🗓 Session 5 – ⚔️👑 Final Duel
📅 Date of Session:
7/27/2025
👥 Party Members Present:
- Zane Umbralight (Half-Orc Warlock 6)
- Voss Dain (Half-Elf Cleric 6)
- Harlekk Wynnchym (Kenku Bard 4 / Warlock 2)
- Nelvax (Human Monk 6)
- Xaniver (Eladrin Sorcerer 6)
📍 Locations Visited:
- Champions’ Ball Arena
- Blackthorn Manor
- City streets during mourning
- Royal Cathedral
⚔️ Session Summary:
🎭 Final Duel at the Arena
- The party reunites just in time for the final fight of the Champions' Ball: King Waldren vs. the Raven Knight.
- King Waldren enters in green-and-gold regalia, carrying a twisted oaken shield and a longsword.
- His opponent, the Raven Knight, drags a massive sword, face hidden by a helmet.
- During combat, roots sprout from the king’s shield, encasing him in bark and enlarging him to nine feet tall.
- The Raven Knight lands the first blow and ultimately defeats the king.
- She removes her helmet, revealing herself as Queen Alyssa, Waldren’s first wife and the mother of his only son—long thought dead.
- Accusing him of kinslaying, she plunges her sword into his chest, killing him.
- Black fire erupts around her as she vanishes, leaving stunned silence before panic sweeps the crowd.
🏚️ Haunted Manor & Bastion Plans
- The party stocks up on supplies and travels to their newly acquired Blackthorn Manor.
- Voss knocks on the front doors, which swing open on their own.
- The manor’s exterior, once beautiful, now bears crumbling walls, overgrown grounds, and broken fountains—yet inside, a fire burns in the hearth and the floors are clean.
- Mordain, the vampiric steward, greets them and confirms he will remain in service.
- The party spends the night there.
- HOMEWORK: Begin collaborative bastion design using DungeonDraft, DungeonScrawl, or Theater of the Mind.
🍳 Morning After
- Over a full English breakfast, Mordain cryptically asks Zane about a “night walk,” which Zane denies.
- A messenger arrives with news: the king is dead, the city is in mourning, and Lord Signmonder requests their presence.
⚰️ Royal Funeral Procession
- The party travels through mourning-filled streets: black banners, flags at half-mast, and nobles with armor dusted in ash.
- Brandina, the muscular barmaid from the Leaping Lion Tavern, is seen among the mourners.
- Lord Signmonder tasks them with guarding the queen and princess during the funeral ceremony.
- Rumors about the queen include:
- She may be undead.
- She could be a devil.
- Possibly even an Erinyes.
- The princess is said to be cruel, enjoying others’ suffering.
- The king is to be buried between statues of Queen Alyssa and their son.
🏛️ Cathedral Ambush
- As the king is laid to rest:
- The temperature plummets.
- Cathedral gates slam shut.
- The statue of the prince animates, its glaive glowing before flying forward to strike Nelvax.
- Three Crown Knights are slain instantly.
- The queen and princess attempt to flee but are trapped by the locked gates.
⚔️ Combat: Glaive from Beyond
- Glaive strikes first, slamming into Nelvax.
- Xaniver summons Spirit Guardians, radiant forms swirling in defense.
- Nelvax launches a Flurry of Blows, but the glaive is incorporeal.
- Harlekk fires Eldritch Blasts, which pass harmlessly through.
- Voss seizes the Spriggan Shield and, invoking divine magic, creates a duplicate of himself.
- Zane, realizing force and steel fail, casts Fireball:
- Arcs the blast to avoid Voss.
- By fate’s twist, it strikes the statue’s glaive—revealing it as the true possessed threat.
- Voss, standing amid embers, delivers a divinely inspired speech to Lord Signmonder, who solemnly allows him to bear the shield until the danger is ended.
🎭 Aftermath
- The haunted magic dissipates and the ceremony resumes without further attack.
- The party is invited to Lord Signmonder’s estate the following day.
- All members advance to level 6.
💰 Loot:
- Spriggan Shield (temporarily entrusted to Voss)
🗨️ Quotes:
- “Waldren, you are... kinslayer. I claim your power.” – Queen Alyssa
- “These words carry the weight of the gods.” – Lord Signmonder to Voss
✅ Things to Do:
- Visit Lord Signmonder’s estate.
- Begin Bastion design.
📦 New Items:
- Spriggan Shield
🧍 New NPCs:
- Mordain – Vampiric steward of Blackthorn Manor
- Queen Alyssa – Former queen, revealed at the Champions’ Ball
- Brandina – Muscular barmaid from the Leaping Lion Tavern
🗺️ Quests Updates:
- King’s Games - Completed
- Guard the Royal Funeral – Completed during funeral
- Secure and Develop Blackthorn Manor – In progress
🏳️ New Factions:
- None introduced this session