Session 60 - Session Notes

Well, this is one of the last sessions of the campaign and it turned out to be one long combat slog.  Granted, I got to fill the map with lots of minis.

The most disappointing thing to me is how terrible they still are at tactics.  After all this time, they still do the dumbest things - isolate themselves, don't use the defenders to actually defend, rarely coordinate attacks, etc.

Anyhow, on to the misc notes:

* The Larrak and Tiberius players dropped out at the last minute because things came up.  I had their characters leave rather than allow other players to run them because I knew it would be a big combat and would take forever.

* They started checking the doors in the vain hopes that somehow the secret chamber would be in front of all of the guards.  Don't ask me why they thought that might work.

* I have no idea why they didn't just shut and block the torture chamber door instead of taking on a whole new set of goblins.

* I used the same phrase in the game to describe the torture scene that I did in the writeup here.  There were several theories on what exactly the hobgoblin was doing with that poker.

* The last scene is another of my epilogues.  I sent it out just so they know they can't rest.


Right now, three people in the group are out of healing surges and they've used up a fair number of dailies.

I decided that since things were winding down nicely, I'd skip some of the other stuff I had planned and will let them get straight to the final encounters next session.


As for the next game, I've been trying to get enthusiasm out of them forever.

The majority only like fantasy so my Traveller 40K idea is out for now.  Then, the tide turned against continuing this campaign into the paragon levels because the Talaste player is whining like a 10 year old about how the Leigh player has more XP (since she's never changed characters, died, or missed a session).

So, now my new idea I'm still working at getting buy-in for is D&D Bronze Age - a classic mythology style D&D campaign using mostly the basic Moldvay D&D rules with some changes (which I will detail later).  However, feedback (as usual) is pretty light, so it's difficult to know how well that one will ultimately go over either.

Final Session - Cast of Characters

Dame Leigh - Eladrin Battle Mage
Sir Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Battlefield Archer
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Talaste zyne'Phyrva Noquval - Drow Cleric
Xunrar Torar - Drow Paladin
Tarlyn Delal - Drow Barbarian

Final Session - Scene 1 (of 6)

As everyone rests from the battle, they offer their prayers to the gods. Krolec calls on Corellon to lend some of his vitality to Tarlyn, while Tarlyn prays for the same from Kord. Talaste calls for the return of her healing powers. Leigh calls on the gods to restore her powers and health. Xunrar says a silent prayer for the dead goblins. Nearby, Tiberius makes his own prayers to the gods; thinking of the hand spring assault maneuver of Mitka's that he often heard of.

At the end, Krolec feels somewhat weaker while Tarlyn feels slightly rejuvenated. Talaste remembers her cure light wounds spell while Leigh feels empowered to take an extra action in battle. Even Tiberius feels a spring in his step as he walks in. Tarlyn wants the drow to meditate for four hours, but Krolec insists they do not have the time.

Everyone notices Tiberius, alone, enter the room, covered in blood and most of it not his own. Larrak is nowhere to be found. Leigh explains to the warlord that she killed off all of the dead goblins in the room. Tiberius is reasonably impressed. Sa'lid asks the warlord where the dwarf is. Tiberius responds grimly that they should never mind about what happened to the dwarf.

Around this time, Krolec hears multiple calls for help coming from the dungeon area. He convinces the others to go down with him to check it out. Along the way, Tiberius and Tarlyn scheme about having the drow pretend to be delivering prisoners. Krolec tries to explain to them that the time for tricks and subtlety is long gone.

The calls are coming from the prison area behind the locked portcullis. Krolec picks the lock while Tarlyn unties the girl on the rack. Close up, Tarlyn can tell the girl is not fully human – she's a shifter. Tiberius calls Krolec over before he heads inside the cell area.

Looking at the girl, Krolec can see she is a badly injured longtooth shifter, appearing similar to Sage. He then goes and unlocks the cells for the prisoners, all of whom are shifters.

The head man calling to Krolec for help thanks the ranger. He introduces himself as Grey Wind, and explains his clan was captured by goblins when they passed through the area. Since then, they've been subjected to horrible torture by the hobgoblins.

Krolec asks the man if they have any healers among the clan. Grey Wind explains their only healer left for Fallcrest some time back. Then, looking more closely at Krolec, he asks if Krolec is one of the great heroes of Fallcrest.

When the elf responds they are indeed the Fallcrest heroes, Grey Wind smiles. He tells Krolec that his cousin, Sage, must be with them then. He starts looking around, asking where she is. Krolec explains Sage perished nobly while saving the group from a pack of demons.

Krolec goes on to explain they are in the keep to find and stop a different demon, one who may destroy the world. He asks Grey Wind if his people can help.

