SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: THE END IS NEAR PT 3, 10/24/17 - THE FINALE

The Heroes:

·   Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer healer

·     Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer wizard

·     Kane Arroway: human warrior fighter sharpshooter

·     Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut spirit warrior

Picking up where we left off, our heroes had just confronted Katandramus and the Brotherhood of Shadows as they performed a ritual that tore a hole in the sky above Crossings in order to let the Demon Lord into this world.  Gruntbelly had been killed by a spell cast by Inquisitor Masivar and Katandramus himself was in the center of the town square, surrounded by a protective field of magic as he completed the ritual while his Dark Brothers and demon servant attacked the heroes.

Ecna recovered from his injuries enough to restore Gruntbelly to life.  Gruntbelly used his magic to get out of the danger zone and, after healing up, they provided support to Mathias, who was fighting the demon and the cultists toe-to-toe, while Kane rained down arrows from his perch.  As they whittled away at the cultists, the tear in the sky widened revealing a great, red eye (the Demon Lord?).  Also as they fought, Kane saw several cultists disappearing across the square as a blur moved from building to building apparently taking them out. 

To make matters worse, the ground begins to tremble, and at a distance outside of the city, they see the enormous bulk of the Destroyer of Worlds, approaching Crossings. 

Katandramus completes the ritual and focuses his attentions on the heroes.  Using the Eye of the Demon Lord, he unleashes wave upon wave of destructive energy upon the heroes, forcing them to use every resource at their disposal to avoid being disabled or killed. 

Gruntbelly uses his magic to pound away at the barrier protecting Katandramus and finally brings it down.  Mathias risks moving away from the demon to confront the cult leader and draws the Sword of Unmaking to end his threat, but as the weapon comes down upon Katandramus, it stops and refuses to hit him!  Katandramus laughs and explains that the sword and the eye are brethren and will not harm each other.  But his amusement is short lived as Gruntbelly strikes him with magic that stuns the cultist and then the blur that had been aiding them throughout the battle, emerges from a building and reveals herself as Lucretia!  She attacks the defenseless Katandramus, tearing out his throat and feasting upon his blood.  As he dies, his connection to the ritual maintaining the tear in the sky ends and it begins to close, locking the Demon Lord away once again.

At this point, the tremors become so intense that its all the heroes can do to stand and they see that the Destroyer of Worlds is at the city gates.  Buildings around them fall, and the very earth erupts in stone and magma at the demon prince’s approach. 

The heroes find their magic carpet nearby and use it to fly to the Destroyer of Worlds.  They fly above the enormous abomination and Mathias drops down upon it from above, attempting to use the Sword of Unmaking on the monster.  But Mathias is unable to get a good strike on the demon prince initially, and the Sword of Unmaking begins to unmake him instead!  Finally, thanks to assistance from his friends, Mathias gets two solid strikes on the Destroyer of Worlds, and the demon is unmade and disappears.

The heroes scoop up the falling Mathias, head back to the partially destroyed Crossings and take stock of what has happened.

Kane’s family are found safe.

Ecna recovers Stohk Ironbrow’s body and uses his magic to restore the dwarf to life.

Most of the town’s leadership is dead, along with the inquisitors that had imprisoned Randofus, Crowley and many others.  Randofus remains alive, but gives up his title of Inquisitor to wander the land seeking a deeper truth. 

At this point, the heroes settle down for a well-deserved rest, as they have saved the world from certain destruction.  But elsewhere, the Great Dragon stirs in its mountain, awakened by these disturbances, and a great hunger burns in its belly…

SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: THE END IS NEAR, PT 2, 10/17/17

The Heroes:

·     Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer healer

·     Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer wizard

·     Kane Arroway: human warrior fighter sharpshooter

·     Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut spirit warrior

The heroes finish off the cultists in the tower and spot out the windows activity happening outside.  They look and see that the wall that had prevented them from entering the central part of town was going down, probably as a result of their stopping the cultists.  But as this occurs, the glowing fey spires begin to glow brighter and then each emit a bright beam of power that converge upon a central location in the skies above Crossings.  There, the space begins to warp and a dark hole appears in the sky, unnervingly similar to the hole that the Destroyer of Worlds emerged from just days earlier.  The heroes also spot activity on the ground directly below the hole in the sky.

The heroes rush down to the ground level and take their flying carpet towards the area where this is occurring.  The turbulence caused by the energy beams and the hole in the sky causes the rug to go haywire and it bucks the two dwarfs and jotun off.  They fall roughly to a nearby rooftop.  Kane holds on to the rug for a few moments, then drops to another nearby rooftop.  The group converge in an alley and spot the area where they saw activity and see more cultists in the town market square.  They also spot someone having been crucified in that area, likely being sacrificed in the ritual that is activating the fey towers.

Mathias moves in first, sneaking up to the nearest building and climbing in the 2^nd floor window, surprising the cultist there.  Kane follows and the two fight the cultist while Ecna and Gruntbelly proceed on the street level.  Gruntbelly spots a spellcaster on a nearby roof and uses his magic to summon a burst of wind, knocking the cultist off the roof.  This alerts other nearby cultists, who proceed to move in on the two dwarves and attack. 

