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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 9717677" data-attributes="member: 7031495">Sessions 118-121: Gates of Ragos118The group arrives at the siege of Ragos, with waves of armies crashing against each other. Winged cavalry clashes in the air, as wyvern who dip too close to the airship Tempest are peppered with arrows and blasts of wind. Each faction of the Alliance has set up command tents, and the armies are largely fighting their own battles.The group finds a bedraggled Simeon in a tent, looking over a map. He welcomes the party and points to several key points, including attempting to clear the beach for a naval assault, dealing with a roving band of devils that have been harassing the Sindairese wagons, and destroying various wards around the fields that have bolstered Ragesian troops.The group decides to take out wards, as they believe any other attempts will be made more difficult if they don't deal with them. They fight their way to a nexus of wards protected by stone golems and fire giants. They are victorious, but they take a beating.Over the radio their sending stones, Simeon calls out that General Xava's troops have been ambushed. "It's the pit fiend, that's the bastard who took out Kiernan!"119Lately, Leska has conscripted convicted prisoners. The Ghost Blades are a Ragos street gang, notable for leaving their victims in the streets, with their eyes burned out. As the party rushes to Xava's aid, fog rolls in, and the Ghost Blades come in with eyes and knives flashing. The party fends off the surprise attack, largely by grappling and then finishing the gang members off. Eventually, the Ghostblades are beaten back, the more cowardly (or more intelligent) members deciding that they should seek easier prey.Calhaxorous the pit fiend has earned his whip in the tribulations of the Hells. When an upstart dwarf, a mere mortal cut his hand off, he took a particular dislike for dwarves, and has been harassing Dasseni forces. General Xava's position of power made her a particularly juicy target.The party arrives as General Xava is being dragged back by the remains of her battalion. Calhaxorous and his nightmare steed rain hellfire down on them. Gruz takes on the nightmare, who is teleporting in and out of existence, finishing it off on his own. The rest of the group takes on the Pit fiend, pinning him down with thorns to avenge Kiernan.With the wards taken care of, and Ragesian forces falling back, The airship Tempest is able to move forward. A voice crackles over the sending stone. "Tell your troops to keep clear of the gate."The gates of Ragos are a magnificent sight. One of the few structures left over from the Morusan Empire, they depict the twelve gods carved into red sandstone, welcoming entrants into what was once considered the brightest jewel of the empire. It’s said Coaltongue wept at their beauty.You feel the thrum in your chests as the Tempest opens its eye and a white beam of light blasts the gates to damnation.Cheers arise from the Alliance, and the armies surge forward into the breach. The Ragesians are so stunned that they can't mount a defense, and soon the choke point works to Alliance favor as elven troops take the gate. Over the stones, Pilus's voice sounds out again, laced with contempt. "I thought I told you to keep clear of the gate." The eye fires again. And again. First, the troops gathered in the breach are obliterated. Then the second blast fires at the command tents.The party finds their teleportation scroll and activate it, seeking to end the carnage. They teleport themselves into a cavern of flesh and eyes and mouths, all speaking with Pilus' voice. "Ah, we have some parasites who have latched onto us."120The party makes their way down strange fleshy tunnels, all while Pilus taunts them from every orifice. "Did you know you have hundreds of thousands of these within your body?" he asks as amorphous creatures rise from bubbling sludge."I've reached out to minds from beyond the known universe," he says as a Star Emissary sucks out their magic. It's acidic powers have been turned to dissolve magic users in the stomach."I heard you spoke with a demigod in Dassen. So strange that they are waking up now." He says as the party battles a giant air elemental powering the lungs.121With Eluriah's medicinal knowledge, she knows they have reached the thorax, and believes they can cut their way through the body to reach the heart faster. "If we can kill this thing, we won't have to fight him." The party agrees this is a splendid idea, and carves their way through the flesh of the Tempest, with fire burning the wounds to stop them from healing too