Don't laugh..... it's here.

[Hairy Minotaur]

The Dearly Departed

But it was too late, a chorus of blows rang down upon the slumbering dragon and the floor beneath the dragon's head was transformed into a cutting board for swords. Gronar, Omar and Lothred cheered their success. The latent dream of all adventures to crush a mighty dragon had been realized.

Even the alien intellect of the umber hulks understood the magnitude of what just transpired, and they began backing away form the party and back down the corridor. Luciann made sure their retreat was in earnest by blasting the short hallway with a fireball frying the first couple of umber hulks and causing the rest to turn theirs backs and flee.

Paquito raced to help Luciann off the ground and together the two of them looked for the body of Finrod. Omar went to the downed lich and began disrobing the fleshless being, looking for any signs of magical treasures. Gronar proudly displayed his greatsword, held high over the fallen dragon.

"We must seek the lair of this dragon and collect our winnings" Lothred shouted.

"Gold! Piles and piles of gold! To swim in a sea of gold is the only reason a dwarf would ever learn to swim." Omar states

Korg and Ratchet reached the pit where Finrod's torn body is found.

"Elfy still alive." Korg speaks

"I don't think anything would be alive looking like that." Rachet counters

"No, Korg know Elfy still alive, Elfy still bleeding. No bleed, dead. Bleed, alive." Korg answers and uses his remaining spells to revive the downed elf to nearly full strength.

Paquito and Luciann pour over the work tables and texts leftover from the lich. They examine the large glass tubes and discover the left one still have a body in it that is apparently still alive, or animated.

"We're wasting valuable time skimming the musings of a mad man, there's riches to be gained! Components to be had (Lothred says while poking the dead dragon)! Let's go!" Lothtred commands as he points down the passageway from whence the dragon came.

Gronar, Omar, Korg, Ratchet and Finrod all lined up behind the magister, ready to clear out whatever composed the dragon's hoard.

"You ready?" Luciann asked Paquito

"These books are worth thousands, and none of them are on necromancy nor arcane knowledge, most are about faith and creation. Why would the lich have these? Seems counterproductive. No?"

"Maybe he was an eclectic reader?" Luciann responds as he too gets in step behind the rest of the group as they head off into the dragon carved passageway.

The passageway turned to the left, then right and turned back on itself.

"Maze. This dragon wanted it's secrets kept safe. Keep a sharp eye out, in fact, dwarf why don't you lead." Lothred demands

Omar no sooner turns the corner than gets impaled with a dart trap, pinning the dwarf to the corner wall as hundreds of tiny spiders crawl forth from the holes left by the dart's departure.

The party had a difficult time taking down the twin swarms, but they soon prevailed, however not without some bumps and bruises. Omar called forth the power to heal his wounds, but his prayers went unanswered and no healing abilities were granted. Confused and feeling isolated, Omar voted that they return to the minotaur lair and rest up before proceeding.

Lothred would have none of that however. Insisting that the treasure lay just beyond the next turn and that the worst of the traps had been defeated, he slowly began inching himself down the hallway. Korg convinced Gronar that the best action would be to rest up and then come back with a few wheelbarrows and slaves to help carry the gold out.

"No! there shall be no retreat while I lead this rabble!" Lothred shouts and produces a thin metal rod from within a hidden pouch on the inside of his robe. Lothred raises the rod into the air and becomes wracked with pain and he begins screaming in two voices.

"That's my body!"

"You lost it, I found it"

"You're through!"

"You never started!"

Lothred's shattered mind compels his body to rush headlong down the corridor and turn the corner. A brilliant flash of light followed by a cloud of fire and smoking debris, then a zap of electricity and the smell of human hair.

Without a trap disarming rogue, the party decides to head back above ground and rest up before seeing what became of Lothred.

That night however was restless for a few people, starting with Korg.

The hill giant appears in Garastus and Umtala's court, Umtala sits on her throne of marble and beckons Korg forward. He stops a step away from the dais which their thrones sit. Kneeling he bows his head.

