Consequences of the Quill (Restored 5/13/06)

[LordVyreth]

Intra and Inter-Party Strife

Khat’Shir’Mol was growing impatient. The sounds of battle have been heard outside for the last minute, and he knew that the pursuers that killed his rear guard and scout were here. Yet the shrine keeper refused to start the test! “Why do you delay, point ear?” he roared. “Our enemies are right outside the door! I won’t have them interfere in the restoration of our leader. You know, the emperor has been very kind in allowing you to live and maintain your shrine, despite being an enemy race and a worshipper of a false god. I would suggest you do whatever it takes to remain useful to us.”

The shrine keeper, an extremely pale elven woman with jet-black hair, was unmoved. “If I live, so be it. If I die, so be it. I have no fear of either possibility, but I sincerely doubt that your emperor would be willing to lose a resource as valuable as me because one of his clerics was afraid they would lose a challenge to a band of elves.”

Khat scowled, but shrugged his shoulders in defeat. Very well. If this was to be resolved by the contest, then so be it.
*****************************************************
The party burst into the shrine, ready for a fight, but was surprised to see that the orcs, while in a defensive position, did not immediately enter the fight. There were quite a few of them. Besides the kobolds and orc rider that fled the earlier fight, there were two more orc warriors, and a third orc wearing the strange holy symbol of the orcs (an unfathomable pattern arranged to resemble a circle of energy, like a sun, ironically.) Behind this front rank, there was another wolf, and a powerful-looking orc wielding both a long sword and another strange tube weapon, though this one was much larger. He also wore a holy symbol of the orc god. There was a third apparent cleric, lying on the ground. Like the orc they found earlier, he was altered beyond belief, with metal grafts, missing limbs, and strange metal tentacles emerging from his body. He looked like he could move slightly, but he looked very weak, and appeared to be in constant pain. Between the party and the orcs was a thin elven woman. She held up a hand to the party, and quietly whispered, “Hold, brave adventurers. Before you decide to resolve this conflict with violence, may I recommend another method? The shrine does not give its power freely; those who desire it must be judged worthy, by engaging in a contest. Those with the most knowledge of life and the world beyond it will succeed. Normally, this test is a formality, since it’s rare that more than one group desires the power at the same time, but it is designed for multiple challengers as well. Will you consider this method of resolution? I must warn you, if you were to fight, you could damage the shrine or myself in the process, and no one will gain the power.”

The party briefly considered all this, and then Tal spoke up. “How will this challenge work, exactly?”

“Well, one among you will be selected; one who has knowledge of the afterlife. That champion will be transported to a pocket realm, where he will compete with the other side’s champion. The challenger must gather the components of a successful attempt at resurrection, including the magical power, the monetary components, and the intelligence needed to understand the world beyond. Using these things, each challenger can try to raise sample dead creatures, which reside in a central chamber of the plane. The one who can raise the most beings, and do so with the greatest degree of success, will be the winner.”

The party again conferred. Tsine and Rudyard, not surprisingly, were against it. “We can easily take them, and without doing anything too damaging to the shrine, either. I’m sure the elf was just bluffing about any risk to her. And she has to help us when the fight breaks out; no elf would ever willingly help an orc.”

However, Quercus, Tal, Flix, and Raz decided against it. “We can’t risk harming or offending this shrine keeper. Now that we discovered this shrine again, it could be an invaluable resource to Methosilang. We can’t let our mission endanger the city’s long-term success. Besides, I want to see this challenge for myself.” Quercus said. The others quietly argued and muttered for a few moments, and then he stood up and said, “We have agreed to the challenge. I will go for our side.”

The woman nodded, and soon Quercus and Khat’Shir’Mol, the orc’s leader, were teleported away. The party and orc teams both crowded around a strange table in the center of the room, and the Methosilang side at least was shocked to see Quercus and the orc inside it!

The plane was a tiny labyrinth, filled with glowing orbs. Both Quercus and Khat materialized in the central chamber, where six strange chambers, each a different color, were resting on the sides of the room. Quercus noticed that the orc immediately tore off, grabbing as many orbs as he could, so Quercus went off in the opposite direction, doing the same thing. He discovered that each orb either added 100 gold to the components of one of the resurrection spells, a bonus to his knowledge of the afterlife, a bonus to his intelligence, or simply damaged him without providing any real benefit. After gathering as many of these as he could, he dashed back to the central chamber, to try raising one of the creatures apparently put to rest there, and noticed that Khat was doing the same thing. He chose the silver tomb, and focused all of his mental energies towards the task of entering the world beyond, finding and grabbing this creature’s soul, and guiding it safely back to its body. He ended up raising a tiny fey creature, which he later learned was called a grig, and which was apparently brought back to life without difficulty. As he did the raising, Quercus noticed that the process was much faster than most resurrections, but that his own knowledge and intelligence did nothing. He had to rely on the power granted by the orbs. While he was doing this, Khat managed to raise a lizard folk, and seemed equally successful, if not more so. Soon, the pair dashed through the maze again and again, bolstered occasionally by their new allies. Quercus later managed to resurrect a tiny white dragon, which looked like it was only a few minutes out of the egg and then somehow he “raised” a ghoul, though surprisingly the creature ignored the inherent nature of its kind and served Quercus. Khat managed to raise a wolf in the same time frame, but Quercus raised vaguely reptilian humanoid, though it looked more like a twisted, monstrous frog than a normal humanoid. With a score of four to two, and generally more successful raises with the possible exception of the ghoul, Quercus emerged the champion, and both he and Khat were sent back to the shrine.

While all this was going on, the two sides looked through the glass roof of the table at the events being played out. After a few moments of tension, one of the kobolds suddenly spoke up, “Well, we can still help him, right?”

While the party was trying to figure out what he meant, the orc woman (who rode the hippogriff earlier,) snapped, “Of course we can still help him!” So speaking, she nudged a tiny square in the glass, and somehow was able to move the hole across the glass’s surface. She then scooped an orb up from elsewhere in the maze, and set it down next to Khat, letting him pick it up with ease.

