Unnecessary Evil

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Details

• Time Played: 2008-2010
• Historical Era: Dawn Age
• System: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition
• GM: Jason
• Players: Alex (Torn), Hank (Makal), Kate (Ember), Sam (Atrius), Steve (Kosh)

Summary

It was originally supposed to run in a mere 32 weekly sessions, for just over half a year. The extensions were largely due to scheduling delays and unexpected narrative elaborations. The game was designed to run over an internet voice chat service using online game table clients for tactical gameplay. The system was a moderately house-ruled version of 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons. The mode of play was participationist, with elements of player authorship (each player was able to write major portions of the side quests for other characters).

The plot centered around the heroes of prophecy: Atrius, Ember, Kosh, Torn, and Makal, and their quest to defeat the demon-corrupted Emperor of Acrolon, and the goddess of Summer and desire, Lascivia, thus ending the Dark Age.

This campaign involved my first foray into balanced house rules, specific to the campaign. The characters included:

Player Characters

Atrius, the "Late Arrival"

Male Tiefling Wizard, Blood Mage, Null Soul

Son of Emperor Horchus, Atrius fled the Empire conflicted between the feelings of genuine love he felt for his mother, Lily (Exarch of Innocence) and his training as an Imperial prince. He joins the Heroes of Prophecy in disguise as Uther Bord, not believing their validity, expecting that he is merely infiltrating them for the glory of the Empire of Acrolon. Little does he know that this is exactly what the Linessa knows to be the case, and his royalty and conflicted history plays a vital role in the prophecy.

Atrius' disguise as Uther Bord lasted until the crossing of the Great Sea. There he discovered that he was being hunted by The Voice of the Wind and Soulhunter Demons. There were several very close calls and escapes across the ocean, and he was finally captured in Sicaestus. Separated from the party, Atrius was taken back to the Emperor's Isle of Acrolon where he would finally be crowned the new Emperor, though he would become forever possessed by the spirit of the old Emperor in the process. There he dodged this fate, and in the process was able to destroy The Voice of the Wind and save his mother, Lily, from destruction. His sacrifice redeemed the line of Emperor's and Lucidus declared him The Last Emperor of Acrolon. No Null Soul had ever lived as long as Atrius had, combined with the strange circumstances of his death, led to his ascension to become a Strange God.

Atrius's epic destiny was through special breeding to create a "null soul": a vessel perfect for indefinite possession, which was the goal of the dark emperor of Acrolon. Null souls who live too long become incredibly powerful (reaching epic levels), but also become very unstable.

Ember, "The Burning Shield"

Female High Orc Paladin of Lucidus, Champion of Lucidus, Exarch of Lucidus

Ember tried to live a simple life in a dark age. She kept an inn with her husband and children, until the demons came. They burned her family alive in their inn. What they did to her she does not speak about. Her blood burns with the need for vengeance.

She became a demigod of Lucidus when she risked her life to save the party from a deadly attack by Shilari. She lent her powerful shield to Kosh and Torn when they descended into the Abyss, staying above to fight in the Third Godswar.

Her epic destiny was becoming the Exarch of Lucidus.

Kosh, the "Stalking Darkness"

Male Fire Drakeling Rogue, Dagger Master, Raven Knight

Kosh was born to a death-worshipping tribe of fire drakelings on Flamespire isle. There he witnessed one of his own kind, Xidnak, betray the tribe to a demon lord in exchange for some mysterious source of arcane power. Kosh swore vengeance on Xidnak and the demons ever since.

Kosh met Nexia, and in time talked her out of from her self-torture of killing Anastasia before the Dark Age. In exchange, he became her Exarch. He also exacted revenge on Xidnak, but then reversed that fate and bestowed Xidnak his deepest wish: to become the first of the Dragons Reborn. He was one of the two heroes of prophecy to reach the bottom of the Abyss, thanks to his deathly nature, and kill the Demon Queen - resisting her charms with his complete devotion to the only force greater than Desire.

Kosh reached epic destiny by becoming the Exarch of Nexia.

