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Well I've been terrible about updating lately since my daughter has been out of school the last three weeks and we've had a few mini-vacations, plus work picking up a bit. So I will do my best to fast forward a bit and try to catch things up...
Mialain and Astavian's prayers were answered after a fashion: Both had a sense that this was a battle that could not be won and both knew that their deities required further service from them. The only choice was to flee. The only option for flight was through the swirling portal of Mist on the island just outside the dragon's lair.
They dashed back they way they had come, the Dracolich's counting echoing after them. They leapt into the river running around the island and made it across (with some difficulties) to the island. As they hurried toward the portal the shadow of the Dracolich passed overhead but they remained hidden by the Mist thus far.
However a cacophony of voices, all speaking an old version of Elven, rose up before them. A pair of blobby mounds of flesh, dotted with hundreds of eyes and mouths, blocked their way. They attacked the abominiations as they made their way slowly toward the portal but with the Dracolich flying overhead they dared not draw too much attention to themselves or delay too long. Finally they managed to disengage from their attackers and plunge through the entrance to another world...
Someone in the Place Between Places noticed something of interest. This was consequential because this Someone used to be Someone Very Important. Somone called Io. And nothing of interest had passed through the Place Between Places in a very long time.
This Something was a shell of a race created by the race created by Io. The Someone who used to be Io considered briefly over this thing and how it might have been made differently. This interest and consideration were very slight and very brief.
The four of them were on the ground at the edge of a portal that looked identical to that which they had entered. This one however had Mist boiling out of it rather than being sucked into it. They immediately felt its intensity and knew that the "Mist Milk" they wore to ward it off would not withstand its effects. Astavian, Mialain and Zanne began to get to their feet when they noticed with astonishment that Eshik was doing the same.
"You're alive!"
But that wasn't the only notable change in Eshik. The color of his scales had changed to a dark purple, almost black. A brief exchange had the rest of the group tell Eshik of the defeat of Baelthrax and the subsequent rise of the Dracolich and their flight through the portal into what they presumed was the Feywild. Eshik told them that something had happened to him when they crossed over but further explanation would need to wait until they were out of the worst of the Mist.
They travelled quickly away from the portal some distance and stopped to apply a fresh coat of Mist Milk to their exposed skin. Eshik oddly felt no effects from the Mist but put some on just in case. Noting how easy it was to get lost in the Mist they discovered a stream and began to follow it upstream.
A few minutes later a band of squat assailants leapt from cover by the edge of the stream to attack them. They had greenish skin, the color of the Mist and wore a hodge-podge of clothing. But each wore a cloth cap that was the brownish red of drying blood.
The party was already nearly exhausted by their recent battles and flight through the portal. The small stature of their attackers belied their strength and ferocity as they fell upon the PC's with a thirst for blood. Althought he party emerged victorious, it was a very near thing. Knowing that they could not withstand another such attack, they left the stream behind and scrambled up the side of the valley toward high ground.
They spent an uneasy night in the thinner grasp of the Mist at higher altitude. They made no fire and ate only cold slices of fruit from Melora's Tree of Life. It was enough to keep them going and no enemy attacked them.
In the morning they continued to move to higher ground and finally emerged on a small mountain that thrust above the Mistline. The area around them was unfamilar and the shallow depth of the Mist was surprising. But it was enough to cover all but a few very distant peaks from what they could see from their current vantage point. Thinking the view might be different from the other side of the mountain they resolved to ascend the peak and see what might be seen from there.
A few hours later they rather abruptly stumbled across a village of wee folk, about the size of a Halfling. They had a look about them not entirely dissimilar from that of the foes they'd faced in the valley the day before. But these were clearly not Mist Demons as their attackers had been. After some apprehension by both parties, it was discovered that these folk spoke a dialect of Elven which Mialain believed to be the tongue spoken by Eladrin. These folk called themselves "Gnomes" and the creatures they had already fought were their brethren from other mountains which had been engulfed by the Mist. The Gnomes called the warped ones "the Spriggans".
The group were shown to the village leaders, a Wizard known as Galiban and his brother Tinker Goswald. It was firmly established that the PCs were now in the Feywild and clearly it was being inundated by the Mist. This band of Gnomes had been isolated on their mountaintop for nearly 20 years and it grew smaller each year. They knew that, at the present rate, it would be engulfed within another 10 years and they would suffer the fate of the Spriggans.
Galiban had been around since the Mist first began to enter the Feywild nearly 40 years before. He had conferred with other Gnomish and Eladrin sages and all agreed that it should be possible to close the Gate through which the Mist was coming. But the only way to do so was to perform the ritual on both sides of the Gate at once. And none of the scout parties sent through ever emerged. These efforts were finally abandoned while other means of sealing the Gate were sought. By the time that the Eladrin sages stopped coming to the area the Gnomes had been cut off by the Mist.
