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Selm's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
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<blockquote data-quote="Selm" data-source="post: 64009" data-attributes="member: 1592"><p><strong>Episode 2-3</strong></p><p></p><p>Episode TWO - Another Day in a Quiet Little Town - Part 3</p><p>(Yes you're level 4 and after, this dragon was not SOOO big ...) <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p>you know that this is Planting 16, 591CY, yes you know ... or if you</p><p>don't, you should.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Gandigoot is swimming in the moat, he's still under the shock of what</p><p>he has seen. A DRAGON, a real living DRAGON .... he was sure at the</p><p>beginning that it was an illusion but his crossbow bolt touched</p><p>something and the gaze the dragon gave him could not be an illusion,</p><p>it was too much real, to much frightening. Swin small gnome, save your</p><p>life, you will have a story to tell.</p><p></p><p>If Alahija is now dying on the floor of the moathouse courtyard, she</p><p>did not fell without shouting for help and her friends know that</p><p>something is wrong. They are all running towards the moathouse, Diane</p><p>is even at the door as she not even had the time to reach them and</p><p>tell them of "the plan" before Alahija entered the moathouse.</p><p></p><p></p><p>This is at this moment that they see the form of the blue dragon</p><p>taking off from the courtyard. Even if the players are aware of what</p><p>is arrived to Alahija, the characters are all very surprised and</p><p>frightened. This is a real DRAGON (and they are only level 4 ...<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />).</p><p></p><p>The dragon flies onto the portal at the entry of the moathouse (he is</p><p>searching the gnome) and sees the group of adventurers running right</p><p>on him.</p><p>(So his mother was right once again thought Utreshimon, there was a</p><p>group of treasure hunters. And this time they are bigger and seems</p><p>more dangerous than the first two.)</p><p>Without hesitation the dragon realeases a deadly breath on the coming</p><p>party. The huge bolt of lightning scorchs the earth and some of the</p><p>rescue team. Diane sees the bolt pass above her, beeing already on the</p><p>bridge and Lywen is already out of the bolt's way having changed his</p><p>straight running line the round before (those two are sneaky <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ). If</p><p>Rousing Fox could barely escape the big bolt with extreme speed, the</p><p>three last members of the party are badly hurt. Ezekiel was a little</p><p>protected by a resist element spell he casted last round and by an</p><p>endurance spell since the badger incident, it saved his life as the</p><p>deadly energy passes trough his body and plate armor. Killasha's </p><p>paladin abilities were not enought to protect her from the bolt and</p><p>she endures a great suffering when the electricity engulfs her, but</p><p>she's still alive after it (Killasha and Ezekiel are now near 4-5 hps</p><p>...) and this is not good in front of a dragon ... Beside we should</p><p>not forget Xaod, for his first adventure with the party, he discovers</p><p>and endures the breath of a blue dragon, even if his resistance seems</p><p>better than for the two other plate mail fighters, the pain is great</p><p>(NPCs seems better than PCs on saving throws).</p><p></p><p>(Utreshimon is quite happy, this bolt was a great success and it</p><p>bolsters his confidence. The first failure of the day with the little</p><p>human-elf was bad aim, it is now certain.</p><p>But a point attracts the dragon's attention, there is a man casting a</p><p>spell in the back of the tresure hunter's group. This is a wizard for</p><p>sure and Utershimon knows that he must kill the wizard first.</p><p>This should be easy as the three fighters seem badly hurt and should</p><p>flee for sure.)</p><p></p><p>The dragon takes off once again and flights right on the group of the</p><p>three fighters and Lywen, who is alone without his bodyguard.</p><p>But this is without counting on the courage and determination of</p><p>Killasha and Ezekiel, the two take their swords and prepare for the</p><p>fight. Lywen does not hesitate more and cast a pack of magic missiles</p><p>on the dragon.</p><p></p><p>(This is not planed, disgusting direct confrontation against three</p><p>heavily armed fighters and a wizard, Utreshimon changes his mind.)</p><p></p><p>The group of adventurers is surprised when the dragon changes the</p><p>course of his flight. He passes well above them, makes a great</p><p>semi-circle in the sky and turns back towards the moathouse. Lywen</p><p>uses this time to fire two more volleys of magic missiles him. And, as</p><p>you surely understand, it starts to make him angry.