Cycle of Millennia 2022 Session 63: Realm of Nihilinn
Here is week 63 of my 2022 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia. Grez dives into the Realm of Nihilinn to save his friends’ souls.
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!!!
Grez dove into the Realm of Nihilinn God of Death to save the souls of his friends. He was pressed for time too. If Moshe was telling the truth, time flowed faster in the world above than here. Every second he wasted could cost minutes, or even hours. To save the world from three mad Gods and at least one well meaning one, he had no chance to plan.
Naturally Grez didn’t remain alone long. Though Nihilinn could not kill him, being that the Monk was also one of the fundamental laws of the setting, the God of Death had plenty of tricks to slow him down. Like the hordes of mindless dead in his path.
Grez wasn’t able to just run past them. Nor could he fly over. But he could use his powers to melt the corpses and make a quick fight. But Zombies were not the only trick the God of Death had at its disposal. A wicked altar set at the heart of this realm had the power to even weaken a God. Wylf among those Gods who was in danger. Grez naturally fled from there.
But one final trick slowed him down the most. The ground beneath his feet hid monsters. The kind that kept appeared and blinded him by wrapping their bodies around his head. They didn’t pose a threat to the God, but they slowed him down, which was arguably worse.
Kranaak’s Power Play:
But like all things that had been in Grez’s way, he simply destroyed all these obstacles. And at long last he caught up to Saleh, one of the two Liches that had his friends Souls. The two exchanged a few words, but a third party made an appearance that was arguably worse and unexpected.
Initially Hadron’s soul appeared on its own. Wylf was a God and knew this instinctually. But there was something else inside that Soul. And it didn’t belong here.
Kranaak naturally had to make an appearance given his chaotic nature. After revealing that Hadron’s powers had been bestowed by the God of Madness himself, he laughed about how this pawn had let him into Nihilinn’s realm. All according to plan.
But Kranaak wasn’t done. He asked Grez if he remembered their time adventuring together in a prior cycle? But that was a memory that Wylf had kept away. The Monk didn’t remember. The God of Madness then pointed out that this party would fail too, just like theirs did.
Grez yelled at Kranaak and declared that this would be the final time. He would win in this cycle. Naturally the God of Madness laughed at him. And had another trick to play.
Battle Between Gods:
Hadron’s body fully materialized and his eyes glowed in a way that Grez knew quite well. Kranaak had taken over his body and intended to try and deal with Wylf himself.
Strange how the two had wanted to battle again. In fact it sounded like Hadron and Grez wanted to battle only a little less than Kranaak and Wylf. Fate was strange and that was considering two Gods who had control over it were facing off in the realm of a third.
Nihilinn had minions nearby though, specifically a really powerful Lich. But Kranaak was a God after all and sealed that adversary in an unbreakable sphere. At least Kranaak wanted to enjoy this fight all by himself.
And fight they did. Kranaak empowered Hadron to the point where even a God was put on the back pedal. But Grez was on a mission and Kranaak was a master of madness, not combat. And so Wylf won out. But it wasn’t over.
Madness Over Death:
One very vivid memory came back to Grez. Something Wylf remembered quite well. Kranaak was a sore loser.
Hadron’s form changed into that of a Dragon. Naturally what else would Kranaak turn him into? And The God of Madness let his power fully engulf the realm of the dead. Grez fought against illusions, Dragon attacks, and energy that ignored his divine defenses.
Kranaak had plenty of tricks in the world above waiting for the party. So many apparently that he had shown some a bit early and to Grez alone. But Kranaak was only controlling Hadron, and Grez was in complete control of himself right now. There was only one way this battle would end.
But the God of Madness took this defeat relatively well without any words or complaints. The darkness faded away, returning the Realm of Death into a different type of dark world.
Warped Space:
But the barrier protecting Grez from Saleh faded with the God of Madness. And now there was an angry Lich fully intending on carrying out Nihilinn’s will.
Hadron might be assisting Grez now, but he was weakened in this realm. And their opponent could warp space. A perfect power to stall for time. Up became down. Down became left.
And all the while Saleh did some impressive magic worthy of Lichdom. Spells like moving the entire world around and using it as an attack. And Magic that was the same teleportation technique that Witches employed.
But even armed with all these tricks, Saleh couldn’t prevail against Wylf or Hadron. Yet, he was only weakened not defeated. And like Kranaak, it turned out he liked to play games too.
In a moment of weakness, Saleh showed a bit too much pride and let Caic appear too. He apparently felt confident enough while weakened to add the Paladin into the mix.
But just as Kranaak before him, Saleh had some more tricks to use. He warped space once more to create a long gauntlet to where he teleported to. And on the other end of this deadly pathway, he cast repeated spells to send dark energy hurting down towards the party.
The Gauntlet:
Grez could heal his wounds, but Nihilinn blocked all other holy energy in its realm. The group slowly advanced through the gauntlet and past the cursed altar. Still active as they went beyond it.
Wylf of course being faster and being a God reached Saleh first and did his best to beat the death out of him. But it wasn’t enough and eventually The Lich sent him back to the very beginning of the Gauntlet.
Grez didn’t want to go through all that again and hoped the other two could finish the job. He trusted them to do so. After all, why had he come to the realm of Death to save them otherwise.
He was proven right as once more the group overcame this challenge. Like every other fight along the way, they found a solution and won.
After defeat he vanished. But not before laughing one final time. As a Lich his Soul was elsewhere. And that meant soon enough the group would have to deal with him again. Would they be able to prevail under their future conditions?
Unfortunately they had not escaped Nihilinn just yet. There were two Liches guarding their souls. And the second of the two was admittedly more dangerous. Because he could control time.
Wrap Up:
All this is just warmup for what they will be facing once they enter Entropy’s realm once more. But what will they find when they escape from Nihilinn?