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<blockquote data-quote="Netherstorm" data-source="post: 5726025" data-attributes="member: 84943"><p><em>11/7/11: This is a "0-level" adventure, where ordinary citizens try to survive as the city of Olwynn is attacked by drow and the godzilla-sized gods fight Lolth and some titans.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Basically, everyone had +0 to hit, 10 for all defenses, and +0 to all skills. And d4 hit points! Most enemies in this do d6 damage, so each player has three characters.</em></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Saga of Valor </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Book One - NyrodSpace War 3</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Chapter Two: The Survivors</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Brendan</em>:</p><p><strong>Rorin</strong> - Kenku Gong Farmer</p><p><strong>Veris</strong> - Helf-Elf Squire</p><p><strong>Thorn</strong> - Longtooth Farmer</p><p></p><p><em>Greg</em>:</p><p><strong>Blue Monk 1</strong> - Half-Orc Noble</p><p><strong>Blue Monk 2</strong> - Half Orc Outlaw</p><p><strong>Blue Monk 3</strong> - Half-Orc Vagrant</p><p></p><p><em>Krista</em>:</p><p><strong>Audra Marijanne</strong> - Eladrin Soldier</p><p><strong>Skip Waits II</strong> - Human Potato Farmer</p><p><strong>Mikolina Persephone</strong> - Human Woodcutter</p><p></p><p><em>Matt</em>:</p><p><strong>Scarlet Hydra</strong> - Human Mercenary</p><p><strong>Saltim Borum</strong> - Half-Orc Ranger</p><p><strong>Lykke</strong> - Hengeyokai Urchin</p><p></p><p><em>Ryan</em>:</p><p><strong>Hartaniel</strong> - Elf indentured Servant</p><p><strong>Thorsmash</strong> - Human Forester</p><p><strong>"Snots" McGee</strong> - Human Sage</p><p></p><p><em>Samantha</em>:</p><p><strong>Lenore "Lucky" Greyweather </strong>- Human cutpurse</p><p><strong>Adamantia the Unbreakable</strong> - Goliath Warrior</p><p><strong>Canvessa Thenpallete</strong> - Half-Elf Artisan</p><p></p><p><em>Tom</em>:</p><p><strong>Riltar</strong> - Drow Slave</p><p><strong>Kraven</strong> - Tiefling Scholar</p><p><strong>Sidhar</strong> - Shade Thief</p><p></p><p></p><p>The statue of Kava Frosthowl loomed over a busy marketplace in the city of Olwynn. Dwarves and dragonborn sold furs, weapons, exotic meats and jewelry. The red sun hung in the sky, whispering evil formulas to any who looked directly at it. Near it was the smaller, yellow sun. And taking up a quarter of the sky was the world of Dracos, a swirl of blue and green.</p><p></p><p>A half-orc was demonstrating his "mega-catapult". It amounted to two 3 foot tall sticks and a massive rubber band. Nearby were massive boulders with glowing runes. Shetro, the vendor, claimed that the boulders would explode on contact when launched.</p><p></p><p>Not far from there, a dragonborn flirted with a comely female dwarf. She seemed unimpressed by him.</p><p></p><p>And close to them was vendor called Forn who was selling huge hookahs and three different kinds of herbs to smoke from them. He smoked some with Sidhar the shade as a demonstration. Snots McGee quietly crept up and began pocketing herbs as the pair inhaled. Sidhar was amazed - he became insubstantial and was seeing through the prime material plane and into the Astral Sea! He saw a massive dead god - Rundorig the dwarf. Sidhar could make out a village built on Rundorig's massive belly.</p><p></p><p>30 feet from there was a massive water tower on wooden stilts. Pipes ran down from it, with faucets, for people to clean themselves with. A wall monkey was cleaning bugs and filth off of itself. Many citizens were repulsed, but did nothing.</p><p></p><p>A foulwing pulled a cart through the square, gently mooshing people aside and grabbing handfuls of fruit from stalls. The draconic humanoid beast of burden was ten feet tall, grey and very fat. Its' wings were a pinkish hue. Hartaniel chased down the wall monkey and threw it at the foulwing. The foulwing looked at it, picked it up, and held it to its' mouth. Hartaniel waved it off.</p><p></p><p>Two blue monks and Riltar climbed onto the foulwing's cart, curious abou the cargo and the lack of an intelligent driver. In it were 5 statues, all victims of Lolth's curse of stone. Over the last few hundred years, more and more citizens had suddenly and irreversably turned to stone. No magic seemed able to restore them.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, cries rang out all over the city. Lolth's lightning web surged, and all at once, every statue cracked like an egg and hatched minions of Lolth! People in the square gave a shout as the five statues cracked open, revealing fully grown Lolth bound goblins ready to attack!</p><p></p><p>The hookah seller had been bragging about how his hookahs could shoot clouds of smoke from their tops (<em>like a bazooka</em>). Audra picked it up and blasted the cart with vapor. The goblins, the monks and Riltar all were hit with a cloud of ameno leaf fumes. They began to hallucinate, seeing images of the beautiful noble named Lady Tarentia. They were also immobilized.