Session0063

Episode 0063 - Play Us a Song
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**Setting:**

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

* The party raids the Mercury Company and defeats the slavers and recovers the soul brand and soul coins, as well as a great deal of riches from the slavers' coffers.
* Discovering Natalie Shaw and a handful of other soul slaves within the auction hall's basement, the party frees the slaves from the soul brand's influence using *dispel magic*.
* After briefly speaking with Natalie Shaw and explaining the situation, the party departs the auction hall before the arrival of the Lady of Pain's authorities, bring the unconscious Ravaasta with them.
* After a bitter reunion between Natalie Shaw and Lane Coronato, Lane bids the party farewell and heads to Ribcage to travel to the Hells.
* XVIII follows Lane Coronato to Ribcage. After a heated exchange outside the gates of hell, Lane Coronato departs, and XVIII spends the remainder of their day wandering the streets of Sigil and getting into bar fights.
* Meanwhile, after spending some time with Natalie Shaw, the party takes Ravaasta to Niflheim to turn her in to Zolgun, but discovers that Zolgun has left Hades on some sort of business, and won't be back for a number of days.
* After reconvening back in Sigil and rejoining with XVIII, as the party discusses their next move, Louche receives a *sending* from Titivilus informing him that the job is complete, and telling him to come to Ribcage to fetch Mahadi.
* The party heads to Ribcage, where they meet with Titivilus, who leads them through a nearby magical portal to the Inner Gate.
* At the Inner Gate, the party finds Lane Coronato, Vassia, and Mahadi, accompanied by an avatar of Asmodeus.
* Asmodeus commands Louche to approach, bypassing his magical resistance to charm effects and mind controlling him. A few other party members attempt to take action, but are immediately subdued by Asmodeus' enchantment magic.
* Asmodeus asks Malkoth to submit himself to the *psalm of assimilation* and become one with him. When Malkoth refuses, Asmodeus tears his heart out and burns it, killing him.
* Lane Coronato offers to take Malkoth's place, to which Asmodeus agrees. Still mind controlled, Louche plays the *psalm of assimilation*, and the avatar of Asmodeus is destroyed, becoming merged with Lane.
* Now one with Asmodeus, Lane Coronato activates the Inner Gate, as the rest of the party begins to regain their faculties as his godlike power wanes in his new form.

## June 18th

Within the Mercury Company auction hall, the party battles the remaining yugoloth slavers. In the fray, Gregarian Advantis slays Spiros Chronelis, and a pair of other merchants are inadvertently slain by crossfire. Ravaasta, who is brought back to consciousness by another yugoloth, is eventually knocked out once again, and Louche places *dimensional shackles* on her.

Continuing into the basement of the auction hall, the party finds Melius and another yugoloth gathering valuables and seemingly preparing to destroy evidence before fleeing. Melius carries a chest of soul coins, and the yugoloth carries Zolgun's soul brand. Melius mind controls XVIII and forces them to attack the party, and attempts to escape by opening a hidden doorway out into the streets of Sigil, but a few party members pursue and slay him. After collecting his chest of soul coins and a few other valuables from his person, they call for the aid of some nearby dabus.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party dispatches the remaining yugoloths, and searches the Mercury Company for valuables, recovering the soul brand, a great deal of coin and treasure, and some paperwork and contracts, including some bills of sale that incriminate various members of the Quorum, as well as a contract detailing the political arrangement between Ravaasta and Graz'zt. The party also finds several slaves who are mind-controlled by the soul brand, including Natalie Shaw. Using *dispel magic*, they free the slaves from the enchantment.

While the rest of the party is collecting valuables, Malkoth and Louche speak with Natalie Shaw. Malkoth explains that he is her grandson, and that Lane Coronato is in Sigil with them, and Louche tells her that Lane is planning to go to the Hells. Natalie expresses her gratitude, and eagerness to meet with Lane and dissuade him from leaving. When asked about Israphel, she explains that she had worked with him to modify a *divine titanheart* to function within an arcane construct, and in exchange, he had promised to bring Lane to Sigil. Malkoth also tells her about what happened with Elrah Saevel, and informs her that he collected the inheritance.

Back outside, the party members that slew Melius briefly speak with a pair of dabus, and Gregarian Advantis explains the situation. The dabus tell the party to leave the premises, and that the Lady of Pain will take over from here. Before the authorities can enter the auction hall, the party still inside gather the valuables, places Ravaasta bound into their *portable hole*, and departs, accompanied by Natalie Shaw.

The party heads back to Natalie Shaw's home, where she is reunited with Lane Coronato. After a tearful reunion, Lane places a charm on Natalie, then tells her that he is leaving to the Hells never to return, calling her a terrible mother and burning the letter that she left for him. Afterwards, he departs for Ribcage to travel to the Hells, bidding farewell to the party, and leaving Natalie emotionally devastated. Louche follows Lane away, and shortly thereafter, XVIII turns invisible and does the same. The rest of the party remains behind to console Natalie and help tidy up her ransacked home, as Malkoth dispels the charm effect on her.

