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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7990006" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 21: TOLLED YOU SO</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 7</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 13 May 2020</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>It took two days to reach the border of Dracovania and when Cramer brought the horse-drawn wagon to a halt at the request of the two border guards - humans in red scale mail armor, one of whom was standing directly in the road with his hand out to halt the wagon's progress - they were less than impressed with the kingdom's hospitality. "Adventurers!" the guard said, smiling at his partner with a knowing glance. "Welcome to Draconvania! We're always glad to see seasoned adventurers come to visit. If you'd like to pay the toll, we'll be glad to let you get on your way."</p><p></p><p>"Toll?" repeated Cramer. "What toll?"</p><p></p><p>"One thousand pieces of gold," replied the guard. His smile widened. "Each."</p><p></p><p>"Five thousand pieces of gold just to enter your kingdom?" sputtered the gnome.</p><p></p><p>"What? No, no, of course not," replied the other border guard, his crossbow loaded and ready for action should it become necessary. His smile was as broad as that of his partner when he explained, "Seven thousand: the five of you, one horse, and your wizard's toad familiar, which I can see peeking out of her pocket over there."</p><p></p><p>Marlo was giving some serious thought about taking these two out with a couple of well-placed spells, but a glance at the stone tower keep on the side of the road was a reminder they didn't know how many guards there might be in reserve, ready to spill out and attack them at the first sign of any trouble. And they didn't really want to start an incident with the kingdom they were hoping to get to join the alliance in protecting Greenvale and fighting off the drow armies that would soon erupt out of the Overreach.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, who had never heard the word "toll" before but had picked up the general gist of things, reached into his pouch. "Do you take slave tokens?" he asked, holding one between his claw-tipped fingers.</p><p></p><p>"Are they gold?" the first guard asked.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok examined the slave token. It was a square-shaped chip of slate with the House Jalamir emblem crudely engraved upon it. "No," he admitted.</p><p></p><p>"Then no," answered the guard.</p><p></p><p>"We will not be paying you 7,000 pieces of gold merely to enter your kingdom," Marlo asserted. "We come to warn your king of an impending attack by drow forces - he will not be pleased if you delay us entry!" She wished she had been wearing her <em>circlet of persuasion</em>, but it was packed away with her things.</p><p></p><p>However, it turned out not to have been necessary. With a look between themselves that said the odds of getting these dupes to pay the toll was minimal, the first border guard offered up, "Well, I suppose we could allow you to pay an alternate toll of sorts...there's been a bit of recent bandit activity of late. I suppose in lieu of the 7,000 pieces of gold, we might accept the head of the bandit leader as an adequate entry toll."</p><p></p><p>The five slaves sat motionless in the wagon. "What do you think?" muttered Cramer, audible only to Marlo beside him.</p><p></p><p>"I think I'd like to lob an <em>empowered magic missile</em> straight between his eyes," muttered the sorcerer in an equally soft tone.</p><p></p><p>"What does this bandit leader look like?" asked Utred, thinking if these guards had no idea, then any old bandit would do.</p><p></p><p>"And where might they be found?" added Khari.</p><p></p><p>"They're said to hole up in a cave in the hills, thereabouts," answered the guard, waving a hand off to the side. "And we'd be needing the entire band taken out, not just the leader." Utred didn't fail to notice his question had been sidestepped entirely.</p><p></p><p>"Do you charge them 1,000 pieces of gold to enter your kingdom?" Jhasspok asked. "And if not, do they take different roads than the ones with toll guards at them? And where are these roads?"</p><p></p><p>The lizardfolk might have thought he was being sneaky with this line of questioning but it wiped the smiles off the guards at once. "Don't get cute," one warned. "So, we got a deal, or what?"</p><p></p><p>"Very well," answered Cramer. "Given the options, we choose to take out your group of bandits for you."</p><p></p><p>The guards nodded their agreement. "Okay, then," one said and proceeded to give the group directions to the hills to the south where the bandits were rumored to be lairing. Cramer turned the wagon around and started off in that direction.</p><p></p><p>As the wagon trundled along the dirt road, the group suddenly got the distinct impression they were being watched. Cramer and Marlo looked on both sides of the road, looking for spies among the trees, while Jhasspok and the dwarves were looking around to see if there were any eyeballs floating around like that one in the shop back in Revin - after all, the Overseer had warned that she'd be made whole again when the Assassins Guild rescued her from the deepest dungeons below Castle Revin. But despite everyone's best efforts, nobody could be seen watching them. "It's possible we're being scried on from afar," Cramer pointed out.</p><p></p><p>"Through the tattoos?" asked Marlo. One of the properties of the House Jalamir tattoos carved into their backs was it allowed their drow masters to scry upon them. Of course, Greenvale wizards had secretly altered the tattoos so they gave false readings of benign activities should they be used in such a manner, but that was the thing with magic - a more powerful wizard could usually overcome the magic cast by those less versed in the arcane arts, so nothing was ever certain.