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Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9123914" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 32: KINDRED SPIRITS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 9</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Orchid, elf druid 9</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 6 September 2023</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean, there are no farmers at the Mistbrenner Farm?" asked Alistair, thoroughly confused. "The Vale's being supplied with pork again - isn't that coming from there?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, not exactly," admitted Karl Armbust, the leader of the Guild of Farmers for Ghourmand Vale. "The pigs and the other animals that were being raised by the Mistbrenners, they've all been distributed to other local farms. But the Mistbrenner Farm, there's nobody there no more. Nobody wanted to move into the place, what with the rumors of vampires and all."</p><p></p><p>"But we slew the vampires," explained Harlan.</p><p></p><p>"Well, you know how superstitious some folks can be," replied Karl.</p><p></p><p>"So if there's nobody at the Mistbrenner Farm," reasoned Ageratum, "then there's no reason we couldn't pop over there and give it a look-see for ourselves." E. L. Grimwade had expressed an interest in touring the location, for she wanted to see for herself exactly where the Trained Professional Adventurers had taken down the vampires and the evil clerics that had been at the farm.</p><p></p><p>"Knock yourselves out," replied Karl.</p><p></p><p>The heroes agreed to take the elderly author out to see the caves beneath the farm, but they had several conditions. First of all, seeing how well the <em>potion of gaseous form</em> had worked for her when they had gone to take care of the troll nest, they insisted she carry another such potion on her at all times, and be ready to drink it down at the first sign of any danger. "But the place is abandoned," argued Miss Grimwade. "That nice young man said so himself."</p><p></p><p>"Abandoned places make excellent lairs for monsters new to the area," countered Chaevaris. "There's no telling what we might find out there that's moved in during the months since we were last there."</p><p></p><p>"Very well, I agree to your stipulation," assured the author.</p><p></p><p>"And you're to stay back, should there be any danger," added Alistair. He, more so than any others in their group of heroes, did not want anything to happen to the one person on the planet capable of penning more Elfy Danger Silverleaf books.</p><p></p><p>"I promise," Miss Grimwade replied.</p><p></p><p>"Very well then," agreed Harlan. "Let's gather up the horses, hit the potion shop, and then we can be on our way." The Mistbrenner Farm, he knew, was just down the road a bit from the Stone Keep - about two hours on horseback. Miss Grimwade picked up two <em>potions of gaseous form</em>, giving one to Ageratum as a replacement for the one the little halfling had given her at the troll lair, and then the group was on its way. Earlier that day, three of the heroes had made some major purchases of their own: Harlan had had a <em>holy</em> enchantment placed upon his <em>flaming burst longsword</em> at the Temple of Pelor, so now his trusty blade would be especially dangerous to creatures of an evil bent. Ageratum had purchased a <em>bracelet of invisibility</em> and wore it on her left wrist, so with a touch she could fade from view and remain unseen until she attacked a foe. And Alistair had finally saved up enough money to purchase a <em>lesser metamagic rod of maximize spell</em>, so three times a day he could channel a spell through the magic rod to make it as effective as possible.</p><p></p><p>The trip to the farm was uneventful, but the group had no sooner rode over by the house on the way to the barn, to stow their riding mounts, when the front door to the main farmhouse burst open and out staggered a panic-stricken man wearing overalls and screaming as if the very devils of Hell were chasing him. Harlan slipped from the saddle of his celestial pegasus Nova and approached the man, his paladin's aura of courage helping to calm the farmer. "What seems to be the trouble, sir?" he asked, hand straying to the hilt of his sword in case anything came out of the house trying to catch the frightened farmer.</p><p></p><p>"It was just a pitcher!" he exclaimed. "I was just gonna help myself to a pitcher I knew Bea had in her kitchen - they're all dead, so it's not like they'd need it, right? Only...only after I had it in my hand and turned to leave, she suddenly was just there, in front of me, her skin all pulled tight on her skull - and I could see right through her!"</p><p></p><p>"Bea Mistbrenner?" Harlan asked to be sure. In life, Bea had been an evil cleric, and the one responsible for bringing a bunch of the undead the heroes had encountered in the caverns beneath the farm - ghouls and zombies - to unholy life. "She's returned, as a ghost?"</p><p></p><p>"It was her, all right," affirmed <strong>Darlan Burmpstorn</strong>, a neighboring farmer from just down the road.</p><p></p><p>"Then you'd best return to your own home," suggested the half-elf paladin. "We'll take care of the ghost haunting this place." Still sitting astride Harlan's borrowed warhorse law, E. L. Grimwade rubbed her hands together in glee at the thought of getting to see the Trained Professional Adventurers take care of an actual ghost haunting. Darlan needed no further prompting - he was off like a shot, heading down the road.</p><p></p><p>"Nova, please lead the other mounts to the barn, and stay with them to keep them safe," the paladin asked of his aerial steed. Nova nodded his understanding and turned to lead the others to the barn. Orchid had her timber wolf Shushitan accompany them, and likewise Alistair sent his grackle familiar Ambrose off to watch over the other animals as well. In the meantime, Harlan made a complete circuit around the wooden farmhouse, concentrating on the emanations coming from within.</p><p></p><p>"Anything?" Chaevaris asked when he had made his full circuit.