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Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
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<blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 3264419" data-attributes="member: 198"><p>For me, yes <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious :]" data-shortname=":]" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Heh! Saidan was actually just upset that they - well, Gareth - insulted him at his dinner table. Halflings are big on hospitality. And on riding dinosaurs and taking your head off with a boomerang at 20 paces, which I'm sure my PCs will discover shortly.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Poor Gareth. He just don't get no respect <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Between last session and this one (we're playing at noon today), Six has found an extra ally whom I think you'll find quite amusing. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ooh, a hit, a palpable hit! I have to say that the never-was-a-paladin thing has worked out as a very easy zinger to use on Gareth ever since the fight at the volcano. That's one he has a hard time arguing down.</p><p></p><p>And, without further ado, welcome to the Tree of Woe....</p><p></p><p></p><p>* * * * * * </p><p></p><p>The night passes uneventfully, except for Luna and Six detecting a distant glow and the sounds of movement in the distance during their watch. After persuading Luna that rushing out there and dropping a <em>flame strike</em> on whoever it is isn’t the most expedient approach, Six slips out cautiously to investigate. </p><p></p><p>He sees a flickering glow, like that given off by one or more torches, from around a corner far off to his right. By the time he moves up there quietly, the lights have moved along, and he doesn’t think it worthwhile to follow. Six rejoins Luna and the night passes with no more disturbances.</p><p></p><p>In the morning, or what is morning for those parts of Sharn not currently deep underground, the group rises, makes its preparations and leaves. Gareth uses a <em>restoration</em> to heal Six, but since he can only prepare one daily, a gloomy Deemin has to continue to suffer the damage inflicted by the forgewraiths. </p><p></p><p>When they are leaving, Six stops to examine the area he saw the lights in, and finds the marks of about six pairs of booted feet. Deemin mentions that there are others in Sharn who might have reasons for passing through the Depths. Daask, for example, evidently knows of some areas of the Depths, which its members use to travel more quickly between Khyber’s Gate in the Cogs and the surface of Sharn, instead of taking the long way through either Ashblack or Blackbones and up the standard access shafts. </p><p></p><p>The group heads onwards, and after about half an hour, Deemin stops at a large opening and says that they are about to enter an area he knows nothing about. Ythana Morr said she believes they should find Jalus Baine’s remains somewhere here, but the plans she showed him stretch over a square mile. So they will have to search around randomly and hope they get lucky.</p><p></p><p>The Angels proceed into the area and through it, searching for the ‘tree of woe’ and Jalus Baine. The area they have now entered is in especially decrepit condition, many parts of it seeming much more like natural caves than the remnants of earlier buildings, this appearance given the lie only by the odd remnants of a goblinoid statue or the sudden appearance of a couple of carved steps. The search takes the better part of an hour, and it is Nameless who first notices something unusual. Looking back over the area the group has passed, he sees the faint gleam of green light off to the side. </p><p></p><p>Investigation reveals that there is a fold in the stone, creating a wide opening running parallel to and bending into the wall, but only visible from one side. The opening extends fifteen feet before turning to the right, and it is this point that the light emanates from. Nameless permanent <em>arcane sight</em> immediately identifies the glow as possessing a strong necromantic aura. The Angels promptly begin to cast protective spells, but Six suggests they wait until he ascertains what the glow comes from. The big warforged moves into and through the long opening, moving much more silently than his size and material would indicate, and carefully looks around the corner.