You guys are in for a real treat once the new journal is posted (insert evil laughter here)!!!!
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This is it! The last push into The Barrows before the final showdown with Eletor! We're so close to closing the book on the driders I can taste it! As a matter of fact, it's musty and kind of bitter.
An old enemy resurfaces as new allies appear, and one of the adventurers makes a decision that is really just terrible. To what new low has this story been taken? What kind of monsters am I playing with? Find out next in...
DAY 186 VAEN AN'YUI
featuring: The World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Ragnar – Dwarf Cave Druid
Cul’tharic - Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
Pyewacket – NPC silvanshee ex-familiar
All was quiet in the great crater, l’Resk’afar, as Roch and his companions approached the edge of the yawning pit. No sound of toil or torture escaped the craggy canyon and the cave druid, Ragnar, anxious to wipe out the drider scum and return home, repeatedly alluded to setting fire to the disk of Earthblood Roch drove ahead of the group but the theurge insisted he wait. Then as the first drider came into view, Ragnar let out a sneeze of flame that soared up onto the disk.
The pots and bowls of toxic slime all erupted at once into a heavy, billowing cloud of sick-smelling black smoke and dancing flames that poured down from the disk like a cascade of carcinogenic death as Roch and Cul’tharic leaped back to avoid becoming trapped in its cloying embrace.
“Whoops,” shrugged the druid as Roch glared back at the dwarf.
The drider on the path ahead seemed unfazed by the sudden display of pyrotechnics and Roch steered the disk toward it. Still, the creature refused to stir and, then, in the light of the floating pyre, the adventurers learned why. The spider-thing was already dead, its heavy body propped up by a longspear. The creature’s body was criss-crossed with scorches and burns that seemed to have broken out from its chitinous hide and its spindly fingers were fused to its weapon. Before Roch could question what happened, Cul’tharic raised his trident to a fleeing form in the air to the south.
“There!” hissed the lizardman as the four-winged, serpentine beast came to rest on the south end of the crater where four more of its kind perched among the rocks.
“The arrowhawks!?” Roch stammered. “But how?”
The answer soon came into view as the adventurers hurried along the crater’s edge to find the cloud giant Norkor within the pit and towering over an assembly of drow slaves.
“Hayl, kothmans!” boomed the giant. “I regret to say the seth-hokys and I have left you no sport among the gwiaderoryon. Only the stras-gwerin remain and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. They’ve offered no quarrel and no more of the driders have come to reclaim them so I’ve penned them up here.”
“But the arrowhawks?” Roch asked. “I thought they were staying out of this? How did you ever manage to convince them to help?”
“I’ve renegotiated the terms of our ambos,” Norkor cryptically replied. “The seth-hokys owe no fealty to my lord Stronmaus, but they are creatures of the air and storm and respect the Thunderhead’s council.”
“That, and I promised to build them a birdhouse,” laughed the giant.
“I don’t see Faieth,” spoke the mystic as he scanned the bodies of the half-dozen driders throughout the crater. “Did the Spider King not intervene during your battle?”
“As you might imagine, we struck quickly,” Norkor answered. “The gwiaderoryon were ill-prepared for the speed of the arrowhawks. Half of the creatures fell to lightning and tearing beaks before I could even arrive to smash one with my hammer. None came to their aid. Some of the drow fled into the south tunnels but the rest surrendered immediately.”
“I don’t know this Faieth, and I don’t speak the drow tongue,” the giant continued. “One of the slaves may know.”
“You said his cave is nearby,” Cul’tharic reminded the mystic. “If he isn’t there, he may have gone to join the battle in the south.”
“Alright Roch,” Ragnar interjected. “T-Rex here and I will scout out the cave while you deal with the slaves. We’ll call if we need you to come in to poison and incinerate someone in a horrific manner.”
“Wait, what?” Norkor asked, his eyes moving from the adventurers over to the still-burning cloud of toxic smoke hovering behind Roch. “You don’t mean…I thought the fire was meant for the driders?”
“We have to kill them,” Roch answered. “They might look helpless now, but they’ll be as bad as the driders, maybe worse, if we let them go.”
“This is not right,” Cul’tharic suddenly hissed as he surveyed the sick, broken and defeated drow huddling in the corner of the crater. “Look at this weapon, Roch” the lizardman continued, pointing a clawed finger at the curtain of falling flame and black. “It is too much. These creatures know it is their death and they do not even rise to defend themselves. They are too tired to even flee. Killing them, like this? It is not right.”
“You knew what we were coming here to do,” Ragnar pointed out. “Roch’s right. Unless you deal with them now, these demon-feeding domlach will be back at your doorstep inside of a year, a few if you’re lucky. Are you going to stay here and watch them, feed them, keep them from doing harm? Do you think Norkor or I have the time, desire or ability to keep them all locked up here safe and sound so you and your friends down south can breathe easy? You don’t want to use the Earthblood, that’s fine. Throw them some spears. Maybe they’ll put up a fight if it’s just you against all of them but, if they do, don’t expect them to fight fair.”
“That’s enough,” Roch spoke. “We’ll leave them here for now. Norkor, I need you to watch over the drow while we check Faieth’s cave.”
The cloud giant priest agreed to Roch’s request and the trio headed into the Spider King’s cave, the disk of burning Earthblood, providing a cover of thick smoke as they went. Upon entering the cave, the mystic directed the disk to the left bank of the hot spring in the center of the chamber in order to give his companions a better view of what lay ahead. There on the floor at the edge of the steaming pool, lay the perforated, scorched and broken bodies of three driders.
“Vedui ‘sohna, Roch,” Faieth greeted, rising from the waters of the bubbling pool. “So is this the death you’ve selected for me?” he continued, directing a thin finger toward the hovering doom at the edge of the pond. “Or are you still determined to blather me to death?”
***
The driders had learned from their laziness. A ward stone now stood within the tunnel leading to the Wheel of Sorrow, and the party had destroyed their crystal drider keys days ago so there would be no getting past the rough obelisk without setting off its alarm.
“What do you think?” Aria asked Jasper. “Do we make a run for it? We could go straight for the hidden door, hopefully get through before the stalkers show up?”
The rogue thought about the party’s options and quickly formed a plan without the intervention of Ragnar blowing something up with one of his spells. With Pyewacket concealed in his bag, Jasper would use his vanisher cloak to hide himself, Aria and T-Bone while Ripitat and Rapituk drew the attention of any approaching stalkers. The ratfolk couldn’t know exactly when the flying, invisible elementals might arrive so they were told to count fifty before moving away from the tunnel entrance or flee at the first sign of trouble. Anxious to help, the ratfolk agreed and scooped up handfuls of pebbles to sling at the ward stone, hoping a little vandalism might catch the stalkers’ ire.
Jasper’s plan went well enough until he, Aria and T-Bone crossed the threshold of the Wheel’s chamber. During their first trip here, the adventurers had learned of the evil engine’s ability to self-activate when intruders came too close and Aria reminded her companions to stay as far from the artifact as possible. This time however, the Wheel of Sorrow wasn’t waiting for anyone to come too near. The insidious intelligence within the colossal column rumbled to life as soon as the adventurers passed the ward stone outside its chamber and, as they entered the room, the Wheel began to slowly turn.
There was no time to flee. Jasper raced for the hidden door across the chamber as the infernal symbols lining the column began to glow. “They’ve locked it!” he cried back to his companions. “I think I can spring the lock but I’ll need some time!”
Bringing up the rear, Aria stopped to examine a curious sight upon the floor. A flesh golem, possibly the same damaged hulk the party had spotted earlier, lay face down just inside the room. Something had cut coin-sized holes through the thing and it was quite inert.
“Get out of here now!” came a frightened voice like a warning bell as the lantern archon Marfa shot out of its hiding place in one of the sacrificial chambers adjoining the room. “The Wheel! It knows why you’re here! It means to kill you!”
Even as the archon spoke, a pair of invisible stalkers began to form, unseen, from the grinding tower. T-Bone drew his flaming sword and stood at Jasper’s back, ready to buy the rogue some time.
“Marfa! We thought you were with Shi and Riswan?!” Aria called as she ran to join her companions. “What are you doing here!?”
“I couldn’t follow your friends when they went south!” Marfa replied. “I’ve been here trying to slow down the driders!”
As Aria, T-bone, Pyewacket and Marfa did their best to fend off the invisible stalkers, the lantern archon quickly went on to explain it had meant to track the party to The Dark Crown when it spotted a drider leading a flesh golem into the tunnel that led to the Wheel of Sorrow. The construct was carrying a large stone obelisk. Shi, Riswan and Wicieth had told Marfa about Eletor’s plans involving the ward stones and the lantern archon was determined to pay the sorcerer back for charming it.
Marfa hastily attacked the drider and its charge, but was quickly defeated. Before being blasted into mist by the drider however, the lantern archon discovered his light beams easily tore through the golem’s hide. Resubstantiating half a day later, the archon resumed its attack, focused on destroying the flesh golem that now guarded the tunnel. Without a drider there to support the construct, the archon easily destroyed the golem by keeping out of its pummeling range. Invisible stalkers responding to the ward stone’s silent alarm were hard pressed to damage the archon thanks to its divine resilience and it finally took a drider slave-minder arriving with sacrifices in tow to take the archon down.
A lone drider had been posted at the tunnel entrance to deter the archon when Marfa returned the next day. Several slaves from the nearby crater were being forced into the chamber by drow loyal to the driders and Marfa knew the Wheel of Sorrow would devour them to create more invisible stalkers if he did not intervene.
Killing the slaves as an act of mercy was out of the question for the archon. Dark-hearted as they were, the slaves were still helpless and killing them wouldn’t stop the drider war machine. Their corpses would only join those rotting on the assembly line at the golem works. That day, Marfa resolved to attack the drider at the tunnel entrance head on, hoping against hope the drow would use the opportunity to flee. They didn’t.
Since then, Marfa had scrapped two more flesh golems it found patrolling the shore of the magma river, wounded a few driders and failed several times to inspire the drow from the crater to attempt an escape into the west. If the Spider Kings were aware of his actions, they didn’t care or were amused by their futility. The last time he was destroyed by the driders, Marfa reformed to find the tunnel unguarded.
The custodian archon entered the Wheel’s chamber to confront the great evil itself and found the black tower ignored his presence. Unafraid of his beams of light and unable to absorb the archon’s energy the monolith stood still, silently awaiting its next meal, the adventurers who had just arrived and sought to starve it of power.
“Don’t step into the light!” Marfa chimed as the red glow of the spinning column grew larger, coming within inches of T-bone’s feet. The Wheel’s invisible protectors had been defeated before they could drag anyone into the expanding light, but now it didn’t matter. From the other side of the chamber, Ripitat and Rapituk could only back away and watch as the crimson aura quickly overcame the adventurers who were now pressed up as far against the wall as they could get.
“Almost got it,” Jasper growled as he gritted his teeth against the pain of the Wheel’s radiation.
“Marfa! How long can we survive this?!” Aria exclaimed. T-Bone and the halfling were managing to weather the more severe effects of the glow, but Pyewacket and the rogue were both becoming bloated and red.
“Most don’t last half a minute,” responded the lantern archon, his own holy power sustaining him. Neither Marfa or the silvanshee could be absorbed by the Wheel, but both were still vulnerable to its power. The lantern archon might survive the effect by resubstantiating later, but the former familiar wouldn’t be so lucky.
“There! Go!” Jasper yelled as the lock popped and the door came open. T-Bone scooped Pyewacket from the ground and fled through the door with Aria and Marfa close behind. The grim glow of the Wheel behind them, Aria took a moment to gauge the party’s injuries. T-Bone and the cleric would recover with a little touch of the divine, but Jasper and Pyewacket’s pains cut deeper than standard practice would heal. From the extensive bruising, burning sensations and skin ruptures, Aria determined both had suffered severe organ damage within the Wheel’s hellish light.
“It’s as if it was cooking you from the inside out,” Aria commented. “Another few seconds and I think you’d have exploded. I’m afraid I can only restore some of the damage to one of you.”
“Take care of Jasper,” Pyewacket yowled. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a moment. I’ll be right as rain.” Aria could tell the agathion was worse off than he was letting on. Like many silvanshee, Pyewacket hated rain.
“I hope the others are doing better than we are,” T-Bone grunted as the group recovered and continued into The Barrows. Not far away, their companions treated with royalty.
***
“Who are your friends, Faieth?” Roch asked, referring to the three dead driders surrounding the Spider King’s pool.
“Naukhel kleel,” the bulbous drider replied. “Eletor gave them instructions to escort me to safety. I told them I didn’t want to go.”
From the look of things, the bodyguards had put up a fight trying to get Faieth out of the cave. The Spider King sported a few bruises and the end of a crossbow bolt jutted from his abdomen, but these injuries were nothing compared to those inflicted on the twisted, broken and burned dead around him.
“So you killed them?” the astonished mystic asked.
“And why shouldn’t I have?” Faieth replied. “Jal el.”
“What are we waiting for?” Ragnar growled. “Let’s just kill this monster and finish what we started outside.”
“Outside?” Faieth mused. “Does this mean the ilythiiri in the crater are still alive? Even after all you’ve learned, all I taught you? Even knowing many of them are old enough to remember a time they held the whip…you really are playing with fire aren’t you, Roch?”
“We haven’t decided what to do with them yet,” Roch answered. “But I know what we’re going to do with you.” And with that, Roch directed the burning Earthblood out over the pool and toward the bathing Spider King.
“Nind ph' udossa,” the drider spoke, eyes glowing with blue light as he shattered the disk of force with the strength of his vast mind. The earthen pots and bowls containing the incendiary, toxic sludge clattered into the water below taking with it the cloying, black fog and licking flames.
“Crap,” cursed Ragnar as the Earthblood was swallowed by the steaming pond, but as he, Roch and Cul’tharic looked on, Faieth began to scream. The poison was still burning. Its toxic cloud spread throughout the pool like a swarm of ravenous locusts over a wheat field. Its heat and slime burrowed into the pores of the Spider King’s chitinous hide. Orbb Valuken Faieth, l’ Ult’trin Shar, was dead within seconds, his final act a desperate, contorted lunge for the edge of the spring as his body melted into a quivering plasm on the surface of the befouled water.
“We should go,” Cul’tharic croaked, pointing out the dark, ill-smelling mist beginning to pour out of the pool as the Earthblood bubbled below. As they fled, Roch considered Faieth’s final words.
“Dar hwarvedhys?” Norkor asked as the adventurers exited the cave. “I heard a scream.”
“Faieth is dead,” Roch replied. “We used the Earthblood to kill him.”
“Glad you’re rid of it,” the giant smiled before turning his attention back to the drow slaves. “Now, what about this lot?”
Roch was quiet a moment then moved to a bluff overlooking the crater. “Orbb Valuken Faieth zhah elghinyrr!,” he shouted loud enough for all to hear. “Alu ulu l' har'ol lu' v'dre wun l' sune niar!”
The dark elves seemed confused, reluctant even to believe the words of the strange lizardman. Then, exchanging uneasy glances, they slowly rose to their feet.
“Alu wun gre'as'anto,” Roch encouraged as the drow climbed from the quarry.
“What did you tell them?” asked Norkor.
“I said they were free,” Roch replied. “Thanks for your help, Norkor. Let the arrowhawks know we’re grateful. Ragnar, Cul’tharic, let’s go.”
“Wait for us!” came a call from the north. Ripitat and Rapituk had finally caught up with the trio after leaving Jasper and the others and, as Cul’tharic waited for the pair, Ragnar pulled Roch aside up ahead.
“You’re a bit of slippery moss, aren’t you?” the druid grinned, patting the theurge on the back. “Not sure how Cul’tharic’s going to take it once he finds out what you just pulled out there and I’d probably steer clear of Norkor’s hill for awhile, but that was genius. Good on you!”
Roch ignored the dwarf and quietly thought back to his first encounter with the drow in the Halls of Flesh to the south, how the dark elves had derived so much pleasure from the torture and abuse of the drider prisoner Ecthelon and laughed as he was forced to end her life. He thought of the way the drow rebel Lecyt’hyn had treated the female traitor his companions captured in the garrison and of Develdar’s blind quest for vengeance even at the cost of his own people’s lives. The drow were irredeemable. There was no doubt of it and Faieth himself had proved it with his dying breath.
“They are us,” he’d said and Roch believed him. Becoming driders didn’t make the drow any more evil. It just gave them a form to match the darkness that already existed in their hearts. As Roch and his companions headed into the south tunnels to rejoin their friends, the theurge took a final look back at the Spider King’s cave…and to the drow slaves walking straight into it.
seth-hokys = Giant for "arrowhawks"
gwaideroryon = Giant for "spiders"
stras-gwerin = Giant for "low-folk," a term generally applied to races that dwell beneath the earth
ambos = Giant for "covenant" or "agreement"
dar hwarvedhys = Giant for "what happened"
domlach = Dwarf for "savages"
"Spider King Faieth is dead! You will be set free, but your wounds must be healed! Go to the cave and rest in the warm water! Go in peace."
Yup. Roch just Auschwitz'd the drow, and now we're all going to Hell. Cheers.
BONUS CONTENT!
In case anyone is still reading after that horrible revelation, here's a closer look at the arrowhawk mini I made for the picture. It's probably obvious, but there's actually only one arrowhawk mini in the journal pic. I didn't have time to make two so I copied the one in the photo and flipped it over.
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There will be repercussions.
So far, only Roch and Ragnar know what Roch did and, while the Chaotic Neutral cave druid does think it was pretty low, he won't lose much sleep over it. The other players have been making jokes about how Cul'tharic, Norkor and Aria are probably going to beat the snot out of Roch when they find out, but we probably won't know what is going to happen until after the battle with Elotor wraps up.
LOL, Aria gonna lose it ;p
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Great big post tonight.
Roch has done something unspeakable and only he and the cave druid Ragnar know the mystic's terrible secret. Will the dwarf spill the beans to the theurge's buddies just to see their reaction or will Roch come clean on his own? Horrors are revealed and an ally is lost in this week's session!
DAY 186 THOSE WHO FIGHT MONSTERS...
featuring: The World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Ragnar – Dwarf Cave Druid
Cul’tharic - NPC Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
Pyewacket – NPC silvanshee ex-familiar
Loruen hung his latest piece upon the wall of his cave and frowned. This should have been his proudest moment. By his own reckoning, this work should at last earn him a place among the Spider Kings but, for all his toil, he’d felt none of the intense joy that was a normal byproduct of his labors. The subject hadn’t once screamed or cried or even let out a single, solitary whimper as the master interrogator plied his trade, and the whole affair left the drider feeling unfulfilled and demoralized. At last, he decided a “routine questioning” would clear his head and he made his way out to the crater to procure a pair of slaves. The first crack of lightning split the sky above the pit just as he arrived.
What the drider witnessed from the tunnel was carnage. Strange, serpent-like eagles spitting thunderbolts and a huge, pale man with a massive warhammer had come to lay waste to the driders overseeing the slaves. He probably should have left then, but he couldn’t draw himself away from the massacre. From his hiding place, Loruen watched as more unfamiliar creatures arrived with a cloud of flame to execute the Spider King, Faieth, and, moments later, one of the strangers offered the slaves their freedom. The drider was terrified at first. He thought the slaves would make their way into his cave seeking retribution against him but then the lizardman told them to go into Faieth’s lair, the very place where he had left the billowing pyre.
Loruen retreated into his chamber as the strangers marched toward his tunnel. He’d have to warn other driders of the attack, but first he demanded satisfaction. Surely, this cold-blooded humanoid who’d so callously and unflinchingly sent the slaves off to die could appreciate his latest work. Loruen chose to hide just long enough see the stranger’s reaction. After the disappointment he’d felt earlier, the drider needed validation. He needed his “art” to be recognized by a peer of equal ruthlessness and barbarity.
Roch, Ragnar, Cul’tharic and the two ratfolk, Ripitat and Rapituk, entered the torture chamber to find the tools of Loruen’s trade neatly organized and cleaned among a small collection of the drider’s macabre trophies and terrible creations. Medical tools, healing supplies, surgical knives and saws shared the space with jars of preserved organs, reconstructed skeletons and patchwork quilts of faded ebon skin but most disturbing of all was a jagged iron frame adorning the east wall and glistening in the light of a large brazier.
The scar-riddled flesh of some poor creature had been pressed and stretched across the frame like a canvas. The victim’s flattened face and bits of hair occupied a corner of the display and, as the adventurers looked on in horror, the thing’s mouth began to move.
“Dat bi krogan,” Ragnar spoke as the thing’s eyes fixed on the adventurers, its flattened, voiceless throat choking to breathe.
Cul’tharic studied the roadmap of scars across the creature’s skin and came to a terrifying realization. “Grampy Bone have mercy, it’s Ari,” he croaked. “The drow informant we left with the drider Treak. They must have recaptured him after we escaped.”
Roch suddenly felt nauseous as he remembered his first meeting with Faieth after becoming separated from his companions. In a desperate and absent-minded bid for survival, Roch had foolishly given the drow’s name to the Spider King, alerting Faieth to the spy in the driders’ midst.
Ari was captured by the silinrai after crippling Treak and barricading himself with the stonemason's lair. Had Roch kept his mouth shut, the resilient drow likely would have been quickly killed or perhaps given to Eletor for his experiments. Instead, he was taken to Loruen’s chamber where he was interrogated, tortured and forced to endure this obscene cruelty. How Ari yet lived could only be the result of the driders’ foul fleshwarping magic and Roch knew he was to blame.
Guilt-stricken, the mystic grabbed a blade from the nearest shelf and slashed at the pitiful creature in the iron frame hoping to end its life. The thing that was once Ari only continued to choke as its blood sprayed across the theurge in short spurts. Seeing what Roch intended, Cul’tharic quickly wrenched the frame from the wall and threw it onto the burning brazier where it bubbled and popped as flames quickly ate through the tortured drow’s flesh finally ending his torment.
Loruen let out a disheartened gasp that betrayed his position as his masterpiece was ruined and set ablaze.
“Drider!” Ragnar shouted as Loruen fled in tears. The dwarf immediately gave chase, transforming into a large cave bear, but his body had reached its daily physical limit for shifting forms. The next time he regained his dwarf body, he knew his powers would be spent.
Loruen managed to outpace his enemies along the ceiling, but soon realized there was no escape. The doors leading out of the driders’ fungus garden into the nearby furnace were quickly blocked off by the shapeshifting druid and the only clear tunnel led back out to the crater where the giant and his serpent-hawks would quickly break his bones and rend his flesh. There was only one way out.
Roch, Cul’tharic and the rat-men closed in on Loruen just in time to see the drider fall, his neck snapping on the strong, silken strands he’d quickly woven into a slipknot and anchored to the ceiling.
“Faessi,” Cul’tharic spat. “A soti like that deserves worse, but at least he can do no more harm, eh Roch?”
The mystic was silent on the matter and returned to Ragnar who’d assumed a form of stone and still stood watch in the fungus garden while Cul’tharic and the ratfolk quickly scavenged healing salves and medicines from Loruen’s chamber. In the garden, the druid had made a gruesome discovery. The driders were cultivating skinroot, an incredible but deadly fungus that devoured living flesh in order to grow.
Speaking in the flinty tongue of earth elementals, Ragnar relayed that skinroot was an artificial substance originally created by alchemists who successfully interbred a shopping list of natural reagents. The knobby growths sprouting from the fungus could be processed to perfectly simulate virtually any form of vegetable matter used for magic or alchemical formulae.
“Any creature unlucky or fool enough to eat the stuff becomes paralyzed and slowly dies as the skinroot spreads throughout their body,” the dwarf informed Roch who scanned the dozen or so lumpy piles of skinroot in the chamber. “It’s worth a hoard in the right markets.”
“You mean this stuff is some kind of mutant mushroom and the driders are feeding things to it…and you’re okay with this?” the mystic shivered.
“Sure,” Ragnar replied. “Where the alchemists of old left off, nature took over. It’s basically no different from ordinary mold anymore. Besides, there are much worse things I can think of to do to a bunch of dark elves,” the druid grinned with a wink.
Roch grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and pushed open the doors to the furnace where, according to Treak, the driders stored the corpses of slaves and burned their waste. Meanwhile, Jasper and the rest of the party were making their way through the eerily silent Barrows.
***
Noh’s forge was cold and the slave pen adjoining the dead archer’s chamber was devoid of any drow. Even more disconcerting was the fact the weapon racks in the foundry, once fully stocked with swords, bows and spears were now nearly empty.
“This can’t be good,” Jasper spoke in a hushed voice, unsure of whether the adventurers were truly alone.
“The driders must be throwing everything they have at the Celestial Garrison,” suggested Aria as the group made its way through the forge and deeper into The Barrows. “Let’s be thankful they seem to consider the celestials the bigger threat and left their tunnels so empty.”
“That’s not any fun though,” complained T-Bone. “I wanna smash something.”
“Sounds like you might have your chance,” Jasper replied, pointing toward the tunnel leading into Treak’s workshop. The rogue could just barely hear voices around the corner.
“There’s a wardstone up ahead,” Pyewacket spoke, recalling the party’s first trip into the stonemason’s lair. “I can fly over it and scout the way ahead, make sure it’s something we can handle.”
“Are you sure you’re up to that?” asked Aria. The silvanshee was still looking weak and ill after the damage it took from the Wheel of Sorrow’s radiation.
“Isn’t the lab the other way?” asked T-Bone. “Shouldn’t we just get there and finish Eletor before we get into another brawl with his goons?”
“It’s been over a week and we’ve hardly seen any drow,” Aria pointed out to the barbarian. “If the driders sacrificed them all to the Wheel of Sorrow, they’ll have a new batch of invisible stalkers ready to use against the Celestial Garrison. Shi figured out how to empty the elemental well beyond Treak’s chamber, and I mean to do the same thing. If we fail against Eletor, at least we’ll know we cut down the driders’ reinforcements.”
Pyewacket flew up to the ceiling and hid within the webs and crevices covering the stony tunnel as he made his way over the wardstone and toward Treak’s workshop. Creeping closer to the chamber, the silvanshee discovered the bloated stonemason had survived Ari’s attack and he had company.
“Roch! Cul’tharic! You made it!” the celestial mewed as the pair came into view. The theurge and his company had passed through the furnace into Treak’s workshop only moments prior to Pyewacket’s arrival and were parleying with Treak who hid within a web hammock near the high ceiling of the room.
Roch gave the silvanshee a drider key he’d taken from one of the corpses in the crater and asked him to relay it to Aria and the others. With it, they could bypass the wardstone and make their way into the workshop. Once the party was reunited, the group continued their interrogation of Treak.
The stonemason was as forthcoming as always with his information. Eletor’s assistant Sinalith, Treak reported, had sent word that all the bodies in the furnace were to be moved to the golem factory shortly after the party’s initial escape from The Barrows. Production of the constructs was hastened and any slaves who fell from exhaustion were simply added to the stock.
“Where is Eletor now?” asked Roch. “Do you know his plans for the attack on the south?”
“Uustan er’griff xund ghil,” Treak laughed. “I’m just the handyman! They don’t tell me shu!”
“I had nothing to do with that business with your little informant friend, by the way!” Treak continued. “The silinrai left me for dead while they fought that animal. I had to recover on my own, and I’m still not fully healed!” the drider stressed, flapping a web-slung arm at the party.
“I can take care of that for you,” Aria offered, but the drider withdrew further into his wide hammock.
“Save your magic and your potions for yourselves,” Treak suggested. “The only thing I want from you is my freedom. I’ve had it with this place! I’ll answer any question you’ve got. Just let me out of here and, a Mazmezz, you’ll never see me again.”
“Fine,” replied Roch. “Tell us where they store the silkstone solvent and how to collapse the caverns containing the factory and the Wheel of Sorrow.”
“A l’ Rendan, that’s your plan?!” the drider exclaimed. “It can’t be done! Most of The Barrows is just modifications to pre-existing corridors! The walls are mostly natural stone! Besides, even if that could work, you’d have to deal with l’ Har’dro Tyne to get the solvent, and Orbb Valuken Alith keeps the store under heavy guard.”
“He’s right…I mean about the tunnels…I think,” chimed the lantern archon Marfa who still hovered near Aria. The earthquake that broke the dungeon open had done significant damage to the region and the archon hadn’t visited the corridors much since the driders took over, but there was something familiar about the twists and turns of the craggy passages. “The formians carved these tunnels some time ago; most of them anyway. Good people, the formians; hard workers. I wonder why they never visit anymore…”
“What about destroying the tunnels?” Roch interrupted before the archon could further reminisce. “Could we use the solvent to seal off access to the Wheel or the factory?”
“Not if I’m a master of my trade, Lu’ Uustan Tlun,” Treak gloated. “You might collapse some of the newer tunnels, but most of the original stonework just needed patching. You’d be better off blocking up the old tunnels with silkstone and ore from the crater, but you’d need an army of slaves for the labor and Alith’s help to make the silkstone. She’s the only one who knows how it’s done.”
The adventurers considered the drider’s words and, satisfied Treak wasn’t a threat, allowed him to flee through the exit into the furnace. The corpulent monster half-fell, half-crawled down the wall as quickly as he could manage, never taking his eyes off the adventurers as he went, then backed out the east doors, closing them as he went.
“Do you think we should have told him about Norkor and the arrowhawks?” Cul’tharic asked Roch. Before the mystic could answer, a fireball exploded around Aria, T-Bone and Jasper as the halfling entered the tunnel leading to the elemental well. It seemed the drider had left out a few important pieces of information himself.
“It appears Anbyshe failed, my love,” spoke a drider hanging from the ceiling above the wardstone placed outside the elemental well.
Another fireball pounded the floor at T-Bone’s feet before the adventurers could react. “So much for the Sly Hunter,” mocked his companion, a female drider of similar appearance. “You know, we still haven’t decided on our titles. I was thinking of something like Orbb Valuken Krast lu Vala, l’Sirn Rosin Streea!”
“That’s poetic,” the male smiled as he unleashed another blast of flame. “I like it, but I think it would sound better if it we switched it to Orbb Valuken Vala lu Krast.”
The pair continued to banter like teenage sweethearts, hardly paying any attention to the party as Ragnar and Cul’tharic dragged T-Bone out of the tunnel and back into Treak’s workshop. Along with Roch and the ratfolk, the druid and the reptilian warrior had been out of the fireball’s radius. The barbarian, however, was unconscious and Marfa had been blown out of phase by the salvo of incendiary attacks.
Deftly evading the flames, Jasper rushed ahead into the tunnel only to be stopped by a soothing word from the female drider. Despite the danger of the situation, the rogue was unable to resist the drider’s charm and calmly approached the wardstone as he was directed.
“Jasper doesn’t have the drider key! He’ll set off the alarm!” Pyewacket yowled. “He’ll summon the invisible stalkers!”
“Not if we can get to him first,” Cul’tharic hissed. “Get T-Bone back on his feet and follow when you can,” the lizardman growled. “Ragnar, you’re coming with me. I need you to knock the driders to the floor.”
Recalling his last failed attempt at trying to tackle a ceiling-bound drider, Ragnar decided something larger and more menacing than his current elemental form would be needed. As Cul’tharic led the way, the druid became a great, black-winged bat and charged straight at the nearest drider.
The drider Krast, still engaged in conversation with Vala, loosed another ball of flame that whizzed past Ragnar as the druid collided into the aberration. Aria gritted her teeth as Pyewacket ducked behind her shield. The silvanshee still had a bit of his old familiar’s luck to thank for his continued survival, but the halfling was barely standing after the last fireball and knew another would likely kill her.
Cul’tharic looked back to where his companions stood and grinned a toothy grin as the fireball exploded and, as the flames vanished, he could see Aria and Pyewacket were safe. While retrieving the unconscious T-Bone, the lizardman had taken the barbarian’s enchanted ring of force and used its magic to block up the tunnel with an invisible barrier after running into the tunnel. The cube wouldn’t last long, but it would buy Aria some time. Meanwhile, Ragnar was recovering from his mid-air collision as Krast recovered from his fall.
The druid was a clumsy flyer. Crashing into Krast had sent him into a wall, but he’d done the job in the nick of time. Jasper reached the alarm radius of the wardstone just as Krast fell into it and the drider’s own key was now canceling the stone’s signal. Krast quickly rolled to his feet, but there was no time to escape. He wreathed himself in blue fire as Cul’tharic closed in to attack.
“Don’t get too close to the flames, lince’sa,” Vala called down to Jasper as she conjured up a halo of her own. “My brother and I would hate for you to be injured. Why don’t you go stand over by that cave where you’ll be safe?”
The rogue wanted to help Cul’tharic and Ragnar, but his new “friend’s” words were too convincing. Afterall, the lizardman was plenty tough and the druid was always finding ways to escape danger. “They don’t need me to back them up in this fight,” Jasper thought to himself. “And there’s no way my best friend who I’ve known for all of one minute would ever do anything to hurt me,” he reasoned. That’s when he spotted the flesh golem.
The rotting meat puppet stood silent and unmoving at the entrance to the elemental well, its enormous frame filling the cave’s mouth. Jasper hesitated to approach the thing, but a reassuring word from his good friend Vala convinced him the creature wouldn’t attack. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you,” the drider encouraged, deflecting an attack by Ragnar. “In fact, if you don’t mind, I need you to get something out of that cave for me…”
“Ssin'urn dalninil, naust shlu'ta nauxahuu dos,” Krast spoke as he delivered a powerful shocking blow to Cul’tharic.
“Dos zhal'la zhaun, ussta tet dalninuk,” Vala suggestively replied. It was about this time Ragnar began to regret that he spoke Undercommon and, with a mighty flap of his leathery wings, the thoroughly creeped out bat-druid barreled into Vala, knocking her from the ceiling. The numbing pain caused by the drider’s cloak of freezing flames and the sudden nosedive into the stone floor below was totally worth not having to hear her trade innuendos with her twin brother.
Aria, Roch, T-Bone and Pyewacket arrived with the ratfolk just as Vala jumped to her feet and, with Cul’tharic and Ragnar heavily scorched and frostbitten and Jasper about to have his arms ripped off by a flesh golem, their timing couldn‘t have been better.
“Jasper!” Aria shouted as the rogue stepped casually toward the meat-giant. “Get away from thing, you idiot! It’ll rip your arms off!”
Jasper stopped and considered the cleric’s words as Cul’tharic continued to face off against Krast nearby. “This is Aria,” Jasper thought. “The person who’s glued me back together a hundred times and a woman whose wisdom I’ve come to accept far exceeds my own. On the other hand, that drider lady is really cute from the waist up and she has a great personality…then again, I'm pretty sure she just made a pass at her brother.”
Krast was dead six seconds later.
“Dalninuk?” Vala asked, her voice suddenly sounding distant and pained. “Krast? Inbau phor, Krast. Get up…Get up.”
The drider’s body continued to lie still upon the floor, coppery green blood still spraying from an artery in its neck like a leak in a hose.
“Assassins…” Vala hissed at just above a whisper. “Murderers…” she spoke in a low growl. “Monsters...,” she coldly cursed as the flickering blue flames around her body suddenly danced with new life. "We go to abyss together."
“Poop,” T-Bone grunted as the drider launched a fireball directly at her own feet, catching the adventurers in the blast. The resulting inferno nearly floored the already badly injured Cul’tharic and sent Ragnar fleeing for cover. Aria, T-Bone and Roch fared better but Pyewacket and Jasper completely evaded the explosion by diving and twisting through the fire. Unfortunately, Vala’s cape of cold flames had absorbed the heat leaving the drider unscathed and ready to lob another deadly projectile.
Pyewacket suddenly dove at Vala’s face in an attempt to disrupt her spell as his companions recovered. Reacting to the tiny silvanshee’s attack, the drider quickly slashed her blackened dagger through the air and with a snap the agathion fell dead, one of his slim, deft forepaws shorn off completely and landing with a gentle thud a few feet from his body. Then, as one, the adventurers attacked Vala from every side, suffering her shield of flame as their weapons cleaved and pierced and broke her body.
The drider Vala lived just long enough to drag her bleeding frame to the corpse of Krast. Then after nuzzling her face against one of her brother’s dripping pedipalps, she let out her final breath and joined her lover in the Abyss.
“That was really messed up,” Jasper spoke after a moment, looking upon the bodies of the driders in disbelief as Ragnar dropped out of his beast form and sauntered over to the rogue’s side.
“Yeah,” the dwarf softly chuckled. "But it's still not the worst thing I've seen today."
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Welcome back everyone! Torture, incest, cat-ricide, whatever feeding people to flesh-eating mushrooms is called, the last post saw our determined heroes exposed to a multitude of sick and twisted acts perpetrated by the driders, but it all paled in comparison to what Roch did to the drow back at the crater. How much longer can the theurge keep his pitiless decision a secret? More twists lie ahead in this week's entry...
DAY 186 - ALITH THE EARTH WEAVER
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Ragnar – Dwarf Cave Druid
Cul’tharic - NPC Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
“Is there anything you can do for him? Can we bring him back?” T-Bone asked Aria as he and Jasper stood over the remains of their friend, Pyewacket. The deadly radiation from the Wheel of Sorrow had injured the former familiar far more than the silvanshee had let on, and a devastating blow from the drider Vala was all it had taken to finish him off.
“He’s gone,” Aria informed the barbarian. “I don’t have the magic necessary to return his spirit to his body. I pray by Sarenrae’s grace Pyewacket, will be reunited with Nicky in Nirvana. Aside from that, all we can do is see his sacrifice was not in vain.”
“How about we start by dealing with this flesh golem,” Jasper commented, referring to the construct, which still stood motionless at the entrance to the elemental well.
“These driders didn’t seem to have any control over it,” Roch observed, looking over the corpses of Krast and Vala. “Someone else must have told it to guard the chamber against entry.”
“Looks like we’ll have to go through it then,” T-bone grunted, trying to sound confident despite his wounds. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
The silent golem merely stood and stared ahead with its glassy dead eyes as the adventurers formulated a plan. The meat-man filled the entirety of the narrow tunnel and only two of the party could face the thing at a time. Shooting it full of arrows was an option but its toughness and resistance to damage meant destroying the thing would likely take more time than they had to spare. Time being of some importance, a less graceful strategy was employed.