Torn, "The Mangled Man"

Male Human Dust Pact Warlock, Feytouched, Storm Sovereign

Torn was an ordinary youth who became swept up in a provincial rebellion against the demons. The revolt was utterly crushed, and Torn was cast into a dungeon for idle torture at the hands of bored demons. Unknown reserves of body and mind allowed him to survive the torments and the exposure to demonic taint. When he was cast aside at last, the Obyrith, exiled lords of the Abyss came to him in visions, offering him a pact. He would be healed and given power, and in return, he would return the Abyss to its rightful masters. Torn accepted.

His mangled flesh was stitched back together, leaving a maze of scars that form occult sigils. His missing eye was replaced with a green, slit-pupiled eye; a gift from his patron, the Oracle of Dust. His fading life was replentished with the chill of the Obyrith, leaving his flesh cold to the touch. He was spirited away, appearing in an unnatural storm beside the sea, where the Children of the Golden Throne found him, just as had been prophecied.

He has since been a driven student, but apart from his work, he does or says little, simply staring at the air with mismatched eyes or tracing his scars with his fingertips. He now answers to the off-color nickname given him by one of his keepers, never having spoken his true name.

He bested Flex Mission of Missionholme and rested the Claws of the New Lord. He was one of the two heroes of prophecy to reach the bottom of the Abyss and slay the demon queen, resisting her charms with the complete erosion of his humanity and his entirely Strange mind. His village returned to life by the machine in Aeon's lab, Torn left his humanity behind entirely. The affect of the Abyss on his mind made him immune to the whispers of Zhudun. He ate Zhudun, for lack of a better verb, and reached the Locus of the New Lord. From then on he traveled the world acting as a strange harbinger, guide, prophet, and liaison of the Great Ones.

Torn's epic destiny was becoming one of The Lost, Strange Gods of The Veil.

Makal, the "Stone Man"

Male Goliath Warlord, Knight Commander, Exarch of Aedifica

Born in the reclusive tribe of Hajadin on northern Vashad, Makal followed the omens of the shamans to join the heroes of prophecy.

Soon he discovered that his destiny was more complicated than ending the reign of the demon queen. He was also to unite the divided people of the Hajadin and the Biashar, and in so doing, heal the factured mind of Pellex, god of form, who would become Aedifica, trans-goddess, allowing her to join the Third Godswar.

His epic destiny was becoming Exarch to Aedifica, Primarch of Form.

Story

Chapter 1: The Threshold

The heroes are assembled by the Golden Throne in a lone monastery outside of the city of Qalat Khasab in the kingdom of Sekhim in the lands of Vashad. They train together and learn to be a team. They are shown a mural in the basement, linear geometric shapes carved into the sandstone. One central sunlike star shape is actually an aperture with a reflective material deeper within. They are told that they are prophesized to return with the key to unlock this treasure. When dark imperials attacked, the heroes had to flee, fighting a tanari hound to escape, making their way to the Southern Tabil Forest.

Making their way through the Northern Tabil Forest, they encounter a goblin settlement that made their living ambushing forest travelers. The party vanquished the goblin leader causing the rest to scatter into the wood. Resupplying, they ventured onward.

The party then arrived in the town of Mulhar, becoming embroiled in a drama involving a bewitched Shah, a conniving swindler, an innocent innkeeper, and an ancient crone. The party unraveled the deceptions and were able to find a peaceful solution by returning a stolen amulet to the witch in exchange for a cure for the Shah, foiling the swindler's plans.

Reaching the Southern Tabil Forest, they found the hidden cabin where the Golden Throne kept the prophetess Linessa. Linessa had fallen into a strange trance at the age of 17 and muttered random phrases for 61 years. It wasn't until 50 years ago, when one of her phrases predicted the return of the Sun and the end of the Dark Age, that her gift of prophecy was revealed. That's when the Golden Throne found Linessa and hid her from the Dark Empire of Acrolon who became interested in her prophecies. It was in this most recent hiding place that the party finally met the prophetess that predicted their victory over the Dark Empire of Acrolon and the Demon Queen, Lascivia. They learned how the Golden Throne learned to interpret the seeming babble of words, as they heard their own names mentioned. Piecing together the phrases that seemed to address them, they learned that Linessa's words were not random, they were just jumbled in their sequence. Linessa awoke from her visions and gave the party some optimistic words before telling them how they would find the road to their destiny, by crossing the ocean to the east.

