2.4 We Have a Crazy Naked Party, and Also Save the World

## 2.4.1 Our heroes shoot for the moon

With
everyone back on board after rescuing Travize and Sajaina from the Maharajah’s
palace, the ship fled like a bat out of hell, getting as far away as possible
from Murakesz. Spirits were low as the consequences of what had happened really
sunk into the group. Sal was training with his father, trying to act as if he
hadn’t almost died. Baygrith had actually died, unbeknownst to the group,
before managing to come back and depriving Steave of him, a slight that he knew
the specter would not soon forgive. Perlapae felt powerless and guilty for not
saving Baygrith, so she embedding a new stone into herself in pursuit of more
strength. The rest of the party spent their time on their own, helping around
the ship or training.

Sajaina
couldn’t bear the morose mood on the ship and decided that this was the perfect
opportunity to bust out the drinks they had taken from Dal’s tower. Veller and
Liam approved of the idea and commanded everyone to report to dinner. Sajaina
chose a green bottle reminiscent of citrus, as Liam explained how the drink
works, with some help from Dal. The drinks weren’t quite alcohol, but they did
have mind-altering properties. As Liam explained it, the first drink causes the
line between ideation and activation to blur; things that seem like crazy ideas
start to actual feel attainable. After the second drink, the mental models
created by everyone start to blur together into one shared model. Drink number
three makes the drinker start to get anxious and antsy; they have to be doing
something productive. By the fourth drink, anything seems possible. What
happens after the fourth drink? Liam didn’t tell the group, just that it would
be a bad idea to drink more than four cups.

Of
course, as Liam began his explanation, Grukk ignored him and starting chugging
from the bottle, getting one drink ahead of the rest of the group as he started
to belt out “Be a Man.            After
the group drank their first cup, Liam asked the group what they planned on
doing after the adventure is over.

·
Salachi will continue to travel,
collecting and performing music from all over.

·
Timmeron will also travel the
world with Elizabell, working on his magical studies.

·
Baygrith wants to find his
parents and build a golem body for his late father.

·
Caireanne just wants to go home
to her friends and family, back to the library.

·
Travize wants to return home as
well, aiding whoever he can with his druidism.

·
Perlapae will continue to Viti’s
will, which will probably bring her back home.

·
Grukk wants to buy his own land
in Crag and become lord of Grukkstead.

·
Sajaina wants to travel and go to
the edge of the world. And then the moon.

Sajaina’s
answer led to a rather amusing conversation where our wise and intelligent
heroes decide that they should all become gods of the moon. But how? Well, of
course it’s because there are trees on Tirisea that makes the gods have power,
so if they planted trees on the moon, then they would be gods. Sajaina would,
of course, become the goddess of sex, Sal, the god of music, Timmeron is the
god of magic, and so on. Baygrith and Liam started to argue about who would
become the god of artificery, building battlebots in order to prove which of
them is the superior artificer.

At this
point, our heroes are on their third drink, and things start to get really
interesting. Sal invented hard rock and progressive metal on his lute as
Timmeron picked a fight with Grukk. Perlapae now began her own competition with
Timmeron as well. Caireanne began to tinker with the leftover parts as Baygrith
and Liam’s constructs became more and more complex. Perlapae created a golem
out of wood and appropriately named him Wood.

By drink
number four, Liam had gotten distracted and somehow built a pool on the deck of
the ship. Sajaina and Perlapae prove to everyone that they are, in fact, women,
because only women could be gods of the moon. They’re not the only ones to
prove their gender, however, as the rest of the group stripped naked and goes
to play in the pool. Sajaina and Veller drunkenly get married, and not to be
outdone by making poorly thought out decisions while under the influence, Sal
drunkenly joined the Collective. Perlapae’s thoughts started to blend with
Adelon’s, and she couldn’t figure out which person she actually was. Travize
and Wrynn have crazy, wild sex. Over and over again.

Finally, the
responsible watchers in charge of making sure that nothing goes horribly wrong
while we’re high on super alcohol decided that enough is enough and so they put
everyone to sleep.

