Ryoka the Devil Caller

"Ryoka the Devil Caller" is episode 61 of SuperQuest Saga. The Soul Eater looms above as the space pirate Ryoka descends on the party. It's the end of the dungeon boss battle!

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your space pirate dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin Oathbreaker/Hexblade, Forsaken dude.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal the firbolg galactic druid, Alabaster Huntress, Singer.
 * Brian is a space wizard named Echo.

Recap
A lot happened last episode, it was a big episode. Last time, the party ended up speaking with The Child after returning her scepter to her. To their surprise, she insisted they seek out The Lady Kamisa. The party found Kamisa and were temporarily teleported to a mirror dimension where they had a conversation with her. She agrees to help the party in exchange for not killing Ryoka, who is her daughter. All the ladies they have met so far are from, what they call, “another universe.” The Meijin was outed as a liar who was going to double-cross the party. The “blazing emblems” ended up being some weird transmogrifiers that made the statues explode. The party met The Warriors Two who were very confused about what was going on but had no problem giving over their souls. The party ventured through a door that was a portal to four of the Hells. With the soul gems filled, the party climbed the major stairway of The Bellerophon, unlocked all three doors, and found the Soul Eater. A voice came from all around them, it was Ryoka. She is pissed.

Space Pirate Lich Queen
Ryoka suddenly appears 60-ft above the party, between them and the Soul Eater. She seems to hover effortlessly. She has long, layered, silver hair; her eyes shine golden and malevolent. She is dressed in a red and black cam-fiber bodysuit that is form fitting. She reaches out her hand and summons a ball of orange energy in her palm. She closes her hand over the energy, and then it forms into a double bladed energy saber.

Boss Battle
The party stands in a circular shaft about 80-ft in diameter and over 200-ft tall. The void orb that is the Soul Eater hovers 100-ft in the air, dead center. Ryoka is 60-ft above the party, between them and the Soul Eater. Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian form a triangle battle formation.

Ryoka looks down at the three of them and says “There’s no way you made it this far without help.” She holds up her left hand and a large orb of energy appears above her hand. “Tell me who helped you.” And she hurls the energy directly at the party. Echo recognizes this as a Hellfire Orb. The orb explodes with an intensity the party was not expecting; Echo and Persephone take full damage, but Sebastian manages to dodge some of it. Ryoka looks at the carnage, hoping for some answers. Persephone looks at her and says “We’re just here for the Soul Eater! You didn’t need to blow us up like that!” Percy points her staff at Ryoka and attempts to cast a spell, but it has no effect. Persephone Wild Shapes into the Stone Drake. Ryoka sees Percy shift forms and remarks “Impressive. Regardless of who helped you, I’m going to have to give The Needlemaster a raise for alerting me to your presence.” Percy moves around to circle Ryoka. Ryoka uses a legendary action and sends crackling beams of energy at Sebastian, but the attack misses. Sebastian reaches down to his bracer jack and activates Haste. He says “We’ve met many that you have enslaved and no one’s happy with you. I think we’re doing everyone a favor now.” He raises his arm cannon and fires a Supernova at her, but she evades it; she disappears and blinks over 10-ft to the left before blinking back. Sebastian moves around to follow Percy, and fires the Needler at Ryoka. The magic missiles hit Ryoka; she doesn’t seem to be too bothered by the hit, but he definitely did damage. A mammalian creature about the size of a panther emerges from the wall. It has long, prominent ears; it looks like a strange blend between a cat and a rodent, with sharp teeth and a jewel on its forehead. The creature charges Percy with a bite and claw attack. The bite hits critically, but it misses with the claws. Echo activates his Bladesong and moves towards Persephone, running underneath her and puts his hand on her belly, leaving a rune that means “fly.” Persephone in Stone Drake form starts floating and she now has the ability to fly. Echo hides from Ryoka’s view.

