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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8059084" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 31: THE TARRASQUE AT HAND</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 9</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 6 August 2020</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>Returning to Greenvale, the House Jalamir arena slaves - who had not performed that actual function for some time now - prepared for their next mission by upgrading some of their equipment. Utred had his magic greataxe honed such that the blade was extra-sharp, while Cramer had the protection afforded by his <em>amulet of natural armor</em> enhanced. Khari had an enchantment added to his <em>earth glide warhammer</em> that would even further increase its ability to strike true and deal damage to those struck. Marlo placed an order for a magic ring that would allow her to walk up the sides of walls and across ceilings; it would take the wizard crafter some time to create such a ring, so she paid him in advance and was told when to return for her finished product.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok bought a fish at the market and ate it, head and all. He'd amassed a pile of coins but not enough to do what he wanted done, so on the advice of his dwarven allies he saved his money for now. "Ye never know, this next mission could turn out t'be a lucrative one," Utred winked at the lizardfolk. He then found himself explaining that "lucrative" meant "liable to bring in a lot of money" to the puzzled reptile.</p><p></p><p>When they arrived for their pre-mission briefing, they were handed some new equipment. Each received a magical ring, which resized to perfect fit the finger upon which it was placed; more importantly, it cloaked the wearer in a <em>nondetection</em> spell. Cramer's shoulders unclenched as soon as he placed the ring on his finger; it was nice to know he was currently no longer able to be scried upon through his House Jalamir slave tattoo. The sunborn drow passed over three pairs of <em>goggles of darkvision</em>, allowing those not of dwarvish ancestry to see as well in pitch blackness as any dwarf. "You'll want to turn off your <em>slave-light cloaks</em>," he advised. "You will be traveling through the shadow path to House Ky'hulcressen in the Overreach and the light will attract the undead wraiths who haunt that area." Without further prompting, all five slaves extinguished the lights from their cloaks, then were led through the Plane of Shadow to the allied House for which they served as "secret double slaves" - at least according to Jhasspok.</p><p></p><p>Matron Ky'hulcressen was there to meet them, along with 20 drow mercenaries. They wore no House insignia and, the Matron explained, had belonged to various Lesser Houses that had been recently wiped out as a result of the infighting caused by the Mortal Queen's self-proclaimed ascension to the rule of all drow in Overreach.</p><p></p><p>"I believe you all know the plan," Matron Ky'hulcressen told all assembled before her. "I will openly challenge the Mortal Queen's right to rule. This will lead to a trial by combat, in which only one of us will emerge with her life. If I manage to slay her - which is unlikely - we will have put an end to her madness and restored a sense of normalcy to our city and its people. If she slays me, I will have forfeited my life but bought you the time needed to find and steal back the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em>, for even if she learns of your presence during your attempt she cannot leave my formal duel challenge without forfeiting her rule. While you infiltrate the Mortal Queen's own chambers to find the relic" - here she looked at the five arena slaves - "these mercenaries will stage an attack upon House Bel'vior, making it look like another simple takeover attempt to jockey for power."</p><p></p><p>She passed over four potion vials, giving one to each of the slaves but Utred. "You, I understand, have a <em>hat of disguise</em> by which you can take on the appearance of a drow mercenary like these before you. The other four slaves will drink these <em>potions of disguise self</em>, which will have the same effect." Marlo, Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok each dutifully downed their potion, taking on the semblance of a dark-skinned drow of their own gender; Marlo, looking around, saw a few of the drow mercenaries were female and was pleased she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. All drow clerics, she had seen during her time as a slave, were female but not all drow females were clerics, it seemed.</p><p></p><p>"Finally, here is a <em>shadow key</em>," Matron Ky'hulcressen said, handing a black key to Cramer. "Once you have obtained the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em>, use it to activate a <em>shadow walk</em> spell attuned to the permanent gate here in our own House Pillar. It can be used but once per day." Cramer accepted the key and realized, despite his avowed hatred of all drow, he was actually feeling something very much like respect for this House Matron, who was willingly going to go start a battle to the death she likely could not win with the Mortal Queen, just to ensure her people were freed from the machinations of the House Bel'vior leader.</p><p></p><p>"Let us go," Matron Ky'hulcressen said, opening the <em>gate</em> and leading the group through the shadows and then over to the ceiling surrounding the House Bel'vior pillar back on the Material Plane. Marlo looked "up" and saw the Bioluminescent Sea, meaning they were upside-down under the permanent <em>reverse gravity</em> effect of the cavern ceiling. Her stomach churned involuntarily - she wasn't a big fan of all of this inverted gravity nonsense.</p><p></p><p>Cramer had taken the opportunity of the brief trip through the Plane of Shadows to cast some preparatory spells: <em>longstrider,</em> <em>death ward</em>, <em>divine favor</em>, and <em>magic circle against evil</em> on himself, <em>aid</em> on Khari, <em>shield of faith</em> on Utred, and a <em>bless</em> spell on the entire group. "Good luck," Matron Ky'hulcressen said before becoming a shadow herself as she glided back out of the Material Plane - she had a date in the combat arena with the Mortal Queen.</p><p></p><p>There were enemy drow warriors guarding access to the enormous doors to the House Bel'vior pillar, scattered in a loose arc. The allied drow mercenaries slunk away, splitting into smaller groups to meet up with other hired drow mercenaries from displaced Lesser Houses so they could make a concentrated assault upon multiple doors to the pillar at once, leaving the ten present enemies guarding this entrance for the five arena slaves to deal with. <em>That seems about right</em>, Utred thought to himself. <em>We ought t'be able to take ten out ourselves.</em></p><p></p><p>Khari led the charge against the Bel'vior forces, although they didn't realize it until he was already upon them for he used the power of his <em>earth glide warhammer</em> to perform the majority of his charge below the ground, springing up from the stone to swing his weapon into the face of a startled warrior, instantly crushing his nose and sending a spray of teeth and blood flying off to the side. Hearing the sentry's cry of pain, the two personal bodyguards of the unit's leader readied their hand crossbows, looking for any sign of the enemy. But Khari had his foe blocking the others' view of him and they couldn't see Cramer either, for he had activated his <em>ring of invisibility</em> and followed in Khari's wake (although he stuck to above-ground travel).</p><p></p><p>But they did see Jhasspok, who leaped out from behind the small building the group had appeared beside and sprinted toward a drow warrior. The two bodyguards turned and fired at what looked to be a drow mercenary without House insignia swinging a battleaxe at one of their men. The quarrels zipped by Jhasspok's head as he ran, neither one hitting their mark. But his weapon hit his target, nearly knocking the drow warrior off his feet with the power of his blow.