</p><p></p><p>Six gazes into an absolutely gigantic chamber, its walls extending beyond the reach of the darkvision bestowed by the symbiont circling his head. The ceiling, showing no signs of artificial creation, is a good sixty feet above his head, supported at wide intervals by huge natural stone pillars. The chamber is lit by the green light, the source of which stands approximately five hundred feet away. It looks like a fifty foot tall tree, its large branches bare of leaves, its gnarled bark gleaming starkly black in the glow that emanates from it. Next to it stands or partly kneels a human-sized figure in armor, but it is difficult for Six to say, since the figure is waist deep in some substance.</p><p></p><p>And not just the figure. As far as Six can see, the floor of the chamber is covered in what looks like ash. Six reaches down and picks up a handful. The fine gray powder trickles between his fingers, and to his surprise, some of it hangs momentarily in the air as it falls, forming arcane symbols like those he has seen Nameless study when preparing his spells. After a second, the symbols fall apart into ash again. Six produces his extensible pole and prods the ash in places, causing puffs of it to erupt, and on a couple of occasions, such symbols again appear. </p><p></p><p>Unsure what it means, Six takes a piled handful of ash and walks back to the others, to explain what he saw. After having done so, he drops some of the ash, causing two more symbols to appear. With a glance, Nameless identifies them as ones commonly used to identify the <em>mage armor</em> and <em>stinking cloud</em> spells. He finds that the ash detects faintly of conjuration, with two distinct auras, but only in spots. Six pockets what remains of the ash for later study, and the group prepares itself to enter, casting a plethora of protective spells.</p><p></p><p>Watching them do so, Deemin says, “You know – I think I’ll feel a lot happier staying out of your way while you investigate. I think I’ll wait over there.” He waves back the way they came. “Maybe past a couple of turns over there.”</p><p></p><p>“That’s a good idea,” says Nameless. “Try not to be eaten by anything.”</p><p></p><p>Deemin gives him a weak grin and walks away. After he is gone and their preparations are done, the Angels proceed into the chamber. Stopping at the entrance, Nameless looks around. His <em>arcane sight</em> reveals scores of spots in the ash with faint magical auras. Curiously, each spot has exactly six faint auras – three conjurations, two evocations and one necromantic. A little prodding by Six in one such spot causes a number of symbols to spiral up, and after checking another two, Nameless is certain that it is the same six symbols, which represent the spells <em>mage armor</em>, <em>magic missile</em>, <em>obscuring mist</em>, <em>scorching ray</em>, <em>stinking cloud</em> and <em>vampiric touch</em>. Interestingly, the symbols are not magical themselves. </p><p></p><p>Not wanting to touch the ash, Nameless uses his <em>overland flight</em> to fly a good thirty feet over it, and Korm grows a fair of large hawk-wings to do the same. The others have to wade through the ash, which they find to be nearly three feet deep. While it is too light to create any kind of impediment, the inability to see the rocky ground underneath, as well as the constant cloud (often bearing the arcane symbols) that is kicked up by their passage, does slow them down.</p><p></p><p>As they advance, the rest of the Angels note that the air is extremely dry, bearing a faint smell of putrefaction, neither of which Six – with his limited senses of smell and touch – had noticed. They also note that the tree resembles an oak, albeit a leafless one. It has only five large branches, all twisted and roughly pointing upwards, causing it to resemble nothing so much as a gnarled, clawed hand reaching out of the ash. There is a single thinner, smaller branch growing out at a diagonal from the blackened bark a couple of feet above the ash, which is what the figure next to it is holding onto, with both hands above his head, elbows bent as if he was pulling or pushing on it. As they near him, they can see that his armor clearly bears symbols of the Silver Flame, implying that he is Jalus Baine. There is, however, no signs of a weapon.</p><p></p><p>Once they are within sixty feet, Nameless detects a strong necromantic aura from the tree, along with faint and moderate evocation, while the man’s armor radiates strong abjuration magic. The branch he is holding onto detects of moderate conjuration and evocation. Nameless also notices, as do his companions, that the sickly green glow is concentrated in a few spots. In half a dozen places, small fruits resembling dried prunes hang upon the branches. As they approach, one of the fruits suddenly falls off. As it descends, the fruit begins to fall apart into ash, and in the space of a second, dissolves into nothingness a few inches before it hits the ash on the ground. The ash it dissolves into drifts onto the layers of it already surrounding the twenty foot wide base of the tree. Instantly, another fruit begins to blossom in the previous one’s place, growing quickly to the same size.