As a means of escape they had begun a tunnel near the top of the mountain that they hoped would get them over to another, larger mountain range nearby to the east. Things had gone well when they disovered a sizable system of caverns that would make the job easier. But then they discovered that the caverns were not uninhabited. A band of "Stink Lizards" and some large spiders had killed several of the tunneling party and they had no choice but to seal it off.
The party asked if the Gnomes knew where to find the Eladrin and were told that they did. But the nearest Eladrin city the Gnomes knew of was east "beyond the Giant Lands". They indicated that this was the same mountain range they were trying to tunnel to.
The PC's told the Gnomes that if they would unblock the tunnel that they would attempt to clear a way through to the far range if one could be found. The Gnomes gleefully accepted this offer of assistance and threw a huge banquet in honor of the party. The principal food on the menu was squirrel.
The next day the party set off toward the peak of the mountain, escorted by Tinker Goswald. He had some guards unblock the way into the tunnel and gave the party a pair of small "rockets" as well as a "boom". He explained that one rocket would burst Red and the other would burst Green. If they made it to the other side and the way was safe for the Gnomes to follow they should launch the Green rocket at night. If the way was too perilous and the Gnomes should not follow they should launch the Red rocket. If the way was open but still somewhat dangerous they should launch both. And if they needed to blast open a doorway or a Stink Lizard then they should use the boom.
With this bizarre new Gnomish technology in hand, they descended into the darkness.
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Phew! There is a good bit more catching up to do but I'd better interject some rulesy stuff.
Ok, so obviously the critters "guarding" the gate were Gibbering Mouthers. They were the perfect tool for that job in terms of their ability to hinder the progress of the group. It is also suspected that the intense Mist around the portal warped one of the early Eladrin scouting parties into one of the Mouthers and it has grown and fed on those who came after.
The Spriggans were the critters of the same name from the Monster Manual 2. However this was a point where I decided to experiment with a house rule that was suggested here at ENW and it is worth talking about why I did this and what the results have been:
I would not say that many of the combats over the course of this campaign were a "grind". But to me that word specifically means a fight that involves repeating the same sort of attacks over and over and isn't very exciting.
On the other hand I will say that many of the combats in this campaign have been long. Sometimes this was on purpose because they were supposed to be rather "epic" fights that were the centerpiece of the whole session that night. But others were longer than they needed to be when considering their significance to the game as a whole. I wanted a combat. I didn't want it to be easy. I just wanted it to be fast and exciting and dangerous.
So I decided to implement a suggestion here on the boards to reduce monster HP and increase damage. Specifically I reduced monster HP to 60% normal and increased damage by 1/2 level +4 on every attack. So an 8th level monster (about the level the PC's were at the time) does +8 damage on each attack.
In that Spriggan fight the players immediately went, "Holy CRAP! These guys hit hard!" But they quickly discovered that their foes dropped more quickly too. That fight lasted maybe 30 minutes and it was a nail-biter due to the increased damage and the fact that the PC's were low on healing surges and had almost no Daily powers left.
I've kept this rule as a guideline since then. I've varied it, sometimes using the increased damage but upping the HPs some if I want a more "elite" monster. But I've found that it has worked quite well for making the combats go a bit faster when I've wanted them to.
Finally let me briefly address the matter of Eshik's miraculous return from the dead: I talked with the player about what he wanted to do in terms of making a new character or getting raised, etc. He said that he'd like to keep playing Eshik and we both knew that he was sort of angling for the Scion of Arkhosia Paragon Path. So I asked him if he'd mind if I "screwed with his character aesthetically" some. He said he didn't so I had the brief encounter with what used to be Io.
Along with coming back to life his scales changed color and his breath weapon turned, for a while, into a sort of "chaos breath" that was like colorless fire. Gradually, over the space of about about one full session, it settled down and he got to pick a new flavor of breath weapon (Cold). It also appears that he doesn't interact with the Mist the way most people do, but the full extent of that hasn't been revealed.
So there you have it. Hopefully I can post at least one more update this week in an effort to close the gap between where we are in the game and what I've written.
Finally let me briefly address the matter of Eshik's miraculous return from the dead
Curious - did he suffer the death penalty? (It goes away after 2? 3? milestones.) I always forgot to impose that, and strangely my players never remind me.
__________________ Still excited about 4th edition!
'If there steady paycheck in it, Krusk rage against anything you say.' - this post
Curious - did he suffer the death penalty? (It goes away after 2? 3? milestones.) I always forgot to impose that, and strangely my players never remind me.
Yes. It coincided with the period during which he had the Chaos Breath and could opt to change his breath weapon.
Where does all the time go? Well my daughter is home sick from school today so I may as well use this downtime productively, eh?...
