DM Harpwizard’s Heroes of Elsir Vale (Inactive)

Game Master GM Harpwizard

Bofus, you cannot tell how deep it is by looking into the dark water. What else do you try?

How about my Rope of Climbing? Tie yourself to the gem shedding the light, Rope!! Sure hope its less than 50'...

Um, Edvard--I seem to recall you can heal, right? YOu mind seeing to Thordak's injuries?

Edvard nods, though turns to Thordak with a touch of hesitation in his voice "I am skilled in the mending of flesh... though I would caution my methods are indelicate..." seeking assent from the dwarf before laying a hand upon him.

Glad you are all IGNORING the suddenly unconscious gnome.

I read stunned - which implies that you'd soon regather your senses and say something about it. Is that not the case?

It is true, the gnome has fallen unconscious. Sorry I was not clear enough.

DUDE!! I read that post late last night, too tired to reply, and forgot about it 'til now!! sorry bro

TIRION!! What the what?!*()#@*&)# I give him a shake. Edvard! Take a look at Tirion--what the hell happened to him?? Nothing hit him, he was just looking at that pendant thingy I found!! What gives??

After a minute, Tirion regains consciousness and sits up on the ground shaken, but ready to reply.

When Tirion regains consciousness he has a look of utter terror on his face and when he sees the phylactery. He quickly crawls backwards.

It is EVIL. Very very evil. Pure undead magic, necromancy. It is . . . it is . . . it contains the soul of a lich. One of the most powerful of undeads.

Tirion pauses for a few moments.

We need to destroy it. But, I do not know how. Perhaps the Harpwizard might know.

Anyone have any knowledge(religion)?

Edvard holds up a hand in caution "Stop a moment and think Tirion. Recall the note that Bofus found and read to us."

Saarvith -
Take great care with the enclosed phylactery. I need not explain to you what the Ghostlord would do if he knew where I had sent his little bauble for safekeeping. Hide it somewhere safe - perhaps it could be trusted to your dragon friend's keeping? Keep it hidden until Brindol is taken. Should it fall into the hands of someone who could return it to its owner, the consequences for our effort could be dire indeed.
- Ulwai

"Which evil is of a greater import to stop?"

"Wait, Edvard! What are you trying to say? Are you saying that this phylactery belongs to the Ghostlord? Oh Desna, I had no idea that they had recruited a lich to aid their cause!"

Knowledge, Religion 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

"Tirion, I am not sure how much you know about liches, but if we destroy this phylactery, I do not think that it will destroy the lich as well. It only prevents it from coming back to undeath if it is killed. Regardless of whether we destroy the phylactery or not, I am not sure that we could destroy the ghostlord in the first place! I know I had doubts about all of you destroying the dragon, but from what I understand, a lich is another level of evil altogether! I may have some healing pwers, but I am far from being a cleric that could actually inflict any sort of damage upon the undead fiend!"

"Not my words... but those of this Ulwai who sent it to the goblin. But yes, it would appear so. Though with the bounty won today perhaps the tables can be turned back upon the horde?"

Tirion relaxes a little, but you can still hear the fear in his voice from evil he sensed.

I always thought it odd that there were undead mixed in with this goblinoid and draconic horde. It sounds as though whoever this Ulwai is, he is holding, or was holding, this phylactery hostage to gain the support of the Ghostlord. Now that we have it, we may be able to demand that the Ghostlord hold his troops back, or even use them to fight the horde.

I would hate to side with such an evil creature. But, since the other option is to let the horde run rampant across the Vale. At this, Tirion simply shrugs to let the others make their own decisions.

Aye, Ed, don't worry 'bout me. If ye can patch me up Oi'd be much obliged. Thordak says, shaking some of the acid off his beard.

Here's moi question: How can we destroy that necklace, when it comes to it? Oi think we get tha ghostlord te kill tha horde, then destroy tha necklace...

With a sigh Edvard nods his head to Thordak "As you wish" before moving over to the dwarf. The warlock regards your wounds for a few moments with a look of focus and concentration on his face, as though seeing beyond the blistered and sloughing flesh on the surface to what lies beneath. Then with a swift motion Edvard reaches out with his hands curled into claws and rakes his nails painfully across Thordak's wounded flesh.

