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Based on the "Rise of the Drow" trilogy from Adventure A Week.
Book 1 - (Prologue 1-6) ---- The Darkness Arrives
Book 2 - (Main AP 6-16) --- Rise of the Drow
Book 3 - (Epilogue 16-20) - The Commander of Malice
I arrived in the city of Bildt on the island of Aegos seven days ago. After purchasing supplies, getting directions to Rybalka, and hiring someone to ferry me across The Broken Bay, I set out five days for the small village, and the annual Vigil of Light ceremony where the Moonshard will be brought out and the light will displayed on the longest night of the year along with three other travelers and a creature that looks like a dinosaur. It has been cold, and snow has fallen occasionally on my journey, and we had to push the last day to ensure that we arrived at Rybalka before the ceremony which would start after dark on Kuthona 22nd - the Winter Solstice.
As we approach the village and make my way down the street I realize that the expected murmur of activity is missing and that the settlement of Rybalka seems ominously quiet and cold. Then rounding a building, I spot a group of villagers carrying torches towards the large stone cathedral on the edge of town. Following them, I see them rap on the doors, which are opened for a brief moment, allowing the sound of voices to escape along with some light and heat, causing the air to steam. The interior of the building is bathed in warm, inviting reds and oranges, sharply contrasting with the cold whites and blues of the snow and ice surrounding me in the darkness outside.
I suddenly feel quite vulnerable standing out here with my fellow traveling companions. The last of the villagers round the bend and pass by us, heading for the cathedral.
"You all coming!?" one of the women calls, her voice suggesting that any other choice would be madness.
March 8, 2015
Kuthona 22
Level 1
I nod excitedly-after all, this is why I came. Most of the townspeople are greeted by name, but even though we are unknown we are greeted warmly and ushered to some pews. Juriendor, the chief cleric of this cathedral, will soon arrive and begin the ceremony. Apparently he worships a distant god of war, but has respect for all religious followers as long as they respect his beliefs. The Mayor and the Sage seem to be in charge and chat amicably with the townspeople. There is a fire on altar and it is always lit and despite the cold outside, the cathedral is warm and comfortable inside. Finally an acolyte leads a procession with Juriendor bringing up the rear. He is wearing celestial plate armor and is chanting. In response the people chant back and I am glad I am witnessing this spectacle.
As he reaches the altar, he pulls out the moonshard. You can feel the excitement in the air when suddenly, the doors to the cathedral burst open and two men stagger in carrying wounded on their backs asking for help. One of the wounded looks human and the other looks like a gnome, but those that are carrying them don’t look hearty either. Juriendor puts the shard away and comes to help them. Torx, a druid, who was one of the strangers I arrived with, stabilizes them while Bluestar, a mage and another stranger cures the gnome and the ranger who was poisoned. Now that their wounds are healed, they tell us that they met a great evil outside. As much as we would like to investigate, this ceremony must be done on this day and without interruption so Juriendor will have to start ceremony over again.
As soon as he starts again, the doors burst open again, and in rush some people with torches. They start chanting something about bringing the light to the people and try to set fire to the tapestries! The mayor tackles one and we tackle the others. Torx says that the one she tackled was wearing a disguise and was really a dark elf who disappeared into nothingness. Bluestar tries to detect magic but besides the moonshard, Juriendor and the Mayor, no other magic is detected. After a few moments the villagers that we tackled seem confused but otherwise are back to normal.
Will the third time be the charm? Juriendor starts the ceremony again and as he pulls out the moonshard he is attacked by two orbs that absorb the light of the moonshard and then begin to attack Juriendor. Panicked villagers flee from the Cathedral and no sooner do they reach the outdoors then we hear cries that the Cathedral is surrounded by undead. The Mayor turns to us and orders us to protect Juriendor and the clergy while he and the others attack the undead. We rush to attack the creatures which are kind of like lantern archons, but instead of emitting light, they are dark. Juriendor collapses under their attack and the moonshard rolls to a crevice in the floor and disappears from view. Bluestar casts a magic missile at one of the orbs. Bear, a big, burly fighter that arrived with us, shoots one with a bow. I will move right up in front of the wounded orb. The orb stops attacking Juriendor and attacks me instead. Nirilyx, the dinosaur companion of Torx, moves up to in front of the other one. Bluestar will try to disrupt undead, but his spell misses. I hit the orb with my fist but I do no damage. The other orb hits Nirilyx with its ray. Torx misses with her scimitar as Nirilyx misses with a bite. Bluestar misses with another disrupt undead spell. Bear hits and the orb dissipates. I again hit it but again am unable to damage it. The strange archon will continue to attack Nirilyx. Torx and Nirilyx both miss in their attacks. The ranger and the gnome that we had helped heal join the fray and both damage the remaining orb. Bluestar casts a magic missile and the last orb dissipates.
Juriendor gets up and he is badly injured. Bluestar does some healing as Juriendor asks what happened to the moonshard. We tell him how it fell between a crevice in the floor. About this time we hear yelling that the bell tower in on fire. Juriendor asks us to investigate the bell tower as his acolytes are still inexperienced and he will retrieve the moonshard. He opens a secret trap door in the floor of the altar and descends down some stairs. We quickly head up the stairs to the burning bell tower. We come across one acolyte with badly burned robes. He sees our wounds from the battle with the orbs and casts a healing burst. We tell him where Juriendor went and he says he will aid him.
We go all the way up to the top of the bell tower and see four burning skeletons. The skeletons are trying to set the building on fire by rubbing against the rafters. I run up and hit one with my hand. Bear hits with an arrow but does no damage to the flaming pile of bones. Bluestar casts disrupt undead and one of the skeletons looks worse for wear. The one I am attacking misses me and I quickly put it down. Bluestar casts disrupt undead but this one misses. I move onto another skeleton as Bear, now engaged in melee combat misses his opponent. Bluestar casts another disrupt undead and damages another skeleton. I hit a skeleton, but Bear misses. Bluestar scores another hit with another disrupt undead. A skeleton hits Bear and I miss the skeleton I am fighting. Bear misses again as Bluestar is lucky again with another disrupt undead. Bear gets clawed and Bear and I miss again. Bluestar destroys one with a disrupt undead. I get hit put quickly put my opponent down. Bear drinks a healing potion as Bluestar shows that the skeletons are no match for his disrupt undead as he puts the last one down. I drink a healing potion and Bluestar casts a healing spell on me.
We continue up the stairs to the top where we see two crows. Bear hits a crow but I miss one. Nirilyx kills the one Bear hit. The other crow misses Nirilyx as Bluestar casts a magic missile at it. Torx misses but Nirilyx bites the crow. The crow pecks Nirilyx as Torx misses it again. I finally kill the last crow. Seeing that the top of the bell tower is secure, we head back down checking all the rooms. We come to a room with some acolytes. They heal us of our wounds and we tell them where Juriendor went. They feel that they will be needed more outside with those battling the undead.
