The Rubble Rousers

Epic Main Page

2010-12-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is a quick reference to all of the epic postings. For pre-epic, see the Shackled City Main Page. For our other campaign, see the Black Sands of Semferia campaign homepage.
Last Update: July 7. Added Day 51 via the Black Sands page.

Party Image (courtesy Djinn_In_Tonic):
There is a full size image on Djinn_In_Tonic's photobucket site.

Character And Item Information:
Retraining
Epic/Legacy Items

Session Logs
Chapter 13: True Colors, wherein colorful mists cover the land, and twelve colorful adventurers get a chance to show what they're made of.
Day 39: The Rubble Rousers meet together, Rain meets his match, and blighted creatures meet their ends.
Day 40: A pair of dragons out of their minds, a temple out of repair, and Garlen out of hitpoints.
Day 41: Snow likes Rain, Grokk doesn't like delays, Grilka likes thrashing, and everyone likes shoes.
Day 42: Breakfast is interrupted by death, and the quest is interrupted by hilarity.
Day 43: An old hag, a duplicate party, and this adventure all meet an end.

Chapter 14: Zen Mario, wherein we embark on a quest to save the princess by not saving the princess.
Day 44: Roland leaves cryptic clues, and we leave for a place that we previously left in ruins.
Day 45: Horkina refuses to listen to the voices in her head, and the bad guy refuses to fall.
Day 46: Horkina pity the fool who doesn't stay dead. Grokk's rage earns him accolades and loot.
Day 47: The bright shiny ray of sunshine and her little entourage, for the win.
Day 48: Wherein a battle turns quickly, and a deal with a demon is made

Chapter 15: Unlikely Allies, wherein a Demon Prince and a Radiant Dragon both help the same team, and the Rubble Rousers get inspired to save another world
Day 49: Wherein an iron stronghold proves weak, and Rain goes on his best behavior.
Day 50: Wherein a drunken brawl breaks out on a plane flying home.
Day 51: wherein five Waste Lords learn the folly of working alone, and eleven adventurers prove the value of teamwork
Day 52: wherein one god is fooled, two gods die, and fate wins out
Postmortem: wherein six players talk about the game

Rubble Rousers, Day 50 (2008-05-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 15: Unlikely Allies

2008-05-06T16:37:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tony (Roland)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Garlen stood at the D&Dbay console and procured a pair of tomes and a modified tailored suit. He seemed merely to thumb through the tomes, but soon he'd absorbed all of their magic. He then took centaur form, and one of the chairs shifted its shape to match. Meanwhile, Amber commissioned the cloak of Sunlit Shadows, and the rest of the party bought various other items. The dragon's final note still lingered in the air as he started speaking -- as if only a few seconds had passed. "Ahhh, hello, little ones. I suppose, now that I've received the assistance I needed, it's my turn to help you. What is it that you need?" Roland described the situation, and the dragon Throdenthurirl agreed to protect Posiccuit during its journey.

Within moments, the projection of Posiccuit began growing and the room faded away. Athux, standing on Occipitus, broke the link between the two planes, and Posiccuit began to drift. Throdenthurirl began concentrating on his magic, and soon a shield of order surrounded Possicuit. By then, the plane was floating past the rugged, cavernous landscape of Pandemonium, with high winds and fog blowing past. A vague shadowy shape emerged from the fog -- a Phane, which manipulates time and space, was moving to attack the source of the shield of order. Garlen, Horkina, Grokk, and Rain all moved to assault the Phane, resisting the effects of its null-time aura as they approached. Rain couldn't manage to hit the slippery shadow, but Horkina's powerful blows more than made up for it, and Grokk landed the killing blow.

As Posiccuit continued to drift over Pandemonium, a Black Slaad and two White Slaads approached. Garlen, flying under the power of a spell from Roland, used the power of the Mantle of Ehlonna to slip behind the lead Slaad and attack. These strange chaotic creatures were not really Garlen's favorite enemies, though, and his attacks were less effective than usual. Roland ineffectively cast Mass Hold Monster on the group, but his Stun Ray left the Black Slaad reeling, and he summoned a Black Blade of Disaster to attack one of the White Slaads. Grokk charged at the Black Slaad and swung wildly in its general direction, landing a few strikes but missing twice as well. Amber boosted Rain and Horkina with Righteous Wrath of the Faithful and tried to curse the lead Slaad, but when it resisted, she used her amulet to repeat the spell on one of the weaker Slaads. Still, her spell was ineffective. Rain joined Grokk and placed several holes in the still-stunned Slaad. The two White enemies attacked Garlen, missing the blurry centaur with their claws but both managing a chaos-laced bite that continued to bleed for another minute. Horkina flew at one of the White Slaads ("I don't really like flying, but given the choice between staying on the ground and hitting something, I think I'll hit something.") Her axes cut deep and left many painful wounds. Garlen stabbed at the enemies now surrounding him, stabbing one at the base of the skull and hurting its brain. Roland's Black Blade of Disaster had little effect, but his highly modified fireball (centered on the ever-so-evasive Garlen) killed the Slaads.

Roland reached level 25 as Posiccuit crept closer to Elysium.

Pockets of earth, air, fire, and water crashed into each other and into the shield surrounding Posiccuit as it passed through Limbo. A creature that looked like a chaotic conglomoration of several beasts -- dragon, troll, and who knows what else -- moved straight toward Throdenthurirl. (Tony: "You can do Warmaster's Charge." Tom: "That would be really sick... OK.") Garlen led everyone in an attack on the shape-changing Hagunemnon, and even Amber and Roland were able to wound it (Amber: 25 hp with her +1 mace, Roland 37 hp with his not-even-masterwork quarterstaff.) Garlen called out encouragement to Rain to press the attack, and Rain's solid strikes with Bleeder made the chaotic beast crumble into a chaotic mess of deadness.

Roland reached level 26 as Posiccuit crept even closer to Elysium.

Posiccuit passed just over the tip of a soaring mountain on Ysgard, descending toward a wide plane where armies of powerful dwarves and giants battled. A contingent of dwarven warriors teleported onto Posiccuit, and their leader, Brottor Strongheart, called out "who dares disturb our glorious battle with this aura of Law?" Horkina yelled back "mind your own business! We'll be gone soon." Brottor was undeterred -- "you cannot bring such order to our battlefield! We have to settle this, or at least make things a bit less structured, with a drunken brawl! Who is up for the challenge?" Horkina stepped forward and began swigging Brottor's finest ale, never feeling its effects, though Brottor became slightly inebriated. The two stepped together in an epic drunken brawl as Brottor's compatriots cheered him on. He landed several solid blows, but she retaliated, flying into a rage. He landed another few solid strikes, and one of his friends pulled a bar stool out of a bag of holding and smashed it over another's head, starting their own fight. Suddenly Horkina stepped forward and landed two perfect punches, knocking the previous champion barfighter unconscious. His friends jeered "that's what you get for hitting a girl", which led Horkina to start punching them. When the fight finally wound down and Brottor woke up, he gave Horkina a case of his finest ale.

Soon Posiccuit was passing over Arborea, a massive forested paradise. Giant eagles and dragons would occasionally investigate the strange sight of a plane flying through the sky, but only the most powerful silver dragons dared approach. When they noticed Amber and Garlen, with symbols of Ehlonna proudly displayed on shields and cloaks, they gladly moved aside and watched Posiccuit continue. The same thing happened with the most powerful guardians of the Beastlands -- if some of Ehlonna's most faithful and powerful followers were guiding Posiccuit, surely it could be allowed to pass through. As the threats diminished, Throdenthurirl began fading away, waving goodbye as he again sang a catchy and triumphant song about the foiled plans of spellweavers. After a few more hours of drifting, Posiccuit came to rest on the edge of Elysium's topmost layer, the colorful and beautiful Amoria. As the Rubble Rousers celebrated, they began to fade just like Throdenthurirl before them, and they found themselves back in the hemispherical white room.

Roland reached level 27 as Posiccuit settled into its new cosmological home. The rest of the party also reached level 27.

Rubble Rousers, Day 49 (2008-04-25, 6:30 PM), Chapter 15: Unlikely Allies

2008-05-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tony (Roland)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Athux quickly set to work separating the celestial remnants of Occipitus from the rest, creating a pair of half-planes facing each other over the course of about three weeks. Roland christened his half-plane "Posiccuit", and was able to determine that it would drift to the place he'd feel most comfortable - Elysium. Roland also knew that such planar drifting would take Posiccuit through some of the most chaotic planes, and that pieces of it would be eaten away if it wasn't protected by a sufficiently powerful shield of Law. The party spent most of that time reminiscing about old times and shopping for new equipment, knowing they'd have to escort the newly formed plane to its final home, but unsure of how to create such a lawful shield.

Amber cast a divination, which yielded this poem:
"Fearless pursuit of planar relocation requires
Fending off the forces of chaos.
Few dare enter the Dispicable Duke's tower, but
Feats of bravery yield Help from on High."
Roland recognized the repetition of "Fe", the chemical symbol for Iron, combined with other elements of the divination, pointed toward Dispater, the Iron Duke and devil prince of the Iron City of Dis. He also knew Dispater was extremely powerful within his own stronghold, and could rust both weapons and people. The party planned to assault him using weapons Amber had turned to brilliant energy, with cheap wooden weapons as backups just in case.

The party planeshifted to the Nine Hells and stepped up to the gate of the Iron City. Beareded devils stood atop the city walls, and one in the gate blocked the party. Looking at Amber, he said "you don't look like you belong here." Garlen stepped forward and punched the devil in the face, leaving him badly bruised, and saying "I'm her bodyguard. Don't mess with her." Amber grudgingly agreed to wear Rain's cloak of nondetection to avoid unnecessary combat, and the party walked to the Iron Tower without further incident. Several horned devils trained for combat in the tower's courtyard, and an infernal and a pair of pit fiends stood guard at the main gate, reacting aggressively when the party approached.

Garlen hit the infernal with a White Raven Hammer strike, stunning it. Amber flew to the middle of the courtyard and cast a widened Holy Word, killing about a dozen horned devils. Horkina charged up next to Garlen and struck the infernal several more times. One of the pit fiends tried to cast Power Word Stun on Garlen, but failed miserably. He then cast a fireball that both Garlen and Horkina evaded. Finally, he stepped forward, clawing and swinging his tail at Garlen, though Garlen's Freedom of Movement made him too slippery to hold. The other pit fiend stepped forward and pounded on Horkina, wounding her somewhat significantly. Rain charged between Garlen and Horkina, stabbing the stunned infernal several times as he expressed disappointment that the thing wouldn't bleed. Roland dropped a line of arc-sound and a second blast of sound, harming the infernal and one pit fiend. Grokk leaped and smacked that pit fiend with three nice strikes. Garlen attacked and killed one pit fiend, and wounds Rain had opened up finally bled the infernal to death. Horkina smashed her axes into the other pit fiend, who tried to teleport away but got blocked by Amber. Several party members struck the now-disoriented pit fiend, whose death came quickly.

Rain began working on picking the lock on the main tower entrance. Horkina shattered the door with her master key, leaving Rain holding the lock. "This is a nice lock, I think I'll keep it," Rain said. Dozens of imps and the occasional erinys -- devil bookkeepers, receptionists, and the like -- followed their procedures for hiding or evacuating in an orderly manner, and the party decided not to waste time killing such weak enemies. The party flew up the central staircase and stepped into a recently abandoned reception area with a door that clearly led into Dispater's office. Amber cast a few important spells, such as Brilliant Energy Aura, and then Horkina shattered the door leading to Dispater's chamber.

The chamber was ringed with lifelike iron statues of angels and the like, obviously Dispater's past victims. A large desk held a map of the city with evacuation and battle plans drawn on it, and the walls held similarly-marked maps of various other devil strongholds. Dispater, empowered by his stronghold, stood with an infernal bodyguard in front of the desk. The whole party, including Amber and Roland, followed Garlen's instructions to attack Dispater. ("Fine, I won't power attack... except for 5." - Rachel) Amber's mace and Roland's quarterstaff both bounced off of Dispater's thick skin, but the others each landed a solid strike, and Dispater was stunned. Horkina kept striking Dispater, dropping his resistance to magic with each strike. The infernal focused his efforts on Roland, landing several solid hits and grabbing Roland with its tail, but Roland released some magical energy that greatly reduced the damage. Still, Roland found several spells slipped out of his mind. Rain found all of Dispater's vital organs with his next few stabs, and the devil lord was no more. Roland's dimension door got him out of the grasp of the infernal, and he blinded it with glitterdust. Grokk leaped over the infernal and stunned it, and Rain and Horkina finished it off (with Horkina's final strike leaving an ugly gash across its face, adding insult to injury.)

Roland warned Rain about a disintegrate trap a few feet in front of the vault door. Rain was able to bypass a whole series of nasty traps and clear the way for the party to acquire whatever help the divination said they'd be able to reach. The vault held several valuable treasures, with the most valuable being a huge golden ring with celestial runes. The runes read "For those who need help, and for those who can provide it, your needs will be fulfilled, and your abilities will be used by those in need." Touching it, Roland immediately understood: this artifact would allow the group to summon exactly the help it needed, but at the cost of being summoned themselves. Activating it was a matter of holding it and speaking the word "unity" in an appropriate language. The party took the ring back to Posiccuit and activated it.

Suddenly, they found themselves in a perfectly hemispherical room, a hundred feet high and a hundred feet in radius. The white roof and floor emitted soft, pleasant light, and no shadows were visible anywhere. A shrine to the north was covered in silver holy symbols of various greater and lesser gods -- Heironeous, Eholonna, Kord, Pelor, Corellon Larethian, and many others. The walls held various inscriptions, again in glowing silver runes: "For those who fight alongside us", "for those who cannot fight for themselves", "for those who have gone before", "for those who are yet to come", and so on. Concepts of unity, freedom, honor, and continuity dominated the messages. A large sign to the south (marked "D&Dbay") described various magical items and their costs, displaying a new group of items every so often, though it wasn't apparent exactly how often. Time flowed vaguely, seeming to both rush by and stand still. Rain straightened out his hair and clothing, feeling like he had to be on his best behavior in a room like this.

At the center of the room was a large circular table. An image projected above the table showed a perfect map of Posiccuit. There were six empty chairs around the southern end of the table, two sized for halflings. A huge chair to the north was presently occupied by a colossal Radiant Dragon, whose scales glistened like gold. The dragon hummed an upbeat, triumphant song, stopping suddenly when he realized he was no longer alone.

Roland reached level 24 as his connection to Posiccuit grew.

Rubble Rousers, Day 48 (2008-04-18, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario

2008-05-06T16:35:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony

Roland's book provided the party with another page of text:
"You've thinned their ranks.
Now it's time to pay them back for what they've done.
But beware, revenge is a two-sided coin.
You've taken their measure and they've taken yours.
Guard against their strengths, prey on their weaknesses, and use the knowledge they don't have."

The party decided to use Roland's special coin to planeshift into Occipitus, thinking it might provide a back way into Roland's tomb. Amber cast a series of spell protections and immunities, and the party shifted into a chamber that looked remarkably similar to the chamber in the tower in Cauldron. Rain set to work picking the lock on the door to the north, opening it within moments. The next room held huge stones at strange angles and runes written in undercommon. Horkina recognized it as a larger version of a dwarven puzzle toy, and was able to identify which stone would be key to the solution. That stone had a handprint, and Horkina touched it and said "knowledge is key". Her hand tingled at the word "knowledge", but it wasn't until she said it in undercommon that the block dispersed and a new passageway opened.

The next chamber was circular with high walls and draconic runes. Rain's knowledge of the draconic language and spellcasting allowed him to recognize the magical focus of the room, so he stepped to the key point and said "knowledge" in Draconic. Again, a passage appeared. The next room looked like a huge distorted map with runes in abyssal. Garlen located Cauldron on the map and spoke the abyssal for "knowledge", which again revealed a new passage. The next chamber was a huge drum head which pounded out an orcish war chant. Grokk stood at a specific point on the drum head and began playing, while saying "Grokk have much knowledge of drums" in Orcish. This opened a door to the next room, which glowed brightly and was covered in celestial runes. Amber borrowed a ring of Comprehend Languages and recognized the runes described the process of turning undead. She did so while saying "knowlelujah" (the celestial word for "knowledge"), revealing a small square chamber. The party stepped into the chamber, which had the word "knowledge" inscribed in the walls in hundreds of languages. One wall was particularly thin, and Rain and Garlen could hear arguing through it. Garlen spoke the clue Rain had been given: "in the end, knowledge is just a tool." With that, the wall disappeared and Roland's tomb was revealed.

At the center of the huge round chamber was a stone sphere encased in antimagic fields. The stone had been chipped away to reveal a prismatic sphere. The were-bugbear, the ice lich, and Strength the marilith-dragon were all around the room. A black-skinned, blue-eyed six-fingered humanoid held the staff that had been stolen from Ober, and he yelled at the lich about failing to secure the Staff of Winter. As the wall disintegrated, he called out "oh... you... are the ones who screwed up my plans." This was Athux, Grazz't's son.

Amber saw an invisible, shadowy figure step out from behind the antimagic area. This figure, named Murder, drew a poisoned antimagic dagger and threw it at Amber, nearly killing her. The were-bugbear approached and cast freedom of movement on himself. Horkina pulled the dagger free from Amber and stabbed it into a nearby wall, hoping to make it inaccessible. Garlen ran up to Athux and struck him repeatedly, and Grokk's Leaping Dragon Strike left Athux stunned. Amber healed herself, cast true seeing on Rain, cast Righteous Wrath of the Faithful on everyone but Grokk, and dispelled Murder's invisibility. Rain's Five Shadow Creeping Ice Enervating Strike wounded Murder somewhat. Strength teleported next to Amber and struck her several times, causing her Fortunate Fate spell to trigger. The lich-cleric of Wee Jas teleported across the room, keeping an antilife shell around himself, and healed his wounded comrades.

Murder's Death Strike hit Rain solidly, but Rain resisted its brutal effects. The were-bugbear smacked Horkina, stunning her. Her Iron Heart Surge allowed her to shake it off, and she hit the bugbear several times. Garlen called out instructions to the party, and his War Master's Charge left Strength stunned and badly wounded. Amber triggered the Fire Seeds Rain was carrying, and Garlen gave more instructions to Horkina, giving her the ability to react quickly and land several more blows that killed Strength. Grokk's Feral Death Blow killed Murder, and suddenly Athux had two fewer allies. He turned and dispelled nearly every spell that was on Garlen, attacked Grokk several times with a Bastard Sword made of pure force, and finally disintegrated Amber. Rain stepped through shadow and next to Athux, attacking several times but finding his strikes ineffective. As the Ice Lich stepped forward, Grokk heard a chorus of female dragon voices telepathically call out "our debt is repaid", and the lich died as the far-off phylactery was destroyed.

In a bright flash, Roland appeared, ready for action. He yelled a taunt at the were-bugbear: "you'd better leave or you'll end up dead like the others. You don't want to die for Athux' sake, do you?" The were-bugbear planeshifted away as the Rubble Rousers moved to surround Athux. Roland spoke again: "we both know this fight could get ugly, so let's make a deal. You want Occipitus as your own dominion. I just want its celestial parts to be back where they belong. If you'll help free the parts of this plane that still remember their old celestial home, I'll grant you power over what's left." Athux pondered for a moment as various Rubble Rousers readied their weapons, and he finally agreed: he would split the plane and rule over its abyssal parts, and Roland could take its celestial parts wherever he wanted to.

Epic Items

2008-03-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

Heart of the Mine

Some say Heart of the Mine was forged with the help of Moradin himself, others believe the axe somehow absorbed its creator's deep love of metal. Regardless of it's origins, this icon of the Ironheart Clan of Dwarves has managed to "remember" the trademark style of some of its most powerful users. Over the many centuries that the Ironhearts roamed the tunnels below the surface, the Heart has strengthened its link to the Earth itself, and developed echoes of the maneuvers used to keep the Ironheart mines safe from the denizens of the deep.

In more recent centuries the Ironheart Clan has waned in power, until they controlled only one remaining mine. They shared this mine with another clan of dwarves, the Blackrock Clan. When this final mine was taken over by a cabal of black and shadow dragons, the Heart went dormant. The spirits of the mine's final failed defense stayed in the mine to harass the dragons until someone could free the mine. Over the years the remaining dwarves tried in vain to clear the mine, but they did manage to regain the derelect Heart. It hung above the dwarven King's throne as a reminder of his commitment to his lost brethren.

When the mine was invaded by canine demons, the Rubble Rousers arrived to chase their leader deep within the earth. Though on a completely different mission, they managed to clear and reclaim the last Ironheart Mine. As Horkina the Giantslayer entered King Uther's throneroom to report what had happened, the remaining spirits of the Ironheart Clan defenders manifested and demanded the King grant the Heart to her. One by one, they thanked her for releasing them, and touched the Heart. With the thanks of these last defenders, the Heart once again lends aid to Horkina, the last Ironheart.

Heart of the Mine - +6 Dwarven Waraxe (Holy, Terran, Shattermantle)
- grants constant Tremorsense to 60 feet.
- grants constant Accurate Strike (no miss chance from concealment or incorporeal)
- grants constant Superior Two Weapon (full strength bonus to damage on both weapons)
Grants the following maneuvers, usable once per encounter unless otherwise noted.
- Wall of Blades
- Ironheart Surge
- Lightning Recovery
- Iron Heart Focus
- Iron Heart Endurance
- Lightning Throw
- Supreme Blade Parry (stance)
- Perfect Clarity 1/day (lvl 25)

Smilidon - Spirit of the Sabertooth

In the frozen north where most men would not survive, the Hunter of hunters is the great Sabertooth Tiger, also known as the Smilidon. Centuries ago, there existed a clan of Icemen who dared to stalk the great Hunters. The best among them was called Enrok. Enrok hunted the Tigers with unmatched fury and prowess, matching their speed and ferocity and imitating their hunter's movements. Over the years that Enrok stalked the northlands, legends say he slew no less than 100 of the great Tigers, and brought them to the brink of extinction. His prowess was too great though, and his singlehanded assault on the Tigers was noticed.

In the northlands, each animal has a totem spirit that watches over them and their environment. Enrok was noticed by the Smilidon spirit, and marked for extinction himself. The battle between the Totem and Enrok was long and bloody. Legend says that it lasted three days, and in the end the Spirit only barely won out. Enrok had such ferocity and stamina that the Smilidon Spirit honored him by forging his hunter's spirit into a weapon the remaining Icemen could use to defend themselves. In return, the Icemen agreed to give up hunting the Smilidon for two centuries until their numbers returned to a healthy level. Unfortunately, the Icemen didn't have a totem spirit, and they didn't last two centuries.

The legendary greataxe, Smilidon, has passed through many fierce warrior's hands since Enrok's end. Most recently it was awarded to a minion of the Snowbound Queen. A half white dragon, half ice troll Talon of Tiamat, he wielded Smilidon with brutal efficiency and a complete lack of mercy. When the Snowbound Queen was assaulted by the Ice Lich known as the King of Winter, her pet was slain and used against her as an undead. The Rubble Rousers were chasing the King for another reason, but managed to "save" the Queen. During the battle, Grokk the Barbarian showed such brutal and chaotic power that the Queen awarded Smilidon to him in gratitude for his part in the battle. Will Grokk match the power and ferocity of Smilidon's previous owners? So far, chances are good.

Smilidon - Spirit of the Sabertooth - +6 Greataxe (Icy Surge, Slow Burst - no save)
- grants constant Scent
- Critical multiplier raised to x5
- Leap attack multiplier raised to x4
- adds D12 when weilder is in Rage
- Haste 10 rnds/day (swift action to activate)
Grants the following maneuvers once per encounter unless otherwise noted.
- Rabid Bear Strike
- Leaping Dragon Strike
- Hamstring as an attack (usable with Full Attack)
- Wolf Pack Tactics (Stance)
- Feral Death Blow 1/day (lvl 25)

The Celestial Mantle

Half Plate made by celestials and granted to high level Clerics and Paladins who they feel deserve it. This particular item was forged recently and has no interesting history behind it.

+7 Celestial Half Plate (1/10 normal weight)
- Wings sprout from the shoulderblades and grant fly speed of 120ft, good maneuverability
- Constant personal Holy Aura effect. Save DC for the blind is 20 + wearers Wisdom bonus.
- Use one turn undead attempt to Empower, Enlarge, Extend or Widen a spell as a rod.
- Use three turn undead attempts and a full round action to either Maximize or Enhance a spell as a rod.

Mantle of Ehlonna

This green and white cloak is made by celestial servants of Ehlonna and granted to Paladins, Rangers, and other champions they feel deserve it.

- Cloak of Charisma +8
- Nature's Blessing (immediate, 1/day): add 1/2 character level to an ally's saving throw. Natural 1's do not count as automatic failures when this is used.
- Nature's Embrace (immediate, 1/day): until your next action, heal 1/2 character level in hitpoints every time you are struck in combat. If you fall below 1 hp, make a fortitude save DC = negative hp to remain at 1 hp.
- Nature's Fury (full round, 1/day): you may take two move actions and then attack as if you had charged. Usable with Dire Charge and similar abilities.
The Mantle of Ehlonna also grants the following maneuvers
- Leading the Charge (stance)
- Tactics of the Wolf (stance)
- Order Forged from Chaos (1/encounter)
- White Raven Tactics (1/encounter)
- Flanking Maneuver (1/encounter)
- White Raven Hammer (1/encounter)
- War Master's charge (1/day; each participant may make only one strike, even if they have Dire Charge or similar abilities.)

Sunlit Shadows

This shimmering golden cloak was commissioned by Amber when in the epic summoning room. After 12 hours in the sun, it emits true sunlight for another 12 hours at a radius of 100'. The color of the sunlight can be changed to appear as a sunset, sunrise, etc. As long as it has reserve sunlight, it has the following powers:

- Shadows Flee: counters and dispels all darkness effects within 100' radius, as a 9th level spell
- Endless Dawn: grants all creatures within the lit radius endure elements, effective only against cold
- Noonchild: wrapping the cloak around the wearer turns her into a being of pure light. She becomes incorporeal, and can pass through force effects but not solid objects like walls. She can move to any point within line of sight, up to 500,000 miles away, as a move action. Unwrapping the cloak turns the wearer physical again, and the cloak can't be reactivated until the wearer's next turn.

Posiccuit

Formerly a part of Occipitus, the plane of Posiccuit now resides at the edge of Elysium under the control of Roland Brighteye. Posiccuit and Occipitus were split by agreement between Roland and Athux, son of Grazz't, who desired to be a full-fledged demon lord and not merely a prince. Posiccuit was protected on its journey from the Abyss to Elysium by the Radiant Dragon Throdenthurirl, whose lawful magic surrounded the plane while the Rubble Rousers protected him. Posiccuit is made primarily of celestial rubble, with Roland's tower right at its center.

Posiccuit granted Roland the following abilities:

- +1 bonus to saves (at level 23)
- +1 bonus to INT (at level 24)
- Normal, Greater, and Epic Spell Penetration (at level 25)
- Increased Spell Capacity: level 12 spells (at level 26)
- +1 caster level and sudden intensify (at level 27)

Blitz

+6 shortsword, +10 Dex, Speed, Eager, Warning, Blurstrike, Deadly Precision, 4/day quicken spell (4th level or lower), 1/day dimension door 120' (swift action), 20% miss chance as blur

Rubble Rousers, Day 47 (2008-02-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario

2008-03-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony

When the party arrived back in Cauldron, Percy contacted Rain to let him know a guest was waiting at Roland's tower. Rain offered Percy a hooker for his trouble, and when the stone and metal construct turned down the offer, Rain asked if he was gay. A telepathic chorus of "shut up, Rain" came through the link, and the party headed into Roland's tower to meet the guest. Alexandelsnerf, a tiny and geeky looking gnome, stood nervously in the corner. "Roland, uh, asked me to uh, answer a question for him" he said while looking at his shoes. He began describing various high-profile demon combat groups, gaining confidence as he spoke about his area of expertise. Soon, he was describing the four horsemen of Grazz't, each of whom shared one of his key personality traits: strength, beauty, deceit, and fury. "Strength" was a half-dragon marilith with a tactical mind and a focus on mobility. "Beauty" was a succubus sorceress with a focus on ray spells. "Deceit" was a yugoloth mercenary who was hard to locate and good at assassination. "Fury" was an archer with the ability to deal significant damage from extreme range. Alexandelsnerf finished his description and immediately went back to staring at his shoes. Garlen poked Rain to wake him up.

Amber extended spells of "Mind Blank" for the entire party, and then rested and prepared new spells using Incence of Meditation. She cast a series of protective spells including Conviction, Fortunate Fate, Antidragon Aura, Spell Resistance, Death Ward, Blindsight for Rain, Freedom of Movement for herself, and True Seeing. Garlen cast Listening Lorecall and then the party teleported to just outside of Ober's anti-teleportation shell. The huge building was home to creatures of all sorts, many from opposed planes, who studied magic together. A pair of guards asked why we'd just teleported in, and upon hearing the name "Rubble Rousers", immediately remembered Roland's descriptions. One invited the dean of the school out to meet us, while the other preemptively stated "no, Rain, I don't want to see your sword."

The dean of the school, an erinys devil, invited the party inside and then closed all entrances. She introduced the lieutenant of the guard, a human archmage, and a few other key figures in school administration. The party described Roland's poems and the situation faced thus far, and was preparing to form a battle plan when shouts arose outside. "We don't have time; they've brought a demonic horde", one of the guards explained. Outside, a pack of lesser demons stretched hundreds of feet out from the wall, and Grazz't's horsemen stood behind them, with the archer firing devastating shots at the guards atop the wall. The dean said the guards could handle the lesser demons if we could take out the biggest ones. We agreed, and Amber cast Righteous Wrath of the Faithful before teleporting the party to face the enemies.

The succubus and the yugoloth both turned invisible as the party materialized around the archer, and the marility exclaimed "oh, look, it's that bright shiny ray of sunshine, and her little entourage. All right, Daryl, take that little feathered peacock out of the air." The yugoloth appeared next to Rain, taunting "rogue assassin? We'll see" as he attacked twelve times, connecting on most of them (317 hp + 8 str). This would have killed Rain, but Fortunate Fate triggered to keep him alive. The assassin faded out and reappeared sixty feet away, stating "maybe you're a little tougher than I thought." The archer fired each of his two force bows at Amber five times, dealing significant damage (224 hp) and, like his friend, teleporting sixty feet away. Amber used dimension door to put the party surrounding the archer again, cast dimension lock in the area to block enemy teleportation, healed the party, and cast Delay Death on herself. Garlen screamed out "don't you dare attack Amber!" as he stabbed the archer repeatedly, killing him (544 hp).

The marilith-dragon attacked Horkina (225 hp), trying to bullrush her, but Horkina stood her ground. Rain tumbled behind the dragon and stabbed at her, and she responded by grabbing him with her tail. Horkina fought back (105 hp) and triggered her Scarab of Invulnerability to avoid damage. Grokk, using Wolf Pack Tactics and a Dancing Mongoose Strike, smashed into the dragon with several deep hits (201 hp) while moving around her into a flanking position. The sorceress split a stunning ray at Garlen and Amber, freezing Garlen but failing to penetrate Amber's spell resistance. The yugoloth jumped over Grokk's head, making a swooping dragon strike to stun the big orc and then turning invisible. Amber cast mass heal and a series of moonbolts on the various enemies, then triggered her amulet and re-cast mass heal and focused the moon bolts on the dragon, who had proven to be the most susceptible to the spell. Garlen, whose swords had fallen to the ground when he was stunned, drew his bow and fired a series of shots at the dragon. Rain poked the dragon's tail with his wounding sword, dealing little damage but again draining her blood.

