Big Showdown In The Turned Castle

So the players made a jaunt into the Astral Plane, did battle with the spirit of the mad wizard Illith Varn who locked himself in a sanctum in the depths of an astral plane to protect his soul from the afterlife, and retrieved the Astral Soul of the Skoros Orb, which knowledge they've managed to keep from everyone except the psychic vampire Prince Abion Pelioth, who along with his mind-flayer vizier Rhan-Teggoth are trying to steal the Skoros Orb from the players and depose his mother, the Blood Queen Tetranoska Draculesti Pelioth. Now the reason the players went to the Astral Plane in the first place is because Prince Abion suspects the Blood Queen's closest bodyguard Kaviel the Strange, a former general of the vanquished Illith Varn, of pulling a long con, and plotting to steal the Skoros Orb from her. Prince Abion sent the players to visit the tomb of Illith Varn and speak with an old friend of Kaviel the Strange, Ser Senedar the White, also a former general of Illith Varn, who after his untimely death in the depths of the Shattered Labyrinths, has taken up a lonely vigil at his tomb, praying and trying to ignore the angry imprecations of Illith Varn's severed head, who demands Ser Senedar bring him the Skoros Orb from Queen Tetranoska. She has one aspect of the Skoros Orb too, though whether she knows it's only one part of three is up for grabs.

After being ambushed by Rhan-Teggoth and his octopus-headed vampire guards and escaping from the Turned Castle, they once again made contact with the rival adventuring party The Deadboyz, a trio of dead-eyed sociopaths seeking to steal the Skoros Orb for themselves and sell it to some kingdom somewhere for a large sum of cash. The players have been feuding with the Deadboyz for two or three years now, and after a lengthy battle on their private demiplane cabin which is situated in a magic painting hidden inside a magic mirror and negotiating a hostage swap between the Deadboyz' rogue and the players' bard, they managed to hash out a shaky agreement to work together to steal the Skoros Orb from the Blood Queen, which agreement the Deadboyz decided to break from the very beginning.

Finally, the players managed to break back into the Turned Castle of the Blood Queen, which is sinking upside down into a pool of blood harvested from the queen's own subjects millennia ago before House Pelioth fled the surface world, slew the marilith Aeshma guarding the Blood Queen's tower, and summoned the Deadboyz to help them climb it. They spent a handful of sessions climbing a series of vertical shafts filled with anti-magic blood and vampire knights shooting four arrows a round each and dropping giant spike balls on them and floating paralyzing jellyfish and a giant eyeball with grasping tentacles.

At last everyone managed to make it up to the Blood Queen's throneroom, while a handful of vampire guards ineffectually try to climb the tower below them. There the players find, surprise surprise, Kaviel the Strange already battling with Queen Tetranoska to steal the Skoros Orb from her before the players and the Deadboyz make it to them. He's desperate, she's furious, and the Deadboyz casually launch their surprise attack. Blathous Horzen strides up to the player's wizard, Thee Honorable Jaime von Klaw, and deals 80 damage with two attacks.

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Kaviel the Strange ("What is it that makes him strange?" "Why, he is a poet")

Queen Tetranoska Draculesti Pelioth (source)

So the players once again fight the Deadboyz in the throne-room while Queen Tetranoska and Kaviel the Strange launch blood magic and lightning storms in every direction. She can channel the Skoros Orb from a distance, she is shooting Absolute Rays and creating powerful illusions. The Skoros Orb is embedded inside a red crystal which is being held by a metal claw suspended from the ceiling over the queen's throne, which is made of frozen blood. Tetranoska is whittling down Kaviel's hit-points, Kaviel is trying to break the blood crystal so he can grab the orb and escape, and Jaime von Klaw gets KO'd by Kaviel's lightning storm. Luckily, Malachai the Dwarf is high enough level to muster six attacks a round if he needs to, and kicks the shit out of Blathous Horzen with his magic longbow. Blathous drops his magic greatsword in a pool of anti-magic blood and pulls out his mysterious hooded lantern, which shoots a laser of over-charged fire when the hood is opened. The Deadboyz' wizard, Blank, a strange fellow with a child tied to his waist, gets imprisoned in a force cage, breaks out, and gets mind-controlled by the queen, who makes him start to kill Kaviel.

For a moment everything is going okay. Dirtface the Barbarian shoots the Deadboyz' rogue, Axen Great, with a poisoned snail that benumbs his left arm, meaning he can't use his bow or his black blade, and though he tries, can't stop Malachai from finally murdering Blathous Horzen. "Fucking idiot," says Axen and hides in a side-chamber. Jaime von Klaw manages to get a few hit-points back and traps Axen in the side-chamber with a force wall. All he can do is stand behind it and glare, like Darth Maul.

But then Blank breaks free of his mind control and sees an opportunity. He conjures a Meteor Swarm. The meteors swarm from his hand and explode everything in the room, knocking out Jaime again, reducing Kaviel the Strange to 1 hitpoint, and demolishing the blood crystal containing the Skoros Orb, which I determined would roll in a random direction if the blood crystal happened to shatter. I roll a 6. Uh oh... The Skoros Orb, a dull red crystal orb the size of a watermelon, rolls directly at Blank. He picks it up. "I've got it!" He sprints away from the Queen.

Axen Great, no longer trapped behind his force wall which blinked out when Jaime fell unconscious, pulls out his single black Arrow of Death, which requires seven days of dedicated work to manufacture, takes aim at Dirtface the Barbarian, and uses his great luck to force a hit. Dirtface fails his saving throw and falls unconscious.

So at this point, two of the players are unconscious, Kaviel is at 1 hitpoint, Blank the Wizard has the Skoros Orb, and Malachai the Dwarf is once again nearly dead. By fifth edition rules, he is one saving throw away from death. The players manage to use their round to bring themselves back to life--Sad Ed the Bard uses Cure Wounds to bring back Jaime von Klaw, Jaime von Klaw uses Wish to Heal Dirtface, and Dirtface runs over to Malachai and feeds him an enchanted finger-bone.

Kaviel, blood running from the open wound on his neck, cries out: “Great Goddess Cairu, hear my wish! I still remember thee, from thy fountain where I met thee in thy glimmering halls! Finally I invoke thee! Take me from this dreadful place, to a place of safety! “

The Great Goddess manifests in a breath of fresh air. she is a beautiful woman surrounded by floating clothes, her skin is pale, glowing water rises around her, her hair is long and floats around her in zero gravity. She's also upside down, because everyone else is actually upside, considering they are in the Turned Castle.

“Kaviel! I do remember you well, and ever are you in my favor! I have heard your call, and I do not forget you! This is your wish then? Very well — I will remove you from this place of death! Come now, take my hand!”

He does, and they disappear, leaving a sweet scent in the air.

Tetranoska, screaming in rage, sprints after Blank. She deals him a few mighty blows. She grabs him. But on his turn he shouts, "Axen, I'm going!" and Teleports away. And Axen Great pulls out a strange tuning fork, hits it on the wall, and the tuning fork rings louder and louder and crescendos and shatters, and he disappears, leaving the players alone in the throne room with the Blood Queen. They cast Maze on her and she disappears, for a second at least.

Now I get to think about the Deadboyz' secret hideout. Very exciting.