</p><p></p><p>"One source of evil," the paladin replied, having been able to sense that much through the wooden walls of the building. "I'd recommend we cast our battle spells at this time." He cast a <em>bull's strength</em> spell upon himself and a <em>bless</em> spell over the entire group. Alistair cast a <em>cat's grace</em> spell upon each of the five heroes, the granted himself and E. L. Grimwade a <em>mage armor</em> spell, then cast a <em>shield</em> spell upon himself and a <em>flame arrow</em> spell upon the group's assembled ammunition, the latter spell being the first spell he cast using his new <em>metamagic wand</em>. The flames on their ammunition would burn the hottest they could.</p><p></p><p>Orchid was still in eagle form; she'd wildshaped back in Ghourmand Vale, as she had once again allowed the author to ride Law, the horse she normally borrowed from Harlan when she was in elven form. She too did a quick circuit around the house, noting there were no open windows, but there were two chimneys. She flew up to the western chimney, dropping like a stone down the vertical shaft of bricks before flapping out of the fireplace and into the open room beyond. There, at the far end of the room, stood the ghostly figure of Bea Mistbrenner, still wearing the armor she'd been wearing when slain in the caverns below. Orchid suppressed a shiver of fear upon seeing the ghostly apparition. Screeching the words to a <em>cure serious wounds</em> spell, she flew directly at the ghost, hoping to channel the spell into her foe as she knew healing energy burned like acid to the undead. However, Bea's form was immaterial and the eagle passed right through it, the spell still ready and active on her talons, not yet discharged.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris had an arrow nocked and ready to shoot, and was currently aiming in the direction of the front door. Alistair was likewise pointing his <em>metamagic rod</em> at the door, ready to let fly with a <em>magic missile</em> spell if the ghost passed through the door.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum pushed open the door, activating her bracelet and fading from view as she entered the room. She felt a trickle of fear course down her spine as she did so, no doubt a result of some ghostly attack of which she was only peripherally aware. She started climbing up the nearest wall, and not a moment too soon for Harlan soon charged right past where she'd been standing, racing towards the ghost and swinging his flaming blade her way. But just as Orchid's eagle body had passed harmlessly through Bea's undead form, so too did the paladin's sword, leaving the ghost none the worse for wear. And then, just that quickly, Bea was gone - she'd disappeared completely from sight in the passing of a heartbeat. Of course, Harlan knew full well that it simply meant the ghost had passed from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane, and could pop back into the physical world at any moment - and from any direction. He maneuvered himself into a corner, trying to see in all directions, awaiting an attack that didn't come.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris and Alistair entered the house warily, likewise expecting an attack at any moment. But as the seconds passed by, the sorcerer decided he might as well cast a <em>haste</em> spell upon the assembled group - to include E. L. Grimwade, who had cautiously entered the room once the heroes had all done so and reported back the ghost was apparently gone. "She'll likely be back, though, so remain at the ready!" cautioned Harlan. After half a minute of impatient waiting, Alistair - who had noticed the rooms inside were sparkling clean, as if someone were still living inside the dwelling, and deducing the Mistbrenners might not even realize they were dead - started kicking ashes from the fireplace upon the freshly-swept floor. Then, for good measure, he started tipping over chairs that had been placed around the dining room table. "I say! What a dump!" he called out, hoping to antagonize Bea into remanifesting in the room, where there were five heroes ready to attack her. "If there's anybody living here, they certainly don't know how to keep a place looking nice!"</p><p></p><p>But when the ghostly attack finally came, it wasn't from Bea, but rather from her husband Lug - an evil fighter they'd slain shortly before slaying his wife, in the caverns below the farmhouse. He manifested right behind Alistair and Miss Grimwade, moaning a mournful wailing the likes of which the sorcerer had never heard before. Alistair's blood turned immediately to ice in his veins, and his nerveless fingers dropped the <em>metamagic rod</em> he'd been holding. Then, with a whimper of fear, he turned to his right and dashed straight back out of the open doorway. Miss Grimwade, whose mind had been powerful enough to disregard the fearfulness induced by the mournful wailing, tried to grab at the sorcerer's robes but he was too quick - his speed powered by the <em>haste</em> spell he'd cast upon everyone not too long ago. Chaevaris, in the corner with her bow drawn, was in no position to try to stop him, nor was she within arm's distance of his panicked flight.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris released her arrow, which passed through Lug's insubstantial body to embed itself in the wall. Orchid flew straight at the ghost, her <em>cure serious wounds</em> spell still active in her talons, and she managed to discharge the positive into his ghostly form. She then dropped back into her elven form, finding the eagle's body too limiting inside the environment of a farmhouse interior. Chaevaris reloaded her bow and fired a volley of arrows into Lug's body, actually connecting with two of them; she wasn't quite sure what made the third one pass harmlessly through his body when the other two hit, but she wasn't going to take time to worry about it right then. And judging from the ghost's reaction, the arrow volley did it: when he disappeared from view, the archer got the idea it was due to his being slain rather than just simply sliding across the planes.</p><p></p><p>Alistair was still fleeing at top speed out in the yard, but Orchid thought she had a way to stop him. Casting an <em>entangle</em> spell around the fleeing sorcerer, she smiled in triumph as the grasses and roots sprang up to wrap around his limbs, holding him in place. That, she figured, ought to hold him in place until the ghost's fear-inducing panic had run its course. But she hadn't counted on the fact that Alistair knew the <em>dimension door</em> spell, the casting of which required only spoken arcane syllables. With the uttering of a magical phrase, Alistair was no longer entangled by the druid's spell; he was hundreds of feet further way, still running as fast as his legs would take him. And he could cast the <em>dimension door</em> spell four more times in rapid succession, at the end of which time he'd be over half a mile away.