Well, to start, our party consists of:
Prince Milifrast (A.K.A.) Raymond Redblade (played by me) Sorcerer supreme
Sir Duncan (Played by KnightErrantJR) Royal Guardian
And, our special opps guy:
Krig, halfling of the far lands.
Our history is pretty simple (our DM shall be known as OS). He gave us our history and background information as follows:
Near a score years ago, the Mageking of Adlund, Finelein the Wise, fell ill in the halls of Witching Castle. He was the victim of a strange and powerful curse cast upon him by an ancient and evil red wyrm, Fyrblud. As the strength of Adlund is mystically bound to its rulers, the realm and citizens suffered as well. King Finelein dispatched his four sons to find a cure. Shortly after the princes began their quest, Queen Meretheril died giving birth to twins. Mordrin, the traitorous royal physician, spirited one of the princes away from the midwife and nurses, leaving Prince Milifrist with them.
At the same time Duncan, the youngest Captain in the Shadow Guard was assigned as the youngest prince's chief protector. The royal guard of Adlund is a special order of warriors. They are chosen by the Mageking at childhood and are then removed from their families and taken to the compound of the royal guards where they live and train for the rest of their lives. They are taught from then on to think of the royalty and the guards as their family and are widely known for they're fighting skill, tenacity, and ability to smell a trap. As the children grow up they are given increasing responsibility with the guard. Their duties start simply with cooking, cleaning and tending for the mounts used by the royal guards. As they reach their teens they are given minor responsibilities with the royal family, messengers and the like. Once they reach adulthood they are assigned a position within the guard commensurate with their skills. Only the very best are chosen to guard the family itself, these elite guard members are commonly referred to as the Shadow Guard and also fulfill the role of trainer for the young royals fighting and riding skills.
Shortly after the twins birth one of the king's former advisors, a sorceress named Morag, who's talents in the art of magic could rival any in the kingdom, sought to take advantage of the king's illness, destroy the royal family, and rule Adlund herself. There were many attempts on the lives of the royal family until the sorceress was finally destroyed. Morag had developed a wealth of conspirators within and without the castle it was obvious this coup had been planned for some time. Of the entire royal family Prince Milifrist was the only one whose life was never placed in any real danger, save once, thanks to the skill and cunning of Duncan. Assassins were discovered and dispatched with amazing speed and all but one of the traps laid for them was discovered well enough in advance to speed the prince away to safety. The unlucky participants in the trap that was not discovered in advance found them battling a small group of the Shadow Guard that fought with a ferocity seldom seen, with Duncan at the forefront.
As the years passed the king and Adlund suffered, withered and weakened. The four older princes had been gone for many years and the people feared the worst. Prince Milifrast grew up taking lessons in the Temple of Pelor, reading in the Royal Library, playing in the tunnels under the Witching Castle, and oblivious to the tragedy and turmoil around him. In the summer of his thirteenth year, Prince Milifrast began his sorcerers studies in the Royal College of Magery.
As Prince Milifrast reached his eighteenth year his brothers had still not returned. His father was a broken skeleton of a man, bone white and withered like a husk. Adlund was suffering with the king plague, pestilence, and famine. Meanwhile, Fyrblud had spent two decades luring the princes of Adlund to their doom, drinking their magically infused blood and drawing their power into him. No one is certain if Fyrblud simply overwhelmed the Shadow Guards of the four slain princes or if there was a traitor in the ranks that betrayed all needed information to trap and destroy the princes and their guards. A man who always assumes the worst, Duncan is of the belief that the methods of his fellow guards were not flawed and that a traitor must exist.
Finally, Fyrblud revealed his presence; he flew from his lair with a mighty army of creatures both hideous and foul. Through his arcane magic and murderous compatriots, Witching Castle fell quickly to Fyrblud and King Finelein was slain, mercifully ending his tortured existence. However, Milifrast's sworn protector, Duncan, had secretly prepared for such a disaster and had equipment waiting outside the city. During the battle, Milifrast escaped with his companions Duncan and Krig through the tunnels under the Witching castle after a harrowing battle with a band of draconians. However an errant spell caused part of the tunnel to collapse forcing them to exit near the harbor. They quickly found a small dinghy and made for the Isle of Lenore. After a brief adventure there, they continued on for the Barony of Eor to the North to ask for assistance.
His Draconic Highness, Fyrblud wasted little time in establishing his rule. Adlund became a grim realm, evil prosperity driven by the great beating heart of its cruel ruler. The beautiful and magical land is no longer respected and admired; rather it is cursed and feared. There has always been power in Adlund, but now it is hungry, malicious and spreading.
In the meantime, Milifrast (calling himself Raymond Redblade), Krig the Shifty, and Duncan fled. Knowing that Fyrblud could never have complete power over Adlund until all of Finelein's line was dead; they remain on the road and under constant threat of capture. The new Raymond and his companions now seek a way to stop the unstoppable and return Adlund to its rightful rule.
We begin with session 1 next
Session 1, Part 1.
We have arrived at the Barony of Eor. We headed straight for the Baron's fortress, as he was a friend of the Prince's. We spoke to some guards, as to not be seen entering the main part of the keep. We notice that there are many merchants in the courtyard, apparently awaiting an audience.
Raymond shows the guard the signet ring, and his eyes got wide, and he took us to the side entrance of the castle.
We entered a private audience chamber, meeting up with John the Baron, and Brunis the High Priest of the barony. He was greatly relieved to see me alive, as he had heard rumors about the Witching Castle. We confirmed all of them.
What's worse, he had no troops to spare, as he had problems with Banditry in the south portions of the barony. These bandits had been attacking the various caravans heading around a massive swamp near the Village of Waycombe.
Adding to that, one of the caravans was carrying a piece of the legendary Dragon Slayer Lance. This lance, as the legends go, cut through dragons like butter, and was able to be broken into 3 parts. The head, made of superior quality mithril, could be used as an effective dagger, the Shaft broke down to be used as a bracer, and the butt of the lance could be used as a compass to find the other 2 parts. One of the caravans was carrying th butt of the lance. John points out that he sent 30 men under the able leadership of Thorsh Brumen into the area, and has not heard from them.
At this point, Krig and Duncan are eager to point out that we may be headed that direction, and ask the Baron if it would be acceptable to question the merchants. As Raymond is recognizable as the prince, John recommends that he go and speak to Master Pariak, the court wizard.
Krig and Duncan head into the main hall, where they see 4 priests praying for safety and protection from evil, as well as many merchants. John and Brunis accompany them, while Raymond goes around the side entrance to get to the wizard's chamber.
As Krig and Duncan enter, in order to provide a distraction for the prince, Krig jumps onto the table and shouts "Your Savior has Arrived." This causes much commotion as the various merchants begin to shout out their fears. As they do this Sir Duncan, in a very frightening tone, yells "QUIET, ONE AT A TIME" and his hand drifts towards his Longsword. This shuts them up quite nicely.
A few merchants begin by saying that they fear the road, and don't want to go back. One merchant is particularly arrogant, saying that the Baron can't keep his own lands tame, and that all the mercenaries he used were the best money could buy, and that the brigands beat them without using any magic. Cutting through his arrogance, Duncan and Krig quickly find out that the brigands seemed to be pursuing the guarts, perhaps to take prisoners. In all the stories, the attacks were preceded by a man asking for directions. Duncan, ever the military man, asked 3 simple questions of the arrogant fool: Race, Weapons, Armor (said as statements). They found that the attackers were Human, used simple swords and Leather armors, and NO MAGIC was seen at the attack points.
