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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daern" data-source="post: 5244845" data-attributes="member: 81800">Session 25: Madness and the Sphinx of WisdomAs I attempt to wrap this up in the next couple of weeks the campaign is straying pretty far from the modules, but I'm going to keep reporting just for the sake of completion.The campaign has had so many twists and turns.  The players and our play time has been very consistent but people are pretty confused at this point.  There have been so many plot points thrown out there and I myself have struggled to keep the background story straight in my head.  I did alot of brainstorming these last weeks and finally figured it out.  Now I am ready for whatever the players do.This session began with the party in their inn quarters having just encountered Madness's assassin, who turned out to be the long lost brother of one of the characters (bringing back the old PC background!).  Speaking with the confused assassin revealed that he was the one who slew the Emperor Coaltongue months ago as well as the slayer of the royal family mere weeks ago.  He blamed Madness, as if Madness were a real thing.  He was pretty spaced out.  Outside were the sounds of armed men approaching the inn.  Then bells of the Temple of the Dragon rang.  The Temple (of Paladine/Bahumat/Dreaming Dragon) was where the royal family had been laid for public viewing.  The assassin clutched his had and cried out, "The bells of Madness!"  That was enough.  The party snuck out of the inn and to an underground dwarven road that lead to both the castle and temple.  The sound of an organ being played lead to the Temple.  (I made Glibglamer a halfling organ-tuner and old rival of the party's halfling bard.)Sneaking into the temple, they beheld the king at vigil, praying over his dead queen while the organ played the Ballad of Dassen.  The party overheard a discussion between Glib and the King.  Then the king left the temple and the party was ambushed by Glibglamer and a second assassin.  I used a Purplespawn Nightmare(Lvl 16 skirmisher) for Madness and a Dreaming Dark Assassin(lvl 13 elite).  It was a nice fight because Glib being 16th level scared the crap out of the players but then went down pretty quickly.  They got a little bit of villain backstory before the fight.  They then arranged the bodies to make it look like the assassin killed the king's advisor.  Afterwards the party prayed to Paladine to reconsecrate the temple defiled by violence.  They were rewarded with a vision:The bulk of the Platinum Dragon pins the Horned God to the ground.  Both are locked in an endless stalemate.  The Dragon Dreams and is driven made by the fury of the Horned God, Danzig, who wishes to return to the mortal realm.  The Dreaming Dragon has a red sliver in his eye.I don't know why I'm into the idea of the Burning Torch being stuck in the Dragon's eye, but I dig it.  The trillith have been a large and mysterious part of this campaign and I needed to reveal it.  Turns out the Dragon's Dreams are fragmented and various aspects burst forth.  Since the Torch was applied to increase Paladine's agony, the Dragon's more savage aspects (trillith) have gotten free.  This was Leska's plan, for some of the Trillith hate their originator and wish to be free forever.  They have joined in Leska's mission to free Danzig and bring another ice age.This was further explained to the heroes when they visited the Book of Eight Lands, which is guarded by a Sphinx who it turns out is the Living Constitution of Dassen.  The Sphinx is distraught that the King has not consulted him in months.  Bereft of the logic of the Golden Sphinx, the king has become paranoid and despotic.The heroes left resolving to round up the political power of Dassen and make another attempt to reason with the king.  This could lead to a confrontation with the Ragesian embassy.  Ideally, they will soon travel to the Dragon Graveyard and there battle the final Trillith, Revolution, a Dreambreath Dracoliche.The characters have just dinged 11th level.  Their final battle will be with an 18th level solo.  After that they can wrap up the war and who knows? maybe go kill Danzig?  If we have time...</blockquote>

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