</p><p></p><p>Rounding a bend in the road a good score of minutes or more later, Utred spotted what looked like a roguish sentry in the hills above. He alerted the other slaves (while activating the <em>hat of disguise</em> he wore and instantly taking on the appearance of one Cramer Appleknocker, cleric of Fharlanghn) and the real Cramer eased up on the reins, keeping the horse moving forward as if nothing were untoward but at a slower pace to give them more time to plan.</p><p></p><p>But Khari needed no time to plan; once alerted there were enemies in the hills ahead, he hopped off the side of the wagon with his <em>earth glide warhammer</em> in hand and, invoking its magic, passed through the solid ground and up the sides of the rocky hill, all while remaining underground. He popped up at the top of the hill, finding himself in a ring of a half dozen guards in leather armor, obviously lookouts but all conveniently looking directly away from him. He smiled at the opportunity and got a better grip on his weapon.</p><p></p><p>The rogues all had short swords at their belts but had their shortbows readied, each with an arrow nocked. They looked down at the wagon in anticipation of another group of travelers to be slain and looted. But then Cramer passed the reins to Marlo at his side, spun around to touch Utred on the shoulder, and used a <em>dimension door</em> spell to teleport the pair over by Khari's side at the top of the hill, between the ring of oblivious bandit sentries.</p><p></p><p>Marlo didn't keep the reins for long; calling out "Whoa!" for the horse to stop and giving a brief tug to emphasize the command, she cast an <em>invisibility</em> spell on herself and dropped the reins, leaping off the wagon and heading for the hill. It was a 20-foot climb but one she felt more confident in making when the sentries couldn't see her ascent.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok looked suddenly about him and realized he was all alone in the wagon; just seconds earlier they had all been there beside him! He leaped off the side of the wagon and started climbing up the hill, but as he was the only visible person doing so he drew the attention of the two closest archers. A pair of arrows clanged off the stones mere inches from him but he ignored them, concentrating on scrambling up the steep hill-side to get to his attackers.</p><p></p><p>But three of the arena slaves were already there among the bandits. Utred charged at one of the archers, stabbing at him with his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em> and sending him over the edge of the steep hill-side, where he tumbled down in a tangle of limbs. By the time he reached the bottom he was quite obviously dead.</p><p></p><p>Hearing the commotion, <strong>Solenka</strong> exited the cave at the top of the hill, where the road ended its ascent and met up with the cliff of an even higher hill. She drew a rapier from a belt at her hilt and immediately the light dimmed all around her, covering her in a gloom which protected her sensitive drow eyes. Cramer and Khari noted with interest the drow woman's hair was a bright red in color, causing them to momentarily doubt whether they were attacking the right people; if these were Greenvale drow, then the slaves should be helping them, not attacking them. But then Cramer heard her call out behind her in the Drow language - a language Cramer didn't understand but which was perfectly translated through the <em>helm of comprehend languages</em> he wore - "It's the Greenvale contingent!" and the disdain in her voice told the little gnome these were no potential allies after all.</p><p></p><p>He said as much to Khari, who then charged one of the other sentries looking over the side of the hilltop, swinging his warhammer for all he was worth. The archer dropped his bow to the ground at the sudden onslaught, fumbling to grab his blade to use against this battle-crazed dwarf who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.</p><p></p><p>Then another drow, <strong>Z'ress</strong>, stepped out of the cave behind Solenka, this one sporting bright green hair. She targeted Cramer - the real one, as it turned out - with a <em>Kelgor's fire bolt</em> spell. And while Cramer was reeling from the effects of that spell, a male drow, <strong>Viedar Bel'vior</strong>, stepped out of the cave as well, sending a pair of <em>scorching rays</em> blazing towards the gnome. One of them hit, the other falling short. But despite the pain of the flame spells, Cramer had the presence of mind to fire back with a <em>sound burst</em> spell of his own, centered on the three drow. All three were affected by the sonic blast, but of the three only the male - whose hair, Cramer noted absently, was as white as the typical Underdark drow's - appeared to have been stunned as a result. Marlo, having climbed unseen to the top of the hill, took advantage of his temporary immobility, sending an <em>empowered magic missile</em> crashing into him. It caused her to pop back into the visible light spectrum - but it had been well worth it.</p><p></p><p>This spell-flinging commotion at long last brought the other archers spinning around to see a group of combatants there on the hilltop with them. Arrows went whizzing at both Cramers, none of them hitting. The rogue fighting Khari also missed with his short sword strike, the dwarven fighter handily avoiding the blade as it went swinging in his direction. Jhasspok clambered over the top of the steep hill-side and went charging straight for the cluster of drow, believing them to likely be the greatest threat. He noted the dimness around them was centered on the two women and assumed one of them was responsible; in the back of his mind he formed a thought that if he could get rid of the shadowy effect the drow would likely be helpless in the sun's full brightness. But as his lizard brain was actively working on this plan, his body was in full automatic combat mode, bringing his battleaxe swinging in an arc at Z'ress's head. She avoided the skull-chopping blow the lizardfolk had intended but his blade sliced down her arm, causing her no small amount of pain. Solenka shifted position to trap the lizardfolk between the two drow women and attacked with a rapier of her own, but Jhasspok caught its tip on the edge of his shield and deflected it away.