Session0065

Episode 0065 - Keep Reaching
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**Setting:**

Sigil - Mimrinoth - June 18th-20th, 211 AW
**Synopsis:**

* Before departing Sigil to return to the Material Plane, the party turns Ravaasta over to the Lady of Pain to face justice.
* Odell reveals to the party that he plans to stop the Morningstar's ascension by using rune magic to usurp the magic of her ascension ritual and ascend to godhood himself, and the party discusses the implications of this plan.
* Using the Inner Gate, the party returns to Mimrinoth, where they discuss the status of the Imlaq Colossus and the Titan of Sapphrius Bay with the Circles of Architects and Rune Carvers.
* The party travels to the desert, where they help finish repairs to the Imlaq Colossus, and then journey back to Mimrinoth aboard the Colossus.
* Taking a defensive position in the mountains west of Mimrinoth aboard the Imlaq Colossus, the party prepares for battle as the Titan of Sapphrius Bay approaches.

## June 18th

At Every Ware, the party discusses what to do about Ravaasta and the soul coins and soul brand that were recovered from the Mercury Company. After some discussion, they decide to turn Ravaasta in to the Lady of Pain to face Sigil's justice, and also to give the soul brand to the Lady of Pain and request that she destroy it.

Discussing what to do with the soul coins, the party eventually agrees to turn them in to the Lady of Pain as well. However, Odell says that he wants to keep them. When asked why he needs them, Odell reveals that he intends to stop the Morningstar's ascension by using rune magic to divert the magic of her ascension ritual to himself, thereby ascending to godhood himself. He shows the party a rune that he has developed, which he calls the rune of divine transference, which he says will enable him to take the Morningstar's ascension ritual for himself. In order to facilitate this process, he explains, he will need to use the soul coins, since he does not have a cult of willing followers to sacrifice themselves for his ascension, like the Morningstar does.

The party discusses Odell's plan. Several party members, chiefly Malkoth, Louche, and Falgron, express disagreement with his plan, insisting that it would better to just kill the Morningstar and prevent her ascension, rather than diverting her ascension to someone else. Odell argues that even if the party successfully prevents the Morningstar's ascension, someone else is bound to attempt the same thing later, pointing to Daimao, Israphel, and Asmodeus as other entities that have recognized the power vacuum within the Divine Gate. Jack expresses a somewhat reluctant agreement with Odell's plan, while Falgron storms off in anger.

The party questions some of the specifics of how Odell's ascension plans would work, including who would become his angels, what domain he would represent, etc. Odell admits that he does not have many specific answers to these questions, but seemingly insinuates that he might ask Pepper to become one of his angels. Malkoth asks some questions about the logistical specifics of how Odell's rune works, including whether Odell will need to be in close physical proximity to the Morningstar for the plan to work. Odell says that physical proximity isn't strictly necessary, but that he will probably still need to be close in order to time the rune's invocation properly.

Leaving the issue unresolved for the moment, the party agrees to at least keep the soul coins for the time being, rather than turning them in to the Lady of Pain. They head to the Iron Palace and into the Lady of Pain's court, where they turn over Ravaasta, and explain what happened at the Mercury Company. In exchange for her return, Louche requests that the Lady of Pain provide the party with some way to imprison Asmodeus's new mortal avatar and return him to her to face justice. She agrees, and gives Louche a magical ring that can be used to imprison Asomdeus' avatar. At Malkoth's request, she also destroys the soul brand.

Meanwhile, Falgron uses the Inner Gate to travel back to the Material Plane, returning to the Fable Bearers' Sanctum in Mycorrhiza. There, he meets with Aristoadle and tells him about Odell's plans. The two discuss their personal stances on the matter, and what the role of the Fable Bearers Circle will be in the wake of Daimao's defeat. Falgron suggests the possibility of using the Morningstar's ascension magic to ascend multiple people to a lesser form of godhood, rather than having one singular more powerful god. Aristoadle supports the idea in principle, but admits that he is unsure if it is possible. He tells Falgron that he could arrange for a meeting between the party and the Weavers Conclave to discuss, but leaves that decision to Falgron's judgment.

Aristoadle also tells Falgron that the dead have begun to rise in Kameshima, seemingly animated by spores of some kind, presumably the result of the Earthstar's magic.

Falgron displays his magical painting of Gregarian Advantis within his monastery, then travels through it to return to Sigil and regroup with the party.

Later that evening, Odell casts a *commune* spell, contacting Aedra. He asks her if he has enough time to finish his rune of divine transference before the Morningstar's ascension, and the answer is yes. He then asks if he has Aedra's support in his plan to usurp the Morningstar's ascension ritual, but does not receive a clear answer. Finally, he asks if he will be pushed outside the Divine Gate if he successfully ascends, and the answer is no.

Later in the evening, Patches shapeshifts into a lycanthrope.

## June 19th

In the morning, Louche plays the *psalm of innervation*.

