Woo, so this is the finale. The Big Cheese. The culmination of events that started all the way back in September, when Jevak brought word of the coming invasion. Really, there was wayyy too much prose throughout this adventure – normally I try and keep the writey writey stuff to a minimum, not just because it’s easier for me but also because I believe it makes a better reading experience. So after this Imma keep the “novelisation” stuff to a minimum. It’ll be more of a casual tone than an epic.

But to be real: epic is exactly what this particular adventure deserves.

So quick recap: We’re following four perspectives here, which in hindsight perfectly mirrors that kind of “war movie” feel I was going for. Very Dunkirk-esque. Those groups are:

Elion, Melody, and Novessa. These three accidentally wound up on the plane of shadow, and are trying to use that advantage to locate and destroy the breakout tower. Only, Nov got Feebleminded by a soul conglomerate, so they’re pretty much screwed. These guys are like the “shock troop” trope, attempting to pull off an insurmountable mission behind enemy lines.

Toskan, who got really beat up defending the water village. Like, lose-a-leg kind of beat up. He’s been struggling through the western jungle on Tirkosu, attempting to reach the safety of Rahm Oru while avoiding Mirling patrols. His arc felt very Great Escape-ish, with lots of stealth that was made doubly hard with his missing leg. Oh, and he’s currently stuck down a ravine, with five levels of exhaustion.

Turf, Lundal, and Ikeer. As princes of the elements, these three were at the head of all the major action. The generals of the army, making tactical decisions that swung the war one way or the other. After holding the earthen village of Sovu Vapohu for two major battles, the Mirling numbers became too many for the allies to hold. Now they’ve retreated to Rahm Oru, waiting for the shadow army to attack.

Elo and Vanella. Even the high-levelers had a hard time staying alive in this adventure. Elo was turned to stone and Shattered, prompting V’nell to panic in an attempt to bring him back. She’s currently watching over his barely-stitched-together stone form on the plane of water, praying his soul will be willing to get resurrected.

Yeah, I don’t have a war movie analogy for this. High level play be cray cray, man. It came off as more of a mythological legend than anything.

Elion, Melody, and the semi-comatose Novessa realise how foolhardy it would be to continue with their quest. Nov was the only one with a decent sense of direction: And not only that, but without her ability to cast spells, she can’t summon Ala the giant owl. They would have to progress through the nightmarish graveyard on foot.

Feeling more relieved than defeated, Mel prepares to Banish her teammates – She’ll have to spend 24 hours recuperating her mental energy before she can Banish herself. Knowing they’ll each be returned to different planes, Mel puts her Tsethem mask in Novessa’s pack: It’s marked with an Instant Summons spell cast by Turf’s arcane mechanics, allowing them to track the holder. Elion traces a protection sigil upon Mel before they part, speaking comforting words and promising to Send as soon as she returns.

The blackness uncurls around him as the spell takes effect, replaced by the deep greens and blue-grey sky of the currently rainy plane of life. Taking a moment to soak in the rain and let his eyes adjust, he heads for a giant tree off in the distance. He can’t help but laugh with joy as he soars over the vibrant, tangled landscape in his suit.

Novessa’s Banishment coincidentally deposits her not far from where they’d entered the shadow plane, a few miles south-east of Hepthurai. Unable to do anything except react to instinct, she heads up the mountain in search of food.

* * *

Night has crept up on Vanella and her petrified buddy. Without warning, the calm waters suddenly become choppy as Elo begins to glow. The crack lines still visible along his body sear with light as V’nell fearfully swims down to investigate. Upon inspection, the magic doesn’t seem to be harmful however – In fact, it’s divine.

The light dies down, leaving reddish brown marks along the major cracks and hope in Vanella’s heart.

* * *

Elion reaches the giant tree, which turns out to be the capital of the plane – Maimozori. It’s easy for him to procure a plane shift spell in the city, although the price is a little steep. His sudden return to the windswept Rahm Oru provokes shouts from the troops at the gate: Dressed in his dark armour, they’ve mistaken him for a Mirling spy. Thankfully one of the town guard calls out.

Guard: Lower your weapons! It’s the Ebonguard. He was here at Nightfall. Saved our souls, along with the Tsethem.

