Consequences of the Quill (Restored 5/13/06)

[LordVyreth]

Second Beginning

As the lights outside dimmed, bringing about the start of the second crystal cycle of the day, Dane shifted nervously. It’s been three hours now, and still nothing. Shedell had arrived a week after Quercus sent the letter to her, asking her for her help. In the time it took for her to arrive, the party sold all of the treasure they found in their recent journeys but no longer needed, and purchased a number of new goods. Dane personally bought himself a belt that greatly enhanced his physical strength and improved his magical blade, and others bought staves, magic rings that almost totally negated the need for sleep and food, and even magic wings that let the wearer fly. Quercus has also purchased a winged horsed commonly called a Pegasus.

Right now, however, all of them could do nothing but wait, while Quercus was alone with his half-sister. They had decided to let him discuss the issue of the Lady of Blood alone, after she initially refused to provide them with any information about her nemesis, out of fear that they would all be killed. The discussion was a strange one, and it was obvious to Dane that it was as much a family reunion as it was a debate. This was the first time Quercus could talk to his sister for more than a few minutes, after all, and they had a lot of catching up to do. There was shouting, laughter, sobbing, and moments of profound and total silence coming from behind the door, and Dane had absolutely no idea what they would decide.

Finally, after the fourth hour, the two came out. Quercus quietly said, “Shedell has agreed to give us the location of the Lady of Blood, or at least of the temple directly above the city she has her home in. However, she agreed to help us on two conditions. First, she insisted on coming with us for as long as she can. Second, she wants to bring two her party members with us.”

The party had been hurting since Raz and Flix left the group, so they readily agreed to have a few new allies. Shedell left for a few moments, but came back with a pair of figures. Once was a human, dressed all in green, and the second was a Benefactor drow. She introduced them. “This is Robin, a trained warrior. I discovered him a few years ago living in a small elf village near the surface. Apparently, orcs discovered a way into his village when he was still a child, and left him an orphan. He was forced to live among the elves, while learning their ways. I discovered he had a heart full of confusion and rage, but with potential to become a hero. We had quite a bit in common, as you may guess. He’s officially trained as a tracker and hunter, of both animal and larger than animal prey, if you know what I mean. And this is Seldszar,” she said, indicating the dark elf. “I must admit that not even I know much about him. He found me over a decade ago, though, when I was trying to escape the Lady of Blood for one of the first times. He helped keep the enemy at bay while I escaped, and he agreed to join my party. However, lately, the fights with the Lady of Blood have gotten worse, and they have gotten closer and closer to being captured along with me or worse. I have since forbid them from going with me when I can sense the Lady of Blood has a lock on me and is in pursuit, but this means they have been spending more and more time simply waiting at my base, doing nothing. They asked if it would be okay to leave me for a while, to seek out more consistent adventure, and I agreed. Of course, once they learned what mission you were to go on, they insisted on coming along. I still think it’s a mistake to send you off to fight her, but at least you stand a chance of catching her unaware, an opportunity I would never have.”

She gathered both new and old party members around a table, which had a map of the continent. “Now, her temple is about a two-week journey from here. Fortunately, you can travel through most of it underground, by going towards Neverest.” She indicated a city dedicated to None, the goddess of strength and de facto war goddess. “However, you can’t leave directly from that city. It’s right in the middle of undead territory, after all, and the only exits from the city are only allowed to be opened during the Final Battle, whatever that happens to be. However, there is an exit to the surface a few days away from the city. From there, it’s a four-day journey due north to the temple. I warn you, it won’t be an easy path to travel. That area is right in the middle of the Long Waste, where nothing grows and no normal animals exist. The area is filled with undead, and the only living things around will be savage predators capable of surviving in such a hostile land. Though nothing there will be nearly as bad as the temple of Bas itself, and what lurks beneath it.”

With a plan in place, the group did some last minute shopping, and then began their journey. As they left, the traitor watched. “It was a shame that they couldn’t have been killed in one of those foolish raids they were undergoing lately,” the figure thought. “But no matter. This little delay will let me begin preparations to have them eliminated when the time was right.”

OOC Notes: There are two new players that entered the game at this point. One of them, Robert, was the same eleven year old that was the game two weeks earlier. Yes, his character was modeled after Robin Hood. How creative were you at eleven, huh?

The other is Chris, who eventually became my roommate. Thus, I expect him to show up on this board pretty soon. He DMs for me sometimes as well, which as usual means he knows how to make some sick characters. However, they also have a tendency to not last very long. Seldzar is his first character in my game, but he won’t be my last.

I should also point out that I gave the group a tad too much treasure as a reward in the last game. This will prove problematic for a few fights, but I mostly balanced it out.

 

[LordVyreth]

The Dead, and the Death-Bringers

The journey through the tunnels was again uneventful. The party, along with Shedell and her two allies, traveled during the day, even when it was impossible to determine night from day here, and stayed at small towns in the night. Finally, after ten days underground, the party reached the last exit to the surface on the road to Neverest. Carefully, Rudyard opened the door, while watching the outside world through the ever-growing crack. He didn’t see any enemies, but what he saw outside was almost as shocking. There was nothing, as far as the eye could see. Not the smallest bush, not a scrap of grass, not a single buzzing insect. It was nothing but cracked earth, rocky hills, and endless horizons as far as the eye could see. Rudyard involuntarily shivered when he saw it, and Robin, who was the youngest member of the group, literally gave a yelp of surprise and despair when he saw it. “How could anyone do this? What would be the point?”

Quercus shook his head sadly. “The undead empire has no use for anything living unless is can be used as food or new recruits. Making this area livable would just give their enemies an opportunity to attack. As it is now, if we wanted to attack them, we’d have no cover, we’d have to carry all our food or supply it magically, and we’d be attacked by hungry and desperate predators the entire way.”

Robin could hardly move at first. And for that, millions of plants and animals had to die? As bad as this Bas was, he knew who he wanted to bring about the destruction of more. This empire of unlife must fall.