The shifter responds that his people are all badly wounded and would just be in the way. He needs to get them out of the keep to safety. But Grey Wind does offer to help Krolec find the location where the ritual may be taking place – he has been in the keep before as his people travel through the area and knows where there is a temple room.

Grey Wind takes the group up the long hall where the goblins came from and opens a door leading to a set of stairs heading down. He tells the group they will find what they are looking for down there. He then excuses himself to go help his people out of the keep.

Final Session - Scene 2 (of 6)

Heading down the stairs, Tiberius and Tarlyn take the lead. Krolec can feel they are getting closer to the barrier with the Shadowfell.

Tiberius gets a familiar feeling of despair. Ever since his time in the stocks, he has felt it weigh on his soul. As he descends further, he finds himself pondering the darkness. He finds it tempting.

The stairs head down to a long room with double doors at the end and on the left side. To the right are the remains of another set of double doors.

Tiberius listens for any sounds while Tarlyn makes sure there are no traps. They slowly advance into the room, the others following.

Krolec has everyone be quiet while he listens at the doors. He hears nothing from the ones on the left, but there is a loud clanging sound from behind the ones ahead.

Tiberius heads over to the door and opens it. Inside is a large cathedral. At the far end stands a priest in the robes of Orcus, who must be the previously mentioned Karalel, in front of a demonic altar. Dozens of corpses lies scattered around the room with their throats cut. The blood forms two long streams that flow down into a large pit in the center of the room. A large cadaver collector golem, filled with spikes, is grabbing the corpses and impaling them on its body.

The priest looks at Tiberius and smiles. He tells the warlord that he is too late, remarking he will enjoy killing Tiberius and reanimating his body.

The corpse collector moves straight at Tiberius, its large size belies its quick speed. Tiberius narrowly avoids two attempts to grab him. He tries to counterattack but fails.

Back in the room, Leigh activates her fire shield then sends an acid arrow straight into Karalel. Krolec combines his arrow fire for a devastating attack.

Tarlyn moves into the cathedral, standing back behind Tiberius and out of danger. Or so he thinks. The blood pool behind him begins to form into a fiery ooze and tries to blast him with fire. Tarlyn immediately responds by evading under the cover of his cloud of darkness.

Talaste moves up next to Tiberius and casts divine favor on him. Krolec stays focused on the dark priest, using his elven accuracy to hit him with an adaptive assault.

Karalel waves his wand, causing five of the corpses on the ground to reanimate. He then steps up and blasts Talaste with a rod of ruin. Krolec tries to help out with a defensive volley, but she still succumbs to the overwhelming necrotic magic.

Xunrar moves up to assist his wife. He casts amoth's grace to heal her then places an assassin's shroud on Karalel. Sa'lid follows behind him, missing the dark priest with an explosive pyre. Snarg elects to stay back near the stairs.

The zombies shuffle towards Tarlyn. One gets close enough to swing at the barbarian, but misses. Off to his left, the cadaver collector manages to grab Tiberius.

Leigh blasts the priest with a firebust followed by a shock sphere while Tarlyn passes the zombies and heads straight for him. Summoning all his rage, he strikes into the priest with two powerful blows.

Meanwhile, Tiberius tries to escape the golem's grasp, but fails. He has not better luck trying to his the creature with his sword. He says a quick prayer of healing on Talaste just as they are both hit by a blast of fire from the blood ooze.

Talaste picks herself up and catches her breath. She then puts a shroud over the priest and hits him with darkfire. Krolec follows it up with an evasive strike that goes straight through his throat.

Karalel chokes and spews blood. He starts stumbling towards the pit but Tarlyn grabs him. The drow doesn't want the evil man going to his god. Karalel, unable to breathe, dies in Tarlyn's arms.

Final Session - Scene 3 (of 6)

Unfortunately for everyone, Karalel's death has no impact on the zombies, ooze, or cadaver collector. Xunrar places one of his assassin's shrouds over the bloodfire ooze then blasts it with his astral thunder. The ooze weathers the attack, but the paladin does manage to destroy two of the zombies in the attack.

Sa'lid uses a swirling stars spell to take out another of the zombies. The remaining two advance and pound of Xunrar.

Meanwhile, the corpse collector takes Tiberius and impales him on its spiky body. He howls in pain. He tries to get himself off of the creature, but finds it too difficult, failing with three different attempts.

Tarlyn maneuvers himself around to the rear of the collector then slashes into it with his sword.

Leigh, unable to see the collector from her position, moves around through the open doorway to the right. Through half-ruined walls, she spots the blood ooze. She hits it with a scorching burst spell, but the fire doesn't seem to affect it.

