cyric_plot

Here is a summary of the Cyric-related parts of Declan's storyline, along with some of the things you guys know for sure about the battle ahead.

Summary

Prior to the events of the campaign, Caelus - one of the Founding Voyagers - and the other Founders were exploring a remote Shard. Upon picking up a sword, Caelus seemingly died, and awoke again with Cyric- God of Lies, Trickery, and Strife, among other things -melded to their soul.
Since then, The Voyagers were quietly researching possible solutions until the secret sort of came out during roleplay following session 22, and definitively in session 39.
At some point during that time Ulixes “Mac” McKenna (played by Danny, who now plays Vicurian) found a coin that contained another fragment of Cyric in it, which also melded with his soul.
Later, while trying to get to the bottom of the Criostalun monster (killed in session 34), Homeshard Heroes used the Loreaxe to eventually figure out that the demons Demogorgon and Dagon created the Criostalun monster, and subsequent crystal infection, attempting to betray and kill Cyric. Cyric, having seen this coming, made preparations and managed to salvage fragments of himself, including the 2 now stuck to Caelus and Mac's souls.
After Mac left the Homeshard heroes to go with Slate and Franc (formerly Caiel) on a presumed suicide mission, things went sideways, and Mac got possessed in full by Cyric. He reappeared in session 43, where Caelus also becomes fully possessed by Cyric. Cyric used the two of them to wreak havoc throughout the Aether (session 48) and build a cult, which Homeshard Heroes infiltrated at the behest of Steve McSword in session 53 to successfully steal his very evil book.

What You Know

Cyric is empowering the bodies of already potent sorcerers Caelus and Mac
Caelus is an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, so you have a solid idea that they'll be doling out psychic damage and debuff-style spells, and as an Abyssal Tiefling, they're naturally resistant to poison
Mac is a Wild Magic Sorcerer, so he has the ability to manipulate his own lucky and cause all kinds of chaos on the field, in addition to his preferences to using magic to cheat at cards, so expect trickery
Cyric himself is a God, even if fragmented, so he can conjure up quite a bit of power if he wants to. He's also an arrogant piece of shit, so do with that what you will
- Both of them had familiars, that have been seen to be much larger, scarier versions of what they originally were
  - Chompy was Caelus's, going from Pseudodragon to Black Dragon, with all the firepower to boot
  - N'Sar was Mac's, a skeleton butler who is now a large skeleton monster of unknown capabilities
Cyric's number 2 is a lich named Selina, who seems to be from Captain Myriad's original neck of the woods, and as a lich, she is a very powerful, potent caster, and you don't have her phylactery- you can defeat her, but you can't permenantly put her down
- Selina was discovered to be creating new and more frightening demons in session 53, as showcased in session 48, along with numerous other demons and undead that have aligned themselves with Cyric
The cultists are totally brainwashed by Cyric's super evil book, The Cyrinishad, and are beyond reasoning. They're otherwise normal people, but they are seemingly skilled in magic and/or other aspects of combat, and there's bound to be a lot of them