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
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
My Dark Sun 4e Game Experience Updated 01/22/2013
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="Raunalyn" data-source="post: 5708571" data-attributes="member: 72670"><p><strong>Dark Sun: Session 16</strong></p><p></p><p>After finishing up in the overseer's quarters, the group descends the spire and continues exploring the underground city. Unknown to the rest of the group, Kratas has finished his transformation, awakening latent psionic powers and developing a few abilities granted to him by his otherworldly patrons.</p><p> </p><p>After about an hour, they hear what sounds like something tapping inside one of the buildings. They move further in, trying to determine the source. Soon, it becomes clear that the tapping is actually someone beating rythmically on a wall, which is further verified when they faintly hear someone singing. When they get close enough to make out the language, they are shocked to discover that the person is singing in common. However, the words are almost gibberish, words strung together in meaningless sentences.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, they encounter a lone human male using two clubs as drumsticks. He continues to sing, not noticing the party until Pa Mela steps forward and grabs his attention. The man drops his clubs in startlement, then cowers in the corner, babbling incoherently as the party tries to calm him. Kratas tries to contact the man's mind, but finds nothing there...as if the man had no mind. But, with Pa Mela's persistant calm, the man soon calms down. He beckons the party to follow him.</p><p> </p><p>Crawling and stumbling over the rooftops and through the ancient habitations, the strange man babbles at the group as he guides them east through the ruins. Eventually, they come to a small cottage. The area around it is cultivated, farmed for what the group can only assume are nutricious plants. The man calls out as he approaches the cottage, and the group makes out a name in the incoherent gibberish; "Slate."</p><p>Soon, a man emerges. From all appearances, he's human, except that his face is gray and stoney, cracked and craggy. His piercing blue eyes gauge the party as his gibbering friend points to the group. He then turns to them and says,</p><p> </p><p>"Thank you for your kindness to my friend Morlah. Perhaps you wouldn't mind joining us and telling your tale, and we will tell ours. As you can probably gather, we never have visitors here."</p><p> </p><p>He introduces himself as Slate, and explains that he is the leader of a small group of elemental priests that he has named the Square of Gurdek. Within the cottage he seats the party in a large common room and introduces the rest of the Square: Pargo; a human male in his early 30's: Mefse; a burly and jovial human male in his 20's: Ari Evan; an elderly and cheerful human woman in her 60's: Ranza: a short, wirey, dour human male whose face is covered with strange, black tatoos: Morlah: the cheerful, childlike man they met earlier: and Olton; obviously a former gladiator, but she is just as childlike and insane as Morlah.</p><p> </p><p>As Ari, Mefse and Pargo prepare dinner, Ranza exits out of one doorway, and Morlah, Slate, and Olton remain in the common room. Curious, the party asks late about the formor gladiator and bard. Slate explains that he showed them the glory of Gurdek, but their minds could not comprehend. They became broken and childish beings, and he feels it is his duty to continue sheltering them. The rest of his group had minds strong enough to see Gurdek in his full glory, then says that there is one among the party who he thinks would be strong enough to speak with Gurdek. He looks right at Katrie when he says this.</p><p> </p><p>As they all sit down to eat, the rest of the square makes conversation. Slate remains silent, watching each of the party in turn.</p><p> </p><p>At first, the party is a little nervous about eating (previous adventures have made them cautious (smile)), but as Tor Val smells the delicious aromas coming from the plates, he digs in. The fruits and vegetables are unusual, but he discovers that the meat is quite tasty. Upon asking, Ari laughs and says, "Someone was kind enough to kill a bunch of basilisks for us. That's basilisk tail." To which Mefse cheerfully replies, "Tastes like chicken!"</p><p> </p><p>As they eat, Ari, Pargo and Mefse relate their tales. Slate had found each of them on the surface. All of them were unsuccessful and aimless until Slate showed them the glory of Gurdek. He then brought each of them here, letting their group grow in power and fellowship.</p><p> </p><p>The group asks about the gith. Ari explains that they are safe here because the gith consider the ruins to be a sacred city.</p><p> </p><p>Around this time, Ranza returns and whispers something in Slate's ear. At this point, Slate asks the group what they are doing down here.