Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
Over the course of the next year following the blight, Roland began to get inklings of some sort of plot. Periodically he'd express worry over the telepathic bond, and eventually, he requested a meeting of the Rubble Rousers back in Cauldron. The night before the meeting was to take place, a sudden surge came over the bond. The party got an image of Roland saying "it's too soon", and an antimagic dagger flying directly at him. Each party member recieved a little more information before the link went dead:
Grokk: "Stop them."
Horkina: "Divide and conquer."
Amber: "Stop them; don't save me."
Garlen: "Knowledge is key."
Rain: "In the end, knowledge is just a tool."
Once Rain could be extracted from his adventure with a random female, the party headed for Roland's tower. Percey, who had been recently awakened, stood guard at the base of the tower. He escorted the party into Roland's study, which is where the vision seemed to have taken place. The closer the party got to the room, the less organized the furnishings. The furnishings of this particular study looked to have been thrown all over the place, as if someone had come looking for something. Roland had clearly been attacked in this room, but there was no body and only a tiny bit of blood.
To one side of the room stood a carefully crafted portrait of Roland and his father, which was somewhat suspicious -- Roland's father had died before the portrait would have been made, and the two were never close. This was obviously a well-crafted illusion, suspected to be designed to draw our attention. Amber cast "detect evil" and noted that a strong, but not overwhelming, evil aura lingered in the room. Detect Magic showed that Roland's backpack had no aura; Rain suspected it might have had Nystul's Magic Aura cast on it to hide it from whatever had torn up the room. Amber confirmed this by casting True Seeing. Roland had also left his coin gateway to Occipitus in a carefully stacked pile of coins on his desk. Inside his bag were two objects: a single book and a map. The first page of the book read:
"Five powers seek keys to the living tomb
Four burn with vengeance for plans undone
For Three it's related to a cherished one
Two have plans that took years to make
One seeks the power to make a break"
As Rain finished reading this, words faded onto the second page:
"Earth and magic wove into a womb
in ancient tunnels dark with wings
a mithral key sits idle
left alone when creators fled
it waits to know its title"
The map appeared to Horkina like a dwarven mine route, and the cartographer's signature looked like one from Naurim, the Blackrock Mountain. Amber cast Discern Location to try to locate Roland, and found that he was somewhere on Occipitus, but that his exact location could not be found. The party began to suspect that Roland wanted to keep them away from him (and whatever was attacking him) until enough resources and information had been gathered that we could face the threat. Garlen suspected the "cherished one" from the first riddle might be Adimarchus, and that his friends or enemies might be trying to claim the power of Occipitus.
The party headed to Kerah, the capital city within Naurim. The city was in a frenzy, but they were able to secure an audience with King Uther. Above his throne were several nice axes and a single beat-up axe, but before the party had a chance to really look them over, Uther exclaimed "it's a good day for strange visitors!" Earlier in the day, a mine that had long been overrun by dragons was suddenly invaded by demonic hounds with a wolf-riding bugbear creature at their head. Amber said "that sounds like our kind of party!" Rain showed Uther the map, and he confirmed it was the mine in question -- and a better map than was in the royal archives! The mine was deep and confusing, so it would be best to stick to the path marked on the map.
At the entrance of the mine, Garlen transformed into centaur form for better mobility. After walking for nearly an hour, the howling of far-off demon dogs started to test Rain's sanity. Patches of magical darkness, probably left by Shadow Dragons and the like, made navigation difficult, so Amber cast Daylight on herself and Horkina. Soon, Rain heard a group of large hounds behind the party. One of the demonic hounds leapt and dragged Amber to the ground, laying on top of her. Another charged and tripped Horkina. The third howled, trying to frighten the group. Rain stabbed one of the hounds, which moved on top of Horkina, blocking off her light source. The howling hound bit Grokk and dragged him to the ground. Horkina was able to wiggle free, providing light for the party again. Garlen, upset at being caught unaware, dealt a flurry of jabs into the two hounds within his reach, killing one and wounding the other. Rain finished off the second hound, leaving only the one atop Amber. Grokk and Horkina moved to surround it. Garlen used a spell of Lion's Charge, as well as his anti-demon weaponry and training, to kill the final hound and free Amber. Amber passed her everburning bracelet off to Garlen so that the party would have more light sources in the next such encounter.
As the party kept moving along the map route, corpses of the dogs and mid-sized dragons began to appear. Rain recognized both Black and Shadow dragons from subtle differences in their scales. The sound of fighting in the distance made it clear that the demon-hound horde and the dragon horde were not friendly with each other. Soon, Garlen heard another group of large animals sneaking behind the party. He turned and charged, pouncing on a huge Howler and killing it. Two more Howlers converged on him, tripping him and jabbing quills into him. Rain, Horkina, and Grokk all ran towards the Howlers. Amber cast Greater Command, telling the Howlers to stop fighting and sit down. Garlen and Rain moved to flank one of the Howlers, while Grokk leap-attacked and Horkina landed a critical hit on the other. The Howlers continued to sit as they were slain.
Further along, more dog corpses and larger dragon corpses started to appear. It became clear the party was entering still-contested areas. Amber cast Fortunate Fate on everyone for extra safety. A few moments later, a Black Dragon dropped on top of Amber, pulling her down directly between Grokk and Horkina. At the same time, a Shadow Dragon dropped in front of Garlen and clawed him several times. Garlen responded with a slightly less effective attack and yelled at the dragons "you idiots, get out of the way so we can kill more demon-dogs!" Horkina pounded on the Black Dragon while Amber cast a quickened Freedom of Movement to free herself. Amber then dispelled the Shadow Dragon's Blur effect and hit it with a Moon Bolt. Grokk attacked the Black Dragon and landed a critical hit with the Holy Cow Axe, pulverizing the foolish dragon. Rain snuck behind the Shadow Dragon and stabbed its kidney, leading it to realize it was in over its head. It tumbled a few feet away and breathed negative energy at the party, draining energy from Grokk and Horkina. A few seconds later, it was dead, and the party was left unsure as to who had actually killed it. Amber restored and healed the party.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Rubble Rousers, Day 43 (2007-11-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party spent the night resting in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, and then gathered up with the other party and headed deep into the cave complex. Passing through billowing clouds of the same sort of diseased mist that had been on the surface, the party entered into a large, flat cavern. In the middle of the cavern, a strange intestine-like tube bellowed forth clouds of the blight-causing gases. An ugly hag stood alongside the intestine, and several large and mutated insects crawled around the room. Clearly, this was the source of the blight.
