Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Tony (Roland, Horkina)
Tom (Garlen, Amber)
DM: Catherine
Roland summoned a pack of horses for the party, and he and Amber protected the group from the cold. A couple of spears with a blanket slung between served as a makeshift sled to bring the comatose paladin along. As the party moved southward, the ground began to rumble. A huge worm-like creature burrowed up through the ground, the heat of its body melting the nearby snow. Garlen tumbled behind the remorhaz and stabbed it with his shortsword, which melted inside the creature's body. As Garlen yelled out swear words in multiple languages, the rest of the party fired arrows and spells at the beast until it finally collapsed.
Garlen continued swearing about the loss of his expensive sword as the party moved onward to the south. When the mountain range came into clear view, Roland and Garlen both realized the largest mountain was the famed Naurim, pride and joy of the blackrock dwarves. Garlen was pretty excited about the chance to see the dwarves and the famed city of Kerah, and certain the dwarves could help cure the paladin and send the party home. On the way up the icy mountainside, Rain heard the breathing of a pair of giants up on a ledge. He and Garlen spiderclimbed up to ambush them and quickly took one down with a barrage of sneak attacks. The other frost giant jumped down in front of Grokk and Horkina, who mauled it.
When the party reached the great Vuthgate leading into the mountain, a group of dwarven guards met them. The guards said the mountain was not safe for travelers right now -- the great city of Kerah had been overrun, and the dwarves were in the midst of a campaign to take it back. "If you travelers can offer us assistance in trade for whatever help you need, seek Uther Ungart, champion of the Blackrock Clan." The party headed through the gate and into the refugee city of Beshin, finding the magically enlarged Uther rallying the troops. Garlen laughed at the sight, as he recalled a young dwarf named Uther losing to a halfling in a wrestling match in the city of Farbottle not too far south of here. Uther admitted that had been him, but when Garlen challenged him, the big dwarf quickly inverted the halfling with a laugh and a smile.
The party was to be provided with passage home, and attempts to restore Tercival's consciousness, in exchange for retrieving an artifact called the "heart of winter" from the frost giants outside. Roland exchanged spells with an elven wizard named Nienna while Rain checked out the local women and Horkina and Grokk had some ale. The party rested up and headed for the frost giant compound in the morning.
The group discovered a cave that was obviously a frost giant home. Rain peeked his head behind a curtain and spotted a frost giant boy throwing a rock against a wall. The party decided to leave the young one alone. A vent blasted cold air into another room. Roland sent a magical eye through the vent and followed the conduit to another grating and a vertical passage. At the bottom of the vertical shaft was a massive, icy dragon heart that dripped icy liquid into a pool below. Vents led off of the sides of the shaft, and the top opened to the sky above. The party decided to enter the complex by flying down the shaft, retrieving the heart of winter, and then fighting their way out of the frost giant keep.
Horkina attached the artifact to a pole and carried it over her shoulder. Rain opened the door from the shaft into the main complex, where a fairly large white dragon waited, chained into a small room. Roland learned that the dragon was upset with being held in captivity, and agreed to release it if it would agree to stay out of the party's way. The dragon agreed, so Roland cast silence on the chains that bound it and then Horkina and Grokk bashed the chains apart. The dragon climbed into the icy pool in the bottom of the shaft and then flew up and away, while the party moved through the complex and looted a giant-sized safe.
Rain opened a door into a large dining room. Two giants stood waiting in the room. Garlen ran under the table and began stabbing at one of the giant's legs while Rain and Grokk helped bring the giant down. Horkina ran to attack the other giant, and they exchanged powerful critical blows. Amber healed Horkina while Roland lit this giant on fire, leaving charred remains on the ground. A third giant came in through the main door but was quickly dispatched.
In a nearby room, the giants kept a troll woman who was busy cooking soup. The party let her know she was free to go, as the giants were no longer going to require her services. She nodded and continued making her soup. The party also found a dwarf woman being held captive in a side chamber, and asked her to follow a short distance behind. The main gate of the complex was being guarded by two baby white dragons. Roland magically frightened them and the party attacked them as they cowered in their pens. The party headed back to Beshin with the heart of winter and the dwarf woman in tow.
Back in Beshin, the local clerics had been able to restore Alek Tercival's consciousness with a Heal spell. The next morning, as promised, Nienna worked with Roland to teleport the party back to where they'd come from. Specifically, the party stopped by the magical fountain so that Alek Tercival could drink some of the elixer and be ready for his fight with Skellerang. The group headed back to Redgorge, and noticed Skellerang and the mercenaries were camped outside the town. As Alek walked through Redgorge, the people became overjoyed, and he walked out to the mercenary camp to meet with Skellerang. With some magical assistance from Amber and Roland, and with the party's best magical equipment, the paladin easily overpowered the guard captain. Tereson Skellerang, badly wounded, surrendered his position as guard captain in exchange for his life.
Monday, April 16, 2007
The Shackled City, Day 18 (2007-02-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party moved quickly south. The passageway led to a balcony overlooking the portcullis they'd avoided. A giant waited on the balcony, watching for intruders to approach the portcullis. Garlen and Rain tumbled to flank, and Grokk and Horkina smashed the giant. Still taking care to be quiet, the party moved to the northwest. The complex changed character, from rough-hewn caverns to carefully constructed and magically lit hallways. Light from a fire spilled into one of the hallways, so the party investigated. A fire giant was slaving over a forge, working on a large set of armor. When he spotted the party, he attempted to use a wand to cast displacement on himself, but failed. Roland used Tasha's Hideous Laughter to bring him to the ground, and the party quickly slew him. Rain kicked some rubble in the corner and found two large jugs of alchemists fire, and also carefully depressurized a chest that would otherwise have sprayed pressurized alchemists fire all over the room. The party left a heavy silver and platinum cage, to be retrieved later.
To the south was a massive circular room with an odd structure in the middle, surrounded by dozens of large six-armed chairs. Five ettins lingered in the room. Roland launched several small bursts of fire while the rest of the party stood back and shelled the creatures with arrows. As the monstrous creatures fell, the party moved in to the room to investiage. The sound of a heavenly chorus and the smell of flowers came in from the west, and three trumpet archons followed, thanking the party for saving the ancient site from the evil taint of the giants. They offered "the nectar of the gods" to Roland, who declined based on Nidrama's warning. Rain sensed deception and called out his own warning, so Roland cast dispel magic on the first of the archons. This revealed her true form: a fey hag. Amber cast silence in the middle of the pack, Roland stepped back, and the rest of the party jumped into melee. Grokk and Garlen both took some strength drain from the hags, but the hags took the worst of the damage as they fell dead from numerous wounds.
