Planescape Campaign Journal

[SleepyShadow]

Wow, that's pretty hardcore for a 5E enemy. I'm impressed.

It was converted from a 2e critter. The breath weapon originally made the victims forget everything if they failed the save, just as if they had fallen into the Styx

Spoiler: Elephant Demon 5e Stats

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Elephant Demon (CR 8; 3,900 xp)
CE Large Fiend 8
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 14
HP: 72
AC: 20
Speed: 60 ft.
Attacks: Claw +6/+6 1d6+3 and Trunk Spike +6 2d6+3
Feats: Piercer, Tough
Abilities: Magic Resistance, Physical Damage Resistance (bypassed by adamantine), Surprise Immunity, Darkvision 240 ft., Regeneration 2, Improved Grab (trunk only, Str DC 14), Constrict (2d6+3), Spells (@will unless otherwise stated, DC 13; Hold Person, Alarm, Blade Barrier (3/day), Entangle, Gust of Wind, Light, Polymorph (3/day), True Seeing), Breath Weapon (recharge 5-6, 30 ft. cone, Con DC 13 or lose all spell slots)

Squaring the Circle - Part Four
In which our Heroes invade the Tower of Indifference, and missing friends are rescued.

Spoiler: Session Forty-Eight

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The tower was largely a linear dungeon crawl, and the PCs made their way from floor to floor, killing every fiend that got in their path. They were smart about it, though, and used Pass Without Trace to avoid fights where they could, most importantly bypassing a squad of bodaks on the second floor. As the PCs made their way up the tower, they found a few doors with fleshy writhing demons bound inside them, and those doors would only open to Sharwyn's touch. One door-demon stated it was waiting for "the daughter of the dark god" (which is foreshadowing for an upcoming adventure), and Eirik had to do a bit of convincing to get Sharwyn to touch the disgusting creature. Poor girl.

On the third floor, the party encountered a barmy who had gotten free from his wall-socket during the fighting between the tanar'ri and the yugoloths. He had the severed heads of a succubus and a bauriar (both of whom had been his adjacent "cell mates" while they were alive) which he used like grisly sock puppets. He didn't have much useful information for the party. He was just another reminder of how horrid the tower was.

The party almost got tricked by a group of six cambions who were disguised as adventurers on the fifth floor, but Tulany managed to sniff out their fiendish essence just before they could spring their trap. No surprise round for the baddies. However, an unexpected guest crashed the party's backlines during the fighting. The bebilith the PCs had spared last session was back for revenge, and took down Soraya in a single sequence of attacks. Thankfully, the party pivoted and killed the bugger before he could escape with her to the Astral Plane.

Demons never honor their bargains.

After clearing out the fifth floor of enemies, the party found there wasn't a way to get up to the sixth floor. Most fiends can teleport, so there wasn't any need to install a staircase or door to the top floor, after all. However, the party did find a deactivated teleportation circle which led to the top. Suspended from chains above the circle were two iron maidens, each of which had a corresponding switch on the ground. Pulling a switch would open one and trigger the other, killing whomever was inside. The party decided to investigate the room before randomly pulling switches, and found the iron maidens were occupied: one held Fall-From-Grace, while the other held Linvala. The PCs were eager to figure out a way to free them both, but the iron maidens were impervious to most forms of damage, so breaking them was out of the question. However, Aurelius discovered (with his godlike Arcana check) the teleportation circle was activated by a sacrifice, but not necessarily requiring the use of the iron maidens. Cassius enlisted Daegan and Kharim to help kill him, and Kai was on standby with Revivify. Once Cassius was dead, the teleportation circle activated, and both iron maidens opened, freeing their prisoners. Kharim told Grace and Linvala to go back to Sigil and wait at the Harmonium headquarters, since that's where everyone from the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts was staying until the BSIL could be opened again. Grace was relieved to know her "prostitutes" were alive and well, and Linvala apologized for trying to rescue Grace without waiting for the rest of the party.

Once the two of them were safely away from the Tower, the party revived Cassius, patched him up, and prepared to face off with whatever awaited them at the top of the tower.

TL;DR - Sometimes puzzles don't tell you all the rules.

[JadedDM]

Oh, I just realized I know what you're referring to. Maelephants, right? From the Planescape Monstrous Compendium? I didn't pick up on it at first, until I saw the stats for them.

[SleepyShadow]

Oh, I just realized I know what you're referring to. Maelephants, right? From the Planescape Monstrous Compendium? I didn't pick up on it at first, until I saw the stats for them.

Yes, you're right. They are normally Lawful Evil, and the module I'm running gave a half-hearted attempt to explain why these specific Maelephants are Chaotic Evil and hanging out on the abyss. I didn't like the justification (corrupted water from the Styx), so I filed the serial numbers off, gave them a new name, and called it a day.

Squaring the Circle - Part Five
In which our Heroes destroy a minor Power of the Lower Planes, and a major Power of Celestia proves to be a roadblock.

Spoiler: Session Forty-Nine

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The top floor of the tower was split in half, with a lower floor where the prisoners were singing a discordant tune, and a raised platform suspended forty feet in the air by chains anchoring it to the walls. Shortly after the party's arrival, somebody on the platform started throwing prisoners at them. The thrown prisoners had been Polymorphed to look like the PCs' loved ones (Rowena, Barrock, Kai's ex-wife, etc.). Daegan scurried up the wall to scout out the platform, and saw Erisiel trapped within a cage of still-living prisoners whose bodies had been warped to fashion her cell. Their heads all faced inward and gazed upon their prisoner in mute horror. This grisly cage was topped with a glowing green gem. Daegan also saw the one responsible for hurling bodies at the party.