On the way to the lawless port city of Istilqa Matar, the party helps a merchant being attacked by drug-addled halfing gangsters calling themselves the Hamstringers. In thanks, the merchant gives them a letter of recommendation to a pirate captain named Kasima. The party followed the road south and found the small encampment of the Hamstringers. There Makal participated in bare knuckle fighting to earn the respect of the Halflings, and when the leader dropped his guard, the party took out the violent gang leadership, causing the gang great setbacks.

Finally arriving in Istilqa Matar, the party had to avoid the attention of demonic patrols searching for them. They also encountered a number of portents that Linessa had warned them about, hints at their future fates. They rescued a small band of pirates from a demonic patrol, and those pirates turned out to be crewmates of Kasima, captain of the Sea Serpent. The party showed their letter of introduction and secured passage across the waves to the east.

Before the Sea Serpent could sail, however, the party had to help Kasima get out from under the manipulative thumb of Numal, vizier of the city, who turned out to be a Nalfeshnee demon in disguise. The battle with Numal was the climax of the first chapter and propelled the party into the Paragon tier of their careers.

Chapter 2: Across the Sea

The party set sail and soon had their first sea battle against a ship of the Yellow Skull Company. They sank the vessel and as they were hauling up its treasure from the wreckage, they spotted another ship on the horizon. Atrius recognized it as one of the emperor's fleet, undoubtedly looking for the prince.

The Sea Serpent turned temporarily invisible through an enchantment, but it wouldn't last long. Kosh admitted he knew of a nearby island with a grotto they could hide in. And so the Sea Serpent made its way to Flamespire Isle. There were magical guardians that damaged the ship as it reached anchor in the grotto. The crew set about repairs while the party dispatched the guardians. Kosh noticed a floating tower that had not been on the island when he lived there. As they made their way to the tower, they met who they believed a follower of Nexia. However, after some strange omens, Kosh realized that this was an avatar of Nexia herself, who claimed she had an interest in the goings on of the isle. When Kosh asked Nexia about the tower, she explained that it belonged to Xidnak, who had slain every single member of the black drakeling tribe.

Angered, Kosh led the party to the tower. There they found Xidnak, hooked up to arcane machinery within the tower, including orbs which seemed to hold the souls of the slain drakelings. Xidnak was within a purple orb, unsensing, but also unassailable. Instead of destroying the orbs, gaining access to a helpless Xidnak but condemning his kin to eternal restlessness, he took the orbs and returned them to the isles catacomb temple to Nexia for proper burial. Xidnak rose from his slumber and angrily chased the party. The party was victorious in combat, but Nexia appeared and explained that Xidnak had struck a bargain with her for immortality, becoming a lich. Kosh forgave Nexia and Nexia told the party where Xidnak's phylactery could be found in Acrolon.

Soon after setting sail again, they were attacked by a Kraken that tried to sink the ship. After their victory, they came to a small island where Makal met people who looked a lot like his own species, but not of his own species, exactly as Linessa predicted.

The party joined what turned out to be an archeological dig being run by Galdan. The party helped Galdan with his dig to uncover an artifact called the Whispering Crystal. The island itself seemed to try to stop the dig, with nature, flora, and fauna all attacking the dig. After successfully defending the dig, Makal learned that Galdan was conspiring with the Sea Serpent crew to try to capture Makal. The crew refused, and the party captured and questioned Galdan. Apparently his people had been searching for one of Makal's species for centuries. He explained that the crystal was part of an invention called the Anvil of Truth and that Makal's species was part of a ritual to bring "order to the world". Galdan said further answers would be found at Black Iron Hold in Acrolon. The party left Galdan. Then the crew saw the imperial fleet on the horizon again.

Kasima decided that the only way to lose the imperial hunters was to try to cross the Strange Seas. As they entered the shallows of the Strange Seas, they were attacked by a group of Slaad. The Slaad were proving victorious, and the only means of escape from the creatures seemed to be flight into the Source of All Storms, the City of Fury. So the Sea Serpent set sail into the storm.

