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Changing Fate – Part 2

Sejik spoke first. “Grinder, we must see the Devour Lord immediately!”

“He is not to be disturbed Whisper. You know this better than anyone.”

Grinder beings to eye Whisper suspiciously.

“Let us pass Grinder. Whisper and I have important information that could jeopardize everything! If the Devour Lord is unhappy with us, then he will deal with us as he sees fit.”

Convinced of Burns logic and not willing to cross him, Grinder allows them to enter the Hall of the Devour Lord.

As you approach the grand double doors, Grinder produces an amulet on a chain around his neck and holds it before the doors. It glows brightly deactivating the arcane lock, barring entrance.

The double doors swing wide, revealing an opulently appointed chamber. The smell of bitter incense fills the air, and a beautiful red carpet covers the floor, intricate circles of silver thread woven into the pattern. Maps of the city and of Khorvaire hang from the walls, bristling with colorful pins. The far end of the room is lined with shelves – books, scrolls, and a workbench littered with arcane tools.

But the raised dais is what dominates the chamber. Arcane symbols are carved around the rim of this massive circle, and these burn with cold fire. A naked half-elven woman lies atop the dais. Her body is heavily scarred. Her Lyrandar Siberys mark stripped of her body. She is injured, but alive. Floating above the woman is a dragon carved from dark crystal. Its eyes are glowing with a fearsome red light, and the air around it seems to be rippling.

A humanoid figure stands behind the dais and the woman – it is dressed in green robes trimmed with gold. His cowl is drawn as he looks intently down at the woman. As you approach, he raises his head, his face is an empty abyss of darkness, and you feel the dizzying sense of vertigo behind his gaze

“Greetings, children,” he says, and his voice is unnaturally deep and resonant. “Have no fear: victory is close at hand.”

“This is a battle only I can fight,” the Devour Lord booms, in a rumbling voice. “Time itself is a dream, a dream I will soon shatter. I shall shift the course of history, and pluck the world away from our foes. All that remains is to complete the ritual of Shadow and Storm and tear open the Azure Sky. You cannot help me here. Go. Guard the walls and keep the enemy at bay while I devour their future.”

The words of the Devour Lord have a powerful effect on Sejik. As the Devour Lord speaks, he feels his true memories pushed from his thoughts. His visions of the future as it once was are slowly eaten away, replaced by the memories of Whisper’s years of service during the conflict with the Dragonmarked Alliance. You will not fail your commander now.

Feeling himself lose control of Whisper, Sejik musters what will he has left and attempts to bring Caiphys back to his senses.

“Caiphys! You’re name is Caiphys. Damn it cousin, if you don’t snap out of it right now, so help me, I’ll tell Morthos about the bounty on your head!” You are…my cousin…Caiphys! You… are…not…Burn!”

Feeling himself regain control of his body, Caiphys bellows his challenge to the Devourer Lord.

“I do not bed to your will, you bend to mine! You speak of dreams when you should be concerned with nightmares! I have come for your head!”

The Devour Lord, he smiles “Why do you continue to disobey me?"

Suddenly, the Devour Lord’s image blurs. Reality shifts all around as a second Devour Lord manifests, he says: “you mean disobey me.”

Caiphys’ vision blurs as the world vibrates once more.

“Clearly,” a third Devour Lord says, “they are not who they seem. Perhaps they themselves are illusions?”

A fourth Devour Lord spawns as the fabric of reality continues to tear, “How ironic would that be?”

Another then turns to Caiphys and says, “Well don’t expect me to lay down my life on the whim of an illusion. Apologies, but you’d understand if you were in my situation.”

“You mean if he were in my situation,” the other Devour Lord says. “But we can discuss that after he is dead.”

“Yes… let us discuss it later.” The others agree maliciously.

Caiphys springs into action and launches his assault upon one of the mirror images. A shower of azure and violet bolts assault his target. The image shrieks and blurs wildly then disappears, leaving a wisp of smoke.

“Mirror images! Cousin, we must strike them all down to reveal the true one.”

Sejik moves in closer to one of the Devour Lord images as if to attack, but stops and stands motionless. Confused, Caiphys calls to Sejik,

“Keep your distance, they are still dangerous…Sejik, what are you doing?! Sejik!!”

Slowly turning around, Caiphys notices Sejik’s eyes have turned into two black glassy orbs staring out into nothing. A cold chill creeps down his neck as he realizes that Sejik’s mind has been gripped and is now under the Devour Lord’s control. Fear begins to set in as Caiphys comes to the conclusion that he must fight the Devour Lord… alone.

“I must…protect… my Lord.”

