Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 13: Witches and Liches 3
Here is week 13 of my 2021 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Lets go over session 13 : Witches and Liches 3.
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 fought off another group of Necromancers, Witches, and Zombie babies. Unlike their prior encounter, the group had no easy way to clear the horrific Undead. They had no choice but to put those who had been doomed before they had even been born back in the ground.
Nihilin’s minions demonstrated a cruelty that would have made even the most staunch Kranaak supporter excited. Those Zombie infants still had their rotting umbilical cords. Unfortunately for the group, those body parts served as perfect attack tentacles. Velkora was rendered comatose, as her PTSD was once again set off.
The Necromancers stayed back and cast ice storms and poison gas clouds to try and kill the group. A shame they didn’t understand just who they were dealing with. Hadron was completely immune to Poison and resisted the Ice. Caic resisted both Ice and Poison. Grez was too agile for the ice storm to harm him and moved too fast for the gas cloud to effect him for long. Velkora though unconscious, still floated in the air.
Setting the Stage:
The Witches had a bit more luck harming the group. Caic tried to stop a fireball spell and ended up getting blasted by it. Since he was all alone in the poison cloud, the others only heard the noise. The rest of the party dealt with the Zombies so that Velkora could rejoin them.
At the end of the fight, the Party captured one Necromancer. to use for curing Caic’s lycanthropy. The other Necromancers begged for mercy, but got none. Grez killed the others.
Caethia showed up and explained how they had gotten this far in the first place. She had used potent magic to keep the Liches from learning the truth of who was attacking them. She killed most of the remaining enemies, leaving just the two remaining Liches. The Arch Demon promised that she would get what she wanted from the party soon. They didn’t like the sound of that.
Full Moon:
Now that they had a proper reprieve, the group waited for nightfall and the full moon that came with it. As soon as he was exposed to the moonlight, Caic transformed into a Wereboar. He managed to fend of Kranaak’s wicked whispers and maintain control. With a chance to finally rid himself of this curse, he gored the captured Necromancer to spread the curse. Waited till he transformed, and then killed him. The Paladin didn’t need him alive. Just a piece of his flesh would suffice.
Meanwhile Grez also transformed into a giant ape and went Berserk. Sprinting ahead to kill the Liches he didn’t care that the rest of the group couldn’t keep up.
Even an instant death spell didn’t keep him down long. Velkora healed him back up. Looking at the moon again, he transformed a second time and prepared to fight again. He didn’t learn his lesson from the first defeated Lich and charged at the second.
Not wasting any time, Grez flew through the air and landed on the Lich almost crushing the monster in a single blow. He wanted to make use of this rampage to its fullest.
Desperation:
This Lich had fought the party prior and realizing what was going on tried to burn his documents. This would be a problem since the group needed those papers to destroy a member of the Nihilin Cult’s inner circle.
Grez stopped time and saved the documents. Even a powerful spellcaster couldn’t account for a shapeshifting Monk that could do that. No one could prepare for that chain of events.
Caic followed suit, not wanting to be left out and used his ring to launch himself through the air to try and gain some ground. He had already learned that Liches were powerless against him and eagerly prepared to cleave this servant of Death in two.
Before he could land, Grez grabbed him and threw him using his total force to kill the Lich. The impact damaged the Dwarf too, but he didn’t mind. As a servant of the God of Heroes, he took it upon himself to rid evil from the world. Even if he had fallen from grace due to his curse.
Caethia then reappeared and said it was time to collect. Trapping the party, she prepared to go all out on them. And promised not to kill, but beat them within an inch of their lives. Realizing that after their prior battles, fighting them in the current states was unfair, she demonstrated just how much more power she was than them by healing their wounds before battle started.
Wrap Up:
Every single time they have consulted advice on how to deal with Caethia, they have been told by allies and enemies alike that there was no dealing with the Demon Lord. Yet now they are trapped in a battle of her choosing. Will she honor her statement and only beat them within an inch of their lives? Or is this the end of the road?