Hunting the Arch Magus pt. 11 Report

General Summary

The Scions went to the docks at midnight and met the Arch Magus, who told the party about the curse affecting all Arch Magi - they were cursed by Corellon himself for the destruction wrought during the Human-Eladrin war.  He claims that he has a way to reverse the curse, but it will involve altering timelines with potentially catastrophic consequences in other realities.  The only place he can get away with practicing such powerful magics is in Seras, but he needs a gift for the Serasian emperor, and the only items worthy of an audience can be found in Iowen's vault.   He also tells the party he's dying - and that if he doesn't reverse the curse it will affect Rayuuv and Wanda as well.  He also tells the party they share common goals; no one should have to bow before an emperor or an old god.  He also says Chandrilla is hoarding artifacts in the vault for her own ambitions, and plans to overthrow the Emperor and install herself as the head of a council of mages that will rule over the empire.   The Scions debate whether or not to help the Arch Magus - Rayuuv wants to end the curse, but Anton convinces the rest of the party that the downsides of the Arch Magus's plan are far too dire and they should reject the offer.  When Rayuuv declines the Arch Magus's offer, he vows to destroy the party, along with Chandrilla and anyone else that stands in his way, and summons powerful undead to attack the party.   After a tough fight the undead are destroyed, and the Scions are summoned by Chandrilla to explain themselves.  She tells the party the Arch Magus is lying to them; he's attempting to turn himself into a lich to get around the curse, and she's hid his phylactery in Iowen's vault until she could figure out how to dispel the wards protecting it.  Unfortunately, all the reagents needed to destroy the wards were stolen.   Chandrilla convinces the party of a plan - they can trap the Arch Magus in Iowen's vault and destroy both him and his phylactery.  However, he's smart, it needs to look like he bypassed the vault himself.  She tells the party to find Theodosius, he's the key and will know where the Arch Magus is hiding.  The party convinces Chandrilla to bring Dralin in on the plan, as having a paladin with a burning hatred of the Arch Magus on their side can be handy.   When the party visits Dralin, he tells them that the Order has detected a surge of necrotic energy in the sewers beneath the city.  He has a general idea where the Arch Magus can be found - it's time to end this once and for all.