Ah the bittersweet finale of our campaign. It’s been a lot of fun but all things must come to an end. Of course we were expecting a hard fight, and with half the group still recovering form past battles we weren’t exactly in top form. Things were looking rather dangerous.
Our cast
“Lyndy” the Rogue
“Andy” the Druid
Sey the Warden
Hawthorne the Bard
Alec the Warlord
Having bested the undead hordes the party set forth once more in pursuit of Fayne and her captor. Coming around a corner in the cavern a glistening pool caught the Bards trained eye. A mystical aura permeated it and with a little testing he discovered it contained healing properties. Lyndy and Alec wasted no time taking a drink and watched in amazement as wounds closed and an invigorating wave flowed through them.
A nice little helping hand to us at this point. Without the healing pool its likely we wouldn’t have survived, half of us were down to one healing surge and the rogue was completely out with little health. The pool healed us up and gave some surges back, and we were able to bottle some for later. Which turned out to be a brilliant idea from yours truly.
Having cleansed and healed their wounds, and bottled what little water remained in case of need the group prepared to move onward when the Druid felt a presence watching them. Around a great boulder just ahead of them he spied a scaled hand gripping the rock, large claws digging into the stone as the creature perched behind it.
Holding up his hand Andy slowed their progress and motioned towards the creature then whispered, “A cave chocker I think. Hungry, vicious, but not very intelligent. Easily scared as well.”
The Warden and Warlord looked at each other then stepped forward, raising up their arms and growling then looked like a pair of armored marionettes stalking the beast. With squeak of fear it darted off into the shadows, being none to quiet as its foot falls echoed into silence.
More a skill test then anything else. Perception for the Druid, intimidation for the others. Not sure if we would have had to fight him on failures, but we passed by without issues so it became a mute point.
Moving forward the sound of rushing and crashing water could be heard, and the air began to take on a chill. Their breath steaming before them the party entered another great cavern, a river dotted with chunks of ice flowing down its center and a very rickety bridge crossing. At the far end the spell sword stood, his blade glowing crimson, with Fayne unconscious upon the ground behind him.
“You have arrived. Then come now and face me fools. You die by my blade or you scurry back into the dark and slowly die in this place of death.”
Raising his hand he spoke an incantation and from the shadows to elven archers appeared, bows at the ready.
In his normal fashion Alec charged forward, blade raised, but before he could reach the bridge and massive shape dropped from above. He stepped back just in time and brought up his guard as he stared into the multifaceted eyes of a massive deathjump spider.
Our Warlord had alot of things almost fall on his head over the course of the campaign, and none ever quiet hit. He was surprisingly spry for a guy in heavy armor. Oh, and let it be said that deathjump spiders are scary bastards, took forever to kill the damn thing, in all honesty it was a tougher fight then the actual spell sword.
The next few minutes were tense, Alec and Sey met the great beast, staving off its fangs with shield and blade while the rest attempted to deal with the archers from afar. In a great show of skill Lyndy dropped to one knee and pulling his crossbow sent three shots in quick succession into one archer, toppling the man into the frigid waters. Meanwhile Andy brought forth the whip of vines that had served him so well and gripped the leg of the other, pulling him too into the depths. Unfortunately he, unlike his companion, survived his plunge and managed to pull himself to shore. Hawthorne stood in the rear, singing softly as he passed life energies to the Warlord.
Suddenly a bolt of energy flew from the Spellswords hand, lighting arced through the air and struck Sey, searing his skin and nearly knocking to his knees.
Our Rogue was rolling hot, a crit, an extra attack thanks to one of the Warlord’s powers, and then an action point let him kill his target before he even had a chance to fight back. The Druid showed jsut how potent that thorn whip can be once again, and meanwhile I was rolling twos and merely using my healing abilities to try and serve some kind of purpose. The Spellswords little lighting strike luckly didn’t have alot of bite but it was enough to be a pain. It immobilized its target for a turn.
With a great swipe of his blade Alec nearly lopped off one of the spiders legs. The creature lept through the air and over the river to land on a large rock jutting from its center. Its mandibles clicking it spit poison towards its attacker and then screamed as its psyhic energy began to toy with its simple mind, confusion anger filling its thoughts as insults flowed through it, too much to bear it dropped dead and the Bard smiled as the last lines of the song left his lips. Lyndy slid into a better position and let fly more bolts, impaling the remaining archer to the wall. Sey stood helpless as he watched the spell sword raise his hand to send another bolt of power, this time striking Alec.
