Day 66 (S45-46)

Before dawn, they all began heading toward their tree on the outskirts of Castle Frey. Royal guards lined the path there, and The Bound arrived before the Three Fangs.
They waited longer than they expected, but finally saw the royal carriage coming up over the hill. From the carriage, they could hear the Three Fangs bickering amongst themselves.
"Sullivan, you're not being pragmatic about this," Drake said.
"But there's only so many dragons to hunt!"
"There are other things to concern ourselves with," Drake said again.
Godfrey quickly opened the door and jumped out of the carriage, apparently trying to avoid the argument between Sullivan Frey and Drake.
Rina summoned Volvagia and sent her directly into the carriage. Sullivan quicky drew his sword and leapt from the carriage after the small fey dragon, cutting her in two.
"They're following us... Stalking us..." Sullivan said as he stood by the carriage with his sword still pointed outward.
Rina then summoned Volvagia again - who just sat on her shoulder this time - and Rina smirked in Sullivan's direction.
Sullivan looked at the little dragon, then looked at Rina, then looked back at Drake, whose point was now quite proven.
"Ah... it seems I have... embarrassed myself enough for one day," the King said as he slowly sheathed his sword. "Let us continue through the tree, miss Moondance?"

"Yes, sir!" Alice said as she started climbing the tree.
"Do we not just go through the trunk?" asked Sullivan.
"We could, but this is how I do it," Alice responded.
She got to her branch and opened up the tree to the one in Therius' underwater library.
"You mean for me to... climb a tree?" the King said, "Fine, but not with my guards watching. Everyone turn around."
All of the guards surrounding them turned around in unison. Sullivan attempted to climb, but his clothes were not suited for it.
"You know what? Screw it." Sullivan then turned into a bat, and flew into the tree.
"Why is your bat form so much larger than theirs?" Rina asked Godfrey, "When I saw you the night we went into Mt. Ivatim, your bat form was huge."
"We can choose our size as bats, I choose to be big!" Godfrey answered.
"I'd always choose to be big," Blanke said.
"This is my kind of guy!" Godfrey said, putting his arm around Blanke.
"You liking vampires more yet, Blanke?" Rina asked.
He shrugged, and he and Godfrey entered the tree.
"Looks like it's just you and I," Rina said to Drake.
"No Neely today?"
"No... poor Neely really just needs a day off. She's been through enough."
So, Rina and Drake - along with a couple of guards and clerics - entered the portal last.

They arrived in the vast underwater library of Therius. Above them they could see a kraken swimming on the other side of the glass.
Below them a few levels, Therius was floating upside down, reading many tomes at once with his many arms and heads. He floated down toward the group who just arrived through a very natural bookcase.
"Hello... hello... hello... It is good... good... good to see you... you all... all... all..."
Godfrey and Sullivan walk up to Therius, the clerics and soldiers behind them. Rina stayed in the back, Drake stayed back with her - seeming to find comfort with her presence - both of them staying silent. Blanke and Alice walked up behind the Frey brothers, and Therius recognized them all.
"Therius," Sullivan began, "we come to you with many questions of the odd goings on of late. Everyone in my kingdom was hit within their minds a week ago at the same time. We seek your guidance."
"I didn't feel it," said Blanke.
Therius looked directly at Alice, "Thank you... you... you... Pradhana. Now I can... I can... finally just be... free."
As Therius spoke, he floated down into a large chair that moved itself forward to meet him as he sat. He sighed in relief, then grabbed a large tome from a nearby wall.
"It has been... so long... since I could speak freely," Therius said. "Allow me to tell you the story... of the gods."