Sejik grips his quarterstaff and lunges in for an attack. Caiphys easily sidesteps Sejik’s swing. His quick mind begins to read into Sejik’s odd actions and he thinks to himself,

“A tree has more skill wielding its own branches than Sejik does his staff. He is far more dangerous healing and manipulating luck into his favor. So why does he attack me with his weakest asset?”

Not given much time dig for the answer, the other mirror images hiss a challenge in echoed unison, “Your quessst-est endsss-nds herrre-ere.”

There is a loud shriek, then silence. Caiphys, braces himself for an attack, but nothing. Seconds pass before a single tear streams down his face. As he wipes it away, he notices blood on his hand. Immediately thereafter, his head is wracked with immense pain. Grasping his temples, Caiphys staggers as phenomenal pressure builds up in his skull. Blood begins to well out of his eyes, ears and nose. The Devour Lord images stand motionless with their mouths open in a silent scream. Desperate to interrupt the psychic attack, Caiphys focuses his mind on his next spell.

A small orb of swirling colors begins to form above Caiphys’s head. The chromatic orb begins to swirl and spin wildly as if building momentum. Suddenly, it is propelled with blinding speed at one of the images.

The orb explodes with tremendous force, covering two of the images with a myriad of acid, frost, fire and electrical sparks. The two images shriek and disappear leaving behind wisps of smoke. The psychic attack ceases, and the pain subsides. However, Caiphys has been immobilized and cannot move his legs.

“You dare attack the very thing I have tempered into my finest weapon? Fool! Save your pathetic mind tricks for weaker foes!”

The remaining two Devour Lords shrill in anger and command Sejik to attack Caiphys. Once again, Sejik lunges forward to attack with his staff. Caiphys finally understands…The Devour Lord does not have complete control of Sejik’s mind. Sejik must obey the Devour Lord’s commands to attack. However, it is Sejik who is determining the method of attack. By utilizing his staff and uncannily bad luck, each time he misses, he enables Caiphys to use his teleport ability, allowing him to move about the room even though he is physically unable to do so.

Caiphys grins to himself, “That crazy bastard! He’s found a way to manipulate his own bad luck into good luck!”

Predictably, Sejik misses his mark and Caiphys teleports behind a pillar in an attempt to find cover from the next attack. Unfortunately, one of the images manages to maneuver near Caiphys and commences his attack.

The image raises its hand, palm toward Caiphys, and performs a ‘pushing’ motion toward Caiphys. At that instant, Caiphys’s body is hurled into the table and wall behind him. Bloodied, weakened and dazed, Caiphys begins to doubt his own survival. He notices that the Delirium stone lies next to him.

“The Delirium stone!! It must have been knocked over when I hit the table!”

Caiphys answers his attacker by hurling a spear of twisting flame and ice. It strikes the image in the chest burning off various limbs whilst freezing off others. The final image vanishes leaving only the true Devour Lord and Sejik standing in his way. Knowing that he cannot possibly defeat the Devour Lord in his current condition, Caiphys threatens to smash the Delirium stone.

“One move and I will destroy the stone. I may perish, but you will not be able to summon your master!”

The Devour Lord scoffs at Caiphys,“Your body is broken and you lack the strength to destroy the stone. Prepare yourself for eternal darkness and misery!”

He turns his attention to Sejik, “You! Kill him and retrieve the stone!”

Turning to face Caiphys, Sejik raises his holy symbol as if to recite a spell. Defeated, Caiphys addresses Sejik,

“No staff this time cousin? Then he has beaten you too? Strike me down then, it is over.”

But just as Caiphys loses all hope, Sejik flashes him a wink.

“When did he break free,” Caiphys thinks to himself.

Then, in an overly dramatic and monotone voice, Sejik speaks,

“I will obeeeey…The Traveler!”

Sejik suddenly spins around, Holy Symbol still in hand and bellows out a prayer to the Traveler,

“In the name of the giver of miracles and disasters, I exorcise you demon, RETURN to your masters!”

A blinding light erupts from Sejik’s holy symbol and ignites the Devour Lord with white and gold flames. It’s a familiar light for Caiphys. He’s seen it often and usually in the direst of situations. The Devour Lord cries in pain and anguish as his corporeal body deteriorates from the blast of white light. The room fills up with warmth and light forcing Caiphys to shield his eyes.

As Sejik strikes the killing blow, the Devour Lord stumbles to his knees, aware that he should be dead but is yet somehow not.

