Aftermath - Campaign after the War

[Rybaer]

This is copied over from the old message boards with most of the commentary pulled out to streamline it. -Rybaer


Aftermath – A D&D Campaign



First, some background about the game. I decided to set it in the ruins of a war-torn nation. What had once been a continent full of prosperous and (mostly) political stable nations and city-states is now a wild and dangerous land. Some twenty years prior to the beginning of the game, a group of wizards known collectively as the Black Hand raised and led a unified army of the dark races (goblin, orc, troll, giant, etc.) on a destructive rampage from the North. Over the course of several years, they pushed further to the South, conquering nations and crushing armies until the Southern city-states finally banded together to hold and repel the army. At this point, little is clear as to what exactly happened. The wizards of the Black Hand purportedly disappeared and the dark armies retreated northward.

Given the lack of resources and men needed to pursue the Dark Armies, the Southern city-states left them unchecked. Bands of orcs and goblins enslaved the native survivors of the lands they had conquered. For the next ten to twenty years, the dark races ruled over the central and northern portions of the land. Given their nature, however, the dark races began fighting amongst themselves. In the confusion of the fighting and the weakening of the dark races’ numbers, numerous slave revolts took place. Now, fully twenty years after the beginning of the war, small and isolated cities of former slaves once again reclaim their homelands in a wild and dangerous area.

DM aside – I concocted this back story for a number of reasons. First, the ruins and mysteries resultant from the war provide ample opportunity for exploration and adventure. Second, the lands outside their home are dangerous and worthy of caution. Third, the players could realistically play any race and character class and work together in an easily explained unit. (No awkward explanations about how a half-orc fighter would learn to harmoniously work with an elvish wizard and a dwarven paladin, or whatever the players’ hearts desired.) I basically told them that they had grown up the children of slaves and were now in a community that actively encouraged all its members to pursue military, arcane, or other useful pursuits for the safety of their home. Their community included refugees from all the “good” races, including the half-orc offspring resulting from the rape of slaves by their overseers.

The game begins with the group of five celebrating the recognition of their full adulthood within their community. While I won’t try to publish each character in full detail (the players may choose to do so later if they wish), I will give a brief summary of each as they began:

Amblin – human monk who spends most of his time cleaning his master’s hut. Free spirited character with a love for dogs.

Boaz – half-orc fighter who considers combat an art form. He has a penchant for poking at things with his sword (unfortunate, as time will eventually tell).

Nigel – elvish ranger who is the closest the group has to an official leader. Stealthy and very talented with a bow.

Rurik – dwarvish cleric of Moradin with a typically dwarven taste for ale. He will find that dwarvish clerics tend to be better at fighting than turning undead.

Zalman – human wizard (conjurer) with white hair (from an unfortunate alchemy experiment) and a familiar owl named Hooty. He earned a bit of ire from the others when they discover he is unable to cast “Identify.”


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Updated 1/15/02 -

This campaign has been running for over a year now and has developed considerably. What is posted thus far (through Jan), represents about about 2/3 of what they've done so far. Most of the original characters are still in play, though several have had more brushes with death than they care to recount. They've also learned that they may or may not be tied into a prophecy involving the Black Hand, the very wizards who led the destruction of most of the lands.



-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Adventure #1- Introduction and First Assignment

Our heroes begin their story in a small city of about 3,000 folks, all mixed races, slaves who had successfully revolted and earned their freedom from the orcs and other evil races some fifteen years prior. In the aftermath of the great wars brought on by the Black Hand, they are almost completely unaware of the fate of any others and have no contact with any other cities or towns of any significant size.

On the day of the Spring Celebration, Lord Stephen, leader of their home city of New Selmar, summons the group to join him in his hall for a private audience. On this day, the five of them are among those recognized as full adult members of the community, and as some of the most promising in each of their respective disciplines: Monk, Wizard, Fighter, Ranger, and Cleric. When they meet Lord Stephen, there is also another lady present - one they do not recognize as a member of the community. She is a half elf with dark brown skin, short white/grey hair, and strikingly attractive features. She is dressed in fine but durable travel clothing and has the bearing of one of some great power. She also wears the symbol of Ehlonna, goddess of woodlands, which both Nigel and Rurik recognize. Her name, as the Lord introduces her, is Shele. Stephen explains that she was instrumental in helping the slaves of their community rise up against the orcs to earn their freedom.

Cutting to the chase over wine and ale, the Lord asks the group to investigate the disappearance of two hunters to the northeast of the city. Additionally, a farmer reported that two of his dogs have also disappeared in that area and that his son reported sighting some strange figures walking along the hills nearby at dusk one night. The Lady Shele offers a blessing upon each of the group and they are then dismissed.

The group is up early the following morning to visit the farmer. Before leaving, however, the Lady Shele approaches them and again wishes them luck and urges them to be careful. She also offers each a small gift, something to help them on their journeys. (DM note – I had just gotten engaged a couple days before the game, so I decided to grace each of the players with a free low-level magic item in celebration.) From a Bag of Holding she produced an item for each. Amblin, the monk, was given a Robe of Useful Items; Boaz, the fighter, was given a jar of Sovereign Glue; Nigel, the ranger, was given an enchanted suit of studded leather armor; Rurik, the cleric, was given Boots of Elvenkind; Zalman, the wizard, was given a Ring of Jumping. Thanking the mysterious half-elf, they departed the city.

The farmer whose dogs had gone missing has little more information to offer the group, but does point them toward the area his son spotted the figures. The kid, a boy of no more than 8 years, is enamored with the group and the interesting gear they carry. He leads them to the spot. While en route, two of the group offer to help rescue a cow that has been stuck in some deep mud created by the heavy spring rains (they bring much of the mud along with them).

The ranger quickly picks up a trail of footprints that lead toward the woods to the east. They follow them to the woods where they quickly become too difficult to follow. Here, however, they spot a pair of hobgoblins with a dog in the distance. After a brief discussion, they decide that the hobgoblins can’t be up to any good, so they decide to attack. Rurik, the cleric, boldly and loudly leads the charge (in spite of being the slowest in the group). They engage the hobgoblins, though the cleric nearly died in the process when a hobgoblin scored a critical hit with a heavy crossbow with the very first attack role of the campaign. (DM note – one house rule I like to use is that of Fate Points, borrowed from the Warhammer RPG. Each player gets two, and they can only be used to cheat certain death. The intent is mostly to help keep low-level characters alive through fluke combats…like critical hits with heavy crossbows. Besides, this was our first foray into 3rd edition and we hadn’t quite gotten the feel for balancing characters against monsters and other encounters yet.) So, rewind from the first attack…Rurik sees the hobgoblins’ large dog leaping toward his chest when suddenly its head explodes in a cloud of blood and tissue from the hobgoblin’s crossbow that had been intended for the dwarf. After a short skirmish, one hobgoblin is dead and they revive the other just long enough to interrogate it. It insists that they are members of a small band that has no interest in raiding New Selmar (too big and well defended). Rather, they are out in the woods searching for a renegade - one of their own, apparently. They both bear the insignia of a gray frog.

As they had lost the trail when it entered the woods, they return to the fields and follow it back in the direction from which it came. Eventually, it comes to a stop at the side of a small mound where someone has obviously been digging into the side of it and then backfilling it with dirt. They dig in and find that it is a mass grave - members of different good races, presumably from the war. This is known to have been the site of a large battle in the war (when the old independent city of Selmar fell), so this is not unusual. Who was digging into it and for what purpose remains unknown.

Again the group follows the trail to the woods. This time, they veer a bit south and follow a sandy-banked stream into the woods in the same direction as the trail had been leading. Not more than a couple hundred yards into the woods, the trail reappears along the shoreline and is much easier to follow in the soft sand. There are at least three prints - two human sized, though one is unusually thin and deep, and one is very large humanoid. There is also evidence that something was dragged along behind them.

With dusk descending, they begin to prepare camp. While Boaz, Rurik, and Zalman work on the camp, Amblin and Nigel explore a bit further down the stream. They soon spot a skeleton and a zombie carrying digging tools and a large sack walking along the shore in their direction. Both are quickly dispatched and disposed of. The zombie, Nigel notes, was once one of the missing hunters. The two follow the trail back to its source - a cave in the side of a small ridge not much more than two hundred yards from their camp. They decide to rest anyway and keep careful watch during the night. No disturbances that evening.

The following morning, the monk runs back to town to report and learns that most of the town's fighting forces are out dealing with some orc raids. The blacksmith, the only council member in town, advises him to return and determine more accurately the source of the undead and to deal with it if possible. Meanwhile, the others have been closely watching the cave, but have seen nothing. They decide to go in.

The cave follows a small trickle of a stream through a long, narrow chamber. Toward the back, about ten large (3ft) spiders drop down on them when they set their webbing on fire. Several are bitten, but all manage to shrug off the effects of the weak poison. Once dealt with, they then proceed further back through a narrow passage where they trigger a simple rockslide trap and suffer minor injuries. Watching more carefully, they manage to avoid and disarm another similar trap. Shortly thereafter, they spot light ahead and hear a voice chanting.

Just as they prepare to advance, two zombie dogs (yeah, figured you’d see them again, eh?) run down the hall and attack, causing a few minor injuries. Figuring surprise is now out, they charge into the room. Here, they find four human-sized skeletons and an ogre zombie. Further back in an alcove is a hobgoblin in black robes behind a table with a lit candle on it. The battle begins in earnest.

Nigel, after popping an arrow into the cleric, is hit with a fear spell. While trying to flee, the orge pounds him and he falls unconscious. The others engage the skeletons and the zombie. Zalman summons two celestial dogs (who occupy and score hits on the zombie) and also drops a magic missile into the cleric. At this point, the cleric casts darkness and is lost from sight. Amblin produces another pair of war dogs from his Robe of Useful Items to join the fight. The skeletons are quickly destroyed and the ogre zombie, though very tough, also submits to final death. Rurik begins healing the Nigel while the others pursue the cleric into the darkness.

