Session #32, Part #2 (Champions Games, The PC vs the Froghemoth)
By late morning on the fourth day of the Champion’s Games Clive has not yet returned for his night’s investigations. The heroes grow worried about his fate, but they have no time to fret about it, for the time has come for their next fight. Eakym wishes them well, gives Gimpy the potions he requested, and the heroes update him on the progress of their investigation, which is minimal. The Unknowns are escorted to the lift and raised up into the arena. It is a sunny day and the arena is packed. The masses are eager for blood, and they cheer wildly as the Unknowns make their appearance. Loris Raknian quaffs a potion that appears to magically amplify his voice. He announces each of the heroes and there are more cheers from the throngs. He then announces their opponent- Madtooth the Hungry. Again the crowd goes wild, and the large double doors that lead into the arena start to open. Gimpy takes this cue to start gulping down the potions that he purchased. Yet when the doors finish opening there is nothing there.
Loris Raknian smiles a sinister smile as he watches Gimpy quaff his final potion. Several minutes pass and the crowd grows increasingly agitated. Raknian tries to calm them down, explaining that the handlers are having some difficulty getting Madtooth to the arena. By the time a reinforced flatbed wagon with a massive iron box on it is dragged into the arena by a score of guards, Gimpy’s enhancements have expired and the crowd is ready to riot. The half orc curses in rage at having his 900 gp in potions wasted. Loris Raknian smiles from up in his private arena box; he stands and announces that Madtooth has arrived and the battle shall begin. Gimpy is not happy in the least. The crowd roars.
The guards pull on ropes that release pins on the box, causing its sides to fall away. In front of the heroes squats an enormous froglike creature with four thrashing tentacles. The thing is clearly no frost salamander. This is by far the biggest and most dangerous creature the heroes have yet faced.
Maggie initiates the fight with a sleep hex. To her surprise the hex works. The froghemoth yawns and settles down on the sandy floor of the arena to take a nap. Boos erupt from the crowd and rotten fruit and vegetables are hurled at the heroes. Loris Raknian frowns. Maggie urges Gimpy to rush up to the thing and prepare to attempt a coup de grace on it, but Gimpy is hesitant. He worries that the creature will somehow awaken before he can execute the maneuver, and he’d much rather take the opportunity to conjure a spiritual weapon in front of it. Despite his reservations he follows her advice and closes in on the beast. Sir Nat joins him. Gorum readies his fire-bombs in case the thing wakes before the warriors and cleave its head open.
Talabir the flying wizard referee looks to Raknian with concern and dismay; Raknian gives him a nod. Then Talabir launches a single magic missile down at the monster. It barely scratches the beast, but the force of the impact is enough to shake it out of its slumber. Its tentacles suddenly start thrashing. Sir Nat hacks at it, but doesn’t penetrate its thick rubbery hide. Gimpy summons his spiritual weapon, and Gorum throws his fire-bombs, which sear its flesh, though not as effectively as they should. It then strikes back. It grabs up Gimpy in its gigantic maw, crushing him with its jaws and holding him in place. Its tentacles thrash Sir Nat, pummeling the paladin into unconsciousness. Maggie desperately attempts to put it to sleep once more, but she fails and knows that she can no longer attempt the hex on the monster. Gorum hurls more fire-bombs, causing it more damage and getting its attention. Gimpy, who is caught in its maw, is unable to swing his great sword. He drops his great sword and manages to draw his dagger. It then swallows Gimpy, flings Nat’s unconscious body unceremoniously into the sand and hops towards Gorum and Maggie.
Maggie casts her fly hex, but knowing if she takes to the air she will be disqualified, she instead uses it to move quickly along the ground, hoping to mimic the effects of a haste spell. A tentacle lashes at her as she tries to get away, but misses her (natural 1 on the AoO). She heads towards Sir Nat to see if he’s still alive. Gorum hurls another bomb and retreats. The froghemoth follows him, and inside the thing’s stomach Gimpy begins being crushed and taking damage from its digestive acids. The half orc grits his teeth and starts trying to cut his way out with his dagger, while his spiritually weapon continues to attack it from the outside. Maggie finds Sir Nat clinging to life. She sends her scorpion familiar forward and channels a healing spell through it. Nat regains consciousness and calls upon Saint Cuthbert to heal him; then he stands and starts staggering towards his dropped sword.
Gorum looks the Froghemoth in the eye, knowing he’s about to die. He shouts out to the crowd as he readies his last barrage of bombs, “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!” He hurls the bombs, searing it with more fire as it unleashes a full attack on him. The attack should have killed him, but through some miracle he lies unconscious in the sand barely clinging to life (the miracle being two hero chips). At this point Gimpy finishes cutting his way out of the beast’s stomach and lands on the ground behind it. Gorum’s fire-bombs have inflicted significant damage on the thing, and instead of turning back to engage the remaining heroes, it starts hopping toward the stands. Screams erupt from the crowd, as it closes. The wall up into the stands is some fifteen feet high, but there is little doubt that the gigantic froglike monstrosity could jump up into the stands and begin slaughtering the crowd.
Talabir reacts. He casts a wall of force that he puts between the froghemoth and the crowd. It smacks the wall a couple of times with its tentacles; then it turns around and starts hopping back towards the other side of the arena. All the while, Gimpy’s spiritual weapon has been hacking away at it. It has landed a few blows, but not inflicted significant harm on it. However its time has come to an end and it expires. Seeing this, Gimpy, who is now by his sword, promptly summons another spiritual weapon in front of it. Maggie and Sir Nat have taken advantage of the few seconds of respite they’ve had from the creature to do some healing.
Sir Nat casts a spell that will allow him to close on it without being subject to a tentacle attack. He charges and hacks at it with his sword. Gimpy also moves in to cleave, and he sustains a hit, but it fails to grab him. It then scoops Sir Nat up in its jaws and pummels Gimpy with tentacles but Gimpy takes the damage with a smile. Maggie sends her scorpion forward and channels a shocking grasp spell through it. The shock doesn’t seem to damage it, but it does temporarily slow the beast (which in the long run was probably more useful than damage). Sir Nat drops his greatsword, draws his dagger and prepares to be swallowed. He then disappears down its gullet. Like Gimpy he begins cutting his way out. Gimpy holds his ground, standing before the great beast and slashing it with his sword, while Maggie channels another shocking grasp through her familiar to keep it slowed.
By this time the Froghemoth is terribly injured. However it once again manages to swallow Gimpy, which is about when Sir Nat cuts his way out with his dagger. The paladin grabs his sword off the ground and attacks it again, before he is beaten unconscious once more. Maggie has no more shocking grasp spells to keep it slowed. Things are looking grim for her, yet it is so near to death. Then Gimpy finishes cutting his way out. He takes another tentacle blow, but then drives his dagger through its eyestalk. The attack is enough to finally finish it off. As it collapses to the ground the crowd erupts with applause. Loris Raknian slams his fist on the railing in frustration. The Unknowns are then brought back into the Coenoby where healing is administered and Eakym meets with them to bring them their winnings.
The heroes are exhausted and furious with Loris Raknian for his treacherous behavior. They are all in need of rest, but they decide they will forego their rest to pay Raknian a visit in his palace during the night- that is assuming that Clive returns and can teleport them inside.
This Friday will hopefully be the epic conclusion to the Champions Games- the adventure that I consider to be the climax to the first half of the campaign. I added in a lot of side quests and home brewed content into the first half of this campaign. We also used the medium advancement track. However, after this adventure we will be moving to the fast advancement track, and I will be focusing on plowing through the last adventures in the campaign.
GMs Notes from Session #32
This session was decent, but not entirely without hiccups. The underplex of the arena is really quite big, and it is very easy for PCs to spend a lot of time searching rather fruitlessly without really finding anything useful. This is good and bad. It is good in that it ensures that they are unlikely to fast forward to the end of the adventure too quickly, and as result they end up participating in most of the arena matches. It is bad in that it can be a bit boring poking around lots of tunnels and caverns without finding much, which is basically what happened for the first half of this session.
The second half of the session certainly picked up in intensity with the arena fight against the Froghemoth. I was a little worried that the thing might go down like a chump since that can be what happens when you put single opponents against an entire party, even if their CR is well above the party level. However, the froghemoth didn't disappoint; he fought like a boss and was definitely the toughest single opponent they've encountered thus far.
There was a player argument at the start of this encounter that was a bit of drag. Maggie hit Froggy with the sleep hex, and her player really wanted the melee characters to close and try to coup de gras the thing to end the battle in the second round. Gimpy's player had been gaming with me a long time, whereas Maggie's had not. He could see that there was no way I was going to let it go down that easy, and instead he just wanted to cast spiritual weapon, so that he could have it start whittling away at the beast.
After much arguing, Maggie's player convinced him to move in and not bother with the spiritual weapon. As Gimpy's player expected, I intervened in the form of having Talabir hit the Froghemoth with a magic missile to wake it up and avert a coup de gras attempt. At this point Gimpy was in front of the beast and being forced to defend himself, so casting a spiritual weapon was suddenly a lot less convenient, which he was annoyed about. To make matters worse he was already bitter that he had spent a bunch of gold on potions to buff himself, and I made it all go to waste when Raknian delayed the Froghemoth's entrance. In my defence that tactic was specifically scripted in the adventure.
Fortunately the two players came around part way through the battle and started being cooperative and having fun again. In the end it was a fun and exciting encounter, but I was worried for a bit that their squabbling was going to ruin the battle and possibly the rest of the night for everyone. Hopefully, I won't be seeing any more of that nonsense at the table.
Wait .. what happened to "The Rules"?
The rules were not entirely enforced.
Last night I ran another session of this campaign. We pretty much wrapped up the Champion's Games adventure, as the heroes infiltrated Zahol's lair and confronted him in an epic battle that they barely won and resulted in 2 more PC fatalities, as well as something nasty on the lose in Greyhawk (with the party in no shape to do anything about it). The journal is to come in the next couple of days.
Session #33, Part #1 (The Champions Games- a raid on Loris Raknian's Palace)
Characters Present:
Sir Nat (Human, Paladin 10)
Gimpy (Half Orc, Oracle/Barbarian/Rage Prophet 10)
Maggie (Tiefling, Witch 10)
Gorman (formerly Seeros) (Dwarf/formerly elf, alchemist 10)
Clive Taskerhill (Human, Wizard 10)
Journal: After completing their harrowing match against the Froghemoth, the gladiators return to the Coenoby to rest in their chamber. Eakym Smallcask meets with them soon after and apologizes about the misinformation he gave them regarding the beast fight. He has come to believe that someone intentionally fed him misinformation, and the heroes are inclined to agree. He also inquires about the investigation regarding the fate of his sister, but they have no leads to report.
Clive returns soon after. He had left the party to conduct his own research about the arena in the Great Library. Unfortunately, he had become so engrossed in his studies that he lost track of time and missed the fight against the Froghemoth. For this he apologizes. Yet his research has provided him with one useful bit of information. He reads them an excerpt from a book written by an architectural enthusiast from the Caliphate of Ekbir, which he dredged up will searching the stacks. It is dated from 405 CY (the current year being 596 CY), and it reads as follows:
Another building of note in the Clerksberg neighbourhood is the city arena, although somewhat out of place among the many guildhalls, shops and institutions of higher learning, it is a dominant feature of the neighbourhood's architecture that can hardly be ignored. As with many arenas it is circular and has a strong influence of Oeridian arenas found to the east in cities in the Great Kingdom of Aredy. Its seating capacity is impressive for a city of Greyhawk's size, but that can surely be attributed to the leadership of Lord Mayor Zagig who commissioned the construction of the arena and is responsible for the creation of numerous other fabulous public buildings throughout the city. I did not have the privilege of touring beneath the arena, but I am told that it includes an elaborate understructure with a mess hall, kitchen, housing for gladiators, training facilities, store rooms and cells for prisoners and beasts, and an elaborate lift system for moving supplies and bulky equipment to the arena's surface. I even heard a rumor that there is a secret temple to Kord hidden in the understructure that features a special training hall filled with enchanted, semi-autonomous training dummies. My heart races imagining, scantily clad, muscly, oiled gladiators training. Would that I could get a tour of that hall.
Clive speculates that perhaps their enemies located this secret shrine and repurposed it to their own unholy god. However, the heroes found no sign of any such shrine while they searched the complex, so although they are interested in investigating it, they have no leads on its exact location.
They decide to stick with their plan- that plan being to teleport into Raknian’s palace, which Clive had managed to partially scout a couple nights earlier with an arcane eye. They plan to teleport to the hall that they believe accesses Raknian’s bedroom. There they plan to deal with the two guards that are posted outside his room, and hopefully capture Raknian for interrogation.
During his time away from the party, Clive had also prepared a couple of teleportation scrolls. Currently he can only take three passengers with him, which means that he will be forced to leave one hero behind and come back for him. He teleports Gimpy, Sir Nat and Maggie into the hall and leaves them with the two guards. Then he teleports back to the Coenoby to fetch Gorman. Finally, he casts a third teleport to bring himself and Gorman back to the palace. By the time they return, the other three have dispatched the two guards and are ready to move into Raknian’s room.
Sir Nat readies his mace Sense Knocker and enters the bedroom first. It is spacious and lavishly furnished. It features a large canopied bed with silky, semi-transparent curtains. It is clear that Loris Raknian is something of a narcissist, for there is a bronze bust of him on a pedestal and a huge, full-body portrait of him in his gladiator armor on the wall. The paladin notices a bit of movement on the bed and quickly realizes that five naked women are passed out on it. The smell of lotus smoke and a large hookah pipe on the floor indicate that they have recently been involved in some heavy drug use. There is no sign of Raknian himself, but Nat does notice a wall tapestry moving slightly, and realizes that there is a partially open secret door behind it.