In the City of Fury, surrounded by storms, the party became wrapped up in the courtly intrigue of genies that had apparently escaped from the massive piece of the Apparatus that made up the island city. There they also learned of a human scholar who was enslaved by one of the genie lords, and set to study the City of Storms to find a way for them to escape. They party was able to maneuver the courts of the genies in such a way to gain access to the scholar. There they learned that the scholar had been captured by the storms of the City, but that he was a scholar of the Apparatus and was content to remain, even though he had a ritual that would allow escape. In exchange for escape, the party agreed to help the scholar with an investigation into the nature of the City of Fury. They succeeded in the investigation and learned that the city was actually once a star in the Astral Sky. It had fallen, and apparently had been some kind of home for these genies. The scholar kept his word and performed the ritual of Seven Strange Winds, which would propel the parties ship on an impossible path to an impossible destination.

The party then sailed the Strange Seas through some kind of vision quest and arrived on the shores of an unknown island. The island held the ruins of an unrecognized temple. Within the temple the party found priests of Umbrus, the long lost god of Destiny. They explained that Destiny no longer functioned and that their god long ago abandoned them. Ember asked if there was anything that she could do for the priests, as it was Linessa's parting advice to her that she would heal a rift between gods by helping the lost priests of Umbrus. They said that their only lament was the Umbral Blot. They showed the party to the basement, where there was a massive well of inky blackness. They explained that the Blot was a vestige of all the hate, fear, and anger of the god Umbrus, but they didn't know how to heal it. Just then, the inky blackness surged from the well and Tears of Umbrus formed to swallow the party.

The party awoke in the Shadow Realm, a twisted shadowscape of sinister visions and eerie sounds. This session was played as a large scale social LARP at a convention, with over 20 players. The party found their way through the shadow lands to the city of Blodheim. There they were invited to a grand festival, which was apparently held every night. The festival was held to stave off the Nightmare, a dark dream that everyone in Blodheim shared and which threatened madness. To stay awake, the festival was held. It was an attrocious affair. Every dark and twisted pleasure was entertained. Servants were murdered for fun and consumed, and the party discovered no one could actually die in Blodheim. Everyone was fated to return to life the next festival. And so murder was the primary diversion of the festival. By the end of the murder party, Kosh and several Blodheim leaders were all killed.

During the festivities, the party learned of a secret prisoner named Honoria. They freed the woman and learned that she had escaped Blodheim through her creation of the Black Tapestry. She returned to teach others how to escape from Blodheim. Apparently the Black Tapestry was a work of art that tried to embody the Nightmare. If one could capture the essence of the Nightmare, they would permanently die in Blodheim and awake back in the real world. The party embraced the Nightmare and learned the dark history of Umbrus and Lascivia. Each member of the party created a piece of art to capture the story. Kosh built a shadow carousel, Makal carved a massive totem of hieroglyphs, Ember put on a play, Torn created an ice sculpture, and Atrius crafted an illusory vision. Each succeeded and awoke back in the temple of Umbrus. The priests considered this a great portent for the heroes victory over Lascivia.

The party learned that the Sea Serpent had sailed on, assuming the party to be lost. But the priests of Umbrus gave the party special boots that would let them walk effortlessly on the bottom of the sea and breath water. So the party walked the bottom of the ocean. They came to a settlement of underwater dwellers and helped with vanquish Aboleth monsters that were kidnapping villagers. It turned out that the Aboleth were a trap set by Klytus, another Dust Pact warlock like Torn. Klytus fled saying that Torn would never reach Missionholme. As reward, the kuo-toa gave the party a map to traverse the Strange Deeps, the fastest way to get to Acrolon.

