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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7016940" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 29: THE GATES OF HELL</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 9 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Dates: 1 January and 4 February 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>With nothing to do but kill time north of the Clatspur Mountains while their various weapons were upgraded, the Kordovian Adventurers Guild members opted to do a bit of exploring. With two rather large wagons, one a flatbed pulled by two mules and the other a covered Vistani wagon pulled by two black draft horses, they opted to stick to the roads - which, in this part of the world, were more often than not simple dirt tracks. As usual, Finoula rode ahead of the wagons on her pony Daisy and with her trained timber wolf Wrath loping along at her side, and Binkadink did the same on his jackalope mount, Obvious. While they were beyond the true mountains of the Clatspur range, the area was still filled with rocky hills.</p><p></p><p>As the wagon train crested one such hill and followed the dirt road around another, a strange sight became visible: just up ahead, one of the rocky hills had been carved into the semblance of an enormous skull; the open cave forming its mouth had four hanging stalactites in a fortunate placement to suggest demonic fangs. The visiting heroes from Kordovia weren't the only ones looking at the carved skull, either, as a line of orcs and goblins were headed directly toward the skull, escorted by a quartet of burly human men dressed in simple furs and skins.</p><p></p><p>Riding on his favorite perch on the top of the Vistani wagon, Castillan's keen elven eyes picked up some details about this other group. The orcs were all either women or children - what had originally looked like goblins were actually orcish young. Castillan's initial feelings warred with themselves, his disdain for the orcish race as a whole (with a few notable exceptions, like Lord Cavelthorne's former bodyguard Jorg Battleborn and Kordovia's own King Galrich, although they were both technically half-breeds) conflicting with his own notions of chivalry. It was an orderly line, helped along no doubt by the chains connecting to the collars around each orc's neck. But the orcs didn't seem to be fighting against their captors - quite the opposite, in fact: they shuffled along as if in a daze, oblivious to all around them.</p><p></p><p>The barbarians escorting them weren't oblivious to their surroundings, however. One spotted the group of newcomers and stepped away from his position at the back of the slave train to head over to greet them. A greataxe jutted above his broad shoulder but it stayed in place. He stopped several paces away from Finoula, at the head of the traveling assembly, as the wagons came to a halt behind her. The barbarian held up an open hand in greeting and smiled at the elven ranger. She gave him a brief nod and likewise kept her own weapons sheathed. Like Castillan, she was no friend to orcs, but the sight of orc children in chains didn't sit well with her.</p><p></p><p>"You are strangers," announced the barbarian, looking over the group. He gave special attention to Obvious; it was apparent he'd never seen a jackalope before.</p><p></p><p>"We are from south of the mountains," answered Finoula, providing no further details. "What are you doing with the orc prisoners?" She indicated the slave train, which had not slowed its shuffling progress toward the carved skull, with a nod of her head.</p><p></p><p>Before the barbarian could answer, another voice interrupted. Castillan had seen a glow arise in the eye sockets of the skull while Finoula and the barbarian had exchanged greetings, and another of the nomads escorting the orc slaves called out, "The devils approach!" </p><p></p><p>A new voice boomed from the direction of the skull; from the top of the Vistani wagon, Castillan could see the top half of a red-skinned devil stepping forward from the back of the eye-hole, his body sheathed in an aura of dancing flames.</p><p></p><p>"WHAT HAVE WE HERE? I SEE YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE NORMAL TRIBUTE, BUT ARE THESE STRANGERS AN ADDITION TO YOUR WEEKLY GIFTS? THE ARCHLORD WILL BE PLEASED! SEND THEM IN AT ONCE WITH THE OTHERS!"</p><p></p><p>A brief wince crossed the barbarian's face at the devil's words, but he didn't allow more than a moment of hesitation and regret before he pulled the greataxe from his back in a single fluid motion. Then he started racing forward towards Finoula, another of his companions leaving the slave train and racing behind him. He didn't anticipate Finoula's rapid response, possibly not having seen the whip she wore coiled on her right hip, as he had been standing to her left. But she pulled out her whip, mentally commanded it to extend its thorns, and sent it cracking over Daisy's head at the first barbarian before he had crossed half of the distance between them.</p><p></p><p>She didn't expect him to react so quickly, though, for as it came striking and winding around his left leg he reached out and grabbed it, gripping it in his meaty left hand and giving the whip a painful tug - for the section he had grabbed was covered in thorns, just as was the rest of its length. Blood pooled in his left palm, but Finoula was jerked forward from her saddle. She released her grip on her <em>whip of thorns</em> rather than allow herself to be yanked to the ground in a heap, but then swung her right leg over Daisy's back and leaped to the pony's left on her own volition. Sitting in the driver's seat of the Vistani wagon, Aithanar couldn't help but be impressed by Finoula's grace in battle.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink gave his jackalope an encouraging kick with his legs and Obvious sprang forward. The gnome swung his glaive - his father's battle-worn one, not the masterwork glaive he was having upgraded back at Pentaclus's workshop - at the second barbarian as Obvious bounded past him, en route to the nomad still back at the end of the line of chained orcs. The gnome had figured he'd use his mount's speed to take the battle to those farthest away, confident that his friends could handle those closest at hand. The barbarian he approached left his greataxe on his back, pulling up what the gnome at first glance thought was some sort of flute - before his foe used it to fire a dart at his head. Binkadink ducked in time and felt the dart bounce off the antlers of his helmet, then swung his glaive to point at his new target as Obvious rapidly closed the gap between them.</p><p></p><p>Now there were three barbarians in active combat against the heroes, while the fourth continued on with his primary mission: getting the slaves into the cave's mouth. As Castillan leapt down from the top of the Vistani wagon, he saw the light diminish from the eyes of the carved skull as the orcs vanished inside. But then his attention was on the second barbarian who had raced at them. Wrath, having been closer to the target than the elf, beat him to the attack, biting down on the nomad's leg and wrenching him to the ground. As the bounder headed toward him he heard Ingebold leading the mules that way as well, no doubt reasoning Franco and Tantrum could take her to the fray faster than her own dwarven legs could carry her. Standing in the back of the mule wagon, Darrien let loose arrows at the barbarians apparently in league with devils.</p><p></p><p>Finoula grabbed up the end of her dropped <em>whip of thorns</em>, and, on one knee, stared down the barbarian she'd hit with it earlier. He brought a blowgun up to his lips and shot a dart at her that hit her in the side of the neck. She could feel the poison starting to work, making her feel slightly woozy and light-headed, but she shook her head to focus her concentration and activated her <em>amulet of lightning</em>. Her body was, in an instant, transferred into a bolt of electricity that blasted through the barbarian's frame and then reformed on the other side of him. She spun back to face her foe, but he fell face-first to the ground, unmoving.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert and Mudpie exited from the back of the Vistani wagon, Aithanar having decided the best way to keep the draft horses from harm was to let them stay where they were, for any attempts to turn them around would take them within striking distance of the barbarians and their greataxes. The elf leaped down and drew his longsword, but remained in a defensive stance near the horses knowing his brother Castillan and his friends didn't need his help in a fight with four barbarians - for the one who had brought the slave train into the cave now emerged ready to aid his brothers in battle. The newcomer shot a dart at Binkadink, but it too missed its foe.</p><p></p><p>Castillan, seeing Ingebold's approach to the barbarian Wrath had pinned to the ground, ran past him and headed around to flank the one Binkadink was battling from the back of his jackalope. While the gnome distracted the nomad with strikes from his glaive, Castillan got in close and brought his new <em>stonepiercer dagger</em> sinking all the way to its hilt in the barbarian's side. The stabbed nomad gave a grunt of surprise and pain, then pitched forward in a heap.</p><p></p><p>The fallen barbarian looked up at his slayer. "You've...you've killed us all," he whispered with his final breath, blood dripping from his mouth. "Without our weekly sacrifices...the devils will spring forth from Hell...slay everyone. We were...keeping area safe. Now?" He gave a small laugh that included a bubble of blood and looked up at Castillan. "You're all just as dead as me." And with that final thought, the life left his body.</p><p></p><p>Over by the mule wagon, the barbarian on the ground being chewed on by a timber wolf grabbed up his greataxe and swung it into Wrath's side. The wolf let out a howl of pain, blood staining his fur as it poured from a deep gash along his ribs. Ingebold's warhammer finished off the barbarian, then she applied one of her most powerful healing spells to the wounded wolf, causing the sides of his wound to seal back up together and his cracked ribs to mend themselves.</p><p></p><p>"Leave one alive for questioning!" called out Gilbert, approaching at a slow walk and casting an extended <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself and his earth elemental familiar. But Darrien had already activated his <em>amber amulet of vermin</em>, summoning forth his giant praying mantis, who had snatched up the fourth and final barbarian in his claws. Unfortunately, the mantis could be mentally directed toward a particular enemy by its master but once unleashed against a foe didn't quite understand the concept of <em>not</em> killing its prey. The fourth barbarian was crushed between the insect's powerful claws and had his throat ripped out, the insect gorging itself while it could as if knew its time outside the imprisoning amber of Darrien's necklace was limited. It did get in quite a few bites of tasty flesh before it vanished, the duration of its time outside the amulet having been used up.</p><p></p><p>"Well, that just lovely," griped Gilbert. "Now we not get any info from them."</p><p></p><p>"I got some info from them," pointed out Castillan, explaining the last dying words of the barbarian he'd stabbed in the back with his enchanted dagger.</p><p></p><p>"Pfffh!" snorted Gilbert. "Those devils playing you, stupid!" he chastised the nearest corpse. "They probably not even devils--anybody get good look at them?" Castillan reported what he'd seen standing in the eye-hole of the carved skull. "How big?" demanded Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"I dunno," replied the bounder. "How big's the eye-hole?"</p><p></p><p>The group approached the cave opening. Off to the left of the gaping mouth, the words "ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER" had been inscribed in blocky, runic letters. Heading into the cave, Binkadink stood in one of the empty eye-holes of the carved skull, observing that it was a good watch-point from which to see when anyone was approaching. But the ceiling wasn't all that much taller than he was, and he stood just over three feet tall with his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em> retracted.</p><p></p><p>"They not even devils!" scoffed Gilbert. "I bet you anything this just a bunch of mephits playing games. I think we move on from here."</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute--why would mephits want orc women and children delivered to them weekly?" asked the gnome. "Do they even eat?"