Return to the Tomb of Horrors finally gets a Story Hour!
James McMurray
First Post
Galrond: Aasimar Sorcerer 18
Kargur: Human Paladin / Knight of the Middle Circle 8 / 8 (The level split may be off)
Oskar: Dwarven Fighter 8 / Dwarven Defender 8
Teflon Billy: Dwarven Wizard 18
William Siege: Human Cleric of Heironious / Ranger 17 / 1
Loser: Elven Rogue 14
Lanis: Human Ranger 5 / Fighter 7 / Order of the Bow Initiate 1 (The level split is almost certainly off)
The actual character sheets are at work, but since tey're done with PCgen I'll be sure to put the html version on the net. I'll post links to them here when I do.
Kargur: Human Paladin / Knight of the Middle Circle 8 / 8 (The level split may be off)
Oskar: Dwarven Fighter 8 / Dwarven Defender 8
Teflon Billy: Dwarven Wizard 18
William Siege: Human Cleric of Heironious / Ranger 17 / 1
Loser: Elven Rogue 14
Lanis: Human Ranger 5 / Fighter 7 / Order of the Bow Initiate 1 (The level split is almost certainly off)
The actual character sheets are at work, but since tey're done with PCgen I'll be sure to put the html version on the net. I'll post links to them here when I do.
Magus the Purifier
First Post
Bump
just like to see whats going on.
just like to see whats going on.
James McMurray
First Post
We start the game back up at 1:00pm today (in 4 hours). The party's battle will get finished and then there will be some role playing to be done, as the party decides what to do with the small city of people they just freed.
James McMurray
First Post
“CROAK!” People die. Moments later the loud froglike cry is repeated, and more fleeing, screaming people collapse to the ground, bleeding from their ears.
Looking in the direction of the cries, our heroes see three froglike humanoid figures. Two are man-sized and gray, but the last, the one whose cry kills, is the size of an ogre. His oily white skin gleams in the morning sun as he and his cohorts charge towards the party.
“CROAK!” and more people die. The massive slaad seems puzzled for a moment when Oskar fails to keel over from his cry, but then smiles a wicked smile, knowing this will be more fun. Seeing a real battle, his summoned Death Slaads spring into action. One of them fires a ray of pure death at Oskar, whose skin turns ashen and pale. He manages to avoid the full effects of the assault though. The second lets out a massive croak of its own, and the blood vessels in Lanis’ eyes burst, blinding him.
Mist and Kargur move towards the fight, and Kargur attempts to detect evil. Unfortunately, the White Slaad’s arms seem deceptively short as they elongate out and rake a claw across his face. William also moves forward, and casts Destruction. The holy fire fails to utterly destroy the death slaad he targeted, but it does burn, and the beast cries out in anger. Meanwhile Galrond and Alzaran, having been pushed back by the fleeing mob, take to the skies to get a better view of the battlefield.
Acting in tandem, the two death Slaads begin to croak and cry. One’s voice bursts eardrums, while the other’s shatters blood vessels in eyes, leaving Oskar blind, and several others deaf. Oskar attacks and misses, as does Kargur. William attempts another Destruction, but it again fails to outright destroy a slaad. Teflon begins to pull out scrolls, his only remaining offense, while Galrond flies closer and Mass Hastes, followed by a Spell Turning. The Archon casts Aid on Galrond and then shoots a light ray at a gray, but it bounces harmlessly off.
Oskar again attacks and misses, while the White focuses its full rage upon Kargur. Two massive claws tear into him, but the tongue dripping ooze misses by a hair. A bit of the ooze flecks his armor though, and the spots it touches turn to glass. Lanis draws his bow and readies a shot for as soon as he can see again, which he hopes won’t be long. Teflon, having readied a scroll, casts a Bigby’s Grasping Hand, which moves towards the massive White Slaad. It grabs an easy hold, but is quickly shrugged off by the beast. The two death Slaads cease their concerted attacks, and one of them blinds Kargur with his croak, while the other slams the area with pure chaotic energy. Kargur responds with a swing of his sword, but without his sight, it misses. William moves up and Mass Heals, fixing everyone’s damage and blindness / deafness. Galrond also moves up and touches Oskar, whose head is suddenly wreathed in Heironious’ crackling Crown of Glory. He follows this up with an attempted Feeblemind on a death slaad, but it fails to affect the creature’s chaotic mind.
Lanis shoots a death slaad, while Oskar focuses his assault on the White. Although he manages to land several solid blows, the thing shrugs them off, healing them as rapidly as they can be dealt. Seeing this, he steps over to attack a nearby death slaad instead. Mist also moves over to attack the gray.