A few hours later, the party saw yet another sign of death, albeit a far more mundane one. A team of wagons was arranged in a circle in front of them, but they had been obviously attacked. Eager to find survivors, Tal and Robin sprinted towards it, while Seldzar followed cautiously behind them. All of them were ignoring Shedell’s warnings that the creatures that did this could still be nearby, and that this caravan was likely a Bas supply line in the first place, and any survivors could possibly be their enemies.

An initial search turned up nothing living. There were half-eaten bodies scattered throughout the wagon, and all were drow, but there was no way to determine if they were Benefactors or Malefactors. On the plus side, if the bodies were still here, that means it wasn’t done by the undead. Dane and Quercus began to build a fire to burn the bodies, and Rudyard began a search of the camp. A few minutes later, he dashed out of one of the wagons, yelling, “I found something! Or rather, someone!”

The party gathered around him, and he led them back to the wagon he was investigating. Underneath a concealed trap door in the wagon, there was a little girl. A little drow girl, and one who obviously had quite a bit of trouble with the light.

“A Malefactor,” Tal said nervously.

Seldzar spit with disgust. “Wonderful. So now what do we do? Little girl or not, I see no need to help our enemies.” Quercus looked troubled as well, and conflicted over what to do.

Tal and Robin looked at them like they were crazy, and Shedell in particular looked horrified. “How could you say that? Her parents are dead, apparently killed just a few hours ago, and you want to abandon her? She is far too young to be dismissed as lost cause!” She turned to the girl, and looking as friendly as possible, asked, “What’s your name, little girl?”

“….” The girl replied.

Tal, sensing she was nervous, began to play a calming song. This had an appreciable affect on the girl, but she still seemed unable to speak. Instead, she started scrawling a simple picture on the ground. It looked like a picture of her, with a strange figure next to her. The girl looked sad in the drawing, but the other figure looked happy.

Tal stared at it for a moment, before giving up. “I can’t figure it out. Look, I know she could be a hindrance to us as we travel, but we can’t just abandon her either. I promise I’ll look after her if we bring her along, okay? She won’t cause any trouble.”

Seldzar look reluctant, but agreed. “Fine. But don’t expect me to help at all. I won’t have her get in our way and get us all killed.”

The party spent a few minutes scavenging what they could from the wagons, and then finished burning the bodies. The girl looked on for a few moments, as if compelled to understand what was happening, but soon fled behind a wagon in tears. Tal tried to keep her calm while Dane finished the horrible work, and set up the now routine stakes. “Though I doubt any living being will be around to see them,” he muttered to himself.

The rest of the day and night passed uneventfully. Since almost half of the party could now spend a night with only two hours of rest, the party watches at night were well-rested and plentiful, and they had little to fear from attacks.

However, the next day was nowhere near as easy. As the party wandered through a valley early in the morning, before the sun left the influence of the first sphere, two dark figures rose up from behind a hill. Rudyard glanced at them for just a moment before realizing what they were, and his eyes grew wide in fear. “Dragons,” he whispered.

OOC Notes: Sorry, I planned on a longer update, but then Gen Con pre-registration came online, and the panicked dash created by that came into play.

 

[LordVyreth]

Excerpt number four

I apologize for the lack of updates lately. Gen Con registration took longer than expected, and I had plans for Mother's day tonight. I hopefully will have a new one tomorrow, but for now, here's another excerpt the players received.

The Final Sisters
(Excerpt from the Book of Lore. The priests would again like to quell rumors that parts of this book were censored to remove information about a twelfth, evil goddess. Obviously this isn’t true, so there was nothing to cut. Now never speak of it again.)

The universe continued to grow, as the brilliant tendrils of perfect energy flowed through all beings, further establishing the world’s peaceful state. However, while the balance of the body has been established through the benign gifts of the former goddesses (in spite of attempts by one such goddess to codify the unknowable, define the indefinable, and render the wonders of the universe into a simple formula,) there was still a sense of loss in the souls of the wondrous beings of the universe. They had a way of life, certainly, but lacked the means to express the joy that they felt, or to give any long term meaning to their thoughts and emotions. However, the great forces of the universe released more energy to its people, and it formed Merida and Tepedin, the two goddesses of the Muse. After coming into being so quickly that they were nearly twins, the first gathered the hopes of the people, and formed it into the beautiful tapestry that is music. The other took their thoughts and gave them a form, so that others may look on the wisdom of ages and be amazed. Through them, music, art, and literate was born, and the people would finally show through art the greatness of their souls!

Finally, the last two Goddesses gave the people greater meaning in their own emotions. Jolia saw that human interactions were base things; designed for mere procreation and simple pleasure. She realized that the soul of a living being needed more to be free, and she bestowed love upon the people! Soon, they knew each other in a more intimate way, and formed permanent bonds. Finally, Tsykie, the last of the Sisters, emerged from the Chaos. She seemed smaller than the ones before, as if there was only a tiny amount of power flowing out of the great Spiritual Font, and she could only take the small amount remaining. As the last and the least of the goddesses, she choose to maintain a sense of simplicity in her own mind and soul, and chose to become the guardian of the weakest of mortal beings; the children. She gave them a sense of innocence and joy, and gave people a desire to protect them in their youth, so that they could appreciate the world in full wonder and without danger.

 

[LordVyreth]

Death From Above

It was already too late to run; the dragons were coming in fast. Shedell looked at the two dragons. One was red and looked slightly younger than the second, which was blue. She quickly turned to the party and said, “I’ll lure one of them away. You try to deal with the other.” She then quickly took flight, and veered off from the party’s current position. As she hoped, the blue focused on her, leaving the red to the party.

As the dragons neared, the red roared to the party, “Nothing personal, but we have to kill you.” This was a bit confusing to most of the group, but they had more important things to worry about for now.

Quercus took flight, much like his sister did, but not before he looked back at the party and yelled, “Get the horses and the girl out of here!” He then made a beeline for the dragon, but couldn’t reach him just yet.