The rest of the characters enter. Gimpy’s eyes are immediately drawn to an armor stand that holds Raknian’s breastplate and his buckler. Both are enchanted. The half orc is ready to load them into his haversack, but Sir Nat insists that they not steal from Raknian because at the moment they don’t know for sure if he is in fact their enemy or involved with any cult activity. Gimpy is sad, but assures the armor that he will soon return to liberate it. During this time there is only some brief stirs from the women on the bed.
The secret door opens to a steep and narrow set of stairs that led down. They decide to investigate; Gimpy and Gorum, who both have darkvision lead the way. The stairs takes them to a small room. In it is a very small door to the right, and on the far wall there is a doorway, and another set of stairs that leads down even further. Gorman opens the little door, and discovers that it opens into the interior of what appears to be a large cask. When he crawls into the cask and pushes on the cask he finds it opens, accessing a wine cellar. He immediately heads to the wine rack, and though he is now trapped in a dwarf’s body, he is still an elf at heart. He does a quick browse of the wine and grabs two bottles of the finest elven wine he can find.
The rest of the party joins them in the little room. Then they head down the next set of stairs. Gimpy and Gorman lead the way once again. The stairs soon opens into a long, narrow hallway that stretches out ahead of them. Gimpy sees a man making his way towards them. He has a torch in one hand, illuminating his face; it looks to be Loris Raknian. He is wearing only loose fitting pants, but he has his bastard sword strapped to his back, and his shortsword at his side. He stops, and although his torchlight doesn’t reach Gimpy and Gorman, he appears to have heard the pair. He calls out, “Orakal is that you?”
When there is no response he draws his bastard sword and starts cautiously moving up the hall towards them. Gorman pulls out a bomb, one of the last ones he can produce for the day. He hurls it at Raknian, and it explodes in a blast of force that knocks the retired gladiator down. The rest of the party is close behind. Clive casts a haste spell on his companions, and Maggie attempts to put Raknian down with a sleep hex, but he resists. A hasted Gimpy then charges forward to attack him. He gives Gimpy a good cleave with his sword (power attack + greater vital strike = 40+ damage), but Gorman knocks him down again with another bomb. Gimpy takes advantage of him being prone to hit him with the flat of his blade in an attempt to take him alive. Clive then uses his dimension step power to teleport himself and Sir Nat behind Loris, sealing off his escape route. Raknian tries to defend himself, but with no armor and his enemies hasted and flanking him, he soon falls to their attacks. The heroes are careful not to kill him, and after beating him down they tie him up.
There is a brief discussion about what to do next, and in the end they decide to drag him along with them and explore down the tunnel in the direction that he had been coming from.
Session #33, Part #2 (The Champions Games- The PCs confront a nasty demon)
There is a brief discussion about what to do next, and in the end they decide to drag him along with them and explore down the tunnel in the direction that he had been coming from.
The tunnel leads them to a secret door that in turn opens into a room. This rectangular room appears empty, but the back half of it is blocked off by a silk curtain. Gimpy moves in first, and then Sir Nat and Gorman move in, while Maggie and Clive remain in the hall. Sir Nat is dragging Gorman with him. Suddenly the room fills with a foul smelling, greenish-yellow cloud. The heroes begin to gag from its stench. Most are able to resist the worst of its effects, but Gimpy finds himself nauseated and able to do little other than vomit. Sir Nat moves to the curtain and flings it aside. He sees a big urn with a horrible, wreaking amorphous demon emerging from it. Presumably this is the entity that caused the Stinking cloud. The demon unleashes a cone of cold spell that blasts the entire party, causing them much pain. Gimpy staggers out of the cloud, while Sir Nat heals himself and smites the fiend with his mace. Clive dispels the stinking cloud, but soon after the demon casts a wall of ice spell that leaves it and Sir Nat on one side of the wall and the rest of the heroes on the other.
The paladin fights bravely against the demon, smashing at it with Sense Knocker. He channels his holy power through the weapon, causing the demon great damage. However its amorphous physiology makes the weapon much less effective than it might otherwise be. It retaliates with tentacles that drip with acid, but for the most part the paladin is able to fend off its strikes.
Gorman has only a couple of bombs left and is unable to contribute much, especially while trapped behind the ice wall. Maggie is low on resources as well, and doesn’t have a line of sight to the demon due to the wall. Clive casts another dispel magic, and he is once again successful. He brings down the wall of ice. Enabling Gimpy and Gorman to come to Sir Nat’s aid against the demon. By this point it is quite wounded from the paladin’s attacks, and it scuttles away from him. It then casts another cone of cold. This one only gets Gorman, Gimpy and Sir Nat, but it leaves them all horribly injured. Just as it is about to try to teleport away they manage finish the demon off, destroying its physical body and sending it back to the abyss.
After defeating the demon, they find that Raknian was hit by one of the cones of cold and was briefly buried by the wall of ice. Fortunately, during the fight Clive had used his dimensional step to teleport Raknian out from under the wall of ice. He is only barely alive, and they give him immediate healing to stabilize him and bring back to consciousness. A brief interrogation then takes place. They manage to prod a bit of information out of the arena director. They learn that he is in league with Bozal Zahol, the tiefling they have been searching for for months, and that Zahol has used the Apostic Scrolls to summon forth a terrible servant of Kyuss that they plan to use in the games the next day so that they can give it the blood of champion and complete the ritual that they have begun. It seems that Zahol has promised Raknian that the ritual will somehow restore his vigor and youth. The heroes find this doubtful, but Raknian is so blinded by his obsession with his vanity, and his desire to regain what age has taken from him that he has not questioned the bargain. Finally they ask him about the whereabouts of Eakym’s sister. He at first doesn’t even admit to knowing her, but eventually he explains that he doesn’t know where she is, and he hasn’t seen her in nearly a year. They are certain he is lying, but they don’t manage to learn anything else from him about the subject. At this point it is decided that he is of no value to them and that they should execute him. Just as they are about to do so he sneers and tells them that the demon they just fought was called to the material plane by Zahol, and that it was in telepathic contact with him. Zahol is surely aware of their intrusion. Sir Nat and Gimpy shut him up by executing him in the name of Saint Cuthbert and Kord.
Sir Nat is ready to press forward in search of Zahol and the scrolls, but the rest of the party wants to return to their quarters to rest. As they are discussing this issue, a door to the room opens, and they see a half dozen worm ridden zombies shambling towards them. Behind the zombies is the Bloated King. The paladin shouts out a battle cry to Saint Cuthbert and charges forward.
They're determined to get themselves wasted, aren't they. :)
Some more than others, but going up against the boss villain of the first half of the campaign with your resources tapped out isn't probably the wisest choice.
The alternative being the villains getting to do what they want and endangering thousands of lives.
We're heroes dammit. We risk ourselves so that others no capable of defending themselves can live in peace. There is no choice.
Maybe we'll stop them completely, maybe we only partial, or maybe we'll fail...but we have to try.
Well said. An adventurers got to do what an adventurers got to do, and sometimes that means going up against big baddies with very limited resources.
Here it is the climax (sort of) to the first half of the campaign. The epic battle against Bozal Zahol and his minions.
Session #33, Part #3 (The Champions Games- The Battle Against Bozal Zahol)
Sir Nat takes up position in the doorway, preventing the Kyuss Spawn from coming through. Gorman hurls a fire bomb into their midst inflicting significant damage to the first few spawn. Then Clive casts a Black Tentacles spell into their midst. The tentacles grapple the undead and begin to crush them. The worm-zombies writhe and struggle to get free but don’t have the strength. Yet before the spell can destroy them, the tentacles are suddenly dispelled. It seems that Bozal Zahol is near.
Sir Nat moves into what appears to be a large bedroom and Gimpy moves into the doorway where Nat had been to defend the spell casters. Nat starts hacking through the remaining Kyuss spawn in an effort to get to the Bloated King. The horribly obese ghoul lord doesn’t seem concerned by the approaching paladin. He smiles and channels the power of his dark god, blasting the party with a wave of necrotic energy. Gorman curses in rage and pain then hurls one of his final bombs at the fiend. It causes the Bloated King’s flesh to blister and catch fire. It howls and retreat to the altar room, so that it can take time to put out the flames. Then another, much more deadly spell effect enters play. A wall of invisible blades of force appears (blade barrier), bisecting both the bedroom and the demon’s chamber. The entire party, along with the last remaining Kyuss spawn are in the path of the barrier as it appears, and they are forced to leap aside to avoid suffering horrible wounds. Gnat ends up alone on one side of Bozal’s bedroom with the enemies, while Gimpy is stranded on the other side of the same room. Maggie, Clive and Gorman are trapped in the room that housed the demon and have no way to move into the bedroom to join the fight without going through the barrier. Both Maggie and Clive cast dispel magic spells on the barrier in an attempt to bring it down so they can join their comrades, while Gorman readies his bow. Gimpy takes a moment to heal himself as much as possible, and then he casts a silence spell on a dagger sheathed on Nat’s belt, hoping to stop the tiefling from casting more spells.
For several seconds (i.e., at least 2 rounds and 3 dispel magics) it is only Sir Nat that is in position to fight. Unfortunately, for the heroes they fail to dispel the barrier. In the mean time Nat lands some blows with Sense Knocker against the Bloated King who is defending the door to the altar room. The ghoul lord falls back to stand beside his master; it is then that their former comrade Boften (a dwarf ranger), who is now a vampire, moves in to engage Sir Nat with his axes, blocking the door and preventing Nat from pursuing the Bloated King. Although the tiefling is unable to cast spells due to the silence effect on Nat’s dagger, he can still channel his unholy power, and both he and the Bloated King tear at Gimpy and Nat with the profane power of Kyuss.
Clive sacrifices his last teleport spell and takes himself Gorman and Maggie into the bedroom to join Gimpy. They are still on the opposite side of the blade barrier as Sir Nat (due to line of sight they couldn’t teleport to join him), but at least they now have a view into the altar room where the paladin is fighting vampire Boften. Nat’s hulking form blocks the doorway, obstructing their vision, but past him they glimpse a pudgy tiefling armed with a shield and sword, as well as the Bloated King. On an altar near to the tiefling sits a set of scrolls that project a line of green light towards the opposite wall. They presume that the tiefling must be Bozal Zahol, a powerful priest of Kyuss, and the enemy that various agents of Eliagos have been hunting for months.
The paladin and the vampiric dwarf trade blows for several seconds, and although they are both having trouble getting past the other’s defenses they each land a couple hits. At one point Boften attempts to bull rush Sir Nat into the blade barrier, but Nat holds his ground. With his allies now near, the paladin hurls the silenced dagger into the altar room so that his friends can cast spells. With the silence gone, Clive then casts a second Black Tentacles spell into the altar room. The rubbery tentacles burst up around Bozal Zahol, the Bloated King and Boften. Sir Nat smiles and heals himself. His smile fades a little when he realizes that Bozal wasn’t at all affected by the tentacles (thanks to a freedom of movement spell). Maggie readies her staff of fire and launches a fireball into the altar room, singeing Nats’s eyebrows and thoroughly blasting the Bloated King, Boften and Zahol. The fire seems to have little affect on Zahol, as he is warded with both spell resistance and fire resistance- the tiefling is clearly ready to face the heroes. Gorman follows up her fireball by throwing his final bomb into the room inflicting more fire damage. Zahol and the ghoul lord retaliate with channeled negative energy. Seeing her enemies still standing, Maggie launches another fireball from her staff. This time the bloated king is incinerated and Boften is forced to assume gaseous form and retreat. Clive then dismisses his black tentacles so that Sir Nat can enter the room and go after the tiefling.
Zahol is the only visible enemy that remains, but the tiefling is unscathed and has no shortage of tricks up his sleeve. As for the heroes, three of them are still trapped behind the blade barrier, and they all have suffered extensive wounds from both Zahol and the Bloated King channeling negative energy.
Gimpy knows he needs to get in the fight, and since he’s spent time healing himself, he bravely lunges through the barrier, doing his best to avoid the spinning blades of force (he makes his save and only takes around 20 damage). He doesn’t come out unscathed, but he comes out ready to fight. He and Nat attack Zahol, yet they find that another ward protects him. This one prevents them from closing in on him (anti-life shell), foiling their hopes of cutting him down. In frustration Nat goes to the altar and instead smashes the Apostic Scrolls with Sense Knocker, sweeping them onto the stone floor and disrupting the line of green energy. For his part Zahol throws the silenced dagger back through the blade barrier to land before Maggie, Clive and Gorman. The dwarf immediately picks it up and tosses it away into the room where they had fought the demon. Yet Nat is surprised to find that the altar room remains silenced (thanks to an unhallowed spell).
Even though Zahol is the only foe remaining things are looking grim. Most of the party is barely standing. Then a terribly wounded Maggie casts a sleep hex on Zahol. The tiefling collapses to the ground in a deep slumber. It looks as though victory might be in their grasp. However, his ward still protects him and neither Gimpy nor Nat can move in to attempt a coupe de gras with their blades. Consequently, Gimpy, who has moved back into the bedroom where he can cast spells, decides to summon a spiritual weapon before the sleeping cleric. Maggie shouts out for him to hold the spell, but he doesn’t listen. The spiritual great sword penetrates his spell resistance and hits the evil cleric for enough damage to wake him up. He laughs, gets to his feet and starts casting a complex spell (summon monster V)- it seems that the silence spell in the altar room doesn’t inhibit his casting (it doesn’t affect worshippers of Kyuss- go unhallow!). The heroes almost breath a sigh of relief in response to him casting a spell, for it gives them a moment of respite from the channeling he had been bombarding them with. Gorman and Maggie both use badly needed healing magic, but Clive decides to try to disrupt Zahol’s spellcasting. He flings a magic missile spell, which gets past his spell resistance and hammers him, but Gimpy’s spiritual weapon beats him to it, hitting an instant before the force missiles, causing the cleric to lose his spell. This time Zahol does not laugh.
