Wealsun 24th, Common Year 590
We shall begin exactly where we left off, with the party spread out down the hall, waiting to tackle the two doors.
First, Jee'na searched for traps on the northern door and found a loop of fine copper wire attached to the knob mechanism which ran up into the ceiling, and disarmed it. However, the door itself could not be unlocked, so she turned to the southern door and searched for traps. Finding none, but doubting her own skills, she attempted again, and found the trap on the second try (identical mechanism to the first one) and then disabled it.
Much like the opposite door, it resisted the thief's attempts to open it.
Attentions were turned back to the northern door, and brute force was applied. Within was a small Oeridian barracks, designed (and decorated accordingly) for a not-so-reputable gang of mercenaries who served some of the more desperate and undiscriminating noble families during the founding of the Great Kingdom, known by the less than imposing monicker, the "Rabid Badgers". Unfortunately, one of their kind remained behind as a guard, serving his final mercenary duty to his employers as a glowing-eyed undead warrior with the power to drain strength by his touch or even his very blade (Sword Wraith).
Combat was joined by Aerie Moonshadow, Jee'na, and of course, the knight of Heironeous, Neilandyr. Tas quickly cast a magic weapon spell on the monk's quarter staff, and thanks to that and some heavy hitting by all involved, the creature was dispatched, having only drained Jee'na of a modicum of her Oerthly vitality.
The second door was then likewise given the old heave-hoe and the inhabitant (another Sword Wraith serving the mercenary clan of the Rabid Badger) was delivered to his ultimate reward.
The lock boxes in each room were summarily smashed open upon return to the surface and the contents looted. Next, the party, led by the urging of the knight, set about demolishing the stone head and attempting to collapse the entry tunnel, while the thief attempted to rig some primitive traps around the entry so no one else would attempt to unearth such Hextorian evils.
After two days of selling treasure and reconoitering the map and the area, the party elected to head out for an abandoned cemetary marked on one of the tattered maps looted from Canderian Barnes's repository of forbidden lore....
Wealsun 26th, Common Year 590
Exploring the region marked on the map, Tas stumbled across a primitive burial mound, no doubt once something more impressive, but now worn down by the passage of the centuries since the Great Kingdom was founded.
Scraping away the sod, a pair of ominous steel doors was uncovered, decorated with the symbols of Hextor. Neilandyr wasted little time and obliterated the two doors, collapsing the first one from the outside and the second one from the inside, revealing a shallow set of descending stairs made of shattered masonry and packed earth. Aerie and Jee'na descended into the darkness... ....
To be continued (after I get back from Philly :) :)
Cheers,
Colin
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The sun had set on another grueling day of spiritual and martial trials. Neilandyr collapsed on his cot, but not before offering his prayers to Heironeus. The journey to becoming a Crusader of Heironeus was a long one-not won by the swift, but by the resolute; the pious. And Neilandyr was determined to complete the journey and offer his service to Heironeous...
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The church of Heironeous was quiet as Neilandyr stood before the altar. He had stood in this postion for the past day and the muscles in his legs had ceased their pain and become numb. Neilandyr heard the cleric before he spoke.
"Supplicant Neilandyr, what have you learned?"
"There can be no Honor without Justice. There is no Chivalry without Valor."
"Good. Good. Continue to contemplate the ways of Heironeous."
The cleric turned around and left.
And Neilandyr was, once again, alone...
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The candle flickered and cast eerie shadows as Akarthis read from Asopholus' The Spirit vs. the Soul: A Treatise on Beings from Elsewhere . He scribbled down a few notes; cross-referenced them with another text and then rubbed his eyes. He was close to unlocking the secret of becoming a Master Conjurer and had little patience for prose that was disguised as magickal fact. Asopholus had proven to be worthless-but there were many other tomes that he had access to that might not be. He tossed the book into the growing pile on his floor snd started anew...
Out behind the house of the adventurers (No known name for the group) a young lad named know only as Thorn stands sweating. He has been trying for hours to perfect his throwing of the mind blade, he only recently (within the past year) discovered he could handle. In the distance, a target stands, some marks surround it. "Dang, I just can't get the accuracy I am looking for. I want to help these people, but I need to practice more. I can't seem to throw my mindblade further than 30 feet it seems." He continues will into the night, as the sun sets behind him...
I shall interrupt these vignettes to conclude what befell the party during the last play session.
Wealsun 26th, Common Year 590
Aerie and Jee'na had trod forward down the shallow earthen steps into the Oeridian burial crypt. Their light source soon revealed the eerie green glow of two sword wraiths in a circular chamber deocrated with the symbology of the Lord of Discord, Hextor, with his six arm arranged so each pair framed an exit from the room.
Tas utilized the holy might of Yondalla and turned the undead who fled into the northern corridoor (between Hextor's upper left and upper right arms), giving the party ample opportunity to cast spells and further prepare themselves for battle, and bring the fight back to the sword wraiths.
Within moments, the undead mercenaries were nothing but memories, and the party had to decide which of the three tunnels to travel down, ultimately deciding on the right path (between Hextor's outstretched middle right and lower right arms). Based on symbology throughout the hallway and hall terminus, Neilandyr realized that this branch of the crypt would be reserved for loyal mercenaries.
The terminus was likewise decorated with mosaics and carvings of Hextor, and his six arms were once again used to flank an additional three exits, each of which shortly terminated in small hemispherical crypts with stone sarcophagi mounted on short platforms.
