Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Mazariim - "Orcs From Beyond"
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Dragonsbane" data-source="post: 6358485" data-attributes="member: 6775188"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"><span style="font-size: 18px">A02S01</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">11 Garn (April) 811</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">After a long and hard-fought battle against orcs that had been attacking caravans from Amara, the heroes surveyed their bounty from the Zanthar’s Keep. Deciding that the numerous weapons and suits of armor might have value back in town, they began to prepare two carts for the journey. Sitting on the top of the keep’s wall was a small green elven girl, no more than 40 winters old. She hopped down and introduced herself in a playful manner as Lai, telling the group of her dreams of becoming an adventurer and leading a life of excitement. portraits/maz_p_laityranor.jpg Something about her wasn’t quite right, but the heroes were unable to put their finger on just what that was. Sending her off to get horses that were two days travel away, they had thought she would not return. Imagine their surprise when she did return in only half the time with the horses. They grudgingly agreed to let her come back to Amara with them, loaded up the surplus weapons as well as the body of Reumlar the monk of Paladine, and set out for home.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Once back to Amara, some of the heroes went to collect their payment for finishing off the orcs. Aldorph was thrilled at their success and celebrated with them, giving them not only their gold but letting them know he would be available to them for selling goods as well as finding things not always available on the open market. Meanwhile, other heroes strode around the noble district admiring the architecture. That evening, most attended a party at the Halls of the Dark Dancer, dragged their by Lai. Although uneventful, a few heroes did notice that a pushy man that had been pestering Lai for attention at the dance ran out of the place in fear some time later.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">In the morning the heroes set out for Blowing Rock to return the remains of a monk they had found to its proper resting place. Arriving at Blowing Rock after half a day of travel, they find the small village in a state of emergency. Windows boarded up and doors barricaded, they find the market in shambles, bits of blood and gore all around. The heroes pressed onward up the hill to the monastery, where they discovered the leaded of the monastery, Lionous Harker, trying to prepare defenses for what was to come. His unending gratitude over the return of his comrade’s body was only overshadowed by his tale of attacks of the undead for the last few nights. Zombies and skeletons had been assaulting the village, and those who were killed by them raised moments later to continue the attack! It was with sadness in his eyes that Lionous spoke of having to cut down his fellow villagers whom had risen in unlife. To make matters worse, half of his temple had set out on a great crusade to the Ancient South, cutting down the number of defenders of the village by half.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Vowing to help the village, the heroes took up positions in the town center while the few remaining paladin monks guarded the edges of town. They valiantly defeated undead attacking a number of homes in the village, and then finally rushed back up the hill overlooking the town to fight off the undead horde trying to take over the monastery, with a few heroes noting Lai’s savagery in battle. Once at the monastery, the heroes defeated one of the leaders of the undead, a strange Zebulban mummy with its eyes sown shut, as well as a legion of undead in a long battle. In the end, however, Lionous fought his way out of the building, joining the heroes and vanquishing the undead. With a huge warcry heard over the pouring rain and lightning flashes, Lionous raised his hands in victory as the heroes tended to their wounds.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"><span style="font-size: 18px">A02S02</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Rain slowly turned to drizzle and then stopped as the sun rose, the night's battle showing its results all around Blowing Rock. A few homes had been breached, and a few villagers turned to zombies before being killed a second time. Thanks to the help of the heroes, the village and the monastery to Paladine had survived.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Helping the monks dispose of the corpses scattered around town, the heroes began to track the creatures, but had trouble finding a significant lead. Still, curious inquires prevailed as they asked Lionous Harker, head priest of the monastery, questions about the area. He spoke of a place where children were warned not to go, a place where explorers and travelers would occasionally find ancient rusted weapons or arrowheads, a place where centuries ago a huge battle must have taken place. Inferring that the enemy would need a large supplies of bodies, they set out for Whispering Fields, some ten miles south by southeast.