Episode 29: Flight of the Blackjack Report

General Summary

Of Vampire Weekends and Attempted Beheadings

The crew reunites at the Empyrean Ki-rin Monastery and start preparing the Blackjack's for the Ritual of Consumption. Their catch up session goes well until Nels steps out of the shadows, revealing his new shadowy, and super hawt, dhampir nature. Nia is shocked and rebukes him for making such a rash decision. She tells him to stop being dead, or she'll tell their mother. Nels primps and preens, obviously enjoying how his clothes now fit and the sudden emergence of his abs.

Moon Breeze arrives for her part in the ceremony and the discussion comes to a sudden end as El attempts to behead Nia's horned patron. Spark's precognition kicks in and he shouts out a warning, but Elenwe's strike is sudden strike is too swift. The enchanted paladin shrugs off the ki-rin's protections and the Moon Blade of House Heskiloth gravely wounds Moon Breeze.

Spark and Mekkamutt attempt to manacle El, but she easily evades them. Finally Lance succeeds in dispelling the geas controlling Elenwe, ending her assault on Moon Breeze.

The paladin collapses to the ground, Spark snaps his manacles onto her and everyone struggles to understand what happened. Moon Breeze examines everyone who went to Razakstad and senses traces of vampiric and fiendish magic lingering on them.

The ensorcelled members of the Crew eat some of Lola Carly's magical bigingkas, which restore the true memories of what really happened at House Razak.

Nia tries to scry on Lady Aleonera Molndal, but her divination fails against the revealed vampire's protective wards. Nia turns her spell towards Lance's father Lord Maximillian von Razak and sees him on the bridge of the Will of Malfador, leaving the atmosphere and heading into space.

The Power of Wood Compels You

With that information, Spark realizes that relics of Xeno are attracted to the Hidden Moon in the same way that Wood of Telperion is attracted to the Shattered Moon. A ship equipped with the "Wood of Xeno" could ascend into space when the Hidden Moon was full. A ship with both equipped could, with the right triangulation and equations, theoretically enter space whenever it wanted.

With the Captain's Warlock Patron present, the Crew completes the ritual to absorb the Telperion Moon Raider into the Changeling Skyship Blackjack. Spark takes the "Spigot of Ielroth" from Thunderfox, now dubbed the Xenis, and installs it in the Moon Raider next to the Wood of Telperion. The Blackjack's new shape thrums with energy, balanced between the eldritch gravity wells of three worlds.

Moon Breeze senses that the Will of Malfador approaching the graveyard of The First Armada. Malfador and his minions seek the souls of dead elves. Their goal is to mint a million soul coins for the vaults of hell. The Crew needs to ascend and fast.

Guardians of the First Armada

They all board the Blackjack as Spark tunes the ship to ride triple gravity. He sends a message for his family to take refuge with Way and the Neophytes at the Ki-rin Monastery. Lance tells his mother, Lady Fransiska von Razak, to seek restorative magic from a priest, explaining Lord von Razak's devilish contacts. They ask Lola Carly to begin a restorative bibingka order for the nobles houses of the Grand Duchy of Molndal. Nia messages her sister Sigrid asking her to help prevent Malfador from stealing all these souls and endangering the world.

At their invitation, Lance's friend Lieutenant Aymer Ulalen of the Thayan Armada joins them. She asks how a ship can travel out of the atmosphere while Thaya isn't full in the night sky. Spark replies, 'Like This!' and gives the Xenis a crank.

With the speed borne of deific gravity and ancient elvish ingenuity, the Moon Raider pierces the sky on its way to the heavens. A four hour flight gives some time for rest before the Blackjack approaches the wreckage of the First Armada.

As they approach the wreckage, they see several abandoned skyships bearing the banners of Malfador. They encounter the Guardians of the First Armada, elven undead bursting with positive energy. They guard the souls of their dead bretheren and appear to have just engaged in a pitched battle with the god's followers. The burned out husks of their fallen eternal bretheren lay at their feet.

Their leader promises woe to any who would further profane the graves of the elven tragedy. El announces themselves as the Exalted of Dreams. The undead leader admits surprise at seeing her last living heir, revealing that she is Dillothel Heskiloth, Grandmother of El and previous Exalted of Dreams. She saved the elven souls of the Armada by storing them in the Realm of Dreams. As the new (living) Exalted of Dreams it is Elenwe's duty to dream and slowly release them from their stasis.

However, the Realm has been invaded and the crew needs to save those souls and eject the invading devils. Dillothel allows them to enter the portal into the realm of dreams, but she asks Elenwe to leave her doll Kali when she goes in..

Cleansing the Realm of Dreams

Their sense are overcome. They see chaotic visions of slain Ki-rin, intact elven star ships, and a bag watching them suspiciously. The dream realm is full of devils hidden in pockets of darkness. A battle ensued when Lance summons pure daylight to expose them.

The minion devils attack, but the crew handles them pretty easily. They call out for their master as they fall. The oath breaker, Dirk Altmann breaks his invisibility to assault Lance. Dirk's magical robe of eyes allow him to pierce Lance's own invisibility. His two Illrigger Knights raise a wall of fire to divide the crew.

Dirk attacks with a flurry of halberd blows reinforced by the infernal energy of his divine master. The assault drops Lance to the ground and should have killed him. However, the light of Lance's divine soul pulled him back from death and the aasimar spit out an insult. "El would've finished me off!"

Spark then ran through the wall of fire to DJ Uppercut's defense. He knocked Dirk back through the wall of fire where El pinned him down. Nia hypnotized the Illrigger knights, but a lucky abishai devil got the last claw needed to drop Lance. Still, Dirk saw that with El above him, and being unable to move that the combat had turned. He teleported himself, his guards, and the last remaining devils away, excising their taint from the Realm of Dreams.

Selenelion Barrelperson and a Vote of No Confidence

Upon returning to the Starship Graveyard, Dillothel presents Elenwe with her altered doll Kali. The Graveyard had been experiencing a Selenelion Eclipse when they entered dreams. She used the magic of the event to turn Kali into a Selenelion barrelperson, allowing El to to change Kali's gender. She could now change her sex as she pleased, though more than one change a day would exhaust her. Dillothel also purified the Moon Blade of House Heskiloth from demon and vampiric taint by stabbing it into herself a font of positive energy.

As they began the last leg of their journey to the moon., they heard a broadcast from the Zone. The Orrery of Worlds had failed and Hell had appeared in the Kirinal Pit for a few hours. A Vote of No-Confidence in the First Warden and Chagroth Durinhelm was held. The vote went against them and the Kirinal Council used the opportunity to schedule a vote on the Hell Week Accords in just a few hours! The crew needs to get to the Sarch na Thaya immediately to invalidate the Accords. The Will of Malfador is nowhere to be found.....