Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 1
Here is a new blog series by me: 2021 Sessions of my Cycle of Millennia Dungeons and Dragons Campaign. I have lost count of the number of sessions happening with this group. They started at level 1 and have been level 20 for some time now.
Its a new year (or will be soon) and I sorta let my Surviving the Quarantine Series sorta die off. I might get back to writing that at some point. But I wanted to get back to blogging, and since most people have not played in one of my campaigns, I figured I could write a bit about what that is like.
Also, most Dungeons and Dragons players don’t get to see what a level 20 campaign looks like. Hopefully I can showcase that with these posts.
Before I continue, I want to make a few things clear.
!!!Trigger Warnings Abound!!!
This campaign takes place in an incredibly unpleasant setting. The party has dealt with Human Traffickers, Sex Slavery, Child Sacrifice, The Apocalypse, Genocide, Wicked Cults, and other related topics.
There is a God of Madness that is fond of causing auditory and visual hallucinations, makes use of psychic gaslighting, commands the literal legions of hell, and all around causes untold suffering in the setting.
Essentially, nothing is off the table in this campaign. If the above ideas are not ones you want to think about, I do not think this blog series is for you. That is not a problem and does not indicate any failings on your part. I am a storyteller that does not shy away from the darkest topics. It would be horrible for me to not warn my audiences of this in advance.
!!!Final Trigger Warning. Past this point there be dark topics!!!
Still with me? Let’s continue. Keep in mind that this campaign has continued for over three years. It would be foolish of me to try and explain every single thing that has happened in this complex story up to this point. Luckily for you, I am adapting this adventure into a book series. The first three are on Amazon.
Also, the earlier parts of the story can be read in an abridged form on this very blog. You can check that out here. I’ll do my best to explain what happens in each session, but you probably will be left wanting to know more. Which is my plan of course since I am an author and want people to read my books.
Anyway, lets talk about the the party: Grez the Mysterious Monk, Hadron the Human Barbarian Warlock turned Berserk Knight, Caic Trollbreaker the Dwarven Paladin recently fallen from grace, and Velkoara Lioren the Human in name only Alchemist who serves Orabaras Goddess of Domination and Knowledge. (Its an evil Goddess).
These four semi divine adventurers discovered that the Cult of Nihilinn, God of Death and Nothingness has been kidnapping pregnant women, violently removing their babies from them, and turning these infants into Zombies. Obviously wanting to put a stop to this, the group is trying to hunt down their leaders.
A former enemy and ally depending on her mood, Rose, a Mysterious Sorceress who may or may not be serving Orabaras’ will asked the group initially to stop these wicked acts and accompanied the party to the nearby town of Mongress to try and warn the townsfolk about this.
Return to Mongress:
Unfortunately, the town was guarded by the Knights of Exscutchon who would not let her enter willingly. So she opted to stay invisible and hidden as the rest of the party, already cleared to move about this place led her from ahead. The group needed to warn their leader, the abrasive Calni about the Cult’s hidden activities.
Things took a nasty turn when they next spoke to her. After warning the Paladin Leader that her wards had been compromised, her eyes changed color and she whispered that someone had kept her magically in a trance. Whoever had done this had prevented her from using her divine sense.
Moments later, she warned the group that all of her nearby guards were Undead and as an Inquisitor of Exscutchon she intended to put them down. The party helped her. Grez notably shot out the stairs and preventing anyone from escaping this room.
After quickly cleaning up the threat, the group weighed options on how to escape. Rose shifted to her true Dragon Form and although she claimed it was insulting for her to do so, the Sorceress used her larger body to form a makeshift stairway.
The Archangel:
Calni had suspicions about what was going on in Mongress. She told the group to follow her to the center of town where a statue to the Goddess Charice whose domains included debauchery and basically good vibes all around stood. Things seemed positive when it turned out none of the other Paladins had joined Nihilinn’s ranks.