</p><p></p><p>Gilbert stroked his beard in thought over that, when Darrien added another point to consider. "Dragons eat," he said quietly.</p><p></p><p>Everybody looked his way expectantly. "We've heard from a couple different sources now about a red dragon demanding tribute somewhere around here," the half-elf ranger said. "We could discount it had we only heard it from those centaurs, since they were really lamias out to trick us. But the smiths had heard the stories as well."</p><p></p><p>"Norbert even said the dragon was fiendish," pointed out Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>"We cannae let the dragon continue t' extort th' folks around here," pointed out Ingebold. "We need t' put a stop to 'im."</p><p></p><p>Gilbert let out a great sigh, realizing he wasn't likely to be able to talk the others out of it. Binkadink had a battle-ready grin plastered on his face at the thought of finally getting to fight a dragon, although it faltered a bit at the realization that his <em>good</em> glaive was back with Pentaclus. The gleam in Castillan's eyes bespoke of thoughts of a dragon's treasure hoard, while Ingebold's stubborn expression said without a word that the dwarven cleric wouldn't allow the dragon's predations to continue. Finoula's worried expression told of her thinking about the orcish children who had been sent in no doubt as dragon morsels. Darrien's face was blank and impassive; he had always been a bit standoffish and frequently kept his thoughts to himself unless prompted. "Guess we better ward off fire attacks," said Gilbert, casting a <em>resist energy</em> on himself. Finoula and Ingebold followed suit with similar spells, and Binkadink, who knew he'd be running into the front of the combat with the dragon, drank down a "Winkidew's special" potion that offered him considerable resistance against fire, even though its immediate side effect was to dry out the gnome enough he made an immediate grab for his waterskin, guzzling its contents down in an instant. Darrien had not prepared any fire-protection spells that morning, but took the opportunity to cast a <em>barkskin</em> spell on himself. After all, he reasoned, even without his <em>Arachnibow</em> he still had a normal composite longbow that he'd be putting to good use from a distance; hopefully he'd be able to avoid being in the path of the dragon's fiery breath weapon.</p><p></p><p>Once everyone was ready, they delved deeper into the cave network. Wrath and Obvious had been sent back to the wagons with Aithanar; neither Binkadink nor Finoula wanted to risk their beloved animal friends in a battle with a red dragon. The gnomish fighter took the lead, extending his stilt-boots so he'd have a longer stride as he led the group down the only tunnel leading down from the skull cavern. After several hundred feet of winding passageways, a reddish glow from ahead warned them of a change to the scenery they'd encountered thus far.</p><p></p><p>The tunnel opened up into a vast cavern with streams of magma crisscrossing the stone floor, leaving little stone "islands" of rock peeking between them. Scattered along this cavern were four small, devil-shaped forms wreathed in flames; it looked like Gilbert had been correct, for these were fire mephits, not devils of any type. Standing among them was a quartet of similarly sized and shaped beings, these somewhat insubstantial, as if their bodies were made of nothing more sturdy than smoke and vapor. Before combat even began, Gilbert cast a <em>haste</em> spell covering the entire group of heroes.</p><p></p><p>The closest of the steam mephits called out a warning as the adventurers approached, the tell-tale yellow glow from Binkadink's <em>everburning torches</em> tied to the antlers of his battle-helmet giving them away as the dark tunnel entrance lit up immediately before their arrival. Two of the steam mephits flew close and activated their innate abilities to cause scalding water to rain down upon their foes; upon the sudden drenching, Castillan split off from the group and danced over to the side, just as two fire mephits approached and covered the rest of the group in overlapping flames belched forth from their mouths. Fortunately, most of the group had been protected from such attacks, and the mephits were surprised at how ineffectual their flame-belches had been.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink leapt forward and cut the nearest steam mephit in twain, the two halves of its body dissipating harmlessly into the air. Finoula lined herself up and activated her <em>lightning amulet</em> for a second time that day, blasting through two fire mephits and two steam mephits, slaying all four of them in one fell swoop. She regained her physical form standing on one of the islands in the midst of the river of magma.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, four more heads popped up from the magma. These were four more mephits of a different type, whose bodies seemed composed of natural lava - or else just covered in it after their recent submersion. Two of them smirked as they spat magma at Finoula, their wicked grins failing as the magma dripped off her, leaving her completely unscathed. One of them suddenly fell forward, dead, a pair of arrows sticking out of its back; Darrien, still standing in the entryway of the cavern, nodded quietly to himself at his accuracy and turned slightly to line up a new target. Mudpie stepped forward and clobbered a steam mephit into insubstantial mist, while his master cast an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell that caught up four disparate mephits in their ebon embrace. It didn't take the heroes much longer to take the remaining mephits out.</p><p></p><p>"Heh," scoffed Gilbert. "Dragon be surprised when he find out his dozen guards no good stopping us." There was only one exit from the cavern besides the way they'd come in; the group moved on.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the wide tunnel emptied out to a larger cavern once again; this one looked like a stone island rising up from a roughly circular pool of magma. There were four natural stone "bridges" across the magma, breaking the larger pool up into four smaller pools of roughly the same shape and size. A large boulder stood at the end of the bridge directly across from the heroes, whereas the two on either side seemed to lead into separate caves.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink was the first to cross the narrow stone bridge to the upthrust island of rock. As he crossed its length, a furious bubbling began at the pool of magma at his right; layers upon layers spurted up, taking on a vaguely humanoid form some 10 feet tall or more. This barely-human shape started wading over to towards the gnome, arms raised menacingly. However, the magma brute wasn't the only thing Binkadink had noticed: most of the rock island's upper surface was covered in a crude circle carved into the stone floor, with an uneven star shape carved into the circle. Binkadink knew little of magic, but he knew a magic circle when he saw one. He feared stepping into it, afraid that it might be trapped in some way he wouldn't be able to detect until too late - but then he realized the magma brute was bearing down on his with unnerving speed. Opting to deal with the threat he knew was real, and not wanting to try to jump from the edge of the narrow bridge to solid rock outside the circle - with a misstep sending him hurtling into the magma pool - he boldly stepped across the magic circle, swinging his glaive to meet the lava-dripping monster approaching him. The blade sank into the creature's chest, then the gnome pulled it out, fearful the creature's internal heat might damage the metal blade.</p><p></p><p>At the back of the line of heroes, Gilbert cast a <em>fly</em> spell upon himself, then directed Mudpie to swim through the solid rock overhead and check out the other side of the bridge blocked by the boulder. The earth elemental obligingly stepped into the stone wall of the cavern and began making his way through the solid stone, climbing upwards until he was above the cavern's ceiling.</p><p></p><p>Finoula gulped down the contents of a <em>potion of spider climb</em> - one she had purchased from Urithiah Stibblepock, and which was thus pleasingly free of arachnid legs. She took a single step onto the narrow stone bridge, then scampered up the wall towards the sloping ceiling some 30 feet above the level of the magma in the four oval pools surrounding the rock with the four bridges. Behind her, Castillan and Darrien raised their light crossbow and composite longbow, respectively, aiming at the magma brute that Binkadink had stabbed. But as they fired their weapons, another magma brute rose up from the pool at the northeast section of the cavern. Finoula gave it a quick snap of her <em>whip of thorns</em> as it formed, scoring a gash along its front.</p><p></p><p>Not wanting to get caught between two of these hulking lava-beasts on a narrow stone bridge, Castillan scampered across to the rock island as quickly as he could. Ingebold followed, casting a quick <em> detect magic</em> as she did so, to give the magic circle carved into the island floor a good look. The reddish glow of the magma flickered around the room, but she saw no emanations coming from the circle itself.</p><p></p><p>A sudden motion caught Castillan's eye; looking to his right, a reptilian head rose up out of the southwestern magma pool. "The dragon's over here!" he called to the others as he let fly with the bolt he'd just loaded into his crossbow. It hit the creature just above the eye, lodging between a pair of reddish scales. With a hiss of anger, the creature let loose a blast of fire from its mouth, catching not only the bounder who had just shot it but also Binkadink and Ingebold as well. Then it submerged back beneath the surface of the bubbling magma.</p><p></p><p>The gnome instinctively winced in pain as his body was engulfed in flames, before realizing he'd felt no actual discomfort - the <em>potion of resist fire</em> he'd imbibed earlier had protected him from any damage. Grinning, he continued his attacks on the magma brute he'd been fighting, keeping it focused on him long enough for Darrien's arrows to put an end to it. The creature lost its shape as it fell back into the pool of magma, never to rise again. The gnome wasn't out of danger yet, though, for the magma brute from the northeastern pool moved over to better attack the gnome.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert flew into the cavern, taking time as he passed Binkadink to release an <em>enlarge person</em> spell upon the gnome. Binkadink increased to the size of a normal human, gave the wizard a broad smile, and stabbed at his new magma brute foe. However, the dragon's head popped up from the magma again - this time from the northwestern one, alerting the heroes that at least those two pools were connected beneath the bridge - catching Gilbert, Binkadink, and Ingebold in its fiery blast. The arrow was no longer lodged in between the scales on its head, perhaps having been burned away by its submersion in liquid magma.</p><p></p><p>Fierce bubbling in the southeastern pool of magma heralded the appearance of yet another magma brute. Finoula raced along the ceiling, lining herself up to be midway between the two easternmost magma brutes, then slashed out with her <em>whip of thorns</em> at the northernmost one, slaying it outright before spinning to face the one to the south or her.</p><p></p><p>Just beyond the stone wall behind that magma brute, Mudpie popped his head down from the ceiling into a dismal cavern. Eight orcs - five women and three children - were huddled together, clinging to each other in fear as the will-sapping drugs they'd been injected with via the barbarians' blowgun darts began wearing off and they became aware of their predicament...and of the two of their number that hadn't been herded into this cave with them, but rather redirected as an immediate meal upon their arrival. Dutifully, Mudpie revealed his discovery to his master through their link and was sent to go check out the cavern to the east.</p><p></p><p>"What the Hell's going on?" roared a voice from the west, as a massive fire giant stepped through the cave opening and looked about him. Unbelievably, the area was swarming with adventurers - which meant they'd already had to have made it past the dozen mephits <strong>Skraine</strong> and his allies had placed as lair guardians. He roared again in anger, then raced across the narrow stone bridge with a massive greatsword in hand, heading for Binkadink - his closest enemy.