The dragon again attacked Horkina, but soon noticed her strikes were ineffective, so she turned her attention to Grokk (72 hp), trying to knock him backward but failing. Horkina again smashed the dragon (104 hp). Grokk tried to turn the assassin's strategy against him, making a leaping stun attack with his Holy Cow axe but failing due to invisibility and an intrinsic Unluck effect. The sorceress again hit Amber with a stun ray, and fired some intelligence-draining rays at Grokk that were absorbed by Mind Blank. The yugoloth assassin struck Grokk repeatedly, cursing him and dealing substantial damage (187 hp). Garlen fired his bow at the dragon (137 hp) and Rain again stabbed its tail. This prompted the nearly-dead dragon to fade out, leaving the area while exclaiming "you fools, we are only the distraction."

Horkina and Grokk now focused their attention on the assassin (121 and 255 hp), while the sorceress' Polar Rays caused Amber's Fortunate Fate to trigger. The assassin stabbed Grokk, cursing him with yet another form of curse. Amber cast Downdraft to bring the sorceress to the ground, then surrounded her with dimension lock and used invisibility purge to make her an easy target. Garlen and Rain moved to flank her and began their attack (100 and 95 hp), slaying her while resisting the negative energy her body released. Horkina and Grokk finished off the yugoloth with a ridiculous number of strikes, and Garlen and Amber started taking out the lesser demons in the now-decimated horde.

Rain picked up a set of custom gloves, and the school rewarded Amber with half-plate "Celestial Mantle" armor with wings attached. The dean warned that, during the assault, a staff of rapid striking had been stolen by the same figure as had initially killed Roland. The staff cast a specialized version of Magic Missile, among other things, which would make it useful for penetrating some of the predicted defenses at Roland's tomb.

The party reached level 25.

Rubble Rousers, Day 46 (2008-02-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario

2008-02-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 45 (2008-01-19, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario

2008-02-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 44 (2008-01-12, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario

2008-01-16T19:28:00.002-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 43 (2007-11-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

2008-01-16T19:28:00.001-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 42 (2007-11-03, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

2008-01-16T19:27:00.004-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 41 (2007-10-27, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

2008-01-16T19:27:00.003-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 40 (2007-10-20, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

2008-01-16T19:27:00.001-08:00

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.

Rubble Rousers, Day 39 (2007-10-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

2008-01-16T19:26:00.001-08:00

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.

Epic Rules: Retraining

2008-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

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.

Shackled City Main Page

2007-09-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick reference to all of the other postings here.
LAST UPDATE: September 29 , added day 38 and Postmortem

Character Creation and Backstories:

Character Creation Info
Amber's backstory
Rain's backstory
Garlen's backstory
Grokk's backstory
Horkina's backstory
Roland's backstory

Session Logs
Chapter 0: Swearing in Orcish, wherein an ugly elf shows off his ugly vocabulary in an ugly language.
Day 1: Rain gets to feel tall and many goblins and orcs get to feel dead.

Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar, wherein an overzealous merchant from deep below harvests too aggressively from a local orphanage, and overstays his welcome in the foundations below.
Day 2: we track the kidnappers to Jzadirune and nearly get killed by delving too deep.
Day 3: we decide to clear Jzadirune. Rain has his first unfortunate run-in with poison.
Day 4: we recover a pulverizer, and much other treasure.
Day 5: we clear the rest of Jzadirune and find the earth elemental is much easier to deal with.
Day 6: we light a troll on fire, put a bunch of goblins to sleep, and send a child home with a beholder.

Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way, wherein a tribe of goblins attracts too much attention and brings unwelcome guests to its master's den.
Day 7: Garlen kills lots of goblins, and we find Orak has been enchanted.
Day 8: we miss Grokk's contributions as we struggle to fend off a vampire.
Day 9: we miss Rain's contributions as we kill a vampire and several mercenaries.

Chapter 3: Flood Season, wherein a solid plan to ransom captured wands turns sour for three friends and their employees, and a local luminary loses his tongue.
Day 10: our first encounter with the rollerblades. We break the boss fight at the lucky monkey.
Day 11: we follow a redhead underground, and barely kill a dinosaur that should've stayed dead the first time.
Day 12: we kill lots of thugs and capture two evil cultists. Garlen gets his cloak of arachnidia.

Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory, wherein a tribe of the Sea Mother's children suffer for sparing the life of a mad prisoner they probably should have eaten.
Day 13: Grokk tells the frog story, stealing the funny crown from Crazy Jared, and we kill a dragon.
Day 14: lots of kuo-toans die, and Grokk gets a cool flaming bow from a demon.
Day 15: we kill a dragon before it acts, Horkina eats the purple mushrooms, and we capture a crazy dwarf.

Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy, wherein three sisters, an exiled demon, a twelve-foot-tall smith, and a man made of mirrors meet grisly ends
Day 16: we stop a riot cold, and the blue duke stops some fires even colder.
Day 17: Garlen gets swallowed, we get a warning, and some giants get surprised by a very strong half-orc.
Day 18: the twelve-foot-tall smith, three sisters, a man made of mirrors, and an exiled demon meet grisly ends in that order.

Chapter 5.5: Blackrock Mountain, wherein an ancient artifact proves easier to get than anybody expects.
Day 19: Horkina continues her proud tradition of landing critical hits on giants.

Chapter 6: The Test of the Smoking Eye, wherein a sorcerer's attempt to claim a land for his own ends in sudden betrayal at the hands of his allies.
Day 20: we head for a plane full of rubble, to meet our destinies.
Day 21: we pass two tests, and Roland's electric loop finally works, but Tony misses it.
Day 22: Horkina grabs the master key to any lock, and we argue for hours about the fate of a double-crosser.

Chapter 7: Secrets of the Soul Pillars, wherein the local clergy makes the terrible mistake of not hiring enough assassins for the job.
Day 23: we kill a lich and a lot of summons. Amber narrowly survives an attempt on her life.
Day 24: we take revenge on the Veiled Lady, and discover our first clues about the Cagewrights.
Day 25: the denizens of an icy ruin are killed, some for the second time. Rain complains about treasure, and Amber prophesies about a dracolich.

Chapter 8: Lords of Oblivion, wherein a charming local noble woman's party comes to a sudden and gruesome end.
Day 26: we decide walls are no big deal, and leave several holes in a Last Laugh safehouse. Amber knows exactly how to respond to a room full of evil.
Day 27: we start to suspect a beholder is involved, and start stealing his stuff.
Day 28: Amber gets stoned, Vhalantru gets owned, and the mayoral office gets chowned.

Chapter 9: Foundation of Flame, wherein the weather takes a turn for the worse.
Day 29: We evacuate the whole city, Grokk learns to fly, and a dragon regrets not picking on foes his own size.

Chapter 10: Thirteen Cages, wherein a group of diverse and talented allies learns the folly of not working together against a common foe.
Day 30: we sneak into the Cagewrights' inner sanctum and gain a wish.
Day 31: we wish the dragon wasn't so nasty. Horkina flies, evil dies.

Chapter 10.5: Two Wrongs, wherein two dreams are fulfilled, and an elite criminal is outclassed.
Day 32: Rain is reduced to tears. Several walls are reduced to dust. Some thieves of reduced stature get torn up.
Day 33: Garlen gets mauled for looking like a spellcaster, the party gets split up twice, and Rain satisfied himself and a ghost all in one swing.

Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn, wherein the last fragments of a once-powerful organization are finally reduced to ruin.
Day 34: The party solves two sliding block puzzles in very different ways, Percy proves that being alive isn't always ideal, and a Cagewright sees Grokk from a new direction.
Day 35: Amber takes an unexpected shower, Garlen's voice changes, an old acquaintance looks us up, and we discover we don't need no stinking badgers.

Chapter 11.5: Test Results, Wherein a simple security breach leads to competing claims of Lordship, and old grudges are given new life
Day 36: A dancing dragon, some smelly six-legged beasts, a bloated beholder, and three gaunt giants fall before the Rubble Rousers.

Chapter 12: Asylum, wherein a trip to the other side results in an unforseen adjustment to a prisoner's cage.
Day 37: wherein information is gained through magic, bribery, and friendship, and having six of the same kind of limb shows surprising correlation to bad consequences.
Day 38: wherein a very dangerous enemy falls to good planning and superior firepower, and all of Cauldron celebrates

Postmortem, wherein we discuss the previous 38 sessions and prepare for the Black Sands campaign

Shackled City Postmortem

2007-09-29T16:35:00.001-07:00

Comments on the book:
- The campaign remained fun for most players all the way through, but could have gotten old. It was fun to play all the way from level 1 to 20, but Catherine got bored mid-game due to the poor narrative flow and the abrupt transitions. It would help to have a random bard give prophecies to tie the adventures together into a coherent whole.
- The best parts were: deciding on what to do about the smoking eye at the end of chapter 6, the vorpal sword quest as a whole, some of the puzzles (the fire room in the vorpal sword quest; the mirror in chapter 5), the great dungeon crawl that was Jzadirune, the chapter 1 boss fight where the mooks just kept coming, the assassination of the rakshasa near the end of chapter 6, and allowing Kate to play the session she attended.
- The worst parts were: some of the boss fights were lame, especially the Adimarchus fight. Bosses needed more assistants, like in the Kaurophon fight at the end of chapter 11. There wasn't enough tailoring to individual characters' backgrounds or enough individualized sidequests. Not enough cool and special items (like the Maul of the Titans). Enemies didn't always use intelligent enough tactics, so certain characters were rarely threatened as the game went on.
- Book NPC's: There weren't enough friendly wizards. There weren't enough recurring villains -- some were resurrected, and some appeared a couple times, but by the time we found out the Cagewrights were a problem, we were already busy killing them off. Would have been better to have the Stormblades play a more recurring role, and also to have the Blue Duke, the Cagewrights, and the Last Laugh meddling in our affairs for a while before we wiped them all out in chapter 8. There were too many NPC's to keep straight, and only a few of them really stood out (but Crazy Jared was cool.)

Comments on Tom as DM:
- The game was too easy. The DM could have made harder encounters and made enemies fight harder/smarter/more clever. For the most part, the enemies just let us come to them and attack on our terms. Garlen made the party even more powerful.
- Some players followed the storyline OK while others were totally lost. It was a challenge, but could have been done better.
- The DM gave new players a big leg up in terms of making good character choices. Tony was also a big help.
- Garlen was cool to have along. Provided a fun level of interaction with the DM.
- Use more immersion -- speak in voices, hand out props, dim the lights, play background music, etc.
- Let Scott roll more. It doesn't matter if it's a DC 20 check and he has a +35, just say "roll a die" and then say "you found..."

Comments on Catherine as DM:
- Her sections were better laid out. The dungeons were more sensible/logical and the bad guys followed better algorithms.
- Tom was better at keeping Scott involved and building up the party, while Catherine was better at building encounters and pacing them well.

Comments on the players:
- Tony was very helpful in terms of party strategy and character development.
- The party worked together very well as a whole. There wasn't any lame/pointless rivalry. Everyone was willing to share. The party made good choices overall.
- Tony was good at breaking fights.
- Scott and Jeremy were very good at the "role-playing" parts of the game. Their characters had great personality.
- Having been through the game once, everyone feels inspired to develop neat characters for Black Sands. Now that we know how to be mechanically effective and play the game from start to finish, it'll be easier to work toward good character concepts.

The Shackled City, Day 38 (2007-06-30, 6:30 PM), Chapter 12: Asylum

2007-09-29T16:34:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber; Nidrama)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Standing in the central room at the base of Skullrot, Amber cast light on an arrow which Rain shot straight up into the darkness, revealing the general structure of the tower. Rain, Roland, Nidrama and Amber flew upward and discovered a strange hag-like creature flanked by a pair of huge flesh golems. Rain moved into position and Amber set off the fire seeds he was holding, severely damaging one of the golems in the blast. Dragon Breath from Sam and some powerful sounds from Roland destroyed the Annis. Nidrama slashed into a golem, and Horkina came up the stairs and chopped the golem in half. Amber missed the remaining golem with her sling, but Sam and Nidrama finished it off. Rain's constant blabbering about his sword got so annoying that Roland cast fly on Percy to allow him to escape.

The party gathered together and moved to the top of the tower. At the center of the tower was a huge cage with a pitiful-looking Adimarchus inside. Guarding the cage was a massive skeleton with bony wings, a red robe, and a massive black scythe. This lichfiend, along with a demonflesh golem, prepared to attack. Rain poked and prodded the lichfiend while Grokk tore pieces out of the golem. Horkina resisted a Destruction spell (fort save 51) while Roland and Sam scorched the enemies with dragon's breath. Amber countered the lichfiend's Wail of the Banshee. Horkina finished off the golem, and Grokk and Garlen dealt several blows to the lichfiend. Roland used Bigby's Crushing Hand to hold it in place, but it still managed to Blaspheme and paralyze Redtail. Horkina crushed its bones with the Maul of the Titans, and Amber cast a Miracle to keep its life essence from escaping back to Grazz't, its patron.

Admiarchus looked to be secure in his cage, so the party headed for the basement and slaughtered a pair of flesh golems, with Horkina landing an impressive blow that cut through one and into the other. They smashed up some golem-building equipment and then stepped into the next room. There, a fly-like Chasme Demon awaited. Roland tried to destroy it with a finger of death, but it shrugged off the attack. It was not so lucky against Rain's swords or Grokk's axe, and soon lay dead on the floor. Sitting in the center of the next room was an iron flask which Roland surmised held some sort of nasty enemy. Rain tumbled into the room and the flask released a massive Devourer. Garlen poked it several times while Amber cast Mass Heal. Sam, in Marut form, blinded the beast, but Roland's disintegrate spell was ineffective. Grokk stepped forward to land the killing blow, and the party headed back to the top of the tower to face Adimarchus.

Amber reshaped the stone around the demon prince's cage in order to create a stable platform for the party to fight on. Roland, as ruler of Occipitus, could see that his power could shatter the cage easily, so he stood ready to break it open as the rest of the party positioned themselves to attack. Horkina reacted to the broken cage first, cutting deep into Adimarchus (184 damage). Garlen, in his Centaur form, stood opposite from Rain as the two timed their attacks for maximum effectiveness (326 damage; 111 damage and -6 strength). Adimarchus' demon form was slain, and Grokk began to smash into his angel form (105 damage). Adimarchus tried to implode Garlen with his claw, but the demon-hating ranger resisted. Amber's pair of moon bolts weakened Adimarchus (-20 strength). A ray of fire from Roland and a strike from Percy (135 damage) left the demon prince reeling, but he managed to avoid being crushed by another Bigby spell. Horkina and Garlen landed the last few blows (153 and 136 damage), slaying Adimarchus.

His body disappeared a few minutes later, and Roland realized he'd likely appear on Occipitus in the center of the skull. The party headed there and found Adimarchus' body was just beginning to reform. The unconscious demon was unable to defend against the flurry of strikes that finally destroyed him. As Adimarchus died, a massive earthquake shook Occipitus and broke the skull mountain in two. Deep within the mountain was a vault filled with Adimarchus' most prized treasures.

Over the next few months, the city of Cauldron continued to rebuild under the leadership of Lord Vanderboren, with help from the temples of St. Cuthbert and Ehlonna. The Drunken Morkoth Inn added a new decoration -- a painting of the famed Morkoth fighting with the Rubble Rousers. In the painting, Rain and Garlen were firing arrows at its loins, Amber and Roland were blasting it with magical rays, Grokk was mid-leap swinging his Holy Cow Axe, and Horkina was wrestling a massive beer mug away from the lake monster. Many other businesses in Cauldron gave their own small tributes to the Rubble Rousers, and even the Stormblades sent them congratulations. The Stormblades went on to map and clear out most of the tunnels beneath the city. The Rubble Rousers donated their guild hall to Meerthan as they each headed their own way.

Rain took control of the remaining half of House Rhivaldi, turning it into "Rain's Whore Arena". Horkina built "Horkina's Rain", a brewery and bar across the street. Roland finished his paired towers on Occipitus and in southeast Cauldron, and went on many demon-slaying quests across his plane. Grokk went back to the steppe and founded his own tribe, wandering around with a large herd and telling stories about the many things he'd slain. Amber left her temple to James and went to the north, founding a new temple and smiting various evil things. Garlen followed Roland and Amber around whenever they had demons or undead to fight, and would occasionally walk through the woods with Amber wearing fancy clothes and baiting foolish bandits into attacking. And this is how they remained, until a great evil descended onto the land... (To be continued!)

The Shackled City, Day 37 (2007-06-23, 6:30 PM), Chapter 12: Asylum

2007-06-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
Kate (Nidrama)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Roland used another pair of Legend Lore spells, with these results:

Legend Lore: Occipitus

Once a part of the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Occipitus became the 507th layer of the Abyss when it was occupied by a demon army and cast off by the heavenly host. Adimarchus, a fallen celestial and leader of the demonic army, became the ruler of this plane when he incorporated the celestial rubble with the raw stuff of the Abyss. For many years, he waged war against his rival demon prince Grazz't, using Occipitus as his base of operations. He worked with another fallen celestial named Saureya to set up the Test of the Smoking Eye, providing a way to select a successor. The plane was without a ruler for fifty years, between Adimarchus' disappearance and the archmage Roland's passing the test. Three other would-be successors were recently slain by Roland and the Rubble Rousers. The Sign of the Smoking Eye is the symbol of authority on Occipitus, granted to its ruler and often to deputy rulers.

Legend Lore: Adimarchus

Adimarchus, a fallen celestial, led a demonic army on an invasion of Celestia. The army was repulsed when the heavenly host broke away the demonic-infested area, but in this defeat, Adimarchus knew success. He incorporated the celestial rubble with the raw stuff of the Abyss, creating the plane of Occipitus and becoming its ruler and a demon prince. He ruled the plane ruthlessly, leaving no rivals or enemies alive, save for a resolute Aasimar paladin named Athux who he could not bring himself to kill. While Adimarchus waged war against Grazz't, Grazz't's minions captured Athux and imprisoned him in a place called Skullrot, which is on Orthys, the first layer of Carceri. Adimarchus traded his freedom for the release of Athux and has been imprisoned ever since. He has grown more insane over his years of imprisonment and torment, and his insanity caused the Cagewrights to plot his release. Their limited success weakened the restraints that bind him, and his insanity now leaks onto his one-time lair of Occipitus, where it continues to seek a method for his release and revenge on his enemies.

Roland also stopped by several libraries to research Orthys, trying to find information on Skullrot. He was able to find mention of two key locations: the Bastion of Lost Hope, where information could be bought and sold, and a tower named Harrowfell, currently in the possession of a Marilith demon with a burning left eye. As the party was formulating a plan to visit these locations, a familiar being appeared. Nidrama, a celestial who had been charged with guarding this area long ago, wanted to speak to the party. "What you are doing for this region is so important, I'm prepared to offer anything I can. The celestial host will not be happy with me for interfering in mortal affairs, but I must do it. You have my services, such as they are, for your assault on Adimarchus." The party treated Nidrama to a Heroes Feast and then planeshifted onto Orthys.

On planeshifting, the party encountered a large group of demodands wearing matching squadron logos. One of them had an unconscious celestial stuck to his slimy exterior. Rain and Garlen stabbed at a pair of farastus while Amber's Sunburst injured and blinded the pack. Nidrama, Horkina, and Grokk focused their attacks on the big Shator and Roland dropped a Cone of Cold that wiped out most of the pack. The one remaining farastu turned invisible and ran away, while Amber stepped forward and healed the injured celestial. He introduced himself as Kharidian, a paladin who'd been assaulting single farastus when a group managed to capture him. He promised to be more careful in his future adventures.

Roland conjured up a floating disk for the party to ride on, due to the unpleasant nature and unpredictable depth of the swampy parts of Orthys. As the party flew toward Harrowfell, a group of Slaadi set upon them. Garlen blasted the most dangerous looking one with arrows while Rain poked holes in it with his rapier. The Death Slaad responded with a Finger of Death, which failed mightily. Amber's Lucent Lance and Horkina's axe smashed this enemy while a pair of Gray Slaad tried to stun various party members. Nidrama and Grokk smashed a Green Slaad, and Roland fired off Arc Lightning, dropping most of the group. The party quickly surrounded and destroyed the remaining Slaad.

The party approached Harrowfell on board the floating disk, keeping slightly below the top of the tower. Roland chatted with Byakala, the Marilith with the smoking eye, who was surrounded by her Babau and Hezrou minions. She mentioned being a former deputy of Adimarchus, captured by Grazz't's forces and imprisoned on Carceri. Roland guided the floating disk upward during the conversation, and Horkina jumped over the wall to begin the assault. Byakala made ten strikes on Horkina, seriously wounding her. Amber flew up to the pack and released a Holy Word, killing all of the minions and paralyzing Byakala. Grokk hopped up over the wall and carefully aimed his strike to drop the demoness. (The Coup de Grace damage was 340!)

When the party reached the Bastion of Lost Hope, Garlen, Nidrama, and Amber opted to remain outside, certain there would be trouble if they entered a place filled with demons, demodands, and the like. Rain and Roland asked around and offered bits of gold and treasure to anyone who could give them the location of Skullrot. Eventually a merchant traded the information for an anarchic sword taken from Byakala. Skullrot was located about 1200 miles to the east and a short distance to the north, along a tall mountain range. The party teleported to the mountain range, where they ran into a group of Tieflings mounted on Nightmares. Grokk made a flying leap at one of the tieflings, but got distracted by a frog hopping past. Nidrama, Horkina, Garlen and Rain all landed their blows, and the tieflings made a series of feeble and ineffective strikes. Amber's Holy Smite blinded most of the enemies and Roland's blast of electricity brought the group down.

As the party approached Skullrot, it became evident many demodands had been gathered here a short time ago. The reeds had been trampled, and vast tracks cut across the swamps and through every gap in the mountains. Soon, the party came upon a slaughter -- thousands of demodands lay dead and decaying, killed in a massive brawl sparked by the collapse of the portal from the Tree of Shackled Souls. A colossal Thunder Beast, far larger than the ones on Occipitus, grazed near the tower of Skullrot. Roland nailed it with a maximally effective Meteor Swarm and Amber silenced it, fearing the power of its roar. The rest of the party moved into position to attack, but the beast's stench was overwhelming. It trampled over the party as they keeled over. Percy had no trouble with the smell and was able to strike at the beast, and a Mass Heal from Amber brought the party back to their feet. Grokk took a solid swing at the beast, while Rain cut deep into its hide over and over again, bringing it down.

The tower of Skullrot was formed out of fiendish skulls that had been resined together. The dull red glow of Orthys' sky penetrated through the walls, giving them an eerie glow but not really lighting the interior. Howls and shrieks came periodically from the creatures imprisoned therein. Rain examined the front door and decided Horkina should open it. A startled group of farastus looked up from the slime-covered entryway, to be met with a hail of arrows from Garlen and Rain that left four of their number dead. Horkina spider-climbed along a wall and killed another, while Sam took full dragon form and breathed to bring two to near-death, and Grokk leaped over the slimy floor to drop yet another. An acidic fog formed in the room and an acid arrow struck Rain, both cast by a six-armed kelubar demodand who stood singing at the top of the stairs. The acid fog destroyed a couple of the farastus, and Nidrama struck one of the few who still stood. Their strikes proved ineffective, and Garlen left them behind, flying up the stairs to attack the bigger threat. Amber's Light of Venya struck true, and Roland shocked the singing fiend with an Orb of Electricity. Those still in the lower room finished off the last of the farastus while Rain and Garlen stabbed every vital organ in the mutant kelubar's body.

Horkina's Backstory

2007-06-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

I grew up a large village called Klavdiya under some mountains. My father was a dwarf who ran a tavern in called the Stumbling Monk. He was a lifelong bachelor entering into late middle-age when my mother came to town. She was a young adventurer, far from home for the first time. They immediately hit it off. They married quickly and I came soon afterwards. After raising me for a few years, the desire to continue adventuring took hold of my mother and she started going on short quests outside of our village. My father loved her and wanted her to stay home, but he knew her nature and never tried to stop her from going on these journeys. One of these journeys ended badly and my mother ended up dying from a dose of poison.
My father was heartbroken by my mother’s death. He could see in me the same wanderlust and swore that I would not meet the same fate. As a child I did not know exactly what he meant by that, but I did notice that after my mother’s demise the things I ate had a certain twang to them. Sometimes the stews I ate for dinner had strange purple mushrooms in them. Or my morning gruel contained tiny red flecks that burned my throat as I swallowed. I later came to realize that he was feeding me low levels of poison to build my resistance to it.
So I grew up in the Stumbling Monk. When I was old enough I started serving drinks. I learned many things in that tavern. I learned good balance from carrying many pints of ale through crowds of drunken dwarves, how to start a good old fashioned barfight, drinking songs from across the continent, and jokes so bawdy they make even the most seasoned of barflies blush.
My father eventually passed away. I tried to take over the bar on my own, but it was not the same without him. I sold the Stumbling Monk and used the profits to fund a trip touring the taverns and inns of the countryside. I spent many months on this trip and saw the bottom of many glasses. As a side benefit, I also had many barroom brawls and some more serious scuffles in the alleys outside of these bars.
I ended up in Cauldron while trying to visit all the taverns in the well-known “Monkey Chain”. I had already been to the “Tippling Monkey”, the “Monkey See, Monkey Drink”, and the “Brass Monkey”. The last two on the list were the “Lucky Monkey” and the “Happy Monkey” outside of Cauldron.

The Shackled City, Day 36 (2007-06-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11.5: Test Results

2007-06-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Roland acquired a few scrolls of permanency and used them on the party's Telepathic Bond. Rain spent the night drinking and passed out in the morning, so Garlen lent him ioun stones to allow him to go without air or food, and Grokk stuffed him in a portable hole for easy transportation. The party then headed for Occipitus to try to unravel the latest mystery.

The party materialized in the middle of a group of large, six-legged, foul-smelling Thunderbeasts. Horkina and Grokk charged and attacked the two largest beasts, with Percy and Garlen providing additional attacks. Roland's Chain Lightning frightened one of the smaller ones into running, but one of the larger ones bellowed out a roar that stunned Grokk and Garlen. Amber managed to remove Garlen's paralysis, but Grokk was still frozen in place. Another beast attacked Percy, chomping through his armor before realizing the Shield Guardian was not very tasty. Roland responded by disintegrating the beast, and Garlen and Horkina dropped the two largest ones. The remnant of the pack quickly fled, and Roland noticed one dead beast looked like it had been chewed on by a fairly large creature.

Roland checked the Portable Hole and found Rain had finally woken up, so Grokk pulled him out and set him on the ground. Rain's eyes were immediately fixed on the approaching black dragon with a smoking left eye. Roland gave the party acid resistance and then fired a Ray of Dizziness at the dragon, to no effect. The rest of the party spread out, firing arrows and a pair of Moon Bolts that dealt minor damage and some strength drain to the dragon. It ignored the party and headed right toward Roland, as if it had a grudge to settle. Rain took a shot at its belly as it flew overhead, but the dragon kept going, grabbing Roland in his mouth and preparing to swallow. Roland responded with a spell of Otto's Irresistable Dance, and the rest of the party quickly surrounded the dancing dragon, stabbing and slashing through its thick hide. Rain particularly enjoyed stabbing into various vital organs as the beast tapped its feet and swung its tail. Amber cast Freedom of Movement to allow Roland to escape, and the dragon was soon slain.

As the party headed up the tunnels into the skull mountain, they came upon the strange black fire again. This time, two tall, gaunt giants stood next to the fire, and one of them held Saureya above it, saying "tell us the secret of the smoking eye!" Garlen ducked under the legs of the nearest giant, distracting it as Rain stabbed it repeatedly. Grokk leaped at the giant, but his axe glanced off of its armor. Amber created a cube of stone encasing the dangerous black fire, and the giants began their attack. One swung fiercely right over Garlen's head, and another swung feebly at Rain as his muscles refused to cooperate. A third stepped out from the shadows and hit Horkina with his massive morningstar. Roland responded with a Wrathful Castigation and then burned the near-dead giant. The party quickly surrounded the last standing giant and cut into it mightily, while Saureya cast Invisibility on Rain. The giant managed to hit Garlen with a powerful blow, but the party quickly prevailed.

In the room of the Test of Sacrifice, the party discovered two bodies -- those of Kaurophon and the black dragon Vorkaire. Saureya told of a third creature, a floating beast with several eyes that the party immediately suspected was a beholder. Amber especially suspected this because her Wall of Stone had been carefully disintegrated, and beholders are capable of such actions. Saureya pointed the party toward where he'd last seen the creature, and they headed off to find a long vertical tunnel. Amber surrounded herself with an Antimagic Field as the party descended into the lair. Garlen spotted a Glabrezu in a spherical chamber, and used Lion's Charge to attack and slay it (dealing 226 damage.) Rain and Horkina moved next to Garlen as a trio of Vrocks moved to attack, striking unsuccessfully. A bolt of lightning from Roland and some attacks from Rain, Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen left the Vrocks lying in a heap on the floor.

The party descended another level, where they encountered a pair of Blood Fiends. Grokk and Garlen stood ready as the first one approached, and they worked with Rain to bring it down quickly. Horkina charged the second, smashing into it with her holy axe and leaving it vulnerable as Roland blasted it. A notebook in this room detailed a careful plot to planeshift near the party, charm Grokk and Horkina with a pair of Blood Fiends, and kill Roland. This had clearly been Kaurophon's doing, but the details in the notebook suggested a more recent familiarity with the party. Suspicion turned to Lord Orbius Vhalantru -- if Kaurophon could be remade, why not the party's beholder nemesis? Down the next tunnel, the party encountered a Nalfeshnee that proved not to be a challenge.

The group moved into a large donut-shaped room with a rough rocky plateau in the middle and two shafts rising out of the ceiling. Two golems that looked like they were made of demon flesh stood ready to defend the area. Grokk, Horkina, Rain, and Garlen surrounded one and beat on it, while Amber experimented to see if her Antimagic Field would have any effect on the other. Roland's Ray of Deanimation and Horkina's Axe dropped the first, while the second took a couple of swings at Amber. Rain made an acrobatic dive to get behind the remaining golem, and then Roland transposed him with Horkina to allow her to attack it. Grokk jumped and smashed right through the golem's back with his axe, reducing it to a pile of worthless demon flesh.

Roland floated beneath one of the tunnels and discovered Vhalantru -- reborn and much larger than before, with a flaming central eye -- approaching from above. He used one of Bigby's famous Hand spells to grab the floating beast. Vhalantru responded by disintegrating the hand and descending into the room, putting Grokk to sleep, turning Garlen to stone, and slowing Rain. His attempts to charm and kill Roland were unsuccessful, in large part due to Roland's Rod of Absorption. Rain jumped on Grokk to wake him up and Horkina climbed onto the roof to attack. Grokk leaped up and cut deep into the beholder's flesh, and then Roland brought it to the ground with Earthbind. Vhalantru's Finger of Death killed Horkina, but his attempts to disintegrate and disarm Grokk failed. Rain and Grokk pounded on the Beholder, and Roland dropped a volley of Acid Stones, slaying Vhalantru once more. Amber dismissed her Antimagic Field and used True Resurrection on Horkina while Roland used Break Enchantment to restore Garlen. Within a few minutes, Vhalantru's corpse disappeared.

The party headed back to the room of the final test, where Vhalantru's body lay alongside Kaurophon and Vorkaire. Roland used a pair of Legend Lore spells to gain information on the Test of the Smoking Eye, determining that these three were his only current rivals and that they would no longer be raised if the geyser was disjoined. He disjoined both the geyser and the dark fire in the room below.

The party reached level 19.

The Shackled City, Day 35 (2007-06-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn

2007-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Amber examined the rune-covered stone egg and discovered it was linked to the power of Merrshaulk, the yuan-ti deity of poison and somnolence. Roland noted that the runes had spell effects built into them, including certain energy resistances and a teleportation effect. The party briefly wondered if the egg could be salvaged, but a closer examination revealed it was made of unobtainium, a highly volatile type of stone. Amber cast a spell of Stone Shape to put a large crack in the center of the egg, and was rewarded with a shower of acid that had been contained inside the massive structure.

