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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8544865" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 53: HEAD IN THE CLOUDS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 17/psychic warrior 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 18</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 9 February 2022</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>The <em>sending</em> spell didn't contain a whole lot of information - it was, after all, merely two words long - but it had recognizably been cast by Matron Jalamir, the head of the drow Noble House to which the five former slaves now belonged and it was just as long as absolutely necessary: <Return immediately.> That left no room for ambiguity, so Marlo gathered everyone together and cast a <em>teleport</em> spell that returned the group to the confines of the drow city of Overreach.</p><p></p><p>After having been led to an audience chamber before Matron Jalamir, the head of the Noble House explained why she had brought them here. "We have continued attempting to <em>scry</em> upon any remaining survivors of the now-disbanded House Bel'voir," she informed them. "Our attempts have finally borne fruit: we have discovered a group who had relied upon temporary wards against <em>scrying</em> and we were finally able to pick them up between applications of their anti-scrying spells." She gestured behind her and a familiar form stepped forward. It was Honeycomb Buzzwort, Cramer's friend from his surface gnomish city of Revin. "Honeycomb was present when we detected the survivors," she advised the group. "He will be able to help you home in on their present location, so they can be eliminated. I want them all slain."</p><p></p><p>Honeycomb, a fellow cleric of Fharlanghn, began casting an illusion spell that brought an image floating before the group. "It was an enormous, dark chamber, occasionally lit by brief flashes of lightning," the gnome said. "There were five drow of House Bel'vior, sitting on a ring of motionless tentacles lying spread out on the ground."</p><p></p><p>"The Writhing Gate on the cloud island!" exclaimed Cramer. "Or inside a cloud island, perhaps," he amended, recalling the fact this was inside a large cavern. He turned to Marlo. "Do you think you can teleport us there, given this image to go off of?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>Marlo examined the details of the image intently. "Yes, I think so," she finally decided.</p><p></p><p>"Then let's get our prep spells cast!" Cramer enthused, raring to go. He cast his traditional <em>longstrider</em>, <em>spell turning</em>, and <em>moment of prescience</em> spells on himself, then added a few new ones: <em>spell immunity</em> to protect him from a select group of spells, as well as a <em>daylight</em> spell he cast upon a copper piece, which he then placed inside an empty belt pouch. That, he knew, would be a powerful tactic when fighting the light-hating drow. Marlo, in the meantime, cast <em>stoneskin</em> spells on her friends, a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell on the whole group, and then used her wand to cast an <em>invisibility</em> spell on everyone but Cramer, who could do the same for himself with his magic ring. At Utred's suggestion, Cramer also cast a <em>protection from energy</em> spell on everyone which would shield them from electricity damage, since the barbarian was leery of being hit by lightning while inside a giant cloud. Khari activated his psionic <em>offensive prescience</em> power and declared himself ready for combat.</p><p></p><p>Cramer used his ring to render himself invisible and then Marlo cast the <em>teleport</em> spell which transported the group directly inside the ring of limp tentacles at the center of the now-inactive Writhing Gate. Despite everyone being invisible, most of the group wore their <em>slave-light cloaks</em> so the Writhing Gate was illuminated by light with no apparent source. There was nobody else in the immediate vicinity and Marlo used her <em>robe of eyes</em> to look throughout the vast chamber. <Nobody's home,> she told the others over the link.</p><p></p><p><I'm sinking,> Jhasspok told the group, looking down at his taloned feet which were sinking slightly into the soft cloud-stuff. <This is like that white rain stuff that's cold.></p><p></p><p><Snow,> prompted Utred.</p><p></p><p><Yeah, that,> Jhasspok agreed. Having had only a few experiences with snow on the surface world, it was a word which hadn't stuck in the lizardfolk's reptilian brain.</p><p></p><p>A low rumble of thunder rolled from the top of the chamber. Cramer recognized it as speech as his magic helmet automatically translated the words from their Auran origin: "More mortals to disturb us...."