Surprisingly, the darkness only extends a few feet before they can see clearly again (as if it’s a wall or shell of darkness a few feet thick). Upon entering the lit area, Boaz somehow "knows" that there is a passage behind one of the tapestries hanging on the wall and he runs down it in pursuit of the cleric - somehow managing to spot and avoid another rockfall trap on the way. Zalman checks the material on the desk and finds a scroll and a map - interestingly, he can read the words on the map, despite not knowing the language. When Amblin and his dogs (from the Robe) join Zalman, they notice that each other has a mysterious and unrecognizable mark on his forehead (the dogs do not).

Boaz, emerging back into the daylight, manages to run down the hobgoblin cleric before he is able to escape across a deep gorge with a makeshift plank bridge. They have a short, bloody fight, with Boaz triumphing. He drags the body back into the cave to be looted.

All said and done, they find that the cleric had a magical light mace and a magical amulet in the shape of a silver spider. The candle on the table also radiates a strong magical aura. When the candle is blown out, the marks on everyone's foreheads disappear and they are unable to read the map. (They believe this map to be of the ruins of Old Selmar, only about ten miles to the north. It is also marked with the location of guards, the location of the barracks and officers quarters, an unknown named person, patrol routes, and a big arrow pointing to “Cards!!”) They also find a small wax-sealed wood case under the pool of water which contains some coin and gems.

Loot in hand, they return back to the city to report on what they found. They surmise that the hobgoblin cleric is the one that the patrol with the dog was looking for. Why, though, is beyond them at the moment. Also, why the hobgoblin would have a detailed map of the ruins and what the “Cards!!” are remain a topic of speculation.


Next time…Off to visit the hobgoblins, Twiggy, and “Cards!!”.


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Adventure #2 - The Steel Toads

Upon the group’s return to New Selmar, they learn that the majority of the town’s capable fighting force is still out dealing with the orc threat. All of their respective masters are gone, so they seek the advice of the master blacksmith and council member. After recounting their tale of the hobgoblin cleric and his undead minions, the blacksmith congratulates them on a job well done and then suggests that they go scout out the ruins of Old Selmar to assess the strength of the hobgoblin force occupying it. They all agree that based on the map they recovered that this cleric was interested in retrieving these “Cards!!” from the hobgoblin captain’s quarters.

They set off on foot and approach the ruins from the northwest in the mid-afternoon. While observing the ruins from a respectable distance awaiting nightfall, they spot a scrawny gobbling carrying a small sack and walking toward the ruins. Amblin and Nigel sneak up and frighten the pathetic creature while the others prevent any avenue of escape. He seems sufficiently frightened to answer their questions. They learn that his name is Twiggy and that he is a slave to the hobgoblins. He mostly cooks for them and was out in the woods collecting mushrooms and spring berries (which the contents of his sack verifies). He is extremely timid and volunteers all the information he can if they’ll spare his life.

Through further questioning, they learn that the hobgoblin force occupies part, but not all of the ruins. They share it with some unknown, large, gray’ish colored humanoid. The hobgoblins themselves number little more than about thirty, though typically a dozen at a time are out of the ruins on various patrols or assignments. Little more useful information is forthcoming, though, as Twiggy seems to genuinely know little about the hobgoblins’ objectives. The group decides to treat the frail goblin with compassion and tie him up to one of Amblin’s wardogs and promise to let him go when they return. Twiggy doesn’t look happy with the arrangement, but the dogs don’t immediately eat him, so he settles in to wait. With that, the group waits another couple hours for darkness to settle before setting out.

Using a ladder from Amblin’s Robe of Useful Items, they climb over the wall near an unoccupied tower. They don’t think there are many hobgoblins about, based on Twiggy’s information, the guard positions indicated on the map, and Hooty’s surveillance. Regardless, they proceed quietly and cautiously – particularly for the humans who cannot see very well without risking a light source. Hooty had also spotted the “mysterious, large gray humanoid” in one corner of the ruins, but was unable to convey any more useful of a description than that, so the group just avoids that area altogether.

The ruins of Old Selmar are just that, the ruins of a mostly destroyed city. Orcs had occupied it for a time after the war until the slaves revolted. The slaves decided it would be easier to build an entirely new city rather than reconstruct this one – especially given that it was too big for them to adequately man the walls should they need to repel a sizeable attacking force. Few houses and buildings within the crumbling outer walls are still suitable for habitation.

Nigel and Amblin, the two quietest members of the party, scout ahead. Near the captain’s quarters they are only able to spot two guards. One stands next to a door leading into the captain’s two story house while the other is warming himself by a small fire not twenty feet away. This house and the two barracks buildings nearby are among the few buildings they’ve seen that are still standing. After observing for a bit and not seeing any other activity, they bring the others up. They decide to let Nigel try to enter the captain’s quarters (where they hope to find whatever the “Cards!!” are) through a second story window on the backside of the building. Another ladder from Amblin’s Robe will facilitate this. Meanwhile, the others will be nearby and Boaz will hide a ways back and hold the nearest guard in the sights of his bow.

Everything is going smoothly in the early execution of their plan. Nigel shimmies up the ladder and opens the window quietly. It opens into a small room with two closed doors and an open stairwell leading down. There is a faint light coming from the first floor. Underneath the window is a table with a few sheets of rough paper and a coal stick for writing. He hears nothing, and indicates to the others that he’s going in.

Of course, the plan has to unravel at some point. Might as well be sooner rather than later. Nigel’s player fumbles on his move silent check to enter the room. DM interpretation: the table was actually missing one leg and collapses when Nigel puts his full weight upon it. He hears noise coming from behind one of the two doors leading from the room, so he quickly and quietly opens and slips into the other room.

Below, the guard standing near the door is startled by the noise from around the back of the house. As he moves to look around the side, Boaz decides it is a good time to release that arrow he’d been holding. It misses and plunks into the side of the house right next to the guard. The hobgoblin turns and spots Boaz immediately. Both he and the guard who had been standing next to the fire start moving quickly in Boaz’s direction…right into view of the rest of the party. A quick fight breaks out and the two hobgoblins are quickly killed. Boaz and Rurik drag the bodies around to the back of the house while Amblin races up the ladder to support Nigel. Zalman, meanwhile, sets himself up next to the door that the guard had been leaning against and tries his best impression of a hobgoblin on watch.

Amblin finds himself facing the wrong end of a longsword being wielded by a large, ugly, and grumpy looking hobgoblin. With his monk’s reflexes, he avoids getting hit and is able to move fully into the room. The two square off against each other with neither having a real advantage. Amblin, despite having poor human vision, can see well enough to note that Nigel is nowhere to be seen. Nigel, having snuck into the other room on the second floor, is quickly searching through what appears to be an unoccupied and scarcely furnished bedroom for anything that might resemble these “Cards!!” they’re looking for. Unfortunately, he finds nothing.

Outside, Rurik and Boaz decide to enter the first floor of the house through the side door that Zalman is posing by. Rurik doesn’t even bother checking to see if it’s locked and bashes it open. The pair fly in and find a closed door directly ahead of them, a table with chairs and a lit candle to the right, the front door to the house also to the right, and a staircase leading up. Hearing the fight upstairs and seeing no other targets, they race upstairs.

Zalman closes the door behind his companions and tries to act non-chalantly as a pair of hobgoblins call out from one of the nearby buildings and start walking toward him. One has a large flair, the other a brutish sword. Zalman, not speaking goblin, grunts back at them. The pair doesn’t really seem to be buying it, though. One splits off and makes for the front door while the sword-toting one heads straight for Zalman. (At this point, as a DM, I’m worried…here is a tough hobgoblin with 2 levels in fighter heading straight for the party’s 2nd level wizard who has no support.) Zalman realizes his predicament and starts casting a spell. The hobgoblin recognizes this and charges, an attack that Zalman just barely sidesteps. Then, his spell goes off and a celestial dog appears right behind the hobgoblin in flanking position. The dog takes a sizeable chunk out of the warrior’s leg and Zalman lands a cracking blow with his quarterstaff. One more feeble attack is all the hobgoblin can manage before the wizard and dog pair finish him off, after which the dog promptly poofs in thin air.

Upstairs, while the hobgoblin is clearly a tough foe, once outnumbered three-to-one he is quickly overwhelmed. Nigel finishes his cursory search of the first room, he exits, takes note of all the fighting, then promptly goes into the room from which the hobgoblin came and begins inspecting that one while his companions finish the fight. He finds only a nice dagger, some clothing and armor, and little else.

The flail-wielding hobgoblin had just begun to open the front door when Boaz, fresh off the fight with the captain upstairs and on his way back down, lands a crushing blow to the poor creature. Amblin and Rurik strip the captain of his ring and sword (the only possessions he had with him during the fight) and race back downstairs with Nigel shortly behind. They break open the only remaining door on the main floor and find a room stuffed with assorted supplies, foodstuffs, arms, armor, chests and barrels. While Zalman and Boaz keep watch outside, the others quickly rummage through the chests and bags. In one, they find a leather pouch about the size of a loaf of bread. Inside is a neat stack of large animal scales, each with a unique picture painted on one side. Rurik quickly discerns a moderately powerful magical aura about it. Deciding this is what they were looking for, they make haste to get out before they are surrounded by hobgoblins. Almost as an afterthought, they leave behind the spider-shaped amulet that they had looted from the cleric’s body in hopes that it might lead the remaining hobgoblins to think that it was he who had brought the attack.

Zalman and Boaz spot motion from the barracks and see the door open and a curious hobgoblin’s head poke out looking around. With a couple bodies in sight, it doesn’t take long for quite a commotion to begin stirring. The group slips out the side door and hastily makes it back to the ladder they had left at the wall. As they go back over it, the alarm is raised and a pair of hobgoblin guards armed with heavy crossbows in a nearby tower spot their fleeing forms. They launch a few shots, but none connect.

