The Death of a Gate and an Alhoon

The way up the staircase ended at the rocky ceiling. "Our only way is down," we all reasoned, and Jojen leading the way we descended into darkness.
 
It wasn't until we had been climbing down for several minutes that all save Steel noticed that we were going, well, nowhere. Theo tested this with light and a spare bolt: the stairs seemed to grow father in depth and breadth and continue endlessly.
 
On a whim Theo simply turned around and descended down the stairs backwards, eyes facing the other Vanguards. As best as he could tell, each step found the stone safely, and with a half-minute or so of this realized the stairs were once again functioning as intended. "It's all right!" he called, and all followed.
 

A few more moments and things appeared in front of the party -- yet all were facing backwards. A humming, a whirring, and lights flickering. All turned to face the new room.
 
It was a gigantic library of sorts. The center of the room featured an octagonal p[it with a bridge -- and on the bridge a massive arcane eye. It spoke as the floating pupil took in the Vanguard: "I am Lawrence, and I see that you have come." It described itself as a piece of Lawrence the alhoon had wished to rid itself of. As expected it confirmed that Chillmoon Tower, now Narathaii, had corrupted Lawrence. But in the same manner Lawrence had "corrupted" the tower: his memories had warped, twisted, and outright changed the stony tower that Chillmoon once had been. "And you, of my blood, confirm then the prophecy."
 
It turned its massive gaze to the library's volumes. Four large bookshelves hedged four of the eight outer walls: to the northeast a ring of stars, northwest earthen stone, southeast a crashing wave, and the southwest a mighty thunderhead.
 
"These contain specific memories: shame, when I took from five great wizards. Each theft was a colossal crime alone; together they chronicle battles with then-heroes and mages. If you must know, these powerful items were needed to open the Living Gate. Though I was able to overpower the rightful owners I was not able to overcome the items themselves. Go: take once again the items I once took."
 
"As for the treasures and the corresponding memories, I remember each intimately:

(air) Zephos and Arcon, the aarakocran twins who together watched over powers forged from the elemental plane of air;

(water) Mer-witch Ashana, who held all water in her grasp;

(earth) Memphis the druid; I took from him that which gives the earth life;

(cosmic) And Alain, the elven sorcerer. I took from him his life's work: astromancy the power of the stars in the sky.

(fire) I see you already have the power from the elemental plane of fire. Good.
 
"But I do not know the limits of this prison, or these memories. Perhaps you may be able to change my memories, to change things as they happened long ago."
 
"And I... I am sorry."
 
 

With the blessing of Lawrence

We took what we could, working therefore with Lawrence against... himself. The eye granted us what power it could afford, a temporary magic barrier to help us complete these dives into memory.
 

Alain's work of the cosmos

Stepping through the portal before the bookshelf we found ourselves around a small shrine. The shrine sat -- really, floated -- in the Astral Sea itself. Though the group was separated all could see the sorcerer in the center of the shrine. His eyes shone like stars, and he greeted the Vanguard amicably.
 
"Why have you come?"
 
Murg spoke first: "I have come to protect that which came before and will come after: the economy."
 
 
Unabashedly Lawrence spoke at us: "When Lawrence found me here, I was becoming nothing short of a demigod. Nothing is to stop me from taking that, killing you, and then dealing with Lawrence myself."
 
After some time, with debate and discussion, it was Murg who pulled the truth from Alain: the sorcerer is forgotten in our own time, when another took his work and erased the name Alain from history. "I wish for my legacy to be remembered, in the halls of my people in the Hallowed Isle."
 
"I do not forget my transactions" was all our Auditor of Abadar could offer -- and it was enough. Alain produced the arcane stone, filled with starlight and shining promise. "Perhaps if more like you stood in the boots of men like Lawrence, this may have been a different world."
 
With that, Murg completed his transaction, and received the cosmic stone from Alain.
 

The life of Memphis

The power of earth resided with the druid Memphis, and was the next to investigate. Lawrence's memory-portal brought us to a grove, overgrown with green vines and all manners of life. Outside of the grove the forest seemed... off. Corrupted maybe. But the center of the grove held a magnificent tree from which crystal-clear water ran into pools and streams.
 
An old elven druid sat meditating within its roots. Without opening his eyes Memphis spoke: "Why have you come to the grove of the gods?"
 
He did not seem to hear us as we spoke; this memory was broken somehow. It was as if we stood in Lawrence's shoes and could not act. Theo tried praying (loudly) to Selune, but to no avail.
 
Memphis' actions confirmed this, standing at the ready.
 