At this point, as the priests file out, an incoming priest screams "May the protections over this place fail and Evil triumph!" At this point, a Pillar of flames flies from his hands directly across Krig, Duncan, and several of the Merchants. As the spell is cast, his hood flies open, revealing a greasy-haired human with a scar down his face that Krig and Duncan immediately see is Mordrin. The gout of flame drops Krig to the ground in a charred mass, while is taken aback. As Mordrin leaves the room, Duncan attempts (poorly) to throw his sword into Mordrin, knowing his duty is to protect the prince before chasing Mordrin into a likely trap.
******At the same time, Prince Milifrast/Raymond is meeting with Master Pariak************
Going to the door, not wanting to deal with a trap, Raymond knocks on the door with the tip of his staff. The old man says that he has been expecting Raymond, and to knock again. Raymond knocks again and finds himself in a large, open room that is much larger than what should fit in the keep. He provides a wealth of information about the Dragon Slaying Lance, and would like to send some gifts along with us. He hasn't had time to organize them as he would like, so he asks Raymond to find his dog, who is tearing things up downstairs. "All you have to do is scratch 'im right behind the ears." Raymond agrees and is instantly teleported to the area, with the command word being Pariak to return with the
dog.
The area reaks of brimstone. Walking down the dark, sooty hallway, Raymond casts light on his staff in order to see better. Opening the door ahead of him, he sees a wild-looking hound that has deep red eyes that seem to glow in the dark. The hound is snarling as Raymond begins talking in a smooth, quiet tone "Here puppy puppy puppy, good puppy" After some seriously tense moments, the hound walks over to Raymond, and Raymond scratches him behind his ears. Soon, the both of them are in Pariak's study again.
Pariak gives Raymond a Ring of Safety, a Potion of Heroism (of some sort), and a Potion of elasticity. At this point, Pariak says something is severely wrong, and that Raymond should go see my friends.
Raymond enters the main hall as Brunis is raising a poor merchant from the dead, and has just healed Krig. One word describes what happens: Mordrin. At this point, comparing notes, we tell the Baron that we will be glad to stop the bandits.
And we continue with Session 1, Part 2 soon.
Session 1, Part 2
We decide to gear up with food, provisions, and horses. Unfortunately, the Baron only has riding horses, so we will have to be careful about the foes we face, and the terms of such acts.
We leave, and begin the trek down through the countryside. We traveled south of the town of Newcombe, and eventually come across a troupe of Ogres ravaging what appears to be refugees. Immediately sensing that the poor refugees aren't able to withstand such an attack, the Prince orders Sir Duncan to action "We may not have a kingdom, but we must protect those who need it." The combat is swift and furious, with Krig sneaking up, attacking, and running away. Raymond casts *enlarge person* on sir Duncan. They await the charge of the ogres. The combat that follows is that of great epics, with the Ogres dropping both Krig AND Sir Duncan, with one ogre left, and Raymond being burnt out of spells, the Prince made a last-ditch attempt to slay the ogre. Taking care of Sir Duncan and Krig, Raymond went over to the family noting that one of the men, a farmer by the look of him, was dead. They took the time to bury the body, and spent the night with the refugees. Duncan took out provisions for all of us to eat, and Raymond gave the family some money to start up a new life. "My, that was awful generous of a SIMPLE MERCHANT" said Duncan.
The next day of travel was relatively short, and we found ourselves in the Safe Haven Inn. The inn was relatively quiet for this time of year, barren even of refugees (the prince thought). Asking the innkeeper, Durmall, about this, he was told that the inn wasn't free for anyone, not even refugees. Raymond began to tell him that it was a show of good faith, that the refugees could spread word of your kindness and, over time, make him richer. A simple act could help someone, and make a tidy profit in the long run. "Cough, a lot of talking for a SIMPLE MERCHANT" said Duncan, repeating himself again, nudging roughly. Durmall suggested to Raymond that he should put Duncan in his place. Raymond merely asked for a hard matress, preferably solid wood, and a stark room. Duncan just glared.
In the late evening, Krig heard something in his room, seeing a fairly large snake enter his room, he jumped out the window onto the awning. and began to go past Duncan's room directly to Raymond's. Raymond had just noticed that someone was watching him, and said "I know you're there, it's pathetic" just as Krig entered the window. Krig checked on the prince, and saw that he was okay, so he next went to Duncan's room.
During all of this, Duncan had been in a fight with a very nasty spider (about the size of a dog). As Krig opened the door, Duncan had just dispatched it with his morningstar. Krig made fun of the now massively spider bitten Duncan, and squealed "eew spider guts" as duncan swung his morningstar in his direction, spreading spider insides all over Krig. Raymond, hearing the shout peeked into the hall, to see the largest snake he'd ever seen in his life. He immediately cast *magic missile* and dispatched the snake quickly. Come to realize, the innkeeper had been keeping Mordren in the same in, unknowingly. Due to his oversight, and massive repurcussions that could be disastrous for business, Durmall agrees to allow the next grouping of refugees a night's rest at his inn, because "they are just as safe outdoors as they are in here." As Raymond put it.
The next day's travel is uneventful, and the group reaches another wayside inn. The Robin Redbreast Inn. Upon entering, Duncan says he'd like a bath, and some time to clean up. The innkeeper, always happy to serve, turns towards the merchant (Raymond). "One Mud Bath please" Raymond says with a twinkle in his eyes (Duncan immediately pulls the prince nearer "I hate you my liege"). "Just kidding, One room with 3 beds, and a hot bath for all of us. This traveling stuff is for the birds."
As we sit in the main part of the inn, a bard approaches our table, and, against our wishes, performs a short ballad. "The ballad of Sakatha" follows the story of a great lizard king that was dethroned. The lizard king had a titanic battle with the former Count of Eor, and was killed in battle, but awaits in death a chance to wreak vengeance on the Barony of Eor. Most of the "regulars" in the bar begin huddling with their drinks and booing the bard's tale. The rest of the night is, thankfully, uneventful.
We begin travel in the morning, and with the horses we make it to the bridge crossing of the River Ardo in 2 days. It's about evening, and Raymond suggests setting up camp. Raymond, trying to make up to Duncan his pranks, says he will set up camp approximately 300 yards away from the bridge while Duncan and Krig begin scouting for any sort of danger. Danger does come, right out of the water. A company of Lizardfolk Raiders comes out from the river, attempting to sneak up on the camp. Thankfully, Krig was on the bridge and out of sight when they began coming out of the water. Duncan, using his bow to begin with, shouts a warning to the prince, and fires. Krig attempts to catch one off guard, but misses with his attack. At this point, Raymond, thinking the horses will be safer at the camp, begins to run to the bridge (8 combat rounds of running for Magic Missile range). During the time that Raymond runs, Duncan and Krig are embattled with a strong group of Lizardfolk. They fight, and cleave and fight and cleave until the last one is taken down. At the end of the battle, Duncan cuts the head off of the leader (the largest one), and uses it as a hand puppet as he sets up a rudimentary warning using a spear, shield and the head as a warning to leave us alone. The rest of the evening is uneventful.
