Storm King’s Thunder: Final Episode
Ending a campaign feels amazing. You’ve completed the adventure’s story arc, each character has grown and changed, and you’ve participated in a litany of memorable moments. On top of that, you’ve navigated real life issues like scheduling and gaming fatigue, and still managed to finish the game. I haven’t completed many campaigns as epic as Storm King’s Thunder. Getting character’s to the cap of Level 20 is a monumental achievement, but getting our characters from Level 1 to 11 in this campaign was still quite the feat — and a year of work. We were about to celebrate the culmination of the campaign. But we weren’t quite there yet.
I also thought since everyone was making it to the finale, that this was my best chance to really kill some characters. I was going to go no-holds-barred and seriously try to win, or at least take out a couple of them. Not to be mean — this could provide players with opportunities for epic moments. Maybe players would have to sacrifice themselves to save a friend, or to score a crucial blow. Only one way to find out.
The Party:
(Adam) Auberon — Elf Druid
(Terry) Cygnus — Half-elf Warlock
(Matt) Xavian — Human Rogue
(Stacy) Zedrick — Human Cleric
The Path:
Maelstrom, Anauroch Desert (Iymrith’s Lair)
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
The party was back in Maelstrom for one last time. Finally, they understood what happened, and filled in King Hekaton on what he had missed. It seemed as though Iymrith had set the Ordning in motion by conspiring with the Kraken Society and using Hekaton’s daughter’s aspirations against him. Iymrith had killed Queen Neri, and made it look like the smallfolk were responsible. When Hekaton went to investigate, they kidnapped him, and the resulting chaos was set in motion.
Together with the King’s brother, Uthor, they formed a plan. Serissa was still paralyzed, so they needed to recover the Korolonor Scepter from Iymrith. Hekaton used his scrying pool and could see that Iymrith was in the Anauroch Desert, and had a bunch of yuan-ti followers pushing around a captured Harshnag. Hekaton was still a little suspicious of the party, mainly because they were smallfolk, but he figured he’d give them a chance to prove their worth. He would lead the expedition to Anauroch, and gave the group four potions of giant size that they could use as they saw fit. Uthor demanded to accompany the group as well, and Felgolos was happy to help too.
I had seen some comments online that the final battle was a little too easy, and was recommended Doom of the Desert by Valeur RPG on the DM’s Guild. I found the resource incredibly helpful. It’s only $1.99, and has some great ideas and new rules for making the fight more fun and memorable.
The gist is that each party member would be assigned one of these important NPCs in the battle: (as opposed to the adventure’s cadre of storm giants that you never really meet) Hekaton, Uthor, and Felgolos. The fourth member would be assigned Harshnag, who they’d have to save from execution first.
Also, Iymrith’s health and abilities were broken up into different segments. The party could focus on specific body parts, like the wings. Though it would be harder to hit, it would mean they could disable it, making the fight easier in the long run. It would provide a simple but accessible tactical element to the battle instead of just blindly swinging at the ancient dragon.
The party and their escorts travelled to Anauroch, and scouted out Iymrith’s lair. They found a dilapidated amphitheatre armed with trebuchets and gargoyles — the dragon’s signature henchman. Hekaton and Uthor would split up and run there from opposite directions, while the party would ride in on Felgolos. The gargoyles would have to separate their attacks.
They began their charge, and the trebuchets missed almost every attack. Once they got close the gargoyles would be able to swarm them, but the storm giant’s had some solid ranged attacks. Soon they got close enough that I got impatient. Some gargoyles flew off and began swarming Uthor, and others went for Felgolos. If they could kill Felgolos, then the party would fall out of the sky, and it would be devastating. But with the party on his back, they were a like a marauding battleship. The party cast Eldritch Blasts and Moon Beams as gargoyle after gargoyle plummeted out of the sky like bits of hail, slamming into the collapsed stone beneath them. The gargoyles continued to ignore the party and focus all of their attacks on the dragon, hoping to take out the five of them together. They got dangerously close, but soon the nearly 20 gargoyles were littering the ground around them, and the assault was over. Uthor similarly had come close to death, but Hekaton saved his brother.
I hinted that a long rest would mean Iymrith’s defences would come back in full force, so the party only had time to complete a short rest of 15 minutes as they planned their final attack. Auberon smartly cast Locate Creature and found roughly where Harshnag was being held — beneath them in the ruins of the amphitheatre. They’d have to plan quickly.
