Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
As Rain looked over the three pages of clues, he noticed the first line of each poem seemed out of place, but that they seemed to fit better with each other. This suggested the "keys" might be a way to get into Roland's tomb on Occipitus. Amber stood in Roland's tower and cast hindsight, viewing the events of the previous month in accelerated motion and gaining insight into Roland's plans. He'd spent a lot of time contacting elderly dwarves regarding the mines of Kerah, cast several divinations, researched and created something like a prismatic sphere within a defensive structure, and created a "grocery list" of important objects including a mithral mining golem. He'd been developing plans to safeguard his own tomb, as well as plans for the Rubble Rousers to be able to make their way inside. The vision also showed Roland creating the magical painting with his father as his last action before the nondescript figure threw the antimagic dagger at him. The figure followed by digging through Roland's desk, taking his dagger, and touching his brooch to teleport out as Roland's body dissipated.
Amber also cast a Vision spell (through Miracle) to gain information on the Snowbound Queen, a name Rain recognized as referring to a great white dragon. The Snowbound Queen was only two generations removed from Tiamat, living in a place often referred to as "the cursed glacier" at the northern end of the world. Even small pieces of her, like single scales, were heavily prized and used to make magic items. Skye's adventuring shop had a brooch of minor cold resistance that had been made from one of her scales, so Amber borrowed it to allow her to cast discern location, finding good coordinates for the crevice the Snowbound Queen lived in. Unfortunately, the distance was too great to teleport all at once, so the party stayed the night in Kerah before making the final teleport.
In the morning, Amber and Garlen gave the party protection from cold, ability to walk on snow, and ability to turn into gaseous form. Amber also gave the party several other protective effects. The party teleported to the glacier, finding themselves in the middle of a nasty, windy blizzard. Amber again rode on Garlen's back because she couldn't reliably fly in such winds. The party fought against the strong winds, walking for over an hour before they reached a calmer area near the opening of the large crevice where the Snowbound Queen lived. In the distance, the party occasionally spotted huge animals through the hazy snow. At the head of the crevice, an intelligent polar bear and a pair of huge white tigers looked at Amber's symbol of Ehlonna and smiled. "There's something unnatural here. She sent you to fix it" they said. Garlen asked what had happened, and the bear tried to explain "dead walk. He came and stole our friends. Came and collected dead. He dead." The party knew they'd be fighting undead, probably some sort of lich.
Some distance down the crevice, the party heard a cackling voice speak out: "Snowbound Queen, my rotten ass. You're nothing now. My mistress has given me what I need to defeat you." A loud sniff was followed by "I smell warm blood. Since you're busy, I'll entertain them" and another cackle. Just around a bend in the icy crevice, the cackling lich-cleric of Wee Jas stood surrounded by his minions and looking into an icy block that held a beyond-colossal dragon and her minions. Garlen immediately sparked flame on his swords and charged at the frontmost undead minion, some sort of ice scorpion that fell quickly to the ranger's blazing blades. A Winter Wight breathed a cone of cold at Garlen and Amber, hurting her slightly and missing him entirely. The lich disappeared and rematerialized at the back of his pack of minions, covered them with a shadowy aura, granted them a life ward, and surrounded himself with an antilife shell. An undead troll-dragon wielding an axe shaped like a saber-tooth tiger breathed a line of lightning on Garlen and Amber. Amber responded by triggering her bead of karma, flying above the pack of undead, and speaking a Holy Word. A heavily armored undead polar bear stood paralyzed and a pair of zombies carrying icy spears went blind and deaf. Amber also used three spells to dispel as many magical protections as she could, including the shadowy aura, which prompted the lich to shout many profanities.