The party headed to the east, discovering a pair of iron portullises and a long hallway filled with yuan-ti murals. Three murals in a small room off to the side had magical auras on them. Grokk discovered one of them provided healing, so he touched it until his wounds were healed. Rain used another mural's magic to turn invisible and began to explore a room with several pillars. Roland, also invisible, flew a short distance behind, while Garlen used a spell to morph into Centaur form and followed the two. Rain's presence set off a hissing snake illusion, probably set up as a sentinel to warn the occupants of a nearby room. As Garlen approached one of the pillars, an axe swung at him from inside it. He realized the pillar was an illusion, and a strange iron-plated orc (a half-iron golem) stood inside. Garlen smacked the golem with his swords and Grokk broke through its armor plating with his axe. Roland used a ray of deanimation to destroy it, and found himself under attack from another golem inside another illusory pillar. Grokk's axe kept bouncing off of the golem's iron plating, and the golem landed several more strikes on Roland. Finally, Grokk and Horkina combined to break the golem into little pieces of metal and orc.

Roland discovered a magical portal created by a spell of Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, and suspected a Cagewright wizard was resting in the interdimensional space therein. Grokk, Horkina, Rain, and Garlen piled into the room near the portal, while Roland and Amber stood outside with a clear line of sight into the room. Roland dispelled the mansion, and a Shadar-kai and two Death Slaadi appeared in the room. Garlen, in his bulky modified form, landed a series of highly effective blows, killing the Shadar-kai and a Slaad. Grokk smacked the other Slaad once and Amber used a Holy Smite to injure it further. In the chaos, the Slaad didn't realize Rain was invisible and standing right behind it, ready to strike at its vital organs with a series of carefully aimed stabs. Needless to say, the battle was quickly ended.

Rain regained invisibility from the previous mural and led the party onward. He noticed a large statue of a long-dead yuan-ti prophet, and also noticed the statue was on a rotating base. Grokk grabbed the statue and spun it around, which caused a segment of wall to lift upward revealing a Crystal Snake that glowed with a radiant light. Rain slipped behind the snake, but found his weapons couldn't break through its tough skin. Grokk began pounding on it as the rest of the party spread out, heeding Roland's warning that such a construct would likely explode when destroyed. The snake began resonating with loud vibrations and released a beam of light at Grokk, and moments later, a badger charged at Roland from the opposite room and tried to bite him. A strange man wearing a cloak made of human skin stepped from behind a pillar and attacked Percy, yelling out threats against Roland and saying that "Occipitus is mine!" Rain made his way across the battlefield, while Grokk absorbed a minor snakebite as he moved to a more advantageous position. Grokk and Horkina pounded away at the snake while Percy, Rain, and Sam (in Marut form) struck at the crazy Cagewright from all directions. ("Who cares about the badger?" "Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!" - Scott "To be fair, they are rather musky..." - Jeremy) Roland destroyed his challenger with a highly enhanced orb of fire. The snake continued to shoot beams of light at Grokk and the badger kept biting at Roland. Grokk's next blow destroyed the snake, which exploded in a burst of light that injured him and Horkina. Rain, Percy, and Sam finished off the badger quickly.

As Roland looked away from the Badger, he noticed a scrying sensor appearing next to Horkina. Within moments, five figures faded into view. Four of them were large, purple-skinned four-armed beasts -- Blood Fiends, a sort of vampire-demon mix. The party immediately recognized the fifth figure, Kaurophon. His left eye now carried the same sort of flame as Roland's, and he called out "the eye sees your doom, oh most impotent pretender to the throne of Occipitus!" Two Blood Fiends surrounded Roland and began attacking him, draining his energy (one negative level). The other two attempted to dominate Grokk and Horkina, without any success. Grokk attacked the one nearest to him, cutting it down with several strong blows, while Horkina destroyed the one next to her, Amber, and Roland. Roland set off a Contingency spell that would allow him to disrupt Kaurophon's next cast, and summoned a huge hand to grab and crush the enemy sorcerer. Garlen jumped and rolled behind one of the Blood Fiends, stabbing at it as he passed. Amber's Mass Heal spell restored the party to full health and left the two remaining fiends nearly dead. Rain's Holy Rapier finished one off, while Grokk resisted the drain attempts from the other and finished it off with a swing of his axe. Percy, Sam, Rain, and Roland combined to make Kaurophon die yet again, and Amber restored Grokk's constitution and Roland's level with the help of some diamond powder Horkina had procured via the "smash" method.

The party searched the rest of the complex and was preparing to transport Kaurophon's corpse back to Cauldron for magical interrogation when the body disappeared. Roland was able to Scry on it, and found that Kaurophon's body was now in the "eye" chamber in the skull-shaped mountain on Occipitus. The stone barrier that had sealed off the chamber had been disintegrated from the inside. The party made a quick stop by an interplanar store to re-equip, and Amber used a Divination to try to determine what had been behind Kaurophon's return. The answer was thus:

Broken cages cracked the cage
Madness seeks its freedom
Broken plans renewed by madness
'til madness' flame is doused

Amber and Rain reached level 18.

The Shackled City, Day 34 (2007-05-26, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn

2007-06-02T13:03:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Back in Cauldron, Roland spent a few days looking through the notes he'd captured from various Cagewrights, and was able to identify the remaining members of that society: Ssythar Nahazir, a yuan-ti sorcerer; Alurad Sorizan, a human fighter/blackguard; Xokek, a shadar-kai wizard; Kyan Winterstrike, an elven arcane archer; Viirdran Daraqor, a drow fighter/evoker; and Embril Aloustinai, a mystic theurge and cleric of Nerull who had masqueraded as a cleric of Wee Jas. He also identified the Cagewright's secondary base of operations as Shatterhorn, the former base of the area's yuan-ti.

As the party approached the split spire of Shatterhorn, several arrows flew out of the fog and struck Amber. The arrows had been fired by a group of orcs riding on the backs of Spider Eaters. Garlen, Grokk, and Horkina jumped on top of a ruined wall and fired back while Roland flew to the side and fired a lightning bolt and Sam morphed into a larger dragon. The Spider Eaters took heavy damage from multiple sources and fell dead to the ground, taking their riders with them. Most of the orcs died on impact, but Amber chased the living one and scared it into surrender. Suddenly a pair of will'o'wisps started shocking Roland and Sam, touching them with bursts of electricity. Rain kept sneaking along the ground, and yelled out as he spotted a giant and a pair of wolves. Grokk leaped off of the wall into melee with the giant, taking a heavy blow from the enemy greatsword. Rain tumbled into flanking position and jabbed the giant while Garlen made an acrobatic leap and stabbed a wolf right in the tail. Grokk let loose with a furious attack, dropping the previously healthy giant (dealing over 300 HP damage!) Horkina and Rain finished off the wolves while Roland continued fighting the will'o'wisps. Horkina got back on the wall and slashed through one floating ball of electricity, so the other turned invisible and began to retreat. Amber's invisibility purge brought the creature back into focus, and Garlen and Grokk flew into melee and finished it off. Amber got some information from the disoriented orc, and then took his stuff and sent him away.

The party walked through an illusory wall and down a short tunnel into a wide room with an altar and several pillars. Rain jumped onto the altar while Garlen tumbled past, flanking and slaughtering the yuan-ti sorcerer who was standing just behind it. A yuan-ti mohrg tried to paralyze Rain, but he was able to resist its power. Amber's sunbeam had little effect, but Grokk jumped over the altar and smashed the undead thing. Rain used his speed-enhanced weapons to stab the mohrg over and over again until it dropped. He took a few steps into the next room and spotted a stone arm clutching a ring. As he touched it, four nearby pillars disintegrated, revealing medusas inside. Rain sneak-attacked one to death. Horkina barely saved against a petrifying gaze, and responded by killing the offending medusa. Roland turned to stone, and Amber responded by casting an Antimagic Field and standing in the middle of the group. Grokk and Rain made quick work of the now-neutered medusas, and Amber restored Roland to human form. Meanwhile, the floor dropped out from under Rain, who barely jumped away in time to avoid falling. A voice swore in Abyssal from beyond a nearby wall. Garlen noticed some thin plaster and started poking holes, and Grokk ran right through the wall to engage the demodand beyond. Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen finished off the beast, and the party finally took a deep breath and relaxed.

Rain discovered Wail of the Banshee traps on several burial urns, so the party got some distance and Percy smashed each of the urns to bits. The party gathered up some treasure and kept moving. Rain discovered a room hidden behind a stone block. Grokk pushed the block to the side, solving the world's easiest sliding block puzzle and revealing a few magical scrolls. In another passageway, a pair of stone blocks slid out from the walls, nearly crushing Rain. Horkina, with her Maul of the Titans, demonstrated an alternate solution to this sliding block puzzle.

The party came into a room where a large, six-armed creature stood over a woman lying on a black slab. Garlen and Rain jumped over the slab and attacked the Spell Weaver, who summoned a giant hand to squish Rain. A few shadows came out from hiding in the corners and one drained Rain's strength. Grokk jumped up on the slab and cut the Spell Weaver down, and then shrugged off a strange mental compulsion. Roland realized the woman on the table was Embril Aloustinai, and she was holding a gem that would allow her to possess someone else's body. Horkina clobbered the woman and her gem while Roland used his own summoned hand to grasp a Shadow. Amber's mass healing spell injured the group of undead and healed the party, and Rain and Grokk each managed to get an attack through on the incorporeal creatures, finishing the last two off.

Horkina headed down a ladder and smashed the plaster walls away from its base. The surrounding room had a huge egg-shaped statue in the middle. A drow cast haste on the room's occupants and moved into an attack position. Grokk jumped down through the hole and attacked the drow while Garlen flew into a rage and attacked a demodand. A woman fired several arrows at Grokk while Horkina engaged the drow in melee combat. Amber spoke out a Holy Word and banished the demodands, paralyzing the two Cagewrights in the process. Rain and Grokk finished the pair off with a couple of quick blows.

Roland, Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen reached level 18.

The Shackled City, Day 33 (2007-05-19, 6:30 PM), Chapter 10.5: Two Wrongs

2007-06-02T13:02:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Tom (Garlen, Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Catherine

After the party was sure the area was secure, Horkina fed a gold piece into a gambling machine in the lounge. A hundred mechanical rats began fighting for the coin. One of the rats was colored gold, but this special rat did not succeed in retrieving the coin. While this was going on, Rain started unlocking doors in an obvious training area. Each lock was a little bit more difficult than the last, and each had a little bit more treasure behind it than the last. After nearly a dozen doors, he broke a lockpick and jammed the lock, so Horkina broke the door open and Rain continued on. In one of the final areas, he picked up a valuable silver beer stein, which he kept. Meanwhile, Percy walked through a series of trip wires, setting off some fairly simple traps. He shrugged off the damage, but stopped when Roland discovered a pit. Garlen jumped over the pit and Percy climbed inside and acted as a bridge for Rain. Just beyond the pit was a simple pressure plate that would have triggered a falling block, but Rain was able to wedge it in the off position. The next room's floor was one big pressure plate, so Rain and Garlen flew over it and unlocked the final door, where Rain picked up a luckstone.

Elsewhere in the complex, the party encountered a gnome who was working with a huge pile of laundry. He was sent away with the same stern warning: find somebody less creepy to work for. The party also found a bar with fairly low-quality alcohol. Rain tested out his new mug and Horkina took a bottle with her.

The party moved back to the pit with the animated suit of armor. Garlen and Rain jumped into the pit behind the armor, trying to draw its attention and disrupt its defense, while Horkina jumped in front of it and attacked. Grokk stood and cheered. The armor and the Horkina exchanged blows, with Horkina's attacks impressing Rain and Garlen so much they lost their rhythm and couldn't disrupt the armor's attacks. Grokk moved around the stands to get a better view. After a few more swings, Horkina finally crushed the armor and handed its magical axe to Grokk. This particular blackmetal axe, crafted in Naurim, would deal significantly more damage than expected on critical hits. As the party prepared to move on, Amber cast gentle repose on the dead dwarf in the bottom of the pit and sent Redtail flying home.

Grokk pulled out a crowbar and pried open the door leading out of the pit. The cages in the next room were obviously set up to hold captured adventurers. Several had antimagic fields in place, and all of them had steel nets high overhead. The party later learned that captured adventurers' gear would be left in these nets, tantalizingly out of reach.

Grokk pried open another door leading to a small room with two huge stone golems. The golems did not respond to the party immediately. Garlen and Rain tumbled to the middle of the room and began poking and prodding one golem. Both turned their attention fully on Garlen, smashing him with their huge arms. Grokk flew into a rage and leaped at the near enemy, smashing it with his axe. Roland transposed Garlen and Horkina's positions, and Horkina landed a series of powerful hits that cut chunks off of the construct. Rain tumbled behind the second golem and Amber set off the fire seeds he was holding, while Garlen pulled out admantine arrows and began firing from a distance. Amber, still invisible, healed Garlen. One golem began attacking Roland while the other turned to attack Rain, and both of the party members took severe injuries. Grokk and Horkina dropped the golems with their next few swings. Roland examined the golems' targeting priorities: (1) attack any creature that casts a spell, (2) attack unarmored targets, (3) attack the target the other golem has selected, and (4) defend yourself. Obviously Garlen's hidden armor made him the primary target when the Golems first attacked.

Roland noticed an illusory wall behind the golem remains, next to an obvious door. Rain was able to determine the door was not actually unlockable, but that there was a locked door behind the illusory wall. The next hallway led to an obviously painted door, which Horkina converted into some obviously painted rubble. The party began to tire of the silly jokes. ("We laughed, we cried, we swung, you died." - Jeremy.) Opposite the next set of doors was a black button, presently in the "in" position. Percy leaned up against the button to keep it from popping out, in case it was the trigger mechanism for something. Rain carefully opened the next door, revealing a large room with a large plus-shaped stone wall in the middle and smaller stone walls sheltering the corners.

Rain and Garlen sneaked quietly inside while Horkina moved into the nearest corner, where she discovered a mechanism she telepathically informed the others about. Three small buttons faced the three other corners of the room, and one larger button sat in the middle of the assembly. Suddenly an arrow flew at Rain's head, and he noticed an enemy hiding in another corner. Grokk moved to engage the enemy, but the rogue tumbled behind a pillar and pushed a button, disappearing. Horkina pressed another button and discovered she'd teleported across the room. Garlen searched one corner for the enemy rogue while Roland pushed a button to teleport to the remaining corner. There, the enemy was waiting, and was able to resist Roland's spell. Rain teleported in behind the enemy, who pushed the large central button, causing the room to drop like a large elevator.

As the floor fell, the central stone wall extended to divide the room into four quadrants, with arrow slits facing into each one from the outside. Garlen pushed one of the other buttons and found it had been deactivated. Amber stoneshaped a hole from the chamber she and Garlen were in into the chamber Rain and Roland were in. Horkina began smashing down the wall between her and Grokk, while Percy helped move rubble out of the way. Roland cast a Wrathful Castigation to disable the enemy rogue while Rain began checking a nearby door for traps. Suddenly a hail of arrows came flying at Grokk, but his uncanny ability to dodge and his ability to absorb damage allowed him to shrug off what would have been a devastating attack. Grokk fired his own flaming arrows back at his assailants, striking one of them solidly. Garlen and Amber crawled through to gather up with Rain and Roland, and Horkina kept tunneling toward Grokk. Roland had Garlen, Rain, and Amber gather up and cast Dimension Door to move them into Grokk's chamber, and Rain quickly unlocked the door into the hallway that circled all four chambers.

The enemies began running and the party gave chase. Amber's Sound Burst stunned a pair, while Garlen began chasing the third in the other direction. Horkina finished tunneling through. Rain's arrows and Grokk's leaping attack dropped the two Amber had stunned. Roland moved to cut off the exit from the circling hallway, holding a charge of Combust ready to ignite the remaining enemy. Garlen taunted the fleeing foe and fired a few arrows at him, and Grokk, Horkina, and Rain positioned themselves near Roland to block the enemy's escape. The gnome stepped around the corner, where Roland stood waiting to light him on fire. The now-burning gnome rolled past, but Grokk came leaping over Horkina to land the final blow.

Rain led the way to the south, where the party found another small lounge. Garlen picked up a set of dice and started playing a game. Rain opened a door and found a torture chamber, with a dwarf whose fingers had been cut off. The dwarf asked if his brother Nayin had sent the party, and then realized Grokk was wielding Nayin's axe. Rain freed the dwarf and Amber healed him as much as she could, assuring him that his brother would be raised as soon as possible. The dwarf waited in the lounge as the party continued moving. Roland used a few more charges from his wands to make Grokk and Horkina invisible again, and to give them the ability to see invisible as well.

As the hallway split, a sign declared "no admittance to noiseys." Sam the Pseudodragon sensed a large beast just a few yards away, and snuck around the corner to see the largest Gorgon he'd ever seen. The party decided to leave the beast behind for the moment, since it couldn't fit through the door. The other branch of the hallway led to a fire-filled room with pillars spaced throughout. Fire would wash across the room from the north, then east, then south, then west. Roland cast Mass Resist Fire while the whole party examined the pattern. Soon it became apparent that one could use the pillars for shelter, running to specific points and then waiting for the fire to change direction before moving onward. Roland cast Silence on Grokk, who carried Garlen across with him.

As Grokk and Garlen exited the chamber, a bolt of lightning came flying at them from inside a large room with pillars and alcoves throughout. Garlen ducked away, but Grokk took the full force of the shock. A gnome fired an arrow from his hiding spot around the corner, but Garlen deftly avoided it and attacked. Rain, still protected from fire by Amber's earlier spell that had allowed him to safely use fireseeds, ran through the room to help protect his friends. Grokk moved forward, narrowly avoiding falling into a pit, and then jumped over to solid floor beyond. When he entered the large room, he took damage from a Forbiddance spell. Horkina, Roland, and Amber ran through the fire, getting somewhat singed, while the enemy engaging Garlen withdrew deeper into the room.

Amber healed the party while Roland dispelled the Forbiddance effect. Garlen moved into the room toward the left past a strange button on the wall and Horkina moved to the right. Rain moved toward the center while Grokk kept moving left. A bolt of lightning narrowly missed Garlen but struck Amber. Garlen saw a gnome pull the lever that set off the lightning bolt, and stabbed him in the arm. Roland's Locate Creature spell made him suspect Heppenfod was near the back of the room just to the right of the central passage, so he cast a spell of Glitterdust in that area, revealing an invisible -- and now blind -- gnome. Rain charged at Heppenfod and struck him with Sventerant, taking off his head. Garlen finished off his opponent with a flurry of stabs as the ghost of Taraxartax materialized and dissipated.

A thorough examination of the room uncovered several levers and buttons. The levers fired lightning and fireballs around the room, while the buttons cast healing spells and dispel magic. The party healed up and then headed back toward the Gorgon. Roland fired a meteor swarm at the beast while Amber used an Earthquake to drop the ceiling on its head. Rain slipped around the back way and carefully disabled the Symbol of Insanity on the following door, turning it into a Symbol of Inanity. He and Garlen started bantering meaninglessly as they opened the locked vault and gathered up a substantial amount of treasure, including a jeweled shield with a family crest they returned to the dwarf in the lounge.

Amber and Rain reached level 17.

The Shackled City, Day 32 (2007-05-12, 6:30 PM), Chapter 10.5: Two Wrongs

2007-05-19T14:29:00.001-07:00

Wherein two dreams are fulfilled, and an elite criminal is outclassed

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Tom (Garlen, Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Catherine

Now that the Tree of Shackled Souls had released all of its energy, it was decided that the tree must be destroyed. Horkina, wielding her famous Maul, smashed pieces of adamantine and mithral from the core of the tree, collapsing its main structure in under a minute. The party headed back to the surface with large amounts of treasure and thirteen dead shackleborn in tow. Returning to the surface, they found that Cauldron's southeast corner had collapsed and turned into drainage for the lake, probably due to the final quake as the Tree released the last of its energy. Amber buried the shackleborn at her temple and the party set out to re-equip and to rebuild the town. Roland laid claim to a bit of land that stood as an island in the southeast, and he and Amber spent several days using Stoneshape to help rebuild the town and to create a wizards tower. Garlen trained Rain to be a ranger, especially focusing on anti-dragon tactics and techniques.

One day, Amber and Roland were watching as various city workers cleared away rubble. Suddenly a ghostly red dragon hand reached out from inside the stone and touched a worker, who shriveled and died from what Roland surmised was an energy drain. Amber used Sending to call the party to the area. Percy led the way with a Chain of Eyes spell allowing Roland to use him like a mobile camera. The party followed into a wide, dusty hallway. Rain heard a faint moaning in Draconic: "My Gold." Amber cast a silence spell on Horkina, who bashed open a wide stone door with her maul.

Inside was a must unusual sight: the skeleton of a red dragon named Taraxartax was laid across the stone floor. Next to it was a sword buried to the hilt in a mound of stone, surrounded by an antimagic field. Rain and Garlen searched the rest of the room and Grokk stepped up next to the sword. Rain heard the Draconic words "kill the gnome", and then a ghostly red dragon materialized. Grokk stepped into the antimagic field and pulled with all of his might, tearing the sword from the block of stone. Garlen fired his bow while Rain and Horkina attacked the dragon from flanking positions. Amber tried to use a Heal spell on the ghostly dragon, but it resisted. Roland's ball lightning did a large amount of damage to the dragon-ghost, but it responded with a breath that drained Amber's strength, dexterity, and constitution, and called out "Sventerant" while circling around the room. Grokk leaped up and swung the sword at the dragon, forgetting that it's a bit shorter than the axe he normally wields. A pair of arrows from Garlen and a charging power attack from Horkina finally took the creature down.

Roland identified the rune-covered sword as Sventerant (a corrupted form of the draconic "gnome slayer"), a vorpal rune-keyed sword designed for the specific task of killing a particular gnome. Its first successful hit against the gnome would automatically result in its vorpal power being activated, after which time its runes would dischare their magic. Rain fell to the ground weeping for joy -- he finally had his vorpal sword, and Garlen had even taught him how to use longswords just days ago! An inscription on the sword read "But one task defines your mold: all my gold for all my gold."

Rain went around town showing his shiny sword to all the ladies, and asking questions about its origin. Eventually he was pointed to an old elven bard named Aaron who would sing the tale of the sword and Taraxartax. When the party arrived to hear the tale, Aaron exclaimed "you have the sword!" Rain responded with glee, "I have the sword!" Grokk said "yes, yes, he has the sword, and we've all heard it." Rain handed Aaron a few gold pieces and he burst into extremely bad poetry telling the tale of the sword. In short, the red dragon Taraxartax, rival to Hookface, had been robbed by a gnome named Bertilook and left with a single gold piece. The dragon spent the next fifty years gathering gold, and paid it all for a special sword and a highly-trained assassin. Bertles and a spellcasting friend named Muckles showed up and killed the dragon, and were able to embed the sword in a block of stone before the assassin could retrieve it and kill them. There the sword remained for seventy years, until the party recovered it.

Roland recalled reading of Bertles, who also operated under the name Kroonk. Artus Shemwick heard the gnome disappeared 70 years ago, and agreed to search for information on him over the next few days. In the mean time, Roland attempted to scry, and saw an image of the gnome sitting at a table with a bunch of kids celebrating a birthday. The gnome stood up, beheaded a child, and held his head up to the scrying sensor with a smile. The image froze at that moment -- an obvious False Vision. The party attempted to use the scrying lattices in Kurran-Kural to see if the false vision would run out, but every few hours it would just change to another equally disturbing image. The party headed back to Cauldron, where Roland tried a spell of Locate Creature without success.

That night, Rain and Grokk headed for the bar. Garlen followed to keep an eye on Rain and his fancy new sword, but Horkina got sick of Rain's not-so-smooth flirting with all the ladies and went home. About midnight, a voice called out in Draconic "My gold!" A ghostly red dragon hand reached through the wall and narrowly missed Rain. Garlen, Rain, Grokk, and all of the bar patrons headed outside, and the ghostly dragon followed Rain. Garlen ran at full speed to wake Roland and Horkina, while the others hurried quickly behind, easily outpacing the dragon. The party gathered on the street and began raining arrows and magic missiles at the dragon, who continued moving directly toward Rain and his sword. A delayed blast iceball from Roland passed right through the dragon, but eventually enough arrows hit the beast in enough places to make it dissipate.

In the morning, Artus returned and let the party know what he'd discovered: the gnome was now based near Sasserine, under the name Heppenfod, and there was a fifty thousand gold piece reward for his head due to his consistant and brutal crimes. His fortress location was well-known, but none had successfully assaulted it. The party teleported to Sasserine and began walking toward his fortress, just a few feet off the road, with Garlen stealthily leading the way. Garlen noticed a group of six gnomes hiding near the road, no doubt preparing to rob a group of commoners. He used the telepathic bond Roland had given the party to warn everyone, and then used a lion's charge to attack and kill two of the six. Rain jabbed a third with his rapier, and Amber used Greater Command to make the remaining three fall on the ground. Garlen walked across the road and greeted the travelers: "don't mind me, I'm just here to kill the guys who were about to rob you." He and Rain finished off the criminals and handed their gold to the travelers, as a sort of reverse-robbery.

Another mile through the forest, and the party found the path leading to their destination. Soon glowing illusory signs began to point the way to "Heppenfod's Playground". The path led directly to a door -- or, what looked like a door, but Roland could tell was clearly an illusion. He used a wand to make most of the party invisible, and then they scouted around the building. There were three other doors and no windows of note. The party decided to create a door where the illusion was, so Horkina got out her Maul and punched a nice opening in the wall. This led to a basically empty room with no doors, so Horkina created another door to the south. This led to a room where a nymph had been held captive for a number of years, a slave to the evil gnome's every whim, so the party set her free.

Rain peeked out through another door and noticed a guard behind a slightly-open door watching a set of double doors to the outside. Garlen snuck around through a long hallway and yanked that door open just as Rain pulled the opposite door open, and the guard went down in a hail of arrows. On the wall right next to him was a large red button, no doubt keyed to some sort of alarm spell. The party kept moving sneakily to the south, stealing various treasures from a large dining room and a living room. One room led to a large arena with a deep pit, where an animated suit of armor stood over a dead dwarf whose beaten corpse bore the marks of the blackrock clan. A set of rooms to the west held treasures and trophies, including several illusion scrolls. When the party located Heppenfod's shower, Garlen decided to pee on his embroidered towels.

The party came to a spiral staircase leading up and down a tower. Garlen was leading the way up the stairs, but Rain bluffed him into looking behind and then pushed past. At the top of the stairs, a huge stone golem stood guard. Horkina and Grokk pounded on it while Garlen and Rain provided flanking, and it went down fairly quickly. Amber healed Horkina from the wounds she took. The party checked the bottom of the stairs, but decided not to work on the bottom floor of the complex until the main area was secured.

Three gnomes stood in a kitchen area working on preparing a large meal. Garlen and Rain tumbled to block two exits while Percy blocked the third, and the cooks quickly surrendered. Garlen and Grokk escorted them out and told them to "work for someone less creepy", sending them on their way toward Sasserine. The party moved into a very large dining room and positioned themselves around the eastern doorways while Garlen looked in two small rooms to the west. A gnome in one of the rooms hit a big red button to set off an alarm before Garlen was able to drop him. A group of enemies nearby quickly took cover and hid. Grokk, Rain, and Garlen combined to take one down with their arrows and then Roland flew into his room and fired a magic missile at the next enemy he saw. Several gnomes fired sneak attacks at Roland, but his magical protections meant his wounds were only minimal. Grokk's axe and an empowered fireball dropped the remaining mooks in the area.

The Shackled City, Day 31 (2007-05-04, 6:30 PM), Chapter 10: Thirteen Cages

2007-05-19T14:28:00.002-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber -- and her hippogriff Redtail)
Tony (Roland -- and his familiar Sam and shield guardian Percy)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party headed to the south, into a massive cavern with a huge lava pool and islands in the middle. A huge and ornate tapestry hung on the northeast wall. Roland's wand provided Grokk and Horkina with the ability to fly, while Rain and Garlen used their armor's magical flight ability. As the party headed for a large segment of land near the tapestry, a huge pyroclastic dragon emerged from underneath the lava. His voice boomed out "who are you, and why are you in my lair?" Roland explained that we were here looking for the Cagewrights. Rain peeked behind the tapestry and saw the dragon's hoard, but the dragon was perceptive enough to notice Rain's actions, and responded by breathing a disintegration ray. (Jeremy's response: "I must compliment you on having found the most efficient way to start the fight.")

Rain and Garlen tumbled up to the dragon and began stabbing it in all its sensitive places, and Horkina flew in and smashed it with her axe. The dragon was very displeased with Rain, biting and clawing him until he fell. It finished him off with a swing of the tail. Amber used a pair of Moon Bolts to weaken the dragon to make it less dangerous in melee, and Roland used a spell to make it dizzy. After Grokk hit it with a powerful blow, it breathed a blast of disintegration that destroyed both Amber and Redtail. A few more stabs from Garlen and a round of hailstones from Roland finally dropped the foe, but this was a costly victory.

Roland decided to use his wish to resurrect Amber so that she could resurrect Rain. Amber swept up the remaining ashes from Redtail and mourned his passing, and also mourned the likely demise of Cauldron now that Roland's wish had been used up. Rain was fairly upset and started moving recklessly in combat. The party approached a group of Haraknin to the south and Rain charged right into the fray, leaping up onto a stone table in the middle of the group. Horkina and Grokk's axes did most of the slaying, but Rain's stabs provided him with much needed outlet.

The party found one room with a lava pool and several stepping stones at the entrance. A shady-looking human wielding a rapier was training with a tiefling woman covered in tattoos. Amber used Hold Person to freeze the man, and Rain stabbed him multiple times. Grokk and Horkina surrounded the woman and attacked her, but she stepped away and became invisible. Amber tried to dispel her invisibility, but the woman attacked and interrupted her spell. Grokk bashed the woman with his axe and Roland fired a magic missile, but it was Horkina's bow that dealt the death blow.

Moving onward and eastward, the party found several demodands. Garlen and Grokk killed a farastu while Amber used her Light of Venya to wound another. Roland's magic missile and Percy and Rain's flanking made a big Shator demodand cry out in pain, but it was Garlen's string of critical hits that brought the vile creature to its end. Rain and Horkina searched out another farastu that had gone invisible, dropping it with a pair of well-placed blows.

To the east was the Tree of Shackled Souls. A big Shator demodand named Dyr'ryd stood alongside it as it continued to supply energy to form the portal. Its main face asked the party "what are you doing here" while its smaller, cancerous face cackled. Rain didn't want to give this Cagewright any more time, so he charged in with rapier ready. Dyr'ryd stepped back and cut into Rain with his heavily enchanted guisarme. Grokk moved to flank and Amber gave the party a powerful magical protection, but Roland's maximized disintegrate spell provided the party with all the protection they needed by destroying the enemy. Percy placed the dispersal collar around the tree and it began to release its energy, and the party stood guard (looking away to avoid going blind) until the Tree of Shackled Souls finally released the last of its energy.

The party moved north to try to find the remaining Cagewrights, to be sure the ritual would not be restarted. A cleric of Adimarchus and another Shator demodand stood near a small altar and attempted to put up a fight, but a Holy Word from Amber banished the outsider, and a critical blow from Grokk ended the cleric's miserable existance. Further to the north, the party encountered a Vecna-worshipping cleric hiding in a strange garden of rock-and-lava statues, but she didn't live long enough to inflict any serious injuries on any of the party members. To the north and east, the party found a quasit and a man wearing robes. Rain attacked the man while Garlen engaged in one of his favorite activities, attacking the evil outsider. The quasit responded with a Cone of Cold, which was trumped by Amber's Lucent Lance. The man flew upward through the ceiling, so Horkina, still able to fly from before, followed. She found the man laying in a small chamber beyond an illusory ceiling, and a blow from her axe ended the man's existance.

