PH2- The Darque Portal (B4cchus judging)

Content that he's got a handle (after a fashion) on what Darque is doing, Peladus goes over to Periwinkle, and twirls her in an impromptu victory dance which ends with him gathering her into his arms for a brief but passionate kiss. Grinning like a fool in reaction to the adrenaline rush, he then claps Xir on the shoulder and proceeds to loot Balthazar's body, in fine Dair fashion.

Periwinkle claps her hands with glee when the druid drops, forgetting her wand and crossbow, both of which go clattering to the floor. "I knew we could do it! It's just like when Sister Anemone told me that I couldn't eat five bowls of cinnamon ice cream but I just knew that I could and I kept at it and it was just sooo tasty that I couldn't stop, and so what if I spent the rest of the day curled in a ball holding my tummy? We did it! Whee!"

She giggles with glee as Peladus spins her around but when he kisses her, she stops, blushes head to toe and back again. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. She tries again, but remains speechless. Clapping her hands -- thankfully sans crossbow -- to her burning cheeks, she stammers something incoherent about wounds, whirls, and finds a way to keep herself busy on the far end of the tunnel for a few minutes.

After a few minutes of arcane mutterings, Allahastor finishes with a flourish of the gem-topped staff and a powerfully spoken final word. The gate flashes sapphire blue and begins swirling like water in a pond. Finally responding to Peladus, the old wizard says with a wide grin "Well of course you can't stall a spell like that, but you can pretend to be casting while not actually doing so!"

Meanwhile, Peladus searches the fallen druid in full on Dair fashion and is amazed to find a beltpouch stuffed with 50 pieces of platinum. Even more thrilling is when he finds the two gems hidden away inside Balthazar's mouth! It seems that he knocked out two teeth and managed to jam the gems into the sockets and between the remaining teeth. Each gem appears to be a golden yellow topaz.[sblock=Final fight XP and treasure]Balthazar XP = 1,800 divided by 3 = 600 XP to Xir, Peladus, and Periwinkle each.

The 50 PP = 500 GP and the two topaz gems are worth 500 gp each.[/sblock]Handshakes and slapping of backs proceed with enthusiasm as everyone congratulates everyone else. Luther the Hunter gives a big hug to his nephew Allahastor and a happy family reunion proceeds from there. Captain Niko walks up to the portal and touches the surface with his gauntleted hand. His fingers disappear into the surface of the blue light and he quickly pulls his hand back out. He snaps out of his small trance and decided to get things moving. "You sure this is safe, Darque? No knowing if there are more creatures coming through the tunnels." he says.

Once Allahastor assures him that it is indeed safe, Captain Niko has Allahastor and Luther go through first to prove it before he starts the line of refugees from Haven moving forward and into the shimmering blue portal. Dair and Kona'i go in after Niko himself finally braves the portal. At the last, Periwinkle, Peladus, and Xir step back into the light and emerge once again in the basement of Darque's house. Verminar the pseudodragon has already found his master and is happily wound around the mans neck and across the back of his shoulders.

The havenites are milling around the basement area, while Niko is peaking up the stairs of the pantry at the golden light pouring in from outside. He squints as the brightest light he's ever seen bathes his smiling face. Luther Darque steps past the Captain and goes outside to sit on the grass of the back yard.

Allahastor brings the three heroes up to his tower a bit later to speak with them privately. Dair and Kona'i ran off somewhere in all the confusion of Havenites wandering around, so they are not available for the meeting. "You three have all exceeded my wildest hopes." the old wizard begins. "You helped free myself, Uncle Luther, and all those other trapped people. I apologize for tricking you into entering the portal when it was only a one way trip, but once I was on the other side and had studied it, I knew I'd be able to get it working again with that staff and gem. As Verminar promised though, I will reward each of you handsomely for your help." He hefts three sacks up from the floor and places them on the table before Xir, Peladus, and Periwinkle. "Inside each of these is the worth of 400 gold pieces in reward for your extraordinary services performed. Peladus, as you are a man of arcane studies like myself, if you would like a scroll or two of new spells instead of money then I would be happy to oblige. Again, I thank you all for your efforts and wish you well in the future."[sblock=Allahastor's reward]So that is 400 gp for each of you three that made it to the end of the adventure. Boddynock, if you want spells instead of cash, you can pick any 1st or 2nd level spells using the values of the scrolls on page 239 of the DMG. Just post any of them that you want up to a total value of 400gp and take the leftover in cash.[/sblock][sblock=Total list of rewards] [/sblock]OOC: I think that about covers it. If anybody notices any discrepancies or has any questions, let me know about it. If B4cchus could approve these awards and see about DM credits being awarded, that'd be great.

ooc: I have the wand at 1 charge left. Periwinkle's sheet has a section for tracking wand charges, which is up to date as far as I know.

Xir nods, his duty discharged. He bows slightly to the others, and then wanders off without a word.[sblock=OOC]Thanks, PH! It was fun, but I'll likely be retiring Xir unless something exciting comes up. I'm pretty much done with 3.5 these days.[/sblock]

Peladus thanks Darque for his generosity, and, after due consideration, asks for scrolls of the following spells: Detect Secret Doors, Expeditious Retreat, Floating Disk, Hold Portal, Magic Weapon and Ventriloquism.