Fun fact, Graz'zt has a little sister. Her name is Rhyxali, and she's only slightly less obscure than Chalice being Heironeous' daughter. Seriously, Rhyxali, the "Demon Princess of Shadows", got her start as a web enhancement for the 3.5e Fiendish Codex II, then got name-dropped in a couple of 4e Dragon Magazines and maybe one module. Since I was already digging up obscure bits of D&D lore, I figured now was as good a time as any to introduce her.

Another fun fact, Aurelius has the Izzet Engineer background (partly because his player is an engineer in real life). When Daegan reported the situation to the party, Aurelius concocted a simple plan, made a couple of skill checks, and brought the whole platform crashing down within a few minutes.

Once on the ground, Rhyxali told the party that Iuz had been the one to abduct Maeldur. She said his betrayal was disappointing but very predictable. "He always was a mamma's boy." Of course, she refused to give the party any further information. She offered to let the party take Erisiel if they handed over Sharwyn, but the party adamantly refused. Rhyxali figured that would be the case, so she got to work. She was a pretty tough customer, and managed to outright kill both Cassius and Kharim during the fight, but ultimately the party was able to bring her down. Of course, Cassius and Kharim didn't stay dead for long. Kai always saves a couple of spell slots for Revivify just in case things go sideways. As far as solo bosses go, it was a pretty good fight.

The party broke Erisiel free of her nightmarish cage and retrieved the green gem. Aurelius was able to identify it as the vuulge, and he knew they could use it to track down and speak with Maeldur, but the gem was immune to any real analysis. It was crafted in a bygone age with powerful truenaming magic long lost to time. Even the Identify spell wouldn't work on it, since the gem existed before that spell was ever created. Aurelius was rather uncomfortable with the thing, and let Tulany hang onto it. She would need it later anyway.

However, the first thing the party wanted to do was get out of the Abyss. They knew they couldn't go back to Sigil, since Erisiel was technically a goddess (albeit of the weakest kind) and the Lady of Pain prevented any Power from entering her realm. Instead, the party decided to sneak through Aza'grat and find a portal to Plaguemort, then hoof it across the Outlands to Excelsior, and from there return Erisiel home after nearly 1300 years of imprisonment. The plan went without a hitch. None of the demonic patrols in Aza'grat seemed to notice the party, nobody in Plaguemort challenged them, and even the journey across the Outlands was quiet. Along the way, Erisiel used her powers of purification to remove the various curses the party had accrued.

When the party arrived in the Holy Sea of Mount Celestia, they were halted at the shoreline by Barachiel and his celestial giant octopus (who, of course, gave Daegan a high-five as a fellow tentacle monster). A hastily assembled council of Powers had been assembled by Bahamut to discuss the matter of Erisiel's return during the party's journey across the Outlands, and now a select few of these Powers waited for the party on the beach. Swayed by the Platinum Dragon, this council had determined that Erisiel had spent too long in the Lower Planes, and thus she could not return home. The council did not want to risk Erisiel's presence corrupting archons or petitioners with any lingering fiendish taint. The Powers stripped Erisiel of her status as a goddess, and Bahamut threatened to destroy her himself if she returned to Celestia before spending enough time away from the lower planes to be deemed "suitably cleansed". The party argued vehemently on Erisiel's behalf, but the will of the Platinum Dragon would never be swayed by the words of mortals. With the decree handed down, Bahamut and the rest of the council departed back to their respective realms. Only Heironeous and his allies remained on the beach. Naturally, he had voted to let his only daughter come home, but he had been outvoted. He apologized to the party, hugged Erisiel for a long time, and bade the party to look after his daughter.

Heironeous and his allies departed, and the party took the grief-stricken angel back to Excelsior.

TL;DR - No good deed goes unpunished.

[JadedDM]

They should appeal this decision to an authority higher than Bahamut. Like Neo Bahamut. Or even all the way to the top--Bahamut ZERO.

[SleepyShadow]

They should appeal this decision to an authority higher than Bahamut. Like Neo Bahamut. Or even all the way to the top--Bahamut ZERO.

Unfortunately, they don't have the right materia for that

Squaring the Circle - Part Six
In which the Heroes make a change for the better in the Multiverse.

Spoiler: Session Fifty

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The session started off with the party getting harassed by the daubus the moment they stepped into Sigil. Erisiel was no longer a power, and thus could enter Sigil, but the daubus wanted to let the PCs know they were on thin ice. Once the daubus left, the party split up to recuperate before their next foray into the Lower Planes. Of note, Tulany recruited her old friends Nadia and Jassen to help break into Spiral's house. The trio looted his book of business contacts, and Tulany took it to the cranium rat mob boss The Us, both to cultivate a good relationship and as an apology for the many headaches the party has caused over the course of their journey. Meanwhile, Kharim introduced Erisiel to Fall From Grace and the girls at the BSIL, and Kai met with his ex-wife for a cup of coffee.

