We continue heading out of The Red Belvedere now that we have the location of Arkhan’s Tower. As we head up and out, Luce stops us after we get back out.
They offer us a special Potion of Influence, should we offer something of value. They insist that we should try to talk down Arkhan instead of going in “guns-a-blazin’” as it were.
Pash trades his Bag of Devouring for it. Promising it will rid them of any nuisances.
We head back out and travel towards Arkhan’s Tower
The Venatrix breaks down. Not due to fuel, but some mechanical error. I try taking a look, but can’t immediately fix the issue. While I am distracted however, we are attacked by some demon toad things…
One of them jumps across and attacks Pash.
I try a bit more and manage to fix it during the initial assault. Pash teleports onto the Venatrix and uses the harpoon gun on one of the creatures.
More of them start to appear.
We decide to run for it. We all climb on the Venatrix and gun it out of there.
We take some time to find a mostly-safe location and rest. Luckily with nothing bad happening.
We eventually reach near the base of the tower. A canyon filled with undead ahead of us. A large white dragon flies overhead, likely Obatala, daughter of Tiamat.
Pash drinks the Potion of Influence. A tortle approaches to speak with us, by the name of Krull. He manages to convince him that we are here on behalf of Tiamat, which isn’t a lie.
We wait a time, and Krull returns with Arkhan, the Hand of Vecna making it clear who he is. A manticore follows behind him.
Pash convinces Arkhan to give him an audience, though the rest of us are left behind.
After some time, the Manticore comes to take Bardon to the tower. Likely, Pash’s plan has gone well. Bardon mentioning that he can cast True Resurrection
After some more time, we see Torogar Steelfist on the back of Obatala carrying the corpse of Arkhan, sans Hand.
Krull on the back of the Manticore follow.
Treeavenger and I notice the skeleton swarm seems especially immobile now, with the lieutenants gone, we head up to meet with Bardon and Pash.
Pash collects a bunch of gold from a chest inside the tower. Around 75,000 in total.
We all head back to the vehicle. I go to drive. Pash asks Treeavenger to cut off his hand. …and attached the Hand of Vecna directly onto the stump.
We head back to The Red Belvedere. Scratch and Sniff no longer seem to be behind the counter. Luce mentions they have gotten a lot of use out of the Bag of Devouring Pash traded them. And that Torogar Steelfist and Krull came through with Arkhan’s corpse.
Recite
Break Time
We head on down. Passing Windfall, who did not expect us to make good on our deal.
We head onward to Tiamat’s Lair.
Bardon bargains Tiamat for the 25,000 gp in diamonds to cover the reagents for the casting of True Resurrection.
Though Tiamat calls for Pash to remain silent. No longer believing that he wants to be her champion, since he now carries both the Eye and Hand of Vecna.
Treeavenger works his carpentry skills on a chair while we wait for the ritual.
The ritual passes successfully. Torogar Steelfist insist we should leave.
On our way out, Windfall insist on claiming Treeavenger’s chair. He declines. I back him.
We trade in our talons for gold before heading back to the portal.
We overload and self destruct the vehicle before passing back into The Sanctum.
We arrive back at The Sanctum.
Mordenkainen frantically approaches us as we return. He is eerily excited at our return. He states that he has colleagues who can help us find the ritual location of Vecna. He insists that we leave the 7 parts with them to complete the rod.
We decide to head into the city for a time.
Alustriel approaches us as we plan to head into Sigil — her partner, Malaina van Talstiv, has not been in contact for several hours now. She was heading to a place called Velgar’s Vittles.
Treeavenger seeks out a shady merchant with a Manual of Gainful Exercise.
We then head off to Velgar’s Vittles looking for Malaina van Talstiv. We talk to the proprietor, he did see Malaina van Talstiv. She was looking for information related to Mordenkainen. He tells us that he hasn’t been in Sigil for years. He had conversed with Mordenkainen via Message spell recently who was at his home — not in The Sanctum.
This is concerning, as Mordenkainen as we know it has been in The Sanctum in Sigil the entire time.
We rush back to The Sanctum. We hear screams and fighting as we approach.
Mordenkainen reveals that he was truly Kas.
A problem made worse as we had given him back the Sword of Kas. The rod — stolen.
He escapes, leaving behind only a portal.
We speak to Tasha and Alustriel. They mention that when the rod was last used, it imprisoned Miska, the Wolf-Spider. That Kas will likely use it to free Miska and overpower Vecna. It would not be good for anyone, even if it means the defeat of Vecna.
They recommend we follow after him and take the Chime of Exile as well. The portal seems to lead to Pandesmos, the first layer of Pandemonium.
We learn Malaina’s Secret, as Malaina tells us about her suspecting Mordenkainen for some time.
Malaina’s Secret
She admits she began suspecting something wasn’t right shortly after Mordenkainen arrived in the sanctum. Malaina noticed that Mordenkainen muttered to himself in an unexpectedly cruel tone when he thought no one was around. He was also angrily defensive anytime Malaina casually asked how the mage fared. Malaina assumed Mordenkainen was merely stressed, so she didn’t act on her suspicions until it was too late.
Link to original
We prepare ourselves before following through the portal.
Recite
END SESSION