## 2.4.2 Team Elizabell and Alpha Team

Crazy naked
party now behind them, the group sobered up and began finalizing their plan to
take out Albert and Murag and save Elizabell. Veller lent the group his magic
box to teleport them to Crag, where Bagel was able to teleport them back to the
Vox’s woods. Try as he might, however, the elf wizard wasn’t quite able to
navigate the group back to the teleporting pool that would take them to Murag’s
airship. The Black Maiden was distorting the way until she could have a chat
with the party. She didn’t appreciate the group traipsing through her woods and
using the pool whenever they felt like it, forbidding them from using it in the
future unless they had her permission. She let it slide this time, however, and
led the adventurers to the pool, with the warning that Murag was moments from
causing the worlds to collide and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
The group, of course, took this as a challenge and hurried to stop him. With
this knowledge in mind, the party split into two groups since they couldn’t
spare the time to have everyone go get Elizabell. Perlapae and Sajaina took the
pool to Murag’s airship to rescue Elizabell while Timmeron watched through
Perlapae’s eyes, lending her his thoughts and abilities. The rest went to
Murag’s unknown location, which appeared to be underground in a temple of some
sort. Bagel stayed behind to watch over Timmeron’s body and scry on both teams
in the pool to monitor them.

Team
Elizabell arrived on the ship to find their captive trapped in a cage right in
the center of the deck. Obviously a trap, but they couldn’t do much about it
apart from try to save her. Sajaina used her bracelet to teleport into the cage
to grab her, but as she tried to grab the gnome’s hand, all she grabbed was
air. Perlapae sensed that Elizabell was no longer on the ship at all. Sajaina
tried to teleport back out with her bracelet, but it did nothing. There seemed
to be no lock to pick at all; she was stuck. The trap triggered, voidspawn
began to pour onto the deck as the ship’s crew ran off to hide in a panic.
Timmeron froze as many as he could while Perlapae lifted the cage out of the
reach of voidspawn.  They finally busted
her out when Timmeron blasted the top of the cage with time magic, causing it
to rust enough for Sajaina to kick it open. Perlapae grabbed Sajaina and flew
off, while Timmeron returned back to his own body to find Elizabell in the
pool.

Alpha Team
arrived right on top of a huge voidspawn,
ambushing it. Sal, Grukk, and Travize valiantly attacked the beast with
an intense ferocity…and did pretty much nothing. Caireanne, armed with None,
showed everyone else how it’s done by cleaving its head in twain. Another large
voidspawn joined the fight as small worms began to crawl out of the openings in
the injured one’s body.

Caireanne
heard a voice in her head telling her to strike at the voidspawn’s core. None
was speaking to her, apparently with a mind of its own. Baygrith smacked away
the big voidspawn with his exploding fish, and after a tough battle, the group
prevailed, ready to enter the temple to confront Murag. Caireanne wondered if
carrying None inside the temple would be a problem, and the sword spoke to her
again in her mind, telling her it would not harm the place that it was forged
in. Grukk pulls on the handle…and it’s locked.

Meanwhile,
Team Elizabell wasn’t doing so well. Sajaina may have been small, but she was
heavy enough that Perlapae was beginning to tire. She created a golem of air to
help her fly, but it wasn’t going to be enough to keep her afloat. Bagel saw
her predicament and sent her some wood through the pool, which she was able to
turn into a canoe. Battered by waves, the two women almost capsized, but
managed to keep afloat long enough for Veller to swoop down with his ship and
rescue them. Sajaina and Perlapae immediately take the box back to Crag and the
pool so they can join the rest of the crew. Timmeron, back in his body,
searched for Elizabell in the pool and saw her in a magical prison floating
near Murag. The gnome immediately teleported through the pool to join Alpha
Team.

## 2.4.3 We set off ALL the traps

A pack of
goblins come out from the wilderness to confront our adventurers, warning them
that the temple is cursed and that they will need the goblins’ help to survive.
They led them to the goblin shaman, who warned them of the perils of the temple
and protected them with the blessing of the jaguar in a blood ritual, giving
them wreaths to guard them from the spirits. Perlapae and Sajaina arrived just
in time to take part of the ritual as well. The goblins led the group back to
the temple and the door opened easily at the shaman’s touch.

Almost
immediately, Grukk set off a dart trap, taking damage and getting poisoned.
Perlapae then set off another trap, releasing giant killer bees into the room.
Our adventurers fought off the bees and Perlapae sealed the opening with her
stone manipulation. Travize captured one alive with hopes of studying it and
gaining its form.

