Welcome;
This thread is a continuation of the 'Adventure Path Evil Variant 2004-2005' thread that chronicles the A.P. campaign first begun in September of 2003 and first chronicled following the December 17th session; the journal of weekly synopses that summarize that week's session in narrative form has continued unbroken since then, with breaks only for missed sessions.
The cumulative 2004-2005 synopsis ended with the December 8th session, to allow me to print, collate, bind and distribute thirteen hard copies at eighty-three pages each to my players as Holiday gifts during the December 15th session (the first anniversary of the Synopsis record).
I would like to congratulate the following group of RPG'ers for their dedication to the game and the good times and company we've all enjoyed, as well as the opportunity to now share this fun with the RPG community:
(copied from the 2004-2005 Synopsis cover and annotated with player-to-character listings)
The Collected Chronicles of the
‘Wednesday Night Game Group’
“Evil Campaign of Wickedness and Debauchery”
Featuring:
(in alphabetical order)
Chris Barfield: Raulanie (Werepanther Sor), Topaz (Tiefling Ftr)
Rob Barfield: Sizul (1/2Dragon Ftr)
Denise Boheler: Zuthara (Elf Ftr), Kei (Halfling Mast.Thrower), 'No' (Barghest)
Scott Campbell: Henry (Human Rog), Irrattouos (Human Acolyte of the Skin)
Denise Chin: Charaine (Human Wiz/Wild Mage)
Charlie Edmond: Omni (Human Samurai), Boric (Werebear)
Kelly Leonard: Indarin (1/2Elf Priest-Vecna)
Sean Lewis: Todok (Durzagon Priest-Erythnul), Syx (Drow Sor), Will (Hill Dwf Wiz)
Rob Lowe: Rahl (1/2Ogre Bar), Woodrow (Elf Arcane Archer)
Jason Mansfield: Savarius (1/2Dragon Bar), Busta (Human Monk)
Introducing:
Sean Kelly: Alicinaira (Drow Sor), Sharnistival (1/2Fiend Rng)
Gus Siu: 'Green' (Troll Bar)
Guest Starring:
Lisa Dammert: Diera (Drow Rog)
Patrick Dammert: Leo (Drow Ftr)
Leslie Chin: (Ran Diera for two sessions, following Pat & Lisa's guest play for one session)
Casey Schilb: Phil (Lizard Man Sor, for two sessions)
...featuring your Dungeon Master:
Marc Chin
Enjoy another hundred or so posts of weekly game synopses; when I reach the end, you, the reader, will be caught up on our campaign up to last week's session!
Marc
Bring 'em on! Your players actually do a great job of playing evil characters, both with keeping true to the evil aspect and still getting along. And my kudos tp the player of Charaine, the only neutral character as I understand, who actually stays neutral; I've seen more than a few "neutral" characters in *good* groups tend closer to evil (or just being evil and denying it, with the DM not caring).
Bring 'em on! Your players actually do a great job of playing evil characters, both with keeping true to the evil aspect and still getting along. And my kudos tp the player of Charaine, the only neutral character as I understand, who actually stays neutral; I've seen more than a few "neutral" characters in *good* groups tend closer to evil (or just being evil and denying it, with the DM not caring).
I'll be the first to tell you - my wife Denise has playing "Chaotic Neutral" NAILED.
Heh, heh... ;-)
-Oop!*smak!*
M
Here begins the 2004-2005 Synopsis; remember - individual titles are drawn from actual quotes during the session!
Enjoy...
Here continues the chronicling of the dread followers of Erythnul and Vecna, who have eliminated several heretics from their faiths as well as Hextor’s who have banded together in a Schism known as the Ebon Triad; the party has been recruited by a mysterious conspiracy operating in the Capital City of the Great Kingdom, for the purpose of opening a portal to the outer plane of Carceri and unleashing an army of Evil upon the world…they do this for the promise of being commissioned as leaders of the Demon Army, once they arrive…
These events continue here, presented verbatim as of the time they were written:
12/15/04: Charlie and Rob L. were not present; this is written for their benefit.
“The Long Walk Home/New Beginnings”
(or, “…We got how many gold pieces each?”)
A battered adventuring party circles around Rahl’s transparent prison, hoping for a unified defense against an unseen adversary; they hope that the Hags are as reluctant to rejoin the battle as they are… ‘No’ sniffs the air, trying to pinpoint where her foes are and trying to smell past the warm, bleeding corpse of the third hag that lays on the stairs, in front of the only exit the this room that you have not explored.
Tense seconds pass…after a minute, ‘No’ tells you all that the scent is fading – the hags have retreated.
The devil-wolf cautiously moves down the exit corridor, followed by Will…as they advance, the rest of the party forms up, more out of curiosity than anything else. The hall is wide; the 40’ long hall is half as wide and arched to 20’ tall in the center, emptying into a chamber 30’ x 40’ wide, with stone slab doors to your left and right – six thin columns line the walls, each with a hollow crystal globe bisecting it and bubbling with a clear fluid. There are arches on the left and right hand walls of the room, but they are sealed by solid stone slabs that have neither hinges nor handles. Will casts Mage Hand and picks up the severed head of the dead Hag (that he had decapitated earlier); using it as a test weight, he touches it to the left slab – it rapidly slides open…the same result happens on the right hand doorway.
As you all slowly enter and take up positions around the room, Green kneels at the shallow cistern in the center of the floor, where all the draining globes empty and the bubbling fluid cools and turns a deep shade of purple; after dipping his hand in the elixir and concluding that it is not harmful, he ducks his head into the pool and drinks deeply – to the collective horror of the rest of the party! After a few panicked seconds, you all realize that the troll doesn’t seem to be affected badly, except for having increased strength (but the lack of insight to realize any other effects…); seeing the potential of the elixir, you fill up a few empty flasks of the fluid and move on.
While waiting for Rahl’s imprisonment to end, you all decide to bolster your decimated fighting capacity by using the Raise Dead scroll to return Sizul to life; Indarin, succumbing to collective peer pressure not to cast Animate Dead instead, uses the scroll successfully and brings the half-dragon back to life – although not as the winged, large version he had invested much gold in becoming…
Rahl’s prison soon disappears – a full 12 hours after he was the target of the hag’s spell; you all are now faced with a choice: continue forward or retreat to your home base to rest and regroup. Rahl and Sizul are set on returning to Rauxes, while the rest of you are either wishing to move on or indifferent; the deadlock is broken when Rahl and Sizul decide to go home regardless of what option the rest of you favor – faced with the prospect of having Green as the only in-the-trenches-close-quarters fighter remaining in the group, you all decide to return to the Malachite Fortress.
The journey back out of the Demonskar is just as treacherous as the trip in, but you all navigate the rock pit and the round tunnel out to the forest without incident; the trail back to the ancient headless statue (and the 40-odd decaying Gnoll corpses) is quiet, and the several-day journey back to Rauxes uneventful as well – except for the pouting of Indarin when you all decide to bypass Redgorge on your way back home…
You return to the Malachite Fortress and are surprised to see it exactly as you left it – quiet, dark and undisturbed. The twenty or so followers of Vecna have maintained the fortress just enough to have it functional upon your return; Indarin instructs them to go onto the streets and bring her a suitable sacrifice victim, for they will all be busy these coming weeks while Charaine educates herself in the Imperial College of Grand Wizardry to further her knowledge of the Arcane arts and (…unbeknownst to most of the Wizards there) practice her research into Wild Magic, after making some observations during your adventures that might prove insightful.
Before you all part ways, your party’s treasure is counted and collected swag sold off through your street level contacts and traders; after subtracting the standard money-changer’s fee of 3%, you all are left with just over 5,000 gold pieces each to spend however you wish…but without Henry here to ‘remind’ you, that allotment is done under the assumption that you all reject the original terms and fees of the accord you made with the Thieves’ Guild months ago...Since some of you are not parties to that accord, you feel no obligation; others are more beholden, but willing to take the risk – or simply don’t care…
For the ensuing three weeks, the party scatters and pursues varied interests and recreations in order to pass the time and relax in the comfort of civilization…
**DM’s note: Your exact activities will remain private and we will communicate by email in order to resolve any items and issues before Wednesday, 12/22; that session will begin with the resolution of all private matters and take up with your departure back to the Demonskar.
- Will: You relax amongst the tomes and scrolls of the Rauxes Academium Arcana, the Imperial College of Grand Wizardry, researching spells and writing scrolls until called upon to rejoin your party.
- Indarin: You call upon your followers to conduct kidnappings in the City, to supply you with a constant flow of sacrificial victims to fuel your expenses while creating several magic items for yourself; while the Bag of Holding you create is sold off for profit, the other items you enhance are not known, since you sequester yourself unseen in your lair for most of the time you are here.
- Charaine: You are studying at the Rauxes Academium Arcana, improving your skills as a Wild Mage and learning new Arcane concepts known only to those who dare experiment in the arcane arts. You will be here for three full weeks.
- ‘No’: You leave Rauxes and spend your time outside of the city, preferring to hunt game and the occasional woodsman in the light forests nearby; there are no “profitable” victims to be found here, but without the support of the rest of the party, it is the safest environment – and you’re eating much better than you did in the Demonskar.
- Rahl: You check on your current batch of brew, start another, and consume a good portion of your current stock – alone, since your main drinking partner, Boric, is now gone; but after a toast and a (short) moment of grief, you drink with your new friend, Green, as well as Sizul.
- Sizul: You are left to contact the same wizard who assisted you before in order to remake the enchantments that gave you wings and great size; after that, you join Rahl and Green in drinking and enjoying your profits at Indarin’s house of ill-repute – where the staff treat you with special attention, as well as make the occasional guest disappear…why they do is never known…
- Topaz: You contact your ‘friends and sisters’ to inform them that you are available for some “special clients”; after some private ‘playtime with some close acquaintances’, you set out to work the “Cusp of night” guests as a ‘special courtesan for the non-undead clientele’ in the unique manner that you do. Details will remain private, unless you wish to brag to the party…
- Busta: After some genuine rest (as opposed to meditation) and a good meal, you return to the city fighting pits – not for profit (why would you need any more), but to enjoy the infliction of pain on the unworthy and to educate the weak of mind and body of what they are capable of, should they muster enough self-discipline to perfect themselves as you have.
- Alicinaira: You enjoy the first few days of being able to relax and sleep in a warm bed without having to worry about being killed in your sleep in a long time; after acclimating to the Malachite Fortress (Rahl will give you, ‘No’ and Green a full tour and history of the party lair), you begin to scout the streets of Rauxes for the first time (at night, of course). By the end of three weeks, you are well versed in the local slang and customs.
- Green: You are acclimated to the Fortress, the complex of Zhadirune above it and the streets of Rauxes above them, along with Alicinaira (also at night…see above); you spend your free time drinking with Rahl and enjoying the first ‘non-dangerous’ time relaxing, anywhere, in your life so far. You decide that you like it.
After three weeks, you all begin to expect the return of Charaine from her training; you begin to shop for supplies and purchase things that you will need for the long wilderness ahead; you know the road there, but you do not know what to expect once you return to the Demonskar and ‘Vaprak’s Voice’ within. The Hegemonic Plate has shown you no new clues since your acquisition of it from Tygot; the ancient symbols on it remain static and unchanging, with only a single sequence of numbers being clear to you…the only question you ponder about them is ‘what do they apply to’…
*To be Continued*
M
12/22/04: There was no session this week, for Christmas and family visiting the DM.
12/29/04: The first full session in three weeks sees the addition of a new player – welcome, Don!
“Chaos Reigns”
(Or, “You’re NOT going to mess with me!”…or, “Watch where you’re poking, unless you want something”…or, “I have Green hold something big over me…”, or, “Somebody wand me!”)
As you all gather again following your respective “vacations”, there are (some) stories to share, supplies to stock up on and choices to make…Green has returned to normal following the week-long enhancement of strength due to the long draught he took from the eldritch pool back in the Demonskar…Charaine introduces a new Wizard to the group – Irrattuous (who ‘suffers’ from some horrid skin condition)… Rahl bids you all good luck and farewell as he remains in Rauxes to found his own brewery… and two Elves join your group – Woodrow and Enialis, who will more than compensate for the loss of Henry. There are more familiar returns, also; Sizul, having disappeared for a couple of days (like before), returns again – also enlarged again…as Topaz’s eyes light up, more than usual…
As Sizul and Green threaten to eat the ears off of the Elves, the rest of you pack for the road back to the Demonskar; leaving your Fortress behind under the care of the two-score Vecna cultists, you all depart as before, leaving in the evening through the Underdark exit, then emerging to the surface a day to the North, from the (former) Pit of Jaws. The trip back to the Demonskar starts out raining heavily (which suits most of you just fine) but then clears up a bit after four days; the return trip is more quiet than before…you find yourself at the Round Tunnel after six days and then by afternoon at the entrance to the cave where the portcullis still stands closed, with a jagged hole torn through the center. After adjusting your equipment, getting out your weapons and light sources and casting a couple of preparatory spells, you all look each other, take a breath (to conceal your fear…) and enter the cave where three of your friends died less than a month ago…
The cave seems unchanged from the moment you left – save for the absence of the Hill Giant bodies…the Fire Giant corpses are still there, bloated, maggot-ridden and now a horrid shade of rust or blood (as opposed to bright orange-red), but the Hill Giant corpses are not where you all left them piled. Checking the large iron chest in the Forge, you find it still empty as you left it; approaching the round chamber where you all faced the Hags, you all tense…but find the room empty. Green, seeing the chamber beyond, strides casually in to take another drink at the pool that gave him more strength – as the rest of you groan and quickly advance to cover him; fortunately, the room is also unchanged – the crystal globes continue to bubble and drain into the central pool, that refills as fast as Green can drink.
Relaxing a bit, you all put the new scout promptly to work checking out the left door – Enialis, along with his wolf companion (that ‘No’ has been eying as a morsel since their arrival), move to the stone slab that seals the archway and searches; employing his newly enhanced strength, Green pushes on the doorway and it quickly slides upward with a light grating sound – which reveals a forty-foot hallway with a single light-panel glowing with a cold, white light, twenty feet above. As the party crowds into the hallway (you all fill it and still spill into the room you started in, despite Sizul allowing you all to move ahead of him order to save space), Enialis and Green repeat the same procedure; again, he searches and pronounces the door clear, and again, Grenn pushes on the stone slab to cause it to rise… But this time, the door releases a loud hiss of steam into the hallway as the seal breaks…the stone slab grates loudly as it rises, sending out a shower of sparks from the door jamb it roughly rides in –
*FOOM!*
Most of the full forty feet of hallway is engulfed in flames ignited by the doorway; the explosion just reaches Woodrow’s nostrils, but he is spared, along with those behind him who are in the doorway and the room you enter from; the rest of you are burned and left writhing and screaming in pain – before some quickly applied charges from the healing wands recover most of the damage. But, literally adding insult to injury…you find that the hallway beyond has caved in, filling the space beyond with rubble and wet stone – the only exception being a gurgling puddle of what appears to be a natural flammable liquid that evaporates into fumes amongst the rocks.
Leaving the collapsed tunnel at your backs, you turn your attention to the opposite hallway; Green bravely walks halfway down the longer hall and throws a rock at the other doorway, hoping to trigger any trap that might be there. The rock shatters on the slab of stone, but the doorway opens anyways – without event. As ‘No’ advances in behind Green, you begin to ask if he sees anything in the dark space beyond the doorway…when Green doesn’t respond, hairs begin to stand on the backs of your necks…
As ‘No’ moves past Green to scout the doorway and the blackness in the room beyond, the troll reaches out and grabs the Infernal wolf – and attacks! You all witness a horrible ambush on ‘No’ by a suddenly (but familiarly) deranged troll, who rends and bites her badly amid panicked howls; she reflexively Dimension Door’s away before he can kill her – she picks a random distance deep inside the dark room beyond to flee!
The group leaps to action, just as much because of Green as the threat that might be in the room beyond him; Sizul casts the Shield of Faith imbued on him by Indarin, Charaine casts Mage Armor, Irrattuos casts Greater Mage Armor, Will casts Shield and Alicinaira casts Invisibility – as Green, his hands stained in dark red ichor, turns around to face you all – with madness and hate in his eyes…
You all quickly begin to move into position within the room, forming up around the doorway but trying not to block spellcasters and archers behind you…Topaz and Busta both fire arrows at Green, but they miss, as Sizul casts Major Resistance, Charaine becomes Invisible and the other spellcasters assault the troll - Irrattouos detonates a Fireball on him, Indarin hits him with a Scorching Ray and Will peppers him with Magic Missiles.
Alicinaira tries to defend her valued servant and bodyguard; she casts Silence on Irrattouos to halt the magical assault on Green by him and the others – but the fiend-grafted mage resists and the spell fails.
Woodrow, firing his bow into a more and more crowded space (around the entrance to the hallway where Green now approaches), hits the troll with his first shot – but the second arrow goes wide and pierces Indarin through the back of her shoulder!
Indarin: “OWWWW!!! I’ll deal with YOU, later!”
Chaos is beginning to set in… Indarin has made a rare tactical error in placing herself nearest the attacking troll; he rushes up to where the hallway enters the room and mauls her deeply! Fortunately for her, the badly burned troll is in no shape to withstand a sustained assault by a prepared group (even if it’s supposed to be friendly); Topaz immediately drops the troll where he stands with her first arrow…
…But the group is frayed by Greens second attack on his own companions; Sizul, seeing Alicinaira attack Irrattouos with a spell (and negating her own Invisibility in the process) reaches out and grapples the Drow mage in order to stop her. Irrattouos casts See Invisibility, knowing the Hags are near and may be concealed; on the other hand, Indarin casts Greater Invisibility off of a purchased scroll, successfully incanting the difficult spell as Enialis successfully hides from Green and advances down the hall to the other end (leaving his wolf behind with the rest of you).
Events are beginning to spin out of control for the groups…you all finally hear one of the hags speak from the dark room beyond the hallway – she is casting a spell! As Sizul grapples with Alicinaira, he suddenly slows and his eyes glaze over as Alicinaira, defending herself, casts Contagion on the half-dragon as he squeezes her. Topaz suddenly lowers her bow, confused… and Busta, for no reason at all, does something you’ve never see him do – he drops his crossbow and flees out of the complex, faster than you’ve seen a human run before! To make matters worse, Woodrow drops his own enchanted bow and flees after him!
Will tries to maintain the offensive and casts a second Fireball into the room at the far end of the hallway; he knows that ‘No’ is probably in there somewhere badly wounded, but he hopes she is out of the way – and is too desperate to care; not hearing any dying howls from the room makes him breathe a sigh of relief…but not hearing any screams of pain tells him that he missed the hag, also.
Charaine can see that the hags have successfully set the party against itself – even Enialis’ wolf shakes its head and stares to the group as if they were foes; she doesn’t want to end up as a meal for Sizul, Green or the wolf, so she backs out of the room the way you all came in (and where Busta and Woodrow fled), casting Wall of Fire to block any hostile pursuers…
Inside the dark chamber, past the chaos that has broken out in the party, a fiendish wolf named ‘No’ appears from a dimensional portal, panting and bleeding badly; cowering towards the nearest wall with her back against the cold stone, she scans the darkness and smells the air – Hag flesh! As she tries to pinpoint the location of the witch, the hag saves her the trouble – by appearing from her Invisibility as she sneak attacks ‘No’ from one side! Sharp claws dig into her pelt – searing pain – darkness…
Amidst chaos that reigns in the room beyond, a pained howl goes mostly unheard…as does the dull thump after…and the gleeful cackle after that…
M
They don't seem to be doing that well against those hags...ouch.
They don't seem to be doing that well against those hags...ouch.
Man, if you think that was ugly, wait until tomorrow's posting!
The battle with the hags ranks as one of my more tactically brilliant encounters - a two round fight (with a full, 8-hour break in between rounds) that had the party doing more damage to itself than the hags!
The next synopsis is unique; due to the effects of a well-placed 'Confusion' spell (and a round of poor rolls that resulted in most of the party failing their Will save), I wrote the synopsis in chapter form - one for each individual party member, from their own point of view!
The whole thing clocked in at NINE PAGES.
I may post each character's individual story separately, for emphasis...
I gained a lot of insight as to the nature of how a 'Confusion' spell works on a character's perspective... I think you and all the other readers will be entertained how each character does "the perfectly logical thing"...relative to each other, of course...
M
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Topaz isn’t confused, she misidentified her target:'
As Green lay on the floor, bleeding slower and slower due to a pair of flaming arrows in his chest, Topaz contemplates her actions in hitting him with her arrows; she feels that something was wrong in doing that…she can’t put her finger on it…she thinks, muttering to herself, “Something is wrong; I shouldn’t have to fire at him – but I did…something is wrong…” Her bow whispers to her, “It’s ok, my love, I’m protecting you.”
Her thoughts cease and instinctive clarity returns for a moment as her sense of danger returns – the troll is stirring! As he sits up, gathering his strength and wits, Topaz moves without hesitation – fluidly firing another two arrows into the troll before he can even speak – his eyes grow wide seeing the burning shaft come at him with such speed that he doesn’t even protest before the first arrow drops him back to the floor; the second keeps him there.
The flames ensure that this troll will not rise again; his flesh burns and withers – he is dead.
A sudden horror enters her; she realizes that Green was an ally! Fear, shock and yes…remorse… fill her – she runs! Dropping her bow and sprinting out of the room, she finds the only exit blocked by a wall of fire..! Knowing her resistance to fire is minor, she decides to risk jumping through it anyways; she is fortunate and takes no damage.
Woodrow having also fled a moment before Topaz, is found waiting outside of the cave, near the ramp out of the rock pit – he stands there, nervously glancing in all directions and holds his longsword in his hand since he dropped his bow inside the cave; he greets Topaz by running her through with his sword! She quickly draws Riposte and counterattacks – stabbing him back. The next moments find Topaz and Woodrow debating who attacked whom and why:
Topaz: “OWW! Whythef$+%didyoustabmeyoufreakinbastard-I’mgonnaf~@!ingKILLYOU!”
Woodrow: “Whaddyameanwhythef#&#did Istabyou-youweretheonecominatme-f@+~YOUb*#@@!”
Topaz: *STAB*
Woodrow: “OWWW! WHYTHEF!@!DIDYOUSTABME??”
Topaz: “WHYTHEHELLDIDYOUTHINK ISTABBEDYOU, A!~$+#!?”
Woodrow: “NOW I’MGONNAF*~~INGSLICEYOURGODDAMMHEADOFF, DEMONWHOREB%~#+SLUT!”
Topaz: “OHYEAH??” *STAB*
Woodrow: “OWWW!!”
Topaz stabs Woodrow a second time, which causes him to flee from her; she lets him go, muttering curses at him as he disappears up the slippery ramp and into the round tunnel.
But the fear grows in her still…she decides to follow Woodrow and flees herself, running up the same ramp and into the round tunnel behind him; she find him just over a hundred feet into the tunnel but doesn’t stop for him…after twice that distance, she stops to catch her breath, muttering to herself about how silly she feels running away from something, especially for so long… It is at about that moment when the enchantment on her fades, leaving her frustrated and angry at having been so embarrassingly magicked.
At a full sprint, it will take her just under thirty seconds to return to the battle.
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Sizul isn’t confused, he’s defending the party:'
After witnessing Green’s attack on the party and Alicinaira’s attack on Irrattouos after he fireballed Green, Sizul decides he doesn’t trust the Drow and her pet enough to let her live…He grabs her and decides to do a re-enactment of what Boric did to Zenith Splintershield… At first she casts a spell on him, but he fights off the magic until it fades; after that, she just screams in horror as she realizes that the spell failed – and then in agony, as he rends her apart in front of her own eyes.
It takes Sizul ten seconds to silence her screams…and five seconds more to dismember her corpse…she is very much dead.
Gathering his thoughts and now focusing on the task at hand, he picks up Bugswatter and runs forward to attack the hags; he’s furious – though not sure why – he knows he just wants to kill whomever cast that charm on the troll… He bursts into the dark room, fighting his way past long, black tentacles that the hags must have conjured from the very stone floor to try and stop him – Ha! Fools! He spies a target immediately to his right and left – he swings, first to one side, then the other, connecting solidly on both – what a warrior!
But the horrible screams of Will and Irrattouos shock Sizul into suddenly realizing that he has viciously hacked both of them! Noo! He debates with himself – his tactics were sound…he thought he saw the hags there…what went wrong? Suddenly ashamed (or afraid of a wizardly counterattack), he flees out of the room, back down the hallway and back into the pool room, where he continues his assessment of the failed assault; moments pass, as he tries to figure out what went so horribly wrong with his attack…
Sizul hears a spellcaster in the next room, casting a spell! He flees again, stopping in the bottom of the rock pit outside of the cave before resuming his analysis. A moment later, he reaches his conclusion…the hags – they must have cast a spell that made Will and Irrattouos look like them! Curse them! It is at about that moment when the enchantment on her fades, leaving him frustrated and angry at having been so embarrassingly magicked.
At a full sprint, it will take him just under twenty seconds to return to the battle.
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Busta isn’t confused, he’s setting up an ambush:'
Having missed his crossbow shot at the charging Green, Busta now sees his doom fast approaching – facing off against a troll, bare-fisted and alone… For the first time in his life, he fills with fear…he is alone, helpless, doomed to die at the hands of this bloodthirsty beast…he has only one chance, one advantage – outrun it.
Busta drops his crossbow and sprints faster than most humans are capable, past everyone and out of the room – out into the round chamber, out of the cave and into the rock pit, up the slick stone ramp (slipping all the way up the steps and using his hands to keep from falling off of the ledge) and to the entrance of the round tunnel…where he pauses…he doesn’t want to die like a weakling, cowering…he wants to die fighting. Berating himself for showing weakness, he turns to fight, waiting for the troll to arrive; after a few seconds, he curses the beast for being so slow – he decides to wait in ambush in the darkness of the round tunnel!
Sprinting another hundred yards into the darkness, he turns to fight again – and finds nothing but a rat crossing the pipe; he stomps it in frustration and decides to run farther into the tunnel, in case the troll has tried to go around to the far end of the tunnel and cut him off.
After another hundred yards, he turns to fight a third time, shouting curses into the dark…still, no one faces him. Busta’s mind is now racing with possibilities – is death waiting in front, or behind? Since the troll has not followed, Busta decides that he must have gone around to attack from behind – he runs another hundred yards into the tunnel…the entrance is a faint point of light in the distance now…
Frustrated, he charges back toward the tunnel mouth, yelling challenges at the cowardly troll…but suddenly he hears something! A spellcaster? A monster? Doom?? Busta flees now, out of fear, returning to the point where he charged from a moment ago…before realizing that this isn’t his way – something is wrong, something is making him fear…and fear is not his way…it is at about that moment when the enchantment on him fades, leaving him frustrated and angry at having been so embarrassingly magicked.
At a full sprint, it will take him exactly thirty seconds to cover the HALF MILE he has run from where the party was originally located...
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Woodrow isn’t confused, he’s just avoiding Indarin and Topaz:'
Firing at the charging Green, Woodrow accidentally hits Indarin in the back with an arrow; a moment of regret is replaced with agonizing seconds of realizing what this priest of Vecna is capable of: imprisoning him in an eternal nightmare of undead servitude, followed by forced molestation, violation of his rotting corpse even as his spirit is anchored to it, witnessing every atrocity she commits to him, unable to resist or fight…
Woodrow drops his bow and flees in fear of his life – he follows Busta out of the room but lags farther and farther behind as the monk leaves him at the mouth of the cave before disappearing out of the rock pit.
Once there, he decides to make a stand; if he’s going to die and return as an undead, he’s going to go down swinging… Adrenaline courses in his veins; he mutters curses – at Indarin, at the hags, at himself for making a bad shot… seconds pass, as he waits in the cave mouth, ready to strike…there’s no way he’ll be taken by surprise or struck by a magical bolt of fire without trying to dodge out of the way…every muscle is tensed, his nerves crackle with anticipation – Here she comes! He leaps! He strikes! He hits! Woodrow won’t be taken-*
But Woodrow has just stabbed Topaz, not Indarin…
Topaz: “OWW! Whythef$!~didyoustabmeyoufreakinbastard-I’mgonnaf%%%ingKILLYOU!”