The White Slaad turns invisible and suddenly all three frogmen are wreathed in shimmering and swirling fields of prismatic color. Teflon’s massive hand, not fooled by the invisibility, attempts another grapple and fails, while Billy himself uses another scroll to cast Leech Field. The White is caught in the field, and Billy feels mildly stronger, but the chaotic outsider does not seem to even notice the spell’s effects, as it continues its assault.
Myst moves around to try to get a better position from which to attack a death slaad, but screams out in pain as the invisible White latches his jaws into his arm, nearly severing it. As Myst collapses to the ground unconscious, the creature’s vile venom begins to take effect. Two of Myst’s fingers turn into butterflies and fly away. The rest of the arm begins to turn to butter, which rapidly melts in the morning sun.
Teflon stabs out at a gray slaad, and as his dagger drives home, the shimmering field folds and bends, then courses over him for a second before returning to enshroud the slaad again. It leaves behind a jumbled and confused mass of thoughts in Billy’s mind.
-----
Flashback to moments after Conrad Adar has captured yet another soul.
As he walks out into the night time street, Conrad hears the most pleasing word he can imagine. “I’d sell my soul for a mug of ale.”
Looking into the alley, he sees what appears to be a dwarf. It is hard to tell though, as Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut is mostly a mass of scar tissue. He has died more times than he can remember, and now finds himself staggering through the alley, looking for a bit of the old “hair of the dog” to help ease his hangover. His pajamas give mute testimony to his drinking habits, and the fish and boats motif upon them stands out in stark contrast to the scar tissue beneath.
Conrad thinks for a moment, knowing such a bargain is really no challenge for him. It doesn’t take him long though to decide to teach this pathetic mortal the errors of errant speech. Snapping his fingers, a tankard of Dwarven stout appears in his hand, and he strolls casually over to the dwarf.
“Here you go good fellow. Have a tankard.”
As Fokurt reaches out for the mug, Conrad smiles. When Fokurt’s hands touch it, he laughs. “Too bad you didn’t mention wanting to drink it.” As Fokurt lifts the tankard of ale towards his mouth, he is interrupted by the undeniable pull of the Tome.
-------
Now, over two hundred years later, Fokurt finds himself spat out of the Tome in the midst of a chaotic battlefield. He looks around him to see the massive Slaadi falling before the heroes’ might and cries out. Seeing Galrond, Kargur, and Oskar in polymorphed troll forms, he chooses Giantish as his first linguistic attempt. Only Billy understands his request. “Hello good heroes. Would someone be so kind as to enchant my tankard? It is the only weapon I possess.” He then looks down and sees that there is still a bit of ale left in the tankard. Considering the pain it cost him, it hardly seems worth it when he tosses it back. Moments later he starts to feel a slight buzz.
The death slaad attempts to shatter Lanis’ bow but fails. Kargur attacks the slaad again. He hits it, but he too finds his mind confused by the cloak of chaos surrounding them. William, using the hand to target, unleashes a massive fire storm in the area, which engulfs all of the slaads. He follows it up with a bolt of Glory, killing one of the death slaads. Galrond casts See Invisibility, then a Greater Dispelling on the White Slaad, causing it to reappear, without its cloak of chaos to protect it. Alzaran flies over to Aid Kargur, and then returns to Galrond’s side.
From the North comes the sound of a steady drumbeat, which quickly shifts to a flute melody, then cymbals, and then the sounds of various animals. Looking over, William sees a roiling ball of color and sound moving towards him. As it gets near, he feels the energy being sapped from his limbs, and he nearly collapses, suddenly exhausted.
Lanis unleashes a flurry of arrow shots, and manages to kill the one remaining Death Slaad. Oskar charges the White and is again ineffective. Although Myst is unconscious from the pain, that does not stop him from seeing what happens next. The venom burrows deeper into his system, and his eyes crawl out of his head. Using the nerve endings to crawl like a worm, they inch away slowly. As they look back, he sees his unharmed hand detach itself from the body and crawl its way up to his face. As it begins to dig in the gray matter behind his hollow eye sockets, his world goes black.
The White Slaad again disappears, and Galrond, high above the battlefield, screams in pain. A large portion of his side has been ripped out, and the blood spatters down on Oskar’s head. The beast’s venom begins to take hold of Galrond as well, whose right leg begins to slowly turn to wood. That does not stop Galrond from attempting to polymorph the beast into a wicker chair, but it easily avoids the spell’s effects. Galrond then elects to go on the defensive, and a fiery shield appears in front of him.
The shifting and swirling chaos orb moves up, and this time its sounds turn to loud screeching and wailing, sending shooting pains through the heads of all who hear it.
