Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
The chronicles of Team Big-hearted And Determined (B.A.D.)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Echolocation" data-source="post: 8899986" data-attributes="member: 7011911"><p>A NPC glossary for this recap:</p><p><em>Father Balthazar </em>is Lisandra's psychic lich father, whose phylactery is Lisandra's arm.</p><p><em>Riskasha </em>is Lisandra's half-eladrin mother, whose soul is captured in a corrupted blade of Srasama, wielded by Father Balthazar.</p><p><em>Father Aneenya </em>is an ex-Family priest who leads the Cathedral of Triegenes atop Enzyo Mons.</p><p></p><p><strong>Session 92</strong></p><p><em>Courtesy of Naomi's/Rin's player</em></p><p></p><p>We began atop a volcano, where all good stories should start. It was neither dark nor stormy but there was a baby being laid upon a sacrificial altar. That baby being Lisandra: summoned forth from decades-old memory by the Arc of Reida.</p><p></p><p>Father Aneenya was present too - flickering between his younger self and current, shocked personage. Baby Lisandra had apparently been brought here to be destroyed: thrown into the volcano along with all the other ‘cursed’ items Aneenya disposed of for Clergy.</p><p></p><p>Much like the coins and valuables thrown in by pilgrims though, Aneenya was reluctant to let this offering be incinerated, regardless of what Father Balthazar wanted. After hours of magically examining baby Lisandra he found it: an odd spiritual energy in her left arm. It was enough to stay his hand and send her to Risur instead: to be secretly raised by his brother Otis. For perhaps her powers could prove useful to the Family in the future?</p><p></p><p>And there he thought she’d stayed… until now.</p><p></p><p>As the memory ended, there was a moment of shocked silence before the questions began. Father Aneenya was… quite concerned that Lisandra had discovered her past - and even more so that she’d already met Balthazar. After a long discussion though, the priest agreed to aid Lisandra by donating the last ingredient she needed to destroy Father Balthazar: the blood of someone who’d betrayed Balthazar and survived. His blood.</p><p></p><p>The serpent ring bearing a drop of Aneenya’s blood clicked neatly into place atop Archbishop Cornelius’ headband, and for the first time Lisandra felt perhaps a glimmer of hope that her father’s evil might soon be removed from the world.</p><p></p><p>The touching moment was interrupted by dissuading Angharad from jumping in a volcano and Kasvarina’s announcement that the Arc was tugging her toward Risur: with a sense of memories there for all of the group - even Naomi</p><p></p><p>We stayed at Enzyo Mons until morning, and Naomi and Angharad spent some time tormenting each other while John watched. Eventually Naomi retired to bed with Angharad’s martial thesis stash, and Lisandra got some alone time to process the day’s discoveries.</p><p></p><p>Come morning, Naomi had to climb out a window to escape Angharad’s wood-shaping, but that didn’t stop her spectating John’s morning meditation. As the druid carefully arranged packs of soil and seeds and vials of oils, the spiritualist watched with more than mere curiosity. Under her observation, John’s emotional aura gradually came clear: abundant love toward Sydney; caution toward Naomi; and a controlled kind of anger toward Lisandra and Angharad that wasn’t actually directed at them - one that covered subtle sadness.</p><p></p><p>There wasn’t time to ponder it though, as we rounded up Angharad and Ghariad from the top of the volcano and teleported to the Isle of Odem: ever-delightful home of the Crypta Hereticarum. Grand inquisitor Serafima Sabelli greeted us there: a dwarven Clergywoman and our self appointed guide to the Vault of Heresies. We couldn’t think of a polite way to say no without shooting her in the face, and so descended into the depths together: following Kasvarina.</p><p></p><p>In memory, she and William Miller were shoved into the labyrinth, doomed to walk its halls until death or madness took them. They bypassed the initial traps skilfully but found something unexpected in the second chamber: <strong>Father Balthazar</strong>. Sitting amid the scattered parchments of the Vault of Heretical Texts, he reached for his sickle in surprise as he asked Lisandra what the <em><strong>naughty word </strong></em>she was doing there.</p><p></p><p>“I guess you hadn’t figured out my little ruse yet?”</p><p></p><p>“Clearly not.”</p><p></p><p>Naomi sprang in to uselessly attack, while Angharad pulled Steelshaper’s soul gem from the Web and handed it to Lisandra, who placed it in her headband and activated it. A ray of energy blasted Father Balthazar and his form began to splinter and fragment. For the first time, uncertainty touched the arrogant lich’s features.</p><p></p><p>The battle had only just begun though, as demonic companions, fear effects, forced teleportation to Nem, confusion effects, and various illusions twisted the battlefield into a chaotic mess. Balthazar’s facade of humanity melted away as Naomi killed his Nemean shadow - revealing his true skeletal form - and the necromancer responded by drawing everyone into Nem: domain of the dead. <em><strong>His </strong></em>domain. Filled with the souls of those he’d tortured and killed.