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Memoirs of a Lawyer turned Dungeoncrawler (Updated May 13, 2008)
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<blockquote data-quote="Altalazar" data-source="post: 3884672" data-attributes="member: 939"><p>Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Two – Murky Mystery</p><p></p><p> About a week later, I was engaged in the creation of more stones for my upcoming visit to the plane of negative evil, home of the vampire tower, when one of my followers, a commoner named Raelon, came staggering into my stronghold in Cauldron. Apparently, the small mountain community of Raven's Hollow, which has long lived in peace under the watchful proetction of its night-Protectors, an enclave of Paladins in a mountain fortress just above Raven's Hollow, has gone silent. No more trade or travellers come from there and now an alarm has been raised. </p><p> “The people and the land have gone sour,” Raelon told me, after we had tended to his wounds. “It happened suddenly, after a strange storm about a week prior. The storm led to a brown-stained rain. Soon after it began to fall, people acted strangely.”</p><p> “What do you mean by ‘strangely,’” I asked him. </p><p> “They seemed to all act in concert, even the paladins with the villagers. The last thing I saw, from a distance, before I ran, was a rider being pulled from his horse by a large group of villagers. I did not tally long, lest I be caught as well. A paladin on a horse almost rode me down as I escaped.” </p><p> This seemed like a noble enough purpose, at least for Posiedon and Morwen, if no one else. I decided to contact them and see what they could come up with. </p><p> Posiedon scryed on several people known to Raelon. Only a few were scryable, the rest were not. Which either meant they were dead or they were somewhere they could not be seen magically. Neither option was particularly helpful. The last clear vision we saw was of a paladin on a horse, her blank face covered in brown stains that were hard to see because the entire scene was covered in a brown haze. </p><p> Divinations proved most unhelpful. It seemed we had to take a closer look. </p><p> Between Posiedon and myself, we managed to transport all of us to the paladin. Morwen, Tuvstarr, Posiedon, and myself, along with our cohorts and several golem warhorses. We all were mounted, with some mounts shared, in an attempt to keep our feet out of the brown mud that seems to cover the entire landscape hear Raven’s Hollow. </p><p> As soon as the paladin saw us, she reared up her horse and charged. Strangely, both she and her mount had the same blank looks on their faces and both were covered in brownish stains from head to toe. Thinking quickly, which is all a psion need do, Posiedon engulfed both the paladin and her mount in a cocoon of ectoplasm, stopping them mid-charge. </p><p> We quickly surrounded her, then attempted to tend to her. Posiedon linked with her mind and attempted to repair any damage he could find. I know from my own use of that power (which I actually gave to him in the first place), this would take at least ten minutes of concentrating hard. Unfortunately, within a minute, brown, muddy villagers stood up from the ground around us and began to charge us, their sharpened farm implements held high. </p><p> Before they could close the distance, one of Posiedon’s disciples raised a barrier of ectoplasm around us in a large dome, keeping the former farmers away from us. They kept at the barrier, slowly wearing it down. They would have made it through had the barrier not been renewed several times. </p><p> Poseidon ultimately determined that the paladin’s mind was fine. Her name was Persephone, and she communicated to him via mindlink that she has no control over her body, and this has been true since about half an hour after the rain started a week earlier. We tried many magical and psionic cures to try and save her. Nothing seemed to help her. Posiedon was contemplating trying to leap her forward in time, sans mud, to see if that would help her. </p><p> Tuvstarr examined the brown substance carefully, and determined that it was water mixed with a fine powder of bark dust. The bark was from a tree not native to this plane, at least so far as Tuvstarr could determine, which was usually good enough to know for sure. </p><p> Testing a theory, Tuvstarr, thought back to her days as an apprentice, and then used one of the most basic magics she learned, prestigiditation, the sort of magic one uses to shine one’s boots. And it worked! Persephone was clear of the substance and clear of its control. And the ectoplasmic dome around us kept the rain at bay. Then we saw more trouble. </p><p> </p><p> Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Three – More Paladins, More Wands, More Teleportation </p><p></p><p> The villagers we kept easily at bay. But then we saw four more paladins come riding in on warhorses. They were apt to bring down the ectoplasm far faster than was comfortable. We quickly transported everyone back to the Capitol. There we were safe. There we also found at least a half-dozen wands of prestidigitation, something which we would find great use for with the villagers. Unfortunately, even that many would cover only a small fraction of the over 3,000 villagers and paladins that occupied the community of Raven’s Hollow. But it was a start. </p><p> We could not scry anyone in the paladins’ keep, but Persephone knew a location near the keep and so we attempted to teleport just outside the gate. Fortunately, this worked. </p><p> The gate was down, but with four of Posiedon’s behemouths of ectoplasm, it was quickly raised. We managed to get inside just as a few hundred villagers charged us. The gate was raised at the same time from within. One construct quickly blocked the gate with his body, cutting off the villagers. At the same time, paladins came from each flank, from the east and west towers astride the gatehouse. Some were held in ectoplasm, some were time-hopped forward, and the rest were cleaned, giving us more allies in our fight. </p><p> We then turned our attention to the remaining door ahead of us, the one that led to the central atrium of the