Woodrow: “Whaddyameanwhythef&!!did Istabyou-youweretheonecominatme-f%%!YOUb@&**!”
Topaz: *STAB*
Woodrow: “OWWW! WHYTHEF!%#DIDYOUSTABME??”
Topaz: “WHYTHEHELLDIDYOUTHINK ISTABBEDYOU,A*!~+&%?”
Woodrow: “NOW I’MGONNAF+@!INGSLICEYOURGODDAMMHEADOFF, DEMONWHOREB*%+!SLUT!”
Topaz: “OHYEAH??” *STAB*
Woodrow: “OWWW!!”
Topaz stabs Woodrow a second time, which causes him to flee from her; she lets him go, muttering curses at him as he disappears up the slippery ramp and far into the round tunnel.
Just inside the tunnel mouth, Woodrow turns, ready to fight; once he knows that Topaz hasn’t followed and he’s safe, Woodrow is left wondering what is happening to the party…have the hags cast some kind of spell and turned people against him? He’s got to do something – and he rushes back toward the tunnel exit; he passes Topaz, who is now fleeing the other direction, but he lets her go – damn, another victim – and continues on down the ramp to the rock pit, slipping and sliding down the ramp to the bottom. A sudden fear makes him pause – but then he realizes that he has to fight the hags’ magic… it is at about that moment when the enchantment on him fades, leaving him frustrated and angry at having been so embarrassingly magicked.
Woodrow’s senses calm and his thoughts clear; realizing how far away from the party he is, he immediately casts Expiditious retreat to reach to the party as quickly as possible. At a full sprint, it will take him only ten seconds to get to his bow and return to the battle.
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Irrattouos: When spellcasters lead the fight…'
Oblivious to the brouhaha that starts in the room after he roasts Green with a Fireball spell, Irrattouos advances into the hallway to seek out the hags; convinced that they might be trying to slip past them while invisible, he casts See Invisibility before going. Reaching the midpoint of the hallway, he moves slowly now, as the battle raging behind him ironically disturbs his scouting the dark silence ahead; fortunately, the cacophony fades away after a few moments – the group must have come back to order and will be backing him up momentarily…
But instead of the arrival of reinforcements, the fiend/wizard (as well as a hiding Enialis, nearby) is hit by a Lightning Bolt launched out of thin air! He thought he heard Indarin’s voice right before the…no matter…
As he reels from the damage inflicted on him by the priest, Irrattouos sees a field of black tentacles appear in the room, spilling out of the doorway. He pauses, looking for the hags from just beyond the reach of the tentacles; he sees movement in the room beyond with his fiendish eyes – a shape to the left, just out of his line of sight from behind the doorway…he can’t use his Fiendish Glare until they show themselves, so he waits, just behind the grasping tendrils in front of him… Soon, Sizul comes roaring past – ahh, the warriors have arrived! As the half-dragon battles his way past the first tentacles and into the doorway, the slimy black limbs dissipate as suddenly as they appeared! Victory is near! He moves past Sizul and into the room, stopping just in front of and to the right of Sizul – then he sees both hags (who are invisible) and prepares to glare at them!
But suddenly, Sizul turns toward Will, who like you is just inside the doorway but on Sizul’s left…and attacks! He viciously cuts into him with Bugswatter – what is wrong with him? No time to worry about that now, he has to-
*Chop!* - “AAAAAAHH!!”
Sizul turns to Irrattouos and hacks him with Bugswatter also!! Does he think that all of the Wizards in the party have become fruit flies or something?? He’ll have to deal with the Half-Dragon in a moment – he has hags to glare at…
Irrattouos: “Aha, there you are! -Arrrrrhhhhh…” *wumwumwumwumwumwumwumwumwumwum*
Hags: “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee!! The EEEVIL Eye!!”
The hags retreat out an exit…Irrattouos sprints up the stairs and onto the platform that spans half of the room, where he finds ‘No’, laying in a pool of her own blood against the back wall of the room and next to a second exit. Presuming the devil wolf dead, he presses a pursuit to the door the hags fled through; Will has flown up to the platform from below and pushes the door, causing it to slide up and reveal an empty hallway that ends in a second doorway, twenty feet away…he can glimpse that the stone slid shut a fraction of a second earlier…he continues pursuit to the second door, boldly pushing on the stone slab – and as the stone slab rises, Enialis’ wolf comes charging past Irrattouos and into the room beyond (ahh, good…the party is charging in with me…).
However, something strikes at the wolf as it moves left of Irrattouos and through the doorway; someone wielding a weapon that appears to be nothing more than a large, jagged shard of a broken plate mirror, slashes the wolf deeply from the side as it enters the room! Whatever the foe, Irrattouos now knows which side of the door it hides on – he enters the room and turns left to cast…but he fails to account for the possibility of there being two opponents hiding on either side of the door…
Irrattouos feels a deep stabbing pain in his back…flashing light, searing pain…
*thud…*
…blackness…a moment of quiet as he lay, bleeding…cold…so cold…
Black.
Silence…then, whispers of a fiendish voice… “Do not fail me…or your soul will be mine in servitude, as we agreed…”
Again…silence…
Blurred shadow and pain, as dim light slips through barely parted eyelids.
His mind is beginning to clear – he realizes where he is…
“I’m sorry, master.”
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Indarin: Stalking the party…'
After successfully casting Greater Invisibility on herself off of a scroll, Indarin casts Dispel Magic on Sizul, in a desperate attempt to try and break the spell that caused him to attack Alicinaira; unfortunately for the Drow, Indarin fails to dispel the charm – seconds later, Alicinaira is murdered by the Half-Dragon.
Turning her full attention now to the threat of the hags that have split the party with spells, Indarin takes a proverbial page out of Charaine’s spellbook and gets out one of her wands…Guessing that the hags must be invisibly assaulting the party from nearby, she moves in sight of the long hallway; not making the slightest attempt at identifying friend from foe in the hall, she successfully activates her wand of Lightning Bolt and sends a crackling bolt of energy down the length of the hallway and into the next room! Irrattouos and Enialis are caught in it and are fried where they stand!
Feeling like they might turn on her if they find her, she retreats back out of the fountain room, into the hallway you all had entered from; she would flee further, if not for the wall of fire that Charaine created across the exit not more than fifteen seconds earlier…
“Crap!”
Having nowhere to run, the invisible Indarin notices the invisible Charaine standing there in the hallway at about the same moment that the invisible Charaine notices the invisible Indarin standing next to her... After a professional, acknowledging nod to each other, Indarin watches as Charaine returns to the battle; after a few seconds, she follows. Moving at a quick walk, she soon catches up to the Wild Mage when she pauses in her advance, then the priest keeps pace with her, staying about ten feet behind.
After following Charaine and (what’s left of) the rest of the party into the room beyond the long hall, Indarin moves up the stairs and onto the platform that spans half of the room, where he finds ‘No’, laying in a pool of her own blood against the back wall of the room, next to a second exit; she also finds that the devil-wolf still lives! Appalled that Enialis hides next to ‘No’ without noticing her obvious need for first aid, Indarin kneels at the stricken devil-wolf and casts Cure Serious Wounds twice on her, healing more than half of her injuries and returning her to action for the first time since Green’s traitorous assault.
Moving to back up Will and Charaine (who now fill the doorway exiting into the short hall where Irrattouos pursued the retreating hags), Indarin gets out a different wand and casts Scorching Ray through the crowd at the hag she spots attacking Enialis (the other hag lies dead in front of her); unfortunately, the spell dissipates on contact despite the impressive aim. Seeing a second opponent the likes of which are completely foreign to her (he is apparently Mirror Imaged), Indarin casts Recitation, to bolster your morale and break theirs – but she is shocked and heavily dismayed (as is everyone else in the area) to find the spell reflected back on herself! She tries to recover by casting Curse of Ill Fortune on the hag, but the spell dissipates… curses!
Indarin’s divine magic cannot penetrate the high resistance of these enchanted creatures; she resigns herself to a support role and casts Cure Serious Wounds from her wand onto Charaine, and then onto Enialis, as ‘No’ finishes the hag and her ally off more directly – with claws…
Damn! That was pure chaos. Impressive.
Damn! That was pure chaos. Impressive.
Not even done posting the whole party...
Stand by..!
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Will: Mighty Dwarf magic falls impotent…'
After launching a Fireball into the dark room at the end of the hall with no apparent effect, Will mutters a curse, then casts Black Tentacles into the room (but not as far in); more lack of cries or fighting the tentacles from the hags frustrates him – he gets out the hag eye that you all confiscated from the third one slain almost a month ago, drops it on the stone floor and crushes it with the flat of his war axe! As it shatters to powder on the floor, Will hears the music he’s been denied from his spells – the pained cries of a pair of hags, coming from the room beyond! He casts Spectral Hand and then advances down the hallway…
Will has to run to catch up to Irrattouos and Sizul, but he manages to slip by the Half-Dragon as he fills the doorway; seeing the fiend-mage move right, he decides to go left – where he spots the pair of hags up on the platform ahead…but before he can do anything, he sees Sizul turns toward him, and attack! The Half-Dragon viciously cuts into him with Bugswatter – what‘s wrong with him?
Both advancing and escaping simultaneously, Will casts Fly and rises up to the platform, both (barely) out of the reach of Sizul and within reach of the doorway – where he meets Irrattouos, who is in pursuit of the retreating hags…one of whom is dragging the other, which is both blinded by the loss of an eye and stunned by the fiendish glare of the Acolyte of the skin… After opening the door for the part-human and covering his advance, he prepares a spell for when the fiend-wizard opens the door on the opposite end of the short hallway…
Irrattouos opens the door, and Will immediately follows by casting a Fireball into the room – just far enough back so as to not singe the wizard at the door; unfortunately, his spells are still ineffective, as no reaction can be heard in the room beyond. As Enialis’ wolf and Irrattouos storm through the doorway, Will uses the free moment to drink a vial of healing potion – but he watches in horror as the wolf is attacked, then Irrattouos is cut down trying to save the wolf, and then after that a black cloud of toxic vapors fills the room and spills out of the door! He quickly casts Shocking Grasp through his Spectral Hand and attacks the assailant in the cloud, as Enialis runs into it and drags Irrattouos out of the room (as his wolf flees, howling and leaving a trail of blood), but the spell dissipates as the Spectral Hand contacts the hag emerging to attack the ranger!
Will makes some room in the doorway by flying backwards thirty feet from the doorway as he casts a second Shocking Grasp through the Spectral Hand – this time the spell gets through! Gaining confidence again, he flies back up towards the hallway and follows that spell with a Lightning Bolt into the room beyond…but while the hag fails to absorb the spell energy, it does succeed in dodging the lightning itself!
“ARRRRGH!”
Falling back on something that worked, Will tries a third Shocking Grasp – and for the second time in three tries, the spell is absorbed by the hag! Screw the hag – Will decides to go after the other strange creature that is holding off both Charaine and a newly-revived ‘No’ (he is apparently Mirror Imaged)…
Seeing that the creature appears to be either made of or covered in plates of mirrored glass, he casts Shatter – but the spell is turned back on him by the reflective surface of the creature! Will shudders wildly and his teeth chatter, as every vial, bottle and flask on him shatters, showering him with various fluids and wetting his clothes as if he had lost bladder control from the horror of the battle…
The exalted Dwarven wizard is so incensed and frustrated that he never notices when the devil-wolf ‘No’ kills the last hag…and then the mirror-man…
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Charaine: The more things change, the more they stay the same …'
After creating a Wall of Fire to both prevent the ill-charmed Busta, Woodrow and Topaz from returning and to prevent Indarin from running away, Charaine casts See Invisibility to ferret out the hags wherever they are hiding and harassing the party from. At first, you wait where you are, searching the room you all are in and looking for some kind of sign…Indarin soon walks up, invisible, right about on schedule…
Having no where to run, the invisible Indarin notices the invisible Charaine standing there in the hallway at about the same moment that the invisible Charaine notices the invisible Indarin standing next to her. After a professional, acknowledging nod to each other, Indarin watches as Charaine then returns to the battle; after a few seconds, she follows. Moving at a quick walk, she soon catches up to the Wild Mage when she slows from a run to a cautious walk, then the priest keeps pace with her, staying about ten feet behind as she runs again, into the room beyond.
Charging up the stairs to the platform above so she can support Will and Enialis, Charaine sees Enialis’ wolf and Irrattouos both sneak attacked as they enter…she casts Cloudkill into the room! In typical fashion, she doesn’t take friendlies in the area into account, so both the wolf and an unconscious Irrattouos are both incapacitated (but fortunately for the wolf and miraculously for Irrattouos, neither are killed).
As Enialis rushes into the room to drag the fiend-wizard out by his feet and the wolf flees, Charaine sees a coughing hag emerge from the mist-choked room and attack the ranger – she covers him by firing a volley of Magic Missiles into the hag!
This battle has gone poorly for the party…it’s time to finish it – Charaine activates her Wand of Random Energy into the room! A blast of cold fills the room and spills into the hallway, hitting the hag, Enialis (who falls from the damage), Irrattouos (who is already prone and likely killed) and an unseen creature allied with the hag (who then advances out to attack); when the sleet and hail cease, the hag’s glass-encrusted bodyguard rushes up to the party’s end of the hallway (he is apparently Mirror Imaged, also) – only Charaine keeps him from advancing into the room – she pays with blood, as the creature slashes her deeply with his shard-weapon! Charaine sees the hag still standing…she skillfully avoids the attacks of the mirror-man and casts Phantasmal Killer to finish the hag off, but its spell resistance saves it…. Her punishment is another vicious slash by the mirror-man, as the hag advances to join him in killing a wizard in melee – but ‘No’ leaps into the battle from her right, occupying both of your opponents! While the hag tries to dig her taloned fingers into Charaine, the mirror-man misses for the first time as she tries for another volley of Magic Missiles at the hag; unfortunately, the wizard can’t avoid the hag’s attack as she casts the spell – it’s ruined, as the hag claws Charaine and cackles…
While the devil-wolf now holds the front line, Charaine tries again with the Magic Missile spell after stepping back far enough to not be attacked while casting…Blast! The hag resists the spell! But the battle is still ended quickly, as Charaine watches ‘No’ finish off the hag and her cohort seconds apart…
The wizard surveys the dead…and, in typical style, has little remorse for those who got in between her and her foes; the wolf managed to flee and survived… Enialis lies on the ground, shivering and groaning, so he lived… and Irrattouos is –
Irrattouos is gone!
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
'Enialis: What the hell did I sign up for…?'
Having commanded his wolf companion to stay in the pool room, Enialis is now hidden at the far end of the long hall; he managed to avoid the raging charge by Green and now remains hidden in the shadows along the left wall as he watches Irrattouos slip past the charmed troll and up along the opposite wall and to his right – he is oblivious to the ranger’s presence.
The troll attacks his compatriots behind the ranger and the fiend-mage, but Enialis moves even more slowly now, as the battle raging behind him ironically disturbs his scouting the dark silence ahead; fortunately, the cacophony fades away after a few moments – the group must have come back to order and will be backing him up momentarily…
But instead of the arrival of reinforcements, Enialis is hit by a Lightning Bolt launched out of thin air! He thought he heard Indarin’s voice right before the…no matter…
As he reels from the damage inflicted on him by the Lightning, Enialis sees a field of black tentacles appear in the room that spills out of the doorway to within a few feet of him…it looks like he will stay put, for now. A moment later, the Half-Dragon Sizul charges past both Enialis and Irrattouos and into the tentacles, pushing and hacking at them as he fills the doorway and growls to his left (presumably at the hags); even as he, Will and Irrattouos move past you and into the dark room beyond, you wait for a clear target to attack…
Ten seconds go by before Enialis follow the rest (of what’s left) of the party into the room – but it appears that he has missed some of the fun; Will was the last to enter, but he manages to slip by the Half-Dragon as he fills the doorway. Seeing the fiend-mage move right and the dwarf move left, the ranger tries to spot the pair of hags he can hear up on the platform in the room…but before he can do anything, he sees Sizul turn toward Will and attack! The Half-Dragon viciously cuts into him with Bugswatter – what‘s wrong with him? The Half-Dragon then attacks Irrattouos – what is this madness?? Does he think that all of the Wizards in the party have become fruit flies or something?? He’ll have to deal with the Half-Dragon later – he has hags to contend with…
After witnessing Sizul’s traitorous attack on the two mages, Enialis feels lucky when the Half-Dragon turns and runs past him and down the hall, ignoring him completely. Sensing the urgent need for his help in the room beyond, he runs into the room and to the right, near the stairs, before finding the cover of shadows again to conceal himself in; after seeing that the room is clear and hearing Irrattouos and Will pursue the hags out of the room, Enialis sprints up the stairs and onto the platform that spans half of the room, where he finds ‘No’, laying in a pool of her own blood against the back wall of the room and next to a second exit. Presuming the devil wolf dead, he examines the door to his right…until he is surprised to find that his wolf companion has charged past him to attack the hags!
The ranger calls his companion to heel; but while the stern command does get the wolf to stop and turn to its master, it also attacks him, biting him on the leg! Fortunately, the wolf bites only leather and cloth – but Enialis is shocked more than hurt… His wolf, apparently in some kind of battle-frenzy, then turns and charges again – leaving his master behind and attacking the hags in the room beyond. The ranger’s heart sinks when he hears the pained howl that echoes through the chamber seconds later…he runs into battle to save his friend, but instead finds the doorway at the end of the hall choked with toxic, black vapors…from which emerge, on the floor, the motionless feet of Irrattouos!
As Enialis leaps forward to brave the vapors and drag the fiend-mage out of the gasses by his feet, he is relieved to see the wolf flee out of the room, out of the death cloud and past him as quickly as his limbs cam move, leaving a trail of fresh blood as he runs, whimpering… But the ranger’s relief turns into horror, as a hag emerges from the cloud also and attacks him! He avoids her claws, but the second hag is behind her…she is blind and injured, but she points at him, and speaks:
“Your mind is weak. You cannot resist me… Go and fight them…now.”
The change is immediate; Enialis’ will and thoughts join with that of the hag, for a moment… The orbs must be defended… The mirror must remain our secret… The rescuers must not reach him… They all must die!
But Enialis barely has time to reflect on these thoughts; before he can act on his new imperative, sleet and hail begin to fall on him and on everything around him – in the hallway, as well as in the room beyond –
Hail pummels him… sleet tears at his exposed flesh… cold… bitter cold…
*Thud*
…A moment of quiet as he lay, bruised and bleeding…cold…so cold…
A flash of light…
…Then blackness.
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
‘No’: Wake me up at the good part …
The devil –wolf ‘No’ had been sneak-attacked from her right…before she could act, she felt control slipping from her limbs; she slumps against the wall for support, but she cannot stand…she slides down, until she lays on the floor, unable to move…she begins to feel a warm wetness on her side – it is growing, slowly…
A sudden blast jolts ‘No’ from falling unconscious – fire! Heat singes her face and curls her fur, but none of it reaches close enough to burn… As the fire and smoke begin to rise and dissipate, darkness and quiet again return to this dark room. The shock and rush of adrenaline from the Fireball has kept ‘No’ from falling unconscious…she grits her teeth at not hearing any screams of pain from the hags.
…must stay awake for just a few more seconds, and then they will be here…
There are voices in here, whispered, gravelly voices – one across the room and one near – the one that stabbed her…there are two of them... ‘No’ can’t make out what they are saying – the tongue is foreign to her…there are shadows moving amidst the darkness – they do not know that this Outsider can see as well as they can in the darkness – but she can’t move her head to see them.
She lays there, struggling to stay conscious…listening to them whisper to each other for what she guesses is almost twenty seconds, before she hears the noisy chaos of the party’s approach. Spells are being cast…the crackle of a Lightning Bolt, followed by screams – those of friends! The hags have hit Irrattouos and Enialis – curse them...! She hears Sizul charging into the room, fighting…
…must stay awake for just a few more seconds, and then they will be here…
More casting – this time from the hags – oh, no - But nothing happens… The devil-wolf can hear Sizul attacking again – but the screams come now from Will and Irrattouos (again) – what‘s wrong with him? Can’t he see that they aren’t the hags?
A moment later, ‘No is relieved to see an ally arrive…but Irrattouos is in hot pursuit of the hags, who have retreated together out of the room; he runs right past her as she lay in a pool of her own blood…
…must stay awake for just a few more seconds, and then they will be here…
A battle breaks out…another Fireball…again, no screams. Magic has been impotent this day…but energy flies in all directions now – the devil-wolf can feel her fur tingle with eldritch power…
Indarin arrives and touches the Wand of Cure Serious Wounds to ‘No’s wound – it closes; with a second touch, her blood capacity is restored and energy returns to her – payback time…
After taking a moment to assess the surroundings, ‘No’ charges up to the doorway exiting the room and attacks the hag who has joined some other alien creature in attacking Charaine (he is apparently Mirror Imaged); revenge is sweet – much sweeter than the hag’s torn flesh! The blinded one goes first – easy prey as she flails hopelessly, while her sister rushes up to join the Outsider to avenge her…
Turning to the alien creature, ‘No’ attacks all three images at once – the first claw attack hits, but she slips on ichor that stains the floor; fortunately for her, the creature attacks Charaine instead, while the hag casts a spell on Enialis, who is in the hallway with them. But before the ranger can act under the hag’s control, Charaine backs off and hits the entire hallway with a blast of cold from her wand! ‘No’ feels little sympathy for Enialis; he is, after all, a humanoid… And Irrattouos, with his choice of Fiendish infusion over Infernal…no loss there…
‘No’ attacks the mirror-man (all three) with her full fury now – while she fails to slay the Outsider, she does dispel the images concealing his true location…but after the hag manages to claw her, the devil-wolf turns on the hag; unfortunately, the hag avoids all of ‘No’s attacks…
…But the grievously wounded hag can’t dodge forever – all of her energy was expended staying alive these last few seconds; ‘No’ finishes her off moments later with a claw attack – and then leaps onto the mirror-man, killing him with her remaining attacks.
The Outsider dies silently…as his weapon falls to the floor, it shatters as any glass would…
1/5/05: A truly special session that sees the party turning its offensive power on itself…deserves a special 9-page synopsis!
A Special Edition Synopsis:
“Chaos Reigns Some More/ Green’s Legacy”
(Or, “Claws are Soo Sharp – and Pointy!”, or, “It gets Tiring Holding Up the Head”)
*** Due to the unique effect on the characters, as well as their wide ranging locations and actions, each of them will tell their own story, from their own individual point of view. ***
--- 'The battle is over.' ---
While Will, Indarin and Charaine look on, ‘No’ greedily anticipates feeding on the corpse of the hag, but a flash of light catches her eye – they see that a glowing aura has surrounded the still body of Irrattuous…it grows brighter…
The four of you can hear the echoes of distant running growing louder by the second…Woodrow and Sizul approach from afar…Topaz will arrive after, and then Busta…
But now, stunned at the sight in the hallway, no one speaks…
A sudden strobe of bright light snaps everyone back to their senses – they shake away the flash burned into their eyes…and see…
…that Irrattouos’ body has disappeared…
--------------------------------------------------------------
**DM note: This session ranked as one of the longer and easily the most chaotic session ever; I hope you enjoyed the "confusion" spell as much as I did running it!
1/12/05: The second-annual “Dungeon Master’s Birthday” session begins a tradition of having a BBQ dinner before we start..!
DM note: The spelling of Irrattouos’ name has been corrected for the record; this is also a plot hint, just like Dan Brown.
(As of this post, no player has yet to figure this out...)
“Killer Queen”
(or, “Shut Up and Take This Wand!”, or, “It Never Misses…“)
The disappearance of Irrattouos’ body doesn’t rattle anyone for long – there are wounded to attend to and a defensive position needed to rest, recover your spells and magically heal all your injuries... over twenty charges are expended from the Wand of Cure Light Wounds that Alicinaira used to own… After expending some healing and magic detection spells while searching the bodies of the hag (the one that ‘No’ didn’t consume) and the strange mirror-creature, you set up watch and camp in the room for the afternoon; during your downtime, you examine the loot in the hags’ lair (that survived Charaine’s Fireball better than the tapestries and carpets did…), that includes a curiously faceted gemstone – that appears to contain the images of a pair of pleading people!
Will, Charaine and Indarin ponder the next course of action regarding this interesting magical artifact... deducing that this is the containment receptacle of some kind of imprisonment spell, they begin to debate the merits of freeing those imprisoned inside; eventually, they decide to break the gem and free the captive souls – for a free meal, if anything.
Will places the gem on the stone floor and crushes it with his war axe…
*Crunch! – tinkle…POOF!*
Two people appear:
- A Human, who introduces himself as Stroud and claims to have been searching the Demonskar for items of power when he and his guide were captured by the trio of hags and destined to be sacrificed, eaten or sold away to unholy servitude to one of the variety of evil outsiders who roam the rift;
- A Fiend-Human halfbreed, who introduces himself as Sharnistival and claims to be the warlock’s guide – a native of this region raised by an emotionally broken mother who was seduced by one of the denizens of the Demonskar.
In the standard fashion of your group, the newcomers are taunted and threatened with being eaten; following this, they are welcomed into the group as being knowledgeable in these lands and informed that they may still be eaten at any time.
They nod in agreement. Another successful recruitment by the party is complete.
As you gather your belongings to depart and the spellcasters study their spells for the day, a flash of light in the next room startles you all into action! But you all return there to find…
…Irrattouos!
Alive and quite intact, he has returned… He explains that he has always had a Contingency spell on him that was set to Teleport his body back to a hired wizard upon his death; the wizard then had him raised from the dead according to their agreement. Once alive and healed, he Teleported back to you all, to help finish the mission (and find some loot to compensate for the expense of having being returned to life).
A whole party once more, you all proceed onward; the only exit to the hag lair is a long hallway that ends in a cave-in after about ninety feet – but there is a doorway immediately before the end of the hall, so there is where you all go. The door opens normally and without incident – a good occurrence since the death of Henry; another short hallway lies beyond that ends in another similar doorway twenty feet from you.
Again, the door lifts open without incident… revealing beyond a room dominated by three features:
- A large, ornate stone chair sits in the center of the floor in this thirty-foot square room – the chair is carved with patterns, sigils and runes – and possesses a triple-armrest;
- Surrounding this chair is a pattern of circles carved in the floor…a series of six colored dots, each linked by lines and a circle – each circle is a different color (clockwise, Green, Indigo, Violet, Red, Orange and Yellow)
- The chair faces a five-sided mirror that takes up a large portion of the far wall – the surface is determined to be fluid in nature, even swallowing up a coin that Will tosses through it…
After a bit of debate on the nature of the mirror and your reasons to go further, Irrattouos decides to make the decisive (or foolish) first move – he walks into the mirror! Having moved some of you off of the fence, he is immediately followed by ‘No’ and Topaz…then Will…and then eventually the rest of you, ending with Indarin after some fifteen minutes of deliberation - and finally, Charaine a few moments after.
You each find yourselves alone…you have each individually entered a pentagonal room though an archway that matches the mirror that you entered, except that its archway is lined with colored stones – each of the five walls has a similar mirror on it that is lined with colored stones, and the floor is colored itself…and each color corresponds to those in the circles you saw on the floor of the room you all just left – no color repeats anywhere – the floor and each mirror are each a different color, but in different orders – depending on what room you are in, because you all soon realize that, while alone, you can still hear each other – and you find out that you each are in a differently colored room!
One by one, you all venture through a different mirror…to see if you emerge alive and in one piece on the other side; you do, but the room you appear in is identical in every way to the last – save for the ordering of colors on the floor and mirrors! If you don’t find the way out of here, you all may very well starve to death or go insane looking for an exit…
Once you determine that moving from room to room using the mirrors is safe, you all begin to try out ideas, one by one, on how you might find your way out… ‘No’ tries to travel through mirrors in a pattern that matches the ordering of the colors from the throne room - no good… Will tries out moving through mirrors in a sequence of colors that follows the numerical pattern from the Hegemonic Plate – no good… Topaz and Irrattouos are working together and trying combinations as most of the rest of you sit where you are, listening and learning and thinking… Some minutes pass; Will, Irrattouos, Charaine and Topaz are applying reasoning and concept on the edges of mortal thought – for two of them, the thinking of Outsiders is taking hold…patterns begin to form in their minds… Irrattouos has an epiphany – he counts colors in the order of the throne room, skipping ahead as many places as the first number of the Hegemonic Plate…and leaps – then again, counting and leaping…and again!
