Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 11: Witches and Liches
Here is week 11 of my 2021 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Lets go over session 11: Witches and Liches.
Don’t forget that this campaign has been ongoing for over three years. There is a lot of story to cover and I’m writing a book series to document it all. I am adapting this adventure into a book series. The first three are on Amazon.
!!!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!!!
The party tried to figure out how to sneak around the Cult Camp and needed to act quickly before the moon came out. Velkora thought to try polymorph potions. Though she realized this was a terrible idea after remembering what their enemies were led by. Liches had the power of True Sight and would see through any illusions or transformations.
Hadron was granted knowledge of animals in the area by Caethia. Why she decided to impart such information was anyone’s guess. However considering the source, The party, Hadron included did not trust that information.
Instead, party decided to attack a Lich camp from above. Grez and Velkora were capable of flight. Hadron had Polymorph and Caic could slow fall. It was a good plan. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that the monsters guarding said lich noticed the group. They had an effective truesight range even larger than the Lich. But the party stuck to the attack. They needed to thin their numbers before the moon came out.
Death From Above:
Hadron and Grez brought death from above. Slaughtering one of the monsters instantly. The Monk simply crashed down from above using the force of gravity and his magical punches. The Barbarian Warlock had another idea. He shifted into the form of a fully grown Dragon and used his immense bulk to deal even more immense damage.
Velkora and Caic reached the ground slower. Both were content to let their allies make the first engagement. However, their enemies had powerful attacks of their own and the Dwarf got petrified on the way down. He continued to fall, and if he hit the ground from that height, his stone form would shatter to the winds.
Velkora used animate objects on the Dwarf statue to save him from a horrible fate. Controlling him, she made use of his magical bow as he continued falling at a slower speed.
The party defeated the Lich and its many eyed minions. Sending it into the void where it would take some time to regenerate, they temporarily took a powerful asset serving Nihilinn off the board. As it faded away, the Lich dropped some documents. The group assumed that Lord Death could make use of these papers.
Thanks to somehow not drawing attention despite all the violence they had committed Grez used the opportunity of a petrified dwarf to engrave a permanent dick picture onto his forehead. Hadron failed to stop it. Hopefully the Monks inherent hatred of all Dwarves will be sated for the time being.
Witches:
But this newer commotion didn’t go unnoticed. You would think multiple earthquakes and vanishing Liches would have attracted attention. Nope, it was a Dwarf upset with the brand on his forehead that drew two Witches and their Necromancer allies to them. Realizing that dangerous enemies of their God had managed to get into the camp and even defeat a Lich, the Necromancers did something disturbing. They summoned Zombie Infants to aid in the battle.
The party now has to deal with the ramifications of fighting the corpses of infants. It was never a question of if their morality would be tested. That has happened throughout this adventure. But they know that their choices will only get tougher from here.
They need to work quickly. Once the full moon is out, both Caic and Grez will transform. And the Paladin needs to infect a necromancer with Kranaak’s curse so that he might free himself from that same ailment.