After a bit of rest, the party used the vuulge to track Maeldur to the seventh layer of Baator. Tulany used her horizon walker powers to transport the party as close as they could get, and they found themselves outside a rolling fortress as it rumbled its way across the blasted plains. The fortress was guarded by patrols of fire giants, Nessian war hounds, and barbazu knights. The PCs debated on how to sneak inside, but ultimately decided to use a combination of Aurelius' engineering skills and Kharim's newfound ability to function like a siege weapon.

They tunneled in through the underbelly of the fortress while it was parked.

The PCs crept through the inner fortress for a while, exploring the dungeons and talking their way past some arcanoloth mercenaries. Eventually, they found Maeldur trapped inside a pool of brine. Tulany, Kharim, and Erisiel climbed on top of Maeldur to communicate with him via the vuulge, while Aurelius used a combination of Heat Metal and smiths' tools to weld the door shut to keep the enemies out. Erisiel began the ritual to purify Maeldur of his corruption, and the party readied to defend against the fiends. Iuz himself led the charge in trying to batter down the door, but the party did a fantastic job keeping him ranting instead of actually making progress smashing through the welded door. The arcanoloths didn't bother helping him, because they were paid to keep the fortress running, not capture intruders. Even his own paladin, Ashram the Black Knight, betrayed Iuz by revealing his true allegiance to Iggwilv and leaving. The party kept Iuz ranting long enough for Erisiel to purify Maeldur's corruption, and Maeldur transported the party out of Baator.

He took everyone directly to the Holy Sea of Mount Celestia, and Barachiel, the guardian angel of the first layer, called for an immediate council. Barachiel went straight to the top to report Maeldur's return after countless eons. Maeldur was an older entity than even most of the gods which now existed, so none of the Powers were quite sure what to do. There was, however, one being who still knew about Maeldur.

Zaphkiel the Watcher, leader of the Celestial Hebdomad, knew who Maeldur was. Both PCs and Powers watched in awe as the two primordial beings conversed on the beach. At length, Maeldur was transformed into pure Celestial light and transported to the very top of the mountain. Zaphkiel returned to the top of the mountain without another word. Barachiel explained that the yugoloths would have forever hounded Maeldur and attempted to recapture him, so Zaphkiel took him to the highest point on Mount Celestia where they could never harm him again. The gathered angels and Powers dispersed back to where they came from, and the party was amply rewarded for their priceless service to the Multiverse. They struck a deadly blow against all fiends everywhere, but they would need to watch their backs from now on.

TL;DR - Mission complete!

[JadedDM]

Congrats to the party!

[SleepyShadow]

Congrats to the party!

Yeah, they did a great job throughout the adventure. Squaring the Circle is one I would highly recommend, as long as you don't mind some pretty big changes to your campaign. It's tucked away in a big supplement called Hellbound: The Blood War.

Personal Time
In which our Heroes take some much deserved downtime, and tie up some loose ends.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-One

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Aurelius used the vuulge to bring Bosh P. Golem back to life, and there was much rejoicing. There was also a bit of surprise, as Bosh could now Plane Shift a few times per day, albeit with laughable inaccuracy. Together with Kharim and Rowena, the little group went back to the Isle of Black Trees in order to retrieve Rowena's father, who had been petrified and was being held captive by a coven of night hags. Along the way, they met a young girl named Rose, who was wearing a red hood and skipping through the forest to take a basket of goodies to her grandmother. The group found this incredibly suspicious, but they decided to escort her through the forest anyway. They arrived at a Southern Gothic style cottage, and they found Rowena's father being used as the centerpiece of a fountain overgrown with weeds. The PCs were quick to put two and two together, and realized that the night hag they were after was the little girl's grandmother. The party bargained with Granny, and eventually settled on exchanging a bag full of beads which acted as keys to the Elemental Plane of Fire (which they picked up way back in the Eternal Boundary) for the petrified elf. Once the deal was made, Rowena expressed concern for Rose's mother, since the Huntsman was often the villain in her uncle's twisted fairytales. The party hurried back the way they came, and eventually came across a pair of skinned wolves. Worried that Nekrothepta was somehow involved in all this (because of her penchant for using forsaken shells as minions), they raced to save Rose's mother from some terrible state. When they reached the cabin, Kharim kicked the front door in with all the authority the Harmonium granted him. Inside the PCs found the Huntsman and Rose's mother enjoying a nice evening together while the little girl was out of the house.

Meanwhile, Daegan took Erisiel to the Bleak Cabal Gatehouse and had her purify his little brother's madness. Adair had taken to eating insects lured with sugar, eating spiders lured with the flies, eating birds lured with the spiders, and had gotten it into his head that Daegan had replaced him with Hikari as his "new sibling". He also wanted a kitten for unspecified purposes. Erisiel healed Adair's madness, but there wasn't anything she could do about the physical augmentations brought on through biomancy, so Daegan took Adair to Woolly Cupgrass for some alchemical remedies. The cranky bauriar promised to help, though it would take time and likely be a costly endeavor. Since the party had just received a hefty chunk of change from their last adventure, Daegan had no problems with this. He just wanted to get his little brother back to normal.