We decide to see if Juriendor needs our aid so we go to the altar and go down the stairs that he had gone down. We come to a small room with an undead goblin. Bear, Nirilyx and I miss him. The goblin claws me. Bluestar misses with disrupt undead. Bear and I both miss and it seems like we can’t hit the little fellow. Luckily the goblin misses me. Bluestar destroys it with a disrupt undead spell.
We next come to a room full of skeletons. We stand by the door and beat on them while Bluestar casts disrupt undead spells. After a few moments, all the skeletons are destroyed. We then see some dark elf zombies and a huge stone spider crawl out of the floor. Nirilyx bites the spider as Bear misses the spider with his attack. The Spider misses Nirilyx but a zombie claws me. I miss the spider with my fist but Nirilyx is able to bite it. Bluestar casts disrupt undead at the spider. Bear hits spider and the spider tries to retaliate against Bear and misses. Suddenly Juriendor steps into the room and casts a burst destroying all three zombies. Nirilyx and I miss the spider, but a magic missile from Bluestar destroys it.
From Juriendor sad countenance, we can tell he did not retrieve the moonshard.
SO COOL! I cannot wait until you guys reach my bit, far away as it is right now. :)
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This will be fun to read. Thanks for sharing! :)
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March 15, 2015
Kuthona 22
Level 2
We ask Juriendor if he knows what happened to the shard and he points to the huge hole in the ground and somberly says that drow took the shard and disappeared down the hole. Juriendor, even though he wants to retrieve the shard, knows his duty is to the town and its people. We head upstairs and the church is filled with the wounded and dying. We head outside and see skeletons and zombies in melee combat with various townsfolk. We are quickly directed to a group of zombies approaching the cathedral. They look like drow zombies! They quickly close with us and a zombie claws me, another zombie claws Nirilyx, and another claws Bear. I hit one zombie with my fist, but there is no damage. Bluestar damages one with a disrupt undead spell as Nirilyx bites one and spits out the rotting flesh. Bear, not to be outdone, destroys one. The zombies miss me and Nirilyx but claw Bear. I again hit a zombie with my fist but no damage. Bluestar does another disrupt undead. Nirilyx bites a zombie, but does no damage. Bear again strikes a zombie. All the zombies miss in their attacks. I again strike the zombie, and again, the zombie is unharmed. Bluestar does another disrupt undead. Nirilyx takes a bite out of one. Bear puts another down. A zombie claws me and another claws Nirilyx. I destroy the zombie Bluestar has been casting disrupt undead on. Bluestar misses with a disrupt undead spell. Nirilyx tries to bite a zombie but misses. Bear has no trouble with another hit. My luck is turning as I hit and damage a zombie. Bluestar’s luck seems to be turning for the worse as he misses with a disrupt undead. Nirilyx bites but again no damage. All the zombies miss in their attacks. I hit and damage the zombie again. Bluestar destroys one with disrupt undead. Nirilyx can bite these things but is unable to harm them. Bear, the zombie and I all miss. Bluestar ends the combat by destroying the zombie with a disrupt undead.
We look around and see a lot of undead are going down. We are about to rest on our laurels when we see two female drow coming around the side of the Cathedral. Torx yells out “Surrender or die” in the drow tongue, but the drow keep coming so I guess we have our answer. I flank with Bear and Nirilyx moves in front of me. Bluestar casts a magic missile at one of the drow. They do not like that and shoot their hand crossbows but miss Nirilyx. Bear charges one of the drow and kills one. I move up and miss with a punch. Nirilyx bites and wounds one. Suddenly a wizard, male, drow appears and casts sleep on Bluestar and he collapses to the ground. A drow rogue appears and tries to stab me, but luckily misses me. Torx stabs the rogue with her scimitar and kills him. Bear takes a step up and kills the last drow, female, cleric. I step up to the wizard and miss with my fist. The mage steps back and casts sleep at Nirilyx and me and soon we are slumbering like Bluestar. Torx wakes Nirilyx and Bear charges and kills wizard.
The mayor takes stock of the situation and discovers that the drow took twenty villagers. We volunteer to help Juriendor get the moonshard back. We ask Juriendor what will happens since he won’t be able to complete the ceremony and he says that it is long believed that it keeps evil in the woods contained and that now, without the completion of the ceremony, that evil might envelop the village. We are shown a few pews to rest on for the remainder of the night and luckily the village is not attacked by drow or undead.
Kuthona 23
Level 2
We are woken up by the Mayor in the morning and although it should be morning-its still dark outside. The mayor says he wants to show us something. We go to the front doors of the Cathedral and the Mayor points to the eastern sky and says that the sun didn’t rise this morning. The village’s sage said it was an eclipse, but there is something different about it. He looks worried and when pressed, he says that he hopes that it is not a repeat of the Naraneus Shadow. We tell him we never heard of such a thing and he responds that so few text remain from that time, but there is one that survived and it tells of an eclipse that lasted for days. During the time of the eclipse a great cataclysm befell the local elves decimating their numbers. He looks around the village and says, “I hope this does not herald a great cataclysm for us”. After a few moments of uneasy silence, we see torches converging on our position. They are the scouts that the mayor had sent out. The reports are consistent-while the drow seemed to attack the village from all directions, they seemed to have retreated from the village with the prisoners on one road. We vow to return the villagers and after downing a quick meal, we set off.
After about two hours on the Old North Road, we see a mound in the middle of the road and as we approach, three drow zombies rise from it. Nirilyx will go up and try to munch a drow zombie but misses. Bear also rushes up and he too misses. I run up and punch one but I do no damage. Bear and I get slammed by zombies but fortunately, a zombie misses Nirilyx. Bluestar casts disrupt undead and wounds a zombie. Nirilyx, Bear, and I all miss in our attacks. The zombies claw Nirilyx and me. Bluestar casts another disrupt undead which is good because he seems to be the only one damaging them. Torx hits a zombie as Nirilyx takes a huge bite out of it and kills it. Bear slices a zombie and kills it. I really slam the last one with my fist as it swings wide and misses me. Bluestar casts a disrupt undead at it, but it is Torx who finishes it off.