</p><p></p><p>Cramer translated the statement over the mental link for the benefit of the others. Marlo peered at the cavern's ceiling, some 100 feet or more above their heads. <I don't see anything up there,> she said.</p><p></p><p><Invisible?> suggested Khari, looking up at the ceiling with his own innate darkvision and seeing nothing.</p><p></p><p><I'd still see it if it was invisible,> Marlo replied, knowing the abilities of her magic robe. <Unless it's naturally invisible...like an invisible stalker!" She had read of such creatures, who had no visible form. Still, they appeared as roiling clouds of vapor when viewed through a <em>see invisibility</em> or <em>true seeing</em> spell, and she couldn't see anything like that at all....</p><p></p><p>"We mean you no harm!" Cramer called up to the ceiling, irritated that his <em>helm of comprehend languages and read magic</em> did nothing to translate his own words into other tongues.</p><p></p><p><Wait! I saw some movement up there!> Marlo warned the others. She called forth an <em>empowered maximized fireball</em> ready to be cast if anything came down to attack them.</p><p></p><p><I thought we were here to kill drow,> Jhasspok interjected. <Where did the drow go?></p><p></p><p><Maybe the invisible thing up at the ceiling ate them,> suggested Utred. Jhasspok peered at the ceiling as best he could but couldn't see any invisible thing.</p><p></p><p><Let's see if this brings them out of hiding,> suggested Utred, pulling the Null Axe from its protective wrapping. The anti-magic weapon immediately nullified his invisibility and everyone could see him as he started hacking the axe blade through the nearest Writhing Gate tentacle, beginning to chop it free from the cloud's bottom.</p><p></p><p>"They are enemies of Svulbiss, they must be destroyed," came the sounds of Auran from the general vicinity of the ceiling, which Cramer quickly translated for the benefit of his friends. Then two creatures came surging down from the roof of the hollow cloud-chamber and Marlo quickly realized why she hadn't been able to see them clearly before: they were air elementals whose bodies were made of nothing more than wind! These, however, were much larger than any air elemental the sorceress had ever seen before, and flashes of lightning skittered across their airy bodies and arced from their eyes as they dropped down for the attack.</p><p></p><p>As Utred was the only one of the five currently visible, he was the initial target of both of the lightning-infused elder air elementals. But on the way down Marlo's <em>empowered maximized fireball</em> exploded around them, which turned the sorceress visible as well. As such, both she and Utred became the initial targets of electrified fists made of whirling air. Fortunately, the <em>protection from energy</em> spells stripped the lightning of its threat and the <em>stoneskin</em> spells pretty much did the same to the punches the elementals threw at the two heroes. "That all you got?" scoffed Utred, burying the blade of his Null Axe into the root of one of the limp tentacles and pulling out his <em>Elderwood flaming greataxe</em> from the <em>weapon locker</em> on his back.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok and Khari attacked the elemental fighting Utred, losing their own invisibility in the process. Marlo, while fighting the air elemental before her, was still able to see in all directions through her <em>robe of eyes</em> and noticed a male, black-skinned face pop up from the floor at the far end of the cloud-cavern. The drow was too far away for any of the others to have seen, so she warned them over the telepathic link. But the warning came too late, for as he ducked back down out of view another drow stepped up from where she had been crouching in a dip in the floor's surface, covered in wispy cloud-stuff, and cast a <em>firestorm</em> spell that encompassed all five of the heroes - even Cramer, who was still invisible at this point, if only because she shaped her spell to cover the area between the two elementals and he happened to be standing right there. Marlo didn't fail to notice the drow cleric had made sure not to encompass the elementals in the area of effect of her spell, leading her to believe they were allied with the drow.</p><p></p><p>Cramer pulled the copper coin from his belt pouch and flipped it in the direction of the drow spellcaster, illuminating the entire cavern with the power of his <em>daylight</em> spell. The female cleric and her drow fighter companion - who had just popped his head back up from the concealing layer of cloud-stuff flowing across the floor - cried out in pain and futilely tried shielding their sensitive eyes from the sudden blast of light. Cramer then cast a <em>mass bear's endurance</em> spell on the group, boosting their ability to take damage from their foes, for he recalled Honeycomb had seen five drow and Cramer had no doubt there were still three around here somewhere who they'd be fighting before too long.