Clearwater Crusaders - City of the Spider Queen (Updated 17th June)

[Eccles]

Standing around their campsite, the group stared at one another. Some of them were feeling bored, others bloodthirsty. A few still felt regretful about the murder of Kobold the goblin.

"So, what are we going to do? We can't just stand here." Jason was obviously keen to go and hit something with his hammer.

"We don't have the damn password. We can't get into the castle," was Miles' frustrated reply.

"OK," reasoned Jason. "Why don't we go somewhere else?"

Ever thoughtful, Halbrinn was concerned by this plan.

"Look, if we go and kill things, the revenance effect takes over. Their souls go whoosh, and it powers up the dark magic thing even more. Do we want that on our conscience?"

Jason shrugged. "Don't have a lot of choice, do we? People're going to die anyway. I just want to go and do something."

Miles piped up once again. "There was an area I saw which warranted exploring. Strange glowing lights, that sort of thing. But we'd have to be careful in getting there. Avoid the undead, and all that."

"No problem," replied Halbrinn. "I'll just make the big guy here fly, and one of the clerics can make him totally silent. We'll be there in no time."
"What about the demon?"
"What about him? We see him, we either run away, or we all die. No point worrying about it…"

Resigned to this attitude, the group cast many spells on one another, including turning Jason (in his enormous suit of plate armour) invisible, and then they flew across Maermydra cavern to the strange plateau Miles had discovered.

.oOo.

Approaching the low, broken walls of the building carefully, the group paused. A dead giant could clearly be seen lying near the massive crater inside, and small items of value poked form the rubble. They moved in and split up, the better to cover the 80 foot chamber.

.oOo.

As they moved, unseen by all, a few pebbles fell down the side of a rockface; as though a large hand was resting on the boulders.

.oOo.

Entering through the large glowing archway, Jason was amazed to see his hand again.

He waved at Halbrinn.

"Is it supposed to do this?"

Halbrinn stared at him.

"No it bloody well is not. You should be invisible for at least another half an hour."

His mind swam as he considered the possibility of the glowing orbs being removed and carried around the cavern, revealing other invisible foes. He mentioned this to the others.

"Halbrinn, you daft berk. We might as well carry a huge glowing arrow which points to where we are all the … What the hell is that?"

Whilst they had been discussing matters, a pale wraithlike figure had risen from the floor on the other side of the building. It flowed effortlessly across the ground to behind Yvgeny, and reached out with one ominous hand, threatening to tear his very life force from his body.

And missed. A combination of enchantments and monkish reflexes meant that he ducked the ghostly hand just as it was stretching out towards him.

The ghost mouthed something unpleasant and stretched out again.

"Turn it!" shouted Yvgeny to Aeron.
"Can't! The Revenance gets in the way. And besides, I'm buffing up!"

Everybody groaned.

And to make matters worse, a pestulant green-yellow cloud suddenly leapt into existence over and around Yvgeny, Jason and the spectre, causing lungs to ache and throats to become painfully sore.

Everybody scattered.

Yvgeny's rapid casting of Invisibility to undead had no effect on the Spectre, although Jason's hammer blow tore away some of its gossamer-like substance.

Flying above them, Halbrinn considered his options.

"Disintegrate? No. Nothing to get rid of. Aaah! Sorry!" Below, the ghost reached out, and tore away some of Jason's life energy. "Ummm… I know."

A lightning bolt burst from his hands, slamming into the spectre, which moaned vaguely as it faded from existence.

"Hah. Stupid undead. Can't even work out what's real and what's not."

Gloating, Halbrinn was therefore looking in the wrong direction, as a second spell tore from nowhere and battered vaguely at Aeron's formidable willpower.

 

[Eccles]

Another, then another spell lashed out at Aeron, who was standing in the open in the centre of the site.

The group began to search for their assailant, without success. Aeron cast a wieldskill spell upon himself, dramatically improving his ability to spot the foes, and was rewarded with a brief glimpse of a massive dark form gesturing at him, before it blinked back into invisibility.

Seconds later, Aeron was surrounded by another thick cloud of green/yellow mist, which burned at his lungs as he tried to leave it.

.oOo.

