Session 08 - Lady Nimue Report

General Summary

Sunday, 2nd Reaping of 784

Galar Granito-Negro and Surreal Sha made the necessary arrangements to do a small and respectful ceremony to lay the bodies of the fallen druids to rest;
After careful consideration the party ask Camie Flickerjewel to activate the teleportation circle found in the room where the druids were;
They are teleported to a larger room, but similar, also covered with frescos of the eerie spiral symbol;
In the back a strange forge illuminates the room from its hot scarlet ambers, and in front of it a slender looking female figure, humanoid for sure, but definitely exhibiting fey-like features, in her right hand, a long sword made of strange-looking obsidian material;
Her sword wielding hand was blackened and protruding ebony veins ran from her hand to her neck;
She demanded the group to leave her alone, that she would not allow anyone to take the sword and free 'him';
The party tentatively start speaking with her, letting her know they have no knowledge of a sword nor they seek it to free anyone;
Immediately everyone started experiencing someone speaking to them, right in their minds, and without the shadow of a doubt, they knew it was the sword telepathically communicating;
Each had a personal conversation, and to each of them, it seemed the sword knew of something they deeply wanted, and the sword tempted them with that, Aphelios and Vala took some step forward as they began to be convinced by the swords words and promises, but the bond between each other and their own willpower was enough to break the hold the sword had on them;
At the same time, Galar kept trying to engage in peaceful conversation with the maiden, she seemed to be in pain, and exhausted from something, evidently trying to contain the powers of the dark sword;
Eventually Galar break through, and she told them her story;
A long long time ago, in a far away world called Avalon, She was the Goddess of the Hunt, Wisdom and Justice of that world, and Nimue was her name;
A dark force invaded Avalon, corrupting it in every possible way, and eventually consumed it whole, only her essence was able to escape;
With what was left of her divine powers she was able to flee, to swim in the sea that permeates the space between the universes of the Material Plane;
She was able to reach the adventurer's universe, she manifested in the upper planes, on Mount Celestia, barely alive, she contacted two Gods, Boccob and Pelor, telling them of her plight and warning them, that if nothing is done, that evil, which was named Tharizdun, would consume their world as well.
Boccob and Pelor prepared for Tharizdun's arrival, a fierce battle ensued, but Tharizdun was too strong to be destroyed, but Boccob was also prepared for that, and so he was able to imprison Tharizdun with the help of Pelor.
Nimue knowing that was not happy, as she advocated for its utter destruction, but her last strengths waned, and she fell unconscious;
Eons passed, and Nimue awoke, not because she was fully restored, but sadly because once again she was able to feel the dark presence of Tharizdun holding some sort of power and connection to this universe Material Plane;
She planeshifted to Haven, there, She discovered a Cult, the Doomdreamers, who were following Tharizdun, under the guise some Mad God, and that in a temple deep inside a mountain they were creating the most perfect weapon in the multiverse, and with it, their champion, a powerful warlock whose powers were granted by Tharizdun Himself was going to sever the chains that held its master in His prison;
She plunged into a lake at the base of the mountain where the temple was, and with all her fury and might hunted down the cult;
After defeating the horde of cultist and warriors she killed and took the sword from the blacksmith warlock who made the ritual to bind it to the power of Tharizdun, its unique alloy of metals, a recipe long lost, is the only thing that can cut through the chains of the Dark God;
The sword dark power was to much for her to hold onto without risking corruption, so she had to use the temple to keep it hidden;
With some of her power back, she bounded the souls of the dead cultist to the temple, but enchanted them to believe they were in a temple dedicated to Avalon, she changed the murals and décor of the temple to match to ease the hold of the enchantment, and that their duty was to protect the sacred chamber of the old Gods and Goddesses of Avalon, the chamber where she left the cursed sword;
The enchantment took much from her, so she rested deep in the lake, only seldom surfacing to answer the prayers and rituals of the druids of this land, and by having people in this world believing in this new natural entity, the Lady of the Lake, it gave her the power she needed to keep going and she gave them guidance and wisdom to preserve the land;
During Midsummer Night, at the same time Nimue was communing with the Druids of the Circle of the Stars, the strange glowing object in the night sky shattered and with it, the return of Tharizdun's influence and reach to this Material Plane, stronger than ever;
She immediately felt the same dread and despair from so long ago, but so much stronger this time, her emotions, too strong to contain, flowed from her and to the druids she was spiritually connecting with, filling them with the same dread, despair and madness;
Most turned on each other, others felt compelled to dive and go for the lost temple, touched by Tharizdun, craving to get the sword
Nimue went to the forge room, filled with despair and paranoia, she took up the dark weapon, so that no one else could, where she slowly lost her divinity, slowly the power and the grip of the cursed sword on her very essence rose.
Nimue felt she could no longer hold the sword, but she understood that those brave souls before her were no threat, they did not want part with any of this, but she could not risk it. She lost the control a couple of times, striking Galar a couple of times, leaving him wounded.
Seeing what she was becoming she decided to sacrifice the what was left of herself and her divinity to save and maybe if destiny allows it, empower them slightly so they can keep up the fight;
She told them that she felt Tharizdun merging in some dark way with the prime material plane, in this very world, that 333 parts of his essence somehow became connected with it; She beg them to never try to come back and reach for the sword, and that if possible to scour the world and destroy all they can of this evil becomes it becomes tottaly free of its prison;
And so with a prayer, she turned to ashes, the sword fell to the floor, but a small bright spark emerged from where she standed, the spark exploded in 6 smaller sparks and each flew towards each of our heroes, smashing into each one and entering their body; And with flash of while light they all teleported back outside to the lake, where they have first arrived;
They were all healed and restored, and feeling some sort of new power deep within their very being;
They met with Clionyss and told her the druid were lost, convincing her to move on from this cursed place;
They also now had the knowledge to make the potion from Wolfbane so they went back to Harmony after hunting for some Wolfbane plants and brew some potions to help the poor gnome, giving him a chance to handle his transformations for a while;
They spent one more night in Harmony before traveling to Birk, but their sleep was troubled with visions, they saw all that Nimue had told them and felt it as if it happened to them.