Seeing this, Tal quickly searched the board, found another hole like the one the orc woman used, and tried using the same tactic to help Quercus. Tsine, however, had had enough. It was bad enough he had to make peace with the orcs. Now, he had to sit back and let them use their obvious advantage (having studied this shrine beforehand,) to cheat them out of their mission’s success. He would have nothing to do with that. The orcs were all watching the glass. It would be easy to cast a simple spell to take out half the enemy team, and basically force the issue on the rest of the party. He quietly muttered to himself while gathering some sand…

Within seconds, the room broke out into chaos. One of the orc warriors slumped unconscious, but the other fighter, along with the healthy cleric and the hippogriff riding woman and the wolf, immediately leapt into the fray. The kobolds, seeing how things turned against him, dashed out of the room while the bard played a quick, “Sir Gebby bravely turned around and fled” on his lute. Rudyard eagerly switched to this new plan, and dropped the orc cleric quickly, while Flix and Raz entered with more reluctance, but were able to easily fell the wolf with a slash across the face and a surprise thrust to the kidneys. This just left the rider and the last fighter, but both held on to the end. Met’Tir’Sith, the lower-ranking orc rider, was able to get revenge on Tsine with a brutal slash across the chest, dropping him to one knee from the pain, while Girme’Dry’Log, the orc warrior, went against Flix, Rudyard, and Raz simultaneously for what seemed like forever, giving as many sword thrusts as she was taking. Their diseased orc shaman, however, could do little. Though he tried to use his magic to aid his allies a few times, every time, the pain would be to great and he would collapse on the floor, pleading with both sides to end this fight. During all of this, a confused Tal, who was having trouble that the truce would be broken so easily, tried to help Quercus using the table holes, but soon gave up as he saw the chaos around him.

As the fight neared its end, Quercus and Khat returned. Khat took one look around the room and drew his tube weapon, shouting, “What is the meaning of this?!” Rudyard merely chuckled as he turned his weapon on him, saying “Oh, nothing important. Just killing some orcs!”

Khat put up a valiant fight, but Girme soon fell, and he was surrounded. He died fighting, while cursing elves and their lying, honor less ways. Soon after, his weapon exploded as well, while Rudyard finished off the helplessly sleeping orc and the diseased cleric. During all this, the elf shrine keeper watched emotionlessly, and then, as if this never happened, she spoke. “Well done, Quercus. You have won the challenge, and earned the right to use the shrine’s blessing to aid your diseased friend.”

While Quercus made the preparations for the spell and the others did the standard looting (the shrine keeper assured them that she would take care of the bodies,) Rudyard went outside, and noticed that both the kobolds and two of the party’s horses were gone! Shouting a curse to all orcs and their allies, he spent the day tracking them down. He soon found that they split up, but was able to catch up to the kobold bard, Gebby, easily enough, and then brutally killed him. However, while he was chasing Teggif, the kobold sorcerer down, he learned that creature separated from his mount, and Rudyard chose to retrieve the horse and let the creature go for this day. However, as he returned to the shrine, he swore that he would find the creature one day, and bring it to judgment as well.

Back at the shrine, Quercus finished resurrecting their charge. The power of the shrine was indeed impressive, for he was actually better than normal after being raised! The party left that very same day, eager for the hospitality of a Methosilang city, even if it was only Necropolis. It was a mostly silent few days, however, as everyone shot each other accusing glances. It was obvious that Tal and Quercus had something they wanted to say to Tsine, but decided to let it rest until they were safe in the city. Similarly, Tsine and Rudyard looked at Tal and Quercus with scorn, since the mercy they were willing to show the orcs was pitiful.

At Necropolis, the party was paid by the grateful Radmackis, and since they arrived late, they decided to head right to the inn, and plan their next move in the morning. However, as he was resting that night, Quercus heard a familiar voice singing outside. He bolted up, and dashed outside to discover who it was. What he found was an elven woman; the same one that rescued him at the bridge, though he didn’t know this at the time. The woman turned to him, and smiled. She stopped singing, and explained herself to Quercus. “Welcome, Quercus. I am pleased to meet you. You may call me Shedell. I have been watching the progress your group has made for these past few days, and you have succeeded admirably. Though I have to question some of your choices of allies. Some of your group seems too focused on revenge to truly care about justice.”

Quercus grunted reluctantly, “Well, some of them are a little over-enthusiastic, I suppose. But they have their hearts in the right place. I’m sure I’ll help them on the path towards true righteousness as we travel. But tell me, woman, why have you been following us? Who are you?”

“Well, Quercus,” the woman began, “I’ve actually been looking for you for decades now. And I wanted to make sure what kind of man you’ve grown into before meeting you. But now I am finally sure you are a good man, and I am glad to finally meet you, my brother.” As she said this last party, she partially removed the cloak she was wearing, revealing a pair of brilliant white wings much like his own!

OOC Notes: I was genuinely surprised at how the party handled the orcs at the shrine. I especially thought they’d at least left the wounded, diseased, pacifist orc cleric alive, and I had to make a few small changes to my next large adventure as a result. Still, I got a few good future adventure seeds from here, including some I just developed writing this recap!

 

[Lela]

The best laid plans fall apart when confronted by the PCs. It's a DMing Truism.

Wonderful improvement LordVyreth, I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[LordVyreth]

Bugs and Backstory

As Quercus looked at her, speechless, Shedell continued her story. “Yes, we share the same father, though a different mother, making me your half-sister.”

“But, how?” Quercus spluttered. “When was this? Do you know who our father is, then?”

She sighed, sadly. “I’m afraid not. My father married an elven woman over a century ago, but there was an…incident when I was still very young. There was a fire at our home, and it killed my mother. I thought my father died as well at the time, but he merely disappeared, apparently because he thought I died as well. It was so long ago that I can’t even remember their names, or even what they look like except for the vaguest of details. I tried to remember more clearly, and even used magic to help, but I think part of me is blotting out the incident, refusing to grant me any more details out of fear of the horror I experienced that day.”

Quercus looked at her solemnly. “I’m sorry you have suffered so. But what happened to you after that?”