T-Bone and Cul’tharic slung their weapons and shields and squared off against the patchwork monster with Aria at their backs, then quickly leapt upon the meat-beast. The flesh golem, under orders to defend itself and keep intruders out of the elemental well, shook and flailed wildly as the warriors clung to its hide in an attempt to wrestle the creature to the ground; an attempt that was more or less successful.
“Ragnar? What are you doing?” Aria asked as the pair weaved and dodged into the chamber.
“I didn’t want to mention it because I didn’t want to risk anyone deciding I should be the one to do the job, but I’ve got one spell left,” the druid replied. “I heard you mention the death ward this morning so I prepared one as well in case you didn’t make it this far. Don’t worry though. I’m still only coming along to back you up. I won’t steal your thunder.”
The halfling chanted a prayer against the darkness of death while Ragnar stood ready to defend the cleric with his heavy pick and Jasper and Roch closed in on the golem to assist their friends. Made vulnerable thanks to the relentless clutches of the dwarf and lizardman, the meat-thing quickly succumbed to the hammering blows of the theurge’s enchanted hammer and the rogue’s calculated strikes as the collection of trapped souls was released from the elemental well.
While not as numerous as the spirits trapped in the chamber during the party’s first visit, the swirling storm of freed souls was still large enough to cause Aria some concern over the amount of slaves apparently fed to the Wheel of Sorrow in only a week’s time.
“Who does something like this?” the cleric wondered aloud. “What kind of monster shows such merciless contempt for the lives of those weaker than themselves?”
Ragnar stifled a laugh by pretending to cough. “Must have inhaled one of the little guys on its way out,” he covered.
“Way too easy,” he thought.
***
The machinery room was quiet and only a few faint lanterns provided scarce light as Jasper crept into the chamber to scout the area. At first, it seemed there were no signs of drow workers or their drider masters and the strange contraptions sat silent and still within the room but, as the rogue slipped deeper into the chamber he could make out the sounds of movement and discovered a trio of driders silently communicating via hand signals just past the golem-crafting machine. Though the cavern was too dark to interpret their signals, Jasper sensed the creatures hadn’t detected his presence and, after a few moments, they receded into the lightless, far end of the cave.
“Three driders,” Jasper whispered, his message carried to Roch and Aria on a magical wind. “I don’t think they saw me. It looks like they’re leaving. Factory’s quiet.”
The rogue waited a few moments before returning to his friends and a plan was quickly formulated to sneak toward the entrance to Eletor’s laboratory through the seemingly deserted cave. Jasper and Cul’tharic, being the most skilled at stealth, led the way with Aria, T-Bone and Roch spaced out behind while the ratfolk and Ragnar brought up the rear. As the rogue rounded the corner to the laboratory, a voice called out of the darkness, echoing from some distant unseen crevice or furrow.
“You won’t get there from here,” spoke the hidden watcher. The creature’s voice was gravelly but feminine and, whoever she was, she was right. The entrance to Eletor’s chamber had been sealed shut by a wall of silkstone, another detail Treak had neglected to mention. “L’ Kyorlin Hiever requested the tunnel be sealed until victory in the south has been achieved. I assume he foresaw a need to bar the way.”
“And who are you?” Jasper spoke searching the shadows for a sign of the creature’s whereabouts.
“We have met before though proper introductions were never made,” replied the thing in the dark. “Now, under different circumstances, it is your most generous fortune to address Orbb Valuk Alith, l’ Har’dro Tyne.”
The adventurers, with the exception of Roch, braced themselves for an attack. The theurge, for his part, was too busy clumsily stumbling through the dark in an attempt to escape the chamber before the fireballs started flying.
“That really doesn’t make me feel any better,” Jasper replied. “What do you want with us?”
“Xuat s’lurrp dosstan,” answered Alith. “I don’t want anything from you. I was just on my way out when I saw you and your companions skulking about in the darkness. I have a few moments so I decided to offer you some assistance.”
“On your way out? Where are you going?” asked the rogue, not about to ask the Spider King why she would lend her aid for fear of looking a gift horse in the mouth.
“A place has been prepared for me,” cryptically responded the Earth Weaver. “My waenre have gone ahead of me. I only needed to collect something here before I left.”
The drider’s answer caused Jasper to think of Nielial’s parting words to the adventurers. The warlord had revealed the entrance to her lair was hidden in the ceiling of the machinery chamber. She said she had left behind a journal documenting half a millennium of warfare and strategy for any creature strong enough to hold onto it. If Alith was here to collect the book for Eletor, Jasper thought, their allies in the south could be in great danger. That, or the driders were desperate and thought Nielial’s wisdom would turn the tide of the battle.
“What is it you’ve come to collect?” Jasper chanced at a guess. “Are things going so badly for your side that you’re fleeing?”
“Ou’tix, I am told the battle goes errstan according to plan,” Alith replied from her unseen refuge. “I came only to procure some things for my sut’rinos. You should know I intend to leave with the control rod for the silkstone device. I expect Radija has its mate.”
At this point, the rogue decided it couldn’t hurt to let on about what the party knew about the location of Nielial’s lair. Alith likely already knew about the journal and the warlord’s cave. If she had the book, she could be gone with it and there would be no way to stop her. If she hadn’t taken it, she might be helpful enough to point out the cave’s entrance.
“Of course,” answered the Spider King. “Nielial said someone would come before she left. I’ll mark the location for you with my personal seal. One of your spellcasters should be able to detect the sigil...Gaer zhah uss byr klez; A secret entrance into a chamber south of Eletor’s laboratory. It should save you some time if you still wish to confront him.”
With that, Alith revealed the location of the hidden door and quietly slipped away through the shadows, her reason for helping the adventurers a mystery. Jasper and Aria easily found Roch still hiding in the nearby tunnel and enlisted his aid in conjuring a floating disk with which to reach the factory’s ceiling. Then with the aid of a minor detection cantrip, they soon found the arcane mark the Spider King had left behind.
The trap door in the ceiling of the factory led up into a winding, web-filled tunnel culminating in a small, spartanly furnished cave. Having climbed up into the chamber alone, Jasper found a large, dridersilk sack hanging in a corner of the cave. Behind the sack, held fast to the wall by silken threads was what appeared to be a weapon of exotic bent.
The strange weapon featured a long handle wrapped in web-patterned silk and soft, supple black leather of indeterminate origin with two straight, razor-sharp blades of ivory-white steel affixed at either end. Jasper had heard tell of such two-bladed swords, but he’d never seen anyone actually use one. Regardless, the thing looked like it was worth a small fortune so the rogue cut it free from the wall and, along with the sack, lowered it to Roch through the exit tunnel. There was no sign of Nielial’s journal so he could only hope the party would find it within the dridersilk bag.
Once back on the ground, Jasper and Roch cut open the bag to take a look inside. Within the sack, the adventurers found what Cul’tharic and Roch identified as a pile of gear once belonging to the dwarf Pallas. The fighter’s armor and many of his other items had been dumped into the sack along with a large sum of gold coins, some bearing markings from kingdoms long forgotten. However, there was no sign of Nielial’s journal. Someone, very likely Alith, had gotten to it first.
***
The secret door Alith described led into a large chamber with a wide, bowl-shaped 30-foot pit in its center and, much to the party’s surprise, not an ambush. Only a pair of bored drider guards kept watch over the adjoining tunnels, but neither was expecting visitors until they heard the sound of webs tearing as the stone door came open.
The creatures attacked as soon as they realized it wasn’t Alith or another drider entering their post, but the battle was quickly over once T-Bone, Cul’tharic and Ragnar closed in to melee range with the beasts. While none were surprised by the barbarian or lizardman’s combat prowess, the druid shocked everyone by delivering a pair of brutal, crippling strikes to one of the aberrations with his pick and, with the driders defeated, the party prepared to enter Elotor’s laboratory.
T-Bone and Cul’tharic cautiously led the way into the evil sorcerer’s lair, weapons drawn and eyes peeled. Perhaps to their relief, the drider lord was nowhere to be seen. Only the Spider King’s remaining captives seemed to be present, and Ripitat and Rapituk quickly rushed forward to free their fellow rat-folk. The bloated, malformed drow prisoner the party had seen upon their first visit to the laboratory lay dead in his cell, his heart and lungs crushed by the weight of his own enormous body, but the centaur woman in the next cell over appeared healthy and eager to escape.
“Zegen der Witte Herten, you’ve survived,” spoke the centaur. “Please free me.”
“You’ll have to excuse us for not leaping to your rescue, but we’ve been fooled enough today,” Jasper replied. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”
“My name is Melody Bianchina,” the centaur sternly responded. “I am a paladin of Erastil, oath-bound to destroy the taint of aberration and to defend against the corruption of depravity and madness. Now get me out of this cell and hand me a kut sword.”
The centaur’s conviction and unhesitant use of Sylvan vulgarity convinced the rogue she wasn’t a threat and he quickly let her out of her cage. Meanwhile, T-Bone, Ragnar and Cul’tharic searched the laboratory for anything of use.
Hanging in an empty cell near Elotor’s worktable, the adventurers found a pair of dridersilk bags containing the equine paladin’s gear along with less useful items taken from the drider’s victims. They also found Pallas’ old dwarven warpike leaning into a corner of the cell and a large, heavy tome lying on a high shelf among some scrolls. The book was held closed by an elaborate lock, which radiated protective magic that none could identify and, thinking it may be important to Eletor, T-Bone shoved it into his bag.
“Elotor left maybe three hours ago,” the centaur informed the adventurers as she hastily donned her armor. “It’s not so easy keeping track of time in here. All I know is he took Sinalith with him. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but she didn’t seem very happy. I’d wager she wanted him to stay here.”
As Aria, Ripitat and Rapituk saw to the ratfolk, Roch was alerted to a faint glow emanating from his belt pouch. Someone was trying to communicate with him through the crystal eye. The theurge cautiously removed the sphere and began to concentrate upon a response.
“It’s Shi!” he announced. “He, Riswan and Wicieth found Develdar! They’ve brought help!”
The dark naga Sigilinde, Shi continued, had held up her end of the bargain before disappearing into Mahir’s cache ahead of the Garrison’s arrival. With the sorcerous serpent’s help, the adventurers had replicated a batch of silkstone solvent using material stolen from Alith’s storeroom and, while there wouldn’t be enough to collapse any tunnels, the adventurers had discovered a more precise use for the emulsion.
In the course of a battle with one of Radija’s golem minions, Shi had hurled a vial of the solvent hoping its acidic properties would affect the automaton. The damage to the golem was negligible, but the adventurers were soon relieved to learn the wardstone slung across its back was melting where the solvent made contact. The celestials and their inevitable allies were subsequently given flasks of the material to use as grenades.
Some little help had also come from Four Waters, the cleric reported. Embroiled in some kind of social turmoil involving the minotaurs of the Golden Axe tribe in Region F and the Goblin Empire, the residents of the commune were unable to send many of their own to support the Garrison and the adventurers. The bard, Threepenny, and his companions were apparently trying to sort things out with the help of the commune’s diplomats, but they’d sent their own goblin scout, Ratul, into the Halls of Flesh as a show of solidarity and to assist where he could.
“Develdar says we’re on l’ Menvis d’ Ssran, the Path of Worth,” Shi continued. “Apparently, Lorath’s big, mutant brother, Arioch, used to guard a bridge near here before you guys killed him. We’re going to have to take the bridge to find you. The siege chamber west of here, near where we fought that spider-eater, is filled with drow and drider soldiers. It looks like they’re preparing a second assault.”
Roch informed his companions of Shi’s report and the decision was quickly made to meet up with Shi and the others. With luck, they’d find Eletor and Sinalith somewhere between and manage to flank the monsters.
“This is where we part company,” Ragnar addressed the party. “Some of the ratfolk say they want to go with you to help you fight, but a lot of them are in no condition to walk, let alone swing a blade. I’m staying behind to get them to safety.”
“You sure you’re not just bailing out on us to save your own skin?” Jasper plainly asked.
“My powers are spent,” replied the dwarf, seemingly taking no offense at the rogue’s accusation. “All I’ve got left is this pick and this knife-”
“And those nice, enchanted goggles and gloves we lent you,” T-Bone helpfully interjected.
“Oh yeah, right,” Ragnar admitted, sheepishly slipping the items off and handing them to the barbarian. “You can have these back. They’re all out of juice for the day anyway.”
“So like I was saying,” the druid continued. “Your comrades say things down south are going pretty well, over half the Spider Kings are either dead or gone and you can ask your friend, Roch, there about how he cleaned things up back at the crater,” he grinned. “You don’t need my help to wrap up here but these ratfolk could use a hand and, the way I see it, it’s technically my responsibility to protect them since they used to be ordinary cave rats.”
Ragnar may have been using every excuse he could think of to ditch the adventurers, but Jasper couldn’t fault his logic and the exhausted and injured ratfolk did need help to escape. “You’re right,” the rogue replied. “Make sure you get them to safety…and, Ragnar, good luck with the gardening.”
“What did he mean about the crater?” Aria asked, turning to Roch as Ragnar and the ratfolk headed out of the chamber. “What happened?...Roch? Are you with me?”
The theurge stood slack-jawed, staring like a halfwit and silently cursing Ragnar as he searched his brain for a way to explain what had happened. “Uhhhh…” he began when the crystal sphere, still in his hand, suddenly began to glow. “I should probably get this,” he stalled.
Roch listened intently to Shi’s urgent mental communication then turned to his companions, a look of grim resignation on his scaly face as he spoke.
“Eletor is at the bridge. We have to go now.”
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Time for an interlude.
The final battle with Elotor draws near but, before we get to that, I've got the final three party members' statblocks ready for display. First up is T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla.
T-Bone is unlike pretty much every barbarian character I've ever seen because his original player decked him out with a Swiss Army knife-like collection of strange but cool gear that doesn't really enhance the titan mauler's strengths and, instead, sounds like a list of things a kid on a toy store shopping-spree would throw into his cart. Many of his items, like his Ring of the Forcewall, come from the Magic Item Compendium, which makes them stand out even more since they aren't common core items everyone recognizes.
The other thing that unfortunately sets T-Bone apart from most other barbarians is his glass jaw. T-Bone's hit points are decent but his original player rolled alot of 3s and 4s leaving the character with below average HP for a barbarian, and it took every Favored Class point T-Bone had to get him up to his current max.
N Medium humanoid (dwarf, reincarnated half-orc)
Init +8 Senses Perception +14 darkvision 60’
DEFENSE
AC 23 touch 12, flat-footed 23 (+8 armor, +2 Dex, +3 shield)
hp 99 (10d12+20+10fc)
Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +6 (+2 vs spells, poison, spell-like abilities) DR 2/-
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +2 keen, flaming greatsword +17/+12 (2d6+1d6 fire+7) (w/Rage +19/+14 2d6+1d6 fire+9) or +1 greatsword +16/+11 (2d6+6) (w/Rage +18/+13 2d6+8)
Ranged *+1 large composite longbow (Str+2) +13/+8 (2d6+3) or +12 gloves of lightning (1d8+5 electricity 3x/day)
STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +10/+5; CMB +15; CMD 27 (31 vs. trip, bull rush)
Trait Reactionary (+2 to Initiative)
Feats (5) Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave
Skills (50pts) Acrobatics +11 Climb +14, Craft (weaponsmith) +9, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (nature) +9, Perception 14, Survival +9 Swim +13 Racial Modifiers; +2 Intimidate
Languages Common, Orc, Abyssal
SQ – Big Game Hunter, Jotungrip, Massive Weapons, Evade Reach, Rage (27rds, +4Str,+4Con, +2 Will, -2 AC,) Rage Powers (Powerful Blow, Rolling Dodge, Unexpected Strike, Guard Stance, Surprise Accuracy,) Weapon Familiarity (falchion, great axe, orc weapons,) Hardy, Stability, Slow and Steady
Adventuring Gear: +2 keen, flaming greatsword, *+1 large composite longbow (STR+2,) +1 greatsword, +2 breastplate, +2 light steel spiked shield, bedroll, armor repair kit, **helm of wounding sight, **mask of mastery, necklace of warning, +2 cloak of resistance, gloves of lightning, ring of the force wall, +2 belt of giant’s strength, helm of comprehend languages & read magic
*T-Bone's daikyu-styled composite longbow was won in combat with the Spider King, Noh, whose increased upper body mass allowed him to use Large sized weapons rather than the standard Medium sized weapons for driders. Because I couldn't find a clear answer on the use of Large longbows used by medium creatures, I ruled that T-Bone's Massive Weapons ability gives him the skill to use the Large bow with the usual adjustments to hit.
**The Mask of Mastery and Helm of Wounding Sight are two pieces of the Armor of the Watching Master item set from the Magic Item Compendium. The mask provides a bonus on Intimidate and enables the wearer to cast Command 1x/day while the helm can be used to fire a cone of flame with a chance of dazzling creatures wounded by the blast. Obviously, T-Bone doesn't wear both his helmets at once and swaps whenever he wants to tease Jasper with his superior linguistic ability.
Next we have Ragnar who actually just left the group. Ragnar's player bowed out of the game weeks ago for work reasons, leaving us with another orphaned character who was still involved in the story. I didn't want to just have him up and leave or suddenly die from eating bad mushrooms so I had him tag along with the party providing spell support and serving as a comedic foil for Roch and Jasper.
There isn't much to say about Ragnar. His player didn't really pay much attention when he was with us so the dwarf's personality and history was left to me to sort out. I ended up imagining the cave druid as a kind of flaky hermit, mostly interested in his own comfort and privacy but sometimes bored enough to take momentary interest in anything that shook up his routine. Near the end, the players and I agreed to just have him blow through all his spells as a sign that his interest in the party was waning and he just wanted to go home.
CN Medium humanoid (dwarf)
Init +0 Senses Perception +19 darkvision 60’
DEFENSE
AC 19 touch 10, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +3 shield)
hp 99 (10d8+30+10fc)
Fort +10, Ref +3, Will +12 (+2 vs spells, poison, spell-like abilities, +3 vs. enchantment and fear effects)
cold resist 5, immune to blinding & dazzle, poison
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 heavy pick +9/+4 (1d6+2) or +1 dagger of defiance +9/+4 (1d4+2)
Ranged +1 thrown dagger of defiance +8 (1d4+2)
Spells 4/6/5/4/4/3 DC=10+5+SL
0-Detect Magic, Stabilize, Resistance, Read Magic
1-Healthful Rest, Cure Light Wounds x3, Sand Blast, Winter Chill
2-Cure Moderate Wounds x2, Fire Sneeze, Salt Ray, Master Air
3-Cure Serious Wounds x2, Daylight, Hypothermia
4- Arc of Lightning x2, Flame Strike x2
5-Baleful Polymorph, Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward
STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 20, Cha 10
Base Atk +7/+2; CMB +8; CMD 18 (22 vs. trip, bull rush)
Feats (5) Toughness, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Skill Focus (Spellcraft,) Combat Casting
Skills (60pts) Climb +9, Fly +5, Handle Animal +4, Heal +13, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +16, Knowledge (nature) +14, Perception 19, Spellcraft +17 (+21 to cast defensively,) Survival +13, Swim +9 Racial Modifiers; +2 Appraise
Languages Common, Dwarf, Undercommon, Druidic, Terran
SQ – Cave Sense, Nature Bond, Wild Empathy, Tunnel Runner, Lightfoot, Resist Subterranean Corruption, Wild Shape 3/day (8 hours,) Venom Immunity, Weapon Familiarity (pick, axe, hammer, dwarf weapons,) Hardy, Stability, Slow and Steady, Stonecunning, Greedy
Adventuring Gear: +1 heavy pick, +1 dagger of defiance, +2 hide armor, +2 light wooden shield, spell component pouch, reincarnate components x2, healing belt, bracers of the entangling blast, amulet of emergency healing, *gloves of the starry sky, *goggles of the golden sun
**Arkansas – Roc animal companion
N Large animal
Init +4 Senses Perception +5 lowlight vision
DEFENSE
AC 28 touch 14, flat-footed 23 (+14 natural armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, -1 size)
hp 57 (9d8+18)
Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +5
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft. fly 80ft (average)
Melee +12 2 talons (1d6+6 +grab,) +11 bite (1d8+6)
STATISTICS
Str 22, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +6; CMB +13 (+17 grapple;) CMD 17
Feats (5+1 bonus) Weapon Focus (talons,) dodge, mobility, spring attack, iron will, multiattack
Skills (9 pts) Fly +10, Perception +5
Tricks Attack x2, Fetch, Seek, Guard, Heel, Work, Down, Defend, Come
SQ – Link, Share Spells, Evasion, Devotion
*The Gloves of the Starry Sky and Goggles of the Golden Sun are two pieces of the Raiment of the Four item set from the Magic Item Compendium that allow Ragnar to convert prepared spells into Magic Missiles or Fireballs respectively a few times a day in addition to providing some other benefits. Since there's no sense in letting an orphaned character walk away with them, the party is taking them back and keeping them around as party loot in hopes of completing the set.
**In case it isn't obvious, Arkansas' odd name choice comes from a terrible joke about how the Animal Companion version of the roc is basically a "little roc."...Yeah...So there's that.
Finally, a look at the party's loyal ally and long-suffering, scaly meat-shield, Cul'tharic. Like Riswan, Cul'tharic is a character from out of the WLD book and, like Riswan, it's suggested the lizardman can make a strong ally or replacement character for the adventurers if they win his trust.
Seeking a way home to his family and tribe, Cul'tharic joined the party after they freed him from conscripted duty with The Redeemed in Region I. Like most lizardfolk, Cul'tharic comes from a primitive tribe and has a simple outlook on life. However, he lacks his race's typical lack of compassion and strict survivalist mentality. The lizardman often uses divination magic and the wisdom of his ancestors to guide his companions through danger and away from evil, but certain player characters and a few incidents have caused him to sometimes reconsider his association with the adventurers. So far, Cul'tharic's loyalty to the group has stopped him from leaving the party or trying to force his opinions on the adventurers when they make decisions to which he's opposed, but the battle against the Spider Kings isn't yet over and the lizardman still doesn't know exactly what Roch told the drow back at the crater.
NG Medium humanoid (lizardfolk, reptilian)
Init +0 Senses Perception +14, keen scent
DEFENSE
AC 26, touch 10, flat-footed 26 (+6 armor, +4 shield, +6 natural)
hp 142 (2d8+10d10+48) DR 2/-
Fort +14, Ref +4, Will +6; +1 vs. fear
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., swim 15ft.
Melee +1 resin trident +17/+12 (1d8+7 /19-20 x2) or bite +12 (1d4+3) and 2 claws +12 (1d4+3+grab), or +1 greatclub +15/+10 (1d10+5)
Ranged javelin +11 (1d6+3) or mwk mighty (+2) composite short bow +12/+7 (1d6+2)
Spells 2/2 (DC=10+2+SL)
2 – Tremorsense, Speak with Plants
1 – Omen of Peril, Lay of the Land
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +11/+6; CMB +14 (+18 grapple;) CMD 24
Feats (6+4 bonus) Multiattack, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (trident,) Power Attack (-3/+6,) Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Specialization (trident,) Vital Strike, Improved Critical (trident,) Toughness, Spring Attack
Skills (34pts+5 fav class bonus) Acrobatics 18, Climb 9, Linguistics 1, Perception 14, Stealth 13, Survival 8, Swim 16; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +8 Swim
Languages Draconic, Common
SQ hold breath, bravery +1, armor training, weapon training (spears,) grab, keen scent, freedom of movement (in water,)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Hold Breath (Ex):
A lizardfolk can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 4 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
Grab (Ex):
If a scaled horror hits with its natural weapons or unarmed attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. The ability works only against opponents of the same size or smaller. The scaled horror has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use its natural weapons or unarmed attack to hold the opponent. Each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals damage given for the attack that established the hold.
Keen Scent (Ex):
A scaled horror can notice creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius, provided both the scaled horror and the creature are in the same body of water, and can detect blood in the water at a range of up to 1 mile. This ability otherwise functions the same as the Scent special ability.
Freedom of Movement (Ex):
Beginning at 2nd level, a scaled horror moves and fights underwater as if subject to the spell freedom of movement.
Adventuring Gear: +1 resin* trident, +1 greatclub, +2 heavy resin* shield, +2 chain shirt, amulet of natural armor +1, minor cloak of displacement, healing belt, amulet of proof against petrification (usually stored,) lens of detection, mwk mighty (+2) composite short bow, arrows x40
*The Scaled Horror prestige class is found in the Savage Species book and is designed to turn reptilian, amphibious and aquatic humanoids into a sort of Ranger/Barbarian hybrid. I updated the class a tiny bit to bring it closer in line to Pathfinder (for instance, I upped the BAB to +1 per level to match the D10 hit dice the class grants,) but mostly left it the same.
**Cul'tharic's trident and shield were discovered in the former hive of the Holy Swarm, a colony of celestial formians who fought alongside the Celestial Garrison and provided maintenance before the earthquake. The weapon and shield are composed of formian resin, a super-dense, sturdy material created from a mixture of formian saliva and soil. The ant-like creatures use the resin to construct their dwellings and implements. Formian resin is immune to rust and corrosion and exhibits the same hardness and hit points as iron or steel.
That does it for the adventuring party. Maybe in the weeks to come I'll post stats for some of the party's allies. Right now, we've got a a fight to finish. Be here next time for *Part One of the final bloody battle against The All-Seeing Visionary himself, Spider King Eletor.
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It's taken over a year, but the final battle is at hand. The adventurers have cornered Eletor and, win or lose, this ends now. We've waited long enough so let's just get this thing started...
DAY 186 – THE WORLD'S LARGEST ADVENTURING PARTY VS. ELOTOR: Round 1
Featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party:
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Cul’tharic - NPC Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
“You shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Sinalith spoke, exasperation and disapproval dancing in her tone as Eletor carefully removed his mask and cloak. The young drider wasn’t happy with her mentor’s sudden decision to lead the second wave against the Celestial Garrison’s forces.
“You sound just like your mother,” Eletor fussed, his pet homunculus Scuttle mimicking his gestures as he spoke. “Where’s your sense of drama? You can’t rush these things, you know? A moment like this warrants…no, demands, a grand entrance! Now leave me. I won’t be long.”
Sinalith fumed at the sorcerer’s mention of her mother. Eletor’s memories of the woman were something he occasionally dangled in front of his apprentice like a string, but the sorcerer never revealed anything that might identify Byalahiir’s mate.
“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Sinalith asked, her anger giving way to something approaching respect. Only she and Scuttle knew the secret hidden beneath Eletor’s robes. It was the one thing she held over him and why she alone had the authority to question the All-Seeing Visionary’s actions.
“Go,” the sorcerer spoke.
L’ Orlenggin d’ Thir’ku, The Altar of Change, was the driders’ shrine to Haagenti and to all things deviant and aberrant. A massive, quivering jelly-like lump of tendrils and slime, it was in truth, all that remained of the first drider to encounter the monster Madness after the accident in Mahir’s laboratory. Kept alive by the strange energies of the Halls of Flesh, the tortured creature now served as a living shrine and seeped a vile sludge the driders used to induce hallucinogenic visions and mutation in their victims.
Eletor finished at the shrine and exited to find Sinalith speaking to the drider Treak. The stonemason, in far better health than he’d led the adventurers to believe, groveled at the Spider Kings’ feet alerting them to the arrival of their enemies.
“They were headed toward the cavern of elemental spirits, your vile majesties,” Treak toadied. “The twins and I fought them, but Vala insisted I come to warn you!”
“Well done, whoever-you-are,” Eletor smiled, detecting the simpering fool’s deception. “You should be rewarded for your service!”
Treak gulped, afraid to look up at the sorcerer. “There’s no need for that, my foul lord of atrocities. I wish nothing more than to return to the fight. You know, to lend Krast and Vala a hand with those invaders, your profane eminence.”
“I’m not sure who these compatriots of yours are, but I have a feeling they no longer require your aid,” Eletor laughed. “However, I admire your loyalty to the cause and that’s why I’ve decided to make you a member of my personal guard...This pleases you does it not?”
Treak burst into a loud sob for by Eletor’s decree he knew he was doomed. “Truly, these are tears of joy, your loathsome grace!” he blubbered.
“Truly,” Eletor grinned.
***
“You’re dead, Treak!” Roch shouted through the fog of battle in the corridor north of the Path of Worth. The party had found the stonemason flanked by a pair of flesh golems and a quartet of Night Guard who served as Eletor’s rear guard. Behind the adventurers, the centaur paladin Melody and the newly freed ratfolk held off a small contingent of drider and drow fighters with the timely aid of the lantern archon Idawalley and her enormous filth-eating friend, Otyugh John. Meanwhile, Shi and Riswan fought alongside Develdar, Wicieth and an old friend from the Celestial Garrison on the south end of the Path.
The bralani azata Besar hadn’t forgotten the party’s kindness when they found and returned the remains of his lost love, Sensil, to the garrison back in Region E. He swore he’d someday repay the group and, when Riswan came to the Celestial Garrison for help, Besar was the first to step forward. Now he stood with the halfling and Shi on the Path of Worth, his arrows digging into the hides of the driders who made up Eletor’s advance guard.
The Path of Worth ended at a wide rift lit by the fires of a river of burning magma far below. The only way across was by way of a great, metal disk suspended by great chains in the ceiling of the room that caused the platform to freely sway whenever a creature attempted to cross. In the past, any creature seeking an audience with the Spider Kings would have to survive several moments of single combat with Arioch atop the disk. Today however, the Path of Worth served as the last obstacle between the drow warrior Develdar and revenge against the Spider King Eletor.
“We do this smart,” Wicieth reminded the drow at her side. The group could see the wicked Spider King towering over his minions in the center of the tunnel on the other side of the disk. “Remember what happened last time you ran off after the sorcerer on your own.”
“Yes. About that…as I recall, you stabbed me in the back,” Develdar growled as he fired another bolt from his crossbow into the driders barricaded on the other side of the river. A short folding bridge allowed easy access to the disk from the north and provided the driders with cover so long as it was raised, but the fighters on the south side of the disk were wide open and would have to leap to make it onto the swinging platform.
“You’ll never let that go, will you?!” the aranea groaned. “I told you, I was under a spell!”
“Excuses,” grinned the drow.
Wicieth gave an exasperated sigh. “All I’m saying is we don’t even know if it’s really him. We’ve all underestimated him before. It could be another double or an illusion.”
“And we won’t know for certain until I get over there and put my sword through his head,” Develdar cockily replied, but he agreed with the woman. This was his last chance to settle the score, and he quenched his lust for revenge with the cold tactical mind that had made him the only common-blooded drow to earn a command in the rebellion.
“As soon as his advance guard is down, we draw swords and close the gap as one,” Develdar announced. “If our allies haven’t failed us, they’ll be in a position to flank him. The ceiling in the tunnel is too low for him to crawl to safety. He’ll have no escape.”
It didn’t take long for T-Bone, Jasper and Cul’tharic to put down the Night Guard on their side of the Path, but Sinalith had launched a cloud of thick, stinking fog into the tunnel that was slowing their progress in dealing with the flesh golems. Treak, to no one’s surprise, had fled at the first opportunity using the golems and drow as cover. Roch was tempted to give chase but realized the slovenly drider might encounter Melody and the ratfolk in the course of his escape, and it wouldn’t take long for the paladin to cut the monster down.
Suddenly, Sinalith’s cloud dissipated revealing a drider at the end of the tunnel. One of Eletor’s advance guard had been ordered to the rear and, as soon as Sinalith cancelled her spell, the thing let loose with a bolt of lightning targeting Aria. The halfling narrowly avoided the worst of the bolt, but still suffered some burns and quickly called her companions to her side.
“Let’s see Eletor pull any of his fancy enchantment crap now!” Aria announced, intoning a spell of protection that surrounded her and her allies with holy light. “Now, let’s finish this!”
Cul’tharic, T-Bone and Jasper rushed the drider behind Eletor as Riswan, Besar, Develdar and Wicieth peppered the remaining drider in front of the sorcerer with arrows and bolts. The creatures succumbed quickly, but they, the Night Guard and flesh golems had served their purpose perfectly. Only Sinalith and Eletor remained, but their pawns’ sacrifice had given the Spider Kings all the time they needed to prepare for the final battle.
***
“Damn!” Shi cursed as another spell failed to penetrate Eletor’s wards. “As if his natural resistance wasn’t bad enough, he’s put up a globe of protection! Nothing’s getting through!”
“Then we do this with steel!” Develdar shouted to his companions. “Draw swords!”
Wicieth, Riswan and Besar threw down their bows, drew their blades and waited for Develdar’s signal. Then, as one, they leapt across the gap onto the swaying disk and charged for the other side, barreling over the raised bridge as the platform swung into the wall. Shi looked down into the fiery doom below then looked out across the rift where his companions now stood face to face with Eletor.
The cleric didn’t possess half the acrobatic skill or grace of his allies, but he wasn’t about to leave them to battle the sorcerer alone. Timing the swing of the disk just right, Shi hurled his stout, dwarf frame across the gap and belly-flopped onto its surface. Meanwhile, Aria and her companions closed in on Sinalith.
Eletor’s young apprentice wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as her fellow Spider Kings. In truth, Sinalith’s title had been given to her almost entirely due to her status as the daughter of Byalahiir but none denied her potential or cunning. As soon as the drider soldier in front of her fell, Sinalith intoned the final syllable written upon a scroll she carried for personal defense. A cone of prismatic light suddenly fired from Sinalith’s outstretched hand drowning the adventurers in its multi-colored display.
Acidic energy burned through Aria and T-Bone while Roch overcame the effects of a petrifying blue glow. Cul’tharic was struck by a beam of toxic green light that would have killed him outright were it not for his impressive fortitude and Jasper was nearly wiped completely from sight by a beam of purple energy. The rogue would have been carried off to some unknown plane of existence were it not for the magic of the prison walls. Within the confines of the dungeon, planar travel was impossible so Jasper was left completely unaffected by the prismatic spray.
“Dammit!” cried Jasper’s player, as he realized he was still going to have to fight Eletor.
By now, Riswan and company had closed with Eletor but the warriors were finding melee with the mad sorcerer to be nearly as difficult as relying on magic. Earlier, Shi had used every prayer at his disposal to increase his companions’ odds of victory, but Eletor’s defensive magics were proving to be more than adequate in tilting the board back in his favor.
“It’s like trying to fight a wall after four pints of Macready’s mushroom moonshine!” the halfing growled. Easily a quarter of the fighter’s attacks struck insubstantial blurs of phantom movement while the rest of his blows glanced harmlessly off the drider’s magically reinforced hide if they hit at all.
“Convinced he’s the real thing now, Wicieth?!” Develdar exclaimed, driving the point of his rapier through one of the eye holes in Eletor’s copper mask with an incredibly lucky strike.
Along the way to the Path of Worth, Wicieth had delayed her companions with a trip to a hidden rebel weapons cache she’d learned of while spying for the Spider King. In addition to a few suits of alchemically-treated, fire-resistant leather armor most of the rebels wore, the cache held six swords specially enchanted for battling unnatural creatures such as Madness and the driders. It was with one of these blades that Develdar struck Eletor and the Spider King reeled from the blow, clutching at the wound with one misshapen claw of a hand while fending off the drow’s further attacks with his other robe-shrouded arm.
“A most valiant effort, slave,” Eletor spit, his hand beginning to crackle with ebon energy. “But I’m afraid you’ll find your actions wasted.” With that, the Spider King slashed at Develdar with his withered claw and grasped his arm with unnatural strength. The drow could feel his lifeforce draining from his body and wrenched his arm away from the monster as his vitality flowed into the mad sorcerer but it was too late. Eletor’s wounds closed instantly, healed by the leeched energy from the warrior’s body.
“Develdar!” cried Wicieth as the drow stumbled back a step, a crimson bruise glowing where Eletor had gripped his arm.
“I’ll live,” the drow grunted through the pain. “Keep attacking. See that this ilhar vith’rell isn’t so lucky.”
“Shi, help him!” the aranea called to the cleric who was only now hauling himself over the raised bridge to support his allies. “And pray your allies finish Sinalith quickly!”
Jasper, T-Bone and Cul’tharic were having an easier time with the sorcerer’s apprentice. Sinalith’s defenses were nearly as strong as her mentor’s but, after her one scroll turned up only mediocre results, her offense turned out to be decidedly lacking. Being not so great a spellcaster as Eletor, the young drider laid down another fetid mist that provided her with additional concealment against her enemies then charged her hands with necromantic energy.
“You should never have returned,” Sinalith hissed, clutching Jasper by the throat. The rogue felt his body begin to go numb and quickly twisted out of the drider’s grip before the spell could take its full effect.
“Don’t look at me, lady,” Jasper coughed. “I tried to warn them, but nobody ever listens to the thief. You want to blame somebody, try the halfling or the dwarf standing next to me with the six-foot, flaming steel problem-solver.”
As if on cue, T-bone hammered at the drider with his enchanted greatsword. Sinalith’s wards saved her from the worst of the attack, but the blade still found its way to her hide and cut a searing gash across her belly.
“The Gatekeeper’s sword!” Sinalith exclaimed. “So Arioch is dead. How fitting his blade should find its way back here to its home.”
“The only place this blade is gonna be fitting is up your pooper, ya pakon gruscara!” the enraged barbarian growled, unleashing another terrible blow across the drider’s abdomen.
“Hard to imagine these fools bested old Nielial, eh Sinalith?” Eletor mused amid a flurry of flashing steel as his assistant’s body crumpled against the force of T-Bone’s attack. “Not that I believe it for one second…More likely she’s said something to win them over, made them her pawns? That would be her game, wouldn’t it? Ilta olis’inth…Sinalith?”
“Usstan zhahus ukt sanrr…,” the young drider sighed as she lapsed to dying, the adventurers already closing on the sorcerer as she fell. Realizing something was wrong, Eletor turned his gaze to Sinalith’s still form, his eyes glowing wild and red beneath the copper death’s head veiling his face. “You broke her,” he spoke dejectedly.
