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Dreams of Erthe
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9323668" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 71: <em>THE BOOK OF DREAMS</em></strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 7/paladin 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 15</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Beetle Darkcloud, halfling ranger 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Robin the Balladeer, human bard 5</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 13 April 2024</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Ilyraena sat perched on the back of Wakuren's pachycephalosaurus mount, Persistence, with a little bit of trepidation. Her tribe didn't domesticate dinosaurs, so riding on one was a new experience for her, but the others made it look so easy, and the mount was clearly a plant-eater, but still.... She sat uncomfortably with her legs out stiff at each side, as if afraid to make more contact with the giant reptile than was absolutely necessary. Of course, the others had made it easy for her: they'd tied Persistence's reins to the saddle of Robin's mount, so the drow woman didn't have to do anything but just sit there as her mount plodded along behind Robin's own "bonehead."</p><p></p><p>Ilyraena was actually at the very back of a double-wide line (with one exception: Wakuren sat astride his cloud-horse Nimbus, directly above Zander Quilson on his pachycephalosaurus, Pachy), all following directly behind Beetle and Yellow-Belly. The jungle had grown in close all around them as they traveled along an animal trail, with the branches arched some 20 feet or so above them, blocking much of the sun's light - which was fine with the drow woman, for her race was adapted to darkness and preferred the nocturnal hours. The other three male drow the heroes from Armaturia had rescued had opted not to return to the tribe with Ilyraena; shamed at having been captured by orcs and rescued by these strangers from another continent, they had decided to continue on their interrupted hunt so they could return to the tribe with fresh game to cook.</p><p></p><p>The day had started that morning in the usual manner, with Alewyth casting a <em>heroes' feast</em> spell and Wakuren joining her in the ritual casting of an <em>endure elements</em> spell upon Xandro and Robin as well as themselves. Ilyraena had marveled at the ease by which the food had been conjured out of thin air, but had no compunctions about sharing the meal of magical fruits, nuts, breads and pastries, and sides of thick-cut meat. Zander had cast his standard <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself once they saddled up and began their day's trek to the west, off to the Forbidden Lands with a stop at the jungle drow's tribe along the way, since it was in the same direction in which they were headed.</p><p></p><p>There was some sort of commotion ahead, which Ilyraena couldn't quite see from the back of the line, but she heard the halfling call out "Swindlespitter," a word from his language with which she was familiar: it was a small dinosaur, slightly smaller than the halfling, known for robbing other dinosaurs of their eggs. She heard it hiss in surprise from somewhere beyond Beetle and Yellow-Belly, and saw the others ahead of her grab up their weapons: Xandro pulled out his <em>wand of sound burst</em> but was too far back in line to use it; Thurloe did the same with his bastard sword <em>Spellslicer</em>; while Robin pulled the lute from her back and began playing her song of inspirational courage. (The music was strange to Ilyraena, whose tribe knew only of flutes and rattles and drums, but she enjoyed the feelings of courage in inspired within her, despite not understanding any of the foreign words.)</p><p></p><p>At the front of the line, just behind Beetle and Yellow-Belly (who quickly joined Ilyraena at the back of the procession), Zander was peering to the left side of the jungle trail - from which the swindlespitter had emerged - trying to see if there were more of the little dinosaurs following behind. He sent off Petey to investigate, the pseudodragon flying from his master's shoulder through the foliage to the left, ducking and darting between tree limbs and trunks, but telepathically reported back the swindlespitter was alone. However, much farther ahead, the pseudodragon could see a familiar tyrannosaur form hunched forward, making its way stealthily through the jungle forest. He warned his master through the link they shared as sorcerer and familiar, and Zander warned the others in a quiet but insistent voice. Thurloe shaded his eyes with his hand and peered off through the trees to the right, but couldn't see anything moving in that direction.</p><p></p><p>None of the heroes or their mounts had advanced upon the startled swindlespitter, so it took the opportunity to dart back the way it had come - these strange creatures were much larger than its normal prey! It passed below Petey, unnoticed in its haste to flee; the pseudodragon had landed on a sturdy tree branch and its scales were blending it in with the background environment.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth's keen darkvision helped her see through the shadows of the dark forest and she'd actually spotted the creeping ceratosaur before it popped out onto the jungle trail, knocking over a tree or two in its haste. The dwarf cast a <em>hold monster</em> spell at it and it froze up in a heartbeat, a good indicator that the spell had had its desired effect. Ten feet high in the air, Wakuren spurred Nimbus forward, intent upon charging the frozen predator and slamming it with his <em>shield of Cal</em> while it was immobile. But in his eagerness, he ignored the movement coming at him from the right side of the jungle trail, and a second ceratosaur smashed its way forward through toppling trees and snapped him out of his saddle, pinning the surprised half-orc between a pair of powerful jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth the size of daggers. Then, for good measure, it shook its head back and forth, tearing through Wakuren's armor and flesh with each shake. The half-orc barely got the words to a <em>freedom of movement</em> spell past his lips, allowing him to slide out from between the jagged teeth and fall to the ground below, leaving a flustered Nimbus to spin in place in the air and strike out at the ceratosaur's head with a front hoof.</p><p></p><p>Xandro rode forward to the rescue, but rather than travel down the path in the open, he guided Ceph off to the right, dodging around trees as he tried to catch the second ceratosaur unawares. He cast a <em>heroism</em> spell upon himself as they made their way between the trees, the chords of Robin's inspirational song of courage buoying him for the upcoming battle. Thurloe followed in his wake, riding his own mount, Boney, on a parallel course.</p><p></p><p>Zander, however, opted not to advance at all but still bring the fight to the ceratosaur: without really thinking it through, he cast a <em>summon monster</em> spell that brought forth a blazing, humanoid form from the Elemental Plane of Fire manifesting directly on the forest trail. However, the fire-creature he brought forth stood a full 32 feet tall, so its head and shoulders ignited the leaves and branches above as it brought a flaming fist crashing into the surprised carnivore, who was still wondering what had happened to the juicy morsel it had just had in its mouth mere moments before. Its primitive mind had never before considered the possibility of a creature made entirely of fire, but it knew fire was dangerous and instinctively backed away - which brought Thurloe and Boney into its field of vision. Lurching forward in their direction, it snapped at the spellsword and snatched him up in its powerful jaws, ripping him out of the saddle and flinging him about like a rag doll. Alewyth approached on her own mount, Lapis, with her trusty dwarven warhammer <em>Sjondra</em> in hand; she chose to head straight down the jungle path, veering to the side only as she approached the fire elemental.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren stumbled to his feet, regained his bearings, and charged the ceratosaur that had bitten him and was now on its way to swallowing up Thurloe. The side of the <em>shield of Cal</em> slammed into the carnivore's leg, tearing a gash between its reptilian scales. Above him, Nimbus continued striking at the dinosaur's head with its hooves. Xandro rode up and swung at the beast with his rapier <em>Deathwhisper</em>, but the ceratosaur stepped away out of range at the last minute - entirely accidentally, as it swung the hapless Thurloe back and forth. Zander cast a <em>scorching ray</em> spell at the thing, catching it with two of the three rays, as Petey returned to the elf's shoulder, reporting back that the dinosaurs they were facing were the only ones in the immediate area.</p><p></p><p>The huge fire elemental stepped forward, striking at the two ceratosaurs with its burning fists. The first one's scales started on fire where the elemental struck it, but even that failed to break it from its magical suspension. The other dinosaur, already wounded by the previous attacks it had suffered, toppled over at this latest attack, its jaws slackening in death and allowing Thurloe to scramble out of its mouth as it struck the jungle floor. Dizzy from all the thrashing about, he staggered back over to Boney and leaped back into the saddle, then led the beast around the dead ceratosaur to go behind the one still held by Alewyth's spell.