The End

"Why," you ask, "would Melissa and Mike leave Carl in charge of the temple like that, especially since he told them exactly what he was going to do?"

"That's a very good question," I reply. "It's basically because they didn't believe he was actually going to do it. Over time these three players have built up a certain level of trust in each other."

"By which you mean Melissa and Mike trust Carl," you interject.

"Yes, exactly," I reply. "Carl has done some acts of minor evil over the course of the campaign, like torturing the cultists, but he has until now always worked with the party, and not against them."

"They thought he was joking when he talked about sacrificing them," you say.

"They didn't believe that he would actually go through with it," I said.

"So the campaign is over now?" you ask.

"For the purposes of the story I am telling, yes," I reply. "There are of course parts of the campaign that I haven't set down in writing, as I have explained before. The final battle does actually take place, but you can decide for yourself who you think wins."

"What's next?"

"I want to continue using the characters of Mike, Melissa and Carl, but not in the same kind of setting. I have an idea which I call 'DM Describes', where I take iconic scenes from certain published modules and describe them in the same style as I have done here, as a dialogue between players and DM."

"That will definitely refer directly to Wizards property though, right?"

"Yes," I reply. "I'll have to be a bit careful about that."

"Sounds like fun," you say.

"You know what's been fun? Watching the way my three players have dealt with this campaign, and with each other. I think it's important to note that though in the end Carl set himself against Mike and Melissa, they are all still good friends and don't let in-game antagonisms affect their real life relationships. Everybody understands that Carl is playing a character and isn't truly evil."

"Okay," you say. "I think that about wraps it up. Thanks for talking to me today."

"It has been my pleasure," I reply.