The party moved to the west and found a room with a strange fountain producing magical liquid. Leaving it behind, they headed north into a throne room. A door to the west led to a tapestry-covered room filled with spellweaver skeletons. The six-armed skeletons couldn't manage to land any significant blows due to the party's high-quality armor. Once the undead were neutralized, the group stuffed all of the nice tapestries into a bag of holding, and Rain noticed a hidden switch on the north wall beneath a set of baboon masks. The switch opened a shallow drawer containing a staff the party suspected was Alakast. Without any identification spells prepared, though, the party stowed the staff and kept moving.
To the north and west was a room with a colorful diagram on the floor and a mirror on the wall. Alek Tercival sat in a chair in the middle of the room. He called out to the party to enter, but everyone suspected some sort of trap and held back. Realizing his ruse wouldn't work, the false Tercival morphed into his true form -- a creature from the plane of mirrors called a nerra. Four others emerged from the mirror, but a fireball and a couple of sneak attacks dropped the whole group.
Roland teleported back to town with half of the party and most of the treasure, selling off the items the party didn't want and picking up the material components for some identification spells. The staff was in fact Alakast, a demonbane weapon. The liquid in the magical fountain proved to be some sort of artifact, not readily identifiable by Roland's spell, but Grokk drank a bit and found his strength was greatly increased. Horkina and Rain did the same. Roland was also able to identify the mirror as a magical portal, and a careful look showed a distant Alek Tercival reflected in it.
The party stepped into the portal and found themselves separated, in small pentagonal colored rooms with colored mirrors on each wall. Voices seemed to travel from room to room, and the mirrors led to rooms of the indicated color. But there seemed to be multiple rooms of the same color, such that the party couldn't reassemble. Perhaps the right color sequence would lead the party to the exit, but the party didn't know the sequence. Rain recalled there was a pentagon with stars in it on the engraved plate, and looking carefully, noticed a sequence of dots and lines below the engraving that seemed to signify the numbers 3-4-5-1-2-3. People tried various combinations -- perhaps 1 meant red, 2 meant orange, and so on. Eventually Horkina determined the solution: from whatever room you're in, pick the color 3 spots away from it in the original diagram, then the color 4 spots away, then 5, and so on. She called out her solution and then tested it, soon emerging into a small room where Alek Tercival sat mumbling. The rest of the party quickly followed.
Rain dismantled the lock on the iron door at the edge of the room while Roland tried to explain what happened to Tercival, telling him of the disguised hags and their deception. Tercival was upset and ashamed, and feared returning to Cauldron. As the party walked outside into a snowy wasteland, they convinced the paladin they wouldn't publicize the embarrassing details that put him in this position.
Suddenly Nabthatoron, Lord of the Demonskar, appeared a few feet away and began attacking Alek Tercival. The paladin dropped to the ground, dying. Amber aligned everyone's weapons while Garlen dove behind the demon, and Horkina used Alakast to great effect, pounding the evil menace. The glabrezu responded by stunning Horkina. Roland poured a healing potion down Tercival's throat, and Grokk's axe clove deep into the demon's skull, ending this particular threat. Tercival fell to the ground again and spoke out with a voice not his own: "There is naught left for you in Cauldron, heroes! To return is to enter your own graves and to bring doom upon all you love! Trust the sign of the Smoking Eye if you wish to save them all!" This was Nidrama's voice speaking through the paladin, who fell into a coma soon after.
Garlen looked around and surmised the party was well over a thousand miles away from Cauldron, in an icy wasteland to the north. Amber took Redtail high up in the air and spotted a range of mountains to the south. Garlen suggested the party should get some rest and head to the south in the morning.
The party reached level 10.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party moved quickly south. The passageway led to a balcony overlooking the portcullis they'd avoided. A giant waited on the balcony, watching for intruders to approach the portcullis. Garlen and Rain tumbled to flank, and Grokk and Horkina smashed the giant. Still taking care to be quiet, the party moved to the northwest. The complex changed character, from rough-hewn caverns to carefully constructed and magically lit hallways. Light from a fire spilled into one of the hallways, so the party investigated. A fire giant was slaving over a forge, working on a large set of armor. When he spotted the party, he attempted to use a wand to cast displacement on himself, but failed. Roland used Tasha's Hideous Laughter to bring him to the ground, and the party quickly slew him. Rain kicked some rubble in the corner and found two large jugs of alchemists fire, and also carefully depressurized a chest that would otherwise have sprayed pressurized alchemists fire all over the room. The party left a heavy silver and platinum cage, to be retrieved later.
To the south was a massive circular room with an odd structure in the middle, surrounded by dozens of large six-armed chairs. Five ettins lingered in the room. Roland launched several small bursts of fire while the rest of the party stood back and shelled the creatures with arrows. As the monstrous creatures fell, the party moved in to the room to investiage. The sound of a heavenly chorus and the smell of flowers came in from the west, and three trumpet archons followed, thanking the party for saving the ancient site from the evil taint of the giants. They offered "the nectar of the gods" to Roland, who declined based on Nidrama's warning. Rain sensed deception and called out his own warning, so Roland cast dispel magic on the first of the archons. This revealed her true form: a fey hag. Amber cast silence in the middle of the pack, Roland stepped back, and the rest of the party jumped into melee. Grokk and Garlen both took some strength drain from the hags, but the hags took the worst of the damage as they fell dead from numerous wounds.
The party moved to the west and found a room with a strange fountain producing magical liquid. Leaving it behind, they headed north into a throne room. A door to the west led to a tapestry-covered room filled with spellweaver skeletons. The six-armed skeletons couldn't manage to land any significant blows due to the party's high-quality armor. Once the undead were neutralized, the group stuffed all of the nice tapestries into a bag of holding, and Rain noticed a hidden switch on the north wall beneath a set of baboon masks. The switch opened a shallow drawer containing a staff the party suspected was Alakast. Without any identification spells prepared, though, the party stowed the staff and kept moving.
To the north and west was a room with a colorful diagram on the floor and a mirror on the wall. Alek Tercival sat in a chair in the middle of the room. He called out to the party to enter, but everyone suspected some sort of trap and held back. Realizing his ruse wouldn't work, the false Tercival morphed into his true form -- a creature from the plane of mirrors called a nerra. Four others emerged from the mirror, but a fireball and a couple of sneak attacks dropped the whole group.