They delved down into the tunnel, which ran long and straight. It opened into a larger area at one point and as they were exiting this area they suddenly found themselves beset by a pair of large, rubbery, flying creatures. These enveloped different members of the party while others were forced to attack them even though some of the damage transferred through onto the enveloped character. Worse yet they could teleport and carried Eshik up to the celing. He did manage to escape but was hurt by the fall to the cave floor. Zanne was able to teleport out of the grasp of her assailant long enough for them to destroy it and the other one quickly fell. Catching their breath they pressed on.
Finally they came to where the passage broke into a very large cavern. Toward the center they could see several large pillars and humanoid creatures moving among them. The whole place carried a horrid stench. Presuming these were the "Stink Lizards" that had attacked the Gnomes, they moved in ready for battle.
They soon got one. The Stink Lizards were well organized and some hurled javelins with tremendous force while others closed with massive claws. Their apparent leader was some sort of shamanistic spellcaster. It harnessed the power of its own stink and was able to unleash bolts of poisonous stench upon the party. The party tried to converge and focus their attacks upon this priest but more reinforcements kept joining the fight from the far corners of the cavern.
As they began to get better control of the battle, the PC's noticed a huge shape lurking around the periphery of the fight. When one of the Stink Lizards screamed, they caught a glimpse of a gigantic spider. Trying to flee certain death at the hands of the PC's, the priest ran into the grasp of this monstrocity. Weak and drained from the fight, the PC's fled to the safety of the passage they had entered from, hoping it was too small to accomodate the spider. Whatever the reason, it didn't follow.
They rested and regained their strength before re-entering the cavern where they discovered that the spider had created a massive web around the central pillars. The group moved forward to confront this monster, knowing that the Gnomes would never be able to vanquish such a beast.
They burned away some of the outer webs and Astavian moved forward to challenge it and was suddenly siezed in its mandibles. As the others approached to give battle they discovered how incredibly mobile the spider was in its web. It was able to manipulate the strands of the web in such a way as to keep some of the group at bay while it attempted to suck the life from the Paladin. But Zanne and Mialain had powerful ranged attacks and Eshik's skill as a Ranger made him nearly as mobile as the spider. With but one foe to focus their attacks on, they made short work of the creature.
Exploring the rest of the cavern they discovered what appeared to be a "holy pool" with water flowing out of it via a stream and into a larger pool that held an enormous crayfish. The creature did not leave the water to attack them and the party determined that it posed no threat to the Gnomes so long as they didn't disturb it. They found another exit from the cavern that ascended and Eshik used his chisel to leave careful markings to steer the Gnomes away from the crayfish pool.
The ascending passage had been cut by water and was more winding than the mined hallway they had used to descend. But it still took less than two days travel to arrive at a place where they could feel a faint breeze coming from up ahead. There was a pile of refuse in a cavern at the bottom of a 40' deep pit. They moved ahead to peer up the pit when a swarm of beetles gushed out of the rotting pile to attack them.
These were rather swiftly dealt with by a combination of Zanne's fiery powers and the breath of the Dragonborn. But the combat had been loud enough to draw the attention of something from above. Suddenly a giant humanoid appeared at the edge of the pit and hurled a boulder down at them. Zanne attempted to use her Diabolic Grasp, pulling the creature over the precipice to fall 40 feet onto the pile of refuse. But the attack missed and the creature retreated to get another boulder. When it returned however it was Mialain's turn and she called on her link with nature to loosen the stones at the edge of the pit. The earth crumbled beneath the weight of the giant and it plunged 40 feet to land on the refuse pile below. Thus wounded and prone, it took only a few moments for the combined might of the party to slay it.
Eshik managed to climb up the pit into its lair and set a rope for the others to ascend. The cave was fairly shallow and the soon found themselves standing under open sky for the first time in a few days. Mialain thanked Melora for their safe arrival at the other side of the passage under the Mist. But they found their happiness somewhat dampened when Eshik discovered an even larger set of footprints leading away from the mouth of the cave up into the hills...
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The creatures they encountered on their descent were Darkmantles that I'd slightly house-ruled to allow part of the damage to transfer to anybody they were enveloping. These posed a threat as much from the damage party might inflict upon themselves as from their own powers. But Mialain did a great job of healing as usual and Zanne's teleportation powers once again came in handy.
The "Stink Lizards" were of course Troglodytes. Most of them were Impalers or Thrashers but they were led by an Elite that I pulled off of the Compendium named Kasszt. His At Will twin Poison Ray combined with the Cavern Curse (recharges on a 3 or higher!) meant that the party was Weakened and Slowed, plus taking ongoing Poison and/or Necrotic damage for a large portion of the combat. The addition of this leader made this a very challenging fight and the players well and truly hated that guy by the time it was over. They were only sorry that the spider got to kill him instead of them.
