Dr Midnight
Explorer
This is an old campaign in which I play Dr. Midnight. Surprise. The campaign was run and chronicled below by Barak Blackburn. It's not classic stuff, but you may enjoy it. Sorry about the huge paragraphs, but I don't have time to break up Barak's chunked writings.
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Big Boulders, Bad Magic, Brown Stains and...
After arriving in Panderlach and being escorted by an acolyte of Klaag to the famous Golden Eel tavern, the party settled in for some dinner on this chill winter night. Only four days remained before the festival of Circumabulation and many people were out shopping. None of the party had ever been to Panderlach, so the sight of so many military personnel was a bit startling (roughly 1 in 20 persons found on the street wore an official uniform). Nepiol recommended delicious fish dishes for everyone, Rainsong had to spear her own fish from the giant tank at the front of the tavern. The Golden Eel was once a mighty sailing vessel, the largest Nepiol had ever seen, but for many years now had been permanently docked by her owner, a large sailor by the name of Khale. Khale, of course, had an obnoxious parrot on his shoulder. The food and drinks were excellent, Khale promised and delivered on the promise of exotic fare. As the party was ordering up another round of drinks, a patron stumbled forth into the very thick fog. His exit was followed by a blood-curdling scream and our heroes leaped up from their table and jumped out into the cold-winter fog. The fog was so thick that unless they were standing directly next to each the only sound they could make out was the sound of their allies fighting the undead who viciously attacked them. The party made quick work of these wights, though their life-draining touch was felt by Nepiol and Rainsong ("Undead very bad."). As the ten once-living bodies dropped to the ground the tavern-goers scrambled out a side door, and remained huddled in one of the common rooms for the evening. Skippy noticed a tattoo on one of the creatures "Payvin’s Pearl". Nepiol wrapped one of the bodies up in his dragon-scale cloak and carried it upstairs and hid it under his bed. "In case we need it." They all joined Khale, who was now alone downstairs for a couple more rounds before most everyone retired. Skippy stayed up late "singing" drinking songs with Khale.
Well rested everyone came downstairs and were informed by Khale that several city-guards came by already and wanted to speak with them. Skippy came downstairs, looking like he had had too much too drink, and this became quite obvious when he asked anyone who spoke to "Please be quiet." While nursing his hangover Skippy remembered the wight’s tattoo and asked Khale about it. Khale told them that he had heard of the Pearl, and they might go down towards the docks for more information. The city guards finally showed up and got the relevant information from the party and asked them to please keep Khale informed as to where they were going if they happened to leave the city, in case they were needed for anything else. After a hearty breakfast, they made their way down towards the docks and found out that Payvin’s Pearl was docked there and had been scheduled to leave about a week ago, but that Payvin had been spending his time at a local tavern after his whole crew jumped ship. Inquiring at the bar, the barkeep directed them towards a haggard looking man who apparently had done nothing but drink for the last week. He sat alone at a very small table. When they approached him, he wanted nothing to do with them until they bought him another round. After his whistle had been wet again, he asked what they wanted. When they asked him about his crew he informed them that there was no way his crew had jumped ship. He related his tale, that the night before they were heading out to sea Payvin returned to his ship to find no one aboard. Thinking was on the receiving end of a practical joke he looked around, but found nobody. But he did find something. As he looked up towards the mast he saw a red pair of eyes staring down at him. "The Devourer could have stolen your soul too, but has decided to let you live." The voice called out. Payvin leaped into the icy water and swam for shore as fast as he could. After having looked into the eyes of death itself, Payvin has sworn to never set foot on a ship again. His hands shook as he gulped down his last drink. When Nepiol asked if they could have permission to board his ship, Payvin told them didn’t care if they sank the Pearl, as he was never stepping on it again.
