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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 7962012" data-attributes="member: 6809274">Last night I had one of those special sessions where no dice are rolled but everyone is totally invested in what's happening. A lot of longterm storylines were paid off and new storylines emerged.The 13th level characters are nearing the climax of my modified version of Storm King's Thunder. They're in the Eye of the All-Father, lost temple to the giant god Annam. His high priest, Hekaton, is in thrall to the Zhentarim, who are sending giants on the warpath across the north to lay low their enemies and sew chaos. From the Eye, the players can reach the hidden fortress where Hekaton is being held captive, Skyreach Castle.However, the players find 3 erinyes waiting for them: Mischief, Mayhem, and Malevolence. They are sisters of the tiefling shadow sorcerer. The tiefling is an orphan of mysterious parentage. She soon discovers that all of them share a mother--Glasya, archdevil of the Nine Hells, daughter of Asmodeus. The erinyes reveal the tiefling's father is Manshoon, ruler of the Zhentarim. Glasya wants the tiefling to kill Manshoon to prove that her loyalty is with her mother and not her father. The tiefling is conflicted. She wants to kill Manshoon and she wants to be closer to her mother. But she doesn't want to betray her adventuring friends and she doesn't trust the devils.The erinyes tell the characters that there is an orb of dragonkind in Skyreach Castle that they want the players to find and give to them. Why? The players try to get an answer to that question without too much success. But it's clear the devils want Manshoon dead so someone friendly to them can assume leadership of the Zhentarim--someone like the tiefling sorcerer, for example.The erinyes then speak to the other players to see what they want...and offer to help, "no strings attached."The aasimar vengeance paladin is surprisingly/disturbingly open to an alliance of convenience. He's a particularly tasty treat for the devils.The elf arcane trickster rogue pulls out a mysterious key that he found in a dungeon two years ago (in real world time) and asks to know what it unlocks. I had thrown that key into a treasure hoard with no real plan. I assumed that at some point in the future there would be a door they needed to get through and the key would conveniently provide access. Well, the player forgot about it. It never came up. Until now. By strange coincidence, I recently figured out what the key actually unlocks. The elf rogue is actually a god (it's complicated) and the key will unlock the door that leads to the extradimensional temple where he can regain his divine powers. So the devils offer to tell him what the key unlocks in return for a night of pleasure with Glasya. (Glasya wants to create more children to be her minions in the mortal world). The rogue agrees to a future rendezvous.The halfling bard is having none of this. He doesn't want to make any deals with devils. His main magical item is a lyre, known as the Hell Harp, that was created by Glasya. He throws it at the feet of the erinyes and tells them to take it back. Inside the lyre is the soul of a rival bard. That rival has slowly been taking control of the halfling's body. After this session was over, the bard's player and I decided that just before the lyre was thrown away, the rival switched places with the halfling. Now the rival's soul is in the halfling's body, and the halfling's soul is in the lyre. So when the erinyes take the lyre back to Hell, they're actually taking the soul of the halfling bard to hell.None of this was planned. I had the devils offer to help the characters just to see how they would react with absolutely no expectations where it would lead. It just got crazier and crazier.After the devils depart, the characters solve a riddle to unlock the portal that will take them from the Eye to Skyreach Castle. A massive statue of Annam, the giant god, animates and begins to speak to them. It tells them that the Zhentarim has subverted his divine will by brainwashing the high priest Hekaton. Annam charges them with breaking the Zhentarim's control by rescuing or even killing Hekaton. Either option is acceptable to Annam. Then he gives the characters several powerful magical boons, including the ability to grow to giant size.Finally, the players step through the portal and arrive at a storm-lashed Skyreach Castle.Wow, that was a lot.I feel really lucky to have such great players who keep the game a surprise and delight.</blockquote>

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