Vecna: Eve of Ruin
Sigil
You lack truth in every deed you doOff the Rails: “They’re not saying they’re gods”
On the Rails: “A tomb? What’s the other option?”
Off the Rails
Ikasa bounded over and leapt into Three’s waiting arms. “Good girl!” Three hugged, slipping her a chunk of jerky. She had put on a little weight, perhaps?, and was overjoyed to see everyone, zooming around the room uncontrollably.
“Mordenkainen’s here, what do you know,” Eli noted.
The man in question stood in front of a pile of weathered tomes from the Sigil library, paging through them with a worried frown and barely acknowledging the company’s arrival. Alustriel and Tasha sat slumped in comfortable chairs; all three Wizards looked exhausted.
Alustriel climbed to her feet, suddenly refreshed. She smiled warmly, turning first to Eli. “I sense a change in you, Eli.”
“Every battle leaves its marks,” Eli grunted. “What happened to you?”
“Me?”
“Come on.”
Alustriel sighed. “Oh, you are talking of our weary demeanour? We fight him. Constantly. Holding him back from every plane, holding back his influence as best we can. It is exhausting. But I can see you still doubt our intent?”
“No. Do you still have pastries?”
Tasha laughed and Alustriel smiled as she conjured a delectable plate of delicacies. Eli smirked, making sure they saw it.
“You have been gone for longer than we expected,” Tasha said, “What happened? Did you succeed?”
“Ha,” Idris scoffed. He drew forth the three-part Rod and floated it over to Tasha. “We’re going to need the command word for that. As for what happened? What a shithole.”
“I have heard bad things about the Mournland.”
“Forget about it Tasha; it’s Eberron,” Three said flatly.
“Once again you prove your worth,” Alustriel said, glancing over at Mordenkainen. “Mordenkainen has been busy in your absence.”
“We remember,” Eli muttered.
“We have bad news. There is definitely someone else seeking the Rod, and we think we know who it is. Someone long ignored and near forgotten.”
Mordenkainen finally lifted his head. “Though he should not be; not forgotten, not someone of his stature.”
Eli groaned. “Can I ask you a question before you three go on? Because I know you have a way of speaking and a mode of presentation which I think you think is…impressive? I just want to say that you lack truth in every deed you do. That’s not to say you’re not on our side,” Eli continued to raised eyebrows, “Or that you are not sincere in your agendas or anything like that. But you are covetous of drama and if you do not come to the point very quickly I will fucking lose it!”
Three was astonished. Who was this Eli?
Mordenkainen feigned great hurt, putting a hand to his chest. “You wound me, sir! To posit that we generate artificial drama, why—where did you find this one?” he said turning to Alustriel with a grin.
“I see you have not changed after all,” Alustriel said to Eli, “You still do not trust us. But for you I will speak plainly, if Mordenkainen will not.”
“Oh please, be my guest,” Mordenkainen said with a mock bow.
“Our foe’s name is Kas the Betrayer—”
“The Destroyer! The Bloody-Handed! All attractive nom-de-plumes I think you will agree!” Mordenkainen interrupted. He flipped through a book and brandished an illustration for all to see. “Just look at him! Look at him! How could anyone forget that man?!”
“He’s a vampire,” Mordenkainen continued looking to Eli, “Is that straightforward enough? He’s a legendary swordsman, and a ruthless warlord.”
“And what’s his agenda?” Eli grunted.
“Yes—that’s all well and good but does he have four pieces of the Rod?” Sifer added.
“And what is his main claim to fame, archmage?” Three probed. “Why is he called Kas ‘the Betrayer’? Because I have read many books as well.” From the way he asked it seemed clear Three knew precisely why.
“So many questions!” Mordenkainen smirked. “And you accuse us of drama.”
Alustriel held her hands up. “Hundreds of years ago Kas served the Dark One as his most loyal and trusted of lieutenants, both driven by a shared evil. Kas admired the Dark One’s sadism and thirst for power, and the Dark One valued Kas’s ferocity and cruelty.
