Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
26th of Waning Summer, 1AL
Though Zotzillaha appears to have been defeated, the 3rd Watch aren't certain, as the vampire has become a cloud of mist. Logan quickly casts a spell on the mist that will let him track its location, just as it disappears down into the cracks of the floor, then takes a moment to heal some of Extang's wounds. Patrick, in giant ape form, breaks down the doors with punches from his massive hands, while Quib casts a spell that will force shapechangers to revert to their true form, as well as dealing damage in that area, over the door - inadvertently hurting the ape forms of both Patrick and Fiaeorri.
T'Zaric casts a spell turning himself to mist and tries to follow Zotzillaha, but the vampire-mist is moving twice as fast as he is and manages to lose him in the twists and turns of the stones in the wall, so he eventually turns back.
Extang releases the spell that has turned Fiaeorri and Patrick into apes, then - with Patrick's help - begins seeing to the prisoners of Zotzillaha - Dilmi, Saifon, and Lykos. They are in passable health, considering having been kept as vampire juiceboxes, but they clearly aren't themselves, and have no desire to leave.
Logan reaches for the vampire's fallen axe, but draws his hand back before touching it as the area around it appears to be radiating cold - not to mention, it's casting a shadow that looks like a withered arm. Seeing this, but less concerned, Extang grabs the axe - and discovers that he can't pick it up.
Quib heads out into the hall, moving his spell along with him, hoping to catch the vampire in the wall. Fiaeorri soon joins him - after pocketing some treasure from one of the alcoves - with the intent to go check on Ruby. The charmed panther-man follows. Logan soon joins them as well so he can help point the way to Zotzillaha. Suddenly, Quib sees some mist pouring out of the wall and moves his spell over it - accidentally injuring the returning T'Zaric.
T'Zaric returns to his corporeal form and joins with Logan, Fiaeorri, the panther-man, and Quib as they follow the hall and Logan's spell back to the room where Ruby was left - finding the giant firebeetle alive and chewing on a rat. The stone monolith they had previously opened is closed again, and Quib enters the pattern that slides the top open. Inside, resting peacefully, is Zotzillaha. Logan immediately drives a wooden stake through his heart. Quib goes out to the antechamber and grabs one of the urns of oil, but T'Zaric stops him before he pours it into the coffin. First, they strip the treasure from the vampire - finding a number of magical items.
Now they fill the coffin with oil and set it alight. While Zotzillaha burns, Fiaeorri takes Ruby and - followed by the panther-man - makes her way back to Patrick, Extang, and the freed prisoners. Patrick immediately rushes off to join those at the coffin, arriving to find the fire burning out and Logan saying that he can still sense the vampire's presence in the ashes - which he wouldn't be able to do if it was dead. Patrick reminds them that they need direct sunlight to kill the vampire.
T'Zaric pulls out a vial and fills it with Zotzillaha's ashes, and announces that he's going to dimension-door straight up to the surface with them. Since T'Zaric can take someone with him, Patrick insists on going along, needing to see this done. T'Zaric casts the spell, and they step through - only to be spat out again as the portal opens into something solid. The force of the backfiring spell is enough to knock Patrick unconscious, and T'Zaric doesn't take it so well either. Logan revives Patrick, and they decide to head up to the room they know has a tiny hole up to the surface, from which T'Zaric can turn into mist and go the rest of the way.
As they head out, they meet up with Extang who was on his way to find them. Extang decides to go along, but Quib goes back to inform Fiaeorri of the plan. The two of them decide to stay behind to take care of the former prisoners. During their wait, Fiaeorri's charm wears off of the panther-man, who immediately attacks. Luckily it is still wounded from the earlier battle and they are able to kill it - and they watch, astounded, as it turns into stone. Fiaeorri is barely holding on to consciousness, and sets to tending her wounds.
The other four continue making their way up, but as the reach the lozenge-shaped room where T'Zaric briefly had the mysterious ability to read some of the carvings on the walls, they find their way blocked by two more of the red goblinoids and a human, who attack - turning out to be more vampires. Logan is blocking the doorway, but one of them grabs him and drags him into the room, making for the next person in line - Patrick. Extang and T'Zaric fire spells at it, but it still manages to grab on to Patrick - who panics and bursts into radiant light, dealing damage to everyone in the hallway. However, he falls limp as the vampire sinks its teeth into him, drinking his blood and throwing him to the floor.
Logan breaks away from his fight with the other two vampires in the room and cuts down the vampire between him and Patrick just as Patrick's final breath escapes his lips. Extang grabs Patrick and pours a healing potion into his mouth, to no effect. Still not accepting this, he leans his friend up against the wall and rejoins the battle, even as the others redouble their attacks. The final two vampires are slain, but it is too late - Patrick is dead.
In a sullen silence, with Extang carrying Patrick's limp body, they continue onwards and upwards until they arrive at the rubble-filled room. T'Zaric expends the last of his power reserves to turn into mist, carrying the vial of vampire up to the surface, emerging in a clearing with a fallen tree where he remembers fighting a t-rex a year earlier. He finds a patch of sunlight, and sprinkles the ashes into it, watching with a morose pleasure as most of them dissipate into nothing. He then takes to the air and finds his way back to the temple's entrance to await the rest of his friends.
Extang and Logan make their way back down into the temple, meeting up with Fiaeorri and Quib - on their way out with the prisoners, who have restored to their senses. They learn the hard news of Patrick's death, and make their way up and out of the temple, emerging after dark. With talk of returning Patrick's body to Port Noble and holding a funeral service, they make camp and set up watches for the night.
On his watch, Extang is surprised to find he has a visitor - a fox-like humanoid woman known as the Negotiator whom he knows had something to do with Akts's source of power. She presents him with a contract for such power from Styx, an arch-fey he'd had a chance meeting with. He reads over the contract, finding it reasonable - if vague - but he suddenly finds he no longer wants to make such a deal. But he hesitates, glancing at Patrick's body, and asks the Negotiator if making this deal will open him to more deals with his patron. The Negotiator tilts her head to the side, and asks what sort of deal - informing him that she specializes in deals.
Extang asks about bringing someone back from the dead. The Negotiator grins and digs around in her pouch, pulling out a scroll that can do just that. She asks what he would be willing to trade for it. Extang thinks for a time, and offers her his happiness. The Negotiator is delighted by this, but it doesn't suit her needs. She makes a counteroffer of him owing her an unconditional favor. Extang isn't sure about this, as he knows Kordak and Akta have been gone for over a year on a favor for the Negotiator. He tries to put stipulations on the favor, but the Negotiator will have nothing of it.
Unhappy with the deal, but desperate to bring his young friend back to life, Extang agrees, and takes the scroll. He also turns down Styx's deal, asking that the Negotiator inform him that he will try to find a good home for the magical rod that had introduced them. He also asks after Akta and Kordak. The Negotiatior tells them that they are well, or at least well enough. In fact, the last she checked, they were in Styx's dungeon. Apparently they were caught in Styx's mansion, murdering one of his aides. She doesn't seem worried about this situation, but Extang is quite alarmed. He tries to find out more, but the grinning Negotiator isn't forthcoming, and she departs through one of her magical doors.
Extang pauses to breathe, then slowly wakes up the 3rd Watch. Not giving them any explanations, he gathers them by Patrick's body and reads the scroll that came at such an uncertain cost. The scroll crumbles over Patrick's body as he casts the spell. Patrick's body suddenly spasms, and he gasps in fresh air, sitting bolt upright.
And, with that, this game session comes to an end. Join us next week to find out what happens in Episode 55.
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