I offer Kon a healing potion for a nice 19 and ask him how he feels about having killed the Reclussiarch, did any of the fire, is he hungry?

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Ok, well, I’m going to check her for any residual effects.” I don’t go very well, but her body is not burnt, despite us having witnessed her catch fire.

Anatole tries to do medicine instead of my religious check; her body is medically sound in every way, whatever that flame was seemed to have healed her entire body.

“Her body seems to be in perfect medical condition… despite the fighting.”

“But I caved my axe into her body…” Kon says.

Fester decides to cut open a slice of Velma’s flesh and blood seeps out.

I try to remember if corpses ever revive and I can recall mostly necromancers raising the dead, but sometimes the G*ds can be entreated to revive someone.

Kon lets us know he will be going back via his ring, and as he charges it, we hear roaring that builds up to a crescendo. Flames initially, but as the being arrives, the creature yells too. As it hits the crescendo a humungous, large, winged demon appears, and as he manifests, a human man with a dove head and dove feet, and wings, clothed only in belts with countless knives appears. We can be fairly certain this is Shax…

His schlong is apparently long-past his knees in length. As the shimmer disappears, the fires fading, he remains crouched down.

There was no particular emotion in his roaring, more that it was the primal sound that beasts make.

Shax crouches over Drax, and eats the corpse. Shax, seeing Anatole’s palm with the cut in it, steps forward after eating Drax and speaks, “Hooo, so you partook of the ritual.”

“Indeed… it was most enlightening.” He replies.

“Very pleasing… I have for you something I’m sure Drax would have wanted you to have.” Shax reaches into his own body, hand shoving through his stomach, and pulls out a knife. Anatole’s eyes gleam.

The knife is mostly unassuming, a simple throwing knife with a small dove foot carved into the handle on the very end, the only thing that distinguishes it from being a normal blade.

Shax cocks his head as he observes Anatole, holding out the knife. He takes it as deferentially as possible and says, “I am grateful for any gift my lord is generous enough to bestor.”

Shax laughs before responding, “I know you serve another, fool! I am the G*d of lies, you cannot lie to me.”

“My apologies-”

“You need not fear me as you fear the others. Anyone is welcome to serve Shax even as they serve others. But this blade, it only works once, do not squander it.”

Anatole replies, “Do you have advice, or instruction for when I should be using it?”

“Hmm. In murder, I would hope. But it is not my position to tell you how to use the gifts my priests would give. I have his knowledge as he digests. I know that he would want you to have this. It is his Babau Knife.”

“Lord Shax will have to enlighten me.”

Shax laughs again, “The Babau demons are something of my creation, torturous, murderous, gremlins that love to rip and shred. The knife, once used on a human will summon a Babau demon who will then start shredding, ripping, tearing apart its lovely victim.”

“Truly a fine, I will do my best to make the use of it, in a way that is befitting Drax and Lord Shax.”

“Mm. Whatever tickles your fancy I suppose, it is a gift from him, not me. I simply fulfill their dreams when they die in my service. Do not feel you owe me anything. … We love to plot, we love to kill, a bit of gloating but not too much that our victims get away.”

“I don’t tend to gloat,” Anatole replies, “I find it wastes time.”

“As do buildings with less than 5 rooms, waste of time.”

“Uh, I see. Thank you, Lord Shax.”

“It will not work on g*d-touched, which is why I believe he did not use it on that… creature.” He says this with disdain. “Cursed by one g*d, touched by another, eaten between two.”

Anatole ends up asking him about Velma and Shax tells us we should not let the Lambent King rise again, that we should salt the corpse and burn it. He suggests that should we destroy the body, he will provide us something, however his words make me feel uneasy.

Why would he be so against Atreia coming back?

We agree to salt the body, then take her to Lord Rex, then explain we should burn her body at Shax’s request.

We find some salt and salt her body, then when we’re ready. I pick Velma up bridal style and we head back.

Some people notice us, but we pass mostly without issues.

---

Kon arrives back at the estate, crawling up in the courtyard and makes his way through to Lord Rex’s throne room to make the initial report.

Upon arriving a guard approaches, directs him to where Rex is, and Kon then waves him off.

When he finds Rex, he explains poorly, that many people have died in this fight, the Reclussiarch having killed Remorand.

Rex loses his composure and turns away, crying. When he returns to looking at Kon, he asks, “Is she dead?”

“Very. … though it won’t look it. We’ll explain when we arrive.”

“And Remorand?” Rex commands him to tell us to bring his body (and head) back with us.

After a brief catch up, Anatole and Fester take Remorand’s body and I continue holding Velma’s corpse.

Rex directs his court to leave, and once gone, “No one knows this, Kon, but as my potential son in law… Remorand would have been a half-brother to you… A child of infidelity…” Kon and Rex share a moment of quiet solitude.

“Your team… what were your plans after this?” Rex asks.