Further to the west, the party found the area where the Haraknin and their leader, Ti'irok Coalfire, were staged. The party lined up and yelled out insults, hoping to draw the enemies into the open. As nearly a dozen Haraknin came into view, Amber dropped a Sunburst in their midst, blinding several of them. Grokk, Horkina, Rain, and Garlen fired off a string of arrows, thinning the Haraknin ranks. A fire giant stepped into the middle of the Haraknin pack and stood ready to fight any who approached. Roland used chain frost to further weaken the giant and his guardians, and Garlen's bow and Amber's sunbeam took out the front line. Rain and Horkina moved to flank and attack the giant, wounding him severely, while Grokk continued cutting through the Haraknin. Ti'irok managed to land a decent blow with his greatsword, but an iceball from Roland, a Holy Smite from Amber, and kidney surgery from Rain finished off the big giant.

Amber and Rain reached level 16 again. The rest of the party reached level 17.

The Shackled City, Day 30 (2007-04-27, 6:30 PM), Chapter 10: Thirteen Cages

2007-05-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party rested alongside the huge group of refugees to the west of Cauldron. In the morning, James set out with Amber's followers to make sure the refugees were all cared for. Amber cast a spell of Find the Path to guide the party through the tunnels to the Fiery Sanctum. As the party moved deep through the tunnels, they came upon a boiling lake. A pair of creatures that looked to be made of green and violet smoke moved to engulf Garlen and Rain, who both resisted their powerful energy drains. "Team Rogue" smacked the beasts, and a magic missile from Roland and a leap attack from Grokk finished them off. Further down, the passage was filled with foul-smelling, poisonous air. Roland wondered if he could use water breathing with a decanter of endless water, while Amber suggested the party should use the 10 minutes of fresh air available in a bag of holding. Eventually the party just ran through the noxious air, resulting in some coughing but not much else. A bit further on, the ground began to lurch. Roland suspected this wasn't due to a quake, but due to the presence of an earth elemental. Horkina moved forward and smashed the ground with her maul, drawing the attention of a pair of the earth creatures. Horkina and Grokk clobbered them while Rain and Garlen provided flanking, and a blade barrier from Amber and a pair of magic missiles from Roland provided enough to finish them off.

When the party reached the main gate, Roland noticed a pair of auras from an Alarm and a Disintegrate trap. He dispelled the alarm, and then Rain very carefully disarmed the disintegrate mechanism with some magical assistance from Amber. Just inside the main hallway, Rain discovered a secret door carved into the stone. He opened the door quietly, and Rain and Garlen snuck up on a minotaur woman who had been polishing her falchion. A few quick stabs to her vital organs, along with a magic missile, dropped her before she could react. Roland surmised this woman was Gau Kleeoch, one of the Cagewrights, partly from the small cage she was wearing as a necklace.

Rain discovered several more secret doors, including a thin stone wall concealing another hallway. Horkina crushed the wall and the party moved through to the south. A pair of kelubar demodands waited in the room beyond. Amber's Holy Smite blinded one of them while Rain and Garlen did the sneaky-poke thing and Horkina and Grokk did the smashy-axe thing. Roland also fired off a lightning bolt.

After the demodands dropped, Roland sent an arcane eye flying through some narrow tunnels in the wall. He discovered two more rooms with a total of six farastu demodands. The party moved to those rooms, and Rain and Garlen flew quietly over the slimy floors and dropped a farastu. Two others responded by enfeebling the pair, but they kept moving and dropped another with the same flanking tactic. Some lighting from Roland helped finish them off, while Amber's sling bullets bounced harmlessly off of the slimy ground. The other three farastus approached from the next room. Amber blinded one with her magical shield, but another responded by draining her strength to the point where she was no longer able to stand. Horkina, the shield guardian, and Grokk smashed the foul farastus, and the party waited a few minutes to recover lost strength.

Rain discovered yet another hidden passage, and a hidden alcove where a vrock stood sentry. The alcove was hidden by a dark curtain, which Rain pushed aside. Garlen fired off several shots from his bow and Grokk let loose with one swing from his axe, severely wounding the vrock. Another vrock moved into position beside the party and stunned Rain with his screech, but a crushing blow from Horkina and a trio of sonic rays from Roland took it down and left the other vrock severely wounded. Amber finished it off with a sound burst, and the party moved on.

As Roland carefully mapped the party's progress, Garlen and Grokk began to sing: "mapmaker, mapmaker, make me a map! Find me a secret, avoid me a trap!" Rain discovered one such secret leading into a conference room. The massive stone table was built in the shape of the Carcerian Eye. A spell of silence allowed Horkina to smash the table into rubble without risk of alarming the rest of the Cagewrights.

The party continued eastward, where Rain discovered yet another curtain hiding a small room. A small pack of demodands had obviously used the room to torture captured humanoids. Grokk and Garlen each seriously abused a demodand's body with their weapons, and Rain followed it up by dealing out nearly as much punishment as the other two combined, leaving only one enemy standing. Not willing to be showed up, Horkina stepped forward and landed a perfect strike on the big kelubar's head, leaving it within an inch of its life. It resisted Roland's magic missile, but Grokk's axe was not so easy to resist.

Further to the south, the party encountered a woman in fancy robes with a strange hairpiece, wearing a small cage as a necklace. Garlen rolled behind her and Grokk's axe smashed into her, leaving her bloody and battered. She stepped back and tried to harm the party with Horrid Wilting, but it did only minimal damage. Rain finished her off with a quick sneak attack and then searched her room for treasure. Items of interest included her spellbook and a note saying she'd created a failsafe device to shut down the planar junction ritual.

The party doubled back to make sure they'd covered all of the areas to the west before continuing to the east. One room was occupied by a short, almost dwarf-shaped human wearing heavy armor. In the corner of the room was a large pipe organ made mostly out of bones. Rain charged forward and stabbed the man in his throat. Garlen ducked behind him and gave him a little poke, and when he jerked his head in response, he gave Rain another clear shot. The man fell dead on the floor. Rain discovered a complex set of musical notes written on the organ, and he and Garlen tried to play the sequence. After a few tries, Rain succeeded, and the organ opened to reveal a small chamber. The chamber held a shrine to Adimarchus, and Roland felt he could use the room to call upon the power of Adimarchus' former realm of Occipitus to fulfill a single wish.

The Shackled City, Day 29 (2007-04-20, 6:30 PM), Chapter 9: Foundation of Flame

2007-05-19T14:27:00.002-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party took the crazed derro back to headquarters and began to interrogate him. A small tremor hit on the way. The derro resisted the strength of a zone of truth spell, but did not seem to be holding back. He claimed to be allied with the Cagewrights, but indicated he served "chaos" and that he wanted there to be no mayor so that chaos would reign. He tried to draw a map that ended up looking like a dragon, and then added bunny ears and flaming breath and started rambling about burning things. Another tremor shook the town as he named off a few Cagewrights during his insane ramblings. Roland signalled Rain to finish off the derro with a blow to the head.

Amber and Jenya each cast a divination spell to try to understand the tremors, while Roland surmised the volcano was preparing to erupt. Amber asked for the source, and heard this:
"Cages below shake foundations above
drawing the power of flame
the shackled tree and shackled souls
prepare the gate to open"

Jenya asked what should be done about the tremors, and heard:
"Cages below lead to bones above
when the foundation of flame awakens
a bowl of souls becomes first prize
unless the Cauldron is emptied"

It seemed clear the city would need to be evacuated. Since many of the nobles and clergy were gathered along with the leader of the town guard, a plan was quickly hatched. The town would be evacuated in quadrants with the guards getting word out and sending people toward the nearest gate, informing everyone to stay away from the east due to that being the natural direction for lava flow.

The party headed outdoors, where they were quickly met by a large mob. The mob leaders were yelling out "there they are! Those rubble rousers have roused enough trouble!" Roland's spell to calm their emotions failed, but Amber surrounded the group with a stone wall. James spoke to them, reminding them of the evils the party had overcome and the great things they'd done for the city. His words were moving, and the mob quickly calmed. Horkina smashed the stone wall into pieces and sent the citizens on their way with a warning to hurry up and evacuate.

Roland and Garlen suggested that the area closest to the lake should be evacuated first, so the party headed for the lake and split up to circle it more quickly. Because Rary's Telepathic Bond was still active, the two subgroups could coordinate easily. Amber, Rain, and Grokk heard a man yelling at his brother to leave the house. His brother, holding a baby on a high-up balcony, refused to leave -- "we've lived here for so long, we can't give this place up!" Grokk spider-climbed the wall and grabbed the baby, handing her to Amber to take safely to the ground. Grokk lifted the man up and carried him to the ground, admonishing him to get out of town quickly. He said his son was still inside, but by this time, Rain had already located the boy and told him Grokk had some girl scout cookies outside.

Meanwhile, Roland, Horkina, Garlen, and James found a pack of horses (and a few other animals) clogging the street near the Surefoot Livery. The animal handlers had abandoned the place, and the animals were running wild. Garlen got one of the horses to move over to him, but a few dozen others continued to rampage. Roland noticed most of the animals were following one particularly large horse, so Garlen focused his attention on that beast, catching its attention and leading it up the road. The rest of the pack followed. One of the local guards took over, leading the pack out of town.

As the group reassembled at the north end of the lake, a huge beast flew out of the boiling water. This beast was unusual, even for a Morkoth -- it obviously had some fiendish blood. Rain stepped to the shoreline and fired several arrows at the beast, and Garlen rained arrows on the evil outsider, bringing it to a nearly-dead state. Amber dropped a holy smite to finish it off. A group of citizens who had been standing nearby decided this was a sign they really should evacuate, and they began to head out.

The party split up into the same groups and began to evacuate the north quarter of town. Grokk's Group noticed a massive fissure where several civilians had fallen, but none of this group was carrying rope. The fissure walls began to cave in, signalling it would not stay open for long. Amber flew into the fissure and cast a healing spell on most of the civilians, bringing the unconscious ones back to their feet. Rain and Grokk spider-climbed down, with Rain grabbing two small children and Grokk grabbing four children and two adults. They both climbed out of the fissure while Roland hurried to meet the group with some rope. It soon became clear rope wasn't needed. Grokk grabbed on to all but two of the remaining civilians and Roland cast a fly spell on him. He flew upward with the last two clinging to his legs.

Garlen spotted a strange bulge in the ground near a crowded intersection, and realized it was a pocket of explosive gas building up. Roland placed a wall of force to one side of the bulge while Horkina cleared the intersection. A few seconds later, the gas exploded, blowing holes in several nearby buildings but not harming anyone due to the well-placed wall of force.

Rain's group noticed a group of people standing stationary, some stopped in mid-stride, with a look of utter fear on their faces. Amber, from above, could see what had happened -- some lava had filled an intersection and its crust had cooled, but two people had fallen through the shaky crust. Amber cast a large healing spell on everyone in the area. Grokk called out "Grokk help" as he flew in and grabbed hold of a very frightened man. The other civilians waited cautiously as Super Grokk flew each one to safety. Rain pulled out some chalk and marked the ground with warning messages to keep others from falling into the same trap.

When the group came back together, Roland cast another fly spell on Grokk and gave the entire party fire resistance. Heading east, Roland's group came upon a collapsed house. Garlen spotted a man stumbling out of the wreckage and hurried over to hear him say "my family..." just before collapsing. James stepped out into the pile of rubble and cast a healing spell to help anyone who was still buried. Roland, with his knowledge of architecture, guided Horkina and his Shield Guardian as they dug through the rubble and recovered the entire family.

Another tremor sent a huge pile of rubble rolling down the city toward the lake. Six civilians, as well as Grokk, Amber, and Rain, were directly in its path. Grokk flew up and grabbed hold of three people while Amber placed a wall of stone in order to deflect the rubble away from the remaining few. Rain called out for them to run toward him. One of them put his head down and ran a little bit too fast, beyond the edge of the deflecting wall. A beam struck him in the head, but Amber used a Close Wounds spell to keep him alive. Grokk glared at him and said "watch out for crapalanche, dillholes." Horkina, Grokk, and the Shield Guardian used some of the loose debris to build a small walkway over this new rubble pile so that people would still have an escape route.

A large wooden house had just caught fire. Roland flew in to the second floor and found two people who'd fallen unconscious due to the smoke. James cast another mass cure spell to bring everyone inside back to consciousness while Horkina and Garlen searched the bottom floor. Roland sent his people out through a window, where the Shield Guardian lifted them to safely. Horkina dragged two others out while Roland flew to Orak's Bathhouse and retrieved his Decanter of Endless Water, using it to extinguish the flames.

A fire elemental emerged from a nearby fissure. Rain tumbled behind it, and Grokk made a flying leap, smashing into it with his axe. Amber fired a Lucent Lance, but ended up shooting the ground. The fire elemental tried to smash Grokk but inflicted only minor wounds. Grokk continued to pound the fiery figure with his axe, doing so much damage Rain exclaimed "hibbety jibbety!"

As the clouds overhead swirled more and more, Roland realized a portal to Carceri was forming. Already the boundary between the planes was weakening, and a few Farastu demodands had broken through and fallen to the ground. A pack of four stood wounded as half of the party approached. Garlen fired an arrow but did very little damage. One used his ray of enfeeblement on the Shield Guardian, and the pack went invisible and began attacking. Roland used a delayed blast fireball to kill two and seriously damage the others. James made one of the enemies visible again. Garlen used Lion's Charge to slash one into bits. The remaining demodand's Fear spell was wasted on the fear-immune party, and the Shield Guardian finished it off with a smack from its stone hands.

As the last few civilians streamed out of the city, the party gathered back together and followed the group. Rain spotted a huge red dragon which had, at the same moment, spotted the magical equipment the party was carrying. The legendary dragon Hookface began flying straight at the party. Rain, Grokk, Horkina and Garlen fired arrows at the approaching beast. When it got within range, Roland hit it with a Ray of Dizziness and Grokk, still flying, charged it and landed a powerful critical hit directly on its skull. Amber dispelled Hookface's protective spells, and the dragon realized it was time to flee. As it flew away, Grokk smashed its underbelly with his axe. Roland then summoned a storm of hailstones that pummelled the dragon to death.

The party reached level 16.

Roland's backstory

2007-05-19T14:27:00.001-07:00

From the journals of Loremaster Roland Brighteye, Archmage of Cauldron...

Today's attack during the council meeting has me disturbed. We thought we had rooted out most of the Chainwright's lackeys, and were down to dealing directly with them. Where these Derro came from, I haven't a clue. And that is what has me so upset. It reminds me why I am so obsessed with knowledge, and why I'm in Cauldron to begin with...

Lack of knowledge is what started my journey. Not my lack of knowledge, but my father's. Being a bookbinder and scribe in one of the largest cities in the kingdom, you would think he knew just about anything worth knowing. He copied and bound tomes for nobles, merchants, the city government, even the Church of Boccob and several semi-famous wizards. He taught me to read and write, and books quickly became my closest friends. My father began teaching me how to bind books when everything changed.

My father's major competitor was a politician and a follower of the Church of Boccob. He had been researching ancient laws for the Church and the city when he found some obscure law and had my mother arrested. Over the next six months, he went on a campaign to harass my family and ended up having my mother executed for violating a law that no one had observed in almost 300 years. After that, he used his knowledge of magic to drive my father insane and had him thrown in an asylum.

By this time I was old enough to be on my own, so I took what little of my family's fortune was left and enrolled in the Academy. I worked my way through the Academy doing minor "magic" tricks (really just mundane slight of hand tricks) for entertainment. I managed to learn the rudiments of magic at the academy before my father's nemesis turned his attention on me. Within the month, I had to leave town and began my search for knowledge in earnest. I had heard of another Academy in Cauldron and began my journey there.

So after all this, I despise those who use knowledge to destroy others, or for evil ends. Knowledge, and through that magic, is the most powerful force I know of. I refuse to rest while there is knowledge left to absorb. And now, my lack of knowledge may be endangering not only myself and my friends, but Cauldron in general. So now, it's time to see what we can learn from our Derro friend so we can face this new challenge with some knowledge of what we're facing....

Amber's backstory

2007-05-19T14:25:00.002-07:00

Q1) Where did I grow up?

I grew up on the move. My ma, and my pa, and my three brothers and a sister and our beloved wagon and, well, my whole clan, were always wandering to where the woods were greenest and the soil softest underfoot. I'd been from Farbottle to Isorah and seen all the country in between, before I'd even fully learned to ride.

Q2) What was my family like?

Well, I had a ma and a pa and and four older brothers and sisters, and four aunts and uncles and seventeen cousins, and two great aunts, and thirty-seven sec'nmore cousins, and if you really me to go into detail, the rest were related somehow. Clans are like that.

We were a merry bunch. Just about once a week it was someone's birthday, and even apart from that, there was always a pretty grove or a nice fishing spot or some reason for a party.

Q3) What did I do as a child, and how was I trained/educated?

As a child, I played with the other girls, of course. When I was a teener, Ellie and Greta and I would ride out into the woods and camp there for days.

I began following the holy path very young. It started as an accident. When the clan is moving from place to place, anyone can ride with anyone--I could be in my grandparent's wagon or on my aunt's pony or even with Mr. Blinley in his floating, shining carriage. Everyone liked having company, after all.

Well, the morning of the move, I had been out collecting pretty rocks from the streambed, and lost track of time. By midday, I had seventeen 'specially shiny pink and yellow stones and no clan. They went on a full day, too, and only missed me at bedtime.

I got on the road and ambled along--distracted often enough by pretty flowers, mind you, and at one point I found a pretty pool and stopped to swim.

As twilight fell, the world transformed. I was unprepared for the change darkness brought. I heard otherworldy shrieks and growls. Yellow eyes that had always twinkled from a distance in the firelight now looked on me green and close and hungry. I heard the click and rattle of dead bones on the prowl, and felt malice from every quarter. It was my first meeting with the menacing darkness, and I was justly terrified. I shrank into the roadside grass and sneakywalked quieter than when I was spying on my brother Nell.

Ahead, I saw light on the side of the road--a floating symbol of sun above a glowing grove. I was filled with hope, and sneaked faster. I saw a small clearing lit as with daylight. There were stone arches and a figure of a dancing unicorn, a pretty pool, and the grass was soft. I curled up and watched the world. Eyes in the darkness turned to me, and the light revealed a maliciously distorted wolven face, but it turned away from the light. A cloud of tattered rags and darkness blew overhead, but barely paused. I felt safe in my little globe of light, and slept like a little kitten.

At dawn, I was awoken by a gentle nuzzling, and looked up to see a unicorn and his pretty elven maiden! "Little girl," she said, "where is your family?" "Um . . . that way!" I answered, pointing up the road.

"I judge her a member of the Brickless clan, by her face and dress. They moved yestermorn and are twenty miles uproad by now."

"A long way for such a little one."

"And this is a dangerous stretch in the evening. By Ehlonna's grace alone has she lasted the night."

"Indeed."

I listened with rapt attention and memorized every word. These two were so beautiful, and a real live unicorn! Boy, I was safe now! And if I thought that was a treat, I wasn't prepared for what happened next. With a reverent bow, the lady summoned the best breakfast I'd ever had (and my grandma could charm dragons with her scrambled eggs), and then swept me up in front of her, on the back of the unicorn!

In a blink, the shrine was gone, and we were miles uproad in the woods. And then we began to ride! The wind made my eyes water, and the flying mane tickled my nose, but not a twig snapped underfoot.

They met my clan coming the other way, calling my name. And then with a stern warning to be more careful, they vanished into the trees. They left me only with the memory of the evil night, and the glory of the morning's ride. When I grew up, I was going to be just like them.

As it happened, I had a great aunt who served Ehlonna. She was our little clan's fix-n'-bless-it lady. I wasn't old enough to apprentice to her yet, but I followed her around anyway. Before too long, I was grinding silver and organizing baskets of potions and fetching herbs and repeating reverent phrases.

Training was natural and easy. Karen was merry and loved her work. She had a thousand and one pets, and could set a panicked pony at ease with barely a whisper. But the best part was the healing. The Haymores brought their babbling and sick son to us in the middle of the night, and she was swift and alert to bring peace and ease. One time my own brother was trampled by a panicked pony, and I was able to keep him alive until Karen could come and set everything
right. And when Jen fell in the river and drowned, and there was nothing we could do, we healed the clan as best we could: buried her with honor and blessed her grave. I fell in love with doing good; the gratitude, the relief on everyone's faces, just easing the pain of life. Training was never hard for me. When Karen asked for ground silver, I made it extra fine. When she needed something from her chest, I ran to get it.

Q4) What do I consider important or motivational?

I live to displace evil by doing good, to drive back darkness by shining light. Darkness lurks in many places - wherever there is deception, malice, or selfishness, there is darkness.

I believe all things are good, and left to themselves, they'll unbend and untwist. The best way to change anyone is to show them what's right and then let them make their own choices. At least, I believed that when I left home. I think I've seen some things since then that . . . that would never mend.

I believe goodness is creative, not destructive--the way to defeat evil is to do good, not to smite evil. Smiting just leaves a void.

I live in light, and that means I keep by eyes open and my senses sharp. The Brickless clan taught me to embrace the merriness of life, but I abhor debauchery. A few kisses and a little wine slow the eyes and heart; dancing on the lawn with noble friends is my kind of party, and a solitary dawn with honeysuckle nectar is my kind of treat.

Q5) What do I look like, dress like, and act like?

Well, I'm small, even for one my my race. Lastborn little runt. I don't mind; I make up for it by a show of spirit.

My dress is simple enough, utilitary leather and cotton. I guess these days you'll see me in armor more often than not--that's just the nature of my work. When I go to cities, I like to be in a long, elegant gown--but I'm happier in my tunic in the woods.

I act, well, pretty quiet and shy. Unless someone needs defending. Then I'll speak up. Usually. But there's a lot of good I could have done if I'd been a little louder, and I have a hard time talking to people even though I really do care about them.

Q6) How'd I get to Cauldron?

Wandering. When I completed my apprenticeship, I decided to leave my clan and my home, and wander the land, doing whatever good was at hand. I picked a road and rode along it, going south many miles.

Maybe I'll return home some day--but those are peaceful lands. Like a moth to flame, I'm drawn to wherever darkness and evil are worst, and they've seemed plentiful in Cauldron.

------------

[Metagame: Amber is about naive goodness. She's got a good heart
and high wisdom, but perpetually sheltered, she's inexperienced.
She tries hard, but doesn't always know what's best. Trying to
become wisely good without becoming annoying or evil has been a
bit of a bumpy road so far . . .]

Garlen's backstory

2007-05-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Q1) Where did I grow up?
A1) In the forest outside the village of Hesith. We were part of a small
druidic tribe.

Q2) What was my family like?
A2) Grela, my mom, was an accomplished Druid who focused on healing. Bekal,
my dad, hunted game and tended the groves. My big sister Niki got all the
attention because she was a talented spellcaster, and my baby sister Joslan
sucked up the remaining attention because she was just so darn cute. There
were assorted relatives in the area. Most everyone was nice. I was quiet
and mostly stayed out of the way.

Q3) What did I do as a child, and how was I trained/educated?
A3) I spent most of my time exploring and avoiding people. I sometimes came
along with dad and the other guys when the goblins and orcs and especially
the smelly ugly goblins in the area started making trouble. My twitchy
fingers made it hard for me to shoot cleanly with a bow, so I decided to
just rush into battle with a sword and hit them before they hit me. I also
learned a lot about plants and animals, and a little bit about other stuff,
in school.

Q4) What do I consider important or motivational?
A4) I revere the woodlands (and the goddess Ehlonna, who protects them) and
I hate those who threaten them. I'm really loyal, and I'll never turn my
back on my friends even if it means putting myself in danger.

Q5) What do I look like, dress like, and act like?
A5) I have deep green eyes and curly brown hair. For a halfling, I'm tall
and skinny. I like green and gray clothes, and I replaced my green cloak
with a magical black cloak we found in the kopru ruins. I'm jumpy and I
fidget a lot, and I tend to get real quiet sometimes, but when I get mad (at
goblins or people who were mean to my friends) I can be pretty loud.

Q6) How'd I get to Cauldron?
A6) Before my grandpa died, he wanted to see his homeland, so I came with
him to the area. After he died, I wandered a bit, until I ran into Rain and
Amber. They helped me fight some goblins.

Grokk's backstory

2007-05-19T14:24:00.001-07:00

Q1) Where did I grow up? Grokk born on steppe, live with nomad family.
Family outcast from tribe.

Q2) What was my family like? Grokk mother Orc, father human. Grokk only
child that live.
A2) Grema, Grokk mother, fierce warrior and hunter. Grokk father, Prandar,
craftsman and tracker.

Q3) What did I do as a child, and how was I trained/educated?
A3) When child, Grokk help with yurt and herd of goats. After Grokk reach puberty,
he must learn to be warrior. Learn fighting from Grema, tracking from
Prandar. Grokk never good at crafting with wood or bone, Prandar sad.

Q4) What do I consider important or motivational? (Goals in life,
principles you're unwilling to break, etc.)
A4) Grokk on walkabout as part of founding own household. With family
cast out of tribe because father marry Orc, Grokk must set out on own.

Q5) What do I look like, dress like, and act like?
A5) Grokk tall and plain, scarred from warrior training. Grokk quiet and
ready to fight.

Q6) How'd I get to Cauldron?
A6) Grokk wander many moons, have vision after eat purple mushroom. In vision,
Grokk see Rubble Rousers in battle, need Grokks' help. They fight earth creature,
nearly kill group. Grokk set out to find Rubble Rousers, join party. Grokk
think this the way he restore honor, become welcome with tribe.

Rain's Backstory

2007-05-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Editor’s note: the following unedited transcript takes place just after Chapter six ends of Shackled City and is being submitted for publication. The only editing done was to insert text to indicate physical actions taken and will be noted in italics.

Interviewer - Ray Falhn, reporter for the Cauldron Examiner (hereto referred to as RF)
Interviewing – Rain of the infamous Rubblerousers.

RF: Hi Rain, Thanks for coming and answering some questions for your fans.

Rain: Yeah whatever.

RF: Well then, let’s get right to it shall we? The first thing your public would like to know is where did you grow up?

Rain: Where did I grow up? Heh, anywhere but home. Home sucked.

RF: I’m so sorr-

Rain: Yeah whatever. (waves hand)

RF: Ok. (Silence while RF rearranges notecards) Let me ask you then, what was your family like?

Rain: Family? Heh, guess where my name comes from? The month before I was born it rained 24/7. For a whole stinking month. Like it’s my fault or something. Sheesh. This is my family. Named me after some lousy growing season. (shakes head)

RF: Alright than, let’s talk about your rogue abilities, how did you learn your craft?

Rain: Heh, same lousy parents. Just because I picked on my kid sister they tended to lock me up in my room. “Said it was for my own good (said in a falsetto sneering voice)” they said. Well after getting locked up too many times, I started messing around with the lock. First it was the prongs – you know, those little things on those hard plastic combs? Yea, I’d break ‘em off and jam in in the lock. Eventually I stole the bobbypins in my sis’ hair and found those worked pretty good.

RF: What about a Rogue trainer or apprenticeship?

Rain: Bah, once I got the hang of picking locks, I would break into the wizard’s library at night and read about all I’d need to know. You wouldn’t believe the amount of material you can find if you are persistent. Those wizards are packrats when it comes to books. I bet they never get around to reading a quarter of what they hoard.

RF: You would break into the wizard’s library? Weren’t you afraid of being caught?

Rain: Those wizzies are pretty smart, I bet they knew I was sneaking in and reading their stuff. Besides, I never took anything that I wasn’t gonna bring back anyway.

RF: Let’s talk now about your motivation. What makes Rain tick?

Rain: (leans forward) Now we’re getting to it. I found a book one night that read of an ancient sword that would lop the heads off of enemies if you swung it in just the right way. There was a passage that I can remember to this day. “…Treasure abounds to those that fought. Dangers and pitfalls to those that naught. Locked in stone dark and grey, await’s the light of beholder’s may”. (Pauses)

RF: Um…

Rain: Yea I thought the same thing when I first read it, because it’s obvious to me that whomever wrote it was a lousy poet. About all I could get out of it was that there was a sword and it’s locked up somewhere, but anyway, the whole point was (in an excited voice) What a cool sword! I mean it’s not likely that I’d try and lop somebody’s head off with it, but wouldn’t it be a cool thing to have? Imagine the pickup opportunities at the bar? (in a mock voice) Hey baby, wanna go back to my place and check out my cool sword? Heh.

RF: Um…

Rain: Really Ray, imagine it. Sitting up on my mantle all shiny and stuff. Wouldn’t that just rock?

RF: Well, no not really.

Rain: Yeah, well sorry you don’t see it, but for me? That’s my motivation. (Points for emphasis) Yeah.

RF: For those that have never met you, please describe yourself.

Rain: What? You can’t sit here and see that I’m an elf? Need to borrow my Goggles of minute seeing? (gets up and starts to hand them to RF)

RF: No no, what I meant was for those that read this article to know what you look like.

Rain: Oh so now you want to pick on my unibrow now? I know I have a lousy charisma score, but that doesn’t mean you need to point it out to everyone else (crosses arms). Oh and you better not be putting this part into you article.

RF: Well-

Rain: I mean really. Pick on the ugly little elf. Not like I had any choice in the matter, it was the ol’ roll of the dice if you know what I mean.

RF: Actually I do (Turns to the DM and smiles)

Rain: Alright then, is there anything else?

RF: A few more questions.

Rain: Ask away.

RF: Right. So what brings you to Cauldron then?

Rain: Rumors that I might find the sword I’m looking for is here. Or around here. Or buried here. Who knows? After all it’s only rumors, but I (jabs finger in air for emphasis) will find that sword if it’s the last thing I do. Then I’m gonna get drunk.

RF: Ah, so you like to drink?

Rain: You betchyer ass I do! Plus I heard that Cauldron had this water festival every year and the whole town parties for like a week or two straight! Can you believe how unbelievably awesome that is!

RF: And how did you like it?

Rain: Oh boy, you should have seen it! I got this buddy Grokk that drank the table under everybody in the friggin town! It was a sweet sight! Except for that last dude though. I swear he was cheating or something but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

RF: I wouldn’t worry about it. The point was, that you had fun and-

Rain: Look, whatever, but this is getting pretty tedious. You have any more questions?

RF: Just one. The Rubblerousers?

Rain: What? You have something against rubble? Hell I just came from a whole frigging PLANE of rubble. (gets up off seat) Do you have any ale around here? I’m thirsty, and besides I gotta get over to Skie’s to upgrade my stuff. See you around Ray (walks off).

The Shackled City, Day 28 (2007-04-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 8: Lords of Oblivion

2007-05-19T14:20:00.004-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Rain fooled the locking mechanisms on two more doors. One led to an empty spherical room. Another led to a second vertical passage and a larger spherical room with a pool of water in the bottom. Roland splashed through the water to make sure it was clear, and the party moved on. Rain struggled with the next door, so Horkina used her "master key" to create another entrance. The room beyond was cubical, with semispherical depressions in each of the six walls. The door blocked off one of the depressions, and the other five had levitation fields that held a single book aloft in the center of the room. Roland flew to grab the book and stopped to read it. Garlen noticed it was in Abyssal, so he quickly scanned it and explained its contents: the book described the Zar'ilkoth Tarteros, a ritual for binding a demodand soul to a material creature. Roland suspected this ritual had been performed on the Gauths upstairs.

The party spider-climbed up the second shaft, which had a door at the same height as in the first shaft. It was assumed that a beholder lurked behind the pair of doors. Amber used a prayer to increase the party's effectiveness, and then Rain attempted to pick the lock. It took a couple of attempts before the door opened, revealing a room occupied only by statues and paintings. Rain and Garlen rushed quickly to a door on the north end of the room, and easily sprung the lock.

The floor of the fifty foot semispherical room had a golden triangle inscribed in a golden circle on the floor. In the back of the room was a desk, with what looked like Lord Vhalantru's deflated skin draped over a chair. A beholder, missing one of its eyestalks, floated in the middle of the room. Three figures -- an orc, a human, and a gnome -- were wearing straightjackets and chained to the floor. Just as the door opened, black lightning arced between the three of them and the beholder, burning each of them to ash and making the visage of a demodand flash in the beholder's central eye.

