...They arrived back on the Feywild side of the gate just in time to see one of the Arcanon Confederacy wizards plunge a knife into the chest of the unconscious Mistress Naivara. But there was little time to avenge her as the thin flank was collapsing to the assault by a group of Mist Demons. The very same Mist Demons in fact that had offered their help to Zanne and the rest of the party when they were crossing the Mistvale.
They all currently wore their Bugbear form and were laying about with huge greatswords. The last of the Eladrin Cloudrender Knights were barely standing. Astavian, never one to trust a Mist Demon in the first place, plunged into their midst. Eshik charged to his aid. Zanne meanwhile moved to threaten the AC Wizards accompanied by Lord Hadarai. Mialain used her healing powers to aid those who had already fallen to this treachery.
In turn, the Confederacy mages focused their attacks on Galiban the Gnome, who still stood and was hurling every spell he could think of at them. The strategy of these Wizards quickly became apparent: They were trying to first kill those who might perform the ritual to close the Mist Gate. That also explained why they were in an alliance with the Mist Demons.
Mialain channeled her powers to keep the valliant Gnome alive while Zanne and Eshik delivered deadly damage to the Wizards. Astavian and Eshik had slain one of the Mist Demons by this point. But soon the Wizards were dead and Zanne and Hadarai turned their full attention upon the shape-shifting Mist Demons who were quickly vanquished.
They had won the fight but the cost was considerable. Mistress Naivara was dead as were several of the Cloudrenders. Galiban was wounded but not severely, thanks to Mialain's aid. The Wizards who had betrayed them were both dead as well as their Mist Demon allies.
The Cloudrenders barely had the manpower to crew their ship and Galiban was the only one left alive who could possibly perform the ritual to close the Mist Gate. This left the primary goal of the mission in considerable jeopardy. Those familiar with the ritual knew that it was complex and powerful. Attempting it alone would be difficult and dangerous for the Gnome Wizard but he did not shy away from the challenge.
"I'll help him," said Selerian.
All eyes turned to the Elf. Especially those of Mialain who immediately countered, "You'll be stuck here in the Feywild!"
That was true Selerian admitted. But he felt that he still had much to do to spread the word of Melora among the people of the Feywild. And there was still a gate in Skyreach if he ever needed to return home. "A gate that leads right into the heart of the Arcanon Confederacy," Mialain exclaimed. Despite her protestations however, it was obvious that this was a solution to the problem at hand. However this did not obviate the fact that Selerian and his female followers had been sentenced to banishment as an alternative to imprisonment or death. As the leader of the expedition, they looked to Lord Hadarai.
"I have within my grasp the chance to end the influx of this damnable Mist that has plagued my people for thirty years! If Leshanna wishes to take issue with the fact that I didn't send you home rather than make you help close this Gate then to the Hells with her! Now get to work before any more of those Mist Demons return!"
The PC's said their goodbyes to Hadarai, Galiban and of course Selerian. Mialain was missing her brother already and knew that her parents would be furious that she hadn't brought him home when she had the chance. But she could tell that he was at peace with this decision. In fact, watching the way he smiled as he and the Sisters prepared to enact the ritual, she wasn't so sure that he hadn't planned to stay all along.
The party gave a final nod to Galiban and Selerian, who stood ready to begin the ritual in just a few moments, and stepped back through the Mist Gate one last time.
DISCONTINUITY...
...And once again they were on the island at the base of the waterfall. Zanne and Mialain wasted no time in getting to work on the ritual while Astavian and Eshik stood ready to protect them should anyone try and stop them.
Zanne, more experienced in matters of the Arcane, took the lead with Mialain lending her support and power. For Zanne, despite the complexity of the ritual, it was all very clear. She could see the strands of power that held open this hole to the Place Between Places and, one by one, she manipulated them, forming them back into their natural form. In just a few minutes the last strand was back in place and the Gate was sealed as the last bits of Mist whistled through the closing gap and suddenly there was only the sound of the waterfall. Compared to the roiling and swirling wind of the Mist being drawn into the Feywild, it was very quiet.
This peace was broken by a sudden roar of frustration and a towering form some twenty feet tall strode out of the settling Mist and siezed Zanne by the throat. He cried a few words of Primordial, that only Zanne could understand as yelling, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" before he vanished entirely, taking Zanne with him.
**********
Ok so in this part we cover the journey from Skyreach to the Mist Gate and the fights on both sides of the gate, plus the ritual.
I didn't formally make the trip plus the diplomacy with the Gnomes/Firbolg a Skill Challenge but it probably would have made a good one. Instead this was mostly resolved through roleplaying and a few skill rolls, mostly by Astavian who is the acknowledged Diplomat of the party, especially thanks to Astral Speech. Regardless it helped to paint the complex state of affairs that existed wherein these different factions needed to cooperate in order to deal with the Mist Crisis but also show that the Gnomes didn't fully trust the Eladrin (with good reason). Meanwhile the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards were doing whatever they could to make sure that they didn't let anybody with knowledge about how to open or close a Gate/Linked Portal go back to Skyreach.
Obviously that's because they wanted them to be within reach when the time came for them to betray the group. Maintaining control over the Teleportation "technology" is a paramount motivator for these guys. Furthermore, keeping the Mist Gate open helps them because it keeps the Eladrin dependant upon the AC for a way to try and close it. And obviously the Mist Demons make good allies given their vested interest in keeping it open.
The PC's got to go back and fight the Gibbering Mouthers again, which make really fun Controller monsters to run. But the fight was much easier for the PC's when they were trying to get TO the Mouthers than when they were trying to get away from them.
Then we shifted gears to the fight back in the Feywild side of the Gate. This was fairly standard with the Barghest Battle Lords being the heavy hitters while the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards provided the artillery/controll. Also of note in this fight was the fact that the PC's were desperately trying to keep the AC Wizards from killing Galiban (I'd made Mistress Naivara's death a fait accompli and the PC's had no chance to save her). It reminded me that fights are sometimes best when the enemy has a tangible goal apart from "reduce the PC's HP to zero". So fun stuff.
The ritual came down to just a skill roll and Zanne knocked it out of the park. As a reminder, we use exploding d6's for skill rolls rather than the normal 4e system and Zanne got several of them. I think the total skill roll was somewhere around 40 when it was all tallied up.
At this point in the campaign, I think the PC's had almost reached 10th level. I should also note that the closing of the Mist Gate is a "big deal" in terms of changing the campaign world. Granted, they won't see much direct impact in the immediate area because nobody was coming through that Gate on a regular basis anyway. BUT, this is obviously going to have a considerable impact on relations between the Arcanon Confederacy and the Eladrin. And that's to say nothing of how it effects thing in the Feywild.
I bring this up because it kind of sets the tone from here on out for the remainder of the campaign. The PC's are going to be major actors in the world, doing big things with broad reaching consequences. This is just the kind of "High Fantasy" feel that I wanted for this campaign and it is noteworthy because I don't tend to run games like this all that often. I'm usually a more "grim n gritty" type of GM. But this game has been a ton of fun and it's already one of the best campaigns I've ever run.
Stay tuned for more!