Therius opened the tome, magic images projected from the pages.
"Pradhana, the world ender, has brought on the end of days. It is now time you all know about this world."
"Because it won't last much longer?" Blanke asked.
Therius looked up at him, "Yes... young one."
The first image was of Kay'Lend, "Life and death is a cycle. One that has always existed. From here, the souls of those who die move into Niktalia. From there, the Shepherds perform the Reaping."
Therius turned the page, the image changed to an upside-down version of Kay'Lend - the deepest rivers were even deeper, the tallest mountains were even taller. Everything appeared sharp and dark, the world appeared to be a mix of every type of afterlife anyone has imagined. The Feywild, Heaven, Hell - all afterlife worlds seemed mixed together in its own continent. Rina pulled out her crystal sphere from Mother Epoigra and noticed that the world in the book was quite different from the little map she held in her hand.
"Then, the souls who are reaped are sorted into their respective afterlives. They are reborn there, and all memories of their past lives are with them. Those who are good in this life become angelic creatures, those who are evil here become devilish creatures. You become the embodiment of who you were in life, your inner-most impulses. Your sins are goods are weighed."
Therius turned the page again, the image showed a new soul appearing in the world of Kay'Lend.
"Blanke... you are one without such a past," Therius said to him, "for the first time in centuries, a new soul was created to come here - yours. You received no pain of old memories because you do not have any old memories."
The next page showed children playing in Kay'Lend, "Then comes the sowing," Therius said, "those who have died in the afterlife are chosen to be reborn here again, no longer keeping the memories from their past lives - but given an opportunity to be better."
The page turned again, depicting a gigantic being hovering over Kay'Lend. The land looked old and wild, before it was split up into smaller countries, and before it was conquered.
"When God left us - the creator - the system broke," Therius continued, "In the absence of the true god, lesser gods were made - we never should have existed."
The next page showed the beings in the 4 Murals. "The power of worship makes the one worshiped more powerful, and - in some cases - unable to die. This has made us slaves to the people, trapped in our domains, unable to leave or speak our truths."
The page turned again and depicted a baby - a good person - being born on the other side, but being in the hellscape type area. An army of Therianthropes rushed in to kill the child as soon as it arrived.
Rina began to cry softly and looked away.
"Over time," Therius continued, "some beings learned how to gain great power. Some used the worship of people to syphon power to them. Others created a blood curse that could be passed on through lineages or bites," he gestured to the Therianthropes.
"The ever-growing armies made from worship and the Blood curse have made it a constant battlefield. The souls who move to the afterlife no longer have the ability to live there."
Rina interrupted him, "Some can, though. I know of at least two who have made it."
Therius looked at her, as if looking through her soul, "Devils have found a way to recruit minions for themselves, that's true."
The page turned again, now depicting two giant beings in the afterlife. One side showed a large, red devil, with scores of Therianthrope Souls at his feet. The other was a tall, glowing being with long horns - thousands of people dressed in white and gold at his feet.
Rina was taken aback at the sight of the red Giant Red Devil, this was the devil she saw in her blending vision.
The other being had, in the center of his horns, a 9 Pointed Star. This was Luminus - Lord of Hell.

End session.

s46

Therius closed the book and sat silent for a moment, then spoke, "The end of times... is beginning. When the true god left, the system was left on its own. Such that those who were wretched in this life appeared as devilish creatures, those who were holy appeared as angelic beings. One's true self revealed by their bodies, and given the memories of all of their lifetimes. The hope was that those in the afterlife who lived poorly would choose to live differently when sown once again. They are timeless within the afterlife, and only killing them would allow them to live again."
Sullivan approached Therius and placed his hand on Therius' shoulder, "Thank you for the information, my old friend. But I sense that there is more..."
Therius sighed deeply, "I have a favor to ask of you all, you must promise to fulfill it - it will be a hard ask."
"What is the favor?" Rina asked.
"Destroy the Dams that made the ancient gods magic, and hold back the pools of magical tides."
"Are these Dams physical or ethereal?" Rina asked again.
"They are quite physical," Therius responded, "One is before you..." Therius gestured to himself as he floated a few feet above his chair.
"We have to... destroy you? But what about all of the knowledge you have here?" Alice asked him.
"You are concerned about this? Then here..." A gust of wind came from all directions of the Underwater Library and convened in front of Therius. Each gust bringing with it all of the knowledge of the books around them, they all culminated into one, large book.
"Here, take the extend of my knowledge, it is yours for the future."
Rina gently grabbed the book from the air, and put it in her satchel.
"I wish..." Therius began again, "I wish for you to kill me."
"Why do you wish to die, Therius?" Drake asked.
"I wish to reenter the cycle. To be given a chance to live again. You will need to destroy at least half of dams... I would like to be the first. I tire of being trapped in this domain, of being a slave."
"How many of you are there?" Asked Blanke.
"There are 10 of us... you must, then, destroy 5 to reset the cycle."

"We must talk about this, Therius," said Sullivan, "I do not think it wise to kill a god. One that so many rely on."
"But he wants to die," said Rina, "I told you months ago that you have condemned him to his own personal hell. Leaving an endling, one that is immortal... one that is trapped here by worship."
"I agree," said Godfrey, "If he wants this, I say we do it."
"Brother, I must disagree." Sullivan interrupted.
"Sullivan!" Alice yelled at the top of her lungs, "This is the right thing, and you know it! Do the right thing!"
Sullivan paused, shocked by anyone speaking to him like that. In baffled confusion, Sullivan walked away down a nearby hall, his clerics and soldiers following him.
"So, what is your answer?" Therius asked again, "I will not fight back, unless my instincts to stay alive force me into it. Please, do me this favor - destroy the dams. Destroy me."
Rina had heard enough, and fired two eldritch blasts at Therius - beginning the battle.
Alice turned into a spider to wrap Therius in a web to keep him from fighting back, just in case.
Godfrey smashed into him with a huge mace, and Drake hit him with a makeshift crossbow that could be shot with one hand.
Blanke slashed at him and missed.
The affect of attacking a god hit the party members in their minds as nightmares.

