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Shadows of Greatness, a Forgotten Realms campaign UPDATED February 1, 2008
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<blockquote data-quote="sniffles" data-source="post: 3505047" data-attributes="member: 30035"><p><strong>Ropers and Ladders</strong></p><p></p><p>In the golden radiance of Lathander that shone from Liadan, I could see clearly the misshapen and hideously colored fungi that covered the floor of the subterranean chamber. I have never cared for such fungi as are considered a culinary delicacy by some. To me they taste of earth and decay.</p><p></p><p>The two small eye tyrants hovered over this unappetizing mass. Liadan's finger shot out a ray of intense light that blackened the fungi and left one eye creature blind. </p><p></p><p>At the center of the fungal mass stood what I had taken to be a roughly hewn pillar of black stone set with a single large ruby. Liadan then pointed to this pillar and exclaimed, "It's alive!" </p><p></p><p>Baran's hammer flew toward the second eye tyrant and sent it plummeting to the filthy floor like a rotten melon. Its companion moved nearer to where Liadan stood and fired a ray of energy from one of its smaller eyes, but as it was unable to see her it could not gauge its aim accurately. </p><p></p><p>Black ropes of flesh sprang forth from the pillar-creature and snapped out to ensnare my companions, including Baran. I moved to aid my friend, calling <em>Brimstone's </em> flames forth once more. One tendril lashed at me but failed to find purchase thanks to my enchanted ring, praise Corellon. I cut Baran free of the tentacle encircling him. </p><p></p><p>Amid the fungus some of the mushroom-like growths began to move toward us, seeking with tentacles of disgusting pink flesh. I began to dart in and out at the edge of the fungus patch, slashing at these horrid moving things. Their tentacles also could find no purchase on me, but they stung mightily where they struck. I slew three of the things as my friends carried on their own struggles with the blind eye tyrant, the moving fungi, and the black pillar-creature which Baran named a 'roper'.</p><p></p><p>While I dodged and wove among the moving fungi Baran's hammer, Pakkin's arrows, and Liadan's rays of light struck the roper again and again, until at last it began to retreat and finally slumped to the floor. When it was gone Liadan blasted the entire fungus patch with Lathander's light until all was black and still. Amid the charred remains she found a softly glowing spear.</p><p></p><p>Baran examined the patch of burnt fungi and declared that such a crop could not support more than a dozen eye tyrants. Thank the Seldarine that we would not have to face many more of those creatures. But there was no sign that Khai had ever been in this chamber. We must continue our search and face whatever other dangers the underground temple might hold.</p><p></p><p>Another of the beholder's tubular shafts descended from this room, but in this instance it contained iron rungs inset into the wall. A second shaft led upward into another chamber we had been unable to access during our earlier descent. Erim flew up through this shaft to seek evidence of Khai. Baran and Nekaya-Re then climbed up to examine that room. It was half filled with sand and Baran described signs that Khai might be injured, but he was no longer to be found there. </p><p></p><p>A light dropped down the descending shaft showed us that the ladder did not reach to the bottom. We descended to another level of the temple, finding ourselves among several circular chambers leading off the shaft. The first room we examined was decorated with carvings of beholders and a legend in the common tongue: Vision, Obedience, Loyalty. The walls were also inscribed with various runes, though even Erim's expansive knowledge could not decipher them. </p><p></p><p>Other statues lined one wall, these of human males. On closer examination it became apparent that these were no likenesses created by artisans, but were once living beings whose forms had been transformed into stone by the eye tyrants. But it appeared that they had already been deceased at the time of this transformation, for each of them bore a mortal wound. Long ago the Men of the Calim had worshipped and served the eye tyrants as their overlords, and it seemed that the beholders had attempted to show some appreciation for this service by preserving their dead soldiers here.</p><p></p><p>On one wall we espied a carving of an eye tyrant with each of its eyes occupied by a gem. Near this were inscriptions of human-like figures with lines leading from them to various of the gems. Liadan recognized that this carving was intended to explain how the eyes of a beholder function in their magical abilities. She surmised that the gems were also magical, and that the diagram further explained their use. She removed a black gem from the carving quite easily and demonstrated its use by attaching it to her mace. The gem clung there as if the weapon had been made to hold it. </p><p></p><p>Liadan explained that she could sense the purpose of the gem now that she wore it. Should the wearer take some hurt in battle, upon his next strike against his foe the gem would magically heal a portion of his wounds. The other gems each had a different enchantment. My friends began to remove them eagerly from the wall, knowing that our two previous conflicts had left us weakened and we might yet have more struggles ahead of us.