Bahamut the bright glowing purple dragon would probably be slightly more blasphemous than puppets.

  "You have always been someone to respect, Amyria.  Any concerns for your comparative prowess in battle are more for how much more painful the politics you deal with for us can be, as opposed to simply having a lich try to tear your soul out."

Raichel says, "Yeah, Amyria. Thanks again for everything you do. I'd sooner face liches and dragon exarchs than deal with pseudo-allies and pretend-friends. You do a great job with that, despite being one of our real friends."

Timothius ponders. "You know... I never quite shook when Quelenna said "I won't be intimidated by your attack dogs" and I don't know why it took me this long to realize that by saying that, the statement implied she actually was intimidated by us, hence needing to make such a statement."

May shrugs. "Not our problem right now. We have a ritual to stop. Kyle, you got recommendations on how to gear up?"

Now Mits looks like a souvenir vendor, http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/0b2a...er-dragon-arbbwy.jpg loaded with Bahamut merch.  She's got necklaces made of platinum coins with bahamut symbols on them https://cdn0.rubylane.com/shop...tandson/28094.1L.jpg , a platinum dragon bracelet http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB...ont-China-font-b.jpg , a hat that looks like a dragon nomming her head https://s-media-cache-ak0.pini...689a124e84db86d5.jpg , and so on.

She gives Amyria a thumbs-up then grins and nods to her sibs' points.  "You said it!"

  "Well, we all know some of the most expected needs when it comes to the shadowfell and black dragons.  Nectrocic, poison, acid, and intangible enemies.  Fire would be the most expected element beyond that, the rest is 'oh this Devil happens to be a storm devil and that one is made out of chains and that one is made out of whatever is most inconvenient.'"  Mephit of whatever resistance you forgot.

The twin kittens and May oogle over Mittens' "wares" and want all of it. May says, "Five heads of Tiamat. Five of us. Suppose we could each wear an overly cute renditions of Tiamat's heads as hats when we fight this latest exarch?"

Raichel giggles and flops against Mittens' side in a side-hug. "I like that idea."

Timothius says, "...that's one way to go straight into infuriating territory before trading banter."

May says, "I wanna do some research on this Arantor guy too, so I can find the perfect mockery of him."

Mits chuckles at Kyle's oh-so-true cynicism, hands out merch, and busts out laughing at May's idea!

"Absolutely!  Love it!  I got dibs on red!  Rai will likely want blue.  White suits Timo now with his new snow-angel look."

She returns the Rai hug.

Only history check in module:
History (DC 27) The PC recites a litany of the places and peoples ravaged by
Arantor in his time.

Since we doing research ahead of time, Kyle can auto-succeed this and infodump the backstory as well.

Arantor, the dark lord of Monadhan, inadvertently
created the domain centuries ago when, during a
war, he slaughtered an entire town of civilians, then
murdered his own daughter in an effort to keep
his crime a secret.

The PCs’ trip to Monadhan is complicated by the
difficulty of willingly leaving Monadhan, a supernatural prison for traitors and betrayers. To use the
portal, the PCs must find Monadhan’s key: whatever
object in the realm is the most potent symbol of
betrayal. They must also defeat Arantor, the dark lord
of Monadhan—an undead dragon which guards the
portal itself

Monadhan, once a simple jungle valley whose
location in the world is lost to history, is now the
name of the Domain of Betrayal within the Shadowfell. The sigil sequence to travel there with
Planar Portal is esoteric (Arcana DC 30) to discover through research, but it’s not secret per se.
It’s that no one goes there via Planar Portal and
similar rituals because they can’t bring you back
out again. More information on Monadhan can
be found in the “Domains of Dread: Monadhan”
article from Dragon #378.
The vast majority of Monadhan’s residents
didn’t use any ritual to get there. They betrayed
someone—perhaps a spouse, parent, superior
officer, priest, or liege. Some got away with their
betrayals, and some didn’t. But afterward (sometimes days or weeks afterward), the betrayer
wound up ensnared in fog that seemed to arise
from nowhere. The fog grew thicker and thicker,
then a warm breeze blew it away…leaving the
betrayer on the edge of Monadhan with impenetrable fog behind and a teeming jungle in front.