We see tracks leaving the road, but they are not human tracks. The humanoid tracks that we have been following continue on the road. We do not want to leave anything behind us so we decide to make a quick detour and find them out. After a few minutes, we see six wolves. I run up to the wolves and they surround me. They all try to bite me but luckily they all miss. Bluestar casts sleep on the wolves, but only one falls down. Bear hits a wolf. I see a wolf that looks bigger than the other wolves, so I figure that it is the leader and I punch it with my fist. All the wolves miss me again, and I am not sure how long my luck can hold. Torx misses with a swing of her scimitar. Nirilyx bites a wolf, but Bear misses one. I again hit the leader with a punch. The wolves miss Bear, Nirilyx, and Torx, but some bite me. Torx and Nirilyx both miss in their attacks. Bluestar kills one with magic missile. Bear and I both seem to be unable to connect with our attacks. Wolves try to bite Nirilyx and Torx, but only bite air. The leader bites me as Torx cuts a wolf. Nirilyx bites a wolf as Bluestar casts a magic missile on another. Again Bear and I miss in our attacks and we are getting frustrated. A few of the wolves bite me and I collapse to the ground bleeding heavily. Torx misses, but her Nirilyx kills one. Bluestar kills my nemesis, the pack leader, with a magic missile. Bear hits a wolf. The two remaining wolves try to run away after seeing their leader fall-one is able to and the other is killed. I am healed, and we return to the main road to continue our tracking.
We come to an area called the Darkwood Forrest. We find three magical snare traps on the trail. I disable one but not the other two. As I am figuring out where I went wrong, an owlbear suddenly comes rushing towards us. Nirilyx meets the owlbear in its charge and tries to bite it but misses. The owlbear, angry that Nirilyx tried to bite it, bites Nirilyx. I miss the owlbear with a punch, but Bear slices it with his sword. Bluestar casts a magic missile at the owlbear. Torx heals Nirilyx, who then makes a hasty retreat. The owlbear then turns its attention to Bear and bites him. I throw a well-aimed punch and hit the owlbear. Bear hits the owlbear as Bluestar casts a magic missile at it. Torx casts spell and I feel tougher, but it does no good as the owlbear puts me down. Luckily Bear puts owlbear down ending the combat. Again I am healed saving me from death.
We decide we a pretty used up at this point and camp for the night.
The wait is going to kill me >.<
March 22, 2015
Kuthona 24
Level 3
We come to the edge of a river and see the remnants of a stone bridge. We decide to tie some rope around me and I will jump all the ruined pieces of the bridge. As I reach the other side, two hand crossbow bolts come flying out at me striking me. Within seconds, two more bolts hit me. I look to where one of the bolts came from and see a pale figure in rags. Not wanting to get hit by any more bolts, I run up and try to strike him but miss. Bluestar shoots a magic missile at the creature while Bear shoots an arrow and misses. I try to punch him again twice and miss again. Bluestar casts another magic missile and Bear again misses with an arrow. A crossbow bolt misses me and suddenly I don’t see Bluestar’s dancing lights and am surrounded by darkness. I try to grab the humanoid creature, but there is nothing there. I get hit by two more crossbow bolts. I decide to hop back across the ruined bridge. We decide to explore the river to see if there is a better way to cross. After an hour we see that there is none, so we return to the ruined bridge. We decide to cross the ruined bridge again, this time we all will cross in sections. As we reach the other side, we are expecting a fight with the humanoids in rags, but surprisingly, there is no one on the other side. We consider it a good omen and continue on.
As we are walking, Bear and I suddenly decide to fall asleep. Then Nirilyx and Torx fall asleep too, leaving Bluestar as the only one still awake. Bluestar kicks me to wake me up as a half-fiend dryad rushes up and tries to bite him but fortunately, misses. I quickly stand up and kick Bear awake. Bluestar moves and wakes up Nirilyx. Bear stands up as the dryad pursues Bluestar and again tries to bite him. I try to punch the dryad and miss. Bluestar continues to move out of the dryad’s reach. Bear moves up and misses the dryad with a swing of his sword. Finding Bluestar to be an elusive target, the dryad moves towards me and claws and bites me. I grapple the dryad and she is unable to break free. Torx runs up and slices the dryad with her sword as Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream at her but it has no affect. Nirilyx moves up to bite but misses as Bear really stabs her. Not being able to break free and seeing the futility of her situation, the dryad surrenders.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Sherrsa.”
“Why did you attack us?”
“I need intelligent minds to feed my tree.”
“What will you give us if we let you live?”
“I will give you save passage through my land.”
“We also want gold or something of value.”
“Safe passage is the only thing I offer, on your journey now and on your return trip. If you don’t accept it, then kill me.”
Seeing we will not be able to negotiate a better deal, I release the dryad.
“Have you seen any drow with non-drow prisoners pass this way recently?”
“I only saw drow, there were no non-drow with them. I did see winged gargoyles carry off some non-drow though.”
“What do you know about the darkness that is enveloping this land?”
“I am not concerned about it. It won’t last long. I can feel it.”
Running out of questions and not wishing to prolong this encounter, we warily take our leave of the dryad.
We continue on when suddenly we see some logs rolling down the hill towards us. Bear and Nirilyx get clipped by the logs. We don’t think it was an act of nature that set the logs in motion and our suspicions are confirmed a moment later when three magic missiles hit Bear. We now see a drider running down the hill towards us. Nirilyx runs up and bites the drider as Torx misses with her sword. Bluestar tries to cast a spell and misses. Bear moves up and slices the drider with his sword as I miss with a punch. The drider hits Torx and Nirilyx retaliates by biting the drider. Torx steps back and reads a curing scroll to heal some of her wounds. Bluestar casts heavenly fire but misses. Bear and I both miss in our attacks as the drider strikes Nirilyx. The drider is proving to be a tough foe as Nirilyx and Torx both miss. Bluestar casts another heavenly fire and badly hurts the drider. Bear stabs the Drider as I miss it with a punch. The drider disappears and though we attack the spot where it was, we hit nothing but air. That is the second time that has happened to me today!
Having used a lot of resources, we decide to camp for the night.
Kuthona 25
Level 4
We are still in bad shape from our fights the previous day, so we continue in rest.
Kuthona 26
Level 4
We awake, fully healed and fully rested, so we continue on the road. Suddenly we see six of the pale creatures I had fought at the bridge. Bluestar, Nirilyx and I all get hit with crossbow bolts. Bear moves up and strikes one with his sword. Bluestar casts scorching ray at the one who shot him with a bolt. Nirilyx engages a creature, which we later find out is called a dark creeper, and misses with his maw. I run up and punch one as payback for my embarrassing defeat at the bridge. Torx misses with her sword. Bluestar gets hit with two bolts as Torx gets stabbed with a dagger. Bear kills one. Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream at the other one who was shooting him with crossbow bolts. Nirilyx misses, but I again really punch my foe. Torx tries to cast a spell on herself and is unable to. The dark creepers all miss in their attacks. Bear moves onto his next foe, slicing him. Bluestar casts a scorching ray but misses. Nirilyx just can’t seem to bite one. I again punch my opponent. Torx slices one. Nirilyx and Torx both are harmed by dark creepers. Bear slays another one as Bluestar casts a magic missile on any dark creeper that shoots a bolt at him. Nirilyx continues to miss with his mouth and I continue to punch one. Torx misses as Nirilyx, me, Bluestar, and Torx all get hurt. Bear misses as Bluestar casts another magic missile. Nirilyx is finally able to bite one as I continue to beat up my opponent. Torx misses as Nirilyx, me and Torx all get hit. Bear proves that the dark creepers are no match for him by slaying another one. Bluestar casts another magic missile. Getting badly bruised and not being able to inflict much damage, Nirilyx retreats from combat. I miss with my punches and Torx misses with her sword. Bear gets hit with a bolt. Bear attacks the archer and kills him. Nirilyx gets back in the fray biting a creeper. I miss with a punch as Torx kills one. Bear misses. Bluestar casts heavenly fire but it has no affect on the creature. I kill the last one.