Speaking of which, after all the damage they had taken in the fight, they were terrified of that spider. They fled and debated attacking it but I recall that Zanne had ZERO Healing Surges left. So they opted to rest and recover. They spent some of their major Dailies before the assault on the spider (which was a re-skinned Neldrazu) including Astavian's Wrath of the Gods and Mialain's...whatever the one is called that boosts the party's AC. Even though the spider could shift through the web (which was difficult terrain) to keep the PC's at bay, Eshik managed to stay one step behind it and Zanne and Mialain could attack it from range (Zanne used her powers to burn away any webs that got in the way providing concealment). In the end it was a pretty easy fight.
I was thinking that the Rot Scarab Swarm might momentarily make them think it was the Lamia returned to take revenge but it didn't seem to cross their minds. It was mostly a speed bump encounter to set up the attack by the Cave Troll that they dealt with creatively and quickly. I was pulling for Zanne's Diabolic Grasp to work since that character is developing a bad habit of failing rolls on her coolest powers. But Mialain's stunt to "Loosen Earth and Stone" was worth the wait. The creature was a Cave Troll and had some regeneration but it took some nasty damage from the fall and the PC's pounced upon it and made short work of it.
Did you do anything to the Neldrazu (aside from reskinning)? A single lurker against a party of four sounds like quick work indeed!
Yeah I made it an Elite, doubling the HPs, etc. That still makes it pretty weak vs. a party of 4. But remember that this was a critter that they would presumably fight at the end of a hard fought battle with the Trogs. Instead they fought only the "Dire Spider" and it was predictably short and one sided.
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Great read, thusfar. What was up with the crayfish?
I figure that every big cave needs a pool with a giant crayfish! They (somewhat shockingly) decided to leave this one alone, which was totally fine with me. Unless they were to wander pretty far off the path then the Gnomes wouldn't run afoul of it and clearing the way for them is their current mission, not to clear every nook of the cave system.
By way of a teaser I will say that last night's session was, in my opinion, incredibly cool. Very little combat but some fairly major plot advancement and circumstances that perfectly dovetailed with the fact that they all advanced to Paragon level. It sets up the "beginning of the end" of this campaign and forthcoming events are so cool and epic that we are opting to not play next week because one of the players would have to miss the session and that would be a real shame. I'm hoping that the downtime will give me some extra time to get caught up.
Absolutely not. I'm not the only capable GM in our group of friends and I'm happy to let one of them take the helm for a bit and let me sit back and play.
Absolutely not. I'm not the only capable GM in our group of friends and I'm happy to let one of them take the helm for a bit and let me sit back and play.
Won't hear me complain. I just love this thread/setup/whatnot.
The party followed the foosteps that led away from the cave into the higher hills to the north. After a bit of a hike they came upon a duel between giants.
The larger of them towered some 15 feet high and was crudely dressed in untreated animal skins. It lay about with a club that was clearly no more than a broken off tree trunk. It was beset by a group of large wolves or hunting dogs while another figure, this one dressed in stitched leathers and standing about 10 feet high, hurled javelins at it. As the PC's watched, the greater giant dashed the brains from one of the dogs.
Eshik surmised that, since the smaller giant was wearing boots and the larger was barefoot, it was the tracks of the larger giant that they had followed from the cave. And that meant that it was the threat to the Gnomes should they need to pass that way. Plus it just looked meaner. They attacked it.
It was astoundingly powerful. It made short work of the other hunting hounds and turned on Astavian and Eshik who had closed within its reach while Zanne and Mialain hurled spells and arrows from afar. Most of its attacks were directed at Astavian whose Divine Challenge got its attention. But it would sometimes lay about with its tree club and strike at anybody within reach. When it struck bones broke. It was only thanks to the healing of Mialain that either of the warriors lasted the fight. The giant hunter also closed in to battle the larger giant hand to hand and their combined attacks finally brought the creature low.
Without pause the hunter pulled out a hand axe and severed the larger giant's head. Only then did he rest to catch his breath. The party stood warily to the side to make sure the hunter had no hostile intentions but he instead seemed thankful to them. Astavian and Eshik conducted some basic communications with him while Zanne and Mialain performed the Comprehend Languages ritual.
Once this easier communication was established they learned that he called his people the "Firbolg" and pointed to the slain giant and said, "Fomori". He indicated that the relation between the two races were similar to that of the Gnomes to the Spriggans: The Fomori had once been Firbolg but the Mist had twisted them into an evil mockery. The Firbolg hunted them whenever they learned that one was near.
The party explained as best they could that Gnomes would be coming. The Firbolg warrior said that they knew of the "wee folk" but had not seen any in many years. He indicated that resources were scarce and the Gnomes would not be harmed as travelers but there would be problems if they stayed long or were many in number.
The PC's asked if he knew where the Eladrin were and the Firbolg pointed further east, "Beyond the Mistvale". The party told him that they hoped the Gnomes would be able to pass through Firbolg lands and continue on to where the Eladrin lived. To this the Firbolg only replied that the Mistvale was "haunted by many Mist Demons".
