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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8934808" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 44: THE CLOCKWORK DRAGON OF TALLHAT CANYON</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 9</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 4 February 2023</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"Bring forth the prisoners!" commanded Father Bones, and a line of nine men in shackles were brought forth upon the platform. There was little hope of them trying to make a break for it, for not only were they hobbled by short chains around their ankles, but each wrist was manacled to a belt around the prisoners' waists, limiting the movement of their arms to a few scant inches, and each neck sported a metal collar, through which a thick chain attached the prisoner to the man immediately before him. The heavy chains did more than limit their movement, they also dampened their spirits - for each sinner knew his fate at this point in his miserable life was written in stone and immutable.</p><p></p><p>"My Lord Akari has made His stipulations known to me!" intoned the high priest, raising a sacrificial dagger high above his skull in a skeletal hand. "Nine lives for the return of the man upon the altar! Nine evil men to be brought to their everlasting doom, to return to life one good soul whose accomplishments upon the face of this world have yet to be completed!" With that, Father Bones - wearing only his black hooded robe, revealing his fleshless skull, hands, arms, and feet - plunged the blade into the heart of the first prisoner, then going down the line, stabbing each man in turn through the heart with a single blow. The chains separating the prisoners were long enough to allow the others yet to be slain to remain standing while their brothers in sin fell before them; finally, when all nine had been slain, Father Bones handed the bloody dagger to an associate - who wore similar black robes but was quite obviously still in the bloom of life - and finished his ceremonial speech. "Lord Akari, God of Death and Undeath, we beseech you to accept these foul murderers into your blackest Hell, and return to life the half-orc Wakuren, slain before his time while actively and selflessly saving the lives of others!"</p><p></p><p>The audience stirred in wonder as the half-orc's body stirred upon the stone altar, behind Father Bones and the nine dead men upon the sacrificial platform. He groaned and sat up, clearly confused about where he was, for his last memory had been of fighting the crystal golem in the cave of the dragon at the bottom of the Flameshaft mine crevice. But he recognized Father Bones, and in fact was able to determine that this was the Father Bones of Baron's Haven, the head priest of Akari in that city. For him to be here meant several things: he had died fighting the golem, and his dreamwalking friends had backtracked here to the nearest of two men capable of casting a <em>true resurrection</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>"You feeling okay?" Zander asked him once the assembly had departed, most of the members of the audience having shown up not to watch the miracle of life being restored to a dead man, but to watch the sacrifice of the nine murderers brought forth in chains. Wakuren not only looked tired and confused; he also looked to have been diminished in some undefinable way.</p><p></p><p>"Tired," Wakuren admitted. "A little weak."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, no wonder," Thurloe replied, then proceeded to tell the half-orc about the powerslug that had phased out of the back of the half-orc's neck after his death at the crystalline fists of the golem.</p><p></p><p>"Father Bones said the wee beasties are often found in the Centralia Desert," Alewyth pointed out. "Chances are, you picked it up when we were fighting that band of orcs - or after, when we were examining their corpses." Wakuren shuddered at the thought of a slug-monster living inside his body, pumping him full of adrenaline and increasing his capability - and desire - for combat. He thought back at the two times in recent weeks when he'd pounded enemy wizards' faces against unyielding stone until they became unrecognizable piles of pulpy flesh. It almost seemed as if the memories belonged to someone else - certainly not to the half-orc who so worried about his bestial appearance that he refused to carry a weapon, trusting in his <em>shield of Cal</em> in the times when combat became necessary or unavoidable.</p><p></p><p>Xandro led the group back to the temple of Delphyne, where Alewyth opened the secret passage in the back wall and flipped the book kept there to the correct page. Then, deciphering the correct command phrase, she said the words that <em>teleported</em> the five heroes across the miles to a similar shrine of the Goddess of Magic in the city of Centraldale. Scarlie Besker was sitting in their wooden wagon, taking a swig from his wineskin, the other riding mounts tied in a line behind him. "Right on time," he said, putting his wineskin back in place on his belt. "You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you," he said to his fellow half-orc.</p><p></p><p>"No doubt," Wakuren replied.</p><p></p><p>It was a four-day trek back towards the mining city of Flamecleft, but a day in Mogo alerted them to a slight change in plans. "There's a new dreamer stuck in his dreams, kupo!" he said through the dreamstones attached to the dreamwalkers' signature items. "Before you wake the dreamer in Drayleton, you need to head northeast toward the Shieldwall Mountains - I'll show you the specifics on a map when you show up in the Dreamlands tonight, kupo!" In the meantime, he gave them a general heading and allowed them to continue on their journey - this new dreamer wasn't too far out of the way from where they would have originally been heading. But Wakuren's death and need for resurrection would end up putting them a total of nine days behind their normal schedule: four days backtracking to Centraldale so they could <em>teleport</em> all the way back to Baron's Haven, then a day there to make the proper arrangements, and now four days to the next dreamer in line. Thurloe spent the travel time in the back of the wagon, poring over his captured spellbooks, figuring out how to cast a few new spells he had yet to master.</p><p></p><p>But the first night in the Dreamlands after Wakuren's return to life, they decided to "peek" at the dream they'd be entering when they arrived at the dreamer's site. The dreamer was a human, a bit on the stocky side, and wearing a trifold hat. Judging from the locale of the dream, he seemed to be inside a tomb of some sort: one of those tombs built by crazed wizards who filled their dungeons with puzzles and traps. The man was leaning over a grid of letters, each carved into a separate rectangle where it appeared some of the rectangles could be moved side to side or up and down. But although the five dreamwalkers were able to step right up beside the dreamer and examine his efforts, they could not interact with him or his dream, merely observe - they'd need to be at his side in the Mortal World for them to be able to impact his dream.</p><p></p><p>On their fourth day out from Centraldale, they entered a badlands: an extension of the Centralia Desert at the middle of the continent, this part resulting in high canyon walls and narrow passageways between them - fortunately none of them narrow enough to prevent the wagon from advancing, but narrow enough that the riders were forced to go single file.</p><p></p><p>Soon, though, they approached their sleeping victim, at the beginning of a virtual maze of high canyon walls, with an odd rock formation shaped like a witch's hat rising up from a slab of stone. They could see a few canvas tents in place within the canyon passageways and hear the sounds of picks hitting stone; to Alewyth's practiced ears, it sounded very much like a mining operation. But Thurloe could tell this was something a bit different than mining. "It's an archaeological dig," he observed.</p><p></p><p>Scarlie led the mules off to the side of a wide section of canyon, the last such place before the entrance to the canyon-maze where the tents were set up. Dismounting and approaching on foot, they saw the backs of three people facing the far canyon wall. One was a male elf, digging up a shovelful of sand and placing it in a sieve, then shaking it off to the side while a female elf looked on. Another woman, this one a human, strummed softly on a lute while looking on in curiosity.</p><p></p><p>"Excuse us," said Wakuren, causing the three figures to jump in startlement. The elf's eyes grew wide at seeing a half-orc standing before her, but Wakuren was used to such reactions. Holding out his hands to show they were empty, he said, "We have come to help you awaken someone who had been asleep for several days," he said.</p><p></p><p>"How-- how did you know about that?" sputtered <strong>Elystriana Ambervue</strong>. Xandro took up the explanations, telling the group in brief about their status as dreamwalkers, the Nightmare King's curse, and their successes thus far. During the explanations another human woman came over, introducing herself as <strong>Lizabet Russelton</strong>. She was a no-nonsense type, her dark hair tied back in a bun to keep it out of the way; she'd been examining the gnomish pottery shards they'd unearthed thus far in a tent off to the west. That set off a wave of introductions; the elf with the sieve was named <strong>Kaelbryn Scollock</strong> and the female bard <strong>Robin the Balladeer</strong>, who explained she wasn't officially part of the expedition, merely a wanderer who had run into the archaeologists and offered her assistance in cataloging what they'd found, for she had an interest in history.