“That ain’t nothing compared to what we’ve got planned for you, three-ring,” T-Bone grunted as Eletor began to laugh. “Heh, he got it!” the barbarian quipped, proud of his slam on the drider’s fashion sense.
“I don’t think he’s laughing about you, T-Bone,” Jasper cautioned, instinctively preparing for Eletor’s head to turn into a purple worm or hellfire to come streaming from the Spider King’s mouth.
“Jabbuk’s lani,” Eletor giggled, his voluminous robes rippling half from glee and half from something worse. “We’ll fix you later…just like we did before. But first…”
“Oh no,” Wicieth muttered. The aranea spy had always sensed Eletor and Sinalith had a strange relationship, but only now did she realize what the student meant to the teacher. The young drider’s uptight, obsessive disposition had always kept the old sorcerer’s madness occupied and in check. Her protestations kept him amused. Without her…“He’s gone off the leash,” the aranea finished.
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It's cool. I had the same feeling when I was writing this post. At the table, the game is all about the PCs and I constantly stress to the players how much I hate situations where the game turns into a series of cutscenes where the PCs are silent observers. When something comes up where NPCs talk to each other or fight each other with little interaction from the PCs, I don't make my players or myself suffer through it. I just determine an outcome, brief the players on what happened and move on so we can get back to why we're at the table.
In the journal, the story is about the PCs but there are moments where maybe the players aren't saying much or doing more than rolling attacks and taking move actions. I don't want to write about how T-Bone silently stood in one spot and swung his sword 30 times before moving to another spot because that's dull. Those moments give me a chance to flesh out the monsters or describe other stuff that's going on around the PCs. I don't think it I've done it too much, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure descriptions of the players and their actions make up the majority of the journal.
Maybe it isn't as useful to readers who aren't actually playing in the game, but the stuff like Eletor and Sinalith talking to one another while the players are nowhere nearby or describing a battle from the POV of a monster also gives my players some insight into how their actions are affecting the dungeon's "world"...At least I hope it is because that's part of my reason for doing it. Aside from just trying to provide an entertaining story, one of the goals I have for the journal is to use it as a sort of game aid for the players. NPC interactions I hand-wave at the table, sometimes get put in the journal so the players can see what was said or done without them having to sit through Velcro Zipper's Sock Puppet Power Hour.
All that said, I appreciate all the readers who aren't in my game continuing to read this after nearly four years and I want to make sure it's enjoyable for them as well. Thanks for reading and let me know if there's anything more (or less) you'd like to see in the journal.
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In the journal, the story is about the PCs but there are moments where maybe the players aren't saying much or doing more than rolling attacks and taking move actions. I don't want to write about how T-Bone silently stood in one spot and swung his sword 30 times before moving to another spot because that's dull. Those moments give me a chance to flesh out the monsters or describe other stuff that's going on around the PCs.
I assumed that was the case, but every once in a while it just seems funny: "The NPCs did this, this, this, this, this, this and this. Oh yeah, and there were some PCs there, too." ;-)
I don't think it I've done it too much, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure descriptions of the players and their actions make up the majority of the journal.
I'm not criticizing; if you can keep writing a journal after so long, more power to you! But one thing that might be cool is to have a brief list of the primary NPCs for the session, similar to the list of PCs that you have in each post.
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I thought of doing that with the last post since I had so many NPCs showing up but, at the same time, I thought it might spoil any surprises. Besar, for instance, hasn't been mentioned in the journal for well over a year. He maybe isn't the most memorable character the party has met, but I still thought it'd be kind of neat to see him show up to repay their kindness to him.
I'll post a list of the current combatants at the top of the next entry.
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The battle rages on! Sinalith has been defeated, but Eletor remains! Secrets are revealed, an ally falls and a mysterious figure from the past emerges as titans clash! Exclamation point!
DAY 186 - THE WORLD'S LARGEST ADVENTURING PARTY VS. ELETOR: Round 2, The Unmaskening!
Featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party:
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Cul’tharic - NPC Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
and some other guys!
Shi – Dwarf Cleric of Pharasma
Riswan - Halfling Fighter
Develdar – Drow Two-Weapon Warrior/Acrobat
Wicieth – Aranea Spy
Besar – Bralani Fighter
Orbb Valuk Elotor – Drider Sorcerer
*About 12 days ago*
“Hey guys, I found a hole!” Nicky shouted to his companions, his tiny cat-like familiar orbiting his head like a furry satellite.
“Oh boy, another hole,” T-Bone grunted, sarcasm dripping from his half-orc tusks like pancake syrup.
“But this one seems different,” replied the witch. “I’ve got a good feeling about it.”
“You mean like that hole with the hook horror living inside it?” Aria asked.
“Or the ankheg hive?” reminded Jasper.
“Let’s not forget the one that turned out to actually be a delver’s mouth,” Pyewacket helped.
“Hey, that delver was really helpful after we explained the misunderstanding,” Nicky cried in his defense.
“And after you fed him those diamonds we found,” T-Bone growled.
“It’s not like they were going to be of any other use to us down here,” the witch argued before returning his attention to the murky void. “So, who’s going in first?” Nicky’s question was quickly answered with a sharp kick to his posterior.
“T-Bone!” Aria scolded as Pyewacket quickly flew in after his master. “What have I told you?!”
“Ha hah ha, He’ll be fine,” the barbarian laughed. “He’ll do that floaty thing he always does and then he’ll fly back on up to us, just wait! The only hole that that witch can’t get out of will be his grave, Har!”
“You’re probably right,” the aasimar sighed. “I doubt there’s anything down there we can’t handle anyway.”
*Roundabout nowish*
“I don’t know if we can handle this guy,” Aria whispered through the din of clattering blades and the howl of Eletor’s mad laughter. A layer of thick stone plating covered the Spider King’s carapace and robes easily deflecting the blows of his attackers and a globe of arcane energy repelled every spell the halfling or Shi threw at him. As if that weren’t bad enough, some minor glamer concealed Eletor’s true position and any wounds the adventurers or their allies managed to deal to the drider were rapidly healed by the vampiric touch of his twisted claws.
“Chunks of his shell keep breaking off when we hit it,” T-bone offered on the party line. “I don’t know anything about magic, but I’m guessing if we hit him enough he’ll crack open like a boiled lobster. Hey Aria, you carrying any garlic butter in your spell component purse?”
The barbarian coiled his arm, let loose with another tremendous swing and, as if in answer to his request for butter, fumbled his sword and juggled it across the tunnel nearly wanging off Jasper’s head in a clumsy attempt to regain control of the flaming blade.
“Sorry Jasper,” T-Bone sulked as his sword clattered against the hard, stone floor. “Guess I got a little too enthusiastic.”
“Good thing I always carry a spare,” he grinned as he drew his trusty old greatsword and continued to batter at the Spider King. The weapon wasn’t as powerful or as sharp as Arioch’s blade, but it was enchanted and it’d seen the titan mauler through some tough scrapes. For the moment, the Gatekeeper’s sword would have to rest on the tunnel floor. There was no time to let up on Eletor.
“Do you know why they call me the All-Seeing Visionary?” the drider cackled as he slapped Wicieth with another draining touch. “Go on, have a guess! Whoever’s right can have the honor of becoming my next test subject!”
“Is it just me or are his wounds closing even as we hit him now?” Jasper called to his companions.
“It’s the spell he’s using!” Shi replied. “The life energy he steals adds to his own! If we can’t find a way to keep him from casting, he’ll drain us all before we can even inflict minor injury to him.”
“No takers?! Fine! I’ll tell you myself!” Eletor hissed, irritated at being ignored. “I’m the All-Seeing Visionary because every thought I have becomes reality! I determine the course of destiny itself! L’ ulin zhah ussta elg’caress!”
“That seals it,” Jasper commented, probably a little too loud. “This guy’s nuckin’ futs.”
“Perhaps a demonstration is in order!?” grinned the sorcerer. “I’ve read the infernal winds of High M’Vania are very powerful and quite lethal, but why don’t you tell me what you think.”
Suddenly, the ceiling of the cavern peeled away revealing a yawning crimson void and a howling demon wind blasted down through the orifice. Half the adventurers and their allies were immediately knocked prone under the blistering jet of air and rust-red dust as their skin began to boil.
“But how?!” Aria groaned under the waves of crippling heat. “Interplanar summoning shouldn’t work here! How could he open a portal to the Abyss?!”
“It isn’t a portal,” Shi shouted through the vortex. The dwarf’s knowledge of spellcraft far exceeded that of his colleague. “It’s something else! Something powerful! It’s like he created it with his mind!”
“An illusion!?” Jasper cried out, struggling to stand. “So we can just disbelieve it, right?”
“Not an illusion!” the death priest called as he fought his way through the wind toward the quickly failing Aria. The halfling’s wounds were all too real and she was dropping fast. “I…I think he wished for this!”
The cleric was right. Eletor’s sorcerous skill and dweomer-infused blood had unlocked some vast, reality-warping gift that gave the mad drider command over life and death and nature itself. It was this ability that gave him the power to restore life to the Spider King Noh and caused many drider and drow alike to believe he was a god or the insane avatar of some demon lord.
Shi quickly surmised the ability was actually just a very powerful spell, but it didn’t matter. Eletor might not be the demigod he claimed to be but, with power like this at his disposal, he was just as dangerous.
Aria, now unconscious and dying, was close but the wind was so strong it nearly knocked Shi to the ground. Clutching blindly for anything to steady himself, the dwarf’s hand locked around the control lever for the folding bridge leading onto the suspended disc at the center of The Path of Worth. As the bridge came down, the cleric forced himself forward toward Aria in a desperate attempt to pull her from the furnace.
Swick!, came the sound of Eletor’s flashing sword-sized dagger as the drider took the opportunity to attack the passing priest. Shi stumbled forward, clutching his throat. The Spider King had scored a lucky hit and the dwarf was beginning to choke on the fountain of blood gushing from his neck.
Unable to speak, Shi couldn’t cast the spells required to save Aria’s life, let alone his own. Jasper was the next to drop and T-bone, despite his remarkable stamina, had yet to stand up to the onslaught of burning wind and dust. The exhausted barbarian fought to regain his feet as, behind Shi, Develdar shoved Wicieth out of the sirocco in an uncharacteristic display of concern for someone else’s safety. Within the searing storm, the cleric’s allies were losing fast. Shi had to do something to turn the tide…
…so he hit himself.
Channeling deadly amounts of negative energy into one’s own skull via light mace would prove the undoing of most priests, but Shi was not most priests. As a devout believer in the power of death, the dwarf had no fear of the dark energy that fueled the undead. In fact, in direct opposition to what would seem natural, the stuff bolstered his own life force and, on a lark, Shi had learned how to draw necromantic power into his own weapons. Directing negative energy from the well of his own soul into the mace in his hand, Shi brained himself and immediately felt the tear in his throat sealing shut.
“Bet you didn’t see that one coming, you pretentious jackass,” the cleric croaked up at Eletor as the bralani Besar swooped toward Aria. The celestial had broken off his attack on Eletor after seeing Shi wounded and quickly stabilized the halfling’s injuries with his own natural healing abilities as T-Bone finally got to his feet.
“Come on, Jasper,” the barbarian huffed as he scooped the rogue into his arms. “We’re getting you out of here.” And with that, the barbarian bulldozed Besar and the unconscious Aria out of the blazing wind tunnel and into the relative safety of Sinalith’s still-churning stinking cloud as Shi caught up from behind. Provided they could handle the stench, the fog would conceal them long enough to get everyone back on their feet.
“Roch! Give us a hand, would you,” T-Bone shouted into the fog, but there was no reply. In the confusion of the battle, the theurge had disappeared and it was only now T-Bone realized he’d been missing since Sinalith blanketed the area in cloying green vapors. “Damn! The useless coward! He’s left us to die!” the barbarian growled.
“That’s enough,” Shi coughed as he set to healing Aria and Jasper. “Roch defied his own god because he thought it would save lives and he’s paid dearly for it. He might be a fool and a bit of a screw-up, but he’s not useless and he’s no coward. Now help me and Besar with these two. We need to get everyone back on their feet before Eletor kills Cul’tharic and the others...”
“…And before you think of telling Roch what I just said, remember who I work for.”
“Develdar! Riswan!” Cul’tharic shouted through the demon gale. “Trading blows with Eletor isn’t working! Even if we can avoid his touch, we will all die if we stay much longer in this wind! We must try something else!”
“I have to say I’m in agreement with the reptile!” Eletor laughed. “Your strategy thus far has been predictable, juvenile and incredibly boring! I give it half a star but only because that thing the choking dwarf did was inspired!”
“Shut up, you!” Riswan retorted, driving one of the rebellion’s aberration-bane rapiers into the Spider King’s belly with minimal results.
“I’m open to suggestions!” Develdar growled. Hoping the gesture would miss Eletor’s wild eyes, Cul’tharic replied by snaking his tail toward the lowered bridge behind the drow and bobbing it forward. “That’s not exactly my strong suit!” Develdar shouted.
“Do you have a better idea?!” hissed the lizardman.
“Fall back with Wicieth, halfling!” the drow yelled down at Riswan. “Your scaly friend and I have work to do, and you’ll only get in the way!”
“Ugh, Riswan was right,” the halfling huffed. “Putting up with you really doesn’t get easier over time.”
“Excuse me?!” Develdar exclaimed, taken aback by the fighter’s sudden change in tone and first-person address.
“Step aside, boy,” the halfling smiled. “I’m going to need some room.” Then, dropping his rapier to the ground, Riswan’s body began to quickly shift and roil. Even Eletor held his attack as the small fighter’s form suddenly twisted and grew into something large, bulbous and black.
Clang!, went the sound of Eletor’s falling sword-sized dagger as it slipped from his grasp and crashed into the floor. The Spider King seemed stunned by the appearance of the creature before him.
“Hello, Elo! Long time, no see! You look like crap!” the monster grinned.
“I saw you die,” Elotor gasped, seeming to shrink before the smaller creature. “Radija sewed your face to a flesh golem after Byalahir passed.”
“Mahir...,” Wicieth spoke, dry-mouthed and equally stunned by the apparent return of Eletor’s master.
“Smoke and mirrors,” Mahir replied. “An addle-minded clone I whipped up from samples taken from the Halls of Flesh, little different from your homunculus, Snuffle, there.”
“What?” Eletor piped. “What did you just call him?”
“Eh…Scruffy?...or was it Skippy? Uh, it has been a long time, you know?” Now it was Mahir who seemed to shrink as Eletor regained his menace. “Erm..eep…get him, guys?”
Cul’tharic and Develdar used the distraction to throw down their weapons and leap onto Eletor as the Spider King rushed forward to clutch the frightened Mahir within his claws. “It was you!” the sorcerer hissed angrily, venom dripping from his mandibles. “You wear Mahir’s face now, but I know it was you! You did this!!”
“What’s going on out there?” Aria weakly asked as Shi helped her to her feet. “Where’s Cul’tharic?”
“It looks like…they’re trying to wrestle him onto the platform!” Besar informed the cleric, peering through edge of the acrid mist. “Heal everyone as best as you can! I’m going to help!”
The bralani emerged from the fog to see Cul’tharic and Develdar scaling the titan drider and struggling to heave the monster forward onto the disc above the pit of flames. The false Mahir had somehow wriggled free of Eletor’s grasp and was even now fleeing across the platform and leaping to safety on the far side.
“I can’t,” the desperately wounded creature seemed to say as he passed Wicieth, and, “I’m sorry.”
“Scoundrels! Assassins!” Eletor screeched. “How dare you lay your loathsome paws on a god!” The Spider King reached for Cul’tharic, pulling him round to view the lizardman face to shrouded face then howled. “Behold the fate of all who stand against the scion of Haagenti!”
Cracks of green light forming necromantic symbols began to glow across the surface of Eletor’s half-skull mask as it peeled from the sorcerer’s hideous face and struck Cul’tharic, branding the reptile with a vile, black, death’s head mark and a keening flash of light filled the tunnel. For a moment, silence ruled The Path of Worth.
Cul’tharic’s wasted body fell limp, his claws still grasping the sorcerer’s robes. As he fell, so too fell the veil of Eletor. The All-Seeing Visionary's terrible secret was finally revealed.
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This is it! The truth of Elotor's horrible affliction has been revealed and the Spider King has lost his mind. With their numbers dwindling, will the adventurers and their allies manage to rally and finish him off? What will happen if they're given the option to just walk away? The final battle against The Spider Kings ends now!
DAY 186 - THE WORLD'S LARGEST ADVENTURING PARTY VS. ELETOR: Final Round
Featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party:
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla – Dwarf Titan Mauler
Jasper – Human Rogue
Cul’tharic - NPC Lizardfolk Scaled Horror
Shi – Dwarf Cleric of Pharasma
and some other guys!
Develdar – Drow Two-Weapon Warrior/Acrobat
Wicieth – Aranea Spy
Besar – Bralani Fighter
Orbb Valuk Elotor – Drider Sorcerer
By elf reckoning, Eletor wasn’t much older than Sinalith when he first arrived to Region I with his master Mahir and Mahir’s lab assistant, Saa’ooble’. The Region was much safer back then. No dripping aberrations roamed the halls and the drow slaves knew their place. Only the lantern archon Idawalley’s occasional futile attempt at sabotage hinted at the threat posed by the Celestial Garrison in the south and the outsiders seemed either too preoccupied or too confident in their wards to bother with the machinations of the growing drider empire.
“That was before we found you,” Eletor seethed, his memory racing as his mentor’s doppelganger fled.
The driders found the phasm trapped within some sort of crystalline resin cell that inhibited its natural shapeshifting abilities and Mahir chose to free the thing against the advice of Saa’ooble’ who suggested dissecting the creature for study. Whether it was grateful for its release or just curious about its saviors, the phasm quickly proved its usefulness and soon became Mahir’s favorite agent and plaything.
“You did this,” Eletor hissed. “You failed him. You could have fled, but you brought it back.”
Saa’ooble’ warned Mahir about the egg. “It’s the wrong species! We don’t know how the spell will react!” pleaded the assistant, but the master sorcerer was happy with the phasm’s work and refused to wait any longer.
“How dare you wear his face!” Eletor roared. “You did this to me! You created the Halls of Flesh! It was you!”
“If you all thought he was crazy before, I don’t think he even knows we’re here anymore,” T-Bone grunted. “If there’s anything you can do for Cul’tharic, Aria, this’d be the time.”
Cul’tharic’s body lay within the burning sirocco at the drider’s feet still clutching Eletor’s robes and, with his affliction exposed for all to see, the sorcerer could no longer maintain the intense concentration required to keep his form in check.
The true form of Eletor was an unending nightmare without form or reason. Waves of bleeding spikes competed with clusters of rasp-toothed tentacles and nodules of hooked bone for purchase along the surface of the drider’s monstrous, bloated body. Clawed limbs grew from Eletor’s back only to detach and wriggle across the tunnel floor like dying serpents. Wracked with pain and lost to madness, the sorcerer ceased casting his foul spells and slashed wildly at his attackers.
“I can save you,” Aria swore before dashing headlong toward Cul’tharic’s body. Besar and Shi barely had time to revitalize the halfling after her last exposure to the blazing hurricane and Aria could already feel herself slipping as she rattled off a quick prayer to Sarenrae and locked lips with the listless lizard. “Now get back on your feet and save me,” she muttered as she breathed life back into her friend and once again passed out.
Cul’tharic woke to the roar of the sirocco. Aria lay face down in Elotor’s cloak while Besar and Develdar continued to struggle with Eletor. The pair had successfully grappled the mad sorcerer halfway onto the suspended platform, but it was clear the drow’s desire for revenge was the only thing keeping him on his feet.
“Get her out of here!” Besar yelled back at the lizardman as he dragged on a pair of Eletor’s twisted vestigial limbs. “I’ll buy you some time!”
Cul’tharic grabbed the edges of Eletor’s fallen robes and quickly hauled Aria out of the windstorm just in time to find a welcome surprise. The stinking cloud of fog blocking up the tunnel faded away as Cul’tharic pulled Aria to safety and the centaur paladin Melody waited on the other side.
“Bring her to me quickly!” called the paladin who channeled healing energy into the halfling. “Roch came for us as we were finishing off that last group of driders. He’s looking a little more green than usual, but he should be along any moment now.”
Melody spoke true. Roch was unable to cope with the nauseating fumes of the stinking cloud and, lacking any other way to contribute to the fight, stumbled away to get help.
“Sorry I *urp* vanished on you like that,” the theurge gulped swallowing a little sick that was caught in his throat. “I couldn’t think of any other way to help. How goes the battle?”
Jasper and T-Bone filled Roch and Melody in as the paladin, Shi and Aria used what healing abilities they had remaining to bolster their allies. Several ratfolk had been lost in the battle with the driders, but the survivors were now armed with oversized knives and longswords.
“They clearly have no idea how to use those things but, the way they support each other, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Melody spoke. “Ida's otyugh friend was having a hard time squeezing through the tunnels, but they will be here any moment. We’ll take it from here.”
The paladin’s words caught all the adventurers by surprise. “What do you mean, ‘you’ll take it from here?’” Jasper asked.
“Lk bedoel niet te beledigen. My apologies,” replied the centaur. “I mean you have gone through so much.”
“You freed these creatures and myself from captivity, destroyed half the Spider Kings and released hundreds of spirits from the control of the Wheel of Sorrow,” Melody continued. “Eletor is trapped, and the Celestial Garrison will soon be here to finish off his remaining forces. All of this happened because of you.”
“I’m saying no one can say you haven’t done enough,” the paladin spoke. “You’re wounded. You’re exhausted. Some of you have literally died to come this far. Let us take it from here.”
The adventurers considered Melody’s words. There wasn’t one among them who didn’t want this long, painful journey to end.
“The sorcerer’s storm can’t last much longer!” the paladin announced to the gathered ratfolk. “As soon as it’s down, we’re going through! The reign of the Spider Kings ends today!”
“Not without me it doesn’t!” T-Bone shouted. “I didn’t plummet two-hundred feet to my death to turn back now!”
“Neither did I,” spoke Aria.
Jasper heard the words of his oldest companions and carefully weighed his own decision before declaring (against his better judgment,) “That jerk Develdar’s already kicked my t’zarreth at sneaking…and jumping…and hitting things. He’ll never shut up about it if it turns out he’s braver too. Let’s go get killed.”
“All of our friends are going to throw themselves off a bridge, Roch,” Shi cheerily prodded his comrade.
“They’re what?!” Roch absent-mindedly exclaimed before pushing through to the front of the group. “Hey guys! Wait up!”
“Oh, Roch,” Shi sighed.
“What about you, nao thurirl?” Cul’tharic asked the priest.
“You all go have fun,” Shi answered to Cul’tharic’s surprise. The lizard had never known the cleric to abandon a friend. “I’m okay with being swallowed by an ooze or having my life sucked out by an insidious magical door when it’s my time, but the whole heroic sacrifice thing, it’s not really my bag. Pharasma has her hands full enough without me giving her a freebie. Besides, someone’s got to be here to conduct last rites.”
The adventurers lined up at the edge of the swirling storm and waited for what seemed like forever with the paladin at their side and the ratfolk at their back while Shi went to investigate a suspicious noise he heard behind the group. Thinking Ida and Otyugh John had arrived to lend their aid, the priest was dismayed to find the clatter was coming from the south tunnels that circumvented the Path of Worth.
“We’ve got company!” the cleric shouted as he ran toward the tunnel. The coward Treak had fled south to alert the drider battalion waiting for Elotor’s arrival and the monsters were on their way. Luckily, the stonemason had closed and barricaded the doors thinking the adventurers might chase him. The narrow tunnel and barricades would buy the group some time, but someone needed to head the aberrations off.
“Rat guys! With me!” Shi yelled. As the rats turned to help Shi block up the door, one of them noticed a strange glow emanating from Roch’s pack. The theurge shifted his gear to discover the exotic two-bladed sword Jasper had found was alight and he quickly chased Shi, hoping the cleric could determine the cause.
“Fine!” Shi fussed. “You help the ratfolk. I’ll examine the weapon to see if it’s anything we can use!”
The cleric carefully studied the sword and came to a startling conclusion. The weapon was specially attuned to battling shapeshifters and the forces of chaos and Shi realized its current proximity to Eletor must have revealed its powers. Unknown to the priest was the truth that the weapon was known as Eight Strikes Fang, and that it had been specifically created to kill the monsters Anguish and Madness. The dwarf, Pallas, had stolen the weapon from Sigilinde and lost it to the driders when he was captured.
“Hold them as long as you can!” Shi yelled to Roch. “I’ve got to get this to the others!”
***
“Bring back my sword, you little thief!” T-Bone shouted up to the homunculus, Scuttle. Eletor’s meeping familiar had taken advantage of T-Bone’s clumsiness and recovered the flaming greatsword the barbarian had dropped in the hall. Currently, the tiny construct was dangling it within Eletor’s reach.
“The Gatekeeper’s Sword!” the sorcerer grinned. Prolonged battle had somewhat restored his faculties and he plucked the weapon from the creature’s small hands. “Good work, Scuttle! I owe you a treat!”
Scuttle flapped happily as his master held the sword aloft and uttered a dark and powerful word. Then, bringing the end of the blade into contact with the disk, he laughed as a circle of runes was revealed at the adventurer’s feet. Cul’tharic nearly fell to his death as a hole suddenly appeared below him and a raging hurricane surrounded the platform as the north bridge slammed closed.
“Arioch wasn’t the only obstacle on the Path of Worth!” Eletor wickedly smiled. “He tested anyone who wished to speak with us but, to keep them from cheating, we gave him this!”
Currently, only T-Bone, Cul’tharic and Develdar shared the disc with the huge drider. Besar, the party’s bralani ally was dead, his decapitated body flung into the river of lava below after attracting the sorcerer’s attention with a flurry of tempestuous blows while Develdar took a moment to recover.
“The powerful winds surrounding the disc should keep your allies from reaching you or blow them into the magma if they try!” Eletor laughed. “And when I finish with you, they’ll be next!”
Aria, Jasper, Shi and their allies could only watch as battle commenced on the platform. Within the eye of the storm, the disc remained stationary, but the howling gale would surely fling the adventurers to their doom.
“I’m going over!” Jasper growled as he unpacked the massive whip he’d taken from the Spider King Noh. “Melody, take this and hold on!” With the trapped tiles around the platform, the centaur was too large to safely leap through the wind so she agreed to serve as Jasper’s anchor.
Aria pulled the lever to release the bridge and found it to be operational. However, the drawbridge rode on the wind and flapped dangerously, meaning Jasper would have to clear it to make it safely across.
“Look at me now, you stuck-up punk,” Jasper whispered toward Develdar before charging the platform and leaping through the air. The rogue was immediately caught in the hurricane and, had it not been for Melody’s bulk and his own firm grip on the leather coil, he would have been lost to the storm. “Reel me in!” he shouted.
Develdar missed Jasper’s display of bravado because he and his allies were currently dealing with Eletor’s newest attack form. Twisting beams of ebon energy crackled from the sorcerer’s fingertips draining the warriors of their vitality.
“Fine!” T-Bone shouted. “Keep the crummy thing! I like my old sword better anyway! The barbarian’s attack cleaved through all of the sorcerer’s defenses, and the stony plates covering Eletor’s body shattered into dust.
“We’re through!” the dwarf cheered as Eletor reeled from the blow. “Now let’s finish him off!”
Scuttle suddenly darted at T-Bone in defense of his master, distracting the dwarf long enough for the drider to take careful aim on the barbarian. Black lightning arced from Eletor’s claws striking T-Bone in the heart and, through some demonic luck, the sorcerer’s spell lingered in the dwarf’s body.
“Auurrghh!” T-Bone groaned clutching his chest. He could feel his life energy slipping away and knew he wouldn’t survive much longer.
Aria and Shi watched helplessly as their friend stumbled toward one of the chains holding the platform in place, but the dying barbarian’s arms were now too weak to sunder the links and he flailed weakly at them as Scuttle swooped in for another attack.
Shi growled. He recognized Eletor’s foul necromancy and knew he’d prepared a spell that could save T-Bone’s life if he could reach the barbarian in time, but it would mean throwing his fate, literally, to the wind.
T-Bone tossed down his sword and grabbed the annoying Scuttle out of the air. He could see Shi shouting at him through the vortex, but the hurricane was muffling the priest’s words. Shi seemed to be reaching out for him.
“What do you think, little guy?” the barbarian grunted as he strangled the struggling homunculus, the final seconds of his life ticking away. “Should we go?”
The barbarian looked up at his friends then down into the churning sea of magma below and sighed, “Look, Nicky. A hole.”
Shi and Jasper landed on the platform with a heavy thud just in time to see T-Bone slip through one of the trapped tiles in the disc floor, still clutching the whimpering Scuttle. Above them, Eletor grappled with Cul’tharic and Develdar. The pair had once again tried to wrestle the sorcerer off of the platform but, by now, the mad drider was wise to their strategy and levitated himself and his attackers straight into the air.
Cul’tharic scaled Eletor’s shoulders and grasped the pommel of the flaming greatsword the drider held in one hand while Develdar drove a dagger into the Spider King’s side. “Jasper!” the lizardman hissed. “Try to make the wind stop!” Then, biting deep into Eletor’s wrist, Cul’tharic wrenched the sword from the sorcerer’s grasp and dropped it to the platform below.
“It will do you no good!” Elotor cackled. “Your allies will not arrive in time to save you! Only a drider can activate the hidden powers of the Gatekeeper’s blade!”
“Ol kluthak dos ph' xusst,” Develdar grinned, drawing Eletor’s attention to where Jasper stood mimicking the sorcerer’s display with Arioch’s blade. “Leave it to a human to prove just how inferior your kind truly are!”
Eletor raged as the winds surrounding the platform died and the glowing runes faded allowing Melody and Aria onto the disc. As if by reflex, a score of clawed limbs and tentacles erupted from the drider’s body scouring Develdar and Cul’tharic with a tempest of deadly blows. The drow warrior, already so badly injured during the hellish combat, could no longer maintain his grip on the hovering monstrosity and felt himself slipping.
“Nindol…,” Develdar groaned, his dagger making one final thrust through Eletor’s squamous hide. “…zhah dal ussta ilharn.”
Develdar hit the platform with a crack that shook the disc like a cymbal.
“I am superior!” Eletor coughed as he hissed, coppery blood and spittle oozing from his mandibles. “I am l’ Dalhar d’ Haagenti, l’ Kyorlin Hiever! I am a god!”
“You are dying,” Cul’tharic spoke. Develdar’s final blow had somehow found one of the mad sorcerer’s lungs and it was quickly filling with the foul plasma that flowed throughout the monster’s body.
“No,” the drider growled, his talons finding new strength as desperation took hold of his mind. “I cannot die. Death is for the weak. Death is for mortals. Let me show you.”
The Spider King’s clarity was fearsome as he grasped Cul’tharic by the throat and held the lizardman over the plaform below. “You are dust,” Eletor hissed.
A bead of green energy formed at the tip of Eletor’s taloned claw and fired at Cul’tharic in a thin beam of light. Nothing Aria or Shi could do would be enough to save the lizard this time. This time, Cul’tharic’s only defense was a simple scrap of fur.
Cul’tharic was given the cloak as a gift from his adventuring companions. They told him it was made from the hide of a magical beast and that it might someday save his life but even though he knew how to activate its powers, he’d never seen it do much more than warm his shoulders. This time his friends were right.
Eletor grinned in anticipation of Cul’tharic disintegration. The thought of so completely destroying the lizardman in front of his friends filled him with sick glee but, as he looked on wild-eyed and disbelieving, the beam of light cut through what he now realized was a displaced image of the reptile in his hand. He’d missed by a good three feet.
“Impossible,” the drider sputtered. “I am superior.” From below, Shi launched a volley of icy spears and Jasper loosed arrows up at the vulnerable drider. This time, the priest powered through Eletor’s arcane resistance, perforating the sorcerer’s body.
Eletor and Cul’tharic fell onto the disc in a quivering, bloody heap. The drider could no longer speak and his mad eyes glowed dully. Jasper stood over the drider with Arioch’s sword over his shoulder as Aria saw to Cul’tharic’s wounds.
“If you’re not too busy spraying your innards all over the place,” the rogue spoke. “I think the lady would like a word.”
Jasper stepped aside revealing the paladin Melody who towered over Eletor’s shaking form holding Eight Strikes Fang. “Go now to the Abyss,” the centaur spoke. “And trouble this world no more.”
The centaur drove the chaos-hating blade of Eight Strikes Fang into the Spider King’s heart eliciting a final coughing gasp from the monster as his limbs ceased their twitching. Then, together, the adventurers and their allies pushed the fiend’s carcass into the fiery pit below. It was over. Eletor and the Spider Kings were defe-
“Waitaminnit!” Shi exclaimed. “We forgot about Roch!”
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Over and done! No more Regions I or M! Probably.
Regions I & M Epilogue
Roch and the ratfolk turned out to be okay after the battle with Eletor was over. The mystic theurge and the rodents managed to barricade the doors leading south with the remains of the Spider King’s fallen flesh golems and the ratfolk displayed a marvelous talent for crowding into each other which increased the number of them holding the doors. The eventual arrival of Idawalley and Otyugh John only helped Roch’s cause as the stinking beast was far too large and strong to be uprooted by the driders. The theurge finally ordered the doors opened when the sound of battle on the other side indicated the Celestial Garrison had arrived and the driders were trapped. Along with the ratfolk and Ida, Roch fought and slew the few remaining driders.
Wicieth and the phasm did not completely flee the battle with Elotor. The aranea remained close to the platform on the south side of the chasm, but was too injured to continue fighting. When a pair of driders from the south tunnel arrived to investigate Treak’s claims of an attack on Eletor, the spy tried to bring them to reason by showing them the monster Eletor had become. The aranea managed to briefly stall the driders but the creatures’ lust for power eventually won out and they attacked Wicieth. Having fled further down the tunnel in the form of an unassuming fire beetle, the phasm decided it might still be able to help and quickly came up with a plan to rescue his fellow shapeshifter. Taking on the form of the immortal chimera Anguish, the phasm startled the driders causing them to fall back.
The phasm later revealed that it did indeed play a part in the creation of the Halls of Flesh when Mahir ordered it to steal a dragon’s egg from another region of the dungeon. The phasm was unable to locate the correct species’ egg so it returned with the egg of a bronze dragon instead. The egg reacted poorly to Mahir’s spell and gave birth to what would become the twin terrors of Anguish and Madness in addition to forming the Halls of Flesh. Unbeknownst to even the phasm, was the fact that Mahir’s reagents had also been tampered with by Develdar’s own father prior to the drow slave’s horrible transformation into a living biomechanical lock protecting Mahir’s spellbook.
The real Riswan, it was discovered, had asked the phasm to take his place after he encountered the creature posing as Shi in the commune. The halfling was suspicious of Sigilinde and wanted to set a trap for her. Riswan and the goblin scout Ratul waited in hiding near Mahir’s cache where Sigilinde had gone to wait out the battle and the halfling’s suspicions were confirmed when they caught the sorcerous serpent sneaking out to the crystalline cell where the real Anguish was still held in captivity. Sigilinde used a crystal eye given to her by the adventurers to contact Eletor and was negotiating a deal to set Anguish free behind the Celestial Garrison’s forces in exchange for her continued sovereignty over the Halls of Flesh in the event of a drider victory. With the goblin translating, Riswan convinced a wary contingent of cloakers that Sigilinde was none other than Saa’ooble’, the drider sorcerer who was responsible for their torture and captivity and, in part, for their current forms. Ancient memories stirred in the cloakers and Sigilinde’s fraternization with the hated Eletor only condemned her further. The creatures swarmed Sigilinde before she could release Anguish and the dark naga attempted to flee. Sigilinde was not seen again.
The adventurers learned after the battle with Eletor that the drow working in the crater had been given an offer to serve as cannon fodder for the Spider Kings in exchange for being elevated to the form of driders should they survive. The drow Roch encountered in the pit and subsequently tried to gas shower were those who had refused Eletor’s offer, making the theurge’s decision seem even more reprehensible when his actions were eventually discovered.
The cloud giant Norkor returned with the arrowhawks to his home on The Dark Crown, but not before informing the adventurers of what Roch had done at the crater. Bearing witness to the slaves fleeing in panic from the toxic smoke building up within Faieth’s cave, Norkor made the decision to order the survivors to run from The Barrows and to never return to such an evil place. He couldn’t know if the drow understood his words, but they fled north toward the river of lava and ran far from the giant’s sight.
His duplicity exposed, Roch at first attempted to deny his culpability by claiming he had only told the drow he was freeing them and that he had no idea they would go into the cave. When that didn’t work, he tried to say he only did what he thought the rest of the party wanted. At last, he finally confessed he’d made a hasty and stupid decision based on his experiences with the rebels and the words of the Spider King Faieth. This admission caused Riswan, a freedom fighter and former slave himself, to quit the party on the spot in disgust.
Aria, owing to her goddess’ message of redemption, offered to work with Roch to atone for what he’d done. The halfling could see the theurge wasn’t an evil man, but a man who’d foolishly made an evil decision. He would be allowed to remain in the group so long as he made up for his callous actions toward the helpless drow.
Develdar survived the battle with Eletor and became the leader of the remaining drow. To prevent further bloodshed, Roch’s actions were kept from him and Aria offered that the drow could remain in The Barrows under supervision and try to live peacefully with the peoples of the south. The only alternative seemed to be a quick and bloody end to the drow race in the dungeon. Still proud but no longer blinded by a need for revenge, Develdar rejected the halfling’s pity and said he would take his people north across the river of lava to seek out a new home in the chasm. The warrior knew the dangers of the vast wastes to the north would likely kill the drow but, to his people, living by the rules of the Celestial Garrison or Four Waters would be just as bad as remaining slaves.
