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"Return of the Rod of the Seven Parts" - D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 605714" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chinese Take-out</strong></p><p></p><p>Chapter 81,”A voice in the darkness”, September 28, 1018, 8:30 P.M.</p><p></p><p>Kim-Sung and Cassie investigate a side passageway further down, leading to a darkened room. As they approach the room they see movement inside. Kim whispers to Cassie “I think there are people there”. Cassie can make out several humanoid shapes, although her infravision does not detect any heat. They enter he room, edging a magical dagger barely out of its sheathe to cast a minimal amount of light. They can make out the dark shapes of five people, the faint light showing them and their possessions to be totally black. “Who is there?” Kim asks, as Cassie prepares to dispel what she perceives to be undead. </p><p></p><p>“Hello, please do not hurt us. We are not evil,” states one of the creatures. Kim starts to draw the dagger further out to better illuminate the room, and the creatures scurry to hide behind rocks, with the spokesman saying “Please don’t, we are harmed by the light.” Kim again sheathes the dagger, and Cassie asks “What exactly are you.” The spokesperson answers “We are now shadow people, a type of undead similar to a Shade, however we are not evil.” “How did you come to be in the Abyss?” Cassie asks. A second voice speaks up “As punishment. We committed a selfish act, and were banished here for eternity.” Lannon joins the two women, as the leader of the shadow people tells their story. </p><p></p><p>They tell of being from a desert kingdom, the name of which Cassie recognizes as also being from the Silver Moon’s world, but on a distant continent. They had been a party of adventurers, who were hired by a tribal warrior chief named Abdullah to accompany him on a pilgrimage to a holy shrine. The journey required them to travel through a series of abandoned tunnels that traversed a large mountain. </p><p></p><p>During the journey they encountered many monsters who had taken up residence inside the mountain, including a sphinx and an evil dragon-lion who they slew. In this creatures small treasure trove was a long-lost artifact, the Staff of Rah. In the days that followed there was much dissention, as Abdullah insisted that the Staff and treasure should be given to the shrine, as this was found on a holy mission dedicated to his gods. The party disagreed, saying that they had been the ones to slay the dragon-lion, and had earned the treasure. </p><p></p><p>The following day there was an earthquake, which shook the entire mountain. This caused several support beams to break and collapse sections the tunnel. One collapse separated Abdullah from the others, although they could still hear him yelling for them through the wall of stones. The leader states “It was then that we committed the selfish act, as our cleric had been the one carrying the Staff, so we had it with us on our side of the tunnel. Instead of trying to dig Abdullah out we abandoned him there, rationalizing that he could find his way out of the mountain going back the way we had originally came. What we didn’t know was that several sections of the tunnel wall had collapsed, permanently trapping Abdullah in the one small area.</p><p></p><p>Abdullah prayed to his gods to no avail, and within a few days he perished from a lack of food, water and fresh air. He worshiped the deities of the Egyptian Pantheon, and to the god Horus the Avenger he prayed for vengeance against us. The god granted Abdullah his dying wish, placing a curse upon us. We were still traveling through he tunnels, and never left the mountain alive, as a wall of stone fell and crushed us. Only then did we find out of the curse, for instead of us each going to our anticipated afterlives Horus banished us here, in the form of shadow people. We were here for eternity, trapped in a cave as we had left Abdullah. This land is continually day, and the light causes us extreme pain, which keeps us in this tunnel. As added punishment, we are of a different alignment as the creatures of this realm, who delight in entering this cave and tormenting us. </p><p></p><p>We have been banished here now for forty-five years. In that time only once before have non-evil aligned people entered this cave. That was a quarter-century ago. We asked for them to rescue us but feared how they would react if we told them our full story, so omitted key parts of it. They must have sensed duplicity from us, for they left us behind, sealing their means of exit to keep us from pursuing them. We vowed that if we ever had another opportunity to escape we should be completely forthcoming, and to let our potential rescuers decide out fate. Cassie asks Lannon and Kim “What do you think?” The two agree that these people should be helped, but then inform the shadow people that “We’re trapped here too, unless you know of another way out.” The shadow people tell them that they do, that they could go the way that the adventurers had left a quarter century before.