(12 Days) #5 The Last Words of Talis Makolin

So, we've covered some of my faults, my big failure, and introduced the world to Echellon, the pigeon raising lesser deity.
I had quickly mentioned the end of that campaign and decided that it would make for a great post for the holidays. Not the blow-by-blow account of the final battle, but more the set-up, and most importantly the epilogue that followed.
If you read yesterday's post, then you know the group was worried about three entities:

1. A 'Dread Lord' destined to take over the kingdom.
2. 'Spider People' Arachnid dopplegangers taking over everyone's lives, from nobility to the cleaning staff
3. The Cult of Apotheosis: This cult was predicting the return of their great leader with a great apocalyptic vision.

In proper final campaign fashion 1 had nothing to do with anything, 3 had been duped by a minor god to seize power, and 2 was loosely allied with said minor god.

I ran the final game at Griffon Games, closing up shop early, and breaking out the booze and food. All the regulars came down, and there was an open invitation for anyone with a character who made an appearance in the campaign to come in and help the party. Hell, I think I invited Matt Bailey, Albert Uliana, and Dalcin, and none of them even played a round!

For a little more information, I'll introduce two characters:

Talis Makolin: Flamboyant ladies man, general bs-er, and every once in awhile was a bard. Half-brother of Echellon from the previous post. He had died during White Plume Mountain, and his player had Kyril, an ass-kicking dwarf for the final game.

Rolf Wolfsblood: Barbarian from the western steppes of Galmer. Quiet but incredibly wise when spoken, he had actually part of the group that was teleported to the world of Talislanta in the middle of the campaign. Before they returned, he had just begun the early tattoing process the Thrall warriors do. As final games go, I believe I hit enough of the important tropes: The group assembles to combat a menace, the great secret is discovered, group is betrayed, numerous NPCs/pcs die, group rallies back to win the day.

That, and for about 15 minutes of game time, the ruler of the civilized world was a dwarf named Norm Dingleberry.

The epilogue for the campaign I did in the style of Raising Arizona, sort of floating through scene to scene.

First I started with the awards, royal decrees, and titles the group was bestowed upon from various countries, then funerals of their lost friends.

I then moved forward a bit, families were started, then I moved to a scene involving a monastery for lawful good kobolds (a huge deal from almost the beginning of the campaign, and then I covered each of the characters who went solo seeking adventure, helping their people, or just wanting to be left alone.

But in a final vision, most of the group is back at the Chateau d'Echellon celebrating a great feast. Most of the pcs are there seated at the main table, some with grown family members, npcs both large and small importance are standing behind them. At the head of the table is Echellon himself, much older, but still recognizable. It is his last meal with his friend as his god as told him it's time to take up his duties as God of the Sea... and Pigeons. There is much rejoicing at the table, both pcs and players.

At that point, I threw the group off track. Instead of ending it at that point, the visions moved to a dingy tavern in a village that's barely the size of their dot on the map. A group of small children are surrounding a scruffy middle-aged man telling a story. He reeked of alcohol and depression. A tall muscular man covered in furs, his face a mixture of age, scars and tattoos, walks into the tavern and towards the crowd.

"That's it for now, lads. When you can scrounge up a couple more coppers to quench Talis' thirst, I'll tell you about what happened after we went down the rapids from Silver Valley."

"But Talis, you already told us that story."

"yeah, i want to know how came back to life!"

"But I didn't die, I was rescued!"

"No, you weren't. you said you fell into the mud and the group left you for dead!"

"Enough now kids," barked the tall man, "get outta here"

The kids scattered, and the tall man slumped down in the chair besides Talis. Talis took one last swig of backwashed grog from his flagon, and asked, "Rolf, the farmers will be in here any moment, ya wanna go their homes and screw their wives again?"

Rolf was not amused, "Talis, you really want to spend the rest of your pitiful life screwing the fat old wives of farmers and making kids steal money to hear bullshit stories of things that we never did? They think we're actual heros, for Akana's sake! And here you are, deluding them with your imaginary tale."

Talis paused for a moment from staring blankly at the table and said, "Rolf, it is an imaginary tale, which may or may not be true. It's a story about a bunch of young guys who came to a small village to seek their fortune. By luck and by talent they made a name for themselves and had the chance to travel to exotic lands, met fantastic people, and became heroes because of it. They met the forces of evil head on, and despite all their gallantry, some of their friends fell. Not all of them made it to the happy ending, but they all tried to make in happen, dammit. They brought hope to the people, and just like them, these kids today need hope. We may have died inside years ago, but there's no way these kids need to know that. Of course it's an imaginary story.... aren't they all?"

*fade to black*