Suddenly, a tremor shakes the complex. As Nat sheath’s his mace and strings his bow, he can’t help but wonder if the tremor is somehow connected to him knocking the scrolls off the altar. Maggie attempts another sleep hex (due to her accursed hex feat she can do this). Once again she succeeds. The tiefling falls back asleep. This time the heroes are smarter; they hold off on their attacks, hoping to take some time to use healing wands (since cure light wounds wands are about all the healing they have left) before they try to finish the cleric. It is not to be; Zahol has one more trick up his sleeve. An invisible ally shakes him to wake him up (He had an invisible quasit companion on hold for just such an eventuality. He had buffed it with resist fire and deathward to protect him from the firebombs and channeling).
Everyone is now feeling the affects of the battle. Zahol is wounded, the heroes are all barely standing, and the whole complex is shaking with tremors, as something horrible awakens. Zahol’s resources are finally running low. He looks around and sees how injured his enemies are. He wants nothing more than to heal himself and cast a divine power spell, so that he can take on the paladin with his unholy blade, but he knows that doing so will collapse his anti-life shell and open himself to melee attacks from the paladin and the half orc. His wisdom prevails, and he continues to fall back on channeling unholy power (interspersed with healing spells).
Now had Clive, Maggie and Gorman not been penned in by the blade barrier spell, they would have surely moved out of the range of Zahol’s horrible channeling long ago, but they are trapped, and can do nothing but try to endure his power. Their spells are expended, as are Gorman’s bombs. Clive falls back on a cantrip he learned long ago and hurls an acid splash at the cleric (you know things have gotten bad when you are 10th level wizard hurling acid splashes at the boss villain). Goram draws his bow and attempts to fire arrows, but targeting Zahol through the blade barrier is exceedingly difficult for the alchemist. Sir Nat also finds himself shooting arrows; he has more luck than Gorman and causes the tiefling several wounds. Gimpy falls back into the bedroom and calls on his divine powers to heal himself, while his spiritual weapon continues to chip away at his enemy. The fight has officially degenerated into a war of attrition.
Then the inevitable happens. Another burst of Zahol’s unholy energy causes Clive and Maggie to collapse into unconsciousness, and leaves Gorman in very rough shape. Gorman is out of healing magic, but he tries to stabilize Maggie the old fashioned way and succeeds. Zahol casts a cure spell on himself, while the spiritual weapon and Nat’s smiting arrows try to give him the death of 1000 cuts. Zahol realizes that he needs to finish off the rest of the infidels or he’s dead. He channels a final time, but it isn’t enough to bring down the half orc, dwarf or paladin. It is enough to kill Maggie and Clive.
One more channel could win it for him, and then it happens. Gimpy’s spiritual weapon then strikes the killing blow to the priest of Kyuss. His invisible quasit flees, and the fight looked like it would never end finally reaches its conclusion.
Gimpy and Sir Nat do what healing they can on themselves while waiting for the blade barrier to end. Gorman, possibly hoping to find some healing magic he can use, decides to search a strange chest at the foot of the bed Maggie’s corpse is now resting on. The chest is bound with iron and has a good lock on it. It has an elaborate, glazed painting around it that depicts worms emerging from the ground to eat naked humans who are being chased by undead. All this makes him more than a little wary, but he takes out Clive’s wand of knock and successfully uses it on the lock. Then he attempts to open the chest with his bow stave. As he does so, he triggers a magical trap. He resists the worst of the necromantic power that surges through him (taking “only” 2 Con damage), but it is still enough to leave him on the ground dying. Fortunately he doesn’t expire before the blade barrier ends, and Gimpy is able to heal him (he makes his Con check to stabilize).
The tremors have stopped. The heroes loot Zahol’s corpse and the now open trunk, filling their haversacks. Sir Nat explores a little more of Zahol’s lair and finds a room containing several coffins. In one he finds, Boften’s vampiric corpse healing, and he stakes it through the heart. In another he finds the zombified body of Lahaka, Eakym’s lost sister. He purges it of its undead state. The young woman’s is still in good condition, though there are visible marks around the neck, suggesting that she died from strangulation. Finally, Gorum uses the wand of knock to open the set of stone double doors in the altar room that the green light from the Apostic Scrolls had been hitting. Beyond is a large circular chamber. The floor is covered with sand and rubble, and whatever had been held in the room has burrowed its way up. The three heroes look up and see a hole far above. They can see the stars of the night sky overhead. It seems that whatever horror they have unleashed has escaped into the deserted arena. However, they are in no condition to investigate, so the three each heft a body over a shoulder and trudge back to Raknian’s palace, hoping to sneak out of the place and make it safely to the Temple of Saint Cuthbert.
Session #33, GMs Notes:
This was a tough session and it was supposed to be. The heroes went in with limited resources (except Clive who was pretty topped up since he had missed the last session). Due to silence spells and Zahol not wanting to collapse his anti-life shell, he was forced to spend much of the fight spamming negative energy channels, which though a bit boring was very effective. With the arcane characters all trapped by the blade barrier, they couldn’t escape the channeling, which proved a death sentence for Maggie and Clive. Zahol’s defensive buffs and access to healing magic really worked for him. With only 100 hp a villain wouldn’t normally last more than a round or two against 5 10th level characters, but due to his buffs and the battle field control caused by the blade barrier he was able to more than hold his own.
Sir Nat’s high saves and self-healing as a swift action via lay on hands kept him alive, as did Gimpy’s high hit points and self healing. Maggie and Gorman had access to healing magic as well, but it didn’t take long before they had used most of theirs up and were relying on meager pops from cure light wounds wands. This combined with some failed saves from the channeled energy brought Maggie down. Clive hadn’t been doing a lot of healing (he didn’t really have any of his own and everyone else was too busy to help him), so he fell to the same hit that dropped Maggie.
My main concern with this session was that final fight against Zahol was probably somewhat frustrating for certain players. For instance, Gorman was out of bombs early in the fight and was pretty limited in what he could do. Nat was forced use his bow, and Gimpy's spiritual weapon did most of his fighting for him. It was definitely not an ideal combat situation for the players, but that's what made it a challenge. I think they still had a fun session and felt like it was a pretty epic conclusion to the first part of the campaign.
Of course all is not concluded since there is now a certain enormous nasty running amok in Greyhawk.
It looks like there will be another session of this campaign on Friday. I just finished sculpting a gargantuan ulgurstasta for the event. I also made a colossal overworm for a bit later. I will likely have them painted a bit later in the week.
It sounds like that might be some new obituary entries next time (aside from the countless deaths within the city) - unless the party decides to flee the scene of the crime.
Well here's the thing. The heroes are currently really beat up. Clive and Maggie are dead. Gimpy is spent on rages and spells, Sir Nat is spent on smites, spells, lay on hands etc., and Gorman/Seeros is out of bombs and spells. Their current plan is to head to the temple of Saint Cuthbert to get healing, and so Sir Nat can report what has happened. Whether they go try and deal with the monster after that will be up to them.
In the meantime, I gave them an option of running some NPCs and various other characters to deal with the monster on the loose (or at least soften it up for them). They were into that, so they are going to start the session running Urik's war band, since they are close to ground zero and will be the first on the scene.
After that, assuming they get slaughtered, the creature will move from the arena into the streets and the players may bring in their PCs or various NPCs like Eliagos, High Shepard Dunhill, members of the guard etc. If they do bring their characters back into the action High Shepard Dunhill will accompany them, and bust open the war chest to hand them out a bunch of potions that will help the compensate for their current lack of resources.
I've got a couple of other surprises in store as well, so it should be a pretty action packed session.
Here's a little preview of the Ulgurstasta mini:
Nice! :o
And I also have this little nasty ready for a bit further down the road:
And I also have this little nasty ready for a bit further down the road:
You know I read this right?
That sir...is terrifying. I have 3 characters in play however so there is no reason to bring Gimpy into this AGAIN without resting first. He's no good to anyone right now; even with potions.
Don't worry the giant worm is for later...
Here's one more sculpture I made yesterday for the endgame. I still have to prime and paint this one.
Nice! And some good art skills too! :)
Session #34, Part #1 (Aurik’s warband vs. the Ulgurstasta)
Characters: Urik (human, fighter 11) Khellek (human wizard 11), Crixis (human, fighter 8), Seth (tiefling, fighter 7), Rofo (dwarf, monk 8)
Aurik’s warband is awakened in the night by tremors that rock the arena. They strap on their armor, gather up their gear and go to investigate. Upon entering the arena grounds they first spot a gaping hole in the middle of the sands. Then they see the massive form of the maggotesque ulgurstasta at far end of the arena attempting to smash its way through the doors. Even Khellek isn’t sure what the creature is, but they all agree that it would be a bad thing if it were to escape into the city. After quaffing a couple of potions, Aurik, who has always fancied himself as something of a hero, draws his great sword and leads the attack. His warrior companions follow suite. Khellek opens the aggression with a maximized chain lightning spell that blasts a smoking hole in the creature’s back. It yowls in pain and turns to face the mortals who would dare to attack an Apostle of Kyuss.
Aurik charges the thing, ready to cut it down with his great sword, but as he tries to close on it, its bulky head darts down and grabs him up on its mouth (attack of opportunity). Aurik struggles in its crushing jaws, and after failing to escape he drops his great sword and draws a short sword; a second later the giant maggot swallows him whole. With the worm distracted by Aurik, Crixis is able to close in on it. He lands a brutal strike with his battle axe (critical hit). Rofo joins him, but his fists merely sink into its rubbery body. Seth hangs back near Khellek waiting for the right time to strike. Then millions of flaying, hair thin tendrils burst from tiny pours in the creature’s body, and it lets out a shrill whistling sound that causes dogs all through the city to start barking and howling. The flensing tendrils cut into Rofo and Crixis, causing numerous stinging cuts, making the horror all the more difficult to fight.
In the beast’s stomach Aurik begins to cut his way out, while being digested by its necrotic stomach acids. Khellek casts more offensive spells against it. He realizes quickly that it is resistant to magic, as some of his spells seem to have no effect. Furthermore he is not fully prepared for combat, he had used much of his magic in the gladiator match during the previous day, and only has a limited arsenal available.
Meanwhile, Crixis and Rofo continue to bravely attack the monster in melee. They both land additional strikes. Seth, who is more cautious and less eager to fight such a beast, finally decides to join his companions. He moves up, just after it snaps up Rofo and starts to chew and crush the dwarf in its toothy maw. The tiefling lands a solid slash to the thing with his enchanted frost blade. Howevever, although the warriors are all experienced fighters, they are no match for such a beast. It drops Rofo from its mouth and then starts chomping them each of them. Khellek sees the fight is not going well. He casts a scorching ray spell that causes it significant harm; then he makes use of a dimension door spell and teleports himself out of the arena.
It doesn’t take long for the fight to conclude. Soon Crixis and Rofo are dead. Aurik finally cuts his way out of the thing’s stomach, but he is only barely alive when he rolls out onto the arena sands. Crixis and Rofo are dead on the ground beside him, and Seth is horribly wounded. The giant maggot is also badly wounded, and in anger it vomits forth a spray of necrotic acid that finishes off Aurik’s warband.
Khellek emerges in the streets outside the arena. It is dark, but all around the city he can hear dogs barking, and from within the arena he hears the dying screams of his former companions and the shrill whistle of the gargantuan white worm. He contemplates returning to his tower, but instead decides to go visit the magus known as Eliagos. He knows that Sir Nat and his allies are somehow connected to Eliagos, and he deduces that they have something do with the giant worm that escaped. He wants to get to the bottom of the situation, and he suspects that Eliagos will have the answers.
Session #34, Part #2 (The Ulgurstasta vs the defenders of Greyhawk)
Characters:
Sir Nathanial (aka., Sir Nat) (human, paladin 10)
Gorman DiWulfe (formerly known as Seeros) dwarf alchemist 10 (formerly an elf)
Gimpy (half orc, barbarian/oracle/rage prophet 10)
High Shepard Tomas Dunhill (human, cleric 13)
Lief (human, inquisitor 10)
Dior (Halfling, bard/dervish dancer 10)
Eliagos (human, magus 11)
After their fight with Bozal Zahol, Gimpy, Gorman and Sir Nat take leave of the chambers below the arena with the bodies of Clive and Maggie slung over their shoulders (see previous session). They exit through Loris Raknian’s palace and make their way to the temple of Saint Cuthbert. By this time the Urgulstasta has already finished slaughtering Aurik and his warband and has made its way into the city streets where it has begun smashing in homes and devouring citizens, which it later vomits forth as worm-ridden zombies. They don’t see the fiend on their journey, but they do see ghouls and more worm zombies emerging from the sewers within the vicinity of the arena. The heroes cut down those that get in their way, but they are far more interested in getting to the temple than fighting undead. By this time the barking dogs and screams from citizens being terrorized by undead have alerted the city to danger. Bells clang, horns blow, and the guard begins to mobilize. Up in the air above the they catch glimpses of large, winged silhouettes, and they realize that at least half a dozen dragons have arrived on the scene.
When they reach the temple they bang on the doors and are greeted by priests of Saint Cuthbert who are readying themselves for battle. They are escorted to High Shepard Dunhill’s audience chamber, and they find that the high priest is also preparing for battle. Here Sir Nat and Gimpy go explain the events of the evening as quickly and best as they can. Dunhill decides that he will be needed in fighting whatever horror has been unleashed on the city. He asks if Sir Nat and Gimpy will accompany him into battle. Sir Nat has depleted his divine powers for the day, but his sword arm still works. He agrees to Dunhill’s request. Gimpy and Gorman volunteer to stay behind and see to the defense of the temple. Lief, the inquisitor, has been residing at the temple for the past few weeks, and he too volunteers to accompany the high priest. Dunhill opens the temple’s war chest and hands out potions to Sir Nat and Lief. They then make their way towards the arena.