In order to save time and space, it need only to be noted that following the discovery that across one of the lithic tombs there lay an ex-tomb raider crushed beneath a deadfall trap, there followed a series of inspections for traps in the other two chambers by Jee'na (some successful, some not so successfull... ...) followed by the shoving aside of the heavy stone lids of the various sarcophogi by Neilandyr, Aerie Moonshadow....and following a discussion of risk analysis and the ethics of standing by ones predictions of "No traps!" (following a catastrophic incident which resulted in a series of punishingly large stone blocks dropping on the party, missing Aerie, but striking Neilandyr severly) Jee'na was "recruited" to assist in the heaving aside of the granite caps.
After having looted the contents of the right hand/eastern tunnel (bloodstones, gold, and masterwork weaponry), the heroes followed the northern passage, Neilandry deduced from the carvings that down this way would lie the bodies of the leaders of this particular band of Oeridians.
Within the hall terminus arose another three coridoors each ending in three more crypts, replete with stone sarcophagi, and decorated with the symbology of the Ramaelia clan (disgraced in the Great Kingdom's early history when it was revealed that there had been extensive and secretive fraternization with Suel barbarians from the north, thus a "corrupted" bloodline) on the two flanking chambers, and the crest of the Xerxesium noble family in the central crypt (which had lost face due to a following out with the court mage of Ivid the First, and was no doubt reduced to allying with such disreputables as the Ramaelians).
Again a series of traps was searched for, but neither was found; a rotating saw blade in one chamber and a collapsing floor in the other, dropping the occupents down to a heavily spiked floor, which only Thorn (who was assisting with the stone lids by this point) avoided by leaping onto the coffin lid. Both Jee'na and Neilandyr were wounded, but Aerie used his slow fall ability to gently descend to the bottom and then was missed by all the spikes.
The central chamber of the Xerxesium family held a typical sarcophogus, but within this one was no trap, but instead a substantially tougher sword wraith than had previously been encountered.
Once again looting the three lithic coffins, the party went down the last coridoor and found that it was decorated with the Oeridian symbology representing War Mages and Priests (a higher status than lowly mercenaries, but certainly not on par with military leadership). The party found the prerequisite three chambers branching from the terminus, and after some further searching for traps (again, some successful, and some not...ceiling pendulums, anyone? ;-) they proceeded to loot the first chambers (the flanking ones). However, within the central chamber was a far more sinister trap than had previously been encountered....a summoning spell which brought forth a large water elemental, which proceeded to heavily injure several members of the party, most noticeably Jeena. The battle was fierce, and the damage reduction of the aqueous horror proved quite a challenge as did it's crushing slam attacks.
Eventually however, goodness prevailed, and burdened with their new found loot, the party ascended to the surface and made way to their reclaimed manse to load up their wagon and go to Callistor to sell off their booty....
And soon begins a new day of adventure.....will the party elect to pursue the map to the hidden gold in the mines, will they go deeper into the mines in the opposite direction to seek out the source of the blight in Aylesbury (queen Zug), will they continue to explore the town, or will they track down Squire Barnes' brother, known only as "Uncle"? Only time (like say 24 hours or so) will tell :)
Cheers,
Colin
Working night and day, Akarthis scribes the following scrolls: [i]Fly, Fireball, Summon Monster III (x2), Summon Monster II (Extended x2) and Darkvision (Extended x2). He also finds the time to craft a Wand of Light (2nd level 50 charges).
By Boccob's beard, does the mage ever sleep? The poor lad's going to burn through all his XP in no time flat ;-)
Oh, and did anyone have anything in particular they wanted to do with their filthy lucre? Every party member has recently had a gold infusion (some more than others ;-) and if there's anything that they were thinking of spending it on, we could/should clear that up prior to this evening's session so as to get maximum play time (I've got an essay examination at 8:00am tomorrow at USF, so I'm going to be trying to put the brakes on a little earlier than usual...say 8:00 or 8:30 rather than 9ish).
Cheers,
Colin
Per money spending.
Both THorn and Tas would like to see about purchasing a shield (Magical if possible)
Thorn may also look into the purchasing of magical fluids to help heal himself or help in other ways.
I was not with this group when thou didst face the Squire and know little about his brother, other than that he exists and is certain to be a formidable foe.
An the decision were mine, that shouldst be my course. For though he may be a bane, yet in the end he might prove a boon to us all. Yea, in either case, the thought of cleansing battle alongside my stalwart companions does fill me with happiness.
I have fasted, meditating on the will of Ehlonna, and aught I do is within the realm of her wisdom and glory.
We need to go deeper into the mines, following the map until we find the gold. Who's with me?
I miss Ina'ceer. You men have even gotten to sweet, darling Thorn. Magical fluids indeed. Sigh...
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The time was nearing when Neilandyr would attain his goal of becoming a Crusader of Heironeous. His training was near complete-he had only to prove his devotion to Heironeous one final time to be accepted. And the forces of evil would find a much more formidable foe in Neilandyr, the Crusading Knight of Heironeous. But, before that, he buys the following potions: Jump, Remove Fear, Cure Moderate Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Resist Energy (Acid) 10 and Cure Serious Wounds. He also tithes 100 gp to the grand cathedral of Heironeous (which isn't looking as grand as it once did due to an infestation of termites).