</p><p></p><p>The unit leader, a female drow cleric in <em>ironsilk full plate armor</em>, cast a <em>bless</em> spell over her own troops, right as Utred plucked a bead from his <em>necklace of fireballs</em> and hurled it into a cluster of drow warriors. One drow was burned to death almost immediately, while the exploding flames caused pain to another warrior, the cleric, and both of her bodyguards.</p><p></p><p>Another drow warrior came to the aid of the one fighting Khari, while the other five surrounded Jhasspok. But by now they were rattled, for they had a hard time hitting their foes with enough force to deal them any real harm. Marlo cast an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell centered on the cleric - she'd long ago learned that the drow women in heavy armor were the ones you had to take out quickly - but that blasted drow spell resistance prevented any of the grasping tentacles from getting a hold on those within the spell's area of effect. Marlo let out a quite unladylike curse, fortunately from far enough away she wasn't heard, for the drow enemies would likely wonder why she swore in the slave tongue, given she looked to be a mercenary drow herself.</p><p></p><p>Khari swung his warhammer with wild abandon, and in several seconds had two drow corpses at his feet. He whooped in triumph and looked about for more enemies to slay. The bodyguards - identifiable by their better armor and weapons - were scrambling out of the writhing tentacles, moving much slower than normal as they avoided getting grabbed up, but each successfully making it to freedom without incident.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell and sent the quarterstaff of pure force flying over to aid Jhasspok. The weapon conked a drow warrior on the back of the head, sending him reeling. Jhasspok was grateful for the aid, but it was perhaps not as needed as the gnome cleric had assumed, for the lizardfolk's battleaxe went cleaving through the bodies of three drow foes in a matter of seconds, slaying the trio (one not with his axe but his own snapping teeth). Jhasspok hadn't realized it before, but being surrounded by enemies meant you didn't have to move very far when swinging your weapon about! He idly wondered if he could get all of his future enemies to stand all around him like that.</p><p></p><p>The drow cleric extricated herself from the black tentacles and repositioned herself on the steps to the Pillar Gate, the entrance to House Bel'vior she was sworn to protect with her life - and those of her men. Utred saw her and decided she'd be his next target, so he grabbed up his greataxe and charged at her, his blade slicing through her armor and into her midsection. A drow warrior came running up next to her to give her what aid he could, for he had decided he'd rather face this mercenary with the greataxe than that crazy one who had just bitten out the throat of a Bel'vior soldier while cutting down two others with his battleaxe. What kind of a freak did that?</p><p></p><p>Marlo fired a <em>scorching ray</em> at the cleric and her nearby soldier, slaying both. Utred and Khari noticed she'd fired through her own black tentacles, which had moved out of the way of her twin rays of flame to see to her success. That was certainly strange!</p><p></p><p>The other drow didn't last very much longer, and while they were being stripped of their armor and weapons (all of which was tossed into the <em>bag of holding</em> Marlo carried), Utred found a key around the neck of the cleric; sure enough, it opened the doors to the gate she'd been guarding. Pulling open the massive metal doors, Utred stepped inside, the others following at his side.</p><p></p><p>There were two armed and armored female drow fighters in the large chamber just beyond and a drider filling up a side-passageway to the right. There were corridors straight ahead and off to the left as well; Cramer realized he'd need to cast his <em>locate object</em> spell from the scroll once they'd dealt with this wave of guardians to even find their way to where the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> was being stored.</p><p></p><p>The drider was the first to react to the sudden appearance of unknown drow mercenaries, but he sought his own safety first, casting a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself from the safety of the webs upon which he was suspended. Khari used the power of his <em>earth glide warhammer</em> to sink beneath the stone floor, only to pop back up behind the first fighter. As he spun to face his designated foe, he caught a glimpse of someone approaching from the corridor ahead - she looked vaguely familiar, and Khari finally realized who it was: Eri'dia Jalamir. Well, that was good; she owed them one for getting her to the safety of Greenvale when her own mother had tried slaying her, and the group could no doubt use all the help they could get.</p><p></p><p>Then there was no further time for any thoughts of the little sister to their own slavemaster, for both drow fighters had focused their weapons upon him. The dwarven fighter dodged one sword but couldn't do likewise with the other; its blade cut him in the arm, sliding between the grooves of metal by his elbow. It hurt, but Khari didn't let that bother him; he'd get healed up after they took down this wave, and maybe even sooner, for Cramer had a habit of healing up his friends when it looked like they needed it. He hadn't failed any of them yet!</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, the largest by far of the five heroes, saw it as his duty to take down the largest of their foes. With that thought in mind, he charged at the drider, bringing his battleaxe crashing down to strike the creature's spindly legs as it reared up like a horse to try to fend off the lizardfolk's attack. Cramer redirected his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em>, sending it to go aid Jhasspok against the drider, while the crafty gnome cast a <em>silence</em> spell on the floor by Jhasspok's feet. He'd seen the drider cast his <em>mage armor</em> spell earlier and didn't want it able to cast any offensive spells against any of the Jalamir slaves. At the same time, Marlo targeted the drider with a pair of <em>empowered scorching rays</em>, one missing the darting creature's head but the other striking him straight in the chest.</p><p></p><p>Utred charged one of the fighters, coming to a halt beside his fellow dwarf and allowing them to fight their drow enemies side by side. His greataxe cut down the foe he'd attacked and he followed up the swing with a cut into the one directly across from Khari. But by then Eri'dia had arrived, and she turned out not to be the source of aid Khari had thought, for at this closer range he could see the stitches holding her body parts together. This was one of the flesh golems her mother had created from the dismembered pieces of her regenerating body! The golem held up a fist charged with a reddish energy and swung it at Khari's head. The Hammerslammer dwarf dodged the attack, but it brought on the obvious question: what in blazes was a flesh golem of Eri'dia Jalamir doing here in House Bel'vior?</p><p></p><p>Then Khari decided it really didn't matter a whole lot: it was here trying to kill him so he was going to do the same thing right back at it. He slammed his warhammer into the side of her head, glad that this flesh golem was only the size of the nimble drow woman - he'd heard these things could be crafted to reach 7 feet tall or even larger! The remaining drow fighter focused her attention on Utred, seeing as the golem had the other dwarf's full attention now.</p><p></p><p>The drider stabbed at Jhasspok with a pair of sharp-tipped rapiers; the lizardfolk deflected one off his shield but the other pierced his scales. Jhasspok hissed in pain - that <em>hurt!</em> - and channeled his anger into a powerful, sideways blow with his battleaxe, cutting through the drider's torso and spilling him onto the ground at the reptile's feet. Jhasspok stepped back, ready to bring his axe down upon the thing's head, but it looked like such a maneuver was not needed - the thing was dead.