Accounts from previous confrontations did offer some useful insight. For one, we discovered a way to craft a cheap ward that would make one immune to her aura of despair. The downside being it has to be held in the hand (bad news for us, since we tend to favour two handed weapons, or need a hand free for spellcasting if wielding a one-handed weapon). Also the account of a wizard who joined a group in making a pre-emptive strike after learning that they'd been targetted told us that they had found her in a glorious castle of gleaming light in the primeval forest, and after fighting through her minions faced Zetsubokou herself, who apologised that she would have to punish them directly for their sins, and they would be nailed to the sky so that their blood would rain for a thousand years in penance.

She apologized as she ripped them limb from limb with her bare hands. Blades deflected away for her or missed on the most flukish of chance occurances. Magic fizzled before her and she was every place at once. She turned everything into an endless golden field that blinded and was untouchable... but, the wizard who escaped, he cast True Seeing during the battle. When he looked at her for that moment, she was powerless, but he was so afraid of what he saw that he immediately teleported away, leaving his friends to their doom.

Well, enough background. Suffice to say that she managed to hide herself from us, and recruited several other former enemies to her cause - although one of them was found in his cell, dead after having dashed his head against the wall during her visit. Coupled with various hints about her true form we'd gathered, it was pretty clear we were dealing with something mind-shatteringly horrifying.

Despite the clear threat, however, she did tend to get backburnered - there was always some more immediate quest to see to, so it took us a while to finally get around to another follow up investigation. But eventually we got the party rogue/wizard to try and scry on her evil fake aunt, who had been imprisoned after helping an evil wizard dominate her father and make off with the family fortune. We found her readily enough, although our teleport missed slightly, landing just outside a gleaming gold mansion atop a rocky crag at the summit of a vast waterfall in the jungle.

At the front door we were greeted by a diplomat of the local evil empire who had been arrested for his loyalty to the former regime that we deposed, and he greeted us in warm cultured tones, but there was something in the background of everything he described that the DM described in frantic parenthesis, lending a terrifying subtext to everything he said, as if it was just on the edge of our awareness that there was something horrible crawling in his throat... not just something, but thousands of them, unknown and terrible and dying.

After his warm greeting, though, he railed at us for destroying the hope of peace under his beloved king before sending a bunch of fiendish goblins and trolls after us. They were a bit of a chore, especially the six goblins who all had unholy blight as an SLA, but a critted enervation took the diplomat out of the fight pretty damn quick despite the nameless terror his voice engendered.

As we went to enter the mansion itself, Alicia cast True Seeing from a scroll she'd been holding onto for the occassion, seeing past its gleaming facade to a non-euclidean nightmare of warped angles and endless layers seemingly stretching to infinity. Luckily she passed her will save and didn't go insane.

Pressing onwards, we were then confronted by the rogue/wizard's aunt, the loyal general of the evil emperor we killed, a group of unusually buff Vrocks, and... well, they were pseudonatural (the epic template, not the Complete Arcane one) shocker lizards. But it was so much more disturbing than that. Now, the aunt was always a looker. Sure, she was a hateful bitch but she was easy on the eyes. And most of the party saw her that way, an attractive blonde elf in a pristine white dress, floating lazily in the air as she chastised her wayward 'niece' prior to combat. Thanks to True Seeing, Alicia got an entirely different visual to play with. I'll just quote it here so it can speak for itself.

"You see a woman. Her stomach is distended as she floats in the air, grossly pregnant. From her birth canal, horrors crawl out. Two of them so far - they look like they may have once been shocker lizards, but are now tentacles abominations that sicken you beyond all compare. Red, bloody fluid trails down her legs, splashing out as the head of a third one pokes out."

Yeah... had to make a fort save there, but luckily passed it. The general was a bit easier to handle, just a walking corpse pulsing with black blood. Then as a runed staff appeared floating handily by the evil aunt, as if suspended by magic, Alicia could actually see it was being held by tentacles protruding from her back.