</p><p></p><p>But before the spellsword could get into position, the first carnivore's reptilian mind managed to finally shake off the effects of the <em>hold monster</em> spell. It stepped forward and snapped at Nimbus but apparently didn't like the taste of a creature made of slightly solidified cloud-stuff, for it didn't pursue trying to swallow him down. For his part, Nimbus merely allowed his semisolid form to flow out of the ceratosaur's mouth and reform into its normal, horselike configuration.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth stood up in her saddle and activated her <em>butterfly brooch</em>, causing insectoid wings to form from her back and carry her erratically into the air - she wished to bring <em>Sjondra</em> to the fight, but feared letting Lapis get that close to a predatory dinosaur that no doubt found pachycephalosaurus meat to be a fine dining experience. But as she closed the gap between them, Wakuren was channeling positive energy - of the type normally used to turn undead creatures away - into his <em>shield of Cal</em>, and turning to face the ceratosaur who'd tried eating his cloud-steed. Nimbus kicked it in the head for its effrontery but then wisely backed away, not having enjoyed the experience of having had a chunk of cloud-stuff bitten from his midsection. Xandro was riding forward, ready to engage with <em>Deathwhisper</em>, while Zander and Petey were backing away, keeping as far out of harm's way as was possible. But then the elemental sent its flaming fists crashing into either side of the dinosaur's head, and that was enough to drop it to the jungle floor, dead.</p><p></p><p>The immediate threat having been taken care of, Zander dismissed his elemental before it burned down any more of the jungle (fortunately, the trees overhead were still wet from a recent rain, so the fires started by the elemental's presence were already starting to flicker out), and Wakuren cast a pair of <em>mass cure light wounds</em> spells in sequence to deal with the worst of the damage he, Thurloe, and Nimbus had taken. Then, everyone got back into formation and the group continued on the way they'd been heading.</p><p></p><p>Before too long, however, they stopped to move Persistence up by Yellow-Belly, for they were veering off of the jungle path and following an unseen trail known only to Ilyraena. To the others, it seemed as if they were merely wandering through the jungle, but the drow woman recognized the landmarks telling her she was nearing her tribe's location. Before too long, she put her hands to her mouth and made the sound of a bird's cry, only to be answered in kind from somewhere up ahead. "We are nearly there!" she said, and Zander translated for the benefit of those without an active <em>tongues</em> spell up and running. Wakuren, knowing the fear his half-orc form would likely bring to the tribe of jungle drow, used the illusory powers of his <em>robe of blending</em> to take on the appearance of a drow male; then, realizing a drow male would be expected to be able to speak and understand the drow language, he hastily cast a <em>tongues</em> spell on himself to buoy up the illusion.</p><p></p><p>A jungle drow warrior, wearing little more than a loincloth and wielding a longspear, leaped down from a tree branch up ahead, and Ilyraena greeted him by name. "<strong>Gilgaesh</strong>," she said, "these strangers are friends. They rescued me and three others after we'd been captured by a band of orcs!" She then gave him a condensed version of her recent exploits in nearly becoming the latest Bride of Kapoona.</p><p></p><p>"I welcome you to our tribe," replied Gilgaesh formally. "There is a open grove nearby, in this direction" - here he pointed off to the north - "if you wish to leave your riding beasts there. There is a brook for water and plenty of undergrowth for them to feast upon." Beetle volunteered to take Nimbus and the dinosaurs there and stay with them, as Gilgaesh led the rest of the group down a sloping, dirt-packed ramp between two large trees; a wooden door had been placed there at the bottom, and he opened it up and ushered everyone inside - where they saw they were at the bottom of a massive, 10-foot-deep pit, surrounded on all sides above by thick trees clustered closely together, their roots occasionally hanging down the walls of the pit. "The trees keep the larger beasts at bay," he explained to the newcomers, before facing Ilyraena and giving her an update on the latest news.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Ranagar</strong> has made a formal challenge for leadership of the tribe," he told her. "<strong>Vhaundalan</strong> has until midnight to face him here in the combat arena, or forfeit his position forevermore. But he sleeps in his cave, and all of our efforts to awaken him have failed." This got the heroes' interest: another victim of the dream coma? Alewyth, through the magic of a <em>tongues</em> spell, explained their experience in such matters and their willingness to try to awaken Chieftain Vhaundalan.</p><p></p><p>About this time, a door to the south opened up and an attractive drow woman advanced. She too wore very little: a brief skirt wrapped around her hips and strips covering each breast and meeting at the back of the head, all seemingly made from the hide of a spotted creature very much like a leopard or cheetah. She introduced herself as <strong>Alaundria</strong>, the tribe's wise-woman. She agreed to allow the heroes to try to awaken Chieftain Vhaundalan from his sleep, leading them to an opening in the pit wall to the north, where a pair of male jungle drow wielding spears stood in readiness to defend the tribe's living areas. "Lay down the shield of friendship," she commanded, and the warriors hurried to obey, placing a wooden shield as tall as they were on the ground before them, spanning a series of flat rocks laid into the dirt across the width of the cave opening. They didn't explain the reason for this custom, but the heroes suspected it was bypassing some sort of trap; sure enough, one of the "flat rocks" was the upper surface of a basidirond, buried in a narrow pit the width of its own fungoid body, such that anyone stepping upon its "head" would trigger an explosion of deadly, hallucinogenic spores. But once everyone had crossed the shield of friendship, Alaundria led the heroes through several caverns until they got to the Cave of Supplication, an open cavern with a ledge at the back some 12 feet high, upon which stood a throne made of the bones of fearsome creatures. This, explained the wise-woman, was where Chieftain Vhaundalan would hear the petitions of his people for guidance. A narrow, natural stone stairway off to the side led to this higher level, at the back of which was the chieftain's personal sleeping cave. And there, asleep on a cot, lay the leader of the jungle drow tribe.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth explained the ritual they would be performing, and after listening politely, Alaundria excused herself. "I will let you get on with it. Ilyraena, Gilgaesh, if you will remain and observe the ritual, I will be in my own quarters seeking answers through visions. Please report back to me the success or failure of our new friends." And with that, she walked back down the single-file stairwell, returning to her own quarters at the south end of the combat pit.</p><p></p><p>The five dreamwalkers dragged the cot into the middle of the chieftain's sleeping cave, then each took out their dreamstone headbands and tied them into place, Alewyth doing likewise with a spare leather headband she tied around Vhaundalan's brow, lining up the dreamstone so it sat in the center of his forehead. It seemed that Ilyraena and Gilgaesh would be watching over their sleeping forms while they entered the Dreamlands, but so would Robin, Petey, and - once activated by Zander - the living form of the <em>jade cooshee</em> statuette the elf sorcerer carried with him. Robin got out her lute and began playing a gentle lullaby, aiding the dreamwalkers as they settled their minds and nodded off to sleep.</p><p></p><p>Oddly enough, this time as each dreamwalker entered the Dreamlands, they went immediately into the chieftain's dreams; usually, they were each met by their moogle guide and escorted into the Corridor of Dreams, winding this way and that until they got to the one specific door out of thousands that led to the dream they sought. "Odd," remarked Xandro. But then he got a good look at the dreamscape and all concerns about why this time it was different fled his immediate attention.