As the conversation closed the hunter grimly set about the task of skinning his slain hounds. The fact that they were not buried reminded the party that resources were as scarce here as they were in their homeland. The Firbolg shared out some of the meat and also gave the party his large hunting horn, telling them that if they were confronted by any other Firbolg that this would be identify them as a friend. They parted company and the PC's headed east.
As darkness fell they discussed their service to the Gnomes and which of the rockets they should ignite. Feeling that they had destroyed any reasonable threat that could be anticipated, they decided to fire only the green rocket. It was of course possible that there could be foes that they had not encountered along the way or that the cave could be inhabited by some new menace in the time it took for the Gnomes to pack up their village and make the trek. But those were the sorts of dangers that the Gnomes should be used to in these troubled times and nothing out of the ordinary. They fired the rocket and it shot to an amazing height and exploded sending a vast shower of green sparks streaking across the sky. The PC's had never seen anything like it and it brought a smile to their faces.
That night as they camped their rest was broken by a sudden attack by a pair of large and vicious predatory cats with tentacles sprouting from their backs. The PC's soon discovered that these creatures were damnably difficult to pin down and strike as they shifted through the shadows, seldom actually being where it looked like they were. Still aching from wounds suffered by the Fomori, the raking slashes of these tentacles and vicious bites of these foes struck hard. When they were finally killed the party members were barely standing.
Astavian could sense that these were yet more natural creatures of the Feywild that had been corrupted by the encroaching Mist. Unlike the sharply steep sides of the plateaus from where they came, these rolling hills that stuck out of the Mist had no natural barriers to the predations of these Demons. As they made their way eastward that day they also climbed toward the ridgeline in the hopes that it would put them as far from such creatures as possible. This strategy worked as they suffered no further attacks before arriving at the easternmost end of the range some three days later.
Before them stood the Mistvale, a valley some dozen miles across inundated by the Mist. Beyond they could see the land rise somewhat steeply, covered in thick forest. From what the Firbolg had told them, the nearest Eladrin city lay somewhere in those woods. But for now it was once more into the Mist...
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So I'd originally planned to use an actual Fomorian in this encounter but I wanted something brutis and non-spellcastery. But the stats for Fomorians in the MM were not what I was after so instead I reskinned an Ogre Warhulk for the job. I did the standard decrease in HP (leaving it with 170) and increase in damage so it was hitting for 2d8+15 with that club. I also gave it a 4-5-6 recharge on the "Flail Hurricane" ability to make it better for fighting a group. It used that ability 3 or 4 times, attacking everybody within two squares. Fairly nasty.
Of course they had help from a pair of Dire Wolves and the Firbolg Hounder but the wolves were mowed down pretty early on in the fight by that Flail Hurricane. And the Hounder I had stand off and use a relatively weak ranged attack for the first couple rounds under the guise of being unsure of the party's intentions. It was very clear that the Hounder would have been screwed had it not been for the party's intervention, which was my intention for the encounter in terms of allowing some diplomacy/information exchange.
There was a brief but interesting debate about whether they should fire both rockets (indicating that the way was passable but with some identified dangers) or only the Green one. I enjoy listening to player perspectives on things like this. As indicated it was ultimately decided that the PC's couldn't make it any safer than they already had without literally holding the Gnomes little hands the whole way so it was as "safe" as it was going to get.
The night attack was of course a pair of Displacer Beasts. Those guys are the ultimate skirmishers! Their battlefield mobility and staying power were pretty great with their Displacement causing a 50% miss chance for most attacks. This plays merry hell with the economy of expendable powers like Encounter and Daily powers because you effectively end up with only about a 25% chance of any of them working. When you add in the fact that they were doing 1d6+12 with a Tentacle and 1d10+12 with a bite AND could make three attacks whenever they had Combat Advantage (which was most of the time) it was a very nasty encounter.
They ganged up on Mialain and if I recall correctly they even put her unconscious for a round until Astavian dashed in with a Lay on Hands. Eshik and Zanne did a great job of staying on top of them but they were taking a lot of Opportunity Attacks with that Threatening Reach. It was a very challenging fight and fun to run as a GM as well. I did reward them by having the tentacles be useful as ritual components as I recall.
The group stopped near the edge of the Mist for Zanne and Mialain to perform the Mist Milk ritual to give them some protection against its effects. Eshik decided not to use any to see if he still retained the apparent resistance to the Mist that he had evidenced since his return to life. They took a few bites of Tree of Life fruit for lunch and pushed forward cautiously into the Mistvale.
The trees gave way to a series of wide meadows near the valley floor and it was in one of these that they heard the approach of clanking, metallic noises. Out of the Mist came a group of mechanical creations similar to those they had faced in the depths of Karak Tor. Without preamble the leading construct hurled a bolt of energy at Eshik. The bolt struck the Dragonborn, bounce over to hit Zanne and she was suddenly slammed into him, whereupon both of them fell to the ground. Two other such constructs hurled thundering orbs of force at Astavian and Mialain, pushing them back. Right behind this attack rushed a group of attackers with swords for arms.