Rain and Snow jumped forward and stabbed a snake. Garlen charged at the old hag and stabbed her several times, but she seemed to absorb serious blows while taking little injury. Marta flew into a rage and attacked a spider. Amber dropped a Sunburst on several of the insects, blinding most of them. Grokk charged and killed another snake. Roland let the party know what we were up against: the Empress of Rot. Knowing what a nasty foe this was, particularly due to her ability to present aspects of pestilence, night, sludge, and swarm, and to cast certain dangerous spells, Roland cast a quickened Duelward and then used Chain Lightning to weaken all foes in the room. The Empress used her pestilence form to infect Garlen with some sort of nasty disease. Obsidian cast a spell and was suddenly holding a scorpion's heart in his hand. Horkina killed a spider in a more conventional way.
A woman who looked remarkably like Snow stepped into the room, calling out "I'm sorry I'm late, I was busy reading a book about plagues at the library." She wore a long, silky blue dress with matching boots and gloves, and had an icy crystal in the place of one eye. She tossed a fireball into a far-off pack of insects and kept babbling about how fascinated she was by the material she'd been reading. Thorko drunkenly stumbled forward and swung at another insect, cutting it in half. A few of the insects injured Snow and Grilka, but not very badly. Rain tumbled behind the Empress while the wounds he'd caused finished off the snake he'd been fighting, and Snow turned to finish off another snake. Garlen pounded on the Empress, and Amber used Mass Heal to close up most of Garlen's wounds. Grokk jumped right past the Empress, smiting the ground with his Holy Cow Axe. Roland's empowered Arc Lightning fried a few more bugs, but his Ray of Dizziness did nothing to the hag. She switched into her Swarm form, becoming a lithe woman surrounded by hundreds of little bugs. Amber set off the Fire Seeds Rain had been holding, and Grokk, Rain, and Garlen all managed to avoid the swarming insects.
Horkina killed a pair of spiders with a critical strike and follow-through, and Grilka thrashed another. Rain, Garlen, and Grokk all focused their attacks on the Empress, doing significant damage and leaving the Empress in a desperate situation. Roland's Polar Ray made things even tougher for the Empress, who tried to slay Rain with a beam of darkness. Amber countered with a Sunbeam, and Horkina finished off the Empress with a swing of her axe.
The woman in blue walked up behind Roland, and Snow made introductions. "This is my sister, Ice." Ice responded "you know not to call me that. Call me by my full title; it's written on my shoulder." Ice pointed to a complex rune on her shoulder which Roland was able to translate as "the artist formerly known as Ice". The two bickered for a few more moments as they stood on opposite sides of Roland, and then Ice cast an Antimagic Field. This brought down all of Roland's defenses, and revealed both Ice and Snow to be shapechanged Succubi. Snow stabbed Roland with her rapier, but he managed to resist the life-draining poison.
Garlen reacted first, and decided he'd held back long enough. He charged directly at Marta and cut her to bits, discovering from her corpse that she, too, was a shapechanged Succubus. Rain started crying as he stabbed Snow over and over again, killing her. Horkina pounded on Thorko, discovering he was actually a Marilith as (s)he fell to the ground dead. Amber's Holy Word had no effect, but a pair of Lucent Lances left Obsidian reeling. Obsidian, sensing the battle had turned, filled the room with Damning Darkness and used an Earthquake to pin everyone under several feet of rubble. Grokk broke free while Grilka teleported to the top of the rubble pile. Roland used a quickened Dimension Door to escape to the edge of the area, used a Wish to gather up the Rubble Rousers next to him, and then hasted the whole group. Grokk and Grilka immediately moved into melee with each other, but before either did much damage, Amber used another Holy Word to paralyze Grilka and send her to her home plane. Obsidian and Blackbones continued struggling through the rock, eventually finding their way to the surface where the Rubble Rousers were waiting. Rain, Grokk, and Horkina smashed Blackbones into little pieces, while Garlen stabbed right between two of its ribs. Obsidian's head popped up to the surface, and Roland immediately grabbed him with Bigby's Crushing Hand, following that with a lecture about attacking the Rubble Rousers. Obsidian died in a most grisly way as the party converged, and then Roland used a Wish to bring Grilka back into range so the party could collect her equipment. Grokk took her out with a single blow to the head.
The party headed back to the demons' camp, where they found a journal with detailed plans for the ambush. A bit of study revealed these demons had been in the service of Grazz't, who was upset about the Rubble Rousers' invasion of Skullrot and killing of his prized prisoner. Grazz't had tricked Orcus into sending this blight in order to bait the Rubble Rousers into a position where they'd be weak from combat, with the hope that his highly trained assassins would be able to finish off the party. And thus, the Rubble Rousers were yet again underestimated by a Demon Prince.
The party reached level 23.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party spent the night resting in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, and then gathered up with the other party and headed deep into the cave complex. Passing through billowing clouds of the same sort of diseased mist that had been on the surface, the party entered into a large, flat cavern. In the middle of the cavern, a strange intestine-like tube bellowed forth clouds of the blight-causing gases. An ugly hag stood alongside the intestine, and several large and mutated insects crawled around the room. Clearly, this was the source of the blight.
Rain and Snow jumped forward and stabbed a snake. Garlen charged at the old hag and stabbed her several times, but she seemed to absorb serious blows while taking little injury. Marta flew into a rage and attacked a spider. Amber dropped a Sunburst on several of the insects, blinding most of them. Grokk charged and killed another snake. Roland let the party know what we were up against: the Empress of Rot. Knowing what a nasty foe this was, particularly due to her ability to present aspects of pestilence, night, sludge, and swarm, and to cast certain dangerous spells, Roland cast a quickened Duelward and then used Chain Lightning to weaken all foes in the room. The Empress used her pestilence form to infect Garlen with some sort of nasty disease. Obsidian cast a spell and was suddenly holding a scorpion's heart in his hand. Horkina killed a spider in a more conventional way.
A woman who looked remarkably like Snow stepped into the room, calling out "I'm sorry I'm late, I was busy reading a book about plagues at the library." She wore a long, silky blue dress with matching boots and gloves, and had an icy crystal in the place of one eye. She tossed a fireball into a far-off pack of insects and kept babbling about how fascinated she was by the material she'd been reading. Thorko drunkenly stumbled forward and swung at another insect, cutting it in half. A few of the insects injured Snow and Grilka, but not very badly. Rain tumbled behind the Empress while the wounds he'd caused finished off the snake he'd been fighting, and Snow turned to finish off another snake. Garlen pounded on the Empress, and Amber used Mass Heal to close up most of Garlen's wounds. Grokk jumped right past the Empress, smiting the ground with his Holy Cow Axe. Roland's empowered Arc Lightning fried a few more bugs, but his Ray of Dizziness did nothing to the hag. She switched into her Swarm form, becoming a lithe woman surrounded by hundreds of little bugs. Amber set off the Fire Seeds Rain had been holding, and Grokk, Rain, and Garlen all managed to avoid the swarming insects.
Horkina killed a pair of spiders with a critical strike and follow-through, and Grilka thrashed another. Rain, Garlen, and Grokk all focused their attacks on the Empress, doing significant damage and leaving the Empress in a desperate situation. Roland's Polar Ray made things even tougher for the Empress, who tried to slay Rain with a beam of darkness. Amber countered with a Sunbeam, and Horkina finished off the Empress with a swing of her axe.
