#### About the Campaign **Dungeon Master:** Court **Players:** Jen Jenneration as [[T.H.E.M]] ([[Tyrius]] [[Hawthorn]] [[Marla]] [[Emery]] ) Armoury as [[Viv]] K as [[Maria v'mova]] ShadowCalypso as [[Myria]] and [[Imagination]] --- # **Current Session:** [[Session 43]] *Transcript:* [[Session 43 Transcript]] *Audio:* [https://youtu.be/2WMySWeWEF](https://youtu.be/2WMySWeWEF "https://youtu.be/2WMySWeWEF") **Starting Date:** 5th of Springdusk 2451PS **Ending Date:** 5th of Springdusk 2451PS -=-=- ## Recap --- The battle began in the early morning light as the party positioned themselves on the defensive walls, preparing for an imminent assault. Quill, an Avon shifter with natural flight abilities, took position 35 feet above the battlefield with his devastating sniper rifle "Bad News," which had an incredible range of 2,400 feet. Viv gave him a featherfall token for safety, while other allies like Pal, Buddy, and various squads of soldiers took strategic positions along the 25-30 foot tall palisade walls. The party had advantage on initiative rolls, and all troops had received temporary hit points from a hearty meal the night before. Two glowing portals suddenly appeared near large trees, and massive enemy forces began emerging. First came enormous fire giants carrying tower shields on each arm, followed by regular troops, and finally twisted, corrupted entities that no longer resembled their original Fae forms. A familiar but distorted voice called out across the battlefield - one that Maria, Evergreen, and Emery recognized but found wrong and twisted. The voice taunted about sunscreen and threatened to bathe in blood, setting an ominous tone for the battle ahead. The Scarlet Archer launched the first devastating attack from the trees, her bow igniting in hellish red flames as she moved. She fired a chain shot that struck multiple defenders, creating burning metal chains that tethered Viv and Bygrove together while dealing ongoing fire damage. The attack killed a Duck and Cover soldier instantly and left the tethered allies unable to move apart from each other. The archer followed up with silvered arrows that burned supernatural creatures, paralyzing Buddy with a specialized shot before attempting to hide among the tree branches. Honor, Viv's summoned spiritual companion, used an action to remove the burning chain from the tethered allies, taking significant damage in the process. Viv and Bygrove jumped off the wall to escape the archer's line of sight, while Evergreen and Scribbles both activated body aspect spells. Scribbles transformed into a massive draconic form with enhanced combat abilities, gaining 60 feet of flight speed, a 45-foot cone breath weapon, and AC 19. Evergreen flew up 30 feet to get a better tactical view of the battlefield. The opening volleys began with ranged attacks from both sides. Quill attempted to snipe the closest fire giant but his shot struck the creature's massive shield, though still dealing 25 damage. Enemy wild singers attempted to cast fireballs, but the Duck and Cover squad successfully interrupted one casting with their mage hunter tactics. However, a second wild singer's fireball connected, injuring multiple defenders including the centurions and Slip, though many survived due to cover and their temporary hit points from the previous night's meal. Maria's combat engineers emerged from underground tunnels in a coordinated assault. They split into two groups of five and concentrated their fire on a fire giant, with one group hitting for 70 piercing damage. Meanwhile, Buddy broke free from his paralysis with help from a tail reaction and launched into a furious assault. He hopped over the wall shouting "no hugs," tore a chunk of earth from the ground to hurl at the giant, then leaped up to bring both fists down on its head. His devastating attack dealt 232 damage to the giant's shield, completely destroying one of them while Buddy laughed maniacally. The Scarlet Archer emerged from hiding to engage Maria directly, using uncanny luck to turn a natural 1 into a successful hit. Maria took 44 points of piercing damage and 1 point of fire damage, but managed to deflect a second arrow Wonder Woman-style using her forearm gauntlet. Maria continued her psychological warfare, taunting the archer about her weakness and corruption, which seemed to be having an effect as the archer's intimidation built up mysterious ticks on some unknown mechanic. Viv provided crucial healing support by activating her moon symbol tattoos, which flashed blinding white moonlight and sent out healing waves. Maria, Bygrove, and several injured soldiers each received 23 points of healing. Honor then requested to join Buddy in what was dubbed the "suicide brigade," climbing over the wall to reach the