Lanis readies an attack for when the creature reappears, as does Kargur (after detecting no evil on Fokurt). Galrond’s corpse on the ground continues to shift and change. His leg turns fully to wood, and the blood flow through it ceases. He drifts into death without getting to see the wood begin to petrify.
William calls upon Heironious and two rapid Flame Strikes slam into the massive white slaad, momentarily outlining it in flames.
Lanis, having not gotten a good shot, changes strategies when he remembers the mask that was found. Knowing its True Sight ability would be very helpful, he heads over to Galrond’s body and pulls it off. Placing it on his face, he prepares to activate it.
Oskar, seeing he cannot harm the slaad, turns and charges the chaos orb that has wandered through the battlefield. He slams into it hard, and its return shot bounces off of his armor. Oskar’s second shot send the thing splattering to the ground, the ooze it was composed of now inert.
The slaad assaults William and dispels his winged cloak’s magic, sending him drifting slowly towards the ground. Fokurt again calls out for aid, this time in common. Teflon replies “The gods have taken away my spell casting ability.” As Teflon turns to leave, he disappears, almost as if he had stepped through a doorway in the air. He appears on the other side in a familiar room. All around him are Raffi’s opulent furnishings.
He reaches into his pouch to pull out some rations for the cat, but it just goes over and hisses at him. It then walks to a plate of oriental food and hisses again, reminding Billy of his wayward cracks about using the immortal cat as a replenishable source of meat for a Chinese restaurant.
“So, it seems you have decided to ignore Heironious’ words and destroy the book anyway?” Raffi asks from his pile of cushions.
“Well,” Teflon replies, “he did say yes and no.”
Raffi decides not to point out the obvious interpretation (that had been pointed out by others before the book was destroyed) that perhaps it was meant to be done in a more controlled manner.
“No matter. It is sometimes a good thing to not immediately obey the will of the gods. I see you’ve have suffered a grievous loss as a result of your actions. I can fix that, in return for a favor.”
Teflon, wary of deals since the group’s meeting with Shasalah and Conrad, asks, “What favor.”
“I need a book returned to me. Don’t worry though, it will in no way endanger humanity. Also, it can wait until you have completed your current quest, as stopping Acererak is much more important than this minor side trek for me.”
Billy rapidly agrees, and Raffi reaches out to touch him. When his fingers reach Billy’s chest, they do not stop there. Raffi continues to reach into Billy, until he has finally crawled completely inside of the dwarf. From within his head Billy hears, “It is done, you may return to your friends now.” A shimmering doorway opens in front of him, and Billy steps through.
Meanwhile, Kargur has cast Commanding presence on himself and readied an attack for when the thing reappears. William Mass Heals again, and begins to cast Summon Monster IX to call a Couatl.
Lanis fires at where he thinks the beast may be and misses. Oskar drops a Chain and Dagger beside Fokurt, who looks at it confused, never having seen one before. He picks it up though, and readies it to attack the beast.
William’s spell is disrupted moments later, and the chaos matter in his otherwise fully healed bite wound begins to eat away at his flesh, turning it to maggots which plummet to the earth and squirm away. The Slaad’s follow up attacks send him reeling.
As Billy reappears, he casts See Invisibility, and then Mordenkainen’s Disjunction on the Slaad. As it reappears, it floats towards the ground, narrowly missing the people massed beneath it.
William heals and then Flame Strikes, while Kargur slams his sword home. Oskar’s attacks are again ineffectual, and Fokurt cannot seem to figure out how to use the chain and dagger.
Alzaran attempts to move away to aid Lanis, and gets bit for his troubles. The chaos energy begins to course through him and his Lantern Archon light rapidly begins to shift colors. He does make it to Lanis’ side though, and the Aid takes affect.
Lanis moves away and shoots, then the Slaad teleports next to Teflon Billy, unphased by its reappearance. Teflon combat casts a spell and then reaches out to touch the Slaad. “Dance for me frog!” he commands.
“Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal!”
The slaad begins to dance vigorously in front of Billy, who steps back. The party moves up and quickly surrounds it. As their blows ring home, it rapidly goes from a quick and lively tap number to a slow and onerous soft shoe shuffle, before finally dancing to its grave under the combined assaults of the heroes.
The party assesses its wounds, and far in the distance they see a host of celestials mopping up a few remaining demons and devils.
A twenty foot tall gate opens up and Amastacia and Gundarag come through, leading a large group of armed and armored people, many of whom ride chariots.
Looking in the direction of the cries, our heroes see three froglike humanoid figures. Two are man-sized and gray, but the last, the one whose cry kills, is the size of an ogre. His oily white skin gleams in the morning sun as he and his cohorts charge towards the party.
