Sigil has shattered in the Milling
No one could foresee what happened next…
Episode V
PRAYER FROM THE DARKNESS
Having left the PROWL and THIMMAMMA behind, our five party members travel overland through the dangerous wilds of BRUX towards WAYSIGN in search of signs of the crew of the SPECTRUM, its SPELLJAMMING HELM and a PLANAR PLAN.
The twilight woods of BRUX are alive, and many players have set in motions events with far reaching consequences. Travelers from afar bring tidings, and their missions to this remote corner of the multiverse.
Meanwhile, groups throughout the multiverse are left reeling by the effects of the ESCHATON, even as some see an opportunity to force their vision of how things should be across all of existence...
After burning the corpses of the hyenas and taking a well deserved rest, the party wakes up to some strange effects of the Beastlands.
The party then continues their trek across the jungles of Brux. Buttercup is able to get a good vantage and sees from left to right:
Tall trees/mountains < thinning forest with blank expanse nearer < heading towards thinning forest with horizon beyond > Deeper darkness of the night realm > stormy mountains > possible volcano
Towards the end of a day of travel Aimo discovers they’ve been tracked by a multi-tailed fox. Slipping away to interact with it, he discovers a strange person:
Before you appears a young man with Asian features, his perfectly manicured nails glint in the fading light of the moon and his milky complexion is accented by delicate red eye shadow and succulently glossed lips.
My name is Xog’dradeth. I understand your surprise to see a yugoloth such myself in this plane of goodness… Haven’t you heard? Sigil is gone… and with it the rules keeping us in our old places. I’ve come to the beastlands to turn a new leaf… I have a problem though. Will you hear me out? How delightful. So very few are willing to hear my tale.
There is a town called Corpus in the Grey Wastes of Hades, Although much of my kind has moved on to Gehenna, we do retain some presence there. I happen to be quite well connected with the powers that be in Gehenna, if you take my meaning. Unfortunately in my hurry to fit in here, I left behind something of great worth. I'm writing a series of books, a body of literature if you will...I had just finished the appendix but I'd so very like to retrieve my work. The problem is that I'm here, I have a new life. I don't think I could ever go back. If you could retrieve the appendix from Corpus I'd be most obliged. Perhaps I could assist you if you ever needed a "fiend in high places" when you visit the lower planes.
There is trouble brewing in the wider multiverse. The older structures have fallen away. … I for one think we can do away with the way things were… wouldn’t you say? But there are those that would enforce a certain order on everyone else. They were always there before, but with Sigil gone and the Lady of Pain missing… I’ve heard word that there are also those looking for freedom. What are the chains that bind you I wonder?
If we’re going to truly throw off the chains, we will need friends.
Aimo reacts very neutral and in the end, Xog’dradeth bids him fairwell, disappearing back into the jungle as a kitsune.
The next “day” of travel, Yucca navigates and fails a constitution save when tasting the water of the stream. After the second day of travel, the party settles in for a rest. During the last watch, darkness closes in around the team and pushes them towards a gleaming altar. Approaching it, it fades and in its place, a fierce Aniwye, a giant creature that appears to be part skunk and part wolverine. As the battle rages, bones come together and gain flesh forming small cadaver sprites.
Defeating their foes, the altar reappears. On it, a strange amulet. upon reaching out to take it, the party has a vision.
The light around the pedestal fades as a spectral figure in the form of a male human rises from the amulet. He is dressed in leather armor and a tattered red cape and wears a shield. His face is framed by curly brown hair and bears a melancholic expression. He pleads, “I am imprisoned. Please help me.”
Suddenly, the ground vanishes beneath your feet, and you fall, tumbling through a vortex of golden light. You fall deeper, deeper, deeper, then suddenly stop. The golden light subsides, and you find yourself suspended in a pitch-black expanse. You feel water buoying you. A vermilion light appears in the distance, illuminating the melancholy warrior, who is shackled to the ground by disgusting strands of a fleshy, crimson substance.
He raises his gaze to the heavens and, sobbing, chokes out, “Moon Weaver, I beg of you. Guide those with the power to save me to the site where first I prayed to you.” He looks around, and his eyes settle on you. “Oh, gods, there you are! My name is Alyxian. I am lost in darkness. Long ago, I prayed to the Change Bringer in the heart of a temple of evil. I beg you, take my jewel and…”
You feel consciousness leaving you, as if the pressure of the water were crushing the life out of you. Alyxian’s voice is the last thing you hear before you pass out. “Save me. Please.”
The Score
The Chant
Xog’dradeth moved to the Beastlands from Hades
A mysterious figure named Alyxian became ensnared after praying in the heart of a temple of evil and wants to be rescued
Treasure
Alyxian’s First Prayer