En route to Ribcage, Louche and Lane Coronato discuss Lane's plans once he gets to the Hells. Louche gives Lane some tips and contacts to connect with, and emphasizes the importance of not trying to leverage their relationship for power, as Louche is not well respected in the Hells. Near the gates of Ribcage, the two bid each other farewell, and Louche heads back to reconvene with the party.

Before Lane Coronato can enter Ribcage, XVIII appears from invisibility and assaults Lane. XVIII confronts him about hurting Natalie Shaw, and the two have a tense argument and standoff about their natures, before Lane eventually departs into Ribcage. Afterwards, XVIII spends the next several hours wandering the streets of Sigil and getting into barroom brawls and fights.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party reconvenes at Natalie Shaw's home. Louche and Malkoth provide her with some comfort and company, and Malkoth demonstrates the use of her *material resonator*.

Afterwards, the party discusses their plans for what to do with Ravaasta, who is groggy but beginning to return to consciousness. After some discussion of possibly turning her in to the Lady of Pain for judgment, they eventually decide to stick with the plan of taking her to Niflheim and giving her to Zolgun as previously agreed. Instead of using their one-time-use key to Niflheim, which opens the door for only one person, the party decides to travel through the Outer Gate and the terrain of Hades instead, to avoid the potential risk of going to Niflheim alone.

Noting that XVIII has still not returned, Frog contacts them with *sending* and tells them the plan, checking in on their wellbeing. XVIII responds that they are not safe to be around, seemingly impacted by having been forced to attack the party earlier at the Mercury Company, and tells the party to go to Hades without them. After a few more messages and back and forth conversation, XVIII eventually assures the party that they will meet back up later.

Before departing for Hades, Gregarian Advantis check in with Loot, and asks him to send someone from the spy organization to keep an eye on XVIII for their safety. Loot arranges for this, and also informs Gregarian of a development on the organization's efforts to spy on Ribcage. He reports that Talaal, one of the organizations spies, had been sent to monitor and spy on Ribcage, and that she is now missing.

The party heads through the Outer Gate at Hopeless and travels through Hades to Niflheim. Along the way, Jack and Louche begin to suffer the plane's graying and ennui effects; however, the party eventually makes it to the council chambers in Niflheim where they previously met with Zolgun. When they get there, they find that Zolgun is not present. Asking around, another yugoloth tells them that Zolgun left a couple of days ago on some sort of business. Louche casts a *sending* spell and contacts Zolgun, who tells him that he'll be away for a while, but will get back in touch soon. Their trip having proved fruitless, the party comes back to Sigil.

Shortly later, the party reconvenes at Every Ware, including XVIII. They discuss their plans while eating a magically restorative cake that Frog provides, having received it as a gift from Porcini. As they're eating and discussing, Louche receives a *sending* from Titivilus, who informs him that Zolgun has held up his end of their deal, and that as promised, Mahadi has been brought to Sigil to be handed over to Louche. He asks Louche to meet him at Ribcage.

After a brief discussion, the party heads to Ribcage together, accompanying Louche. At Ribcage, they find Titivilus outside. He chastises Louche for bringing the party with him, but begrudgingly agrees that they can come along. Leading the way, Titivilus takes the party to a nearby park, where he opens a password-created doorway formed between two trees, and leads the party through.

On the other side of the doorway, the party finds themselves at the Inner Gate. Here, they find Vassia and Lane Coronato, as well as Mahadi being held in chains by a pair of devils. Alongside these devils, they find an avatar of Asmodeus himself present at the Inner Gate, with a dead dabu at his feet. Asmodeus tells Louche to approach and sit on a nearby bench. When Louche attempts to use a magic item to activate *truesight*, Asmodeus mind-controls him, seemingly ignoring the effects of a magic item Louche wears that prevents him from being charmed. Gregarian Advantis and Patches attempt to make moves toward the devils, but both of them are overwhelmed by Asmodeus' enchantment magic and incapacitated.

Asmodeus speaks with Malkoth next, asking him to willingly submit to the *psalm of assimilation*, which he explains will destroy his avatar and merge it with Malkoth, imbuing Malkoth will all of his power. Malkoth refuses, recognizing that agreeing would likely destroy his own will and make him simply a vessel for Asmodeus. When Malkoth refuses, Asmodeus tears his heart out of his chest and burns it, killing him.

Lane Coronato then approaches the offers to take Malkoth's place instead, seemingly insinuating that he had fulfilled his end of a deal, and was ready to claim his promised reward. Asmodeus agrees, and uses magic to stop time for everyone besides himself, Lane, and Louche. Still mind controlled, Louche plays the *psalm of assimilation* on his trumpet, which Lane returns to him, as Asmodeus plays along on his own golden fiddle. With the song complete, the avatar of Asmodeus is destroyed and merges with Lane.

With the psalm complete, the party begins to feel Asmodeus' power wane significantly as he is now merged into a mortal form in Lane Coronato. Gregarian Advantis and Patches begin to regain their capacity to act, as the time stop effect fades, and Louche's mind control effect breaks. Lane approaches and activates the Inner Gate, which brings up a hologram of Materi, which he uses to navigate to the island of Ymana. He orders the chain devils to free Mahadi, releasing him into Louche's service, then instructs Titivilus to kill the party.