Ripitat, Rapituk and the rest of the surviving ratfolk chose to claim The Barrows and The Halls of Flesh as their own with the departure of the drow and the deaths of the driders. Though Aria thought to invite the rodent men to live within the commune’s tunnels to the south, her suggestion was cut short by Jasper who reminded the halfling of the breeding habits of rats.
The cave druid Ragnar returned to his quiet life with Arkansas on the Black Mountain after dropping the wounded ratfolk off with Norkor and absconding with most of the driders’ stock of Skinroot Fungus. Though he was rarely seen again, stories would eventually circulate amongst the ratfolk of the crazy, old dwarf to the north who talks to bones and plays games with the rock eaters.
The centaur paladin Melody also chose to remain in The Barrows, both to shepherd the fledgling ratfolk race and to defend them against the predations of her arch-nemesis Zoisimas, the lamia who’d escaped Eletor’s laboratory during the party’s first encounter with the sorcerer. She would often be seen in the company of Riswan who, after quitting the adventuring party, established a post for the Celestial Garrison in Region I in honor of the loss of Besar.
Despite their involvement in the battle against the driders, the Celestial Garrison maintained its position of non-interference where the policies of the mortal races were concerned. Stopping the driders was the right thing to do, but the choice of what to do with the drow was left to the adventurers and the other new inhabitants of the dungeon. The leonal commander of the Garrison, Kelara, would only say that she and her companions would stand ready to lend their aid the next time some overwhelming evil threatened the good peoples of the dungeon.
Upon their entry to the Halls of Flesh, Garrison forces found the skeleton of a celestial, which the adventurers had discovered pinned to the wall near the region’s entrance. The celestials recognized the creature as a member of their own order and it was later confirmed by the lantern archons Marfa and Ida that the angel had been the only celestial survivor of the great earthquake. The angel had witnessed the coming of the driders to Region M and tried to free their drow slaves despite the evil he saw in them, even going so far as to create a sanctuary for them that no non-drow could enter. The driders eventually captured and killed the angel and hung his corpse as a warning to any celestials that might try to enter their territory, but a part of the divine warrior’s essence had survived in the drow sanctuary bestowing special healing abilities to a drow slave named Umressintra. Hearing of the angel’s actions gave Aria faith that perhaps the drow could be saved and caused Roch to regret his own decision even more.
The Wheel of Sorrow was sealed off with the help of the xorn who were offered a large sum of gemstones from the quarry and the remaining supply of the driders’ silkstone. Radija’s control rod for the golem-crafting machine was taken by the Celestial Garrison when they killed him during the battle, but Alith’s was lost when she escaped. Despite the recovery of Eight Strikes Fang, Anguish remained in captivity with Riswan watching over the beast. None were certain the blade could truly kill the monster so it was decided it would be best to simply leave well enough alone.
For their part in the destruction of the Spider Kings, most of the members of the adventuring party were offered membership with the Celestial Garrison. T-Bone, Nicky and Pyewacket all received posthumous nominations, but Roch would need to atone for his actions before the Garrison Charter would allow him to sign on. Cul’tharic and Shi, having already been offered the chance once before, maintained their refusal of the title citing personal and theological reasons respectively.
The World’s Largest Adventuring Party spent 45 days within Regions I and M. This marks the longest period they’ve ever stayed away from their allies in Four Waters and many changes have taken place in their absence.
The party returns to find relations with the Goblin Empire souring as stories of renewed raids by Stone Spirit Goblins in Four Waters territory have the commune’s citizens demanding action from Emperor Argliss. The latest, most destructive attack yet, took place in Thorin’s shrine to Sarenrae just north of the goblin border and the cleric has gone missing. Talita Draghinazzo, leader of The Trust, has offered her adventuring party’s services in finding the priest’s kidnappers and bringing them to justice. In other news, goblin traders returning from Region F are spreading rumors that peace between the Broken Axe and Red Horn minotaur tribes may be imminent and increased gold-based trade between the goblins and minotaurs have some Four Waters residents wondering why the commune continues to trade in labor.
Elotor’s Aberrant Anatomy Almanac – Discovered by ratfolk cleaning out the long unused living quarters of Eletor and rewarded to the party, this large, non-magical, heavy and grotesque tome is a pop-up book containing three-dimensional, anatomical representations (some including actual dehydrated organs) of various aberrant species Eletor had the good fortune to dissect during his time in The Barrows. Anyone who can stomach studying the book for an hour gains a +1 insight bonus to hit and damage aberrations and a +5 insight bonus to Knowledge Dungeoneering checks to identify aberrations for 24 hours. Further study may yield longer lasting benefits, but few besides Eletor have ever managed to read so far into the volume.
Mahir’s Faerz’ol – Though some claim he stole it from the vile lichdrow, Dyrr, none know exactly how Mahir came to possess this ancient grimoire. Entrusted to the adventurers, it contains the now-useless, only known copy of the Ritual of Unmaking, the spell that destroyed Madness and cost Roch the patronage of his god (it's also got a ton of notes and spells in it from level 0 all the way up to level 9!)
Belt of the Drider – This silk belt was given to the party by the phasm who originally received it from Mahir as a reward for its services. It grants the wearer a +4 competence bonus on Charisma-based skill checks as they relate to dealing with driders, a +2 competence bonus on a Charisma-based skill checks when dealing with drow, spiders and spider-like creatures or creatures with affinity for spiders, and a -2 penalty on Charisma based checks when dealing with anyone else. The wearer can understand and speak Undercommon. If the wearer is not a drider, he gains 60ft. darkvision, spider climb 3/day, a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity and a +2 resistance bonus on saves against poisons, spells and spell-like abilities. Moderate divination; CL12; Craft Wondrous Item, tongues, creator must be a drider; Price 14,900gp; Weight 1lb.
Stop the Madness! – (Roch, Shi, Cul’tharic, Riswan) Destroying the immortal abomination Madness has bolstered the resolve of the party members who took part in its demise. The adventurers gain a +2 trait bonus to saves against any effect that causes confusion.
Champions of the Rat Race! - Inspired by the heroes who rescued them from Eletor's laboratory, a few intrepid ratfolk begin training as adventurers themselves. The party may now have one ratfolk member. These singular verminkin possess the Cornered Fury alternate race ability rather than Swarming to reflect their individualism from the rest of the nest. Also, the adventurers who freed the ratfolk from captivity recieve a +2 circumstance bonus to Charisma-based skill checks with ratfolk and encounters with ratfolk always begin with an attitude of Friendly.
Like Region F, nearly everything in both regions is evil and good characters are given very little reason to care about either side of the drow/drider conflict. I get the impression the writer thought the players would just pick the lesser of two evils route, help the drow and move on expecting the dark elves to just be cool and never cause any trouble. That’s certainly one way to play it, but I’m not a big fan of anti-hero drow. I think Develdar and Lorath were kind of set up to be Dr’zzt-like (both of them are dual-wielders,) but I wanted to make sure I ran them as pretty damaged at heart.
The way I see it, the drow are basically what would happen if a community exiled all of its violent sociopaths to a velociraptor-infested, volcanic island. They’ll betray each other to get ahead and commit all manner of horrible crimes to survive but, at the end of the day, they know they’ve only got each other to rely on because everything else fears them, hates them or wants to kill them. Their society works because it has to for the race to survive. Anyway, let’s get to the rest of the review.
Region I, The Halls of Flesh, isn’t as plagued by errors as Region M and, on its own, stands up well enough. It’s got a lot of creepy aberrations like the mutated gricks and chokers, some great boss monster type creatures with The Green Death, Madness and Anguish and there’s even a spell-casting black pudding. I liked the setting and Sigilinde was one of my favorite villains to run so far. Seeing as how she’s Lawful Evil, she’s even a little easier to partner up with a mostly good party. As long she gets what she wants she’s happy. I’ll cover more about Region I in the breakdown but, for the most part, it’s pretty solid.
Region M, The Chasm, made my head hurt. Monsters’ statblocks were rife with errors, and the challenge level seemed way too high for some of the big bads. The Wheel of Sorrow and the Easy Bake Flesh Golem oven are neat but, as I mentioned in a previous post, they can really make things difficult for the party. One encounter I overhauled could have had the party fighting 20 flesh golems at once! One of the reasons I never liked the Dark Sun or Ravenloft settings is because they both felt so oppressive the players could never expect to really win or make a difference in the world. Region M felt that way to me.
Overall, I’d say both Regions I and M comprise a good concept with interesting NPCs that is nearly ruined by excess and poor editing. I’ve never used arrowhawks or phasms before but, after these two regions I’ve come to see they’re both actually fun monsters to use in the right circumstances. Probably the best thing about these regions was what it did for my miniatures shelf. I now have a tendriculos, an apparatus of the crab and a bunch of other monsters I wouldn’t have gotten around to building otherwise.
If I was going to run this again, I’d give the players a better view of the driders’ side of things. To them, the drow’s enslavement is punishment for centuries of cruelty, abuse and servitude. Rather than going full-tilt mad scientist with Eletor, I’d make him more of a cruel philosopher the way I wrote Faieth. He wouldn’t be interested in taking over the dungeon or the purity of the drider species. He’d be more interested in prolonging the drow’s suffering while studying the nature of reciprocal harm and retaliation.
Next up, the Region Breakdowns where I list off what I changed, what I left in and where everything went wrong! After that, I think Lord Antagonis has agreed to share some of his secret files on a few of the bad guys from the dungeon! Let me know if there are any beasts in particular you'd like to see.
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Some of the regions do and some don't. Fourteen different authors worked on this adventure with one or two working on each region. Usually, there will at least be something that says something to the effect of, "If the PCs are Good, Monster X does this," or "If the PCs do X, Faction Y does this."
In the case of the drow/drider conflict, it seems heavily skewed against Eletor and the Spider Kings and the party is just assumed to be helping the drow. I had a few NPCs drop suggestions about helping the driders instead, and had a few contingencies lined up in case the party went that direction.
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On to the breakdowns! As you might imagine, Regions I and M required more off-book GMing from me than any region so far. The party's early betrayal and loss to Sigilinde caused me to rearrange all kinds of stuff, and one player's decision to metagame was kind of what set off a whole chain reaction of bad things for the party. Arguably, it even led to Roch losing his spells.
Here are the breakdowns for both regions. I think I remembered all the major points and changes, but let me know if you have questions.
As written:
* Dark naga, Sigilinde, secretly helps the drow rebellion to overthrow their drider enemies to protect her own interests. The driders know Sigilinde and leave her alone in exchange for samples from the Halls of Flesh for use in their experiments. Sigilinde sees the adventuring party as a way to tip the scales in the favor of the rebellion and seeks an alliance. Sigilinde is secretly one of the only survivors of the accident in Mahir's lab and used to be a drider. Chance of betrayal: very low.
* Lorath works for the driders as the chief drow in charge of the slaves combating the monsters from the Halls of Flesh, but secretly commands the rebels in Region I. His third arm is a "gift" from his drider masters for services rendered. Lorath hates what the driders have done to his brother Arioch and wishes he could convince Arioch to side with the rebels but knows he will likely have to kill his brother for his people to be free.
* Drow rebels operate in secrecy, led by a mysterious group of drow nobles who are in hiding. They see the adventurers as useful to their cause and would like an alliance. Their alignments indicate they are Chaotic Evil, but they are presented as being closer to Neutral. Chance of betrayal: low
* Immortal monsters Madness and Anguish can only be permanently killed by The Ritual of Unmaking, a powerful spell that can only be cast once and can only kill one of the monsters. The spell is hidden in Mahir's cache where a phasm has been trapped for the last hundred or so years. The phasm is one of Mahir's former servants. The phasm's motives are unclear, but it will masquerade as Mahir to avoid revealing its true identity.
* Eight Strikes Fang, a powerful two-bladed sword made to kill Anguish and Madness is lost in the dungeon. Sigilinde has an idea of where it might be and will try to send the adventurers to retrieve it for use against the monsters.
* The chokers, gricks and cloakers of the Halls are both products of the Flesh and former drow slaves transformed into monsters. The cloakers retain only enough memory to know they hate the driders for some reason. They are unaware of Sigilinde's true identity and work with the naga to defend their home. They would turn on her in an instant if they discovered the truth. A table is given for the monsters to give them bizarre mutations such as wings and poison.
* The chokers, led by an INT 8 choker leader, worship a monster they call the Disciple of Madness. The Disciple is a victim of Madness who has been transformed by the Halls of Flesh into an insane, spell-casting black pudding. The chokers worship the monster out of fear and sacrifice their weaker kin to it, but will try to lure the adventurers to its lair to appease their god.
* The Path of Worth is a short tunnel ending at a chasm of lava where a suspended arena serves as a bridge to the border of the The Barrows. It is guarded by Arioch, a six-armed drider who challenges any who wish to cross. Opponents who survive a few rounds of combat are allowed to pass. Arioch is described as being disguised with an illusion to make him appear to be a Balor demon. The arena is surrounded by hurricane force winds to discourage flyers and is trapped with fall-away floors Arioch will use to bull rush opponents into the lava far below. Arioch also uses his natural climbing abilities to cling below the arena to ambush opponents from all sides.
* The Green Death lairs at the center of the region and causes problems for every faction. The driders want it dead and have built a modified Apparatus of the Crab to combat the monster, but "The Death Trap" keeps filling with poisoned gas and killing the drow drivers before they can make a dent in the monster.
Changes made:
* The driders are largely unaware of Sigilinde but suspect the rebels are getting help from a powerful spellcaster. Only a few Spider Kings know the dark naga is involved and only Nielial knows the naga's secret. After the party betrayed Sigilinde and lost to her and her cloaker allies, I needed to change her tactics. Had they not betrayed her, she would have turned out to be a great ally and incredibly helpful as long as she felt she was getting her fair share from the alliance.
* Lorath still worked for the driders while leading the rebels but mostly kept that quiet from the adventurers, telling them only what they needed to know. Had the party not betrayed Sigilinde, Lorath would have eventually taken them to meet the true leaders of the rebellion to discuss future plans of attack against the driders. They also would have gotten those nice Aberration Bane rapiers alot sooner. In updating Lorath, I gave him the Two-Weapon Warrior archetype since he was already statted up to dual wield while using his third arm to hold a shield.
* Made the drow rebels definitely Chaotic Evil. The biggest reason the rebellion was losing was because of their disorganization. Lorath and his superiors could barely keep their troops from betraying or hindering each other to attain higher ranks within the rebellion or power from the driders. Instead of being the lesser evil, I portrayed the rebels to be just as bad as the driders figuring this would add to the moral quandary of helping either side.
* Because of the mounting odds against the party, I made the phasm much friendlier with the group. Still a Chaotic Neutral trickster and troublemaker, the phasm saw helping the party as a chance for some fun. Shi's player made this even easier by immediately taking a disliking to the shapeshifter, making Shi the Costello to the phasm's Abbott.
* Eight Strikes Fang had to be moved when one of my players made it blatantly obvious he was using out-of-character knowledge to obtain the sword. Luckily, a former player had made a habit of screwing over the party and taking advantage of people so I came up with the idea of having one of that player's old characters steal the weapon prior to the party's arrival after getting a tip from Sigilinde. In retrospect, pretty much every bad thing that happened to the party during the last two regions was as a result of that one instance of metagaming.
* Gave the choker leader the silly name of Choke King and made him a tiny bit more cunning with the advanced template.
* The Path of Worth got a major overhaul. The arena isn't given a great description as to how it is situated above the chasm. I made it a disc suspended by four thick chains and secured to the walls by a few shorter chains underneath to keep it from swinging all over the place. I also tied the hurricane force winds and trapped floors to Arioch's sword instead of having them always active. Having the winds and traps always active means getting onto the disc in the first place would be too difficult. I also added the short draw bridge on the north side, reasoning the driders would have the ettercaps build it to make it easier for Arioch to get onto the disc and to provide him with cover if opponents simply tried to shoot at him with spells.
* Arioch also got a redesign. His description makes it sound like the party sees a six-armed, wingless balor in an arena, but I didn't like this because no level 8-10 party is going to mess with a balor and anyone with several ranks in Knowledge Planes has a good shot of knowing what a balor actually looks like so the illusion thing doesn't really hold up. I just made him a completely unique monster using a drider as the base creature and dropped the illusion. He also originally had about six levels of Blackguard, but I swapped those out for Antipaladin since Blackguard got dropped from Pathfinder. His sword's ability to control the wind and activate the traps on the disc only works in that location so someone obtaining the weapon can't just summon hurricanes anywhere they travel.
* The Green Death eventually wound up being fed by the evil kobold sorcerer Klarighen who had been exiled to the region by the Celestial Garrison. The kobold was spiteful and bitter after being constantly betrayed and abandoned by his supposed allies and, because I gave him the Fey bloodline, felt a loose connection to the big leafy bastard. Ironically, the kobold might have actually survived if he hadn't charmed Cul'tharic.
As written:
* A group of powerful driders known as the Spider Kings control the driders and their hundreds of drow slaves. Their society has grown lazy and the Spider Kings rarely work together, having each gravitated toward isolation in their separate pursuits. Only Alith and Radija see each other often due to their proximity in the factory. There are only five Spider Kings in the original text, being Radija, Alith, Eletor, Nielial and Faieth. The driders are presented as little more than monsters to be exterminated. They will kill or capture the PCs for their experimentation and have no real goals beyond reclaiming the Halls of Flesh and spending the rest of their lives working the drow to death.
* Develdar leads the rebel faction in Region M, getting information about drider movements from the aranea spy Wicieth. Develdar's father went missing while working for Mahir, and the drow blames Eletor for his father's apparent death. He is loyal to his people, but will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the sorcerer. Only the blind, drow historian Muhaimin living in Region I knows the truth of what happened to Develdar's father, but the rebels keep him hidden so the driders can't destroy their peoples' memory.
* The Wheel of Sorrow, an ancient artifact of immense power, has done such a great job providing security for the driders they've basically stopped patrolling the Barrows. How the driders knew to create the wardstones used by the Wheel of Sorrow is unexplained, but the invisible stalkers are drawn to the devices and never harm any driders near them.
* The strange machines in the factory provide Radija and Alith with something to do. Alith creates Silkstone and Silkstone Solvent for use in replacing old stonework throughout the Barrows and Radija's flesh golems are mainly used for exploration or as bodyguards for the Spider Kings.
* The north end of the Chasm is the home to the ancient and powerful Elder Air Elemental, Aphnitern. The elemental seems content to stay in his valley but murders any creature that intrudes. Aphnitern does not parley or negotiate. He just kills things and litters the canyon with body parts.
* Norkor, a cloud giant cleric, lives near Aphnitern's valley. He lost his brother to the elemental years ago and wishes to destroy King Aphnitern. He shares his home with a flock of arrowhawks who alert him to danger in exchange for the giant's aid and healing abilities.
* Achaierai, belkers and xorn all share the northeast section of the valley. They don't have anything to do with the driders, giant or elemental. They're basically just more monsters for the party to fight.
* The Black Mountain in the northwest is the home to a few rocs. How they got underground is anyone's guess. Like the monsters on the other side of the valley, they're just there to fight. However, the magic axe and armor of King Arnulf is hidden near the base of the mountain so it's worth exploring.
* Mephits swim around in the lava river causing trouble for anyone trying to cross and the whole region is deadly hot making Endure Elements a must for any party exploring the area.
Changes made:
* Made alot of changes to the scale of the dungeon beyond the Barrows. As presented on the map, many hostile monster locations are way too close together and Aphnitern's lair is so close to everyone, it's a wonder he hasn't just killed everything in the region for the lulz.
* The driders are still basically lazy, but I gave the Spider Kings more developed personalities and a goal of conquering the dungeon with their army of invisible stalkers and golems. I also replaced their religion based on the worship of the concept of Aberration itself with a majority of them worshiping Haagenti, the demon lord of change. I also made Noh and Sinalith into Spider Kings and left a spot open for an eighth, which would have been Arioch if he'd survived.
* Develdar and Wicieth were basically the same though I messed with Wicieth a little and made her a triple agent secretly charmed by Eletor. Updating Develdar, I gave him the Acrobat and Two-Weapon Warrior archetypes due to how he was built. I almost gave him Blind-Fight because his highly nimble build and backstory suggests he's like a drow version of Daredevil. Develdar is a warrior/acrobat with daddy issues whose mentor is a blind drow who uses a quarterstaff. His name even sounds like Daredevil if you move a few letters around! If that isn't enough for you, Wicieth is a spy who can turn into a spider, and Daredevil has a long history with a spy who just so happens to call herself the Black Widow! I guess that actually makes Eletor a Spider Kingpin.
* Made the Wheel of Sorrow and the machines in the factory a much bigger part of the story. I envisioned the Wheel of Sorrow as having a dark intelligence and, like most artifacts, it corrupted its users toward its own ends. It wouldn't be wrong to theorize the Wheel was actually controlling Eletor, causing him to spread wardstones all over the dungeon so that its influence could expand.
* King Aphnitern got scaled way back. As written, the elemental king has 413 hit points. I reduced this somewhat, but he's still not anything the party should be fighting. He's an electric fence. The top of the map for the region just goes off into space. There's no wall or anything keeping the party from walking away from the dungeon so that's how I'm using King Aphnitern. They're welcome to try to escape across the wasteland, but it's all his territory. Another thing I expanded on is Aphnitern's relationship with the air itself. As an ancient, god-like force of nature, the winds of the Chasm respond to Aphnitern the way young children might respond to Godzilla movies. The Valley of the Demon Wind is Aphnitern's Monster Island. If you can imagine air having intelligence, the wind throughout the valley sees this massive monster windstorm as a hero and a source of fun. Everything the air touches gets relayed back to Aphnitern because the air itself wants to see Aphnitern smash stuff.
* Norkor is basically the same. I gave his brother a name since he didn't have one before (Zethar is Cornish for Seagull,) and I borrowed a bunch of stuff from D&D lore to make the giant a priest of Stronmaus. The outcast belkers at Zethar's remains were my doing, along with their idol worship of Aphnitern.
* The party really needed some diamonds so I put together that whole Xorn quest from scratch. The Earthblood is an actual thing in the book, but it's just sitting there with some belkers around it. Since the party needed the diamonds, I gave a xorn a name and had him trick the party into fighting the belkers with the end result being them getting their diamonds. The name Dirtchops actually comes from a mean nickname a friend of mine had (he had messed up teeth.) Stonedar and Rokkon were named after Masters of the Universe characters and the Elder Xorn Metlar was named after an Inhumanoids action figure I had as a kid. Warr'bk, the achaierai leader, gets his name from a Redwall character, the sparrow Warbeak.
* I moved King Arnulf's treasure into the roc's cave instead of having it at the bottom of the mountain. I figured saying, "The treasure is over there by that massive roc," was more exciting than saying, "The treasure is over there by that massive rock." Also expanded somewhat on the role of King Arnulf in the dungeon. In the book, it's just a name on a ring. I decided to make him an actual historical figure whose existence might serve to dethrone Lord Antagonis.
* Ragnar isn't in the book. He's a character someone made and I needed a place for him to come in, so I made him a hermit living on Black Mountain.
* The mephits, along with pretty much all the random encounters went out the window after the first random encounter nearly wiped out the whole party. After that, I chose when to have shocker lizards or mephits appear and most of the "random" encounters consisted of me describing strange sights and near-misses with packs of howling elementals or arrowhawks flying high overhead.
* Pallas reappeared as a failed experiment of Eletor after the drider tried to fuse the dwarf to a hobgoblin. This ended Pallas' life and provided the final clue as to the location of Eight Strikes Fang.
* One of the biggest changes was the inclusion of the ratfolk. They aren't in the original adventure at all. Awhile back, I let someone play a Nezumi, a sort of ratman from the Legend of the Five Rings setting, but the player didn't really have an idea for how a Nezumi got into the dungeon. He just played it off as amnesia, and that he thought he might be a cursed human. I decided there were other ratfolk in the dungeon, but the character didn't remember them because the experimentation done on him and the process of escaping was too traumatic. I figured the nezumi's memories of being a cleric were actually from the gnome Eletor sliced up to create the ratfolk and that, somehow, part of the gnome's personality and skills got transferred to the character the way different generations of worms and jellyfish inherit memories from their progenitors.
* The drow Ari, got a bigger role too. In the book, he's just some poor jerk who gets tortured all the time. I gave him the Survivor archetype and feats like Diehard and Endurance to play up his invulnerability to pain and then made up him to be an informant for the drow rebels.
* Umressintra, who never actually appeared in the journal because the party never found her, was also changed. In the book, she's listed as a Neutral Good Expert with the ability to Lay on Hands, but I don't believe in Good drow so I made her Neutral Evil instead. Had the party encountered her, they would have found a drow who was caring and absolutely loyal toward her own race, but willing to do the absolute worst to free the drow from slavery, even to the point of self-deprecation and harm. Her Lay on Hands ability is supposed to be a result of the dying wish of the celestial who tried to free her people and exposure to the weird energy in the sanctuary. I kept that in, but even that wasn't enough to make her Good. It just made the celestial's goodness get twisted up in her own broken psyche. Basically, my version of Umressintra is an enabler.
* Krast, Vala and Anbyshe are actually driders from Region I who didn't get used. I wanted to work them back in so I came up with the idea of Eletor offering the open Spider King slot to any drider who could kill or capture the adventurers. This led to the three driders showing up to battle the party. None of them really have any real personality or relation in the text and Anbyshe doesn't even have a name. He's just a drider sorcerer who stalks the party on the Path of Worth until they reach Arioch. I named him Anbyshe because it sounds like "Ambush," which is what he does.
One other change that got made to the dungeon was to an NPC mentioned only briefly. The below discusses the process of writing the journal and my choice for having Lord Antagonis take over for awhile. It might get boring for some people since it's not actually about the advneture so I'm spoilerizing it.
The other reason I did it was to experiment with writing in a different voice. This journal is a big writing exercise for me as much as it is a hobby so I use it expand my ability as a writer. I hope it stays entertaining, but I knew switching things up could be risky. Lord Antagonis is hard to write. He's not as creative, pleasant or subtle as Velcro Zipper, and he says awful things about the characters and VZ. I hope I didn't lose anyone with my weird talking-to-myself experiment. Lord Antagonis shouldn't be taking over the journal anymore. I think I'm going to use him as more of a co-host now. He'll still be kind of a jerk, but expect him to post stuff about bad guys and dungeon history. Also, nobody tell him he's not real. I want to save that for when the adventure is finally over and he's forced to realize he's out of a job.
Alabaster coat rack my hoof! Hmph.
Oh yeah, and here's the newest list of party members:
1. Roch
2. Aria
3. Jasper
4. Cul'tharic
Inactive members
5. Durthuunicar II = serving as guardian of Four Waters
6. Patreus = location unknown
7. Klibb = serving as guardian of the Goblin Empire
8. Traxxas = usually getting drunk at Famous Macready's pub
9. Marcus = working as a bowyer for Four Waters
10. Hurk = wererat, living among the goblins as a guest
11. Walker = in Hell
12. Thorin = currently missing
13. Ragnar = went home
14 Shi = left to fill the spiritual needs of Four Waters and go into business with Fargallan
15. Riswan = quit to help Celestial Garrison watch over Regions I,M
Deceased/Incapacitated Members
16. Saelin = left party, killed by wererat Mina
17. Mina = left party, became wererat, killed by Hammerfist
18. Ranoth = killed by lightning bolt
19. Poker = killed by darkmantles
20. Lockwalt = killed by darkmantles
21. Foxy Loxy = killed by darkmantles
22. Air'elon = killed by lightning bolt
23. Runath = left party, killed by howlers
24. Chu = killed by lightning bolt
25. Ayla = killed by dire wolf
26. Laze = left party, joined The Trust, killed by Nardarik
27. Dorin = killed by ghoul paladins
28. Drax = killed by howlers
29. Dammi-tall = killed by bugbear
30. Dorian = killed by howlers
31. Marius = killed by bugbear
32. Annali = killed by phantasmal killer trap
33. Gofer = killed by ghoul paladins
34. Dan-Zig = killed by ghoul paladins
35. Mio = killed by ghoul paladins
36. Jin = killed by pendulum blade trap
37. Pojies = killed by ghoul paladins
38. Rayder = killed by shadows
39. Kraum aka The ½ Orc = killed by shadows
40. Jayder = killed by shadows
41. Rudeth Ravenlark = killed by shadows
42. Grimdar = killed by hellwasp swarm
43. Mark = killed by ghoul
44. Rags = petrified by medusa
45. Troy = killed by cloudkill trap
46. Chumlee the Third = killed by mimic
47. Chumlee the Seventh = killed by harpies
48. Patterson = killed by dragon bile poisoned key
49. Reg = petrified by medusa
50. Janus = killed by harpies
51. Grackle = petrified by warp gate
52. Sloth = killed by harpies
53. Felix = killed by harpies
54. Jonathon = killed by harpies
55. Durthuunicar I = petrified by warp gate
58. Ayor = energy drained to death by warp gate
59. Vyk Vulkyn = hentai'd to death by black tentacles
60. Elster "The Stir" Slocan = absorbed by the Halls of Flesh
61. Armond = eaten by The Green Death
62. Pallas = killed by Eletor's experiments
63. Nicky Holroyd = killed by belker
64. Pyewacket = NPC familiar, killed by drider Vala
65. T-Bone the Stingy Gorilla = killed by critical hit lingering envervation spell/leapt to death in a river of lava
Next session we'll find out who's replacing T-Bone.
50 deaths all told, nice work. ;)
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With regards to areas I and M: As a player, I'm always uncomfortable with adventures that expect you to team up with a bad guy. It's not because I have any particular moral squeamishness (in- or out-of-character); rather, it's because the down side of trusting a bad guy is potentially catastrophic (the PCs get slaughtered while their guard is down) and the up side is usually nebulous at best.
I hope I didn't lose anyone with my weird talking-to-myself experiment.
The only problem I had was that it was hard for me to follow the story; I have a hard enough time keeping all of the dozens of PCs and NPCs straight, and it's even harder when their names are replaced by nicknames or insults.
By the way, I think you've answered this already but: how many times has there been 100% turnover of the party? Or to phrase it another way: how many "degrees of separation" are there between the current party and the original party?
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Fewer than I would have imagined. Digging through the old journal posts, this is what I've come up with:
Cul'tharic & Roch ----> Shi -----> Traxxas (halfing rogue) ----> Mina (the monk from the original group)
There's never been a time when the entire party had to be replaced. There's always been at least one person from the previous batch.
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50 deaths all told, nice work. ;)
That's too few for my liking. Those Spider Kings could use a lesson in how to run an evil empire. What went wrong? According to my ScryMaster 10K-DX, Eletor and his crew should have wiped the floor with these chumps. Something around here smells like horse poop, and I think we all know who's responsible.
Lord Antagonis' Secret Villain Files
Alith, Radija and Sinalith weren't really anything special. From what I've gathered, they're just ordinary driders with a few more spellcasting levels. Their buddies though, the mutants Arioch, Noh and Faieth, the drider warlord Nielial and Eletor himself were easily some of the toughest creatures this band of hooligans has faced.
XP 25,600
CE Large aberration
Init +2; Senses darkvision 120 ft., detect good, detect law, detect magic; Perception +15
DEFENSE
AC 27, touch 11, flat-footed 25; (+2 Dex, +8 armor, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 171-222 (9d8+6d10+90)
Fort +17, Ref +10, Will +17
Immune sleep; SR 24
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +2 keen, flaming greatsword +15/+10 (2d6+1d6fire+9) and +1 wounding spiked chain +11 (2d4+8,) or +2 keen, flaming greatsword +15/+10 (2d6+1d6fire+9) and mwk hand crossbow +7 (1d4+poison) or bite +11 (1d4+5 plus poison)
Ranged x2 mwk hand crossbow +12/+8 (1d4+poison)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+7 ranged, DC 18, hp 9,) smite good 2/day (+3 to hit, +15 damage,) touch of corruption 6/day (3d6 negative energy,) Aura of Cowardice (-4 vs fear, 10ft.,) Plague Bringer, Cruelty (DC16, sickened, staggered,) channel negative energy (3d6, DC16,) Fiendish Boon (6/min) Touch of Evil 6/day, Ferocious Strike 6/day
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)
Constant—detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dispel magic, levitate, suggestion (DC 16)
Cleric Spells Prepared 4/4/4/3 (CL 6th)
3rd — Protection from Energy, Dispel Magic, Cure Serious Wounds, Rage
2nd — Aid, Bull’s Strength, Bear’s Endurance, Spiritual Weapon, Disfiguring Touch
1st — Divine Favor, Shield of Faith, Entropic Shield, Cure Light Wounds, Enlarge Person
0 (at will)—bleed (DC 13), spark, virtue, resistance
Antipaladin Spells (CL 6th)
1- x2 Death Knell (DC14)
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +12/+7; CMB +16 (+2 Sunder, Bull Rush) CMD 28 (40 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Casting, Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain,) Imp. Bull Rush, Double Slice, Imp. Sunder, Multi-Weapon Fighting
Skills Climb +27, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana)+18,Perception +19, Spellcraft +18, Stealth +18
Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon, Abyssal
SQ undersized weapons
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds;effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells
A drider casts spells as a 6th-level cleric, sorcerer, or wizard, but does not gain any other class abilities.
Undersized Weapons (Ex)
Although a drider is Large, its upper torso is the same size as that of a Medium humanoid's upper torso. As a result, it wields weapons as if it were one size category smaller than its actual size (Medium for most driders).
Treasure: +2 keen flaming greatsword, +1 wounding spiked chain, x2 mwk hand crossbows, x8 deathblade poisoned bolts, Eight Strikes Fang (+1/+2 Axiomatic/Shapechanger Bane Two-Bladed Sword,) Drider only - harness of chameleon power, +2 chainmail of fire resistance 10
This guy alone should have been enough to handle the entire party. I mean, he had one arm for each of them. I guess the Spider Kings should have given him more brains instead.
XP 19200
CE Large aberration
Init +7; Senses darkvision 120 ft., detect good, detect law, detect magic; Perception +12
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 21; (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 159-206 (9d8+5d10+84)
Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +10
Immune sleep; SR 23
OFFENSE
Speed 5 ft., climb 5ft.
Melee +15/+10 keen, thundering +2 whip (1d4+4 19-20x2) or bite +13/+8 (1d6+2 plus poison)
Ranged +18/+13 Mighty (+2) +1 Composite Longbow (2d6+5 x3) or +16/+16/+11 Rapid Shot Longbow
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+14 ranged, DC 23, hp 14)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)
Constant—detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dispel magic, levitate, suggestion (DC 16)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 9th)
3rd (4/day)—slow
2nd (6/day)—protection from arrows, acid arrow
1st (7/day)—animate rope, color spray (DC14,) magic missile, shield
0 (at will)— arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand, ray of frost, read magic, disrupt undead, flare (DC13)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +11/+6; CMB +14; CMD 27 (cannot be tripped)
Feats Point Blank Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip,) Far Shot, Craft Magic Arms and Armor , Rapid Shot,Weapon Focus (longbow,) Improved Initiative, Weapon Specialization (longbow)
Skills Climb 10, Craft (weaponsmith) 19, Craft (blacksmith) 19 Craft (bowyer/Fletcher) 19 Intimidate 12, Knowledge (engineering) 9, Perception 12, Stealth 16; Racial Modifiers +4Stealth
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon, Abyssal
SQ undersized weapons, Hawkeye +1, Trick Shot (sunder,) Expert Archer
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds;effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells
A drider casts spells as a 6th-level cleric, sorcerer, or wizard, but does not gain any other class abilities.
Treasure: large mwk chain shirt, large mwk mighty (+2) +1 comp. longbow, arrows x36, CSW potion, +1 thundering whip
The Spider King's crippled forgemaster should have turned these adventuring ingrates into Koosh balls with his spear-sized arrows and impressive aim but he missed the mark twice!
XP 9600
CE Large aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., detect good, detect law, detect magic; Perception +18
DEFENSE
AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 19; (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 45-78 (9d8+3d6-12)
Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +12
Immune sleep; SR 21
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +8/+3 masterwork dagger (1d4 19-20x2) or bite +7/+2 (1d4 plus poison)
Ranged
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+13 ranged, DC 15, hp 9)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)
Constant—detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dispel magic, levitate, suggestion (DC 16)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 9th)
4th (5/day) – ice storm, monstrous physique II
3rd (7/day)—stinking cloud (DC 18,) dispel magic, fireball (DC18)
2nd (7/day)—blindness/deafness (DC17,) fog cloud, mirror image, scare (DC17)
1st (8/day)—alarm, cause fear (DC16,) burning hands (DC16,) shield, ventriloquism (DC16)
0 (at will)— arcane mark, daze (DC15,) detect magic, mage hand, open/close, read magic,ghost sound (DC15,) flare (DC15)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 8, Int 15, Wis 17, Cha 21
Base Atk +7/+2; CMB +11; CMD 14 (26 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Casting, Empowered Spell, Spell Penetration, Blind Fight, Skill Focus (spellcraft,) Lightning Reflexes
Skills Climb 8, Diplomacy 11, Knowledge (arcana) 17, Knowledge (planes) 17, Perception 18, Spellcraft 23, Stealth 22; Racial Modifiers +4Stealth
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon, Abyssal
SQ undersized weapons
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds;effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells
Faieth casts spells as a 9th-level sorcerer but does not gain any other class abilities.
Treasure: mwk dagger, necklace of fireballs type 3, candle of invocation (CE 90minutes,) bracers of armor +2, scroll of Gaseous Form (CL5,) Deep Slumber (CL5,) Maximized Magic Missile (CL9)
Finally some progress! The Spider King with the most potential to one day replace Eletor also happened to be the one who died the fastest when he killed himself by accident. I won't be too hard on Faieth though because he actually caused more damage to the party than any other Spider King without using a single spell or making a single attack roll. With words alone, he convinced the bumbling mystic theurge to murder 23 drow slaves, accomplishing his secret goal of corrupting one of these self-proclaimed do-gooders and driving a wedge into the party. It's too bad Faieth got turned into soup. He would have made a wonderful addition to my office of propaganda.