Roland teleported back to town with half of the party and most of the treasure, selling off the items the party didn't want and picking up the material components for some identification spells. The staff was in fact Alakast, a demonbane weapon. The liquid in the magical fountain proved to be some sort of artifact, not readily identifiable by Roland's spell, but Grokk drank a bit and found his strength was greatly increased. Horkina and Rain did the same. Roland was also able to identify the mirror as a magical portal, and a careful look showed a distant Alek Tercival reflected in it.
The party stepped into the portal and found themselves separated, in small pentagonal colored rooms with colored mirrors on each wall. Voices seemed to travel from room to room, and the mirrors led to rooms of the indicated color. But there seemed to be multiple rooms of the same color, such that the party couldn't reassemble. Perhaps the right color sequence would lead the party to the exit, but the party didn't know the sequence. Rain recalled there was a pentagon with stars in it on the engraved plate, and looking carefully, noticed a sequence of dots and lines below the engraving that seemed to signify the numbers 3-4-5-1-2-3. People tried various combinations -- perhaps 1 meant red, 2 meant orange, and so on. Eventually Horkina determined the solution: from whatever room you're in, pick the color 3 spots away from it in the original diagram, then the color 4 spots away, then 5, and so on. She called out her solution and then tested it, soon emerging into a small room where Alek Tercival sat mumbling. The rest of the party quickly followed.
Rain dismantled the lock on the iron door at the edge of the room while Roland tried to explain what happened to Tercival, telling him of the disguised hags and their deception. Tercival was upset and ashamed, and feared returning to Cauldron. As the party walked outside into a snowy wasteland, they convinced the paladin they wouldn't publicize the embarrassing details that put him in this position.
Suddenly Nabthatoron, Lord of the Demonskar, appeared a few feet away and began attacking Alek Tercival. The paladin dropped to the ground, dying. Amber aligned everyone's weapons while Garlen dove behind the demon, and Horkina used Alakast to great effect, pounding the evil menace. The glabrezu responded by stunning Horkina. Roland poured a healing potion down Tercival's throat, and Grokk's axe clove deep into the demon's skull, ending this particular threat. Tercival fell to the ground again and spoke out with a voice not his own: "There is naught left for you in Cauldron, heroes! To return is to enter your own graves and to bring doom upon all you love! Trust the sign of the Smoking Eye if you wish to save them all!" This was Nidrama's voice speaking through the paladin, who fell into a coma soon after.
Garlen looked around and surmised the party was well over a thousand miles away from Cauldron, in an icy wasteland to the north. Amber took Redtail high up in the air and spotted a range of mountains to the south. Garlen suggested the party should get some rest and head to the south in the morning.
The party reached level 10.
The Shackled City, Day 17 (2007-01-27, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The Rubble Rousers set out for Redgorge at once, heading directly to the Miners Inn. A man playing a lute called the party over and asked them a riddle, inviting them to a private meeting after they answered correctly. He led them to a large conference room with a solid oak table in the middle. The walls were covered with paintings detailing the history of Surabar Spellmason's life -- his arrival at the volcano and founding of Cauldron, the construction of Redgorge and its defenses, a meeting with an angel named Nidrama who gifted him a staff, a battle with the glabrezu Nabthatoron, and his death. A tall gray-haired man wearing all brown was there to greet them. He was nicknamed "the Foreman", leader of the Chisel.
After Maavu and a few others arrived, the Foreman began discussing the current situation. He said the Chisel was founded to protect the region and support artisans and craftsmen, but that selfish actions of some of its members were compromising that goal. Too many members had stopped caring about the wellness of society as a whole. He said Maavu's actions in Cauldron -- protesting the taxes -- may have caused significant harm to the Chisel. A great force of evil and chaos was at work in Cauldron, and divinations pointed toward a great disaster on the horizon. Even now Skellerang was planning to move a force of half-orc mercenaries into Redgorge, and the only way out would be for the paladin to renounce his challenge. Roland countered: "aren't you being selfish too? Your concern seems to be more for the Chisel's well-being than for the people of Cauldron. Why shouldn't Tercival go through with the challenge?" The Foreman responded by saying that the paladin had gone missing, and that either way, Redgorge would be devastated if Tercival couldn't be found.
One of the Chisel craftsmen was able to decipher some of the markings on the mapped plate. It told of the construction of some large structure using ogre laborers and spellweaver masters. The ogres appeared to get stronger partway through the construction process. The map on the back was revealing, too -- it pointed to a headless demon, and the Foreman knew of a headless statue of Nabthatoron a few miles down the red river. Mikimax, the innkeeper, lent the party a small boat so they could travel to that point and hopefully track down the paladin.
After a few hours of sailing, the party approached a wide beach with a damaged and headless demon statue standing on the north bank. Arrows flew at the boat from within the trees; a group of gnolls was attacking. The party beached the rowboat, and Garlen ran through the underbrush toward one of the gnolls. Amber, airborne on Redtail, spotted a second pack of gnolls and put them to sleep. Roland's fireball and a string of arrows from Grokk, Horkina, and Rain finished them off. The party followed a trail to a large cave -- one of the landmarks on the map. A forest sloth had taken up residence in the cave, and it swallowed Garlen in one bite. The party bashed the sloth to death, and Garlen cut at its stomach trying to get free. Grokk's axe finally tore its flesh apart, and a few Create Water spells washed the sloth goo from Garlen's hair.
A few miles and several gnolls further down the path, the party came to a small clearing. A quick fluttering of large wings preceded a beautiful woman stepping into the clearing. This woman was pictured in one of the paintings -- this was Nidrama, who had given Surabar Spellmason a magical weapon. She gave a warning: "The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They will use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival." But she also gave encouragement: "In ages past, I provided to Surabar Spellmason a powerful weapon... Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. It is fated that Alakast should be wielded again against the Lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to you, and all that needs be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, beyond the watchful eyes of the north." With that, she planeshifted away.
Another mile of travel brought the party to a large pipe -- possibly the "round cave" in the crudely sketched map. Following the pathway traced out on the map, the party emerged from the network of pipes and onto a ledge over a large pit. There, a pair of pipes bellowed whenever the wind blew, like a massive organ that could be heard miles away. This was no doubt "Vaprak's Voice". At the bottom of the fissure was a large, stinking pool. Rain spotted a mephit flying out of the pool and away, and the party began firing to try to stop it. It lived through a pair of arrow hits and was nearly to the corner when Garlen hit it right between the eyes with his favorite shortspear. Garlen mumbled about how much he hated mephits as the party looked around.