A skeleton in an icy body seemed to swim down into the ice below, and then came up next to Garlen, but missed his slightly-blurry figure due to his recently acquired cloak of displacement. What looked like an icy human mummy cast a spell of Ice Flowers on Garlen, making the terrain difficult to pass but dealing very little damage. Horkina drew her "axe of kicking your ass in many varied ways, sucka" -- which she nicknamed "Mr. T" -- and her construct-bane axe, and shattered the huge ice golem that stood in front of the remaining enemies. Rain carefully and acrobatically made his way into the middle of a group of undead, holding his breath due to an unnatural stench. Amber triggered her fire seeds, heavily damaging a frost giant ghoul. Grokk furiously leaped at the icy skeleton, crushing its icy frame several times and leaving it barely functional. The heavily damaged ghoul and the blinded zombies retreated toward their lich master, allowing Rain a chance to deal a painful blow.
Garlen attacked and destroyed the icy skeleton and then tumbled behind the Winter Wight, which clawed and bit him, lighting a black flame on his body that threatened to suck out his life force. The lich cast Shield of Law on himself and his minions, and conjured an unholy-enhanced ice storm that healed some of the damaged enemies. The dragon-troll jumped out of the reach of Garlen and Rain and hit Amber in the back of her head, stunning her. She fell toward Rain, who caught her and set her on her feet. The strange mummy created an extraordinarily cold burst that slightly injured most of the party. Horkina used Lightning Throw to hit the mummy and the lich with her Mr. T axe. Rain took a stab at the Winter Wight and Grokk stood over Amber to protect her. The blind zombies continued to retreat, drawing attacks from Rain and Horkina in the process.
Garlen stabbed the Winter Wight several times, killing it and casting haste on himself to counteract the slowing effect of the Shield of Law. The lich continued dealing out icy and unholy damage, but the party continued to resist significant amounts of it. The dragon-troll used his own Lightning Throw on Grokk and Amber, causing her Fortunate Fate to trigger due to the serious injuries she'd taken. Amber cast Bigby's Grasping hand on the lich, but it turned back on her, having no effect due to her freedom of movement. She cast another, which failed due to the lich's own freedom of movement. She then cast greater dispel, which his ring counterspelled. He taunted "you think you can take a cleric of the god of magic?" Amber's fourth spell then dispelled most of the lich's protections, including his antilife shell, leading him to shout even more profanities. The mummy tried and failed to trap Rain in a tomb of stone, and Horkina used truestrike to hit the mummy solidly. Rain tumbled into position behind the lich and waited for another party member to provide him with flanking. Grokk's mind suddenly focused in on the lich, so he leaped and hit it right through its blurry magical concealment, giving Rain a clear shot as well.
Garlen jumped over the icy rubble and cast Lion's Charge, allowing him to kill the dragon-troll with several stabs. The lich fired off more ice and unholy energy, and cast a spell the party wasn't able to recognize on himself. Amber used Mass Heal to restore most of the party and harm the remaining undead. The mummy used harm to restore herself, but it turned out to be worthless as Horkina smashed her to pieces with both of her axes. Grokk focused all of his rage on the enemy lich, cutting it to pieces with several furious strikes. The lich exploded, injuring everyone around it, and the ice wall shattered.
As the ice wall collapsed, the white dragon's minions began to move aggressively toward the Rubble Rousers. Suddenly the Snowbound Queen called out "halt", and everyone and everything in the area was magically compelled to hold still. She spoke out "it's not that I couldn't have handled that eventually, but many of my children could have been damaged, so, thank you. And you," she said, looking at Grokk, "you wellspring of chaos, for you." The axe the dragon-troll had wielded floated into Grokk's hands. "He took this, but now it's yours." A chorus of female voices called Grokk a "useful tool", and he expressed his somewhat confused thanks to them. The remaining undead, unable to act, fell quickly to the fury of the Rubble Rousers and the Snowbound Queen's minions. The Snowbound Queen agreed to allow the party access to a powerful artifact, the Staff of Winter, if it was needed. Grokk experimented with his new saber-tooth tiger shaped axe, "smiledon", as the party returned to the warm comforts of Kerah.
