Session 71 - The Undying One
Jaruul wakes with a grin that isn’t his, Korin takes a vampire’s head, and the truth surfaces from the coffin: a Shard of the Wand of Orcus. The party seals the crypt, but in the quiet that follows, Jaruul meets Primus in Mechanus — and hears a prophecy that binds his fate to the plane of order itself.
The Undying One
- Jaruul suddenly regained consciousness, waking with a strange grin and asking:
“Who do we have to kill?”
- A shimmering sphere formed around him before violently spinning faster and faster. It crashed into the centre of the arena, erupting in a blast of purple energy that struck everyone nearby.
- Korin — furious — swung his blade with his back turned to the vampire and cleanly removed its head.
- The severed head spoke one final warning to Jaruul:
“The plan has changed, Undying One…” Moments later, it dissolved into smoke.
The Possession
- The gnoll brought Sneid Arkmos to the brink of death. Dristuul immediately Dark Leaped beside him, stabilizing his wounds before he could bleed out.
- Kailas entered a rage, summoning four spectral flumphs — three drifted harmlessly into a wall, the fourth exploded beside Jaruul, catching him in its psychic blast.
- Kailas then crushed the gnoll with a devastating blow, reducing its head to pulp before the corpse collapsed onto Sneid.
- Inside Jaruul’s mind, the mysterious voice quietly said it was going back to sleep.
- Nyxara healed Sneid; Korin helped him recover.
- The party questioned Jaruul’s actions. He insisted he never attacked them.
- The voice whispered inside his head: “Tell them they’re hallucinating.”
- Sneid Arkmos asked what Jaruul took from the coffin. Jaruul denied ever touching it.
- The voice asked: “Do you want me to kill them?”
- Jaruul suddenly went limp. A second Synaptic Static erupted in the middle of the party.
- Realizing Jaruul was no longer in control, the group attacked.
- Dristuul struck Jaruul with both daggers, knocking him prone before disappearing behind a pillar.
- Nyxara healed everyone except Jaruul. Enraged, the voice promised she would be the first to die.
- Korin moved beneath Kailas, briefly suffering psychic pain after seeing Kailas’s serpent.
- He shouted “Halt!”, freezing Jaruul in place. It soon became clear the spell affected the entity controlling him, not Jaruul himself.
- Jaruul regained control and tried to flee. Sneid Arkmos knocked him unconscious.
The Shard of Orcus
- Using Mage Hand, Sneid Arkmos searched Jaruul’s pockets and found a small black stone.
- The party realized it had grown to nearly three times its original size.
- Sneid began a ritual to identify it. Like the others before him, he experienced a vision.
- The truth was revealed: the stone was one of the Shards of the Wand of Orcus.
- Kailas explained the ancient lore: the Wand of Orcus exists to maintain balance and order between worlds. Though incredibly powerful, it can be broken into many separate shards.
Sealing the Crypt
- Sneid Arkmos proposed separating Jaruul from the shard and keeping both restrained.
- After a long discussion, the party decided the safest course was to return the shard to the coffin and bury the entire crypt.
- Inside the coffin lay a remarkably preserved corpse, its skin stretched tightly over its bones.
- Korin dragged the body out and threw it onto the surface.
- Dristuul melted the corpse with his acid breath.
- Sneid Arkmos magically sealed both the coffin and the crypt door.