with familiar
markings of the Wind Dukes of Aqqa and Samilar could sense that the final piece
of the Rod of Seven Parts was within.
However, Dragotha stated that his one condition for turning over the
shard was that they return to him that which he desired – his phylactery, which
he knew was in their possession.
Initially the heroes were resistant and considered fighting their way
out of this and forcibly taking the phylactery, but they realized that they
were out-numbered and likely outmatched in power by the Kyuss spawn, the wizard
and the dracolich. Weighing their
options carefully, they agreed to the exchange and carefully presented the phylactery
as Dragotha presented the Ro7P shard.
The exchange is made and the Faceless One tells them that he can
transport them via a teleportation circle to where Kyuss has taken the
monolith, which is at a place called Wormcrawl Island in the jungles where
Kyuss’ former homeland.
As the Faceless One prepares to send the heroes to the
island, he warns them that they must first destroy the mortal form of Kyuss,
for he is the link between the realm where Tharizdun is imprisoned and this
multiverse. The monolith must not be
destroyed while Kyuss’ mortal form exists, else Tharizdun will be free to enter this multiverse.
Once Kyuss is destroyed, his essence will flee back into the monolith,
and only then should it be destroyed by the Sword of Annihilation. Finally the Faceless One warns the heroes
about the shadow of the obelisk, for it is through that which Tharizdun himself
exerts his will.
The heroes prepare to be transported to Wormcrawl Island. Samilar completes the Rod of Law by joining
the final piece to the others in his possession and the rod immediately reacts negatively
to the presence of the Sword of Annihilation held by Micah. The sword also reacts to the completed Rod of
Law, urging Micah to attack it. Samilar
and Micah restrain their weapons, but realize that these two artifacts
represent Law and Chaos and are driven to destroy one another and that they
must fight to keep the weapons from overwhelming them, adding another layer of
complexity to the already impossible task before them. But, true to their nature, the heroes, ready
themselves for the final conflict with Kyuss and the Faceless One completes the
sequence to activate the teleportation circle, whisking them off to the
far-away lands where Wormcrawl Island is found.
Upon arriving the heroes see the giant obelisk rising up
before them and it’s shadow moving independently from the position of the sun.
They see the giant worms writhing around it and they see the form of Kyuss
behind the obelisk working the ritual that is transforming the moon into an
engine of destruction. Kyuss and the
worms sense the presence of the heroes and the stage is set for the final
confrontation…
End of session.
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