</p><p></p><p>"What is it you're looking for?" asked Zander.</p><p></p><p>"There are rumors of a hidden gnome community active thousands of years ago at the foot of Tallhat Canyon," replied Elystriana, pointing up at the rock formation giving the location its name. "We've been financed to check it out."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well, all very interesting and all," replied Thurloe, whose attitude indicated he didn't find the topic the least bit interesting, "but do you want to lead us to your dreaming cohort?"</p><p></p><p>"He's our expedition leader, actually," corrected Lizabet. "<strong>Percivane Weatherford</strong>. He's been asleep for three full days now, but he doesn't seem to be in the least bit of danger, and he'd be the first to insist the project continued on." She led them to the men's tent, a canvas structure just big enough to hold Percivane and the much thinner Kaelbryn; another tent further to the west was where Elystriana and Lizabet slept; Robin slept out in the open, near the mule enclosure - an open-air canvas roof providing shade for the expedition's two mules. At Xandro's suggestion, they dragged Percivane's sleeping form out into the canyon passageway, where they'd have more room to perform their ritual. Zander activated his <em>jade cooshee</em>, instructing the elven dog to watch over them as they slept; Robin immediately started petting the dog and rubbing him behind the ears, which if his wagging tail was any indication he did not mind in the least. Then, with a dreamstone held in place by the leather headband around Percivane's brow, and the five dreamalkers seated in a circle around him, each wearing their own dreamstone and headband, they began slowing their hearts, turning off their thoughts, and entering a dream state. Within minutes, each of the five was fast asleep, their dream-selves meeting up in the Dreamlands.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, kupo!" greeted Mogo as usual, opening a particular door in the Corridor of Dreams. Stepping through, they stood beside Percivane Weatherford, bent over his stone-letter puzzle. "Whatcha got there?" piped up Zander in a friendly manner.</p><p></p><p>If Percivane was surprised to see five strangers join him on his archaeological excursion into an ancient tomb, he didn't express it. "This puzzle, when solved, will open the doors to the vault before us," he said, indicating a pair of sealed stone doors in the wall ahead.</p><p></p><p>"What do we know so far?" asked Alewyth, looking down at the letters on the grid. They read as follows:</p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">R U P T</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">L O W R</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">F U N I</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">G O I G</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">L N G H</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">E C E T</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">F L S E</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">T A I L</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">D O W N</span></p><p></p><p>Along the top, bottom, and sides of the grid were grooves with slots into which a letter could be moved. "Only the letters on the outer edges can be moved," Percivane reported. "The ones in the middle don't move at all, but the ones in the corner can be moved either up and down or sideways." He demonstrated with the "R" in the upper left corner, first moving it into the slot above the letter and then returning it to its starting location, so he could demonstrate it moved to the left just as easily. In either case, when it moved off its starting space it left behind another "R" carved into the stone beneath it.</p><p></p><p>"Do you mind if we give it a go?" asked the dwarven priestess. As a follower of Aerik, God of Protection, Earth, and Stone, she found stone puzzles like this one quite fascinating. Simple experimentation showed her not all the letters that moved had identical letters beneath them; the "U" in the top row, for instance, when moved up, left behind a carved "O" beneath it. But trial and error soon resulted in the following configuration:</p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">....U P</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..R O O T</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..L O W E R</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..F U N G I</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..G O I N G</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">L E N G T H</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">E X C E P T</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">F A L S E</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">T R A I L</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..H E A D</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'courier new'">..D O W N</span></p><p></p><p>"'Uproot lower fungi going length, except false trail - head down'," read Xandro. "Okay, neat, but how did you come up with that particular configuration?"</p><p></p><p>"Look at which letters got moved," replied Alewyth. "The letters spelling out 'UP' got moved up, the ones spelling 'LEFT' got moved to the left, and so on."</p><p></p><p>"So is that the answer?" asked Thurloe.</p><p></p><p>"Look!" cried out Percivane. "The vault doors are opening!" Sure enough, with a rumbling sound the stone doors started swinging open. But none of the heroes got a chance to see what treasures might have been stored within, for the entire dungeon started melting away - a sure sign that the dreamer was waking up. With a heavy sigh, Thurloe started the process to wake himself up from the dream as well, the other dreamwalkers following suit.</p><p></p><p>Waking up, they saw Kaelbryn had apparently gotten bored watching six people sleeping and returned to his sand-sifting chores. Upon the announcement that Percivane had been awakened, though, he helped the two female archaeologists catch their leader up on what all he'd missed over the past three days. Once Elystriana had shown their leader the pottery shards they'd unearthed, Kaelbryn topped it with the announcement, "Hey, I think there's an opening under here!"</p><p></p><p>The elf had been digging several feet down alongside a canyon wall and had discovered a pile of boulders just beneath the sand. "It looks like there was a rockfall at some point - and I can feel cool air coming from between some of these rocks! I'm willing to bet there's an opening in the rock here!"</p><p></p><p>At the archaeologists' request, the five heroes aided them in lugging excavated rocks out of the way, and after about 20 minutes of back-breaking labor they unearthed a horizontal crack in the canyon rock which had been covered by the small boulders. "This could very well be an entrance into a gnomish habitation!" enthused Percivane.</p><p></p><p>Zander was picking up a few small rocks from the pile remaining - the slender elf preferred leaving the larger stones for those a little better enhanced in the strength department - when a hairy paw came slashing out at him from the other side of the opening, scoring a few parallel lines of blood along the back of his hand. The sorcerer dropped the rocks he'd been carrying and scooted back, yelling, "There's something alive in there!" Scurrying back well out of range, he cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself and noting the four archaeologists had likewise stepped back away from any potential combat. His cooshee shook his fur (Robin had been petting him and scratching him behind the ears) and moved up to interpose himself between the creature on the other side of the opening and his master.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe, however, didn't back up quick enough from the potential danger and a furry foreleg reached out to scratch him as well. Alewyth was off to the side, crushing some of the larger rocks with <em>Sjondra</em>, and brought her dwarven warhammer crashing down upon the offending paw, eliciting a sharp bark of pain from the creature. But that allowed Thurloe to likewise back up out of immediate attack range and cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself.</p><p></p><p>Xandro stepped over to Wakuren and cast a <em>heroism</em> spell on the half-orc out of habit; of late, Wakuren had been taking on the role of "combat machine" due to his powerslug-enhanced physical attributes. And while he was no longer as powerful as he'd been under the machinations of the powerslug, he was still used to the role and fully intended to get in on the front lines. However, as he was no longer being injected with increased adrenaline from the inside, he was not in a rage-fueled combat mode and opted to try to handle this situation while dishing out the minimum amount of pain necessary; after all, for all he knew, there was still a gnome community living underground here and this creature could very well just be a watch-beast, serving in much the same way as Zander's cooshee. He used the flat of his shield to knock the dire wolverine on the head when it stuck its head and neck through the opening and tried to bite him. He not only managed to hit him, he knocked the creature out cold - and only then did he notice the strains of Xandro's song of inspiration courage, played not by his bardic companion but rather by Robin the Balladeer.