</p><p></p><p>With four foes now visible before them, the elementals struck out with their channeled-air fists, blasting a zap of electricity with each blow as they made sure each of the four interlopers felt their power. But once again the protective spells covering the heroes kept them from feeling too much of the blows' effects.</p><p></p><p>Marlo cast an <em>empowered disintegrate</em> spell at the elder elemental she'd been fighting, who managed to resist the worst of the spell's effects. Worse, Marlo had failed to anticipate the reach of these massive creatures, both of which pummeled her while she was casting her spell. She took a moment to take a step back, putting her out of reach of at least the air elemental primarily focused on Jhasspok and the dwarves.</p><p></p><p>Utred activated his <em>winged boots</em> and charged through the air in the direction Marlo told him the drow spellcaster was standing; as he got closer he was able to see his foe for himself. Jhasspok was right behind the dwarf, relying not upon any magical boots but his own long-striding legs, his tail sticking straight out behind him for balance. Activating his <em>tail-band of the raptor</em>, he brought his battleaxe down upon the drow cleric time and time again, while snapping at her unprotected neck with his sharp teeth. She cried out in pain as the reptile practically bowled her to the ground with the force of his attack.</p><p></p><p>Then three more drow fighters popped up from their prone hiding positions, the floor of the cavern being somewhat "hilly" and providing them with cover in the form of obscuring cloud-wisps that covered the floor like a fog. Squinting in irritation from the sudden bright light of Cramer's <em>daylight</em> spell, they all went after Utred, the closest to their current positions. The cleric and the first fighter to have popped his head up were still dazed by the bright light, unable to act - although in the cleric's case the inability to act may well have been because a good deal of her life's blood was flowing down her neck from the rent in her throat where Jhasspok had just ripped out a chunk of flesh.</p><p></p><p>Khari continued attacking the elder air elemental he'd been fighting along with Jhasspok and Utred - and which he was now facing alone. But he knew he couldn't <em>earth glide</em> through cloud-stuff and wouldn't have wished to even if it were possible - who wanted to take the chance of tunneling out through the very bottom of a cloud? - so he concentrated on taking out the foe at hand. His warhammer crashed into the elemental's body, but it was difficult to see how badly the blow had damaged a creature made of whirling air, who showed no wounds and dripped no blood. Still, the doughty dwarven fighter carried on, confident in his combat abilities and certain he'd wear this massive foe down in time.</p><p></p><p>With all five drow now visible, Cramer re-entered the visible light spectrum himself as he cast his first combat spell, an <em>insect plague</em> spell that sent swarms of locusts covering the dark elves as he ran forward, away from the reach of the elder air elementals. They split their attacks evenly between Khari and Marlo, one elemental focusing on each hero. Marlo took another step back and cast an <em>empowered maximized scorching ray</em> spell at her foe, missing with one gout of flame but the other two striking spot on. The elemental roared in pain and fury, its wide-open mouth spraying arcs of electricity.</p><p></p><p>With a battle roar, Utred brought his greataxe swinging in a sideways slice that completely severed the head from the drow cleric's damaged neck and then buried itself into the side of the skull of her closest ally. The barbarian had to tug his blade out of the drow's head as the dark elf dropped to the floor of the cloud-chamber, his dead body covered by a layer of wispy fog, as had been that of the headless spellcaster. Jhasspok swung his own axe-head into the side of another drow fighter, failing to slay him but causing him a great deal of pain as the blade cut through ironsilk armor and a rib or two. Blood spilled from the lips of the drow as he tried his best to reciprocate the attack with fingers that could no longer feel the hilt of his sword. Still covered in locusts, the wounded drow tried running sideways out of the range of the spell effect and Jhasspok was given another opportunity to cut him down - and cut him down he did, leaving only two drow fighters and the electricity-infused elder air elementals on the field of battle to oppose the five heroes.