Session 76

# August 11th, 2022 - Battle of the Well of Dragons

## Battle of the Well of Dragons

The session began right where we left off, at the height of Sobek’s storm just after Alburt’s *simulacrum* had brought down four *meteors* upon the volcano caldera. Three ritual sacrifice circles were turned into craters and the central temple built to Tiamat sustained heavy damage. But the portal in the floor of the temple remained open, and the light of souls continued to stream into it. The group of Champions upon the parapet of the floating Skyreach Castle - Alburt, Rachen, and Lachlan - watched the aftermath of the meteors and discussed what their next steps were.

At this time, Cadmus, who was still floating in the middle of the flying castle’s courtyard directing the lightning of the storm, noticed something he had not yet seen. After a bolt of lightning felled another dragon and it began plummeting, Cadmus saw in the flash with his god-enhanced senses a stream of light escaping and rushing towards the ground. It was then he realized that there must be ritual circles far around the entire volcano and that every single death going on was fueling the rise of Tiamat. He yelled to the Champions upon the wall what he had seen, and the group agreed it was time to go down into the portal and stop the ritual by destroying the phylactery directly - the only true way to stop the ritual once begun.

But they wanted to protect their rear, and decided to instruct Count Blagothkus to lower his castle down upon the portal itself. The Champions would go through the bowels of the iceberg and exit through the Cloudchaser’s lower entrance of the fortress. Rachen went to the giant lord and gave their request, and the Count reluctantly agreed to lower his home - now revealed to also be the tomb of his dead wife, whose spirit inhabits and powers the castle - down into greater risk. Rachen rejoined the other Champions, and through Kiruna who was still in the courtyard, they communicated to Thia and Rufus what their plan was. Rufus, Thia, and her three dragons returned to Skyreach Castle and circled around the bottom as it lowered into the caldera.

They fended off enemy dragons until the castle settled down on top of the portal, with Thia’s three dragons going into the castle’s bottom entrance just before it landed. There, the entire group of Champions and Thia’s dragons looked down upon the open and swirling portal into Tiamat’s prison. Extreme super heated air rushed up through the hole somewhere deep in the bowels of the world, causing the walls of ice in the castle to start sweating and streaming down water. From this position, the party could see what was going on down in the massive chamber. Tiamat - the largest and first black dragon, the Black Queen - was chained to the ground by six massive bronze colored chains, one around each limb, including her tail and neck. These were the manifestation of her captor's *imprisonment* spell.

Around both ends of every chain where they connected with the earth was a ritual circle, totaling twelve in all. However, just like every set of ritual circles and ritual stones the party had seen previously, there was a thirteenth ritual circle. This one was in front of Tiamat’s head, and in the center was a pedestal with a brightly glowing red gem resting upon it. This red light was the only source of illumination that bathed the otherwise pitch black chamber, especially now that the sky castle had landed over the portal. Around the circles and most importantly around the pedestal were a number of cultists and dragon guards.

The Champions knew they were against the clock, as the ritual began with the consumption of the deadly *potion of avatar undeath*, it was only a matter of time until Tiamat died. If enough life force from the battle and sacrifices above was channeled into the phylactery gem before that time, she would rise a lich more powerful than ever before in history - and could raise the tens of thousands of corpses above. They all agreed it was time to give it everything to destroy the gem. Everyone prepared what they could, casting spells of energy and elemental protection, Alburt cast *greater invisibility* while Lachlan cast *invulnerability* upon himself. Then the three dragons dove into the hole, atop them rode Thia, Rufus, and Rachen, while Cadmus was still flying as the Avatar of Sobek. The two wizards both *dimension doored* into the chamber, with Alburt going to the rear behind the tail, and Lachlan next to the phylactery, but appearing outside its ritual circle.

That is when the situation turned to chaos. Upon entering the sweltering dark chamber, bathed in an unnatural red light, Thia was triggered. After months of wearing the Black Dragon Mask and undergoing visions from Tiamat, she found herself in the presence of the source and was enthralled under the absolute control of the Black Queen. Through her mask enhanced bond with her dragons, they three also became enthralled. All immediately responded to Tiamat’s only request - “...*kill me*”. They dove towards the huge dragon’s back and began tearing out chunks while Rufus and Rachen clung on.