XP 204,800
CE Large aberration
Init +8; Senses darkvision 120 ft., detect good, detect law, detect magic; Perception +30
DEFENSE
AC 29 (37 with Haste, Shield, Defensive Flurry,) touch 14, flat-footed 22; (+7 armor, +4 Dex, +8 natural,+1 Dodge, –1 size)
hp 201-276 (9d8+12d10+84)
Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +16
Immune sleep; SR 30
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +30/25/20/15 +3 Shocking longsword (1d8+1d6 electricity+14) and bite +25/+20 (1d4+7 plus poison) or +29/24 +3 Defending short sword (1d6+12) Power Attack -4/+8
Ranged
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+22 ranged, DC 24, hp 21)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th)
Constant—detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dispel magic, levitate, suggestion (DC 23)
Sorcerer Spells Known
3rd (8/day)—haste
2nd (8/day)—blur, protection from arrows
1st (8/day)—magic missile, shield, ray of enfeeblement (DC14,) true strike
0 (at will)— bleed (DC13,)daze (DC13,) ghost sound (DC13,) mage hand, ray of frost, read magic, resistance
STATISTICS
Str 24 Dex 19 Con 18 Int 15, Wis 22, Cha 16
Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 30 (42 vs. trip)
Feats Blind Fight, Combat Casting, Dodge, Weapon Focus (bite, longsword,) Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (longsword,) Improved Initiative, Mobility, Power Attack, Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Specialization (longsword,) Whirlwind Attack, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice, Two-Weapon Rend
Skills Acrobatics 28 Climb20 Intimidate10 Perception 30 Spellcraft 9 Stealth 28; Racial Modifiers +4Stealth
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon
SQ undersized weapons, Defensive Flurry +3, Twin Blades +2, Doublestrike, Improved Balance
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 24; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds;effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells
Nielial casts spells as a 6th-level sorcerer but does not gain any other class abilities.
Treasure: +3 light fortification chain shirt, +3 shocking longsword, +3 defending short sword, CSW potion x3
The fools were actually saved by their own incompetence when they came up against Nielial the Ever-Vigilant Warlord. The old drider commander was so disappointed with their lack of skill, she couldn't be bothered to finish them off. Lucky for them too since she could probably hold off an entire army on her own.
XP 51200
CE Huge aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., detect good, detect law, detect magic; Perception +18
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 11, flat-footed 21; (+3 Dex, +12 natural, –2 size) (31 w/shield, mage armor)
hp 157-205 (9d8+8d6+85)
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +15
Immune sleep, polymorph, petrification, mind-affecting effects; SR 26
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +13/+8 dagger of venom (1d6+5+poison 19-20x2) or bite +12/+7 (1d6+4 plus poison)
Ranged
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+9 ranged, DC 23, hp 17)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th)
Constant—detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dispel magic, levitate, suggestion (DC 25)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 14th)
7th (4/day) - limited wish
6th (6/day) - globe of invulnerability, greater dispel magic
5th (7/day) – hold monster (DC22,) feeblemind (DC22,) dominate person (DC22)
4th (7/day) – charm monster (DC21,) rainbow pattern (DC21,) stoneskin, enervation
3rd (8/day)—vampiric touch, hold person (DC 20,) magic circle against good (DC 20)
2nd (8/day)—blur, detect thoughts (DC 19,) bear’s endurance, ghoul touch (DC 19,) see invisibility
1st (8/day)—charm person (DC18,) color spray(DC18,) mage armor, magic missile, shield,
0 (at will)— acid splash, arcane mark, daze (DC17,) disrupt undead, mage hand, mending, ray of frost, read magic,resistance
STATISTICS
Str 19(17), Dex 13(11), Con 21, Int 15, Wis 17, Cha 24
Base Atk +10/+5; CMB +14; CMD 16 (28 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Casting, Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Skill Focus (spellcraft,) Spell Penetration, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Eschew Material Components, Maximize Spell
Skills Climb 12, Heal 13, Knowledge (arcana) 22, Perception 14, Spellcraft 28 (32 concentration,) Stealth 10; Racial Modifiers +4Stealth
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon
SQ undersized weapons
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds;effect 1d3 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells
Elotor casts spells as a 14th-level sorcerer but does not gain any other class abilities.
Circus of Bodily Horror (Ex)
Due to injuries he sustained escaping the catastrophe that created the Halls of Flesh, Eletor’s body has become an ever-shifting mass of tentacles, horns, vestigial limbs and fangs. The Spider King has no control over his constant transformations, but the effect has left him with several benefits. Eletor has become immune to any effect that might alter the form of his body or mind. Polymorph, Petrification and Mind-affecting spells and abilities have no effect on him. Furthermore, in times of stress, Eletor’s body undergoes rapid mutations that can drastically affect his combat ability. Though there is no way for him to halt these mutations, Eletor is usually able to keep them from interfering with his daily life through concentration or diversions of the mind. At the beginning of any combat, roll 1d20 twice on the following table to determine which mutations Eletor currently exhibits. Reroll any duplicate rolls.
1. Curved spikes of varying length tear through Eletor’s hide causing him great pain. As long as the spikes remain, creatures grappling Eletor take 1d4+6 damage for each round they maintain contact with Eletor’s body. The Spider King suffers a –6 CHA penalty and must pass a concentration check to cast spells (DC=15+twice the spell’s level.)
2-3. Eletor’s finger grow into razor-sharp talons. He may make two primary claw attacks with the talons. (+12 attack, 1d8+6 damage, 19-20 x2 crit)
4-5. Extra joints form throughout Eletor’s body granting him a +10 bonus on Escape Artist checks and CMB and CMD rolls involving Grapples.
6-7. 1d4 extra limbs grow from Eletor’s body giving him an equal amount of secondary Slam attacks (+10 attack, 1d6+4 damage, x2 crit.) Eletor receives the Multiattack feat as long as the extra limbs remain.
8-9. Eletor’s body develops a stooped hunch that causes him discomfort and affects his concentration (-4 CHA penalty, -4 on concentration checks to cast spells while the hunch remains.)
10-11. Strong, ropy tentacles sprout from Eletor’s body. He is unable to easily control their movements, but they do grant him a +4 on CMB rolls to Grapple. Furthermore, Eletor is not treated as flat-footed against non-grappled opponents if grappling while the tentacles are present.
12-13. Patches of blotchy slime or transparent body parts provide Eletor with a +10 bonus to Stealth checks and 20% concealment.
14-15. Eletor’s exoskeleton thickens providing him with increased strength but inhibiting his flexibility (+4 STR, -2 DEX.)
16-17. Thick scales provide Eletor with DR 2/-
18-19. Eletor’s eyes move to the sides of his head as his face splits into a huge vertical mouth of sharp teeth. Eletor gains a primary Bite attack (+12 attack, 2d6+6 damage, x2 crit)
20. Roll for three mutations. Disregard any further rolls of 20 and roll again.
Under normal circumstances, Eletor manages to slow the rate of his transformations so that he only transforms on a roll of 1 on a d20 every round. Particularly stressful situations can increase the rate of his mutations as Eletor loses his focus, even causing him to transform every round.
Treasure: lg dagger of venom, amulet of natural armor +1, mask of the skull, ring of the ram (20 charges,) CSW potion, diamond x3 (1500gp each)
SCUTTLE HOMUNCULUS CR 4
XP 400
CE Tiny construct
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 42-70 (7d10)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +3
Defensive Abilities construct traits
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Melee bite +8/+3 (1d4–1 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 15, Con —, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +7; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (stealth,) Ability Focus (poison,) Skill Focus (perception)
Skills Fly +13, Perception +9, Stealth +19
Languages Common (cannot speak); telepathic link
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/minute for 60 minutes; effect sleep for 1 minute; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Telepathic Link (Su) A homunculus cannot speak, but the process of creating one links it telepathically with its creator. A homunculus knows what its master knows and can convey to him or her everything it sees and hears, out to a distance of 1,500 feet.
The All-Seeing Visionary's insanity, pride and bizarre affliction were probably the only reason why any of these fools walked away from this fight. Except for the defective theurge who was too busy hiding and wetting himself, Eletor dropped every one of these troublemakers and most of their allies at death's door at some point during their encounter.
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No real session to report this week. The players and I got to together to hash out new purchasable equipment and to put the final touches on T-Bone's replacement. Events in the dungeon have had a pretty big effect on what's available to the party. +3 Armor, +2 weapons and a whole lot of new rings, rods and wondrous items are on the list now that Shi is going into business with the goblin wizard Fargallan. The goblin doesn't usually like to work with other casters, but Shi helped him kill the greater shadow Seraxes and he wasn't one of the adventurers responsible for nearly killing his pet spider Edgar so Fargallan is glad to have him around. Besides that, adding Divine magic to the business means Fargallan can offer even more items and increase his profits.
Shi will also be filling in for Thorin since he's missing. Between the Master Craftsmen in Four Waters and Shi's spell list, the commune can still produce all the enchanted weapons and armor Thorin offered so nothing got removed from the list.
Some stuff about the Spider Kings...
As you can see from Lord Antagonis' list, Eletor and Nielial were pretty well above what a level 9 or 10 party of five should be expected to handle. I didn't add levels to them. They're actually statted that way in the book. I only made a few minor changes to the pair of them.
I gave Nielial the two-weapon warrior archetype since her build lent itself to that fighting style, but that's the only real change I made to her stats. The other thing I did was expand on her personality. The book says she's cordial toward the party and takes combat very seriously even personally bestowing her weapons to any martial type PC who impresses her should the party defeat her. I based Nielial on Sun Tzu and every quote of her dialogue is actually lifted or paraphrased from The Art of War. Given her abilities, I couldn't see the party taking her in a fight so I came up with what I thought was a believable reason she wouldn't fight them and had her leave the field.
Eletor got a few minor changes as well. For one, I threw out about a third of his original spells. I noticed a lot of the Spider Kings had almost identical spell lists and alot of their spells were rubbish. It didn't make much sense to me so I gave Eletor a few more offensive options. The other change I made was to his affliction-based transformations. In the book, he only transforms about 10% of the time, every 10 rounds. That's a long time in combat rounds. I figured why give a monster a cool ability the party never really gets to see so I made it two transformations every round after they got his cloak off.
One of Eletor's transformations in the book causes him to grow from Large to Huge. I took that out of the list and just made him Huge because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of keeping track of constantly changing combat abilities and spacing issues.
With Eletor, I figured the party could take him under the right circumstances so I planned out his fight in stages and set it up on the Path of Worth so they would at least have a chance of dumping him into the lava if things got really bad.
Stage One of the fight was Eletor mostly using low level spells to toy with the party while using Maximized Vampiric Touch to keep himself high on hit points. I threw in one Limited Wish Sirocco spell to show the party Eletor actually had more up his sleeve. At some point, I figured somebody would do something I could describe as destroying Eletor's robes. That would lead to Stage Two.
Stage Two would see an enraged Eletor switching solely to physical combat. He's not nearly as skilled with his dagger or natural weapons so I figured that would give the party some breathing room to recover and do some real damage to Eletor's Enlarged Stoneskin spell. Some time around breaking through his defenses, Stage Three would begin.
Stage Three was meant to be Eletor's final stand. If the party got this far, that would mean he was almost dead. Eletor wouldn't renew any of his defensive spells and would concentrate on killing people with Maximized Enervation spells and, ultimately, his remaining Limited Wish spell. For dramatic effect, I considered having Eletor prepare for the battle by using Limited Wish to Contingency a Breath of Life on himself but I still would have let the party just push his body into the lava before he could recover.
The fight went pretty much as planned, but I was surprised by Eletor's luck with the Critical Hit deck. He pulled the Decapitate card on Besar and Lingering Magic on T-Bone. The Maximized Enervation spell T-Bone got hit with did exactly 10 levels of damage to him over four rounds. Shi had Death Ward prepared and could have saved T-Bone's life but the barbarian resolved to leap into the lava still grappling Scuttle.
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The first time he used Limited Wish, Eletor cast Sirocco to pretty devastating effect. He also used it later when he tried to Disintegrate Cul'tharic.
The winds surrounding the platform were caused by Eletor using Arioch's greatsword to activate the disc. That effect is based on the Control Winds spell.
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Sad news everyone. The adventures of the World's Largest Adventuring Party are drawing to a close...sort of.
I started this campaign nearly four years ago knowing a day would come when I would have to pack up my books and leave the party behind. Well, that day is nearly here. In a little less than two months, I'll be leaving my current home in the Enchanted Forest of Oregon to pursue new adventures (and adventurers) in the wendigo-haunted Land of the Frost Giants (i.e. Alaska.) More on that later. For now, we've still got seven weeks for one final journey into mystery...
DAY 187-219 – LOOSE ENDS, prelude
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
“The end is coming!” shouted the elf as he stood from his table knocking over his flagon of mushroom ale.
“Siddown, Marcus!” growled Macready. The pubtender was famous for his good cheer and patience but the elf’s rambling was starting to unnerve his patrons.
“Calm thyself, friend,” spoke the elf’s companion, a young human male in the finery of a warrior of Taldor. The magus, Zachariah Mazzer, was the only person who paid the wild, repetitious stories of Marcus any attention these days, and he helped the elf back into his chair and ordered him another brew.
Marcus had been a member of the original adventuring party that went on to slay the wererat sorcerer Longtail and free the prisoners who settled the commune of Four Waters, a fact he ensured no one forgot by frequently recounting his adventures. One of his more often told tales involved a cursed stone chair he’d discovered that drove him to madness and isolation. It was the curse of the throne that had led to his retirement from exploration of the dungeon.
“They cried out to me, Zachariah,” Marcus weeped. “The voices of demons and devils bound to that throne. They told me I was doomed!”
“But they’re gone now, Marcus,” assured the magus. “You told me yourself. You smashed the chair and broke the curse. You drove them aw-“
“They’re not gone,” Marcus interrupted before once again rising to his feet. “I must go.” Marcus was off before Zachariah could respond, but the magus let him go. This wasn’t the first time Macready’s fungal ale had driven the elf to flights of fancy and paranoia. He’d be back tomorrow, no doubt, and eager to remind everyone of the warrior he used to be.
***
A little over 30 days had passed since the adventurers had returned from Regions I and M and, after narrowly surviving the horrors of the Halls of Flesh and the Barrows, the party was in no rush to go back into the dungeon. Indeed, it seemed the few remaining dungeoneers were happy to settle into a far more peaceful life among the commune’s residents.
Aria and Roch had taken up residence in the chapel once occupied by the dwarf cleric Thorin. Talita Draghinazzo and the other members of The Trust were handling the matter of locating the dwarf so Aria had taken over as the supervisor of the chapel along with Roch who’d built a small shrine to Nethys within the chamber and worked daily to not only win back the favor of his deity but the trust of his friends.
The adventurers had seen little of the lizardman Cul’tharic. After witnessing so much evil in the north and the revelation that Roch had murdered over two-dozen drow slaves at the crater, Cul’tharic announced he was leaving the party. Word was the lizardman was spending most of his time alone in the immense garden kept by the Celestial Garrison where he collected reagents, herbs and vegetables for the residents of Four Waters and communed with the plant life.
Jasper was the most restless of the adventurers to escape The Barrows and had taken to exploring the communities, markets and workshops that had cropped up within the borders of Four Waters since its establishment roughly six months ago. It was during one of his increasingly frequent trips to Macready’s that he made the acquaintance of Zachariah and learned of the recent disappearance of the elf Marcus.
“Macready said Marcus knew some of the other adventurers who’d left the group and pointed out you traveled with some of the current members,” spoke Zachariah. “I was hoping you might spread the word.”
The magus explained he’d already checked Poddy Podmore’s fletcher’s workshop where Marcus was known to occasionally craft bows and he hadn’t been seen around any of his known haunts.
Jasper had no reason to care about the missing elf and Zachariah wasn’t offering anything as a reward but searching for Marcus might lead the rogue into parts of the commune he hadn’t yet seen so he figured it couldn’t hurt to go looking. Together, the pair headed off in search of the missing elf. Along the way, Jasper got to know a little more about the magus and his connection to Marcus.
Zachariah was a recent addition to the commune’s populace. The magus had been arrested and imprisoned when one of Lord Antagonis’ soldiers was insulted by Zachariah’s casual use of the word “gish.” The resulting argument drew the attention of some hungry trolls and led to a massive fire for which Zachariah was held accountable. The young man admitted to simply humoring Marcus when he first met the elf but that he’d come to pity the former adventurer over time.
“Nobody’s seen him for a week and it doesn’t seem anyone is all that concerned about ever seeing him again,” Zachariah informed Jasper. “I know he had been cursed with some sort of madness in the past, and I’m concerned he might have wandered off and gotten himself hurt.”
“Don’t worry, kid,” Jasper replied. “I know some people who might be able to help.”
***
Shi and Roch were no help at all. Marcus’ days with the adventuring party were before their time and neither had ever had any cause to meet the elf.
“Traxxas might know,” Shi suggested. “The halfing was with the group before I arrived. I seem to remember he had a thing for one of the girls down at the pub. A prostitute if memory serves.” Then, turning to Zachariah, the cleric observed, “I’m rather surprised you never bumped into him.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” rebuffed the magus.
“He’s got a point,” Aria interrupted. “If you’ve never met Traxxas, it could mean he’s missing too. We should head to Macready’s and ask around.”
The adventurers thanked Shi for his time and headed back to Macready’s to dig up some more information. There, they discovered Traxxas had been arrested and sent to Four Waters’ new prison on the other side of Region C. Details were sketchy but the half-orc knew the halfling had been separated from the community after a fight that left several men near death. Rumors put the prostitute, Molly Stuart, at the heart of the conflict, but Macready hadn’t seen her since the halfling was sent away. She was, however, still alive and somewhere in Region E to his knowledge.
“Thorin, Marcus, now Traxxas,” Aria spoke as the group discussed their investigation over drinks. “Each served in Roch and Shi’s adventuring party, and now they’re all either missing or gone from the commune.”
“You can’t really think it’s all connected,” Jasper replied. “The dwarf was grabbed by goblins and the halfling’s serving time. The elf was a kook. He probably just lost his last marble and stumbled into a monster’s den or a trap.”
“True,” Aria agreed. “But I can’t help thinking there’s something else going on here. Roch, do you know any other survivors from the old group?”
“We had a ranger for a little while. I believe he went by Durthuunicar. Last I heard, he was working at the dungeon entrance with the Welcoming Party,” answered Roch. “Oh, and there was an alchemist. I think he was a friend of Riswan’s. I don’t remember his name. We never spoke much.”
“We should check up on them,” the halfling suggested. “Just to be safe.”
***
The adventurer’s first stop was the dungeon entrance where they hoped to find the ranger Durthuunicar. Durthuunicar had helped the party during their adventures in Region F but retired from exploration to use his monster-killing skills at the front gate. It was well known that new prisoners weren’t the only beings to enter the dungeon and the “Welcoming Party” had been organized to defend the commune from monsters sent in by Lord Antagonis to harass the dungeon’s residents.
Thomas Rose, Four Waters’ chief engineer and supervisor of the Welcoming Party, met the party as they arrived but, before he could answer their questions, the alarm was raised at the gate.
“Something’s coming through! I’ve got to go,” Rose announced. “You lot are welcome to assist if it’s something nasty!”
The adventurers were right behind Rose as he entered the foyer where he and the other prisoners had erected a barricade near the black gate at the dungeon’s mouth but whatever was coming was already through and angry from the sound of it. Three large, white, four-armed gorilla-like things had come screeching into the dungeon where they effortlessly scaled the walls of the barricade and attacked the defenders on the other side.
“Girallons!” Zachariah shouted as he drew his scimitar and charged it with arcane power. “Mind their rending claws!”
Jasper and Zachariah quickly closed with the mad beasts as Aria lent her healing aid to the warriors of the Welcoming Party. Behind them, Roch whispered a quiet prayer to Nethys.
“It’s been almost two months,” the theurge muttered. “I’ve blown myself up a dozen times, burned down three laboratories and I’m down to my last pair of underwear, but I’ve come up with what I think are some really above average spells for you. Please let this work and I promise I will never let another of your holy works be destroyed for any reason.”
“Praise Nethys!” Roch shouted with ecstatic glee as a tsunami of arcane and divine energy crashed into his brain. Satisfied with Roch’s atonement, the god Nethys had finally answered the theurge’s prayers and Roch was whole again.
Against the arcane blade of Zachariah and the renewed power of Roch, the girallons fell quickly and the adventurers set to healing the wounded. Rose thanked the party for their help as Aria examined one the girallon corpses.
“These things are crawling with disease!” the halfling announced.
“Aye,” Rose confirmed. “Lord Antagonis’ current obsession. For the last three months now, he’s been sending infected creatures through the gate. It was one of his sick beasts that killed your friend I’m sorry to say.”
“What?!” Roch asked with surprise. “Durthuunicar is dead? How? When?”
Rose went on to explain how Durthuunicar had valiantly died defending Four Waters from a pack of Ghoul Fever-infected velociraptors Antagonis had sent into the dungeon. “I was away when it happened,” Rose explained. “The warriors on the barricade burned the bodies here to prevent an outbreak of the undead. They were under my orders to stop any contamination from reaching the commune. I’m sorry.”
“You did the right thing,” Aria sighed before turning to her companions. “Come, my friends. Let’s find Riswan and ask him about this alchemist.”
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4 years is a long time to play the same campaign these days. Looking forward to seeing the wrapping up!
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I'm still set on finishing the World's Largest Dungeon though I shan't be able to do so here in Oregon. My plan is to find a new group of players in Alaska who want to pick up where this group leaves off. They'd be coming into the adventure at whatever level my current group reaches before I leave and heading off into the unexplored regions of the dungeon.
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That's a good question. The party never went back to look for it, and nobody has gone back into the Halls of Flesh to recover it since they returned. The last the adventurers heard, the Death Trap had been hijacked by the sociopathic homunculus Beem who was using it to attack every creature he came across. Beem hasn't been seen either so, if he wasn't killed in the fight, he might still be driving it.
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Welcome back, readers! In our last update, Jasper, Roch and Aria teamed up with the rookie magus Zachariah after learning that Marcus, a member of the original adventuring party has gone missing. Their investigation has turned up a number of other mysterious disappearances and deaths and Aria is beginning to suspect the events are somehow linked. Will a visit with Riswan or Shi turn up any clues? Find out next in...
DAY 220-221 – LOOSE ENDS pt.2, the Alchemist, the Wererat and the Stonedeath Assassin
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Riswan sat at a small table sipping tea as the roars of the chimera Anguish reverberated throughout the chamber.
“Pipe down! We have guests!” chastised the diminutive fighter. After setting up his outpost in Sigilinde’s former lair, the halfling had moved some furniture into the room containing the imprisoned beast’s cell in order to keep an eye on the creature. “Now, where were we?”
“The alchemist,” Jasper reminded his former adventuring companion. He and Zachariah had come to Region I to speak with Riswan while Aria and Roch once again sought out Shi in the Goblin Empire.
“Right, Patreus,” Riswan informed the adventurers. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since he left the group after that battle with the medusa and her rakshasa lover down in Region F.”
Riswan explained that he and Patreus had been part of an adventuring party that had become trapped in the dungeon prior to Lord Antagonis using it as a prison. The alchemist had been a good friend and ally until they were split up while exploring the minotaur kingdoms of Region F.
“I always suspected it was the warp gates that changed him,” Riswan suggested explaining the strange and dangerous effects of the mysterious portals. “I was happy to see he was still alive when we were finally reunited in the minotaur prison, but he acted as if he hardly knew me. He didn’t even stop by my cell to say goodbye when he left the group. I hope he’s safe.”
Jasper and Zachariah finished their visit with Riswan and headed back into the south to find their allies, hoping Aria and Roch had turned up more information.
***
“Well, can you think of anyone else from the old adventuring party who might be missing?” Roch asked the cleric. Shi recalled traveling with Patreus but hadn’t the slightest idea of the alchemist’s fate.
Shi pondered the question. “Rags and Reg were both turned to stone so they’re probably still right where we left them,” he offered. “The only other people I can remember who might still be alive are Hurk and Klibb.”
“Hurk and Klibb?” Aria asked.
Shi explained that Klibb was a goblin the party rescued from a pack of ghouls and that Hurk was a half-orc warrior who joined the party early into its adventures but abandoned the group after contracting a deadly disease.
“Wererat lycanthropy,” the cleric explained. “The goblins found him wandering their sacred labyrinth during one of his episodes and nearly killed him. He helped to save the Empire from a pack of barghests so Emperor Argliss spared his life and gave him a prison cell where he could live out his life without the danger of infecting anyone else until a cure could be found.”
“We should check on him,” suggested Roch. “Would Argliss let us into the goblin prisons?”
“I’ll see what I can arrange,” Shi replied. “The Emperor and I are meeting for tea this afternoon.”
Shi followed through on his offer and got Aria and Roch a pass into the small goblin prison where Hurk was held. To their surprise and dismay however, the half-orc wererat’s cell was empty. Worried for the fate of the noble brute, the pair quickly made their way to the entrance of the Goblin Emperor’s throne room.
“He’s not back yet?” Hammerfist asked. The hobgoblin captain of the royal guard had stopped the pair before they could enter.
“What do you mean he’s not back yet?” Roch replied. “Where did he go?”
“North with one of the caravans, into Region F,” grunted the hobgoblin. “He sent a messenger with plans for some kind of wheeled cage and a note for the emperor, said he wanted to travel.”
“That would take him into minotaur territory,” Aria thought aloud. “Why would he want to go there?”
“I don’t know and, unless his reasons threaten the Emperor or our people, I don’t care,” replied Hammerfist. “The Emperor approved the request, and the cage was inspected before they left to make sure it would hold him. I asked Goblinbane to send a few of his warriors along just in case, but I suppose they haven’t returned either.” Goblinbane was the hobgoblin in charge of training the Empire’s goblin warriors and took his name from his brutal teaching methods.
The adventurers pressed Hammerfist for more information and eventually learned that Hurk had left the Goblin Empire roughly two months ago. Because he wasn’t imprisoned for any actual crime against the Empire, the half-orc was free to leave at his leisure and the goblins were under no responsibility to monitor his actions or bring him back.
“You should try the canteen,” Hammerfist offered. “One of the caravans might know who transported your friend and when they planned on returning.”
“What about Klibb?” Roch remembered to ask as he and Aria were leaving.
“That troublemaker?’” Hammerfist replied with a chuckle. “The Garrison’s little watchdog is still alive. Last I heard he was over in Region C hunting Stone Spirit backsliders.”
***
Aria, Roch, Jasper and Zachariah met back at Macready’s to discuss their findings and to plan out their next move. It seemed a visit to the Goblin Empire’s canteen was in order but, before they could leave, the half-orc bartender informed them they had a visitor.
Klibb was just a cowardly sycophant of a goblin when the halfling Traxxas first found him hiding from the cursed ghoul paladins of Region B, but his time among the adventurers had steeled his heart and greatly improved his confidence. Now he was Klibb the Brave, the Stonedeath Assassin, a title granted to him by Emperor Argliss himself after he led the attack on the barghests and earned a place of honor in the Celestial Garrison.
“Klibb came as soon as he heard you were looking for him,” the goblin chirped. “Is Traxxas here? It seems so long since Klibb saw his best friend.”
The adventurers explained the situation to the goblin who readily agreed to accompany them to the canteen. Keeping an eye on Goblin Empire trade relations with the minotaurs, Klibb explained, was part of his mission for the Celestial Garrison.
“The Garrison doesn’t trust the minotaurs, not one bit,” Klibb spoke. “Caravan rumors say the two tribes are getting back together. They used to be very warlike and the Garrison thinks they might go back to their old ways. The Broken Axe King, Markuli, gives the Empire lots of gold so the Celestials think us goblins might follow the minotaurs if they cause any trouble and they don’t want that. Lion-angel Kelara says The Stoneshaper has been good for us and wants our people to be good…or, at least better than before.”
***
The goblin canteen was a bustle of activity. The chamber’s original purpose was long lost, but it now served as the watering hole and planning hall for the dozens of goblins who made a living transporting goods between the various communities within the dungeon. Working with the halfling merchant and adept of Abadar, Spishak Kilbane of Four Waters, the goblins had organized multiple teams of trading companies who competed for larger cuts of the Empire’s communal wealth. The largest of these outfits was known, most appropriately, as the Goblin Empire Trading Company, and it was from these goblins that the adventurers received their first real lead.
“They called Tunnel Rat Traders,” piped a squinty eyed caravan boss as he slurped a large centipede from a bowl of wriggling insects. “Tunnel Rats on other side of holy maze. Very fast delivery, but not very friendly with other caravans. Humans and halfling and lizard should hire Goblin Empire Trading Company instead.”
Klibb explained the caravan teams hadn't yet gotten the grasp of what "business competition" meant and often sabotaged or even attacked one another during their deliveries. No caravaneers had yet been killed during these attacks, but bitter rivalries had formed among some of the teams. The goblin rogue knew little of the Tunnel Rats but suspected they were among the least liked outfits for this reason. One thing Klibb did recall was their unique method of transport.
“Tunnel Rat Traders have big rats to pull sleds,” Klibb informed the group. “Some goblins ride worgs or goblin dogs, some just run with packages on backs, only Tunnel Rats use rat sleds.”
“That might explain why Hurk picked them,” Jasper suggested. “Maybe he recognized some of their pets as family.”
“Lycanthropes do often feel a close bond to creatures of their afflicted type,” Roch added, oblivious to Japser’s joke. “He may have felt more comfortable around the rats than a pack of worgs.”
“I don’t think I like where this going,” Aria admitted. “Klibb, do you know the place the caravan boss mentioned? Could you take us there?”
“Klibb thinks so,” Klibb answered after a brief hesitation. “Aria wants to go long way or short way and long way?”
“What do you mean?” inquired the halfling.
The goblin referred to the ever-changing aspect of the sacred labyrinth. His people had long believed their god had built the maze to protect the goblins from attackers coming from the east. The corridors and traps filling the maze shifted without warning ensuring the path to the other side was never the same and could take anywhere from several minutes to several days to forever.
“Marcus and Hurk might not have much time and we don’t want to get held up by some magical labyrinth,” answered Aria. “If the long way might get us there faster, I think we should go that way.”
None disagreed with the strange logic of Aria’s suggestion and so the adventurers set off in search of the den of the mysterious Tunnel Rat Traders with Klibb at their side. No strong connection could yet be made between the disappearances of the missing adventurers: Marcus, Patreus, Thorin or Hurk, but something told Aria she and her companions were on the right track…and that things were about to get hairy.
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The adventure continues! Roch, Jasper, Aria and Zachariah have been joined by Klibb, an old ally of the party, in their search for the missing adventurers, but the goblin may have a secret stake in their investigation. Also, more bad news awaits the party when they learn of another mysterious death. Do the goblin caravaneers of the Tunnel Rat Traders have the answers our heroes seek? Keep reading to find out!
DAYS 221-222 LOOSE ENDS pt. 3, The Tunnel Rats
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Klibb – NPC Goblin Stonedeath Assassin
The Pilgrim’s Path was dotted with goblin and hobgoblin petitioners as the party made its way toward the Tunnel Rat Traders compound, but the tunnel hadn’t always been so safe to travel.
“Here is where Traxxas’ friends killed the dead-knights,” Klibb announced as the group entered a round, mural-filled chamber where a small, glowing dome in the center of the floor filled the room with golden light. “Ratman Rags made a prayer to break the curse and make Pilgrim’s Path safe.”
Aria examined the dome and realized it was an overturned bowl carved with symbols common to the worship of Sarenrae. Then, nodding toward the goblins passing through the room, Aria asked, “Where are they going?”
“To see The Stoneshaper,” Klibb informed the cleric, explaining the shrine to the tribe’s god, Norendithas, was up a tunnel just past the chamber of light. “Klibb could show you.”
The shrine wasn’t very far so Aria and her companions agreed a visit wouldn’t cause too large a delay. There they met Froud, the goblin shrine-tender, who explained to them the tenets and history of the Stoneshaper faith.
“Before the coming of the Stoneshaper, goblins prayed to spirits of the stones,” Froud spoke as the party examined the incredibly life-like statue to the goblins’ god. The sculpture depicted what appeared to be a goblin warrior wearing a pair of thick, oversized gauntlets standing in a defensive stance.
“This was a dark time when goblins lived only to kill and burn,” Froud continued. “Emperor Argliss says Norendithas freed us so we could be better.”
The adventurers learned much of the tribe’s past and of the ways of the Stone Spirit Tribe who still clung to the old ways, and Aria believed her goddess would be pleased with Norendithas’ message of redemption.
“See that, Roch?” she chided the theurge. “If there’s hope for saving the souls of these goblins, there’s hope for you too.”
***
Klibb led the party through the Pilgrim’s Path and into Region C where they needed to double back into the southeast section of Region B to access the Tunnel Rats’ lair. As they exited the former territory of an evil gnoll tribe now claimed by the Empire, the goblin felt a sensation of unease and regret wash over him.
Klibb knew the Tunnel Rats’ home was in the old tunnels used by the Stone Spirit tribe during the goblins’ civil war, and only Shi and Traxxas knew Klibb had sided with the Stone Spirits when the coming of Norendithas split the goblins apart. Though he’d left the ignorance and superstition of his old life behind, Klibb still felt a connection to his old tribe and secretly still offered prayers to his ancestors in the rocks.
The Tunnel Rat Traders’ headquarters was a wide chamber once used as the great hall of the Stone Spirit goblin tribe. Here, Hurk and other past members of the adventuring party had sealed the fate of the tribe when they fought and slew the Stone Spirit Chieftain, Guk, in a terrible and bloody battle that left three quarters of the goblins dead. Now, the once bustling hall of the Stone Spirit Chief smelled of dander and rat droppings. The rag piles once used for communal bedding and comfort had been replaced by rudimentary pens for the trading company’s sled rats and a few goblin caravaneers tended to the sniffling beasts as the party entered the chamber.
“Ahhh, customers! You come for business, yes? You speak with K’r’ng!” enthusiastically announced a goblin working at a small anvil as he set down his hammer and rushed forward to meet the party. “Tunnel Rat Traders is the best! Have only all-terrain beasts of burden in Goblin Empire! Need deliveries to high up places or in deep waters? Rats have strong claws for climbing and very good swimmers!”
“Save the sales pitch, K’r’ng,” Jasper interrupted. “We just need information.”
The adventurers filled K’r’ng in on the details of why they had come and asked if he remembered transporting the half-orc Hurk. The goblin scratched his wide, flat head and muttered incomprehensibly a moment before asking if the group would follow him into the trading company’s office/living quarters where the records were kept. K’r’ng seemed legit so the adventurers followed and were led to a smaller room where a few goblin workers slept in piles atop a cluster of torn blankets, shredded hemp and other materials.
The Tunnel Rats’ records were little more than a collection of crude, disorganized drawings Jasper determined represented various clients and the destinations of their parcels. K’r’ng handed the scraps of parchment and blotted canvas to the adventurers after a moment’s analysis and said he would speak with his team about Hurk’s transport before hurrying back out to the stable.
“Is this supposed to be the Goblin language?” Jasper asked Klibb, kicking himself for never adding Goblinese to the long list of tongues he’d mastered.
Klibb explained that many older goblins still feared written words and that some only tested the waters of composition by writing in pictorial ciphers only the author could translate. “Goblins not write words until Emperor Argliss brought teachings of The Stoneshaper,” the goblin added.
“Look at this,” spoke Zachariah, directing his companions’ attention to a series of small pebble piles arranged in a line against a wall of the chamber. “Didn’t Froud say something about the Stone Spirit goblins praying to piles of rocks?”
Klibb examined the piles and admitted they looked like smaller versions of spirit cairns once worshipped by the Stone Spirit tribe.
“Maybe survivors from the Stone Spirit tribe have come home?” Roch suggested. “The goblins responsible for Thorin’s disappearance may be here.”
“Stone Spirit goblins not all bad,” Klibb interjected. The goblin rogue then revealed that he knew survivors of the tribe were living in a sanctuary in the tunnels controlled by the Red Horn minotaur clan. Emperor Argliss had forbidden the worship of stone spirits and issued a decree that followers of the old religion would be cast out of the Empire or killed. “After Stone Spirits nearly wiped out, they hunted by Argliss and hobgoblins. Eventually Stone Spirits find way to minotaurs and offer to work for protection.”
Klibb also admitted that he believed K’r’ng was the same goblin who used to smith weapons and armor for the Stone Spirit tribe. “Celestial Garrison teaches Klibb to not hurt those who do no evil,” the goblin spoke. “Klibb thinks maybe K’r’ng comes to work in old home and not to hurt Goblin Empire.”
“I hope you’re right, but we should keep an eye on these Tunnel Rats,” replied Aria. A moment later, K’r’ng returned with news that he’d found a pair of the goblins responsible for moving Hurk.
The caravaneers had little useful information but did recall taking Hurk into Red Horn territory.
“We take half-orc to tunnels by Red Horn home and leave him,” spoke an itchy, muppet-eyed goblin K’r’ng referred to as Gleengh. “Half-orc not say why he want to stay. Only pay us to take and leave.”
The way Gleengh occasionally glanced back to his compatriots to confirm his story struck Jasper as slightly suspicious and the rogue began to suspect the goblin had been coached. “Do you remember where you left him?” asked the rogue. “We’d like to go and check on him.”
K’r’ng suddenly interrupted, “Tunnel Rat Traders make lots of deliveries to Red Horns. Have a shipment for minotaurs ready to go soon even. Maybe you want to travel with caravan?”
“How soon do you leave?” asked Aria. K’r’ng informed the party the shipment was due to go out the next day and plans were soon made for the caravan to meet the adventurers before they left the Empire’s border.
“Do you think this is wise?” Zachariah asked his companions as they returned to Aria and Roch’s shrine. “If these goblins are indeed the ones responsible for the disappearances, doesn’t traveling with them seem dangerous?”
“Their pack rats are too fast so following them to see what they’re up to won’t work,” Jasper replied. “And going ahead of them only means the rats can track us by smell if they do mean us harm.”