Roland's book provided the party with one more poem:
"Hell will tremble at the sun's ascent
Where demons and angels mingle freely
A battle will soon ensue
An abyssal army marches on Ober
Seeking the keys of magic true"
Rain recognized Ober as a legendary school of magic located in the outlands.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Rubble Rousers, Day 45 (2008-01-19, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
As Amber returned to the air, Garlen, still in centaur form, called out to her "you look like a tasty dragon-snack flying all alone up there. Ride on my back where it'll be safer." Rain led the way, with Amber and Garlen directly behind and Grokk and Horkina off to the sides. As the party approached the next large area denoted on the map, Amber cast Death Ward on herself. Soon, the party was met with an explosion of acid and negative energy, which Rain identified as a mix between black and shadow dragon breath. Grokk and Horkina took the brunt of the blast, feeling significantly weakened. Garlen hasted himself and rolled behind the colossal dragon, taking Amber with him as he yelled out "we don't want to kill you, we just want to kill the demon-dogs, so get out of the way." The dragon bellowed back that no upright-walking creatures were allowed in her lair. Rain called out "it's your funeral" in Draconic as he charged and swung with his dragonbane sword, but he missed the blurry beast. Amber dispelled a series of protective spells from the dragon and triggered the fire seeds Rain was carrying. The dragon's breath had a lingering effect which further drained Grokk and Horkina, who continued to move toward the combat. The dragon slapped Rain with her tail and attacked Amber with her teeth and claws, causing significant injury. Garlen and Rain jabbed at the dragon several times, causing her to crumple to the ground dead, and Rain resisted a Finger of Death that triggered as he attacked. Rain continued to taunt the dead dragon in its native tongue as the party moved onward.
Immediately after the dragon fell, Horkina started hearing whispers that sounded like dwarven voices. Garlen and Rain listened carefully but didn't hear them, leading them to think maybe Horkina had a little too much to drink. Continuing along the mapped-out path, the voices became more and more distinct to Horkina, but were still inaudible to the others. As the party approached the last area marked on the map, the voices were almost clear enough for her to understand, but still, nobody else heard them. Amber boosted the party with spell resistance and conviction, and gave Grokk freedom of movement, and Rain and Garlen silently approached the marked chamber. The corpse of a male dragon, about the same size as the female the party had just fought, lay across the stone arch leading into the rubble-filled chamber. Two wolf-like creatures were behind the corpse, munching on it. One was a Brachyurus , large and white with oversized claws and fangs. The other sniffed the air, shifted form from wolf to bugbear, and called out "someone has brought dessert!" The bugbear stood upright with his maul raised overhead, proudly displaying symbols of Orcus on his armor.
Garlen, already airborne, flew over the dragon corpse and stabbed at the Brachyurus, which responded by failing to trip him. Rain tumbled past the dragon and waited for an opportunity to move closer. The werewolf-bugbear bit at Garlen, draining a significant amount of blood, and faded out to the side. Amber moved closer and cast invisibility purge, holy word, and greater dispel on the servant of Orcus. Horkina ran forward and jumped over the dragon corpse, but the brachyurus knocked her on her back. Grokk flew into a rage and made the same maneuver, but was knocked backwards by a powerful blow from the maul-wielding foe. The brachyurus continued to focus its attacks on Garlen, but was unable to make him fall. Garlen attacked the bugbear, but found his attacks were less effective than normal. Amber healed the party, restoring Garlen's constitution but not all of his health, and then fired a moon bolt at the bugbear, who completely resisted. She triggered her amulet to reverse time, and instead fired the moon bolt at the brachyurus, weakening its muscles. The bugbear replaced the curse Amber had dispelled from his maul, allowing it to again deal damage that was more difficult to heal. Rain's quicksilver boots let him slip into position behind the Brachyurus, which he stabbed several times, though his balance was slightly off and he missed badly with a pair of strikes.