</p><p>During this time, Rousing Fox has jumped the small river and is now on</p><p>the west side of the moathouse (the drawbidge is on the south side). He</p><p>plans to enter the old ruined fortress by the broken west wall. And</p><p>suddenly remarks that he doesn't see the dragon anymore. Where is the</p><p>foul beast ? Rousing Fox looks behind him just in time to see a giant</p><p>blue arrow rushing at him. Quite afraid, the monk desperatly tries to</p><p>escape the grapple which will surely be followed by a bad fall of no</p><p>less than fifty meters ... and death as you can imagine. No sooner</p><p>said than done, Rousing Fox jump on the other side of the moat, hoping</p><p>to escape the dragon attack and hide in the wall debris. But, hindered</p><p>by his haste, he takes a bad hop and falls into the moat, nevertheless</p><p>escaping a certain death ... only to discover that he can not swim ...</p><p></p><p>While the dragon is going back into the moathouse, Ezekiel and</p><p>Killasha are healing themselves and are able to cure the most part of</p><p>their injuries, but this seriously depletes their magical power.</p><p>If Gandigoot is only starting to go out of the water hidden in the</p><p>middle of some high weeds, Diane has carefully entered the courtyard</p><p>during the dragon's absence, crossing the drawbridge and passing the</p><p>broken doorway.</p><p>But she only has time to discover the body of Alahija laying on the</p><p>ground before the dragon comes back into his lair. This time there is</p><p>only one adventurer and the dragon does'nt hesitate even one second</p><p>before attacking. Diane is quickly pushed to the wall and forced into</p><p>a defensive stance. She has to defend herself against the claws, the</p><p>tail, the bites and altogether a furious dragon. After two combat</p><p>rounds it becomes evident that Diane will not survive a lot more</p><p>alone, then she notices an old door at the base of a tower near her</p><p>(this is one of the four rempart towers, the south west corner tower</p><p>is entered from the courtyard, near the entry door). Diane uses her</p><p>superior initiative to rush into the cover of the tower basement. She</p><p>is once again able to escape the dragon's attacks, but he starts to</p><p>destroy the old door and will soon be able to reach her. The stairs to</p><p>the first floor of the tower are broken, it seems that her luck stops</p><p>there. Diane manages two more stabs onto the dragon before the door</p><p>completely breaks open, this time she will not be able to escape his</p><p>attacks, her superior mobility will not help her ... is this the end?</p><p></p><p>At this exact moment, a deep-sounding battle cry resonates through the</p><p>moathouse courtyard. Ezekiel, Killasha and Xaod are finally arrived!</p><p>The dragon has not even time to go out of the door where he is nearly</p><p>stuck before a massive sword tears through his flesh. Ezekiel's</p><p>two-handed great sword has conected! </p><p>This seems bad for the blue dragon, one more round and two more</p><p>profound scars mark his body, those three are dangerous for sure!</p><p></p><p>(Utreshimon is not happy, really not happy and he will not make nice</p><p>to those freaky bastards! They even stab him while he was playing with</p><p>his new toy! And while they should be roasted, they are fighting him</p><p>as if his electric breath was nothing.</p><p>This must be the wizard, his mother has said him, the wizards are the</p><p>greater curse for dragons.</p><p>But there was no time for melancholy, if he stands here longer he will</p><p>die and he doesn't want to die. He still has a long life to live, even</p><p>several centuries, those despiteful treasure hunters are such a pain.)</p><p></p><p>All seems good for the party, when the dragon takes off. The massive</p><p>cloud of sand raised by his strong wings nearly blind the whole group</p><p>as the dragon prepares a new deadly lightning bolt.</p><p>But the priest of Kord will not die here today, protecting his eyes</p><p>from the sandy cloud, he stabs the dragon with divine fury calling his</p><p>god to his help. Once again his deadly great sword touch the dragon's</p><p>flank and cuts a deep wound into it.</p><p></p><p>(This HURTS BAD .. how could this human hurt Utreshimon so bad with a</p><p>single blow ... he survived the dragon breath, sees trough his sand</p><p>cloud and could kill him with two more blows like this one.</p><p>He must be a professionnal treasure hunter, a dangerous one, one of</p><p>those deadly dragon-slayers and Utreshimon's mother has warned him</p><p>against this kind. He was too young, he should flee, but they were too</p><p>numerous around him ...</p><p>He must be more cunning than those humans, and he will survive, to</p><p>kill them later, to avenge his honor and take back his lair and</p><p>treasure.)</p><p></p><p>The dragon then shouted a terrible cry, the last blow of Ezekiel has</p><p>been enough and the beast was deadly wounded.</p><p>Unable to breath once again, the dragon crashed on the east wall of</p><p>the courtyard, his large body still convulsed by spasms. All party</p><p>members could see the dragon's demise.