The party entered an abandoned laboratory - cobwebs and glass vials everywhere. Across the room, on an ornate chair, sat a skeleton in decayed robes, with a longsword between his ribs. The adventurers advanced cautiously, but of course they triggered the appearance of the specter of the long dead warlock. The ghostly appearance thought Groin was a descendant of the original baron[1] and threatened him with worse than death. And of course, in the next moment, the unholy creation/beloved pet of the warlock broke through the throne and into the room.
The "boss fight" was long and hard. Plenty were knocked unconscious, brought back by the concerted efforts of the cleric, paladin and druid, knocked out again, and so on.[2]
At last, the monster lay defeated, and the laboratory was ripe for looting. Of course, there isn't much to take from an abandoned and already fought-over laboratory, but the intrepid adventurers did find a couple of potions, as well as the original documents and research of the warlock. With nothing to indicate any kind of curse, the adventurers made sure to destroy the old bones, then headed back to the village.
The baron was obviously grateful, and invited the adventurers to stay for a couple of days, including his stepping into office ceremony. They did, and they did manage to uncover the true curse: the lead goblet used twice a day by the baron in office.[3]
Shortly after the ceremony, riders from Achna also make their appearance, demanding troops for the war effort. They also required the adventurers to present themselves in Beverna at Lord Bersk's pleasure.[4]
Hearing all that, the party did start down the road to Beverna, making a short detour of course, through Tallow Falls, to talk to Ath.[5]
On the road, the sage accompanying them finds some details on the original god wars, relating how Myrkul headed an alliance of gods, titans and demons against the forces of good. Finally, the gods on the opposing side forged mighty artifacts to arm their champions with, and they managed to vanquish the God of Death, banishing him from the Material Plane. The resulting ceasefire - and long lasting peace - was based on a general ban of gods manifesting directly on this plane of existence. It looked like Myrkul was now trying to get around this ban, somehow.[6]
To top it all, I lured Sotocus off into the forest to converse with his infernal patron, as the rest of the party was sitting around the evening campfire.
In the meantime, a rival demon prince sent his troops into the world, intent on killing the adventurers interfering with his plans.[7]
The fight was again long and hard - an excellent finisher for the evening. However, the best part was the looks Sotocus got after the demons were beaten. Several party members were convinced that he summoned the demons himself. [8]
[1] At least that is how the scribe interpreted the event.
[2] This was the first boss monster that I hand-crafted myself. I must say, it turned out pretty good. The trick was to give it a lot of health, and multiple small-damage attacks. This kept the fight engaging and epic,
instead of a hit-once-miss or hint-once-knock-one-out type encounter.
[3] Although the scribe does not even mention this, only that they managed to talk the baron into giving them the goblet. Also no mention of Selene calling the baron a fool, and being thrown out from the ceremony.
[4] Well, that should have sounded a few alarm bells.
[5] I think they still tried to bring the fountains back into relevance.
[6] Beside completing the story and giving the adventurers something to worry about, this was an excellent seed for the following session.
[7] He may or may not have been behind the demon witches of Naola, and the plague demons of Duvik's Pass.
[8] Which of course made no sense, but it was enjoyable to see them squabble.
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