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Wing Three
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6322837" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 83: VANDERGROTTEN'S VENGEANCE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Feron Dru, half-elf druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Aerik Battershield, dwarven fighter/dwarven defender</p><p></p><p>This was a short adventure; we played it during the same session where we finished up "Dude, Where's My Body?" since all that was left of that one was the final fight at the Pit-Fight tavern, and I suspected that we could complete that and run this adventure in its entirety, which would set us up for the beginning of a multi-session adventure for the next time we met. This was another one where I assigned each player the PC he or she would be running, and in the case of Joey I informed him that he'd be running Aerik this session instead of his own PC, Thunderwolf. As is usual when I do such things, I promised him that any XP he earned as Aerik would be likewise provided to Thunderwolf, so that he didn't get "cheated" out of any XP for the session.</p><p></p><p>I also did something I'd only done once before, and that was for the "Player Challenges" that weren't really D&D adventures: I started the adventure by having the players start out in Joey's bedroom with a radio on so they couldn't hear what was going on in the kitchen, and then brought them in one by one as their PCs entered the adventure. In Vicki's case - as she was the only one who would be running a different spellcasting PC than the one she had run in "Dude, Where's My Body?" - I had her bring her Feron Dru PC folder into Joey's bedroom with her so she could prepare a set of "generic" spells (those Feron would likely have prepared without knowing the specifics of what adventure she'd be going on). As in-game this adventure took place the very same evening as the end of the previous one, there would be no regaining spells that had been previously cast, and in Cal's case, he'd have had no time to pray for spells in the scant time since he had gained his original body back, earlier that evening. (We decided that he'd have spent some time preparing enough healing spells to get everyone back up to full hit points, and that was about it.)</p><p></p><p>So, I started out with Aerik and Galrich in the adventure, with Dan, Vicki, and Logan confined to Joey's bedroom with plates of snack food, sodas, and the Feron Dru PC folder, and I gave Joey and Jacob their starting status: the evening after Cal got his original body back, everyone in Wing Three hit the sack somewhere between ten and eleven o'clock at night. Aerik, as Galrich's personal bodyguard, slept in his own bed close by the only door in Galrich's extradimensional bedroom. (As a reminder, all of the bedrooms in the Greyhawk Adventurers Guild are 15 feet wide and 15 feet deep with 10-foot ceilings, but each is a "pocket dimension" - as a result, the bedroom doors are all lined up right next to each other along the same hallway, much closer than they could possibly be if it weren't for the rooms' extradimensional natures. Because the bedrooms are not on the Prime Material Plane and the doorways are the only conduits between the two, they are effectively soundproof unless you interact with the door; knocking on a door would be heard from inside the bedroom, but standing outside the closed door and screaming generally would not.)</p><p></p><p>I think that's about all the setup needs. Let's get to it!</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The pounding woke Aerik at once, as he had trained himself to be a light sleeper, the better to see to the safety of his liege. His dwarven eyes saw perfectly well in the absolute darkness of the extradimensional room, which had no light sources. Out of force of habit, he gripped his dwarven war axe as he got out of bed; he dutifully left it propped up against the bed when he slept so it would always be at hand, and even though he had no reason not to believe that he and Galrich were perfectly safe in the confines of the Adventurers Guild, it never hurt to be ready for action. Axe in hand, Aerik opened the door to see who was knocking in what felt like must be the middle of the blasted night.</p><p></p><p>In the feeble light spilling in from the Wing Three general living area - for the majority of the group was human, so they used an <em>everburning candle</em> on the coffee table in front of the sofa as a night light - Aerik got quite a fright, for there, standing before him, was a rotting, skeletal corpse with yellowish-mottled skin stretched tightly over its bones and twin motes of red glowing in its otherwise empty eye sockets. Once it began to speak, Aerik felt a shiver run up his spine, not only because it meant he was likely facing a lich instead of a mere skeleton, but also because he recognized the voice as that of Lord Targus Vandergrotten.</p><p></p><p>"I have come to slay the gods-be-damned orc who would sully our throne with his mere presence," the lich proclaimed, moving as if to begin casting a spell.</p><p></p><p>Behind Aerik, Galrich snored contentedly, oblivious to the dire threat at his bedroom door.</p><p></p><p>Aerik slammed the door and called out a warning to his liege. Galrich woke at once at the racket and, mirroring his bodyguard's instinctive actions, grabbed up the greataxe leaning against the side of his bed. He was on his feet and ready for action before even fully awake.</p><p></p><p>Aerik, in the meantime, was surprised to see that the door wouldn't close all the way. Looking down, he saw a small rock, about the size of his fist, lodged between the door and the doorjamb. He kicked it away irritably - <em>How the hell did that get there?</em> - and slammed the door shut; Aerik quickly activated the bolt from the inside, hopefully preventing the lich from getting in for long enough to grab up a shield or an extra weapon. However, Vandergrotten apparently had no need to get into Galrich's bedroom, as proven by the sudden cloud of vapors expanding from the center of the room, filling the entire room within mere seconds. "<em>Cloudkill</em>!" Aerik called out, realizing the stone had apparently been put there to allow the lich enough time to cast the spell in the room. "We gotta get outta here, m'liege!"</p><p></p><p>Galrich was at his bodyguard's side in a moment, coughing from the poisonous vapors. "It's Vandergrotten--he's a lich!" Aerik explained, his hand disengaging the bolt he had just engaged mere seconds ago. "Are ye ready?"</p><p></p><p>"Let's get 'im!" exploded Galrich, fully awake and ready for some payback.</p><p></p><p>Aerik pulled on the door...