This time, we're covering two sessions at once because one session was pretty much entirely combat and also I didn't feel well and cut it short after the Thomas battle. But here's the breakdown:
In session fifteen, the dragons and the party launched a horrifying attack on Thomas. They stunned him again and again, preventing him from taking actions, and whittled away his 600 hit points until he was nothing. Once Thomas was finally slain, Brokk beheaded him, and Lethanin used dragon breath to incinerate the body. Immediately, the group split to deal with Thomas's troops: Aurora and Hriskin went to Torga, Lethanin and Wing went to Vestry, and Brokk and Niela went to Drumchapel while Aurix and Jarvia tended to the final concerns with Thomas.
That brought us up to session sixteen, where the combat wasn't exactly over. We started with Aurora and Hriskin, who appeared in the backyard at Heather's shop and home in Torga. They hurried to the Edmund Fitzgerald and found Captain Zamira aboard, but the rest of the crew save for one hand was scattered at bars across town. Aurora suggested gathering the crew and setting sail, but Zamira was more attached to staying with her ship. Growing frantic, Aurora explained that the fabric of reality had been repaired and the god of gods was inept, making Zamira confused and alarmed, and Aurora tried to reason that gathering the crew and hiding would be best. Zamira agreed, and Aurora wrenched the ship's bell and carried it along, clanging it with her wooden sword. Then, in the distance, more than twenty armed soldiers wearing the crest of the Dalton Church of Pelor appeared headed right for Aurora, Hriskin, Zamira, and the hand.
Meanwhile, Lethanin and Wing appeared just outside Vestry at Wing's estate. Lethanin grew anxious and talked about checking his parents' home, and Wing responded by showing him a telescope that viewed locations around Vestry. After some searching, Lethanin was able to spot similar armed soldiers approaching the south gate of the city--the nearest entrance to New Dalton. Wing teleported them there, interposing themselves between the soldiers and the city.
At the same time, Brokk and Niela appeared in Drumchapel at Brokk's home. At Brokk's request, Niela used her dragon form to surveil the nearby area and spot any approaching soldiers. She spotted some and accompanied Brokk to the road, where he stood a ways off from the city and waited for the oncoming soldiers. The leader of the soldiers threatened Brokk and Niela, and Brokk used Form of Dread to terrify the soldiers, scaring eight of them into running off. Brokk intimidated them further, scaring away all but only three--the leader, a cleric, and a dual-wielding swordsman. Niela cracked her knuckles and asked if Brokk wanted any of the soldiers left alive.
At this point, we launched into a massive triple combat. There were two main ways to approach this: resolve each combat one at a time, or do one turn in each combat before switching to the next. To keep momentum up and prevent players from having to sit for too long, I chose alternating between combats. As you'll see, the players went for an interesting approach to these combats that I didn't anticipate and that really changed how things might have gone. Let's get into it.
In Torga: Hriskin asked Aurora if it was okay to transform into a dragon, and Aurora was indifferent. Hriskin transformed into a dragon and took a defensive stance against the soldiers, the latter of which she was joined in by Zamira and the hand. Aurora intimidated the soldiers, scaring off all but six, then cast a spell that shifted gravity radically and distorted the bodies of five of the soldiers; Aurora then magically pulled the distorted bodies back towards her and smashed them with her wooden sword like a baseball player.
In Vestry: Lethanin cast a spell to intimidate the soldiers, but in still learning to cast spells as a dragon, only succeeded in making the soldiers advance with shields raised. Wing cast Power Word Kill on a soldier, instantly slaying him, and threatened the remaining soldiers, all but five of whom fled.
In Drumchapel: The soldier with two blades offered Brokk a fair fight, but the cleric cast a spell to help the soldier. Enraged by this, Brokk blitzed at the cleric and tore him halfway apart by the legs, at which point he used a power to suck the life from the dying cleric, turning his body desiccated and foul. Niela came up behind the dual-wielding soldier and bopped him on the head, knocking him out. Brokk ordered Niela to kill the leader, which she did with a slit throat by kukri. Brokk managed to calm down and ordered the soldier to be taken to the Drumchapel magistrate to be dealt with, and Niela hefted the armored man onto her shoulder and carried him into town. The soldiers who'd stood by to watch fled.
Back in Torga: Hriskin used electric dragon breath to taze the last soldier, and Aurora ordered Zamira to gather the crew and get out of town. Aurora roused the last soldier to speak to him, and after some agressive answers, he stabbed Aurora. She healed herself and left the soldier to the city law enforcement.
