Villain Revealed 

March 18, 2021

The battle is over and the group won.  Barely.  And it cost Rolen his life.  Dio gets tunnel vision and wants to get him back to Sundabar, to Erik, who can make this right.  Gorstag wonders about getting scales, and more, from the dragon.  Gorstag also says that he can barely stand, Kaji is drained, and they just need a little bit of rest.  The lich had said something to them but no one was really listening and they didn't know what to say.  After thinking about it, Dio realized that they do need to catch their breath.  And an extra day won't change anything.  Dio nods at Gorstag and says he will go talk to the ruler.  When Dio gets to the manor, the door is open.  He pushes it open and yells out that he will talk.  They say come inside and they will talk.  Dio has a bad feeling about it and asks them to come out but they won't.  Dio pauses but then shakes his head and goes back to the group.  

The group gets a rest, has a snack, and takes care of Rolen's body.  Gorstag then starts to get some scales from the dragon.  He hasn't been going at it very long when a wind whips up and a small blizzard seems to hit the area in front of the house.  It reminds them of what called the dragon!  When it clears, four frost giants are there, one with the longest, yellow hair, in a single braid, going down nearly to her knees.  She introduces herself as Gerti and the giant with the ice spear, that Gorstag still has wrapped up near him, is hers.  There is a point of contention on that.  Gerti says that she honors them and their defeat of her son and that she honors them by asking for it instead of killing them for it.  Kaji's eyes have focused on the symbol of Auril and some words about Kossuth and Auril are spat between the two of them.  Dio tells both of them that they have other things to worry about.  After ten heartbeats, with Gerti staring between Kaji and Gorstag, both back down.  Kaji puts out the flame he was holding and Gorstag tosses the spear over in Gerti's direction.  Gerti says that Gorstag will have a chance to claim it again.  She tells them to go south and avoid the war or go to Sundabar and see how long they hold out when her people arrive.  Gerti takes the spear then a blizzard whips up again and all of the giants, alive or dead, are gone.  Dio lets go of Gorstag and gets back to Rolen.  The dragon is still there and Gorstag starts to go back to harvesting but Dio tells him they should get going.  

The trip back feels like they are just in front of a coming storm.  The first day, what appeared to be an early snow was constantly at their backs.  When they pass Newfort, they finally feel like the storm isn't getting closer.  When they stop in the tiny villages, Rolen is honored by the villagers with a drink.  It's a very somber time.  Even the guards at the gate are quiet when they see the group, now down two.  They head to the temple and Erin sets them up in the "guest" area while getting Rolen's body ready.  Erik comes down and commiserates with them before going to prepare.  

The next morning, they have the diamond, and Erik casts the spell.  Dio finds himself in some elven heaven.  It would appear they just did a hunt, although of deer or orc Dio isn't sure, and Rolen is there.  Dio takes a second to see Rolen and wonders if he should pull Rolen out of this reward that he deserves.  Dio decides to make it Rolen's choice.  He steps forward and Rolen sees him and greets his friend.  Rolen introduces him around and then they talk about another hunt.  Dio turns to Rolen and says that he needs to decide.  When that happens, Rolen realizes he is dead.  Instead of a village, they are on a flat plain, and Rolen knows he must choose if he wants to go back to not.  It wasn't hard for him to say he must go back so they head back.  Rolen finds himself in a white, glowing place before sliding into his body.  Rolen wakes up as the diamond Erik is holding loses its glow and cracks in a few places.  

Once Rolen is back, Erik leaves and the group talks.  They are going to head back out and see what can be done about the giants.  However, as they take stock of their situation, they realize they need to prepare. Dio wants to go to the Undercity and so they head to the elevator.  It takes a while to realize it's not working.  They force the door open and find the lift there.  When they try and activate it, there is a snapping sound, and then the lift drops out from under their feet!  Gorstag's cloak's wings were unfurling as Kaji cast a spell to slow their fall.  They go down the sixty feet to find the lift broke into pieces at the bottom, with pieces of amethyst and topaz all over the floor.  They have to step up to the door and force it open.  The undercity is empty.  No guards.  Little noise, maybe a faint sound of wind.  As they walk through the tunnels, there is no light and they are glad for the ability to see in the dark.  They find the high priestess room and the door is ajar.  Stepping inside, it's empty and appears that someone left in a hurry.  With time to look around, they look out into the undercity and it's quiet.  Before, they didn't realize at the sounds of life they heard.  Forges worked, smells of a bakery and smelting.  Now, nothing.  They take their time to really look and see that there are people moving around.  Nope, undead.  They see no living.  Dio figures he didn't feel them because none are in the temple and they are so far away.  Then they see the beholder floating around and quickly head back up.  