“CROAK!” and more people die. The massive slaad seems puzzled for a moment when Oskar fails to keel over from his cry, but then smiles a wicked smile, knowing this will be more fun. Seeing a real battle, his summoned Death Slaads spring into action. One of them fires a ray of pure death at Oskar, whose skin turns ashen and pale. He manages to avoid the full effects of the assault though. The second lets out a massive croak of its own, and the blood vessels in Lanis’ eyes burst, blinding him.
Mist and Kargur move towards the fight, and Kargur attempts to detect evil. Unfortunately, the White Slaad’s arms seem deceptively short as they elongate out and rake a claw across his face. William also moves forward, and casts Destruction. The holy fire fails to utterly destroy the death slaad he targeted, but it does burn, and the beast cries out in anger. Meanwhile Galrond and Alzaran, having been pushed back by the fleeing mob, take to the skies to get a better view of the battlefield.
Acting in tandem, the two death Slaads begin to croak and cry. One’s voice bursts eardrums, while the other’s shatters blood vessels in eyes, leaving Oskar blind, and several others deaf. Oskar attacks and misses, as does Kargur. William attempts another Destruction, but it again fails to outright destroy a slaad. Teflon begins to pull out scrolls, his only remaining offense, while Galrond flies closer and Mass Hastes, followed by a Spell Turning. The Archon casts Aid on Galrond and then shoots a light ray at a gray, but it bounces harmlessly off.
Oskar again attacks and misses, while the White focuses its full rage upon Kargur. Two massive claws tear into him, but the tongue dripping ooze misses by a hair. A bit of the ooze flecks his armor though, and the spots it touches turn to glass. Lanis draws his bow and readies a shot for as soon as he can see again, which he hopes won’t be long. Teflon, having readied a scroll, casts a Bigby’s Grasping Hand, which moves towards the massive White Slaad. It grabs an easy hold, but is quickly shrugged off by the beast. The two death Slaads cease their concerted attacks, and one of them blinds Kargur with his croak, while the other slams the area with pure chaotic energy. Kargur responds with a swing of his sword, but without his sight, it misses. William moves up and Mass Heals, fixing everyone’s damage and blindness / deafness. Galrond also moves up and touches Oskar, whose head is suddenly wreathed in Heironious’ crackling Crown of Glory. He follows this up with an attempted Feeblemind on a death slaad, but it fails to affect the creature’s chaotic mind.
Lanis shoots a death slaad, while Oskar focuses his assault on the White. Although he manages to land several solid blows, the thing shrugs them off, healing them as rapidly as they can be dealt. Seeing this, he steps over to attack a nearby death slaad instead. Mist also moves over to attack the gray.
The White Slaad turns invisible and suddenly all three frogmen are wreathed in shimmering and swirling fields of prismatic color. Teflon’s massive hand, not fooled by the invisibility, attempts another grapple and fails, while Billy himself uses another scroll to cast Leech Field. The White is caught in the field, and Billy feels mildly stronger, but the chaotic outsider does not seem to even notice the spell’s effects, as it continues its assault.
Myst moves around to try to get a better position from which to attack a death slaad, but screams out in pain as the invisible White latches his jaws into his arm, nearly severing it. As Myst collapses to the ground unconscious, the creature’s vile venom begins to take effect. Two of Myst’s fingers turn into butterflies and fly away. The rest of the arm begins to turn to butter, which rapidly melts in the morning sun.
Teflon stabs out at a gray slaad, and as his dagger drives home, the shimmering field folds and bends, then courses over him for a second before returning to enshroud the slaad again. It leaves behind a jumbled and confused mass of thoughts in Billy’s mind.
-----
Flashback to moments after Conrad Adar has captured yet another soul.
As he walks out into the night time street, Conrad hears the most pleasing word he can imagine. “I’d sell my soul for a mug of ale.”
Looking into the alley, he sees what appears to be a dwarf. It is hard to tell though, as Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut is mostly a mass of scar tissue. He has died more times than he can remember, and now finds himself staggering through the alley, looking for a bit of the old “hair of the dog” to help ease his hangover. His pajamas give mute testimony to his drinking habits, and the fish and boats motif upon them stands out in stark contrast to the scar tissue beneath.
Conrad thinks for a moment, knowing such a bargain is really no challenge for him. It doesn’t take him long though to decide to teach this pathetic mortal the errors of errant speech. Snapping his fingers, a tankard of Dwarven stout appears in his hand, and he strolls casually over to the dwarf.
“Here you go good fellow. Have a tankard.”
As Fokurt reaches out for the mug, Conrad smiles. When Fokurt’s hands touch it, he laughs. “Too bad you didn’t mention wanting to drink it.” As Fokurt lifts the tankard of ale towards his mouth, he is interrupted by the undeniable pull of the Tome.