Boarding the Pearl, the party didn’t find much evidence of what had happened to Payvin’s crew, but they did find out that there had been ten crew members, the same amount of wights they had defeated the night before. Nepiol dove into the icy water and searched the muck of the harbor’s bottom for any clues. All he found was empty run bottles and other such debris. Returning to the Golden Eel, Nepiol made his upstairs for a warm bath after his very cold swim. After warming back up they went over what they knew: some creature, with red eyes, an unholy voice, the ability to drain people of their life essence had attacked the Pearl. Having no idea what, or who, this could be they consulted a sage. Hearing their dilemma, this sage asked for a 25 gp fee to direct to someone with more expertise in this matter. They reluctantly agreed to pay the steep sum, and were directed to a sage named Ahrens. But if they ever wanted any information on bugs, they should be sure to return...
Ahrens wasn’t quite sure how he could help the party until they mentioned the Devourer. He was a sage of words. Having no other avenues to explore they agreed to his 750gp/ day rate and returned to the Eel. Two days later, Ahrens had some information that they might find interesting. Seems their was an entity called the Devourer, who was mentioned in a discussion on the Negative Material Plane. Seems also that a powerful mage named Desatysso was very interested in this Devourer. Desatysso hadn’t been heard from in years, so Ahrens actually plumbed a little deeper and found out where his residence was located. He also gave the party a sketch of the sign of the Devourer that he unearthed in one of his texts. Not wanting to miss out on Circumambulation, the party stayed in the city for a while longer, exchanged gifts (most of which were goofy) and prepared themselves for a small trip up into the mountains to find the keep known as Burntrock. From the directions Ahrens had given them, the journey would probably take abut a day.
Getting up bright and early after the festivities, they headed out leaving a trail behind them in the early morning snow. They were able to follow the directions quite easily, and after securing their horses at the bottom of the mountain they had been told to climb, started their ascent. The injuries were minimal, the climbing was relatively easy, even for those members with no skill scaling cliffsides. As they approached the top they were ambushed by two hill giants who threw boulders at them. With spell and missile they dispatched the giants without too much difficulty and pulled themselves up into a small vale where they viewed the keep of the wizard Desatysso. Judging by the many holes in the keep’s wall, it seemed as if no one had lived here for some time. This also seemed evident by the lack of tending to the surrounding topiary.
As they approached the almost-ruins of the keep, they were ambushed by four more hill giants who leaped forth from the keep’s giant front doors. Two charged the party and two proceeded to start throwing boulders. Nepiol quickly activated his magic trident and summoned forth a dome of water that covered them, making only the giants legs visible. Rainsong was slightly shaken by this wall of water, but proceeded to attack the giants. Aerik found the space within the dome confining, but made his way forward anyway. Skippy was mesmerized by this wall of water. The giants, sensing that it would be difficult for them to attack backed out of the dome and when Nepiol deactivated it, all signs of them were gone. The doors to the keep were closed again and when they cautiously approached, they found them locked. No amount of budging or picking seemed to open them, so Skippy caused a portion of the door to vanish, allowing them easy entry. More bad magic. Nepiol checked inside quickly, so as to avoid being bashed in the skull by a giant club, but he found nothing, or no one inside. The investigation of the keep proved relatively uneventful. Most of the furnishings had long been destroyed. There was the still warm cinders of a fire in one room. And a seemingly magic blaze in another. When they approached the door to the tower of this small fortress, the flame leaped from the fireplace and grew to a living creature of flame over 16 feet in height. Although the creatures fiery touch caused significant damage, the band quickly dispelled it and entered the tower. Due to the gaping hole in the roof, the tower was now home to many pigeons who cooed loudly when the door was opened. As with the rest of the keep, the contents of what was once most likely the wizard’s lab, were destroyed. Searching through the rubble, Nepiol stumbled upon a small silver key.