front lines. With Buddy providing flanking, Honor delivered a devastating critical sneak attack that severed the fire giant's leg at the knee, causing it to crumple with severe penalties while Honor took 15 fire damage from the creature's magma blood. Galbeck attempted to finish off the wounded giant but her demon gun "Mutability" misfired spectacularly. A demonic raven face appeared from the weapon saying "we could kill them all," forcing Galbeck to physically strike the gun against the parapet to regain control. This demonstrated the dangerous nature of demon weapons, while Evergreen took note of the supernatural corruption. Bygrove then delivered the killing blow to the fire giant with her dual pistols, firing two rounds into its head and eliminating the first major threat. Evergreen switched to imagination magic and cast Mind Spike at the Scarlet Archer, using 7 charges to make her vulnerable to all damage and auto-fail saves. The psychic attack dealt 17 damage and established a mental link that prevented the archer from hiding effectively. When the archer attempted stealth, she rolled double natural ones and became visible to everyone on the battlefield. The party's ghoul squad then launched a coordinated ranged attack despite visibility issues, hitting for 50 damage even with the archer using uncanny dodge. Quill took a precision shot at a possessed singer from his elevated position, hitting with a 27 attack roll and dealing 31 total damage. The singer died instantly, but a horrifying skull taker demon with unusual purple skin and a third eye ripped its way out of the corpse. This marked the first appearance of the corrupted demons that would emerge from fallen possessed enemies. Meanwhile, six Fae attackers focused on Honor while four attacked Buddy, resulting in Honor's death as his scythe disappeared and reappeared in Viv's hand. The battle intensified as Scribbles used his dragon breath weapon on approaching enemies. The fire giant failed its save and took 30 slashing damage while gaining disadvantage on attacks and saves, but the Fae soldiers behind it were protected by the giant's bulk. The wounded fire giant retaliated by throwing two flaming rocks at the defensive gate, hitting both times for 40 total damage and setting the structure ablaze. Bingo the dog quickly responded with his water bucket, successfully extinguishing the flames. Fae troops launched spear attacks at the centurions on the wall, with the first rank hitting and downing two heavily armored defenders. However, the Duck and Cover squad was positioned to provide medical aid to the fallen soldiers. Vengeance then activated his devastating "Merchant of Despair" ability after killing a possessed enemy, frightening all enemies within 30 feet and gaining terror tactics bonuses. He followed up with a disintegrating shot at the second fire giant, dealing exactly 42 damage to a creature with 40 health, reducing it to ash. The Scarlet Archer emerged from hiding and formally challenged Maria to single combat, which Maria immediately accepted by jumping down from the wall. This prompted Them to mutter "for fuck's sake" under his breath, but the party respected the nature of the duel. The engineers continued their coordinated assault using battle buddy system tactics, attacking possessed enemies with sharp shovels while the Billet dealt 20 flat damage to a separate target. Slip attempted to banish a fire giant and succeeded, causing it to glow orange and disappear from the battlefield. However, he suffered a wild magic surge that caused him to cast sleep on himself, falling unconscious while maintaining concentration on the banishment. Garrett showed no surprise at this magical mishap, suggesting it was a recurring occurrence with the Aetherborn magic user. The Scarlet Archer transformed her combat style dramatically, snapping her bow in half and digging her hands into the jagged parts. Her blood crystallized into blade-like weapons that appeared to be alive, flowing from all her wounds. She launched multiple critical hit attacks against Maria, dealing 39 total damage with these blood crystal blades while the demonic corruption became more apparent in her appearance. A fire giant broke down the defensive door with its first attack, then attempted to punt Maria but she was thrown 60 feet away. This allowed Kalia to emerge and unleash her massive weapon in a devastating 45-foot cone attack. The radiant damage killed multiple enemies including the fire giant, but also caught several allied ghouls in friendly fire. Kalia expressed joy at finally being able to use her weapon after waiting for the opportunity. Evergreen cast her custom spell "Withering Bloom" at two demon targets, switching her familiar from imagination to knowledge magic. Both