The ooze responds by lashing out at Xunrar. The drow warrior fends off the attack then steps back as Talaste casts a cure light wounds spell to heal him. The priestess then uses her power to turn undead on the zombies, causing them to collapse into ashes.

Sa'lid moves up to beside Xunrar, but misses the ooze with his energy strobe. Leigh has better luck, hitting the creature with a magic missile.

Behind them, the corpse collector manages to grab Tarlyn. As it does so, Tiberius is able to free himself. He calls over to Krolec to come help them, but Krolec refuses – noting he is of more use as an archer. After saying a healing word on Talaste, Tiberius makes a guarding attack on the golem, taunting it.

Tarlyn uses Tiberius' attack as an opportunity to escape. He then makes a pressing strike attack, knocking the creature back towards the deep pit.

Back on the other side, the blood ooze moves in to attack Sa'lid. He responds by using his magic to teleport him to safety behind a nearby column, off to the side of the ooze.

Talaste uses her magic to call down a light of arvandar spell, hitting both the blood ooze and the cadaver collector. She then shifts back a short distance, trying to stay out of reach.

Krolec fires a pair of shots at the collector, but they bounce harmlessly off of its armor. Sa'lid has better luck, hitting it with his energy strobe spell. The cadaver collector tries to strike out at Tiberius, but the warlord deflects its attacks.

While Leigh blasts the blood ooze, Tiberius fails to hit with his inspiring war cry attack. Instead, he guides Tarlyn in for a charge. The barbarian slams into the golem, knocking it over the edge. It crashes to the ground below, though with a bit of a splash.

The blood ooze moves in on Tiberius, but he avoids being hit. Talaste tries to counter with her solinar's hammer spell, but also fails. Krolec uses his arrows to drive the creature back.

Xunrar then blasts the creature with his darkfire. Sa'lid follows up with an energy strobe that hits, but ends up being ineffective due to being composed of fire.

Leigh carefully hits the creature with another magic missile. Tiberius then maneuvers in at cuts at it with his sword. The ooze falls back into the blood, apparently dead. Leigh elects to be sure by scorching all of the blood in the room with her scorching burst spell.

Final Session - Scene 4 (of 6)

Krolec looks around the area, wondering where to go next. Since the room only had Karalel, he knows Arlo, Bragosani, and the Usher are still somewhere else. Although there are some more doors on the far wall, he has a sneaking suspicion they will have to go down into the pit.

His feeling is confirmed when he sees a shimmering light coming from somewhere below. Looking down, he can see glowing blue light coming from somewhere. He tells the others that the portal is below them.

The drop appears to be around 50 feet down. Krolec can see a large pool of blood below, along with the shattered remains of the corpse collector lying in it.

Lying down next to the pit and putting his head inside for a closer look, he sees a large room below. On one side of the blood pool is a statue of Bahamut. On the other is some sort of ritual circle.

Next to the circle are two men, their backs turned. One appears to be dressed as a necromancer. The other appears to be a doppelganger. Krolec alerts the others he has spotted Arlo and Bragosani.

The ranger does not, however, see the Usher. There does appear to be a large archway in the direction that Arlo and Bragosani are looking in, with a large shimmering black portal occupying it. Krolec fears the Usher has already entered the portal; they will need to stop him before he makes it out.

Krolec quickly puts together a plan. Getting everyone's ropes together, he ties up two long ropes, one for either side of the pit. The ropes will be secured by being tied around a pillar. Then, the group will quickly rappel down the ropes while Sa'lid uses his magic to fly himself and another down. They will need to quickly take out Arlo and Bragosani then have Leigh deactivate the portal.

Despite the need to act quickly, arguments ensue over who should go first and in what order. Krolec wants Tiberius and Xunrar, the two most heavily armored, to go down the ropes first while Sa'lid flies himself and Talaste down.

Talaste argues that Krolec should go first instead of Xunrar, as he is less injured. Krolec counters that he is not a front-line fighter. The priestess also wants Leigh to be flown down by Sa'lid instead of her, which Leigh objects to.

In the end, Krolec wins the argument and sends Xunrar and Tiberius down. Xunrar gives the sword of anointment to Krolec before heading down, realizing he may not live long enough to use it. Sa'lid, tired of the arguing, decides to fly himself and Snarg down and let the ladies fend for themselves.

Tiberius rappels down without incident, but Xunrar slips and crashes down into the floor. With a crushed skull, Xunrar begins to die.

Final Session - Scene 5 (of 6)

At the sound of the crash, Arlo turns and transforms himself into the form of Tiberius. He then hurls a dagger at the warlord, narrowly missing him.

Krolec drops down the rope next, making sure not to end up directly on top of Xunrar's body. He moves out of the blood then fires an evasive shot into Bragosani's shoulder.

