Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 27: Reunions
Here is week 27 of my 2021 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Lets go over session 27: Reunions.
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!!!
Grez chased after Sneak Peak. The Stone Giant could not be allowed to wreak havoc across the world again. Unfortunately, it had been too long since the Monk dealt with this one’s antics. And he was about to end up disappointed.
Sneak Peak escaped. His size didn’t seem to stop him. The Giant was a Rouge despite all logic being against such a thing. Even with Grez removing half the water from the river, he managed to get away. A couple hairs from a certain magical item made before the apocalypse were the only signs that the Giant had ever been there.
Artin was not amused by all the splashing. The party at this point had given up trying to save Mongress given things with Orabaras. The people would never be returning to their former city. The Druid however had not given up and she intended to work with the Orcs and even Dark Elves for a better tomorrow.
After failing to nab Sneak Peak, the party proceeded to their next order of business. Moshe needed them to convinced Henrick and Mariette to go with them to the capital. The party suspected he had some nefarious reason to make this request. But they were backed into several corners and without Caic.
The Party flew to the capital on Hadron’s Dragon form. Along the way, the Barbarian made talk with the noble and his wife. As did Velkora. Grez however ran to the city on his own and refused to talk to them at all.
Unwelcome Return:
Once the group made it to Innovia City, the guards on the wall trained bows on the group. They were wanted criminals after all. But Moshe soon appeared and told the group that so long as they remained in his good graces, he would protect them from the law. But he admitted at this point he could do little for the Dwarf. He had created too many problems for himself.
Moshe escorted the nobles into the city. But before the group could leave, the Nihilinn Cultist told them he wanted to talk to them away from prying ears. Whatever had him worried was something the group wanted to check out.
He told them that Charice Priests were making use of Magic they learned from Nihilinn. Most importantly, the head priest of their entire order was present. Moshe needed them to stop this ritual by any means necessary. If they succeeded, he would not only let them into the city safely, but would remove their restrictions and allow them to fight properly.
The party was suspicious but decided to check it out. It was clear that Moshe had his own agenda. And this was only more clear when he offered to kill a few of the other Nihilinn Cultists maintaining the barrier around the Death Knights. Grez almost stopped this discussion. He wanted to make these kills himself. But the other two of the group outvoted him. Moshe remarked about how much he loved Democracy.
Impasse:
The group returned to Lord Death hoping he would have some sort of solution. They didn’t want to help Moshe. Still, they wanted to understand why he would be so afraid of the Charice faithful drawing upon the power of Nihilinn.
Lord Death told them that he couldn’t find the other cultists. Naturally, when they told him about what Moshe had told the group, he was outraged. After all Lord Death stood opposed to Nihilinn. He and his Death Knights put the dead back in the ground. That the Charice Faithful would try to get in on the act kept him explaining in extreme detail all the problems.
Party returned to Scholars Way. And with the many different ways they had to detect magic, it didn’t take them long to find their target. The Ritual chamber was not taking sufficient precautions against others finding it.
They encountered Luciano, leader of the Charice Faithful. Their attempts at stealth failed and he made sure they knew he was aware of each of them. Reminding them that Caic’s life was in his hands, he warned against attacking him. Especially when he pointed out that they both opposed Nihilinn. This ritual in the hands of Charice would save lives.
The party was having none of that. Especially when one of the nearby students talked about the target of their resurrection. A young woman who had been in Iron. Strange, half this party had been there a long time ago. But when the student mentioned the manner of her death, it was clear that Hadron and Grez knew this corpse in life.
Potent Ritual:
He commanded his adherents to start a ritual to resurrect the person of interest. Now the three had even more reason to stop it. Unfortunately, Luciano admitted that the three were too dangerous to simply take down by conventional means. So he used some magic of his own to stop the group.
When the party tried to be defiant against whatever Luciano had planned, he summoned a swarm of angels. It had been a long time since the group had fought them. And this variant had never engaged the group in battle before.
They proved more than a match for the party. It turned out that the groups ignorance to this foe’s power was deadly. The Angels were able to brutally fight back with their many spells and enchanted weapons.
Velkora in desperation cast magic on all her former magical items to use as explosives. Most of her former items would never work for her again. She could always find new artifacts. Her life was only hers one time. And if she died, there was no telling what afterlife she would go to. Three evil Gods all marked her as an enemy or traitor.
Desperation:
Her explosive tactic ended up being quite useful. As she slaughtered many of the angels, the rest cursed her name. Calling her a “foul witch of Orabaras.” She was focused by them all. Without her magical armor or protective items, Velkora was powerless in the face of Angelic holy wrath.
Grez soon fell along side her. Even in his empowered form there were just too many enemies. He had even used his artificial moon to transform into a great ape. That had backfired spectacularly. The Angels claimed that he had stolen this power from Wulf. Once more he had some connection to this God. They vowed to kill the others. But Grez they would take alive for questioning.