Khellek finds Eliagos awake. The Magus had a feeling that something bad might happen on this final night of the games, and he has been up late. His friend Dior has been over visiting and the two have been sharing a decanter of wine and discussing lighter matters when Khellek comes knocking. Khellek quickly explains the situation and demands that Eliagos tell him what is going on. Eliagos realizes that the time has come for action. He promises to fill Khellek in at a later date, and he and Dior rush out to help defend the city. Khellek returns to his tower where he plans to hole up and defend it from any undead or dragons that come after him.
On their way towards the arena, Eliagos and Dior meet up with Dunhill, Sir Nat, and Lief. It doesn’t take the five of them long to find the Ulgurstasta. The entire neighborhood is teeming with undead, and the City Guard and Night’s Watch are all on the scene, doing their best to destroy them before they can infect more of the populace. However, although they are fighting bravely and valiantly, they don’t have skill or grit needed to face the Ulgurstasta. Luckily Sir Nat and his allies do. Dior begins by casting a haste spell that aids his allies and several of the nearby guards. Then High Shepard Dunhill initiates combat against the Ulgurstasta by summoning for a column of divine fire that washes over it. Unfortunately, due to the creature’s spell resistance it has no effect the worm, but the flames do incinerate several nearby undead. Eliagos takes to the air with a fly spell and draws a wand of lightning that he uses against the worm. Sir Nat charges forward to engage the creature in melee, but he is intercepted by several undead. Other undead swarm in on the heroes. Lief and Dior stay near Dunhill defending him from the undead, so that he can cast more offensive spells on the Ulgurstasta. As Sir Nat hacks through the undead to get to the worm, it slithers forward to him and snaps him up in its massive maw. Its rows of teeth sink into the paladin, nearly killing him (power attack + greater vital strike = a nearly dead paladin).
Normally, the Ulgurstasta would devour its prey and later regurgitate it as a worm zombie, but Sir Nat’s holy aura seems to offend its palette, and it spits him out. Sir Nat staggers, knowing that he won’t survive another attack from the creature, but he’s ready to go down fighting. Then Dior is beside him. The little hasted halfling touches Sir Nat’s wrist and whispers words to a spell. Suddenly both Sir Nat and Dior are teleported back to Dunhill’s side where the paladin can get healing and escape the Ulgurstasta.
Then one of the dragons enters the battle. It catches Eliagos from behind with its breath weapon. Luckily he dodges out of the way at the last second and avoids the worst of its acid. The magus turns to see it is a black dragon. He flies down and lands on the street, where he draws his blade and waits for it to come to him. It accepts his challenge, and flies down to land before him. Then he and the dragon fight one on one for several seconds, the magus slashing with his magical sword, and the dragon savaging him with claws and bite. Lief and Dior sees he needs help, but Dior is busy trying to magically heal Sir Nat, and Lief is occupied fending off ghouls and worm zombies. Eventually members of the guard bravely come to Eliagos’ aid. They all fight bravely and skillfully against the black dragon, causing it several nasty wounds.
The Ulgurstasta, having been robbed of killing the paladin, slithers forward to confront High Sheppard Dunhill. But before it can reach the high priest, he summons forth a blade barrier. The whirling blades of force penetrate its spell resistance, and chaw it to chunks, finishing off the already wounded undead horror. There is much rejoicing.
The fall of the Apostle of Kyuss catches the attention of another dragon- the leader of the brood of younger dragons reeling over the city. She swoops down and spews forth a searing line of acid that burns the flesh off of High Shepard Dunhill’s bones and leaves him dead on the ground. In retaliation, Lief conjures a spiritual weapon that appears before the great dragon. It doesn’t cause the dragon any harm, but it hovers before her, attacking her, and causing the dragon enough irritation to temporarily fly off and focus on dispelling force weapon. This buys Sir Nat, Lief and Dior time to come to the aid of Eliagos and help him drive off the dragon he and the guards are battling. The dragon is badly wounded when it flies off, and Dior is not willing to let it escape. He uses a final dimension door spell to teleport himself onto the dragon’s back, and he starts hacking at it with his scimitar. The dragon reels, trying to shake him off, but the tenacious halfling clings on, and slashes across the back of its neck, spraying blood and sending it spiraling towards the ground. Dior jumps off and casts a featherfall spell on himself. He drifts safely to the ground, landing beside the now dead dragon.
The mother black dragon returns after failing to dispel Lief’s spiritual weapon. In anger she breathes forth a final stream of acid and then flies north with her brood before the city’s mages can muster against her. This final blast of acid slays Eliagos, and leaves other members of the group terribly injured.
Session #34, part #3 (Champions Games, Epilogue)
In the days that follow many things happen. Wills are consulted, and it is determined that High Shepard Dunhill does not wish to be raised from the dead. He is replaced by Manfred Walter Preston III who becomes the new High Shepard. Eliagos is raised from the dead, as per the instructions in his will. Gorman takes Clive’s corpse to the druid grove outside of the city, and Clive’s old druid friend reincarnates him. Clive is restored to life, but in the body of a half elf. Gorman is a little bitter, for when Clive took him to the same Druid and had him reincarnated, he returned to life as dwarf when he had previously been an elf. If only he’d had the fortune to return as a half elf. As per Maggie’s final wishes, her soul is left to rest in peace (or possibly eternal torment), and her body is burned.
Eliagos, Gimpy and Sir Nat meet with Lord Mayor Neff and the other directors of the city at an emergency council meeting. There they brief the council on the all the events that led up to the attack by the dragons and the rampage of the Urgulstasta. The normally raucous and argumentative council is somber and listens intently. The dire nature of the situation brings them together, and they agree that hunting down the dragons will be a top priority. Eliagos suspects that it was the black dragon Ilthane that was behind the attack, and he believes that she in turn is serving the dracolich Dragotha. The council decides to put out a 50,000 gp bounty for her, and another 10,000 gp for each of her brood. They also agree that those who fought so bravely in the defense of the city should be rewarded for their valor. A few days later there is a special ceremony at the citadel, and Gimpy, Gorman, Sir Nat, Clive, Lief, Dior, and Eliagos are all given pendants for their heroism. Each of the pendants has a minor enchantment that causes it to function as a +1 amulet of natural armor.
Once several days have passed, and the adventurers have had some time to recover from their ordeal, Eliagos summons them to gather at his manor. He asks about what their plans are next, and they speak of hunting down Ilthane and her brood. He suggests that they speak with his former master Tenser, for he believes the archmage may be a useful ally in helping to stop the Age of Worms, which Eliagos believes is still lurking on the horizon. He also presents them with a letter he had recently received from Diamond Lake, a letter from Allustan the sage. It seems that Allustan wants Eliagos to send the heroes of the Champion’s Games to Diamond Lake to help him finish exploring a cairn that Allustan’s late apprentice Potts had begun investigating with some companions over a year ago; companions that are also all dead. In the letter Allustan claims that over the past few months he had a previously buried section of the cairn excavated and discovered a silver portal. Using a chime of opening, he found he could open the portal, but he’s looking for experienced adventurers to explore what is on the other side.
Sir Nat, Clive, Gimpy and Gorman weigh their options and discuss their next move. They decide that they will head towards Mage Point to meet with Tenser, as per Eliagos’ advice. However, on the way they decide to stop in Diamond Lake and meet with Allustan, and then determine if they wish to help the sage with his quest to explore the newly discovered portal in the Whispering Cairn.
Session #34, GMs Notes
This was a bit of an unusual session. In the previous session Sir Nat, had inadvertently unleashed the Urgulstasta on the city, but the heroes were too dead or too beat up to do much about it. Only Nat went back to fight it, and that was probably because he's a paladin and couldn't really say no to the high priest's request.
The players ran Aurik's warband at the start of the session. They each selected a random character from the warband. He and his boys actually faired pretty good bringing the creature down to 67 hp before they were slaughtered.
Then players ran some of the other NPCs like Eliagos and Dunhill as well as some town guards. The battle in the city against the Ulgurstasta, undead and dragons was pretty time consuming, but quite fun. I statted up Eliagos as a 11th level Magus and High Shepard Dunhill as a 13th level cleric- both of them ended up being killed by Ilthane. Dunhill's death was from a failure on a massive damage saving throw, and Eliagos was from damage alone.
It looks like Ilthane has headed north with her brood, so the PCs will likely hunt her down, but they first plan to pay a visit to Allustan and see about exploring the rest of the Whispering Cairn and hopefully acquiring some sweet loot. None of the current party members have actually been in the Whispering Cairn since the original characters in the party are gone (though Rofo made a return appearance as a member of Aurik's warband this session, but he was killed).
We decided that we'll finish Burnt Offerings in our Rise of the Runelords campaign before moving into the next adventure in Age of Worms, which means this journal likely won't see any more updates for a few weeks.
Hopefully I'll be running another session of this campaign next weekend.
Session #35, A Gathering of Winds (Return to the Whispering Cairn)
Characters Present: Gimpy (Half orc, Barbarian/Oracle/Rage Prophet 11), Sir Nathanial (Human, Paladin 11), Clive Taskerhill (Half Elf- formerly human, Wizard 11), Seeros aka Gorman (Dwarf- formerly elf, alchemist 11)
A few weeks after the events of the Champions Games, Gimpy, Sir Nat, Clive and Seeros set out for Tenser’s Tower in Magepoint. On their way they decide they will pay a visit to Allustan in Diamond Lake where they will consider assisting him with exploring the newly uncovered section of the Whispering Cairn- a place that no one in the party has yet seen. Clive uses his magic to summon mounts for them and they travel overland at impressive speed on their eldritch steeds.
The Cairn Hills have become a more dangerous place over the past several months. Marsh Keep and Blackwall Keep were both destroyed by Ilthane and the garrison in Diamond Lake was forced to send a number of its troops to Greyhawk to help deal with the ghoul plague. Consquently, the hills are far less patrolled and defended than they had been previously. Brigandry and monster activity has risen and the price of iron has escalated, as shipments from Diamond Lake have required extra mercenary support to protect them. Several shipments have failed to reach Greyhawk at all. One particularly dangerous group of brigands, a small band of giants, has the misfortune of trying to ambush the heroes on the road.
The adventurers are making their way through a narrow saddle between to steep hills when they spot some movement in the rocks above. Clive notes something large skulking behind some boulders on a small plateau overlooking the trail. Then a hulking ettin steps onto the trail from behind a spur of rock. Behind him are two slathering trolls. One of the ettin’s heads wears an ornate headband, and it is this head that does the talking. In articulate common he explains that in order to pass this stretch of trail the heroes must give the giants everything they possess. Gimpy responds with the same offer for them, which causes the Ettin to scoff and laugh. At the same time the giant senses the lack of fear in the heroes. In giant he warns his allies to be cautious. The trolls don’t seem to understand this word, and they surge forward with ravenous appetites ready to devour the heroes.
Two hill giants rise up from their hiding spots behind boulders on the hillside and hurl rocks down, while a final hill giant emerges from the hiding behind other rocks to join the ettin. Clive is tagged with a thrown rock. Sir Nat and Gimpy have already dismounted and drawn weapons. They move in to engage the ettin and trolls, while Seeros draws an alchemical firebomb and hurls it at one of the trolls. The fighting is quick and one-sided. Gimpy, Clive and Seeros each suffer some wounds, but they far outmatch the giants.
The ettin attempts to surrender and negotiates a truce, but one of the hill giants brings the shaky truce to a quick end when he casually hurls a rock at Seeros as the giants depart. This causes Clive to throw a wall of force in from of them, blocking the trail and their retreat, and giving Gimpy and Nat a chance to slaughter them for their treachery. After the fight they recover some loot from the giants, including the headband worn by the ettin. Clive discerns it is enchanted, and he identifies it as a headband of vast intellect, thus explaining how the ettin’s one head was so articulate. Seeros ends up taking the headband, greatly enhancing his own mental prowess.
The remainder of the journey to Diamond Lake passes without incident. When they arrive in town they set about taking care of some personal business. Although Gimpy has never been to Diamond Lake, the place feels familiar because it was the home of Stinky, his spirit guide. Stinky’s presence is strong in the town, and it urges Gimpy to reestablish the fight nights in Kord’s honor that had become such a popular event. In particular, Stinky’s spirit urges him to seek out Valkus Dunn, the garrison’s chaplain of Heironeous and challenge him, for Dun humiliated Stinky when he bested the half orc in a wrestling match in the days when the battle oracle yet lived.
Meanwhile, Sir Nat pays a visit to Jeiran Weirus at the temple of Saint Cuthbert and sits in a sermon. Jeiran is most honored to meet the paladin, and even offers him an opportunity to give the sermon, which Sir Nat declines. Afterwards Sir Nat pays a visit to the garrison and speaks to Captain Trask about news of the region. Trask has been working short-handed for the past several months and has become quite frustrated. His mood is vastly improved when Sir Nat explains that they killed a band of giants on the way to Diamond Lake. Trask tells him that this band had been plaguing the roads the past several weeks and had become a true thorn in his side. It turns out there is a bounty for the giants, and though Sir Nat has no evidence of having killed them, Trask accepts his word and pays out the bounty. Nat also speaks with Valkus Dunn and gives him a heads up that Gimpy may be coming by to challenge him as part of a fight night in Kord’s honor. Valkus seems unconcerned, spouting off something about Kord being the patron god of “little b*$!#es.”
Clive and Seeros are less worried about business in Diamond Lake and spend time hanging out at the Emporium, experiencing the curiosities to be found in its famed Veiled Corridor.