Astavian stepped in to meet these while Zanne and Eshik got to their feet. The sword-armed constructs struck hard as they charged, inflicting terrible wounds. Mialain was quick to aid the Paladin with her healing magic but they could already tell that these were dangerous foes. Eshik moved in to engage them up close while Zanne moved out of close quarters. She then called the Hunger of Hadar to engulf the enemy spellcasters.
The enemy managed to maneuver their way out of the Hunger of Hadar and Zanne allowed it to dissipate. But as it vanished it revealed a trio of large wolves bounding toward the conflict. The party exchanged worried glances, knowing that they were hard pressed already and that they could not withstand another set of attackers. To their considerable relief, the wolves began attacking the constructs, starting with the spellcasters. As they watched with surprise, one of the wolves suddenly transformed into what looked like a large Bugbear wielding a greatsword. It struck a mighty blow that hurled one of the mechanical wizards to the ground.
This turned the tide of battle and soon the party had all of the constructs down. The wolves had all transformed into Bugbear form by this point and continued to rip into the chests of the prone constructs to pull out a cyan crystal of some sort. Some of the constructs also carried bags of "spare parts" and these the Bugbears flung far into the Mist scattering them in all directions.
While this was happening, one of the Bugbears approached the party, looked at Zanne and proclaimed (in Primordial), "I see you bear the mark of The Master! Welcome!" Zanne raised an eyebrow at this but assured the party that the Wolf/Bugbears had no immediate hostile intentions toward the party.
There followed an exchange of information wherein these creatures, whom Astavian was certain by this point were Mist Demons of some stripe, told Zanne that they had been patrolling the valley and attempting to destroy these mechanical enemies that the Eladrin and Gnomes had set upon them. The constructs were sent to eliminate any and all who dwelled within the Mist. The Mist Demons had yet to gather sufficient forces to launch a direct assault on the Eladrin city but they had uncovered a weakness in their defenses.
The Mist Demon that was speaking to Zanne seemed to take it for granted that she had been sent here to aid them and offered to gather what forces he commanded and lead her to the breach that led into the Eladrin city. He said that this secret way into the city was located in a chasm not far to the south. Zanne considered before telling him that she wished to "scout things out for herself" and would send a signal to him if she required his aid. Apparently satisfied at this answer, the Bugbears all transformed back into wolves and loped away into the Mist.
Before leaving the scene of the battle, Zanne opened the chest of one of the fallen constructs and found one of the crystals that the Mist Demons had pulled from the ones they had destroyed. It reminded her of the crystal that had powered the Winged Ship they had used to escape Karak Tor. The group continued east.
They emerged from the Mist and climbed a hillside dotted with clumps of bushes. From there they could see a small fort just to the south near the edge of the Mist. They decided that if the were going to make friendly contact with the Eladrin that it was best to check in with their outer defense posts. They approached the place cautiously and were met by a party of very suspicious Gnomes. After shaky communication was established (with the Gnomes speaking Eladrin and the party speaking Elvish), and it was determined by the Gnomes that the Dragonborn were not some kind of Mist Demon, they were invited into the fort.
There the party could see that these Gnomes, led by one who was called Tinker Hobbs, were the creators of the constructs that they had battled in the valley. The PC's universally agreed that they wouldn't mention that confrontation to the Gnomes. The Gnomes were hard at work repairing these "war forged" which they proclaimed were perfect for battling the Mist Demons as they were non-living and thus immune to the warping effects of the Mist.
The party was shown an out of the way corner of the small fort where they could bed down for the night and Tinker Hobbs indicated that he would escort them to the nearby Eladrin city of Skyreach in the morning. Sometime in the night there was some commotion and the PC's asked what was going on. They were told that one of the Gnomes, a Tinker Cobble, who was supposed to be on watch at the walls had gone missing. No small amount of suspicion fell on the party and there was a lot of whispering among the Gnomes. But they'd kept a close watch on these "big folk" and none could say that they'd seen them go anywhere near the place where Tinker Cobble had been on watch at the wall.
They set off up the road to Skyreach in the morning with an escort of four well armed Gnomes in attendance. By lunchtime they were within sight of the forest that topped the rise ahead and these were without question the biggest trees that any of them had ever seen. They towered hundreds of feet above the ground. The ground itself was notable in that it was covered by a huge thicket of briars and brambles. Through this was cut the road but it was apparent that it took constant work to keep this road from being overgrown by the encroaching brambles.
Suddenly from both sides of the road there was a faint glow of magic and passages opened in the thicket revealing several Eladrin females wielding bows. Without hesitation or warning they opened fire upon the Gnomes. The party had no idea who these attackers were but since they hoped to make friendly contact with the Eladrin they were hesitant to attack them.