Pain floods from the abused flesh as Edvard scrapes acid melted flesh from Thordak's neck, scraping his fingers twice more across the wounds. Thordak feels a crisp edge to the pain that flares powerfully before slowly fading to a ache. Looking upon his skin the wounds are no longer open and suppurating... but what is left is visibly scarred and rendered ugly. Edvard then steps back from his work.

Healing Hex for Thordak: 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (3, 8) + 6 = 17

To the query on the lich "Perhaps, but we may find his strength far in excess of our own. Just now he rendered Tirion unconscious with just a glimpse of the magic that went into the phylactery. And destroying the necklace does nothing... unless you can also slay the lich."

Well, here's what I think we should do.
First, retrieve the TWO Eyes of the Dragon at the bottom of this swam.
Second, finish off those Razorfiends in short order!!
Third, make sure there aren't any bad guys left in this area to report back to the horde.
Fourth, bring Triana back with a triumphant homecoming, having avenged her brother admirably!
Then, maybe we can discuss with the elves how we could proceed. I know they'r enot your favorite folk in the world, Edvard, but they may have resources we can tap to do some research, savvy?

Bofus holds open the coffer. Go ahead, place the Fill-Act-airy in here. once that's done, Bofus then takes out his Folding Boat commands it big, puts the coffer below decks, then commands it back to a box, then tosses the lot into his Haversack. Good enough for now?

He then turns his attention back to the problem of retrieving the Eyes. He takes out his Rope of Climbing, holding one end tight. ROPE!! Tie yourself to the closest of those lit gems down under the water!!

Bofus lowers the rope of climbing into the dark water and gives the command for it to tie itself onto the gems. However, after several fishing attempts, he is still unable to pull up either of the two gems out of the water.

Can bofus tell why it's failing? Water too deep? Is the rope reaching but not able to tie aroudn securely enough?

Mantooth

Mantooth will use his Detect Evil to scan down into the water to discern whether there is anything evil lurking there waiting for someone to jump in.

He will then begin to change out of his +1 Full Plate and don the suit of +2 Full Plate the dragon so nicely left for us.

As the paladin removes his armor . . .

Mantooth, do you know how to swim? I'd go down there, but I really only dog-paddle, and I can only hold my breath long enough to down a pint of suds!! Since you're already stripping down, you think you could swim down and gather up those gems??

Bloody hell, Edvard! Wotever, Oi guess it'll be a good scar...

Alright, Oi'll go in, Oi've gotta wash some o' this acid off anyhow... Thordak says, removing his armor and dipping it in the water.

Tie this rope to moi leg. Two tugs means pull me up, alright?

He takes off his pack and strips to his undergarments, secures his dagger in his belt, and dives in.

Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

"Can bofus tell why it's failing? Water too deep? Is the rope reaching but not able to tie around securely enough?"

Bofus, you believe the rope cannot securely attach itself to the gems.

Thordak strips down, secures the rope to his leg, his dagger to his belt, and dives in. The water is very cold and dark. Little by little you begin swimming down, diving deeper below the surface.

Thordak, here is the swimming situation. A successful Swim check allows you to swim a quarter of your speed as a move action or half your speed as a full-round action. So with a base move of 20 ft. I will need a swim check (DC 12) to swim down 10 feet underwater. While you are doing full round actions, you may hold your breath essentially for 16 rounds, (your constitution score). Let's see how far you get. Please make swim checks until you succeed at four DC 12 checks. This will get you to the bottom of the lake. Once you are there, please make perception checks for each round until you succeed at two perception (DC 15) checks. This allows you to find the two eyes of the dragon. Once you have the eyes of the dragon, you may roll swim checks until you have made four swim checks (DC 10) to return to the surface. If you can do this in 16 rounds without any monsters attacking you, you will be fine. Otherwise, we will need to start making some DC 10 Constitution checks for every round over 16 that it takes. If you start to fail the Constitution checks, then you will begin to drown. Good luck. You may beginning rolling at your convenience.

With powerful strokes despite his stocky stature, Thordak quickly reaches the bottom. Must be all tha ale makin' me sink...Hope it's as easy comin' back up!

Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

When he reaches the bottom, he peers around, but it's too murky to see.

Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Holding one green eye of the dragon to his eye, he tries again.

Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

Finding the eyes, he uses his dagger to cut, pry, and scrape them out of whatever they are in, stuffs them in his loincloth, and swims back to the surface.

Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Swim:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

stuffs them in his loincloth

And thus did Thordak ensure that the eyes were to be his everlasting... for no-one wished to grasp anything of a spheroid nature that had been produced from his loins...

"Thordak, you made it! You were under there a long time! I was worried that something happened to you. Thank Desna that you are all right!"

Thordak returns with two Ebony Black Eyes of the Dragon that he recovered from under two rocks down on the floor of the lake.

Pwwffeeee! Thordak says, spitting out water and pulling seaweed from his beard.
Now who wants these? Thordak says, pulling the recovered eyes from his loincloth.

...Nobody? Hehe, oh, roight, well if anybody wants tha green ones, they're welcome to 'em. Oi'd wager the black ones do tha same thing as tha green ones--protect ye from acid...

"Now who wants these?" Thordak says, pulling the recovered eyes from his loincloth.

"Eeek! Dear Desna, what are you reaching for?"

Thordak pulls the two dragon family jewels from his loincloth.

"Oh good grief, Thordak! Could you not have thought of another place to store those?! You just gave me quite a shock!"

Well wot wos Oi supposed te do with 'em? Here-- he says, swishing the gems around in the dragon's indoor pool.
Better?

Tirion waited anxiously as Thordak dove beneath the waves and then as he returned Tirion let out a sigh of relief. When the gems were produced from the rather wet dwarf's loincloth, Tirion decided to forego offering to take the dwarves black jewels. Tirion has acid resistance anyway.

Well, I guess the next questions is where to next. I agree that we should eliminate any dragonspawn and any other evil that is hereabouts. But, once we are finished with that, where to next. We can return to Brindol and help with the siege. We can seek out this Ghostlord. We should return to the elves and discuss them sending flying troops to help defeat the horde.

So, what do you all propose once we are done with the forces here?

Oi'd say, let's deal with first things first. Thordak says, combing out his beard and dressing.
Should we go in tha buildin' or just set it on fire? Do ye think there's a place fer them to escape like this hole? Thordak asks, thumbing towards the pool.
Maybe we've just got to bite tha stick an' charge in...

Stepping forward "If no-one else wishes?" Edvard moves to take the baubles from Thordak. He regards them with a jaundiced eye as he considers the gems.

DMHW - could I get a brief run-down on what the eyes do?

"As to the spawn, a fire might be the easiest solution - assuming that the beasts can be trapped within. Though the flames will likely bring much attention from whatever else lingers here... as well as the lizardmen around the lake's rim."

Edvard. A single eye gives +5 on perception when used to view small areas, disable device type stuff (sort of like a magnifying glass). Two of them gives you +10 Resistance to an element (acid (green/black), fire(red), electricity(blue) and cold (white)).

Edvard, you can take the pair of green gems if you want and we can leave the other black ones for Thordak to keep in his loincloth.

dangit, ninja'ed by trion on the "thordak's jewlels" joke!!

Good one, Thordak! Maybe Trellara will write a song about hte Amazing Swimming Dwarf to immortalize your aquatic exploits!!
.
Why don't I go scope out the razorfiend pen?

Stealth: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (10) + 23 = 33
Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

Why don't I go scope out the razorfiend pen?

"I'll come with you Bofus. I promise not to follow too closely."

Trellara follows Bofus, but stays at the top of the stairs on the roof and watches the halfling approach the Razorfiend pens.

Stealth 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

How does that halfling sneak like that? If I didn't know better, I would not even realize that he was there!

Bofus, A one story stone building once stood here, but now its flat roof has almost entirely collapsed. A section to the east remains intact, forming a narrow and mossy platform above the water. The remaining walls stand about a half foot above the water level, creating an L-shaped enclosure. The entire area has been reinforced with a fence of logs and branches lashed together with ropes, extending the ruined walls of the building up by another ten feel. At the west end of the enclosure lies a large heap of mud and rotting plants. The only easy way inside seems to be a gate in the northeast corner, near a floating brindge that leads back to the boardwalk that surrounds the larger building.