Stinky pays a visit to the former site of the fight nights, a lowly bar known as the Watering Hole. The place had briefly gained a measure of popularity when Stinky was running his weekly fight nights, but now it is a dismal place with only a few regulars spending time there. Bjorne’s father is still the proprietor of the place, but his son’s death weighs heavy on him. Gimpy introduces himself and easily convinces the bar tender to allow him to bring fight nights back to his establishment. The half orc then travels to some of the other taverns to spread the word that there will be a fight night at the Watering Hole the next evening in Kord’s honor. His final stop is the garrison where he challenges Valkus Dunn to face him. Dunn, not being one to shy away from physical contest, despite his age, accepts the challenge. Word of this main event spreads through the town like dragon fire, ensuring that the tavern will be filled to capacity the following evening.
They pass the night at the Able Carter Coaching House. The next day they visit Allustan at his home. The sage is overjoyed to see that they have responded to his letter, though Sir Nat is quick to tell him that they haven’t yet agreed to do any tomb raiding. They are merely paying him a visit to discuss the venture, and that they are actually on their way to consult with Tenser at his tower regarding how they might stop the Age of Worms and deal with Ilthane and potentially Dragotha.
Allustan gives them a strong pitch, raving about the wondrous magics of possessed by the Wind Dukes and the might of their once glorious, plane spanning empire. He assures them that such magic could be of great use to them if they plan to deal with foes such as Ilthane and Dragotha. Clive, Seeros and Gimpy are intrigued, but Sir Nat still has reservations. It doesn’t help that Allustan and his brother (the mayor) has gotten himself involved with Balbar Smenk and that they want half of any of the treasure the heroes find. In the end, the party offers to give a day of time to explore the Cairn, but they insist on 75% of any treasure they uncover from the place.
That evening the Watering Hole is packed with miners and Kord is honored as they wrestle and brawl. The final match features Gimpy against Valkus Dunn in a wrestling match. Dunn gives it everything he has, but in the end he’s no match for the powerful half orc, and Gimpy easily bests him. Stinky’s spirit is most pleased, Kord is honored and Dunn suffers his defeat well.
The next day they set out for the Whispering Cairn; they are escorted by Allustan, Smenk and several of his goons, including Todrick. Allustan takes them to the newly excavated section of the cairn where they set eyes on an oval shaped portal that appears to be made from shimmering quicksilver. Clive casts an analyze portal spell and learns that the portal leads to another location on the material plane and is a two way portal. He also discovers its activation command word. Finally, the spell affords him a brief glimpse of what lies on the other side of the portal. There he sees a long, wide hall that is infested with strange, flying elemental creatures partially made from smoke. He recognizes them as belkers- hateful elementals that can assume a smoke form and enter a person’s body to tear them apart from the inside.
Despite this danger, the heroes proceed. They prepare spells and step through the portal ready for a fight. The belkers immediately attack the intruders, but Clive casts a slow spell on them, vastly limiting their effectiveness. Furthermore, the heroes are hasted, giving them a distinct advantage. The belkers elemental physiology makes them difficult to harm with weapons, but Sir Nat and Gimpy still manage, while Seeros hurls alchemical bombs and Clive bombards them with spells and scorching rays from his wand. On multiple occasions the belkers attempt to send their smoky forms down the heroes’ throats, but each time the targeted adventurer manages to hold his breath and resist. It isn’t long before all six of the elementals have been sent back to their home plane.
The heroes delve deeper into the tomb. The hall of the belkers opens into the first room, which is large and has a tall ceiling supported by columns. One wall of the room features three five-foot square relief carvings of androgynous, bald heads; their mouths are pursed as if to whistle. All three reliefs have holes carved into the mouths that are big enough to reach inside. On the floor in the center of the room is a fifteen-foot diameter circular tile made from black obsidian. In the center of it is a small, hexagonal indentation some six inches deep. A hall and a set of stone double doors provide additional exits to the room.
Seeros sets about investigating the heads. He’s concerned about traps, but he decides to shove an everburning torch into one of the mouth holes. It triggers a trap that spews forth a cloud of deadly poisonous gas. Fortunately, Seeros’ years of training in the alchemical arts have recently blessed him with immunity to poisons, thus it has no effect on him. The gas is heavy and doesn’t spread far enough to reach the remainder of the party. After this, Seeros assumes that all the heads are likely similarly trapped, so he leaves them alone.
Sir Nat opens the set of double doors. They lead into a hallway that is intersected by another hall. Standing in the center of the this intersection is a stone statue depicting an 8’ tall, robed vaati figure holding a sword in one hand and a balance in the other. The statue stands upon a 4’ tall plinth. As the heroes move in to investigate a warding glyph is triggered, unleashing a potent dictum spell. The has no affect on lawful aligned beings, making Sir Nat immune, but Gimpy and Seeros find themselves stunned and deafened by its thunderous clap.
The noise attracts attention and an adjacent set of doors open up. A towering, fiery outsider, known in common as a salamander, slithers into the hall, wielding a wicked looking long spear. The salamander is followed by a huge fire elemental; a wave of heat washes over the heroes as the fiery beings come forward. Seeros immediately drinks an extract that will protect him from fire. The salamander introduces himself as Earl Antyress of Coalchester; he’s apparently a noble among his kind. Yet for the past several thousand years he’s been bound to this tomb by the wind dukes to serve as a guardian. He’s eager to converse since it’s been so long since he’s received a visitor. However, he is still bound as a guardian, and he insists that the heroes turn back or he will be forced to slay them.
Sir Nat senses a strong aura of evil about the creature and refuses. As has happened so many times before, conversation leads to combat. Seeros initiates the violence with a force bomb, injuring the salamander and causing him to strike back with his long spear. The deadly spear thrusts nearly kill the alchemist, but he manages to retain consciousness. Clive assumes an elemental form of his own and Gimpy and Sir Nat engage the salamander to protect Seeros. Sir Nat channels his divine power to smite his foe, and he lands two brutal critical hits (about 100 damage each) that slay it instantly, causing it to collapse into a pile of ash and return to the plane of fire. The elemental moves forward to avenge its master, and a second salamander enters the hall from another set of doors. This one wields two swords, slashing an already wounded Seeros with one. Fortunately, before it can make a full attack on the alchemist, Clive uses a slow spell on it. The slow magic negates its ability to use its swords with real effect (no full attack). It resorts to its magic and detonates a fireball in the middle of the hall. The scalding flames wash over the heroes, but they all have at least some form of fire resistance, and its effects are minimal. After this it doesn’t take long for the adventurers to destroy their opponents with a barrage of force bombs, spells and old-fashioned melee attacks. With the fight over they heal wounds and prepare to continue their exploration.
Session #35, GM Notes
The heroes pretty much stomped their opposition during this session. The salamander fight could have been much more dangerous if Sir Nat hadn't landed two crits in a row and if the second salamander hadn't succumbed to Clive's slow spell- making one attack a round is a lot less than making 6 (especially when you potentially crit on a 17-20). Anyhow, I think the players enjoyed kicking ass for a change, and of course their is no shortage of challenges ahead for them.
It's been a while, but our next session is scheduled for Saturday. Huzzah.
Session #36, part #1, A Gathering of Winds
Characters: Gimpy (half orc, oracle/barbarian/rage prophet 12), Sir Nathanial (human, paladin 12), Gorman/Gorman (dwarf, alchemist 11), Clive Taskerhill (human, wizard 11)
At Gimpy’s suggestion the characters return to the room with the large relief head sculptures. Gimpy encourages Gorman to prod inside the mouths of the remaining two heads, which he had not previously investigated. Prodding the first one again triggers a cloud of poisonous gas, but his immunity to poison protects him. In the final mouth he finds a metal hexagon-based prism that looks like it will fit perfectly in the recess located in the center of the 15’ diameter black circle, which is set in the floor of the room. Gimpy calls upon his spirit guide to levitate the prism and set it into the hole. It fits, and the entire black circle quivers, as if it had just transformed from a solid to a liquid. Gorman decides to stick his pole into the black “liquid.” The pole sinks in all the way, but before he can pull it out something grabs hold of it and yanks it out of his hand, and the pole disappears into the black liquid.
After this event Gimpy, who has still be concentrating on levitating the prism, raises it back out of the liquid, causing the black circle to revert to solid form. They decide to leave it alone for the time being, but Gimpy keeps the prism.
Next they return to the chamber where the first salamander had come from (see session #35). Here they find a large chest made of basalt bound with metal. Inside they find a variety of treasure including coins, gems and portable bar stocked with crystal decanters containing efreeti brandy. They pilfer it all. With this task complete, they decide that a rest may be in order. Unfortunately the floor of the room is covered with coals that seem to retain their heat indefinitely. It is hardly the sort of place for comfortable resting. Thus they decide make camp in a room across the hall. This chamber contains a balcony and four silver chandeliers that glow with magical purple flame. The chandeliers show images of demons surrendering themselves to Wind Duke warriors that are controlling spheres of annihilation. The chandeliers appear valuable, so a fly spell is cast on Sir Nat and the chains holding them are removed from their hooks in the ceiling and lowered to the ground. Sir Gnat and Gimpy then haul them to the portal, so that later on they can easily be transported back to Diamond Lake. After this is done the party makes camp in the room that housed them.
Sir Nat is on first watch and the rest of the part is resting. He hears a voice up ahead of him. It is not natural and sounds as though it is coming from a mouth that could not be constructed like a man’s. However, he can see no sign of the being that is speaking. The words are rambling, and whatever it is seems to be talking more to itself than Sir Nat. It wonders who the characters are, and it accuses them of being thieves here to steal from the tomb. In its ramblings it provides little opportunity for Sir Nat to reply. He wakes up Gimpy and uses his ability to detect evil. He senses a strong evil aura just ahead of him. Gimpy casts a see invisibility spell, and looks out to see a huge arachnid standing on the ground in front of them. By this time the spider has stopped muttering and is examining them intently. The heroes refrain from attacking, and suddenly it vanishes in a poof of shadowy smoke.
Gimpy the takes over on watch, taking advantage of his see invisibility spell to watch in case the thing comes back. Just before his spell is about to end it returns, but this time it just stands in front of the party and silently stares. Gimpy tries to pretend he can’t see it, and does nothing to acknowledge the creature, but he keeps his blade on his lap and is ready to fight if need be. Eventually it again vanishes. The remainder of the rest passes uneventfully, but everyone is feeling a little paranoid afterwards.
The next day they continue their exploration of the tomb. The first room they explore features a 10’ diameter, circular stone set into the middle of the floor. The stone is etched with a Wind Duke glyph. Clive recognizes it as the personal seal of a Wind Duke, but he isn’t certain which one. At far end of the room is a short but narrow hallway that has a cubby carved into the wall at the far end of it. The cubby is set at about waist height, and there appears to be something sitting in the cubby. The ceiling of both the chamber and the hall is some 20’ high, and in the room it is covered with swirling smoke that shows armored Wind Duke warriors fighting off hordes of demons (clearly a recurring theme in Wind Duke art).
They enter the room, and avoiding the circular stone in the floor they spend a moment admiring the dynamic ceiling “mural.” Sir Nat then heads down the hallway towards the cubby. Despite not being overly bright, he already suspects that there might be something in the cubby that needs to be poured into the groves of the Wind Duke glyph in order to trigger some interesting effect. The rest of the characters take up positions in the corners of the room. The paladin reaches the end of the hall, and inside the cubby he discovers a ceramic bowl filled with blue mineral powder. However, as soon as he removes it from the cubby there is a clicking noise. Suddenly a heavy stone block falls in front of the entrance to the hall, sealing Sir Nat inside. At the same time four more even larger blocks fall from the ceiling of the room and crash to the floor. Luckily none of the heroes are standing beneath them. Finally the entire ceiling of the hallway begins to descend, threatening to crush poor Sir Nat.
To make matters worse the blocks that had fallen into the room, which are approximately 10’ square cubes, suddenly begin to shift shape and take the form of hulking earth and rock humanoids- earth elementals! The elementals are clearly some sort of guardians, for they immediately start assaulting Gorman, Clive and Gimpy. One of them blocks the entrance to the room, making escape difficult. Gorman takes action first, and as quickly as possible he starts hurling alchemical bombs at the one in front of him, blasting it with fire. Unfortunately the dwarf is pinned in a corner of the room with two elementals surrounding him, making escape from the room very unlikely. His best hope is to take them out before they can kill him. Clive casts a slow spell that affects two of the elementals; he then teleports himself deeper into the room where he takes cover behind a pillar. Here he hears the grating sound of the ceiling descending in the hall and Sir Nat hacking away on the others side of the stone block desperate to find a way to escape. Yet despite his vast intellect, he can’t be sure of the threat facing the paladin.
Meanwhile one of the non-slowed earth elementals starts pounding on Gimpy, causing him substantial injury. The half orc disengages the brute and fights his way towards the room’s exit hoping to help Gorman and buy the alchemist time to retreat into the hall. He doesn’t notice that Clive has teleported close to him, and that the elemental he is disengaging will likely turn on the wizard. Two elementals start pummeling Gorman. Luckily one is slowed, and the dwarf manages to dodge a couple of attacks, though he’s still grazed by an earthen fist, and even a “graze” from an earth elemental can turn a man to a pulp. The dwarf is tough enough to take the hit, and he continues to hurl bombs. The splash damage is effectively eating away at two of the four elementals, while the nova hot flames somehow consume his primary target. This opens a path for him to escape into the hall, and Gimpy positions himself between the dwarf and two elementals holding them at bay. The fourth elemental that was furthest from him is unscathed and sees Clive. Its massive stone fists crash into the wizard, collapsing his chest and leaving him a bloody mess on the ground.
Meanwhile, in the hall, the ceiling continues to descend towards Sir Nat. He realizes hacking at the stone block that has fallen in front of the exit is futile, so he props his adamantine sword between the floor and the ceiling. The flexible blade of the greatsword bends under the pressure of the ceiling, but it seems to be slowing its descent. Nat sits down and puts his back against the block; he then pushes with his mighty legs hoping to move the block back far enough that he can crawl out. Yet the stone weighs thousands of pounds, and despite his strength he can only budge it a couple of inches.