The group returns to find Twiggy still tied up to the dogs. He seems relieved when they untie him and don’t go back on their word. While not killing him, they don’t want him going back to the hobgoblins. So, they bring him along as they hike quickly back to New Selmar. At the gate, they leave Twiggy with a few of the guards with instructions he is to be watched but treated well. With only a few hours of night left, they return to their respective quarters and sleep.

Most of the town’s fighting force had still not returned from harrying the orc raiders, so the group once again reported in their findings to the blacksmith. He commended them on a bold adventure and another job well done. He suggested they talk with Sangelais, the elven master wizard, to try to discern the nature of the “Cards!!” that they had recovered.

Zalman led the group off to his master with all the loot they had collected. Sangelais was intrigued by the items, particularly the deck. After a few hours of study, she concluded this about the items they had found thus far: the ring worn by the hobgoblin captain was a Ring of Protection, his sword and dagger were not magical; the scroll found on the cleric’s table was a Animate Dead priestly scroll; the candle found beside it was a Candle of True Seeing, though much of it had already been consumed; the light mace carried by the cleric was only lightly enchanted; the Cards, as best as she could discern, was a weaker variant of the fabled Deck of Many Things. She explained how the original Deck bestowed upon the drawer of a card a random magical effect – sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Not all in the group were too keen on trying to draw from it. Zalman stepped up first and drew a card, pulling “The Mule,” and was bestowed with the ability to effortlessly carry heavy loads. Sangelais, herself a curious elf, boldly drew next. She pulled “The Chameleon,” bestowing her with the ability to turn herself into any mundane animal and back once. Nigel drew next and pulled “The Mongoose,” permanently making him more nimble (+1 Dex). Boaz, a bit suspicious but impressed with the powers granted to his companions, pulled next. He drew “The Gazelle,” granting him amazing speed when running (double normal move, but only when performing an all out sprint). Amblin, ever the fickle one, was indecisive but finally caved into chance. He pulled “The Penguin,” granting him resistance to cold temperatures (equivalent of a Ring of Cold Resistance). Rurik was the last of the group to decide if he would draw or not. Suspicious of strange magic, he was hesitant. However, everyone else had drawn something beneficial, so he decided to tempt fate and drew “The Chimera.” Instantly, his head began transforming into that of a lion.

(Note: this magic item is the Totem Deck of Many Things as presented in Dragon #271. I liked using it as it is much less unbalancing than the original while still offering that bit of random chance…the gamble.)

This transformation stunned the group, for it was quite a shocking change compared with the innocuous effects of the others’ draws. Rurik himself was a bit too stunned to even know how to react. He found he could still talk and he otherwise still felt like himself. Shaken, though, he asked Sangelais if she could undo his unfortunate transformation. She tried a couple of spells, but found that the magic that had worked the change upon him was too powerful for her modest skills to overcome. Rurik, dejected, returned to his uncle’s makeshift shrine to Moradin to pray for guidance.

The others were about to try their luck at a second draw when the deck disappeared without a trace. Sangelais figured it was just part of the oddity of the deck and left it at that. The group speculated on why the cleric had been so intent upon getting the deck for himself. Whether to draw from it himself or to sell it to the highest bidder, they concluded that they would probably never know.

While waiting for the rest of their masters to return from the orc raids, each went about his daily activities. Zalman studied up some new spells. Amblin cleaned his master’s hut and worked on repairing the roof. Nigel practiced archery. Boaz ran laps around the town to test out his new powers and then returned to the battle hall were he and the other warriors often practiced. When Boaz’s master returned, he was given a sound beating and told not to act like a fool running around the grounds like a child at play.

Rurik, deep in prayer, barely heard the door to his uncle’s house open. There was no mistaking the exclamation of horror when his uncle saw the lion-headed cleric kneeling before the alter to Moradin, however. Rurik jumped up and tried to explain. It was only then that his uncle even realized that it was his nephew and he lowered the warhammer that he had been prepared to use. No explanation was good enough for his strict uncle, also a cleric of Moradin, and he was cursed out for tempting fate with such unknown magic. In a fit of rage, Rurik’s uncle tossed him out of the house and forbade him to return.

Devastated, Rurik sought solace and guidance with Zalman. He hoped that the wizard or his master might know of a way to undo this curse. While Sangelais was convinced that canceling the effect was beyond her abilities, she thought that a powerful cleric or wizard might be able to do it. The Lady Shele, who had just left the day before for parts unknown, might have been able to do it. Another possibility, though a bit of a long-shot, was a powerful wizard who had once run a school in the region. Just over a week’s journey on horseback, Sangelais hadn’t been there since before the war and didn’t know whether anyone still lived there. Still, it was an option, and so she told Zalman and Rurik about the curious little gnomish wizard Shadykin…


Next episode: The Mission, bug lunch, and the orc cavalry.


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Adventure #3.1 – The Journey Begins


We last left the party relaxing and training in the safe confines of New Selmar. Everyone was in pretty good spirits after their first two successful assignments, with the notable exception of Rurik. The transformation of his head into that of a lion, and his subsequent dismissal by his uncle from their house and chapel, had left him shaken. Furthermore, he was forced to endure the constant stares of curiosity and horror from the other townsfolk.

On the evening following their raid, the rest of the town’s fighting force returned from a successful series of skirmishes against one of the region’s orc tribes. Sangelais, the master wizard, met with Lord Stephen that night in private. Early the next morning, all five of the friends were again summoned to the Lord’s audience chamber. Stephen offered his congratulations to them for a job well done in their dealings with the hobgoblins and then got down to the matter at hand:

“With the widespread destruction caused by the war, we’ve found ourselves isolated and lacking in knowledge and resources. We don’t know how many others have survived or where the nearest settlement is anymore. Almost as bad, the invaders did their best to destroy or loot all our sources of knowledge. There can’t be more than a couple dozen books left in this city anymore. Unless we can regain contact with other cities, open trade and attain sources of knowledge, I fear that our city will eventually regress into barbarism.

“The council and I have discussed this matter on several occasions, and we had agreed upon a course of action. We will send out a small, well-equipped and well-trained group to try to find any evidence of other towns, cities, or knowledge and then return here with word of what they found. You five have demonstrated an uncanny knack for working well together while training and your recent exploits show this to extend to your work in the field. For this reason, we’re sending you on this mission.

“Besides, with Rurik’s unfortunate situation, I suspect he’d like to have a little time away from prying eyes. I understand that Sangelais has told you of a powerful wizard she once knew who lived not too far from here…one who might be able to help cure Rurik’s condition. Sounds like as good a direction to start as any.”

The group agrees with his logic and accepts the mission. They are equipped with travel supplies, horses, and food for two weeks. The following morning, a pleasant and sunny spring day, they depart for parts unknown.

Sangelais’ directions to Shadykin’s old school were vague but simple. Follow the river northeast. When the river turns to the east, make due north until you reach the Ironwood Forest. There is or was a small town near there, along with a monastery and the wizardry school.

The first day of the journey is pleasant and uneventful. The second day is when they encounter their first hardship. Out in the middle of the rolling grasslands, they are attacked quite unexpectedly – from below. An ankheg explodes out from underneath Rurik’s horse and clamps onto its midsection with powerful mandibles. Rurik is thrown from the horse as its innards spill out from the vicious attack (critical hit by the ankheg). As the first ankheg starts to pull the slain horse back down into its burrow, a second one erupts right beside Zalman’s mount. This one takes one snap at his horse and severs its head (critical hit by the second ankheg), spraying Zalman with blood and also throwing him to the ground. Before anyone in the group can react, both of the creatures retreat underground with their prizes. Wisely fearing other attacks, the group doubles up on horses (except for Amblin “Marathon Monk” Aimless, who always insists on running alongside them with his two dogs) and make all haste out of the area. They make it through the rest of the afternoon without incident and set camp for the night, taking stock of their now diminished supplies.

The next three days pass uneventfully. They are jittery after the encounter with the ankhegs, but after a day or two of mild spring days, they are lulled back into a steady groove. Late on their fifth day out from New Selmar, they spot riders off in the distance. Nigel’s sharp eye makes out about thirty orcs, all mounted, and all well armed. The group agrees that their best bet is to try to make nice with them, but when the orcs spot them and break into a full charge with lances the diplomatic approach is dropped like a sack of wet mice.

The orc charge comes at them from the east. Just to the north, about a quarter mile away, is the river (which they knew they’d have to cross pretty soon anyway). Given the lack of substantial cover on the hilly plains, they break for the river. Just on the other side is one of the largest patches of woodland they’ve seen thus far, and thus the hope of some semblance of cover.

Those on horseback make it to the river ahead of Amblin and his dogs. Zalman and Boaz both cross the river on horseback. The water isn’t too fast or deep, though the horse does have to swim for part of it. Nigel and Rurik pull up and wait for Amblin. The orc charge is clearly gaining on him, and it looks as though they’ll catch up just about the time he makes it to the shore.

Nigel draws his bow and starts flinging “sharp pointy sticks” as soon as the charge is within range, scoring a couple hits. Boaz does likewise from the opposite shore once in they’re in range. Nigel and Rurik then cross on horseback while Amblin and the dogs swim. Half the orcs pull up at the shoreline and draw shortbows, while the other half plunge into the water after them. Zalman summons a shark to harass the orcs who are trying to cross.

Arrows and magic missiles fill the air and several on each side take hits. A few of the orcs crossing the river fall to arrows or are victimized by the shark. Zalman also conjures a bank of mist to obscure the sight of the orc bowmen. Nigel, Rurik and Amblin reach shore right along with nearly a dozen orcs and melee combat is engaged. Many of the bowmen also start to cross at this point.

