Ending the Sandpoint / Magnimar campaign

We used to be playing every other Sunday evening, and had an ongoing D&D 5e campaign running. It started as an initiation table, based on the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Adventure Path and evolved into an intrigue campaign in the city of Magnimar.

Then, COVID hit our table, and I moved to another city, which should have killed our game. Instead, almost 2 years after our last game, we all took one week off from work and gathered in my new house, to play a full week of D&D. What's the point of being an adult, if you can't do this kind of things?

From a DM point of view, running a marathon game during a whole week, to close a campaign that was put on a hiatus for 2 years had its share of challenges, but was also pretty rewarding. I have very fond memories of this whole campaign, so I'm a bit sad to have to end it, but I'm also grateful that we could end it properly and not add it to the pile of other unfinished campaigns.

But without further introduction, let me share with you the pictures of the various scenes of this intense week.

Scene 1: Saving Lord Deverin

The first session started with a bang. The group had to save one of the City Council Members from a certain death. The poor NPC had been injustly accused of consorting with devils and was thrown into the lowest depth of the City Prison: the Underworld, where horrible creature lurks.

While his cage was being lowered, a band of rival adventurers riding a floating barge attempted to capture him (they planned on asking for a ransom); while at the same time a group of bat-worshipper Derros, led by a Bat Demon was trying to kill both the PCs and the rival group.

I had completely forgotten that my group had access to teleportation spells, so what I had planned as a timed rescue attempt ended up much more quickly into a flying chase.

Getting back to the surface

After having saved Lord Deverin (and get rid of the rival group), the PCs went on looting the rival camp, and headed back to the surface, fighting a Roper on their way.

Fighting their doubles a the Kaijitsu Manor

Calling their NPC friend Ameiko Kaijitsu, the PCs were surprised to have somebody else answer the magical phone call. Not sure who they were against, they went to the manor. They found their friend, agonizing on a couch, with two of their evil twins alernatively hurting and healing her.

Rolling incredibly high Initiative, they managed to focus and kill the opposing cleric in the first round, then went all-in on the other members one after another. They still had the opposing Bard take control of their own bard, which could have been disastrous, but they managed to handle the damage.

They ran from the building as the roaring fire of the various fireballs burned to ashes the whole first floor.

Into the Dungeon of Time

Now the PC know that the BBEG is the alternative version of their Warlock, from a dark future. They aim to his dungeon, trying to reach him. The whole dungeon is built on the idea of time paradox (this is a reskinned version of Julinda's Gauntlet, from Wyloch)

The whole dungeon somehow has to be explored twice, and actions the PCs take on their first time through will impact them again on their second time through. This was very fun to play.

Final boss battle

Having completed the dungeon, the PCs now have to head into the final boss battle. They were against the evil twin of their Warlock, with his war machine metal golem version of their Fighter. And some animated zombies made of parts of their doubles, hunted from countless other dimensions.

As their main antagonist HP pool was reduced, he spawned alternatives versions of himself. Those couldn't cast spells, but were more on the melee fighter side. The PCs were finally victorious, on the edge of the 6th combat round, and managed to flee through the runic portal.

Epilogue

Unfortunately, one of our players couldn't stay the whole week, so we ended up narrating the last parts of the campaign. Our heroes had to travel to the future, when their city will be destroyed by an Githianki invasion. In the madness of the attack, they had to find their doubles and capture their soul. Each capture had them deal with the impact of removing one of them from this reality.

Kyra the Cleric was now the head priestess of the Sarenrae church and was holding a protective dome against the Cathedral, protecting innocents from the attack. Lem the Bard attracted a group of attackers inside the Opera and sacrificed himself to kill the attacking group and buy time for citizens to flee. Tordek the Fighter took advantage of his last living minutes to find his love and spent time with her before the PCs had to kill him (and his lover turned Banshee).

They then all flew back to the past, at the time of the creation of the city and understood that an Illithid spaceshift crashed there. They killed the Illithids before they could have time to mind control the whole city over the course of the following centuries.

Then, the players decided what they wanted to do with their characters, knowing that they could live a few years in the past, then teleport back to their present. They all acted into planting the right seeds in the past so their present would be better, making Magnimar a prosperous.

Prank

Because we actually ended the campaign one day earlier than anticipated, we took advantage of the time to stage some fake pictures and send them to the player that couldn't attend until the end: