Dragons & Vampires campaign

Lord Valgore rears on his two back legs and roars, plumes of fire screaming out of his mouth and burning the T-Rex to a crisp. Onx and Rupen lie in the ashes. Altarian moves over and drags Onyx out of the ashes while Lysandra Cure Wounds Marcus for 12HP, Merla Healing Words Rupen for 9HP. Onyx wades back into the ash to help drag Rupen out and gives him a Greater Healing potion which he drinks for 14HP.

Lucia investigates the area to see if we have any other T-Rexes to worry about - it looks like this is the territory of a lone male T-Rex, so we’re safe enough here.

Onyx goes over to hug Rupen and he immediately confesses to having told the horses to get lost. The pair check in with how the other is doing, each making sure the other is basically okay after being swallowed. Lysandra fills them in on how the combat went, recounting Marcus being downed repeatedly and Merla being thrown across the battlefield. Marcus, half supported by Merla and half supported by his sword, asks why we were facing a T-Rex and Illusius chimes in saying that that was the hairiest fight he’s ever been in and he hopes we don’t face anything like that again on this trip. Meanwhile, Altarian and Lord Valgore are having a quiet conversation.

Merla hugs Marcus, apologising for not summoning him before - he tells her not to apologise, that that’s why he gave her the ring - she says he didn’t give it to her to be eaten twice and he chuckles and asks not to try for a third time. Lucia is in the background chasing the nom nom, who’s trying to chase down and eat ash particles - she manages to coax it back to her with some honey, which it eats happily while she mutters at it in sylvan.

Merla asks Marcus if he has some time and how the summoning ring works - he says he has some time, about an hour, and shows off his thumb ring displaying the Rivaine house insignia of twinned roses above bared fangs, saying this is how he goes back home. Merla asks how that works, and if it only works for him, thinking ahead about needing to go back there - he says that the ring’s magic is strong and that anyone he is holding onto would be transported with him.

Altarian checks in with Lysandra - she says she’s alright and he’s torn between worry for her being thrown around and pride in his girl - he claps her on the back and heals her for 10HP.

Altarian calls out that we should make camp here - he starts gathering food while Lucia starts a campfire.

Merla goes over to Lord Valgore and thanks him for always helping us out - he warns her that he can only fight in this world while she is conscious, and that if she goes down in battle he will be dragged back to the faewild. He warns her that enemies could target her in battle for this reason. Lord Valgore asks Rupen why he didn’t turn into the Tiger, or wildshape into another T-Rex - Rupen admits that he’s gotten used to casting spells in combat and that it simply didn’t come to mind to wildshape and beat it with brute strength.

Lysandra, still disguised as Cletus, hugs a very confused Marcus, telling him she’s pleased to see him. Merla manages to quietly tip Marcus off while not letting Illusius hear - Marcus gets it and greets Cletus, asking how the baking is going.

Lord Valgore settles in near the fire, joined by Lysandra, Merla and Marcus. Merla asks Marcus if he has any news of the Legendary Six - all he’s able to tell us is that shortly after we left Cinder Basilisk summoned Lady Evergreen and they, along with King Rivaine, were transported to the Hells by Lord Jurmungandr. Marcus nods to Lysandra, indicating that she’s likely more up to date, and Illusius is impressed that a baker knows the royal family. Lysandra spins some story about baking wonderful cakes for the royal family - Illusius believes it, seeming to believe just about anything the party tells him now.

Rupen resummons Snowball and sends him to sit in Onyx’s lap, feeling like they need the comfort most after today.

Altarion feeds us a delicious dinner of grilled chicken kebabed with mushrooms and vegetables, while Jhin brews a jasmine tea so good that Rupen’s spirit is crushed.

Lysandra Sends her father a message asking for news - he replies to say they have slaughtered many demons and they are approaching the place they expect to have to face Athena along with other demon princes, but they are resting now to gather their strength.

She then tells Marcus that he deserves a day off - Illusius is still surprised that a baker knows the royal family so intimately, and Lysandra offers to show off her baking skills when they get to Undertow, but Merla reminds them both that we’re on a schedule and cakes will have to wait.

Merla asks Lord Valgore if going back to the Feywild is a more pleasant experience if she unsummons him rather than him getting dragged back - he concedes that that would be easier for him but that he enjoys his time in the mortal realm and asks her to send him back at the very end of his hour. Lysandra asks him if he has a human form - he says he’s never tried to take another, he likes his current form. She asks how he manages social gatherings and he does ponder shrinking himself a little if the need arose. She then asks about the Feywild, since they left it recovering from some turmoil, and he says that the forest is recovering very well.

Illusius sees Lysandra drinking blood, assumes it is wine, and announces that after the day they’ve had he’d love some wine. Lysandra pulls out some excuses about medication while Rupen more usefully pulls out his alchemy jug, fills it with wine and passes it to Illusius, who drinks straight from the jug - after a couple of complaints about it being unsanitary, Onyx proclaims that liquor is liquor and drinks from the jug themself. Lysandra heads off and returns with some bottles of spirits - we all get 15 temp HP that last 24 hours from the excellent meal. Merla, Jhin and Lucia refrain from drinking.

