Well, some real life issues put a bit of a damper on the end of the module, but we are continuing. One of our players ghosted us, after three years playing together. At first we weren't sure if it was a Discord glitch when they weren't a part of the server anymore, but it appears to have been deliberate. The only plus side is that it got us to realize that we all met online and Discord is our only messaging option, so we traded some info so that IF discord ever kicks the bucket unexpectedly, we'll still be able to figure out how to play together.
Carrying on...
Session 97: Disarming Ragesians
Making their way into the main square of Gate Pass, General Danava of the Ragesian Legion comes forth bering a white flag. He insists that he will act honorably and his men will leave the city. He hints that he would like to do more, but he cannot. The players, distrusting, negotiate for the Ragesians to turn in their arms before departing, an even more humiliating retreat. Reluctantly, Danava agrees, and as they go to shake hands a sword swings down and slices off his arm at the elbow, leaving Mishka with a hand in her hand. An inquisitor and his nightmarish retinue have teleported in: Legate Kolvus, the new commander of the Legion.
Battle breaks out, with General Danava clutching his stump on the ground. Gruz and Mishka duel with a marilith, a six-armed, six-bladed fiend. Corban manages to effectively counterspell the Legate long enough for Eluriah and Aripos to finish him off and his nightmare trillith.
With surrender secured, the Ragesians are escorted to the central district to drop off their weapons. Battered Gate Passers turn the spears and bows into a bonfire, and the city decides to finally celebrate the Festival of Dreams. Urns are opened, wishes are read, and the city begins to hope again. Renard and Shalosha, holding hands, find a priest and get married, immediately sending Eluriah into conniptions at the thought of how Shaaladel will react.
But among the revelers, a hand falls on Mishka's shoulder, and she turns to see Vigilance, his head on a swivel, looking worried. "I've never felt this kind of energy on the surface. All of these dreams, all these wishes, all of these desires..."
And then Coaltongue's statue glows with fiery light, and steps off his plinth.
Session 98: Coaltongue's Final Destruction
Coaltongue's statue comes to life as a horde of trillith leap from the crowd to give it energy. An armored trillith disappears into its head, and the statue's torch begins to burn as he swings it down in attack. The party leaps into action (with Aripos and Gruz drunk from partying), and begin to counter attack. However, their weapons are unable to pierce the metal hide, save for one well-placed bolt by Aripos. Also of danger is the trillith Desire, pulling at their emotions to her own whims.
Metamorphosis offers her help, and the party asks her to try and change Coaltongue's metal soft. She stretches her arms out, and the legs of Coaltongue buckle slightly. Though she is unable to melt him, it does weaken the metal enough that they are finally able to damage it. Coaltongue's torch is active, and he is able to burn his attackers, as well as teleporting Eluriah into his hand to throw her, and then Gruz to eat him. Gruz finds himself in a dark void, surrounded by the chattering anger of hundreds of trillith.
Mishka begins to climb Coaltongue, and is able to damage it enough for Gruz to pull himself out of a hole in the metal. Aripos is able to damage the torch long enough for the party to regroup, and they are able to brink Coaltongue to his knees and finish him off.
Session 99: Picking up the Pieces
In the week that follows, the party helps around Gate Pass (While Aripos fails to pull off a heist against Ragesian collaborators). Eluriah goes about healing, followed by Metamorphosis, who is fascinated by the sight of skin stitching back together. Gruz attempts to research the Opaline Wastes, only finding that those brave enough to enter it rarely return, and those who make it back never attempt a second expedition. A black rain, not unlike Castle Korstull's fireblood rain, covers the land, leaving no fertile ground. Mishka spends the time with her mother, assuring her she will do her best to stay safe. Corban wishes to also connect with his newly found mother, and help Gate Pass recover, and so passes on the Torch to Gruz.
In a council of the newly expanded Alliance, Vigilance reveals the trilliths' plan to transform the world, likely killing all beings of the material realm. Clanleader Millorn congratulates Shaaladel on the marriage, and he responds shortly that "You are mistaken. No congratulations are warranted."
The party makes their preparations, and begin to make their descent through the earth with Eluriah and Metamorphosis making tunnels. They make their way to deep caverns, where they see strange squirming lights crawling among the stalactites. Vigilance says they are trillith making their way to the surface, about to discover who they are.
They come to a glittering cavern, with a pillar of light, guarded by crystalline dragon statues. However, as they near, the statues begin to move, and stalk towards them...
Post Session Thoughts
97: The Legate Kolvus fight probably could have been a bit better fought by me, and I definitely underutilized the nightmare trillith abilities, but that doesn't change the fact that my players basically never rolled under a 15 on the die. So long Legate Kolvus, we barely knew ye.
I really enjoyed the reveal of Coaltongue for a number of reasons, but one of them was the sheer shock by the players that the celebration after liberating Gate Pass wasn't the end of the module. I offered to let Aripos and Gruz' drunkness be flavor, but they both agreed to take the disadvantage. Gruz had Foresight cancel it out for normal attacks, and Aripos' rogue abilities did the same.
98: This session was marred by Corban's disappearance, but this fight was suitably epic. The fact that Mishka, the party's usual damage dealer, only hurt Coaltongue once over two turns was a real wake up call. I kept Metamorphosis' offer of help nebulous, so the players could have some choice of how it worked, and I used her softening the metal to lower the damage threshold. While Aripos focused on the torch, the rest of the players were rather scattershot, which means that until his legs were taken out, Coaltongue generally had all of his abilities. I ended the fight by having Metamorphosis use her death ability to turn Aripos big, only because Coaltongue had about 20 hit points, and I wanted them to have an epic end to the fight as well.
99: This was largely a down-time session.
Changes to the Module
97: When I narrated Rantle and Shalosha's wedding, after the session the players asked if that was actually in the book, and I assured them it was, because I remembered reading it. Then the thought was stuck in the back of my mind, and I went looking and couldn't find it. I found notes of their romance, but nothing about the wedding I could have sworn I read about. Ah well, it led to some fun moments, and also let me more strongly establish Shaaladel's elven concept of the long game. He sees Shalosha's marriage as a youthful mistake that will solve itself when the relationship ends either through racial differences or Rantle's inevitable death.
98: As mentioned, I changed Metamorphosis' part in the fight, but I also combined the Desire fight into this. Gruz is the one who killed her, and I decided it was more fun to give her Charisma bonus to him, because it fits with the normal trillith boon rules. So now I have a Warlock with a 22 in Charisma.
99: The book has a very short bit about powerful elemental spirits that lead them to Trilla's dream realm. It didn't really grab me, so I went with the straightforward "dig through the earth" tactic. Eluriah's player had already swapped out for earth spells, so I figured I would reward the roleplay as well. The "trillith making their way to the surface" was a mild adaptation on the huddles of trillith hiding in caverns as they descend.
Next week, finally, Crystal Dragons, and hopefully entering the dream realm.