3 Years

A brief summary of the adventures of one my Dungeons and Dragons parties over the last 3 years.

3 years. 3 years of adventure concluded last night.

There were 6 of us. Not always, sometimes there were more, sometimes there were less, not everyone was there throughout, but it all averages out to 6 of us. When this started we were mostly strangers. Sure, we had briefly played in another campaign before, not all of us but enough of us, but we still didn't really know each other. We didn't know it at the time but from the ashes of that first campaign would come our greatest DnD adventure yet. Much like a phoenix rising from it's dirty, discarded, remains, we emerged...no, soared out of them in a beautiful cacophony of ash and fire burning brighter than any of us thought possible.

Our tale began on October 7, 2017 with the 6 most average level 1 adventurers: Formos the Triton fighter, Bonnie the Dwarf cleric, Hjalmar the Goliath rogue, Iados the Tiefling Sorcerer, Wuffy the Elf sorcerer, and Wit the Changling bard. We would experience a betrayal to start the campaign, with Wit killing Iados early on. Wit and his player would retire after that to look after Nightstone. A new party member would join on October 30, 2017: Makoto the Human paladin of Eldath. This new party of six would go on grueling adventures all along the sword coast. Soon they would make their way to Waterdeep where things would really change.

The great city of Waterdeep would become a headquarters of sorts for our adventurers. It's walls rising to protect them from outside threats while they do the more mundane tasks of adventurers, hat shopping for a fancy party. It was this hat shop where things began to change. The owner would offer Hjalmar a discount on a helm of teleportation in exchange for services. Hjalmar gained a second hat that night, the hat of fatherhood. This night would also start Formos down a sinister road as he entered a bathhouse full of men covered in scars and tattoos, this would be the night that Formos joined the Zhentarim.

March 31, 2018 is when a world changing event would befall our beloved party, a second more painful betrayal. After exploring the Eye of the All-Father, Harshnag was prepared to provide the party with a map of spirit mounds. However before he could do so Formos grabbed the map and teleported away from the party. Shocked and angry they had a new reason to adventure, revenge.

June 23, 2018. While trapped on an island by Frost Giants, a new hero soared in to assist our heroes, Shaquis Johnson the Half-Triton barbarian sorcerer. He arrived on a griffon just in time to help the party defeat enough Frost Giants to make their escape. During this fight he would save Iados' life and a very powerful friendship would begin.

July 21, 2018 was a heartbreaking day for most of the party as Bonnie also left. Suspiciously there was also an assassination attempt that night but a new friend, Clementine the Human fighter, would come to save the day. Well, she tried to. The assassins' poison was too overpowering and our heroes were taken hostage. Waking up in individual cells to the sound of screams, nobody would ever forget this moment in time. If ever there was something to bring these strangers together and form a family, this was it. Wuffy was the first to be tortured. Then Clem, then Iados, then Shaq, then Hjalmar, and lastly Makoto. The only thing that broke that night were bones of the guards as they tried to stop the captives. Coming together as a real family now, not just an adventuring party, everyone was more inspired than ever to fix the Ordning so that they can go after their torturer without fear of an upended world.

February 16, 2019. The ending of the first arc. With Hekaton restored to the throne, Iados having made almost as much money as Waterdeep has in it's vaults, and Shaq taking ownership of a Cloud Giant castle for the party's new headquarters the first arc for everyone is finished. At least that's what they all thought. There was one matter left to attend to, a small, rugged, weathered leather pouch housing a deck of tarot cards. Shaq, Makoto, and Iados all pulled from the deck. Shaq gained a level, Makoto gained wealth, Iados gained the greatest reward of all though, control over fate.

April 20, 2019 a new friend appeared, Forbender the Gnome wizard, with his trusty emotional support elemental. After a year of much needed rest and relaxation it was time for the newly dubbed Shields of Fearun to reunite in an effort to kill their torturer, Sebastian, who had maimed two of their friends and stolen The Deck.

August 11, 2019. A month after Forbender left the Shields to be with his dying father the Shields' quest for revenge came to a head. Sabastian had raised an army of dead the likes of which had never been seen. It took the combined effort of all the factions: The Lord's Alliance, The Harpers, The Emerald Encalve, The Order of the Gauntlet, and even the Zhentarim, just to get the Shields to the door of Sebastian's tower. A sinister tower of twisted stone as black as the sky it seemed to endlessly climb towards. Menacingly looming over the battlefield, making it to the top of the tower was no longer about petty revenge, it was now about saving Toril. While a war waged at the base of the tower a smaller but more significant one raged at it's peak. The Shields were breaking, Makoto and Clementine had been sucked through a portal, Iados was clinging onto the last of his life, Shaq was trying to protect his business partner and best friend from dying, Wuffy was just about out of spells, and Hjalmar was actually doing pretty okay. In a final act of defying death Iados clutched the talisman around his neck and uttered his possibly last word, "Die." Everyone fell silent, holding their breath as Sabastian made his saving throw. Then, breaking the silence, an uncontrollable, enthusiastic "YES!" The ground below Sebastian unnaturally pried itself open, engulfing him as he fell below it's surface, swallowing him and all his possessions until there was no trace that he was ever there to begin with. Outside, lightning cracked and the sun shone through the parting clouds. As the horde of undead return to their eternal rest a new dawn had started for Toril.

