Session 17 - Showdown with the Faceless One

Mesmer rejoins the party outside the laboratory of Vecna, and they cautiously open the door to the inner sanctum of the master of this underground cult. It's a spare chamber, reflecting an obsessive ascetic who clearly cares little about finery. A thaumaturgical voice booms across the walls:

“If you’re here, then the rest of my brothers and sisters must have fallen. They were always going to die, we all will, but you denied them the chance to die for something better, something greater.

“You will hinder the Ebon Triad no longer. Your corpses will be the final submission to the slumbering aspect, to awaken it in the glory of murder and in its wake I shall rebuild this world anew.”

 The party offers their thoughts on that and begins exploring the room, but when enough of them line up, a vicious lightning bolt arcs from wall to wall, doing considerable damage to the front line. Dravej charges the source of the bolt to discover that one of the walls is illusory and the Faceless One himself has been preparing to fight them, and manages to damage him enough that the illusion drops.

A Lurking Strangler attacks as well, a pet of the warlock, but Wanda makes quick work of it. Dravej is dropped but is healed by Deacon Fry, and Mesmer manages to counterspell a second lightning bolt from going off. Finally Wanda manages to close and kills the Bhaalspawn villain, and the leadership of the Cult of the Dead Three has finally been defeated.

There are a few various magic items in his vault, including a Bhaal-decorated sentinel shield. A journal is found, filled with rancorous rantings and plot hooks, but too deranged for Fry's sake. Mesmer studies it a little more in-depth, revealing that the cult has an agent at Boareskyr to the north, that a paladin's manor to the east has some records of Kyussian legacy, and that a "Great Worm" sleeps beneath Baldur's Gate. The heroes examine their map and ponders what to do next, but still face resurfacing from the temple.