Cycle of Millennia 2022 Session 52: Confronting Bolzurtz
Here is week 52 of my 2022 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Cycle of Millennia, Confronting Bolzurtz. After the last Prime Dragon they faced, the group isn’t taking chances. Especially not with a minion of Kranaak.
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 wasted little time and confronted Bolzurtz immediately. They had to hurry. Both Belwyn and Rose were near death. And this Dragon did not desire to kill the group, but to drive them insane just like the Wicked God it served.
But Bolzurtz had other tricks up its sleeve. Some more deadly than other. First the room filled with toxic gas. Grez was able to handle the environment, but the others found more trouble. But the toxins in the air were simply setting the stage. Bolzurtz breathed fire after all. And this arena was filled with highly explosive substances.
Grez was aware of the danger and took evasive action. But Caic and Velkoara were not as lucky. The Prime Dragon warped away from the Monk and tried to finish the rest of the group off. Even as Hadron once more assumed a Dragon form and Grez looked ready for more, the situation looked dire. Naturally things only got worse from there.
Another Enemy:
Eleth appeared. And though she made her intent clear that the party wasn’t her target this time, that gave them little relief. Instead she declared that she would kill the Dragon and claim its soul. Something much worse than what Bolzurtz was capable of on its own.
The Dragon initially expressed shock that Eleth was willing to hunt him right then and there, but the Demon Lord remarked that this was the perfect chance to strike. She knew what the party was capable of. They had defeated her after all. Even if she had held back.
Bolzurtz had more tricks and feats to make use of though. This was the Prime Red Dragon after all. The haze of the Realm of Law faded and was replaced with a place that the group had hoped to never see again. The Drow Forest of Thorns.
Illusions:
But Velkoara felt bullshit from extremely far away and cast detect magic to learn the truth of things here. Which almost proved to be a fatal mistake. This turned out to be the thorns in their memory. And that meant that the nightmarish creatures they had encountered in their real journey here were around.
Grez wanted to reach the Dragon and the Demon Lord who clashed nearby. Though the party couldn’t see them. Too many thorns in the way. The Monk fearlessly attacked fear incarnate and lucked out since they were only potent illusions. This left him free to start burning away the thorns and reach the two fighting Dragons.
Eleth was slowly overpowering Bolzurtz and now the group had to make a terrible choice. Which of these two enemies did they let claim victory. Hadron decided on a third option and charged towards them both. Naturally Grez with his insane speed reached the pair first. But he only got a few blows in before Eleth flung him away in rage. Not before demanding to know why he was so foolish though.
Bolzurtz realized that they were in real danger and warped the party again. This time to the mine where they fought and killed Gonk. Caic was profoundly effected by returning here. But Grez was in a hurry. By memory he navigated the entire mine and reached the fighting Dragons once more.
Icy Truths:
He witnessed Eleth use Ice breath on her opponent. But the Prime Dragon revealed that they had mastered protecting themselves from opposing elements long ago. Specifically in case the Demon lord came hunting.
Once again Grez got a few attacks in. Eleth grew even more annoyed and warped him as far away in the mines as she could away from her prey. But this gave the Dragon another opening and Bolzurtz warped everyone once more.
This time the group appeared in the Icegut Cavern. Caic would have led the way this time. He had after all trained here when he was young. But Grez got the jump on him and the others. He didn’t need to swim when he could freely float.
This time though, the Dragon took a moment to do some good old evil gloating. Bolzurtz revealed that they had founded the Iceguts long ago. So long ago that it had been lost to memory. This had been a tactic to recruit prospective Demon Lords and spot enemies that would be problematic to Kranaak. Caic was enraged by such a trick. Turned out the Demon God’s treachery ran even deeper than he could fathom.
Terrible Mistakes:
Grez weakened Bolzurtz. This turned out to be a mistake and one that the nearby Demon Lord had counted on. Realizing what was about to happen, the Monk froze time. Unfortunately, this time he was completely outplayed. Eleth had a countermeasure to stopping time and broke free.
And so the worst case scenario played itself out. Eleth killed Bolzurtz and took the Dragon’s soul. The group was unsure just how much power she had gained just now, but luckily, the Demon Lord was quite pleased with her prize and vanished after laughing hysterically at Grez and commenting on how predictable he was.
Sacrifices:
With Bolzurtz worse than dead, the Kranaak illusions faded and the party found themselves back in the center chamber. And their fight with the Red Dragon Prime was only the start of an even wore nightmare. The unnamed Copper Dragon finally changed that and appeared one final time before giving up its life to help the party for what was to come.
Grez demanded it answer his questions. But to no avail. Meanwhile the rest of the party was more distracted by Rose and Belwyn. The barrier was crushing them both. But it seemed that the Dragon Paladin had a bit more life left. The former Orabaras Cultist pushed her out of the barrier with unknown magic and got crushed. Alone.
The group were frozen as they watched her gruesome death. All the blood was squeezed out as she was completely crushed flat. But that was only when things grew worse. The force that had created the shield in the first place made a clear appearance.
God of Law:
This was the God of law itself and he took control of Rose’ corpse. Yes he as the God was quickly to proclaim. And now that he was free, he would strip all free will away from the world. Starting with the party.
But just when it looked like this was the end for the group, Grez unleashed some as of yet unknown power. The God of Neutrality screamed about Wylf pulling a trick and decided to kill the party instead. But as they were now fighting the Avatar of a God, it didn’t fight fair. First it put a curse on them that made their armor fade and melt as if it was paper.
And in their moment of vulnerability, the God of Law summoned the souls of the Prime Dragons who now attacked the party under his command.
Wrap Up:
Rose is dead. And the party is fighting against an openly hostile God. Victory means they might get a chance to escape. But what will happen now that a second Neutral God is fully awake?