SESSION 52
2nd of Suns’ebb
THE FALLEN GOD
The Knights left the Guild of Sleep. They’d had to speak to someone known as the Dreamer Prime. She’d been asleep for the last seven years, dreaming endlessly under the influence of the drugs that were continuously injected into her bloodstream. To speak to her, they had to wake her. Her spectral form greeted them- a projection of her dream-self. She did not want to be awakened, and had threatened to kill them if they tried. They told her of the great need of Greyhawk. They managed to convince her that their need was greater than her wish to be undisturbed, and she grudgingly allowed them to wake her. When she awoke, the Knights saw that her beautiful dream self was nothing like the real her- she was aged and haggard.
She had indeed traveled across many planes in her dreams, and known many strange things. She was able to tell them what they wanted to know.
“The Bastion of Unborn Souls is a font of preincarnate souls in which spirits the multiverse over have their origin. Your soul, and mine, likely originated in the Bastion, or perhaps a font much like it. There may be other fonts, I know not, but I do know that the Bastion grows souls- and the deities are banned, by ancient decree. The deities obey the Ban, lest they be stripped of their power, like Desayeus.”
Vek asked “Desayeus?”
Dreamer Prime sighed and said “I’m getting to that. Ashardalon, the red dragon in the Bastion, is an entity of power, possessed of a maturity that few dragons ever achieve. Bending all its powers, its hoard, and several centuries of research toward the goal of preserving its life without resorting to lichdom, Ashardalon determined that it required a new type of diet: preincarnate souls from the Bastion of Unborn Souls. By feeding on such souls, it hoped to extend its life indefinitely. But each preincarnate soul it digests is one more empty mortal shell vomited forth on the Material Plane. It seems that Ashardalon’s hunger is great, and may be accelerating.”
“He’s eating souls?” Kizz was shocked by the monstrous act.
“I see nothing wrong with ‘resorting’ to lichdom,” Vek laughed. “How do we find and travel to the Bastion?”
“Three ways to get into the Bastion of Unborn Souls exist, and Ashardalon used one of them- one of the three pieces of Desayeus’s Soul Totem. The Soul Totem was sundered when Desayeus was cast down by a conclave of deities who worried that the Ban would be violently and indiscriminately enforced, and that all deities would suffer for Desayeus’s impertinence.
“Desayeus was a deity with grand plans, who by his own divine decree claimed the souls of the unborn as part of his portfolio. The Soul Totem was the symbol he took, and he invested it with much of his divine power. His new portfolio lasted seven hours before he was cast down. One third of his Soul Totem was lost (and later found by Ashardalon), another third is in the keeping of a power I cannot perceive, and the last third Desayeus treasures yet, the last vestige of his divinity. Desayeus rots in a lost vault of Agathion, in a region of the Outer Planes called Pandemonium. Only his Gatekeeper can gain entry.”
Dartan was getting tired of the overly long exposition. He rolled his eyes and said “Okay, tell us how to find the Gatekeeper already.” He seemed mostly disappointed that the Dreamers here didn’t seem to want a fight.
“Desayeus’s Gatekeeper is Eco, a celestial being with topaz eyes, golden skin, white wings, and a heart harder than iron. Seek her if you seek Desayeus. Eco abides in the layer of Pandemonium known as Phelgethos, one layer above the vault of Agathion.”
“Fine,” Kizzlorn said. “What does any of this have to do with that Cathezar creature or her master, Aameul?”
“Aameul, yes. No one knows, not all the demons of the Abyss. But I know, oh yes. I’ve spied his dreams. Can’t you guess? It is an aspect of Demogorgon who seeks Dydd’s blood. He seeks to free himself from the other aspect that wrestles for dominance over Demogorgon. He has discovered that through eating Ashardalon’s heart, he may gain more power than he’d imagined possible. Ask only one more question of me- I wish to return to my dreams.”
“Tell us about Pandemonium,” Vek said curtly.
“Wind and noise and rock. Deadly wind, deafening noise, and barren rock. Leave me.”
With Dartan still spoiling for a fight, and everyone else ready for action, they wanted to travel straight to Pandemonium. It was decided that it would be best if the return to the Keep- Vek had a thing or two to look up about shifting between planes. They teleported home.
When they arrived, the Knights of Wee Jas were rushing about the castle’s courtyard. Something was happening. Captain Metus approached the heroes. “My lord, I’m glad you’ve returned. There is a situation.”
MORE TO COME…
I mean just imagine /Epic Meepo ! 
