Episode 30: New Moon Rising Report
General Summary
Flying to the Moon
The Crew of the Blackjack rests and prepares as the Telperion Moon Raider meteors towards Thaya, the Shattered Moon. Nia and Spark both take a moment to divine some information on the oath breaker Dirk, Xeno, and Malfador. Based on their investigations, they discover that the first group to complete the Ritual of Lunar Apotheosis shall reap the rewards.
The Siege of the Barrow Mound
With this in mind, they arrive at Sarch na Thaya, the elven tree base over the massive Barrow Shard, the Shard of Thaya anchored to the moon by the great tree Lokorn.
The Will of Malfador hovered above the elven base, bombarding it with magic and an infernal army. The elven armada was helplessly docked in the branches of Lokorn. Their hex crystal power sources exhausted after being away from the Kirinal Pit for an extended time.
The elves fought back with their own magic. They mounted an airborne resistance from the back of giant dragonflies. Unfortunately the surprise attack took them completely off-guard. The elves were minutes away from being overwhelmed.
The Blackjack exhausts the power of its Moon Raider form reverting back to its Ionite Assault Frigate form as it comes into sight of the Barrow Shard. The elves hail them, warning the new unknown ship to turn away or be fired upon. Lt. Aymer Ulalen gets on the comm to vouch for their good intentions. She lets the besieged elves know that the Blackjack has arrived to help.
Blackjack Under Attack
Upon seeing his old ship, the gestalt being known as Xen-alfador produces the Blackjack's sextant. He has held it since he was possessed by the dark god. He remotely takes control of the helm and commands it to DIVE! However, the current navigator Sugar Bear, seizes the wheel just in time. With ursine power, he barely maintains control keeping the skyship airborne.
The Will of Malfador has two skyships docked to it, an assault skiff commanded by the Oathbreaker Dirk Altmann , and the skyship of House Razak. With the arrival of the Blackjack, Xen-alfador accelerates his plan, sending the assault skiff to stall the Blackjack while the Will, commanded by the Pit Fiend Aginnad, continues to pin down the elves. Meanwhile, the Avatar boards House Razak's ship and commands Margrave Max von Razak to descend to the Tomb of Thaya. They will be the first to perform the Ritual and raise a new god under Malfador's thrall.
Dirk leads a squad of chain devils and illriggers to assault the Blackjack. The chain devils charge ahead on flying carpets, but El meets them with the headthirsty Blade of Heskiloth. The devils begin to fall one by one.
Dirk avoids the Paladin of Ashaya by teleporting directly onto the ship and calling upon spirit guardians to attack the Crew. He and Spark trade blows, jabs, rebukes, and telekinetic blasts leaving both severely wounded. Dirk's illriggers board the ship to give their life energy to him, bringing Dirk back from near death.
Nia responds with a shout, "Get off my ship!" and blasts one of the illriggers overboard. Meanwhile, Lance has taken a defensive role, enhancing Spark and El with his magic. He skillfully negates Dirk and the illriggers' magic, taking down their magical defenses and counterspelling lightning bolts.
El finishes her tour of demon decapitation to face Dirk. The Oathbreaker brags that his adamntine armor will protect him from El's vopal blade. She responds with all her elven fury and divine strength to smite clean though his fat neck. The Crew sends word of their victory to Lord Maximillian and Aginnad, hoping to intimidate or convince them to end their attacks.
Lance especially tries to convince his dad to switch sides. Max sends back a picture of himself with a thumb's up, showing his pride in his son's success. Xen-alfador stands behind Max, casually pointing Vesta's Velvet Rod at Lord von Razak's head. Lance scans the battlefield to find and protect his father. Just as his eye settles on it, he sees his House's skyshp has abandoned the battle to dive beneath the elven base.
Filled with anger at missing the chance to catch his father, Lance focuses Prismatic Spray through the Blackjack's spell cannons. His rainbow broadside blasts across the surface of the Will of Malfador, decimating the enemy's crew and transforming Sigrid, the Warlock of Malfador, into a statue.
Beneath the Branches of Lokorn
The Blackjack's crewmembers, led by Thunderfox, volunteered to help the elves deal with the dreadnaught. Meanwhile, the command crew and those needed for the Ritual jumped onto Dirk's assault skiff to pursue the House von Razak ship.
Under the canopy of Lokorn, among the branches and roots, the crew is stopped by Lord von Razak's personal guard. Lance uses his status as Max's heir to convince them to stand aside. "This is Von Razak family business and besides, here's a keg or three of beer to enjoy!"
The Command Crew searches for the Tomb when they hear one of Malfador's devils behind a stand of trees and the voices of Malfador's group. Both parties freeze for a moment, aware of each other, but unable to decide on how to proceed without waltzing into an ambush.
El breaks the stalemate, calling upon a Haste spell stored in the Moonblade of Heskiloth and flies a stolen carpet around the corner. In a stroke of genius, the paladin calls upon the power of her oath to force extraplanar beings to flee her presence. This reverses the tides of battle. Her divine power abjures the four devils lying in ambush and they flee into the woods.
Nia siezes on the moment to hypnotize Malfador and Max von Razak. Caught by surprise, Malfador falls for her beguiling magic while Max simply plays along. The party then strips Xen-alfador of his equipment so that they can and remove his helm and the Moonblade of Heskiloth can works its magic.
However it would take more than luck to slay a god. The Moonblade couldn't just take Malfador's head. The blade cut deep and El focused her divine power through the blade. With the Crew's help, El broke through the dark god's defenses and shattered what was left of Xeno's body, Malfador's mortal shell.
As Xeno's mortal body fell, Malfador's wicked spirit rose as a flame out of the corpse. That flame ascended to the Hidden Moon and embedded itself into a massive armored body constructed from gold and flames, Malfador's prophesized third and final form.
Rise of a New Moon
With Xen-alfador slain, the assembled representatives of the old Shattered Moon Coalition headed down into Thaya's Tomb. They performed the Ritual of Lunar Apotheosis and a shadow of Thaya rose from her sepulchre.
She greeted them and repeated her desire to stay dead. However, she would grant a last gift by helping to raise one of the Six Lost Moons. She called forth to the spirits of her slain siblings present there that day and they revealed themselves.
The shadow and light dancing in Lance's soul emerged and formed a yin yang. The spirit of the Moonblade of House Heskiloth asserted itself as the blade floated forwards. Of the Hope the Way revealed himself from his concealment inside of Mekkamutt. The brain of Nia's sister Jenny, hiding in Nia's Ident-a-hedron, began to glow.
Thaya explained that there was only enough power in the Ritual to make one of them a moon. Jenny asked, "Can it be me? I never had a chance to live. I've only been my sister's shadow for so long."
The goddess asked asked each crew member what they desired. Lance passed, Way wanted Jenny. The Moonblade would accept the crew's choice. So, they supported Jenny becoming the new moon.
Nia's ident-a-hedron shattered, and Jenny's brain emerged. A brand new body coalesced, forming into a beautiful changeling woman. The new goddess ascended into the sky forming a gigantic icosahedron as her domain.
The crew was successful, a new moon and goddess rose above the Hidden Moon in the night sky. The Hell Week Accords were invalidated half a day after they were adopted.
However the Blackjack is still stranded on the Shattered Moon for at least a week and the damage to Sarch na Thaya needs to be assessed...
Lance Uppercut
Niamhi Silversång
Xeno
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