</p><p></p><p>Harlan and Ageratum had been exploring the bedroom, seeing the trap door with the ladder to the caverns below was wide open. They returned to the room where the others had been fighting Lug, but by the time they arrived the ghost had been slain. They looked around, waiting for Bea to manifest. And while it took a bit, she finally did remanifest in the central room, her face looking like a screaming skull upon which her skin had been pulled more tightly than would have been possible on a living head. Chaevaris and Miss Grimwade - who had yet to fulfill her promise to drink down her <em>potion of gaseous form</em> when danger appeared - both managed to choke down the fear that threatened to overcome their senses, and the archer even got off an arrow which passed harmless through the undead cleric's insubstantial body. Orchid cast a <em>cure moderate wounds</em> spell and tried to touch the ghost, but she also passed through her body, noting a distinct chill in the air where the ghost stood.</p><p></p><p>Harlan raced up, ready to attack Bea with his flaming sword, but by the time he got there Chaevaris had dispatched her with another flurry of <em>flaming arrows</em>. "Shall we get out of here?" asked Ageratum. "That's both of them dead."</p><p></p><p>"I still haven't seen the caverns where you dispatched the vampires!" argued E. L. Grimwade. But Orchid had stepped back outside (where she dismissed her <em>entangle</em> spell), and the others followed suit. They saw Ambrose flying off in the distance, trying to follow Alistair as best he could, although he was powered merely by the strength of his wings and Alistair kept leaping a total of 760 feet away with each casting of the <em>dimension door</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>"Boy, that ghost got him but good," observed Ageratum.</p><p></p><p>"It is a temporary effect," remarked Harlan. "Once it wears off, I'm sure he'll return as quickly as he can. In the meantime, we must assume the ghosts will return as well, although it takes them several days to reform their immaterial bodies after being 'slain.'"</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean?" argued Ageratum. "Chaevaris killed them both!"</p><p></p><p>"As long as whatever trigger caused them to return as ghosts is still in effect, they will return in due time," Harlan informed the little halfling.</p><p></p><p>"Well, what if us still being alive is this trigger - then what?" asked Ageratum. "Are they going to keep coming back until we're dead?"</p><p></p><p>"Maybe if there wasn't anything left for them to come back to...." suggested Orchid.</p><p></p><p>"What are you suggesting?" asked Harlan.</p><p></p><p>"We could burn down the farmhouse. Bea was keeping it all nice and clean inside as if they were still living in it...maybe if it was all ashes, they wouldn't return." Harlan agreed it was worth a shot, but at Miss Grimwade's insistence he agreed to take her down to the vampire caverns and show her around before they set fire to the buildings above.</p><p></p><p>"Hold on," hissed Chaevaris. While the others had been talking over their options, the archer had held an arrow at the ready and had been focusing her attention through the open doorway into the farmhouse. "I just heard something inside - like something being dragged across the floor."</p><p></p><p>Orchid peered inside the farmhouse but couldn't see anything. Still, just to be safe, she cast a <em>spike growth</em> spell that caused sharp, wooden splinters the size of thorns to stand up from the wooden floors in the majority of the farmhouse - all but the bedroom, mostly. The sudden stabbing of spikes below her caused the invisible spirit naga to cease her slithering across the floor, and she turned her head to glare at the heroes standing outside on the front lawn.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris sent a trio of flaming arrows into the general vicinity of where she thought she'd heard the dragging noise come from. All three arrows struck true, and now the invisible naga had three flaming arrows seemingly floating in the air, giving away her general vicinity, although it did nothing to clue the heroes in as to what kind of foe they might be fighting. E. L. Grimwade still failed to drink down her potion, but in a nod to common sense she backed up behind the heroes, farther away from the farmhouse.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum slapped the bracelet on her wrist and went invisible, then entered the farmhouse and scampered up the wall, heading to the ceiling with the spider-climbing abilities granted to her by the <em>cloak of arachnida</em> she wore. Harlan charged the invisible naga, ignoring the spikes he trod across during his charge, and swung his flaming sword at the floating arrows. But as is often the case when fighting an invisible foe, the sword-swing missed its target. The naga, planning to attack and not wanting her exact location to be revealed when she did so, cast a <em>displacement</em> spell upon herself. Harlan, hearing the sibilant hissings of the spellcasting, swung again at where he thought the foe might be, but missed again. The spirit naga retreated to the corner of the room, slicing her tender belly scales on the numerous thorn-sized spikes rising up from the floor as she did so, but the paladin's sword had come uncomfortably close that last time.</p><p></p><p>Orchid cast a <em>summon swarm</em> spell in the whole area where the floating arrows hovered, and the naga's form was made clear by the silhouette formed by the hundreds of tiny, biting spiders covering it over her entire length. Chaevaris sent a trio of arrows flying at the naga, but while it looked like they should have all been straight on target, not a single one hit the naga (who, thanks to the <em>displacement</em> spell, was about two feet away from where the archer had been aiming).