Session 6: TPK

Story So Far

When last we left our heroes they had left Rathe’s Wall with all haste in an effort to catch up to Dohl’shelt and prevent the destruction of the Mistwall.

Journal

Once again we left in all haste, our carts loaded with supplies for the journey ahead. Our travels are quiet as each considers the task ahead, only Syr Spar seems unflappable even in our grave situation. Dohlshelt is at least 2 days ahead of us and we can only hope that that isn't enough time to finish the ritual.

On our third day of travel we came across another cart that had a broken axle. It was being used by cultists. Hoping that we could get more information I spoke to them as comrades, and the believed my tale. I was able to get more map locations for them before being interrupted by a woman. After speaking with her we realized it was Shae Rahel’s mate, Thal Askar Kor. She gave us a sign that we were to continue our travels, and that she appreciated what we did for her mate. As we rode off the dying screams of the cultists let us know that she had gained her freedom.

Our journey came to an end at a large submerged city. This city that I have no knowledge of in all my studies. We continued following our map until we came upon a sunken temple of Hades, this was it.

We descended into the temple, and we saw dozens of dead cultists. Their throats were slit, and it is clear that the ritual is either complete or at least has begun. We just stepped into a room, and there is an old mage speaking with a young girl. This must be the ritual it must be stopped.

Behind the Screen

Death, I am going gripe a little on this one. This session ended with the whole party being killed, and it was mostly due to a leap before you look attitude on the part of the paladin. We came across a ritual and as we were getting ready to observe what was going on in ran the paladin atop his spidery steed. His initial attack was impressive knocking a little girl unconscious and preventing the ritual from competing. Aurelion charged behind him, and as the dice hit the table it looked like we were going to have a very heroic boss battle, I had rolled a crit and some decent damage. Thats when the DM told me that the caster had hellish rebuke. Aurelion was vaporized instantly. Then over the next four rounds of combat the party was taken apart by magic until everyone was out cold except the paladin and the barbarian. At this point the ghost had recovered enough and possessed the barbarian who then murdered everyone.

Once the encounter was done the GM told us that if we had just watched for a second the caster(Dohl’shelt) would have died from the ritual and the fight would have just been the possessed little girl. Which we could have handled. Basically, we all died for interrupting the cut scene too early. The only member of the party to survive was Willis, because he wasn’t present. This makes Willis’s second TPK that he survives.  It is also the first time I have had a character die since 1996.

We sat around the table discussing what to do next, and the GM tells us to reroll characters. We are going to be in the same campaign setting, but elsewhere. Good news with this is that since we are all together to make our characters we can sort of create a more coherent party.

New Party

Artek Orc Barbarian- Torvanor Water Genasai Priest of Poseidon

Willis- Is staying as Willis because he survived

Syr Spar Gnome Paladin- Azhag Orc Warlock

Thalous Half Elf Warlock- Kova Tiefling Ranger

Aurleion Elf Bladesinger- Rurik Dwarf Battlemaster

The new party was built with everyone taking specific roles in mind. I went back to what I prefer to play the tank. This was going to be the first time I play this character in 5e, but Rurik has been created in many different games. For 5e he is a Mountain Dwarf fighter on the battle master path. The goal was to prevent as much damage to the party as possible, so I took protection. The only problem I see with the concept right now is that there are too many reactions I need to use and I only get one. It's going to be tricky to decide which one to use each turn, and how to save them. Sitting at 19 armour with almost 40hp makes for a pretty sturdy meat shield, combined with the fighter ability Second Wind I should be able to survive most encounters. Let’s see how it goes.