Early Sunday D&D: Thergale #003

 In-Character Log: Thergale #003

09/17/2023

I have traveled to a sky full of different stars and yet if one just looks up, without seeking familiar patterns and ignoring the great band in the sky, the night is the same. Stars are stars. Worlds are worlds. People are people. And the people in question, known here as the Returnal, are looking to draw blood, force battle, and consolidate power. My companions seek to stop them, to match the power of their flying battleships with the spark of a shattered deity. What we saw within the circle tells a tale that time is short and the enemy far more advanced than we suspected. I have been transported here and I must make decisions that I can live with, we go to find a piece of the shattered one. We go to find a new hope and a path forward to match the Returnal.

We enlisted the aid of the frostriese astronomer and he transported us upon his cloud. Much time was saved and we are in debt for this aid, less so for his singing. Hopefully, we will be able to repay the assistance in the future and are not rushing to an early end.

I knew that the place was a prison, but had not expected the size of it; or that it would be floating in the sky like an enormous cloud of stone and steel.

We donned the aspect of a maintenance team, were taken within, and immediately realized that this place was full of horrors from across the multiverse; baatezu, tanar’ri, elementals, powerful undead, and aberrations of all sorts were housed within and amongst others more mundane and others less terrestrial. Most terrifying of the horrors we bore witness to was a massive tarrasque they call prisoner number two. I suspect we are after prisoner number one.

While we worked at the tasks we were brought in to address and sought a plan to our goal, the goliath slipped away unnoticed. I know not what occurred, but the facility went into alert and alarm shortly afterward. Every cell sprang open and those within were freed. The threat of lockdown was immediate and we took action to avoid that consequence. Our path through the stronghold crossed that of several loosed prisoners, some we avoided, others we misdirected, and we were joined by a svirfenblin murderer and a friendly marid as we sought to reach the chambers we began in.

Adannd had been busy and when our paths crossed in the entry hall  he had the aspect of Davillian with him. The warden, however, was there as well and he had little inclination to let us leave. Battle was inevitable and engaged immediately. Things seemed to be going our way and victory was snatched away in a wave of panic as the tarrasque burst in upon us. Leaving the warden to deal with this new force we rushed from the facility in a procured floating wagon with Davillian and the marid, Jean, along for the ride. Someone made the decision to chart a course back to the Black Monestary and we arrived before I realized our destination.

Lilliane help me, we stepped back into the magic circle beneath the temple, this time with Davillian alongside us. The power within was intensified and focused and the celestial had no hesitation in manipulating it to his own ends. We have only but say the word and Davillian has promised the destruction of the Returnal fortress, but we are divided by the weight of death that would involve. What is the balance of the scale, the face of the moon wanes and waxes, death comes to all and its weight is seldom a dainty burden to those unfamiliar with such decisions. The gnome has reservations, possibly due to his religious nature. I was surprised to hear Darkeyes proclaim allegiance, past or present, with the members of the Returnal. We are not unified in our decision, Davillian seems to view the act with unfettered disinterest, and the fate of so many rests in the hands of us few.

I wish that I had the ear of my lady and the comfort of console from her lips. But, I am without and I see no other way to bring down this manufactory of these skyborne warships. If we do this, we should most certainly have exposed ourselves as a threat undisguised to the Returnal.

Thergale the Verdant,

excerpt from the Arcanum Majoris Obscura