Interlude - Lulu's Memories

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The Dream Machine

For the briefest of moments, the party was inside a featureless white void, but accidentally looking out of the wrong eyes. After some brief percussive maintenance, Maggie fixed this. The white void slowly shifted into a cotton-candy pink fluffy landscape, the inside of Lulu's mind, before slowly morphing into a black sludge that threatened to cling to the party as they entered the first of Lulu's memories...

Zariel's Third Visit to Idyllglen

The sludge melted away to drop the party directly in the middle of a battle in Idyllglen. Armies of gnolls versus armies of Crusader's clashed everywhere; Zariel and Lulu appeared overhead frequently, diving into packs of gnoll raiders to scatter them wholesale. Eventually, however, the battle seemed to turn against the gnoll... which was when a "gnoll Archmage" shed its skin to reveal it was a chitinous, winged demon.

A command rang out across the battlefield; while the party did not understand it, as no one spoke Abyssal, the word "Yael" was clearly audible, and the demon flew off towards where the voice commanded it. Afterwards, the sludge began to melt away again, and the party saw a variety of visions.

Zariel's Second Visit to Idyllglen

A black void surrounds them. Out of the darkness, a voice: "You're no ogres! Identify yourselves!"

A blazing golden light: Lulu, in her radiant mammoth form, Zariel astride her. A small band of irregularly-outfitted soldiers is nearby, along with a leader, a woman with long black hair.

Zariel says, "Know ye that I am Zariel! By the compact of old and in heed of your call, I return to you in your hour of need!" The woman smiles, walking forward: "I am Yael of Idyllglen. And we are sore pressed, milady."

Zariel dismounts and extends her hand, clasping Yael’s: "I am glad to you meet you, Yael of Idyllglen."

Montage of Lost Conversations

Mad Maggie continues performing maintenance live on the machine, attempting to tune their soul-streams to the relevant memory. They overhear the following, snippets out of place and time,

Unknown voice: "Yeenoghu has returned! He razes the settlements of the Winding Water!"

Zariel: "Chazaqiel has betrayed all we believe in. You must see that! To Hell with her if that is what she wants, but we would break our oath to follow her!"

A voice the party recognizes as Asmodeus: "Which of us do you think sees more clearly?"

Zariel again: "The demon lord flees before our wrath! And he has taken one our own! To rescue and salvation! Charge!"

A voice the party does not recognize: "My friend, you will find the aid of the Emporium to be all that you will ever wish." This is followed by a splashing sound.

Zariel: "It may be madness. But will you join me?" Yael: "Aye. Let’s dream a little bigger."

Last Stand on the Styx

(to be continued)

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