</p><p>All ... or nearly all, Rousing Fox has finally finished his fight for</p><p>life in the moat and has climbed the ruined wall. However he arrived</p><p>too late to fight the dragon but he could see the deadly blow of</p><p>Ezekiel. Alahija was still slain in the sandy square entrance, it was</p><p>a miracle that her corpse was not more severely damaged during the</p><p>fight. And Gandigoot ... arrives at the door with the party horses and</p><p>his mighty warpony, they have fled when the dragon appeared and the</p><p>gnome successfully find them and took them back, all or ... nearly</p><p>all, as Ezekiel and Rousing Fox horses are still missing.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>The monster defeated, Ezekiel turns his attention to Alahija. They all</p><p>know that it is too late, they were too far away when she was attacked</p><p>and Killasha is shaken to the core, she has fallen to her mission of</p><p>protection. But the guardian angel of Alahija is strong and she is</p><p>still alive! Ezekiel heal her and after some minutes she regains</p><p>consciousness, tired and without any force but alive.</p><p>With happiness and pride they decide to investigate the ruined keep.</p><p>A bloody trail attracks their attention and, while the others help</p><p>Alahija, Rousing Fox and Lywen enter the dragon's lair, a great hall</p><p>partially colapsed. They discover two corpses, one already one third</p><p>eaten, this one seems to have been a priest and the other probably a</p><p>rogue. The priest's corpse wears an ocre robe and a strange holy</p><p>symbol, a black triangle with a golden Y into it, each branch of the Y</p><p>finishing in the middle of one side of the black triangle. A strange</p><p>lilas colored stone mask lies beside the head of the priest.</p><p>Diane and Killasha join them but they are unable to indentify the holy</p><p>symbol, the dragon seems to have killed the two and dragged them into</p><p>his lair. </p><p></p><p>During this time, Ezekiel, Xaod and Gundigoot are still standing</p><p>beside the dragon. Alahija is recovering and starts to be able to walk</p><p>again by herself. Xaod has touched the dragon with his sword to be</p><p>sure that he's dead for good and they are debating about what they</p><p>should do with his corpse. They decide to behead it and take back the</p><p>head to Hommlet as a proof of their fight. Ezekiel rises his</p><p>two-handed sword and prepares for the strike.</p><p></p><p>(Hey, what are they doing, they want to kill him for good. Utreshimon</p><p>was sure to have duped them, but they seem to be more cunning than</p><p>what he thought.</p><p>The dragon wanted to escape later, when they are all out, and when the</p><p>dreadfull fighter and the wizard have departed. But this very one</p><p>fighter is preparing to kill him ... right now!)</p><p></p><p>The blue dragon suddenly awakes, he was not dead, he was trying to</p><p>dupe them. Ezekiel and Xaod attack him immediatly, but the dragon is</p><p>able to take off. </p><p>They pursue him outside the keep, Alahija and Gandigoot firing arrows</p><p>onto the beast, but the monster is finally able to escape. </p><p>This is a big reversal of fortune, they will not have any big dragon's</p><p>head to show ... but on the road they are able to find back the two</p><p>escaped horses and Gandigoot manages to calm them.</p><p></p><p>(Ouch, it is even hard to flight with such serious injuries,</p><p>Utreshimon is greatly surprised, angered but also afraid, for the</p><p>first time of his life.</p><p>He was nearly slain by some pityfull humans. What a shame! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite4" alt=":mad:" title="Mad :mad:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":mad:" /></p><p>It will takes him months to recover from such injuries and he has lost</p><p>his lair ... his precious treasure ...</p><p>The dragon flights, fleeing the dreadfull party. He will perhaps never</p><p>see them again, but if anytime it arrives, their visages are engraved</p><p>in his memories forever ... with a strong desire for revenge ...)</p><p></p><p></p><p>Ezekiel, Xaod, Killasha, Gandigoot and Alahija return to the</p><p>moathouse. Lywen, Rousing Fox and Diane are still there exploring the</p><p>dragon's lair. Rousing Fox has heard a sound coming from a dark</p><p>passage, advancing with a torch of eternal light, he discovers a stair</p><p>going down into the drakness. Following the advices of Lywen, he</p><p>prudently comes back to the great hall.</p><p>They discover another stair on the other side of the hall, but this</p><p>one is ruined and was going up to the colapsed first floor. Diane is</p><p>in the courtyard, trying to see into the moathouse rooms trough the</p><p>small windows. The building seems abandonned as she's not able to see</p><p>anyone or any sign of recent activity.