With no day or night to speak of, time takes on an
indeterminate quality in Monadhan, and no one
seems to age. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the
domain somehow suspends the aging process. Few
Monadhan residents would grow to a ripe old age in
a community where everyone has already betrayed
someone and is suffering supernatural punishment
for it. Occasionally a Monadhan resident will die suddenly during exertion or even sleep—”it was as if his
own heart betrayed him,” the old ladies cluck as they
rifle through the corpse’s pockets.
Monadhan’s other properties are better understood by residents of the domain. Because hardly
anyone ever escapes Monadhan, academic records on
the following phenomena are scant (Arcana DC 35
to know either, and even then the documentation is
fragmentary)

The Sting of Betrayal: Because the domain of
Monadhan is suffused with betrayal, the domain itself
rewards those willing to hurt their friends. If a creature makes an attack that damages an ally—a friendly
fire incident, in other words—two things immediately
happen.
First, the ally takes ongoing 10 damage (save ends)
in addition to whatever damage the attack itself dealt.
Second, the creature who made the attack gets
its choice of either regeneration 5 or a +1 bonus on
attacks. Either effect lasts until the ally makes its
saving throw.
A creature can benefit from the sting of betrayal
only once per round, so an area attack that damages
multiple allies earns the attacker only one regeneration 5 or one +1 bonus on attacks.
For the sting of betrayal to function, the creature
making the attack and the ally must begin the battle
as allies by any reasonable definition, not merely neutral parties who find common cause against a foe or
other allies of convenience.
The Blurted Confession: Monadhan’s longerterm residents are traitors who have spent years
scrabbling for their very existence in an environment
full of other desperate traitors. Accordingly, many
have internalized their betrayals and buried them
deep within their psyches. At the moment of death or
great trauma, many blurt out a final confession—often
admitting the betrayal that consigned them to their
fate in Monadhan.

  "I expect I would not be the best visual fit for the green one."  Such serious subjects!  Then he takes ten and exposition dumps the 'Even if you pass the higher than skill chart goes check, you get barly anything' factoids.

OOC: The DC to go to where we told you have to go is-ow you shot me. And made the check anyways. (I could take ten on the 35, Which is higher than both the original and errata DC charts entirely <.<)

Also, this is Off Brand Ravenloft, basically.  Ravenloft loves it's Dark Fogs yoinking things and also Ironic Hells that might not actually fit their ruler.  "Excuse me, what I didn't wasn't actually betrayal... Oh, right, customer support service is horrible here."

May says, "Clearly, you are the black dragon with your acid attacks. And I am green already so why not I be green?" May's player feels a drawing inspiration coming here...

With Kyle succeeding the exposition, May nods. "Huh. Hard to say how to mock him... but I think I'll be sticking with saying his daughter is asking "why?"."

Timothius puts a white dragon hat on his head and rests his chin on Mittens' shoulder with a big smile.

May says, "Reminder; the shadowfell is dark and depressing. We should keep morale up with songs, jokes, and any other positive thing that comes to mind."

"Aww?"

Mits is all kinds of squee over cute kitten on shoulder!  Her Mittens Cherub hand puppet noms his nose!

"Heh.  I'm not worried.  You all make me so happy, I don't think even backstab alley in Grimdark Land will get me down."

  "Depressed, possibly not.  Annoyed, likely yes."  Kyle you would get annoyed in care a lot.  You and Grumpy bear would get icecream and complain about cloud formations that don't match.

"Onwaaaard!" May proclaims.

May leads the way. The kitties follow.

http://mojoichiban.com/dnd/res...%20at%20Monadhan.pdf

No maps for first 2 encounters.

The unearthly fog, impenetrable to the eye, suddenly
parts, and you find yourself standing atop a fog-capped
hill. Similar hills surround a jungle valley that stretches
before you. To the north, a massive waterfall feeds a
river winding a serpentine path across the valley floor.

In the middle of the valley is a low rise, more a
barren hump than an actual hill. You can just make
out the straight edges of defensive walls near the top.
Tendrils of smoke rise from what must be chimneys or
campfires nearby.

Closer to you, what looks like a thin, tenuous footpath
winds its way along the low ridge, just inside the fog line.
A wider path heads downhill, into the jungle and in the
approximate direction of that hump near the center of the
valley.

Mits huhs.  "Not as gloomy as I was expecting, really.  Never been to a jungle, but...  I'm guessing this is how one would look in the real world judging from what I've read?  Wild guess, this bigger path is how to get to town."

  Jungles are full of more NATURE than the average forest, which is what makes them so infamous.

  "So it would seem.  Though at this point even something so simple as expecting the path leading in the direction of the obvious settlement, to actually go there, feels too optimistic."

Raichel says, "I'll get a view to confirm." and jets up into the sky.

Timothius looks up and smiles contently. "...I so love flying."

Raichel returns, lands, and nods. "Confirmed. It leads there. If it does any stupid magical misdirections, I vote you guys drink potions and we bypass the path entirely. But until it proves to do such, no sense in wasting perfectly good potions."