Stedd, dashing from place to place to try to spot the spellcaster turned, and ran across the courtyard. Or at least tried to.

"Ooof!"

He had smashed into some massive, hard form, which he could feel towering above him. He punched out, and definitely connected, but there was no sound from the thing he had punched.

Seeing Stedd lashing out at something, others ran in towards the combat. Yvgeny, Miles and Jason all ran towards the foe, slashing, pummelling and smashing at the invisible enemy, which suddenly appeared to them all as a huge dark form, eyes glowing strangely in the darkness as it lashed out at Miles again and again with terrible claws.

Many of the blows missed, but the group was taken over with fear of the thing, and Jason's terror was strongest off all. In his fear, some of his blows began to go astray.

Miles sheathed Scourge, and slashed away at the creature with Slayer, whose specially enchanted blade cut through any flesh. Yvgeny's bracers had a similar effect, allowing his titanic punches to damage the creature.

Jason's Maul of the Titans was simply too strong for it, and a few huge hammer blows bashed into the undead abomination's chest.

Stedd was not so lucky. Bashing vainly at the hips and legs of the creature, his strong fists smashed into flesh again and again. They didn't leave a mark.

The Nightwalker began to step back from the magically enhanced onslaught of the group. When Aeron joined in, with his Mace of Disruption, the creature turned to try to flee over a wall.

Mace and Sword lashed out, and the huge undead tottered, then fell through the wall, unmoving.

Gleeful, the Crusaders bashed, pummelled, sliced and hacked at the form, until it was totally unrecogniseable.

.oOo.

Having looted the shell of the old building, they retreated to a nearby structure, and made camp, sheltering under the partial roof to avoid any chance discovery.

It worked. They rested for their first night in Maermydra unharmed.

 

[Eccles]

After awaking the next morning, the group discussed their options.

They were stranded, and needed to get into the castle to have any chance at destroying what they were calling the "Revenance Effect".

It was resolved that Aeron would call upon his formidable resources, and actually do some divining.

Yvgeny called this event miraculous in itself.

Settling down, Aeron cast out his mind in the form of a Legend Lore, asking for knowledge of "the Castle in Maermydra".

This is what he received:

Chumavh fortress,
Safehouse no more
The matron still walks there,
Past the grey door.

Drow Lady of Hatred
Now lives there within,
And few of the living
Survive at her whim.

Seat of the Revenancer
House to the Dark Tide,
The matron’s ambitions
Will reach far and wide.

Beyond the castle,
The Dark Lady’s curse
Hatred and darkness,
Undeath and worse.

The doors they are guarded
By ally and foe,
And magic of power,
Beyond those below.

Seek ye the knowledge
Be precise and you’ll see,
That the right question
Will grant you the key.

Pity the lady,
Fear her the worse,
For soon all the Dalelands
Will fall under her curse.

 

[Eccles]

Taking the hint from his goddess, Aeron again cast his requests up to her, this time on the much more direct subject of "The password to the castle referred to as "Chumavh Fortress".

His vision faded:


The temple had echoed with the moans of the sick and the dying.

A priest bends low over a sweaty-faced child whose bedclothes are thick with blood. Flies buzz away as the priest leans conspiratorially over the bed, to the parents who gaze at him expectantly.

"We have tried all we can. Something… impedes our magic, and none of us have the skill to heal Laura's wound," he pauses awkwardly, as the mother's body is wracked with sobbing.

"Why priest?" Little Laura's father, a heavy-set farmer demands. "We have tithed, and made gifts to the church. When you asked for soldiers to fight the undead, you took my eldest boy away from us, and told us he had died. And still we prayed. Tom, my youngest, was healed at this very church when he hurt his leg with the scythe. And yet for Laura you have nothing?"

The priest looks up, his eyes meeting the father's for the first time. The farmer gasps, as the eyes which stare back at him are maddened with doubt and grief.

"Yes," mutters the priest. "I have this last service to perform to help your daughter."

And he drives a bone-handled knife into Laura's chest.

The temple is silent for shocked seconds, and into that silence, the priest's voice whispers "Isstava Morthaum". He turns to face you precisely and whispers again, "Isstava Morthaum". His expression is one of sorrow clouded with joy. Revelation, clouded with... darkness.