Rhest Town Hall Outside

I'll get closer so I can take a look inside, either through a crack or climbing and peeking over.

climb: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

I'll head back to the group. Yeah, there are two hatclings--oen of them has an arrow sticking out of them, how odd??--and a buch of eggs. I thought the more heavily armored, bigger folk could lead the way and swing heavy things at them . . .

Sounds reasonable. I wonder whether the eggs would be worth anything - purely from a research point of view obviously.

Actually, the Thordak comment should have been.
I heard rumors about this, but never realized that a dwarf's family jewels really are gems.

" Yeah, there are two hatclings--oen of them has an arrow sticking out of them, how odd??--and a buch of eggs. I thought the more heavily armored, bigger folk could lead the way and swing heavy things at them . . ."

"You saw two hatchlings? Do you mean the razorfiends? That is the wretched creature that took down my brother, Lanikar, and his owl, Loki! Are we going to destroy them now? I do hope we rid this place of all the fiends that inhabit our marsh!"

Well we'd better have at it! They're probably comin' fer us right now!...damn fool halfling... Thordak says, grabbing his axe and clomping up the stairs.

Mantooth
Having taken several minutes to don the shiny new suit of armor, Mantooth slides his shield on his arm and draws Magnimara after fastening the sheathe around his waist. He then follow the rather soggy dwarf up the stairs.

Yes, it is time to finish these vermin and then return to Brindol to make sure that the city is in good hands and that Matthais fairs well.
___________

Tirion

Tirion makes sure that all the equipment is taken care of, and then follows the others up the stairs and over to the pen that he almost opened a few minutes earlier.

DMHW - can we get a complete list of all the loot so that everything gets taken and added to character sheets. Also, could you keep a running total of what Mantooth has since I cannot access his sheet to add things?

This is a list of the treasure found in Regiarix's chamber. It has been all listed before, but I am compiling the list again at your request. Before you leave the room, can you tell me who takes what items? In particular, I would like to know who carries the Phylactery of the Lich. I have a list of equipment listed on the campaign page. Let's make sure all of your own pages are updated and I can update Mantooth's on the campaign page until his return.

8,800 silver pieces
2,300 gold pieces
130 platinum pieces
a gold necklace worth 800 gold pieces
11 small gems (spinels, tourmalines, and peridots) worth 30 gold pieces each.
A small iron coffer containing the Phylactery of a Lich
Silvered Heavy Mace +2.
Horn of Fog
Periapt of Health
2 Eyes of the Dragon (Black)

Here is the distribution as far as I know:

Full Plate Mail +2 --> Mantooth
Coffer/Phylactery --> Bofus put this in the Folding Boat which he then folded and put in his Handy Haversack
Silvered Heavy Mace +2 --> Tirion --> We will likely sell this unless someone wants it.
Horn of Fog --> Edvard
Black Eyed Peas --> These are Thordak's new family gems.
Green gems --> went to Edvard I believe
Periapt of Health --> Tirion --> Unless someone else wants it.

Bofus, please add the coins to the group loot or let us know how much each if we are going to split it.

Bofus, please add the coins to the group loot or let us know how much each if we are going to split it.

For simplicity's sake I was going to wait until we sold all goods and make one single "here's all the coin" post. It's all in the Non-Distributed Treasure until that time!

Yeh - that is easiest for the time being.

Was the phylactery put back in the iron coffer, or was it placed in the box found in Saarvith's room that hid the note, or simply placed in the folding boat without a storage container? So I presume that Bofus is now holding onto the Phylactery?

Where do you all proceed next? Are you going down to the Razorfiend pen? Please give me each of your positions if/when you enter. I will be waiting for your cue.

Bofus holds open the coffer. Go ahead, place the Fill-Act-airy in here. once that's done, Bofus then takes out his Folding Boat commands it big, puts the coffer below decks, then commands it back to a box, then tosses the lot into his Haversack. Good enough for now?

My vote is Thordak at L16 and Mantooth at M17 with Magnimara out and ready for whatever comes out. Thordak armed with his trusty crossbow.

Bofus will open the door and then sneakily climb up the wall.

Edvard and I will be 2 or 3 rows behind the warriors, in the J row at 16 and 17.

Trellara will be at J15 with her bow out.

Sure