</p><p></p><p>“Okay,” says Korm, peering suspiciously at the tree, “I think we found your dead hero, and we found the tree and its fruits. So how do we go about doing what that <em>divination</em> said about making the fruits bloom and withering it for ever?”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know,” says Nameless, “And frankly, I think we should just grab the body, stuff it in the <em>portable hole</em> and leave.”</p><p></p><p>“Good idea,” says Six, walking below him. He moves closer to the tree, and when he is about thirty feet away, a strange sensation of distaste and disgust overtakes him, so strong that it momentarily nauseates him (an especially unusual feeling since the warforged actually lacks any internal organs to be nauseated with). Gareth and Luna encounter the same, the former recognizing it as the same feeling he gets when <em>detect</em>ing a particularly virulent evil. Luckily, the feeling quickly passes.</p><p></p><p>Luna growls at the sensation and then walks over to the armored figure. She sniffs it, finding no scent, and lifts her paw to flip back the visor, but Gareth frowns and smacks at her arm. “Don’t desecrate the dead.”</p><p></p><p>Six says what Luna’s irritated gesture says. “We just want to check what state he’s in.” </p><p></p><p>“There’s no need,” says Gareth. “Help me put the body in the <em>portable hole</em>.”</p><p></p><p>Six shrugs and tries to create a space to put down and open the <em> hole</em>, but the ash continues to pour back into the space and into the magical opening. He then goes over and tries to lift the figure, only to discover that its hands are locked tightly around the branch. Luna comes over to try and pull it off. As she wraps her forelegs around it and pulls, the branch extends a few inches, with an odd sucking sound, and then stops.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t break the fingers!” says Gareth, alarmed.</p><p></p><p>“Fine!” says Six, freeing his chain. “I’ll just take the branch off.” He swings, and even though his adamantine chain is ill-suited to the task, the warforged assumes that his strength and its nature will snap the branch like a twig. Instead, the chain just strips inches of bark off the branch, which vibrates but doesn’t break. Surprised, Luna reaches up with a paw and strikes at the branch, but again, it does not break.</p><p></p><p>Instead, a number of things occur simultaneously. There is the sound of a soft groan – from within the tree, which quivers in response to Luna’s blow as if it had a number of giants shaking it. As it shakes, all of the fruits fall off the blackened branches. As before, they begin to turn to ash as they fall.</p><p></p><p>Unsure what is going on, Luna reflexively throws her bulk forward, catching one in a paw and letting two more land on her, though all three are ash moments afterwards. Two of the remaining three fruits, beginning their fall closer to the ground due to the shaking of the tree, hit the ash before they are completely dissolved.</p><p></p><p>Instantly, there is a sound around the entire chamber like the in-drawing of a huge breath, which is instantly replaced by the sound of a blowing wind, beginning all around the chamber and moving inwards. A loud rustling accompanies it, as the ash is blown into the air, or so the Angels assume, since they cannot see it. What they can see is that the bark of the tree is beginning to change texture, becoming seemingly less physical but still remaining darkly opaque, as if it were changing to solid shadow, while its sickly green gleam fades as rapidly. Perhaps most alarmingly, two voices are clearly heard, each in a voice that is cracked and dry, as if parched, intoning the words of what everyone except Six recognizes as clerical spells.</p><p></p><p>“Looks like we have company!” says Korm, flapping his wings and rising higher, while casting a protective spell. The others follow suit and take up defensive positions. Within seconds, the tree behind them is almost all shadow, the green light that emanated from it previously having shrunk and gone. Luckily, all of the Angels can either see naturally in the darkness or have magical aid allowing them to do so. So they see not only the tree but also the shapes within its exterior, dimly visible through the shadows that it now consists of. They are two human-sized figures, evidently the source of the spellcasting the Angels hear, now occurring in strong and clear tones, both of them standing upon a long, thick cubical structure.