At the same time, Tarlyn rappels down next to Tiberius. He charges straight at Bragosani but the necromancer moves out of the way.

From across the blood pool, Sa'lid blasts the fake Tiberius with an explosive pyre.

Talaste then rappels down, landing near her husband. She places an assassin's shroud over Arlo then blasts him with a zealous sanction spell.

Leigh has trouble getting down the rope about halfway to the ground. She uses her teleportation power to make it the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Tiberius drags Xunrar's body out of the blood. Half-crazy with memories of the zombie attack at the Tower of Waiting, he uses the drow as a club, swinging him straight into Arlo. The attack hurts both Arlo and the unconscious Xunrar, who slips closer to death. Arlo immediately responds by slashing Tiberius' throat with another dagger, sending the warlord to the ground.

Across the room, Bragosani grabs Tarlyn by the throat, draining his life force. He then throws the barbarian back and uses a spell to drain nearly all of the warrior's remaining strength. Krolec responds by hitting Bragosani with another arrow, causing him to stagger back closer to the portal.

Tarlyn then stands himself up and bull rushes Bragosani. He knocks the necromancer back towards the portal. The barbarian then pushes him even closer with a pressing strike.

As the necromancer is about to respond, black claw-like tendrils emerge from the shimmering portal, grabbing Bragosani and dragging him back into it. He screams as he is dragged inside, never to be seen again. The tendrils also reach out for Tarlyn, but he uses a cloud of darkness to escape in the nick of time.

Nearby, Sa'lid continues to blast away at Arlo. After failing with a cosmos call, he blasts the creature with a moon and stars spell. Talaste follows it up with a curse of misfortune then heals the warlord with a healing word.

Leigh, however, elects to let the others handle Arlo while she goes to examine the portal. She can tell there is a way to deactivate it, but it will take time.

Tiberius picks himself off the ground, grabs Xunrar, and again attempts to use him as a living club, much to the dismay of Talaste. He misses with the attack, but manages to knock Xunrar's head on the ground again.

The paladin continues to slip into death's embrace as Arlo once again makes a deep cut into Tiberius, once again sending him into unconsciousness. Arlo then carefully paces towards Leigh and Tarlyn.

Krolec moves in to stop him. He fires a hawk's talon shot into the doppelganger. Sa'lid tries to assist, but misses with his swirling stars spell. Talaste then blasts the creature with a vengeful flare. Between that attack and Krolec's combined fire volley, Arlo dies, with his body falling back into the portal.

Talaste then rushes over to heal Tiberius again, but this time makes sure to pull back the body of her mortally wounded life mate so he will not be used as a club again.

Just at things are looking up, the portal shimmers and the Usher walks through.

Final Session - Scene 6 (of 6)

With the Usher walking towards her, Leigh stays focused on shutting down the portal. Tarlyn runs over to grab the sword of anointment from Krolec, but then stays behind Leigh for protection.

Tiberius, however, is a man of action. He stands himself up and immediately launches a handspring assault attack at the Usher.

But the warlord's attack fails. The Usher whispers to him, "Never touch me!" as he backhands the warlord. His body goes flying across the room, slamming into a far wall.

The Usher then breathes out a blast of fire, turning Xunrar's body to ashes and killing Tarlyn if not for the barbarian's temporary ability to defy death. The man then catches Leigh's eyes in his gaze, mesmerizing her.

Krolec fires a boar assault shot into the Usher's chest, but the man doesn't even appear to feel it. Sa'lid has better luck with his demonbane dagger channeling an ice stalagmite into the creature. Snarg, terrified, urinates himself while screaming in horror.

Enraged at the death of her life mate, Talaste runs up and blasts the Usher with a flurry of spells while stabbing into him with her poisoned drow blade. He doesn't appear to feel a thing, and slams her across to room into one of the other walls. As her broken and battered body slides to the ground, she welcomes death's embrace.

Meanwhile, Leigh turns and blasts Tarlyn with a magic missile. She is then able to shake off its effects.

With nearly no life left, Tarlyn rushes at the Usher and stabs him with the sword of anointment. He screams and turns in pain with the strike, breaking the blade off. Blue blood flows from the wound.

The Usher then transforms, taking the form of a Balor demon. Tarlyn slashes into the creature just before he is disintegrated by its massive flame whip.

Across the room, Tiberius picks himself up off the ground. He heads over and calls out an inspiring word to Leigh. But the vision of the huge demon shatters his already fragile grip on reality.

Nearby, Krolec fires a ranger's recovery shot into the demon creature.

Sa'lid puts a shroud over himself, Snarg, and Leigh. He then blasts the Usher with an energy strobe. Leigh follows up with a lightning serpent spell and a shock sphere. Out of urine, Snarg defecates himself in sheer terror at the size of the demon.