The market square is a flurry of activity.  The center of the square is a whirlwind of energy with the leader of the Brotherhood of Shadows, Katandramus, at its center, apparently driving the ritual.  Surrounding him are several cultists, many appearing inhuman with red skin and horns, others appear to be normal humans, but all bearing the robes of the brotherhood.  Among them the heroes spot Inquisitor Masivar and they also spot a large demon on a rooftop. 

Mathias and Kane finish off the cultist in the building and the joten changes into a bird and tries to fly to Katandramus, but is stopped by the barrier created by the energies swirling around the cult leader. 

Ecna and Gruntbelly manage to kill some cultists, but the numbers pressing in on them result in Gruntbelly going down.  He survives for a time until Masivar casts a spell in that area and the dark tentacles he summons kills the dwarf!

Kane, Ecna and Mathias are left and things look grim as the cultists and demon bear down upon them and, as they look  upward, the see an impossible large, red and inhuman eye peering through the widening hole in the sky…

End of session.

SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: THE END IS NEAR, PT 1, 10/10/17

The Heroes:

·     Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer healer

·       Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer wizard

·       Kane Arroway: human warrior fighter sharpshooter

·       Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut spirit warrior

The heroes traverse the mountain paths rapidly, attempting to get far away from the massive demon that tore away from the Void and devoured the keep they had just left.  Having successfully acquired the Sword of Unmaking, the heroes seek out their ride, but sadly find the wreckage of the airship and the bodies of the crew and the captain, Corin Ironmonger.  They take the body of Corin, wrapped in funerary fashion, and continue their journey on their enchanted rug, flying over the Iron Peaks and on towards Foundry.  Mindful of the creature that took down the airship, they scan the skies for any signs of predators and as they leave the mountains they spot a dragon flying in the distance, but the heroes manage to duck into a cloud to avoid notice.

Upon reaching Foundry, the heroes make their way to the Ironmonger compound to take Corin’s body to his younger brother, Basch.  The young dwarf seemed unaffected by his brother’s demise and simply orders the guards to take him in.  The heroes inform Basch that Corin had promised the return of the Iron Titans to take back to their father in Crossings, but the youth simply told them to check back with him later.

The heroes spend the night in a lodge and the following day they head to where Corin’s offices were located.  Trying to get in to see Basch, they get the run around and have to force their way into the office, where Basch seems to be laying down his law of how things will be run.  The heroes again insist on the return of the Iron Titans and Basch initially refuses, but is convinced by the heroes’ insistence and his production manager’s reminder that Basch’s father wanted these in Crossings as defense against orcs.  Basch reluctantly agrees and the manager takes the heroes down to the hangar where the titans were being  fixed.  The titans remember the heroes and seem eager for battle, so the heroes ride upon them through the city of Foundry, drawing stares of awe and amazement from the citizens along the way. 

The journey back to Crossings is long and so the heroes take the titans through the Silver River country and go through a few orc villages.  Word of their heroism against the orc resistance tribe that had been sacking the orc settlements looking for and forcibly taking recruits for the resistance preceded them and they were allowed passage without hindrance.  It seems allowing the orc captive they found in the caves to live worked to their advantage.  They cross the Silver River at the only bridge that traverses it and pass by several small human settlements, where they hear the news that the invading orcs from the south have made it up to Thorpe and are making their way to Crossings.  The heroes continue on their journey and make it to the Crossings countryside where they see the orcs had just arrived before them – hundreds of them at the East and South Gates.  As they approach the city, they also note that the fey spires that have been dormant for centuries, are now glowing.

Mathias, somewhat hungry for battle, spurs the team on towards the East Gate where the orc force is smaller, and the three Iron Titans tear through the orcs in a bloody scene of mass carnage.  Many of the orcs flee to the South Gate to alert their army’s leader and the heroes manage to free the East Gate, which opens and allows them entry.  They are celebrated by the guards within the walls, but don’t stay long before moving towards the South Gate to deal with the main force of orcs.  As they move through town, the fey spires begin arcing magical energy from one to another.  When they get to the South Gate, they decide to leave the Iron Titans with the captain of the guard and they head towards the Purse district where the energy began emanating from.  The group goes to one of the spires and find it glowing so brightly that they cannot look directly at it without risking blindless.  They also note that a barrier of energy is preventing anyone from passing through the spires, and some who had tried were in the area, horribly burned.  

As they pass the West Gate, they note a force of orcs there as well, but the heroes continue on to address the activity with the spires as Gruntbelly has determined that this amount of power being summoned could only be for one purpose, which is to punch a big hole into the Void. 

They reach the Purse district and notice the tower of the wizard Caribdus is open and light is emanating from its peak.  Gruntbelly goes to investigate and finds the tower, which is normally larger on the inside than the outside, due to dimensional magicks, is now a normal stone structure with a stair leading up the wall to the peak of the tower where the light is coming from.  He rushes up the stairs, the others following behind, and bursts into the room to find several of the Brotherhood of Shadow involved in a ritual, and four demons protecting them.  The demons attack Gruntbelly and when the others arrive to the peak, they all fight through the demons and kill  off the cultists to disrupt the ritual, whatever its purpose.

End of session.

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