Six times…and he is still in a colored room…
Frustration is beginning to set in; it has only been half an hour, but it feels like three…
Then Charaine comes to a realization –
“Irrattouos – you started in the wrong place! Do it again!”
The fiend-mage had been thinking of the pattern so intently that he had overlooked the proper starting point…the floor! Counting again, but this time starting on the color of the floor in his room, Irrattouos leaps through a mirror, then another…Topaz calls out the next color to move through and the fiend-mage calls back the color of the floor he has arrived on – the pattern is matching! The fourth room…the fifth…
Topaz: “Next…blue!”
Irrattouos: “I’m here! What next?!”
The sixth room…
Topaz: “Next…red!”
Irrattouos: “I’m here – it’s red! One more!”
The last mirror…
Topaz: “That’s it! That’s all of them – where are you?”
“…Irrattouos..?”
“Are you there?”
No answer. Irrattouos might be dead for all you know…or on another plane… All you can do is trust that the end is somewhere hospitable. Again, one by one, you follow the pattern discovered by Irrattouos, corrected by Charaine and perfected by Topaz.
After following the pattern and exiting from the sixth mirror, you each wind up in a dark, stone room; while you are all still quite alone, you all describe identical prisons – you are all in the same room, in different phases…a room with mirrors on each of its five walls, but this one is devoid of all color – plain brown stone makes up the floor, the walls, the frames of the five mirrors and the flat ceiling fifteen feet above. All five mirrors depict the same image, as if you were looking through a window – A small, dark room, like yours…but square; it has only one exit – an iron door, covered with a variety of scratches and dents. The only source of light, in that room or yours, comes from the sword of a man sitting on the floor in front of the iron door…a man who appears to have been dressed as a nobleman underneath what was shining plate armor at some point in the past – now, the armor is scratched and tarnished, his clothes ragged and dirty, and the man underneath is a broken shell of what was once a proud Paladin…
You have found Alek Tercival.
Again, as in the mirror rooms, you all decide to exit after your own personal and openly debated deliberations amongst yourselves; but the simple fact is, that you only have one exit and one path to follow other than to stay and starve to death. One by one, you exit through one of the final mirrors…one by one you all step through the same portal and exit into the small room that measures twenty feet square; the group fills the room to the walls…and you surround the emotionally shattered and demoralized Paladin where he is. Barely noticing your arrival to start out with, he seems to have lost his will to break down the iron door days ago, after failing to break through it in his days of trying before that…then, the solitude, loneliness and despair began to set in…then, the madness…
When you tell Alek that you are here to rescue him, he begins to stir…when you tell him that you saw the Angel outside of the Demonskar, his thoughts return to rational reason…when you tell him that you defeated the three hags, he is at first confused – he knew of no hags…
But when you describe how they at first portrayed themselves as Angels, he realizes that he had been duped by them into drinking the Amaranth Elixir and performing heroic deeds on their behalf – without realizing that the drink robbed him of the wisdom to see that he was being manipulated! The Paladin is now angry, frustrated and self-flagellating over his betrayal to this doom; it certainly doesn’t help that he appears to have been rescued by a gang of Evildoers who would as easily drag him out of here in chains than to actually rescue him in the true sense of the word…only the presentation of the staff ‘Alakast’ to him by Charaine gets him to reconsider his impression of you all and ease his mind enough to sheathe his sword and admit that, for the time being, you are all in the same boat regardless of what happens after…
Nevertheless, rescue or no, you all need to get out of this room; the mirror you all entered through is obviously not an option and the iron door that leaves this room is closed tight and appears quite thick – even the best attempts of Sizul, ‘No’ and Woodward fail to budge the massive portal. However, Indarin has Stone Shape…and she opens up the frame around the door to create a passage around it; however, as she does this, the door breaks free of the remaining stone and falls toward the group! If Sizul had not seen the door breaking free of the stone, he may have been crushed by it; fortunately, he sees it in time to catch it and brace himself long enough to hold it back and let it drop to one side (as you all scramble out of the way).
Beyond the door is a short staircase that goes up a steep passage; it ends in another, slightly larger room, but the sharp glare of a midday sun burns your unaccustomed eyes through a large gap broken into the opposite wall.
Four thin columns support each corner of the vaulted roof that peaks twenty feet above; a sand dune appears to have invaded the room through the gap in the wall – it spills halfway into the room and partially covers what appears to be the skeleton of an unfortunate soul who was buried deep enough to not be able to reach the pick laying on the ground just out of arm’s reach.
Once your eyes have adjusted to the glare outside, Will and Stroud decide to fly out of the room, up the sand dune beyond and out into the sky to scout the area – but something blots out the sun and closes the gap before they begin to cast:
A creature has appeared in a blink, filling the break in the wall and much of the far side of the room – without as much as a *pop*, *poof*, flash or boom…a huge fiend that dwarfs even the Half-Dragon…
Lowering its head from near the ceiling, it looks squarely at Alek Tercival and speaks:
“YOU WILL NOT STOP MY PLANS, MORTAL - THE TIME OF PEACE IS AT AN END!!”
M
1/19/05:
“Girl, I’m Your Liquor(Licker?) Tonight!”
(or, “It’s There In My Face, What Do You Expect?”, or, “I’m Fiendish and I’m Limp”)
Several of you come to recognize this fiend – it is the Glabrezu that is the master of the Demonskar! It has come to prevent you from rescuing Alek Tercival…although exactly why is a mystery…
Lucky to have the fiend appear right in her midst, ‘No’ leaps and attacks immediately, hitting with one claw, while Topaz fires the first pair of arrows; both deflect harmlessly off the Glabrezu’s unnaturally thick hide - Woodrow fires four arrows himself, with the same results! The demon then dodges the devil-wolf ‘No’ and casts a spell…one you’ve all suffered before – Sizul, Enialis, his wolf, Alek and Topaz are all confused!
Others in the group are beginning to act now, mostly casting preparatory spells… Charaine casts Invisibility on herself, Stroud casts Dispel Magic to try and break the demon’s enchantment (he fails to do so), Will backs out of harm’s way and casts Haste on those of you not confused (‘No’, Wood, Busta, Sharnistival, Irrattouos, Indarin and himself) and Indarin casts Mass Resurgence, that allows those who were confused to try and save again – Topaz and Sizul clear their heads but no one else. Enialis stands in place, babbling (as did Sizul before having the spell broken), but his wolf attacks Will! Fortunately, Will avoids the attack, but as Sharnistival begins to take off flying to a better tactical position, he misjudges the Glabrezu’s reach – the fiend reaches out and grabs him, squeezing him as it pulls him into a grapple! Irrattouos had planned to fire a Lightning Bolt at the demon a moment later, and this turn of bad luck for Sharnistival doesn’t even slow him down…
Irrattouos: *zot!*
Sharnistival: *Ow!*
To add insult to injury, the Glabrezu’s spell resistance protected him from the electrical bolt.
While ‘No’ misses all but one of her next attacks, the last claw digs deep into the giant fiend! Topaz misses her two bow shots and grows frustrated – she puts her bow away in favor of “Riposte” for the first time in a long while; Woodrow isn’t faring much better – he hits once in four shots, and the Glabrezu doesn’t even flinch from it.
Alek Tercival is wide eyed with madness, either from his isolation, the demon’s spell, or both; he stands motionless, the staff “Alakast” dangling loosely from his right hand, as he mumbles to the floor,
“…by treachery and deceit shall the true Lord fall and the false Lord rule…”
The paladin looks up just in time to witness his doom…as the Glabrezu dumps Sharnistival to the ground and reaches over him toward Alek, he recalls his noble heritage for his last few seconds:
“Nabthoron, I wield Alakast once more in this time of need, as did Surabar Spellmason in ages past! With it, I will… I’ll….I……AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-*”
The Glabrezu, Nabthoron, picks up the paladin in his pincers, mauling and biting him as he lifts him off of the floor – and then, just as brutally, drops him as he goes limp…
Charaine casts Bull’s Strength on Sizul, Irrattouos casts a second Lightning Bolt (which again fails to breach the Glabrezu’s spell resistance) and Indarin casts Recitation as a hasted Busta makes a daring somersault past the demon and behind it; Stroud casts Dimension Door to appear behind it also, taking Will with him – who then casts Enervation to weaken it. As Enialis hides in the corner of the room and Sharnistival gets up from the floor, Sizul steps up to Nabthoron and cleaves him, while ‘No’ hits twice out of her four attacks; Topaz, who has climbed onto the ceiling using her slippers of Spider Climbing, emerges above Sharnistival and ‘No’ (narrowly avoiding the crumbling ceiling), jabbing with her rapier and narrowly missing. Woodrow hastily moves forward, pushing Charaine out of his way rather rudely, and fires a fusillade of arrows; he hits twice out of four shots – one of them striking deep into the demon’s neck…
The Glabrezu tries to counter the party’s quick shift to the offensive – he casts Confusion again as he backs away from the opening in the wall… he affects four targets - Woodrow, Enialis, his wolf, and Topaz. Busta, Sizul and Sharnistival all press the attack and hit at least once each; supporting them are the spellcasters, Stroud (Resistance), Indarin (Dimensional Anchor), Will (a 2nd Enervation), Irrattouos (Darkbolt) and Charaine (Protection from Evil). Enialis and his wolf flee back into the mirror chamber and pound on the glass, trying to get back through, but for the moment, Topaz and Woodrow appear to be unaffected by the demon’s Confusion; Topaz continues to attack the demon but misses… Woodrow is more successful…sort of:
Woodrow: “Ah HA – I’ve got you now, you evil, scaly demon!”
*TOING!*
“Hold still!”
*TOING!*
“Dang!”
*TOING!*
Sizul: *Ow!*
Woodrow: “Hey, you sound like Sizul – your Confusion isn’t going to work on me this time! Ha Ha HA!”
*TOING!*
Sizul: *Ow!* “YOUMOTHRF#&&INGELF!!I’MGONNA F!+&ING EATYOURHEARTAFTER I’MTHROUGHWITHTHISDEMON!!!”
Woodrow: “Oops…I didn’t think demons were scaly…”
Despite Woodrow’s attack on Sizul, the party maintains the offensive; ‘No’ hits three out of four attacks, one critically. However, the Glabrezu use the brief distraction to cast Mirror Image in an attempt to defend itself; the strategy only buys some time, as subsequent attacks by Busta and Sharnistival reduces the number of images immediately, as well a Magic Missile attack by Irrattouos. But the party’s attack does begin to falter a bit…Sizul fails to hit, Will and Charaine fail in their spell casting attempts and Stroud, while successful in summoning a sphere of swirling winds, fails to hit the demon with it – although Indarin does successfully cast Owl’s Wisdom on herself. Meanwhile, from the back of the complex, Enialis has a change of heart and charges back up to attack, while his wolf remains cowered.
The party tries to regroup and press the attack once more; ‘No’ stumbles and almost slashes Sharnistival, but she regroups and hits one of the Mirror Images, causing it to disappear. Topaz, growing more confused, attacks Sharnistival directly, hitting once in two tries, while Woodrow tries to sort out what went wrong when he fired at Sizul; Enialis takes up an attack position approaching the Glabrezu, but his wolf remains behind.
Nabthoron, the Glabrezu, seizes on this desperate chance to save himself – he leaps into combat, mauling ‘No’ until she falls, and then moving on to Sharnistival, attacking him until he falls as well; but his momentum falters once he tries to attack Busta, who is still near full strength and under the affect of Haste. The monk avoids the demon’s last pair of attacks and counters with four of his own that all hit, after Charaine’s volley of five multi-colored Magic Missiles destroys any remaining images of the Glabrezu.
From a safe distance away, Stroud hits the demon with both his swirling sphere and an eldritch blast that rivals any Lightning Bolt, while Sizul steps up to finish the Glabrezu with a devastating pair of slashes with ‘Bugswatter’…
Nabthoron falls…
While Will moves to tend to ‘No’, Irrattouos and Indarin go to Alek, who is breathing his last…
“…when the final cage is shackled…the burning doom shall rise… .. . .”
As the paladin goes limp, his head falls back and his mouth gapes open…you all suddenly feel a chill and the hair on the back of your necks stand up, as Alek speaks again – this time, through parted lips that do not move…and with a voice that is not his own:
“There is nothing left for you in Rauxes. To return is to enter your own graves and bring doom to you and all whom you know. Seek the sign of the Smoking Eye if you wish to save yourselves…”
M
1/26/05: Due to the DM’s sequestering in a CCNP boot camp, there was no session this week; his brain was too fried.
2/2/05:
"Attacking the Darkness"
(or, "If you're tied up, I can get your clothes off faster")
You are catching your breath and slowly gathering in the antechamber that faces the desert, eager for healing magics carried by the priestess; Woodrow and Topaz trudge back across the sand dune, frustrated and determined not to fall prey to Confusion again...
...But as Woodrow crosses over the top of the sand dune, something catches his eye - a figure, moving at a run..? He turns to the party and sees that Sharnistival and 'No' saw something also - they peer over his shoulder. He sees them again, now...more than he saw before...four - no, five...gaunt, black skeletal figures but moving quite lively towards the top of the dune and the ancient room beyond. Woodrow draws and fires immediately, hitting twice out of three shots; getting the jump on everyone else, 'No' charges the first one to arrive and claws it deeply, while Sharnistival jumps into the air and attacks the same one that 'No' did. However, saving the party by blocking these fiendish attackers from reaching the entrance has also gotten these two surrounded by the five attackers; 'No' and Sharnistival are each hit as they are attacked from all sides by these fiendish creatures with talons that are longer than their fingers!
Busta runs out of the door and out onto the sand to assist in the fight - he hits one of them with a solid blow, but it takes it in stride; Enialis moves up to attack but he misses, as Stroud Dimension Doors up into the sky outside of the room and above the battle - Will casts Fly and joins him and Sharnistival up in the sky. Woodrow hits twice again with his bow, and Topaz joins in with two hits of her own, as 'No' backs off and casts Crushing Despair; unfortunately, the magic resistance of these fiends is strong and the devil-wolf happened to be facing the party...while most of the fiends avoid serious results of the spell, much of the party was hit by the spell also - but mercifully making their saves to avoid the affects also. Charaine casts Invisibility on herself, Indarin casts Prayer on the group and Irrattouos casts Magic Missile...but Irrattouos's missiles dissipate on contact with one of the fiends; they are trying to fight their way into the room and they hit Busta as they try to force their way inside before the three flying characters outside can hit them with spells from afar. Sizul tries to open combat with a mighty swing on the first fiend to reach the opening in the wall, but he underestimates its speed - he overswings and hits Indarin, standing immediately to his left!
While Woodrow repositions and fires again (missing) and Sizul continues to adjust his swing (he misses twice more) as Indarin staggers out of the way, bleeding, Busta lands a flurry of blows on the nearest fiend, hitting with all three attacks for negligible damage; in the chaos of the growing battle in front of the breach in the wall, one of Topaz's shots hits Sizul in the rump, although the other shot is a good hit...
But the fiends are organizing their attack... while one of them casts Darkness to conceal their attack on the ground from those who are flying, the others maul both Busta and Topaz, hitting the monk three times and the Tiefling once critically...and worse, the mage Irrattouos tries to force his way out of being surrounded so he can retreat back into the chamber behind - and he fails, allowing himself to be attacked from all sides in the dark by these fiends.
Irrattouos falls.
'No' rushes to the edge of the darkness to try and pick one off of the outside - she hits one, but it disappears into the shadows; Enialis draws his longsword and slashes into the darkness but hits nothing...Charaine and Will both try to Dispel the magical dark, but they fail; Stroud, who can see through the magical shadow, fires and Eldritch Blast at one of the fiends, but it absorbs the energy of it as it hits.
Busta is beginning to lose the battle of attrition; at this pace, he will be overcome by the fiends before he can destroy one of them - he tries to tumble out of the crowd to a safer position, but there are too many of them...he fails. The monk regroups and mentally regenerates himself as he goes full defensive for the moment.
Woodrow, fortunate to be at the edge of the combat, manages to fall back out of the darkness, under Topaz and Sizul's cover, and retreat down the stairs to where Enialis' wolf has cowered to wait for his master; the ranger himself misses his attack in the darkness, while Topaz's two attacks with "Riposte" both hit - but the resulting hits leave some kind of glossy slime on her thin blade...when it begins to smoke, she begins to have second thoughts about the current plan of attack... 'No' hits with three out of four of her attacks and begins to notice the stinging burn of this residue also, but has little alternative but to fight on; Sizul would rather not take a chance on losing "Bugswatter" - he drops the weapon and goes primal, attacking with claws and fangs, hitting all three times and flicking off the stinging goo with each attack!
The fiends severely maul Sizul, 'No' and Topaz, taking advantage of the dark to flank attack whenever they can as they enter the room under cover of Darkness...but Indarin manages to break the enchanted shadow, and immediately after, Charaine and Will both fire volleys of Magic Missiles into the battle; Sharnistival has been flying in a circle to bring himself about for an attack and Stroud fires a second Eldritch Blast - that also fails to penetrate the fiend's spell resistance.
With the magical darkness gone, Busta makes a second try at tumbling out of the battle to safety - and a second time, he fails...fortunately this time, he avoids the resulting attacks; 'No' falls back out of combat also, to heal and regroup while Enialis tries to hold them off as they enter the chamber - he hits one, but his magical longsword is beginning to smoke and smolder afterward. Charaine's volley of Magic Missiles wild surges - each of the four missiles burns with the intensity of a white-hot forge and strikes one of the fiends with much harder force than normal!
Those who are flying outside see another target, moving toward them across the sand - but this one moves much slower...more a shamble than a sprint...a single, robed humanoid who is climbing the sand dune toward the battle. Those who see it keep a cautious eye as the battle continues...but he soon makes his intentions clear as he yells out:
"Die, demon!"
With a wave of his free hand (he carries a staff in the other), he casts Magic Missile at one of the fiends!
Inside the room, Woodrow cautiously moves to the top of the stairs, looking for targets to fire on...and retreating back down when one isn't clear; Indarin, in the rear corner of the room, casts a Curative spell on herself from the wand while Topaz, holding off the fiends with Enialis and Sizul, misses twice after seeing what the slime on these creatures is doing to Enialis' longsword. The fiends hit each of them back once, in return. Sizul, hitting his stride in combat now, hits his target with all of his natural attacks for the second time - he kills one of them!
Outside the room, the tide is turning... Sharnistival has come about far enough to fire his bow - and he hits! Stroud fires his third Eldritch Blast, and for the first time, he penetrates the fiends' resistance and hurts one! However, Will's Magic Missiles fail to affect one of them, this time. Having failed to exit the battle entirely, Busta is making a fighting retreat and hoping that he survives long enough to reach safe ground...
From a safe distance, 'No' Levitates one of the fiends into the air as Enialis hits another (but loses his enchanted long sword to the acid as he does...), while Sharnistival hits a second time with his bow as he flies in a tight circle; Stroud hits with his second Eldritch Blast, but Will's Scorching Ray fails to affect his target. The robed stranger moves to Irrattouos and binds his wounds, as the dangerously close fiends fight their way into the room beyond.
Indarin casts Curse of Ill Fortune on one of the fiends but fails to penetrate their spell resistance; Topaz is being taken down in stages by these clawed fiends as they assault the chamber - she retreats out of battle to heal, moving to the back of the room behind Sizul, who takes the brunt of the fiends' attacks. He can't withstand them all, and he falls...A collective gasp comes from the party, as they reflexively cringe from a fiery explosion...that never happens. Charaine wild surges another volley of Magic Missiles and succeeds in stunning her target with concussive missiles that burst with explosive force on impact! Woodrow has been cautiously creeping up to the top of the stairs to monitor the battle; seeing that Sizul has fallen, he retreats back to the bottom for the third time, readying himself to make a last stand in the portal chamber along with a seriously wounded Topaz, who has just arrived there with him, as well as Enialis' wolf, who senses a fight coming and hasn't seen his master since it started. None of them are aware that outside, the party is regrouping and pressing the attack from the other side of the fiends...
While Busta drinks a healing vial during a moment's respite, 'No' dimension doors into the room next to Indarin, who uses her curing wand on her and pleads for her to help escape the chamber of death as combat swirls all around them; Enialis is now taking the full force of the assault - he draws his second long sword and fights next to Sizul's body as Charaine surges her last Magic Missile spell, which earns her a fifth missile but also drains one of her magic rings in the process!
Charaine's ill omen is a hint of greater tragedy to come in the next thirty seconds...
As Sharnistival continues to circle around for the second time, Will yells out a warning to anyone still in the ancient chamber:
"Fire in the hole - get out!!"
The robed stranger looks up over his shoulder at Will, and speaks:
"I'm here to help you - give me ten seconds!"
Will makes a quick nod; the stranger advances into the breach in the wall and casts a spell - a cone of cold freezes two of the fiends who are in the room! One of the narrow columns prevents Charaine from being a third victim...the stranger is a masterful spellcaster!
Stroud doesn't have as much luck, however; he casts another Eldritch Blast at the only fiend he can see, but his bolt of energy misses it - striking the prone, but still quite large Sizul lying on the ground immediately behind him! The tough half-dragon had not been cared for yet; however he was not yet dead...
He is, now...
And, for a second time in ten seconds, everyone in the immediate area cringes, as the volatile necklace that Sizul was wearing rattles and glows in the potent bath of magical energies that strikes Sizul...and again, nothing happens.
Enialis is trying to fight his way toward the exit now, trading blows with the fiend who blocks his way; Will casts Scorching Ray on the other remaining target. Busta returns to the battle outside, but misses the only one he can reach - it claws him in return; Enialis helps the monk by slashing it from the side.
Heeding Will's warning, Charaine makes a run for the outside, past Enialis, Busta and the robed stranger, while 'No' dimension doors back outside, taking Indarin with her; Stroud hovers lower to the ground and Eldritch Blasts the fiend he meant to hit before, as Sharnistival turns to land and Will misses his target with a Scorching Ray. The robed stranger also supports the fighters from just behind them; he casts a Fireball into the empty room - aiming it past Enialis and the fiend he fights, in order to fry the one in the back of the room without hitting the ranger...he centers the spell in the stairwell...
...but there is no way for him to know that Woodward is there, mere feet from where the spell goes off!
To make matters worse, the mage doesn't know that an injured Topaz is at the bottom of the very same stairs! The fiend he targeted is fried to oblivion, but Woodward and Topaz are fried also...
The Woodward survives the blast... Topaz does not...
...and worse yet, the Necklace of Fireballs being worn by Sizul finally detonates! A second Fireball erupts - this one misses the stairs, but it fries Enialis and the last fiend that he fights, as well as almost reaching the stable but unconscious Irrattouos, Busta and the robed stranger; the ranger falls...the fiend he is fighting does not.
Woodrow immediately gets out a vial and drinks a healing potion, as Busta continues to fight the last fiend, hitting twice; Charaine casts Melf's Acid Arrow from behind the monk and hits the fiend while Indarin uses the Cure wand on herself. Will lands and runs into combat with his war axe, missing his first swing; Stroud continues to fire Eldritch Blasts at the fiend, who misses badly. Sharnistival, who has been circling the battle, lands to join in finishing off the last one; Woodrow comes out to help also, as Busta hits the fiend once. 'No' moves up and stabilizes Enialis, just as another Eldritch Blast from Stroud fizzles on contact - but Will is there to finish off the injured fiend with his axe...
The battle is over.
Triage is performed on the dead and wounded...Sizul returns to his original size...Topaz is laid next to him... Indarin begins the healing process on Enialis while Busta drags over Irrattouos for his turn...
Robed stranger: "Oh my, I wasn't expecting that second Fireball; had I known those two were still inside..."
He surveys the casualties; his lip tightens, as does his resolve.
"This can be fixed. I can see that you're already capable of rapid regeneration of your injuries; I can add to your numbers, as well as bring these two back - their bodies are intact enough."
As you speak with the robed stranger, his garb catches your eye; he wears black robes, except for a tan section running down the center with a printed blazon at the bottom...
...a skull, with a wisp of smoke rising from one of the eye sockets...
M
What rules source are you using for the Wild Mage?
ASEO out
What rules source are you using for the Wild Mage?
ASEO out
I found an online source for the prestige class here:
http://www.nightwasp.com/daggerdale/wildmage.htm
I printed a copy for my wife's reference and printed a copy of the Wild Surge Table for myself.
She created a pair of effective wands for herself, financing the project by selling a Staff of Fire that the party won a long while back:
Wand of Random Energy: Functions much like any Energy Wand (Fire, Cold, Lightning, etc.), except that the energy form summoned per activation is RANDOM... The area of effect is always the same (20' globe), but the effect will be any one of - Fire, Electricity, Cold, Acid or Sonic.
Wand of Wild Surging: Activation of the wand results in the spell trigger being cast through it to be Wild Surged without the caster personally expending a Wild Surge point to do so. Each activation expends one charge.
M
I'm surprised she hasn't gone for the truly random Wands of wonder (Must be several different charts for those out there by now) As a DM I've often introduced a Wand of Wonder into my games. Half the fun of it for me as a DM is that I always try to take the random effect and make it in someway beneficial to the wielder. I had one instance where the party on a balcony used the wand on the goblins below.
Zap (enlarge target) Goblin gets huge
Player panics
Zap (target grows wings) Large flying goblin soars in to attack the party
Player totally panics
Zap (Target Hasted) Large flying goblin hit with an unexpected burst of speed lurches forward and impacts the wall just above the party showering them with a refreshing spray of Goblin innards.
If I recall correctly, Jaegyr, who posts on these boards was present for that event.
ASEO out
2/9/05: Welcome to yet another new player – Matthew!
"Demon Woman’s Crotch"
(or, "Bad Penetration Problems…")
The stranger introduces himself as Kaurophon; he a half-fiend, like Sharnistival, but born of the Outer planes and raised outside of the Material Plane…
“I am a planar traveler; I’ve wandered the planes for hundreds of your years. Because I was born of an illicit dalliance between fiend and human, I’m welcome nowhere; perhaps my heritage is the reason I want someone to pass the Test of the Smoking Eye – but I’m not one for introspection.”
Kaurophon exposes a holy symbol from underneath his robes; he is a priest of Nerull… He digs through several scroll cases in his sack and takes out several long sheets of high-quality paper; he casts two long spells – both Sizul and Topaz breathe again! Irrattouos and Enialis are both healed enough to restore then to consciousness; between Kaurophon and Indarin, everyone is healed up to at least 50% of your strength before you all rest for the day in the shade of the ancient portal chambers…
Sizul makes jerky out of the Babau demon corpses.
After eight hours of rest and healing, Indarin and Kaurophon prepare a full set of healing spells to return you all to full strength; as they begin to cast, however, a lone figure approaches across the top of the sand dune – a human! He introduces himself as Jack, an adventurer who became separated from the rest of his party during a battle with a lich; he was hit by some kind of spell that transported him into the desert and he had been walking toward the rocky mountain ridge on the horizon for the past three days, ending up here after seeing smoke from your campfire and Sizul’s jerky-making.
Indarin and Kaurophon cast healing spells on everyone, restoring the party to 100% health; you rest another eight hours so they can meditate and have full spell availabilities. During this time, Sizul completes his batch of jerky (offering some to Jack, who accepts and survives) and you all learn about the Abyssal plane of Occipitus…
“It’s another plane, once part of Celestia but now corrupted and consumed by Evil; I’ve traveled its lands before and I hope to have discovered the secret of controlling the plane. It’s currently part of the Abyss, but if the right person passes the Test of the Smoking Eye, they could separate it from the Lower Planes; perhaps it would then become a demi-plane…perhaps it would rejoin with Celestia…in any case, the rulership of your own plane represents great power, on the order of magnitude of that of divinity.”
