Episode 2: Final Confrontation

Episode 2 of the Thursday Knights Actual Play podcast is now available! This episode is the final session of a year-and-a-half adventure: The Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Because this was such a special episode, we played much longer than we usually do, and as such the episode weighs in at a hefty 5 and a half hours. With this finale comes the end of the Heroic tier. Next week will be the first session of a brand new campaign with the same characters, after being apart for 1 year (in-game time.) Timeline For those of you that would like to simply skip to the best parts, here is a timeline of events. We have italicized specific sections that we consider to be the best of the best: 0:00.00 Character introductions. Each of the players introduces themselves and gives a very quick explanation of their character. 0:07.14 First Room. The group enters the first room in the Fire Node. They spend some time trying to figure out where they are and what the nature of this place is. 0:29.50 Second Room. The group enters the second room of the Fire Node. Here they encounter an old friend who gives them a warning about the upcoming fight. 1:05.00 Final Room. They climb a staircase and see before them the site of their final confrontation. 1:06.50 Character Thoughts. Each player takes some time to explain the thoughts running through their character’s head, just before they step forward to what may be their last fight ever. 1:19.01 Their ultimate foe introduces himself. 1:20.10 Combat begins. It lasts 3.5 hours. Arath (good guy) wields the Orb of Silvery Death against Lareth (bad guy,) who wields the Orb of Oblivion. The players scramble to get the four elemental power gems that are spread around the room, fighting many challenges in the process, all the while trying desperately to avoid the devastating attacks of Imix, the Prince of Evil Elemental Fire. 4:43.44 Victory! The final gem is set in to the Orb of Silvery Death, giving Arath what he needs to defeat Lareth. Or does it? 4:48.39 Escape. The party rushes to escape the collapsing Fire Node 4:52.57 Return. The party finds themselves back on the Mortal Plane. 5:00.23 Heroes. The party returns to Hommlet, receiving a hero’s welcome. 5:04.01 Final Thoughts. Each player takes some time to give the final thoughts of their characters before they split up to follow their own individual paths. DM Materials When appropriate and available, we like to make available the session plans and any other materials that the DM created specifically for this session. Fire Node Session Plans (pdf) Bonus Video! Cailin created a special surprise present for the group, and presented it to everybody after the session. It is a tribute to the Heroic tier that we have spent the last year and a half playing through. All of the artwork in the video is artwork that she has sketched during our sessions; oftentimes to illustrate an exciting moment that just occurred.