Age of Worms - A Realms based D&D/AE campaign (updated 05/08)

[Elodan]

Session 9

Greengrass, Year of Lightning Storms

The adventurers are undisturbed during the night, but the various watchers do he noises coming from below. No one sees anything but the two bodies they had though hidden among the rubble on the cavern floor below are now missing. As the group is starting breakfast, Raeva pulls some fresh flowers from her pack. She offers one to each of her companions holds onto one and throws the rest to the ground while she mutters several prayers to the gods of nature.

Climbing down from their perch, the group decides to try the passage above the cavern floor in the hopes of avoiding the beast or possibly beasts hiding in the rubble. The passage is extremely cramped and twisting. Cyrus leads the way. The dwarf rounds a corner only to find the passage blocked by another of the eyeless creatures. This one appears to be female and bears a dagger in each hand. Letting loose a shriek of rage, the humanoid charges Cyrus. The small size of the passage prevents the warmain from using his waraxe. It also prevents the others from joining the battle. Drawing his dagger, the dwarf braces himself for the female’s charge. Mighty blows are exchanged until the shield dwarf is downed. Shayar steps up with Ash attempting to help her beat back the creature. Raeva pulls the dwarven warmain out of the fray and heals him. Shayar is felled by the stone-colored humanoids multiple attacks. Blows are exchanged between halfling and monster until Cyrus reinserts himself into the battle. Realizing that standing toe to toe with the beast is rapidly draining their healing and themselves of blood, the three decide to quickly change places so that each only faces the creature for a short time. With the faen providing healing and magical support, the group manages to wear down the creature and finally, kill it.

After regaining their breath, the party continues down the narrow twisting passage. The passage ends at a cliff with a rope bridge leading to another passage some 20 feet away and 15 feet above their current position. They also notice that the cavern below a large pile of rubble against the far wall. Shayar decides to take the lead over the bridge and it about half way across when two more of the stone-colored creatures appear on the landing above and take aim with their bows. The unfettered quickly retreats back into the passage below as two arrows swiftly fly past. A third humanoid joins the first two and exchange missile file with the adventurers. Ash calls upon his totem spirit and, with amazing speed, crosses the rope bridge and charges on of the humanoids. Shayar decides to follow the halfling’s lead. She starts to cross the rope bridge when two of the creatures grab a rope each and begin to shake the ropes. Fearful of falling to the rubble below, the human quickly retreats off the bridge. The magister manages to take out one of the creatures via spells. Cyrus sees this as his opportunity. He proceeds onto the rope bridge and is rewarded for his trouble with an arrow in the leg. The warmain manages to keep his balance and slowly continues on. Shayar decides to follow the dwarf and receives the same reward. The blood lose causes the human to pass out and she falls, but is lucky enough that her legs get caught in the guide ropes, preventing her from falling to the rubble below. Ash fells his opponent and with the help of the shield dwarf makes short work of the third humanoid. The group carefully extricates Shayar from he tangles and Raeva ministers her back to consciousness.

The brave adventures find that the passage beyond the landing is fairly steep and leads up. At the top they find a large cavern with several exits passages leading from it. There is also a pair of the eyeless creatures standing in front of one, arguing loudly. Hoping the drop the two before they can raise any sort of alarm the party quickly charges. Unfortunately, one of the two lets out a yell of alarm before his is felled. Chaos ensues as many of the creatures appear from several openings. As the battle between the adventures and the eyeless humanoids, a very large version of the creatures appears from another of the passages, looks up and yells, “This is how you are testing me? I would think that my god would have a more difficult challenge for me!” With that, he leaps down from his opening and heads straight for the shield dwarf. In the resulting melee, Ash, Shayar and Cyrus stand back to back to back while Raeva manages to climb to a ledge overlooking the battle. The faen rains spells and bolts upon the creatures from her perch while the rest hack and slash at the bodies pressing in on them. Quickly loosing strength from various wounds, the group manages to kill all the creatures surrounding them except for the large humanoid. They then quickly surround him. Cyrus is felled and Ash is knocked senseless before Shayar sneaks in a killing blow.

The four anxiously peer at the opening surrounding them, but no more creatures emerge. The party catch their breath and patch their wounds while trying to decide where to head to next.

 

[Elodan]

Session 10

It's been a long time since I updated this. We rotate campaigns among 3 DMs and I put off putting together my campaign updates for a while. They may be more summaries than stories (I'm trying to find the right balance). Let me know if these are still interesting to read.