-------
Now, over two hundred years later, Fokurt finds himself spat out of the Tome in the midst of a chaotic battlefield. He looks around him to see the massive Slaadi falling before the heroes’ might and cries out. Seeing Galrond, Kargur, and Oskar in polymorphed troll forms, he chooses Giantish as his first linguistic attempt. Only Billy understands his request. “Hello good heroes. Would someone be so kind as to enchant my tankard? It is the only weapon I possess.” He then looks down and sees that there is still a bit of ale left in the tankard. Considering the pain it cost him, it hardly seems worth it when he tosses it back. Moments later he starts to feel a slight buzz.
The death slaad attempts to shatter Lanis’ bow but fails. Kargur attacks the slaad again. He hits it, but he too finds his mind confused by the cloak of chaos surrounding them. William, using the hand to target, unleashes a massive fire storm in the area, which engulfs all of the slaads. He follows it up with a bolt of Glory, killing one of the death slaads. Galrond casts See Invisibility, then a Greater Dispelling on the White Slaad, causing it to reappear, without its cloak of chaos to protect it. Alzaran flies over to Aid Kargur, and then returns to Galrond’s side.
From the North comes the sound of a steady drumbeat, which quickly shifts to a flute melody, then cymbals, and then the sounds of various animals. Looking over, William sees a roiling ball of color and sound moving towards him. As it gets near, he feels the energy being sapped from his limbs, and he nearly collapses, suddenly exhausted.
Lanis unleashes a flurry of arrow shots, and manages to kill the one remaining Death Slaad. Oskar charges the White and is again ineffective. Although Myst is unconscious from the pain, that does not stop him from seeing what happens next. The venom burrows deeper into his system, and his eyes crawl out of his head. Using the nerve endings to crawl like a worm, they inch away slowly. As they look back, he sees his unharmed hand detach itself from the body and crawl its way up to his face. As it begins to dig in the gray matter behind his hollow eye sockets, his world goes black.
The White Slaad again disappears, and Galrond, high above the battlefield, screams in pain. A large portion of his side has been ripped out, and the blood spatters down on Oskar’s head. The beast’s venom begins to take hold of Galrond as well, whose right leg begins to slowly turn to wood. That does not stop Galrond from attempting to polymorph the beast into a wicker chair, but it easily avoids the spell’s effects. Galrond then elects to go on the defensive, and a fiery shield appears in front of him.
The shifting and swirling chaos orb moves up, and this time its sounds turn to loud screeching and wailing, sending shooting pains through the heads of all who hear it.
Lanis readies an attack for when the creature reappears, as does Kargur (after detecting no evil on Fokurt). Galrond’s corpse on the ground continues to shift and change. His leg turns fully to wood, and the blood flow through it ceases. He drifts into death without getting to see the wood begin to petrify.
William calls upon Heironious and two rapid Flame Strikes slam into the massive white slaad, momentarily outlining it in flames.
Lanis, having not gotten a good shot, changes strategies when he remembers the mask that was found. Knowing its True Sight ability would be very helpful, he heads over to Galrond’s body and pulls it off. Placing it on his face, he prepares to activate it.
Oskar, seeing he cannot harm the slaad, turns and charges the chaos orb that has wandered through the battlefield. He slams into it hard, and its return shot bounces off of his armor. Oskar’s second shot send the thing splattering to the ground, the ooze it was composed of now inert.
The slaad assaults William and dispels his winged cloak’s magic, sending him drifting slowly towards the ground. Fokurt again calls out for aid, this time in common. Teflon replies “The gods have taken away my spell casting ability.” As Teflon turns to leave, he disappears, almost as if he had stepped through a doorway in the air. He appears on the other side in a familiar room. All around him are Raffi’s opulent furnishings.
He reaches into his pouch to pull out some rations for the cat, but it just goes over and hisses at him. It then walks to a plate of oriental food and hisses again, reminding Billy of his wayward cracks about using the immortal cat as a replenishable source of meat for a Chinese restaurant.
“So, it seems you have decided to ignore Heironious’ words and destroy the book anyway?” Raffi asks from his pile of cushions.
“Well,” Teflon replies, “he did say yes and no.”
Raffi decides not to point out the obvious interpretation (that had been pointed out by others before the book was destroyed) that perhaps it was meant to be done in a more controlled manner.
“No matter. It is sometimes a good thing to not immediately obey the will of the gods. I see you’ve have suffered a grievous loss as a result of your actions. I can fix that, in return for a favor.”
Teflon, wary of deals since the group’s meeting with Shasalah and Conrad, asks, “What favor.”
“I need a book returned to me. Don’t worry though, it will in no way endanger humanity. Also, it can wait until you have completed your current quest, as stopping Acererak is much more important than this minor side trek for me.”