The party entered the Strange Deeps of the ocean where the water stopped being water, and instead became like heavy air. They wandered a forest where a woman in white chained to a red book stood. She said she was the Ruby Queen. She said she did not know the path to Acrolon or Missionholme, but that the "oracle stones" of the Weeping Glade could provide mystic insight, if the party were to just turn the stones on end. They turned a naerby stone on end and it freed the Yolchol demon disguised as the Ruby Queen. Elves attacked the party and the Yolchol, but the party focused on the Yolchol. Once it was defeated, the elves were confused, asking why the party would free the Handmaiden of Lolth, only to slay it. The party explaiend the misunderstanding and were brought to the true Ruby Queen, the Mistress of Chains, and ruler of the Bright Fae Burning Court. She explained that the Weeping Glade was a prison. She knew the way to Missionholme and Acrolon, though it would lead through the realm of an Obyrith lord named Zhag-Azam.

The party made their way through the Weeping Glade and into the tarry realm of Zhag-Azam. They fought the Obyrith lord and its massive tar minions. The Obyrith tried to push the party into tar pools that threatened to swallow them forever, but the party was victorious.

The party continued until they reached a grey seashore. In the restless waves they saw a lone mountain, the raelm of Missionholme. More details of this massive adventure can be found at Unnecessary Evil: Missionholme. This adventure marked the end of Chapter 2 and the party each reached their epic paths.

Chapter 3: Dark Throne of Acrolon

Upon the defeat of Flex, Missionholme began to dissolve back into the Strange Sea. The party saw the many imprisoned servitors of the realm flung far through the Strange Sea. Before they could be flung, a tall skinny rabbit-headed creature appeared and introduced himself as the Fingersmith, sent by The Wandering Star to help get them where they needed to be. They arrived in Mercatia, where Ember revealed the true nature of the Tears of Umbrus to the high priest of Lucidus in exile. She was granted the title of exarch for the service, especially her sacrifices in Blodheim. Then they worked with the high priest of Suentius to devise a path to the Abyss to confront Lascivia. They choose a trek across Acrolon to the Emperor's Isle, where a standing portal to the Abyss could be found. Their path included several stops to learn vital information about their main quest and their personal quests. The party was also reunited with the Sea Serpent who would sail them across the Pirate Isles as far as they could.

The party sets sail on the Burning Need, Ember's ship, crewed by the crew of the Sea Serpent. Their first stop on the mainland was near Sindra's Rest Lake, which was full of corpses from one of the battles on Sindra's March. It was also home to the Alabster Cathedral, the lair of the Bone Maiden, a powerful necromancer. The party offered to help her in exchange for one of the souls in her charge (a dark imperial general with information on the imperial isle). First they defeat the Graveater, a massive and powerful epic level opponent eating the corpses of the lake.

Upon reaching the mountain courts of the Reidan imperial nobles in the Black Iron mountains, Makal discovers a library held by a scholar of his strange alternate species. He learned the nature of the Anvil of Truth to create a unified servitor of Pellex that could rule both of the species of stone. They devise a plot to kidnap the Lordsmith, ruler of the species of stone and perform the ritual themselves making Makal the servitor of Pellex. The kidnapping succeeds, and the party brings the Lordsmith and Anvil of Truth to the Plains of Fire in the Godsalt Wastes. There Lordsmith Makal ascends to be the exarch of Aedifica, the healed god of Form.

In the Godsalt Wastes, the party encountered their next source of information: Gen, a fully vowed Order of One monk. Gen explained that Lascivia was not the first Tanari prince to reach godhood. In fact it was such Tanari plots that caused the Order of One to be formed. He offered another path to the Abyss through a quicksilver portal in the Jundahal Mountains of Malocia, where the Beast had attempted to manifest in Acrolon.

The next stop was the village of Daggertide (Sicaestus) on the southern shores of Acrolon. There both Atrius and Kasima (who turns out is the last free vashar) are finally found and captured by the imperial hunters, leaving the campaign until the end of this chapter. The party then finds the ancient bloodstone mine outside of Daggertide which Xidnak used as a sanctum. They defeated Xidnak easily and learned of his mission. Apparently Xidnak believed that through necromantic ritual, drakelings could begin a process of reincarnation that would eventually let them be born again as the long lost species of dragons. Kosh forgave Xidnak his murderous intentions and let him become the first dragon reborn. This earned Kosh the role of exarch to Nexia, securing his epic path.