* * *

Vanella finally recharges her portals, opening one below Elo and herself. Water explodes out of the gate in the second before she collapses it, crashing down into their destination; the inlet between the volcano and Tirkosu proper. Elo is cushioned by the water and sand, resting ion the shore like a stone memory of the Warforged who once called this place home.

She plane shifts to Rahm Oru, surprised and thankful to meet Ikeer there: The eagle man is blessed with divine power as that of a cleric, so she requests that he come and revive Elo. Turf is annoyed at her for bringing him away from their battle preparations, but Ike is more than happy to help.

They shift back to the inlet where he casts Greater Restoration on Elo. For a few awful moments, the metal man doesn’t move. Then the light returns to his eye, and all is well. As Vanella hugs him, a sense of newfound wholeness floods into his mechanical form in spite of the visible cracks.

Crunch

So behind the scenes, MUNE decided to give Elo a Blessing of Wound Closure. As far as I can remember, this is the first time any character of mine has received an actual Blessing. It might be the first time in the history of the setting, too. These things are Epic Boon levels of powerful.



* * *

Elion goes to give his report to the captain of Rahm Oru’s guard, but upon telling him of their shadow realm exploits, he’s taken to meet with the princes. Turf, Lundal and Ikeer have claimed the BAT tower as their headquarters, much to the annoyance of the arcane mechanics residing there. Needs must in a time of war.

Elion: So do you have issues with the brotherhood too, or is this just destiny serving their comeuppance?

It’s both. He gives them an abridged version of their trip into the plane of shadow. Lundal asks for specific details about the ritual used by the necromancer to return to the plane, but Elion hadn’t taken a proper look at the runes.

Stuck with a thought, he asks Turf if she can trace Melody’s Tsethem mask so they can recover their braindead comrade. They discover she’s found her way to Hepthurai – A trio of Aarakocra are sent out to recover her, flying the Kataros Aasimar back to the safety of Rahm Oru before sundown. They get her a room in the BAT tower, Ikeer promising to restore her mind as soon as the Supreme One wills it.

An offhand comment by Elion makes Turf recall their first sort-of meeting: he was at Larissa Lighstep’s side when she was extracted from the flying devil fortress buried beneath Rahm Oru. Turf takes him aside and quietly informs him of her untimely death at the hands of the shadow invaders.

The news hits him hard. Even with the hope inspired by his own afterlife experience, the fact that she passed so soon in life weighs heavy on his heart.

Elion: I just… Wish we’d spent more time with her. She was a good person *voice cracks*

* * *

Emotions are running high this day: Vanella has another argument with Turf. The Lamia have contacted the Colossi of fire, stating that they wish to aid in the defence of Tirkosu. Most of them are refugees from the infinite city; but Shinari, their leader, was raised on the island, and her words have stirred the honour in her kin – They wish to fight for their newfound world!

But Vanella’s not having any of that.

Vanella: They’re kids, Turf. Half of ‘em ain’t seen combat, an’ none o’ ‘em should. I ain’t gonna bring ‘em here jus’ to watch their pop’lation get rerduced to zero ‘gain.

Turf caves quickly (haha), as she was merely playing devil’s advocate for Kazaior. She settles for another hundred troops from her own army – the last hundred they can spare without the plane of earth falling into disarray.

* * *

Six days after Nightfall

Elion Sends for Toskan, telling him about the team’s return and the impending clash of armies. Stuck down a ravine in the middle of the jungle, Toskan’s response should be “HELP”. But he knows how a Tsethem’s presence can swing a battle one way or the other, so he settles for warning them that the entire western side of the island has been occupied. He promises to meet up with them at Rahm Oru soon.

The promise is empty. He still can’t move an inch on his dismembered leg.

* * *

Melody’s wait is nearly up. She was barely able to get any sleep with the shrieks of forgotten souls echoing around the mass-grave, catching just enough winks to recharge her mental energies. Sitting in the protective dome surrounded by impenetrable darkness isn’t exactly a pleasant experience, and without her Tsethem masks she feels much less a hero.

A crack, followed by a thunder-like rumble peals out from far off. So far, the plane of shadow hasn’t shown any signs of a weather system similar to most other planes – could shadow storms be a thing?

