DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Session

November 8, 2025, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

We explore the Quadroads a bit, and interfere in an immolation of religious materials. Many cultists are killed, and two people rescued, but at significant cost. We take a short rest.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Quadroads
  3. Next steps

Last session

We fought Belladonna, and lost the Burning Blood and the Armor of Ancients. We ignored a lot of messages about attacks on cities all across the continent. Belladonna got away. Percival is seriously de-powered; Salris is in a coma.

We ran off to Quadroads, where we lifted a siege of the Temple of Ioun.

Quadroads

To-do:

There are some raiders around the temple; we defeat them.

We head towards the Irregular Inn.

There's a large gathering at the center of the Quadroads. There's a pile which people are adding to: all sorts of religious icons, wood things, burnable things, icons. Atop the pile is a speaker who says things.

Jerry Passes Without Trace and works her way through the crowd. Ryltar Shadow Steps to a roof.

The speaker wears the vestments of the Cult of the Burning Tree, preaching the tearing down of other religions because Belladonna protects those who are trusted. Screams and cries, of elation and fear. Someone cries out as a brand is placed against their forearm.

Embersia and Percival are staying at the edges of the crowd.

In the middle of the crowd, there's a disheveled pile of stuff, just tossed in to the middle of the plaza. There's someone tied to a bust, screaming. Jerry gets closer and sees that it's the proprietor of the Coin Flip Inn. And there are other screams coming from the pile.

We spend some time preparing. Jerry uses her Oil of Slipperiness to gain Freedom of Movement, and prepares an action to coat a dagger with the Wyvern Poison.

Another person is added to the pile. It sounds like there are at least 5 people in the pile.

There are 10 guards approaching, being pushed away from the congregation. Ryltar doesn't see any guard captains.

Percival and Embersia head over to the guards. Percival casts Glib on himself.