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The heroes soon discovered their suspicions to be true, finding a huge thirty foot wide capstone unearthed and moved amid a giant field of tall grasses and broken stones, with a large cylindrical shaft leading down into the darkness. Using magic the heroes created a ramp of earth and stone, but quickly found that this place had defenders of its own. Skeletons with large tentacles attached to their midsections tried to pull the heroes down into the water and drown them, but the heroes prevailed. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Delving further into the darkness, they soon realized that they were in a place very very old, perhaps part of the old Zebulban-controlled Dukhan empire. In one room they found a defiled priest of Tiovin with his eyes sewn shut, holding a box with an animated dwarven head, stitched shut. The players quickly put it out of its misery. Moving on, they came to a room with prayers carved into pillar after pillar, ancient inscriptions from over a thousand years prior. Additional defenders tried to ambush the heroes, the pack of ghouls seeming easy prey until one of the heroes nearly caused the death of the group ((ooc chuckle)). Regaining control of the situation, the heroes dispatched the ghouls and took a moment to regain their bearings in this early part of the ruined temple.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Who is controlling the undead? How are the Zebulbans involved?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"><span style="font-size: 18px">A02S03</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The exploration continued, the heroes keeping their heads as they pressed onward without resting. They discovered more and more horrifying things in the darkness, such as a fountain of unholy water and strange alchemist gear used to create a elixir allowing necromancers to control more undead. Down one corridor they heard dozens of zombies, avoiding the way entirely. It was soon apparent that someone or something was controlling the undead that they kept encountering in a very specific way, as ghouls tried to surprise the heroes as well as trap them from escape.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Soon, the heroes' minds began playing tricks with their perception of reality, notably Felinn chasing down a cat from his childhood, leading the heroes into an ambush of shadows, one of which severely drained Felinn of his strength. Defeating the ghost-like creatures, they proceeded down a set of stairs to an even lower level of the temple.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Down the stairs, more peril awaited the heroes, including a strange trap emanating a noxious mist to keep the living out. What Iskar had trouble doing gently, Aizune did with brute force, clearing the way for the heroes to move on. Another horror, a strange golem made of candlewax, proved to be a strange and resilient adversary.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Soon, the horror of the undead would be truly felt by our heroes as a large herd of zombies moved towards them. Slowing their pace with magic, something then spooked Galen and he retreated, with Iskar following his lead. Smiggles, Felinn, and Aizune then made a wall of defense and proceeded to try and defeat the entire herd. Although the herd had simply amazing luck in hitting the heroes, they did hang on and eventually turn the tide, dispatching more than 20 zombies. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Covered in gore and weakened from the constant fighting, the heroes made their way to surface, the night sky above as they heard the sounds . . . peeking out, Iskar sees hundreds of old skeletons, as far as the eye can see. Doubling back, the heroes barricade themselves in a room and try to rest for the night, not able to continue without a chance to regain their physical and magical strength.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">=-=-=-=-=-=-=</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">((the scene in the movie cuts to the villains . . . . which the players DON'T see IN <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Meanwhile, deep below the heroes, the forces of darkness plotted their counterattack against those that would try and stop their entropic goals.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The high-priest's chamber was a gigantic room, some fifty feet high, with shadows filtering above just out of sight. Below, a ten foot tall ziggurat stood, untouched by time's gentle wear. Magic was pulsing out of the thing, wave after wave in a ring expanding outwards. Hovering just above the altar was the unholy abomination responsible for the re-desecration of this millennia-old temple, a horrifically decomposed humanoid. From the waist down, his lower body was gone, leaving only his guts and spine dangling below encased in a strange, glass-like receptacle filled with sickly green fluids, tubes carrying the necromantic fluid attached to his face, neck and arms.