A pair of the Gnomes managed to isolate one of the archers and fell upon her with their knives. She was dead in moments but one of the Gnomes fell beside her, riddled with arrows. As she dropped to the ground, Mialain caught a glimpse of the symbol hanging from her neck: The twirled vines of Melora. She called to the party, "These are our friends!"
Sensing what was happening, the leader of the Gnomes stabbed Zanne from behind. She turned on him immediately and attacked and the little betrayer vanished. He appeared moments later, sinking his blade into another of the archers who fell to the ground. Astavian, Eshik and Zanne all turned their attacks on the Gnomes while Mialain plied her healing magic on the fallen Eladrin.
The party made short work of the Gnomes and left the bodies where they fell. One of the Eladrin women was dead but the other recovered quickly at the hands of Mialain. The rest of the party could see that all of them regarded Mialain with awe. They grabbed the body of their fallen sister and fled quickly into the thicket with the PC's close behind. They stopped just inside where one of the Eladrin, seemingly with considerable effort, used her magic and called for the power of Melora to weave the briars back together, concealing their passage. It was the first time Mialain had ever seen anybody else use the magic of her goddess.
Following a twisting and confusing series of tunnels through the Bramble the band of Eladrin women led the party to the remains of a building, now so entwined with vines and briars that it was part of the surrounding vegetation. As they ducked inside, the tension left the women who had led them there and the PC's could tell that this was a place of safety.
One of the Eladrin women turned to Mialain and knelt, "I am your servant, High Priestess. My name is Stormrain. The goddess told me that you would arrive in our hour of need!" Mialain stood awkwardly and then said, "Um...rise. And why is this your 'hour of need'?"
Stormrain stood and said, "Because the High Priest has been taken prisoner and is being held in the city above."
"The High Priest?" inquired Mialian.
"Yes...your brother Selerian."
********
So let's see...the constructs were a mix of Warforged Savages and Warforged Resounders. This mix was pretty devastating and meant to be an encounter that the PC's stood a very good chance of losing. This was of course because I knew they had help coming (from an unlikely source) and also to lend some credibility to the notion that the Warforged were patrolling the Mist in force against the Mist Demons.
The group that came to the party's aid were of course Barghests. Barghest Battle Lords to be exact. I wish you could have seen the look on Zanne's player's face when they addressed her. It was matched only by the look on Astavian's player's face when he realized for absolute sure that his companion for lo' these many months was in league with the Mist Demons, his sworn enemies. Zanne had some 'splainin' to do! The roleplaying here was well handled by all parties.
The roleplaying encounter with the Gnomes was pretty interesting thanks to all the suspicion on both sides. The Gnomes were the architects of the Warforged that might have killed the PC's had it not been for the timely intervention by the Mist Demons (I LOVE typing that!). And the Gnomes had never seen a Dragonborn before and it took them a while to accept that they weren't some form of Mist Demon themselves. Add to this the mysterious disappearance of Tinker Cobble in the night and there was a lot of tension in the air. I may not have done a good job of conveying that in the narrative above but it was one reason that the PC's were quick to turn on the Gnomes when attacked by the Eladrin worshippers of Melora.
Just to put that into context a bit more, you may or may not recall earlier that when the PC's recruited Llyra (an Eladrin "defector") that she said the worship of Melora had been outlawed by the Church of Corellon in the Eladrin cities of the Feywild. Mialain had also gotten word that her brother, Selerian, was considered a heretic and was wanted by the same Church of Corellon. So word of his capture and the fact that his followers didn't want the PC's, including Mialain with the symbol of Melora literally tatooed on her arm, walking right up to the front door of the place. I also note here that I'd hinted at this by having Tinker Hobbs take special notice of Mialain's tatoo.
In the fight between Eladrin and Gnomes, the Eladrin were Arcane Archers and the Gnomes were something I pulled from the Compendium called a "King's Wand". It was a short but bloody affair.
One thing that has nothing to do with any edition of D&D specifically but everything to do with good GMing technique was that I really botched something in my own notes. I'd made a margin note a while back about the Eladrin city being called "Skyreach". Llyra was supposed to mention it at some point but I don't think she ever did. When it was time for the Gnomes to drop that name, I had forgotten about the note and instead messed up by using the name for Mialain's home town, "Greenbough". So I used the wrong name most of the time the PC's were there and several times my wife (Mialain's player) said something like, "I thought Greenbough was the place where I was from?" It wasn't until recently when I was going back through my notes to write this that I got the name right.
Anyway, my point is, keep better notes than I did in that instance! Internal consistancy is your friend!
Mialain and the rest of the party got a good deal of information from the worshipers of Melora. Once the Eladrin women got over the initial awe over being in the presence of the High Priestess, they spoke extensively about the history of their people and the current situation with Selerian.