</p><p></p><p>Zander wasn't taking any chances, however; he cast a <em>haste</em> spell on the entire group, half convinced where there was one dire wolvering there was likely to be another. He was wrong in the particulars, but absolutely correct that combat wasn't over because they'd managed to knock out the dire wolverine. This was made readily apparent when the ghost of a gnome came floating through the rock wall of the canyon, about 15 feet above the ground.</p><p></p><p>The gnome was an odd-looking fellow, with a flat-topped hat unlike anything any of the group had ever seen a gnome wear; He otherwise wore a standard spellcaster's robes, and had the typical facial hair associated with every male gnome the heroes had ever met up with - but there were bloodstains on his face, where streams of his blood had been seeping from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The gnome's expression was one of determination, changing instantly to one of fear as he looked down at Thurloe. Immediately, the ghost rose his hands and made a frantic gesture, and a bolt of lightning came crashing down out of the cloudless sky to strike the spellsword in the chest.</p><p></p><p>"Aaagh!" cried Thurloe in surprise and pain. "Alewyth: <em>magic circle!</em>" The dwarven priestess frowned at the spellsword - she didn't particularly like other people telling her what spells to cast - but she bowed to the wisdom of his suggestion and cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell, figuring the ghost was an undead creature and likely evil. She also knew she was standing close enough to Thurloe that he'd be protected by her spell, which was undoubtedly the reason for the spellsword's suggestion in the first place.</p><p></p><p>Glad to be under the spell's protection, Thurloe pulled his <em>wand of magic missiles</em> from his belt and pointed it up at the ghost. He well knew that most physical attacks were likely to pass through an incorporeal creature like the spirit hovering above him, but he also knew that force energy - like the kind making up a <em>magic missile</em> - was one of the few types of energy guaranteed to affect a creature without a physical body. Sure enough, the trio of missiles struck the ghost on the torso, causing him no small amount of pain, judging from his agonized expression.</p><p></p><p>Xandro made a similar attack in that the bard understood it to be particularly effective against ghosts: he ran up the side of the canyon wall high enough to leap up and out at the ghost, tagging his leg with a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell before falling back to the ground on his two feet. As an undead creature, the healing energy of the <em>cure light wounds</em> spell had the exact opposite effect it would have had on a living creature, hurting the ghost instead of healing him. Robin smiled in appreciation of the maneuver, but backed further away from the combat, continuing to play her inspirational tune but not wanting to get into range of any danger herself. After all, she was just a wandering bard with an interest in historical ballads, not one of these adventuring types.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren squinted up at the ghost as he cast a <em>shield of faith</em> spell upon himself, getting himself ready to jump into the fray with their incorporeal opponent. Zander cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the undead gnome, after having seen how effective Thurloe's blast from his wand had been, and the ghost made the immediate decision to retreat back into the solid rock of the canyon wall. This was the portion of rock that gave Tallhat Canyon its name, although Alewyth, the hero furthest east of the group, caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of her eye and saw him dart out of the side of the canyon wall around the corner, fly towards the rock cliff on the other side, and disappear within that stone instead. "He's over here!" she called to her companions. Then, unsure of how they wanted to address the situation with the ghost, Alewyth decided she could at least help in their original task, finding a way into the empty space on the other side of the opening revealed by clearing out the boulders from the ancient rockfall. To that end, she summoned a four-foot-tall earth elemental and sent him earthgliding into the rock, where he started widening the opening with his powerful hands. Once the opening was wide enough, he earthglided his way back out, sunk up to his waist in the solid stone and dragging the unconscious dire wolverine behind him.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe had his bastard sword out and passed over to Alewyth's side of the canyon passageway, looking for where the ghost might have gone. He thought he saw a momentary patch of blue, but when he looked again there was nothing there; recalling the gnome ghost's robes had been a grayish-tan, he put it out of his mind. He pulled out his other wand and used it to give him the added protection of a <em>shield</em> spell while he contemplated his next move.</p><p></p><p>Xandro already knew his own next move, though; he scrambled down on hands and knees to crawl into the entrance the earth elemental had opened up. Once inside, he found himself inside a cramped tunnel, no higher than five feet tall for its entire length and about half that wide in most sections, and realized that would be plenty roomy to a three-foot-tall gnome. On the wall closest to the outside, he discovered - after activating a sunrod so he could see - a series of levers and projections that (after a moment of two of puzzlement) he decided could very well be a system to allow a cascade of rocks outside to collapse, sealing off the entrance. But if that had been indeed the case, that meant the gnome ghost had purposely sealed himself off from the outside world thousands of years ago. <em>That</em> certainly didn't sound promising, especially considering the bloodstains on the ghost's face! Hoping he wasn't about to walk into a plague site, the bard followed the narrow tunnel and saw it forked off into two different caves. The cave on the right contained blankets and wooden crates, all looking to be quite ancient but in remarkable condition. Peeking inside a crate, Xandro saw the remains of various foodstuffs, none of it having lasted through the centuries in any fashion even remotely edible. In the cave on the left, Xandro's worst fears were proven to be true, for stacked up in neat rows were several dozen dead gnomes, the dryness and cool temperatures inside this sealed-off tomb having preserved the corpses in a natural mummification process. Xandro was particularly unnerved to see they all had dried bloodstains on their faces in the same manner as the ghost had displayed; belatedly, he put his sleeve up to his nose and mouth and tried not to breath in any poison that might still be active inside the cave tomb.</p><p></p><p>While Xandro had been exploring inside the first gnome habitation complex, Wakuren was exploring what would prove to be the second. He put his hand up against the rock wall the ghost had apparently flown through (according to Alewyth), and while he moved further east his hand suddenly passed right through the wall. Correctly guessing he'd just pierced a permanent <em>illusory wall</em> spell cast over a cave opening in the canyon cliffside, the half-orc cleric-paladin stuck his head inside, figuring with his innate orcish darkvision he'd be able to see what was inside just fine without a light source.</p><p></p><p>In that he was absolutely correct, but that didn't mean he was going to like what he saw inside. The cave interior was shaped somewhat like a peanut, with the section on the left much smaller than the right side. The left side had apparently been the living quarters of whatever gnome had once lived here (based on the remains of the simple gnome-sized furniture he found there), whereas the rest of the cave had been made into a sort of workshop. And in that workshop stood three immobile statues of metal plates and struts, one obviously patterned after a falcon; one a spider as big around as a dinner plate, and one a wingless dragon slightly larger than a draft horse. But that wasn't all: drifting in the air in the back of the cave was the gnome ghost, bloody face and all, and scattered on the floor at the front of the cave were six blue-scaled lizards, each about the size and general build as an iguana. The lizards all seemed nervous at the intrusion into their lair by first a floating apparition and then by a half-orc in full plate armor; little arcs of electricity sparked off of their scales as they looked worriedly in Wakuren's direction.</p><p></p><p>Instinctively, the half-orc used his paladin training to focus his attention on the auras of the creatures within this cave, somewhat surprised to sense not even a bit of evil in any of them. But evil or not, this was a treasure trove of potential enemies, and Wakuren had no intentions of fighting them off by himself. "Guys?" ha called. "A little help here -- pronto!" Then he cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell and sent it flying in the direction of the hovering ghost; when the heavy mace - formed of pure force energy - struck the undead spirit, it overcame his unearthly structure and he dissipated into nothingness. Wakuren realized that as a ghost he would likely remanifest in a matter of hours or days, but for now at least he was no longer a potential threat.