</p><p></p><p>Hartaniel shouted at the foulwing to eat the goblins. The foulwing slowly understood what he was saying, and snatched one of them up and began chewing. He tossed Hartaniel a severed arm to eat.</p><p></p><p>Snots stole some waterskins from a stall.</p><p></p><p>Citizens assembled the "mega-catapult", and Adamantia loaded her pet pig into it. She shouted, "I will never be a farmer again!" and fired the little fellow squiggly-tail first. It crashed into a goblin, knocking it off the cart, killing it. Somehow, miraculously, the pig was fine.</p><p></p><p>Lucky raced toward the goblins, hoping for death to end her miserable life. She had already lost a leg and an eye through varius mishaps, and the idea of it finally ending put a little spring in her step. To her dismay, the citizens swarmed and killed the goblins before they could cut her down.</p><p></p><p>With the five lolthbound goblins vanquished, Lucky, Snots, and the other citizens ran to the north, as shouts and sounds of battle rang out in all directions. Lolthbound goblins and massive golems made of webbing had hatched in all sections of the city, and were mauling anyone in sight.</p><p></p><p>They neared a junction. From it came another band of citizens, who shouted, "Run!". They were being chased by thousands of little spiders. A foulwing hovered nearby, confused. Riltar, the drow, leaped and climbed onto it.</p><p></p><p>The heroes saw an abandoned stall nearby, where a fire-eater had left her things. There were two burning torches and two jugs of alcohol. As the swarm approached, the citizens dumped the alcohol on the ground in a thick line and set it ablaze!</p><p></p><p>The spiders hit it and burst into flames. Some flaming spiders made it through and crawled all over poor Lucky. The flaming spiders bit her and brought her down. As things went black, she said "At last...". Apparently, Lucky had got her wish. One of the blue monks leaned down, closed Lucky's eyes, and took her dagger. </p><p></p><p>Another spider bit one of the three blue monks. He swatted it away, injured but still alive.</p><p></p><p>The fire devoured the spiders. As the arachnids' remains curled and spewed smoke, the citizens caught their breath. Then, the air crackled and four 200 foot tall titans appeared in the city! They were led by Lolth herself, her spider legs cruelly impaling buildings beneath her. The gods appeared a moment later, grew in size to match the titans and began to do battle with the invaders!</p><p></p><p>Three flying ships appeared in the sky.. Drow leaned over the side, aiming their crossbows at the people of Olwynn below. One ship swooped down, passing the heroes overhead, firing down on them. The blue monk flung Lucky's dagger into the neck of one of the drow. The drow fell over the side and landed on the street, dead. The other blue monks looted him, grabbing a strange black iron cloak clasp in the shape of a hook. They also took his sword and crossbow, both dripping with drow venom. the Blue Monk tossed the crossbow to Scarlet.</p><p></p><p>Other drow on the ship continued to fire down. A bolt struck Skip Waits in the neck, killing him.</p><p></p><p>The ship began to turn to make another pass. The citizens raced down the side road. Nearby, Lolth cackled as she flung spells at the gods. She created an acid web zone that hovered a foot above the pavement and filled a good portion of the city, burning through buildings and blocking the heroes' path.</p><p></p><p>Four elderly citizens were trying to get to the safety of a nearby shrine, but a strand of the acid web was in their way. Behind them, the drow ship was bearing down on them. The citizens had a choice - help the elderly get past the acid and put themselves at risk, or hop the strand and leave the elderly to their doom.</p><p></p><p>They decided to help, save for a few. One of the elderly gentlemen said he needed no help. He claimed he was spry and had elven blood. Varis slipped by the acid strand and taunted the old man, daring him to try to cross without aid. The old man did try, and was fried by the acid. The scene was chaotic enough the Varis' fellow citizens didn't really register what had happened.</p><p></p><p>The drow ship came close. They could see a drow aiming the lightning projector at them. Scarlet took aim with the drow crossbow and fired a bolt through the drow's head. The citizens let out a cheer. The ship passed overhead, and more drow fired their crossbows down. Rorin the kenku was struck and killed.</p><p></p><p>A colossal death titan stepped near, crushing a building and nearly squashing Adamantia. The death titan summoned the souls of the hundreds of dead citizens around his feet, turned them into 5 foot tall black diamonds called soul shards. The death titan's innate magic caused them to orbit around him. He could use them to fuel his deadly attacks against the gods! The citizens were nearly struck by the swiftly moving soul shards. The shards crashed and passed through the walls of nearby buildings, collapsing them.