Lord Valgore tells Merla that it’s time for him to go - she lays her hand on his paw, closes her eyes and imagines him home in the forests of the Feywild as she tells him thank you - Lord Valgore fades, the final impression having a look of pride on his face. Merla does ask Marcus if he has to go as well, but he says he’ll ask the queen for the day off and asks Lysandra to help him with that - she walks off with him and Sends a message to the queen telling her that Marcus helped save them from a T Rex and asking for the day off for him. The queen is horrified and baffled that we’re facing a T Rex in the forest rather than being in the mountains, but agrees. Marcus looks a little worried at the rare prospect of a day off, and they return to the campfire.

The drinkers carry on drinking, and Illusius passes out cold. Lysandra is relieved to remove her bracelet of disguise and stop being Cletus for a while. Jhin heads over to the bags and returns with his robe wrapped around him and a chess set - Lucia sidles over and asks if he plays. Rupen takes the alchemy jug and creates water that he uses to have an improvised shower, and Onyx follows suit, both of them trying to rid themselves of the remaining T Rex gunk.

Merla asks Marcus if he wants to take a walk - he agrees, although he’s worried about her being too injured to be walking so soon after being flung around. She assures him that she’s fine and that since she’s going to be stuck in place soon when she casts the Tiny Hut, she wants to walk about a bit now.

Jhin and Lucia play some games of chess, and Jhin apologises for how he’s behaved over the last couple of days, and if he scared her. Lucia assures him that she can feel the chaotic void magic in him and that she understands that dealing with all that darkness can make a person snap. He says that he’s trying to make sure he keeps his humanity and doesn’t end up like his - she tells him he’s doing pretty well at that. Jhin offers her his journal, saying that he knows she values knowledge and that there’s stories about his brother in there alongside his travels - making sure that the more personal stuff is obscured in a language she can’t read, she accepts gratefully.

Meanwhile, Merla and Marcus are taking their walk - Merla takes the opportunity to talk to him about everything that’s happened to them, everything we’ve done, particularly meeting Illusius again. She tells him about the times she’s meant to summon him but not been able to, with not being able to sneak out of the Tiny Hut and Jhin’s misfired attempt to let us get a Long Rest the night after. Marcus watches her talk with rapt, adoring attention. Merla tells him about her three types of magic, and her new dragon fire breath ability.

Back at camp, we’ve been hanging out for about two hours. Lysandra comments that Merla and Marcus seem to be taking a particularly long walk - Altarian looks at her and mentions that they’ve taken some long walks of their own, prompting Lysandra to be quiet and drink her blood. Jhin, sad at losing so much chess, goes to bed - so do the rest of us as Lysandra sadly puts her bracelet of disguise back on, Rupen wallows in tea-envy, Merla casts Tiny Hut then snuggles up to Marcus. We all sleep and get our Long Rest, as well as levelling up!

Onyx stays up for hours before walking over to wake Altarian, saying they need to talk, before heading out of the tent. There’s a strong breeze and a storm brewing in the distance. Altarian follows them, and Onyx asks him how much he loves Lysandra. He says that she’s very important to him and asks what’s wrong. Onyx asks Altarian to go with them and leave the group to face Medusa alone, arguing that there are too many dangers out there for the group to manage. Altarian asks Onyx what’s really going on, and tells them that they are speaking very unwisely. Onyx says they’re thinking about what’s best for the group - they don’t want any of the group to get hurt either facing Medusa or on the journey, but they want to ask Altarian to come with them because of Altarian’s perceptiveness. They say they if he loves Lysandra, he’ll leave her to keep her safe. Altarian says that we’ve been warned of many dangers that we’ll have to face and that’s we’re strongest together when it’s built on trust - he says that he cannot like the group like that and he cannot leave Lysandra Onyx says it doesn’t have to do with trust and that the two can leave to deal with Medusa and the group will not even notice they’ve gone. Altarian tells them they’re endangering themselves and breaking the hearts of everyone who cares about them. Onyx says they care about the party and that Lysandra reminds them of their little sister. Altarian promises that no one will die and Onyx gets angry and asks him where he was with the T-Rex then. Altarian says that we had exhausted our abilities but we won’t be fighting exhausted in the mountains. Onyx asks again how much Altarian loves Lysandra and tries again to convince him to go with them. Altarian stresses that he cares for Lysandra more than words can say, and cares for the rest of the group, and says there’s no need to make decisions like this now. Onyx says that the group wouldn’t be able to handle anything worse than the T-Rex. Altarian points out that Medusa is Illusius’ sister and he should have a say, which Onyx concedes. Altarian begs Onyx to let go of this horrible decision and stay with the group. Onyx thinks about it (persuasion check - with 2x inspiration Altarian gets 13) - Onyx says they’ll stay for now but makes it clear that they will ask Altarian and Illusius to go with them again before the group reaches Medusa. They threaten that if one more person gets hurt they won’t hesitate to abandon us and go alone. Onyx returns to their bedroll - Altarian watches them go all the way into the tent before breathing a sigh of relief.

