Dramatis Personae
At that point, the battle was on, Most of the heroes' Wind Walk spells were dispelled as they descended (along with several other spells), but Blanche and Star spent some time stuck Wind Walking. Volleys of arrows were exchanged, along with various spells, Star took a quick peek inside the eye, got a general sense of the room, but decided not to try to proceed past the sonic Wall of Fire.
Things got pretty dicey from there. Basel and Star(!) got trampled by the war mammoth, despite Seda's clear suggestions to the contrary. Basel died from the trampling (but got better thanks to Indomitability's Boon). Star soon died as well. She didn't get better (yet, at least).
Leon flew up in front of the war mammoth to attack it and Garivus, but a couple slams from the mammoth's trunk left him hanging unconcious in mid-air right in front of the mammoth. The wyvern riders, caught out of position well above the fight, eventually made it to ground level, and one of them snatched Leon out of the air and dragged him off behind the barracks. The wyvern then killed Leon; however, he too got better, thanks to some contingent spells, and, just Like Lightning, zapped both the wyvern and its rider. That's all the incentive those two needed to flee.
Meanwhile, Dämmek, also helping to attack the war mammoth, was grabbed by the other wyvern. Before the wyvern could fly off, Garivus targeted her with a dispelling of his own, meaning there was nothing to prevent the wyvern from flinging her into the tunnel to the Eye, through the sonic Wall of Fire and across the Symbol of Oh-Was-There-A-Symbol-There? That wyvern ended up dead shortly thereafter, as did Garivus and, eventually, the war mammoth. Sadly, Basel died as well — and didn't get back up this time.
After looting the bodies of the fallen (and, in Leon's case, the brain of Garivus, who was unconcious but didn't actually expire), Seda and Dämmek spotted something flying towards them.
Seda: Look, up in the sky!
Dämmek: It's a bird!
Seda: It's not a bird. I know birds, and that ain't a bird.
Leon: It's a plane!
Seda and Dämmek look at Leon with confused expressions.
Actually, it was Chæluk, the avoral the heroes had fought at the henge in Ycengled Phurrst, who had decided that he needed to help the heroes rather than dither with the army in the pass.
The heroes restored their Fly spells, Seda cast Resist Fire on everyone, and Chæluk and Leon cast True Seeing on himself and Dämmek, respectively (Leon had stolen True Seeing from Garivus's unconcious head). They carefully flew down the tunnel, gritted their teeth as they plowed through the Wall of Fire, and then carefully waiting as Seda, thoroughly unimpressed by the symbol, covered it with the whole-wheat flour Basel had had tucked away in his pack since the original heroes had first fled Gate Pass.
A few steps furtrher and they were greeted by Kreven's image giving his wonderful solliloquoy. Meanwhile, Chæluk and Dämmek saw the ambush awaiting them behind the fake walls and Dämmek, always quick to act, hit the cluster hiding near the rear-most column with an empowered Flame Strike from the Torch, which missed Koren, incinerated Magnus, and lightly toasted everyone else.
One of the frost worms let loose with its trill; no one cared. The other enemies, having expected their ambush to take place on the ice sheet rather than the entryway, had to work their way forward under the heroes' fire. Velkiss slowed that down somewhat by creating a Wall of Ice between Dämmek (who had moved to attack one of the frost worms with the Torch) and the rest of the heroes. Shots were fired, gazes were cast despairingly and ineffectually, spells were flung, but, most importantly, frost worms were killed, and the resulting explosions grievously injured some of the heroes, who quickly beat a retreat behind the wall Velkiss had so thoughtfully created to heal.
Leon, in an attempt to stave off further attacks on the injured Dämmek, again demonstrated why we Like Lightning; alas, his electric dash left him near the Eye, and the Lurker took that opportunity to slam him to death with its tentacles and drag away his dead or dying body. Pilus sent an elder elemental to assist, but it was too late: After a decisive blow against the other frost worm (injuring both the heroes and their enemies), Koren hit it with a Hold Monster from which it never recovered.