But as the rumbling dies down, a voice cuts into Mel’s head – which shouldn’t be possible within her mental shield.

???: The tower has fallen! Hurry, leave this plane!

The voice is male, and speaks common with refined tones – most likely a human from an imperial bloodline. Mel complies, deactivating her shield and Banishing herself to the astral plane.

She gets lucky, ending up only an hour away from a dazzling golden star – a portal to the plane of light. Only an hour later, the Tsethem of ice is hurtling towards the brilliant forests like a falling star.

* * *

Toskan raises his weary head to check out a scuffling further up the ravine – it’s a baby seagull sharpening its beak on the rock. In his daed state, the dragonborn recalls some comments Novessa once made about the young birds – the islanders of Tirkosu see them as an omen of good luck. Toskan isn’t superstitious, but right now he’ll take any encouragement he can get. Struggling to his foot, he forces himself to climb back up to the jungle and continue east.

* * *

Melody lands safely upon one of the tall geological stacks that dot the gleaming forests on the plane of light. Ancient steps are carved into the pale sandstone, with no other features visible – perhaps this was a lookout post in days past.

She has some trouble attempting to leave, however – as much as she descends the steps, the ground never gets any closer. A quick mental scan reveals the enchantment, which can easily be circumvented by jumping off the ledge. Still, it makes Mel wonder its purpose…

At this time in the day, the plane of light isn’t as blinding as she glimpsed through Appinamopu Tharth’s portal. The sky is a deep blue with no sun in sight, and yet everything seems to be well lit, as though the plane itself is glowing – It’s a surreal sight. Mel sets off in an attempt to find civilisation, but quickly realises she won’t get far on foot.

The need for transport and companionship seems to be heard by the ice itself: From the nearby trees comes a giant wolf-like creature, the size of a griffon with its fur glistening full of ice crystals. Reminiscent of a Kaltund, but with none of the malice in its eyes. It allows her to climb onto its back and heads off at a much greater speed – and with a much heartened rider.

* * *

The BAT tower holds many magical innovations and experiments, both legal and not-so. Turf orders a ransacking of the place to retrieve the best equipment for the allied defenders, to many a protest from the brotherhood. But there isn’t much they can do to stop them – Turf basically has the town under martial law.

Lundal is ecstatic when he discovers a spellcasting enhancer dubbed the “staff of the magi”. It significantly boosts his versatility in combat.

Lund: *chuckles* A’rright. Who’s ready to steam some shad-faces?

One week after Nightfall

Small feather-shaped craft appear in the sky above Melody – three Zailan astral skiffs. The psions have tracked her down, and offer a ride. By next morning they’ll be back on Tirkosu.

Mel mentions the apparent destruction of the breakout tower, but they’ve already heard the news – It was the mindwarriors, group of elite psions that managed to bypass the planar barrier and obliterate the tower’s foundation. Mel asks how they managed such a feat, but the pilots don’t know. The shock troops were trained in the void realm, so they may have discovered a backdoor to the shadow plane.

Mel: Strange.. I thought I knew that voice. It was familiar.

One of the Zailan takes an interest in Mel’s mental port – he asks if he can take a look at its workings, which she hesitantly allows. She was right to be cautious, as the alien sneakily deactivates the mechanism. But his hunch was correct: Instead of removing her minor psionic abilities, it amplifies them to the point where she can telekinetically manipulate certain objects. She’s shocked by the discovery that the port was inhibiting what must be innate mental powers.

* * *

Ikeer’s prayers are answered: Novessa’s mind is restored to its full capacity. She’s thoroughly annoyed at herself for dragging her teammates down, but Turf curbs her mood by giving her a gift: the earth princess’s own belt of primordial strength, that she’s worn into battle from before Orthraze fell. Turf simply doesn’t need it anymore, as the raw power of earth powers through her muscles. To the Kataros Aasimar, however, it’s an incredible boost.

* * *

Toskan is nearly devoured by some giant snakes as he makes his painful way across the hills. Finally he reaches the Quartill-Pernep road. The refugees from all across the island have long since passed south to the Tharth, so he heads north alone.

