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Daeron's Journals (the Return)


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Daeron

Daeron’s Journals 45

** Notes to follow **

My dear Aldar,


I am weak. I am battered. There is a numbing cold which keeps trying to settle into my veins. I cannot seem to get the foul reek of swamp out of my nose…but I am exultant with victory.

We were on the verge of retiring to bed with no certain way to help Silvermane, when an idea struck me. With the help of Father Baer’s wind walk spell and Zerai’s powers of polymorph, we could make our entire group, including Taine’s great lizard mount, Ekki, light enough for Heric to be able to teleport us from place to place. The realization that we might be able to get in and rescue Silvermane began to settle over us, although Zerai was very reticent. We allowed that he was not required to come with us, but he agreed that he would, if someone would stay behind to go for other warriors to defeat the aboleth if we did not soon return. Jeleneth reluctantly agreed to remain behind, and Zerai allowed that he would join us. *

In the morning, we prepared for battle. Many protective spells were woven, especially on Father Baer, who had to be able to use his magicks to dismiss Silvermane from Hell as well as to plane shift us home afterwards. Naidaushas offered to bless my weapon, and I decided to accept…a tactic which I will distinctly recall for future fiend-fighting purposes. As it was, that may have been what made the difference between our victory and our failure.

Father Baer used his magicks to bring us into Hell, and, after a moment to orient ourselves and cast the appropriate spells, we then teleported into the devil’s throne chamber. Silvermane was there, as Heric had described, but he had failed to mention the awesome, infernal majesty of the devil we now faced. It was as tall as a young tree, nearly 25 feet in height, and its insect-like head filled me with revulsion. Though many of us were invisible, the devil could see those that were not, and he seized up a monstrous spear, far too large for any of us to wield. We sped into battle, preparing to take the creature by surprise as best we could.

I will reconstruct the battle as best I can, for much of what I recall of it is a very narrow, red focus, and many of my friends were invisible. I have, however, spoken at some length with the others about what happened, and this is what I understand.

I flew to the side of the room, hoping to take the monster from its side while simultaneously allowing Heric the chance to discharge an offensive spell or two at it. Nai, true to his very direct nature, charged right at the beast. Aman’Jafar followed my basic route, hoping to bolster his allies with his magicks. Zerai, who was still wearing the form of a bird, flew through the air and attempted to use his pisonics. Heric moved in relatively close and used his own magicks. Meanwhile, Silvermane, still under the beast’s sway, was attempting to kill Baer. Luckily, Baer was usingthe powers of his god to mislead Silvermane, while simultaneously trying to dismiss him to the Prime Material Plane. Taine, riding Ekki, galloped to the devil’s side and attempted to strike with his pick.

The spells used against the devil were met, for the most part, by its remarkable resistance to magicks. A few spells made it throughand injured it, but these wounds were closing almost as quickly as they were inflicted. I stopped trying to use spells almost at once and flew to the attack. The devil, however, formed some sort of darkness around itself, and, as I struck it, I felt my strength ebbing. Each blow was sapping more and more of my strength. I realized, however, that the wounds Nai and I were inflicting were not healing. This in mind, I redoubled my attacks.

The creature, for its part, was fast enough to strike over and over with its spear, its teeth, and its tail, sometimes all at once. Every time it id, I felt that a killing frost was trying to seep into my veins, but I was able to hold off its attacks. I felt tendrils of Jafar’s song reaching me, and I felt inspired with great hope that we might slay this beast. Bolstered by ancient legends of elesi demon-slayers, I pressed my attacks further, striking the devil for many ghastly wounds. Nai, meanwhile, was doing the same, and I offered a silent prayer to Dssiandria for her help in this battle.

Fathr Baer kept the charmed Silvermane busy, and made several attempts to send him back to our home plane. Each time, however, Silvermane resisted, and, finally, Baer turned his attentions to breaking the devil’s charm. He finally did so, but, to all our consternation, Silvermane turned and jumped on the devil, striking him over and over with his fists. Father Baer then decided to concentrate on helping keep the rest of us alive, and he used several powers on me to help Nai and I regain our strength, as did Jafar.

Heric and Zerai kept attempting to hinder the creature with their magicks, but they seemed to have but little effect. No blame to them for this. The devil’s resistance was formidable, and there have been many fights they have won for us almost single-handedly. On this day, however, it was left to the warriors, aided by the blessings of Dassiandri, the mercies granted by Thaddio, and the bolstering songs of Jafar that won the day.