Back in Vestry: Lethanin reared back and then snapped the leader of the soldiers' head off, spitting the helmet back out theatrically a moment later. This frightened the remaining soldiers off into the woods, leaving Wing and Lethanin with a clear street.
After a few minor actions, the groups reconvened at the mountaintop with Jarvia and Aurix. After everyone accounted for their end of things, Jarvia grew tense. She argued that openly being dragons in public is a delicate thing to be handled carefully; the group had not gone about it carefully. The more other dragons weighed in, the more intense the debate became until it was outright fiery. In the end, Brokk chided Lethanin and Aurora for their parts in dragon display, saying they were not taking the safety of their actions into consideration. Brokk also recommended blaming the attacks from Thomas on the Dalton Church of Pelor. Inspired, Jarvia developed an elaborate cover story with common people standing up to soldiers, stressing that a whole conspiracy about the Daltoners would emerge.
Aurix said that the time had come to make Brokk a dragon. Brokk ritually dropped all his weaponry, and Aurix teleported them to Thomas's basement. Aurix performed the rites, and Brokk felt the painful sensation of becoming a dragon. Once he had recovered, Aurix returned them to the mountaintop, where Brokk pledged himself to helping the other dragons. This was met with warmth, and several dragons remarked that they were pleased to have Brokk over Thomas.
Wing voiced a thought many of the dragons had had and not spoken: did the party intend to kill the blue and green dragons too? Niela and Aurora were the most vocal in terms of killing Horton, the blue dragon, and there was generally little opposition--only Jarvia, really, saying executing a whole swath of powerful people would have untold consequences. But with the green dragon, no one seemed willing to champion the cause, and Jarvia's argument about being executioners was taken up by others now. In the end, Niela said that killing Horton and revisiting the issue would be most practical, and this was agreed upon. Wing joined Jarvia to spread misinformation about the appearance of dragons, and everyone else agreed to set out for Horton.
The divide between the dragons has been one of my favorite things in this campaign. I knew that they'd be hard to unite, which was the point of the whole first leg of the campaign, but once brought together, they just aren't easy to wrangle either. I spoke with Aurora's player after this session about Jarvia taking a hard line against Aurora twice this session--Jarvia who was a surrogate mom, who blessed Aurora with a transformation, who understands Aurora--that Jarvia disagrees with Aurora completely. The dragon they most agree with is Niela. All of this is a big surprise, and I love it. I want to see what happens as the players continue to have to deal with the other dragons and what complications that presents.
On the way, Aurora spoke of the sins of her past before she had memories. She said she did not want to bring more suffering on Brokk and Lethanin. She spoke of the weight on her and the need to destroy Pelor's Mercy. Lethanin and Brokk were both supportive and comforted Aurora, promising that when the time came, they would help her. Meanwhile, Niela used a detailed map to pinpoint where Pelor's Mercy was (east of Vestry at the fork in a river), so the group agreed to spend the night in Vestry with Lethanin's parents. They made their way there and asked Lethanin's mom to let them stay; after some discomfort about being a good or bad host, she agreed. Aurora got to work cooking, Lethanin played music, and Brokk walked with Aurix and Niela, asking questions about being a dragon--Niela had insightful and genuine answers, while Aurix was inwardly focused and nervous.
And we ended there. It was the end of our time, for one, and for two, the moments that we were driving towards were all big moments that we needed full space for. Lethanin's family stuff is a big deal and needs some nurturing, and whatever happens with Horton may take all of next session or more. It was a good place to end.
I was told after the session by multiple players that this was a particularly fun session. That initially baffled me. I was running around like crazy trying to keep up, and it was fun? My players say it was fun to play if not to DM, and I have some theories why. Foremost: this was a varied session. Some light combat, some roleplaying, and shenanigans--we hit the trifecta, all the styles mingled and balanced. I think I want to shoot for more light combat moving forward in light of this. And second: they got to experience being heroes and then have NPCs question how heroic they really were being. That's a fun experience as a player, getting unsure of your own decision-making, and starting to wonder if being immensely powerful has changed you. (I think it has.) So I'll happily take this session as a success.
Taken together, sessions fifteen and sixteen are pretty monumental. They killed Thomas, their greatest threat and only real foe. They stopped the threat he posed to those they cared about. They've convinced a large group of the most powerful beings in existence to target the only remaining threat to their agenda. Once Horton and Pelor's Mercy are deal with, questions about what their imagined legacies are begin to become the focus of the remaining campaign.
Next time, we'll see what antics and drama come out of Lethanin's family and how the group approaches Horton. As always, I have no idea what's going to happen. Looking forward to it.
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