The woman in blue walked up behind Roland, and Snow made introductions. "This is my sister, Ice." Ice responded "you know not to call me that. Call me by my full title; it's written on my shoulder." Ice pointed to a complex rune on her shoulder which Roland was able to translate as "the artist formerly known as Ice". The two bickered for a few more moments as they stood on opposite sides of Roland, and then Ice cast an Antimagic Field. This brought down all of Roland's defenses, and revealed both Ice and Snow to be shapechanged Succubi. Snow stabbed Roland with her rapier, but he managed to resist the life-draining poison.
Garlen reacted first, and decided he'd held back long enough. He charged directly at Marta and cut her to bits, discovering from her corpse that she, too, was a shapechanged Succubus. Rain started crying as he stabbed Snow over and over again, killing her. Horkina pounded on Thorko, discovering he was actually a Marilith as (s)he fell to the ground dead. Amber's Holy Word had no effect, but a pair of Lucent Lances left Obsidian reeling. Obsidian, sensing the battle had turned, filled the room with Damning Darkness and used an Earthquake to pin everyone under several feet of rubble. Grokk broke free while Grilka teleported to the top of the rubble pile. Roland used a quickened Dimension Door to escape to the edge of the area, used a Wish to gather up the Rubble Rousers next to him, and then hasted the whole group. Grokk and Grilka immediately moved into melee with each other, but before either did much damage, Amber used another Holy Word to paralyze Grilka and send her to her home plane. Obsidian and Blackbones continued struggling through the rock, eventually finding their way to the surface where the Rubble Rousers were waiting. Rain, Grokk, and Horkina smashed Blackbones into little pieces, while Garlen stabbed right between two of its ribs. Obsidian's head popped up to the surface, and Roland immediately grabbed him with Bigby's Crushing Hand, following that with a lecture about attacking the Rubble Rousers. Obsidian died in a most grisly way as the party converged, and then Roland used a Wish to bring Grilka back into range so the party could collect her equipment. Grokk took her out with a single blow to the head.
The party headed back to the demons' camp, where they found a journal with detailed plans for the ambush. A bit of study revealed these demons had been in the service of Grazz't, who was upset about the Rubble Rousers' invasion of Skullrot and killing of his prized prisoner. Grazz't had tricked Orcus into sending this blight in order to bait the Rubble Rousers into a position where they'd be weak from combat, with the hope that his highly trained assassins would be able to finish off the party. And thus, the Rubble Rousers were yet again underestimated by a Demon Prince.
The party reached level 23.
Rubble Rousers, Day 42 (2007-11-03, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The next morning, as the party was settling down for breakfast, shouts came out from the periphery of the temple. Garlen stepped around the corner and saw a huge demon wielding a curved sword, and behind him, the orc cleric who'd escaped from the temple. The demon, a strange balor-hellcat hybrid, leaped ahead and killed Garlen before he had a chance to react. Roland's attempt to make the demon dance failed, as did Grokk's attempt to make the demon bleed. The orc cast repulsion, making it harder to approach. Amber converted the party's weapons into energy, making them bypass the demon's considerable armor, and Horkina laid into it with a pair of powerful strikes. It responded by smashing into her with its huge sword and tackling her with its claws. Roland's Mass Hold Monster failed, but this time, Grokk's axe succeeded. The enemy cleric healed the demon, and Amber healed the party while strength draining the foe. The demon clawed Horkina to little effect. Roland fired off a Ray of Dizziness, and the enemy cleric again healed the demon. Rain stabbed into the demon's exposed hind quarter and Amber spoke a Holy Word to paralyze the opposed healer. The demon tried to dispel its own diziness, but failed. Grokk took a few swings at it and then let up as it got close to death, and Roland sent it into a maze, where it died seconds later due to bleeding from Rain's strikes. Rain took care of the paralyzed enemy cleric while Amber set about the unpleasant task of reviving Garlen.
The party headed back below the temple, but not until they'd finished breakfast and picked up significant spell protections such as Fortunate Fate and Spell Resistance. Only a few steps into the cave, and the walls began to constrict on Garlen and Rain. Grokk stepped forward and took a powerful swing at the stony-looking mouth, and Rain gutted the Tunnel Terror from inside. He and Garlen crawled out of the mess and led the way into the next massive cavern. There, another orc cleric and several two-headed dinosaur skeletons patrolled. Garlen charged straight across the room, jumping off an uneven ledge midway, and started attacking the nearest skeleton. Amber gave Grokk's axe a magical boost against undead. Roland cast Bigby's Grasping Hand to keep the cleric occupied. Horkina's Maul smashed one of the skeletons to bits, and Grokk's axe vaporized another. Rain jumped into position to attack the cleric. The skeletons tried to claw at Grokk, but had very little effect. The cleric's attempts to cast spells failed as the hand squeezed him. Garlen and Rain finished him off with a series of pokes and stabs, and Grokk vaporized the remaining two dinosaurs.
A glimmer of coins from a side cavern caught Rain's eye. Inside, about 25,000 copper coins lay in a huge pile, which was protected by a Wail of the Banshee trap. Out of its range, a young goblin woman stomped on several spiders in succession, counting out "25... 26... 27... 28." Garlen started breathing heavy and was getting ready to attack her when Grokk grabbed his belt to hold him back. The goblin looked up and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Marta. You must be the ones Snow told me about. Come with me back to our camp." As Marta led the party through the largest of the caves, the party came upon a group of somewhat larger spiders, and the sound of a dwarf yelling from a corner. Marta called out "I frickin' HATE spiders, and halfli... uh... spiders and undead." Amber created a stone bridge for Marta, who ran up to the closest spider and shredded it. Grokk flew into a rage and jumped into the middle of the group of spiders, cleaving through three of them. Roland created a Black Blade, which killed another. Horkina landed a critical hit on yet another. The drunken dwarf in the corner dropped the final spider, and then introduced himself as Thorko. He continued to drink ale from his funny hat as he stumbled his way back to camp, with Marta and the party following along.