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Slowly Canithlus floated down, folding his arms in over his chest as he floated towards his servant. The mummified corpse that spoke had its eyes sewn shut, and was enough to give the living nightmares and stories to frighten grown men. "Your orders, master?" the mummy said in a dark, foreboding voice. "All are in position. We can collapse the tunnel while they sleep, and their slumber will then be eternal."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Canithlus raised a hand and spoke, an even deeper and more dreadful voice coming from his ancient lips. "Noo . . let them come. I want them intact. They will serve our Lord nicely in undeath. Zebulba will be pleased to have servants so capable."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The mummy nodded and then kneeled down on one knee, awaiting instructions. Canithlus floated towards a smaller stone altar off to one side, covered in a dark black velvet cloth. The wight reached down and pulled it gently to one side, revealing a number of knives and tools, shiny and freshly sharpened. A large spool of metal wire along with hooks and needles was also there, and Canithlus found himself staring at it for some time, imagining the artistic masterpieces he would create with the heroes. Soon, they would lose their eyes, and then see the world as it truly was.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"><span style="font-size: 18px">A02S04</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The players awoke from their tenuous slumber, a night on the hard cold stone floor of a thousand year old temple. Felinn and his feline companion had begun to feel the effects of a horrible disease from the ghouls the day before, and decided to set out himself to find some herbs in the light of day. (He could not come to the game until later, IC reason)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">The rest of the heroes pressed onward. In one room they found a strange crystal with a man imprisoned inside, just his hand broken through, aged and almost gone. Smiggles touched the hand, causing it to poof into dust, and the group decided to try and help the man, Aizune cutting down the chains that held the crystal aloft.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">They soon explored the room they had fought the zombie herd in, finding it empty. But in the room beyond, a maggot mummy armed with sword and armor came into battle, an old remnant of the previous Zebulban priests entombed here so long ago. The group was again successful, destroying the mummy before it killed anyone.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Ahead and through two curved corridors, the heroes began to hear chanting, and finally came to see their true enemy in the temple, a wight half-destroyed from the bottom down, floating in a hovering vat of necromantic juices. The heroes stepped into the fray, battling the group of zombies and this priest of Zebulba. Soon another enemy showed itself, a wraith casting spells and menacing the rear members of the party. The battle raged on, with Aizune falling to a ravenous zombie and Iskar almost dying, getting sadistically drained by the priest. In the end, however, the group persevered, destroying the wight and causing the wraith to flee.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua'">Returning to Blowing Rock, Lionous raised Aizune from the dead, the least he could do as thanks. The players successfully ended the Zebulban menace, saving the lives of hundreds in Blowing Rock.</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dragonsbane, post: 6358485, member: 6775188"] [SIZE=3][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=5]A02S01[/SIZE] 11 Garn (April) 811 After a long and hard-fought battle against orcs that had been attacking caravans from Amara, the heroes surveyed their bounty from the Zanthar’s Keep. Deciding that the numerous weapons and suits of armor might have value back in town, they began to prepare two carts for the journey. Sitting on the top of the keep’s wall was a small green elven girl, no more than 40 winters old. She hopped down and introduced herself in a playful manner as Lai, telling the group of her dreams of becoming an adventurer and leading a life of excitement. portraits/maz_p_laityranor.jpg Something about her wasn’t quite right, but the heroes were unable to put their finger on just what that was. Sending her off to get horses that were two days travel away, they had thought she would not return. Imagine their surprise when she did return in only half the time with the horses. They grudgingly agreed to let her come back to Amara with them, loaded up the surplus weapons as well as the body of Reumlar the monk of Paladine, and set out for home. Once back to Amara, some of the heroes went to collect their payment for finishing off the orcs. Aldorph was thrilled at their success and celebrated with them, giving them not only their gold but letting them know he would be available to them for selling goods as well as finding things not always available on the open market. Meanwhile, other heroes strode around the noble district admiring the architecture. That evening, most attended a party at the Halls of the Dark Dancer, dragged their by Lai. Although uneventful, a few heroes did notice that a pushy man that had been pestering Lai for attention at the dance ran out of the place in fear some time