Ryoka uses Misty Step to blink away and reappears behind Sebastian. She makes three attacks with her energy saber, missing with all three. Persephone leans down to bite and claw the creature that attacked her, but does not hit. She takes a moment to heal herself. Ryoka uses a legendary action to move away from Sebastian without provoking an opportunity attack. Sebastian fires an Eldritch Blast at Ryoka and hits her. She is not happy. Sebastian turns on his Hexblade’s Curse; his eyes turn solid black and he is focused on Ryoka. Ryoka smiles and says “Two can play at that game,” and she uses a legendary action to return fire with Eldritch Blast, scoring a critical hit. The panther creature strikes out at Echo twice, and hits once. Echo moves to flank the creature and hits it with fire damage. He uses a Booming Blade for his second attack, hitting it again.

Ryoka is still focused on Sebastian; she teleports down and attacks him three times with her energy saber, but only hits him once. Persephone flies over to flank Ryoka, hitting with a bite attack but missing with her claws. Ryoka uses a legendary action to strike out with her energy saber at the t-rex that is Persephone, dealing some magical damage. Sebastian strikes out and hits Ryoka three times with his flaming sword. He uses a first level Divine Smite to amplify the damage of his first strike. Seeing that she does not resist the damage, he uses a third level Divine Smite on his second and third hits. At this point Sebastian sees her right wrist is open and chops her hand off to remove one of her three power gems. The hand falls and disintegrates before hitting the ground, and the power gem hits the floor. Ryoka looks like she is in pain but her hand immediately grows back; she looks pissed. Ryoka uses a legendary action to fly away. The panther creature attacks Echo, but misses with both its bite and claws. Echo takes a second to look at the Soul Eater. It’s magical and it has been locked in place by something; gravity is not affecting it and it seems to be in its own universe. Echo casts Vitriolic Sphere centered on Ryoka; a bolt of blue, ice cold damage streaks towards Ryoka, but she uses a legendary resistance and becomes incorporeal so the damage passes right through her. She looks down to where the energy passed through her chest, then looks up and says “Nice try.” Echo disengages and moves back towards Percy and Sebastian.

Ryoka quickly flies over to the wall of the shaft and crouches on the wall, looking at the party she says “Now I will show you why they call me Ryoka the Devil Caller.” The party begins to hear the wails of spirits as the phantoms they have seen throughout the ship begin to appear and coalesce. They become bigger, and bigger, and bigger, finally turning into an incorporeal phantom monster with large, sharp claws, six eyes, and a reptilian-like face with spines on its back. Ryoka points at Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian, and the monster prepares to attack. Ryoka slowly starts to heal herself. Persephone, in her Stone Drake form, flies straight towards Ryoka, turning to run horizontally on the wall, and attacks with both her claws and bite attack. She fails to hit, but takes a moment to heal. Ryoka uses a legendary action to swing at Percy with her sword, but also misses. Sebastian turns to attack the panther creature; his first attack misses but he connects with his other two. He kills the creature and tries to send its soul to Hell. Its body disappears, leaving a red gem behind; Sebastian thinks he probably succeeded in sending the soul to Kaebooros, but is not sure. He picks up the gem that Ryoka dropped. Echo asks Sebastian to pass the gem to him and quickly checks it out. He discerns the gemstone gives a certain set of powers if it is embedded into a person’s body. Echo runs up to the phantom creature and stabs at it twice. The first misses and he hits with Booming Blade for his second attack; the creature resists the thunder damage. Echo disengages and hides behind Sebastian. The phantom rolls right up to Sebastian and makes an attack, but misses. When the creature moves it is hurt by secondary Booming Blade damage.

Ryoka has the t-rex in her face so she attacks with three energy saber slashes. The first misses but the second and third hit. She also regains some more health. Percy retaliates with a bite and a claw attack, but both miss, and she also heals herself. Ryoka smiles and winks at Persephone before using a legendary action to sink into the wall, disappearing. Sebastian attacks the phantom creature in front of him, hitting with two out of three slashes. The creature resists the slashing damage, but is fairly hurt now. Echo moves behind the phantom creature and attacks twice, hitting it one and dealing cold damage. The phantom attacks Echo, but Echo uses his reaction to cast Shield and deflect the attack.