While all of this was going on, Kai was enjoying a pleasant visit with his ex-wife, Tulany was engaged in negotiations with Ser Feirefiz's mother Queen Secundilay, and Cassius was getting reacquainted with his long lost brother Alistair. Cassius was invited to join in an investigation regarding a place in Greyhawk called Tovag Baragu, which seemed to be a place divorced from the normal flow of time. According to Alistair, Tovag Baragu was seemingly affected by a catastrophe which had yet to occur. Minions of both Iuz and Graz'zt were vying for control of the region, so Alistair naturally thought his brother's experience with the cults would prove invaluable in the investigation. Cassius agreed to look into the matter once the party was back together, and the two brothers spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying tea together.

Last but certainly not least, Eirik was met by a petite woman with a fiery temper who bade him come to Ysgard at his first available opportunity. This was an invitation to join the hallowed Hall of the Einherjar, and rejection would mean forsaking his rightful place and being forever labeled a coward. Eirik was never one to turn down a challenge, so he packed his gear, grabbed Sharwyn, and headed straight for Glorium to take the quickest route to Ysgard.

TL;DR - The party wanted to do some personal side quests before jumping into another big adventure.

[AllHailthed4]

Once the deal was made, Rowena expressed concern for Rose's mother, since the Huntsman was often the villain in her uncle's twisted fairytales. The party hurried back the way they came, and eventually came across a pair of skinned wolves. Worried that Nekrothepta was somehow involved in all this (because of her penchant for using forsaken shells as minions), they raced to save Rose's mother from some terrible state. When they reached the cabin, Kharim kicked the front door in with all the authority the Harmonium granted him. Inside the PCs found the Huntsman and Rose's mother enjoying a nice evening together while the little girl was out of the house.

A nice evening together indeed. I'd never considered the implications of... um... "recreational lycanthropy" too carefully before. Kharim is wondering if there's still time to transfer to a celibate order 😵*💫

[SleepyShadow]

End of Vacation
In which our Heroes endear themselves to the Norse Pantheon, and head to a peculiar site in Greyhawk.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Two

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Eirik, Kai, Cassius, Sharwyn, and Storm took a few days of vacation time in the Great Hall of Ysgard. By vacation, I of course mean drinking, fighting, and making merry. Eirik even got into a duel with a Valkyrie. He dunked her without breaking a sweat. Kai got some love life advice from Freya, and Cassius got to be delightfully confused about the whole situation.

Meanwhile, Tulany finalized her negotiations with Queen Secundilay, and briefly went home to see her aunt and talk to her father. Back on Sigil, Kharim and Aurelius got blisteringly drunk and had to clean up the Harmonium mess hall to repay Faith after she cleared up their hangovers.

Once all the partying and personal business was taken care of, the party gathered once more to discuss what to do next. They decided to investigate Tovag Baragu and its connections to Graz'zt before just gallivanting off to Greyhawk. The site itself was outside the normal flow of time, had gates which connected to alternate versions of itself in other dimensions, and was under the affect of a great calamity which had yet to occur. The place had been turned into a temple to Graz'zt about ten years ago, and the cult of Iuz had recently invaded the place, though the motive was unclear.

Kharim, however, decided to research Iggwilv/Tasha instead. He found out all about her scandalous love life with Graz'zt, her time being mentored by Mordenkainen, and that she was the daughter of Baba Yaga herself. Most recently, Tasha had decided to become an Archfey (I have no idea how), and was going by "Natasha" to avoid the bad PR her other personas had accrued over the years.

Armed with this knowledge and trivia, the party headed to Tovag Baragu to put a stop to the squabbling demon prince once and for all.

TL;DR - Wrapped up personal quests and prepared for the finale.

[SleepyShadow]

With the campaign drawing to a close, I decided to run a classic adventure to wrap things up with a nice little bow. I modified Die, Vecna, Die! as the endgame, replacing the titular villain with the party's "behind the scenes" nemesis Graz'zt.

Tovag Baragu
In which our Heroes find a clash between two cults, and a third party looms from the shadows.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Three

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The party trekked across the Sand Steppes of Greyhawk and entered Tovag Baragu. The place was a circle of eight stone archways similar to Stonehenge. The PCs found three of the arches functioned as portals, so they hopped through one at random in search of Meletros and Alistair, who were supposed to meet them there. By good luck, they picked the right portal (the other two led to either a flooded ruins populated by sahuagan and an underground cave with a pair of uropheons), and met with their contacts outside a watchpost built in a dinosaur infested jungle. Meletros and Alistair had formed an alliance with the steppe nomads, who were more than happy to pick off stragglers from either the Graz'zt or Iuz cults. Inside the watchtower were some Graz'zt cultists the nomads had trapped. After chatting with Alistair and Meletros for a bit, the party headed deeper into the portal network of portals, each of which led to a different version of Tovag Baragu in an alternate universe.

Along the way, they encountered a dead world populated only by ghouls, and another which existed in perpetual twilight. It was on the twilight world they found an inn, which the Iuz cultists had ransacked during their raid. There were survivors lurking in the upper floor of the inn, however, a vampire woman by the name of Drelnza and her two consorts Illya and Noma. They were here at the behest of Tasha, and Drelnza claimed to be the only daughter of Tasha not sired by Graz'zt. She helpfully told the party that Tasha was somewhere in the portal network as well, trying to mend the rift between her lover and her son. She didn't want them killing each other, or so Drelnza believed. To my surprise, the party was pretty chill about leaving a trio of vampires to their own devices, and moved on in pursuit of Iuz and Graz'zt.

