OttD Session 33: The Beginning of The End

General Summary

The party, fresh off of their defeat in Session 32: The Local Customs of Acheron, are badly beaten. Tornac leaves to go drinking without a word. The others go to take a short rest at The Drunken Mongoose. They spend quite a bit of time debating future plans. Going back to Acheron is too dangerous, and Carceri is a difficult place to return from. They want to try and be a bit more cautious than they have been of late, and eventually settle on the Elemental Plane of Air as their next destination. There are two problems, however. First of all, none of the party can fly. Secondly, Mazu wants to return to the Elemental Plane of Water to make use of the local forges so she can be more prepared for the next conflict. There is also discussion of the glass vial from Penguin way back at the beginning of the campaign. Zerrof convinces Mazu that using this is a bad idea. Vun Roade and Pestle go shopping at Warehouse 19, where Pestle buys a magic carpet and a bag of holding. On the way there, Dave nags Pestle into asking him a question and informs him that Mazu likes Zerrof. She "like likes him", you know? These ongoing shenanigans (and also an interjection from Garfield) lead Pestle to realize that Dave is cursed. He tries to put him in the bag of holding but fails a charisma save and is unable to do so. Zerrof and Mazu go to New Neprius, where she kicks everybody out of the forge and takes over. She and Zerrof craft her some new heavy armor. After the armor is done, she sends Zerrof to the palace to retrieve some adamantine. There is a large crowd gathered outside, due to a pending announcement by Deep Sashelas. Zerrof is eventually escorted inside, where Deep Sashelas apologizes for his previous behavior and explains that he is extremely concerned for Mazu's safety. He says that Mazu was more concerned about making sure Zerrof survived than ensuring her own survival. Deep Sashelas threatens Zerrof with an eternity in Carceri if his sister did not return home safely, then provides the adamantine and a small red box covered in velvet. He does not explain what the box is, but says Mazu will recognize it. When he returns to Mazu, Zerrof gives her both boxes. Mazu is extremely surprised to receive the smaller box, but does not specify what it is. After this, the new metals are used to forge improved weapons for the both of them. On the way back to Sigil, Zerrof encounters Hawk in the ruins of Neprius. Hawk explains that he and his wife are in hiding, because their relationship with their son Penguin had gotten very complicated and they needed space. The party meets up again in Sigil, and proceeds to try out the new magic carpet. The first attempts in the store had not gone well, so they travel back to the Elegant Grassland. Pestle, having now read the manual, attempts flying again but does poorly and crashes into a hillside. They decide to go hire a pilot, but as they leave they spot Izar, who comes over and immediately begins flying said carpet like a pro. He is clearly highly experienced in flying carpets, and so the party discusses hiring him to fly them around the Elemental Plane of Air. The problem with this is that he weighs 700 pounds, and the carpet has a limited carry capacity. During this conversation, Dave had been constantly nagging Pestle saying that there is something important that was going to happen. Pestle finally relents, and between all of his bonuses rolls a 30 to get Dave to explain himself. It turns out that Deep Sashelas is planning to announce Penguin's plot to his people, in order to protect Mazu. The idea is that by getting the party sent to Vigrid they will be safer than they would be traversing the outer planes. This plan appears to be working, because shortly after the party begins to hear a faint humming. Mazu immediately begins briefing Izar, getting him to be their messenger to the Elemental Plane of Air. The rest of the party is frantically discussing what to do, and determine that they are being summoned to Vigrid by The Bronze Prince. Multiple attempts to cast sending on The Bronze Prince fail to stop this, and running back to Sigil does not appear to help any either. Eventually, the humming grows unbearable and the party is teleported to a grassy hillside with a single tree. They hear singing: The session ends there.