Tiberius, insane with thoughts of revenge for his humiliation, charges at Krolec with the intent to kill him. Krolec quickly retreats before he can be attacked. But the retreat puts him in the path of the Usher demon, which cuts into Krolec with its giant crystal sword.

Krolec continues to run, moving far off to behind the statue of Bahamut. He says a quick prayer to the god, asking for him as his temple of protection is being defiled by the Usher demon.

Sa'lid and Leigh continue to blast the demon as it moves past them. Tiberius manages to make it over to Krolec, cutting into the ranger with his blade. But the demon is not far behind, and cares little about the conflict. Tiberius is cut in half by the force of its blow.

Moving partially behind the statue for cover, Krolec tries to fire another arrow into the demon, but misses. In the end it is Sa'lid's rimestorm spell that topples the Usher, sending him back into the Bahamut statue, impaling it on the statue's horns.

As Krolec is making sure both Tiberius and the Usher are dead, and Leigh is focused on closing the portal, Sa'lid sees his chance; he will not waste the chance to gain true power. He grabs the key off of the demon's body and starts running for the portal.

Krolec spots him, but isn't sure exactly what he's doing. He readies an arrow in case Sa'lid gets to the portal. When he does, Krolec fires a shot into him. The arrow hits as Sa'lid disappears into the portal. And just then, Leigh closes it forever.

And then it is just the two of them, the only remaining original members of their adventuring group, as the sole survivors.

Campaign Epilogue

As spring comes, Krolec and Leigh head back to Fallcrest. Krolec is awarded the title of Lord Jar'Bin, given custody of Ruddiger Manor (now the Jar'Bin Manor). He decides to spend his time helping Captain Gerdrand rebuild the city's military forces.

Leigh, meanwhile, opens the doors to the wizard's tower, taking on the responsibilities as the new High Septarch. Inside she finds many years' worth of books to read. In the following weeks, she gains her first apprentice.

Across the city, Chief Justiciar Challa Kri is looking over her reports. A new young thief named Marstan is said to be taking over the power vacuum left by Schlomo. But so far, he's proving difficult to catch.

Down near the town square, Lucan has his grand re-opening of Eli Leng's old herb shop, now called "Lucan's Luscious Herbs". He reminds himself to be careful not to smoke up all his supply.

Elsewhere in the Vale, Shaelynna and Dillis assist Alby Grant and his men in fighting off goblins in the southern Harken Forest.

To the west, the newly-organized adventuring group of Vector, Quinn, Brandis, Goldar the Mighty, Ragdar, Aaron, and Tobolar Quickfoot prepare to enter the ruins of Gardmore Abbey.

To the east, Lord True Value leads a large army into the Sind Desert against the Slave Lords. Accompanying him is an allied force from Kanadia, including adventurers Dante, Sax, and Tor.

Down in the depths below Thunderspire, in the Well of Demons, Paldemar receives word that he is the only member of the Cult of Tharizdun left alive.

Paldemar thinks carefully about his next move. He first talks to the deposed duergar chieftain Murkelmore, to whom he has promised to help destroy the Kingdom of Nerathay in the name of the evil god Baphomet. Murkelmore's forces are still depleted after being exiled from the Horned Hold by a group of mercenaries, but the duergar does know of a mad dwarf king taken residence at the Chamber of Eyes who may make a useful pawn.

Paldemar wonders if Murkelmore realizes that he is being used as a pawn as well as the wizard heads down to talk to the gnoll ruler of the Well of Demons, Chieftain Marldrick Scarmaker. He is pleased to find Marldrick's forces continuing their drilling exercises, getting ready for the major offensive on Fallcrest. Paldemar reassures Marldrick that they will take over the land in the name of the demon god Yeenoghu.

After making sure his own force of tiefling cultists to Vecna are ready, along with his enchanted bronze warders, Paldemar makes his way to his most taxing pawn, the deposed Lord Reiner. He finds Reiner and his band of six once again ready to go assassinate Lord Markelhay at any minute.

Paldemar cautions patience, but Reiner isn't listening; to the wizard's dismay, Reiner still tries to treat him like a servant. Reiner insists he won't be pushed aside and will be heard. He demands that Paldemar help him get what he wants… what he deserves…

Up in the Stonemarch Mountains, the spring thaw slowly opens the secret pass. The warlord Drylak the Impaler surveys his army of barbarians, bloodspear orcs, ogres, and giants along with the massive beasts. Even though he no longer receives any word from his allies Arlo or Bragosani, he knows that soon it will be time to bring his forces across to the Nentir Vale, and conquer it all.

Down in the chamber below the statue of Vendar, the robed figure descends the stairs. His staff clicks loudly against the stones as he makes his way down.