Ryoka does something out of sight and heals. Persephone looks around, unable to find Ryoka, then kicks off the wall and dives down to attack the phantom. She hits with her bite attack but misses her claws; the phantom spasms as it is close to death. The party notices more wraiths coalesce in the room and form a second phantom. Sebastian attacks the first phantom and destroys it. He turns around and moves towards the second phantom and hits it with two more strikes, dealing a lot of damage. Echo moves around to attack the second phantom as well and hits it twice, switching his elemental damage to lightning and bloodying the creature.

Three energy saber attacks strike Sebastian from behind, but they are not able to pierce his armor. Ryoka retains her Greater Invisibility, but the party hears her say “Well that was bullshit.” The phantom attacks Sebastian and hits with an attack and deals necrotic damage. Persephone still does not see Ryoka, but she does see the phantom attack Sebastian. She flies over to it and reaches down to attack; she misses with the bite but hits with her claws. Persephone uses her bonus action to heal. Ryoka fires an Eldritch Blast at Sebastian; it would have been a critical hit, but Echo casts Counterspell to save him. Sebastian touches himself and uses his Lay on Hands to heal. Then he attacks the phantom and nearly kills it. Echo attacks the phantom and causes it to dissipate. He points out to the location the Eldritch Blasts came from and tells the others that Ryoka is over there. He casts a Firebolt in that direction, but misses. Echo hides behind Sebastian.

Ryoka, still invisible, swings at Sebastian with three saber attacks, hitting critically with one but missing the others. Persephone doesn’t know where Ryoka is so she lands and stands protectively over Sebastian. She looks around to try to perceive where Ryoka might be hiding and, seeing nothing, Percy holds an action to attack if Ryoka goes for Sebastian again. Sebastian pops a Divine Sense and senses a Celestial above them. He uses his BFG to shoot in that general direction and hits Ryoka. She cries out and drops concentration on her Greater Invisibility, revealing her location. Sebastian fires on her once more and hits, dealing more damage. Ryoka uses a legendary action to fire Eldritch Blast, but misses. Echo fires a ranged attack at Ryoka, but misses, and follows up with a Fire Bolt, which also misses.

Ryoka casts Greater Invisibility on herself, and Echo blocks it with a Counterspell. Ryoka flies up and through the wall. Persephone is very angry. She flies up and attacks the wall where Ryoka disappeared, and she takes huge chunks out of the wall as she roars sadly. Sebastian holds his BFG ready to take a shot if Ryoka shows herself. Echo takes a moment to check out the Soul Eater; his readings indicate that it is as if negative space and negative energy were made material. Touching it would be a terrible idea and Echo has a feeling that it would absorb any attack thrown at it. Echo points his blaster at the Soul Eater and uses Prestidigitation to make it look like he is charging a big blast. He calls for Ryoka to come out. If she comes out to negotiate, he will not destroy her precious Soul Eater. This does not have to end in death.

Ryoka believes he will shoot the Soul Eater; she rises out of the floor behind Echo and says “Oh, yes it does,” as she makes three attacks with her energy saber against him. All three attacks miss. Persephone flies straight at Ryoka and lands behind her, successfully hitting with both the bite and claw attack, and bringing Ryoka down to half health. Ryoka uses her legendary action to move away without provoking opportunity attacks. Sebastian shoots at Ryoka with his BFG and hits her once. Echo drops his concentration on Fly and casts Bigby’s Hand at fifth level; he punches the air and energy ripples up to form a hand to punch Ryoka, hitting her with fire damage. Ryoka screams as the fire hits her, and Echo hides behind Percy.