</p><p></p><p>Choking dust was everywhere. A lone wall with a window stood nearby. A web golem emerged from the haze, debris stuck to its' body. A halfling was stuck to its' back, and screamed for help. The golem paid it no mind. It was pre-occupied with pulling a brick from it's inherently sticky body. The golem hadn't seen the citizens. They could have crept away to safety. But they decided to stay and save the halfling.</p><p></p><p>Adamantia charged, used her staff to pole vault over the web golem, and grabbed the halfling as she hurtled over. His shirt ripped off, and he was free! The golem turned and snarled at her as the halfling cowered behind her. Thorsmash picked up a chunk of wall, charged, and and barrelled into the golem. The golem stumbled back as Thorsmash used the chunk of wall as a ram to pushed the golem into a wall. The golem became stuck! It swiped at them, but could not reach. The citizens collapsed the wall, killing the golem.</p><p></p><p>Nearby, Storm, the currently massive-sized god of war, teleported next to Lolth and threw her across the city as Zev and Galasis caused two titans to vanish. Storm chased down Lolth and stabbed her, causing her blood to spray everywhere. Anjou assumed the form of the world forger, causing earthmotes to spring up and swirl around her.</p><p></p><p>The blood of the spider goddess rained down near the heroes. They could see pink, wriggling spider-creatures in her blood. Then, from down the street came a tidal wave of Lolth's demonic-tainted blood!</p><p></p><p>The heroes turned and tried to outrun the blood. An earthmote dipped toward them. They clambered on as it pulled up. Two of them were splashed with the demonic blood, and for a moment they were overcome with evil in their hearts. It passed, but they'd soon learn they had acquired the ability to speak with spiders. </p><p></p><p>The earthmote swung up past a rooftop. On it were eight drow warriors, who jumped and grabbed on to the side of the earthmote. The drow were intent on climbing up and skewering the citizens! The heroes ran to the edge, and pummeled them, causing the drow to fall to their deaths.</p><p></p><p>They caught a glimpse of another earthmote. On it, they spotted King Thenrynnia, ruler of Olwynn, wielder of the legendary sword Blackrazor, and a drow himself fighting two six-armed drow women. They lost sight of him as his mote passed behind Anjou's body.</p><p></p><p>Soul Shards of the death titan swirled and crashed into the earth mote. One of the blue monks was hit and knocked off the side. He fell hundreds of feet to the city below, crashing through a canvas overhang and into a fruit stand. He looked to be dead.</p><p></p><p>The earthmote was struck again and again by the soul shards, causing the mote to crumble and disintegrate. The citizens plunged through the air, and fell into a lake.</p><p></p><p>The citizens swam up to the surface and gasped for air. Dozens of corpses floated in the lake beside them. Dust from the raging battle of the titanic divine beings nearby made it difficult to see. The heroes could hear talking by the lake'sshore. They swam closer, and spotted a woman with a huge scythe speaking with plague doctors and a strange demon. She was demanding that they find some live beings to abduct.</p><p></p><p>The woman looked deadly. The citizens wanted no part of her, or the strange vulture-like demon that spewed flies and clouds of disease as it exhaled. They swam over to the south, and spied on a lone plague doctor on the shore. He was talking to a magic lantern. The lantern was talking back. It seemed that the doctor had just found the lantern and had somehow gotten into an argument with it.</p><p></p><p>They'd soon learn that inside the magic lantern was the discorporated fading cloud that was all that remained of the former god of secrets - Vecna.</p><p></p><p>The citizens, treading water, silently agreed to rush the doctor. They grasped their pitchforks, clubs and stones tightly. They made their way out of the lake and jumped the plague doctor. Snotz snatched the lamp away as the others mobbed and killed him. Audra took the plague doctor's mask. They also found a scroll on him. As far as they could tell, the woman with the scythe and her allies hadn't heard the sounds of battle.</p><p></p><p>They snuck away to the south, where the grass of the lake area met with pavement. They came upon a foulwing drinking barrels of water from a cart. </p><p></p><p>It was then that Zev, god of night and treachery, cast his secret spell as his allies fought Lolth and the titans. All who had died in Olwynn were suddenly brought back to life as a special breed of ghoul subservient to Zev - the Darakhul!</p><p></p><p>The lake stirred. The dozens of floating dead shivered, animated, and made their way to the shore. The citizens ran as the darakhul made their way out of the lake toward them. They ran down a street toward a temple of Fra, which looked safe. Darakhul were everywhere, though, lunging out of alleys and jumping off of rooftops to get at the heroes.