Game Log: Reforged

All was ready to rejoin the two pieces of the Traitor’s Lot, it was just a matter of time. The party took a much needed rest inside the bar at the edge of madness that was Repentant Leroy’s, learning new skills, gaining new abilities, and forging new off-screen friendships. After about a month, they find themselves jolted awake suddenly by a sudden feeling of uneasiness.
They quickly look around their small room to realize that something is amiss. While the majority of them are awake, their cleric friend is still sleeping soundly. Upon examining him, they find that he in fact in no longer their cleric friend, but has been swapped with a dragonborn warlord. The dragonborn relates how he was just in the Salt City, and this appearance is unexpected in the least.

They hold off their examination of this odd turn of events to investigate some odd sounds. The first weirdness they identify is that outside, it appears that the Sandsea isn’t…sand anymore. The ocean is suddenly crashing against the beach, and they quickly surmise that something has happened to make the world return to its previous state. It doesn’t take them much longer to realize that they are in the same inn as former ruffians and alignment-shifted devils.

They sneak downstairs and enter the main drinking hall to see a large bruiser known as Big Tony holding a nearly-naked man against the wall while a lowling goes through a sack, proclaiming it a bunch of junk. When they enter, Leroy, who is behind the counter of the bar, says “Who the hell are you people?” When the party attempts to act diplomatic, reminding them that they were given a room last night, Leroy responds by saying, “I apologize for the lack of service. We should have robbed you in the night.” He takes out an intense crossbow and opens fire.

The players engage the bandits lightly, pulling their punches to avoid killing their former friends. They manage to clear out many of the ruffians and severely weaken Big Tony, but are taken by surprise from some street fighters who were positioned in the hallway behind them, who manage to pin in a few of the players. Combined with the general ignored Leroy constantly peppering the party with barbed crossbow bolts, they got in bad shape quickly, but the newly-conscripted warlord offered his help as best he could. They eventually take care of the outliers and corner Leroy, who they manage to intimidate into giving up when he gets him to remember he used to be good.

After Leroy comes back to his senses and the party helps get the bandits back on their feet, they take stock of the situation. The near-naked man made his escape as soon as possible during combat, despite taking a few hits while he ran away, and very little of his possessions were left behind. Everyone is aware that there is a pack of devils in their basement, and so the strongest of the thugs, Big Tony and Leroy, offer to go down with the party and check it out.

When they arrive downstairs, they find that a few fires have been set and a bone devil is standing in the middle of the room, just basically being scary. He and a few bearded devils are watching Liling, the succubus that they rescued from the palace and resident blacksmith, who appeared to be arguing with someone around the corner. The devils aren’t happy about the intruders, and attack.

The party answers the challenge gladly, putting the bone devil in a world of hurt, with the wizard concentrating the majority of his area effects on it. Big Tony proves a bit useless, but Leroy manages a couple of critical hits against the devils. The bearded devils and their minion allies manage to surround a few PCs, but they respond in kind and are able to take out the heavily-armored enemies. Then they get a look at who Liling was arguing with.

It was Il-selk, the pit fiend who leads the One. He seemed inflamed, and moves threateningly towards the party. They quickly realize they have absolutely no chance of defeating him, and decide that grabbing the Traitor’s Lot, which Liling is wielding, is the highest priority.
With the bone devil and a set of cohorts properly partitioned off by one of the wizard’s area effects, the rogue turns invisible and sneaks up on Liling to snatch the weapon. She succeeds, and Ishtahar runs forward to grab the object. Once she does, the devils suddenly seem a little less angry, and everything returns to “normal.”

The Traitor’s Lot actively accepts Ishtahar as its wielder, an argument that the good devils cannot argue with, and so they put out their fires and quickly apologize for their sudden reversion. With the artifact’s mission driving them and the request from the dragonborn to return to his home, the players have nowhere to go but back into the madness.

Lessons Learned: It’s been a long while since we’ve played this campaign, and a lot has happened since then. One of our players left us…again…(I could literally put together a party out of the characters we’ve lost in this campaign), and the release of another corebook made the three arcane characters want to switch around their powers. So, I fixed all these troubles with a little logical timeskip, which I love doing (it makes certain plot points so much more plausible).

The party was in good form, although they are a lot more powerful than I remembered. I liked the encounters this time around, the players seemed to be likely the developments, and really, everything seems fine. My only concern is that I don’t know where to go from here. Luckily, a player actually suggested a plot point, which made it easier, and with the newest Monster Manual in my hands (two words: It’s great), I should be able to create some very interesting adventures. Here’s hoping.