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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 8961788" data-attributes="member: 6809274">49th and final session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo. Five player characters at level 10.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dwarf Executioner/Berserker/Warrior. He now wields the sacred Axehammer of the Lost Clan.</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 murdered wife was has returned as undead and now he seeks to stop her.</li> </ul>This is the end! The characters are in the heart of the Spire, fighting for the magical key that will lock (or unlock) the Banewarrens forever. Only the Dread One (creator of the Banewarrens) remained. Last session, the Dread One had obtained the Book of Inverted Darkness, an artifact that would allow it to reconstitute its form and threaten the world once again. The Dread One's shade had possessed an undead boneclaw. So it looked pretty bad ass!The session started with the ceiling collapsing, dropping the Dread One and two of the characters into the vault below. What was in the vault? Another bane -- the Disk of Dissolution, which could disintegrate anything with a touch once per day. Of course, there was also a chance it would disintegrate you. The elf wizard decided to take that chance. He teleported beside the disk, picked it up, and touched the Dread One. Pft! The boneclaw was disintegrated, leaving behind the Dread One's still-deadly shade.Remember when I said only the Dread One remained? I lied. The paladin's wife (and the undead cleric that had turned her into a vampire) had been merged into one horrific abomination. The paladin brought his weapon down, destroying it/them.The other characters swarmed the shade, but just being near it inflicted insanity and madness. On the Dread One's turn, it turned toward the elf wizard. The human paladin used an ability that granted an ally the ability to move away, and the wizard scooted behind the paladin. Thwarted, the Dread One took out its frustration on the paladin. With a single hit, it knocked out the paladin.Once again, the elf wizard decided to act. He kissed his magical staff -- Yaeshla, the intelligent staff of shards that destroyed the Dread One 3000 years ago with a retributive strike. But this time, the target was different -- the Book of Inverted Darkness, the artifact that corrupted Danar and twisted him into the Dread One. In a sense, the Book was the true source of evil.The retributive strike destroyed the staff, the Book, and the Dread One. Every character had to make a saving throw ("challenge roll" in the parlance of SotDL) or be obliterated. Being unconscious, the paladin automatically failed his saving throw. The changeling spellbinder also failed her roll, too.Both of the deceased characters had corruption, which means their souls went to hell. The wizard was able to trap the paladin's soul in a locket that held a picture of his wife. This now-holy relic was then entrusted into the care of the Church of Lothian, perhaps to aid future adventurers.The three survivors -- elf wizard, goblin oracle, and dwarf berserker (whose mind was actually that of the changeling...yeah, it got weird at the end) -- sealed the Banewarrens. Together we narrated the Church of Lothian rewarding them for saving the city of Ptolus, as well as the ultimate fate of each character.We set aside some time to discuss what the players thought of Shadow of the Demon Lord and the Ptolus setting. Both were big hits. In fact, two players said they preferred SotDL to 5E. I've wanted to play The Banewarrens for almost 20 years so it was hugely pleasurable to see it deliver such a satisfying campaign.Next up: The paladin's player is going to GM a few sessions of the latest edition Twilight: 2000, which is one of my all time favorite settings. After that, the berserker's player will run us through Shadowdark. Excited to be a player for a while! And then we'll kick off my next foray into D&D variants: 13th Age!</blockquote>

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