</p><p></p><p>After some discussion it was determined that I should be given charge of the black gem, as I am often in the thick of battle. When I took it from Liadan I saw that it gave off a slightly unpleasant glow, but Nekaya-Re had already determined that the gems were not of an evil nature. I attached the gem to <em>Sulian's </em> hilt. Once all of the gems had been identified from the diagram, a second gem which would aid me in preventing a foe from disarming me was attached to <em>Brimstone's </em> pommel.</p><p></p><p>Having quickly distributed the gems among us, we resumed our search for Khai. As the ladder did not continue, we attached our ropes to it and climbed down. Below us I could see that the light dropped earlier illuminated a large circular chamber. The sand on the floor below the shaft moved strangely, like waves on the ocean.</p><p></p><p>Suspicious of this, Erim flew into the chamber to anchor the end of the rope at a point beyond this patch of oddly moving sand. I came down through the roof of the chamber to see that we were entering a very large structure. A dozen horizontal shafts led into this space, each of them marked by a stone pedestal. Seven of these pedestals contained a statue of a beholder, though in truth these appeared more to be petrified beholders like the men in the chamber above. Two of the pedestals had been shattered and lay in heaps of rubble on the floor. One plinth stood vacant. </p><p></p><p>As I observed this and uttered a brief prayer to Corellon that the eye tyrants would not be revived from their stony existence, a deep voice belowed from the one tunnel that did not terminate in a pedestal. I realized that the stiff form of Khai lay upon the floor near to the opening of the shaft. Then a large beholder, its flesh marred by age and its central eye missing altogether, emerged from the shaft and bellowed angrily, "How dare you defile the sacred sands?"</p><p></p><p>____________________</p><p><strong>Quips & Quotes:</strong></p><p></p><p>Devo: "There's a dead beholder on the floor."</p><p>Zora: "He's fertil-eye-zer."</p><p></p><p>Jubilee: "Does the roper take a snack of opportunity?"</p><p></p><p>Zora: "I bet the beholders have one big huge vision statement."</p><p></p><p>patv: "It's the law of conservation of hit points."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sniffles, post: 3505047, member: 30035"] [b]Ropers and Ladders[/b] In the golden radiance of Lathander that shone from Liadan, I could see clearly the misshapen and hideously colored fungi that covered the floor of the subterranean chamber. I have never cared for such fungi as are considered a culinary delicacy by some. To me they taste of earth and decay. The two small eye tyrants hovered over this unappetizing mass. Liadan's finger shot out a ray of intense light that blackened the fungi and left one eye creature blind. At the center of the fungal mass stood what I had taken to be a roughly hewn pillar of black stone set with a single large ruby. Liadan then pointed to this pillar and exclaimed, "It's alive!" Baran's hammer flew toward the second eye tyrant and sent it plummeting to the filthy floor like a rotten melon. Its companion moved nearer to where Liadan stood and fired a ray of energy from one of its smaller eyes, but as it was unable to see her it could not gauge its aim accurately. Black ropes of flesh sprang forth from the pillar-creature and snapped out to ensnare my companions, including Baran. I moved to aid my friend, calling [I]Brimstone's [/I] flames forth once more. One tendril lashed at me but failed to find purchase thanks to my enchanted ring, praise Corellon. I cut Baran free of the tentacle encircling him. Amid the fungus some of the mushroom-like growths began to move toward us, seeking with tentacles of disgusting pink flesh. I began to dart in and out at the edge of the fungus patch, slashing at these horrid moving things. Their tentacles also could find no purchase on me, but they stung mightily where they struck. I slew three of the things as my friends carried on their own struggles with the blind eye tyrant, the moving fungi, and the black pillar-creature which Baran named a 'roper'. While I dodged and wove among the moving fungi Baran's hammer, Pakkin's arrows, and Liadan's rays of light struck the roper again and again, until at last it began to retreat and finally slumped to the floor. When it was gone Liadan blasted the entire fungus patch with Lathander's light until all was black and still. Amid the charred remains she found a softly glowing spear. Baran examined the patch of burnt