In the morning we meet a man dressed as a soldier of the Barony. He is Thorsh Bruin, and he looks like he's been through the Nine Hells. With the help of the Hand Puppet, Duncan, Raymond, and Krig are able to determine that the brigands are using a copse of trees behind the inn in Waycombe as a base of operations. They 40 strong, with no lizardfolk members, and a penchant for taking prisoners for no apparent reason.
We thank him, and begin to travel our way to Waycombe. Waycombe is a decimated village. Most of it has become rubble, burned down, or otherwise destroyed. We enter waycombe, and head to one of the less-dilapadated homes. We tether our horses, and begin to sneak across the meadow. As we do 2 bandits challenge us (Duncan's not too stealthy, and neither is the prince). We get about mid-meadow, and all heck breaks loose. A small black dragon comes out of nowhere, and breathes his acid on us. At this point, Raymond casts enlarge person on Duncan, and runs back to the house. The dragon begins attempting strafing runs, and Duncan drinks the potion that Pariak gave him. Duncan's mind and body all open up to a new school of thought, and his muscles bulge as he gains almost perfect flexibility. Duncan successfully attacks the dragon, while Krig attempts to flank it. A fierce battle ensues, but the 3 are eventually victorious over the dragon (Duncan claims the head). The 3 then begin to run into the copse of trees. The three are unskilled in natural surroundings, and decide to turn back. They head back to the dilapadated cottage, and notice that there are lights on in the inn.
End session 1.
Ahhh, so I've finally been able to update... Life does get in the way. Anyhoo, session 2 was about the time I wrote the writeup for session 1, then baby, then other bad things happened. One player has since moved on to greener pastures (Glenndo), and we've added 2 new members. The parts of session 2 are retconned to deal with the loss of one party member (he agreed with the retcon), and we've got some background for the other party members.
Session 2 Begins
When our trio entered the village, we noticed that the Inn's lights were on. Krig decides that it's a good idea to scout out the inn to find out if there are any survivors or bandits in the area. The inn's second floor is completely destroyed, although the first floor appears to have less damage. Krig, Raymond, & Duncan all approach, with the brave, covert ops specialist Krig leading the way. Krig decides surprise and running would be a good idea, so he kicks the door in, seeing an older man faint as the door comes crashing inward.
After a short wait, the former innkeeper wakes up, explaining that he's leaving. He wants nothing more to do with the village, and that he's only taking what meager possessions he can carry away. He even tells the party to help themselves to the wine in the cellar (none of it's very good, according to Raymond). The innkeeper and the party talk for a while, and the party finds out about a "crazy old man" who lives at the edge of the swamp. The trio remembers that many of the bandit attacks were prefaced by an appearance from an old man. The party decides that it would be a good idea to visit the old man in the morning. The night is not pleasant for Krig, as he develops a strange fever. He hides it from the Raymond and Duncan, for fear of delaying the quest.
In the morning, the party travels to the old man's hut using a trail that the innkeeper suggests. The trio sees some smoke, and then sees a small thatch hut that seems to be occupied. After preparing for battle, as they believe may happen, they realize the old man is harmless, if not a little crazy. They begin talking to the old man, who speaks a great deal of gibberish, until Duncan pulls out the black dragon's head, and uses it as a hand puppet. The puppet finds out about large temple in the swamp. The old man, Demar, likes to sing little ditties and mutters a lot to himself, but otherwise is willing to lead the party through the swamp. Most anything that the party says about Secautha instills a terrified and angry look on the old man's face.
The party goes into the swamp, again. As they enter from this direction, Demar offers his putrid, oily, bug-repelling concoction. Krig and Duncan decide to accept, while Raymond declines. By mid-day, Raymond is covered in mosquitoes, and eagerly dons the purtrid stuff for any kind of relief. Shortly after mid-day, the party encounters the largest snake they've ever seen.
The snake rears up out of the water, and coils around Duncan. Krig attempts to help, and Raymond unsuccessfully tries to burn the snake off. During the battle Duncan passes out, and at that exact moment, Krig stabs the snake and it flees. Duncan is pulled onto shore, and the party decides to rest.
That night, the party is set upon by unnatural, unliving creatures. The three are put in dire straits, as Krig is moving slowly. The creatures drop him, and make short work of Duncan, who Raymond uses a curative potion on. The party is successful in defeating the enemy, but is feeling the effects of the day and the drain of the creatures. Krig's fever increases overnight, but he still tries to hide it from Raymond and Duncan, who have began to suspect something.
The morning brings them to the realization that there are leeches in the water, and the party makes every effort to remove them. The party rests for two more days, and moves on. They reach the grounds of the temple on the fourth day after the attack. The swamp here is very deep, and there is a raft. During their planning, several shambling plant creatures begin ushering them towards the temple, but the plants will not touch the temple. The party is glad to not battle the shamblers, and almost misses the bandits that have set up an ambush in the temple.
At this point, Demar, stricken with fear and eager to leave, abandons the party, fleeing into the swamp and untouched by the shamblers. The party, however spends several minutes battling what appear to be the bandits from the tales. There are several deep wounds, but the party defeats the bandits, 10 in all, and moves on to the inner sanctum of the temple. The inner sanctum has its own defenses and a demonic bas relief at one end, and strange tentacles that try to suck the life from the trio pop out of the walls. After a fierce battle, and switch pulling by Krig, the group emerges beaten, but victorious. Behind the demonic bas-relief , Krig, between hacking coughs, notices a secret passage. The passage leads into a moderate sized chamber, holding what appears to be a hoard of some kind. The party sees this chamber as a relatively safe place to rest for awhile, and they all try to rest. Except Krig. Krig finally reveals that he has been hiding a dreadful fever from the party, and that he won't be able to continue… Raymond, struck by the thought, tries to figure a way out of the swamp to get him to a healer, but realizes that he'll need a mortician before that. Duncan and Raymond spend the next two days mourning over the passing of Krig, tightening their resolve.
End Session 2
MEANWHILE................
The condition of Adlund worried the druids whose prerogative it was to take care of the land. They sent out some of their order to find a remedy. One of those sent out was stout Mern Prindle and his trusty riding dog, Chup, who he raised from a pup. Born and raised in Adlund, Mern was happy for an excuse to see the world and a chance to help his country. He planned to visit his parents in the village of Waycomb during his wanderings, they having moved there after fleeing the troubles in their home country. On the way Mern had several adventures, the most noted was the lifting of a gypsy curse from the village of Valden. He wrested his pearl of power from the dead hand of the gypsy witch. On this same adventure Mern met Trim Barot, a druid and wand maker. After staying a while to learn more of the secrets of nature, Mern and Chup traveled on to find bandits at Waycomb and his parents missing. At first he assumed them dead, but then found the bandits were taking prisoners. He retired to the forest to make a plan of attack as there was a dragon in the way. When he returned the dragon was defeated and the trail led into the forest. Curious, and not just a little apprehensive he rode Chup down the trail.
Mern Prindle is a stout (fat) little halfling who enjoys cooking because it goes so well with his second hobby of eating. He is a happy, resourceful, if somewhat lazy fellow who knows he must rely on others because of his size. Chup is a laid-back St. Bernard (neck cask and all) who can be vicious if Mern is threatened.
