Psych Out

So Willikers, Jorel, Shamash, Aurora, Jones, Sticky Fingers and Elle Enchanted were getting ready to leave after defeating several Aboleths and their Koa-Toa minions (Carson picked up from where we left off last session, though Hadji missed today). As a party, we had succeeded at getting through various magical and nonmagical defenses, slime mages etc., though the Deva architects of the dragonborn city Bane had sent us there to get had turned out to be dead when Willikers discovered them, he told us. We thought we were done.

We weren't.

The aboleths had left a magical statue behind. Weighing about 60 lbs., it was found to be a transportation item relying on rock to mud transmutation magic. We used it and it removed the waters and slime from below us. The two small square buildings that had held the prisoners turned out to be only the top parts of an entire city. Before long we found ourselves exploring the depths below the area. Deep underground we discovered an ancient chamber once inhabited by the vampire slavelords of a long vanished empire from when humans ruled over dragons and drew power from their blood. The chamber resembled a crypt. Six aboleths attacked the party. After a difficult battle, the Uprisers searched the area and found 6 small "coffins" and one large one, which turned out to be a passage to a chamber below. There we found the blood forge and the throne of the golden ages in its newest incarnation. It tempted each of us ceaselessly with visions of what could be for us if we would only sacrifice elements from our lives. Each of us was given a different tempting vision, and a price to make it happen; a wish for a sacrifice.

It was Willikers' wish to kill anybody who got on that throne. His wish and his sacrifice were in effect the same thing. Jorel, as an immortal, was tempted with a vision of a new universe to experience -- for the price of giving up the current one. Shamash saw a world of peace between humankind and dragonkind, where slavery did not exist. The price? The party had to simply not be, as though it had never been. So a utopia where we are not. Jones' temptation was his ideal world with himself essentially as king, for the price of sacrificing the rest of the party. Aurora was tempted with replacing Pelor for the price of never seeing Pelor again. Elle saw herself with a world of money that could buy her castles made of candy, for the price of turning on the rest of the party. What Sticky Fingers saw was pretty much the same as what Elle saw. Much was discussed, the Throne itself psychically arguing its points.

The Throne, a construct resembling a golden shark-squid, said we were cowards if we couldn't decide among us which wish to accept and which sacrifice we were willing to make. It was too big for all of us, except for Jorel, Sticky Fingers and Elle. A party battle began as Jorel and Sticky Fingers each tried to sit on the throne and were opposed by each other and the rest of the Uprisers.

The ghost of a Deva awoke Willikers. Each member of the party was in reality not seeing or hearing any of the above. Each of us had psychic tentacles touching our heads. The Aboliths were playing with us like we were toys in their sandbox (or muddy bathtub). The only part of the above vision that actually occured to the characters was that of turning on each other. And that had happened. We woke up covered in mud and blood, having been beating each other up with rocks. In the end, it was as though nothing had happened at all. But it had. Kind of.

XP: 7,700
Treasure: one lvl 22 magic item
next session - a couple of weeks.