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Adventures in the Eastern Provinces
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 7585948" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>The party returns to the Garden of Graves again, choosing a different building this time. The room they enter is hung with about a dozen tapestries, one of which depictss an almost life-sized double door, with a figure being hurled back from it by a bolt of lightning. Lockpicks are flying from his fingers. Another figure holds a key in his hand, and is leaning forward as if to stop him. </p><p></p><p>Shifty studies it. <em>Something about it looks off. The lock- it's too big.</em> Frowning, he draws out the key that he had etrieved from the pool with the water serpent in it and touches it to the lock on the tapestry. Nothing obvious happens, but he decides to keep an eye out for a set of double doors like the ones it depicts. <em>If we find them, I bet they're already open.</em></p><p></p><p>There are no other obvious exits at first, but some investigation discovers that one of the tapiestries is hanging in front of a doorway that leads to another chamber. </p><p></p><p>That chamber holds a tall staff with a flame atop it. On the wall past it, a line of numbers, 1 through 12, is repeated twice, once in brass and once in black-wrought iron.</p><p></p><p>Shifty is pretty sure that the rhyme they found refers to this somehow- there was the bit about knowing which hour to shun, or something- but before he can pull out his scribbled copy, PHUQ-69 steps between the flame and the wall with the numbers. “Look,” the shardmind says. “My shadow is darker than it should be.” </p><p></p><p>“Be careful,” Shifty starts, but the warden is already deliberating casting his shadow across the numbers. </p><p></p><p>Sudden shrieks rise as mad wraiths appear from nowhere, babbling insanity. They're all around the party, their touches driving our heroes near to madness. Before they can even respond, our heroes find their heads throbbing with pain. They can barely see or think. </p><p></p><p>There is one wraith for each member of the party. And the wraiths strike with terrible speed.</p><p></p><p>The party starts to fight back, almost too late. This time, Moab's spells are less effective, for the wraiths have strong wills. Karl's spells and the weapons of the others are also less than effective, for the wraiths are barely there. Flame and steel alike passes through them as if they aren't there.</p><p></p><p>The fight is terrifying. Kane, Bradford, and Moab all fall during the fight, and when it is over, the Delphinite lies dead on the ground.</p><p></p><p>Shifty quips, “I hope you have enough components this time.” </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Once again safely removed from the Garden of Graves, the party discusses the torch and numbers. “It has to be there for a reason,” P-69 says. He insists that he cast his shadow on the hour corresponding to the correct time.</p><p></p><p>Shifty smacks himself in the forehead. “Of course! The sundial. We need to match the time that the sundial reads, not the real time of day.”</p><p></p><p>A night's rest, and then Karl performs the <em>raise dead</em> ritual. Moab returns from the beyond shaken and impressed by the rest of the party; if they survived a fight that slew him, there is clearly more to them than he had previously given them credit for. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Upon returning, P-69 makes another deadly mistake. In the cave with the three statues, he places a chip of his own body rather than a coin, and the crone statue animates and tries to kill them. Once defeated, rather than crumbling or falling, it returns to its original position and magically repairs itself. </p><p></p><p>“Just give it a damn coin,” Kane snarls. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>The party heads toward the room with the sundial, but they don't relish yet another encounter with Madame Beetles. So instead of just rushing in, Shifty says, “Let me try going in as a rat. Maybe they won't realize that I'm a threat.”</p><p></p><p>His plan works like a charm. As a fat brown rat, he waddles into the chamber, takes note of the time indicated by it, and then meanders on out with no problem.</p><p></p><p>The party heads back to the flaming staff. This time, P-69 casts his shadow on the number corresponding to the sundial's indicated time, and there is an audible click from the room with the tapestries in it. </p><p></p><p>“Hey, a secret door just opened up back here,” calls Bradford. </p><p></p><p>Beyond the secret door, they find first a room with a succession of strange game machines, which the party plays and beats handily, and then a chamber where fey enemies cloaked by illusions to appear like duplicates of the party appear. However, the heroes are more than a match for them, and once Karl disrupts the illusion, the battle is quickly ended.