April 9, 2026 · Desperate Survival
The lich opens with 40 necrotic damage. Caelum's response: Counterspell at 5th level. Rolled 18, needed 11. 'Not today. Or not this minute. Not this ten seconds.'
Shirley charges the sealed mausoleum door like a freight train. Two STR checks, eight inches of progress. Enough for Caelum to escape. The half-orc doesn't negotiate with architecture.
Bladesong active, Disengage, and run. Caelum bolts through the door Shirley forced open while zombie hands reach after him. Sometimes the bravest move is knowing when to leave.
Idril rolls a nat 20 on the Wildfire Arrow. Oil-coated mausoleum. 70 fire damage. All 11 zombies incinerated. Also Caelum and Shirley. 'If I die, it won't be because of the bad guys.'
A thin green ray hits Oggy square in the chest. Nat 1 on the DEX save. Two special dice burned to save him. 'I don't feel so good Mr. Stark.' The table held its breath.
The lich paralyzes Shirley with cold magic. Shirley's response: Indomitable. Re-roll plus 10. Twenty-eight. 'We're gonna fucking do that.' Willpower beats magic.
The lich tears the Moonstone Crown from Kimber's skull. Dark energy and bone fragments. Three levels of exhaustion. The moral dilemma the party debated for months, solved by a lich in seconds.
While the party fights a lich, gets Disintegrated, and loses the Moonstone Crown, Idril is behind a tree stump. 'I had to take a poop. That scared the crap out of me.'
Caelum drags Oggy. Shirley carries Kimber. Idril runs ahead. Behind them, a lich wearing a glowing crown hovers over the burning mausoleum. 'We live another day. Barely. We are mostly mortal.'