The plot twist at the graveyard will be the Gravekeeper betrayed his mad scientist master to the angry mob before they finished making their horrible monster.

  This has been your filler post while Kyle's player tries to fix his sleep schedule.

"Off to Sarissa's, then!"

Mits isn't sure what to tell May...  "I'll borrow...  you!"

She tries to drag the friendly kobold onto her flying carpet so she can cuddle and play with her hair.

Seer’s Hut
Compared to most of the shantytown’s residents,
Sarissa is relatively pleasant. She says that she’ll
answer questions for a hundred gold coins each, an
amount that should be a pittance for the heroes at this
point but is a fortune for her.

Timothius sees her lust for money and pulls out a platinum coin to examine it. He puts it back into his bag and says, "How about a 10 gold downpayment and if I find your first answer useful, I will pay you the remaining 90? I have to be sure your answers are worth so much."

Timothius is far from interested in throwing money around willy-nilly. At best, doing so would be an insult to all the poor and hungry. At worst, they could earn a reputation as people who throw money around and wind up swamped with fakes who want fortunes for their meager lies.

Raichel and May are just quiet and currently indifferent.

  "If it turns out, we should probably give most of it in gold.  I doubt most around here can make change for a platinum if she ever decided to spend it."  Now, a more petty rich player would toss 500 gold in Residum and watch them spent hours trying to scrape it up.

  Good thing Unaligned also covers not being a complete asshole.

"I'm not entirely sure we even need her help," Mits comments, "We already know where to go to fight big bad.  The fact she knows about the portal was just kindofa curiosity, really."

Sarissa eyes the group skeptically.  "I'll grant you that trust isn't easily given in this place, but that goes two ways."

She sighs.  "Very well, I'll accept your terms."

She stares into her fire.  "The one you seek, Arantor, hasn't been seen in years.  You're on a quest of great import, but you don't yet know how to go through the portal guarded by Arantor.  It's not as simple as defeating him, decrypting sigils, or even praying to your gods."

She looks at the group and holds out her hand.  "Satisfied I'm worth my pay?  I can save you floundering about trying to figure it out yourselves."

Timothius nods. "Had to be sure you were the real deal, ma'am." he hands her the promised. In gold, as per Kyle's suggestion. "But now that you have seen we are here on purpose, you know we are not the standard folk who wind up here. We are heroes, bent on rescuing the Prime Material. Dunno how much you like this place, but if your answers are good enough to help with that... you may very well have yourself a ticket out of this place."

Raichel glances at Timothius... but figures "help save the prime material" is more than a fair trade for "get out of traitor hell" card.

May grins. "Neat stuff, Sarissa!"

  "I'll be sure to have strong words regarding services rendered if we get anyone trying to consider payment negating that."  While the pricetag is probably high for what it is, even if well within their price range, it's still more useful information than the kind they often have to work for.

Sarissa thinks about it.

"Nah.  You all go on ahead without me.  Not only do I doubt that you're here to save the world, but I doubt even more that you'll survive achieving your real goal...  Much less me.

"You’ll need the key of Monadhan: whatever object
within the domain is most representative of betrayal.
Those who depart take the key with them, so the
exact nature of the key changes."

She stares for a moment in her fire and sighs.  "Seriously?  Ugh.  You won't like the answer.  The current key to Monadhan is the Sword of Kas!  Good luck getting your hands on that relic.  Whomever holds it must be god-slayer level powerful!  Yeah.  No way I'd survive a fight like that."

Mits sweatdrops.  "Ok then!  I guess we just graduated to the next level of epic.  Sheesh.  Now there's a weapon of legend for your collection, May."

(Kas was once a trusted
lieutenant of Vecna’s, but Kas betrayed Vecna and cut
off Vecna’s hand, then escaped. Both Vecna’s dismembered hand and the Sword of Kas are now artifacts,
and Vecna is still chasing after Kas, eager for revenge.)

A woman in tattered robes calls out from the street,
“Sarissa! Oh, seer! I trust I’m not interrupting anything.
Ah, I see you have guests. . . .”
Perception Check
DC 25: The woman on the street is standing at the edge of
a puddle in the road, but you don’t see her reflection in the
puddle

Mits glances.  "Vampire.  And she has backup."

Timothius looks back at Sarissa. "You happen to know this lady, or that she's a vampire?"