May nods and begins walking.

You’re making faster progress now, because you’ve found
a relatively straight path through the jungle. It looks as if
someone—or someones, more likely—cut their way through
the vegetation with a machete.
Perception Check
DC 10: Whatever made this path was dragging
something massive—maybe its own tail.
DC 20: A large creature wearing boots accompanied
the dragging creature.
nature Check
DC 30: The cut-back vegetation bears the mark of
something with pincers or mandibles—perhaps a chuul or
umber hulk.

You’ve been working your way away from the mists and into
the forest, and now you’ve reached a clearing with a pool of
murky water in the center of it. Before you even have a chance
to approach, a five-headed reptile erupts from underwater. It
bellows as, one by one, each head turns to regard you.
Then it lurches forward, five jaws opening wide.

Mits claps.  "Ooh!  A hydra!  This should be fun!"

Raichel squeaks, startled before hurling her largest lightning bolt at the dragon! The bolt splits into lightning fists that uppercut each head's chin! The hyrda flips backward onto its back! BAMF! "Rai..."

She then decides to trot over to the thing.

---

Thunderstroke v Hydra. Hit(35)!
 dmg: 54

Hydra HP: 776 - 54 = 722

<giant>"What was that noise?" a voice from within the rain forest asks.

Out steps a sharp-tooth giant with glowing red eyes!

<giant>"Oh goodie!  Souls to collect!  Just what I needed to break up this boring patrol!"

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg....26111c84f1884ffa.jpg
This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Sun 17 Apr 2016.

May says, "Well how about that. Another giant who doesn't speak common. Tim! Translate my taunts please! If he said something evil or whatever, tell him I like his teeth, so I'll be making a necklace out of them!"

Her shoulder-bow shoots the giant and sticks a bolt into his shoulder like a super-annoying splinter!

---

Maysic Ranged v Giant. Hit(40)!
 dmg: 14

Giant HP: 209 - 14 = 195

A monster that looks like a bipedal lobster arrives, muttering complaints.

<Deep Speech>"So... hungry."

It stares at the scene.

<Deep Speech>"They look happy to be attacking a hydra?!  Better run.  Run for your life."

Thunk!  The giant roars in rage when hit by May's crossbow bolt.

<Deep Speech>"Well so much for that.  Maybe I can steal a bite and get away."

With a burst of light, Timothius transforms into his angelic form, flies towards his group and says to the Chuul, <Supernal>"You sound reasonable. If we win and spare your life, swear your alligeance to us. I will feed you."</Supernal>

He lands just behind Raichel and waves a staff at the hydra, causing its spirit to rise from its body and form cracks all over it before returning. <Supernal>"Hmm... I guess in the Shadowfell, that power lets me see what happens to an enemy's soul when I use it."</Supernal>

---

Break the Spirit v Hydra. Hit(35)!
 dmg: 23 and -6 to attacks

Hydra HP: 722 - 23 = 699

  "While the Hydra certainly is more notable, it's the giant we likely want to flatten first.  They have a habit of stunning things while draining their vitality from a distance."

  That said, he toughens up May, applies the Sigil Of Luck to a crossbow, and tosses it into the air as it lands an opening shot into the giant.

OOC: Resistive for May. +1 AC till Cash in for Surve value+16 THP, can share with one ally.
Minor: Luck sigil on a crossbow.
Minor: flying Crossbow daily. hits Giant. 24+6 DMG.

Giant HP: 195-24-6= 165

The hydra hisses angrily and stands back up.  It then circles around to put the heroes between itself and the death giant, roaring and snapping it's many mouths threateningly!

Mits flies up higher than she usually does in combat to try and stay out of reach of potential hydra bites.

"Can we herd the enemy relatively close together?  If they're all within 55' of each other, that would be great.  Meantime, weak eyebeams."

She zaps two out of three targets she was aiming for, but somehow manages to miss the Chuul by a wide margin.

Raichel gets struck by lightning, transforming into her raichu form and says, "My method will be slow-going for that sort of thing. I thought you and Kyle were the ones with powers that move people, Mitts?"

Raichel rushes over to the giant at nearly quickling speeds before whacking him with her palm, teleporting him behind herself and simultaneously hurting him a lot! "...then again, maybe my ability to move people has gotten better."

---

Minor: Shifting (+1 AC/Ref, +2 speed)
Move: To giant
Standard: Step Between the Worlds v Giant. Hit(33)!
 dmg: 46

Fun fact! With epic came a higher Wis mod. Which means I teleport people farther now.

Hydra HP: 140 - 46 = 94