Varus' Journal: Entry #8, The Summoning of Tiamat

Episode 8, The Summoning of Tiamat (or, Game Over, Man, Game Over!)

As we prepared to descend the stairs and get to the ceremony on time, Varus ran into Unagi in the hallway!

“Uh, Unagi? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were guarding the carriage with Valentia?”

“She has that under control. I decided to lend a hand and made my way to the clearing. I snuck by the golem and into the temple. Then I just followed the path of destruction and there you were. Had to dodge a few traps, but most of them were deactivated,” he grinned. “No problem.” Varus took him to surprise the others.

The rogue and the bard put on cultists robes and disguises and we headed down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs were double doors. Tyala checked them and found a dart trap. She retreated around the corner. Tomeck opened the door with mage hand, and ten darts shot out down the hallway. On inspection, they were poisoned.

Down this hallway we found a large ornate tapestry covering the wall. On it, a dragon was being born from a man’s body, bursting out of his chest. The man wore the green dragon mask; his chest was split open, and black ichor oozed out. Varus inspected the tapestry and found that it was very high quality; it would fetch a nice price at any market. While inspecting the tapestry, he found a secret door behind it. Basel went to bash the door, but Tyala grabbed his axe before he could swing, pointing out a trigger for a trap.

“That would have exploded if you struck the door, Basel.”

We decided to check out the other, untrapped door, and found a narrow corridor that led to a small room. Here we found two chests and a pile of treasure! Tyala tried the first chest, but the lock was complicated. The second chest had a trap that she easily disabled. It contained 94 gp, 152 sp, and 91 cp. In the pile, Basel found seven 50 gp gems, a potion of greater healing, 327 sp, and 7 pp. Tyala finally figured out the lock on the first chest, which seemed empty, but on further inspection she found a fake bottom that contained a cloak with blue metallic sparkles. We inspected it, and Flidais discovered a tag. It was a cloak of protection that provided +1 to AC and +1 to saving throws. Tomeck put it on; he thought the sparkles were fabulous.

We came to a stone slab door in the shape of a dragon’s mouth with a lever on the side. Basel decided to pull the lever, and the door opened to an octagonal room. There were doors on each of the eight walls, and there was a different color light above each one. In the middle of the room was a dais that contained a glowing globe that looked like it contained lightning. When someone touched it, one of the doors opened. This room had a red lightning globe.

Unagi touched the red globe, and the lights above that door changed. The door directly across from that one opened. The monk released the red globe, and Tomeck was blasted with force damage as the door closed. The sorcerer went through the newly-opened door and found a green globe. When he touched it, another door opened. The pattern continued as Flidais found a white globe and Tyala found a blue one. When she touched the blue one, a different type of door, an aperture, opened onto a northern corridor. Varus took over at her station and Tyala activated her ring of invisibility and went through the aperture to scout ahead. This corridor was surprisingly clean, as if it had been thoroughly scrubbed recently. Perhaps the cultists were meticulous housekeepers.

Unagi spoke up. “My arms getting tired and I need to pee. Are we finished yet?”

Tyala came to a 4-way intersection. The through-passage led to door, beside it was a panel with six lights. Five of the lights were lit. The left passage ended at a wooden doorway. The right passage led around a corner to an alcove. There was another dais, and this one had a peach-colored globe. Tyala inspected the dais and found no traps, then touched the peach globe. There were two distinct clicks, and two trap doors swung open from the ceiling. As she watched in silent horror, two nearly-transparent gelatinous masses slid down out of the openings and filled the corridors. If she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed it, and she could still barely see them! One appeared on the other side of the dais, the other in the hallway before the now-open door with six lights. She froze and did not make a sound.

Varus sensed that Tyala needed assistance and sprinted for the aperture.

“Something’s wrong. Flidais, to me!” We both dashed to the aperture and dove through as it closed. When we got through, we looked up to see a bizarre sight. A skeleton jiggled towards us, its bony feet floating above the floor. We weren’t sure what we were seeing. Then Tyala became visible as she struck, and her flaming sword illuminated the gelatinous cube. The ranger and bard could now see it with a sense of mounting horror. An almost cubical mass of gelatinous goo filled the corridor. Inside it, we could see the skeleton and other bones, small, partially-dissolved animals, and other detritus. Varus tossed an alchemist’s fire into the cube and Flidais blasted it with an arrow. It quivered from the attacks, and then reformed.