A few portals later, they met Rule-of-Three and almost two dozen cultists who had been dispatched to stop the PCs and bring Sharwyn to Graz'zt. Rule-of-Three claimed the demon prince wanted a "grand family reunion" to complete his plan, which he had been forced to accelerate thanks to the party's constant meddling in the Blood War. Rule-of-Three offered the party a chance to surrender Sharwyn to him, which they took exception to. Aurelius used his artifice gadgets to drag Rule-of-Three out from behind his wall of cultists, and the party laid the smack down on him without remorse. He demonstrated considerable arcane power, and also his crippling ego by not retreating back to the safety of his cohorts. When Rule-of-Three inevitably perished, the surviving cultists surrendered.

The party questioned the cultists, and learned that Graz'zt was luring Iuz into some kind of trap. Furthermore, he had gathered all of his children together save one, a fiend who dwelt on the Demiplane of Dread known only as The Gentleman Caller. Not much was known about this fiend other than that he was a handsome man with six fingers on his hands who seduced and/or violated Vistani women, with a preference for those from the Zarovan bloodline. The cultists didn't know what Graz'zt's ultimate plan was. Barrock, Storm, and Erisiel offered to take the cultists back to Sigil where they could be dealt with properly by the Harmonium, and the PCs agreed. Everyone made everyone else promise to stay safe, and NPCs departed with the captive cultists in tow.

The PCs, along with Sharwyn as the sole remaining NPC (she considered this a family affair and wanted to see it through to the end), pressed on deeper into the Tovag Baragu network until they at last found a portal which led to Ravenloft rather than another version of the ruins. Steeling themselves for whatever awaited them, the PCs headed into the mists. They wandered through the fog blindly for a few minutes, but soon enough they were approached by a Grim Reaper lookalike who warned them to turn back and not interfere with the Dark Powers. The party refused, saying they needed to stop whatever Graz'zt was planning, but the reaper would not be dissuaded. When the party refused to back down, more reapers emerged from the mists and prepared to strike them down.

Naturally, I ended the session there

TL;DR - The start of our final adventure!

[JadedDM]

Were they particularly hot vampires? Maybe that's why they were left alone.

[AllHailthed4]

Were they particularly hot vampires? Maybe that's why they were left alone.

I can't speak for the others, but I just kinda felt sorry for her. Being Tasha and Mordenkainen's kid seems like a rough start, lol.

[Cerrita]

Being Tasha and Mordenkainen's kid seems like a rough start, lol.

Indeed. Condolences all around were offered.

[SleepyShadow]

Invidia
In which our Heroes return to the Demiplane of Dread, and the full moon saps their coordination.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Four

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The session started off with the party fighting off the grim reapers, who were known for "never missing their mark". While that was true, the reapers' attacks did a laughable amount of damage. One swing per round and only 2d8 damage (with a save for half) impresses nobody at level 12. Needless to say, the party mopped them up in short order.

With the reapers cleared, the PCs found themselves in the domain of Invidia, ruled over by a half-vistani enchantress, Gabrielle, who had been seduced by the Gentleman Caller many years ago. When the party arrived, the city was already a war zone. Fiends and cultists clashed with the bewildered soldiers native to the domain. Thanks to Tulany's sign language skills, the party learned that both Graz'zt and Iuz were assaulting Gabrielle's palace, fighting both each other and the dark lord's outmatched forces. The party hurried to stop the fighting at the palace, but that's when the distracting side quests started popping up around every corner.

First was a half-crazed girl from Athas who had been snatched up by the Mists a few months ago. She could tell the PCs were outsiders and begged them to help her escape the demiplane. After a bit of convincing, and some magical healing from Kai, the girl agreed to wait for them outside the palace rather than follow them around like a lost puppy.

Next came a desperate father who begged the party to help find his missing daughter, who had been kidnapped several weeks ago and taken to Gabrielle's palace. The party placated him by explaining that they were on their way to the palace anyway, and would look for her while there if they had the time. As soon as the father departed, the party was confronted by a vampire detective (the module is a little strange, just roll with it) who said he was already looking into the girl's abduction. He knew she had been taken by one of Gabrielle's court officials, but he had yet to determine who the kidnapper was. He asked the party to inform him of any clues they happened across, and the PCs agreed if only to get a move on.

At last at the palace gates, the party was attacked by Drelnza, her little coterie, and a cranky fairy courtesy of Tasha's connection to the Feywild. This is where things kind of went off the rails. This fight took much longer than I anticipated. The players' ability to coordinate and cooperate just disappeared for this fight. I blame the full moon

However, when all was said and done, the party still managed to stand triumphant. When Drelnza fell, the PCs were approached by none other than Ashram and Pirotess, who demanded to parley. Since the PCs were tapped for resources after the fight, they capitulated and followed the black knight and the dark elf away from the palace to a more secluded location where they could talk without fear of interruption.

TL;DR - I think this adventure intentionally tries to distract the party so the villains have more time on the clock.

[SleepyShadow]

The Showdown
In which our heroes make an unlikely accord, and two demon princes are faced.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Five/Fifty-Six

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I decided to combine the last two sessions into a single post, as they were both combat-heavy. However, important plot stuff happened at the start of the first and the end of the second

To start, the party followed Ashram and Pirotess into the Mordenkainen's Tasha's Magnificent Mansion. There, they had an in-depth chat with the witch queen herself, who was desperate to change her public image despite having been a supervillain over the last four editions of the game. Tasha revealed one of the deepest secrets in Planescape canonical lore, so if you don't want major spoilers, I'd suggest you stop reading here.

