Episode 28, "Stemming The Tide"

In the campaign finale, the heroes--accompanied by a small regiment of Iron Gate troops bolstered by the Red Hand (and Slabtown), the mages guild, the Lehren militia and a couple treants courtesy of Elmsea--fortify the canyon entrance to Quanlo. With the mages up high along the cliff face and the troops down below, the lot steels themselves against the onslaught crossbows readied.

As the wave of undead rolls in, the troops manage to cut down quite a few zombies and skeletons before the helmed horrors and blighted ogres arrive. Vyreth and Doc combine forces to hold court with their respective Gods, and they come to the conclusion that meddling in mortal affairs in this case is indeed warranted. The treants arrive and begin hucking boulders down upon the invading army, but the Gods have a better idea. Guided by the hand of fate, the boulders take on an almost comet-like golden sheen and magically redirect straight towards the oncoming dragon.

Despite the terrible odds, the defenders hold their ground; mages raining lightning and fire down upon the legions of undead. The battle rages all night long amidst a violent thunderstorm until Dralek closes in to strafe the entire ground force with his necrotic breath. Seeing the opportunity, the Quanlo mages ready cone of cold and await his arrival while the remaining troops stand ready with their crossbows.

In one attack, Dralek manages to decimate the ground troops by nearly a third and strips the life from Doc who got caught in the blast. The mages get ready to cast their spells when Talos banishes the foul beast to another plane... temporarily.

The defenders use the momentary opportunity to clean up the remaining undead forces before collectively setting their sights on the re-entry point. Sure enough, a portal pops open right where Dralek had been and the monster comes barreling through right into the oncoming fire of an army. The cold blast seizes up one of Dralek's wings and a volley of crossbow bolts embed themselves into his stomach like a pincushion, sending him careening down into the canyon cliff face.

Dralek struggles to get back on his feet but Doc, freshly revived and inspired by Apollo, charges the beast and cleaves its skull with his new Dragonslayer glaive. The dragon collapses to the ground as the remaining troops give a loud cheer. As the sun begins to rise, it illuminates the vast number of corpses littering the canyon entrance clear out past the trade road. The heroes breathe a sigh of relief and begin thinking about their new homes in Quanlo when Talos suffers a debilitating and horrific vision courtesy of Quar-Jezz't--the aboleth who has come to take payment for Talos' failure to follow through on a promise. The heroes gather around Talos trying to determine his state of well-being when he mutters a phrase in some ancient dialect: "...into the depths."

Left to sort out Talos' words and condition, the heroes begin the long, muddy walk back to Quanlo. Dralek is no more, and the realm has been saved from almost certain disaster.

- The End -

Episode 27, "Severing Ties"

The heroes resume their battle with Yzztlach and the vrocks...

With another series of blows, the demon smacks Fhasys down and knocks her unconscious. Doc attempts to plead with Yzztlach to call off the assault but he's having none of that... Things are looking pretty dire when a strange lone cloud of black smoke comes barreling in from the distance. The mages, upon noticing this aberration, know exactly what's coming their way and erect a pair of force walls to shield the party. As the cloud closes in, the heroes make out the black silhouette of a dragon! Behind the shelter of the force walls, the heroes watch as the black smoke cloud washes over Yzztlach causing rot and decay wherever it lands. Dralek's shade slams into Yzztlach, digging its claws into his shoulders and sending them both barreling into the petrified grove like a rogue pinball. The vrocks head back to the safety of their treetop nests while the dragon and demon fight to the death. In the wake of Dralek's entrance, the party stands around discussing options... Do they run for the portal? Use this opportunity to finish off Yzztlach and hope for Dralek's support? Or just wait and see how it all plays out?

Two of the Order mages sneak up to the melee to weigh the situation, and they urge the heroes to lay low for the time being. Doc, meanwhile, wanders off into the grove to the South in search of a shiny object that was sent flying when the two giants collided. He ends up finding Wishram's bauble, an amber glowing glass sphere, and stuffs it in his pack. Unfortunately, Jorun was keeping an eye on him and wanders over. The mage asks for the bauble so he may begin the ritual of releasing Wishram before Dralek returns his focus on them and Doc acquiesces. Jorun places the sphere atop a tree stump and begins the ritual while Faerun uses mage hand to pluck another bauble from the treetops to use as a decoy. A vrock, obviously not happy losing its bauble, follows the hand down the tree to the group below and attacks.

Doc manages to hold off the vrock while the ritual is performed, and Vyreth notices that his new scimitar is creating a magical stream of water slowly winding its way to the bauble. A strange urge to take the bauble begins to overtake his senses and he closes in, but by sheer will alone common sense prevails and he resists the almost overwhelming temptation.

Dralek polishes off Yzztlach, tearing his head from his body and holding it up to warn the heroes of what's to come. Faerun chucks the faux-bauble his way, but Dralek scoffs at the ruse and charges. Cracks begin forming in the glass bauble, rays of amber light beaming through the openings, as Jorun finishes the ritual. As Dralek plows his way through the grove toward the heroes, the bauble finally shatters releasing a swirling mist of amber that slowly coalesces around a gaunt, menacing figure wearing a fancy robe.

Wishram is free. He immediately takes Jorun's life as sacrifice for the ritual, then walks straight up to Dralek stopping him in his tracks. The dragon seems to know Wishram. The sorcerer welcomes Dralek as "his pet", infuriating the shadow dragon. Dralek sits up on his haunches and readies himself for a breath attack. Wishram casually extends his rotting arm, places his hand on the dragon's chest and utters one word... "Die." The dragon screeches out in pain as a wave of disintegration radiates out from where Wishram had touched leaving nothing but a pile of dark ash in its wake. Wishram, having upheld his end of the bargain, turns to face the heroes.

Wishram greets Talos and congratulates him in having grown into such an adept mage, and asks the heroes what business they have releasing him. The heroes explain the situation with Dralek, Wishram thanks them for releasing him (not a good thing) and urges their hasty departure. Having just been released from a century's slumber, Wishram is very very hungry...

The heroes gladly depart the Abyss and head back through the portal to the Underdark for a bit of R&R and conversation with the remaining Order mages. The heroes agree to protect the Order's secret of creating Dralek in exchange for not getting framed for his release and the mages make their way back to the tomb for further research, leaving the heroes to fend for themselves on their way back out of the mine.

The return trip is uneventful and eerily quiet; even the upper levels of the mine are completely silent save for the sounds of heavy rain and thunder from outside. Emerging from the mine, the heroes take in a frightening scene... It is night with a huge storm breaking overhead, and the intermittent flashes of lightning illuminate a large army of undead making their way across the desert toward Quanlo. Dralek is making his final attack.

Trace comes racing up the trade route and skids to a halt outside the mine. He implores the heroes to return to Quanlo as Dralek's army is at the gates. The heroes feel deja-vu, swearing they'd just killed Dralek, but shake it off and agree to return. When asked about Dralek, Trace says he'd been tracking the dragon for weeks when something happened causing it to suddenly fall from the sky as if injured. The heroes mention the battle in the Abyss but Trace doesn't understand the connection. He suggests meeting with Reeser at the guild to learn more.

Back in Quanlo, in the safety of the mages guild, the heroes press Reeser for payment and identification services in return for killing Dralek's shade. They discuss recent happenings in the Abyss managing to dodge most questions about what they found, and Reeser somberly advises the heroes to steel themselves for the final assault. Without his shade, Dralek is vulnerable and must be taken down. War is afoot.