</p><p></p><p>Zander and the cooshee, hearing Wakuren's cries for assistance, ran over towards him, just as the half dozen shocker lizards performed their deadliest defensive maneuver. Arcs of lightning erupted from each lizard, linking them all together in a momentary electrical spider-web before it exploded into a blast of electricity centered upon the lizard closest to the entrance to their lair. The blast struck Wakuren, and inside his full plate mail he was shocked to the point his teeth rattled. Arcs of electricity hit each of the three "statues" as well, but where the hit they seemed to do no damage whatsoever - quite the contrary, the jolt of electrical energy seemed to awaken them from their millennia-long slumber. Light started growing inside the gemstones marking where eyes would be in their terrestrial counterparts: a pair of large diamonds on the part of the clockwork dragon; two pieces of obsidian on the falcon construct; and eight black onyxes on the wicked-looking head of the spider construct. Activated by the lightning strike, gears started spinning and internal components started moving. Most disturbingly of all, a whining noise started building inside the dragon's throat, as if something were charging up.</p><p></p><p>With a sudden movement, the falcon construct spread its wings out wide, metal feathers splayed, and it launched itself from the rock shelf upon which it had been perched and crossed the distance to the cave opening in a mere moment. But Wakuren, senses wide open to any attack by this multitude of foes, brought his <em>shield of Cal</em> slamming down upon the metal bird's head, sending it crashing to the stone floor, where pieces of it broke off and scattered. Just that quickly, the half-orc had taken out yet another foe with one attack.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth had been over by the entrance to the first cave network - the one Xandro had scrambled into - and had just cast a <em>soften earth and stone</em> spell to help widen the passageway so the archaeologists could more easily make their way inside, when she heard Wakuren's cry for help and headed that way, sending her earth elemental ahead of her. Earthgliding through the solid stone wall and finding itself inside a cave with a metal spider construct before it, it lashed out with a stony fist and smashed several of the arachnid's legs on one side. The construct spun about awkwardly and tried biting the elemental creature, but its metal mandibles scratched their way along its stony hide without making much of an impact.</p><p></p><p>The clockwork dragon moved to the front of the cave opening and bit at Wakuren, the hum increasing in volume as it did so. Thurloe saw a bit of what looked like a metal head pop out of the seemingly solid stone wall and, guessing it was an illusion, stabbed his bastard sword into the gap. Sure enough, all it took was for <em>Spellslicer</em> to touch the <em>illusory wall</em> spell for the camouflaged covering over the cave entrance to blink out of existence, revealing the myriad enemies before the spellsword. "Oh, crap!" Thurloe muttered.</p><p></p><p>Xandro crawled back out of the gnome caverns and headed for Wakuren and Thurloe, Robin following, still playing the inspirational tune. Xandro found he was rather enjoying somebody else playing the song of inspirational courage for a change, as it allowed him to contribute towards combat in a more direct fashion. He drew his <em>frost short sword</em> from his scabbard as he approached the clockwork dragon's cave. Behind him, the archaeologists entered the cave network, now that they had some confirmation from the adventurers that any dangerous traps or creatures were not likely present. Percivane Weatherford led the group inside, eager to make up for three days' worth of lost time spent sleeping on this dig.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren took a step back and summoned an air element dire wolf before him, the creature taking form as a mass of swirling winds that gradually took on a lupine form. The half-orc's <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell was still in effect, and he sent it after the clockwork dragon, the impact creating a gonging sound when it struck the construct's partially hollow head. The wolf snapped at the dragon's legs, but its air-blast teeth couldn't seem to do much against legs of solid iron. Zander also approached and sent a <em>scorching ray</em> spell to strike the dragon, and while it seemed to do a bit of harm the construct seemed to have a lot of artificial life left in it. The cooshee tried biting at one of its legs, but found his teeth were no more effective than those of the air element dire wolf.</p><p></p><p>Then the shocker lizards, true to their name and nature, surprised everyone in the vicinity by sending out a burst of electricity arcing out in all directions for a second time. Wakuren took the worst of the blast, but Thurloe and the air element dire wolf were hit as well - as was the earth elemental, who was instantly slain by the electricity coursing through its body and was returned to the Elemental Plane of Earth from where it had been summoned. Unnoticed by the heroes - all of whom were more focused upon the clockwork dragon at the front of the cave opening - the unconscious dire wolverine suddenly vanished, the time limit on its summoning having expired from when the gnome ghost druid had cast a <em>summon nature's ally</em> spell to protect the hidden cave complex that four excited archaeologists were currently exploring to their hearts' content.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth ran up to the front of the cave but instead of leaping immediately into the fray, she cast a <em>cure moderate wounds</em> spell upon Wakuren, who by this time was looking quite frazzled. But then the background hum, which had been building up in intensity, stopped altogether as a mighty blast of electricity erupted from the metal dragon's open mouth and blasted Wakuren's summoned air element dire wolf into nothingness, before striking Wakuren as well and causing him to stagger back on his feet, losing unconsciousness and collapsing into a heap on the ground just outside the cave. Thurloe, seeing how much damage the dragon's electrical blast had done to the stalwart half-orc, blasted the construct with a <em>scorching ray</em> spell of his own before slinking off around the corner to the east, out of view of the clockwork monstrosity. He had no intentions of being the target of a second such blast, and if this metal lookalike was anything like a true dragon, the spellsword imagined it had plenty more follow-up blasts to come.</p><p></p><p>Xandro followed behind Alewyth and cast a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell on the bedraggled half-orc; he wasn't as powerful a healer as the dwarven priestess but he was willing to aid however he could. Wakuren was still unconscious, but the bard at least knew now that he was stable and wouldn't bleed out if they could prevent the dragon from dealing him any more damage. Fortunately, despite Wakuren's current lack of consciousness, his <em>spiritual weapon</em> continued on with its attacks, clanging against the clockwork dragon's metal head with its own focused force energy. Unnoticed, the spider construct started crawling along the wall, making its way toward the cave mouth, ready to follow its automatic programming: to drive off any non-gnomish intruders from the gnomish settlement. (It studiously ignored the shocker lizards, which it recognized as mere animals - and whose electrical blasts had done nothing but power up the construct in the first place.)</p><p></p><p>Fortunately for the elven sorcerer, he had been too far away from the cave opening when both electrical blasts had emanted from the shocker lizards. He did, however, recognize that they proved to be an ongoing danger and needed to be taken out, fast! A well-aimed <em>fireball</em> towards the back of the cave - far enough that it would encompass the clockwork dragon as well as the shocker lizards but not reach the prone Wakuren - killed all of the blue-scaled reptiles in one blast, and also had the bonus consequence of taking out the spider construct that Zander hadn't even known was there on the wall, for it was well out of his sight on the inside of the cave workshop. The cooshee, realizing it couldn't successfully bite the dragon construct and it was too big to try to trip, backed up by his master and put himself between the sorcerer and the dragon.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth cast a <em>mass cure light wounds</em> spell which healed up a small amount of damage to everyone within range, which was just enough to bring Wakuren to full wakefulness. However, the healing came at a cost, for the dragon's head darted forward at the end of its long, flexible neck and clamped its metal teeth down upon the priestess's shoulder. And worse yet, that humming sound which had presaged the electrical breath weapon was starting up again....</p><p></p><p>Thurloe ducked back around the corner long enough to fire off a charge from his <em>wand of magic missiles</em> at the dragon, then ducked back out of view. Xandro backed up, knowing his limited healing was of little use to the front-line combatants. Wakuren took a moment of self-preservation by casting a <em>cure serious wounds</em> spell upon himself, boosting the healing with a charge from his <em>ring of mystic healing</em>. He was then forced to move back as well, but only after seeing Alewyth free herself from the dragon's grasp. And his <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell still pressed on with its attacks.