He points his staff at the curtains beyond the reflecting pool, causing them to part. Behind them lies the half-dead dragon Cuiylak; his body is badly scarred from centuries-old wounds, with only a single eye and arm remaining and both of his wings shredded. The dragon hisses at the robed man's insolence, "Lodz! How dare you? Why have you returned again?"

Lodz smiles with his undead lips. "You are looking unwell, old man. Tell me, as you slowly fade towards death, are you not tempted by the power that eternal life can grant?"

Cuiylak gives a look of disgust at the lich. "I have no desire for your form of `life'. Now what is it you want?"

Lodz gives an exaggerated sigh. "Well, I was going to gloat but I see you are in one of your foul moods again."

Cuiylak is puzzled. "Gloat? You lost, vile creature. The Usher of Destruction is no more and Tharizdun remains trapped. "

Lodz starts to pace around the room slowly, not looking at the dragon directly. "Oh yes… Tharizdun… Yes, I suppose he will have to stay locked away. But that is of no consequence.""

The dragon is confused. "No consequence? What are you getting at? Was that not the point of this whole exercise, to release Tharizdun to destroy the world?"

Lodz stops pacing and turns to Cuiylak, grinning evilly. "My dear Cuiylak, did you really think I would have gone to all the effort to become immortal just to have Tharizdun destroy me?"

Cuiylak is nonplussed. He looks at Lodz quizzically. The lich continues, "While I certainly would have been happy if Tharizdun had destroyed your world, I'm afraid that it had nothing to do with the true matter. No, no, no… I believe you will find that key unlocks more than one set of chains. And the sorcerer has it now; I'm sure I can convince him to let me have it. And my true master will be very grateful for it."

The dragon struggles to keep up with the conversation. "'My' world? What are you talking about? What other set of chains? What true matter? What master?"

Lodz tosses out a holy symbol on to the ground then ascends the stairs, laughing, saying, "I'm going to miss you Cuiylak. You were a worthy opponent."

A shocked Cuiylak looks down at the symbol Lodz dropped – it shows a jawless skull on a purple sunburst. The dragon does not recognize it…

Final Session - Session Notes

The last session was an absolute blast.  We started early, ended late, and spent most of the time on combat, but it was a lot of fun and felt like a proper climax, something I failed to achieve last time with the Rifts campaign.

First off, I want to give a big shout-out to my group.  Despite the fact they drive me nuts sometimes, they can be tremendous fun.  And at the start of this session, they gave me a surprise Thank You card (with a gift card) for running the campaign.  It was completely unexpected and I was very touched.


Now, into some of the session details:
* The title of the session is taken from my favorite Pantera album.  It felt fitting for this sesison.

* The Tiberius player was able to make it this time - and the finale greatly benefited from it (even if he is fond of being a bit anti-immersion at times with his wacky hijinks).  I'll do my best to convince him to stay on for the next campaign.

* Sadly, the Larrak player was unable to make it back for the finale.  Thus, he died off camera.  Or did he?  At one point, I was going to write in a blurb about him waiting with a big chest of treasure outside the keep for Tiberius to re-emerge, but decided that an ambiguous fate worked best.

* Even more sadly, I'm losing his son, the kid playing Tarlyn (and formerly Scrag).  The kid has to get a job working Fridays, has school activities, and its his senior year this year anyways.  I'll miss him.  If I would have had kids, I'd want a son like him.

* When the Krolec player started talking about making a plea to the gods, another one chimed in, so I told them they could all do it and asked what they were praying for.  Naturally, some of them took the Krolec player's reasonable request (to give one of his healing surges to Tarlyn, who was out) and instead created their own selfish ones.

I felt Krolec's plea made the most sense, so he lost 1 surge and Tarlyn gained 2.  Talaste asked for something to help the group, so I gave her back one healing spell.  Leigh wanted the world (all powers back, all health back, and double use of encounter powers), so I gave her a single action point.  I debated giving her nothing.  Tiberius' request was pure metagaming for a power from his previous character, but I granted it because of the rule of funny (as it almost always failed for Mitka).

* I found it funny some people, even after I sent out the epilogue for the previous session, still had a hard time believing I was serious when I told them sessions ago to be careful because they might not get a chance to do a long rest.

* Tiberius and Tarlyn arguing about how to do a prisoner exchange con was a hilarious case of not seeing the forest for the trees.  Thankfully Krolec was there to remind them the time for cunning schemes was long, long over.

* It took about 3 tries for the Krolec player to get it when I was trying to explain who the shifters were (he asked the healer question like three times; the usual sort of "not paying attention" interactions that I don't write up in these campaign log notes).  