On the other side of the aperture, Basel prayed for us. Unagi had been inspecting the strange lighting sources in this area and noticed they could be detonated as explosive devices. He grabbed a couple of them and attached them to the aperture.

“Screw trying to solve this puzzle! We’re going through. Light ‘em up, Tomeck.”

On the other side of the aperture, Varus tossed another alchemist’s fire into the evil gelatin and Flidais hit it with another arrow, but now we had to back up to the closed aperture and could not retreat any further. The gelatinous cube rushed forward and engulfed both of us. We could not breath, and the goo burned our flesh.

At that moment, Tomeck held the explosives in place with mage hand and ignited them without warning anyone. The explosives detonated with a thunderous blast. Flames washed over Basel, burning him badly. When the smoke cleared, there was a large hole in the door. On the other side, the explosion blasted the ranger and bard further into the gelatinous cube. Fortunately for them, the cube could not absorb the shock wave, and disintegrated into a puddle of goo. The second cube appeared; Tyala grabbed an arrow from the random quiver and fired. In flight, it enlarged to the size of a ballista bolt and blasted right through the cube! Varus shook off the effects of being burned and suffocated, and critically blasted it with an arrow, and Tomeck finished it off with missiles of magic. Basel healed and laid hands on Flidais, who was in bad shape. We inspected the puddles of goo and found a longsword that was obviously magical; the cubes seemed to be able to dissolve most metals, at least over time. Tomeck claimed that. Unagi grabbed some more explosives; those things could come in handy!

In this hallway, Basel checked out the nearer wooden door, which was unlocked. There was a lever, and when he pulled it, three of the lights over the next door lit up. Basel went to the other door and found another lever. He pulled it, and the other 3 lights came on. The door unlocked. He also laid hands on Varus to heal him up from the effects of the cube.

Ahead, we heard the chanting of the ceremony. We decided to gird our loins, so to speak, before this challenge. We hit the flask of many flavors. Basel drank the lemonade and received advantage on his next five attacks. Flidais drank lemon lime for max damage on her next attack. Tomeck drank the last dose, cola, and his senses were sharpened, +10 to initiative for one round.

“Don’t be a bigot, drink from spigot,” we heard a faint voice in the distance.

Basel cast Thunderous Smite on his axe and Shield of Faith on Tyala, Varus inspired several people and cast invisibility on Basel.

We entered the room to find a frightening sight. Five large stone columns surrounded a central raised stone platform. There was a magical gate in the middle of the platform; smoke and flames belched from it, a gate that connected to the Abyss. We could feel that Tiamat was near. There are many kobolds, some living, most apparently sacrificed. Dragons scales of all colors litter the floor, as well as the robes of many cultists.

The man in the green dragon mask strode out of a group of kobolds and glared at us.

“Tremble before her, you fools! Soon she shall be free to set loose what had been!” he cackled, “Kill the interlopers! They are here to spill their blood for us for the summoning!”

“I came for the cake!” said Basel.

Some of the kobolds charged and the rest unloaded with their slings. Two of them bounced off Basel’s shield. Flidais blasted the high priest with an arrow that did maximum damage and a hail of thorns. Tomeck webbed the high priest and two kobolds, then blasted him with a magic missile.

“Wait, stop, don’t kill him! Stand down.” Unagi shouted. “Killing him will complete the ceremony! That was the meaning of the last mural!”

“So why are we…whoa…”

The effects of the summoning washed over us. Flidais’ tongue swelled, and she could not speak. Tomeck felt a magical link to the high priest, and he knew that would share any harm inflicted on him. Varus was commanded to attack his nearest ally. Tyala, Basel, and Unagi managed to resist the effects of the chaos as the kobolds attacked and slammed into Varus.

For some reason, perhaps the effect of the chaos, Unagi hurled one of the lighting/explosive charges at the high priest.

“Unagi, no! You said…"

The resulting explosion washed over the dais, and when the smoke cleared, the high priest was no more. The magical energy in the room crackled; the monk had been correct; the death of the high priest completed the ceremony. The gate was now fully open. Tiamat became visible in the opening, and her red and white heads entered the room! We unleashed our attacks on the dragon heads of fire and ice, but they had little apparent effect. She was about to emerge, and we would all perish as her first act of subjugating this plane of existence. Varus had a sudden insight…we could not defeat her…but the pillars were weak and could be destroyed. That might be enough to close the gate.

“We can’t hurt her. The pillars! Take out those pillars! It’s our only chance!”

