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Consequences of the Quill (Restored 5/13/06)
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<blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 1681760" data-attributes="member: 9626"><p><strong>The Nighmare Prince: Part 1</strong></p><p></p><p>The party had just lost two of its own. Two members had been killed, two have possibly gone mad, and one had been exposed to her worst nightmares. Not surprisingly, when they decided to interrogate the captured cultist (since only one ended up surviving the undead fight,) they were eager to find someone to take it all out on. The cultist, seeing all this, talked instantly.</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know where the Nightmare Prince’s manor is exactly, but I can tell you how to find it,” he hastily added, after seeing how quickly the party was about to respond to the first part. “There’s this tunnel a few days from here, which we used all the time to get there. It’s northwest of here. I can give you a map, if you want.”</p><p></p><p> The party members quickly looked at each, and then Tal said in a quiet but menacing voice, “Why don’t you just show us?” The cultist readily agreed to this plan as well.</p><p></p><p> The first day of travel felt longer than normal. Tebryn was not that well known to the party yet, but his death, and especially the mad way that he died, was felt by everyone. But Fnipper’s sudden death was even worse. The slightly-crazy but lovable gnome had found a place in everyone’s heart, and he had saved the entire party more than once. And now they had nothing to even remember them by, and with Tsine gone as well, it didn’t even feel like the same party any more. Tal looked sadly at his journal, which at least had some memories of his days with the others, and remembered that Fnipper only wanted to fight the Nightmare Prince because he heard that some of his family was enslaved by him. Looking up to the sky, he said, “I don’t know where you are now, Fnipper, but I swear I’ll find them, and save as many of them as I can from that lunatic.”</p><p></p><p> Things were so melancholy in the party that when there were signs of movement up ahead, suggesting another undead patrol had found them, everyone was eager to fight, and work out some of their loss and hatred in a more constructive way. Their eagerness changed, however, when their captive pointed at the cloud that was growing closer, and screamed, “That’s a Propagator Swarm! The Nightmare Prince uses these to create his half-mechanical servants! If you get caught inside it, they’ll start to transform you as well!”</p><p></p><p> Sure enough, when the cloud loomed closer, it was clearly made of thousands of tiny metal insects. Even worse, it was accompanied by what looked like a giant reptile with tiny forelegs but a gigantic mouth, and it looked like it had already been altered into a half-machine by this or another cloud. Grockith was the first to react to this threat, and prepared to charge. This wasn’t regarded as good news, however, to Danae and Robin, who were riding his out at the time. Danae in particular was upset about this. “Wait for me to get off before you charge in!” she yelled. “You might be sufficiently armored to fight them, but I wouldn’t stand a chance!”</p><p></p><p> However, Grockith ignored their pleas and charged right at the cloud. Despite his eagerness, his weapons were almost useless against so many foes at once. Tal tried to help using a magical blast, and while it targeted an area and was actually fairly effective on the insects, it wasn’t enough to disperse the swarm. It easily engulfed the rhino and all of its riders, who were all attacked by the swarm. All of them had nasty insect bites, but the insects were also able to burrow into Danae, Robin, and Danae’s mephit, potentially dooming them all. The giant lizard also stomped up to the group, but didn’t get a chance to get near the party yet.</p><p></p><p> Danae and Robin got out of the cloud as quickly as possible, and responded with a fireball and an arrow respectively. The fireball was very effective on the cloud, but Robin’s arrows passed through the cloud with little appreciable effect. The only exception was the acid that his bow added to each of his arrows, which left streaks of disintegrated insects as they flew through the cloud. Galeron and Thorrun moved to heal the wounded wizard and ranger, while the cultist wisely stayed out of the way.</p><p></p><p> Grockith realized that he was useless against this threat, and moved to engage the dinosaur instead. However, he barely got close to it when it breathed a strange gas on him. Grockith suddenly felt incredibly sleepy, and collapsed in the saddle, while his mount looked up at him with irritation. The creature hungrily moved up to his now helpless meal, but before it could take a massive bite out of him, Tal responded with a flurry of magic missiles that hit both Grockith and the monster. It was barely wounded, but Grockith was shaken awake by the attack, and began to slice into the beast while his mechanical mount impaled it with its horn. The creature was caught by the surprise by this renewed attack, and while it tried to bite its foe a few times, its attacks were clumsy, and couldn’t get past his strong armor. Grockith finally silenced his foe with one last attack.</p><p></p><p> Meanwhile, the cloud moved again to engulf Thorrun, who ran screaming out of it while more robotic insects began to burrow into him. However, before it could attack again after this, a combination of Robin’s arrows (or more appropriately, his arrow’s elemental properties,) Tal’s spells, and attacks from Galeron blade (despite their near-uselessness,) were able to disperse the swarm, destroying it.