Fanaxia: Escape from the Abyss

 We're still in the Abyss, and still naked. We've just killed our second slavemaster, and we're trying to come up with a plan. Our plan was for Azrael to create a distraction and then Plane Shift out while we escape through the portal.

We decide to sneak off and engage one of the Retrievers, the demonic constructs with the magical eye-rays, to get it to zap the staff and thus recharge it. Azrael absorbs its first attack and blasts it with a lightning bolt.

It moves up on us, and Tavros starts ripping into it with claws and fangs; Azrael moves back and fires off another lightning bolt. Marshall attempts to grapple the thing, taking a bit of damage on the way in, and the thing shrugs him off. Leira hides behind Azrael and taunts the Retriever. Martini starts slinking around, and Ruin goes after it with a pry-bar and damages it some more.

It fires an eye ray at Azrael, and then attempts to attack Tavros but misses and gets a claw stuck under a rock. The other three attacks do some damage, though. (-82 HP to Tavros.) We leap on him and try to pin the other claw down. Tavros takes more damage (-33) and grabs the claw and successfully grapples it. Azrael uses telekinesis to drive the arm into the ground and trap it there.

Leira taunts the thing again, keeping its attention and its eye lasers on Azrael. It attacks Tavros with its claws, doing another 33 damage to him.

Marshall offers himself as the sacrifice for the next attack of opportunity, taking a bit of damage. Tavros uses the distraction to grab the next leg and drive it into the ground. It fires its eye-beams at Azrael again, and attacks Marshall again.

Tavros drives the third leg into the ground, effectively pinning the thing. We move back out of reach of its claws, and let it keep firing at Azrael and thus recharging the staff.

Azrael: "I think we've taunted him enough. Kill it now!"

We run back in, and beat it down.

Azrael is fully confident in his power now. Azrael starts laying out his plans for how best to distract the demons, now that he's fully charged.

Azrael makes us invisible and we head for the stair up the pyramid. We look back, and see Azrael riding on the back of a giant scorpion, shouting shit at the demons and summoning Celestial Rocs and devils and whatnot. Demons start teleporting over to deal with him.

We run into the pyramid and come into Behemoth's throne room. All hell is breaking loose outside, and Behemoth and Hecate are gone. We take a minute to look around for our stuff.

There's a *lot* of treasure here. We locate a bag that looks like it has our stuff, and Ruin dashes over to it. Tavros moves over there as well. Martini and Marshall move into the room as well.

A Babau runs in. "What's going on in here?" It can't see us, but it definitely hears something.

Leira sneaks towards the portal. Martini just jumps through the portal, invisible and inaudible; we don't even know she's gone. Tavros grabs a carpet of flying and heads for the portal, making a bit of noise; Ruin grabs the bag and follows silently.

The Babau casts See Invisible and starts yelling: "Slaves! Slaves escaping!"

We jump through the portal and escape.

Marshall, Tavros, and Leira wake up in coffins. Martini, Ruin, and Geddy crawl out of the water of Mar Dentro, at the edge of the rainforest beside Titan's reach. Our equipment is magically restored to us.

Geddy uses one of his wishes to make sure that Eva is safe and happy. Eva will no longer be part of the party; she is much older, and has grown into an adult while we were away.

Turns out that when Geddy went through the portal, he landed in the swamp and wound up staying there for some fifteen years. He finds a magic pond that lets him look in on Eva, hundreds of years ago in Povos. They become friends, and she grows older, and then after about two years a human man wanders in and introduces himself as Bryce Lamont, the crown prince of Fanaxia. So Geddy starts trying to help him, mentor him. This goes on for another fourteen years, until finally one day the swamp starts to change and a path appears, leading to the place of an ancient tree.

Bryce returns to reclaim his throne; Geddy stays by the pond. As the demons are destroying the ghost tower, Eva dives into Mar Dentro and pulls Geddy out through the pond.

Geddy, unfortunately, has been aging at the same time-frame as Eva; he is *old* now. (OOC: "Venerable".)



Meanwhile, Azrael makes his escape and shows up in someone's summoning circle. He escapes and winds back up in the Abyss. Behemoth is waiting for him: "The Compact prevents you from leaving, Mortal."

Azrael: "Oh."

Behemoth: "I accept your challenge, mortal."

Azrael absorbs more of Behemoth's magic; he throws lightning back, but doesn't do much damage. He remembers what the staff can do, absorbs more magic.

"You bulbous, crypt-nosed whore!" yelled Azrael. He laughed. "Pathetic. Your mother should be ashamed of you. Your the bitch of the litter, useless... boyfriend!"

A barrage of magic drove him to his knees. The staff burned in his hands.

Behemoth drew his sword and whip, and came forward to finish him.

Azrael came to his feet as the Balor charged. He raised the staff above his head, and Behemoth stumbled to a stop. There was a brief moment as their eyes met.

Behemoth turned to flee, but it was too late. Azrael brought the staff down and cracked it over his knee.

The explosion shook the Abyss.

We went into Fanaxia in April of 557. It's... about two years later. Somewhere in about May, the Solari died and were buried. Viggo the Whisperer is a bit broken up by this.

Next time we'll pick up with Evil!Party and find out what's been happening in the meantime. Hatch has left Evil!Party and retired to live it up in Sander's Reach.