</p><p></p><p>Half a mile away, the panic that had overtaken Alistair's brain suddenly wore off, right after he had cast his last <em>dimension door</em> spell. He stopped where he stood, looked back the way he had come, and realized he'd be making the return trip on foot, with no magical assistance; even his <em>haste</em> spell had worn off by that time. Still, he realized the extra time it would take to get back to the others would give him plenty of time to decide what he was going to say to them after his embarrassing act of pure cowardice - and in front of Miss Edna! He wasn't sure how he would ever face his favorite author again, and started rehearsing a resignation speech; perhaps he wasn't cut out for the adventuring life after all.</p><p></p><p>Back in the farmhouse, Ageratum was up on the ceiling and was planning on casting a <em>web</em> spell across the area where the naga sat coiled for battle, but there seemed to be some question about whether or not the serpentine foe was really there or not - she'd watched as several of Chaevaris's arrows went straight through the outline formed by the numerous spiders without affecting the naga at all. Harlan swung again with his sword and missed, causing him to have to swallow down an almost-released curse - involving words no good-hearted paladin should ever utter aloud. Then the naga struck like a snake, hitting the paladin and releasing the <em>ghoul touch</em> spell she'd readied, but fortunately for Harlan he managed to avoid the spell's effects altogether. The naga had no such disinclinations against swearing, but she did it in the Draconic tongue.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum finally decided to cast her <em>web</em> spell and simply hope for the best. The webbing stretched from one wall to the adjoining one, covering the space in between - a space which included the naga's true location, disguised as it was by the <em>displacement</em> spell. But while the sticky strands impeded her movement, they did not hold her fast; she still thought she'd be able to wriggle out of the spell's effects. But the naga was still covered in spiders, and the venom from their combined bites was finally having some sort of effect, for she was starting to feel a bit weaker.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris sent another flurry of arrows over at the naga, and this time one of them actually struck her, although it was likely by accident more than careful aiming, for the <em>displacement</em> spell still masked the naga's actual location a bit. Ageratum, on the ceiling, tossed a pebboulder down at the naga, but it missed. But it was Harlan, once again, who braved the spikes from the floor to swing at the naga with his <em>holy flaming burst longsword</em>, and the wide swings he made allowed his blade to cut into the naga without knowing her exact true location. Better yet, he accidentally cut her open at the gullet, exposing a handful of gemstones she had swallowed as a digestive aid. So he had not only slain their current foe (although the heroes still had no idea what the naga had been doing working with the ghosts of two slain humans who had been in league with vampires earlier), he had even unearthed a bit of treasure for the heroes.</p><p></p><p>After Orchid released her <em>spider swarm</em> and <em>spike growth</em> spells and a quick search of the farmhouse revealed no more enemies, Harlan led Miss Grimwade down the ladder in the bedroom to show her the cavern where they had fought and slain the vampires. A quick perusal of the belowground chambers evinced evidence that the naga had apparently been lairing down there - there was a shrine of some type manufactured of bones and dung, which Harlan vaguely recalled had a likely reference to <strong>Iuz</strong> - and the author, pleased with what she had seen, agreed to return topside. Once everyone was back outside, the heroes put all of the buildings to the flame, wishing to burn up everything on the farm to hopefully prevent the ghosts from returning.</p><p></p><p>Alistair wandered up as they were getting their animals out of the barn so they could set it ablaze as well. "Hello," he said sheepishly. "Listen, I must apologize for my behavior--"</p><p></p><p>Harlan placed a hand upon the sorcerer's shoulder. "It was a magical effect, something that could have happened to any of you. If I had been closer at hand, I may have been able to help you overcome the unnatural fear - but that's what it was, an <em>unnatural</em> fear: it has no bearing on your courage or your abilities as a member of our adventuring team."</p><p></p><p>The paladin's words soothed Alistair's worries like a balm, and he felt better at once. "Well then," he said, "if nobody has any objections, I'm going to cast <em>shrink item</em> spells upon five of these burning fires, so we can make more of those troll grenades!"</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>This was a less-than-enjoyable adventure, for several reasons. On my part, one failed Will save meant my PC spent the rest of the entire adventure panicked and fleeing at top speed, so he never even got to fight any of the three foes in the adventure. That pretty much sucked. There was also a bit of "rules combat" when the spirit naga had both <em>invisibility</em> and <em>displacement</em> spells active, but the elves could hear the naga's general location, and Chaevaris has some archer feats that would have helped her target the invisible foe, but Dan ruled against it out of hand. We also had some issues with how the naga's <em>displacement</em> spell shunted the (invisible) image of not only herself, but also several hundred spiders that had been "added to the mix" on a later round; we're pretty sure a more accurate scenario would have involved the (invisible) image of the naga displaced two feet away like normal, but the spider-covered image showing the naga's true location (that was the only reason Logan had had Orchid cast the <em>spider swarm</em> spell in the first place, using live spiders as a form of <em>glitterdust</em> or <em>faerie fire</em>).