Finding no other possible route for the giants then the passageway that seemed to wind it’s way up inside the great mountain. After exploring a narrow passageway in which the walls themselves constricted around Nepiol, crushing him with ease, before he leaped free, they made their way up the passage. They climbed for some time, the passage corkscrewing its way up the mountain, they heard a great rumbling and were appropriately frightened at the sight of a boulder the width of the passage hurtling towards them. Aerik acted quickly and put up a wall of force which stopped the rolling rock inches before it turned them all into a part of the passage floor. They quickly made their way down the passage and waited until the boulder came to a crashing stop, sealing off the passage. Skippy turned the massive boulder into a pebble and threw it outside. They began their ascent again, and this time when another boulder came crashing towards them their tactics weren’t as effective. Aerik cast a spell upon himself that made his skin as hard as rock, able to withstand most physical blows. Skippy had already had this cast upon himself. Nepiol summoned forth a wall of ice and placed it across the passage. Rainsong ran (fast like horse) down the passage and out the boulder’s path into one of the rooms. The boulder ripped through Nepiol’s wall of ice with a dramatic crash and crushed him into a gooey paste. Aerik and Skippy both were rolled over by the boulder, their skins of stone saved their lives, but they had the very unpleasant experience of feeling many tons of rock roll right over them. Not only was all their breath expelled from their lungs, but they lost appropriate matter from other openings as well. Rainsong left the room she was in when she heard the boulder stop. Trying to push it out of the way, she realized, that even with her great strength, she would not be able to. Sometimes bad magic do good things she thought. Luckily Nepiol’s magical ring, which slowly regenerated him, was not crushed. Skippy and Aerik, got up, dusted themselves off, cleaned their drawers as best they could and moved forward. The passage continued for just a little bit longer and opened up on a ledge overlooking the vale where the keep rested. They were met by four giants, though these were mountain giants, not the hill giants they had fought earlier. The giants spoke, in broken common, and asked this dynamic duo what they wanted. They told the giants that they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that the mage had been gone for many years and that they used to work for him. When Aerik asked whey they had attacked them, the giants said that they were trespassing and they were told to keep trespassers away. Somehow, the logic (or illogic) of the giants statement eluded Aerik, who questioned their tactics. So while Nepiol’s body slowly reforms from it’s watery magnificence and Rainsong ponders how to get up the mountain, possibly to find another entry, Aerik and Skippy are attempting to negotiate with these boorish brutes.
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Big Boulders, Bad Magic, Brown Stains and...
After arriving in Panderlach and being escorted by an acolyte of Klaag to the famous Golden Eel tavern, the party settled in for some dinner on this chill winter night. Only four days remained before the festival of Circumabulation and many people were out shopping. None of the party had ever been to Panderlach, so the sight of so many military personnel was a bit startling (roughly 1 in 20 persons found on the street wore an official uniform). Nepiol recommended delicious fish dishes for everyone, Rainsong had to spear her own fish from the giant tank at the front of the tavern. The Golden Eel was once a mighty sailing vessel, the largest Nepiol had ever seen, but for many years now had been permanently docked by her owner, a large sailor by the name of Khale. Khale, of course, had an obnoxious parrot on his shoulder. The food and drinks were excellent, Khale promised and delivered on the promise of exotic fare. As the party was ordering up another round of drinks, a patron stumbled forth into the very thick fog. His exit was followed by a blood-curdling scream and our heroes leaped up from their table and jumped out into the cold-winter fog. The fog was so thick that unless they were standing directly next to each the only sound they could make out was the sound of their allies fighting the undead who viciously attacked them. The party made quick work of these wights, though their life-draining touch was felt by Nepiol and Rainsong ("Undead very bad."). As the ten once-living bodies dropped to the ground the tavern-goers scrambled out a side door, and remained huddled in one of the common rooms for the evening. Skippy noticed a tattoo on one of the creatures "Payvin’s Pearl". Nepiol wrapped one of the bodies up in his dragon-scale cloak and carried it upstairs and hid it under his bed. "In case we need it." They all joined Khale, who was now alone downstairs for a couple more rounds before most everyone retired. Skippy stayed up late "singing" drinking songs with Khale.