</p><p></p><p>Chieftain Vhaundalan lay, naked and spreadeagled, on the dirt floor of the combat arena. Wrapped around each ankle and wrist was a serpentine figure the dreamwalkers identified immediately as a hypnalis viper, creations of the Nightmare King, whose magical venom put the dreamer into a dream coma if the snake bit the dream-version in his or her personal dreamscape. Standing before Chieftain Vhaundalan was another black-skinned drow warrior, this one wearing an elaborate headdress and wielding a spear and a wooden shield upon which was painted a coiled serpent. "This is what will happen tonight if you face me in the combat pit," the helmeted warrior - obviously Ranagar, although the heroes had yet to meet him in the Waking World - sneered, stabbing down with the point of his spear and quickly castrating the tribal leader. Chieftain Vhaundalan howled in pain as blood spurted from his wound--</p><p></p><p>--only for time to skip back a moment, with the helpless chieftain still spreadeagled and unable to resist but his body still intact. "Face me in combat, and become a eunuch!" sneered Ranagar, once more stabbing forward with the point of his spear and slicing off his leader's genitals, which plopped onto the dirt with a wet sound as blood gushed from the wound. It was quite apparent this was one of those dreams that was going to go over the same event time and time again, with Chieftain Vhaundalan getting to experience castration over and over again.</p><p></p><p>Without Robin present, Xandro took it upon himself to supply the others with the song of inspirational courage. Pulling the <em>Dardolian Lute</em> from his back, he started the initial words to the song, then noticed the unmoving form of a drow woman lying in the dirt along the edge of the pit. He moved over beside her, reaching down and feeling for a pulse, but there was none - Alaundria the wise-woman was quite dead in this dreamscape.</p><p></p><p>Zander stepped forward and cast a <em>chain lighting</em> spell, targeting one of the hypnalis vipers and arcing the electricity off to strike the other three; he wasn't sure yet what would happen if they took Ranagar out this quickly, for he seemed to be leading this dreamscape. (<em>Was he a dreamwalker himself?</em> the elf wondered.) The sorcerer's spell slew the initial target, the viper coiled around Chief Vhaundalan's left foot, but the drow leader was curled up in the fetal position, cradling the area where his genitals had once been.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe charged the other hypnalis viper on Vhaundalan's left side, the one coiled around his wrist. The spellsword activated his <em>torc of the titans</em>, adding additional strength to his swing. The blade cut deep but the viper struck back, sinking its teeth into the spellsword's shoulder and pumping him full of its venom. But Thurloe wasn't the least bit concerned, for the <em>heroes' feast</em> he'd partaken of that morning made him immune to all poisons, and that carried over to his dream-form when he slept. The two serpents coiled at Vhaundalan's right side swung their bodies back, ready to strike out at anyone who approached.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth cast a <em>hold person</em> spell at Ranagar, but she could tell at once that it had no effect. Belatedly, she recalled that drow had an inherent resistance to spell energy and wondered if that has been the cause of her spell's failure. Wakuren charged forward, leading with his <em>shield of Cal</em>, slamming it into the drow warrior. He could tell he'd done some damage, but not as much as he would have hoped; it seemed Ranagar had some sort of magical protection - possibly a <em>stoneskin</em> spell? - in effect.</p><p></p><p>Zander cast another <em>chain lightning</em> spell, this time making Ranagar the prime target, but it fizzled upon contact with the drow spearman. Thurloe, using up another daily charge from his magical torc, decapitated the hypnalis viper coiled around Vhaundalan's left wrist, but he was in too much shock and pain to even notice. It didn't even register when the other two vipers released his right wrist and ankle, one slithering off to attack Thurloe and the other heading towards Wakuren. Alewyth cast a <em>sound burst</em> spell, placed to get both Ranagar and the hypnalis viper attacking Wakuren within range; the spell slew the serpent but left the drow still up and fighting.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren, no longer threatened by a hypnalis viper, slammed his shield into Ranagar's side again. Ranagar returned the attack, but did so in a very unusual manner: rather than use the spear in his hand, he leaned forward and bit at the half-orc's neck, scratching him with unseen claws from his hands as he did so. Wakuren could feel venom coursing through his system from the neck wound, but he was also protected from all types of poisons due to that morning's <em>heroes' feast</em>. Ranagar snarled in irritation.</p><p></p><p>Xandro continued playing his song of inspirational courage, but after seeing Ranagar bite Wakuren he became worried the drow might actually be a vampire. He looked down at Alaundria's corpse, seeking puncture wounds on her neck, but there were none. Nor, now that he thought about it, were there any signs of how she might have been slain, for her body seemed unmarked by any type of wound.</p><p></p><p>Zander tried casting a <em>feeblemind</em> spell at Ranagar but came up against the drow's innate spell resistance, and it had no effect whatsoever. Thurloe had better luck with the last hypnalis viper, slaying it with a pair of deep cuts from <em>Spellslicer</em>. And Vhaundalan, finally noticing he was no longer bound by the coiled serpents, started crawling to the edge of the combat pit, leaving a trail of blood from his spurting wound as he did so.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth ran up to him and, wincing at the horrid wound, placed her hand upon the area and cast a <em>cure critical wounds</em> spell upon it. The healing energy sealed up the chieftain's wound and stopped the bleeding, but his severed organs still lay in the dirt where they'd landed after his most recent - and, it seemed, permanent - castration. He looked up at the dwarf with an expression of gratitude and eternal sorrow.</p><p></p><p>Ranagar suddenly backed up and touched a hand to his hip - and then grinned evilly as the wounds he'd sustained all healed back up instantly. Wakuren looked on in shock as he realized the drow had just somehow cast a <em>heal</em> spell upon himself - and it was bothering him, but he was fairly sure he'd seen that "hand to the hip" gesture somewhere recently - but where? But deciding they needed to gang up on Ranagar if they were going to take him down, he raced around the drow to get behind him, knowing he was stepping on the flat stones by the entrance of the cavern network at the north end of the pit; hopefully whatever trap the shield of friendship overcame wasn't present in this dreamscape. It apparently wasn't, for Wakuren felt no ill effects from standing on the flat stones, but the <em>bestow curse</em> spell he tried casting on Ranagar got him nowhere.</p><p></p><p>So, the half-orc tried a different tactic. "Xandro!" he called. "Get him!"</p><p></p><p>Xandro set the <em>Dardolian Lute</em> down beside Alaundria's body and ran to the drow warrior, drawing <em>Deathwhisper</em> from the scabbard at his hip as he did so. The magic rapier stabbed deep into the drow's torso, causing him to spill a stream of blood from his lips. Zander was right there behind the rogue, casting a spell he knew <em>would</em> have an effect: a <em>haste</em> spell encompassing all five of the dreamwalkers. The extra burst of speed allowed Thurloe to cross the combat pit and strike at Ranagar from behind, and while his bastard sword did no actual damage to the drow challenger, its mere touch allowed it to do one of its primary abilities: dispel illusions. Suddenly, standing there surrounded by heroes was no longer Ranagar, drow warrior, but a nine-foot-tall woman of obese proportions, with long, stringy hair. Wakuren immediately recalled where he'd seen the "tap and heal" maneuver performed: it was while fighting the dreamthief hag in the alternate Dreamscape where they'd each gained their spirit kaiju. This being before them, <strong>Jabissa</strong>, was another of that vile race, hags who could carve out their own "pocket dreamscapes" undetectable by even the moogles who ran the Dreamlands.</p><p></p><p>As Alewyth cast a <em>harm</em> spell at Jabissa - which, unfortunately, fizzled away as had so many of their spells during this battle - Wakuren recalled another fact about dreamthief hags: they brought their own physical bodies into the dreamscapes they created. That meant this wasn't just a dream-body they were fighting, it was the one and only Jabissa. If the hag managed to "kill" any of the dreamwalkers in this battle, they'd merely wake up back on the Mortal World, but if they managed to kill Jabissa here, she'd be as dead as if they'd slain her in the Material Plane.</p><p></p><p>Jabissa leaned forward and bit at Xandro, once again snarling in disappointment when her venom seemed to have no effect. But then Wakuren slammed at her again with his <em>shield of Cal</em>, after he'd channeled Cal's smiting energy into it, for although he could detect no telltale source of evil emanating from the hag's aura, he knew good and well she was evil as could be (and there were various ways to hide one's evil alignment from detection). She roared in pain and fury at the attack, and then once again as Xandro stabbed her in the spleen with his rapier. Zander tried another <em>chain lightning</em> spell on the hag, and this time he successfully got the spell past her innate resistance, dealing her a considerable amount of damage. Thurloe channeled the last daily charge of strength-enhancing power from his magical torc and brought his bastard spell cutting deep into Jabissa's side. Even Alewyth got into the action, stepping up and swinging <em>Sjondra</em> down onto one of the hag's kneecaps.