The party stands before the green doors in the icy necropolis. Fresh off a few days’ rest at the Nightfort, everyone is fully rested with full resources and no exhaustion, with exception for the 1 use of Teleport by Qarzdaq.
Alongside them, are their allies from Dorne and the Eerie.
They push open the doors to find it leads outside. Though “outside” up here should be an icy, harsh landscape. Instead, they find a manicured park lawn with a nicely built smooth stone horse statue about 150 feet ahead of them, equipped with a rider in its saddle.
Scanning the landscape, they see two corner hedgerows about a hundred feet directly to each side of the entrance and two more just over 300 feet away aligned with the two closer ones, forming what could be considered the corners of a large square with the statue at its center.
FARR: Alright… Nothing to see here. Let’s go guys.
QHOR: We shall declare that this room has been conquered and leave…
Qhortho looks around for someone… anyone…
QHOR: YOU HEAR ME?! I DECLARE VICTORY! … VICTORY! … victory?
There is no response, so they proceed closer to the statue.
Aran looks to their allies.
ARAN: Spread out guys.
FARR: Yeah, good call. We had some… well… let’s just say we’ve learned a few things about their tactics.
The Dornish soldiers spread out to the left; the Eyrie soldiers to the right.
As they approach the statue across the otherwise wide-open, grassy area, the way they’d just come from disappears, leaving just open plains as far as the eye can see. At this point, they begin to take notice that the air feels mostly calm. Though a soft breeze intermittently carries wafts of freshly mowed grass.
ARAN: It’s quite lovely here, this time of year.
Farron summons small his Crown of Stars.
Suddenly a shrill, arrogant voice calls out from all around them.
VOICE: Oh! It’s so very good to see you again!
The rider atop the horse has come to life.
RIDER: Would you like a seat?
The rider snaps his fingers and a wooden chair appears before Qhortho.
He laughs uncontrollable and he snaps his fingers again. The chair disappears. His strangely familiar laugh echoes in their minds.
The Assembly trade glances with each other and then it dawns on them. This is Illus the Illustrious Illusionist from Moat Cailin!
ILLUS: So!
He claps his hands and puts them down by his sides. When he raises them a moment later, he somehow has decks of circular cards in his hands.
ILLUS: I have before me 2 decks of cards. One is full of illusions, the other is as real as it gets.
He shuffles the decks together, then tosses four cards towards the Assembly and their allies. They grow in size from a mere three inches across to fifteen feet wide once they strike the ground! Once on the ground, they glow a faint green.
The first of the cards transforms into a knight with four guards at his side.
The second transforms into a fire giant.
The third transforms into a human rogue assassin.
The fourth transforms into a beholder.
Not knowing which are real and which are illusions, they need to take all of them seriously.
Everyone’s artifacts except Farron’s light up!
ILLUS: Have fun!
His tone suggests he doesn’t take the Assembly very seriously, regardless of how many allies they’ve brought.
The beholder shoots a Disintegration Ray at Qhortho but misses.
The knights and guards attack, striking Qarzdaq. Qarzdaq has the chance to toss up a Shield, but takes his chances with them being illusion. They are, in fact, not illusions. Luckily, they don’t manage to cause much damage.
One of the enemies attempts to strike Aran, who immediately retaliates upon their failure to do so. The good news for all involved is that he went quickly, and probably painlessly. Probably.
Qarzdaq takes flight, narrowly missing another attack.
ILLUS: Nuh uh uh! Where do you think you’re going?!
Illus shoots a Ray of Frost at Qarzdaq, which he blocks with Shield.
He scowls and immediately tosses out four more cards: a Bugbear Chief, Bandit Captain (C), 3 Bandits (B), Veteran, and a Succubus.
Qhortho attacks the Beholder and it vanishes upon contact.
QHOR: Our first illusion, gone!
He then deftly strikes down the nearby Veteran.
QHOR: And there goes one of your real bois!
Illus seems mildly bothered, shooting Qhortho with a Ray of Frost and then tosses out four more cards.
An Orc War Chief, an Ogre Zombie, an Iron Golem, and a copy of Illus (star) appear around the field.
When the Iron Golem attacks one of the Dornish, he reveals himself as an illusion. Now it just needs to be struck to dispel the illusion.
The Ogre Zombie attacks Qarzdaq and reveals himself as an illusion as well!
With Farron mostly surrounded, he Misty Steps out of a bad situation and makes way for the Succubus. Launching a mote at the creature reveals it is real, but the amount of damage kills it instantly.
Illus cocks his head and shoots a Ray of Frost at Farron, who Shields it. Illus tosses out four more cards, revealing a Berserker, a Medusa, a Hill Giant, and a Night Hag.
The Medusa is revealed as an Illusion, but has not been struck down.
Aran kills a real Bandit Captain and a Bandit, then dispels the Assassin as an illusion, removing it from the battlefield. He then kills another two Guards before making his way towards another group of enemies.
Illus, as is now expected, shoots Aran with a Ray of Frost then tosses out four more cards.
A Berserker, an Erinyes (E), another Ogre Zombie, an Archmage, and a Drow Mage appear and attack those around them.
The Archmage shoots a Magic Missile at one of the soldiers and reveals himself as an illusion!
The Erinyes attempts to strike Aran and also reveals it as an illusion! Good thing too, because it looked like it was going to hit hard.