September 28, 2019. Though he knew that Sebastian was a bigger issue, Wuffy had constantly been trying to get the Shields to go to Chult with him to fight a great evil there. Now that Sabestian was dealt with and Toril saved it was time to follow Wuffy there and see what all the fuss was about. They could even stop at the home that Makoto bought over there.

February 15 2020. While exploring Chult the Shields' learned that Mezro is still around, just trapped out of time, and that it was time to bring it back into reality. There was a lot of push back from Wuffy's adopted family in their time in Chult but together, with his new family in the Shields of Fearun, Wuffy was able to fend them off long enough to locate Mezro. With Artis Cimber, his Ring of Winter, and the Shields' all working together they were able to drive off Shavolak, restore Mezro to its former glory, and grant Ubtoa his power back. However there was a more heartwarming story unfolding. As Mezro was restored Artis was able to reunite with his wife, Alisanda. Their embrace was cut short as Alisandra looked towards the saviors of Mezro and found a familiar face. She raced towards him, embracing a confused Wuffy in the warmest, most familiar hug he had ever received. Artis with more than a tad of jealously approached curious as to what was going on, why was his wife hugging what should be a stranger in this way? Alisanda sat Artis down with Wuffy so that they could properly be introduced as father and son. Wuffy wasn't a vile Barishe like he had lived his whole life believing, he was a heroic Barae. Alisanda helped him unlock his true potential and connection to the Weave, allowing him to gain more control over not just his Wild Magic but any Wild Magic around him. With Mezro restored, Toril saved, and Wuffy reunited with his family what more could the Shields' have left to do? Kill the Xanathar is what.

May 15, 2020. An arrow pierced through the large front eye of the Xanather as its corpse fell to the ground, motionless. Hjalmar pulled out his knife and began carving out that same eye, he had mentioned some plan about an antimagic gem. Everyone else moved towards his horde and began grabbing what they could. Suddenly an alarm began going off from out of nowhere, it seemed Skullport knew that Xanathar was dead and everyone's play for the title could begin. The Shields' emerged from the mansion to a world of chaos. Buildings burning, halflings riding flaming carts towards drow, a half-orc throwing dwarves into the port like it's nothing. The power vaccum that the Shields' had created was rapidly ramping up and their time to stay was rapidly decaying. They made their way back to their boat where their crew awaited in a panicked state. As they ran by a drow bar they were beckoned inside. Clementine, Shaq, Makoto, and Hjalmar all went in while Wuffy and Iados continued towards the ship. Waiting inside for them was Clementine's very attractive but very cold-hearted mother. Only one would be leaving the bar alive. With a little help from Makoto and Shaq, Clementine was able to best her mother and the 4 of them began to make their way to the boat. When they left the bar an explosion went off deeper in Skullport, then another, and another. The ceiling began to collapse and they had long overstayed their welcome in Skullport. Clementine and Hjalmar took off followed closely by Shaq and Makoto. Then ran through the tight corridors dodging flaming carts, axes swinging for their necks, lightning bolts, and fireballs coalescing around them. A wizard flying around took aim at Shaq and let off a disintegrate. Makoto dove towards Shaq, tackling him to the ground, and saving him from being hit. Shaq fired off his own lightning bolt at the wizard downing him, but it was too late they had already gotten separated from Clementine and Hjalmar. With the ceiling nipping at their heels they chose a direction and began running. Dead end. Makoto grabbed his Cape of the Mountebank, engulfed Shaq in it, and dimension doored them towards the ship. They weren't there yet though. The ceiling had fallen over most of Skullport at this point. They could see the boat but they didn't have enough time to run around to it. Shaq lifted Makoto, full plate armor and all, and took a running leap off the dock towards the ship 30ft away. He was short. The ship had started moving expecting them to land. Shaq and Makoto braced for impact with the water. The water splashed all around them as a massive hand rose from it snatching them from the air and flying them back to the ship as chunks of rock destroyed the pier. Felgolos, Clementine's dragon fiance, had dove off the ship to save them. The rocks were slamming into the water behind the ship now splashing the deck and crew, they weren't going to make it. Iados, Wuffy, and Hjalmar worked together combining their various teleportation magics to open a portal large enough for the ship to make it through. Ceiling fell at the back of the ship clipping it's rudder as the ship made it through the portal. They were safe in the ports of Waterdeep, home sweet home.