Gorman and Gimpy continue to face off against the elementals. Gorman withdraws into the hall where he keeps hurling his bombs, inflicting massive damage on his earthen opponents. Gimpy keeps them at bay with his blade and takes several bone crushing hits. In seconds, two more of the elementals fall to the onslaught of the dwarf and the half orc, leaving only one. Gorman then rushes back into the room and finds that Clive is barely clinging to life (thanks to a couple of hero chips). He pours his most potent healing extract down the wizard’s throat, and that revives him, though he is still horribly wounded. The wizard clears his head enough to cast a spell and teleports into the hallway beside Sir Nat. He then manages to teleport the pair of them out just in time. Sir Nat has the foresight to bring both has blade and the bowl with the mineral powder with him.
Back in the room Gimpy and Gorman finish the final earth elemental, though by this time the ultra tough half orc has taken so many hits that if it weren’t for his barbarian rage he would be unconscious. And so it is that through some miracle (that miracle being hero chips), the party finds themselves alive amongst mounds of earthen rubble. Furthermore, Sir Nat has the mineral powder, which he decides to pour into the groves of the glyph that is carved into the circular stone set in the floor.
Session #36, Part #2- A Gathering of Winds
Once Sir Nat has finished pouring the mineral powder into the glyph the stone rises up out of the floor, revealing that is actually a cylinder that is some 10’ long and 10’ in diameter. The stone levitates straight up into the air and disappears through the ceiling “smoke sculpture,” vanishing from sight. Looking at the floor they see all that remains is a hole that is perfectly sized to contain the cylinder.
Gimpy suggests that the cylinder must be some kind of elevator, and it seems they missed the ride, though this might not be a bad thing. Gimpy’s divine powers have recently given him the ability to create a magical arcane sensor, and he calls upon it to follow the “elevator.” It travels up through the smoke, and they learn that there is a hidden shaft in the ceiling. The shaft is sized to fit the cylinder, and it goes up some forty feet before it comes to an abrupt end. Presumably it has ended at the bottom face of the cylinder. This blocks the sensor, preventing it from discovering where the elevator might have led.
Since the sensor spell is still active Gimpy decides that they might as well investigate the black circle floor in the room with the relief heads. Gimpy once again levitates the prism key in place, and the black floor again turns to liquid. He sends the sensor down. It travels through the liquid with ease and finds that there is a room below it. The strange black liquid somehow holds its form and doesn’t fall into the room, acting as a sort of ceiling. The room itself has glowing glyphs carved into the walls, and it appears to be a prison. Lurking in the chamber is a 20’ tall demon with a head like a boar and small wings protruding from its back. A small passage leads out of the room, but presumably the demon is bound by the glyphs and cannot leave. The fiend seems to see the sensor even though it is invisible, and it immediately casts a dispel magic spell, causing the arcane eye to wink out of existence before Gimpy can send it to investigate the passage.
Next they decide to go explore some of the other doors on this level of the tomb. Just prior to this Gimpy casts a see invisibility spell, as this was the territory of the giant spider. They head down a hall towards a set of double doors. Gimpy and Sir Nat lead the way. Suddenly, a massive, but nearly invisible hand of magical force surges out of the doors and grabs Gimpy. It is big enough to completely envelope the half orc, and it immediately starts crushing him in its grasp. The barbarian struggles and by some miracle manages to break free. He and Nat retreat back down the hallway. Clive realizes that it is a spell effect, so he attempts a dispel magic. It fails. He tries a second one, and this time he succeeds on dispelling the crushing hand. With this obstacle dealt with they approach the door. After some prodding and hacking they realize that it in fact a set of false doors, seemingly nothing more than a potentially deadly diversion.
The adventurers then return to the large room that housed the chandeliers. They venture up the stairs to the second story gallery that surrounds the room. Up here there are three sets of doors leading out of the room, each centered in separate wall. The first set of doors they open takes them into a hall that leads to a ramp that descends deeper into the tomb. They decide to avoid venturing down the ramp for the time being and instead investigate the next door. This set of doors opens into a tiny room that holds an urn and six small stone boxes.
Gimpy decides to investigate the urn, and he walks up to it and removes the lid. This isn’t his wisest decision, and as soon as he touches it he triggers a deadly magical trap that sends negative energy coursing through him, sapping his very life force (energy drain- 7 negative levels!!); he stubbles out of the room alive but feeling cold and weak. Clive checks the urn with a detect magic spell, and learns that it is no longer warded. They open it up and find it full of ashes. The boxes don’t radiate magic either, so Nat decides to investigate them. They are locked. He takes the first one to the railing of the balcony and drops it off. It shatters on the floor below and a wand rolls out.
They are about to check the next box when suddenly Gorman hears a strange, raspy voice from behind him, “I knew it. Spitgob was right. They are thieves. More thieves; Flycatcher cannot abide more thieves. The Weaver thinks we should kill them.”
Gimpy turns in time to see a humongous spider clinging to the wall nearby Gorman. It is invisible, but thanks to his spell Gimpy can see it. The thing then lunges forward attacking, Gorman before he can react. It tears into him with its mandibles and the piercing tips of its legs. This ends its invisibility spell, but Gorman is so horribly wounded that he crumples to the ground on the verge of death. Clive attempts to cast a slow spell on it, but the horror resists. Gimpy and Sir Nat rush to Gorman and stand over him. They begin to hew at the spider, and manage to wound it, but it fights back and next savages Sir Nat. Even his enchanted armor can’t protect him, as the spider seems to find every gap. Blood sprays from the paladin wounds, spattering the spider’s face. Its mandibles snap gleeful, “This is the fate of thieves.” Sir Nat falls in a heap on top of Gorman. Had it not been for the righteous fury of Saint Cuthbert, which allowed him to send a surge of divine healing through his body just as he sustained his final wound, he would have be killed. Instead he is “merely” unconscious and mortally wounded. Gimpy snarls, he’s still terribly weakened from the energy drain spell, but he’s prepared to go down fighting.
Clive sees that his friends are in a dire predicament. He rushes to their side, keeping behind Gimpy to avoid the spider. He then casts a teleport spell and manages to whisk himself and his companions to the temple of Saint Cuthbert in Greyhawk, saving them from certain death.
Session #36, GMs Notes
So this was a brutal session. We had two players have to cancel at the last minute, which left us in a bit of bind. We decided to carry on, and the two players that showed up ran their characters. It wasn't an ideal session to have missing players since it featured some nasty encounters.
For those of you that are familiar with a Gathering of Winds, you may note some changes. I left out the elder black pudding because I didn't feel like getting into the hassle the goes along with determining damage to gear. Also the earth elemental encounter was a homebrew replacement for the following column trap, which I thought was kind of lame.
This was intended to be a nasty old school dungeon crawl type adventure, and this session it delivered. Had it not been for hero points Sir Nat and Clive would have been dead, and if not for Clive's teleportation magic the whole party probably would have died. In the end they escaped by the skin of their teeth.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to be in a hurry to go back, and there isn't a lot of incentive other than potential loot. Luckily I've got plenty of other options lined up. They are talking of going to visit Tenser next session, which could send them in a number of directions.
I forgot to mention that this journal is now fully up to date. Our next session of AoW is slotted for November 8th.
Session #37, (Interlude in Mage Point, a meeting with Tenser)
Characters Present: Gimpy (half orc, oracle/barbarian/rage prophet 12), Sir Nathanial (human, paladin 12), Gorman/Gorman (dwarf, alchemist 12), Clive Taskerhill (half elf, wizard 12)
The adventurers find themselves back in Greyhawk after fleeing the Wind Duke tomb with a teleportation spell. Here they spend a few weeks selling off the loot that they scavenged from the tomb. The city is still recovering from the traumatic events of the past few months, and there are still many reports of undead roaming the countryside. More and more folk rave madly about the coming of the Age of Worms.
Eventually, they teleport back to Diamond Lake where they meet briefly with Allustan and turn over the 25% share of the treasure from the tomb that they agreed to pay to him and Smenk. The sage seems almost surprised to see them alive three weeks later. He is disappointed they have decided not to go back into the tomb, but he understands their reasons, and they part Diamond Lake on good terms.
From Diamond Lake they ride on phantom steeds through the Cairn Hills to Mage Point. Mage Point is a small village, but as they ride in they can see that it is wealthy. Even the homes of the peasants are large and well constructed- some have windows with glass and fine slate shingles on the roofs. In the village common they find a towering statue of Tenser carved from a block of black stone. Here also they find the Inn of the All Seeing Eye and the Temple Library.
Their first stop is the inn, which is a large structure that rivals any of the finest inns in Greyhawk. They spend the evening feasting and drinking in the common room. Here they learn from Gandral the innkeeper that Tenser is currently on another plane tending to “wizard business,” but he is expected to return in a few days. He motions around the common room, and the heroes note that it is filled with folk that look like they have come from all corners of the Flanaess. He informs them that they all wish an audience with the archmage. They explain a bit about their own reasons for wanting to see Tenser (such as seeking advice on how best to deal with Ilthane) and inquire as to how they would go about gaining an audience. He in turn tells them of the list and of Cymeria the elf woman who serves Tenser and helps decide who will gain an audience with the wizard. Cymeria visits the inn nearly every night to meet with folk who wish to see Tenser, and she is expected any time. Gandral also encourages them to talk with a man named Fin who is the son of a famed dragon slayer named Helgrim the Red. Fin is apparently quite knowledgeable when it comes to dragon slaying, and Gandral seems to think he might offer them useful advice.
They make a good enough impression on Gandral that he adds them to the list of folk to meet with Cymeria. They then take a table and enjoy their meal. Gimpy spends time attempting to flirt with the barmaids who seem drawn to both him and Sir Nat (both have 20 charisma). However, Sir Nat continually attempts to disrupt his efforts (cockblocker). Clive and Gorman find their way over to Fin’s table and strike up a conversation about dragon slaying and their interest in hunting down Ilthane and her brood. As they chat they discover that Fin doesn’t seem to have any real great insights to share with them about killing dragons. It seems that his father Helgrim was the real expert. However, Fin does tell them how Helgrim disappeared eight years ago when he joined a group of adventurers on an expedition to the a faraway place known as the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth. He explains that Helgrim wielded a mighty sword called Wyrm Killer, and he wore a ring that protected him against dragon breath as well as magical plate armor and winged boots. Fin suggests that having such gear is essential to slaying powerful dragons like Ilthane. Clive inquires as to whether or not he’s had any divinations performed to see if he could learn more of his father’s fate. It turns out he has, and Fin then goes on to tell him the cryptic message he received from the gods:
“Betrayed by friend, he suffered a treacherous fate.
Forever frozen in stone, he must now wait.”
The riddle suggests that Helgrim may somehow be petrified, and if that is the case he could still be revived with magic, and his weapons and armor might be salvaged. Finding Helgrim seems like a bit of a long shot, but Clive and Gorman are intrigued by the prospect.
Clive is knowledgeable on many subjects, and he has heard of the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth. It is said that Tsojanth was a good aligned mage in ancient times who used the cavern complex as his lair. That was long ago; in the centuries that have since passed an evil taint has infected the region, and just over one hundred years ago the place became the lair of the infamous Iggwilv- daughter of Baba Yaga, mistress and foe the demon lord Grazzt, mother of Iuz and Witch Queen of the Perrenland. It was here that Iggwilv built her dominion, bound demons to her will and penned the dread Demonicon. For many years she ruled over the surrounding lands, and her rule was only shattered after Grazzt escaped her control, and the two fought a terrible battle that was said to have lasted for days. Grazzt was defeated and banished back to the Abyss, but Iggwilv’s arcane power was vastly diminished, and she was unable to maintain control of her lands. She vanished soon after and has not been heard from since. It is generally assumed that she has been dead for many years, yet Clive knows this to be false. He knows that his father Tomen had dealings with her several years ago when he and his companions were trying to defeat Demogorgon. She aided them in building alliances with Demogorgon’s enemies, and she was at the site of the Prince of Demon’s defeat to collect his remains and spirit them away, presumably to her lair on the plane of Hades.
While Clive and Gorman are busy chatting with Fin, Sir Nat and Gimpy are approached by two young peasants a girl and a boy about 14-16 years old who look distinctly out of place in an inn full of wealthy merchants, scholars and diplomats. They learn that the two peasants have travelled for several days on foot from a small village to the west in the Duchy of Urnst seeking Tenser’s aid. However, when they arrived in Magepoint and saw so many important people from distant lands all vying for an audience with the archmage their hopes were shattered. It seems they are in need of help. Their village was recently plagued by undead that were seemingly coming from an ancient Flan barrow in the hills. Their lord was able to recruit a band of mercenaries to help deal with the undead, and they all ventured into the hills to find the barrow. The mercenaries returned claiming they had dispatched the undead, but the baron had been killed in the fighting.
Trouble ensued when the mercenaries refused to be on their way, and since then they have essentially taken over the village, drinking all the ale, having their way with the village women and otherwise terrorizing the peasants. The baron’s young son was made the new baron, but he seems to be puppet for the mercenaries. In fact the peasants explain that the leader of the mercenaries has a female consort that they believe is a witch or sorceress, and they suspect she may have placed an enchantment on the lad. Things came to a head several days ago when the local priest of Saint Cuthbert gathered together the villagers and led them to the manor house to demand that the mercenaries leave. Their leader put a crossbow through the priest’s head, and after they slaughtered several peasants the mob dispersed. After that the mercenaries took some women and children as hostages to ensure the villagers behave themselves.
Tegan and Elias beg the heroes help them rid their village of the unwelcome mercenaries. Sir Nat listens intently, examining the two for evil intentions but finding none. This is hardly a quest he can pass up. After all the mercenaries murdered a priest of Saint Cuthbert. He promises that he and his companions will aid them and says that they will set out the next morning.