</p><p></p><p>Utred plucked a bead from the replacement <em>necklace of fireballs</em> he'd picked up recently and tossed it into a cluster of four rogues, dropping two of them instantly; the other two managed to twist about in such a way as to avoid the flames altogether. Khari's warhammer finished off the rogue he'd been fighting and he spun about, eager to find a new combatant to take that one's place.</p><p></p><p>With a snarl and a few arcane syllables, Z'ress charged her rapier with a <em>shocking grasp</em> spell and stabbed at Jhasspok, but the nimble reptile dodged the strike, which came very close to hitting Solenka behind him. In a surprise maneuver, Jhasspok spun about and ignored Z'ress entirely, leaping onto Solenka and bringing his axe-head down upon her shoulder as he snapped at her unprotected neck with his row of sharp teeth. The drow's screams died in her throat as the life left her body. Jhasspok let the body drop and spun about again, facing Z'ress - whose black face showed an expression of shock at her companion's sudden demise.</p><p></p><p>Utred found himself surrounded by rogues trying to flank him and get in a back-stab or two, but he shrugged off all of their attacks. (He was momentarily amused by the thought that these human rogues would think they were being bested by a little gnome, but then he realized his <em>hat of disguise</em> tricks were technically giving the real Cramer Appleknocker visual credit for all of Utred's own kills! Maybe he'd need to rethink this strategy....)</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>silence</em> spell at the ground by Z'ress's feet; he knew she was some type of spellcaster and the zone of absolute silence he'd cast also encompassed the male drow, still standing stunned by the gnome's previous spell; that would no doubt come in handy as well in the immediate future. Marlo fired another <em>empowered magic missile</em> spell at one of the remaining rogues - not that the dwarves had left many of them standing by this time! Utred finished off the one Marlo had just hit with her spell and spun around to face the one directly behind him, stabbing his <em>Elderwood flaming blade</em> straight into his stomach and pulling it out, watching in satisfaction as the rogue fell to the ground, dead. That left only one other rogue and he immediately dropped his short sword, put his hands on his head, and dropped to his knees, calling out, "I surrender! Don't kill me!"</p><p></p><p>Khari grimaced; it was no fun taking out a helpless opponent who'd just thrown himself at your mercy. Instead, he charged Z'ress from behind, dropping her with a well-placed blow of his warhammer (after all, you really can't get much more well-placed with a burly hammer than the back of the skull). Then he came up with the same idea Jhasspok had been plotting; picking up the dropped rapiers (one of which, the dwarf realized, was responsible for the dim light surrounding the drow) and tossed them away over by the edge of the hill. Viedar, snapping out of the stunning he'd received at Cramer's <em>sound burst</em> spell, blinked furiously at finding himself outside in the full sunlight...and appeared merely to be mildly inconvenienced instead of helpless as Khari and Jhasspok had hoped. Oh well, it was good to know.</p><p></p><p>Now that he could move again, Viedar ran away from the heroes at full sprint. Once he could once again hear the ambient sounds of combat - meaning he was outside the radius of the <em>silence</em> spell, he cast a <em>shield</em> spell on himself, for he'd seen that short woman do all kinds of damage with those <em>magic missiles</em> of hers. He knew his magical brooch would help keep him alive but it would be foolish not to provide himself with as much protection as he could - and Lolth, he well knew, did not tolerate fools gladly.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell and sent the quarterstaff dashing at Viedar, only to have it shatter into nothingness at it came up against the drow's natural spell resistance. Marlo sent an <em>empowered magic missile</em> the drow's way and similarly saw it do absolutely nothing, but she at least noted the brief field of force that popped up momentarily as her spell hit the drow's <em>shield</em> spell and realized that particular attack spell - one of her favorites - was useless against him. Jhasspok ran after the fleeing drow and attacked him with his battleaxe, surprised that his strike dealt no damage, for the lizardfolk had seen his weapon's blade hit the drow but failed to notice the <em>shield</em> spell preventing it from cutting into the drow's flesh.</p><p></p><p>Utred, noticing how the drow was managing to survive all of these attacks, decided to take him out in a way he likely couldn't counter: with pure brute strength. He held onto his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em> as he charged into the drow but used his momentum to bring the spellcaster to the ground. And despite not having used his weapon against the drow, Utred noticed the mere touch of the green flame caused Viedar intense pain, for the sword had been enchanted to be anathema to drow. "You wanna surrender now an' make it easier on yourself?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"My sister would kill me if I did!" the drow hissed back, struggling in vain to release himself from the dwarf's iron grip.</p><p></p><p>With Viedar brought down, Khari raced up and whacked him a good one in the ribs with his warhammer, but was similarly disappointed when it didn't seem to do all that much damage - the damned drow likely had a <em>stoneskin</em> spell protecting him. But even with the <em>false life</em> spell Viedar had cast upon himself before first exiting the cave, Utred's burning sword soon put an end to the struggling drow's life - for the spellcaster couldn't hope to match the dwarven barbarian in a test of strength and couldn't possibly hope to get out of his clutches, nor could he cast any of his spells while being grappled. In the end, it was the mere touch of Utred's green-flamed blade that slew Viedar Bel'vior, the leader of the bandit gang plaguing Dracovania of late.