Tal followed Quercus’ directions. He started to move the noncombatants to safety, but while he did so, he began to sing of the party’s earlier heroic exploits and the odds they went up against, only to survive each time. This bolstered their courage, a needed thing in a fight like this. Tsine meanwhile, attacked the monster using one of his newer spells, a torrent of crushing ice. The red dragon roared with frustration, and to Seldzar and Rudyard, it sounded like there was a second voice that screamed in pain, but they didn’t notice who made the noise. Seldzar tried to fire on the dragon, and scored one good shot on the creature, but it barely got past its naturally regenerative skin. Finally, it was the dragons’ turns. The red flew in close, and attacked Quercus with a vicious bite while passing by. He then did a flip in mid-air, and began to close for a second attack. Meanwhile, the blue flew towards Shedell, and as he drew closer, he exhaled a bolt of electricity. Of course, Shedell’s angelic blood dampened the effect completely, and she was unscathed by the attack. Now that the red was within range, Rudyard took off on his new mount, and charged past the dragon, while using his training and momentum to deliver a telling blow. Robin was content to fire at the creature from below, while Dane used his new magical wings to fly up behind the dragon, and slash at its back. His enhanced blade and muscles proved their worth already, as the dragon screamed in fury when a deep red gash formed. However, Dane also noticed something else as he closed on the dragon. It had a passenger; an orc with one of those damned gun-thingies. The rider pointed the gun at Quercus, and the bullet screamed as it easily pierced his armor and burrowed into his skin. The scream hit immediately after, buffeting the hero with an explosive blast of noise.

Shedell and the blue, meanwhile, were finally ready to fight. Shedell was just so fast and well armored that even the vicious dragon could barely penetrate. However, it did get a few lucky hits, giving Shedell a number of wounds that tarnished her perfect armor with bloody red streaks. Shedell returned the favor with her axe, while taking advantage of her improved ability to maneuver in the air. The fight was almost over a few seconds later, when she was able to distract the dragon with a feint, and then plunged the heavy blade of the axe deep in the monster’s neck.

Back at the party, the dragon and orc were suddenly shocked by the ferocity and mobility of their enemy. Quercus, Rudyard, and Dane circled around the creature, often double-teaming it from both sides at once to keep the dragon distracted, while Robin and Seldzar hammered it with arrows, and Tal and Tsine attacked it with lightning blasts, volleys of magic, and orbs of acid. The dragon, however, made sure each hit was hard-won, especially when he released a jet of flame at Dane and Rudyard, with Tsine unfortunately at the edge of the blast back on the ground. Dane was able to avoid the worst, and got away with only minor burns, but Rudyard and his mount were caught in the worst of the jet. He quickly landed his mount, which was emitting a nauseating odor of cooked meat and could barely support them. Tsine was even worse off. The blast caught him right in the face, frying all the hair off of his head, and he screamed with pain and collapsed, unable to bear it. Tal redirected his focus on helping the unfortunate mage. Meanwhile, the orc gunner had shot Dane and Quercus repeatedly with hollow rounds, which gave them especially nasty wounds that continued to bleed heavily. Finally, Quercus finished the evil orc with one perfect slash with his gigantic sword, while a final volley of arrows by Robin caught the creature in the eyes and mouth. One arrow pierced the creature’s brain, and it fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Any chance that it was still alive quickly ended when the orc’s weaponry exploded, sending bits of the dragon’s hide flying outwards for hundreds of yards.

Meanwhile, the fight between Shedell and the blue dragon eventually became grounded, as the dragon tried to rely on his multiple attacks to get through the his enemy’s armor. Seldzar took advantage of this chance to sneak in behind the creature, and tried to deal it a final punishing blow in a vital organ. However, his blade couldn’t get past the creature’s hide, and seeing that he now had a much softer-looking target, the dragon shifted its focus on the unfortunate drow. One series of brutal attacks later, he was bleeding on the ground, and barely twitching. Rudyard, however, saw an opportunity to avenge his dying friends and regain his honor, and urged his mount to make one final attack. He rode up on the dragon, and plunged his sword right down the creature’s throat, ending its miserable life.

Quercus and Shedell focused on healing, while the others discussed what the dragon could have meant earlier. “What did it mean nothing personal? A dragon wouldn’t even feel the need to apologize to attack an enemy of the Orc Empire!” Tsine mused.

Tal gave him a quick glare to indicate he didn’t appreciate the implication that all dragons served the Orc Empire, and commented, “Maybe they were forced to attack us. After all, this is too far into undead territory to expect patrols of this strength, and if they had a specific mission here, they wouldn’t have wasted their time on us. But who could be powerful enough to control dragons?” They all looked at each other, afraid to say what their first thought was. Is Bas or one of her servants this strong already?

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The bodies were looted, stripped, and burned, and the stakes were established as etiquette required. The party rested for another night, though this one was even scarier than the last. The total absence of any trees or other cover made them feel very isolated and exposed, especially after the last fight, and a night of total silence, with no birds, bugs or other animals to be heard, was enough to drive any trained adventurer crazy.

The next morning wasn’t any better, as midway through breakfast, Shedell suddenly sat up. “She’s coming! I have to go RIGHT NOW!” she screamed. She finishes putting on her armor as quickly as possible, and then took off. Quercus made one last attempt to encourage her to stay with them, and fight her together hear and now, but she acted like she barely heard him. Within a few minutes, she flew off over the horizon. Quercus had to briefly fight the urge to chase after her, but he realized this probably was for the best. The only way to defeat a threat like the Lady of Blood was with a surgical strike, not when her entire army was following her.

