Once More Unto the Breach (COT3-1a)

• Session begins on 13 Nightal 1382, a bit less than a year since the Covenant fully assembled.

• Prologue?
• Open in Myth Drannor
  • Raithen is at the dojo, meditating
  • His apprentice interrupts, saying he has a visitor
  • For a moment, it seems to be Logan, but it's actually Sam Arcosian. He asks to talk. They have a brief expository chat, then talk business off-camera.
• Open skies. Clear horizons. Tal flies on griffon-back over the mountains of Aglarond.
  • He lands near a placid mountain lake, surrounded by alpine trees. He takes in the the beauty, the scent.
  • A voice calls to him. The nude form of Krista, swimming in the lake's depth, beckoning him onward. They do their thing.
  • Later, they regain their composure, readying themselves for some event. They pass through a portal and enter Velprintalar, just as the sun is setting, and the city lights are beginning to twinkle to life.
  • then
  • They arrive at the Opera House just in time to join Ysana in a private box. Eleine is already beginning her performance.
  • In the same box, Queen Ninaran and her retinue enjoy the performance. (Melordianix, Ilmaryn, Duke Vortrus, but notably not Sam Arcosian)
  • In the middle of her performance, Tal gets a very important phone call.
• Night has fallen on Skuld. The city is quiet.
  • Riders storm into the city, and the guard gets the hell out of their way.
  • The ride to the Palace, and quickly move inside.
  • They are escorted before the Pharaoh. They present her with their finding: some sort of cylinder, alight with strange lights. She takes it, and orders them paid handsomely. She then excuses herself.
  • In her chambers, she removes her regal vestments, replacing them with traditional funeral garb. She then speaks the words of magic, and her form dematerializes, appearing within the City of the Dead.
  • She enters the Gateway to the Underworld.
  • All is dark, as she walks through a massive chamber. She reaches some sort of console, and plugs in the device. The entire room lights up as she charges a mass of glowing crystals with power.
  • She enters a meditative state, projecting her mind into the computer.
  • The world inside is a blank state, a massive grid projected infinitely into the darkness.
  • She speaks one word: "Osiris". Nothing happens. She speaks it again, more insistently. Still nothing happens.
  • Kek: "MCP, run program 'OSIRIS'."
  • MCP: "Unable to comply. Data error in primary storage unit"
  • Kek: "Re-assess. The data matrix is now complete."
  • MCP: "Reassessment confirmed. Primary storage unit fragmentation at 72.9%."
  • Kek: "What else is missing? I've found all 13 pieces!"
  • MCP: "Query not understood. To activate program, please provide parameters for missing subroutines."
  • She pauses, frowning in consternation.
  • Kek (to herself): "There's no point if I just make it up for myself."
  • MCP: "Query not understood. To activate-"
  • Kek (loudly): "Deactivate grid, end program."
  • She exits the Grid, and realizes something has been beeping at her. Time to go.
• Meanwhile, in Thay...
  • Nobles dance the night away, dressed in vivid, exotic masks. It's a festival of color, lights, and energy. And yet, the Empress is nowhere to be found...
  • In a richly-appointed nursery, a baby cries, and is soon silenced. A woman, dressed in such vivid and bouffant dress as to require 3 servants to help her move in it, stands with one breast painstakingly exposed, nursing the infant.
  • Another well-dressed woman (though hardly as so as the Empress) stands at a respectful distance. Natasha: "Surely, majesty, there are wet-nurses who can handle this for you."
  • Ani: "Nonsense." etc...
  • Soon after, a knock comes to the door. Natasha whispers with whoever is beyond, and reports: "Majesty, he is here."
  • She finishes with the baby, composes herself, and fairly runs from the room.
  • She blows past her ladies-in-waiting, past nobles who hasten to bow before her.
  • In the ball room, the heralds are feeling mighty nervous, as their Empress is mysteriously indisposed, despite the arrival of such a storied visitor to the court.
  • As she enters, the herald loudly shouts "Her Imperial Majesty, Anastasia!"
  • She doesn't bother with courtly manner, running across the open dance floor.
  • Opposite her, he stands, resplendent in his form-fitting golden breastplate. His golden curls shine as if under their own light. His skin, tanned by long days in the sun with his soldiers, glistens despite the dimness.
  • She leaps into his arms, and he catches her with effortless grace.
  • Not knowing what else to do, the assembled nobles applaud. Ani gets lost in the moment, before finally composing herself.
  • She stands on her own two feet, stamps a foot, and scowls as best she can, through her elation. She then slaps him, the sound reverbing off the walls. "That's for missing your child's birth! Where've you been these last 6 months?!" She harumphs, storming away. The nobles stand in shocked silence.
  • Tchazzar: "My love!" he calls after her. The edge of his mouth gives away the tongue-in-cheek nature of their quarrel. "Light of my life! You are my moon and star! My very heart, torn from my chest! Without you, I am nothing!"
  • She harumphs, her back to him. Her lips turn upward in a wicked grin.
  • Ani: "Ha! Am I such a prize? Then why spend all summer galavanting through the savannah in search of gold and glory? Do I not glitter as much as foreign gold? Was I only a mare to be conquered, a field to be sown? Am I such a old hag that you have lost all interest!"
  • Tchazzar: "My love! My queen! All that I have, all that I am, I would gladly trade a thousand times for merest glance, for a single touch."
  • Ani: "Oh really? What mountains of gold might you offer? Is love so easily bought? Am I but a harlot to be used and paid?"
  • Tchazzar (has closed the distance): "I offer you...my heart. My love. My very soul." He kneels before her, holding his hand out to take hers. She does.
  • Ani: "I ask only this. A dance." She takes his hand, and he rises. The nobles nervously chuckle, as the bards begin the music anew.
  • Of course, before the night can truly get going...she gets a phone call, and must disappear into the night like Cinderella.