Lawrence Hornrave, I wish you the best in your next life." And slamming his staff into the pool of water before him. Waters swelled, converging nearby on a seed. We watched in awe as it grew mightily in moments, standing finally tall and proud as a living tree -- a treant.
 
As we fought Memphis, or at least the memory of Memphis, the battlefield shifted and changed. The treant throwing rocks and druid calling upon the elements of nature to assail the Vanguard destroyed much vegetation, but the actual battle between Lawrence and Memphis had been more destructive. Fires sprang up out of nowhere; water swirled and crashed in living maelstroms to attack invisible targets. It seemed that the original memory of this conflict had been seen powers far stronger than the Vanguard had.
 
The treant fell in a torrent of flames from Theo and Steel. To protect himself the druid twisted these arcane fires into a great wall of fire surrounding him. But Jojen was inside the ring, and when the fires fell he was the only man left standing.
 
With the death of the druid the forest began to decay. Flowers wilted, leaves fell from trees. Vines turned brown and slowly the forest lost its life energy. The Vanguard was compensated with a cracked green stone as they left, the stone of elemental earth, but the forest died in the same way Lawrence had scorched it.
 

Ashana, the mer-witch

We decided on the water mage next, the merfolk witch. As we stepped through the portal to her we found ourselves in a beautiful lagoon. Ashana herself was curled on a rocky outcropping with magics floating about her.
 
Like Memphis the memory seemed broken, but as Ashan turned to greet us she seemed sound of mind. Ashana -- Queen Ashana -- wielded the power of elemental water, and remembered only that Lawrence had came before and done terrible things.
 
She was more inquisitive than the other wielders of power, curious about the elemental power of water and our fate and how we arrived in the memory-lagoon.
 
"Will you allow me to leave this place in your charge?" Ashana's request was a strange one: she wanted to leave Lawrence's clutches with us, and in return grant us the stone of water.
 
The Vanguard agreed, but something in our (Murg's) words triggered Ashana/the memory of Ashana. She jumped immediately on the defense, accusing us of tricking her into leaving the lagoon to then kill her. And when Theo's blood relation to Lawrence was mentioned her form wavered again. We all stood stock-still, unsure of what to do.
 
Moments passed. Then the timelines snapped, as if waves floated through the air, and Ashana returned to her senses. "I... I believe you. And I will come with you. But I will hold you to your word."
 
She entered the water, only to then erupt from the surface and land on humanoid feet.
 
Returning to Lawrence's library, the arcane eye was shocked and speechless (though without a mouth). The two made peace, to some extent, and silence fell in the room. Steel spoke then, and Ashana with the rest agreed the merfolk would stay with the eye of Lawrence as the Vanguard took on the twins Zephos and Arcon.
 

Zephos and Arcon on high

The portal spat out the Vanguard in a shrine to the element of air. The temple was perched on a cloud, surprisingly, and white fog obscured all other vision to the sides.
 
The Vanguard stepped fowards, to be met by two aarakocran warriors clad in gold before a crystal-clear pool of blue. They, Zephos and Arcon, were insulted by the very thought of relinquishing the stone. Zephos in particular thought poorly of land-dwellers, hurling insults back.
 
They brandished their weapons and summoned the forces of wind.
 
Murg ran for cover as he called for his divine accountant. Roi appeared in a shimmer, rushing Zephos on the left with Jojen. The monk ran up and around the temple's inner walls while Roi twirled midair around Zephos, wielding his own gavel of law and order.
 
Steel and Theo dealt with Arcon on the right -- the birdman flew around the outside of the temple to flank as the two friends took potshots at the wind guardian. "Just like old times, eh Theo?" Steel joked, reloading the Claw as Theo pressed himself against the temple wall.
 
The rest of the battle was bloody: Steel and Theo battered Arcon until he fell on top of a nearby pegasus statue, smashing his head open. Jojen fell unconscious fighting Zephos, Murg pulling the last of the aakocran's life force to bring Jojen back.
 
With the death of the stone's guardians the clouds around the air temple grew dark. Lightning flashed, sending stones cascading form the inside of the breaking temple. Thunder cracked and the temple's stone foundation shook violently. Safely enough all of the Vanguard dove back through Lawrence's portal to the arcane library.
 

One last ritual

"You've done it then. Take the stones to the door above. Beyond is the Forge of Stars. There you will need the artifacts in your possession -- return here with the stone repaired. Then, and only then, will you be able to progress onwards to where my body was laid to rest in the tower."
 
Murg implored Ashana to lend her aid. She gathered the Vanguard, passing on a mass healing word upon each of its members. "I'm afraid this is all I can give," she apologized, but the Vanguard was more than thankful. Between a quick break and Murg's healing staff the rest of the party's wounds were tended to.


