The Return

"The Return" is episode 48 of SuperQuest Saga. Echo, Persephone, Sebastian, and Victoria face the return of Carter Huttenburg and engage in battle with him and his star spawn allies. After finally flushing him out they discover he has changed since they last saw him, and he leaves them with some chilling last words. Victoria discovers one last audio file on Dr. Zahn's computer and it reveals his final gift to Primina.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your part-time dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc Oathbreaker Hexblade.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the Galactic Spirit Druid.
 * Brian is playing Codename: Echo, the space wizard/rogue/fighter and also your old friend, Carter Huttenburg

Recap
The party has made it to the end of the secret underwater laboratory to Zahn’s private lab. Along the way they heard many of Zahn’s ramblings previous to his inevitable descent into madness. They discovered Prim’s childhood room, and eventually they found Zahn’s self-annihilated remains. In the room, this giant warehouse, under a 40-foot circle of light is Zahn’s desk, his body, and a bunch of monitors. The darkness in the room beyond seems to be altering the brightness of all lights, and from the darkness they heard the voice of Carter Huttenburg.

I Was Mad They Replaced Me with an Elf
At the sound of Carter’s voice, Persephone’s prepared illusion pops off. An illusion of the group standing around Zahn’s body appears and the illusory Persephone urges Primina, Victoria, and Watt to run before joining an illusory Echo and Sebastian in a fighting stance.

The real Persephone quietly instructs Victoria and Watt to take Prim to the pods because they can’t fight and worry about the three of them at the same time. Echo activates his Bladesong. Victoria grabs her amulet and refuses to run. Carter betrayed her and her family; she is a cleric and not incapable on the battlefield. She instructs Watt and Prim to follow Persephone’s direction and run.

Carter peers at the scene and is suspicious of it, and upon further investigation he discerns it is an illusion that came from Persephone’s staff. As Prim and Watt run away, Carter says “Sebastian, didn’t you learn to put that thing on a leash yet?” And it’s time to roll initiative.

The Fixers Fight The Huttenburg and He's Still a Big Piece of Shit
From the darkness the group sees a wicked bolt of lightning heading towards Sebastian, but it bounces off his shield as he yells “Was that you, Carter?” A voice from the darkness responds “Yes, it was me. Surprise, surprise.” Persephone is very offended and calls out “Cockroaches like you like to hide in the dark, let me turn on the light!” as she casts Daylight out of her staff. The spell’s light is not as effective as it would normally be due to the preternatural darkness but it expands their circle of light by an additional 40-feet and reveals two figures. To the left is a hulking mass, 9-feet tall like a big, buff mannequin. Dark reddish, almost purple in tone, with a lot of teeth in its mouth. It shrieks out in the light. To its right is a figure a little smaller, 6.5-feet tall with six tentacle arms reaching to the ground, shifting its stance back and forth. Persephone Wild Shapes as she says “You called me an animal, I’ll show you one.” Her eyes start burning red and fire starts licking out from her eyes and spreads all over her body as she drops to all fours and shifts into a lionesque Fire Elemental. She runs directly towards the big figure, occupying its same space and dealing some fire damage. Echo expresses surprise at Persephone’s transformation, shielding himself from the fire as she runs by. Carter says “Bas, you got a treat for ‘em? That was pretty good.” Victoria sees the two monsters and gasps under her breath. She watches Percy charge the monster and decides to assist. She holds her amulet and says “As a family we stand as one, a chain unbroken.” A light shines from her amulet and she casts Shield of Faith on Persephone, granting her additional defense. Victoria then holds up her gun and tries to shoot the creature but misses. She backs up a little bit to put some distance between her and everyone else. The hulking creature is on fire and takes some damage at the start of its turn. As it shrieks, Sebastian remembers hearing sounds like that coming out of Carter’s room late at night. The creature makes two slam attacks on Persephone, missing one but hitting with the other. As it makes contact with the Fire Elemental it takes more fire damage. The smaller creature dashes into the darkness. Echo runs towards Percy and takes a ranged attack on the hulking creature, hitting it, and casts Fire Bolt as his second attack but the fire sails over the creature. Artax fires four shots at the hulking creature from his arm cannon, hitting once. Sebastian stays put to see if anything pops out of the darkness and fires two shots with his BFG that hit the hulking creature.