</p><p></p><p>Zander gathered up an appropriate amount of arcane energy and focused it into a spell he'd never cast before: <em>Elobar's black tentacles</em>. At once, the gnome workshop started growing writhing, black appendages from its stone floor, which wrapped themselves around the clockwork dragon's body and limbs, trying to hold it securely in place. The dragon fought back, loosening a few of the rubbery appendages' hold but failing to fully free itself. Alewyth felt confident enough to step up to the dragon - yet still well away from the radius of the writhing appendages - and clonk it in the head with <em>Sjondra,</em> the blow hopefully damaging some delicate inner workings in the gnome-crafted automaton. It bit at Alewyth again, but was still unable to escape the tentacles; Zander nodded to himself in satisfaction and vowed to put the spell to much more use in the future.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe stepped forward and blasted the dragon again with his <em>wand of magic missiles</em>, no longer feeling the need to duck around the corner now that the crushing tentacles were holding the dragon's head and neck in place. Xandro unpacked the <em>Dardolian lute</em> from his back, and in counterpoint to Robin's continued song of inspirational courage, sent a well-placed <em>sound burst</em> into the dragon's chest. Wakuren's <em>spiritual weapon</em> flew above the tentacles, swooping down to strike the dragon's head and then swinging back up out of range. And then Zander, seeing a fairly helpless target, cast another <em>fireball</em> spell into the workshop cave, the clockwork dragon his only target.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth swung <em>Sjondra</em> at the dragon again, but then received a surprise of her own, as the clockwork mechanism burst through the tentacles and exited the cave, nearly bowling her over in the process. Zander frowned, wishing there were some way to move the tentacles after the spell had been cast, but such a maneuver was outside the scope of the spell. Thurloe blasted the dragon with his wand again and then ducked back around the corner. With a dash across the cave opening, Xandro joined him.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren wasn't looking forward to fighting the clockwork dragon directly either if he could help it, so he summoned a celestial bison from the Heavenly Planes. It lowered its shaggy head and charged the dragon, striking him from behind, but even the creature's massive horns weren't powerful enough to do much damage to the construct's metal form. Zander cast another <em>scorching ray</em> at the dragon, <em>fireball</em> no longer being an option with too many allies too close to his target. But at least the repeated fire spells seemed to be doing some damage to the automaton.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth was once again standing directly in front of the clockwork dragon and the humming noise in its throat was powering up, indicating another imminent blast of its electrical breath. Casting a <em>meld into stone</em> spell, she walked into the solid rock of the cave wall, secure in the knowledge she was now safe from any lightning it might choose to send in her direction. But with Alewyth out of range, the dragon spun about and sent its lightning breath directly at the celestial bison, blasting it into oblivion. Wakuren found he didn't even mind, for the great beast would merely be returned to its Heavenly Plane and it had after all served its purpose: taking a bunch of damage that otherwise would likely have been focused onto one or more of the adventurers.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe ducked around the corner and sniped the dragon again with his wand, releasing an involuntary "Eep!" at the realization the clockwork mechanism was now facing in his direction. Xandro opted to stay hidden for the moment, while Robin, still playing her lute, backed slowly away from the action.</p><p></p><p>However, while Robin had wisely opted to turn the corner and back away from the action by taking a passageway leading north (the fight was occurring in a passageway aimed east and west), what she failed to notice was there was a pool of water a bit behind her that was no pool of water at all; the brine ooze, hearing the bard's music, gathered itself up and started slowly heading into her direction, eager for food....</p><p></p><p>Wakuren started backing away from the dragon, heading over to the first cave the archaeologists had unearthed and inside of which they were still undergoing their explorations. In doing so, he put enough distance between himself and his still-active <em>spiritual weapon</em> that the force-mace broke off its attack and retreated to hover beside him. But that was all for the best, for from the half-orc's new vantage point he could see a blob of protoplasm oozing its way towards an oblivious Robin. Calling out a warning, he pointed a finger at the new threat and sent his <em>spiritual weapon</em> charging into the brine ooze's central mass, causing it to ripple to its edges from the force of the blow.</p><p></p><p>Zander cast another <em>scorching ray</em> at the clockwork dragon, as Alewyth came back out of the solid rock wall and struck the automaton in its side with her dwarven warhammer. The dragon's long neck arched around and it bit her once again, but Alewyth didn't mind - she could see the damage they'd already done to it and it seemed considerable - she was willing to bet she'd outlast this metal beastie at the rate they were going, with her nearly fully healed up and it dripping internal bits of machinery with every movement. "We've nearly got it!" she called out, which prompted Thurloe to duck back around from the corner and give the clockwork dragon a final blast from his <em>wand of magic missiles</em>. True to the dwarven priestess's predictions, that was enough to take it out of action once and for all; it crashed to the ground with a melodious discordance.</p><p></p><p>But Wakuren was shouting about some blob monster attacking Robin, so Xandro sprinted forward, turned the corner, dashed past his bardic counterpart and sent a second <em>sound burst</em> directly at the brine ooze. Robin spun in place, saw the approaching danger, and once again backed away, and Xandro couldn't help but admire her composure, for she not once faltered in the words to her song of inspirational courage.</p><p></p><p>The brine ooze remained motionless for a moment, leading Xandro to guess he'd actually temporarily stunned it with his <em>sound burst</em>. Wakuren stepped up, right hand raised, and summoned a <em>javelin of lightning</em> into his gauntlet. Throwing it at the brine ooze, he saw the electricity scatter all across its amorphous body, shocking the blob from one end of its body to the other. His <em>spiritual weapon</em> got in one final hit before it disappeared, the time limit of the spell having expired. Zander blasted the brine ooze with another <em>scorching ray</em> spell, Thurloe tossed a <em>magic missile</em> spell at it from his wand, and Alewyth smashed her hammer down onto it, but it was Xandro that made the killing blow, striking cobra-fast with his <em>frost short sword</em>, causing the creature's amorphous body to lose all cohesion and spill out along the ground like a puddle, slowly seeping into the parched earth.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe gave the nearby canyon passageways a good scan before announcing, "It looks like that's it, guys. Good work." Then they went to go check up on the four archaeologists they'd left to their explorations.</p><p></p><p>"Look at this!" Percivane said excitedly, holding an ancient piece of parchment he'd managed to unfold without destroying it. "It was behind one of these crates." He read the gnomish characters on the page, something none of the adventurers could have done, for none of them were familiar with the Gnomish tongue. "It's a note written by the druidic leader of the gnome settlement, no doubt that ghost we saw fly out of here. It tells of a strange traveler, a 'large, round-eared elf' who staggered into their encampment, nearly dead from sunstroke. The gnomes tended to him as best they could, but he died and was buried nearby. Soon thereafter, the gnomes began bleeding from their facial orifices. This strange, new disease proved to be fatal within a few scant hours. None of the gnomes survived, the druid being the last of his group. The dead gnomes from the settlement were gathered up in next cave over, then the druid activated the rockfall trap that sealed this area off - he hoped to contain the disease in that manner and prevent it from spreading any further. The letter is signed, '<strong>Bumblebuster Butterburp</strong>.'"</p><p></p><p>Thurloe just rolled his eyes. "Gnomes and their goofy names," he scoffed.</p><p></p><p>But Alewyth voiced a particular concern she had. "Are we safe?" she asked. "By opening the passageway, did we allow the disease to escape?"</p><p></p><p>"Certainly not," scoffed Percivane. "We've been exposed to the gnome bodies next door, with no ill effects. I'd imagine, given the two thousand years since these events occurred, the disease has likely burned itself out."</p><p></p><p>"I wouldn't be too sure of that," replied Zander. He turned to his companions. "Remember, we saw that svirfneblin girl start bleeding from her eyes and nose, in the Underdark. What was it she said again, right before she died?"</p><p></p><p>Xandro gave it some thought, thinking back to when Streggin, their dwarven scout who spoke Gnomish, had translated what she had said as she died. It was one word..."Deathborn," he replied, the word popping back into his memory.