</p><p></p><p>Before he got across the bridge, Gilbert pivoted in midair and cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell that managed to catch the fire giant and the dragon's head - so far all it had allowed of itself to come into view. Both victims roared in pain, and the portly wizard smiled broadly, mentally congratulating himself for attacking with a cold-based spell; as he had surmised, these fiery creatures were particularly vulnerable to cold.</p><p></p><p>Castillan ran over to attack the magma brute rising up from the southeastern magma pool. He hit it with a glancing blow, but in return the magma brute slammed at him with its massive, clublike arms, crushing the bounder between them and setting him ablaze. The elf staggered back, and rather than roll on the ground to try to douse the flames - his initial instinct, but one he realized would make him a vulnerable target for more such attacks - he forced himself to reach down and grab up a potion from his belt. Popping off its cork and guzzling down the contents, the bounder's body dissipated into a fine mist, which maintained a roughly humanoid shape as it drifted to the northern cave opening - the way back to the surface. Castillan's body had been greatly damaged by the magma brute, and he knew he was out of the fight until he could get some significant magical healing, but this approach not only put out the fire but made him virtually untouchable in the meantime.</p><p></p><p>"Quit screwing around, you stupid beast!" Skraine called out as he swung his blade at Binkadink, catching the gnome across the chest and scoring a deep groove in his armor. In response, the "dragon" raised its head high up out of the magma pool - followed by another, and another, and another, until a full nine reptilian heads were writhing up out of the magma on slender necks. Seven of the heads belched forth flames, three of them focused on Gilbert, flying up near the ceiling, the other four engulfing Binkadink and Ingebold. Their magical fire protection absorbed most of the damage and Binkadink's glaive swung into the fire giant's right bicep, cutting deep.</p><p></p><p>Sudden furiously-bubbling magma in the southwestern pool heralded the imminent arrival of a fourth magma brute. As it rose, Finoula ran sideways along the stone wall of the cavern, lining herself up for her third lightning strike of the day, this time blasting through the fire giant and the pyrohydra. She enjoyed their screams of pain as her body zapped through them, only to reform safely on the wall over in the northwestern section of the cavern at the end of her arc.</p><p></p><p>Across the cavern from her, Mudpie was exploring the easternmost cave by dropping his head down through the ceiling and looking around. Below him the large cave was empty but for the scores - if not hundreds - of bones scattered along the stone floor. Another cavern connected to this lower cave, attached by a sheer, 30-foot-tall cliff. Another passageway led south from this upper cave - and Mudpie could hear the unmistakable sound of claws on stone as something walked towards the earth elemental from around the corner.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert heard his familiar's descriptions over the link they shared, but he focused his attention on lining up another <em>cone of cold</em> spell, catching both Skraine and the pyrohydra in its areas of effect. The nine-headed beast gave a final hiss of pain as it died, its body sinking back into the magma.</p><p></p><p>"Dammit, Nurang, get yer scaly butt out here -- we need you!" called out Skraine, before leaping backwards into the southwestern pool of magma - where, he knew, the adventurers were unlikely to be able to follow him. The intense heat of the liquid rock didn't bother him in the least, but he couldn't see through the magma and certainly couldn't breathe it; still, he knew there was an air pocket underneath the rock island, where the pyrohydra laired. If he could find it, he could hide out there until these damned intruders were driven off. About time that damn dragon started pulling his weight around here....</p><p></p><p>Upon on the higher cavern of his lair, the juvenile red dragon, <strong>Nurangkarthraxaeros</strong>, passed by Mudpie's extended head without noticing him, then leapt off the edge of the cliff and flapped down to his lower cavern. Sticking his head out of the cave opening, he immediately took in the scene and gave forth a blast of fire from deep within his lungs. Binkadink, Ingebold, and Gilbert were all encompassed within its range, and it managed to burn its way past the magical protection of all three.</p><p></p><p>Seemingly unperturbed by the arrival of a dragon larger than a horse, Darrien continued on with the job at hand: peppering the magma brute in the southwestern pool of magma with arrows, until it too lost cohesion of its form and collapsed back into the pool, dead. Only then did he pay attention to Gilbert's frantic cries to run back the way they'd come. For the wizard had used up his most powerful spells dealing with the other creatures the group had encountered thus far; Castillan was sorely wounded; most of the group's fire protection had been breached - now was <em>not</em> the time to take on a large red dragon at the peak of its power. "Run!" Gilbert cried, flying to the northern cave opening as he did so, telling his familiar over the link to meet him in the passageway to the north. Just ahead of him, Castillan dropped back into solid form, realizing he could travel much faster as flesh and blood than he could in gaseous form.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold, standing roughly in the middle of the fake magic circle, looked around her. There was still one magma brute left alive, in the southeastern pool and heading her way. The red dragon was approaching from the easternmost cave opening; squinting at the beast, the dwarven cleric could see no definitive sign that this red dragon had any fiendish blood in it, not that she was any sort of expert on such matters. Finoula was crouched on the wall over by the northwestern magma pool, but was circling in a counter-clockwise direction, heading over to the cave entrance sealed up by the boulder, as if to line up another lightning strike that would leave her by the northern entrance - but if so, forgetting that she'd already used her <em>lightning amulet</em> three times that day. The men - and Mudpie, she noticed - were already exiting via the northern passageway; only Gilbert seemed to tarry, as if hesitant to take off at full speed until he knew the women were fleeing as well.</p><p></p><p>The cleric wanted to run to follow the others, but she knew if she did so the dragon could swoop over by where she now stood and would be perfectly aligned to catch everyone in another blast of its fiery breath weapon. Such an attack would surely be fatal for several of her friends. She came to an instant decision, gripped her dwarven warhammer, and gave the dragon a look of fierce determination. "Ye won't be gettin' past me," she told it.</p><p></p><p>The magma brute climbed up out of the pool and stepped onto the stone surface of the central island, swinging a massive fist at the cleric. Ingebold easily ducked beneath its blow, but this gave the dragon time to fly over to line itself up for another blast of its breath weapon - fortunately for the wounded men, aimed solely at Ingebold and Finoula. The women cried out in pain at the furnace-blast of its breath, but then Finoula raced across the domed ceiling, dropping down to the floor when she got to the northern bridge. She looked back to make sure Ingebold could follow - she certainly wasn't going to leave her Battle-Sister behind! - and was pleased to see her duck beneath its body, her short dwarven stature helping her evade its snapping jaws, and race over the bridge as fast as she could move.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert had indeed hung back from the rush to escape, but the decision to do so was tactical in nature. As Nurangkarthraxaeros spun around, the wizard cast a <em>solid fog</em> spell at the base of the bridge, blocking the cave opening. (He'd have preferred a <em>wall of stone</em>, but sometimes you just had to make do with the tools at hand!) "Ingebold!" he yelled. "Open up hole!"</p><p></p><p>The dwarf complied, pulling out the <em>portable hole</em> she kept rolled up in her belt. "Everybody in!" commanded Gilbert, and the rest, seeing the wisdom of his idea, did just that, Ingebold included. Once everyone was in, Gilbert grabbed up the hole and, <em>fly</em> spell still intact, flew down the winding corridors as fast as he could. He knew the dragon could fly much faster than the speed his spell granted him, but he was counting on several factors to work to his advantage: first, the corridors were somewhat narrow in places, not compatible for a dragon's outstretched wings; second, the <em>solid fog</em> spell would give them a bit of a head start; and finally, with only a magma brute (and maybe the giant; Gilbert wasn't sure if he was dead beneath the magma or merely hiding) left as an ally, there was a good chance the dragon wouldn't want to leave his treasure hoard unguarded in a chase after them out in the open air, where there weren't convenient magma pools at hand to aid the dragon and hinder the heroes.</p><p></p><p>Up topside, Aithanar was surprised to see Gilbert come flying out of the skull cave like a fired sling stone, yelling that they had to go, <em>now!</em> "Shindilly frumpage!" he called back to the wizard as he climbed into the seat of the Vistani wagon and led the draft horses into a U-turn. Gilbert dropped into the seat of the mule wagon, flipped the <em>portable hole</em> open in the back, and let everybody start climbing out as he goaded the mules to their fastest speed.</p><p></p><p>"He isn't following," announced Darrien as he kept a keen eye on the skull-cave opening, half-expecting to see a furious red dragon explode out of it at any moment. But minutes passed, the wagons got further away, and the skull cave was lost from view as they turned a corner around a rocky hill.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert let out a loud sigh of relief. "We safe," he said. Nonetheless, they group put a few miles behind them before making camp under a grove of trees, and they doubled their normal guard shifts for the night, not wanting to be caught unawares.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"We have t' go back," Ingebold announced the next morning. "Th' prisoners are still locked away in th' cave, and if'n we just leave things as they are, th' dragon'll continue on with its demands fer tribute. We've gotta put a stop t' it."</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," said Gilbert. "But this time we go in smart. We already know what in there, so we only choose spells that help." Everyone would have a <em>protection from energy</em> spell guarding them from fire-based attacks, he decided, although he personally opted for a <em>fire shield</em> spell - the <em>cold shield</em> version - that he wanted to try out in combat. The rangers would both have <em>longstrider</em> spells active to increase their mobility besides the normal <em>barkskins</em> and <em>mage armors</em> the group usually cast upon themselves before battle. Binkadink would not only be <em>enlarged</em>, as he was yesterday, but his glaive would have a <em>greater magic weapon</em> spell cast upon it, and he, Gilbert, and Ingebold would each have a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell centered upon themselves, so even if the group spread out a bit there would be three circles of relative protection available. Darrien's composite longbow would have a <em>magic weapon</em> spell cast upon it, increasing it to the same level of enhancement as the ranger's favored <em>Arachnibow</em>. And all of these preparatory spells would be cast in the magma caverns where the group had fought the mephits, so they'd all be active by the time the group entered the cavern network with the four magma pools where the dragon laired.</p><p></p><p>That part of the plan went off without a hitch. Spells cast, the group raced down the winding corridors leading to the dragon's lair, a human-sized Binkadink in the lead, loping along at greater speeds on his similarly-enlarged <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em>. As he turned the last corner, he saw a magma brute - presumably the only one left - standing in the middle of the cave entrance to the greater lair, as if ready to block the way with its life. But instead, once the light from the gnome's <em>everburning torch</em>-adorned helmet came into view, the magma brute dived off to the side, vanishing into the northwestern magma pool.