Chapter 9, Session 7: A finale with Silas
General Summary
Finally, we are fine now.The party jumped straight into combat with two vampiric firbolgs and a black plate armoured firbolg. They fought with ferocious speed and quickly began to push back the vampires with Mimsi and Anastasia engaging early on. Meanwhile, to support with protecting the fleeing innocent firbolgs, Ez threw up a Wall of Thorns behind the vampires to block their escape and block their ability to see or pursue the innocent firbolgs; leaving them to face the party. Battle raged on and, despite Fen taking heavy damage after being targeted for his ability to counter spell and Mimsi even falling unconscious after being healed and driving one of the black plate armoured firbolg's berserk, bringing her to two failed death saving throws. Fen managed to escape the two firbolgs using Thunder Step and brought Olympia with him to safety. However, the party overcame this damage and managed to defeat the firbolgs, with Kodo landing the finishing blow on the black armoured vampire whilst Thordak and Ez teamed up to defeat the two firbolgs on the bridge, with Ez using a tidal wave to knock them prone and Thordak then lifting and throwing them off the bridge to their death. While Anastasia and Ez healed Mimsi from her wounds the rest of the party looted the corpse of the black armoured vampire and found a weapon called 'The Black Blade' on him, the party identified the black blade and learned it was sentient; on conversation, they realised it was an arrogant, violent and malevolent blade quickly and decided to, after sassing it to an appropriate level, place it in the bag of holding along with the other items they were yet to figure out. Once that was done, the Wall of Thorns was lowered by Ez and the party spoke to the three firbolgs who told the party that they had been placed down here by Silas Povir and were killed if they tried to escape; they also explained that Silas could see through the eyes and 'blood' of the vampires under his control and so the party became aware of an alarm being raised as it was clear Silas knew Persicorum were in lower Fallrock and so the party stealthed and, after learning the basement to Silas' lair was underneath a nearby Firbolg lord's estate, they descended down with urgency... however, at this point, Lyren Killian volunteered to stay behind, the innocent firbolg's claimed that Silas had commanded for them to be slaughtered if they allowed Persicorum to get to him and so Lyren agreed that, whilst Silas was momentarily distracted by the party, he would teleport any firbolg's he could find and he would take them straight to Wakefield for safety and so the party split from Lyren and continued alone into the lair of Silas Povir. When the party reached that space, they saw Silas in the centre of the room flanked by vampiric firbolgs and, in the centre of the room, was the doll containing the tortured form of the Wanderer, suspended in the room with faint traces of purple energy streaming from it and slight echoed screams emanating from the Wanderer within, clearly suffering. Silas seemed to notice the party arrive with the aid of the eyes of The Wanderer he did not see Mimsi and Anastasia due to both of them rolling a '40'for their stealth checks. Silas addressed Kodo specifically, explaining that he would not give the Wanderer to someone who had already been driven mad by the entity without even being a key of it yet, Kodo retorted by pointing out Silas' childish and petty nature with Kodo and the fight started with Silas screaming in rage at Kodo; clearly being driven mad by his exposure to the wanderer. The battle was deeply intense from the get-go, with Kodo disarming Silas of his greatsword and go into a melee fight with the firbolg whilst Silas utilised an ability known as 'Dual Nature' where he effectively gave himself another turn in combat where he chanelled the arcane fury of the Wanderer to expand his spellcasting. Using this to cast a powerful prismatic spray at the party that caused many of them heavy damage and even resulted in Fen and Ez being blinded (with Ez subsequently being banished before dispelling the effect on himself). The vampires then joined the fight and activated several traps throughout the area, including one that harmed them and one that summoned one of Silas' primary lieutenants, a vampiric firbolg known as 'they Who laughed' a relatively powerful evoker mage who giggled with a broken mind whilst trying to fight against Silas' control over him and failing as he cast a Lighting Bolt at Ez and then apologised profusely for it. The party continued battling and, before long, they had their first loss with Mimsi knocked unconscious by several vampires that had grouped around her whilst Anastasia used her 'natures veil' to try and turn invisible to keep safe from the combat. However, Kodo soon managed to bring the combat to an end, reducing Silas to zero hp but that enraged the firbolg who screamed in anger and drew on more and more of the Wanderer's energy, activating his mythic state which increased his damage, gave him more legendary actions and allowed him to form more and more damaging effects on the party. The additional challenge of these mythic actions was the fact the party were forced to make saves against being shunted away by the Wanderer where, if they failed, they were sent to a fight and memory they had in the past. However, the Wanderer also attempted to offer the party support by taking the strongest resisters against Silas to a memory from his past in the hope the party could use it against him. However, despite the party (especially Mimsi and Olympia) being shunted to and from memories including their first fight with a Gearkeeper in Oar's Rest, their fight with Proto in The Feywild and finally the beholder fight in Casamir's library. In the main fight however, Silas used his extended abilities to deal more and more damage to the party, badly wounding Anastasia and Kodo (knocking Kodo unconscious at one point). The party, specifically the casters, noticed that the link between Silas and the Wanderer could be broken with enough work and so Ez, Fen and Olympia... with Silas distracted... slowly managed to break the Wanderer free from it's link with Silas Povir as the martial characters managed to get around Silas and finally put an end to the vampiric tyrant of the Firbolg's of Fallrock. Upon dying, Silas screamed and his blood became rotten, destroying the vampire's under his thralldom and leaving Fallrock devoid of the monsters. With Silas dead, the Wanderer's energy immediately left the area and rushed into Kodo who took on a contented and happy air as his eyes changed to a purple hue that matches the wanderer;s energy and, trying to brush off the party's concerns, he drank Mimsi's alcohol for the first time and also notably got irritated and argued with Ez after the Water Genasi expressed concerns around Kodo's trust of the Wanderer. Anastasia then accused Kodo of letting the Wanderer speak to him before a Sending from Lyren Killian interrupted the party as Lyren that he'd managed to transport the Firbolg's to Wakefield and could pick up the party after he completed a long rest and so the party settled in the now-tomb of Silas Povir and they rested for the night... levelling up in the meantime!
- Kodo assimilates The Wanderer
Rewards Granted
The party gained:
- The Blackblade- a very powerful and sentient cursed magical weapon that the party stored in the Bag of holding.
- Silas Povir's greatsword- the weapon left behind by Silas. Unchecked so far.
- The Wanderer as an ally
Missions/Quests Completed
Kodo bonded with the Wanderer
Silas Povir was defeated once and for all
The firbolg's of Fallrock were given hope.
Report Date
28 Oct 2023
Primary Location
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