When the Mist Cataclysm had begun to unfold they had simply been Elves, the same as Mialain. But their grandparents and great-grandparents had taken a different path and fled to the Feywild rather than await what seemed certain destruction. They were led by a being they called The Aspect of Corellon who established them in camps further east of where Skyreach now stood. They met the Gnomes who mostly lived in the hills further west and they established a peace. They had less friendly relations with the Firbolg who guarded their lands jealously and there was considerable warfare between them in the early days. Skyreach became the westernmost bastion of the Elven empire and, because of the concentration of military troops there, the capital.
The Elves thrived in the Feywild but it also changed them. Infused with its mystical properties since conception, their children were different, and the first generation of Eladrin were born. One by one their elven parents died, taking the firsthand accounts of the Mist which had engulfed their original home with them. The Eladrin continued to build their empire in relative peace with only occasional skirmishes with the Firbolg.
Then, some 40 years ago, the Mist found them. They first got word of it from the tribes of Gnomes to the west. They began to recall the tales of its power to corrupt and warp those it touched that had been passed down from their elders. They soon located the Gate through which the Mist was entering their world but they were powerless to close it without assistance from the other side. Nobody who entered the Gate ever completed the ritual from their side and none ever returned either.
It soon became apparent that they needed aid from the Mist World if the gate was to be closed. They located another Gate and managed to open that pathway across planes to arrive near the homeland of their ancestors. But the reception they got from the Elves of Enmurinon was frosty at best. The Elves regarded the Eladrin as cowards who had fled rather than face the catastrophe. Sensing that they would get little aid from the Elves, the Eladrin used their winged ships to travel the world in search of aid.
They found it in the Arcanon Confederacy. This magocracy knew more about portals than anyone else who had survived the cataclysm and they agreed to try and help the Eladrin. The first step was the opening of a large portal between their capital in Dherimin and the Eladrin city of Skyreach. This astounded the Eladrin and they felt sure that the Arcanon Confederacy mages would soon have the Mist portal sealed. In exchange the Confederacy requested the aid of the Eladrin in the form of some of their winged ships to help guard against the Sky Pirates of Zulhura in the western part of their lands. This the Eladrin gladly did.
However since that time precious little progress had been made in sealing the Mist Gate. The Arcanon Confederacy cited the fact that, prior to the Cataclysm there were hundreds if not thousands of portals scattered all over the world and any one of them could be letting the Mist into the Feywild. They had to research ancient texts about these gates and then attempt to scry upon them individually to locate the problem. In frustration further expeditions were sent through the Mist Gate but none of those returned either. The last was sent more than ten years ago.
Meanwhile the lands west of Skyreach became inundated by the Mist. The Gnomes and Firbolg suffered worst, losing their homelands and retreating to hilltops, many of which had been swamped under the Mist. Many of the Gnomes saw no other option but to abandon their homes and request shelter in the Eladrin lands. This they did but resources were becoming scarce there too with some of the lowland fields falling below the Mist and the Gnomes were considered by many Eladrin to be an unwelcome burden. They became second-class citizens and have been employed primarily in menial, dirty tasks that the Eladrin don't wish to engage in. The repair and maintenance of the Warforged was a good example of this sort of dangerous work.
Skyreach itself was changed. Fearing the coming of the Mist, the Eladrin who dwelled on the ground moved up into the trees or left to find homes further east. The nature resonance that caused the trees to reach such heights there also caused the undergrowth to grow fast, thick and tall. Now the ground beneath the city, engulfed in what was called "The Bramble", was completely impassable except for the warren of tunnels maintained by criminals or disaffected Gnomes.
It was here in these tunnels that Selerian had found a place to hide himself and his followers. He had crossed over through the Enmurninon Fey Gate that the Eladrin originally used to meet the Elves thirty years ago. Melora had sent him a vision that he was needed to rescue the Eladrin. Thus inspired he came to the Feywild and quickly found himself branded as a heretic. The Eladrin had long since become monotheistic, worshiping only Corellon, whose avatar had led them to safety from the Mist. The established church wanted no talk of the mythical Melora clouding the minds of the people at this time of crisis.
But there were some who adopted Selerian's vision. His followers, The Faithful of Melora (or sometimes The Sisterhood as they were overwhelmingly female), rallied around him, hid him from the Church of Corellon and spirited him away to Skyreach. Here his link with nature and Melora seemed strongest and they battled the Church of Corellon for the hearts and minds of the Eladrin people. But several weeks ago the Priests of Corellon moved in force upon one of their hideouts and captured Selerian. One rescue attempt by the Sisters failed, costing the lives of two of their number.
Praying for guidance, they were assured by Melora that help was on the way. They had nearly given up hope when they were approached by Tinker Cobble in the dark hours of the morning, telling them that an Elf with the Mark of Melora was being brought to the city. Fearing that Mialain would be imprisoned alongside her brother, they knew that they must intercept the Gnomes and bring her into hiding.
The question now was how would the party go about rescuing Selerian...
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