Session Eleven: Seven Hells! It's a Space Lich!

General Summary

3rd Eleasis
With the door closed behind them, everyone watches as the lich slowly comes into view near a giant, glowing green crystal. Harlock is on the ground, mumbling about a portal in the wall and clearly in shock. Looking around the room, they see an ornate machine on the ground as well as several bodies frozen in the NW wall. Rayne begins to fade in and out, remaining on the west end of the room.
The lich stands at his full height and whispers out a dark phrase no one understands, and in response Anya sends her parliament of owls to harry the lich and gives Tal instructions to get Sikander away from danger.
The fight continues:
Anya: Keeps her owls on the lich as long as possible without hurting the others, is sent flying across the room when she sends Harlock to safety (after Stefan tied her to the kid earlier), eventually "raging" into her bear form to attack the lich directly.
Stefan: Rages and tackles the lich to the ground, gets ahold of the chest tentacle, and starts forcing it down the lich's throat. After it shifts away from him, he goes after it again to grapple it back to the ground.
Baleet: Helps Sikander find the handle for the gear, shoots one of the owls, then creates a metal Defender.
Sikander: Freaked by Stefan's manhandling of the lich and its tentacle, alternates between turning the gear on the floor (slowly dimming the green light) and attacking the lich when it appears near him.
During the fight, the lich manages to hit Stefan with its devastating tentacle attack, nearly knocking him out, and implanting something inside him (Anya drops her form and heals Stefan right after). The group manages to defeat the lich, but were unable to destroy the unusual phylactery, but don't have time to consider where he has gone. Checking himself, Stefan finds several small mouths beginning to appear all over himself. Determined to get rid of the small creature inside, Stefan digs his hand into his abdomen, first finds his spleen, then the creature, which he promptly rips out and destroys. Anya helps to heal him as he digs around to minimize the damage he does. Once it is out, they discover Rayne has rematerialized as he brings over the items left behind when the lich faded away: a large, black sapphire, a shiny, colorful bowstring, and an eldritch staff.
A very weakened Stefan (14 Con for the next 4 days) is hungry and hurting, so he bites into the tentacle that had been cut off and drinks some of the lich's blood. Instead of being sustained, he feels worse than before, becoming weaker and more exhausted as a result.
Laying back, he glances at the loot and is enamored with the sapphire, keen to have it placed in his chest. The others agree it would be very impressive, so Anya hesitantly agrees to place the gem in his chest with Baleet's assistance. They work together to attach it securely, but damaging him more in the process, further exhausting him. (13 Con for 8 days). Anya cleans the area and agrees to do so until he is healed completely. Sikander watches on, eventually coming over to ask if Stefan has anything he'd like to share, especially in his.... preferences and appetite. Stefan isn't sure what he means and is still a bit aloof with Sikander (feelings still hurt from the last couple days, most notably when the dwarf compared dhampirs to walls). Once Stefan is stable, they begin searching or a way out, and in finding none, Sikander begins turning the gear until the gem ceases glowing green and is a near blinding, sinister purple. Anya starts to hear different voices that make her uneasy, and once her tattoo starts changing color, she shouts for Sikander to stop turning the gear. She, Baleet, Rayne, and Sikander discuss who to proceed while Stefan, now up and moving is using the light from the gem to shine in Anya’s eyes. Finally reaching her done point, Anya spins on him and lands a perfect punch across his jaw. It doesn’t physically injure him, but he steps back – ceasing the light shining. He continues to push her with his comments and turns, getting a clean hit on the other side, shouting she had had enough. Stefan, genuinely shocked she’d had hit him, agreed to stop harassing her, but was quick to point out she’d broken his favorite fang to the others.
Frustrated and embarrassed that she lost her temper, Anya turns to Baleet asking for any guidance to find a way out. He pulls out an ornate compass and confirms this is a planar instrument, so this is how the other party ended up trapped in the wall, but also the party’s only way out since the lich appearing set off the failsafe above, turning off the door rotation. Sikander offers to hack through the wall with Wibbles but is quickly told not to by the axe. As he has a conversation with Wibbles, Anya watches him a moment and then starts asking questions of him, clearly concerned. Seeing Sikander talk to Wibbles, Stefan (still a bit delirious) is sure the gem speaks to him, saying “I'm in your belly” and chuckles a bit to himself.
They agree to continue turning the gears backwards while Baleet describes other planes, including the Moose Plane – just a room with a gargantuan moose inside. Anya loves the idea of meeting the great moose and is undeterred by his concerns or descriptions. Eventually the gem begins to glow red, and a wind seems to be coming from the crystal. Investigating, they get the sense of the desert from the red circle. The others get excited about a “dessert plane” while Anya tests the stability of the portal by throwing a rock through first. She then ties a rope to all of them (afraid they will get separated in transit) while Sikander leads the way in. Once they are all in, they find themselves back in the village where Kir lived. Looking around, they find Baleet is gone, but Piper is returned to them, safe and sound and unaware any time has passed. 
Realizing they are safe, Kir offers them rest for the night before they head out the next day. They all happily get a long rest in.
4th Eleasis
Kir wakes them all, bringing them breakfast and discussing their next steps. Sikander confirms the plan is to return to Cloudhook and get Harlock back to his family, and let Hobbs know of their success. She advises they all have a pirate’s life, or any other reward they could want, waiting as thanks as Harlock’s father is particularly fond of his son. Stefan comments that he already has his reward, showing off the black sapphire in his chest to Kir. She finds him quite attractive and that she would certainly enjoy his company if ever he chose to come back and visit.
In their absence, Kir repaired the ship and only asked for a favor and a story for payment. Anya agrees to the favor whenever she is ready to call on it, and Sikander tells her of the time he faced Count Bonifer, finally defeating him with the joke, “Why are skeletons so calm?
Because nothing gets under their skin.” The others, Stefan especially, seem a bit skeptical of the story – even Anya has a smile at the story, assuming there is some truth tucked in there.
Getting the Sky’s Fear ready, Sikander offers Stefan the wheel, heading down below with Rayne instead to get the engine going, while Anya pulls up the ropes. Down below, Sikander asks which button to push, so Rayne reaches over and pushes the triangle, then pulls a lever – the engine then roars to life. Anya thinks she has her bearings but is turned around and has them going the wrong way for about 5 hours. Stefan tries to get them back on track, but instead gets them deeper into the old muskie territory and enters a foggy patch. After about an hour, they spot something that hits the ship, and realize it is THE old muskie. Stefan and Sikander are keen to bring it in, so Anya does what she can to keep them safe (everyone but Anya has a BRACER that becomes a floatation device, and she ties a rope from Sikander to his seat at the gunner.
The muskie ends up slamming the ship again, and before Anya can conjure the owls, Stefan jumps off and lands on the muskie. Sikander, not to be outdone, grabs his rope and pauses long enough to be sure of where he is jumping for about 12 seconds.

Rewards Granted

Black Sapphire (5000gp) - currently embedded in Stefan's chest
Bowstring to the Corpse Slayer - currently in the Bag of Holding
Eldritch Staff - currently in the bag of holding

Missions/Quests Completed

We saved Harlock! The rest of the party is lost, but now to return the boy to Cloudhook and let Hobb's know what we found.

Character(s) interacted with

Kir
Baleet
Harlock

Notes

Anya has 5 arrows remaining
Stefan has 7 days remaining on lower Constitution (requires medical attention from someone each day)