Later that evening, they have their audience with Tenser’s hand Cymeria. Cymeria has heard of the heroes and their heroism during the Champions Games, and she thinks that Tenser would be interested to hear of their exploits and findings regarding the impending Age of Worms. She promises that she will do what she can to get them an audience as soon as he returns.
They pass the night in the comfort of the inn, and the next day Clive again conjures phantom steeds. Elias and Tegan each get a phantom mount as well, and the two peasants lead them through the hills towards the Duchy of Urnst. They travel for a couple of days before reaching the small village of Landor’s Roost, which is nestled at the foot of the Cairn Hills. It is early evening when they arrive. They decide not to enter the village and instead make their way up to the crest of one of the nearby hilltops where they can look down on the village.
The village is a typical rural community. Its primary defense is the manor house, which sits on motte. The manor house has two out buildings. One appears to be a stable and the other looks like a barracks or servants quarters. Clive sends Oswald, his psuedodragon familiar, to scout the place out. Oswald discerns that the mercenaries seem to be primarily in the manor house, and it sounds as though they are in the midst of feasting.
The heroes wait for dark and then approach. There is no sign of any guards outside. Gimpy casts a silence spell and they bash in a door that leads into the basement of the manor. Here they quickly dispatch a couple of guards before they can alert the rest of the mercenaries upstairs, and they rescue a few peasant prisoners who were busy fetching water from a well. They follow a staircase up to the main floor, which leads into the kitchen. Here Nat and Gimpy kill a couple of more mercenaries who are overseeing the captive women while they work. One of them is able to shout for help and falls backwards through the door to the greathall as Nat cuts him down.
The greathall is filled with feasting mercenaries, along with a few more captives who are serving them. Their leader and his sorceress consort are also here. The warriors wear their armor, but not their shields. They are taken by surprise as the furious paladin and half orc burst into the hall with blood stained weapons. The men draw their blades and stand to fight, some more quickly than others. Sir Nat offers them a chance to surrender, but before they can contemplate this wise course of action an alchemist bomb flies into the room and hits one of the men in the chest. A burst of scorching flames envelopes the room. Gorman is able to shape the flames so that they don’t harm his companions or the civilians. The mercenaries aren’t so fortunate, and several of them are horribly burned. Screams of agony ensure. Sir Nat and Gimpy hurl themselves into the midst of their enemies and cut down all who oppose them. The sorceress casts a confusion spell against Gimpy, but the barbarian is clear to his purpose and resists the enchantment.
Clive casts a slow spell that wreaks havoc on the mercenaries. Even their leader is slowed, though he still manages to slam a massive flail into Gimpy’s chest. The half orc takes the blow and grins ear to ear. Then he raises his own blade and goes on the offensive, inflicting terrible wounds. The sorceress counters the slow effect with a haste spell. Then another one of Gorman’s firebombs detonates. There is more burning and death. In seconds the fight is over. The sorceress flees with teleportation magic, abandoning her lover to be cut down by the raging half orc. The few surviving mercenaries surrender and beg for their lives.
The village is soon secured, and there is much rejoicing among the peasants. Sadly the single tavern in town has been drunk dry by the mercenaries. Clive remedies this problem by teleporting Greyhawk and buying several kegs of the best ale he can find. He then teleports back to the village with the ale and the celebrations ensue.
The next day the heroes teleport back to Magepoint. A couple of days later they have their audience with Tenser. For the most part the archmage listens as they recount their adventures and what they have learned about the Age of Worms. Tenser’s concern regarding this impending apocalypse had already been growing over the past several months. Word of undead infestations have become common through the Flanaess and several prophecies portending the Age of Worms have already occurred, not the least of which was the destruction of the Prince of Demons, which was in a great part thanks to Clive’s father Tomen Taskerhill. The stories the adventurers share serve to confirm Tenser’s fears that the Age of Worms truly is approaching.
For his part, Tenser tells the heroes of his former colleague Bucknarde. Like the heroes Bucknarde had become involved with investigating the Cult of the Ebon Triad and the Age of Worms. He had learned of its ties to the demi-god known as Kyuss, and he researched Kyuss extensively. Most of what Tenser is able to tell them about Kyuss they have already learned through their own research. However, he does tell them that Bucknarde travelled to the city of Kuluth Mar- an ancient ruin in the jungles far to the south. Bucknarde had determined that this had been the seat of Kyuss’ power when he was a mortal, and this was the place where he became a god.
Bucknarde returned from Kulath Mar rattled by his discoveries there. He didn’t tell Tenser much of what had transpired. Instead he spoke of having leads to pursue in the city of Alhastar north of the Nyr Dyv. Tenser isn’t overly familiar with Alhastar, though he has heard that in the recent past it was taken over by a powerful follower of Hextor. Furthermore, Ilthane’s lair is said to be not terribly far north of Alhastar. Hextor, Ilthane- these things hardly seem like they could be just coincidence. On a hunch Tenser pulls a book off his library shelf titled, “A short history of Alhastar,” hoping that further clues might come to light. As he does so a note falls out of the book- a note penned by Bucknarde. It reads as follows:
Alhastar could be the key
Missing heretics never captured… Possible site of Ebon Triad foundation? Did they turn to the cult of Erythnul for aid and then more recently to that of Vecna? Are the new triad leaders trained somewhere in Alhastar and then sent out to start their own cult cells in other cities?
To Do:
- Consult with Lashona (helped defeat heretics, may know more about them)
- Rhosk (may still be in Alhaster. Likely dead, but maybe he left some sort of legacy)
- Ebon Triad (are they still active in Alhaster? Find out if their original shrine/base of operations still exists)
Tenser doesn’t recognize the name Lashona, but Rhosk was a priest of Saint Cuthbert, a resident of Alhastar and the author of the book.
The heroes are left with a few options- go to Alhastar, travel to Kuluth Mar, or potentially undertake an expedition to the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth in search of Fin’s father and his dragon slaying weapons. Tenser offers them some aid in this regard. In his study are several paintings of exotic locations throughout the Flanaess. The paintings have a magical effect tied to them that allow one who studies them to use them as a focus for teleportation magic to the location. He has a painting of Kuluth Mar and one of the infamous mountain known as Iggwilv’s Horn where the caverns are said to be located. After some discussion they decide that they will go to the Caverns of Tsojanth and search for the legendary dragon slayer Helgrim the Red. However, Clive decides that he will first return to Greyhawk, purchase a ship, hire a crew, load it with trade goods and send it Alhastar. He will take time to get to know the ship intimately so that he can teleport to it when he wishes. Clive figures that when he is ready his ship will be in Alhastar waiting for him. The rest of the party likes Clive’s idea, and the next day they teleport back to Greyhawk to buy a ship and hire a crew.
Session #37, GMs Notes
So this session was intended to be exactly what it was, an interlude session that would give them a chance to figure out their next step in the campaign.
I deviated from the AP significantly in that I gave them a little more information at once and opened up several possible paths. That could bite me in the ass, but I've been trying to make this campaign more organic and player driven than it actually is RAW. It makes it more interesting for me and hopefully the players.
The sidequest I provided was home-brew, and it was mainly a little filler that I intentionally kept really easy to give them a bit of break from the nasty grind and let them bask a bit in being higher level PCs.
For those familiar with D&D lore, you will know that the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth is not in the AP, but is a classic 1e adventure by Gary Gygax (with all that entails). It's one that I've wanted to run for some time, so I snuck that in as an option. Lucky me, they took the bait (I wasn't really sure that they would), which works out well since they didn't complete Gathering of Winds and are thus a bit behind in loot and xp.
There was a 3.5 conversion done of it right around when Dungeon went digital. Unfortunately, I've only been able to get my hands on the first half or it. I'm not sure if the second half was even released, but I can't seem to find it. Luckily I have a pdf of the original, so I'll use that for reference depending on how deep they end up delving. As usual I'll make a few "tweaks."
Ah. "Tweaks". He's of course making it easier for us.
Well it is a Gary Gygax adventure. You wouldn't want me to make it harder.
Last night's session featured play of one of the game's classic adventures- The Lost Caverns of Tsojanth. It proved quite eventful- journal to coming soon.
Session #38, part #1- The Lost Caverns of Tsojanth- preliminary investigations
Characters Present: Clive Taskerhill [half elf (formerly human), wizard 12], Sir Nat (human, paladin 12), Gimpy (half orc, barbarian/oracle/rage prophet 12), Gorman DiWulf (formerly Seeros the elf now dwarf, alchemist 12)
At the end of last session the heroes decided that they would travel to the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth in search of the missing dragon slayer Helgrim the Red and his dragon slaying gear, which includes a potent sword named Wyrmkiller. According to divinations his son had performed, Helgrim may still be in the caves in a petrified state.
The session begins with the heroes meeting with Tenser once again. Tenser explains to them that it has come to his attention that necromancers and evil priests are now able to animate and create undead without using onyx gems, which is the expensive material component normally required for these dark rites. He is off to parlay with Mordenkeinan in hopes of convincing the archmage that the scales of balance have tipped too far towards evil and his intervention is required.
As for the heroes, they make use of the enchanted painting of the mountain called Iggwilv’s Horn in Tenser’s study to teleport themselves to the Yatil Mountains. It is a cold and windy autumn morning when they arrive at a crossroads looking south towards Iggwilv’s Horn. A caravan trail follows the Velverdyva river gorge south and passes by the east side of the mountain, while a foot path heads to the southwest and looks as though it might eventually hook around the western slopes.
Gimpy and Sir Nat stare at the desolate mountain and wait for directions. Clive, is preoccupied eating, so Gorman steps up and leads the party along the footpath. The going is slow through the rocky terrain. The trail they are following steadily slopes upward and hooks towards the western side of the mountain. After a couple of hours of travel, Gorman spots a flicker of movement near some bushes and trees about thirty yards off the trail (a random encounter was rolled). Sir Nat notices a pretty flow. The dwarf halts the party and looks more closely towards the foliage. A glint of metal catches his eye. He calls out, “Who goes there?”
To his surprise a voice answers him in common. A rare thing known as a parlay ensues, and Gormun manages to convince the figure to step out into the open, at which point the adventurers see a gnome with a shortbow. It turns out the gnome is named Blimbly, and he and a few of his companions, who remain hidden were out patrolling and hunting.
Their conversation with Blimbly is fruitful, for the gnome remembers Helgrim the Red. The dragon slayer and his adventuring companions had contact with the gnome clan eight years ago when they were in the region to explore the caverns. It was memorable to the gnomes because Helgrim and his band killed a pair of wyverns that had been troubling the clan and were lairing in one of the mountain’s many caves. They also uncovered a magical horn, which they gave to the gnomes as a gift in exchange for the gnomes providing them with a guide to the entrance of the caverns. Sadly the horn turned out to be a vile thing that caused much strife among the gnomes. It corrupted many members of the clan and caused a great schism. Good prevailed and the corrupted gnomes were driven off into the wilderness with their foul relic, but since then the remaining gnomes have been more reclusive than ever. According to Blimbly, Helgrim and his band were not seen again (nor was the guide).
The heroes inquire about what dangers they might encounter in the area, and the gnomes speak of gnolls, trolls, and a few terrible beasts that prowl the region. One they describes as a massive, multi-legged reptile, another as a flying, three-headed monstrosity, and a final one a dragon that can petrify its enemies. In fact, they claim to have three petrified kin back at their clan hold. At this point Clive promises that when they are done exploring the caves they will await the gnomes at the crossroads, and he will use magic to restore those who have been turned to stone.
They say their goodbyes to the gnomes and set out on the trail. After about another hour they come to another intersection. The trail they are on continues south along the west side of the mountain, and another trail heads up to the east. Clive sends Oswald (his pseudo dragon familiar) flying off to investigate. Oswald returns with news of the trail leading to a ruined mining village that is currently inhabited by gnolls. There is some discussion about whether to pay a visit to the gnolls, for surely they are protecting the mine entrance from whatever evil lurks inside. In the end they decide against it. They continue along the trail, which continues to climb, as the gnomes had mentioned, the mountain has a number of caves. Clive and Gormun notice one well up the slope from the trail; Sir Nat notices another flower.
Once again Oswald is set to scouting. Fortunately Oswald is very stealthy, for the entire ceiling of the cave he enters is covered with webbing, and within the webbing is some sort of demonic arachnid like monstrosity. The memories of the terrible spider creature in the Wind Duke tomb are still fresh in the minds of the adventurers, and they have no interest in facing another such creature, so they hurriedly press on.
Shortly thereafter the trail comes to an end. They decide to continue exploring overland anyhow. Far towards the summit, they spot yet another cave. This time, instead of putting Oswald at risk, Gimpy casts an arcane eye spell. He sends it flying up the slope and into the cave. The cave contains a pair of wyvern skeletons, and at the back of the cave is a tunnel that slopes steeply down. The arcane eye follows the tunnel, and it leads into a cavern complex. The first cave that it enters turns out to be the lair of the multi-legged reptile they had heard about, which is lurking on a ledge. Gimpy spends a couple of minutes studying it with the invisible sensor, and then sends the eye to keep exploring before the spell expires. The next cave he uncovers has clearly been extensively shaped with magic, for the floor is completely flat, and the walls have shelving units sculpted into them. There are several large tables in the cave; each one is made of a large, solid slab of stone. The selves are empty, and other than shards of glass and pottery there appears to be nothing of worth here. The one other interesting feature of the cave is a doorway that has been sealed with a wall of iron. However, before Gimpy can do anymore investigating his spell expires.
The half orc relays the information to his companions. He describes the monster in as much detail as he can, but not even Clive is certain what it is. Still, they decide that they will enter through this cave.