Anyway, battle was soon joined. The eladrin familiar made herself useful by spamming banishing arrows at the Vrocks, while the kensai/paladin went toe to toe with the warped general inside a quickened cloudkill that had been sent out by the evil auntie, who only had eyes for her niece... there was grappling, involving tentacles coming from places tentacles have no business coming from - the warped shocker lizards were also sending disturbing telepathic messages to the rogue/wizard about how they wanted to 'play' with their cousin.

For her part, Alicia focused on spamming magic missiles at the pseudonatural lizards, after initial attempts at meleeing them proved fruitless thanks to their absurd AC. The reformed erinyes cohort tried to help out where she could, but wound up getting her ass handed to her when caught between two vrocks and the evil general, having to be rescued by the now thoroughly disgusted half-dragon rogue/wizard after she'd killed her perverted auntie.

It was a tough battle, but we did win, albeit finding ourselves in need of a good mind-scrubbing afterwards. Pressing on, we finally found our target at the top of a tall staircase, seemingly bathed in glorious light as she cried sad tears at having the wicked blasphemers on her doorstep, unravelling all her plans. While the rest of the party saw the beautiful but sad looking angelic vision of loveliness, Alicia got to see a seemingly infinite number of human women - it was like a Matryoshka Doll, except they weren't smaller than the one before, it was more like they were all layered atop one another, yet still each was visible. The angelic facade was merely a projection.

Battle started as she promised to nail us to the sky, and Zetsubokou won initiative. Her first action was a spell that inflicted a fair amount of damage and acted as a targetted dispel magic on every party member - except Alicia who was utterly unaffected. Guessing that the none True Seeing affected party members would have no way to really hurt Zetsubokou, Alicia cast Anti-Magic Field on her first action and quickly ran adjacent to their nightmarish foe... which is when things get weird.

True enough, the facade fell away and allowed us all to see her true nature. But so too did all her heartfelt sounding preaching and condemnnations, instead leaving a confused sounding voice asking what was happening and looking at her infinitely layered form in confusion, as if she didn't understand where she was. She then focused on the kensai/paladin, seemingly identifying him as her brother.

What comes next is what I've basically been able to piece together from her insane ramblings during the conversation that followed.

Seemingly Zetsubokou was once a human girl. Her brother was a heroic noble type, but she was less so. She seemed to have some sort of complex regarding him because he loved her and forgave her despite all the terrible things she did. Apparently she would have brought him Gehenna in the palm of her hand, or laid waste to the upper planes, whatever he wanted - if only she could know just what it was he wanted. Somewhere on her travels across the lower planes, she found a 'tear' in reality, and was taken by a Thing from Beyond, which was itself influenced in some way by her as they formed a new gestalt entity, who proceeded to spend the following centuries passing judgement on mortal heroes for her own inscrutable reasons.

Both Alicia and the half-dragon were properly disgusted at having their nightmarish foe from beyond mortal understanding reduced to a sickening little girl with a big brother complex, but the kensai/paladin of Helm was somewhat patient in trying to get through to her while playing the part of her big brother, although through some twist of phrase he made her think she'd have to kill herself to get a proper reaction from him. As her form started to unravel, however, the 'normal' voice of Zetsubokou returned, promising that she would regain her strength at the edge of reality, and return to finish our battle.

Not having any of this, Alicia immediately jumped back so her anti-magic field would stop affecting her, and screamed at the erinyes to stab Zetsubokou. Said erinyes had forgone her usual evil outsider bane valourous longspear for this adventure so she could have a hand free to hold the anti-despair ward, instead using Alicia's backup weapon, an ancient longsword she'd had reforged that had the power to dimensionally anchor anything it hit.

The attack was duly rolled. It was a critical hit. The DM announced that shit had really hit the fan, now.

Robbed of her host, and now bound to the mortal coil by the sword embedded in her forehead, the entity we knew as Zetsubokou cried out in shock and rage as her true form began to reveal itself, shattering the mansion around us as it swelled impossibly into a vast creature of myriad colours that should not exist, blotting out the sky above as its countless vile appendages flailed and its millions of terrible eyes frantically looked this way and that before focusing hatefully upon the party, swearing in a hundred unknown tongues yet somehow understood by all as it proclaimed it would shred our world like tissue paper if that is what it must do to escape back to the void it came from.