</p><p></p><p>Dan also ran into some problems of his own making: he had planned on having the three encounters happen in the caverns below, but then added the pitcher-stealing farmer at the last minute to entice us to enter the farmhouse (which was unnecessary, as we were already planning on using the ladder from the bedroom to get to the caverns, rather than have a 60-year-old author jump down a dry well, as we had done the first time we explored the Mistbrenner Farm), but also to telegraph that there were ghosts about. That forced him to plop Bea upstairs for us to fight, and then when she shunted to the Ethereal Plane, he actually had her spend the time necessary to go back downstairs, rouse the others and explain there were intruders upstairs, and then have them make their way upstairs to fight us. That resulted in about four rounds of nobody doing anything upstairs but hold readied actions, waiting for the ghosts to appear, which got rather boring quickly. (Vicki was ready to have our PCs leave at that point, as we were there to show E. L. Grimwade where we had fought the vampires, not expose her to the dangers of ghosts.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9123914, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 32: KINDRED SPIRITS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 9[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Orchid, elf druid 9[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 6 September 2023 - - - "What do you mean, there are no farmers at the Mistbrenner Farm?" asked Alistair, thoroughly confused. "The Vale's being supplied with pork again - isn't that coming from there?" "Well, not exactly," admitted Karl Armbust, the leader of the Guild of Farmers for Ghourmand Vale. "The pigs and the other animals that were being raised by the Mistbrenners, they've all been distributed to other local farms. But the Mistbrenner Farm, there's nobody there no more. Nobody wanted to move into the place, what with the rumors of vampires and all." "But we slew the vampires," explained Harlan. "Well, you know how superstitious some folks can be," replied Karl. "So if there's nobody at the Mistbrenner Farm," reasoned Ageratum, "then there's no reason we couldn't pop over there and give it a look-see for ourselves." E. L. Grimwade had expressed an interest in touring the location, for she wanted to see for herself exactly where the Trained Professional Adventurers had taken down the vampires and the evil clerics that had been at the farm. "Knock yourselves out," replied Karl. The heroes agreed to take the elderly author out to see the caves beneath the farm, but they had several conditions. First of all, seeing how well the [I]potion of gaseous form[/I] had worked for her when they had gone to take care of the troll nest, they insisted she carry another such potion on her at all times, and be ready to drink it down at the first sign of any danger. "But the place is abandoned," argued Miss Grimwade. "That nice young man said so himself." "Abandoned places make excellent lairs for monsters new to the area," countered Chaevaris. "There's no telling what we might find out there that's moved in during the months since we were last there." "Very well, I agree to your stipulation," assured the author. "And you're to stay back, should there be any danger," added Alistair. He, more so than any others in their group of heroes, did not want anything to happen to the one person on the planet capable of penning more Elfy Danger Silverleaf books. "I promise," Miss Grimwade replied. "Very well then," agreed Harlan. "Let's gather up the horses, hit the potion shop, and then we can be on our way." The Mistbrenner Farm, he knew, was just down the road a bit from the Stone Keep - about two hours on horseback. Miss Grimwade picked up two [I]potions of gaseous form[/I], giving one to Ageratum as a replacement for the one the little halfling had given her at the troll lair, and then the group was on its way. Earlier that day, three of the heroes had made some major purchases of their own: Harlan had had a [I]holy[/I] enchantment placed upon his [I]flaming burst longsword[/I] at the Temple of Pelor, so now his trusty blade would be especially dangerous to creatures of an evil bent. Ageratum had purchased a [I]bracelet of invisibility[/I] and wore it on her left wrist, so with a touch she could fade from view and remain unseen until she attacked a foe. And Alistair had finally saved up enough money to purchase a [I]lesser metamagic rod of maximize spell[/I], so three times a day he could channel a spell through the magic rod to make it as effective as possible. The trip to the farm was uneventful, but the group had no sooner rode over by the house on the way to the barn, to stow their riding mounts, when the front door to the main farmhouse burst open and out staggered a panic-stricken man wearing overalls and screaming as if the very devils of Hell were chasing him. Harlan slipped from the saddle of his celestial pegasus Nova and approached the man, his paladin's aura of courage helping to calm the farmer. "What seems to be the trouble, sir?" he asked, hand straying to the hilt of his sword in case anything came out of the house trying to catch the frightened farmer. "It was just a pitcher!" he exclaimed. "I was just gonna help myself to a pitcher I knew Bea had in her kitchen - they're all dead, so it's not like they'd need it, right? Only...only after I had it in my hand and turned to leave, she suddenly was just there, in front of me, her skin all pulled tight on her skull - and I could see right through her!" "Bea Mistbrenner?" Harlan asked to be sure. In life, Bea had been an evil cleric, and the one responsible for bringing a bunch of the undead the heroes had encountered in the caverns beneath the farm - ghouls and zombies - to unholy life. "She's returned, as a ghost?" "It was her, all right," affirmed [B]Darlan Burmpstorn[/B], a neighboring farmer from just down the road. "Then you'd best return to your own home," suggested the half-elf paladin. "We'll take care of the ghost haunting this place." Still sitting astride Harlan's borrowed warhorse law, E. L. Grimwade rubbed her hands together in glee at the thought of getting to see the Trained Professional Adventurers take care of an actual ghost haunting. Darlan needed no further prompting - he was off like a shot, heading down the road. "Nova, please lead the other mounts to the barn, and stay with them to keep them safe," the paladin asked of his aerial steed. Nova nodded his understanding and turned to lead the others to the barn. Orchid had her timber wolf Shushitan accompany them, and likewise Alistair sent his grackle familiar Ambrose off to watch over the other animals as well. In the meantime, Harlan made a complete circuit around the wooden farmhouse, concentrating on the emanations coming from within. "Anything?" Chaevaris asked when he had made his full circuit. "One source of evil," the paladin