</p><p></p><p>The attention of the adventurers, however, is drawn outwards, where they can not just hear the onrushing wind, but see its effects too, as a wall of ash, blown up to the ceiling, advances towards them. Korm and Nameless, flying high above the ground, think for a moment that they can see movement and figures in the advancing wall, but they have no time to decide or communicate it, before the advancing walls envelop them, meeting in the center where the tree stands.</p><p></p><p>Or stood, as the Angels see a second later, as the ash disappears into nothingness, leaving the cavern floor bare. The now shadow-tree is gone with it, clearly revealing the two figures within and the structure that supports them. It is a stone altar, carved of some dark gray stone, with holy symbols running around its sides. Or unholy symbols, as Gareth and Nameless realize, since there are two that recur constantly. One is the curved fang-dagger of the Keeper, deity of death and decay, while the other is the blood-smeared bone-blades of the Mockery, lord of treachery and betrayal.</p><p></p><p>One such similar symbol is worn by each of the figures. The symbol of the Mockery hangs upon the broad but desiccated chest of the first figure, its withered and undead skin, as well as the slavering fangs marking it as a ghoul. The dark flames that wreathe its clenched fists, however, are something new. Beside it stands – or rather floats – the figure wearing the Keeper’s symbol, a spectral form that bestows a ghostly grin upon the Angels. </p><p></p><p>Beside them is the remnants of the ‘branch’ the dead man was holding, its bark dissipated with the rest of the tree to reveal what was within. It is a longspear, its point embedded deeply within a large crack that splits the altar. Around the split is a large, amorphous black shape, as if something had somehow been burned into the stone of the altar.</p><p></p><p>Though they instantly note these singular sights, the Angels are significantly more focused on what the ash revealed in its disappearance, or rather, what it was transmuted into. In every open space around, before, behind and between them stands an identical figure. They are roughly humanoid, but with mottled and decaying flesh drawn tight over their bones. Their eyes glow red with unholy hunger, and sharp teeth gleam between fleshless lips. As far as their darkvision extends, and evidently far beyond, all around the Angels stand thousands of ghouls.</p><p></p><p>After centuries of waiting, the fruits of the tree of woe have finally come to bloom.</p><p></p><p>* * * * * *</p><p></p><p>Note: Yes, I dropped 5000 ghouls on the party. And it's all Rackhir's fault, since he said a couple sessions ago (when we were discussing the party's increased firepower), "You really need to let us take on an army sometime." Being the kindly, gentle and gracious DM that I am, I hurried home to find a way to fulfil his desire.</p><p></p><p>And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="shilsen, post: 3264419, member: 198"] For me, yes :] Heh! Saidan was actually just upset that they - well, Gareth - insulted him at his dinner table. Halflings are big on hospitality. And on riding dinosaurs and taking your head off with a boomerang at 20 paces, which I'm sure my PCs will discover shortly. Poor Gareth. He just don't get no respect :) Between last session and this one (we're playing at noon today), Six has found an extra ally whom I think you'll find quite amusing. Ooh, a hit, a palpable hit! I have to say that the never-was-a-paladin thing has worked out as a very easy zinger to use on Gareth ever since the fight at the volcano. That's one he has a hard time arguing down. And, without further ado, welcome to the Tree of Woe.... * * * * * * The night passes uneventfully, except for Luna and Six detecting a distant glow and the sounds of movement in the distance during their watch. After persuading Luna that rushing out there and dropping a [i]flame strike[/i] on whoever it is isn’t the most expedient approach, Six slips out cautiously to investigate. He sees a flickering glow, like that given off by one or more torches, from around a corner far off to his right. By the time he moves up there quietly, the lights have moved along, and he doesn’t think it worthwhile to follow. Six rejoins Luna and the night passes with no more disturbances. In the morning, or what is morning for those parts of Sharn not currently deep underground, the group rises, makes its preparations and leaves. Gareth uses a [i]restoration[/i] to heal Six, but since he can only prepare one daily, a gloomy Deemin has to continue to suffer the damage inflicted by the forgewraiths. When they are leaving, Six stops to examine the area he saw the lights in, and finds the marks of about six pairs of booted feet. Deemin mentions that there are others in Sharn who might have reasons for passing through