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that is a third room, but this one proves harmless. A search finds a secret trap door leading to a series of tunnels that wind underneath the Garden of Graves proper; though our heroes expect them to be full of undead or similar threats, they prove empty. </p><p></p><p>“It looks like they provide a shortcut into the main building, though,” Sepia points out.</p><p></p><p>Karl looks at his friends. “I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting low on spells. I say we go retreat to a safe place and rest again.”</p><p></p><p>Shifty shrugs. “I don't see any reason to press on; it's not like we have a particular time limit.” </p><p></p><p>“The longer we wait, the more fey might get ensnared,” Shar points out.</p><p></p><p>“I'm sure one more day won't really matter.”</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Sepia's death and subsequent resurrection have triggered unexpected consequences. Though the tiefling doesn't remember it- the living can't usually recall their afterlife, if they have been dead before- her soul did not reach its normal destination. </p><p></p><p>Instead, it had been captured. Caged by a cackling hag, Esmelda by name.</p><p></p><p>Esmelda is a pact hag that is working for Quah-Nomag. Her job is to capture the souls of those that have opposed him so that he may burn them as fuel as a part of his dark rituals. Now, as a part of her agreement, she must retrieve the soul that she lost. </p><p></p><p>Thus Esmelda has come to the Feywild, where she has set up a temporary base not far from the Garden of Graves, from which to ambush the party.</p><p></p><p>In the morning, her howlers will begin the harrying.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>And indeed, with the morn come the first eerie, unearthly cries.</p><p></p><p>“That's a howler,” says Moab in surprise. “They aren't native to the Feywild.”</p><p></p><p>More howls come. The party finds themselves being pursued. </p><p></p><p>“Let us slay these beasts,” Kane snaps in irritation after the first half hour. </p><p></p><p>“They're pretty dangerous,” Karl cautions. “They're covered in spines like a porcupine.”</p><p></p><p>“But with the disposition of a demon,” Moab adds. </p><p></p><p>“They often serve powerful evil masters, such as undead, demons, or devils.”</p><p></p><p>“Or evil mortals.”</p><p></p><p>“Are you two competing or something?” Sepia asks. “Sheesh!”</p><p></p><p>Kane just growls wordlessly.</p><p></p><p>The howlers chase the party into a boggy area where Esmelda springs her trap. She, along with another pair of howlers and a quartet of hired canoloth mercenaries, lay in wait near a <em>rune of containment</em> that she has scribed on a tree nearby. The rune sets up a zone tha damages each creature within it whenenever one of them leaves it. It is tremendously effective at preventing the party from escaping. </p><p></p><p>However, it isn't enough to win the battle. </p><p></p><p>When the rune triggers, our heroes are momentarily contained by it. The howlers that have been harrying them choose this moment to move in for the kill, and Esmelda and her contingent of fiendish creatures reveals themselves as well. </p><p></p><p>But the hag has miscalculated. She has underestimated our heroes. From Kane's rage that seems to channel the powers of his ancestors to P-69's ability to shrug off the magic she tries to lay upon him, from Shifty and Sepia working together to slice the canoloths to ribbons to Moab's devasting use of <em>beguiling strands</em> to set the enemy up for Karl's more explosive magic spell, the party applies themselves to the task of ensuring that the howlers and their masters break off their pursuit.</p><p></p><p>Soon Esmelda is forced to surrender to save her life. Our heroes are not at first inclined to accept her surrender- but she threatens the vengeance of all six of her sisters if they slay her, and after some negotiation, the party agrees. </p><p></p><p>“Provided,” Shar says, “that you tell us who you are and why you came after us.” She indicates the <em>rune of containment</em>. “This is no accident. You were lying in wait for us. I'd bet those howlers were doing your bidding, too.”</p><p></p><p>“Also, you have to surrender your treasure,” Shifty interjects.</p><p></p><p>“Talk!” snaps Kane. “Before I remove your head from your shoulders!”