“A perfect match,” Mordenkainen scoffed as he paged through another volume. “Ah! I have found it—look again!”
“That is Kas, and that is V—quite a scene! One would say they were lovers.”
“One would definitely say that,” Uthar concurred.
“I think you can guess, Three, why he is called ‘the Betrayer’?” Alustriel said.
Three held a hand aloft and cut a fake sword through the wrist. “That’s the rumour,” he said simply.
“You are indeed well read. The Dark One became a lich, Kas led his armies and was richly rewarded. But both men were strong willed and slowly but surely Kas started to envy his Lord. Eventually he confronted him, and it was in that battle that the Dark One lost both his left hand and his right eye.”
“Thanks to Kas’s aforementioned swordsmanship,” Mordenkainen emphasised, “And would you believe he did it using the very sword V himself had created for dear Kas? The irony is almost too much. Look—I have another picture for you. A rare one when V has both hands and both eyes, and Kas his sword!”
“Rather less love there I should think,” Mordenkainen smirked.
“He killed the Dark One, as much as a lich can ever be killed,” Alustriel continued. “All that remained were the severed hand and eye. But the Dark One would have his revenge, flinging Kas across the multiverse as his final act. The sword was lost and Kas himself imprisoned in a Domain of Dread named Tovag.”
“A place that may even be worse than your Eberron,” Tasha added as she examined the Rod.
“He has ruled their ever since, driven by the Dark Powers who feed him insane plans for finding and obliterating his nemesis. Kas believes that his war goes on, but of course it does not; he sends his forces into the mists and they never return. He recruits more, formulates plans, and tries again. An endless cycle of futility.”
“How can he be searching for the same artefact if he is restrained in Tovag?” Three asked.
“That is precisely what we do not understand. The Dark Powers will not allow the Dread Lords of their domains to leave; they are forever trapped. One reason we suspect Kas is that Tovag has gone silent; it was a reliable source of fodder for the mists but of late…nothing. The steady flow of sacrificial life has dried up.”
“So his domain is not impermeable?” Eli asked.
“No Dread Domain is, unless the Dark Powers vow it. Only the Dread Lord must stay; others may come and go as and when it is permitted by that Lord.”
“You may have heard of others,” Tasha added. “Darkon, Har’Akir, Barovia? The Dread Lord Strahd rules Barovia but he allows the Vistani to come and go freely, the better to lure travellers into his web.”
“To Tovag was designed as a prison for Kas? A prison where he could have minions come and go?” Eli asked.
“Yes. They tease him with an endless quest that can never be fulfilled.”
“So this is V…the bad one who has done this?”
“No. The Dark Powers.”
“Who are they?”
“It’s not like a ‘who’,” Three answered. “It is more like a cosmological construct.”
“Right again,” Alustriel nodded. “The Dark Powers are beyond our comprehension and their machinations unfathomable. A mystical force with the ability to pull entire worlds into the Shadowfell.”
“So these things designed a prison for the enemy of the big V? Is that right?” Eli grasped. “And these are the same powers that created Barovia?”
“Right on both counts,” Tasha nodded.
A ancestral memory flashed through Eli’s mind, of a daring, dual-wielding swordsman, a lover and a fighter, bound to Barovia in ways both pleasant and not. He groaned and shook his head and it was gone, but the sense of dread lingered.
Mordenkainen slammed his book shut. “While I was gone I have personally spoken to acquaintances across the multiverse, and many have claimed to have been contacted by representatives of a Dark Lord—who goes nameless—seeking the Rod of Seven Parts. This cannot be coincidence; it has to be Kas.”
“What not the big V?” Eli asked innocently, rather taken with this new moniker he had devised.
“The ‘big V’ is not interested in the Rod,” Mordenkainen scoffed. “Why would they seek a Rod of Law that runs contrary to everything he plans.”
