M.A.G.U.S. - The final final battle

The adventurers caught their breath and continued exploring the villa. Fortunately at least one of them had previously been in a noble's mansion (possibly to rob it), and so they found their way to the owner's quarters. Also fortunately at least one of them can see in the dark, and so Felgrin looked through some keyholes to find the study room. Athosian picked the lock, and in they went - ignoring the sounds of battle now coming from outside.


Inside there was the usual stuff you'd find in a noble's study. Books, ledgers, guest lists... nothing interesting. They looked around for any secret doors. Athosian realized that the room was narrower than it should be, and so their eyes turned to the person-sized mirror on the offending wall. Biznard smashed it to pieces, uncovering a dark corridor and a spiral staircase going down. Athosian stuck her head in and triggered a magical trap, instantly getting knocked out. They revived her and drew up a plan.

A pretty simple plan. Felgrin transferred an elemental shield to the barbarian, and down he charged. Another magical trap was triggered, but bounced off harmlessly.

Downstairs, the party was confronted by two evil paladins, their plate armor bedecked with horns and skulls (both human and otherwise). The fighters went toe-to-toe with them. Well, metaphorically speaking. Shamil climbed unto Cahir's back to reach the enemy, as he did not have enough space otherwise.

The fight took some out of the adventurers, and their warrior-assassin ally died. But they hurried onward, smashing open the double doors protected by their now dead foes.

Inside, they beheld a nightmarish view. Robed figures, their faces hidden by shadows, surrounded a young woman in a runic circle. Her eyes were glazed over, and she did not react to anything. The adventurers wasted no time, and attacked the cultists.

Some were revealed to be priests, others assassins or warriors. The adventurers killed them without mercy, but they were still bogged down for the moment. Athosian decided to change that, and shot the helpless victim on the floor.

Now, to understand, you have to know that she rolled below average all evening. And so I was confident that her puny arrow would bounce off the hidden force field protecting the circle - much like Felgrin's fireball was absorbed by the demonic statue. But she rolled the best hit and damage ever, instantly killing the woman. Of course, the ritualists would not be thwarted so easily. The final robed figure revealed himself to be none other than Telicanthus, as he plunged his ornate dagger into the woman's heart just before she gave her final breath.

And now, my favorite mechanic: team luck roll. All this time the evil cult had progressed towards entrenching themselves in the city, and the adventurers had done everything in their power to stop them. Would it be enough?

The dice decided that it would do. The cultists summoned a demon prince of their deity, whose mighty roar sent the adventurers running (fear effect for the win). However, they saw a portal opening, as a wizard and several knights rushed out to battle the monstrosity.

Hold on. They interrupted the ritual. That's an extra +1 to the roll. Scratch that.

The cultists summoned a demon prince of their deity, who decided that they were unworthy of his attention and slew them on the spot, letting the adventurers go. The statue crumbled, the runes exploded, and the entire building started shaking.

... In other words, the best sort of time to start looting corpses.

At least some of the adventurers were smart enough to immediately start running.

Shamil dunked an agility potion, looted a few corpses and then ran.

Cahir looted a corpse, then carried it out.

Well, he tried.

Rocks fell, and the paladin went down at the head of the staircase. Luckily, his party members decided to rescue him, and the adventurers crashed out the front door just as the mansion came crumbling down behind them.

Outside, they were greeted by another grizzly scene. The town guard (who had ultimately showed up) had battled the remaining cultist-beggars, eliminating them to a man while also taking heavy losses.

Nevertheless, this marked the end of the evil cult and that of the adventure. Time for a team luck roll to see about the rewards.

[Not an actual photo taken at the time, but a faithful recreation.]

Even with a 1 rolled, the adventurers had done enough (and thus received a hefty bonus to the roll) to move out of the lowest possible bracket. The city had become a sort of a second home base, with hidden markets open to them and free lodging unlocked at regular inns.