</p><p></p><p>Burnglow, one of the immortal guardians of Olwynn, suddenly appeared and set all of the Darakhul ablaze, and then moved on.</p><p></p><p>The citizens caught their breath just outside the temple. They heard a sound getting louder and louder in the air above them. A drow ship hurtled from the sky above, damaged and plummeting uncontrollably. It hit a spire, split in two, and crashed on the street before them.</p><p></p><p>On the ruined ship was a statue connected to the mast. It was in the form of a large demon. Three inert drow laid unmoving on the broken deck near an upturned treasure chest. Riltar and a few citizens climbed on to search for loot. The mast statue magically animated and attacked! The drow rose up bloodied and injured but still able to fight!</p><p></p><p>A drow warrior ran Sidhar through with its' poison sword. Storm jumped on the demon's shoulders. The other citizens jattacked the drow as well. They used a disease bomb they'd taken off the plague doctor, and the blue monks closed in and proceeded to pummel them. Audra raced forward snatched up a poison sword from a fallen drow warrior, and killed the demon with it. </p><p></p><p>The citizens caught their breath and searched the chest. Inside was gold, posion, antivenom, and a scroll. They snatched it up, and saw more darakhul closing in from all sides.</p><p></p><p>Lolths' titans were defeated. She was hurt badly. Galasis stood at the edge of the city and cast legion's hold, stunning all of the invaders. Lolth cut her losses, summoned the power of the demonweb, and teleported herself and the remaining death titan away. The invasion was over!</p><p></p><p>Anjou accosted Zev, realizing what he'd done. They entered into a battle of wills, which Anjou won. All of the Darakhul were scorched and destroyed by lightning. </p><p></p><p>The survivors breathed a sigh of relief. They divided up the gold they'd found. Then, they investigated some shouting nearby. They saw a mob of citizens standing over a lone drow in white. Half of the mob wanted to kill her. The other half wanted to take her alive for questioning. None knew it, but King Thennrynia lurked in the shadows, observing.</p><p></p><p>The survivors intervened and convinced the people to let her live. Satisfied with what he'd seen, King Thennrynia emerged from the shadows. Everyone bowed, save for the blue monks. He asked the heroes to take the drow and come with him to Moonstone Keep.</p><p></p><p>They walked in silence through the ruins of a once great city. Inside Moonstone Keep, ladies in waiting cleaned off the heroes as they walked. The King lead them into the throne room where his council waited with news. The King sat on the throne as they immediately updated him on what was going on:</p><p></p><p>- Two other nearby cities were attacked by drow ships and titans as well. It was apparent that the thousands of people petrified by the urse of stone all throughout the kingdom, and perhaps in all of Nyrodspace, had all hatched various monsters loyal to Lolth.</p><p>- Darsidian, Thenrynnia's most trusted advisor, had gone missing.</p><p>- A cleric of Mari had no access to her spells. She feared that something had happened to Mari, Goddess of Luck.</p><p>- Lady Tarentia asked the King to go into hiding in the Feywild. She said that she was friends with unicorn-people there that could keep him safe.</p><p></p><p>The King wanted the heroes' advice. Each of his council members had their own agenda. Darsidian had been Thenrynia's most impartial advisor. He had brought the heroes to Moonstone Keep to get their perspective in his stead.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the council introduced themselves to the survivors. Each represented a different faction.</p><p></p><p>Ambril (The Hundred) - Regal Deva.</p><p>Strom Wakeman (The Us) - Mysterious robed figure.</p><p>Zanestra Shadowborn (Shadowborn) - Shade cleric of Zev. Her imp, PaunchCrammer, was entirely too friendly.</p><p>Maynard Grey (Silverfist) - Tough and gritty fellow.</p><p>Lady Tarentia (none) - Beautiful, intent on marrying King Thennrynia.</p><p></p><p>Maynard Gray was enraged by the invasion and wary of the heroes' sudden influence on the king. He walked up to Hartaniel, yelled at him, and punched him. Hartaniel punched him back. Maynard liked that. Then he grabbed Scarlet and kissed her passionately. The other council-members apologized. Maynard tended to slap and kiss a lot of people, and the invasion was too much for the volatile fellow to process.</p><p></p><p>Paunchcrammer wanted to know if anyone wanted to share a pretzel. Zanestra scolded him. Imps of Zev were supposed to be cruel and to taunt those who did not follow Zev.</p><p></p><p>The heroes told the King that he should not hide in the Feywild. He agreed. The heroes showed him the scrolls they'd found. Lady Tarentia snatched them and unfurled them for the king, leaning close to him as they looked over them together.</p><p></p><p>The scroll that the heroes had found on the plague doctor showed a map of a nearby town called Dagger Rock. One spot had an "x" on it.