“Well, the early years after that are still very sketchy, probably for the same reason I can’t remember much about my parents. Eventually, I grew up, and started training myself with martial weaponry. I also performed occasional odd jobs for the people of Delaspie and Methosilang. Eventually, I joined a group of adventures, and even got to travel to the capital city itself. Once there, I spent a few months trying to determine what I want to do with my life, and I became fascinated with None, the goddess of strength and labor. I believed that if I gave her my worship, I would be given the power to discover what killed my mother, and avenge her death. I also eventually learned of the story of your birth, Quercus, and realized that the celestial’s story and my own matched up. I waited for you to grow up, like I said before, and busied myself helping Methosilang fight its enemies.”

“Where is your adventuring party now, Shedell? Would you like to travel with us for a while?” Quercus asked.

Shedell’s eyes widened with worry upon hearing this. “No, for my time right now is short. In my journeys, I have made an enemy, one who won’t rest until I am destroyed. She calls herself the Lady of Blood, and she is one of the Malefactor drow, who refused to ally with the surface dwellers a thousand years ago, and traveled even deeper into the earth, planning their revenge. Even worse, she appears to be the spawn of a demon, much like we are the children of a celestial. We have fought many times, and often I was captured by her, only to narrowly escape. I believe she has some sort of magical means of tracking me, which penetrates even into the cities of Methosilang. Because of this, I have to be on the move constantly, and when I can sense she is getting close, I have to flee to protect my comrades. I just got a chance to meet you, Quercus. I won’t risk letting you die because of me.”

Though disappointed to hear this, Quercus was happy to talk with his sister after finally meeting her. They spent the rest of the night bringing each other up to date on their lives, and when the morning came, he introduced her to the rest of the party. All of them were surprised as well, and thanked her for saving Quercus’ life back at the bridge. However, soon after meeting them, a worried look crossed Shedell’s face. “I can’t stay much longer. I sense the Lady of Blood will come soon, so I must flee and prepare to defend myself from her. Don’t worry, Quercus, I’ll live long enough to see you again. But if you do see this woman, do not fight her! She is beyond all of your ability to defeat at this point.” With that, she flew off, deep into the city to gather her supplies and depart.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided it was time to look for work, which will lead them the rest of the way to Delaspie. They eventually met discovered two hirelings, Jack, and Eric, who were looking for some help. They are the only survivors of a posse of heroes from Delaspie, who were trying to catch a thief who managed to sneak into the country, and steal some precious valuables. They were sent behind to guard the pack animals while the trained heroes pursued him. After a few moments, they heard an explosion, and when they went in to investigate, the thief was unconscious, and all of their employers were dead. Desperate to complete the mission they started, they bound the thief, took the bodies back to the animals, and since they were almost to Necropolis at this point, they decided to go there, leave the bodies there for a burial on safe, consecrated grounds, and seek out adventurers to finish the task they started. However, their plan won’t be ready until tomorrow, so the adventurers agreed to meet with them again the next day, and set of for some quick work inside the city. They found some when they found the cleric proprietors who run Necropolis. There were rumors of a monster hiding deep within the Necropolis. There have been sounds of motion, strange clicking and buzzing noises, and coffins being knocked over. It all started when the clerics buried the warhorse of a paladin. They believe the trouble is related to this creature, and want some capable adventurers to investigate. Eager for a challenge, the heroes agreed.

Hours later, the group was deep within the bowels of the city. As they journeyed, they discussed what could be waiting for them.

“What if it’s some kind of undead?” Tsine asked, nervously.

Quercus shrugged. “Doubtful. The entire city of Necropolis is consecrated, and much of it is hollowed. The horse itself would never rise as undead here, and any undead that stowed away with the creature would have been detected and turned away long before it was buried. Hey, Tal,” he and others looked at Tal, who actually negotiated this deal, “did they say what the horse died from?”

“Yeah, actually, they did. The paladin and his company were attacking by these weird wasp thingies, but with legs like a spider. He claimed there was something unnatural, or perhaps even evil, about them.”

The party pondered this, until they reached the crypt of the warhorse. All of them looked at each other nervously for a moment, silently daring each other to go and open it. Finally, Quercus sighed, and walked up, though he ordered the others to cover him. When he got close to the crypt, he noticed it was partially ajar already, as if something has been entering and leaving it. He never got the chance to open it all the way, however, for when he got a little closer, a pair of giant wasp creatures flew out! The smaller of the two was fired at by Tsine and Raz, and it panicked, and flew off into a side corridor. The larger one, however, literally stank of evil to Quercus’ trained senses, and it gave a strange, chirpy laugh as it flew at him. It stung him with its needle-like stinger, and Quercus felt a wave of evil wash over him. At the same time, his insides were becoming numb. He took a swing at the creature, hitting solidly, and Tal and Raz used magic and arrows to continue hammering the creature. Meanwhile, Flix dashed around the corner to try and catch up to the beast, and Tsine and Rudyard watched for the second one warily. Their sharp eyes soon caught a movement above them, and Rudyard dove out of the way as a coffin was almost pushed on top of him! Above him, she saw the second, smaller bug, and uttering a curse, he fired on the thing while Tsine hurled an arrow of acid at it. Flix saw it as well, and scampered up the crypt wall reach the creature. However, the bug reacted first, and both stabbed and bit into the unfortunate little halfling. It yelped it pain, but responded with a stab of his own, while Tsine and Rudyard finished the creature off from the other side. Meanwhile, Quercus and Raz continued to attack the first monster, while Tal began a song extorting the bravery of the group and encouraging to fight at their best, then began to attack the creature with his rapier. Soon this monster also fell, and after tending their wounds, they investigated the tomb. It appeared that the horse’s chest was burst open, and Rudyard speculated, “I bet this creature lays its eggs inside the bodies of other beings. The eggs must have gone undetected by the clerics, and hatched shortly after the creature was entombed.” After seeing the look of panic on Quercus and Flix’s eyes, he continued. “Don’t worry. I don’t think either of you would make a large enough host body for the eggs.”

Flix sighed with relief. “Good,” he began, “I was worried for a moment the…ugh!” he suddenly said as he froze in place, the creature’s poison finally taking effect on him.

The others prepared to return to the city, but Rudyard stopped them, and pointed out something else about the horse. “Look at the size of that thing! It’s at least twice as large as a normal horse. We should ask the priests about the cleric who rode it.”