The third day was about to pass out of True Light, as the sun began to enter the domain of the second moon, when trouble struck again from above. A massive bird, larger than any the party has ever seen before, was flying straight at them with a hungry look. Rudyard also noticed it had a strange look in its eye, but it couldn’t tell any more from here. He and Dane began to fire at the creature as it flew towards them, but the distance was initially too great for them, as only a few arrows reached the creature. Tsine, meanwhile, used a bolt of lightning, but the creature avoided most of the blast, and was only singed a little in the wings. Finally, the creature reached the party, and soon everyone could determine what Rudyard noticed earlier. The creature’s eyes were not normal by any means. They were far larger than even its massive body would need, and they appeared to be mostly made of some crusty, rock-like material. Even worse, they were crawling with bugs! The creature merely gave Tsine a look, and a swarm of insects flew out of the eyes, and surrounded him, stinging him and making future spellcasting far more difficult. Tal guessed that this must be some strange new undead, and used his trademark anti-undead spell on the creature. Sadly, he guessed wrong, as the creature, horrible as it was, still lived. Seldzar, Robin, and even Quercus joined in the missile barrage, since nobody wanted to get near the giant monster. But even the five of them could not drop the massive beast. Tsine, no longer able to cast spells, considered switching to arrows himself, but he had prepared a spell that let him fly shortly before the bird reached them, and decided it would be silly to waste it. He drew his sword and charged the creature!

A few seconds later, he realized this was probably a mistake, as the creature effortlessly caught him in one of its massive claws, and then began to fly away, having earned what it thought was enough of a meal for one day. However, to try and discourage the other members of the herd from bothering it, it turned and squinted at Dane as it flew away and started to crush the life out of its meal. As it squinted at Dane, a volley of insects, which glowed with eldritch energy, flew out of its eyes and homed in on him like magical missiles. Fortunately, he had purchased a magic item earlier in Methosilang that deflected these types of missiles, and he survived unharmed. Desperate to save their friend before it was too late, Tal began firing magical attacks while Seldzar and Robin pressed the ranged attacks, and Quercus finally ended the fight with one aerial charge, where he drove his blade into the creature’s abdomen, spilling blood guts and causing the creature to plummet in a fatal free-fall. Tsine was saved, if you don’t count the pain of the fall and being crushed by a giant bird when he fell in the first place. Well, at least he was alive, which most of the party though was enough for them to thoroughly chew him out and mock him for flying right into the claw of a giant bird.

OOC Notes: The dragon’s quick death was a clear indication that the party was a little over-equipped right now. Though it was only a CR 9 (in 3.0, though, so probably CR 10 by now,) so dragon exemptions or not, 7 9th level characters should have dealt with it without too much trouble. The bird was a Hive Bird, another unique monster I created out of a video game creature I though up. As always, I’d be happy to post the stats for it if anyone is at all interested. And Tsine’s actions in that fight were not embellished at all; that really happened as I described. Hilariously, the exact same thing happened with another character when I tossed an advanced Hive Bird their way over a year of gaming later!

 

[LordVyreth]

Surprising Situations.

The party continued on after defeating the strange bird and saving Tsine. As the false night began, the party entered a forest. Well, a forest of sorts. All the trees were petrified, which did nothing to settle the nerves of the party. If anything, it was even more alien than the wasteland they just left.

Soon, true night began, but as the party pulled out their continual light coins and lanterns, they attracted an even more dangerous band of predators. One who literally appeared out of thin air around them. The monsters, an unusual band of extraplanar spiders, attacked immediately. One of the larger ones lunged at Rudyard, giving him bite and injected a deadly poison. Soon, Rudyard was coughing up blood, and developed a fever that made him barely able to move. Another attacked Dane’s horse, easily killing the poor creature. The other two Spiders attacked the rear of the party. One killed Robin’s unfortunate animal companion, a leopard that Robin didn’t even have time to name. The last of the four spiders attacked Tal, but he was fortunately able to fight off the effects of the poison, at least for now. The party was slowly preparing to react, but one of the two largest spiders was still right next to the near-dead Rudyard, and was almost ready to pounce on him again. However, Dane saw his friend was in danger, and reacted with nearly super-human speed. Ignoring the smaller spider that was even now preparing to attack him, he lunged at the creature while swing his massive sword. The first hit was a brutal thrust that nearly cut the creature in half, and a few more cuts finished the job. Meanwhile, the surviving large spider in the back struck at Tals’s horse, killing it easily. An angry Tal fired at the creature with a bolt of lightning, and Tsine further hurt it with a lightning bolt of his own. Seldszar tumbled behind the spider next to Robin, and gave it a serious but not fatal wound in the back while Quercus flew at the wounded large spider, and drove his sword through the creature’s belly, killing it. The two small spiders finally got a chance respond, but while the one Seldszar was flanking got one hit off on the drow rogue, he resisted the effects of the poison for now, and the one attacking Dane could contribute nothing. Robin finished the spider next to him, and then Rudyard and Dane easily killed the last of the little spiders. Quercus immediately began to heal the wounds of the injured, and used his magic to drain the poison that was still lingering in their bodies, and then bring Rudyard back to a healthy state. Since it was already so late and they needed to rest, they decided to end their adventure right here for tonight, and set up camp.

It was a restless night. The two monster attacks over the day reminded them that they were not in a safe place, and the dead trees that surrounded them from all sides gave them all a sense of foreboding. Seldszar especially could swear that someone was watching him, but he dismissed it as paranoia. Which was a stroke of luck for the scouts who were even now aware of the party’s presence.

Despite this fact, the party survived to the next morning, since the scouts didn’t want to reveal their location in case this group was near the temple just by accident. But the party’s defense squads were roused, and ready to attack.

