A chill filled the air as the ancient door slid open. Fear gripped the party as FCG took pause. Malcolm, confident that they were nearing their journey’s end, rallied his comrades and took the first step across the threshold into the hallway beyond. Triple J and Eris followed closely behind while the core caster group hung to the back. The forward trio advanced cautiously toward the chamber at the end of the hallway. The hallway opened up into a much larger bronze chamber filled with cylindrical tanks, robed skeletons scattered about, and a single door on the far side. Upon closer examination, the party discovered that the tanks were filled with dormant beings from the outer planes, celestials and fiends alike, each with blue veins visible beneath their skin. Disturbing as the scene was, it became apparent that the cure FCG had long sought was not in this room. Among the skeletal remains Triple J discovered another gemmed keystone which he handed to Malcolm. The party stood back as Malcolm brought the key to the next door and placed it in the socket.
The door whirred to life and began slowly ascending, showing signs of great strain with each inch. Quickly, Malcolm attempted to aid the door’s progress, slid his blade beneath it, and began applying leverage. Sounds of grinding, snapping, and fizzling began emanating from the other side of the door. Suddenly, a large burst of electricity came arcing out, channeled across the pipeline on the chamber’s ceiling. The electricity ran across the pipes and down into the stasis tanks currently holding the incapacitated beings. The largest of the tanks shattered. Kneeling in it’s broken base was a large winged celestial, clearly mutated by the Aeorian’s experiments. The deformed angel rose from the shards of his prison and cursed the mortals who’d imposed this fate upon him. Hatred and ire rapidly expanding toward all mortals, the mutated celestial turned his sights on the party and attacked with blasphemous fury.
The divine being moved with great haste, and struck Triple J and Eris ferociously with its tentacled appendage. As Malcolm closed in to aid, the celestial’s skin began to boil and burst, covering the trio with rotting flesh. Eris fought back, while Malcolm ushered Triple J to safety. Nyx and Artaema cast spells from the hallway. Nyx’s found purchase, poisoning the entity’s back with chaos bolt. Unfortunately, Artaema’s spell created a burst of wild magic, resulting in the goliath mage being turned to an iron statue. Endrin immediately grapsed the severity of the situation and sought a vantage point within the room from which to aid the party. The battle raged on as lashes, slashes, spells, and rotting flesh flew across the room. As Endrin sought to counter the mutated angel’s spell, he too was transformed by wild magic, taking the form of a life sized stuffed doll, rendering two of FCG’s members inert.
Malcolm’s eyes darted back and forth between his frozen friends and decided the best course of action was to keep on slashing. As the seasoned warrior prepared for his next strike, a foul voice entered his head. The voice pleaded for release and threatened pain and suffering at its denial. As Malcolm turned to face the nearest tank, he found his gaze met by that of the firey devil within. Malcolm ignored the imprisoned fiend and continued his assault on the mutated angel. On the opposite side of the chamber, Triple J too took note of the being within the nearest tank. Instead of a devil, this tank contained another celestial. However, this deva appeared to already be dead. The bard was brought back to his senses as a loud shattering sound resonated back on the other side of the room. The tank nearest Malcolm lay in ruins, shattered by a rampant chaining chaos bolt cast from Nyx’s outstretched hand. The fiendish being within rose to his feet and directed his innate evil at Malcolm. The horned devil lashed Malcolm with its flaming tail leaving behind an infernal wound in the fighter’s leg. The sudden surge of power from Nyx drew the mutated celestial’s attention, and it teleported right next to her.
Eris began immediately tending to Malcolm’s searing wound as the fighter struggled to retain consciousness against the immense pain. Triple J was about to assist when he heard a voice ring out in his mind, this time coming from one of the trapped deva. The deva offered his aid in quelling the wrath of Balthumon, the mutated celestial, should Triple J release him. The deal sounded pretty good to Triple J, and the bard ran over to the tank. Triple J drew his laser sword and shattered the tank, freeing the deva within. The grateful celestial thanked Triple J by restoring Endrin’s flesh and vitality with divine magic. Finally back in the fight, Endrin came to his senses and cast haste on the deva.
Near the chamber’s entrance, Nyx now found herself face to face with Balthumon. Wild magic swirled around the sorceress, causing a dark shadow to fall about the room. Sensing the sudden weakness to necrotic energy within her own physiology, Nyx channeled as much necrotic might as she could muster and inflicted wounds upon Balthumon’s grotesque form. The mutated divine howled in pain as the necrotic energy tore through him. Seething, Balthumon struck Nyx down with a torrent of rotting flesh and terrible lashes. Heavily wounded from the damage he’d sustained, Balthumon had no choice but to focus on restoring himself for the time being. In Balthumon’s moment of inaction, the two remaining devils and the other deva managed to free themselves from their stasis tanks. FCG suddenly found themselves amidst a battle between the heavens and hells as the deva and devils tore at each other.
Meanwhile, Eris and Triple J managed to stabilize Malcolm, whose leg had been burning from within the entire time. Eris smote one of the devils as it flew by, leaving it to be finished off by Balthumon after he’d regained his strength. Balthumon aided the deva in dispatching their ancient fiendish foes. As the last devil fell, Triple J pleaded a final time with Balthumon, begging the tormented angel to see reason, to see that FCG were not his enemy. The bard’s silver tongue fell upon maddened ears, however, only succeeding in causing moments of confusion within the divine rather than staying his rampage.