With feeling returning to his legs Sey charged forward across the bridge to face the Spellsword, now all alone. Their blades clashed together but the aura of the man clawed at the Warden. Andy attempted his whip and stared in shock as its tip was shredded by glowing blades of crimson light. Meanwhile Hawthorne tried in vain to strike the man’s mind and Alec sent a javelin towards him that was knocked aside by the swirling blades of light.
I got a lucky hit with the spider so at least I got to kill something. The Rogue stayed in top form killing the other archer. The Warlord and Warden continued to do what they were meant for, take a beating and the Druid kept his whip handing.
While Sey and the Spellsword matched bladed Lyndy began his own run across the bridge, then with a sudden leap the little halfling clamber up the Goliath Warden’s leg and somersaulted into the air and over the enemy. Just as he began to pass the burst of light sent him reeling as a crimson blade shot out, twisting he brought his own blade to block and was knocked sideways, splashing down into the water. He choked and sputtered as he pulled himself to shore, but he’d made his goal, he was now behind the target.
Andy continued in vain sending his whip to harass the Spellsword while Hawthorne kept up his chant.
The Rogue’s little acrobatic display was pretty neat to see, and even in partial failure it got the job done. Meanwhile that damn aura was giving us all a pain. He didn’t hit particularly hard, but we couldn’t even hit him for the most part, not sure of the exact bonus it gave him but it was substantial.
Charging up behind the man Lyndy began to bring up his blade when Hawthorne caught his eye. Miming a potion he pointed towards the falled Fayne. Nodding the Rogue pulled the bottle of mystical water from his pouch and dripped it upon the woman’s lips. Her eyes opened slowly, then seeing her captors back she smiled slightly and whispered a soft incantation. The aura glowed brighter for a moment, then faded to nothing. With a curse the man spun just as Fayne faded from view. Looking at the rogue he growled, jsut in time for the halflings blade to slide into his gut.
He spun again and seeing the goliath with blade ready took a step, and appeared halfway across the bridge, his back to a corner and his eyes glowing crimson. His Eldarin features took on a demonic cast as he cursed them.
“So you’ve freed my sister, I will still slay you all.”
The Rogue and I actually argued a bit over awakening her, but I figured it was the last encounter and it was worth a shot. If nothing else it might give us and extra body in the fight. Having her take down the aura was a godsend. Finding out she was the bad guy’s sister was surprise, and a bit of foreshadowing.
Before anyone could reach him a great wave of flame shot out in all directions, the Druid and Warlord were bathed in flames and knocked backwards into the river. Only luck allowed them to reach the shore once more, and a potion of healing from the Bard allowed Alec to regain his feet, though burns still marred his flesh.
Sey charged forward again, and this time his blade was unhindered. It hacked through armor with ease and blood flowed for the first time from the villain. Lyndy followed that up with a few more arrows before the wave of flame once more rose up. Though burnt the Warden and Rogue gripped the bridge as they fell and avoided the water’s icy embrace.
A nasty little area of effect attack from the Spellsword, especially considering his location. Did somewhere between five to ten damage and knocked everyone in range two squares. Thankfully I stay the hell out of range.
Unfortunately the Spellsword had no chance to send out his fires again, the thorn whip struck true and he found himself toppling into the waters. Then just as he began to drift the great hand of Sey pulled him from up and a great fist sent him into dreams.
As the group looked at one another, inventorying wounds and inspecting supplies the sound of clapping hands could be heard. Fayne stepped froth from the shadows with a smile upon her face.
“You have done it, you have cleared the path and dealt with my brother. Thank you, I have your reward here.”
Hawthorne, ragged and weary squared his shoulders and stood straight.
“I think a bit more then offered might be appropriate, we did save your life after all.”
With another mile Faye agreed and added more coins to the bag. Then as she handed them over her features began to shift. Pale skin took on a slightly darker hue and her eyes became flecked with crimson. Like her brother before her she had taken on a demonic visage, still beautiful, but corrupted.
“Thank you again from clearing the way, the key to the portal is in my brothers sword pommel. Now I must say goodbye my little minions.”
And with that she disappeared. Leaving the party to wonder what evils they may have unleashed upon the world.
And thus ended season one of the Dungeons and Dragons Encounters program. I had a blast through it all and was sorry to see it end. Hopefully season three which starts in the fall will allow me to return to Hawthorne. Season two you see takes place on Athas the world of the Dark Sun campaign. It’s all pre-generated characters since the system hasn’t been released yet and it’s like a fifth teen week preview. I volunteered to DM for this one so the next batch of articles will have a different angle to them that I hope people will find interesting.