Cycle of Millennia 2022 Session 61: Into the Charice Temple
Here is week 61 of my 2022 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia, Into the Charice Temple. The party has been here before and are eager to pass through quickly.
Don’t forget that this campaign has been ongoing for over four 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!!!
After tons of enemies slain all over the temple steps, at long last the party reached the main gates of the Charice Temple. And as soon as they entered, the gates closed behind them trapping them from the outside world.
And the three Gods were only getting started. Cut off from their allies, the group now had to take on a Pit Fiend, Balor, and Lich at the same time. Each of these monsters were dangerous on their own. And this entire encounter was a testament to how much the party had pissed off the divine.
The Balor exploding was an issue so Hadron temporarily sent it back to the Abyss while they dealt with the other two. The Lich ended up being the biggest problem of the three. But though the Pit Fiend tried to protect it, soon both had been destroyed, leaving a Balor alone. And given that Grez continually healed everyone, even an exploding Demon was just a minor setback.
Infinite Dead:
Nothing prevented them from going farther inside. And so at long last they left the outside world behind and focused completely on reaching the end of the Charice Temple Hallways and reentering Entropy’s domain.
But considering how long Nihilinn had controlled the city and this temple, the silence they walked into was strange. They didn’t feel safe and summoned more allies to help them.
This time a small army of Druids trained by Artin herself joined the fray. And ironically they were aided by Drow Soldiers. Until recently these two groups would have attacked each other on sight.
A good thing that they called in backup. The hallways were crawling with zombies. The floors, walls, and even the celling were completely overflowing with them. Standing room only and the party was pressed for time.
So the Druids and Drow took the lead and cut them down. A good thing they went first because the corpses regenerated almost instantly and got back up. They weren’t dangerous in small numbers, but the horde couldn’t be killed or defeated.
So the party fought through the halls knowing that these Druids and Drow Soldiers would be fighting for their lives for quite a while, if not until their last breath. But they didn’t complain. The entire world and everyone in it was at stake after all.
A Quick Rest:
After the zombie filled halls, they finally reached a reprieve in the fountain room where they had fought Mariette on their last adventure here. This time, some of their allies talked to them through scrying orbs and updated them on the battles outside.
Things were going better than they hoped. Of course this was likely due to all the dangerous people inside the Temple of Charice. But that meant the party could focus on what was ahead and not behind.
But to reach the portal that would take them into Entropy’s realm, they first needed to go through a winding cave. Last time they had been here, creatures out of the realm of chaos itself had manifested and almost killed them. And as they entered, they found Demon and Devil corpses all over the ground.
Eldritch Emergence:
Velkoara quietly wondered why Entropy might put her own high Priestess in harms way. And she got an answer from the Goddess. Because chaos didn’t discriminate. At least now the woman could alert her friends to the coming danger.
Knowing how dangerous a fight was coming, the party summoned some of the big hitters. This time the entire squad of Death Knights heeded their call. And they brought the Revenants that had hounded the party as cannon fodder. But that wasn’t all. Wylf’s followers heeded that same call. It was nice to have some smaller and less prideful Grez soldiers running around.
At least at first. But not when reality started to flicker and Entropy creatures attacked. Forced to avert their gazes from the eldritch and mind breaking horrors around them, the entire group was forced to fight at a disadvantage. And the Revenant Numbers started to thin.
Realizing that this specific squad would become weaker for the final battle with every loss, the party stuck close and made sure none of the Death Knights met harm. But Grez also cared for his own followers. He grimaced every time one of their number was destroyed or devoured.
Wrap Up:
The party and their allies are still in this cavern of horrors. And its still uncertain how many of them will emerge from this place safely. And for those who do, will they still have their sanity?