At that moment, a dwarven voice yelled out to Horkina "stand up!", though she was the only one who heard it. She responded "I don't let anyone tell me what to do" as she swung at the soft underbelly of the brachyurus. The voice called her stupid, but she was pleased with the damage she'd done with three solid blows from the ground. Rain used the distraction to take a stab at the brachyurus, further damaging its muscles. Grokk stood and moved near the brachyurus, which bit Horkina and then turned and tripped Rain. Garlen flew over the top of the brachyurus and attacked the bugbear, who tried to push him back with his maul but found the centaur was a bit too large to be moved. Rain took a shot at the brachyurus' underside. Amber dispelled the maul, suppressing its power for a few moments so the bugbear could not continue to draw on its powers. The bugbear cast a spell to enhance his bite and then bit and clawed at Garlen. Rain tried to stand but was tripped by the brachyurus, so he tumbled away and waited for healing. Horkina decided to stand, but didn't heed the voices' instructions on where to place her feet, and she found herself lying on the ground and unable to land a solid blow with her axe. Grokk leaped at the bugbear and landed a powerful blow with his axe, taking one from the maul in the process. The brachyurus again bit Horkina, and then turned and clawed at Garlen. Garlen stabbed furiously at the bugbear. Amber fired a lucent lance and a moon bolt at the brachyurus and again healed the party, though Garlen had some wounds that resisted the healing magic. The bugbear continued attacking Garlen, who fell dead to the final blow. The bugbear then faded out and reappeared on the other side of the dragon's corpse.
Horkina stood and avoided the brachyurus' attack, telling the voices that they're awfully bossy and that she'd succeed her own way. She and Rain landed several solid hits on the brachyurus, and Grokk jumped in from the side to deliver the killing blow. Amber flew away from the werewolf-bugbear and fired a sunbeam at it, but it resisted, and its maul regained its magical power. Horkina jumped over the dragon and Rain sneakily approached the bugbear, preparing to stab it in the back when Horkina finally approached. Grokk leaped over the dragon and swung his axe furiously, but the bugbear's maul tossed him backwards. Amber tried to make his metal armor heat up, but this did nothing. The dwarven voices continued instructing Horkina, but she called out "I'm not listening to you, la la la la la!" and charged at the foe. Just then, a dwarven ghost materialized behind the bugbear, distracting it while sarcastically stating "I'm dead, maybe you shouldn't listen to me." Horkina landed a perfect strike on the bugbear's head, but his stance allowed him to move with the strike and shrug it off completely. Rain stepped into the space the ghost had been and took a swipe, dealing a trivial wound to the enemy. He responded by hitting Horkina so hard that she dropped her axe and became disoriented. Grokk tumbled into position to flank for Rain, summing up his feelings by saying "Grokk feel need for retraining. Perhaps Grokk become accountant." Amber's sunbeam scratched the enemy, and then Rain took 8 stabs at him (107 d6), several of which seemed like they should have killed him. The bugbear remained standing despite his many serious wounds, and he called out "there's more than one way to get through a stone wall." He grabbed on to the corpse of the dragon and touched his brooch, and both disappeared.
Six dwarven ghosts materialized and spoke to Horkina, saying "thanks for freeing us", but with a gruff demeanor that showed they were displeased she hadn't taken their advice. Amber brought Garlen back to life and the party picked up the dragon's hoard before returning to speak with Uther. The six dwarven ghosts stood with Uther in the throne room, and explained that Horkina was entitled to the axe above Uther's throne by virtue of being the first dwarf to survive the area since the dragons had taken it over, though they weren't interested in training her like they'd planned to do with whoever eventually earned the axe. One of the ghosts touched the axe to reactivate its magic abilities and passed it off to Horkina. The ghosts told Uther he could find a mithral mining golem named Lenny -- the "key" from the poem -- buried deep in the mines, and that he could be activated by speaking his name.