The party had those potions of giant size, so they’d stay in their humanoid form to remain small. Hopefully they’d surprise whatever awaited them, then quaff the potions to reign havoc on Iymrith and whoever else was there. Xavian had an oil of etherealness, which transported him to the ethereal plane, essentially making him a ghost. He would follow along without any chance of being detected, then reveal himself at the most opportune moment.
That was about all the time they had for planning. They made their way into the centre of the amphitheatre and almost immediately fell into a sinkhole. The group was now underground. They crept through a small passage that led to a wide chamber. They could hear chanting. A pack of yuan-ti were in the middle of a ceremony, and it looked like they were getting ready to sacrifice Harshnag by throwing him into a pit.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
There wasn’t much time for strategy. Hekaton and Uthor barrelled into the room and began fighting the yuan-ti. Cygnus went in as well, using his Staff of the Serpent to summon some poisonous snakes, while the rest stayed back. Auberon was happy using ranged attacks, while Zedrick rode on Felgolos. The ghostly Xavian headed toward Harshnag to tie him loose. Cygnus drank his potion and became giant-sized, but the rest of the party didn’t yet— the group seemed to be doing quite well against the yuan-ti. Then Iymrith made her presence known.
Legendary dragons like Iymrith get extra advantages when they are in their lair. One of her lair actions created a cloud of sand that could blind her foes for up to one minute. Hekaton, Uthor, Cygnus and Auberon were all close enough to get caught up in the sandstorm and all but Uthor were blinded by the debris. Not only could so many members not see, but now they had an ancient dragon to contend with.
Iymrith roared and began her onslaught. With so many blind enemies, they were easy to hit — for the remaining yuan-ti as well. The party was getting destroyed. A blind Cygnus yelled at his teammates to drink their potions, but they had their hands full. Zedrick and Felgolos charged forward at Iymrith. They got a few hits in on her wings, but a dragon’s lair has more than one trick against intruders. A chunk of the ceiling collapsed onto Felgolos, burying the bronze dragon and its rider, Zedrick. Xavian could see that Harshnag was not the priority anymore, as the group was getting decimated. Hekaton was surrounded by a barrage of yuan-ti, and Iymrith was tearing the invaders apart. Uthor had failed his saving throw against Iymrith’s frightful presence, and was unable to get any closer to the dragon to help out.
Finally Auberon and Cygnus succeeded at their saving throws, and were able to shrug off their blindness. Cygnus’ summoned snakes helped to free Harshnag, who helped take out the yuan-ti. Cygnus figured if they could get rid off all of the henchmen with as many of the group able to fight, it would be too difficult for Iymrith to withstand their numbers.
Cygnus pleaded with his team to drink their potions and help him fight the dragon. Auberon first had to help free Zedrick and Felgolos, which left Iymrith with a perfect opportunity to swipe her tail at Cygnus, and knock him into the pit. Quickly Uthor cast Levitate on Cygnus, preventing him from falling to his death, but he was very vulnerable. Felgolos went headfirst into Iyrmith’s path and fought her, dragon on dragon.
Now was the time for Xavian to reveal himself. With Iymrith attending to Felgolos, Xavian would be able to sneak attack the ancient dragon. He blinked into existence and stabbed ferociously at the dragon’s wings.
Soon all of the party were back in action, and the yuan-ti had been destroyed. They attacked Iymrith from all sides, slowly chipping away at her wings, rendering them useless. She managed to deliver a devastating bite that tragically claimed Felgolos’ life, but then Hekaton lifted his enormous axe and slashed the final crushing blow that killed Iymrith.
The battle was over.
With the party looking over the dead dragon, Hekaton thanked the characters, and admitted he was wrong about smallfolk. He figured this must be the test of Annam the All-Father, and since he passed, the Ordning should be restored. There were cheers all around, and the characters each went their separate ways.
And that was the end of Storm King’s Thunder. It was an immensely enjoyable adventure that played out like a Shakespearean tragedy. It seamlessly integrated the players into a world that was bigger than them, with many opportunities to shine as a hero. Each character had moments of glory— there were surprising twists, funny encounters and incredible battles. It is by far the most complete campaign that I’ve seen through from beginning to end, and I would recommend it to any group who loves Dungeons and Dragons.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you at the next adventure.