I know that you haven't had a chance to update this, but I have to make sure and get this thought out . . . there is nothing so exhilarating as being naked in a dungeon with only your greatsword in your hands.
Take that as you will . . .
Session 3 & 4:
Upon entering the ruins of the swamp, Mern finds that there are a good number of bodies floating around the ruins, none of which are bloated or otherwise indisposed. Upon entering the passage to the open cavern, Mern & Chup find 2 individuals identifying themselves as Raymond Redblade, of the Redblade trading company, and his hired muscle Duncan. The room is relatively sparse, except for a newly dug grave, which the pair explain belongs to a dear friend… who lost his life after battling a great dragon and his minions.
There is much talk of dragon hunters, and Mern is very interested to meet dragon hunters. Ray & Duncan seem to be just the dragon hunters to take out the dragon that has terrorized his homeland of Adlund: Fyrblud. Simply put, Ray & Duncan are VERY interested in doing just this, but strongly recommend that they find several small artifacts before taking on such a large and powerful foe. Mern seemed happy with this, and decided to accompany the duo on their adventures.
***
Somewhere in the dungeons: a desert dweller takes out a guard in one of the cells and begins his attempt to escape, eventually reaching a large room.
***
The trio begin searching around, and notice a hidden stairwell leading further under the swamp. Hoping to find the reason for the evil raids in the area, the trio head down into the depths of the ruined temple. At the bottom is a door and passage that leads to an open area… And everything goes black.
Arrows fly, and eventually Ray is able to get a bead on the Wizard in charge of the darkness. Ray fries the wizard, and the Darkness dissipates. Leaving plenty of room for the carnage. In the back, a strange man dressed as one of the bandits begins battling for the trio’s side. One of the cultist/bandits brandishes an apparently freezing sword and lands several telling blows on the strange man, who abruptly heads for the party. At this point, Duncan steps up and begins tearing his way through the bandits. The battle is fierce, but the party is victorious.
The party meets their newest member, a Sendasti named Hadimash eb-Faiyeh. Hadimash leads them to the guard he “neutralized,” whom they interrogate and begin figuring out that this temple is just a way station for cultists. Searching the area, they find a small cell block, and a hidden doorway into a wizardly chamber. Searching the hidden chamber, they find several items of use, scrolls, and a riddle.
“Past the doors you cannot find
Down the steps you cannot climb
And across the Reiver of Nothingness
You’ll find your way.
Beware the marksman and his prey.
Shun the Royal Brides
Then find the place I lie in eternal feast!
Past glories I despise;
The light of vengeance fills my eye
Treasure I give my servant dragon
Guardian loyal of this, my reborn feeding lair.”
They also find a secret passage, which uses diamond dust (also found in the room), as the key to open it. The room beyond is filled with utter darkness, but there is a small hole that Mern fit in perfectly, which contained many scrolls & useful items.
Moving deeper into the temple, the party found a smaller group of soldiers guarding a trap door. The trap door is itself a trap, with a shambling plant-like creature guarding much treasure, and being quite resistant to fire.
After the shambling incident, the party regroups, and decides to move deeper into the temple after some much needed rest. Moving deeper into the temple leads to a temple-like area with a statue of a hideous horned demon. The door to the right is opened by Hadimash, with Duncan to charge in after him. Unfortunately, there are 4 robed figures that are waiting for the party, one of which uses a blowgun-like item to rust off a good portion of Duncan’s armor and weapons. Duncan is mad and begins swinging with impunity (and bashing lots of heads in), using his greatsword, which was unaffected by the spray.
From the other door, a heavily armored priest enters and shoots a bright ray at Raymond. Raymond uses the statue as cover and begins to help Duncan, leaving Mern, Chup, and Hadimash to defeat the heavily armored one. The battle is short, and there are 2 more of the blowgun-devices left at the end of the battle (which Raymond & Hadimash quickly claim for themselves), as well as a small amount of jewelry & a magical snake staff. The party restocks on weapons and armor (Poor Duncan was cold running around the temple naked). They find yet another secret passage to a posh living space, complete with scary idol. Ray picks up the idol, and reveals a secret passage, which leads to 3 chests. All 3 of which are coated with a nasty contact poison. At the other end of the hall, the party finds an evil library, complete with a Book of Vile Darkness, which Ray claims and wraps up with several robes, as to not touch such an evil an disgusting thing.
In the central chamber, they find yet another secret passage (Kudos for Hadimash, proving his usefulness). Which leads to a set of spiral stairs. The spiral stairs become a horrid slide shortly after the party starts walking down… Raymond latches onto a nick in the wall, while the rest of the party slides all the way down. Duncan & Hadimash latch onto a section of the wall, while Chup and Mern fall into a fiery pit. Duncan uses his shield and flies to rescue the halfling and his riding dog, leaving them at the bottom near the fire. At this point, Raymond enlarges himself and slowly goes to the bottom of the stairs, finding a nick in the wall that pushes in. Raymond heads down, and finds a way to reach Duncan, whom he pulls up and enlarges as well. The two lower a rope for Hadimash, and pull him to safety. The trio then heads up to the nick in the wall, where Hadimash finds a secret door. They travel down a spiral of stairs to meet Mern & Chup, and REST.
The morning brings them all across the lake of fire, to a river. All of the party crosses using Duncan’s shield, and Raymond realizes it’s an illusion at this point. The party comes to a group of burial mounds, and begin to be attacked by what appear at first to be zombies. The zombies begin attacking, and draining the strength of the party, forcing the party back towards the riverbank. After the zombies are defeated, the party, exhausted and in need of rest backtrack to rest some more.
WHEW! That's the last time I wait two weeks.
/d
Session 5: Into the jaws
After resting from the zombies, the party moves through the caverns, guided by Raymond's light spells, and Hadimash's creative ways of moving about. We came to a large cavern with a central pyramid. This is not at all what the prince had thought of when he first came into this cavern. On one side of the pyramid was a huge number of undead beings, on the other was a great number of lizardfolk (at least that's what we thought they were). Ray, Hadimash, Mern, & Duncan decide to enter the pyramid stealthily.
There are no obvious ways of entry into the pyramid, and there are no switches. The pyramid seems to be of the type that uses a command word to open it. Unfortunately, there are no clues to be had, and Hadimash volunteers to use our potion of etherealness in order to get into the pyramid. He finds a way to open the doors, and the party enters, again using light spells from Ray to light their way.
The pyramid itself is a fairly easy layout of three passages. The passages to the left and right both are pit trapped AND dirt falling trapped, which were triggered. The party dug to the doors, and found that there were animated pictographs and sounds depicting the great king and his hunts, as well as victory over armies. The central passage was the most unique among them, as the pictographs moved from the walls and offered a great feast to the party. While leery, the first member to agree to eat is Raymond, much to Duncan's chagrin. After a few bites (and no obvious effects), the rest of the group eats. While they ate, they tried to get information as to who the host is/was, as well as a location. The pictographs all say that when they eat, the path to the host will be revealed. After the meal, a stairwell down appears in the far corner of the triangular room.