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink stepped cautiously onto the bridge, magically-enhanced glaive in hand, looking about for signs of the dragon's location. But the magma brute hadn't leapt away in fright; it had informed the rest of the lair's inhabitants, all currently submerged beneath the concealing magma, of the return of the adventurers. With a splash of lava, Skraine - still wounded from the previous day's battle, with naught but a night's rest in the way of healing - jumped up from the northeastern magma pool and tried to catch Binkadink in a tight embrace, after which the gnome would be pulled into the pool and held down until his protective fire-magics were burned away from the total submersion.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way. At the first hint of motion from his left, Binkadink spun his glaive in that direction, and Skraine's leap up at the gnome only managed to pierce his own neck upon Binkadink's blade. Bleeding profusely, Skraine had only time for a muttered giantish curse before falling backwards into the magma for the last time.</p><p></p><p>Castillan raced up behind the gnome and dashed all the way to the boulder blocking the entrance to the slaves' pen. "Everybody okay in there?" he asked, and took the cries of surprise within as a good enough answer. "We'll be with you in a minute!" he promised, unsure if the orcs within could even understand his words, and stepped back to the middle of the central rock platform. The elven bounder didn't like close proximity to pools of magma - not even his most desperate physical maneuvers could help him if he ever fell into such a pool.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold cast an <em>air walk</em> spell upon herself and stepped into the air, walking across the cavern at a safe 25-foot height until she stood above the southwestern pool. Behind her, Finoula scampered up the northern wall, having just consumed another <em>potion of spider climb</em>. Her whip was in hand, ready for the dragon's appearance.</p><p></p><p>It didn't take long for Nurangkarthraxaeros to put in an appearance. Mirroring the pyrohydra's tactics, he popped his head up out of the southeastern magma pool and let loose a blast of his fiery breath, catching Castillan, Ingebold, Finoula, and Binkadink within its area of effect. However, the heroes' protective fire shielding held - for the moment.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, magma brutes emerged from the three other pools, surprising the heroes who had been certain there had only been a lone survivor when they had fled the day before. "Crap! They got reinforcements!" called out Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the magma brute in the pool below her, Ingebold cast a <em>wall of stone</em> spell, covering a horizontal span from the westernmost stone bridge to the south wall of the cavern. The magma brute was forced to duck below it, taking it momentarily out of the fight but also giving the heroes - those not flying or clinging to walls like a spider - a bigger area on which to stand.</p><p></p><p>Already refreshed after its first such attack, the dragon climbed up onto the stone platform, magma dripping from its body, and caught the same four heroes in another breath weapon blast, all but stripping most of them of their fire protection. Nurangkarthraxaeros had the sense that several of them would be unable to withstand another such attack, but the reptilian beast was winded - it would be a bit before he could attack in such a way again.</p><p></p><p>However, he had made himself an easier target in climbing out of the magma pool. Finoula activated her <em>lightning amulet</em> for the first time that day, sending her streaking through the red dragon and the magma brute in the northeastern pool. She reformed her physical body sticking to the wall along the southeastern part of the cavern, between the cave openings to the slave pits and the dragon's lair.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, the magma brute beneath Ingebold's new stone floor popped up out from underneath it, only to be stabbed by an enlarged Binkadink. The lava-beast swung at the gnome in retaliation with a massive, flaming fist, but missed.</p><p></p><p>And then Gilbert Fung brought out the big guns.</p><p></p><p>Still standing in the entry passageway to the larger cavern with Mudpie at his side, the portly wizard pointed a chubby finger at the dragon and fired out a magical phrase. A black ray of energy flashed across the chamber to strike the dragon in the side. "Eat <em>enervation</em> spell, overgrown lizard!" Gilbert taunted.</p><p></p><p>Nurangkarthraxaeros was furious. Immediately after having been blasted, he felt weaker in all sorts of ways: physical strength diminished, life energy drained - it even felt as if his capacity for breathing forth belches of flame had been nearly halved. He roared in fury, the sounds reverberating across the chamber.</p><p></p><p>With two charges remaining in her amulet for the day, Finoula saw no reason not to put them to immediate use. She blasted across the dragon's form in lightning bolt form once again, catching the magma brute in the northwest pool as well. That put the stunned magma brute flanked between the elven ranger poised on the side of the cavern wall and the elven bounder standing on the island. Castillan stabbed out with his <em>stonepiercer dagger</em>, its magic vibrating deep within the creature's molten stone form, causing it to lose cohesion and sink back into the pool from which it came.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink whirled around and gave Nurangkarthraxaeros the sudden attention of his blade, stabbing deep into the dragon's flank, as Darrien's flurry of arrows took down the magma brute the gnome had just been fighting. Castillan bounded behind the dragon and gnome and positioned himself to strike out at the magma brute in the northeastern pool, just as a second blast of crackling energy came racing across the cavern to strike the dragon. "Ha! You like that, lizard?" cackled Gilbert as his second - and, sadly, last for the day - <em>enervation</em> spell hit its target. The dragon roared its frustration, eyes blazing with hatred for the human wizard but now too weak to make it across the chamber to get to his foe without doubtlessly being slain by the wizard's companions. He briefly contemplated diving into the magma pool, swimming beneath the eastern stone bridge and popping up out of the northeastern pool to get closer to his foe, but even that was too risky. So Nurangkarthraxaeros only did the first part of his plan, diving into the southeastern magma pool, taking a scrape of oversized gnomish glaive across the back as he fled to the safety of the liquid rock.</p><p></p><p>As Castillan's enhanced dagger blade made short work of the last remaining magma brute, Nurangkarthraxaeros fumed beneath the magma. These adventurers were too powerful for him, he realized - they'd likely clear out his treasure hoard, and there was nothing he could to about it. He chafed at the realization, wanting nothing more than to rise up and attack these intruding thieves, but despite his rage he realized to do so would be to spell his own death. No, it was better to stay safe, even at the cost of his treasure hoard - he had hundreds of years before him yet, plenty of time to amass more treasures. And he'd track these adventurers down, no doubt about it! They'd pay for their impudence with their very lives!</p><p></p><p>But later. For now, Nurangkarthraxaeros swam through the liquid stone, along the submerged tunnel that led to the planar gate opening to the Elemental Plane of Fire. He'd rest there, and return again the next day, when the adventurers were gone and it was once more safe to appear in his old lair.</p><p></p><p>"When it was once again safe" - the very thought that he, a mighty red dragon, was forced to hide from these two-legged vermin, galled him to no end. Oh, how he'd make them pay!</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>After a day spent moping and wallowing in self-pity on the Elemental Plane of Fire, mighty Nurangkarthraxaeros deemed it safe to return. These lesser beings, with their shortened lifespans, had no patience; they'd surely have left as soon as they'd cleared out his hoard. Passing through the planar gate, the red dragon swam through the molten rock down through the familiar passageway, until he sensed the open pool above him and surfaced his head above the magma. He looked around, seeing no sign of the intruders' continued presence. Lurching himself up onto the central stone slab, he shook off the molten lava and paced over to his old lair to see if the thieves had completely cleaned him out, or if anything had been left behind.</p><p></p><p>He didn't see the <em>alarm</em> spell trigger that had been placed on the center of the cavern's ceiling, which sent a silent signal to the hero who had cast it there. But over in the westernmost cavern - which had up until yesterday been Skraine's personal area, the heroes readied themselves for their final fight with the red dragon.</p><p></p><p>Nurangkarthraxaeros traipsed into his old cavern, kicking the bones of his previous meals aside as he passed. He leaped up and stretched his wings, flapping up to the higher level where his basking ledge and the treasure chamber to the south lay awaiting him. But there was something different about the area...what was this rune scrawled here on the wall?</p><p></p><p>Gilbert's <em>symbol of pain</em> triggered as soon as the dragon's vision focused upon it. He roared in agony, the sudden searing pain causing him to lose control of his wings, forcing him painfully to the stone floor below. He landed with a crash, impaling several rib bones from previous meals between his scales. It took him a moment to clear his head of the agony caused by the magical symbol...and when he was able to right himself once more, he found himself surrounded by a ring of adventurers, weapons and spells ready to fire.</p><p></p><p>"Time to go to Hell for real," Gilbert Fung said, before the heroes unleashed their fury on the red dragon. Those were the last words Nurangkarthraxaeros heard before his world went black.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>I hadn't really expected to get very far into this adventure during the first session, but it was one of those times when the first adventure ("Wastewater") was a short one - one encounter, really - and even with taking the time afterward to level up all of the PCs to 10th, there was still plenty of time left to not want to get some more gaming in. After all, we sometimes go 5-6 weeks or more between sessions, so game time is a precious commodity. I wasn't sure if the rest of this adventure would fill up the whole second gaming session, but one of the advantages of holding the sessions in my new man-cave is that I have everything on hand; had we finished this adventure up early, I would have been able to start us on the beginning of the next adventure. As it turned out, with the group having to flee and come back later, this played out to just about a full session all by itself. For the record, the PCs made it through the mephit cavern - which was one side of Paizo's "Wasteland" game map accessory - during the first gaming session, and we picked up at the entrance to the final cavern for the second session.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, this second session was the first one we did in this campaign without our full complement of gamers. Jacob had come home from college for the weekend but he was running a fever and generally felt like crap, so he stayed home and Dan ran Castillan as well as Gilbert Fung for this second half. (Since Jacob had also been running Ingebold for the first session, we moved her over to Logan's control for the second session.) Vicki did call him on her phone and Skyped him in, in case he wanted to be a virtual telepresence for the game, but he merely had her show him the layout of the magma pool caverns and what the group was fighting at the time, before dropping off and napping on the sofa at home.</p><p></p><p>By the way, my original intention was for the PCs to go through one more adventure after this before picking up their enhanced weapons from Pentaclus. My son Logan pointed out that the group had spent three days in-game on this adventure rather than the intended one, so he was pushing for them to pick up their weapons at the beginning of the next adventure instead of after it was over. I countered that there would be no need for them to go explore Lake Quag (the next adventure) if they had already picked up their weapons; Logan countered that he wanted to turn the red dragon's corpse over to the weaponsmiths and have a suit of dragonmail armor built for Binkadink, which would cause the PCs to have to wait around for that to be made (and thus go explore Lake Quag in the meantime). Even though Pentaclus and his group are strictly weaponsmiths, not armorers, I imagine they know somebody capable of making armor out of dragonhide, so I relented. It looks like the group will be getting their magic weapon enhancements a bit earlier than originally anticipated.