Raichel figures it would be hard for anyone to believe world-savers just walked up to them for answers. But she also figures Sarissa clearly would rather live here than die trying to obtain freedom. Her call.

May just watches the newcomer.

  "Vecna is hardly dead, despite his skeletal state.  Serious injury of the gods territory is much more broad."

  Ah, of course.  It wouldn't be Not Ravenloft without Vampires.

  "I get the feeling that despite the reputation of this place, none of those she brought with her will betray her in the next minute."

A cambion suddenly lands at the entrance of the hut and attacks!  Sarissa gasps and dives for cover!  "No!"

"RAAAIII!" Raichel yells, her voice echoing everywhere as she changes to her raichu mode and thunder accompanies her voice, everyone within 100 yards can hear her deific yell! Lightning then strikes each of the bad guys, even the ones the heroes can't see yet! Gwenth gets lucky and leaps aside, dodging the lightning strike that would have engulfed her! But the rest of the enemy? Not so lucky.

"I am RAICHEL! At least introduce yourselves before you fall!" Remember how Galadriel's voice sounded when she was being tested by the One Ring? That's how Raichel sounds at the moment.

Why? Because we're EPIC.

---

Minor: Bloodfury
Minor: Razorclaw Shifting (+1 AC/Ref, +2 speed)
Standard: Furious Bolts v Callophage, Disfigured 3, 2, 1, Cambion, Disfigured 4, Callophage 2, Gwenth. Hit(35)!, Hit(46)!, Hit(41)!, Hit(44)!, CRIT(47)!, Hit(43)!, CRIT(47)!, Miss(33)
 dmg to Callophage: 48
 Non-Crit dmg to others: 37
 Crit dmg: 73

Total dmg done: 342 + 80 vulnerability dmg = 422

Callophage 1 HP: 203 - 48 - 10 = 145
Disfigured 3 HP: 245 - 37 - 15 = 193
Disfigured 2 HP: 245 - 37 - 15 = 193
Disfigured 1 HP: 245 - 37 - 15 = 193
Cambion Soul HP: 156 - 73 = 83
Disfigured 4 HP: 245 - 37 - 15 = 193
Callophage 2 HP: 203 - 73 - 10 = 120
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Thu 21 Apr 2016.

"Name's Callie," the vampire answers sweetly, stepping forward, her wounds beginning to heal.  She blows a kiss to the group and winks.

"So what brings you bunch of good-looking folks to this place?"

Mits deadpans, unaffected.

"Stay inside and stay behind me, Sarissa." May hops past the two enemies, swinging at them. Her swings appear to miss, but both of them feel injured somehow anyway.

May answers, "Long story short, we are here to fight Arantor in order to stop Mornujhar from completing a ritual. We have two exarchs under our belt, so what's a third exarch, right? Why are you here?"

---

Inexorable Advance v Callophage 1, Cambion Soulthief. Miss(29) Miss(35)
 dmg on a miss: 6, shift 1 before each attack.

Callophage 1 HP: 145 - 6 = 139
Cambion HP: 83 - 6 = 77
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Thu 21 Apr 2016.

One of the vampires charges at May. "Bleh! Bleh!" and scrapes her with his claws! "I vant to suck your brains!"

Callie wants to facepalm, but wants to keep her cool facade more.

---

Charge v May. Hit(41)! OMG!
 dmg: 13 and ongoing 10 necro

Maych-P: 145 - 13 = 132

  Kyle quickdraws his bastard sword, making up for in accuracy what he lacks in Epic Power.  Slicing open the closest Vampire in a spray of crimson.

  "Undead susceptible to blood loss, I appreciate the novelty."  That said, he toughens up May.

OOC: Learned Boost M Weapon, Hits.
M weapon bonus: +2 Hit, +6 DMG rolls. All cats, until end of my next turn.
Failed save.

Callophage Vampire: 139-56= 83 (Bloodied)

Two more disfigured vampires arrive.  One tries to bite May, but gets a mouth full of armor.  Then a powerful looking vampire appears and reaches her hand dramatically at the heroes!  May, Rai, and Mits all attack their friends!

"Sorry!" Mits mews.  She's pleasantly surprised to see that her attack didn't hurt Timothius or May, but disappointed it hurt Kyle pretty badly.

The vampire's allies also attack, and Callie manages to grab hold of May!

"I'm Gwenth.  We're here to find powerful adventurers and subdue them.  Arantor I know.  Who's Mornujhar?"