The others agreed, and carried their friend back to the city itself, where the clerics were happy to restore the paralyzed halfling to normal. Once he was taken care of, Tal asked, “Do any of you know about this paladin that we just helped?”

“Of course,” the cleric they were speaking to replied. “We never got his name, but we know he’s still staying in town. Would you like to meet him?”

The party agreed, and got his current residence. When they met his paladin, they were shocked at his appearance, for not only was he a half-orc, but he was the largest half-orc they’ve ever seen! Even more strangely, he appeared to have strange, ruby-red scales, and a slightly reptilian expression. Seeing what he was, Tsine and Rudyard immediately grew silent, letting Tal take the lead. “Good sir, we were the band of adventurers that helped your horse rest peaceful.”

The man looked glad. “Ah, that is welcome news! I heard of the trouble at the church, but I was too heavily wounded to investigate myself, and I didn’t want to enter it alone.”

Tal continued, “Um, sir, if it isn’t too personal, could you explain a bit about yourself? We are all a bit surprised at your strange appearance.”

The paladin laughed. “Yes, I can understand that. I didn’t always look like this, however. On a mission long ago, my company and I discovered an ancient ruins, filled with bones of long-dead beasts. However, I slipped off of a precarious perch, and ended up falling on some of the bones. The fall and sharp edges of the bones killed me, and when I was revived, I came back…strangely. I looked like this ever since.”

The party thanked him for his time, except for Tsine and Rudyard, and returned to their inn to rest for their journey tomorrow. Tal lied in bed for a while before drifting off to sleep, however. There was something about that man, something familiar, and right about him. He felt something within his own blood as well, and remembered how he felt when he first could manifest his magic without the aid of bardic music. He then made a decision about his future; he would become like that paladin, and embrace the path of the dragon.

OOC Notes: The purpose of this adventure was initially just a short filler plot set up before a few later players arrived. However, by the time the prep work was done for the game, they did show up, and thus we had a full house for the actual battle. The whole thing with the ruby-scaled paladin did come up quite a bit more often, however. I originally thought ruby was one of the five standard gem dragons, and only learned it was the color of the gem dragon god later. But improving details like that is part of the fun of being a DM, I guess!

 

[LordVyreth]

Treacherous Journey

The next day, the part met up with Jack and Eric again, and the two of them unveiled their plan. As a criminal of unknown origin, their prisoner (who has been calling himself Paul,) is not allowed to use the underground tunnels connecting Delaspie to Methosilang. Thus, they have to go overland, but the area between Necropolis and Delaspie is right on the border between the orc and undead empires and both forces patrol heavily. To get through the area with maximum speed and efficiency, the two of them have built a small boat on a river that flows very close to Necropolis and the wall of Delaspie (the giant fortified wall that circles the entire kingdom; think the Great Wall of China but curved.) The party can use the river to get past the worst of the border quickly and reasonably quietly. It’s dangerous, of course, but the party is eager to try despite this fact, and they take the job. The party receives a few hundred gold for starting supplies, and are told that they’ll receive the rest when they reach Delaspie’s capital (Jack and Eric will take the underground passage and meet them there.)

A few hours later, the party, plus Jack and Eric, leave the city and travel to the river, where the boat is being finished by a few laborers from Necropolis. Jack and Eric handed over both Paul and some of Paul’s possessions, including some of the items that he stole, which mostly consist of ceramic art. These are placed and locked in a treasure chest, which is then bound to the raft the part will take to get down the river. Paul is also bound to the raft, though he has given the party no trouble yet. Once the final preparations are made, Jack and Eric wish the party luck, and warn them that while this is the safest route, the undead in particular are known to guard this river, so parts of the journey may be hazardous. With that warning, the party sets off on their next adventure!


Tanos watched the group leave while under the guise of invisibility. Those meddlesome adventurers! First, they ruined the experiment he began on the orcs, and they didn’t learn exactly what happens when the process was completed. And now he has to deal with the witnesses both here and with the survivors of the orc tribe they experimented on! Others have been called to take care of the orcs, but it is his duty to ensure that this party never tells anyone about what they witnessed. If he fails, he knows his life is forfeit, so he will never rest until they are dead. And besides, killing such unsuspecting fools could be entertaining….

The party rafted in silence for a few moments. Finally, Tal spoke up. “My friends, I have made a decision. Seeing our paladin friend yesterday has made me realize that I am incomplete myself. My family came from a lineage of dragons, and I believe that it is my destiny to become one myself. I will try to begin this transformation once I have developed my knowledge and become more attuned to the magical nature of my heart.”

Rudyard chuckled. “Well, at least you picked the right half to try to emulate.”

Finally, Quercus had enough. “What is wrong with you two? I understand your desire to fight the orc empire, but this is ridiculous. What reason could you possibly have for insulting our friend, who the Sisters themselves regard as being worthy enough to hold the title of paladin? And your behavior back at the shine was inexcusable! We gave our word to work for a peaceful solution. I won the game anyway; we didn’t need to fight, and we risked losing the mission, the shrine, and even our lives needlessly!”

This time, it was Tsine’s turn to respond. “No, what is wrong with you? We are at war with these monsters! We are supposed to be warriors of the city, not diplomats! If we insist on talking to our enemies every chance we get, we’ll never prove to ourselves that we are real heroes of Methosilang.”

At this, Quercus said quietly, “Are you sure you’re trying to prove this to yourself, and not your fathers?”