I'll try to respond to as many of these as I can in the spare moments during Biology lessons, so be patient, eh :) :)
And those Nyrondian termites are indeed a menace to all ecleciastical structures! ;-) ;-)
Cheers,
Colin
Both Thorn and Tas can certainly purchase +1 shields at one of the armourers, and while they almost have enough gold to purchase +2 shields, the size of Callistor prohibits such things from being readily available.
(1000gp each)
Cheers,
Colin
Both Thorn and Tas can certainly purchase +1 shields at one of the armourers, and while they almost have enough gold to purchase +2 shields, the size of Callistor prohibits such things from being readily available.
(1170gp each for large steel, 1159 for small/light steel)
Cheers,
Colin
While I'm being beaten to the corrective punch by Aaron ;-), allow me to answer the query of Akarthis.
Langwellan's reply is delivered with a troubled countenance, "Long have the lizardmen of the Gnatmarsh beseiged our colonists and explorers...some tribes do so out of spite, some out of xenophobia, some do so because of taboos which our people unknowingly violate, but some do so at the behest of other creatures who seek to foment strife and chaos. Not that all of the scaly-folk are instigators or pawns, mind you....some are not antagonistic towards our kind at all and suffer from the negative image that there more belligerent brethern create."
He takes a deep breath and continues, "My primary concern is for those who are being manipulated by some other, much more malevolent being. And I think that most of the attacks near Callistor can most assuredly be traced to the influence of a Balestone linked to the Marids of the Plane of Water. I need to have its exact location tracked down, which will require interrogating some of the local lizard folk for details...diplomacy would be crucial in such matters if we are to get to the root of such matters...But it can wait a few weeks, for my....sources....inform me that there are Abyssal forces that dwell nearby Callistor which you have bravely chosen to defeat and drive from the Oerth forever. Such things must take priority."
"In the meantime, I shall endeavor to find out as much information as I can, before I utilise your abilities (and those of your comrades) to seek out the Balestone and wrest it from its current owners."
"As for the scribe's guildhall, that is a very sad tale that reflects rather poorly on the mentality of many Callistorians, who I fear are a simple folk, and too easily led by far. A group of rabble from the Theocracy of the Pale, calling themselves the League of Valorous Blindness (also known as the Servants of the Blinding Light), a group of fanatical Pholtites who wander the Kingdom seeking to create unrest and distrust of the King in order to further their own political and religious ends, convinced the populace that the practice of black magic would be inherently linked to many old grimoires and tomes...and of course where else would one go to research such books, but a library or scribe's guildhall. I fear that the learned and literate are always made scapegoats by the ignorant....as a result, most of the volumes were burnt, and the shelves ransacked...most of the librarians and scribes fled as fast as they could, and those that could escape in time were beaten, then tarred and feathered. The crowd, or should I say, mob, was finally swayed by the presence of the lord mayor and the armed milita who (belatedly) arrived on the premises before it could be burned to the ground. Some works may still be within, but it is also possible that Pholtite spies are watching the place, and I have not had the courage nor the mettle to try to test their powers of observation. I am an old man, and my adventuring days are far behind me...I need but a simple life, and riling up a crowd of ignorant pyromaniacs to destroy my shop and life's works is not in my interests."
He heaves a heavy sigh and waits for any further questions.
Cheers,
Colin
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The darkness of the cave swallowed up the light and made the distances between the party members seem vast. Neilandyr forged ahead with steadfast detemination-his unwavering dedication to Heironeous would see him through. Suddenly, erupting from the darkness, were creatures most horrible and vile. Neilandyr charged the largest of the loathsome beasts...
Sometime later...
The last of the spore rats was finally eliminated when, just beyond the radius of light, a loud, squishing sound seemed to be moving towards the party. When it was finally illuminated, something from a nightmare that was given form attacked the intrepid adventurers...
As the knight's previous post indicates, the party did indeed delve into the deeper reaches of the Aylesbury mines....but not before a few other events that stand to be recounted, before we prepare to reunite on Friday.... :) :)
Richfest the 3rd, Common Year 590
Following the holy day of Heironeous in the week long summer festival (such as it exists in dreary Callistor), the party headed out to Aylesbury for their manse, as they had for every day of the festival, in between sale of items and resupplying themselves with goods and potions. Little did they know that their comings and goings with all of the goods looted from the Oeridian tombs had not gone un-noticed by the criminal element of Callistor....
An ambush of six Black-Dagger thugs, Bramblethorn the bugbear rogue, and their cell leader, Mastellan the Ugly (a half-orc rogue/fighter) was cunningly laid.....but not cunningly played, and the villain's hiding spots were all handily detected (as usual, the precise details of the battle will be neglected in favour of a more expurgated version with just a few of the highlights).
Akarthis led the attack by unleashing a mighty fireball onto a group of three thugs off to the party's left, and then Neilandyr charged the bugbear. The thugs responded on their turn by collectively firing their crossbows at Thorn's mount in an attempt to remove the party's ability to flee. Aerie waded into melee after dismounting and tying his horse, punishing the thugs with his potent pugilistic prowess ;-).
One by one, the party members (except for the knight and the mage) dismounted and tied off their horses to get ready for physical combat (very precious few of them having a riding skill to speak of).
Thorn seemed to be the worst for wear, as the thugs ganged up on him, flanking him and putting their sneak attacks to good use, as first the flaming sphere of Akarthis and then the summoned celestial badgers of Tas proved valuable against their onslaughts.
