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Summary

Trailer

Lighting cracks against a pitch black sky. For a moment, you see a man dressed in holy robes, standing at the edge of a cliff. A swarm of bats fly past him and as they leave he vanishes from your sight. More bats fly past and the camera pans with them, away from the cliff and towards a castle.

The camera pans over to the top of a castle, revealing it has been modeled after a black dragon. The camera enters through a crack in the roof, slowing down and centering on a man, leaning back in a blood red chair. His skin is pale as a sheet. He drinks some kind of wine from a goblet with one hand, and his other hand cradling a lute.

The doorway to his opulent room flings open as a man runs in and falls to one knee. ”Master! The forest guard has fallen. The thieves are coming this way.”

The man in the chair stops slouching and stands upright. "It’s about time, they stole something very important. Tell the guards to get ready. Kill them all."

Chapter 20: Vanquish the Horrible Curse

August 17, 1236 AD

The party awakens, renewed and full of energy. Fi checks on the Harpy Egg and feels it kick. He figures less than 1 week remains until it hatches. He leaves it with the green people of the forest and proceeds towards the castle.

The drawbridge of the front gate lowers long enough to release two skeletal dinosaurs. Two undead archers fire on the party atop a tower as a ghostly cleric commands skeletons to close the gate. The party overwhelms them and dispatches them, lowering the bridge for those who can't fly.

Nidri and Hawk notice a holy symbol of Virton next to a shred of cloth bearing the Kolphan family crest. As they approach a light emerges and forms into Reval Kolphan, a member who must have died maybe 200 to 300 years ago.

Front Gate

Reval and Sigurd Kolphan travelled here alongside Simon and Bellum. The four warriors assaulted the castle but they were overwhelmed. Sigurd noticed this and fled, against Reval's wishes. Reval spent his last moments near the gate, cursing Sigurd for his cowardice. In time, Reval realized Sigurd was correct, and wanted to ask Sigurd for forgiveness. But all who die in or near the castle are trapped forever. He even worries the forest has been claimed.

He has thought of a plan that will destroy the castle and prevent Baat from returning every century, but he needs a lot of holy energy from the strongest trapped souls within the castle. Locate the souls, free them, then challenge and defeat Baat Daculon. Then they can destroy the vampire forever.

Entering the castle foyer, the sees the stairs leading to the throne room. They also see four other paths leading to other rooms:

• Dining Hall
• Bordello
• Alchemical Lab
• Grotto

Dining Hall

The party enters a room of rotting food and rancid water, full of bulettes and flies. A vampiric chef is serving food to a portly ghost, and he's quite angry as the party approaches. The ghost continues to happily munch away. The party endures waves of Bulettes and swarms of flies to defeat the chef and engage with the portly ghost. As Nidri hands him the one fresh bowl of soup, he tells them his name is Simon. He's quite suspicious they tricked him though and he raises his axe to strike!

Claire calms him down and convinces him to go along with Reval Kolphan's plan. He warns the party that some powerful souls were brought into the castle recently, but Hawk thinks he and his friends will do just fine. As they head towards the alchemical lab, Baat's voice rings out throughout the castle walls.

Sal’nessee has a voracious appetite. She’s always hungry. I brought her the finest meats, the tastiest wine, the finest bread. It wasn’t enough. So I gave her blood. Fresh blood. She loved it. She begged for more. And so I gave her all the blood she wanted. Do you think she's fasting right now, Hawk? Or maybe she's enjoying a meal while your back is turned?

Alchemical Lab

The laboratory has a floor of golden coins, all slippery. A ghost of an elven woman sits at one of the four alchemical tables, mumbling "I've got it!" just as two ghosts and several gold golems emerge.

After dispatching the guards, the party speaks to the apparition. The woman's name is Bellum, and she travelled with Reval Kolphan on the ill fated trip to the castle. Her last memories had her detonate some of her alchemical grenades at point blank range. She and Reval argued whether 3 or 5 spirits were enough to seal off Baat's cycle of regeneration once and for all.