</p><p></p><p>Marlo cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell and looked at the slain drow before her. "Ooh, this is interesting," she said, unpinning a brooch from Viedar's robe. It was in the shape of a silver spider and pinning it onto her own robes, Marlo felt herself enveloped by a <em>stoneskin</em> spell. The <em>brooch of petrified flesh</em>, she realized, worked in much the same manner as a <em>brooch of shielding</em> (which was what she had assumed at first this was), but instead of absorbing <em>magic missiles</em> it absorbed physical attacks - at least for until such time as it still functioned.</p><p></p><p>"So now what?" asked Utred. "Do we know which one of them was the bandit leader? Or should we take all of their heads with us, just to be sure?"</p><p></p><p>"Ugh," scowled Marlo, squeamish at the thought. "How about we just put the bodies on the wagon? If those guards want to cut their heads off, they can do so themselves."</p><p></p><p>"That will not be necessary," said a figure that appeared at the top of the hill.</p><p></p><p>Spinning around at this new possible threat, the heroes saw a human figure in red robes, carrying a wooden staff with a carved dragon's head at the top. He stood there fearlessly, not at all worried about standing weaponless before a quintet of adventurers who had just taken down a half dozen human rogues (even if one of them was still alive, on his knees, cowering in fear) and a trio of drow spellcasters. Either he was a spellcaster of much greater power or he knew he had nothing to fear from these five arena slaves.</p><p></p><p>Marlo divined the truth in a sudden flash of insight. She placed a restraining hand on Cramer's arm, holding him off from any spellcasting of his own, and addressed the newcomer. "You are the Dragon King of Dracovania, aren't you?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>The red-robed human with a distinctively regal bearing smiled in appreciation. "Indeed I am," he confirmed. "Well done." He sniffed the air quietly for a moment and then added, "But then I would have expected no less of you: you are, I believe, distantly related to my own line of ancestry." This came as a shock to Marlo, whose surname Pendragon was said to have been based on the fact that somewhere in her family tree had been an actual dragon; this was said to have been the likely source of her own sorcerous powers. But she'd always imagined her draconic ancestor to be a gold dragon or perhaps a silver - certainly not a red dragon, allegedly the most powerful and fiercest of those dragons of a decidedly evil bent. And while she knew some of the metallic dragons could assume human form, she hadn't been aware that was something red dragons could do - unless they did so through their sorcery, which was also possible. But that also made him a quite powerful sorcerer, certainly more skilled in the arcane arts than Marlo herself.</p><p></p><p>But before Marlo could voice any of these thoughts the Dracovanian king continued. "I have been watching you since your arrival at the border keep, where I was investigating claims of corruption within my troops stationed there. It seems," he smirked, "they had been charging 100 times the toll to enter the kingdom. As you might imagine, this has had the effect of driving off most of the travelers from Riven, bringing with it a sharp decline in the trade between our two kingdoms." He frowned and added, "And then they got you to root out these bandits for them, a job which they should have done themselves." Marlo got the distinct impression the guards they'd met up with earlier today weren't going to like the end results of their extortion scheme.</p><p></p><p>"Your Majesty," Marlo began, wishing once again she was wearing her <em>circlet of persuasion</em>, "we have come to warn you--"</p><p></p><p>But the Dracovanian king silenced her with an upraised hand. "Time enough for that later, when we are properly introduced back at the palace. You can tell me all about it in greater detail then. Right now, though, I have a...dinner party to attend to." He turned to walk away, then said over his shoulder, "Feel free to take anything you want from the slain bandits. I'll arrange to take anything you leave behind to distribute among my loyal guards." And then he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, whether through <em>invisibility</em> magic or a <em>teleport</em> spell was hard to tell.</p><p></p><p>The heroes grabbed up everything of value from the bodies of the slain bandits and took the amassed coins they found inside the cave. Cramer assessed that both of the rapiers were magical in nature but as none of the arena slaves had much use for a rapier they decided they'd turn them over to the king. "Might as well bring them to him rather than make him send someone to fetch them," Marlo decided. "It can't hurt to be as helpful as possible."</p><p></p><p>"Taking out those bandits for him ought to be plenty helpful," pointed out Utred, tying up their sole prisoner and leading him back to the wagon with the loot they'd taken. Everyone piled in and Cramer snapped the reins, turning the horse back the way they'd come.</p><p></p><p>When they got back to the guard station at the border of Dracovania, they found it suspiciously devoid of inhabitants. "Looks like he's finished up with his 'dinner party' already," remarked Cramer dryly. Without any further comment, the gnome drove the wagon down the road into Dracovania.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>So it turned out the two drow women had used <em>prestidigitation</em> or a similar spell to alter their hair color, just to mess with us and get us to think they were Greenvale allies. It's a good thing Cramer wears that <em>helm of comprehend languages</em>!