And yet we were not afraid, for every member of the party could feel the hand of their deity on their shoulder, healing our wounds for the terrible battle to come, and granting divine bonuses to our stats. For this creature, now revealed in its true form, was utterly anathema to normal reality - its mere presence corrupting and destabilising the Prime around it in a reaction that would prove catastrophic unless it was stopped here and now. While the Gods could not directly harm such a malefic being, they had no hesitation in empowering their champions to destroy it.

The battle that followed was surprisingly short, in all honesty. Even without the buffs we probably could've won. Although Zetsubokou's Final Form was able to do some horrific damage with her tentacle attacks, and threw out quickened 9th level spells with abandon, it had no way to resist the party's damage output now that the aura of despair was no longer a factor and we could use our primary weapons.

While the erinyes and half-dragon harried its titanic bulk from the air with spell and spear, the kensai/paladin was a bulwark of defence, soaking up her melee attacks and protecting Alicia with his protection devotion while she herself dismissed her anti-magic field and hacked through its base with her holy two-bladed sword like a blender.

Finally, the day was won. The nightmarish horror from beyond shuddered and quaked, before folding in on itself a million times, compressing like a miniature sphere of annihilation before vanishing utterly, from this world and those beyond, hopefully. In the days that followed, the party members were all contacted by their Gods and made aware of the terrible world-ending threat that had snuck under the attention of the Gods for so long, lauded for their efforts in unmasking it and destroying it, ending its threat forever.

Out of game the DM admitted he hadn't expected us to fight Zetsubokou's Final Form till we were at epic levels, and had only let the dimensional anchor sword bind her because a crit had been rolled.

Fucking hell, tl:dr time.

As for Alicia and her erinyes cohort? Mystra herself asked for the erinyes to enter Her service, finally excising the last lingering taint of evil from her and promoting her to a proper angelic form - her fiendish black wings replaced by pristine white feathered ones, and the baatezu spell-like abilities she had torn from her when she turned against Hell replaced by a selection of SLAs from the astral deva list. Mystra also blessed Alicia with a few abilities from the half-celestial template, telling her that when the time comes she will ascend directly to Dweomerheart and serve at her Goddess' side, without needing to die and be reborn as an outsider.

This last part upset the coure eladrin familiar who had been greatly looking forward to having seniority over Alicia when that day eventually came, but she'll hopefully get over it. The half-dragon also had her draconic nature bolstered by Waukeen in thanks for her role in safeguarding creation, and the paladin of Helm was granted a powerful new defensive technique by his deity, so everyone got a fine reward from this quest despite the lack of any loot being found.

>>4649286

Yeah, I think this is longer than any of the others I've posted... eh, guess you could call it making up for lost time. This one had a lot more background to it.

>"You see a woman. Her stomach is distended as she floats in the air, grossly pregnant. From her birth canal, horrors crawl out. Two of them so far - they look like they may have once been shocker lizards, but are now tentacles abominations that sicken you beyond all compare. Red, bloody fluid trails down her legs, splashing out as the head of a third one pokes out."

GOD DAMMIT OP

tl;dr

stop making shit up you fag

>>4649321

Nah, these stories are legit. OP's posted stuff from his game before. They are long as shit, you're right.

Heh, I always enjoy these stories. Thanks for this latest one. As always, awesome.

What the hell was that Zetsu thing? You said it was a Far Realm entity? What was with the emo woman?

>>4649369

We don't really know for sure, because her existence was concealed in secrecy. Even the archmage pit fiend who offered to help us kill her didn't even know her real name. The most actual information we got was during the period when I had her in the anti-magic field, and she spent most of it rambling on to the kensai/paladin about how he was a dick for not telling her what she had to do to get a reaction out of him.

Best I can figure out is there once was an ungodly powerful human woman with a brother complex and confused morality issues. She attracted the attention of a Far Realms entity which merged with her and patterned its morality off of her own and her warped understanding of her brother's 'goodness'. Since her brother was a great hero, it then went about challenging similar heroes throughout the ages, seemingly to make them pay for their 'sins' (since the host seemed to have some sort of grudge or at least unresolved issues with her brother).