The mephit had been heading toward a small hole just above an iron portcullis. Amber flew to the far side of the pit and down a large fissure in the rock, and found a massive wooden door sized for giants. The party decided this door would be a more ideal way to enter whatever complex might lie behind. Roland cast silent portal and Grokk lifted the 1500-pound door, setting it aside. The hill giants inside the room barely looked up in time to see the party rushing in on them, and due to Horkina's passionate feelings about giants and her combat skill, none lived long enough to call out a warning.
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The Rubble Rousers set out for Redgorge at once, heading directly to the Miners Inn. A man playing a lute called the party over and asked them a riddle, inviting them to a private meeting after they answered correctly. He led them to a large conference room with a solid oak table in the middle. The walls were covered with paintings detailing the history of Surabar Spellmason's life -- his arrival at the volcano and founding of Cauldron, the construction of Redgorge and its defenses, a meeting with an angel named Nidrama who gifted him a staff, a battle with the glabrezu Nabthatoron, and his death. A tall gray-haired man wearing all brown was there to greet them. He was nicknamed "the Foreman", leader of the Chisel.
After Maavu and a few others arrived, the Foreman began discussing the current situation. He said the Chisel was founded to protect the region and support artisans and craftsmen, but that selfish actions of some of its members were compromising that goal. Too many members had stopped caring about the wellness of society as a whole. He said Maavu's actions in Cauldron -- protesting the taxes -- may have caused significant harm to the Chisel. A great force of evil and chaos was at work in Cauldron, and divinations pointed toward a great disaster on the horizon. Even now Skellerang was planning to move a force of half-orc mercenaries into Redgorge, and the only way out would be for the paladin to renounce his challenge. Roland countered: "aren't you being selfish too? Your concern seems to be more for the Chisel's well-being than for the people of Cauldron. Why shouldn't Tercival go through with the challenge?" The Foreman responded by saying that the paladin had gone missing, and that either way, Redgorge would be devastated if Tercival couldn't be found.
One of the Chisel craftsmen was able to decipher some of the markings on the mapped plate. It told of the construction of some large structure using ogre laborers and spellweaver masters. The ogres appeared to get stronger partway through the construction process. The map on the back was revealing, too -- it pointed to a headless demon, and the Foreman knew of a headless statue of Nabthatoron a few miles down the red river. Mikimax, the innkeeper, lent the party a small boat so they could travel to that point and hopefully track down the paladin.
After a few hours of sailing, the party approached a wide beach with a damaged and headless demon statue standing on the north bank. Arrows flew at the boat from within the trees; a group of gnolls was attacking. The party beached the rowboat, and Garlen ran through the underbrush toward one of the gnolls. Amber, airborne on Redtail, spotted a second pack of gnolls and put them to sleep. Roland's fireball and a string of arrows from Grokk, Horkina, and Rain finished them off. The party followed a trail to a large cave -- one of the landmarks on the map. A forest sloth had taken up residence in the cave, and it swallowed Garlen in one bite. The party bashed the sloth to death, and Garlen cut at its stomach trying to get free. Grokk's axe finally tore its flesh apart, and a few Create Water spells washed the sloth goo from Garlen's hair.
A few miles and several gnolls further down the path, the party came to a small clearing. A quick fluttering of large wings preceded a beautiful woman stepping into the clearing. This woman was pictured in one of the paintings -- this was Nidrama, who had given Surabar Spellmason a magical weapon. She gave a warning: "The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They will use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival." But she also gave encouragement: "In ages past, I provided to Surabar Spellmason a powerful weapon... Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. It is fated that Alakast should be wielded again against the Lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to you, and all that needs be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, beyond the watchful eyes of the north." With that, she planeshifted away.
Another mile of travel brought the party to a large pipe -- possibly the "round cave" in the crudely sketched map. Following the pathway traced out on the map, the party emerged from the network of pipes and onto a ledge over a large pit. There, a pair of pipes bellowed whenever the wind blew, like a massive organ that could be heard miles away. This was no doubt "Vaprak's Voice". At the bottom of the fissure was a large, stinking pool. Rain spotted a mephit flying out of the pool and away, and the party began firing to try to stop it. It lived through a pair of arrow hits and was nearly to the corner when Garlen hit it right between the eyes with his favorite shortspear. Garlen mumbled about how much he hated mephits as the party looked around.
The mephit had been heading toward a small hole just above an iron portcullis. Amber flew to the far side of the pit and down a large fissure in the rock, and found a massive wooden door sized for giants. The party decided this door would be a more ideal way to enter whatever complex might lie behind. Roland cast silent portal and Grokk lifted the 1500-pound door, setting it aside. The hill giants inside the room barely looked up in time to see the party rushing in on them, and due to Horkina's passionate feelings about giants and her combat skill, none lived long enough to call out a warning.
The Shackled City, Day 16 (2007-01-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Amber spent the next several days walking around town, looking for people to heal in the name of Ehlonna and putting out word that she planned to start a temple soon. Roland set out looking for Meerthan, and was directed to meet with Tyro Amberhelm. The dwarf merchant revealed that he, in fact, was Meerthan in disguise. The two exchanged spells and stories. Meanwhile, tax collectors were being seen more and more frequently. Fliers appeared all over town, saying a tax protest had been scheduled.
At the protest, a merchant named Maavu stood to speak. He explained that the new, higher taxes were illegal, and that the government had become hopelessly corrupt in its recent hiring of half-orc mercenaries. "The paladin Alek Tercival has issued a challenge to Tereson Skellerang, captain of the town guard, to prove his valor in a duel according to the Old Law of Peers, but the city council has tried to keep the challenge quiet as they continue to collect illegal taxes!" As the crowd got more and more rowdy, a young watch sergeant approached with a group of half-orcs and called out to Maavu, saying he was under arrest. Suddenly a young man screamed out "let's kill these half-orc brigands!" and the mercenaries were quickly slain.
Horkina stepped to the sergeant's side and screamed out an intimidating warning, scaring most of the crowd into stepping back. Rain, Garlen, and Grokk closed in, dropping the provocateur and his allies who Rain recognized as being affiliated with the Last Laugh. A group of rioters to the north began fighting and breaking things, but Roland charmed several of the rioters. Amber cast Air Walk on sergeant Krewis to allow him to escape, which he did rather quickly. Roland and Amber used a few more spells to calm the rioting group, and Horkina continued to disperse the crowd. Suddenly a strange air creature appeared next to Maavu and swiped at him, while archers in town hall fired several arrows at him. The party surrounded the breathdrinker while Maavu dove for cover, and the breathdrinker was dispatched. The party escorted Maavu safely out of the crowd, and he invited them to come to redgorge to meet with him about a matter of importance. He instructed the party to find him at the redhead miner's inn and told them the answer to a riddle they'd be asked.