The party continued their journey, and as they neared the temple, they forest around them sudden became more alive. Most of the trees were still dead, but there were a few small saplings that looked like they were planted within a few months, and even some grass and bushes. The surviving party horses appreciated this last part, obviously, but it made the party nervous. Finally, they got so nervous that they sent Rudyard and Quercus to fly ahead and investigate. They soon came to a lit clearing, which had a large lion and two equally unusually large wolves waiting in it. However, Rudyard sensed there was something else here, but it was a moment too late, as a ball of fire appeared out of no where and exploded in their faces. Hearing the blast, the party moved in to investigate. Dane and Seldszar got their first, but only could see the lion and wolves. They charged the lion as a result, and it was quickly killed. Robin entered the clearing next, and Robin fired at one of the wolves while Quercus told his wounded mount to flee and then charged at it, killing it just as easily. Tsine arrived next, and fired a magic missile volley at the last wolf, also easily killing it. However, just because all the obvious enemies were defeated doesn’t mean the fight is over, a fact that was hit home very quickly when the living part of the forests rose up, and turned into a wall of thorns that blocked Robin, Seldszar, and Dane from further movement. As this happened, a red-robed man appeared. Tal arrived as he appeared, and targeted him with a volley of magic that slightly wounded him. Rudyard also flew at the man, and gave him a powerful wound to the side as he rode past. However, he was himself then cut by a robed woman, who was wielding two swords and suddenly appeared right after cutting into him. Tal, meanwhile, was suddenly pummeled by a volley of ice that rained down out of nowhere. He actually looked relieved, however, since he had told the little girl to stay back and hide behind a tree, and their enemies didn’t seem to notice her left. As he was lost in though, another fireball struck Quercus, who was started to seriously hurt. Rudyard wasn’t doing any better, especially after another robed figure appeared out of nowhere behind him, and gave him an expertly placed wound in his intestines.

Dane realized the entire team would be killed if he stayed trapped, and since he was already at the edge of the wall, he managed to drag himself out of it, though the thorns gave him dozens of cuts as he did it. Seldszar and Robin weren’t as lucky, and their struggles to escape only got them hurt more. Quercus decided that the rogue that appeared next to Rudyard was the current most dangerous threat, so he flew up to attack him, but while he was able to slice into the rogue, he avoided the worst of the blow and kept on his feet. Tsine briefly considered attacking him as well, but realized the rogue would probably dodge most of his best spells, so he fired a deadly bolt of lightning at the ranger, nearly dropping her. The druid responded to the attacks on his comrades with a rain of divine fire, which further damaged Dane and Quercus. Tal moved up to attack the rogue, and luck was with him as he caught the rogue in mid-feint, and gave him a perfectly placed stab wound to the neck. As he did so, the sonic energies he infused the blade with during the last few months suddenly grew more intense, and reverberated through the cultist’s head, causing it to literally burst from within. Rudyard, now able to concentrate on his other enemies, turned to attack the ranger, and gave her a number of serious cuts. She collapsed on the ground, slowly bleeding to death. However, the party’s invisible assailant wasn’t done yet, and ten magical missiles struck Tsine in a row, dropping him to the ground instantly. Dane, now freed of the thorns, charged at the druid, cutting him in half with the force of his attack. Sal and Robin continued to struggle, while Quercus was finally able to focus on their aerial danger. He cast a spell that purged all magic that tricked the eye, and their enemy, a red-robed spellcaster, appeared to them in the air. He was not only flying, but also extremely fast, which explained the speed of his spells to date. Tal fired a volley of magic missiles at him, but a magical shield next to his target pulled all the missiles into it, leaving their enemy unscathed. Rudyard drew his bow and fired at their foe, but the speed and magical protections of their enemy kept him safe. He fired another two volleys of magic, and one dropped Rudyard, while the other put Quercus in critical condition. However, Dane and Quercus could easily fly up to meet their foe, and both wounded him heavily, leaving Tal to finish the job with another dagger of ice.

Though they were victorious, the party exhausted nearly all their resources already, and realized that they obviously lost the element of surprise. They decided to make a tactical retreat for the day, and fled entirely out of the petrified woods, and safely away from the prying eyes of the enemy scouts. There, they rested, to make a more effective plan the next day.

OOC Notes: After worrying about the party’s strength last game, I was relieved that I could challenge them this time. Things change a lot when the enemy has surprise, especially when one of them is a flying, hasted arcane caster with shield and improved invisibility. In 3.0. Oh, and the drow rogue’s name is Seldszar. I misspelled that a few times earlier. Sorry about that.

 

[Axegrrl]

Your paragraphs are still to long, and I'm at a loss to explain some of the breaks compared to places where there should be breaks but aren't any. If you want to start a sentence with the word "finally", as in something finally happened, start a new paragraph.

The back-and-forth in the dragon fight scene was a bit jarring.

Also, your verb tense slips to present tense every once in a while, and I still see some grammar, spelling, and usage errors. All of those make it difficult to read more than one post at a time... 'course, the fact that I'm trying to do this at 2:35 am probably doesn't help....

 

[LordVyreth]

Yeah, I noticed the extended paragraphs when I looked back on it. I want to keep the story moving forward at a brisk pace, to catch up to current events a little faster, but a few days of revision work might be in order pretty soon. I think I was trying to capture the entirety of a combat round in one paragraph a few times there, but I'll probably break things up further from now on.

I'm also interested in any comments people have about the story or game itself, beyond just my writing ability, or lack thereof . Any questions on the plot or characters? Input on the battles or monsters, especially my various unique ones? Also, Lela, are you still reading this? I haven't heard from you lately. Did you get a chance to try that elemental cave idea I sent you, or did you need more information still?

 

[Axegrrl]

An occaisional update of character classes and levels might help add some perspective.

And honestly, I'm more interested in the story line than the details of the battles.

 

[LordVyreth]

The next morning, the party made their second attempt at raiding the temple. Once again, they used magic to enhance their stealth ability. Tsine made most of the party invisible, but left the mounts (including Rudyard and Quercus’ special mounts) outside. Tal insisted on bring the little girl, however, since she so far lacked any tendencies towards self-preservation. At least the horses could run, and the Pegasus and hippogriff could fight back a predator or lead the horses away to safety.

The party invisibly snuck towards the center of the forest, and then to the temple. It was a large, stone building, and about two stories high. However, if the Lady of Blood really did live in a drow city under the temple, the area underneath the temple was potentially endless. The group quietly gathered together and worked out a plan.

“Well, a frontal assault would be a mistake,” Seldszar pointed out.

“But all the windows are too small to get through,” Dane complained.

Tal grinned (like anyone could see it.) “I have an idea.”