Carter casts Dissonant Whispers on the hulking creature, a star spawn hulk now nicknamed Nasty Hulk. Nasty Hulk starts to freak out and jiggle in a weird way and its Psychic Mirror ability is set off as psychic energy starts rebounding off it towards Persephone and Echo. Persephone and Echo recoil as they start to hear whispering from the Abyss. Percy steps back to no longer occupy the same space as Nasty Hulk and attacks with two Touches, missing one but hitting the other. Nasty Hulk looks like his flesh is charred in some places now. She uses her bonus action to heal. Victoria readies a Sacred Flame to attack anything that appears out of the darkness as she moves to find some cover between Zahn’s body and the monitors on his desk. Nasty Hulk takes fire damage from the elemental and does two slam attacks, one critically hitting Persephone and one hitting Echo. It takes more fire damage when it comes in contact with Persephone’s Fire Elemental form. The smaller creature, a star spawn mangler, emerges from the darkness and charges Sebastian. As it skitters across, a beam of white fire from Victoria’s Sacred Flame shoots at it but misses. The mangler uses its Flurry of Claws and attacks Sebastian six times, four strikes miss and one hits critically. Echo is very concerned about what just happened to his brain. He casts Haste on himself; energy surges up around him as he flanks Nasty Hulk and slashes it with his sword, hitting it once. Artax is still zoned in on Nasty Hulk and fires four more shots, hitting it twice. Sebastian hits the mangler two times with his sword, using Divine Smites on both hits, and his attacks bloody the creature. Carter yells from the darkness at the creature to shut up as it screams in pain.

Carter fires a Grave Bolt at Victoria but misses, and the attack singes the desk. Persephone reaches out to Touch Nasty Hulk twice, missing one. Victoria aims her laser gun at the mangler and hits it with her shot. Nasty Hulk takes some fire damage and does two slam attacks on Percy, hitting once and taking more fire damage when it comes in contact with her. The mangler runs towards Victoria to attack her, taking a strike from Sebastian as it leaves. The mangler strikes twice and hits Victoria once, she manages to maintain her concentration on Shield of Faith. Echo attacks Nasty Hulk twice and hits with both strikes, cutting off its arm and killing the creature. Fluid oozes out of its body as it deflates in a nasty puddle. Still under the effects of Haste, Echo quickly dashes over to the mangler and strikes it twice, killing it as well. Artax readies some shots to fire at anything that comes from the light since both visible threats are taken care of. Sebastian scans the room for any sounds to see if he can locate Carter. He hears laughter echoing from everywhere, so he moves in the direction of the last Grave Bolt he saw and pops a Divine Sense to see if he can pick anything up, yelling “show yourself, coward!”

The light from Persephone’s Daylight spell goes out. The party hears quiet shrieking from what sounds like birds, but it begins to sound more humanoid as the volume increases and there’s the pattering of feet shambling in the darkness. Persephone moves straight back towards the door, looks around, and readies an attack if anything comes at her. She heals as a bonus action. The group hears noise from the darkness. Victoria casts Light on Echo’s sword to provide some extra light and turns to look at the computers on the desk, searching for a way to turn on the lights. There is more noise from the darkness. Echo moves to form a triangle with Persephone and Sebastian to maximize their light, and readies his attack. Artax holds steady, ready to hit anything that comes out. Sebastian moves around as he pops another Divine Sense. He doesn’t feel anything so he readies an attack.