Meanwhile, Kreven decided at this juncture to get nasty and used his most powerful domination spell on Dämmek. He forced her to drop her torch and move into the corner.
Kreven was able to utter a word of power that stunned Seda. Blanche then heroically dragged Seda back to the other side of the Wall of Ice for some urgent healing from Chæluk, and, incidentally, within the range of Chæluk's Magic Circle, giving her the opportunity to cast some healing spells.
Alas, the wall wasn't quite the defensive barrier that they'd hoped, as Velkiss was able to fly over it and position himself to reach the heroes. At long last, Chæluk decided to accept Velkiss's deal to be dismissed without resistance, paid the price, and Seda immediately dismissed him with her dismissive whip.
With Velkiss out of the way, Seda and Chæluk cleverly flew over to be near Dämmek so that she too could benefit from the Magic Circle while Blanche acted as their vanguard. That worked briefly, but then came the final insult: Koren twirled and cartwheeled around the column they were clustered near, laid a finger on Chæluk, and teleported herself — and Chæluk — away.
- Basel, an Innenotdaran (aka grey) elf evoker from Gabal's school with his familiar Star, daughter of Naizelasa.
- Dämmek, a brainy and brawny human swordswoman with keen senses and the Torch
- Leon, a human spellthief wielding a double spear.
- Seda, a spellcasting Seela, with Blanche, her sentient siberian tiger companion.
I figured they'd try to sneak past, but I didn't have the encounter at the Eye proper ready. I quickly replaced the Invisibility Purge on the Unhallow spells near the garrison with Dispel Magic, and the dice were quite cooperative in keeping the heroes from slipping past Garivus's crew.
At that point, the battle was on, Most of the heroes' Wind Walk spells were dispelled as they descended (along with several other spells), but Blanche and Star spent some time stuck Wind Walking. Volleys of arrows were exchanged, along with various spells, Star took a quick peek inside the eye, got a general sense of the room, but decided not to try to proceed past the sonic Wall of Fire.
Things got pretty dicey from there. Basel and Star(!) got trampled by the war mammoth, despite Seda's clear suggestions to the contrary. Basel died from the trampling (but got better thanks to Indomitability's Boon). Star soon died as well. She didn't get better (yet, at least).
Leon flew up in front of the war mammoth to attack it and Garivus, but a couple slams from the mammoth's trunk left him hanging unconcious in mid-air right in front of the mammoth. The wyvern riders, caught out of position well above the fight, eventually made it to ground level, and one of them snatched Leon out of the air and dragged him off behind the barracks. The wyvern then killed Leon; however, he too got better, thanks to some contingent spells, and, just Like Lightning, zapped both the wyvern and its rider. That's all the incentive those two needed to flee.
Meanwhile, Dämmek, also helping to attack the war mammoth, was grabbed by the other wyvern. Before the wyvern could fly off, Garivus targeted her with a dispelling of his own, meaning there was nothing to prevent the wyvern from flinging her into the tunnel to the Eye, through the sonic Wall of Fire and across the Symbol of Oh-Was-There-A-Symbol-There? That wyvern ended up dead shortly thereafter, as did Garivus and, eventually, the war mammoth. Sadly, Basel died as well — and didn't get back up this time.
Part of the problem they had was that Wind Walk was dispelled on some of the heroes and not others, effectively splitting the party. Seda couldn't dismiss it because it had been cast by Torrent, who the heroes didn't invite along. Of course, the other part of the problem is that the heroes didn't invite any additional muscle along — like oh, say, Torrent.
After looting the bodies of the fallen (and, in Leon's case, the brain of Garivus, who was unconcious but didn't actually expire), Seda and Dämmek spotted something flying towards them.
Seda: Look, up in the sky!
Dämmek: It's a bird!
Seda: It's not a bird. I know birds, and that ain't a bird.
Leon: It's a plane!
Seda and Dämmek look at Leon with confused expressions.
Actually, it was Chæluk, the avoral the heroes had fought at the henge in Ycengled Phurrst, who had decided that he needed to help the heroes rather than dither with the army in the pass.