Back at the other party's camp, Snow and Grilka sat quietly in the dark next to a svirfneblin and his skeletal black dragon mount. As Amber approached, he called out "will someone put out that halfling? She's giving away our position." The dark gnome cast a darkness spell, trying to extinguish Amber's light sources. Most of the members of both parties stepped between the two, trying to prevent a violent confrontation. Snow apologized to Rain, saying "Obsidian is pretty particular about light." As Amber and Obsidian continued to stare each other down, Thorko asked Snow where her sister had gone off to. Snow explained, "she's probably off reading a book or something." Just then, Roland spotted a swarm of insects led by a Thorciasid. Garlen fired off a series of arrows at the Thorciasid while Snow took out one of the escorting spiders. The bug's huge claw swooped in and drained some energy from Roland. Amber gave both parties a Death Ward to protect from further drains and Obsidian cast Repel Vermin to hold off the assault. Grokk and Horkina both ran into melee, and Roland's Black Blade of Disaster and a pair of Chain Lightning casts reduced the swarm considerably. A little bit of cleanup was all it took to destroy the threat.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The next morning, as the party was settling down for breakfast, shouts came out from the periphery of the temple. Garlen stepped around the corner and saw a huge demon wielding a curved sword, and behind him, the orc cleric who'd escaped from the temple. The demon, a strange balor-hellcat hybrid, leaped ahead and killed Garlen before he had a chance to react. Roland's attempt to make the demon dance failed, as did Grokk's attempt to make the demon bleed. The orc cast repulsion, making it harder to approach. Amber converted the party's weapons into energy, making them bypass the demon's considerable armor, and Horkina laid into it with a pair of powerful strikes. It responded by smashing into her with its huge sword and tackling her with its claws. Roland's Mass Hold Monster failed, but this time, Grokk's axe succeeded. The enemy cleric healed the demon, and Amber healed the party while strength draining the foe. The demon clawed Horkina to little effect. Roland fired off a Ray of Dizziness, and the enemy cleric again healed the demon. Rain stabbed into the demon's exposed hind quarter and Amber spoke a Holy Word to paralyze the opposed healer. The demon tried to dispel its own diziness, but failed. Grokk took a few swings at it and then let up as it got close to death, and Roland sent it into a maze, where it died seconds later due to bleeding from Rain's strikes. Rain took care of the paralyzed enemy cleric while Amber set about the unpleasant task of reviving Garlen.
The party headed back below the temple, but not until they'd finished breakfast and picked up significant spell protections such as Fortunate Fate and Spell Resistance. Only a few steps into the cave, and the walls began to constrict on Garlen and Rain. Grokk stepped forward and took a powerful swing at the stony-looking mouth, and Rain gutted the Tunnel Terror from inside. He and Garlen crawled out of the mess and led the way into the next massive cavern. There, another orc cleric and several two-headed dinosaur skeletons patrolled. Garlen charged straight across the room, jumping off an uneven ledge midway, and started attacking the nearest skeleton. Amber gave Grokk's axe a magical boost against undead. Roland cast Bigby's Grasping Hand to keep the cleric occupied. Horkina's Maul smashed one of the skeletons to bits, and Grokk's axe vaporized another. Rain jumped into position to attack the cleric. The skeletons tried to claw at Grokk, but had very little effect. The cleric's attempts to cast spells failed as the hand squeezed him. Garlen and Rain finished him off with a series of pokes and stabs, and Grokk vaporized the remaining two dinosaurs.
A glimmer of coins from a side cavern caught Rain's eye. Inside, about 25,000 copper coins lay in a huge pile, which was protected by a Wail of the Banshee trap. Out of its range, a young goblin woman stomped on several spiders in succession, counting out "25... 26... 27... 28." Garlen started breathing heavy and was getting ready to attack her when Grokk grabbed his belt to hold him back. The goblin looked up and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Marta. You must be the ones Snow told me about. Come with me back to our camp." As Marta led the party through the largest of the caves, the party came upon a group of somewhat larger spiders, and the sound of a dwarf yelling from a corner. Marta called out "I frickin' HATE spiders, and halfli... uh... spiders and undead." Amber created a stone bridge for Marta, who ran up to the closest spider and shredded it. Grokk flew into a rage and jumped into the middle of the group of spiders, cleaving through three of them. Roland created a Black Blade, which killed another. Horkina landed a critical hit on yet another. The drunken dwarf in the corner dropped the final spider, and then introduced himself as Thorko. He continued to drink ale from his funny hat as he stumbled his way back to camp, with Marta and the party following along.
Back at the other party's camp, Snow and Grilka sat quietly in the dark next to a svirfneblin and his skeletal black dragon mount. As Amber approached, he called out "will someone put out that halfling? She's giving away our position." The dark gnome cast a darkness spell, trying to extinguish Amber's light sources. Most of the members of both parties stepped between the two, trying to prevent a violent confrontation. Snow apologized to Rain, saying "Obsidian is pretty particular about light." As Amber and Obsidian continued to stare each other down, Thorko asked Snow where her sister had gone off to. Snow explained, "she's probably off reading a book or something." Just then, Roland spotted a swarm of insects led by a Thorciasid. Garlen fired off a series of arrows at the Thorciasid while Snow took out one of the escorting spiders. The bug's huge claw swooped in and drained some energy from Roland. Amber gave both parties a Death Ward to protect from further drains and Obsidian cast Repel Vermin to hold off the assault. Grokk and Horkina both ran into melee, and Roland's Black Blade of Disaster and a pair of Chain Lightning casts reduced the swarm considerably. A little bit of cleanup was all it took to destroy the threat.
Rubble Rousers, Day 41 (2007-10-27, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The group of zombies had come out of the temple's central room. Inside stood a defiled altar to Pelor. Amber took a few minutes to clean and restore it. In the mean time, Rain discovered a Symbol of Insanity, which he deftly reprogrammed into a Symbol of Inanity. "I like shoes", he said. "I'm wearing shoes", Grokk replied. Then Rain made a startling discovery in a pile of treasure: Snow's Sweetass Sword. Amber used a Sending to contact her, saying "we found your sword. Are you okay?" She replied "no, that lameass Orcus' stupid cleric grabbed me and locked me in a cage in this nasty fucking piece of shit temple and I really"... she no doubt continued, but the spell's duration expired.
Rain quietly opened a door leading to the north. An orc slept on a mattress on one side of the room, and a shrine to Orcus stood in a central location. Grokk slinked over and carefully lined up his axe with the orc's neck, ending his life with a single well-placed swing. Amber melted the statue of Orcus and cast the metal into the shape of a sun -- the symbol of Pelor. Back to the east, the party encountered a pair of orcs and a pair of giants. Garlen took the lead, poking many holes through the nearest orc. Horkina followed with a furious blow on one of the giants, and Rain rolled past the lead orc, killing him with a jab to the throat on his way past. Roland cast haste on the party. One of the shadow giants responded by wailing on Horkina with its murderous morningstar, and the other moved into a flanking position. Grokk flew into an angry rage, as he could no longer reach the orc he'd planned to slay. "Stupid giant in way! Out of way! Grokk very important barbarian!" He brought his axe down on the giant's head repeatedly, and Rain, seizing the opportunity, poked a neat hole into the giant's lung and brought it to its death. Amber blinded the remaining orc, whose attempt to blaspheme was cut short by Roland's counterspell. Seeing that he stood no chance, the coward fled for some far-off plane. Horkina cut the last bits of life from the remaining giant.