The Sting of Betrayal: Because the domain of
Monadhan is suffused with betrayal, the domain itself
rewards those willing to hurt their friends. If a creature makes an attack that damages an ally—a friendly
fire incident, in other words—two things immediately
happen.
First, the ally takes ongoing 10 damage (save ends)
in addition to whatever damage the attack itself dealt.
Second, the creature who made the attack gets
its choice of either regeneration 5 or a +1 bonus on
attacks. Either effect lasts until the ally makes its
saving throw.
A creature can benefit from the sting of betrayal
only once per round, so an area attack that damages
multiple allies earns the attacker only one regeneration 5 or one +1 bonus on attacks.

Timothius is displeased and transforms into an angel, shaking his head. He walks past the enemies, not seeming to care that the cambion hits him and not even paying the cambion any mind while May hooks the cambion behind its knee with a yoink, slamming the cambion on its back!

Timothius bursts with radiance, causing the enemies to feel as though Timothius were the sun itself. Then he causes chains made of radiance to rise from the ground. He then seems to also shake off the effects of the sting of betrayal. "Mornujhar is the black dragon exarch of Tiamat." he answers.

---

Tim takes ongoing 10 dmg
Move: Past Callophage and Cambion
 Cambion AoO v Tim: Hit(34)!
  dmg: 15
 Callophage AoO v Tim: Miss(30)
 May-o-O v Cambion: Hit(48)!
  Knock Cambion prone
Minor: Solar Enemy
Standard: Chains of Blazing Light v Dis1,3,Callo1,Camb,Gwen.
 Hit(37)! Miss(28)! Hit(35)! CRIT(46)! Hit(45)!
  Dazed and will take 11 extra radiant dmg when first hit.
Save v ongoing: 18 success
 May save v ongoing: 8 fail

Tim HP: 124 - 10 - 15 = 99
This message was last edited by the player at 06:45, Thu 21 Apr 2016.

A second callophage vampire appears from around the corner and looks shocked at the situation.

"Gwenth, two of ours are half dead while none of theirs are.  Maybe we should consider diplomacy?"

Another disfigured vampire arrives and claws at Timothius, but finds the angel's peaceful presence too much to get past.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:58, Fri 22 Apr 2016.

ZWOOP!  Mits teleports among the enemy.  She's got her head bowed, and is frowning all pissed off.

"You made me zap my friends.  I'm mad enough to snap my fingers."

Snap!  FWOOSH!  Bright yellow sun flames engulf the enemy!  A chorus of screams from the burning vampires is interrupted by.  Snap!  FWOOSH!  More screams!

https://youtu.be/xqV_4CG8uZY?t=10m50s

Mits just keeps snapping her fingers, disintegrating the demon and several vampires into ash!  Within moments, even the boss among them looks near half dead!

Raichel suddenly appears in front of Gwenth like a Z-fighter and slams her palm into Gwenth's stomach, porting her to a spot advantageous for May to flank. "Clock's ticking, Gwenth. Last chance: Surrender."

---

Move: Teleport 5 to Gwenth
Standard: Step Between the Worlds v Gwenth. Hit(37)!
 dmg: 56 and teleport enemy 3 squares to be in position for flanking with May

Gwenth HP: 241 - 62 = 179

"Unbelievable..."

Callie collapses and burns to ash.

May hops into flanking as per the chance Rai opened up for her and whacks Gwenth hard. "Yeah... my allies are pretty unbelievable. But most unbelieveable is the fact they are, in fact, merciful and willing to spare their enemies.... IF they surrender." and even if they don't surrender, but you know... saying that won't help convince an enemy to surrender.

---

May takes 10 ongoing
Move: Shift to flank
Standard: Appalling Crunch v Gwenth. Hit(41)!
 dmg: 62
Save v Ongoing: 15 success

Gwenth HP: 179 - 62 = 117
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Fri 22 Apr 2016.

Snap!  FWOOSH!  Down goes another vampire!

  Kyle just snaps off a quick shot, knocking Gwenth off their feet.  "Just so you know, we can still hurt you perfectly well if you turn into mist.  Well, not quite.  It would hurt you more if you turned into mist." True in Kyle's case.

  OOC: Forceful weapon, hits. Knocks prone. 40 DMG by itself.
Kyle saved vs immoblized. Not vs ongoing.

Qwenth: 117-40= 77