The beginning of a rocky road...

As eventful as my first Dungeons and Dragons session was, it was merely the beginning of a series. A series of unfortunate events, if you will. As this is a much longer tale, I will narrate from my own perspective rather than that of my character as I did in my recounting of my first session.

As a reminder for those who have read the first session story, and a note for those who have not on my party. My character is a Tiefling Rogue named Nerithyra. Voric is a High Elf Fighter. Korrin is a Dragonborn Monk. Faulk is a Half-Orc Barbarian. Dagless is a Half-Elf Bard.

Out of game in between session I learned the spear, Windvane, we had gotten during Session One was sentient. Not only sentient, mind you, but had apocalyptic sentience. Yes, this spear wanted nothing more than to "Make you all fly" as she put it herself. I learned there were four of these weapons, all in party possession. Windvane, the spear of air that we killed someone for. Tinderstrike, the dagger of Fire wielded by Voric. Drown, the trident of water wielded by Korrin. Last, but certainly not least, Ironfang, the warpick of Earth wielded by Faulk.

During our second session, I learned that the party was on their way deep into the Northern Mountains to find a cure for paralysis. A coven of witches had petrified a group of werewolves they knew, so they were seeking both revenge and a cure. This is not, however, the main point of this story, so it will be brief.

Our journey up to the mountains was harsh and cold, with strange dreams mixed in. The dreams, I was informed, were caused by the witches so they knew we were close. It was all a bit unnerving, I had no idea what we were up against. We found the witches and half-won a battle. At least we got what we needed to cure the werewolves. Then began our journey back to the party-established settlement of Asfalis.

But before we ever got to Asfalis, we came across the ruins of a castle. This is where this tale really begins.

Being the adventurers we are, we decided to explore said castle. Our first stop was a tower. We found a bedroom, looted it, finding a Circlet of Scorching which was given to me, among other things. Then we went and found a control room of sorts. We messed with buttons a bit and found out it moved the tower itself. Before we did something irrevocably stupid, we decided to leave it alone. As we started to head out of the tower we come across a vampire. We attempted a peaceful exit, but the vampire wasn't too keen on letting us leave in one piece.

We fought the vampire and all of nearly died, some multiple times. I remind you that we were a party of 5th Level adventurers at this point. Vampires in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition are not easy creatures to take down. Somehow we managed and then promptly burned the bedroom we looted earlier.

We returned to Asfalis, cured the werewolves, and decided what to do next. The party decided on going to Faulk's home tribe of Orcs and demanding answers about his mother. Long story short Faulk was exiled by his father, the chief, and doesn't know who his mother is.

We get to the War Horde and Faulk demands answers form his father. His father tells him to retrieve a Unicorn.

Now, at this point I learn a crucial part of how this world works. In the North there are beings called Corpse Lords. Corpse Lords are immortal beings sealed in specific areas by ancient magic. They are all immortal because of Tharizdun, the God of I-Want-Everything-Dead basically. Why is this relevant to a unicorn, you may ask?

We had to get the unicorn from a Corpse Lord. The three-headed Corpse Lord Kai Ser Lorv.

With that, the party begins the journey to Kai Ser Lorv's domain. His domain was the ruins if a church, the entrance a statue. We entered to find it being attacked by another Corpse Lord's minions. They were all headless and wreaking havoc. We fight them off and then Kai Ser Lorv himself, or at least one of his heads. We first met Kai, talked to him and made a deal. If we found Ser and Lorv and reunited them, he would give us the unicorn. Seemed simple enough.

We went throughout his domain in search of his other heads. There was a library with a scary librarian that popped up if we made too much noise. A scrying room with an undead T-Rex. The last room was some strange corpse hanger of a room. We didn't like that room.

After much searching and battling, we find Ser and Lorv and reunite the three. The Corpse Lord then took us into his sanctuary where the unicorn was. He said we could only take the unicorn if we were "Pure of Heart" and could touch it. This being Faulk's mission, he decided to try to touch the unicorn.

As soon a she got close, Kai Ser Lorv sent a disintegration ray at him. Faulk being 1. a barbarian, and 2. a Half-Orc, he survived it. Kai Ser Lorv was not happy, but we got the unicorn.

Now as we got ready to leave Kai Ser Lorv told us there were some of Havera's minions looking for us just outside. We didn't know who that was, only that it was another Corpse Lord. With no other way out, we exit by the statue. Upon exiting we come face-to-face with three vampires.

We all realize what we've done and we know we're going to regret it. The vampires tell us Havera wants his things back. We made enemies with one of the most powerful beings on the continent. Great.

We, of course, refuse to just give it all up and the vampires proceed to kick us down. I get caught by one and go unconscious, the vampire starts bashing my head in and the party gives in so I don't die. They take my unconscious body, along with a few magic items. They took Drown from Korrin and the Circlet back from me, those were the big things. I get dropped half a day away and the party has to come retrieve my unconscious body.

We decide we're going after them. If only to keep an apocalyptic weapon of Tharizdun away from a minion of Tharizdun.

We find the castle again, go straight into the tower and I get sent to search. I start with the bedroom. It was no longer burned and seemed empty. I start searching and for some reason start with the wardrobe. A vampire falls out of it. Of course it does. Just my luck.

The vampire wakes up and then suddenly there's three of them. I just scream for the rest of the party and they all come bursting into the room. We start fighting them. We know one of them to be the one we fought here the first time. Havera. The Corpse Lord. (Now with friends!) We know we're going to have a bad time at this point.

Faulk and I end up on a rug together and before we know it, the rug folds up around us and we start suffocating. I am not strong and I am failing miserably trying to get out of this rug. Faulk, on the other hand, has no problem and then helps me get out. Thank goodness for strength-based characters, right?

After the rug we try focusing on the lesser vampires first, hoping to kill them quickly. We manage to drag one into the small stream of sunlight from the open door and kill him. By this point we are all hurting badly. We try getting the second and the fight starts going down hill fast. We decide at that point we need to get out of there. A few of us make it out and Korrin gets grappled by the vampire. Faulk tries to help get her out while keeping Havera at bay.

He manages to get Korrin free and she gets out of the room. Faulk is then grappled by Havera. Korrin starts getting away but is almost immediately knocked unconscious by the other vampire. Faulk was busy with Havera and the rest of us were too far away to get to her in time. Korrin was killed by the vampire and Faulk barely escaped Havera.

We were all very hurt and one of us was dead now. Still, we continued on our original mission and headed back to the War Horde with the unicorn. After that we were told by Faulk's father to head to the temple of Mielikkie. We do just that, laying Korrin's body at the foot of the temple. After a prayer from Faulk, Korrin is resurrected by the Goddess herself. She bids the party enter as Faulk enters a stupor outside the temple. Nerithyra stayed with Faulk outside.

That's what the party did my fourth session, which I unfortunately missed and cannot recount in detail what happened. I will say though, Faulk's PC was the DM for the session. I returned and learned we were now 7th Level and that Faulk's mother is the Goddess Mielikkie. I also got a bow called Smoke and Mirrors that granted me Spiderclimb and the ability to see in magical darkness. Can't complain about that.

That's how my party miraculously fought an immortal and lived, triggering a series of events that lead to the death of a party member. And this is only the start of our encounters with the Corpse Lord Havera.