Session 23.1

Hey all, Alex here. As I told everyone at the last session, the session summary wasn't showing up on my mobile phone, so I wrote one myself (partly for myself, but partly to help anyone who wasn't there). My summary might not match Chris's because it was just from memory without notes.

here it is.

 When we last saw our
“heroic” adventurers they had fumbled their way through the hallways of the
Temple of Sai, god of the blind and darkness, in their attempts to “retrieve”
whatever lays on the alters of all 7 temples of the gods. They had already gone
to the other 3 temples on Darkness Rise, met some interesting people, set some
magical green fires and found one asshole who will eventually get what’s coming
to him.

 Within the temple it
seemed as if any light from spells was weak an ineffective. As part of their
fumbling through the temple, Narryr’s flaming sphere burst through the door of
the main hall, the smell of the burning wood altered and angered the followers
of Sai and the party seemed to be in trouble; being attacked from the dark by
enemies they couldn’t see.

 Simultaneously Narryr
and Oleander had the idea of trying non-magical fire to combat the darkness.
While Oleander tried to light one of his damp, old torches, Palkobo (real name
Zap) took some of the small pieces of wood he keeps for whittling out of his
pouch and lit them, hoping to throw them throughout the room and give the party
sporadic sources of light. However, one of the lit pieces found its way to a
wall hanging which quickly burst into flames. With the room completely lit the
tables had turned, with the party now able to see the blind worshippers. Narryr
bolted to grab the huge black gemstone from atop the alter and Oleander and
Palkobo “defended themselves” against the oncoming horde of attackers. They
literally didn’t see it coming as the party plowed through them effortlessly.
With the sound of more followers approaching the party considered staying and
slaughtering them all but realized that they were acting exactly as the asshole
from the Temple of Aghad wanted them to. So, they chose to expediently exit the
temple, passing by walls charred by Narryr’s flaming sphere and a pungent
smelling yellow liquid Oleander tried not to look at.

 After exiting the
temple, the party was surprised to see that the green flames centered in the
remains of the temple of Bheleu had grown and people had begun to amass in the
temple grounds. The long dormant followers of Bheleu knew that the god of
destructions time had come, and they were going out with a rave. Narryr thought
it best to take the giant rock back Nature’s Rise and spend her day training
with the druids there.

 As she left, 4
figures appeared on horseback descending from the sky. They approached Palkobo
and Oleander in friendship and congratulated them on starting the Age of
Destruction. Their names were Famine, Pestilence, Conquer and Slaughter.
Famine, a rake of a man, did most of the talking for the group. After chatting
for a bit, they approached Bheleu’s temple and joined in the festivities in
their own way. Pestilence went off with some of P’hul’s female followers for a
couple of minutes, Famine seemed to make all the nearby foods wither to nothing
and Conquer and Slaughter in their elaborate armor and deadly “mall ninja”
weaponry made their way through the crowds killing any who crossed their paths.
There was no resistance from the followers, only acceptance and embracement.
Oleander went inside to see if there was anything he could do to help the
people, but seeing the immense power of Slaughter and Conquer, and the
willingness to die of the followers, Oleander decided that there was really
nothing he could do.

 While Oleander was
inside, Famine revealed that he knew more of Palkobo’s situation than anyone
might have realized and even pointed him toward the Temple of Aghad, saying that
his real body was inside. Filled with anger at this revelation, Palkobo and
Oleander quickly made their way to the temple (Oleander cutting his feet again
along the way). Inside, they expected to deal with asshole that had been there
before, but were a little disappointed to find the temple seemingly empty. They
took their time and carefully searched for any secret or hidden compartments.
Near the alter they found a trapped secret door, but Oleander was able to deal
with it without issue. In the room a starved Paldrag was chained to the walls.
Something about their current condition meant that Paldrag’s original body
couldn’t die and so the followers of Aghad had been starving and torturing him.
Little more than skin, scales and bones, Palkobo and Oleander quickly went to
aid their friend. Almost immediately after Palkobo approached, Paldrag’s soul
was sucked out of the Kobold’s body and returned to the dragonborn releasing a
wave of purple energy and leaving Zap to fall unconscious on the floor. Oleander
freed Paldrag and they made their way out of the temple; Paldrag carrying Zap’s
body.

 The green flames from
the Temple of Bheleu had grown yet again and Paldrag felt himself drawn to
them. He asked Oleander to take care of Zap while he went inside. Walking past
the corpses, Paldrag walked right into the flames, finding the sword Oleander
had plunged into the temple floor earlier. As Paldrag pulled the blade out, his
body was restored to its previous strong nature and the green flames died out.
Paldrag communed with Bheleu and was told that he was now in Bheleu’s service.
Being a devout follower of Bahamut, Paldrag refuse to follow Bheleu only to be
struck by a bolt of lighting and returned to his weakened state. Within
Paldrag’s mind Bheleu made it clear that this was not a choice, but an order.
He was now Bheleu’s paladin.

 Oleander’s previous
connection to the sword gave him some insight as to what was going on, so he
donned his magical gloves to resist the cursed blade, ran inside and tried to
pry the blade from Paldrag’s hands. But Paldrag resisted and kept his hold on
the now two-handed sword. Frustrated with the turn of events Paldrag lashed out
at any objects he crossed as they left, but only grew more frustrate when he
heard Bheleu’s pleased voice in the back on his mind.

 With Paldrag and Zap
in rough shape, Oleander agreed that rest was best, and they headed toward
Nature’s Rise. On the outskirts of Nature’s Rise, they saw a follower of P’hul
attempting to enter, but coming up against an invisible barrier. It seems she
was there to see and thank them for bringing about the Age of Destruction and
the pair realized that the followers of P’hul had spread contaminated dust from
the top of Darkness Rise in order to infect the populace.

 With that they decided
to call it a night, but were surprised when a leprechaun appeared from nowhere
offering them gifts in exchange for answering his riddles. Oleander was able to
make quick work of the Irish themed riddles, but Paldrag struggle to get a
single correct answer. Still, the tiny, drunk, powerful being had been satiated
and told them that they could chose any number of cards from a magical deck of
cards. Oleander being the faster of the two, was the first to pick, deciding he
would take two cards. As he plucked his first card his weapons, shield, armor,
cape and various other items disintegrated and turned to dust. Depressed, but
having no other options, Oleander plucked a second card and a rare magical item
appeared in his hands.

 Paldrag was next.
With his first card his purse suddenly got heavier as 50 gems appeared from
nowhere. As he drew his second card he knew that solving riddles would be more
difficult but thought it would be a good idea to draw another card on top of
his initial 3. With his third card he felt more charming and charismatic. And
with his final card he felt more experienced and stronger.

 Thinking that was all
from the leprechaun the pair were surprised when a not quite drunk enough
leprechaun became enthralled with a random passerby. A beautiful woman called
Naomi. The leprechaun decided to forego the riddled preface and just let her
pick some cards. Because why not. Not really knowing what was going on, Naomi
decided to take 12 cards. With her first card the twinkle in her eye turned to a
suspicious stare. Her second card brought seemingly no affect, but she
disappeared after picking out her third card. Though the party is unaware she
was magically transported and imprisoned in a secret location.

 Finally, the
leprechaun paid Narryr a quick visit and she drew 3 cards. Though her first
card didn’t seem to affect her, she knows that somewhere in the pits of hell
she has a powerful enemy waiting to destroy her. Her second card brought the
return Slaughter, but after seeing that Narryr was a friend of Paldrag’s he
decided to let her slide. Finally, her third card brought forth a faithful and
sturdy ally who will serve her for the rest of his life.