</p><p></p><p>The scroll from the treasure chest on the drow ship showed a map of Nyrodspace. Three planets were circled, and city names were listed for each of them...</p><p></p><p>Nyrod: Olwynn, Starbed, Dunnwynn</p><p>Reldain: Sasserine, Scuttlecove, The Isle of Dread</p><p>Kathenira: Cauldron, Romgarl, Amashi</p><p></p><p>The heroes decided to investigate the town of Dagger Rock, to see what the X on the plague doctor's map was all about. The king suggested that the heroes rest, equip, and prepare themselves for the journey. They agreed to do so...</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, lying in a pile of burnt spiders, Lucky awoke. Somehow she had survived the spiders' deadly, burning toxin! "No!", she shouted. "My face!".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Netherstorm, post: 5726025, member: 84943"] [I]11/7/11: This is a "0-level" adventure, where ordinary citizens try to survive as the city of Olwynn is attacked by drow and the godzilla-sized gods fight Lolth and some titans. Basically, everyone had +0 to hit, 10 for all defenses, and +0 to all skills. And d4 hit points! Most enemies in this do d6 damage, so each player has three characters.[/I] [CENTER][FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=3]Saga of Valor Book One - NyrodSpace War 3 [/SIZE][/FONT] [I]Chapter Two: The Survivors[/I] [/CENTER] [I]Brendan[/I]: [B]Rorin[/B] - Kenku Gong Farmer [B]Veris[/B] - Helf-Elf Squire [B]Thorn[/B] - Longtooth Farmer [I]Greg[/I]: [B]Blue Monk 1[/B] - Half-Orc Noble [B]Blue Monk 2[/B] - Half Orc Outlaw [B]Blue Monk 3[/B] - Half-Orc Vagrant [I]Krista[/I]: [B]Audra Marijanne[/B] - Eladrin Soldier [B]Skip Waits II[/B] - Human Potato Farmer [B]Mikolina Persephone[/B] - Human Woodcutter [I]Matt[/I]: [B]Scarlet Hydra[/B] - Human Mercenary [B]Saltim Borum[/B] - Half-Orc Ranger [B]Lykke[/B] - Hengeyokai Urchin [I]Ryan[/I]: [B]Hartaniel[/B] - Elf indentured Servant [B]Thorsmash[/B] - Human Forester [B]"Snots" McGee[/B] - Human Sage [I]Samantha[/I]: [B]Lenore "Lucky" Greyweather [/B]- Human cutpurse [B]Adamantia the Unbreakable[/B] - Goliath Warrior [B]Canvessa Thenpallete[/B] - Half-Elf Artisan [I]Tom[/I]: [B]Riltar[/B] - Drow Slave [B]Kraven[/B] - Tiefling Scholar [B]Sidhar[/B] - Shade Thief The statue of Kava Frosthowl loomed over a busy marketplace in the city of Olwynn. Dwarves and dragonborn sold furs, weapons, exotic meats and jewelry. The red sun hung in the sky, whispering evil formulas to any who looked directly at it. Near it was the smaller, yellow sun. And taking up a quarter of the sky was the world of Dracos, a swirl of blue and green. A half-orc was demonstrating his "mega-catapult". It amounted to two 3 foot tall sticks and a massive rubber band. Nearby were massive boulders with glowing runes. Shetro, the vendor, claimed that the boulders would explode on contact when launched. Not far from there, a dragonborn flirted with a comely female dwarf. She seemed unimpressed by him. And close to them was vendor called Forn who was selling huge hookahs and three different kinds of herbs to smoke from them. He smoked some with Sidhar the shade as a demonstration. Snots McGee quietly crept up and began pocketing herbs as the pair inhaled. Sidhar was amazed - he became insubstantial and was seeing through the prime material plane and into the Astral Sea! He saw a massive dead god - Rundorig the dwarf. Sidhar could make out a village built on Rundorig's massive belly. 30 feet from there was a massive water tower on wooden stilts. Pipes ran down from it, with faucets, for people to clean themselves with. A wall monkey was cleaning bugs and filth off of itself. Many citizens were repulsed, but did nothing. A foulwing pulled a cart through the square, gently mooshing people aside and grabbing handfuls of fruit from stalls. The draconic humanoid beast of burden was ten feet tall, grey and very fat. Its' wings were a pinkish hue. Hartaniel chased down the wall monkey and threw it at the foulwing. The foulwing looked at it, picked it up, and held it to its' mouth. Hartaniel waved it off. Two blue monks and Riltar climbed onto the foulwing's cart, curious abou the cargo and the lack of an intelligent driver. In it were 5 statues, all victims of Lolth's curse of stone. Over the last few hundred years, more and more citizens had suddenly and irreversably turned to stone. No magic seemed able to restore them. Suddenly, cries rang out all over the city. Lolth's lightning web surged, and all at once, every statue cracked like an egg and hatched minions of Lolth! People in the square gave a shout as the five statues cracked open, revealing fully grown Lolth bound goblins ready to attack! The hookah seller had been bragging about how his hookahs could shoot clouds of smoke from their tops ([I]like a bazooka[/I]). Audra picked it up and blasted the cart with vapor. The goblins, the monks and Riltar all were hit with a cloud of ameno leaf fumes. They began to hallucinate, seeing images of the beautiful noble named Lady Tarentia. They