Deep beneath the Bareth University of Magic in Ravenbell, the Chainbreakers come across some monstrous creatures that seem to be coming from a rift into another plane. The creatures, complete with featureless faces, aside from a mouth, lumber over to attack the party. However, when one falls, the body turns into ash and blows away. From where it stood, a large, hulking, jellyfish-like creature takes its place. The Dybbuks moved from corpse to corpse around the room, giving the party a tough challenge to finish them off. After a few rounds of combat, even more of these creatures, including some of the arcane leeches, began to pour through the rift.
Jean finds a circular metal device with arms embedded into one of the walls. In the center of this device appears to be a gem giving off the same glow as the rift that the creatures are pouring through. Jean and Lode attempt to pull the gem out, but it’s pretty well embedded in the device. Voir warns against pulling gems out of random devices that they find, referencing back to the mages that they had unwittingly unleashed.
Tobar comes to inspect the device and find out how the gem is embedded in the device and finds that it’s held in there through magical means. The group decides to take a short rest, allowing Jean to then cast Dispel Magic, and the gem pops out harmlessly, closing the rift behind them.
Once the party heads back to the university, they run into Headmaster Klarhan Vulenor, who is a little surprised to see them. He explains that Voir was about to be expelled, and he was the one vote on the board to try and keep him at the school. He brings them back to his office, and the party meets two other professors, Professor Mortem and Professor Sucresong. Professor Mortem had clearly had it out for Voir, while Professor Sucresong wanted to keep Voir around.
As the party describes the creatures they fought to the staff, Headmaster Vulenor’s color drains from his face. He retrieves a small box from his desk and hands it to Voir. In it, there’s a silver ring with three slots – two of them empty, and the third, filled with a fairly large sapphire stone. He calls it Bastion’s Ring.
Jean brings up the blood moon, and Vulenor indicates that the university might be dealing with something much larger than what they’ve accounted for. He had heard rumors of Diabulus’ return, and didn’t think anything of it. But with the rifts that they’re seeing, along with the blood moon’s occurrence, it’s far too coincidental to be anything else. Vulenor goes on to explain that during Diabulus’ first rise, he sent these Dybbuks as scouts, finding hot spots of magic energy, often along the magical ley lines that ran across the world of Tralios. Within 3 days of a hot spot being located, the area would turn into a permanent twilight/night, and the souls from the plane that Diabulus came from would pour out, invading the area.
The way Diabulus was stopped before, according to Vulenor, was through the connection and activation of several powerful magical beings that harnessed the power of the ley lines, known as Ancient Leviathans. One of these Ancient Leviathans was rumored to be right there in Ravenbell, as multiple ley lines converged in this area.
Professor Sucresong explains that the five mages that the party released were Diabulus’ closest followers, and that they would do anything to restore him to power. The mages and Diabulus operated out of a city on the eastern side of Ercellonia, called Revantis. After the fall of Diabulus, his castle and domain were left, but the city was renamed Comanil to avoid the dark associations.
The party decides to head back to a dorm to regroup, and they plan to stay with in Ravenbell for a few weeks to prepare for the coming apocalypse.
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