The Measure of a Man (2COT34)

Session begins on 27 Kythorn 1381.

Setup

After explaining the White Queen, Zahl goes on to say that Thay's internal struggles are her own business, and she can handle them just fine. In her opinion, the Covenant should worry more about the existential threat to the East, and indeed the world, in Kozah's awakening. On that note, she has a suggestion.

Considering the incredible complexity of re-sealing a god by duplicating an ancient, undocumented ritual cast by 10 deities using ancient magic that no longer exists, all while dodging thousands of Red Wizards, an unknown quantity of cultists, and of course Aznar and Odessa, it seems simpler to Zahl to just let them win. After a fashion.

Her plan: let them have the keys (save, of course, for the secret 11th key, which she holds in reserve, as ever), then conduct their ritual. When Kozah appears: fucking kill him.

How? She goes on to explain:

In the dawn of time, when the Goddess first breathed life into the world, her darker half resented its warmth, the loss of her pure and solitary existence. Thus, she cursed the new life with mortality, inventing horrors and dangers to destroy it. But each death she created, life found a way to escape. She raced against life's clever and urgent need to survive, each time thinking of more terrible dooms to inflict upon it, and each time being surprised when life escaped her clutches.

:Ultimately, her constant harrying strengthened life, rather than weakening it. Her hatred of life was more valuable to its long-term survival even than her other half's love for it. But she was not without her victories. No matter how life itself might persist, individual lives are all doomed to end. Mortality itself cannot be escaped, only circumvented, and only for a brief time.

:From the force of her will to end life came an equal and opposite reaction: the will to survive. This pure thought, backed by the power inherited from its parentage, was born as a new god, a primal, masculine force, made of all things of life: the earth, the skies, the seas, the flora, the fauna, and the vital energy of fire. This primal entity is now seen as many different beings, including the Beast God (Malar), the Elemental Lord (Talos), and others, but He was once singular and pure, like the Goddess. He was once Vim.

:Vim, son of the Goddess, was powerful and resourceful, always evading the Goddess' attempts to destroy him. But his constant struggle reflected a critical weakness: his entire existence was defined by avoiding the fate of death. His struggle to survive may have been the primary drive to all life and evolution, but it was only a byproduct of his purpose. Since she commanded the one thing he feared, the Goddess had absolute power over him.

:And so, even to this today, Vim's many offspring are vulnerable to the Dark Goddess' magic. One who can channel dark energy in its pure form can use it to gain power over any creature animated by Vim's energy. An everyday beast is a product of many energies, but ancient and pure spirits like the Yuir gods are very much aligned with Vim's ancient blood. Thus, Desdemona and the Shadovar were able to use dark energy to violate their wards, and the Red Wizards were able to use it to dominate the super-soldiers, infused as they were with Vim's energy.

Kozah, as the predominant source of this energy, is thus a natural candidate for this application. All the party needs to do is rebuild the Omega Weapon atop Thaymount, modify it to produce a focused beam instead of a diffuse radiance, then blast Kozah with it until he explodes. In theory.

Climax

At the site of the volcanic crater of Thaymount, the party watches as the Cult executes their ritual. The earth shakes as the old god begins to shake loose of his bonds. Magma pours forth from the caldera, and natural disasters ravage Thay and the East.

Emerging from the smoke and fire is the champion of Kozah. The party battles the elemental warrior, who, while he may have been a match for Talos' chosen champion, could not best them all. He is defeated. When he resumes normal form, it is revealed that he is Talrendis' father. Talrendis, it seems, was never a descendant of Talos' line, but of his brother Xaxas. With regrets, his father informs him that "there must always be a champion", and with his death, he passes that mantle onto Talrendis.

Though the power passes to him, Talrendis refuses to do Xaxas' bidding. He rejoins the party as Daedalus readies itself to stand against Xaxas/Kozah's divine form.

Arriving with three ships of the Veldir Fleet, Zahl begins the summoning ritual. Bolstered by the mighty power of the Great Circle of Dun-Tharos, she is able to summon forth the avatar of Kozah, though the earthen bindings embedded beneath Thaymount by the Veldir prevent him from escaping to wreak his vengeance. Instead, he is helpless to move as the Omega Weapon blasts him with dark energy.

To distract him from the Weapon, Daedalus and the party do battle with the avatar. With all their magic and artifice, they are able to cause enough annoyance to hold his attention for a few precious minutes, as the Weapon does its work. Still, his strength is too great, and after downing Daedalus, he destroys the weapon, and bursts from his bonds. As he rises into the sky, however, he is encountered by the Divinity of Araushnee. She forgives him for his trespass, and annihilates his weakened avatar form, dispersing the essence of Kozah, and allowing the spirit of Xaxas to pass on.

Epilogue

In the days after the battle, the extent of Kozah's power became clear, in the amount of destruction he wrought through earthquakes, storm, and the eruption of the Thaymount. Still, even nearby Eltabbar would not be broken by his wrath, and efforts to rebuild began in earnest.

It also became clear the extent to which the bound avatar of Kozah fed the many wells of primal power to be found throughout the East. After ten thousand years, many of the places of power throughout Rashemen, Thay, and Aglarond began to drain of their ancient magic. It was not only his power, but all of the gods of Yuir, who, no longer needed as guardians of their wayward brother, faded into history.

But not all was lost. Some of the gods still held sacred by the most faithful and traditional of Yuir clans, such as the Wolf goddess Elikarashae, remain in some form. Through the belief, worship, and dedication of their people, and in their myth, legend, and song, the gods still remain, elevated from simple, primitive spirits to beings of higher purpose.

Though none would know of the covert actions of the Covenant, nor would they ever learn of the survival of their beloved Empress Zahl, Thay was soon freed from the tyranny of Aznar Thrul, who simply disappeared, along with his most ardent followers. Thay's second Empress, Anastasia, was crowned by the Eternal Flame on 1 Flamerule 1381. She would begin a long and fruitful reign, one more openly kind and warm, but no less cunning and ruthless than her predecessor.

With the passing of the tyrant came the resumption of peace talks between Thay and Aglarond. The young Queens of the realms would become close associates, holding frequent talks formal and informal to solidify the bond between their lands, as well as those of Rashemen. They discussed such concepts as standardization of trade laws, weights and measures, and currency; they enacted laws allowing free trade, without tariff, between their lands, hoping that some day, with the peoples of both lands enjoying mutual prosperity, the prospect of war would become unthinkable.

Not all the merriment was so grand in scope. In Aglarond, a family was reunited. A young man was finally introduced to his father, if posthumously, as Talrendis and his mother buried him at the site where they first met, and she told him all she knew of the mysterious wanderer. In the Goddess' name, she absolved him of his trespasses, and sent his spirit to his final rest.

• XP: 14,400 each (new total: 175,400)
• Treasure: 60 gp each, plus special items to come in 2COT41