In a single instant, Halisstra drove the Crescent Blade, meant to slay Lolth, through Aaron's chest. His battered true body could hold out no longer, and fine, densely packed cracks spread from the wound across his entire body.
Aaron shattered, and the Golden Spell Ring shattered with him. Right before Eilistraee's eyes, flesh and bone peeled away from his body inch by inch and dissolved, until he became a sky full of drifting snow and brilliant starlight.
"No... no." Eilistraee stared blankly as Aaron vanished. The Dark Maiden felt her heart pounding.
Was that it? Was it over?
Had Lolth killed him, just like that?
No, that was impossible. She knew how strong Aaron was. She knew his plans were interlinked, one layer after another. She knew that beneath her seemingly foolish plan lay dozens of contingencies Aaron had devised for a "saturation rescue." He had not even told her the details, precisely because she was not clever enough.
And now he was dead?
Killed by the god-slaying weapon she had made herself?
Eilistraee would rather die than believe it.
But she knew it was true. This was a sanctuary in the Phlogiston Sea. Aside from Laduguer and the other deities who had fallen in by accident, Lolth, Aaron, and Eilistraee were all fighting in their true bodies. That was precisely why, although many factions hated Lolth to the core, not a single deity had been willing to enter. They risked dying for good.
Eilistraee herself had entered prepared to die. Then why had Aaron come?
He liked me!
At that moment, the Dark Maiden's heart raced.
Aaron had come. Not only had he come in person, he had personally commanded the operation, made the arrangements, and stepped onto the battlefield to fight Lolth. This was not how a deity