</p><p></p><p>But the two drow had seen enough to see how this battle was going to end. Dropping their weapons in unison, they backed away from the cloud of locusts and prostrated themselves on the ground, calling out "We surrender!" in the drow language which only Cramer and Marlo could understand. Jhasspok and Utred looked over at the cowering warriors, the dwarf barbarian with a look of disgust and disdain, the lizardfolk with a puzzled expression - why weren't they continuing to fight when there was always a possibility they could still pull off a win? Then they shrugged and ran back the way they'd come, to aid Marlo and Khari in fighting off the air elementals, who at least had the good grace to continue to fight.</p><p></p><p>Not that it did them any good in the long run, for up against all five heroes at once they were soon vanquished, Utred and Jhasspok each striking the killing blow to one of them. "I didn't get to kill anything!" griped Khari, after realizing the dwarven barbarian and the lizardfolk had been responsible for all the final blows against their enemies that day.</p><p></p><p>"You can go kill those two," Utred suggested, pointing over to the cowering drow fighters.</p><p></p><p>"But they've surrendered," Khari pointed out.</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah, good point," replied Utred, wrenching his Null Axe out from the root of a Writhing Gate tentacle and handing it to his fellow dwarf. "Well then, you wanna give a go at chopping down these tentacles? No reason the fun should always go to me, just 'cause it was my grandpa what made the axe."</p><p></p><p>"Sure!" enthused Khari, stowing away his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> and picking up the Null Axe. He approached the nearest tentacle, held the weapon above his head, and let it come swinging down with all of his might. The dead flesh of the illithid elder god parted before the blade and in two more swings it had been severed completely the way through, the stump falling away through the floor of the cloud-chamber and the extradimensional hole through which it had emerged from the Far Realm sealing up. Khari grinned with pride and moved over to the next tentacle, wondering if he could sever it with only two blows this time.</p><p></p><p>With their dwarven fighter so engaged, Utred and Jhasspok walked over to the two drow cowards. "Matron Jalamir said we're supposed to kill them," Jhasspok pointed out.</p><p></p><p>"So she did," Utred said, decapitating one with a single blow from his magic greataxe before the prisoner could even cry out. Jhasspok clamped his teeth around the back of the other one's neck and worried him back and forth until the bones gave way and the lizardfolk had chewed completely through the drow's flesh, dropping his head beneath the covering layer of cloud-wisp.</p><p></p><p>"Is that everyone?" Cramer asked Marlo as he consulted his notes on the Gate of Svulbiss. There was supposed to have been an illithid "saint" here, the creator of this particular Writhing Gate. Marlo searched with her robe-enhanced vision and eventually unearthed a set of ten ripped-up robes that had been discarded in a depression beneath the obscuring layer of cloud cover. The robes each bore an emblem of Uboros and would easily have fit a mind flayer; Marlo theorized the drow had turned on the illithid cultists after the gates all lost power, slaying them and possibly even using them as a food source as they waited in their cloud chamber for further orders from the Mortal Queen which never came.</p><p></p><p>Still, Jhasspok agreed with at least part of their plan. "Meat is meat," he said, nodding his head approvingly.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Logan had come up with what he thought was a cool mechanic for the cloud chamber's interior: each round, it would gather up an additional 1d6 points of electrical energy and each round there would be a cumulative +10% chance from the last burst that it would discharge into a random potential victim. However, he had also included in his notes that any magical protection from electricity made you "invisible" to the discharges, and since none of us completely used up our <em>protection from energy</em> spells (and the drow had been similarly protected), there was nothing for the lightning to discharge into inside the chamber, so it just did so on the exterior of the cloud. We also all learned Logan has a terrible poker face, as evidenced by his horrified expression when Joe suggested his dad's PC should cast a <em>protection from energy</em> spell on each PC to protect them all from lightning before they teleported in.</p><p></p><p>The elder air elementals were advanced to a full 48 HD each and given 1d8 points of electricity damage to each slam, but with our various protections in place they ended up just being big bags of hit points that we gradually took down; they were unable to do much to us at all. But that's the way it goes sometimes: a DM never knows what tactics his players will (or won't) employ when he designs his adventures and all he can do is run them through them in a reasonable fashion.