Several side rooms in the area were filled with cages holding all manner of mutated beasts. Extra limbs, strange bulges, bizarre vermin-like features, and thickened hides were the most prominent of the mutations. From the back of one room, Rain heard a voice, still ranting about "stupid Orcus and his stupid clerics". There was Snow, trapped in a cage and ranting about the blight and how weird Orcus must be to have become demon prince of the undead "instead of something cool like sensuality". Rain called out "hey baby, want to see your sword?" He worked quickly to free her, disarming the lock she'd damaged in her own escape attempts.
The party moved quickly across the temple, discovering more shadow giants. Garlen leaped into the fray before the others realized he'd opened the door, and he nearly dropped one of the giants. Roland fired off a charge of electricity: "just something to do", he apologized, half bored. Rain bounced across the room and killed the giant Garlen had so gravely wounded, leading Snow to exclaim "Rain, you're my hero!" Horkina waded through a pool of blood and began pounding on the next giant, with Snow providing the occasional strike and "tee hee". Grokk roared and leaped into the action, hewing the giant into more pieces than anyone wanted to see. With that, the party moved onward.
The next room held abominations against nature -- six-armed skeletons that were probably originally dinosaurs and ettins, with an orc supervising. One of the dinosaurs held a limp orcish woman in its mouth, leading Snow to exclaim "oh no, Grilka!" Garlen slew the orc cleric within moments, while Grokk and Rain each destroyed a skeleton by wildly different methods. Amber gave Horkina's axe a brilliant glow, and Horkina cut down the remaining four skeletons as they ineffectively tried to strike. Amber gave a bit of healing to Grilka, who immediately claimed a set of three large wavy greatswords that had been found with Snow's sword. Another room later, a pair of dread wraiths and a shadow demon set upon the growing party. Garlen and Rain each attacked one of the wraiths, which fought back by stealing some of Rain's life essence. Amber's Sunbeam narrowly missed the shadow demon, and Horkina's glowing axe did not find its mark either. This left the Shadow Demon with a clear path to Amber, and it began its assault with its hideous claws. Grokk tried to stop it, but his attack was ineffective, as well. Roland decided this was no time to play around with ineffective attacks, so he released a Chain Thunder spell as well as a maximally powered Black Blade of Disaster. This left the fiends nearly dead, easy fodder for Horkina to finish off.
With the main floor of the temple cleared, the party descended the dark staircase into a large natural cavern. There, a massive bloated giant's head with only a few streaming entrails for a body began roaring at the party. Garlen charged directly at the undead head, and his legendary hatred for such creatures gave him the strength to kill it before anyone else quite understood what was going on. "Garlen, hurry up. Stop messing with that dead thing," they exclaimed, stopping only when Garlen pointed out the magical items the Crawling Head had acquired when it had eaten other creatures' heads.
The next room held a pair of arachno-beholders, some of the strangest creatures yet. Garlen rushed into the fray, stabbing at eyes and jabbing at legs. Rain jumped alongside and did the same, while Horkina and Grilka slashed at the other. The funny orc woman cried out "Grilka thrash!" with each blow. Roland's Black Blade fizzled out, but Amber's sunbeam blinded the healthier of the abominations. Grokk dealt a terrible blow to the first beast, finally cutting it down. The blinded arachno-beholder began shooting its eye rays randomly toward where the party had been, failing on every attack. Even its bite was ineffective. Roland's Black Blade swept in, and this time the foe was unable to resist. Collecting a luck blade (with a wish) from a corner of the room, the party headed back to Amber's temple to get some rest.
The party reached level 22.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The group of zombies had come out of the temple's central room. Inside stood a defiled altar to Pelor. Amber took a few minutes to clean and restore it. In the mean time, Rain discovered a Symbol of Insanity, which he deftly reprogrammed into a Symbol of Inanity. "I like shoes", he said. "I'm wearing shoes", Grokk replied. Then Rain made a startling discovery in a pile of treasure: Snow's Sweetass Sword. Amber used a Sending to contact her, saying "we found your sword. Are you okay?" She replied "no, that lameass Orcus' stupid cleric grabbed me and locked me in a cage in this nasty fucking piece of shit temple and I really"... she no doubt continued, but the spell's duration expired.
Rain quietly opened a door leading to the north. An orc slept on a mattress on one side of the room, and a shrine to Orcus stood in a central location. Grokk slinked over and carefully lined up his axe with the orc's neck, ending his life with a single well-placed swing. Amber melted the statue of Orcus and cast the metal into the shape of a sun -- the symbol of Pelor. Back to the east, the party encountered a pair of orcs and a pair of giants. Garlen took the lead, poking many holes through the nearest orc. Horkina followed with a furious blow on one of the giants, and Rain rolled past the lead orc, killing him with a jab to the throat on his way past. Roland cast haste on the party. One of the shadow giants responded by wailing on Horkina with its murderous morningstar, and the other moved into a flanking position. Grokk flew into an angry rage, as he could no longer reach the orc he'd planned to slay. "Stupid giant in way! Out of way! Grokk very important barbarian!" He brought his axe down on the giant's head repeatedly, and Rain, seizing the opportunity, poked a neat hole into the giant's lung and brought it to its death. Amber blinded the remaining orc, whose attempt to blaspheme was cut short by Roland's counterspell. Seeing that he stood no chance, the coward fled for some far-off plane. Horkina cut the last bits of life from the remaining giant.
Several side rooms in the area were filled with cages holding all manner of mutated beasts. Extra limbs, strange bulges, bizarre vermin-like features, and thickened hides were the most prominent of the mutations. From the back of one room, Rain heard a voice, still ranting about "stupid Orcus and his stupid clerics". There was Snow, trapped in a cage and ranting about the blight and how weird Orcus must be to have become demon prince of the undead "instead of something cool like sensuality". Rain called out "hey baby, want to see your sword?" He worked quickly to free her, disarming the lock she'd damaged in her own escape attempts.
The party moved quickly across the temple, discovering more shadow giants. Garlen leaped into the fray before the others realized he'd opened the door, and he nearly dropped one of the giants. Roland fired off a charge of electricity: "just something to do", he apologized, half bored. Rain bounced across the room and killed the giant Garlen had so gravely wounded, leading Snow to exclaim "Rain, you're my hero!" Horkina waded through a pool of blood and began pounding on the next giant, with Snow providing the occasional strike and "tee hee". Grokk roared and leaped into the action, hewing the giant into more pieces than anyone wanted to see. With that, the party moved onward.
The next room held abominations against nature -- six-armed skeletons that were probably originally dinosaurs and ettins, with an orc supervising. One of the dinosaurs held a limp orcish woman in its mouth, leading Snow to exclaim "oh no, Grilka!" Garlen slew the orc cleric within moments, while Grokk and Rain each destroyed a skeleton by wildly different methods. Amber gave Horkina's axe a brilliant glow, and Horkina cut down the remaining four skeletons as they ineffectively tried to strike. Amber gave a bit of healing to Grilka, who immediately claimed a set of three large wavy greatswords that had been found with Snow's sword. Another room later, a pair of dread wraiths and a shadow demon set upon the growing party. Garlen and Rain each attacked one of the wraiths, which fought back by stealing some of Rain's life essence. Amber's Sunbeam narrowly missed the shadow demon, and Horkina's glowing axe did not find its mark either. This left the Shadow Demon with a clear path to Amber, and it began its assault with its hideous claws. Grokk tried to stop it, but his attack was ineffective, as well. Roland decided this was no time to play around with ineffective attacks, so he released a Chain Thunder spell as well as a maximally powered Black Blade of Disaster. This left the fiends nearly dead, easy fodder for Horkina to finish off.