</p><p></p><p>"Definitely odd," Wakuren mused. He turned to Percivane Weatherford. "With your permission, sir, I think we'd like to camp out here with you overnight. Tomorrow, I'd like to cast a <em>speak with dead</em> spell upon the body of this Bumblebuster, to see what we might learn of his experiences before they all died." The archaeologist agreed that would be a fine idea, and he set the others off to draw detailed diagrams of the three metal constructs the gnomes had built, likely as lair guardians. "Once we've documented their appearances, you are free to remove the gems as payment for your services here today, not only in awakening me from my dreams, but also in fighting off the creatures that would have killed us." That put a big grin on Thurloe's face, as he went off with all haste with the archaeologists back over to the downed constructs.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, Wakuren cast his <em>speak with dead</em> spell, after finding the corpse among the dead gnomes - all preserved by the cool air in the sealed-off cave network - wearing the same robes and hat as the ghost they'd fought the day before. Wakuren had already identified the ring the little gnome wore on his right hand as being magical, and Percivane allowed Zander to keep it (after it too had been fully diagrammed in detail in the notes the archaeologists were taking) after they had determined it was a <em>ring of mystic lightning</em> which powered the electricity-based spells of the wearer. They'd discussed their options earlier and come up with a list of questions they wanted answered, if at all possible.</p><p></p><p>After the spell ritual had been completed (followed by a <em>tongues</em> spell so the half-orc would be able to understand the responses in case the answers were all spoken in Gnomish, or even worse an ancient dialect of the language), Wakuren asked his first question of Bumblebuster Butterburp's mummified corpse. "Why did you not cast the <em>cure disease</em> spell to save yourself and your people?"</p><p></p><p>"We did, but it had no effect," came the reply. Wakuren translated for the benefit of the others, then mused aloud, "It's possible the disease was magical in nature, like lycanthropy or mummy rot."</p><p></p><p>Then he asked his second question. "Do you know the name of the man who stumbled into your community?" The corpse replied that they did not.</p><p></p><p>"Did the man die of sunstroke or the disease?"</p><p></p><p>"Unknown."</p><p></p><p>"Did his face bleed, like what happened to you?"</p><p></p><p>"No."</p><p></p><p>"You manifested as a ghost. How might we put you to rest?"</p><p></p><p>"I sought only to contain the disease that killed my people. You yet live, so the disease appears to have been contained. I am already at rest; I will not remanifest."</p><p></p><p>"Where did you bury the 'round-eared elf'?" The corpse gave directions some distance away, with enough detail Wakuren was sure he could find the spot if he desired.</p><p></p><p>"Was he carrying anything with him?"</p><p></p><p>"No."</p><p></p><p>"Was he the first to die, before any of the gnomes?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes."</p><p></p><p>"How long was it before the gnomes started getting sick?"</p><p></p><p>"A matter of hours, but once it started, it spread quickly."</p><p></p><p>"Does the word 'deathborn' mean anything to you?"</p><p></p><p>"No."</p><p></p><p>"From which direction did the man come from?"</p><p></p><p>"From the south, apparently from the Centralia Desert."</p><p></p><p>"What time of day was it when the man entered your village?"</p><p></p><p>"Nearly noon."</p><p></p><p>"Is there anyone in particular who hated gnomes for any reason?" Wakuren asked this question because he was starting to feel like this disease, apparently curselike in nature, had been magically crafted specifically to affect gnomes. The corpse hesitated before answering, as if thinking it over and giving it plenty of thought. "The elves disliked the gnomish magical restrictions placed upon them," he finally said.</p><p></p><p>That caused Wakuren to modify his original last question, because this answer demanded further explanation. "What magical restrictions?" he demanded.</p><p></p><p>"Prohibitions against creating undead, which are an abomination upon the earth," replied the corpse.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren rubbed his chin in thought. Did the elves create a magical disease specifically targeting gnomes several thousand years ago? If so, why was the disease apparently not functioning on the surface world any more but still active in the Underdark? These were questions to be figured out later.</p><p></p><p>Following the directions given by the corpse of Bumblebuster Butterburp, Wakuren used his inherent paladin senses to try to detect any traces of evil in the area where the "round-eared elf" - likely the first and only human the gnome druid had ever seen - was said to be buried, and found nothing at all. He opted not to waste any time digging up the body, fairly certain that after a couple thousand years there would be hardly anything left off the man's remains. "I guess we've spent enough time on this," he finally decided. "Best we be on to the next dreamer."</p><p></p><p>They said their farewells to the archaeologists - and Percivane Weatherford promised to give them name credit in the report they'd eventually write up to give to the person responsible for funding the dig, a gnome by the name of Humdrum Thundersnore. "Hey, we know him!" piped up Zander. "He's one of the gnomes from the Hidden Market!"</p><p></p><p>"Small world," muttered Thurloe with a smile on his lips.</p><p></p><p>"Would you mind terribly if I traveled with you for a while?" asked Robin, addressing the question to Xandro. "I'd like to study some of your methods." Xandro was more than happy to have the pretty young bard join their group, glad that there would be someone else willing to play the song of inspirational courage for a change.</p><p></p><p>"Well then, off we go!" replied Alewyth, climbing into the saddle of her dire goat Pyrite.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>I ordered a Robin mini since she'll be a permanent NPC addition to the party, but it didn't come in in time for this session so we made do with a pink generic playing piece I picked up (with about a dozen other colors) at a Gen Con some decades back. But she arrived the other day, so Logan's going to paint her in time for our next session.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, <em>Elobar's black tentacles</em> is identical in all ways to <em>Evard's black tentacles</em>; I just thought since I was creating a "follow-on" universe for this campaign it would be weird for the main spells to carry the names of wizards from a previous universe. Thus, I renamed all of the spells which carried the names of their original creators, Evard becoming Elobar, Mordenkainen becoming Mandicortello, and so on.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: A "Duck Dynasty" T-shirt, as they're my go-to shirts when it comes to representing gnomes, given their long beards and all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8934808, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 44: THE CLOCKWORK DRAGON OF TALLHAT CANYON[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 9[/INDENT] [INDENT] Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 9[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 4 February 2023 - - - "Bring forth the prisoners!" commanded Father Bones, and a line of nine men in shackles were brought forth upon the platform. There was little hope of them trying to make a break for it, for not only were they hobbled by short chains around their ankles, but each wrist was manacled to a belt around the prisoners' waists, limiting the movement of their arms to a few scant inches, and each neck sported a metal collar, through which a thick chain attached the prisoner to the man immediately before him. The heavy chains did more than limit their movement, they also dampened their spirits - for each sinner knew his fate at this point in his miserable life was written in stone and immutable. "My Lord Akari has made His stipulations known to me!" intoned the high priest, raising a sacrificial dagger high above his skull in a skeletal hand. "Nine lives for the return of the man upon the altar! Nine evil men to be brought to their everlasting doom, to return to life one good soul whose accomplishments upon the face of this world have yet to be completed!" With that, Father Bones - wearing only his black hooded robe, revealing his fleshless skull, hands, arms, and feet - plunged the blade into the heart of the first prisoner, then going down the line, stabbing each man in turn through the heart with a single blow. The chains separating the prisoners were long enough to allow the others yet to be slain to remain standing while their brothers in sin fell before them; finally, when all nine had been slain, Father Bones handed the bloody dagger to an associate - who wore similar black robes but was quite obviously still in the bloom of life - and finished his ceremonial speech. "Lord Akari, God of Death and Undeath, we beseech you to accept these foul murderers into your blackest Hell, and return to life the half-orc Wakuren, slain before his time while actively and selflessly saving the lives of others!" The audience stirred in wonder as the half-orc's body stirred upon the stone altar, behind Father Bones and the nine dead men upon the sacrificial platform. He groaned and sat up, clearly confused about where he was, for his last memory had been of fighting the crystal golem in the cave of the dragon at the bottom of the Flameshaft mine crevice. But he recognized Father Bones, and in fact was able to determine