“Nothing concrete, but we were looking for a home and to get involved in Abyss explorations, helping one of our friends with his business ventures… Nothing solid.”

“I see… have you heard of the Tragedy of Bantamshale?” Rex then asks. Kon isn’t sure, so he rolls for Society, dirty 20.

Kon recalls the Tragedy of Bantamshale. It was the closest town to the city of gates. A primary entry to the Abyss. It was a deep betrayal of the leading family of the city which caused the city to fall into abject chaos. It was the second largest city in the Kingdom and now it is nothing but a ruin. The lands are corrupted deeply by what happened there.

“I do know of it.”

“Do you know then, what happens on corrupted ground?”

Kon recalls again, Nature for 19.

In corrupted ground grows a particular tree. This is interesting as a tree can grow in corrupted soil. You must prepare to step on this ground to reach this tree as even the soil will taint your soul. But the tree produces a fruit that is used to create a substance known as Opium black. One of several ingredients in a resurrection potion.

“I do know of this as well.” Kon replies.

“How much would I have to pay you to get some? … I have in my possession one single phoenix feather. But opium black is not something I can buy on the market.”

“… May I discuss this with the others? If I agreed I would be taking them with me.”

“Of course… and know… money is not bound to any number. I have manpower, land, resources… Whatever it would take for you to get me opium black so that I can save my son.”

There is some more discussion, but it ends with Rex sharing that he knows of three such trees, in the Noble’s estate of Bantamshale, but there are also creatures and dark things that will kill us if we enter. The tainted ground is the noble’s estate, and whilst the remainder of the city will not harm our souls, we risk attacks from beasts and other creatures. Each hex on the map would be like one day of travel, but distance-wise, 24 miles per hex.

After all this thinking, Kon asks, “Does Felicia know about Remorand?”

“No… there was a reason she’s not here… Well, that, and in case you had died, I did not want to put her through the loss of her lover and her brother in the same conversation… Any time we talk about heading into the dangers of what you do, it is always a possibility.”

“Well, you have given me a lot to think about… I’m not sure how far away my allies are, but I may go search for some water?”

Rex calls the doctor back in, and he returns with a full contingent of medical supplies. The doctor does a double-take as he realizes Kris is now Kon and there isa whole fox here.

---

For our parts, we arrive at the manor, with guards waiting, ushering us to the throne room. Rex turns to his attendants as we arrive and orders them out, the doctor shrugs as he views Fester’s wounds as he leaves.

He leans forward again and starts openly weeping. Rex sobs and we have no idea why, Kon whispers to us to leave him be, and trusting him, I instead lay Velma’s body down in front of him and wait patiently.

As Rex regains control of himself, he looks out at us, face puffy-eyed and much worse for wear.

“I’m… uh… Remorand was a good man… I’m sorry for your loss.”

“The whole city will miss him.”

“In terms of our reporting… Anatole, Drax and I entered the Church from the connecting tunnel and Kon, Remorand and the guards entered from the front. There was a brief lecture from the Reclussiarch that I can provide the details of in full later… but as we engaged her, I can report that all followers of the Reclussiarch and Inquisitors have been slain, but Remorand and your guardsmen have laid down their lives for us.”

“Thank you for your report… I have a request for you, but Kon will deliver it, as I cannot right now.”

“There is another thing…”

“Yes?”

“We should burn the corpse now, as we have already salted it. We know she holds powerful magic, so we feel we should perform ritual desecration.”

Rex investigates the body after my reporting, he checks and asks, “I don’t sense a soul… is there a chance she’s a lich?”

“From what we know of Liches, no… there was some divine intervention.” I reply.

We have a brief moment where Drew explains that Rovagug’s presence was eaten away from Atreia, but we all failed the checks to find that out.

Rex pours a bottle of clear liquid onto her corpse and I cast Breathe Fire through my staff. The flames congeal into a nightmarish skeletal mess of forms, moving and shifting, screaming, emanating from a distance whilst simultaneously next to us.

It congeals into a form and bows to Anatole, “I am your G*D.” It says, screaming and speaking, mound of flesh and bones moving in a mockery of speech.

Anatole bows back.

“I am your Lord.” It whispers and screams at us, its words echoing in our minds. Anatole tries to discern if this is true. This is indeed, Zon-Kuthon.

“Your friend Shax sent me.” The G*d thing speaks.

Anatole recites a gross prayer, and the bones undulate in a pleased way. The being continues to undulate as he resolves the prayer.

As he finishes reciting, the creature bends down its weird head towards Anatole.

“You’ve been a good boy. You bring pain to the world with your creation, as you should! Dissolving flesh from bone. This pleases.” It speaks.

“I have been to the end of the universe,” it continues, “I have seen what lies there, and it is grim. It did this to me. It made me a monster. A fate I wouldn’t possibly wish upon my followers, no, no! What can I gift thee, hmm?” It asks, “You burned the body of the portal in all sorts of pleasurable ways, you are to be rewarded.”