</p><p></p><p>We figure we're probably down to four more adventures in this campaign. We all made it to 19th level at the end of this adventure, so we'll likely be sliding into 20th right as we finish up the whole shebang.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8544865, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 53: HEAD IN THE CLOUDS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 12[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 17/psychic warrior 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 18[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 9 February 2022 - - - The [I]sending[/I] spell didn't contain a whole lot of information - it was, after all, merely two words long - but it had recognizably been cast by Matron Jalamir, the head of the drow Noble House to which the five former slaves now belonged and it was just as long as absolutely necessary: <Return immediately.> That left no room for ambiguity, so Marlo gathered everyone together and cast a [I]teleport[/I] spell that returned the group to the confines of the drow city of Overreach. After having been led to an audience chamber before Matron Jalamir, the head of the Noble House explained why she had brought them here. "We have continued attempting to [I]scry[/I] upon any remaining survivors of the now-disbanded House Bel'voir," she informed them. "Our attempts have finally borne fruit: we have discovered a group who had relied upon temporary wards against [I]scrying[/I] and we were finally able to pick them up between applications of their anti-scrying spells." She gestured behind her and a familiar form stepped forward. It was Honeycomb Buzzwort, Cramer's friend from his surface gnomish city of Revin. "Honeycomb was present when we detected the survivors," she advised the group. "He will be able to help you home in on their present location, so they can be eliminated. I want them all slain." Honeycomb, a fellow cleric of Fharlanghn, began casting an illusion spell that brought an image floating before the group. "It was an enormous, dark chamber, occasionally lit by brief flashes of lightning," the gnome said. "There were five drow of House Bel'vior, sitting on a ring of motionless tentacles lying spread out on the ground." "The Writhing Gate on the cloud island!" exclaimed Cramer. "Or inside a cloud island, perhaps," he amended, recalling the fact this was inside a large cavern. He turned to Marlo. "Do you think you can teleport us there, given this image to go off of?" he asked. Marlo examined the details of the image intently. "Yes, I think so," she finally decided. "Then let's get our prep spells cast!" Cramer enthused, raring to go. He cast his traditional [I]longstrider[/I], [I]spell turning[/I], and [I]moment of prescience[/I] spells on himself, then added a few new ones: [I]spell immunity[/I] to protect him from a select group of spells, as well as a [I]daylight[/I] spell he cast upon a copper piece, which he then placed inside an empty belt pouch. That, he knew, would be a powerful tactic when fighting the light-hating drow. Marlo, in the meantime, cast [I]stoneskin[/I] spells on her friends, a [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell on the whole group, and then used her wand to cast an [I]invisibility[/I] spell on everyone but Cramer, who could do the same for himself with his magic ring. At Utred's suggestion, Cramer also cast a [I]protection from energy[/I] spell on everyone which would shield them from electricity damage, since the barbarian was leery of being hit by lightning while inside a giant cloud. Khari activated his psionic [I]offensive prescience[/I] power and declared himself ready for combat. Cramer used his ring to render himself invisible and then Marlo cast the [I]teleport[/I] spell which transported the group directly inside the ring of limp tentacles at the center of the now-inactive Writhing Gate. Despite everyone being invisible, most of the group wore their [I]slave-light cloaks[/I] so the Writhing Gate was illuminated by light with no apparent source. There was nobody else in the immediate vicinity and Marlo used her [I]robe of eyes[/I] to look throughout the vast chamber. <Nobody's home,> she told the others over the link. <I'm sinking,> Jhasspok told the group, looking down at his taloned feet which were sinking slightly into the soft cloud-stuff. <This is like that white rain stuff that's cold.