Sebastian feels something try to take over his mind but he manages to overcome it. Something emerges into the light, a humanoid shape with grayish skin and tattered clothes whose face has no lips and whited out eyes, and attacks Echo. Echo unleashes his held attack and rips it to shreds. A second one runs out past Echo straight towards Victoria but before it can reach her Artax fires his arm cannon and blows it to shreds. Victoria is unable to access anything on the computer aside from a folder titled “If I am No Longer” that has six audio files, five of which were clearly the recordings they listened to as they traversed the base. She curses in frustration because she was looking for lights. She casts Spirit Guardians on herself and around her vaguely humanoid figures of light form, one of them looks like a male dwarf, another is a female tiefling. They glow around her and she moves away from Echo and Sebastian, making herself vulnerable, to help search. Another creature runs from the darkness and bites at Echo, but misses. Echo attacks the creature in front of him and destroys it. Artax readies an action and waits for something to step up in the light. Sebastian continues moving around using Divine Sense and gets a ping just beyond his light. He aims his arm cannon into the darkness and fires two Eldritch Blasts of dark energy, hitting something in the darkness. A creature runs out of the darkness and tries to bite Sebastian but misses.

Sebastian once more feels something try to take over his mind but again manages to overcome it. Persephone, having heard Sebastian shoot something, dashes over towards his direction. Victoria casts Light on her amulet, dropping the light from Echo’s sword, and moves towards Sebastian. Echo turns on a flashlight on his armor and runs to attack the creature on Sebastian, shredding it to bits. Artax moves towards Victoria and readies an action. Sebastian pops another Divine Sense and follows it until the dim light of his sword reveals the facade of a humanoid figure he is familiar with. Carter’s clothes are the same but dingy, nasty, tattered and punctured in some places. Small tentacles are coming out of his thigh and calf area, his face is hollow and emaciated, even more so than before, and his eyes are wide open as he cracks his neck saying “Well, well, well. You finally found me.” Sebastian comments that he sees the darkness has taken him even more. Carter responds that he is the darkness. The Divine Sense reveals to Sebastian that Carter is undead. Sebastian fires his BFG twice, hitting once.

Carter hits Sebastian with a Grave Bolt and yells “Get wrecked, fuck face” before stepping back into the darkness. Persephone runs towards the direction of the spell attack but does not see him. Echo and Sebastian see Carter off to the right as Percy runs by and they tell her where he is. Percy turns and lunges forward, enveloping him with fire. Victoria moves in the direction of Carter, walking forward with all her Spirit Guardians around her. Her eyes glow softly as she speaks to him. “I let you onto my ship. I fed you and I clothed you and called you one of my own. I invited you into my family and you betrayed all of us. Now burn.” She casts Sacred Flame. Carter easily dodges out of the way and says “Who are you? Your food sucks and your ship sucks.” Echo raises two fingers and casts a Fireball at Carter, who is unable to dodge. Echo takes his Action Surge and slashes with his sword, missing three times but hitting critically once. Artax takes four shots, missing a couple and scoring a critical hit. Sebastian activates his Hexblade’s Curse. His eyes turn solid black and he runs up to Carter saying he will send Carter’s soul to hell. Sebastian strikes twice, using Divine Smites for both hits, swiping across Carter’s chest and killing him. As Sebastian’s flame sword strikes Carter the fire dissipates to almost nothing and he feels a chill crawl up his arm, his arm goes completely numb and he drops his sword; Carter’s soul is already claimed. Carter laughs and says “I’ll be seeing you all again real soon.” and his body fades away into ash as it burns from Percy’s fire.

My Final Gift
The party stands in silence, processing what just happened. A full minute goes by as they realize it’s over. Victoria goes to get Primina and Watt. Percy drops her Wild Shape, looks at Sebastian and gives him a hug. She doesn’t think this is the end, but they got him this time. Sebastian agrees that there’s more to this, he thought killing Carter would feel better but it feels empty. Persephone compliments Echo on killing everything.