After listen to all of this, Paul secretly smiled. These fools will be easier to manipulate than he thought.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence after that, broken suddenly by chanting. Tal and Tsine recognized it instantly; though they couldn’t see who it was, someone was casting a spell! The party prepared for anything, which proved wise, when a pair of strange, mosquito-like birds appeared out of nowhere. Quercus could sense immediately, however, that these weren’t ordinary birds; they hailed from outside of this plane initially, and were somehow summoned here. To make matters worse, as soon as the party saw these birds, they noticed a tower guarded by skeletons on the east bank. They’ll soon be attacked from there as well. The party springs into action. Before the birds can react, Quercus unsheathes his sword and slices one in half, while Tsine uses magic to repeatedly bombard the second. It also collapses. However, as soon as they finished, they were nearly hit by a swarm of arrows from the tower. At the same time, they heard the chanting again. Raz and Rudyard took control of this one, firing a pair of arrows into the tower. They hit two of the skeletons, but the tiny arrows had little effect. Tal used his magic to finish those two off, while the chanting stopped, and a giant mantis, with the same aura of evil, appeared in the center of the raft. Quercus and Flix focused their attacks on it, but it survived both of their strikes, and turned to bite and slash at Flix. Fortunately, he seemed unconcerned about the evil energy of the claw, but it nonetheless left a brutal slash across Flix’s chest. Tsine noticed things were going badly behind him, so he fired an arrow of acid at the creature, which finished the beast off. Tal, Rudyard, and Raz finished off the remaining skeletons on the tower, and the party sighed in relief, thinking that the worst is behind them. Their opinion changed quickly when the geyser of water shot up in the middle of the boat! The party tried to get out of the way, but Tsine was caught in the full blast of it, and was shot into the air, and then overboard!

Fortunately, the geyser disappeared as quickly as it appeared, so it wasn’t a leak. But that meant someone created it nearby, and there was no chanting this time. Despite the danger Tsine’s in, the rest of the group didn’t have time to worry about him right now, for they were approaching a second tower. This one was staffed by skeletons as well, but they were arming a ballista! Even worse, a strange monster was on the tower, and as the boat neared, it suddenly rose to attention. It had a lion-like body, but a vaguely human head, wings, and a spiked tail. It was also clearly dead, and was in the process of rotting away. It started its attack by launching some of its tail spikes, but the muscles in its tail had decomposed too much, and they fell short. It then took often, and began to fly towards the boat. Meanwhile, even Quercus and Flix drew missile weapons, in a desperate attempt to destroy the creature before it could get on the boat. They got a few good shots, but as they were firing, the ballista struck the boat. It avoided all the heroes, but it gave the boat a nasty crack. A few more shots like that and it could sink!

Meanwhile underwater, Tsine saw his attacker. It looked a little like a ghoul or some other undead monster, but around its rotted hide, it had a strange armor formed out of coral, shells, and what looks like solidified water itself. The creature lunged for him, slashing once with its claw. Tsine winced from the pain, and even worse, felt like his very breath was being stolen by the creature. He held it in with an effort of will, and realized he had to get out of the water quickly, but he was too laded down with items to swim easily. Desperately, he drew his sword, and plunged it into the front of the boat. With a feat of strength, he pulled himself upwards, until he was halfway out of the water. Suddenly, he felt something bite and tear into his legs, and his mouth involuntarily open and released everything in his lungs. Using his last bit of strength, he finished pulling himself onto the boat, and then collapsed on the floor, panting and heaving.

Meanwhile, the party continued their attack on the flying monstrosity. Well, except for Tal, who instead focused his magic bolts on the skeletons controlling the ballista, in the hope that he can destroy enough to delay the reloading process. A few fell to his blasts, while the others finished destroying the undead manticore just seconds before it reached the raft. They were all startled as another geyser jerked the raft, but remembering what happened to Tsine, everyone was able to grab onto something before it was too late. With their most dangerous enemy dead, all six of them concentrated on the skeleton ballista operators, and a second set of archers that started to fire at them from another tower. This lasted until the creature that attacked Tsine finally leapt onto the raft itself, and launched another. The party got a good look at this time, and saw that the geyser literally ran out of the creature’s arm, draining the armor around it in the process, and then turned into a geyser when it flowed into the right position. But the party was again prepared for this, and Quercus immediately switched to his sword, and he and Tsine finished the creature. The two sets of skeletons fell quickly as well, as were another pair of the sunken monsters and one last tower of skeletons that attacked shortly after that point. Finally, it looked like the party managed to pass the undead’s checkpoint, and concentrated on healing and resting as the raft coasted into a lake at the end of the river. This period of relaxation lasted all of ten seconds, as a giant, reptilian head surfaced about twenty feet from the raft, saw the party, roared in hunger, and then dived for them!

OOC Notes: The monster that attacked the party from underwater was the first monster I made up for the game. It is called a Sunken, and was actually based on a video game monster for an idea I designed, and one day hope to produce. If anyone wants the stats, I can email them or print them here, but I haven’t used them since the 3.0 days, so you have to wait for me to update it or update it yourself. I also would ask you to give credit to me if you do use it, since I’d rather not have someone claim it as an idea I ripped off from him or her if the game idea ever gets off the ground. Paranoid, I know, but better safe than sorry.

The party got through this area more easily than I expected. All the enemies were in the CR range from ½ to 4, and half the party was 5th level by this point. The quantity almost made up for the lack of quality, but too many enemies started with a distance disadvantage. If I could do it over, I’d probably bump a few of the baddies up to CR 5.

 

[LordVyreth]

Surf and Turf

The party quickly took up a defensive position, while privately worrying about the fight ahead. What was that thing? Could it be a dragon? Could they possibly fight a dragon that size? A moment later, the creature’s head popped out of the water again, right next to the raft, followed by another three heads. The party sighed in relief. It was a hydra, and a four-headed one by the look of it. Certainly a powerful threat, but it was not a dragon by any means. The creature nonetheless began the fight ferociously, as it bit repeatedly into Quercus and Flix. Quercus countered with a swing of his greatsword, severing one of the beast’s heads instantly. Tsine followed with another arrow of acid, which managed to melt another head away. Tal fired a series of magical orbs, while Raz and Rudyard fired arrows. Tal and Raz’ attacks connected, but Rudyard’s bounced off the creature’s thick hide, as did Flix’s sword thrust, since he was unable to move to a position that took advantage of his subtle technique. The creature bit again with its two remaining heads, focusing entirely on Flix. He narrowly dodged the first bite, but the second bit deep into his chest. Enraged after seeing his compatriot injured, Quercus swung again with his blade, severing a third head, and a rain of arrows from Tsine, Raz, and Rudyard finished the last head. It sank back into the sea with a defeated roar, as Quercus and Tal went to heal their halfling friend.