With the main floor of the temple cleared, the party descended the dark staircase into a large natural cavern. There, a massive bloated giant's head with only a few streaming entrails for a body began roaring at the party. Garlen charged directly at the undead head, and his legendary hatred for such creatures gave him the strength to kill it before anyone else quite understood what was going on. "Garlen, hurry up. Stop messing with that dead thing," they exclaimed, stopping only when Garlen pointed out the magical items the Crawling Head had acquired when it had eaten other creatures' heads.
The next room held a pair of arachno-beholders, some of the strangest creatures yet. Garlen rushed into the fray, stabbing at eyes and jabbing at legs. Rain jumped alongside and did the same, while Horkina and Grilka slashed at the other. The funny orc woman cried out "Grilka thrash!" with each blow. Roland's Black Blade fizzled out, but Amber's sunbeam blinded the healthier of the abominations. Grokk dealt a terrible blow to the first beast, finally cutting it down. The blinded arachno-beholder began shooting its eye rays randomly toward where the party had been, failing on every attack. Even its bite was ineffective. Roland's Black Blade swept in, and this time the foe was unable to resist. Collecting a luck blade (with a wish) from a corner of the room, the party headed back to Amber's temple to get some rest.
The party reached level 22.
Rubble Rousers, Day 40 (2007-10-20, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party spent the night at Amber's temple. Garlen and Rain slept in the treehouse over the entry, while the others slept in The Resting Place, where flowery fey called "petals" sang sweet lullabies. Grokk insisted that he was not gay, but indeed remained entirely serious and not at all jovial.
The party teleported back into the blight, where they were immediately set upon by a pair of dragons, one black and one green. Garlen and Rain immediately flanked the green dragon and breached its scales in several places. Grokk leaped at the same dragon, hitting it once on the arm and then landing a perfect skull-splitting strike, leaving the others awestruck at the carnage. Roland's Ray of Enfeeblement weakened the black dragon, but it shrugged off an attempt to grasp it with Bigby's Hand. Amber's trio of moon bolts left it extremely weak. Grokk shrugged off a strange mental assault and then moved with Garlen, Rain, and Horkina to smash the remaining dragon. Roland's Hand held the dragon in place and Amber continued to drain its strength. Grokk again resisted a strange mental compulsion. The dragon tried to teleport away, but was counterspelled. Rain's next blow left the dragon paralyzed, and his series of wounds finished it off (441 damage.) Roland cast True Seeing and saw that a pair of succubi had possessed the dragons and were now trying to possess Grokk. Amber popped onto the ethereal plane and fired off a Holy Word, destroying the demons once and for all.
The party moved through what looked to be a long-forgotten village, with barely recognizeable outlines of huts and small shops scattered about. The center of the blight, and the source of the strangely colored mists, was an old and cracking former temple of Pelor. Under the crumbling awning, Rain spotted a demon with a huge mouth at its belly -- a Klurichir. He charged and stabbed it in the eye. It responded by grabbing him and trying to bite his head off. Horkina swung wildly with her axe. Amber cast a spell to release Rain from the Klurichir's grip. Rain made a series of strikes that crippled the beast, but Roland, knowing the power of its bite, decided to finish it off right away with a Wrathful Castigation. As the demon dropped to the ground, four of the stone pillars came to life in the form of giant stone people. These Caryatid Columns swung at Grokk and Garlen, leading Grokk to declare "that tickles!" Grokk flew into another rage, leading Rain to declare him not gay, and then crushed one of the columns. Horkina smashed another, and Amber handed Rain a set of Fire Seeds which he detonated on top of two others. Roland's Deanimation Ray and a few arrows from Garlen were enough to destroy the final column.
Rain carefully searched the temple's main door, making note of lingering magical auras. The party entered the trashed temple foyer, where a skull had been crudely painted in blood on the wall. A pair of shadow giants stood flanking an armored orc, whose black, skull-topped scepter signified he was a worshipper of Orcus. Rain made an acrobatic dive to get behind the cleric, and Garlen charged right at him. Team rogue was credited for another assassination. Unfortunately, the shadow giants turned on Garlen with their Wounding maces, killing him in moments. Amber's Brilliant Aura allowed the party's weapons to pass through the giants' armor. Roland's Hold Monster froze one of the giants, and Grokk and Rain pounded on the other one. A group of giant zombies began pouring through one of the large doors, so Amber dropped a Sunburst in their midst, blinding most of them. One giant tore into Grokk with its mace while Horkina beheaded its companion. Roland's Lightning Bolt left the now-blind zombies stumbling around trying to locate its source. Grokk dropped the remaining giant, and a Mass Heal from Amber left the zombies on the edge of death. A few stabs, jabs, and swings took them down.
Amber set up a Prismatic Sphere for safety and began resurrecting Garlen while the rest of the party stood watch. A few minutes later, a pair of shadow giants opened one of the side doors. Horkina swung furiously, killing one (with some help from Rain) and cleaving just past the other. It turned to run, but found itself on the receiving end of a critical hit from Horkina as well as solid shots from Rain and Grokk. A set of hailstones from Roland finished it off, and a few minutes later, Garlen was restored.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
The party spent the night at Amber's temple. Garlen and Rain slept in the treehouse over the entry, while the others slept in The Resting Place, where flowery fey called "petals" sang sweet lullabies. Grokk insisted that he was not gay, but indeed remained entirely serious and not at all jovial.
The party teleported back into the blight, where they were immediately set upon by a pair of dragons, one black and one green. Garlen and Rain immediately flanked the green dragon and breached its scales in several places. Grokk leaped at the same dragon, hitting it once on the arm and then landing a perfect skull-splitting strike, leaving the others awestruck at the carnage. Roland's Ray of Enfeeblement weakened the black dragon, but it shrugged off an attempt to grasp it with Bigby's Hand. Amber's trio of moon bolts left it extremely weak. Grokk shrugged off a strange mental assault and then moved with Garlen, Rain, and Horkina to smash the remaining dragon. Roland's Hand held the dragon in place and Amber continued to drain its strength. Grokk again resisted a strange mental compulsion. The dragon tried to teleport away, but was counterspelled. Rain's next blow left the dragon paralyzed, and his series of wounds finished it off (441 damage.) Roland cast True Seeing and saw that a pair of succubi had possessed the dragons and were now trying to possess Grokk. Amber popped onto the ethereal plane and fired off a Holy Word, destroying the demons once and for all.