While he explained his plan, he withdrew a staff, and quietly made his way to one of the sides of the temple. After nearing the temple, he peeked through the window, and noticed that it was connected to a hallway. He then used the Staff of Earth and Stone he recently purchased to temporarily create a hole in the wall. The group quietly entered the temple, and began to explore. Soon, they found the entrance, if the double doors, position in the temple, and pair of foreboding Bas statues were any indication. Tsine pondered the statues, and had an idea. “Maybe we can get some information out of the statue. I’m sure there’s some kind of magic that lets you talk to inanimate objects. If nothing else, this could be further proof of the existence of Bas.”

Dane snorted. “And how do you propose we move a heavy statue like that with us?”

Tsine responded by simply unrolling a portable hole.

“Oh,” Dane replied, looking foolish (which again, fortunately, didn’t matter.)

Unfortunately, while the plan didn’t have the first most obvious downside most adventurers dread (the statues animating,) it did have another problem, for no sooner did Dane, Quercus, Robin, and Rudyard heave the statue over the hole, then two cultists casually began to walk down the hallway towards them. The party was still invisible, but the suddenly vanishing statue made both of the cultists realize something was up.

The party sprang into action, but realized that a loud fight would be a mistake, and that they needed information, they moved quietly and tried to avoid doing lethal damage. However, Seldszar still overcompensated, and hit one of the cultists so hard in the back of the head with a sap that his neck completely snapped! Rudyard had a little more luck, and he sent the second cultist on a brief nap with the flat of his blade. However, two of the party were now visible, and they had bodies to deal with. A hurried Tal cautiously opened the first door that he saw, and sighed with relief when he learned it was a storage closet. He whispered for everyone to go in through that door, and they all dashed in, dragging the bodies along.

Once safely inside the closet, Quercus healed the surviving cultist into consciousness. He woke up with a groan. “Where am I?” he croaked.

Tal cancelled his invisibility and took over the interrogation. He pulled out his sonic rapier and held it to the man’s throat, while letting him notice the vibrations of the blade. “It doesn’t matter who we are or where you are. If you don’t give us the information we want, you’ll suffer the same fate as your friend here.”

The cultist’s eyes went wide, and Quercus and some of the other more “ethical” members of the party were about to step in to restrain their friend, but Tal looked back and gave them a “don’t worry, I’m just bluffing” glance. The cultist easily started talking; he apparently wasn’t among the highest-ranking individuals here.

“Look, I don’t know much. I’m new here. They don’t tell us anything!”

Tal sighed. “Look, we just need to know where the Lady of Blood is.” However, as he was saying this, Rudyard and the other more observant heroes noticed there were screams coming from outside. Something was happening nearby that was throwing the place into a panic. Were they found out already?

The cultist continued. “Oh, she’s in the drow city, way below us. You have to go down eight floors, and then cross the underground lake to even get to the entrance to the city! And I don’t know where she is beyond that.”

Tal, who also heard the shouting by now, quickly asked his last question. “Where are the stairs down?”

“In the northeast and southeast corners of this floor. They’re in the hallways, so they’re easy to see.”

After hearing this, Tal hit the cultist across the head with the side of his blade, knocking him unconscious. He and the rest of the party burst out the door, and prepared to make a run for it.

Shouts were all around them, and people were yelling about an attack, but at first, no one really paid much attention to the party, even though they all were essentially visible at this point. They made their way quickly to a staircase, and began their descent down. It was only after they cleared the first floor that the rushing cultists finally took notice of them. What followed from here was a bloodbath. Any cultists dumb enough to try and stop the party were cut down without effort, so soon all of them either fled up using the other staircase, or down ahead of the party.

After going down five floors’ worth of residential floors, the party entered a far less structured floor. The two staircases and the corridor between them was more or less the same, but the entire right wall was gone. Beyond the gap, there was a massive cavern, filled with plants and apparently all kinds of animals. Rudyard paused for a moment as he looked at it. “Apparently, the Bas worshippers are keeping nature preserves underground like we do. Does that mean they also have the secret to the sun-storing crystals?”

The eighth basement only had the stairs and corridor, and one door in the middle of each wall. Trusting to Krista, Dane tried the east door first. He apparently guessed correctly, for there was a trap door in the floor here that led further down. However, the room wasn’t empty. A large, hideous female humanoid with splotchy purple-black skin was here, and she drew her scimitar as soon as Dane opened the door.

Dane didn’t hesitate for a moment. He charged right into the room, but the woman had both very thick skin and full plate armor, and his weapon was just deflected against them. Quercus and Seldszar had the same problems when they tried to attack her, and Rudyard and Robin chose to wait in the hallway, and respond to any attacks that might come from behind. Tsine and Tal fired at the hag with magic, but only Tsine’s lightning bolt penetrated her magic resistance. Finally, the hag was able to respond. She swung at Seldszar with her scimitar, wounding him slightly with a grazing cut. However, Rudyard and Robin’s hunch was soon proven right, as the door behind them burst open.

Behind it, there was another nature preserve, but the trees and ground were black and bloodstained, and the few monsters they could see were just as twisted and evil. Just behind the door, there was a second hag, which is dressed in hide armor. She was being guarded by a wolf and a strange monster with a body like a monstrous bulldog, but a strange multi-level mouth with many layers of teeth. Before she could respond, however, Rudyard and Robin took advantage of their intuition and attacked their nearest foe, the wolf. It died almost instantly. “My beloved pet!” the hag yelled, and then took a swing at Rudyard. Meanwhile, the dog-thing wrapped its tongue around Robin, and began to pull him towards its mouth!

Dane realized things were going badly and quickly, and his awareness of the danger he was in helped hone his skills even more. This sudden burst of determination was enough for him to find a weakness in the hag’s armor, and he used it to cut the foul creature’s head off. Quercus immediately turned around, and moved to help Robin fight the dog. Seldszar tried to help as well, but couldn’t find room to tumble in behind the dog and second hag. Rudyard and Robin continued to attack the hag and dog creature, and Tsine killed the dog, but Tal still was unable to get past their spell resistance. The hag looked at the group with a face twisted by horror and rage. “My…sister!” she wailed, pointed at the pile of dust that the first hag turned into. “You will pay for this some day!” With that, she suddenly vanished.