</p><p></p><p>The other members of the group rejoin them into the moathouse hall and</p><p>Killasha remembers that the priest of Pelor has tell her about a group</p><p>of ocre robed men who have been seen near hommlet two weeks ago, the</p><p>dead priest should be a member of this group.</p><p>Lywen and Diane decide to venture into the dark stair to investigate</p><p>the source of the sound Rousing Fox has heard sooner. Lywen uses his</p><p>last magic to turn Diane invisible and allow her to see in complete</p><p>darkness. Without more hesitation, Diane silently sneak into the</p><p>darkness. She starts to descend step by step and suddenly freezes when</p><p>a sound comes from under the staircase. Two ugly creatures, she</p><p>quickly identify as gnolls, go out of their concealment, they are</p><p>wearing armors and use polearms, briefly discussing between them, they</p><p>resume their hidding one minute later. This is not normal, gnolls are</p><p>not organised creatures and there has to be someone or something</p><p>behind the scene. Diane decide to go back and inform the other members</p><p>of the party.</p><p></p><p>They are tired, without any more magic and some if not all of them are</p><p>hurt. There seems to be more danger in the cave and more fight. As</p><p>someone said one day: "You must survive today to fight evil tomorrow."</p><p>Even if Gandigoot would like to explore a little more, even if only</p><p>the basement, the party decides to go back to Hommlet and rest before</p><p>going further into the keep.</p><p>So decided, they return to the small town of Hommlet, without any gnoll</p><p>head and not even a small dragon scale <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite3" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":(" /> but with two corpses wearing</p><p>dark clothes (the ocre robed priest is wearing a dark chain mail under</p><p>his robe) and as you know: a man wearing dark clothes is a bad man <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p>But some of them are asking themselves even more questions than before</p><p>about the presence of dark priests around Hommlet.</p><p></p><p>-- Return to Hommlet --</p><p></p><p>Arriving at the town, they stop by the castle to speak with Rufus and</p><p>Brune. Xaod returns to the Inn of the Wecome Wench because as he said</p><p>: "I will not put my hands into your business." </p><p>With the two corpses, they produce quite an impression and Rufus</p><p>immediately speaks with them in the courtyard of the castle. When they</p><p>present him the holy symbol, he immediatly accepts to take them to</p><p>Brune and they follow him to the dungeon.</p><p>They do not wait long in the meating room of the dungeon this time,</p><p>and soon are all around the table with Rufus and Brune. Diane presents</p><p>the symbol to Brune and he seems even more serious than before, if it</p><p>is possible. The old wizard asks them if they know the symbol, Lywen</p><p>seems to know but is not sure and seems to fear what he think it</p><p>is. He should hve been right as Brune explain what he knows about this</p><p>dark holy symbol.</p><p>The inverted dark triangle with a golden Y is the symbol of the Elder</p><p>Elemental Eye, the dark gold behind the Temple of Elemental Evil and</p><p>its perverted elemental cults. But this god is in fact dreaded</p><p>Tharizdun, an extremely old god devoted to evil, insanity and complete</p><p>destruction. This god was so utterly evil that he was trapped out of</p><p>our plan of existence by the alliance of all the other gods (even the</p><p>evil ones). He is now imprisoned since long centuries, and only thinks</p><p>of one thing, to be free again, free to destroy Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p>I don't know if you think as me, but it seems bad. This time this is</p><p>not a small evil, not even a great evil as the Old One, but a big bad</p><p>EVIL, Tharizdun himself. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek! :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" /></p><p></p><p>After a small lesson about the Temple and the time of Emridy Meadows,</p><p>when the demoness Zugtmoy was trapped into the Temple depths, the</p><p>group goes out of the keep. They plan to see Canoness Y'dey of the</p><p>St Cuthbert church, with Brune's support, to ask for her help and</p><p>magical powers. They want to summon the dead spirits of the two</p><p>corpses they found at the moathouse, to ask them questions.</p><p>At the church of St Cuthbert, Canoness Y'dey accepts to help them, but</p><p>as she can't cast thoses spells today, they must wait for tomorrow. </p><p>They agree to conduct the ceremony tomorrow in the middle of the</p><p>morning. Even if Y'dey is pessimist about the priest (his face is</p><p>probably too beaten to allow his corpse to speak), she thinks that the</p><p>other one will be able to say something.</p><p></p><p>It's the end of the day, their first day in Hommlet. One of them has</p><p>already nearly played poker with death and they have all been</p><p>seriously hurt.