There was a session break after the looting. Adding a level of fighter and a bunch of equipment to Chæluk brought him up to the same ECL as the rest of the heroes, letting me drop him in as a temporary replacement for Basel.
The heroes restored their Fly spells, Seda cast Resist Fire on everyone, and Chæluk and Leon cast True Seeing on himself and Dämmek, respectively (Leon had stolen True Seeing from Garivus's unconcious head). They carefully flew down the tunnel, gritted their teeth as they plowed through the Wall of Fire, and then carefully waiting as Seda, thoroughly unimpressed by the symbol, covered it with the whole-wheat flour Basel had had tucked away in his pack since the original heroes had first fled Gate Pass.
A few steps furtrher and they were greeted by Kreven's image giving his wonderful solliloquoy. Meanwhile, Chæluk and Dämmek saw the ambush awaiting them behind the fake walls and Dämmek, always quick to act, hit the cluster hiding near the rear-most column with an empowered Flame Strike from the Torch, which missed Koren, incinerated Magnus, and lightly toasted everyone else.
Magnus, we hardly knew ye....
One of the frost worms let loose with its trill; no one cared. The other enemies, having expected their ambush to take place on the ice sheet rather than the entryway, had to work their way forward under the heroes' fire. Velkiss slowed that down somewhat by creating a Wall of Ice between Dämmek (who had moved to attack one of the frost worms with the Torch) and the rest of the heroes. Shots were fired, gazes were cast despairingly and ineffectually, spells were flung, but, most importantly, frost worms were killed, and the resulting explosions grievously injured some of the heroes, who quickly beat a retreat behind the wall Velkiss had so thoughtfully created to heal.
Leon, in an attempt to stave off further attacks on the injured Dämmek, again demonstrated why we Like Lightning; alas, his electric dash left him near the Eye, and the Lurker took that opportunity to slam him to death with its tentacles and drag away his dead or dying body. Pilus sent an elder elemental to assist, but it was too late: After a decisive blow against the other frost worm (injuring both the heroes and their enemies), Koren hit it with a Hold Monster from which it never recovered.
Meanwhile, Kreven decided at this juncture to get nasty and used his most powerful domination spell on Dämmek. He forced her to drop her torch and move into the corner.
...and, at this point, I nearly wrecked the campaign. I had Velkiss pick up the Torch, and he succeeded in getting it to accept him! I started looking up the consequences to Dämmek and then realized just how big a mess this decision would make and retconned away his picking up the torch.
Kreven was able to utter a word of power that stunned Seda. Blanche then heroically dragged Seda back to the other side of the Wall of Ice for some urgent healing from Chæluk, and, incidentally, within the range of Chæluk's Magic Circle, giving her the opportunity to cast some healing spells.
Boy howdee, that got complicated. We didn't recall until a couple rounds later that the magic circle existed and would therefore block the Power Word Stun. We then had to retcon the actions she should have been able to take.
Alas, the wall wasn't quite the defensive barrier that they'd hoped, as Velkiss was able to fly over it and position himself to reach the heroes. At long last, Chæluk decided to accept Velkiss's deal to be dismissed without resistance, paid the price, and Seda immediately dismissed him with her dismissive whip.
With Velkiss out of the way, Seda and Chæluk cleverly flew over to be near Dämmek so that she too could benefit from the Magic Circle while Blanche acted as their vanguard. That worked briefly, but then came the final insult: Koren twirled and cartwheeled around the column they were clustered near, laid a finger on Chæluk, and teleported herself — and Chæluk — away.
I sure wish someone had had a camera handy to capture my maniacally evil grin when I realized that Koren could make her side victorious by abducting Chæluk, and that she had the appropriate knowledge skill to justify it. I had been planning to have her try to abduct Blanche if the tiger had managed to pounce on Koren or Magnus, but this was much crueler. Weirdly enough, Koren's first attempt to teleport had been blocked by the Forbiddance, and her second roll with Chæluk was barely good enough to overcome it.
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