The party moved through what looked to be a long-forgotten village, with barely recognizeable outlines of huts and small shops scattered about. The center of the blight, and the source of the strangely colored mists, was an old and cracking former temple of Pelor. Under the crumbling awning, Rain spotted a demon with a huge mouth at its belly -- a Klurichir. He charged and stabbed it in the eye. It responded by grabbing him and trying to bite his head off. Horkina swung wildly with her axe. Amber cast a spell to release Rain from the Klurichir's grip. Rain made a series of strikes that crippled the beast, but Roland, knowing the power of its bite, decided to finish it off right away with a Wrathful Castigation. As the demon dropped to the ground, four of the stone pillars came to life in the form of giant stone people. These Caryatid Columns swung at Grokk and Garlen, leading Grokk to declare "that tickles!" Grokk flew into another rage, leading Rain to declare him not gay, and then crushed one of the columns. Horkina smashed another, and Amber handed Rain a set of Fire Seeds which he detonated on top of two others. Roland's Deanimation Ray and a few arrows from Garlen were enough to destroy the final column.
Rain carefully searched the temple's main door, making note of lingering magical auras. The party entered the trashed temple foyer, where a skull had been crudely painted in blood on the wall. A pair of shadow giants stood flanking an armored orc, whose black, skull-topped scepter signified he was a worshipper of Orcus. Rain made an acrobatic dive to get behind the cleric, and Garlen charged right at him. Team rogue was credited for another assassination. Unfortunately, the shadow giants turned on Garlen with their Wounding maces, killing him in moments. Amber's Brilliant Aura allowed the party's weapons to pass through the giants' armor. Roland's Hold Monster froze one of the giants, and Grokk and Rain pounded on the other one. A group of giant zombies began pouring through one of the large doors, so Amber dropped a Sunburst in their midst, blinding most of them. One giant tore into Grokk with its mace while Horkina beheaded its companion. Roland's Lightning Bolt left the now-blind zombies stumbling around trying to locate its source. Grokk dropped the remaining giant, and a Mass Heal from Amber left the zombies on the edge of death. A few stabs, jabs, and swings took them down.
Amber set up a Prismatic Sphere for safety and began resurrecting Garlen while the rest of the party stood watch. A few minutes later, a pair of shadow giants opened one of the side doors. Horkina swung furiously, killing one (with some help from Rain) and cleaving just past the other. It turned to run, but found itself on the receiving end of a critical hit from Horkina as well as solid shots from Rain and Grokk. A set of hailstones from Roland finished it off, and a few minutes later, Garlen was restored.
Rubble Rousers, Day 39 (2007-10-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Note: the party began this section at level 21.
As Rain was hanging out in his whore arena, he was approached by a tall, beautiful woman with pale skin and nearly white hair with just a touch of pink. Her shiny, silky white dress was low-cut and form-fitting, and she wore tall boots and long gloves made of the same material. Drawing a weapon, she called out "hey baby, want to see my sword?" The blade of her rapier threw off glowing white sparks, and its hilt was engraved with draconic runes that read "Snow's sweetass sword". She described such things as her hatred for dragons, love for quality beer, and desire to kill undead. She and Rain stared at each others' swords for a while, repeating "sweet" and "cool" back and forth until those on the other end of the telepathic bond became convinced Rain was trapped in some sort of loop. Eventually, Snow told Rain that she had other things to do, and that he couldn't handle her anyway.
Over the next few days, Horkina started to realize that her suppliers were sending poor crops of hops and barley, which were leading to skunky beer. This made nobody happy. She and Rain vowed to investigate. At the same time, Grokk found that his goats could no longer graze in the eastern part of the steppe, as the grass was undergrown and started to smell like his friend Thag. Roland, now living in connected towers in Cauldron and on Occipitus, was contacted with an urgent message from the great library in Athedria saying the organic materials in some of their books had begun to break down. Amber and Garlen, living in a massive temple to the north, began hearing whisperings from the elves about a strange transformation taking place in the forest. The telepathically-linked party was able to determine a pattern -- a blight of over a hundred miles radius near the center of the continent.
The party met up in Athedria, where they could look out over the blighted area from a high tower. Mists of green, purple, and black swirled over trees and farms, pouring out of a dense central area. Rain decided this would be an ideal moment to declare that Grokk was gay. Grokk was confused; "Grokk not at all festive. Grokk very serious barbarian." The party set out for the middle of the blighted area on horseback, and the strange banter continued as the party passed by spoiled crops and unhealthy-looking animals.
Soon, a pair of forty-foot-long scorpions crawled out of a colossal hole in the ground. Amber cast an earthquake that caused a landslide and pinned one of the scorpions. Roland invoked a storm of hailstones that pounded down on one. It rumbled its way over to Rain and bit him, dealing a vile wound that could not be cured by normal magic. Rain stabbed the scorpion's underbelly, while Amber blinded the other with a Lucent Lance. Grokk charged and lodged his axe firmly in the scorpion's head, dealing it a serious wound and giving Rain an opening to take another stab. Horkina's axe cut deep into the scorpion, which responded by grabbing Grokk and Garlen in its pincers and biting into Garlen, again dealing vile wounds. Lingering damage from Rain's earlier strike finished off the scorpion, and Roland's Wrathful Castigation made the other one writhe in pain for a few moments before dying. Roland determined the scorpions had been transmuted and corrupted somehow. The party took a quick trip back to Amber's temple, healing from the aura she emanated and the consecration effect on the temple.
The party teleported back, and within a short distance, encounted a battlebriar -- a massive plant creature, again transmuted and corrupted. Grokk smashed it with his axe and Rain tumbled into position, but wasn't quite sure how to stab a plant in a "sensitive" spot. Roland cast a minor spell, and Amber's sunbeam blinded the creature, dealing trivial damage as well. Rain declared Amber's attack to be gay. Garlen stabbed the battlebriar six times, and it responded by trampling over the party. Grokk finished it off with a powerful swing of his axe. Moments later, a huge, poisonous tumbleweed -- a Plague Brush -- came rolling along. Grokk made a nearly perfect strike that would have caved in the head of almost any animal, but alas, it merely carved a piece out of the plant. Horkina and Garlen took a few swings, tearing the brush apart, and the party shrugged off the cloud of poison.
