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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 8825122" data-attributes="member: 6809274">39th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo. We haven't played in nearly a month as real life as put some unexpected demands on my time.Five player characters at Level 7:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dwarf Executioner/Berserker/Warrior. He seeks the Axehammer of the Lost Clan, rumored to be in the Banewarrens.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Elf Librarian/Wizard/Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana, Teleportation, Chaos, and Fey.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goblin Pyromancer/Oracle/Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Fire and Forbidden magic traditions, with a dose of Divination.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Changeling Dervish/Spellbinder/Rogue. Created by House Vladaam to replace a child they kidnapped and held in servitude. Naturally, she wants revenge. Two weapon fighter with the Battle tradition.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Human Defender/Paladin/Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the primary god of Ptolus. His magical traditions are Life, Theurgy, and Battle. His wife was murdered by undead and now he seeks answers.</li> </ul>The characters are in the Inner Vaults of the Banewarrens, next to a deep crater caused by a massive explosion. The strange magical aurora emanating from the crater causes every spell cast within it to open a portal to hell. As a result, the characters had fought three demons, each more powerful than the last. And the last demon had killed the human paladin before being banished back to hell.The characters also tangled with a faction of undead and their human allies known as the Dreadsworn. The good news is that they were all destroyed or dead. The bad news is that the human necromancers re-animated as undead.Two characters were already dead or dying. One of the undead cornered the goblin oracle and dropped him. Now there were only two characters still conscious. Fortunately they finished off the undead and revived their comrades.Nailbiter!The characters decided to retreat to a corrupted temple with a broken altar. Along the way they got mixed up in a room with some strange doors that wouldn't unlock. They couldn't figure out the puzzle, so they backtracked and found their way to the broken altar via a different route.They laid the paladin's corpse upon the altar and began a ritual. In their possession was the feather of an angel they had freed from the Banewarrens and helped ascend to heaven. Its magic could return the paladin to life.We cut away to the paladin's spirit in hell. (In Shadow of the Demon Lord, everyone goes to hell...at least for a while.) He found himself under a gray sky in a dead forest filled with sleepwalkers who burned like candles. His wife was one of the walkers. She approached him. She said her soul was held by an evil master who would not release her. She apologized for what she might do. She was not in control of her actions.Blood began to seep from the ground. It rose above the paladin's feet, to his thighs, then his waist. He was in a sea of blood. A voice spoke out from behind him. He turned. And found himself alone with a handsome man, dressed like a noble, wearing an inverted ankh cross. The man was polite and playful. He revealed that he too once served Lothian, but decided that the best way to fight evil was with the tools of evil. He offered to free the soul of the paladin's wife. All he wanted in return was the Book of Inverted Darkness. In the Banewarrens, this book is a major artifact. Perhaps the major artifact. It corrupted the master of the Banewarrens and turned him into the Dread One, the setting's ultimate villain. The paladin refused the deal. "Don't blame me for what comes next," said the man.The paladin awoke -- alive!Next session: In or out?</blockquote>

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