</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure when we'll be playing next, but my wife Mary has decided we should follow it up with another two-family dinner. I think it's a little aggravating for her to have Dan, Vicki and the boys over but not get to spend much time with them herself.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: For the first session, I was still wearing my "Duck Dynasty" T-shirt since it was thematically appropriate to the adventure we played before this one. On the second session, though, I opted to wear one of my dragon T-shirts, since it was now apparent to the group that the "fiendish red dragon" the PCs had heard about several times before was going to be a focal point of this adventure. Lacking a red dragon T-shirt, I arbitrarily went with the blue dragon one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7016940, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 29: THE GATES OF HELL[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10 Darrien, half-elf ranger 10 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 2 Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 9 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Dates: 1 January and 4 February 2017 - - - With nothing to do but kill time north of the Clatspur Mountains while their various weapons were upgraded, the Kordovian Adventurers Guild members opted to do a bit of exploring. With two rather large wagons, one a flatbed pulled by two mules and the other a covered Vistani wagon pulled by two black draft horses, they opted to stick to the roads - which, in this part of the world, were more often than not simple dirt tracks. As usual, Finoula rode ahead of the wagons on her pony Daisy and with her trained timber wolf Wrath loping along at her side, and Binkadink did the same on his jackalope mount, Obvious. While they were beyond the true mountains of the Clatspur range, the area was still filled with rocky hills. As the wagon train crested one such hill and followed the dirt road around another, a strange sight became visible: just up ahead, one of the rocky hills had been carved into the semblance of an enormous skull; the open cave forming its mouth had four hanging stalactites in a fortunate placement to suggest demonic fangs. The visiting heroes from Kordovia weren't the only ones looking at the carved skull, either, as a line of orcs and goblins were headed directly toward the skull, escorted by a quartet of burly human men dressed in simple furs and skins. Riding on his favorite perch on the top of the Vistani wagon, Castillan's keen elven eyes picked up some details about this other group. The orcs were all either women or children - what had originally looked like goblins were actually orcish young. Castillan's initial feelings warred with themselves, his disdain for the orcish race as a whole (with a few notable exceptions, like Lord Cavelthorne's former bodyguard Jorg Battleborn and Kordovia's own King Galrich, although they were both technically half-breeds) conflicting with his own notions of chivalry. It was an orderly line, helped along no doubt by the chains connecting to the collars around each orc's neck. But the orcs didn't seem to be fighting against their captors - quite the opposite, in fact: they shuffled along as if in a daze, oblivious to all around them. The barbarians escorting them weren't oblivious to their surroundings, however. One spotted the group of newcomers and stepped away from his position at the back of the slave train to head over to greet them. A greataxe jutted above his broad shoulder but it stayed in place. He stopped several paces away from Finoula, at the head of the traveling assembly, as the wagons came to a halt behind her. The barbarian held up an open hand in greeting and smiled at the elven ranger. She gave him a brief nod and likewise kept her own weapons sheathed. Like Castillan, she was no friend to orcs, but the sight of orc children in chains didn't sit well with her. "You are strangers," announced the barbarian, looking over the group. He gave special attention to Obvious; it was apparent he'd never seen a jackalope before. "We are from south of the mountains," answered Finoula, providing no further details. "What are you doing with the orc prisoners?" She indicated the slave train, which had not slowed its shuffling progress toward the carved skull, with a nod of her head. Before the barbarian could answer, another voice interrupted. Castillan had seen a glow arise in the eye sockets of the skull while Finoula and the barbarian had exchanged greetings, and another of the nomads escorting the orc slaves called out, "The devils approach!" A new voice boomed from the direction of the skull; from the top of the Vistani wagon, Castillan could see the top half of a red-skinned devil stepping forward from the back of the eye-hole, his body sheathed in an aura of dancing flames. "WHAT HAVE WE HERE? I SEE YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE NORMAL TRIBUTE, BUT ARE THESE STRANGERS AN ADDITION TO YOUR WEEKLY GIFTS? THE ARCHLORD WILL BE PLEASED! SEND THEM IN AT ONCE WITH THE OTHERS!" A brief wince crossed the barbarian's face at the devil's words, but he didn't allow more than a moment of hesitation and regret before he pulled the greataxe from his back in a single fluid motion. Then he started racing forward towards Finoula, another of his companions leaving the slave train and racing behind him. He didn't anticipate Finoula's rapid response, possibly not having seen the whip she wore coiled on her right hip, as he had been standing to her left. But she pulled out her whip, mentally commanded it to extend its thorns, and sent it cracking over Daisy's head at the first barbarian before he had crossed half of the distance between them. She didn't expect him to react so quickly, though, for as it came striking and winding around his left leg he reached out and grabbed it, gripping it in his meaty left hand and giving the whip a painful tug - for the section he had grabbed was covered in thorns, just as was the rest of its length. Blood pooled in his left palm, but Finoula was jerked forward from her saddle. She released her grip on her [i]whip of thorns[/i] rather than allow herself to be yanked to the ground in a heap, but then swung her right leg over Daisy's back and leaped to the pony's left on her own volition. Sitting in the driver's seat of the Vistani wagon, Aithanar couldn't help but be impressed by Finoula's grace in battle. Binkadink gave his jackalope an encouraging kick with his legs and Obvious sprang forward. The gnome swung his glaive - his father's battle-worn one, not the masterwork glaive he was having upgraded back at Pentaclus's workshop - at the second barbarian as Obvious bounded past him, en route to the nomad still back at the end of the line of chained orcs. The gnome had figured he'd use his mount's speed to take the battle to those farthest away, confident that his friends could handle those closest at hand. The barbarian he approached left his greataxe on his back, pulling up what the gnome at first glance thought was some sort of flute - before his foe used it to fire a dart at his head. Binkadink ducked in time and felt the dart bounce off the antlers of his helmet, then swung his glaive to point at his new target as Obvious rapidly closed the gap between them. Now there were three barbarians in active combat against the heroes, while the fourth continued on with his primary mission: getting the slaves into the cave's mouth. As Castillan leapt down from the top of the Vistani wagon, he saw the light diminish from the eyes of the carved skull as the orcs vanished inside. But then his attention was on the second barbarian who had raced at them. Wrath, having been closer to the target than the elf, beat him to the attack, biting down on the nomad's leg and wrenching him to the ground. As the bounder headed toward him he heard Ingebold leading the mules that way as well, no doubt reasoning Franco and Tantrum could take her to the fray faster than her own dwarven legs could carry her. Standing in the back of the mule wagon, Darrien let loose arrows at the barbarians apparently in league with devils. Finoula grabbed up the end of her dropped [i]whip of thorns[/i], and, on one knee, stared down the barbarian she'd hit with it earlier. He brought a blowgun up to his lips and shot a dart at her that hit her in the side of the neck. She could feel the poison starting to work, making her feel slightly woozy and light-headed, but she shook her head to focus her concentration and activated her [i]amulet of lightning[/i]. Her body was, in an instant, transferred into a bolt of electricity that blasted through the barbarian's frame and then reformed on the other side of him. She spun back to face her foe, but he fell face-first to the ground, unmoving. Gilbert and Mudpie exited from the back of the Vistani wagon, Aithanar having decided the best way to keep the draft horses from harm was to let them stay where they were, for any attempts to turn them around would take them within striking distance of the barbarians and their greataxes. The elf leaped down and drew his longsword, but remained in a defensive stance near the horses knowing his brother Castillan and his friends didn't need his help in a fight with four barbarians - for the one who had brought the slave train into the cave now emerged ready to aid his brothers in battle. The newcomer shot a dart at Binkadink, but it too missed its foe. Castillan, seeing Ingebold's approach to the barbarian Wrath had pinned to the ground, ran past him and headed around to flank the one Binkadink was battling from the back of his jackalope. While the gnome distracted the nomad with strikes from his glaive, Castillan got in close and brought his new [i]stonepiercer dagger[/i] sinking all the way to its hilt in the barbarian's side. The stabbed nomad gave a grunt of surprise and pain, then pitched forward in a heap. The fallen barbarian looked up at his slayer. "You've...you've killed us all," he whispered with his final breath, blood dripping from his mouth. "Without our weekly sacrifices...the devils will spring forth from Hell...slay everyone. We were...keeping area safe. Now?" He gave a small laugh that included a bubble of blood and looked up at Castillan. "You're all just as dead as me." And with that final thought, the life left his body. Over by the mule wagon, the barbarian on the ground being chewed on by a timber wolf grabbed up his greataxe and swung it into Wrath's side. The wolf let out a howl of pain, blood staining his fur as it poured from a deep gash along his ribs. Ingebold's warhammer finished off the barbarian, then she applied one of her most powerful healing spells to the wounded wolf, causing the sides of his wound to seal back up together and his cracked ribs to mend themselves. "Leave one alive for questioning!" called out Gilbert, approaching at a slow walk and casting an extended [i]mage armor[/i] spell upon himself and his earth elemental familiar. But Darrien had already activated his [i]amber amulet of vermin[/i], summoning forth his giant praying mantis, who had snatched up the fourth and final barbarian in his claws. Unfortunately, the mantis could be mentally directed toward a particular enemy by its master but once unleashed against a foe didn't quite understand the concept of [i]not[/i] killing its prey. The fourth barbarian was crushed between the insect's powerful claws and had his throat ripped out, the insect gorging itself while it could as if knew its time outside the imprisoning amber of Darrien's necklace was limited. It did get in quite a few bites of tasty flesh before it vanished, the duration of its time outside the amulet having been used up. "Well, that just lovely," griped Gilbert. "Now we not get any info from them." "I got some info from them," pointed out Castillan, explaining the last dying words of the barbarian he'd stabbed in the back with his enchanted dagger. "Pfffh!" snorted Gilbert. "Those devils playing you, stupid!" he chastised the nearest corpse. "They probably not even devils--anybody get good look at them?" Castillan reported what he'd seen standing in the eye-hole of the carved skull. "How big?" demanded Gilbert. "I dunno," replied the bounder. "How big's the eye-hole?" The group approached the cave opening. Off to the left of the gaping mouth, the words "ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER" had been inscribed in blocky, runic letters. Heading into the cave, Binkadink stood in one of the empty