</p><p>While they are on the road for the Inn of the Welcome Wench, they are</p><p>all asking themselves if they will survive one more day in the :</p><p>* Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil *</p><p></p><p>Some technical details:</p><p>- Alahija dropped to -4 life points before beeing able to stabilise</p><p>with a great dice roll</p><p>- Ezekiel and Killasha suffered 40 damage (on 6d8, quite a big score)</p><p>during the dragon's breath, Killasha was dropped to 4 life points and</p><p>Ezekiel survived because of his spells, however finishing at 8 Hps.</p><p>- Utreshimon still had more than 40 Hps when he started to take off the</p><p>second time, but Ezekiel used divine might to inflict 20 pts on one</p><p>attack and when Utreshimon finally escaped with his third take off,</p><p>after his bluff attemp, he was down to only 4 Hps (on his 108 at the</p><p>beginning of the encounter). </p><p>- The blue dragon is a big bluffer, he duped them with a huge 27 on</p><p>his bluff check. And Xaod, the only one doubting a little about his</p><p>death, only rolls a 13 on his sense motive check. Sneaky dragon <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>THIS was a fight ... and surely not the last one ...</p><p></p><p>... in something like two weeks ...</p><p>(the game session is this saturday)</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Episode THREE - Return to the Moathouse</p><p>(How to plunder a dragon's lair?)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Selm, post: 64009, member: 1592"] [b]Episode 2-3[/b] Episode TWO - Another Day in a Quiet Little Town - Part 3 (Yes you're level 4 and after, this dragon was not SOOO big ...) :) you know that this is Planting 16, 591CY, yes you know ... or if you don't, you should. Gandigoot is swimming in the moat, he's still under the shock of what he has seen. A DRAGON, a real living DRAGON .... he was sure at the beginning that it was an illusion but his crossbow bolt touched something and the gaze the dragon gave him could not be an illusion, it was too much real, to much frightening. Swin small gnome, save your life, you will have a story to tell. If Alahija is now dying on the floor of the moathouse courtyard, she did not fell without shouting for help and her friends know that something is wrong. They are all running towards the moathouse, Diane is even at the door as she not even had the time to reach them and tell them of "the plan" before Alahija entered the moathouse. This is at this moment that they see the form of the blue dragon taking off from the courtyard. Even if the players are aware of what is arrived to Alahija, the characters are all very surprised and frightened. This is a real DRAGON (and they are only level 4 ...:D). The dragon flies onto the portal at the entry of the moathouse (he is searching the gnome) and sees the group of adventurers running right on him. (So his mother was right once again thought Utreshimon, there was a group of treasure hunters. And this time they are bigger and seems more dangerous than the first two.) Without hesitation the dragon realeases a deadly breath on the coming party. The huge bolt of lightning scorchs the earth and some of the rescue team. Diane sees the bolt pass above her, beeing already on the bridge and Lywen is already out of the bolt's way having changed his straight running line the round before (those two are sneaky ;) ). If Rousing Fox could barely escape the big bolt with extreme speed, the three last members of the party are badly hurt. Ezekiel was a little protected by a resist element spell he casted last round and by an endurance spell since the badger incident, it saved his life as the deadly energy passes trough his body and plate armor. Killasha's paladin abilities were not enought to protect her from the bolt and she endures a great suffering when the electricity engulfs her, but she's still alive after it (Killasha and Ezekiel are now near 4-5 hps ...) and this is not good in front of a dragon ... Beside we should not forget Xaod, for his first adventure with the party, he discovers and endures the breath of a blue dragon, even if his resistance seems better than for the two other plate mail fighters, the pain is great (NPCs seems better than PCs on saving throws). (Utreshimon is quite happy, this bolt was a great success and it bolsters his confidence. The first failure of the day with the little human-elf was bad aim, it is now certain. But a point attracts the dragon's attention, there is a man casting a spell in the back of the tresure hunter's group. This is a wizard for sure and Utershimon knows that he must kill the wizard first. This should be easy as the three fighters seem badly hurt and should flee for sure.) The dragon takes off once again and flights right on the group of the three fighters and Lywen, who is alone without his bodyguard. But this is without counting on the courage and determination of Killasha and Ezekiel, the two take their swords and prepare for the fight. Lywen does not hesitate more and cast a pack of magic missiles