Roland's magical book provided the party with its next clue:
"Walls will be breached and power lent
In the frozen wasteland north of north
Where breath has a crystal sheen
The key of ice lies in a solid sea
ruled by a Snowbound Queen."
The party reached level 24.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
As Amber returned to the air, Garlen, still in centaur form, called out to her "you look like a tasty dragon-snack flying all alone up there. Ride on my back where it'll be safer." Rain led the way, with Amber and Garlen directly behind and Grokk and Horkina off to the sides. As the party approached the next large area denoted on the map, Amber cast Death Ward on herself. Soon, the party was met with an explosion of acid and negative energy, which Rain identified as a mix between black and shadow dragon breath. Grokk and Horkina took the brunt of the blast, feeling significantly weakened. Garlen hasted himself and rolled behind the colossal dragon, taking Amber with him as he yelled out "we don't want to kill you, we just want to kill the demon-dogs, so get out of the way." The dragon bellowed back that no upright-walking creatures were allowed in her lair. Rain called out "it's your funeral" in Draconic as he charged and swung with his dragonbane sword, but he missed the blurry beast. Amber dispelled a series of protective spells from the dragon and triggered the fire seeds Rain was carrying. The dragon's breath had a lingering effect which further drained Grokk and Horkina, who continued to move toward the combat. The dragon slapped Rain with her tail and attacked Amber with her teeth and claws, causing significant injury. Garlen and Rain jabbed at the dragon several times, causing her to crumple to the ground dead, and Rain resisted a Finger of Death that triggered as he attacked. Rain continued to taunt the dead dragon in its native tongue as the party moved onward.
Immediately after the dragon fell, Horkina started hearing whispers that sounded like dwarven voices. Garlen and Rain listened carefully but didn't hear them, leading them to think maybe Horkina had a little too much to drink. Continuing along the mapped-out path, the voices became more and more distinct to Horkina, but were still inaudible to the others. As the party approached the last area marked on the map, the voices were almost clear enough for her to understand, but still, nobody else heard them. Amber boosted the party with spell resistance and conviction, and gave Grokk freedom of movement, and Rain and Garlen silently approached the marked chamber. The corpse of a male dragon, about the same size as the female the party had just fought, lay across the stone arch leading into the rubble-filled chamber. Two wolf-like creatures were behind the corpse, munching on it. One was a Brachyurus , large and white with oversized claws and fangs. The other sniffed the air, shifted form from wolf to bugbear, and called out "someone has brought dessert!" The bugbear stood upright with his maul raised overhead, proudly displaying symbols of Orcus on his armor.
Garlen, already airborne, flew over the dragon corpse and stabbed at the Brachyurus, which responded by failing to trip him. Rain tumbled past the dragon and waited for an opportunity to move closer. The werewolf-bugbear bit at Garlen, draining a significant amount of blood, and faded out to the side. Amber moved closer and cast invisibility purge, holy word, and greater dispel on the servant of Orcus. Horkina ran forward and jumped over the dragon corpse, but the brachyurus knocked her on her back. Grokk flew into a rage and made the same maneuver, but was knocked backwards by a powerful blow from the maul-wielding foe. The brachyurus continued to focus its attacks on Garlen, but was unable to make him fall. Garlen attacked the bugbear, but found his attacks were less effective than normal. Amber healed the party, restoring Garlen's constitution but not all of his health, and then fired a moon bolt at the bugbear, who completely resisted. She triggered her amulet to reverse time, and instead fired the moon bolt at the brachyurus, weakening its muscles. The bugbear replaced the curse Amber had dispelled from his maul, allowing it to again deal damage that was more difficult to heal. Rain's quicksilver boots let him slip into position behind the Brachyurus, which he stabbed several times, though his balance was slightly off and he missed badly with a pair of strikes.