Billy rapidly agrees, and Raffi reaches out to touch him. When his fingers reach Billy’s chest, they do not stop there. Raffi continues to reach into Billy, until he has finally crawled completely inside of the dwarf. From within his head Billy hears, “It is done, you may return to your friends now.” A shimmering doorway opens in front of him, and Billy steps through.
Meanwhile, Kargur has cast Commanding presence on himself and readied an attack for when the thing reappears. William Mass Heals again, and begins to cast Summon Monster IX to call a Couatl.
Lanis fires at where he thinks the beast may be and misses. Oskar drops a Chain and Dagger beside Fokurt, who looks at it confused, never having seen one before. He picks it up though, and readies it to attack the beast.
William’s spell is disrupted moments later, and the chaos matter in his otherwise fully healed bite wound begins to eat away at his flesh, turning it to maggots which plummet to the earth and squirm away. The Slaad’s follow up attacks send him reeling.
As Billy reappears, he casts See Invisibility, and then Mordenkainen’s Disjunction on the Slaad. As it reappears, it floats towards the ground, narrowly missing the people massed beneath it.
William heals and then Flame Strikes, while Kargur slams his sword home. Oskar’s attacks are again ineffectual, and Fokurt cannot seem to figure out how to use the chain and dagger.
Alzaran attempts to move away to aid Lanis, and gets bit for his troubles. The chaos energy begins to course through him and his Lantern Archon light rapidly begins to shift colors. He does make it to Lanis’ side though, and the Aid takes affect.
Lanis moves away and shoots, then the Slaad teleports next to Teflon Billy, unphased by its reappearance. Teflon combat casts a spell and then reaches out to touch the Slaad. “Dance for me frog!” he commands.
“Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal!”
The slaad begins to dance vigorously in front of Billy, who steps back. The party moves up and quickly surrounds it. As their blows ring home, it rapidly goes from a quick and lively tap number to a slow and onerous soft shoe shuffle, before finally dancing to its grave under the combined assaults of the heroes.
The party assesses its wounds, and far in the distance they see a host of celestials mopping up a few remaining demons and devils.
A twenty foot tall gate opens up and Amastacia and Gundarag come through, leading a large group of armed and armored people, many of whom ride chariots.
James McMurray
First Post
Yeah, the description just says "Chaos damage" but that isn't fun sounding enough. No one who got bit had any bad effects (other than damage) until they died though. I didn't wantt o screw the party any more than 8d4 damage followed by 4d4 for 9 rounds would do.
I did forget to start using his Stunning Fist feat again though. At least I remembered his Blinding Speed.
DOH!
I did forget to start using his Stunning Fist feat again though. At least I remembered his Blinding Speed.
DOH!
James McMurray
First Post
Amastacia and Gundarag arrive with the troops, while the party begins to gather their dead and search the corpses of the fallen. They manage to find enough money to purchase quite a few resurrection gems (one especially large on for Galrond). Taking those back to town, the group spends the next day communing to gauge Fokurt’s trustability, and also determining if some of the dead should be raised. They find a few candidates to raise, one of which is Gregory. He tells them his story and thanks them.
Myst decides to stay with Amastacia, and the group heads out the next day. Their return trip to Moil deposits them via Galrond’s gate at the entrance to the Tower of Morning. Warning Fokurt not to look at the mural above the archway (as it puts people to sleep), they head in.
Fokurt scouts the place out, and stumbles across another Moilian Zombie. He follows the advice of the group and leads it back to the party, who quickly destroy it.
His travels go deeper into the tower, and he comes upon a room whose entire outer wall is covered in panels depicting the times of day. After some discussion, the group decides to identify the panels, which Galrond has detected as magical. They are designed to gather the light of the Sun and Channel it to another place within the tower.
Traveling to the pedestal that the Wand of Days was on, they identify it and learn that it gathers the light of the Sun from somewhere else in the tower and places it into the Wand of Days. Eureka!
They place the Wand on the pedestal and go back to experiment with the panels. Fokurt (the self-proclaimed fodder) moves up to touch the noon day sun panel, figuring it may be the best one. The panel lights up and those in the wand’s chamber see the pedestal light up as well. Ten minutes later it goes dim, leaving the wand mildly glowing. The group identifies it and learns that it now has ten charges. The confidence level of the party has obviously risen now that they have something they believe capable of destroying Acererak’s Phylactery.
Speaking amongst themselves, they decide to return to Al’raktal’s tower. Knowing they need to retrieve the key from him, they prepare for battle. The group describes the tower’s invisible floors of force to those who have not seen it, and moves out.
As they reach the entrance, Al’raktal’s voice calls out, “Welcome back Kargur Melasur, Oskar. Where is your friend Lo’ser and who are these?”
