Cycle of Millennia 2022 Session 50: Confronting Zaytae
Here is week 50 of my 2022 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. The party once more is fighting a prime Dragon. This time they are confronting Zaytae, the one who let them in here.
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 Zaytae the most powerful and ancient of all Blue Dragons. After their encounter earlier in this same realm, they were ready for just about anything. While Black Dragons served the God of Death, with equally understandable goals, Blue Dragons served Orabaras who had more abstract and complex plans.
Immediately, the Dragon proved that this battle would be different from the last. They pulled the group into powerful and deadly illusions. In addition, Zaytae filled the entire area with a potent sandstorm completely reducing visibility.
Worst of all though, the Blue Dragon had one final trick up its sleeve. Grez had come into this battle feeling confident. After all, the Monk could not be harmed by lightning, the main energy that Blue Dragons used. But he was in for a wake up call. Turned out that brand was still active. Velkoara’s Philosopher’s Stone had not removed it. And Zaytae made use of that fact.
Instead of being protected, Grez shared in his allies pain. Whenever they were struck by lightning, the brand attacked him for unavoidable damage. Realizing the danger, but cut off from his allies, Grez tried to find the Dragon and put an end to them quickly.
Illusions:
That meant that the monk tried hard to ignore the illusion that appeared to distract him. Naturally he knew that Rose couldn’t be standing in front of him. But the illusion kept getting in his way. Worse, some sort of barrier trapped him with this Rose illusion.
The manifestation made fun of him, stating words that he ignored. But Grez dealt with annoyance in one way only. And through the power of violence, destroyed “Rose”. The truth of this illusion was revealed immediately. The manifestation had been a Young Dragon. A sneaky trick, but the damage link was much more dangerous.
Hadron did not fare as well in his illusion. The manifestation appeared as Thea herself. And since he couldn’t take chances against a Witch with her power, he fought as if the real thing was right there. It didn’t help that the Barbarian wasn’t the smartest person.
Using every trick he could, Hadron transformed into a Black Dragon to combat the illusion. But such power broke the spell just long enough for Thea to switch to a Blue Dragon. Realizing the truth didn’t slow the Barbarian down though. After all, he had killed plenty of young dragons now.
Caic fought Denessa in his illusion. Out of all of them, this was the most obvious trick. Denessa wasn’t even in Orabaras’ service. Thus Caic had no issue fighting his was out an illusion. He didn’t even waste words on his foe and easily ignored her own.
Mirr:
Velkoara fought in the deadliest illusion of the bunch. Mirr, Orabaras’ Justiciar was one of the most dangerous beings in the world. On par with Nihilinn’s Liches and Kranaak’s Demon Lords. But the former Cultist refused to believe this was anything more than an illusion. Mirr didn’t use her signature reflection abilities which only made Velkoara more suspicious.
But every time she accused “Mirr” of being an illusion her opponent laughed and asked how she could know that with one hundred percent certainty. Asking questions like whether anything was real. Oh and she revealed to the former Cultist that Grez was nearing death due to being linked to his allies.
Velkoara was not good at taking hits given her squishy and not heavily armored nature. And despite being an illusion, Mirr was attacking with just as much ferocity as the real thing. Thus it dawned on her. This wasn’t Mirr. Zaytae itself was attacking her. And directly.
Truths:
As the other three broke free from their illusions, Mirr revealed the truth of this battle to Velkoara. Yes Zaytae was in front of her, but so was Mirr. Because Mirr and Zaytae were the same person. And not in the Dragon messing with mortal sort of way.
Realizing the sheer danger standing in front of her, Velkoara tried negotiating. She would even rejoin Orabaras if it meant that the group would survive. Naturally she held no illusions that this battle was hopeless. The party had already been beaten brutally they last time they had clashed with Mirr.
Zaytae/Mirr told Velkoara that just out of sight, Grez was succumbing to wounds. The former Cultist rushed to save him. Mirr didn’t stop her.
The rest of the party reached Zaytae and realized as the Dragon easily shifted between its Dragon form and into Mirr what they truly faced. But they had no choice but to win this time. And Zaytae seemed to be willing to let them try.
Wrap Up:
The Dragon has lowered many of its protection spells. And the Dragon form is weaker than Mirr, the humanoid one. Perhaps the party has a chance of victory. But of course this whole thing could be a trick created by Orabaras to lead them further astray.