replied, having been able to sense that much through the wooden walls of the building. "I'd recommend we cast our battle spells at this time." He cast a [I]bull's strength[/I] spell upon himself and a [I]bless[/I] spell over the entire group. Alistair cast a [I]cat's grace[/I] spell upon each of the five heroes, the granted himself and E. L. Grimwade a [I]mage armor[/I] spell, then cast a [I]shield[/I] spell upon himself and a [I]flame arrow[/I] spell upon the group's assembled ammunition, the latter spell being the first spell he cast using his new [I]metamagic wand[/I]. The flames on their ammunition would burn the hottest they could. Orchid was still in eagle form; she'd wildshaped back in Ghourmand Vale, as she had once again allowed the author to ride Law, the horse she normally borrowed from Harlan when she was in elven form. She too did a quick circuit around the house, noting there were no open windows, but there were two chimneys. She flew up to the western chimney, dropping like a stone down the vertical shaft of bricks before flapping out of the fireplace and into the open room beyond. There, at the far end of the room, stood the ghostly figure of Bea Mistbrenner, still wearing the armor she'd been wearing when slain in the caverns below. Orchid suppressed a shiver of fear upon seeing the ghostly apparition. Screeching the words to a [I]cure serious wounds[/I] spell, she flew directly at the ghost, hoping to channel the spell into her foe as she knew healing energy burned like acid to the undead. However, Bea's form was immaterial and the eagle passed right through it, the spell still ready and active on her talons, not yet discharged. Chaevaris had an arrow nocked and ready to shoot, and was currently aiming in the direction of the front door. Alistair was likewise pointing his [I]metamagic rod[/I] at the door, ready to let fly with a [I]magic missile[/I] spell if the ghost passed through the door. Ageratum pushed open the door, activating her bracelet and fading from view as she entered the room. She felt a trickle of fear course down her spine as she did so, no doubt a result of some ghostly attack of which she was only peripherally aware. She started climbing up the nearest wall, and not a moment too soon for Harlan soon charged right past where she'd been standing, racing towards the ghost and swinging his flaming blade her way. But just as Orchid's eagle body had passed harmlessly through Bea's undead form, so too did the paladin's sword, leaving the ghost none the worse for wear. And then, just that quickly, Bea was gone - she'd disappeared completely from sight in the passing of a heartbeat. Of course, Harlan knew full well that it simply meant the ghost had passed from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane, and could pop back into the physical world at any moment - and from any direction. He maneuvered himself into a corner, trying to see in all directions, awaiting an attack that didn't come. Chaevaris and Alistair entered the house warily, likewise expecting an attack at any moment. But as the seconds passed by, the sorcerer decided he might as well cast a [I]haste[/I] spell upon the assembled group - to include E. L. Grimwade, who had cautiously entered the room once the heroes had all done so and reported back the ghost was apparently gone. "She'll likely be back, though, so remain at the ready!" cautioned Harlan. After half a minute of impatient waiting, Alistair - who had noticed the rooms inside were sparkling clean, as if someone were still living inside the dwelling, and deducing the Mistbrenners might not even realize they were dead - started kicking ashes from the fireplace upon the freshly-swept floor. Then, for good measure, he started tipping over chairs that had been placed around the dining room table. "I say! What a dump!" he called out, hoping to antagonize Bea into remanifesting in the room, where there were five heroes ready to attack her. "If there's anybody living here, they certainly don't know how to keep a place looking nice!" But when the ghostly attack finally came, it wasn't from Bea, but rather from her husband Lug - an evil fighter they'd slain shortly before slaying his wife, in the caverns below the farmhouse. He manifested right behind Alistair and Miss Grimwade, moaning a mournful wailing the likes of which the sorcerer had never heard before. Alistair's blood turned immediately to ice in his veins, and his nerveless fingers dropped the [I]metamagic rod[/I] he'd been holding. Then, with a whimper of fear, he turned to his right and dashed straight back out of the open doorway. Miss Grimwade, whose mind had been powerful enough to disregard the fearfulness induced by the mournful wailing, tried to grab at the sorcerer's robes but he was too quick - his speed powered by the [I]haste[/I] spell he'd cast upon everyone not too long ago. Chaevaris, in the corner with her bow drawn, was in no position to try to stop him, nor was she within arm's distance of his panicked flight. Chaevaris released her arrow, which passed through Lug's insubstantial body to embed itself in the wall. Orchid flew straight at the ghost, her [I]cure serious wounds[/I] spell still active in her talons, and she managed to discharge the positive into his ghostly form. She then dropped back into her elven form, finding the eagle's body too limiting inside the environment of a farmhouse interior. Chaevaris reloaded her bow and fired a volley of arrows into Lug's body, actually connecting with two of them; she wasn't quite sure what made the third one pass harmlessly through his body when the other two hit, but she wasn't going to take time to worry about it right then. And judging from the ghost's reaction, the arrow volley did it: when he disappeared from view, the archer got the idea it was due to his being slain rather than just simply sliding across the planes. Alistair was still fleeing at top speed out in the yard, but Orchid thought she had a way to stop him. Casting an [I]entangle[/I] spell around the fleeing sorcerer, she smiled in triumph as the grasses and roots sprang up to wrap around his limbs, holding him in place. That, she figured, ought to hold him in place until the ghost's fear-inducing panic had run its course. But she hadn't counted on the fact that Alistair knew the [I]dimension door[/I] spell, the casting of which required only spoken arcane syllables. With the uttering of a magical