</p><p></p><p>From amidst the wailing spirits skipped a horrific nightmare version of baby Lisandra, giggling as she unleashed illusory horrors and stabbed her older self. Lisandra managed to break free from the widespread insanity and for a moment stood alone against her father: armed with his dropped sickle and the voice of her mother screaming in her mind to <em><strong>kill him</strong></em>!</p><p></p><p>It was John who ended up gunning down the psychic lich where he floated, hovering amid an ever-expanding wave of darkness. But it was Balthazar’s daughter who drove his sickle deep into his chest and cut out his still-beating heart. A blackened, shrivelled thing that continued to beat even as his other remains crumbled to dust.</p><p></p><p>For a moment there was peace, and then the sickle turned on Lisandra and tried to cut out her heart. In her head, Lisandra heard her mother snarling that her own body was <em><strong>hers</strong></em>! She’d made it!</p><p></p><p>Before Riskasha could pursue her own quest for immortality too far, John shot the sickle from Lisandra’s hand and Naomi carefully levitated it into an extradimensional bag. It was soon followed by Balthazar’s heart, and for a long moment there was silence… as a quest begun nearly a year ago in Nalaam finally came to a close.</p><p></p><p>We were subdued as we healed and continued following Kasvarina’s memories: watching the eladrin and William fight past and outwit the dangers of the Crypta Hereticarum in a time when the traps still worked and the occupants were in their prime.</p><p></p><p>It might have been impressive if we hadn’t just killed a lich…</p><p></p><p>Eventually we came to the final chamber, familiar to half the party as the Prison of Ashima-Shimtu, Lady of the Forked Tongue, Last of the High Fiends, Seneschal of the Demonocracy, and Keeper of the Secret Which Must Not Be Lost.</p><p></p><p>What could possibly go wrong inside, I wonder?</p><p></p><p>Find out this week! As we watch Kasvarina speak with an ancient demoness from the past and possibly get interrupted by grand inquisitor Serafima. A perfectly lovely dwarf who really didn’t deserve to be shot in the chest twice by Confused John, but might if she breaks this memory and makes us redo it after we’ve been stuck inside for several HOURS!</p><p></p><p>Make your choices wisely, Serafima...</p><p></p><p>And for everyone else: good luck! With Obscurati ambushes ongoing, an angry Gradiax lurking in the wings, potentially problematic personal memories waiting in Risur, and a witchoil colossus stomping around the Dreaming, we’ll probably need it!</p><p></p><p>PS: Mentioning Gradiax was a complete fluke by Naomi's player. Little did she know how closely Gradiax was lurking...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Echolocation, post: 8899986, member: 7011911"] A NPC glossary for this recap: [I]Father Balthazar [/I]is Lisandra's psychic lich father, whose phylactery is Lisandra's arm. [I]Riskasha [/I]is Lisandra's half-eladrin mother, whose soul is captured in a corrupted blade of Srasama, wielded by Father Balthazar. [I]Father Aneenya [/I]is an ex-Family priest who leads the Cathedral of Triegenes atop Enzyo Mons. [B]Session 92[/B] [I]Courtesy of Naomi's/Rin's player[/I] We began atop a volcano, where all good stories should start. It was neither dark nor stormy but there was a baby being laid upon a sacrificial altar. That baby being Lisandra: summoned forth from decades-old memory by the Arc of Reida. Father Aneenya was present too - flickering between his younger self and current, shocked personage. Baby Lisandra had apparently been brought here to be destroyed: thrown into the volcano along with all the other ‘cursed’ items Aneenya disposed of for Clergy. Much like the coins and valuables thrown in by pilgrims though, Aneenya was reluctant to let this offering be incinerated, regardless of what Father Balthazar wanted. After hours of magically examining baby Lisandra he found it: an odd spiritual energy in her left arm. It was enough to stay his hand and send her to Risur instead: to be secretly raised by his brother Otis. For perhaps her powers could prove useful to the Family in the future? And there he thought she’d stayed… until now. As the memory ended, there was a moment of shocked silence before the questions began. Father Aneenya was… quite concerned that Lisandra had discovered her past - and even more so that she’d already met Balthazar. After a long discussion though, the priest agreed to aid Lisandra by donating the last ingredient she needed to destroy Father Balthazar: the blood of someone who’d betrayed Balthazar and survived. His blood. The serpent ring bearing a drop of Aneenya’s blood clicked neatly into place atop Archbishop Cornelius’ headband, and for the first time Lisandra felt perhaps a glimmer of hope that her father’s evil might soon be removed from the world. The touching moment was interrupted by dissuading Angharad from jumping in a volcano and Kasvarina’s announcement that the Arc was tugging her toward Risur: with a sense of memories there for all of the