Lachlan having appeared next to the phylactery's ritual circle distracted the cultists momentarily as Cadmus dove through the air pointing the Spear of Sobek directly towards the gem. The brightly glowing divine spear came slamming into the phylactery with all the force of Cadmus behind it, but it was only knocked hard to the ground with a large crack. White light tendrils oozed out from the edges of the crack, and those watching realized the gem in its current imbued state would make it very hard to destroy. As soon as all the cultists turned back at the sound of the impact, Lachlan used the opening to cast *disintegrate* upon the phylactery. This did not destroy the brightly glowing gem, but caused significant cracks all around it.

Tiamat roared in fury and pain, and then summoned four massive spectral dragon heads, one for each of the four remaining dragon mask colors (Thia still wore the Black Mask). The dragon masks were floating around the room, but moved to ‘attach’ to the top of each corresponding dragon head as it materialized. These four heads swiveled and were about to spray their breath weapons; however, it was at this time that Alburt *misty stepped* and ran around her hind quarters to also *disintegrate* the phylactery gem. This caused the outer layer of the gem to shatter, showering the room with a bright white flash before returning to a deep red that began pulsing violently in tune with the inner heart of the gem.

At the disruption of the outer layer of her phylactery, before being able to do anything, Tiamat cried out again and the four spectral heads disappeared with the masks tumbling to the ground. It was here that Rufus made his move, after he and Rachen had been desperately clinging to the back of Kiruna since entering the chamber while Thia and her three dragons attacked Tiamat. The halfling saw his opening and with an expert acrobatic display ran down one of Kiruna’s wings and leapt off, drawing his magical crossbow with a *bolt of dragonslaying +2* and firing it directly at Thia’s face. The bolt sped with deadly accuracy and struck her in the side of the head, shattering the mask and wounding her. As the halfling surmised, the mask was the vessel enabling Thia’s mind control, as the ranger and her dragons seemed confused and dazed after its destruction.

While Rufus was making his play, Maximus had successfully tossed Rachen high into the air, but Alburt saw him tumbling from his vantage point and summoned an invisible *wall of force* shaped as a slide (one of his now favorite tricks). Perfectly placed, Rachen landed upon it and momentum slid him towards where the wizard had aimed - at the phylactery gem and all the cultists surrounding it, Lachlan, and Cadmus. The battlemaster leapt into the air right as he came off the edge of the slide and slammed down upon the gem with the *Blade of Dragonfell*.

The brightly glowing greatsword slid into the heart of the gem but stopped before slicing through. For just an instant, all the cultists, dragons, and Champions looked at Rachen and the pulsing red gem heart on the tip of his blade, resting on the ground. Rachen raised the sword with phylactery attached above his head and with both hands swung down with all his magically enhanced might. Simultaneously and without command Alburt and his *simulacrum* cast *cone of cold*, Lachlan cast *disintegrate*, and Cadmus unleashed a massive bolt of *lightning* at the phylactery as it smashed into the ground. The gem exploded in a bright flash as an incredible amount of magical light and force rushed from it, causing Tiamat to cry out and begin lashing out against her bonds.

The dragons and cultists began panicking, with the portal above blocked by the landed Skyreach Castle, it was only a short time before the Champions had eliminated them all. Alburt triumphantly found the *cone of cold* frozen corpse of his nemesis Frulam Mondath, who had betrayed Alburt so long ago and weaseled his way into the highest reaches of the Cult - only to die at Alburt’s hands. Then the Champions flew back atop the backs of Thia’s dragons into the castle and instructed it to rise back into the air to continue the battle.

## The End

At this time, Thia told her companions what she had gathered from the visions granted to her by the mask - her ancestors had used them long into the past. She was descended from one of the elven Dragonlords, who ruled through use of the ancient masks. From this continual use through generations, her bloodline became able to form powerful bonds with creatures, not just dragons. This is why Thia believes her dragons have grown so much more quickly than normal.

As the castle rose into the air, the Champions could already see the tide of the battle turning. The chromatic dragons must have sensed what had happened as Tiamat finally died from consuming her fatal potion and was freed, but with the phylactery destroyed she truly died, and their hope for her rise perished. Some of the evil dragons continued to fight, but many others fled in all directions and the allied forces began to overcome the conflict. Once the air battle had been won, the ground battle concluded relatively quickly. All told, it was still a few hours before all the fighting had finished, and in the end tens of thousands of lives had been lost. Cadmus returned to normal from his empowered state as Sobek’s storm calmed and passed; however, his god touched *Spear of Sobek* remained.