Sixteen hours have now passed since the battle with Nabthoron the Glabrezu and the five Babau; you all have healed and rested, your food and water supply is beginning to dwindle, and Kaurophon warns you that there may be other forces vying for the next chance at the Test of the Smoking Eye – you all must move swiftly! He gives Indarin two scrolls of Planar Shift – one to use for the trip to Occipitus, one for the return journey; the party trusts the priest not to leave them stranded – something that strikes the half-fiend sorcerer oddly… Linking hands in two groups of seven (including Enialis’ wolf), Indarin successfully casts from her scroll as Kaurophon activates his amulet…
Your two groups appear several hundred yards apart on an alien landscape… The sky seems to be made of flame, bathing everything in a reddish glow; in the distance behind you and around the horizon is a steep mountain ridge whose top seems to touch the fiery sky. From where you stand, you have a view of almost half of the entire plane, as it stretches out below you like a vast, bowl-shaped valley; at the center, near the limit of your visibility, lays a white monolith the size of a small mountain in the shape of a skull half-buried in the bottom of the valley floor.
The very ground resembles flesh more than firmament…clusters of curving pillars stand like exposed ribs from the ground, house-sized tangles of ropy vines lie in scattered clumps across the flatlands, and the very wreckage of Celestia has been strewn in hill-sized piles across the entire plane. Remnants of marble buildings, furniture, broken statues, crumbled white cobblestones and miscellaneous other ruins are piled dozens of feet high in small hillocks that span a mile or more.
Travel begins towards one of the larger hills down the slope of the valley, where several partial buildings can be seen protruding from the overall wreckage; walking easily down a barely perceptible incline, four hours pass as you take in your freakish surroundings and you ask Kaurophon about what he knows of this place:
“Few creatures live here, relative to the rest of the Abyss; demons regard this place as haunted, because the light of Good still lives here – yet, the Evil is so strong that the angels of Celestia count it as lost forever. Some demons and other creatures have moved here, hoping to pass the Test of the Smoking Eye to expunge what Good remains and make the plane theirs to rule.”
Movement in the distance, off to your right, has begun to catch your attention; three small points that were innocuous before amongst the flames and plasms of the sky have grown larger. You determine that they are three creatures…flying in your direction; Kaurophon and the other spellcasters in the party identify them as Fiends! You all scatter, taking up defensible positions apart from each other; Charaine casts Protection from Evil, Woodrow readies a spell and Sharnistival fires his bow (missing his shot…), while Stroud, Will and Kaurophon study the strange movements of the approaching fiends… They land not far from Sizul, to the right of where you all are, but they are not rushing to attack; they hold hands and circle in a bizarre, primitive dance while you all prepare for battle…
While Stroud and Will have never seen this before, Kaurophon recognizes this:
“They’re doing the ‘Dance of Ruin! YOU’VE GOT TO STOP THEM!!”
Will knows what the sorcerer priest is referring to:
“We’ve got to get away from them!”
Busta and Indarin heed the mage and begin to fall back – but ‘No’ charges in to attack the trio by herself, hitting one of them with a claw attack; Jack fires a single Magic Missile at another fiend, and Sharnistival hits with a pair of arrows as well (while Topaz and Enialis both miss with theirs). Unfortunately, none of these attacks deter the three fiends from their dance – as Woodward casts Expiditious Retreat and Sizul flies at a tangent to the fiends in order to ascertain their intentions, both Stroud’s Eldritch Blast and Irrattouos’ Lightning Bolt fail to penetrate the spell resistance of the fiends…but Will’s Confusion spell appears to take affect on at least one of them!
‘No’ is furiously attacking now, hitting with all three of her attacks as Sharnistival hits a second one with both bow shots and Topaz hits with one; Indarin makes one of her rare bow shots herself - missing, as does Enialis, while Jack’s second Magic Missile fails to penetrate his target’s spell resistance…just as Irrattouos’ and Will’s Lightning Bolts also fail to penetrate the fiends’ natural resistance. However, Charaine’s four Magic Missiles succeed in getting through, as does Stroud’s second try with a maximized Eldritch Blast! As Sizul turns in the air to set up for an attack, Woodrow heeds Will’s warning and flees at a high speed to a safe distance from where the battle is.
One of the fiends breaks out of the circle and flees – the building spell of ruin is broken! After a moment of agitated protest by the other two fiends, they resign themselves to attack their only opponent in a more conventional fashion; they both turn and attack the devil-wolf ‘No’, each hitting once and releasing a small cloud of spores from their mangy, feathered backs. ‘No’ tries to retreat from the vicious assault, but she is hit by one of them while doing so…
…she falls.
Enialis, being the closest person to the devil-wolf, attacks one of the two remaining fiends, hitting for inconsequential damage; Jack, Indarin, Sharnistival and Woodrow all hit with bow and crossbow fire on the other fiend, but Topaz misses both of her shots. Sizul flies in and charges the first one, but misses – as both Will’s Fireball and Stroud’s next Eldritch Blast fail to penetrate the fleeing fiend’s spell resistance; however, Charaine’s next volley of Magic Missiles and Irrattouos’ Darkbolt spell succeeds in damaging the two fighting fiends.
But the two fiends are not going to go down easily; they surround and hit Enialis, leaving him in the same precarious position that ‘No’ was in a moment before…when she fell…
M
2/16/05: The party is in the Abyss, and finding out that it’s not easy to survive here…
"Vrock and Roll"
(or, "That demon tore up his ass good”)
The pair of remaining Vrocks that flank Enialis are both under intense ranged attack, as Busta moves into a firing position, Indarin, Sharnistival and Topaz all hit with bow shots, Woodrow hits once in three tries, and Jack misses his; however, it is becoming evident that all of the arrows are doing very little to the demons themselves except to protrude from their feathers at odd angles.
Enialis misses with his sword while trying to make a fighting retreat, while Charaine’s Magic Missiles dissipate on contact with their target; but Irrattouos’ Darkbolt, Will’s Enervation and Stroud’s Eldritch Blast all get through the demon’s spell resistance and make up for lack of arrow damage. After the demons rend Enialis until he staggers, Sizul hits the confused and returning third Vrock with ‘Bugswatter’ before flying past.
As Busta fires his crossbow (hitting for negligible damage), Indarin summons a Shadow, which hits the nearest demon and weakens it slightly; the archer squad consisting of Jack, Sharnistival, Topaz and Woodrow hits with six arrows – one of Woodrow’s critically hitting!
Knowing that a retreat in his weakened state may be fatal, Enialis decides to go out swinging – he attacks one of the Vrocks, critically slashing it! Charaine’s next volley of three Magic Missiles helps the fight, but then the demons all turn to flee – except that Sizul blocks their escape! All three Vrocks now attack the half dragon, but fortunately only one of them hits, clawing the fighter deeply - but not before he gets a swing on one of the attackers that injures it badly and throws off its attack! But as Sizul continues to fly on and turn as sharply as he can to avoid the demons’ attacks, he is clawed from behind as he goes, suffering multiple wounds as he tries to land at a safe distance…
Irrattouos moves and casts Darkbolt again to help out Sizul, but the spell fails to affect the Vrock; Will fares no better when his Enervation ray misses its target, but Stroud hits his target with a second Eldritch Blast as Kaurophon runs up next to him in a support role.
The archers continue to move around each other, rotating in and out as they fire; Busta, Indarin, Jack, Sharnistival and Woodrow all hit once each, while Topaz misses after moving to a better firing spot. Enialis, left behind by the retreating Vrocks, tries to retreat to safety, but instead he collapses, as the spores released by the demons overcome him and begin to sprout on his exposed skin, like they have on the fallen devil-wolf…
Charaine, rushing up dangerously close to the battle, tries to reach him to administer first aid – but the confused demon is lashing out at anything it can reach…it attacks the closer of its two allies as it tries to retreat, killing it! After that, it attacks Indarin’s summoned Shadow and destroys it as well!
Irrattouos hits one of the last two Vrocks with a Darkbolt for modest damage and Will casts Scorching Ray, hitting with one of the two rays of fire, also for modest damage; as Sizul gets out a vial of healing potion and drinks it, Stroud hits the last demon with another Eldritch Blast. Kaurophon had run up to support the fighters, but he sees that you all are gaining the upper hand in this fight now; he waits for a clear path to help the fallen fighters.
Busta drops his apparently useless crossbow and tumbles into melee with one of the Vrocks, hitting for no noticeable damage while all four archers hit with their shots – with Topaz hitting critically! As Enialis lay unconscious at Charaine’s feet with spores germinating rapidly on him, the wizard thrusts her wand of Surging forcefully into the crotch of the nearest Vrock and casts a Vampiric Touch through it, sending the demon into a squawking, tormented dance of pain as she steals fiendish vitality from it! It now flees, with both Topaz and Busta scoring parting shots on it as it staggers away…it doesn’t get far, however, as Will’s volley of Magic Missiles brings it down after a few feet! Irrattouos and Sizul rush to cut off the last confused Vrock as it flees, but they cannot surround it yet; Stroud fires an Eldritch Blast at it, but it dissipates on contact.
The tide of the battle has turned and the last Vrock is trying to make a fighting escape from the party – but its Confusion is clouding its thoughts…it slows to a jog, them a walk, talking to itself in its own fiendish tongue…
Busta, Jack and Topaz sprint ahead of the rest of the party to keep up with the fleeing demon; Will casts Fly to overtake them all later on… Charaine moves to perform first aid on Enialis and Indarin moves to do the same on ‘No’ as Sharnistival and Woodrow continue to fire their bows; the half-demon misses and the arcane archer hits two of three times, while nearby, Irrattouos moves up and begins poking around the first two fallen demons’ corpses. Sizul, having caught up to the Vrock as it slowed, attacks twice with ‘Bugswatter’ – but his first swing misses badly, throwing his second attack off as well. However, Stroud – from over one hundred feet behind the half-dragon, casts his eighth Eldritch Blast, firing it over Sizul’s shoulder and into the demon…
…it falls!
As Busta and Irrattouos search the three corpses, with Stroud moving in to join them; Will takes to the fiendish sky to scan the horizon for any other signs of danger…
Jack, Woodrow as well as the returning Sharnistival and Topaz join in keeping careful watch in all directions as Sizul shreds the third Vrock’s corpse in anger and Kaurophon jogs up to Indarin – who has just assessed the condition of ‘No’, the devil-wolf…and declared her dead...and Charaine, who tries in vain to save the mortally infected Enialis and fails – he goes limp in her arms…and dies.
Indarin acts quickly to prevent the spores from infecting anyone else; she rapidly pilfers anything of value from the devil-wolf’s corpse and sets it ablaze – Charaine does the same, and rolls Enialis’ corpse into the fire also…
Belongings are divided up…you all quickly decide that it would be too dangerous to camp in THE ABYSS, so you pick up your equipment and move on. Sizul and Topaz heal themselves using some of their own potions as best they can, but otherwise walk on, wounded.
You all march on for several hours after your fight with the demons…Will’s incantation to Fly has ended, Stroud hovers along at only a few feet off of the ground and the rest of you nervously scan the distance for other fiendish wanderers; the warlock tells you tales of planar travelers who are harassed constantly by the minions of the Abyss, until they falter from the endless battle and suffering.
There is movement in the distance.
Something catches your eyes; there is a hill-sized mound of Celestial rubble several hundred yards off, with strewn wreckage spreading out towards you by half that distance…
There is movement in the distance.
Several wrecked buildings, some still showing patches of gleaming white marble yet undulled by taint , lie amongst the ruin; many lie in broken fragments, as if they had landed upside down or on their side…some are partially intact – some upside down, some on their side, some upright…a scattered few are upright and mostly intact, save for their roofs…
There is movement in the distance.
A shape disappears from a cracked window…you all point and debate where you may have seen the movement; spells are cast, bows are nocked and Stroud volunteers to fly over and investigate…
There is movement in the distance.
The warlock flies at a low altitude towards where the rubble grows thicker…towards where he thought he saw a shadow disappear from around the corner of a wrecked building…
There is movement in the distance.
The party sees Stroud recede down a gentle slope – fifty yards…one hundred…one hundred fifty…
Stroud sees something….
M
If I recall correctly, Jaegyr, who posts on these boards was present for that event.
Aaaah man…ASEO don’t get me involved in this! I have been trying to avoid this board and you go ahead and summon me up!
Don’t you know that these guys play with evil characters…that is bad juju to get involved in! I mean I kept warning these guys that they were playing with fire but no one wanted to listen to me…they are just having fun giving free-rein to their darksides in the game! There is no underlying desire to rape and pillage innocent people, to mutilate dead people out of some form of revenge, or participate in sado-masochistic sex for hire…but they still feel the need to role-play such conduct. It just isn’t right, I tell ya!
So I left them to their devices and prayed for their souls…now they will just have to burn in a Lake of Fire! Just Kidding :-)! Those of us who were around back then had to put up with enough of that crap in the 80s! Hell, it's only in the last couple of years that they started calling them Devils and Demons again!
Seriously, playing evil characters just isn’t my cup of tea and I probably wouldn’t ever choose to play in such a campaign…I had enough of that negative energy back in college and have enjoyed the Good/Neutral campaigns I have played in a WHOLE lot better…the group has always been a lot more cohesive and willing to fight and die heroically for each other…but again that’s me!
I have to admit though that I have REALLY enjoyed reading this board…and it is probably because the characters are evil! Usually when a person dies in a story…you feel sorry for them or the folks they left behind, but with these characters you can see them living on borrowed time, feel that their deaths were justified, or even see the humor as they kill each other…kind of like a twisted Three Stooges movie! This is the most fun that I have had reading something in a long time!
And ASEO…regarding your campaign in Panama, involving the Goblins and Wild Magic…it really did ROCK! We all were first sh!tting ourselves as this monster goblin started getting bigger, then flying, and then racing toward us at Mach 1…and then we were sh!tting ourselves in laughter as this kamikaze goblin went SPLAT! The whole night was like that! (Goblin Screech: EEEEEEEEEEIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!)
You guys should have been there…when it comes to DM’ing on the fly…ASEO deserves a trophy! This guy can spontaneously DM like a champ and that whole adventure that night, for over eight hours, was completely random generated and everyone had a great time!
But this is about Marc’s campaign (sorry) and the great entertainment he has been providing us! All I will say is Cheers…and Marc keep up the great work of keeping those characters on their toes and us entertained as those wild-n-crazy fiendish, half-breed brigands adventure themselves into damnation!
Stay Frosty!
LOL - You guys rock...
If I ever win the Lottery, I'm gonna buy a big game table at DragonCon and run a weekend campaign...
...and you guys will have reserved seats at the table!
M
2/23/05: The first episode of a record-setting battle that runs in excess of three minutes - of non-stop combat!
"Guerilla Warfare, Episode I"
(or, "Stop Gropin’ the Meat, Boy!”, or, “You Blew His Rocks Off..!”)
The party is beginning to get nervous watching the warlock shrink into the distance…you all go through a moment of panic, as he suddenly disappears – until you realize that he can do that at will…
Tense moments pass…
One minute…
Two minutes…
You are all startled by the sudden crackle of a Lightning Bolt that strikes upward, from the ground towards a point in the air nearby – the pained cry of Stroud somewhere in that area makes it clear that he was the target of the bolt…
The warlock is in danger – you all begin to sprint towards the larger piles of rubble that lie beyond the overall field of debris that you were skirting around; as you all run, Will casts Spectral Hand while Indarin looks around for cover and other opponents…
Stroud, knowing that his invisibility is apparently not enough to conceal him, gets out a scroll and casts a healing spell on himself, hoping that his assailant cannot hit him with another bolt of electricity so soon…
You all have covered half of the distance towards where you saw the lightning bolt emerge from…Busta pauses to search the piles of rubble for a sign of your attacker – he finds none… Suddenly, a huge hemisphere of blackness appears to the left side of the rubble field, obscuring most of your destination! Some of you veer off to the right, hoping to flank your unseen opponents…
Stroud gets out a second scroll and attempts to dispel the globe of darkness for the rest of the approaching party…he fails…
Will and Jack try to spot any enemies around the rubble while the rest of you continue to advance; they don’t find anything. Sizul has taken flight to increase his speed, and he now is catching up to Busta, who is far ahead of everyone else; the monk reaches the right edge of the darkness zone and plans to move behind it… But before he can do so, a creature emerges from the darkness! It sees him and the approaching half-dragon, points at you both, and a crackling arc of electricity travels out in a long beam, enveloping both Busta and Sizul and almost reaching the rest of the party!
Busta recovers quickly and fires his crossbow at it, but he misses; Sizul, however, flies at full speed straight at it while getting out Bugswatter and pointing it forward – he charges right into the creature, cutting it as it dives back into the darkness! Far behind, Woodrow casts Resists Elements; far above and unseen, Stroud casts Dispel Magic again to try and counter the dark – he fails again.
The group is taking defensive positions scattered across a large area, in order to present few targets to another potential lightning bolt attack; at that moment, two automatons, made of stone rubble, emerge from the darkness and attack Sizul and Busta – the smaller of the two is humanoid-sized and attacks the monk…the larger one attacks the half-dragon and is the size of a house!
Fortunately, for Busta and Sizul, both creatures miss their first attacks – but the monk misses his three attacks also, as he slaps his hands painfully on the chunks of stone that make up the automaton; Sizul, on the other hand, cleaves chunks of rubble out of his opponent by using his polearm like a shovel. Woodrow, Topaz and Sharnistival spot the melee as it breaks out and fire their bows – they all hit; Charaine, looking to provide cover fire for the fighters, fires her wand of random energy into the darkness, just to the left of where the melee is…Busta and Sizul can tell from the sound and heat that the result was a fireball.
Stroud tries for a third time to dispel the darkness – he fails again; Will hits one of the automatons with a volley of Magic Missiles, as both Busta and Sizul connect with all of their attacks and send chunks of rubble flying to the ground. Woodrow, Topaz and Sharnistival hit with all of their arrows, but they can’t be sure that they are doing any damage, since they are embedding their arrows into stone rubble! Charaine fires her wand of random energy at the larger of the two automatons, narrowly missing Sizul; a ball of electricity disrupts the animated pile of rubble and it collapses!
For the fourth time, Stroud casts Dispel Magic…he succeeds! The globe of darkness is dispelled, but nothing of note is revealed; Will casts Shocking Grasp through his spectral hand, but he misses the remaining smaller automaton…
To the party’s right, a creature that matches the one Busta and Sizul encountered appears from behind a pile of rubble and casts Lightning Bolt into the heart of the party – Topaz, Will, Charaine and Indarin are all hit! The remaining automaton tangles with Busta and they exchange brutal blows on each other – but the monk emerges victorious as he pulls out chunks of rubble and hip throws the rest to the ground! As the victims of the lightning bolt stagger and recover themselves, Woodrow is the first to fire on the spellcasting, amphibian-like humanoid – he hits it twice, once in the neck! Sizul wheels around and charges it, stabbing it deeply, as Irrattouos and Kaurophon both add their Magic Missiles to the attack. Seeing a target for the first time, Stroud casts an Eldritch Blast at the creature, blasting it just as Will hits it in the face with a shocking grasp through his spectral hand! The spellcasters can tell by the creatures appearance that it is a Slaad of some variety!
Faced with such a sudden and brutal assault, the creature desperately avoids Topaz’s rapier and Jack’s bow fire, casting Invisibility and fleeing, leaving a trail of alien ichor; Busta runs to where he last saw it and makes sweeping attacks there – he slices the air as Sizul moves past him and does the same farther forward, also failing to hit anything. As the seriously burned Topaz gets out a healing potion and drinks it, Charaine fires her random energy wand beyond Sizul in an attempt to catch your fleeing opponent; a seething globe of acid rains down on the area, but no screams are heard.
Indarin and Will take advantage of the short respite to cure themselves using a wand and potion, respectively; as Jack searches for your opponent, Stroud blasts a random area from long range, in the hopes of hitting something…
Suddenly, a pair of automatons coalesces out of rubble piles, attacking but missing as they approach. Again, Busta engages the smaller of the two, hitting two out of three times; Woodrow follows up with three arrow hits on the larger one, as Sharnistival and Topaz each hit once as well. Sizul turns and moves back to where he was before, engaging the larger of the two automatons and cleaving a huge chunk out of it with Bugswatter – which may as well be renamed ‘pickaxe’ by now… Charaine follows up again with another blast from her wand of random energy; a miniature Ice Storm envelopes the back half of the automaton, coating it in ice! Stroud hits it squarely in the torso with an Eldritch Blast fired from over two hundred feet away and Will casts a second Shocking Grasp through his spectral hand, as Jack sends a crossbow bolt ricocheting off of the animated stone house!
A blast of swirling energy detonates directly in the center of the melee…random sparks envelope everyone in the area, but only the Tiefling and the monk seem to be affected – they both are sent reeling from the release of Chaotic energy; the automaton advances on Sizul, trampling Sharnistival in the process, as the smaller automaton misses its attack.
Busta hits twice on his target and Sizul cleaves the larger one, destroying it – however, it collapses onto Sharnistival, who is still underneath it! He extricates himself from the collapsed rubble, bruised and battered, as Topaz and Busta struggle to overcome the chaos energy that struck them; Kaurophon hits the remaining automaton with a volley of Magic Missiles as Charaine drinks a potion of healing that she had gotten out a moment earlier.
Will casts Scorching Ray at the last automaton, but both of the bolts of fire miss; Stroud hits again with an Eldritch Blast, firing over Will’s shoulder from over two hundred feet behind, as Jack hits with a crossbow bolt. The last automaton attacks Topaz but misses, just before Busta tackles the construct and destroys it as they fall to the ground.
Everyone immediately begins to search the area for their stealthy opponent and master of these animated stone horrors; as you all scan beyond where the fighting occurred for traces of your opponent, another Chaos Hammer spell hits the party, slowing Busta and Topaz (even more than before).
You all form a wide rank and begin to swiftly advance forward, with the warriors leapfrogging each other as you move...as Sizul advances past a pile of rubble that just exceeds his size, he sees a dripped trail of blackish ooze on the ground…that leads to the foot of your quarry! Before he can act, the Slaad speaks…a single, horrible word of a long lost fiendish tongue…Sizul is wracked by a pain that drives deep into his mind – he is left stunned and on his knees…
The rest of the party is still searching…Woodrow casts Detect Magic to try and track the Slaad, while Charaine hits an area in the distance with a surged Fireball from her wand of random energy, as the rest of you fan out and look for the stealthy outsider… Stroud makes himself invisible again and flies closer to join in the search; Will and Topaz take a moment to drink potions of Healing, Woodrow scans the area with his Detect Magic, and Busta moves up to defend the stricken half-dragon as the rest of you fan out… Charaine is blasting random areas beyond the party – this time, she creates a ball of green electrical energy that persists for several seconds longer than it normally should...she has a profound thought – and tries to will it into motion…to control it…
She fails.
Indarin climbs a nearby pile of rubble to scout the area; she reaches just short of ten feet in the air as she peers out across the hellish landscape of fiendish and celestial ruin…
The priest of Vecna, far from the Lord of Secrets’ gaze, sees something…
There! It’s over there!!
M
3/2/05: The second consecutive session of a record-length battle..!
"Cats and Mice/ Guerilla Warfare, Episode II"
(or, “Come, Let Me Put It In Your Pants”, or, “I Wouldn’t Mind Ending Up Prone”)
Stroud is still flying in a wide orbit around the battle scene and Will has prepared to cast a Scorching Ray as soon a target shows itself – everyone else has begun searching around the pile of rubble where the Slaad was last seen; Topaz is drinking a vial of healing potion she had just gotten out, while Charaine, oblivious to the unseen danger, is concentrating intently on using her sheer force of will to move the globe of electricity she summoned...to manipulate its power, perhaps gain insights on just how different this Outer plane is from your own…
…the crackling globe moves!
The ball of electricity begins to rise – two feet, three, four…but the Wild Mage’s epiphany is short-lived, as the globe dissipates before rising ten feet.
Irrattouos sees a distortion up in the blood-red sky – without hesitation, he casts Magic Missile at it…he hits something! Will immediately follows with his own, waiting spell – one of them hits something in the same spot, also! Indarin points her Wand of Lightning and activates it, but the bolt of energy reaches far into the sky without hitting anything; Stroud casts Detect Magic and begins sweeping the area, as Will resumes searching the sky for your opponent. Jack spots movement directly above him…he fires his crossbow straight up, and the bolt disappears entirely, around forty feet up – a pained groan gives away the hit!
But something now appears in the midst of the party – materializing as if teleported there, an Ogre-sized, muscle-bound monster, frog-like in its features except for spiked blades that extend beyond it’s own claws…it’s skin is blue – varying in shades, but still blue overall; it doesn’t hesitate – it promptly reaches out and claws into Will and Topaz (twice), but misses its attacks on Kaurophon and Woodrow. Busta moves for a clear shot and hits the brute with his crossbow as Woodrow starts to defensively back out of harms’ way; Sharnistival, who had been covering the front flank of the still stunned Sizul, turns and fires around the half-dragon, hitting the blue Slaad also. Topaz retreats from the reach of the Slaad brute, as does Kaurophon, as she grabs for a second vial; Charaine expertly places a globe of energy from her wand just onto the head of the blue Slaad, avoiding hitting her allies that surround it – but the monster seems strangely immune to the sonic blast’s effect…Irrattouos hits it with a volley of Magic Missiles for a more noticeable effect, however.
Indarin, and Stroud flying above, are looking for the grey Slaad…Will, facing the Blue Slaad alone now, grabs his wand of Displacement and activates it to help escape; Jack misses his second shot at the Blue Slaad - just before a second globe of darkness covers the battleground! The Blue Slaad, fighting just outside the darkness, hits Will twice, despite his displacement, and Woodrow once as he retreats; Will survives, barely – in desperation, he grabs his spellbook and casts Dimension Door directly from its pages to escape! Busta runs toward the battle, getting out a vial as he does, as Topaz drinks her own potion to stay in the fight; Sharnistival, still firing past the stunned Sizul, hits with one of his two arrows, as Irrattouos backs into the darkness to hide and Kaurophon slowly starts to grope his way out the other side of it. Charaine casts Dispel Magic, attempting to dispel the globe of darkness - she fails.
As Indarin continues to search for the grey Slaad, Jack fires his third crossbow bolt at the blue one; it glances, for the second time, off of its thick hide. Stroud, using the edge of the darkness globe as concealment, Eldritch Blasts the blue Slaad from above, just before it cleaves into Sharnistival with a claw attack; the grey Slaad appears again, hitting Indarin from only fifteen feet away with a Lightning Bolt that arcs past her and into Sizul, then into Jack, standing beyond! All three of them are burned severely, but none fall; Sharnistival puts away his bow and readies his sword and shield, while Busta drinks a healing potion and Woodrow looks for targets on the far side of the globe of darkness while waiting for it to fall.
Topaz backs away from the blue Slaad, using the darkness as cover; she fires blindly from within it and fails to connect. Sizul is beginning to come around now – the lightning bolt that struck him jolted his mind out of the ringing pain he was in; he shakes his head and begins to instinctively feel the threat looming nearer, in the form of a hulking Slaad that matches his size and strength…
Indarin makes a tough decision – to engage the now visible grey Slaad in melee – she hits it first with a Scorching Ray out of her wand and then moves to fight it hand to hand; Stroud hasn’t seen this fight break out – he is still focused on the larger, blue opponent…he hits it with another Eldritch Blast, as Jack tries to recover from the lightning damage, but misses with his crossbow.
Will has used his dimension door to remove himself to the easiest safe place he could recall in the heat of battle – the point in the road where you all originally saw the rubble-field; he appears there, hundreds of feet from the battle, drinks his last pair of curative potions and begins a long run (for a dwarf, at least) back to the battle.
The grey Slaad is in melee with Indarin…he steps back and casts a second Lightning Bolt into Indarin at point-blank range! The bolt hits Sizul a second time, also, as well as Jack; but in addition, the lightning also strikes the blue Slaad, who was in between Sizul and Jack! Both Jack and the Slaad fall…Indarin survives (barely…) and Sizul is jolted to full awareness – of the burning pain! As Busta runs to Jack and administers first aid, Sizul moves out of the line of the other Slaad’s fire and gets out a healing vial and drinks; Charaine and Irrattouos hide in the globe of darkness, Sharnistival and Kaurophon are moving around the rubble piles, searching for the source of the lightning bolts, and Woodrow keeps watch on the far side of the darkness globe. Topaz emerges from the cover of the darkness, spots the grey Slaad and fires – but misses.