fungi and declared that such a crop could not support more than a dozen eye tyrants. Thank the Seldarine that we would not have to face many more of those creatures. But there was no sign that Khai had ever been in this chamber. We must continue our search and face whatever other dangers the underground temple might hold. Another of the beholder's tubular shafts descended from this room, but in this instance it contained iron rungs inset into the wall. A second shaft led upward into another chamber we had been unable to access during our earlier descent. Erim flew up through this shaft to seek evidence of Khai. Baran and Nekaya-Re then climbed up to examine that room. It was half filled with sand and Baran described signs that Khai might be injured, but he was no longer to be found there. A light dropped down the descending shaft showed us that the ladder did not reach to the bottom. We descended to another level of the temple, finding ourselves among several circular chambers leading off the shaft. The first room we examined was decorated with carvings of beholders and a legend in the common tongue: Vision, Obedience, Loyalty. The walls were also inscribed with various runes, though even Erim's expansive knowledge could not decipher them. Other statues lined one wall, these of human males. On closer examination it became apparent that these were no likenesses created by artisans, but were once living beings whose forms had been transformed into stone by the eye tyrants. But it appeared that they had already been deceased at the time of this transformation, for each of them bore a mortal wound. Long ago the Men of the Calim had worshipped and served the eye tyrants as their overlords, and it seemed that the beholders had attempted to show some appreciation for this service by preserving their dead soldiers here. On one wall we espied a carving of an eye tyrant with each of its eyes occupied by a gem. Near this were inscriptions of human-like figures with lines leading from them to various of the gems. Liadan recognized that this carving was intended to explain how the eyes of a beholder function in their magical abilities. She surmised that the gems were also magical, and that the diagram further explained their use. She removed a black gem from the carving quite easily and demonstrated its use by attaching it to her mace. The gem clung there as if the weapon had been made to hold it. Liadan explained that she could sense the purpose of the gem now that she wore it. Should the wearer take some hurt in battle, upon his next strike against his foe the gem would magically heal a portion of his wounds. The other gems each had a different enchantment. My friends began to remove them eagerly from the wall, knowing that our two previous conflicts had left us weakened and we might yet have more struggles ahead of us. After some discussion it was determined that I should be given charge of the black gem, as I am often in the thick of battle. When I took it from Liadan I saw that it gave off a slightly unpleasant glow, but Nekaya-Re had already determined that the gems were not of an evil nature. I attached the gem to [I]Sulian's [/I] hilt. Once all of the gems had been identified from the diagram, a second gem which would aid me in preventing a foe from disarming me was attached to [I]Brimstone's [/I] pommel. Having quickly distributed the gems among us, we resumed our search for Khai. As the ladder did not continue, we attached our ropes to it and climbed down. Below us I could see that the light dropped earlier illuminated a large circular chamber. The sand on the floor below the shaft moved strangely, like waves on the ocean. Suspicious of this, Erim flew into the chamber to anchor the end of the rope at a point beyond this patch of oddly moving sand. I came down through the roof of the chamber to see that we were entering a very large structure. A dozen horizontal shafts led into this space, each of them marked by a stone pedestal. Seven of these pedestals contained a statue of a beholder, though in truth these appeared more to be petrified beholders like the men in the chamber above. Two of the pedestals had been shattered and lay in heaps of rubble on the floor. One plinth stood vacant. As I observed this and uttered a brief prayer to Corellon that the eye tyrants would not be revived from their stony existence, a deep voice belowed from the one tunnel that did not terminate in a pedestal. I realized that the stiff form of Khai lay upon the floor near to the opening of the shaft. Then a large beholder, its flesh marred by age and its central eye missing altogether, emerged from the shaft and bellowed angrily, "How dare you defile the sacred sands?" ____________________ [B]Quips & Quotes:[/B] Devo: "There's a dead beholder on the floor." Zora: "He's fertil-eye-zer." Jubilee: "Does the roper take a snack of opportunity?" Zora: "I bet the beholders have one big huge vision statement." patv: "It's the law of conservation of hit points." [/QUOTE]
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