It was an entire day of the forces picking through the battlefield, tending to the wounded and captured, and taking stock of what had occurred. Thousands would remain to comb over the Cult tunnels in the volcano and recover what could be from their hoards. Rachen was given a battlefield commendation and promotion to General by High Lady Silverhand herself the evening of the battle. With many of their forces and leaders having perished, they would need good military leaders, and Rachen happily accepted. With that rank the High Lady also granted him a lordship of Ironbay, with land and title included.

Cadmus was approached by the remaining leaders of the Red Sun and learned that his rival, Marshall Gin Singh, the leader of the mercenary band and de-facto ruler of Black Landing had also perished in the battle. He “bravely” was leading his soldiers behind on horseback and was targeted as an officer by an enemy battle wizard - ironically struck down by a *lightning bolt*. Cadmus was not only a famous member of the Red Sun, being one of the Champions, he was also a divinely chosen entity, and the mercenaries wished for him to be their new leader. Cadmus graciously accepted and planned to shape the mercenary company in the image of Sobek - seeking a prosperous balance between good and evil.

Alburt decided he would go with Cadmus to Black Landing as an advisor to the Red Sun. There, he would use his position and powers to reach his greatest dreams (and riches) now that he had achieved his vengeance. While the wizard could always return to Dragonfell to teach and help the Arcane Alliance, he felt it was time to look out for himself - teaching was for the old, it was time for him to live.

Once the celebrations in Ironbay were concluded and the Champions began to go their separate ways, Thia decided she would travel back west to her homeland - the Gold Coast. The Dominion had plenty of use for her skills across the continent, and her three dragons wanted to fly far and wide, and so did she. Now that she had confronted her past and was at peace helping save the world from the worst of dragon-related fates, she could confront anything. There would continue to be chromatic dragons terrorizing populations that she could stop.

Rufus stayed in Ironbay for a time as he stocked and made preparations to sail on his brand new large merchant sailing vessel. Granted to him by High Lady Silverhand and the Ironbay Lords for all the help and assistance the Champions provided - it was paid for by recovered treasure. He was picky in the crew he hired, but on one of the days before he was finally set to sail, Princess Alleria visited him at the dock. She had already returned to the elven capital after the Battle at the Well of Dragons and calmed the situation with her father. Now, before Rufus possibly left the province forever, she told him his choice - to sail the seas as he pleases, or to come be with her and their future child.

For she was pregnant with Rufus’ baby, and with the childless elven prince disintegrated she was the only hope of continuing the royal bloodline. Thus, the child would one day sit on the throne of trees regardless of gender. In the moment, they embraced and spoke, but Rufus chose the sea. They parted and for a time Rufus went forward with his dreams of sailing, secretly he ensured to keep hidden his most valued prize he recovered - the Blue Dragon Mask. But he continued to recall his childhood, his absentee father, and the regret he had harbored. And so, a few weeks after saying goodbye, Rufus sailed down the river inland into the elven capital of Caranthya and met the mother of his future child. Waiting on the docks amid hundreds of cheering onlookers.

Finally there was Lachlan, whom weeks after departing from the other Champions in Ironbay was sailing east across the open Sea of Storms. His ship met an armada of hundreds of vessels at anchor around a small atoll of islands in the middle of the ocean hundreds of miles south from the Maelstrom. Crossing over to one of the high elven admiral ships, Lachlan met with his superiors. After plotting, delivering information, and helping to steer events towards confrontation, the wizard reported back that his mission was complete. Not only had he recovered countless amounts of draconic lore long thought lost to the high elves, he had helped ensure the eastern province’s defenses were in shambles.

It would take years to recruit and train back up the forces of Ironbay and Black Landing, while the dwarves and elves had also suffered thousands of deaths. The high elven admiral congratulated Lachlan on his service, and the efforts of all their agents leading to this moment. The high elves had manipulated the dragonborn empire of the eastern continent of Ulthemar for generations to the point of finally beginning their believed unstoppable conquest of Valdemar. Lachlan had helped ensure they would obtain a foothold in the eastern province of the Storm Coast.

And that is where the Epic Campaign ended, when the hundreds of warships rose their anchors and began sailing west. It was just about a year since the raid on Greenest.

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