Later that night, the bells at city hall began to ring out -- a building down by the lake was burning. As the party rushed to investigage, it became apparent the fire was at Minutia's Board, where many of the half-orc mercenaries had been staying. The mercenaries were doing their best to put out the fire with a bucket brigade, passing water up from the edge of the lake. Several of Cauldron's citizens yelled insults against the half-orcs, though a shout from Grokk scared many of the racists away. As the orcs tried to create a fire break, the inn owner yelled at their leader to have them stop. He responded "you tiny idiot! You not get it! Flame-demons kill us! Blades useless! Fire unstoppable!" Moments later, a pair of fire elementals burst out from the building and began to burn the nearest half-orc.
The party responded with a string of axe blows and cold spells, and the fire elementals were neutralized. Rain heard a cry for help from inside the building, and spotted Deakon Stormshield trapped beneath some rubble. Roland used a transposition spell to free the boy and trap himself, and then Grokk and Horkina helped lift the fallen timbers off of him. As the party moved to help put out the fire, a tall blue-haired man in blue robes arrived and cast a pair of cones of cold into the building. Amber discerned that the man was evil, and the party suspected he might be the "Blue Duke", an ogre mage they'd been warned about before.
The next morning, the party learned taxes had been suspended, but that there was a bounty for capturing the "evil merchant Maavu" for the trouble he'd stirred up. The group set out to investigate exactly what had happened. Jenya had been a good friend of Alek Tercival's, and mentioned that he'd gone missing just after issuing the challenge. She said he'd sold a lot of treasure to Tygot, so the party asked the merchant to see what Tercival had recently sold. One item was a strange carved plate with an image of a six-armed creature holding up a strange star-filled pentagon. A crude map had been scratched on the back of the plate.
The party reached level 9.
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Amber spent the next several days walking around town, looking for people to heal in the name of Ehlonna and putting out word that she planned to start a temple soon. Roland set out looking for Meerthan, and was directed to meet with Tyro Amberhelm. The dwarf merchant revealed that he, in fact, was Meerthan in disguise. The two exchanged spells and stories. Meanwhile, tax collectors were being seen more and more frequently. Fliers appeared all over town, saying a tax protest had been scheduled.
At the protest, a merchant named Maavu stood to speak. He explained that the new, higher taxes were illegal, and that the government had become hopelessly corrupt in its recent hiring of half-orc mercenaries. "The paladin Alek Tercival has issued a challenge to Tereson Skellerang, captain of the town guard, to prove his valor in a duel according to the Old Law of Peers, but the city council has tried to keep the challenge quiet as they continue to collect illegal taxes!" As the crowd got more and more rowdy, a young watch sergeant approached with a group of half-orcs and called out to Maavu, saying he was under arrest. Suddenly a young man screamed out "let's kill these half-orc brigands!" and the mercenaries were quickly slain.
Horkina stepped to the sergeant's side and screamed out an intimidating warning, scaring most of the crowd into stepping back. Rain, Garlen, and Grokk closed in, dropping the provocateur and his allies who Rain recognized as being affiliated with the Last Laugh. A group of rioters to the north began fighting and breaking things, but Roland charmed several of the rioters. Amber cast Air Walk on sergeant Krewis to allow him to escape, which he did rather quickly. Roland and Amber used a few more spells to calm the rioting group, and Horkina continued to disperse the crowd. Suddenly a strange air creature appeared next to Maavu and swiped at him, while archers in town hall fired several arrows at him. The party surrounded the breathdrinker while Maavu dove for cover, and the breathdrinker was dispatched. The party escorted Maavu safely out of the crowd, and he invited them to come to redgorge to meet with him about a matter of importance. He instructed the party to find him at the redhead miner's inn and told them the answer to a riddle they'd be asked.
Later that night, the bells at city hall began to ring out -- a building down by the lake was burning. As the party rushed to investigage, it became apparent the fire was at Minutia's Board, where many of the half-orc mercenaries had been staying. The mercenaries were doing their best to put out the fire with a bucket brigade, passing water up from the edge of the lake. Several of Cauldron's citizens yelled insults against the half-orcs, though a shout from Grokk scared many of the racists away. As the orcs tried to create a fire break, the inn owner yelled at their leader to have them stop. He responded "you tiny idiot! You not get it! Flame-demons kill us! Blades useless! Fire unstoppable!" Moments later, a pair of fire elementals burst out from the building and began to burn the nearest half-orc.
The party responded with a string of axe blows and cold spells, and the fire elementals were neutralized. Rain heard a cry for help from inside the building, and spotted Deakon Stormshield trapped beneath some rubble. Roland used a transposition spell to free the boy and trap himself, and then Grokk and Horkina helped lift the fallen timbers off of him. As the party moved to help put out the fire, a tall blue-haired man in blue robes arrived and cast a pair of cones of cold into the building. Amber discerned that the man was evil, and the party suspected he might be the "Blue Duke", an ogre mage they'd been warned about before.
The next morning, the party learned taxes had been suspended, but that there was a bounty for capturing the "evil merchant Maavu" for the trouble he'd stirred up. The group set out to investigate exactly what had happened. Jenya had been a good friend of Alek Tercival's, and mentioned that he'd gone missing just after issuing the challenge. She said he'd sold a lot of treasure to Tygot, so the party asked the merchant to see what Tercival had recently sold. One item was a strange carved plate with an image of a six-armed creature holding up a strange star-filled pentagon. A crude map had been scratched on the back of the plate.
The party reached level 9.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The Shackled City, Day 15 (2007-01-05, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party headed out to where the canoe had dropped them off, intending to rest on the far side of the lake. The ferry keeper jumped out of the canoe about 20 feet out, and swam up to the party. He attempted to punch Horkina, but was quickly surrounded and dropped. The party took his canoe and sailed across the lake, and took turns resting while others kept watch over the party and the horses.
Back inside Bhal-Hamatugn, the party discovered a set of jail cells. A human in one cell said the halfling spellcaster in the next cell was in league with the kuo-toans. The halfling countered that the human talked to rats, and was obviously the one in league with the kuo-toans. The two threw accusations back and forth as the party walked away down the nearest staircase.