phrase, Alistair was no longer entangled by the druid's spell; he was hundreds of feet further way, still running as fast as his legs would take him. And he could cast the [I]dimension door[/I] spell four more times in rapid succession, at the end of which time he'd be over half a mile away. Harlan and Ageratum had been exploring the bedroom, seeing the trap door with the ladder to the caverns below was wide open. They returned to the room where the others had been fighting Lug, but by the time they arrived the ghost had been slain. They looked around, waiting for Bea to manifest. And while it took a bit, she finally did remanifest in the central room, her face looking like a screaming skull upon which her skin had been pulled more tightly than would have been possible on a living head. Chaevaris and Miss Grimwade - who had yet to fulfill her promise to drink down her [I]potion of gaseous form[/I] when danger appeared - both managed to choke down the fear that threatened to overcome their senses, and the archer even got off an arrow which passed harmless through the undead cleric's insubstantial body. Orchid cast a [I]cure moderate wounds[/I] spell and tried to touch the ghost, but she also passed through her body, noting a distinct chill in the air where the ghost stood. Harlan raced up, ready to attack Bea with his flaming sword, but by the time he got there Chaevaris had dispatched her with another flurry of [I]flaming arrows[/I]. "Shall we get out of here?" asked Ageratum. "That's both of them dead." "I still haven't seen the caverns where you dispatched the vampires!" argued E. L. Grimwade. But Orchid had stepped back outside (where she dismissed her [I]entangle[/I] spell), and the others followed suit. They saw Ambrose flying off in the distance, trying to follow Alistair as best he could, although he was powered merely by the strength of his wings and Alistair kept leaping a total of 760 feet away with each casting of the [I]dimension door[/I] spell. "Boy, that ghost got him but good," observed Ageratum. "It is a temporary effect," remarked Harlan. "Once it wears off, I'm sure he'll return as quickly as he can. In the meantime, we must assume the ghosts will return as well, although it takes them several days to reform their immaterial bodies after being 'slain.'" "What do you mean?" argued Ageratum. "Chaevaris killed them both!" "As long as whatever trigger caused them to return as ghosts is still in effect, they will return in due time," Harlan informed the little halfling. "Well, what if us still being alive is this trigger - then what?" asked Ageratum. "Are they going to keep coming back until we're dead?" "Maybe if there wasn't anything left for them to come back to...." suggested Orchid. "What are you suggesting?" asked Harlan. "We could burn down the farmhouse. Bea was keeping it all nice and clean inside as if they were still living in it...maybe if it was all ashes, they wouldn't return." Harlan agreed it was worth a shot, but at Miss Grimwade's insistence he agreed to take her down to the vampire caverns and show her around before they set fire to the buildings above. "Hold on," hissed Chaevaris. While the others had been talking over their options, the archer had held an arrow at the ready and had been focusing her attention through the open doorway into the farmhouse. "I just heard something inside - like something being dragged across the floor." Orchid peered inside the farmhouse but couldn't see anything. Still, just to be safe, she cast a [I]spike growth[/I] spell that caused sharp, wooden splinters the size of thorns to stand up from the wooden floors in the majority of the farmhouse - all but the bedroom, mostly. The sudden stabbing of spikes below her caused the invisible spirit naga to cease her slithering across the floor, and she turned her head to glare at the heroes standing outside on the front lawn. Chaevaris sent a trio of flaming arrows into the general vicinity of where she thought she'd heard the dragging noise come from. All three arrows struck true, and now the invisible naga had three flaming arrows seemingly floating in the air, giving away her general vicinity, although it did nothing to clue the heroes in as to what kind of foe they might be fighting. E. L. Grimwade still failed to drink down her potion, but in a nod to common sense she backed up behind the heroes, farther away from the farmhouse. Ageratum slapped the bracelet on her wrist and went invisible, then entered the farmhouse and scampered up the wall, heading to the ceiling with the spider-climbing abilities granted to her by the [I]cloak of arachnida[/I] she wore. Harlan charged the invisible naga, ignoring the spikes he trod across during his charge, and swung his flaming sword at the floating arrows. But as is often the case when fighting an invisible foe, the sword-swing missed its target. The naga, planning to attack and not wanting her exact location to be revealed when she did so, cast a [I]displacement[/I] spell upon herself. Harlan, hearing the sibilant hissings of the spellcasting, swung again at where he thought the foe might be, but missed again. The spirit naga retreated to the corner of the room, slicing her tender belly scales on the numerous thorn-sized spikes rising up from the floor as she did so, but the paladin's sword had come uncomfortably close that last time. Orchid cast a [I]summon swarm[/I] spell in the whole area where the floating arrows hovered, and the naga's form was made clear by the silhouette formed by the hundreds of tiny, biting spiders covering it over her entire length. Chaevaris sent a trio of arrows flying at the naga, but while it looked like they should have all been straight on target, not a single one hit the naga (who, thanks to the [I]displacement[/I] spell, was about two feet away from where the archer had been aiming). Half a mile away, the panic that had overtaken Alistair's brain suddenly wore off, right after he had cast his last [I]dimension door[/I] spell. He stopped where he stood, looked back the way he had come, and realized he'd be making the return trip on foot, with no magical assistance; even his [I]haste[/I] spell had worn off by that time. Still, he realized the extra time it would take to get back to the others would give him plenty of time to decide what he was going to say to them after his embarrassing act of pure cowardice - and in front of Miss Edna! He wasn't sure how he would ever face