</p><p></p><p>“Of course I'll tell you what you wish to know.” Esmelda titters. “I'm just hired help. I mean you no harm, personally. And I'll be happy to surrender my treasure. Why, I'd be glad to bake you some cookies, if you wish!” She smiles, looking for all the world like a withered evil grandma.</p><p></p><p>Shar answers, “No thanks. Just tell us everything.” </p><p></p><p>“Of course, of course! Your real problem is a fellow named Quah-Nomag, a half-ogre.”</p><p></p><p>“We're familiar with him,” Karl says. </p><p></p><p>The hag explains her role as a soul snatcher, and that Quah-Nomag seeks to burn the souls as part of some ritual. When Sepia died, Esmelda's <em>hag cage</em> snagged her soul and Quah-Nomag paid the hag for it. However, before she could be properly bound in a more permanet fashion, someone raised her from the dead. Quah-Nomag was enraged, and since Esmelda had already eaten part of her payment she was obliged to go after Sepia one way or the other. </p><p></p><p>“Wait a second,” Sepia says. “Eaten?”</p><p></p><p>“What are you paid in?” asks Shar.</p><p></p><p>“Larva, of course.” </p><p></p><p>Karl fills the others in: “Larva are like worms with the heads of humanoids. Many of the souls of evil dead creatures end up as larva.”</p><p></p><p>“Correct, my boy!” She beams at him, proud as a parent. “The binding ritual takes twelve hours to cast. I had had time to complete it, but I had gotten greedy and gone on a bit of a binge.”</p><p></p><p>“You mean you were binge eating souls?” demands P-69.</p><p></p><p>“Just so!” She smacks her lips. </p><p></p><p>“That's repulsive.” Sepia makes a face. </p><p></p><p>“Oh, surely <em>you</em> have tried a larva once or twice...? No? I figured, you <em>are</em> a tiefling...”</p><p></p><p>Shar speaks up again. “If we let you go, how do we know you won't come after us again?”</p><p></p><p>“I'm a pact hag, dearie,” Esmelda says cheerfully. “We'll make a deal.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>Esmelda doesn't know exactly what Quah-Nomag is after, but she inferred that he is looking for some sort of weapon sacred to his god. She knows little more of him or of his deity Tenebrous- though she is aware that its is a rising cult, especially in the Shadowfell, and she has heard claims that Tenebrous is an undead god. </p><p></p><p>But she doesn't think the Garden of Graves has anything to do with Tenebrous or Quah-Nomag; she struck here because Sepia was here. “I would have moved on her wherever she was,” the hag admits. “Since you defeated poor old Esmelda, I'll have to go into hiding to escape Quah-Nomag's vengeance. I'll probably go to some forgotten astral rock or another, or perhaps assume a new name and sell my services to the devils or a demon prince. I'll certainly never cross paths with the mighty heroes who have so cast me down again, oh no!”</p><p></p><p>She pauses and gives them a rotten smile. “Are you dearies sure you wouldn't like some cookies?”</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Our heroes reach the heart of the mystery at the Garden of Graves!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 7585948, member: 1210"] The party returns to the Garden of Graves again, choosing a different building this time. The room they enter is hung with about a dozen tapestries, one of which depictss an almost life-sized double door, with a figure being hurled back from it by a bolt of lightning. Lockpicks are flying from his fingers. Another figure holds a key in his hand, and is leaning forward as if to stop him. Shifty studies it. [i]Something about it looks off. The lock- it's too big.[/i] Frowning, he draws out the key that he had etrieved from the pool with the water serpent in it and touches it to the lock on the tapestry. Nothing obvious happens, but he decides to keep an eye out for a set of double doors like the ones it depicts. [i]If we find them, I bet they're already open.[/i] There are no other obvious exits at first, but some investigation discovers that one of the tapiestries is hanging in front of a doorway that leads to another chamber. That chamber holds a tall staff with a flame atop it. On the wall past it, a line of numbers, 1 through 12, is repeated twice, once in brass and once in black-wrought iron. Shifty is pretty sure that the rhyme they found refers to this somehow- there was the bit about knowing which hour to shun, or something- but before he can pull out his scribbled copy, PHUQ-69 steps between the flame and the wall with the numbers. “Look,” the shardmind says. “My shadow is darker than it should be.” “Be careful,” Shifty starts, but the warden is already deliberating casting his shadow across the numbers. Sudden shrieks rise as mad wraiths appear from nowhere, babbling insanity. They're all around the party, their touches driving our heroes near