## 2.4.4 Bridge over troubled water

The next
room was empty apart from a black waterfall in the center of the room, water
pouring from the ceiling and emptying into the a hole in the floor. The
waterfall looked to be the only way out, and conveniently, there was an
artificery device near it that slowed falling speed. The group landed in the
water, amidst a huge swarm of mosquitoes, and the lake gave way to rock and
dirt, which led to a pathway paved from purple glass or crystal. As our heroes
walked through the path, it became a bridge over dark water, with fog creeping
up from the sides. In the fog, each person lost sight of their companions; even
Perlapae and Grukk, who were holding hands, found that they were grasping air
instead.  As they walked through the fog,
they felt an unnatural thirst grip them, and their skin became itchy and
prickly. A shadowy figure appeared in the water, enticing them to refresh
themselves.

None’s voice
resonated in Caireanne’s head, telling her to run. She did, encountering no resistance.

Sajaina,
panicking, closed her eyes and broke into a run, surprised to find herself past
the mist and at the end of the bridge when she opened them.

Baygrith’s
parents stood in the water, overjoyed to see their son. The dwarf knew not to
trust what he was seeing and walked on, with tears in his eyes. He found
Sajaina and Caireanne at the end, falling to his knees as he cried.

Grukk found
himself facing a shadowy warrior on the bridge, taunting him and goading him
into a fight. The orc bullrushed the figure, only to find himself rushing off
of the edge of the bridge into the water. At the last second, he managed to
grab the edge, pulling himself along the side to the end, exhausting.

Perlapae saw
Heliod, her tender. He couldn’t seem to tell whether she was Perlapae or
Adelon, making it easy for her to ignore his pleas. She made a run for it,
making it to safety.

Travize
encountered Steave who advised the druid to watch himself; he escaped his grasp
once, and might not be so lucky again. As Travize continued his path, he found
it hard to breathe. Cuts began appearing on his skin and he staggered to the
end of the walkway, near death and covered in wounds.

Salachi
hears the voice of his father, who had been strangely silent beforehand. He
told Sal that the bridge was an illusion and attempted to convince him that the
real path was invisible. Sal gritted his teeth and walked forward, ignoring
Dal’s pleas. As he walked forward, he fell through onto another bridge,
surrounded by the injured and the dying. The strangers pleaded for help, but
Sal kept walking. He saw himself, impaled by a shard of glass, reaching out for
help. He steeled himself and walked forward, only to find himself standing
where his doppelganger was, himself impaled by a shard of glass. His vision
blurring, he staggered forward, pressing on until he collapsed at the end of
the bridge, mortally wounded, with his friends in sight.

Timmeron saw
Elizabell on the bridge, next to a dying Murag. As he ran to save her, Murag
growled that he would drag her down with him, and he ran his sword through
himself and into Elizabell. Timmeron let out a primal scream of rage before
collapsing, and Sajaina, who had ventured back into the mist to find him,
carried the gnome out into safety.

Bagel was
nowhere to be seen, so Caireanne ran back into the fog to find him. The wizard
appeared shellshocked and began fighting off Caireanne, thinking she was a
trick of the mist. She was forced to knock him out and carry him out.

## 2.4.5 Sajaina sees the writing on the wall

Out of the
mist, the group started to recuperate. Travize seemed to heal on his own after
being away from his own personal phantoms, but Sal’s wound was very real and
was getting worse. Grukk pried the glass shard from him and Perlapae healed him
back to health. Timmeron wakes and panics, but Sajaina calms him down and
reminds him that it was all a trick, consoling him.

In the next
room, Sajaina determined that there is a trap in the middle of the room, with a
sound-based trigger. The dark murals on the wall seem to move and shift, almost
alive with an angry energy. Sajaina tries to pry a panel off the wall while
Timmeron tries to dispel the images; his magic Is absorbed and only seems to
enrage the darkness more. As Sajaina tried to pry open a panel, she slipped and
bumped into the wall, leaving a Sun Elf shaped empty blotch. After another
attempt, she succeeded, finding a silver amulet. As she rejoined the group ,
ink briefly appeared on her arm where hit the wall, vanishing a second later.

Travize
finds a false panel on the floor, leading to a ladder. When it is opened, dark
faces come out of the ink in the wall and attack the group, but the protective
wreaths given by the goblin shaman do their job and everyone escapes unscathed.