Indarin uses the wand of healing on herself in a panic, facing the grey Slaad alone as Stroud hovers above and searches for the fight; the sorcerer-beast steps to his right and casts a third Lightning Bolt that negates all of the priest’s healed damage and nearly drops her to the ground…Busta leaves the fallen but stable Jack where he is and begins to look for where the fight has moved to, as Sharnistival drinks one of his last vials of healing draught; Topaz has a clear line of sight on the grey Slaad now, but her two arrows narrowly miss. Kaurophon is running around the back of the rubble pile to where Sharnistival is, trying to stay near the center of the scattered party – Irrattouos still hides in the darkness.
Charaine, becoming aware of the great magical power of this creature, casts Minor Globe of Invulnerability on herself, in preparation for the final clash; Indarin dives into the nearby darkness to escape death from the grey Slaad – in her mad scramble into the blackness, she trips on the rubble and falls…she uses the opportunity to hide among the stones and drink a healing potion. Stroud finally spots the grey Slaad and Eldritch Blasts it – but the Slaad sends a Lightning Bolt back at the warlock in return! The flashy display of sorcerous powers are a clear beacon to Will, who is running in from a distance, but Busta is facing the wrong way and misses the moment as he searches among the rubble and around the darkness globe for the battle. The Slaad now ducks into a nearby rubble pile – Sharnistival, Topaz, Charaine and Kaurophon all lose sight of the monster, as Sizul also prepares for a last great effort…he drinks a potion of Protection from Electricity…
…Irrattouos remains well hidden in the darkness.
Stroud feels his fast healing ending…the battle has entered its second continuous minute…he gets out a scroll that has a healing spell on it as he flies at a safe distance – he sees Will approaching from behind him; Woodrow is running too, but away – to a safer firing point. The rest of the party searches for the grey Slaad, that has hidden somewhere in a rubble pile about the size of a small building…Sizul drinks a third potion to heal himself, as the rest of the party cautiously circles the rubble pile… Indarin feels that it’s safe enough to get up, but after she does, the darkness globe disappears - she and Irrattouos are exposed in plain sight! Topaz sees something in the air…she fires, but the arrow leaves a trail of smoke as it arcs into the distance; Irrattouos tries to intimidate the Slaad into showing itself, but he just threatens the sky…
Indarin sees the distortion in the air above, as before – she points and yells; Charaine, who has just cast See Invisibility, tries to spot the elusive Slaad, but she doesn’t find it…no one does… Stroud goes invisible again, playing the cat and mouse game, and flies slowly on…
…but the priest hasn’t lost sight of the distortion in the sky above – it moves at different angles in the windless sky… Will has now arrived to the left side of the party and is taking a position among some large rocks – Stroud, just above him, casts Detect Magic and scans for a different type target…he searches for a magic aura, Charaine searches for his invisibility spell, and everyone else is looking for a target to attack…
Suddenly one arrives – but not the one you had hoped! A second blue Slaad appears among the center of the group, again! It mauls Sizul, clawing him twice – once critically; but the half-dragon reacts instinctively, stepping back and breathing a cone of dragon-fire back at it! Topaz narrowly misses being burned (Sizul aimed his breath just high enough…), but she ducks and fires twice – hitting with the first shot, as Sharnistival gets out his own bow; Woodrow fires a salvo of three arrows right into the blue beast – covering for Busta, who feeds a healing vial to Jack in the hopes of getting him back into action. Irrattouos continues to curse at the grey Slaad, hurling insults at him; he hears laughter in the distance…
As Stroud hovers somewhere above, invisibly scanning for a magic aura, Will sprints to a new position; Jack awakens – he senses the nearby danger and gropes for his weapon… Indarin continues to focus on not losing the distortion in the air above…but the movement of the rubble behind her and Kaurophon draws her attention – it rises up into the larger one of another pair of automatons!
Indarin is hit by the huge animated pile of stones, but Kaurophon escapes the smaller one; the blue Slaad turns and mauls Topaz for hitting him with an arrow – she pays dearly..! Sizul is bitten as well, but before it can kill the severely injured pair, it is brought down by a second trio of arrows by Woodrow! Both of the weary fighters drop to their knees and grope for their last healing vials, spent…Sharnistival covers them, hitting the larger automaton twice with arrows as Busta charges the smaller one, hitting it.
Charaine is still searching for the invisible grey Slaad…he can’t be that far away and be inflicting that much damage on all of you…
Kaurophon has gotten out a wand and has been waiting for the right opportunity to fire; he can’t wait any longer – Topaz and Sizul are too weakened and, despite being saved from the blue Slaad by Woodrow, are still dangerously close to the huge automaton…he blasts it with a Cone of Cold out of his wand!
The cloud of condensation and frost clears –
It still stands.
You can hear laughter, somewhere in the distance.
M
3/9/05: The grand finale of a triple-session battle – with a random encounter, no less!
"The Endgame/ Guerilla Warfare, Episode III"
(or, “Do You Have Anything Long?”, or “If We Kick Your Ass, Do We Go Up A Level?”)
Indarin is focused on slowly backing away from the damaged automaton, trying not to draw its attention as it seeks a new victim to attack; Will, seeing Stroud hovering above scanning for magic auras, casts the same spell and scans a different direction – Irrattouos does the same... Jack, fully back in the battle now, hits the automaton with a crossbow bolt as it swings at Indarin, missing; the smaller one attacks and misses Busta, who easily sidesteps it and punches it once out of three tries.
From out of nowhere, another Lightning Bolt strikes Stroud from above and hits Will on the ground! The grey Slaad hovers just above the warlock, appearing where the bolt originated…
As Woodrow moves into a better firing position, Sizul drinks the healing potion he had just gotten out; he will drink a second one after, as will Topaz… Both Charaine and Sharnistival are looking for where the lightning bolt came from…neither can spot the Slaad; the half-fiend fires at the smaller automaton for good measure as Kaurophon grits his teeth and blasts the larger one with a second Cone of Cold! The huge stone behemoth crumbles and settles back into the rubble pile from whence it came…
The grey Slaad is exposed now; Stroud, Will and Indarin all blast it with an Eldritch Blast, Fireball and a Scorching Ray, respectively, as Jack gets out and drinks one of his last healing vials; the burned and blasted, but resolved Slaad throws a second Lightning Bolt back at the warlock but is unable to angle it to catch a second target. While Woodrow reaches into his equipment to refill his quiver with arrows, Busta evades the last automaton and hits it with a flurry of blows; Sharnistival hits it with a pair of arrows as Charaine, Kaurophon and Irrattouos search for the Slaad, somewhere above… But Stroud and Indarin are locked in a duel of spells with the monster…the priest fires first, using her wand of Lightning Bolts – she fries the Slaad with a dose of his own medicine! Its body drifts down, as the smaller automaton crumbles, its magic dissipated…
…the battle ends…two minutes and thirty-six seconds after Stroud was hit by the very first bolt of lightning.
Everyone sits, or drops to their knees, panting… there is much healing to do. Will implores the priests to expend what they have; Kaurophon volunteers his wand of Cure Serious Wounds, exhausting it on the fighters alone but returning them almost to full strength. Charaine still has her Detect Magic spell going – she sees multiple magic auras deep inside a larger rubble pile in the distance…Will and Stroud use their own spells and concur with the wild mage – there are magic items ahead!
Led by the spellcasters, the party finds a crevasse between two large chunks of rubble that leads into the remnants of a large stone building – the hollow cavity of the chamber sits at an angle, with the floor sloping up to your left and huge blocks of white marble lean in on the room from above, forming a peaked roof; steps have been gouged into it where looted equipment, armor and weapons haven’t been piled and no less than six damaged backpacks, lined up along the angled wall, overflow with coins!
There isn’t time to tally treasure now; a vote must be taken – stay here and press on, or retreat back to the Prime Material Plane, recuperate and equip to return much better prepared…
The outcome is predictable.
Indarin successfully casts the spell off of the second scroll of Plane Shift that Kaurophon gave her, and the mage successfully activates his Amulet of the Planes…and you all disappear from the vaporous, acrid-fumed, wet, slimy heat of the Abyss…
…to appear on a warm, thick-grassed, breezy emerald hilltop somewhere in the wilderness of Greyhawk.
Following a Divination spell, it is determined that you have returned to the world of Greyhawk over three hundred miles to the south-southeast of your home city of Rauxes; on foot and off-road, you face a march of several weeks. You all look at each other, shrug, and begin to walk.
Night falls within an hour of your arrival - you march through the night; some of you savor the cool breeze and the night sky, some of you curse the wet chill of the air. As sunrise approaches, you set up camp under a pair of trees and rest until mid-afternoon; during this rest time, you find that Will has become weak with illness – a bite wound from the fight with the blue Slaad weeps with pus…ugly blotches are appearing on his skin and his movements are getting unsure and sluggish. Indarin casts Restoration to cure the symptoms, followed by Cure Disease – you march on into the evening…but the next morning, Will is deteriorating again!
With some thought by the party, you all determine that the dwarf’s malady must be in some way similar to Mummy Rot, which is a supernatural curse; after casting Restoration again on him, you march for the day…Indarin prepares and then casts Remove Curse on the stricken Will – by the next morning, you can tell that he is cured!
The wilderness in the High Summer is a beautiful spectrum of the sounds and colors of nature and life…it makes you all miserable. You walk on for another night, preferring to move unseen and sleep hidden in the breezy shade within copses of trees…
Walking as a dispersed crowd into deepening woods a couple of hours after getting started the next afternoon, the atmosphere is growing darker; the canopy thickens overhead until it begins to blot out the purple, orange and red sunset to your left…you all begin to feel more at home.
Quite suddenly, you all are beset by five giant spiders that literally materialize out of nowhere amidst you!
The ones that appear near Sharnistival, Indarin, Woodrow and Busta try to bite them, but fail to, either by luck, armor or sheer dexterity; the one that attacks Will hits, however – the force of its attack drives the dwarf into the turf, knocking the wind out of him! (*…to reflect the fact that, following Sean L.’s departure from the session for the night, no one remembered to roll initiative for his character – which left Will out of the initiative order for the rest of this encounter! Oops!)
Just as suddenly as their appearance and attack, the five giant spiders disappear again!
Stroud leaps into the air to avoid a possible return of the spiders – Sizul does the same; everyone else loads their bows and crossbows to await their return… When they do, their attack is much more effective – Indarin avoids her attack, but Busta, Sharnistival, Woodrow, and Charaine are all bitten; the arcane archer and the mage violently react with the spiders’ potent venom and weaken rapidly! Busta, Woodrow and Sharnistival all trade successful blows with the ones that attacked them, and Stroud adds in his Eldritch Blast also; Irrattouos casts Greater Mage Armor and Indarin casts Recitation, while a trembling Charaine gets out a long-hidden vial from her pouch and drinks…she follows it with a healing potion chaser.
Four spiders reappear again, and attack!
Sharnistival, Topaz and Woodrow avoid damage from their attackers; Jack is bitten, but he turns and fires his crossbow at point blank range into its eye! Sharnistival and Woodrow successfully return bow attacks with their respective spiders, but Busta misses his shot and Stroud holds his fire for the moment; Topaz, who had been waiting ready with ‘Riposte’ in hand, sees one appear within arms reach and lunges, driving her rapier into the spider up to its hilt before it can even bite her! The injured spider dives at her, but she kneels under its bite and embeds ‘Riposte’ into the underside of the spider for a second time! While flying in a wide circle above, Sizul casts Major Resistance, followed with Shield of Faith, as the spiders phase back out; below, Irrattouos prepares a Darkbolt spell for the spiders’ next appearance.
Only three spiders phase in this time; two miss their attacks on Topaz and Indarin, while one bites Sharnistival; fortunately, the half-fiend is immune to the spiders’ toxin. Topaz, again moving deftly, sidesteps her attacker and impales it with ‘Riposte, as Indarin casts Scorching Ray out of her wand and blasts the spider at point-blank range; Irrattouos hits another one with a Darkbolt as Stroud hits yet another with Eldritch Blast, killing it and leaving its blasted corpse on several wet chunks on the grass. Busta, Sharnistival and Jack all hit with their missile attacks, but Woodrow has run to the nearest tree and begun to climb it for a better firing position as the remaining two spiders phase out.
The same pair of spiders reappear – when they do, you all are waiting for them.
One spider bites Indarin and the other one misses its bite on Sharnistival, but Stroud immediately Eldritch Blasts the former into pieces that meld with its partner’s on the ground; Busta critically hits the other with his crossbow – Jack hits with his crossbow, also. Topaz steps up to the last spider and stabs it deeply, with a satisfied grin on her face; it phases out before anyone can fire their bow.
You all wait, taut and anxious, for several seconds…silence returns to the wilderness. The last phase spider never returns. After a minute of cautiously waiting, you all decide to move on before any others return to this place.
M
3/16/05: Due to the absence of almost half of the players (SCA Gulf Wars), there was no session this week.
3/23/05: A somewhat administrative session, with no combat…
"Home Sweet Home/There and Back Again"
(or, "My fingers were crossed when we agreed to go back, remember?")
You all walk slowly, looking in all directions, for several minutes...then you quicken your pace to a slow jog, hoping to leave behind any other phase spiders; once the slower members are winded, you return to a walk, helping along Woodrow, who is visibly weak, sweating and pale. The arcane archer can barely walk - you carry his equipment for him and eventually, Sizul drags him by one arm as you march on until almost sunrise. Indarin heals him the next afternoon before you set out and casts several curing spells on others; within two days, you are all back to full strength and making good time through thick forest.
The first three days following the encounter with the phase spiders are rainy; on day four, the weather clears a bit and remains warm and humid. On the fourth day, you encounter three ogres in the forest - but they are not trained or well equipped...you make such short work of them that the battle will not even be recounted here; you find no significant loot on them, so Sizul packs some of them for lunch and you move on.
The weather is warm and clear for the next four days - you're all miserable (except Sizul)... then clouds for a day, then heavy rain , then overcast again - just as the forest thins and ends, leaving you walking through familiar-looking domesticated farmlands...the clouds gradually give way to sun over the next two days, as you close in on Rauxes from the south. Farmsteads begin to grow denser, the countryside looks more and more worn and worked, and there are fewer trees, more muddy roads and pathways...and eventually more buildings - both of wood and of stone.
Traveling through the night serves you well - you have to kill very few humans and the like to return to the city and now you can see the walls in the distance when you make camp for the day; you make your plans to enter the city and return home. Ever cautious, Indarin casts Divination and asks if the Malachite Fortress is still under the control of forces loyal to her; everyone's eyebrows rise...and you all look at each other in astonishment...when the cryptic answer she receives is no..!
Something has happened while you were away (And Kelly earned bonus XPs for thinking to check before getting back home)... You alter your plans for entering the city...but enter, you will.
It is known that there are certain guards and certain gates where someone can buy their way in, regardless of their race or their business - you all have used them before; that evening, as the line into the city gate grows short, you all move onto the road and take up a place... Several of you, not just Sizul by virtue of his size, garner odd looks from peasants and passers-by - but all of these folk know better than to make a scene...they all walk on, to tell tall tales once they reach where it is they are going...
You all reach the front of the line; guards stare you down, knowing that their station and authority makes up for your sheer physical threat; the reality is that their station is a farce and their authority comes from the fifty-odd men awaiting their call of alarm should they be attacked, not their rank. A slave-driver moves his stock down the street, leaving you to deal with the guards next...Indarin moves to speak for you all - she tosses a bag of gold coins on the ground in front of them and, without a word, waves you all through the gate...
...The closest guard picks up the bag and opens it; he smiles, turns to the other guards, and nods. None of them as much as get up from where they sit.
It's night time in Rauxes; amidst the constant murmur of the city, the familiar stench, the occasional scream, the sound of distant fights and general mayhem, you all finally feel at home again. Indarin seeks out street contacts for news of what has transpired while you all were away; she is already suspicious of something...eventually, she finds one and she asks for news of the Fortress, worried about her divination and what may have happened to it.
The news you all hear from the street urchin is as bad as you all feared:
"The Fortress was assaulted by adventurers; the first two expeditions failed, but the third wiped out the cultists (of Vecna) and drove out anyone left in the Malachite Fortress. After it was cleared, a garrison moved in... from the Palace..."
The Imperial Guard now occupies your home...what news could be worse; it's commonly known that these shock troops are brutal to any opposition - few people ever do and live very long... As you consider your options and seek out the fate of your friend Rahl, you all make camp in the dingy ruins of the Slum District; few wandering beggars will approach such an intimidating and dangerous-looking bunch as you, although your rest is constantly interrupted by gathering scores of peasants whom you have to threaten off. Nevertheless, your day passes with crowds of dirt-caked, smelly serfs of all races encircling your particular block of abandoned shacks, looking at you like you're all a circus sideshow...no one dares get within fifty feet of you, however - except one or two that quickly become an example (and lunch for Sizul)...
Late the next afternoon, you all begin to contact your usual fences and traders to liquidate your accumulated swag and to schedule training for five of you; Indarin will spend some cash to rebuild a small shrine in the Slum District, somewhere in the depths of an abandoned squatter apartment building... Will studies at the Imperial Wizard's Libranum, as does Charaine... Busta is deep in personal training and contemplation at the small dojo he established at the edge of the Trader's District... Irrattouos and Topaz are in meditation in their own right - the former marinates himself in exotic (toxic to some) oils, potions and salves to encourage his fiendish grafted skin to grow, while the latter submerges herself further into dark thoughts of lust, pain, hate and perversion (while not actually 'working', Topaz has MUCH more fun and enjoys a higher fatality-count in her activities...)
Three weeks pass... While Will, Charaine, Indarin, Topaz, Irrattouos and Busta are away, Woodrow and Sizul seek out Rahl to gather a report of the events that transpired while you all were gone - the trio enjoys days and nights of revelry, massive drinking and general carousing. Stroud, Jack and Sharnistival enjoy their first taste of success, profit and relaxation for quite some time (considering their respective pasts before joining the group), while Kaurophon is busy creating scrolls of Plane Shift for your use in traveling to and from Occipitus in the coming weeks.
During the three-week downtime of the party, Stroud, Jack and Sharnistival are met by someone who introduces himself as 'Stirfry' - he claims to have been watching the party for some time and says that he's been looking for you at the former brothel since before it was closed; he tells you that your group are considered wardens of the 'oppressed races of the Empire' in the low quarters and that certain professionals of 'infernal and fiendish influence' seek you out...He asks to join your cause, whatever it may be; you agree.
Eventually, your trainees return and are ready to showcase their new skills; it's time to equip and provision yourselves for your next foray... All of you are well rested and ready to assault the very Abyss in the name of profit and power.
Within a few days, you all are ready to use the plane shift scrolls to go back to Occipitus; Will rallies you all into a frenzy for your return - but after you all link hands in two groups, the spells are cast, and you all appear once more in the burnt flesh landscape of Occipitus, the ghosts of deep wounds and old pains returns if but for a moment...and your motivations drain away, leaving you to sigh heavily, nod at each other, and to march on with determination.
...At least you reappeared about a day's walk closer to your destination - a place that Kaurophon calls the Cathedral of Feathers.
M
3/30/05: Back into action!
"Once More Into The Breech"
(or, "Membership Has Its Privileges”, or, “You Don’t Have To Fire Warning Shots”
You are fortunate, for the second time, to Plane Shift within several hundred yards of each other; after a few minutes of forming up ranks, you all take your bearings – Kaurophon points across the fleshy plain towards the nearby columns of the Ossaic Forest and the hills of Celestial rubble that lie beyond.
“Our destination is in the Celestial ruins; there lay the first Test – The Cathedral of Feathers.”
Based on the distance, it seems not quite a full day’s walk to the ruins…but the chalky forest blocks your sight, making it tough to keep your bearings; as time passes, celestial rubble begins to mingle with the fallen and crushed columns on which it landed centuries ago…soon, it feels as if you are walking across a field of gravel…then stones…then rocks…until you can no longer see the fleshy ground under your feet – all there is are blocks of stone, of varying sizes, piled into small hills of increasing size. The terrain around you looks as if the largest city you can imagine had been razed to the ground all together and swept into a single landfill.
Jack sees something – movement, in the distance; he alerts the group, but after several moments of searching the dense columns around you, no other signs are seen…you move on.
As the ossaic forest thins and the rubble thickens onto higher, steeper piles, you all march, climb and hop across the tortured landscape throughout the day; at the slow rate you travel, it will take over sixteen hours of activity to traverse only a dozen miles… Nevertheless, your destination draws near.
Busta and Jack both see something this time – the same movement, far off among the few remaining ossaic columns and piled rubble; they direct you all in the right direction and you scan the jagged horizon – still, after a few moments…nothing. You move on, warily keeping watch to the rear and flanks of the group.
In the constant, fiery twilight of the Abyssal plane of Occipitus, you can barely perceive the passage of time, except for the fatigue in your bones after moving across the difficult terrain; hours of scraping fingers on jagged rock, hopping from block to block and the occasional slip into a crevasse between stones is taking a slow toll on your minds… or is it just an effect of where you are..?
As you climb to the top of the highest ridge of ruins in front of you, Kaurophon stops to catch his breath and points to the next ridge, several hundred yards away:
“There it is – the Cathedral of Feathers.”
Amongst the partial, ruined buildings, sits a mostly-intact cathedral of white marble, flecked with veins of silver; the formerly majestic Celestial is a mockery of its former self – it’s walls are crisscrossed with cracks and small pits where individual stones have been lost, the roof has multiple gaping holes in several places, all the windows have been broken and you can see piles of smashed furniture, statues and other refuse inside.
Stroud begins to fly up to the roof to scout inside through one of the holes, as the rest of you advance in a wide rank; Kaurophon moves towards the front of the building and tells you that this is the only way in except for the obvious holes in the roof. Sizul soon takes flight and follows Stroud up to the roof, as does Sharnistival – but the half-fiend lands on a weak section of roof and it caves in under his feet – he falls twenty feet to the stone floor below, along with several hundred pounds of wooden beams and stones!
At just about that moment, a salvo of large, near-javelin-sized arrows begins to barrage the group – Charaine and Topaz are hit!
Woodrow (who had been keeping watch and witnesses the attack) fires a return volley of arrows, but the archers are in rocky cover, and he misses… They fire again, hitting Topaz (again), Sizul, Stir-Fry, Jack (twice) and Charaine (twice also…)! Busta deflects the arrow fired at him and takes cover in the rocks, as does Topaz, Sarik, Stir-Fry and Indarin; as Kaurophon returns from the front doors to see what’s happening, Charaine activates and wild surges her wand of Magic Missiles (getting a colorful salvo out of it) while Sizul leaps off the roof and flies laterally to evade more arrows and Stroud flies up to the peak of the roof and lowers himself partially into a hole to use it as cover – he casts an Eldritch Blast at the archers, but misses. Jack casts Magic Missile at one of your foes and Will toasts two of them with a Fireball in the center of their rank, while inside the cathedral, Sharnistival recovers from his fall and takes stock of his surroundings; but as the half-fiend does so, his half of the room fills with webs – just after he is hit by a Lightning Bolt!
Stir-Fry is making a cautious advance on your opponent archers, moving slowly from rock to rock; Woodrow, firing from the roof of the Cathedral, hits one of what you discover to be Centaurs twice out of three shots…
But these Centaur archers are tough, with huge bows that dwarf anything the party has (they are out of the effective range of Topaz and her short bow, so she takes cover and waits, as does Sarik…) – they hit Sarik twice and Topaz once, but miss Indarin, Charaine and Busta (who deflects his); unfortunately for you, however, Jack is dropped by his third hit – and Will, while weathering his first arrow, takes the second straight to the chest and goes down like a sack of potatoes!
You all are fighting back, though; Charaine wild surges a Fireball, frying two of the Centaurs…and she discovers that the spell components remain in her hand, unconsumed – she conjured a Fireball without channeling the energy! As she stands in amazement at her burgeoning wild talents, Kaurophon follows up her Fireball with one of his own that kills a third Centaur! As Sizul lands back on the roof of the Cathedral some one hundred feet from where he took off, Busta tries to climb the cracked wall to join Woodrow above – but he fails; not to be outdone by the mages, Stroud casts an Eldritch Blast into a fourth Centaur, dropping him, as Indarin rushes over to Will to tend his wounds – she tries to apply pressure to the severe chest would, but all she does is conjure some gurgling sounds from his punctured lung…
Inside the Cathedral, Sharnistival is trying to move to his left and getting out his bow, to exchange fire with his arachnid assailant…before he can draw a bead, he is blasted by a second Lightning Bolt – but his innate spell resistance saves him! However, he is still buried in a second globe of webs that now envelopes the entire half of the room where he is.
The tide has turned in your favor; Woodrow provides cover fire for the still-advancing Stir-Fry – he hits twice again, dropping his target, as Indarin cures Will with her wand and Kaurophon tends to Jack. The few remaining Centaurs hit Sarik and Sizul once each, but miss Busta (deflected) as he tries again to climb the wall (and fails again); the half-dragon is laying down on the roof and getting his own bow out, while Stroud turns Invisible and begins to fly towards your foes. Sarik tries to return fire from a closer range but misses – the Centaurs are ducking for cover; Charaine dislodges whoever might be left with the same wild-surged Fireball spell she had prepared from a moment ago!
On the far side of the stone wall, Sharnistival continues to wrestle with enveloping strands of webs…he gets more entangled the more he struggles…
It seems that the Centaur archers are making a fighting retreat…two of them return fire on Woodrow and hit him twice, as the other survivors drag helpless allies away; he hits one of them in return, as Stir-Fry continues to move up on them slowly. Sizul and Sarik fire on them also, but they miss; Charaine now uses her wand of Random Energy and summons a ball of arcing electricity on the last active foes – one of them falls..! As Busta finally succeeds in climbing most of the way up the stone wall, Indarin uses her healing wand for a second time on Will, as Kaurophon uses his own on Jack; in a moment, both of them are on their feet. Stroud is flying toward them from off of the roof, Topaz is moving to back up Stir-Fry…and inside the Cathedral, a very sticky half-fiend manages to break free of the webs…
But where are his attackers?
M
4/6/05:
“He Went Deep”
(or, "She Wore A Pearl Necklace…”, or, “Hey – Feign Death!”)
Sharnistival is slowly moving through the webs that envelop him and even firing his bow once as he does; the arrow catches in the webs, but he’s enraged and gives it little thought… outside, the rest of the group is fighting a ranged battle with the remaining Centaur archers.
As Stir-Fry continues his deliberate advance, Woodrow continues his barrage of arrows from his advantageous perch on the edge of the Cathedral of Feathers’ roof; the Centaurs are now fleeing, but he still hits one in the back, as Charaine drops one other with her wand of Magic Missiles. Sizul misses twice with his bow, but Indarin summons a shadow to pursue the rest of them while Busta reaches the rooftop; Jack, Sarik and Kaurophon are moving to the front of the cathedral to open the doors there and reach Sharnistival, but Stroud casts Detect Magic and flies after the Centaurs. Will casts Fireball and wipes out a Centaur and his fallen comrade that it was dragging…
Suddenly, Topaz disappears! *Poof!*
Inside the Cathedral, Sharnistival finally reaches the outer edge of the webs and breaks free into the room – but one of the Driders hits him with a magical ray that saps his strength – he is too weak to use his bow!
Seeing the Centaurs flee, Stir-Fry breaks into a run and Charaine activates her wand of Magic Missiles again – but the Centaurs’ spell resistance negates the spell; Woodrow gets out a scroll and casts Spider Climb on himself while inverting sideways onto the interior wall, so he can save the half fiend.
Kaurophon, Jack and Sarik try to push open the tall stone doors at the front of the Cathedral, but fail to move them; Will begins to run to assist, as does Indarin (as her summoned Shadow moves to attack the last Centaur)… Stroud Eldritch Blasts the last fleeing Centaur, however, as behind him, Busta carefully moves to the top of the roof and peers down into the Cathedral’s main chamber sixty feet below and gets out a rope…
Suddenly, Sizul disappears! *Poof!*
The Driders were waiting for Woodrow – one zaps him with a Lightning Bolt and a second misses with a dark ray of energy, but the wily Elf returns fire, hitting with all three arrows! Jack casts Enlarge on Sarik as she and Kaurophon continue to work the front door – still, it won’t open…but Will, Indarin and Charaine are on the way; beyond them, Stroud turns and begins to fly back, as Stir-Fry kills the first singed Centaur he reaches with a bite to the neck and the Shadow descends on its fallen companion, finishing it off.