</p><p></p><p>As expected, we all leveled up to 8th level at the end of this adventure. Jhasspok took a 3rd level of fighter - boring, but necessary to get to a 4th level of fighter and the all-important Weapon Specialization (battleaxe) feat I'm eager to get. After that, maybe I'll start throwing on barbarian levels to get them back into equilibrium for a bit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7990006, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 21: TOLLED YOU SO[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 7[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 2[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 7[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 7[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 7[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 13 May 2020 - - - It took two days to reach the border of Dracovania and when Cramer brought the horse-drawn wagon to a halt at the request of the two border guards - humans in red scale mail armor, one of whom was standing directly in the road with his hand out to halt the wagon's progress - they were less than impressed with the kingdom's hospitality. "Adventurers!" the guard said, smiling at his partner with a knowing glance. "Welcome to Draconvania! We're always glad to see seasoned adventurers come to visit. If you'd like to pay the toll, we'll be glad to let you get on your way." "Toll?" repeated Cramer. "What toll?" "One thousand pieces of gold," replied the guard. His smile widened. "Each." "Five thousand pieces of gold just to enter your kingdom?" sputtered the gnome. "What? No, no, of course not," replied the other border guard, his crossbow loaded and ready for action should it become necessary. His smile was as broad as that of his partner when he explained, "Seven thousand: the five of you, one horse, and your wizard's toad familiar, which I can see peeking out of her pocket over there." Marlo was giving some serious thought about taking these two out with a couple of well-placed spells, but a glance at the stone tower keep on the side of the road was a reminder they didn't know how many guards there might be in reserve, ready to spill out and attack them at the first sign of any trouble. And they didn't really want to start an incident with the kingdom they were hoping to get to join the alliance in protecting Greenvale and fighting off the drow armies that would soon erupt out of the Overreach. Jhasspok, who had never heard the word "toll" before but had picked up the general gist of things, reached into his pouch. "Do you take slave tokens?" he asked, holding one between his claw-tipped fingers. "Are they gold?" the first guard asked. Jhasspok examined the slave token. It was a square-shaped chip of slate with the House Jalamir emblem crudely engraved upon it. "No," he admitted. "Then no," answered the guard. "We will not be paying you 7,000 pieces of gold merely to enter your kingdom," Marlo asserted. "We come to warn your king of an impending attack by drow forces - he will not be pleased if you delay us entry!" She wished she had been wearing her [I]circlet of persuasion[/I], but it was packed away with her things. However, it turned out not to have been necessary. With a look between themselves that said the odds of getting these dupes to pay the toll was minimal, the first border guard offered up, "Well, I suppose we could allow you to pay an alternate toll of sorts...there's been a bit of recent bandit activity of late. I suppose in lieu of the 7,000 pieces of gold, we might accept the head of the bandit leader as an adequate entry toll." The five slaves sat motionless in the wagon. "What do you think?" muttered Cramer, audible only to Marlo beside him. "I think I'd like to lob an [I]empowered magic missile[/I] straight between his eyes," muttered the sorcerer in an equally soft tone. "What does this bandit leader look like?" asked Utred, thinking if these guards had no idea, then any old bandit would do. "And where might they be found?" added Khari. "They're said to hole up in a cave in the hills, thereabouts," answered the guard, waving a hand off to the side. "And we'd be needing the entire band taken out, not just the leader." Utred didn't fail to notice his question had been sidestepped entirely. "Do you charge them 1,000 pieces of gold to enter your kingdom?" Jhasspok asked. "And if not, do they take different roads than the ones with toll guards at them? And where are these roads?" The lizardfolk might have thought he was being sneaky with this line of questioning but it wiped the smiles off the guards at once. "Don't get cute," one warned. "So, we got a deal, or what?" "Very well," answered Cramer. "Given the options, we choose to take out your group of bandits for you." The guards nodded their agreement. "Okay, then," one said and proceeded to give the group directions to the hills to the south where the bandits were rumored to be lairing. Cramer turned the wagon around and started off in that direction. As the wagon trundled along the dirt road, the group suddenly got the distinct impression they were being watched. Cramer and Marlo looked on both sides of the road, looking for spies among the trees, while Jhasspok and the dwarves were looking around to see if there were any eyeballs floating around like that one in the shop back in Revin - after all, the Overseer had warned that she'd be made whole again when the Assassins Guild rescued her from the deepest dungeons below Castle Revin. But despite everyone's best efforts, nobody could be seen watching them. "It's possible we're being scried on from afar," Cramer pointed out. "Through the tattoos?" asked Marlo. One of the properties of the House Jalamir tattoos carved into their backs was it allowed their drow masters to scry upon them. Of course, Greenvale wizards had secretly altered the tattoos so they gave false readings of benign activities should they be used in such a manner, but that was the thing with magic - a more powerful wizard could usually overcome the