</p><p>The group explains about the attacks on the surface from the gith. Slate nods knowingly and explains;</p><p> </p><p>"&#147;Look around you, at the glory of this city. Great earth spirits like Gurdek built this city, a haven of stone for the great ones. Here they were shielded from annoying winds, unruly waters, and fickle fire. But the spirits of other elements grew envious of the earth spirits and drove them out of the city. Outnumbered and beaten by their lessers, the earth spirits took the shape of living flesh so they could propagate their kind.</p><p> </p><p>Now, centuries after that ignominious defeat, they are ready to reclaim what was theirs. Not just the City of Death, but the surface world as well. With water already broken, wind and flame will prove too weak to resist earth&#146;s vengeance, even if they unite their powers. At last order shall be restored, and the gith as servants of the earth shall reign supreme.&#148;"</p><p> </p><p>He then bids the party goodnight. Ari shows them to a large room where they can rest. Kratas, Dryder, and Gundrek guard each entrance to the room, and they discuss what they've learned.</p><p> </p><p>None of them trusts the Square. In fact, each of them is worried that, some time in the night, Slate or his companions will try to kidnap Katrie. They set watches for the night and wait.</p><p> </p><p>Sure enough, Pargo and Ari arrive several hours later. Pargo says that Slate would like to speak with Katrie. She says that she would gladly go if she could bring her companions with her. Ari sadly shakes her head and says, "Alone."</p><p> </p><p>The group declines, and Pargo pulls out his battleaxe, saying, "She's coming with us one way or another. It's best to let her come quietly."</p><p>At this point, Kratas and Gundrek decide to defend their companion.</p><p> </p><p>While Gundrek, Katrie and Kratas cover the north entrance to the room, Dryder and Tor Val remain near the south entrance, knowing that more of the Square would likely come through that way. As they wait, Mefse and Olton burst into the room. Pa Mela stands in the center of the room, firing arrows both north and south to her companions that need them. Gundrek marks Pargo and maneuvers himself to block of any retreat, and Katrie and Kratas flank Ari after realizing she's a mage. Pargo shakes off Gundrek's mark and deals a hefty blow, and Ari takes a bit of a beating from both Katrie and Kratas before she casts Dimension Door, teleporting into a better position so that she can cast a sleep spell. Kratas and Pa Mela are caught in the effect, but Kratas successfully resists. Pa Mela struggles to stay awake, but ultimately falls to the floor unconscious.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Dryder and Tor Val (who crits) quickly dispatch Olton and are in the process of attacking Mefse. Mefse somehow is able to burrow into the ground, rushing beneath Tor Val and Dryder. The attack knocks Tor Val prone, and then he discovers that another occupant has been hiding; Ranza has secretly snuck in the room and attacks Tor Val while he's down, hitting him hard.</p><p> </p><p>During the course of the fight, the group discovers that each of the Square of Gurdek has some type of earth-based power; some have the ability to cause spikes to spring up out of the ground, others to turn their skin to stone, or the ability to sink into the stone beneath them and spring up somewhere else. However, soon, the party is triumphant as the last of the Square, Pargo, falls.</p><p> </p><p>The group investigates the rest of the cottage, soon finding a stairwell going down into a basement level. There, they find Slate standing in front of a large crevice. He looks sad as he berates the party, admonishing them for abusing his hospitality, and then for killing his companions. Kratas immediately throws out his new power, Web of Shadows, to try to prevent Slate from moving. Tor Val, Gundrek, Dryder and Katrie rush forward to engage while Pa Mela remains behind, taking pot shots at their enemy. Slate, though, has other plans. With a shout out to the elemental spirit that he worships, the ground rumbles and two Earth Elementals erupt from the ground.</p><p> </p><p>This was a fun fight. These guys hit HARD, and Pa Mela was reduced to mostly damage mitigation. Kratas used several of his powers to good effect, mainly using Forward Thinking Cut to grant Dryder and Tor Val free charge attacks. Gundrek moves in to engage Slate, and Katrie tries to flank. Slate, with his main power having a reach of 2, gets an Opportunity attack on Katrie, though, and nails her for 30 damage. Slate uses his powers to separate the party several times, and the Earth elementals slide the group around with their earth stomps. But soon, the tide turns as first one elemental, then the other falls. Finally, Katrie pounces on Slate and brings him down. With his last breath, he curses the group and gives this dire warning:</p><p> </p><p>"You are too late. The ritual has begun. They come!"