Ryoka flies down and engages with Sebastian, making three attacks against him with her energy saber. She misses with the first one, and the second and third swings would hit but Sebastian uses Shield to deflect them. Ryoka curses under her breath and uses Misty Step back up into the air. Persephone can no longer fly, so she prepares an action in case Ryoka comes back in range. Ryoka uses a legendary action to cast Eldritch Blast at Persephone, but the attack misses. Sebastian fires his BFG at Ryoka and hits her with two shots. Echo attacks at range from his hiding place beneath Persephone and gets in a sneak attack, hitting Ryoka with fire damage. He follows up with a second attack and hits her again. As his bonus action he attacks with Bigby’s Hand, but the hand misses. Ryoka uses a legendary action to fire Eldritch Blast at Echo, but misses.

Ryoka uses Misty Step to reach Echo and unleashes her energy saber attacks on him. As soon as Ryoka is in range, Persephone attacks with her held action and successfully hits with her bite. Ryoka misses her first two slashes at Echo, and the third would be a hit, but he deflects with Shield. Persephone steps around to flank Ryoka and hits with both her bite and claw attack. The claw attack does enough damage for Percy to try to get the second bead off of Ryoka’s wrist, but Persephone’s attempt fails. Ryoka uses a legendary action to fly away. Sebastian switches to the Needler and three missiles fire out and hit Ryoka. For his second attack he uses his BFG, and hits her again. Echo’s armor starts to lose some of its shimmer as his Bladesong runs out, so he uses his bonus action to reboot it. He casts Magic Missile at second level, and four missiles hit Ryoka. Echo moves out a bit so that he is in his own space and calls Ryoka a “dirty space pirate.” Ryoka uses a legendary action to shoot an Eldritch Blast at Echo and hits him in the face. The first and third shots hit him but the second beam misses. Echo loses concentration and Bigby’s Hand drops.

Ryoka heals a little bit, then fires three more Eldritch Blasts at Echo since he just insulted her; only the first shot hits him. Persephone drops her Wild Shape and casts Mass Cure Wounds on the entire party. Then she Wild Shapes again into a flying form that looks like a large bat-dragon with big ears. Ryoka uses a legendary action to drop some Eldritch Blasts on Echo, but he uses Shield to deflect the attacks. Sebastian’s Haste wears off and a wave of lethargy hits him so he cannot move or take actions this turn. Echo casts Haste on Persephone; he taps her foot, causing a rune to appear as the spell activates.

Ryoka rolls up on Sebastian and tries to kill him with her energy sabers. She hits with the first attack, misses with the second, and critically hits with her final attack. Persephone flies around and swoops down on Ryoka in a diving attack, hitting her. Persephone flies back up, does an aerial roll, and swoops back down for a second attack, striking Ryoka critically. Percy flies away from her, above the Soul Eater. Sebastian swings down with his sword; it is about to slash directly through Ryoka, but a forcefield appears and blocks the blow. Standing up, holding Ryoka’s hand, is the Lady Kamisa.

Enough
Kamisa says “That’s enough.” Ryoka falls to her knees, bleeding. Ryoka looks at Kamisa and grimaces. Kamisa tells her to stop, it’s over. Ryoka says, “No, we still aren’t done. We just need more souls, we’re so close!”

Kamisa looks down and away, as if she is ashamed. “No, we aren’t. I have explored every avenue this universe has to offer… the most advanced technology, the most esoteric necromancy, the most hallowed rituals. I have practiced every form of revival and soul-binding known across these stars.If there is a way to bring him back, we will not find it here. My daughter, it’s time to do what we should have done a thousand years ago.” Ryoka asks what that is, and Kamisa replies, “It’s time we returned home and allowed ourselves to mourn.”

Ryoka clenches her fist and says “No. I refuse to accept this.” Kamisa tells her that she has been defeated. All their machinations have been undone. If there is a way to return him, they will find it, but not here… not in this universe. It’s time for them to go. Ryoka looks at her mother, the Soul Eater, the party, and her missing gemstone. With tears in her eyes, she disappears

Don't Push Me Cause I'm Close to the Edge
Kamisa tells the party that Ryoka will be fine. Echo puts his hands on his knees and asks if they’re all good. Kamisa says, “She’s quite the powerful little scamp, isn’t she?” Persephone drops her Wild Shape and asks if Kamisa knows how to get the Soul Eater. Kamisa explains that they will need a tool to extract the Soul Eater unless someone wants to grab it with their bare hands and have their skin ripped off and their innards spaghettified while their soul is consumed beyond its event horizon. Echo asks if Persephone wants to grab it with her “bear” hands, but Percy is not interested.