Prim and Watt return and Watt asks if everyone is okay, he assumes they took care of Carter and asks if they think it’s permanent this time. Echo is pretty sure that Carter’s soul is bound to a powerful entity that is sending him out as a thrall. He tells everyone that Carter belongs to another. Sebastian notes that he couldn’t send Carter where he needed to. Persephone thinks the Crawling Chaos has its hooks in Carter and this is definitely not the last they will see him.

Victoria remarks that she thought the darkness would go away when they defeated Carter but it is still here. She didn’t see any light controls on the computer but there is an audio file to check out. They all gather around the computer to take a look. Victoria plays the final unplayed audio titled “My Final Gift.” Zahn’s voice comes over the P.A. system and it echoes louder in this room compared to the rest of the lab.

"Of my great many sins I managed to create only two things of worth. You, Primina, are my greatest and not for the reasons I endeavored. In fact your greatness is more in spite of my failures than by my own actions, and so I can not in truth take any credit for it whatsoever. But I will do so for my second greatest creation. If you are to open the gate and traverse the path to Kadath then you will need a vessel capable of the voyage."

Above, the lights of the room turn on. Row by row these gargantuan, overhanging spotlights of intense luminosity light the room. Finally, what is darkening the room is revealed: across the warehouse is an enormous spaceship the shape of a dragon and made of black, metal Umbrium.

The front half is shaped in the vision of a Pulsar Dragon. The flight deck appears to be situated in the dragon’s head with eyes serving as windows below two long horns. There are even dragon-like clawed arms at the front of the ship that appear to be designed for close combat. The back half of the ship looks a little more like a traditional ship with a splayed out tail end like four wings and four giant engines for propulsion.

''“Before you stands a ship designed by one Archimedes Zahn. It is the product of cooperation between three nations. It was built with the unlimited funds and arcane knowledge of The Eternal Empire, the unrivaled technicians and engineers of The Cyber Federation, and the unmatched materials of The Illithid Empire. It was designed to assist you in both opening the gate and traversing the turbulent rifts and subdimensions along the path. It is without a doubt the most advanced ship ever crafted and I gift it to you. Approach and repeat “Voice Activation Code: XGP15A11” and she will open to you. I pray we aren’t too late. Godspeed to you all''.”

Persephone calls shotgun. Echo walks towards the ship saying it’s beautiful, and he drops to his knee as his Haste wears off.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin/warlock. Really wanted to send Carter's soul to hell.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Just likes giving out death hugs.
 * Echo: An elf wizard/fighter/rogue. Kill steals all day.

NPCS

 * Victoria Nova: A tiefling woman. Don't insult her ship.
 * Primina: A genetically engineered young woman. Zahn's greatest creation.
 * Watt Wainwright: An elderly gnome. Draws attention to important plot points.
 * Carter Huttenburg: Formerly a human warlock. Currently an undead thrall. Still good at insults.
 * Artax: A robot. Disappointed he did not get to destroy things.
 * Dr. Archimedes Zahn: A gnome cyborg. Proficient in the dramatic monologue.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

World Building

 * XGP15A11 is the code for The Outlaw Star, a big inspiration for Will. XGP15A was previously in the show as the address of The Bullock Bros in Outlaw's Horizon.

Out of Character

 * Victoria is built as a level 5 cleric of the Life Domain.
 * Carter summoned four star spawn grue for the back half of the fight.

In Character

 * The male dwarf summoned when Victoria cast Spirit Guardians is her husband, Asimov.

Nat 20's (5 total)

 * Brian (Attack as Nasty Hulk)
 * Brian (Attack as mangler)
 * Brian (Dexterity Save as Carter)
 * Brian (Attack as Echo)
 * Freeland (Attack as Artax)

Nat 1's (3 total)

 * Freeland (Initiative)
 * Brian (Attack as Nasty Hulk)
 * Brian (Attack as mangler)