* * *

Night descends on the island. Aarakocra scouts report that the Mirling army has moved into Cosapai – not half a day’s march from Rahm Oru. The defenders brace for an attack, but none comes despite their massive numbers. Hope fills the hearts of the troops; could the Mirlings be less certain of victory than assumed?

Turf’s dreams are troubled by dark dreams. A helmeted Mirling cloaked in shadow looms large in her mind, and speaks in harsh common:

Nargam: Islanders outnumbered. Run, or die. Gok’toth’okth’rith hungers more than respects.

Threats instead of action. The murmurings are true: Something has brought doubt into the shadows’ ranks.

* * *

Eight days after Nightfall.

Turf: Arm yourselves! Report to your superiors for combat! Today, we strike at the heart of the enemy! Today, we march to victory! To the very year, half a century past, Cosapai saw shadow defeated, in the form of Tiamat, the living weapon! Today; we bring sunrise to this nightfall!

The allied defenders march on Cosapai. A final confrontation, with the fate of the island hanging in the balance. Fez yeah.

Not gonna go in depth with the individual fights during this battle (there were a tonne of them) – it also works better with a visual aid, and I grabbed a screenshot of the battlemap after each round (minute). I was using the same rules as detailed in this post, just with a LOT more units.

The bulk of the troops answered to Turf, mainly dwarves with a hefty smattering of earth elementals. We had a couple hundred warriors sent by Empyrus, a decent amount of fire elementals, Ikeer’s mishmash of loyal soldiers and mercs, a few straggling and disheartened Waitanga royalists, and a hundred soldiers each from the planes of smoke and ice.

It was a lovely day for a battle against horrifying odds. That was kind of the point: hit them while the sun was up, and use their sensitivity against them. The plan was for Lundal and Novessa’s groups to take two of the outlying buildings and secure them as a foothold to launch attacks from. The main bulk of the allies would engage the resting shadow army, before retreating to a third ruin.

That plan lasted all of one minute.

The Mirlings reached the northernmost building before the allies could reach it, forcing Novessa, Elion, and Ike to hold the line by themselves. They had dragons. It was hell. Nov blew all her spell slots on killing the thing, and Ala was destroyed by a breath weapon.

Turf quickly switched tactics and sent her group up to engage the Mirlings that split off from the main force – divide and conquer.

Unfortunately the sheer number of the enemy meant they could stretch out to hold the line pretty well. The Golath troops were decimated, forcing Lundal to abandon his strike and back up against Turf’s hold.

The fire elementals were doing a great job burning through the ranks, and Ike’s troops were providing great aerial support. The one worrying factor was a massive group of shadow creatures, including bucket-head necromancers and a giant worm similar to the one encountered in the first battle of Sovu Vapohu. This was an incredible dangerous group, that had a hundred and seventy HP – and in this combat system, one hit point is converted into one CR when a player character attacks. That’s equal to seven simultaneous liches and a tarrasque!

I’d rolled up a couple of level 1s for this fight, because forging potential future heroes in the fires of epic battles is always fun. Sadly, these guys didn’t make it. RIP Quint of Torrem, and his feralforged pal. We barely knew you.

This is where things started getting really bad for us. Nargam, the helmeted Mirling who seemed to be in charge, was raining down Destructive Waves on our troops. On top of that, the necromancers + worm had taken out an entire unit of earthen troops (the strongest units, I might add) in a single round. Retaliation from our units were barely scratching them. We needed a PC to take them out of the picture, but the CR was insanely high.

Novessa’s group had taken a hit too. An archomental had been wrecking havoc with the troops, so Ikeer Banished it. The trio retreated to a safe distance to let the spell take permanent affect, Elion patching up Ike’s single digit hit points.

And then it all went horribly, horribly wrong. Turf and Lundal took on the necromancers and the giant worm – no one else stood a chance, realistically. Lund was going to use his new staff of the magi to try and Plane Shift the worm away, evening the odds. But as he flew towards it, the thing struck him with a dragon-like breath ray of withering energy. The prince of steam plummeted to the ground, and didn’t get up.

Turf engaged the entire lot herself, becoming steadily more erratic and emotional as the seconds ticked on and Lundal still wasn’t moving. It was an insanely close fight; she was bought down to less than twenty hit points before obliterating the final Mirling.