This fight has left us badly bruised and low on resources so we decide to rest the night.
Kuthona 27
Level 4
We come to a shack see an old, weathered goblin. We decide to make a bold move and knock on the door. The goblin opens the door holding a hooded lamp. We exchange pleasantries and ask him his name, which he responds as being Fergax. We ask if he has seen any drow or dark creepers and he says that he has seen neither. “I leave people alone and they leave me alone” is how he responds. Despite his inhospitable answer he does offer us shelter for the night. We thank him for his offer but not needing rest at the moment, we decide to push on. We ask him if there are any dangers up ahead we should be careful of and he says there is an angry ent that lives nearby. We ask him why the ent is angry and he responds, “Don’t know. I leave the ent alone and the ent leaves me alone”. We tell Fergax we might be back later and we continue on our way.
On the road we see many trees choked with vines that look almost like blades. We are trying to figure out if this is what is making the ent so unhappy when some plant-like creature rises up from the undergrowth and starts whipping us with the blade-like vines striking Torx, Bluestar and me. Torx goes up and slices the creature with her sword. Nirilyx and I both miss in our attacks. Bluestar casts a scorching ray but misses. Bear scores a hit and as he does the creature turns and looks at him, but Bear sees the face of a loved one who died recently. Torx, Nirilyx, Bluestar and I all miss in our attacks. Bear, not falling for the deception, luckily hits again. The bladed vines strike everyone. Torx, Bluestar and Bear miss, while Nirilyx and I score some hits. Bladed vines lash Nirilyx. Torx, Nirilyx and Bluestar miss, but Bear and I hit. The vines lash out at me, hurting me. Torx and Nirilyx hit, but the creature seems undamaged. I hit it, but Bluestar continues to miss with his spells. Bear hits the creature and it dissolves.
March 29, 2015
Kuthona 27
Level 4
We suddenly hear a great cacophony of birds and see them take flight as a huge tree with the bodies of drow hanging from its branches approaches us. We assume that this is the angry ent and our suspicions are confirmed as the tree bellows, “Leave this forest! I am tired of humans, elves and drow bringing their wars and black magic to my forest!” Torx tries to reason with the ent but this only seems to make him angrier! It is only when Bluestar starts to speak that the ent starts to listen to us. He tells him that we are no friend of the drow and in fact, we are hunting them to stop them from spreading their misery upon the land. The ent seems to be impressed with this. When I mention that we slew the creature with the barbed vines, the ent is almost giddy! “You killed the tree devil?” he asks incredulously. When we nod in the affirmative he takes one of his branches and starts to weave a circle with it and then hands it to me. “Here! Wear this! It will make your skin tough like bark!” As soon as I put it on, I do feel tougher. I ask him what his name is and he says it is Brownbark. I start to reply that it is an apt name, but think better of it. It seems the angry ent is angry no more-although he still does not like Torx!
An hour later see an old tree surrounded by mounds. As we get closer we see holes in the mounds, and we start to get a bad feeling about this. Suddenly, out of the holes pop pale-humanoids-morlocks. Nirilyx runs up to bite but misses and is quickly surrounded. Bear gets hit by a morlock and I get missed. Torx moves up and swings her scimitar and misses. Bluestar casts disrupt undead but it has no affect on the creatures. I punch one really good as Bear slays one. Nirilyx misses with his maw as Bear and Nirilyx gets hit. Fortunately the morlock fighting me misses. Nirilyx misses as Bluestar casts burning hands slaying one and I slay another one. Bear misses but Nirilyx bites one and gets hit for his trouble. Torx hits as Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream. I run up and punch one as Bear slays one. Nirilyx misses again, is in turn missed. Torx really hits one as Bluestar casts a magic missile at one. I slay one and Bear kills the last morlock.
We continue on when suddenly, two gargoyles swoop down and attack hitting Nirilyx and Torx. Torx steps back tries to cast a spell and can’t. Bear misses with a swing of his sword as Nirilyx bites a gargoyle. A gargoyle bites Nirilyx as another one beats Torx. Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream on one as I move up and slam the gargoyle with my fist. Torx steps back and casts a spell on herself. Bear moves up and misses. Nirilyx bites but there is no damage to the gargoyle. Nirilyx gets bit as Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream on the one I am fighting. I miss with two punches and so does Torx and Bear. Nirilyx bites and does a little damage, but unfortunately he gets gored by the gargoyle and goes down. Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream on the one that put Nirilyx down. I miss with my punches and so does Torx. Bear hits with his sword as I get gored. Bluestar casts a magic missile at the one that attacked Nirilyx. I punch one as Torx heals Nirilyx. Bear misses and I and Bear get gored. Bluestar casts acid splash on the gargoyle he’s been casting spells at. I punch the gargoyle again as Bear chips him with his sword. Torx misses with a swing of her sword. I really punch the gargoyle as he starts to take off and is soon out of sight.
We decide to camp for the night. Bear is on watch when he hears the crunch of snow. He suddenly sees footsteps approaching the camp, but does not see who is making the footsteps. Bear wakes me up, and I in turn wake up Torx. Bear starts swinging and hits whatever is walking into the camp and scores a good hit. It turns visible and attacks bear. I miss the creature with a punch. Bear misses with a swing of his sword as the creature, a greater barghest, hits Bear with its claws. I miss with my punches, but Bear hits the barghest. Bear continues to get mauled by the creature. I punch the creature as Torx heals Bear. Nirilyx enters the fray and misses with its maw. Bear slices the creature and slays it. As we examine the body of the creature, we notice that it wears the same sash that the goblin, Fergax, wore. It could be a coincidence or it could be the reason why Fergax was left alone. Bluestar slept through the whole ordeal which is a good thing as he needs his rest so that he will have all his spells for the morrow. I have a feeling we are going to need them!