"I have been watching your progress young priest of mine, I have been pleased with efforts, especially against the aspects of Vaprak. For as you know, Vaprak likes to think of himself as the creator of my wayward children. It pleased me so, watching his powerful essence fade away at the hands of one of my priests. And while Garastus refuses to admit it, he too enjoyed failure Vaprak endured."

"I had intended upon bestowing you a token of my favor, yet what I saw this afternoon troubles me. I watched as a powerful creature of the earth was slaughtered, not in combat, not by poisons, not by time, and not through willing sacrifice. I watched as my priest did nothing, but watch as an elven masquerader compelled the mighty warrior to lay still so that it may be easily bested. You follow the Umtala way of strength, yet this act was most assuredly not rooted in that foundation."

"But your holiness, I did not know of the dragon's intentions" Korg replies

"I do not expect my followers to know such information. I do expect my followers to adhere to my edicts. The strong will prevail, but only by getting stronger and overcoming our challenges through the strength of our faith. Weakness is a sign of those with no faith, and those with no faith never learn anything. Had Korg the mighty stood against a coherent dragon and beaten it, oh the annuals and sonnets that would be written about you. Had Korg the mighty stood his ground against the dragon and never backed down and showed the dragon you respect the earth much as it does, that would show the strength of faith. However Korg the meek, allowed an elven masquerader to believe that waiving a magic stick and having the dragon take death like a simpering goblin, does not show me you have the strength of faith needed to carry my banner across the Mountains of Twilight."

"But as I am confident that you have merely mistepped along your way, I offer you these choices. One, Lose access to the Strength domain until such time I have deemed that you have atoned. Two, speak with the copper dragon and ask it for forgiveness and pledge to fulfill one request of it. Three, without the use of any prayers you must travel to my nearest temple and speak to the scion within."

"Choose wisely and do not falter in the strength of your faith. I also caution you thusly, the elven masquerader in your midst does not follow the way of the strong, he will lead you astray. He is not born of earth and he bears no allegiance to it, do not allow him to show you the weaker path. It is not the path of giants."

The throne room slowly fades and the holy symbol of Umtala comes into view, the mighty hill giant sighs a breath of defeat, then catches himself. He would be strong, he will be Korg, and no more of listening to puny Elfy's.

 

[Jon Potter]

I didn't realize that was a copper dragon.

And the lich had a bunch of holy texts.

And the party clerics are having spell casting troubles.

Ummm... oops!

"I have been watching your progress young priest of mine, I have been pleased with efforts, especially against the aspects of Vaprak.

And I must admit that I don't recall this bit. Care to refresh my memory?

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

I didn't realize that was a copper dragon.

And the lich had a bunch of holy texts.

And the party clerics are having spell casting troubles.

Ummm... oops!




And I must admit that I don't recall this bit. Care to refresh my memory?

Blunt trauma from the DM applied to player heads it looks like.

I wasn't sure if the holy texts were the dragon's or the lich's. Was the dragon reading good stuff, and the lich siezed control of it? Or was the lich somehow good too?

Who needs an elfy in the party anyway?

Does the Elf player show up here to read?

GW

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Those posts were gobbled up the the board meltdown. Do you remember the ogre-like creature that had elven children chained to himself? That was an aspect of Vaprak, they also destroyed a magical item that prevented another aspect from entering the prime as well (although at the time the PCs didn't know that).


The lich was EVIL, what is was doing and why it only had those apparent items will be revealed in the next post. Although you might gleam it from knowing the nature of copper dragons and one of Paquito's last comments before they entered the dragon's "maze".

The party didn't know they did anything wrong either and I sought the advice of a great many people (including this board) on how I should handle it with regards to the good PCs and the clerics of deities/domains of earth/strength/dragons etc...

