This session we wrap up the penultimate chapter.

The characters (The Vingaardians):

• Drystan Silverhart – Level 9 Aasimar Paladin (Knight of Solamnia)
• Yseult De Lorimar – Level 9 Human Warlock (Noble)
• “Fletch” Siannodel – Level 9 Kagonesti Elven Ranger (Folk Hero)
• Sabelina – Level 9 Human Cleric of Gilean (Acolyte)
• Sidekicks: Hrigg Roundrook and Tem Temble

After getting a bunch of information from the house the Red Dragon Army was using as an outpost and office, the party moved forward with infiltrating the Threshold of the Heavens – the floating tower that had been the control center for the City of Lost Names. With some pretty good bluffing (accompanied by the old “We have a prisoner for the commander” trick), they basically managed to make it almost all the way to the top of the tower, before running into Lohezet, who kind of ended up flipping the script and folding like a cheap suit. He’s in a position where he’s outmatched on his own by a well equipped party who has managed to avoid a lot of the lower obstacles, and considering that Lohezet doesn’t have any of the the Draconians fanatical loyalty to Takhisis, has no love for Belephaion, and is quite intelligent, I figured he would go straight to “knuckle under to the party and bail at the next available opportunity.”

Now, the disadvantage of this was, to a degree, that because the party talked their way through several fights, and did not mess with the big candy-light buttons, they weren’t given a useful password to get through the lightning traps. That said, they also had high enough saves on their own, accompanied with bonuses from Drystan, that they didn’t need the password to get through lightning trap.

On the one hand, the dungeon design here somewhat was intended to drain at least some resources before the big fight at the top of the tower with Belephaion, the first fight with a dragon thus far. On the other hand, as Drystan has Great Weapon Mastery, which allows for a second attack on a crit, that meant that when he basically rolled a Natural 20 on his Initiative, along with a hit and a crit with his attack rolls with the Dragonlance, and with Belephaion rolling below Yseult and Fletch in the initiative order as well, meant that the Blue Dragon went down in one round, without getting a chance to act. On the one hand, this could seem anti-climactic. On the other hand, this is the first opponent the party gets to use a Dragonlance on, so having this moment to let the party really see the power of the Dragonlance in action, and why it’s such a big deal is I think a more significant moment.

That said, Belephaion was able to launch the city airborne before the fight, during his pre-fight taunting – ultimately prematurely, as the city started to collapse shortly after launch, with the party quickly having to flee the tower with a flight spell, and then the city itself with the help of the dragonelles they’d befriended earlier, guided by the dragonelle they’d rescued and freed last session.

This session was notable for me finally figuring out how to handle Stairs with Foundry, with a plugin called, appropriately enough, Stairways.

We leveled up again at the end of the chapter, and next session the final chapter begins.

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