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Everything Is Terrible

Last week, the party charged bravely into battle with the devil hordes masquerading as cultists of Demogorgon. Shanky and Azoreas quickly identified the leader of the devils, but the party's weakened state from the power of the ritual magic prevented them from reaching it quickly. Instead, they turned their attention to the devils around them and began slaughtering the Abyss out of them1. Craggles led the charge into the middle of the fray while most of the party created large area blasts of devastation. Aedan contented himself with creating small, tactically relevant walls of asymmetrical antimagic, which helped the cultists hold their own against the devil hordes.

As the party carved their way around the rim of the crater they made, they were suddenly with a foreboding dark power. To their surprise, the dark power seemed to bless them, and they felt the power of the ritual lift from them. Newly invigorated, they ran away from the central platform and towards the monstrous devil leading the horde. The devil summoned a huge swarm of dark meteors that crashed into the party as they approached, but was unable to kill them quickly enough to stop them from reaching him. Its reign of terror ended swiftly when Azoreas dropped him into a hole, allowing Shanky to execute a charging fifty-foot drop to impale his tiny swords directly into the devil's brain.

Before the party could celebrate their victory, a deep and foreboding voice greeted them from the central platform: "Well done, my good and faithful servants". They turned to see a familiar figure being worshipped by the surviving cultists: the same Elder Sage that had originally let them escape from Demogorgon's Sanctums weeks ago. They immediately prepared for battle, but held off long enough hear him explain himself.

The Sage claimed that he had no quarrel with them. He was the last Sage to remain a true servant of Demogorgon, as the rest of his fellow Sages had been corrupted by Asmodeus, the Arch-Devil. Asmodeus had slowly corrupted Demogorgon's rituals and plans over the seven years that the party had been serving as cultists of Demogorgon, and when the earthquake struck, he made his move to seize complete control. The Sage had allowed the party to escape in the hopes that they would return and put a stop to Asmodeus's sinister plans to rule the entire Material Plane. At each of the three Sanctums was a massive Obelisk of Control: a powerful magical artifact with the ability to control the minds of nearby creatures. Asmodeus planned to expand the influence of the Obelisks of Control to span all of Elysium, and to use that power to rule the entirety of the Material Plane. He charged the party to destroy the Soulstone: a shard of Regina the Fireheart's soul, formed from the soul of Empress Regina as she died. The Sages had been siphoning Regina's deific power through the Soulstone to perform their seemingly impossible feats, such as constructing the Obelisks of Control. The Soulstone was currently in the hands of a pit fiend2, who was leading a massive army of augmented humans3 in an attempt to take over all of Undermountain by force. He was about to continue when another cultists whispered something in his ear, and he invited the party to follow him to meet with someone who could update them on the current status more effectively.

The party took a minute to take this in before following him.

The Sage led them down the elevator and into the gate room, where he put in the pattern to reach the Obelisk room. However, the way out was blocked by a large stone structure with a note on it:

Obelisk on other side. Do not enter. Will come back for you probably.
- Ione
- Cayosin was here

As the party read the note, he shouted out past the stone structure for someone to come down and join the party, and before long, Cayosin and Ione flew through the portal and rejoined the party4. A great many explanations followed as the finally reunited party tried to figure out what exactly was happening. According to Cayosin and Ione, the information from the Sage was accurate, but out of date. The two of them5 had already sealed all three of the Obelisks to prevent their influence from expanding. However, the southwest Obelisk was guarded by about a thousand mind-controlled dragons, and the northern Obelisk was guarded by three thousand mind-controlled dwarven and gnomish warriors from Undermountain. Fortunately, thanks to a personal visit from Demogorgon, Ione had been given a shielding aura that protected anyone nearby from the Abyssal Loci. With her aid, the party could travel through the crevasse safely. After some discussion, they decided to destroy the Obelisk there while they had the chance, and figure out their next plan once that was done.

Eight hours of smashing later, the Obelisk lay in ruins, Taethorn was inexplicably alive and rescued6, and the party pondered their next move...

  1. After resolving a bit of confusion around how to leave the elevator they were standing on, which was currently surrounded by a solid fifty feet of thin air. Fortunately, Lester's skill at creation is an effective counterpart to Azoreas's skill at destruction, and he created a new floor for the party to charge into battle on.
  2. A pit fiend is the most powerful kind of non-unique devil. It's basically a Balrog, but usually smaller.
  3. Including Azoreas's wife.
  4. Along with a gnome named Rufus. He seemed nice.
  5. Plus about two thousand dragons, thousands of members of both Orders, and Demogorgon itself.
  6. Though almost certainly traumatised for life.

Stupid Awards

Taito Brand Cayosin Ione Craggles Azoreas Lester Shanky Aedan Everyone
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