the Jester
Legend
As our heroes cross the rope bridges on their way back onto the plateau atop which the Garden of Graves is built, Karl notes, “It looks as though we've explored most of the buildings.” He points. “But not that section in the middle.”
“Remember that door hidden behind a tapestry?” Sepia says.
Shar snaps her fingers. “That's right. We haven't explored past that yet. We got distracted by the secret door.”
“And it looks like it's in the right area,” Shifty adds.
The party returns to the room with the tapestries and heads down the passage they found previously, Kane and PHUQ-69 in the lead. It ends in a door. Kane throws it open. The chamber beyond is semicurcular and covered in runes. The far end contains a raised dais topped with a huge pile of stones, resembling a cairn made from grave markers. Three smaller cairns lie on the dais in front of the gigantic one.
“Those are more of the stones from outside,” Shar mutters.
Moab sniffs. “Obviously.”
A door leads out opposite the dais. P-69 throws it open, revealing another chamber. Two walls intersect in the middle of it, forming a cross; they don't seem to serve any architectural purpose. Greenery somehow flourishes in here, despite the lack of significant natural light. Large patches of ivy cover substantial areas.
“Look!” The shardmind points.
An enormous set of rune-covered double doors leads out of the right hand wall. It looks like the doors depicted in the tapestry two rooms back.
The party moves into the chamber, but as they do, Sepia hisses a warning. “Behind us!”
There is a clattering noise, the clank of shifting stones. Our heroes turn. Behind them, the markers making up the cairns are moving, being pushed outward as things emerge from underneath. From the three smaller cairns, undead knights rise, garbed in chain mail armor and armed with longswords. But the horror that emerges from the larger pile of stones is far more gruesome: the flayed skin of a giant, bloody on the inside.
The party rushes back to face their foes. But as they do, something happens behind them. A stretch of the ivy begins writhing, twisting together to form something- first what likes like an eyestalk, and then a huge shambling body made of twining ivy and branches. Tendrils of thorns whip around it, slashing through the air; questing roots wind around everything near it.
Assailed from both sides, our heroes find themselves pressed hard once again. Everyone close to the ivy monster finds themselves constantly entangled by the roots, and the thorns irritate wounds taken near it. Its vines lash out, squeezing with terrific strength and grabbing at our heroes.
Shifty tumbles past them all, rushing to the double doors. He whips out the key. Hopefully, I disarmed whatever lightning trap is on this thing when I touched the lock on the tapestry, he thinks, but I'd best be ready in case I need to do something else.
But the doors push open easily. A hall stretches away.
Whatever is going on here, this is the key. This is the center of it all.
Shifty runs forward. At the end of the hallway, there is a door to the right. He throws it open.
“What the hell is that?” he exclaims.
Decorated in runes, some sort of strange device stands in the room, a mess of iron and wooden struts interconnecting beneath a pyramidal peak topped with a glowing emerald. Whatever it is, the thing looks delicate. More runes adorn the walls, floor, and ceiling, forming a pattern that centers on the eldritch machine.
Whatever it is, I think it's responsible for the trouble here.
Outside, Kane cuts down one zombie knight while P-69 demolishes another. The two wizards and Sepia focus on the ivy monster, while Bradford makes a valiant stand against the flayed skin.
Things aren't going so well.
The third undead knight cleaves Sepia with his sword, badly wounding her. The giant skin attempts to rip Bradford's skin from his body; the poor fellow drops, unable to withstand the pain of the attack. And the ivy monster proves to be a tremendous threat, capable of reaching a full 40' with its vines. It clobbers Kane and P-69 hard.
Things are looking fairly dire. Sepia goes down; then Kane. P-69 manages to take out the third undead warrior, but the skin monster slaps Moab hard enough that he sees stars and grabs him.
Then Karl unleashes a lucky fireball that catches the skin perfectly*. It drops, burning and smoking. But unfortunately, it also catches Bradford. Already unconscious, he is killed instantly.
But the ivy monster remains, and it rampages through the party, dealing telling wounds.
Shar manages to get Kane back in the fight with a healing word, but then the ivy monster delivers another terrific blow to P-69 and the shardmind falls. Things are looking dire.
At the same moment, Shifty makes his move, smashing the delicate-looking machine with his crowbar. Struts snap and one whole side of it sags inward. Immediately there is a flash of brilliant light, emanating from the emerald on top of the device, almost blinding Shifty. From an unimaginable distance, the gnome thinks he can almost hear a shriek of frustration.