It's mostly guesswork and interpretation on our part, though. The bitch didn't come with an instruction manual, nor was she sane enough to rationally outline her goals and methods. She didn't even understand linear time, from some of the things she was saying - there was a big 'all of this has happened before and will happen again' vibe throughout the encounter, up until the sword of sealing was used. That seemed to break the cycle.

>>4649409

That doesn't quite make sense, but Far Realm. I guess that makes it make sense in not making sense.

>>4649429

Yeah, the DM says we'd have got more exposition if we'd let her run away and then had a final confrontation later on after pursuing her to her refuge, but we unexpectedly broke the sequence by binding her before she could flee.

>>4649287

that's kind of cool. half celestial template into an outsider?

>>4649519

Kinda. It's not the full blown template, but her type has changed and she's picked up a few SLAs from the list half-celestials get. And wings.

Man, as if that Mary Sue test didn't hate Alicia enough...

It's kinda neat, and is effectively a promotion, still, it also means there's no real prospect for badass old lady Alicia. She's only a few years from picking up her first aging penalties, but now that she's an outsider that probably won't happen. Ah, well. When some doors close, others open.

OP, why don't you use anyone's names? It's awkward to use eladrin familiar and half dragon instead of names.

>>4649629

Just habit, I guess. I never even used Alicia's name in the first few stories I posted, it was only after I stuck up a picture of her in one of those Walfas threads that was labelled with her name and people saw that that I started using hers. It was easier than 'that paladin with the reformed erinyes cohort', too.

That said, my DM doesn't want people stumbling across our game board, and if all the names were known it'd probably be easy enough to google for. He sometimes complains when I get too specific with details in these threads, so it keeps him happy.

Alicia is too NICE to be a Mary Sue.

So Alicia and the erinyes can now have angel-sex? I'd say that's a win.

>>4649780

Yeah, but she's a skilled swordswoman who uses an exotic weapon (darth maul, lol) and has magical powers and strong moral convictions and shit. She scores a fuckton of points on that online Mary Sue test. Chucking wings on is just adding insult to injury.

>>4649790
Don't forget the eladrin familiar! TRIPLE angel lesbianism.

>>4649811
The whole "mary sue test" only gives an estimation of how "mary sue" a character COULD be, not how bad they ARE.

>>4649812
Angel lesbianism should always stack dammit!

>>4649812

This sounds familiar.

>>4649843

But as the Outer Planes are infinite in 3E, there is an infinite amount of angel lesbianism!

>>4649834

Yeah, I know. I don't consider her to be a Mary Sue in practice. It's just funny just how insanely high she scores on that test. I don't think it models D&D characters very well, though.

>>4649860
Well there will be once Alicia joins Mystra's harem.

>>4649891

yeah, my d and d characters score too high on it too

>>4649899
I think Alicia will be replacing Elminster. THE REALMS REJOICE WITH ANGELIC LESBIANISM.

>>4649934

No, she's the reincarnation of Elminster. Mystra's trying to change the formula after last time failed so miserably.

>>4649962

Add lesbians and sex for a better result? I can see that.

Liked the story, op.

What was the deal with that pregnant aunt?

>>4650028
Don't forget Po- angels!

>>4650458

Basically the rogue/wizard had in her backstory that she was the daughter of a rich elven merchant, but one day he vanished and a short time later the 'aunt' showed up with all the apparent paperwork to prove that she was both said merchant's sister and that she was sole beneficiary of his estate. With the noble seemingly dead, she took over while the rogue/wizard went off to make her way in the human lands since it was made clear she wasn't particularly welcome in the house anymore, while the aunt basically pissed away his fortune on expensive wine and male prostitutes.

Eventually we learned that the 'aunt' was a con artist in cahoots with an evil human wizard who had dominated the merchant (who happened to be a powerful mystic theurge in his own right) to further his own nefarious schemes. After the father was rescued, the fake aunt was exposed and imprisoned - only to fall into Zetsubokou's waiting arms.

Everyone just refers to her as the half-dragon's aunt out of habit, much to the player's annoyance.