Unfortunately for the Angels, they had ignored one combatant. Hadron was a Berserker Knight. While Grez and Velkora were easy picking for their holy power, the Barbarian was another story. He absorbed holy energy. The Angels couldn’t harm him. Seeing a long but drown out victory coming. He transformed into a Dragon to speed the process along.
Once the Angels were slain, the party watched as the Charice faithful celebrated their breakthrough. The group had not won the fight fast enough. Hadron was the only one conscious and so got to witness with horror as someone he recognized started moving on her own.
Luciano fled before Hadron could focus his rage on an enemy that had jumped to near the top of his hit list. But a corpse was animating. Hadron recognized a certain fallen friend. And prepared to fight Belwyn. A companion he had thought fallen.
Digging Deeper:
Meanwhile from his prison cell, Caic overheard some of Moshe’s troops discussing that the Paladin was slated to be executed. Naturally the Dwarf didn’t like that. He liked less how the guards discussed how the fool could have avoided all of this if he hadn’t run his mouth.
Before he could learn more. Matron Silviana appeared and told the troops to leave. This confirmed that she was working with Moshe. Even if he hadn’t known about her affiliations, a certain scent was heavy on her now. Turned out she had no reason to hide her allegiances anymore.
Of course her aura smelled of Death. So Moshe was telling the truth. She really did serve Nihilinn. What had happened to this kids? She soon told him the truth. The Charice Faithful had taken them. Her pride and joy was gone. There was only one thing she could do now.
Silviana let Caic out of his cell. Not out of some misguided attempt to help him. Oh no. Her feelings towards the blind seer at least were genuine. She declared that he would die because of his cruel murder of her mentor.
Unfortunately, the Matron had a surprise for the Dwarf. She managed to send Henrick, not as a zombie, but as a mind controlled thrall who was controlled by her power to attack. Considering it self defense, the Paladin attacked them both.
Bitter Fight:
Caic attacked and killed Henrick. He showed the man no mercy and only wondered for a few moments how Grez would feel about this kill. The Monk had claimed that this one belonged to him.
The Matron laughed at Caic’s foolishness. She reminded the Dwarf which God she served as she resurrected him. As a Zombie, Henrick was no less powerful than in life. But now he had no qualms against attacking them both.
Caic ran past Henrick and struck down Silviana. That was yet another person killed with a deep connection to a friend. How Hadron would handle this new was unknown. But this wasn’t the end of his troubles.
Something happened towards the end of the fight. As Henrick’s corpse fell to the ground, tendrils emerged from below and pulled the body downwards and away. Caic didn’t know what to make of it. Instead he focused on Silviana’s last words.
She laughed at him again. Calling him a fool, she stated he would join her in death soon. She muttered something else, but the Paladin wasn’t paying her much heed. He had bigger things to worry about.
The fight hadn’t gone unnoticed. Luckily, Henrick was nowhere to be found. But Silviana was dead and he was the prime suspect of her murder. Charice Faithful stormed into the room. They pointed out that killing a person right in front of his prison cell was one of the most illogically stupid things a man sentenced for murder could do.
The fact that he had left corpses behind was proof he was a murderer. He was put back in his cell, and told by the Charice Faithful that his execution would be soon.
Draconic Reunion:
Back at the ritual site, Hadron spoke to the resurrected and zombified Belwyn. At first the Barbarian didn’t know what to say. It had been so long since the two had talked. They had been friends even before meeting the others. Given that Belwyn at least understood part of what was going on only meant that while she had been dead, her soul had gone somewhere.
The two had a lot to say to each other. But before anything else, the now zombified Paladin still had use of her healing powers. She woke up the unconscious Grez and Velkora. The Monk had a lot to say to her. But first he prepared to fight, assuming that Belwyn was not in control of her thoughts at all.
Velkora however had a different question to ask. When the party had traveled with Belwyn in a time so long ago, she had told them after much prodding that she was a Dragonborne. In her current state, that hood she had always used to hide most of her face was gone. Now that she could no longer hide who she was, The former Cultist realized something remarkable. The Paladin wasn’t just a Dragonborn. She was an actual Dragon
Honesty:
The paladin revealed as such by transforming and showing for the first time, her metallic scales. Grez and Hadron tried to convince her to stay put. They couldn’t be too sure that she wasn’t still being controlled. Hadron also had a distaste for Undead completely at this point. She turned them down and told the group she was heading for the realm of Dragons where her affliction could be removed.
It turned out that Charice’s faithful had revived her. Something about their ritual was different and she had returned free of Nihilinn’s influence. Though Grez demanded her again and again to prove that point. They had been betrayed far too many times.
Wrap Up:
But the fact that Charice succeeded at all is troubling. Too many pieces still don’t add up. Just what is going on in Innovia? How many players in a game the group doesn’t understand?
The party is ready to return to Moshe and find out if he will help them at all. And they need to hurry. Caic’s life depends on it. And several more innocent ones as well.