• Fly to Olympus Station
  • Montage, as each party member mounts their various vehicles and takes off into the sky.
• Introduce the station
  • As Keket's shuttle enter's the docking bay, she passes by Daedalus. I bears numerous and terrible battle scars, but it stands still, a reminder of past victories.
  • She lands, and Raynar is there to greet Keket as she arrives. She hasn't seen it yet, so he's happy to show it off.
  • A massive installation constructed by the Imaskari during the Thirteen Kingdoms era, Olympus is the ultimate find of the Prometheus Initiative.
  • Shaped like a sword with a circular hilt. The central shaft houses the power core, a massive accumulator. Various rings around the shaft house operations of various sorts. They're still discovering its many nooks and crannies.
  • It boasts a massive docking bay, in which Daedalus is currently being refit. Other ships are under construction within.
• When the tour is over, he takes her to the new Covenant HQ.
  • Mounted on the side facing Toril, the HQ sits atop the highest towers, allowing an unobstructed view of the world and orbital space.
  • The conference room is a huge circle with big ol' windows and a nice view of Toril above.
  • Of course, the central chamber boasts the same round table from the old HQ. The arcane runes still glow on its surface.
  • Raynar recedes. She stands alone for a moment. Then she feels a presence behind her.
• Many arrivals. The party arrives at various times, and are joyously reunited.
  • They take their places around the table, completing the circle.
• The briefing.
  • Description of the Daughter of Darkness.

The party teleports down to the Muzad, and moves quickly from the drop zone to the likely site of the scion of Shar. There, they find a seal, which uses some sort of coherent quasi-magic generated by a far-off spell engine to maintain epic-level wards against entry.

They concoct a complex plan: Ani will drain the seal's energy (aided by Desdemona), channeling it into fire. Tal will siphon off as much fire as he can, converting it into life energy, while the rest will plunge through a portal (maintained by Raithen and Raynar) to the site of the empty accumulator in the Halls of Origination, where Kara will convert it into psychic energy to recharge said accumulator. All this time, Keket will be planting the explosive, and, just before it goes off, she will shield everyone from the blast.

Long story still long, it works, and the seal is cracked. They move on.

Within, they find six doors, each shielded by a powerful and very subtle ward of annihilation. Somehow, the wards still use the Shadow Weave, and are nigh-invisible to detection by Weave users. Handy to have someone with Foresight active. In any case, they need to bypass them, so Keket hops herself up as high as she can get (avatar, focused dispel, etc), and manages to edge out a DC 127 dispel check by one fricking point. She commandeers the spells, re-casting them to permit the party, and no one else.

Beyond the northern doors, they find some sort of gate, which combines traditional conjuration magic with some sort of Imaskari technology. Before they can examine it closely, they are attacked by the gate's defenders...

For solving the puzzle of the powerful traps and seals in the dungeon:

• 3,000 epic xp (new total: 24,000 epic xp each)
• Party is owed 190 gp. This will be settled up in a future treasure haul.