> <Snow,> prompted Utred. <Yeah, that,> Jhasspok agreed. Having had only a few experiences with snow on the surface world, it was a word which hadn't stuck in the lizardfolk's reptilian brain. A low rumble of thunder rolled from the top of the chamber. Cramer recognized it as speech as his magic helmet automatically translated the words from their Auran origin: "More mortals to disturb us...." Cramer translated the statement over the mental link for the benefit of the others. Marlo peered at the cavern's ceiling, some 100 feet or more above their heads. <I don't see anything up there,> she said. <Invisible?> suggested Khari, looking up at the ceiling with his own innate darkvision and seeing nothing. <I'd still see it if it was invisible,> Marlo replied, knowing the abilities of her magic robe. <Unless it's naturally invisible...like an invisible stalker!" She had read of such creatures, who had no visible form. Still, they appeared as roiling clouds of vapor when viewed through a [I]see invisibility[/I] or [I]true seeing[/I] spell, and she couldn't see anything like that at all.... "We mean you no harm!" Cramer called up to the ceiling, irritated that his [I]helm of comprehend languages and read magic[/I] did nothing to translate his own words into other tongues. <Wait! I saw some movement up there!> Marlo warned the others. She called forth an [I]empowered maximized fireball[/I] ready to be cast if anything came down to attack them. <I thought we were here to kill drow,> Jhasspok interjected. <Where did the drow go?> <Maybe the invisible thing up at the ceiling ate them,> suggested Utred. Jhasspok peered at the ceiling as best he could but couldn't see any invisible thing. <Let's see if this brings them out of hiding,> suggested Utred, pulling the Null Axe from its protective wrapping. The anti-magic weapon immediately nullified his invisibility and everyone could see him as he started hacking the axe blade through the nearest Writhing Gate tentacle, beginning to chop it free from the cloud's bottom. "They are enemies of Svulbiss, they must be destroyed," came the sounds of Auran from the general vicinity of the ceiling, which Cramer quickly translated for the benefit of his friends. Then two creatures came surging down from the roof of the hollow cloud-chamber and Marlo quickly realized why she hadn't been able to see them clearly before: they were air elementals whose bodies were made of nothing more than wind! These, however, were much larger than any air elemental the sorceress had ever seen before, and flashes of lightning skittered across their airy bodies and arced from their eyes as they dropped down for the attack. As Utred was the only one of the five currently visible, he was the initial target of both of the lightning-infused elder air elementals. But on the way down Marlo's [I]empowered maximized fireball[/I] exploded around them, which turned the sorceress visible as well. As such, both she and Utred became the initial targets of electrified fists made of whirling air. Fortunately, the [I]protection from energy[/I] spells stripped the lightning of its threat and the [I]stoneskin[/I] spells pretty much did the same to the punches the elementals threw at the two heroes. "That all you got?" scoffed Utred, burying the blade of his Null Axe into the root of one of the limp tentacles and pulling out his [I]Elderwood flaming greataxe[/I] from the [I]weapon locker[/I] on his back. Jhasspok and Khari attacked the elemental fighting Utred, losing their own invisibility in the process. Marlo, while fighting the air elemental before her, was still able to see in all directions through her [I]robe of eyes[/I] and noticed a male, black-skinned face pop up from the floor at the far end of the cloud-cavern. The drow was too far away for any of the others to have seen, so she warned them over the telepathic link. But the warning came too late, for as he ducked back down out of view another drow stepped up from where she had been crouching in a dip in the floor's surface, covered in wispy cloud-stuff, and cast a [I]firestorm[/I] spell that encompassed all five of the heroes - even Cramer, who was still invisible at this point, if only because she shaped her spell to cover the area between the two elementals and he happened to be standing right there. Marlo didn't fail to notice the drow cleric had made sure not to encompass the elementals in the area of effect of her spell, leading her to believe they were allied with the drow. Cramer pulled the copper coin from his belt pouch and flipped it in the direction of the drow spellcaster, illuminating the entire cavern with the power of his [I]daylight[/I] spell. The female cleric and her drow fighter companion - who had just popped his head back up from the concealing layer of cloud-stuff flowing across the floor - cried out in pain and futilely tried shielding their sensitive eyes from the sudden blast of light. Cramer then cast a [I]mass bear's endurance[/I] spell on the group, boosting their ability to take damage from their foes, for he recalled Honeycomb had seen five drow and Cramer had no doubt there were still three around here