2025.10.08 Session Notes

The battle rages on, and Erash, Valgara, and Khoraka fight on and fall, one by one, taking the devils with them. Al Tazeem smugly celebrates his victory, the only one left standing.

But this is not the end for our fearless company....

As Khoraka sinks into darkness (again), his perceptions shift. He retains awareness, but no sense of self. He feels tethered by some invisible cord as the void solidifies into something more...

Somewhere Beyond

As his senses solidify, Khorka perceives the form of the Matron of Death.

Barely becoming visible - like through the eyes of a newborn - you sense the presence of a tall, thin feminine figure with dark robes and dark hair. Her hands seem pale, and covering her face is a white porcelain mask. The figure turns to another shadow - this one darker toned, even more blurry but outlined in a golden halo.

"Changebringer, you and Marduk [Bahamut] may need to meet…"

You see in the faint distance a flying dragon wreathed in platinum. Shimmering. Larger than you ever believed possible. Bigger than worlds.

Nearer, you sense another new presence. No, more than one presence. Familiar. Your companions in life are now with you here in death. Or whatever this is.

You now recognize the porcelain figure from the images throughout your whole life. The Raven Queen. The twilight Matron of Death and Fate. The eternal guide for all souls who cross from one realm to another. She walks among you.

She speaks to each of the FGC.

• Snow: "So many paths yet untrod - family eventually reunified - but only in battle."
• Valgara: "The path of Fate is sacrosanct. Those who pridefully cast off destiny must be punished."
• Phelan: "Hmmm a little dust of the moon here. Restrained by the waxing and waning of Catha. Or perhaps strengthened? Is it the moonlight that causes so much strife, or is it the moonlight which grants the fortitude to endure so much hardship? Hmm..."
• Erash: "So many…songs of revolution left unsung. Perhaps a new demigod waiting to born..."

When she gets to Khoraka, she studies him and muses.

…But this one is….sundered. There is a taint of another here...

"He is mine! I granted him power!"

A small serpent writhes around her ankles. Moving aggressively as if protecting something precious.

"He betrayed me! This soul is mi—"

“STAY YOUR TONGUE, FIEND! YOUR PRESENCE HERE IS MY GIFT, BUT YOU MAY SPEAK NO MORE.”

The serpent unwinds from the robed figure’s feet and seems to fade from your vision.

You sense your companions around you….suspended in the space in between the existence you know and the existence that lies beyond it. The robed figure, still blurry to you almost as if your senses are straining to process this presence into a form your mind can understand. She speaks to you again…

The Matron of Ravens explains that the FGC have not yet resolved their purpose, and thus, fate has not yet marked them for death.

Your souls are collectively bound to a purpose which you do not yet comprehend.  To that end,  your place is not with me, and not my charge. At least not for now. However, I will not abide any soul falling into undeath on my watch. I may mend your souls with your bodies as before, but your bodies are not yet prepared to receive them.

In this interim, I have a task for you. Do this, and I will reunite your souls with the vessels you once knew.

Our Task

• Vecna, the arch-lich, has devised a "Ritual of Remaking"
• This ritual allows him to extract energy from arcane secrets and leverage it for his own ends
• He's traveling to the Plane of Pandemonium, where there's a cave that will give him the ability to focus and wield this energy to reveal truths of the universe
• Once exposed, he will be able to use these truths and manipulate them, triggering multidimensional detonation, destroying Pandemonium and unraveling the multiverse itself (that's bad)
• He can then pull those threads to remake the multiverse to suit him, with him as its eternally undisputed leader

Our Avatars

• There was a group of heroes from Tal-Dorei sent to stop Vecna
• Vecna destroyed their souls, but their bodies were cast into the Plane of Limbo and are wounded, but intact
• The Matron of Ravens intends to send our souls into those bodies

Finish the task of the fallen. Defeat Vecna’s ritual and save the multiverse, and I will grant you a rebirth in your own vessel back where it fell, but wiser and more powerful than before.

We agree to take up her charge.

The Raven Queen tilts her head in a manner that implies she must be smiling behind the mask. Your vision grows lighter and lighter, then darkness, then…you awaken in a shock of pain. Your body is floating in a realm of chaos. Only this isn’t *your* body. This body was once another hero, its soul now consumed and no longer part of any existence. Your new task is to compete the mission this vessel started, laying this new body to rest, and regaining your own.

Next stop... new Level 20 epic heroes!