Well rested everyone came downstairs and were informed by Khale that several city-guards came by already and wanted to speak with them. Skippy came downstairs, looking like he had had too much too drink, and this became quite obvious when he asked anyone who spoke to "Please be quiet." While nursing his hangover Skippy remembered the wight’s tattoo and asked Khale about it. Khale told them that he had heard of the Pearl, and they might go down towards the docks for more information. The city guards finally showed up and got the relevant information from the party and asked them to please keep Khale informed as to where they were going if they happened to leave the city, in case they were needed for anything else. After a hearty breakfast, they made their way down towards the docks and found out that Payvin’s Pearl was docked there and had been scheduled to leave about a week ago, but that Payvin had been spending his time at a local tavern after his whole crew jumped ship. Inquiring at the bar, the barkeep directed them towards a haggard looking man who apparently had done nothing but drink for the last week. He sat alone at a very small table. When they approached him, he wanted nothing to do with them until they bought him another round. After his whistle had been wet again, he asked what they wanted. When they asked him about his crew he informed them that there was no way his crew had jumped ship. He related his tale, that the night before they were heading out to sea Payvin returned to his ship to find no one aboard. Thinking was on the receiving end of a practical joke he looked around, but found nobody. But he did find something. As he looked up towards the mast he saw a red pair of eyes staring down at him. "The Devourer could have stolen your soul too, but has decided to let you live." The voice called out. Payvin leaped into the icy water and swam for shore as fast as he could. After having looked into the eyes of death itself, Payvin has sworn to never set foot on a ship again. His hands shook as he gulped down his last drink. When Nepiol asked if they could have permission to board his ship, Payvin told them didn’t care if they sank the Pearl, as he was never stepping on it again.
Boarding the Pearl, the party didn’t find much evidence of what had happened to Payvin’s crew, but they did find out that there had been ten crew members, the same amount of wights they had defeated the night before. Nepiol dove into the icy water and searched the muck of the harbor’s bottom for any clues. All he found was empty run bottles and other such debris. Returning to the Golden Eel, Nepiol made his upstairs for a warm bath after his very cold swim. After warming back up they went over what they knew: some creature, with red eyes, an unholy voice, the ability to drain people of their life essence had attacked the Pearl. Having no idea what, or who, this could be they consulted a sage. Hearing their dilemma, this sage asked for a 25 gp fee to direct to someone with more expertise in this matter. They reluctantly agreed to pay the steep sum, and were directed to a sage named Ahrens. But if they ever wanted any information on bugs, they should be sure to return...
Ahrens wasn’t quite sure how he could help the party until they mentioned the Devourer. He was a sage of words. Having no other avenues to explore they agreed to his 750gp/ day rate and returned to the Eel. Two days later, Ahrens had some information that they might find interesting. Seems their was an entity called the Devourer, who was mentioned in a discussion on the Negative Material Plane. Seems also that a powerful mage named Desatysso was very interested in this Devourer. Desatysso hadn’t been heard from in years, so Ahrens actually plumbed a little deeper and found out where his residence was located. He also gave the party a sketch of the sign of the Devourer that he unearthed in one of his texts. Not wanting to miss out on Circumambulation, the party stayed in the city for a while longer, exchanged gifts (most of which were goofy) and prepared themselves for a small trip up into the mountains to find the keep known as Burntrock. From the directions Ahrens had given them, the journey would probably take abut a day.
Getting up bright and early after the festivities, they headed out leaving a trail behind them in the early morning snow. They were able to follow the directions quite easily, and after securing their horses at the bottom of the mountain they had been told to climb, started their ascent. The injuries were minimal, the climbing was relatively easy, even for those members with no skill scaling cliffsides. As they approached the top they were ambushed by two hill giants who threw boulders at them. With spell and missile they dispatched the giants without too much difficulty and pulled themselves up into a small vale where they viewed the keep of the wizard Desatysso. Judging by the many holes in the keep’s wall, it seemed as if no one had lived here for some time. This also seemed evident by the lack of tending to the surrounding topiary.