group - even Naomi We stayed at Enzyo Mons until morning, and Naomi and Angharad spent some time tormenting each other while John watched. Eventually Naomi retired to bed with Angharad’s martial thesis stash, and Lisandra got some alone time to process the day’s discoveries. Come morning, Naomi had to climb out a window to escape Angharad’s wood-shaping, but that didn’t stop her spectating John’s morning meditation. As the druid carefully arranged packs of soil and seeds and vials of oils, the spiritualist watched with more than mere curiosity. Under her observation, John’s emotional aura gradually came clear: abundant love toward Sydney; caution toward Naomi; and a controlled kind of anger toward Lisandra and Angharad that wasn’t actually directed at them - one that covered subtle sadness. There wasn’t time to ponder it though, as we rounded up Angharad and Ghariad from the top of the volcano and teleported to the Isle of Odem: ever-delightful home of the Crypta Hereticarum. Grand inquisitor Serafima Sabelli greeted us there: a dwarven Clergywoman and our self appointed guide to the Vault of Heresies. We couldn’t think of a polite way to say no without shooting her in the face, and so descended into the depths together: following Kasvarina. In memory, she and William Miller were shoved into the labyrinth, doomed to walk its halls until death or madness took them. They bypassed the initial traps skilfully but found something unexpected in the second chamber: [B]Father Balthazar[/B]. Sitting amid the scattered parchments of the Vault of Heretical Texts, he reached for his sickle in surprise as he asked Lisandra what the [I][B]naughty word [/B][/I]she was doing there. “I guess you hadn’t figured out my little ruse yet?” “Clearly not.” Naomi sprang in to uselessly attack, while Angharad pulled Steelshaper’s soul gem from the Web and handed it to Lisandra, who placed it in her headband and activated it. A ray of energy blasted Father Balthazar and his form began to splinter and fragment. For the first time, uncertainty touched the arrogant lich’s features. The battle had only just begun though, as demonic companions, fear effects, forced teleportation to Nem, confusion effects, and various illusions twisted the battlefield into a chaotic mess. Balthazar’s facade of humanity melted away as Naomi killed his Nemean shadow - revealing his true skeletal form - and the necromancer responded by drawing everyone into Nem: domain of the dead. [I][B]His [/B][/I]domain. Filled with the souls of those he’d tortured and killed. From amidst the wailing spirits skipped a horrific nightmare version of baby Lisandra, giggling as she unleashed illusory horrors and stabbed her older self. Lisandra managed to break free from the widespread insanity and for a moment stood alone against her father: armed with his dropped sickle and the voice of her mother screaming in her mind to [I][B]kill him[/B][/I]! It was John who ended up gunning down the psychic lich where he floated, hovering amid an ever-expanding wave of darkness. But it was Balthazar’s daughter who drove his sickle deep into his chest and cut out his still-beating heart. A blackened, shrivelled thing that continued to beat even as his other remains crumbled to dust. For a moment there was peace, and then the sickle turned on Lisandra and tried to cut out her heart. In her head, Lisandra heard her mother snarling that her own body was [I][B]hers[/B][/I]! She’d made it! Before Riskasha could pursue her own quest for immortality too far, John shot the sickle from Lisandra’s hand and Naomi carefully levitated it into an extradimensional bag. It was soon followed by Balthazar’s heart, and for a long moment there was silence… as a quest begun nearly a year ago in Nalaam finally came to a close. We were subdued as we healed and continued following Kasvarina’s memories: watching the eladrin and William fight past and outwit the dangers of the Crypta Hereticarum in a time when the traps still worked and the occupants were in their prime. It might have been impressive if we hadn’t just killed a lich… Eventually we came to the final chamber, familiar to half the party as the Prison of Ashima-Shimtu, Lady of the Forked Tongue, Last of the High Fiends, Seneschal of the Demonocracy, and Keeper of the Secret Which Must Not Be Lost. What could possibly go wrong inside, I wonder? Find out this week! As we watch Kasvarina speak with an ancient demoness from the past and possibly get interrupted by grand inquisitor Serafima. A perfectly lovely dwarf who really didn’t deserve to be shot in the chest twice by Confused John, but might if she breaks this memory and makes us redo it after we’ve been stuck inside for several HOURS! Make your choices wisely, Serafima... And for everyone else: good luck! With Obscurati ambushes ongoing, an angry Gradiax lurking in the wings, potentially problematic personal memories waiting in Risur, and a witchoil colossus stomping around the Dreaming, we’ll probably need it! PS: Mentioning Gradiax was a complete fluke by Naomi's player. Little did she know how closely Gradiax was lurking... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
The chronicles of Team Big-hearted And Determined (B.A.D.)
Top