Going down the stairwell leads straight into an ambush, lead by Mordren himself. Apparently, he's been busy training acolytes in his fiendish ways, for there were two of his order and at least 10 lizardfolk blocking the way further into the pyramid. Duncan calls for Mordren's head, while Ray, Mern & Chup, and Hadimash begin defending themselves from the lizardmen's attacks. The battle was fierce, and Mordren fled well before the party got to him, through a secret door triggered by levers on a bloody altar. The group defeats all of the lizardfolk and the two acolytes, then Hadimash takes Duncan's 10-foot pole out, and triggers the correct code to open the door.
Searching around we find Secautha. A lizardfolk Vampire of the worst kind, a spellcaster. He casts a cloud about the room which sickens everyone in the room, affecting Duncan. He battles with his staff, and then spells as the party tries desperately to defeat him. Eventually, Ray is able to get to Duncan, aiding him by making him much larger and stronger. Secautha then lands two very telling blows on Duncan, who feels the weakness entering his body. With everyone assisting, Secautha is weakened to the point of needing to go to his grave, which we find in another secret passage. We stake and bake (breaking Raymond's quarterstaff in two to do the job), dusting the lizard king. Searching the floor for Mordren, we find nothing but another room of coffins, and we all prepare ourselves to fight the hideous spawn of the lizard king. Only 4 coffins were normal corpses, and the fifth was a beautiful human woman... Who was also staked and baked.
We search all around, and find a room with many malnourished humans in it. Raymond cannot allow this to be, and orders Duncan to give them food. Unfortunately, the food is the party's last. Asking the prisoners, whom Ray believes were going to be food, if Mordren had been by and getting told “no,” the group is at a loss. Until Mern, having been silent (okay, incessant happy chatter counts for him), mentions that Chup can be used as a tracker of sorts. Chup finds that Mordren had not left Secautha's room, revealing a secret passage. The passage led to a darkly lit room full of treasures. One of the treasures is an illusion of the very dagger we sought coming into this place. Reaching for the dagger, everything goes black, and the party falls unconscious. We woke up to find ourselves barely clothed and without any equipment, and Duncan looked awful.
Edit: Upon waking up the Raymond had cast Light to check the status of the party. The spell sort of bubbles at Ray’s fingertips, and the magic feels strange…
Session 6… I hate dark tunnels. Lots.
After resting for a while in a small niche, the group decides to start checking the immediate area for possible ways out. They found that the cavern they were in had four exits, and then a minor earthquake hits. They soon decide that checking each one is the best way of finding the way out as soon as possible.
They choose the “north west” exit, not knowing which way is north. As they go along, a group of baby sandlings begins crawling over their feet, collectively identified by Mern & Ray. Further on in the tunnel is the Mother Sandling, and a Will ‘o’ Wisp. While the party battles the sandling with nothing but rocks, Ray begins assaulting the will ‘o’ wisp with magic missiles. The missiles don’t feel right to ray. During the battle, Mern uses a fire based spell to assault the sandling, throwing the fire from a good distance away. After a hard-fought battle, the group is victorious. Down the path is a dead end, although the party finds a rusted dagger and thigh bone that will service as a club. Hadimash & Duncan take each one, respectively.
Returning to the crossroads is uneventful, except for a minor earthquake. The party moves to the “north east” exit, and find a strange fungus that Mern stops everyone for. The fungus is a shrieking fungus, which is edible, and the party hasn’t eaten in at least a day. Raymond, in his good thinking, chooses to flame sear the flavor in. The fungus bursts, leaving charred, but edible, bits all over the room. The party has a feast of fungus, which has no flavor whatsoever. Further up the tunnel are two paths, one of which has a barricade. The barricade is poorly made, and has a gap just about Mern’s size. Hadimash checks the barricade, and there is a group of kobolds in the room, one of which is sharpening a weapon. Raymond decides that it would be best to eliminate the threats that they pose to the party, and they need the weapons. He chooses the fastest way he knows to eliminate an enemy… Fireball.
At this point, Raymond figures out that he is playing a very dangerous game, as they are in a wild magic zone.
Searching through their seared tools and weapons, the party found that the stuff was now useless. Moving on to the next section, the party finds a female, protecting young kobolds and several eggs. Raymond decides to talk to her, finding out that the kobolds were trapped here, too. Their tribe was now half its number, thanks to Raymond. At this point, several other kobolds from the back cavern enter. Raymond shoos them down, and makes the rest of the party put their weapons down, as a gesture of good faith. He “negotiates” with the kobolds, merely wanting a bag for the rocks, a short spear, and a sling for Mern. The kobolds are happy to negotiate, asking us never to return. Raymond heartily agrees, and apologizes for all the ill he has caused, feeling deeply saddened by the damage he has caused. Raymond also asks what dangers are around, and the kobolds mention a large crayfish, and several chambers of fungi. Also, several of their own warriors were searching past the crayfish, but did not return from their venture.
The Raymond spoke with Mern about their new tools, but Mern would have nothing to do with what he saw as stealing from the Kobolds. So, now Raymond had a bag of rocks, a sling, and a short spear. They decide to go back, away from the crayfish. They find a classic shrieker/violet fungus combination in a tunnel going away from the first shrieker. This puts the party at odds. They can either go towards the crayfish, the first cavern, or they can try to brave the combination. They choose crayfish.
They come to a “T” shaped intersection, and the center of the intersection is a large, fairly deep, pool of water. From the bottom part of the T is a small stream leading in. From the other, a drier section. Duncan decides to check the water out, finding that the pool leads deeper into the caverns under the top of the T. The Raymond puts a light spell on a stone, and Duncan uses it as a light source. Duncan sees that the pool doesn’t have an air pocket on the other side, and the crayfish is there, and hungry. Duncan frantically swims to the intersection, where the prince, Mern, and Hadimash are waiting. The battle is fierce, as Raymond casts a spell, and the wild magic switches forces him to switch places with the Crayfish. This puts Mern, Chup, and Hadimash in grave danger. Hadimash dives for the water, the prince swims towards Duncan, and Mern & Chup dive into the water. Mern casts a spell that causes the crayfish to calm itself, and it heads back into its home.
Further into the tunnels, the party battles a roper, which saps the strength of Hadimash. The entire party attempts to target the roper, causing very little damage, no matter which of them did it. At the end, though, Raymond is able to defeat it using his powerful fire magics. The tentacles of the roper are harvested and tied together to use as a makeshift rope. Mern is able to restore Hadimash’s strength through a small spell.
The party comes to an area of the tunnels that has a chasm, but there are bats in this tunnel. They see that there is an exit on the other side, with a breeze coming into the caverns. After some discussion, the party decides to attempt to cross. Duncan will make a running start, jump across, using the roper rope, and himself, as an anchor for the other side. Then The prince, Hadimash, Mern, and Chup will be able to cross using the ropes. Unfortunately Duncan hits something that is attempting to pull him up to the top of the cavern on his first jump. The party pulls him down, and Raymond attempts to cast a fireball into the cavern. Raymond falls… UP… Then Down. If not for the efforts of Mern, and Duncan breaking the fall, Raymond would not have survived the “second” fall. Raymond tries again, this time tagging whatever it was up at the top. They attempt again, but Duncan is dragged to the top, faced with 2 corpses, and a badly scorched cave fisher. After Duncan finished off the remaining fisher, the party uses the roper rope, and Duncan as the lynch pin, to cross the chasm. Duncan had to make an amazing leap, but the party made it quite nicely, if a lot battered and bruised. They rest. And exit the cavern.