The next post has a lot of soul searching and investigative work, and the aforementioned attonement spell that shakes up the group. (Korg casts it, but not on himself)

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Those posts were gobbled up the the board meltdown. Do you remember the ogre-like creature that had elven children chained to himself? That was an aspect of Vaprak, they also destroyed a magical item that prevented another aspect from entering the prime as well (although at the time the PCs didn't know that).


The lich was EVIL, what is was doing and why it only had those apparent items will be revealed in the next post. Although you might gleam it from knowing the nature of copper dragons and one of Paquito's last comments before they entered the dragon's "maze".

The party didn't know they did anything wrong either and I sought the advice of a great many people (including this board) on how I should handle it with regards to the good PCs and the clerics of deities/domains of earth/strength/dragons etc...

The next post has a lot of soul searching and investigative work, and the aforementioned attonement spell that shakes up the group. (Korg casts it, but not on himself)

Yep, I remember that guy, and the room of bones with the thing in the middle.

I still remember some of what you posted before. Sadly it is lost.

Now I can't wait for the next update.

GW

 

[Jon Potter]

Yep, I remember that guy too. Didn't remember him as an aspect of Vaprak, though.

So, just speculating, but the logical choice for an atonement spell is Omar. And the dwarf paragon goes to a giant for the spell? That seems... counterproductive.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

How much is your faith worth?

Paquito asks the giants and Coridorrian to take a contingent of minotaurs back to the lich’s lab and bring back anything not nailed down. Once down at the lab however, the giant’s and the minotaurs reach an impasse.

“Gronar want to go look where dragon came from.” The hill giant stood defiantly as the minotaurs loaded up books and manuscripts on top of an old table they transformed into a serviceable skid.

“We don’t know what’s in there we might all die, and WE can simply not afford that.” Coridorrian states, emphasizing the word “we”

“Korg, want you think? Gronar think horn heads is too wimpy. Gronar think giants not have any problems down there.” Gronar replies pointing down the long hallway from which the dragon came yesterday. Korg however had other things on his mind, as he failed to hear Gronar’s question.

“Korg?” Gronar said as he nudged the fellow hill giant, “Korg!” he yelled

Korg snapped out of his daze and just shrugged his shoulders; the beaten and broken body of the dragon brought back memories of his visit to Umtala’s realm. Korg’s failure weighed heavily on his mind, “Korg, going to help minotaurs today, then think about what Korg will do tomorrow.”

Gronar felt hurt as Korg seemed to ignore him, ever since they triumphed over the dragon and lich, Korg seemed to not want to be bothered.

With the last of the loose ends of the lab packed up, Coridorrian checked out the three large glass tubes filled with an opaque liquid that bubbled every now and then. Press an eye to the middle tube, she was startled by something dark squirming against the inside of the tube. Steeling herself, the maze mage peers into the tube again and gets an eyeful of terror as she twists away from the tube and backs up a good twenty feet, she then order her minions back to the maze with the recovered items as quickly as possible. The two giants comply while looking back at the tubes, but do not peek inside them.

Once they group had returned to the maze, Coridorrian orders most of the books to her private quarters and the rest of the manuscripts and supplies she has brought to the armory. She requests a meeting with Paquito and waits impatiently outside of his room.

Korg declines a lunch with Gronar, and instead retires to his quarters where he sits in quiet meditation, sitting in the dark naked with as much of himself in contact with the earth as possible.

“Korg!” Omar shouts as he nearly breaks down the door to gain access to Korg’s room.

Korg jumps out of his meditation and into the now as Omar rushes to Korg’s side and shakes him, trying to wake him from what Omar assumes is a nap.

“What dwarf want with Korg? Dwarf not tell when Korg meditating to Umtala?” The hill giant protests

“Gah! You’re naked!” Omar shouts as he averts his stare to the opposite wall, “Korg, I’m in big trouble. I’ve got no spells and I seem to have lost contact with my deity.”