After hard battle, in which I fell once, unable to even support my own weight due to my lack of strength, the devil finally fell. Father Baer aided me to my feet by restoring some of my strength, and I clambered to my feet. Nai and I struck the fallen creature several blows that should have been lethal, but it kept climbing to its feet. Ultimately, though, the creature yielded to the blessed blades we wielded, and its evil was extinguished forever. Would that this could be said for all the devils of Hell.

We made only a cursory search for treasure, ultimately taking away only the bracers that the devil wore. Zerai again tried to dissuade us from this course of action, but the will of the group won out. We took them, and we located Silvermane’s gear. I placed the headband he wore which he had claimed gave him clearer thinking. It seemed to ease the worst effects of the feeblemind spell, but we must find a way to cure him of this.

At my instruction, Father Baer used his dismissal spell on Heric, who still had a teleport left. Once back on our home plane, he is going to return to where Jeleneth is. In the morning, the rest of us shall repeat our tactic of using wind walk and teleport to get back to camp. In the meantime, I must ask Zerai if he can use that crystal wand of the illithids to contact Heric and Jeleneth and make sure they are both alright. In the meantime, we have plane shifted back to our home plane, but we are I nthe middle of nowhere, and there’s nothing obvious or familiar around. Apparently plane shift is not very accurate I nterms of whereyou end up. Ah well. We’ll deal with that in the morning. For now, I am simply glad to be back. I will write more to you soon. Personally, I cannot wait to learn the spell of teleport soon, for then I will come home a great deal more often to visit.

For now, however, I remain your loving Uncle,

Daeron


* Memo to self. When other party members tell you that they have new spells, insist on reading the spell descriptions yourself rather than taking their words for it. I norder to try and not metagame, I have been letting the others tell me what their spells do and only looking up my own. At the end of the last session, however, I decided to loo kthe spell over to try and come up with some plan to help us. And...well...DUH!

Firstly, Heric's player has been insisting that his own weight must be included in the weight allowance the teleport spells can move. Not quite. The spell indicates it moves him PLUS 50 lbs/level. That's a big difference right there. We had already used polymorph to some effect in lightening our load, but the revelation of wind walk/i]... Oy! IT makes you into vapor. Vapor is weightless. Ergo...

As an amusing note, Nai's player tried to argue that since the spell did not specifically indicate that it altered your weight, it would not work. You would all have been very proud of me. I didn't kill him or call him an idiot. ;)

Beyond that, this was a very straight-forward session. One Hell of a fight! It was a total blast, and very harrowing at times. I honestly was not sure we were going to win. Oh, and for those of you curious, it was a gelugon, but Ace had advanced it via Hit Dice, and it had hit points in excess of 300. Oy!

More fun next time.

- Andy
 
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Whew! Great fight!
I knew that you would make it back alive since you had written to your nephew...
what happens if Daeron Dies?

will the letter begin by saying...
"If you recieve this message, you will know that I have passed on..."
 

Broccli_Head said:
Whew! Great fight!
I knew that you would make it back alive since you had written to your nephew...
what happens if Daeron Dies?

will the letter begin by saying...
"If you recieve this message, you will know that I have passed on..."

Hi, BH. Actually, if Daeron dies, thanks to raise dead spells and such, hs letter will probably begin, "Dear nephew...now, I don't want you to worry overmuch, but I died the other day..."

Actually, you might recall from the old journals that Daeron did actually die in battle against the King of the Grells. The party was really unsure of what do do, but, finally, Teollor took over the reins and guided them back to Karmenerin, who performed the first raise dead spell of the campaign.

Glad you're still enjoying Daeron's adventures.

- Andy

- Andy
 

Daeron's Journals 46

Daeron's Journals 46

** Notes to Follow **

My dear Aldar,

It was so good to see you and visit with you today. I really must recall that the teleport spells make this possible and come to visit more often. Soon, however, I do not know if I will be able to dare. I feel we are nearing the end of our quests, however, and I look forward to coming home and just being a common leather-worker for a while.

In some ways, little has occurred since my last journal. In other ways, much has. I will try to record it all. *

I mentioned that Baer had brought us back to our own world, but I did not fully mention the place he brought us to. We found ourselves in the middle of a desert, with nothing around for miles. While Zerai used his crystal wand to communicate with Heric and Jeleneth and make certain they were both well, I helped get some makeshift shelter built, and I made several head-wraps of the type the desert-folk call kefiyahs. Baer used the geyser from his enchanter pitcher to keep us all wet and cool, which helped greatly. Silvermane, still under the spell of intelligence-draining, suffered from the heat, and Taine, as a creature of the Underdark, was badly off from the brightness of the sun. Still we muddled through, with only Nai suffering a touch of heatstroke (due to his stubborn insistance on wearing his plate armor) and Baer suffering a touch of sunburn. Only Aman-Jafar seemed largely unaffected.