While respectable in combat, the party is sorely outnumbered and unable to outrun the mounted soldiers. Just as things start to feel desperate, a couple of small trees and old rotting logs crash down in the river amidst the orcs who were trying to cross. Too busy to see who their mysterious treeflinging benefactor is, the party continues to duke it with the remaining orcs on thier side of the river. Meanwhile, the other orcs not killed outright by the flying timber turn and flee.

Their benefactor, as they discover after the remaining orcs are slain, is a magnificent treant and two of his animated tree companions. The treant explains that it had seen them fleeing into the river. Having a long-standing grudge against the orcs for their excessive lumbering and hunting of its forest during the war years, it decided to help the group out. Everyone expresses their deepest gratitude, particularly the awe-struck elf Nigel.

The treant leads them to a secluded glade near a clean-running stream where they might rest and recover in peace. While the group eats dinner, the treant asks if they might be willing to perform a favor for it. It explains that a blighted area has recently appeared in his forest. It is centered upon a spring and extends for some radius around it. The plant and animal life in that area has become sick and putrid over the last couple years. The treant would have dealt with the issue itself, except that it becomes sick very quickly every time it tries to enter the area.

The party unanimously agrees to help the treant to the best of their ability. They spend another day healing up their injuries and are then led by the treant into the depths of the woods, to the blight.


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Session #3.2 – The Green Blight


Following a day of rest and recuperation, the group followed the treant several miles into its forest. There was no mistaking the blighted area of which it had spoken. A wide ranging area was brown and sickly looking. No animal chatter could be heard and a yellowish haze blotted out what little sunlight tried to filter down through the brown canopy.

The treant pointed into the heart of the blight. “About a quarter mile further in is a spring,” it said. “I expect the source of the problem to be near there. I appreciate your help in this matter and wish you to take care. I will wait for you here.”

It took them little time to find the spring, and the stench of chlorine and decay was powerful here. On the far side of the spring they spotted a large hole dug into the side of an embankment. They cautiously approached. Nigel thoroughly searched the area around the entrance and had little difficulty in finding large, clawed footprints leading both in and out of the cave. Weapons ready, they quietly entered.

The cave appeared to be freshly dug in the soft earth, not a natural feature. About fifteen feet in, it split left and right, both passages with twists and turns blocking sight of anything of interest. No sound came from either side and the clawed prints only down the right hand passage, so they decided to follow in that direction.

Following the winding tunnel another thirty feet back, it opened up into a roughly circular, domed chamber about thirty feet in diameter. The walls and ceiling were all rough earth and sandstone. The only noteworthy feature they could discern by their lantern light was a fifteen foot diameter pool of water in the middle of the room. The smell of chlorine was almost overwhelming in there, causing their eyes to water.

Very cautiously, they approached the pool and shined their lanterns down into its depths. It was moderately deep, perhaps about ten feet, and at the bottom rested a dark form. They couldn’t make out the exact size or shape, but they were fairly confident that it was a creature of some sort. While they quietly began to develop a plan of action, Boaz wandered away from the group back to the water’s edge. He was intently curious as to just what it was sitting at the bottom of the pool…and he started poking the tip of his sword into the water, making the slightest splashing sounds. (You all know that this can’t lead to anything good.)

At the first sound of splashing, everyone turned on Boaz to tell him to stop. It was too late. The creature on the bottom had awoken and launched itself directly at the half-orc, bringing with it a wave of acidic water. The group immediately began to suspect (and later confirmed) that this was a very young dragon, a green one to be more specific. It was somewhere between a large dog and small alligator in size. The beast’s front claws ripped clean through Boaz’s armor and from its maw came forth a blast of corrosive gas.

Boaz was immediately dropped precariously low on hit points and was absolutely stunned by the speed and ferocity of its attacks. Of the rest of the group, everyone failed their saves and took the full brunt of the chlorine gas with the sole exception of Nigel, who had positioned himself far enough to the side to avoid a direct hit. The tight quarters of the chamber, however, didn’t allow the gas to dissipate very well, and everyone was dealing with burning eyes, nose, and throats.

Boaz’s first instinct, after the pounding he took, was to flee for his life. And so, just like that, the party’s up-front muscle fled the cave, taking another claw rake across his back for good measure on the way out. Everyone else, however, flew into action. Nigel started pumping the dragon full of arrows. Amblin, along with his two dogs, braved direct confrontation and closed to melee. Rurik, likewise, tried to get close enough to bring his axe into range. Zalman, trying to maximize his spellcasting effectiveness, decided to summon a creature.

The dragon fought hard, but it took at least as well as it dished out, and started to get worn down. It likely would have tried to flee, except that the entire group was between it and the exit. Amblin and Rurik both took hits and one of Amblin’s dogs, if I recall correctly, was beat to within a whisper of death. Then Zalman’s summoned creature appeared – a giant squid in the water right behind the dragon. It immediately lashed out at the dragon with its tentacles and initiated a successful grapple and tried to start dragging it back under the water. While the dragon fought back and managed to break the squid’s grip, the momentary distraction was all that the beleaguered party needed to pound on it mercilessly. Amblin, as he would continue to be bring up forevermore, was the one who dealt the fatal blow to the creature…with his bare fist.

As the squid disappeared, they dragged the dragon’s corpse back out of the pool. Nigel inspected the rest of the chamber and found a small stash of treasure buried in the soil near the back wall (including a magic greatsword, several vials they later identified as a potent acid, a masterwork short bow, and a few other trinkets, coin and gems). Meanwhile, outside, Boaz had fled a couple hundred feet away before collapsing on the ground to strip his armor and take stock in his injuries. When satisfied that he wasn’t in immediate danger of dying, he started to head back to the cave. It had been at least a minute since he left them and no one had followed him out. This made him a bit worried, but he had to find out whether they were still alive or not.

Just as he started to slip down the right side passage at the fork, a creature that had been aroused by all the noise of the fight was slinking down from the other fork. A violet fungus, all six feet tall and four lashing tentacles of it, assaulted the surprised fighter. Three of the four tentacles connected, and the resultant damage was enough to drop him unconscious. Two failed poison saves later (each for d4 Str and d4 Con loss), he was beyond death’s doorstep. So, Boaz’s first fate point intervenes, and the scene is replayed with the fungus getting the surprise on him, but all of its tentacles just barely missing him. Boaz retaliates with his longsword and scores a critical. His one attack nearly slices the fungus in two. The purple mass manages to lash out once more and scores one hit on the half-orc, who again fails his poison save. This time, however, it isn’t enough to drop him. The others had heard the commotion and arrived just in time to watch Boaz finish off the fungus with one more well-placed blow.

After a bit of (somewhat) good-natured abuse directed at Boaz for fleeing like a girl, they heal him up and carefully inspect the passage from which the fungus had come. It turned out to dead end at a small hollowed out chamber not too far back with no other signs of habitation (or treasure, to their disappointment).

They dragged the dragon’s corpse back to the treant, both for proof of the kill and to strip the creature of any body-part that might have some value – claws, teeth, hide, even it’s meat for grilling out over the campfire that night. The treant was overjoyed at their success and hoped it was all that it would take to ease the blight on that area. Zalman, using his prodigious alchemical knowledge, suggested that the use of some of the local minerals might help speed up neutralization of the dragon’s acid in the spring waters and surrounding soil. While the most battered of the group rested up, the others worked with the treant and it’s animated minions to find and haul back various neutralizing agents to the spring.

That night, while eating dragon steaks around the fire (everyone admitted that it tasted surprisingly like chicken), the treant returned to them to again offer its thanks for their assistance. It also offered them a small sack of items that it had recovered some time ago and for which it had no use. Inside, they found a mighty masterwork elven longbow (which Nigel gawked over and promptly claimed as his own), and an unidentified potion and magic ring.

The treant had a pretty good idea of where the village that the group sought was, though it was fairly sure that no one still lived there. Regardless, it agreed to point them along the path in the morning, indicating that they weren’t much more than another day’s ride away.

And with that, they got a good night’s sleep – what would turn out to be their last for a while…

Next Session – The dogfight of epic proportion, Goblinfest ’01, and Kisty Goodbread…


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Session #3.3 – The Road to Ironwood

After a peaceful night of rest and recuperation, the group was eager to finish the last couple days to their destination: Shadykin’s school of magic. While the treant knew little of the areas beyond his own woods, he did know of a small town not more than a day or two’s travel to the north on the edge of the great Ironwood Forest. They assumed that this was probably the town of Ironwood that the school was supposedly built near, so they headed off in that direction.

Most of the first two days back on the road were quiet and peaceful. The warm spring sun was bringing the plains and wooded hills into full green by now. Rurik cast Gentle Repose on the dragon’s hide to try to keep it from smelling too badly. By late afternoon on the second day out from the treant, they came across an old and largely overgrown dirt road. The ranger gave it an inspection and found several sets of prints following the road in primarily the northern direction. Some of the prints looked like small, booted humanoids and the others like large dogs. The group followed the road north and noted that several more sets of prints joined in as they got closer to what was presumably the boundary of Ironwood Forest.