“Korg think you not pray hard enough. Maybe you need to dig hole and sit in it for a week to get closer to your god.” The hill giant offers

“You got to help me, I can’t fix what’s wrong if I don’t know what I did.” Omar weeps

“Squat one make good point. Although Korg hardly the person to fix your problem. Dwarf need to find someone else of dwarf faith.” Korg explains

“There is no one and if we go back down to wipe out the umber hulks, I’ll be useless. What is a cleric without access to healing or spells? A beggar, that’s what.” Omar pleads

“If Korg try, will squat man leave Korg alone for rest of Korg life?” The hill giant asks

“Yes, I promise!” Omar begs

Korg nods and returns to a sitting position on the floor, Omar watches as Korg’s body seems to melt into the floor below them and disappears altogether. Having seen this before, Omar pulls a pillow off of Korg’s bed and sits himself down on it to wait for the giant’s return.

Paquito finally rises from his nap and lets Coridorrian into his room.

“Look at this! I found this below, I thought you would want to see it first before word got out amongst the rest of the them.” The maze mage advises, referring to everyone else currently in the minotaur’s maze.

Paquito turns the cured skin of some animal’s hide book cover over in his claws and looks up questionably at his maze mage, “Surely I will contract some sort of disease from this. No?”

“Start near the back, it’s a journal. Reads the last few entries.” Coridorrian presses


Day 78 – Managed to convert most of the dragon’s hoard into raw materials, thanks to the gate in the Unclean book. A group of elves wandered up through the dragon’s auditorium, apparently planning on watering the plants I killed off a week ago. I surprised them and all five succumbed to unconsciousness. I will use them for barter with the yugoloth.

Day 91 – Lac is complete, I have begun taming the local umber hulk population, and they tell me of a minotaur tribe above us. I re-sculpted my construct to the likeness of a minotaur.

Day 112- After finally breaking through to the maze above us, I have discovered the tribe in disarray and without effective leadership. I have begun picking off stragglers here and there, and plan to trade them to the yugoloth.

Day 113 – I traded the minotaurs, the elves, and some umber hulks to the yugoloth for the ioun stone and the Hammer of Making. My lab is now complete. I scryed for a gorgon and upon locating one some distance from here, I brought back it’s carcass to the lab.

Day 114 – The crossbreeding is a success, my gorgotaur stands ready to serve me, as the fading minotaur tribe is starting to put up a resistance to my minions. I have located the body of their former leader along with a powerful abyssal conduit. I am going to try and merge their dead leader with a summoned osiluth to see what pops out.

Day 115 – My new creature walks today, it’s former husk crawls with thousands of fiendish scorpions, I have sent it up to terrorize the last vestiges of his former tribe. I need no interruptions as I complete my next experiment. The dragon had a visitor today, a dryad walked into the lab, surpassing all of my wards. I crushed her will, then her spirit, then pillaged her body for replacement parts. The rest of her I will see what can be used in my experiments

Day 119 – I traded the rest of the dragon’s forgotten hoard for a block of metal from the prison walls of Carceri, the emerald armor of a disgraced paladin, and the flayed skin of a nalfeshnee. I have added on an additional holding tank to my lab and will try to combine inanimate objects along with the creatures with my next round of creations.

Day 120 – I have decided on my next direction, however I felt the teleportation magic from an old source above me. The life sols have nearly doubled, the minotaurs must have gotten outside assistance. I smell a half-blood among them, I feel I shall have more samples to play with soon.


“I fear once the elves learn of the dragon’s fate, we will be unable to stop the blood that will be shed on both sides. No?”

“Actually I was referring to the crossbreeding experiments, maybe we could use them for our own purposes?” Coridorrian responds

“Oh sure, there’s that too. Maybe you should look into that. No?” Paquito replies to the excited maze mage

Korg resurfaces in front of a weary Omar.

“What did you learn?” Omar says as he leaps to his feet

“Your god is angry at you for the part you played in the destruction of the dragon.” Korg’s voice was deeper and much more articulate that Omar ever remembered it being.