were also immobilized. Hartaniel shouted at the foulwing to eat the goblins. The foulwing slowly understood what he was saying, and snatched one of them up and began chewing. He tossed Hartaniel a severed arm to eat. Snots stole some waterskins from a stall. Citizens assembled the "mega-catapult", and Adamantia loaded her pet pig into it. She shouted, "I will never be a farmer again!" and fired the little fellow squiggly-tail first. It crashed into a goblin, knocking it off the cart, killing it. Somehow, miraculously, the pig was fine. Lucky raced toward the goblins, hoping for death to end her miserable life. She had already lost a leg and an eye through varius mishaps, and the idea of it finally ending put a little spring in her step. To her dismay, the citizens swarmed and killed the goblins before they could cut her down. With the five lolthbound goblins vanquished, Lucky, Snots, and the other citizens ran to the north, as shouts and sounds of battle rang out in all directions. Lolthbound goblins and massive golems made of webbing had hatched in all sections of the city, and were mauling anyone in sight. They neared a junction. From it came another band of citizens, who shouted, "Run!". They were being chased by thousands of little spiders. A foulwing hovered nearby, confused. Riltar, the drow, leaped and climbed onto it. The heroes saw an abandoned stall nearby, where a fire-eater had left her things. There were two burning torches and two jugs of alcohol. As the swarm approached, the citizens dumped the alcohol on the ground in a thick line and set it ablaze! The spiders hit it and burst into flames. Some flaming spiders made it through and crawled all over poor Lucky. The flaming spiders bit her and brought her down. As things went black, she said "At last...". Apparently, Lucky had got her wish. One of the blue monks leaned down, closed Lucky's eyes, and took her dagger. Another spider bit one of the three blue monks. He swatted it away, injured but still alive. The fire devoured the spiders. As the arachnids' remains curled and spewed smoke, the citizens caught their breath. Then, the air crackled and four 200 foot tall titans appeared in the city! They were led by Lolth herself, her spider legs cruelly impaling buildings beneath her. The gods appeared a moment later, grew in size to match the titans and began to do battle with the invaders! Three flying ships appeared in the sky.. Drow leaned over the side, aiming their crossbows at the people of Olwynn below. One ship swooped down, passing the heroes overhead, firing down on them. The blue monk flung Lucky's dagger into the neck of one of the drow. The drow fell over the side and landed on the street, dead. The other blue monks looted him, grabbing a strange black iron cloak clasp in the shape of a hook. They also took his sword and crossbow, both dripping with drow venom. the Blue Monk tossed the crossbow to Scarlet. Other drow on the ship continued to fire down. A bolt struck Skip Waits in the neck, killing him. The ship began to turn to make another pass. The citizens raced down the side road. Nearby, Lolth cackled as she flung spells at the gods. She created an acid web zone that hovered a foot above the pavement and filled a good portion of the city, burning through buildings and blocking the heroes' path. Four elderly citizens were trying to get to the safety of a nearby shrine, but a strand of the acid web was in their way. Behind them, the drow ship was bearing down on them. The citizens had a choice - help the elderly get past the acid and put themselves at risk, or hop the strand and leave the elderly to their doom. They decided to help, save for a few. One of the elderly gentlemen said he needed no help. He claimed he was spry and had elven blood. Varis slipped by the acid strand and taunted the old man, daring him to try to cross without aid. The old man did try, and was fried by the acid. The scene was chaotic enough the Varis' fellow citizens didn't really register what had happened. The drow ship came close. They could see a drow aiming the lightning projector at them. Scarlet took aim with the drow crossbow and fired a bolt through the drow's head. The citizens let out a cheer. The ship passed overhead, and more drow fired their crossbows down. Rorin the kenku was struck and killed. A colossal death titan stepped near, crushing a building and nearly squashing Adamantia. The death titan summoned the souls of the hundreds of dead citizens around his feet, turned them into 5 foot tall black diamonds called soul shards. The death titan's innate magic caused them to orbit around him. He could use them to fuel his deadly attacks against the gods! The citizens were nearly struck by the swiftly moving soul shards. The shards crashed and passed through the walls of nearby buildings, collapsing them. Choking dust was everywhere. A lone wall with a window stood nearby. A web golem emerged from the haze, debris stuck to its' body. A halfling was stuck to its' back, and screamed for help. The golem paid it no mind. It was pre-occupied