The road itself headed straight into the dark, old-growth forest. With about three hours of decent light left, they decided to press on and see where the road led. About an hour into the forest, Nigel’s sharp elvish eyes picked up the slightest hint of movement in the brush up ahead. He couldn’t make out what it was, but he was certain that it had been there. The group pulled up their horses and Nigel and Amblin silently snuck off the trail to either side – Amblin left and Nigel right – to try to flank and get a better look at what was ahead of them. The rest of the group agreed that they would proceed at a slow pace and in an open and non-adversarial manner.
When he got to within about a hundred feet, Nigel was able to get his first good look at several goblins in ambush positions on either side of the road. He quickly slipped back to those still on horseback and notified them of the situation, then hurried back into the woods to resume a flanking position. The rest of the group decided to try to continue with the non-adversarial approach, though Rurik and Boaz both dismounted (neither comfortable with mounted combat, especially on untrained horses).
As Boaz, Rurik and Zalman, leading all the horses, got to within a hundred feet, they too could catch glimpses of the hiding goblins. At about the same time, the goblins decided that they were close enough to open fire on with their bows. A couple arrows scored light hits, but most were ineffective. Boaz, with his supernatural gazelle-like speed, charged down the dirt road with his new magic great sword (complements of the dragon’s hoard) brandished menacingly. Boaz found there to be six goblins, three on either side of the road, and he waded into melee, cleaving the smelly little creatures left and right. Rurik, considerably slower than Boaz, came charging up behind almost too late to help out. Zalman held back with the horses, only slowly approaching and keeping an eye out for any other problems. Nigel, from his flanking position off to the right, surprised a couple of the goblins when he started launching arrows.
Throughout the short fight near the road, Amblin continued to push past the goblin position while sneaking through the trees to the left. He was the first to spot a squad of six more goblins further back into the woods, these ones all mounted on nasty-looking worgs. The goblin riders were already in a full charge down the road and Amblin decided not to give away his position by calling out a warning. His friends would be able to see them soon enough anyway. Instead, he pulled the last pair of war dogs off his Robe of Useful Items (giving him four in total now), and he tried to position himself to be able to flank the riders once they engaged his comrades.

While the first six goblins had fallen quickly, the mounted group posed much more of a challenge. As they closed in, the goblins hurled javelins and then engaged in mounted melee with short swords and shields. Boaz and Rurik were in the thick of the fray while Nigel launched a constant stream of “sharp pointy sticks” into the battle. Zalman cast a summoning and brought in another three celestial dogs to help deal with the worgs, then added support with a couple magic missiles and shots from his light crossbow. Once the melee was fully engaged, Amblin charged in with his four war dogs. (Note: there were now three celestial dogs, four war dogs, and six worgs in one tightly packed melee…thirteen in all. It was a noisy fight, to say the least, with all the growling, barking, and snarling.)

The fighting was intense. While the goblins were not as skilled of combatants as the party, they outnumbered those in melee by 2 to 1. The worgs’ powerful bites and ability to trip up opponents proved to be more dangerous a threat than their riders posed. Through some strategic double-teaming and a couple tanglefoot bags supplied by Zalman, the fight finally turned in the heroes’ favor. One of the goblins managed to flee the fight and his worg was able to outdistance even the speedy Boaz. The party noted that he headed in a roughly northern direction, though not following exactly along with the road.

Amblin, Boaz, and Rurik had each sustained a couple blows, but none were critical. One of Amblin’s dogs had perished, two had minor injuries, and one was unscathed. After looting the goblins and doing a couple other moderately obscene things to the bodies (to discourage further confrontation, they claimed), the group decided to push on into the rapidly falling night. They didn’t feel comfortable trying to camp with an unknown number of goblins somewhere in the vicinity.

Another two hours of slower progress down the road and night had fallen in full. They started to hear the unmistakable deep boom of drums in the distance up ahead of them. Nigel took point on foot a couple hundred feet ahead of the party and Hooty, Zalman’s owl familiar, also helped scout ahead. They encountered no further resistance or ambushes while they closed in on the drumming. Hooty returned to Zalman with a report on what he had found. Now, at this point, the link between Zalman and the familiar was still empathic only, though it was developing quickly toward full communication. Given this, the best information they could get from Hooty was that there were lots of goblins ahead, probably more than forty. Additionally, the owl was able to indicate lots of buildings and a large fire. Also, Hooty did his best to indicate that the goblins were in a circle around another person (*not* a goblin), who was tied up to something. While trying to interpret all this from the owl, the tempo of the drums started to increase and they could make out frantic yelling and cheering from the goblins.

Not liking the sound of that, the group decided to hastily plan a quick hit and run raid. Their only goal was to get in, cause as much confusion as possible, grab the goblins’ prisoner, and get back out alive. Zalman sent Hooty ahead with a thunderstone in his claws and instructions to drop it on the opposite side of the group of goblins from their intended approach.

With a couple minor exceptions, their plan was executed flawlessly (admittedly, this doesn’t happen that often in D&D). About the only part of the plan that didn’t happen was that Hooty’s dropped thunderstone failed to detonate (I gave it a 25% chance of landing on something too soft to trigger it’s noise effect). Regardless, the rest of the group, including all ten horses and three dogs, came charging into the surprised goblins. (I think I forgot to mention that the group had previously recovered several of the fallen orc cavalry’s horses to replace the two they lost to the Ankegs and to have several spares in case of further mishap. The dogs and spare horses were set loose to do as they wished.

The fight was far too chaotic for the goblins to mount a coordinated counter attack. Boaz was cleaving anything he could reach and Amblin and Nigel were similarly hitting anything that wasn’t fleeing outright. Zalman held back a bit, holding in reserve his few remaining spells, but managed to drop a few of the goblins that had the courage to threaten him. Rurik made straight for the prisoner, a young female halfling who was quite conscious, but also quite tied up to a pole in the ground. While Rurik’s lion head gave her pause, the halfling was not about to let a rescue attempt go to waste. As soon as Rurik had cut through the ropes binding her, she bolted for the door to a nearby building, giving the cleric a quick thanks on the way.

Unsure of her motives and wanting to know who she was, Zalman tried to intercept her inside the building she had just entered. Within was a large square room, with assorted piles of junk and shelves and such. Zalman found her hastily gathering up what he could only assume to be her possessions (mostly traveling gear, pouches, and so on). Zalman couldn’t get her to slow down from the overdrive mode she’d gone into since being freed. She bolted right past him for the door. He tried to use his staff to trip her and slow her down for a moment, but she nimbly went into a diving tuck and roll and came back up with only a sarcastic remark for him on her was back outside.

Rurik and Boaz were both just outside the door. With most of the remaining goblins already fleeing off into the night, they were more interested in the halfling they had just rescued. Finding her running back out the door with Zalman in pursuit, they both made attempts to grab her and slow her down. Neither, however, could catch the slippery girl. She danced her way across the courtyard battlefield over to a fallen goblin, bent over to pluck an ornate dagger from its dead hand, twirled it about a couple times and promptly sheathed it in her belt. With that, she finally came to a complete stop, turned to face Zalman, Boaz, and Rurik, and gave them an appraising look. (Zalman, a young human with white hair, Boaz, a huge half-orc with a massive great sword and spattered in goblin blood, and Rurik, a stout dwarf with the head of a lion – she had good reason to be a bit hesitant facing them, rescuers or not.)

While no one tried to grab her again, they demanded to know why she had fled when they untied her. They found that she had something of an abrasive and flippant attitude, but her answer was also fairly reasonable in retrospect: “I didn’t know how well you guys could handle the goblins and I wanted to make sure I had my equipment and my lucky dagger in case I had to make a hasty retreat from here.” By this time, the fighting was over and none of the group had taken much more than a few superficial injuries. Nigel rounded the horses back up while the others kept a close eye out for any returning goblins. Amblin performed a cursory search of some of the nearby buildings, even finding a secret cubby in the building where Kisty’s gear had been stashed that had a couple potentially magic items within.

The others grilled the halfling for a few minutes more. Her name was Kisty Goodbread and her hometown was a city known as Water Break, approximately six weeks to the east by foot (as she had been traveling due west from there for that long). She had gotten careless and unlucky in dealing with these particular goblins and was quite grateful for the group’s fortunate timing in rescuing her.

Once the horses were all rounded up, they decided to push northward and put a little distance between them and the goblin camp before settling down for the night. They found a clearing about half an hour away and stopped there. The halfling was content to travel with them for the time being and quickly curled up to sleep. The others all quietly discussed amongst themselves what they wanted to do with her. They knew that halflings, particularly those who had the spirit for adventuring, also tended somewhat toward thievery – and this one had all the hallmarks of fitting this stereotype. More so, what would a halfling be doing so far from home all alone, particularly in a region that was almost completely uncivilized and quite dangerous? Bottom line, no one trusted her. On the other hand, though, she purported to be from Water Break, a city that she claimed had over twenty thousand inhabitants – far larger than New Selmar. Since one of the key aspects of their mission was to find other settlements and to retrieve sources of knowledge, this sounded like an excellent place to start. After much debate, they decided that they would seek out her home city after they had found Shadykin…and Kisty would lead them there as payment for their rescuing her. Of course, she would be watched very closely and would not be allowed into the nightly watch rotation.

The rest of the night was mostly quiet. Hooty reported spotting several goblins nearby throughout the night, but apparently they were unwilling to try to attack the party. In the morning, when Kisty awoke, the group asked her if she would lead them back to her hometown. Kisty was very hesitant at the idea, alluding to some problems with her family that she’d just spent the last six weeks trying very hard to get away from. When they pressed upon her that this would be in return for her rescue from the goblins, she grudgingly agreed.

With that, they saddled up and headed off down the road in search of Shadykin’s school. It turned out that they had camped less than a quarter mile away from the strangest building they had ever laid eyes upon…one they could only assume to be the eccentric wizard’s school.


(DM’s notes: The goblins had established their camp in the remnants of an old monastery that had been near Ironwood. For this, I borrowed the Monk Temple map from the last page of Sword and Fist. The goblin gathering was held in the garden and Kisty’s equipment was in the Hall of Prowess. The clearing that the group camped in later that night was actually the site of the (former) town of Ironwood. Every building had been burnt to the ground during the war some twenty years earlier and had long since been overgrown.)



-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Adventure #4 - Shadykin's School for Arcane Arts and Magical Sciences

Session #4.1 – The Welcoming Committee or “Let Yourselves In, the Door is Unlocked.”


