In which the Cult Strikes Back and all is very nearly lost . . . Book Two, Chapter 2.2 (session 51, 17 th May 2018) The fight against the cult in Parnast is vicious and deadly, one by one Franz, Augustus and Mads are taken down. Dragonfangs hurl globes of dragon-breath, lightning, cold and fire against Franz, Naergon and Augustus. Death blossoms in vivid displays around them as Dragonwings swarm forward from the dark alleys of Parnast. Naergon manages to extract Franz with a dimension door and revive him with a potion, leaving the Dragonfangs in the road enraged and frustrated. Jamna is isolated and only escapes the Dragonwings hunting her down by use of her ring of jumping to hide on the rooftop of a building. Augustus falls to the daemon and several Dragonwings, Mads is left alone and isolated facing overwhelming numbers as cultists pour out of back alleys and from behind buildings, flying and swooping from rooftops. Having gotten Franz back to safety Naergon uses polymorph to turn him into a T-Rex and Franz-Rex charges into battle. Dragonwings and the daemon leave the fight against Mads and join the Dragonfangs in the street to face Franz-Rex. Jamna shoots from her hiding spot, the daemon shakes off her arrows with a roar. The daemon and Franz-rex join battle with Dragonwings swarming his flanks. The enormous dinosaur is soon brought low and then disperses as the spell is extinguished. Mads finally falls to the sheer numbers of Dragonwings assaulting him, his familiar hops and flitters about unable to help as his life force ebbs onto the dusty streets. Again Naergon casts polymorph, again Franz-rex charges into battle, Jamna and Naergon assisting, the one with arrows from her hiding place, the other with lightning bolts and magic. This time the daemon dies to a combination of lightning and dinosaur but the cultists eliminate another Franz-Rex. The remaining Dragonfangs and Dragonwings advance on Naergon and the much-weakened Franz, in one last throw Naergon uses his final polymorph and once again Franz-Rex hurls himself into battle. Meanwhile Mads is lost in a swirl of unconsciousness, visions of the desolate landscape of his mistress mix with shrieks and roars from the battle raging in Parnast. His mistresses voice resonates in his skull repeatedly urging him to get up and do her bidding – “you don’t have permission to die yet, soldier. GET UP!” Dark demonic eyes, flicking open Mads returns to consciousness (much to the surprise of the Dragonwings clustered around him watching the battle of titans up the road). With a roar, his glaive shrieking in glee, he launches again into combat, eventually felling all before him, before collapsing in exhaustion, his familiar hopping around him from body to body lapping up the blood and chittering in delight. At the other end of town, Franz-Rex bites the last Dragonfang to death and slaps the remaining Dragonwings, Jamna dropping the last with a well-aimed shot from the rooftop. Finally, peace and quiet falls upon Parnast as the shadows pull back and the last corpse shudders into stillness. Its an eerie quiet though, looking around it is clear that the village is deserted, doors and windows hang loose or are shuttered shut – those that haven’t been blasted by magic or torn off by the titanic clash of daemon and dinosaur. The party huddle together around the well at the heart of the village – what next? A search of the bodies recovers some loot: 800gp; 50pp Magic Items 1 x Wand of Healing Everyone gained a level this session: Naergon 12 th level Mads 11 th level Franz 11 th level Jamna 11 th level Augustus 11 th level XP earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of TOD is based on milestone XP In-Game the session ended at 14:15 on 10 th Tarsakh 1485 DR as the heroes survive the Cult ambush in Parnast Next session Thursday 24 th May