the Kyri Chronicles - last updated 22 Oct

[Plane Sailing]

Before more than a few bowshots have been made the goblins, charging at incredible speed reach the base of the temple and swarm up the sides to the roof. Miranda, Kieran and Graculous all dislodge goblins from the edge, but more goblin heads pop up all around the roof. Miranda calls upon her sorcerous illusions to hold up some of them (apparently making a section of roof crumble silently infront of them), but then decides that discretion is the better part of roguishness and abandons the roof. While Graculous and Kieran are both surrounded by half a dozen raging goblins, others start attempting to batter down the main door of the temple. Inside Lysander is rallying the bravest of the villagers to stand with him, improvised weapons at the ready.

On the roof the combats go badly - Kieran and Graculous are both surrounded and pressed hard - then tragically Kieran is struck down and swiftly hacked to pieces!

By the front door, Miranda has crept round and sneak attacks one of the goblins, dispatching him rapidly, and just as the goblins batter the door in she covers the portal with an illusion of wholeness - from within Lysander and the peasants strike through the illusion and two more goblins fall. The barbarian rage is now wearing off from the attackers and a hoarse call signals their retreat; the goblins race off into the darkness once more.

Fearing for her companions, Miranda scurries back up to the roof and sees a feebly moving Graculous - racing across she is able to staunch the flow of blood just in time - six seconds longer and he would have bled to death! Their joy is short-lived though, as they realise that Kieran is fallen.

There is a solemn service of thanksgiving the next morning. In the short time they knew him the villagers had taken this extravagant young man to their hearts. His tasselled swords were committed into the keeping of a 14 year old boy who had spent a lot of time following Kieran around in the village and his soul was committed to the grace of Asura. Ynnsfeardh reaches the village after his short sabbatical, and after the local priest works with Lysander to heal Graculous back to normal, the party form up to venture into the uneasy cliffs once again. But this time it’s personal...

Death Toll now includes Blodwyn and Kieran. Sadly many more are to follow...

 

[Plane Sailing]

The goblins have clearly faced another setback after their attack on the village, and Graculous is concerned that they might move off to safer lands, since their leader is still very much alive. The only solution seems to be to take the fight to them once again, and to bring the goblin reign of terror to an end.
At the now familiar cave entrance, Miranda conjures a silent image to screen their entrance from any watching guards - but their way seems clear. None of the early guard posts in the caverns seem manned any longer. Amidst continuing ominous creaks a groans from the rocks above them, the party presses deeper into the caverns. Miranda scouts ahead, taking a different route from before. Turning a corner, she finds herself on a steep incline… a very steep incline… covered with pebbles… Losing her balance, she slides down a rocky path and just as she is going to shoot over the lip into the chasm she grasps hold of a rocky projection! Safe, phew! Painstakingly she crawls back up to the top of this treacherous passage, turns… and loses her footing once more! This time she hurtles down the slope and into the abyss, screaming!

Back along the corridor, Ynnsfeardh hears the falling scream and is galvanised into action - running in her direction, he glides skilfully down the slippery corridor and dives head-first into the chasm! With superb jump and swim rolls he dives gracefully into the subterranean lake, and then looks around for Miranda. His friend was knocked unconscious by the fall, but her tumbling and jumping skills (along with a fair amount of luck) had saved her life. Her Owl familiar guides Ynnsfeardh to her body, and he drags her to safety. Up above, pitons and ropes make it possible to safely traverse the corridor and Ynnsfeardh and his precious cargo are hauled out of the crevasse. To their delight, all this noise hasn’t drawn attention from goblins, who must be even further into the caverns than they had expected.

The party retreat out of the caverns, and lick their wounds once more. Ynnsfeardh travels with Lysander back to the village while Graculous, Miranda, Auriel and Tekel venture back into the caverns before the goblins can regroup. They backtrack to the normal chasm crossing, and work their way deeper into the uneasy caverns, with the groaning and creaking of the caves growing louder and more persistent around them. There are a couple of skirmishes with lone goblins, and the discovery of a gross kitchen and sewer cave before the party stumble across a vast cavern - filled with goblins!

After a seconds hesitation, Graculous and Auriel move into the cavern entranceway, whilst Tekel hangs back and casts his sleep spell, and Miranda creates a silent image of crevasses opening and rocks falling. Whilst a few goblins are slept, and a few more hesitate before the illusions, the rest press into the attack, led by the goblins second-in-command, whilst another snipes from the other side of the cavern. Auriel sends her badgers into combat, and the furry teeth of doom soon get enraged and rip the bow-goblin to shreds. The other goblins start falling, but at a cost in wounds for Miranda and Graculous.