Greengrass, Year of Lightning Storms (con't)

With Cyrus in the lead, the group discovers that the north passage ends in a barrack area and the east is the chieftain’s chamber. The take whatever looks valuable. The southern passage heads down and opens into a large cavern. Cyrus spots one a grimlock throwing things into a fire on the other side of the cavern. Nearby a humanoid is struggling against the ropes that bind it. The warmain rushes ahead, finds that there is a 10-foot slope leading to the cavern floor and slides down. Unfortunately, he finds three grimlocks with spears waiting for him. While Cyrus engages the stone-colored creatures, Ash leaps over them and attacks. This attracts the attention of the grimlock by the fire. Unlike his brethren, he had large eyes that do not blink and short red spiky hair. The symbol of Bhall is burned into his chest. Spells and arrows fly while blows are exchanged. Soon only the adventures and the wide-eyed grimlock are still standing. A gnome has freed himself from the ropes and joins the battle. Despite its spells, the group manages to wear down and kill the creature. The rock gnome introduces himself as Jonus. Thanking the party, he explains that he was a miner in the tunnels above and earlier he grabbed by several of the creatures. Amongst a hidden cache of treasure, the adventures find several scrolls written in Common. It takes a while to decipher the disjointed scrawling, but they mention a swarm of worms is coming and that the power growing in the dark cathedral will serve the Ebon Triad as a champion. Realizing that they are in no condition to continue on, the party decides to camp here for the night.

 

[Elodan]

Session 11

1 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
In the morning Jonus asks to accompany the party as they explore the area below the mines. He demonstrates that he has some skill with a blade. New companion in tow, Ash, Sha’ar, Cyrus and Raeva proceed back through the caverns until they return to the room with the lift and dark pool. The five decide to go through the door to the north. The one marked with the symbol of Myrkul. They quickly that through the door are narrow twisting passages. Cyrus leads them through the twisting passages until they come to a wider area with several corridors leading out. As they enter this area, a secret door opens and several cloaked creatures attack. During the ensuing battle, another secret door opens and more of the cloaked figure emerge and engage the heroes. Blows are exchanged and soon only the party is left standing. De-cloaked, Raeva identifies the bird like humanoids as kenku. Moving on the group soon stumbles upon a pair of dire weasels that they easily defeat. Exhausted, the band finds a defensible area and beds down for the night.

2 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The group continues moving through the winding corridors. Suddenly the wall opens before and behind the party and several kenku leap out from each. As the battle turns against the kenku, the largest grabs at a medallion on his neck and screams that the group will never reach the sanctum while hurling something to the floor. A large ball of flame envelops the area. Stunned and singed, the adventurers find they are the only ones left standing. After several hours the party has explored all the passages and found nothing. Ash suggests looking for secret doors as the kenku mentioned an sanctum and they seemed to have used them for moving about the maze. Several hours of searching results in finding many secret doors between the passages and one in a north wall with a door beyond it. Through the door are column-lined passages leading to the north and west. Patterns on the walls and columns seem to undulate. As the party heads west and as Cyrus is opening a door to the north; Jonus, seemingly without realizing it, touches one of the columns. Hundreds of eyes open along the walls. Seeing this, Ash mumbles, ‘Oh sh-‘ as a spectral form lunges at Cyrus. As the party battles this remnant, Jonus and Raeva find themselves encased in webs as two robed humans attack from the rear. A third masked humanoid joins them. Blows and spells are exchanged. A lighting bolt kills Jonus and just as it seems they would be defeated, the party emerges victorious. The fight seems to have drained Cyrus of all common sense. Under the mask, the human has no face; his only features are two dark eyes and a slit for a mouth. In additional to some valuables, the party finds a codebook. They also find a bunch of crates containing dry goods and equipment. The crates bear the crest of the Smenk Mining Consortium. The part exits the sanctum and rests.