“To stop us getting it to destroy him?”
Mordenkainen arched an impressive eyebrow. “Cunning. But wrong, young Orc. He does not fear the Rod. We are counting on that—that his ignorance is a mistake he has not accounted for. That is why we must find out what Kas is doing. We have to go to Tovag.”
“To be clear, we want you to go there,” Alustriel clarified.
“Is this a side quest,” Eli groaned.
Idris turned to Tasha as the most knowledgeable about the Rod. “Is there a piece of the Rod there?”
“We do not think so.”
“Is this not a distraction for us then?”
“Shouldn’t we just go for the next part?” Three added.
“No, Mordenkainen is right; we need to know what Kas is doing. I will research the Rod and in that time you get in there and find out what he is planning.”
Idris shook his head. “Your wish drew us here to find the Rod of Seven Parts. When Tasha finds the next location we can decide if this mission is worth pursuing.”
“We’re the agents that are positioned to collect the Rod,” Sifer agreed. “But if these three think that we should park the Rod here and go and do a side quest…surely that’s fair enough?”
“I agree,” Uthar said, setting up a split in the company.
“Can I just say,” Eli jumped in, “Mordenkainen—and sorry I probably haven’t spoken to you directly before now—you place yourself as a ‘player’, and you’ve obviously been researching this for some time. Since before we were last here. So. Why don’t you go and see what this Kas is up to?”
“Ah. The Domains of Dread are not safe—”
“Really!” Eli blurted sarcastically, “Can I just say shit my fucking god. Idris! The Domains of Dread, turns out, are not safe!”
Idris took a long drag on his cheroot as Mordenkainen smirked, turning back to his books.
Tasha laughed and stood. “I’ll be back when I know where the next piece lies.”
The company briefly debriefed once left alone, the wizards busy doing whatever wizards do.
“Should we really be challenging these all powerful mages?” Uthar said.
“We’re pretty powerful,” Three shrugged. “We’ve recovered three pieces of Rod, and the entire direction from them has been ‘get the Rod’. And now, on a whim, they think Kas might be involved?”
“Hm, I don’t know about that,” Uther said thoughtfully.
“If they had the winning cards,” Idris said, “They wouldn’t need us.”
“That’s the way I’m feeling,” Eli nodded.
“Uthar, I don’t necessarily think that we shouldn’t go there. I guess it was a good test to see if they are on task,” Idris said. “Which they appear to be—although the dynamic is slightly different now.”
“They cast the wish,” Sifer reminded everyone, “We are the tool in their hands.”
“Then whatever we decide is the right thing to do,” Eli said smartly.
“But if Tasha said ‘it is not clear where the next piece of the Rod is and we know Kas is in play’", Three said, “Then I would agree. We’ll go do that, but if she says ‘we could do Kas or the next piece is at x’, then I’d go get the Rod.”
“And playing devil’s advocate,” Idris posited, “It may be that Kas already has a piece.”
“That’s what I thought they were going to say,” Three nodded. “Kas is a legendary figure so I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“All I know,” Eli said quietly, “Is that as a devoutly religious individual I have no faith in these three.”
“They’re not saying they’re gods though,” Idris countered.
“That’s exactly right.”
“Having said that these are three archmages,” Three said, “Mordenkainen has spells named after him!”
Before settling, Eli sought another private audience with Three—something that did not surprise him. Alustriel was right; Eli had changed. His outbursts before the wizards and quickness of mind had surprised Three. He invited Eli into his room and waited for him to speak.
Eli looked uncomfortable, until he kneeled. He looked up at Three. “I need, once again, to make confession. When Grezan called me ‘Lord’ Eli…I felt pride.”
“You should! You did a lot of good there,” Three said.
“No, no, no—it was wrong. I felt a smugness in me that was improper.”
“Ok, but that is incorrect. What drives you, what drives everyone, is their ability to do good.”