his favorite author again, and started rehearsing a resignation speech; perhaps he wasn't cut out for the adventuring life after all. Back in the farmhouse, Ageratum was up on the ceiling and was planning on casting a [I]web[/I] spell across the area where the naga sat coiled for battle, but there seemed to be some question about whether or not the serpentine foe was really there or not - she'd watched as several of Chaevaris's arrows went straight through the outline formed by the numerous spiders without affecting the naga at all. Harlan swung again with his sword and missed, causing him to have to swallow down an almost-released curse - involving words no good-hearted paladin should ever utter aloud. Then the naga struck like a snake, hitting the paladin and releasing the [I]ghoul touch[/I] spell she'd readied, but fortunately for Harlan he managed to avoid the spell's effects altogether. The naga had no such disinclinations against swearing, but she did it in the Draconic tongue. Ageratum finally decided to cast her [I]web[/I] spell and simply hope for the best. The webbing stretched from one wall to the adjoining one, covering the space in between - a space which included the naga's true location, disguised as it was by the [I]displacement[/I] spell. But while the sticky strands impeded her movement, they did not hold her fast; she still thought she'd be able to wriggle out of the spell's effects. But the naga was still covered in spiders, and the venom from their combined bites was finally having some sort of effect, for she was starting to feel a bit weaker. Chaevaris sent another flurry of arrows over at the naga, and this time one of them actually struck her, although it was likely by accident more than careful aiming, for the [I]displacement[/I] spell still masked the naga's actual location a bit. Ageratum, on the ceiling, tossed a pebboulder down at the naga, but it missed. But it was Harlan, once again, who braved the spikes from the floor to swing at the naga with his [I]holy flaming burst longsword[/I], and the wide swings he made allowed his blade to cut into the naga without knowing her exact true location. Better yet, he accidentally cut her open at the gullet, exposing a handful of gemstones she had swallowed as a digestive aid. So he had not only slain their current foe (although the heroes still had no idea what the naga had been doing working with the ghosts of two slain humans who had been in league with vampires earlier), he had even unearthed a bit of treasure for the heroes. After Orchid released her [I]spider swarm[/I] and [I]spike growth[/I] spells and a quick search of the farmhouse revealed no more enemies, Harlan led Miss Grimwade down the ladder in the bedroom to show her the cavern where they had fought and slain the vampires. A quick perusal of the belowground chambers evinced evidence that the naga had apparently been lairing down there - there was a shrine of some type manufactured of bones and dung, which Harlan vaguely recalled had a likely reference to [B]Iuz[/B] - and the author, pleased with what she had seen, agreed to return topside. Once everyone was back outside, the heroes put all of the buildings to the flame, wishing to burn up everything on the farm to hopefully prevent the ghosts from returning. Alistair wandered up as they were getting their animals out of the barn so they could set it ablaze as well. "Hello," he said sheepishly. "Listen, I must apologize for my behavior--" Harlan placed a hand upon the sorcerer's shoulder. "It was a magical effect, something that could have happened to any of you. If I had been closer at hand, I may have been able to help you overcome the unnatural fear - but that's what it was, an [I]unnatural[/I] fear: it has no bearing on your courage or your abilities as a member of our adventuring team." The paladin's words soothed Alistair's worries like a balm, and he felt better at once. "Well then," he said, "if nobody has any objections, I'm going to cast [I]shrink item[/I] spells upon five of these burning fires, so we can make more of those troll grenades!" - - - This was a less-than-enjoyable adventure, for several reasons. On my part, one failed Will save meant my PC spent the rest of the entire adventure panicked and fleeing at top speed, so he never even got to fight any of the three foes in the adventure. That pretty much sucked. There was also a bit of "rules combat" when the spirit naga had both [I]invisibility[/I] and [I]displacement[/I] spells active, but the elves could hear the naga's general location, and Chaevaris has some archer feats that would have helped her target the invisible foe, but Dan ruled against it out of hand. We also had some issues with how the naga's [I]displacement[/I] spell shunted the (invisible) image of not only herself, but also several hundred spiders that had been "added to the mix" on a later round; we're pretty sure a more accurate scenario would have involved the (invisible) image of the naga displaced two feet away like normal, but the spider-covered image showing the naga's true location (that was the only reason Logan had had Orchid cast the [I]spider swarm[/I] spell in the first place, using live spiders as a form of [I]glitterdust[/I] or [I]faerie fire[/I]). Dan also ran into some problems of his own making: he had planned on having the three encounters happen in the caverns below, but then added the pitcher-stealing farmer at the last minute to entice us to enter the farmhouse (which was unnecessary, as we were already planning on using the ladder from the bedroom to get to the caverns, rather than have a 60-year-old author jump down a dry well, as we had done the first time we explored the Mistbrenner Farm), but also to telegraph that there were ghosts about. That forced him to plop Bea upstairs for us to fight, and then when she shunted to the Ethereal Plane, he actually had her spend the time necessary to go back downstairs, rouse the others and explain there were intruders upstairs, and then have them make their way upstairs to fight us. That resulted in about four rounds of nobody doing anything upstairs but hold readied actions, waiting for the ghosts to appear, which got rather boring quickly. (Vicki was ready to have our PCs leave at that point, as we were there to show E. L. Grimwade where we had fought the vampires, not expose her to the dangers of ghosts.) [/QUOTE]
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