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Adventures in the Eastern Provinces
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5011073" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>The wolves bound forward, engaging the Kane and Sepia. The halflings in the burnt branches keep firing stones, though at a slower rate.* Shar and Shifty dive behind burnt trunks of their own and start to return fire, the elf with her bow and the gnome with his shuriken; likewise, Karl hangs back and fires spells at the treed slingers. Meanwhile, the drake flits from one hiding place to another, stabbing Kane again with its tail stinger and then vanishing behind a screen of burnt trees. Sepia duels one of the wolves, using the two pairs of brass knuckles that she picked up in Grumbleford.**</p><p></p><p>Novak steps forward and gestures, and a burst of <em>fungal rot</em> catches both of the halflings. They cough and gag as spores sprout on their skin.</p><p></p><p><em>Oh yeah,</em> thinks Shifty, <em>this guy is definitely crooked. Evil rot powers? I’m keeping my eye on you, buddy!</em> He flings another shuriken and it sinks into the eye of one of the wolves, which yelps and tries to withdraw.</p><p></p><p>“You aren’t going anywhere,” growls Kane, and decapitates it with a sweep of his broadsword. Blood spurts out, leaving a spreading pool in the ash underfoot. Then the barbarian glances at the huge dead tree whose branches support the halfling slingers and smiles. </p><p></p><p>With a laugh, he rushes to the tree and starts climbing. </p><p></p><p>Novak moves up on the other wolf, snapping an arm towards it. His arm lengthens and turns woody and thorny, and he rakes his <em>vine strike</em> across the wolf’s forelegs. It yelps, staggering, and Karl finishes it off with a <em>magic missile</em>. </p><p></p><p>Kane, meanwhile, reaches the first halfling’s branch. He charges with a <em>howling strike</em> and cleaves the halfling’s chest open. It falls to the ground, 20’ below, dead. Immediately he whirls around and charges into the other halfling, bringing his broadsword down into the slinger’s head. Red, grey and white splatter down on the ground below. Kane clambers back down the burnt tree with a grin. “Now where is that drake?”</p><p></p><p>But it has gone into hiding. Karl says, “It could be anywhere by now.”</p><p></p><p>“We’ve driven it off,” replies Novak. “That’s good enough for now. And clearly, the enemy already knows that we are here.”</p><p></p><p><em>Who is your enemy really?</em> wonders Shifty.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>The party loots the bodies- finding about 18 gold pieces in mixed coins- and keeps moving deeper into the Burnt Field. Shifty takes the others aside, one by one, and shares his suspicions with them again. “I’m telling you,” he insists, “this guy is going to betray us in the end.”</p><p></p><p>The ash grows thicker as the party moves along. The group ascends a mound of burnt soil and thick ash and spy an old wagon with some bones near it at the bottom of the slope, partially buried in ash. </p><p></p><p>“Let’s check it out,” says Shar. </p><p></p><p>The party descends towards the wagon, slipping and sliding down the ashen slope. When they are about halfway down, a trio of large beetles, glowing red from glands on their back, emerges from the ash. </p><p></p><p>“Fire beetles!” cries Karl. </p><p></p><p>The party begins to duel with the beetles, but even as they do, the bones below start to clatter, and three skeletons rise up as well!</p><p></p><p>“Hah! The dead rise against us!” Kane laughs, thrusting his blade deep into a beetle’s flank. “We will have to kill them all over again!”</p><p></p><p>Karl blasts two of the skeletons down immediately with a <em>scorching burst,</em> while the others focus on the beetles. Soon the great bugs have been slain, and only one of the skeletons has any staying power- but it is hard to kill. When it finally falls, the party spends a few minutes catching their breath and then searches the area. </p><p></p><p>Within the ruin of the wagon is a locked chest. Shifty picks the lock, and our heroes are overjoyed to find nearly 200 gold pieces within it! Novak declares, “I am not interested in the treasure. Split it amongst yourselves.”</p><p></p><p><em>Never trust a man who claims he doesn’t care about the money,</em> thinks Shifty.</p><p></p><p>“Over here, in the bones,” calls Shar. “There’s an axe here- look at this!”</p><p></p><p>The cleric lifts up a formidable-looking greataxe. The party clusters around and admires it for a few moments; Karl says, “It’s a magic axe. We should take it.”