Kuthona 28
Level 5
We come to a point where the tree line ends. I am not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be out of the forest. We are following a stone path when I see a snare trap which I easily disable. I find another one and much to my companion’s urging not to, I try to disable this one as well. I think I almost have it when I suddenly find myself suspended in the air. It would almost be funny if two drow zombies didn’t suddenly stand up from behind fallen logs. We also see our old friend the drider and two drow stand up. I grab my dagger and try to cut the rope but it proves to be a bit tougher than I am expecting. The drider advances as I get hit with a crossbow bolt. Torx advances to meet the drider as Bear tries to shoot it with a crossbow and misses. Bluestar casts bless as Nirilyx tries to bite a zombie but misses. The drider casts lightning bolt as those of us who had lined up form an appealing target. I finally cut myself down and get clawed by a zombie. Perhaps I would have been better off in the tree! Torx heals Bluestar from the damage he took from the lightning bolt. Bear slices a zombie and slays it. One of the drow channels a burst of negative energy and we feel its harmful effects. Bluestar casts a scorching ray on the drow cleric. Nirilyx and I both miss in our attacks. The drider again casts a lightning bolt as we still make an appealing target. His zombie ally becomes collateral damage. The drow, ghoul ranger misses in his attacks as Torx casts a curing spell on herself. Bear slices the drow, ghoul ranger as the drow cleric does another burst of negative energy harming us. Bluestar casts a scorching ray and kills the drow cleric. I miss with my punches, but luckily the drider misses me. The ghoul misses as Torx heals Nirilyx. Bluestar casts ear-piercing scream on the drider as Nirilyx misses it with its maw. I punch the ghoul as the ghoul attacks Bear. Bear hits the ghoul as Bluestar casts a scorching ray on the drider and kills it. Nirilyx misses the ghoul but I hit it. Bear gets hit from the ghoul and suddenly can’t move. Torx casts a curing spell on me. Bear still can’t move as Bluestar casts a magic missile at the ghoul. With a well-placed punch, I hit the ghoul and it goes down. We find a note on the body of the ghoul that reads:
Yoflid,
We have stayed behind to ambush the humans should they make it past the zombies we buried. If they fall within two days, we’ll travel back to you and await them at rendezvous until the Shadow lifts. As always, we live to slay.
Grazpil
Live to slay? Clever. We find indications the drow ranger ghoul and the drow cleric were brothers: Serral and Yolfid Gullion. There was no mention on the drider’s name or the other zombies. I guess they weren’t family. We now have another name: Grazpil!
April 12, 2015
Kuthona 28
Level 5
Soon after our fight with the brothers Gullion, we notice that the sky starts getting a little lighter. Could this be the end of the total darkness that has enveloped the land? We continue on until we see an imposing castle. As we approach we see a small chapel to Serenrae. It looks like the chapel has been recently inhabited. Just as we are about to enter the small chapel, a woman swings down from the rafters with bow at the ready. With an angry visage she shouts, “Release the prisoners Vikmorder skum or die right here.” We look at her in confusion and tell her that we are here looking to free the prisoners especially those from the town of Rybalka. She ponders our response and once she determines that we are telling the truth, she lowers her bow. She says her name Alexandria Galekin. Her husband had been taken by those he thought he had hired as guards. Apparently they live on some nearby estate. She says she has been here about a week scouting out the castle. She is surprised when we ask about drow, but then tells us it makes sense as she has seen soldiers leave every morning being led by a hooded figure and return each night with prisoners. Could the hooded leader be drow? She has also seen hunting parties leave in the morning returning with game. We tell her that we will help her free her husband but we will need to rest before we storm the castle.
Since we have some time before evening, we decide to explore the chapel. Much to Alexandria’s chagrin, we find a secret compartment with some healing potions stored within. Feeling confident, we decide to check out the small graveyard and see four tombstones close together dated around the time the castle was stormed. We notice that one of the tombstones has a hinge and with some effort we move it. A chamber is revealed. Torx casts light on a stone and drops it down and we see four sarcophagi. As Bear and I drop down into the chamber, four wights rise up through the coffins. Bear wastes no time and hits one of the wights. I miss with some punches. Bluestar, staying topside, misses with a disrupt undead spell. The undead creatures try to hit Bear and me but miss us. Bear destroys one as Torx drops down and hits one. Nirilyx also drops down and misses one with its maw. I again miss with some punches. Bluestar misses with another disrupt undead spell. Alexandria, also staying topside, channels some positive energy which harms some of the wights. Nirilyx gets hit as Bear hits the wight that just hurt Nirilyx. Torx scores a hit but Nirilyx misses. I again miss. Bluestar casts a magic missile as Alexandria again channels positive energy and destroys two wights. Bear destroys the last one. We see a door in the chamber that looks like it is in the same direction of the castle. Have we found a secret way in? We decide not to explore any further and spend the rest of the day getting to know Alexandria.
Kuthona 29
Level 5
We are greeted by a surprise this morning as the sun rises as normal. We know our task is far from completed as we still have prisoners to retrieve. After a hasty breakfast we go down to the chamber and go through the door and find ourselves in a tunnel. We follow the tunnel for about a quarter of a mile until we come to a stone wall. From the distance and the direction that we traveled, we believe that this must be the castle wall. We can’t believe that this tunnel ends in a dead end so we start to look around for some sort of hidden entrance. I find a loose stone and as I move it, I am able to rotate the wall. We find ourselves in a large room with a still that seems like it is making moonshine. This room at one time must have been some sort of armory as there are about 150 mundane shields, armor and swords hanging on the wall.
We explore various rooms including an office and a cool room used to store meat. I hear whispering behind one door and when we open it up, we don’t see anyone, but just hear the ghostly whispers of regret. They regret how if they trained harder, maybe the castle would not have fallen, etc. We find nothing of value, but we do find stairs going up and are all too glad to leave this spooky room and explore the rest of this level before we go up to the next level. We next see four cells and see a dead body in each cell. I touch the bars of one of the cells to see if they can be opened and I am harmed by negative energy. Not seeing any benefit in ‘liberating’ corpses, we decide to move on.
We find a door that try as I might, I cannot open. I had always prided myself as an amateur tinkerer and between this door and the trap that had me suspending in the air, I might have to work on this skill. Next to the door is a flight of stairs going up. Since we have explored all the rooms on this level – except those beyond the stupid locked door, we decide to head upstairs.
At the top of the stairs we see three doors. Behind the first door I hear what sounds like soldiers grumbling about pay, about the food and about the drow. Behind the second door I hear what sounds like meat cooking. Behind the third and final door I hear a language I cannot understand, but when Bear listens, he hears two voices complaining about the soldiers and how much they eat in the drow tongue. I really need to learn that language. We decide that the drow are the biggest threat even if they might only be cooks. We burst through the door and see two drow with cleavers. Torx says “Surrender or die!” in drow. Nirilyx runs up and chomps a drow and he collapses to the floor bleeding out. I run up and punch the other drow so solidly that he collapses to the floor dead. We had wanted prisoners so we can find out where the drow are keeping our prisoners and Torx tries to stabilize the drow that Nirilyx bit but he is too far gone. We take the bodies down stairs and throw them in the cool room where the meat is stored and we hope no one will miss them for a while.