the Depths. Daask, for example, evidently knows of some areas of the Depths, which its members use to travel more quickly between Khyber’s Gate in the Cogs and the surface of Sharn, instead of taking the long way through either Ashblack or Blackbones and up the standard access shafts. The group heads onwards, and after about half an hour, Deemin stops at a large opening and says that they are about to enter an area he knows nothing about. Ythana Morr said she believes they should find Jalus Baine’s remains somewhere here, but the plans she showed him stretch over a square mile. So they will have to search around randomly and hope they get lucky. The Angels proceed into the area and through it, searching for the ‘tree of woe’ and Jalus Baine. The area they have now entered is in especially decrepit condition, many parts of it seeming much more like natural caves than the remnants of earlier buildings, this appearance given the lie only by the odd remnants of a goblinoid statue or the sudden appearance of a couple of carved steps. The search takes the better part of an hour, and it is Nameless who first notices something unusual. Looking back over the area the group has passed, he sees the faint gleam of green light off to the side. Investigation reveals that there is a fold in the stone, creating a wide opening running parallel to and bending into the wall, but only visible from one side. The opening extends fifteen feet before turning to the right, and it is this point that the light emanates from. Nameless permanent [i]arcane sight[/i] immediately identifies the glow as possessing a strong necromantic aura. The Angels promptly begin to cast protective spells, but Six suggests they wait until he ascertains what the glow comes from. The big warforged moves into and through the long opening, moving much more silently than his size and material would indicate, and carefully looks around the corner. Six gazes into an absolutely gigantic chamber, its walls extending beyond the reach of the darkvision bestowed by the symbiont circling his head. The ceiling, showing no signs of artificial creation, is a good sixty feet above his head, supported at wide intervals by huge natural stone pillars. The chamber is lit by the green light, the source of which stands approximately five hundred feet away. It looks like a fifty foot tall tree, its large branches bare of leaves, its gnarled bark gleaming starkly black in the glow that emanates from it. Next to it stands or partly kneels a human-sized figure in armor, but it is difficult for Six to say, since the figure is waist deep in some substance. And not just the figure. As far as Six can see, the floor of the chamber is covered in what looks like ash. Six reaches down and picks up a handful. The fine gray powder trickles between his fingers, and to his surprise, some of it hangs momentarily in the air as it falls, forming arcane symbols like those he has seen Nameless study when preparing his spells. After a second, the symbols fall apart into ash again. Six produces his extensible pole and prods the ash in places, causing puffs of it to erupt, and on a couple of occasions, such symbols again appear. Unsure what it means, Six takes a piled handful of ash and walks back to the others, to explain what he saw. After having done so, he drops some of the ash, causing two more symbols to appear. With a glance, Nameless identifies them as ones commonly used to identify the [i]mage armor[/i] and [i]stinking cloud[/i] spells. He finds that the ash detects faintly of conjuration, with two distinct auras, but only in spots. Six pockets what remains of the ash for later study, and the group prepares itself to enter, casting a plethora of protective spells. Watching them do so, Deemin says, “You know – I think I’ll feel a lot happier staying out of your way while you investigate. I think I’ll wait over there.” He waves back the way they came. “Maybe past a couple of turns over there.” “That’s a good idea,” says Nameless. “Try not to be eaten by anything.” Deemin gives him a weak grin and walks away. After he is gone and their preparations are done, the Angels proceed into the chamber. Stopping at the entrance, Nameless looks around. His [i]arcane sight[/i] reveals scores of spots in the ash with faint magical auras. Curiously, each spot has exactly six faint auras – three conjurations, two evocations and one necromantic. A little prodding by Six in one such spot causes a number of symbols to spiral up, and after checking another two, Nameless is certain that it is the same six symbols, which represent the spells [i]mage armor[/i], [i]magic missile[/i], [i]obscuring mist[/i], [i]scorching ray[/i], [i]stinking cloud[/i] and [i]vampiric touch[/i]. Interestingly, the symbols are not magical