 

[Elodan]

Session 12

3 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
Exiting the maze, the group returns to the main entrance. They find that the remaining door to the east is locked. Sha’ar quickly remedies that. Through the door is a room lined with armored skeletons. As they rise and attack the heroes, bells looped over the heads ring out. Soon a bunch of humans armed with spears and two tieflings emerge from doors on either side of the room. As the spear wielders and skeletons engage the party, the tielfings exit using a passage opposite the entrance. A boar soon joins the fray. While the boar and skeletons keep the adventurers busy, the humans retreat up the passageway. With the skeletons and their boar ally vanquished, Sha’ar sees the humans retreating through a door at the end of the short passage ahead. After a quick check to ensure the rooms to the side are empty, the party pushes on. They find the boar’s lair and a locked door along the passage before coming to the door the humans retreated through. At the edge of their light, the group can see a large black humanoid statue with six arms. Alongside it are humans with spears. As they prepare to enter the room, the adventurers are enveloped in darkness. Ash yells charge and Cyrus immediately does so. Cyrus rushes ahead and escapes the darkness. He finds himself in a huge room line with a balcony and sand covering the flow. In addition to the statue and humans, he finds several tieflings and three humans on the balcony proudly displaying the symbol of Bane. Cautiously, Ash, Sha’ar and Raeva move into the chamber and join the fight. A might battle follows. The heroes win but at a great cost. Cyrus died as the victim of a magical restraining spell and an ape made of fire. As the remaining three are catching their breath, a terrible cry echoes throughout the area.

 

[Elodan]

Session 13

3 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms (con't)
Realizing that the howl came from the entranceway, the three prepare to fight whatever may be blocking their exit. As they exit the Banite area to the entry hall, Ash spots a human in a dark cloak staring at the dark pool. Covering him with their weapons, Ash orders the man to turn around and drop his weapons. The man turns and faces the party. His shield bears the symbol of Kelemvor. He refuses to drop his weapons until the adventures identify themselves. The party refuses to do so until he drops his weapons. A large creature with six arms rising from the dark pool interrupts this stalemate. The monster heads in the group’s direction and attacks. Over the course of the combat, the Kelemvorite and the party work together well and on occasion save each other from grievous harm. The four manage to defeat the beast but not before it destroys the elevator out of this place. Severely wounded, the party returns to the Banite area and searches the remaining rooms of this area and finds the journal of Theldrick, high priest of Bane in this place. They then decide to bed down for the night.

 

[Elodan]

Session 14

4 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The party manages to climb out of the dark cathedral with their loot. As they wait in the hidden passage for night to fall, Dayne and the rest of the party trade tales. During this time, the Kelemvorite asks and is welcomed to join their group. As they leave the mine, Dayne must split from the rest of the party as mine security spots him. Narrowly escaping, he returns to the Able Carter Coaching Inn where Ash has received a message from Allustan. The mage asks that they meet as soon as possible. The band of four goes to the wizard’s tower. The mage warmly greets them. Over dinner Allustan explains why he wanted to meet. The wizard tells them that he thinks the Whispering Cairn is a tomb for one of the Wind Dukes of Calim. Ages past, during the Era of Skyfire djinn under the command of the Wind Dukes battled efreet under their leader Memnon. Their last battle created the Calim Desert. Allustan thinks that the djinn buried some of their generals here in the north so the efreet could not desecrate them. He asks that the party tell them its location so he can explore it further. The mage also asks that the four to escort him to Cromm’s Hold north of the Lizard Marsh. He explains that the Keep’s battlemage, Marzena an old friend from Waterdeep, sent him word about reports of strange green worms in the area. In exchange for their help, Allustan agrees to identify and magical items they may have found.

5 – 7 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The unnamed adventuring group spends these days provisioning for the journey to Cromm’s Hold. Ash performs a ritual to call his totem companion.

8 – 10 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
Aside from a meeting with some gnome traders, the journey along the road is relatively uneventful. One morning Ash awakens to find a wolf staring at him. He totem companion has arrived. Each night, Allustan tells the party about his days as an adventurer, describes the City of Splendors or challenges them with games.

11 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
In the morning the group leaves the road and follows a trail to the south. Some time after the lunch, the party notices that the number of flies in the air has increased and that the smell of smoke and blood fouls the air. Soon they see the tower that makes up the keep and find it surrounded by lizardfolk. Allustan tells the group that he must return to Diamond Lake and get reinforcements from the garrison there. He tells the four that he is confident in their ability to aid those in the keep. He suggests using hit and run tactics. The mage then steps through a doorway he magically created. Grumbling amongst themselves, the party puts together a battle plan. Once they battle begins the plan becomes moot, but the lizardfolk are no match for the heroes. Eventually, they make their way inside the keep to help the men at arms finish the last of the creatures. Inside they are surprised to find Allustan. The wizard apologizes for the deception outside but he knew the party could handle the outside threat while he ensured the safety of those inside the keep. He could also help the party if they were indeed in over their heads. The mage then introduces them to Baroness Piann Cromm who rules the keep and surroundings with Waterdeep’s blessing. Allustan then takes his leave to get reinforcements, as there are only 10 survivors out of a force of over 30. After he disappears through a portal he created, the Baroness explains that four of her people, including Marzena, were taken by the lizardfolk and she asks that the adventuters rescue them before the lizardfolk hurt them or worse.