William replies that Lo’ser is gone with their belongings and the dragon expresses condolences. Fokurt introduces himself, “I am Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”
The party begins to whisper amongst themselves about how best to reach the pedestal and its key, when Fokurt asks them quietly, “Has anyone simply asked if we could have the key?”
Al’raktal chuckles and calls out, “No one has asked me that.”
Fokurt looks down into the tower. “Is that possible.”
“Giving the key is one of the possible options, yes. However, one must also take the mask with them as well.”
“What mask?”
Another voice calls out from below, high pitched and laced with sarcasm and mischief. “Me.”
Al’raktal says, “Silence fool,” in a curt tone, and the mask goes quiet. “Why don’t you come down and we’ll discuss this further?
The group decides to head down, and as they navigate through the invisible floors of the tower, they see a portion of the stone floor slide aside, revealing a dimly lit chamber below.
Inside the chamber the group sees a massive, partially translucent dragon reclining in a shimmering pool. All around lie the creature’s trove, and the pool it lays in flickers to life. Scenes of battle ripple across its surface.
The majority of the party begins to speak with the dragon, and they learn that one of the options available to them is to have someone wear the mask away. He who wears the mask may carry the key with him.
The mask itself is very enthusiastic about this idea. Closer inspection shows the mask to be carved in the likeness of the Sign of the devourer, its jet black mouth dark and empty.
Oskar has been studying the pool itself, and when he sees a scene of the party battling the Demi-lich in the Tomb, he asks what it is.
Al’raktal replies, “This is a Shi’ar pool. It is the locked away power of the ages, placed here by the gods to limit man. It is also part of my payment.”
Through further discussion the group learns that this pool, the Pool of Glory, grants great power to those who bathe in it. Even further discussion leads them to decide that Fokurt (self-proclaimed fodder) will wear the mask and take the key. Before he takes it, he speaks more with the Dragon, offering his services in the future, and telling him that he may be found on the Prime, near Greyhawk.
Al’raktal says he will keep that in mind, and when asked if the group can hire him asks if they know the location of any more Shi’ar pools. When they tell him no, he says to let him know if they find any, for that is the only payment he will work for.
“Did it say anywhere in the deal that the mask must be worn on the face?” Fokurt asks.
Galrond interjects, “I see your years in the book taught you something.”
Al’raktal answers, “Now that you mention it, no. Acererak just said it had to be worn.”
Fokurt cuts a strip of rope and ties the mask to his leg. As it chortles with glee, it burrows through his armor and slowly wriggles its way to his face. Acting quickly, Fokurt moves to grab the key and hand it to Billy. The mask then reaches his face.
“Thanks! This is great. That bastard wouldn’t wear me, or let me eat, or even let me talk much.”
The group begins to talk with the mask, and learns that it was forged by Acererak, but that it does not care for the demi-lich. As Al’raktal begins to gather his hoard into a portable hole, Oskar prepares to go for a swim. His removal of his armor is met with the mask’s enthusiasm. “All right! I love it when my food gets itself out of its can for me.”
Oskar keeps his distance, even more so after a 6 foot tongue of jet black nothingness lashes out from the mask towards him. He then heads to the pool where he tries to swim. The top of the pool is like slowly flowing glass though, and he is unable to enter the water.
Everyone in the party tries to enter, and it repels them all. As Fokurt is standing on the surface, the masks sighs impatiently and he begins to float off the ground. He turns slowly over and the mask dips itself into the waters of the pool, where it starts to glow and tingle on Fokurt’s face. It opens its mouth wide and drinks deep, taking away nearly a quarter of the pool. “Man! That was good!”
Fokurt floats back to the group and finds himself once again in control of his body.
The party talks amongst themselves, and when an Anti-magic field fails to stop the mask or remove it, Billy thinks about using another Disjunction. He foregoes the idea for now though, and the group heads back into the city.
Myst decides to stay with Amastacia, and the group heads out the next day. Their return trip to Moil deposits them via Galrond’s gate at the entrance to the Tower of Morning. Warning Fokurt not to look at the mural above the archway (as it puts people to sleep), they head in.
Fokurt scouts the place out, and stumbles across another Moilian Zombie. He follows the advice of the group and leads it back to the party, who quickly destroy it.
His travels go deeper into the tower, and he comes upon a room whose entire outer wall is covered in panels depicting the times of day. After some discussion, the group decides to identify the panels, which Galrond has detected as magical. They are designed to gather the light of the Sun and Channel it to another place within the tower.
Traveling to the pedestal that the Wand of Days was on, they identify it and learn that it gathers the light of the Sun from somewhere else in the tower and places it into the Wand of Days. Eureka!