So, ten minutes after striking camp and mounting up, the group finds that the road heading north leads directly into a huge open field in the middle of the forest. Centered in the roughly circular clearing is a massive building or complex built primarily of stone. Three tall towers loomed over a thirty-foot high wall. The road led up to a gatehouse of some manner with two enormous double doors constructed of wood. To the left of the entrance were two large, rectangular buildings set at odd angles that both joined up with the wall – between which was an unusual curved section of wall done seemingly all in dark glass that started fifteen feet above ground and went up to the top.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the complex was the golden dome. From their location they could only see part of it, but it looked as through a perfectly smooth hemisphere comprised of pure gold was attached to the other structures around the back left corner. It’s top had to be at least seventy feet above the ground, making it tower above all but the towers. The group saw no signs of activity, but also no immediate signs of danger. Deciding on caution, they made broad circuit of the complex, staying at the wood line.

While walking around it, they noted a couple other things. The tallest of the three towers, which was opposite the gate house (the only apparent entrance they could find), had a sizable bit of the top couple floors destroyed. While it was too far to make out any details of the insides of the tower, one feature was quite visible – a seemingly perfect sphere that had a mirrored surface. It appeared to be about ten feet in diameter and sitting (?) amongst the rubble. Boaz, while making the circuit with the others, thought that he caught a glimpse of movement in one of the high windows in the northernmost tower (between the golden dome and the damaged tower), but he couldn’t be certain.

Not seeing any immediate threats, they decided to take the direct approach and went to the front door and knocked. No answer. There was a sign over the door proclaiming this to be “Shadykin’s School for Arcane Arts and Magical Sciences,” but it was otherwise looking pretty desolate. The double doors had handles which they tried and found to be unlocked. Within was a largish rectangular room with a worn flagstone floor. Magical light from an unknown source kept the room dimly lit. Set in each of the other three walls were another set of massive double doors identical to the ones they had just opened, though these were closed. The room was otherwise empty. Walking up to the set directly opposite the ones they’d entered, they opened them and found themselves looking into an exact replica of the room they were already in…so identical, in fact, that there was another set of themselves that they were viewing from behind. Much like having a video camera shooting footage of a television that it has a live feed going into, they were looking in on themselves from behind.

One of them tried walking through the door and found that he essentially reappeared back at the front entrance without having experienced any sensation of moving there. They opened one of the side doors and found that when doing so it caused the other set of side doors to open as well. Sure enough, going through one of the side doors led right back in the other side. The only time they didn’t reappear in the room after going through a door was when they went back out the way they came in…this always led back outside, regardless of how many times they had walked through the other doorways.

They tried countless iterations and tricks of jumping and walking through doors, opening and closing in certain combinations, and so on, but could not seem to get through. Finally, Zalman cast levitate on Nigel and sent him up the side of the wall to have a look. The wall itself was narrow on top, not much more than about two feet, and it had two lines of razor sharp metal sticking up (presumably to slice through any rope and grappling hooks that tried to get over that way). Beyond the wall, Nigel saw a large courtyard full of trees, a meandering stream and a waterfall. He saw nothing else moving, though, so he let himself down to ground level inside the courtyard where the doors were open and he could see his comrades. They, however, could see nothing but the recursive inside of the gatehouse. He walked into the gatehouse and again found himself seeing nothing but endless gatehouses through each of the exits.

Rurik, through a bit of luck and dwarven aptitude for things stone, noticed a slight irregularity with the flagstones in the gatehouse floor. Placing his head at ground level, he noticed that some of the stones were more settled than others, as if a path had been worn through here with the hauling of heavy materials. From the front entrance, the path turned to the left doors. Another path went from the doors on the right to the doors opposite the entrance. Deciding to give this a shot, a couple of them tried walking the path from the front door through the left, then continuing from where they appeared at the right door through the far door. Nothing happened. They were still in the gatehouse. They tried it once more, and this time found that instead of another recursion of the gatehouse, the far set of doors opened into the green courtyard beyond. Relieved, the others quickly followed the same technique and were all through. (The horses had been left outside the gatehouse for the time being.)

The inner courtyard was spacious and pleasant, aside from being somewhat overgrown. A waterfall began against the far outer wall, the water appearing in midair. From there it became a small stream that meandered through the yard, pausing briefly in a number of pools and running under several small foot bridges before finally disappearing in a whirlpool near the gatehouse. Trees and other shrubbery dotted the rest of the yard, but there was no evidence of any recent efforts to control or trim back their growth. Some tracks (small humanoid in nature) could be seen leaving the gatehouse area.

Shortly after entering the quiet courtyard, they noticed that the door to the north tower on the opposite side of the courtyard (the one in which Boaz claimed to have seen motion in one of the upper floor windows) had opened and a lovely female elf wearing leather armor and equipped with a scimitar came out. She seemed shaken and surprised to see them. Calling out, she asked for their assistance. Her friends, she claimed, were being overwhelmed in the tower by large creatures she was unable to identify. Most of the group hurried over to the tower to offer assistance, but a couple were less enthusiastic - sensing that something was amiss.

Inside the tower, she indicated a trapdoor in the floor with a ladder leading down. The only other features of the room were a couple large stone statues and the crumbled remains of a staircase that once led up before being blocked off. Not waiting for everyone to catch up, she hurried down the ladder and off into the darkness below. While a Boaz and Rurik went down the ladder into a dark hallway, they stopped there, wondering where she had gone off to. The others, meanwhile, had entered the main floor of the tower but had not yet proceeded down the ladder when the main door slammed shut behind them. A couple of thuds quickly followed, presumably the large statues that had been outside on either side of the door were now leaning up against it, trapping them within. While most of the group tried to follow the elf in the dark tunnel, Nigel remained above, poised to attack any who might try to reenter the tower.

Below, the trapdoor led to a hallway went in only one direct and shortly made a left turn. At the turn, there was a door to the right and one a short way off to the left. Neither Boaz nor Rurik had heard a door shut behind the elf, further increasing their suspicions and curiosity. They opened the door to the right and found a small room piled high with junk - mostly old weapons, armor, and cookware...all metal. At the next door, they heard a very faint bit of scraping. Deciding to take whatever threat might be there head on, they opened the door and charged in. Two rust monsters (though most of the group were unaware of their nature) awaited them in a largely empty rectangular room with one other door set in the far wall. Amblin and Boaz took the frontal assualt with Rurik right behind. Zalman and Kisty took up positions further back. Things were going well initially, with the fighter dealing one a vicious blow. However, with his second attack, his (newly acquired) magic great sword assumed a new form (pile of rust), and things were suddenly not looking as good. The fighter’s armor was the next thing to go when it was tagged by the rust monster he’d already softened up. Rurik’s warhammer likewise turned to rust upon striking one of the beasts. Between the monk's fists, the rogue's sling stones, and the wizard's spells and (wood) staff, they were quickly finished off.

After re-equipping with crude gear from the store room back down the hall, the group proceeded to the door in the opposite wall of the room. Kisty checked the door and found that it was locked. While picking it, she set off a trap that she had overlooked, and got hit with a couple of needles (fortunately not poisoned). Beyond the door was a short hall that turned to the right. The monk offered to lead the way and managed to set off another trap, a sharp blade that swing out from the wall and hit his leg causing a small gash. The short hall ended at another door that Kisty spent extra time carefully searching for traps. It was easily picked and opened to a smaller room with a door and two rough cut passages in the earth. While looking around, Kisty noticed that there was a trap on the floor right in front of the door. Unsure of the nature of it, she marked around the edges of it in chalk. At that point, rather than proceeding, the group decided to return to the main floor of the tower, regroup with Nigel, and make plans.

The general consensus was to get out of the tower rather than risk whatever other traps had been laid in the parts below. Rurik went down below to fetch a couple of axes with which they could hack through the tower door. Just as he was about to return, he spotted three critters descending upon him in the small store room from the direction of the chamber where they’d slain the rust monsters. Each of the three resembled a beholder in nearly every detail but size, these being only about two feet in diameter. Recognizing them from stories of old, he yelled out "beholders!" and then pulled the door to the store room shut behind him. One, however, was quick enough to slip in before he got it fully shut.

Those up above quickly raced down the ladder and a fight in the tight hallway ensued. Boaz fearlessly led the charge, hacking viciously at the first one. The two beholderkin fought back with hard bites and acidic saliva. An attempt to hurl a vial of acid at one failed to bother it. Zalman also tried to fire off a magic missile, only to have it fizzle in an apparent anti-magic field generated by the little critters.

In the store room, Rurik had a tough fight on his hands. He tried to get off a spell at it, but the beholderkin interrupted him with another bite. Exchanging hits, the two wore each other down until finally the cleric was nearly done in.

The fight outside was quick and brutal. The two beholderkin didn't fare well, but the group was surprised to note that these particular ones had an amazing ability to heal themselves at supernatural rates. After dropping one of them twice, they finally pummeled it beyond its ability to heal itself. They then forced their way in to the store room and pulled Rurik’s body clear and then slammed the door shut behind them – sealing in the remaining beholderkin.

After regrouping, they forced the door open and charged back in after the last creature (which had nearly recovered from all its wounds by this time). Severely outnumbered, the fight was short and the beholderkin became a puddle on the floor. While the group had come out victorious, Rurik was seriously injured and several of the others had taken some significant abuse as well.

The group healed up a bit and again prepared to cut their way out the front door of the tower. Boaz and Nigel, working together, were hacking methodically through it when they heard a loud thudding sound coming from outside. They paused in their cutting to peek through the small holes they’d cut in the door - only to find that there was a large humanoid figure standing just outside the door now. They opened the hole a bit further and tried to communicate with it. They asked it to move the statues out of the way. It did so by picking one up and hurling it through the door rather violently at them.

Interpreting this as an unfriendly gesture, Boaz decided to try to run past the iron golem (as they had settled upon its nature), only to have it pound him badly in the back as he raced by. Amblin and Nigel, armed with the vials of acid they had recovered from the dragon's lair, peppered the golem's legs. This tactic seemed to cause it some degree of distress, so they kept at it. Meanwhile, Zalman, Kisty, and Rurik raced back down through the trapdoor to the rust monster corpses and cut their antennae off - tying them to long wooden poles salvaged from the store room. Boaz, despite his massively bruised back, got up and made a mad dash for the gate house.

