Session 70 - Epilogue

PCs (lvl 20): Dornal, Halbarad, Morg, Torak

The party faces the traitorous Urikites, easily dispatching them by throwing a few off the tower, and slaughtering the rest. Morg gets the honour of killing Thovadarak the high-templar himself.

Then they face the power of Pharistes and his psychic constructs. The Master of the Mind looks invincible thanks to the Psionatrix, and the PCs find themselves crushed under his mighty psionic powers.

When all seems lost, Dornal summons the blessing of the spirits of the water to keep the party fighting, then he uses the Water Hammer to destroy the  Psionatrix. The wave of psychic energy released by the artifact temporarily stuns Pharistes. 

Torak takes advantage of the situation, and unleashes his fury on the psionicist, bringing him on the edge of death. Halbarad strikes the last blow, ending Pharistes' life with his blade.

* * *

The PCs return to the Desverendi Valley, where Dornal performs the ritual of resurrection using as focus a bone dagger carved from Korgunard's thighbone. When the avangion returns to life, he thanks the party for their heroic actions, proclaiming them saviors of Athas.

With the Psionatrix destroyed, and Pharistes dead, the threat posed by the Order to the rest of Athas has been averted. The remaining members of the Order retire from the affairs of the world for many years to come.

Halbarad returns to his village, finds a good tree (the only tree?), and builds a  tree house on it. Not a day goes by without some kids asking him to tell them the story of his adventures.

Morg and Dornal return to the Free, having decided to help the tribe of former slaves bring hope to the people of the Tablelands.

Torak, with his purse full of riches, takes residence at Toruk's blacksmith shop, his mind set on honoring the memory of his dead brother.

Session 69

The Psionatrix

PCs (lvl 20): Dornal, Halbarad, Morg, Salina, Torak

The party teleports in view of the fortress of Dasaraches. They test the defenses of the walls, noticing some sort of psychic field deflecting their missile. 

They decide to charge toward the walls, in order to provide the necessary diversion, and allow the renegades of the Order to begin their own attack.

When the Order becomes aware of the presence of the PCs, battle starts in earnest. Loyalists and renegades unleash their psychic powers at each other, while the party uses blades, arrows, and magic to do their part. 

Then something happens. Suddenly, everyone is "cut off" from their psychic powers. The PCs can't access their wild talents, but most importantly, none of the masters of way can use their own abilities! The lords of the invisible way must resort to fight each other with blades and fists.

The PCs take advantage of this situation, and infiltrate the fortress. They battle a few undead and magical guardians, and interrogate powerless members of the Order. From them they learn that Pharistes must have activated the Psionatrix, and he's now leeching every drop of psionic energy existing in Athas. With such power at his disposal, surely he will be invincible!

The party does not despair, and continues to the top of the highest tower of Dasaraches. There they finally encounter Pharistes, Cerebral Master of the Order. The man is bathing in the psionic energies fed to him by the Psionatrix. Together with him, clearly under the effect of mental domination, are the Urikites templars and servants of Hamanu, well known to the party.

The final battle for the fate of Athas is about to begin!

Session 68

Renegades

PCs (lvl 20): Dornal, Halbarad, Morg, Salina, Torak

The party witnesses the carnage surrounding them, as the corpses of both hordes bleach in the sun. Dornal brings Chax-chik back to life, and the torh-kreen psionicists guides them further west, to the Dragon Crown Mountains.

While crossing the mountains, the PCs are ambushed once again by the Shadow Man, a psionicist of the Order that Chax-chik recognizes as Arvego, a master in manipulating his opponents' fears. Arvego is supported by a band of dominated braxat. The party defeats the hulking beasts, while the Shadow Man escapes.

The PCs arrive in the Silent Forest protecting the fortress of Dasaraches, stronghold of the Order. Thanks to the knowledge of nature imparted to them by Korgunard they manage to avoid the most dangerous sentient plants barring their path. 

In the forest they meet a group of Masters of the Invisible Way, former members of the Order, now renegades planning to assault Dasaraches and destroy Pharistes, the leader of the Order. The PCs forge an alliance with the renegades, and together they plan their attack on the fortress.