Intent on finishing off the battered party members, Balthumon teleported right up next to Eris, Malcolm, and Triple J, unleashing another burst of decrepit flesh upon arrival. Endrin and Nyx, who’d been holding spells with baited breath, unleashed their arcane power in response to Balthumon’s aggression, both dealing massive necrotic damage to the entity. Balthumon immediately appeared in front of Endrin and delivered a near fatal blow. The situation looked dire as all of FCG, save for Nyx, lay dying or incapacitated. As hope looked bleak, the deva resolved themselves to destroy their fallen kin and rushed to the aid of the party, restoring Triple J and Malcolm to life. Triple J used what little magic he had left to revive Eris, before he found himself transformed into a dragonfly by wild magic. Malcolm, sensing that it was now or never, pulled himself to his feet with all the strength he had left. Stepping clear of his friends, the gallant warrior brandished his ring of the ram and channeled every ounce of his being into it as he set its force upon the fallen angel. The immense force of the ring blasted Balthumon into and straight through the bronze door of the chamber beyond, bringing an end to the maddened planetar’s rampage.
A sudden silence gripped the freezing chamber. Eris rose to her feat and realized Endrin was still bleeding out. The paladin’s diseased legs could only carry her so far, however, as she struggled to reach Endrin in time. The dragonfly, that was Triple J, had a moment of enlightenment and commited suicide under Eris’ plated boot, thus restoring Triple J to his natural form. From under the paladin’s foot, Triple J extended a single hand to Endrin and brought the gnome wizard back from the brink of death. Around this time, Artaema recovered from her statuesque transformation and rejoined the party.
FCG whole once more, the party turned their attention to the surviving deva. From the deva they learned that the celestials, along with the devils, had been captured by the Aeorians nearly a mellenium ago and had been used as test subjects for L-17H, the Frigid Woe, a disease designed to kill the gods themselves. The deva told the party, that Balthumon had been driven mad by the effects of the incomplete disease and one thousand years of imprisonment. The deva mourned his loss, but were glad he had finally found peace. FCG learned the names of the surviving deva as well, Delian and Verkul. With heavy hearts, the party left the deva to collect the remains of their fallen and headed toward the adjacent chamber.
Beyond the sundered doorway, the party discovered a smaller room with two sets of shelves, each lined to the brim with vials. One shelf contained vials filled with a blue gas labeled L-17H. The other shelf contained vials of a golden liquid, L-17I. Eris’ heart skipped a beat at the revelation, they’d finally found the cure. The party gathered round the princess as she grabbed a vial, looking on with great hope an anticipation. Eris gave one final glance at her friends, a warm smile crossing her lips, before downing the vial’s contents. As the effects of L-17I began to take hold of Eris, Endrin used the moment as an opportunity to steal a vial of the woe for himself. Immense heat gripped Eris as the potion coursed through her body. The princess’ muscles tensed and tightened to the point of paralysis. Eris blue veins began to glow brightly as crystals of ice began to sprout out from them. The ice continued to grow until Eris was utterly entombed in it. Eris felt her heartbeat slow and eventually come to a halt as she succumbed to the cold. The hope on the party’s faces faded as Eris was replaced by a dense block of black ice. Frantically, Malcolm and Endrin began slashing and blasting away at the icy tomb while Triple J disrobed and wrapped himself around the ice in an attempt to share his body heat.
“Eris” the name echoed in the dead princess’ mind as her mentor, her mother, and her god called out to her. Eris felt the embers of life rekindled deep in her being. Embers turned to roaring inferno as Eris felt her very soul set ablaze with platinum light. Eris’s icy prison shatterred into pieces causing the members of FCG to duck and avert their gaze. As the party turned to see what had befallen the block of ice, they were blinded by the brightest light any had seen. As FCG’s vision adjusted, they beheld the silhouette of Eris hovering a foot off of the ground, two shimmering draconic wings beating slowly from her back. Even the deva kneeled before the princess, ackowledging the presence of Bahamut’s chosen. As the light faded, Eris returned to the ground and embraced her friends warmly, tears of joy welling in their eyes.
Relief washed over FCG as both Endrin and Nyx consumed L-17I and were cured as well, their experience not nearly as traumatic as Eris’ who’d been battling the disease all her life. The party, gave a few of the vials to the deva who were also in desperate need. The celestials thanked the party and took their leave, heading out into the remains of the fallen city. Their purpose in Aeor finally complete, FCG prepared to take a nice long rest before making use of Artaema’s teleportation magic the next day. Triple J stepped aside for a few moments to contact his father, Shadowdancer Xavier Emberstone, as well as Starosta Lydia Truscan of Zadash. Xavier was elated to her of Triple J’s survival and imminent journey to Rosohna while Starosta Truscan complained of troubles with the Gentleman’s henchmen as well as the many other burdens of leadership. Meanwhile, Malcolm took a private moment to himself and attempted to contact his new patron, Timorei, but gathered their pact was not yet strong enough to do so at will. Endrin, as well, pulled Artaema to the side and expressed his concerns regarding the process of anemnesis and their impending trip to Rosohna. Artaema assured him that all would be well upon their arrival and that she could inquire as to a private meeting with an Umavi for him.
With their private business tended too and their missions in Eiselcross accomplished, FCG bedded down under the safety of Triple J’s dome for a long rest. Eight hours later, the party gathered their things, donned their armor, and grasped hands in a circle with Artaema. In a flash they were gone from the depths of Aeor.