Who the hell was behind this? he wonders.
Meanwhile, just as Shar is about to retreat to save herself, the ivy monster abruptly rears back and collapses inward on itself, moldering away to brown sludge in only a few seconds.
Saved! Bless you, Shifty! she thinks. Wherever he went, he must have done something that stopped the monster.
Speaking of whom- Shifty returns a moment later, and together, the two of them, Moab, and Karl bind everyone else's wounds and bring them around.
After the group takes a few minutes to rest, Shifty shows them the eldritch engine that he destroyed. There are a number of gems, including the emerald, built into it; the party takes those gems as booty.
“Do you think that fixed whatever the problem here was?” Shar asks.
Both Moab and Karl confirm that the rune-work around the place is no longer functioning. And after poking around a bit more, the group verifies that there isn't anywhere else that they haven't explored.
“All right,” Karl says, “back to our resting place so that we can try to raise Bradford.”
***
The Garden of Graves cost them dearly, but thanks to Karl's ritual, not permanently. Bradford's eyes flutter and open with a groan. “What happened?”
“We kicked ass is what happened,” Sepia says proudly.
***
Their return to Moonstair is marred by a horrible slip up.
They are attacked by shambling mounds. Though the party easily defeats them, during the fight, P-69 accidentally hurls his morningstar away into the thickets on a steep slope. Afterward, try though they might, the party can't find it.
PHUQ-69 utters a string of inventive curses in ancient Miloxi.
***
Our heroes return home as a cold and hungry winter sets in. They decide not to head south to the Delphinate until spring. While they wait out the winter, they handle administrative tasks, mediate disputes, and do their best to ensure that food is distributed so that nobody starves.
They can't quite pull it off. Starting in January, there is a long stretch of time where there simply isn't enough to eat. People grow thin. The weakest die, unable to survive the deprivation.
“Being Governor kind of sucks sometimes,” Shifty tells Shar, who agrees whole heartedly.
During the winter, Karl can't stop speculating about what Quah-Nomag is up to. More importantly, his master, Deryndradin, is long overdue; and though Karl issues several sendings to him, he receives no response. He fears the worst.
Shifty, meanwhile, spends more time pondering the party's most recent adventure. He doubts whether Quah-Nomag was behind it; it doesn't seem to fit with anything else he's done. Therefore, it was probably someone else. But who?
***
On January 23rd, the party strikes out, leaving Bradford in charge of their lands. Though appreciative of their trust, the young man is apprehensive about being left in charge. “You'll do fine,” Shifty assures him, and Shar nods.
“If in doubt, just ask yourself what we'd do.”
***
As the party sits around their campfire on their first night of the journey, a voice comes out of the dark. “Hello, friends.”
Kane whips his sword from its sheath. “Show yourself!” he barks.
“No need to worry. It is only I.” A squat figure steps from the darkness: Nom, the dwarf who the party has met on several occasions when radiocrystals were involved.
“Hello again,” says Karl.
The party offers Nom some dinner. He politely accepts, offering a skin of fine dwarven ale in return. After a pleasant meal, he wipes his beard, then says, “I have come with an offer from my friends.”
“The ones who have helped us with those crystals?” asks Shifty.
Nom nods. “You have done the world a great service each time you've turned those devices over to us. We truly appreciate your actions. And we'd like to offer you the opportunity to join us.”
Shar speaks up. “Who are you, exactly?”
“We're called the Crystal Breakers. We're dedicated to finding and safely disposing of as many radiocrystal artifacts as possible, as well as sites tainted with radiation.”
“And just what would be expected of us?”
“Only that, should you encounter more radiocrystal devices or areas or things related to them, you inform the group and help fulfill our primary mission. We won't demand that you carry out our bidding or anything like that. Although, before you join, there is an initiation.”
Moab speaks up. “What's all this, then?”
Nom notes the wizard for the first time. “I'm sorry, I didn't notice you. I don't believe we've met... and I'm afraid my offer doesn't include you.” He spreads his hands apologetically. “Although perhaps, in the future...”
“That's fine,” Moab sniffs. “Besides, I don't need to join any primitive secret society anyway. Destroying what you don't understand! Hmph!”
“What's the nature of the initiation?” asks Karl.