</p><p></p><p>...and it refused to open. He tugged again, to no avail.</p><p></p><p>"It's locked!" he said, stating the obvious. And indeed, the door had had an <em>arcane lock</em> placed upon it mere seconds after the <em>cloudkill</em> spell had been cast into the room.</p><p></p><p>Galrich tugged at the door, raging against the thought of dying here in his bedroom, but even his half-orc physique offered no advantage. Together, choking and hacking as the poison gas entered their lungs, Galrich and Aerik opted to chop their way out. Orcish greataxe and dwarven war axe took turns chopping into the wood of the heavy door, as the two adventurers raced to cut through their bedroom door before the <em>cloudkill</em> spell ended their lives.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Cal awoke groggily at the sound of the pounding on his bedroom door. <em>Now what?</em> he thought, this having been an extraordinarily tiring several days, what with having had his body stolen out from under him and all. He swung out of bed, grabbing up his holy symbol from the nightstand by his bed and putting the chain around his neck as he squinted in the light of the <em>everburning candle</em> to find his enchanted <em>mace of frost</em>. After all, although one might expect that Guild Headquarters would be as safe as possible, Cal had learned from past experience that all sorts of miscreants had made their way into the place, from doppelgangers to Orcus-spawned vampires.</p><p></p><p>"I'm coming," he grumbled as he swung open the door.</p><p></p><p>He wasn't prepared for the sight that met him on the other side. Two figures faced him. Standing in the back behind his master was a white-bearded wizard, while directly in front of Cal stood a wizened old man - one whose face had been burned into Cal's memory in recent days.</p><p></p><p>"Don't think you're getting away that easily," cackled Lord Partridge, as Nornabar began the words to a spell behind him. "It's time to swap bodies again!" </p><p></p><p>Instinctively, Cal ducked and rolled, barreling into Lord Partridge and sending him bumping into Nornabar to disrupt whatever spell he had been casting. Or at least, that was the intention; what really happened was that Cal went barreling through the illusions of the two nocturnal visitors, who winked out of existence upon contact with the cleric of Kord. And disrupting the illusions did nothing to prevent additional spells from going off, for a cloud of poisonous vapors started spilling out of Cal's room and pooling around his legs as he stood up.</p><p></p><p>Cal glanced around the Wing Three living quarters in the dim light but saw no intruders. He reached over and pulled his bedroom door shut behind him, not wanting the <em>cloudkill</em> spell to spill out into the hallway, and rationalizing that the spell would probably run its course and then dissipate - hopefully harmlessly - in the confines of his room. But logic dictated there was an unseen enemy about, and Cal was determined to find him.</p><p></p><p>As proof that an enemy was still in the vicinity, a tingling throughout Cal's body indicated that someone had just cast a spell on him; by the way his skin started feeling tough and unyielding before he mentally shrugged it off, he surmised the unseen spellcaster had just tried turning him to stone. "Show yourself!" Cal cried out to the living room, gripping his <em>mace of frost</em> in a powerful fist.</p><p></p><p>The only response was another attempt at catching Cal in a spell; this time, the cleric felt a familiar leeching of his life energy and managed to mentally deflect a good chunk of its power away from him, but he nonetheless recognized it as a <em>harm</em> spell. The unseen caster was attempting to drain him of the majority of his very essence, but had fortunately only sapped Cal of a small portion of his vitality.</p><p></p><p>Cal suddenly became aware of a pummeling sound, and spun to face its source, thinking perhaps his enemy was finally showing himself. But no, the noise was coming from Galrich's bedroom door. As Cal watched, a crack appeared in its center, sending splinters showering down into the hallway. Seconds later, another crack ripped vertically through the wooden door, and Cal realized Galrich and Aerik were trying to chop their way out of the room. Suspecting they had been ambushed in the same way as he had, Cal summoned all of the might of a cleric of the God of Strength and started battering his way through Galrich's bedroom door. Between the three of them, they had the door smashed into kindling - but not before Cal was forced to shrug off the effects of both another <em>harm</em> spell and another <em>flesh to stone</em> spell. Whoever was casting these spells was likely getting frustrated at Cal's ability to basically ignore their effects.</p><p></p><p>Choking and coughing, Aerik and Galrich spilled out of the extradimensional bedroom, staggering into the hallway and followed by billowing clouds of sickly-green vapors.</p><p></p><p>"We're under attack!" Cal informed them, stepping sideways away from the billowing cloud.</p><p></p><p>"We noticed!" Galrich responded with a growl, looking for an enemy - any enemy - to hit.</p><p></p><p>Without warning, a <em>wall of fire</em> rose up along the length of the upper hallway, catching all three heroes in the path of flames and blocking all eight of the Wing Three adventurers' bedroom doors. The heroes howled in sudden pain and leapt from the vertical sheet of flames, their sleepwear smoldering.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Feron awoke from a disturbing dream in a state of fright, but the details of the dream dissipated immediately upon waking and she spent a moment in the dim light of her room, listening. She heard nothing. Still, unnerved by her dream and uncomfortable in not knowing what had awakened her, she pulled on a robe over her nightwear and opened her bedroom to see if everything was all right.</p><p></p><p>She was immediately struck by a wave of heat and flames, the fire covering the entire space of the bedroom doorway sending a blast of heat not unlike that found in a furnace.</p><p></p><p>Feron staggered back, slamming the door shut as she did so. Wide awake now, she grabbed up her pouch of spell components, slung it over her shoulder, and released the mental energy allowing her form to wildshape into another. Her body grew in size and stature, igniting into flames as it transformed. When she opened her bedroom door again, the hand that did so was that of a Large fire elemental. Feron walked untouched through the <em>wall of fire</em> and stood in the hallway, looking around. All she saw were Aerik, Galrich, and Cal, standing in their fire-scorched night clothes, each wielding a weapon and looking around for an unseen enemy.