Cycle of Millennia 2021 Session 28: The Point of No Return
Here is week 28 of my 2021 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Lets go over session 28: The Point of No Return.
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 little rest when they returned to Lord Death. Trouble was looming all around and they had to make an important choice. But before they and their Death Knight allies could deliberate, the most dangerous and persistant of their foes made their move.
Kranaak attacked the Necropolis, finally revealing where the legions of hell had been planning to attack all along. Lord Death sent them away in a hurry. He warned them that they would not be able to return for a long time.
The party approached Innovia City warily given that they were still wanted fugitives. But the guards told the archer to hold their fire. The group was expected today.
Moshe however wanted to have quite a few words with the party. Important conversation that the group had hoped to put off. Unfortunately, they ran out of the little time they had. It turned out that their “ally” was anything but. In fact the truth was worse than whatever fiction the party imagined.
A Lich Revealed:
Moshe wasn’t a power hungry cultist plotting to kill the Death Knights and steal their power. He was far more formidable with his own skills. The not Human revealed that he was actually the Archlich Rul’khaec, leader of Nihilinn’s entire order.
He revealed he wanted the party to leave Innovia and let the country fall to the God of Death. Rul’khaec asked them why they cared about this country at all. None of the citizens of the country had respected them. The ones in Scholars Way had even insulted their intelligence.
They realized that the Lich had been tricking them from the start. Even their interactions with the townsfolk were being called into question. The web continued to grow thicker. The party was only starting to see the spiders that had built it.
The group refused to leave Innovia City. Grez wanted to kill the rogue Death Knights and take back the runes that he deserved. Hadron and Velkora wanted to save Caic. All three of their goals managed to take them deeper into the city. They were about to find out if Moshe would keep his word about removing the barrier around them.
Multi Layered Plan:
Moshe went to Caic. The Dwarf was suspicious even before the “human” started talking. But things really threw the Paladin for a loop when the Lich revealed himself. Rul’khaec told Caic the same things he stated to the rest of the party. The Dwarf was even less willing to leave the city to be slaughtered by the armies of the dead.
He knew about the orphans and their current whereabouts. After killing Silviana, he needed to make things right with Hadron. Saving Innovia was how he intended to do so. Moshe still let him go. Perhaps a final way to convince the Paladin to play nice with Nihilinn.
When Caic exited the prison, he felt Nihilinn’s magic move him. When it faded he saw Hadron Grez and Velkora heading towards him. The three were just as baffled by his appearance as he was. After filling in the gaps of knowlegde between the four, the rushed towards the Charice Temple.
Temple Besieged:
It turned out that Nihilinn’s armies were on the move. The courtyards in front of the main temple were now completely overrun with Undead. Creatures that stood between the party and their collective goals. Even multiple Witches, and swarms of Ghouls could not keep the group pinned down for long.
But while the group fought towards the front gates, even more monsters came in from the rear. The party might have been demigods in their own right, but even the four of them could not handle such a massive force of enemies. A good thing that they had allies too. Berseker Knights fought their way into the courtyard. It seemed that Rul’khaec no longer cared about preventing violence in this city.
Antoinette appeared to lead the Berserker Knights. Countless Witches fell by her hands. With a ton of pressure taken away from the group, only Ghouls stood between them and the Charice Cathedral.
But even though they were elite soldiers, there were not enough Berserker Knights to take on Undead forces of this magnitude. A good thing that the Paladins who were already a welcome sight in Innovia managed to reach the courtyards as well. Calni and Oswald appeared to help. This really was the point of no return. So many of their allies were now fighting in aid of the party.
Deadly Guest:
The party reached the gates of the Cathedral. Unfortunately, Kranaak wasn’t done causing them trouble. Luna appeared and intended to kill everything in the courtyard before hunting the party down. She made sure they saw all the people they cared about before she engaged Antoinette, Oswald, and Kalni in battle.
Apparently Thea and her own soldiers were coming to join this fight. But it would take her powers to be able to take on Kranaak’s chosen Demon. Even Caethia didn’t pose as much as a threat as the Demon possessing Luna.
For every time Luna killed a person, she drained them of their powers and life force. Her magic was so potent that she had managed to addle the minds of all the Berserker Knights when she appeared. Specifically beings trained for almost their entire lives to slaughter Arch Demons like her.
The group entered the cathedral. The door shattered behind them. Whether it was Luna’s work, the many other powerful beings that were responsible or just an unusual event like a rockslide, the party couldn’t leave here easily. It truly was the point of no return.
Doreena’s Downfall:
There was no time to rest though. Doreena was there to greet them. While she didn’t have another Death Knight to back her up, she had brought along some Necromancers as well as the rune from her fallen ally. A shame that in her enraged state, she had lost most of what made her dangerous in the first place. Screaming about betrayal from allies and enemies, she was not as dangerous as before.
Grez killed her and claimed both runes she held. He didn’t care about the Necromancers. The rest of the group had no trouble killing them. Even for Velkora who had lost a significant amount of her power, they posed little more than an annoyance. And so, in what seemed to be one of the longest days the party had ever experienced, another Death Knight had fallen. Only two more remained.
With nothing standing in their immediate way, the party entered the lower level of the cathedral and searched around. While there were residual signs that this place belonged to the Charice Faithful, this level of the cathedral at least had been claimed by Nihilinn’s horde.
Arrows assaulted the party through the walls. A never-ending menace that the group couldn’t even attack from their current angle. But the Barbarian of all people came up with a solution. Using a tool he had used extensively since the start of this adventure, Hadron summoned animals as live bait to distract the attacks. Meanwhile, the party wandered the halls looking for a way further down.
Along the way they encountered Undead and a couple switches. They still don’t know what hitting all the ones on this level will accomplish, but in all likelihood, it will let them dive even deeper into the underground cathedral.
Wrap Up:
Their adventure in this place might have just started, but the story as a whole has finally hit its point of no return. The end may not be near in the immediate future, but the events happening now have been building since the very start. Nothing will be the same story wise after this.