The others miss and reveal no additional information.
The allies generally spread themselves around the battlefield, but clump around individual enemies to take down the number of threats. They manage to take out the Fire Giant before Illus lays down some punishment on them by casting a large green cloud of poisonous gas on a group of the Eyrie soldiers. Although all in the cloud are injured, none of them are killed by it.
Illus casts out four more cards revealing another Night Hag, another Assassin, two Priests, and four Acolytes.
The Priests call upon their Spirit Guardians to protect them. The Priests hunker down as fiendish apparitions flit around them.
Qarzdaq takes off directly upwards to remove himself from the poisonous cloud. Though not purposely, the movement of his wings causes the cloud to dissipate, thereby saving his allies from continued poison damage.
ILLUS: Well, you’re doing better than I expected! Here… Take this!
He tosses what looks to be a fist-sized rock. Just as it is about to strike the ground, it vanishes in a plume of smoke. The ground rumbles and, as easily as whales breach the sea, eight Earth Elementals (large black tokens) emerge from the ground.
One of the Elementals lashes out at Aran and misses. Aran retaliates, killing the Elemental with one blow.
With Qarzdaq above the thinning gas cloud, he sees an opportunity to launch a transmuted Fireball directly downward to take out several enemies at once. Will it hit a bunch of the Eyrie soldiers? Yeah. Does that change Qarzdaq’s outlook or give him any pause? Nah.
Qarzdaq’s Acidball strikes the ground killing one of the Elementals and injuring several others, in addition to killing a few of the men from the Eyrie.
Illus casts a Ray of Frost towards Qarzdaq but it sails wide. He shakes his head and immediately tosses out four more cards. An Ettin, a Fire Giant, a Druid, and an Iron Golem emerge from the cards, focused mainly on Aran.
Qhortho shatters the Ogre Zombie next to him with his Valyrian steel. He then strikes the nearby Berserker. Although the attack drew blood, the creature is poised to strike back.
Illus shoots a Ray of Frost at Qhortho, freezing and slowing him slightly. He then tosses out another four cards.
QHOR: How many more of these things you got?!
Illus laughs at the premise this is annoying Qhortho, which seems to be quite the payoff for him.
The cards give rise to a Medusa, an Archmage, a Drow Mage, a Hobgoblin Warlord, and a young Red Dragon.
ARAN: That Medusa’s the real deal guys, shield your eyes!
ILLUS: Hey! I’ll be the one to make rhymes around here… How’s this?! Hickory dickory dock, the heroes saved the flock. Or so they thought, till they were caught, and instead they just choked on my cock!
Suddenly all of the creatures laugh in unison with various tones of Illus’s laugh. The sound is deeply creepy and shows who is in charge of the situation here.
The Archmage uses three magic missiles against one of the Dornish soldiers, killing him.
A Lightning Bolt shoots from the Drow Mage in a line a hundred feet long, damaging several of the Dornish allies.
The Hobgoblin Warlord attacks Aran, but is revealed to be an illusion.
The Red Dragon takes flight and circles around to breathe fire across the Dornish allies and Farron. The dragon then ascends to prepare for another breath of fire.
Farron banishes the Fire Giant they know to be real for a minute. Illus immediately casts a Ray of Frost at Farron.
Four more cards are tossed into the battlefield, spawning another Ettin, a Troll, a Frost Giant, a Knight, and four Guards.
The Ettin attempts to strike one of the Eyrie allies, but it is revealed to be an illusion.
The Troll bites another ally, but it is also revealed to be an illusion.
The Knights and Guards move themselves around the field to encircle Aran, but they are also revealed to be illusions!
The Berserker tries to hit Qhortho, but misses badly. Qhortho takes the opportunity to strike back, killing him with one slash across the belly.
Aran goes on a rampage, killing several of the smaller enemies.
Illus seems to be getting more annoyed by the Assembly and their ilk. He casts out another Ray of Frost at Aran and then tosses out four more cards.
These cards morph into a Veteran, a Succubus, a Beholder, and an Erinyes.
The Erinyes moves towards Aran, entering his reach and inviting his preemptive attack. She parries it and attacks three times in one smooth movement. Aran evades the first two, but is struck by the third, taking slashing and poison damage.
The veteran moves in to attack Aran, lands the attack, but when he takes no damage, it is revealed to be an illusion.
The Beholder shoots out three rays out of its eyes towards Aran. The first is a Sleep Ray, which strikes him, but Aran shrugs it off. The next two are Evervation Rays, which wither away some of his flesh, but Aran’s constitution helps to ward these off as well.
The Dornish and Eyrie soldiers attack, killing the real Medusa and badly damaging the Beholder.
Illus casts Disintegrate at Qarzdaq, but Qarzdaq Counterspells it successfully!
ILLUS: BAH!
The acolytes and Earth Elementals take out more of the allied soldiers.
Qarzdaq attempts to Disintegrate the dragon, but Illus Counterspells it.
Illus casts a Ray of Frost at Qarzdaq, missing him, then immediately tosses out four more cards. The cards turn into a Cloud Giant, two Bugbear Chiefs, and a Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu.
We end this session mid-battle on Day 958. The Assembly and their allies are doing ok, but this battle is far from over. Hopefully, they will prevail without too many more losses on their side. In the next session, we will being just after Qarzdaq’s turn… when an Ettin will be making its attack against the Eyrie soldiers.