The party briefly discussed taking a return trip up the river to gather the equipment and treasure their enemies might have had, but a very panicked Paul pointed out that if the undead knew they were there, reinforcements would arrive, and they’d probably be far more powerful than a few skeletons with bows. The rest of the party grudgingly realizes that prisoner or no, he does have a point, so they tied the boat ashore, and began the next stage of their trek on land. The first day, the trip was mostly uneventful, but the same can’t be said about the night.

While Rudyard was on watch, the sounds of some large charging toward the camp at high speed could be heard. The party woke with a start, and prepared for battle. However, when the apparent foe, a wounded dire wolf, burst into the camp, Rudyard help up a hand to restrain his party. He used his training to study the animal’s emotions. It wasn’t angry or hungry; it was scared. He slowly began to whisper to the creature, “It’s okay, boy. Settle down. We’re here to help,” while offering his hand. The creature, while still scared, stopped growling for a moment to sniff his hand. However, a moment later, he began growling again, but this time it was directed at the path he just came from. He stumbled to get behind the party as a small team of undead burst into the clearing! There was a gaunt, pale humanoid corpse, a skeleton made from an ogre or a similarly sized, creature, and a skeleton that could only have come from a giant, judging by its size. Quercus had had enough of the undead at this point! He shouted to them, “by the power of Bha-Ael, I order you to no longer defile us with your presence!” The smaller of the two skeletons suddenly cowered at his form, and tore like heck down the forest pathways the first chance he got. But Quercus already noticed they had other problems. He recognized the pale undead as a wight, and that it can steal a creature’s life force just by the slightest touch. “Focus your attacks on this one!” he yelled, and the others quickly responded.

Rudyard charged the creature, eager to protect his new friend, and slashed it with his magic sword. The creature stumbled back, but gave a roar and lurched forward while slashing. Rudyard narrowly evaded the slash, and then watched as a volley of magic missiles from Tsine wounded it further, and Raz’s arrow dropped the creature. That left only the huge skeleton, and Flix and Tal were already circling it, looking for an opening. The skeleton pummeled Tal with its fists, but left a weak spot for Flix to strike. He only could chip the bone, and Tal’s attack wasn’t any more effective, but Quercus’ slash did a little more to the beast. Tsine’s acidic arrow and Rudyard’s blade also cut into the creature, but it still had enough strength to attack Rudyard, by grabbing his arm and slowly crushing it into powder. Raz tried to save his friend with another arrow, but it had little effect, as did Tal’s magic orb. However, the wolf finally developed the courage to enter the fight again, and it leapt on the skeleton, biting its spinal cord in half, and causing the entire thing to crumble into a mess of bones. The party slowly got back up, and did some healing of themselves and the wounded wolf. Rudyard asked the party, “Would it be okay if we brought the wolf with us for now? I don’t know if he’s safe around here by himself until he can recover his health.” The others shrugged their approval, and the happy animal began to follow Rudyard. Though Tal silently wondered why he was so willing to forgive and understand a common animal, and not other intelligent beings.

The next night, the party was under attack again, but from an entirely different source. Tal was on watch this time, when he heard a strange noise out into the woods. It seemed peaceful somehow, and as Tal strained to listen, he heard a voice whisper, “Tal….” Was someone calling him? He quietly went off to investigate. He found himself in another clearing. Above him, a small dragon was flying, but it was obviously covered in ruby scales. “Tal, I have heard about your new quest, but before you can proceed, you must be judged worthy of your ancestors. I will look deep into your soul, and see if you are worthy of becoming one of us.”

Tal gulped nervously, but replied, “I accept your challenge.” He felt the dragon’s eyes looking him over, peering deep into his soul. Finally, after a few moments, the dragon spoke.

“You have failed, Tal Moinen. One as pathetic as you deserves to never be part of our species. In fact, you don’t even deserve the power your blood gives you right now!” With that, a ruby ray flew at Tal, and Tal, stunned into shock at his failure, sank to his knees.

The rest of the party woke to the sounds of strange, evil laughter. Raz woke up first, and dashed over to see Tal still being “drained” by the dragon. Seeing the threat to his friend, he fired an arrow into the creature, and it suddenly turned shadowy and transparent. An illusion! Tal noticed it, too, and quickly got to his feet. After checking to make sure he still had all of his sorcerer powers, he and Tal rejoined the party at the campsite.

When they returned, they saw something else was going wrong. Surrounding the campfire, a trio of ghostly children had linked hands and was dancing around it. As they danced, they began singing a ghastly song. The first two lines changed each but always revolved around someone doing various nasty things to the listener, and the last two lines were always, “And no matter what you do/ The nightmare prince will torture you!” As the children sang, they slowly looked like they were being attacked. Their skin would be flayed of at places, limbs would be removed, and deep stab wounds would pierce to their internal organs. The party could only look on in horror as the song continued, and the children finally vanished in one long, last, mocking laugh. What was that, and who was the Nightmare Prince, they wondered?

OOC Notes: Thus a major villain was introduced to the plot, and one of my favorites. He doesn’t come up as a regular for a while, but he is eventually responsible for one of my favorite adventures.

 

[Lela]

What was the response from Tal's player when the dragon told her she had failed?

 

[LordVyreth]

What was the response from Tal's player when the dragon told her she had failed?

Um, Tal's a he. I sadly had yet to recruit any female gamers for my group at this point , and none of my players were that experimental. As for the response, confused shock more or less covered it! He was just quietly accepting it until it was made obvious that it was an illusion. He was still a little confused about it, and still might be, but he realized fairly quickly that something odd was up when the ghost children appeared.

 

[LordVyreth]

Town Held Hostage

The day after the strange images tormented the party was a peaceful, but solemn one. No one spoke much, and Tal especially seemed out of sorts. Eventually, Flix worried so much about his friend that he spoke up. “Tal, are you okay? That dragon-thingy didn’t have any permanent effect, did it?”

Tal shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think my magic has even been affected. But even if that was an illusion, what if it was right? What if whoever is tormenting me can look into my soul, and finds it lacking. What happened to me felt like my worst nightmare coming true. What if this Nightmare Prince could make it happen?”

At that, Quercus smashed one of his fists into the other out of frustration. “If that little display of his was any indication of what he’s like, once I get my hands on him, he’ll be lucky to be alive. He sounds like a monster that deserves destruction.”