</p><p></p><p>Lannon goes to tell Narg, Mark and Mojo to stop digging and to join the others, that they found “somebody who can help us.” The shadow people are introduced to the three fighters. They then lead the party down several narrow passages and to a ramped tunnel going upward in a spiral path. Eventually they reach a section of wall with a tunnel blocked by a large stone. The shadow person spokesman explains “The other party moved this stone to trap us, and our shadow forms were too weak for us to move it.” Narg and Mojo have little difficulty sliding the stone, and then proceed upward, seeing light from the shaft further ahead. </p><p></p><p>The Silver Moon offer to put the shadow people inside of a Bag of Holding to bring them with. They tell these spirits of Finder Wyvernspur, whose sphere is that of transformation and say that he can perhaps help them. The shadow people go into the bag, stating that they do not require air they could remain there indefinitely. The party proceed upward, soon seeing an exit to the shaft that had been camouflaged with branches from the scraggily trees, the light shining through gaps in the old dead wood. </p><p></p><p>Lannon carefully moves some branches aside, noticing activity further down the hill near the cave entrance. A large group of nearly two hundred the oriental ogres with red masks appear to be moving away the stones blocking the cave entrance. The party very discreetly exits the shaft, staying low and moving to cover behind rocks to keep from being seen by the ogres. Cassie spots the drow further up the hill, kneeling behind rocks to observe the ogres from a distance. Lannon and Mojo move further up the hill, and signal to the drow. He signals back, and gestures for the party to retreat down the rear side of the hill and away from the ogres. They do so, all joining up at the rear base of the hill.</p><p></p><p>They ask the drow what has happened. He says that after the four devils exited the cave they climbed on top of the entranceway and jumped until it collapsed. They then flew off in the direction of the center of the anti-magic sphere. Shortly there after the group of ogres arrived with their Ogre Magi leader. The drow overheard them talking about finding and sacrificing the Lawful Good High Priestess, and the group then began to dig. “I guess they mean me,” Cassie comments. “Of course they mean you,” the drow states, adding “The armor that your friends are wearing masks their alignment, but you stand out on this plane like a beacon.” Cassie says “Well, I don’t feel very much like being sacrificed today, let’s leave.”</p><p></p><p>The seven march off in the direction that the Balrog and devils had flown off. They hike for about a mile-and-a-half across the rocky terrain. Mojo’s keen elvan vision begins to spot gray towers in the far distance, still around ten miles away, and asks the drow about it. </p><p></p><p>The drow explains how the area of the anti-magic sphere is essentially shaped like a donut, with the center fifteen miles being a city comprised of multi-story buildings made from the stone of this land, where over a million undead now reside, ruled by a Demon High Priest called the Overlord. “And this is where we want to go?” asks Lannon. Before they can travel any further a very bight light flashes in front of them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 605714, member: 8530"] [b]Chinese Take-out[/b] Chapter 81,”A voice in the darkness”, September 28, 1018, 8:30 P.M. Kim-Sung and Cassie investigate a side passageway further down, leading to a darkened room. As they approach the room they see movement inside. Kim whispers to Cassie “I think there are people there”. Cassie can make out several humanoid shapes, although her infravision does not detect any heat. They enter he room, edging a magical dagger barely out of its sheathe to cast a minimal amount of light. They can make out the dark shapes of five people, the faint light showing them and their possessions to be totally black. “Who is there?” Kim asks, as Cassie prepares to dispel what she perceives to be undead. “Hello, please do not hurt us. We are not evil,” states one of the creatures. Kim starts to draw the dagger further out to better illuminate the room, and the creatures scurry to hide behind rocks, with the spokesman saying “Please don’t, we are harmed by the light.” Kim again sheathes the dagger, and Cassie asks “What exactly are you.” The spokesperson answers “We are now shadow people, a type of undead similar to a Shade, however we are not evil.” “How did you come to be in the Abyss?” Cassie asks. A second voice speaks up “As punishment. We committed a selfish act, and were banished here for eternity.” Lannon joins the two women, as the leader of the shadow people tells their story. They tell of being from a desert kingdom, the name of which Cassie recognizes as also being from the Silver Moon’s world, but on a distant continent. They had been a party of adventurers, who were hired by a tribal warrior chief named Abdullah to accompany him on a pilgrimage to a holy shrine. The journey required them to travel through a series of abandoned tunnels that traversed a large mountain. During the journey they encountered many monsters who had taken up residence inside the mountain, including a sphinx and an evil dragon-lion who they slew. In this creatures small treasure trove was a long-lost artifact, the Staff of Rah. In the days that followed there was much dissention, as Abdullah insisted that the Staff and treasure should be given to the shrine, as this was found on a holy mission dedicated to his gods. The party disagreed, saying that they had been the ones to slay the dragon-lion, and had earned the treasure. The following day there was an earthquake, which shook the entire mountain. This caused several support beams to break and collapse sections the tunnel. One collapse separated Abdullah from the others, although they could still hear him yelling