With this new information, the party resolves to head towards the bordello next.

Bordello

The floor is covered with blood as zombies and ghasts emerge. Meanwhile, two vampires atop a 60 foot cliff harass a damsel in distress, who calls out for help. When Hawk resists a magical compulsion to get up there, he calls her bluff, thinking she's part of the trick. Something causes her to fall quiet before the party hears a noise similar to cracked glass. When the party finishes off the undead, Claire sprouts wings and flies to the top of the cliff.

When Claire flies to the top of the cliff, she notices two things: the woman who was crying for help is now a pile of colored gems. Vegeta notices how similar they are to remains of the false businessman he punched on the Isle of the Sun.

The second thing she notices is Darius Kolphan's ghost, pinned under a pile of rubble. After freeing him, he seems to recall little after travelling through the forest. He decides to join Reval Kolphan, but not before warning the party: Baat Daculon loves lightning.

Grotto

The grotto leads to an underwater river, where several Sahags and a Hydra hang out. Throughout the battle, some knocking sound continues to slam against the walls of the cavern, knocking stalactites off the ceiling. By the time they defeat the enemies and cross, they find the source of the vibrations: Ventshi's ghost is angrily kicking the all. He's mad at the queen, he's mad his master didn't call him to the great beyond, and thinks he's been lost for centuries. Luckily the party calms him down and convinces him to attend the final battle against Baat.

Throne Room

With the spirits temporarily freed of their torment, the party climbs up the long staircase leading to Baat's throne room. They manage to climb above the everpresent clouds, revealing a supernaturally dark sky. More lightning strikes as they approach the door with a black dragon motif.

Entering the room they face off with Baat and his vampire minions. Claire sprays fire, Fleir and Fi bring the beatdown, and Hawk mocks Baat for hiding behind his throne while the minions do the dirty work. Finally the party dispatches the minions and overpower him...

Only for him to call upon his mother for help. A thunderbolt hits him directly and he mutates into some kind of massive black dragon. Reval Kolphan's voice rings from beyond, telling the party that Baat is so focused on fighting them his spiritual defenses are weak. As the fight progresses, the ghosts the party rescued strike spiritual blows, weakening and shrinking Baat until Vegeta's fist pierces his hide.

The stained glass windows burst forth, unleashing rays of sunlight into the room. Baat's final words are to Hawk:

No way...is this the end? Oh man IT BURNS! But Hawk...you gotta take care of her now. You can't...keep her locked up... forever-

Baat and his minions are obliterated as rays of sunlight purify the throne room. Unfortunately, the room becomes very stable, and Reval's voice warns them they don't have much time until the castle collapses. The party grabs what they can and quickly teleport out.

They stand on a cliff as the castle crumbles into the sea. Reval's spirit gives the party thanks before he, Simon and Bellum are whisked away into the afterlife. Ventshi finally hears his master, at peace, and vows to rebuild the Order of the Red Vipers. Darius has learned many stories about the Kolphan family, and he can't wait to return to the world of the living.

The party, exhausted, decides to make camp.

Handouts

Baat Daculon's backstory

Baat Daculon was once a loved performer, popular and known for upsetting corrupt nobles by rallying the poor to overthrow evil. One vampire lord took great pleasure in seducing him in and draining him of his life. It blackened his heart, it showed him how to turn love into a weapon.

With the help of an even greater evil, he destroyed his Lord and pledged loyalty to this creature he calls Mother. It has granted him incredible powers, and yet his heart yearns for love. He has committed the same sins that damned him in the first place.

My friends and I are not the first hunters to try to stop him. Know that all who have died this close are damned to remain with his castle, the symbol of his power.

Defeat him and you will banish him for perhaps a century. If you can free every innocent you can find, perhaps we can destroy his evil taint forever.