I had the shifter idea planned for a while; I thought it would be a nice call back to Sage, since she led the group here in the first place.

* Originally, there was going to be a lot more keep to explore before they got to the end.  But as everyone was ready to move on, I decided to accelerate the ending this session.

* The Tiberius player handed me a note about his feelings of despair.  I didn't get where it was going so his heel-faced-turn in the last act later on was still something of a surprise for me.

* Right before we decided not to continue on with a paragon campaign, I'd bought several new books - including the monster vault for the Nentir Vale.  I thought the bloodfire ooze and the cadaver collector were perfect fits for the penultimate battle.

Originally, the idea was that Karalel would raise zombies each turn.  But since the group unloaded on him, he died too quick for that to happen more than once.

I also originally intended for Karalel's little speech to include a mention about how Orcus would now be able to take over the world, but forgot to include it when the fight started.  It's just as well - the player's have historically had a hard time following my convoluted plot about everyone manipulating everyone else in the various factions of evil.

I liked it when they planned to shove the collector down the hole.  It was starting to wear thin by the end when they were trying to shove everyone down holes / back into the portal.

For the record, Karalel falling into the pit as he died was just supposed to be cinematic - nothing would have happened.  But they made a big deal about stopping him so I let them.

I thought it was funny that Leigh bothered to "scorch the blood" after the ooze died, particularly as it came up several times during the fight that the ooze was immune to fire damage.  I think she forgot.

* The argument over the ropes took forever.  I almost decided to end the campaign with the world ending while the heroes argued over who would go first.  

Even after the session ended, the Talaste player was still mad about Krolec insisting Xunrar go first.  Personally, I applauded the fact that after the first 50+ sessions, he eventually figured out rangers weren't meant to be front-line fighters.

* Xunrar's death was hilariously anti-climactic.  He was out of healing surges, so once he rolled a 2 or whatever on his Athletics check and fell, we knew he was done for the session.

* Tiberius using Xunrar as a club was a callback to the time he did it with Larrak and for the same reason - humor value.  As before, I used the rule of funny to allow it.

* Tarlyn was also out of healing surges (again) by the time they reached the final encounter.  There were several times where he nearly died, particularly when the portal almost grabbed him, before his final death (which occurred well after he was into the negatives and using his deny death power).

* The Usher's "Never touch me!" line and subsequent backhand across the room was always planned.  The Usher was pretty much invulnerable until they used the sword of annointment (the exception was to Sa'lid's demonbane dagger).  The line and backhand was inspired by an Iron Man comic from the 90's where the Mandarin did something similar with Rhodie wearing the suit.

* Leigh was the first and only use of domination in the entire campaign.

* After Xunrar was incinerated, I let him "play" Snarg.  Since Snarg's stats were beyond useless by this point, he just had him mess himself.

* Talaste technically wasn't immediately dead on impact, she was just in a coma.  But she was out of surges and said she'd willingly fail all her death saves, so I thought it made sense for her to die immediately.  It fit well with her mate dying.

* I'd planned all along to use my Balor miniature for the finale.  It's just too cool not to use.  In the actual session, I kept calling it a Balrog demon (forgetting the Gygaxian copyright dodge).

* As I mentioned before, Tiberius going nuts and attacking Krolec came as a surprise for everyone.  I figured the Usher could care less, so he killed Tiberius because he was the closest to him.

* Even more of a surprise was Sa'lid grabbing the key.  It completely fit with Sa'lid's characterization (wanting power, finding the group kind of meandering, etc).  I loved it.

Sa'lid's fate is ambiguous.  Krolec didn't score enough to kill him, but he is trapped in the Abyss.  If we ever resume a campaign in this world, he'll be a villain.

* Originally Leigh's attempt to close the portal was going to take a lot longer, but since the bad guy was dead and Sa'lid went through, I figured it was more cinematic to end it there.  Note - I have no idea why she was attempting to close it; there was no reason plot-wise that necessitated it (something the Krolec player noted at the time but Leigh ignored him).

* The fact that Krolec and Leigh are the only survivors and the only original characters in the campaign was funny, but it made sense - they played the smartest and kept away from dangers.

I was never trying to kill the PCs, they just often put themselves in bad situations.

Campaign Epilogue - Notes

Like all epilogues, this one came out after I typed the session notes.

* If the campaign would have continued, Krolec was to be made Lord of Winterhaven.

* It took forever to convince the Leigh player that becoming the High Septarch didn't necessitate retirement.

* The thief "Marstan" is inspired by Marlo Stanfield from The Wire.  The idea here is that there is always another crime lord waiting to take over, though the city is certainly in better shape than at the beginning of the campaign.

* Lucan re-opening the herb shop made the most sense to me for an epilogue activity.  For a one-joke, one-shot character, he managed to be mentioned a lot.