He looks at Sejik grinning, “Nothing can stop…” Suddenly grasping the sides of his head as if in some great pain, the dark hooded man lets forth an inhuman scream of epic proportions, shaking the very floor. And then, as suddenly as it started, he stops and looks at Sejik, the darkness is gone. He is only a man. His eyes then bulge and his tongue protrudes from his mouth as he screams in agony until his head explodes violently, showering Sejik in gore. As dramatic as his death was, his torso slumps quietly to the ground.

“So good of you to join the fight cousin,” Caiphys says dryly.

“So good of you to join the campaign ‘Burn’.”

A look of confusion sweeps over Caiphys’s face. “Who is Burn?”

A terrible sense of vertigo washes over you. Thoughts and vision blur together, and everything fades to black. The darkness seems to last for eons. Slowly – ever so slowly – you come back to the world. But it is not the world you left behind. everything has changed. The everburning torches have been extinguished. Walls have collapsed and the air is stale and full of dust.

Sifting through the rubble, you are able to locate the objects you were sent to find – a few journals written in an incomprehensible cipher and the statue itself.

A few bones attest to the presence of the aberrant soldiers who fought by your side, but most of what you remember has been swept away by the passage of time.

It takes some time to make your way down through the ruined tower, but eventually you reach the tunnel leading back to the surface. No one is waiting for you at the top; there are chalk marks on the floor, and it seems that the Sharn Watch must have arrived in your absence and begun making plans to seal the passage.

Sejik and Caiphys waste no time and head directly to Velvet’s with the Delerium Stone. She is pleased to see them successful.

“Ah look who has finally arrived!” Velvet says as you enter. “I trust you were successful? Please, I would have the stone. One is eager to unlock its secrets.”

“Tower’s spit, you smell of the Cogs!”

“One has already given me your next assignment. You have only two weeks to prepare. The gnomes of Zilargo are canny fey, and if you are going to infiltrate the Trust, and not have your heads removed, you’d best pay close attention.”

“But first, I suggest both of you retire for a proper bath before we begin instruction. I will not have you two scaring off my customers with your odorous bile."

Irritated, Sejik acidicly responds. “I do not take kindly to those who would assume they are my superior. I answer to only one authority, and it is not you.”

Caiphys grimaces and quickly whispers to Sejik.

“Are you mad? You do not argue with the Tryrants Guild!”

Velvet looks very displeased and threatens Sejik. “If you are not with us, then you are against us.”

“I go where the Traveler wills. I am His vessel. Not yours,” Sejik pragmatically replies.

Clearly uncomfortable, Caiphys steps away from Sejik.

Velvet responds with derision, “Your test of my patience is a testament to your faith. Very well then ‘disciple’ of the Traveler. Perhaps Chance can make use of you as it would seem I can’t. Now if you will excuse me…”

As Velvet leaves the room, Sejik and Caiphys retire at the Inn where Caiphys awaits his next assignment.

Zarantyr 3rd, 999 YK
January 3rd, 999 YK

Over the next two weeks, Caiphys studies Zil society in detail while Sejik becomes more reclusive and distracted… spending more time in a gambling hall named Chance near Velvet’s. Sejik has trouble sleeping and is plagued by strange dreams and nightmares of apocalyptic proportion. Most nights Sejik is found rambling incoherently in enigmatic and inscrutable phrases. During the day, Sejik, you fixate on putting the pieces of these puzzles together with the aid of Chance’s priestly proprietor (also named Chance).

Caiphys, you do you best to stay on track with the Tyrant’s but its clear Sejik will not be ready. You gain an audience with Ruzzell to discuss his situation. You learn that he and the Tyrants have already been apprised of the situation and have decided to allow Sejik to spend more time with Chance. The Tyrants believe Sejik’s ramblings may be more than just feverish madness. Caiphys also learns that the delegation to Droaam has been postponed until Therendor (March) due to the increasingly harsh winter weather. Many suspect the manifest zone of Risia has become coterminous with Eberron, resulting in the harshest winter ever seen. In fact, doomsayers are found throughout Sharn, predicting the end of the world. The fervor has grown even more severe since the new year and falling of a Siberys shard over the island of Farlnen (the purported home of a Lich Queen). Since then, House Jorasco’s healing magic has dwindled…. some even say they have lost the ability to raise the dead.

In any case, Ruzzell suggests that the latest chaos and delay are only a benefit to the Tyrant’s cause and will allow more time for preparation.

Today you both of you receive a message from House Sivis. Apparently, Miklos’ uncle Baklos has passed away suddenly and you are both invited to the funeral in Korranberg. The Tyrant’s see this as an opportunity for Caiphys to get some hands on practice and Chance tells Sejik the opportunity for travel may be good for his mind. You both decide to make the trip and travel to Korranberg via lightning rail. You arrive safely and meet Miklos and his family.

Morthos Reborn