“There is a monster- a radioactive hydra. It's south of here, along the edge of the desert. Kill it, and you're in.” He stands up. “And if you do, you'll all be rewarded. Again, except for you- sorry. Nothing personal.”
Moab sniffs again.
***
En route to the hydra- and then the Delphinate- our heroes run into a hunting party of goliaths. Most of them remember Cavemouth with mixed emotions. Klucktim, the burly female leading the party, turns out to be his sister. Relations deteriorate between the heroes and the goliaths when this comes out, and the fact that they failed to save Cavemouth from dying almost leads to violence. Moab's enchantments come in handy here, helping to prevent a fight from breaking out, and the party leaves the goliaths bristling and hostile. They won't be friendly to the group's burgeoning state.
***
Following Nom's directions, the party comes to a bone-strewn box canyon set into an area of badlands. A stinking cave serves as the hydra's lair; when the party makes enough noise outside, they draw it out.
It is terrifying. Bigger than an elephant, its four heads spewing radioactive clouds, the monster lays into the party immediately. They defend themselves, and at first, things go well. Strangely, it doesn't grow any new heads. But once it is sufficiently wounded, it splits into four single-headed serpentine monsters.
Kane shouts, “Foul demons! We will put each of you to the sword!”
In the end, he's right.
***
After their victory over the hydra, Nom reappears. He congratulates them. “You're Crystal Breakers now.”
He gives each of them- again, except Moab- an item crafted by a member of the society. “If we had known about you,” he says to the desert wizard.
Moab just scowls.
Shifty receives a gnomeblade. It looks like an ornamental knife made of pewter, completely unfunctional. The hilt is fashioned to look like a rabbit, with rhinestones in its eyes.
Shar receives a leaden symbol- a holy symbol made of unpainted and unadorned lead.
Karl is given leaden bracers set with jet and diamonds. They glow with a faint orange light. “These are bracers of the crystal breaker,” Nom tells him.
Sepia gets a pair of brass knuckles- well, lead knuckles, really. Each knuckle is worked into the shape of a dog. Despite being made of lead, they are harder than steel.
Kane receives a set of hide armor made from owlbear hide, complete with claws and beak. It is bloodstained and patched. “This is called Unceasing Violence.”
Finally, P-69 is given a morning star called Meteor. When swung through the air, a momentary trail of scarlet light follows it.
Next Time: To the Delphinate!
*Crit with a fireball! How satisfying. One of the beautiful things about 4e- you can crit with a fireball.
The stats on the items the party received are as follows:
GNOMEBLADE --- Level 15 Rare
This little dagger looks as though it is purely ornamental, with a blade that looks like some kind of weak, decorative metal rather than functional steel. The hilt is fashioned to look like a rabbit, with rhinestones in its eyes.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Dagger
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d6 damage and you are invisible to the target until the start of its next turn.
Property: You can use the gnomeblade as an implement with arcane or shadow powers. You do not apply the dagger's proficiency bonus when you use it as an implement, but you do apply its enhancement bonus.
Property: While you are wielding the gnomeblade, you gain a +1 item bonus to Reflex.
Power (Encounter): Minor action. Make a saving throw.
Power (Daily): Move action. You teleport 5 squares and your fade away racial power recharges.
LEADEN SYMBOL --- Level 15 Rare
This symbol is heavy and is composed of unpainted and unadorned lead.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Implement (Holy Symbol)
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d6 damage.
Property: You and adjacent creatures gain resist 1 radiation.
Property: You and adjacent creatures gain resist 5 radiant.
Property: You and allies within 10 squares get a +3 bonus on death saves.
Power (Encounter): Immediate reaction. Trigger: You or an ally that you can see within 10 squares is slowed, immobilized or restrained. Effect: The condition ends.
Power (Daily): Free action. Trigger: You hit with an implement power using this symbol. Effect: One target that you hit with the power is also immobilized (save ends).
BRACERS OF THE CRYSTAL BREAKER --- Level 15 Rare
These leaden bracers are set with jet and diamonds and glow with a faint orange light.
Lvl 15 --- 25,000 gp
Item Slot: Arms
Property: You gain resist 1 radiation.
Property: You gain resist 5 poison and 5 radiant.
Property: You feel a warning tingle if there is radiation within 10 squares strong enough to inflict RADs. You can get a basic feel for its strength (whether it inflicts RADs per round, minute, hour or day) and can determine the location of the radiation. You may sometimes be able to detect even fainter background radiation with a Perception check, depending on its strength.
