After an arduous march, the divine army of Solemnity arrives at the forlorn crags of Nildazi. Beyond, the Baron Voghtairi sits in his keep. He has been busy in the months since Balthazar’s threat.
The army moves across the mountains, it’s wide ranks compressing into a column, clambering up the winding roads like marching ants. After a night passes, they come into view of Mount Sadrigal. It is different from before. The air is now a haze of smoke, thrust into the air continuously from the volcanic vent. Great plumes of black arch into the sky, blanketing the world in a mist of ash. With the angel at their helm, the army does not feel fear. They continue towards New Ornos with determination. They make their final camp a few hours march from the town.
Icoriol and Siriel move away from the town, back into the night sky, figuring out their options. Icoriol remembers hearing that The Baron of Nildazi has been acquiring great amounts of gunpowder before his betrayal became apparent. He figures it must be stored somewhere in town. Upon his magical broom of flying, under the cover of night, Icoriol and Siriel stay high in the air, scouting the town. Expecting heavy resistance, he wants to find the gunpowder and use it to blow open the wall, creating an opening for their troops to rush in.
The first thing he notices are three large giants, with beards make of flame, guarding the spiked keep itself. They steer clear of the that part of the castle and make their way to the town streets. It’s quiet, empty. Touching deftly onto the ground, Siriel does a run of the streets. She finds there parchments posted on walls, posts, and walls. Etched on them is big bold print.
BALTHAZAR. QUEEN SLAYER. USURPER. HERE TO TAKE YOUR LIBERTY.
This was interesting to run, because the players kind of assume that Voghtairi knows what they’re up to, but I’ve been doing tons of thinking between sessions about exactly what Voghtairi knows. Even with a scrying orb, Voghtairi only knows that The Friends are raising an army. He knows that his gambit to distract them with fake threats of a southern invasion didn’t work, and now a much stronger force has arrived at his gates. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have tricks up his sleeve, but, despite hte players thinking that I’m the DM and the villains will just so happen to have abilities that make the situation dramatic, Voghtairi is actually running very low on options. By this point, he has concocted what he believes is the best plan given his options.
The scouting around town was actually a disaster for game pacing, which I’ll go into later, but it was very nice to be able to show indirectly the fruits of some of the stuff he’d thought about.
Propaganda and fear mongering. Voghtairi twists the actions of the far away capital and makes Balthazar out to be the villain (is he wrong?). She sneaks into a guards barracks and executes a dormitory full of men, collecting some meager coins. This seems easy, until she realises that even she can’t slaughter an entire army in one night. Even if they are undefended. She also notices that many of the guards she murders don’t look the type to be trained soldiers. They seem more rugged, less trained. But she isn’t too familiar with soldiers anyway. She is flown to the entrance of town and invstigates, trying to find any sign of a great travel of gunpowder. She finds nothing.
The pair return to the air and consider their options. No gunpowder in sight, and no cannon or guns either. This strange incongruity has Icoriol concerned. But perhaps it was a bluff? It does not seem likely the sorcerer-baron would create such an obvious lie. No, Icoriol is sure he is up to something. The keep then, perhaps? It would be foolish to attack, but maybe if he were able to gain access for The Friends while the army fights outside?
He surveys the keep from the air for the rest of the night. Eventually, far east of the town, he finds a small path between rocky crags that reeks of secrecy and leads in the direction of the keep. Only, it stops at the foot of the cliff beneath the iron wall. Of course the sorcerer baron has sorcerous tricks, but that doesn’t make it any easier for Icoriol to open it. His magical meddlings prove unfruitful, and he returns to camp.
What comes next is probably the biggest stumbling block in the whole conclusion of the game. Maybe second biggest. At the table, the elf just spent about an hour and a half thinking to himself and chasing a plan that (he could have no way of knowing) was entirely wrong. I don’t think this in itself is bad, D&D is not necessarily a frustration-free hobby, but I can understand why it made some other players antsy. I think they were extremely bored, and just wanted to go on and do something. Therefore…
In the early hours of the morning, it is decided that the solemnas army will march past New Ornos and to the volcano, Mt Sadrigal. Though itching for a fight, the army is loyal to their commander, and can wait a few more days. The pressing threat of a dragon about to break free is worthy of concern.
As they make their way to the Volcano, a magic message enters Balthazars head.
“Stop. I know what you are doing. If you free the dragon, I shall destroy all the gem mines of Orthos.”
A warning from the dragon. His voice is serious, but urgent. Icoriol correctly deduces that this is what he has been doing with the gunpowder. The group deliberates somewhat before deciding to continue. Gem mines are useless if Orthos is destroyed.
A sensible decision, but an extremely costly one if the army suffers heavy losses aginst Voghtairi and returns to Solemnity without a tamed dragon. The forces of Hemesh are staying out of it for now, but many members of the nobility are correct that they always have their eyes open for opportunities.
A massive bridge, built by an older ken of man, spans a gorge before the volcano. A giant set of hewn stairs leads up to the cavern mouth. Before it is an altar, worn at the edges but grit and rain. A metal plaque with old orthosian writing on it reads,
BEHOLD THE HOME OF THE CHROME CHAOS WARRIOR. COME, DARING AND FOOLISH. SANARM WELCOMES YOU TO HIS MAW.