</p><p></p><p> But was it too late? Galeron looked at the wounds on Danae, her familiar, Robin, and Thorrun, and tried using everything he could to cure them. Cure spells removed the initial wounds, but they still felt the insects moving inside them. Even Cure Disease did nothing, nor did a desperate lightning bolt by Tal to electrocute the creatures, even though it would also hurt his friends. Finally, the next day, Galeron was able to cure his friend with a Heal spell, but he shook his head when looking at the others’ wounds. “I only prepared one spell of this power for today. I can’t do anything about these other wounds until I had a chance to speak with Bha-Ael again.” </p><p></p><p> The party decided to continue on for now, and recover the wounds as they traveled. Galeron was able to Heal Robin the next day, but that was also the day they reached the tunnel their guide told them about. He revealed its hidden entrance, and the party marveled at how well-hidden the entrance was. However, with Fnipper and Tebryn gone, they had to admit they didn’t really have anyone who could find even the simplest of hidden passageways, rendering the point moot. As they traveled down a long into the ground, the cultist explained the path they will take further. “We don’t really walk to the manor from here,” he explained. “The Nightmare Prince helped discover a strange hollow, metal snake that he has been calling a ‘subway.’ It travels along a path all over this area, and at the end, it will take you to the Servant’s Tunnel that leads to the manor. Now, once you get there, I don’t know how prepared he will be for you, so you might have to fight your way in, but you should try to follow all security measures as well, just in case. I don’t know exactly what these tests will be, though. He changes them all the time. Now, at the end of the Servants tunnel, there will be other paths called the Slaves’ Tunnel and the Warriors’ Tunnel. If you want to live, don’t go those ways, or you will definitely alert the Prince that you’re here, and he’ll have his most powerful forces waiting for you. Instead, there is a strange metal platform called an elevator that will take you out of the tunnel and into the Manor itself. Specifically, you’ll end up in the Mundane Sector, where low-level worshippers like me will stay. Try to hide there. Now, I haven’t seen much else of the manor, so you’ll have to find your way to him from there yourself.”</p><p></p><p> Shortly after he finished, a giant metal tube arrived from a side tunnel. The players had already put on the appropriate robes, but they still tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as they entered the subway. The doors closed behind them, and they disappeared into the darkness, ever-closer to their deadliest enemy yet.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordVyreth, post: 1681760, member: 9626"] [b]The Nighmare Prince: Part 1[/b] The party had just lost two of its own. Two members had been killed, two have possibly gone mad, and one had been exposed to her worst nightmares. Not surprisingly, when they decided to interrogate the captured cultist (since only one ended up surviving the undead fight,) they were eager to find someone to take it all out on. The cultist, seeing all this, talked instantly. “I don’t know where the Nightmare Prince’s manor is exactly, but I can tell you how to find it,” he hastily added, after seeing how quickly the party was about to respond to the first part. “There’s this tunnel a few days from here, which we used all the time to get there. It’s northwest of here. I can give you a map, if you want.” The party members quickly looked at each, and then Tal said in a quiet but menacing voice, “Why don’t you just show us?” The cultist readily agreed to this plan as well. The first day of travel felt longer than normal. Tebryn was not that well known to the party yet, but his death, and especially the mad way that he died, was felt by everyone. But Fnipper’s sudden death was even worse. The slightly-crazy but lovable gnome had found a place in everyone’s heart, and he had saved the entire party more than once. And now they had nothing to even remember them by, and with Tsine gone as well, it didn’t even feel like the same party any more. Tal looked sadly at his journal, which at least had some memories of his days with the others, and remembered that Fnipper only wanted to fight the Nightmare Prince because he heard that some of his family was enslaved by him. Looking up to the sky, he said, “I don’t know where you are now, Fnipper, but I swear I’ll find them, and save as many of them as I can from that lunatic.” Things were so melancholy in the party that when there were signs of movement up ahead, suggesting another undead patrol had found them, everyone was eager to fight, and work out some of their loss and hatred in a more constructive way. Their eagerness changed, however, when their captive pointed at the cloud that was growing closer, and screamed, “That’s a Propagator Swarm! The Nightmare Prince uses these to create his half-mechanical servants! If you get caught inside it, they’ll start to transform you as well!” Sure enough, when the cloud loomed closer, it was clearly made of thousands of tiny metal insects. Even worse, it was accompanied by what looked like a giant reptile with tiny forelegs but a gigantic mouth, and it looked like it had already been altered into a half-machine