Banewarrens d20 (Angelsboi's party)

[diaglo]

Vrock, vrock, who's there?

The new room had a stairway leading up. Inside two drow sparred with wooden swords. Fiddle started to approach them to get behind one of them. Fextor grabbed the scruff of his collar. The drow stopped for a second as Fiddle approached. They continued unabated.

Up the party traveled. Three new doorways. Sully made sure with his magic that all could communicate in a whisper. Fiddle listened at the left door. The sounds of combat alerted him to the goblin assault outside. He checked the door. And Fextor strode forward and opened it. Here was a battlement with another set of stairs leading up. Sully cast invisibility on the party.

Up again. They heard a noise and a loud boom. A large creature tried to force itself inside the castle at the top of the stairs. It looked like a cross between a large human and a huge vulture. It had strong, sinewy limbs covered with small gray feathers, a long neck topped with a vulture head, and vast feathered wings. It stood 8 ft tall and weighed over 500 lbs. It was clearly angry and frustrated by the forbiddance.

“Istava morthaum,” Fiddle called out the password.

The demon stopped and stared for a moment. Another of the creatures dropped from the sky and landed beside it. They began to chatter in their own vile language. Then the first dove over the side of the building. The second right on its tail.

The party breathed a sigh of relief.

“We should’ve given it the password,” Alya noted. “The chaos of letting a demon loose in the Castle would’ve been priceless.”

“I tried,” Fiddle mumbled to himself.

The top of the stairs showed the demon’s handiwork, a ruined door off its hinge. It once protected a small antechamber with another door. The party each said the password and entered.

 

[diaglo]

8 legged she beast

Fiddle listened and Fextor opened. The door led into a hallway with a door at the far end and one on either side. Fextor approached the left door. He became visible.

ZZZZzzaaaPPPpp

The dwarf was thrown slightly backwards from the jolt. The others tensed. Fiddle moved forward, also becoming visible, to see if the trap remained. As he got on his knee, the door behind them swung open and a drow female snarled.

“You have disturbed my rest,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“A thousand pardons, mistress,” Fiddle stammered. “A demon destroyed the door. We were checking to make sure it had not entered further.”

“Go away, useless male,” the drow snapped. “No demon has entered here.” She slammed the door shut after watching Fextor and Fiddle head down the hallway groveling.

The two turned back around and found the others. Sully recast the spell. And Alya added silence to the group. Fextor opened the door. It was another bedchamber with another female drow staring at the battle below.

The party opened the door at the end of the hall. It was a covered bridge. They hurried across and into the next tower. It was a larger antechamber with 3 more doorways, a double door opposite and 2 small wooden ones on the right and left. The party was about to try the left door when a large figure opened the double doors. This strange being had the head and torso of a dark elf female and the legs and lower body of a giant spider. She also had paler skin, haunting red eyes, and a feral cast to her features. She was a vampire.

She sniffed the air and said something, but the party couldn’t hear. Alya dismissed the silence. The vampiress spoke words of magic. Fiddle, Fextor, Vlad, and Alya lit up purple.

“I’m purple,” Fiddle giggled.

“Show yourselves,” she said in drow.

Alya convinced the vampire the party meant no harm. They bowed as the beast strode from the room to the bridge. The party quickly darted thru the double doors. Fiddle locked them.

 

[diaglo]

Ghostball

"I should feed one of you to the Doomsphere," Fiddle heard the departing words from the vampire.

Four large pillars dominated the small room. A glowing shaft of light 10 ft in diameter occupied the center. Another set of doors was opposite. The party scurried to the doors. It wouldn't be long before the vampire turned back around to test the party's story.

The next room was a vast library with a balcony. Two vile ghouls sat devouring their latest victim. They had foot long tongues which trailed off into smoky incorporeality. They made no move to attack the party. Quickly the party ascended the spiral stairs of the balcony. Something tried the doors Fiddle locked.

Another set of doors greeted them. The party ran thru. A similar room to the one directly below. The strange light beckoned. Sully and Alya examined it.

"Move towards the light," Fiddle heard himself thinking. So he did. He leapt into the light.