As the beholder floated forward and stared at the party, Garlen slipped into the room and fired an arrow into its central eye. Rain stepped forward and did the same, causing a significant wound. Amber let loose a Lucent Lance, which blinded the beholder and ripped his flesh. He responded by spitting a paralyzing slime at Rain and firing his eye rays. He missed Garlen and Horkina, but landed a clean shot on Amber and turned her to stone. Grokk, aided by the prayer, fired off three arrows that struck true and knocked the beholder unconscious. Roland attempted to force it into a magical sleep while Garlen healed it slightly, with the hope that its thoughts could be probed. The healing magic brought the beholder back to consciousness, so Horkina clobbered it with the side of her axe. Roland tried to read its thoughts, but it was able to resist, so he lit it on fire.

Garlen kept kicking and punching the charred beholder remains while Grokk picked up Amber's statue. Rain and Roland searched a desk in the back of the room. Atop the desk was a diary detailing all of Cauldron's adventuring groups over the last ten years. The final two pages read thusly:

The Stormblades

8/17 Adventuring for money and reputation, no higher goals in mind. Not worried about dying since their daddies can afford to raise any one of them. Have spent most of their time exploring the catacombs below Cauldron. Petty bickering and infighting will probably do them in.

10/9 Wiped out a large tribe of kobolds. Didn’t think they had it in them.

1/3 Their last 3 “adventures” have involved nothing more dangerous than rats. They’re getting restless. Annah tried to direct their rage at the Rubble Rousers. That would’ve been a fight to see.

3/10 Managed to cave in several dozen of my favorite tunnels. I’ll wait a few days before carving a new path to the underdark.

4/13 Newfound rage over taxes has them delving deeper. They’ve mostly been bragging about the drow they’ve faced, but they bear the scars of a fight with a minotaur.

6/21 Recent excursions have me concerned. The deeper they delve, the more likely they’ll uncover some of our plans. Fetor should prove capable of dealing with this threat.

6/22 Fetor took out the Vanderboren kid. They’ve taken him to Ike to be raised, and seem ready to give up adventuring altogether. I’ll have him delay for a while, until I’m sure they’ve given up.

The Rubble Rousers

9/2 Hired by miss Urikas to find the missing orphans. Nearly got killed in their first dive into the stronghold. This ought to be a short entry.

9/5 Took down Kazmojen’s entire operation. Developed teamwork quickly. Scared them pretty bad when I showed up to claim Terrem.

10/12 That fool Drakthar decided to grab at power, and they discovered the smuggling operation. Zarn is already working to find an alternate way to bring in mercenaries.

1/14 Arrived in town with Triel and Skaven bound and gagged. The cultists assured me they didn’t reveal anything. A public execution will ensure they won’t reveal more in the future. Still, these Rubble Rousers are a cause for concern.

3/12 handled my Umber Hulk with skill. If Gortio can play a convincing dwarf, I may be able to use them to recover Splintershield. Or they might fail. Either way works.

4/19 Thrifane is not happy. She was sure Maavu would be dead by now, but these chumps keep interfering.

4/28 Haven’t seen them since they headed for the Demonskar. Hope Nabthatoron got them.

5/2 Tercival just showed up wearing Skellerang’s sash. Says the Rubble Rousers saved him, and he won the duel according to the Law of Peers. I’ll have to step carefully around the paladin.

6/24 They’ve returned from the abyss, and Roland looks like he’s picked up significant power. Ike will send his best assassins in the morning.

6/25 that didn’t go well. I must complete the Zar’ilkoth Tarteros before I face them.

It was clear -- Vhalantru was a beholder, disguised with his simulacrum suit, and he had been using and discarding local adventurers for years. Roland noticed a painting in the previous room had a strong magical aura, and it pictured a woman the party had met before -- Celeste, who helped send the party after Zenith Splintershield. He identified the painting as a form of planar binding, so Grokk smashed it to pieces, releasing the woman. Garlen healed her to get her back on her feat, and Rain immediately asked her for a reward, which she promised to bring soon. She warned the party that Vhalantru was a beholder and that he shouldn't be underestimated, so they pointed out his charred corpse in the next room. She left to return to her master, and the party headed for the Quiet Grove to see if Amber could be turned back from stone. James' spells fizzled twice, and Roland made two attempts the next morning before Amber was finally restored, at which point she began to cast a spell of Holy Word before she realized where she was.

James, Roland, and Amber headed back to Vhalantru's to rescue all of the others who'd been turned to stone, and after several days were able to recover everyone, including Deakon Stormshield's parents. The party sold Vhalantru's house to Lord Vanderboren, who was tremendously interested in the beholder's lair. Over the next few days, the group rested and upgraded equipment.

Jenya called together a meeting with several of the most prominent people in the town. This included the nobles Lord Taskerhill, Lord and Lady Vanderboren, Lord Aslaxin, Lady Knowlern, and Alek Tercival. Jenya and James were joined by Omar Tiskinsen from the church of Kord and Kristof Jurgenson from the tiny shrine of Pelor. Keygan, Skie, Tygot, and Maavu represented the local merchants. The Striders (Meerthan, Fario, Fellian, and Shensen) observed. The Rubble Rousers started off the meeting by explaining the situation with Vhalantru, and Jenya followed up by pointing out this left Cauldron without a leader, since Vhalantru had eaten the previous Lord Mayor before he appointed a successor. Roland suggested the town should have a ruling council with a representative from each of the major groups. As discussion continued, Roland forged a telepathic bond with the rest of the party so they could share their insights. Rain was able to read the nobled like a book, and noted that Lord Taskerhill was obviously grasping at power while Lord Aslaxin seemed interested in interfering with Taskerhill. Eventually those gathered settled on Lord Vanderboren as the obvious choice.

A few moments later, a strange dwarf-like creature with pale blue skin teleported into the room just behind Lord Taskerhill. The insane derro cried out "neither you, nor you, nor you will be mayor! Chaos will reign! HAHAHAHAH!" He followed up his insane laugh by pointing at Horkina and yelling "everyone get her!" Rain jumped up and smacked the creature in the back of the head with his sap, and telepathically communicated that he'd spotted footprints in the carpet. Roland's familiar used silver dragon breath to paralyze most of the invisible creatures, as well as Rain, the derro, and three nobles. James dispelled the invisibility to reveal four derro wielding axes. Only one of them was still moving, but he couldn't penetrate Horkina's armor. Amber commanded the group to fall on the floor and Horkina killed the one that had attacked her. Roland's shield guardian pushed the paralyzed nobles over the table, and Meerthan grabbed the nobles and merchants and teleported to safety. The shield guardian grabbed hold of the derro sorcerer, James unparalyzed Rain, and Roland used chain lightning to fry the remaining enemies. Amber's Sending informed Meerthan the area was safe again.

The party reached level 15.

The Shackled City, Day 27 (2007-04-06, 6:30 PM), Chapter 8: Lords of Oblivion

2007-05-19T14:20:00.003-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party took the Blue Duke and the pair of dwarves over to the town guard barracks. Alek Tercival sent for Jenya to help in the interrogation. He also agreed to deputize the party -- so long as there were evil forces at work in the town, the party was authorized to act according to their judgement. With that, it was decided that it was time to get information from Vhalantru.

Rain quietly unlocked and opened the front door at House Vhalantru. A pair of half-orcs wielding orc double axes stood at the bottom of a grand staircase. Garlen and Rain injured the pair, and then Grokk took a flying leap and finished one off with a powerful blow from his greataxe. Horkina took down the other just as the door behind her opened to reveal three more mercenaries. A secret door in the entryway opened up, and even more orcs prepared to attack. Amber commanded all of the orcs to hold their position, and then headed upstairs and screamed. Horkina, Rain, Garlen, and Grokk pounded on the nearest group of orcs, and took out another small group that came charging in from the dining room. Roland used ball lightning and his shield guardian to finish off the other three.

Rain ran upstairs to see what Amber was yelling about, and saw two creatures he judged to be shrunken beholders. He jumped right between the pair and Amber set off the fire seeds he'd been carrying, destroying the strange beasts. Four more Gauths moved into the area and fired their eye rays, weakening Amber and wounding Rain. Amber fired off a sunbeam, blinding the enemies, and the rest of the party easily eliminated them. Rain, Garlen, and Roland each looked behind a couple of doors, trying to locate Vhalantru before Roland's ball of lightning and Amber's remaining sunbeams ran out. Rain found a wine cellar and quickly gathered up several bottles, while Garlen found a library filled with elven books. Roland found a staircase and headed up, with Amber, Horkina, and Garlen hurrying behind. Several nearby doors led to bedrooms and bathrooms.

When Garlen opened a door near the end of the hall, he was surprised to find a man who looked just like Rain inside the bedroom. He glanced back to see Rain just coming up the stairs, and surmised the extremely smelly creature was a lookalike of some sort. Roland's ball of electricity wrapped around the creature, and a few swings from Grokk and Garlen and a magic missile from Roland dropped it to the floor. Roland identified it as a doppelganger.

The party split up again to investigate the last few areas in the house. Garlen found a hidden room with a fountain in the middle, and Rain found an illusory wall leading to a room with six lifelike statues. It was suspected that the statues may have been adventurers turned to stone, so Amber stepped forward to cast Break Enchantment, and nearly fell into a pit. Roland flew through the illusory floor and noted that the shaft was at least 50 feet deep and led to a large cylindrical room. Amber returned one of the statues to living form, and after asking her a few questions, directed her to the Quiet Grove and promised to rescue the rest of her party as soon as possible.

Amber climbed on Grokk's back and the party spiderclimbed down the pit. Three half-orc zombies stood guarding another vertical shaft. When Horkina killed one, a farastu demodand erupted from its corpse. Roland's bolt of lightning killed the other two zombies, releasing two more demodands. Rain, Grokk, Horkina, and Garlen flanked and slaughtered the fiends, and the party spiderclimbed further down.

Halfway down the shaft, a passage branched off horizontally. The passage was blocked by a 9-foot diameter circular door made of iron, adamantine, bone, and darkwood. The door had a stylized beholder etched into it, with colored crystals in place of each smaller eye and a large transparent crystal in place of its center eye. The bottom of the shaft opened into a pair of rooms, with a similar door leading west and one leading north. Horkina kicked the door and was hit by a ray of force from one of the beholder eye crystals. Rain deftly twisted the crystals so they'd fire their rays off to the side, and then carefully tapped the center crystal, skillfully making the door open.

Three large dogs with burning eyes, chain barding, and jeweled collars wrestled around in the next room. Roland shot the trio with lightning. Garlen and Grokk tag-teamed one and brought it down, while Rain and Horkina surrounded and smashed another. Amber used the Light of Venya to brighten up the room. Garlen tumbled behind the final hound and stabbed it in a very sensitive spot, causing it to howl in pain. A few more swings brought the hounds down, and Rain quickly grabbed their gem-studded collars.

Three more of the beholder doors led out from this room, along with a plain iron door. Rain opened the plain iron door to reveal a throne room. The throne was carved in the shape of a fire giant. A furry, orange-haired woman wielding a flaming and icy greatsword hissed out "Flameless Ones, have you come to pay tribute to Ti'irok Coalfire?" Rain said "yes, of course" as a large, orange wolf-like creature stepped out from behind the throne and morphed into its furry humanoid form. Roland protected the party from fire while the male haraknin spoke: "the tribute is ten thousand gold... and... what have you done to our hounds? It will be another five thousand gold per hound, to pay for your foolishness!" Rain pointed to Grokk and called out "you can kiss my orc's butt", provoking the haraknin into drawing their weapons. The woman stepped forward and slashed into the half-elf provocateur. Garlen jumped behind her to provide flanking while Grokk smashed her companion with his axe. A Moon Bolt from Amber weakened the woman significantly, and Horkina and Rain landed a few more blows. She hit Rain once more before tumbling through the group, attempting to retreat. Garlen tumbled in front of her, and a magic missile from Roland dropped her.

Amber provided Rain with some healing while he moved around the throne. He noticed a large stone doorway that looked like it was meant for giants. Grokk pushed the door open to reveal a room with two large iron chests. Rain opened them up and the party came away with over 40,000 gold pieces, as well as several geodes, miscellaneous small treasures, and an adamantine battleaxe.

After Rain made a few futile attempts to unlock another of the beholder doors, Horkina smashed away the stone frame with her maul, providing a passageway into the room. This room was obviously set up for a human woman -- the bottom portion of the spherical room had a wooden floor built in to flatten it out, chests filled with dresses and hairpieces lined the walls, and a small bed and chair occupied the center of the room. Horkina provided the same door-opening service a few more times, eventually leading to a large square brick room. Several bricks had been removed from the north wall, providing little cubbyholes for several treasures. Rain noticed a pair of stone golems embedded in the floor, so the party prepared to attack them as Rain grabbed an emerald-studded platinum crown from the wall. The golems stood up and were quickly brought back down by a series of powerful blows.

Roland reached level 14.

The Shackled City, Day 26 (2007-03-30, 6:30 PM), Chapter 8: Lords of Oblivion

2007-05-19T14:20:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Roland awakened the captured Mr. Abradius and spoke to him: "I think you should share the knowledge of the Soul Pillars with your fellow loremaster." Fetor was magically compelled to agree, so he shared everything he knew, and even helped Roland copy down large sections of his notes. The soul pillars contained trapped souls that could dispense knowledge in a manner similar to a Contact Other Plane spell. Fetor also confirmed many of the party's suspicions about the Cagewrights, and described the Planar Junction ritual in more detail. Once Roland had all of the information he required, Rain performed kidney surgery with the tip of his rapier. Amber used her ability to turn undead to free the soul of an elf from one of the upstairs rooms, but realized she was not yet powerful enough to free them all. The party returned to Cauldron to purchase a large amount of equipment.

One morning, Shensen arrived with an urgent request for the party to meet with Meerthan. Fario, one of Meerthan's agents, had been kidnapped by the Last Laugh and was being interrogated and tortured. There was no time to lose; the party had to move quickly to save his life and keep him from revealing the identities of the rest of the Striders. Meerthan was in telepathic contact with Fario, and was able to tell the party where he'd been taken: the Brass Trumpet, an abandoned inn.

Horkina used her Maul of the Titans to knock on the front door, or rather, knock down the front door. Recent construction had been done in this room -- stone walls with arrow slits had been installed on the east and west, and some thugs were waiting behind each. Garlen fired an arrow through one of the slits and hit one of the Last Laugh thugs behind. Horkina used her Maul to completely crush the other wall, and followed through to kill two of the thugs that had been using it for cover. The third wet himself just before Rain finished him off. Roland's electric loop spell dropped one of the thugs behind the remaining wall, and a pair of arrows from Grokk ended the combat.

Rain pulled the next door open and was hit with several poisoned crossbow bolts from the trapped door. He chugged a potion and the party kept moving, anxious to reach Fario and wanting to get the maximum benefit from Amber's prayer. Roland noticed a room full of spikes with an obviously weakened ceiling, and surmised the room above must be trapped. Rain and Garlen took out a pair of thugs in the inn's old common room while Roland flew up to the weakened ceiling and pulled it down. Two more thugs started down the stairs, and the one that survived the volley of arrows ran back up the stairs and tried to hide. The whole party headed upstairs and quickly dispatched the assembled thugs via melee. Amber struck one with her mace, and Roland came in through the now-floorless room to strike another with his quarterstaff. His familiar made a quick bite to finish the thug off.

Since there were no obvious exits to the room other than those leading to areas the party knew to be trapped, Roland used his knowledge of architecture to find a soft spot in the wall and Horkina inserted a new doorway with a single swing. Fario was attached to a torture rack, and a woman was standing over him with a bloody sword. Amber used a Lucent Lance on her, and Roland and his familiar used magical dragon breath to stun her. Rain knocked her unconscious with a sap. Amber healed Fario while Rain and Garlen released him. The party took down another thug and a spellcaster hiding in a curtain-filled room, and then quickly took Fario and the captured woman back to Meerthan.

Fario explained that he'd been captured while spying on House Rhivaldi. The noblewoman had not been seen for weeks, but several shady figures had visited her. Half-orc mercenaries from Lord Vhalantru had come and gone every day. A pale half-elf with a strange shadowy cloak, who Roland guessed to be a Vampire, had arrived just last night. Well-armed humans, including one with a shield with the symbol of Nerull, came just a few days before. Several well-armed dwarves, including a well-known local merchant named Adrick Garthun, were also visiting. The party woke up the woman from the Last Laugh and Horkina threatened to do to her what she'd done to the wall. This woman, Jil, said that Velior Thazo, leader of the Last Laugh, had ordered the kidnapping and that he was presently meeting with Lady Rhivaldi. The party got some rest and recovered spells while Rain and Garlen watched over House Rhivaldi.

House Rhivaldi had only one obvious entrance -- the main doorway. The party decided to approach from a less obvious entrance: the geodesic dome on the observatory. Rain spider-climbed up and gently pried one sheet of glass out of its frame, and Grokk (carrying Amber), Horkina, and Garlen all spider-climbed through, with Roland flying behind. Most of the doors in this section of the house magically opened whenever anyone approached, due to an Unseen Servant at each one. Some doors, however, were locked.

Amber dispelled the magical locks on Lady Rhivaldi's bedroom and the party entered. Roland picked up a stack of crumpled notes, while Rain stepped in to a secret closet. A series of cages held six small animals: a bat, a lizard, a monkey, a rat, a raven, and a toad. The monkey gestured wildly at Rain and then pointed at the Raven's cage. There, Rain found a secret compartment containing a spellbook. The monkey kept pointing at the spellbook. Amber's True Seeing revealed that all six animals were actually halflings, and Roland suspected they'd been Baleful Polymorphed, as the spell was in the book. The party decided to leave the creatures behind, planning to come back to rescue them later. The monkey clearly understood, and sat brooding in the corner, distressed that his rescue was being delayed.

The party approached a large double door, which opened to reveal a grand ballroom. At the front of the room stood a woman (Thrifane Rhivaldi) with a strange third eye grafted onto her forehead. In a semicircle around her were seven others: a white-haired dwarf with a leather half-mask (Adrick Garthun), a man with spiked plate mail and a shield with Nerull's symbol (Khyron Bonesworn), a gaunt half-elf man in black robes (Melagorn), a woman with crimson eyes and a cloak of shadow (a Vampire named Mhad), a fat tiefling with bloodshot eyes and purple robes (Vervil Ashmantle), a bat-winged half-fiend (Velizor Thazo, leader of the Last Laugh), and a green-skinned ogre mage wearing the robes of the Blue Duke (Zarn Kyass). A pair of dwarves flanked one set of doors, a pair of babau flanked another, and a large metal-and-stone construct of humanoid shape stood in front of the doorway the party had approached.

Immediately, Garlen stepped into the room and fired a series of arrows at a babau, screaming "DIE" as the demon fell. Thrifane activated a pair of defensive spells -- Stoneskin and Minor Globe of Invulnerability -- and waited to see what the party was capable of. Amber reacted quickly and used a Holy Word to great effect. The remaining babau was banished, two dwarves and the ogre mage were paralyzed, and virtually all of the other inhabitants of the room were blinded and deafened. Only two creatures were unaffected: the metal-and-stone Shield Guardian, and a Dread Wraith that had been draped over Mhad as a cloak. The now-angered Dread Wraith flew forward to attack Amber, draining her constitution with a touch. Horkina used her Maul to create another entrance to the room, and Grokk moved in through the opening, attacking the cleric of Nerull. Rain followed up by attacking the tiefling, who cast an invisibility spell and tried to move away. The vampire Mhad, blind and deaf, went gaseous and tried to retreat. Velizor hit the party with an Unholy Blight, sickening Garlen and dealing a small amount of damage.

Roland, having long desired a Shield Guardian of his own, decided to take control of this one by grabbing the controlling amulet from around Thrifane's neck. He ordered the guardian to attack the dwarf wearing a leather mask and standing next to it. Khyron attempted to command Grokk to stop fighting, but his ears were still ringing so he couldn't chant out his spell properly. The half-elf attempted to fatigue the party, but couldn't concentrate well enough to cast the spell with Grokk's axe whizzing around his head. The dwarf dropped his weapon and called out "I surrender", but the Shield Guardian began clubbing him anyway.

With no demons left to kill, Garlen tumbled and attacked the half-fiend, providing Rain with an opportunity to strike as well. Thrifane attempted to teleport away, but she mispronounced the spell and it fizzled. Amber, too, lost a spell while trying to avoid the Dread Wraith's touch, and it drained more of her constitution. Horkina smashed through Thrifane's magically hardened skin and felled her with two strong blows, while Grokk attacked the Dread Wraith and Rain stabbed Velizor through his throat. Roland rained fire down on the few enemies still standing, and managed to catch the invisible tiefling in one of the blasts. This left only a fleeing vampire, a Dread Wraith, and three paralyzed foes. Garlen moved to finish off the Dread Wraith, but completely missed with a charge from a healing wand. Amber tried to finish it with a spell but again got distracted, and it drained her nearly dead with its next touch. The strain of making the final attack pushed the undead creature over the line to fully dead. After restoring herself, Amber moved to the door the gaseous vampire had seeped through and fired a Sunray, vaporizing the gaseous enemy. Amber finished the fight just like she started it -- calling on the powers of good and light to smite the forces of evil.

The party tied up the dwarves and the Blue Duke and then secured the rest of the house, taking down a few half-orc mercenaries and gathering up a large amount of treasure. Roland looked over the crumpled notes he'd found -- a speech Lady Rhivaldi had probably just given to the assembled crowd. The speech detailed the lineage of the Shackleborn from demodands several generations ago, and how their souls would power a ritual to link Carceri to Cauldron. It also mentioned the ritual had begun, and that the criminals gathered here would be expected to topple surrounding kingdoms from within while the demodands attacked from outside. Her speech ended with a plea for the elimination of "a particular group", probably the Rubble Rousers themselves. Roland was entertained by the possibility that the very group she'd called to be destroyed may have interrupted just as she was speaking that line.

Roland reached level 13. The rest of the party reached level 14.

The Shackled City, Day 25 (2007-03-23, 6:30 PM), Chapter 7: Secrets of the Soul Pillars

2007-05-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Our heroes decided they needed more information before traveling to Karran-Kural. Rain, Garlen, and an invisible Roland snuck in to Fetor Abradius' house and procured a comb with several strands of hair. Roland used the hair to increase the effectiveness of a scrying spell, which revealed the evil loremaster using a strange icy lattice to scry on the temple of Wee Jas and looking somewhat distraught. After a few minutes, he stopped scrying and used a spell to move instantly into his office, where he studied and added to an extensive pile of notes.

The party set off toward the Demonskar on horseback, courtesy of Roland. The trip was mostly uneventful -- a few animals and a demon thought the party would be easy prey, but they found their estimates to be in error. When the group reached the rim of the Demonskar, Amber flew up in the air and cast a spell of Find the Path, which guided her (and the rest of the party) into an ancient lava tube a few miles to the northeast. Slogging through a series of sometimes-flooded tunnels, the party finally arrived at the edge of the frozen tomb known as Karran-Kural.

A wall of ice mostly blocked the entrance to the ruins, but a small tunnel had been carved through the thick wall. A pair of iron doors led to a cold hallway with strange icy cylinders embedded in the floor. Each cylinder was a sort of tomb with a spell weaver inside. As the party examined the cylinders, one of the spell weavers ran its fingers along the top surface and then fell back into a lifeless state. The creatures were somehow caught between life and death. Rain wanted to take the time to examine the cylinders more thoroughly and possibly break one of the corpses free, but Roland persuaded him there were more important tasks to accomplish.

The next room was inhabited by an icy bug-shaped creature wielding a spear. The ice devil was not happy to see the party, and immediately formed a wall of ice separating Garlen, Horkina, and Amber from the rest. Grokk and Rain moved to flank and attack while Horkina used her Maul to smash the ice wall to pieces. Amber aligned the party's weapons, Roland gave the party cold resistance, and Horkina and Garlen moved into the melee. The ice devil's cone of cold had little effect. It exchanged blows with the party, slowing Garlen with its icy spear, but he dropped it with a furious raging stab. Roland used his sword to cut through a strange lattice of unholy ice strands and Horkina smashed through another wall of ice.

Several more of the strange ice-coffins lined the next hallway, and a series of rooms held similar coffins occupied by dwarves and elves. Roland noticed an icy lattice that looked similar to the scrying lattice he'd seen earlier, so he again used it to scry on Fetor Abradius. This attempt was less successful, as the loremaster noticed the sensor immediately.

The party soon encountered an iron golem. Grokk and Horkina pounded on it while the rest of the party tried to provide distractions. The golem managed a critical hit on each of the axe-wielders, but the whole group shrugged off its poison gas -- a Heroes Feast had warded them against such toxins. Those with spider-climbing abilities climbed down an smooth, sloping pit in the floor, which led to another level. The rest of the party followed behind.

Roland, using the ability of arcane sight, noticed a magical aura in the middle of a hallway leading east. It appeared to be an alarm spell. Amber dispelled it, and Rain quietly opened the door at the end of the hallway. Inside was Fetor Abradius, looking over his scrying lattice. Grokk immediately attacked, and the loremaster responded by firing off a pair of lightning bolts at the party members he could see. Rain dodged them completely, while Grokk took minor injuries. Horkina tackled Fetor, and Rain smacked him in the back of the head with a sap, trying to knock him unconscious. Roland's attempt to petrify him failed, but Amber's spell of silence was effective. Grokk stepped forward and powerfully smashed the villain with the side of his axe, knocking him unconscious. Rain secured him with rope, Grokk stuffed a smelly sock in his mouth, and Horkina tore the steel door off its hinges and laid it on top of him. It was extremely unlikely this opponent would be able to get free to cast spells.

The Rubble Rousers left him behind and moved to the south, where they encountered a Kelubar Demodand (the fat guy on the right side of this image: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50076.jpg ) in a room criss-crossed with another unholy icy lattice. Garlen tumbled behind the foul creature, taking a slight wound from the lattice, and stabbed the beast in its back. Roland used the rod of empower he'd taken from Fetor to increase the effectiveness of his maximized sound lance, and killed the foe with a single strike. Garlen cried out "that was my kill!" Roland stepped forward and cut a path through the lattice to the far door.

Ran and Garlen snuck into the next hallway and into a large room with a raised walkway around the edge and a pair of strange, fleshy pillars in the middle. A fiendish half-orc wearing platemail stood in the corner of the walkway, and a strange undead snake -- a water bone naga -- slithered around on the floor 20 feet below. The stealthy pair jabbed the orc, and the battle was on. The naga placed a wall of force in the middle of the room, but between flight, spider climb, and transposition, most of the party bypassed the wall while Garlen and Rain finished off the orc. The naga summoned some black tentacles to pin the group down, but Grokk leaped off the walkway and smashed the undead foe. Roland transposed Horkina to within reach of the naga, and she used her axe to finish it off.

Rain complained about the lack of treasure -- the naga hadn't carried anything of value. Roland commented that undead don't normally have treasure. Amber mentioned one type of undead that normally would have a lot of treasure: a Dracolich would be expected to have a hoard just like any other dragon. The party continued searching the area, discovering Abradius' office. Roland grabbed the pile of notes and stuffed it in his haversack. The party also found a magic circle against evil, focused inward -- probably used for summoning and trapping demons and the like. The party moved down a hallway, dispelling another alarm spell and cutting through more unholy icy strands.

Rain quietly opened the door at the end of the hallway. The huge domed room held five of the fleshy pillars, and was mostly circled by a wide walkway that was broken in two places. Across the room was a huge, and undead, green dragon. Vittrius Bale was a dracolich. Rain pulled the door closed while the party prepared for the coming battle, quickly discussing strategy and casting spells. Amber handed a pack of fire seeds to Garlen and protected him from fire, while Roland cast Assay Spell Resistance to increase his chances of successfully overcoming Vittrius Bale's defenses. Rain reopened the door and stepped to the side. Grokk and Horkina ran to the right, preparing to jump to the rearmost platform, while Garlen ran to the left and started climbing the wall. Roland's dizzying ray had no effect, and Amber's light of Venya only slightly wounded the dragon. It flew up to the ceiling and hung upside down, surveying its options. Garlen climbed up next to it, deftly dodging until he got within range, and Amber called out a command to make the fireseeds detonate. Amber then dispelled all of the dragon's protections, including its spider-climb ability. Grokk approached, but the dragon tore into him with a flurry of attacks, leaving him paralyzed and nearly dead. Roland empowered a scorching ray, burning the dragon to a crisp and sending its soul back to its phylactery. Amber spent a few minutes healing Grokk, while Rain discovered this was one undead with plenty of treasure -- gold, diamonds, emeralds, and a few magical items were stashed in the rubble at the base of the room. The party added a smashed phylactery to the rubble pile.

Roland reached level 12. The rest of the party reached level 13.

The Shackled City, Day 24 (2007-03-16, 6:30 PM), Chapter 7: Secrets of the Soul Pillars

2007-05-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party continued to investigate the assassination attempt. For 2000 gold pieces, Artus Shemwick informed the party that the temple of Wee Jas was heavily intwined with the city government, mostly through "donations" to nobles. In turn, Wee Jas seemed to get a lot of donations from people hoping to sway the government -- especially those accused of crimes. He could not explicitly confirm that the assassination order came from Wee Jas, at least not without more money and time. Rain wanted to head straight for the temple and attack, but the rest of the party wanted to be sure the order was generated locally first.

The group split up to investigate other leads. Rain and Garlen hid outside the temple. They noticed the temple was extremely quiet -- nobody went in or out over the course of a couple hours. Rain waited until the shadows were right for sneaking, and then used his boots to spider-climb up to a window. He noticed a pair of stone giants and a handful of orcs standing in the main sanctuary, looking like they were ready for a fight. There was also an armored human in the room, likely a cleric of Wee Jas. Roland and Horkina spoke to Meerthan, who shared information he'd gathered from Fario and Fellian: the temple of Wee Jas closed its doors for "renovation work" about the same time as the assassination attempt and brought in some stone giant "construction workers", and agents of Wee Jas recently met with Lord Vhalantru and Lady Rhiavadi. The high priestess, Embril Aloustinai, had not been seen in several weeks. Roland stopped by the Bluecrater library to look up the recent history of the town's nobility, and noted that both Vhalantru and the Blue Duke were portrayed as less than upstanding in the historical accounts. Amber and Grokk paid Jenya to cast a divination asking for the motivation behind the assassination attempt, and recieved the cryptic riddle:
Cages above and bones below
Death the door and magic the key
Knives but dust and souls the prize

The mention of death and magic again shed suspicion on the temple of Wee Jas, but this still didn't give a definite answer. Finally, the party asked Alek Tercival, guard captain, for permission to investigate the stone giants, as stone giants aren't generally allowed in town. Tercival wrote up a short warrant, and the party headed home to rest and prepare for an early morning encounter.

Roland sent an arcane eye into the temple through an open window, and was able to confirm the positioning of the guards: two stone giants, three half-orcs, and a human in the main sanctuary, with no other guards in the immediate area. The magical sensor found no sign of priests or lay worshippers in the main parts of the temple. Roland placed the sensor in the elaborate sanctuary, where the guards waited, to provide a clear view for teleportation. Rain and Grokk knocked on the front door, and Rain called out in his best little-girl voice "girl scouts!" The orc mercenaries moved to the main door and opened it just as Roland teleported in with Horkina, Garlen, and Amber in position to surround the human. Garlen called out "we're here to arrest you for illegal possession of stone giants".