“How do I fix it?” Omar inquired as he cut off Korg

“Umtala has agreed to grant you atonement, but you must declare you faith to be that of the Fire and of the Earth, instead of the Forge and Fire.” Korg announces

“Agreed!” Omar shouts without thinking

Disappointment rains upon Korg’s face as he begins to intone the words of the spell, Umtala was right. This one had no faith worth saving.

 

[Jon Potter]

Yeah! Another update! I was afraid that this one had gone the way of Tharhack.

Omar shouts as he averts his stare to the opposite wall, “Korg, I’m in big trouble. I’ve got no spells and I seem to have lost contact with my deity.”

I was right!

“Start near the back, it’s a journal. Reads the last few entries.” Coridorrian presses

Well that journal certainly cleared up a lot of mysteries that had been piling up.

“Umtala has agreed to grant you atonement, but you must declare you faith to be that of the Fire and of the Earth, instead of the Forge and Fire.” Korg announces

“Agreed!” Omar shouts without thinking

Disappointment rains upon Korg’s face as he begins to intone the words of the spell, Umtala was right. This one had no faith worth saving.

So... what will this development mean for the future, I wonder? Did Omar actually switch domains, or was that "declaration of faith" fluff alone?

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

So... what will this development mean for the future, I wonder? Did Omar actually switch domains, or was that "declaration of faith" fluff alone?

He switched domains (and his current deity does not have earth as a domain).... What did his deity think of that? You'll find out in the next post.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Farewell and Hello

“The trees have told me that the elves are surrounding the maze.” The maze mage reports

“It won’t be long now, best to get the tribe below in the lich’s lab. No?”

“I have already begun those preparations; however your giants refuse to help.” Corridorian counters

*sigh* “I’ll go talk to them make sure the entrance is collapsed before midnight. No?”

The maze mage nods and heads off to round up the remaining minotrices. Paquito enters the entrance foyer and encounters Korg and Gronar, their belongings stacked against the far wall.

“What’s this? You are leaving me for the elves. No?”

“No, Korg go heal scar with Umtala. Korg not needed here no more, no one left to preach to.” The hill giant explains

“What makes you think that, I still need you, the tribe still needs you. No?”

“This not Korg tribe, Pokey will be fine. Little man not be fine.” Korg replies

“Little man? What does that mean, and why are you leaving now before an impending assault from the elves? You are afraid perhaps? No?”

“Korg only fear loss of Umtala, Korg must go find center of Korg and fix hole. Korg will miss Pokey.” A single tear drains down Korg’s cheek as the cleric and his hill giant protector collect their things and head up the stairs and into the early evening dusk light.

Paquito nearly topples over, the two best fighters he knew were gone and the two people he was counting on not letting a single elf into the maze. He heard the hissing of the lizardman behind him, tempting him with power. Taunting him with the loss of two hill giants, the promise of an offensive onslaught. The lizardman could easily sneak out and wipe out all the surrounding elves before dawn. All that would serve was to delay the inevitable for a few hours.

Paquito drew in a deep breath and eased out his last bit of hope, he turned and motioned for the lizardman to approach.

“The minotrices have been moved, I will summon some thoqqua to bring down the entrance to the maze.” The maze mage paused as if to question something, then thought better and left Paquito to ponder failure his own way. She crossed the floor, aiming for the opposite exit but stopped and turned back, “Are you sure you got all of Taurranous’ stain out?”

“You imply that I have not. No?”

“Simply that I feel uncomfortable down there, like sitting below a dam and watching as it cracks before you, knowing that you’re about to drown.” The maze magic replied

“Now you tell me? The giants have left, the flaky sorcerer ran off and now you tell me Taurranous is still alive. I feel happy about this truly. No?”