The party quickly gathered up the treasure the first hag had, and then moved to the trap door. In a rush to get to the lake before a proper defense could be mounted, they lifted the door up without checking for traps, causing an alarm to ring out. Of course, they were already noticed long ago, so it had no appreciable effect. Below the trap door was a massive circular stairway down, that was carved out of a natural fissure of stone. Soon, the staircase led to an underground chamber with an entire dock built into it. Beyond the chamber itself was nothing but darkness, but presumably that was the lake the prisoner told them about. Unfortunately, the boats were almost all gone, as the cultists used them to flee to the drow city already. However, there was one left, but it looked like it was designed for a crew of twenty! Still, beggars can’t be choosers, the party decided, and they quickly ran down the stairs and towards the boat before the survivors in the temple could catch them. However, as they neared the boat, a pair of guards was alerted to their presence.

The guards, a pair of bipedal insects, slowly stalked the party. Finally, just as they boarded the boat, they struck. Both released clouds of a deadly, corrosive gas around the party, then charged in with their spears. However, once the party was aware of them, they easily made short work of the two unfortunate guards, and then fled the boat until the gas cleared up. Once it was gone, they untied the boat, raised the anchor, and began their very slow journey across the lake.

OOC Notes: The dog and bug monsters were yugoloths, from the Manual of the Planes. The surviving night hag druid will be used again.

The alarm the party thought was them was actually an undead attack on the temple I had planned on having before the game. I thought it might be one way to get into if they continued watching the place for a little longer. And I pretty much skipped the fight in the residential floors in the game as well, since it really was pointless to run with a bunch of 9th and 10th level characters.

Axegrrl, the problem is the events I'm recapping here are so old, I don't really have a handle on what class and level everyone is anymore. I know the basics, though. Quercus is a half-celestial cleric, with a level or two of paladin, and he's thinking of taking the hospitaler Prc (which I didn't look at very carefully, apparently.) Tal is a 2nd level bard, he has a level or two of Dragon Disciple, but is mostly a sorceror. Tsine is a wizard with a couple of fighter levels. Rudyard is a ranger. Dane is a fighter, Seldszar is a rogue, and Robin is a ranger. All of them are around 9th or 10th level at this point.

 

[LordVyreth]

A Death and a Dastardly Deal

The hours passed, as the boat slowly drifted across the lake. The party tried to help row it, but while they sped things up a little, most of their efforts had to go to towards just keeping the boat upright and pointed in a straight line. To make matters worse, every few seconds, the water around them bubbled and churned, and it was quite clear that something was down there, waiting for them. Tsine, who was the official navigator of the group, also spent time examining the boat itself. He noticed a strange red circle in the middle of the boat, which was very obvious and even glowed slightly, as if it was painted with a luminescent substance. Tsine figured the circle meant something, but no one was willing to break it or stand in it, so experimentation has been pretty minimal. For now, the party was happy just trying to get across the lake in one piece


Above them, a strange, elven head looked up, and saw the boat approaching his upside-down perch. There was no sacrifice in the circle, so the toll has no been met in the normal way. No matter, the creature thought. There are other ways to extract payment.


The attack came swiftly and without warning. Leading the enemies were a pair of giant bats with heads like pale elves. These were apparently the same monsters that the Lady of Blood had with her during the raids underground six months ago. There was also a pair of evil, giant bats with a feral look to them. Before the party could even react, the bats flanked the boat on both sides, and then beat their wings so fast, it caused a pair of windstorms! The boat began to rock back and forth, sending people flying from one side to the other, but fortunately everyone was able to hold on to something before the could be knocked off the boat, and into the waters, which were again churning and foaming, as whatever monsters within it were circling with anticipation. Even worse, the wind was tainted with dark energy, which ripped through the party, but especially was painful to the good party members, who felt the evil of the magic burn their very essence.

Seldszar began the attacks, by getting to the far side of the boat, and hopefully out of the way of further gales, and then firing at one of the elf-bats, wounding it slightly. Tal fired a volley of magic orbs at the second bat, and Robin and Tsine helped strike the creature with arrow and magic. Meanwhile, Rudyard charged the first of the three giant bats, which had closed in on the ship while the party was distracted by the elf hybrids. He wounded the creature, but couldn’t give it a fatal blow. The two hybrids then landed on the boat, with one attacking Tal and the other on Robin. The one attacking Robin tried to bite it and beat on him with its wings, but couldn’t get a decent hit on the nimble archer. Tal didn’t fair as well, and to the party’s horror, as one of its wings sent Tal sprawling to the ground, the creature started to heal his earlier wounds! What they didn’t know, but Tal unfortunately found out, was that when its other wing hit him, it began to drain the magical power out of the endangered sorcerer as well.

Dane and Quercus couldn’t stand to see their friend in danger, so they charged at the half-bat. Quercus went low, stabbing the creature in the leg, while Dane leapt over Tal’s prone body, and plunged downward with his sword into the monster’s neck. Not even the health that it stole from Tal was enough to save it, and it died and plunged into the water, which soon bubbled and started sending up pools of blood and ripped apart bits of the creature.

However, while the party concentrated on Tal, Seldszar was put in danger. Two of the giant bats surrounded him, and began to rip him apart. While he was an agile rogue, Seldszar was lacking any real armor, and was soon bleeding from a number of very deep wounds. Meanwhile, the bat that Rudyard attacked concentrated on him, and bit deeply into his shoulder. The bite was especially grievous, for it was tainted with evil, which seemed to feed on the goodness remaining in Rudyard’s soul. He screamed in pain, and looked at the creature in rage. He was beginning to wonder if having such a pure soul was anything but a hindrance to his cause, if it just meant being destroyed by evil attacks and holding back when he should be focusing on the death of his enemies.