The two giants ran at Horkina, and one swung his greatclub... right into the ground. Horkina and Garlen, surmising the cleric was the biggest threat, dropped him immediately. Amber moved to stabilize him. Rain tumbled behind one of the orcs and Grokk smashed it repeatedly with his greataxe. Roland fired a lightning bolt at the pair of giants and began flying toward the orcs at the main door. The orcs surrounded Grokk and scratched him slightly with their dwarven waraxes. The giants kept swinging at Horkina, but she deftly dodged their blows and struck back with both of her axes. Garlen did a somersault between one giant's legs and then stabbed it in the back of the knee. Rain's stabs bounced off the plate mail of the orc in front of him, but Grokk dropped that one and turned to swing at another, nailing it with a critical blow that sent it fleeing. Roland hit the fleeing orc with a ray of fire, and Amber held the other orc with a spell so Rain could finish him off with a carefully aimed jab. Horkina continued to avoid the giants' swings and dropped one with her waraxe, and then turned and hit the other with a critical strike. (Amber collected 10 gold pieces from Rain, as she'd bet on Horkina making just such a hit.) Rain put manacles on the stable, but unconscious, cleric, and the party gathered the armor, weapons, and gold from the fallen.

The party searched two small rooms off to the side. One was filled with mundane supplies, while the other looked like living quarters for a priest. Several papers detailing day-to-day temple operations, such as number of visitors and cost of janitorial support, covered the desk. Roland stuffed the papers in his bag and the party headed upstairs. On the next level was an even more finely decorated room, probably the living quarters for the high priest. A similar stack of papers, dated before Embril's recent leave of absence, covered the desktop. Rain noticed one desk drawer had a false bottom, beneath which were a few healing potions and a stack of letters describing a search for an unnamed thing. Roland gathered up these letters, and then the party continued onward.

Rain opened the next door, and the party stepped onto a small staircase leading up into a large octagonal room with a cage hanging from the ceiling. A divine fire rained down on the party. The spell was cast by Ike Iverson, who was floating at the top of the room near the cage. A dread wraith rushed through the floor and drained a few points of constitution from Rain, while a bone devil took up position near the top of the stairs and several large gray render zombies slowly shuffled across the room. Garlen tumbled past the devil and flew into a rage, jabbing it with a shortsword, while Rain attacked with his rapier and Grokk landed a solid blow with his axe. Amber used a heal spell to seriously damage the wraith, and Horkina finished it off with several swings of each axe. Roland floated upward and fired a powerful bolt of energy, stunning Ike and injuring him somewhat. The bone devil clawed and bit at Garlen, who responded with a flurry of attacks that destroyed it. Garlen then swung at one of the zombies, while Grokk and Rain attacked another. Amber fired a Lucent Lance at Ike, who was still stunned, and Roland touched Ike with a flame that caused him to combust. The party mopped up the zombies without much difficulty, and grabbed a few surviving treasures from Ike's charred corpse.

In a room downstairs, the party found Todd Vanderboren's body lying in state. Roland met with Lord Vanderboren, who said the temple of Wee Jas had been paid to resurrect his son but had thus far delayed. Because the temple of Wee Jas was no longer in a position to provide resurrection services, James performed the resurrection for a nominal fee. The young Stormblade explained that his group had been adventuring in some tunnels beneath Cauldron when they were ambushed by a powerful wizard, and he was hit with some sort of death spell. He thanked the party and James, and left to find his friends.

The party woke the captured cleric, Calmus Vel, who knew only that Ike expected the party to attack the temple and that he was to hold them off. One of the letters proved to be more enlightening. It read:

High Priestess,

As many have heard me say, the cages alone will not afford the completion of the ritual. The Cagewrights
have built a matrix on which to support them, but due to the shortsightedness of the others, I have been
left out of these discussions. You are my only ally amongst the Thirteen now. You must warn them that
there is more hidden in thee Soul Pillars that could prove of great import to their plans. What more is
needed I cannot say, and so I continue to explore the mysteries of the Soul Pillars at great peril.
Vittriss Bale grows ever more restless, and the insanity that lies frozen in Karran-Kural begins to stir.
Yet I shall remain here until the end, in hope of unveiling the last of the weavers' hidden lore. Still,
the risk is great. My price has doubled.

F. Abradius

Roland spent some time at the Bluecrater library researching, and came to these conclusions:
- the "high priestess" is Embril Aloustinai, and Fetor Abradius is a local loremaster.
- Karran-Kural is a spell weaver ruin located near the Demonskar. The spell weavers had experimented with ice and death, and apparently trapped souls in some sort of pillars.
- Vittrius Bale was a green dragon who agreed to protect Karran-Kural in exchange for immortality.
- The Cagewrights, also called the Thirteen, were a group searching for a way to connect the prison plane of Carceri (home to demodands and other evil creatures) with the material plane. They believed people called "shackleborn", descended from half-demodands, somehow held the key to forming a planar junction.

The Shackled City, Day 23 (2007-03-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 7: Secrets of the Soul Pillars

2007-05-19T14:17:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The Rubble Rousers returned to Cauldron, triumphant in their quest. Amber's concern about the lich on Occipitus led her to cast a divination to find the phylactery. Ehlonna's response was thus:
From whirling book to Smoking Eye
Between collide the land and sky
Beware unholy flaming doom
and in the tower, seek his room
Several equipment upgrades later, the party planeshifted directly into the flying book room in the Cathedral of Feathers, surmising this must be the "whirling book" being spoken of. They set out to the east, heading toward the skull mountain with its smoking eye.

Rain spotted a group of Babau ahead, and yelled out a warning to the party. Garlen stepped to the side, pulled out his new demonbane bow, and fired three cold iron arrows at the leader. All three arrows struck, one critically, and the foul demon was struck down. Garlen yelled tauntingly as Amber smote four more Babau with holy energy. One of the wounded babau managed to dispel the blindness on the group, and the others teleported to flank Rain and Garlen. Swings from Horkina and Rain dropped the lead pair. Roland tried to light one on fire, but missed badly, so Grokk and Garlen finished it off. The final remaining babau, having witnessed the wholesale slaughter of his traveling group, fled.

A short distance later, the group spotted a Leonal Guardinal moving through some ruins. Roland addressed it in Celestial, asking its name and purpose on Occipitus. "I am called Hamaklalia, and I have been trapped on Occipitus for hundreds of years. So long as this is the fate I'm consigned to, I will continue to fight against the evil creatures that live here", he responded. Roland explained his new rulership of Occipitus and his hope to return it to Celestia, and then handed a scroll to Hamaklalia to allow him to return to Elysium. A few miles ahead, the group came upon a hilltop where the plasma layer touched down in an eddy. Roland stepped closer while everyone else stayed back. A ball of plasma moved toward him, dealing a small amount of damage through his energy resistance. The plasma followed him for a few feet as he fled, but eventually floated away. Amber, still airborne, spotted the top of a tower beyond the hill.

The tower stood about a hundred feet tall, tilted somewhat on edge. Two small segments of what used to be castle walls were still attached. Roland flew to the top of one wall and spotted a pair of stone golems on the other side. Amber created some explosive berries and handed them to Garlen, and also gave him a substantial amount of fire resistance. Garlen ran up to the stone golems, and Amber called out "someone set up you the bomb", causing all of the berries to explode. The stone golems crumbled into debris, but Garlen deftly avoided the flame.

The lower level of the tower looked like a smashed armory. Rain ran to grab a sword in the middle of the floor, nearly falling into a pit cleverly concealed by an illusion. Amber threw a rock and discovered the sword, too, was an illusion. Roland used his flight ability to inspect the pit, discovering poisoned spikes 50 feet down, and then the party moved up the spiral staircase to the next level. Above, dozens of fiendish scorpions of differing sizes filled the room. A lightning bolt from Roland destroyed half of their number. Grokk, Horkina, Rain and Garlen each killed a few, while Amber and Redtail smashed one. Roland grabbed several books and scrolls from a side room, and the group headed up the stairs.

Roland approached the door, concentrating to detect undead, and Rain looked for traps. Through the door was a powerful undead aura. Amber aligned the group's weapons, and suddenly an aura of silence covered the area next to the door. The Lich knew we'd come. Roland attempted to dispel the silence, Amber cast a magic circle against evil on Horkina, and the group charged in. Horkina, Rain, and Garlen surrounded the lich, and Roland stepped to the edge of the silent zone before casting a sound lance for maximum damage. The lich reached for Horkina, but she easily sidestepped his evil touch. A leaping attack from Grokk and a few strikes from Horkina's Maul of the Titans finished it off. Amber sprayed its corpse with holy light and then searched the room for magical auras. A silver box sitting in a glass case atop a silk pillow radiated magic, as did a single book. Roland identified the silver box as an explosive trap and the book as the lich's phylactery. The party smashed the phylactery and went home with the box and various magical items, including a vermin-bane sword.

The next morning, the Rubble Rousers gathered at the Quiet Grove for a breakfast feast with James. Just before starting the feast, Rain and Amber noticed a half-orc and two humans flying over the back wall of the temple. Rain pointed his bow at the human wearing robes and attempted to disrupt his spell, but to no avail -- a cone of icy cold sprayed over the party. A human woman fired off a spell of unholy blight, injuring most of the party. Amber blasted the half-orc with a moon bolt, significantly dropping his strength. The half-orc, who was surrouned by an aura of silence, flew down to Amber. He struck her with his greatsword, leaving her barely standing. Rain, Horkina, and Garlen surrounded him and attacked, wounding him severely. Roland flew up and away, sending his familiar between the two spellcasters and then transposing Grokk to that position. The man wearing robes walked across the air and fired another cone of cold at Roland, while the woman fired a searing bolt of light at Amber. Amber moved outside the temple and James followed to provide her with some healing, while Grokk assaulted the woman with his axe. The half-orc slightly wounded Rain, and then felt Horkina's wrath as she dropped him with her next swing. Rain and Horkina climbed the roof and surrounded the man, and a bolt of lightning from Roland finished off both spellcasters.

Amber was not happy with the assassination attempt in her own temple. With help from Jenya, she was able to get one of the assassins to respond to a speak with dead spell. The assassin had been sent by "the veiled lady", which Jenya recognized as an appellation for Wee Jas. She also related that the local temple of Wee Jas had undergone significant construction work, and now cast a shadow over the shrine to Pelor for a significant part of the day.

The Shackled City, Day 22 (2007-03-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 6: The Test of the Smoking Eye

2007-05-19T14:16:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain; Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

In the morning, the group feasted like heroes, courtesy of Ehlonna and her servant Amber. The group discussed the possible meanings of the "Test of Sacrifice", and whispered their suspicions about Kaurophon while he was distracted. After breaking through the rocky dome and riding for several hours following the lantern beam to the west, the group encountered a Hezrou wielding a large mallet. Garlen and Horkina were barely able to handle the smell, with the others remaining at range and sending in arrows and spells. After a quick battle, the Hezrou fell, and Horkina collected the Maul of the Titans.

Continuing toward the skull, the party entered a field of strange acid pools Kaurophon called "ulcers". Amber, mounted upon Redtail, spotted a black dragon headed inbound. Roland provided everyone with protection from acid, Amber surrounded the dragon with magical blades, and the rest of the group spread out. Rain, Grokk, and Horkina fired arrows at the dragon, hitting occasionally, while Garlen missed it badly with his spear. It flew toward Amber and Redtail, breathing acid that had no effect, and found itself in the middle of an icy cone courtesy of Kaurophon. After being slowed by Roland's magic, the dragon wisely retreated.

The lantern led the group to a small pool of acid, beside which lay a raven-winged angel pinned to the ground by several iron spears. Kaurophon recognized the creature Saureya, who had previously given him information about the Test of the Smoking Eye. Amber channeled some positive energy into the fallen deva, who awoke and asked for the spears to be removed from his wings and body. When asked about the Test of the Smoking Eye, he told the group he had designed it, including a flaw that allowed it to be completed by finishing only the third part. He also mentioned that Kaurophon could not enter the first part of the test because he was born on a lower plane, and Adimarchus had desired Occipitus to be ruled by another fallen angel. Kaurophon grew more nervous as the conversation continued, and was relieved when Saureya suggested the group should hurry to catch the Rakshasa and Fire Giant who were already inside.

Being already protected from acid, the group dove in to the pool and swam into the tunnel below, reaching the air-filled interior tunnel in just a few moments. The wide tunnel spiraled high into the mountain. After a few minutes, everyone heard the fire giant's heavy breathing around the corner. Amber aligned the group's weapons, and Rain and Garlen slipped around the corner, killing the Rakshasa with a single blow. Before the giant could react, Kaurophon hit it with a cone of cold, catching Rain in the blast as well. Garlen and Rain stabbed the giant in the back while Grokk and Horkina charged it with their axes. It died before even moving. The strange, fleshy tunnel began to convulse at the point where it had been hit with frost, and the party was pushed upward to a throne room. Horkina did her best to stand close to Kaurophon, suspecting he would double-cross the group at any moment.

The floor of the throne room was covered with broken pottery shards, and a berserk clay golem stood at the far side. Grokk and Horkina again demonstrated their mastery of axes by destroying it as it flailed wildly in response. A spiral staircase led the group into a room with a strange black fire in the middle. Three large fiendish scorpions appeared, but were quickly dispatched. An unholy blight hit most of the party from an unknown source. Amber cast a mass cure spell, and a cry of pain came from inside the fire, suggesting an undead creature was within. Rain fired some arrows through the fire and Roland maximized the power of a sound lance that struck whatever was inside. Grokk and Horkina moved to the sides of the fire, wanting to know what was inside but not wanting to risk taking damage. Kaurophon used a spell of telekenesis to push the creature out of the fire, and Amber and Roland recognized it as a human lich. Garlen, Grokk, and Horkina attacked it, and it responded by casting a spell that left Grokk barely standing. Amber's spells failed to connect and the lich withstood several strikes from Horkina, responding with a cast of Slay Living. Horkina shrugged it off and smacked the lich with the Maul of the Titans she'd picked up earlier, and Roland's magic missile finally dropped it.

Horkina again stood next to Kaurophon, ready to grab him the moment she sensed treachery. The group healed up and then continued up the next staircase. The next room was one of the eye sockets of the skull mountain, with a gusher of bright red plasma rushing outward and upward from the center of the room. Another mummy announced "Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the final Test of the Smoking Eye. A worthy successor to the throne of Adimarchus must complete only one more task. To rule Occipitus -- to grasp its power and use it for good or ill -- means to sacrifice everything you hold dear. The final test is this: sacrifice an ally to the plasma, and Occipitus is yours!" With that, Kaurophon attempted to cast a spell, but found himself pinned by Horkina and Grokk. Roland put Kaurophon to sleep with a powerful spell, and the party made sure the traitor was securely tied up before discussing options.

Could Kaurophon be sacrificed as an ally? Perhaps so, but wouldn't that be evil? Horkina wanted to know how that would be different in result from just killing him, and Amber argued that evil is about intent as much as action -- killing to stop an evil creature from endangering others is far different from killing the same creature to gain power. "Being good is not merely about smiting evil, but about being different from it." What about turning back and leaving Occipitus to whatever may happen to it? That was an option, but it's certainly better to leave the plane in the hands of good than to leave it in the hands of evil, and it was possible Kaurophon would return with a weaker "ally" to sacrifice now that he knew how to complete the test. Would a familiar or a mount be an adequate sacrifice? Would they be willing to be sacrificed, or would compelling them be evil? Amber stated that, with the founding of the temple, she'd accomplished her life goal and would be willing to be sacrificed, except that she wasn't sure she could trust anyone else to rule the plane with as fierce a devotion to goodness as her. Horkina suspected that, perhaps, she could sacrifice herself and somehow survive. As the discussion continued, Roland decided it was time to act, so he turned and jumped into the geyser.

Roland was momentarily transported to meet with many gods and angels, who saw his self-sacrifice as both technically meeting the test's requirements and as a sign of his worthiness to rule a former part of celestia, should he choose it. When he did, he reappeared with a bright flash, floating gently to the floor. His left eye burned as a candle flame, and the mummy greeted him as "Roland, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus".

Because it was unclear if others could also pass this test, and no legal authority could be trusted to keep Kaurophon from trying again, it was decided that the only safe response was to kill him. Amber also sealed off the entry tunnel with a thick wall of stone before the party planeshifted home.

The party reached level 12. Roland used the experience to remove the smoking eye level adjustment.

The Shackled City, Day 21 (2007-02-23, 6:30 PM), Chapter 6: The Test of the Smoking Eye

2007-05-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber; Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The group awoke the next morning and broke down the stone barrier used to protect them while sleeping. Down the stairs was a strange sight indeed -- a corpse covered in a strange mix of funeral wrappings and golden armor, sitting at a massive oak desk. This mummy stood and addressed the group, saying "Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the Test of the Smoking Eye." He then introduced the Test of Judgement: behind the door to the north was Thathnak the bebilith, and to the south was Halalia the avoral guardinal. The party was to choose one door and slay what lay behind.

Amber aligned everyone's weapons and the party opened the north door while Kaurophon waited in the antechamber. In the room to the north was a massive network of wooden bridges, and a large spider-demon hung from the roof. Grokk, Horkina, and Rain fired arrows at the demon while Garlen climbed the walls to close distance. The bebilith's web proved an ineffective defense, as Garlen passed right through and moved into flanking position. Horkina and Rain also climbed the walls to join in the smashing, and the demon was soon overcome by a multitude of perforations and magic missiles.

The next room was decorated with frescoes depicting a black-feathered angel fighting with hordes of demons and devils. Red sigils floated around a lantern upon a pedastal. In a flash of light, the mummy lord appeared next to the lantern, which he brought forward and handed to Rain, saying "Heed the words of Adimarchus! You have passed the test of Judgement. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Always deal with rivals first, and enemies second." The lantern beam pointed back to the entrance; it was to guide the party to the next test.

Before following it, the party stepped into the south chamber, where the guardinal stood captive in the middle of a silver circle. Rain stepped forward and broke the silver circle, and Amber handed a scroll of planeshift to the now-freed guardinal, who agreed to heal the party's wounds and walk with them to the edge of the celestial rubble before departing. Kaurophon reluctantly went along, feeling somewhat useless as Grokk and Horkina combined to smash a stone golem to bits. Halalia departed and the party continued on horseback to the north, briefly engaging a pack of fiendish centaurs who wisely chose to withdraw when two of their number were slain in a matter of seconds.

The lantern pointed ahead into what had no doubt been a battlefield long ago, where the Test of Resolve would take place. Dotting the ground were large cysts. Kaurophon explained that a battle between celestials and demons took place here when Occipitus fell, and that, while the demon corpses were immediately absorbed, the angel corpses are being absorbed far more slowly. The lantern pointed between two cysts, and the party followed. Encountering a basilisk, they stopped and attempted to engage it at range, and were suddenly transported back to the edge of the field. Roland moved to the side and cast Evard's Black Tentacles to slow the basilisk down, and Amber followed him and fired off another spell. Rain moved off the path to the other side with Horkina and Garlen, and these three were again teleported back to the edge of the field. Eventually the Basilisk fell, and the group continued following the lantern as it guided them through the cysts.

A glowing sword within a nearby cyst drew the group's attention. Rain and Horkina cut into the gooey mass, grabbing the sword and a few other items just before they were transported to the edge of the field. Dragging a stick behind them to mark the path, they quickly caught up to the rest of the group, and Rain surmised the "Test of Resolve" required him to stay on the path and keep heading forward. When the group encountered a Retriever shortly thereafter, Rain kept moving while the others stood to engage it, but was still teleported to the edge of the field along with Kaurophon. One Dimension Door later and they were back with the group. Rain drank a potion of invisibility and resolved to keep moving at his normal speed, ignoring all distractions, while dragging a stick behind him to trace the path for the others. The party quickly dispatched the Retriever and looted its junk pile.

A few minutes later, the group rescued a nearly-dead Couatl from another cyst, awakening it with a Break Enchantment spell from Amber. The Couatl gruffly thanked the group "despite their devotion to chaos" and then planeshifted away. Rain, still moving invisibly, spotted a group of humans between a pair of large cysts. He drew a small arrow in the sand and then continued on. One of the humans drank a potion and turned invisible, so Kaurophon coated the area in glitterdust. Roland's electric loop spell stunned two of the remaining three, and they all dropped quickly to the blades of the Rubble Rousers.

The lantern beam directed Rain into a faint circle on the ground, which teleported him across Occipitus. The rest of the party soon followed. They were greeted by another mummy lord, who announced "You have passed the Test of Resolve. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Let neither riches nor weaponry, neither allies nor enemies, tempt you from your course. Instead, spread such distractions before your rivals. The lantern shall guide you to the final test: the Test of Sacrifice. Your ascension to the throne draws nigh!" Amber created a stone dome, Roland cast rope trick inside it, and the party got some much-needed rest.

The party reached level 11.

The Shackled City, Day 20 (2007-02-16, 6:30 PM), Chapter 6: The Test of the Smoking Eye

2007-05-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Over the course of the next few days, the political situation in Cauldron calmed quite a bit. Many of the mercenaries were sent back home, and the rest were trained to be more disciplined. The tax collectors mostly had to find new jobs, though the government retained a few for future use.

Amber called the group to meet on the outskirts of town, along with a few local clerics and many of the common people. There, on the northern slope of Cauldron, was a brand new temple to Ehlonna, constructed while the party was out on their last adventure. Amber introduced James, the cleric who would run the Quiet Grove's day-to-day operations. After a couple of brief speeches, it was time for food, music, and dancing. The party lasted for most of the day, but eventually the guests either went back to Cauldron or rested in the grass.

As the party began heading back to Cauldron, five Babau stepped around the corner and began to attack. The party quickly dispatched them with the help of a mysterious sorcerer who fired magic missiles into the fray. This sorcerer introduced himself as Kaurophon, and said that he'd just arrived from Occipitus, a part of Celestia that had fallen into the Abyss. Occipitus' ruler, a demon prince named Adimarchus, vanished about fifty years ago. He'd set up a test called the "test of the smoking eye" to determine who would rule the plane after him. Kaurophon said that some rival groups, including a succubus-led group and a rakshasa-led group, were already working on the test, but the Rubble Rousers were obviously destined to rule the plane because of the words of "the prophet". He was obviously referring to Alek Tercival's message after Nabthatoron was slain.

The party agreed to go along, so Kaurophon planeshifted the whole group to Occipitus. The plane was a large bowl-shaped area about 300 miles across with a massive skull-shaped mountain in the center. The sky was filled with unholy fire, and Kaurophon warned not to get too close to it. As the party headed to the north toward part 1 of the test, it became apparent the plane was covered with Rubble. Horkina remarked that "we were totally meant to rule such a plane." As the party crossed the vast flats on horseback thanks to Roland, the encountered a pair of fiendish dire lions that fell quickly to the party's superior strength. A few miles later they encountered a Hezrou, whose awful stench made several party members keel over vomiting. Amber's cast of Mass Align Weapons gave the party the edge they needed to cut through the demon's skin. Shortly thereafter, in the middle of an area dotted with strange chalky columns that looked almost like giant ribs, the party encountered a group of three vrocks. They too went down quite quickly.

Soon, the party reached the Cathedral of Feathers. This massive cathedral was obviously originally Celestial in origin. Rain popped the front door open and the party was attacked by a pair of spider-like creatures called Driders, which began firing lightning from the ceiling. Rain and Garlen spider-climbed up to meet them, and a few quick stabs finished them off. When they had both died, a pit in the middle of the floor disappeared -- it had been an illusion.

The party stepped through the next pair of doors into the cathedral's massive main sanctuary. A massive statue of Orcas stood where there had no doubt been an altar before. Suddenly a woman stepped out from behind a buttress and tried to grab and kiss Roland. He pushed her away, screaming "hell no, get off me", and the party slaughtered the succubus within seconds. Suddenly a fireball landed in the middle of the group, dropped by a salamander who stood near the statue some 300 feet away. Garlen, Rain, Grokk, and Horkina set off running while Roland stepped to the side to take cover. Amber and Redtail flew to the opposite side, and then Kaurophon used dimension door to move closer to the enemy. It dropped another fireball on the group running across the cathedral floor, and Kaurophon responded with a cone of cold. Soon Garlen tumbled behind it, but it laid into him with a spear, dropping him to the ground. The salamander's tail narrowly missed the unconscious halfling. Kaurophon fired another cone of cold, taking care to avoid Garlen, and Grokk and Horkina used their axes to finally drop the beast. Amber brought Garlen back to his feet with several healing spells.

By this point it became apparent the cathedral still had some Celestial influence in it. Every few minutes, it would appear to be intact, with the view out the windows showing Celestia instead of Occipitus, and the air would fill with floating feathers. This would only last for a few seconds, and then the cathedral would return to normal. The party defaced the statue of Orcas and then searched two rooms off to the side. One room, a meditation chamber, held numerous small treasures buried in rubble. Another room held several books, floating in a circle in midair. The party decided to leave the books where they were and sleep in the other room, inside a stone dome produced from one of Amber's spells.

The Shackled City, Day 19 (2007-02-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5.5: Blackrock Mountain

2007-04-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Tony (Roland, Horkina)
Tom (Garlen, Amber)
DM: Catherine

Roland summoned a pack of horses for the party, and he and Amber protected the group from the cold. A couple of spears with a blanket slung between served as a makeshift sled to bring the comatose paladin along. As the party moved southward, the ground began to rumble. A huge worm-like creature burrowed up through the ground, the heat of its body melting the nearby snow. Garlen tumbled behind the remorhaz and stabbed it with his shortsword, which melted inside the creature's body. As Garlen yelled out swear words in multiple languages, the rest of the party fired arrows and spells at the beast until it finally collapsed.

Garlen continued swearing about the loss of his expensive sword as the party moved onward to the south. When the mountain range came into clear view, Roland and Garlen both realized the largest mountain was the famed Naurim, pride and joy of the blackrock dwarves. Garlen was pretty excited about the chance to see the dwarves and the famed city of Kerah, and certain the dwarves could help cure the paladin and send the party home. On the way up the icy mountainside, Rain heard the breathing of a pair of giants up on a ledge. He and Garlen spiderclimbed up to ambush them and quickly took one down with a barrage of sneak attacks. The other frost giant jumped down in front of Grokk and Horkina, who mauled it.

When the party reached the great Vuthgate leading into the mountain, a group of dwarven guards met them. The guards said the mountain was not safe for travelers right now -- the great city of Kerah had been overrun, and the dwarves were in the midst of a campaign to take it back. "If you travelers can offer us assistance in trade for whatever help you need, seek Uther Ungart, champion of the Blackrock Clan." The party headed through the gate and into the refugee city of Beshin, finding the magically enlarged Uther rallying the troops. Garlen laughed at the sight, as he recalled a young dwarf named Uther losing to a halfling in a wrestling match in the city of Farbottle not too far south of here. Uther admitted that had been him, but when Garlen challenged him, the big dwarf quickly inverted the halfling with a laugh and a smile.

The party was to be provided with passage home, and attempts to restore Tercival's consciousness, in exchange for retrieving an artifact called the "heart of winter" from the frost giants outside. Roland exchanged spells with an elven wizard named Nienna while Rain checked out the local women and Horkina and Grokk had some ale. The party rested up and headed for the frost giant compound in the morning.

The group discovered a cave that was obviously a frost giant home. Rain peeked his head behind a curtain and spotted a frost giant boy throwing a rock against a wall. The party decided to leave the young one alone. A vent blasted cold air into another room. Roland sent a magical eye through the vent and followed the conduit to another grating and a vertical passage. At the bottom of the vertical shaft was a massive, icy dragon heart that dripped icy liquid into a pool below. Vents led off of the sides of the shaft, and the top opened to the sky above. The party decided to enter the complex by flying down the shaft, retrieving the heart of winter, and then fighting their way out of the frost giant keep.

Horkina attached the artifact to a pole and carried it over her shoulder. Rain opened the door from the shaft into the main complex, where a fairly large white dragon waited, chained into a small room. Roland learned that the dragon was upset with being held in captivity, and agreed to release it if it would agree to stay out of the party's way. The dragon agreed, so Roland cast silence on the chains that bound it and then Horkina and Grokk bashed the chains apart. The dragon climbed into the icy pool in the bottom of the shaft and then flew up and away, while the party moved through the complex and looted a giant-sized safe.

Rain opened a door into a large dining room. Two giants stood waiting in the room. Garlen ran under the table and began stabbing at one of the giant's legs while Rain and Grokk helped bring the giant down. Horkina ran to attack the other giant, and they exchanged powerful critical blows. Amber healed Horkina while Roland lit this giant on fire, leaving charred remains on the ground. A third giant came in through the main door but was quickly dispatched.

In a nearby room, the giants kept a troll woman who was busy cooking soup. The party let her know she was free to go, as the giants were no longer going to require her services. She nodded and continued making her soup. The party also found a dwarf woman being held captive in a side chamber, and asked her to follow a short distance behind. The main gate of the complex was being guarded by two baby white dragons. Roland magically frightened them and the party attacked them as they cowered in their pens. The party headed back to Beshin with the heart of winter and the dwarf woman in tow.

Back in Beshin, the local clerics had been able to restore Alek Tercival's consciousness with a Heal spell. The next morning, as promised, Nienna worked with Roland to teleport the party back to where they'd come from. Specifically, the party stopped by the magical fountain so that Alek Tercival could drink some of the elixer and be ready for his fight with Skellerang. The group headed back to Redgorge, and noticed Skellerang and the mercenaries were camped outside the town. As Alek walked through Redgorge, the people became overjoyed, and he walked out to the mercenary camp to meet with Skellerang. With some magical assistance from Amber and Roland, and with the party's best magical equipment, the paladin easily overpowered the guard captain. Tereson Skellerang, badly wounded, surrendered his position as guard captain in exchange for his life.

The Shackled City, Day 18 (2007-02-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy

2007-04-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party moved quickly south. The passageway led to a balcony overlooking the portcullis they'd avoided. A giant waited on the balcony, watching for intruders to approach the portcullis. Garlen and Rain tumbled to flank, and Grokk and Horkina smashed the giant. Still taking care to be quiet, the party moved to the northwest. The complex changed character, from rough-hewn caverns to carefully constructed and magically lit hallways. Light from a fire spilled into one of the hallways, so the party investigated. A fire giant was slaving over a forge, working on a large set of armor. When he spotted the party, he attempted to use a wand to cast displacement on himself, but failed. Roland used Tasha's Hideous Laughter to bring him to the ground, and the party quickly slew him. Rain kicked some rubble in the corner and found two large jugs of alchemists fire, and also carefully depressurized a chest that would otherwise have sprayed pressurized alchemists fire all over the room. The party left a heavy silver and platinum cage, to be retrieved later.

To the south was a massive circular room with an odd structure in the middle, surrounded by dozens of large six-armed chairs. Five ettins lingered in the room. Roland launched several small bursts of fire while the rest of the party stood back and shelled the creatures with arrows. As the monstrous creatures fell, the party moved in to the room to investiage. The sound of a heavenly chorus and the smell of flowers came in from the west, and three trumpet archons followed, thanking the party for saving the ancient site from the evil taint of the giants. They offered "the nectar of the gods" to Roland, who declined based on Nidrama's warning. Rain sensed deception and called out his own warning, so Roland cast dispel magic on the first of the archons. This revealed her true form: a fey hag. Amber cast silence in the middle of the pack, Roland stepped back, and the rest of the party jumped into melee. Grokk and Garlen both took some strength drain from the hags, but the hags took the worst of the damage as they fell dead from numerous wounds.

The party moved to the west and found a room with a strange fountain producing magical liquid. Leaving it behind, they headed north into a throne room. A door to the west led to a tapestry-covered room filled with spellweaver skeletons. The six-armed skeletons couldn't manage to land any significant blows due to the party's high-quality armor. Once the undead were neutralized, the group stuffed all of the nice tapestries into a bag of holding, and Rain noticed a hidden switch on the north wall beneath a set of baboon masks. The switch opened a shallow drawer containing a staff the party suspected was Alakast. Without any identification spells prepared, though, the party stowed the staff and kept moving.

To the north and west was a room with a colorful diagram on the floor and a mirror on the wall. Alek Tercival sat in a chair in the middle of the room. He called out to the party to enter, but everyone suspected some sort of trap and held back. Realizing his ruse wouldn't work, the false Tercival morphed into his true form -- a creature from the plane of mirrors called a nerra. Four others emerged from the mirror, but a fireball and a couple of sneak attacks dropped the whole group.