Sharnistival is running around the pit now, readying to attack with sword and shield – but he is cut down by two of the Driders’ Magic Missiles! Severely hurt but not unconscious, he decides to play dead when he hears his cohorts trying to force the doors open just behind him!
Party: *Bam-Bam-Bam!* “We’re almost through! Play dead!!” *BAM-BAM-BAM!*
Sharnistival: “OK!” *flumph*
Woodrow hits with a fourth arrow, then retreats back outside to regroup, while at the front door, Charaine and Kaurophon back off and Indarin keeps a sharp watch out and calls for her summoned Shadow to attack the Driders, as you all wait for Jack and the enlarged Sarik to open the stone doors; Stroud Eldritch Blasts it for good measure as he approaches, and finally – success! But the blasting of the door startles Sharnistival, whom the Driders now see is clearly not unconscious…one of them smirks at the half-fiend…but they are too busy to do anything about him right now…
Will casts Mirror Image, creating seven of him – just as the Driders unleash their attack on the open doorway! Two spells are felt enveloping the area, but no discernable effect is seen, other than Sarik returning to her original size…a third one fires its bow, but misses.
Busta lowers himself halfway down into the Cathedral and scans the huge chamber – he sees nothing but rubble and piles of smoldering furniture and debris; he lowers himself the rest of the way down and hangs for a moment, ten feet off of the ground, before jumping the rest of the way and landing gracefully.
Outside, at the Centaurs’ corpses, Stir-Fry has been biting the Centaurs’ necks to ensure that they’re all dead; he finishes his third and goes for a fourth, leaving the one that the Shadow drained… Up on the roof, Woodrow takes a break and gets out a healing vial to drink, while below, Charaine and Kaurophon wait for the crowd at the door to clear; seeing the door open, Sharnistival leaps to his feet and staggers out past all of you with all the strength he can muster, while Jack and Indarin make a hole for him and Sarik steps into the room and moves to the left after he’s clear…she fires her bow at one of the Driders, but misses. Stroud makes himself invisible as he approaches the doorway and hovers above you all; Will (all seven of him) steps into the open doorway and squarely blasts the first Drider he sees with a Lightning Bolt!
The Driders return fire at Will and Sarik and with their bows – The Corrupt Elf is hit once and missed once; she resists the poison on the arrow… Will is hit, but the arrow just dispels one of his images, leaving six.
Woodrow jumps back under the roof and fires – he hits one of the Driders, dropping it off of the wall, before jumping back out of sight! Outside the doorway, Sharnistival kneels in pain as Kaurophon gets out his wand and heals him; Stroud lands in the doorway and scans the room quickly to blast something, but he fails to notice that the Driders are twenty feet up on the walls as he looks across the floor… meanwhile, Indarin moves next to him and activates her wand of Scorching Ray, hitting and dropping a second Drider. Jack casts a trio of Magic Missiles over her shoulder, but they dissipate on impact with the third Drider; Will, however, casts Lesser Fire Orb and throws it onto the Drider directly in front of you all, hitting it for full effect!
Sarik hits the last Drider with two arrows – the battle is almost won…
But a fourth Drider appears, lined up perfectly with the four of you who happen to be in a neat column out the doorway – it hurls a Lightning Bolt, hitting Indarin fully and Stroud partially (he saves) but failing to penetrate Sharnistival’s spell resistance (much to Kaurophon’s relief..!)… The injured third Drider fires his bow but misses Sarik.
Woodrow is quite shocked to see the new Drider the next time he ducks under the roof to fire his bow, which rattles him just enough to miss it; Charaine and Kaurophon still wait, this time for the fighters to clear the room – they make way for Sharnistival, who moves back into the room for revenge as Sarik fires her bow twice (but misses…). Indarin activates her wand of Scorching Ray for a second time, but the last Drider’s spell resistance is strong – it absorbs the spell from her wand, then Will’s Scorching Ray and then Jack’s Magic Missiles! However, the Drider fails to absord Stroud’s fiery Eldritch Blast and takes heavy damage from it; the aberration hits Will with three Magic Missiles of its own before retreating up the wall from the advancing Sharnistival.
In the main cathedral, Busta slowly sneaks amongst the piles of smoldering ruins, searching for enemies in this formerly consecrated place…while outside, Stir-Fry has finished off the last of the Centaurs and has decided to stay put and ransack the corpses rather than run to assist in the battle.
Regaining his composure, Woodrow jumps back under the roof and fires an arrow into the nearest Drider – he’s pleased with the result this time as he moves back outside; Charaine decides that the time for the wizards’ hanging back is over…she moves into the doorway and sees the last pair of Driders twenty feet up the back wall of the room, over the opposite doorway – she figures that she has a perfect spell for this. She casts, and a brilliant arc of blue light illuminates and joins both Driders in fiery, screaming pain; the bolt is thicker and brighter than a Lightning Bolt, but the result is quite the same – both monsters fall from the wall, smoking…and they both land with a crisp thud on the floor, one of them partially blocking the doorway.
The battle is over.
Strangely, the large pit in the center of the room fades from view – it had been an illusion, maintained by the Driders! Stroud feels this is a good time to activate his regenerative ability; he floats in the center of the room and meditates.
With growing concern over the disappearance of three of their party, the rest of the group pauses to ascertain the whereabouts of Stir-Fry and Busta; Woodrow soon spots the weretiger from the roof, then walks over to the hole and calls for the monk – who was, until that moment, advancing silently and quite unseen…
In the aftermath of the battle, you all search the Centaurs yourselves for what Stir-Fry didn’t help himself to and then wait out the 6 or so minutes for the Enfeeblement to wear off from those who were affected; Indarin decides to animate one of the Centaurs as a skeleton minion – she’s quite pleased with the effect that this Abyssal plane has on the quality of undead created here..! As the monk waits, you prepare to enter the Cathedral of Feathers.
M
4/13/05:
“The Quickie”
(or, "’I’ve got things to do’… ‘So do I !’ *smooch*”)
The group has decided not to camp at the Cathedral of Feathers, fearing further attacks would occur long before you would have a chance to rest and recover spells; after a minute of grunting and pushing, Sharnistival and Sarik opens one of the stone portals into the main Cathedral, as Busta impatiently waits farther into the room. Eventually, you cautiously catch up to the monk, as you all spread out in a long, ragged line that extends over a hundred feet from the doorway you came in; Jack and Indarin (as usual) stay at the entrance, while everyone forms a curved, single-file rank that ends with Irrattouos and Busta – with Stroud taking flight above them both, as they slowly advance across the great chamber that echoes with the sounds of rustling papers somewhere nearby.
Where the great hall narrows, there is a door on either side; no one suggests entering, but Stroud, Will and Irrattouos all cast Detect Magic to scan for potential swag. As they scan the far side of the chamber where a monstrous stone statue has been emplaced on the formerly good altar (the spellcasters all agree that the icon is of Orcus, a long lost demon-prince recently returned…), the monk sees movement behind it – something has been hiding! It is a creature like nothing he has ever seen…human torso, the body of a snake, all over thirty feet long – and all aflame as if he were made of paper!
Busta gives him the finger.
In return, the creature smiles, gestures to his right, around the statue…and a twenty-foot wall of flames bisects the room across the center of the narrow portion of the room, separating the monk and Irrattouos (and an Invisible Stroud, above) from the rest of the party!
Irrattouos now sees the creature, once it’s pointed out by Busta; after a moments reflection, he still has no clue as to what it is, other than it must be some kind of Fire Elemental creature (well, duh…). The monk rushes in to attack, but he is attacked a full twenty feet away by the monster’s tail, before he is even halfway there! Fortunately, for him, it misses; he punches the creature once in the center of the torso, pulling his fist back and realizing that its skin is scalding to the touch!
Over the next ten seconds, Busta is a model of monk-like perfection of body and mind…as the creature attacks him three times with his glowing, flaming longspear – it jabs at him, it misses…it jabs left, it misses…it jabs right, it misses…it swings its tail around to slap him – he leaps over it and lands on the balls of his feet, smiling.
Irrattouos watches, in awe – until movement catches his eye to his left; he sees a strikingly beautiful woman, naked, drifting gracefully down towards him…for a moment, he thinks it’s an angel – until the black bat-wings and horns reveal themselves! A Succubus! He tries to fight off the demon as it lands next to him, smiling – but he has no weapon in hand; she grabs him – he struggles…but not enough… She kisses him, deeply, for several seconds, as Stroud hovers above – a silent witness to the entire molestation…
He stifles himself from laughing.
When their lips part, Irrattouos is dazed; she coos to him:
“Mmmmm, that was yummy…more, my sweet..?”
Irrattouos: *…whew…* “Yes, please.”
They embrace and begin a full-on make-out, with tongue, groping, roaming fingers…the works. The wizard is losing powers by the second…Busta sees this happen but is quite to busy at the moment and Stroud makes no move to intervene, being quite aroused at the voyeurism taking place here.
For the past twelve seconds, the party has been gathering its collective wits at the sudden appearance of a wall of fire in their path, followed by the struggling sounds of Irrattouos that have quickly stopped; for a moment, they wonder if they’ve tripped a simple trap or something – but their trained senses and experience tell them that the silence beyond is very, very wrong.
Jack begins to scan the entry hall for an ambush as Woodrow, Stir-Fry, Sarik, Will and Kaurophon move towards the wall of flames to ascertain the danger beyond and what to do; Sharnistival takes flight and begins to climb, so he can fly over the flames in a moment. As Charaine ponders the options, Indarin mounts her new Centaur Skeleton (the other way, sicko) and starts off toward the action on the other end of the chamber. Seeing himself being left behind, Jack breaks into a run to warn everyone of a possible threat to the rear of the party in the two open doors to the Cathedral; at a safe distance from the fire, Woodrow casts Resist Elements off of a scroll before getting out a second…Will Casts Protection from Elements; Stir-Fry and Sarik wait for options.
Stroud, who had seen enough of the fiendish make-out session going on below, had flown away and cast Dimension Door to escape to the rest of the group on the far side of the wall of fire; he casts Dispel Magic, knowing that he’s probably overmatched by the caster, but he succeeds – the flames cease! Seeing the horrific flame-creature fighting Busta and the Succubus that still molests Irrattouos, the party springs into action in earnest – Sharnistival is now flying a straight line towards the monk, as Kaurophon moves to the left corner of where the room narrows, using the wall for cover; as Charaine launches a salvo of Magic Missiles into the Succubus, Indarin breaks into a charge, racing her skeletal Centaur past the main rank of the party in a very uncharacteristic and un-Indarin-like rush to the front of the party.
Busta continues to display perfect precision as he fights what the party identifies as a Salamander; he hits with all three of his attacks and bruises his opponent significantly – but this monster is also tough…it hits the monk in return with two out of three spear attacks and a tail slap, which impale and pummel the monk into unconsciousness! The Salamander grabs Busta before he falls and holds him in his coils as you all watch in horror. Meanwhile, Irrattouos has come to his senses and begins to fight off the Succubus during their second round of fiendish lust – he gropes for his rod – um, his WAND…and tries to Magic Missile the demon to break her strangle-hold…but the spell is absorbed by her resistance! Jack fares no better, as his Scorching Ray misses its target entirely; Stir-Fry begins to advance steadily on the Succubus and Woodrow casts Expeditious Retreat then reaches for his bow.
At that moment, you all are inundated in a Fireball that is cast by the Salamander!
Will does little more than cringe at the sudden explosion, but his Resist Energy spell absorbs all of the damage, to the very last point, before being dispelled! Indarin, Kaurophon, Jack and Sarik all take damage, but they mostly manage to dive aside or cover themselves to avoid being fried where they stand; unfortunately, Indarin’s new Centaur skeleton is reduced to ash and powdery bone fragments where it stands, leaving the priest sitting on the ground in the middle of the powdery grey stain on the floor. At the same time, Irrattouos and Stir-Fry see the Succubus disappear…
Sarik charges the Salamander, but is attacked by its tail long before she can reach it – fortunately for her, it misses her by inches; as Stroud turns himself invisible to fly back up and Sharnistival continues flying on his way to attack the Salamander, Will gets a grand idea, casting carefully as Kaurophon sprints out of the area and Charaine searches the room for the succubus…
The dwarf wizard Will casts Flesh To Ice on the Salamander – it stiffens, screams, and turns into the largest , most detailed ice-sculpture you have all ever seen! It immediately glistens, sweats, and begins to melt – this is the Abyss, after all…
Indarin sits on the ground and gropes for her wand of Curing - she uses it on herself twice before even getting up; Jack waits for the Succubus as Stir-Fry and Woodrow both reach where the battle would have been… Irrattouos curses the sky at the demoness who left him quite drained… Sarik cuts off the head of the ice statue that was the Salamander, as Will does a happy dance in the center of the Cathedral then casts Detect Magic – it seems the battle is over…
…but Stroud hears something outside – someone speaking on the roof…the Succubus!
He cautiously rises out of the hole in the center of the Cathedral’s roof, knowing he is invisible, but also that the demon might see him anyways; he turns and spots her just in time to see her wave her hands in disgust and then cast a spell, instantly disappearing afterward…she has fled.
The monk, Busta is tended to…he will live.
M
4/19/05: A Tuesday game…
“Knowledge IS Power..!”
(or, "I think I can shoot around him! …Dang!”)
Now that the immediate threat is over, the party returns to searching the Cathedral of Feathers; knowing that he had detected magic in the area before, Will casts the spell again to renew the search – Will follows suit… The mages scan the cavernous room and find one remaining magical aura not yet accounted before – behind a closed, stone door to one of two adjoining rooms in the main cathedral; after some healing magics by Kaurophon, you all form up around the door and Jack pushes it open.
The soft rustling of paper that has been serving as background noise since entering this building now turns into a loud chatter, as you see hundreds of books in this room – orbiting an unseen point in the center of the room; each book is open, their pages flapping gently like wings as they flock in a never ending carousel within the room. Sensing a great potential here for gaining knowledge known only to Outsiders both Celestial and Fiendish, Will is drawn to investigate; he enters the room (along with his four Mirror Images), covered by Jack and Busta with their crossbows.
As he takes his third stride towards the flying library, six books break rank and hurl themselves at him!
Will dodges the first, and it lands on the ground with a hard thud…the remaining books impact each of his Mirror Images; they destroy each image in a flash of bight, white light – and two books hit Will, each turning into a bright strobe as they dissipate their enchantment into the wizard… The powerful, Good-aligned magics blast Will, leaving him severely staggered and backing out of the room as fast as he can manage without turning around to flee… As he backs out of the doorway, one last book hurls itself into him, adding a third black burn mark on his robes as he falls backwards into the waiting arms of the group – who have backed away to make a wide clearance for him in his retreat…
Stroud: “Wow…Knowledge IS power…”
Will: *…groan…*
Healing is quickly applied to Will before he blacks out from the pain; he is added to the list of adventurers in your group who are growing indebted to Kaurophon for his healing abilities…
Will tries to dispel the enchantment on the books with his wand of Dispel Magic, but he is unsuccessful; it is decided to leave the room as it is and move on. The room on the opposite side of the cathedral is inspected, with a bit more caution than the previous room; it appears to be nothing more than a repository for rubbish, debris and rubble, so you all decide to move on once Kaurophon points out that time is being wasted inspecting mere rubble. As you gather up your belongings to continue, you all notice that Irrattouos has already descended down the wide staircase that exits into the floor at the back of the room… You all begin to follow, but Kaurophon offers to stand watch up here; when asked why, he says that he cannot descend the stairs but doesn’t know why. Indarin is naturally skeptical, but he demonstrates to you all that some kind of warding magic prevents him from entering the stairwell… With a shrug, you leave him behind – but with a sudden bump, you all discover that Sharnistival cannot enter, either! After some debate and logical deduction, you all guess that the most likely reason for the exclusion of these two from the stairs is that they are both half-fiends, which makes them Outsiders (Topaz isn’t there and Irrattouos hasn’t yet fully incorporated enough of his fiendish skin to be considered an Outsider…) and for some reason, inadmissible…you decide to leave them here and return for them later – if possible.
Following Irrattouos down the forty-foot staircase, you all appear in a room fifty-foot square; the strong, pungent scent of spices fill the air, and a large oak desk occupies the far end of the room. Irrattouos stands in the center of the room before the occupant of the seat behind the desk – a Mummy Lord, dressed in wrappings and gold filigree armor. He stands, raises his hands to show they are empty, and addresses you all:
“Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the Test of The Smoking Eye. If you are here, then Occipitus lies fallow, without a strong hand to guide its development…Know then that you all are pretenders to Adimarchus’ Throne; if you are worthy, step forward and take the Test of Judgement.
The Mummy Lord points his right hand to the door in the center of his right-hand wall:
“Behind that door lies Thathnak, the Bebilith…”
He points his left hand to the opposite wall, where another door is placed:
“Behind that door lies Halalia, the Avoral Guardinal…
Choose one door, slay the occupant behind it, and then pass through the door you will find on the other side; I will meet you all there.”
You all look at each other; rest and healing are needed. You ask the proctor of the test for time to rest here…he allows you.
For the next eight hours, all of the wizards and priests sleep as best they can, as everyone else cares for their equipment and keeps watch; Irrattouos and Stroud pass time by enjoying small talk with the proctor – they find him quite personable and he finds them likewise…by the time you all are rested and ready to move on, he is wishing you well in your endeavor to pass the Test of The Smoking Eye and you are promising a position of power in the realm, should you succeed…
Preparations are made…spells are cast. Charaine casts Mage Armor, Stroud turns invisible, Will casts Mirror Image, Woodrow casts Enlarge and Delay Poison off of scrolls, Busta is the subject of a second Delay Poison scroll, Irrattouos casts Greater Mage Armor, and Jack casts Shield of Faith…
When you are ready, Jack opens the iron door on the left wall and you begin your assault; beyond is a thirty foot by forty foot room that opens into a larger chamber beyond…the floor falls away thirty feet below and the ceiling is thirty feet above; at ground level are a network of wooden bridges, held in place by sticky, wet, glowing strands of what appear to be webs, and supported underneath by far too few poles to offer significant stability…it is a maze of suspension platforms that criss-cross each other, leading to a landing that matches your own – over one hundred and twenty feet away…
Dominating the center of the room, dangling gracefully in the webs ten feet above the platforms, is Thathnak, the Bebilith!
Sarik is the first to enter – she sees the hulking arachnid move to her right until it disappears around the corner; Will and Stroud both fly into the room to take up firing positions, Irrattouos and Stir-Fry move through the doorway onto the entry platform and Sarik remains in the doorway… Busta outruns everyone and makes it almost to the center of the room, where he can see around the corner to the right – he is the first to see Thathnak! But the monk is also the first to draw its ire…it advances on him and shoots web all over him and the bridge segment he stands on; Busta fails to completely dodge the attack and is anchored to the spot, with hundreds of sticky, wet filaments that glow with a sickly magenta hue. However, in attacking the monk, the Bebilith has emerged from its hiding place and is now in view of most of the party…
Charaine acts first – she fires a salvo of four Magic Missiles into the fiendish arachnid, which is immediately followed by an Eldritch Blast from Stroud, a Lightning Bolt cast by Will and a volley of three arrows by Woodrow which all hit! Thathnak is battered by the massive assault, but the spider-fiend manages to take the damage in stride, as Busta struggles to free himself from the webs that hold him to the bridge - he fails his first try to escape… Jack casts Bless on the party, as he and Indarin move closer to the doorway behind Sarik, who misses her first bow shot but crits with the second! As Stir-Fry makes his way to the bridge platforms, Irrattouos uses his Fiendish Glare on Thathnak – it successfully intimidates the Bebilith! However, it is still close enough to attack Busta; since he is held in webs, the fiend-spider has an advantage – but the slippery monk manages to evade all but one attack! Unfortunately, one attack is all the huge monster needs to grapple the human…he is miniscule compared to this hulking monstrosity – he has no chance escaping its clutches…
Desperation suddenly grips the party – Busta is in the grasp of a Bebilith that will likely rend him into bits within seconds, if they do not act…risky decisions are made amongst all of you – surprisingly, there is quick agreement about what must be done; your spell and missile attacks continue, despite the risk to Busta!
Charaine’s next salvo of Magic Missiles strikes the Bebilith unerringly, but Stroud’s fiery blast strikes the grappling monk in the back! Will casts Scorching Ray, successfully hitting the Bebilith with one ray and missing both it and Busta with the second, but the fiend is now catching on to the party’s tactics – it pushes the overmatched human toward the group and uses him as a human shield, causing two out of three of Woodrow’s arrows to hit him! Busta mightily struggles to break free of the demon in a panic, but the size and strength difference is just too great for the monk to overcome…
Indarin, taking a lesson from Charaine (and not really concerned about her party-mates anyways…), activates her wand of Lightning Bolt and fries both Busta and the Bebilith together! Irrattouos, following suit, casts his own Lightning Bolt which fries both the monk and the demon a second time! The fiend-spider is clobbered and seriously beginning to doubt its chances…
…but the smoking monk, Busta goes limp in the pincers of the Bebilith…
Jack casts Aid on the enlarged Woodrow, preparing him to be the next front-line fighter to face the demon after the fall of Busta, while Stir-Fry advances onto the bridge to engage Thathnak next… Sarik provides cover fire with her bow, but she misses twice.
Thathnak sees the new threat approaching – it tosses the limp body of the monk aside, leaving him to fall the 40 feet onto the spiked floor below like a sack of potatoes…you all hear him land unseen in the darkness below, with a wet, dull thud… It then attacks Stir-Fry, hoping to take more of you with it; the nimble Lycanthrope dodges his leg attacks, but it connects with a brutal bite that makes the were-tiger scream in rage and pain…he begins to tremble…
Indarin and Charaine have seen this before…they immediately sense the danger that the Bebilith has just unleashed… The wizard hits the demon with a third salvo of Magic Missiles…
Not having to worry now about hitting a friendly target, Stroud blasts the Bebilith again; Will follows the warlock’s ray with his own Lightning Bolt that staggers the fiend-spider and sends it clutching for webs for support… Woodrow’s first enlarged arrow misses, but his second and third strike true, finally bringing down the monstrous fiend and sending it crashing down onto the bridge platforms, which fail to support the falling weight of the huge beast and collapse – a full twenty square-foot area of webs and bridge platforms fall to the floor below in a crashing conflagration of wood, webs and ichor…
Busta’s spike-impaled body is partially buried under wood planks…after getting pushed all the way down them onto the floor, of course…
The battle is over; on the far side of the room, you all can make out the stone landing on the opposite side of the room and the exit door that occupies the far wall; but your relief is broken by the sound of growling coming from the bridges – a growling that you’ve never heard before, from Stir-Fry or anyone else in the party…
Where Stir-Fry once stood is now a beast – a WereTiger…it is wounded, and it is quite angry…
M
4/27/05:
“Roar of the Pussy”
(or, "It’s Just Nerves, Man!”)
Jack, Irrattouos, Indarin and Sarik are the first ones to sense that the level of danger following the defeat of the Bebilith has not receded; they indicate to the rest of you that something is amiss with Stir Fry, who is moaning and roaring out on the bridge and partially obscured by the criss-crossing strands of web that fill the cavernous room. Charaine, using her typical sense of tact and caution, wastes no time – she activates her Wand of Random Energy, launching a ball of acidic spray where she hears the animal sounds! A wide swath of webs are dissolved in seconds…and with that, the bridge segments in a large portion of the center of the room collapse, taking Stir-Fry with them!
Stroud and Will both are capable of flight, so they advance over the now-much-larger tangle of wreckage on the spiked floor, searching for the bodies of Stir-Fry and Busta – they find them, one lying amongst wooden debris, one almost totally buried by it.
As Woodrow gingerly tests to see if the bridge platforms will handle his enchantment-enlarged weight…it holds; Irrattouos runs as fast as he can across the flimsy bridges, thinking that getting to the other door as soon as possible would be a good idea – before Charaine destroys the remaining ones that lead over the spikes below! Sarik finds merit in the wizard’s thinking – she follows.
Charaine pauses to survey the damage; she sees nothing but a rising cloud of dust that mostly obscures the flying duo of Will and Stroud as they scan the debris… Will flies down to the ‘Were-tiger’ Stir-Fry and searches for signs of life – he is alive, so Will takes a chance and administers a healing potion, to the cautious disproval of Stroud, who decides (while almost no one is looking…) to make sure that Busta is dead so that he can sack the corpse of the former monk (who is known to have carried several valuable magic items…); he Eldritch Blasts the planks that cover Busta, setting them ablaze!
As Indarin looks over the scene and locates everyone through the dust, Woodrow dispels his magical enlargement and begins to move quickly across the bridges; but Irrattouos gets too hasty in his rush to reach the far door…he slips on a slimy bridge plank while running and looses his balance – he goes over the edge and falls onto the spiked floor below! Jack has moved onto the bridge to take up the rear of the party’s advance across the bridge, but he leaves Indarin behind on the entry platform, alone; Sarik, just behind Irrattouos when he fell, gets out her rope as she walks, preparing to lower it to him.
The Stir-Fry-were-tiger awakens to the sight of Will, recoiling into the air above, safely out of reach of the Lycanthrope…he scans the surrounding wreckage, realizing that he is in a very unnatural place – his instincts kick in…self-preservation, defense, safety… Seeing Will above and no other party member attacking, the were-tiger notices that everyone around him is scrambling to safety on the other side of the room; with no clear enemy, instinct drives him to follow suit – he painfully lifts himself off of the spikes that pierced him and begins to stagger to the far side of the room, dodging spikes on the floor, as Will carefully and cautiously watches from above…
Charaine suddenly slips, in a manner similar to Irrattouos, and falls over the side! She lands amidst spikes and debris, just as he did, while Irrattouos rights himself and begins to stagger across to the far side of the room, hoping to beat the were-tiger (whom he sees across the room) there… Indarin, seeing what disastrous effect that moving carelessly across the bridge is having on the fellow spellcasters, decides to take no chances (especially since she is the least nimble, in her full plate armor…) – she crawls on her hands and knees onto the bridge, despite being nearly one hundred feet behind the rest of the group! Despite the appearance of stability so low to the bridge, the plate armor is no less a hindrance to the priest…her plate-covered arms still manage to slip on a spider-slimed sections of bridge; she tries to maintain her balance on all fours, but still fails – falling to one side, she tries to fall flat, but it’s too late…the bridge section rattles and she slides off the edge, screaming as she crashes to the floor thirty feet below!
The first thing that the priest does is to feebly reach for a healing vial; the second thing she does is lift herself off of the four spikes that impaled her before collapsing onto the floor, groaning…
As the wooden debris burns away, along with most of the clothing, skin and flesh of the monk’s corpse underneath, Stroud casts Detect Magic and begins to scan the floor for treasures left behind by other unfortunate victims of the Bebilith; far ahead, Woodrow, Jack and Sarik slowly and steadily make their way across the bridge platforms and on to the far landing…Sarik arrives first and lowers her rope to the approaching Irrattouos below her, as the other two come up from behind and Charaine follows the Acolyte of the Skin on the floor underneath.
The Stir-Fry-were-tiger is naturally more nimble than the rest of the party – it beats Irrattouos to the far wall and begins to climb; even with the aid of a rope held fast by Sarik, the mage can’t keep up with the beast. As Charaine approaches from the bottom, Woodrow reaches Sarik and grabs the rope to help pull them up as Jack continues to cross the bridge, slowly and carefully.
Stroud and Will decide that it’s not wise to linger here amongst the wreckage in the room and begin to fly to meet the party on the far platform…but their fears become real, when they see Busta trying to wrest his way out of the smoldering planks below!!
The monk, charred and blackened, with strips of burnt skin and cloth hanging from his no longer muscular frame, rises from the charcoal beams, looks down on himself in horror, then turns his head upward, screaming an unholy scream that echoes throughout the cavernous chamber for seconds on end… Busta has risen, no longer as a model of Hextor’s discipline…but as a twisted mockery, cursed and forsaken.