magic cast by those less versed in the arcane arts, so nothing was ever certain. Rounding a bend in the road a good score of minutes or more later, Utred spotted what looked like a roguish sentry in the hills above. He alerted the other slaves (while activating the [I]hat of disguise[/I] he wore and instantly taking on the appearance of one Cramer Appleknocker, cleric of Fharlanghn) and the real Cramer eased up on the reins, keeping the horse moving forward as if nothing were untoward but at a slower pace to give them more time to plan. But Khari needed no time to plan; once alerted there were enemies in the hills ahead, he hopped off the side of the wagon with his [I]earth glide warhammer[/I] in hand and, invoking its magic, passed through the solid ground and up the sides of the rocky hill, all while remaining underground. He popped up at the top of the hill, finding himself in a ring of a half dozen guards in leather armor, obviously lookouts but all conveniently looking directly away from him. He smiled at the opportunity and got a better grip on his weapon. The rogues all had short swords at their belts but had their shortbows readied, each with an arrow nocked. They looked down at the wagon in anticipation of another group of travelers to be slain and looted. But then Cramer passed the reins to Marlo at his side, spun around to touch Utred on the shoulder, and used a [I]dimension door[/I] spell to teleport the pair over by Khari's side at the top of the hill, between the ring of oblivious bandit sentries. Marlo didn't keep the reins for long; calling out "Whoa!" for the horse to stop and giving a brief tug to emphasize the command, she cast an [I]invisibility[/I] spell on herself and dropped the reins, leaping off the wagon and heading for the hill. It was a 20-foot climb but one she felt more confident in making when the sentries couldn't see her ascent. Jhasspok looked suddenly about him and realized he was all alone in the wagon; just seconds earlier they had all been there beside him! He leaped off the side of the wagon and started climbing up the hill, but as he was the only visible person doing so he drew the attention of the two closest archers. A pair of arrows clanged off the stones mere inches from him but he ignored them, concentrating on scrambling up the steep hill-side to get to his attackers. But three of the arena slaves were already there among the bandits. Utred charged at one of the archers, stabbing at him with his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I] and sending him over the edge of the steep hill-side, where he tumbled down in a tangle of limbs. By the time he reached the bottom he was quite obviously dead. Hearing the commotion, [B]Solenka[/B] exited the cave at the top of the hill, where the road ended its ascent and met up with the cliff of an even higher hill. She drew a rapier from a belt at her hilt and immediately the light dimmed all around her, covering her in a gloom which protected her sensitive drow eyes. Cramer and Khari noted with interest the drow woman's hair was a bright red in color, causing them to momentarily doubt whether they were attacking the right people; if these were Greenvale drow, then the slaves should be helping them, not attacking them. But then Cramer heard her call out behind her in the Drow language - a language Cramer didn't understand but which was perfectly translated through the [I]helm of comprehend languages[/I] he wore - "It's the Greenvale contingent!" and the disdain in her voice told the little gnome these were no potential allies after all. He said as much to Khari, who then charged one of the other sentries looking over the side of the hilltop, swinging his warhammer for all he was worth. The archer dropped his bow to the ground at the sudden onslaught, fumbling to grab his blade to use against this battle-crazed dwarf who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Then another drow, [B]Z'ress[/B], stepped out of the cave behind Solenka, this one sporting bright green hair. She targeted Cramer - the real one, as it turned out - with a [I]Kelgor's fire bolt[/I] spell. And while Cramer was reeling from the effects of that spell, a male drow, [B]Viedar Bel'vior[/B], stepped out of the cave as well, sending a pair of [I]scorching rays[/I] blazing towards the gnome. One of them hit, the other falling short. But despite the pain of the flame spells, Cramer had the presence of mind to fire back with a [I]sound burst[/I] spell of his own, centered on the three drow. All three were affected by the sonic blast, but of the three only the male - whose hair, Cramer noted absently, was as white as the typical Underdark drow's - appeared to have been stunned as a result. Marlo, having climbed unseen to the top of the hill, took advantage of his temporary immobility, sending an [I]empowered magic missile[/I] crashing into him. It caused her to pop back into the visible light spectrum - but it had been well worth it. This spell-flinging commotion at long last brought the other archers spinning around to see a group of combatants there on the hilltop with them. Arrows went whizzing at both Cramers, none of them hitting. The rogue fighting Khari also missed with his short sword strike, the dwarven fighter handily avoiding the blade as it went swinging in his direction. Jhasspok clambered over the top of the steep hill-side and went charging straight for the cluster of drow, believing them to likely be the greatest threat. He noted the dimness around them was centered on the two women and assumed one of them was responsible; in the back of his mind he formed a thought that if he could get rid of the shadowy effect the drow would likely be helpless in the sun's full brightness. But as his lizard brain was actively working on this plan, his body was in full automatic combat mode, bringing his battleaxe swinging in an arc at Z'ress's head. She avoided the skull-chopping blow the lizardfolk had intended but his blade sliced down her arm, causing her no small amount of pain. Solenka shifted position to trap the lizardfolk