Kamisa types on a phantasmal keyboard that had appeared in front of her; and a small glass sphere surrounded with gold and titanium casing, and glowing, crimson gems embedded in its cardinal directions appears in front of Echo. Echo catches it before it drops to the ground. The sphere has a small, glowing, phantasmal sphere inside it. Echo asks what it is. Kamisa explains that it is a soul cage, there is a wicked soul inside that will act as bait for the Soul Eater. She shows Echo how to activate it and tells him to present it to the Soul Eater so that it will enter the sphere and they can trap it. Echo hands the sphere to Sebastian then casts Fly on them both. The Haste spell he cast on Persephone drops and she feels lethargic. He apologizes as they fly up towards the Soul Eater.

Sebastian opens the sphere about twenty feet away from the Soul Eater and slowly moves towards it. When he is ten feet away, it starts gravitating towards the casing. Sebastian has second thoughts about agreeing to do this. He starts feeling a sense of vertigo, as if he is on the edge of something he can’t see. When the Soul Eater is just a few feet away from the cage; with a snap and a whip it flicks right into the orb and Sebastian feels the power of the Soul Eater as he closes the lid and twists the gem to lock it.

Echo and Sebastian float back down and Kamisa speaks. “Over the last one thousand years The Bellerophon has absorbed over one million souls from countless battlefields. Not all souls made their way to the Soul Eater though; I administer a highly selective filtration process to captured souls looking for specific energy signatures. Those with the detected signatures are allowed to pass into the Eater and can be used in my experimentations or tied to the Archduke Ramazall. The rest are allowed to escape and pass on into the ether. I’m telling you this to emphasize the fact that that object you’re holding is a concentrated ball of wickedness and evil; over 200,000 coalesced souls of negative energy. If you give it to Ramazall, you are giving him an absolutely unparalleled weapon. I won’t stop you, but I will give you one word of final advice: destroy it. Find the nearest uninhabited star system and launch the Soul Eater into that star’s heart. It would be best if that thing ceased to exist, I wash my hands of it.”

Kamisa starts to leave but Echo stops her. He asks her to give a little trinket to The Meijin. She absolutely will, and she smiles and grabs it, asking what it does. When she looks closer she sees it is a little brass token in the shape of the middle finger. Echo also asks if she will buy his materials card, he heard she might want it. She’s confused since this is her ship so she doesn’t need a materials card and asks where he heard that. Echo tells her the quasits mentioned it and she says they don’t know anything. Echo burns the card. Echo asks what is behind the cool vault door beyond where the quasits hang out. Kamisa tells him that’s just her bedroom, but she asks if they want the quasits and Legius. Echo tries to negotiate for any money she has since they’re about to leave the universe anyway. Kamisa agrees to pay them for the service of convincing Ryoka to leave, and materializes a bank card with 75,000 credits. Kamisa suggests that the party leave as soon as possible since she’s not sure how long she can keep Ryoka calm. Echo asks what the small bead is that he picked up in the fight. Kamisa was born with those, and she gave them to Ryoka. She holds out her hand for Echo to return it, but Echo coyly tells her he will sell it to her. Kamisa adds another 10,000 to the card and he hands it over.

Are We Gonna Kill Needlejuice?
Echo wants to kill Needlejuice but the others do not want to. He burns “Fuck Needlejuice” into the ground before they leave. The party teleport into The Starling so they can discuss how to deal with the Soul Eater.

Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian sit around the flight deck with the Soul Eater in front of them. Sebastian feels like they should give it to Ramazall; it’s what they were tasked to do and Ramzall is his patron. If they return the Soul Eater, then maybe they can convince Ramazall to help them stop the Crawling Chaos. Echo asks if Sebastian really thinks they should give someone like Ramazall something like the Soul Eater. Sebastian is unsure, he does not know what Ramazall is capable of. Sebastian asks what happens if they do not return it. Echo does not think they are capable of using it, but he is uncomfortable giving it away, especially to someone so powerful and so morally questionable. Sebastian reiterates that they’re a team, they’re a family, and he said his piece but if the other two are in agreement against him, then he will side with them. Echo looks at Persephone. Persephone doesn’t think it feels right to give it to Ramazall, but he does have their contracts. If they don’t give Ramazall the Soul Eater, who knows what he will do to them. Is this a situation where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few, or are they okay with condemning people to maybe get the help of the Archduke? How many people will be hurt if they turn the Soul Eater over?

Echo observes that they keep trading one problem for another and he thinks they need to cut this off. Things are getting out of hand. Persephone agrees, but she feels that not delivering the Soul Eater still causes problems; there are too many unknowns. Echo feels that any new problems can be focused on the party, his family knows what needs to be done and what is at stake, and they will carry out the plan if something happens to the group. Echo notes that Kamisa is super fucking smart and he sees the potential in her plan of destroying the Soul Eater. Persephone knows she does not want to give it to Ramazall, but is wary of what will happen if they fail to deliver. They discuss the merits of trying to lie or get away by telling slight truths; the Soul Eater was destroyed in the process of retrieving it.

Persephone looks at Sebastian and asks if he is comfortable with telling Ramazall that the object Sebastian was tasked to retrieve was broken. Sebastian tells them that he will go with what the group decides; they are his family and they come first, even before his patron. He knows they are in this predicament because of choices he made and he is willing to take the heat. If Ramazall buys the lie, then Echo and Persephone’s contract would be complete.

Echo wants this thing gone; he wants to put an end to the devil shit because they are going down a dark path. Persephone agrees that it should be destroyed, but she doesn’t see a way to extract themselves from the devil shit as long as Sebastian follows Ramazall. Sebastian agrees to roll with their decision. Echo plots a course to the nearest uninhabited star system; an unnamed star system with no planets that is one jump away. They stick the Soul Eater in a capsule and launch it into the heart of the star. The capsule burns away as it enters the star’s atmosphere and there is a dark void explosion, large enough to create a dark line across the star’s horizon. The center of the explosion starts to expand as the destruction of the Soul Eater begins to suck in the light and energy of the star. The entire thing shrinks down and explodes into a large supernova. Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian watch the explosion for a few seconds. Echo says “Man, that is cool. That was cool, huh guys?” before hitting the button to jump away.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: a half-orc paladin/warlock. His opinions on family make him perfect for the Fast and Furious franchise.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: a firbolg druid. Livin her best flying t-rex life.
 * Codename: Echo: an elf wizard/rogue. Really over all this devil shit.

NPCS

 * Ryoka the Devil Caller: Pirate Lich Queen and dungeon boss. Just wants to bring a dude back to life.
 * Kamisa: A scientist and the mother of Ryoka. She's really fucking smart.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian
 * Liches Get Stitches - by Brian

Out of Character

 * The Stone Drake form of Percy's Wild Shape is a blue color.
 * Percy's flying Wild Shape is a Quetzalcoatlus stat block flavored to look like the pokemon Noivern.

Nat 20's (6 total)

 * Will (Attack as Ryo Ohki)
 * Will (Eldritch Blast as Ryoka)
 * Will (Eldritch Blast as Ryoka)
 * Will (Energy Saber as Ryoka)
 * Brian (Stealth)
 * Special Guest Jake (Dive Attack as Quetzalcoatlus)

Nat 1's (5 total)

 * Will (Attack as Ryoka)
 * Special Guest Jake (Attack as Stone Drake)
 * Freeland (Attack)
 * Brian (Fire Bolt)
 * Will (Eldritch Blast as Ryoka)