Your vision fades…

 

[Jeremy]

Creepy...

 

[Eccles]

Creepy...

You betcha'.

Aeron's prophecies are my main way of letting the group know what's going on in the outside world. That, and new characters joining the group after an extremely long trek down into the Underdark. They've been on the adventure for 90 days or so now, of course!

We had a conversation last week between several of the PCs, which went something like:

Stedd: Where is everybody?
Miles: Yeah. Not even any bodies. Wierd.
Yvgeny: That's like an army of the undead just missing...
Aeron: Errr... Army... Guys? I think it's already gone to war. We might have missed it.
Stedd: Surely we'd know if there was a war on the surface, wouldn't we? Jason, you've just come down here. War on the surface?
Jason: Oh yeah. There's a war.
Stedd: Who was the war between?
Jason: Feh. I didn't really listen. Who cares?
Miles, Stedd, Yvgeny, Aeron & Halbrinn: I do!
Jason: Sucks to be you, then...

And that was the end of it. Jason's a chaotic neutral character, and his player's decided that Jason simply wouldn't give two hoots about any wars, when he was headed off underground...

 

[Jeremy]

<shhhed>

 

[Eccles]

Shhh!

(And yeah, kinda).

 

[Brakkart]

Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Six

Kythorn 2nd - After waking and doing the usual morning routine of meditation, prayer and study, we set off back down the tunnel. Our aim now is to reach Lich's Mire (that name still chills my spine) and deal with whatever may be found there, and then on to Maerimydra. Again the day was quiet. I thought we were being scryed while I was on watch tonight.

Kythorn 3rd - Halbrinn (who also felt the scrying attempt last night) cast a scry of his own this morning, spying on the drow priestess who escaped the temple at Szith Morcane. He did not learn much however, merely that she is alive and huddled in a cave somewhere. I think he may have scryed the priestess of Lolth we set free, rather than the one of Kiaransalee who fled the temple there, but I remained quiet on my thoughts. The gnome does not take criticism well. We made our way further back along the tunnel without any encounters today.

Kythorn 4th - Continuing on our trek we arrived early today at at the junction we had followed this side tunnel from, and this time we took the southern tunnel towards Lich's Mire which we estimate to be between two and four days travel away (the map is hardly that accurately drawn to scale alas). There were no encounters. This part of the underdark seems very quiet.

Kythorn 5th - We travelled onward, now heading south. all of us are uneasy at how easy our travel has been thus far. Which of course meant that we were bound to run into trouble in spades! We were alerted by the noise of their approach of a small horde of goblins and ogres, with an armoured fire giant and a vrock demon following them... all heading right for us! We set an ambush in the tunnel which we began with Halbrinn unleashing a fireball into the goblins at the head of the horde, annihilating half the oncoming group.

By Mask, the smell of burning flesh in the air was atrocious! I've seen Halbrinn use his fireball spell many times and smelt the aftermath, but never before has he had so densely packed a group of targets on which to use it. From the looks on the faces of the other Crusaders, they were as sickened from the stench as I was. He followed this with another fireball though, slaughtering the remaining ogres as they charged towards us, not one managing to land a blow. I swear there was a glint of pride in his work that bordered on cruelty. Seeing his followers massacred enraged the fire giant and he charged our line, bellowing vile curses... he was cut to ribbons in less time than it takes to tell by Stedd, Aeron and myself, without him managing to land a blow! That's what I call teamwork.

The Crusaders then charged down the corridor towards the vrocks (because there were two of them by then), and most of the party were felled by the demons sonic screams, leaving just myself and my trusty partner Stedd to fight a brace of demons. They didn't stand a chance and we easily dispatched them, though oddly no bodies were left behind. We briefly paused to loot the various bodies and then continued on our way.

Hours later we reached an area of passage riddled with side tunnels, the floor strewn with the dead bodies of goblins and ogres, most likely where the group nwe masacredc earlier today had passed through. We backed up and made camp, not wishing to walk into an ambush today.

