It happened! The session I’ve been excited about for ages finally happened this weekend. In our over 5-year-old campaign of two parties, both groups of characters have come together in the real Material Plane.

These posts are where I talk about the campaign I play in and our most recent session!

About SBotLL

SBotLL is the campaign I play in that has been running for over five years now. There are two parties: one mostly good-aligned party that started on the surface, and one mostly evil-aligned party that started in the Underdark.

The good-aligned party includes these characters:

  • Finnith (me), high elf bard/rune scribe
  • Nala, dragonborn rogue
  • Allora, tiefling/elf ranger

It also includes Allora’s animal companion, Frikka the bear, plus the NPCs Amuulqalo and Rupert.

The evil-aligned party includes these characters:

  • Eliera, dark elf/high elf ranger/warlock
  • Cipher, changeling rogue/mystic (currently operating as a human named Albion)
  • Baala’rug, tiefling monk

This group also includes Eliera’s animal companion, Artemis the dire wolf, plus the NPCs Naivara, Ivellios, and Daear (played by me).

Eliera holds a grudge against Finnith and his family, though Finnith has discovered the truth of the matter, she refused to accept it at the time… and intended to continue on her decades-long revenge quest against Finnith’s (and her) father.

Recap

Finnith and Baala’rug have been coordinating to get the parties to meet up. The good squad is aware of this, but Daear is the only other evil squad member who knows this. The goal is for Finnith to prove to Eliera that it wasn’t their father who is responsible for Eliera’s mother’s death—it was their grandfather, who currently persists in this world as a revenant. He is sealed underneath the elven capital city, Alame’a. With Vindus’ power, the whole group can teleport to that spot. Finnith hopes that by speaking with the revenant of their grandfather, Lucan Fëanor, Eliera will hear the truth and no longer wish to kill Finnith and his parents.

And thus, the parties run into each other on the road from Clearwater to Alame’a…

In this session…

A lot happened.

Tension ruled the meeting of the parties. Allora and Nala watched Eliera carefully, and the tenuous peace almost fell to pieces when Eliera attacked Finnith… but the other members of Eliera’s party persuaded her to desist. Finnith explained the truth of the matter again, but this time he has the proof he needs if the other group will agree to come with him.

After the evil squad’s private discussion, they agree. The wind god’s power transports them all to the chamber where Lucan Fëanor’s soul is sealed, and Finnith lets them all inside.

There, Lucan Fëanor remains as a revenant. All he wants is to end Finnith’s father, who rebelled against him when he learned that he sent assassins after Eliera and her mother.

The truth is revealed once more, just as Finnith conveyed to the other characters. So Eliera’s target changes, and she attacks Lucan.

Eliera kills him again and again—but he is undead. His body pieces itself back together every time. He mocks her constantly, with the venom of countless years.

As Eliera’s exhaustion and emotions seem to approach a peak, Allora reaches out with one of the powers granted to her by Vindus. It is a power over emotions, to synchronize one creature’s feelings with the group. Allora channels pure calm over everyone (except Cipher/Albion, who succeeded on the saving throw to resist it). This brings some relief to Eliera, but she also can’t sustain herself on rage any longer.

Finnith, Nala, and Allora reach the conclusion that if Lucan could feel the pain he caused Eliera, then that could destroy him—if he loses his drive to persist in his goal to kill Finnith’s and Eliera’s father. Allora discusses this with Eliera, who can barely muster a sign of assent. This (plus some choice words from Finnith) causes Lucan to finally fade away.

With that, the seal is broken. The two parties are finally getting their feet back under them when Thia and Adren, Finnith’s parents, show up. Thia was the one who created this seal, so she sensed when it broke. She confirms with Finnith that Lucan really was destroyed. Then she walks over to Eliera. Eliera at first doesn’t want to talk to her—but then says that, well, might as well hear what she has to say. Thia is conscious of how overwhelmed Eliera may feel with all this—Eliera doesn’t have to feel any certain way about her and Adren—but they’re around if Eliera ever wants to talk. She then leaves with Adren after a quick talk with Finnith.

And now the two parties are together, for the time being, though who knows what their next steps will be?

A Big Cast

Altogether, there were seven of us in the call (including our DM). Moments like these, where the stakes are high, are where everyone is going to want to say or do something. This was the case especially at the beginning.

The way our DM kept us from falling into complete chaos was using initiative order. This ensured everyone got the chance to speak and take actions. As the session progressed, we went in and out of initiative order depending on the situation. It worked pretty well!

One other note I would make is that with large groups like this, the potential for table talk or outside distractions also increases. This goes double because we blocked out a much longer span of time for this special session than our usual schedule. We got a lot done during the session, but like any other, there’s plenty of pauses in between the action! It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but rather something to keep in mind.

It was a lot of fun, and I’m excited for our next session! We’re still all together, but the next one will be our normal length, and I’ll have to wait a few weeks… but it’ll be worth it!