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

[Brakkart]

Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Seven

Kythorn 12th - Today we continued into the vaster expanse of the cavern network, only for it to narrow to a pass that would have ended at a set of gates but now there was a rock barricade blocking the way. In front of it was a quartet of fire giants in plate armour.

Stedd, Yvgeny and myself rushed forwards to attack along with Rands cohort Bei. Things did not go our way, as Bei was quickly felled and then Rand too was smashed to a pulp. Damn fool got too close too combat, he always did fancy himself as being far better with that sword of his than he ever really was. We did eventually triumph, Halbrinn felling two of them with a well timed spell. The gnome then scouted behind the barricade as the rest of us licked our wounds. Invisible and in pixie form, he flew about, and then reported back that we had arrived at a vast cavern, filled with scattered fires and wreckage, with a ruined burning city at its heart. It would appear that we have reached Maerimydra to find a city at war.

We decided to make camp as we had wounded to attend too (myself included) and as we camped Halbrinn identified our recent haul of equipment and some sharing out ensued. There was nothing I wanted though aside from coins. The bag is bulging with loot now and should fetch a goodly sum when its contents are sold.

As we camped, we were joined by Jason, a big brute of a man with an odd accent that I can't quite place. He was dragging behind him a truly massive stone club that is in fact a legendary Maul of the Titans, a truly impressive weapon that I am keen to see the effectiveness of. We learned that he and his now dead band of companions had come seeking us as Respen is worried that we have turned evil or some such nonsense, he having not heard from us in some time now. I am amazed that this man came so far, mostly by himself through such a hostile environment. He was going to simply head back to report to my mentoir, but needing a strong arm to bolster our ranks with Rands demise, we persuaded him to stick around and help us take on a city!

Jason was short of a few things, some of is equipment having been destroyed (or given to that blasted Kraken as a toll for crossing its lake) on his trek to find us, so we agreed to let him take a few things from the Bag of Holding which has cleared up some space in there for a while.

I'm going to miss Rand, with his death, Stedd is now the only remaining original member of the Crusaders. What alarms me is what we saw today. Every creature that dies, its lifeforce in the form of a wailing white apparition is torn from its body with the death blow and sucked towards the city, most likely further empowering the Revenance. We are going to make things worse for the world even as we battle to make them right. What a vicious irony!

Kythorn 13th - We set off late as Halbrinn meditated through the night with his identify spell and needed to rest for a couple hours early on. He briefly scouted out to where we fought the giants yesterday seeing no new guards there, and we then set out back towards the scene of the battle.

Jason set about annihilating the barricade of rocks, which was very impressive to watch, each swing of his Maul powdering a boulder! Halbrinn scouted ahead and launched a solo assault on a large group of living and undead ogres and goblins, with an undead fire giant amongst their number. As the rest of us got through the barricade, the horde surged towards us, being peppered with missile attacks from us including the last bauble from my fireball necklace. We ploughed through their ranks, taking a beating in the process, but destroying them all apart from a single goblin we kept alive to question.

We learned that Maerimydra is in the midst of a civil war between the drow (with undead soldiers) and the forces of a Dread Lord (who from the goblins description sounds much like a major demon or devil of some sort). The two forces are based in the only remaining intact structures in the city, a towering citadel, and a large oval structure.

We decided to go after the drow, as it is Kiaransalee's followers after all who are responsible for this Revanance that we are trying to end. We flew to atttack the castle, aiming to smash our way into the upper floors and hopefully attack the heart of the problem right away, rather than wade through legions of minions. Unfortunately, we found out that the entire structure is covered by a forbiddance enchantment. Unable to force our way in, and having encountered such a thing before back at Szith Morcane, we fled before we could be attacked. We need a new strategy!!

Kythorn 14th - Nothing disturbed our rest during the night... oh no, we got attacked at rest this morning instead! As we were finishing up memorising spells for the day ahead, a quartet of Umber Hulks tunnelled up out of the cave floor where we had camped and laid into Jason, Yvgeny and myself.