between the two drow women and attacked with a rapier of her own, but Jhasspok caught its tip on the edge of his shield and deflected it away. Utred plucked a bead from the replacement [I]necklace of fireballs[/I] he'd picked up recently and tossed it into a cluster of four rogues, dropping two of them instantly; the other two managed to twist about in such a way as to avoid the flames altogether. Khari's warhammer finished off the rogue he'd been fighting and he spun about, eager to find a new combatant to take that one's place. With a snarl and a few arcane syllables, Z'ress charged her rapier with a [I]shocking grasp[/I] spell and stabbed at Jhasspok, but the nimble reptile dodged the strike, which came very close to hitting Solenka behind him. In a surprise maneuver, Jhasspok spun about and ignored Z'ress entirely, leaping onto Solenka and bringing his axe-head down upon her shoulder as he snapped at her unprotected neck with his row of sharp teeth. The drow's screams died in her throat as the life left her body. Jhasspok let the body drop and spun about again, facing Z'ress - whose black face showed an expression of shock at her companion's sudden demise. Utred found himself surrounded by rogues trying to flank him and get in a back-stab or two, but he shrugged off all of their attacks. (He was momentarily amused by the thought that these human rogues would think they were being bested by a little gnome, but then he realized his [I]hat of disguise[/I] tricks were technically giving the real Cramer Appleknocker visual credit for all of Utred's own kills! Maybe he'd need to rethink this strategy....) Cramer cast a [I]silence[/I] spell at the ground by Z'ress's feet; he knew she was some type of spellcaster and the zone of absolute silence he'd cast also encompassed the male drow, still standing stunned by the gnome's previous spell; that would no doubt come in handy as well in the immediate future. Marlo fired another [I]empowered magic missile[/I] spell at one of the remaining rogues - not that the dwarves had left many of them standing by this time! Utred finished off the one Marlo had just hit with her spell and spun around to face the one directly behind him, stabbing his [I]Elderwood flaming blade[/I] straight into his stomach and pulling it out, watching in satisfaction as the rogue fell to the ground, dead. That left only one other rogue and he immediately dropped his short sword, put his hands on his head, and dropped to his knees, calling out, "I surrender! Don't kill me!" Khari grimaced; it was no fun taking out a helpless opponent who'd just thrown himself at your mercy. Instead, he charged Z'ress from behind, dropping her with a well-placed blow of his warhammer (after all, you really can't get much more well-placed with a burly hammer than the back of the skull). Then he came up with the same idea Jhasspok had been plotting; picking up the dropped rapiers (one of which, the dwarf realized, was responsible for the dim light surrounding the drow) and tossed them away over by the edge of the hill. Viedar, snapping out of the stunning he'd received at Cramer's [I]sound burst[/I] spell, blinked furiously at finding himself outside in the full sunlight...and appeared merely to be mildly inconvenienced instead of helpless as Khari and Jhasspok had hoped. Oh well, it was good to know. Now that he could move again, Viedar ran away from the heroes at full sprint. Once he could once again hear the ambient sounds of combat - meaning he was outside the radius of the [I]silence[/I] spell, he cast a [I]shield[/I] spell on himself, for he'd seen that short woman do all kinds of damage with those [I]magic missiles[/I] of hers. He knew his magical brooch would help keep him alive but it would be foolish not to provide himself with as much protection as he could - and Lolth, he well knew, did not tolerate fools gladly. Cramer cast a [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell and sent the quarterstaff dashing at Viedar, only to have it shatter into nothingness at it came up against the drow's natural spell resistance. Marlo sent an [I]empowered magic missile[/I] the drow's way and similarly saw it do absolutely nothing, but she at least noted the brief field of force that popped up momentarily as her spell hit the drow's [I]shield[/I] spell and realized that particular attack spell - one of her favorites - was useless against him. Jhasspok ran after the fleeing drow and attacked him with his battleaxe, surprised that his strike dealt no damage, for the lizardfolk had seen his weapon's blade hit the drow but failed to notice the [I]shield[/I] spell preventing it from cutting into the drow's flesh. Utred, noticing how the drow was managing to survive all of these attacks, decided to take him out in a way he likely couldn't counter: with pure brute strength. He held onto his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I] as he charged into the drow but used his momentum to bring the spellcaster to the ground. And despite not having used his weapon against the drow, Utred noticed the mere touch of the green flame caused Viedar intense pain, for the sword had been enchanted to be anathema to drow. "You wanna surrender now an' make it easier on yourself?" he asked. "My sister would kill me if I did!" the drow hissed back, struggling in vain to release himself from the dwarf's iron grip. With Viedar brought down, Khari raced up and whacked him a good one in the ribs with his warhammer, but was similarly disappointed when it didn't seem to do all that much damage - the damned drow likely had a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell protecting him. But even with the [I]false life[/I] spell Viedar had cast upon himself before first exiting the cave, Utred's burning sword soon put an end to the struggling drow's life - for the spellcaster couldn't hope to match the dwarven barbarian in a test of strength and couldn't possibly hope to get out of his clutches, nor could he cast any of his spells while being grappled. In the end, it was the mere touch of Utred's