Session 134: When Last We Met 8/10/25

When last we met, almost a full year had gone by as the construction for this new secret vampire feeding prison was overseen. We pick back up with the party at the home of Jonas and Paulette Derleth. Surrogate parents of their friend Stephen. They are preparing to embark on their journey north to their new home. Coffins packed with soil and everything.

In speaking with the party, Paulette laments that Cornelius, The progenitor of their coven, still does not wish to leave their ancestral home. Outright refusing to even leave his lair deep underground. She offers the party to go down and try and talk some sense into him, But warn he is not as open as they are.

The party are led to a staircase by the manservant Fexitus. From there they descend down into a cellar where they find a pair of twins lurking about. They are strange and verbose pair who warn that their master (Meaning Cornelius) Would more likely make a meal out of them than listen to anything they had to say. Undaunted, the party press on and move down further into a cave like structure below the foundations of the home.

They slink about and make their way through the cavernous underground. Vandread spots a creature that hisses at him and crawls away on the wall at high speed. Assuming that is either Cornelius or someone close to him, He has the party follow the path the creature took as it fled.

Finally they move up the stairs to a hewn stone platform where appear three of these vampiric creatures who surround the party and then are joined by Cornelius himself, An ancient and weatherworn Vampire who, as alluded by the twins, only has one thing on his mind -- Feeding on the party.

A battle ensues and they manage to fight off Cornelius and his vampire spawn, But not before he manages to bite and drink the blood of Romaia a few times. Having learned knowledge of vampires, Mistral understands that the party can't outright kill Cornelius in this way, But they will get him out of the way. With this in mind, He unleashes multiple eldritch blasts which reduce Cornelius to 0 HP where, instead of dropping dead or unconscious, He reverts into this formless mist and escapes back to his resting place to recover.

Having bought some time, The party finish off the rest of the Vampire spawn who do not posses this power and simply die when dropped to 0 HP. With quiet returned to the cavernous Lair of the Derleth Patriarch, The party have a bit of a moral quandary on their hands. Do they leave Cornelius, let him reform and let fate decide if he meets a bad end? Or do they pursue and finish him off while incapacitated in his resting place? Many options are weighed by the party and that's where we'll pick up next time!