Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 14: Caethia
Here is week 14 of my 2021 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Lets go over session 14 : Caethia. The party is in more danger than ever.
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 had no choice but to fight Caethia. Every single one of their instincts told them to run. Even Grez, never one to avoid fighting an enemy wanted out of this situation. But the powerful Demoness had them trapped and intended to have her fun.
Grez rampaged and tried to kill the Demoness quickly. His monstrous transformation afforded him superior strength compared to his allies. Unfortunately, it barely phased the ancient evil that happened to be their opponent.
Caethia explained that after studying Magic as extensively as she had, even the dangerous Wish spell was hers to command with no drawbacks. To prove this point, she managed to silently cast such a spell and was granted exactly what she needed. This made an already dangerous situation for the party worse. One unstoppable Ancient Demon lord was bad enough. But she had warped reality and spawned three more copies of herself.
The group had one chance to try and figure out how to deal with four extraordinarily powerful Demons before Caethia started unleashing whatever nasty plans she had for the group. Her absurd durability warned the party that they had an uphill battle. Grez had managed to make her flinch and even bleed a little Demon blood. But only because he launched himself high into the air and let gravity do the work.
As for the rest, Hadron’s swords didn’t elicit a reaction. Velkora’s spells did little tom slow her down. Caic had it the worst though. Caethia was the original Berserker Knight. She had created the order that Hadron currently served. This meant that neither Holy or Necrotic attacks would work. She absorbed those forms of energy. This of course meant that the Paladin’s every swing healed her rather than cause harm.
Deadly Magic:
Their attempts at defeating her so far a failure, Caethia decided it was finally time to showcase to the group, just what fighting the original Berserker Knight entailed. She started things off with the most dangerous lightshow. Pulling debris out of the sky itself, the Demoness summoned Meteor Storm that severally weakened the party in one strike.
But she wasn’t done. After all, Caethia had created three more perfect copies who possessed all her abilities. She went to work on separating the group. Hadron, the first victim was locked in a horrific nightmare illusion. So real was what he saw, that even knowing he was dealing with a prime servant of the Madness God was not enough for him to break through the illusions.
Grez almost got polymorphed into a baboon. His refusal to accept the new reality Caethia forced upon him showed the first time anyone in the group had managed to foil her fun so far. If only the others could have succeeded like he did in that moment.
Velkora was her next victim. Casting one of the most complex spells in existence, the Orabaras Cultist was trapped in a shimmering barrier. A Prismatic Wall. Even with her vast knowledge, the Cultist had never dealt with magic personally. It would take her some time to break free.
Caic tried to break into the prismatic wall. But he didn’t understand the intricacies of such a spell. Rather than break down one of the walls, he was ensnared by it. A blinding flash blasted him back. He became the first victim of the Prismatic wall.
Illusions:
Grez tried to fight Caethia as the one remaining member of the group that wasn’t crippled. But even in his fully transformed state, he was no match for one of her much less four. She applauded his courage, but reminded him that she had dealt with plenty like him before. Deciding that her other tricks were not working on the Monk, she pulled him into yet another pocket dimension. A maze within the astral plane.
Caic wandered around blinded. Which opened him up to another of the Demoness spells. Enjoying separating the group, she opened a dimension door to a random plane of reality. What else would one expect for a chaotic evil Demon? The Paladin was unable to see where he ended up, and his voice echoed all alone.
Hadron’s nightmares got increasingly worse. He not only failed to see through the illusion, but accepted these illusions as truth. All of his worst fears played out before his eyes. All the while his mental state deteriorated. Caethia, proving that she loved drawing these things out, decided to heal the Barbarian’s wounds and mind just enough that this torment would last longer.
Breaking Out:
Velkora slowly worked her way through the walls. From fire, to poison gas, each layer required a different trick to by pass. But she was running out of time, and couldn’t see or hear what was happening outside this rainbow colored prison.
Eventually she grew fed up with the spell and forced herself through. Though she sustained horrific and painful injuries in doing so. She thought about how no one appreciated how healing spells worked. Or thought about how cruel it was to inflict this level of harm on a body and then reverse said injuries. She screamed to block out the pain as she finally freed herself from the trap.
Grez meanwhile wandered the maze trying to think up a way out. All the while Caethia taunted his lack of intelligence and how he only hated the Dwarves because they were just like him. Notably she said that he and Fodrin were far too alike to even get along. He countered by saying that Fodrin was a fool. She countered once again by saying they hads a lot in common.
Managing to ignore her long enough to think of a solution, Grez eventually broke free of the maze. But he was so winded from that experience that he didn’t even have time to transform into a giant beast. The Demoness decided he needed to go back to the maze a second time.
Separated:
Caic floated in a mysterious realm not knowing where he was. Unfortunately, being blinded was not the Prismatic Wall’s true effect. This just left him more vulnerable to its true power. The Dwarf was warped a second time. At least his blindness faded when he arrived. But his relief was short lived. He knew where he was this time: His ruined mansion. A Dwarf Home that had fallen deep into Kranaak’s Demonic Realm.
Eventually Caethia grew bored and let the rest of the party go. They had been rendered powerless against her and drawing this fight out further accomplished nothing. Grez, Hadron, and Velkora remained to listen to her parting words. She claimed she had accomplished everything and more. Before the group could ask about Caic, she vanished. The Demoness wore a satisfied smile as she faded away.
Aftermath:
Hadron was traumatized from the experience and questioned his perception of reality. To the rest of the group, this harrowing encounter had lasted minutes at best. But to the Barbarian, he might as well have spent years watching his worst fears play out.
Remembering that they had come here to find Nihilinn Cult Members, Grez asked for Lord Death to summon them to his Necropolis. The former servant of the Death God asked for the document and quickly asked about Caic’s whereabouts.
Neither Velkora or Grez cared about him being gone. The Monks racism towards Dwarves even applied to his companions. Velkora meanwhile just hated Caic specifically. Though the fact that he served Orabaras’ main enemy in the God pantheon did not help matters.
Before the three could argue about saving the Dwarf, Rose returned. When she heard what had happened, she begged them to put aside their hate of him and go look for the Paladin. Reminding the two dissenters how useful his skills would be against Nihillin’s hordes wasn’t enough. But Grez eventually got fed up and said he would travel back to Mongress and ask Caethia about the Dwarf’s location.
Usually when he tried to summon the Demoness she would come, if just to taunt him. This time however, he only got silence. Caethia was not in a talking mood apparently. Frustrated, Grez returned to Lord Death.
Wrap Up:
The party is now split up. They have not completed the ritual to break Caic’s curse. Worse, the Paladin is now trapped in Kranaak’s realm all alone. The remaining three members might still be alive, but with their minds broken, their spirits taxed, and trust between them quickly deteriorating, its clear what Caethia’s true goal was all along. Will they be able to recover from this defeat? Only time will tell.