This session really packed a punch! Last session of the year, and our Dungeon Master ensured we went out with a bang.

In these Campaign Diary posts, I talk about the campaign I play in and how our most recent session went!

What’s SBotLL?

SBotLL is the campaign I play in! It’s been running for over three years now. There are two parties: one on the surface and the other in the Underdark. I play on the surface squad as the elf bard Finnith, with my two friends playing the dragonborn rogue Nala and the tiefling ranger Allora.

Recap

The party traveled to the Awoken Flame, a tiefling settlement hidden in a cave system away from the danger of the Coven of Eternal Light. The Awoken Flame’s nameless leader agreed to coordinate with the Moon’s Eye against the mounting threat of the Coven.

Nala’s belongings had been frozen by a frost salamander a few sessions ago, so she wanted to find the frost salamander and get them unfrozen before the party and Moon’s Eye’s planned strike against the Coven in the next several weeks. So, she and Finnith went to Thraden to find Grithin, a ranger who could help them track the creature.

Allora remained with the Awoken Flame to help cement the goodwill between them and the Moon’s Eye.

During this session…

Nala and Finnith visit some of the characters that Finnith helped when he was last in Thraden, the Winmettle family. After spending some time with them, Finnith talks to Betram Winmettle about helping Namfoodle Scheppen with the commission for Grithin (as part of his payment, both Betram and Namfoodle are gnome artificers, so the agreement is that they’ll make something for him in exchange for cooperating with Finnith and Nala).

After that, they go to arrange their stay at the local inn, the Kackling Kenku. Nebra, the eponymous kenku and owner of the establishment, shows them to their rooms.

Finnith and Nala are talking about what they’ll do next when a familiar face appears: Antonio, a former Coven member who is helping out the Moon’s Eye now.

Cut to Allora, who is spending time with the tieflings of the Awoken Flame. She spends a good part of the day with them. Suddenly, her weapon of warning flashes brightly and sounds like a siren. An elf wearing Coven robes suddenly appears—it’s Lilita Amastacia, one of the leaders of the Coven, carrying a bag with something inside. Lilita taunts Allora before revealing that her friends had led her to Allora… dumping out the contents of her bag: the severed heads of Verge and Finn, friends of the party and members of the Moon’s Eye.

Then Lilita begins attacking the Awoken Flame.

Allora and the Awoken Flame fight back, but Lilita takes down a few tieflings, and Allora and the leader can’t seem to make a dent in her—she regenerates health and resists damage from nonmagical sources. In the middle of the fight, time slows, and Allora’s mirror self (a representation of her subconscious, we think) asks if Allora really wants it to end like this. She says Allora has the power to stop Lilita if she calls upon a portion of her inner power—a black snake mask called Heishu that will grant power but that will close off her heart.

Allora hesitates, and time goes back to normal. Seeing their casualties, the leader of the Awoken Flame asks if Allora can buy him a minute to “summon his trump card.” Allora agrees, taking a heavy hit from Lilita, and summons the snake mask. It closes over her face and grants her immense power, allowing her to drive Lilita out of the cave.

Allora and Lilita fight back and forth for a while. Frikka, Allora’s bear companion, fights while Lilita summons shadows to make things more complicated. Lilita discorporates Frikka (bringing an animal companion to zero doesn’t kill them). The leader began the ritual on round 3, and the fight goes all the way to round 13—Allora’s at 9 hit points, Frikka is gone, but Lilita is on the ropes and a sound like an explosion rings out from the cave.

Allora hits her limit on her transformation and falls to the ground. The leader of the Awoken Flame flies out of the cave on wings of fire, wreathed in flames, and charges Lilita. They trade blows, and as Lilita lands a fatal strike, the leader uses that opportunity to bring down his flaming sword upon her in a flash of heat and light.

When Allora recovers, she sees Lilita and the leader both collapsed on the ground. The leader is no longer wreathed in fire, and his form is beginning to dissolve into ash. Allora kneels down beside him, and as his form turns to ash, he thanks Allora for her help and asks for her to lead the Awoken Flame in his stead. He believes in her to lead them to a brighter age than the current one. He gives her his sword, which is now broken. Allora promises to do everything she can for them, and he blows away in the wind.

And, uh, we leveled up!

Tone Shifts

The campaign has maintained a few different tones throughout the years. The good squad generally has a lighter tone than the evil squad, but it’s not without its dark moments, like in this session. This is by far the darkest turn the campaign has taken, as the stakes are higher than ever, but it doesn’t feel unnatural or forced, and I gotta applaud our DM for that!

Long Combats

Generally, most fights in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition don’t take more than four rounds. A thirteen-round fight—even between a couple of combatants and not a full party—is a long one. We were in a tough spot since the other party members weren’t involved, so staying engaged became difficult as the fight continued.

The session was a lot of fun, but if you’d like to implement a similar approach to a combat scene, I’d recommend giving a lot of consideration for how many rounds you expect it to take.

Thanks for reading!