later. In the morning the heroes set out for Blowing Rock to return the remains of a monk they had found to its proper resting place. Arriving at Blowing Rock after half a day of travel, they find the small village in a state of emergency. Windows boarded up and doors barricaded, they find the market in shambles, bits of blood and gore all around. The heroes pressed onward up the hill to the monastery, where they discovered the leaded of the monastery, Lionous Harker, trying to prepare defenses for what was to come. His unending gratitude over the return of his comrade’s body was only overshadowed by his tale of attacks of the undead for the last few nights. Zombies and skeletons had been assaulting the village, and those who were killed by them raised moments later to continue the attack! It was with sadness in his eyes that Lionous spoke of having to cut down his fellow villagers whom had risen in unlife. To make matters worse, half of his temple had set out on a great crusade to the Ancient South, cutting down the number of defenders of the village by half. Vowing to help the village, the heroes took up positions in the town center while the few remaining paladin monks guarded the edges of town. They valiantly defeated undead attacking a number of homes in the village, and then finally rushed back up the hill overlooking the town to fight off the undead horde trying to take over the monastery, with a few heroes noting Lai’s savagery in battle. Once at the monastery, the heroes defeated one of the leaders of the undead, a strange Zebulban mummy with its eyes sown shut, as well as a legion of undead in a long battle. In the end, however, Lionous fought his way out of the building, joining the heroes and vanquishing the undead. With a huge warcry heard over the pouring rain and lightning flashes, Lionous raised his hands in victory as the heroes tended to their wounds. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [SIZE=5]A02S02[/SIZE] Rain slowly turned to drizzle and then stopped as the sun rose, the night's battle showing its results all around Blowing Rock. A few homes had been breached, and a few villagers turned to zombies before being killed a second time. Thanks to the help of the heroes, the village and the monastery to Paladine had survived. Helping the monks dispose of the corpses scattered around town, the heroes began to track the creatures, but had trouble finding a significant lead. Still, curious inquires prevailed as they asked Lionous Harker, head priest of the monastery, questions about the area. He spoke of a place where children were warned not to go, a place where explorers and travelers would occasionally find ancient rusted weapons or arrowheads, a place where centuries ago a huge battle must have taken place. Inferring that the enemy would need a large supplies of bodies, they set out for Whispering Fields, some ten miles south by southeast. The heroes soon discovered their suspicions to be true, finding a huge thirty foot wide capstone unearthed and moved amid a giant field of tall grasses and broken stones, with a large cylindrical shaft leading down into the darkness. Using magic the heroes created a ramp of earth and stone, but quickly found that this place had defenders of its own. Skeletons with large tentacles attached to their midsections tried to pull the heroes down into the water and drown them, but the heroes prevailed. Delving further into the darkness, they soon realized that they were in a place very very old, perhaps part of the old Zebulban-controlled Dukhan empire. In one room they found a defiled priest of Tiovin with his eyes sewn shut, holding a box with an animated dwarven head, stitched shut. The players quickly put it out of its misery. Moving on, they came to a room with prayers carved into pillar after pillar, ancient inscriptions from over a thousand years prior. Additional defenders tried to ambush the heroes, the pack of ghouls seeming easy prey until one of the heroes nearly caused the death of the group ((ooc chuckle)). Regaining control of the situation, the heroes dispatched the ghouls and took a moment to regain their bearings in this early part of the ruined temple. Who is controlling the undead? How are the Zebulbans involved? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [SIZE=5]A02S03[/SIZE] The exploration continued, the heroes keeping their heads as they pressed onward without resting. They discovered more and more horrifying things in the darkness, such as a fountain of unholy water and strange alchemist gear used to create a elixir allowing necromancers to control more undead. Down one corridor they heard dozens of zombies, avoiding the way entirely. It was soon apparent that someone or something was controlling the undead that they kept encountering in a very specific way, as ghouls tried to surprise the heroes as well as trap them from escape. Soon, the heroes' minds began playing tricks with their perception of reality, notably Felinn chasing down a cat from his childhood, leading the heroes into an ambush of shadows, one of which severely drained Felinn of his strength. Defeating the ghost-like creatures, they proceeded down a set of stairs to an even lower level of the temple. Down the stairs, more peril awaited the heroes, including