</p><p></p><p>Feron could have done likewise, but she assumed the others had been there awhile and had made no progress along those lines. Instead, she thought through the problem for a moment - apparently, they were up against an invisible foe who could cast spells. The <em>wall of fire</em> would have no effect upon the other Guild members still in their bedrooms, as long as they stayed in there. However, the four heroes currently awake could undoubtedly use the assistance of another spellcaster on their team, especially one with enchanted eyes capable of spotting the various auras of magic, and who was just as immune to flames as Feron was in her current form.</p><p></p><p>She walked briskly down the hallway, past the three infuriated heroes, and banged a fiery fist upon Telgrane's bedroom door.</p><p></p><p>"Whoa!" exclaimed Telgrane a moment later, opening his door in his sleeping gown and nightcap and seeing a sheet of flames and beyond that, what looked suspiciously like his own familiar, Infernia, only without the curving horns. He reached back into his room, grabbed up his tinder box, and stepped through the flames unscathed, opening the metal box and releasing Infernia.</p><p></p><p>"What is happening, Master?" the fire elemental asked, taking full form after arcing out of her metal box.</p><p></p><p>Feron replied for him. "We're under attack by an invisible spellcaster." Telgrane turned this way and that, casting his <em>arcane sight</em> along the entirety of the Wing Three living quarters. "I don't see anyone," he replied. "If they're invisible, they're likely using <em>greater invisibility</em>."</p><p></p><p>Galrich suddenly roared in pain. Aerik looked over at his liege in concern. "Something bit me!" cried the half-orc.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane decided to do something about the <em>wall of fire</em> and cast a <em>delayed blast fireball</em> - minus the delay, and converting the energy to cold as he voiced the arcane syllables of the spell - and took out three-quarters of the wall's length. Feron moved over to the next of the bedroom doors and pounded on it now that it was no longer blocked by flames, and seconds later a bleary-eyed Chalkan stood in his open doorway, wondering just what was going on. He grabbed up his bow and joined the others.</p><p></p><p>That was a few too many heroes for the comfort of the invisible force sent to kill Galrich and those most likely to be able to return him to life before he could be dealt with on a more permanent basis. A <em>chain lightning</em> spell caught the burly half-orc in the chest, then arced out to reach the rest of the assembled heroes. That was enough for Galrich. It was bad enough being nearly choked to death in his bedroom and then burned to a crisp in the hallway, but now he was being bitten on the back of the calf by something he couldn't see and being targeted by an unseen spellcaster? Galrich was tired of being cramped in the upstairs hallway; leaping over the railing, he landed on the living room floor just in front of the couch and kicked the coffee table out of the way so he could have some room to fight. The <em>everburning candle</em> toppled onto the floor, but fortunately its flame was merely an illusion and the carpet did not catch fire as a result. Then the furious half-orc started swinging his axe in all directions about him; hopefully, he'd connect with whatever invisible monster they were fighting.</p><p></p><p>Feron and Telgrane took a different approach. "Did you see which way the spell came?" the burning druid asked the young archmage.</p><p></p><p>"Over there, by the top of the stairs," replied Telgrane, casting another non-delayed <em>delayed blast fireball</em> spell in that general direction, deciding to see if whoever had cast the <em>wall of fire</em> really liked fire that much. Chalkan followed suit with a <em>scorching ray</em> spell of his own, cast in the same general direction. The explosions erupted and the angry, hissing sound like that of an enormous teakettle exploded from the corner; almost immediately afterward, a coiled, serpentine body came into view, its sinewy body now loose and flopping around in death. It unspooled from the railing on the stairway leading up to the bedroom hallway and collapsed onto the stairs; Feron recognized it as a naga but was disturbed by its too-human face, frozen into a snarl even in death.</p><p></p><p>"Got it!" exclaimed both Chalkan and Telgrane triumphantly, in unison, before glaring at the other for trying to take credit for what was obviously <em>his</em> kill.</p><p></p><p>"It's not the only one!" called back Galrich, who had just been bitten again on his other calf and was frantically swinging his axe around, trying to hit whatever was biting him. Aerik leapt over the upstairs hallway railing to land by his liege and assist in the hunt, as did Chalkan and even Infernia, upon her master's urging. But four foes in a tight grouping was apparently too good not to take advantage of, for the billowing vapors of yet another <em>cloudkill</em> spell spilled out from between them, catching the four in its area of effect. Infernia, as a fire elemental, was immune to the spell's effects, but Aerik and Galrich returned to the familiar coughing and wheezing they had experienced in their bedroom upstairs. Beside them, Chalkan succumbed to the spell's effects as well.</p><p></p><p>Feron, unable to target an invisible foe and not able to shape her spells around her allies as Telgrane could, took the opportunity to do what good she could by casting several <em>mass cure wounds</em> spells on her friends. It was likely the difference between life and death in several cases, as Galrich and Aerik especially were in dire straits, their respective constitutions having been severely compromised by the time caught in the confines of the two separate <em>cloudkill</em> spells.</p><p></p><p>Spreading out away from the cloud of deadly vapors, Aerik felt his axe cut through flesh over by the stairwell and called out to the others that there was something over there. Galrich ran over by his bodyguard, standing in the corner of the living room, swinging his axe up by the stairs. Stepping back for another swing, he bumped into something invisible behind him. Glad for the opportunity to punish his enemy, he spun to attack it - but found out the hard way it was a <em>wall of force</em> that had imprisoned him in the corner, sealed in by himself and away from his allies. He snarled in increasing fury as he and Aerik tried cutting their way through the invisible spell effect with no luck.