The kobolds attacked but did little damage. Tomeck blasted 4 pillars with magic missiles, but then the magical side effects from the gate hit us. Flidais’ nerves were warped, and she was at a disadvantage. Unagi felt a magical link form with Tiamat, and knew he would suffer any damage that she suffered. Varus got knocked back by another kobold and was bloodied.

Unagi studied one pillar intently, and then unleashed an amazing serious of attacks faster than the eye could follow. He stepped back from the pillar…and then it slowly fell over into the gate. It collapsed on the neck of the white dragon head and knocked it back through the gate. Varus ran up and slept 4 kobolds that were attacking Flidais. Tyala dashed up and attacked a second pillar, then Basel followed up with a mighty blow of his axe. The second pillar tottered and fell onto the red dragon head, crushing it and knocking it back through the gate.

Now Tyala and Unagi found they could not talk, and Flidais felt herself linked to Tiamat, while Basel was at a disadvantage. Green and black dragon heads appeared through the gate. Distracted by their appearance, the kobolds hit Varus again, and he went down. However, he was not out. He cast Suggestion on the kobold next to him and told it to attack a pillar, then ran over towards the last pillar. Tyala grabbed an arrow from the random quiver and a boxing glove arrow slammed into the last pillar as well. Unagi and Basel coordinated their attacks perfectly and demolished the third column in short order. It crashed into the black dragon head and knocked it back through the gate. Unfortunately, with her link to Tiamat, Flidais suffered that damage as well. She went down hard and was near death. 

Tomeck cast magic missiles on the fourth column; his tides of chaos interacted with the chaotic magic of the gate and amplified his magic. Fifth-level magic missiles slammed into the fourth column and ripped through the kobolds. He ran over to Flidais and gave her a healing potion.

The chaotic magic linked Varus to Tiamat, and Tyala was commanded to kill her nearest ally, which just happened to be Varus. The bard saw her turn and look at him with a blank stare. Basel and Unagi’s tongues swelled up, and they could not speak. The whole room was shaking. Cracks appeared in the floor. Unagi charged the fourth pillar and slammed it with all his might with a flurry of blows. It collapsed.

From her stare, Varus could tell that Tyala was under the influence of the chaos magic. He sang a spell and suggested that she attack the last pillar. He dashed around the pillar and used it for cover and ran over to help Flidais. The bard’s plan appeared to succeed. The spell of suggestion did work, and Tyala turned, drew an arrow, and fired at the last pillar rather than the bard. Sadly, the arrow she drew from the quiver was an arrow of phasing. It phased through the stone of the pillar, and struck the unlucky bard in the chest. He staggered, teetering on the edge of consciousness. 

Tomeck blasted the final pillar with Burning Hands, and then the charmed kobold bashed it, and it seemed to totter.

Three dragon heads erupted from the portal, Tiamat’s visage more terrifying than anything we had witnessed before. Her presence was overwhelming. Sythren’daal was as nothing beside her magnificence. Basel and Unagi froze in fear, which was hardly surprising. We could not stop the summoning. We were going to die; nothing could stop her now.

Varus grabbed his fiddle and started playing and singing with all his heart, summoning the magic of music to fight the chaos. He called on Celestian to hear his song and help them. The bard’s song pierced through the chaos, inspiring, imploring his companions to strike. Tyala, Flidais, and Tomeck focused their last attacks on the final pillar…and it collapsed into the gate, somehow knocking Tiamat’s heads back through it and back into the Abyss. The gate erupted with chaotic magical energy and engulfed the room and all of us. Before any of us could resist, the magic sucked us through the closing portal. We saw layers of the Abyss (shudder) and feared the end, then disjointed impossible images and what seemed to be other planes of existence flew by. The multiverse opened to us for a split second, then we slid sideways across it in a dizzying ride like a bad trip that lasted too long before it ended abruptly and we spilled out onto the ground. We found ourselves beside a road in the woods. We could see a large city in the near distance. There was a sign beside the road.

Welcome to Neverwinter

Aftermath

90 days of downtime

94 gp, 152 sp, and 91 cp. Seven 50 gp gems, a potion of greater healing, 327 sp, and 7 pp. Cloak of protection +1 to AC and +1 to saving throws.

+1 magical longsword.

Foe of Green Dragon Flight feat.

Choose who gets a new special feat:

Hem of the Fey wild. Call back the soul of a fallen ally once per session. At the cost of receiving -2 Con penalty. 20 days of rest to restore.