At that moment, a dwarven voice yelled out to Horkina "stand up!", though she was the only one who heard it. She responded "I don't let anyone tell me what to do" as she swung at the soft underbelly of the brachyurus. The voice called her stupid, but she was pleased with the damage she'd done with three solid blows from the ground. Rain used the distraction to take a stab at the brachyurus, further damaging its muscles. Grokk stood and moved near the brachyurus, which bit Horkina and then turned and tripped Rain. Garlen flew over the top of the brachyurus and attacked the bugbear, who tried to push him back with his maul but found the centaur was a bit too large to be moved. Rain took a shot at the brachyurus' underside. Amber dispelled the maul, suppressing its power for a few moments so the bugbear could not continue to draw on its powers. The bugbear cast a spell to enhance his bite and then bit and clawed at Garlen. Rain tried to stand but was tripped by the brachyurus, so he tumbled away and waited for healing. Horkina decided to stand, but didn't heed the voices' instructions on where to place her feet, and she found herself lying on the ground and unable to land a solid blow with her axe. Grokk leaped at the bugbear and landed a powerful blow with his axe, taking one from the maul in the process. The brachyurus again bit Horkina, and then turned and clawed at Garlen. Garlen stabbed furiously at the bugbear. Amber fired a lucent lance and a moon bolt at the brachyurus and again healed the party, though Garlen had some wounds that resisted the healing magic. The bugbear continued attacking Garlen, who fell dead to the final blow. The bugbear then faded out and reappeared on the other side of the dragon's corpse.
Horkina stood and avoided the brachyurus' attack, telling the voices that they're awfully bossy and that she'd succeed her own way. She and Rain landed several solid hits on the brachyurus, and Grokk jumped in from the side to deliver the killing blow. Amber flew away from the werewolf-bugbear and fired a sunbeam at it, but it resisted, and its maul regained its magical power. Horkina jumped over the dragon and Rain sneakily approached the bugbear, preparing to stab it in the back when Horkina finally approached. Grokk leaped over the dragon and swung his axe furiously, but the bugbear's maul tossed him backwards. Amber tried to make his metal armor heat up, but this did nothing. The dwarven voices continued instructing Horkina, but she called out "I'm not listening to you, la la la la la!" and charged at the foe. Just then, a dwarven ghost materialized behind the bugbear, distracting it while sarcastically stating "I'm dead, maybe you shouldn't listen to me." Horkina landed a perfect strike on the bugbear's head, but his stance allowed him to move with the strike and shrug it off completely. Rain stepped into the space the ghost had been and took a swipe, dealing a trivial wound to the enemy. He responded by hitting Horkina so hard that she dropped her axe and became disoriented. Grokk tumbled into position to flank for Rain, summing up his feelings by saying "Grokk feel need for retraining. Perhaps Grokk become accountant." Amber's sunbeam scratched the enemy, and then Rain took 8 stabs at him (107 d6), several of which seemed like they should have killed him. The bugbear remained standing despite his many serious wounds, and he called out "there's more than one way to get through a stone wall." He grabbed on to the corpse of the dragon and touched his brooch, and both disappeared.
Six dwarven ghosts materialized and spoke to Horkina, saying "thanks for freeing us", but with a gruff demeanor that showed they were displeased she hadn't taken their advice. Amber brought Garlen back to life and the party picked up the dragon's hoard before returning to speak with Uther. The six dwarven ghosts stood with Uther in the throne room, and explained that Horkina was entitled to the axe above Uther's throne by virtue of being the first dwarf to survive the area since the dragons had taken it over, though they weren't interested in training her like they'd planned to do with whoever eventually earned the axe. One of the ghosts touched the axe to reactivate its magic abilities and passed it off to Horkina. The ghosts told Uther he could find a mithral mining golem named Lenny -- the "key" from the poem -- buried deep in the mines, and that he could be activated by speaking his name.
Roland's magical book provided the party with its next clue:
"Walls will be breached and power lent
In the frozen wasteland north of north
Where breath has a crystal sheen
The key of ice lies in a solid sea
ruled by a Snowbound Queen."
The party reached level 24.
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