themselves. Not wanting to touch the ash, Nameless uses his [i]overland flight[/i] to fly a good thirty feet over it, and Korm grows a fair of large hawk-wings to do the same. The others have to wade through the ash, which they find to be nearly three feet deep. While it is too light to create any kind of impediment, the inability to see the rocky ground underneath, as well as the constant cloud (often bearing the arcane symbols) that is kicked up by their passage, does slow them down. As they advance, the rest of the Angels note that the air is extremely dry, bearing a faint smell of putrefaction, neither of which Six – with his limited senses of smell and touch – had noticed. They also note that the tree resembles an oak, albeit a leafless one. It has only five large branches, all twisted and roughly pointing upwards, causing it to resemble nothing so much as a gnarled, clawed hand reaching out of the ash. There is a single thinner, smaller branch growing out at a diagonal from the blackened bark a couple of feet above the ash, which is what the figure next to it is holding onto, with both hands above his head, elbows bent as if he was pulling or pushing on it. As they near him, they can see that his armor clearly bears symbols of the Silver Flame, implying that he is Jalus Baine. There is, however, no signs of a weapon. Once they are within sixty feet, Nameless detects a strong necromantic aura from the tree, along with faint and moderate evocation, while the man’s armor radiates strong abjuration magic. The branch he is holding onto detects of moderate conjuration and evocation. Nameless also notices, as do his companions, that the sickly green glow is concentrated in a few spots. In half a dozen places, small fruits resembling dried prunes hang upon the branches. As they approach, one of the fruits suddenly falls off. As it descends, the fruit begins to fall apart into ash, and in the space of a second, dissolves into nothingness a few inches before it hits the ash on the ground. The ash it dissolves into drifts onto the layers of it already surrounding the twenty foot wide base of the tree. Instantly, another fruit begins to blossom in the previous one’s place, growing quickly to the same size. “Okay,” says Korm, peering suspiciously at the tree, “I think we found your dead hero, and we found the tree and its fruits. So how do we go about doing what that [i]divination[/i] said about making the fruits bloom and withering it for ever?” “I don’t know,” says Nameless, “And frankly, I think we should just grab the body, stuff it in the [i]portable hole[/i] and leave.” “Good idea,” says Six, walking below him. He moves closer to the tree, and when he is about thirty feet away, a strange sensation of distaste and disgust overtakes him, so strong that it momentarily nauseates him (an especially unusual feeling since the warforged actually lacks any internal organs to be nauseated with). Gareth and Luna encounter the same, the former recognizing it as the same feeling he gets when [i]detect[/i]ing a particularly virulent evil. Luckily, the feeling quickly passes. Luna growls at the sensation and then walks over to the armored figure. She sniffs it, finding no scent, and lifts her paw to flip back the visor, but Gareth frowns and smacks at her arm. “Don’t desecrate the dead.” Six says what Luna’s irritated gesture says. “We just want to check what state he’s in.” “There’s no need,” says Gareth. “Help me put the body in the [i]portable hole[/i].” Six shrugs and tries to create a space to put down and open the [i] hole[/i], but the ash continues to pour back into the space and into the magical opening. He then goes over and tries to lift the figure, only to discover that its hands are locked tightly around the branch. Luna comes over to try and pull it off. As she wraps her forelegs around it and pulls, the branch extends a few inches, with an odd sucking sound, and then stops. “Don’t break the fingers!” says Gareth, alarmed. “Fine!” says Six, freeing his chain. “I’ll just take the branch off.” He swings, and even though his adamantine chain is ill-suited to the task, the warforged assumes that his strength and its nature will snap the branch like a twig. Instead, the chain just strips inches of bark off the branch, which vibrates but doesn’t break. Surprised, Luna reaches up with a paw and strikes at the branch, but again, it does not break. Instead, a number of things occur simultaneously. There is the sound of a soft groan – from within the tree, which quivers in response to Luna’s blow as if it had a number of giants shaking it. As it shakes, all of the fruits fall off the blackened branches. As before, they begin to turn to ash as they fall. Unsure what is going on, Luna reflexively throws her bulk forward, catching