“I’m not implying he’s alive, only that maybe you missed something.” The maze mage counters

“I have the eyes of a hawk, if I missed anything it’s because it was buried beneath miles of solid rock. No?” Paquito answers

“Maybe you should look again.” The maze mage says as she finishes her exit out of the room

Paqutio mulls over the request, collapse the entrance and hide, look again down below and hope to find whatever Corridorian felt soon enough to placate the elves, or stand and fight now and forever more.

A rapping on the door brought the half-dragon out of he meditative trance, “yes?” came the reply

“I’m heading back down below the maze again, I could use your help. No?”

A few moments later a battle-dressed Sillaqui opens the door, “It’s about time you brought me along, and singing to the walls was getting very annoying.”

“If it was irritating you, you should have let me know, I know how to scratch an itch. No?”

Paquito gathers Ratchet, Omar, Luciann, Finrod and Gorfine as well, “Well, at least we’ll have lots of magic and monster fodder.” Paquito says implying Finrod was the fodder

“What does that mean? And where are Korg and Gronar? You’re leading us to our deaths aren’t you?” Finrod exclaims

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing, we can’t fight the elves, so we’re going to go fight Taurranous again without the giants because I think we have a better shot at that.” Paquito pauses and then finishes, “Idiot. No?”

“Either way it’s fine with me as long as you die in the process.” Gorfine adds

“Not to worry.” Sillaqui states holding back Paquito, “after spending so much time with minotaurs recently, I am certain I could sterilize him with a lightening bolt.”

“That’s enough foreplay. No?”

“Sick.” Ratchet comments

The part heads out and retraces their steps after Taurranous was defeated, they come across a “T” in the corridor and take the path they neglected the first time. Traveling for over a mile in a passageway that transforms from rough stone into smooth worked stone, Paquito feels confident that he did miss something and that it would be found at the end of the passage.

Reaching the end of the passage, the side walls and ceiling disappear, the floor continues for another twenty feet before it starts to drop at a steep sixty degree angle.

“Wow.” Omar says wow, wow, wow his voice echoes across a cavern whose dimensions are unseen even in darkvision

The party cautiously descends the ramp, as Sillaqui begins to sing an ancient elven song of courage.

“This is where I’d ambush us, there’s no way to go and if we leap off the edge we can’t tell if there’s even a floor below.” Gorfine suggests

The party reaches the bottom of the ramp and step out onto a sandy type of black dirt. A faint buzzing sound can be heard to either side of them.

“I don’t like this, maybe we should go back?” Finrod complains

“Look up ahead.” Omar points out a large seated figure in the darkness, even his underdark sight fails to bring out any details in the figure’s form.

The party readies for battle, unsheathing weapons and beginning defensive incantations. As they do so the buzzing sound gets louder and closer.

“What is that?” Ratchet asks

“Sounds like wasps.” Sillaqui answers

“Pfft, down here? What would they eat?” Gorfine asks

At the edge of his sight, Omar spies a darkening cloud race towards him at hurricane speed, the buzzing crescendos into body vibrating hum.

“Incoming!” Omar shouts as he readies a spell, “Scorching ray!” Omar shouts to no effect. “Scorching ray!” the dwarf shouts with more urgency this time, again his god fails to answer

Paquito remembered back to what Korg said as he left, that “The little man wouldn’t be okay.” Paquito starts forward to grab the dwarf, “Omar retreat!” unfortunately Paquito’s voice is drowned out by the drone of hundreds of wasps.

“AAAAIIEEEE!!!!” Omar screams as the wasps land all over him and envelope the dwarf in a thick cloud of undulating stingers. Omar claws at his throat as the wasps force their way into the cleric’s mouth and down his throat. They march their way through his ear canal and up his sinuses. Even entering his armor and assaulting other less inviting openings. The entire attack lasted less than twelve seconds.

Suddenly there was no sound, no more buzzing. Omar’s form stood motionless facing the sitting creature, which hadn’t moved, more concernedly there were no wasps to be found.

“Omar?” Finrod asks

The dwarf’s head rose, and the buzzing started again.