The stairs led to a flooded room that was obviously used for torture. Manacles, stretching racks, and various other implements lined the walls. As the party approached, an extremely distorted mummy -- so rotted that his original race couldn't be identified -- came up out of the water and attempted to attack. Roland blasted it with fire, and the others pounded it with blades until it collapsed back into the water.
The party headed back to where they'd found the dragon fingerlings. A set of stairs led up to a door, where Rain discovered a lightning bolt trap which he expertly disabled. He also noticed a trigger mechanism to shoot poison spears across the room, and disarmed it. He quietly opened the next door and discovered a black dragon. The dragon reacted sluggishly as the party moved to surround him. Grokk and Horkina hit him hard, while Rain and Garlen poked at his vital organs. Roland used a spell to distract the dragon, causing him to twitch and giving the party an opening in which to hit him. Everyone landed their attack, and thus, the dragon was slain without getting a single action.
The party headed back to the large room with the statue of Blibdoolpoolp. A kuo-toan wearing shiny plate mail and wielding a large pincer staff stepped out next to the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded him, but struggled to hit him. He injured the whole party with an unholy blight and then seriously wounded Garlen with his staff, so Garlen retreated. Roland cast a dispel magic to remove the cleric's numerous protections, and he quickly fell to a string of attacks. Amber healed Garlen and the others. She then stepped up to the huge statue and cast Stone Shape to put a large crack across the middle. This made the top half of the statue fall to the ground, creating a large pile of rubble for Rain to kick.
Having secured all but the upper level of the stronghold, Roland used a simple divination to find the direction to Zenith. He was clearly within a hundred feet, directly east of the main room. Garlen spider-climbed to the top balcony and lowered the drawbridges that allowed access to the uppermost doors, and the party headed through. Several mushrooms, including a couple of aggressively violent ones, were being grown in one room. Horkina, practically immune to mushroom poison, hacked her way through the violet funguses and even ate a bit of them. As the party moved into the next room, Rain noticed a kuo-toan hiding upside down on the roof, looking intent on striking Roland. Garlen climbed up to attack, and the rest of the party surrounded and destroyed the assassin.
Finally, the party came into Zenith's room. The dwarf sat in a throne, flanked by his own family banners being flown upside down, with a strange glowing circle in front of his throne. He called out "I prophesy your doom" as he threw a glass sphere toward the far wall and stood in a defensive posture. An invisible arm attacked Horkina, so Roland used glitterdust to reveal the enemy: an invisible stalker. It fell quickly once it became visible. Amber and Roland each cast spells at the dwarf, and he soon succumbed to their magic and was captured. As the party left the kuo-toan stronghold with Zenith in tow, they released the two prisoners. The prisoners continued to bicker as the party handed each of them a spear. The two continued to face off as the party left for home.
Back in Cauldron, Amber sought a method to cure Zenith's obvious insanity. A divination told her to "seek the invisible sign to peer inside the smoking eye." A spell of see invisibility revealed a strange mark on his forehead: the sign of Carceri, the prison plane of the Abyss.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party headed out to where the canoe had dropped them off, intending to rest on the far side of the lake. The ferry keeper jumped out of the canoe about 20 feet out, and swam up to the party. He attempted to punch Horkina, but was quickly surrounded and dropped. The party took his canoe and sailed across the lake, and took turns resting while others kept watch over the party and the horses.
Back inside Bhal-Hamatugn, the party discovered a set of jail cells. A human in one cell said the halfling spellcaster in the next cell was in league with the kuo-toans. The halfling countered that the human talked to rats, and was obviously the one in league with the kuo-toans. The two threw accusations back and forth as the party walked away down the nearest staircase.
The stairs led to a flooded room that was obviously used for torture. Manacles, stretching racks, and various other implements lined the walls. As the party approached, an extremely distorted mummy -- so rotted that his original race couldn't be identified -- came up out of the water and attempted to attack. Roland blasted it with fire, and the others pounded it with blades until it collapsed back into the water.
The party headed back to where they'd found the dragon fingerlings. A set of stairs led up to a door, where Rain discovered a lightning bolt trap which he expertly disabled. He also noticed a trigger mechanism to shoot poison spears across the room, and disarmed it. He quietly opened the next door and discovered a black dragon. The dragon reacted sluggishly as the party moved to surround him. Grokk and Horkina hit him hard, while Rain and Garlen poked at his vital organs. Roland used a spell to distract the dragon, causing him to twitch and giving the party an opening in which to hit him. Everyone landed their attack, and thus, the dragon was slain without getting a single action.
The party headed back to the large room with the statue of Blibdoolpoolp. A kuo-toan wearing shiny plate mail and wielding a large pincer staff stepped out next to the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded him, but struggled to hit him. He injured the whole party with an unholy blight and then seriously wounded Garlen with his staff, so Garlen retreated. Roland cast a dispel magic to remove the cleric's numerous protections, and he quickly fell to a string of attacks. Amber healed Garlen and the others. She then stepped up to the huge statue and cast Stone Shape to put a large crack across the middle. This made the top half of the statue fall to the ground, creating a large pile of rubble for Rain to kick.
Having secured all but the upper level of the stronghold, Roland used a simple divination to find the direction to Zenith. He was clearly within a hundred feet, directly east of the main room. Garlen spider-climbed to the top balcony and lowered the drawbridges that allowed access to the uppermost doors, and the party headed through. Several mushrooms, including a couple of aggressively violent ones, were being grown in one room. Horkina, practically immune to mushroom poison, hacked her way through the violet funguses and even ate a bit of them. As the party moved into the next room, Rain noticed a kuo-toan hiding upside down on the roof, looking intent on striking Roland. Garlen climbed up to attack, and the rest of the party surrounded and destroyed the assassin.
Finally, the party came into Zenith's room. The dwarf sat in a throne, flanked by his own family banners being flown upside down, with a strange glowing circle in front of his throne. He called out "I prophesy your doom" as he threw a glass sphere toward the far wall and stood in a defensive posture. An invisible arm attacked Horkina, so Roland used glitterdust to reveal the enemy: an invisible stalker. It fell quickly once it became visible. Amber and Roland each cast spells at the dwarf, and he soon succumbed to their magic and was captured. As the party left the kuo-toan stronghold with Zenith in tow, they released the two prisoners. The prisoners continued to bicker as the party handed each of them a spear. The two continued to face off as the party left for home.