green-flamed blade that slew Viedar Bel'vior, the leader of the bandit gang plaguing Dracovania of late. Marlo cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell and looked at the slain drow before her. "Ooh, this is interesting," she said, unpinning a brooch from Viedar's robe. It was in the shape of a silver spider and pinning it onto her own robes, Marlo felt herself enveloped by a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell. The [I]brooch of petrified flesh[/I], she realized, worked in much the same manner as a [I]brooch of shielding[/I] (which was what she had assumed at first this was), but instead of absorbing [I]magic missiles[/I] it absorbed physical attacks - at least for until such time as it still functioned. "So now what?" asked Utred. "Do we know which one of them was the bandit leader? Or should we take all of their heads with us, just to be sure?" "Ugh," scowled Marlo, squeamish at the thought. "How about we just put the bodies on the wagon? If those guards want to cut their heads off, they can do so themselves." "That will not be necessary," said a figure that appeared at the top of the hill. Spinning around at this new possible threat, the heroes saw a human figure in red robes, carrying a wooden staff with a carved dragon's head at the top. He stood there fearlessly, not at all worried about standing weaponless before a quintet of adventurers who had just taken down a half dozen human rogues (even if one of them was still alive, on his knees, cowering in fear) and a trio of drow spellcasters. Either he was a spellcaster of much greater power or he knew he had nothing to fear from these five arena slaves. Marlo divined the truth in a sudden flash of insight. She placed a restraining hand on Cramer's arm, holding him off from any spellcasting of his own, and addressed the newcomer. "You are the Dragon King of Dracovania, aren't you?" she asked. The red-robed human with a distinctively regal bearing smiled in appreciation. "Indeed I am," he confirmed. "Well done." He sniffed the air quietly for a moment and then added, "But then I would have expected no less of you: you are, I believe, distantly related to my own line of ancestry." This came as a shock to Marlo, whose surname Pendragon was said to have been based on the fact that somewhere in her family tree had been an actual dragon; this was said to have been the likely source of her own sorcerous powers. But she'd always imagined her draconic ancestor to be a gold dragon or perhaps a silver - certainly not a red dragon, allegedly the most powerful and fiercest of those dragons of a decidedly evil bent. And while she knew some of the metallic dragons could assume human form, she hadn't been aware that was something red dragons could do - unless they did so through their sorcery, which was also possible. But that also made him a quite powerful sorcerer, certainly more skilled in the arcane arts than Marlo herself. But before Marlo could voice any of these thoughts the Dracovanian king continued. "I have been watching you since your arrival at the border keep, where I was investigating claims of corruption within my troops stationed there. It seems," he smirked, "they had been charging 100 times the toll to enter the kingdom. As you might imagine, this has had the effect of driving off most of the travelers from Riven, bringing with it a sharp decline in the trade between our two kingdoms." He frowned and added, "And then they got you to root out these bandits for them, a job which they should have done themselves." Marlo got the distinct impression the guards they'd met up with earlier today weren't going to like the end results of their extortion scheme. "Your Majesty," Marlo began, wishing once again she was wearing her [I]circlet of persuasion[/I], "we have come to warn you--" But the Dracovanian king silenced her with an upraised hand. "Time enough for that later, when we are properly introduced back at the palace. You can tell me all about it in greater detail then. Right now, though, I have a...dinner party to attend to." He turned to walk away, then said over his shoulder, "Feel free to take anything you want from the slain bandits. I'll arrange to take anything you leave behind to distribute among my loyal guards." And then he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, whether through [I]invisibility[/I] magic or a [I]teleport[/I] spell was hard to tell. The heroes grabbed up everything of value from the bodies of the slain bandits and took the amassed coins they found inside the cave. Cramer assessed that both of the rapiers were magical in nature but as none of the arena slaves had much use for a rapier they decided they'd turn them over to the king. "Might as well bring them to him rather than make him send someone to fetch them," Marlo decided. "It can't hurt to be as helpful as possible." "Taking out those bandits for him ought to be plenty helpful," pointed out Utred, tying up their sole prisoner and leading him back to the wagon with the loot they'd taken. Everyone piled in and Cramer snapped the reins, turning the horse back the way they'd come. When they got back to the guard station at the border of Dracovania, they found it suspiciously devoid of inhabitants. "Looks like he's finished up with his 'dinner party' already," remarked Cramer dryly. Without any further comment, the gnome drove the wagon down the road into Dracovania. - - - So it turned out the two drow women had used [I]prestidigitation[/I] or a similar spell to alter their hair color, just to mess with us and get us to think they were Greenvale allies. It's a good thing Cramer wears that [I]helm of comprehend languages[/I]! As expected, we all leveled up to 8th level at the end of this adventure. Jhasspok took a 3rd level of fighter - boring, but necessary to get to a 4th level of fighter and the all-important Weapon Specialization (battleaxe) feat I'm eager to get. After that, maybe I'll start throwing on barbarian levels to get them back into equilibrium for a bit. 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