Later, a huge flying insect-like creature approached, surrounded by a swarm of smaller insects. Roland identified the creature as a Vermiurge. Garlen began flying and charged directly into the fray, but was unable to penetrate its thick hide. Roland's high-powered fireball cleared away the cloud of insects. The Vermiurge stung and bit Garlen, pinched him with 3 of its 4 claws, and relased several more insects. A pair of moon bolts from Amber had minimal effect. Roland grabbed it with Bigby's Crushing Hand, but it worked its way free as Garlen sought healing. Amber tried to destroy the bugs, but her spell was resisted. Roland's Crushing Hand dragged the vermiurge to the ground, and his quick fireball again cleared away the swarm. Grokk landed a critical hit with his Holy Cow Axe, while Horkina and Sam (in Marut form) couldn't make contact. Rain wounded it, dealing minimal damage but spilling huge amounts of blood. It responded by sending a swarm of insects after him, leaving him barely standing. The rest of the insect swarm barely scratched Grokk. Amber continued to drain its strength while Roland's polar ray cut a hole in it. As Rain slipped away, the wounds he'd caused continued to bleed. Grokk (in a rage), Sam, and Horkina finally put the wounded Vermiurge down.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Note: the party began this section at level 21.
As Rain was hanging out in his whore arena, he was approached by a tall, beautiful woman with pale skin and nearly white hair with just a touch of pink. Her shiny, silky white dress was low-cut and form-fitting, and she wore tall boots and long gloves made of the same material. Drawing a weapon, she called out "hey baby, want to see my sword?" The blade of her rapier threw off glowing white sparks, and its hilt was engraved with draconic runes that read "Snow's sweetass sword". She described such things as her hatred for dragons, love for quality beer, and desire to kill undead. She and Rain stared at each others' swords for a while, repeating "sweet" and "cool" back and forth until those on the other end of the telepathic bond became convinced Rain was trapped in some sort of loop. Eventually, Snow told Rain that she had other things to do, and that he couldn't handle her anyway.
Over the next few days, Horkina started to realize that her suppliers were sending poor crops of hops and barley, which were leading to skunky beer. This made nobody happy. She and Rain vowed to investigate. At the same time, Grokk found that his goats could no longer graze in the eastern part of the steppe, as the grass was undergrown and started to smell like his friend Thag. Roland, now living in connected towers in Cauldron and on Occipitus, was contacted with an urgent message from the great library in Athedria saying the organic materials in some of their books had begun to break down. Amber and Garlen, living in a massive temple to the north, began hearing whisperings from the elves about a strange transformation taking place in the forest. The telepathically-linked party was able to determine a pattern -- a blight of over a hundred miles radius near the center of the continent.
The party met up in Athedria, where they could look out over the blighted area from a high tower. Mists of green, purple, and black swirled over trees and farms, pouring out of a dense central area. Rain decided this would be an ideal moment to declare that Grokk was gay. Grokk was confused; "Grokk not at all festive. Grokk very serious barbarian." The party set out for the middle of the blighted area on horseback, and the strange banter continued as the party passed by spoiled crops and unhealthy-looking animals.
Soon, a pair of forty-foot-long scorpions crawled out of a colossal hole in the ground. Amber cast an earthquake that caused a landslide and pinned one of the scorpions. Roland invoked a storm of hailstones that pounded down on one. It rumbled its way over to Rain and bit him, dealing a vile wound that could not be cured by normal magic. Rain stabbed the scorpion's underbelly, while Amber blinded the other with a Lucent Lance. Grokk charged and lodged his axe firmly in the scorpion's head, dealing it a serious wound and giving Rain an opening to take another stab. Horkina's axe cut deep into the scorpion, which responded by grabbing Grokk and Garlen in its pincers and biting into Garlen, again dealing vile wounds. Lingering damage from Rain's earlier strike finished off the scorpion, and Roland's Wrathful Castigation made the other one writhe in pain for a few moments before dying. Roland determined the scorpions had been transmuted and corrupted somehow. The party took a quick trip back to Amber's temple, healing from the aura she emanated and the consecration effect on the temple.
The party teleported back, and within a short distance, encounted a battlebriar -- a massive plant creature, again transmuted and corrupted. Grokk smashed it with his axe and Rain tumbled into position, but wasn't quite sure how to stab a plant in a "sensitive" spot. Roland cast a minor spell, and Amber's sunbeam blinded the creature, dealing trivial damage as well. Rain declared Amber's attack to be gay. Garlen stabbed the battlebriar six times, and it responded by trampling over the party. Grokk finished it off with a powerful swing of his axe. Moments later, a huge, poisonous tumbleweed -- a Plague Brush -- came rolling along. Grokk made a nearly perfect strike that would have caved in the head of almost any animal, but alas, it merely carved a piece out of the plant. Horkina and Garlen took a few swings, tearing the brush apart, and the party shrugged off the cloud of poison.
Later, a huge flying insect-like creature approached, surrounded by a swarm of smaller insects. Roland identified the creature as a Vermiurge. Garlen began flying and charged directly into the fray, but was unable to penetrate its thick hide. Roland's high-powered fireball cleared away the cloud of insects. The Vermiurge stung and bit Garlen, pinched him with 3 of its 4 claws, and relased several more insects. A pair of moon bolts from Amber had minimal effect. Roland grabbed it with Bigby's Crushing Hand, but it worked its way free as Garlen sought healing. Amber tried to destroy the bugs, but her spell was resisted. Roland's Crushing Hand dragged the vermiurge to the ground, and his quick fireball again cleared away the swarm. Grokk landed a critical hit with his Holy Cow Axe, while Horkina and Sam (in Marut form) couldn't make contact. Rain wounded it, dealing minimal damage but spilling huge amounts of blood. It responded by sending a swarm of insects after him, leaving him barely standing. The rest of the insect swarm barely scratched Grokk. Amber continued to drain its strength while Roland's polar ray cut a hole in it. As Rain slipped away, the wounds he'd caused continued to bleed. Grokk (in a rage), Sam, and Horkina finally put the wounded Vermiurge down.
Epic Rules: Retraining
Each time you go up a level, you may retrain ONE of the following. For the start of epic, you may retrain TWO:
- A class feature. You may select a different class feature from the available list (ex: cleric domain, Ranger favored enemy)
- A feat. You must have met all prerequisites for the feat at the same level you took the original feat (so you can only retrain your level 3 feat into something you could've taken at level 3. No swapping out your level 6 feat for an epic feat.)
- Language. You can swap one known language for another.
- Skills. You can re-assign up to four skill points. They must be spent in something that's a class skill for one of your classes (not necessarily the class you've just gained a level in.)
- Spells. You can swap out two spells known for two other spells known.
At the end of the process, your character must still make sense. You must have the right number of feats and skill points, prerequisites for all of your feats, etc.
- A class feature. You may select a different class feature from the available list (ex: cleric domain, Ranger favored enemy)
- A feat. You must have met all prerequisites for the feat at the same level you took the original feat (so you can only retrain your level 3 feat into something you could've taken at level 3. No swapping out your level 6 feat for an epic feat.)
- Language. You can swap one known language for another.
- Skills. You can re-assign up to four skill points. They must be spent in something that's a class skill for one of your classes (not necessarily the class you've just gained a level in.)
- Spells. You can swap out two spells known for two other spells known.
At the end of the process, your character must still make sense. You must have the right number of feats and skill points, prerequisites for all of your feats, etc.
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