Robin dropped his bow and switched to his blade, and began to attack the bat with it, while Tal and Tsine provided magical cover fire. Dane moved to help Rudyard, and between the two of them they were able to kill Rudyard’s bat. Quercus flew over to help Robin, but because Tal and Tsine were limited to their weakest of magics at this point, even his help wasn’t enough to defeat the second elf-bat. The elf responded by further attacking Robin, but only was able to give him a fairly minor bite wound. The same couldn’t be said of Seldszar, for one bat bite into his leg, and while he was forced to stumble back and sink to his knees, the other ripped into his stomach, giving him a giant, bloody wound. He tried to fight back, but weakened by the blood loss, he could barely lift his sword. Realizing their friend was in trouble, Tal and Tsine tried to defeat his enemies with magic, but Tsine’s blast was insufficient, and Tal’s couldn’t even penetrate the magical barrier the creature had. Robin wasn’t really able to ignore his foe, and he concentrated all his efforts into finally killing the foul beast, and sending him to the black waters below. Rudyard, Dane, and Quercus all charged the bats, but were only able to kill one of them. The other ignored its new foes, and concentrated on finishing off his prey. While others looked on in horror, it bent over the near-helpless drow, and in one quickly, almost effortless motion, it bit into and ripped through his neck. Seldszar gave one last look to the group, and then collapsed onto the deck, never to rise again.

Screaming with rage, Tal led the charge on their last foe, and together, they easily overpowered it. Their enemy was dead, but at what cost? They were exhausted, out of magic, and all alone in the middle of a lake in enemy territory, and one of their own was dead. Robin in particular was taking it hard, since he was the only one who knew Seldszar for more than a few weeks. As Tal consoled him, Quercus gave the last rites to Seldszar. However, they soon came to the horrible conclusion that they couldn’t take a body with them, and they’d rather not abandon it, letting the cultists and drow do unspeakable things to it and possibly even raise it as an undead. Realizing they had no other choice, they were forced to give him a “sailor’s funeral,” even though it meant he would certainly be eaten by whatever lurked underwater.

The dreadful deed done, the party had another horrible decision to make. They clearly didn’t have the strength to attack the city now. Resting here would be dangerous, but it looked like they had no other choice. The party chose watches, and began to bed down and try to somehow get to sleep, despite the horrors they faced that day and the dangers they were sure to see tomorrow.

However, not an hour into their rest, Quercus, who was on watch at the time, noticed a strange fog rolling in towards them. He sensed there was something strange about the fog, and fired a warning arrow at it. His guessed appeared to be right, for it suddenly stopped approaching the boat, and began to retreat again. He kept a sharp eye out for the rest of his watch, but it never returned, so he soon woke up Tal and Tsine, the next watch, and began his meditations, though he did warn them of what he saw. They were nonetheless surprised, however, when less than an hour later, a voice suddenly and quietly said, “Please, like I couldn’t attack you unnoticed if I wanted to.”

Tsine moved to wake the others, but the voice said, “Wait, we have much to discuss, and it would be better if that one wasn’t awake to hear it.” They couldn’t see the speaker, but it sounded like she was indicating Quercus.

Tsine hesitated for a moment, but was about to wake the others anyway when Tal spoke up. “Very well. Reveal yourself, and we will discuss whatever you have to say.”

At his instruction, a strange, very pale woman appeared on the boat. Tsine saw her for what she was instantly. “A vampire…” he gasped. “What could you possibly want to discuss with us?”

“We have a mutual goal, actually, or at least a mutual enemy. We have been trying to understand who these cultists are and what they think they’re doing in our territory for a while now. However, we recently sent a spy in, and we haven’t heard from him in weeks. He has been undoubtedly captured. We want to get him back, but our…limitation regarding where we can enter might be a problem once we find the prison, and they certainly will have other anti-vampire protections ready. However, they won’t be expecting you to rescue him. That’s our proposal. If we help you, you will help save our spy when the time comes.”

Tal was under whelmed. “What could you possibly do to help us?”

“Well, for starters, we could warn you that resting here is a death warrant. They know that you’re here, and can determine where you are fairly easily. You were able to sneak in without alerting their most dangerous guards before, but now that they aren’t trying to repel our forces, they’ll be sending their best after you right here. You need to at least get into the city to find a place to rest.”

“How do you propose we do that? Won’t they be waiting for us at the other dock?”

“Not with our help, they won’t. We’ll distract the main force, which should also provide you with enough light that you could reach the dock without having to create a light of your own. Now, once you do dock, you have to get into the city, and you can probably rest by posing as cultists and sneaking into their inn. We can find you from there. Well, do we have a deal?”

Tal and Tsine looked at each other cautiously. “We really can’t make this decision by ourselves,” Tsine said nervously.

Tal considered this brief, then said, “Fine, but only wake Rudyard and Dane. Quercus’ code prevents him from helping evil forces, but he that doesn’t mean we can’t help them without him being involved. And Robin might have issues with helping the undead. From what he’s said, he’s being trained to fight them at the level of their souls, so he might have developed a level of hatred towards them that’s even greater than is normal.”

Tsine agreed, and in whispered conversations Tal, Tsine, Rudyard, Dane, and the little girl (who had gotten herself up as soon as Tal started to move towards the others,) agreed to the vampire woman’s plan. Well, the little girl obviously contributed little, but she did listen to their discussion intently. After hearing their answer, the vampire woman nodded and said, “Excellent. Be sure to keep an eye out for one of my allies after you enter the inn. Oh, and of course you won’t betray us, but just in case you or one of your friends entertains the notion, just remember that we would be happy to alert the proper authorities to your location. You wouldn’t last a minute of the Lady of Blood, all of her servants, and the best the drow city had to offer descended on you at once.”

With that, she flew off, leaving the party alone to contemplate what they have done. Tsine quietly said, “Um, so who gets to tell Quercus the plan?”

OOC Notes: The player of Quercus was actually out of the room when the party made an agreement with the vampire. He was understandably upset when he heard the plan.

We are now up to the first death for Chris’ characters. This episode was the beginning of the week’s game, so he had a new character ready by the time the game ended.

The bat-elf monsters are Swift Prides, another unique monster that I made up. As always, I’d be happy to send the stats to anyone interested, though it seems doubtful after the last few times I made the offer.