</p><p></p><p>Cramer redirected his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> again, this time causing it to strike the flesh golem - but it missed. Marlo <em>empowered</em> another <em>scorching ray</em> spell and sent the twin beams of fire over at the golem, hitting with both and noticing the stitched thing was moving slower as a result of her attack. That was good to know! "Fire slows the golem down!" she called out to her friends as the hideous mockery of Eri'dia slammed a fist at Khari again; the dwarf dodged the clumsy attack with ease.</p><p></p><p>Utred's greataxe swung into the drow's side and she almost dropped her weapon as a result; she certainly dropped her guard, allowing Khari's warhammer to plow into the side of her skull, killing her instantly. The dwarf continued his hammer-swing into the flesh golem, hearing a satisfying crunch that likely meant a broken rib or two - pity the unliving thing didn't seem to feel any pain.</p><p></p><p>The drider dead, Jhasspok turned and saw the two dwarves squaring off against the flesh golem. He raced across the plaza, bringing his battleaxe to bear against their foe. (He didn't hesitate for a moment upon seeing its likeness; the dwarves were fighting it and that was all the lizardfolk needed to know - he trusted their instincts in such matters.) Cramer's <em>spiritual weapon</em> struck the golem in the head and surprisingly shattered to pieces, each piece disappearing before hitting the floor; it had come up against spell resistance it couldn't overcome. But he ran up, bringing his <em>Elderwood flaming mace</em> to bear, slamming the golem in the side of the leg and grinning as he realized the magical flames would only extend the <em>slow</em> effect. But that wasn't even really needed, for Marlo brought the thing down with another casting of an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell. The stitched thing that looked like Eri'dia collapsed to the ground, its body ablaze and filling the chamber with the smell of charred flesh and burnt hair.</p><p></p><p>Cramer pulled out his scroll of <em>locate object</em> while the dwarves grabbed weapons and armor from the slain drow fighters and the drider, tossing them hurriedly into the <em>bag of holding</em> Marlo held open. "It's this way!" the gnome called, pointing down the corridor from which the false Eri'dia had come.</p><p></p><p>Khari headed down the indicated hallway, ignoring two sets of stairs which led down on either side of the corridor. As he approached a set of eight statues of Lolth (four on the ground showing her in a driderlike configuration, four directly above on the ceiling showing her as a drow-headed spider), a dark-clad figure stepped out from behind them, blade in one hand and the other arm - the one pointed in Khari's direction - wielding a hand crossbow. This was also a figure the dwarf had seen before, but this time he needed no time at all to recognize it, for it was none other than Calish Jalamir, the slavemaster! Calish fired his weapon at what he thought was an enemy drow mercenary, one he'd never seen before, but Khari dodged the incoming bolt partly by dint of fact he wasn't as tall as the illusion making him look like a drow made him appear to be.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok was right behind Khari and he too recognized Calish. But any automatic hesitation he might have once had preventing him from attacking his slavemaster had long since been burned out of the lizardfolk's brain: Calish was an enemy of the sunborn drow and needed to be killed! He brought his battleaxe slamming into the drow's side, but the slavemaster rolled at the last minute and at least avoided the sharp blade, if not the solid axe-head entirely.</p><p></p><p>Cramer ran down the corridor, activating his <em>ring of invisibility</em> again as he did so. Marlo cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> at the slavemaster and scowled as it shattered, unspent, against his inherent spell resistance. Calish backed away from Khari and Jhasspok, activating a ring of his own, and he suddenly started blinking in and out of existence in an unpredictable pattern: one moment he was there, the next he was not.</p><p></p><p>Neither Khari nor Jhasspok had ever experienced the <em>blink</em> spell effect at work before; with a shrug, they each pressed on with their attacks. And luck was with them both, for their weapons struck unerringly against the drow slavemaster, who was then unceremoniously knocked unconscious by a second casting of Cramer's <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell. This quarterstaff of pure force was not hampered by the drow's resistance to spell energy and he fell forward, knocked into instant insensibility from the blow to the back of the head.</p><p></p><p>Unsure of what to do with him - he deserved to die, but maybe the Greenvale forces could get some information out of him? - Cramer stabilized him with a <em>cure minor wounds</em> spell (just enough to stop him from bleeding, not enough to restore him to consciousness) and they took the time to strip him of his valuables, bind him tightly with rope, and prop him into the <em>bag of holding</em> such that his head and shoulders stuck out, ensuring he wouldn't suffocate to death inside the extradimensional space. That just meant Marlo couldn't close the bag up all the way and had to carry it over one shoulder, but Cramer's <em>locate object</em> spell was telling him they needed to get past the door behind where Calish had been taken out and the gnome was eager to get moving - no telling how long the spell would last!</p><p></p><p>Entering through the door, the room beyond looked to be a royal waiting room, with elegant furniture and elaborately-woven carpets; but of primary notice were the 20-foot-tall double doors engraved with a depiction of Lolth in her demonic spider form. The carving practically radiated evil, to the point where the heroes were hesitant to even touch the doors.</p><p></p><p>"The <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em>'s on the other side of these doors!" Cramer said, knowing they needed to open the doors but unable to will himself to do so. In one sense stalling for time, Marlo cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell and examined the doors with her magically-enhanced sight. "They're magic, all right," she announced. "Some kind of...abjuration effect."</p><p></p><p>"Ensuring we can't get in!" snarled Utred, for he could feel the waves of malevolence coming off the double doors and felt, to his own shock, his own unwilling desire to simply run away.</p><p></p><p>"They can't keep me out!" muttered Khari, sinking below the surface of the stone floor. And it was true: whatever spell was messing with the heroes' minds and making it so they feared to even touch the door, it didn't prevent Khari Hammerslammer from sinking below the stone floor, advancing forward, and popping back up into the room beyond. Looking about with his darkvision, he noted this was the Mortal Queen's throne room, fortunately empty at the moment. But there were no other exits, which meant...yep, there it was: the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> was over in the corner, nestled upon a pile of bones.</p><p></p><p>Khari was torn. One part of him wanted to go grab the <em>soul prison</em> and dive back beneath the floor, returning with it to his friends. Another part was sure as soon as he touched it something bad would happen - surely the Mortal Queen would have put up some sort of safeguard? He should probably open the double doors and let his friends in - maybe the doors weren't trapped from the inside? (He certainly felt no hesitation in touching the metal doors, so maybe that meant the magic was focused in the Lolth carving on the other side of the doors?)</p><p></p><p>"Ah, screw it!" Khari said to himself. This was too much thinking - and thinking had never been his strong suit! Before he could be gripped with any further indecision, he pushed the doors open.