by this or another cloud. Grockith was the first to react to this threat, and prepared to charge. This wasn’t regarded as good news, however, to Danae and Robin, who were riding his out at the time. Danae in particular was upset about this. “Wait for me to get off before you charge in!” she yelled. “You might be sufficiently armored to fight them, but I wouldn’t stand a chance!” However, Grockith ignored their pleas and charged right at the cloud. Despite his eagerness, his weapons were almost useless against so many foes at once. Tal tried to help using a magical blast, and while it targeted an area and was actually fairly effective on the insects, it wasn’t enough to disperse the swarm. It easily engulfed the rhino and all of its riders, who were all attacked by the swarm. All of them had nasty insect bites, but the insects were also able to burrow into Danae, Robin, and Danae’s mephit, potentially dooming them all. The giant lizard also stomped up to the group, but didn’t get a chance to get near the party yet. Danae and Robin got out of the cloud as quickly as possible, and responded with a fireball and an arrow respectively. The fireball was very effective on the cloud, but Robin’s arrows passed through the cloud with little appreciable effect. The only exception was the acid that his bow added to each of his arrows, which left streaks of disintegrated insects as they flew through the cloud. Galeron and Thorrun moved to heal the wounded wizard and ranger, while the cultist wisely stayed out of the way. Grockith realized that he was useless against this threat, and moved to engage the dinosaur instead. However, he barely got close to it when it breathed a strange gas on him. Grockith suddenly felt incredibly sleepy, and collapsed in the saddle, while his mount looked up at him with irritation. The creature hungrily moved up to his now helpless meal, but before it could take a massive bite out of him, Tal responded with a flurry of magic missiles that hit both Grockith and the monster. It was barely wounded, but Grockith was shaken awake by the attack, and began to slice into the beast while his mechanical mount impaled it with its horn. The creature was caught by the surprise by this renewed attack, and while it tried to bite its foe a few times, its attacks were clumsy, and couldn’t get past his strong armor. Grockith finally silenced his foe with one last attack. Meanwhile, the cloud moved again to engulf Thorrun, who ran screaming out of it while more robotic insects began to burrow into him. However, before it could attack again after this, a combination of Robin’s arrows (or more appropriately, his arrow’s elemental properties,) Tal’s spells, and attacks from Galeron blade (despite their near-uselessness,) were able to disperse the swarm, destroying it. But was it too late? Galeron looked at the wounds on Danae, her familiar, Robin, and Thorrun, and tried using everything he could to cure them. Cure spells removed the initial wounds, but they still felt the insects moving inside them. Even Cure Disease did nothing, nor did a desperate lightning bolt by Tal to electrocute the creatures, even though it would also hurt his friends. Finally, the next day, Galeron was able to cure his friend with a Heal spell, but he shook his head when looking at the others’ wounds. “I only prepared one spell of this power for today. I can’t do anything about these other wounds until I had a chance to speak with Bha-Ael again.” The party decided to continue on for now, and recover the wounds as they traveled. Galeron was able to Heal Robin the next day, but that was also the day they reached the tunnel their guide told them about. He revealed its hidden entrance, and the party marveled at how well-hidden the entrance was. However, with Fnipper and Tebryn gone, they had to admit they didn’t really have anyone who could find even the simplest of hidden passageways, rendering the point moot. As they traveled down a long into the ground, the cultist explained the path they will take further. “We don’t really walk to the manor from here,” he explained. “The Nightmare Prince helped discover a strange hollow, metal snake that he has been calling a ‘subway.’ It travels along a path all over this area, and at the end, it will take you to the Servant’s Tunnel that leads to the manor. Now, once you get there, I don’t know how prepared he will be for you, so you might have to fight your way in, but you should try to follow all security measures as well, just in case. I don’t know exactly what these tests will be, though. He changes them all the time. Now, at the end of the Servants tunnel, there will be other paths called the Slaves’ Tunnel and the Warriors’ Tunnel. If you want to live, don’t go those ways, or you will definitely alert the Prince that you’re here, and he’ll have his most powerful forces waiting for you. Instead, there is a strange metal platform called an elevator that will take you out of the tunnel and into the Manor itself. Specifically, you’ll end up in the Mundane Sector, where low-level worshippers like me will stay. Try to hide there. Now, I haven’t seen much else of the manor, so you’ll have to find your way to him from there yourself.” Shortly after he finished, a giant metal tube arrived from a side tunnel. The players had already put on the appropriate robes, but they still tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as they entered the subway. The doors closed behind them, and they disappeared into the darkness, ever-closer to their deadliest enemy yet. [/QUOTE]
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