Blanke saw himself quickly losing his strength. He had become injured and unable to move. His muscles atrophied, and he required a wheelchair. None of his friends came to visit, no one remembered who he was. He was only a burden on those around him.
Alice saw herself in another time - a time after all of the gods have been defeated, and The Bound no longer needed to stay together. She arrived at the Great Pyre, but was unable to enter. The witches did not remember or or recognize her. She went back at their home, trying to unlock the door - her keys did not work. Aurelius appeared behind her, "Alice! What are you even doing here? Don't you know that you don't belong here? You don't belong anywhere." Alice could see Rina looking down at her from a window, then walking away.
Rina saw herself at the base of a mountain. Not one made of stone, but one made of bones - the bones and bodies of everyone she'd ever known. She could see Darrian walking in the distance - his fur grey, and his posture crooked. He placed flowers on a grave with the name "Felicity." "Why did you curse me, mom?" Rina then saw a hooded figure stand between herself and the mountain. He turned around and lowered his hood - Agronoch. "This is what you have done," he then fell to his knees, and revealed an icicle sticking out from his heart, "one day, everyone you love will be on this mound." He pushed the icicle in deeper, then she snapped out of it.
"No! I'm not that person, anymore!" She yelled as she broke out of his spell.

Sullivan heard her scream and ran back into the room, he joined the other two of the Three Fangs to fight. Therius' spells destroyed one of Drake's two crossbows, but the other two were able to deal damage.
Therius was no longer able hold himself back at all - he pulled down the water from above them, flooding the library. The skin of the Dhampir began to sizzle as the water hit them, they each began popping in and out of their bat forms to try and avoid the water.
Rina used frost fingers to deal some damage, and Alice turned into an electric eel to deal lighting damage in the water.
Blanke tried to hit Therius, but Therius retaliated and knocked Blanke out. Godfrey got Blanke up, then picked up Sullivan - still in bat form - to try to keep him out of the water.
"Get to the tree! Alice, get open up the tree!" Rina yelled. Just then, a wave hit Rina, and she used Tomb of Levistus to prevent getting hurt. Alice, still in eel form, jumped from the water a bit Therius directly in the neck - ending the fight. Therius' body exploded, all of the water then flowed freely and heavily down into the library. The kraken then began to crawl in, inching closer and closer.
Rina broke free from her ice tomb and Far Stepped up to Drake, who was still frantically flying around and trying to avoid the water. She grabbed him by the wing, and threw him directly at Alice - who had fallen out of wildshape, and had now made her way to the tree.
Godfrey threw Sullivan to Alice, but fell down under the waves.
Blanke grabbed Godfrey and pulled him to the tree. Then Alice opened the treestride and guided all of the water surrounding them through the portal, swooping them all up within it to get them all out at once.
They were safe.

All of them laid on the ground in front of the tree, soaking wet with salt water and covered in blue-ish viscera.
Sullivan and Godfrey shared a brotherly moment of relief, Drake sat on the ground next to Rina and panted - still in pain from the ordeal.
"I cannot believe... we made it..." said Blanke, "I... hate... books..."
"It's not the book's fault," said Rina, as she gently patted Drake on the back for comfort.
"What do we do now?" asked Alice.
"I just know... that I need a bath," Drake answered.
"So do I," Rina said, "We should all get this salt water off of us."
The Three Fangs took their carriage back to the castle, The Bound walked to their home. Not many words were exchanged between them. Daria made dinner, Rina went to the public baths.
"Why not just bathe here?" Neely asked as she was leaving.
"And have to use the bath after those filthy chaos demons?" Rina said, gesturing at Alice and Blanke who were racing up the stairs to the lavatory, "No, thanks. I'll be back in an hour."

On the way home from the baths, Rina stopped at a tailor near the inner castle. "I'd like a dress made in the Pennislovican colors," she said, "I have a ball tomorrow morning, I will pay extra for the short notice. I would have ordered earlier, but..."
The woman cut her off, "It is no problem, Rina of The Bound. You do not need to explain yourself," she smiled, "We will just get your measurements, and it will be done by morning."

Rina finally arrived home. Everyone was already asleep, so Rina rested, also.

Next: Day 67 (S46)