Both horrified and aroused by witnessing of the creation of a sentient undead directly by a God, Indarin surmises that Busta has been cursed to return as Undead because of his failure in the eyes of Hextor;
Stroud leaves the undead abomination far behind; he lands in front of the far door and tries it, with no luck – the iron door is rusted tight. Will, however, lands right behind him – without as much as a word, they pull together…the door gives, with a resounding *click!* But at the exact same moment, a rumbling is heard back in the room…and all of the remaining bridge platforms not already destroyed collapse to the spiked floor below – taking Jack with them! The multi-talented adventurer disappears into a cloud of dust… The falling debris narrowly misses Irrattouos (who is only halfway up the rope), Charaine (standing on the floor below him), Busta (who is not close enough to the falling sections to be in danger) and Indarin (out of sheer luck); the priest makes her way towards where Jack fell, as Busta begins to make his way to the rope. Stroud and Will look at each other, shrug, and walk into the long hallway beyond.
As Sarik and Woodrow hold the rope for Irrattouos, Charaine arrives and waits her turn while to their left, the were-tiger-Stir-Fry climbs the rest of the way up the wall and confronts the two fighters holding the rope… Miraculously to them, the beast decides not to attack, reasoning that they both are neither a threat nor hostile – he instead inspects his surroundings and follows Will and Stroud into the hallway and around a corner to the right.
Charaine is login patience; she climbs onto the rope behind Irrattouos, who is three quarters of the way up the wall; Woodrow and Sarik strain under the weight, but they hold (after muttering a few curses at the Wild Mage…). On the floor behind them both, Busta shambles toward the mages, as Indarin moves to assist Jack but grabs at her holy symbol, should she need to rebuke the undead monk. Her fears spike when Busta reaches the injured and helpless Jack first, but they ease when he gets out a healing vial and feeds it to him, for reasons no mortal may ever understand… Jack’s eyes open to the sight of a fatally burned Busta standing over him, somehow not dead neither from the damage to his body, nor the pain of the multiple mortal wounds he bears..! Without pause, the monk turns and walks for the far wall…
Irrattouos finally emerges from the pit, exhausted…Charaine follows below; past the exit doorway, Stroud bravely (or foolishly) hovers forward towards a room over seventy feet down the hallway, as Will stops and stares down a were-tiger just behind him! Some kind of primal accord is reached…the Stir-Fry-were-tiger walks past him and down the hall…Will follows and they both move to join Stroud, who has stopped at the end of the hall and is looking over the next room.
Back in the bridge cavern, Sarik grows impatient with the struggling Charaine; she lets go and follows Irrattouos, Will and Stroud, leaving Woodrow to grunt and pull her up the rest of the way. On the floor below, Busta almost reaches the rope and Jack feebly offers Indarin a scroll to cast a powerful healing spell on him, which she does (thinking of her compensation as she does…); afterward, they make their way over to Busta, who is waiting for Charaine to climb out of the pit to follow.
The Wild Mage eventually scrambles out of the pit and collapses onto the floor to catch her breath; seconds later, Busta emerges and grabs the rope to help pull up Jack and then Indarin. They all rush to catch up to the rest of the party, who are already in the next room…
In front of them, the party has come to a halt in a mob, right where the hallway empties into a room about fifty foot square; running along the walls where it meets the ceiling, a single phrase carved into the stone in Abyssal repeats:
“Know who made you.”
On the far side of the room, a staircase rises up thirty feet to a dais that sits empty, save for a single lantern that hangs from a silver chain on a short pole. A barrier of glowing red sigils floats in mid air, in between you and the lantern…
After a few moments of analysis, the Mummy Lord from Scene 23 arrives:
“Heed the words of Adimarchus – you have passed the Test of Judgement. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus – always deal with rivals first and enemies second. This lantern shall guide you to the second test: the Test of Resolve.”
In a flash of light, the Mummy Lord is gone.
Irrattouos deducts that the sigils must be harmless, since the Mummy Lord told you that it was alright to take the lantern, yet the sigils are still there; he walks up the stairs as the rest of the party gringes…
He takes the lantern. The mage was correct.
A long tunnel exits the room, leading back out to the broken landscape just outside of the Cathedral of Feathers; there, you meet with Sharnistival and Kaurophon, who have been idly waiting in the main chamber for your return. After a thorough debriefing, you all follow the clear beam that shines form the lantern – it points down slope, across the celestial rubble and towards a smoother, clearer terrain beyond that Kaurophon describes as a geologically active area known as ‘tremor zones’. Stir-Fry calms, allowing himself to transform back into his human self and ease your minds a bit more.
You all march for over ten hours across the difficult terrain; luckily, for you, your travel is uneventful – it would seem that you are off of the beaten path, as far as Occipitus and its fauna are concerned. But it is also here, in the comparative wilderness, where danger can be lurking most closely and undetected…
You all half walk, half climb across the broken terrain, but it is beginning to level out and the debris begins to thin to the point of making out bare ground in between blocks of stone and ruin; you all travel in a loose mob and look outward in all directions.
Suddenly, apparitions materialize on three sides of your group!
The three ghostly images manifest themselves, searing your souls with their horrific appearance that saps strength and vitality from you and leaves you weak-kneed at the unsettling sight; the drain on your material shells is too much for some of you who are wounded to bear – Stir-Fry and Charaine fall! The Busta-undead surprises you a second time, by administering the Lycanthrope a healing vial of his own… Jack tries to turn the three ghosts but fails miserably; Kaurophon tries also, but also fails – as does Indarin! Will takes a more direct tact – he fires a volley of Magic Missiles at them, as Stroud Eldritch Blasts one to his left! As Irrattouos and Woodrow quickly rifle across Charaine for one of her wands, the ghosts move in…
The first tries to attack Woodrow and fails; the second hits Stir-Fry as he rises, almost dropping him again – but he remains barely conscious… The third flies right at Sarik, who can do little to fight it of using her claws; it merges with her, painfully – she stiffens…a scream never makes it out of her mouth. For a moment, you all see her struggling with something…in her mind; as she relaxes and regains her composure, you all are relieved to be able to focus on matters at hand – but when she speaks, the hair on the backs of your necks stands up – the voice you hear coming from her is not that of Sarik:
“AAAAH! I am flesh again..I live! Finally…FREE!”
M
So exactly what kind of undead did Busta become?
So exactly what kind of undead did Busta become?
Cursed by Hextor for failing to distinguish himself as a physically perfect specimen, Busta rose as a Huecuva; realizing his horriffic betrayal by his own God, his alignment changed to CE and he will never again gain levels in Monk.
The transformation (which I based on that of Tarkilar from "Flood Season") cost Busta his 2 levels of Ninja, but he maintained his ECL with the addition of the Huecuva template.
M
5/4/05:
“Pull Out & Shoot from the Outside”
(or, "I Was Looking For Your Surging One!”)
Jack regroups and tries to rebuke the possessed Sarik in a second try; he makes a stronger attempt, but it still falls short; in a contrasting tactic, Woodrow turns and flees, while Kaurophon goes on the defensive as he thinks of options and moves to assist the fallen Charaine. Covering the party for the time being is Will - who hits one of the remaining ghosts with Magic Missiles, Stroud – who fire blasts the possessed Sarik, and Indarin – who powerfully rebukes the other two free ghosts!
The undead Busta knows that there is little that these ghosts can do to harm him, so he does little more than observe as the mortals around him fight for their lives…
Irrattouos tries to activate the Wand of Random Energy that he lifted off of Charaine after she fell; he fails to recall the activation word and fails to discharge it… Stir-Fry is getting up after being healed by Busta, Jack casts Spiritual Weapon (missing a ghost with it) and Woodrow pumps three arrows into Sarik, while the other two ghosts cower at Indarin’s rebuke! Fortunately, for the possessed Corrupt Elf, she got in a single claw attack in on Will before being cowed by the priest – it will be her one and only attack.
Without a trace of concern or remorse, Will fries Sarik with a Lightning Bolt, Stroud Eldritch-Fire Blasts her and Indarin rebukes her! Busta is rebuked also, and is frozen in place; Kaurophon cures Charaine with his wand…she rolls over, grabs her own wand (that Irrattouos flips back in her lap after failing to activate it) and casts Mage Armor on herself before getting up. Sharnistival gets out his bow and takes a running leap into the sky, as Irrattouos uses his own Magic Missiles on one of the cowering ghosts and Jack hits the other with his crossbow; Stir-Fry and Kaurophon see the tide of battle turning, so they wait.
Both free ghosts, Sarik and Busta are all rebuked and cowered, with the ghosts taking a beating (along with Sarik); while Will runs to someplace where he can fire from clearly, Woodrow pin-cushions Sarik with three more arrows and Indarin follows with her own, leaving her barely standing and looking like a porcupine… Stroud hits her with a third Fiery Blast and sends her flying to the ground, flaming and in worse condition than Busta!
You all have no doubts – Sarik is dead before she hits the ground.
The ghost which possessed her is immediately driven out, to be hit a moment later by Irrattouos’ Magic Missiles and one of Woodrow’s arrows (out of three); Jack’s crossbow shot kills one of the two roaming ghosts and Indarin misses with her bow, as does Will with his Scorching Ray. The airborne Sharnistival hits the last one with his arrow, but it passes harmlessly though it; Stroud’s next Fiery Blast, however, burns it away, leaving the last one to be finished off by Irrattouos’ next volley of Magic Missiles.
Stroud lands to sack Sarik’s body, without nary a word; in this hellish realm of Abyss, guilt and remorse don’t exist – the plane seems to be sinking into all of you…
Over half of the party has lost a significant portion of your ability to the debilitating presence of the ghosts; you all decide to rest, to allow Kaurophon to prepare Restoration spells for you. The “night” passes without event, although in reality there has been no dusk and no dawn in this ever-burning land. He casts the first Restoration spell on himself, leaving two to cast – yet there are six who are in need…
Kaurophon entreats you to decide amongst yourselves who is deserving of Restoration and who will suffer for the day; Charaine offers an enchanted vial, gaining one of them…Stroud pledges loyalty to one service for the half-fiend – he accepts, and casts the other spell on the Warlock…
A long march begins…you all walk for thirteen hours this day, stopping for short meals and rest breaks (through which Busta grows impatient, not requiring such trivialities any longer); the terrain is mostly devoid of debris and is generally flat and soft, so you all make good time.
Halfway through your long day’s journey, some of you see a group of dark shapes moving in your direction on the horizon to your right; as time passes, you can make out that they are a cluster of Babau demons, similar to the ones you had fought immediately before coming to Occipitus. These, however, are not hostile to you – they ask if you are agents of Adimarchus… Indarin speaks in vague generalities to them, enough to placate their curiosity, but not enough to provoke a reaction; despite the crude remarks of others…(ahem), they decide that your greater numbers, size and total lack of fear pose too great a threat to challenge – they move on.
A couple of hours later, you all notice that what you thought was a stone amongst the various irregularities ahead of you in the distance, moves! You identify it as an injured Vrock demon, that is picking at the corpse of a Babau demon and tending to its many cuts; it doesn’t take much conversation with the demon to ascertain what happened here – and it knows that it’s no match for your group. You make some small talk and perhaps take some demon flesh for Sizul to snack on, but otherwise you all leave the Vrock alone and move on.
You all are beginning to tire from the long march; without the reference of a sun or shadows, you have no idea how much time has gone by…all you know is that you are tired of walking and you need rest. As you make camp, some of you see a figure taking shape on the horizon – a lone humanoid approaches..! Weapons are drawn and arrows are nocked, but the solitary creature sees you and changes its course to avoid you all – your great numbers are a deterrent yet again, for what you identify as a Green Slaad walking in the distance. Seeking to avoid confrontation until you all are rested, you let it walk away unscathed.
Almost surprisingly, you all rest undisturbed for eight full hours; Kaurophon thinks that you all may have wandered off of the more traveled pathways, but in any case, you all are grateful for not being discovered by one of the more powerful denizens here in Occipitus. Being in the Abyss, your rest isn’t as refreshing as it might have been elsewhere, but your kind manages to make the best of it; light meals are had by all, weapons are cleaned and sharpened, spells are prepared and prayers are made – although not heard by all. Kaurophon prepares to cast another day’s worth of Restoration spells, but again, he only has three…and four of you are still in a weakened state…it is time to choose who goes without.
Will, quoting the need for the fighters to be at full strength, volunteers to remain weakened while the others are restored by the half-fiend priest; in most adventuring parties, he would be praised for this selfless act…in this group of mercenaries and villains, his rewards are smirks and promises to leave nothing behind when they loot his corpse…
If the undisturbed rest wasn’t surprising to you all, the full day’s worth of travel that follows certainly is; it almost seems that the lantern that Irrattouos carries has been pointing out a safe route in addition to providing a direction for you to walk. Twelve hours after breaking camp and marching for the day, you see the terrain beginning to change on the horizon – the flatlands appear to be dotted with gel-like cysts in a wide, irregular field, several hundred yards across…
..The lantern in Irrattouos’ hand shines its narrow beam right into the field.
You all decide to make haste in moving through the field; the party spreads out into a dispersed mob and moves deliberately forward into what appears to be a former battlefield…Woodrow marks where you entered the field by firing a single arrow into the nearest cyst, which quivers when the arrow hits. Weapons, armor and other debris litters the ground all around you as you begin to walk amongst and around the cysts, which vary in size between five and ten feet across; Kaurophon tells you all that whilst fiendish casualties were absorbed into the fabric of Occipitus immediately, it would seem that Celestial casualties are taking much longer to ‘digest’…
A creature appears from behind one of the larger cysts! An eight-legged reptilian-appearing abomination almost the size of a horse emerges in front of you all, its eyes glowing with a green light that illuminates its head – a huge Basilisk! The party scatters amidst Woodrow’s arrow fire and prepares attacks, while trying to avoid closing with the beast – which would expose you to its deadly petrifying gaze…
Irrattouos puts the lantern on the ground and begins to cast - *poof*
- Suddenly, the entire party finds themselves back where you entered the battlefield!!
You all look at each other in amazement – but you’re equally gratified that the Basilisk is no longer among you… Confusion gives way to bemusement, then to conjecture and theorizing…ideas are put forth… Irrattouos proposes the opinion that appears to carry the most weight:
The party was returned to the beginning because he had stopped moving – the Test of Resolve! The Test is to proceed forward despite the distraction of a pending battle!
The Acolyte of the Skin is smug as the rest of you look amongst yourselves in enlightenment; this theory shall be tested as you all enter the battlefield for a second time…
*(For the sake of story continuity, the second battle with the Basilisk will be presented in its entirety within the next synopsis)
M
5/11/05:
“He’s Only MOSTLY Dead”
(or, “We’re going to need a miracle…”)
The second time around, you all are making a concerted assault against the dangerous Basilisk ahead of you; Sharnistival provides cover fire, hitting one of two shots with his bow, while Sizul misses with his from the air and Jack scores a critical hit from the ground. Everyone is sprinting forward to keep up with Irrattouos, who is carrying the lantern, and urging everyone on; Charaine summons a blast of sonic energy with her wand, injuring the Basilisk as it moves to intercept the party.
Stroud chooses to let the party handle the brunt of the assault, remaining invisible as he flies above you all; you are staggering your attacks now, with Topaz hitting with one arrow out of two while Sharnistival and Busta advance… Sizul flies and misses with his bow again, Jack hits again and moves up and Charaine moves toward a cyst for cover, as the Basilisk turns to face the party! Sharnistival, Kaurophon, Irrattouos and Stir-Fry all close their eyes to avoid the deadly gaze of the beast, as Woodrow marks a nearby cyst with an arrow and Indarin moves away at a safe distance along with Will.
Irrattouos tries to move forward with his eyes closed, but he winds up walking toward the Basilisk, which promptly bites him in the leg! Stir-Fry takes an even more daring escape route, choosing to sprint blindly ahead in an arcing route around the beast – miraculously, he not only avoids the basilisk, he avoids running headlong into any cysts or other obstacles! Kaurophon takes wiser action – he casts Levitate on himself with his wand and rises up into the air, out of reach of the Basilisk…as Sharnistival chooses to simply fly blindly in a straight line until out of the area.
Busta has run past the party, so he waits for them to catch up; everyone is moving past the Basilisk as quickly as possible without coming too close to where it is attacking Irrattouos, who is trying to get away from it without looking directly at it…
…He tries to escape, but he can’t avoid the gaze of the beast – Irrattouos cringes and turns into stone!!
With Irrattouos petrified, he comes to an abrupt halt…the lantern survives the petrification process and dangles from his hand. Woodrow hits the Basilisk with an arrow as he moves in the distance, but before he can reload, the entire party, including the petrified Irrattouos, reappears at the entrance to the battlefield where you started!
There is quick debate over what to do about the stricken Wizard and how to retrieve the lantern he carries; before any of you actually break off Irrattouos’ hand to get to the lantern’s chain, Kaurophon manages to loosen it enough to remove the lantern from his hand while leaving it intact…he also offers to carry Irrattouos’ statue in his bag of holding, noting that he is not actually dead, until you all find a way to restore him to health.
You all regroup for a second time and begin the assault anew, this time with Indarin carrying the Lantern; as you enter the battlefield once more and proceed towards the first turn that was marked by Woodrow twice, you all see that the Basilisk has moved further towards you… Jack casts Spiritual Weapon as you all follow Indarin at a full run to keep up with her, while Stroud reveals himself by blasting the Basilisk from long range; however, the beasts stout spell resistance causes the ray to be absorbed into its hide.
While the Basilisk makes a lumbering advance on you all, Stir-Fry makes another daring blind-charge with his eyes closed, running more than halfway to the beast; everyone else runs behind or near Indarin (Sizul and Sharnistival fly), who looks down at her feet while running past the Basilisk and narrowly avoiding its petrifying gaze! Stroud hovers at over two hundred feet away and continues to blast at the monster, failing to affect it twice more with Eldritch Rays…
While everyone runs to keep up with the priest and the two airborne party members turn to stay as close as they can, Woodrow stops and stays behind to fire his bow – he hits the Basilisk with all three shots for massive damage! Stir-Fry also makes his blind charge on the monster, but he veers off to the right and feels nothing to rend with his claws as he slows to a walk… As he realizes his error in navigation and starts to open his eyes, the Basilisk moves over to its left and bites him!
The party is running in a loose formation around Indarin now, as Stir-Fry transforms in the presence of the Basilisk and keeps it occupied in battle, much in the same way that another lycanthrope by the name of Raulanie did for the party almost a year ago; as the were-tiger fights the beast, Stroud blasts it for the fourth time – he finally penetrates the Basilisk’s spell resistance and hurts it! Woodrow pauses and fires a trio of arrows from long range at the beast, from behind – all three arrows hit for massive damage!
The Stir-Fry-Weretiger is severely wounded, but it still manages to rake the Basilisk with its claws out of sheer fury, just before the monster bites him in return…without even relying on its gaze attack, it drops Stir-Fry with its fierce bite…
In the widening distance, the party reforms a tight group around the priest and the lantern, as Stroud blasts the Basilisk for the fifth time – and again fails to affect it; he begins to fly towards the group to catch up, hitting the monster a sixth time in a row with another blast - that fails to affect it for the fifth time… Woodrow continues to fire, hitting two more times out of three shots…
Stir-Fry lies on the ground, unmoving, as the Basilisk turns and lumbers after the group…it is slowing from all of the arrows, but it still advances.
Woodrow fires three more arrows; he reflexively averts his eyes as the monster draws nearer, anticipating the moment when it will turn its gaze on him… All three arrows hit – the beast slows further!
Stroud’s seventh blast hits the weakened Basilisk and affects it – it stumbles and falls!
As the warlock pumps his fists in victory and flies toward the party over three hundred feet away to rejoin them, Woodrow sprints over to the Stir-Fry-Weretiger; he makes a quick assessment of the risk of healing back to consciousness a weretiger, that will most certainly be angry and most dangerous once conscious…
Woodrow skewers Stir-Fry through the throat.
Not to be totally heartless to the Lycanthrope, Woodrow picks up his body and carries it over his shoulder toward the group, who still follow Indarin along the illuminated path that the lantern indicates. The current danger aside, they spread out around the priest somewhat and adjust their paths to accommodate for the sudden turns that the lantern points out from time to time.
For the next forty-five minutes, you all are zigzagging throughout the battlefield in what appears to be a random pattern… Some of you see the glint of gold within a cyst – perhaps a golden hilt…but Will quickly warns you that while Fiendish corpses and items were quickly absorbed into the fabric of the plane itself, Celestial ones were not, and thus the cysts you see likely contain items that are of little value to you all… Stroud casts Detect Magic and confirms that enchanted objects litter the area throughout the field of cysts as far as he can detect, but the logic of the Wizard is undeniable – you all shrug and walk on.
After making a turn, you all see something huge moving in the distance to your left that eclipses the large cyst that mostly obscures it – something insectoid that vaguely resembles the Bebilith you fought earlier, but moving slower, with less fluid motion. Its back is originally to you, but the commotion you all create when moving soon gets its attention; a quick debate is held over the next five seconds as to whether or not to confront this beast or try to avoid it while still managing to follow the lantern – the debate ends when it turns, lifts its head and fires some kind of magical ray at Busta, who manages to dodge it…the ray ignites a small fire on the ground where it hits!
Woodrow drops Stir-Fry’s corpse and immediately moves away from the rest of the group, as Indarin remains aware of the conditions that the lantern imposes and moves forward toward the beast, albeit a bit slower; as Sharnistival, Stroud and Sizul fly off at tangents to flank the creature, Will hits it with a cast Lightning Bolt and Charaine activates her wand of random energy, pummeling it with a sonic blast as everyone else scatters around the priest.
As Indarin continues to close in on the creature while following the lantern’s path, Woodrow covers her by hitting the huge insect with two out of three bow shots… It is then that the party realizes that this beast has no discernible reaction to the damage that has been inflicted on it – it is a huge automaton! It moves to close on Indarin and misses its first attack on her as it’s eye ray, this time a cold blue light, narrowly misses Woodrow; Sizul is flying a long, circular path around the construct, but Sharnistival fires on it, missing…however, Stroud squarely blasts it from his perch in the sky. Will quickly follows with a Fireball, then Topaz with a pair of arrows, Jack with a crossbow bolt and Charaine with a volley of Magic Missiles from her wand, as Busta misses with his crossbow and Kaurophon moves to put the large cyst in between him and the automaton.
The automaton, known as a Retriever, has just taken a major beating; but as Woodrow moves to reposition and Indarin tries to move away from it, it attacks, hitting the priest with one of its jagged claws. It also reaches over to its opposite side and hits Busta with two other claws, severely damaging the undead monk, and hits Stroud with an electrical ray from a third eye!
But the rest of the party is still fully pressing the attack together; Sharnistival, gliding straight now, hits with an arrow… Will hits the Retriever immediately after that, with one of two Scorching Rays that he cast; the one ray is enough to bring the enchanted machine to a halt – it crashes to the ground, as Indarin breaks into a run on the far side of it!
Again, the danger ends…for now.
M
5/18/05:
“Promise Everything, Then Give Them Bone”
(or, “I Coulda’ Been Workin’ On My Piece.”)
The Retriever is destroyed… Indarin slows to a walk, as the rest of the party inspects the construct and the area is came from, looking for clues as to what it was doing; it appeared to have been searching cysts, due to the number of destroyed ones that stretch into the distance. You don’t stay for long in any case, as Indarin dares not slow any further to wait for you all; catching up, you continue following the path illuminated by the Lantern…
After about three-quarters of an hour of weaving through the battlefield of cysts, you see people gathered around a cyst to your right – they see you also, jumping into action and concealing themselves behind nearby cysts; without a moments hesitation to determine if they are friend or foe, Charaine grabs her wand of Random Energy and activates it in their direction, creating a ball of electricity on top of them!
Seeing an apparent leader among them who isn’t diving for cover like the rest, Woodrow hits her with three arrows as Stroud flies upwards and casts Detect Magic to track the others; your opponent’s leader identifies herself to the priests by casting a recognizable Cure Critical Wounds on herself – you can see she wears the holy symbol of Wee Jas! Sizul charges to attack the priestess - but before he reaches her he is attacked by two rogues hiding behind cysts; one he sees and avoids, but the other stabs him unseen, from behind – he is poisoned! A sudden stiffness in his joints causes him to miss his attack on the priestess, but Busta charges in to help engage the two rogues as Sharnistival and Topaz provide cover fire; the half-fiend misses as he flies and fires, but the Tiefling hits the priestess, dropping her where she stands.
Indarin must keep moving, so she does, while summoning a shadow to attack the remaining rogues; Will hits one with a volley of Magic Missiles as he follows the lantern-bearer, and Kaurophon follows both of them. Charaine casts her own salvo of Magic Missiles at the now-fleeing rogues and Woodrow hits another with one arrow as he moves to keep up with the lantern-bearer; Stroud blasts another as he flies along, while Sizul picks up the corpse of the Wee Jas priestess and runs to catch up to the rest of you.
Will and Charaine cast parting Magic Missiles at any remaining rogues that you see as you march away; the wild mage’s wand drops another in the distance, but you leave him behind, preferring to stay with the lantern…
After catching up to the party, Sizul drops the priestess and sacks her corpse (with help from Stroud and his Detect Magic spell) as the party walks away; after recovering her full plate armor and a few vials, he leaves the rest and catches up with Stroud. Indarin’s eyes glint at the armor you’ve looted from the priestess...seeing this, you all want in – you dice for it…even the spell casters.
Sizul wins. Indarin pouts.
Less than an hour later, you see a point of light ahead of you, just after making a turn indicated by the Lantern…it appears to be coming from directly in front of you, from a single person holding what appears to be a lantern that is identical to yours!
As you close on this humanoid, you see that it is a half-Orc; he carries another lantern and is obviously a warrior of some kind; he identifies himself as “Aaah” – obviously some kind of barbarian war cry of some kind…
Typical threats are made to the half-Orc, about turning him into the party’s latest meal and such…but after losing his own group to Occipitus and finding himself stranded in the Abyss, how else could it possibly be worse..? With no fear in him, the party quickly tires of threats and moves on, leaving the warrior to follow you in his own interests as much as actually taking him into the group…
You all get acquainted with ‘Aaah’, follow Indarin and discuss strategy amongst yourselves as you walk – suddenly, you notice that the beams of light from the two lanterns begin to grow shorter! This shocking event grabs your attention…you all stare as Indarin and ‘Aaah’ walk on, with the beams ending at an unseen point ahead of you, thirty feet away…then twenty, then ten…five…one…
With a lurch in your stomachs, you all realize that you are teleporting again – but this time, you don’t reappear at the entrance to the battleground…
You all are standing in a clearing of sorts, in the midst of large masses of spongy fibers that mass together like dense thickets; a mummy, similar to the first one you met in the Cathedral of Feathers, stands before you.
“Heed the words of Adimarchus… You have passed the Test of Resolve. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Let neither riches nor weaponry, neither allies nor enemies tempt you from your course. Instead, spread such distractions before your rivals. The Lantern of Guidance will lead you to the final Test: The Test of Sacrifice.
Your ascension to the Throne of Occipitus draws nigh!”
The mummy casts a spell – none of you react to this offensively (the spell casters recognize this spell as Teleport)…it then disappears.
Finding yourselves stationary for the first time in hours in a well-concealed grove, besides having marched for a full day, you all decide to make camp; rest feels good to you all – despite the constant aura of danger and threat that permeates this place, some of you actually doze off for a few hours at a time, with Busta keeping a constant (if bored) sentry along with several of you, one at a time; thankfully, the time passes quietly, with the two lanterns silently projecting their beams of light in parallel lines out of the clearing.
Breaking camp after the spell casters are ready and you’ve all eaten, you again walk for the most of a day, or what feels like almost a full day, following a straight path out of the fibrous forest and onto the wide plain, that surrounds the central skull mountain and it’s constant plume of smoke and fire – you appear to be headed straight for it.