Back in Cauldron, Amber sought a method to cure Zenith's obvious insanity. A divination told her to "seek the invisible sign to peer inside the smoking eye." A spell of see invisibility revealed a strange mark on his forehead: the sign of Carceri, the prison plane of the Abyss.
The Shackled City, Day 14 (2006-12-15, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party travelled down through the underground fissure for several miles. Eventually, the passage opened into an immense cavern. At the far side of the cavern stood a massive stone structure shaped like a spined fish, with a wide stairway leading up into its open mouth. The bottom of the cavern was covered in water. The party left the horses and Redtail in a sheltered cave and headed toward the lake.
As they reached the shore, a long canoe drifted out of the mist. The froglike creature paddling the canoe kept a close watch on the party. Roland cast a spell to allow him to speak kuo-toan, and the creature asked him "seek ye the Smoking Eye? I'll guide you through the maw." Roland agreed, and the party hopped into the canoe. Just after the party stepped onto the massive staircase, several kuo-toans fired arrows down from the eyes of the fish. Garlen and Rain spider-climbed up the side of the fish while Grokk and Horkina returned fire. The enemies were quickly subdued. Rain and Garlen signalled that they were heading down a nearby staircase. The others headed for a curtain where they guessed the staircase would lead. The group was reunited in the next room, where a few kuo-toans had just been awakened by the sounds of battle. The rapier-wielding amphibians were no match for the axe-wielding surface dwellers.
Rain disabled a trap on the large doors ahead, and the party moved into a 70-foot-tall room. The party was on the mid-level balcony, looking across at a huge statue of the lobster-headed, lobster-clawed woman, the kuo-toan goddess Blibdoolpoolp. Archers began to fire from the upper level balcony, and clerics used the statue to generate a massive bolt of electricity that narrowly missed Rain. Grokk and Rain headed upstairs to take out the archers, while the others headed downstairs to fight the armored clerics. These foes fell quickly, and the party began searching the room.
Suddenly, an Erinyes demon appeared on the platform in front of the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded her and took a few quick strikes. As she flew up toward the ceiling, they each took the opportunity to attack her once more. She fired down an unholy blight on the party, and then began attacking with her flaming longbow. Grokk and Horkina fired back, and a magic missile from Roland provided the killing blow.
The party went downstairs and opened the main doors. These led to a chamber with dead kuo-toans mounted on the walls. Rain was perceptive enough to notice the opening for a pit on the floor, and warned the party. As they moved around it, a strange shadowy creature flew across the room and attacked, attempting to drain Horkina's constitution. She resisted, and Amber and Garlen used healing spells to seriously damage the enemy. Grokk's axe passed right through it once, but a second swing connected, and a similar attack from Horkina brought it down.
The party moved on to a set of workshops, where they encountered a spear-wielding kuo-toan. He landed a few blows, but eventually fell, and Garlen claimed his returning shortspear. In another room, Roland spotted a pool of dragon-kuo-toan halfbreed fingerlings. Several fireballs and potions of alchemists fire later, they were destroyed. About a dozen more kuo-toans of various sorts fell before the party decided it was time to get some rest.
The party reached level 8.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party travelled down through the underground fissure for several miles. Eventually, the passage opened into an immense cavern. At the far side of the cavern stood a massive stone structure shaped like a spined fish, with a wide stairway leading up into its open mouth. The bottom of the cavern was covered in water. The party left the horses and Redtail in a sheltered cave and headed toward the lake.
As they reached the shore, a long canoe drifted out of the mist. The froglike creature paddling the canoe kept a close watch on the party. Roland cast a spell to allow him to speak kuo-toan, and the creature asked him "seek ye the Smoking Eye? I'll guide you through the maw." Roland agreed, and the party hopped into the canoe. Just after the party stepped onto the massive staircase, several kuo-toans fired arrows down from the eyes of the fish. Garlen and Rain spider-climbed up the side of the fish while Grokk and Horkina returned fire. The enemies were quickly subdued. Rain and Garlen signalled that they were heading down a nearby staircase. The others headed for a curtain where they guessed the staircase would lead. The group was reunited in the next room, where a few kuo-toans had just been awakened by the sounds of battle. The rapier-wielding amphibians were no match for the axe-wielding surface dwellers.
Rain disabled a trap on the large doors ahead, and the party moved into a 70-foot-tall room. The party was on the mid-level balcony, looking across at a huge statue of the lobster-headed, lobster-clawed woman, the kuo-toan goddess Blibdoolpoolp. Archers began to fire from the upper level balcony, and clerics used the statue to generate a massive bolt of electricity that narrowly missed Rain. Grokk and Rain headed upstairs to take out the archers, while the others headed downstairs to fight the armored clerics. These foes fell quickly, and the party began searching the room.
Suddenly, an Erinyes demon appeared on the platform in front of the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded her and took a few quick strikes. As she flew up toward the ceiling, they each took the opportunity to attack her once more. She fired down an unholy blight on the party, and then began attacking with her flaming longbow. Grokk and Horkina fired back, and a magic missile from Roland provided the killing blow.
The party went downstairs and opened the main doors. These led to a chamber with dead kuo-toans mounted on the walls. Rain was perceptive enough to notice the opening for a pit on the floor, and warned the party. As they moved around it, a strange shadowy creature flew across the room and attacked, attempting to drain Horkina's constitution. She resisted, and Amber and Garlen used healing spells to seriously damage the enemy. Grokk's axe passed right through it once, but a second swing connected, and a similar attack from Horkina brought it down.
The party moved on to a set of workshops, where they encountered a spear-wielding kuo-toan. He landed a few blows, but eventually fell, and Garlen claimed his returning shortspear. In another room, Roland spotted a pool of dragon-kuo-toan halfbreed fingerlings. Several fireballs and potions of alchemists fire later, they were destroyed. About a dozen more kuo-toans of various sorts fell before the party decided it was time to get some rest.
The party reached level 8.
The Shackled City, Day 13 (2006-12-08, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
As the party walked along Magma Avenue toward the church of St. Cuthbert, a low rumble caught their attention. Suddenly, a large beast with huge forearms and an insect-like head burrowed up from the ground and smashed a fist into the corner of a warehouse. Grokk and Horkina charged at it and smashed it with their axes, and the umber hulk quickly burrowed back underground. A few moments later, Rain heard it inside the neighboring warehouse. The party charged in and surrounded it, killing it with a magic missile and a few stabs. A quick search through the rubble in both warehouses revealed the remnants of what may have been a summoning circle. This umber hulk did not come here on its own.