</p><p></p><p>"We need a way to see what we're fighting," reasoned Telgrane. He didn't have a <em>glitterdust</em> spell at the ready, but he had the next best thing.... </p><p></p><p>Casting a <em>summon monster</em> spell, four salt mephits popped into existence and asked his wishes. "We're looking for an invisible foe," he told them. "Use your breath weapons there, there, there, and...there."</p><p></p><p>The salt mephits hurried to comply, sending small clouds of stinging particles where Telgrane had indicated. Sure enough, the salt revealed another serpentine figure, as the outline of another naga took form. It was crawling its way to the top of the stairs, past the body of its spirit naga partner, so it could lob spells at Galrich, trapped now in a triangular area bounded by two living room walls and a diagonal <em>wall of force</em>. The half-orc barbarian, looking up to see the salty outlines of a giant serpent-thing peering down at him and beginning the whispery, sibilant words to another spell, frantically double-tapped his Guild ring and binked out of his prison.</p><p></p><p>Of course, the rings had each been designed to return its wearer to the relative safety of his own living quarters, so Galrich found himself teleported a mere 15 feet away - out from behind the <em>wall of force</em>, true, but smack-dab back in the middle of the <em>cloudkill</em> spell. Cursing as only a half-orc barbarian could, he staggered out of the misty vapors yet again.</p><p></p><p>However, now that they had a target to focus upon, Telgrane and Feron could cast spells directly at the suddenly-revealed dark naga. The creature, looking up from the now-empty triangular prison - it had intended to drop another <em>cloudkill</em> onto Galrich in the confined space and watch him choke to death - saw two determined spellcasters (one of them made of living flame, the other with twin jets of fire streaming from his eye sockets) with outstretched arms, each targeting it with a particularly powerful spell. The dark naga didn't even have time to curse before being blown to bits.</p><p></p><p>"Dammit!" cried out Galrich, after being bitten a third time on the leg. He spun around at his unseen attacker, the <em>swish</em> of his axe cutting through the air but failing to hit anything solid. Infernia bent down and felt her hand contact a cool, scaly body; she grabbed it up and squeezed it with all of her might. A furious hissing resulted, as the invisible viper cried out in pain.</p><p></p><p>"No!" hissed <strong>Vengeance</strong>. "I cannot fail my dead master! The gods-be-damned orc must not be allowed to take the throne--"</p><p></p><p>It probably had more to say, but by that time all of its attention was focused on the burning pain as its invisible scales caught fire. It cried out in agony, then was still. Infernia dropped the creature, watched as its now-dead body returned to visibility, and ground it beneath her heel for good measure.</p><p></p><p>"Is that it?" asked Galrich, looking around for further enemies to fight. "Are there any more?"</p><p></p><p>But that was it - there were no more.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was all kinds of fun for me, for several reasons. First of all, since we often go weeks or even months between game sessions, our campaign tends to be very episodic in nature, and this was a rare opportunity for one adventure to flow seamlessly into another. This also had the added benefit of having the PCs at less than full power, especially in the case of the spellcasters, who were either short on spells (Cal and Telgrane) or hadn't been able to prepare spells geared toward the mission at hand ahead of time (Feron) - but even the combat types were without their armor or shields. (It was effectively a fight to the death in pajamas!)</p><p></p><p>In any case, many of our adventures nowadays start out with a briefing at Guild HQ, so the PCs know exactly the types of danger they're likely to encounter. I liked the fact that this time they were "going in cold" with no prior knowledge, and that they weren't going to all start the combat session buffed up with <em>stoneskin</em> and <em>protection from energy</em> spells. Even Dan mentioned the fact that this was a completely different kind of adventure for them. And I actually did damage! Those <em>cloudkill</em> spells were brutal - I had Galrich down to a 4 Constitution by the end of the adventure, and several of the three-digit-hit-point PCs/NPCs (Cal, Galrich, and Aerik) were each down to the teens if not single-digit hit points at various points throughout the session. It definitely brought back a feeling of vulnerability!</p><p></p><p>In any case, for those wondering about the specifics of the backstory, Lord Targus Vandergrotten - unbeknownst to the PCs - had a viper familiar named Vengeance, who he had swear to avenge his death (should it occur) by doing everything possible to permanently kill Galrich and prevent him from becoming the next King of Kordovia. To that end, Vengeance got assistance from a spirit naga and a dark naga, who traveled the many miles between Kordovia and Greyhawk City. They spent a week living inside an extradimensional space from a <em>rope trick</em> hidden in the ladies bathroom (not because they were pervs; merely because that was a good way not to be detected by Telgrane's <em>arcane sight</em> - it helps to have a dark naga on the team capable of reading thoughts). They studied the heroes (the dark naga occasionally exited the <em>rope trick</em> hiding place and hid underneath the sofa, where it could read the minds of those in the vicinity), determining what illusions would most likely cause a suddenly-awakened hero to slam the bedroom door in fear in the middle of the night, allowing one spellcaster to cast a readied <em>cloudkill</em> spell in the bedroom during the time the door was open and another to seal it shut with an <em>arcane lock</em> spell once it had been closed back up. The plan was to kill Galrich (naturally), as well as Cal and Feron (whom the serpents had determined were the two most likely to be able to resurrect Galrich). Then the two nagas were going to swallow Cal and Feron, after which time the three serpents would perform a ritual summoning another nagalike creature, this one a skull-faced horror called a soulslayer, to devour Galrich's body - after which time, he'd be unable to be returned to life, and Kordovia would be spared the horrors of a half-orc king.