Soon, however, the party had to stop their chatter. They were nearing Delaspie. They were given instructions back in Necropolis on how to handle this. First, they had to take to the forests as much as possible. Then, they had to blow a horn given to them earlier the instant they see the first tower of the wall rise over the tree line. They then had to run as fast as they could, and get through the nearest gate immediately! The party, obviously nervous after receiving such ominous instructions, followed them to the letter, and as they made the last sprint, it soon became apparent why they were instructed to run. Hordes of undead were slowly chasing them! It looked like they would be overrun, but the forest suddenly ended, and the party could see the wall in all of its grandeur. The didn’t really have time to appreciate it right now, of course, so they continued the race until they made it inside the outer gate. As they ran, arrows rained down from the top of the wall, silencing any undead that were too close to the party. Once they got into the first gate, armored knights closed the gap behind them, and fought off the undead long enough for the portcullis to lower and the massive gate doors to be closed. One of the knights immediately turned to the party and simply uttered the word “Password.” It was a simple message, but clearly indicated the intent that if the password was not given, the part was going right back outside the wall.

But the party had been briefed on these as well, and after Tal gave it, the guards visibly relaxed, and the second gate was opened for them. It took another four gates before they were actually able to get past the wall, though after seeing the army that constantly waits outside the wall, none of them were going to complain about the excess security! They now had many days of travel ahead of them before they reach the capital city of Delaspie, which is also just called Delaspie. However, the journey was mostly peaceful, since few things could get past the wall or its army of defenders. The party stayed at small towns and inns every night. Finally, the party reached Keddindale, a village just a day away from Delaspie. There, they stayed at the Lion’s View Inn, which Jack and Eric specifically mentioned is an excellent way to rest before the final trek into town. In fact, when they arrived, they found their room was already paid for! They settled in for the last night of their long journey.


Tanos looked on, smiling. This should be the perfect time to finish these fools off, and have some fun with the helpless locals as well. But something was troubling him. That prisoner of theirs looked familiar from somewhere….


It was the screams that woke the party. As one, the group leapt out of bed, and dashed to the windows of their respective rooms. The inn was facing the town square, and it looked like all the chaos was focused there. In the center of the square, a human with a dark cloak was standing in the center, laughing. Behind him was a strange creature. It looked a little like a giant jellyfish, but it only had four tentacles, and its “head” was a self-contained pod of fluid. The tentacles were hooked and barbed, and the entire creature was a sickly dark green color. Worst of all, however, were a number of ghostly green heads floating in the creature’s pod, which were frequently opening their mouths in anguish, and it soon became clear that many of the screams that the party heard was coming from those faces. A flock of strange bats filled the sky, and the area around the square was filled with the bloody remains of humans. The man, after noticing the party was watching, turned to the inn and shouted. “Heroes of Methosilang! You have attracted the attention of my master! I am here to see to it that the secrets you have learned will die here with you! I want you to appear before me, so we can finish this. If you do not, I will have my pet here kill one citizen for every hour you delay. And I will start,” as he says this, he looked to the creature, which obediently grabbed a cowering figure huddled in the crowd, “with this town’s mayor!” The party could see a struggling halfling woman now being lifted fifteen feet off the ground by the hovering monster.

Quercus and Raz started to put their armor on as quickly as possible, knowing that they had a few minutes and that they’ll need to be at full strength to survive such a fierce foe. Flix, Rudyard, Tal, and Tsine had only minimal armor that they put on as quickly as possible, and then dashed out of the inn. Flix quietly moved to blend in with the crowd, while the others pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Tal got their first, and shouted at the creature, “We’re here. Now, who are you, and what do you want from us?”

The man looked on with amusement. “No, I mean all of the heroes. I only see three of you now. I assume the…small one is trying to sneak around in this crowd as we speak, though I wonder why your other friends couldn’t be bothered to appear and help as well. Are they selfish beings who don’t care about these villagers, or merely cowards? And if you want my name, Tanos will suffice, I think.”

Tal tried to ignore the taunts. “You gave us an hour; I’m sure they’ll be here before then. But why worry about them? Whatever business you have with us can be handled with just the fo…three of us.”

Tanos laughed. “My business with you is to ensure that you never see the light of day again. I’d rather ensure that you’re all here to start instead of getting involved in a pointless melee and having to a headcount afterwards. Especially since I doubt all of your heads will still be intact at that point.”

Flix, hiding in the corner, finally had enough. His restraint temporarily snapped, he leapt out and threw a dagger at the floating creature. It pierced the fluid bag, causing it to ooze a vile liquid. The others were about to join in the attack when the creature held up the tentacle holding the mayor, and even with its alien features, its intent was obvious.

“Now, that was hardly sporting, now was it?” Tanos began. I’m sure you noticed the flock of bats above you. If you come to me in a group as I ordered earlier, I give you my word that they won’t interfere. If not, well, they may get enraged when they see their leader has been attacked, and suck the blood out of the nearest villager they see. The casualties would be quite excessive, wouldn’t you think? Now, run along and find your friends, so we can settle this already.”

Realizing they had no choice, the party retreated back to the inn to find Quercus and Raz. As they did, Rudyard noticed the creature disappear from the town square for a moment, but he had bigger concerns. He also held back for a moment while the others looked for their missing friends, and a gut feeling told him to check on the prisoner. As he looked into the room they were keeping him, his worst fears were confirmed: Paul was gone, and the chest containing his possessions and the stolen items was opened and nearly empty. Even worse the ceramic shards of many of the treasures littered the floor, as if Paul broke them before escaping for some reason. Tanos will have to wait for a moment, Rudyard thought, as he burst out the door and began tracking his quarry.

Though his skills at tracking were learned in a forest, Rudyard found them just as useful inside a human settlement. He soon was able to spot the footprints Paul made when leaving the inn, and follow them outside. Even with the crowds of people and the mess they made of the path, he was able to track Paul for blocks before finally spotting him trying to sneak over the wall. A strange humanoid-shaped being made out of an ectoplasmic ooze was scaring away the citizens in the area. Rudyard gave them little heed as he charged at the odd creature. It tried to pound on him, but he easily sidestepped it and slashed at it with his sword. Paul realized this new threat had to be dealt with, and simply glared at Rudyard. Suddenly, a scream erupted in Rudyard’s head, as if his very mind was being pummeled. It took every ounce of will he had in him, but he resisted the effects, and finished off the green monster. He then charged at a suddenly very scared Paul, who threw up his hands in surrender. “Wait,” he yelled. “I won’t resist any more!”