that this was the Father Bones of Baron's Haven, the head priest of Akari in that city. For him to be here meant several things: he had died fighting the golem, and his dreamwalking friends had backtracked here to the nearest of two men capable of casting a [I]true resurrection[/I] spell. "You feeling okay?" Zander asked him once the assembly had departed, most of the members of the audience having shown up not to watch the miracle of life being restored to a dead man, but to watch the sacrifice of the nine murderers brought forth in chains. Wakuren not only looked tired and confused; he also looked to have been diminished in some undefinable way. "Tired," Wakuren admitted. "A little weak." "Yeah, no wonder," Thurloe replied, then proceeded to tell the half-orc about the powerslug that had phased out of the back of the half-orc's neck after his death at the crystalline fists of the golem. "Father Bones said the wee beasties are often found in the Centralia Desert," Alewyth pointed out. "Chances are, you picked it up when we were fighting that band of orcs - or after, when we were examining their corpses." Wakuren shuddered at the thought of a slug-monster living inside his body, pumping him full of adrenaline and increasing his capability - and desire - for combat. He thought back at the two times in recent weeks when he'd pounded enemy wizards' faces against unyielding stone until they became unrecognizable piles of pulpy flesh. It almost seemed as if the memories belonged to someone else - certainly not to the half-orc who so worried about his bestial appearance that he refused to carry a weapon, trusting in his [I]shield of Cal[/I] in the times when combat became necessary or unavoidable. Xandro led the group back to the temple of Delphyne, where Alewyth opened the secret passage in the back wall and flipped the book kept there to the correct page. Then, deciphering the correct command phrase, she said the words that [I]teleported[/I] the five heroes across the miles to a similar shrine of the Goddess of Magic in the city of Centraldale. Scarlie Besker was sitting in their wooden wagon, taking a swig from his wineskin, the other riding mounts tied in a line behind him. "Right on time," he said, putting his wineskin back in place on his belt. "You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you," he said to his fellow half-orc. "No doubt," Wakuren replied. It was a four-day trek back towards the mining city of Flamecleft, but a day in Mogo alerted them to a slight change in plans. "There's a new dreamer stuck in his dreams, kupo!" he said through the dreamstones attached to the dreamwalkers' signature items. "Before you wake the dreamer in Drayleton, you need to head northeast toward the Shieldwall Mountains - I'll show you the specifics on a map when you show up in the Dreamlands tonight, kupo!" In the meantime, he gave them a general heading and allowed them to continue on their journey - this new dreamer wasn't too far out of the way from where they would have originally been heading. But Wakuren's death and need for resurrection would end up putting them a total of nine days behind their normal schedule: four days backtracking to Centraldale so they could [I]teleport[/I] all the way back to Baron's Haven, then a day there to make the proper arrangements, and now four days to the next dreamer in line. Thurloe spent the travel time in the back of the wagon, poring over his captured spellbooks, figuring out how to cast a few new spells he had yet to master. But the first night in the Dreamlands after Wakuren's return to life, they decided to "peek" at the dream they'd be entering when they arrived at the dreamer's site. The dreamer was a human, a bit on the stocky side, and wearing a trifold hat. Judging from the locale of the dream, he seemed to be inside a tomb of some sort: one of those tombs built by crazed wizards who filled their dungeons with puzzles and traps. The man was leaning over a grid of letters, each carved into a separate rectangle where it appeared some of the rectangles could be moved side to side or up and down. But although the five dreamwalkers were able to step right up beside the dreamer and examine his efforts, they could not interact with him or his dream, merely observe - they'd need to be at his side in the Mortal World for them to be able to impact his dream. On their fourth day out from Centraldale, they entered a badlands: an extension of the Centralia Desert at the middle of the continent, this part resulting in high canyon walls and narrow passageways between them - fortunately none of them narrow enough to prevent the wagon from advancing, but narrow enough that the riders were forced to go single file. Soon, though, they approached their sleeping victim, at the beginning of a virtual maze of high canyon walls, with an odd rock formation shaped like a witch's hat rising up from a slab of stone. They could see a few canvas tents in place within the canyon passageways and hear the sounds of picks hitting stone; to Alewyth's practiced ears, it sounded very much like a mining operation. But Thurloe could tell this was something a bit different than mining. "It's an archaeological dig," he observed. Scarlie led the mules off to the side of a wide section of canyon, the last such place before the entrance to the canyon-maze where the tents were set up. Dismounting and approaching on foot, they saw the backs of three people facing the far canyon wall. One was a male elf, digging up a shovelful of sand and placing it in a sieve, then shaking it off to the side while a female elf looked on. Another woman, this one a human, strummed softly on a lute while looking on in curiosity. "Excuse us," said Wakuren, causing the three figures to jump in startlement. The elf's eyes grew wide at seeing a half-orc standing before her, but Wakuren was used to such reactions. Holding out his hands to show they were empty, he said, "We have come to help you awaken someone who had been asleep for several days," he said. "How-- how did you know about that?" sputtered [B]Elystriana Ambervue[/B]. Xandro took up the explanations, telling the group in brief about their status as dreamwalkers, the Nightmare King's curse, and their successes thus far. During the explanations another human woman came over, introducing herself as [B]Lizabet Russelton[/B]. She was a no-nonsense type, her dark hair tied back in a bun to keep it out of the way; she'd been examining the gnomish pottery shards they'd unearthed thus far in a tent off to the west. That set off a wave of introductions; the elf with the sieve was named [B]Kaelbryn Scollock[/B] and the female bard [B]Robin the Balladeer[/B], who explained she wasn't officially part of the expedition, merely a wanderer who had run into the archaeologists and offered her assistance in cataloging what they'd found, for she had an interest in history. "What is it you're looking for?" asked Zander. "There are rumors of a hidden gnome community active thousands of years ago at the foot of Tallhat Canyon," replied Elystriana, pointing up at the rock formation giving the location its name. "We've been financed to check it out." "Yeah, well, all very interesting and all," replied Thurloe, whose attitude indicated he didn't find the topic the least bit interesting, "but do you want to lead us to your dreaming cohort?" "He's our expedition leader, actually," corrected Lizabet. "[B]Percivane Weatherford[/B]. He's been asleep for three full days now, but he doesn't seem to be in the least bit of danger, and he'd be the first to insist the project continued on." She led them to the men's tent, a canvas structure just big enough to hold Percivane and the much thinner Kaelbryn; another tent further to the west was where Elystriana and Lizabet slept; Robin slept out in the open, near the mule enclosure - an open-air canvas roof providing shade for the expedition's two mules. At Xandro's suggestion, they dragged Percivane's sleeping form out into the canyon passageway, where they'd have more room to perform their ritual. Zander activated his [I]jade cooshee[/I], instructing the elven dog to watch over them as they slept; Robin immediately started petting the dog and rubbing him behind the ears, which if his wagging tail was any indication he did not mind in the least. Then, with a dreamstone held in place by the leather headband around Percivane's brow, and the five dreamalkers seated in a circle around him, each wearing their own dreamstone and headband, they began slowing their hearts, turning off their thoughts, and entering a dream state. Within minutes, each of the five was fast asleep, their dream-selves meeting up in the Dreamlands. "Hey, kupo!" greeted Mogo as usual, opening a particular door in the Corridor of Dreams. Stepping through, they stood beside Percivane Weatherford, bent over his stone-letter puzzle. "Whatcha got there?" piped up Zander in a friendly manner. If Percivane was surprised to see five strangers join him on his archaeological excursion into an ancient tomb, he didn't express it. "This puzzle, when solved, will open the doors to the vault before us," he said, indicating a pair of sealed stone doors in the wall ahead. "What do we know so far?" asked Alewyth, looking down at the letters on the grid. They read as follows: [FONT=courier new]R U P T L O W R F U N I G O I G L N G H E C E T F L S E T A I L D O W N[/FONT] Along the top, bottom, and sides of the grid were grooves with slots into which a letter could be moved. "Only the letters on the outer edges can be moved," Percivane reported. "The ones in the middle don't move at all, but the ones in the corner can be moved either up and down or sideways." He demonstrated