Kythorn 6th - Very early this morning we were attacked by a pair of Bulettes as Aeron, Rand and I were on guard.One went for Rand which I swiftly butchered with his aid, while the other proved a far trickier opponent as it went for our sleeping gnome wizard, almost dragging him (and his tent) away before the others managed to dissuade it, and it fled, tunnelling away through the earth.

We rested late so our spellcasters could recover the spells they had cast. Finally setting off we carried on our way towards Lich's Mire, the tunnel we are traversing soon being joined by a stream flowing alongside the pathway we are plodding along. As the tunnel opened out into caverns I scouted ahead to discover two drow females farming mushrooms, oddly both were armoured. I launched an attack, dazzling both with a daylight enchanted coin and massacring one before she knew what hit her. And then the beholder arrived! Dropping out of a hole in the ceiling it unleashed a volley of rays at me. thankfully I am well trained, and was able to avoid or resist all of them. As the others raced to suport me, I was again subjected to a barrage of attacks. Again, none worked and then I could see nothing. I remained blinded for only a few seconds really, felt like forever though, and I could hear and smell the battle all around me. And then suddenly my sight returned and the beholder was dead, killed by Yvgeny and Rand. It would appear that I got caught in the creatures famed central eye beam, it negating my equipment including the goggles that allow me to see in these sunless caverns.

Checking out the hole that the beholder had emerged from, we found a large cave filled with broken statues, the petrified victims of the beholder, most of which had been broken or rearranged in some way to form a truly perverse art gallery. Then we got to looting, finding a considerable haul of magic and treasure, much of it needing identifying. We decided that this was a fairly defensible position and so made camp.

Kythorn 7th - Spent today asleep!! (This entry is written on Kythorn 8th for obvious reasons).

Kythorn 8th - Woke up to find myself utterly alone. I headed through the various caverns of Lich's Mire, discovering a trail of carnage left by my so called friends who clearly went off to battle and left me asleep, unguarded, alone, in the underdark! Ba***rds the lot of them!

Still, they didn't go that far, and after an hour or so of following their trail as they camped near the corpse of a recently slain Purple Worm, I strolled into their camp. They were preparing to set off having fought the worm as well a Grimlock, a Mind Flayer and a devil of some sort yesterday and having needed to rest.

We headed off, still heading south towards Maerimydra with Aeron trying to explain what the Revenance effect entails and sounding thoroughly unconvincing in the process. What I do know is that certain powers in the region will most likely send armed forces to try and stop it (or take control of it) and they will not care who they have to trample or destroy in order to do so. Of the power groups that threaten the Dales, the one that bothers me the most with regard to the Revenance is not the Drow, but the Cult of the Dragon. I fear that the effect may well bolster their undead dragons and encourage them to increase their activities in the region.Daggerdale has had enough problems with a living dragon before and certainly will again before long, the last thing we need is having to deal with mad cultists as well.

Kythorn 9th to 10th - Travelling through the Underdark towards Maerimydra. there were no incidents or happenings of any note on either of these days.

Kythorn 11th - After travelling for quite a while today, the tunnel opened out ahead of us into a cave. what we could see of it had the floor covered torn up mushrooms, littered about the place. We advanced cautiously into the cavern and came under immediate attack as a fireball exploded amongst us which I thankfully dodged and then some other spells were cast which seemed to cause the others some discomfort but did not at all affect me. I turned myself invisible and headed towards a nearby wall when a wall of fire erupted in a ring around us.

Our assailants turned out to be devils, a pair of them as it happened, though the larger winged one was quickly dispatched by a spell from Halbrinn which he calls Phantasmal Killer. I have seen him use it a few times before, and I am never less then impressed with its results. Stedd and I polished off the second, while the rest of the party dealt with a fire elemental inside the ring of fire, which turned out to be an illusion. Rand swears there was a third devil involved, but no-one else saw it, so I think he is just trying to save face.

Having survived the ambush, we pressed onwards after some healing from Aeron. The cavern continued to widen out into a vast series of large broken chambers leading into larger chambers beyond. We searched for a likely campsite and settled down to rest for the night.

 

[Brakkart]

For some reason EN World seems to have eaten my old account as Kayne, so I've made this new one. I play Miles Killian O'Kayne (I got the name from the old RED STEEL box set) in Eccles campaign, and before that played Jared Blackspawn.