Yup, I vote we go mess with Bano by taking Ediacaran down.
What follows is strictly Out-Of-Character knowledge for the rest of you, cryptic as it is
I'm writing this from within the pocket dimension of my Rope Trick spell. I cast it in midair, so that nobody but the birds can follow me. I've got a great view, and I'm probably the safest I'll ever be, but... as I write, I have to hold the paper at arm's length, so that I don't get it wet if I start to cry. And, by the gods, I think I want to.
I left my friends behind me. I think they'll be okay, and I have a good reason, but that's not a sentence I ever wanted to write again. We stormed the Dwarves' home, killed half of them, including their leader, took their prized artifact and a large sum of treasure, and then we were split up when Auvergne showed up again. Rae stayed behind to distract her while Anya used Dimension Door to get the rest of us out of there. I had the hammer, and that's what Auvergne was there for, so... I flew ahead of the group. Overland Flight was designed specifically for flying over long distances for days on end, faster than a human can move without killing himself, and so that's what I'm doing. My friends, meanwhile, are left fighting for their lives or walking on foot. They won't know what happened to me until they get back to the ship, and I won't know what happened to them until then, either. Assuming they make it back at all.
I feel worst of all about Kanesrae. She stopped using her clan name; now she insists she is just Rae. And we left her and Tali, to fight an opponent that our whole group together would consider an even match, at a stretch. I might never see her again. The last memory she might ever have of me, is me flying around in circles to stay out of reach, using my magic to turn invisible and being teleported away by a friend, leaving her to die.
And that isn't the end of our problems. Bano recovered, as I knew he would. And then he gathered his army and started rampaging across the continent. He's sacked three villages, and an entire kingdom. And every fresh kill is a fresh corpse for his undead army. A corpse that, unlike a mortal soldier, needn't eat, sleep, or rest, and will never disobey orders. I almost wish he had teleported onto our ship at night so that we would have a better chance of fighting back against him personally. Almost.
I want to say, "I don't know what to do," but it's not really the truth. Even emotional as I am, I can still think. I must get back to the ship. I will search Rae's room, give Azasar that "present", and see if it leads to anything. I'll wait for my friends to catch up... surely, some of them will... but, with or without them, I will take the hammer to Anarose. Or, if Auvergne was telling the truth and Anarose is dead, then I will take it to her Sanctum, where I will search for something- anything- that can tell me how to purify this god-damned hammer.
And if I ever see Rae again, I'm going to give her a hug and make sure to call her "sis".
We visited Anarose, at her sanctum. She wasn't dead, which came as a great relief to us all. Her portal was messed up- I found a used Rod of Cancellation outside her Gate- so we had to take a detour to the white realm of stairs (with a glass ceiling), and ask an owl to take us to Anarose, with a promise of tea and gifts. As soon as we got there, she killed it, and she didn't hold back much. So now I am a dirtbag. Again. Oh well.
Anarose didn't have the ritual we need to purify the Flowing Hammer; a primitive tribe of Elves know it, though, so we'll be paying them one of our visits sometime, likely. From what I remember, those particular Elves hate everyone who isn't an Elf (my being bloodbound siblings with two elves likely won't be enough for them), and they indoctrinate every true Elf to their self-righteous ways.
I managed to convince my friends that we should take care of Bano, first. Every day we leave him "alive", the harder it will become to defeat him. We know about his Phylactery, though: it hangs from the belt of one Ediacaran, whom Rae has apparently met in a dream. Anarose gave us a map which details Ediacaran's exact location as of the time of scrying, but I suspect she knows we're coming. She'll be prepared.
Anarose also gave us some bad news about the legacy weapons: sure, they triple your life force and increase your longevity, and in addition to being high-powered magic weapons, they make their wielders absurdly hard to kill. And you spend every moment of your extended life going mad, becoming an aspect of the weapon, eventually descending into the primal chaos where you kill for no reason... not even for sick pleasure, simply because thou shalt. Simply because weapons are there to be used on people. It makes me worry about Tali. When she struck down one of those Dwarves with Winterer, the blade seemed to absorb the Dwarf's soul- poor thing- and then she started to go slightly crazy. I don't know how slippery that slope is, but I don't like her sliding down it.
I made Anya a scroll of Overland Flight. I'd forgotten how cheap scrolls are when you make them yourself. Mine are also far better than standard shop fare... not to brag, but I think they deliberately make the stuff in the shops as cheaply as possible, rather than make magic goods properly. I decided to make it for her so that we may have a legendary magical duel with the lich, flying far above his undead legion... but this is the very height of stupid daydreams. I hope she comes up with a better use for it than that.
And yet, our struggles are not the biggest around us. Even Bano the Lich is not our strongest enemy. Azasar and I finished my little project, and... now I really do not know what to do. We'll meet her again, I'm sure, since she's also collecting the god-weapons. She's thrown the Celestial Realms into turmoil, she's making progress in Noire, and she's got a good shot at uniting all the Lower Realms under one banner. And I don't even know what a hell-engine would be, but I doubt it's good for the rest of us if she builds one.
My only clue is that she has mortal pawns working in Dannon to help her... but even if we defeat them, that won't stop her. That won't even slow her down much.
I don't know what to do...
Life has one silver lining for me, though: Rae is feeling better. I did indeed give her that hug and call her sister, and after some encouragement, she seems to be mostly back to her chipper old self. I don't think I've heard her use her clan name, though. I'll have to remember to call her Kanesrae, to constantly remind her that she's part of our family.
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Topic: Trail's End: Semi-Trained Hero's Journey :: the end is nigh (3.5e) (Read 98280 times)