The golem, annoyed enough by the acid, finally backed off from the door. Amblin and Nigel heard a loud flapping sound from just outside as they went in pursuit. The golem was nowhere to be seen. However, a rather large, furred creature with wings was flapping away from them over the walls of the school.



(DM notes – the iron golem, as the players would later learn, was just the resident witch using polymorph self. This was prior to the errata version of the spell that prohibits the use of construct forms, or changing forms during the duration of the spell, for that matter. The group’s tactic of trying to get the antennae off of the rust monsters was particularly clever and would have likely destroyed the witch outright if the acid vials hadn’t been so effective against her and forced her to retreat prematurely.)



Next time: Despite being beat up and depleted on spells and resources, the group manages to split themselves up and get into all sorts of trouble. The fate points flow freely for some when the two spellcasters learn just how dangerous half a dozen stirges can be…

-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Session #4.2 – Divide (Ourselves) and (Be) Conquered


With things quieting down, Rurik tended to Boaz’s considerable wounds. Zalman watched the trapdoor for more surprises, and Amblin played with the magical waterfall near the tower (concluding that the mid-air waterfall was supplied by the whirlpool at the other end of the courtyard stream. In the meantime, Nigel and Kisty took to following the perimeter of the courtyard in a counterclockwise fashion - inspecting the golden dome first of all.

The dome, to all appearances, was made of pure gold. Kisty, however, noted that it would not dent under pressure from her dagger as gold ordinarily would. Additionally, when she tapped her dagger against it, rather than ringing as metal on metal, it sounded more like the click of hitting stone. They could find no sign of an entrance or of any footprints.

Continuing on to the next building, a five-story rectangular one with two ground level doors and lots of windows, they finally found footprints. Most of them were boot prints, larger than human. Most of them would appear or disappear abruptly about fifteen feet away from the two doors. Near one of the doors, the ranger also spotted a pair of small booted footprints, about the size of an elf or smaller human. As this was supposed to have been a school of magic, they guessed (correctly) that this building looked like something of a dormitory. They left these doors alone and proceeded to the next building, one connected to this.

This roughly “T”-shaped building had two larger doors on opposite sides of a main double-doored entrance. They tried opening one of the large doors and found it locked. Posing little challenge to Kisty, they were soon inside a short hallway that led to another large door. This one was set in a gently curved wall, as if it led into a large circular room. The door was surrounded by magic looking runes. Deciding discretion was in order, they left them alone until Zalman could be brought to inspect them. They next found that the other large door led opposite the main entrance led to an identical hallway and rune inscribed door. Leaving this one alone as well, the pair headed off to the main entrance.

In the meantime, Rurik finished healing the fighter and decided to start inspecting the nearby and more ornate tower while the Boaz and Amblin headed off to join up with Nigel and Kisty. Zalman, not realizing where everyone else had gone, decided to go join Rurik in inspecting the tallest tower. The two of them let themselves in the unlocked front door where they found a few rotting pieces of furniture, a small broom closet, and a spiral staircase leading up. They ascended the staircase to a platform - the inner diameter of the hollowed out tower - which itself had a staircase that wrapped around the inside up another forty feet to a door.

Without hesitation, the pair went up the stairs and checked the door. Locked. They tried using the rust monster antennae on the hinges but found that they had lost their potency. So, they resorted to using a wand of Knock to open it. Inside, they found that they were in the remains of a destroyed laboratory. Benches, cabinets, and glassware were broken everywhere. Half the ceiling and a quarter of the wall were missing and open to the outside. Suspended in air directly above them was a perfectly mirrored sphere about ten feet in diameter. Before they had much of a chance to explore, though, a swarm of half a dozen stirges attacked from their resting place further back in the room.

Unprepared for such a quick attack, each immediately had two or three of the ruthless blood-suckers attached to him. Their efforts to fight back were mostly in vain as they lost blood too quickly to remain conscious. Luckily for them, they had just enough blood left in them when the stirges became sated and released their hold. (DM note: both were forced to use fate points to survive this encounter, leaving Rurik with none and Zalman with one.)

The rest of the group, blissfully ignorant of the plight of their spell-slinging comrades, was exploring the main entrance hall in the southernmost building. It was a tall room with giant tapestries depicting pastoral scenes of gnomish communities on either side. Directly across from the doors was a huge statue of some older gnomish gentleman. To either side of the statue were a series of metal bars, much like a cylindrical cage, running from floor to ceiling in front of two higher levels of balconies. Some experimentation revealed that within the bars was an area with no gravity. They used the bars, some more successfully than others, to guide themselves from the main floor to the second.

From the second floor, a couple of the group could hear the faintest hint of music playing off in the distance. The first door they checked on lead to a balcony part of a great library. The balcony level looked relatively untouched, but the lower level had clearly been the scene of some sort of struggle that left books, shelves, and tables strewn about. They also spotted a small little hand brush, sweeping the floor under its own power. The monk saw great potential in this item for his master's cleanliness fetish. While they immediately recognized this library to be an invaluable resource, Zalman would be the one to get the most use of it. The rest were more interested in continuing their exploration.

The other half of the second floor led to a balcony overlooking a massive laboratory, again in a state of disarray. Between the library and the laboratory, both wings of the first and second floors were accounted for except for the circular chamber in the heart of the building. Aside from the heavy and rune inscribed doors outside the building, they had seen no entrance to this circular core.

From the third floor, the sound of distantly playing music became a bit more pronounced, and a bit more disturbing. It was horribly distorted and out of tune. Starting on the wing opposite the direction of the sound, they found most of this floor to be comprised of empty classrooms and small laboratories in various states of disarray. While Kisty and Nigel gave one particular lab a closer inspection, Boaz and Amblin wandered off to investigate the music.

(DM note: Yes, the group had now managed to split themselves up into three pairs in the dangerously unexplored remains of a magic school. Not a shining example of brilliant tactics.)

The monk and fighter found the door leading to the source of the music rather easily. They listened at it and, aside from the impression that all the instruments were broken, they could hear no other sounds. They pushed the door open and were confronted with a rather disturbing scene. The room was a large slice-of-pie-shaped affair with three tiers leading down toward a massive curved window that had a view of the forest and the western horizon. On the upper tier with them was another door and a half dozen instruments trying desperately to play themselves in spite of their obvious state of disrepair. The second and third tiers down had numerous round dinner tables, chairs, and china. Most were tipped over and scattered about, as if a great conflict had occurred here. Despite all the evidence of a struggle they’d seen in the other rooms of the complex, this was the first one in which they had found any bodies…and there were many of them. Blood stains marred the walls, the grand window, and the floors, though it had the black color of great age. The bodies, strewn carelessly amongst the broken furniture and china, were also many years deceased.

Boaz and Amblin, shocked by the scene, moved into the room to take a closer look at things. Amblin primarily inspected the instruments and upper tier while Boaz went down to the lower levels to investigate the carnage. Not half a minute into their inspection, the temperature in the room suddenly plummeted and the door they had opened slammed shut of its own accord. Amblin jumped over to it but found he couldn’t force it back open. Boaz was just starting back up the stairs when a flickering blue light leapt out of one of the corpses and entered his body. Amblin witnessed this and saw the half-orc go rigid with eyes bulging out. For lack of any other options, the monk held his ground and watched Boaz stand motionless.

Boaz, while in his frozen state, became unaware of the room about him. Or, rather, his awareness was shifted for him to another time. He caught hazy images of this very room, full of people scattering every direction. The images were broken and frantic, but he could make out people casting the same magic that he had seen Zalman perform in the past. Then Boaz caught fragmented glimpses of the target for those spells. A man of some sort dressed in red armor with a flowing cape was swirling about with a massive sword. Blood and bodies flew in every direction. There was an overwhelming sense of panic. And then, the man in red turned to Boaz, grinned broadly, and dropped his sword through his skull.

Amblin watched as Boaz staggered and pitched forward. The temperature in the room was returning to normal and the fighter regained his feet, looking at Amblin with a confused look. Nigel and Kisty, having heard the door slam shut, were opening in back up now that it no longer seemed stuck. Amblin didn’t bother explaining what had just happened, he simply ordered everyone out of the room. The tone of his voice and look in his eyes, not to mention Boaz’s pale color, kept anyone from arguing. While on the way out, Amblin never took his eyes off of Boaz…who he was convinced was still possessed because he hadn’t seen the bluish light leave the half-orc’s body.

Just as they left the building’s main entrance into the courtyard, they caught a brief glimpse of movement from the ruined top of the tower opposite them…up near the mirrored sphere. Boaz and Amblin had seen Rurik poking around near that building, so they quickly headed over to its base. Just as they were about to reach the door, the sound of flapping overhead caused them to look up. Two large, brutish humanoid sporting gigantic bat-wings and reddish-brown skin were flying from the top of the tower they were about to enter. One was carrying an unconscious Zalman, the other an unconscious Rurik. The pair glided across the courtyard and landed at the base of the dormitory, entered one of the doors with their load, and shut it behind them without ever noticing the stunned group outside.


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Session #4.3 – Duel in the Dorms


So, recapping the situation our heroes find themselves in…

Zalman and Rurik, the group’s two spellcasters, were both unconscious after a nasty run-in with a group of stirges and had just been spotted in the arms of some very unfriendly looking chaps…specifically, a pair of half-fiend ogres.

Boaz, while possessed by a spirit of some sort, had just experienced visions of some apocalyptic struggle that once took place in the cafeteria and Amblin was convinced that the thing still hasn’t left the half-orc.

Nigel and Kisty were merely bewildered.