keep. As it happened, we did not need to open it. It was opened for us. </p><p> After it opened, paladins streamed in. They looked different than the others. They had not just brown sludge, but large splinters of wood piercing their flesh everywhere. There were seven of them. The council of six leadership, and then the castellan of the paladins himself. This would prove to be a tough fight. </p><p> </p><p> Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Four – Night Twist</p><p></p><p> We were careful to do only non-lethat damage to the paladins. Unfortuantely, they were not kind enough to return the favor. One of the circle was taken down by the constructs. Then the rest retreated to the atrium, to protect the true menace. There, we saw a huge tree, with long flailing limbs. </p><p> Posiedon, Tuvstarr, Morwen, and Nimue charged into the atrium to face it. Morwen tumbled behind it, hoping for assistance flanking the tree. Assistance never came. </p><p> Within seconds, six limbs tore into Morwen’s flesh, ripping most of it from her body, and leaving her unconscious on the ground behind the tree. Then a great wind began to flow, blasting everyone back. Finally, a huge, weird vision of death vercame Nimue, nearly killing her instantly. </p><p> None of Posiedon’s ectoplasmic beasts could enter the atrium, nor could any other summoned beasts. Posiedon send wave after wave of sharp crystal shards into the hide of the tree, wounding it again and again. But just when it was close to falling, the circule of paladins would surround it and heal it, first laying on hands, later, using their more conventional healing magic. </p><p> We had a short scare at one point as all five of the circle cast their shield of protection over the tree, taking half of its wounds as they came. Had Tuvstarr not dispelled that magic, we would probably have killed all of the paladins before the tree even came close to falling. </p><p> In the end, though it was a tough fight, the tree simply could not survive our epic onslaught. More importantly, we managed to avoid killing a single innocent villager or paladin. We had to pick out the splinters by hand after the fight, and then we had a few thousand villagers to clean, but we saved the village and the paladins. The paladins, in particular, were very grateful. They offered us a “favor,” whatever that might mean. </p><p> The tree itself held nothing but seven strange, magical “acorns,” for lack of a better word. These acorns protected it from negative energy and boosted all of its various attributes, making them a valuable find. </p><p> Tuvstarr finally settled the murky mystery of the tree. The Night Twist grew from a fragment of the great demon tree that we had recently vanquished. The rain was shards of its bark, coming down upon the populace after the giant splinter of a fragment landed in the atrium and began spreading its foul, demonic evil into the keep and the village. </p><p> While we heard no further reports of trouble, it does not bode well for us if further splinters from the huge demon tree have landed elsewhere to spread their evil. I will keep the eyes and ears of my great information network, now nearly 700 strong, wide open for signs of this evil. </p><p> Now, there are some vampires to vanquish who have waited far too long.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Altalazar, post: 3884672, member: 939"] Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Two – Murky Mystery About a week later, I was engaged in the creation of more stones for my upcoming visit to the plane of negative evil, home of the vampire tower, when one of my followers, a commoner named Raelon, came staggering into my stronghold in Cauldron. Apparently, the small mountain community of Raven's Hollow, which has long lived in peace under the watchful proetction of its night-Protectors, an enclave of Paladins in a mountain fortress just above Raven's Hollow, has gone silent. No more trade or travellers come from there and now an alarm has been raised. “The people and the land have gone sour,” Raelon told me, after we had tended to his wounds. “It happened suddenly, after a strange storm about a week prior. The storm led to a brown-stained rain. Soon after it began to fall, people acted strangely.” “What do you mean by ‘strangely,’” I asked him. “They seemed to all act in concert, even the paladins with the villagers. The last thing I saw, from a distance, before I ran, was a rider being pulled from his horse by a large group of villagers. I did not tally long, lest I be caught as well. A paladin on a horse almost rode me down as I escaped.” This seemed like a noble enough purpose, at least for Posiedon and Morwen, if no one else. I decided to contact them and see what they could come up with. Posiedon scryed on several people known to Raelon. Only a few were scryable, the rest were not. Which either meant they were dead or they were somewhere they could not be seen magically. Neither option was particularly helpful. The last clear vision we saw was of a paladin on a horse, her blank face covered in brown stains that were hard to see because the entire scene was covered in a brown haze. Divinations proved most unhelpful. It seemed we had to take a closer look. Between Posiedon and myself, we managed to transport all of us to the paladin. Morwen, Tuvstarr, Posiedon, and myself, along with our cohorts and several golem warhorses. We all were mounted, with some mounts shared, in an attempt to keep our feet out of the brown mud that seems to cover the entire landscape hear Raven’s Hollow. As soon as the paladin saw us, she reared up her horse and charged. Strangely, both she and her mount had the same blank looks on their faces and both were covered in brownish stains from head to toe. Thinking quickly, which is all a psion need do, Posiedon engulfed both the paladin and her mount in a cocoon of ectoplasm, stopping them mid-charge. We quickly surrounded her, then attempted to tend to her. Posiedon linked with her mind and attempted to repair any damage he could find. I know from my own use of that power (which I actually gave to him in the first place), this would take at least ten minutes of concentrating hard. Unfortunately, within