Before leaving Sigil, the party decides to visit the Market Ward to shop for magic items. While shopping, they encounter a cleric of Sarenrae, Valerie. Malkoth asks if she would be capable of ending the *imprisonment* spell on the prisoners that the party recovered from the Purgatory in Volus, and briefly explains who the prisoners are and the circumstances of their imprisonment. Specifically, Malkoth asks her about the possibility of freeing Melf, who he says was imprisoned for unjust reasons, unlike the other prisoners. Valerie agrees to free Melf, and Malkoth tells her that he will return in the coming days with Melf once he has the opportunity to retrieve him from his *demivault*.

Next, the party visits Logic's workshop, so that Louche can study Patches' yacht, now equipped with Mahadi's expertise in tinkering and engineering. Logic and Louche study the yacht for a while, but are unable to deduce very much about the yacht or how to replicate it, as the technology used in its making is so otherworldly.

Parsing through Mahadi's memories that he gained by assimilation, Louche learns that Asmodeus plans to rebuild his infernal forces on Ymana, and reestablish it as his seat of power on the Material Plane. Louche also recalls some of Mahadi's knowledge about the Titan of Sapphrius Bay, including its weaponry and battle capabilities. He recalls that it is crewed by constructs, and that its core produces a forcefield that that makes it impenetrable and invulnerable to attack, but also renders the Titan inactive if disabled.

The party also briefly visits Natalie Shaw to ask her some questions about her work with Israphel on the divine titanheart. They learn that Israphel himself will serve as the Titan's power source by inhabiting the titanheart, and that destroying the titanheart would release Israphel and ultimately shunt him out from the Divine Gate.

As the party travels to the Inner Gate, Falgron proposes the idea that Odell could disperse the Morningstar's ascension ritual to multiple people, rather than only ascending himself. Odell says that it could be possible, but would take more time to rework and develop his rune of divine transference, and they might not have enough time. Malkoth suggests the possibility of traveling to the Feywild and leveraging Queen Ostara's favor to buy more time for Odell's work, but the party is somewhat skeptical that she would be inclined to help, or that it's a good idea for a potential god to owe a favor to an archfey.

Louche and Odell also discuss Louche's new mental state since his assimilation with Mahadi, and Louche asks Odell to help ensure that Mahadi gets the credit that is due to him for his work on the Imlaq Colossus.

Arriving at the Inner Gate, the party explains their business to the dabus that are still investigating the scene, then activates the Inner Gate and uses it to travel to Mimrinoth.

Arriving in Mimrinoth, most of the party heads toward the Circle of Architects to check in on the status of the Imlaq Colossus.

XVIII heads to the Circle of Arcanists and visits Ursula Wolff. They ask Ursula about their family's wellbeing, and Ursula reports that they are doing well and in good spirits. She offers to take XVIII to visit them, but XVIII declines, explaining that the party won't be in Mimrinoth for long, and a visit could just make things more difficult. XVIII urges Ursula to take their family away from Mimrinoth to safety if the Titan of Sapphrius Bay reaches Mimrinoth and attack, to which Ursula agrees. Before departing, XVIII gives Ursula some souvenirs that they gathered for their family over their travels, and the two have a brief conversation about Odell, and the potential of him becoming Paragon of the Rune Carvers.

Meanwhile, Malkoth teleports to Ossidia, where he drops off some fey drugs with a dealer from the Potpie cartel, telling them to take it to Bobblin Gocks. Under cover of an *etherealness* spell, Malkoth then follows the dealer to Bobblin Gocks' office, and overhears Bobblin making some disparaging comments about him. Seeing Bobbling gather his own spellbook and glimpsing a few of the spells contained within, Malkoth deduces that Bobblin is an abjuration wizard. As Bobblin begins to cast a *teleportation circle* spell, Malkoth appears from *etherealness* and confronts him about his disparaging comments. After a brief, tense standoff and some harsh words shared between the two, Malkoth teleports back to the College of Mimrinoth.

Upon returning to the College, Malkoth opens an *efreeti bottle* that he purchased in Sigil, and a brass-manacles efreeti appears, explaining that he will do Malkoth's bidding for a short time, and that he will be free once Malkoth summons him three times.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party arrives at the Circle of Architects, where they find the students are busying themselves with carving and invoking runes of Asmodeus, under the leadership of the Circle of Rune Carvers, in an attempt to weaken Asmodeus' mortal avatar. Among the students of the Circle of Architects, the party finds Lo, who has begun studies with the circle.

Jonas Lionwood, Mordus Moonbeard, and Kajido meet with the party, and explain the current situation. They report that the Imlaq Colossus has been fully excavated, the hull damage and weapons haave been repaired, though more testing is required with the Colossus activated, which requires Louche's *psalm of awakening* and Malkoth's *imlaq amulet*. They show the party some notes regarding the status of the Colossus and the repairs that have been accomplished. Mordus provides an update on rune magic's effectiveness in activating the Colossus, explaining that the Colossus seems compatible with the rune of Asmodeus, but a reliable way to distribute the power through the Colossus is still required, for lack of a *divine titanheart*. Odell explains that the party has recovered the *conjuration anchor*, which should suffice as this power source.