</p><p> </p><p>The party picks up their loot and heads to the crevice, where they find a rope ladder descending into darkness.</p><p> </p><p>The day is now the 23rd day of Wind, in the Season of Sun Ascending, in the Year of Enemy's Vengeance, 190th King's Age.</p><p> </p><p>Next Session: The Nightmare Gate</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Raunalyn, post: 5708571, member: 72670"] [b]Dark Sun: Session 16[/b] After finishing up in the overseer's quarters, the group descends the spire and continues exploring the underground city. Unknown to the rest of the group, Kratas has finished his transformation, awakening latent psionic powers and developing a few abilities granted to him by his otherworldly patrons. After about an hour, they hear what sounds like something tapping inside one of the buildings. They move further in, trying to determine the source. Soon, it becomes clear that the tapping is actually someone beating rythmically on a wall, which is further verified when they faintly hear someone singing. When they get close enough to make out the language, they are shocked to discover that the person is singing in common. However, the words are almost gibberish, words strung together in meaningless sentences. Eventually, they encounter a lone human male using two clubs as drumsticks. He continues to sing, not noticing the party until Pa Mela steps forward and grabs his attention. The man drops his clubs in startlement, then cowers in the corner, babbling incoherently as the party tries to calm him. Kratas tries to contact the man's mind, but finds nothing there...as if the man had no mind. But, with Pa Mela's persistant calm, the man soon calms down. He beckons the party to follow him. Crawling and stumbling over the rooftops and through the ancient habitations, the strange man babbles at the group as he guides them east through the ruins. Eventually, they come to a small cottage. The area around it is cultivated, farmed for what the group can only assume are nutricious plants. The man calls out as he approaches the cottage, and the group makes out a name in the incoherent gibberish; "Slate." Soon, a man emerges. From all appearances, he's human, except that his face is gray and stoney, cracked and craggy. His piercing blue eyes gauge the party as his gibbering friend points to the group. He then turns to them and says, "Thank you for your kindness to my friend Morlah. Perhaps you wouldn't mind joining us and telling your tale, and we will tell ours. As you can probably gather, we never have visitors here." He introduces himself as Slate, and explains that he is the leader of a small group of elemental priests that he has named the Square of Gurdek. Within the cottage he seats the party in a large common room and introduces the rest of the Square: Pargo; a human male in his early 30's: Mefse; a burly and jovial human male in his 20's: Ari Evan; an elderly and cheerful human woman in her 60's: Ranza: a short, wirey, dour human male whose face is covered with strange, black tatoos: Morlah: the cheerful, childlike man they met earlier: and Olton; obviously a former gladiator, but she is just as childlike and insane as Morlah. As Ari, Mefse and Pargo prepare dinner, Ranza exits out of one doorway, and Morlah, Slate, and Olton remain in the common room. Curious, the party asks late about the formor gladiator and bard. Slate explains that he showed them the glory of Gurdek, but their minds could not comprehend. They became broken and childish beings, and he feels it is his duty to continue sheltering them. The rest of his group had minds strong enough to see Gurdek in his full glory, then says that there is one among the party who he thinks would be strong enough to speak with Gurdek. He looks right at Katrie when he says this. As they all sit down to eat, the rest of the square makes conversation. Slate remains silent, watching each of the party in turn. At first, the party is a little nervous about eating (previous adventures have made them cautious (smile)), but as Tor Val smells the delicious aromas coming from the plates, he digs in. The fruits and vegetables are unusual, but he discovers that the meat is quite tasty. Upon asking, Ari laughs and says, "Someone was kind enough to kill a bunch of basilisks for us. That's basilisk tail." To which Mefse cheerfully replies, "Tastes like chicken!" As they eat, Ari, Pargo and Mefse relate their tales. Slate had found each of them on the surface. All of them were unsuccessful and aimless until Slate showed them the glory of Gurdek. He then brought each of them here, letting their group grow in power and fellowship. The group asks about the gith. Ari explains that they are safe here because the gith consider the ruins to be a sacred city. Around this time, Ranza returns and whispers something in Slate's ear. At this point, Slate asks the group what they are doing down here. The group explains about the attacks on the surface from the gith. Slate nods knowingly and explains; "“Look around you, at the glory of this