Roland teleported back to town with half of the party and most of the treasure, selling off the items the party didn't want and picking up the material components for some identification spells. The staff was in fact Alakast, a demonbane weapon. The liquid in the magical fountain proved to be some sort of artifact, not readily identifiable by Roland's spell, but Grokk drank a bit and found his strength was greatly increased. Horkina and Rain did the same. Roland was also able to identify the mirror as a magical portal, and a careful look showed a distant Alek Tercival reflected in it.

The party stepped into the portal and found themselves separated, in small pentagonal colored rooms with colored mirrors on each wall. Voices seemed to travel from room to room, and the mirrors led to rooms of the indicated color. But there seemed to be multiple rooms of the same color, such that the party couldn't reassemble. Perhaps the right color sequence would lead the party to the exit, but the party didn't know the sequence. Rain recalled there was a pentagon with stars in it on the engraved plate, and looking carefully, noticed a sequence of dots and lines below the engraving that seemed to signify the numbers 3-4-5-1-2-3. People tried various combinations -- perhaps 1 meant red, 2 meant orange, and so on. Eventually Horkina determined the solution: from whatever room you're in, pick the color 3 spots away from it in the original diagram, then the color 4 spots away, then 5, and so on. She called out her solution and then tested it, soon emerging into a small room where Alek Tercival sat mumbling. The rest of the party quickly followed.

Rain dismantled the lock on the iron door at the edge of the room while Roland tried to explain what happened to Tercival, telling him of the disguised hags and their deception. Tercival was upset and ashamed, and feared returning to Cauldron. As the party walked outside into a snowy wasteland, they convinced the paladin they wouldn't publicize the embarrassing details that put him in this position.

Suddenly Nabthatoron, Lord of the Demonskar, appeared a few feet away and began attacking Alek Tercival. The paladin dropped to the ground, dying. Amber aligned everyone's weapons while Garlen dove behind the demon, and Horkina used Alakast to great effect, pounding the evil menace. The glabrezu responded by stunning Horkina. Roland poured a healing potion down Tercival's throat, and Grokk's axe clove deep into the demon's skull, ending this particular threat. Tercival fell to the ground again and spoke out with a voice not his own: "There is naught left for you in Cauldron, heroes! To return is to enter your own graves and to bring doom upon all you love! Trust the sign of the Smoking Eye if you wish to save them all!" This was Nidrama's voice speaking through the paladin, who fell into a coma soon after.

Garlen looked around and surmised the party was well over a thousand miles away from Cauldron, in an icy wasteland to the north. Amber took Redtail high up in the air and spotted a range of mountains to the south. Garlen suggested the party should get some rest and head to the south in the morning.

The party reached level 10.

The Shackled City, Day 17 (2007-01-27, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy

2007-04-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The Rubble Rousers set out for Redgorge at once, heading directly to the Miners Inn. A man playing a lute called the party over and asked them a riddle, inviting them to a private meeting after they answered correctly. He led them to a large conference room with a solid oak table in the middle. The walls were covered with paintings detailing the history of Surabar Spellmason's life -- his arrival at the volcano and founding of Cauldron, the construction of Redgorge and its defenses, a meeting with an angel named Nidrama who gifted him a staff, a battle with the glabrezu Nabthatoron, and his death. A tall gray-haired man wearing all brown was there to greet them. He was nicknamed "the Foreman", leader of the Chisel.

After Maavu and a few others arrived, the Foreman began discussing the current situation. He said the Chisel was founded to protect the region and support artisans and craftsmen, but that selfish actions of some of its members were compromising that goal. Too many members had stopped caring about the wellness of society as a whole. He said Maavu's actions in Cauldron -- protesting the taxes -- may have caused significant harm to the Chisel. A great force of evil and chaos was at work in Cauldron, and divinations pointed toward a great disaster on the horizon. Even now Skellerang was planning to move a force of half-orc mercenaries into Redgorge, and the only way out would be for the paladin to renounce his challenge. Roland countered: "aren't you being selfish too? Your concern seems to be more for the Chisel's well-being than for the people of Cauldron. Why shouldn't Tercival go through with the challenge?" The Foreman responded by saying that the paladin had gone missing, and that either way, Redgorge would be devastated if Tercival couldn't be found.

One of the Chisel craftsmen was able to decipher some of the markings on the mapped plate. It told of the construction of some large structure using ogre laborers and spellweaver masters. The ogres appeared to get stronger partway through the construction process. The map on the back was revealing, too -- it pointed to a headless demon, and the Foreman knew of a headless statue of Nabthatoron a few miles down the red river. Mikimax, the innkeeper, lent the party a small boat so they could travel to that point and hopefully track down the paladin.

After a few hours of sailing, the party approached a wide beach with a damaged and headless demon statue standing on the north bank. Arrows flew at the boat from within the trees; a group of gnolls was attacking. The party beached the rowboat, and Garlen ran through the underbrush toward one of the gnolls. Amber, airborne on Redtail, spotted a second pack of gnolls and put them to sleep. Roland's fireball and a string of arrows from Grokk, Horkina, and Rain finished them off. The party followed a trail to a large cave -- one of the landmarks on the map. A forest sloth had taken up residence in the cave, and it swallowed Garlen in one bite. The party bashed the sloth to death, and Garlen cut at its stomach trying to get free. Grokk's axe finally tore its flesh apart, and a few Create Water spells washed the sloth goo from Garlen's hair.

A few miles and several gnolls further down the path, the party came to a small clearing. A quick fluttering of large wings preceded a beautiful woman stepping into the clearing. This woman was pictured in one of the paintings -- this was Nidrama, who had given Surabar Spellmason a magical weapon. She gave a warning: "The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They will use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival." But she also gave encouragement: "In ages past, I provided to Surabar Spellmason a powerful weapon... Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. It is fated that Alakast should be wielded again against the Lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to you, and all that needs be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, beyond the watchful eyes of the north." With that, she planeshifted away.

Another mile of travel brought the party to a large pipe -- possibly the "round cave" in the crudely sketched map. Following the pathway traced out on the map, the party emerged from the network of pipes and onto a ledge over a large pit. There, a pair of pipes bellowed whenever the wind blew, like a massive organ that could be heard miles away. This was no doubt "Vaprak's Voice". At the bottom of the fissure was a large, stinking pool. Rain spotted a mephit flying out of the pool and away, and the party began firing to try to stop it. It lived through a pair of arrow hits and was nearly to the corner when Garlen hit it right between the eyes with his favorite shortspear. Garlen mumbled about how much he hated mephits as the party looked around.

The mephit had been heading toward a small hole just above an iron portcullis. Amber flew to the far side of the pit and down a large fissure in the rock, and found a massive wooden door sized for giants. The party decided this door would be a more ideal way to enter whatever complex might lie behind. Roland cast silent portal and Grokk lifted the 1500-pound door, setting it aside. The hill giants inside the room barely looked up in time to see the party rushing in on them, and due to Horkina's passionate feelings about giants and her combat skill, none lived long enough to call out a warning.

The Shackled City, Day 16 (2007-01-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy

2007-04-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland; Grokk)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Amber spent the next several days walking around town, looking for people to heal in the name of Ehlonna and putting out word that she planned to start a temple soon. Roland set out looking for Meerthan, and was directed to meet with Tyro Amberhelm. The dwarf merchant revealed that he, in fact, was Meerthan in disguise. The two exchanged spells and stories. Meanwhile, tax collectors were being seen more and more frequently. Fliers appeared all over town, saying a tax protest had been scheduled.

At the protest, a merchant named Maavu stood to speak. He explained that the new, higher taxes were illegal, and that the government had become hopelessly corrupt in its recent hiring of half-orc mercenaries. "The paladin Alek Tercival has issued a challenge to Tereson Skellerang, captain of the town guard, to prove his valor in a duel according to the Old Law of Peers, but the city council has tried to keep the challenge quiet as they continue to collect illegal taxes!" As the crowd got more and more rowdy, a young watch sergeant approached with a group of half-orcs and called out to Maavu, saying he was under arrest. Suddenly a young man screamed out "let's kill these half-orc brigands!" and the mercenaries were quickly slain.

Horkina stepped to the sergeant's side and screamed out an intimidating warning, scaring most of the crowd into stepping back. Rain, Garlen, and Grokk closed in, dropping the provocateur and his allies who Rain recognized as being affiliated with the Last Laugh. A group of rioters to the north began fighting and breaking things, but Roland charmed several of the rioters. Amber cast Air Walk on sergeant Krewis to allow him to escape, which he did rather quickly. Roland and Amber used a few more spells to calm the rioting group, and Horkina continued to disperse the crowd. Suddenly a strange air creature appeared next to Maavu and swiped at him, while archers in town hall fired several arrows at him. The party surrounded the breathdrinker while Maavu dove for cover, and the breathdrinker was dispatched. The party escorted Maavu safely out of the crowd, and he invited them to come to redgorge to meet with him about a matter of importance. He instructed the party to find him at the redhead miner's inn and told them the answer to a riddle they'd be asked.

Later that night, the bells at city hall began to ring out -- a building down by the lake was burning. As the party rushed to investigage, it became apparent the fire was at Minutia's Board, where many of the half-orc mercenaries had been staying. The mercenaries were doing their best to put out the fire with a bucket brigade, passing water up from the edge of the lake. Several of Cauldron's citizens yelled insults against the half-orcs, though a shout from Grokk scared many of the racists away. As the orcs tried to create a fire break, the inn owner yelled at their leader to have them stop. He responded "you tiny idiot! You not get it! Flame-demons kill us! Blades useless! Fire unstoppable!" Moments later, a pair of fire elementals burst out from the building and began to burn the nearest half-orc.

The party responded with a string of axe blows and cold spells, and the fire elementals were neutralized. Rain heard a cry for help from inside the building, and spotted Deakon Stormshield trapped beneath some rubble. Roland used a transposition spell to free the boy and trap himself, and then Grokk and Horkina helped lift the fallen timbers off of him. As the party moved to help put out the fire, a tall blue-haired man in blue robes arrived and cast a pair of cones of cold into the building. Amber discerned that the man was evil, and the party suspected he might be the "Blue Duke", an ogre mage they'd been warned about before.

The next morning, the party learned taxes had been suspended, but that there was a bounty for capturing the "evil merchant Maavu" for the trouble he'd stirred up. The group set out to investigate exactly what had happened. Jenya had been a good friend of Alek Tercival's, and mentioned that he'd gone missing just after issuing the challenge. She said he'd sold a lot of treasure to Tygot, so the party asked the merchant to see what Tercival had recently sold. One item was a strange carved plate with an image of a six-armed creature holding up a strange star-filled pentagon. A crude map had been scratched on the back of the plate.

The party reached level 9.

The Shackled City, Day 15 (2007-01-05, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory

2007-04-07T18:06:00.002-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party headed out to where the canoe had dropped them off, intending to rest on the far side of the lake. The ferry keeper jumped out of the canoe about 20 feet out, and swam up to the party. He attempted to punch Horkina, but was quickly surrounded and dropped. The party took his canoe and sailed across the lake, and took turns resting while others kept watch over the party and the horses.

Back inside Bhal-Hamatugn, the party discovered a set of jail cells. A human in one cell said the halfling spellcaster in the next cell was in league with the kuo-toans. The halfling countered that the human talked to rats, and was obviously the one in league with the kuo-toans. The two threw accusations back and forth as the party walked away down the nearest staircase.

The stairs led to a flooded room that was obviously used for torture. Manacles, stretching racks, and various other implements lined the walls. As the party approached, an extremely distorted mummy -- so rotted that his original race couldn't be identified -- came up out of the water and attempted to attack. Roland blasted it with fire, and the others pounded it with blades until it collapsed back into the water.

The party headed back to where they'd found the dragon fingerlings. A set of stairs led up to a door, where Rain discovered a lightning bolt trap which he expertly disabled. He also noticed a trigger mechanism to shoot poison spears across the room, and disarmed it. He quietly opened the next door and discovered a black dragon. The dragon reacted sluggishly as the party moved to surround him. Grokk and Horkina hit him hard, while Rain and Garlen poked at his vital organs. Roland used a spell to distract the dragon, causing him to twitch and giving the party an opening in which to hit him. Everyone landed their attack, and thus, the dragon was slain without getting a single action.

The party headed back to the large room with the statue of Blibdoolpoolp. A kuo-toan wearing shiny plate mail and wielding a large pincer staff stepped out next to the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded him, but struggled to hit him. He injured the whole party with an unholy blight and then seriously wounded Garlen with his staff, so Garlen retreated. Roland cast a dispel magic to remove the cleric's numerous protections, and he quickly fell to a string of attacks. Amber healed Garlen and the others. She then stepped up to the huge statue and cast Stone Shape to put a large crack across the middle. This made the top half of the statue fall to the ground, creating a large pile of rubble for Rain to kick.

Having secured all but the upper level of the stronghold, Roland used a simple divination to find the direction to Zenith. He was clearly within a hundred feet, directly east of the main room. Garlen spider-climbed to the top balcony and lowered the drawbridges that allowed access to the uppermost doors, and the party headed through. Several mushrooms, including a couple of aggressively violent ones, were being grown in one room. Horkina, practically immune to mushroom poison, hacked her way through the violet funguses and even ate a bit of them. As the party moved into the next room, Rain noticed a kuo-toan hiding upside down on the roof, looking intent on striking Roland. Garlen climbed up to attack, and the rest of the party surrounded and destroyed the assassin.

Finally, the party came into Zenith's room. The dwarf sat in a throne, flanked by his own family banners being flown upside down, with a strange glowing circle in front of his throne. He called out "I prophesy your doom" as he threw a glass sphere toward the far wall and stood in a defensive posture. An invisible arm attacked Horkina, so Roland used glitterdust to reveal the enemy: an invisible stalker. It fell quickly once it became visible. Amber and Roland each cast spells at the dwarf, and he soon succumbed to their magic and was captured. As the party left the kuo-toan stronghold with Zenith in tow, they released the two prisoners. The prisoners continued to bicker as the party handed each of them a spear. The two continued to face off as the party left for home.

Back in Cauldron, Amber sought a method to cure Zenith's obvious insanity. A divination told her to "seek the invisible sign to peer inside the smoking eye." A spell of see invisibility revealed a strange mark on his forehead: the sign of Carceri, the prison plane of the Abyss.

The Shackled City, Day 14 (2006-12-15, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory

2007-04-07T18:06:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party travelled down through the underground fissure for several miles. Eventually, the passage opened into an immense cavern. At the far side of the cavern stood a massive stone structure shaped like a spined fish, with a wide stairway leading up into its open mouth. The bottom of the cavern was covered in water. The party left the horses and Redtail in a sheltered cave and headed toward the lake.

As they reached the shore, a long canoe drifted out of the mist. The froglike creature paddling the canoe kept a close watch on the party. Roland cast a spell to allow him to speak kuo-toan, and the creature asked him "seek ye the Smoking Eye? I'll guide you through the maw." Roland agreed, and the party hopped into the canoe. Just after the party stepped onto the massive staircase, several kuo-toans fired arrows down from the eyes of the fish. Garlen and Rain spider-climbed up the side of the fish while Grokk and Horkina returned fire. The enemies were quickly subdued. Rain and Garlen signalled that they were heading down a nearby staircase. The others headed for a curtain where they guessed the staircase would lead. The group was reunited in the next room, where a few kuo-toans had just been awakened by the sounds of battle. The rapier-wielding amphibians were no match for the axe-wielding surface dwellers.

Rain disabled a trap on the large doors ahead, and the party moved into a 70-foot-tall room. The party was on the mid-level balcony, looking across at a huge statue of the lobster-headed, lobster-clawed woman, the kuo-toan goddess Blibdoolpoolp. Archers began to fire from the upper level balcony, and clerics used the statue to generate a massive bolt of electricity that narrowly missed Rain. Grokk and Rain headed upstairs to take out the archers, while the others headed downstairs to fight the armored clerics. These foes fell quickly, and the party began searching the room.

Suddenly, an Erinyes demon appeared on the platform in front of the statue. Grokk, Horkina, Garlen, and Rain surrounded her and took a few quick strikes. As she flew up toward the ceiling, they each took the opportunity to attack her once more. She fired down an unholy blight on the party, and then began attacking with her flaming longbow. Grokk and Horkina fired back, and a magic missile from Roland provided the killing blow.

The party went downstairs and opened the main doors. These led to a chamber with dead kuo-toans mounted on the walls. Rain was perceptive enough to notice the opening for a pit on the floor, and warned the party. As they moved around it, a strange shadowy creature flew across the room and attacked, attempting to drain Horkina's constitution. She resisted, and Amber and Garlen used healing spells to seriously damage the enemy. Grokk's axe passed right through it once, but a second swing connected, and a similar attack from Horkina brought it down.

The party moved on to a set of workshops, where they encountered a spear-wielding kuo-toan. He landed a few blows, but eventually fell, and Garlen claimed his returning shortspear. In another room, Roland spotted a pool of dragon-kuo-toan halfbreed fingerlings. Several fireballs and potions of alchemists fire later, they were destroyed. About a dozen more kuo-toans of various sorts fell before the party decided it was time to get some rest.

The party reached level 8.

The Shackled City, Day 13 (2006-12-08, 6:30 PM) Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory

2007-04-07T18:05:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

As the party walked along Magma Avenue toward the church of St. Cuthbert, a low rumble caught their attention. Suddenly, a large beast with huge forearms and an insect-like head burrowed up from the ground and smashed a fist into the corner of a warehouse. Grokk and Horkina charged at it and smashed it with their axes, and the umber hulk quickly burrowed back underground. A few moments later, Rain heard it inside the neighboring warehouse. The party charged in and surrounded it, killing it with a magic missile and a few stabs. A quick search through the rubble in both warehouses revealed the remnants of what may have been a summoning circle. This umber hulk did not come here on its own.

A few hours later, a beautiful blonde woman calling herself Celeste handed a business card to Roland, saying she'd like to arrange a business dinner the next night. The card pointed the party to the Cusp of Sunrise, an upscale dinner club to the northeast on Obsidian Avenue. When the party arrived, a large bald man in light blue robes greeted them: "you're the umber hulk people. I'm Renjin -- welcome to the Cusp of Sunrise." Roland sat down and started reading in the library. The others sat around a small gaming table, ordering drinks and playing a dice game with some of the nobles. Grokk earned several gold pieces from the others for winning the game, and was asked to tell a story as is tradition for winners of Snatch the Gem. Grokk obliged: "Once, Grokk was walking in the forest. Grokk see a frog. Frog say 'ribbit'... so Grokk SMASH!"

A few minutes later, Celeste arrived and greeted the party, inviting them into a conference room in the east wing. There sat a dwarf, aged and scrawny with his hair and beard starting to fall out. He wheezed out "you're the heroes of the city right now, and it's heroes I need. I'll pay you well if you'll rescue my son from the Underdark." This man introduced himself as Davked Splintershield, and said his son Zenith had disappeared during a foolish crusade against the denizens of the Underdark. Unfortunately, Davked's wife Marta put a curse on him as she died: he would waste away to nothing unless he made peace with each of his three sons. The final son, Zenith, was still missing -- divinations located him in a kuo-toan shrine called Bhal-Hamatugn. Celeste explained that the nearest entrances to the Underdark had been caved in during a series of adventures by the Stormblades, but there was one entrance to the north, near the home of a hermit called Crazy Jared.

In the morning, the party set out for Crazy Jared's. Most characters rented horses, while Amber took flight on Redtail, her hippogriff. At the end of the journey, this provided her with a great view of the red dragon breathing fire toward the countryside below. The party hurried over the next hill to see Jared's hut -- surrounded by a wooden fence painted to look like a stone wall -- on fire. As the party approached, Jared called out "onward, my knights, for Anduria!" Seeing no reason to argue, Grokk, Horkina, and Rain fired arrows at the dragon, while Amber and Roland spread out and fired spells at it. The crazy hermit's play-by-play of the fight inspired the party to be courageous in their fight, and the dragon was quickly slain.

Jared called out "behold the beautiful and peacable realm of Anduria!" as he cast an illusion, making the land look lush and covered in vineyards. The party requested lodging for the night while gathering as much information as they could. Jared spoke of a nearby Underdark entrance, called the Pit of the Seven Jaws, where "just last week I sent five hundred of Anduria's finest to guard against an incursion by the mind flayers." Roland later joked that he expected to see cardboard cutouts of knights standing around the pit.

In the morning, the group approached the pit, and walked down the metal staircase. As Rain stood on a platform about halfway down, several bursts of ice fired at him. A seven-headed cryohydra had just popped up from a fissure below. Grokk and Horkina rushed to assault it, and a few solid smashes left the hydra bleeding and unconscious.

The Shackled City, Day 12 (2006-11-24, 6:30 PM) Chapter 3: Flood Season

2007-03-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party awoke and began moving methodically through the complex. Before leaving the caves, Rain noticed the sound of a creature flying. Some glitterdust revealed a quasit, who fell quickly. The party recovered a wand from his corpse. To the south, the complex became more regular -- rooms, rather than caves. Several of the rooms were filled with thugs engaged in everyday tasks -- eating a meal, sharpening weapons, playing cards, and the like. The party cut through half a dozen rooms like this, interrogating a couple of quick-to-surrender thugs and leaving them tied up.

Rain searched a revolving door and found a small switch hidden on the upper lip. The switch disarmed a set of blades that would otherwise cut anyone who passed through the door. The party moved through the door as quickly as possible, and encountered the infamous Triel Eldurast. She attacked Horkina with her flail, causing significant pain, but she couldn't withstand the level of damage the party dealt. As she crumpled to the ground, Amber stepped forward to stabilize her -- the government of Cauldron would want to interrogate her and punish her for her past crimes. The party recovered three more wands of water control, as well as several other wands, from Triel's stash.

Rain discovered a secret door leading to a small chamber behind some arrow slits. Several thugs stood ready to fire arrows into an adjacent hallway, but they were unprepared for melee combat. The group decided to search for an entrance to a similar chamber on the opposite side of the hallway before walking through the hallway itself. Moving through a barracks and some storage rooms, the party eventually found the opposite chamber, and the battle played out much the same way, with the thugs falling to a series of axe and sword blows.

A secret passageway led into a large room in the west. The walls curved in a strange pattern, almost as if the room had been formed by a series of bubbles growing into each other. A mud slaad stood in the shadows at the far end of the room. As the party moved to surround it, it screeched loudly, causing serious injury to the group. Grokk and Horkina bashed it with their axes while Rain and Garlen poked holes in it, and it fell to the ground. Amber healed the party while Rain gave the thing an extra stab to make sure it stayed down. Underneath a nearby table, several gems and coins were wrapped in a magical cloak (later identified as a cloak of Arachnidia; Garlen went on to wear it through several adventures.) Roland could tell this room had been used to construct magic items involving conjuration, abjuration, and necromancy.

The rooms to the south led into a web-filled cavern. Several spiders and ettercaps fought within the webs. Roland spent several minutes in Hell Hound form, biting through the webs and cutting paths for the rest of the party to follow. In the farthest cave, a bald halfling stood ready for battle alongside a harpoon spider. Amber cast a spell of silence on the halfling while Horkina cut through the webs and attacked the spider. The halfling tried to attack with his dagger, but Grokk and Rain brought him down. Amber stabilized him while the party finished off the remaining spiders and gathered bits of treasure, including his keys and two more wands. His keys allowed access to his spellbook (which Roland borrowed) and the seventh wand. The party discovered the final wand in a pit full of bloodbloater oozes, which died to several potions of alchemists fire.

The party returned to Cauldron with all eight wands and two prisoners. The floodwaters were beginning to rise, but Amber, Jenya, and a few clerics from the temples of Kord and Pelor used the wands to bring the floodwaters down. Triel Eldurast and the halfling, Skaven Umbermead, were executed in town square the next morning.

Shortly thereafter, the party recieved a set of invitations to the Demonskar Ball, a party hosted by the Aslaxins at the upscale Coy Nixie. Grokk's invitation showed a crater with a claw coming out of it, which indicated he should dress as the famous demon Nabthatoron. During the reenactment of the famous battle, Zachary Aslaxin, dressed as Surabar Spellmason, smashed "Nabthatoron" with a glowing stick that represented the famous weapon "Alakast". Many drinks and fun stories were shared by all.

The party reached level 7.

The Shackled City, Day 11 (2006-11-17, 6:30 PM) Chapter 3: Flood Season

2007-03-24T14:46:00.002-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The next morning, Shensen arrived at the Rubble Rousers' doorstep. She had a pair of boots of striding and springing, the party's reward for rescuing her. Garlen accepted them, and explored his newfound abilities by jumping all over the guild hall. A messenger from the church of St. Cuthbert stopped by to let the party know Sarcem's body was en route to Sasserine, where he'd be reincarnated. The party was to continue searching for the wands of water control.

The party had a few leads to follow up on. The werebaboon, tongueeater, had an unholy symbol that combined the symbols of Vecna, Hextor, and Erythnul. Roland recognized this as the symbol of the Ebon Triad, a strange cult that believed the three evil gods could be combined somehow. Shensen said the baboon had been taking orders from a red-haired woman who wore the symbol of Hextor. Jenya used the star of justice to cast a divination asking where the party should go to find the wands. The response was "there is an art to gathering information, and an Artus may have what you seek. Fences make good neighbors." Garlen asked around about local fences, and was pointed to a man named Artus Shemwick, a cook at the Tipped Tankard.

The party asked Artus what he might know about the missing wands, and he offered to sell the information for 300 gp. Artus shared that the party should research a woman named Triel Eldurast, and that she has been seen on the northeastern slope a short distance down from the wall. She planned to ransom the wands back to the city to finance the Ebon Triad's plans. Research uncovered that Triel Eldurast had been in Cauldron's town guard. She murdered several of her fellow guards and fled about ten years ago.

That night, half of the party waited just outside the city wall while the other half moved quietly through the undergrowth a few hundred yards down the hill. Rain spotted a red-haired woman and followed her to a tunnel entrance, and then had Amber signal the rest of the group with a flare. Garlen followed the woman's footsteps down the lava tube until reaching a small overlook. There was a massive cavern below, with a small city that looked like it had been built by dwarves and then slightly melted. A glowing lake, seventy feet below the overlook, stretched to near the edge of the ruins. A rickety-looking cage hung on a pair of ropes strung across the lake. The ropes attached to a small structure resting on the overlook. Rain quietly opened the door and saw a winch inside. Another door led to a pair of thugs who were playing cards. The party dealt them a losing hand: straight damage.

Grokk operated the winch while Garlen, Roland and Horkina rode across. Garlen entered the structure on the opposite end and managed to collapse a wall on himself, but Horkina was able to pass by and operate the winch to bring the rest of the party safely down. There were six doors leading into the ruin. The party entered through the northernmost door, where four thugs waited on a ledge above. A few bow shots finished them off, and Rain still had the presence of mind to notice the floor was trapped. Given enough weight, the floor would sink slightly to reveal small spikes. Rain jammed some rubble through a few small cracks in the floor and stabilized it.

The party headed to the north and west, where they came face to face with the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus. Garlen tumbled behind the monster, but couldn't damage it with his swords. Grokk and Horkina pounded on it with their axes while it swiped at them with its claws. It withstood a massive amount of punishment, and Horkina had to retreat to be healed. Eventually, a fire spell from Roland and a healing spell from Amber caused the beast to collapse into a pile of bones.

The group continued clearing the northern caverns, using ranged attacks to kill a pair of Spawn of Kyuss and melee attacks to finish off a room full of zombies. An undead gnoll wielding a spiked chain and a symbol of Erythnul attacked the party in the rearmost cave, but he fell to a few quick strikes. The party set a watch and used the rearmost cave to rest.

Grokk and Rain reached level 6.

The Shackled City, Day 10 (2006-11-10, 6:30 PM) Chapter 3: Flood Season

2007-03-24T14:46:00.001-07:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The talk around the town began to focus more and more on the upcoming flood festival. Skie and other merchants began to cut prices, street performances and carnival games filled the busier parts of town, and the signup sheet for the "drink down the flood" drinking contest was posted at the Tipped Tankard. Grokk, Rain, Garlen, and Horkina all entered. Rain was matched up against a surly looking human who held his liquor very well, eliminating the elf on the first day. Horkina and Garlen passed out on day three, but Grokk's angry rages gave him a strong resistance to the alcohol. Spells from Amber helped Grokk drink his final opponent, a stocky dwarf, under the table. As was tradition, Lord Vhalantru challenged Grokk to a one-on-one drinkoff for the next day, with a 500 gp prize for besting him. Despite the party's best efforts, and Roland's dispel magic attempt (Vhalantru suggested that was a bad idea), Grokk passed out after 15 drinks.

After Grokk regained consciousness, the party sat down to have some water and shake off the alcohol. Another group of adventurers, the Stormblades, who were children of the local nobility, started making negative comments. "Are you guys the trash diggers? Sure smells like it!" "No, guys, it's the Rubble Rousers. They're big heroes, they fought some goblins!" "Goblins? I've been fighting goblins since I was like, ten. These guys are considered heroes for it?" Grokk gripped his axe tightly, but decided he didn't want the legal trouble that would come with flattening a bunch of rich kids. Todd, one of the Stormblades, pointed at Grokk and said "where'd you get this thing? Looks almost... trained!" His friend Zachary shot back "he still dresses better than you, Todd." After a few more insults, the Stormblades walked away, saying "these losers are a waste of time."

The party headed over to Skie's to pick up some gear, and found Ruphus Laro waiting for them. Ruphus led them to the temple, where Jenya had an urgent message. Sarcem, head priest of the church of St. Cuthbert, had been on a mission to secure some wands of water control for the flood festival. He'd sent a message to Jenya saying he was at the Lucky Monkey, where he'd been attacked by bandits led by an apeman, and was seriously wounded. The party rented some horses and set out at once, pushing their horses to their maximum limit and giving them minor healing potions to keep them functional.

The party set out for the Lucky Monkey, about eight hours ride from Cauldron, and got there just after sundown. The inn showed signs of battle -- broken windows, uprooted plants, and even splatters of blood. Riding around to the back door, everyone but Amber noticed a pair of small dinosaurs feeding on a small pile of corpses. Rain unlocked the back door, where the party decided to enter, thinking this would provide the shortest route to the basement. Immediately inside were four baboons, one of which looked to be somewhat more powerful than the rest. The powerful baboon was looking at a tongueless human head, probably recently severed. A flurry of axes and swords took the baboons down with a minimum of effort. A thug came down the stairs at the sound of battle and saw the dead baboons. She ran away, saying "oh crap, they killed tongueeater." The party chased her down and agreed to let her go, but took her stuff first.

Rain found the stairs that led down to the basement, and immediately headed down with Horkina and Roland. The three smashed a small group of bandits who were standing over a headless body. Based on the equipment he carried, the party determined this was Sarcem, high priest of Cauldron's temple of St. Cuthbert. At the end of the hall, hiding in a frozen room was a young dark-skinned woman named Shensen. She said she was friends with Fario and Fellian, a pair of elves the party had met before, and worked for a powerful wizard named Meerthan. She requested protection and escort back to town. The party agreed to heal her and take her to Cauldron, but decided to clear the rest of the inn first. Amber, Grokk, and Rain cleared out the main floor while Garlen, Roland, Horkina and Shensen took the top floor. The drunken bandits offered little resistance.

The group headed back to Cauldron with Sarcem's body and head, and reported to Jenya immediately.

Everyone but Grokk and Rain reached level 6.

The Shackled City, Day 9 (2006-11-03, 6:30 PM) Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way

2007-03-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Players (Characters)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland and Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

By morning, Grokk's hangover had subsided, so he was up and ready to go. Unfortunately, Rain drank enough for himself and Grokk combined, and passed out on the floor of the Tipped Tankard. Horkina dragged him to the guild hall and left him on the floor. The rest of the party headed back to Orak's bathhouse and cleared out a few small groups of goblins that had moved into the previously cleared areas.