Just as Sully said," Levitation. Think up, Fiddle."

Fiddle hung suspended in the air. The others joined him. And the party started to rise. The light dimmed above and the party started to sink. They dove to the side. The vampire could've been below.

"What the?" Fextor started to say as he and Fiddle were suddenly themselves again. Really themselves, not drow.

A great ball of eyes stared at them. "The Doomsphere I presume," Fiddle noted.

Vlad and Fiddle unleashed their full on attack. Some of which seemed to pass right thru the thing. It was dead. Or more truthfully a ghost. The eyes lashed out at the party. Fiddle was partially splashed with acid. Sully and Alya also let loose some magic. Fextor chopped into the ghostly orb. It vanished.

From somewhere far below, a drow voice called up, "Great job. A few days of rest from that thing."

 

[diaglo]

Going Up. Third Floor.. Furniture, Household Appliances

Into the shaft the party climbed again. Up, up, up...until they came to a iron grate at the top. Fiddle examined it.

"What are you doing?" a drow voice asked from above to Fiddle. "You are awfully small for a trooper."

"We are here to report a disturbance in the force?," Alya spoke up.

"Which way to the power core?" Vlad added. "We need to disengage..."

Alya whacked him. The bard talked to the drow officer. And subtlety got the information the party needed. They descended back to the last floor and exited the shaft. Thru the doors and into a new hallway. Two sets of metal double doors and a small wooden one. Fiddle proceeded to the wooden one and opened it. A stairwell.

"Maybe we will find your officer buddy up at the top," Fextor mused.

 

[diaglo]

What's cooking

Not so lucky. The room at the top of was a kitchen. Sully quickly replenished his spice collection and cooking utensils. Three doors in the kitchen. Left hand rule resulted in a small pantry filled with an assortment of goods. Ground mushroom flour, fungi stalks, smoked rothe jerky, and whoknewwhatelse. Fiddle checked the next door. A simple wooden door. He opened it. Another hallway. A set of double doors on the right and a single door on the left. By Fiddle's estimate the double doors would find the drow officer. And the left hand rule still ruled.

So the party opened the left door. An exposed bridge back to the other tower. Back and forth. Perfect planning to thwart an invasion. The party hurried to the far door and opened it. A stairs down and a door. They opened the door.

Another column of light. Up, up, and away.

The next level had a surprise. A huge spider made all of jade. Fiddle ran a few numbers thru his head of the value of such a thing. As something fell on the party from above...

 

[diaglo]

Ghoulish horror

Four gruesome bodies fell amongst the party. Similar to the ghouls the party encountered outside. They had smoking foot long tongues. One reached for Fiddle, another for Vlad, and the last two for Fextor. Fiddle sprung aside and fell to the floor below. He landed very near the jade spider. Two latched onto their prey, Vlad and Fextor.

Vlad did not fair well. The ghoul attached its tongue to his neck. Vlad's eyes glazed. He plummeted to the floor with the ghoul. Alya and Sully leapt out of the shaft too. The remaining ghoul attacked Fextor from below. Fextor struggled and carried his one opponent clear of the shaft and to the ground.

"Attack," Fiddle yelled at Harp. The rat backed away.

Fiddle hacked at the ghoul on Vlad. It let go. Vlad quickly drew his axe and struck. The magic lightning had no effect and the metal just left a scratch. The ghoul grabbed Vlad again. Alya used magic to grease down Vlad. Sully unleashed a ball of lightning into the shaft. The ghouls ignored it. The ghouls jumped out and onto the party.

Fextor continued to kick, elbow, punch and grab the ghoul. It attached a tongue to his forearm. He too suffered.

And then a strange thing happened. The Jade spider moved. It stabbed one of the ghouls.

The tide of battle turned. The party hacked, fought, and pulverized the ghouls with the help of the spider. But clearly not before they took many a wound. The fight was brutual and short with the aid.

Blood flowed freely from Vlad, Fextor, Alya, and Fiddle. Only Sully escaped hazardous injury. Fiddle expended Calrom's wand healing the party. Fextor and Vlad had lost much of their worldly common sense. Something from the ghouls had drained them.