Property: When you score a critical hit with an implement power, you deal an extra 1d10 fire and radiant damage.
Property: You get a +1 item bonus to attack rolls with implement powers with the fire, radiant or zone keywords.
Power (Daily): Free action. Trigger: You create a zone with an arcane implement power. Effect: In addition to its other effects, the zone deals 5 points of radiant and fire damage to each creature within it in when it appears.
Power (Daily): No action. You use your Intelligence for a skill check instead of the ability normally associated with that skill.
LEAD KNUCKLES --- Level 15 Rare
These brass knuckles are actually made of lead. Each knuckle is fashioned to resemble the head of a dog. Despite being lead, the knuckles are not at all soft.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Brass knuckles
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d10 damage and the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.
Property: You get a +3 item bonus to damage.
Property: Whenever you are pushed, pulled or slid, you reduce the number of squares that you move by 3.
Power (Encounter): Free action. Trigger: You hit an enemy with the lead knuckles. Effect: The target is dazed (save ends).
UNCEASING VIOLENCE --- Level 15 Rare
This armor is made from the hides of owlbears, with claws and beak inset to increase its menacing appearance. It is well-stained and shows the signs of having been repaired after many battles.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Armor: Hide armor.
Enhancement: AC.
Property: Whenever you spend a healing surge, you may make a basic attack as a free action.
Property: Whenever you bloody or drop an enemy, you regain hit points equal to your Strength bonus.
Power (Daily * Healing): Minor action. You spend a healing surge.
METEOR --- Level 15 Rare
This morning star, forged of starmetal, is worked to resemble a flaming meteor. When you swing it through the air, a momentary trail of red light follows it in the air.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Morning star
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d8 fire damage and the target falls prone.
Property: If you hit a prone enemy with a melee attack with Meteor, you deal an extra 1d8 damage.
Property: When you charge you can move your speed +3 squares.
Power (Encounter): Free action. Trigger: You hit an enemy with a melee attack. Effect: After all other effects of the hit are resolved, the target falls prone.
Power (Daily): Minor action. An adjacent prone enemy cannot stand up (save ends).
“Remember that door hidden behind a tapestry?” Sepia says.
Shar snaps her fingers. “That's right. We haven't explored past that yet. We got distracted by the secret door.”
“And it looks like it's in the right area,” Shifty adds.
The party returns to the room with the tapestries and heads down the passage they found previously, Kane and PHUQ-69 in the lead. It ends in a door. Kane throws it open. The chamber beyond is semicurcular and covered in runes. The far end contains a raised dais topped with a huge pile of stones, resembling a cairn made from grave markers. Three smaller cairns lie on the dais in front of the gigantic one.
“Those are more of the stones from outside,” Shar mutters.
Moab sniffs. “Obviously.”
A door leads out opposite the dais. P-69 throws it open, revealing another chamber. Two walls intersect in the middle of it, forming a cross; they don't seem to serve any architectural purpose. Greenery somehow flourishes in here, despite the lack of significant natural light. Large patches of ivy cover substantial areas.
“Look!” The shardmind points.
An enormous set of rune-covered double doors leads out of the right hand wall. It looks like the doors depicted in the tapestry two rooms back.
The party moves into the chamber, but as they do, Sepia hisses a warning. “Behind us!”
There is a clattering noise, the clank of shifting stones. Our heroes turn. Behind them, the markers making up the cairns are moving, being pushed outward as things emerge from underneath. From the three smaller cairns, undead knights rise, garbed in chain mail armor and armed with longswords. But the horror that emerges from the larger pile of stones is far more gruesome: the flayed skin of a giant, bloody on the inside.
The party rushes back to face their foes. But as they do, something happens behind them. A stretch of the ivy begins writhing, twisting together to form something- first what likes like an eyestalk, and then a huge shambling body made of twining ivy and branches. Tendrils of thorns whip around it, slashing through the air; questing roots wind around everything near it.
Assailed from both sides, our heroes find themselves pressed hard once again. Everyone close to the ivy monster finds themselves constantly entangled by the roots, and the thorns irritate wounds taken near it. Its vines lash out, squeezing with terrific strength and grabbing at our heroes.