The group returned to where they'd previously fought Drakthar. Garlen noticed a ladder in the back of the alcove, leading up to a small ledge and a door. In a room down the next hallway, two mercenaries sat idly by. Rain quietly opened the door leading into their room, and the party got the drop on them. Both were reduced to near-death before they had a chance to react. The male, Chorlyndyr, surrendered immediately, while the female, Kallev, had to be threatened extensively despite the damage already done to her. When asked if they were allied with the goblins, Chorlyndyr admitted they had been hired by an Ogre Mage called the "Blue Duke" to oversee smuggling of half-orc mercenaries into Cauldron. He had no particular attachment to the goblins or their leader. The party tied the two up and dragged them back to Cauldron, leaving them in the custody of the Town Guard.

The party returned to the ledge and climbed up. A short hallway led to a fragile rope bridge, which the party reinforced with their own length of rope before crossing one-by-one. Garlen spotted three goblins around the next corner, crouched down on a ledge overlooking a vast cavern to the west. He charged right up to the goblins, killing one with a blow to the head. As Amber stepped around the corner, she noticed a room Garlen had completely ignored in his moment of bloodlust -- Drakthar's throne room! The Vampire had seen Garlen pass and was preparing to attack. Amber cast a magic circle against evil and stepped under cover, and then Roland cast a spell of Hold Undead. Drakthar and his bizarre undead throne were unable to move due to the powerful magic. A stake to the heart incapacitated Drakthar further, and Grokk and Horkina smashed his throne into pieces. The vampire was simply no match for the Rubble Rousers now that they were prepared.

Behind Drakthar's throne room was a small cavern where a dire bat had taken up residence. The bat put up a decent fight before it was subdued by Horkina's famous axe. A ladder on the far side of the cavern led to a room with secret chamber in the floor. The chamber was filled with earth, with an indentation the right size and shape to serve as a bugbear coffin. The party defiled the coffin with holy water and then hefted Drakthar's corpse into it. To finish off Drakthar, the party used Orak's decanter to run water over Drakthar's corpse, disintegrating it entirely.

The group determined that the goblin menace had been defeated, but decided it would be prudent to finish clearing out this area. Just south of Drakthar's throne room, they fought a pair of shocker lizards and a goblin spellcaster. In the main cavern beyond, Garlen noticed a drawing on the wall -- a goblin symbol warning of the presence of a vampire. This warning came a bit late to be useful, but was appreciated nonetheless. As Garlen led the way further through the cave, he stepped underneath some green slime and was quickly covered by it. Orak's decanter, used on maximum setting, cleared most of the slime away.

Up ahead, Garlen noticed a goblin on a high-up ledge. The goblin was looking off the opposite side of the ledge. Garlen threw a shortsword at the goblin, which missed badly, but Horkina and Grokk took it out with their bows before it could raise the alarm. Still, the sound of the goblin falling off the ledge drew the attention of a group of half-orcs and a dwarf who had been conversing near the end of the tunnel. They began chattering with one another, but were interrupted by a fireball from Roland and a burst of sound from Amber. Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen ran to join the fray, and the half-orcs were all dead in a matter of seconds. Xoden, the Dwarven mercenary, surrendered and submitted to interrogation. He was a part of the Blue Duke's smuggling team, and confirmed Chorlyndyr's earlier statements.

The party returned to Cauldron and reported their findings to captain Skellerang.

Grokk reached level 5.

The Shackled City, Day 8 (2006-10-27, 6:30 PM) Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way

2007-03-10T20:05:00.002-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Most of the party awoke the next morning, refreshed and ready to fight goblins, but Grokk was nowhere to be found. He stumbled in extremely drunk just after breakfast, and passed out halfway to his bunk. The party opted to leave him there. Roland made a quick trip to the library to research vampires and lycanthropes, and then briefed the party on the basics: both types resist damage unless it's from silver weapons, and vampires can mentally dominate someone unless they're magically protected. Amber picked up a scroll of magic circle against evil to provide that magical protection.

The guards posted at the bathhouse said a small group of goblins had approached from behind a locked door the night before, but they just left the door locked and stayed quiet until the goblins left. The party unlocked the door and climbed down a ladder beyond it. Across from the base of the ladder, scribbled in blood, was a sentence in goblin: "Drakthar is Dead! Long live Drakthar!" This meant it was very likely Drakthar was a vampire.

The party fought and killed several goblins, including some spellcasters, in a small Dwarf-constructed complex. One room had previously been a temple to the dwarf god Moradin, but the statue of Moradin was missing its head, and goblins had covered the walls with graffiti and poo. Horkina headed upstairs to find Orak's decanter of endless water, and used it to spray the filth off of the walls and floor and out the door. She also found the statue's head nearby and placed it back where it belonged.

The Dwarf-constructed complex opened into a large cave. Two goblins mounted on worgs began to attack. One worg tripped Rain, but neither the goblins nor the worgs were able to do significant damage before they were brought down. A goblin sentry tried to run away, and Roland threw a tanglefoot bag at him. Roland overthrew his target, but the fleeing goblin reacted too slowly to avoid becoming entangled. He, too, was quickly dispatched.

In the next cave, Rain noticed some of the stalactites hanging from the ceiling didn't look quite right. He fired an arrow at one and it began to move. Horkina and Roland shot at it as well, bringing it down. It was a darkmantle, a predator that creates utter darkness and then swoops down to devour its prey. Moving slowly and looking carefully, Rain noticed two more darkmantles, and they were brought down with similar ease.

As the party approached a fork in the cavern, Rain and Garlen heard the sounds of more goblins. Some were up on a ledge to the east, while others were in a small alcove to the northwest. Horkina climbed up to the ledge and killed a pair of goblins with a cleaving blow from her axe. Garlen moved into the alcove and started stabbing, while Amber threw a thunderstone at a goblin trying to cast a spell. A couple of crossbow bolts ruined the goblin adept's day. The goblins were quickly routed, and the party gathered together to pick up the treasure.

Two swarms of bats began to attack the party, while a bugbear with bloodshot eyes arrived at the ledge -- this must be Drakthar. The bugbear told Horkina to tie her shoes, but she shook off the powerful suggestion. Amber moved away from the bat swarm and cast Magic Circle against Evil to protect Horkina from domination. Horkina and Rain fired several arrows at Drakthar, but to no effect. Roland, Garlen, and Rain regrouped around the nearest corner and used several vials of alchemists fire to slay the bats. Amber used a spell to fill Drakthar with a sense of doom, and Horkina again resisted a magical command to tie her shoe. She and Amber moved into formation with the rest of the party. When Drakthar followed, the party surrounded him and attacked. He shrugged off most of their blows, so everyone worked to distract him and make it easier for Horkina to hit. She landed a single, powerful blow that forced the bugbear to turn into a mist and retreat. After this difficult battle, the party headed back to town to rest and re-equip.

The present members of the party reached level 5.

The Shackled City, Day 7 (2006-10-20, 6:30 PM) Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way

2007-03-10T20:05:00.001-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

With the reward from the temple and the proceeds from selling various treasures, the party went on a spending spree, acquiring a guild hall in the western part of town as well as several new pieces of equipment. Amber checked to see how each of the rescued prisoners was doing and gave them each a little bit of gold to help them get back on their feet. Horkina, Grokk, and Rain spent the next week drinking in celebration of the completed mission. Roland spoke with Jasper Drundlesput, one of the rescued prisoners and a professor at Bluecrater Academy, and was able to gain access to Bluecrater's libraries. After about a week, Garlen showed up one evening with shiny but slightly bloodstained armor. With a huge smile, he said "this is brand new armor, and I've already got goblin blood on it!"

The next morning, a messenger delivered a summons. The party was to meet with Tereson Skellerang, the captain of the town guard. Tereson said that the town had been having trouble with goblins vandalizing the town for the past several nights, and Jenya suggested the Rubble Rousers were up to the task of tracking them down. They agreed, and decided to set a watch overnight. They caught a small group of goblins scrawling graffiti on a wall, capturing one and killing the others. The graffiti referred to "Drakthar", apparently the goblin leader, who "hunts... as a wolf". Roland charmed the goblin, who revealed that the "red-eyed dwarf" guarded the way to the goblin lair. Roland recalled an ex-adventuring dwarf, Orak Stonehaven, had an eyepatch with a red gem and was sometimes referred to by that moniker. Sensing the goblin had outlived its usefulness, Garlen backstabbed it.

Orak ran a bathhouse on Lava Avenue, so the party decided to watch the bathhouse the next night. Sure enough, a small group of goblins approached the door and the dwarf allowed them passage. Rain noticed another group of characters, wearing blue cloaks, were also watching the bathhouse. Rain snuck up on them, but they attacked, and the rest of the party joined the fray. The cloaked figures turned out to be wererats, who resisted the attacks made by non-silver weapons. Eventually, three of the four were killed and the remaining one was captured and charmed. He revealed that he'd been hired by "Gaelen Trodor", a name Roland recognized as belonging to one of Cauldron's founders hundreds of years ago. It was obviously a pseudonym, but his physical description led the party to suspect Tereson Skellerang. Roland approached Tereson and asked him to "come look at something" outside, and the wererat, watching from afar, signaled this was not his employer. A clever bluff by Roland was enough to get the wererat to let down his guard, and Skellerang quickly took him into custody.

With solid evidence that the goblins were based out of Orak's bathhouse, Skellerang sent a group of guards to go along with the party. The guards told Orak they'd spotted some thieves prowling about, and wanted to take a quick look inside to make sure they hadn't damaged any of his property. Orak opened the door and let the whole group inside. Rain snooped around and discovered some nice magical items in Orak's desk, including a decanter of endless water. After a few minutes chatting, Roland began to suspect Orak was under some form of mind control. Amber cast protection from evil on him, which temporarily suppressed the effect and left the dwarf wondering where he was. A quick explanation from the party and the group of guards was enough to convince Orak to drop his weapon and be put into manacles, and head towards the nearest temple.

Partway to the temple, the protection from evil wore off and the now-dominated Orak began questioning why he was being led off in manacles. Rain convinced him he'd been involved in a brawl, and the town guard just wanted to question him, but first they had to stop by the temple of Kord to pick up someone else who'd been involved in the fight. A messenger ran inside the temple and explained the situation, and several clerics rushed out to tackle Orak. A few spells later, the domination was broken. Orak handed over the keys to his bathhouse and decided he'd sleep elsewhere until the goblin problem was taken care of.

Skellerang set a watch inside the bathhouse overnight, and the party rested with the intent of invading the goblin lair in the morning. They spent some time discussing what the goblin leader might be, suspecting possibly a werewolf or vampire.

The Shackled City, Day 6 (2006-10-13, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

2007-03-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The next morning, the party headed back into the Malachite Stronghold. Using Maple's map and the information she gave, they decided to clear out the eastern areas first. To the southeast was the kitchen, where a pair of goblins watched over a chained human man. One goblin was killed instantly, while the other surrendered. Rain tried to intimidate it into submission, but it laughed in his face. A few moments later the goblin lay dead on the floor.

Rain very quietly opened the door leading to the next room. Inside the grand chamber, three children stood chained to a pillar, while a fourth was being held by a halfbreed dwarf-troll in black armor. A short humanoid (a durgazon named Pyllrak) negotiated with Kazmojen, the dwarf-troll slaver, trying to bring down the price for the children. A small dog-like beast called a howler stood to one side, and a pair of hobgoblins guarded the main door.

Rain and Garlen stepped quietly into the room and jabbed Pyllrak with several well-placed blows from their swords. The rest of the group burst into the room and surrounded Pyllrak, who turned invisible and attempted to flee. The rest of the party alertly struck as he turned invisible, and several blows landed that left him unconscious.

The howler Prickles began wailing loudly, and Amber clubbed it with her mace. Roland cast a fire spell at Kazmojen while the others surrounded him and attempted to bring him down. A bright spray of colors from one of Roland's spells stunned Rain and Kazmojen, and a pair of blows from Grokk and Horkina sent the half-troll to the ground, but his wounds continued to regenerate. Hobgoblins began pouring in through the north door, but Roland put most of them to sleep and Amber fought with those that stayed standing. More hobgoblins appeared at the west door, so Garlen and Horkina moved to stop them while Grokk kept Kazmojen unconscious. Roland turned his attention to the slaver, burning him with potions and even a coil of rope. Grokk moved to help Amber cover the north door, and the pair slew many hobgoblins.

Rain grabbed a set of keys off of Kazmojen's corpse and released the children from their chains. A few moments later, a strange flying creature with over a dozen eyes appeared, demanding to take the child Terrem back to the orphanage. Roland knew this creature was a beholder, and should not be trifled with. A woman's voice chanted out a spell, and the beholder and Terrem disappeared. The party returned the other three children to the orphanage, where Terrem was already waiting.

The party moved through the rest of the fortress, most of which had emptied of occupants during the prior battle. When the group located a major treasure hoard, they recalled the warning from the mimic upstairs: there was another mimic guarding treasure somewhere on this level. Rain called out "shoot the loot" and fired an arrow at a treasure chest. The others followed suit. When Amber slung at a large gong at the side of the room, her bullet made only a faint sound and stuck to a layer of goo. Many arrows and spells later, the mimic succumbed to the might of the Rubble Rousers, who packed up the gold, gems, and other treasure for easy transport back to town.

The party found another five prisoners in jail cells and torture chambers. These five were escorted back to town, to bring the total number rescued to 12.

The party reached level 4.

The Shackled City, Day 5 (2006-10-06, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

2007-03-07T13:16:00.002-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Back in Cauldron, the party searched out shops where they could sell their goods, especially the unusual automaton. Having already spent a good deal of time and money at Skie's Treasury, and knowing she dealt in unusual magical items, that was the first stop. Skie wanted to know more about this strange group of adventurers who kept bringing her such odd items. "What do you call yourselves?", she asked. Several names were suggested, and after a few minutes of discussion, the party settled on "Rubble Rousers". "Very well, then, Rubble Rousers", Skie responded, "you've been such loyal customers that you are now eligible for my special Adventurers discount." She then bought the automaton and several other items.

After getting a bit of rest, the Rubble Rousers returned to Jzadirune in search of rubble. They discovered a small nursery filled with toys, including a beautiful rocking unicorn, which they graciously donated to the Lantern Street orphanage.

The party headed back to the factory room in the north, and then searched to the east. An old forge held the key to the "I" doors in Jzadirune. A short humanoid creature with hooves, called a Dark Creeper, laired in a woodshop nearby. This was one of the "short ones" Keygan Ghelve had warned about. It proved to be only a minor threat. In a glassblowing workshop not too far away, a more powerful Dark Creeper named Yuathyb attempted to hide. He was infected with the Vanishing, which made him somewhat harder to locate, but Rain spotted him and he was quickly dropped in combat.

Yuathyb's treasury held a suit of armor. Roland suspected it might be a construct of some sort, so the party approached cautiously. The suit of armor collapsed when touched, spilling thousands of silver coins on the ground. A few clay urns held thousands more coins and a few pieces of jewelry, including a bracelet engraved in Dwarven: "To Sondor, my deepest love. Lorthan". In a secret vault behind this treasury, there was another suit of armor standing over a treasure chest. When the chest was disturbed, the suit of armor began to attack, provoking a hearty laugh from Roland. Grokk and Horkina handled the construct easily, and Rain retrieved a wooden chess set and other treasures from the chest.

The rest of Jzadirune was fairly uneventful. The party discovered another Pulverizer Automaton hidden by an invisibility effect, a room with an illusory forest, and a few more dark creepers and assorted vermin, but nothing particularly dangerous. With a full collection of Jzadirune keys in hand, the Rubble Rousers searched through the few rooms that had thus far remained locked. Jzadirune was now secure, so the party headed for the elevator to the Malachite Stronghold.

A new earth elemental occupied the space where the party had narrowly averted death four days before. Roland and Amber shot at it from range, and then Grokk and Horkina smashed it into bits with their axes. A few moments later an angry and very filthy ogre stepped into the room, swinging a foul-smelling sword encrusted with all manner of gross. He was quickly surrounded and dropped, and Amber provided healing for those who'd been struck by his powerful blows.

Rain discovered a secret passage that led to a room with an active forge. Two halflings and a dwarf were enslaved here, while several goblins and hobgoblins watched over them. Garlen angrily attacked the goblinoids while screaming epithets in their native tongue, and the rest of the party followed suit, but with less swearing. After the goblins and hobgoblins fell, the party took the prisoners up to Cauldron. One of the prisoners, a halfling woman named Maple, thanked the party for freeing her. She sketched out a simple map of the area and told the party of the stronghold's defenses. The dwarf introduced herself as Sondor, and Garlen recalled the inscription from the bracelet found earlier. Sondor was reduced to tears when Rain returned her bracelet. The town was ecstatic as word got out that three of the kidnapping victims had been rescued.

The Shackled City, Day 4 (2006-09-29, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

2007-03-07T13:16:00.001-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Rain spent the next day at the temple of St. Cuthbert, recovering from the poison he'd encountered the night before. Elsewhere in the temple, Jenya discovered that "Remove Disease" cured Slick of his ailment, and Garlen suggested Slick might be capable of janitorial work while attempting to redeem himself. Roland took the opportunity to learn a few new spells. Horkina, having nothing better to do, headed for a local tavern, where a pickpocket found himself on the business end of her fist. Another customer, a half-orc named Grokk, came to her aid, and thus, the party was expanded due to a barfight.

Returning to Jzadirune, the party headed north through a secret passage and found a massive factory room. After a few moments searching, a strange creature that looked like a floating brain with tentacles appeared and attempted to grab Horkina. The Grell got a firm hold on her, but she resisted the effects of its poison. Grokk, Garlen, and Rain moved onto the balconies so they could reach the Grell with their weapons, while Roland shot it with his crossbow. Amber caused it to feel a sense of impending doom, which made it struggle to hit Horkina with its next few attacks. It did strike Horkina with a few of its tentacles, narrowly missing with others, but she shrugged off the effects of the poison. A few blows from the group massed on the balcony were enough to kill it, and its corpse fell softly on Horkina's head.

As the party began exploring to the west, someone pointed out the characters on the various doors spelled out JZADIRUNE. In a small scroll storage chamber, an illusion appeared, saying "I am Emirystul, librarian of Jzadirune. The scrolls you seek have been destroyed to keep you and others from fading into nothingness. The curse of the Vanishing began here, in these mystic halls, and here it will remain. Be careful what you find, and mind whatever magic was wrought here." Though the disease could be cured, it was expensive, and nobody wanted to take the risk of using a magic item that might have been infected.

Further to the west, the party uncovered a strange metal device with four legs and two long, spiked arms. Written on the side of the machine were two gnomish words: "thrymbryl", meaning activate, and "myglym", meaning deactivate. The machine began to move, but Roland called out "myglym" and it stopped. It was likely that this machine had carved out many of the round tunnels through Jzadirune. The party decided to leave this Pulverizer Automaton behind for now.

Through a tunnel to the south and east was an old Alchemy lab. What looked like a small pile of rags lying in the middle of the room turned out to be a Raggamoffyn, a strange magical construct that attempts to wrap itself around a creature and control its mind. Luckily, the party was able to destroy it before it got a firm hold on anyone. In the next room, the party found another Raggamoffyn that had captured a skulk, and shredded it with a series of attacks from axes and swords.

In the far western part of the map was an impressive throne room divided into three levels, with a sleeping (but illusory) king sitting in the throne at the top. A gnomish visage overlooking the middle level spoke out: "If you wish an audience with the king, place your finest coin in my mouth." Rain slipped a gold coin in its mouth, and the coin disappeared. A thorough search of the throne revealed a secret compartment with keys to the N and E doors and a few assorted coins, including the one Rain had just given up.

After a bit more searching, the party concluded that the western half of Jzadirune was clear. They returned to the surface with the Pulverizer Automaton, several paintings that had been hidden by an illusion, and various other treasures.

The party reached level 3.

The Shackled City, Day 3 (2006-09-22, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

2007-03-07T13:15:00.001-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy observed while rolling up a character
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party returned to Jzadirune, deciding to clear the upper level before taking the elevator again. A strange giggling sound came from the room at the bottom of the stairs. The walls there were covered with copper masks that were magically making laughing sounds. One mask spoke when approached: "Welcome to Jzadirune, behold the wonder! But beware, ye who seek to plunder. Traps abound and guardians peer beyond every portal, behind every gear." Two round doors with gnomish glyphs (the letters J and A) were set into the south wall. One door was jammed partway open, and a faint light shone from inside. Rain stepped through the door and was attacked by two more skulks, but the group retaliated and finished off the skulks easily. Round tunnels were carved into the south and east walls of this room, and small piles of rubble were left over from their construction.

To the south and east was a small room where a skulk waited to ambush the party. He was quickly dispatched, and rain discovered a secret door behind him. In the next room, a silver cage rested atop a large chest between doors marked R and N. Inside the cage was a rat that perked up at the name "Starbrow". Before the party approached, the chest spoke out in a language Horkina knew as Undercommon. She was able to negotiate with this mimic, convincing it to trade the rat and cage for some rations. The mimic warned that there was another like it, but mean, and it had been taken to guard a treasure hoard. The party returned Starbrow to Keygan's shop and then headed back to the south tunnel.

To the south was a large, majestic hall with lights dancing along its length. As the party walked through the room, a pair of skulks jumped out from behind the southernmost pillars. One threw a thunderstone at Roland while another stabbed at Garlen. They were quickly taken down. Doors leading out of this room were marked R, U, and E, and two hallways led both east and west. Roland discovered a small music box in a pile of rubble to the south beside another round tunnel. This tunnel led to a small room with an assortment of treasure, including ten chain shirts, some coins, and a pair of scrolls, all inside a small chest hidden in the corpse of a carrion crawler.

To the west was a theater where a set of illusions performed a short play about Willowbough the dryad and Silverarrow, her beloved ranger companion, and their fight with Moontusk, the ranger's bitter wereboar nemesis. Rain and Garlen searched the stage and found a small trapdoor. When they opened it, an arm reached out and grabbed Rain, dragging him into the pit. Horkina and Garlen jumped in, fighting the foul Choker and eventually dropping it. In the pit was a small metal rod with a J glyph on the end. Experimentation showed this to be a key to the door marked J.

A small tunnel to the north led to a room with a partly invisible skulk. It was dealt a painful blow and quickly surrounded, leading it to cower in the corner and cry out in surrender. Rain moved to kill it, but Amber stepped in his way. Eventually the party accepted the skulk's surrender and gathered some information from it regarding the layout of the dungeon. This skulk, called 'Slick', had apparently been infected with the Vanishing, so he was taken to the church of St. Cuthbert.

The party returned to Jzadirune and discovered that they'd secured both sides of the same door, so Rain experimented to see if he could disable the potent trap on the door. Unfortunately, all he managed to do was trigger some poison gas that reduced his Dexterity. The party returned to Cauldron to report their findings, rest, and recover.

The Shackled City, Day 2 (2006-09-15, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

2007-03-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Amber, Garlen, and Rain spent the next day exploring the city together, browsing shops and upgrading their equipment. A heavy rain doused the city just before nightfall, and the group headed for shelter. On their way to the Drunken Morkoth Inn, they heard a cry for help from a nearby alleyway and moved to investigate, along with a dwarven female and a human male who were nearby. In the alley were three men with their faces painted half white and half black. Two of the men were beating on a younger man wearing chain mail and a purple robe, telling him to "stay away from the orphanage." The third man drew a short sword and told everyone to "bugger off". Rain recognized the face paint as the symbol of the Last Laugh, a local theives guild. Amber, Garlen, Rain, and the dwarf woman moved forward to subdue the thugs, while the human male cast spells in support. When the thugs went down, Garlen and Rain tied them up while Amber stabilized them. The Dwarven woman introduced herself as Horkina, a fighter looking for action, and the human male introduced himself as Roland, a scholarly Wizard looking to research anything and everything he could. Moments later a guard patrol arrived, and one of them recognized the thugs as off-duty city guards.

The man in purple introduced himself as Ruphus Laro, a cleric from the temple of St. Cuthbert at the north end of town. He requested escort back to his temple, and the group agreed. On the way, he explained that he had been investigating a string of local disappearances -- about 25 people had gone missing over the last 3 months, including four orphans just a few nights ago. The church had publicly vowed to solve the mystery, but apparently the Last Laugh was opposed to that.

Once inside the temple, Ruphus invited the party to stay by the fire while he stepped out to find the head cleric. Other acolytes brought snacks and warm blankets. A few minutes later, a woman wearing a brown robe with golden trim and a symbol of St. Cuthbert hanging from her neck stepped into the room and introduced herself as Jenya Urikas, acting high priestess. She informed the group of the current situation -- four children named Deakon, Evelyn, Lucinda, and Terrem disappeared from the Lantern Street Orphanage three days ago, the most recent victims of a string of strange disappearences. Their rooms were locked with barred windows, and there were no obvious signs of forced entry. A church artifact mace called the Star of Justice was used to cast a divination to locate the children. The response was a cryptic poem: "The locks are key to finding them. Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. Beware the doors with teeth. Descend into the malachite 'hold, where precious life is bought with gold. Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long." Jenya handed each party member a healing potion and promised a reward of 2500 gp total if the children were recovered.

The group headed out to the orphanage and knocked on the door. A halfling woman, Gretchyn, peeked out and asked "who sent you?" "The church of St. Cuthbert." "Can you prove it?" Rain held up one of the healing potions with the symbol of St. Cuthbert on the side, and Gretchyn let them in to investigate. Rain set to work looking at the locks, and found them all to be high quality and of consistant manufacture, with no signs of tampering. Roland looked for magic auras but did not find any. All of the windows were barred. Gretchyn kept the only key with her at all times. Asked what she'd do if she lost the key, she responded that she'd have to contact the locksmith who made all of the locks.

The party decided to investigate the locksmith, Keygan Ghelve, in the morning. His small shop was on Lava Avenue. Roland asked him about purchasing locks while Rain sneaked closer to a curtain on the side of the showroom, remembering "look beyond the curtain" from the divination. Ghelve told the party to stay away from that curtain, which made them more curious. When Rain stepped up to the curtain, Keygan pointed up and signalled "danger". A strange humanoid with chameleon-like skin, called a "skulk", jumped down from the upper floor and attacked the party, but was felled with one swing of Horkina's axe.

Keygan fell to his knees crying, and explained the situation: his shop was built atop the entrance to an abandoned gnomish stronghold named Jzadirune. Strange creatures, including skulks and shorter humanoids, had recently come into his shop and kidnapped his familiar, a rat named Starbrow. They threatened to kill the rat unless Keygan made them master keys to the city's locks and kept quiet. Keygan also warned of a strange magical disease that befell Jzadirune, leading to it being abandoned 75 years ago. "The Vanishing" made those who were infected slowly fade away. Finally, Keygan handed the group an old map of Jzadirune and showed them the secret entrance beneath his staircase.

Rain and Garlen led the way down the stairs. Rain noticed that one of the empty sconces on the wall was mounted in an unusual way. Upon further inspection, it was clearly the trigger mechanism for a secret door. Rain twisted the sconce, and the floor tilted up, throwing him down the stairs. He walked back up and twisted the sconce the opposite direction. The wall opened up to reveal a short hallway. Rain noticed unusual cracks on the floor, suggesting the presence of a pit trap of some sort, so he jammed one half of the pit closed. Horkina forced open the door on the other end of the hallway. In the next room were a pair of hobgoblins who did not live long enough to inflict much damage. The wooden floor of the room was attached to large chains, and there was a lever on the wall. Pulling the lever revealed the room to be an elevator, which descended to a deeper level of the dungeon.

The room adjacent to the elevator had what looked like a strange stone statue in the middle. Roland recognized it as some sort of earth elemental, and warned that it would be difficult to deal with. Several group members fired their bows and then moved to surround the strange elemental. Garlen did his best to give Horkina an easier time hitting it, and Rain stepped away after taking a nasty hit. Horkina was dropped by a critical strike from the elemental, but was able to get back up and keep fighting after a healing spell from Amber. A magic missile from Roland and a few strikes from Horkina nearly destroyed it, but it continued fighting until Rain threw some alchemists fire on it, dropping it as well as a party member. Amber made sure everyone was stable, and the group retreated to the temple of St. Cuthbert to rest.

The party reached level 2.

The Shackled City, Day 1 (2006-09-08, 6:30 PM) Chapter 0: Swearing in Orcish

2007-03-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Players (Characters):
Scott (Rain)
Catherine (Amber)
DM: Tom (Garlen Fartravel)

We begin at the Happy Monkey Tavern, about 20 miles west of Cauldron (not to be confused with the Lucky Monkey Inn, a fair distance beyond.) To call the Happy Monkey a "wide spot in the road" would be to give it too much credit. The bartender and a few bored patrons sat idly by. Amber, a halfling cleric of Ehlonna, approached the bar and introduced herself to Rain, an Elven Rogue, who offered her an ale. She politely declined, much to his amusement; he drank the ale on his own and they continued to chat. Both had plans to head to Cauldron in the morning.

A few minutes later, a halfling poked his head in the door and excitedly yelled out "there are some goblins approaching through the forest. Anyone want to help me kill them?" Amber invoked Ehlonna's blessing on all present and then approached the door as fast as she could manage in her heavy armor. Garlen, the halfling ranger, engaged one of the goblins in melee combat, killing it with a few solid stabs of his rapier. Rain moved outside and quickly fired an arrow at the other goblin, yelling out an Orcish insult as the arrow struck. The goblin closed to melee and swung wildly at Amber. Rain, still yelling in Orcish, drew his longsword and stabbed the goblin in the back, killing it instantly with a critical blow. Rain spotted another goblin approaching the side of the tavern, while Garlen spotted two more in the woods. Amber continued to gawk at the dead goblin in front of her until Garlen's shouts drew her attention and she moved to assist him. She and Garlen surrounded and easily dispatched the two goblins. The goblin by the tavern broke a window and turned to attack Rain, dealing him a significant blow. Garlen finished off the goblin while Amber tended to Rain. The group made a small donation to replace the broken window, and spent the night at the Happy Monkey before setting off for Cauldron.

Just before reaching the edge of the forest, the group was approached by a dwarf, who yelled "run away! Orcs!" and ran past them. A hundred feet behind was a group of four Orcs. Rain fired a pair of arrows at Zubdub, the lead Orc, killing him while insulting the others in their native tongue. Amber stood valiantly in the middle of the road, while Garlen failed miserably at his attempt to hide behind a small bush. The dwarf, encouraged by the party's initial success, turned around and stood combat-ready next to Amber. The next two Orcs were surrounded and quickly fell, but the final one dropped Garlen as he tried to get behind it. The dwarf slew the Orc with a mighty blow, and Amber revived Garlen by the power of Ehlonna. The dwarf continued on his way to the West with hardly any thanks, while Amber, Rain, and Garlen made their way into Cauldron, where they spent the night at the Drunken Morkoth Inn.

The Shackled City, Character Creation Info

2007-03-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Generate character stats using the standard stat-rolling method from the players handbook: roll 4d6 and total up the highest 3 dice a total of 6 times to generate six stats. Repeat the process twice more to generate three sets of stats, and pick whichever of the three you think is best. Shift up to 3 points around and then assign the stats.

Begin with maximum hitpoints, and take either average or rolled-for starting wealth. At each level, when rolling hitpoints, you may choose to take a single reroll, but must keep the result even if it's worse.

Also, each character should pick one skill that has role-playing potential and is not stereotypical for their character class to spend ranks in. This is your specialty or your hobby. It's treated as class skill with max ranks, but you don't have to actuall spend skill points for it.

Specialty skills selected:
Roland - Sleight of Hand (magic tricks)
Garlen - Tumble (gymnastics)
Rain - Spellcraft (time spent in elven villages watching spellcasters at work)
Amber - Ride (as she travelled in service to Ehlonna)
Horkina - Balance
Grokk - Perform (Percussion)