The finale of chapter 3 was massive and told in a fairly experimental way, with the party split into two groups, Atrius who was returned to his imperial home, and everyone who was trying to find and free him. More at Unnecessary Evil: Fall of the Dark Empire of Acrolon.

Chapter 4: Into the Abyss

Guided by Shilari, the Ravenheart, Kosh and Torn went to the Bloodstone Mines of Jundahal as planned and fought a tanari-corrupted plant creature before finding the silver pool. They performed the ritual described by Gen and opened the portal to the deep of the Abyss where the Beast once reigned.

Arriving in the domain of Orcus, the Beast of Bloodstone, the party made their way to his bone fortress to find egress from his realm. There they faced adventure inspired by the Throne of Bloodstone classic module. There they met Ard, the Godslayer. The Godslayer said that Orcus had also ascended to godhood in the domain of Autumn. In order to survive his necrotic power, Ard had to become undead (a vampire). But that would give Orcus's divinity complete control over Ard, so he also had to find a solution to that problem. He eventually found an artifact, which he calls the Mortal Stone. It stops divine authority from manipulating an integral creature. He could not offer it up, because he still hunted rogue gods.

From Orcus's realm the party sprinted across the Plane of a Thousand Portals. Shilari led them through a portal to Mal Arundak, named for an ancient fortress found there. They had to seek shelter from Void Rain, a deadly weather event of the Abyss. Then they met servitors of Form who protected the fortress, though they were obviously twisted by thousands of years in the Abyss. They claimed they guarded a prisoner in Mal Arundak. The party bartered to talk with the prisoner: a powerful servitor of Form that dabbled in Strange during The Shattering. He was imprisoned before the Abyss was formed. They learned a lot about Strange power and tanari history from the prisoner, before moving on.

Next the party had to find the portal on the plane known as The Spires of Razjak, named after the mountain-sized tanari lord that dwelled there. They battle the impossibly huge tanari lord, but were ultimately swallowed by the creature. Within Razjak, the party had to survive void ichor to find their way out. The portal they needed turned out to be a greenfire door inside of Razjak's organs. The party continued onward to the Planes of Rust.

In the Planes of Rust, the party battled a Balor tanari named Gersterix and hid from more void rain. From there they pass through another portal to the realm of Baphomet.

In the realm of Baphomet, an infinite labyrinth, the party was hunted by Baphomet. The party was able to calm his rage and learned that he wanted his axe from the realm of Yeenoghu. In exchange, he would lead them through the labyrinth to the next leg of their journey. The party then went through a portal to Yeenoghu's realm where they were encountered by versions of themselves from the future. Their future selves, carrying some kind of massive metal object. They said "Finally, you're here! Go find the version of us at the Barrow of Forgotten Kings. I think theyr'e the ones that are supposed to help you. Follow the blood river to Arkerus Hold then up the razor road." Deeper in the realm they were oddly transformed into 1st edition monsters closely related to themselves (succubus, ultroloth, et cetera). Even deeper they met more alternate versions of themselves. The group introduced themselves as "beta ones". They said that Yeenoghu's realm is where Aeon's key landed, which damaged the realm's timeline so that it overlapped with multiple timelines, resulting in duplicates entering the realm, each from different kinds of timelines. All duplicates were categorized as alpha and beta groups. So long as the key remains in Yeenoghu's realm, this strange connection to multiple timeline continues.

The party asked why the timeline didn't collapse when the alpha ones left with the key, like they saw. They said that so long as the alpha ones wait for a new group of duplicates to arrive, the time loop is preserved. The party asked why they would preserve the timeline, and they were told that Lascivia is conducting a ritual to resurrect Aeon. The beta ones are trying to ensure that the outside timeline is one that doesn't collapse one where Aeon is awakened.