one in a paw and letting two more land on her, though all three are ash moments afterwards. Two of the remaining three fruits, beginning their fall closer to the ground due to the shaking of the tree, hit the ash before they are completely dissolved. Instantly, there is a sound around the entire chamber like the in-drawing of a huge breath, which is instantly replaced by the sound of a blowing wind, beginning all around the chamber and moving inwards. A loud rustling accompanies it, as the ash is blown into the air, or so the Angels assume, since they cannot see it. What they can see is that the bark of the tree is beginning to change texture, becoming seemingly less physical but still remaining darkly opaque, as if it were changing to solid shadow, while its sickly green gleam fades as rapidly. Perhaps most alarmingly, two voices are clearly heard, each in a voice that is cracked and dry, as if parched, intoning the words of what everyone except Six recognizes as clerical spells. “Looks like we have company!” says Korm, flapping his wings and rising higher, while casting a protective spell. The others follow suit and take up defensive positions. Within seconds, the tree behind them is almost all shadow, the green light that emanated from it previously having shrunk and gone. Luckily, all of the Angels can either see naturally in the darkness or have magical aid allowing them to do so. So they see not only the tree but also the shapes within its exterior, dimly visible through the shadows that it now consists of. They are two human-sized figures, evidently the source of the spellcasting the Angels hear, now occurring in strong and clear tones, both of them standing upon a long, thick cubical structure. The attention of the adventurers, however, is drawn outwards, where they can not just hear the onrushing wind, but see its effects too, as a wall of ash, blown up to the ceiling, advances towards them. Korm and Nameless, flying high above the ground, think for a moment that they can see movement and figures in the advancing wall, but they have no time to decide or communicate it, before the advancing walls envelop them, meeting in the center where the tree stands. Or stood, as the Angels see a second later, as the ash disappears into nothingness, leaving the cavern floor bare. The now shadow-tree is gone with it, clearly revealing the two figures within and the structure that supports them. It is a stone altar, carved of some dark gray stone, with holy symbols running around its sides. Or unholy symbols, as Gareth and Nameless realize, since there are two that recur constantly. One is the curved fang-dagger of the Keeper, deity of death and decay, while the other is the blood-smeared bone-blades of the Mockery, lord of treachery and betrayal. One such similar symbol is worn by each of the figures. The symbol of the Mockery hangs upon the broad but desiccated chest of the first figure, its withered and undead skin, as well as the slavering fangs marking it as a ghoul. The dark flames that wreathe its clenched fists, however, are something new. Beside it stands – or rather floats – the figure wearing the Keeper’s symbol, a spectral form that bestows a ghostly grin upon the Angels. Beside them is the remnants of the ‘branch’ the dead man was holding, its bark dissipated with the rest of the tree to reveal what was within. It is a longspear, its point embedded deeply within a large crack that splits the altar. Around the split is a large, amorphous black shape, as if something had somehow been burned into the stone of the altar. Though they instantly note these singular sights, the Angels are significantly more focused on what the ash revealed in its disappearance, or rather, what it was transmuted into. In every open space around, before, behind and between them stands an identical figure. They are roughly humanoid, but with mottled and decaying flesh drawn tight over their bones. Their eyes glow red with unholy hunger, and sharp teeth gleam between fleshless lips. As far as their darkvision extends, and evidently far beyond, all around the Angels stand thousands of ghouls. After centuries of waiting, the fruits of the tree of woe have finally come to bloom. * * * * * * Note: Yes, I dropped 5000 ghouls on the party. And it's all Rackhir's fault, since he said a couple sessions ago (when we were discussing the party's increased firepower), "You really need to let us take on an army sometime." Being the kindly, gentle and gracious DM that I am, I hurried home to find a way to fulfil his desire. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it. [/QUOTE]
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Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
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