Back at Gallowhall, Layric goes through applications for new gods. He decides on three:
Punjin, a rotund monk with a quarterstaff possessed by the god of water. He used to follow Krannic with the Apocolytes, then turned to Saffron, and now follows the New Pantheon.
Hildagerde, a Witch from Australia who is now possessed by the god of air. She was banished from her home for unwholesome practices.
Yeezus, a Warpriest wielding a scimitar and buckler. Rache, overwhelmed by the amount of worship for positive energy, is splitting his power with Yeezus.
After interviewing and choosing new gods, Layric decides to use a spell to determine, with a 90% accuracy, the answers to some questions. Amoung these, he determine that: The Elemental 6 are not dead, their greatest enemy after taking over will be "everyone," and "Ovelia" will help them against the Reclaimers. If anybody remembers the other questions/answers, feel free to post.
Again postponing the reclaimers, Layric decides that he wants to try his hand against the Alchemist. They teleport to outside Saffron's Monastery, where they hope to either find him or draw him out through general destruction. It is storming, but the monastery appears calm and "business as usual." They use elemental sight to inspect the monastery, don't find the Avatar but do find a monk in Saffron's old room. Then, they teleport into Saffron's old room.
Yeezus, unused to this whole teleporting thing, winds up in a small room with four sleeping monks. He spends the next few rounds sneaking around the area, eventually bringing dozens of low level monks on his head. He finally exits the facility to find himself not in the Monastary, but out in the desert. He commands a monk to tell him the way to the Monastary, and the Monk points. Yeezus sprints in that direction, not able to see more than 20 feet at a time, and becomes promptly lost in the desert in a storm.
The rest of the heroes wind up in the correct location. Punjin offers to soften up the monk a bit before questioning, but instead splatters his brains against the back wall with a single punch. RIP Remi.
Our heroes then start exploring. Not finding anything and getting bored, LAyric summons and earth elemental into the courtyard, followed quickly by acid rain and lightning by Hilda. After a dozen rounds of killing monks and inducing chaos, it becomes clear that Castor's Avatar is uninterested in coming to the rescue, and our heroes scry on Yeezus, teleport to him, then teleport home.
The next day, Layric scries on the Avatar. He sees where the Avatar is, but is blinded by overwhelming white light and the scry ends in an instant. He gets the sense the Avatar is on a different plane.
Without a further lead, our heroes go to the reclaimers.
They teleport to the city square as described by Nut, a large marble fountain surrounded by marble and brick buildings. Silver filaments connect most of these buildings, and the massive silver minaret looms about half a mile away.
Before our heroes can get their bearings, three monsters teleport in: A Gargantuan Clockwork Monstrosity, a Black Dragon studded with soulstones, and a large arcane and shimmering serpent. The construct explodes when brought to 10% of his damage, the black dragon wings Punjin and breathes fire, and the serpent transforms the area into a hellish landscape, but otherwise the monsters are dispatched without issue.
The city is somber. Hundreds of people look in shock and quiet intensity as the heroes first congratulate themselves, then charm and question a guard. Evidently there are no more defenses, and Ovelia is waiting the tower. Layric shakes the limp hands of citizens. Only a few sobbing individuals fill the silence.
The guards part at the base of the silver minaret, and our heroes make their way up the stairs to the throne room. There is an inactive silver jump gate, and then a dozen active jump gates. Ovelia stands alone in the room, holding a single ornamented dagger. Hilda quickly induces agony in her, then Punjin grapples her. As they do this, Layric is unnerved by the unmistakable build-up of titanic arcane powers. "Let her speak!"
Ovelia speaks: "Let me tell you what is going to happen. In 40 seconds, a splinter zone bomb is going to go off in the heart of the city, completely demolishing everything in a 20 mile radius. With it, the machinery keeping Maven from returning will be destroyed. You will walk through one of these jump gates before the bomb goes off. Maven will return to Cain, and publicly challenge you to combat. You will fight him. You will lose. As the world watches, worship of Maven will replace worship of the New Pantheon, and this will all be over. Never will a reclaimer bend the knee to either Maven or the new Pantheon. 15 seconds."
Our heroes discuss what to do "10 seconds" but without much time "5 seconds" they jump through a portal, taking Ovelia with them.
They appear in a small hut in a large field of wheat. Moments later, the ground shakes with incredible force. Minutes later, and immense sound, like a cliff collapsing, is heard. A few moments after that, our heroes hear a voice in their minds.
"People of Cain - This is Adrian Deel, High Advisor to Maven, King of Men. Your ruler has returned from his long exile. Maven once again walks the lands of Cain. To those who call themselves the New Pantheon: The True Ruler of Men and Representative of the Gods challenges you to combat on the fields of Dorma, near Osiris. You have one hour to appear, or be branded cowards and be hunted in every land. This nightmare is over."
With every word, the New Pantheon can feel their worship shaking across the globe. They know that if they do appear before Maven within the hour, they will lose an incredible amount of worship, perhaps all.
It is now July 19th, 2015 AF. Our heroes played this at Level 20, Ascension level 6.
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