“My lord it is blessed honor to look upon you, see your flesh and hear your voice… I would not presume to ask for much more, if I could have but one request, and if it so pleases you; I would ask that you- I would ask for a mark of your favor, for you to change my body in some way.”

“Really? You would become like me?”

“If that would please you. What interests me is to change, to push the boundaries of the flesh. So far, of course, my experiments and ventures have been done on others, but I would offer myself to one such change if it would please my lord.”

“HmmmHhhmm. Interesting. I have indeed got ways to change you. I implore you to accept them, the changes can be horrific.”

“Oh, I very much hope so!”

The body undulates gleefully as the creature laughs, the room filling around us with the sound of a thousand damned souls cackling.

“Then accept these, my gifts unto thee. Take them!” A pair of bones fly out of the undulating mass of flesh and bone, touching Anatole’s chest, one on each side. His body responds instantaneously, a strange, bark-like skin begins to form over his chest region. A grotesque nipple forms on the outside of each piece. The nipples begin to secrete a sticky red liquid. The creature undulates happily as he sees the liquid being secreted.

“Ohhh yes. Good, the red pitch flows from you. Bottle it and throw it at your enemies.”

Anatole is very pleased by this. His new bird titties produce red pitch, a rare substance that usually only comes from trees, it can be turned into a flammable, murderous substance. He can make 4 red pitch bombs (moderate) per day, by harvesting his nips. As we continue to grow in level and strength he will be able to make stronger bombs from his secretions.

The armor bark will also give him a plus 1 to his AC.

Losing interest in this as Anatole is joyed, he turns to us, “What can I do for you?”

I don’t get a chance to ask for anything, but Kon and Fester decline, “Fine, I’ll let the others deal with you.”

He then collapses into normal bones and the body of Velma returns to ash. The room rumbles and then a human man appears in the throne room, wielding a ginormous sword, and he is the most handsome man we could imagine.

“It is good to see you, finally, one of my most loyal children. You have closed the portal and have been promised a reward.”

“I am similarly pleased to see you, my Lord.”

“Good, good. So! What can I do for you? As I said, you’ve closed the portal and have sealed, for now anyway, the plane. You’ve been promised a reward.”

“Might I trouble you

“I see. You require girth, I am ill-suited.” He shoves the sword into the ground and a new g*d appears, holding the same sword. His garb is more regal, deep blues and golds.

“You need tactical superiority to crush your foes?”

“Indeed.”

“Tactical superiority is what I do.”

“This is the gift of Sorrow’s Sword unto thee. I shall enhance your spells, give you the knowledge to cast spells with wider range. Increasing your tactical prowess.” He offers me a glove, “When you cast spells with this glove on your hand, this will give you the option to cast them with a wider range.”

“Much to think on, my Lord. Thank you for the boon.”

The gloves either, cost an additional action to target an additional person, or if it costs 3 actions and has multiple dice, I can spread the spell one dice per person, but keeping the effects on all targeted. Ragathiel’s Glove.

Kon asks for protection from corruption and receives a medallion, then Fester asks for everyone in the world to know of his services. Sorrow’s Sword changes for both of them as well.

Kon bows because I did, and Fester hands his card over to the G*d, the moment the G*d touches it, the card appears in our minds and the words “Fester Rat, Courier extraordinaire” mutter into our minds, with Fester in different fashionable poses and deliveries. A business card appears in each of our cards.

Then the G*d turns to Rex, repeats the question, and looks at Remerand. “I need something… I need…” He sighs audibly and looks down, defeated.

“I need a phylactery.”

Iomedae looks to him, “Are you sure that is what you want?”

“Yes.”

“I am ill-suited to this task, but I know one who is better suited.” Iomedae tags out and in his place stands Arazni.

She repeats the gift for closing the gate, what do you desire question and Rex replies. “Please, I require a phylactery.”

“Ah! One who refuses to yield to his foes… I can assist with that.” She pulls out a black diamond with a small tincture of green liquid inside of it. “This is everything you need up to a certain point, this should take years off of the creation.”

“Thank you, Arazni.” He says, taking a knee, accepting the mostly-formed phylactery.

The woman hands it to him, “You know the process will be harrowing, right? This gets you most of the way there.”

“Yes, I know what is required.”

“Good. You have each been paid for services to the Pantheon, we thank you once again for closing the gate and ensuring that no one stops our fun. Toodle-oo.” Then she slams the sword into the ground once more, then disappears.

“No one in this room shares what happened here, yes? We don’t need to start 12 new religions here tonight.”

Anatole gives him a look that says, “How do I hide my nipples.”

For my part, I reply, “Yes, yours and Kon’s requests in particular, make me feel that there are secrets and things to plan for. At any rate there is yet much to think on and much to ruminate on.”

What do we do about Fester being popped into everyone’s mind? Rex suggests we blame it on the Abyss, that the material was magical or cursed and upon touching it you accidentally teleported it into everyone’s hands.