Session 67

Chax-chik vs Bokum

PCs (lvl 19): Dornal, Halbarad, Morg, Torak

The party continues to travel west, when they notice a mysterious construction rise up from the sand: a gigantic thri-kreen head. they inspect the monument, discovering a secret cache of magical items.

The day after they reach the thri-kreen horde led by Chax-chik, a tohr-kreen noble and a master psionicist. Together with Chax-chik are the Urikite envoys that betrayed the PCs back on the Road of Fire. 

The thri-kreen organize a feast for the two parties to reconcile, but the tension between the Pcs and the Urikites escalates in a duel between Morg and Thovadarak. The mul wins without much trouble, and the Urikites leave the feast promising revenge.

Chax-chik interrogates a spy, and finds out that an opposing horde of thri-kreen is on the march to stop them. The horde is led by Bokum, a dwarven psionicist of the Order masquerading as an avangion. The PCs and the horde prepare for battle.

The day after battle is joined, with the thri-kreen from both sides rapidly falling into a savage frenzy, and slaughtering both friends and foes. While the party fights the elite forces of the opposing horde, Chax-chik is locked in psionic combat with Bokum; the two masters destroy each other's brain, the tohr- kreen laying dead on the field, and the dwarf reduced to a drooling vegetable.

When the battle is concluded, both hordes are annihilated, and there's no trace of the Urikites.

Session 66

Cloud Ray

PCs (lvl 19): Halbarad, Morg, Torak, Salina

The party continues to travel west, when they spot a sandsotr coming their way. They decide to find cover inside a magical tiny hut summoned by Salina. 

Hiding in the strom is a gigantic cloud ray, and riding the beast is Shammu, an half-elf woman, and member of the Order.

Shammu oofers the PCs the chance to surrender to the Order, but the party elects to fight her. After a difficult and protracted battle, Shammu is disintegrated.

Session 65

Kludz

PCs (lvl 19): Halbarad, Morg, Torak, Salina

The party leaves Pakk's sanctum and travel west, out of the Forest Ridge. After a few days in the desert, they meet a scouting party of thri-kreen resting in the shadows of some ancient ruins built around a watering pool. 

The creatures seem erratic, clearly affected by the psionic malady. Only their leader is unaffected by the curse, thanks to a crystal she wears at her neck. The PCs' actions trigger a frenzy in the thri-kreen, and the party is forced into a battle. Having knocked them unconscious, the PCs gather some info from their leader.

The thri-kreen are part of a large horde led by the psionicist Chax-chix, and they're preparing themselves to travel to the Dragon Crown Mountains to end the psionic curse. The PCs learn of the location of the horde, but decide to travel separately from the thri-kreen, to avoid enraging them again. The thri-kreen depart, and the party explores the ruins, when they get ambushed by a savage kludz.

A few hours later the PCs resume their travels, and they chance upon an abandoned camp. There they find a lonely elven sheperd, and from him they learn this was a Urikite camp. The camp was attacked by frenzied thri-kreen and is now empty. The party also finds a scroll bearing the sigil of Hamanu, wherein he lays claim to the lands west of the Forest Ridge. It looks clear that old enemies will be waiting for the party in the west.

Session 64

Death of Korgunard

PCs (lvl 18): Dornal, Halbarad, Morg, Torak

The party spends the day exploring Pakk's lair and interacting with several students of the psionic arts.

When the time is right, they're summoned by Pakk to go and visit Korgunard in the Sanctuary. Pakk opens a psionic door, and the PCs step through.

On the other side of the door, they find themselves trapped inside a sphere of deadly thorns. Pakk communicates with them telepathically, informing them they will have to remain prisoners until he has decided what to do with them.

The PCs lose no time, and break through the walls of their prison; waiting for them are a pack of wild zhackals. The party takes care of the beasts, and rush to Pakk's sanctum in the center of the lair.

When confronted, Pakk reveals to be a member of the Order. He tells the PCs that Korgunard came to him seeking counsel, and when he understood Pakk was a member of the Order, he asked to speak with the leaders of the organization, to try and convince to give up on their mad plan. That's when the Order decided to eliminate Korgunard.

Enraged by the death of Korgunard, the PCs attack Pakk. The mental powers of the halfling elder are impressive, and they put the strength of the party to the test. After a difficult battle, Pakk is eventually defeated and killed.