</p><p></p><p>A blaring <em>alarm</em> spell went off as soon as he - a non-drow - touched the doors. Worse yet, it caused the pile of bones in the corner to activate, rising up as a ten-foot-tall bone golem with the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> now trapped inside a cage in the hollow of the construct's chest.</p><p></p><p>Khari spent no time on self-recrimination; time was now of the essence - there was no telling how long they had before reinforcements would show up! He raced across the room, advancing upon the vaguely humanoid bone-thing. Jhasspok was across the room in a shot, passing by the slower dwarf and swinging his battleaxe at the construct's central mass; he got a painful slam from the thing's fist for his trouble, as the bone golem's arms were as long as the lizardfolk's entire body. Jhasspok's momentum was deflected to the side, and then the thing brought its other fist crashing down on the reptile's head. Jhasspok saw stars but retained his footing, shaking his head furiously to clear it.</p><p></p><p>Cramer ran up behind Khari and Jhasspok, using his most powerful weapon: his knowledge of all things magical. "This is probably a bone golem!" he cried. "Most spells will be ineffectual against it! Our best bet is simple brute force!"</p><p></p><p>Not sure which of her spells would be the most likely to be effective against a golem of a type she'd never faced before - but she knew each golem was subject to only a small handful of spells, ignoring all others - Marlo uncoiled the <em>life-flame whip</em> she wore on her belt. This had two main advantages: it was a physical attack, not a spell, and it allowed the sorcerer to strike the construct from far enough away that it couldn't reach her in retaliation.</p><p></p><p>Utred was a walking arsenal of weapons but he couldn't fault Marlo's logic; he uncoiled his own <em>life-flame whip</em> and together they sent their weapons snapping at the bone golem, over the heads of Jhasspok and Khari. Each strike singed the bones making up the construct's vaguely humanoid form.</p><p></p><p>Khari sent his <em>earth glide warhammer</em> crashing into the golem's leg - it was a perfect weapon for smashing bone, although the process used to create this monstrosity had not only fused mismatched bones together but hardened them as well. Still, he was pleased to see bone chips flying off with every strike of his hammer.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok continued swinging his battleaxe at the golem as well, and even bit at the thing when a limb got within biting range. The lizardfolk was spurred on by the realization that some of the bones used in the golem's construction still had bits of flesh hanging on to them. But after having bitten it a couple of times, Jhasspok realized that while meat was meat, this meat was far from tasty.</p><p></p><p>The bone golem, for its part, ignored the whips snapping at it and slammed the two figures immediately before it. Then Cramer crept forward and, on a hunch, cast a <em>cure serious wounds</em> spell on it - it might be a golem, but its build practically screamed necromancy and it was about as close to an undead thing as you could get. The ploy worked; while it was up in the air whether the healing energy had caused it any harm (it at least certainly hadn't healed it!), the creature's attacks slowed, just as fire had slowed the flesh golem made of Eri'dia Jalamir's severed parts.</p><p></p><p>Marlo and Utred continued whipping the bone golem as Jhasspok and Khari brought their melee weapons to bear. But then the bone golem changed tactics: pointing a twisted forearm at Utred, it fired off a chunk of itself. The dwarven barbarian felt a mass of bone strike him in the chest and then immediately begin to twist and reform, expanding all around him until it had formed a skin-tight bone cage around him - and one which, he saw, had rooted itself to the stone floor. The dwarf was completely immobilized. But not for long, he vowed, stoking the internal fires of his rage and pushing every last ounce of power against his bone prison, until--</p><p></p><p>Well, crap. He was still confined in the latticework of bones all around him. That hadn't worked out like he had planned at all. He struggled again, to no avail; pinned as he was in place, he had no leverage. It was frustrating, and he vented with a roar of impotent anger.</p><p></p><p>"We'll get you out!" promised Cramer, casting another <em>cure serious wounds</em> spell onto the bone golem, hoping once they defeated it the bone prison might crumble away to nothingness. The healing spell did seem to affect the golem, but it now redirected its attention down at the gnome cleric and slammed at him with a massive arm - an arm which was slowly growing fully back after a piece of it had been shot at Utred to bind him into place. Marlo continued whipping the golem from a safe distance, while Khari's warhammer sent individual pieces of bone flying with each strike - entire bones now, not just splinters and fragments, possibly a sign the golem was wearing down.</p><p></p><p>Such indeed was the case. Jhasspok swung his battleaxe into the golem's torso a final time and bones went flying, causing a cascade effect: as the necromantic energy binding the construct together leaked away into the ether, the bones all fell away from each other in a loose pile. The <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em>, now released from its own bone cage inside the golem's central mass, came rolling across the floor and Marlo quickly scooped it up. "Got it!" she cried. "Let's get out of here!"</p><p></p><p>"Hey! Wait!" cried Utred, still stuck within his bone prison. The thing hadn't crumpled apart when the bone golem was destroyed; apparently it was fastened together by a different process than that which had given the bone golem its mobility. The group hastily started hacking away at the intertwined bones imprisoning Utred, until finally they had broken away enough of it the barbarian was able to step out. "Thanks," he growled, angry he'd missed out on the end of destroying the bone golem and had had to be rescued. "But yeah, we'd better get going." The <em>alarm</em> spell was still blaring away and the group could hear footsteps and angry shouts rapidly approaching.</p><p></p><p>Marlo scooped her <em>bag of holding</em> back up - Calish Jalamir's unconscious head still poking out of the top of it - and indicated her readiness. Then Cramer pulled out the <em>shadow key</em>, held it out before him in the air, and twisted it as if putting it inside a lock. A rift opened up in the throne room, a rent between this reality and the Plane of Shadow, and the five heroes ran through into shadowy darkness. The rift closed up behind them, leaving the House Bel'vior guards wondering how to explain the open doors to the throne room and the pile of bones scattered in the back of the room. "Search the area!" one called. "Whoever tried breaking in here couldn't have gotten far!" It was wishful thinking on his part, for he knew the Mortal Queen would not be pleased to learn they hadn't caught whoever had invaded the sanctity of her own throne room.... With a gulp of worry, he frantically led his team exploring the nearby rooms and hallways.</p><p></p><p>The five heroes stepped through the permanent <em>gate</em> and back into House Ky'hulcressen. They weren't home free quite yet, but they knew it was just a walk through the shadow path back to Greenvale and all would be well. They'd retrieved the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> before the Mortal Queen had been able to divine how it worked and set the rampaging beast onto Greenvale, and even managed to snag some loot off the drow soldiers they'd slain and capture Calish Jalamir in the process. All in all, a successful mission!</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>And we all made it to 10th level, as a bonus.