We battled them, a pair going for me which I fought single handed until Aeron and Halbrinn arrived to aid me and they were then quickly finished off by the priest and I. The strange effect that the Umber Hulks created had no effect on any of us save for Jason, driving him slightly mad and he nearly killed Halbrinn before Aeron slapped him with a holding spell (and then for good measure when he was healed and brought around, Halbrinn encased him in a force bubble too). While he was secured, the rest of us excavated the tunnels that the Hulks had burst from and found their nest, taking what gold and others treasures they had there to add to our considerable haul.

With the fight done, it was proposed that someone should sneak into the city alone, to spy on the castle and try to discover the password to the forbiddance spell. I was about to ask who was going to be fool enough to do that when I noticed everyone looking at me. Being the sneaky guy really sucks sometimes!!

I cast a few spells to render myself invisible and harder to scry and snuck into the city, making my way to the castle door. Sadly despite lying in wait hidden for hours, no-one entered or left, so I was unable to overhear the password being used. during my excursion I was nearly spotted by one of the many undead arranged around the castle's defensive perimeter, but was able to give the resulting search of the area the slip. I investigated some more of the city discovering a vast pool filled with maggots and a ruined temple to Lolth before I made my way back to the others to report my findings.

After a while of debate and argument, we decided to try and clear out the area around the ruined temple at the side of Maerimydra's cavern, roughly opposite the castle, so we would have some place to make camp, closer to the action. We made our way stealthily through the city ruins to the old temples entrance, finding the place to be heavily ruined, and we almost immediatly came under attack by an unseen foe it sending a ghost of some kind to battle us and peppering us with numerous spells until Stedd realised its whereabouts (by running right into it!) and we went on the attack!

The creature then dropped its shield of invisibility and to our horror we found ourselves fighting a giant with pitch black skin and glowing eyes. A Nightshade no less, a creature out of the worst of nightmares. We desprately battled the monstrosity, driving it backwards into a corner as we beat on it with fists, blades and bludgeons until it tried to flee, turning its back and I drove Slayer to the hilt into it, felling the monster! Needless to say I had to endure the usual round of self congratulatory rhetoric from my steel companion.

We gathered what loot we could find in the temple and decided against making camp on unhallowed ground, moving to a nearby damaged mansion and resting there instead.

 

[Eccles]

Things were eerily quiet on the plateau, as the group settled in for their first night within Maermydra. Halbrinn was keenly aware that they could be attacked at any moment, and so he erected a large globe around them to make things more comfortable.

Unfortunately, the others were less reassured when they discovered that it was an illusion. Although the bright lights within didn't shine beyond the walls, Miles and Stedd noticed almost immediately that the outside walls were bright yellow. They were not amused.

In any event, the various creatures in the cavern left them alone through the night. They awoke, and prepared for an active day ahead, then waited for Aeron to cast some divinations [see above].

Then, with fly spells active on almost the whole party, Stedd handed his belt of strength to Aeron, so that he could be carried across the massive cavern to the castle.

The group considered their options, and decided to alight on the lowest of the three bridges. Like a well-oiled gnomish construct, Yvgeny cast silence on a small coin, and then Jason's maul smashed down onto the surface. The entire structure shook slightly, as chips of stone flaked away. The group stared in amazement at the wall, which should have been reduced to powder by a single mammoth blow.

Again and again Jason struck, but it took him over a minute to finally smash all the way through the wall, and then more time to widen the gap out to form a decent crawl-space to get onto the walkway.

The coin disappeared briefly into Yvgeny's magical haversack, to allow the group to whisper the password, and slip through the gap. To their immense relief, the divination had been proven correct. They were in!

 

[Eccles]

After milling around briefly as they tried to decide which way to go, they headed into the larger of the two stalagmites which formed the castle. The door wasn't even locked, and led into a roomy chamber with a tremendously high ceiling. Doors led out through each of the four walls, and after a momentary gestured 'discussion', they settled on going through the door marked with a hydra pattern.