Suddenly there is a howl of rage from behind Tekel - and the leader of the goblins thrusts his sword straight through the wizards chest! Tekel chokes out a few words and then collapses. The goblin beserker, fresh into the fight then lunges into the room and attacks Graculous - Miranda attempts to flank him but fails because of his barbarian senses - then he critically hits Miranda, and to add insult to injury electricity flashes out of the blade as it cleaves into her. Mirandas body jerks from the electric discharge and falls smouldering to the ground. Graculous hauls himself round to deal with this new threat, but as the grinding rocks overhead reach a crescendo, the Goblin chieftain hacks him down too. Auriel, in fear for her life casts obscuring mist in the centre of the cavern and dives inside, calling her badgers to her side. The goblin chieftain stalks the outskirts of the mist while Graculous lies bleeding to death and Auriel cowers inside.

With a tremendous, ear-splitting roar, the cavern cracks open for real, and boulders start falling into the room, as the floor bucks and heaves in the throes of a tremendous earthquake. Auriel hangs on for grim life, and when the dust finally settles, and the noise of falling rocks ceases, she finds herself alone with her badgers in a silent cavern. The entrance she came in by is buried under a mountain of stone. As are her friends, Graculous, Miranda and Tekel. Conjuring a light spell, she starts to find her way out of the caverns, more by luck than by judgement since even if she had been able to unearth Mirandas map the topography of the caves has been upended by the tremendous earth tremor.
Eventually reaching the caverns entrance that evening, she returns with low spirits to Three Beeches. The goblin threat is ended… but at what cost?

Depths of Rage Death Roll: Blodwyn falls to her doom; Kieran is hacked down by goblin barbarians; Tekel, Graculous and Miranda killed by the goblin chief.

This set the campaign back some, I can tell you!

 

[Plane Sailing]

The Candlemakers Fire
(WotC cliffhanger adventure)

Current Party composition
Auriel: Druid 3
Lysander: Jazumai 3

and introducing
Crail: Rogue 1
Sula: Barbarian Ranger 1

Crail grew up as a street urchin in Knightsbridge, hanging around in the disreputable areas around SouthSpur and running with the gangs. He always had a bit of a sense of honour about him, and recently there has been a change at the head of the thieves guild - an outsider called Squim took over the local guild and with several henchmen - all with long, greasy black hair - a much more violent atmosphere started to permeate the guilds activities. Crail wasn't too sure that he liked the way that things were going, and decided that it was time to leave the town. How to do this in safety though?

He has been hearing stories on the grapevine about Lysander and his fellow adventurers, he approaches Lysander with a proposal that he works with them awhile. They are happy to accept, judging that he is honestly looking to change his ways.

Sula, meanwhile, finds herself a long way from her home in the jungles of the deep south. A towering black woman from one of the barbarian tribes, she is more used to hunting dinosaurs and other beasts than trading in a large town. She is a ranger (DM: heavily modified local version of a ranger) with barbarian rage feats (DM: regional feats for the barbarian tribes). She draws attention throughout the marketplace, attempting to sell her small carvings but generally meeting with fear and distrust. The party hears about this strange woman and tracks her down, making friends because of her fledgling interest in the cult of Asura.

More of their story to follow shortly...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Arriving at Knightsbridge, the much depleted party first go tovisit Alkanar at the temple. Lysander reports and dedicates his sword to the work of Asura in this location, and Alkanar is delighted to have a Jazumai in his region. Then Auriel and Lysander go to the Queen of Cups for a drink, while Ynnsfeardh leaves to transact some private business for a while, promising to return in a month or so.
While at the Queen of cups, the pair meet Crail (as detailed above) and the next day meet Sula in the market square (also detailed above). Joining together and helping Crail get out of town since Lysander thinks he is redeemable, they head off back to the village of Oakhurst to pass on news of the deaths to friends there.

A couple of days later they arrive at Oakhurst and discover the streets empty. A cautious recce by Crail reveals that everyone is standing, silently in the tavern. The heroes enter and see that everyone seems to be staring at something flickering on the bar. Crail gets drawn in by the mystic flame and stands entranced by Lysander is able to dash the candle off the bar, extinguishing it. Suddenly everyone wakes up out of their stupor.

Apparently, Edarad, a visiting candlemaker had been in town that morning - and had a number of exotic candles to sell. He had done fairly good business, and attracted quite a crowd, when he decided to show them one of his special candles. Other villagers came down to the pub looking for their loved ones and were also ensnared by the powerful charm of the candle, and nobody can remember what happened while they were entranced by the flame.