</p><p></p><p>Logan informed us after we had finished that by saving Calish's life and bringing him back to Greenvale for questioning, we inadvertently uncovered and foiled his plot to betray Matron Jalamir to House Bel'vior. It turns out the only reason he was there in the first place was he had switched teams: anticipating that the Mortal Queen would come out on top, he offered to become a member of House Bel'vior, bringing along a flesh golem made from his little sister Eri'dia as an additional enticement, but the real point of sale was an opportunity to betray Matron Jalamir and put his House under the leadership of someone more inclined to do the Mortal Queen's bidding. Offered to sell his own mother up the river, that one! Nice guy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8059084, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 31: THE TARRASQUE AT HAND[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 9[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 6 August 2020 - - - Returning to Greenvale, the House Jalamir arena slaves - who had not performed that actual function for some time now - prepared for their next mission by upgrading some of their equipment. Utred had his magic greataxe honed such that the blade was extra-sharp, while Cramer had the protection afforded by his [I]amulet of natural armor[/I] enhanced. Khari had an enchantment added to his [I]earth glide warhammer[/I] that would even further increase its ability to strike true and deal damage to those struck. Marlo placed an order for a magic ring that would allow her to walk up the sides of walls and across ceilings; it would take the wizard crafter some time to create such a ring, so she paid him in advance and was told when to return for her finished product. Jhasspok bought a fish at the market and ate it, head and all. He'd amassed a pile of coins but not enough to do what he wanted done, so on the advice of his dwarven allies he saved his money for now. "Ye never know, this next mission could turn out t'be a lucrative one," Utred winked at the lizardfolk. He then found himself explaining that "lucrative" meant "liable to bring in a lot of money" to the puzzled reptile. When they arrived for their pre-mission briefing, they were handed some new equipment. Each received a magical ring, which resized to perfect fit the finger upon which it was placed; more importantly, it cloaked the wearer in a [I]nondetection[/I] spell. Cramer's shoulders unclenched as soon as he placed the ring on his finger; it was nice to know he was currently no longer able to be scried upon through his House Jalamir slave tattoo. The sunborn drow passed over three pairs of [I]goggles of darkvision[/I], allowing those not of dwarvish ancestry to see as well in pitch blackness as any dwarf. "You'll want to turn off your [I]slave-light cloaks[/I]," he advised. "You will be traveling through the shadow path to House Ky'hulcressen in the Overreach and the light will attract the undead wraiths who haunt that area." Without further prompting, all five slaves extinguished the lights from their cloaks, then were led through the Plane of Shadow to the allied House for which they served as "secret double slaves" - at least according to Jhasspok. Matron Ky'hulcressen was there to meet them, along with 20 drow mercenaries. They wore no House insignia and, the Matron explained, had belonged to various Lesser Houses that had been recently wiped out as a result of the infighting caused by the Mortal Queen's self-proclaimed ascension to the rule of all drow in Overreach. "I believe you all know the plan," Matron Ky'hulcressen told all assembled before her. "I will openly challenge the Mortal Queen's right to rule. This will lead to a trial by combat, in which only one of us will emerge with her life. If I manage to slay her - which is unlikely - we will have put an end to her madness and restored a sense of normalcy to our city and its people. If she slays me, I will have forfeited my life but bought you the time needed to find and steal back the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I], for even if she learns of your presence during your attempt she cannot leave my formal duel challenge without forfeiting her rule. While you infiltrate the Mortal Queen's own chambers to find the relic" - here she looked at the five arena slaves - "these mercenaries will stage an attack upon House Bel'vior, making it look like another simple takeover attempt to jockey for power." She passed over four potion vials, giving one to each of the slaves but Utred. "You, I understand, have a [I]hat of disguise[/I] by which you can take on the appearance of a drow mercenary like these before you. The other four slaves will drink these [I]potions of disguise self[/I], which will have the same effect." Marlo, Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok each dutifully downed their potion, taking on the semblance of a dark-skinned drow of their own gender; Marlo, looking around, saw a few of the drow mercenaries were female and was pleased she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. All drow clerics, she had seen during her time as a slave, were female but not all drow females were clerics, it seemed. "Finally, here is a [I]shadow key[/I]," Matron Ky'hulcressen said, handing a black key to Cramer. "Once you have obtained the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I], use it to activate a [I]shadow walk[/I] spell attuned to the permanent gate here in our own House Pillar. It can be used but once per day." Cramer accepted the key and realized, despite his avowed hatred of all drow, he was actually feeling something very much like respect for this House Matron, who was willingly going to go start a battle to the death she likely could not win with the Mortal Queen, just to ensure her people were freed from the machinations of the House Bel'vior leader. "Let us go," Matron Ky'hulcressen said, opening the [I]gate[/I] and leading the group through the shadows and then over to the ceiling surrounding the House Bel'vior pillar back on the Material Plane. Marlo looked "up" and saw the Bioluminescent Sea, meaning they were upside-down under the permanent [I]reverse gravity[/I] effect of the cavern ceiling. Her stomach churned involuntarily - she wasn't a big fan of all of this inverted gravity nonsense. Cramer had taken the opportunity of the brief trip through the Plane of Shadows to cast some preparatory spells: [I]longstrider,[/I] [I]death ward[/I], [I]divine favor[/I], and [I]magic circle against evil[/I] on himself, [I]aid[/I] on Khari, [I]shield of faith[/I] on Utred, and a [I]bless[/I] spell on the entire group. "Good luck," Matron Ky'hulcressen said before becoming a shadow herself as she glided back out of the Material Plane - she had a date in the combat arena with the Mortal Queen. There were enemy drow warriors guarding access to the enormous doors to the House Bel'vior pillar, scattered in a loose arc. The allied drow mercenaries slunk away, splitting into smaller groups to meet up with other hired drow mercenaries from displaced Lesser Houses so they could make a concentrated assault upon multiple doors to the pillar at once, leaving the ten present enemies guarding this entrance for the five arena slaves to deal with. [I]That seems about right[/I], Utred thought to himself. [I]We ought t'be able to take ten out ourselves.