End Session 6
Session Seven, with guest narrator Sir Duncan of Adlund
Frustrated and fatigued, my companions and I exit the caverns that we had been stumbling around in. It was good to see the sunlight again, and as such, the insanity of recent days began to clear like clouds after the rain. And Pelor truly smiled upon us, as his rays of light fell upon a party of creatures.
The creatures were vaguely humanlike, winged, scaled, and clawed, like a horrid cross between a dragon and a man. The band looked dangerous, but after we had watched them for a while, it became apparent that these miscreants carried much of our lost equipment, or at least our weapons and armor.
We decided that it was worth the risk to attack the band even with our diminished effectiveness. Even as Hadamash and Mern began to close on them and my Prince began to call upon magic to attack them, a thought occurred to me. If the creatures never knew the command word for the shield, it was still mine to command! I uttered the command word, and willed the dragon-men's leader into the air, then dropped him. Even as my companions closed with them to attack, I lifted, then dropped, their leader one more time.
As the combatants closed on us, my Prince was attacked and badly hurt, so I fell back to interpose myself betwixt him and the dragon man threatening him. Eventually between Mern's magic, especially his called lightning bolts, Chup's bite, Hadamash's dagger, and my bone club, we finished off the dragon men and collected some of our missing goods. While we still hadn't recovered everything, I had my armor, bow, and greatsword back. I said a prayer to Heironeous and vowed to never use a bone club again!
I also resisted the urge to take any trophies from the dragon men. I miss my dragon skull.
We saw the ruins of a city, complete with ruined walls. We camped outside of this ancient ruin, and in the middle of the night, Prince Milifrast disappeared. I cursed myself as a fool and vowed as soon as we found him that I'd not let him take a watch without me again.
After moving toward the city, Hadamash thought that he saw something that appeared to be a figure, one that could possibly be the Prince. We followed the figure toward a stand of trees and tangled growth. Hadamash saw something among the trees, and the two of us climbed the tree, while Mern and Chup kept watch on the ground.
Hadamash and I found several platforms in the trees, but before we could look around, we heard the sound of buzzing wings, and some creature, somewhat like a goblin, attacked up while riding a giant wasp. Hadamash and I started firing at the wasp rider, and with its rider felled, the wasp flew away.
More goblinoids appeared on another platform, and several started throwing javelins at us. While Hadamash was busy with them, a large spider crawled down the tree toward us, and I dropped what I was doing to dispatch the beast.
Eventually we charged the populated platform, and the goblinoids not only didn't appear to want to fight, but they appeared deathly afraid of us. It may have had something to do with the lightning that Mern was conjuring from below.
I demanded information on the ruined city, and the creatures told us of some kind of serpentine menace that they feared deeper in the city, and they gave us a healing potion if we would leave them alone. I knew nothing else to do, so I gave them my bone club as a gift and promised them retribution if they followed us or did anything against us Hadamash then told me that he was amazed at the lengths I would go to in order to ease my mind.
We decided to travel toward the ruins, and the rogue again saw a figure that may have been the Prince. As we traveled, Hadamash crept though the ditch next to the road, concealed, as we grew closer to the walls. As we grew nearer to the walls, Hadamash scaled them and scouted the inside of the various structures, but to no avail.
Eventually we were spotted by a pair of strange sentries, creatures that seemed to have the blood and appearance of dozens of creatures I had seen or heard of, from orcs to kobolds to lizard folk and perhaps even ogre. The sentries were not initially hostile, so we asked to see their leader. Hadamash, while hiding, was spotted and brought with the rest of us to the leader.
The leader of this band challenged me to a fight to see who was worthy, and they stripped me bare and led me to the fighting pit. I could do little to resist, but I felt confident I could handle myself so long as the two of us were unarmed. Despite my confidence I had to admit to myself that the leader had me worried, as he was taller and more brutal looking than his followers, appearing to have some ogre blood as well. He tried to cheat, biting, gouging my eyes, but I managed to remain an honorable combatant and simply pummeled him senseless. After the fight was over, I was declared the creatures king, and before I could react, they had torn their old leader limb from limb. I felt sick.
I desperately wanted to find the Prince at this point, and while I could see advantages to my new "royal" status, the situation still felt precarious. The mongrelfolk, as they knew themselves, spoke of serpent men deeper in the city, and of a dragon living in the bordering swamp. I feared more and more for the Prince, and just a bit perhaps for us as well.
The mongrelfolk told me that I should speak with their mystic, and while I wasn't thrilled to have to sit down with some dirty, wild eyed shaman, I wanted to find out if there were any more answers to be had. To my surprise, the tribes "mystic" was a rather comely lass, Arathas, whose adventuring party was slain while exploring this region. The mongrelfolk had "adopted" her, but would not let her leave.
After resting up, I told the mongrelfolk that I needed to explore the ruins to find a missing friend, and that I needed my Royal Mystic to help me. She seemed pleased with this turn of events, but the mongrelfolk insisted that we take an escort of bodyguards with us. I agreed after a bit of haggling over the size of my retinue, and we set out.
It became apparent that our new friend seemed to be a bit hostile toward Mern, tolerated Hadamash, and might be somewhat interested in me. While I was flattered, and somewhat distracted by the first attractive female I had seen in a good long while, I had to keep focused.
Hadamash continued to check various walls and structures. Eventually we found a structure that had a statue in the central region of it, and off to the side Hadamash found a pair of sleeping bugbears. He dispatched them in their sleep. I'm not happy with this, but at the same time, I have to admit to myself that I'm glad I didn't have to contend with whatever they might have called down upon us.
Eventually we check another wall, and find a "T" shaped intersection. We set the mongrelfolk as guards, and our new wizardess, as well as Mern and Chup, come with us over the wall to explore some more. After finding some rooms at the end of one of the paths, we hear growling from within, and decide to move on (thank Pelor of Hadamash's sharp senses . . . and that this door didn't decide to eat him).
Before we can check on anything else, a figure, garbed much as the figure that Hadamash had spied earlier, jumped over the wall and came toward us. Before I could make out much about him, he hailed me, and told me that he was searching for Prince Milifrast.
Well, now that that secret is out, I guess I should explain our identities to the rest of the party . . . and then figure out who this figure before me is!
End of Session Seven
Ahem,
Took you long enough there Duncan...
- Prince Milifrast
In character explanation for our cloaked "guest character"
"Greetings, I am Kelryn. I have been searching for Prince Milifrast, and I see that the Shadowguards are still lacking in lateral thinking. It's a wonder that Milifrast is still alive at all. I've been looking for the Crown Prince since Fyrblud destroyed the rest of the family, finding that there was at least one survivor. I tracked you all down to the Barony of Eor, missing you by mere days. I spoke with Pariak, and he bestowed upon me a medallion to help me to find you. I was traipsing through a godawful swamp, nearly at the edge of an abandoned temple when you all suddenly disappeared much to the south. I've been breaking my back every day to try and reach you, and now I see no Milifrast among you! Where is the Prince?"
/d
Session Eight (once again brought to you by your guest narrator Sir Duncan of Adlund)
Who in the Nine Hells is this interloper? He demands to know where the Prince is, and then makes a snide comment about the Shadow Guard. And of course, since he mentions the Prince, I end up telling explaining, very quickly, who the Prince and I are to Mern and Hadamash. I'm actually a bit relieved to let them know, as both of them (yes, even Mern) are beginning to grow of me. Not to mention gods only know what details they filled in in absence of fact.