Up at the fore of the battle, Neilandyr found himself alone against the bugbear and the half-orc, and was shortly dropped to unconciousness by their combined efforts.
In an effort to eliminate a large number of the thugs who were around Thorn, Akarthis dropped another fireball into their ranks, skillfully avoiding the young soul-knife, but not the badgers that had been providing assistance. Meanwhile, Aerie continued to beat the thugs on the party's left to a bloody pulp, and one of them fled.
In order to assist the downed knight, Jee'na rode up with healing potions in hand, while Akarthis used magic missiles and another flaming sphere to remove the 1/2 orc from the equation.
As Jee'na stabilized Neilandyr, the one remaining thug that had been attacking Thorn fled into the swamp, to be brought down by Akarthis's spells and Jee'na's crossbow.
The party collected treasure, healed up, and found that some needed experience gained from this ambush had brought a number of them up to a new level of understanding and competency ;-)
Reaping 12th, Common Year 590
The party opted to purge the mines of their waiting evil, and once again trod the dank path into the caverns of the Aylesbury underoerth. As the party made their way back to the Long Drop, the infamous cavern where Aerie Moonshadow had previously fallen, (almost to his doom, before being saved by the fleet-footed halfling), where at the base lay the inky, Black River and the "beach" made of curiously black-stained granite and basalt rocks from whence had come the chittering arthropodic nightmare, the were assaulted by three cackling aberrations, flapping out of the darkness, small pteranadon-like creatures standing three feet in height with six-foot long wingspans, and faces like a twisted cherub, distorted by bony protrusions and fungoid growths.
It appeared that Thorn was once again wearing the bulls-eye, and he was attacked mercilessly by all three, but luckily their claws and gnashing fangs were mercifully feeble in efficacy, and the "cacklers" ultimately posed little threat to our increasingly seasoned heroes.
The party went down even further, past the caverns with the piping columns, past the chambers wherein had lain the red fungus animated dead, until at long last they reached the tunnel where the spore rats had come out of the walls. They marched onwards towards the vast cavern that lay at the end of said tunnel (unfortunately, by this point, the hideous piping sounds had rendered all but the monk shaken, and the clouds of invisible black spores were incubating in {once again} everyone's body but that of Aerie Moonshadow). The cavern stretched out beyond everyone's vision, forty feet wide, with a height that also extended beyond everyone's sight.
The party's light source illuminated a swarm of eight more spore rats, and beyond them, a gurgling mass, which soon made itself visible as the knight charged to meet the large beast. It was a bloated mass of tangled flesh, with a huge snapping maw of slimy retracting fangs and with two long tentacles ending in vicious pincers.
While the cloud of nauseating spored surrounding each fungoid rodent proved frustratingly difficult to avoid and overcome, rendering much of the party helpless with spasms of regurgitation at one point or another in the combat, the Great Hall Spawn itself proved little challenge once toasted by a fireball and cut to quivering, gelatinous pieces by Neilandyr. With the main challenge taken care of (or so everyone thought... ...) and the spore rats eventually exterminated, the party paused for a breath.....only to hear the source of the maddening, piping wind which inflitrated most of the caverns in this sector of the mines.
Before everyone's astonished eyes, a massive fungual mass poured itself out of the honey-combed, fluted columns that dotted the cavern, assembling itself into a horrid mass of writhing, fibrous tentacles, blinking inhuman eyes perched on twisting stalks, and from the spongy mycelial center of the howling mass, puffing forth clouds of the mysterious black spores, emerged a skull-like head, with black, pitted sockets for eyes, from which dangled mushroom caps and stalks, and wearing a brilliant orange crown of slimy bracket moulds.
To be continued... ....
Cheers,
Colin
Well, it's been awhile (over a month?!?!), but with a game coming up this Friday, and several personal, non-game related issues coming to a sort of temporary equilibrium, it seems like time to leap into the fray again. Regrettably, it's been such a long time since we last played, and the intervening real-life events so strongly indelible that the details of the previous D&D session have become somewhat blurry, even with hastily scrawled combat notations :)
I shall try my best though :)
When last we met, our heroes had been confronted by a fiend most dire, an Abhothian Herald of Zuggtmoy, an amorphous mass of spongy tissue laden with blinking, glassy eyes and flailing, suckered tentacles....
Reaping 12th, Common Year 590
The creature initiated combat by spawning forth a series of twisted cave creatures from the voluminous mycological folds of its behemoth mass, a cluster of floating, acid spewing cave-stars. The players responded by having the knight charge into battle immediately, and then almost every player (well, okay, it started with one player, and then spread like some super-virus to the others) rolling a series of 1s on attacks and saving throws for the next five or six rounds ;-) ;-)
No....seriously..... :) :)
Anyway, as the Herald of Zuggtmoy continued to spawn in more creatures (the horrific, lamprey-tailed anthropoid river crawlers that had assaulted the characters on the black beach at the foot of the deep crevasse months ago), flaming spheres and celestial animals were conjured forth against the Herald and its brood of subterranean aberrations.
To make a long story short (did I mention the succession of 1s, which threw statistical probability on the ground and buggered it, after which those 1s immediately followed this up by horrifically sodomizing game flow/balance by making what should have been a tough yet short battle into a tough, but almost painfully protracted conflict? ;-) good triumphed over evil, and despite the contraction of wasting disease by almost every member of the party, the source of the mine's black-lung spore contamination, not to mention the horrible, courage-shredding piping sound which filled the lower caverns was finally destroyed.