Graz'zt's father, Asmodeus, the Lord of Hell, wielder of half of a Shard of Evil, and a god worshiped on multiple Prime worlds, was just an avatar. The entity behind the facade was the primordial serpent Ahriman, one of four entities who exist outside the normal cosmology of the Great Wheel (the other three being Ao, The Lady of Pain, and Jazirian the primordial coatl). Ahriman had been using Asmodeus and the Blood War to distract the multiverse from the real threat which dwelt in the deepest recesses of Nessus. Tasha explained that when the party interfered with the fate of Maeldur, they had inadvertently accelerated a plan which had been in the works for millennia to acquire the other half of the Shard of Evil. Tasha didn't know what the end goal was, but she suspected it was more than just marching the combined Fiendish forces on the gates of Celestia.

With the talk at an end, Tasha armed the PCs with quirky intelligent magic weapons before teleporting them to the top of the castle (I had no interest in running through a 70+ room dungeon, and neither did the players). The party found itself in the castle library, where they discovered a young Vistani woman, though she quickly revealed that she was in fact Madame Eva. She admitted the Gentleman Caller had seduced her with promises of restoring her youth, which would help immeasurably in her fight against Strahd. Unfortunately, she had already played her part in the drama. The portal Graz'zt had wanted was already open. Only the interference of Iuz and his minions had kept the demon prince from acquiring the Shard of Evil. Before the party could ask her anything else, they were attacked by the son of Iuz, Korbadur the Cruel (an ogre tiefling). The party battled Korbadur and his minions, and handily defeated them all.

The PCs rushed to the throne room where Graz'zt and Iuz were doing battle, but they were halted by the Gentleman Caller and his six Dhukars (Vistani men with the power of prophecy who were fated assist in the destruction of the Demiplane of Dread). The Gent proved a much tougher opponent, but even his powerful cleric magic was eventually overwhelmed by the party's tenacity and good positioning in combat.

At last, they breached the throne room. Graz'zt and Iuz were still doing battle, and neither showed any sign of weakness. The presence of two incredibly powerful creatures who were not supposed to be in Ravenloft was tearing the Mists apart. However, before the party could move to attack, they came under fire by the Dark Lord of Invidia, Gabrielle. She wanted the two demons to destroy Invidia's ties to the demiplane so she could at last be free.

The party dunked her in a round and a half

Iuz shattered his sword on Graz'zt's chest to no effect, and was too stunned to react when Graz'zt cut him down and began to absorb the demigod's soul. Blood and viscera from all of Graz'zt's slain brood began to pour into the tower, and even Sharwyn was getting dragged into the maelstrom. Eirik and Daegan held onto her to keep her from getting pulled in, and the rest of the party started burning the flow of blood and pouring holy water into it. They did everything they could to keep Graz'zt from gaining any more power. They did a good job, too. However, even just absorbing Iuz was enough to let Graz'zt shatter the bonds of the Demiplane of Dread. He reached through the misty portal Eva had opened, and claimed the Shard of Evil from the bottom of the Abyss. With his newfound godhood, he tore all of Ravenloft apart, sending the Dark Lords spinning through the multiverse back to wherever they had come from. The mortal inhabitants of the plane were wiped away. The party thought they were going to suffer the same fate as well when they went plunging through the darkness.

However, most of them ended up on the Outlands instead. They had been dumped into whatever Gate Town corresponded with their alignment. Sharwyn, Eirik, and Daegan ended up directly in Sigil, since they were still holding onto her when Ravenloft was broken, and Sigil was Sharwyn's home. While the party contacted each other via Sending to make sure everyone was still alive, Aurelius and Kharim made an absurdly high Arcane check to figure out what had happened. First, there had been a lapse of three days since their departure into the Mists. Second and more importantly, the two lads realized Graz'zt had attempted to unmake the entire party along with the Demiplane. He had only failed to do so thanks to the direct intervention of The Lady of Pain herself. This was a monumental occasion, as she almost never intervened, and it was unheard of for her to assert her influence outside of Sigil. The lads realized it was an invitation to meet with the enigmatic entity.

The party gathered together once more in Sigil, and found the entire city in an uproar. Graz'zt had planted himself at the Armory, the Doomguard headquarters, and had brought in a host of fiends to boot. The factions were all working together in teeth clenched teamwork under the direction of the dabus, who took their orders directly from The Lady of Pain. A great army was massed outside the Armory, but they had been unable to penetrate the magical wards which guarded the fledgling demon god.

The party headed through the crowd to meet with the Lady of Pain to learn the dark of the situation.

TL;DR - Major campaign setting spoilers ahead!

[JadedDM]

No big deal, just an audience with

Spoiler

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The Lady of Pain

I'm sure that's never gone poorly before. Good luck to the party!

[Xervous]

No big deal, just an audience with

Spoiler

Show

The Lady of Pain

I'm sure that's never gone poorly before. Good luck to the party!