We open the door to where I hear meat cooking and I confirm that it is just meat cooking over three enormous pits. There seems to be enough to feed a small army! We do not find any attendants and after going through several food preparatory rooms, we find no one else either. I slightly open the door where I heard the soldiers grumbling and peek out. It is actually an exterior door and I see soldiers milling about on the outer wall of the castle. Since we do not want to pick a fight with these fellows, I close the door and we continue on our exploration of the castle.
We find a large room with about fifty people in it. As soon as they see us, we are greeted with questions such as ‘Who are you?’ ‘Are you here to free us?’ And ‘how many are there of you?’ A man in the back stands up on a piece of furniture and in a booming voice says, “QUIET! DO YOU WANT THEM TO HEAR US?” We look at him incredulously and think, if you keep yelling like that, they will! Alexandria spots her husband and they are reunited, but since she had told us she questioned his fidelity, he might be better off with the drow. We find that there are some people there from Rybalka so our mission seems almost at an end just as soon as we can lead these people to safety. We notice that there are mostly men and we ask what happened to the women and children and the somber reply we get is ‘Dead!’ Damn drow! We tell them we know a secret passageway to freedom, but first we need to stop off at the armory to arm everyone that is able to wield a blade. As the group starts to file out, the man from the back again stands up and yells, “FOR THE LAST TIME! BE QUIET OR THEY WILL HEAR US!” It is about this time that Bear begins to have his doubt about the man and decides to follow and keep an eye on him. It is also about this time a dwarf approaches us and introduces himself as Miah and says he will help us lead the people out. The dwarf looks capable and we are grateful for the assistance. After we descend the stairs, Bear decides that the man with the booming voice is acting a tad to squirrelly for his liking and he tries to knock the man out. Unfortunately he tried so hard to be stealthy that his attack was clumsy. The man, seeing that the jig is up tries to run up the stairs yelling, “HELP! HELP! THEY’RE ESCAPING!” Before he can reach the stairs, however, Torx and Nirilyx both are on him and pin him to the floor. We tie and gag the man, and Bear hefts him over his shoulder and carries him out. After ‘liberating the armory’, we close the door to the secret entrance behind us.
I would love to see the look on those drow’s faces when they realize that their prisoners have disappeared without a trace. I would also like to see their faces when they explain to the hungry soldiers that there is no dinner because the cooks too have disappeared.
April 19, 2015
Kuthona 30
Level 5
We leave the fortress behind, and head out the tunnel. Bear makes sure that our prisoner is securely bound, and assigns two of the men who are not armored to carry him as we head south. Alexandria and her husband Kivan tell us that their estate is due south about three days, off the main road so we will skirt the Dark Forest instead of traveling thru it. After our journey here, that sounds good.
The first day of traveling and even the first night there are no drow or their human mercenaries in sight, but I do not think this will last long.
Kuthona 31
Level 6
The next day, we run out of rations, and the prisoners are weak and hungry. Torx looks for that he can make into goodberries, but the winter has stripped all the bushes of their berries so we push on. During the day, we spot some drow riding spiders just outside of our longbow range. However a couple of them come within 100 feet and we exchange arrows. A couple of the freed prisoners are wounded, but Bear almost kills one with a long range critical shot so they disappear for now, but we sense they are still shadowing us. That night guards are doubled, but the drow seem to be waiting for something.
Abadius 1
Level 6
In the morning we decide to leave the mercenary that almost gave us away behind. Both Miah, being a Paladin, and I, are not comfortable with leaving him tied up and unarmed so we insist that his bonds are loosened and he is left a dagger to defend himself. We almost arrive at the Galekin estate when two of the drow with their spiders attack. While we took some minor injuries, we quickly put them down and hustle to the estate. We set up watches, and since there are 25 men and women armored, we put eight on each watch along with at least one of us. Why the drow left us alone for the night we don't know, but it gave everyone a chance to eat and rest up somewhat.
Abadius 2
Level 6
We see the drow moving to surround the estate. That two and a half foot wall surrounding the house will barely slow them down but we still mount guards and decide to stay one more day rather than run for Rybalka. That night four of the drow with their spiders attack, shooting fire arrows. We put them down, but Bluestar took some serious damage, and a couple of the fighting men were downed, but not killed. Luckily Alexandria and Miah were able to heal everyone back up. It is still the middle of the night, but I sense that something bad is coming. I just hope that we can get all these folks back to Rybalka before the drow force attacks in earnest.
May 3rd 2015
Level 6
We try to get some sleep after the attack, but sleep comes hard. Mid second watch, the drow attack again, shooting flame arrows into the compound. Bear, who was on watch with eight of the armored men, rushes in and wakes us up and the rest of the house. The men and women who took the armor and long swords from Adrik's Folly run outside and prepare to defend the estate. The rest of the once prisoners, work to put out the flames in the house.
It looks like the drow are in an all out assault, and most of us are wounded to some degree, and Bluestar almost runs out of spells. During the battle Alexandria goes around and uses up her healing energies from Erastil to keep most of the men and us fighting, however we lost two of the men. We tally the drow killed and there was a cleric, three that looked like rogues and eight of the spiders and their handlers.
Morning finally comes, we bury our dead and decide to head on to Rybalka. After a half day or so travel we enter the village, and the folks from that town go to meet their loved ones. The rest head for the Inn and try to get some sleep.
We speak with Miah, and he introduces us to Quorron, his cousin who is the town blacksmith and armorer and weapon maker. Miah tells us that he came to the upworld looking for men such as us to help fight the drow in the Darklands, as they have broken centuries old trade agreements, and are moving to takes slaves and prisoners, not only in the Darklands, but in the Upperworld also. We agree to help them, and Miah heads off to bed. Quorron who had been listening to all this asks that we follow him, and once he is sure we are out of Miahs hearing, he tells us that he has a couple of special items that he has been saving for such an occasion. He gives Torx a magical Druidic wooden buckler, and me a magical quarterstaff. Bear inherits Torx old magical wooden buckler, but there is nothing that Bluestar can use, being a wizard and all.
We decide to bed for the night and get a start to the keep that Miah told us about on the next day, with him leading as he said this is an entrance to the Darklands and to the Long Road that leads to Embla, his home city.
May 17, 2015
Abadius 3
Level 6
The next morning we set off with Miah. As we near the entrance to the underdark, we decide to camp for the night. It feels good to rest the night without drow attacks!