The party trudged on, and was confronted by an underground barbican, made of two squat towers with a short, thick stone wall between them, featuring only one stout, iron-banded gate with the impression of a skull imbedded in it. The towers were at either side of the cavern, and needless to say, the wall between the towers blocked all access to the caverns further down form the current one.
As the party investigated this, they were assaulted by two violet fungi, and a large invisible creature which proceeded to take rather large bites out of several party members (an advanced, large-sized phantom fungus). Battle was once again joined and the fungal opponents were dispatched.
Trying the door, the party fitted the unholy symbol of Zuggtmoy they had previously found, a silver skull studded with mushrooms, into the impression in the gate. In response, they were greeted with a stream of guttural, blasphemous language from a demonic magic mouth (Abyssal language...understood by no-one).
Sensing that any progress to points beyond would be controlled by this bottle neck, the party returned to the surface to cure their various diseases, research some spells and information about their foes, and purchase a scroll or two of tongues so they might be able to respond appropriately to the magical gate-keeper.
Next session, we shall (hopefully) plumb beyond and delve deeper into the subterranean realm of the Fungus Queen's Aspect... ....
Cheers,
Colin
P.S. As usual gents, please feel free to correct my mistakes in combat order/events. :)
P.P.S. Good to be bloody back, eh! :) :)
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The heroes arrived at the manor house covered in filth and spirits thoroughly dampened.How had it gotten to this?thought Akarthis. Tas, Aerie ...and...and Neilandyr all lie dead at the bottom of that shaft-killed by Zuggtmoy herself. Akarthis looked around and gave a brief prayer to Boccob and started pulling out the books they had found. There was research to be done and then they would go back...then there would be much asskicking to be doled out in equal portions to one cleric and one demoness...
We got the rug, the jewels, everything of value in that place - why go back? It's not as if we can do anything now for Tas, Neilandyr, or Aerie.
Cut and run, I say.
I know there's more treasure to be acquired if we slaughter that cleric and that whatever-it-was, but it's not worth dying for. There's got to be an easier way to make a profit.
Thorn sits outside in base of operations for the party wondeirng to himself.
"They saved me, Tas, Aerie, and Neilandyr, yet I was to weak to help save even on of them. If only I was stronger, then maybe I could have been more help, and it would not have come to this. I feel that there must have been something I could have done differently. Arkarthis (sp) did save me and for that I am thankful. But still I regret what happened down there in the pit.
"That person or thing was a Barnes family member, he must be killed so that they can never again do to other what horrors they did to me and the kids in the house. I must grow stronger and more powerful with my body and mind, that is truly the best way I can help bring peace to the fallen three and restore peace to the country side."
"Akarthis (sp), I thank you for saving me, without your quick thinking and ability to fly we may have all been done for."
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Akarthis calls everyone to a meeting in the sitting room. The children seem restless-some still have tear tracks on their faces.
"We have reached a critical junction in our journey together. Up until now, we have led charmed lives-never saying that we were invincible, but believing deep down that we were. I attribute that to the knight and his steadfast resolve-never allowing us for a moment to falter. Now I, for one, am not leaving him and our comrades in some chamber with that foul she-spawn of the Abyss and I would welcome any and all who would join me."
Akarthis sits down-he seems...older, more worn.
"Oh, and another thing, I sent word to the Wizard's Guild in Greyhawk to an acquaintance of mine that is schooled in demon lore. I believe he will join us soon as he is able. He has a particular...dislike...for Zuggtmoy and should be very helpful in our coming battle."
OOG:I am going to bring in a Duskblade-part fighter, part mage instead of a druid. Some more bang, so to speak...
After a few moments Thorn stands up and speaks...
"I am in complete agreement with Akarthis. Our comrads, no our friends must be allowed to rest in peace. As long as they are down in that vile pit or darkness, they gain no rest. I will use my blades to bring these vials creatures from the Abyss out into the light and have them destroyed."
Shaking from his talk he sits down. Then stands back up and asks, "I which to learn more about these vial creatures we are to face and will be reading about them and also if my mind powers will be of greater service in showing out enemies the light of truth."
You men and your overdeveloped sense of honor. Seriously, what do we get for all our efforts? A chance to die? I'm as good in a fight as any of you, but that's not something we're ready to handle. Remember: Aerie didn't get a chance to so much as raise his fist before he was slain - where is the honor in that? Are you two really so ready for death that you're thinking of going back? Really?
I'm not going. Not without someone or something bigger and stronger than any of us. Akarthis, you say you have a demonologist of some sort coming to fight with us. That's something, at least. We can take these children with us (she looks at them with the smallest sneer) to serve as distractions - they all look strong enough to at least swing a tree branch if nothing else.
But I don't know if that's enough, and I really really don't want to go.
I already know you will insist that we go, Akarthis...and I concede that your spells have been considerable in the fights we've had. And I feel that I...that I owe you something for getting me out of there.
OK, I'll go with you. I feel that I would benefit from some additional fighter training, though. Is there time enough for me to enhance my fighting skills before we go?
And, come to think of it, when I'm in town getting the training I need, I can swing over to the beefcake district and see if there are any strong, silent types who'd be interested in mixing it up.
And then fighting, of course. (snicker)
Just in case Jee-Na's rambling was unclear, she is ready to level up. Do we have time and gold to do so?
I'll be bringing in a half-orc barabarian, and I'll introduce him by having Jee-Na pick him up in town if that's all right.