“It’s not my ability to do good, it’s my want to do good.”
Three scratched his head, confused. “Well you should want to do good?”
“I do want to do good! But my ability to do good is not something I should take pride in!” Eli beseeched.
“There is a danger in not being able to look in the mirror completely,” Three nodded, understanding now. “And that is when people are tricked. If you are adept, and you use that adeptness to do good, then you should be satisfied with how you are doing things. ‘Smugness’? I agree that is wrong. But there is satisfaction in doing well—which is not prideful. It is a recognition. And you are at that level; titles are meaningless, it just hit the nerve that you had open.”
“Ok,” Eli said, trying his best to believe.
“You did well. We all did. It was a horrible place and we have come back with our mission intact and your mother, safe. You could live a million lives and not have that success.”
“I would not wish to.”
“I’m not so sure,” Three smiled.
“Thank you for your counsel, I shall go forward galvanised by your words,” Eli said, standing.
“Just make sure you pray and centre yourself—you nearly lost who you were out there, as we all did. It was a disgusting place, a place which tested us all.”
“I will,” Eli bowed his head.
On the Rails
Marko fed, Eli meditated, and Three cleansed himself both physically and spiritually. Idris made a short visit to the Shining Serpent, checking in on Elsabah and Atticus. Atticus reported there had been no more troubles, or none worth mentioning, and Elsabah confirmed negotiations with the Guild of Magic were complete—though the works were still pending. Idris then checked in with Elsabah and both had a very satisfying night.
The company regathered the following morning, met by Alustriel and Mordenkainen.
“You were right to call us out after all you have accomplished,” Alustriel declared, glancing to Eli. “We have become far too passive, fighting the Dark One from here whilst we send you into danger.”
“Oh. I did not expect that,” Eli mumbled. Idris raised an equally surprised eyebrow.
“Quite so!” Mordenkainen agreed. “And being ‘covetous of drama’ as we are, it’s time to introduce some of our own: thus, I will risk life and limb by venturing into the Dread Domain Tovag in your stead. There I will fight Kas, defeat him, and bring glory to us all….or at the very least myself. What do you make of that, young Eli?”
Everyone’s eye’s swung to Eli who cleared his throat. “You are as brave as you are wise, clearly, great Mor..deke-en-kine. I wish you all the luck in your endeavour.”
“Do you need our support?” Sifer added.
“How generous of you—but I think you made it quite clear that I will not get it, so no, I don’t.”
“I think you’re mistaken.”
“In what way? That I am not brave? That I will not defeat Kas?”
“That we are of one voice,” Sifer said looking around.
“Ooo. Disunity is death, you know. Look at we three—we are always united,” Mordenkainen said with a wink as Alustriel put her head in her hands.
Idris suspected Mordenkainen of predictably elaborate posturing, but as he cut through the bluster he sensed that the great wizard was indeed intending to make this sortie. “Mordenkainen—”
“Idris.”
“Having had the night to reflect…I think they point we were trying to make was that if the Rod is what we need then the Rod is what we should put together first. And any interference by other parties would be incidental to that—and in fact it would probably occur regardless.”
“Not if that other party is acquiring a piece of the Rod, which is of course what we fear,” Alustriel countered. “Then the interference is by no means incidental. None-the-less, Mordenkainen has volunteered to do this deed and we are inclined to let him.”
“Are you now?” Mordenkainen said wryly. “Sifer—you said you are not united in your front. Can you explain more?”
“We have been acting in unison, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have different positions. And I am quite willing to defer to people who know more than me about where I should be using my resources.”
“We thought there were two paths,” Three added. “One: pursuing the Rod for the next part which we have been doing. Or two: this Kas person. And when they were presented that way we thought ‘well we should just keep going for the Rod’. But if you say—”
“Again I say we are not of one voice,” Sifer interrupted, looking to Uthar who nodded slowly.