They aren't sure what to do about that and realize it's one problem at a time.  They tell Erin to make sure the elevator door has guards on it, which she does, and then they talk about options.  They finally decide to head to the temple of Helm and pull out the dragon weapons then see if they have any potions to buy.  They don't have any powerful ones, so they head back to the apothecary, Monika, and get potions from her.  Dio buys a new shield at the armorers and while not happy it's not magical, likes the feel of the weight.  They are still bickering about what else they need when someone suggests they go speak to Homilar.  Dio reluctantly agrees.  

It turns out Homilar isn't home and so they go to find the council.  They are not happy as they are kept waiting.  No matter how much they press onto the guards outside the main council chambers, the guards won't admit them until they are told they should.  It feels longer than the five minutes it is before they are allowed entry.  The council just pisses them off.  With no army at the gates, they don't seem like they will do anything.  Eventually, they come around that the giants are headed here.  The council offers a group of militia and orders to secure the road to Sundabar from the east with them about five miles outside of town.  Dio agrees right away.  They others shrug and figured it's the best they will get.  

They figure they have everything they need but Dio just suddenly wonders about some way to enchant his shield.  Kaji says they have some runes but Rikard usually did that and Kaji isn't able to.  On a whim, they go to Lady Sara's and see if she can help.  

They wait in the dinning hall at her home for her and when she comes in, ask if she has any potency runes.  She does not.  Then they ask if she can put a striking rune onto the dragon weapons.  Lady Sara is surprised by those weapons and does ask about them but then tries to put a striking rune on it.  It doesn't work and she's just able to put the striking rune back onto the blank slate for it so it's not lost.  And then Kaji asks her to look at the dagger of dragon controlling.  Gorstag and Rolen notice the change in Lady Sara immediately.  It's not just that she gets still, it's that she didn't do an intake of breath.  Her eyes just got wide as she reached out for it.  Kaji barely noticed that Lady Sara effortlessly pulled the dagger out of the sheath but did notice when her eyes went white, the dagger shone gold, and she was mumbling.  Kaji grabs it back and slams it into the sheath and just stares at her.  

"Oh, my dear group, I couldn't resist that when you put it in front of me.  Now the dragons will head my call as well.  I thank you for helping me become immortal.  It took a lot of tests but I am there now and I have you to thank for all the work you have done to get me here."  

Gorstag swings his glaive at her.

20000 xp

GM Notes

• I gave 20,000 xp as that gives them a level but doesn't "level set" them for xp.  I don't prefer that.  
• Sometimes it's nice when game terms and role playing terms cross over.  Other times, it can be annoying.
• "little bit of rest" = Short Rest 
• I think I am fine with the concept of a short rest but actually want it shorter.  I think 4E's was five minutes?   
• There are also times that I want either type of rest to be longer or shorter depending on things. 
• After a big battle or a long trek across the wilderness, I could see it taking overnight to be the same as a Short Rest and a few days for a Long Rest.
• Other times, after down time, I can see a short rest being ten minutes and a long rest being a few hours. 
• Maybe there needs to be more guidance along these lines and make it fluid, sometimes a roll, sometimes DM choice, on when a character is rested. 
• When I do a write up, I like to do dialog.  Dialog is show, exposition is tell, and showing is better. 
• However, telling is saying exactly what I mean, whereas showing allows for interpretation.  
• As much as I like dialog, sometimes I want to be clear.
• I'm not sure how I feel at times about 5E. 
• How wizards have spells works for me.  I like it and it's a good innovation, blending memorization and slots. 
• I like the separation between sorcerer and wizard that they have created. 
• Other times, what should be class abilities have become spells, such as Find Mount and Find Familiar.  I don't know why those aren't just class abilities for Paladin and Wizard, respectively, instead of spells. 
• I also feel that it would be a good way to show differences in how a familiar works between all classes that have something like that instead of making it the same. 
• I probably don't put enough emphasis on Rikard.  Since he's "my" character, and the players have done a great job not treating him as a typical NPC, I don't often talk about his help in it as I try and keep the focus on the PCs.
• I was happy with the reveal and it really was a whim they went to Lady Sara's.  I thought they were going to avoid Lady Sara and just go east.  That would have been a much different story and ending to the campaign.   At the last minute, we were all getting ready for them to leave, they instead go to her house.  Next week should be interesting.  

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