with pulling a brick from it's inherently sticky body. The golem hadn't seen the citizens. They could have crept away to safety. But they decided to stay and save the halfling. Adamantia charged, used her staff to pole vault over the web golem, and grabbed the halfling as she hurtled over. His shirt ripped off, and he was free! The golem turned and snarled at her as the halfling cowered behind her. Thorsmash picked up a chunk of wall, charged, and and barrelled into the golem. The golem stumbled back as Thorsmash used the chunk of wall as a ram to pushed the golem into a wall. The golem became stuck! It swiped at them, but could not reach. The citizens collapsed the wall, killing the golem. Nearby, Storm, the currently massive-sized god of war, teleported next to Lolth and threw her across the city as Zev and Galasis caused two titans to vanish. Storm chased down Lolth and stabbed her, causing her blood to spray everywhere. Anjou assumed the form of the world forger, causing earthmotes to spring up and swirl around her. The blood of the spider goddess rained down near the heroes. They could see pink, wriggling spider-creatures in her blood. Then, from down the street came a tidal wave of Lolth's demonic-tainted blood! The heroes turned and tried to outrun the blood. An earthmote dipped toward them. They clambered on as it pulled up. Two of them were splashed with the demonic blood, and for a moment they were overcome with evil in their hearts. It passed, but they'd soon learn they had acquired the ability to speak with spiders. The earthmote swung up past a rooftop. On it were eight drow warriors, who jumped and grabbed on to the side of the earthmote. The drow were intent on climbing up and skewering the citizens! The heroes ran to the edge, and pummeled them, causing the drow to fall to their deaths. They caught a glimpse of another earthmote. On it, they spotted King Thenrynnia, ruler of Olwynn, wielder of the legendary sword Blackrazor, and a drow himself fighting two six-armed drow women. They lost sight of him as his mote passed behind Anjou's body. Soul Shards of the death titan swirled and crashed into the earth mote. One of the blue monks was hit and knocked off the side. He fell hundreds of feet to the city below, crashing through a canvas overhang and into a fruit stand. He looked to be dead. The earthmote was struck again and again by the soul shards, causing the mote to crumble and disintegrate. The citizens plunged through the air, and fell into a lake. The citizens swam up to the surface and gasped for air. Dozens of corpses floated in the lake beside them. Dust from the raging battle of the titanic divine beings nearby made it difficult to see. The heroes could hear talking by the lake'sshore. They swam closer, and spotted a woman with a huge scythe speaking with plague doctors and a strange demon. She was demanding that they find some live beings to abduct. The woman looked deadly. The citizens wanted no part of her, or the strange vulture-like demon that spewed flies and clouds of disease as it exhaled. They swam over to the south, and spied on a lone plague doctor on the shore. He was talking to a magic lantern. The lantern was talking back. It seemed that the doctor had just found the lantern and had somehow gotten into an argument with it. They'd soon learn that inside the magic lantern was the discorporated fading cloud that was all that remained of the former god of secrets - Vecna. The citizens, treading water, silently agreed to rush the doctor. They grasped their pitchforks, clubs and stones tightly. They made their way out of the lake and jumped the plague doctor. Snotz snatched the lamp away as the others mobbed and killed him. Audra took the plague doctor's mask. They also found a scroll on him. As far as they could tell, the woman with the scythe and her allies hadn't heard the sounds of battle. They snuck away to the south, where the grass of the lake area met with pavement. They came upon a foulwing drinking barrels of water from a cart. It was then that Zev, god of night and treachery, cast his secret spell as his allies fought Lolth and the titans. All who had died in Olwynn were suddenly brought back to life as a special breed of ghoul subservient to Zev - the Darakhul! The lake stirred. The dozens of floating dead shivered, animated, and made their way to the shore. The citizens ran as the darakhul made their way out of the lake toward them. They ran down a street toward a temple of Fra, which looked safe. Darakhul were everywhere, though, lunging out of alleys and jumping off of rooftops to get at the heroes. Burnglow, one of the immortal guardians of Olwynn, suddenly appeared and set all of the Darakhul ablaze, and then moved on. The citizens caught their breath just outside the temple. They heard a sound getting louder and louder in the air above them. A drow ship hurtled from the sky above, damaged and plummeting uncontrollably. It hit a spire, split in two, and crashed on the street before them. On the ruined ship was a statue connected to the