Jonas Lionwood shows the party a warp pipe that they have installed in order to travel quickly to and from Imlaq Colossus dig site in the Chwaka desert. He also explains that scouts have been monitoring the Titan of Sapphrius Bay, and that the Titan has begun to mobilize, and will likely arrive at Mimrinoth within a day or two. The party makes preparations to travel to the Colossus and finish repairs so they can return it to Mimrinoth in time.

Odell and Jonas Lionwood discuss the plans for the Imlaq Colossus after defending Mimrinoth from the Titan of Sapphrius Bay, and the two confirm that it would be best to decommission and destroy the Colossus afterwards.

The party has a discussion about who should pilot the Imlaq Colossus while Louche plays the *psalm of awakening* to activate it. Louche expresses an interest in trying to confront Israphel peacefully, but the rest of the party, especially XVIII, pushes back against this, arguing that Louche has already tried the peaceful approach with Israphel to no avail. Jack likewise expresses concern that Louche isn't being objective or reasonable, and that trying to make peace with Israphel puts too many lives at risk in Mimrinoth. Louche nonetheless says that as the only person who can play the *psalm of awakening* and activate the Colossus, he won't go straight into attacking the Titan of Sapphrius Bay without at least trying to make peace. He assures the party that if Israphel can't be reasoned with he will use violence as necessary, even stating that he will kill Israphel himself if it comes to it.

In a side conversation, Louche tells Jack that he suspects that Lo is pregnant. Jack expresses some skepticism, but confides that when the Inquisitors attacked his tribe in his childhood, they took away his ability to have children. He explains that the possibility of Lo being pregnant is all the more reason they must prevent Israphel's attack.

Meanwhile, Nuraval meets with Odell, and the two discuss the impending situations with the Titan, the Morningstar, Asmodeus, etc. Odell also asks Nuraval about his plans to usurp the Morningstar's ascension, and asks Nuraval his opinion on the idea. Nuraval supports his idea, and Odell also confides that he would like to make Nuraval one of his angels, if his ascension is successful.

Their preparations complete, the party heads to the Chwaka desert using the Circle of Architects's warp pipe (except XVIII, who remains behind in Mimrinoth to do some magic item shopping).

Arriving at the dig site, the party evaluates the condition of the Imlaq Colossus. Malkoth retrieves the *imlaq amulet* from a private demiplane, and using it in conjunction with Louche's *psalm of awakening*, they activate the Colossus. After installing the *conjuration anchor* and accomplishing a few more repairs and improvements, the party begins traveling back to Mimrinoth aboard the Colossus. Along the way, the party discusses plans for who will crew the Colossus for the battle. Odell and Mordus discuss the possibility of utilizing students of the College to aid the efforts, but ultimately opt against it, for fear of putting non-combat-trained students in harm's way. Kajido insists on staying to help man the Colossus, initially expressing an eagerness to pilot it, but eventually agreeing to man the weaponry while someone else pilots.

Meanwhile, back in Mimrinoth, the College begins to evacuates the above-ground citizenry of the city into the underground.

Late at night, near dawn, the Imlaq Colossus arrives in Mimrinoth.

Patches' simulacrum shapeshifts into a green dragonborn.

## June 20th

As dawn arrives, Louche plays the *psalm of rest* for the party. Scouts report that the Titan of Sapphrius Bay will be arriving within a couple of hours.

XVIII asks Odell about the possibility of ascending them, instead of himself. Odell confides that he had actually already considered that possibility, or the possibility of either making XVIII one of his angels, or even recommending XVIII as the Paragon of the Rune Carvers after his departure. When Odell asks them about why they want to ascend, XVIII says that they want to make their life worth something, and that Odell is too valued by others and he would be missed if he ascended. Odell reassures XVIII that their life is worthwhile and that people care about them. The two further discuss XVIII's motivations, and XVIII further reveals that they would use their godhood to attempt to rescue Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel from the Raven Queen.

Meanwhile, Malkoth, in the privacy of his room at the Pathfinder's Alliance, uses the *material resonator* to summon an item and a devil, then opens his *demivault* to retrieve the catatonic Melf. Next, he casts *demiplane* and opens a door to the demiplane where Elrah Saevel hid away the party's *scroll of wish*. After retrieving it, he installs his painting of Gregarian Advantis in the demiplane, then travels through it to Sigil, where he returns to the Market Ward and gives Melf to Valerie to restore to life. He tells her to point Melf toward the College of Mimrinoth once he's awakened, then hurries through the Inner Gate to return to the Imlaq Colossus.

Regrouping at the Colossus and readying themselves for battle, the party sees the Titan of Sapphrius Bay approaching from the west.