Abadius 4
Level 6
We come to a clearing where a lot of trees have been cut down. We are about to blame the drow but Torx informs us that this was done a long time ago. We see piles of rubble like the remains of some ancient keep. As we walk towards the ruins of what once must have been a tower, we see the footprint of a massive beast. Torx says it was made by a dragon. We nervously look up into the sky expecting the beast to swoop down upon us. I decide to climb the stairs of the ruined tower to see if perhaps we might find out where this dragon is. As I reach the top of the stairs, I see a curious sight. I see two arms manacled to the wall but instead of being attached to a body, they are attached to a whirlwind. About this time Bluestar climbs up and greets the whirlwind in common. The whirlwind turns into an elvin-ish woman. She begs us to free her so she can return home. We ask her how she came to be captured and she says her and her companion were investigating the ruins when they were attacked by an undead drow named Yul. She was made unconscious by the touch of the drow and when she came to, she found herself imprisoned. She knows nothing of the fate of her companion, but assumes he is dead. She has been trapped here for decades although she has seen Yul and other drow entering and exiting a nearby pit. We open her shackles and she thanks us. She does have one request; however, she would like the shackles. Apparently they prevent interplanar travel and she would like to have them. We agree to her request. We ask her about the dragon and she says she saw the dragon about a year or two ago. It was an old white dragon. We don’t have any more questions for her so she takes her leave. We decide to head down into the pit to find this Yul character.
Luckily the pit has stairs and as we descend we come to a level that has two doors on opposite ends of the stairs. I start to walk over to one of the doors to take a listen when from behind some old barrels and crates, out jump several xills and drow zombies. They quickly come over and the fight is on. Two xills attack me with one biting me. I return the favor by punching the one that bit me. Bluestar, still on the stairs, casts bless. Bear hits a xill, while Torx casts barkskin on herself. All the xills and zombies miss Bear and I. I slay a xill, but Bear misses one. Torx casts barkskin on Nirilyx. The xills and zombies again miss Bear and I. I kill another xill, as Bear lands a blow with his sword. A xill hits me and one hits Bear with its claws. I try to punch a xill, but instead I just punch air. Bear gets raked again. I punch a xill as Bear kills one. Bear and I both miss our xill opponents. Bear kills the last xill and destroys a zombie as I again miss the xill I am fighting. Nirilyx enters the fray and misses a zombir with his bite. The zombies try to claw us but they miss. Bear kills his zombie opponent and I destroy the last one. We find two zombies in one of the rooms and two zombies in the other and we quickly dispatch them.
Finding nothing of note, we continue down the stairs. We come to another landing with six smaller doors on one end of the room and three larger doors on the other end. I listen at each door and I don’t hear anything. I decide to open up one of the smaller doors and there is a cell with writing on the center of the floor. As I step in to inspect the writing, the whole floor collapses and I find myself in another cell with a skeleton. There are gold coins on the skeleton and as I reach down to pick one up, I am crushed by a wave of magical energy that originated from the ceiling of the cell above. I decide that I have had enough of this cell and its counterpart above so I race up the stairs to join my companions. The other cells contained nothing of note, although Bear got some new armor. As we walk over to the larger doors and try to open one, I almost get hit with a dart. I disarm the trap and the room is empty except for a footlocker. The footlocker is empty. Strange someone would keep an empty footlocker in a trapped room! Now expecting the other larger doors to be trapped, I find and disarm them. One room had another footlocker with an unusual bag in it. The next room had three footlockers with various items within them. Here was some ink and paper which Miah was excited about. We decide to head downstairs and check out the other cells.
These cells are barred so we can actually see inside of them and not have to listen at the doors. What we notice that each cell has a letter on the wall. We look in all the cells and come up with OSSUARYCOLLABORATIWE. We stand there pondering what this could mean.
May 31, 2015
Abadius 4
Level 6
We stare at the letters for a long while and we cannot come up with any significance to them. We decide to leave it alone for now check each of the cells. We find a room with fleshy skeletons and one of them has a magic ring. I carefully enter the cell expecting some sort of trap. I take the ring off expecting some sort of trap. I leave the cell expecting some sort of trap and when there is no trap-I’m surprised. Bluestar tells me it is a ring of improved jumping and when no one else wants it, I put it on my finger. I feel like going outside and jumping over the tower!
Finding nothing more on this floor, we take one last look at the letters and decide to head downstairs. We are surprised to see about six zombies being controlled by a mohrg. Bear and I are really unnerved by the ghastly sight. I run up and punch a zombie but it does not do as much damage as I think it should. The mohrg’s tongue lashes out at me and I am paralyzed. Torx and Nirilyx move down the stairs and enter the fray. Bear moves up and quickly gets clawed by a zombie. Bluestar and Miah move down the stairs. The mohrg misses Bear. Nirilyx tries to bite the mohrg, but misses. Bear also misses the mohrg. Since I can’t move and make an easy target, a zombie claws me. The mohrg misses Bear. Bluestar casts a lightning bolt and kills three zombies. Miah hits the mohrg as the mohrg misses Bear. Torx slices a zombie, but Nirilyx misses the mohrg. Bear hits the mohrg with his sword. I continue to be a feast for the zombies. Bluestar casts magic missile at the mohrg. Miah gets hit by the mohrg. Torx hits a zombie. Nirilyx misses the mohrg, but Bear scores a hit. Bluestar casts another magic missile at the mohrg. Torx misses a zombie as Nirilyx misses the mohrg. Bear again hits the mohrg. Surprisingly, the zombies miss me even though I’m standing perfectly still. Bluestar casts disrupt undead at a zombie. Miah misses the mohrg. Torx hits a zombie, but Nirilyx misses the same one. Bear misses the mohrg. My good fortune holds as all the zombies miss me. Bluestar casts burning hands and kills a zombie. Miah hits the mohrg. I get hit bit by a zombie as Nirilyx tries unsuccessfully to bite it. Bear destroys the mohrg and the rest of the zombies collapse since they were under the mohrg’s control.
Torx wonders if the bag we had found in one of the previous cells still has the coin she placed in it. She reaches into the bag and feels her coin but also feels a little ball of fur. As she pulls the fur out of the bag it forms into a large tiger. It immediately nuzzles Torx much to Nirilyx’s chagrin. Needless to say, Torx says she’s keeping this bag. There is a tunnel leading out of the room and we see a giant skeleton pushing a cart made out of bones. It looks like his arm makes up the handle of the cart. It starts pushing the cart menacingly towards us. Nirilyx waits to see what we all are going to do about it. Bluestar casts disrupt undead. I go up and punch the cart and as I do, a blue cloud rises up and tries to entangle me with blue misty tentacles. Torx’s new friend, the tiger, jumps up on cart and really tears into the giant skeleton with its claws and maw and destroys it. Bear hits the blue mist and it dissipates. At the end of the tunnel is a pile of grizzly refuse. Suddenly four skeletons jump up and we quickly destroy them. One of them carries a cylindrical object with strange markings on it. Miah takes one look and says, “That is the symbol of the drow house Gullion.” Now what would a skeleton at the bottom of a refuse pit be doing with something from a drow noble house? Since we are running low on resources, we decide to camp the night.