The company decide to do something about this, and casting around outside Sula soon finds tracks leading off into the woods, a small handcart led by a human. They give chase, and by late afternoon find themselves in the depths of the woods. Suddenly they become aware of a loud buzzing sound – and hurtling through the trees towards them come four giant bees!

 

[Plane Sailing]

The hurtling attack of the giant bees is met quite easily, Auriel’s manouverability in the dense underbrush proving very useful. Crail is unfortunately stung, and the poison cripples his dexterity – the last thing he wanted. Nobody is able to treat his poison, so they continue along the trail, until it comes to a clearing with a small hut built onto the side of a large rocky mound.

Crail & Sula hang back on watch, while Lysander and Auriel move up to the broken door. The hairs on Lysanders neck start to bristle… there is something evil inside there – he moves in and spots a tiny, hideous fiery red creature hovering near the back of the room. As the two enter it lights a candle set on the table, and mystic force glides outward from the burning flame. As quick as thinking, Lysander charges into the room and kicks the table over, extinguishing the flame. Sula hears the sound of combat and charges across the clearing, diving straight through the weakly boarded window of the hovel. The little impish thing quickly flies through a carved entrance that leads back into the hill and the party reform and step forward into the darkness, keenly aware of the smell of warm wax and a whir of small wings in the distance...

 

[Plane Sailing]

A short passage leads into a rough cave whose walls are coated with grey wax. There are niches all around the walls with unlit candles in, and several benches which are covered in candles of all shapes and sizes. A second fiery mephit appears and both breath gouts of flame over the Jazumai, as Auriel stands in the doorway. Next round while Lysander and Auriel tackle the first mephit, Sula grapples the second one, grits her teeth as her flesh burns, and then douses it with her water skin! The stunned and drenched mephit can’t resist as her powerful hands grind out its life, while Lysander and Auriel finish off the remaining mephit as it tries to flee.

Crail joins them inside, and his quick eyes and nimble fingers spot a trap in the far opening which leads further back into the rockface. He disarms it, and they proceed into a smallish hexagonal room, whose walls seem to be made of smooth grey wax. Poking an eyehole through one of the walls shows more small hexagonal wax rooms beyond. Lysander and Auriel carefully cut a hole in one wall and then another, before coming across a similar chamber but with a wax-covered tall humanoid figure standing in the middle of the room. As they enter, the waxen head turns and gazes at them.

The fight is short and brutal – the wax golem is unable to land a solid blow on any of the quick-moving party, and it is soon cut down. As it falls, though, a secret door slides open in the southwestern wall, and beyond another one of these golems a robed figure is chanting ominously...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Auriel and Sula take on the golem, while Crail hangs back. The Edarad the enchanter lets off a couple of magic missiles from a wand and Lysander dodges an AoO from the golem in order to get close enough to strike the wizard. His blows all seem to be deflected - either from the glowing force which surrounds his body or some kind of invisible shield that intercepts his blows (AC 23 with all his protections and dexterity!). Meanwhile Edarad hazards an unsuccessful hold person, before unleashing more magic missiles into Sula. The golem is downed quickly this time, and as Edarad finds his foes starting to surround him he decides to make a desperate escape. Casting defensively he unleashes a spider climb spell - and runs up the wall and to one of the bee escape holes in the ceiling.
Most of the party rush out to the exit and try to climb up to the top of the rocky outcrop, but by the time they get up there he is long gone, and Sula is unable to pick up any tracks.

Meanwhile, Auriel searches around the workshop and finds what looks like a spellbook - so she pockets it, to sell later in town.

The party collect together again in the outer cabin and bind their wounds. Lysander calls upon the power of Asura to heal those who are most badly wounded, but they are still not in a good condition - the magic missiles of Edarad had taken a high toll of their vitality.
While contemplating their journey back to Oakhurst, Sula notices a quietning of the woodland sounds outside in the forest - and then a fearsome, hooting roar. Auriel and Sula share glances... "Owlbear" they both say. Peeking through the shattered door, they can see a massive shape at the fringe of the clearing, sniffing the air and pawing at the ground. Suddenly it lumbers forwards towards them!

Sula attempts to block its charge and recieves a crippling blow, hurling her back into the building. Auriel and Lysander duck and weave from just inside the doorway, landing some light blows while dodging the beasts fearsome claws - and it won't be lured into the shack were more of the party could get around it. Sula, stabilised but in a bad condition hauls herself up onto her feet and uses her animal empathy to taunt and enrage the beast, issuing a hooting challenge of her own - The owlbear, driven wild with anger, charges in at her, drawing attacks of opportunity from Lysander and Auriel, as well as a sneak attack from Crail - just enough damage to crumple it at Sulas feet. She snarls at the beast and then collapses herself, and only the swift ministrations of Lysander prevent her from following the monstrous beast into oblivion.