eye-holes of the carved skull, observing that it was a good watch-point from which to see when anyone was approaching. But the ceiling wasn't all that much taller than he was, and he stood just over three feet tall with his [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i] retracted. "They not even devils!" scoffed Gilbert. "I bet you anything this just a bunch of mephits playing games. I think we move on from here." "Wait a minute--why would mephits want orc women and children delivered to them weekly?" asked the gnome. "Do they even eat?" Gilbert stroked his beard in thought over that, when Darrien added another point to consider. "Dragons eat," he said quietly. Everybody looked his way expectantly. "We've heard from a couple different sources now about a red dragon demanding tribute somewhere around here," the half-elf ranger said. "We could discount it had we only heard it from those centaurs, since they were really lamias out to trick us. But the smiths had heard the stories as well." "Norbert even said the dragon was fiendish," pointed out Binkadink. "We cannae let the dragon continue t' extort th' folks around here," pointed out Ingebold. "We need t' put a stop to 'im." Gilbert let out a great sigh, realizing he wasn't likely to be able to talk the others out of it. Binkadink had a battle-ready grin plastered on his face at the thought of finally getting to fight a dragon, although it faltered a bit at the realization that his [i]good[/i] glaive was back with Pentaclus. The gleam in Castillan's eyes bespoke of thoughts of a dragon's treasure hoard, while Ingebold's stubborn expression said without a word that the dwarven cleric wouldn't allow the dragon's predations to continue. Finoula's worried expression told of her thinking about the orcish children who had been sent in no doubt as dragon morsels. Darrien's face was blank and impassive; he had always been a bit standoffish and frequently kept his thoughts to himself unless prompted. "Guess we better ward off fire attacks," said Gilbert, casting a [i]resist energy[/i] on himself. Finoula and Ingebold followed suit with similar spells, and Binkadink, who knew he'd be running into the front of the combat with the dragon, drank down a "Winkidew's special" potion that offered him considerable resistance against fire, even though its immediate side effect was to dry out the gnome enough he made an immediate grab for his waterskin, guzzling its contents down in an instant. Darrien had not prepared any fire-protection spells that morning, but took the opportunity to cast a [i]barkskin[/i] spell on himself. After all, he reasoned, even without his [i]Arachnibow[/i] he still had a normal composite longbow that he'd be putting to good use from a distance; hopefully he'd be able to avoid being in the path of the dragon's fiery breath weapon. Once everyone was ready, they delved deeper into the cave network. Wrath and Obvious had been sent back to the wagons with Aithanar; neither Binkadink nor Finoula wanted to risk their beloved animal friends in a battle with a red dragon. The gnomish fighter took the lead, extending his stilt-boots so he'd have a longer stride as he led the group down the only tunnel leading down from the skull cavern. After several hundred feet of winding passageways, a reddish glow from ahead warned them of a change to the scenery they'd encountered thus far. The tunnel opened up into a vast cavern with streams of magma crisscrossing the stone floor, leaving little stone "islands" of rock peeking between them. Scattered along this cavern were four small, devil-shaped forms wreathed in flames; it looked like Gilbert had been correct, for these were fire mephits, not devils of any type. Standing among them was a quartet of similarly sized and shaped beings, these somewhat insubstantial, as if their bodies were made of nothing more sturdy than smoke and vapor. Before combat even began, Gilbert cast a [i]haste[/i] spell covering the entire group of heroes. The closest of the steam mephits called out a warning as the adventurers approached, the tell-tale yellow glow from Binkadink's [i]everburning torches[/i] tied to the antlers of his battle-helmet giving them away as the dark tunnel entrance lit up immediately before their arrival. Two of the steam mephits flew close and activated their innate abilities to cause scalding water to rain down upon their foes; upon the sudden drenching, Castillan split off from the group and danced over to the side, just as two fire mephits approached and covered the rest of the group in overlapping flames belched forth from their mouths. Fortunately, most of the group had been protected from such attacks, and the mephits were surprised at how ineffectual their flame-belches had been. Binkadink leapt forward and cut the nearest steam mephit in twain, the two halves of its body dissipating harmlessly into the air. Finoula lined herself up and activated her [i]lightning amulet[/i] for a second time that day, blasting through two fire mephits and two steam mephits, slaying all four of them in one fell swoop. She regained her physical form standing on one of the islands in the midst of the river of magma. Suddenly, four more heads popped up from the magma. These were four more mephits of a different type, whose bodies seemed composed of natural lava - or else just covered in it after their recent submersion. Two of them smirked as they spat magma at Finoula, their wicked grins failing as the magma dripped off her, leaving her completely unscathed. One of them suddenly fell forward, dead, a pair of arrows sticking out of its back; Darrien, still standing in the entryway of the cavern, nodded quietly to himself at his accuracy and turned slightly to line up a new target. Mudpie stepped forward and clobbered a steam mephit into insubstantial mist, while his master cast an [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell that caught up four disparate mephits in their ebon embrace. It didn't take the heroes much longer to take the remaining mephits out. "Heh," scoffed Gilbert. "Dragon be surprised when he find out his dozen guards no good stopping us." There was only one exit from the cavern besides the way they'd come in; the group moved on. Eventually, the wide tunnel emptied out to a larger cavern once again; this one looked like a stone island rising up from a roughly circular pool of magma. There were four natural stone "bridges" across the magma, breaking the larger pool up into four smaller pools of roughly the same shape and size. A large boulder stood at the end of the bridge directly across from the heroes, whereas the two on either side seemed to lead into separate caves. Binkadink was the first to cross the narrow stone bridge to the upthrust island of rock. As he crossed its length, a furious bubbling began at the pool of magma at his right; layers upon layers spurted up, taking on a vaguely humanoid form some 10 feet tall or more. This barely-human shape started wading over to towards the gnome, arms raised menacingly. However, the magma brute wasn't the only thing Binkadink had noticed: most of the rock island's upper surface was covered in a crude circle carved into the stone floor, with an uneven star shape carved into the circle. Binkadink knew little of magic, but he knew a magic circle when he saw one. He feared stepping into it, afraid that it might be trapped in some way he wouldn't be able to detect until too late - but then he realized the magma brute was bearing down on his with unnerving speed. Opting to deal with the threat he knew was real, and not wanting to try to jump from the edge of the narrow bridge to solid rock outside the circle - with a misstep sending him hurtling into the magma pool - he boldly stepped across the magic circle, swinging his glaive to meet the lava-dripping monster approaching him. The blade sank into the creature's chest, then the gnome pulled it out, fearful the creature's internal heat might damage the metal blade. At the back of the line of heroes, Gilbert cast a [i]fly[/i] spell upon himself, then directed Mudpie to swim through the solid rock overhead and check out the other side of the bridge blocked by the boulder. The earth elemental obligingly stepped into the stone wall of the cavern and began making his way through the solid stone, climbing upwards until he was above the cavern's ceiling. Finoula gulped down the contents of a [i]potion of spider climb[/i] - one she had purchased from Urithiah Stibblepock, and which was thus pleasingly free of arachnid legs. She took a single step onto the narrow stone bridge, then scampered up the wall towards the sloping ceiling some 30 feet above the level of the magma in the four oval pools surrounding the rock with the four bridges. Behind her, Castillan and Darrien raised their light crossbow and composite longbow, respectively, aiming at the magma brute that Binkadink had stabbed. But as they fired their weapons, another magma brute rose up from the pool at the northeast section of the cavern. Finoula gave it a quick snap of her [i]whip of thorns[/i] as it formed, scoring a gash along its front. Not wanting to get caught between two of these hulking lava-beasts on a narrow stone bridge, Castillan scampered across to the rock island as quickly as he could. Ingebold followed, casting a quick [i] detect magic[/i] as she did so, to give the magic circle carved into the island floor a good look. The reddish glow of the magma flickered around the room, but she saw no emanations coming from the circle itself. A sudden motion caught Castillan's eye; looking to his right, a reptilian head rose up out of the southwestern magma pool. "The dragon's over here!" he called to the others as he let fly with the bolt he'd just loaded into his crossbow. It hit the creature just above the eye, lodging between a pair of reddish scales. With a hiss of anger, the creature let loose a blast of fire from its mouth, catching not only the bounder who had just shot it but also Binkadink and Ingebold as well. Then it submerged back beneath the surface of the bubbling magma. The gnome instinctively winced in pain as his body was engulfed in flames, before realizing he'd felt no actual discomfort - the [i]potion of resist fire[/i] he'd imbibed earlier had protected him from any damage. Grinning, he continued his attacks on the magma brute he'd been fighting, keeping it focused on him long enough for Darrien's arrows to put an end to it. The creature lost its shape as it fell back into the pool of magma, never to rise again. The gnome wasn't out of danger yet, though, for the magma brute from the northeastern pool moved over to better attack the gnome. Gilbert flew into the cavern, taking time as he passed Binkadink to release an [i]enlarge person[/i] spell upon the gnome. Binkadink increased to the size of a normal human, gave the wizard a broad smile, and stabbed at his new magma brute foe. However, the dragon's head popped up from the magma again - this time from the northwestern one, alerting the heroes that at least those two pools were connected beneath the bridge - catching Gilbert, Binkadink, and Ingebold in its fiery blast. The arrow was no longer lodged in between the scales on its head, perhaps having been burned away by its submersion in liquid magma. Fierce bubbling in the southeastern pool of magma heralded the appearance of yet another magma brute. Finoula raced along the ceiling, lining herself up to be midway between the two easternmost magma brutes, then slashed out with her [i]whip of thorns[/i] at the northernmost one, slaying it outright before spinning to face the one to the south or her. Just beyond the stone wall behind that magma brute, Mudpie popped his head down from the ceiling into a dismal cavern. Eight orcs - five women and three children - were huddled together, clinging to each other in fear as the will-sapping drugs they'd been injected with via the barbarians' blowgun darts began wearing off and they became aware of their predicament...and of the two of their number that hadn't been herded into this cave with them, but rather redirected as an immediate meal upon their arrival. Dutifully, Mudpie revealed his discovery to his master through their link and was sent to go check out the cavern to the east. "What the Hell's going on?" roared a voice from the west, as a massive fire giant stepped through the cave opening and looked about him. Unbelievably, the area was swarming with adventurers - which meant they'd already had to have made it past the dozen mephits [b]Skraine[/b] and his allies had placed as lair guardians. He roared again in anger, then raced across the narrow stone bridge with a massive greatsword in hand, heading for Binkadink - his closest enemy. Before he got across the bridge, Gilbert pivoted in midair and cast a [i]cone of cold[/i] spell