A small corridor lay beyond. The two nearest doors were checked and opened, revealing empty bedrooms. As Halbrinn and Miles began to ransack the first couple of chambers, the rest of the group, invisible and tremendously stealthy (owing to Yvgeny's coin once more) slipped around the corner into a well-appointed lounge area. With a single undead form clutching a sword and waiting for them.

Unfortunately for the undead, it neither saw, nor heard, what hit it. Aeron's first action was to whack the abomination on the head with his Mace of Disruption. All that remained after that was to wipe the dust off their hands and grin at one another at the ease with which they had dispatched their first opponent.

.oOo.

The next room was locked, and the still-invisible Jason was pushed to the front, as his hammed swung and reduced the door to splinters.

Immediately, two dark rays hurtled out of the room, one missing entirely (owing to the invisibility effect), and the other striking him high on the shoulder.

Jason immediately began to feel weaker as some of his life energy was drained away.

.oOo.

The group leapt to the attack, hurtling towards the large number of stone-coloured mages at the other end of the room. Magic missiles flew, punches and blades lashed out, and the Mirror Images were dispersed rapidly.

Halbrinn's casting of a successful Dispel Magic helped enormously, and within a few moments, one of the two drow fighter/wizards lay dead on the floor, and the other had been knocked unconscious by one of Yvgeny's punches.

 

[Eccles]

As they waited for their captive to come around, the Silence spell came to an end. Halbrinn left to ensure he hadn't missed any good magical books out in the other rooms, whilst the monk, cleric, assassin, cleric of Ilmater, and the disembodied voice that was the still-invisible Jason tried to decide what to do with the drow.

It surprised nobody that Miles was in favour of killing him outright. What did take them aback was that the drow could speak in an accented form of common, and was able to make his own case.

The drow was clearly afraid of Miles' repeated threats to stab him, but one look at his situation (bound, stripped of his magical equipment, and lying next to the dead body of his comrade), left him with the knowledge that he had nothing left to loose.

He was able to single out Yvgeny as the most sympathetic member in the group, and even managed to persuade the monk/cleric to protect him should Miles try to kill him.

Then, after the group had agreed to teleport him to Szith Morcane (as he was tremendously interested in the possibility of a realm led by a drow archmage, with no matron-mothers to interfere), he gave them considerable knowledge:

- As well as the drow and undead in the castle, there were other foes they might have to face, including some form of undead dragon, ghosts, beholders, and even an ambassador from the court of Shadovar!
- The 'matron mother's given name is Irae T'sarran
- The 'Dread Lord' in charge of the giants out in the cavern beyond was named 'Kurgoth Hellspawn'
- Although he did not know where the temple was these days, the old temple to Llolth was held at the top of the smaller stalagmite.
- He had not seen Irae T'sarran in several tendays. She obviously left the castle to run itself.
- The 'Revenance' was in fact not the same as the 'Dark Tide'. One was a spell to create a truly massive army of the undead, whilst the other bolstered their powers and allowed dark magics to work all the more effectively.

After learning this, Halbrinn cast his teleport spell on the drow, aiming to leave him (still trussed up like a turkey) within Szith Morcane. He vanished with the sound of rushing air.

 

[Eccles]

The Clearwater Crusaders considered their resources. So far, they had suffered very little, and at the cost of a dispel, a silence had destroyed three powerful foes, and their bags were groaning with enchanted loot.

Grinning to one another, they moved to another door, and Miles pulled it open.

Beyond lay a dusty library, with stairs winding up the side of the building towards the ceiling which lay so far above them than none of them could see it in the darkness.

Books lay torn and bloodied on the floor, amongst ripped up and bloody body parts. Amongst all of this stood several human-sized forms, squabbling amongst themselves over a particularly tasty morsel. As the door opened, they ceased their noise, and turned to face the Crusaders.

Seven inhuman snouts turned in Miles' direction. Seven sets of pointed claws flexed and grasped the air, as though testing their reach and strength. And seven long grey tongues lolled out of huge wide mouths, snaking around as though to taste the air. Each tongue protruded almost a foot from the mouth, before dissolving into smoke.