July 18, 2020. Standing on the walls of Waterdeep, the same walls that protected them for all these years, they saw where everything would end. A tarrasque stood outside the walls laying waste to everything in sight. The same tarrasque that had eaten Clementine and Felgolos days before. It was now their turn to protect Waterdeep and prove that they really are the Shields of Fearun. Shaq, Shaq's Simulacrum, Iados, Wuffy, Makoto, Hjalmar, along with their Storm Giant reinforcements of Vaasha and Olekto, ran towards the tarrasque ready to save the universe or die trying. The fight raged on, the tarrasque thouroughly beating the Shields. Vaasha aand Orlekto were eaten by the tarrasque. The Shields fought on to avenge them. Shaq the 2nd was sent flying by the tarrasque's tail, colliding with a rock and shattering, ice glistening in the light of Shaq's lightning bolt. The Shields continued to fight. The world around them began to unravel, the ground destroying, soldiers falling to the ground as the walls supporting them fade from existence, large portions of the city just vanished. Still they fought. The tarrasque's large foot pulverized Wuffy's fresh corpse into the hard stone below the dirt, the light in the sky was being traded for an unnatural, almost inky darkness. They wouldn't give up. Iados used his last words to wish for the tarrasque to stop regenerating just before its claws tore through his robes and pierced his heart. They couldn't give up. Hjalmar and Shaq took turns hitting, and being hit by the tarrasque as Makoto did his best to keep them healed. It wasn't enough, it had started to regenerate again. Out of the darkness of the sky came a light. A blinding light that engulfed Makoto. The light told him that he was the chosen of Eldath, that he was to stop the tarrasque and save the universe. When the light faded Makoto stood there, the size of the tarrasque, feeling reinvigorated. With one swing of his hammer he sent the tarrasque toppling backwards. The next swing found the tarrasques head crushing it like it crushed Wuffy. The tarrasque was dead, but so were their friends. The blackness of the sky continued to grow and things continued to be unmade, their work wasn't over yet. As Makoto shrunk back down to normal size, a solar descended resurrecting Wuffy and Iados.

July 25, 2020. The Shields made their way to the Greypeak Mountains as quickly as possible, the tarrasque would fully regenerate soon. Thanks to a map Iados had snagged off of a dead cultist they knew exactly where to go to find the base of the Cult of the End of the World. The party made their way inside dealing with any form of resistance with ease, eventually they found the Loom of Unmaking. Standing behind the loom was the skeleton of a tarrasque almost fully regenerated, time was running out. Hjalmar climbed up the skeleton and began digging through its flesh to find its pituitary gland. After a few minutes he emerged with the gland in hand, all they had to do was throw it into the loom and the universe would be safe. There was only one problem. There wasn't a clear shot into the loom. White disks were moving around it at an exorbitant pace. Shaq grabbed on to two of them and straining his muscles he was able to stop them. Makoto followed suit and was able to hold one back. Iados and Wuffy combined and amplified their magic through wands found on the cultists to stop the others. The disks were fighting, struggling to break free, never meant to be help in place like this, Hjalmar had one shot to throw the gland in. He jumped off the top of the tarrasque, his mighty frame hurling towards the loom, and made sure that the gland was thoroughly slammed into it. Unable to hold back anymore the white disks broke free from their grasps and began moving faster than they were before. A white light began growing from inside the loom where the gland was placed. "RUN!" Iados shouted and everyone followed suit sprinting towards the exit at a breakneck pace. Outside they watched as the light grew larger and larger until it swallowed the entire mountain range, in an instant the range was gone, and Shaq had dubbed the newly formed crater, the Crater of the Shields. The blackness in the sky vanished as well. Their fight was finally over, they could retire in peace.

August 1, 2020. With the world no longer in danger everyone was free to live out the rest of their lives. Makoto and his fiance, Fabricia, and Hjalmar and Clara got married on a remote island Clementine had bought. Makoto went on to open a school to train the next generation of adventurers. Hjalmar went on to have a successful art store and a happy life with Clara and their daughter. Wuffy opened up a magic college where he headhunted students from Makoto by day, taught them to cook by night, and played prince with the princess of Amn on the weekends. Iados went on to create a canal connecting the River Chionthar with the Lake of Dragons, uniting the trade routes of the east and west. His business Iados Enterprises also went on to continuing creating inventions that changed life on the Sword Coast, such as canned goods, a box that kept food cold, and a lamp that could be used to cook and reheat food. Shaq lived a peaceful life in Triboar overseeing the R&D department of Iados Enterprises and writing 3 more books about the party's adventures, when he wasn't spending time with his wife Darathra of course.

3 years. 3 years of adventure concluded last night and none of us could have been happier. Thank you Claire, Ian, Gi, Devin, CJ, and most importantly our DM Julian for such an amazing story.

Author's Note

Any and all constructive feedback is greatly appreciated.