mast. It was in the form of a large demon. Three inert drow laid unmoving on the broken deck near an upturned treasure chest. Riltar and a few citizens climbed on to search for loot. The mast statue magically animated and attacked! The drow rose up bloodied and injured but still able to fight! A drow warrior ran Sidhar through with its' poison sword. Storm jumped on the demon's shoulders. The other citizens jattacked the drow as well. They used a disease bomb they'd taken off the plague doctor, and the blue monks closed in and proceeded to pummel them. Audra raced forward snatched up a poison sword from a fallen drow warrior, and killed the demon with it. The citizens caught their breath and searched the chest. Inside was gold, posion, antivenom, and a scroll. They snatched it up, and saw more darakhul closing in from all sides. Lolths' titans were defeated. She was hurt badly. Galasis stood at the edge of the city and cast legion's hold, stunning all of the invaders. Lolth cut her losses, summoned the power of the demonweb, and teleported herself and the remaining death titan away. The invasion was over! Anjou accosted Zev, realizing what he'd done. They entered into a battle of wills, which Anjou won. All of the Darakhul were scorched and destroyed by lightning. The survivors breathed a sigh of relief. They divided up the gold they'd found. Then, they investigated some shouting nearby. They saw a mob of citizens standing over a lone drow in white. Half of the mob wanted to kill her. The other half wanted to take her alive for questioning. None knew it, but King Thennrynia lurked in the shadows, observing. The survivors intervened and convinced the people to let her live. Satisfied with what he'd seen, King Thennrynia emerged from the shadows. Everyone bowed, save for the blue monks. He asked the heroes to take the drow and come with him to Moonstone Keep. They walked in silence through the ruins of a once great city. Inside Moonstone Keep, ladies in waiting cleaned off the heroes as they walked. The King lead them into the throne room where his council waited with news. The King sat on the throne as they immediately updated him on what was going on: - Two other nearby cities were attacked by drow ships and titans as well. It was apparent that the thousands of people petrified by the urse of stone all throughout the kingdom, and perhaps in all of Nyrodspace, had all hatched various monsters loyal to Lolth. - Darsidian, Thenrynnia's most trusted advisor, had gone missing. - A cleric of Mari had no access to her spells. She feared that something had happened to Mari, Goddess of Luck. - Lady Tarentia asked the King to go into hiding in the Feywild. She said that she was friends with unicorn-people there that could keep him safe. The King wanted the heroes' advice. Each of his council members had their own agenda. Darsidian had been Thenrynia's most impartial advisor. He had brought the heroes to Moonstone Keep to get their perspective in his stead. The rest of the council introduced themselves to the survivors. Each represented a different faction. Ambril (The Hundred) - Regal Deva. Strom Wakeman (The Us) - Mysterious robed figure. Zanestra Shadowborn (Shadowborn) - Shade cleric of Zev. Her imp, PaunchCrammer, was entirely too friendly. Maynard Grey (Silverfist) - Tough and gritty fellow. Lady Tarentia (none) - Beautiful, intent on marrying King Thennrynia. Maynard Gray was enraged by the invasion and wary of the heroes' sudden influence on the king. He walked up to Hartaniel, yelled at him, and punched him. Hartaniel punched him back. Maynard liked that. Then he grabbed Scarlet and kissed her passionately. The other council-members apologized. Maynard tended to slap and kiss a lot of people, and the invasion was too much for the volatile fellow to process. Paunchcrammer wanted to know if anyone wanted to share a pretzel. Zanestra scolded him. Imps of Zev were supposed to be cruel and to taunt those who did not follow Zev. The heroes told the King that he should not hide in the Feywild. He agreed. The heroes showed him the scrolls they'd found. Lady Tarentia snatched them and unfurled them for the king, leaning close to him as they looked over them together. The scroll that the heroes had found on the plague doctor showed a map of a nearby town called Dagger Rock. One spot had an "x" on it. The scroll from the treasure chest on the drow ship showed a map of Nyrodspace. Three planets were circled, and city names were listed for each of them... Nyrod: Olwynn, Starbed, Dunnwynn Reldain: Sasserine, Scuttlecove, The Isle of Dread Kathenira: Cauldron, Romgarl, Amashi The heroes decided to investigate the town of Dagger Rock, to see what the X on the plague doctor's map was all about. The king suggested that the heroes rest, equip, and prepare themselves for the journey. They agreed to do so... Meanwhile, lying in a pile of burnt spiders, Lucky awoke. Somehow she had survived the spiders' deadly, burning toxin! "No!", she shouted. "My face!". [/QUOTE]
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