Turns Out the Dragon Wasn't the Final Boss

We prepare to enter the portal with Queen Titania. We ready ourselves with our various spells and magic items before entering the portal. 

We step through the portal. Ahead of us, we see a Shadowfell Castle with immense beauty. It once was the lair of the Raven Queen. We’re going to get Jaerynos’ mind back, help the Raven Queen, and rid the Sword Coast of Hephaestus. 

In front of us, there is an army of Shadows. 

• Caulkin is feeling a bit of doubt that our luck will continue into this battle having been so lucky with all of our other battles up until this point

• Brylwynn feels a sense of hope, having not been connected to Beshaba’s magic or influence for such a long time

• Baptiste is feeling good knowing that the final battle is straight ahead having the cumulation of this journey

• RC is feeling a bit afraid and scared, but he isn’t showing it. He remembers Tiamot’s rein from before, and he knows we’re in for a rough fight

• Pearl has had this tunnel vision for this adventure, trying to get our of her circumstance. She hasn’t even had time to celebrate ch sister back, but she knows how close the end is by being able to free Jaerynos

We make our way forward towards the castle fighting off spirits. In an act of brilliance, Pearl uses Misty Step to teleport into the middle of the battle and then uses her Destroy Undead cleric feature to kill 15+ undead in one swoop.

We then take off running north across the battle field. We all get a chuckle as Baptsite’s boots of speed take him off at 120 feet per round as Caulkin follows on his tail. The rest of the party takes a new few rounds until we all find ourselves a few hundred feet away from the castle walls. 

Atop the castle we see Hephaestus. He says:

• “At last you come. So long the shard has contained my essence in the Shadow Fell. I knew the tendrils of my power still existed in your plane. I waited and waited, but here we stand. The chains of your predecessor and gods chain me no more!”

  • Looking at him, we see a dark, wispy shadow dragon with tendrils of energy infused by Beshaba.

• “Nothing will keep me trapped here and when I return to the material plane, I will dissipate anything that stands in my way.” 

* At that moment, he unleashes an army of more undead creatures onto the battlefield. “Know you are being spared a worse fate by dying here and now.” As he stands up, he unfolds his wings, revealing his skin infused with necrotic energy. He lifts off and begins to fly, and as he does, he starts to change shape and color. The purple that infuses him begins to glow more brightly. As his skin crackles, the dragon grows even larger.

* We prepare for his assault, but he begins to scream. The purple cracks on his skin grow more and more, as if searing away parts of the membrane around his skin. The shadowy aura around him disappears. The wings that once held him up can no longer keep him airborne. He expands and almost disintegrates in front of us as the dragon vanishes. We are blinded for a brief moment, and where he once stood, a masked and hooded figure with gleaming eyes now stands.

* It says, “So, we meet at least! Face to face. The eternal thorns in my side!”

* Haephaseust was the final form I needed before coming to your plane. I thank him, but to your satisfaction, every scrap of Haphatus’s magic is gone. We stand at a crossroads, brave adventurers. Hephaestus was foolish, just like all dragons are [...] I see a bright future for you all!

* When I take the planes, I have no plans to destroy them like that shadow dragon. No, I plan to rule and shape them to my desires. 

The figure standing in front of us invites us to join it, as it takes over. “Us gods value power over all else.. Say what you want about me, but I’m offering you a choice. Join me, or die here, like the mortals you are.”

We stand there face to face with Beshaba. 

Caukin tries shooting an arrow at her, but it hits and does nothing. Beshaba raises her staff in the air and she begins channeling her Arcane Cataclysm. “To begin, even my army must suffer a loss.” The shadow army around her, the shadows begin absorbing into her staff. 

After a couple of rounds, 3 balls of Arcane Energy come crashing down upon us. As this does, Queen Titania screams “NO!” as she uses a legendary action to teleport above the 6 of us, using her sword to resist against the ball of energy. On the left and right, we see two other balls of energy come down and hit the ground near us. 

• Queen Titania falls to the ground and dies.

Suddenly, we hear a ‘pop’ as a new figure appears on the battlefield. The figure says, “Stop this at once!” as time stops around us.

• The being says robotically, “You have broken the rules. You have broken the rules of the multi-verse. You have broken the rules of the sigi [...] Overflow Ao has stripped you of your immortality for a century.” 

The blades around this figure’s head whirls around her, shooting forward and piece through Beshaba. She now screams out in agony as the blades cut through her core. “What becomes of you now…” the judge says as time begins flowing back to normal all around us. It looks at us, back at Beshaba and says, “... is no matter of mine” and it blinks away back out of existence.