Returning to the door upstairs, Theo placed each in its respective slots. A beam of light shone from the door, surrounding it before piercing the hearts of the Vanguard. The stone within the door fused, cracks disappearing to leave a rainbow of elemental energy. As the door slid away to the side the stone remained floating midair. Theo took it, and a barrier of elemental force surrounded each of the adventurers.
 
Beyond the door the remains of the Forge of Stars lay waiting. Several statues of hellish skulls surrounded it now, but enough of the forge's staircase was intact enough to reach the forge.
 
As the Vanguard entered each felt pulled to one of four pillars. Steel held out the necklace of Varunmund, Theo Freya's staff, Jojen Hrothmari's prophecies, and Murg Kain's emblem. A great light twisted from each of the artifacts and grew too bright. All was white with a great light, and from far below Nostalii a wretched scream filled the white space before light and sound left the room, everything returning to normal.
 
 

To see an alhoon

Lawrence's eye spun wildly in the arcane library. Pain flooded his -- its -- form entirely, but through quaking and shaking Lawrence's eye managed to confirm the ritual's success. "Go. Kill. Me."
 
The Vanguard prepared. When all were confirmed ready, the eye addressed them one last time. It would pass on, this fragment of Lawrence, to enable the Vanguard to face the madness that was the rest of Lawrence -- now Lawrence the alhoon.
 
One book floated down from a bookshelf to land open before the party. Pages flipped and a wave of relief flowed over the party as Lawrence's eye ceased to be. Ashana waved to the party as they decended.
 

A prison

The book took the party to a strange floor of Nostalii. A great black void opened in the center of the room. Like the spokes of a wheel eight rooms branched out from where the Vanguard stood. Each room held an element and a corresponding elemental of the four major elements and four composite: wind, water, fire, earth; gas, magma, poison, and crystal. One by one they explained: their energies fuel Lawrence, even if they have no wish to hurt the Vanguard.
 
Murg offered to return the elementals to their homes on the great plane of the elements, or to kill the elementals outright. The imprisoned beings understood, and wished the Vanguard as much luck as it could.
 
As the party looked to the void in the center cries and groans of pain surrounded them, Lawrence's magics breaking their wills entirely.
 
"By Abadar's gaze."
 

And it's warden

The Vanguard stepped forwards, falling in and down to the (minor) living gate.
 
The room was a great hall. A gigantic pool took up the middle third, full of a red liquid-plasma-energy that flowed northward. The wall there was less wall and more stones barely held up by mortar. More red threatened to break in, the raw energy of chaos seeming on the verge of consuming all within sight.
 
Four elementals appeared, their hidden summoning circles disappearing as Lawrence pulled them to his lair.
 
"Very well." Theo imitated the Lawrence's runes, calling a stone elemental of its own.
 
And the fight began.
 
Murg and Jojen ran forward, the monk to interrupt Lawrence and the cleric to hold off an air elemental after chugging a potion of haste. Raising his gavel high the auditor unleashed the full force of Abadar on the elemental, nearly returning it to the plane of air from whence it came. Steel... steeled himself, preparing a powerful shot with Lawrence's name on it. And Theo stood at his side, the air about him crackling and slowing as his latent magical power flowed from him.
 
With no hesitation the alhoon whipped a bolt of disintegrate at the monk, missing by a foot and removing the stone wall behind him from existence. The red plasma flooded into the room before bending backwards on itself, held back by some unseen force.
 

A shot in time

As the rest of the Vanguard surged towards Lawrence, the tabaxi Steel waited. The simple lock and load of a bolt in the Claw, raising the weapon level with the alhoon, and finding his mark on the creature was all routine. But this was different. This bolt had a name and an address.
 
"Lawrence Hornraven."
 
Steel's voice was barely above a whisper, but what followed drew attention throughout the gate chamber. Red and blue arcane light erupted from the claw, streaking around and behind the tabaxi as the magical bolt within activated. A bolt with a name -- a bolt of slaying. Steel had prepared for this moment, and with the pull of a trigger the energy rocketed out from the Claw.
 
And misfired. The firing pin jammed, unable to contain the massive level of magical force. The light wisped out unceremoniously, like smoke from an extinguished candle. A soft click reverberated through the room, and afar Lawrence's face glittered darkly at the tabaxi's failure.
 