The creatures' hands and feet consisted simply of two long toes, each tipped with an eight inch black spur.

Without even looking at his companions, Miles drew his first sword, and leapt into the room, yelling a battle cry which was echoed by his glowing blade.

"Kill them all!"

.oOo.

His blade slashed down, glancing off toughened flesh. Hasted, he brought Slayer around again, poking into the creature's hide but causing only minimal damage. His left hand tore Scourge out of its scabbard, and plunged the blade unerringly towards the reeking creature's midriff, only to find that all his magically enhanced might yielded was another shallow slice across the thing's belly.

The abyssal ghoul licked its lips. This was going to be fun…

 

[Eccles]

Stedd and Jason leapt into the room, flailing at the monsters, and dealing them terrific blows which should have sent most creatures back to the Abyss. But not these.

Five of the abominations, seemingly unphased by their wounds, leapt forwards and surrounded Jason, clawing and slashing at him with lethal accuracy, many claws gouging up inside existing wounds and trying to pluck at his internal organs with razor-sharp fingers.

Staggering from the blows, Jason's response was deadly, and left his comrades aghast. Spinning on the spot, his hammer smashed into every ghoul around him; and Jason's focused Ki meant that every blow was as effective as it could have been.

Still the creatures did not fall.

Stedd tumbled nimble past the creatures on the right flank, teaming up with Miles in a familiar manner. Although Miles' blows were far less lethal on the undead flesh.

Halbrinn flittered up into the room, and with an incantation blasted lightning across the foes, who failed to struggle and curse.

"OK," muttered Halbrinn to himself. "Immune to lightning."

Finally, Yvgeny dashed in to fill the line, whilst Aeron moved forwards; still preparing his magical defences with a Haste spell.

.oOo.

Stedd twisted, dodged and weaved, avoiding most of the terrible slashing blows directed at him, but Jason was not as lucky. One of the creatures managed to hit him with both front claws, overbearing him and starting to grapple with him; all the while with its long grey tongue slathering and probing; before suddenly, without Jason being able to stop it, the tong forced its way into his mouth, and began to … suck.

Jason nearly vomited as, instead of sucking at his fortitude (or indeed his stomach contents), the thing seemed to tear away his memories; all the while stabbing and tearing at him with its two long clawed hands. After a few moments, the blackness which overcame him was a relief.

 

[Eccles]

Working in close concert, Miles and Stedd continued to hack away at one of the ghouls. But still it didn't fall.

"Damn it, why won't you die?" yelled Miles.

Halbrinn's tiny winged form hovered up a short distance, and then began to cast spell after spell at the foes, each time noting another immunity or resistance. His fireball spell ignited the books but didn't even phase the creatures. Phantasmal Killer did nothing to the undead, and even his favourite Resilient Sphere spell went awry, missing no fewer than three times, and leaving the back of the room crammed with massive globes, bobbing and bouncing whenever one of the fighters nudged them. Eventually, he was forced to resort to his 'lesser' spells; although he had very few, and still his luck failed him. Magic Missiles were defeated by the ghouls' abyssal resistance to magic, and Halbrinn's luck continued to fail him, as both Acid Arrows began to burn holes through the floor rather than his foes.

All in all, Halbrinn became very despondent.

.oOo.

Back in the melee, Aeron stepped forwards and laid his hands on Jason, simultaneously curing him of all of his wounds, as well as removing the disease that Jason had caught from one blackened claw. Jason flexed his magically enhanced muscles, and heaved the ghoul off him, before smacking it once again with his Maul.

"Get OFF!"

And finally, one of the ghouls fell to the floor unmoving.

.oOo.

As if to counter-balance this small shred of success, the ghouls leapt to the attack once more, this time with ghouls managing to overbear both Miles and Aeron, bringing them both down in a tangle of limbs as the long grey tongues slurped hungrily towards their mouths.

Miles threw off the ghoul rapidly, but continued to suffer from an onslaught of blows.