on the dragon. (This is not planed, disgusting direct confrontation against three heavily armed fighters and a wizard, Utreshimon changes his mind.) The group of adventurers is surprised when the dragon changes the course of his flight. He passes well above them, makes a great semi-circle in the sky and turns back towards the moathouse. Lywen uses this time to fire two more volleys of magic missiles him. And, as you surely understand, it starts to make him angry. During this time, Rousing Fox has jumped the small river and is now on the west side of the moathouse (the drawbidge is on the south side). He plans to enter the old ruined fortress by the broken west wall. And suddenly remarks that he doesn't see the dragon anymore. Where is the foul beast ? Rousing Fox looks behind him just in time to see a giant blue arrow rushing at him. Quite afraid, the monk desperatly tries to escape the grapple which will surely be followed by a bad fall of no less than fifty meters ... and death as you can imagine. No sooner said than done, Rousing Fox jump on the other side of the moat, hoping to escape the dragon attack and hide in the wall debris. But, hindered by his haste, he takes a bad hop and falls into the moat, nevertheless escaping a certain death ... only to discover that he can not swim ... While the dragon is going back into the moathouse, Ezekiel and Killasha are healing themselves and are able to cure the most part of their injuries, but this seriously depletes their magical power. If Gandigoot is only starting to go out of the water hidden in the middle of some high weeds, Diane has carefully entered the courtyard during the dragon's absence, crossing the drawbridge and passing the broken doorway. But she only has time to discover the body of Alahija laying on the ground before the dragon comes back into his lair. This time there is only one adventurer and the dragon does'nt hesitate even one second before attacking. Diane is quickly pushed to the wall and forced into a defensive stance. She has to defend herself against the claws, the tail, the bites and altogether a furious dragon. After two combat rounds it becomes evident that Diane will not survive a lot more alone, then she notices an old door at the base of a tower near her (this is one of the four rempart towers, the south west corner tower is entered from the courtyard, near the entry door). Diane uses her superior initiative to rush into the cover of the tower basement. She is once again able to escape the dragon's attacks, but he starts to destroy the old door and will soon be able to reach her. The stairs to the first floor of the tower are broken, it seems that her luck stops there. Diane manages two more stabs onto the dragon before the door completely breaks open, this time she will not be able to escape his attacks, her superior mobility will not help her ... is this the end? At this exact moment, a deep-sounding battle cry resonates through the moathouse courtyard. Ezekiel, Killasha and Xaod are finally arrived! The dragon has not even time to go out of the door where he is nearly stuck before a massive sword tears through his flesh. Ezekiel's two-handed great sword has conected! This seems bad for the blue dragon, one more round and two more profound scars mark his body, those three are dangerous for sure! (Utreshimon is not happy, really not happy and he will not make nice to those freaky bastards! They even stab him while he was playing with his new toy! And while they should be roasted, they are fighting him as if his electric breath was nothing. This must be the wizard, his mother has said him, the wizards are the greater curse for dragons. But there was no time for melancholy, if he stands here longer he will die and he doesn't want to die. He still has a long life to live, even several centuries, those despiteful treasure hunters are such a pain.) All seems good for the party, when the dragon takes off. The massive cloud of sand raised by his strong wings nearly blind the whole group as the dragon prepares a new deadly lightning bolt. But the priest of Kord will not die here today, protecting his eyes from the sandy cloud, he stabs the dragon with divine fury calling his god to his help. Once again his deadly great sword touch the dragon's flank and cuts a deep wound into it. (This HURTS BAD .. how could this human hurt Utreshimon so bad with a single blow ... he survived the dragon breath, sees trough his sand cloud and could kill him with two more blows like this one. He must be a professionnal treasure hunter, a dangerous one, one of those deadly dragon-slayers and Utreshimon's mother has warned him against this kind. He was too young, he should flee, but they were too numerous around him ... He must be more cunning than those humans, and he will survive, to kill them later, to avenge his honor and take back his lair and treasure.) The dragon then shouted a terrible cry, the last blow of Ezekiel has been enough and the beast was deadly wounded. Unable to breath once