====== The Deep End ======

**Session Date**: 12/20/2025 \\
**Game Master**: Declan/Riley

===== Player Characters =====


  * **Klarna**, Goliath Paladin (Hazel)
  * **Gutboy**, Dwarven Barbarian (Tim S)
  * **Gwiazdka**, Halfling Rogue (Bekah)
  * **Keeka**, Orc Bard (Sheila)
  * **Valorion**, Dragonborn Fighter  (Tim R)
  * **Vicurean**, Eladrin Bladesinger (Danny)


===== Named People and Places =====

  * [[:nemedobur|The Province of Nemedobur]] - Declan's adventuring province; a group of dangerously unstable and widely unexplored shards
  * Rianglas - the ocean Shard filled with underwater ruins, treasures, and massive leviathan creatures
  * [[guinevere|Guinevere Fraoch]]
  * [[steve_mcsword|Steve McSword]]
  * Bronach - an aasimar cleric of [[letharr|Letharr]], and a [[the_voyagers|Voyager]]
===== Major Plot Points =====
  * The party is gathered by Bronach and [[steve_mcsword|Steve]], who explain that Guinevere has found something extremely bad in the depths of Rianglas, the ocean Shard, presumably having to do with all of the demon incursions and rituals throughout all of [[nemedobur|Nemedobur]] recently
  * Everyone is given some time to make their final preparations, with borrowed gear from [[the_voyagers|The Voyagers]] being handed out to ensure everyone can stay under the water for an extended period of time
  * They enter the water, meeting [[guinevere|Guinevere]] a little ways under the surface, who gives a few more details about the mission at hand; a huge ritual is happening in a temple the Founders went to many years ago- the very same one that Steve died in -to try and make Demogorgon into a Demiurge like Ao used to be before he was killed
  * The goal: stop the ritual, at any cost. Survival is secondary
  * As they swim downwards, the party is attacked by a massive angry leviathan, making short work of it
  * Finally arriving at the temple, they navigate the winding hallways until they reach the ritual room, where they see all kinds of demons and Demogorgon himself, along with two individuals who are definitively not demons that are bound to the ritual circle
  * Fighting begins, the party trying to push forward through the groups of large demons to reach the mage demons, doing everything they can think of to disrupt the ritual
  * Efforts are focused on the demonic mages that are casting the ritual, with various party members taking them out and otherwise finding ways to disrupt them
  * As time goes on, Demogorgon grows more and more angry that things are being ruined, lashing out at the party as they desperately continue ruining this ritual
  * The two bound beings are freed, revealing themselves to be the Gods [[Valdis]] and [[Letharr]], and they get the party out of the temple in the nick of time; it seems disrupting the ritual has caused a massive magical explosion, destroying the building and presumably anything inside at the time of destruction
  * As everyone swims in the open ocean, preparing to ascend to the surface, Dagon himself appears, grabbing [[klarna|Klarna]] in his clutches
  * He taunts them, particularly about the crystals, asking goading questions to [[klarna|Klarna]], who responds confidently and assured of themself 
  * When presented with the question of why Dagon should do anything about these crystals, [[klarna|Klarna]] defiantly declares that they will spend the rest of their life making sure to ruin anything Dagon tries to do, and even attempt to kill him should the opportunity arise. Everyone else stands in solidarity with [[klarna|Klarna]], affirming they will do the same
  * Dagon considers this answer, then says he would find that quite annoying; he makes the crystals go inert, saying he will simply bide his time until this generation is dead to go back to his scheming. After all, he has eternity to perfect his machinations
  * With the ritual stopped, Demogorgon and Dagon defeated, and the crystals no longer a threat, the Homeshard Heroes rise to the surface, triumphant in every possible way

===== Additional Post-Session RP Recap =====
  * The Gods return with the Homeshard Heroes back to Voyager HQ, where everyone is bombarded with questions about what happened, particularly about why the crystals are seemingly no longer hostile
  * [[klarna|Klarna]] and the rest of the party explain everything, from stopping the ritual to getting Dagon to agree to "turn off" the crystals
  * [[klast|Klast]] notices the presence of the Gods, who introduce themselves to the room, [[Letharr]] calling both Bronach and [[Valdis]] her children, and [[Valdis]] revealing he was the one who saved [[steve_mcsword|Steve's]] life on [[Rianglas]] years ago
  * [[Valdis]] also says that they got sold out by other Chaotic Good Gods to the demons, seemingly out of a desire to destroy both [[Valdis]] and [[Letharr]] in the ritual that was taking place, because they didn't agree with what the other Chaotic Good Gods are doing right now
  * The Gods are then asked all sorts of questions, particularly by [[klast|Klast]], about what is going on in the Outer Planes with all the rest of the Gods
  * [[Letharr]] tells the story as she knows it, saying that all of the higher beings- good and evil, lawful and chaotic -in the planarverse got together and agreed to do one thing; kill Ao, and remove his annoying restrictions on what they can and cannot all do
  * Ao is killed, the inner planes shattered, and with no oversight, all of the various factions then started fighting for control and using their slivers of Ao's power to do whatever they wanted
  * Everyone is horrified by this, [[klast|Klast]] particularly upset by [[letharr|Letharr's]] part in this, as she was present for all of these events and admitted to not doing as much as she could have out of fear of her own destruction for being a dissenting voice
  * [[Valdis]] was created post-Sundering by [Letharr]] to try and make up for her sins, with Bronach having been made for the same purpose
  * [[klast|Klast]] leaves after giving up his clerical power from [[Letharr]], Vicurian asserts that all of the Gods are useless and not to be trusted, and there are a variety of other negative sentiments shared among the group
  * Both Gods assert that they do want to help how they can, but understand if they aren't wanted
  * [[Valdis]] looks at [[klarna|Klarna]], and offers to remove the crystals and help regrow their body parts, and while they're hesitant, they agree to give him a chance
  * [[klarna|Klarna]] is officially cleansed of all of the crystals, Isaiah going after them to also have all of his crystals removed. [[klarna|Klarna]] says that while they trust [[Valdis]] for now, he better not do anything to break that trust, and he promises he intends to keep what he's earned
  * The remaining Founders and [[chartreuse|Chartreuse]] all share a sweet moment together in the aftermath of Isaiah being cured, and assert that they're going to save [[caiel|Caiel]], Mac, and Caelus soon too