Colin, can I make the barbarian's greataxe masterwork or even magical? If he's starting at 4th level then he's been in a fracas here and there and might have acquired such a thing. I don't know the process for such things.
And fracas is such a cool word that I may just make that his name. Fracas the Bloodthirsty! Frack with the Soultear Attack!
DM will respond when he's finished marking Anatomy/Physiology homework :) :)
Cheers,
Colin
DM will respond when he's finished marking Anatomy/Physiology homework :) :)
Cheers,
Colin
Just give them all A's
OOG: I am thinking of making the cleric also having a level or two of wizard, what do you guys think??? This would give us a little bit of fire power in the back.
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DM will respond when he's finished marking Anatomy/Physiology homework :) :)
Cheers,
ColinJust give them all A's
OOG: I am thinking of making the cleric also having a level or two of wizard, what do you guys think??? This would give us a little bit of fire power in the back.
Sorcerer levels would probably be a better choice because you get more spell slots per day if you are only looking at a couple of levels of arcane caster.
Just give them all A's
OOG: I am thinking of making the cleric also having a level or two of wizard, what do you guys think??? This would give us a little bit of fire power in the back.
No A's I'm afraid, but a whole lotta C's and D's and the very occasional B....I'm not ever letting any of these kids treat me at so much as a walk-in clinic ;-)
Anyhoo....lemme respond to everyone's questions, statements, etc. and then I'll post a recap (so that way people might have fond memories of events in Friday's game other than the traumatic climax which slew half the party and forced the rest to flee).
To Morpheus, I have no problem with a Duskblade, we just have to make sure that we're not front-loading ourselves with nothing but combat spells at the expense of versatility...and the character concept sounds like a fine one (can't wait to hear the background story :)
To Runfer, I say go for it if you want, but keep in mind that that would then leave us with a Duskblade, a Conjurer specialist, and then your priest/sorceror or priest/wizard, who will be the third of six party members to cast arcane spells, but as a sacrifice will then only have partial access to the sorts of divine magics which might prove extremely useful in the future... Your call...I'd hate to see the party be front-end loaded with arcane blasting power but then be utterly screwed when it comes to utility spells, not to mention healing/curative magics, protection spells, etc. Morpheus's advide re: the sorceror is dead on too, if all you're after is fire-power...but you'll only have one or two spells per level (at this point in the game) to be able to cast...you'll be able to cast those one or two spells very frequently, I'll grant you, but keep in mind the attendant loss in character flexibility...
To JopoRyk, bringing in a half-orc will bring with it some role-playing difficulties when in small towns (better have a good cloak) but as long as you keep that in mind, I have no problem with the idea. And with him being 4th level, he should certainly have enough gold pieces of gear value to have a +1 magical weapon that he removed from the body of a slain foe.
Any other questions that you have, feel free to post them here or private email me if you want (I'll be going to the gym in about half an hour, as soon as I post the recap, so you might not be able to get ahold of me instantly, but I'll certainly respond tonight).
Cheers,
Colin
Sorcerer levels would probably be a better choice because you get more spell slots per day if you are only looking at a couple of levels of arcane caster.
Would I still be able to scribe those spells as a Sorcerer?
When last we met...
Reaping 19th, Common Year 590
The party, having purchased spells, scribed scrolls, etc., was once again ready to descend to confront the ominous subterranean barbican with its warded gate.
With the tongues spell activated, the riddle of the magic mouth was successfully answered...or so they thought. In actuality, the words spoken by Akarthis were not the sought after key phrases, and while the gates did open, the two Schir demons and the Fiendish Underoerth crawler (a demonic mix of a large centipede with the snapping jaws of an ant-lion) lying in stasis within the two towers were awakened.
The party spread out to investigate the walls beyond and found the region laden with water, flowing from the western wall and then draining into hidden cracks and fissures in the eastern wall, filling the cavern to ankle level with chillingly cold milky white water. On the western wall was found a strange symbol carved elaborately into the wall, with a skeletal figure of what seemed to be a miner (a pick-axe lay by his side, and he was otherwise dressed non-descriptly) adjacent to it, his bony fingers clutching at an amber gemstone in the center.
Akarthis quickly determined the identity of the symbol...an elder sign that someone had placed within this chamber to prevent something from either getting in (unlikely) or prevent some vile horror from escaping...
Hearing a sound behind them (the gate of the barbican), the halfling priest investigated and found a chuckling Shir demon closing the gate and casting a spell upon it. Battle was joined, hampered by the distances between the party members and the relative inability to see in the vast cavern with limited light sources and very few characters with low-light vision, not to mention the arrival of the second Shir, mounted on the Underoerth crawler at the sloping far mouth of the cavern from which was found the only other means of egress.
Celestial bears and dogs were summoned but to only limited success, as in the intervening rounds that the party had been investigating, the demons had been casting numerous protective spells upon themselves, including protection from good.
In the heat of the battle, the half-elven monk, Ari Moonshadow became diseased with Demon Fever after a devastating critical hit from the halberd of the lone Shir, and was then poisoned by the Crawler when he retreated to the opposite end of the cavern to seek healing and refuge from the demon.
Eventually, good triumphed, restorative and curative spells were cast, and the party (haltingly) made its way up the slippery, sloping tunnel upwards.