</p><p></p><p>Cal pretty much ended that plan by not jumping back into his room as expected, and then it all kept unravelling further and further. Of course, I could have easily run through the adventure with just Jacob, Joey, and Dan running their characters; the only reason I had Feron wake up with an uneasy feeling was because I felt bad leaving Vicki and Logan stuck in Joey's bedroom for so long. (After choosing Feron's spells, Vicki spent the time cleaning up Joey's room.) When I went to get her, I tossed Logan the novel he had been reading at home so he wouldn't be completely bored, and contrived to get Telgrane into the adventure as soon as possible. (Once Vicki decided to have Feron start opening doors, I suggested she start with Telgrane's so Logan could join the adventure.)</p><p></p><p>All in all, it was pretty fun, and a decided change from the norm.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6322837, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 83: VANDERGROTTEN'S VENGEANCE[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer Feron Dru, half-elf druid Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aerik Battershield, dwarven fighter/dwarven defender[/INDENT] This was a short adventure; we played it during the same session where we finished up "Dude, Where's My Body?" since all that was left of that one was the final fight at the Pit-Fight tavern, and I suspected that we could complete that and run this adventure in its entirety, which would set us up for the beginning of a multi-session adventure for the next time we met. This was another one where I assigned each player the PC he or she would be running, and in the case of Joey I informed him that he'd be running Aerik this session instead of his own PC, Thunderwolf. As is usual when I do such things, I promised him that any XP he earned as Aerik would be likewise provided to Thunderwolf, so that he didn't get "cheated" out of any XP for the session. I also did something I'd only done once before, and that was for the "Player Challenges" that weren't really D&D adventures: I started the adventure by having the players start out in Joey's bedroom with a radio on so they couldn't hear what was going on in the kitchen, and then brought them in one by one as their PCs entered the adventure. In Vicki's case - as she was the only one who would be running a different spellcasting PC than the one she had run in "Dude, Where's My Body?" - I had her bring her Feron Dru PC folder into Joey's bedroom with her so she could prepare a set of "generic" spells (those Feron would likely have prepared without knowing the specifics of what adventure she'd be going on). As in-game this adventure took place the very same evening as the end of the previous one, there would be no regaining spells that had been previously cast, and in Cal's case, he'd have had no time to pray for spells in the scant time since he had gained his original body back, earlier that evening. (We decided that he'd have spent some time preparing enough healing spells to get everyone back up to full hit points, and that was about it.) So, I started out with Aerik and Galrich in the adventure, with Dan, Vicki, and Logan confined to Joey's bedroom with plates of snack food, sodas, and the Feron Dru PC folder, and I gave Joey and Jacob their starting status: the evening after Cal got his original body back, everyone in Wing Three hit the sack somewhere between ten and eleven o'clock at night. Aerik, as Galrich's personal bodyguard, slept in his own bed close by the only door in Galrich's extradimensional bedroom. (As a reminder, all of the bedrooms in the Greyhawk Adventurers Guild are 15 feet wide and 15 feet deep with 10-foot ceilings, but each is a "pocket dimension" - as a result, the bedroom doors are all lined up right next to each other along the same hallway, much closer than they could possibly be if it weren't for the rooms' extradimensional natures. Because the bedrooms are not on the Prime Material Plane and the doorways are the only conduits between the two, they are effectively soundproof unless you interact with the door; knocking on a door would be heard from inside the bedroom, but standing outside the closed door and screaming generally would not.) I think that's about all the setup needs. Let's get to it! - - - The pounding woke Aerik at once, as he had trained himself to be a light sleeper, the better to see to the safety of his liege. His dwarven eyes saw perfectly well in the absolute darkness of the extradimensional room, which had no light sources. Out of force of habit, he gripped his dwarven war axe as he got out of bed; he dutifully left it propped up against the bed when he slept so it would always be at hand, and even though he had no reason not to believe that he and Galrich were perfectly safe in the confines of the Adventurers Guild, it never hurt to be ready for action. Axe in hand, Aerik opened the door to see who was knocking in what felt like must be the middle of the blasted night. In the feeble light spilling in from the Wing Three general living area - for the majority of the group was human, so they used an [i]everburning candle[/i] on the coffee table in front of the sofa as a night light - Aerik got quite a fright, for there, standing before him, was a rotting, skeletal corpse with yellowish-mottled skin stretched tightly over its bones and twin motes of red glowing in its otherwise empty eye sockets. Once it began to speak, Aerik felt a shiver run up his spine, not only because it meant he was likely facing a lich instead of a mere skeleton, but also because he recognized the voice as that of Lord Targus Vandergrotten. "I have come to slay the gods-be-damned orc who would sully our throne with his mere presence," the lich proclaimed, moving as if to begin casting a spell. Behind Aerik, Galrich snored contentedly, oblivious to the dire threat at his bedroom door. Aerik slammed the door and called out a warning to his liege. Galrich woke at once at the racket and, mirroring his bodyguard's instinctive actions, grabbed up the greataxe leaning against the side of his bed. He was on his feet and ready for action before even fully awake. Aerik, in the meantime, was surprised to see that the door wouldn't close all the way. Looking down, he saw a small rock, about the size of his fist, lodged between the door and the doorjamb. He kicked it away irritably - [i]How the hell did that get there?