The next day, Baer prayed for a spell of wind walking, and, between that and Zerai's mind-powers, we were soon back on the witch's island. Heric had warned us he had to do something before rejoining us, so we did not worry about his absence. Instead, as we had to wait for Father Baer to restore Silvermane's wits with a healing spell the next morning, we spent the day in relative eas. Baer was able to heal Nai and I of the evil magic that had drained our strength, and we saw to the healing of our whole Company. Aman-Jafar proved himself a first-rate entertainer and kept all of our minds off of the grim times before and behind.

The next day, after Silvermane's mind was healed, we gathered to discuss several important matters. The first was the status of our company's captaincy. I was not shocked when the group as a whole nodded to me in that role. So I am now officially the Capatin of the Company of the Morning Star. I wonder if the rest of the Company know what they're in for.

The second order of business was to consider what to do about the sorceress. We decided...sorry...I decided...(that may take some getting used to)...that it was of but little value to pursue a vendetta against her, especially as we had been the invaders. Although Nai and Baer wanted to get her, the others seemed in agreement with me.

Third on the agenda was where to head next, and we appear to be heading towards the other unmarked area of our map. Let's hope it goes better than the first.

Finally, we discussed the disposition of some magic items we had found. We determined to travel to the University of Dunwall in order to trade the dwarven hammer we found for items that would be of more use to us. That, of course, is where we saw you again, my nephew. **

To make a long story short, we decided to trade the hammer, Silvermane's magic sickle, and pretty much all of our cash for a pair of potently charmed weapons and a brooch of protection. One weapon, a scimitar, went to Silvermane. The other, a longsword, went to Baer, for which he gave up Finslayer. The brooch has not been 100% decided on, but I think it will likely go to Baer as well.

Nai, meanwhile, is the chosen bearer of the bracers we found in the devil's lair. They enhance the wearer's health to a great degree, and I hope they will help him take more blows in combat.

You may notice, oh my astute nephew, that, while Father Baer gave up Finslayer, I do not say we traded the blade away. In fact, he shall remain in the holding bag, and he will come out if his enemies are close. If he betrays us ever again, though, he will be sold to the University. Zerai disagres vehemently with my decision to keep Fin, and Father Baer is not entirely pleased the sword is still around. Nevertheless, he stays for two reasons: from a group standpoint, he may be a powerful weapon against the aboleth and kuo-toa we encounter. From a personal standpoint, I gave my word that Finslayer would fight kuo-toa again. Zerai cannot comprehend why I would feel then eed to keep a promise to a sword, but, in truth, I am keeping the promise for myself.

So, there it is. Wish me luck, nephew. Something tells me facing devils will seem as nothing after a short time of true leadership.

Your loving uncle,

Daeron

* Strangely straightforward event, considering nothing happened, really. ;)

** One of the suppositions of Ace's game is that elves are extremely rare outside their homeland. While Zerai headed for a "Bath house" (wink, wink; nudge, nudge!!!!), Nai and Daeron went shopping, and, at one point, I commented on how odd it probably looks to humans to see two warrior elves in the first place...let alone two warrior elves that are checking fruit for freshness.
 


Broccli_Head said:
Nice to see an update. So what are the 'potently charmed' weapons?

Any chance of seeing statblocks for other PCs? What level are they now?

The potently charmed weapons are both +4. There was a +5 flaming greatclub that we drooled over for a while before deciding that it was out of our price range.

Stat blocks for the others? Hmmm...I can try. I can certainly do Daeron's again. He just bopped up to 15th level. Mmmm...channeling a magic missile through my sword as a Spellsword. On a crit, I'd be doing 2d8+14+4d4+4. Hee, hee. ;)

I believe that our average level has probably just bopped up to 13th. Daeron sort of throws the curve a bit. Heric has always been right behind that, but his player missed his past session and will miss the next one as well. I know Zerai is creeping up to 13th level as a result of the last session.

I will try to get stat blocks for everyone, or, at least, classes, levels, etc.

- Andy
 

Daeron's Journals 47

Daeron's Journals #47

**Notes to follow**

My dear Aldar,

Things are progressing slowly but surely as we slowly prepare to deal with the aboleth city. *

I began my day by having a large contract placed in my hands. It seems that Amahd Jaffar (now I have the spelling correct, I believe) wanted to be crystal clear in his dealings with us. Principle to his contract, as I saw it, were some worrying clauses about how his loyalty to us ended at the ties to his family. After some reassurance from him as to what this meant, I was able to agree to his terms, after having him read the contract to the rest of the Morning Star… And this nearly precipitated a brawl of sorts.