Three continued, ignoring Sifer. “If we are in the position where we don’t have the location of the next piece of the Rod, and you think this person is stopping us in our task…then I am more than willing to go. But that was not clear when we first had this discussion.”
“Indeed,” Mordenkainen nodded. “You are a man that deals in facts, Three. If the Rod is accessible you will go forth, if it is not, you would entertain our suspicions.”
“That’s right.”
“Well let us see what Tasha returns with and we will find out.”
“So long as we can wait for Tash,” Sifer said a little over familiarly, “Then that is a perfect way to resolve our differences of opinion.”
“Oh I am quite happy to wait,” Mordenkainen said settling back into the settee. “After all it is only the fate of the Multiverse that is at stake!”
“Mordenkainen,” Alustriel sighed, “Make fun of as much as you like, but remember Tovag will be dangerous. The Dark Powers are not to be trifled with, even for us.”
“Well yes,” Mordenkainen said rubbing his bald head sheepishly. “Even though when I said it was ‘dangerous’ yesterday I was rather overplaying it for dramatic effect,” he glanced again at Eli. “But you are right; danger looms.”
As if on cue, Tasha descended from the upper chambers, nodding at her fellow mages and tossing the Rod to Idris. “The command word is FIAT. It allows you to reverse gravity, which I am sure you will have some fun with.”
“Ha. I suspect fun may ensue,” Idris grinned as he floated the Rod into his hand. The spell made perfect sense, he reflected, given how the company had ascended inside Landro.
Tasha looked to Mordenkainen. “Have you told them?” Mordenkainen inclined his head in assent. “Good. Despite your inclination to dismiss Kas as a threat, the Rod has led me to Kas’s old hunting ground of Oerth. Not coincidentally I am sure.”
“Where?” Sifer said.
“As Eberron was another world, so too is Oearth,” Alustriel explained. “The ancient home of not only Kas, but the Dark One, and,” she glanced at Mordenkainen, “Mordenkainen.”
“Indeed it is. A land of wonders and terrors in equal measure. White Plume Mountain! Castle Greyhawk! The Sea of Dust! Why Tasha I believe even you had a home there, in a former life—something to do with that imposter Tsojcanth?”
Tasha didn’t take the bait. “My findings this time around are unusual: the Rod points to two different possibilities. There is not way of knowing which holds the next Part, or indeed if maybe both do. So we will send you to the most likely…if you are willing to go.”
“We are,” Three said, “Or at least I am.”
Sifer stood to readiness, joined quickly by Idris. “Is this a thing we’re doing?” Eli whispered to Uthar as he stood.
“Stop stalling, Tasha—tell them where they are going,” Mordenkainen said with an evil grin.
Tasha stared at the marble floor for a moment, clearly uncomfortable, before looking up. “There is a…Tomb there.”
“A rather horrible one!” Mordenkainen beamed. “As it turns out I’m rather glad I get to go to Tovag.”
“A tomb? What’s the other option?” Uthar said hopefully.
“This is the most likely,” Tasha said firmly, “And that is where you will go. We have given you your choice and you have made it. It is best you know as little as possible.”
“When is that ever the case?” Idris challenged.
“This time it is. The power that created this Tomb may second guess your motives. He is like that. If you arrive without notice it is more likely you will surv…succeed.”
Idris shook his head, but conceded to their alleged wisdom.
“You should know that the builder of this Tomb was once the Dark One’s apprentice,” Alustriel added.
“An archlich otherwise known as the Devourer,” Mordenkainen said with relish.
“Oh excellent,” Idris groaned.
“You have overcome everything placed before you and we are confident you will overcome this too. Retrieve the next Part.”
“Oh! And I also agree with you Eli,” Tasha added. “While Alustriel holds V at bay from here, I, like Mordenkainen, am venturing somewhere I should not. If things go to plan I will see you when you return. If you return.”
Session played September 8, 15, 2025