Shifty tumbles past them all, rushing to the double doors. He whips out the key. Hopefully, I disarmed whatever lightning trap is on this thing when I touched the lock on the tapestry, he thinks, but I'd best be ready in case I need to do something else.
But the doors push open easily. A hall stretches away.
Whatever is going on here, this is the key. This is the center of it all.
Shifty runs forward. At the end of the hallway, there is a door to the right. He throws it open.
“What the hell is that?” he exclaims.
Decorated in runes, some sort of strange device stands in the room, a mess of iron and wooden struts interconnecting beneath a pyramidal peak topped with a glowing emerald. Whatever it is, the thing looks delicate. More runes adorn the walls, floor, and ceiling, forming a pattern that centers on the eldritch machine.
Whatever it is, I think it's responsible for the trouble here.
Outside, Kane cuts down one zombie knight while P-69 demolishes another. The two wizards and Sepia focus on the ivy monster, while Bradford makes a valiant stand against the flayed skin.
Things aren't going so well.
The third undead knight cleaves Sepia with his sword, badly wounding her. The giant skin attempts to rip Bradford's skin from his body; the poor fellow drops, unable to withstand the pain of the attack. And the ivy monster proves to be a tremendous threat, capable of reaching a full 40' with its vines. It clobbers Kane and P-69 hard.
Things are looking fairly dire. Sepia goes down; then Kane. P-69 manages to take out the third undead warrior, but the skin monster slaps Moab hard enough that he sees stars and grabs him.
Then Karl unleashes a lucky fireball that catches the skin perfectly*. It drops, burning and smoking. But unfortunately, it also catches Bradford. Already unconscious, he is killed instantly.
But the ivy monster remains, and it rampages through the party, dealing telling wounds.
Shar manages to get Kane back in the fight with a healing word, but then the ivy monster delivers another terrific blow to P-69 and the shardmind falls. Things are looking dire.
At the same moment, Shifty makes his move, smashing the delicate-looking machine with his crowbar. Struts snap and one whole side of it sags inward. Immediately there is a flash of brilliant light, emanating from the emerald on top of the device, almost blinding Shifty. From an unimaginable distance, the gnome thinks he can almost hear a shriek of frustration.
Who the hell was behind this? he wonders.
Meanwhile, just as Shar is about to retreat to save herself, the ivy monster abruptly rears back and collapses inward on itself, moldering away to brown sludge in only a few seconds.
Saved! Bless you, Shifty! she thinks. Wherever he went, he must have done something that stopped the monster.
Speaking of whom- Shifty returns a moment later, and together, the two of them, Moab, and Karl bind everyone else's wounds and bring them around.
After the group takes a few minutes to rest, Shifty shows them the eldritch engine that he destroyed. There are a number of gems, including the emerald, built into it; the party takes those gems as booty.
“Do you think that fixed whatever the problem here was?” Shar asks.
Both Moab and Karl confirm that the rune-work around the place is no longer functioning. And after poking around a bit more, the group verifies that there isn't anywhere else that they haven't explored.
“All right,” Karl says, “back to our resting place so that we can try to raise Bradford.”
***
The Garden of Graves cost them dearly, but thanks to Karl's ritual, not permanently. Bradford's eyes flutter and open with a groan. “What happened?”
“We kicked ass is what happened,” Sepia says proudly.
***
Their return to Moonstair is marred by a horrible slip up.
They are attacked by shambling mounds. Though the party easily defeats them, during the fight, P-69 accidentally hurls his morningstar away into the thickets on a steep slope. Afterward, try though they might, the party can't find it.
PHUQ-69 utters a string of inventive curses in ancient Miloxi.
***
Our heroes return home as a cold and hungry winter sets in. They decide not to head south to the Delphinate until spring. While they wait out the winter, they handle administrative tasks, mediate disputes, and do their best to ensure that food is distributed so that nobody starves.
They can't quite pull it off. Starting in January, there is a long stretch of time where there simply isn't enough to eat. People grow thin. The weakest die, unable to survive the deprivation.
“Being Governor kind of sucks sometimes,” Shifty tells Shar, who agrees whole heartedly.
During the winter, Karl can't stop speculating about what Quah-Nomag is up to. More importantly, his master, Deryndradin, is long overdue; and though Karl issues several sendings to him, he receives no response. He fears the worst.