## 2.4.6 Ghosts

At the
bottom of the ladder, the group is plunged into darkness as the torch goes out.
Except as Sal learns, the torch is still hot to the touch. As they enter the
room ahead, a lone spirit lights the path; Derek, their companion they lost in battle
not so long ago. He stared at them, unspeaking. As they approached him, more
spirits appeared, familiar faces to some of the group. Baygrith’s father. The
Collective village that had massacred each other for an unknown reason. Dozens
of Halflings, presumed to be from Sal’s village as it was destroyed. The group
pressed on through these spirits, reaching the door into the final chamber.

## 2.4.7 Sajaina gets all the credit, Murag gets None

Murag stood
in the chamber, surrounded by blood red rock and columns. The hall leading to
the chamber is swarmed by voidspawn, standing unresponsive as though under
thrall by Murag. Aiding Murag in his venture are not the two Ascendants the
group had been expecting, but three: Albert, a gnome specializing in healing
magic, and a goblin who worked with chaos magic. Seeing Murag’s voidspawn staff
sitting on the ground unprotected, Sajaina slunk off into the shadows to try to
steal it. She was almost discovered by an orc guard, but Travize turns into a
spider to distract him and she nabs the staff.

Returning to
the group, Caireanne handed None over to Sajaina. Seizing the opportunity, the
rogue teleported behind Albert with her bracelet and sliced the spirit in half
with the sword. Albert vaporized in a horrifying scream and was no more. All
hell broke loose as Murag’s ritual is interrupted. Seeing that he was now at a
disadvantage, Murag offered to talk, but Grukk didn’t so much as entertain the
thought before drawing his sword and challenging the leader of the Dragonwings.

While the
fight has started, Baygrith freed Elizabell from her magical prison by flying
above her with his rocket boots and wrapping the anti-magic robe around her.
Freed, she ran to her fiancé.

Sajaina
managed to catch the attention of Karhanza, the goblin Ascendant. She explained
to Sajaina that she did not wish the world to end, but she was bound to aid
Murag in his endeavor. The goblin told her that if she wished to stop the
ritual, she needed to destroy the altar that Murag was using as a conduit with
None, and she also explained that Smitty, the gnome Ascendant, was a follower
of Murag. Sajaina asked Travize to use his Skein of Soulsight on Karhanza to
determine that she was telling the truth while Caireanne talked to the her to
find out more information. Both Travize and Caireanne believed Karhanza, leading
Sajaina to teleport to the altar. In a last ditch effort, Murag charged at her
to stop her, but Sajaina sliced his head off with None and destroys the altar.

## 2.4.8 Escape

The ritual
ruined, an immensely powerful voidspawn emerged the air, nothing like the mere
minions the group had encountered before. The beast was hideously ugly with a
single giant eye in the center of its face, and arms reaching out from its
torso, almost as if trying to escape the body. Timmeron, the current wielder of
Murag’s voidspawn staff, attempted to use it to stop the voidspawn but it had
no effect. The best he could do was prevent the other voidspawn from swarming
them, though it barely overrode the will of the huge voidspawn.

The party
ran for their lives, climbing back up the ladder as fast as possible. Smitty,
though no friend to the group, promised to make a truce since he had no desire
to get destroyed by a monster. The voidspawn let loose an enormous blast of
energy from its eye, barely missing Caireanne but causing her to fall. Sajaina
grabbed her and pulled her to safety. In the room above, the ink that had
seeped into Sajaina’s skin activated, dragging her into the wall. Baygrith
tried to brainstorm HOW WE GET HER OUT OF WALL? and concludes that the
enchantment could be broken with several of the wreaths. Perlapae, Travize,
Salachi, and Timmeron all removed their wreaths and gave them to Sajaina,
freeing her but leaving them vulnerable to the swarming ink faces in the room.
The group managed to escape the room and ran back across the bridge, where they
were briefly pursued by the shadowy figure they had encountered before. They
escaped the temple with seconds to spare as the goblin shaman awaited outside.
She sealed the exit just in time for the monstrous voidspawn to rage against
the door, trapped. For now.

## 2.4.9 The End?

Elizabell
saved and Albert and Murag utterly destroyed, the group all found themselves at
ease for the first time in a long time. Apart from the monstrosity that was
barely being contained in the temple by the goblins and the fact that the
barrier between worlds was still severely weakened, if not broken entirely,
that is. With their main goals completed, they found themselves asking…”What
happens now?”