  1. Surprise!
    1. Jerry Silences the head priest.
    2. Percival please for everyone to go home and cease this madness, specifically convincing the people who are on the fence, or who don't want to be there.
  2. Round one
    1. The Guards try to push through the crowd, and succeed.
    2. Embersia supports them.
    3. The head cultist is confused.
    4. The Cultists look around to see what occurred.
    5. One of the cultists noticed Jerry casting, and runs up to her, and attacks three times. One crit (doesn't crit) for 21, two misses, and jerry multiattack Defenses to cause him to attack his partener.
    6. Other cultists run around.
    7. The Crowd begins to think about dispersing.
    8. Percival casts Invisibility on himself, for protection, and continues his spiel.
    9. Ryltar doesn't know that any damage has been dealt, so he doesn't start dealing damage. He doesn't see any cultists trying to herd people into the spell. He holds action for a Ray of Frost on the speaker.
    10. Jerry crits against that cultist, dealing 36 but not downing him. 9 to the adjacent cultist with Horde Breaker. Her Mobile moves her past
      • Another cultist casts Scorching Ray at 5th level for 6 beams, of which all miss.
      • Ryltar fires at that cultist with Ray of Frost 19 damage on that cultist.
      • Embersia does Guiding Bolt at that cultist for 21 damage and advantage on next attacks.
      • Jerry punches the statue, but isn't used to the gauntlets yet, and breaks.
      • Jerry uses Hide in the pile.
  3. Round 2
    1. The guards push forwards.
    2. Embersia does Spirit Guardians at 4th level to attack cultists.
    3. The cult leader extends a hand, spitting out three rays of radiant towards … he can't (Jerry used Hide) waves a hand overhead in a circle.
    4. The cultists set fire to the pile.
    5. Percival uses Bigby's Hand to push through the crowd. A gap begins to form.
    6. Ryltar casts Fog Cloud through his Ice Staff, for a 20-foot radius, heavily obscured, around Jerry and the proprietor.
    7. In the intense fog, Jerry climbs back up, pulls out a knife, and frees the owner. Then she and the owner hide.
  4. Round 3
    1. The guards move into the main circle. One of the flaming cultists is arrested.
    2. The fire spreads. One guard catches fire.
    3. Embersia pushes through the crowd. Two cultists are now within range of her Spirit Guardian, take 4d8, and pop.
    4. The Lead Cultist, a Hierophant, exits the silence. "Those who oppose, those who stand with the gods who do not see your best interests at hand, do not protect you in your moments of desperation. Belladonna will see me through this inferno."
    5. Another cultist casts Fireball on the Hierophant, at 11d8. The monument in the center of the pile protects Jerry and the innkeep from that, but the pile of items on that side of the pile burn up, taking the Hierophant with them.
    6. The Firebug nearest to Jerry, in the fog bank, runs out of it, straight into the hands of the guards.
    7. Another cultist does Death Wail on self, dealing a lot of damage to the guards, but only one guard dies.
    8. The crowd continues to disperse.
    9. Percival swings the Bigsby's Hand at a Firebug, and hits, for 9, and then Viciously Mocks the firebug for 14 and disadvantage.
    10. Ryltar casts Ice Storm on the burning pyre where Fireball has been cast, filling it with 19 cold and 9 bludgeoning damage, making it difficult terrain.
    11. Jerry picks up the innkeep, makes it out of the pike and fogbank, slashes a firebug with advantage for some damage, pushes through to the line of guards. There's a cultist there. Covered in splinters and blood, carrying a person, she growls at the cultist: "Surrender." The cultist disappears.
  5. Round 4.
    1. The guards do some attacking of the cultists. The firebug dies.
    2. The fire spreads.
    3. Embersia moves up to Jerry, and her aura clips a cultist and an enforcer.
    4. The Hierophant walks out of the flames, unmolested by them. He cannot allow a holy person to walk here. Three Radiant Rays at Embersia, all of which hit. The third one downs her. "Those devoted to those who cannot protect shall fall."
    5. The cultists kill a bunch of guards. Jerry takes some psychic damage.
    6. Percival heals Embersia for 15, and brings the hand up to give her and Jerry half cover.
    7. Ryltar does some damage.
    8. Banging comes from deep in the middle of the pile.
    9. "Let's blow this scene," says Jerry, sadly, and casts Pass Without Trace on herself, Embersia, and Percival. She heads out with a 37 stealth.
  6. Round 5
    1. A guard follows Jerry out of the crowd.
    2. The fire spreads. The whole pile is afire.
    3. Embersia stands up and flees.
    4. Percival gets stabbed by some cultists for 24 damage, and can't regain HP. 11. Some more damage. He's still up.
    5. Percival pauses. The knocking is still coming from the pile. With a 19 Perception there's a crate in the middle of the inferno. With Bigsby's Hand he grabs the crate and moves it with the fleeing Party. He then takes True Polymorph and becomes an adult silver dragon, for the extra HP and such.
    6. Ryltar blows his Psychic Lance on the Hierophant, who takes 25 psychic and becomes incapacitated.
    7. Jerry explodes the casket, and frees the person.
  7. Round 6
    1. The cultists stab the dragon; 3 hit.
    2. Percival The Dragon fires off a Breath Weapon of ice, dealing 13d8 = 41 damage, and putting out the fire.
  8. Round 7
    1. Ryltar hits another cultist for 8d6 = 22 and incapacitation to a firebug.
    2. Percival gets attacked some more.
    3. The crowds are gone.
    4. Percival doesn't get his breath weapon back, so he uses Frightful Weapon. The remaining firebug is frightened. Then he does some slashing, and kills one cultist.
  9. Round 8
    1. Ryltar kills the firebug.
    2. Jalaarze's Storm of Radiance casts the Hierophant, dealing some damage.

The battle continues for a while, with us dealing more damage over time to the Hierophant. The Hierophant is mad about this, rears back to attack the dragon, and then gets zapped in the face by Ryltar's Ray of Frost. Percival the Dragon pulls off three Breath Weapon attacks of 60 damage, and kills the Hierophant. The dragon, who started with more than 250 hit points, is down to 30.

In 59 minutes, Percival will have to decide whether he stays as a dragon again.

We invite the owner of the Coin Flip Inn to stay with us at the Irregular Inn for a bit. He's a follower of Glittergold, the god of trickery and wiles. The other person is the priest of Corellon Larethian.

We arrive cautiously, and Seamus and Audrey shuffle us in.

Seamus asks us about Salris; we tell him he's at the Temple of Ioun and he rushes off. He's on a mission.

Audrey greets us; it's kind of awkward. There's a cultist statue on the street outside. Genin and Alexander are guarding the other end of the building.

We take a short rest and spend some hit dice.

It's midmorning.

We still need to go find the Ascendants.

Next steps