I’ve heard those can be really a-maze-ing

[SleepyShadow]

The Armory
In which our Heroes meet with the enigmatic ruler of Sigil, and puzzles are solved.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Seven

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The party met with the Lady of Pain, and learned from her dabu attendants that she was using her power to limit Graz'zt's power to just the area around the Armory. She could not do more, because she still had to keep all of the other gods out of Sigil. Benevolent or not, the presence of any other deity in Sigil might prove disastrous to the multiverse. The Lady needed the party to eject Graz'zt from Sigil by any means necessary. There was only one thing she could do to assist them - she could blind Graz'zt to their presence, who still believed he had destroyed them when he destroyed the Demiplane of Dread. The "invisibility" would allow the PCs to bypass the divine wards Graz'zt had set up around the Armory. The PCs accepted the offer, and the Lady returned to focusing her power on binding Graz'zt to the Armory.

A prophet of Graz'zt, a succubus dressed in a nun's outfit, flew out from the Armory to speak about the glory of her demon god. Kharim responded by throwing a javelin at her, which galvanized the rest of the onlookers to join in and pelt her with ranged attacks. The succubus retreated back to the Armory, followed by the laughter of the Sigil locals. The party put Sharwyn on a crate and had her tell the locals the plan in flowery narrative. After her speech, the party learned that the Factol of the Doomguard, Ely, betrayed the other factions and joined Graz'zt. Most of the Doomguard did not go along with the plan, and so the survivors of that faction decided on the spot to make Sharwyn their new Factol. Naturally, the party encouraged this.

With the blessing of The Lady of Pain, and the cheering from the onlooking army, the party made its way past the orbiting Spheres of Annihilation and infiltrated the Armory. Inside, they found a grand chapel with frescoes detailing Graz'zt's exploits and victories throughout the multiverse. A few hesitant converts lingered in the chapel and studied them, but because the party came inside without getting blasted or annihilated, they assumed the PCs were new converts as well. The converts told the PCs that they could only meet with the new god if they managed to pass three trials (because, of course, The Rule of Three still applied). The PCs were pretty confidant they could manage.

The first puzzle chamber involved four torches, one on each wall, and an altar asked about Igqilv's great victories. The party went back to the fresco chamber, found a map of Greyhawk, and read up on Iggwilv's four victories over Mordenkainen. The PCs lit the corresponding torches, and the way opened up. Easy enough.

The second puzzle chamber had three sleeping women (a blonde, a redhead, and a raven-haired woman), a bunch of pillows, and a magical chalice filled with a sleeping drought. The PCs used Lucid Dreaming to see what was going on with the three women, and saw Graz'zt's plans to defeat three specific women with ties to his past: Mayaheine (a red haired planeswalker turned goddess who thwarted Graz'zt on the world of Greyhawk), Jallarzi Sallavarian (a blonde sorceress who was the only female member of Mordenkainen's Circle of Eight), and Tasha (who very recently betrayed him). The party debated about what to do with them, but eventually settled on having Sharwyn kiss them in a Sleeping Beauty style to wake them up. They did it in the right order, the women woke up, and the way to move forward opened. I had intended for the PCs to just carry the women out of the room, but it was a good enough solution to me.

The third and final puzzle chamber had four women each sat on their own bench around a pit which spewed hot air and toxic smoke. Each of the women had a different holy symbol stitched into a removable panel on the back of their robes: Heironeous, Hextor, Iuz, and Asmodeus. This was the puzzle that gave them trouble. They were convinced this puzzle followed different rules than the other three did. The party flipped the benches over, destroyed some decorative statue, and even contemplated sealing the pit shut (honestly, not the worst idea given the toxicity). Eventually, they went back to the room of frescoes to look for clues. They found one of Graz'zt abducting an angel who wore the symbol of Heironeous, followed by one of a six-fingered knight stealing into a tower watched over by Hextor, and lastly of Graz'zt casting Iuz into the void. All of these were under the watchful eye of Asmodeus. The party returned to the puzzle chamber, tore up the cloth symbols, and threw them into the pit.

Not quite right. The symbols reformed back on their corresponding benches.

The second time they got it right. They tossed in Heironeous' symbol first, then Hextor's, and third Iuz's, all while holding Asmodeus' symbol aloft. With the puzzle solved, the party was able to enter a hall decorated with gold. Also in the hall were many scrolls, all of which were spells stolen from various worlds around the multiverse. Unfortunately, the module only provides one example spell and left me to determine the rest, so I promised Aurelius I'd get back to him on that

With a mighty cry of "Harmonium! Open up!", Kharim kicked the final door open, and the party stormed into the chapel to confront Graz'zt and his minions. Final session incoming!

TL;DR - Sometimes players out think themselves, but that's okay.

[JadedDM]

Reminds me of that one Oglaf comic about the 'Overthinking' trap. (Don't worry, it's one of the few SFW ones.)

[AllHailthed4]

Reminds me of that one Oglaf comic about the 'Overthinking' trap. (Don't worry, it's one of the few SFW ones.)

Yeah, that's about accurate.

[SleepyShadow]

The Showdown
In which our heroes battle against an ascended demon prince, and the fate of Sigil is decided.

Spoiler: Session Fifty-Eight (Final)

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The fight got underway against Ely Cromlich and his henchmen, and things were off to a rocky start. The party struggled to decide what aspect of the fight took priority: Ely the high level eldritch knight, the pair of succubus warlocks dumping fireballs on the party, or the half dozen cultists who were spamming cantrips at Daegan while spamming Healing Word at Ely. Kai was the focus of attention for the two tanar'ri, because he was quickly identified as the party healer. Whenever the succubi had the chance, they would target him. The party struggled for the first few rounds of combat against the magic damage coming at them from all sides. Eventually, Eirik and Sharwyn managed to get Ely bloodied, and that's when Graz'zt took to the field in person.

