| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
PC Name: Delgatto
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Cause of death: Battle with the Ebon Aspect
This was originally written for the players after a long hiatus as a recap of the previous session
It had been a difficult battle against the Faceless One and his minions. The barrage of Lightning bolts, summoned centipedes and apes, and an undead creature that proved nearly impossible to hit, had left the group of adventurers weak and spent. Waywreth, the battle hardened cleric of WeJas was depleted of spells, as was Mathis the blossoming wizard and apprentice of Alustan. Calypso, proud elven member of the Bronzewood lodge was not in much better shape. Everyone suffered from numerous wounds; the lightning bolt from the Faceless one had nearly wiped them all out. Flondo, the halfling, was in the best condition; he had spent most of the battle comatose, in the fetal position, having succumbed to an evil presence within the walls of Vecna’s laboratory.
Unfortunately, the Faceless One had escaped. With his entourage dead, and his repertoire of spells depleted, he reached into his robes and removed a small vial, quickly downing its contents. As Delgatto, the faithful follower of Zoukan, closed in to finish him off, the Faceless one became insubstantial, his body turning to a fog like substance which quickly seeped under the door behind him and into the hallway beyond. Delgatto whipped open the door to give chase, only to find the hallway choked with webs, a spell cast by an acolyte before his demise. Delgatto quickly turned and made his way back through the laboratory, down another hallway and met up with the rest of the group in Vecna’s inner sanctum.
“Quickly! This way! He’s escaping!” Delgatto yelled, as he sprinted past Kago, who stood over the freshly dead corpse of an acolyte that had been no match her mighty greatsword. Waywreth, Kago, and Flondo still out of breath from battle, followed, knowing that the Faceless One held the answers they sought. By the time the group crossed the room and made their way into the storage chamber, the faceless one had disappeared. Flondo took a moment to give a quick search, finding the hidden lever to open a secret door back into the labyrinth. They quickly marched into the maze, hoping to find their quarry before he lost himself in the many hidden niches within the endlessly winding hallways.
Mathis and Calypso however, chose to take a few moments to search the clutter of overturned tables and toppled bookshelves of the Faceless One’s laboratory. Shattered beakers and vials littered the floor, the smell of ozone still hung heavy in the air from the remnants of the lightning bolt spell. After a few minutes of searching, Mathis found a piece of parchment. It appeared to be a code key. Mathis reached into the folds of his robes, removing a parchment, which they had uncovered within the halls of the temple of Hextor. After a few minutes of quick decoding, Mathis’ face paled, as the contents of the note struck home. “Calypso, if this says what I think it does, we’re in trouble.”
It was at that moment that an enormous rumble shook the entire complex, causing the few unbroken bottles and beakers on the laboratory’s tables to rattle and shake. It was followed seconds later by a second rumble, and then a third. “Come on,” said Mathis, “Let’s get out of here.”
In the labyrinth, the trembling was even more intense. Knowing trouble was brewing, the party made quick march back to the main temple, all thoughts of finding the Faceless One suddenly gone in light of this new danger. Delgatto reached the door first, whipping it open and scanning the room beyond. Standing in the temple was a most foul beast. It stood over ten feet tall, with six thrashing arms protruding from its rippled torso. Its gray skin, which still dripped the foul black ooze from the pool from which it had just emerged, pulsed with an intense blue arcane power. Its face was gaunt and skeletal, with massive fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth. In roaring fits of rage, the beast seemed intent on destroying all around it, pummeling the temple’s columns with its muscular arms, causing stones from the rocky cavern opening above to come cascading to the temple floor, shattering debris across the room like thousands of shards of deadly shrapnel.
Delgatto looked back at the rest of the group, “If that thing reaches the elevator platform, we’re done for”. Delgatto didn’t need to elaborate, for the rest of the party realized that if that beast destroyed the lift, they would all be facing a two-hundred foot vertical accent in order to see daylight once again. Thoughts quickly raced back to the debacle in the caves of Erythnul, in which nearly half the group perished in a descent only one fourth that height.
“Let’s do it!” Delgatto yelled as he began to make his way down the short hallway leading to the temple proper.
Flondo however, got the jump on everybody, quickly slipping past Delgatto, and finding himself face to face with this aspect of evil. With a quick twirl of his wrist, he let loose with a bullet from his sling, striking the beast squarely in the forehead. The monster let out another hideous roar, its three stumped arms pounding its chest. From there the scene became one of total mayhem as the creature charged forward to meet the rush of the rest of the group.
The next few moments were like a nightmare, as swords and fists flew, blood splattered, and howls of rage and pain echoed throughout the chamber. Kago was the first to fall, a mighty barrage of fists from the beast proving more than the brave warrior could handle. Weywreth, depleted of healing magic, was left with no choice but to continue to pummel the creature with his mighty mace until, he too fell to the floor unconscious from the creature’s steel like fists. Sensing triumph, the beast let out another roar before tearing into Delgatto, all three fists striking home, the third collapsing his skull and sending him careening across the room, landing in a heap against the near wall.
It was then that Calypso and Mathis reached the inner Temple just in time to see Flondo, who had tossed aside his sling, facing the beast alone, tear into it with his sword. He managed to strike home once, before he too fell beneath a barrage of fists. “I’ve got nothing.” Mathis stated flatly, swallowing hard.
“It’s the only way out.” Was Calypso’s response as he unsheathed his scimitar and strode down the hallway.
The beast by this time was battered hard and showing signs of weakness; over a dozen wounds seeped ichor, pulsating out in deep rivulets in tempo to the azure energy which rippled across its frame. As Calypso moved in, the beast lunged forward, and by the grace of Obad-Hai, all three of its fists swung errantly. Seeing his opening, Calypso stuck, his scimitar slicing cleanly into the newborn flesh of the creature’s abdomen, more ichor spurting from this fatal wound. As Calypso sidestepped, the creature dropped to its knees, falling forward to lay face down on the cold temple floor.
Calypso, using the last of his healing spells and his magical wand, managed one by one to revive the unconscious party members. The scene before you is one of total chaos. Debris from fallen rock and shattered columns litters the floor. In addition to the lifeless body of the Ebon Aspect, the bodies of the mine manager Raggnolin Dourstone and his 8 guards lie scattered about the temple, dead from your hands just a day ago. The lift, pummeled by falling stones, appears yet serviceable. You should feel pride in you accomplishments. In a short week, you have rooted out and destroyed a nearly unspeakable evil that had taken root beneath Diamond Lake. The merging of the three faces of evil: Hector, Erythnul, and Vecna has been thwarted. And perhaps even more importantly you destroyed the Ebon Aspect. Had that foul creature which emerged from the dark pool been able to reach the populous above, there is no telling how many lives might have been lost. But victory came at a cost; a companion and friend was lost, one who had on many occasions saved the lives of the rest of you. Instead of sweet, on this day, the victory tastes bitter.