a minute, brown, muddy villagers stood up from the ground around us and began to charge us, their sharpened farm implements held high. Before they could close the distance, one of Posiedon’s disciples raised a barrier of ectoplasm around us in a large dome, keeping the former farmers away from us. They kept at the barrier, slowly wearing it down. They would have made it through had the barrier not been renewed several times. Poseidon ultimately determined that the paladin’s mind was fine. Her name was Persephone, and she communicated to him via mindlink that she has no control over her body, and this has been true since about half an hour after the rain started a week earlier. We tried many magical and psionic cures to try and save her. Nothing seemed to help her. Posiedon was contemplating trying to leap her forward in time, sans mud, to see if that would help her. Tuvstarr examined the brown substance carefully, and determined that it was water mixed with a fine powder of bark dust. The bark was from a tree not native to this plane, at least so far as Tuvstarr could determine, which was usually good enough to know for sure. Testing a theory, Tuvstarr, thought back to her days as an apprentice, and then used one of the most basic magics she learned, prestigiditation, the sort of magic one uses to shine one’s boots. And it worked! Persephone was clear of the substance and clear of its control. And the ectoplasmic dome around us kept the rain at bay. Then we saw more trouble. Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Three – More Paladins, More Wands, More Teleportation The villagers we kept easily at bay. But then we saw four more paladins come riding in on warhorses. They were apt to bring down the ectoplasm far faster than was comfortable. We quickly transported everyone back to the Capitol. There we were safe. There we also found at least a half-dozen wands of prestidigitation, something which we would find great use for with the villagers. Unfortunately, even that many would cover only a small fraction of the over 3,000 villagers and paladins that occupied the community of Raven’s Hollow. But it was a start. We could not scry anyone in the paladins’ keep, but Persephone knew a location near the keep and so we attempted to teleport just outside the gate. Fortunately, this worked. The gate was down, but with four of Posiedon’s behemouths of ectoplasm, it was quickly raised. We managed to get inside just as a few hundred villagers charged us. The gate was raised at the same time from within. One construct quickly blocked the gate with his body, cutting off the villagers. At the same time, paladins came from each flank, from the east and west towers astride the gatehouse. Some were held in ectoplasm, some were time-hopped forward, and the rest were cleaned, giving us more allies in our fight. We then turned our attention to the remaining door ahead of us, the one that led to the central atrium of the keep. As it happened, we did not need to open it. It was opened for us. After it opened, paladins streamed in. They looked different than the others. They had not just brown sludge, but large splinters of wood piercing their flesh everywhere. There were seven of them. The council of six leadership, and then the castellan of the paladins himself. This would prove to be a tough fight. Baron Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Four – Night Twist We were careful to do only non-lethat damage to the paladins. Unfortuantely, they were not kind enough to return the favor. One of the circle was taken down by the constructs. Then the rest retreated to the atrium, to protect the true menace. There, we saw a huge tree, with long flailing limbs. Posiedon, Tuvstarr, Morwen, and Nimue charged into the atrium to face it. Morwen tumbled behind it, hoping for assistance flanking the tree. Assistance never came. Within seconds, six limbs tore into Morwen’s flesh, ripping most of it from her body, and leaving her unconscious on the ground behind the tree. Then a great wind began to flow, blasting everyone back. Finally, a huge, weird vision of death vercame Nimue, nearly killing her instantly. None of Posiedon’s ectoplasmic beasts could enter the atrium, nor could any other summoned beasts. Posiedon send wave after wave of sharp crystal shards into the hide of the tree, wounding it again and again. But just when it was close to falling, the circule of paladins would surround it and heal it, first laying on hands, later, using their more conventional healing magic. We had a short scare at one point as all five of the circle cast their shield of protection over the tree, taking half of its wounds as they came. Had Tuvstarr not dispelled that magic, we would probably have killed all of the paladins before the tree even came close to falling. In the end, though it was a tough fight, the tree simply could not survive our epic onslaught. More importantly, we managed to avoid killing a single innocent villager or paladin. We had to pick out the splinters by hand after the fight, and then we had a few thousand villagers to clean, but we saved the village and the paladins. The paladins, in particular, were very grateful. They offered us a “favor,” whatever that might mean. The tree itself held nothing but seven strange, magical “acorns,” for lack of a better word. These acorns protected it from negative energy and boosted all of its various attributes, making them a valuable find. Tuvstarr finally settled the murky mystery of the tree. The Night Twist grew from a fragment of the great demon tree that we had recently vanquished. The rain was shards of its bark, coming down upon the populace after the giant splinter of a fragment landed in the atrium and began spreading its foul, demonic evil into the keep and the village. While we heard no further reports of trouble, it does not bode well for us if further splinters from the huge demon tree have landed elsewhere to spread their evil. I will keep the eyes and ears of my great information network, now nearly 700 strong, wide open for signs of this evil. Now, there are some vampires to vanquish who have waited far too long. [/QUOTE]
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