“Jasper’s right,” Aria agreed. “We have little chance of keeping up with them or keeping track of them if they’re behind us. It’ll be better to keep them in sight.”
“Besides,” added Roch. “Thorin had only a couple of young acolytes to back him up and Marcus was probably alone when he was taken. If these goblins are the culprits, they’ll have a much harder time taking on all of us at once.”
***
Gleengh and the Tunnel Rat caravan arrived to the shrine the next morning amid black news from the party’s ally Shi. In the course of his new duties, the cleric had stopped by Four Waters’ prison in the old dragon lair in Region C and received a small box containing the few personal affects of the halfling rogue Traxxas.
“The guards say it was Demon Fever that took him,” Shi reported. “They suspect imprisoned friends of the men Traxxas assaulted kept word of the illness from getting out until it was too late.”
“Demon Fever? How?” Aria balked. The cleric’s knowledge of healing told her demons or demonic influences at the very least were necessary to spread the spoor of the deadly virus.
“Remember where we are,” Shi replied. “This dungeon used to house hundreds, if not thousands, of evil things from beyond our world. A brief companion of ours used to live in the area the prison now occupies and was one of the only survivors of an outbreak there.”
Shi spoke of the strange wizard Chum’lee the party met in Region C. Chum’lee was one of seven adventurers duped into becoming experimental clones of an evil wizard. Most of his companions had died from the fever that took the wizard when it was revealed their fortitude was similarly lacking. Chum’lee the Seventh survived long enough to instigate a terrible battle with the harpies of Region F that resulted in the deaths of several of Shi and Roch’s companions.
“The prison’s warden, a half-orc called Sid Lake, is looking into the matter,” Shi continued. “He’s apparently connected to The Trust and the group helps to maintain the prison since it was their idea.”
“Of course, the prisoners burned Traxxas’ body claiming they didn’t want the disease to spread,” he added with sarcasm. “That rules out trying to speak with his spirit and the time limit has expired on trying to raise him.”
“That does it,” Aria growled. “There’s no way this is a coincidence. Something is definitely going on here, Shi, and it seems your adventuring party is at the center of it. You might want to come with us.”
Shi refused his colleague’s offer citing his new responsibilities to both Four Waters and the Goblin Empire. “I’ll inform Cul’tharic that someone might be out to get us, but I think my energy will be better spent using my connections with Emperor Argliss and the Four Waters’ council to aid your investigation.”
“Besides, dying doesn’t always mean the end around here,” he added. “You and I know that better than most.”
As the adventurers grabbed their things to leave with the caravan, they noticed Klibb had packed Traxxas’ things into his bag and was leaving back toward Region C.
“Where are you going, Klibb?” Roch called to the goblin. “The Red Horns are this way!”
Klibb stopped and turned to face the theurge. “Master Traxxas is dead,” he sadly spoke. “Klibb will come when he is able.” And with that, the goblin seemed to vanish into the stone and was gone.
***
Aside from the novelty of seeing the goblins quickly pulled through the tunnels on their small rat sleds, traveling with the Tunnel Rats proved rather mundane for the adventurers, and they took their first break within the territory of the Broken Axe minotaurs. While Gleengh and his crew watered their beasts, Jasper and Roch decided to take a look at the minotaurs’ wares and it was then the rogue noticed the theurge was gathering a few stares from the locals.
“Don’t get many of his kind around here, do you?” Jasper asked a large minotaur blacksmith giving Roch the stinkeye.
“Aye,” grunted the minotaur. “Just the one.”
It seemed the minotaurs had mistaken Roch for Cul’tharic and the smith recounted what he knew of the lizardman’s last trip through their territory. “That lizard, he had a companion, a wizard,” the minotaur spat. “Folk say that wizard murdered three of our boys, burned them to ashes like they had been licked by a dragon’s flames,” he continued, pumping the bellows of his forge for dramatic effect. “Some folk might like to know where that wizard is now.“
Jasper quickly assured the minotaur Roch was a completely different lizardman and changed the subject before hinting to the theurge that he should return to Aria and Zachariah. Roch had indeed killed three minotaurs who had once tried to humiliate and rob him back when he was still in his original dwarf body. The matter had been resolved by the intervention of the minotaurs’ superior, but Roch swore revenge and returned alone to even the score, fireballing the trio of guards into smoldering husks.
Word of the new visitors quickly reached the ears of the minotaur bard Vornmik who served the king of the tribe, Markuli, and it wasn’t long before she came to welcome the strangers to the tribe’s holdings. Roch, of course, was told beforehand to keep his identity secret, and Vornmik didn’t seem to recognize the theurge in his reptilian guise.
From Vornmik, the party learned the rumors of reunification between the minotaur tribes were true. Working off of hints and clues established by Roch and Shi’s group before they abandoned the quest, Talita Draghinazzo and her fellow members of The Trust had revealed the Red Horn leader Grauki was an impostor and a wizard in the minotaur’s form. The false Grauki was overthrown and Gartuk, sister to Markuli and the true Grauki, was freed from her servitude and placed on the Red Horn throne.
Gartuk had led a rebellion against the false Grauki that Roch’s party had helped to end when they defeated her allies, the rakshasa Rashmarik and her medusa lover Saria. “Had that other adventuring party chosen to sentence Gartuk to death when Grauki gave them the chance, the wizard’s deception may never have been revealed,” Vornmik spoke. “Even now, Gartuk and King Markuli work with the master smith, Skrimmi, to reforge the Golden Axe, the symbol of our once mighty tribe and our most powerful weapon.”
Vornmik finished her visit with the adventurers, inviting them to the grand reunification ceremony to be held at the Golden Axe’s unveiling as Gleengh called for the party to gather their things. Their next stop took them into Red Horn territory where the locals seemed less hostile than when Roch last visited the area.
The minotaurs of the Red Horn tribe paid little attention to the strangers in their territory, only stopping the caravan once to confirm their shipment and to inform the newcomers of their tribal laws. “Not far now,” Gleengh informed the adventurers. “Half-orc say he want to go south from here.”
“Roch, what’s south of here?” Aria whispered to her companion not wanting to raise the suspicions of the goblins.
“If I remember correctly, it’s where we fought the medusa and found the harpy lair,” the theurge replied. “The tunnels were mostly cleared out when we were finished. The minotaurs probably claimed the territory.”
However, it seemed Roch was wrong.
The tunnels south of the Red Horn tribe were still empty and silent aside from age-old debris and the echo of the sleds across the stone floor. The Tunnel Rats pulled into a wide chamber filled with the petrified remains of a dozen harpies and minotaurs, victims of the medusa Saria. Roch remembered this chamber well and his eyes were instantly drawn to the forever-frozen sorrow on the face of the rakshasa Rashmarik, whose own lover’s gaze had sealed her fate.
Eyes darting quickly about the room, the theurge sought out any sign of his calcified companions, the rogue Reg, and the ratfolk cleric Rags. Where the petrified adventurers once stood, only small piles of rubble remained. Someone had destroyed their statues and removed most of the pieces ensuring they could never be returned to their natural forms.
“Here is where we bring half-orc,” Gleengh announced. “End of road.”
“There’s nothing here but old statues and dust,” Zachariah spoke. “Why would he want to come here?”
“And where did he go?” Aria asked the goblin. “Did you return to the Goblin Empire with his cage or leave it here with him?”
"Strangers come to kill our tribe, cut the chieftain's head," Gleengh began to sing in a low hiss.
"What?" Aria asked. It was then she noticed the goblins had quietly unharnessed their pack rats.
"Take the strangers one by one, 'til them all are dead," Gleengh grinned as tufts of short, dark fur began to sprout from his jowls and a long whip-like tail slashed out from under his cape.
“I think I just figured out what these guys were delivering to the minotaurs,” Jasper growled…
Nice, goblin wererats :)
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The Tunnel Rats attack and Klibb's secret is revealed! Is the party's old ally responsible for the missing adventurers or is there a more sinister power at work? Also, the return of a puzzling protagonist from the party's past! The truth behind the nefarious plot is finally discovered...or is it?
DAY 222 LOOSE ENDS pt. 4, Devil's Intrigue
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Klibb – NPC Goblin Stonedeath Assassin
“Crack the ribs and eat the heart, tear the enemy apart!” the rat-goblins hissed. “Orc-blood’s bite give goblins power, snap the neck and then devour, goblins eat ‘til bellys swell, toss the scraps down dusty well!”
The goblins’ dire pack rats, fortunately, seemed to be nothing more than well-trained, vicious beasts but their presence made maneuvering difficult and the adventurers were quickly surrounded.
“Now that you’re back in the good graces of your god, you think you can do something about these cheese-eaters?!” Jasper called to Roch as a wererat sank its fangs into his leg. “Get off, ya bastard!” the rogue cried as he drove his dagger into the thing’s neck.
Roch considered his options. Despite the vast wealth of arcane and divine power at his disposal now that Nethys had returned his magic, the theurge had chosen to prepare a small range of comfortable, old stand-bys.
Roch’s mind first leapt to one of the several fireball incantations he’d readied, but memories of the fiery death of a former adventuring companion haunted him. The paladin Elstir Slocan’s first death came as a result of one of Roch’s explosive blasts and, remembering this, the mystic couldn’t bring himself to endanger his companions.
“Methicus Caffeinitus!” Roch shouted and the adventurers were struck by a wave of energy that filled them with overwhelming vigor. Zachariah, Aria and Jasper unleashed a barrage of attacks against the rats, but the increased speed meant little in a chamber so cramped with debris and vermin.
“Got anything else!?” Jasper growled. Only two of the wererats had fallen along with three of their beasts, and the cunning strikes of the flanking lycanthropes were quickly taking their toll on everyone but the rogue whose uncanny senses allowed him to dodge the sneaky assault.
“We need to thin the herd!” Aria agreed as rat-goblin teeth sank into her shoulder. Shaking the fiend off, the halfling called out to Sarenrae for aid and channeled healing light into her companions.
Even Roch’s scaly hide couldn’t save him from the sheer number of attacks coming at him from every side. Still hesitant about dropping a bomb directly onto his companions, the theurge fired a bead of explosive flame into a corner of the room, scorching only a quarter of their foes. To his dismay, two of the rat-goblins in the blast deftly evaded the flames by dodging behind statues or their own animals.
“Damn!” Jasper cursed. “Somebody’s been teaching these things all my moves!” Despite Roch’s spell of haste, the party’s momentum was slipping. Aria fell moments later when the theurge’s resistance to firebombing his friends crumbled. A dozen if-onlys raced through Roch’s brain as the halfling was thrown to the floor in a smoldering heap. If only he’d opened combat with a barrage of engulfing flames, the cleric may have been able to keep up with healing the damage to his companions long enough to wipe out the dire rats and clear some room for an escape to a more defensible position; If only he’d readied any number of other combinations of spells, he may have been better prepared. It was too late to go back now however.
Following Roch’s lead, Zachariah tossed a fireball of his own into the center of the rat-goblins as Jasper pulled the hood of his vanisher cloak over his head and fled invisibly from the battle. Roch and the young magus rallied to incinerate the few remaining dire rats and grievously wound the wererats who weren’t always lucky enough to dodge every blast.
It wasn’t enough. Gleengh and his three surviving co-conspirators shook the ashes from their fur and squeaked victorious squeaks over their fallen foes as Jasper hid, hoping the rats wouldn’t catch his scent and come to finish the job.
***
Jasper sat with his back against the door of a small room not far from the scene of the battle. The chamber seemed to have been recently used as a campsite or a squat by some messy tenants, goblins from the smell of it. “What now?” thought the rogue. From the sound of the explosions and subsequent quiet he could only assume his companions were dead. He considered escaping to Four Waters to get help but, if the minotaurs really were part of the plot, there was little chance of him making it to their warp gate without getting caught. “Screw it,” he resolved. Roch was always kind of a pain and he hardly knew Zachariah, but he couldn’t leave without at least a piece of Aria for the druid back in the commune.
Silently, Jasper crept back toward the chamber where his companions had fought the Tunnel Rats. He could hear the sniffling chatter of the creatures ahead and, in the light of a burning rat sled, he could see the shadows of at least three survivors. Sneaking up on them would be useless as he’d determined the goblin-lycanthropes were trained rogues themselves and had the advantage of strong sniffers on their side. One of the creatures stepped into the light long enough for Jasper to see it was collecting the fallen adventurers and loading them into one of the remaining sleds. Then, something caught the rogue’s attention. Something else was in the passage watching the Tunnel Rats.
Jasper couldn’t see the thing’s face, but it was about the size of a goblin and seemed to be covered in a hide that blended in near perfectly with the stone walls and floor of the labyrinth. It was holding what looked like a thin, bristled javelin in its right hand, and Jasper quickly surmised it meant the Tunnel Rats harm.
“That won’t work,” the rogue whispered hoping beyond hope the creature wouldn’t turn on him. The thing spun around, its armed cocked to hurl its weapon. “Klibb?” Jasper whispered. The goblin had finally caught up with the adventurers.
Klibb apologized for taking so long and the pair quickly formed a plan to distract the Tunnel Rats and steal the sleds containing their fallen friends. The goblin shouted a threat, hoping to draw the creatures into the tunnel, but it was too late. Gleengh and his companions had already taken on the form of large rats and were pulling the sleds through the west exit of the chamber and into the darkness beyond. “Come on, Klibb!” Jasper shouted. “We can’t afford to lose them!”
Tracking the Tunnel Rats was slow going for Jasper and Klibb. The wererats had gotten a good head start and, in their dire rat forms, they easily outpaced the rogues even with their burdens. It also didn’t help that neither of the adventurers had any real tracking experience. Still, the halls were cluttered enough that picking out signs of recent passage wasn’t too difficult and, eventually, the pair made their way into the former lair of the harpies.
“Klibb is sorry, Jasper,” apologized the goblin as the pair searched a large chamber with multiple exits. “Is all his fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Klibb,” Jasper replied. “We should have seen this coming. A known wererat goes missing and a trading company that uses giant rats and even has the word ‘rat’ in its name is involved? Even their headquarters kind of looked like a big rats’ nest with all that crap they had laying around. We just let our guard down.”
“Not what Klibb means,” Klibb spoke. “Is Klibb’s fault Stone Spirit Goblins is here.” As Jasper and Klibb continued their chase, the goblin revealed he was the one responsible for the goblin sanctuary in Region F.
Hoping to save his people from the persecution of the Goblin Empire, Klibb had bargained with the Red Horn minotaurs to give the tunnels south of their home to the remaining members of the Stone Spirit tribe. The goblins would have a place where they could safely live and worship their ancestors in exchange for service to the Red Horn clan.
“Stone Spirit goblins maybe mean and stupid, but they Klibb’s family,” Klibb admitted. “Klibb thought he could save.”
Before long, the pair of rogues found themselves in a huge chamber littered with the remains of harpy nests. It looked as if the Stone Spirit goblins had recently made the chamber their new home, but there were, now, no signs of life aside from the trail of the rat sleds through a narrow tunnel in the south wall. A quick search of the tribe’s leftover belongings uncovered the usual goblin trash but also a fine, silver throwing axe, probably hidden by a goblin terrified by what his people were becoming. The pair grabbed the axe and moved on through the tunnel into an empty square room with walls like the striking end of a meat tenderizer.
The instant Jasper and Klibb entered the room, the door behind them slammed close. A deafening grinding of stone gears began to rumble through the chamber and the rogues could see the north and south walls were slowly pressing in toward them.
“Search quickly!” Jasper shouted to the goblin. “There’s got to be reset mechanism!”
Jasper found the trap reset, a small button hidden behind a tile in the east wall, with only seconds to spare. The crushing walls halted their progress only five feet apart and then, after several seconds began to recede. Their brush with death avoided, the rogues escaped the chamber and moved on.
The tunnels beyond the death trap were filled with strange hieroglyphics too well made to be goblin scratches. “This looks like Sphinx,” Jasper noted, but he wasn’t certain and there was no time for him to decipher it all. A short journey later through a lightning bolt-trapped hallway the rogues easily evaded, the pair entered an area where they could hear the sound of goblins bickering. Among them, was the voice of Gleengh.
“Sounds like they’re divvying up the loot they pulled off the others,” Jasper whispered, making sure to keep his distance in case they were still in their hybrid rat forms. “Think you can sneak in and see if they have our friends?”
Klibb vanished in an instant; strange goblin stealth techniques granting him nigh invisibility. The goblin returned a moment later to report Aria and the others were nowhere to be seen but the goblins had much of their gear. “We shouldn’t leave them behind us to raise an alarm later,” Jasper reasoned. “And our friends are going to need their spell components if they’re still alive. Get their attention and lead them out here to the doorway where we can hopefully flank them.”
Klibb did as Jasper suggested. They may have been family, but the Tunnel Rats were something even more dangerous than a tribe of superstitious goblins now and they had to be stopped. Blending into the stone around him, the goblin rogue snuck into the chamber and positioned himself behind Gleengh.
Gleengh and two of his companions fought and argued over the assortment of equipment dumped onto their table and Klibb studied the rat-goblin carefully, looking for the right place to strike. Then with a slash of his dogslicer, the Stonedeath Assassin struck, leaving Gleengh petrified in mid-scream as his companions watched in terror. Quickly and silently withdrawing from the chamber, Klibb returned to Jasper and waited for the fleeing wererats to run for help.
Caught between the two rogues, the mortified wererats had no chance of surviving but their squeals for help did get the attention of a nearby guard. Japser and Klibb quickly grabbed their companions’ weapons and component pouches and fled the room before more wererats could arrive.
“Stay here and do that thing you do!” Jasper ordered the goblin, handing him the silver throwing axe and component pouches. “I’ll lead them away while you find the others! I’ll be back when I’ve lost them!” Klibb understood and once again blended into the stone while Jasper ran, this time hoping the rats would catch his scent.
***
Aria awoke in a small prison cell atop the bodies of her companions, Zachariah and Roch. She owed her life to a healing enchantment she had placed on her new armor with money won in battle with the driders. Both the magus and the theurge were unconscious but singed by their own fireballs, and it appeared the goblins had left all three of them for dead after stripping them of their weapons and bags.
Fortunately, the rat-goblins hadn’t taken the time to strip them of their armor or other worn items so the halfling quickly set about to healing her companions and preparing for whatever might come next. As she did, she heard a woman’s voice from outside the cell door.
“You survived. Good,” cooed the voice. “I’ve found these rodents make terrible conversationalists.”
“Rodents?,” Aria asked as she climbed onto a stool by the cell door and forced its small window open. “Where am I? Who are you?” The cleric couldn’t see the stranger but determined she was in a block of several cells, all with similar steel doors featuring small shuttered windows. The hissing chitter of wererats could be heard from behind many of the doors.
“You have questions,” came the reply. “Excellent. I love…questions. I’ll tell you what. Let’s have a game. I’ll ask you a riddle and, for every correct response, I shall answer one of your own.”
“Riddles?!,” Zachariah stammered as Aria helped him to his feet. “At a time like this!? The people of Four Waters are in danger!”
“I’ll start with something easy,” returned the voice, ignoring the magus’ protestations. “Five boxes from the right. Four are filled with things that bite. Three contain deadly mice, and only one holds something nice. Two clues will I provide, now say in which one do I hide.”
Flustered but curious, Zachariah peered out into the cellblock and saw five doors along the wall across from him as Aria set to healing Roch. He could hear the agitated wererats behind the doors and immediately knew the stranger was referring to the five cells. “So, you’re a prisoner as well,” the magus called. “Fine. we’ll play your game. You said every number from two to five only once, but you said the word ‘one’ twice so I’ll guess you’re in the first cell - from the right!”
“Well done,” came the response. “I am here.”
The shutter to the cell window popped open and for an instant Zachariah thought he could see it had been pushed opened by a large paw, like that of a lion. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I am she who is called Arnarah,” the woman replied.
The game of riddles continued on for some time and, as it did, the adventurers discovered many of Arnarah’s riddles contained hints to questions they hadn’t yet asked. They also learned that after her interactions with Roch and Shi’s adventuring party during their visit to the region, rumors had spread throughout the commune of the creature’s wisdom…and of her appetite. Many believed her knowledge and council could be won by answering one of her riddles, but answering wrong meant death. Whether the tales were true or not, few among the commune’s residents had dared to risk the penalty.
In her riddling way, Arnarah informed the adventurers the pair of villains truly responsible for Hurk’s disappearance, an alchemist calling himself Devil Corazón and an old bugbear shaman who rarely spoke, had imprisoned her. It was Devil Corazón who had convinced the Stone Spirit Goblins to form the Tunnel Rat Traders and, after the goblins had infiltrated the Goblin Empire, they brought Hurk to Arnarah’s lair where the sphinx was already a prisoner.
The half-orc wererat was kept in a cell where the alchemist induced Hurk’s lycanthropic transformations with strange drugs and violence and then subjected goblin recruits to his bite. The cells around Arnarah and Zachariah held goblins in various stages of lycanthropy: the still relatively normal newly infected goblins, the savage first-time transformations and on, up to those goblins who had fully embraced the foul curse and could shift at will. Once Devil had enough infected goblins to perpetuate the curse without Hurk, the half-orc was fed to his own afflicted spawn.
“The monsters!” Roch swore. “But how were they able to subdue you? And, why would they let you live?”
“Why indeed” replied the sphinx. Arnarah claimed she recognized Devil and his bugbear companion as members of an adventuring party that had travelled to her lair seeking advice during an investigation into the minotaur tribes to the north. Aria quickly surmised this group must have been The Trust, and Arnarah went on to say the visitors used bits of a riddle she gave them along with clues left behind by Roch’s former companions to deduce the Red Horn leader Grauki had been possessed by an evil wizard. The adventurers had already heard all this from the Broken Axe bard Vornmik, but the sphinx revealed a part of the tale Vornmik hadn’t known.
“Two were responsible for the duplicity of the false Red Horn King: The Spider and the Mouse; the wizard and myself,” Arnarah spoke. “It was I who held the true Grauki’s soul while the wizard made war on Markuli and broke the Golden Axe.” It was then the sphinx revealed the tale of Durtenian Vaielle.
Durtnenian Vaielle was an elf wizard who had come to the dungeon, like many wizards, to seek fortune and power. He was a conniving and ill-tempered old elf, but his intellect and knowledge of lore endeared him to the sphinx and, despite his wicked demeanor, the two got along very well. Vaielle kept a small lab in the sphinx’s lair for many years and conducted countless experiments intended to restore his youth and vitality but all had failed and the elf feared his time in the world of the living was drawing to a close. He turned then to the dark art of necromancy and created a gem that would allow him to indefinitely swap his soul with that of another creature.
Now, Arnarah had grown accustomed to Vaielle and considered him a friend, but knew it was only a matter of time before the elf would become desperate enough to try his gem out on her so she came up with a plan. A powerful, warlike tribe of minotaurs calling themselves the Golden Axe had swept into the region and were using the labyrinth as a base of operations to conduct raids and harass other creatures of the dungeon. Arnarah met with the matron of the nearby murder of harpies and convinced her to offer up her clan as a sort of brothel to the Golden Axe warriors. Some violence between the evil creatures would be expected, but this would ensure the harpies had relative safety from attack and a steady supply of partners to meet the needs of their carnal devotions to Zon Kuthon. All Arnarah asked was that the harpies paid attention to any loose talk among the minotaurs and that they keep the bull-headed brutes from accessing her home.
Arnarah’s plan worked and word eventually came that a dwarf slave named Darvil had stolen a treasured set of plates from the king of the minotaurs. Furthermore, the minotaur prince Grauki was on a quest to kill the dwarf and recover the plates. This is what Arnarah was waiting for and she met with Durtenian to explain her plot to replace Grauki and gain the wizard the wealth and youth he desired. Vaielle captured Grauki after the prince retreated from a battle with Darvil’s pet cryohydra, and the minotaur was brought back to Arnarah’s lair where the wizard performed his dark rite.
“The Eagle’s soul resided here within the body of the Spider for more than a decade,” admitted Arnarah. “Durtenian received the youth, vigor, wealth and prestige he desired, and our friendship was saved. We moved on from the games of wit that had forged our initial bond and took on the new challenge of directing the politics of the minotaurs. I admit creating safety and peace for the creatures beyond our home’s borders was never the foremost of my intentions, but I am happy with the results of my actions and I am glad others could benefit from them.”
Vaielle and Arnarah spoke less and less as time passed and the evil wizard became more enamored of his new throne, but the elf never broke their trust and even sent an occasional gift by way of the harpies to let the sphinx know their secret was safe. All that changed when Shi and Roch arrived with their companions, setting in motion the events that had led to this very moment.
Part of Arnarah’s nature wouldn’t allow for her to let the game grow stagnant, and she gave clues to the adventurers that might help them learn the truth. Secretly, she hoped they would discover the identity of her “elf” prisoner just so she could see what they did with the knowledge. However, the party abandoned the quest and the sphinx had to wait until the arrival of The Trust to once again tempt fate.
The Trust eventually uncovered Arnarah and Durtenian’s ruse and told Arnarah they respected what she and the wizard had done for the creatures that would have been victimized by the Golden Axe tribe but, knowing the truth, they couldn’t allow the real Grauki to remain a prisoner any longer.
Talita Draghinazzo, the leader of The Trust, told the sphinx she and her companions would go to Vaielle and demand he release the minotaur’s spirit. Due to the successful and profitable trade relations between the Goblin Empire, Four Waters and the minotaurs, Talita believed she could convince Markuli to maintain the peace with the commune after his true brother was restored. Furthermore, the members of The Trust assured Arnarah none would ever learn of her part in the plot.
The Trust’s bard, Wilbert “Threepenny” Brechurt returned later to inform the sphinx Vaielle had refused to relinquish his power and, feeling betrayed by Arnarah, attacked the party. Unwilling to return to his withered, old body, Durtenian Vaielle died in battle with The Trust. The soul of Grauki, broken and mad from more than a decade spent in the weak and dying body of the elf, passed into the void shortly after.
“The Devil and his shaman returned a week later with a pack of goblins at their heels,” Arnarah spoke. “Corazón claimed he and the bugbear had parted company with their companions after the battle with Vaielle. He threatened to reveal me to the minotaurs if I didn’t allow him to use my lair for his experiments. I became furious. I would have killed him then and there…had he not brought the children.”
Roch and Shi’s battle with the harpy matron Mortgul had left a large group of harpy orphans on Arnarah’s doorstep and the sphinx relished the challenge of trying to raise the hatchlings as creatures wholly different from their cruel and ugly mothers. Knowing this, Corazón ordered the Stone Spirit Goblins to take the young harpies hostage and he brought three of the young creatures before Arnarah to enforce his position.
“Harpies’ nasty personality traits are instilled in them very nearly after they are born,” Arnarah matter-of-factly spoke. “I couldn’t let the devil take away my only opportunity to see if evil is inherent to the harpy brain or if they can be raised to become civil or perhaps even compassionate creatures.”
“I begin to wonder if you’re the right person to be teaching anyone anything about compassion,” Zachariah commented.
“Touché,” replied the sphinx. “I think I’m beginning to like you, Taldor.”
“Still, none of that answers the question of why they didn’t just report you to the minotaurs or kill you themselves,” Aria rebutted. “Why just lock you up?”
“With two such learned students of the arcane at your side, I’d have thought you’d figured that out on your own by now,” spoke Arnarah. “Those of my kind aren’t just known for our wisdom or knowledge.”
Zachariah and Roch tried to remember everything they’d ever learned of sphinxes and it suddenly dawned on the magus. “You can break the curse,” he spoke in awe of his own oversight. “You’re the cure.”
“Got it in one,” Arnarah teased. “I would also have accepted, ‘You’re too pretty to kill.’”
Roundabout this time, the adventurers heard a hushed whisper at their cell. Klibb had evaded notice by the rat-goblins guarding the tunnels and announced he was going to try to spring the lock on their cell. The goblin was still fumbling with the ancient celestial lock a minute later when he noticed a sudden marked increase in the lighting throughout the corridor.
“Allow me,” came a voice like wind chimes as Klibb turned to see a small ball of light hovering out through the window of Arnarah’s cell.
“Flash!” Roch called out to the custodian lantern archon. “Where have you been?! Why didn’t you get us out of here sooner!?”
“Mind your tone, priest of Nethys,” Arnarah interjected. “If Flash hadn’t roused your halfling companion, you’d all still be laying in a pile like so much meat in a goblin’s larder.”
As Flash popped the lock on the cell door, the lantern archon explained he’d been tending to the needs of the young harpies since Corazón’s arrival. He woke Aria with a little divine aid during one of his routine stops to check up on the sphinx and then returned to his duties before she stirred so Arnarah could suss out the party’s intentions.
“Flash has been an excellent role model for the girls,” Arnarah commented. “And a surprisingly talented vocal instructor to boot,” she grinned.
Aria and her companions quickly exited their cell and received the small bundle of component pouches Klibb brought for them but, before they could make good their escape, they were alerted to the presence of a pair of goblins entering the cellblock. A shaggy, white-furred bugbear and a tall half-elf wearing a bandolier of iron vials and oil-stained robes stood behind them.
“Ahh, Roch, you always did have such resourceful friends,” spoke the half-elf.
“Have we met?” Roch asked.
“Though our time together was brief, you knew me once,” replied the stranger. “Together we fought the medusa Saria and her fiendish consort Rashmarik. It’s a pity Rags and Reg couldn’t be here at our reunion.”
“I don’t suppose you’d know anything about the condition of their remains, now would you, Patreus!” Roch growled.
‘Hah ha, it’s true I used that name then!” laughed the alchemist. “But in the lands outside this dungeon, I am known as Devil Corazón, the Archfiend of Golsifar!”
“Isn’t Golsifar just a small port town near the Jalrune River?” Zachariah noted. “So, that would make you the archfiend of, what, perhaps one-thousand fishmongers?”
“Don’t judge,” growled the alchemist. “My criminal exploits were only just beginning when I was forced to relocate and wound up here in Antagonis’ dungeon. Also, that’s beside the point.”
As the adventurers stood at the ready, Corazón explained the intricacies of his plot. The alchemist revealed how he’d hidden among the denizens of the commune under various disguises in order to conceal his true identity and avoid trouble from anyone who might recognize him or know of his past. He even joined Talita Draghinazzo and Threepenny during some of their early adventures in order to test his skills and gain valuable contacts within Four Waters. It was during one of these adventures he partnered with the quiet, old bugbear shaman.
The bugbear Devil referred to as Logray was the last of a clan of murderers that lived in Region B before a group of adventurers, Hurk among them, wiped out nearly all of his people. Though the old healer seemed peaceful enough for a bugbear and even fought alongside Four Waters’ other heroes, Devil learned he still worshipped a dark god of death and shadow and often mixed deadly toxins in with his remedies.
While exploring Region F together, Devil and Logray discovered the withered body of an elf in a room isolated by the infamous warp gates of the labyrinth. The bugbear managed to coax the corpse’s spirit to talk and Corazón learned the elf had been the alchemist Patreus, companion of the halfling fighter Riswan. Using information gained from Patreus’ spirit, Devil disguised himself as the elf and infiltrated Roch’s adventuring party, hoping the group might lead him to greater riches or power or, better yet, a safe place where he could set up a new laboratory. What he ended up with was worth a whole lot more.
“I regret I had to abandon you and your companions before you reached the sphinx, but I’d learned enough about the minotaurs to get an impression of what was happening here,” Devil spoke. ‘As a master of disguise myself, I immediately had suspicions about Grauki. Logray and I eventually returned to The Trust and coaxed them to return here in your wake so we could pick up where you left off. I’m sure Arnarah has already told you the rest of the story.”
“But why involve the Stone Spirit goblins?” Aria asked. “What do you need with a tribe of goblin wererats, and why go after former members of Roch’s party?”
“Killing the half-orc and the dwarf was their idea,” Devil admitted. “I urged Hurk to submit to the beast within. I wanted him to lead my wererat minions, but he refused and the goblins’ desire for revenge against those responsible for their tribe’s near extinction was too strong. I promised them power in exchange for their loyalty, and all they asked for in return was the opportunity to slay their hated foes. That included Hurk and anyone associated with his group. As to my need for unleashing a plague of wererat lycanthropy throughout the dungeon, well, that’s something I’m afraid you’re going to have die never knowing.”
Before the party could react, Devil called to a goblin manning a set of switches at the cellblock entrance. “Open cell eight!” he yelled. “I think it’s time we fed The Fink!”
A horrible roar was heard from within the cell next to the adventurers as the goblin pulled the switch, releasing its door. Something huge and heavy moved within the cell and as, the party looked on in horror, a creature eight feet tall with a tail thick as an anaconda and sporadic tufts of fur like an archipelago of shag rug islands lumbered into the cellblock.
The Fink had been an ordinary ogre barbarian once, but that was back when Lord Antagonis captured and loosed him and his brothers on the inhabitants of the dungeon. The Welcoming Party at the front gate made short work of the ogres and ordered the bodies removed by the Tunnel Rat Traders who held a corpse removal contract with Four Waters. Most of the dead were secretly fed to the goblins, but any survivors were taken to Devil for his experiments.
“Get him back into his cell when he’s finished and help yourself to any leftovers,” Devil ordered the goblins. “And make sure you clean up this time.” Then, calling back to the party, Devil shouted, “Sorry to leave you on such short notice once again, Roch, but I’ve got a party to attend.”
Corazón and Logray left the cellblock as combat ensued between the adventurers and the monstrous rat-ogre. The slow, dull-witted creature was easy to hit but more than made up for its lack of grace in sheer power and ferocity.
“I’m afraid dinner’s been called off, beast!” Zachariah shouted as he delivered an electrically charged blow to The Fink through the silver throwing axe provided by Klibb. “I hope that doesn’t come off as too much of a shock, ha ha!”
The monster reeled from the pain of the attack and, enraged, leveled the magus with a whipping motion of its great tail. The Fink’s gore-stained claws and teeth tore into the fallen magus then and Klibb realized Zachariah would surely die if he tried to regain his feet.
“Over here, cheese-breath!” Klibb shouted as he rushed around the rat ogre drawing the monster’s attention and suffering for his interruption. The Fink’s teeth sank deep into the goblin’s leg as he ran by, but the distraction gave Zachariah the opportunity he needed to regain his feet and blast the beast with a cone of acid. Behind them, Roch channeled beams of flame into the creature’s hide as Aria tended to Zachariah’s wounds and Flash pleaded with Arnarah for help as he lent his aid to the adventurers.
“These people can help you, Arnarah!” the archon cried. “They can stop Devil and his wererats, but they can’t do it alone!”
The sphinx was hesitant to intervene. Arnarah knew Devil had agents in place to report her to the minotaurs should they learn of any malfeasance on her part. If they failed to kill the wererats and any survived to pass word of her role in an escape or if Devil had other means of conveying news to his minions, her life was forfeit.
Roch and Zachariah did their best to hammer away at The Fink with their spells as Aria provided healing but Klibb seemed to have vanished. With its prey cornered, the mad, injured beast pressed in throwing Zachariah to the floor again, this time with a flurry of claws and teeth.
“I think he might be too stupid to die!” Roch cried as he fired a burst of magic missiles into The Fink’s chest.
“That’s funny,” came a voice from the cellblock entrance. “I’ve often thought the same of you!” Jasper’s blades plunged into side of the goblin at the cell controls as the rogue charged out of the darkness. Jasper had finally returned after leading his pursuers into the death trap where he and Klibb were nearly flattened. Though they’d been shown the trap reset by Devil, in their hybrid forms the rat-goblins had been too enraged to locate the hidden button and they paid for their bloodlust with their lives.
As Jasper held off the three rat-goblins at the cellblock entrance, Aria and Roch made a desperate stand against the menacing Fink. The monster’s body was covered in scorch marks and acid burns and his maw foamed with blood as it squealed in anger and unleashed a series of deadly bites and slashes at the adventurers. Then as the halfling and the lizardman fell back from the terrible attack, The Fink hissed and whirled around, lifting Klibb into the air with his teeth before dashing the goblin against the wall. Praying to his ancestors’ for luck, the small rogue had tried to deliver the mysterious Stonedeath Strike he’d used to petrify Gleengh. Unfortunately, the rat ogre proved too hardy for the attack.
“Klibb!” Roch shouted as the goblin’s body crashed to the tunnel floor. The Fink turned back toward the spellcasters and ate a face full of lasers as Roch and Flash opened up on the brute with beams of searing light and celestial power. The beast fell in a smoking heap soon to be joined by the three rat-goblins minding the cells but, before they died, one of the creatures threw itself onto the row of cell switches.
“Aww, crap!” Jasper cursed as the sound of cell locks popping echoed through the hall. “Aria get the wounded up! We’ve gotta go now!”
“I can’t lock them all at once!” Flash chimed. ‘They’ll get out, Arnarah! They’ll eat the girls!”
The door to the sphinx’s cell slammed open as Arnarah leapt into the cellblock. Whether her actions were prompted by maternal instinct or clinical obsession none could say, but the archon's words had the desired effect. “They’ll have to go through me first,” she growled. “Take our heroes through the hidden passage in my cell. I’ll deal with our pest problem.”
“There are too many of them!” Aria shouted as she shoved Zachariah into the sphinx’s cell. “Come with us! We can get to the harpies and hold them off together!” Wererats were already bounding into the cellblock, ironically preying on the freed goblins who hadn’t yet transformed from their infection.
“There’s only room for one Mouse in these halls now, servant of The Dawnflower,” Arnarah spoke, her claws unsheathing. “Go now and don’t look back.”
Jasper dodged through the ravenous rats, grabbed Klibb’s body and ran for the cell door as Roch and Aria slipped inside, the terrible sound of hissing, squeaking death erupting behind them.
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So, I realized writing this last entry a few questions might come up. For a lot of what Arnarah revealed to make sense, one needs to have a good understanding of how lycanthropy works in my campaign. Here’s a little WLD Lycanthropy 101 for those of you who noticed things don’t seem to work exactly the way the Core Rules say they should.
Effects of Lycanthropy: Lycanthropy progresses through a few stages. Here’s the breakdown:
Stage 1, Newly bitten – this represents the time between the victim’s first exposure to the curse and the first full moon to occur after exposure. Newly bitten lycanthropes possess no special abilities and show no symptoms of the curse.