</p><p></p><p>By this time, Jabissa had had enough of this dreamscape combat against these wretched foreigners. She hoped the tortures she'd made Chieftain Vhaundalan experience here in her hellish dreamscape would be enough to plant the fear of Ranagar into him, such that when he faced the drow challenger he'd be off his game enough to allow Ranagar to take over the tribe. Then, in her guise as Alaundria - for the real wise-woman was trapped in her own dream coma back in her sleeping chamber, a victim not of a hypnalis viper like Chieftain Vhaundalan here but having been trapped within Jabissa's <em>book of dreams</em> - she'd be the de facto ruler of these jungle drow, using Ranagar as her fearful puppet (for he'd well know whatever she had done to Vhaundalan could easily be done to him, if he failed to heed her every command). But all of her plans required her to continue to live, and it was looking like that wasn't a likely outcome if she hung around here with these interfering dreamwalkers. She opened a gateway through the Ethereal Plane back to the Waking World, but in doing so she opened herself up to numerous attacks from the dreamwalkers' weapons; still, she survived the cumulative assault and stepped back into Chieftain Vhaundalan's sleeping chamber, much to the surprise of those standing watch over the sleeping dreamwalkers, none of whom had expected the sudden appearance of a nine-foot-tall hag.</p><p></p><p>"We need to wake up!" cried Wakuren back in the dreamscape. calming his racing thoughts enough to focus upon waking himself back up. Beside him, the others did likewise.</p><p></p><p>Robin, who had been continuing to play the soft lullaby on her lute, immediately switched over to the song of inspirational courage as she saw her five companions starting to stir. Petey darted forward with the flapping of his little wings and stabbed at Jabissa with his tail-stinger, hitting but failing to penetrate her thick hide deep enough to inject enough of his sleep venom to make a difference. The cooshee likewise ran up to the hag and bit her, getting a good grip on her calf but unable to bring the massive bulk of the obese woman crashing to the floor. Jabissa kicked her leg out of the cooshee's mouth and slapped Petey away as if shooing a fly, before racing to the throne of bones - Gilgaesh was standing immediately before the stone stairway, which looked to be rather narrow for her use in any case - and leaped down the 12 feet to the floor below. Alewyth got a swat at her with <em>Sjondra</em> in passing, but it was Wakuren who was the first to rise himself from the sitting position around Chieftain Vhaundalan's cot and pursue the fleeing hag. Just as she was entering the central cavern, Wakuren got to the throne and was able to see her right arm as she ran around the corner, but that was enough for him to target her with a <em>chain lightning</em> spell, and that dropped her to the stone floor, quite dead.</p><p></p><p>Once the others gathered around the hag's corpse - to include Chieftain Vhaundalan, who had awakened with the heroes and was surprised to hear how long he'd been sleeping - Xandro gave her a quick pat-down. At her hip, she carried a tome of some sort in a cloth bag; pulling it out and flipping through its pages, he saw several illustrations of note: one of Ranagar castrating a bound and helpless Vhaundalan, and another a picture of Alaundria imprisoned within a cage of bones. The book was entitled simply, <em>The Book of Dreams</em>, but Wakuren surmised it was a variant of the dreamthief hag's standard <em>dreamstone</em>, into which she could imprison those she "slew" in their dreams.</p><p></p><p>"Can you take us to see Alaundria?" the half-orc, still in his guise as a drow male, asked. Ilyraena, with approval from the chieftain, led the way, filling in her leader on what all had transpired.</p><p></p><p>Alaundria lay upon her own sleeping cot in her quarters, a serpent coiled upon her stomach. Seeing it, Alewyth moved as if to attack it, but Chieftain Vhaundalan held her back. "That is <strong>Voivode</strong>," he explained. "It is her familiar, watching over her."</p><p></p><p>"Do we need to perform another dream ritual?" asked Thurloe.</p><p></p><p>"Not if this is what I think it is," Wakuren answered, holding up <em>The Book of Dreams</em>. He laid it upon the stone floor of the wise-woman's sleeping cave, and directed Zander to set it ablaze. One <em>scorching ray</em> spell later, the <em>Book of Dreams</em> was burning nicely and Alaundria blinked awake in confusion. What followed was a lot of explanations as to what had been going on for the last several days, starting with the heroes rescuing Ilyraena.</p><p></p><p>"This Ranagar was in league with the dreamthief hag," Alewyth finished up. "The torture you received in the dream was a ploy to break your confidence, so he'd be able to beat you in the combat arena." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "He was <em>cheating</em>," she affirmed, a concept she found abhorrent - if he doubted his ability to win the combat challenge, then he had no right making the challenge in the first place!</p><p></p><p>"Bring Ranagar to me," ordered Chieftain Vhaundalan, and Gilgaesh ran off to comply. Returning with the challenger for tribal leadership, Gilgaesh smiled as Ranagar saw his schemes having been undone, as testified by Jabissa's cooling corpse. "Your ploy has failed," the chieftain assured him. "I will accept your challenge for leadership immediately."</p><p></p><p>As per tribal custom, Ranagar could not back out of the challenge he had proffered. The entire tribe lined up along the edges of the combat pit, some sitting on the ground between the trees and others perched in the lower branches; the heroes joined them to watch the battle unfold. They were warned against any type of magical interference, as this was to be a combat pitting one leader against another, in a fight to the death using only shield and spear. Chieftain Vhaundalan's shield held the image of the head of a great, saber-fanged cat, while Ranagar's held the image of a coiled serpent - an image he had hoped the leader, after his dream-torture, would blanche at the very sight of. But such was not the case; Vhaundalan defeated Ranagar in the deadly combat without breaking a sweat. Only then, after Ranagar had been slain, did he pull the dagger from his belt and use it to cut out his opponent's heart, lift it in triumph before the cheering crowd, and eat it raw before them. Shouting in enthusiasm, the tribesfolk leaped back down into the combat arena, some stripping Ranagar's corpse while others started a blazing fire in the middle of the pit.</p><p></p><p>"Um, what's going on?" asked Xandro nervously.</p><p></p><p>"The chieftain prepares a feast in your honor!" Ilyraena replied, after Xandro's question had been repeated to her in her own tongue. "We will devour the body of the coward Ranagar, that he may serve us in the only way he possibly can!" It took some careful diplomacy on Alewyth's part to beg off on the offer of cannibalism, but she offered up a hearty slab of dinosaur meat they had waiting inside <em>Hesperna's lamp</em> and added it to the impromptu feast; the heroes all ensured it was the dinosaur meat they consumed in the feast that night, and not Ranagar's seared flesh. (Not even the drow wished to consume the dreamthief hag's corpse; she was dragged off far from the tribe's lair to be consumed by carrion-eaters.)</p><p></p><p>After everyone had been sated, Alaundria offered up rewards of her own for the heroes' aid: a pile of gourds containing potions she had brewed, as well as an offer to join her in a sweat lodge ritual. Alewyth thanked her for the first, storing them in the extradimensional gnomish candy dish she carried, and after consulting with the others, readily agreed to the second as well. Stripping down to nothing, they joined Alaundria in the sweat lodge at the lowest cavern in the wise-woman's part of the lair, and they watched as she added ladles of cool water to a red-hot stone in the center of the steam-chamber. Releasing their thoughts and letting the ritual overtake them, the heroes all saw shapes begin to form in the rising steam: it was Alewyth, <em>Sjondra</em> in hand, swinging at a pair of tendrils that danced before her like swaying serpents. But as she batted them away, another crept up behind her and pinned her arms to the side as it lifted her in the air. <em>Sjondra</em> dropped from numb fingers as the dwarven priestess was lifted into the open maw of something quite like a giant Venus fly-trap, being swallowed down in an instant. A bulbous growth started expanding at the base of the massive plant, and it suddenly burst open, revealing Alewyth standing there with a face devoid of expression. Wordlessly, she bent over and picked up her dwarven warhammer, then walked forward as if eager for combat, although the lack of movement on her face betrayed no such desire.</p><p></p><p>"Well, that's something I'm not particularly looking forward to," Alewyth admitted as the ritual completed and they all put back on their clothes and armor.</p><p></p><p>"It may not occur," pointed out Zander. "These are glimpses at possible futures - not all of them are set in stone."</p><p></p><p>"How far in the future?"</p><p></p><p>"Generally, within a week or so," replied Alaundria.</p><p></p><p>"Well then, we'll find out in the following week," replied the dwarf, tugging on her boots.