 

[Elodan]

Session 15

Current members of the unnamed band
* Ash - male strongheart halfling wolf totem warrior 4 / greenbond 2
* Shayar - female Tethyrian human unfettered 5
* Dayne - male Chondathan human mageblade 2 / champion of Kelemvor 2
* Dinkin - male rock gnome runethane 4
* Perrimon - male earth genasi warmain 3
* Raeva - female loresong faen magister 5 (NPC)


11 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms (con't)
Raeva points out that all of the lizard folk are wearing skins dyed red and have a red tattoo surrounding their left eye. It appears that the attack was the work of one tribe. As the party prepares to head into the swamp, a male earth genasi named Perrimon and Dinkin, a male rock gnome volunteer to join them. While making their way to their various destinations, both had stopped in the keep for shelter and soon found it besieged. Shayar and Ash bemoan the fact they have no time for “testing” the volunteers but invite them to come along. Ash easily finds the trail of the lizard folk and manages to keep the group out of the worst of the marsh. The beautiful spring day is only marred by an attack from a monstrous centipede and a night ambush by a group of lizard folk decorated with blue feathers. Neither of which slows the party down.

12 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The day is overcast as the party makes it way south further into the swamp. About mid-afternoon the clouds open up as a severe thunderstorm lashes the area. As the group seeks shelter a giant crocodile lunches at Perrimon. A short fight ensues and the crocodile is slain as the rain tapers off.

13 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
About mid-morning Ash spies two lizard folk making their way through the marsh. Both are decorated with red skins and a short way beyond them lay a massive mangrove tree cluster. Ash sneaks by the creatures to examine if the mangrove cluster is the their lair. The halfling finds a hidden entrance and signals the others to join him. As the group is sneaking over to join Ash, the lizard folk notice the earth genasi heading toward their home. Before they can raise the alarm the pair are dispatched. The group gathers around Ash at the entrance and prepares to enter.

 

[Elodan]

Session 16

Current members of the unnamed band
* Ash - male strongheart halfling wolf totem warrior 4 / greenbond 2
* Shayar - female Tethyrian human unfettered 5
* Dayne - male Chondathan human mageblade 2 / champion of Kelemvor 2
* Dinkin - male rock gnome runethane 4
* Perrimon - male earth genasi warmain 3
* Raeva - female loresong faen magister 5 (NPC)


13 Mirtul, Year of Lighting Storms (con't)
Ash leads the way into the lizard folk lair. The wind whistles through the roots that have been trimmed to create a passage underneath the grove. The floor is relatively level and dry although there a puddles here and there that collect the water dripping through the roots. Raeva pulls out an everburning torch as the natural light fades the further into the den the party travels. Ash and Shayar sneak down the first offshoot of the passage the group has been exploring and manage to catch a small group of lizard folk unaware. As the pair battle the creatures, Dinkin hears the sound of several humanoids approaching from the corridor he was watching and alerts Perrimon. The earth genasi steps forward to meet a second group of the monstrous humanoids kopesh in hand. Soon, lizard folk carcasses surround the group. Moving on, the adventurers find another room with several lizard folk in it. The party has the battle in hand when a group of green worms exploded from one of the corpses and quickly dissolve. Seeing this, the remaining living lizard folk flee the room.

The six quickly take up pursuit but are blocked by a large lizard folk with a black tinge to its scales around its mouth. Behind him are a smaller lizard folk and two tied-up male humans who appear to be unconscious. Dayne and Perrimon step up to engage the humanoid in melee combat. It isn’t long before the creature and its mate are dead. Raeva checks on the prisoners. She finds them badly beaten but they will survive.

Resuming their pursuit, the party moves into the next chamber. There they find a stooped lizard folk wearing jewelry made of animal bones; her hands away from her body, empty. Behind her are a male and female humans apparently tied up and out cold. She yells “Halt” in common. On guard, the group lets her speak. In halting common she tells the adventurers that she is unhappy with the aggressive moves the new king have made against the humans in the region. Her name is Hishka and believes that these attacks will eventually draw the wrath of Waterdeep and her tribe will be wiped out. She thinks that if the king and his lieutenant are removed she can convince the tribe to make peace with Waterdeep. Hishka asks the group if they would be willing to dispose of the king and lieutenant and take her message to the city of splendors. After silencing the gnome, Ash agrees to work with Hishka. The female lizard folk tells the party where they can usually find the king and his lieutenant. Shayar realizes they’ve already taken care of the crony so all that remains is the king.