As they approached the almost-ruins of the keep, they were ambushed by four more hill giants who leaped forth from the keep’s giant front doors. Two charged the party and two proceeded to start throwing boulders. Nepiol quickly activated his magic trident and summoned forth a dome of water that covered them, making only the giants legs visible. Rainsong was slightly shaken by this wall of water, but proceeded to attack the giants. Aerik found the space within the dome confining, but made his way forward anyway. Skippy was mesmerized by this wall of water. The giants, sensing that it would be difficult for them to attack backed out of the dome and when Nepiol deactivated it, all signs of them were gone. The doors to the keep were closed again and when they cautiously approached, they found them locked. No amount of budging or picking seemed to open them, so Skippy caused a portion of the door to vanish, allowing them easy entry. More bad magic. Nepiol checked inside quickly, so as to avoid being bashed in the skull by a giant club, but he found nothing, or no one inside. The investigation of the keep proved relatively uneventful. Most of the furnishings had long been destroyed. There was the still warm cinders of a fire in one room. And a seemingly magic blaze in another. When they approached the door to the tower of this small fortress, the flame leaped from the fireplace and grew to a living creature of flame over 16 feet in height. Although the creatures fiery touch caused significant damage, the band quickly dispelled it and entered the tower. Due to the gaping hole in the roof, the tower was now home to many pigeons who cooed loudly when the door was opened. As with the rest of the keep, the contents of what was once most likely the wizard’s lab, were destroyed. Searching through the rubble, Nepiol stumbled upon a small silver key.
Finding no other possible route for the giants then the passageway that seemed to wind it’s way up inside the great mountain. After exploring a narrow passageway in which the walls themselves constricted around Nepiol, crushing him with ease, before he leaped free, they made their way up the passage. They climbed for some time, the passage corkscrewing its way up the mountain, they heard a great rumbling and were appropriately frightened at the sight of a boulder the width of the passage hurtling towards them. Aerik acted quickly and put up a wall of force which stopped the rolling rock inches before it turned them all into a part of the passage floor. They quickly made their way down the passage and waited until the boulder came to a crashing stop, sealing off the passage. Skippy turned the massive boulder into a pebble and threw it outside. They began their ascent again, and this time when another boulder came crashing towards them their tactics weren’t as effective. Aerik cast a spell upon himself that made his skin as hard as rock, able to withstand most physical blows. Skippy had already had this cast upon himself. Nepiol summoned forth a wall of ice and placed it across the passage. Rainsong ran (fast like horse) down the passage and out the boulder’s path into one of the rooms. The boulder ripped through Nepiol’s wall of ice with a dramatic crash and crushed him into a gooey paste. Aerik and Skippy both were rolled over by the boulder, their skins of stone saved their lives, but they had the very unpleasant experience of feeling many tons of rock roll right over them. Not only was all their breath expelled from their lungs, but they lost appropriate matter from other openings as well. Rainsong left the room she was in when she heard the boulder stop. Trying to push it out of the way, she realized, that even with her great strength, she would not be able to. Sometimes bad magic do good things she thought. Luckily Nepiol’s magical ring, which slowly regenerated him, was not crushed. Skippy and Aerik, got up, dusted themselves off, cleaned their drawers as best they could and moved forward. The passage continued for just a little bit longer and opened up on a ledge overlooking the vale where the keep rested. They were met by four giants, though these were mountain giants, not the hill giants they had fought earlier. The giants spoke, in broken common, and asked this dynamic duo what they wanted. They told the giants that they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that the mage had been gone for many years and that they used to work for him. When Aerik asked whey they had attacked them, the giants said that they were trespassing and they were told to keep trespassers away. Somehow, the logic (or illogic) of the giants statement eluded Aerik, who questioned their tactics. So while Nepiol’s body slowly reforms from it’s watery magnificence and Rainsong ponders how to get up the mountain, possibly to find another entry, Aerik and Skippy are attempting to negotiate with these boorish brutes.