Last we left our heroes, Yevin was stunned mid-air, staring at Skulldrinker. Wander was thrown to the ground after The Butcher had a snack of her shoulder. And Arunak was facing down a buzzing Bone Devil. In rough order (because your humble scribe was so involved she failed to take any notes)…
- Ryker lets off a shot, hitting The Butcher through the eye. As the giant ogre collapses, Ryker wraps his cloak around himself and dimension doors up the switchbacks, disappearing from sight.
- The wolf nearby moves to attack Wander, but catches Nathan’s eye and backs down. He later tells the wolf to “run, or die”. It decides to run.
- Havayla moves the shaft of moonbeam toward Skulldrinker, continuing to chase him down with the beam through the majority of combat.
- Skulldrinker moves further up the path, attempting but failing to beguile Arunak.
- Yevin regains mobility after Skulldrinker’s turn and flies down to safety.
- Arunak dodges away from the Bone Devil to bash in the last remaining orc archer.
- The Bone Devil is released from Skulldrinker’s concentration and becomes a free agent. It decides to attack Arunak.
- Wander commands the Bone Devil, pointing to Skulldrinker and declaring “HIM”, but is caught by Skulldrinker’s stunning gaze and becomes petrified with madness. Instead, the Bone Devil makes it way to her and starts to pick her up.
- Further up on the switchbacks, Ryker is busy laying traps in case Skulldrinker makes his way all the way up.
- After dispatching the orc and resisting Skulldrinker, Arunak runs over and is able to stun the Bone Devil before it’s able to take off with Wander.
- Havayla continues to chase Skulldrinker down with moonbeam
- Seeing his companion stunned and under attack, Yevin runs over holding an elixir of healing, which he’s able to dump into Wander’s mouth. The potion takes effect and her petrifying madness ends.
- Skulldrinker, seeing that everyone is gathered around their formerly petrified healer, sends a beam of necrotic energy that catches them all in a damaging field.
- Nathan pulls out a magical rope and starts to climb up after Skulldrinker, also getting ahead of him in the switchbacks.
- Wander cast bless on everyone and then hits the Bone Devil with her spiritual weapon.
- Ryker soaks a bag of ballbearings with oil and then tosses them down to where he’s very sure Skulldrinker is.
- After stumbling over the oiled ballbearings, Skulldrinker commands Arunak to look at him, causing him to be confused, first striking the bone devil with a killing blow, and then moving straight up to Skulldrinker himself.
- Yevin tosses a fireball to Skulldrinker’s location, lighting Skulldrinker and igniting the oiled marbles. Havayla then hits him with moonbeam again.
- Fed up with the continued assault, Skulldrinker vanishes from the battlefield.
- Nathan runs to check the teleportation room they came from.
- Wander lets Ryker know that Skulldrinker is gone and Ryker starts climbing up.
- Everyone begins to climb the switchbacks. Yevin, Arunak, and Havayla take flight. Nathan starts climbing his magical rope and offers Wander a hand. But Wander remembers her owl figurine and uses it; a jade giant owl appears, large enough for her to climb on it’s back, and she takes to the sky as well.
- After a round of climbing, there’s commotion at the top and massive boulders begin to tumble down.
- Almost everyone is able to dodge the boulders, but Wander and her owl are hit by one.
- Havayla uses her spiritual weapon to help move a levitating Ryker up the cliff-face.
- Progression continues as another volley of boulders collide with the Derailers. This time Havayla is struck, but remains flying. Wander and her owl are struck twice, the owl turning back into a figurine. Nathan is able to swing out to catch Wander as she falls, and they continue to climb.
- Arunak reaches the top as they all see a giant column being rolled to the edge. As the column rolls over, Arunak is able to fly around it, colliding fist first with the large red, ape-like devil Skulldrinker had summoned. Skulldrinker then hits him with witchbolt, leaving a snapping electric lash between them.
- Yevin joins soon after and hits both the devil and Skulldrinker with a fireball, killing the devil and burning Skulldrinker.
- Skulldrinker beguiles Arunak again, who is struck with a hallucinatory madness, seeing images of… his past? Old memories?
- As the column rolls down the hill, colliding with most of the Derailers, but not killing them (yet), Skulldrinker throws off his cloak and stretches out his arms and legs to is full height. He triggers his staff, linking Arunak and Yevin with a necrotic tether.
- Nathan, after being battered by the rolling column, sees the tip of Skulldrinker’s staff above the edge of the ridge. He carefully casts wall of flame in a circle from the edge of the cliff, catching Skulldrinker. The fire was the final blow needed to strike him down. Skulldrinker’s body tumbles down the switchbacks, exploding at the bottom of the chasm in a flash of red, blue, green, white, and black, a with a dragon-like roar of frustration emanating from the flames. Skulldrinker, and what ever plan his patron Tiamat had, is dead.
And that is where the Derailers were left, cheering in victory and collapsing against each other in exhaustion. What allies does the fallen Skulldrinker have left? What will be done with his machine? Will the team be able to break Arunak of his madness? We’ll find out next time…