to madness. Before they can even respond, our heroes find their heads throbbing with pain. They can barely see or think. There is one wraith for each member of the party. And the wraiths strike with terrible speed. The party starts to fight back, almost too late. This time, Moab's spells are less effective, for the wraiths have strong wills. Karl's spells and the weapons of the others are also less than effective, for the wraiths are barely there. Flame and steel alike passes through them as if they aren't there. The fight is terrifying. Kane, Bradford, and Moab all fall during the fight, and when it is over, the Delphinite lies dead on the ground. Shifty quips, “I hope you have enough components this time.” *** Once again safely removed from the Garden of Graves, the party discusses the torch and numbers. “It has to be there for a reason,” P-69 says. He insists that he cast his shadow on the hour corresponding to the correct time. Shifty smacks himself in the forehead. “Of course! The sundial. We need to match the time that the sundial reads, not the real time of day.” A night's rest, and then Karl performs the [i]raise dead[/i] ritual. Moab returns from the beyond shaken and impressed by the rest of the party; if they survived a fight that slew him, there is clearly more to them than he had previously given them credit for. *** Upon returning, P-69 makes another deadly mistake. In the cave with the three statues, he places a chip of his own body rather than a coin, and the crone statue animates and tries to kill them. Once defeated, rather than crumbling or falling, it returns to its original position and magically repairs itself. “Just give it a damn coin,” Kane snarls. *** The party heads toward the room with the sundial, but they don't relish yet another encounter with Madame Beetles. So instead of just rushing in, Shifty says, “Let me try going in as a rat. Maybe they won't realize that I'm a threat.” His plan works like a charm. As a fat brown rat, he waddles into the chamber, takes note of the time indicated by it, and then meanders on out with no problem. The party heads back to the flaming staff. This time, P-69 casts his shadow on the number corresponding to the sundial's indicated time, and there is an audible click from the room with the tapestries in it. “Hey, a secret door just opened up back here,” calls Bradford. Beyond the secret door, they find first a room with a succession of strange game machines, which the party plays and beats handily, and then a chamber where fey enemies cloaked by illusions to appear like duplicates of the party appear. However, the heroes are more than a match for them, and once Karl disrupts the illusion, the battle is quickly ended. Beyond that is a third room, but this one proves harmless. A search finds a secret trap door leading to a series of tunnels that wind underneath the Garden of Graves proper; though our heroes expect them to be full of undead or similar threats, they prove empty. “It looks like they provide a shortcut into the main building, though,” Sepia points out. Karl looks at his friends. “I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting low on spells. I say we go retreat to a safe place and rest again.” Shifty shrugs. “I don't see any reason to press on; it's not like we have a particular time limit.” “The longer we wait, the more fey might get ensnared,” Shar points out. “I'm sure one more day won't really matter.” *** Meanwhile, Sepia's death and subsequent resurrection have triggered unexpected consequences. Though the tiefling doesn't remember it- the living can't usually recall their afterlife, if they have been dead before- her soul did not reach its normal destination. Instead, it had been captured. Caged by a cackling hag, Esmelda by name. Esmelda is a pact hag that is working for Quah-Nomag. Her job is to capture the souls of those that have opposed him so that he may burn them as fuel as a part of his dark rituals. Now, as a part of her agreement, she must retrieve the soul that she lost. Thus Esmelda has come to the Feywild, where she has set up a temporary base not far from the Garden of Graves, from which to ambush the party. In the morning, her howlers will begin the harrying. *** And indeed, with the morn come the first eerie, unearthly cries. “That's a howler,” says Moab in surprise. “They aren't native to the Feywild.” More howls come. The party finds themselves being pursued. “Let us slay these beasts,” Kane snaps in irritation after the first half hour. “They're pretty dangerous,” Karl cautions. “They're covered in spines like a porcupine.” “But with the disposition of a demon,” Moab adds. “They often serve powerful evil masters, such as undead, demons, or devils.” “Or evil