[/I] Khari led the charge against the Bel'vior forces, although they didn't realize it until he was already upon them for he used the power of his [I]earth glide warhammer[/I] to perform the majority of his charge below the ground, springing up from the stone to swing his weapon into the face of a startled warrior, instantly crushing his nose and sending a spray of teeth and blood flying off to the side. Hearing the sentry's cry of pain, the two personal bodyguards of the unit's leader readied their hand crossbows, looking for any sign of the enemy. But Khari had his foe blocking the others' view of him and they couldn't see Cramer either, for he had activated his [I]ring of invisibility[/I] and followed in Khari's wake (although he stuck to above-ground travel). But they did see Jhasspok, who leaped out from behind the small building the group had appeared beside and sprinted toward a drow warrior. The two bodyguards turned and fired at what looked to be a drow mercenary without House insignia swinging a battleaxe at one of their men. The quarrels zipped by Jhasspok's head as he ran, neither one hitting their mark. But his weapon hit his target, nearly knocking the drow warrior off his feet with the power of his blow. The unit leader, a female drow cleric in [I]ironsilk full plate armor[/I], cast a [I]bless[/I] spell over her own troops, right as Utred plucked a bead from his [I]necklace of fireballs[/I] and hurled it into a cluster of drow warriors. One drow was burned to death almost immediately, while the exploding flames caused pain to another warrior, the cleric, and both of her bodyguards. Another drow warrior came to the aid of the one fighting Khari, while the other five surrounded Jhasspok. But by now they were rattled, for they had a hard time hitting their foes with enough force to deal them any real harm. Marlo cast an [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] spell centered on the cleric - she'd long ago learned that the drow women in heavy armor were the ones you had to take out quickly - but that blasted drow spell resistance prevented any of the grasping tentacles from getting a hold on those within the spell's area of effect. Marlo let out a quite unladylike curse, fortunately from far enough away she wasn't heard, for the drow enemies would likely wonder why she swore in the slave tongue, given she looked to be a mercenary drow herself. Khari swung his warhammer with wild abandon, and in several seconds had two drow corpses at his feet. He whooped in triumph and looked about for more enemies to slay. The bodyguards - identifiable by their better armor and weapons - were scrambling out of the writhing tentacles, moving much slower than normal as they avoided getting grabbed up, but each successfully making it to freedom without incident. Cramer cast a [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell and sent the quarterstaff of pure force flying over to aid Jhasspok. The weapon conked a drow warrior on the back of the head, sending him reeling. Jhasspok was grateful for the aid, but it was perhaps not as needed as the gnome cleric had assumed, for the lizardfolk's battleaxe went cleaving through the bodies of three drow foes in a matter of seconds, slaying the trio (one not with his axe but his own snapping teeth). Jhasspok hadn't realized it before, but being surrounded by enemies meant you didn't have to move very far when swinging your weapon about! He idly wondered if he could get all of his future enemies to stand all around him like that. The drow cleric extricated herself from the black tentacles and repositioned herself on the steps to the Pillar Gate, the entrance to House Bel'vior she was sworn to protect with her life - and those of her men. Utred saw her and decided she'd be his next target, so he grabbed up his greataxe and charged at her, his blade slicing through her armor and into her midsection. A drow warrior came running up next to her to give her what aid he could, for he had decided he'd rather face this mercenary with the greataxe than that crazy one who had just bitten out the throat of a Bel'vior soldier while cutting down two others with his battleaxe. What kind of a freak did that? Marlo fired a [I]scorching ray[/I] at the cleric and her nearby soldier, slaying both. Utred and Khari noticed she'd fired through her own black tentacles, which had moved out of the way of her twin rays of flame to see to her success. That was certainly strange! The other drow didn't last very much longer, and while they were being stripped of their armor and weapons (all of which was tossed into the [I]bag of holding[/I] Marlo carried), Utred found a key around the neck of the cleric; sure enough, it opened the doors to the gate she'd been guarding. Pulling open the massive metal doors, Utred stepped inside, the others following at his side. There were two armed and armored female drow fighters in the large chamber just beyond and a drider filling up a side-passageway to the right. There were corridors straight ahead and off to the left as well; Cramer realized he'd need to cast his [I]locate object[/I] spell from the scroll once they'd dealt with this wave of guardians to even find their way to where the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I] was being stored. The drider was the first to react to the sudden appearance of unknown drow mercenaries, but he sought his own safety first, casting a [I]mage armor[/I] spell upon himself from the safety of the webs upon which he was suspended. Khari used the power of his [I]earth glide warhammer[/I] to sink beneath the stone floor, only to pop back up behind the first fighter. As he spun to face his designated foe, he caught a glimpse of someone approaching from the corridor ahead - she looked vaguely familiar, and Khari finally realized who it was: Eri'dia Jalamir. Well, that was good; she owed them one for getting her to the safety of Greenvale when her own mother had tried slaying her, and the group could no doubt use all the help they could get. Then there was no further time for any thoughts of the little sister to their own slavemaster, for both drow fighters had focused their weapons upon him. The dwarven fighter dodged one sword but couldn't do likewise with the other; its blade cut him in the arm, sliding between the grooves of metal by his elbow. It hurt, but Khari didn't let that bother him; he'd get healed up after they took down this wave, and maybe even sooner, for Cramer had a habit of healing up his friends when it looked like they needed it. He hadn't failed any of them yet! Jhasspok, the largest by far of the five heroes, saw it as his duty to take down the largest of their foes. With that thought in mind, he charged at the drider, bringing his battleaxe crashing down to strike the creature's spindly legs as it reared up like a horse to try to fend off the lizardfolk's attack. Cramer redirected his [I]spiritual quarterstaff[/I], sending it to go aid Jhasspok against the drider, while the crafty gnome cast a [I]silence[/I] spell on the floor by Jhasspok's feet. He'd seen the drider cast his [I]mage armor[/I] spell earlier and didn't want it able to cast any offensive spells against any of the Jalamir slaves. At the same time, Marlo targeted the drider with a pair of [I]empowered scorching rays[/I], one missing the darting creature's head but the other striking him straight in the chest. Utred charged one of the fighters, coming to a halt beside his fellow dwarf and allowing them to fight their drow enemies side by side. His greataxe cut down the foe he'd attacked and he followed up the swing with a cut into the one directly across from Khari. But by then Eri'dia had arrived, and she turned out not to be the source of aid Khari had thought, for at this closer range he could see the stitches holding her body parts together. This was one of the flesh golems her mother had created from the dismembered pieces of her regenerating body! The golem held up a fist charged with a reddish energy and swung it at Khari's head. The Hammerslammer dwarf dodged the attack, but it brought on the obvious question: what in blazes was a flesh golem of Eri'dia Jalamir doing here in House Bel'vior? Then Khari decided it really didn't matter a whole lot: it was here trying to kill him so he was going to do the same thing right back at it. He slammed his warhammer into the side of her head, glad that this flesh golem was only the size of the nimble drow woman - he'd heard these things could be crafted to reach 7 feet tall or even larger! The remaining drow fighter focused her attention on Utred, seeing as the golem had the other dwarf's full attention now. The drider stabbed at Jhasspok with a pair of sharp-tipped rapiers; the lizardfolk deflected one off his shield but the other pierced his scales. Jhasspok hissed in pain - that [I]hurt![/I] - and channeled his anger into a powerful, sideways blow with his battleaxe, cutting through the drider's torso and spilling him onto the ground at the reptile's feet. Jhasspok stepped back, ready to bring his axe down upon