somewhere who they'd be fighting before too long. With four foes now visible before them, the elementals struck out with their channeled-air fists, blasting a zap of electricity with each blow as they made sure each of the four interlopers felt their power. But once again the protective spells covering the heroes kept them from feeling too much of the blows' effects. Marlo cast an [I]empowered disintegrate[/I] spell at the elder elemental she'd been fighting, who managed to resist the worst of the spell's effects. Worse, Marlo had failed to anticipate the reach of these massive creatures, both of which pummeled her while she was casting her spell. She took a moment to take a step back, putting her out of reach of at least the air elemental primarily focused on Jhasspok and the dwarves. Utred activated his [I]winged boots[/I] and charged through the air in the direction Marlo told him the drow spellcaster was standing; as he got closer he was able to see his foe for himself. Jhasspok was right behind the dwarf, relying not upon any magical boots but his own long-striding legs, his tail sticking straight out behind him for balance. Activating his [I]tail-band of the raptor[/I], he brought his battleaxe down upon the drow cleric time and time again, while snapping at her unprotected neck with his sharp teeth. She cried out in pain as the reptile practically bowled her to the ground with the force of his attack. Then three more drow fighters popped up from their prone hiding positions, the floor of the cavern being somewhat "hilly" and providing them with cover in the form of obscuring cloud-wisps that covered the floor like a fog. Squinting in irritation from the sudden bright light of Cramer's [I]daylight[/I] spell, they all went after Utred, the closest to their current positions. The cleric and the first fighter to have popped his head up were still dazed by the bright light, unable to act - although in the cleric's case the inability to act may well have been because a good deal of her life's blood was flowing down her neck from the rent in her throat where Jhasspok had just ripped out a chunk of flesh. Khari continued attacking the elder air elemental he'd been fighting along with Jhasspok and Utred - and which he was now facing alone. But he knew he couldn't [I]earth glide[/I] through cloud-stuff and wouldn't have wished to even if it were possible - who wanted to take the chance of tunneling out through the very bottom of a cloud? - so he concentrated on taking out the foe at hand. His warhammer crashed into the elemental's body, but it was difficult to see how badly the blow had damaged a creature made of whirling air, who showed no wounds and dripped no blood. Still, the doughty dwarven fighter carried on, confident in his combat abilities and certain he'd wear this massive foe down in time. With all five drow now visible, Cramer re-entered the visible light spectrum himself as he cast his first combat spell, an [I]insect plague[/I] spell that sent swarms of locusts covering the dark elves as he ran forward, away from the reach of the elder air elementals. They split their attacks evenly between Khari and Marlo, one elemental focusing on each hero. Marlo took another step back and cast an [I]empowered maximized scorching ray[/I] spell at her foe, missing with one gout of flame but the other two striking spot on. The elemental roared in pain and fury, its wide-open mouth spraying arcs of electricity. With a battle roar, Utred brought his greataxe swinging in a sideways slice that completely severed the head from the drow cleric's damaged neck and then buried itself into the side of the skull of her closest ally. The barbarian had to tug his blade out of the drow's head as the dark elf dropped to the floor of the cloud-chamber, his dead body covered by a layer of wispy fog, as had been that of the headless spellcaster. Jhasspok swung his own axe-head into the side of another drow fighter, failing to slay him but causing him a great deal of pain as the blade cut through ironsilk armor and a rib or two. Blood spilled from the lips of the drow as he tried his best to reciprocate the attack with fingers that could no longer feel the hilt of his sword. Still covered in locusts, the wounded drow tried running sideways out of the range of the spell effect and Jhasspok was given another opportunity to cut him down - and cut him down he did, leaving only two drow fighters and the electricity-infused elder air elementals on the field of battle to oppose the five heroes. But the two drow had seen enough to see how this battle was going to end. Dropping their weapons in unison, they backed away from the cloud of locusts and prostrated themselves on the ground, calling out "We surrender!" in the drow language which only Cramer and Marlo could understand. Jhasspok and Utred looked over at the cowering