Lund was barely conscious by the time she dropped next to him. She tried to keep his shadow-blasted heart beating, but he stopped her: This was his time to go. The sorrow of losing princess Della was still in his heart, and he accepted this chance to rest.

Lundal: *pats her hand clasping his* They were good times, Turf. Good times..

And so passed the second prince of steam, leaving Turf the last remaining Tsethem from the original four.

With the shadow worm destroyed, the shadow army started to retreat back into the central ruins. Seeing Mirlings in defensive positions, priming for attack, was almost more bizarre than the monstrosities by their side.

But the retreat didn’t last long. Turf didn’t pursue them, instead sending her surviving soldiers to regroup with the north team. In response to this, the Mirlings swarmed the tower that Elo and Vanella had been holding so far, completely cutting off a unit of Dwarves.

Turf wasn’t having that. She gave one of her commanders control, and waded into the fray to extract her dorfs.

Seeing indecision among the ranks, the shadows switch to attack. Turf was way too damaged to be taking on even the simplest enemies alone: Thankfully Elo was there to soak most of the hits, the heir fighting alongside the ruler.

Vanella got extra tan from defending the fire elementals.

Ikeer spied Nargam casting Destructive Wave from the next ruin over. He flew down to where V’nell had cast Instant Fortress to protect the Dwarves, and alerted Turf to the helmeted Mirling’s presence. They collectively met up with Elion and Nov at the tower, but Nargam was one step ahead: He’d fled south to obliterate a fire unit.

It was at the ten minute mark that the two shadow units (up at the top right of the map) finished the ritual they’d been casting since the battle’s beginning, plunging the entire area into darkness. Turf and her crew finally tracked down Nargam, and faced off against him and some remaining necromancers in a furiously paced combat among the rubble. The helmeted commander was shocked at how quickly they broke through his shadow illusions, and teleported away to a place unknown before they could end him.

With their leader gone, the Mirlings descended into chaos. The Aasimar and light elementals tore through their remaining ranks, leaving the remnants to flee haphazardly further into the ruins.

The battle was won. All that remained was for the ritual caster to be dispatched, and the remaining shadow units scattered. The sun broke through as the darkness lifted, bathing the tired and worn heroes in its light. Against all odds, the allied elements had defended Tirkosu – and beyond.

But at what cost?

Vanella sought out Turf, standing by Lundal’s body among the other corpses and shadow blasted earth. The princess was smeared with her own blue blood. That didn’t concern V’nell; she’d seen plenty of fights where Turf had ended up like that. What worried her was the tears forming in her crystalline eyes. Turf never cried, not even when Della or Flamer passed.

Then to Vanella’s surprise, Turf hugged her.

Turf: I’m sorry. Truly, I’m sorry..

Vanella: *hugs back, really not sure where this is going* Hey, iss okay. There’s nothin’ ya coulda done, if he felt like goin’.

Turf: No – I’m sorry for my behaviour towards you. When Elo passed… I didn’t understand.

Vanella: What didn’cha unnerstand?..

Turf: Your fear. Of being the last one left.

With all but a few of those she holds dear having passed on, Turf glimpsed a fraction of the horror Vanella’s been dealing with since discovering her mechanical nature. At sixty four years old, she’s showing no signs of ageing; but everyone she “grew up” with is reaching the end of their life.

Except Elo (and Aelar). Those three will be together until the end of time, when momentous occurrences like this war of shadows are forgotten passages in the library of time.

* * *

Struggling through the baking heat of what he can only assume is planefall from the dust realm, Toskan hears Elion’s exhausted but relieved Sending declaring their victory; as does Melody aboard the Zailan astral skiff.

Toskan: Ye marvellous fools. *chuckles a dragony chuckle* Come find me at Quartill – Drinks be on me.

Lil’ bits of trivia:

The entire 13 minute battle was played out over the course of 3 days.

Each round (1 minute) of combat took 2.5 hours to play through.

Roughly 7000 creatures involved in total.

Still not the biggest combat to date. The one that ended in Della’s death took a week.

Rolled initiative for individual combats roughly 30 times. That’s… a lot of combat. No surprise that I went for a massively exploratory adventure after this..