Aeron, however, struggled to the very best of his ability, but the ghoul was too strong. His head was pulled roughly back, and the long tongue slammed through the roof of his mouth, the smoky immaterial end reaching straight into his brain. His eyes began to roll back as the ghoul began to feed; and as it fed, he could feel his mental fortitude and his connection with his Goddess failing.

The adventurers rallied, almost all of them bashing at the ghoul on Aeron. Yvgeny's prayer spell helped the Crusaders, but failed to have much of an effect on the creatures they were facing.

Finally, however, attrition began to show on the monsters as well. Two more dropped to the ground, and most of the others looked hurt. Still they came, however. Miles fled back to the corridor, leaving Stedd, Yvgeny and the newly invigorated Jason to fight off the monsters, whilst the assassin pulled out a wand and began to use it to restore his injuries.

The ghoul feeding on Aeron was finally dispatched, leaving him grievously wounded and unable to cast any but his very lowest magics. Unfortunately, however, one of the three remaining creatures showed incredible mobility, and tumbled around behind Jason, allowing the other two to stab viciously into both Jason and Aeron, who fell to the floor, bleeding heavily from a grievous wound to his throat.

 

[Eccles]

Jason's Maul whistled around, crushing the skull of the creature behind him, before he stepped back towards the door.

Yvgeny rapidly intoned the words to a prayer, and touched Aeron's prone form, restoring his health somewhat before also stepping back towards the door.

Unfortunately, this left Aeron, prone and only just recovering, on the floor between the two creatures, which stepped up to either side of him, and unleashed a series of slashing attacks, tearing through Aeron's throat, killing him outright.

Stedd and Jason managed to slay one of the two remaining ghouls, before they realized that the one remaining was entirely unhurt.

"Pull back!" Stedd yelled to the others. "We're never going to win!"

At this point, the creature pounced forwards, slashed once at Stedd, before leaping away through a set of double doors, and hurling itself into a glowing shaft of light, which sent it hurtling upwards.

"It's gone for reinforcements! Run!"

Pausing only to scoop most of the larger pieces of Aeron into a Portable Hole, the group turned on their heels and fled. A rapid Fly spell ensured that Stedd wouldn't need to be carried, and then the group thanked their luck stars that they had been in the castle for such a short period of time that their flying abilities were still with them.

They retreated to the hole in the wall, before diving out into the blackness beyond. They briefly debated the possibility of going back to the building they had camped in the previous night, but decided to leave the city entirely as a Scrying sensor opened up near them. Halbrinn was able to counter it by sacrificing his own Scry spell, chanting the words in reverse to negate the magics.

They fled, hurtling out of the city to their previous campsite.

 

[Eccles]

A darkened stealthy form left the shadows and strode across the marble floor before bowing to the pale figure before him.

"My lady, they have breached the castle walls," he rasped.

The white-skinned creature looked up, one eye staring fixedly at him, whilst red gems flashed dangerously across the other side of her face.

"I am well aware of this. They are too cunning by half for surface worlders. Destruction is too good for them."

"What will you do?"

"Impertinent fool!"

Fingers flashed, and dark energies wrapped themselves around the figure, who fell to the floor screaming.

Turning, the figure reached for a thin parchment scroll, picking up an ornate dagger in her other white hand.

"I will, of course, take action," mused the drow. "It is time this band of surface scum learned the true meaning of vengeance."

Spinning gracefully, she drew the blade across the fallen drow's neck, before dipping two fingers in the blood and drawing a large pentagram…

 

[Eccles]

Some distance away, the Clearwater Crusaders stood watching Yvgeny read from a precious scroll. Sweat beaded on his brow as he fought to control the magics which were somewhat beyond his abilities.

However, as he reached the end of the text, and as the scroll rotted and disappeared from his fingers, flesh partially re-knitted itself around Aeron's throat, and he twitched, before taking one long gasping breath as he returned to the living.

His thoughts were filled with his recent memories, and he struggled to comprehend why he felt so diminished, before he remembered… He had been taken to Mystra's side, and then torn away once again. He was left with regret, and memories. And a vision.

The group laid back in the familiar cavern, and began to consider what to do next.