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>That was indeed a hint at possible things to come, as the next adventure has them encountering a bodythief plant I discovered in a <em>Pathfinder Bestiary</em> and decided to write an adventure around. We'll see if it manages to devour Alewyth or not.</p><p></p><p>The players were glad to see another adventure taking place (at least partially) in the Dreamlands. I assured them they haven't seen the last of their dreamwalker skills being put to use in this campaign.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: My Einstein shirt, as it has him smoking a pipe whose smoke turns into galaxies - it's my "go to" shirt to represent the Dreamlands.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9323668, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 71: [I]THE BOOK OF DREAMS[/I][/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 15[/INDENT] [INDENT] Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 7/paladin 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 15[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Beetle Darkcloud, halfling ranger 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Robin the Balladeer, human bard 5[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 13 April 2024 - - - Ilyraena sat perched on the back of Wakuren's pachycephalosaurus mount, Persistence, with a little bit of trepidation. Her tribe didn't domesticate dinosaurs, so riding on one was a new experience for her, but the others made it look so easy, and the mount was clearly a plant-eater, but still.... She sat uncomfortably with her legs out stiff at each side, as if afraid to make more contact with the giant reptile than was absolutely necessary. Of course, the others had made it easy for her: they'd tied Persistence's reins to the saddle of Robin's mount, so the drow woman didn't have to do anything but just sit there as her mount plodded along behind Robin's own "bonehead." Ilyraena was actually at the very back of a double-wide line (with one exception: Wakuren sat astride his cloud-horse Nimbus, directly above Zander Quilson on his pachycephalosaurus, Pachy), all following directly behind Beetle and Yellow-Belly. The jungle had grown in close all around them as they traveled along an animal trail, with the branches arched some 20 feet or so above them, blocking much of the sun's light - which was fine with the drow woman, for her race was adapted to darkness and preferred the nocturnal hours. The other three male drow the heroes from Armaturia had rescued had opted not to return to the tribe with Ilyraena; shamed at having been captured by orcs and rescued by these strangers from another continent, they had decided to continue on their interrupted hunt so they could return to the tribe with fresh game to cook. The day had started that morning in the usual manner, with Alewyth casting a [I]heroes' feast[/I] spell and Wakuren joining her in the ritual casting of an [I]endure elements[/I] spell upon Xandro and Robin as well as themselves. Ilyraena had marveled at the ease by which the food had been conjured out of thin air, but had no compunctions about sharing the meal of magical fruits, nuts, breads and pastries, and sides of thick-cut meat. Zander had cast his standard [I]mage armor[/I] spell upon himself once they saddled up and began their day's trek to the west, off to the Forbidden Lands with a stop at the jungle drow's tribe along the way, since it was in the same direction in which they were headed. There was some sort of commotion ahead, which Ilyraena couldn't quite see from the back of the line, but she heard the halfling call out "Swindlespitter," a word from his language with which she was familiar: it was a small dinosaur, slightly smaller than the halfling, known for robbing other dinosaurs of their eggs. She heard it hiss in surprise from somewhere beyond Beetle and Yellow-Belly, and saw the others ahead of her grab up their weapons: Xandro pulled out his [I]wand of sound burst[/I] but was too far back in line to use it; Thurloe did the same with his bastard sword [I]Spellslicer[/I]; while Robin pulled the lute from her back and began playing her song of inspirational courage. (The music was strange to Ilyraena, whose tribe knew only of flutes and rattles and drums, but she enjoyed the feelings of courage in inspired within her, despite not understanding any of the foreign words.) At the front of the line, just behind Beetle and Yellow-Belly (who quickly joined Ilyraena at the back of the procession), Zander was peering to the left side of the jungle trail - from which the swindlespitter had emerged - trying to see if there were more of the little dinosaurs following behind. He sent off Petey to investigate, the pseudodragon flying from his master's shoulder through the foliage to the left, ducking and darting between tree limbs and trunks, but telepathically reported back the swindlespitter was alone. However, much farther ahead, the pseudodragon could see a familiar tyrannosaur form hunched forward, making its way stealthily through the jungle forest. He warned his master through the link they shared as sorcerer and familiar, and Zander warned the others in a quiet but insistent voice. Thurloe shaded his eyes with his hand and peered off through the trees to the right, but couldn't see anything moving in that direction. None of the heroes or their mounts had advanced upon the startled swindlespitter, so it took the opportunity to dart back the way it had come - these strange creatures were much larger than its normal prey! It passed below Petey, unnoticed in its haste to flee; the pseudodragon had landed on a sturdy tree branch and its scales were blending it in with the background environment. Alewyth's keen darkvision helped her see through the shadows of the dark forest and she'd actually spotted the creeping ceratosaur before it popped out onto the jungle trail, knocking over a tree or two in its haste. The dwarf cast a [I]hold monster[/I] spell at it and it froze up in a heartbeat, a good indicator that the spell had had its desired effect. Ten feet high in the air, Wakuren spurred Nimbus forward, intent upon charging the frozen predator and slamming it with his [I]shield of Cal[/I] while it was immobile. But in his eagerness, he ignored the movement coming at him from the right side of the jungle trail, and a second ceratosaur smashed its way forward through toppling trees and snapped him out of his saddle, pinning the surprised half-orc between a pair of powerful jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth the size of daggers. Then, for good measure, it shook its head back and forth, tearing through Wakuren's armor and flesh with each shake. The half-orc barely got the words to a [I]freedom of movement[/I] spell past his lips, allowing him to slide out from between the jagged teeth and fall to the ground below, leaving a flustered Nimbus to spin in place in the air and strike out at the ceratosaur's head with a front hoof. Xandro rode forward to the rescue, but rather than travel down the path in the open, he guided Ceph off to the right, dodging around trees as he tried to catch the second ceratosaur unawares. He cast a [I]heroism[/I] spell upon himself as they made their way between the trees, the chords of Robin's inspirational song of courage buoying him for the upcoming battle. Thurloe followed in his wake, riding his own mount, Boney, on a parallel course. Zander, however, opted not to advance at all but still bring the fight to the ceratosaur: without really thinking it through, he cast a [I]summon monster[/I] spell that brought forth a blazing, humanoid form from the Elemental Plane of Fire manifesting directly on the forest trail. However, the fire-creature he brought forth stood a full 32 feet tall, so its head and shoulders ignited the leaves and branches above as it brought a flaming fist crashing into the surprised carnivore, who was still wondering what had happened to the juicy morsel it had just had in its mouth mere moments before. Its primitive mind had never before considered the possibility of a creature made entirely of fire, but it knew fire was dangerous and instinctively backed away - which brought Thurloe and Boney into its field of vision. Lurching forward in their direction, it snapped at the spellsword and snatched him up in its powerful jaws, ripping him out of the saddle and flinging him about like a rag doll. Alewyth approached on her own mount, Lapis, with her trusty dwarven warhammer [I]Sjondra[/I] in hand; she chose to head straight down the jungle path, veering to the side only as she approached the fire elemental. Wakuren stumbled to his feet, regained his bearings, and charged the ceratosaur that had bitten him and was now on its way to swallowing up Thurloe. The side of the [I]shield of Cal[/I] slammed into the carnivore's leg, tearing a gash between its reptilian scales. Above him, Nimbus continued striking at the dinosaur's head with its hooves. Xandro rode up and swung at the beast with his rapier [I]Deathwhisper[/I], but the ceratosaur stepped away out of range at the last minute - entirely accidentally, as it swung the hapless Thurloe back and forth. Zander cast a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell at the thing, catching it with two of the three rays, as Petey returned to the elf's shoulder, reporting back that the dinosaurs they were facing were the only ones in the immediate area. The huge fire elemental stepped forward, striking at the two ceratosaurs with its burning fists. The first one's scales started on