• Alpha one duplicates come for Baphomet's axe and later return for Aeon's key (what the group the party met were carrying)
• Alpha two duplicates come for Baphomet's axe but did not return for Aeon's key (no one knows why)
• Alpha three duplicates come for Baphomet's axe but die trying to get it
• Alpha four duplicates come for Baphomet's axe and later return for the key, but die trying to get the key
• Beta ones walked the labyrinth and failed to stop the Aeon ritual, so now maintain the loop by coordinating the duplicates
• Beta twos are those in Yeenoghu's realm escaping Aeon's apocalypse. They try to take the key to save their world but have to be killed to avoid collapsing the loop on that timeline

The party continued to claim Baphomet's axe from Yeenoghu and noted where Aeon's key would be found in their future. Baphomet kept his bargain and opened the gate to Lascivia's realm.

Lascivia's fortress was a massive collection of sinuous black and gold spires. Their first task was to free Rose and Violet, the two lost exarchs of Spring. Then Shilari manipulated the servants of the fortress to find Lascivia. They found her being tortured by Excrucius, and learned how she dominates others by twisting what they desire into a shape where she is what they need. After Excrucius left for the Godswar, the party attacked Lascivia.

Because Torn was Strange and Kosh was an exarch, her powers of seduction were severely blunted. She could not automatically compel them, but they still had to overcome her domination. She probed their desires and send wave after wave of seductive compulsion. When they defended against that, they began to fight Lascivia in the flesh. The party suffered debuffs the further they stood from her, drawn to her presence irrationally. She attacked with taloned void gauntlets that pierced all of Torn and Kosh's defenses. But the party was able to defeat her. Her facade faded and she dissolved into a pool of inky void tar. But then she adopted her true form the Void Soul of The Lover. She began reaching for the party with semi-real tendrils of void. They quickly scooped up the Talisman of Umbrus to summon the Umbral Blot which consumed the divine talisman and void soul of Lascivia, freeing all 99,999 succubus souls that empowered her. The Umbral Blot shrank into nothing, but the shadow realm grew into the transitive plane it is today.

The party secured Shilari, now mortal again, and then hastened to the bottom of the Abyss where the ritual of Aeon was being performed. The tanari barely stopped them, without Lascivia and the succubi to direct them, they fell into chaos and madness. At the bottom of the Abyss they saw the body of Aeon. A black diamond was descending into its open chest cavity. the walls of the chamber were covered in millions of cages, each with a Vashar. Their soul gems were combined to create the Black Diamond heart that would reanimate Aeon. The Oracle of Dust offered to take the heart of Aeon to stop the ritual, but Torn refused. He even tore out his own eye to stop her from manifesting. Kosh realized that as exarch of Autumn, he could perform last rights on the souls of the Vashar and empty the diamond of power. But he didn't know what that might do to Nexia or her realm, so he did not stop the ritual.

They remembered Linessa's prophecy and hastened back to the Integrum. When stopping in Yeenoghu's realm for Aeon's Key, they closed the time loop by not waiting for their duplicates to enter. The recognized that the key matched the sun mural in the basement of the monastery back in Vashad. They travelled there and the key unlocked a part of Aeon's Orrery. They remembered part of Linessa's prophecy that indicated the Abyss could be sealed using the Orrery. They began to manipulate the impossible machinery. In the process of sealing the Abyss, locking Aeon in the Void, they also imposed several other noteworthy changes in space and time:

• Horses were erased from history, never having existed
• The Shard Gods of Khasyat were pulled from the Time Storm to the present day
• The Ruk of Khasyat were awakened in Khasyat
• Old magic resurfaced in the Shards

Canon

This campaign is canonized as the fall of the Tanari Queen, Lascivia as well as the fall of the Dark Empire of Acrolon and the beginning of the reign of Lily, the Dawn Queen. All of the player characters are canonized as the game indicates:

• Atrius became The Last Emperor, one of the Strange Gods of The Veil
• Ember became an exarch to Lucidus
• Kosh became an exarch to Nexia
• Makal became an exarch to Aedifica
• Torn became The Torn Man, one of the Strange Gods of The Veil

The Shadow Realm now exists, due to the interaction of the Umbral Blot and Lascivia. Also, Aeon was resurrected, but locked out of the Integrum by the sealing of the Abyss. The Vashar were rescued from the Abyss and re-settled a region of Vashad. Each of the outcomes of the tampering with the Orrery also came to pass.