[/i] - and slammed the door shut; Aerik quickly activated the bolt from the inside, hopefully preventing the lich from getting in for long enough to grab up a shield or an extra weapon. However, Vandergrotten apparently had no need to get into Galrich's bedroom, as proven by the sudden cloud of vapors expanding from the center of the room, filling the entire room within mere seconds. "[i]Cloudkill[/i]!" Aerik called out, realizing the stone had apparently been put there to allow the lich enough time to cast the spell in the room. "We gotta get outta here, m'liege!" Galrich was at his bodyguard's side in a moment, coughing from the poisonous vapors. "It's Vandergrotten--he's a lich!" Aerik explained, his hand disengaging the bolt he had just engaged mere seconds ago. "Are ye ready?" "Let's get 'im!" exploded Galrich, fully awake and ready for some payback. Aerik pulled on the door... ...and it refused to open. He tugged again, to no avail. "It's locked!" he said, stating the obvious. And indeed, the door had had an [i]arcane lock[/i] placed upon it mere seconds after the [i]cloudkill[/i] spell had been cast into the room. Galrich tugged at the door, raging against the thought of dying here in his bedroom, but even his half-orc physique offered no advantage. Together, choking and hacking as the poison gas entered their lungs, Galrich and Aerik opted to chop their way out. Orcish greataxe and dwarven war axe took turns chopping into the wood of the heavy door, as the two adventurers raced to cut through their bedroom door before the [i]cloudkill[/i] spell ended their lives. - - - Cal awoke groggily at the sound of the pounding on his bedroom door. [i]Now what?[/i] he thought, this having been an extraordinarily tiring several days, what with having had his body stolen out from under him and all. He swung out of bed, grabbing up his holy symbol from the nightstand by his bed and putting the chain around his neck as he squinted in the light of the [i]everburning candle[/i] to find his enchanted [i]mace of frost[/i]. After all, although one might expect that Guild Headquarters would be as safe as possible, Cal had learned from past experience that all sorts of miscreants had made their way into the place, from doppelgangers to Orcus-spawned vampires. "I'm coming," he grumbled as he swung open the door. He wasn't prepared for the sight that met him on the other side. Two figures faced him. Standing in the back behind his master was a white-bearded wizard, while directly in front of Cal stood a wizened old man - one whose face had been burned into Cal's memory in recent days. "Don't think you're getting away that easily," cackled Lord Partridge, as Nornabar began the words to a spell behind him. "It's time to swap bodies again!" Instinctively, Cal ducked and rolled, barreling into Lord Partridge and sending him bumping into Nornabar to disrupt whatever spell he had been casting. Or at least, that was the intention; what really happened was that Cal went barreling through the illusions of the two nocturnal visitors, who winked out of existence upon contact with the cleric of Kord. And disrupting the illusions did nothing to prevent additional spells from going off, for a cloud of poisonous vapors started spilling out of Cal's room and pooling around his legs as he stood up. Cal glanced around the Wing Three living quarters in the dim light but saw no intruders. He reached over and pulled his bedroom door shut behind him, not wanting the [i]cloudkill[/i] spell to spill out into the hallway, and rationalizing that the spell would probably run its course and then dissipate - hopefully harmlessly - in the confines of his room. But logic dictated there was an unseen enemy about, and Cal was determined to find him. As proof that an enemy was still in the vicinity, a tingling throughout Cal's body indicated that someone had just cast a spell on him; by the way his skin started feeling tough and unyielding before he mentally shrugged it off, he surmised the unseen spellcaster had just tried turning him to stone. "Show yourself!" Cal cried out to the living room, gripping his [i]mace of frost[/i] in a powerful fist. The only response was another attempt at catching Cal in a spell; this time, the cleric felt a familiar leeching of his life energy and managed to mentally deflect a good chunk of its power away from him, but he nonetheless recognized it as a [i]harm[/i] spell. The unseen caster was attempting to drain him of the majority of his very essence, but had fortunately only sapped Cal of a small portion of his vitality. Cal suddenly became aware of a pummeling sound, and spun to face its source, thinking perhaps his enemy was finally showing himself. But no, the noise was coming from Galrich's bedroom door. As Cal watched, a crack appeared in its center, sending splinters showering down into the hallway. Seconds later, another crack ripped vertically through the wooden door, and Cal realized Galrich and Aerik were trying to chop their way out of the room. Suspecting they had been ambushed in the same way as he had, Cal summoned all of the might of a cleric of the God of Strength and started battering his way through Galrich's bedroom door. Between the three of them, they had the door smashed into kindling - but not before Cal was forced to shrug off the effects of both another [i]harm[/i] spell and another [i]flesh to stone[/i] spell. Whoever was casting these spells was likely getting frustrated at Cal's ability to basically ignore their effects. Choking and coughing, Aerik and Galrich spilled out of the extradimensional bedroom, staggering into the hallway and followed by billowing clouds of sickly-green vapors. "We're under attack!" Cal informed them, stepping sideways away from the billowing cloud. "We noticed!" Galrich responded with a growl, looking for an enemy - any enemy - to hit. Without warning, a [i]wall of fire[/i] rose up along the length of the upper hallway, catching all three heroes in the path of flames and blocking all eight of the Wing Three adventurers' bedroom doors. The heroes howled in sudden pain and leapt from the vertical sheet of flames, their sleepwear smoldering. - - - Feron awoke from a disturbing dream in a state of fright, but the details of the dream dissipated immediately upon waking and she spent a moment in the dim light of her room, listening. She heard nothing. Still, unnerved by her dream and uncomfortable in not knowing what had awakened her, she pulled on a robe over her nightwear and opened her bedroom to see if everything was all right. She was immediately struck by a wave of heat and flames, the fire covering the entire space of the bedroom doorway sending a blast of heat not unlike that found in a furnace. Feron staggered back, slamming the door shut as she did so. Wide awake now, she grabbed up her pouch of spell components, slung it over her shoulder, and released the mental energy allowing her form to wildshape into another. Her body grew in size and stature, igniting into flames as it transformed. When she opened her bedroom door again, the hand that did so was that of a Large fire elemental. Feron walked untouched through the [i]wall of fire[/i] and stood in the hallway, looking around. All she saw were Aerik, Galrich, and Cal, standing in their fire-scorched night clothes, each wielding a weapon and looking around for an unseen enemy. Feron could have done likewise, but she