</p><p></p><p>“I will wield it,” offers Kane, and the others assent.*** The burly human takes up the axe and gives it a few practice swings. With a grunt of pleasure, he straps it to his back. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Deeper into the eerie burned area. As night falls, the party debates whether to leave the Burnt Field to camp, but in the end Novak vetoes the idea. “It will take over a day to reach the center anyhow,” he points out, “so there is no point in leaving. We’ll have to spend a night here sometime.”</p><p></p><p>To the party’s surprise, they are undisturbed while they sleep. There are no insect noises, leaving the party in an eerie silence broken only by their own breathing. When Novak’s watch comes, Shifty stays awake too, not trusting the party’s employer not to be up to something while everyone sleeps. But he does nothing other than watch.</p><p></p><p>The next day consists of trekking through more ash. Finally, late in the afternoon, the party comes to a large crater that stretches almost a mile across. According to Karl’s calculations, they have reached the center. </p><p></p><p>“Wow,” says Shifty.</p><p></p><p>Scattered in several areas through the crater are large amounts of strange, silvery material. It is hard to tell what it is at this distance, but bits of it are burnt. It has the look of wreckage. There is also a pair of weird, fleshy, tumorous-looking areas. Each is large- several hundred yards across- and full of strange projections, growths and secretions. Even from here, the party can see bits of these earth tumors moving and writhing, as if alive. Three similar areas are different in that they are a grey color, like dead meat, and show no signs of movement.</p><p></p><p>“Now <em>that</em> is creepy,” opines Shar.</p><p></p><p>“What are those things?” Karl demands, pointing at the fleshy areas.</p><p></p><p>Novak answers, “We call those earth tumors. Now you see some of the danger of the crystals falling into the wrong hands.”</p><p></p><p>“And the crystals should be in the central wreckage?” asks Shifty. </p><p></p><p>“They should be,” replies Novak, “but we may have to search the other areas of major wreckage, as well.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, I see,” the gnome says. “So the deal is changing. Are you going to pay us more, to compensate?” </p><p></p><p>”Of course. I will increase your wages. If you stick with me until I have recovered all of the crystals, I will pay you fifty gold each.”</p><p></p><p>It is pretty hard to argue with that kind of money, so our heroes shoulders their packs and head into the crater.</p><p></p><p>“I just hope,” Novak adds, “we don’t have to enter the earth tumors.”</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>The party picks its way through the rubble and ash in the crater. No trees still stand here; everything has been flattened, either by the impact or the subsequent fires. </p><p></p><p>“What happened here?” Karl asks Novak.</p><p></p><p>The druid regards him for a moment. Then he shrugs and says, “An airship crashed. The crystals powered its engines.”</p><p></p><p>“An airship...”</p><p></p><p>Novak nods. “A ship,” he elaborates, “that flew through the air.” He shrugs again. “I really don’t know much more than that about it, personally.”</p><p></p><p>Shortly, the party approaches the central wreckage. There are piles of the strange silvery stuff, which they can now see is some kind of fabric-like material. But whatever was made of it must have been huge. Now, large swaths of the material lie draped over the landscape, shining with a dull silver sheen under the sun.</p><p></p><p>“This was a weird-looking ship,” comments Shar. </p><p></p><p>Roughly central to, and attached to the wreckage by thick silvery lines, is some sort of wooden cabin. Just beyond it, folds of the material have formed a large hump that overlooks the area. “Look!” exclaims Shar. Atop the hump of material are a pair of creatures, clearly lookouts- and equally clearly, they have seen the party. “Is it just me, or does that look like a metal cat the size of a wolf? And does that look like some kind of cat-person, or is it just me?” </p><p></p><p>“No,” says Shifty, “it’s not just you.”</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Who is at the center of the wreckage? Will our heroes have to enter the earth tumors? And will Novak betray them??</p><p></p><p></p><p>*<em>Stone rain,</em> of course, is a recharge power, and sadly, I never got it to recharge in this fight.