D&D: The Path To Greatness (Session 1)

The story begins with a simple poster placed across the region.  It reads "Greetings Heroes, Enter for a chance to change the world".  It continues that adventures should head to a town called Forge and enter into a completion of sort.  The contest is that the adventures will be broken up into random groups and will enter an unknown obstacle course and the winners will receive great fame and fortune.

The PCs all find this poster and immediate head to Forge. The town of Forge is packed with travelers and merchants. Everyone is hoping to enter the contest, some for glory and others are just in it for the gold.  The crowd gathers around a stage where a great wizard explains the rules.

All of the heroes are broken up into groups of 5.  They will have to complete all of the obstacles and defeat anything that gets in their way.  He reveals that the contest will take place in a floating castle high above the town.  He teams and created and the heroes line up to be teleported by the wizard to the castle.  Each team is also given 5 potions of slow falling to help them exit the castle.



The PCs are all placed into one group.  They are introduced to the bard that will be accompanying them at that time.  They proceed to be teleported into the castle and continue on their mission of reaching the end safely.  The first room they enter contains a group of goblins re-enforcing a protection spell on a chest.  They defeat the goblins and open the chest.  The chest contains gold and a level 1 item.  While opening the chest they are attacked by another small group of goblins but they are quickly dispatched.


As they travel deeper into the castle they discover that is shifts and moves while they walk.  The chambers are actually created in front of them.  It appears that the entire castle is actually built with magic.

They come across a room where a group of zombies are feating on a group of adventures that came before them.  They are able to sneak up while the zombies are busy eating but the battle is intense.  The zombies keep resurrecting until the heroes start to dismantle the bodies.

In the next area they fine a huge monster sealed in a vault in the ground and a door that can be opened with a riddle.  They complete the riddle but decide to free the beast anyway.  This extra combat rewards their effort with a level 3 item and some more gold.

Things really heat up(pun intended) when they reach a dark open room.  It has a bridge going over the darkness to a small platform with an large chest in the middle.  Once the heroes reach the platform they find another bridge leading out.  But they are soon attacked by a group of orc bombers carrying lots of explosives.  The orcs try to blast them off the platform and destroy the bridges.  In the end the orcs successfully destroy the bridges but it cost them their lives.  In the chest the heroes find an amazing stash of gold and two items.  The heroes use the broken bridges as rope ladders to climb to the floor and then up the other side to reach the exit.

During their travels from each room they notice the energy holding the castle together has picked up a evil glow to it.  In a great hurry they reach the final chamber.

When they reach the final chamber they find the great wizard who organized the event is completing a dark ritual.  He is using glyphs on the walls of the castle and using a portal as a focus.  While the PCs try to find out what is going on, another group of adventures enter the room.  They appear to have picked up some of the darkness that is seeping from the castle walls.  They appear to be completely mad but when the PCs make take an intimidating stance they quickly turn and leave out the exit.

The PCs then return their attention to the wizard. It is unclear where the wizard is in control of his own actions or if he was also affected by the darkness overwhelming the castle and everything in it.  The heroes help in freeing the wizards mind for a brief time but he sacrifice himself by jumping into the unstable portal.

Soon the whole castle begins to shift and break down.  The darkness eats away at the floors and walls.  The portal expands and soon reality itself begins to shift.  The heroes make a mad dash out of the exit of the main chamber.  They use all of the skill they possess but it is not enough.  They are overcome by pitfalls and almost everyone is knocked out during the escape.  They finally break through the floor of the castle and reach a magical river flowing under it that helps them reach the outside.  The only problem is that they had used up all of their potions of slowness but one.  With their last potion they all grab onto each other and make a leap of faith outside of the castle just as it is ripped from reality.

The last thing the PCs remember is a huge burst of energy and seeing a nearby forest approach them at very rapid speeds.

As they slam into the trees their vision fades to black...