fire where the elemental struck it, but even that failed to break it from its magical suspension. The other dinosaur, already wounded by the previous attacks it had suffered, toppled over at this latest attack, its jaws slackening in death and allowing Thurloe to scramble out of its mouth as it struck the jungle floor. Dizzy from all the thrashing about, he staggered back over to Boney and leaped back into the saddle, then led the beast around the dead ceratosaur to go behind the one still held by Alewyth's spell. But before the spellsword could get into position, the first carnivore's reptilian mind managed to finally shake off the effects of the [I]hold monster[/I] spell. It stepped forward and snapped at Nimbus but apparently didn't like the taste of a creature made of slightly solidified cloud-stuff, for it didn't pursue trying to swallow him down. For his part, Nimbus merely allowed his semisolid form to flow out of the ceratosaur's mouth and reform into its normal, horselike configuration. Alewyth stood up in her saddle and activated her [I]butterfly brooch[/I], causing insectoid wings to form from her back and carry her erratically into the air - she wished to bring [I]Sjondra[/I] to the fight, but feared letting Lapis get that close to a predatory dinosaur that no doubt found pachycephalosaurus meat to be a fine dining experience. But as she closed the gap between them, Wakuren was channeling positive energy - of the type normally used to turn undead creatures away - into his [I]shield of Cal[/I], and turning to face the ceratosaur who'd tried eating his cloud-steed. Nimbus kicked it in the head for its effrontery but then wisely backed away, not having enjoyed the experience of having had a chunk of cloud-stuff bitten from his midsection. Xandro was riding forward, ready to engage with [I]Deathwhisper[/I], while Zander and Petey were backing away, keeping as far out of harm's way as was possible. But then the elemental sent its flaming fists crashing into either side of the dinosaur's head, and that was enough to drop it to the jungle floor, dead. The immediate threat having been taken care of, Zander dismissed his elemental before it burned down any more of the jungle (fortunately, the trees overhead were still wet from a recent rain, so the fires started by the elemental's presence were already starting to flicker out), and Wakuren cast a pair of [I]mass cure light wounds[/I] spells in sequence to deal with the worst of the damage he, Thurloe, and Nimbus had taken. Then, everyone got back into formation and the group continued on the way they'd been heading. Before too long, however, they stopped to move Persistence up by Yellow-Belly, for they were veering off of the jungle path and following an unseen trail known only to Ilyraena. To the others, it seemed as if they were merely wandering through the jungle, but the drow woman recognized the landmarks telling her she was nearing her tribe's location. Before too long, she put her hands to her mouth and made the sound of a bird's cry, only to be answered in kind from somewhere up ahead. "We are nearly there!" she said, and Zander translated for the benefit of those without an active [I]tongues[/I] spell up and running. Wakuren, knowing the fear his half-orc form would likely bring to the tribe of jungle drow, used the illusory powers of his [I]robe of blending[/I] to take on the appearance of a drow male; then, realizing a drow male would be expected to be able to speak and understand the drow language, he hastily cast a [I]tongues[/I] spell on himself to buoy up the illusion. A jungle drow warrior, wearing little more than a loincloth and wielding a longspear, leaped down from a tree branch up ahead, and Ilyraena greeted him by name. "[B]Gilgaesh[/B]," she said, "these strangers are friends. They rescued me and three others after we'd been captured by a band of orcs!" She then gave him a condensed version of her recent exploits in nearly becoming the latest Bride of Kapoona. "I welcome you to our tribe," replied Gilgaesh formally. "There is a open grove nearby, in this direction" - here he pointed off to the north - "if you wish to leave your riding beasts there. There is a brook for water and plenty of undergrowth for them to feast upon." Beetle volunteered to take Nimbus and the dinosaurs there and stay with them, as Gilgaesh led the rest of the group down a sloping, dirt-packed ramp between two large trees; a wooden door had been placed there at the bottom, and he opened it up and ushered everyone inside - where they saw they were at the bottom of a massive, 10-foot-deep pit, surrounded on all sides above by thick trees clustered closely together, their roots occasionally hanging down the walls of the pit. "The trees keep the larger beasts at bay," he explained to the newcomers, before facing Ilyraena and giving her an update on the latest news. "[B]Ranagar[/B] has made a formal challenge for leadership of the tribe," he told her. "[B]Vhaundalan[/B] has until midnight to face him here in the combat arena, or forfeit his position forevermore. But he sleeps in his cave, and all of our efforts to awaken him have failed." This got the heroes' interest: another victim of the dream coma? Alewyth, through the magic of a [I]tongues[/I] spell, explained their experience in such matters and their willingness to try to awaken Chieftain Vhaundalan. About this time, a door to the south opened up and an attractive drow woman advanced. She too wore very little: a brief skirt wrapped around her hips and strips covering each breast and meeting at the back of the head, all seemingly made from the hide of a spotted creature very much like a leopard or cheetah. She introduced herself as [B]Alaundria[/B], the tribe's wise-woman. She agreed to allow the heroes to try to awaken Chieftain Vhaundalan from his sleep, leading them to an opening in the pit wall to the north, where a pair of male jungle drow wielding spears stood in readiness to defend the tribe's living areas. "Lay down the shield of friendship," she commanded, and the warriors hurried to obey, placing a wooden shield as tall as they were on the ground before them, spanning a series of flat rocks laid into the dirt across the width of the cave opening. They didn't explain the reason for this custom, but the heroes suspected it was bypassing some sort of trap; sure enough, one of the "flat rocks" was the upper surface of a basidirond, buried in a narrow pit the width of its own fungoid body, such that anyone stepping upon its "head" would trigger an explosion of deadly, hallucinogenic spores. But once everyone had crossed the shield of friendship, Alaundria led the heroes through several caverns until they got to the Cave of Supplication, an open cavern with a ledge at the back some 12 feet high, upon which stood a throne made of the bones of fearsome creatures. This, explained the wise-woman, was where Chieftain Vhaundalan would hear the petitions of his people for guidance. A narrow, natural stone stairway off to the side led to this higher level, at the back of which was the chieftain's personal sleeping cave. And there, asleep on a cot, lay the leader of the jungle drow tribe. Alewyth explained the ritual they would be performing, and after listening politely, Alaundria excused herself. "I will let you get on with it. Ilyraena, Gilgaesh, if you will remain and observe the ritual, I will be in my own quarters seeking answers through visions. Please report back to me the success or failure of our new friends." And with that, she walked back down the single-file stairwell, returning to her own quarters at the south end of the combat pit. The five dreamwalkers dragged the cot into the middle of the chieftain's sleeping cave, then each took out their dreamstone headbands and tied them into place, Alewyth doing likewise with a spare leather headband she tied around Vhaundalan's brow, lining up the dreamstone so it sat in the center of his forehead. It seemed that Ilyraena and Gilgaesh would be watching over their sleeping forms while they entered the Dreamlands, but so would Robin, Petey, and - once activated by Zander - the living form of the [I]jade cooshee[/I] statuette the elf sorcerer carried with him. Robin got out her lute and began playing a gentle lullaby, aiding the dreamwalkers as they settled their minds and nodded off to sleep. Oddly enough, this time as each dreamwalker entered the Dreamlands, they went immediately into the chieftain's dreams; usually, they were each met by their moogle guide and escorted into the Corridor of Dreams, winding this way and that until they got to the one specific door out of thousands that led to the dream they sought. "Odd," remarked Xandro. But then he got a good look at the dreamscape and all concerns about why this time it was different fled his immediate attention. Chieftain Vhaundalan lay, naked and spreadeagled, on the dirt floor of the combat arena. Wrapped around each ankle and wrist was a serpentine figure the dreamwalkers identified immediately as a hypnalis viper, creations of the Nightmare King, whose magical venom put the dreamer into a dream coma if the snake bit the dream-version in his or her personal dreamscape. Standing before Chieftain Vhaundalan was another black-skinned drow warrior, this one wearing an elaborate headdress and wielding a spear and a wooden shield upon which was painted a coiled serpent. "This is what will happen tonight if you face me in the combat pit," the helmeted warrior - obviously Ranagar, although