demons failed their constitution saves and took 53 necrotic damage each, with one being killed outright. The spell created maddening music with no rhythm or beat, and everyone on the battlefield felt the push and pull of life and death around them. Evergreen revealed that the enemies were hybrids, similar to a previous enemy named Korad. Multiple coordinated ranged attacks followed as Viv used radiant energy beams to down two Fae soldiers, while Galbeck discovered that shots passed harmlessly through shadow demons. Scribbles engaged in aerial combat but was restrained to the ground by magical vines cast through an Earthbind spell. The duck and cover squad successfully interrupted a Blight spell that would have dealt double damage to the paper-made dragon. Them unleashed a massive fireball that devastated enemy forces, yelling "hot potato" as he reached into his chest and hurled the molten energy like a baseball. The spell killed multiple Fae soldiers while possessed enemies succeeded their saves. Centurions and other ranged attackers coordinated their fire, with Quill sniping the Wild Singer for 25 damage from his elevated position. Pal went on a rampage against possessed enemies, critically hitting one for 62 damage and killing it instantly, then following up to kill a second possessed enemy. However, the Wild Singer began glowing red as he absorbed power from the dead possessed, then cast a fireball at the combat engineers. The engineers barely survived the blast, looking severely injured but continuing to fight. The battle escalated as more enemies charged the walls while taking damage from defensive briars. Five possessed enemies successfully scaled the wall despite being afraid of Vengeance, while others engaged Buddy and the remaining defenders. A possessed caster used Earthbind to restrain Scribbles to the ground with magical vines, then multiple possessed enemies attacked the helpless dragon, dealing 45 points of damage with a critical hit. Vengeance demonstrated his protective instincts toward Scribbles by jumping off the wall and firing a piercing shot through multiple enemies. The attack hit five targets in a line with one critical hit, severely damaging or killing multiple possessed enemies. This showed that Vengeance, being part of Evergreen, understood how much Scribbles meant to her. The climactic duel between Maria and the Scarlet Archer reached its conclusion as Maria revealed the archer's true nature. Half of the archer's face was elven with tears of blood, while the other half was a golden-scaled demon face grinning malevolently. Maria delivered powerful divine smite attacks enhanced by radiant damage that was doubled due to the target's demonic nature. She then used healing magic as a weapon, slapping the elf half of the archer's face with cure wounds and grabbing her throat while casting level 3 cure wounds as a finishing move. The healing magic caused the archer to scream as it damaged the demonic corruption. The Scarlet Archer crumbled into summer leaves with a faint plea for help, finally freed from the demonic possession. Maria then embodied the Verdance aspect, growing oaken antlers and glowing green eyes as she swore an oath to restore the freed archer. This demonstrated that in the mortal realm, defeating possessed beings returns them to their home plane rather than truly killing them. Meanwhile, Slip suffered another wild magic surge while attempting to cast a fireball, accidentally casting plane shift on himself and vanishing to Pandemonium, the realm of complete chaos. Evergreen sensed that he was no longer on the same plane of existence. A wild singer died and transformed into an Iranese demon with wings, flaming whip, and blade, maintaining the characteristic off-purple coloration and third eye of the corrupted entities. The final phase of the battle saw coordinated magical bombardment as Them used embody aspect to grow liquid silver wings and extra eyes, then cast fireball for 27 damage. Quill continued his sniper support while centurions attacked possessed enemies on the wall. Spark made talon attacks that killed possessed enemies, but the wild singer attempted to cast Maddening Darkness before being successfully countered. Vengeance killed the Iranese demon with a disintegrating shot while Evergreen failed concentration checks after being thrown 60 feet, causing her Withering Bloom spell to end. The battle concluded with the party having successfully defended their position, eliminated major threats including both fire giants and the possessed Scarlet Archer, though they suffered casualties including Honor's death and Slip's banishment to another plane. The coordinated defense, tactical use of magic, and individual heroics had turned the tide against the corrupted forces.