As the dragon’s body crashes to the ground in a tremendous wave of unborn souls, the group pauses for a moment to see what carnage has been wrought. They examine the slumped form of Abe and the battered body of Nils and sigh as they deploy the Rod of Resurrection…and not a moment too soon it seems for the dragon’s still beating heart bursts forth from its chest in a gory shower of viscera. It is some form of demon – one that calls forth its weapons and burst into flame with an audible ‘whump’. As its weapons materialize, all the soulstuff in the room is drawn inward towards those terrible weapons and when the demon bellows its battle cry – the group is sore afraid. The fight is swift and brutal and Dalliance shows why it is always a good idea to pack a high level mage when you go a traveling amongst the planes. She disintegrates the offending creature and a sudden silence ensues.
The group plunders what is plunderable and prepares to depart. They teleport to the entrance – arriving behind the quartet of demonic dragon guards who notice them just a few seconds too late – by which time the group has gone all gaseous and is attempting to flee the scene. As they bypass the interstellar anemone, they are trapped in a swiftly crystallizing section of space-time.
There they are contacted by the soulshapers – a semi-divine class of creatures who form the raw soulstuff into the appropriate ‘shape’ and send it on its way. They thank the party in most heartfelt terms – for they themselves were unable to intervene – not being in possession of the fragment of godsoul obtained from Evo. The entities go on to bless the party with increased physical and mental abilities, cure all their outstanding injuries, and even pay off the ‘soul debt’ incurred by Dalliance and Barada all those years ago in the underground jungle city. They part ways with the party by ‘beaming’ them into a church service in the temple of Azuth in the city of Waterdeep. This descent from the heavens by the members of the EFK provides much fodder for discussion and the city is soon abuzz with tales and tales of the group’s adventures, even if 80% of it is made up. Abe gets to work and tries to capitalize on the buzz to help give the church of Azuth a bit of an extra kick – though association with the likes of Dalliance and Barada is at least as effective as his efforts.
The experience of planar travel and combat with demonic entities has given the party members much and more to think about. There are spells to be learned and songs to be sung. The priest of Azuth must spend time in temple building and enriching the church, at the same time restoring a bit of luster to the city of Waterdeep – fallen upon hard times. Initial successes lead to more of the same and the church is well-established by the time the ten-year note comes due. Although the sum of ten million has not in fact been reached, the spread of influence and the general well-being that the church has brought about has disposed the god kindly towards his servant. High Priest Abe is in good standing with his god.
This also has the unexpected consequence of swelling the ranks of the college of magic as many a young lass (and lad) has visions of being the next Dalliance. An expansion of the school may well be in order. Arch-chancellor Dalliance?
Barada spends quite a bit of time researching and fiddling about with the demon-horn harp strung with brass strings. The Harp of the Infernal Planes turns out to be an interesting item.
Ron’j! returns to his school in the Greypeaks to tend to his advanced students and to re-evaluate his decision to leave in the first place. All in all the group is as powerful,. rich and influential as it has ever been…so now what?
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