Abadius 5
Level 6
We set off on what Miah tells us is called ‘The Long Road’ which is a fairly straight tunnel. He says that we might face many dangers on The Long Road. We ask how long is The Long Road and Miah just smiles and says, “Long!” I am scouting ahead when a couple of hours later I see some humanoid figures up ahead. I go back to let the others know what I saw when suddenly we are attacked by six drow. They must have followed me back! Nirilyx goes up and tries to bite one but misses. Miah goes and skewers a drow with his longsword. I go up and try and punch a drow and Torx goes up and tries to stab a drow. Unfortunately, we both miss. Bluestar casts a scorching ray at the drow that does not have an opponent in front of him-a drow that will be advancing on Bluestar. It does not matter as Bluestar is hit with two bolts and quickly falls asleep from the affects of drow sleep poison. Torx and Nirilyx get hit by their drow opponents, but Miah and I are missed by ours. Bear and I score some hits but Nirilyx misses. Torx misses and luckily for us, the drow miss all of us. Bear kills a drow as the drow leader flees from the combat. Nirilyx is able to bite one with its maw. Miah hits his opponent while I trip mine. Torx turns into allosaurus, but misses her drow opponent with her maw. Miah gets hit but Torx’s opponent must be so unnerved by her transformation into an allosaurus that he misses. I try to punch my drow opponent when he stands up but I miss him. He must have been off-balance, because he misses me as well. Suddenly a spider appears and tries to bite bear but misses. Nirilyx and Miah both score hits against their opponents while I miss with all my punches. Torx, still in allosaurus form, bites her opponent. Me and Miah get hit but Torx gets missed by her opponent. Bear slays a drow but misses the spider. The spider decides it has had enough of this combat and flees. Torx and I score some solid hits. The remaining drow all miss us and also decide to flee. As they flee, Nirilyx scores a parting bite, Miah misses and I score a parting blow. I am ready to pursue my fleeing adversary when Miah warns that there are many more dangers lurking ahead. After awhile Bluestar awakes from his nap and wonders what all the fuss was about!
June 10, 2015
Abadius 6
Level 7
We travel on for about an hour and a half, keeping an eye out for our escaped friends when suddenly; four arrows fly out of nowhere from above and strike Torx. I drink a potion of spider climb and move to the wall. Bluestar casts dancing lights ahead of us so we can see our adversaries. The dancing lights reveal our two adversaries to be two driders hanging from the top of the tunnel. Since it was Bluestar that revealed them, they focus all of their attacks on him. Torx tries to cast faerie fire on the driders, but the driders natural resistance to magic causes the spell to fail. Miah tries to shoot a drider with his crossbow but misses. I continue to climb on the wall, but it is slow going. Bear hits a drider with his longbow while Bluestar casts a spell. One of the driders casts mage armor on himself and the other casts a lightning bolt at Bear, wounding the warrior. Torx casts barkskin on herself. Miah misses again with his crossbow. I continue to move on the wall, slowly but steadily approaching the driders. Bear scores another hit with his bow. Bluestar casts a fireball at the driders burning them badly. Not happy at being burned by the fireball, the driders casts two lightning bolts at Bluestar. Torx and Miah both heal the badly burned Bluestar. I continue to approach the driders while Bear misses with a shot from his longbow. Bluestar, in an effort to show the driders who is the more powerful spell –weaver, casts another fireball. The driders continue their deadly duel with Bluestar by casting lightning bolts at him while Torx and Miah continue to heal him to keep him in the fight. I continue to approach the driders and it feels like I will never get into the fight. Bear hits a drider with an arrow as Bluestar tries to cast a fireball but this time the driders natural resistance to magic blocks it. A drider approaches me and bites me and I feel weaker while the other casts a lightning bolt at me. Miah hits a drider with a bolt and I punch the other drider. Bear misses with an arrow as Bluestar casts a fireball on one, killing it. The remaining drider bites me again as Miah misses with another bolt. With a flurry of blows, I slay the last drider.
We continue on until we see, too late, a seugathi. Torx, who is in dinosaur form tries to bite the seugathi but misses. The seugathi casts a spell and bites Torx. Bluestar tries to cast a spell, but for some reason is unable to. I move behind the seugathi for a flanking position. Nirilyx is unable to take an action, but Bear manages to strike the seugathi. Miah moves up to attack position, while the seugathi hits Bear. Bluestar tries to cast a lightning bolt but is unable to. Nirilyx, Torx, Bluestar and I are unable to take any type of action. Luckily, both Bear and Miah strike the seugathi. Nirilyx, now able to take an action, bites the seugathi and slays it.
Abadius 7
Level 7
We continue to travel for about three more hours when we hear the sounds of a battle. We see three skildpadders. Two of them contain merchants and the third one contains gnomes and dwarves. The skildpadders are surrounded by dwarves and badgers and they are being attacked by drow, small dinosaurs, and skeletons. There is a dwarven cleric channeling some positive energy getting rid of a lot of the skeletons. Nirilyx and I run up to join the fray and almost get shot by a dwarven archer. I quickly explain in dwarven that we are here to help. He shouts back that if we really want to help, we should take out the drow cleric. I change the direction and move towards the drow cleric. Unfortunately she is behind two evokers and two rogues. Bluestar casts a fireball against the drow attackers. Both evokers, doing their duty as bodyguards, cast a fire spell on me while the two rogues, also doing their duty try to stab me but miss. The drow cleric casts a spell and suddenly, I can’t move! Nirilyx goes up to bite one of the rogues, but misses. Bluestar casts another fireball and more drow are wounded. Since I make an easy target, both rogues stab me. The dwarven cleric appears behind the drow cleric and kills her. I am now able to move and I promptly punch one of the rogues. Nirilyx kills the other rogue and a fireball from Bluestar kills the two evokers. The dwarven cleric moves on to the last rogue and kills him. With their leader dead, the drow force loses heart and the battle turns in favor of the dwarves. By this time, Bear, Torx and Miah enter the fray and the influx of reinforcements cause the remaining drow to either flee or be cut down where they stand. The dwarven cleric introduces himself as Drosk and thanks us profusely as he tells us that Embla has been hard pressed and if this supply caravan didn’t make it, then the whole city would have been done for. Drosk and Miah exchange warm greetings having been long-time acquaintances in Embla.