mortals.” “Are you two competing or something?” Sepia asks. “Sheesh!” Kane just growls wordlessly. The howlers chase the party into a boggy area where Esmelda springs her trap. She, along with another pair of howlers and a quartet of hired canoloth mercenaries, lay in wait near a [i]rune of containment[/i] that she has scribed on a tree nearby. The rune sets up a zone tha damages each creature within it whenenever one of them leaves it. It is tremendously effective at preventing the party from escaping. However, it isn't enough to win the battle. When the rune triggers, our heroes are momentarily contained by it. The howlers that have been harrying them choose this moment to move in for the kill, and Esmelda and her contingent of fiendish creatures reveals themselves as well. But the hag has miscalculated. She has underestimated our heroes. From Kane's rage that seems to channel the powers of his ancestors to P-69's ability to shrug off the magic she tries to lay upon him, from Shifty and Sepia working together to slice the canoloths to ribbons to Moab's devasting use of [i]beguiling strands[/i] to set the enemy up for Karl's more explosive magic spell, the party applies themselves to the task of ensuring that the howlers and their masters break off their pursuit. Soon Esmelda is forced to surrender to save her life. Our heroes are not at first inclined to accept her surrender- but she threatens the vengeance of all six of her sisters if they slay her, and after some negotiation, the party agrees. “Provided,” Shar says, “that you tell us who you are and why you came after us.” She indicates the [i]rune of containment[/i]. “This is no accident. You were lying in wait for us. I'd bet those howlers were doing your bidding, too.” “Also, you have to surrender your treasure,” Shifty interjects. “Talk!” snaps Kane. “Before I remove your head from your shoulders!” “Of course I'll tell you what you wish to know.” Esmelda titters. “I'm just hired help. I mean you no harm, personally. And I'll be happy to surrender my treasure. Why, I'd be glad to bake you some cookies, if you wish!” She smiles, looking for all the world like a withered evil grandma. Shar answers, “No thanks. Just tell us everything.” “Of course, of course! Your real problem is a fellow named Quah-Nomag, a half-ogre.” “We're familiar with him,” Karl says. The hag explains her role as a soul snatcher, and that Quah-Nomag seeks to burn the souls as part of some ritual. When Sepia died, Esmelda's [i]hag cage[/i] snagged her soul and Quah-Nomag paid the hag for it. However, before she could be properly bound in a more permanet fashion, someone raised her from the dead. Quah-Nomag was enraged, and since Esmelda had already eaten part of her payment she was obliged to go after Sepia one way or the other. “Wait a second,” Sepia says. “Eaten?” “What are you paid in?” asks Shar. “Larva, of course.” Karl fills the others in: “Larva are like worms with the heads of humanoids. Many of the souls of evil dead creatures end up as larva.” “Correct, my boy!” She beams at him, proud as a parent. “The binding ritual takes twelve hours to cast. I had had time to complete it, but I had gotten greedy and gone on a bit of a binge.” “You mean you were binge eating souls?” demands P-69. “Just so!” She smacks her lips. “That's repulsive.” Sepia makes a face. “Oh, surely [i]you[/i] have tried a larva once or twice...? No? I figured, you [i]are[/i] a tiefling...” Shar speaks up again. “If we let you go, how do we know you won't come after us again?” “I'm a pact hag, dearie,” Esmelda says cheerfully. “We'll make a deal.” Esmelda doesn't know exactly what Quah-Nomag is after, but she inferred that he is looking for some sort of weapon sacred to his god. She knows little more of him or of his deity Tenebrous- though she is aware that its is a rising cult, especially in the Shadowfell, and she has heard claims that Tenebrous is an undead god. But she doesn't think the Garden of Graves has anything to do with Tenebrous or Quah-Nomag; she struck here because Sepia was here. “I would have moved on her wherever she was,” the hag admits. “Since you defeated poor old Esmelda, I'll have to go into hiding to escape Quah-Nomag's vengeance. I'll probably go to some forgotten astral rock or another, or perhaps assume a new name and sell my services to the devils or a demon prince. I'll certainly never cross paths with the mighty heroes who have so cast me down again, oh no!” She pauses and gives them a rotten smile. “Are you dearies sure you wouldn't like some cookies?” [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Our heroes reach the heart of the mystery at the Garden of Graves! [/QUOTE]
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