Shifty, meanwhile, spends more time pondering the party's most recent adventure. He doubts whether Quah-Nomag was behind it; it doesn't seem to fit with anything else he's done. Therefore, it was probably someone else. But who?
***
On January 23rd, the party strikes out, leaving Bradford in charge of their lands. Though appreciative of their trust, the young man is apprehensive about being left in charge. “You'll do fine,” Shifty assures him, and Shar nods.
“If in doubt, just ask yourself what we'd do.”
***
As the party sits around their campfire on their first night of the journey, a voice comes out of the dark. “Hello, friends.”
Kane whips his sword from its sheath. “Show yourself!” he barks.
“No need to worry. It is only I.” A squat figure steps from the darkness: Nom, the dwarf who the party has met on several occasions when radiocrystals were involved.
“Hello again,” says Karl.
The party offers Nom some dinner. He politely accepts, offering a skin of fine dwarven ale in return. After a pleasant meal, he wipes his beard, then says, “I have come with an offer from my friends.”
“The ones who have helped us with those crystals?” asks Shifty.
Nom nods. “You have done the world a great service each time you've turned those devices over to us. We truly appreciate your actions. And we'd like to offer you the opportunity to join us.”
Shar speaks up. “Who are you, exactly?”
“We're called the Crystal Breakers. We're dedicated to finding and safely disposing of as many radiocrystal artifacts as possible, as well as sites tainted with radiation.”
“And just what would be expected of us?”
“Only that, should you encounter more radiocrystal devices or areas or things related to them, you inform the group and help fulfill our primary mission. We won't demand that you carry out our bidding or anything like that. Although, before you join, there is an initiation.”
Moab speaks up. “What's all this, then?”
Nom notes the wizard for the first time. “I'm sorry, I didn't notice you. I don't believe we've met... and I'm afraid my offer doesn't include you.” He spreads his hands apologetically. “Although perhaps, in the future...”
“That's fine,” Moab sniffs. “Besides, I don't need to join any primitive secret society anyway. Destroying what you don't understand! Hmph!”
“What's the nature of the initiation?” asks Karl.
“There is a monster- a radioactive hydra. It's south of here, along the edge of the desert. Kill it, and you're in.” He stands up. “And if you do, you'll all be rewarded. Again, except for you- sorry. Nothing personal.”
Moab sniffs again.
***
En route to the hydra- and then the Delphinate- our heroes run into a hunting party of goliaths. Most of them remember Cavemouth with mixed emotions. Klucktim, the burly female leading the party, turns out to be his sister. Relations deteriorate between the heroes and the goliaths when this comes out, and the fact that they failed to save Cavemouth from dying almost leads to violence. Moab's enchantments come in handy here, helping to prevent a fight from breaking out, and the party leaves the goliaths bristling and hostile. They won't be friendly to the group's burgeoning state.
***
Following Nom's directions, the party comes to a bone-strewn box canyon set into an area of badlands. A stinking cave serves as the hydra's lair; when the party makes enough noise outside, they draw it out.
It is terrifying. Bigger than an elephant, its four heads spewing radioactive clouds, the monster lays into the party immediately. They defend themselves, and at first, things go well. Strangely, it doesn't grow any new heads. But once it is sufficiently wounded, it splits into four single-headed serpentine monsters.
Kane shouts, “Foul demons! We will put each of you to the sword!”
In the end, he's right.
***
After their victory over the hydra, Nom reappears. He congratulates them. “You're Crystal Breakers now.”
He gives each of them- again, except Moab- an item crafted by a member of the society. “If we had known about you,” he says to the desert wizard.
Moab just scowls.
Shifty receives a gnomeblade. It looks like an ornamental knife made of pewter, completely unfunctional. The hilt is fashioned to look like a rabbit, with rhinestones in its eyes.
Shar receives a leaden symbol- a holy symbol made of unpainted and unadorned lead.
Karl is given leaden bracers set with jet and diamonds. They glow with a faint orange light. “These are bracers of the crystal breaker,” Nom tells him.
Sepia gets a pair of brass knuckles- well, lead knuckles, really. Each knuckle is worked into the shape of a dog. Despite being made of lead, they are harder than steel.
Kane receives a set of hide armor made from owlbear hide, complete with claws and beak. It is bloodstained and patched. “This is called Unceasing Violence.”
Finally, P-69 is given a morning star called Meteor. When swung through the air, a momentary trail of scarlet light follows it.