Stage 2, First transformation – At the first full moon after the victim is exposed to the curse, the victim undergoes its first lycanthropic transformation into its beast form. This transformation requires a full round action and provokes attacks of opportunity. The victim gains the form, movement modes and natural attacks of its animal form as well as a +4 to STR and CON, +2 WIS and -2 CHA. It also gains DR 5/silver. The transformation functions similarly to a barbarian’s rage meaning the victim also gains a +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC and is unable to undertake any action that requires concentration or patience. During this transformation, the alignment of the victim shifts to the alignment of the base lycanthrope. If the victim is a PC, this also means the player loses control of his character until the sun rises the following morning. The first transformation leaves the victim Exhausted. At the end of the first transformation, the victim receives a Will save DC20 to recall its actions while transformed. If it succeeds, the victim understands what it has become and may either resist or submit to the beast within. If the victim submits to the curse, it skips Stage 3 and progresses to Stage 4, Natural Lycanthropy. If the save fails or if the victim resists the curse, it progresses to Stage 3, Afflicted Lycanthrope. Once a victim is aware of its affliction, it can choose to submit to the curse at any time.
Stage 3, Afflicted Lycanthrope – An afflicted lycanthrope continues to transform with every full moon. The +2 WIS, -2 CHA affects the afflicted lycanthrope at all times, regardless of the moon’s phase. Unlike the first transformation, the afflicted lycanthrope’s transformations leave it only Fatigued. The afflicted lycanthrope’s transformation requires a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Furthermore, physical pain or certain forms of mental distress can force the victim into its beast form. Any time the victims suffers physical damage it must make a Will save, DC = amount of damage taken, to avoid transforming into its beast form. The DC is cumulative so the more damage the victim takes over time, the higher each progressive save. Healing this damage lowers the save DC accordingly. Choosing to waive this saving throw equates to submitting to the curse thereby leading the victim to Stage 4 Lycanthropy. Failing a save against certain spells that affect emotions such as Confusion, Rage and Insanity also force the victim into its beast form. There is no save for this involuntary transformation, however nor is the victim considered to have submitted to the curse. Spells such as Calm Emotions can reverse this involuntary transformation. An afflicted lycanthrope’s alignment shifts to the alignment of its base type and, if a PC, control is handed to the GM while in beast form.
Stage 4, Natural Lycanthropy – A Natural Lycanthrope is any creature born a lycanthrope or any afflicted lycanthrope who has submitted to its curse. The natural lycanthrope gains the ability to shift at will as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity and gains access to the hybrid form of the lycanthrope type. It also gains DR 10/silver in its beast and hybrid forms, and it is no longer Fatigued or Exhausted by its transformations. A natural lycanthrope’s alignment permanently shifts to that of the base lycanthrope type, but the victim now has more control over its actions. Players may continue to control their PC in any form, but this small measure of control results in a loss of physical abilities. The lycanthrope’s transformation now only grants a +2 STR, +2 CON in hybrid or beast form. Actions that require patience or concentration are still impossible for a natural lycanthrope in its beast or hybrid form, however a character with access to the Moment of Clarity Rage Power or a similar ability could use that to regain momentary composure.
Curing Lycanthropy: As a curse that acts like a disease lycanthropy can be cured with a Remove Disease (caster level check 20) or Heal spell cast at cleric caster level 12 or higher, but only within three days of the victim’s exposure to the curse. A Remove Curse (caster level check 20) spell cast at cleric caster level 12 or higher on the night of a full moon is required to cure the affliction after this period. Eating a sprig of belladonna within one hour of exposure can also cure the affliction, but the toxic herb can also rob the victim of strength. Only a victim with Stage 1, 2 or 3 lycanthropy can be cured with these methods. A Wish or Miracle spell can remove Stage 4 lycanthropy even if the creature was born a lycanthrope though such creatures would likely be extremely upset by the loss of their abilities.
Lycanthrope Alignments: Obviously, rats, wolves and tigers aren’t naturally evil creatures and bears aren’t naturally good, but the alignments of the lycanthrope types in my campaign are the same as the ones in the bestiary. My explanation for the creatures’ alignments is pretty simple. Lycanthropes aren’t animals. Way back in 1992, a book called Monster Mythology introduced lycanthrope deities for some of the more common types. In my campaign, those long-forgotten deities are basically the patient zeros of the various curses and their alignments influenced the disposition of their descendants. Balador, god of werebears, for instance, might have been a kind and honorable barbarian before trading his humanity for the burden of lycanthropy in order to protect his people. Daragor, the werewolf god, could have been a bloodthirsty marauder who bargained with dark powers for the cunning and strength of a wolf. The details and histories are sketchy and lost to time, but the basic idea is that the first lycanthropes imbued their curse with their base intentions. Only the descendants of Ferrix, goddess of weretigers, are known to have shifted their alignment as a whole. It’s believed the goddess became corrupt and fell into darkness and when she changed her stripes, she turned the hearts of all her children.
Good and Neutral Lycanthropes: Even Werebears and Wereboars realize their lycanthropic abilities are, at heart, a curse and, unlike their fellow shapeshifters, the creatures don’t actively hunt other humanoids in an attempt to spread death and heartbreak. A temperamental wereboar might accidentally inflict its curse on a victim who intrudes on its territory, in self-defense or even as revenge against a lycanthrope hunter, but wereboars tend to keep to themselves and would rather scare enemies away or outright kill them rather than spread their affliction to someone who doesn’t want it. Werebears, on the other hand, are generally extremely careful about passing on their curse and are responsible enough to watch over the few afflicted members of their type in order to keep them from biting creatures undeserving of their burden. There usually aren’t many afflicted werebears because the creatures tend to only offer their curse to willing good creatures they believe can handle the responsibility and isolation usually brought on by their form.
So there you have it. Even afflicted wererats can spread the curse and Zachariah’s revelation that Arnarah can cure the lycanthropic plague stems from the sphinx’s ability to cast Remove Curse (Cleric CL12) once a day. In fact, she’s the only creature encountered in the dungeon so far that has this ability and, by controlling access to her, Devil Corazón can control who gets cured.
If Arnarah has access to what I think she has access to, the wererat goblins are royalled pooched.
Which is a good thing. :)
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It might certainly explain why she wanted the adventurers to clear out...
For those interested (or confused) about Klibb's seemingly supernatural abilities, here's his statblock and a bit about him.
The party found Klibb terrified and hiding from ghouls in Region B back when Traxxas was still with the group. He started out as a low-level rogue but eventually took levels of Stonedeath Assassin (more on that below) as his experience increased and his connection to the dungeon and his ancestors grew. Once as selfish and cruel as any other Stone Spirit goblin, he was inspired to change his ways and join the Celestial Garrison. Klibb believes Emperor Argliss and the Stoneshaper religion have been good for the goblins, but his heart is torn between the Empire and the Stone Sprit Tribe. His true loyalties are to his race as a whole and to his friends in the adventuring party. This might make Klibb sound like a perfect little hero, but he hasn't quite shaken all of his old Stone Spirit ways and he's still willing to engage in petty revenge and sometimes sacrifices what is good for what seems practical.
HP 73 (10d8+10) AC 21 (+4 armor, +5 Dex, +1 size, +1 natural) Fort +5 Ref +15 Will +7 Init +11 Perception +16 Move 30ft.
STR 12 DEX 20 CON 12 INT 12 WIS 12 CHA 8
BAB +6/+1 CMB +5 CMD 21 Attack: +13/+8 frost dogslicer +1 (1d4+1d6 cold +2) or +13/+8 mw silver dagger (1d3) or +13 mwk howler javelin (1d4+1)
Traits: Blessing of the Stoneshaper (+2 Diplomacy v. Stoneshaper goblins, +2 Intimidate v. Stone Spirit goblins,) Garrison Member (+2 Will saves)
Skills: Acrobatics 18 Bluff 12 Climb 14 Diplomacy 7 Disable Device 20 Escape Artist 18 Know (dungeoneering) 14 Know (local) 9 Know (geography) 6 Linguistics 9 Perception 16 Ride 9 Sense Motive 9 Stealth 31 Swim 9
Languages: Halfling, Common, Goblin, Gnoll, Giant, Celestial
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Imp. Initiative, Darkstalker***, Skill Focus (stealth,) Exotic Weapon Proficiency (howler javelin**)
SQ: Sneak Attack +5d6, meld into stone 5/day, stoneskulk, corrupt stone 5/day, stonedeath strike (DC16 Fort,) trapfinding, trap sense+1, evasion, uncanny dodge, Rogue Talent: terrain mastery (underground,) fast getaway
Equipment: +1 frost dogslicer, +2 leather armor, mw silver dagger, mwk howler javelin x5, CLW potion x8, acid flask x2, alchemical fire x2, mwk. thieve’s tools, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +2, belt of incredible dexterity +2
*Stonedeath Assassin is a prestige class only available to goblinoids. It originally appeared in Races of Stone and grants goblins a number of stone-based abilities including Stoneskulk, which gives the goblin Hide in Plain Sight whenever he is in contact with a stone surface and Stonedeath Strike, which petrifies opponents the Assassin studies for three rounds.
**A howler javelin is a weapon recently developed by the hobgoblins of the Goblin Empire. These bristly javelins are made from quills harvested from captured howlers and require special training to use due to the miniscule flesh-grabbing hooks lining their surface.
An opponent hit by a howler javelin must make a Reflex save (DC 16) or have the javelin break off after lodging in his or her flesh. A lodged javelin imposes a –1 circumstance penalty on attacks, saves, and checks. Removing the javelin deals 1d6 additional points of damage. Howler javelins that hit a target cannot be recovered. Howler javelins that miss their target have a 50% chance of breaking on impact, rendering them useless. Since a howler javelin isn't crafted for melee, all characters are treated as not proficient with it and thus take a –4 penalty on their melee attack rolls.
This weapon originally appeared in Savage Species.
*** Darkstalker is a feat from Lords of Madness. Benefit - When you hide, creatures with blindsense, blindsight, scent, or tremorsense must make a Perception check (whichever DC is higher) to notice you, just as sighted creatures would make Perception checks to detect you. You cannot hide in plain sight unless you have that ability as a class feature. In addition, you can flank creatures that have the all-around vision special quality.
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The party has narrowly escaped Devil Corazón's wererat stable after defeating the horrible rat-ogre, The Fink. Now they must lead a desperate attack on the cruel chemist and his fuzzy, felonious friend, the bugbear cleric Logray, before the pair of villains escape! Is a resolution to the mystery of the missing adventurers close at hand or will a startling revelation expose yet another layer to this onion of intrigue?! (Well, we've still got another three weeks of gaming to do before I move so what do you think?)
Now I want an onion.
DAY 222-223 LOOSE ENDS pt. 5, The Healer’s Tale
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Roch - Lizardfolk Mystic Theurge
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Klibb – NPC Goblin Stonedeath Assassin
“Half the cells in this block have these,” Flash informed the party as he led the adventurers into Arnarah’s cell and through a concealed passage in the west wall. “The guards used to use them whenever they needed to surreptitiously remove a prisoner from its cell.”
“Shouldn’t we help Arnarah?” Aria asked.
“Arnarah’s been here a long time,” the archon reassured the cleric. “She’s fond of hiding magical traps in with the pictures she draws all over the place down here and, if I know her, she’s got one hidden somewhere in the prison wing. She’ll be fine…I hope.”
“What about us?” Jasper asked, setting Klibb down near Aria. “Where do we go from here?”
“The south passage leads to an old interrogation chamber where you could rest,” the archon replied. “The goblins never go down there because of the Griffon Door.”
Roch thought a moment and realized where they were. The door Flash referred to was a thick bronze and steel door featuring an enchanted griffon’s head with the power to emit a deadly screech. “Four Waters is right on the other side! We could go for help!”
“…except I don’t have the means to open that door,” Flash informed the theurge. “It requires a special silver key and, without it, the griffon’s head might shout your head off.”
“Shi!” Roch groaned. Even now, the silver key to the Griffon Door dangled from the cleric’s belt somewhere far away. “Well, we’re not going that way. What’s north?”
“The harpies,” Flash replied. “I need to return to them quickly. Devil keeps a pair of goblin guards at the door to their chamber, and I don’t like the way they’ve been looking at the girls lately.”
“We’ll come with you,” Zachariah offered. Thanks to Aria’s collection of healing items and spells, he and Klibb survived the fight with the monstrous rat ogre, The Fink, and both were ready to push on.
Klibb was sent to scout the way ahead and soon reported the goblin guards were missing from their post. Flash raced to the harpies’ nursery only to find his fears were misplaced. The hungry goblins had indeed entered the chamber to steal away with a few of the young creatures, but they never made it out. Though only still learning to use the power of their voices, some of the young harpies had instinctively managed to hold their attackers at bay with their song and the pair of goblins stood fascinated by the creatures’ melody.
“I begin to suspect Arnarah wants more than a clean start for these creatures, eh Jasper?” Zachariah observed, noting how useful a coterie of loyal harpies would be as guardians. The rogue, however, was unable to respond. Both he and Klibb had fallen under the spell of the harpies’ song, but the effect wasn’t so strong it took more than a slight shove to free them from its hold.
“Oh, uh, right. Goblins,” Jasper stammered as he snapped to his senses and then proceeded to stealthily dispatch the distracted goblins with Klibb. With Devil’s goblin guards out of the way, the young harpies were safe. Flash thanked the adventurers and informed them he needed to stay behind in case more goblins arrived. Devil and Logray, if they hadn’t already departed, would probably be found in Arnarah’s living quarters.
“Follow the directions I gave you to the letter and don’t open any doors I haven’t told you to open,” warned the archon as the adventurers turned to go. “There’s a good chance some of Arnarah’s symbol traps are still active.” With that, the group ran off to recover the equipment still sitting in the goblins’ break room while Klibb went to check on the sphinx.
***
Klibb was still a bit shaken from his encounter with Arnarah when the party arrived to the sphinx’s quarters to confront Devil Corazón. At the party’s request, the goblin had snuck back into the prison wing to see if the sphinx was still alive. What he discovered would probably scar him for life.
Arnarah stood at the end of the hall between the cells with roughly twenty wererats at her feet. Bite wounds covered the sphinx’s flanks and forelimbs, but she seemed none the worse for wear as she casually padded among her attackers snapping their necks with the weight of her paws. That’s when Klibb realized the wererats weren’t already dead; they were sleeping.
The ravenous rats closed in on Arnarah only moments after the party escaped with Flash, but the sphinx was prepared. With the monsters pulling her down and biting into her flesh, Arnarah reached out to activate a mystical glyph hidden within the symbols painted at the end of the hall. The sphinx had placed the sigil years ago as a precaution against the escape of her prisoner, the soul-swapped minotaur Grauki.
The glyph swirled and glowed under Arnarah’s paw and then, with a flash, the wererats covering the sphinx dropped to the floor in a comatose pile. The symbol was still emitting a droning hum when Klibb arrived and, recognizing the trap was still active, the goblin kept his distance as Arnarah continued the grisly task of exterminating the wererats.
Klibb then noticed a slow movement to his left and saw that one of the infected goblin prisoners had survived the onslaught of its transformed kin and was trying to crawl to safety. Klibb instinctively began to reach out to help his tribal brother when Arnarah pounced upon the wounded goblin pinning him to the floor. Then, still hidden against the stone wall, Klibb watched as the sphinx mockingly placed an unsheathed claw over her lips as she shushed the goblin and then tore out his throat with her teeth.
“I’m sure she only did what she felt was necessary to protect her children,” Roch reasoned with the goblin, but Klibb assured the mystic he didn’t blame Arnarah for killing his tribemates. The Stone Spirit Goblins had brought this on themselves when they agreed to work with Devil Corazón, and the rogue only wanted revenge against the alchemist for supplying them the means to their own destruction.
Jasper and Klibb crept up to the doors to Arnarah’s quarters hoping to get the drop on Corazón and his bugbear companion before they could escape. Someone was definitely on the other side of the door, but Jasper realized they’d also heard the approaching adventurers.
“They’ve made us,” the rogue whispered back to Aria, Roch and Zachariah. “We may as well just do this.”
Jasper cracked one of the double doors open to peer inside and saw the villains were already preparing for combat. Corazón quickly downed a potion granting his skin a rocky texture as Logray growled a prayer to his dark god and doubled in mass. Jasper flung open the door allowing Zachariah to charge the giant bugbear, but the magus was immediately leapt upon a by a pair of wererats flanking the door as he crossed the threshold.
“You lot are more persistent than I thought!” Devil shouted as Roch dropped a storm of hail and sleet into the chamber that bounced off the alchemist’s stony hide. “, but your meddling ends here!” the alchemist finished amid the patter of clattering hail.
With that, Corazón swallowed another extract and took to the air as Logray targeted the adventurers with a barrage of destructive spells. As the bugbear shaman traded spells with Roch, he emanated an unnatural aura of doom that filled Jasper with Zachariah with fear and only made things worse for the magus who was still under the assault of the wererats. It was then Aria noticed Klibb had once again vanished.
“Do you have a clear shot at Corazón?” the cleric whispered, rightly assuming the goblin had targeted the alchemist for his Stonedeath Strike. The magical current of the priest’s orison carried her words to the hidden rogue who silently replied.
“Yes, but Devil must touch stone for Stonestrike to work,” Klibb whispered.
“We might be able to help with that. Stay hidden and attack when he’s vulnerable,” Aria informed the goblin before messaging Roch. “We need to bring down the devil, Roch. I hope you’ve got something that’ll clip his wings because, otherwise, we’ve only got one shot at this.”
Determined to bring Corazón back down to earth, Roch broke off from attacking Logray and the wererats long enough to target the alchemist with an abjuration meant to cancel out his extracts’ powers. “Kaibosh Ur Mana!” the mystic shouted while doing some crazy thing with his fingers, but the magic of the alchemist’s concoctions was too strong.
“Damn!” Aria growled as Devil laughed and hurled explosive vials down onto her and her companions. “I guess it’s up to me! Sarenrae, here my prayer and dispel the magic that bolsters this evil doer!”
At the cleric’s request, a bubble of abjuring light once again enclosed the alchemist. However, Aria too was met with disappointment. “It looks as though even your faith is no match for the superior alchemy of the Devil, servant of the Dawnflower!” Corazón laughed bombarding the priest with an incendiary that splashed fire onto Zachariah and Jasper.
Roch’s ice storm kept the cloying flames of Devil’s bombs from engulfing the adventurers, but it couldn’t save them from the terrible might of the bugbear priest in their midst. Reaching out with a necromancy-blackened hand large enough to crush a watermelon, Logray grabbed hold of Jasper. The rogue groaned as a jagged, dark lattice spread over his body, stopping his heart and dropping him to the floor.
Aria activated the mystical amulet around her neck, a talisman that provided healing power in the direst of emergencies, without hesitation. Jasper was saved but, being unconscious, he was still in danger from the remaining wererat standing over his body. Before the beast could attack however, Roch unleashed a pair of blazing beams that lit the rat-goblin up like a candle and sent it spiraling to the floor next to the rogue.
“Your lackeys are dispatched!” Zachariah huffed. The magus was barely standing but tried to put on a brave face. “Give yourselves up now and we might go easy you!”
“Bold words from an ash pile!” Devil howled as he flew across the room and hurled another bomb at Aria that caught the magus and Jasper in its blast. As he did, a slim, barbed javelin found its way into Logray’s back. Klibb hadn’t had time to study the bugbear long enough to perform his Stonedeath Strike, but he hoped his surprise attack might rattle their foes. Now Zachariah fell and Aria, having expended her store of positive energy for the day, burned the final charge on her amulet, saving the magus as she channeled the breath of life into Jasper.
“Try not to die anymore today,” Aria advised the rogue as he came to his senses. “I’ve only got one more of those left, and it’s just been reserved for our magus.”
“Don’t you get around?” Jasper joked, tumbling out of Logray’s reach as Roch and Klibb flanked the monster. Signs of wear were definitely beginning to show on the old bugbear.
“Devil’s barely taken a scratch,” Jasper whispered to his companions via their linked message spell. “Concentrate on bringing down Logray! Aria, just try to keep us on our feet.”
“You could get over here and help!” Roch shouted, blasting the evil priest with another beam of flame. The bugbear responded to the theurge’s attack with a pair of heavy, negative energy-infused blows from his wicked morning star that knocked Roch into the wall. The howler-spine javelin in his back had held firm but it was barely slowing the spell-enhanced bugbear down.
Aria managed to rouse Zachariah amidst the searing flames of Corazón’s bombs, but the sinister scientist’s attacks had taken their toll on the poor halfling’s hide. “We’ve got to spread out or he’ll just keep catching us all in his blast radius,” Zachariah directed the cleric. “Get to a safe distance where you can heal yourself while we deal with his crony.”
Together, Klibb, Jasper and Roch flanked the monstrous priest with spell and blade while Zachariah directed a line of lightning into Logray’s furry behind. At last, the villain fell but not before landing a devastating, parting blow to the party’s own felonious theurge. Channeling the dark energy of his murderous god into his weapon, Logray delivered a killing strike to Roch that pierced his skull and sent shards of scale and bone into the mystic’s brain. Logray fell onto Roch’s corpse seconds later, felled by Zachariah's lightning and, this time, there was nothing Aria could do to stop the death of one of her companions.
“I guess we’ll call this a draw then,” Devil grinned from his lofty vantage. Then producing an iron vial from his bandolier, the alchemist announced, “Logray, my comrade in chemistry, I drink to your sacrifice!” And with that, Corazón swallowed the contents of the vial, vanished and quickly escaped.
“Blast!” Jasper cursed. The rogue tried to secure the doors to the chamber but it was too late. A quick scan of the chamber for mystical energies revealed Corazón had indeed flown the coop.
“He might have gone after Arnarah or the young ones!” Zachariah exclaimed. “We should go after him!”
“Take Klibb and go quickly then,” Aria suggested, examining the remains of the bugbear priest. “It looks like his friend is still breathing.”
Recognizing the bone holy symbol around Logray’s neck as a sign of The Hunter, an obscure bugbear deity believed by some to be a mask of Norgorber, god of murder, Aria drew her axe. “Jasper and I will take care of things here,” she finished.
“Klibb thinks it is strange,” Klibb observed as he turned to go. “Klibb remembers this one. Bugbear warriors make sport of killing goblins, but old one never hunts. Klibb heard him always stays behind; even when warriors all killed by adventurers and tribe all dead. Why Aria think old one change?…Hmph, better to make sure he dead Klibb guess.”
Klibb put his hands on the howler javelin jutting from Logray’s back ready to give it a tug that would rake its tiny spines through the bugbears wound, killing him for certain, when Aria stayed his hand and looked up at Jasper. “Do you think?…”
***
Logray woke bound within a rubble-strewn chamber somewhere deep within Arnarah’s lair. Four trapped pillars of loose, inscribed stone had once adorned the room but they’d fallen, nearly killing Shi the last time the adventurers passed through the area. Now, Aria and her companions used the once-deadly hidden chamber as a sanctuary from the minotaurs of the Red Horn clan who had no doubt been tipped off to Arnarah's deception by the fleeing Corazón.
Klibb had snuck back to Four Waters to get help but, thanks to his knowledge of Logray, Jasper and Aria reasoned the shaman may have been coerced into aiding the alchemist through magic. Before fleeing her lair to a safe, undisclosed location with her flock of young harpies and Flash, Arnarah had assisted the party by dispelling any lingering enchantments upon the unconscious bugbear.
Logray’s mind felt less clouded than when he fought at Devil’s side and memories of his first encounter with the alchemist rushed into his brain as his strange captors questioned him. At first, the old bugbear refused to speak of little more than trivial undertakings with The Trust and Devil and, even then, he spoke only in Goblin in terse, standoffish grunts. However, when Aria revealed she believed he’d been magically induced to aid the alchemist, anger and indignation dictated Logray reveal all he knew of Devil’s plot.
“I am The Healer,” Logray began. The Healer, because that’s all anyone knew to call him then, had resolved to spend his final days in the solitude of his hidden chamber after the young warriors of his tribe were killed and his old friend Aughkin left to find death in the jaws of his dire wolf nemesis, The Mighty Grrr’d. There he stayed, minding his own business, until Talita Draghinazzo and her companions arrived at his doorstep with an offer. The group was in need of a cleric who knew the dungeon’s corridors and offered him a cut of any loot they found as well as an inexhaustible supply of monsters to hunt for his dark god. The Healer refused.
The bard Threepenny and Corazón returned the next day and Logray now suspected they’d convinced him to join their party through a combination of mind-dulling hallucinogens provided by the alchemist and trickery by the bard. Regardless of their methods, the bugbear found adventuring with the group revitalized his spirit and gave him new purpose in life. Talita and her companions treated Logray with great respect and loyalty and he soon became a good friend to Threepenny and enjoyed his time discussing herbalism and alchemy with Corazón. How much of this could be attributed to Corazón’s chemicals or Threepenny’s silver tongue, Logray couldn’t say, but he remembered the bard pulling him aside one day to discuss a private matter concerning the alchemist.
Talita, it seemed, suspected Corazón was up to something, citing his occasional solo jaunts into the dungeon, and wanted Logray to keep an eye on him since the two were close. The bugbear recalled traveling with Devil and reporting his actions to Threepenny but noted Talita and the other members of the Trust never moved to intervene, even after learning of his plans for the Stone Spirit Goblins. Then, Logray revealed something else about Talita and her companions the adventurers had never suspected.
“Black scale,” the old shaman growled nodding toward his component pouch, which Aria had set with his confiscated gear. The halfling reached into the pouch and dug out an ebony dragon scale about the size of large coin and Logray revealed The Trust was much larger than the six members of his adventuring party. Talita had been recruiting members of the commune to serve as a militia for the defense of Four Waters since shortly after their return from battling the dragon, Nardarik. The organization’s numbers, Logray suspected, had now reached more than two-dozen men who patrolled the commune’s borders and served as prison guards in the dragon’s former lair. Logray revealed only members of the original group who killed Nardarik held the black scales and, secretly, that group called themselves the Black Scale Company.
Members of the Black Scale Company, Logray informed the party, were entitled to special services, equipment and support provided by commune members serving in The Trust but, even within their clandestine circle, there were still more secrets. “Threepenny, Draghinazzo, Lake,” Logray grunted. These were the adventurers who had first formed his adventuring party and they made up the upper echelon of the Black Scale Company. Together, they secretly plotted out the course of the Company and devised all the strategies for defeating the monsters the Trust faced in defense of the commune. “They know,” spoke the bugbear. “They do not act.”
“What do you think it means?” Aria asked Jasper. “Do you think they wanted Devil to succeed?”
“Up to now, I’ve always heard they work toward the best interests of Four Waters,” the rogue replied. “There’s a lot of tension between the commune and the minotaurs, and the good relations and flow of gold between Argliss’ goblins and the Broken Axe Tribe isn’t making anyone feel any safer. Maybe they planned to take control of the wererats to use against the minotaurs if a war broke out? Given how he was consistently able to charm our fuzzy friend here, this bard sounds like he’s got the makings of a real pied piper.”
“Why wouldn’t they just go to the Four Waters council, tell them their suspicions?” Zachariah asked. “They could work with Balian and Rose to shore up the commune’s defenses.”
“What the council doesn’t know can’t come back to hurt them,” Jasper answered. “The minotaurs would find out if Four Waters was putting more guards along the border. If they were going to attack, they’d account for that. If The Black Scale Company keeps the wererats a secret, they can send them at the minotaurs from behind, placing the blame on Devil. It’s sneaky, risky and more than a little questionable morally but, if it works, they get rid of the minotaurs, Devil and a bunch of evil goblins who hate Four Waters' oldest ally and biggest trade partner. ..I like it.”
“Vornmik did say the minotaurs are on the verge of reunifying their tribes,” Aria conceded. “That might be all it takes to revert to their old ways and push them to war with Four Waters.”
“Whatever the case, I think a discussion with Contessa Draghinazzo is in order,” spoke the magus.
Having heard Logray’s story, Jasper asked Zachariah to cut the bugbear loose. He may have been evil and he made no apologies for slaying Roch, but the shaman seemed honestly angry toward his Black Scale Company cohorts and, free of their spell, he now only wanted to return to his home in Region B where he would wait for his god, The Hunter, to come and claim his life. Logray was gone the next morning, a small satchel of potions resting where he’d slept and the black dragon scale placed where’d laid his head.
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Last session, the party seemingly foiled Devil Corazon's nefarious plot only to discover what might be an even more insidious conspiracy. What exactly is the Black Scale Company planning, and what, if anything, does it have to with the missing adventurers? With only two sessions remaining before I move away from Oregon forever, the party begins a race against time to save the people of Four Waters from the mysterious, true enemy lurking among them.
DAY 223-224 LOOSE ENDS pt. 6, The Return of The Golden Axe
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Roch – Halfling Mystic Theurge
Klibb – NPC Goblin Stonedeath Assassin
“The reunification ceremony for the minotaur tribes is tomorrow,” Shi informed the adventurers. The priest had arrived with Klibb sometime after noon using his silver key to bypass the Griffon Door. “Four Waters’ governing council has been invited along with Emperor Argliss and myself.”
“This can’t be good,” Jasper worried, going on to explain what the party had discovered about Devil Corazón, the Stone Spirit Goblins and the Black Scale Company. “Whether the minotaurs are part of the plot or the Black Scale Company’s intended target, I think they mean to kill the leaders of both Four Waters and the Goblin Empire all at once.”
“Corazón did say he had a party to attend,” Zachariah recalled. “Do you think he’ll be there?”
“It’s possible,” Aria replied. “But it seems we’ve got more important questions to answer now and less than twenty-four hours to figure things out.”
The adventurers quickly and quietly returned to Four Waters through the Griffon Door. It was obvious Red Horn minotaurs had indeed come into Arnarah’s tunnels during the night in search of the sphinx, but there were no signs of them now. As they returned to the safety of the commune, the party could only hope the brutes hadn’t caught the sphinx’s scent.
Back at Shi’s mausoleum home in the Goblin Empire, the party broke company with the cleric and Klibb. Both felt they should inform Emperor Argliss and the Four Waters council of the party’s suspicions involving a possible minotaur attack at the ceremony but, before he left, Shi imparted some newly uncovered knowledge to the adventurers.
***
“Confound me for an idiot!” Zachariah cursed as Jasper located a loose brick hidden in the wall of a seldom-used room within Region A. “The elf went on and on about this place every time we spoke! I should have thought of this sooner!”
The residents of Four Waters had walled up the hidden chamber in the interest of public safety shortly after establishing their commune, but it seemed someone had replaced the bricks with a cunningly hidden door. Jasper led the way down a small flight of stairs through a short hall and into a darkened chamber where some intruder had recently sprung a tripwire sending a pile of bricks and mortar crashing to the floor from above. A pair of rigged and mounted heavy crossbows aimed at the doorway had also been recently activated.
“What is that horrible smell?” Aria thought aloud as she stepped around the pile of masonry into the chamber where shelves, sacks and boxes of food and other supplies formed an obstacle course of barriers and kill zones.
“I think I just found out,” Jasper commented. “Looks like our boy Marcus was into recycling.” Behind the barricades of equipment and food was a makeshift privy concealed by a curtain of tattered, stained and ill-smelling tapestries. Jars and buckets of waste filled a corner of the stall.
“That’s not the only thing,” Zachariah ruefully spoke as he pulled down another curtain revealing a large stone chair fitted with iron wrist and ankle restraints. Claw marks had been dug into the stone at the armrests and the whole thing was spattered in blood. A pair of dead goblins, one apparently done in with an axe, the other strangled, were draped at the foot of the throne like sacrifices laid out before a hungry god.
“Sarenrae be merciful,” Aria exclaimed in hushed horror. A web of crude drawings and notes on torn parchment connected by twine was affixed to the wall behind the chair; the pattern revealing a timeline of events following the actions of the adventuring party and nearly everyone they’d come into contact with since the group’s inception. Maddened scribbling containing phrases such as “HE’S STILL WATCHING!” “NEVER DEAD!” and “THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS!” surrounded the web.
“Longtail, Argliss, Nardarik, Seraxes?” Jasper read the names of creatures the party had encountered from the wall. “Aside from us and Zachariah, Aria, he’s even listed everyone who’s served with Roch and Shi’s group; how and where they died? What is all this?”
“It all points to this spot here,” Zachariah directed his companions’ attention to a void in the center of the web marked with the words “THE DEVIL.” “Do you think Marcus means Corazón?”
“He definitely seems to have had suspicions about The Trust and Threepenny,” Aria noted studying the diagram. “We can’t know for certain unless we find him. Jasper, do you think these goblins might have been part of a larger group sent to take him by force?”
The rogue scanned the room for clues then replied, “No. Someone else set off those traps. From what I’ve been told, Marcus was a bowyer and a simple fighter. He may have been able to rig up the crossbows, but I doubt he could have installed that hidden door or the deadfall trap. My guess is he hired these goblins to help him fortify this place and then murdered them so they couldn’t tell anyone about it. No idea why he’d place them near the chair though.”
“I think I know,” Zachariah spoke. “He was mad. Marcus told me he was cursed the instant he sat down on the throne. He somehow got it into his head that repeatedly sitting in the chair would expend its powers, but it just made him worse. Perhaps he thought he could appease the tortured spirits within the throne by offering them the goblins.”
“Or maybe the voices in his head simply told him to do it,” Aria spoke. “Such tragedy…There’s nothing more for us here. Let’s go. We should tell someone this place needs to be resealed but, first, I have questions for Contessa Draghinazzo and the rest of the Black Scale Company.”
***
Roch crawled from his slimy cocoon onto the floor of the druid Slissth’s tent sometime in the early evening while his companions were searching Marcus’ bunker. Klibb had brought a portion of the theurge’s corpse to the lizardwoman after locating and selling off enough of Roch’s stashed loot to pay for her services, and the mystic was startled to find he’d lost about 200lbs of weight and nearly four feet of height in the process of being reincarnated.
“Tell me this isn’t permanent,” Roch spoke, coughing up strange revitalizing fluids at the feet of the druid. The tough scales and tail of his old lizardfolk body were gone. His clawed hands had grown small and feeble. The only vestige of his former body to remain was the finger missing from his right hand. The missing digit would serve as an eternal reminder of his heresy against Nethys.
“When last you were returned to this world by my magic, my ancestors gifted you with the form of my people,” Slissth hissed. “Perhaps they believed you would do great things. Perhaps they believed you would become a hero. Now, perhaps you have done something to change their mind?”
Roch grumbled as he wrapped himself in a nearby blanket and stalked out of the tent. Whether the lizardwoman’s ancestors, fate or the vengeful spirits of 23 murdered drow slaves had anything to do with his return to life as a halfling, none could say. For now, he could only seek out his companions and retrieve his equipment. Swapping his old gear for appropriately sized weapons and armor and purchasing diamond dust to restore his former powers would eat up nearly every scrap of tradable goods, gems and coins the theurge had saved and he greedily and spitefully refused to divide the proceeds of any party-owned loot he sold among the rest of the group so that he might regain some semblance of his former might.
“You can’t expect me to kill a bunch of minotaurs or fight Corazón again if I’m not at full strength,” Roch complained to his companions upon finding them at Macready’s pub. As luck would have it, they’d been unable to locate Draghinazzo or any of her companions.
“You’re right,” Jasper began. “I expect you to ru-“
“We’ll go get you some diamond dust and I’ll cast the spells you require,” Aria wisely interrupted before Jasper could finish. “I don’t think the Garrison will allow me to purchase any for a non-member so we’ll have to go to the ratfolk. Hopefully, they’ve mined a few diamonds out of that quarry since we left. It’s going to take us awhile to get up there and back, Jasper. Why don’t you and Zachariah head over to the prison to see if you can find any of the Black Scale Company members?”
Aria and Roch’s visit to the ratfolk was rather mundane, but they did learn that the industrious rodent people had quickly and truly established themselves as the new masters of The Barrows. Small market stalls, crafting stations and living spaces had been built throughout the tunnels and a team of ratfolk miners had been assembled to dig precious stones and metals from the nearby quarry. Kate Farrier, Four Waters’ master smith had also begun to make regular trips up to The Barrows to teach the ratfolk forging techniques, and some limited trade with Four Waters had been established with the aid of Spishak Kilbane, the commune’s minister of commerce.
Meeting with their old friend Ripitat, the pair also learned the centaur paladin Melody and the halfling Riswan had their hands full defending the ratfolk from the cruel pranks of the mephits in the river of lava and the predations of the strange creatures in the Halls of Flesh. The evil lamia Zoisimas was also still at large and the ratfolk kept a watchful eye on the north shores of the river for any sign of return by the exiled drow. Meanwhile, Zachariah and Jasper found their efforts to gain access to the Region C prison stymied by protocol.
***
“Your quest sounds very noble and I’d love to help you, but I can’t simply bestow the Mark on any hero who asks for it anymore,” Coleman informed the adventurers. The lantern archon was the only creature capable of bestowing the Mark of the Righteous and, without the Mark, entry to the prison was impossible. “Since the Garrison gave its blessing to your people to use the east tunnels as a prison, I’ve had to tighten up on who’s allowed in. A good man capable of bearing the Mark can still be used by the wicked to gain access to the prison.”
“This very chamber is a testament to the power of evil to corrupt a righteous heart,” the archon continued. Coleman rarely actually visited the prison, preferring instead to hold vigil in the former prison of Falortuglio, an ancient demon so powerful and so massive he had to be chained within a 200-foot block of ice with mystically reinforced links supposedly forged from legendary aurorum by Torag himself and held in place by a mighty solar angel while the prison was built around them both. “Even with all these precautions,” Coleman informed the adventurers, “Falortuglio was freed by a noble hero who, ironically, had come to the dungeon to research ways of banishing and killing demons.”
“But our people are in danger!” Jasper pleaded. “Several people have already been murdered or gone missing, wererats stalk the halls and the minotaurs could attack tomorrow morning!”