That's also when a switch flipped for the party. I'm still not sure whether it was desperation or sheer grit, but as soon as I put Graz'zt's mini on the battlefield, the party became very cohesive. It wasn't just their teamwork, either. Even the dice started cooperating to stop the destruction of Sigil. The party passed more saves, landed more attacks, and got hit less frequently. Daegan scored more critical hits in this one session than he had across the last four months of game play.

Eirik and Sharwyn managed to take Ely down when they weren't busy throwing out healing spells (it was one of the few fights where Kai wasn't able to keep up with the damage by himself). Daegan and Cassius cleaned up the cultist even though both were teetering in single digit hp for most of the fight. Tulany and Aurelius shot down the two succubi, saving Kai from their barrage of aerial spells. Kai put everything he had into keeping the party alive. Kharim kept the whole party on task, and kept Graz'zt occupied long enough for the whole group to pivot and turn on the burgeoning god.

Graz'zt spent the first couple of rounds trying to use his godlike powers to obliterate the party, but the protections given to them by the Lady of Pain made them nigh invulnerable to deity-level magic. He couldn't Wish them out of existence, and the party took minimum damage from the epic level spells he threw their way. Eventually he got fed up with the party, identified Kharim as the party leader, and just tried hacking him to death with Wave of Sorrow.

He almost killed Kharim in a single round of concentrated melee attacks.

Fortunately, Aurelius managed to punch through Graz'zt's divine barrier before the demon prince could finish Kharim off. That moment of distraction was all the opportunity another Power needed. As soon as the barrier was broken, the Lady of Pain took over the situation. Her shadow smashed through the giant stained glass window and dragged Graz'zt screaming into her Mazes. The party got a first hand look at the power the Lady commanded, and it was a bit too close for comfort.

As the party limped out of the Armory, they found all of Graz'zt's images had been scrubbed from the walls, and his decorations were gone. As soon as they stepped outside, the gathered army outside cheered and hailed them as heroes. Over the next few days, a celebration was held in their honor. It wasn't every day some leather heads from the Prime turn into real cutters. They even gave a demon god the laugh! During the festivities, the Lady of Pain herself even acknowledged their existence. She only paused in her usual route through the city long enough to give them a nod of approval, but that was an unheard of event. To the locals, it was even more impressive (and horrifying) than the defeat of a god.

A second unheard of event occurred shortly after the festival. The Lady of Pain spoke. She uttered once more the Words of Creation used to form Sigil, reordering the laws of the portal networks and the protections over the city so this could never happen again. The long-term repercussions of this would not be fully felt for more years, nor fully known for many years more.

Of course, Sigil was still the same jaded center of the Multiverse it always was. The festival ran its course, the portals began to function once more, and life went back to normal. Or at least whatever passed for normal in Sigil.

The PCs were rewarded by the dabus a few days later. They were granted three gifts (of course) from the Lady of Pain. First, they were promised protection from Graz'zt's kin so they wouldn't have to fear reprisals for their actions. Second, they were granted a Key to the City, which they could use to turn any archway, doorway, or window into a permanent two-way portal to Sigil, but they could only use it three times (of course). The third gift was the deed to a mansion in the Lady's Ward. It was theirs to keep, it was fully staffed, and it would be kept and maintained by the dabus during any time when the PCs were absent from Sigil. When the party went to inspect their new mansion, they realized it was Spiral Hal'oight's old mansion. They were pretty happy to get one last chance to rub salt in that particular wound.

Over the next few months, the party drifted apart and went their separate ways. Tulany left Sigil and met up with Feirefiz, and used her knowledge of portals to establish a lasting alliance between her country and his. Aurelius went back home, taking Rowena and the other library elves with him, and started up a new group of adventurers after taking the opportunity to rub his planar thesis paper in his old professor's face. Eirik and Sharwyn were married in a Nordic church in Glorium, and settled down in Sigil after a few months of adventuring and planeswalking. Cassius and Storm met up with Alistair and worked to repair relationships between the githyanki and the githzerai, culminating in preparations for taking down Vlaakith XIII, the lich queen of the githyanki (an adventure for another time). Kai got back together with his ex-wife, who was finally convinced he hadn't been cheating on her with his boss at the clinic, and the two of them sent their oldest son off to medical school. Daegan took a day trip back home to tell off his mother, then settled down in Sigil with his patchwork quilt of his chosen family (Daria, Hikari, Barrock, and Adair). Kharim took Erisiel back home with him to safeguard her from planar threats, and he reunited with his childhood sweetheart Zenobia.

This story might be over, but I'm sure the gang will have their own adventures in other places down the road.

TL;DR - This campaign was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for sticking with it, and thanks to everyone for reading our adventures.

[JadedDM]

Congrats to everyone for completing the adventure and saving the planes!

Any ideas on what will come next?

[SleepyShadow]

Congrats to everyone for completing the adventure and saving the planes!

Any ideas on what will come next?

We're starting up a diesel punk spy game cobbled together from Delta Green, Dragon Mech, Pulp Cthulhu, and Night's Black Agents. It's set in a homebrew setting of my own design.