the thing's head, but it looked like such a maneuver was not needed - the thing was dead. Cramer redirected his [I]spiritual quarterstaff[/I] again, this time causing it to strike the flesh golem - but it missed. Marlo [I]empowered[/I] another [I]scorching ray[/I] spell and sent the twin beams of fire over at the golem, hitting with both and noticing the stitched thing was moving slower as a result of her attack. That was good to know! "Fire slows the golem down!" she called out to her friends as the hideous mockery of Eri'dia slammed a fist at Khari again; the dwarf dodged the clumsy attack with ease. Utred's greataxe swung into the drow's side and she almost dropped her weapon as a result; she certainly dropped her guard, allowing Khari's warhammer to plow into the side of her skull, killing her instantly. The dwarf continued his hammer-swing into the flesh golem, hearing a satisfying crunch that likely meant a broken rib or two - pity the unliving thing didn't seem to feel any pain. The drider dead, Jhasspok turned and saw the two dwarves squaring off against the flesh golem. He raced across the plaza, bringing his battleaxe to bear against their foe. (He didn't hesitate for a moment upon seeing its likeness; the dwarves were fighting it and that was all the lizardfolk needed to know - he trusted their instincts in such matters.) Cramer's [I]spiritual weapon[/I] struck the golem in the head and surprisingly shattered to pieces, each piece disappearing before hitting the floor; it had come up against spell resistance it couldn't overcome. But he ran up, bringing his [I]Elderwood flaming mace[/I] to bear, slamming the golem in the side of the leg and grinning as he realized the magical flames would only extend the [I]slow[/I] effect. But that wasn't even really needed, for Marlo brought the thing down with another casting of an [I]empowered scorching ray[/I] spell. The stitched thing that looked like Eri'dia collapsed to the ground, its body ablaze and filling the chamber with the smell of charred flesh and burnt hair. Cramer pulled out his scroll of [I]locate object[/I] while the dwarves grabbed weapons and armor from the slain drow fighters and the drider, tossing them hurriedly into the [I]bag of holding[/I] Marlo held open. "It's this way!" the gnome called, pointing down the corridor from which the false Eri'dia had come. Khari headed down the indicated hallway, ignoring two sets of stairs which led down on either side of the corridor. As he approached a set of eight statues of Lolth (four on the ground showing her in a driderlike configuration, four directly above on the ceiling showing her as a drow-headed spider), a dark-clad figure stepped out from behind them, blade in one hand and the other arm - the one pointed in Khari's direction - wielding a hand crossbow. This was also a figure the dwarf had seen before, but this time he needed no time at all to recognize it, for it was none other than Calish Jalamir, the slavemaster! Calish fired his weapon at what he thought was an enemy drow mercenary, one he'd never seen before, but Khari dodged the incoming bolt partly by dint of fact he wasn't as tall as the illusion making him look like a drow made him appear to be. Jhasspok was right behind Khari and he too recognized Calish. But any automatic hesitation he might have once had preventing him from attacking his slavemaster had long since been burned out of the lizardfolk's brain: Calish was an enemy of the sunborn drow and needed to be killed! He brought his battleaxe slamming into the drow's side, but the slavemaster rolled at the last minute and at least avoided the sharp blade, if not the solid axe-head entirely. Cramer ran down the corridor, activating his [I]ring of invisibility[/I] again as he did so. Marlo cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] at the slavemaster and scowled as it shattered, unspent, against his inherent spell resistance. Calish backed away from Khari and Jhasspok, activating a ring of his own, and he suddenly started blinking in and out of existence in an unpredictable pattern: one moment he was there, the next he was not. Neither Khari nor Jhasspok had ever experienced the [I]blink[/I] spell effect at work before; with a shrug, they each pressed on with their attacks. And luck was with them both, for their weapons struck unerringly against the drow slavemaster, who was then unceremoniously knocked unconscious by a second casting of Cramer's [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell. This quarterstaff of pure force was not hampered by the drow's resistance to spell energy and he fell forward, knocked into instant insensibility from the blow to the back of the head. Unsure of what to do with him - he deserved to die, but maybe the Greenvale forces could get some information out of him? - Cramer stabilized him with a [I]cure minor wounds[/I] spell (just enough to stop him from bleeding, not enough to restore him to consciousness) and they took the time to strip him of his valuables, bind him tightly with rope, and prop him into the [I]bag of holding[/I] such that his head and shoulders stuck out, ensuring he wouldn't suffocate to death inside the extradimensional space. That just meant Marlo couldn't close the bag up all the way and had to carry it over one shoulder, but Cramer's [I]locate object[/I] spell was telling him they needed to get past the door behind where Calish had been taken out and the gnome was eager to get moving - no telling how long the spell would last! Entering through the door, the room beyond looked to be a royal waiting room, with elegant furniture and elaborately-woven carpets; but of primary notice were the 20-foot-tall double doors engraved with a depiction of Lolth in her demonic spider form. The carving practically radiated evil, to the point where the heroes were hesitant to even touch the doors. "The [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I]'s on the other side of these doors!" Cramer said, knowing they needed to open the doors but unable to will himself to do so. In one sense stalling for time, Marlo cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell and examined the doors with her magically-enhanced sight. "They're magic, all right," she announced. "Some kind of...abjuration effect." "Ensuring we can't get in!" snarled Utred, for he could feel the waves of malevolence coming off the double doors and felt, to his own shock, his own unwilling desire to simply run away. "They can't keep me out!" muttered Khari, sinking below the surface of the stone floor. And it was true: whatever spell was messing with the heroes' minds and making it so they feared to even touch the door, it didn't prevent Khari Hammerslammer from sinking below the stone floor, advancing forward, and popping back up into the room beyond. Looking about with his darkvision, he noted this was the Mortal Queen's throne room, fortunately empty at the moment. But there were no other exits, which meant...yep, there it was: the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I] was over in the corner, nestled upon a pile of bones. Khari was torn. One part of him wanted to go grab the [I]soul prison[/I] and dive back beneath the floor, returning with it to his friends. Another part was sure as soon as he touched it something bad would happen - surely the Mortal Queen would have put up some sort of safeguard? He should probably open the double doors and let his friends in - maybe the doors weren't trapped from the inside? (He certainly felt no hesitation in touching the metal doors, so maybe that meant the magic was focused in the Lolth carving on the other side of the doors?) "Ah, screw it!" Khari said to himself. This was too much thinking - and thinking had never been his strong suit! Before he could be gripped with any further indecision, he pushed the doors open. A blaring [I]alarm[/I] spell went off as soon as he - a non-drow - touched the doors. Worse yet, it caused the pile of bones in the corner to activate, rising up as a ten-foot-tall bone golem with the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I] now trapped inside a cage in the hollow of