At the head of the tunnel, the party found an unusually sturdy wooden door, bound with rusting iron, and eventually was able to pry it open, once the lock was picked by Jee'na. Within lay a short chamber, adorned with marble and ivory tiles, and ending in two doors, a double door immediately facing the party, and a single door to the left and on the flanking wall of the double doors. Splitting the room in two, and keeping the party from easily accessing either of the doors, was a raging 15 foot wide torrent of icy black water, pouring in from further fissures on the west/left and draining to points unknown to the east/right.
After Ari was roped in and had failed to leap across successfully several times, resulting in a very cold, wet monk, the knight quaffed a potion of jump and grabbing one end of the rope, leapt across successfully...only to find himself face to face with two black skinned, flopping oval-bodied horrors, laden with toothy orifices and adorned with two pairs of bat-like wing allowing them to laboriously hover in place, lashing the area with slimy, writing tendrils fringing the whole of their bodies.
Due to the distances involved, the limited vision of those on the other side of the water, and the incredibly good hide checks from the creatures, not all of the party was able to notice how much danger Neilandyr was in.
Ari finally succeeded in leaping across to aid the knight, and as the rounds passed in the combat, the others were finally able to perceive the inky creatures and lent their support via spells and missile weapons.
With those opponents dispatched, the party pulled each other across (with only one notable failure, as the halfling plunged into the icy depths, to be hauled out within seconds before he could be pulled under by the currents and swept away).
Turning their attentions to the two sets of doors, the party opted for the single door on the western wall (having been flummoxed by the difficulty in both unlocking and then un- sticking the recalcitrant portal), and ascended a rough, spongy staircase. At the pinnacle of the stairs was a solid stone door, which seemed virtually insurmountable, but with several party members lending their arms and backs to the effort, eventually even this obstacle was flung open. What lay beyond was a nightmarish vista of mycological mania...a fungoid harem/pleasure chamber, adorned with moaning, twitching red-fungus zombies, animated by the crimson threads running through their flesh, and "gifted" with huge toadstool phalluses. There were several couches and divans made of solid mycelial masses, glass hookahs filled with clouds of black spores, hallucinogenic toadstools of all colours and shapes hanging from drying hooks affixed to the earthen ceiling, and much else of an even more depraved nature.
It didn't take long for the party to take sensible action, and using two flasks of alchemist's fire, the place was set ablaze and the stone door closed back up.
To be continued later this evening... ....
Cheers,
Colin
Would I still be able to scribe those spells as a Sorcerer?
You can (with the Scribe Scroll feat) scribe any spell which you know onto a scroll.
Cheers,
Colin
Would I still be able to scribe those spells as a Sorcerer?You can (with the Scribe Scroll feat) scribe any spell which you know onto a scroll.
Cheers,
Colin
Thanks for the info, my character is starting to come together. One more question...If I take Armor Prof Light does that remove the penalty for casting Sorcerer spells?
Thanks for the info, my character is starting to come together. One more question...If I take Armor Prof Light does that remove the penalty for casting Sorcerer spells?
Nope; it merely allows you to wear light armour without the Armour Check Penalty applying to even more skill checks than normal (not to mention attack roles) and as a cleric you would automatically have proficiency in all types of armour (light, medium, or heavy), so it's somewhat of a wasted feat. All armours bring a chance of arcane spell failure to some degree or another, except for certain types of magical armour, armours made of extremely unusual materials (which can lessen or even remove the spell failure chance), and of course, bracers which provide a failure-free armour bonus to AC.
So choose the armour for your cleric wisely... ... ...
Cheers,
Colin
Having set the chamber of carnal fungous pleasures ablaze, the party moved back to the room split in twain by the cold, rushing waters of the Black River which runs through the Underoerth below Aylesbury. Our stalwart band redoubled its efforts against the stubborn double doors which had previously been frustrating them, and at lengths succeeded in opening them, revealing an incredibly steep set of barely perceivable stairs, ramping upwards at a fifty-five degree angle and laden with dripping algal growths. Securing each other with ropes, and girding their loins, the party set a course for the head of the slope, somewhere far out of sight.
Eventually, after several backslides, and a few very near arse-over-tea kettle tumbles, they all reached the upper door, which was solid stone and worked with a variety of arcane glyphs. With a handy detect magic spell, it was revealed that the door was magical...which did not stop Ari from trying to open it, blanketing most of the party in a burning hands spell. Forewarned about a possible trap ;-) the keen eyes of Jee'na scanned the door revealing both a magical and a mundane trap connected to the ceiling.
Jee'na carefully disabled the ceiling deadfall trap, but was far less successful with the burning hands trap, setting it off and igniting herself and the monk who was by the door to provide assistance. Luckily, as with the first gout of magical flame, Jee'na's evasion ability enabled her to take no damage with her successful saves.
Within was a gallery of sorts, with tapestries on the right wall, and busts with portraits on the left wall, all depicting Barnes clan members, except for the last which was curiously defaced so as to remove the eyes, nose and other identifying features. Fissures split the ceiling and walls in many places, making the gallery into a spelunker's fever dream of dripping mineral deposits running down from the ceiling to form stalactites and stalagmites at various points in the room.
Within the chamber lurked three of the cackling, winged toad beasts with faces of tentacles and a demented elf's features protruding from the chest, which had previously launched an assault on the party while descending the Black Steps. Needless to say, battle was joined, as both aberrations and players tried to maneuver around the lithic obstacles, but the party was successful and having slain the vile creatures, investigated the room further.