But this was not meant to be. Theo later explained it was a feeling, a pull, a nagging in the weave that flows through all things. He saw what could be, what should be, and knew that this path was the wrong choice. Whatever source he called to, whatever well of magic that flowed through his body, he found the energy he needed. It was as a dream to the young wizard: reality seemed to shimmer, then split slowly in two. One ghostly image was the past, what would have been, with the Claw misfiring. Lawrence would rout the Vanguard monk, his summons pummel Theo and Steel, and Murg would end face-down in the raging pool of red chaos.
 
That was the fate Theo let go of. He broke time, splitting the continuum and taking the true timeline. The right outcome. He alone knew of what he had done, altering fate; to Steel and the rest the Claw's red and blue energy grew brighter and brighter until the bolt released. This fate was the right one -- Steel's shot struck Lawrence square in the breast, shattering whatever bone the eldritch horror had left. Black matter flew through the air, the alhoon screeching in pain. And still it was not over for the black mage. Jojen saw his chance, sliding into the wizard's space to break his balance and defenses. One, two, three he and the very force of his astral self rammed into the twisted spellcaster. In this moment he would teach Lawrence fear, even just for a moment -- there would be no pause to the Vanguard's assault.


 
Moving between earth and air elementals Murg swung back and around. The gavel of Abadar met no resistance from the air elemental, but once embedding within the living winds the divine light of civilization engulfed the elemental and absolved it from existence. The cleric turned his attention to Lawrence, pointing as he marched towards the alhoon. Divine light and fire cascaded from above to wrack the twisted creature, searing blackened flesh from bone.
 
From behind him the water elemental surged towards Murg, red from its time in the pool of plasma. It took the cleric's attention long enough for Lawrence to point, a black bolt streaking to Murg. Darkness webbed across the bugbear's form as all life left his body, slumping to the ground.
 
"Will you be okay?" Nervous confirmation came from Theo as Steel took off like a bolt, running on all fours to slide next to the downed cleric. A shot fended off the attacking water elemental, and Steel prepared the necessary materials.
 
Theo ran to help Steel, the tabaxi and the Sapphire Claw both entangled with the water elemental suffocating Murg. Behind them Jojen was little more than a flicker on the stone walls, running along the vertical surfaces as easy as pie. None could seen Lawrence's eyes go wide at the monk's burst of speed, who hastily pulled at the weave to surround himself with arcane shielding. With his mind still together the alhoon summoned a wall of force to completely surround himself -- all to Jojen's dismay.
 
At Theo's direction Icarus pulled at Murg's body from under the weight of the water elemental. With a shove from Steel, the flying familiar managed to get half of the bugbear out from underneath the living water -- enough for Theo to reach out and grant cures to Murg's wounds.
 
Steel turned, pointing at the sentient rock next to Theo's earthen ally. The tabaxi cast shatter targeting the enemy earth elemental, all the while still engaged with Lawrence's water elemental (with help from the Claw).
 
Murg joined the fray, and with two swings of the gavel later both the fire and water elementals were returned to their home planes of existence.
 
Panicking, Lawrence the alhoon leapt into another dimension door to escape the prepared monk threatening him. But it was not without notice -- a tired Theobold strode to the center of the room. "You are no kin of mine," he prayed, Selune flooding his magical circuits with arcane power, "Selune, take him." Red light erupted at the alhoon's position, white and black flame ripping at the ground around him. Lawrence was incinerated in an instant, and none missed him.
 
At Lawrence's death the red-plasma-liquid calmed for a moment, before shuddering and shrieking at painful levels. Tentacles formed themselves, wild shapes appearing in the red mess. But it was for naught: arcane sigils etched themselves into existence, the giants' artifacts performing one last miracle. Impossibly complex, written in three-dimensions, the sigils surrounded all of the red material present. A flash of light, and the red was no more.
 
A rumble heralded the imminent collapse of Nostalii. Theo's voice came across Steel's earrings: "Run?"
 
They ran.
 
The portal in the south of the chamber was still active, all members of the Vanguard throwing themselves through the void. Now back in the strange elemental prison, each of the living embodiments now free from Lawrence's spell. But a black energy followed the Vanguard, striking each elemental in turn and banishing them back to their own planes of existence. The water elemental was last, and seeing the few precious seconds it had called to the humanoids in the room. "Come! I will get us out!"
 
Against all rationale the Vanguard compiled, willingly drowning in the sentient water. The living waters shimmered, then bent.
 
The prison left the group's vision; now they were far above Ibrithil. It was no longer the red and broken continent they had found outside of Varunmund but now white and pink. The cherry blossoms of the island had bloomed in full, covered with fresh snowfall. The waters surrounding sparkled with a crystal-clear blue.
 
The elemental dissipated into a gentle rain, falling over the land of a newly freed Ibrithil.
 
Which meant the Vanguard was suspended midair and about to begin falling.