A few hours later, a beautiful blonde woman calling herself Celeste handed a business card to Roland, saying she'd like to arrange a business dinner the next night. The card pointed the party to the Cusp of Sunrise, an upscale dinner club to the northeast on Obsidian Avenue. When the party arrived, a large bald man in light blue robes greeted them: "you're the umber hulk people. I'm Renjin -- welcome to the Cusp of Sunrise." Roland sat down and started reading in the library. The others sat around a small gaming table, ordering drinks and playing a dice game with some of the nobles. Grokk earned several gold pieces from the others for winning the game, and was asked to tell a story as is tradition for winners of Snatch the Gem. Grokk obliged: "Once, Grokk was walking in the forest. Grokk see a frog. Frog say 'ribbit'... so Grokk SMASH!"
A few minutes later, Celeste arrived and greeted the party, inviting them into a conference room in the east wing. There sat a dwarf, aged and scrawny with his hair and beard starting to fall out. He wheezed out "you're the heroes of the city right now, and it's heroes I need. I'll pay you well if you'll rescue my son from the Underdark." This man introduced himself as Davked Splintershield, and said his son Zenith had disappeared during a foolish crusade against the denizens of the Underdark. Unfortunately, Davked's wife Marta put a curse on him as she died: he would waste away to nothing unless he made peace with each of his three sons. The final son, Zenith, was still missing -- divinations located him in a kuo-toan shrine called Bhal-Hamatugn. Celeste explained that the nearest entrances to the Underdark had been caved in during a series of adventures by the Stormblades, but there was one entrance to the north, near the home of a hermit called Crazy Jared.
In the morning, the party set out for Crazy Jared's. Most characters rented horses, while Amber took flight on Redtail, her hippogriff. At the end of the journey, this provided her with a great view of the red dragon breathing fire toward the countryside below. The party hurried over the next hill to see Jared's hut -- surrounded by a wooden fence painted to look like a stone wall -- on fire. As the party approached, Jared called out "onward, my knights, for Anduria!" Seeing no reason to argue, Grokk, Horkina, and Rain fired arrows at the dragon, while Amber and Roland spread out and fired spells at it. The crazy hermit's play-by-play of the fight inspired the party to be courageous in their fight, and the dragon was quickly slain.
Jared called out "behold the beautiful and peacable realm of Anduria!" as he cast an illusion, making the land look lush and covered in vineyards. The party requested lodging for the night while gathering as much information as they could. Jared spoke of a nearby Underdark entrance, called the Pit of the Seven Jaws, where "just last week I sent five hundred of Anduria's finest to guard against an incursion by the mind flayers." Roland later joked that he expected to see cardboard cutouts of knights standing around the pit.
In the morning, the group approached the pit, and walked down the metal staircase. As Rain stood on a platform about halfway down, several bursts of ice fired at him. A seven-headed cryohydra had just popped up from a fissure below. Grokk and Horkina rushed to assault it, and a few solid smashes left the hydra bleeding and unconscious.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
As the party walked along Magma Avenue toward the church of St. Cuthbert, a low rumble caught their attention. Suddenly, a large beast with huge forearms and an insect-like head burrowed up from the ground and smashed a fist into the corner of a warehouse. Grokk and Horkina charged at it and smashed it with their axes, and the umber hulk quickly burrowed back underground. A few moments later, Rain heard it inside the neighboring warehouse. The party charged in and surrounded it, killing it with a magic missile and a few stabs. A quick search through the rubble in both warehouses revealed the remnants of what may have been a summoning circle. This umber hulk did not come here on its own.
A few hours later, a beautiful blonde woman calling herself Celeste handed a business card to Roland, saying she'd like to arrange a business dinner the next night. The card pointed the party to the Cusp of Sunrise, an upscale dinner club to the northeast on Obsidian Avenue. When the party arrived, a large bald man in light blue robes greeted them: "you're the umber hulk people. I'm Renjin -- welcome to the Cusp of Sunrise." Roland sat down and started reading in the library. The others sat around a small gaming table, ordering drinks and playing a dice game with some of the nobles. Grokk earned several gold pieces from the others for winning the game, and was asked to tell a story as is tradition for winners of Snatch the Gem. Grokk obliged: "Once, Grokk was walking in the forest. Grokk see a frog. Frog say 'ribbit'... so Grokk SMASH!"
A few minutes later, Celeste arrived and greeted the party, inviting them into a conference room in the east wing. There sat a dwarf, aged and scrawny with his hair and beard starting to fall out. He wheezed out "you're the heroes of the city right now, and it's heroes I need. I'll pay you well if you'll rescue my son from the Underdark." This man introduced himself as Davked Splintershield, and said his son Zenith had disappeared during a foolish crusade against the denizens of the Underdark. Unfortunately, Davked's wife Marta put a curse on him as she died: he would waste away to nothing unless he made peace with each of his three sons. The final son, Zenith, was still missing -- divinations located him in a kuo-toan shrine called Bhal-Hamatugn. Celeste explained that the nearest entrances to the Underdark had been caved in during a series of adventures by the Stormblades, but there was one entrance to the north, near the home of a hermit called Crazy Jared.
In the morning, the party set out for Crazy Jared's. Most characters rented horses, while Amber took flight on Redtail, her hippogriff. At the end of the journey, this provided her with a great view of the red dragon breathing fire toward the countryside below. The party hurried over the next hill to see Jared's hut -- surrounded by a wooden fence painted to look like a stone wall -- on fire. As the party approached, Jared called out "onward, my knights, for Anduria!" Seeing no reason to argue, Grokk, Horkina, and Rain fired arrows at the dragon, while Amber and Roland spread out and fired spells at it. The crazy hermit's play-by-play of the fight inspired the party to be courageous in their fight, and the dragon was quickly slain.
Jared called out "behold the beautiful and peacable realm of Anduria!" as he cast an illusion, making the land look lush and covered in vineyards. The party requested lodging for the night while gathering as much information as they could. Jared spoke of a nearby Underdark entrance, called the Pit of the Seven Jaws, where "just last week I sent five hundred of Anduria's finest to guard against an incursion by the mind flayers." Roland later joked that he expected to see cardboard cutouts of knights standing around the pit.
In the morning, the group approached the pit, and walked down the metal staircase. As Rain stood on a platform about halfway down, several bursts of ice fired at him. A seven-headed cryohydra had just popped up from a fissure below. Grokk and Horkina rushed to assault it, and a few solid smashes left the hydra bleeding and unconscious.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)