After their rest, Lysandra wakes up to find Altarian laying next to her, staring at the canvas ceiling. She greets him and says that he looks lost in thought. She takes off her bracelet - Altarian will notice if Illusius starts to wake up - and asks him why he smells like Onyx. He recounts what happened with Onyx to her, carefully characterising Onyx as considering making a bad and hasty decision.Lysandra says she’s surprised Altarian managed to convince them to stay - she half-jokingly suggests tying Onyx’s wings and Altarian says that that might not be a bad idea.

The rest of the group wakes up and the tent slowly dissipates. Lucia wakes up and checks the nom nom over - it no longer has the beads. Reluctantly, Lucia gets up and goes looking, finding the beads in a pile of nom nom droppings. She washes them off as best she can and returns them to Jhin, who continues trying to wash them.

Merla suggests breakfast, and she and Marcus arrange a grill pit while Rupen successfully hunts a wild boar.

Merla is struck with a vision. She sees through the eyes of the fae goddess Ainwya as she attends a meeting of the gods. Vera Tempest is recounting Cinder Basilisk’s current fight and arguing that they should go to war - Lady Wisdom says countless mortal lives will be lost if they go to war, but Freya argues that they should strike now while the iron is hot. Merla’s vision moves to the Hells and she sees Cinder Basilisk and the other members of the Six, sees Astak, sees the demon Prince Athena and the current ruler of the Hells. Cinder calls out “Where is she Athena?” - the ruler of the Hells snaps his fingers and Lady Silver Hyaikbar appears on her knees - he’s holding her head engulfed in his hand, and laughs at Athena for having allowed this group to best her 30 years ago. Suddenly, Astak attacks the ruler and the demon Prince Asmodeus also attacks another demon Prince. Lord Jurmungandr screams and gaping wounds rip open across his body as a colossal snake rises from the pit and begins destroying hordes of demons. Cinder and Rivaine are attacking as Lady Evergreen tries to heal Jurmungandr.

Merla returns to consciousness, shrieking ‘No’ in her frustration to see the result of the attack in the Hells. Onyx tries to calm her and Merla manages to recount what she’s seen. Onyx says that we don’t have much time and Lysandra starts to argue with her about trying to leave in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, Rupen uses the boar entrails from breakfast to cast Divination and ask the entity Life if anyone is going to die when we meet Medusa. Life replies “This is knowledge you should not know, keeper of the Chaos Magic” then sighs heavily and says he can only save one - the demi-god or the fae elf. Rupen pulls Onyx to one side and tells them this - he tells them that they can’ change anything. Onyx says that fate hasn’t given them anything and tells Rupen firmly to save Altarian. The pair hug.

We get ready to leave - Markus tells Merla he has to go now, and Merla thanks him for coming as he fades away.

After two hours’ travel in the carriage, we begin to see the ocean, and a massive city crests the horizon. It’s a sea town - we’ve arrived at Undertow. Everywhere we look there are water genasi and fish men, there are dead sea monsters strung up decoratively everywhere, and half the buildings seem to be made of repurposed ships. This is definitely a pirate town.

Lysandra Sends a message to her father, asking about what Merla saw in her vision - he tells her it’s happening now and that Astak is a demon prince now, and the message cuts off abruptly. Lysandra, exasperated and worried, pulls off the bracelet of disguise and resumes their own form. She gives us a rundown of what her father said.

Rupen takes the opportunity to pull Altarian aside and tell him about the conversation with Life, but begs him not to tell anyone else because it’ll harm group morale. Altarian says he’ll make it easy and not go with us to Medusa, but Rupen warns that it won’t be that simple - that Life told us this will happen when the group faces Medusa. Altarian puts an arm around Rupen’s shoulder and tells Rupen it will be okay and that he doesn’t intend to give up this life of his. Rupen is upset and asks how he can be so light about this.

Merla notices the pair talking secretively and starts to pay attention. Rupen asks if Altarian ever lost someone he loved, and he says that he was a soldier and has lost lots of siblings and important people - he says that this ends with us becoming the saviours of the cosmos. Rupen tells him he’d better give Lysandra the best last week of her life with him, just in case.

Onyx asks Lysandra if she’s sure about taking the bracelet off, mentioning Illusius - Lysandra replies that it’s not likely they’ll be seeing much of him after this, since she has a wedding to plan, and stalks off towards the docks.

(Illusius, meanwhile, seems to have gotten the impression that old Cletus is catfishing disguised as a beautiful young woman.)

Lysandra sees two captains, a dark intimidating looking man and a boisterous piratical-looking woman. She approaches the woman and asks if her ship has room to take passengers for Nedriel’s Eye, telling her that we have eight people, two horses and a carriage to transport. The captain asks for 2000GP - Lysandra agrees straightaway, telling her it’ll be half now and half later. The captain seems pleased but taken aback and Lysandra realises that the price we were offered was bullshit but goes with it anyway. Illusius leans over to Merla and complains that he thinks this is a pirate ship and he doesn’t want to go - Merla asks him if he’d like to stay behind here by himself, and he says no, so she tells him to stay with us then, grabs his arm and drags him along.