assumed the others had been there awhile and had made no progress along those lines. Instead, she thought through the problem for a moment - apparently, they were up against an invisible foe who could cast spells. The [i]wall of fire[/i] would have no effect upon the other Guild members still in their bedrooms, as long as they stayed in there. However, the four heroes currently awake could undoubtedly use the assistance of another spellcaster on their team, especially one with enchanted eyes capable of spotting the various auras of magic, and who was just as immune to flames as Feron was in her current form. She walked briskly down the hallway, past the three infuriated heroes, and banged a fiery fist upon Telgrane's bedroom door. "Whoa!" exclaimed Telgrane a moment later, opening his door in his sleeping gown and nightcap and seeing a sheet of flames and beyond that, what looked suspiciously like his own familiar, Infernia, only without the curving horns. He reached back into his room, grabbed up his tinder box, and stepped through the flames unscathed, opening the metal box and releasing Infernia. "What is happening, Master?" the fire elemental asked, taking full form after arcing out of her metal box. Feron replied for him. "We're under attack by an invisible spellcaster." Telgrane turned this way and that, casting his [i]arcane sight[/i] along the entirety of the Wing Three living quarters. "I don't see anyone," he replied. "If they're invisible, they're likely using [i]greater invisibility[/i]." Galrich suddenly roared in pain. Aerik looked over at his liege in concern. "Something bit me!" cried the half-orc. Telgrane decided to do something about the [i]wall of fire[/i] and cast a [i]delayed blast fireball[/i] - minus the delay, and converting the energy to cold as he voiced the arcane syllables of the spell - and took out three-quarters of the wall's length. Feron moved over to the next of the bedroom doors and pounded on it now that it was no longer blocked by flames, and seconds later a bleary-eyed Chalkan stood in his open doorway, wondering just what was going on. He grabbed up his bow and joined the others. That was a few too many heroes for the comfort of the invisible force sent to kill Galrich and those most likely to be able to return him to life before he could be dealt with on a more permanent basis. A [i]chain lightning[/i] spell caught the burly half-orc in the chest, then arced out to reach the rest of the assembled heroes. That was enough for Galrich. It was bad enough being nearly choked to death in his bedroom and then burned to a crisp in the hallway, but now he was being bitten on the back of the calf by something he couldn't see and being targeted by an unseen spellcaster? Galrich was tired of being cramped in the upstairs hallway; leaping over the railing, he landed on the living room floor just in front of the couch and kicked the coffee table out of the way so he could have some room to fight. The [i]everburning candle[/i] toppled onto the floor, but fortunately its flame was merely an illusion and the carpet did not catch fire as a result. Then the furious half-orc started swinging his axe in all directions about him; hopefully, he'd connect with whatever invisible monster they were fighting. Feron and Telgrane took a different approach. "Did you see which way the spell came?" the burning druid asked the young archmage. "Over there, by the top of the stairs," replied Telgrane, casting another non-delayed [i]delayed blast fireball[/i] spell in that general direction, deciding to see if whoever had cast the [i]wall of fire[/i] really liked fire that much. Chalkan followed suit with a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell of his own, cast in the same general direction. The explosions erupted and the angry, hissing sound like that of an enormous teakettle exploded from the corner; almost immediately afterward, a coiled, serpentine body came into view, its sinewy body now loose and flopping around in death. It unspooled from the railing on the stairway leading up to the bedroom hallway and collapsed onto the stairs; Feron recognized it as a naga but was disturbed by its too-human face, frozen into a snarl even in death. "Got it!" exclaimed both Chalkan and Telgrane triumphantly, in unison, before glaring at the other for trying to take credit for what was obviously [i]his[/i] kill. "It's not the only one!" called back Galrich, who had just been bitten again on his other calf and was frantically swinging his axe around, trying to hit whatever was biting him. Aerik leapt over the upstairs hallway railing to land by his liege and assist in the hunt, as did Chalkan and even Infernia, upon her master's urging. But four foes in a tight grouping was apparently too good not to take advantage of, for the billowing vapors of yet another [i]cloudkill[/i] spell spilled out from between them, catching the four in its area of effect. Infernia, as a fire elemental, was immune to the spell's effects, but Aerik and Galrich returned to the familiar coughing and wheezing they had experienced in their bedroom upstairs. Beside them, Chalkan succumbed to the spell's effects as well. Feron, unable to target an invisible foe and not able to shape her spells around her allies as Telgrane could, took the opportunity to do what good she could by casting several [i]mass cure wounds[/i] spells on her friends. It was likely the difference between life and death in several cases, as Galrich and Aerik especially were in dire straits, their respective constitutions having been severely compromised by the time caught in the confines of the two separate [i]cloudkill[/i] spells. Spreading out away from the cloud of deadly vapors, Aerik felt his axe cut through flesh over by the stairwell and called out to the others that there was something over there. Galrich ran over by his bodyguard, standing in the corner of the living room, swinging his axe up by the stairs. Stepping back for another swing, he bumped into something invisible behind him. Glad for the opportunity to punish his enemy, he spun to attack it - but found out the hard way it was a [i]wall of force[/i] that had imprisoned him in the corner, sealed in by himself and away from his allies. He snarled in increasing fury as he and Aerik tried cutting their way through the invisible spell effect with no luck. "We need a way to see what we're fighting," reasoned Telgrane. He didn't have a [i]glitterdust[/i] spell at the ready, but he had the next best thing.... Casting a [i]summon monster[/i] spell, four salt mephits popped into existence and asked his wishes. "We're looking for an invisible foe," he told them. "Use your breath weapons there, there, there, and...there." The salt mephits hurried to