Session #38, Part #2, The Lost Caverns of Tsojanth- Into the Greater Caverns
Characters:Clive Taskerhill [half elf (formerly human), wizard 12], Sir Nat (human, paladin 12), Gimpy (half orc, barbarian/oracle/rage prophet 12), Gorman DiWulf (formerly Seeros the elf now dwarf, alchemist 12)
The next couple of hours are spent scaling the mountainside to reach the entrance to the cave and then descending down the steep tunnel into the monster’s lair. The creature (behir) is drawn to the light of Sir Nat’s ioun stone, and it climbs down from its perch to investigate. As soon as the heroes see the massive, horned reptile they attack. Gorman is ready with his firebombs and hurls two at the thing in rapid succession; both connect searing it with white-hot fire. It screeches in pain and unleashes bolt of lightning from its mouth that blasts Gorman and Gimpy, but it doesn’t inflict enough damage to severely injure either of them. It then skitters away. Clive casts a haste spell, and Gimpy and Sir Nat go charging after it. With their speed enhanced by haste they catch it. It sees Nat closing and turns to bite at him as he enters its reach. The paladin side steps its incoming maw and slashes at it with his greatsword, but one of the thing’s many legs lashes out and knocks his sword swing wide. Gimpy is right beside the paladin and slashes it with his own blade, which cuts deeply into its scaly underbelly. Again it howls, but this time they can make out words in the common tongue. This comes a something of a shock, for they had assumed it was a mindless beast.
“How did you move so fast?” It bellows.
“What? You can talk?” Responds Nat.
“Yes. Now, no more fire. It burns.”
“Oh, ah, sorry about that. We just want to pass and explore the caves. Do you have a name creature?”
“Lludd is my name, and you can be on your way if you promise no more fire.”
“Uh, really? Okay. What are you?”
“Men call me a behir. Now be on your way.”
“Wait, as a show of good faith allow me to heal some of your wounds.”
The beast nods in agreement, and Sir Nat heals much of his burns. Lludd doesn’t thank the paladin, but he does give another nod.
“You softskins best be careful. We don’t want to attract the demons.”
At this point Gimpy can contain himself no longer.“Demons? Why in the hells would you live here if there are demons around?”
“It’s a good cave- big, lots of ledges, an easy exit to the outside. The demons that roam the caves know not to bother me.”
“I see… Well then enjoy your cave. Hey, you don’t happen to know of any big, flying monsters that can turn things to stone?”
“I know of one. I think it lives on the other side of these caves somewhere. Go kill it if you can.”
“Great. We may just do that.”
And so the heroes pass by with no further violence. As they leave, they notice a number of passages, and somewhere in the distance they here the echoing howls of what they presume must be the demons Lludd mentioned. Clearly this is large and convoluted cavern complex.
The next area they explore is the abandoned laboratory that Gimpy had discovered with his arcane eye. Clive suspects that it might have once belonged to Iggwilv herself, but it looks as though it has been thoroughly looted. The wall of iron blocking one of the cave’s exits does catch his eye. He asks that Sir Nat try to make a hole through it, so that they can see to the other side and potentially allow Clive to teleport them past. Sir Nat gets to work with his adamantine greatsword, and soon he has hacked a gash into the wall, allowing him to peer through and notice a landing and with a set of stairs beyond. The adventurers gather around Clive, and he teleports them past the wall. To their surprise they don’t end up where they expect.
They find themselves in a cave that could be part of the same complex but they aren’t sure. They are standing on some sort of glowing magic circle, and there is another one nearby. There is no time to contemplate what happened because three vrock demons are in their midst. The things screech with excitement and rage as they tear into the heroes. One of them grazes Nat with a claw, leaving a nasty gash on the side of his head. Clive and Gorman are both stunned by the supernatural power of their screeches and can do little to defend themselves. Gorman is lucky that Clive is between him and two of the Vrocks, but that doesn’t bode well for Clive. They rip him to shreds, and his mangled body falls into a bloody mess on the magic circle. Gorman regains his senses in time to drag Clive behind Gimpy and Nat who take up position to defend their comrades. Sir Nat is filled with righteous fury, and he calls upon his holy powers to smite one of the Vrocks that tore into Clive. He hacks the demon’s head off (critical hit- for 100+ damage, ouch!!), and a gout of black ichor spews out of its neck cavity, covering him in gore. Gorman tends to Clive, and he pours his most potent healing extract down the wizard’s throat. Luckily, Clive is still clinging to life (1 hp away from being dead), and the potion works bringing him to consciousness. Gimpy and Nat hold their own against the remaining two vrocks, although Gimpy has been infected by a burst of spores from one of the demons. They take down one, and Gorman blasts the remaining one with a force bomb, which is enough to make it think better of continuing the fight. It flees; the tunnels are too narrow for it to spread its wings and fly, so it runs off squawking in rage. The heroes don’t pursue, and instead they tend the wounded. Sir Nat heals Gimpy of the spores growing in his body, and more healing magic is doled out to Clive. Clive and Gorman then set to work analyzing the magic circle. Unfortunately, the fight has attracted attention, and the howling shrieks of more approaching demons echoes through the tunnels.
Gimpy and Nat see them coming and they take up position to defend the entrance to the chamber. There are at least eight of the demons. Luckily they are significantly smaller than vrocks, resembling stalky, hairless apes with crimson flesh- carnage demons. They surge forward hoping to overwhelm the two warriors with numbers and ferocity, but the paladin and the half orc stand their ground, slashing and cleaving with their great swords; Nat charges his with holy power, making his attacks particularly devastating to them. A few of the demons are smart enough to break off from the main group and bound down one of the many passages, so that they can enter the room from its far side. Gorman and Clive are busy studying the magic circle when Gorman sees them charging in. He hurls a firebomb that sears them, but not as badly as it should have, which suggests they have some resistance to fire. Clive looks up from his studies of the arcane circle with annoyance. He has no interest in being torn apart by demons again, so he conjures a wall of force in front of him and Gorman that prevents them from getting near the pair. Frustrated, the demons slam their fists against the force wall in futility and then turn and run off. By this time Gimpy and Sir Nat have hewed apart the five that were attacking them, and the tunnels grow quiet.
With time to concentrate, Clive and Gorman determine that the magic circle they arrived on only allows for incoming teleportation. Clive suspects that any attempt to use teleportation magic in the caves will bring the teleporter to the circle instead of his intended destination. He tests the theory by using his ability to take a short dimensional step away from the circle. As he anticipated, he ends up on the circle, thus confirming his theory. The second circle seems to provide a means of using teleportation magic to possibly leave the caves. The only problem is he doesn’t know if he will be able to control where he will end up.
Session #38, Part #3, The Lost Caverns of Tsojanth- More exploration of the Greater Caverns
Characters: Clive Taskerhill [half elf (formerly human), wizard 12], Sir Nat (human, paladin 12), Gimpy (half orc, barbarian/oracle/rage prophet 12), Gorman DiWulf (formerly Seeros the elf now dwarf, alchemist 12)
With time to concentrate, Clive and Gorman determine that the magic circle they arrived on only allows for incoming teleportation. Clive suspects that any attempt to use teleportation magic in the caves will bring the teleporter to the circle instead of his intended destination. He tests the theory by using his ability to take a short dimensional step away from the circle. As he anticipated, he ends up on the circle. The second circle seems to provide a means of using teleportation magic to possibly leave the caves. The only problem is he doesn’t know if he will be able to control where he will end up.
They decide to explore their surroundings, instead of fooling around with potentially dangerous magic. It isn’t long before they come across a massive set of double iron doors. Each door is 9’ wide and 20’ high, and each door has a leering demon face relief affixed to it. The mouth of each of the demons is open wide with a tongue hanging out that has runes carved into it:
Iggwilv’s treasure rests within.
Her curse on any who disturb it.
Seek no further to steal it, nor
to free she who is imprisoned here,
for a fate worse than death is
sure to come to those fools who
violate this circumscribed place
Each door has a large iron rung on it, suggesting that the doors pull open. Clive inspects the doors for magical traps using a detect magic spell, but he finds none, so using a mage hand spell they hook a grappling hook to the rung of one of the doors without touching it. Gimpy and Nat then pull on the attached rope and manage to pull the door open enough that they can enter. Beyond the iron doors is a corridor with walls of red marble. A thick black carpet runs from the entry to an ebony door some 40' distant. The arched ceiling is of black marble shot through with bands of scarlet. The walls and floor are polished and dust-free. From the entrance they can see the gleam of silver hinges, studs, and ring set in the far door. A dim red glow seems to come from the ceiling. This eerie light pervades the entire passageway.
Cautiously they investigate the halls and the door at the end. Clive again inspects for magical traps. This time he notices what appears to be transmutation aura in the place.
“I sense transmutation magic. This place could be dangerous”
“Transmutation magic. What’s that?” pipes Gimpy.
“You don’t know what transmutation is?” says Nat.
“No. And you do?”
“Yes. I’m not an idiot,” the paladin states proudly.
“Transmutation is what you use to get from one place to another like a wagon or a cart.”
“Oh. But… Uh… Wait, are you sure?”
“Of course. Like I said, I’m not stupid (I just raised my intelligence from 7 to 8 afterall).”
From his perch on Clive’s shoulder, Oswald palms his little draconic face, wondering how he managed to find himself surrounded by such morons. The adventurers are weary, so they decide to camp in the hallway, closing the big iron doors to keep the demons and other horribly things that might be lurking in the caves from the disturbing them.
The next day they very carefully fix a rope, this time to the smaller wooden at the end of the hall. They leave the hall and go back out into the caves. Then Gimpy and Sir Nat tug on the rope. As soon as they do the rope disappears. However, their efforts have not been entirely in vain; the door is now slightly open. At least, open enough for Gimpy to send an arcane eye through. The door opens onto a ledge of green serpentine. The room beyond is an odd spherical room some forty feet in diameter; it is brightly lit. A decorative openwork screen stands at the end of the ledge. Gimpy sees that other doors open onto ledges like the one above which his arcane eye floats, each with its own screen. The doors and ledges are symmetrically arranged along the equator of the sphere. The upper hemisphere forms a dome of lapis lazuli, as dark as the night sky at the top and as pale as a twilight horizon at the equator. The lower hemisphere is of serpentine, pale green at the equator, deep green at the bottom of the bowl. The sides of the sphere are perfectly smooth, and look as if they cannot be climbed or walked on.
Gimpy sees a jeweled lantern on a golden chain, hanging from the center of the dome. Within the lantern a steady amber flame burns; its light is magnified by crystal lenses set in its framework. The warm and comforting light from this lantern makes the very air seem to dance with motes of sunlight and moonlight combined.
The lantern hangs above a broad stone dais. Atop the dais is a block of rose-colored marble, 6' long, 3' wide; and 3' high. On the dais surrounding the marble block are three decorative, glazed ceramic urns and small carpets. At the foot of the marble block is a small, low table with a crystal bowl filled with a rainbow of gems. At the head of the block is a silver tripod with a small brazier that emits a tiny plume of sweet-smelling smoke. Atop the marble block is a slab of white alabaster, inlaid with gold sigils-moons, stars, and strange symbols. A woman sleeps on the alabaster slab.
The sleeping maiden is armored from toe to neck in gold dragonscale plate mail. A long bastard sword is atop her body, its quillons below her breasts, its point near her feet. The woman's gauntleted hands are crossed over the sword's pommel. Her pale face seems composed. Her lips are bright red and her raven-hued tresses are lustrous. A helmet with plumes as black as the maid's hair rests on the slab just above her head.
Upon taking all this in, Gimpy immediately has his arcane eye exit. Before it expires he has it scout some more of the tunnels and caves. First he sends it back to the teleport circle to see if the missing rope has ended up there, but there is no sign of it. He explores with the eye some more, and he discovers a square shaped cave, obviously partially manmade, that has another glowing magic circle on the floor. It looks similar to the one that arrived on when Clive tried to teleport them. Once again, there is no sign of the missing rope. Before he can explore further his spell comes to an end.
The heroes decide that they will venture into the spherical room and see about “rescuing” the sleeping maiden.
Session #38, GM Notes
I ended up having to do a lot of prep for this session since Lost Caverns of Tsojanth is a pretty sandboxy adventure. There are wilderness locations that can be explored as well as the expansive dungeon. The dungeon has multiple entrances, some easier to find than others, so depending on which entrance the party uses will have a big impact on what happens.
In the case of our group they found one of the more difficult to discover entrances. The cave that Gorman spotted had a DC 30 perception check to notice from where they were hiking, so it was unlikely that he would spot it from down below. Gorman has a pretty good perception score and he rolled high on his check. The reward (if you want to call it that)- direct access to the Greater Caves.
That was a bit unexpected- fortunately I was mostly ready for this eventuality. What I wasn't quite ready for was for them to find their way into one of the dungeon's most difficult to reach rooms in the first session (Area #20 of the Greater Caves). Luckily for me, it was pretty late in the evening when they got there and a good time to wrap things up.
Sadly there were no PC deaths, but Clive was 1 hp away, and if he hadn't rolled well on his Con check to stabilize, he would have been dead. Anyone familiar with the original adventure should have an idea of what they are in for at the next session. It should be fun.
I've made a few changes to the original adventure. I've switched monsters here and there and taken out some. For instance, the roaming pack of carnage demons was a replacement for the troglodytes that guard the entrance to the greater caves.
I've also worked a bit more history into the dungeon in the form of some haunt type effects, but we'll see if the players find the rooms that contain these additions. For example, there is a room where Grazz't and Iggwilv conceived Iuz. There is a room where Iggwilv gave birth to Iuz with Baba Yaga acting as the midwife. There is also a summoning chamber were Grazz't spent much time imprisoned. Needless to say the visions of the past they will receive when they enter some of these rooms will be a bit more on the R rating side of things.
Well the brief side quest in session #37 was easy, but otherwise- not so much. I try to keep them on their toes.
Nice work on expanding/modifying the Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth. This has long been one of my favorite 1e modules. If they find their way to WG1 (Lost Temple of Tharizdun) the revisit will be complete.
^___^