It would appear that almost everyone in the Morning Star has their own idea of what my being Captain means. Silvermane and Naidaushas both seem to want me to be almost an iron-fisted tyrant, while Zerai and Heric are concerned for that very thing. Baer seems a tad confused; I think he’s still trying to figure out how he ended up giving up Finslayer.

I finally explained in no certain terms that I would be what I considered a captain. I will balance the party’s needs against the needs of its individual members. In some instances, I would want quick and absolute action from the group, while at other, more leisurely times, it would always be my intention to give everyone a say. This seemed to go over well, thus ending my first real trial as Captain…well, second, if you count the rescue of Silvermane. **

This nonsense out of the way, we began practicing with our ship more, and, with Amahd steering and Heric creating wind with his magicks, it seems rather possible for us to make our way on the placid waters of the Sunless Sea. Amahd s a capable captain, and he brooks no insolence or backtalk from his rather ragtag “crew.” I am glad he has joined us. ***

We sailed to the southern coast, mostly to practice, but partly to fill in the blank spots on our map. Although we all felt a sense of foreboding, we met no foe there. Instead, a mist on the water concealed an island of great beauty, with geysers and fountains such as I have never seen. I am sad that only Zerai, taking the shape of a young dragon, and myself, who rode him, got to see this. Someday, I will return with the others, and I will show them there is beauty here as well as fear.

When Amahd complained that we had no flag, I returned home with Heric and Zerai very briefly. I took some leather hide and stains and returned. I have made it my project to create a “flag” of leather for us, showing a nine-pointed star for the Morning Star company. I am also making a leather covering for my shield, which will show a snarling wolf. If it is slashed in battle, I can always fix it with a spell of mending.

With the island explored and camp struck, we decided that we’d explored enough ,and it was time to investigate some of the places on our map. We have agreed to scout out the location of the sunken elven city marked on our map. As we prepared to sail in its direction, Father Baer cast a spell which he says points paths out to him, and, to my amazement, it did, in fact, point diagonally down, into the Sunless Sea, when asked to show the way to the “sunken elven city.” I exhaled when he said this, and I realized I had been holding my breath. Although I have been fascinated by the idea, I suppose I did not really believe the city was there until now. We are now sailing towards the location that Baer indicates, preparing to descend by magickal mans and explore this possible homeplace of the elesi. What will we find there? I cannot say. I have my hopes, and I have my fears. We shall soon see. ****

Until then, my nephew, I remain your loving Uncle,

Daeron


* Hey, all. Well, we didn't play, week before last, so I didn't post, and then I couldn't get into the Messageboards because of the limit. So, anyway, here's the latest info. No stat blocks, yet. I will try to get those.

** This may have been one of the sharpest and most intense sequences of roleplaying in the game in ages. I was letting everyone read the contract (that Amahd's player had really written out), and Silvermane's player just raised an eyebrow and said, in his deep voice, "If the Captain says it is acceptable, then it is acceptable." And then all Hell broke loose. It didn't help matters when Silvermane's player said, "If the Captain gives an order, and you disagree, then maybe you should leave the group." THAT wasn't very popular. :) Finally, I got everyone calmed down with Daeron's usual tactful speaking, and I think everyone's satisfied that I will be enough of a leaderwithout being too much of a leader. Oy. Like I need this. ;)

*** This was pretty funny stuff. Once the Folding Boat was open, Amahd's player assumed command, and explained the concept of swabbing and such. There's also a rather comic bit around the fact that Amahd is aghast at this tiny little boat we're making him capatin of. I think he was hoping for something larger.

**** I was sure there'd be SOMETHING. The fact that Baer's spell is pointing the ay to an actual sunken elven city is a surprise to me. I'm excited. Hope we can find something there to use against the aboleth.

- Andy
 
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Broccli_Head said:
good to see you again. great idea to go sailing on the sunless sea.

Heya, BH. Well, we got to the point where the coinage was no longer being kept track of, but simply written as "Obscene Amount of Wealth" under the description of the Bag of Holding. Knowing that we needed to be able to travel around on the Sunless Sea, we traded in a chunk of our obscene wealth for a folding boat, and then Heric got the idea of controlling hte weather to propel it around. When Xanthius's player retired Xanthius and brought in Amahd, he made him a water gensai/acquatic elf who was a ship's captain. Made things easier for us, and tied him into the group nicely, bcause we'd been advertising for an experienced sailor who'd be willing to travel in the Underdark.

- Andy
 

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