“I don’t doubt the earnestness of your request, but the Mark can only be given to one who is pure of heart and benevolent of purpose,” the lantern archon countered. “Your friend here possesses those qualities, but you, sir, do not, and that gives me cause for suspicion. Furthermore, you’ve brought me no evidence that what you say is true. However, I do want your people to be safe. If you can bring a member of the Celestial Garrison here to corroborate your story, I will bestow the mark upon your companion and lend you whatever aid I can.”
Defeated by the archon’s unflinching commitment to security, the adventurers left to find a member of the Celestial Garrison to back up their claims. Fortunately, they knew a couple.
“Klibb was sent up to scout the Broken Axe territory before tomorrow’s ceremony,” Hammerfist informed the adventurers. “The Emperor asked him to stay there until our arrival in case what he said about an attack turns out to be true.”
Jasper thanked the hobgoblin for the information and turned to leave. “Damn,” he cursed. “I was hoping we could make this quick and just grab the goblin to back us up. I guess we’ll have to find Aria.”
On their way up to The Barrows, the pair passed through Region E, the home of the Celestial Garrison. “We could ask someone here,” Zachariah suggested. A pair of uniformed members of the Redeemers, prisoners who had volunteered to serve the garrison, walked ahead of the adventurers, patrolling the area. With nothing to lose, Jasper approached the warriors and explained the situation.
“Have you asked the guards at the prison entrance to let you in?” asked one of the warriors, a hobgoblin who introduced himself as Ackersan Redsword, commander of the Redeemers. Ackersan had been one of the original Redeemed, warriors conscripted into service by the inevitables of the garrison until the adventuring party’s efforts set them free. “Seems like the first thing I would have done.”
The adventurers felt kind of dumb after hearing Ackersan’s suggestion. Neither of them had thought to just go straight to the prison. A little red in the face, they thanked Acksersan and his companion for their time and continued to the Barrows. “Not a word of this to Aria or Roch,” Jasper warned Zachariah.
“Agreed,” replied the magus as the pair took the tunnels north toward the warded gate into Region I. “Something’s been bothering me since our fight with the Tunnel Rats...”
Zachariah went on to explain how he remembered a line from the goblins’ battle song that mentioned them eating their victims and how they dealt with any remains. “We haven’t found any bones or any trace of equipment from Hurk or Thorin,” the magus went on. “And the goblins’ song mentioned a dusty well where they tossed their leftovers. I think I’ve figured out where it is. It was coming into Region E that reminded me.”
The magus had lived in Four Waters a bit longer than Jasper and knew that refuse from both the commune and the Goblin Empire typically wound up in a pit in Region E. The hole had been created by the celestials for the same reason and was enchanted to disintegrate anything tossed into it about every ten minutes, leaving only a fine dust. “Sounds like a good place to dispose of a body,” Jasper agreed.
“Not to mention a good way to keep a murder victim from returning to life and spoiling a conspiracy,” the magus added. The adventurers paid a quick visit to the disintegration pit where they ran into the goblin and dwarf duo of Writa and Wrunt who were dumping trash from the commune. Always looking to make a little extra money, the clever goblin and her slow-witted friend agreed to keep an eye on the pit and report the delivery of any suspicious packages to the adventuring party for a handful of gemstones.
***
It was a little past midnight when the party returned to the shrine in Region B where Aria and Roch had been staying. The minotaurs’ ceremony was less than 10 hours away, and the adventurers would need to rest if they were going to be ready for the suspected assault.
“I’m going to give the prison another try,” Jasper informed Aria. The rogue had purchased an enchanted ring from the goblin wizard Fargallan that kept him fed and alert with only a couple hours rest. “If I’m not here when you wake, head to the ceremony without me.”
Aria, Roch and Zachariah woke the next morning to find Jasper had not returned. “I don’t care what he said, we should go after him,” Roch argued. “We’re going to need him when the minotaurs attack!”
“There’s no time,” Aria countered. “We’ll never make it to the ceremony on time if we go to the prison. Jasper said to go without him, and I agree with him. There’s a lot more at stake here than his safety.”
Markuli’s throne room was already filled with spectators from the three communities of prisoners, goblins and minotaurs by the time the adventurers arrived, and the trio could see the chieftain’s guards were on high alert. A pair of hulking minotaurs in gold-enameled breastplates wielding huge axes flanked the end of the chamber keeping a watchful eye on the guests as well as their own people. Red Horn and Broken Axe minotaurs sat across from each other, each armed and girded for battle, while a dozen goblin caravaneers sat behind them across from a group of tradesmen from Four Waters. The adventurers could see the front rows were filled with dignitaries from the Goblin Empire and the commune and caught sight of Shi pushing through the crowd toward them.
“You made it, good,” the cleric spoke. “Klibb is around here somewhere, but I wasn’t able to find Cul’tharic.” The party had asked Shi to seek out their lizardman friend and bring him along as backup. “I went to the Celestial Garrison’s garden where he’s been staying but there was no trace of him.”
“Jasper’s missing too,” Aria informed the priest. “And Riswan was too busy with things up north.”
“I don’t like this,” Roch grumbled. “There aren’t enough of us. If those goblins over there turn out to be more wererats, we’re screwed when the minotaurs attack.”
“It’s not all that bad,” Shi replied directing the theurge’s attention to the line of heavily armored hobgoblins at the back of the room. “Emperor Argliss’ royal guard,” he added. “Hammerfist is also up front and Argliss brought that yeth hound of his. I think Fargallan may have even snuck in here. He’s probably transformed himself into a halfling. Speaking of which, Roch…I expected to see less of you when I retired from the party, but you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”
The theurge growled and reached for his small warhammer. “That’s adorable,” Shi grinned. “Does it make a squeaky sound when you strike things with it?”
“Howabout I show y-“Roch began before the priest interjected.
“Oh darn! The ceremony’s about to start,” Shi piped. “Sorry to cut this short, but I’d better get back to my seat.”
Roch huffed as Shi escaped to the front of the room and everyone quieted. With the chamber calm, the ceremony began and the adventurers prepared themselves to spring into action.
The reunification ceremony began with an oratory performance by the minotaur bard Vornmik, who recounted the history of the Golden Axe tribe and the bloody swath of destruction it created in reaching the labyrinth of Region F. Her words seemed to stir the hearts of the assembled minotaurs, but they also made the adventurers nervous that a fight was about to break out. Fortunately, that was not the case and Vornmik went on to tell of the sundering of the tribe and of the Golden Axe itself during a battle that left Markuli maimed and missing his left arm.
The bard’s performance ended with the tale of how the Contessa Talita Draghinazzo and her companions defeated the evil wizard Durtenian Vaielle and freed the Red Horn clan from his tyranny. Here, she drew the crowd’s attention to Talita herself who viewed the ceremony from a seat of honor next to the bard Wilbert “Threepenny” Brechurt. After a short round of applause from the minotaurs, Vornmik announced the arrival of the newly reforged Golden Axe held aloft by the Red Horn weaponsmith Skrimmi.
Skrimmi moved slowly down the center aisle and, with every step, Vornmik named a worthy victim of its gleaming, enchanted blade and the battle in which they died.
“Any moment now,” Roch whispered to his companions.
At last, Skrimmi reached Markuli and Gartuk, the Red Horn’s new chief and Markuli’s own half-sister, and the pair of minotaur leaders each place one hand on the weapon’s haft.
“With this act, the Golden Axe is renewed,” Markuli spoke.
“Let it never again be sundered!” grinned Gartuk.
“This is it,” Roch growled, one hand on his component pouch and another on his hammer.
The minotaurs in the crowd suddenly shouted in unison but, much to the adventurers’ surprise, it was not a battlecry or a challenge they roared. The brutes were celebrating; some even lifted goblins onto their shoulders as they cheered. There was no attack. Peace reigned over the proceedings and, as a line formed to congratulate the minotaurs’ leaders, the adventurers made their way toward the front of the chamber, their sights set on Talita and Threepenny.
“You must be Aria!” Threepenny shouted in greeting. “I’m so happy to finally meet you! You and your companion Jasper have gotten in with a good bunch; real heroes they are! Who are your friends? New recruits?”
Aria and Roch questioned the bard as Talita continued to speak with Argliss and the minotaurs, all the while trying to downplay their suspicions about The Trust and the Black Scale Company. Threepenny seemed congenial to their inquiries and even admitted to knowing about Corazón’s wererat scheme when Aria brought up the topic.
“I’m afraid we learned of Thorin’s fate too late, and we still don’t know Corazón’s ultimate goal,” Brechurt revealed after telling the party of how the alchemist infiltrated their own group under the alias of Esteban DeAblo. “We hoped Logray would return to make a new report once he had more information, but he never came back. It wasn’t until Esteban arrived to the prison a couple days ago claiming he’d been attacked that we had any indication something was wrong.”
“You’re saying Devil Corazón came to see you?” Aria asked.
“Yes. He claimed the Stone Spirit Goblins were responsible for the whole affair and they’d killed Logray,” Brechurt replied. “Unfortunately for him, he was a much better disguise artist than he was a liar. We confronted him and he turned on us. I’m afraid he took his secrets to the grave.”
“You killed him!?” Roch stammered. “What did you do with his body?”
“Still in the prison,” answered the bard. “We haven’t had time to give him a proper sendoff what with preparations for the ceremony going on.”
“Speaking of the prison,” Aria interjected. “Jasper went there to speak with Sid Lake last night and never returned. I don’t suppose you’d know why?”
“I think I know exactly why,” replied Brechurt who went on to explain the ancient celestial security system placed at the entrance to the prison. “The Path of the Righteous, Coleman called it. Some creatures find it very difficult to pass into the area and its effects can be quite debilitating. In fact, that’s why Mr. Lake didn’t make it to the ceremony. My friend has an erratic personality the magic of the path seems to target. He doesn’t like to pass over the Path because it works both ways coming and going. That’s why Nardarik’s old lair makes it a perfect prison. We can drag the prisoners in and they’ve little chance of walking out. From what I’ve heard of your friend’s moral leanings, he’s probably laid up in a bed with something akin to the mother of all hangovers.”
Threepenny seemed to have an answer for everything, but neither Roch nor Aria could detect any sort of duplicity from the bard. Even when asked about the existence of the Black Scale Company, Brechurt freely told Aria of how the group was little more than a harmless secret club made up of only those who had fought the dragon Nardarik. He also admitted to using an enchantment spell to charm the cleric Logray when his group first met the bugbear but claimed that, eventually, the spell wasn’t necessary as the old priest became more comfortable with the adventurers.
“Any charm Logray was under when you found him was likely the result of Devil’s chemistry,” Threepenny guessed. “The two of them used to concoct all sorts of addictive, mind-dulling substances. I wouldn’t be surprised if Corazón came up with something he could use to put Logray back under his sway.”
“The Trust is something of a public secret,” Brechurt continued. “The Redeemers do good work but, ultimately, they’re loyal to the Celestial Garrison and they spend most of their time in the Garrison’s territory. Likewise, the Welcoming Party at the front gate has an important job, but they’re primarily made up of folks like you and I, real adventurers. The Contessa decided Four Waters needed a combat-trained force ready to defend the commune itself and began recruiting volunteers to serve in the militia and at the prison. We don’t really advertise for new members because we don’t want to pull too many people away from the equally important jobs of crafting equipment, scavenging supplies and even garbage removal.”
Aria and Roch’s conversation with the bard continued as Talita finally managed to pull herself away from Markuli and Gartuk and the cavalier proved equally cordial and open if a bit curt. Before much could be asked of the Contessa however, Zachariah alerted his companions to Shi who was pushing rapidly through the crowd toward them.
As Shi approached, the adventurers could see Emperor Argliss’ hobgoblin guards throwing people out of their way in order to surround the goblin monarch and escort him to safety while the delegation from Four Waters rushed for the throne room’s exit.
“The commune’s come under attack,” spoke the priest.
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When I began GMing this campaign four years ago, I knew I wouldn't be in Oregon long enough to finish the whole WLD so I started jotting down ideas about how I could give my players a final adventure that would feel like an ending since we aren't getting to play through the whole thing together.
Basically, the "Loose Ends" part of the campaign I'm putting the players through now is stuff the party missed in the last four years tied together by a subplot I came up with when we started the campaign and what I feel are logical results of their actions. For instance, Arnarah's plot with the wizard Durtennian Vaielle actually happened in the book but the party never found out about it. I added in the goblin-wererat plot myself, but that couldn't have happened without Hurk (a former PC) being infected by the wererat, Longtail, in Region A and then the party choosing to let the surviving Stone Spirit Goblins walk away in Region B. The wererats then provided the party with a reason to visit Region F where they could learn about Arnarah's deception.
I'm trying to weave together all the missing pieces from Regions A, B, C, E and F with the consequences of the players' actions so my current players not only get some questions answered but also to show them the effect they've had on the dungeon since arriving. Regions I and M just wrapped up and I'm in no hurry to make my players go back to deal with escaped driders or giant, killer air elementals so I'm saving all that stuff for another day. For now, those Regions are contained but I've always got them to go back to if I get another group to finish this adventure.
There have been a lot of callbacks to past adventures and cameos by NPCs the party has helped or fought, and there are still a few more to go. The biggest change I made to the dungeon that's allowing me to connect all these NPCs to one another is the inclusion of the prisoner commune that the players helped to establish. Four Waters and the NPCs who live there, including and especially The Black Scale Company, are an addition I made so the players would have a place to rest and trade gear, but also so I would have the tools I needed to tie this all together. I just hope the ending doesn't disappoint.
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Here is it, folks. The penultimate chapter of what might be the party's final adventure. With Jasper still missing, the party rushes back to Four Waters to learn of a sudden, nefarious attack and their investigation reveals their mysterious adversary's plot goes much further than eliminating a few retired adventurers.
Our final session is tonight, but the final chapter probably won't be posted until I've gotten to Alaska since I leave town tomorrow. I've also packed most of my minis stuff, which is why I haven't posted any recent pics. Now, let's get on with the show...
DAY 224 LOOSE ENDS pt. 7, The Fall of an Empire
featuring the World's Largest Adventuring Party
Aria – Halfling Holy Vindicator of Sarenrae
Jasper – Human Rogue
Zachariah – Human Magus
Roch – Halfling Mystic Theurge
Klibb – NPC Goblin Stonedeath Assassin
Aria, Zachariah and Roch arrived to Four Waters to find its citizens on high alert. Reports were coming in from all over the commune that several goblins visiting from the Stoneshaper Empire had suddenly transformed into wererats and savagely attacked anyone nearby. The creatures had been put down before the party could return from the minotaurs’ ceremony, but many residents had been injured and there had been at least one death.
“Dammit!,” Aria exclaimed. “The ceremony was never the target! They used it as a distraction!”
“I suppose it could have been worse,” Zachariah noted. “Think of the damage they’d have caused if we hadn’t caught Devil in Arnarah’s lair. We killed a dozen of the monsters ourselves and the sphinx got those in the prison with her trap. It sounds as if they were forced to make do with the goblins left over in the Tunnel Rats’ lair.”
“Let’s hope those were the last of them then,” added Roch. “We should check out the Tunnel Rats’ headquarters to make sure.”
Before traveling into the Goblin Empire, the group stopped to check in on Writa and Wrunt, the porters hired by Jasper to watch the disintegration pit. The goblin happily received her pay from Aria and reported a pair of men carrying a sack had come in during the wererat attack.
“Big fellas they were,” Writa mentioned. “Rough-an-tumble sorts for certain. Sack they had was lumpy as a punched up pillow and sagging in the middle. They took one look at Wrunt and me and chaffed off. Tried to make it look they bumbled into the wrong pitch too; took their sack withum. Wrunt an’ me, we just hunkered here while the hollering was on so we’dint see where they gawdoff-ta.”
“I don’t suppose you two would be willing to continue monitoring this place for us?” Zachariah asked, but the goblin wasn’t running a charity. She and Wrunt had already been paid enough to keep them fat and happy for a year, and she expected the party’s pockets must be pretty deep if they’d pay so much for someone to stare at a hole.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got another handful of those sparklers for us?” asked Writa as she leapt up onto Wrunt’s shoulders, her hand extended to receive payment. The adventurers refused to pay the goblin so she and her dwarf friend happily left for Macready’s pub to get drunk on mushroom ale.
“None of this makes any sense,” Zachariah spoke as he and his companions traveled toward Region B. “If the Black Scale Company wants to protect Four Waters, why would they attack it with wererats and, if it was the minotaurs, why didn’t the Company stop it when they first learned about it?”
“I think I may have an idea,” Aria announced, directing her companion’s attention toward a crowd gathered around an old man shouting from atop a crate and shaking a goblin vest emblazoned with the gray fist of the Stoneshaper Empire. A dead goblin, presumably one of the wererats who had attacked the commune, lay dead at his feet.
“They had that orc-filth wererat locked up over this whole time!” shouted the man. “The council knew about it and didn’t do a thing! It was only a matter of time before something like this happened! I’ll bet those goblins planned this!”
“Baker, you cur, what’s the meaning of this?!” Roch exclaimed as he pushed through the crowd. The mystic recognized the old curmudgeon, Roger Baker, from when he first joined the adventuring party. Back then Roger had stood idle while the fighter Troy was nearly killed by a hellwasp swarm. The butcher was well known for his anti-authoritarian attitude but now it seemed he had the ear of the people.
“Emperor Argliss and the Council have some explaining to do, that’s the meaning of this!” Baker growled. “We want to know who’s responsible for this attack and what’s going to be done about it! We want justice for our wounded and our dead!”
Zachariah suddenly and forcibly shoved Baker from the crate causing the butcher to stumble hard to the ground. “That’s enough rabble rousing out of you for today, old man,” the magus glared.
“Ow, my hip!” Baker squealed before shouting again to the crowd from the ground. “You see this?! Their true colors are revealed! See how they treat us common people?! These adventurers are all the lapdogs of the Council and the goblins! Why, just the other day I saw them traveling with a group of goblins on rat-drawn sleds! Rat! Drawn! Sleds! I’ll bet they’re in league with the wererats!”
Here, Aria stepped in to attempt to placate the crowd while Roch and Zachariah held off Baker’s cronies. The cleric tried to explain what they’d discovered about Devil Corazón’s plot and his connection to the Stone Spirit Goblins, but the damage was done. While Aria managed to delay a full-scale revolt by the gathered residents, it was obvious many were still suspicious of the Goblin Empire and a few were even suspicious of the party.
“We’ve got to find Jasper and settle this before things get further out of hand,” Aria grumbled.
***
The adventurers were halfway to the prison in Region C, discussing their next move, when Roch and Aria noticed something tiny, fast and furry moving along the edge of the wall toward them. Aria quickly grabbed at the thing as it passed and came up with a rat, ordinary but for the tiny monogrammed vest it wore.
“That’s one of Spishak’s delivery rats!” Roch informed the cleric. The halfling adept had expanded his service a few months ago by training rodents to carry equipment requests and messages throughout the dungeon. “Looks like he’s got someone’s shopping list tucked into his vest!”
“Oh! Sorry about that, little guy,” Aria apologized to the rat, gently setting it back onto the ground. “Better let him get back to Spishak then,” she remarked to her companions. “I’d hate to be responsible for that charlatan docking the little fella’s cheese rations if he’s late with his delivery. Probably just somebody’s Allnight prescription, anyway.”
“Yeah. Probably just dick pills,” thought the GM as the fuzzy little clue disappeared down the corridor.
***
Coleman was just returning from one of his weekly visits to the athach, Nurganar, when the party found him in the former prison cell of the demon Falortuglio. The lantern archon was in a cheerful mood after seeing how well his hulking three-armed friend was getting on with the pack of blink dogs introduced into Region C’s Blue Zone by Shi a few months ago and gladly bestowed the Mark of the Righteous upon Aria and Zachariah after the halfling informed him of their need to enter the prison.
“What about me?” Roch inquired. Coleman examined the mystic theurge a moment then replied, “It appears your aura is slightly out of alignment. Your heart seems mostly in the right place, but there’s a dark spot on your karma. I’m afraid I can’t apply the Mark while it remains.”
“A ‘spot?’” Roch sputtered, knowing full well of what the archon spoke.
“Yes, a spot,” Coleman repeated. “And it’s not a tiny one either. You may want to do something about it before it grows any larger. These things don’t go away on their own.”
Aria and Zachariah thanked the archon and the adventurers proceeded toward the prison, determined to find the missing rogue, Jasper. In light of the situation, Coleman agreed to fly off ahead of them in order to inspect the prison before they arrived but the archon was nowhere to be seen when the trio approached the guards outside.
“The custodian?” spoke one of the warriors, the Mark of the Righteous clearly visible around his left eye. “He flew right past us without a sound. We’ve no right to bar him access to this place. Hasn’t been out though, not that we’ve seen.”
Aria explained the purpose of the adventurers’ visit and was informed the prison was on lockdown due to the attack on Four Waters and an apparent assassination attempt on the prison’s warden during the night. Only those bearing the Mark of the Righteous were being allowed inside, meaning Roch would have to wait while his companions went in to search for Jasper.
“I wasn’t on duty when it happened,” the guard spoke as he escorted Zachariah and Aria into the prison. “But information passed this morning at duty rotation says a stranger entered last night and tried to kill Mr. Lake. The warden fought him off, but he escaped into the prison after vanishing before everyone’s eyes. We’re pretty sure he never got back out of the prison though. The report says the Path here took quite a toll on him when he was escorted inside.”
Aria and Zachariah noticed a brief moment of unease as they passed through the Path of the Righteous but nothing that hindered their progress. It seemed what Threepenny had mentioned about the Path reacting differently to creatures of lesser moral character might be true, and Aria wondered how it would react to Roch.
On the other side of the Path, the adventurers were instructed to leave their weapons and spell component pouches with another group of guards for security reasons. They agreed and were shown to the office of Sid Lake, Black Scale Company member and half-orc warden of the prison. As they walked toward the office, Aria noticed how vacant the prison seemed and was informed most of the prisoners had been put into their quarters while the search for the assassin was underway. At the door to Lake’s office, she and Zachariah were also warned of the half-orc’s caustic personality.
Sid Lake’s office was a garbage-strewn mess. Wine bottles, broken glass and bones littered the floor and several daggers stuck out at odd angles from a vandalized portrait of an angelic being. Interestingly, bones appearing to have belonged to giants were mounted to the walls like trophies. Lake leaned casually on the back of a chair, his heavy-booted feet propped onto his alcohol-stained desk, as the adventurers entered.
“Wattayawant!?” grunted the half-orc. “Cantcha see I’m tryin’ to run a prison ‘ ere?”
Aria and Zachariah began to introduce themselves but were thrown off when the half-orc interrupted them with a hoarse rasp from his throat. Before the adventurers could continue, Lake spit a thick glob of something dark and glistening into the air, which he then caught again in his mouth and swallowed.
“Right then,” Zachariah grimaced as the half-orc grinned and leaned forward in his chair. “We’ve come for our friend. We know he was here last night.”
Lake growled at the mention of Jasper and stood at his desk. “Your ‘friend’ tried to kill me,” he glared, moving a hand toward the small axe on his belt. “Maybe you’ve come to finish the job, huh?”
Aria interjected here, asking Lake to calm himself and explain.
“A guard woke me in the middleuh the night saying your pal ’ad some questions for me that couldn’t wait until morning,” Lake spat. “So’s I let him in an’, soon as the guard left the room, the scum attacked me. I guess he thought he could get the drop on me while I was still groggy, but he bit off morean he could chew. I chased ‘im into the hall an’ he vanished afore I could get my hands on ‘im. Now, I got my men tearing the place up lookin’ for ‘im so’s I kin finish wha he started.”
Aria studied the half-orc a moment as he spoke. Sid was a thug for certain, but he was a terrible liar. “So ‘owsbout you tell us wha really ‘appened ‘en?” she asked, mocking Lake’s poor elocution. This might have been a poor choice.
Lake quickly drew his axe and buried it into the desk in front of him as he flew into a rage. It seemed the half-orc was only just able to stop himself from leaping over the furniture at the halfling before he demanded she and Zachariah be removed from his prison, forcibly if necessary.
“We aren’t leaving without our friend,” Zachariah insisted, causing Lake to wrench the axe free of the desk.
“You sure you wannit this way, boy?” Sid menaced, his free hand flicking open a switchblade hidden in his palm.
“Stand down, Zachariah, we’ll go,” Aria spoke. “But I’ve got one more question for you before we leave, Sid. Where’s your Mark?” As soon as they’d entered the chamber, the halfling had noticed Lake didn’t bear the crescent-shaped Mark of the Righteous around his eye.
“Get out,” growled the half-orc before kicking the desk over toward the adventurers who dodged out of the way.
“That’s what I thought,” Aria calmly replied as their escort and another guard hurried them from the room.
“I warned you about his temper,” apologized the guard in a hushed tone once they were back in the hall. “I think it’s why his friends put him in charge here. He probably deserves to be locked up in here as much as the other inmates, but he runs a tight ship and nobody dares cross him.”
“It actually makes sense,” Zachariah noted as he and Aria passed back through the Path of the Righteous. “Sid doesn’t seem like the sort of person who could be trusted to live among civilized people. Giving him control of this place probably distracts him and keeps him from bringing harm to the rest of the commune.”
“Does it?” Aria replied. “A prison shouldn’t just be a place where a society pens wild animals hoping they’ll tear each other apart. We’re coming back here, Zachariah. We’ll go to the Celestial Garrison if we have to, but we’re going to find Jasper and get to the bottom of this. Whatever their reasons are, whatever the Black Scale Company is planning has to be stopped.”
***
“Praise Abadar, I’ve found you!” cried Spishak Kilbane as the adventurers made their way through Four Waters on their way to speak with the Celestial Garrison. The small adept rushed toward the party clutching a tiny scrap of parchment. “It’s Bartleby! I think he’s in danger!”
The halfling Bartleby had long served as Emperor Argliss’ personal treasure hunter, but had recently partnered with Spishak as manager of the adept’s delivery service. “I received this note by courier rat an hour ago!” Kilbane spoke. “It says someone has taken Bartleby hostage! I was going to inform The Trust, but then I spotted you! Please, Bartleby is my friend! You’ve got to save him!” The tough and experienced rogue was well known for his skill at daring escapes so Kilbane’s worry was not unfounded.
Aria took the note and read its message aloud:
“KIDNAPPED!
GOBLIN WELL
NEAR OLD
BUGBEAR CAMP!
HELP!
~B~”
“The Garbage Pit!?” Zachariah exclaimed. “We’re too late! The disintegration effect takes place every ten minutes!”
“What?!” Spishak cried. “No! That’s up north. The Goblin Well is on the other side of Four Waters, on the border with the Empire.”
“I know the place!” Roch announced, his experience living in the commune paying off. “We might still have time to save him!”
Aria looked toward the tunnels leading north into Garrison territory, then back at her companions. “Let’s go save Bartleby,” she sighed.
***
The Goblin Well rested right on the border with Four Waters in a chamber near where the shaman Logray’s own bugbear tribe used to dwell before they were killed off by the adventuring party. Emperor Argliss gifted the north edge of the old bugbear lair to the people of the commune after the bugbears’ defeat, but both communities shared the well.
Zachariah and his companions arrived to find the well chamber unoccupied and the east door leading into Goblin territory closed. The well was a simple, wide hole in the floor of the chamber with a low ring of bricks surrounding it, and Aria and Zachariah approached it cautiously as Roch maintained a safe, watchful distance behind them.
The interior of the well was dark but Aria could just make out the water level in the well some twenty-five feet below. Something appeared to be bobbing just under the surface of the water.
“It’s a sack,” Aria announced.
“The men Writa and Wrunt saw at the Garbage Pit!” Zachariah exclaimed. “They must have come here when they saw the pit was being watched! We’ve got to get down there!”
Aria was quickly lowered into the well with a length of rope. The object was definitely a lumpy sack large enough to hide a halfling’s body, and Aria grabbed at it and pulled it open. As she did, there was a sudden violent ripple in the water around the bag.
“Pull me up!” Aria cried as the water swirled into a vortex and receded into the dark reaches of the well at a frightening speed. With the water gone, Aria could now see the bag rested upon a spring-plate attached to a single bar fixed across the inside of the well. Tampering with the bag had sprung the plate and set off an ancient celestial trap. As Zachariah and Roch heaved on the rope, a pair of heavy steel doors slid down over the room’s exits and a number of vents opened in the chamber’s ceiling. Within seconds, the room was flooded with water sucked from the well and into a reservoir above the chamber as secondary pipes fed the well itself from within.
The adventurers swam for the east door and tried to force it open to no avail. The sliding steel door had no handle or locks and the water slowed Zachariah’s blows against it with Roch’s hammer. With time running out, Roch and the magus began blasting at the door with every spell they had, bullets of pure sound pounding the steel and rays of scorching flame softening the metal as the water bubbled and boiled. A series of fireballs and a final beam of fire from Roch finally resulted in tearing a large hole in the door, but Zachariah was nearly killed by the theurge’s onslaught.
The water filling the chamber drained quickly through the hole in the door while Aria saved Zachariah’s life and healed herself and Roch. The sack was now resting near the edge of the well, forced out of the hole by the geyser of water below, and a quick search revealed it was filled with nothing more than sopping dirty laundry.
“Strange,” Roch puzzled. “The commune and the goblins have been using this well almost since the bugbears were wiped out. You’d think someone would have noticed that trap by now.”
“I think someone did notice,” Aria replied. “It was probably disabled some time ago and reset for the express purpose of killing us.”
“But Spishak is the one who got the note,” Zachariah coughed, water dripping from his chin. “Don’t you think they meant to kill him? He is a member of the Four Waters Council afterall.”
“Maybe Bartleby is after a larger stake in the business,” Roch suggested. “He knows the traps in this part of the dungeon better than anyone.”
“Could it be connected to the Black Scale Company?” Zachariah pondered.
“We won’t find out sitting here,” Aria announced, making for the east door.
With the west exit to the Goblin Well still sealed, the party had only one direction to follow and it led them to a narrow passage where Roch’s old Dwarven stonesense alerted him to a discrepancy in the east wall. Behind the wall, the party discovered a hidden chamber lit by magical torches and decorated with geometric patterns. Zachariah’s first steps into the room proved dangerous though as it was revealed the floors were covered in dart-firing pressure plates.
“I think we’re on the right track,” grunted the magus as he pulled a poisoned spike from his leg.
“We’re not ready for this,” Aria spoke. “Traps are Jasper’s thing. We should head back to Four Waters, maybe find Klibb.”
“Leaving so soon?!” came a gleeful cackle as a flaming arrow dug into Zachariah’s back nearly flooring the already wounded magus. “You’re not who I was expecting, but this was going to happen sooner or later!”
“Ratul!” Aria growled. “I’ve been learning some disturbing things about your friends, but I didn’t think they involved you!”
Aria and Roch recognized Ratul from their battle against Eletor and the Spider Kings. The goblin had been sent by Talita Draghinazzo to aid the adventurers against the driders and their flesh golems. They’d met only briefly, but the adventurers knew Ratul to be a goblin who, like Klibb, had changed his wicked ways. If he was still evil, there was no way he’d have been able to pass the Celestial wards and return to Region E from the Halls of Flesh.
“What’s going on here, Ratul!?” Aria called as combat ensued between the goblin scout and the adventurers. “Why are you doing this?” Though outnumbered, Ratul managed to hold his own with his deadly skirmishing tactics and the dart traps he’d scattered throughout the chamber.
“The boss says you’ve all got to die, so it’s my aim to kill you,” Ratul remarked as he loosed an arrow into Roch. “It’s nothing personal.”
“Did he just use a double entendre in the middle of a fight?” Roch grunted. “I knew it! They’re trying to replace us!”
Ratul and the adventurers continued to spar verbally as well as physically for the next few moments but, eventually, the goblin was forced to invisibly retreat through another concealed door before he was killed or captured and the party was no closer to knowing why he’d attacked in the first place.
“At least we know for certain someone besides the Stone Spirit Goblins is targeting past and current members of this adventuring party,” Zachariah commented. “Now, let’s see what Ratul was guarding.”
The party passed through a thick wooden door set into the middle of the north wall of the chamber and found a small room containing a heavy brass-cornered table. Four iron strongboxes were set upon the table and a stone door stood locked in the north wall of the room. The adventurers were about to collect the boxes and leave when Roch announced he heard a dull pounding from behind the stone door. It seemed someone was trapped on the other side.
The adventurers pondered over how to open the impenetrable stone door for several minutes but, fortunately, help was on the way. The goblin Klibb, having seen Emperor Argliss safely back to the Empire after the attack on Four Waters, had been searching for the adventurers for hours. Now, thanks to a tip from Spishak, he’d finally tracked the party down to lend them his roguish aid.
It didn’t take the goblin long to discover a method to bypass the stone door, revealing what appeared to be a long-unused living quarters beyond. The thumping sound Roch had heard had come from none other than Bartleby himself and the halfling wore a slightly embarrassed expression as he explained the situation.
“They’re after Argliss!” the rogue began. “Threepenny, Draghinazzo, all of them! They want him gone!”
“Slow down, Bartleby,” Aria spoke. “Tell us what’s happened.”
It was then Bartleby revealed a terrible secret that could mean the fall of the Stoneshaper Empire.
The halfling Bartleby came into the service of Argliss shortly after the civil war with the Stone Spirit Tribe and the formation of the Empire. Back then, the rogue was just a wandering adventurer, captured by goblins and expecting to be eaten, but Argliss spared him and offered him a job as his personal treasure hunter. In particular, the halfling was tasked with recovering something very important and very dear to the monarch but there was a small problem; Argliss couldn’t remember what the item was or what it looked like.
For a time Bartleby used Argliss’ apparent amnesia as a means to stretch out the terms of his service, securing his safety from the goblin horde, but it soon dawned on him the goblin emperor was truly attempting to change his people for the better and there was little for him to fear. Then he found the journal.
Bartleby found the old hidden bedchamber behind the stone door nearly six years ago and, at first, thought little of the collection of dusty knick-knacks and baubles scattered around the room. The goblins knew nothing of the chamber and that suited the rogue who occasionally retreated there to relax or to grab a random object to show to Argliss. It was on one of these jaunts that he happened to reach for a manuscript buried within a desk in the corner of the room.
“It was a journal, written by Argliss himself,” the halfling spoke. “Only Argliss hasn’t always been Argliss.” According to Bartleby, the journal revealed that Argliss had once been a doppelganger who had infiltrated the Stone Spirit Tribe under an assumed identity.
“The doppelganger visited this chamber less and less as time passed,” Bartleby revealed. “It’s like he was forgetting who he really was. One of the last entries mentioned how he’d found a statue of a goblin in the northeast section of the region and a plan he had to lead the goblins in a new direction, using a god and a religion of his own making.”
Klibb suddenly felt weak. “Klibb is going to be sick,” the goblin yelped before doubling over and throwing up onto the floor. Norendithas the Stoneshaper, the god who’s teachings had split the Stone Spirit Tribe in two and caused the deaths of so many of his tribemates, was a sham. Klibb’s people had died for a lie.
“This knowledge would destroy the Empire!” Zachariah shook the halfling as Aria consoled Klibb. “Where is this journal now?!”
“Threepenny’s got it!” Bartleby cried. “I gave it to him!”
The adventurers were shocked by Bartleby’s admission and he revealed why he’d handed the journal over the bard. Bartleby had lived a comfortable life among the reforming goblins and he didn’t want to risk losing it so he kept the journal to himself, but then Lord Antagonis started sending prisoners into the dungeon.
“Can you even imagine what it’s like to finally be among your own kind again after so long?!” Bartleby pleaded. “Four Waters was my out! No more crawling through trap-filled tunnels, fighting horrible things and pretending I was still searching for that damn book! I was going to blackmail Argliss, take back some of the treasure I’ve been collecting for him over the years and put the money into Spishak’s business but I got greedy.”
Bartleby took the journal to Threepenny. The Trust was gaining prestige within the commune and the members of the Black Scale Company were poised to challenge the Council over the best direction for Four Waters’ future.
“They said they were just going to use the journal to put pressure on Argliss, make sure he played by their rules,” Bartleby continued. “They sent Ratul and a couple of their Trust goons to fetch me and keep an eye on me until it was too late for me to get cold feet and turn on them! They were taking me to the prison when Ratul attacked me!”
Once upon a time, the goblins of the Stone Spirit Tribe had an alliance with a tribe of gnolls living in Region C. Goblin warriors were sent to the gnolls to help them explore the region, but the gnolls were secretly using the goblins as slaves, food and sacrifices. Ratul had been one of those goblins.
A staunch advocate of the Stoneshaper religion during the cult’s infancy, Ratul lost faith in his new savior when he learned Argliss, the new emperor of the Stoneshaper Empire had given his displaced flock up for dead after protracted fighting with Stone Spirit holdouts. Now, the goblin’s only loyalty was to his friends in the Black Scale Company, the adventurers who eventually freed him from the gnolls, and he despised Argliss and his false religion.
“Argliss never asked me to attempt a rescue, even after he’d won the empire,” Bartleby revealed. “Ratul said I was just as responsible because I was supposed to be a friend to the goblin people! He wanted to kill me because they wouldn’t let him kill Argliss! I stole his lockpicks during the fight and fled to this chamber, but I forgot about the hand crank for the stone door locked inside one of those strongboxes outside. Klibb couldn’t reach me, but I trapped myself in the process. I could hear him taunting me, saying he said he was going to lure Spishak here to kill him if I didn’t come out, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him I was stuck!”
“Bartleby, I need you to listen to me,” Aria spoke, trying to keep the rogue calm. “We need you to tell everything you just told us to the Celestial Garrison. They can help.”
“Not tell everything,” Klibb interrupted, wiping vomit from his lip. “Klibb asks you do not tell about Emperor Argliss’ secret. None can ever know.”
“Okay, Klibb,” Aria agreed. “You’re right. In this case, I think the fewer people who know the truth the better. With the rest of Bartleby’s story about the Black Scale Company’s plot, I think we’ll have enough to shut them down for good.”
Looking forward to it =D
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!