for them through the wall of stones. The leader states “It was then that we committed the selfish act, as our cleric had been the one carrying the Staff, so we had it with us on our side of the tunnel. Instead of trying to dig Abdullah out we abandoned him there, rationalizing that he could find his way out of the mountain going back the way we had originally came. What we didn’t know was that several sections of the tunnel wall had collapsed, permanently trapping Abdullah in the one small area. Abdullah prayed to his gods to no avail, and within a few days he perished from a lack of food, water and fresh air. He worshiped the deities of the Egyptian Pantheon, and to the god Horus the Avenger he prayed for vengeance against us. The god granted Abdullah his dying wish, placing a curse upon us. We were still traveling through he tunnels, and never left the mountain alive, as a wall of stone fell and crushed us. Only then did we find out of the curse, for instead of us each going to our anticipated afterlives Horus banished us here, in the form of shadow people. We were here for eternity, trapped in a cave as we had left Abdullah. This land is continually day, and the light causes us extreme pain, which keeps us in this tunnel. As added punishment, we are of a different alignment as the creatures of this realm, who delight in entering this cave and tormenting us. We have been banished here now for forty-five years. In that time only once before have non-evil aligned people entered this cave. That was a quarter-century ago. We asked for them to rescue us but feared how they would react if we told them our full story, so omitted key parts of it. They must have sensed duplicity from us, for they left us behind, sealing their means of exit to keep us from pursuing them. We vowed that if we ever had another opportunity to escape we should be completely forthcoming, and to let our potential rescuers decide out fate. Cassie asks Lannon and Kim “What do you think?” The two agree that these people should be helped, but then inform the shadow people that “We’re trapped here too, unless you know of another way out.” The shadow people tell them that they do, that they could go the way that the adventurers had left a quarter century before. Lannon goes to tell Narg, Mark and Mojo to stop digging and to join the others, that they found “somebody who can help us.” The shadow people are introduced to the three fighters. They then lead the party down several narrow passages and to a ramped tunnel going upward in a spiral path. Eventually they reach a section of wall with a tunnel blocked by a large stone. The shadow person spokesman explains “The other party moved this stone to trap us, and our shadow forms were too weak for us to move it.” Narg and Mojo have little difficulty sliding the stone, and then proceed upward, seeing light from the shaft further ahead. The Silver Moon offer to put the shadow people inside of a Bag of Holding to bring them with. They tell these spirits of Finder Wyvernspur, whose sphere is that of transformation and say that he can perhaps help them. The shadow people go into the bag, stating that they do not require air they could remain there indefinitely. The party proceed upward, soon seeing an exit to the shaft that had been camouflaged with branches from the scraggily trees, the light shining through gaps in the old dead wood. Lannon carefully moves some branches aside, noticing activity further down the hill near the cave entrance. A large group of nearly two hundred the oriental ogres with red masks appear to be moving away the stones blocking the cave entrance. The party very discreetly exits the shaft, staying low and moving to cover behind rocks to keep from being seen by the ogres. Cassie spots the drow further up the hill, kneeling behind rocks to observe the ogres from a distance. Lannon and Mojo move further up the hill, and signal to the drow. He signals back, and gestures for the party to retreat down the rear side of the hill and away from the ogres. They do so, all joining up at the rear base of the hill. They ask the drow what has happened. He says that after the four devils exited the cave they climbed on top of the entranceway and jumped until it collapsed. They then flew off in the direction of the center of the anti-magic sphere. Shortly there after the group of ogres arrived with their Ogre Magi leader. The drow overheard them talking about finding and sacrificing the Lawful Good High Priestess, and the group then began to dig. “I guess they mean me,” Cassie comments. “Of course they mean you,” the drow states, adding “The armor that your friends are wearing masks their alignment, but you stand out on this plane like a beacon.” Cassie says “Well, I don’t feel very much like being sacrificed today, let’s leave.” The seven march off in the direction that the Balrog and devils had flown off. They hike for about a mile-and-a-half across the rocky terrain. Mojo’s keen elvan vision begins to spot gray towers in the far distance, still around ten miles away, and asks the drow about it. The drow explains how the area of the anti-magic sphere is essentially shaped like a donut, with the center fifteen miles being a city comprised of multi-story buildings made from the stone of this land, where over a million undead now reside, ruled by a Demon High Priest called the Overlord. “And this is where we want to go?” asks Lannon. Before they can travel any further a very bight light flashes in front of them. [/QUOTE]
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