comply, sending small clouds of stinging particles where Telgrane had indicated. Sure enough, the salt revealed another serpentine figure, as the outline of another naga took form. It was crawling its way to the top of the stairs, past the body of its spirit naga partner, so it could lob spells at Galrich, trapped now in a triangular area bounded by two living room walls and a diagonal [i]wall of force[/i]. The half-orc barbarian, looking up to see the salty outlines of a giant serpent-thing peering down at him and beginning the whispery, sibilant words to another spell, frantically double-tapped his Guild ring and binked out of his prison. Of course, the rings had each been designed to return its wearer to the relative safety of his own living quarters, so Galrich found himself teleported a mere 15 feet away - out from behind the [i]wall of force[/i], true, but smack-dab back in the middle of the [i]cloudkill[/i] spell. Cursing as only a half-orc barbarian could, he staggered out of the misty vapors yet again. However, now that they had a target to focus upon, Telgrane and Feron could cast spells directly at the suddenly-revealed dark naga. The creature, looking up from the now-empty triangular prison - it had intended to drop another [i]cloudkill[/i] onto Galrich in the confined space and watch him choke to death - saw two determined spellcasters (one of them made of living flame, the other with twin jets of fire streaming from his eye sockets) with outstretched arms, each targeting it with a particularly powerful spell. The dark naga didn't even have time to curse before being blown to bits. "Dammit!" cried out Galrich, after being bitten a third time on the leg. He spun around at his unseen attacker, the [i]swish[/i] of his axe cutting through the air but failing to hit anything solid. Infernia bent down and felt her hand contact a cool, scaly body; she grabbed it up and squeezed it with all of her might. A furious hissing resulted, as the invisible viper cried out in pain. "No!" hissed [b]Vengeance[/b]. "I cannot fail my dead master! The gods-be-damned orc must not be allowed to take the throne--" It probably had more to say, but by that time all of its attention was focused on the burning pain as its invisible scales caught fire. It cried out in agony, then was still. Infernia dropped the creature, watched as its now-dead body returned to visibility, and ground it beneath her heel for good measure. "Is that it?" asked Galrich, looking around for further enemies to fight. "Are there any more?" But that was it - there were no more. - - - This was all kinds of fun for me, for several reasons. First of all, since we often go weeks or even months between game sessions, our campaign tends to be very episodic in nature, and this was a rare opportunity for one adventure to flow seamlessly into another. This also had the added benefit of having the PCs at less than full power, especially in the case of the spellcasters, who were either short on spells (Cal and Telgrane) or hadn't been able to prepare spells geared toward the mission at hand ahead of time (Feron) - but even the combat types were without their armor or shields. (It was effectively a fight to the death in pajamas!) In any case, many of our adventures nowadays start out with a briefing at Guild HQ, so the PCs know exactly the types of danger they're likely to encounter. I liked the fact that this time they were "going in cold" with no prior knowledge, and that they weren't going to all start the combat session buffed up with [i]stoneskin[/i] and [i]protection from energy[/i] spells. Even Dan mentioned the fact that this was a completely different kind of adventure for them. And I actually did damage! Those [i]cloudkill[/i] spells were brutal - I had Galrich down to a 4 Constitution by the end of the adventure, and several of the three-digit-hit-point PCs/NPCs (Cal, Galrich, and Aerik) were each down to the teens if not single-digit hit points at various points throughout the session. It definitely brought back a feeling of vulnerability! In any case, for those wondering about the specifics of the backstory, Lord Targus Vandergrotten - unbeknownst to the PCs - had a viper familiar named Vengeance, who he had swear to avenge his death (should it occur) by doing everything possible to permanently kill Galrich and prevent him from becoming the next King of Kordovia. To that end, Vengeance got assistance from a spirit naga and a dark naga, who traveled the many miles between Kordovia and Greyhawk City. They spent a week living inside an extradimensional space from a [i]rope trick[/i] hidden in the ladies bathroom (not because they were pervs; merely because that was a good way not to be detected by Telgrane's [i]arcane sight[/i] - it helps to have a dark naga on the team capable of reading thoughts). They studied the heroes (the dark naga occasionally exited the [i]rope trick[/i] hiding place and hid underneath the sofa, where it could read the minds of those in the vicinity), determining what illusions would most likely cause a suddenly-awakened hero to slam the bedroom door in fear in the middle of the night, allowing one spellcaster to cast a readied [i]cloudkill[/i] spell in the bedroom during the time the door was open and another to seal it shut with an [i]arcane lock[/i] spell once it had been closed back up. The plan was to kill Galrich (naturally), as well as Cal and Feron (whom the serpents had determined were the two most likely to be able to resurrect Galrich). Then the two nagas were going to swallow Cal and Feron, after which time the three serpents would perform a ritual summoning another nagalike creature, this one a skull-faced horror called a soulslayer, to devour Galrich's body - after which time, he'd be unable to be returned to life, and Kordovia would be spared the horrors of a half-orc king. Cal pretty much ended that plan by not jumping back into his room as expected, and then it all kept unravelling further and further. Of course, I could have easily run through the adventure with just Jacob, Joey, and Dan running their characters; the only reason I had Feron wake up with an uneasy feeling was because I felt bad leaving Vicki and Logan stuck in Joey's bedroom for so long. (After choosing Feron's spells, Vicki spent the time cleaning up Joey's room.) When I went to get her, I tossed Logan the novel he had been reading at home so he wouldn't be completely bored, and contrived to get Telgrane into the adventure as soon as possible. (Once Vicki decided to have Feron start opening doors, I suggested she start with Telgrane's so Logan could join the adventure.) All in all, it was pretty fun, and a decided change from the norm. [/QUOTE]
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