As you begin to discuss when to stop for dinner, Sharnistival and Busta spy something far ahead, in the sky – a dark point that appears to be moving laterally… Everyone is directed to where it is, and as you continue to march, you all study it; after a few minutes pass, some of you can make out wings that contrast against the flame-orange sky…
Sizul recognizes the shape and movement of this creature – it is a Red Dragon!
A shudder moves through the party… The idea of facing a possibly hostile, possibly fiendish Red Dragon on his home turf gives everyone pause – except Sizul; the ½ Dragon figures that his chances, while not much better than 50%/50%, depending on the dragon’s demeanor towards brethren of his kind, at least he knows that those chances are better than anyone else’s!
Sizul’s hope will soon be put to the test…as far in the distance you all see the dragon bank and begin to turn…in your direction - it has seen you!
Tangible dread shoots through the party…tactics begin to take shape…teeth are gnashed, weapons are drawn, quivers refilled and spell components counted and readied…
…but Sizul sees an opportunity for greatness… He takes flight and begins to climb directly at the Red Dragon as it approaches!
The rest of you look at each other, and then out to the sky, then at each other again…some of you shrug.
(Sizul:)
Climbing towards the dragon, you gain a scope of its immense size; while your wing span is about forty feet, you guess that this dragon’s wingspan is almost one hundred feet! You swallow hard, and approach in a wide turn that will draw you parallel to the huge wyrm…
(Translated from the original Draconic)
Red Dragon: “What do you want..?”
Sizul: “Great wyrm of my brethren and forefathers, I come to beg safe passage for myself and my friends below; we are on a mission of great importance and seek entrance to the ‘skull-like’ mountain ahead.
Red Dragon: “What do I owe thee? I may eat the lot of you and be no worse – I tire of fiendish buffalo and seek sweeter meat!”
Sizul: “Umm…”
Sizul negotiates much like you would expect a warrior to…poorly.
Sizul: “I come to pay tribute to one of my blood and herit-*”
Red Dragon: “You mock my bloodline, half-breed! Do not think to treat with me as kin!!”
Sizul: “Umm…”
Sizul begins to wonder of his immunity to the dragon’s breath attack will be enough to save him…
Sizul: “Umm…what if I offer tribute and meat to your liking?”
Red Dragon: “Meat? Hmmmmmm….”
Somewhere in the back of his warrior’s mind, he hears a luck point being expended… *ding*
Red Dragon: “Meat you say…of what kind?”
Sizul: “Umm…” (His thoughts begin to dwell on the half-Orc that recently joined you…)
Red Dragon: “…And what tribute do you think to offer that may be of interest to me?”
Sizul: “I have a suit of enchanted armor that would make a fine display to warn anyone who would think to oppose you… and meat…we have….umm…”
Red Dragon: “WELL?”
Sizul: “We actually have quite a variety – I’ll check and be right back.”
(Rapid turn and descent back to the party, as the dragon enters into a wide orbit over your group)
Sizul notifies that the dragon is willing to accept the plate armor he offered (much to Indarin’s chagrin), but the food portion he got a bit carried away with… Most of you shoot glances at ‘Aaah’…he gets the idea; his hand tenses on the haft of his Great Axe…
Will, Kaurophon and Charaine have an idea: What about a summoned beast? It might be large enough to sate the appetite of the dragon as well as save your own hides – even if it may just leave the great beast wanting for more in a few hours…it wouldn’t be any different from eating Japanese food…
Sizul returns to flight and offers the Red Dragon the armor from the Wee Jas priestess, along with a huge sized Giant Centipede that Will summons right out of Jack’s spell book; to everyone’s great benefit, the dragon accepts the armor and descends on the Giant Centipede, crushing it and dismembering it in seconds as you all increase your rate of travel to clear the area before it decides that you all might make a tasty dessert!
As you leave the feasting dragon behind you in the distance, you begin to notice that the plasms in the sky are in greater density closer to the skull monolith ahead of you; slow-moving vortices of plasms spiral closer to the ground, with some actually touching in places… A particular group of plasms some hundred feet away draws your concern, as several of them break off and begin to float towards you! But at their rate of movement, they can be outrun, as long as Indarin and Will are carried by Sizul as he flies ahead and the rest of you pick up your pace to a jog; after about ten minutes of running, you leave them behind and relax to a walk again.
After a full day of marching, you stop for rest; Kaurophon is grateful that, for the first time in almost two days, he will be able to prepare his highest level divine spells and not have to worry about any more Restorations.
Again, Busta keeps watch, along with Sizul first, then Sharnistival for the third and fourth hours…
The half-fiend and the Huecuva see figures approaching during the third hour; as they roust the party, you all make out who they are – creatures faced before, both in battle at the Cathedral of Feathers and summoned for lust by Todok some months ago…three Succubi! As they walk towards you all, you clearly see that they are unarmed and even more clearly that they are unclothed! But this fiendish trio recognizes that they are overmatched by a dozen powerful foes…other than offers of flesh and pleasure, they make no threats (as you know threats to be…).
Knowing full well what happened to Irrattouos not too long ago, you decline – some politely, some not so; but Busta, being undead, wonders what harm could come from their advances… He decides to find out!
In the interest of the reader, let’s just say that Busta gets laid and leave it at that…it’s bad enough that the entire party has to try and get some rest with a fiendish-undead foursome some going on in the background…
After you break camp and Busta bids farewell to the three dreamy Succubi (who didn’t get much meat, but got a whole lot of bone…), you all walk on, into another day’s march that looks like all the previous day’s marches; again, you encounter Plasms along the plains…but knowing how to outrun them, you load Indarin and Will onto Sizul and pick up your pace – fifteen minutes later, you are safe again and moving on.
Eventually, you find yourselves marching under the shadow of the mountainous skull that dominates the center of Occipitus; far overhead, you all can see where a great plume of plasms, fire and smoke belch from one eye socket that faces the sky, while the other one forms a gargantuan cave dozens of feet above where you now walk. The overhang that shades you all (for the first time against the flaming sky) appears to be an area of skull that would be the left ear, if it were not buried under the ground… Ulcer pools dot the landscape in the shadow of the mountain, as the ground swells upward toward it in a gently rising slope…
You all pause when you notice that the lanterns both point directly into one of the ulcer pools!
At the same time, movement catches your eyes in a shadow about thirty feet away – an ebony-winged Celestial lies flat on his back, pinned to the ground by its wings by four large, iron spears… Tattered robes cover very little of his body, with the exposed skin showing nothing but scars, welts and spiraling black tattoos; the wounds on his wings bleed profusely, streaming blood seemingly flecked with gold…where it pools on the ground, you see it bubbling and steaming as it dries into dark crumbles…
Kaurophon gasps and pushes to the front of the group:
“Saurea! I met this pitiful creature years ago – he said he knew many secrets about the Test of the Smoking Eye!”
You all “rescue” the angel – in the sense of releasing him from the spikes and administering enough magical healing to get him sitting up and talking.
Saurea: “Kaurophon, am I correct..? It’s been what, a year ago, now..? It looks like you found a way past the First Test.”
Kaurophon: “Umm…yes. Yes, I did. This group and I have undertaken the Test; what do you know about the Third Test?”
Saurea: “I helped Adimarchus create it - is that good enough for you? He confided in me throughout its construction; after all, I was exactly the kind of successor he wanted – a fallen Celestial. Adimarchus was always hopeful that his successor would be another fallen Angel or someone formerly of the Light.”
Kaurophon: “How did you end up here, like this?”
Saurea: “The spikes, you mean? A Rakshasa and his bodyguard – a Giant. They’re on their way inside the Skull; presumably, they’re trying to pass the Test, also. If I were you, I’d better try and catch them…unless you don’t mind growing whiskers and a tail when it remakes Occipitus in his image…”
Kaurophon: “If you tell us about the Third Test, we might be able to beat them!”
Saurea: “Why should I care who wins the Test… Oh, before you and your friends consider torturing me, remember that I’ve had centuries of practice resisting torture from someone more ruthless and cruel than you. The Rakshasa tried to force the information from me… He failed.”
With his parting comment, Saurea turns and begins to limp away, a blasphemed and blasphemous Outsider no longer of the Light, nor of the Darkness…
…while both of your lanterns shine bright beams down into the murky depths of a round ulcer pool…
M
5/25/05: An epic battle that sets a new mark for the longest encounter fight ever – forty rounds! The session ran so long (8:30 pm – 4:30 am) that the synopsis was written in two volumes, with the second volume being distributed mere minutes before the following week’s game session…thus preserving the DM’s unofficial synopsis deadline.
“The Golden Shower”
(or, “I bet you can’t kill her character in one round”)
With deep sighs (especially from Indarin, in her plate armor…), you all stare into the ulcer pool and eventually work up the nerve to step in (except Busta, who has no fear of it, since he doesn’t require breathing); you find that the ulcer pool holds a fluid that is not that far removed from urine, in texture, color and taste, once you begin submerging yourselves and entering the tunnel-like opening at the bottom of the pool…even the temperature is right – if not a bit on the warm side.
The tunnel at the bottom of the pool is rather smallish, but Sizul manages to pull himself through; beyond, it widens and turns back upwards – much to your relief, since Indarin has to pretty much walk the entire way due to her armor…and everyone who trails behind Busta has to deal with the small cloud of ichor, hair, skin and fleshy bits that drift off of his body as he walks through the ulceric fluid…
After a short swim of about twenty feet, the tunnel turns upward and you all emerge into fairly clear air – the tunnel here is almost perfectly round and about twenty feet in diameter; but, due to the sloping sides of the tunnel, you can probably only walk comfortably in the center ten feet.
You all gather into a group again and begin to walk; the tunnel at first slopes downward, but after a while it levels and then begins an upward slope… You find yourselves turning right in a constant spiral upwards, when Sharnistival quickly raises his hands:
“I heard something – voices ahead!”
You all fall silent – but as you all strain to listen, you hear nothing.
You are preparing for battle, nonetheless; a Rakshasa is nothing to take lightly…Stroud casts Light as he flies up near the top of the tunnel, Woodrow and Sharnistival hide in the shadows amongst the rest of the advancing group, Will casts Mirror Image and ‘Aaah’ steps quickly out in front of the group with his lantern, hoping to reveal anything beyond…
What you all hear is more sounds of an alien tongue ahead in the tunnel; what you all see is a huge sack of golden cups, plates, goblets, candelabras, statuettes and other swag that flies out of the darkness ahead of the half-Orc, right past his head – it crashes onto the tunnel floor, scattering its contents about the ground! ‘Aaah’ barely saw the sack go flying by his head, but soon there is a second sack that flies out of the darkness beyond – it hits him, showering him and the entire area in more golden trinkets!
Everyone is still moving cautiously forward, but ‘Aaah’ and Busta see your adversary down the tunnel – a Fire Giant! Indarin casts Recitation, but the Giant has an iron will… As everyone advances toward the giant and his Rakshasa companion casting busily behind him, Woodrow gets out a scroll and casts Enlarge on himself as Indarin tries Curse of Ill Fortune (which also fails); Sharnistival misses with his first arrow, but ‘Aaah’ charges the giant and hits! Busta successfully tumbles past the giant and avoids its attack, but it manages to hit ‘Aaah’ with its massive battle axe; Will casts Dimension Door and reappears in the tunnel beyond the fight – but his element of surprise is lost when the Rakshasa sees him…
Knowing that he will need help in defeating the Rakshasa’s spell resistance, Stroud gets out a scroll and casts Assay Spell Resistance, as Indarin summons a Shadow – which immediately hits the giant, sapping its strength; Sharnistival moves forward and fires again (missing again…), while Topaz hits with her first two shots. ‘Aaah’ hits the fire giant with his next two swings, while Busta attacks the Rakshasa and misses; the giant tries to overrun the barbarian to break through your line, but miraculously, he holds his ground against it! Sizul charges the fire giant and stabs it with Bugswatter, as Will, far behind the melee, casts Lesser Fire Orb at the Rakshasa and burns it! But much to his horror, he watches it cast Invisibility and disappear!
Jack has advanced far enough up the tunnel to see the battle raging in front of him – he finds a dark niche and hides, as Woodrow hits the fire giant with all three of his bow shots, covering for the rest of the party’s advance; Charaine activates and wild surges her Wand of Magic Missiles, but the discharged surge blinds her!
No longer able to attack the Rakshasa, both Busta and ‘Aaah’ hit the fire giant twice each – it is beginning to weaken and grow desperate; it tries to overrun the half-Orc a second time in order to break out of its current position, but for a second time, the barbarian holds it back! While Indarin casts Invisibility Purge to locate the Rakshasa and her summoned shadow misses its attack, Will casts Lesser Cold Orb and dampens the fire giant’s energy, weakening it further; Sizul then cuts it down with a massive swing of his polearm!
The dwarf warns the rest of you that the Rakshasa is invisible and still in the area – you all try to listen for it, but your party is far too large (and not very quiet at all); however, as Indarin advances, her spell reveals it – she stops and casts Scorching Ray, but the spell dissipates on contact with the strongly enchanted creature. Sharnistival hits it with an arrow, but to little effect; Will, however, casts Lesser Fire Orb again, burning it a second time! Stroud immediately follows by casting Defenestrating Sphere, but the spell fails to penetrate the Rakshasa’s resistance – it then casts Dimension Door and disappears!
Charaine, falling to the rear of the group as it advances, gropes blindly in front of her for a moment, then quietly sits down on the tunnel floor, frustrated and dejected…
Everyone immediately agrees – the Rakshasa must have exited his dimension door farther up the tunnel…they all begin to sprint as fast as they can around the spiraling tunnel upwards, unknowingly leaving the stricken Charaine behind where they started. Woodrow casts Expeditious Retreat to enhance his speed and Stroud lands in order to keep up on the ground, as the party (minus Charaine) runs at top speed upwards and around…
…for almost a full minute.
Meanwhile…back in the blackness of the tunnel back where they started, Charaine sits in growing silence…save for a voice in the darkness, not far away… She casts Invisibility, to conceal herself, but the voice is not stopping; she can tell that it is an arcane voice – something is casting spells…Bull’s Strength, then Cat’s grace…then Haste…then Bear’s Endurance…
Then, she hears footsteps – they come closer! She can tell that they are approaching; they are about to arrive where she is sitting! She holds her breath, hoping that whatever it is doesn’t step on her…
…the footsteps cease.
An accented voice, speaking the mage tongue of Draconic, pierces the total silence that Charaine focuses on, for lack of any other sense to use:
“Why have you been left here, wizard..?”
Charaine thinks to activate her Wand of Random Energy at her attacker in a noble bid to destroy it along with herself, but she knows that the likely outcome will be that it resists the magic and she would simply kill herself…she tries to cast something else but is quickly grappled and restrained by the Rakshasa before she can complete the enchantment. In moments, it has pummeled her into unconsciousness, leaving her as its plaything for the moment…
M
I was telling my players about your campaine and they were all shocked that this campain can be run with an evil group... anyone just another group of people shocked at the good job you are doing...
Also just a thought as i'm getting my party ready fro lord of oblivion. It says that rhiavadi inviates evel lords and even evil adventurers to the meeting... Depending on the relationship you party has with the cagewrites(hostly i have not read all of you posts so i'm not sure) you should have her invite your part to the big ball\meeting... and if they don't like what they hear they can attack if not they can do as they want... Sounds like lots of fun to me
I was telling my players about your campaine and they were all shocked that this campain can be run with an evil group... anyone just another group of people shocked at the good job you are doing...
Also just a thought as i'm getting my party ready for lord of oblivion. It says that rhiavadi inviates evel lords and even evil adventurers to the meeting... Depending on the relationship you party has with the cagewrites(hostly i have not read all of you posts so i'm not sure) you should have her invite your part to the big ball\meeting... and if they don't like what they hear they can attack if not they can do as they want... Sounds like lots of fun to me
I haven't read 'Lord of Oblivion' yet, but that seems like an interesting idea...the party has already semi-allied with Lord Vhalantru, so it would go easy enough. This groups requires very little motivation to attack things - I usually let them go any way they choose and I can still manage to steer them toward the proper plot course.
M
Part II of the epic confrontation with the Rakshasa and his Fire Giant friend...
“The Golden Shower, Pt.II”
(or, “Duh..!”)
The party has unknowingly (or uncaringly) left Charaine behind as it chases the fleeing Rakshasa up the spiraling tunnel; you all string out into almost single file over the next minute, as some of you run faster than others…you arrive at the terminus of the tunnel in staggered fashion – an entryway into a large, circular, domed room that features a small dais in the center that has on it a damaged iron throne.
Woodrow, having cast Expeditious Retreat, arrives at the room first; he sees a single creature crouching behind the throne…it pounds the floor rhythmically, as if bored, but as it becomes aware of the Elf (“I’m not an Elf!”), it stands and moves out from behind the throne – revealing itself to be some kind of clay automaton! Woodrow hits it with one arrow out of three as it advances on him, but the hit seems to barely registering… As Busta arrives and slows to a stop behind the arcane archer, Woodrow hits it twice more out of three shots, with similar results, as it reaches the entryway and slams him with a clay fist for massive damage!
Stroud and ‘Aaah’ now arrive, forming a line behind Busta and Woodrow; they watch helplessly as the clay Golem hits both of them with a fist each! Woodrow withdraws to heal and reposition and Busta fights back, hitting once – his fist harmlessly embeds into the semi-soft clay of the Golem’s torso; Stroud casts Dimension Door to get past the logjam in the tunnel exit and into the room beyond, while ‘Aaah’ joins the combat, hitting once.
Topaz and Kaurophon arrive at the rear of the group – Topaz aims and misses with two arrows as the Golem suddenly accelerates it’s movements! It hits ‘Aaah’ but misses Busta, as the both of them miss their attacks, also.
The rest of you are now arriving to the scene of a close-in melee between the half-Orc, the Huecuva and the Golem, with both of the party archers backing them; Woodrow pauses to get out a healing vial and drink it – but he discovers that the potion fails to affect him!
Beyond the battle, Stroud appears in the throne room – he contemplates the throne and makes a quick decision regarding the third and final Test…he lands and sits down! He waits for something to happen…
…nothing.
The Golem slams ‘Aaah’ for a second time, but misses its next swing; it makes up for it by slamming Busta, but his toughened undead body absorbs the blow well. The former monk tries to tumble past the hulking automaton, but it blocks his path – fortunately, it misses its opportunity to damage him further; Woodrow returns to firing his bow, hitting with three arrows for negligible damage, as Sharnistival and Topaz fire their bows also – the half-fiend hits both times for little damage, but the Tiefling’s first shot misses and her second hits Busta in the back!
The rest of you are maneuvering for a way to attack, as ‘Aaah’ withdraws to avoid being pummeled into the floor by the Golem; it instead attacks Busta, hitting once out of three attacks for minor damage. Indarin activates her Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds at ‘Aaah’, but it fails to heal him! The priest tries a second time
– it fails again!
At the rear of the party, Will has decided to cover the tunnel back where you came from, in case the Rakshasa has gotten behind you all – Kaurophon soon joins him there; Woodrow hits the Golem with two arrows out of three, Topaz and Sharnistival both miss the Golem twice each, Busta punches it twice for no damage and Stroud blasts it from behind from the throne – but the Eldritch energy is absorbed! ‘Aaah’ is desperately asking around for available healing potions from anyone, as the Golem misses Busta twice but hits Sizul once; the half-Dragon cleaves back twice, hitting for the most damage yet, as its enchanted speed fades and it returns to attacking at a normal pace.
Woodrow hurriedly hands ‘Aaah’ one of his vials of healing, just as a familiar voice is heard from nowhere…it comes from within the party!
At that moment, a freezing Cone of Cold appears from an unseen point in between Kaurophon, Will and the rest of the party – where also appears the Rakshasa! The cone blasts the entire tunnel and spills into the throne room – everyone takes massive cold damage…’Aaah’ and Sizul both fall – the former from already being weakened…the latter from his susceptibility to cold; Indarin and Jack are staggered, but they still stand.
Busta begins to sense doom…he breaks out of battle with the Golem and sprints for the spiral staircase that is the only other exit from the throne room, as Stroud turns invisible again and moves away from the throne; back in the tunnel, Topaz misses the Golem with another pair of arrows as Will casts Lesser Cold Orb at the Rakshasa in retaliation. Kaurophon casts Dimension Door to join the others in the throne room (although Will won’t know this for several moments…), as a still-shaky Sharnistival misses the Golem with his single arrow and Jack draws his sword to help him; Indarin follows her usual routine, healing herself with the wand of Cure Moderate Wounds as the Golem slams Sharnistival for massive damage!
The clobbered Woodrow fires at the Rakshasa, missing, as it casts Magic Missile at Jack…he drops from the four blasts! Past the throne room now, Stroud follows Busta up the spiral staircase as Kaurophon silently curses them for their cowardice…he casts Summon Monster III and sends a single Dretch to attack the Golem. The rest of the party is caught their own “Little Big Horn”, trapped in between a clay Golem on one side and a Rakshasa on the other…
The front line fighters are down…Topaz draws ‘Riposte’ as the Golem closes on her – she stabs it deeply, but does little damage to it; Sharnistival drops his bow and claws at the Golem – he misses. Rather than face the Rakshasa alone, Will casts Dimension Door and enters the throne room; Indarin uses the wand of healing on herself a second time, while the Golem is occupied in crushing the summoned Dretch in only two blows…
Woodrow drinks two healing potions as he helplessly watches the Rakshasa advance on Indarin and cast Vampiric Touch; the priestess shrieks as it drains life from her and gains energy from it… Topaz is still engaged with the Golem – she stabs it again out of two tries as Sharnistival draws his own sword and attacks (he misses); the Golem retaliates on both of them, missing the half-Fiend but hitting the Tiefling. In the throne room, Will casts Invisibility as Kaurophon thinks hard for options against such a strongly anti-magical construct.
Indarin is left to fight the Rakshasa alone – she grabs her light mace and swings twice, missing both times, as it casts the same spell again and drains her further of life force… In more danger than she’s ever faced before in her life, weakened by the Rakshasa’s magic and still weakening by the second, Indarin decides to use the Ring of Wishes to escape!
Topaz and Sharnistival continue to slowly whittle down the Golem…she hits once, he misses; the Golem attacks them both in return – Topaz is hit by a glancing blow, but Sharnistival falls…
Hiding invisibly behind the throne, Will can see that the rest of the party in the tunnel is facing certain death – he makes a hard decision… Getting out his spell book, he turns to a page and casts Lesser Fire Orb at the Golem – it works! The Golem stiffens and slows, as chunks of it harden and flake off, like broken pottery, as Woodrow hits it with three more arrows and Topaz stabs it a fourth time. As the battle spills into the throne room itself, Kaurophon slips behind the melee and points his wand of healing at the first person he can reach – Sizul!
Indarin is clobbered…desperate, she is now groping madly for the necklace where she keeps the ring – she finds it and pulls hard… But the Rakshasa senses her urgency – it casts Magic Missile to try and stop her, but the priestess survives!
Swallowing hard and cursing, Will casts a second spell out of his book – Lesser Cold Orb! The Golem flakes away and eventually collapses…it is destroyed!
Back in the tunnel, Sizul stirs and looks up at Kaurophon, who implores him to save the priestess!
Indarin pulls off her gauntlet and puts the ring on, mere feet from the Rakshasa… it can tell that this is important – he can’t risk her using that ring… it casts a second Cone of Cold, point blank at Indarin! Icicles form horizontally all over her plate armor…where there isn’t ice, frost coats the metal plates…Indarin stiffens and collapses, the ring on her blue, ice-crusted left hand…
Woodrow has only one target now – he hits the Rakshasa with all three arrows, but it shrugs them off like Busta would have; Topaz is weak from the second Cone of Cold and angry to be abandoned by the rest of the party – she runs for the stairs as Will casts Invisibility again to conceal himself from the Rakshasa.
Kaurophon, Will, Woodrow and Sizul now face the end alone; Woodrow, also weakened from cold, moves into a better position to fire from as Kaurophon uses his wand on Sizul again and Will hides…the half-Dragon breathes fire at the Rakshasa to warm things up and then charges it with Bugswatter, finally hurting the Rakshasa in a meaningful sense!
Busta and Stroud have now reached the top of the several-hundred feet tall spiral staircase…they survey the chamber, conclude that there is no threat beyond and then reconsider having left the rest of the group behind for the glory and power of the Third Test… They turn back and begin to jog back down the stairs – where they intercept a panicked and quite angry Topaz on her way up!
Woodrow drinks his last healing vial and drops his bow for the last fight…but the Rakshasa casts Dimension Door and reappears in the throne room! Will senses its appearance nearby and stills himself… As Sizul turns and searches for it, Kaurophon uses his wand of healing for a third time on the half-Dragon
Woodrow, having spotted the Rakshasa before anyone else, dives to grapple it before it can cast again – but the feline monster can also fight…it avoids the grapple and injures the archer as well! The Rakshasa then casts Vampiric Touch again and drains the remaining life out of him – Woodrow falls!
But Kaurophon isn’t far away – he revives Woodrow by using his wand of Cure Critical Wounds for a fourth time, as Will hides behind the throne and Sizul lines up for a charge on the Rakshasa; Woodrow sits up, grabs his bow and hits it (more for the moral victory than actual damage)… But the enchanted beast is cruel…and tired of this fight – it casts a third Cone of Cold! For the second time in ten seconds, Woodrow falls…to be revived yet again, as Kaurophon uses his fifth charge on the arcane archer.
Sizul charges the Rakshasa, but he scores only a glancing hit, as Woodrow gets up and moves to a safer spot; it does little good, however, as the feline monster casts Ice Storm on most of the room! Fortunately, the summoned storm is weak…most of you survive - except Sizul, who falls…again. But Kaurophon is there – he uses his healing wand for the sixth time on Sizul…and he stirs. Stroud, coming back down the stairs, casts Dimension Door and reappears in the air at the peak of the domed ceiling, while Will casts Teleport to escape the room and appear at Indarin’s frozen corpse…
Those of you in melee with the Rakshasa are learning to use group tactics on your outnumbered opponent…Woodrow feints to allow time for Sizul to stand up and grab ‘Bugswatter’, just as the Rakshasa hits him with a salvo of Magic Missiles – fortunately, he doesn’t do enough damage to drop the half-Dragon; after Kaurophon’s seventh cure spell out of the wand, Sizul feels stronger – he charges the Rakshasa, slashing it deeply! Now caught in melee, it tries to swing the Lantern of Guidance at the still-feinting Woodrow, as a heavy flail - hitting once and missing once; Busta, reaching the throne room once more, charges from the stairs but misses, as Topaz follows. Stroud, after getting out a scroll and casting Allay Resistance, follows by casting Defenestrating Sphere – he hits the Rakshasa and defeats its spell resistance! Not only is the beat battered by the forceful winds of the spell, it is launched into the air – then falls back to the floor!
In the tunnel, Will first takes the ice-glazed Ring of Wishes from Indarin’s dead hand, then rifles through her belongings for her seven wands…
Sizul is finding his rage…including his initial charge, he proceeds to hit the Rakshasa with four out of five attacks with ‘Bugswatter’, thanks to the assistance of Woodrow, Topaz and Sizul…while his enemy grows weaker, as he loses his vampirically-enhanced fortitude to each hit. Kaurophon supports them by healing Woodrow and Topaz with his eighth and ninth healing spells!
Stroud, emboldened by the success of his spell, blasts the Rakshasa as the spell continues to jostle it – but his Eldritch Blast dissipates on contact…
Desperate now, the Rakshasa concentrates hard to avoid your attacks and casts Ice Storm – but Kaurophon has healed all of you to the point where the spell fails to drop anyone…you all groan and grit your teeth with steely determination – you have the Rakshasa surrounded! As you all continue to keep it herded in with Sizul, Stroud blasts again, just before Sizul can swing…he catches the prone Rakshasa on the floor and penetrates his resistance – it fries right there in your midst!
The battle with the Rakshasa, his Fire Giant bodyguard and the Clay golem is over…exactly four minutes, to the second, after first sack of gold swag flew past Aaah’s head.
In the tunnel just outside the throne room, Will has just recovered the last of the seven wands from Indarin’s corpse…what happens next causes him to jump backwards in shock:
*Coming from inside Indarin’s frost-encrusted great helm*
“…m e a t…… w a n t.. m e a t…”
M