</p><p></p><p>**I am letting her use them as a rogue weapon, +2 proficiency, 1d4 damage (brutal 1). They are mechanically speaking not quite as good as a dagger- with her rogue abilities, Sepia has an additional +2 to hit with the dagger- but it’s flavorful and the brutal 1 might help. (I don’t think she’s hit with them and rolled a 1 on damage yet, though!)</p><p></p><p>***Although Cavemouth uses the greataxe, his player missed much of this session. He was there neither for the fight, nor for the treasure, alas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 5011073, member: 1210"] The wolves bound forward, engaging the Kane and Sepia. The halflings in the burnt branches keep firing stones, though at a slower rate.* Shar and Shifty dive behind burnt trunks of their own and start to return fire, the elf with her bow and the gnome with his shuriken; likewise, Karl hangs back and fires spells at the treed slingers. Meanwhile, the drake flits from one hiding place to another, stabbing Kane again with its tail stinger and then vanishing behind a screen of burnt trees. Sepia duels one of the wolves, using the two pairs of brass knuckles that she picked up in Grumbleford.** Novak steps forward and gestures, and a burst of [i]fungal rot[/i] catches both of the halflings. They cough and gag as spores sprout on their skin. [i]Oh yeah,[/i] thinks Shifty, [i]this guy is definitely crooked. Evil rot powers? I’m keeping my eye on you, buddy![/i] He flings another shuriken and it sinks into the eye of one of the wolves, which yelps and tries to withdraw. “You aren’t going anywhere,” growls Kane, and decapitates it with a sweep of his broadsword. Blood spurts out, leaving a spreading pool in the ash underfoot. Then the barbarian glances at the huge dead tree whose branches support the halfling slingers and smiles. With a laugh, he rushes to the tree and starts climbing. Novak moves up on the other wolf, snapping an arm towards it. His arm lengthens and turns woody and thorny, and he rakes his [i]vine strike[/i] across the wolf’s forelegs. It yelps, staggering, and Karl finishes it off with a [i]magic missile[/i]. Kane, meanwhile, reaches the first halfling’s branch. He charges with a [i]howling strike[/i] and cleaves the halfling’s chest open. It falls to the ground, 20’ below, dead. Immediately he whirls around and charges into the other halfling, bringing his broadsword down into the slinger’s head. Red, grey and white splatter down on the ground below. Kane clambers back down the burnt tree with a grin. “Now where is that drake?” But it has gone into hiding. Karl says, “It could be anywhere by now.” “We’ve driven it off,” replies Novak. “That’s good enough for now. And clearly, the enemy already knows that we are here.” [i]Who is your enemy really?[/i] wonders Shifty. *** The party loots the bodies- finding about 18 gold pieces in mixed coins- and keeps moving deeper into the Burnt Field. Shifty takes the others aside, one by one, and shares his suspicions with them again. “I’m telling you,” he insists, “this guy is going to betray us in the end.” The ash grows thicker as the party moves along. The group ascends a mound of burnt soil and thick ash and spy an old wagon with some bones near it at the bottom of the slope, partially buried in ash. “Let’s check it out,” says Shar. The party descends towards the wagon, slipping and sliding down the ashen slope. When they are about halfway down, a trio of large beetles, glowing red from glands on their back, emerges from the ash. “Fire beetles!” cries Karl. The party begins to duel with the beetles, but even as they do, the bones below start to clatter, and three skeletons rise up as well! “Hah! The dead rise against us!” Kane laughs, thrusting his blade deep into a beetle’s flank. “We will have to kill them all over again!” Karl blasts two of the skeletons down immediately with a [i]scorching burst,[/i] while the others focus on the beetles. Soon the great bugs have been slain, and only one of the skeletons has any staying power- but it is hard to kill. When it finally falls, the party spends a few minutes catching their breath and then searches the area. Within the ruin of the wagon is a locked chest. Shifty picks the lock, and our heroes are overjoyed to find nearly 200 gold pieces within it! Novak declares, “I am not interested in the treasure. Split it amongst yourselves.” [i]Never trust a man who claims he doesn’t care about the money,[/i] thinks Shifty. “Over here, in the bones,” calls Shar. “There’s an axe here- look at this!” The cleric lifts up a formidable-looking greataxe. The party clusters around and admires it for a few moments; Karl says, “It’s a magic axe. We should take it.” “I will wield it,” offers Kane, and the others assent.