city. Great earth spirits like Gurdek built this city, a haven of stone for the great ones. Here they were shielded from annoying winds, unruly waters, and fickle fire. But the spirits of other elements grew envious of the earth spirits and drove them out of the city. Outnumbered and beaten by their lessers, the earth spirits took the shape of living flesh so they could propagate their kind. Now, centuries after that ignominious defeat, they are ready to reclaim what was theirs. Not just the City of Death, but the surface world as well. With water already broken, wind and flame will prove too weak to resist earth’s vengeance, even if they unite their powers. At last order shall be restored, and the gith as servants of the earth shall reign supreme.”" He then bids the party goodnight. Ari shows them to a large room where they can rest. Kratas, Dryder, and Gundrek guard each entrance to the room, and they discuss what they've learned. None of them trusts the Square. In fact, each of them is worried that, some time in the night, Slate or his companions will try to kidnap Katrie. They set watches for the night and wait. Sure enough, Pargo and Ari arrive several hours later. Pargo says that Slate would like to speak with Katrie. She says that she would gladly go if she could bring her companions with her. Ari sadly shakes her head and says, "Alone." The group declines, and Pargo pulls out his battleaxe, saying, "She's coming with us one way or another. It's best to let her come quietly." At this point, Kratas and Gundrek decide to defend their companion. While Gundrek, Katrie and Kratas cover the north entrance to the room, Dryder and Tor Val remain near the south entrance, knowing that more of the Square would likely come through that way. As they wait, Mefse and Olton burst into the room. Pa Mela stands in the center of the room, firing arrows both north and south to her companions that need them. Gundrek marks Pargo and maneuvers himself to block of any retreat, and Katrie and Kratas flank Ari after realizing she's a mage. Pargo shakes off Gundrek's mark and deals a hefty blow, and Ari takes a bit of a beating from both Katrie and Kratas before she casts Dimension Door, teleporting into a better position so that she can cast a sleep spell. Kratas and Pa Mela are caught in the effect, but Kratas successfully resists. Pa Mela struggles to stay awake, but ultimately falls to the floor unconscious. Meanwhile, Dryder and Tor Val (who crits) quickly dispatch Olton and are in the process of attacking Mefse. Mefse somehow is able to burrow into the ground, rushing beneath Tor Val and Dryder. The attack knocks Tor Val prone, and then he discovers that another occupant has been hiding; Ranza has secretly snuck in the room and attacks Tor Val while he's down, hitting him hard. During the course of the fight, the group discovers that each of the Square of Gurdek has some type of earth-based power; some have the ability to cause spikes to spring up out of the ground, others to turn their skin to stone, or the ability to sink into the stone beneath them and spring up somewhere else. However, soon, the party is triumphant as the last of the Square, Pargo, falls. The group investigates the rest of the cottage, soon finding a stairwell going down into a basement level. There, they find Slate standing in front of a large crevice. He looks sad as he berates the party, admonishing them for abusing his hospitality, and then for killing his companions. Kratas immediately throws out his new power, Web of Shadows, to try to prevent Slate from moving. Tor Val, Gundrek, Dryder and Katrie rush forward to engage while Pa Mela remains behind, taking pot shots at their enemy. Slate, though, has other plans. With a shout out to the elemental spirit that he worships, the ground rumbles and two Earth Elementals erupt from the ground. This was a fun fight. These guys hit HARD, and Pa Mela was reduced to mostly damage mitigation. Kratas used several of his powers to good effect, mainly using Forward Thinking Cut to grant Dryder and Tor Val free charge attacks. Gundrek moves in to engage Slate, and Katrie tries to flank. Slate, with his main power having a reach of 2, gets an Opportunity attack on Katrie, though, and nails her for 30 damage. Slate uses his powers to separate the party several times, and the Earth elementals slide the group around with their earth stomps. But soon, the tide turns as first one elemental, then the other falls. Finally, Katrie pounces on Slate and brings him down. With his last breath, he curses the group and gives this dire warning: "You are too late. The ritual has begun. They come!" The party picks up their loot and heads to the crevice, where they find a rope ladder descending into darkness. The day is now the 23rd day of Wind, in the Season of Sun Ascending, in the Year of Enemy's Vengeance, 190th King's Age. Next Session: The Nightmare Gate [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
My Dark Sun 4e Game Experience Updated 01/22/2013
Top