Shattered Star: Mission Accomplished

Game Date: 2/20/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 47
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (Thomas, subbing for Cliff) - Human Fighter
Gustav Greycastle (Graham) - Human Necromancer
Maruca (Daniel) - Elf Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
Being somewhat less than well-rested from last session's nightmare, today we prepared to go through the portal to plane of Leng.  But first, we decided to check out the three minor portals we saw in the Lich room.  We tried sending Gustav's familiar through them, but it kept dying.  Okay, fine, it wasn't that important.  We went back to the main room and performed the ritual - pour powder into the fountain, immerse ourselves in water, leap into the mist.

In Leng, we appeared on a covered pagoda-like platform, connected by a short bridge to an ice shelf.  It was cold and the weather was miserable.  We crossed the bridge and began to pass six sphinx statues to enter a building.  But before we could get that far, a gaggle of faceless winged beasts swarmed around us.  They were "Nightgaunts", and there were nearly twenty of them.  We managed to kill a couple of them early in the first round, but it took multiple hits per kill, so it still looked like it might be a lengthy battle.  But Slancio cast Firestorm, killing thirteen of them and leaving the final three severely hurt.  Then Gustav killed one and Meruca finished off the final two.

We entered the building.  The architecture was strange, with walls at odd angles and built from otherworldly materials.  Our friend Morcruft the Leng Ghoul (who we met last session) told us this place was called the "Temple of the Crawling Chaos".  Lovely!  We met some other ghouls, Morcruft told them we were cool, and we asked them for advice about finding the dragon Cadrilkasta.  The ghouls told us that they had been subcontracted by the Moonbeasts, and that we should consult with them.  They led us to see the Moonbeasts.

We were led through several halls, ending up in a room with a giant hole in the wall.  Odd corpses lay strewn about this tunnel entrance.  The Moonbeast temple guardians acknowledged our presence, and asked us to assist them.  They were trying to build a weapon to kill the dragon, and needed our lives to power it.  We didn't like that idea, but Slancio was able to persuade them that we'd be better dragon slayers while still alive.  They allowed us to pass into the tunnel towards the dragon's lair.

The tunnel ended in a large cavern.  One entire wall was open, and we could see mountains and other landmarks in the distance.  On the opposite side of the cave we saw Cadrilkasta, perched on top of her treasure horde, clutching the final shard.  She told us that she'd dreamed of us, and she knew that we carried the other shards.  She asked us to give up our shards so that her collection would be complete.  We refused, and the fight began.

On the dragon's first turn, she blasted Bjertha and Meruca with lightning breath.  Meruca saved without a scratch, while Bjertha took a whopping  101 points of damage.  She was a tough opponent, but we'd beaten tougher.  She used lots of wing attacks that knocked down multiple opponents.  Slancio dispelled her mage armor, making her a bit easier to hit.  When the dragon started to get low on hit points, she tried going invisible, but we kept attacking her space until she reappeared.  It was actually one of Gustav's zombies who dealt the killing blow.

We looted her treasure horde, filling up every bag of holding the party owned.  Part of her loot included a portable hole, which Gustav used to keep the dragon herself.  He's been talking about wanting a dracolich mount someday.  Finally we walked back out through the Temple of Chaos.  The only way back to our plane was to jump off the cliff into the mist.  We took a ton of falling damage getting back, but we survived.

We kept on going back through the dungeon.  Once we were finally back to the surface, we used a teleport spell to return to Magnimaar.  We dealt with some business in town, and finally headed to Heidmarch Manor.  Our questgiver Sheila Heidmarch was very glad to see us return with the shards.  She has decided she wants to reassemble the shards.  Once assembled, the Shattered Star will once again be a major artifact of unknown power.

Our party is wary of the idea.  Granted, it was our mission to recover these shards for the Pathfinder Society, but we've grown accustomed to the powers these shards have given us.  We're also worried that once created, this powerful artifact could fall into the wrong hands.  And how well do we know Sheila, really?  We ended the session there.