session 38

Revelations and Farewells¶

Our meeting with Methus, the ancient lich whose desiccated form belied his immense power and knowledge, proved to be a turning point in our understanding of our world. The revelations he shared shook us to our core, challenging everything we thought we knew about Ermis and our place in the cosmos.

Methus explained that our world, which he referred to as a “big cave,” was actually a refuge created eons ago. It was a failsafe, designed to protect the people of Erastyr from a devastating war against the illithids - mind flayers whose very presence seemed to corrupt reality. These tentacled horrors, which Methus only referred to as “the Enemy,” had been locked in conflict with the forces of Erspace for decades.

Though the combined armadas of Erspace ultimately triumphed over the illithid invaders, their victory came at a terrible cost. The destruction of the Enemy’s Elder Brain unleashed a wave of psychic devastation that decimated the solar system. Methus and his allies managed to create this refuge within one of Erastyr’s moons, where we and our ancestors have lived for countless generations, forgetting our stellar origins.

However, our sanctuary has been discovered. The Enemy, aided by the Neogi - horrifying spider-like slavers with eel-like necks - have subjugated much of the Erspace system. Now, they’ve infiltrated Ermis, sowing the seeds of discord we’ve been battling against.

Methus tasked us with a crucial mission: to find and reassemble an ancient artifact called the “Via Astra.” This delicate, clockwork orrery was created during the war as a potential weapon against the Enemy. However, its power is so great that it drives its users to madness. The pieces were scattered, thought lost or destroyed, but now both we and the Enemy race to collect them.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the Enemy succeeds in assembling the Via Astra, they plan to summon a being called Yog-Sothoth. This cosmic horror’s entry into our plane would not only spell doom for Erspace but also allow the Enemy to finally escape the planar lock that has confined them since the Elder Brain’s demise.

As we grappled with this overwhelming information, we faced another challenge - saying farewell to Gwenzahlya. With unfinished business calling her back to the surface of Ermis, she parted ways with us, leaving our group feeling smaller and more vulnerable in the face of our monumental task.

Methus provided us with clear objectives: find a spelljamming helm and install it in a ship to begin our quest for the Via Astra pieces. With his servant Xor - a disembodied brain floating in a jar of murky fluid - as our guide, we ventured to the surface of Ermis.

For the first time in our lives, we beheld the majesty of the star-filled sky. The wonder of this sight momentarily overwhelmed us, but the urgency of our mission soon brought us back to the task at hand.

We located a spelljammer helm in a graveyard of ancient ships, then set out to find a vessel worthy of it. Our journey led us to a crashed ship resembling a monstrous horseshoe crab. Despite Xor’s warnings, our curiosity got the better of us, and we boarded the vessel.

To our horror, we discovered this was no ordinary ship, but a living vessel of the Enemy. As the organic walls pulsated with alien life, we heard the chilling sound of something slithering behind us. Trapped within this nightmarish craft, we faced an unknown terror, our mission already imperiled before it had truly begun.