The Last March

Our heroes gather their allies for a showdown in the throne room of Castle Drakken.

## Synopsis

#### War Council

Veo, Sebastian, and Pluto return to the Hooden Lanterns' camp around the Eckerman Mill following their confrontation with Castle Drakken's beholder. As they recover, the situation looks grim: ratlings now openly hunt the streets of Drakkenheim, and even some of their subordinates have defected to the Elyrians intending to purge Drakkenheim with fire. However, Lucretia Mathias and some other Followers of the Fallen Fire have arrived to join the war council at the site.

The heroes convene their war council to discuss the demonic mass sitting on the throne of Castle Drakken as well as Johann Eisner's ominous warning that the crown of Drakkenheim and Delerium are one and the same. From their scouting, they deduce that controlling the throne of Drakkenheim will require great willpower to constantly fight the demonic presence. They fear that George Jackson, their proposed heir to the throne, is too young to withstand the process. Lucretia offers to empower George Jackson with the sacraments of the Fallen Fire and aid him against the demon, but the council ultimately decides that this is too much of a risk.

After much deliberation, the war council decides to fulfill Johann's request: empower the trapped steward with the badges of Drakkenheim. This would serve to stem the flow of demonic energy and avoids risking George's life. However, it would seal Johann's fate and prevent them from fully controlling Drakkenheim's defenses. The war council also decides, much more decisively, to storm Castle Drakken and clear it of the demonic entity's presence.

#### Preparations

Eldrick, River, Jupiter Jones, Lucretia Mathias, and Elias Drexel all volunteer to join the assault on the castle, along with a small contingent of other Hooded Lanterns and Caspians. Petra and Ansom volunteer as well, but Veo asks them to remain to command the Lanterns. Queen Lenore also asks to join to expedition, and the heroes reluctantly agree to let her come.

Knowing this may be a suicide mission, the heroes bid say their goodbyes. Veo gives one last speech to the Hooded Lanterns ("shall it be known as my legacy that the Hooded Lanterns were full in belly during my reign here as Lord Commander"). Pluto says goodbye to his father, who expresses his confidence in him (unlike his eight previously unmentioned sons who "all died doing foolish things like this"). Sebastian awkwardly bids Tobias farewell.

The heroes buff up before they spearhead the assault on the castle, commissioning a Heroes' Feast from the academy and receiving a blessing from Lucretia. Lucretia also crumbles a piece of golden delerium, summoning a flaming angel named Mikada and bidding her to protect the Drakkenforce.

#### Entering the Castle

Veo, Sebastian, and Pluto, accompanied by Mikada, flies to Castle Drakken. They confront Minazorond, the bronze dragon gargoyle of Castle Drakken. With their badges of office, they are able to dominate the beast. They turn their attention to the gigantic demonic minotaur (identified as a goristro) in courtyard below.  It attempts to hurl a delirium boulder at the party, but a well-placed shot from Veo shatters the crystal. This unfortunately empowers the creature, turning it into a legendary monster. After a brief struggle, Sebastian is able to trap it in a *Mental Prison* spell. Pluto and Mikada cut it down.

With the major threat in the courtyard defeated, the heroes open the gates to their allies and heal. Lucretia, the mages, and some Hooded Lanterns recover in the main hall to recover from their ride though Drakkenheim. The rest of the contingent leaves to confront the beast in the throne room.

#### The Throne Room

Sebastian scouts ahead with his familiar Crowley, again seeing the demonic creature sitting on the throne of Drakkenheim. The heroes sneak onto the level overlooking the throne and initiate combat. Mikada identifies the demon as a sibriex and warns everyone against its vile intellect.

Pluto casts *Misty Step to* teleport down to the throne and begins hacking at the sibriex. The castle's defenses, twisted by the demon, lash out and restrain most of the fighters above. As they fight against the demon and castle itself, the mutated form of prince Leonard von Kessel barges in. As Veo draws the minotaur away, she hears skittering sounds indicative of another problem: the ratlings have come to Castle Drakken.

Jupiter Jones leaps down to the throne room and joins Pluto in battle against the demons below. Elias and the remaining Lanterns break free and confront Leonard. Sebastian casts a twinned *polymorph* on Pluto and Jupiter, temporarily saving the badly wounded Caspians. He then counterspells the sibriex's attempt to dispel the polymorph, only to be hit by its *feeblemind* spell. Sebastian fails the save, temporarily losing his mind to the demon. Leonard downs Sebastian, ending the polymorphs and again placing the Caspians below in danger. Elias Drexel scores a hit, killing the former prince. As the former commander beheads the minotaur, he quips "I thought I was done killing Von Kessels."

Sebastian rolls a natural 20 on his death save. He recovers 1 hit point and is able to stand again. Mikada restores Sebastian's mind, but the situation again becomes tense as Pluto falls to demon's acidic bile. Jupiter rushes to defend Pluto. He is able to save Pluto from the oncoming demons but is torn apart himself. Veo casts silence, preventing the sibriex from casting further spells. Still at 1 HP, Sebastian leaps down and (aided by Veo's casting of *feather fall*) is able to teleport Pluto out of immediate harm. Sebastian and Mikada heal Pluto, who wastes no time returning to the battle. With a leaping swing of Ignacious he destroys the sibriex.

With the battle won, the heroes take a moment to rest. Sebastian slumps over in exhaustion. Veo comforts her dying subordinates and Pluto takes a moment of silence for Jupiter. But the sound of skittering rats means that the castle isn't safe yet...