again, the dragon crashed on the east wall of the courtyard, his large body still convulsed by spasms. All party members could see the dragon's demise. All ... or nearly all, Rousing Fox has finally finished his fight for life in the moat and has climbed the ruined wall. However he arrived too late to fight the dragon but he could see the deadly blow of Ezekiel. Alahija was still slain in the sandy square entrance, it was a miracle that her corpse was not more severely damaged during the fight. And Gandigoot ... arrives at the door with the party horses and his mighty warpony, they have fled when the dragon appeared and the gnome successfully find them and took them back, all or ... nearly all, as Ezekiel and Rousing Fox horses are still missing.) The monster defeated, Ezekiel turns his attention to Alahija. They all know that it is too late, they were too far away when she was attacked and Killasha is shaken to the core, she has fallen to her mission of protection. But the guardian angel of Alahija is strong and she is still alive! Ezekiel heal her and after some minutes she regains consciousness, tired and without any force but alive. With happiness and pride they decide to investigate the ruined keep. A bloody trail attracks their attention and, while the others help Alahija, Rousing Fox and Lywen enter the dragon's lair, a great hall partially colapsed. They discover two corpses, one already one third eaten, this one seems to have been a priest and the other probably a rogue. The priest's corpse wears an ocre robe and a strange holy symbol, a black triangle with a golden Y into it, each branch of the Y finishing in the middle of one side of the black triangle. A strange lilas colored stone mask lies beside the head of the priest. Diane and Killasha join them but they are unable to indentify the holy symbol, the dragon seems to have killed the two and dragged them into his lair. During this time, Ezekiel, Xaod and Gundigoot are still standing beside the dragon. Alahija is recovering and starts to be able to walk again by herself. Xaod has touched the dragon with his sword to be sure that he's dead for good and they are debating about what they should do with his corpse. They decide to behead it and take back the head to Hommlet as a proof of their fight. Ezekiel rises his two-handed sword and prepares for the strike. (Hey, what are they doing, they want to kill him for good. Utreshimon was sure to have duped them, but they seem to be more cunning than what he thought. The dragon wanted to escape later, when they are all out, and when the dreadfull fighter and the wizard have departed. But this very one fighter is preparing to kill him ... right now!) The blue dragon suddenly awakes, he was not dead, he was trying to dupe them. Ezekiel and Xaod attack him immediatly, but the dragon is able to take off. They pursue him outside the keep, Alahija and Gandigoot firing arrows onto the beast, but the monster is finally able to escape. This is a big reversal of fortune, they will not have any big dragon's head to show ... but on the road they are able to find back the two escaped horses and Gandigoot manages to calm them. (Ouch, it is even hard to flight with such serious injuries, Utreshimon is greatly surprised, angered but also afraid, for the first time of his life. He was nearly slain by some pityfull humans. What a shame! :mad: It will takes him months to recover from such injuries and he has lost his lair ... his precious treasure ... The dragon flights, fleeing the dreadfull party. He will perhaps never see them again, but if anytime it arrives, their visages are engraved in his memories forever ... with a strong desire for revenge ...) Ezekiel, Xaod, Killasha, Gandigoot and Alahija return to the moathouse. Lywen, Rousing Fox and Diane are still there exploring the dragon's lair. Rousing Fox has heard a sound coming from a dark passage, advancing with a torch of eternal light, he discovers a stair going down into the drakness. Following the advices of Lywen, he prudently comes back to the great hall. They discover another stair on the other side of the hall, but this one is ruined and was going up to the colapsed first floor. Diane is in the courtyard, trying to see into the moathouse rooms trough the small windows. The building seems abandonned as she's not able to see anyone or any sign of recent activity. The other members of the group rejoin them into the moathouse hall and Killasha remembers that the priest of Pelor has tell her about a group of ocre robed men who have been seen near hommlet two weeks ago, the dead priest should be a member of this group. Lywen and Diane decide to venture into the dark stair to investigate the source of the sound Rousing Fox has heard sooner. Lywen uses his last magic to turn Diane invisible and allow her to see in complete darkness. Without more hesitation, Diane silently sneak into the darkness. She starts to descend step by step and suddenly freezes when a sound comes from under the staircase. Two ugly