Episode 43 - Welcome to Armageddon Part One

General Summary

We opened with a cut scene where the drow Serdrissa, along with Arcaan and Kwava, raced to Riddleport to complete a contract. When she arrived, she was met by the contract issuer named Atrament. Despite the protest, the contract was not completed in time. The tiefling assassin, Kasu Ayamani, appeared beside Atrament and was handed a vial of poison. She drank it, the mystical text disappeared from her wrist, and the assassin fell to the ground dead. Serdrissa fell seconds later, her body turning to ash. Kasu then sat up with a soul coin in her hand and handed it to Atrament. Arcaan said he wanted to make a deal for Serdrissa’s soul and the Pnakotic Manuscripts. Atrament said that the manuscript was in the possession of a man named Damocleus Gallus, and the soul was owned by… someone else. However, he would approach both parties to see if they would be interested in some kind of deal. If they were, he would be in touch. Back at Crying Leaf, the Guardians made preparations to confront the army of the dead. That evening they were called out, and they stepped beyond the walls of the town to face their opposition. Waves of zombies rushed them, followed by several soul-fed golems. One of the golems appeared to have been made from the remains of Shalelu, the leader of the Celwynvian Guard. She had a scroll case wrapped around her neck. The scroll case contained an invitation from Kaerishiel to come to the Armageddon Echo. The Guardians rested and made their way to the Academy of the Arts the following day. There were blood and destruction throughout the ruined city, but no bodies remained. Reh was able to channel her arcane power into the gateway and the Guardians passed through into a shadow version of Celwynvian just before Earthfall. They spoke with some of the locals who seemed to hint that some odd-looking elves had been poking around the library and the observatory. Inside the observatory, Nolveniss greeted the party with giddy enthusiasm. He was disappointed that Lasdolon would not be there to see him kill them, but he would not be alone. Kaerishiel, now apparently a vampire, blamed the Guardians for what had happened to him. Some verbal sparring back and forth allowed the entire party to get into position and prepare for whatever happened next. Nolveniss noticed that Fjord was with the party and exclaimed how happy he was for his greatest creation to witness his greatest victory. Fjord said that he was no creation of the mad drow and that the ritual obviously didn’t work. Nolveniss said it did, spoke a command word, and Fjord screamed in agony as his muscles tore, bones broke, and he reformed into a raging goliath of destruction. The beast lashed out at whoever was within his grasp… Telith. The battle began. A dragon shard-empowered Nolveniss, filled with mythical power, launched occasional attacks while buffing himself. The Goliath was distracted with a hypnotic pattern from Rooker and Kaerishiel attacked Godric. Godric decapitated Kaerishiel, and after a few rounds the Goliath’s rage subsided and he reverted back into a bloody and unconscious Fjord. Nolveniss smiled and morphed into a large bestial creature and prepared to face down the Guardians. “Shall we begin?” he asked.