The positivity stopped soon after. An old enemy appeared from above. One that posed a serious danger even to a group that had entered the Abyss and returned alive. Inias, the most powerful of all Angels confronted the group, calling them traitors for killing the Knights.
The party knew he was brainwashed and crazy, but good luck explaining that to a bunch of Knights who served the God that said Angel served as the high herald to. Notably Caic is a Paladin of that order but had lost his unique armor marking him as Exscutchon’s high champion. In fact, Calni currently wore that armor.
Well not so currently a few moments later. Inias declared them both traitors and magically summoned the armor to himself. Weakened, and unwilling to defy the Angel, Calni fell to her knees in disbelief.
Deadly Fight:
Caic however tried to attack the angel and was quickly tossed aside by Inias’ superior strength. Hadron started combat wanting revenge for their last encounter. A battle that had almost left the entire group dead. Declaring that he was much stronger than before, he warned Inias that he would fall by his power.
Velkora, not wanting to fight such a powerful being, especially one that was controlled by her Goddess, tried to sneak away. However, even while insane, a so called Lawful Good Angel would not let the Alchemist go. He teleported over to her and beat the Human within an inch of her life.
Caic fared little better since he found his weapons unable to hit the Angel. Worse, Inias wrested one of his unique flails away from him and threw it far across the city.
Uninvited Enemies:
But if you thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. A horde of Revenants had continually hunted the party after they stole a magical gauntlet. Not caring that a divine conflict was occurring, they jumped at the chance to steal their item. At that moment, the unconscious Velkora possessed it.
But since she had sealed it in a magical lock box that only she could open, a fact that the Undead were aware of after prior encounters, they simply grabbed her and tried to take her away. Inias might have been brainwashed and crazy, but the Angel would not tolerate the presence of the dead.
He magically commanded the Paladins and the townsfolk of Mongress to take up arms and remove all threats from the area. None could resist the spell. After all this was the highest Archangel of the God Exscutchon.
Relishing the chance to fight the Archangel, Hadron transformed into an Ancient White Dragon using Greater Polymorph and tried to out-muscle this adversary. Getting jealous that he transformed, Rose, claiming herself to be a real Dragon, assumed her Blue and scaly form as well.
But Inias proved to be too powerful and combined with the Revenants and an entire town of people combating them, the party feared the worst. But then Rose offered a solution, although a very risky one.
A Not So Simple Wish:
She mentioned that she could try and use the extremely powerful spell Wish to deal with this horrible situation. Her first suggestion was to wish for the destruction of the Revenants. The party knows of no other method to kill them. (They regenerate every 24 hours and come after the group again if defeated)
However, she feared that the spell might also destroy the item that the Undead sought. The group told her that was a no go. They had come too far with that item to get rid of it.
Her next idea was to Wish everything away. But she feared that the vague wording might kill everyone in Mongress instead of them. Grez had a counter idea for her.
He suggested sending Inias into “outer space” However, Rose had no idea what that meant. And since she was the one making the wish, her thoughts would shape it. But with no other choice, and the most rational member of the party currently being kidnapped by zombies, she made the desicion. Inias vanished, Exscutchon’s armor with him.
Worse Threat:
Revenants were once again defeated. Without the angel controlling them, the spell lifted, leaving the townsfolk confused and dazed. The Paladins however saw Undead and helped destroy them. (for the time being.)
After the battle, Hadron ran towards the nearby orphanage. His only known living relative lived there and he wanted to check on her. But right after he split from the group, yet another problem presented itself.
Thea, the high priestess of Orabaras Psychically warned Velkora that by far the largest threat in the entire setting was coming their way. What was that threat? The Tarrasque. An invincible, Godzilla like monster that could not be harmed by anything and ate entire cities in the span of minutes.
The party needs to quickly evacuate everyone from the city. Time is of the essence for once the beast draws near, all magic nearby will cease to function. If it draws close enough to be seen, its very presence will drive lesser minds into such a state of fear that they might never recover from such an encounter.
But what will the group do? And can they warn Hadron in time?