* I thought about including the Keymaster character in the epilogue, but figured why bother.  His story takes place in the Eberron world, a world I will never run a game for.

* Shaelynna and Alby fighting the goblins was a subplot that was originally going to be part of the continued paragon campaign (along with finally meeting Roman Grant, the Prophet of Junniper Creek).  Again, both Alby and the Prophet are taken from HBO's Big Love show.

* Vector's group was left in limbo because those guys got too busy to ever get back together for another game.  So in the finale, they are back to adventuring for profit, taking the long-gone Quinn and new adventurer Tobolar with them.  I left the dead members of that group dead - I figured they would have given up on the idea of heading back to the Well of Demons or trying to pay for all of the ressurections.  Unlike the main group, the secondary group was always about money.

Gardmore Abbey was another adventure that was originally planned for the main group.  Once spring hit, they were to take men from Winterhaven and fight the goblin armies under Irontooth, who were holed up at Gardmore.

* Originally, the idea was for Vector's group to take out Paldemar and end the duergar, gnoll, and tiefling cult threats.  

Combining Reiner with Paldemar was a later plot change I made when it looked like the Paldemar adventure line wasn't going to pan out.  There was a letter explaining the plot a little more and Paldemar's position in it, but the main group never went into that area in the keep basement.

* The hint about Thain Carradus was another plot point for the alternate group - he took over the Chamber of Eyes after they told him about it and started his mercenary army.

* My vision of Paldemar with the different factions was similar to that of Arlo's position - they act a bit like Loki did during Marvel's Acts of Vengeance plot lines; they get a bunch of villains together and manipulate them, pretending to be something of a servant.

* Lord Reiner's lines about not being pushed aside and getting what he deserves are taken directly from the lyrics of Egypt Central's awesome metal song, White Rabbit.

* Drylak the Impaler's army was going to be the defining plot point for the paragon campaign.  The campaign was going to be all about forming alliances and various adventures in order to get an army to stop Drylak.

As mentioned before, Drylak and his forces are heavily modeled after Mance Ryder in the Song of Fire and Ice novels (though Drylak himself is a lot closer to Vlad the Impaler).

* The identity of the robed man in the epilogues was always in question.  In earlier "drafts", it was clear he was Arlo.  Later on, I changed my mind and decided I needed a higher level puppetmaster in charge of all of the conspiracies.

The character of Lodz is inspired by the character of the same name from HBO's Carnivale (though I did make him a lich).

* I also got to finally reveal Cuiylak and use his name.  His extreme injuries were the result of his fight with Vendar centuries ago.  They also explain why he can't just go take care of the problem himself (as to why he can't heal himself - I'm going with the "it's magic" fiat).

* The true plot of releasing Cyric was always the central plot of the campaign (Tharizdun is far too crazy for such an intricate plan).  The paragon campaign would have eventually moved the action to the Forgotten Realms once Drylak was dealt with.

My original plans for the campaign was to start out being set in the Forgotten Realms.  I only switched it to the Points of Light universe later on because I came up with the moving between planes idea (which originally was going to happen much, much earlier).

Well, that's the end.

The fourth edition of D&D definately has its strengths and weaknesses, but it made for a good campaign so I can't fault it too much.  And I certainly liked it better than 3e / Pathfinder style D&D.

But I do miss some of the simpler aspects of older D&D (especially having shorter combats), so I'm looking forward to my Basic D&D Bronze Age campaign (coming soon to a thread near you - I'll post a link here when it's up).

Other thoughts:

* All in all, I think this campaign ended up a bit too bloody.  The vast majority of PCs ended up getting killed off.

A lot of it had to do with the players never quite getting good at the tactical synergy thing.


* I wish I would have been better about getting the group treasure earlier in the campaign.  By the time they started getting the good stuff, the plot was moving so fast they didn't really notice.  Still, they did better than their Rifts group did.


* I should have done more to make some of the fights more interesting with regard to terrain, monster powers and tactics, etc.  Combat was so long and involved that I would get in a rush and thus feel like I never did get to utilize half of the potential (in particular, I remembered to use auras all of twice the whole campaign).


* I make my plots too complex.  I realize this.  The players can't keep up with all of the conspiracies.

The next campaign will not have another kudzu plot.  I also want to avoid the "saving the world" cliche (I used it once here, twice in Rifts).  Next time the stakes will be a bit lower and focus more on just performing legendary deeds, getting a mass of treasure, and gaining followers.


* No more "death cultists" next time either.  I feel I've overused the trope and need to focus on something different.

Instead, there will be a war going on as the backdrop of the bronze age campaign, but the opposing side will be just another group of rival humans, not the forces of pure evil.