Hadamash doesn't trust Kelryn, for which I can't blame him, and demands that he takes the point in our explorations. After moving into a new hallway, Kelryn and Hadamash hear some discussion in a room up ahead. Kelryn, Hadamash, Mern, and Misty all spread out into the room, and I wait just inside the doorway (given that I'm about as stealthy as one of the King's iron golems carrying a crate of royal silverware). Everything happens very fast, but Kelryn and Hadamash warn us that something is coming.
"Something" is a nearly indescribable creature that could only have been spawned in the Lower Planes. The beast charges us, and Kelryn moves toward the thing to engage it. Misty uses a tactic the Prince and I are used to employing, and she casts a spell that lets me grown three or four heads in height. Kelryn strikes a blow that makes me jealous, but it doesn't seem to phase the beast at all. I wonder if I'll be able to do anything against the creature, and I look it over trying to find some kind of weakness.
As Misty finishes her spell, I move toward the beast, and see it tear Kelryn nearly apart. Bleeding heavily and out cold, I move to interpose myself between the demonic thing and Kelryn. I don't trust him, but I've been trained to protect those that can't protect themselves, and Kelryn is no different. I just hope I survive long enough to regret my decision. The demon strikes at me, and thankfully, between my training and my armor I manage to sustain a far less serious injury than Kelryn did.
I notice potions marked with healing runes on Kelryn's belt, and I reach down and hope that I can fend off the demon while I pour the potion down Kelryn's gullet. In the meantime, Misty manages to identify the kind of demon we are dealing with, and says that our only chance is to disrupt the protective circle that our unseen conjurer is using to shield himself from the demon's wrath. She casts a spell to accelerate the speed and reflexes of Mern, Chup, and Hadamash, and they circle around into the next room to find the Conjurer.
I manage to fend off the demon's claws with my shield while pouring a potion into Kelryn, and he looks better. I hear the surprised exclamation of the Conjurer in the next room, and the demon suddenly shifts its attention and moves away from us . . . before we can react, the creature is upon the conjurer and tears him to pieces. Unfortunately, before it leaves, we can see it carries a gemstone, and as insane as it seems, the stone seems to have the Prince imprisoned within it. Despite having lived as a bodyguard to family of mages, I'm truly beginning to despise the arcane.
We rifle through the conjurer's possessions, and we find what magical equipment (such as our bottomless sack) that we had lost before. We also find a map indicating a temple to some Eastern god called Set in the desert. It seems that our conjurer was in league with our wayward traitor priest.
Great merciful Pelor! Are we just puppets for the gods' amusement? I'd rather live or die facing that damned dragon than keep facing this uncertainty and chaos that we keep running into. I must get ahold of myself. Questioning Pelor and Heironeous won't fix anything. I must persevere. Eventually things will make sense again, and one way or the other we stand or fall on our own terms. For now, I just have to pray for the patience to endure.
Session Eight, Continued (or, from anarchy to absolute Chaos)
After finding out where we most likely need to go, to this far off temple to Set in the desert, we decide that we need to find our way out of this gods forsaken lost city. On our way out of this section of the city, I my mongrelfolk "subjects" to go back home and update the rest of the tribe on what has happened.
Despite not fully trusting Kelryn, decide to go out the way he came in. Unfortunately, this seems to lead through a section of the city that is controlled by a race of serpent men. I'm not thrilled, and I'm braced for a fight, but in a way, I guess a stand up fight is what I have wanted for a while.
After we get closer to the serpent men's region, Kelryn tells us that he will take care of everything. He then takes off his hat, and his visage changes from his normal appearance to that of a horrid, winged, scaled, and horned humanoid with red scales. Hadamash tells Kelryn that he has a lot of explaining to do, to which Kelryn responds that he will explain when we reach the surface. Our draconic friend leads us right up to the snake men, and he demands that we be left alone to report to Fyrblood.
When the snakemen ask why we are reporting to Fyrblood, Kelryn says that Fyrblood is his father. Unfortunately, once he says this, both Hadamash and I have a very bad feeling that he isn't bluffing. Despite this, the snakemen seem to take him at his word, and they let us by without a word. Hadamash and I let him know that he will be explaining this.
We find a chamber where some unfortunate seems to be prepared for sacrifice, and as we enter the room, we are beset by giant snakes. It doesn't take us long to dispatch the beasts, and our new friend is happy to have been freed. We find some boats, and start to set out across the water to find a way out of the city when my boat is overturned. Normally I would sink like a stone in my armor, but my shield allows me to levitate myself out of the water, but not before Kelryn dives into the water to save me. I don't know if this is payback for my protecting him from the demon, or if this is natural impulse for him, but i do appreciate the gesture.
Mern and Misty make short work of our crocodile assailants. We reach the opposite shore, and when we reach a waterfall, we see toadlike humanoids above us, dumping alchemists fire into the water and making it hard to traverse. I use my shield to fly up to them, and Kelryn climbs to them. Before I have a chance to act, Kelryn blast them with a burst of flaming breath. I cannot express how uncomfortable this sight makes me.
On our way out, we see a watch post manned by some of the goblin like creatures we met outside in the trees. Kelryn leaps off a cliff and glides, wings out, into the hole that they are watching from, and they cower in fear at the sight. The creatures give us no trouble on our way out of the city.
Once we are free from the city, all of us want answers. Kelryn tells me that we may not like our answers, and continues to smear the reputation of the Shadow Guard. I remind him that a Shadow Guard saved his life, and he tells us that he will tell us who he is.
He launches into a story that I couldn't have dreamed of in my worst nightmare. A story that questions everything that I knew about my kingdom and my life, and to this moment I dearly wish I could go back to the day Fyrblood attacked the castle and perish with the rest of the Shadow Guard.
Kelryn was the product of a pairing of our beloved queen and a disguised Fyrblood. He was the twin (by another father) of Prince Milifrast, and his birth was the death of our queen. He was taken from her womb by a traitorous member of the court, but the captain of the Shadow Guard, one of my mentors, saved the child and raised him in the woods outside of the castle. Kelryn never knew his lineage until just before the castle was destroyed, when his father offered to share his rule with him. Kelryn refused, and my former teacher, and his adopted father, gave his life to protect Kelryn from Fyrblood.
Kelryn blames the Shadow Guard for not killing Fyrblood, and for not rescuing his adopted father, blames me as a symbol of that failed order. I must say that, no matter how irrational it seems, I blame him for the death of my queen. His birth was her death, his very existance challenges my Prince's claim to the throne, and he shares the blood of that horrid beast that ruined everything good in my life. I can't explain it, I can't justify it . . . but I hate him just for drawing breath. I can't speak until we get to a village, where I can say goodbye to our rescued ally, and to Misty, who is more than ready to retire from adventuring. Its likely for the best . . . and I just found out she hates the nickname "Misty."
Eventually, we find a town that is large enough to help up reprovision before we set out toward the desert. All of use eagarly look for apothecaries, temples, weaponsmiths and armorers, and hedgewizards and enchanters. We all stock up, and I avoid Kelryn as much as I can, as I am still trying to sort out my feelings. I only know that nothing will make sense until we get the Prince back, and that anything that gets in my way WILL die by my sword . . . swiftly.