Next Time: To the Delphinate!
*Crit with a fireball! How satisfying. One of the beautiful things about 4e- you can crit with a fireball.
The stats on the items the party received are as follows:
GNOMEBLADE --- Level 15 Rare
This little dagger looks as though it is purely ornamental, with a blade that looks like some kind of weak, decorative metal rather than functional steel. The hilt is fashioned to look like a rabbit, with rhinestones in its eyes.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Dagger
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d6 damage and you are invisible to the target until the start of its next turn.
Property: You can use the gnomeblade as an implement with arcane or shadow powers. You do not apply the dagger's proficiency bonus when you use it as an implement, but you do apply its enhancement bonus.
Property: While you are wielding the gnomeblade, you gain a +1 item bonus to Reflex.
Power (Encounter): Minor action. Make a saving throw.
Power (Daily): Move action. You teleport 5 squares and your fade away racial power recharges.
LEADEN SYMBOL --- Level 15 Rare
This symbol is heavy and is composed of unpainted and unadorned lead.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Implement (Holy Symbol)
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d6 damage.
Property: You and adjacent creatures gain resist 1 radiation.
Property: You and adjacent creatures gain resist 5 radiant.
Property: You and allies within 10 squares get a +3 bonus on death saves.
Power (Encounter): Immediate reaction. Trigger: You or an ally that you can see within 10 squares is slowed, immobilized or restrained. Effect: The condition ends.
Power (Daily): Free action. Trigger: You hit with an implement power using this symbol. Effect: One target that you hit with the power is also immobilized (save ends).
BRACERS OF THE CRYSTAL BREAKER --- Level 15 Rare
These leaden bracers are set with jet and diamonds and glow with a faint orange light.
Lvl 15 --- 25,000 gp
Item Slot: Arms
Property: You gain resist 1 radiation.
Property: You gain resist 5 poison and 5 radiant.
Property: You feel a warning tingle if there is radiation within 10 squares strong enough to inflict RADs. You can get a basic feel for its strength (whether it inflicts RADs per round, minute, hour or day) and can determine the location of the radiation. You may sometimes be able to detect even fainter background radiation with a Perception check, depending on its strength.
Property: When you score a critical hit with an implement power, you deal an extra 1d10 fire and radiant damage.
Property: You get a +1 item bonus to attack rolls with implement powers with the fire, radiant or zone keywords.
Power (Daily): Free action. Trigger: You create a zone with an arcane implement power. Effect: In addition to its other effects, the zone deals 5 points of radiant and fire damage to each creature within it in when it appears.
Power (Daily): No action. You use your Intelligence for a skill check instead of the ability normally associated with that skill.
LEAD KNUCKLES --- Level 15 Rare
These brass knuckles are actually made of lead. Each knuckle is fashioned to resemble the head of a dog. Despite being lead, the knuckles are not at all soft.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Brass knuckles
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d10 damage and the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.
Property: You get a +3 item bonus to damage.
Property: Whenever you are pushed, pulled or slid, you reduce the number of squares that you move by 3.
Power (Encounter): Free action. Trigger: You hit an enemy with the lead knuckles. Effect: The target is dazed (save ends).
UNCEASING VIOLENCE --- Level 15 Rare
This armor is made from the hides of owlbears, with claws and beak inset to increase its menacing appearance. It is well-stained and shows the signs of having been repaired after many battles.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Armor: Hide armor.
Enhancement: AC.
Property: Whenever you spend a healing surge, you may make a basic attack as a free action.
Property: Whenever you bloody or drop an enemy, you regain hit points equal to your Strength bonus.
Power (Daily * Healing): Minor action. You spend a healing surge.
METEOR --- Level 15 Rare
This morning star, forged of starmetal, is worked to resemble a flaming meteor. When you swing it through the air, a momentary trail of red light follows it in the air.
Lvl 15 --- +3 --- 25,000 gp
Weapon: Morning star
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls.
Critical: +3d8 fire damage and the target falls prone.
Property: If you hit a prone enemy with a melee attack with Meteor, you deal an extra 1d8 damage.
Property: When you charge you can move your speed +3 squares.
Power (Encounter): Free action. Trigger: You hit an enemy with a melee attack. Effect: After all other effects of the hit are resolved, the target falls prone.
Power (Daily): Minor action. An adjacent prone enemy cannot stand up (save ends).