They place the Wand on the pedestal and go back to experiment with the panels. Fokurt (the self-proclaimed fodder) moves up to touch the noon day sun panel, figuring it may be the best one. The panel lights up and those in the wand’s chamber see the pedestal light up as well. Ten minutes later it goes dim, leaving the wand mildly glowing. The group identifies it and learns that it now has ten charges. The confidence level of the party has obviously risen now that they have something they believe capable of destroying Acererak’s Phylactery.
Speaking amongst themselves, they decide to return to Al’raktal’s tower. Knowing they need to retrieve the key from him, they prepare for battle. The group describes the tower’s invisible floors of force to those who have not seen it, and moves out.
As they reach the entrance, Al’raktal’s voice calls out, “Welcome back Kargur Melasur, Oskar. Where is your friend Lo’ser and who are these?”
William replies that Lo’ser is gone with their belongings and the dragon expresses condolences. Fokurt introduces himself, “I am Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”
The party begins to whisper amongst themselves about how best to reach the pedestal and its key, when Fokurt asks them quietly, “Has anyone simply asked if we could have the key?”
Al’raktal chuckles and calls out, “No one has asked me that.”
Fokurt looks down into the tower. “Is that possible.”
“Giving the key is one of the possible options, yes. However, one must also take the mask with them as well.”
“What mask?”
Another voice calls out from below, high pitched and laced with sarcasm and mischief. “Me.”
Al’raktal says, “Silence fool,” in a curt tone, and the mask goes quiet. “Why don’t you come down and we’ll discuss this further?
The group decides to head down, and as they navigate through the invisible floors of the tower, they see a portion of the stone floor slide aside, revealing a dimly lit chamber below.
Inside the chamber the group sees a massive, partially translucent dragon reclining in a shimmering pool. All around lie the creature’s trove, and the pool it lays in flickers to life. Scenes of battle ripple across its surface.
The majority of the party begins to speak with the dragon, and they learn that one of the options available to them is to have someone wear the mask away. He who wears the mask may carry the key with him.
The mask itself is very enthusiastic about this idea. Closer inspection shows the mask to be carved in the likeness of the Sign of the devourer, its jet black mouth dark and empty.
Oskar has been studying the pool itself, and when he sees a scene of the party battling the Demi-lich in the Tomb, he asks what it is.
Al’raktal replies, “This is a Shi’ar pool. It is the locked away power of the ages, placed here by the gods to limit man. It is also part of my payment.”
Through further discussion the group learns that this pool, the Pool of Glory, grants great power to those who bathe in it. Even further discussion leads them to decide that Fokurt (self-proclaimed fodder) will wear the mask and take the key. Before he takes it, he speaks more with the Dragon, offering his services in the future, and telling him that he may be found on the Prime, near Greyhawk.
Al’raktal says he will keep that in mind, and when asked if the group can hire him asks if they know the location of any more Shi’ar pools. When they tell him no, he says to let him know if they find any, for that is the only payment he will work for.
“Did it say anywhere in the deal that the mask must be worn on the face?” Fokurt asks.
Galrond interjects, “I see your years in the book taught you something.”
Al’raktal answers, “Now that you mention it, no. Acererak just said it had to be worn.”
Fokurt cuts a strip of rope and ties the mask to his leg. As it chortles with glee, it burrows through his armor and slowly wriggles its way to his face. Acting quickly, Fokurt moves to grab the key and hand it to Billy. The mask then reaches his face.
“Thanks! This is great. That bastard wouldn’t wear me, or let me eat, or even let me talk much.”
The group begins to talk with the mask, and learns that it was forged by Acererak, but that it does not care for the demi-lich. As Al’raktal begins to gather his hoard into a portable hole, Oskar prepares to go for a swim. His removal of his armor is met with the mask’s enthusiasm. “All right! I love it when my food gets itself out of its can for me.”
Oskar keeps his distance, even more so after a 6 foot tongue of jet black nothingness lashes out from the mask towards him. He then heads to the pool where he tries to swim. The top of the pool is like slowly flowing glass though, and he is unable to enter the water.
Everyone in the party tries to enter, and it repels them all. As Fokurt is standing on the surface, the masks sighs impatiently and he begins to float off the ground. He turns slowly over and the mask dips itself into the waters of the pool, where it starts to glow and tingle on Fokurt’s face. It opens its mouth wide and drinks deep, taking away nearly a quarter of the pool. “Man! That was good!”
Fokurt floats back to the group and finds himself once again in control of his body.
The party talks amongst themselves, and when an Anti-magic field fails to stop the mask or remove it, Billy thinks about using another Disjunction. He foregoes the idea for now though, and the group heads back into the city.
Similar Threads
Spelljammer
Spelljammer Collector’s Guide Revisited