warriors, the dwarf barbarian with a look of disgust and disdain, the lizardfolk with a puzzled expression - why weren't they continuing to fight when there was always a possibility they could still pull off a win? Then they shrugged and ran back the way they'd come, to aid Marlo and Khari in fighting off the air elementals, who at least had the good grace to continue to fight. Not that it did them any good in the long run, for up against all five heroes at once they were soon vanquished, Utred and Jhasspok each striking the killing blow to one of them. "I didn't get to kill anything!" griped Khari, after realizing the dwarven barbarian and the lizardfolk had been responsible for all the final blows against their enemies that day. "You can go kill those two," Utred suggested, pointing over to the cowering drow fighters. "But they've surrendered," Khari pointed out. "Oh yeah, good point," replied Utred, wrenching his Null Axe out from the root of a Writhing Gate tentacle and handing it to his fellow dwarf. "Well then, you wanna give a go at chopping down these tentacles? No reason the fun should always go to me, just 'cause it was my grandpa what made the axe." "Sure!" enthused Khari, stowing away his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] and picking up the Null Axe. He approached the nearest tentacle, held the weapon above his head, and let it come swinging down with all of his might. The dead flesh of the illithid elder god parted before the blade and in two more swings it had been severed completely the way through, the stump falling away through the floor of the cloud-chamber and the extradimensional hole through which it had emerged from the Far Realm sealing up. Khari grinned with pride and moved over to the next tentacle, wondering if he could sever it with only two blows this time. With their dwarven fighter so engaged, Utred and Jhasspok walked over to the two drow cowards. "Matron Jalamir said we're supposed to kill them," Jhasspok pointed out. "So she did," Utred said, decapitating one with a single blow from his magic greataxe before the prisoner could even cry out. Jhasspok clamped his teeth around the back of the other one's neck and worried him back and forth until the bones gave way and the lizardfolk had chewed completely through the drow's flesh, dropping his head beneath the covering layer of cloud-wisp. "Is that everyone?" Cramer asked Marlo as he consulted his notes on the Gate of Svulbiss. There was supposed to have been an illithid "saint" here, the creator of this particular Writhing Gate. Marlo searched with her robe-enhanced vision and eventually unearthed a set of ten ripped-up robes that had been discarded in a depression beneath the obscuring layer of cloud cover. The robes each bore an emblem of Uboros and would easily have fit a mind flayer; Marlo theorized the drow had turned on the illithid cultists after the gates all lost power, slaying them and possibly even using them as a food source as they waited in their cloud chamber for further orders from the Mortal Queen which never came. Still, Jhasspok agreed with at least part of their plan. "Meat is meat," he said, nodding his head approvingly. - - - Logan had come up with what he thought was a cool mechanic for the cloud chamber's interior: each round, it would gather up an additional 1d6 points of electrical energy and each round there would be a cumulative +10% chance from the last burst that it would discharge into a random potential victim. However, he had also included in his notes that any magical protection from electricity made you "invisible" to the discharges, and since none of us completely used up our [I]protection from energy[/I] spells (and the drow had been similarly protected), there was nothing for the lightning to discharge into inside the chamber, so it just did so on the exterior of the cloud. We also all learned Logan has a terrible poker face, as evidenced by his horrified expression when Joe suggested his dad's PC should cast a [I]protection from energy[/I] spell on each PC to protect them all from lightning before they teleported in. The elder air elementals were advanced to a full 48 HD each and given 1d8 points of electricity damage to each slam, but with our various protections in place they ended up just being big bags of hit points that we gradually took down; they were unable to do much to us at all. But that's the way it goes sometimes: a DM never knows what tactics his players will (or won't) employ when he designs his adventures and all he can do is run them through them in a reasonable fashion. We figure we're probably down to four more adventures in this campaign. We all made it to 19th level at the end of this adventure, so we'll likely be sliding into 20th right as we finish up the whole shebang. [/QUOTE]
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