"I am here," a ghostly voice spoke.

It was then Fiddle realized the room contained a door. Four doors in fact. And one of them was ajar. A revenant stood there. Offering to help the party.

Alya quickly got some new names from the thing. Duneth and Irae. Duneth was in charge of the ghouls. And Irae was a priestess of the White Banshee. The way ahead was thru a set of double doors.

 

[diaglo]

Antipaladin.

Another exposed bridge. This one higher up than the last one. And the tower across dangled from the cavern ceiling. The party was a long ways up.

They hurried across to the new tower. As Fextor opened the door, they heard a clatter. Bottles and cans once stacked came crashing down with the heavy door's movement.

An unoccupied room. The party entered on guard. Fextor and Vlad made a game of restacking the litter.

"Stop that," Alya hissed.

Across from the entrance was another set of double doors. This led to a hallway. Three more doors and a stairs leading down. As the party pondered where to go next.

"Come in," a drow voice called to them from behind door #1. "I know you are here."

Fextor opened the door and the party filed into the room. The most prominent feature was a throne with a male drow draped on it. A large sword propped up one of his arms. His armor radiated evil. It was almost alive. A Demon. A stairway up and the door the party guarded were the only visible exits.

"My lord," Alya started. "The ghouls have gone wild. They attacked us. We are looking for Duneth to report the trouble."

The drow frowned and then he laughed.

"You are not who you appear to be," he said. "After I kill you I will find out for whom you work."

"Rats," Sully gulped.

Fiddle leapt to the side of the throne and stabbed with Lightning Strike.(I rolled a nat 1) He struck the chair where the evil drow Champion had once been.

"To me," the drow yelled. He chopped, chopped, chopped. Fiddle nearly swooned. Blood flowed. (I went from fully healthy to only 6hp good thing i wasn't Good otherwise i'd have been dead)

Fextor and Vlad moved into position and struck out at the drow. Sully concentrated hard to overcome the drow's natural resistance. It worked. The Champion tossed aside his prized sword. Alya made himself blurry.

Fiddle recovered and struck back. With Vlad's help distracting the drow, the hin made every blow count. The head came clear of the body and the demon armor tumbled lifeless to the ground.

Two of the ghouls came down the stairs and attacked Fextor. The dwarf could ill afford another damaging touch from the things.

 

[diaglo]

some OoC reading

for some background on the next fight visit: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133149 and http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133322

 

[diaglo]

Foolhardy heroes.

Fextor pulled back and handled his Bohemian Ear Spoon. (really he had a Guisarme iirc but it doesn't have the same image) Vlad back away also and fired off his bow. Sully, too, moved away from the ghoul grapplers. He fired off bolts of fiery magic. Alya, trusting in his own magic to protect him, began to sing.

Fiddle went toe to toe with one of the creatures. He landed a few blows. A claw struck him and the lights went out...


Fiddle awoke with Alya standing over top of him and one of the ghouls in combat with Fextor and Vlad still. He zapped himself with his last wand of healing. Fiddle was in no shape to handle another lucky claw.

Fextor, Sully, Vlad, and Alya didn't need help anyway. The ghoul collapsed from the onslaught. Still the party had little hope of going much further.

"I've used most of my magic," Alya commented. "Even my vocals and practiced performances are all but gone from my head."

"I'm not much better," Sully added. "Lets hope they don't have any more of those ghouls."

"I've cast all my magic too," Fiddle mentioned. "And my wand is down to 6 charges."

Some gruesome images on the walls and statues in the room gave the party pause. Fiddle quickly checked the other doors on the level for anything useful. He found a bed chamber. Nothing really valuable. The stairs in the hall going down led to an observation deck. It gave a grand view of the whole city below. A large red figure flew nearby.

"The demon is away," Fextor said. " Let the party play. Little resources, in the thick of the enemies' stronghold, with no chance of aid arriving, and no hope of success. What are we waiting for? Lets try the stairs up."

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Heh. Near the top of a drow citadel, out of spells, low on healing, and the drow know they're there. Can our heroes escape?