Some side notes:
Kelryn was NOT wearing a hat when he took his hat off.
The explanation scene (Kelryn's story)...
"Okay, you all wanted to know about how exactly I'm related to Fyrblud and the royal family of Adlund, so here's my story.
I am the son of Fyrblud and Queen Meretheril, the Mystical Queen. I'm also the exact same age as Milifrast. Shortly after my half-brother was conceived, Fyrblud disguised himself as the Mageking. In short, he had his way with her.
You know that the Mystical Queen died in childbirth, "murdered" by Mordrin, the royal physician. In truth, it was my birth that killed the queen. Mordrin "rescued" me, if you call an unholy abomination such as myself worthy of such things, but was found by Hound Kell, former Captain of the Shadowguard, during the rescue. They fought, and that's all I know of such things other than Hound won.
Hound took me away from that unholy battleground, and raised me as as his own, training me as a wilderness man. I spent much of my childhood as an animal. I didn't even know I was a member of the royal bloodline until just before Adlund's fall.
Father came to visit. Hound and I were hunting in the Grimfir forest, and he told me that my "weaker" human brothers were going to get the throne. He told me that the throne was rightfully mine, and the power and wealth he tried to convince me with didn't really phase me. I was a wilderness man, not a royal courtier. Nine Hells, at this point the Shadowguard didn't even have a scouting force! The fools. After I refused, Fyrblud attacked, saying that I could fuel his draconian experiments if I wasn't going to cooperate. I fought back, and was torn through, and then Hound arrived. (bows head in shame).
Hound died defending me. The last image of him I have is Fyrblud eating him.
After Adlund fell, I heard rumors that Milifrast had escaped to Eor. I decided to find you (points at Duncan) and try to aid my brother as best I can, as Fyrblud is truly a vile creature. I was traipsing through the swamp and then you disappeared much to the south. I then began the long, arduous journey to find you.
That brings us to now. That look of shock, disgust, and abject horror on your faces pretty well sums up everyone else's reactions, too."
/d
Session Nine
After talking with Kelryn, I certainly didn't feel any better. We finished buying our provisions, and we set out toward our destination, a city on the edge of the Desert of Desolation. Oddly I wasn't in the best of spirits.
Hadamash filled us in on some of the details of the place, and he mentioned that the city didn't like outsiders and that it was dedicated to the worship of Set. I seem to remember something disquieting about that name, but I can't quite place it, as Eastern Theology was never really my strong suit.
Hadamash did most of the talking. Its strange, because I was still wary of Hadamash not long ago, but now that Kelryn as arrived, I must admit that I feel a certain kinship to the rogue. Kelryn represents everything that has gone wrong in my world, and I don't know if the ride is over yet.
After Hadamash talks our way into the city (the guards seem wary of eveyone but Hadamash, though they at least seemed respectful of me), we were ushered to a hostel for foreigners. The place wasn't too bad, but I was in a foul mood. Hadamash wanted to slip away and talk to a contact of his in the city, so I was left with Mern and Kelryn for company, which is somewhat like being locked in a room with a rabid badger and a yapping puppy. Both unpleasant, but in their own ways.
I seemed to have a bit too much to drink while Hadamash was busy with his contact. I remember, vaguely, telling Kelryn that I had a breath weapon as well, and proceeded to launch a steady stream of partially digested ale and trail rations at Kelryn. I felt horrible and yet comforted at the same time.
The next morning Mern managed to purge the “poison” from my system so that I was ready to hear what Hadamash had learned. While he had dicerned the location of the temple in the wastes, he had also heard about the location of a magic item in the sewers of the city. I was anxious to reach the Prince, but when I heard about the magic item in question, I realized that we needed to secure it now . . . it was the dagger, or the head of the lance if you will, that we were looking for.
One of our biggest concerns was that at night, everyone left the streets. This wasn't merely a curfew, but it was actually restriction for both “holy” and safety reasons. At night the streets were covered in throngs of writhing serpents. Snakes of all kind everywhere.
We decided to venture into the sewers after nightfall, but we would have to be careful to sneak to the gate that led to the particular portion of the sewers that were our destination. That night, we got ready to set out, and Mern enspelled us to that animals would not see us, so long as we did not touch them. After hearing how loud my armor was though, Kelryn insisted on carrying me.
Carrying me!
I kept focusing on rescuing the Prince, on finding the lance and its components, and on killing Fyrblud. Now that I had seen his son, it was easier to picture him up close.
We nearly got to the gate, when Hadamash stepped on a serpent, but managed to crush its head before it could strike him. Then I lost my balance as I got back on my own feet, and stepped on one myself. Thankfully the damn thing broke its fangs trying to bite through my greaves.
Kelryn made short work of the grate. I was on my way to help him when he wrenched it free. I keep focusing on what I can kill between me and the Prince.
The sewers were disgusting, and we traveled them for quite a while. We thought we were on to something when we managed to find dry corridors again, with more formally worked stone. Of cource the path also led to a rather nasty surprise . . . a creature with the head of a lion, a dragon, and some kind of iron bull.
Kelryn and I took it on from the front, and Mern and Hadamash started around the back of the creature, but eventually the darkness proved an impediment to Mern and Chup. Kelryn managed to resist the creatures flaming breath, and between the two of us and Hadamash's timely attack from the rear, we managed to kill the beast.
Then my companions salvaged the creatures heads. I've become a bad influence on them.
In another corridor we were confronted by a creature that looked like some kind of archdevil from the stories the clerics of Heironeous used to tell us when we were young. Strangely, I wasn't actually afraid nearly so much as angry. Wasn't it enough that Fyrblud was working against us, did the hosts of Hell have to contribute to our humiliation as well?
The being's spells seemed to do something we couldn't quite discern, and our weapons and spells seemed to have no effect. Eventually we realized that the creature was only an illusion, a programed dweomer that was set off like a trap to scare us off. We bypassed it and continued on.
Eventually we found a room filled with a ooze of some sort. When we threw in the goat's head that we carried with, the ooze devoured it. We moved on past the room for the moment, and found another room with a huge adamantine door.
We also found a “throne room” with a skelaton on a throne within it, and his crown managed to work as a key for disarming several traps. Under the throne was another clue, and we found another corridor with some magical trinkets that we unfortunately could not fully understand (though after glancing at a scroll and merely watching the words burn off the page, I was told that I had the luck of Olidammara with me for a moment or so).
We found a statue with a spyglass, and when I looked through it, I found a spot on the wall that Hadamash checked for secret mechanisms.
We also found a room with a huge door made of adamantine, and Hadamash started working on the lock and traps that the imposing door housed.
Mern and Kelryn burned away some of the ooze, and saw our prize, the dagger/lancehead we needed. I was prepared to throw in some of my alchemist's fire, but Mern instead cast a spell that allowed him to summon some kind of elemental creature of fire, and he set it loose on the ooze. The creature did its work well, but Mern seemed entirely too facinated with the firery destruction created by his summoned creature.
I used my shield to float down and retrieve the dagger, and then I floated back up to the room above. We all gathered together, looking at the magical items we had retrieved, identifying what we could, distributing them, and then we moved into the next room that Hadamash's skill had uncovered, a room filled with black and white tiles . . . I felt that this was not a good sign.