So, having spotted the half-fiend ogres flying overhead with their comrades and then landing and going into the dormitory, the rest decide that they have no choice but to make a hasty rescue. Dawdling, they figure, will only put them at risk of being eaten or worse, and they gain nothing by resting further. No one, however, is optimistic about the fight judging by the intimidating size and appearance of this pair. Besides, they’ll be going in without any magic or healing support.

Summoning their bravery, they quietly open the outer door to the dormitory and find a short hall leading in. The hall intersects with another hall and also has an open doorway into was appears to have been a huge lounge, with the ceiling extending the full five floors to the roof. It is plainly obvious that the beasts have just gone in here. They sneak up to the doorway and find the room to be full of odds and ends…mostly old furniture, barrels, chests, and what they would generally sum up as junk. And it smelled bad. This had to be where the pair had taken up residence. Sure enough, they spotted the pair of their companions unceremoniously dumped against an old couch across the room, and the pair of half-fiend ogres considering what to do next with them.

Boaz and Amblin led the charge into the room, seeking what little advantage they could gain in surprise. Nigel started plugging one of them with arrows while Kisty put her sling to use. The fight was short and brutal. While Boaz dished out considerable damage, he took just as much back from the massive strength of the towering fiends. Amblin, likewise, took a couple good blows and was soon in serious trouble. Nigel’s arrows continued to wear one of them down until finally the first one fell. The second ogre pounded Boaz to the floor unconscious and then started to move toward his giant club that was propped up against a nearby table. With Amblin weakened and one ogre nearly unharmed, Kisty tumbled into a flanking position across from the monk to set up a nice sneak attack. Amblin gots in one last parting kick before the ogre grabbed his club and put the wood to the young man’s ribcage, knocking him out of the fight.

Kisty was now very worried, for she was the only target within twenty feet of this creature, and she was about the size of one of its forearms. She tumbled back and flung a dagger into its thigh, only irritating it. It stepped toward her and leveled a blow that staggered but didn’t drop her. In desperation, she grabbed another dagger and gave it one more good stab while Nigel plunked an arrow squarely in the monster’s back. Luckily, it’s just enough to drop it to the floor.

Kisty quickly made certain that neither of the fiendish ogres would get up again while Nigel performed what token healing he knew to stabilize Boaz and Amblin’s wounds. After slitting the creatures’ throats, Kisty untied Rurik and Zalman and roused them to a bleary consciousness. Rurik had just enough strength to call upon Moradin’s blessing to heal Boaz and Amblin back to consciousness. He was now completely depleted of all magic for the day, and Zalman was also almost completely tapped. Realizing they were in yet another large and unexplored building, they decided to retreat to a safer location to rest and recoup. They settle upon the small storeroom under the tower where they had faced the rust monsters and beholderkin. Between the trapdoor on one end and another heavy door on the other, they figure that they should be able to hold against most threats.


-Rybaer

 

[Rybaer]

Session #4.4 – Night in the Witch’s Guest Room


By the time the fight with the half-fiend ogres was over, it was pushing late afternoon and the group was exhausted and substantially beat up. They returned to the tower with the trap door and went down the ladder to the hallway beneath. Here, they took assorted bits of old cookware, weapons, tools, and armor that they scrounged from the store room and barricaded the doorway that led to the room that the rust monsters had occupied. They also littered the hallway with bits of junk, making it difficult for anyone to approach quietly. Rurik and Zalman were already resting in the store room.

Boaz wandered off through the school’s main entrance to start fetching the horses that they had left outside earlier that morning. At this point, they somewhere between eight and ten horses…having decided to take extras from the fallen orc cavalry after they had lost two to the ankheg attack just a couple days into their journey. So, a couple at a time, he led them back to the tower. The group decided to cram the horses into the main level of the tower rather than leave them outside to the whims of whatever other nastiness the ruined school had to offer. While fetching the last pair of horses, a middle-aged human woman appeared before him near the main entrance. She was dressed as if a peasant and slung over her back was a small sack.

Boaz asked the lady who she was and what she wanted. She replied that she had this sack of food that he should take back to his friends and share. This seemed perfectly reasonable to the half-orc, and he gave no further thought to who she was, where she had come from, or what ulterior motives she might have. (He also failed to realize that she’d nailed him with a Suggestion spell.) So, he toted the sack back to the others who were resting under the tower. As he entered the small room, he unslung the sack and mentioned that the nice lady had given him food to share. Alarmed at Boaz’s unusual behavior and inability to explain why he just took this total stranger’s word at face value, they became highly suspicious and tried to take the sack from him. He was persistent that it was just food to share and he couldn’t understand why they were so suspicious. Finally, Amblin got the sack away from him and took it outside the tower. Deciding it was a bit too light to toss over the wall, he instead deposited it in the small stream that meandered through the courtyard. Boaz pestered him the entire way and briefly considered going in after it, but finally gave up.

(DM note – they were wise not to open it as it contained a home grown colony of a nasty little mold that would have exploded in a cloud of toxic spores had they opened the sack. The mysterious lady was, of course, the witch again.)

With all the horses inside the tower, they shut the door to the courtyard and blocked it as best they could. Hooty, Zalman’s familiar, took up a perch on one of the statues inside the room with the horses to keep an eye on anything trying to get at the group through the trapdoor. Amblin’s three dogs were all left in the hallway under the trap door. Everyone else piled into the small storeroom off the hallway and closed and blocked the door. Exhausted as they were, they still set watches. Several hours after the presumed sunset, Nigel heard that something had attracted the dogs’ attention by their sudden restlessness. They weren’t barking or growling, but they were clearly interested in something and it sounded like they were near the far end of the hall by the trapdoor. He roused the others before opening the door to take a look. In the hall, they found that the dogs were enthusiastically eating something on the floor. Amblin raced over to check on it and found that a large chunk of meat was lying there. This couldn’t be good as there was no explanation for its appearance. Sure enough, all of the dogs started gagging and vomiting. Two were dead only moments later, while the third one, Gunther, was clearly ill but hanging on.

They looked for any indication of how the meat got there but could find nothing. Zalman made a quick inspection of the meat and confirmed that there was evidence of some sort of herbal poison on it. Hooty gave no indication that he had noticed any disturbance or activity from above the trapdoor. Paranoid, the group went back into the room, bringing Gunther with them but leaving the two deceased dogs in the hallway.

Things settled back down for a couple hours and most fell into a restless sleep. Then the noises began. Everyone was instantly wide awake when they heard growling and scratching noises just outside their door. They hadn’t heard any of the metal bits fall or be knocked around out in the hallway and Hooty empathically indicated to Zalman that things were still peaceful up above the trapdoor. It had to be Amblin’s dogs, they decided. Something had brought them back from the dead.

Forming a quick plan, they all took up positions around the door. Zalman was going to drop a quick tanglefoot bag outside the door and then Nigel and Boaz were going to hack away with their swords. On cue, they flung the door open and – nothing. There was absolutely nothing there and the sound stopped. Both fallen dogs were still lying at the other end of the hall where they had fallen. Again, the witch had succeeded in tormenting them. Much as she’d have liked to just do them all in, though, she lacked the direct magical firepower to do so.

The group unbarricaded the door leading to the rust monster room, dragged the dogs’ bodies into it for proper disposal the next day, and then re-barricaded the door. What little was left of the rest of the night passed uneventfully.

The following day, Rurik healed what he could of the group’s remaining injuries and then went back to resting. For his and Zalman’s injuries from the stirges, only time could repair that sort of damage. The others helped graze and walk the horses about the courtyard throughout the morning while remaining highly vigilant. Nigel noticed a very suspicious looking raven perched on the tallest tower near the mirrored sphere. He was convinced that it was watching them. Amblin continued to remain suspicious of Boaz, suspecting that he might still be possessed.

After a quiet morning, however, they started to let their guards down a bit. They brought the horses back into the tower and most went back downstairs to continue resting. Boaz was the last on the ground floor with the horses when he heard a familiar voice…the mysterious middle-aged woman again. She was peeking through the hole in the door that they had made the previous day while trying to chop their way out. She politely asked him if he wouldn’t mind giving her a hand with something outside. Boaz, failing his second save against her Suggestion, thought this seemed the perfectly reasonable thing to do.

She led him outside and indicated that he was to walk over toward the water. Once behind him, she polymorphed into an umber hulk and launched herself at him. He was quick to catch on, but not quite quick enough. She raked the her mighty claws across his back and side, leaving him severely injured. Something far in the back of his mind told him that this lady had somehow tricked him again, probably with one of those magic spells, and this infuriated him. And so, as only a huge half-orc can, he hacked at her with his sword and landed a furious blow. The witch was first surprised that he was still standing after her first attack, then horrified at how badly he had injured her in return. Boaz’s battle cry alerted Nigel and Amblin who were both in the hall below the trapdoor and they hurried up to his aid.

The witch swiped again at Boaz, but he was a bit better prepared for the attack and only a minor hit. A minor hit from an umber hulk is nothing to scoff at, though, and he figured one more minor hit would drop him. Boaz was far from willing to retreat and launched another brutal attack with his sword and connected. The witch/beast dropped. Amblin raced out of the tower just in time to see the half-orc hack once more into the body of a non-descript middle aged human woman before collapsing himself from several deep and bleeding wounds.
Amblin, with Nigel close behind, tended Boaz’s wounds sufficiently to drag him down below the tower where Rurik continued to watch over him. Then they returned upstairs and proceeded to burn the witch’s body. Keep in mind that Amblin was quite upset with her, assuming (correctly) that she was to blame for the death of two of his dogs and nearly a third as well. They burned the body by tossing it into the run-down remains of some servants quarters tucked away against the west wall and torching the place. While watching it burn, Amblin thought he heard a faint, feminine voice call out for someone from within the blazing inferno, but he paid it little heed.
After seeing to the horses, they all went back to the storage room below the tower, closed up the doors, and had a pleasant and uninterrupted night of sleep.


-Rybaer