creatures, she quickly identify as gnolls, go out of their concealment, they are wearing armors and use polearms, briefly discussing between them, they resume their hidding one minute later. This is not normal, gnolls are not organised creatures and there has to be someone or something behind the scene. Diane decide to go back and inform the other members of the party. They are tired, without any more magic and some if not all of them are hurt. There seems to be more danger in the cave and more fight. As someone said one day: "You must survive today to fight evil tomorrow." Even if Gandigoot would like to explore a little more, even if only the basement, the party decides to go back to Hommlet and rest before going further into the keep. So decided, they return to the small town of Hommlet, without any gnoll head and not even a small dragon scale :( but with two corpses wearing dark clothes (the ocre robed priest is wearing a dark chain mail under his robe) and as you know: a man wearing dark clothes is a bad man :) But some of them are asking themselves even more questions than before about the presence of dark priests around Hommlet. -- Return to Hommlet -- Arriving at the town, they stop by the castle to speak with Rufus and Brune. Xaod returns to the Inn of the Wecome Wench because as he said : "I will not put my hands into your business." With the two corpses, they produce quite an impression and Rufus immediately speaks with them in the courtyard of the castle. When they present him the holy symbol, he immediatly accepts to take them to Brune and they follow him to the dungeon. They do not wait long in the meating room of the dungeon this time, and soon are all around the table with Rufus and Brune. Diane presents the symbol to Brune and he seems even more serious than before, if it is possible. The old wizard asks them if they know the symbol, Lywen seems to know but is not sure and seems to fear what he think it is. He should hve been right as Brune explain what he knows about this dark holy symbol. The inverted dark triangle with a golden Y is the symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye, the dark gold behind the Temple of Elemental Evil and its perverted elemental cults. But this god is in fact dreaded Tharizdun, an extremely old god devoted to evil, insanity and complete destruction. This god was so utterly evil that he was trapped out of our plan of existence by the alliance of all the other gods (even the evil ones). He is now imprisoned since long centuries, and only thinks of one thing, to be free again, free to destroy Greyhawk. I don't know if you think as me, but it seems bad. This time this is not a small evil, not even a great evil as the Old One, but a big bad EVIL, Tharizdun himself. :o After a small lesson about the Temple and the time of Emridy Meadows, when the demoness Zugtmoy was trapped into the Temple depths, the group goes out of the keep. They plan to see Canoness Y'dey of the St Cuthbert church, with Brune's support, to ask for her help and magical powers. They want to summon the dead spirits of the two corpses they found at the moathouse, to ask them questions. At the church of St Cuthbert, Canoness Y'dey accepts to help them, but as she can't cast thoses spells today, they must wait for tomorrow. They agree to conduct the ceremony tomorrow in the middle of the morning. Even if Y'dey is pessimist about the priest (his face is probably too beaten to allow his corpse to speak), she thinks that the other one will be able to say something. It's the end of the day, their first day in Hommlet. One of them has already nearly played poker with death and they have all been seriously hurt. While they are on the road for the Inn of the Welcome Wench, they are all asking themselves if they will survive one more day in the : * Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil * Some technical details: - Alahija dropped to -4 life points before beeing able to stabilise with a great dice roll - Ezekiel and Killasha suffered 40 damage (on 6d8, quite a big score) during the dragon's breath, Killasha was dropped to 4 life points and Ezekiel survived because of his spells, however finishing at 8 Hps. - Utreshimon still had more than 40 Hps when he started to take off the second time, but Ezekiel used divine might to inflict 20 pts on one attack and when Utreshimon finally escaped with his third take off, after his bluff attemp, he was down to only 4 Hps (on his 108 at the beginning of the encounter). - The blue dragon is a big bluffer, he duped them with a huge 27 on his bluff check. And Xaod, the only one doubting a little about his death, only rolls a 13 on his sense motive check. Sneaky dragon :p THIS was a fight ... and surely not the last one ... ... in something like two weeks ... (the game session is this saturday) ----------------------------------------------------------- Episode THREE - Return to the Moathouse (How to plunder a dragon's lair?) [/QUOTE]
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