a strange trap emanating a noxious mist to keep the living out. What Iskar had trouble doing gently, Aizune did with brute force, clearing the way for the heroes to move on. Another horror, a strange golem made of candlewax, proved to be a strange and resilient adversary. Soon, the horror of the undead would be truly felt by our heroes as a large herd of zombies moved towards them. Slowing their pace with magic, something then spooked Galen and he retreated, with Iskar following his lead. Smiggles, Felinn, and Aizune then made a wall of defense and proceeded to try and defeat the entire herd. Although the herd had simply amazing luck in hitting the heroes, they did hang on and eventually turn the tide, dispatching more than 20 zombies. Covered in gore and weakened from the constant fighting, the heroes made their way to surface, the night sky above as they heard the sounds . . . peeking out, Iskar sees hundreds of old skeletons, as far as the eye can see. Doubling back, the heroes barricade themselves in a room and try to rest for the night, not able to continue without a chance to regain their physical and magical strength. =-=-=-=-=-=-= ((the scene in the movie cuts to the villains . . . . which the players DON'T see IN :P Meanwhile, deep below the heroes, the forces of darkness plotted their counterattack against those that would try and stop their entropic goals. The high-priest's chamber was a gigantic room, some fifty feet high, with shadows filtering above just out of sight. Below, a ten foot tall ziggurat stood, untouched by time's gentle wear. Magic was pulsing out of the thing, wave after wave in a ring expanding outwards. Hovering just above the altar was the unholy abomination responsible for the re-desecration of this millennia-old temple, a horrifically decomposed humanoid. From the waist down, his lower body was gone, leaving only his guts and spine dangling below encased in a strange, glass-like receptacle filled with sickly green fluids, tubes carrying the necromantic fluid attached to his face, neck and arms. Slowly Canithlus floated down, folding his arms in over his chest as he floated towards his servant. The mummified corpse that spoke had its eyes sewn shut, and was enough to give the living nightmares and stories to frighten grown men. "Your orders, master?" the mummy said in a dark, foreboding voice. "All are in position. We can collapse the tunnel while they sleep, and their slumber will then be eternal." Canithlus raised a hand and spoke, an even deeper and more dreadful voice coming from his ancient lips. "Noo . . let them come. I want them intact. They will serve our Lord nicely in undeath. Zebulba will be pleased to have servants so capable." The mummy nodded and then kneeled down on one knee, awaiting instructions. Canithlus floated towards a smaller stone altar off to one side, covered in a dark black velvet cloth. The wight reached down and pulled it gently to one side, revealing a number of knives and tools, shiny and freshly sharpened. A large spool of metal wire along with hooks and needles was also there, and Canithlus found himself staring at it for some time, imagining the artistic masterpieces he would create with the heroes. Soon, they would lose their eyes, and then see the world as it truly was. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [SIZE=5]A02S04[/SIZE] The players awoke from their tenuous slumber, a night on the hard cold stone floor of a thousand year old temple. Felinn and his feline companion had begun to feel the effects of a horrible disease from the ghouls the day before, and decided to set out himself to find some herbs in the light of day. (He could not come to the game until later, IC reason) The rest of the heroes pressed onward. In one room they found a strange crystal with a man imprisoned inside, just his hand broken through, aged and almost gone. Smiggles touched the hand, causing it to poof into dust, and the group decided to try and help the man, Aizune cutting down the chains that held the crystal aloft. They soon explored the room they had fought the zombie herd in, finding it empty. But in the room beyond, a maggot mummy armed with sword and armor came into battle, an old remnant of the previous Zebulban priests entombed here so long ago. The group was again successful, destroying the mummy before it killed anyone. Ahead and through two curved corridors, the heroes began to hear chanting, and finally came to see their true enemy in the temple, a wight half-destroyed from the bottom down, floating in a hovering vat of necromantic juices. The heroes stepped into the fray, battling the group of zombies and this priest of Zebulba. Soon another enemy showed itself, a wraith casting spells and menacing the rear members of the party. The battle raged on, with Aizune falling to a ravenous zombie and Iskar almost dying, getting sadistically drained by the priest. In the end, however, the group persevered, destroying the wight and causing the wraith to flee. Returning to Blowing Rock, Lionous raised Aizune from the dead, the least he could do as thanks. The players successfully ended the Zebulban menace, saving the lives of hundreds in Blowing Rock.[/FONT][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Mazariim - "Orcs From Beyond"
Top