Not knowing what they might happen inside, The Friends leave their army on the bridge and enter the lair of the dormant dragon.
It’s hot. The metal walls radiate stinging heat. The entrance of the cavern is a set of stairs leading down, down, down. When the foot is reached the light of day has shrunk beyond a pinpoint in the distance above.
At the bottom of the stairs is an enormous chamber with a domed ceiling. A golden pyramid looms over the room, standing between The Friends and another archway that leads deeper into the Volcano. Atop the golden pyramid is a shining orb of light. Balthazar approaches while Icoriol investigates the passage.
On a flat platform atop the pyramids there is a semicircle of stone pedestals. Atop two of the pedestals are glass orbs. The light mote atop the pillar flashes weakly as Balthazar comes near. It seems as if it is trying to conjure more energy than it has. A weak voice echoes from the light, speaking quietly of betrayal. There is anger in the voice, but it lacks strength. It winks out of existence before it can manage any sort of attack.
One of the orbs, filled with glowing beige mist, seems to stir as Balthazar gets near. At his touch, Balthazar feels a memory stir, and learns that this is the orb Baltair, containing a small piece of his essence. Though this orb is his, Balthazar leaves it, knowing that the barrier is already weak.
I don’t think the lore of this area was ever explained to the players, so here it is: Back when Balthazar attempted to tame the dragon the first time, he sacrificed his companions. He failed, and used the last of his energy to create the divine barrier, powered by the souls of his betrayed friends. Each of these had their essence bound to a powerful orb, and followers of the angel built the pyramid to house the prized orbs.
The first orb was stolen by Edena during his years rising to become the master thief. This put the first crack in the barrier, but roused vengeful spirits that sought Balthazar. However, they could not leave the golden pyramid. They waited, and waited.
Voghtairi visited the cave for the first time when he was a young man, but was repelled by the spirits. When his magical power developed, he destroyed the resident spirit and claimed the orb Scrael, giving him his uniquely unlimited scrying ability. This put more strain on the barrier, and empowered another spirit that repelled Voghtairi, even his powerful magic.
After many years of further study, he eventually used the power of a divine token given to the leader of the black rose knights (Voghtairi blackmailed him into giving him the token) along with a few months of enchantment to dispel the second spirit and claim the orb Caskoon. This he gifted to the snake lords of Hemesh as part of a long term plan to gain them as allies. Voghtairi was planning on weakening the last spirit and claiming all the orbs, but The Friends arrived before he could manage.
Voghtairi made two crucial mistakes. First, he never realised the connection between the dragon and divine magic, leading to many years of wasted time. Second, he hadn’t realised the loss of the orbs had weakened the barrier. Good thing too, because if he’d done that the dragon would have been set free.
The elf peering down the tunnel sees something in the distance. A much larger chamber lit with orange, and something else. Small and distant, but with untennable ferocity. A shiver goes down his spine as he realises something is looking back at him.
The Friends regroup and march down the corridor. They pass under four square archways, each with a slit around its whole edge. The fifth and final archway has a perfectly fitted wall of pale yellow light. It is covered in crack, like glass. The sound of the cracks growing, putting strain on the glass, is heard in the hall. But The Friends hardly notice, for something looms beyond the wall.
It sits perfectly still, like a statue made of solid chrome. Orange and black flecks are warped and reflected across its rounded plates leading up and down a coiled snake-like neck. The upper half of its body glows likewise. The lower half of its body is unseen, submerged completely in churning molten lava. The head perched at the end of the neck is no less menacing for the fact it is completely still. It’s head is a titanic spiked chunk of chrome coalescing in a snapped ruby horn. Set deep into recessed pits are glowing orange eyes. The lever of its mouth sits silent and half open, the air around it warped with waves of heat.
It is Sanarm, chrome chaos warrior, Orthos’ desolation, and it has been waiting over 200 years for this moment.
There was a bit more to this session but it was quickly paused and we went to next session so I’ll just write it all up in the next one. God I wish I had that description ready when they got here, but I didn’t and the momentous introduction of a big final villain was somewhat fumbled, as I have done many times. I didn’t expect the players here for a couple sessions, so I knew what was here but hadn’t had time to polish up my vision of it and rehearse.
It was a very… interesting choice for the players to abandon their plan to attack Voghtairi. It was one of those one-player-says-something-and-people-are-too-tired-or-cant-be-bothered-to-protest-so-they-just-kind-of-go-with-it moments, but it was a major campaign altering decision. Maybe it’s kind of disheartening for that to have happened during what is meant to be a pivotal endgame moment. Says something to the nature of the games tone and pacing (which will be a topic in the postmortem)
I realise as I write this that I’m still under the assumption that the default was attacking Voghtairi, then attacking the dragon. Which doesn’t need to be true at all, and arguably makes more sense the other way around. I think it was just jarring because it was a last minute switch, born out of a desire to make something happen more than actual tactics.
Either way, still some great moments this session, and it turns out quite well (I’m writing these in the future). I enjoyed figuring out what Voghtairi was doing with his limited resources and trying to make the best of his plans. I think the world was played very sensibly, its just that it happened to not create a great game experience and led to a cascade of unquestioned tactical decisions. I suppose thats just the nature of the game, and actually it doesn’t bother me at all, except that I feel the players felt a bit let down.