The company rest and heal for a few hours, and then make their way slowly and cautiously back through the woodlands to Oakhurst. The villagers are delighted to hear that Justice has been done, Edarad has fled and his power base removed. After a day to recover and heal themselves in Oakhurst (at the expense of a grateful citizenry), the company set off on the road back to knightsbridge.

Sula and Crail both gain a level at the end of this adventure.

DMs note: You can bet that Edarad will be back in a few months or years time with a serious grudge, a depleted spell book and several levels in the Candlemaker prestige class from Tome & Blood...

 

[Plane Sailing]

An Eye for an Eye
(Dungeon magazine adventure)

Current Party composition
Auriel: Druid 4
Lysander: Jazumai 3
Crail: Rogue 2
Sula: Barbarian Ranger 2

The road back to Knightsbridge comes with a few surprises... along the path ahead of them they spot a meeting between two armed men and a third. It looks like money changes hands... then the single bloke is cut down, mercilessly!

Auriel calls upon the forces of nature to rise up and entangle the men - and one of them finds himself bound fast by gripping branches and grasses, whilst the other struggles free and runs off into the woods. Sula charges in pursuit of the runner, whilst Lysander and Crail go to talk to their prisoner - who bargins for their freedom and then swings his weapon at them. He is quickly subdued, then they set off after Sula, leaving Crail to guard the injured man. Sula chased her quarry down, but has not been successful in melee, with much missing of weapons. Auriel arrives and again flexes her mystic muscles, summoning a wolf behind the fighter, who is tripped and then pummled into submission by Sula. Both are dragged back to the main pathway and questioned - Crail senses that they are under some kind of magical compulsion (great sense motive roll!) and the party decide to take them to Knightsbridge and hand them over to the Barons magistrates, then return here to investigate their employer - someone called "Plygar" - and find out what he wants with the jewelled eye which was delivered by the murdered courier.

 

[Plane Sailing]

A couple of days later they return to this point after delivering the charmed men to the authorities - although charmed they still bore some guilt, since even under the charm they were behaving in a way which they were predisposed towards, and had to answer for the murder of the courier.

Following the trail into the forest the company are surprised to find, after a couple of leagues, evidence of a long-forgotten roadway along their trail - jumbled stones which, at one time, must have formed part of a paved highway. A little further along and Crail notices hidden in the grass an ancient stone memorial, apparently depicting elves involved in siege against trolls or some other giantish creatures. It’s strange, because nobody round here has ever seen an elf, not in living memory. This must be from a long, long time ago.

As they press deeper into the forest there are some alarming calls heard away to the north - some strange strangled bird-like sounds. Auriel’s nature knowledge is improving, and she confirms that it is cockatrice mating calls - and in the mating season they tend to be less aggressive towards large creatures (saving their aggression for mating duels). Even more wary they press on.

After another couple of leagues they see a large white wolf, lounging on grass beside their trail. While they study it, the animal stands, and both Auriel and Sula gain an empathic impression - a sort of question, a need for them to follow. The two wilderness lovers project feelings of agreement with their animal empathy and they follow the wolf off the track and into the underbrush. An hours journey brings them to an old log and sod hut, with grass and flowers growing all around it and a family of wolves lounging or playing nearby and inside. The large grey wolf enters, introduces himself to them as Thornfur, and asks for their help…

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thornfur is the descendant of an awakened companion of a good witch who used to live in these forests. His great-grandparents are now long dead, as is the witch, but Thornfur and his pack still watch over the woods. Recently, he is facing two troubles which the pack have not been able to deal with - one is a huge assassin vine which has rooted itself in a glade, the other is the work of "the crooked man" who has done something which is flooding the swamp, and upsetting the balance in the woods. Having a hunch that this is the same as the "Plygar" that they are hunting, the party agree to help the wolves in both their requests.

They set out with the pack to the location of the assassin vine, and when they reach it the wolves charge straight in to the attack. Cursing, because they had hoped to make more of a plan of action the party charge in too, arming themselves mainly with handaxes (DMs note: The Plant subtype is immune to criticals - except from axes. Axes are allowed to score critical hits on plant creatures. After all, axes are built for chopping wood.)

The battle is fast and furious, half a dozen of the wolves are crushed and all the party are severely injured by the time they finally rob the horrible plant of its uncanny vitality. Lysander immediately runs round and checks the dying wolves, and calls upon Asura to stabilise those that he can, maintaining the core of the pack.

Thornfur leads them back to the hut and shows them healing herbs that the wolves all chew to help them to recover. The next morning Thornfur guides them to the flooded swampland, where the crooked man is up to some kind of evil.