that managed to catch the fire giant and the dragon's head - so far all it had allowed of itself to come into view. Both victims roared in pain, and the portly wizard smiled broadly, mentally congratulating himself for attacking with a cold-based spell; as he had surmised, these fiery creatures were particularly vulnerable to cold. Castillan ran over to attack the magma brute rising up from the southeastern magma pool. He hit it with a glancing blow, but in return the magma brute slammed at him with its massive, clublike arms, crushing the bounder between them and setting him ablaze. The elf staggered back, and rather than roll on the ground to try to douse the flames - his initial instinct, but one he realized would make him a vulnerable target for more such attacks - he forced himself to reach down and grab up a potion from his belt. Popping off its cork and guzzling down the contents, the bounder's body dissipated into a fine mist, which maintained a roughly humanoid shape as it drifted to the northern cave opening - the way back to the surface. Castillan's body had been greatly damaged by the magma brute, and he knew he was out of the fight until he could get some significant magical healing, but this approach not only put out the fire but made him virtually untouchable in the meantime. "Quit screwing around, you stupid beast!" Skraine called out as he swung his blade at Binkadink, catching the gnome across the chest and scoring a deep groove in his armor. In response, the "dragon" raised its head high up out of the magma pool - followed by another, and another, and another, until a full nine reptilian heads were writhing up out of the magma on slender necks. Seven of the heads belched forth flames, three of them focused on Gilbert, flying up near the ceiling, the other four engulfing Binkadink and Ingebold. Their magical fire protection absorbed most of the damage and Binkadink's glaive swung into the fire giant's right bicep, cutting deep. Sudden furiously-bubbling magma in the southwestern pool heralded the imminent arrival of a fourth magma brute. As it rose, Finoula ran sideways along the stone wall of the cavern, lining herself up for her third lightning strike of the day, this time blasting through the fire giant and the pyrohydra. She enjoyed their screams of pain as her body zapped through them, only to reform safely on the wall over in the northwestern section of the cavern at the end of her arc. Across the cavern from her, Mudpie was exploring the easternmost cave by dropping his head down through the ceiling and looking around. Below him the large cave was empty but for the scores - if not hundreds - of bones scattered along the stone floor. Another cavern connected to this lower cave, attached by a sheer, 30-foot-tall cliff. Another passageway led south from this upper cave - and Mudpie could hear the unmistakable sound of claws on stone as something walked towards the earth elemental from around the corner. Gilbert heard his familiar's descriptions over the link they shared, but he focused his attention on lining up another [i]cone of cold[/i] spell, catching both Skraine and the pyrohydra in its areas of effect. The nine-headed beast gave a final hiss of pain as it died, its body sinking back into the magma. "Dammit, Nurang, get yer scaly butt out here -- we need you!" called out Skraine, before leaping backwards into the southwestern pool of magma - where, he knew, the adventurers were unlikely to be able to follow him. The intense heat of the liquid rock didn't bother him in the least, but he couldn't see through the magma and certainly couldn't breathe it; still, he knew there was an air pocket underneath the rock island, where the pyrohydra laired. If he could find it, he could hide out there until these damned intruders were driven off. About time that damn dragon started pulling his weight around here.... Upon on the higher cavern of his lair, the juvenile red dragon, [b]Nurangkarthraxaeros[/b], passed by Mudpie's extended head without noticing him, then leapt off the edge of the cliff and flapped down to his lower cavern. Sticking his head out of the cave opening, he immediately took in the scene and gave forth a blast of fire from deep within his lungs. Binkadink, Ingebold, and Gilbert were all encompassed within its range, and it managed to burn its way past the magical protection of all three. Seemingly unperturbed by the arrival of a dragon larger than a horse, Darrien continued on with the job at hand: peppering the magma brute in the southwestern pool of magma with arrows, until it too lost cohesion of its form and collapsed back into the pool, dead. Only then did he pay attention to Gilbert's frantic cries to run back the way they'd come. For the wizard had used up his most powerful spells dealing with the other creatures the group had encountered thus far; Castillan was sorely wounded; most of the group's fire protection had been breached - now was [i]not[/i] the time to take on a large red dragon at the peak of its power. "Run!" Gilbert cried, flying to the northern cave opening as he did so, telling his familiar over the link to meet him in the passageway to the north. Just ahead of him, Castillan dropped back into solid form, realizing he could travel much faster as flesh and blood than he could in gaseous form. Ingebold, standing roughly in the middle of the fake magic circle, looked around her. There was still one magma brute left alive, in the southeastern pool and heading her way. The red dragon was approaching from the easternmost cave opening; squinting at the beast, the dwarven cleric could see no definitive sign that this red dragon had any fiendish blood in it, not that she was any sort of expert on such matters. Finoula was crouched on the wall over by the northwestern magma pool, but was circling in a counter-clockwise direction, heading over to the cave entrance sealed up by the boulder, as if to line up another lightning strike that would leave her by the northern entrance - but if so, forgetting that she'd already used her [i]lightning amulet[/i] three times that day. The men - and Mudpie, she noticed - were already exiting via the northern passageway; only Gilbert seemed to tarry, as if hesitant to take off at full speed until he knew the women were fleeing as well. The cleric wanted to run to follow the others, but she knew if she did so the dragon could swoop over by where she now stood and would be perfectly aligned to catch everyone in another blast of its fiery breath weapon. Such an attack would surely be fatal for several of her friends. She came to an instant decision, gripped her dwarven warhammer, and gave the dragon a look of fierce determination. "Ye won't be gettin' past me," she told it. The magma brute climbed up out of the pool and stepped onto the stone surface of the central island, swinging a massive fist at the cleric. Ingebold easily ducked beneath its blow, but this gave the dragon time to fly over to line itself up for another blast of its breath weapon - fortunately for the wounded men, aimed solely at Ingebold and Finoula. The women cried out in pain at the furnace-blast of its breath, but then Finoula raced across the domed ceiling, dropping down to the floor when she got to the northern bridge. She looked back to make sure Ingebold could follow - she certainly wasn't going to leave her Battle-Sister behind! - and was pleased to see her duck beneath its body, her short dwarven stature helping her evade its snapping jaws, and race over the bridge as fast as she could move. Gilbert had indeed hung back from the rush to escape, but the decision to do so was tactical in nature. As Nurangkarthraxaeros spun around, the wizard cast a [i]solid fog[/i] spell at the base of the bridge, blocking the cave opening. (He'd have preferred a [i]wall of stone[/i], but sometimes you just had to make do with the tools at hand!) "Ingebold!" he yelled. "Open up hole!" The dwarf complied, pulling out the [i]portable hole[/i] she kept rolled up in her belt. "Everybody in!" commanded Gilbert, and the rest, seeing the wisdom of his idea, did just that, Ingebold included. Once everyone was in, Gilbert grabbed up the hole and, [i]fly[/i] spell still intact, flew down the winding corridors as fast as he could. He knew the dragon could fly much faster than the speed his spell granted him, but he was counting on several factors to work to his advantage: first, the corridors were somewhat narrow in places, not compatible for a dragon's outstretched wings; second, the [i]solid fog[/i] spell would give them a bit of a head start; and finally, with only a magma brute (and maybe the giant; Gilbert wasn't sure if he was dead beneath the magma or merely hiding) left as an ally, there was a good chance the dragon wouldn't want to leave his treasure hoard unguarded in a chase after them out in the open air, where there weren't convenient magma pools at hand to aid the dragon and hinder the heroes. Up topside, Aithanar was surprised to see Gilbert come flying out of the skull cave like a fired sling stone, yelling that they had to go, [i]now![/i] "Shindilly frumpage!" he called back to the wizard as he climbed into the seat of the Vistani wagon and led the draft horses into a U-turn. Gilbert dropped into the seat of the mule wagon, flipped the [i]portable hole[/i] open in the back, and let everybody start climbing out as he goaded the mules to their fastest speed. "He isn't following," announced Darrien as he kept a keen eye on the skull-cave opening, half-expecting to see a furious red dragon explode out of it at any moment. But minutes passed, the wagons got further away, and the skull cave was lost from view as they turned a corner around a rocky hill. Gilbert let out a loud sigh of relief. "We safe," he said. Nonetheless, they group put a few miles behind them before making camp under a grove of trees, and they doubled their normal guard shifts for the night, not wanting to be caught unawares. - - - "We have t' go back," Ingebold announced the next morning. "Th' prisoners are still locked away in th' cave, and if'n we just leave things as they are, th' dragon'll continue on with its demands fer tribute. We've gotta put a stop t' it." "Agreed," said Gilbert. "But this time we go in smart. We already know what in there, so we only choose spells that help." Everyone would have a [i]protection from energy[/i] spell guarding them from fire-based attacks, he decided, although he personally opted for a [i]fire shield[/i] spell - the [i]cold shield[/i] version - that he wanted to try out in combat. The rangers would both have [i]longstrider[/i] spells active to increase their mobility besides the normal [i]barkskins[/i] and [i]mage armors[/i] the group usually cast upon themselves before battle. Binkadink would not only be [i]enlarged[/i], as he was yesterday, but his glaive would have a [i]greater magic weapon[/i] spell cast upon it, and he, Gilbert, and Ingebold would each have a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell centered upon themselves, so even if the group spread out a bit there would be three circles of relative protection available. Darrien's composite longbow would have a [i]magic weapon[/i] spell cast upon it, increasing it to the same level of enhancement as the ranger's favored [i]Arachnibow[/i]. And all of these preparatory spells would be cast in the magma caverns where the group had fought the mephits, so they'd all be active by the time the group entered the cavern network with the four magma pools where the dragon laired. That part of the plan went off without a hitch. Spells cast, the group raced down the winding corridors leading to the dragon's lair, a human-sized Binkadink in the lead, loping along at greater speeds on his similarly-enlarged [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i]. As he turned the last corner, he saw a magma brute - presumably the only one left - standing in the middle of the cave entrance to the greater lair, as if ready to block the way with its life. But instead, once the light from the gnome's [i]everburning torch[/i]-adorned helmet came into view, the magma brute dived off to the side, vanishing into the northwestern magma pool. Binkadink stepped cautiously onto the bridge, magically-enhanced glaive in hand, looking about for signs of the dragon's location. But the magma brute hadn't leapt away in fright; it had informed the rest of the lair's inhabitants, all currently submerged beneath the concealing magma, of the return of the adventurers. With a splash of lava, Skraine - still wounded from the previous day's battle, with naught but a night's rest in the way of healing - jumped up from the northeastern magma pool and tried to catch Binkadink in a tight embrace, after which the gnome would be pulled into the pool and held down until his protective fire-magics were burned away from the total submersion. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way. At the first hint of motion from his left, Binkadink spun his glaive in that direction, and Skraine's leap up at the gnome only managed to pierce his own neck upon Binkadink's blade. Bleeding profusely, Skraine had only time for a muttered giantish curse before falling backwards into the magma for the last time. Castillan raced up behind the gnome and dashed all the way to the boulder blocking the entrance to the slaves' pen. "Everybody okay in there?" he asked, and took the cries of surprise within as a good enough answer. "We'll be with you in a minute!" he promised, unsure if the orcs within could even understand his words, and stepped back to the middle of the central rock platform. The elven bounder didn't like close proximity to pools of magma - not even his most desperate physical maneuvers could help him if he ever fell into such a pool. Ingebold cast an [i]air walk[/i] spell upon herself and stepped into the air, walking across the cavern at a safe 25-foot height until she stood above the southwestern pool. Behind her, Finoula scampered up the northern wall, having just consumed another [i]potion of spider climb[/i]. Her whip was in hand, ready for the dragon's appearance. It didn't take long for Nurangkarthraxaeros to put in an appearance. Mirroring the pyrohydra's tactics, he popped his head up out of the southeastern magma pool and let loose a blast of his fiery breath, catching Castillan, Ingebold, Finoula, and Binkadink within its area of effect. However, the heroes' protective fire shielding held - for the moment. At the same time, magma brutes emerged from the three other pools, surprising the heroes who had been certain there had only been a lone survivor when they had fled the day before. "Crap! They got reinforcements!" called out Gilbert. Seeing the magma brute in the pool below her, Ingebold cast a [i]wall of stone[/i] spell, covering a horizontal span from the westernmost stone bridge to the south wall of the cavern. The magma brute was forced to duck below it, taking it momentarily out of the fight but also giving the heroes - those not flying or clinging to walls like a spider - a bigger area on which to stand. Already refreshed after its first such attack, the dragon climbed up onto the stone platform, magma dripping from its body, and caught the same four heroes in another breath weapon blast, all but stripping most of them of their fire protection. Nurangkarthraxaeros had the sense that several of them would be unable to withstand another such attack, but the reptilian beast was winded - it would be a bit before he could attack in such a way again. However, he had made himself an easier target in climbing out of the magma pool. Finoula activated her [i]lightning amulet[/i] for the first time that day, sending her streaking through the red dragon and the magma brute in the northeastern pool. She reformed her physical body sticking to the wall along the southeastern part of the cavern, between the cave openings to the slave pits and the dragon's lair. In the meantime, the magma brute beneath Ingebold's new stone floor popped up out from underneath it, only to be stabbed by an enlarged Binkadink. The lava-beast swung at the gnome in retaliation with a massive, flaming fist, but missed. And then Gilbert Fung brought out the big guns. Still standing in the entry passageway to the larger cavern with Mudpie at his side, the portly wizard pointed a chubby finger at the dragon and fired out a magical phrase. A black ray of energy flashed across the chamber to strike the dragon in the side. "Eat [i]enervation[/i] spell, overgrown lizard!" Gilbert taunted. Nurangkarthraxaeros was furious. Immediately after having been blasted, he felt weaker in all sorts of ways: physical strength diminished, life energy drained - it even felt as if his capacity for breathing forth belches of flame had been nearly halved. He roared in fury, the sounds reverberating across the chamber. With two charges remaining in her amulet for the day, Finoula saw no reason not to put them to immediate use. She blasted across the dragon's form in lightning bolt form once again, catching the magma brute in the northwest pool as well. That put the stunned magma brute flanked between the elven ranger poised on the side of the cavern wall and the elven bounder standing on the island. Castillan stabbed out with his [i]stonepiercer dagger[/i], its magic vibrating deep within the creature's molten stone form, causing it to lose cohesion and sink back into the pool from which it came. Binkadink whirled around and gave Nurangkarthraxaeros the sudden attention of his blade, stabbing deep into the dragon's flank, as Darrien's flurry of arrows took down the magma brute the gnome had just been fighting. Castillan bounded behind the dragon and gnome and positioned himself to strike out at the magma brute in the northeastern pool, just as a second blast of crackling energy came racing across the cavern to strike the dragon. "Ha! You like that, lizard?" cackled Gilbert as his second - and, sadly, last for the day - [i]enervation[/i] spell hit its target. The dragon roared its frustration, eyes blazing with hatred for the human wizard but now too weak to make it across the chamber to get to his foe without doubtlessly being slain by the wizard's companions. He briefly contemplated diving into the magma pool, swimming beneath the eastern stone bridge and popping up out of the northeastern pool to get closer to his foe, but even that was too risky. So Nurangkarthraxaeros only did the first part of his plan, diving into the southeastern magma pool, taking a scrape of oversized gnomish glaive across the back as he fled to the safety of the liquid rock. As Castillan's enhanced dagger blade made short work of the last remaining magma brute, Nurangkarthraxaeros fumed beneath the magma. These adventurers were too powerful for him, he realized - they'd likely clear out his treasure hoard, and there was nothing he could to about it. He chafed at the realization, wanting nothing more than to rise up and attack these intruding thieves, but despite his rage he realized to do so would be to spell his own death. No, it was better to stay safe, even at the cost of his treasure hoard - he had hundreds of years before him yet, plenty of time to amass more treasures. And he'd track these adventurers down, no doubt about it! They'd pay for their impudence with their very lives! But later. For now, Nurangkarthraxaeros swam through the liquid stone, along the submerged tunnel that led to the planar gate opening to the Elemental Plane of Fire. He'd rest there, and return again the next day, when the adventurers were gone and it was once more safe to appear in his old lair. "When it was once again safe" - the very thought that he, a mighty red dragon, was forced to hide from these two-legged vermin, galled him to no end. Oh, how he'd make them pay! - - - After a day spent moping and wallowing in self-pity on the Elemental Plane of Fire, mighty Nurangkarthraxaeros deemed it safe to return. These lesser beings, with their shortened lifespans, had no patience; they'd surely have left as soon as they'd cleared out his hoard. Passing through the planar gate, the red dragon swam through the molten rock down through the familiar passageway, until he sensed the open pool above him and surfaced his head above the magma. He looked around, seeing no sign of the intruders' continued presence. Lurching himself up onto the central stone slab, he shook off the molten lava and paced over to his old lair to see if the thieves had completely cleaned him out, or if anything had been left behind. He didn't see the [i]alarm[/i] spell trigger that had been placed on the center of the cavern's ceiling, which sent a silent signal to the hero who had cast it there. But over in the westernmost cavern - which had up until yesterday been Skraine's personal area, the heroes readied themselves for their final fight with the red dragon. Nurangkarthraxaeros traipsed into his old cavern, kicking the bones of his previous meals aside as he passed. He leaped up and stretched his wings, flapping up to the higher level where his basking ledge and the treasure chamber to the south lay awaiting him. But there was something different about the area...what was this rune scrawled here on the wall? Gilbert's [i]symbol of pain[/i] triggered as soon as the dragon's vision focused upon it. He roared in agony, the sudden searing pain causing him to lose control of his wings, forcing him painfully to the stone floor below. He landed with a crash, impaling several rib bones from previous meals between his scales. It took him a moment to clear his head of the agony caused by the magical symbol...and when he was able to right himself once more, he found himself surrounded by a ring of adventurers, weapons and spells ready to fire. "Time to go to Hell for real," Gilbert Fung said, before the heroes unleashed their fury on the red dragon. Those were the last words Nurangkarthraxaeros heard before his world went black. - - - I hadn't really expected to get very far into this adventure during the first session, but it was one of those times when the first adventure ("Wastewater") was a short one - one encounter, really - and even with taking the time afterward to level up all of the PCs to 10th, there was still plenty of time left to not want to get some more gaming in. After all, we sometimes go 5-6 weeks or more between sessions, so game time is a precious commodity. I wasn't sure if the rest of this adventure would fill up the whole second gaming session, but one of the advantages of holding the sessions in my new man-cave is that I have everything on hand; had we finished this adventure up early, I would have been able to start us on the beginning of the next adventure. As it turned out, with the group having to flee and come back later, this played out to just about a full session all by itself. For the record, the PCs made it through the mephit cavern - which was one side of Paizo's "Wasteland" game map accessory - during the first gaming session, and we picked up at the entrance to the final cavern for the second session. Incidentally, this second session was the first one we did in this campaign without our full complement of gamers. Jacob had come home from college for the weekend but he was running a fever and generally felt like crap, so he stayed home and Dan ran Castillan as well as Gilbert Fung for this second half. (Since Jacob had also been running Ingebold for the first session, we moved her over to Logan's control for the second session.) Vicki did call him on her phone and Skyped him in, in case he wanted to be a virtual telepresence for the game, but he merely had her show him the layout of the magma pool caverns and what the group was fighting at the time, before dropping off and napping on the sofa at home. By the way, my original intention was for the PCs to go through one more adventure after this before picking up their enhanced weapons from Pentaclus. My son Logan pointed out that the group had spent three days in-game on this adventure rather than the intended one, so he was pushing for them to pick up their weapons at the beginning of the next adventure instead of after it was over. I countered that there would be no need for them to go explore Lake Quag (the next adventure) if they had already picked up their weapons; Logan countered that he wanted to turn the red dragon's corpse over to the weaponsmiths and have a suit of dragonmail armor built for Binkadink, which would cause the PCs to have to wait around for that to be made (and thus go explore Lake Quag in the meantime). Even though Pentaclus and his group are strictly weaponsmiths, not armorers, I imagine they know somebody capable of making armor out of dragonhide, so I relented. It looks like the group will be getting their magic weapon enhancements a bit earlier than originally anticipated. I'm not sure when we'll be playing next, but my wife Mary has decided we should follow it up with another two-family dinner. I think it's a little aggravating for her to have Dan, Vicki and the boys over but not get to spend much time with them herself. - - - T-Shirt Worn: For the first session, I was still wearing my "Duck Dynasty" T-shirt since it was thematically appropriate to the adventure we played before this one. On the second session, though, I opted to wear one of my dragon T-shirts, since it was now apparent to the group that the "fiendish red dragon" the PCs had heard about several times before was going to be a focal point of this adventure. Lacking a red dragon T-shirt, I arbitrarily went with the blue dragon one. [/QUOTE]
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