The group proceeds to the king’s chambers where they find a large lizard folk with black scales around the mouth, similar to the one creature they fought earlier. Trident in hand, the humanoid roars a challenge at the party and moves to meet them. The battle is long and brutal. Perrimon is felled by the creature’s vicious attacks. In the end the creature cannot stand against the combined forces of the six (now five).

 

[Elodan]

Session 17

Current Members of the Unnamed Band
* Ash - male strongheart halfling wolf totem warrior 4 / greenbond 2
* Shayar - female Tethyrian human unfettered 6
* Dayne - male Chondathan human mageblade 3 / champion of Kelemvor 2
* Dinkin - male rock gnome runethane 5
* Raeva - female loresong faen magister 6 (NPC)


13 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms (con't)
Carrying the head of the king, the party returns to talk with Hishka. The shaman is grateful for the group’s help and asks them for one more boon before they head off to Waterdeep to arrange an agreement between the city and her people. It seems that the party has inadvertently discovered that green worms may be infecting the lizardfolk. She confesses that last season’s hatchlings were destroyed because they were infested with little green worms. Hishka then mentions that a tenday or two ago the king, Redeye, stopped allowing any members of the tribe beside himself and his lieutenant from entering the egg chamber. She asks the group to check on the eggs, as she is worried the same thing may be happening to this season’s clutch. The shaman explains that she did not trust the king. Not too long ago, Redeye returned from a hunt changed. He challenged and killed the previous tribal leader, then began attacking nearby human settlements. Hishka overheard Redeye and his lieutenant speak of a deal with a black dragon, but is unsure what that means. If the group helps her, this will go a long way to helping her prove the good intentions of the adventurers.

After a quick conversation among the party, Ash leads the way into the underwater passage that goes to the egg chamber. The halfling emerges from under the water into a pitch-black chamber. Sounds from ahead tell him that he is not alone. He silently waits for the others to join him. Shayar and Dinkin have joined Ash in a state of quiet vigilance when Raeva emerges from the water sun rod in hand. Her light exposes a large chamber filled with hundreds of eggs in the shallow pool of water. Among the eggs is a black egg the size of a halfling. Between the party and the eggs are eight kobolds that, alerted by the light, move forward to attack. The kobolds are no match for the adventurers and the battle is pretty much over by the time Dayne arrives from the underwater passage. The unnamed band argues for several minutes over what to do with what Ash has identified as a black dragon egg. The best they can come up with is to move it away from the other eggs and smash it. Dayne manages to poke a hole in the shell and a stream of green worms pours out and heads toward the lizardfolk eggs. Several flasks of alchemist’s fire make short work of the egg and worms.

Hishka thanks the group and tells them she expects to keep her people from attacking settlements for several tendays. She can’t guarantee she can keep them in check after that without a formal agreement from Waterdeep.

14 - 16 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The party manages to avoid the creatures and hazards of the swamp and returns to Cromm’s Hold, only to find it in a state of chaos. The men-at-arms explain that three tendays ago, the old keep mage was infected by a green worm and turned into something horrible. Scarred and unwilling to kill him as he was their friend, the soldiers locked him in an escape passage they were building. They hid this fact from the Baroness and were going to ask for help from the new mage, Marzena when the lizardfolk attacked. Unfortunately, during the last raid a lizardfolk destroyed the barrier holding the creature. They can hear it moving around in the basement and every so often it breaks through the barrier upstairs and takes someone. Now they can hear multiple creatures moving around down there. The soldiers ask for the party’s help. Spells fly, blows are exchanged and Dayne narrowly escapes being infected by a worm before the party manages to defeat the three creatures roaming the keep’s basement.

17 - 20 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms
The next morning, reinforcements arrive from Diamond Lake and the unnamed band leaves Cromm’s Hold escorting Marzena back to the town. When they arrive, Allustan greats them and Marzena warmly. Unfortunately, Marzena’s information adds little to what the party and Allustan have already learned. The old mage determines that something larger is going on and asks the adventures to take his compiled notes to an old friend in Waterdeep, Eligos; a sage with extensive knowledge of strange monsters. With his knowledge, they should be able to determine what kind of threat the green worms present and how they can stop them.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

woohoo

Good to see this back!