quickly.Unfortunately, when they break through the walls to the heart, they find that Pilus is indeed there. He is flanked by another simulacrum, Ostalin Royal Guards, and Kai Lei's stitched together body. From his biomantic platform, connected to every organ of the Tempest, Pilus calls down his "pet."A faceless creature, with only a gaping maw where its head should be, comes crawling down. Gruz feels fear and rage build within him as he hears a clinking sound of chain mail, but realizes the links are made of the badges of the Moonlit Blades. "One of my earliest creations," Pilus laughs. "Let's see if it can finish the job."Battle happens. With Pilus behind a wall of protection, Gruz takes on the Moonbane, ELuriah focuses on Kai Lei, and Mishka takes on the royal guard. With Pilus Shielded, he's able to attack with impunity until Gruz casts Darkness outside of his sphere, butting off his line of sight. Gruz is able to cut down the Moonbane as Mishka finishes off the guards. Even with Foresight, Eluriah has difficulty dodging attacks, but with renewed focus from the others they're able to defeat her. Aripos has been attacking Pilus, as his bolts can pierce the shield. He's finally able to defeat Pilus as his last bolt severs his spinal cord connecting to Tempest. As the light in Pilus' eyes die out, the Tempest begins to drift and fall out of the air.The party immediately begins their digging routine downwards, and as they break through they cast out their last stone scale token, bringing out a flying dragon. As they soar out covered in biomantic viscera, they look down on a ruined city. The blasts from Tempest were clearly aimed at both Alliance and Ragesian sides of the wall, with enormous craters leaving holes in armies and buildings alike. Below them, the Tempest crashes into the walls of the palace, and despite their losses, the party knows they now have a chance to reach Empress Leska.Post Session Thoughts118 - This was my calibration fight, where I essentially went too hard on them for a nothing fight. Not a particularly interesting fight, though it did whittle down HP119 - This late in the campaign I felt like I needed some more returning villains. So I used the pit fiend encounter from adventure 12 to say that it was the one who killed Kiernan back at Gate Pass. The Ghost Blades (modified Flames of the Emperor) were an easy but fun fight.This session I started doing little lore cutscenes. Essentially, before an encounter, I turned into narrator mode, giving them backstory on the enemies they would be facing. Ghost Blades being gang members, the pit fiend's newfound hatred for dwarves. something that allowed me to provide information outside of having the villains declare during battle, or subtly hinting at the backstory.The turn by Pilus was expected but still affecting. Seeing their own troops fired upon made everyone hopping mad, and ready to get on the airship as fast as possible.120 - Everyone was suitably grossed out by the inside of the airship, and I also feel like making the doors sphincters lightened the mood a bit.121 - Pilus was a good fight, and it was great for Gruz to finish off his backstory's monster. I probably didn't use the weirdness of the airship enough in the fight, and now I'm remembering that Pilus should be able to see everything, regardless of line of sight, but oh well.The end of this session, I paused dramatically, like I always do before a level up, and a player shouted "We're level 21!" in a joking way. I laughed, and then said they were right, and started talking about level 21 options, and then it led to confusion because everyone thought I was playing around, and then I had to convince them I was serious. I've kept this secret from them from the beginning, and four years later it was a great surprise.Changes from the moduleMost of the changes on the ground were moving events from the Opaline Wastes to Ragos. I felt like making Ragos a single short mission didn't really portray Ragesia as the final boss enough. I have something planned for getting them to the Heart at the end. In the airship, I allowed them to carve their way through because it skipped a single encounter and I didn't feel like telling them they could just walk through the next door. It let a player use skills in fun ways, and was fittingly gross for the body horror in the module.In other news, this all happened back in May, but then a long string of summer scheduling meant we haven't played again, though we hope to pick up this week. Normally, if we're missing one or two people, we play anyway, but this close to the end we want everyone on board. Still antsy, but I can see the end.</blockquote>

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