The Final Step

The Final Step is the completion of Appius' grand plan. The party must meet him in Hidentia to help him "save" the world.

## Learning of this Quest

After helping Appius defeat a Demon Prince, he'll tell them the fight isn't over yet, but he believes he knows what's needed to finish the demonic plot once and for all. He will say he has some final things to look into but will ask the party to meet him at his base in Hidentia at the bottom of the world. He'll give them the Celestial Sextant so they can navigate through the harsh storms that surround Hidentia and then he'll leave them.

## Details

* The party will have to take a boat south to Hidentia. It's a long journey and they may encounter things along the way.
	+ Add random encounters
* Once they reach the storms surrounding Hidentia, they'll need to produce the Celestial Sextant. With the Sextant, they'll be able to make sailing checks to navigate the storms. Failures will result in them getting lost but they'll be able to keep trying as long as they have the Sextant.
* After finally reaching the edge of the storms, they'll see the sheer cliff faces of Hidentia ahead of them. However, the Sextant will lead them to a small cave in the side of the cliff.
* After entering the cave, they'll sail through the tunnel a short while before reaching the other side which brings them to a small cove on the other side of the wall of stone. They can dock there and come ashore. They'll see a vast paradise teeming with wildlife, some of which they've never seen before. Not too far in the distance, they'll see a city with buildings much taller than any they've ever seen. The Sextant, if they still use it, points them in this direction.
* As they near the city, they may notice several things (ask for a Perception check for flavor):
	+ They notice the city is on a soft rise or hill that seems to come out of the ground. The texture of the rise seems different than the land around it. They also notice, the city seems abandoned with plant growth all over the buildings. Finally, they notice there is no movement within the city.
* Once they're in the city, they'll shortly find different statues of humanoids that look vaguely human, but slightly off, well within the uncanny valley. Many of the statues look shocked or scared and some are running in the direction the party is coming from. The statues grow more frequent the closer they get to the center of the city.
* Once they reach the center of the city, they'll see a large obelisk adorned with ancient writing and clear gems.
* Appius will greet appear at this point (but will be an illusion if anyone attempts to attack or touch him). He will tell them they are standing on the Mount of the Sun, an enormous Couatl that Pelor left with Appius to help defend the Earth in case of a break of the alliance of the gods. He'll claim that the Mount can only be awoken using a small amount of blood from a mortal human. This safeguard is intended to prevent any of the other gods seizing this weapon for their own purposes. He'll then ask any human present to draw blood and smear it on the obelisk.
	+ If the party has figured out what's going on at this point and refuses, he'll call a horde of Couatl to come. They'll target the human(s) of the party. If any does damage, they'll leave with blood on their mouths and rush to the obelisk. If they make it there without being killed, they'll smear the blood on the obelisk and wake the Mount. If they manage to avoid this for a few rounds, Appius will appear himself to help.
* Once the Mount has awake, the city will rumbled and begin to fall apart (but not completely). Some nearby statues will crumble to dust. Illusion-Appius will begin to laugh and launch into his villain speech 1 (how he'll become God Emperor which none of the other gods could do). If they don't know he's an illusion and attempt to attack, they'll realize this then and he'll tell them of course he isn't there where they can interfere with his plans, he has to take control of the Mount and use it to become God Emperor.
* The party will need to fight their way through the city against Couatl and Clay Golems (the statues). These fights will be theatre of the mind with descriptions of the city crumbling around them. After 1 round, the Mount will begin rising into the air and they'll start flying out of Hidentia.
* Once they reach the far side of the city, near the head, they'll see a castle. They'll see magic coming from the top of the castle down to the Mount's head.
* They'll need to climb the castle and engage with Appius where the final battle will commence.
* During the battle, Appius will tell them villain speech 2 (how he waited patiently to serve his master and be the one to save the world but his opportunity never came. How he filled this island with life but when he tried to create sentient beings of his own, it came out wrong. How he abhorred his own creations and eventually snapped and petrified them all as a monument to his failure. But then in his studies, he figured out a plan. He would trick mortals into destabilizing the world so the Mount was ready to be woken up and then bring them here to complete the final step).
* After defeating him, the Mount will die due to what Appius was doing to him and begin to crash. The party can teleport out or find some other way to protect themselves from the damage of falling.
* Either when it crashes or later if they teleported away, they'll find out the Mount crashed across Raepos, leaving it covering most of the center of the island