PTOLUS

Bindings and Riven Souls

The Runewardens

The heroes who now called themselves the Runewardens stood in the stolen elf city of Dreta Phantas as the Crawling Chaos, avatar and harbinger of the Nartharl'nacna, led a swarm of kython and group of corrupt Urthon Aedar through a magical portal.

Even as this horror loomed, Sister Mara was reminded of another of her prophetic dreams in which Calista, the mysterious woman freed from the Dark Reliquary, told her, "There's a reason the demons kept me alive. I'm important to Lilith -- I know something. There's still a chance for you to save everything. But sacrifices must be made, and not of yourselves."

She took this to mean that it was, in fact, the defenders of Dreta Phantas who had to be sacrificed. With great regret, the characters magically fled from the Dreaming City back to Ptolus along with the Urthon Aedar warrior named Baenarum, who had led them to the city in the first place.

Calling All Allies

Back in the city, they contacted the druid Andach, who told them he had seen the strange fiendish being known as Savan, (foretold long ago as the Dreamer in another of Mara's dreams) dealing with the Fallen and the Forsaken in the Dark Reliquary. He also agreed to help in any way he could against the coming darkness. Likewise, the Malkuth in the Pale Tower, currently harboring Calista from demonic attempts to recapture her, agree to help, with Mooncry once again joining the heroes' ranks. Serai even managed to contact the Iron Mage himself and convinced him to help them summon and bind Savan. The only place safe enough to perform such a rite, he said, lay within a place called the Vault of the Dragons, which they could reach only with the help of Lord Kirstol Dallimothan. Fortunately, Kirstol was a friend of the Runewardens from past events, and they gained his permission and help, despite his disdain for the Urthon Aedar, whom he called "dragon slayers." Barred from entry, Baenarum was forced to stay at Rosegate House during the ceremony.

The Vault of the Dragons was a sanctuary reachable only through magic ritual within the tower of House Dallimothan. It was a circular platform floating in darkness amid the "breath of the dragons." This extremely powerful assembly -- Mara, Serai, Canabulum, Aliya, Zophas, Mooncry, and Kirstol -- watched as the Iron Mage cast a spell that called Savan to this place. But before they could bind the arcanoloth Savan, he called Lilith herself to his aid. Lilith, once the consort of the now-missing Raguel, had become the default leader of the Fallen and chose to act on the side of chaos. She cast a spell that immediately incapacitated Mooncry. Lord Dallimothan called upon the spirits of his draconic ancestors -- in this, their most hallowed of places -- which manifested as huge dragons that attacked Lilith. The demoness was forced to flee, promising that the heroes would all be beset by demons as soon as they left the vault.

The Iron Mage's spells shrank Savan to doll size and bound him into a small brass birdcage. Despite their best efforts, the group could not force or trick the cunning fiend into giving them any help. All he told them was that the Cask of Frozen Dreams lay in the Chamber of Riven Souls, within a demon sealed box that only Lilith or he could open.

Fearing attacks by demons, the group decided to go only where they could not be openly attacked. They teleported to the Pale Tower, where they delivered Mooncry's comatose form and also learned the exact location of the Chamber of Riven Souls from Falstef, the deva they had freed from the Dark Reliquary. The chamber was a chapel to darkness in the heart of the Dark Reliquary itself.

They also learned that the undead and the Forsaken had taken the Siege Tower, home to the Keepers of the Veil, so the forces of evil and chaos ran unchecked throughout the Necropolis, even during the day (only Clasthamus Isle, the bastion of Andach, remained inviolate). Further, Rosegate House lay in shambles after a terrible attack by demon-possessed Ptolus residents, whom Baenarum fought off singlehandedly.

Assault on the Reliquary

Coordinating their actions with the surviving members of the Keepers of the Veil, the heroes teleported to the Chamber of Riven Souls (or as close as possible, since most of the horrid place was proof against magical intrusion) as the Keepers launched a frontal assault on the Dark Reliquary as a distraction. Needless to say, Mara, Zophas, Canabulum, Serai, and Aliya (and some celestial guardians) encountered ghastly demons, dreadful undead, and chaos cultists. They fought their way through the demonic halls with haste, so the entire place's inhabitants would not come crashing down upon them at once.

Cutting through puissant magical wards and passing through two adamantine doors, they finally reached the Chamber of Riven Souls. There, amid other demonic defenders, they encountered Drusii the marilith. Aliya flew into a fury as she attacked the demon, wounding it greatly with her holy-power-infused fists. A final spell from Sister Mara destroyed the marilith, but only after she had summoned not one, but two balor demons. One of the balors used a symbol of death to slay Canabulum. The rest of the group grabbed the demon-sealed box and teleported to the safety of Clasthamus Isle.

The victory still left them with the matter of an unopenable box, one of their number fallen, demons on their tail (although the Stones of Thamus kept them safe for now), and the Night of Dissolution--coming appropriately in the month of Moons--just days away.

Next: Even as things grow tense for the Runewardens, we turn for a moment and look back on the exploits of the Company of the Black Lantern and learn of their very last tale...