Inspecting the tapestries, it was noted that a large one and a small one seemed to be moving slightly despite the absence of any perceivable air flow. This tipped the party off to the presence of the two sheet fungi, one medium and the other large. The battle was made much more difficult once the larger one engulfed Thorn, and thanks to its peculiar resistance to all but bludgeoning weapons and its ability to split its damage taken with its engulfed victim, it took very little damage at all, while its victim was continually battered by his comrades. However, good eventually triumphed, and the party moved on through the only door available.
The final chamber was trapped identically to the first once, but had an additional mechanical trap to catch those who thought they might be done disarming after the first two...luckily, the party was too canny to be caught by this (or maybe just lucky ;-).
Within the final chamber was a luxurious bedchamber and study, decorated with fine materials, some of which were not yet rotted away by the horrible dampness, including a wooden chest containing several gemstones and a couple of fine rugs. On the far left hand side of the room was an iron and silver plug sunk into the stone of the floor with a symbol of a skull covered in toadstools upon it. Jee'na also found a strange hidden tunnel which seemed to lead up and away, but had little time to consider this before the group was attacked by the two advanced fungoids, which proved devastatingly powerful with their crushing fists. They too were eventually brought low, and the party collected the treasures, including books of lore from the bookshelves and diaries and journals from the desks.
Then, steeling their nerves, the party pulled up the plug which sealed the 10 foot diameter shaft in the floor...and descended 60 feet below to the floor of an earthen cavern where they found a creature with the upper torso of a large woman with huge talons and four fibrous antlers protruding from her forehead, and a lower torso made of oozing, spongy tentacles and a formless fungous mass, constantly weeping viscous fluid and emitting puffs of coloured spores from a variety of toothless maws and suppurating orifices (aspect of Zuggtmoy). Behind the party was a man dressed in the armour and accoutrements of a priest of Zuggtmoy...but his face was eaten away by fungal growths which sprouted from his forehead like two demented eye-stalks.
The battle was wretchedly difficult and swung back and forth in and then against the party's favour. Unfortunately, Zuggtmoy's two pseudopod slaps and hideous slashing talons made short work of Ari the monk, and then as the evil priest was all but neutralized (the party members were rolling quite well against his hold person spells, and his physical attacks just weren't hitting the knight with his wonderful armour class), the dice rolls began to swing back the other way, and the next to fall to the grasp of Zuggtmoy was Tas the priest. Akarthis (sensing that the battle was beginning to go quite badly) began to fly people up the shaft to the room above, including Jee'na and a barely conscious Thorn, leaving behind the knight to bravely sacrifice his life distracting Zuggtmoy's aspect while the others tried to move the plug back into place.
And it was with that grim note that the game ended...To be continued again later with some new additions to the party.
Cheers,
Colin
Akarthis asks the party accountant if we can spare a total of 2,500 gp in gems.
"Don't ask what they are for. Please, for the love of Boccob, don't ask."
The only gems in the party treasure are those from this last encounter. We have yet to determine what they will be used for this needs to be voted upon with the remaining party members...
Jee-Na is ready to level up - it will take 3000gp. I'm willing to put it off until after the big battle if it is in the best interest of the party. I know our priority needs to be Akarthis's spells and healing potions.
I believe that those of us for can level up need to the more we are trained the better it will be for all of us.
We can get money, everyone should have some private funds that they can use for training, plus the items that we did get from the one room. We just need to get them appraised and sold and then we should be ok.
DM, can we get a value for the rugs and jewels?
DM, can we get a value for the rugs and jewels?
Whoops, sorry, I didn't twig to the fact that Mike's previous email was a cue to list prices.
Presuming you go through the usual Callistorian channels to pawn the luxury goods and gemstones, I think you will end up with.... .......... ............... ....................
An amount which will have to wait until I'm at home with my adventure notes :) :)
Any other questions though? It seems a shame to leave everyone hanging.
Cheers,
Colin
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I just met this big hunk of meat who calls himself Sampsa. I think he needs some sort of cloak to disguise him when we're in town. Can anyone make a suggestion as to where to go and what to get?
I just met this big hunk of meat who calls himself Sampsa. I think he needs some sort of cloak to disguise him when we're in town. Can anyone make a suggestion as to where to go and what to get?
Well, if everyone can chip in, he can either go to one of several clothing stores or general outfitters for a good adventuring cloak with a large hood, or even the Curio shop to see if Langwellan has a hat of disguise.
As per the SRD
Hat of Disguise: This apparently normal hat allows its wearer to alter her appearance as with a disguise self spell. As part of the disguise, the hat can be changed to appear as a comb, ribbon, headband, cap, coif, hood, helmet, and so on.
Faint illusion; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, disguise self; Price 1,800 gp.
It's pricey, and I know he's probably almost at his limit on treasure by level, but it might save some time and effort in game...
And I'll assume that he is a completely illiterate individual ;-) Where is he from exactly (I can provide a back-story, if need be, but if you've already got one, I'm all ears)?
Bad Jee'na, picking up stray half-breed barbarians......you don't know where they've been and they might not even be house-broken ;-)
Cheers,
Colin
That was part of it, but also whether the group wanted to sell them and then look at the amount requested by Arkarthis. Thorn has also leveled up and will be training to gain his level.
ig: You hear a rumor of a female that has appeared and has taken care of some people that had broken into a church.
He can just stay away from civilization for the nonce. Maybe he can get a cloak or whatever in the future. He'll be fine.