*** The burly human takes up the axe and gives it a few practice swings. With a grunt of pleasure, he straps it to his back. *** Deeper into the eerie burned area. As night falls, the party debates whether to leave the Burnt Field to camp, but in the end Novak vetoes the idea. “It will take over a day to reach the center anyhow,” he points out, “so there is no point in leaving. We’ll have to spend a night here sometime.” To the party’s surprise, they are undisturbed while they sleep. There are no insect noises, leaving the party in an eerie silence broken only by their own breathing. When Novak’s watch comes, Shifty stays awake too, not trusting the party’s employer not to be up to something while everyone sleeps. But he does nothing other than watch. The next day consists of trekking through more ash. Finally, late in the afternoon, the party comes to a large crater that stretches almost a mile across. According to Karl’s calculations, they have reached the center. “Wow,” says Shifty. Scattered in several areas through the crater are large amounts of strange, silvery material. It is hard to tell what it is at this distance, but bits of it are burnt. It has the look of wreckage. There is also a pair of weird, fleshy, tumorous-looking areas. Each is large- several hundred yards across- and full of strange projections, growths and secretions. Even from here, the party can see bits of these earth tumors moving and writhing, as if alive. Three similar areas are different in that they are a grey color, like dead meat, and show no signs of movement. “Now [i]that[/i] is creepy,” opines Shar. “What are those things?” Karl demands, pointing at the fleshy areas. Novak answers, “We call those earth tumors. Now you see some of the danger of the crystals falling into the wrong hands.” “And the crystals should be in the central wreckage?” asks Shifty. “They should be,” replies Novak, “but we may have to search the other areas of major wreckage, as well.” “Oh, I see,” the gnome says. “So the deal is changing. Are you going to pay us more, to compensate?” ”Of course. I will increase your wages. If you stick with me until I have recovered all of the crystals, I will pay you fifty gold each.” It is pretty hard to argue with that kind of money, so our heroes shoulders their packs and head into the crater. “I just hope,” Novak adds, “we don’t have to enter the earth tumors.” *** The party picks its way through the rubble and ash in the crater. No trees still stand here; everything has been flattened, either by the impact or the subsequent fires. “What happened here?” Karl asks Novak. The druid regards him for a moment. Then he shrugs and says, “An airship crashed. The crystals powered its engines.” “An airship...” Novak nods. “A ship,” he elaborates, “that flew through the air.” He shrugs again. “I really don’t know much more than that about it, personally.” Shortly, the party approaches the central wreckage. There are piles of the strange silvery stuff, which they can now see is some kind of fabric-like material. But whatever was made of it must have been huge. Now, large swaths of the material lie draped over the landscape, shining with a dull silver sheen under the sun. “This was a weird-looking ship,” comments Shar. Roughly central to, and attached to the wreckage by thick silvery lines, is some sort of wooden cabin. Just beyond it, folds of the material have formed a large hump that overlooks the area. “Look!” exclaims Shar. Atop the hump of material are a pair of creatures, clearly lookouts- and equally clearly, they have seen the party. “Is it just me, or does that look like a metal cat the size of a wolf? And does that look like some kind of cat-person, or is it just me?” “No,” says Shifty, “it’s not just you.” [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Who is at the center of the wreckage? Will our heroes have to enter the earth tumors? And will Novak betray them?? *[i]Stone rain,[/i] of course, is a recharge power, and sadly, I never got it to recharge in this fight. **I am letting her use them as a rogue weapon, +2 proficiency, 1d4 damage (brutal 1). They are mechanically speaking not quite as good as a dagger- with her rogue abilities, Sepia has an additional +2 to hit with the dagger- but it’s flavorful and the brutal 1 might help. (I don’t think she’s hit with them and rolled a 1 on damage yet, though!) ***Although Cavemouth uses the greataxe, his player missed much of this session. He was there neither for the fight, nor for the treasure, alas. [/QUOTE]
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