He happily receives the balance of his reward in gold (OOC: 250 gp), thinking of the scribing he will be doing later on.

First, though, he offers his arm to Periwinkle, and says, "And now, dear Peri, what about a drink to celebrate? I believe Joe, at the Red Dragon, keeps a fine cellar."

[sblock=OOC]P8, thanks for this adventure. It was awesome! Any time you want to call on a young wizard, please look Peladus up!

By the way, does anybody know if he can take 10 on his Spellcraft check to copy the spells on the scrolls into his spellbook?

Periwinkle might as well keep the wand.

Since you're finished with 3.5, stonegod, do you mind if Periwinkle and Peladus split the torch between them? covaithe, does PW want the torch? PL would rather have the money, since he's got all that scribing to do. Either she could pay him out or they could sell it and split the profit.

Actually, another way to do it would be for her to keep the torch and for PL to sell her old chain shirt (which Dair salvaged when she abandoned it, and which PL could always snitch off of Dair. [/sblock]

"Well, of course we'll have a drink to celebrate," Periwinkle exclaims. "But I'll stay over here, thanks. I remember what happened last time I got too close to you, mister!" But there is a twinkle in her eyes, taking the sting from her words.

"Oh, now you've hurt my feelings," says Peladus, managing to look heartbroken.

"Never mind. I'll promise to behave myself if you'll promise to forgive me."

With that he gently but firmly entwines his arm in Periwinkle's and parades with her to the Red Dragon Inn.

"Well, if you promise to behave yourself, that's different, then," Periwinkle says. It's not clear whether she is teasing Peladus or if she actually believes this, but she allows herself to be led to the Red Dragon.

[sblock=OOC]Good game everybody! And thanks to you three for sticking in there until the end. I wonder what its like to DM a game where all your players are there from beginning to end? Now to wrap things up with the quick adventure summary.[/sblock]
[sblock=Adventure Summary]The heroes were hired by Verminar the pseudodragon to destroy a skeleton that had appeared in the basement of its masters house. After destroying the undead, the heroes found a note tied to one of its bones. They took the note to Verminar who found that it was from his master, the Wizard Allahastor Darque! Allahastor was trapped on the other side of the portal in the basement and wanted the adventurers to bring a certain gem-tipped staff through the portal to him. The heroes agreed to do this and set out through the blue portal.

Once on the other side, they found themselves in a network of rock tunnels inhabited by various goblinoids and a few other random monsters. Not to mention an injured dog who Periwinkle named 'Mr. Snuffles'. They fought their way through the tunnels and found a walled city of humanoids called Haven. They were detained by Nikodemus, the Captain of Haven's guards. It seems Allahastor had been getting people riled up with his stories of escape from this place when everyone knew that it was impossible. All the people of haven were descendants of adventurers who had come through the gate and then found themselves stuck here because the portal only goes one way.

While in detention, they witness the dog Mr. Snuffles steal an important magical item of the town and run off with it. As it flees, the dog changed into a man right as he escaped the guards and fled into the tunnels. It seems that Mr. Snuffles was actually Balthazar, the evil druid leader of the monsters trapped in this place. After a contingent of guards were sent after him and did not return, Captain Niko asked the group to go after the crown and see if they could return it. It was the key to the defense of Haven and they needed it back badly. If they could return it, he promised to let them and Allahastor go free to try their scheme for escaping this place.

Leaving Have with the gift of a magic item each, the party made its way through the back tunnels and encountered The Hunter. He was a more recent arrival through the portal that did not choose to live in Haven. Once the party mentioned Allahastor, The Hunter relented and invited them into his cave. It turned out that The Hunter was actually Luther Darque, Allahastor's uncle! The group rested in his cave before pressing on to the back gate of the monsters compound.

Making their way past the back gate, they found the compound mostly deserted. They found a prison where the survivors of the guards sent after the crown were locked up. Defeating the guards, the group freed the prisoners and escorted them towards the back gate so they could follow the tunnels back to Haven. Balthazar's second in command, a large bugbear named Grax, blocked their exit though. The party slew the monster and found the crown in a bag on his person. With crown and rescued prisoners recovered, the group set out for Have once more through the back tunnels.

They returned to Haven to find why the monster compound had been deserted. The monsters had massed and attacked Haven while its crown was gone. They beat them back mostly, but Balthazar managed to steal Allahastor and the staff away with the intention of making Allahastor open the gate to free him from this place.

The party made its way to the gate while Captain Niko made preparations to move all the remaining Havenites toward the gate in the hope that Balthazar could be defeated and the gate could be reopened by Allahastor. Reaching the gate chamber, the party fought Balthazar and his wolves while Allahastor worked on the spell to open the gate. First his wolves fell, then the evil druid was brought down in the end just as reinforcements arrived for both sides. The Hunter and Dair held off the rush of goblins and then the people of Have flanked and atacked the remaining goblins till they were obliterated.

With all the enemies defeated, Allahastor stopped faking his arcane workings and cast the spell to actually open up the portal. Allahastor and his uncle, the heroes, and all the people of Haven made it back through the portal an into Darque's basement safely. The heroes were thanked and rewarded by a grateful Allahastor Darque as the adventure came to a close.[/sblock]