Rudyard growled. “You’re lucky they want you alive. But a few smacks from the flat of my blade would make sure I’ll get no more trouble out of you!”

Paul trembled, but was able to respond. “Hold on! I can help you. I know about those things that are attacking the village. I can help you fight them if you spare me!”

Rudyard thought it over for a moment. “I won’t free you if you agree to help us, but I will speak on your behalf at the trial. But you must swear not to betray us or try to escape us again.”

Without hesitation, Paul assented. “I swear by the Eleven Sisters that I won’t try to escape or harm you again. But let me stay hidden in the crowd until the fight begins. If Tanos sees me, we’ll lose the element of surprise.”

Rudyard, eager to get back to his friends, agreed, and went back to the inn with Paul. By now, Quercus and Raz were finally ready, and the group went back to square as one. Though Flix again snuck into the crowd as they approached. The green monster had returned as well, and it looked fully healed from the wound Flix gave it earlier.

“We are all here now, you murderer!” Quercus yelled. “Let’s end this mess so we can put you to justice!”

Tanos looked at the group with a frown. “And where is your sneaky friend this time…”

“Right here!” Flix yelled, and this time charged the square, just as the other five charged in from the other side. The floating creature didn’t even have time to threaten the mayor further, or perhaps it didn’t care to now that his prey were all gathered in front of him. Flix was the first to strike, however, and he prepared to stab his sword straight into Tanos’ heart. But something made him pause. The way he spoke about Flix earlier, like he tried to emphasis or gloss over his size, made him change his attack, aiming for where his heart would be if he was closer to Flix’s size. His intuition paid off, and Tanos screamed from a much lower area than expected. Flix noticed the “man’s” form immediately vanished, to be replaced with a shadowy figure. Another illusion! Quercus saw it, too, and cast a spell to purge invisibility and reveal Tanos’ true form. With a flash of light, a halfling appeared inside the illusionary man. However, he wasn’t a normal halfling. His body was altered, much like the orcs were, to have metal grafts and implants, including a tail, and insectoid wings. But he didn’t appear to be in any pain, except for the obvious gaping chest wound, of course. He appeared to be fully in control of his implants. Meanwhile, the strange jellyfish-creature floated over the rest of the party, slashing at them with all four of his tentacles. Tsine was outside of his range, but Tal, Raz, Quercus, and Rudyard all took a deep gash from the creature. Tanos, meanwhile, looked surprisingly happy. He yelled at the bats to destroy everyone they see, and then took off into the air. Flix tried to stab at him as he flew, but his attack bounced off his thick metallic skin. Laughing maniacally, he tossed a fireball into the area of Tal and Tsine, and caught Raz in the blast as well. Already, everyone but Flix was heavily injured. Raz fired at the jellyfish with his bow, but the creature regenerated nearly all of the wounds it took. Tal and Tsine fired at him, but while Tsine’s acid arrow struck true, Tal’s magical orb vanished inches from the creature. Rudyard drew his bow and fired at Tanos, only to have his arrows bounce off his metal armor skin. It was looking very bad for the party.

Flix tried to continue his attack, by throwing a dagger at Tanos, but it veered off wildly. Quercus disengaged from the jellyfish to attack Tanos, but took another slash from the creature as a party shot as he flew. The jellyfish ignored him after that, and instead suddenly spun in a circle, gathering dark orbs of energy around it, and then released them outward, catching Rudyard, Raz, Flix, and Tal in the blast. The orb heading towards Rudyard caught him in the head, and he uttered one last, agonizing scream, and then collapsed on the floor, unmoving. Suddenly, a jet of strange white fire appeared out of literally nowhere, scorching both Tanos and the jellyfish. Both screamed in pain, and Tanos yelled out, “Traitor! When I tell my master of this, he’ll make sure you’ll never see a moment without misery for the rest of your long life!” But he couldn’t spot his new enemy, so he instead fired an arrow of acid at Tal. It sunk deep into him, and he collapsed from the pain. Realizing they had to kill these creatures quickly, Raz fired on Tanos, and scored a perfect shot between his armored plates and deep into his chest. Meanwhile, Tsine fired a volley of missiles at the jellyfish. They pummeled its pod, and as it tried to recover, Quercus suddenly spun around in the air to target his remaining foe. It weakly tried to slash at him, but his attack went wide, and Quercus drove his blade straight into the pod and out the other side. It burst like a water balloon, causing the creature to hang limply from his sword for a moment, and then dissolve into ash. The screaming faces inside the pod flew out, shrieking a cry of happiness and joy before disappearing into the night. The bats saw that their master was defeated, and flew off as well. The party quickly moved to gather their wounded friends, and try to find Paul.

OOC Notes: The jellyfish monster is called a Lipido, and is from the same video game idea that the Sunken came from. Tanos, on the other hand, used the half-machine template from an old Dungeon article. It won’t be the last time that template gets used, either.

This game was another one I over prepared for. I had an elaborate timetable, plans for Paul after his escape, an order of hostages killed, and so on. Fortunately, unlike the temple adventure earlier, we started this one midway through the session (everything from the hydra battle up to now was one night of gaming,) so when it ended quickly, it actually felt well timed.

 

[Lela]

Gotta love it when the game puts itself together. So, did Tanos die or get away?

 

[LordVyreth]

Gotta love it when the game puts itself together. So, did Tanos die or get away?

He's been imprisoned, and as of now has been written out of the plot. Theoretically, he could have been executed, but it's also possible he escaped. He's a convenient plot point for now, that I could re-spring. One thing about this story hour is that it gave me a lot of potential characters and plot developments to bring back. Oh, by the way, expect a small update later tonight, but my party just finished a new adventure recently, so the number of updates will be reduced for a week or two until I can write up the new adventure.