the heroes had yet to meet him in the Waking World - sneered, stabbing down with the point of his spear and quickly castrating the tribal leader. Chieftain Vhaundalan howled in pain as blood spurted from his wound-- --only for time to skip back a moment, with the helpless chieftain still spreadeagled and unable to resist but his body still intact. "Face me in combat, and become a eunuch!" sneered Ranagar, once more stabbing forward with the point of his spear and slicing off his leader's genitals, which plopped onto the dirt with a wet sound as blood gushed from the wound. It was quite apparent this was one of those dreams that was going to go over the same event time and time again, with Chieftain Vhaundalan getting to experience castration over and over again. Without Robin present, Xandro took it upon himself to supply the others with the song of inspirational courage. Pulling the [I]Dardolian Lute[/I] from his back, he started the initial words to the song, then noticed the unmoving form of a drow woman lying in the dirt along the edge of the pit. He moved over beside her, reaching down and feeling for a pulse, but there was none - Alaundria the wise-woman was quite dead in this dreamscape. Zander stepped forward and cast a [I]chain lighting[/I] spell, targeting one of the hypnalis vipers and arcing the electricity off to strike the other three; he wasn't sure yet what would happen if they took Ranagar out this quickly, for he seemed to be leading this dreamscape. ([I]Was he a dreamwalker himself?[/I] the elf wondered.) The sorcerer's spell slew the initial target, the viper coiled around Chief Vhaundalan's left foot, but the drow leader was curled up in the fetal position, cradling the area where his genitals had once been. Thurloe charged the other hypnalis viper on Vhaundalan's left side, the one coiled around his wrist. The spellsword activated his [I]torc of the titans[/I], adding additional strength to his swing. The blade cut deep but the viper struck back, sinking its teeth into the spellsword's shoulder and pumping him full of its venom. But Thurloe wasn't the least bit concerned, for the [I]heroes' feast[/I] he'd partaken of that morning made him immune to all poisons, and that carried over to his dream-form when he slept. The two serpents coiled at Vhaundalan's right side swung their bodies back, ready to strike out at anyone who approached. Alewyth cast a [I]hold person[/I] spell at Ranagar, but she could tell at once that it had no effect. Belatedly, she recalled that drow had an inherent resistance to spell energy and wondered if that has been the cause of her spell's failure. Wakuren charged forward, leading with his [I]shield of Cal[/I], slamming it into the drow warrior. He could tell he'd done some damage, but not as much as he would have hoped; it seemed Ranagar had some sort of magical protection - possibly a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell? - in effect. Zander cast another [I]chain lightning[/I] spell, this time making Ranagar the prime target, but it fizzled upon contact with the drow spearman. Thurloe, using up another daily charge from his magical torc, decapitated the hypnalis viper coiled around Vhaundalan's left wrist, but he was in too much shock and pain to even notice. It didn't even register when the other two vipers released his right wrist and ankle, one slithering off to attack Thurloe and the other heading towards Wakuren. Alewyth cast a [I]sound burst[/I] spell, placed to get both Ranagar and the hypnalis viper attacking Wakuren within range; the spell slew the serpent but left the drow still up and fighting. Wakuren, no longer threatened by a hypnalis viper, slammed his shield into Ranagar's side again. Ranagar returned the attack, but did so in a very unusual manner: rather than use the spear in his hand, he leaned forward and bit at the half-orc's neck, scratching him with unseen claws from his hands as he did so. Wakuren could feel venom coursing through his system from the neck wound, but he was also protected from all types of poisons due to that morning's [I]heroes' feast[/I]. Ranagar snarled in irritation. Xandro continued playing his song of inspirational courage, but after seeing Ranagar bite Wakuren he became worried the drow might actually be a vampire. He looked down at Alaundria's corpse, seeking puncture wounds on her neck, but there were none. Nor, now that he thought about it, were there any signs of how she might have been slain, for her body seemed unmarked by any type of wound. Zander tried casting a [I]feeblemind[/I] spell at Ranagar but came up against the drow's innate spell resistance, and it had no effect whatsoever. Thurloe had better luck with the last hypnalis viper, slaying it with a pair of deep cuts from [I]Spellslicer[/I]. And Vhaundalan, finally noticing he was no longer bound by the coiled serpents, started crawling to the edge of the combat pit, leaving a trail of blood from his spurting wound as he did so. Alewyth ran up to him and, wincing at the horrid wound, placed her hand upon the area and cast a [I]cure critical wounds[/I] spell upon it. The healing energy sealed up the chieftain's wound and stopped the bleeding, but his severed organs still lay in the dirt where they'd landed after his most recent - and, it seemed, permanent - castration. He looked up at the dwarf with an expression of gratitude and eternal sorrow. Ranagar suddenly backed up and touched a hand to his hip - and then grinned evilly as the wounds he'd sustained all healed back up instantly. Wakuren looked on in shock as he realized the drow had just somehow cast a [I]heal[/I] spell upon himself - and it was bothering him, but he was fairly sure he'd seen that "hand to the hip" gesture somewhere recently - but where? But deciding they needed to gang up on Ranagar if they were going to take him down, he raced around the drow to get behind him, knowing he was stepping on the flat stones by the entrance of the cavern network at the north end of the pit; hopefully whatever trap the shield of friendship overcame wasn't present in this dreamscape. It apparently wasn't, for Wakuren felt no ill effects from standing on the flat stones, but the [I]bestow curse[/I] spell he tried casting on Ranagar got him nowhere. So, the half-orc tried a different tactic. "Xandro!" he called. "Get him!" Xandro set the [I]Dardolian Lute[/I] down beside Alaundria's body and ran to the drow warrior, drawing [I]Deathwhisper[/I] from the scabbard at his hip as he did so. The magic rapier stabbed deep into the drow's torso, causing him to spill a stream of blood from his lips. Zander was right there behind the rogue, casting a spell he knew [I]would[/I] have an effect: a [I]haste[/I] spell encompassing all five of the dreamwalkers. The extra burst of speed allowed Thurloe to cross the combat pit and strike at Ranagar from behind, and while his bastard sword did no actual damage to the drow challenger, its mere touch allowed it to do one of its primary abilities: dispel illusions. Suddenly, standing there surrounded by heroes was no longer Ranagar, drow warrior, but a nine-foot-tall woman of obese proportions, with long, stringy hair. Wakuren immediately recalled where he'd seen the "tap and heal" maneuver performed: it was while fighting the dreamthief hag in the alternate Dreamscape where they'd each gained their spirit kaiju. This being before them, [B]Jabissa[/B], was another of that vile race, hags who could carve out their own "pocket dreamscapes" undetectable by even the moogles who ran the Dreamlands. As Alewyth cast a [I]harm[/I] spell at Jabissa - which, unfortunately, fizzled away as had so many of their spells during this battle - Wakuren recalled another fact about dreamthief hags: they brought their own physical bodies into the dreamscapes they created. That meant this wasn't just a dream-body they were fighting, it was the one and only Jabissa. If the hag managed to "kill" any of the dreamwalkers in this battle, they'd merely wake up back on the Mortal World, but if they managed to kill Jabissa here, she'd be as dead as if they'd slain her in the Material Plane. Jabissa leaned forward and bit at Xandro, once again snarling in disappointment when her venom seemed to have no effect. But then Wakuren slammed at her again with his [I]shield of Cal[/I], after he'd channeled Cal's smiting energy into it, for although he could detect no telltale source of evil emanating from the hag's aura, he knew good and well she was evil as could be (and there were various ways to hide one's evil alignment from detection). She roared in pain and fury at the attack, and then once again as Xandro stabbed her in the spleen with his rapier. Zander tried another [I]chain lightning[/I] spell on the hag, and this time he successfully got the spell past her innate resistance, dealing her a considerable amount of damage. Thurloe channeled the last daily charge of strength-enhancing power from his magical torc and brought his bastard spell cutting deep into Jabissa's side. Even Alewyth got into the action, stepping up and swinging [I]Sjondra[/I] down onto one of the hag's kneecaps. By this time, Jabissa had had enough of this dreamscape combat against these wretched foreigners. She hoped the tortures she'd made Chieftain Vhaundalan experience here in her hellish dreamscape would be enough to plant the fear of Ranagar into him, such that when he faced the drow challenger he'd be off his game enough to allow Ranagar to take over the tribe. Then, in her guise as Alaundria - for the real wise-woman was trapped in her own dream coma back in her sleeping chamber, a victim not of a hypnalis viper like Chieftain Vhaundalan here but having been trapped within Jabissa's [I]book of dreams[/I] - she'd be the de facto ruler of these jungle drow, using Ranagar as her fearful puppet (for he'd well know whatever she had done to Vhaundalan could easily be done to him, if he failed to heed her every command). But all of her plans required her to continue to live, and it was looking like that wasn't a likely outcome if she hung around here with these interfering dreamwalkers. She opened a gateway through the Ethereal Plane back to the Waking World, but in doing so she opened herself up to numerous attacks from the dreamwalkers' weapons; still, she survived the cumulative assault and stepped back into Chieftain Vhaundalan's sleeping chamber, much to the surprise of those standing watch over the sleeping dreamwalkers, none of whom had expected the sudden appearance of a nine-foot-tall hag. "We need to wake up!" cried Wakuren back in the dreamscape. calming his racing thoughts enough to focus upon waking himself back up. Beside him, the others did likewise. Robin, who had been continuing to play the soft lullaby on her lute, immediately switched over to the song of inspirational courage as she saw her five companions starting to stir. Petey darted forward with the flapping of his little wings and stabbed at Jabissa with his tail-stinger, hitting but failing to penetrate her thick hide deep enough to inject enough of his sleep venom to make a difference. The cooshee likewise ran up to the hag and bit her, getting a good grip on her calf but unable to bring the massive bulk of the obese woman crashing to the floor. Jabissa kicked her leg out of the cooshee's mouth and slapped Petey away as if shooing a fly, before racing to the throne of bones - Gilgaesh was standing immediately before the stone stairway, which looked to be rather narrow for her use in any case - and leaped down the 12 feet to the floor below. Alewyth got a swat at her with [I]Sjondra[/I] in passing, but it was Wakuren who was the first to rise himself from the sitting position around Chieftain Vhaundalan's cot and pursue the fleeing hag. Just as she was entering the central cavern, Wakuren got to the throne and was able to see her right arm as she ran around the corner, but that was enough for him to target her with a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell, and that dropped her to the stone floor, quite dead. Once the others gathered around the hag's corpse - to include Chieftain Vhaundalan, who had awakened with the heroes and was surprised to hear how long he'd been sleeping - Xandro gave her a quick pat-down. At her hip, she carried a tome of some sort in a cloth bag; pulling it out and flipping through its pages, he saw several illustrations of note: one of Ranagar castrating a bound and helpless Vhaundalan, and another a picture of Alaundria imprisoned within a cage of bones. The book was entitled simply, [I]The Book of Dreams[/I], but Wakuren surmised it was a variant of the dreamthief hag's standard [I]dreamstone[/I], into which she could imprison those she "slew" in their dreams. "Can you take us to see Alaundria?" the half-orc, still in his guise as a drow male, asked. Ilyraena, with approval from the chieftain, led the way, filling in her leader on what all had transpired. Alaundria lay upon her own sleeping cot in her quarters, a serpent coiled upon her stomach. Seeing it, Alewyth moved as if to attack it, but Chieftain Vhaundalan held her back. "That is [B]Voivode[/B]," he explained. "It is her familiar, watching over her." "Do we need to perform another dream ritual?" asked Thurloe. "Not if this is what I think it is," Wakuren answered, holding up [I]The Book of Dreams[/I]. He laid it upon the stone floor of the wise-woman's sleeping cave, and directed Zander to set it ablaze. One [I]scorching ray[/I] spell later, the [I]Book of Dreams[/I] was burning nicely and Alaundria blinked awake in confusion. What followed was a lot of explanations as to what had been going on for the last several days, starting with the heroes rescuing Ilyraena. "This Ranagar was in league with the dreamthief hag," Alewyth finished up. "The torture you received in the dream was a ploy to break your confidence, so he'd be able to beat you in the combat arena." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "He was [I]cheating[/I]," she affirmed, a concept she found abhorrent - if he doubted his ability to win the combat challenge, then he had no right making the challenge in the first place! "Bring Ranagar to me," ordered Chieftain Vhaundalan, and Gilgaesh ran off to comply. Returning with the challenger for tribal leadership, Gilgaesh smiled as Ranagar saw his schemes having been undone, as testified by Jabissa's cooling corpse. "Your ploy has failed," the chieftain assured him. "I will accept your challenge for leadership immediately." As per tribal custom, Ranagar could not back out of the challenge he had proffered. The entire tribe lined up along the edges of the combat pit, some sitting on the ground between the trees and others perched in the lower branches; the heroes joined them to watch the battle unfold. They were warned against any type of magical interference, as this was to be a combat pitting one leader against another, in a fight to the death using only shield and spear. Chieftain Vhaundalan's shield held the image of the head of a great, saber-fanged cat, while Ranagar's held the image of a coiled serpent - an image he had hoped the leader, after his dream-torture, would blanche at the very sight of. But such was not the case; Vhaundalan defeated Ranagar in the deadly combat without breaking a sweat. Only then, after Ranagar had been slain, did he pull the dagger from his belt and use it to cut out his opponent's heart, lift it in triumph before the cheering crowd, and eat it raw before them. Shouting in enthusiasm, the tribesfolk leaped back down into the combat arena, some stripping Ranagar's corpse while others started a blazing fire in the middle of the pit. "Um, what's going on?" asked Xandro nervously. "The chieftain prepares a feast in your honor!" Ilyraena replied, after Xandro's question had been repeated to her in her own tongue. "We will devour the body of the coward Ranagar, that he may serve us in the only way he possibly can!" It took some careful diplomacy on Alewyth's part to beg off on the offer of cannibalism, but she offered up a hearty slab of dinosaur meat they had waiting inside [I]Hesperna's lamp[/I] and added it to the impromptu feast; the heroes all ensured it was the dinosaur meat they consumed in the feast that night, and not Ranagar's seared flesh. (Not even the drow wished to consume the dreamthief hag's corpse; she was dragged off far from the tribe's lair to be consumed by carrion-eaters.) After everyone had been sated, Alaundria offered up rewards of her own for the heroes' aid: a pile of gourds containing potions she had brewed, as well as an offer to join her in a sweat lodge ritual. Alewyth thanked her for the first, storing them in the extradimensional gnomish candy dish she carried, and after consulting with the others, readily agreed to the second as well. Stripping down to nothing, they joined Alaundria in the sweat lodge at the lowest cavern in the wise-woman's part of the lair, and they watched as she added ladles of cool water to a red-hot stone in the center of the steam-chamber. Releasing their thoughts and letting the ritual overtake them, the heroes all saw shapes begin to form in the rising steam: it was Alewyth, [I]Sjondra[/I] in hand, swinging at a pair of tendrils that danced before her like swaying serpents. But as she batted them away, another crept up behind her and pinned her arms to the side as it lifted her in the air. [I]Sjondra[/I] dropped from numb fingers as the dwarven priestess was lifted into the open maw of something quite like a giant Venus fly-trap, being swallowed down in an instant. A bulbous growth started expanding at the base of the massive plant, and it suddenly burst open, revealing Alewyth standing there with a face devoid of expression. Wordlessly, she bent over and picked up her dwarven warhammer, then walked forward as if eager for combat, although the lack of movement on her face betrayed no such desire. "Well, that's something I'm not particularly looking forward to," Alewyth admitted as the ritual completed and they all put back on their clothes and armor. "It may not occur," pointed out Zander. "These are glimpses at possible futures - not all of them are set in stone." "How far in the future?" "Generally, within a week or so," replied Alaundria. "Well then, we'll find out in the following week," replied the dwarf, tugging on her boots. - - - That was indeed a hint at possible things to come, as the next adventure has them encountering a bodythief plant I discovered in a [I]Pathfinder Bestiary[/I] and decided to write an adventure around. We'll see if it manages to devour Alewyth or not. The players were glad to see another adventure taking place (at least partially) in the Dreamlands. I assured them they haven't seen the last of their dreamwalker skills being put to use in this campaign. - - - T-shirt worn: My Einstein shirt, as it has him smoking a pipe whose smoke turns into galaxies - it's my "go to" shirt to represent the Dreamlands. [/QUOTE]
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