the construct's chest. Khari spent no time on self-recrimination; time was now of the essence - there was no telling how long they had before reinforcements would show up! He raced across the room, advancing upon the vaguely humanoid bone-thing. Jhasspok was across the room in a shot, passing by the slower dwarf and swinging his battleaxe at the construct's central mass; he got a painful slam from the thing's fist for his trouble, as the bone golem's arms were as long as the lizardfolk's entire body. Jhasspok's momentum was deflected to the side, and then the thing brought its other fist crashing down on the reptile's head. Jhasspok saw stars but retained his footing, shaking his head furiously to clear it. Cramer ran up behind Khari and Jhasspok, using his most powerful weapon: his knowledge of all things magical. "This is probably a bone golem!" he cried. "Most spells will be ineffectual against it! Our best bet is simple brute force!" Not sure which of her spells would be the most likely to be effective against a golem of a type she'd never faced before - but she knew each golem was subject to only a small handful of spells, ignoring all others - Marlo uncoiled the [I]life-flame whip[/I] she wore on her belt. This had two main advantages: it was a physical attack, not a spell, and it allowed the sorcerer to strike the construct from far enough away that it couldn't reach her in retaliation. Utred was a walking arsenal of weapons but he couldn't fault Marlo's logic; he uncoiled his own [I]life-flame whip[/I] and together they sent their weapons snapping at the bone golem, over the heads of Jhasspok and Khari. Each strike singed the bones making up the construct's vaguely humanoid form. Khari sent his [I]earth glide warhammer[/I] crashing into the golem's leg - it was a perfect weapon for smashing bone, although the process used to create this monstrosity had not only fused mismatched bones together but hardened them as well. Still, he was pleased to see bone chips flying off with every strike of his hammer. Jhasspok continued swinging his battleaxe at the golem as well, and even bit at the thing when a limb got within biting range. The lizardfolk was spurred on by the realization that some of the bones used in the golem's construction still had bits of flesh hanging on to them. But after having bitten it a couple of times, Jhasspok realized that while meat was meat, this meat was far from tasty. The bone golem, for its part, ignored the whips snapping at it and slammed the two figures immediately before it. Then Cramer crept forward and, on a hunch, cast a [I]cure serious wounds[/I] spell on it - it might be a golem, but its build practically screamed necromancy and it was about as close to an undead thing as you could get. The ploy worked; while it was up in the air whether the healing energy had caused it any harm (it at least certainly hadn't healed it!), the creature's attacks slowed, just as fire had slowed the flesh golem made of Eri'dia Jalamir's severed parts. Marlo and Utred continued whipping the bone golem as Jhasspok and Khari brought their melee weapons to bear. But then the bone golem changed tactics: pointing a twisted forearm at Utred, it fired off a chunk of itself. The dwarven barbarian felt a mass of bone strike him in the chest and then immediately begin to twist and reform, expanding all around him until it had formed a skin-tight bone cage around him - and one which, he saw, had rooted itself to the stone floor. The dwarf was completely immobilized. But not for long, he vowed, stoking the internal fires of his rage and pushing every last ounce of power against his bone prison, until-- Well, crap. He was still confined in the latticework of bones all around him. That hadn't worked out like he had planned at all. He struggled again, to no avail; pinned as he was in place, he had no leverage. It was frustrating, and he vented with a roar of impotent anger. "We'll get you out!" promised Cramer, casting another [I]cure serious wounds[/I] spell onto the bone golem, hoping once they defeated it the bone prison might crumble away to nothingness. The healing spell did seem to affect the golem, but it now redirected its attention down at the gnome cleric and slammed at him with a massive arm - an arm which was slowly growing fully back after a piece of it had been shot at Utred to bind him into place. Marlo continued whipping the golem from a safe distance, while Khari's warhammer sent individual pieces of bone flying with each strike - entire bones now, not just splinters and fragments, possibly a sign the golem was wearing down. Such indeed was the case. Jhasspok swung his battleaxe into the golem's torso a final time and bones went flying, causing a cascade effect: as the necromantic energy binding the construct together leaked away into the ether, the bones all fell away from each other in a loose pile. The [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I], now released from its own bone cage inside the golem's central mass, came rolling across the floor and Marlo quickly scooped it up. "Got it!" she cried. "Let's get out of here!" "Hey! Wait!" cried Utred, still stuck within his bone prison. The thing hadn't crumpled apart when the bone golem was destroyed; apparently it was fastened together by a different process than that which had given the bone golem its mobility. The group hastily started hacking away at the intertwined bones imprisoning Utred, until finally they had broken away enough of it the barbarian was able to step out. "Thanks," he growled, angry he'd missed out on the end of destroying the bone golem and had had to be rescued. "But yeah, we'd better get going." The [I]alarm[/I] spell was still blaring away and the group could hear footsteps and angry shouts rapidly approaching. Marlo scooped her [I]bag of holding[/I] back up - Calish Jalamir's unconscious head still poking out of the top of it - and indicated her readiness. Then Cramer pulled out the [I]shadow key[/I], held it out before him in the air, and twisted it as if putting it inside a lock. A rift opened up in the throne room, a rent between this reality and the Plane of Shadow, and the five heroes ran through into shadowy darkness. The rift closed up behind them, leaving the House Bel'vior guards wondering how to explain the open doors to the throne room and the pile of bones scattered in the back of the room. "Search the area!" one called. "Whoever tried breaking in here couldn't have gotten far!" It was wishful thinking on his part, for he knew the Mortal Queen would not be pleased to learn they hadn't caught whoever had invaded the sanctity of her own throne room.... With a gulp of worry, he frantically led his team exploring the nearby rooms and hallways. The five heroes stepped through the permanent [I]gate[/I] and back into House Ky'hulcressen. They weren't home free quite yet, but they knew it was just a walk through the shadow path back to Greenvale and all would be well. They'd retrieved the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I] before the Mortal Queen had been able to divine how it worked and set the rampaging beast onto Greenvale, and even managed to snag some loot off the drow soldiers they'd slain and capture Calish Jalamir in the process. All in all, a successful mission! - - - And we all made it to 10th level, as a bonus. Logan informed us after we had finished that by saving Calish's life and bringing him back to Greenvale for questioning, we inadvertently uncovered and foiled his plot to betray Matron Jalamir to House Bel'vior. It turns out the only reason he was there in the first place was he had switched teams: anticipating that the Mortal Queen would come out on top, he offered to become a member of House Bel'vior, bringing along a flesh golem made from his little sister Eri'dia as an additional enticement, but the real point of sale was an opportunity to betray Matron Jalamir and put his House under the leadership of someone more inclined to do the Mortal Queen's bidding. Offered to sell his own mother up the river, that one! Nice guy. [/QUOTE]
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