with the "R" in the upper left corner, first moving it into the slot above the letter and then returning it to its starting location, so he could demonstrate it moved to the left just as easily. In either case, when it moved off its starting space it left behind another "R" carved into the stone beneath it. "Do you mind if we give it a go?" asked the dwarven priestess. As a follower of Aerik, God of Protection, Earth, and Stone, she found stone puzzles like this one quite fascinating. Simple experimentation showed her not all the letters that moved had identical letters beneath them; the "U" in the top row, for instance, when moved up, left behind a carved "O" beneath it. But trial and error soon resulted in the following configuration: [FONT=courier new]....U P ..R O O T ..L O W E R ..F U N G I ..G O I N G L E N G T H E X C E P T F A L S E T R A I L ..H E A D ..D O W N[/FONT] "'Uproot lower fungi going length, except false trail - head down'," read Xandro. "Okay, neat, but how did you come up with that particular configuration?" "Look at which letters got moved," replied Alewyth. "The letters spelling out 'UP' got moved up, the ones spelling 'LEFT' got moved to the left, and so on." "So is that the answer?" asked Thurloe. "Look!" cried out Percivane. "The vault doors are opening!" Sure enough, with a rumbling sound the stone doors started swinging open. But none of the heroes got a chance to see what treasures might have been stored within, for the entire dungeon started melting away - a sure sign that the dreamer was waking up. With a heavy sigh, Thurloe started the process to wake himself up from the dream as well, the other dreamwalkers following suit. Waking up, they saw Kaelbryn had apparently gotten bored watching six people sleeping and returned to his sand-sifting chores. Upon the announcement that Percivane had been awakened, though, he helped the two female archaeologists catch their leader up on what all he'd missed over the past three days. Once Elystriana had shown their leader the pottery shards they'd unearthed, Kaelbryn topped it with the announcement, "Hey, I think there's an opening under here!" The elf had been digging several feet down alongside a canyon wall and had discovered a pile of boulders just beneath the sand. "It looks like there was a rockfall at some point - and I can feel cool air coming from between some of these rocks! I'm willing to bet there's an opening in the rock here!" At the archaeologists' request, the five heroes aided them in lugging excavated rocks out of the way, and after about 20 minutes of back-breaking labor they unearthed a horizontal crack in the canyon rock which had been covered by the small boulders. "This could very well be an entrance into a gnomish habitation!" enthused Percivane. Zander was picking up a few small rocks from the pile remaining - the slender elf preferred leaving the larger stones for those a little better enhanced in the strength department - when a hairy paw came slashing out at him from the other side of the opening, scoring a few parallel lines of blood along the back of his hand. The sorcerer dropped the rocks he'd been carrying and scooted back, yelling, "There's something alive in there!" Scurrying back well out of range, he cast a [I]mage armor[/I] spell upon himself and noting the four archaeologists had likewise stepped back away from any potential combat. His cooshee shook his fur (Robin had been petting him and scratching him behind the ears) and moved up to interpose himself between the creature on the other side of the opening and his master. Thurloe, however, didn't back up quick enough from the potential danger and a furry foreleg reached out to scratch him as well. Alewyth was off to the side, crushing some of the larger rocks with [I]Sjondra[/I], and brought her dwarven warhammer crashing down upon the offending paw, eliciting a sharp bark of pain from the creature. But that allowed Thurloe to likewise back up out of immediate attack range and cast a [I]mage armor[/I] spell upon himself. Xandro stepped over to Wakuren and cast a [I]heroism[/I] spell on the half-orc out of habit; of late, Wakuren had been taking on the role of "combat machine" due to his powerslug-enhanced physical attributes. And while he was no longer as powerful as he'd been under the machinations of the powerslug, he was still used to the role and fully intended to get in on the front lines. However, as he was no longer being injected with increased adrenaline from the inside, he was not in a rage-fueled combat mode and opted to try to handle this situation while dishing out the minimum amount of pain necessary; after all, for all he knew, there was still a gnome community living underground here and this creature could very well just be a watch-beast, serving in much the same way as Zander's cooshee. He used the flat of his shield to knock the dire wolverine on the head when it stuck its head and neck through the opening and tried to bite him. He not only managed to hit him, he knocked the creature out cold - and only then did he notice the strains of Xandro's song of inspiration courage, played not by his bardic companion but rather by Robin the Balladeer. Zander wasn't taking any chances, however; he cast a [I]haste[/I] spell on the entire group, half convinced where there was one dire wolvering there was likely to be another. He was wrong in the particulars, but absolutely correct that combat wasn't over because they'd managed to knock out the dire wolverine. This was made readily apparent when the ghost of a gnome came floating through the rock wall of the canyon, about 15 feet above the ground. The gnome was an odd-looking fellow, with a flat-topped hat unlike anything any of the group had ever seen a gnome wear; He otherwise wore a standard spellcaster's robes, and had the typical facial hair associated with every male gnome the heroes had ever met up with - but there were bloodstains on his face, where streams of his blood had been seeping from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The gnome's expression was one of determination, changing instantly to one of fear as he looked down at Thurloe. Immediately, the ghost rose his hands and made a frantic gesture, and a bolt of lightning came crashing down out of the cloudless sky to strike the spellsword in the chest. "Aaagh!" cried Thurloe in surprise and pain. "Alewyth: [I]magic circle![/I]" The dwarven priestess frowned at the spellsword - she didn't particularly like other people telling her what spells to cast - but she bowed to the wisdom of his suggestion and cast a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell, figuring the ghost was an undead creature and likely evil. She also knew she was standing close enough to Thurloe that he'd be protected by her spell, which was undoubtedly the reason for the spellsword's suggestion in the first place. Glad to be under the spell's protection, Thurloe pulled his [I]wand of magic missiles[/I] from his belt and pointed it up at the ghost. He well knew that most physical attacks were likely to pass through an incorporeal creature like the spirit hovering above him, but he also knew that force energy - like the kind making up a [I]magic missile[/I] - was one of the few types of energy guaranteed to affect a creature without a physical body. Sure enough, the trio of missiles struck the ghost on the torso, causing him no small amount of pain, judging from his agonized expression. Xandro made a similar attack in that the bard understood it to be particularly effective against ghosts: he ran up the side of the canyon wall high enough to leap up and out at the ghost, tagging his leg with a [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell before falling back to the ground on his two feet. As an undead creature, the healing energy of the [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell had the exact opposite effect it would have had on a living creature, hurting the ghost instead of healing him. Robin smiled in appreciation of the maneuver, but backed further away from the combat, continuing to play her inspirational tune but not wanting to get into range of any danger herself. After all, she was just a wandering bard with an interest in historical ballads, not one of these adventuring types. Wakuren squinted up at the ghost as he cast a [I]shield of faith[/I] spell upon himself, getting himself ready to jump into the fray with their incorporeal opponent. Zander cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the undead gnome, after having seen how effective Thurloe's blast from his wand had been, and the ghost made the immediate decision to retreat back into the solid rock of the canyon wall. This was the portion of rock that gave Tallhat Canyon its name, although Alewyth, the hero furthest east of the group, caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of her eye and saw him dart out of the side of the canyon wall around the corner, fly towards the rock cliff on the other side, and disappear within that stone instead. "He's over here!" she called to her companions. Then, unsure of how they wanted to address the situation with the ghost, Alewyth decided she could at least help in their original task, finding a way into the empty space on the other side of the opening revealed by clearing out the boulders from the ancient rockfall. To that end, she summoned a four-foot-tall earth elemental and sent him earthgliding into the rock, where he started widening the opening with his powerful hands. Once the opening was wide enough, he earthglided his way back out, sunk up to his waist in the solid stone and dragging the unconscious dire wolverine behind him. Thurloe had his bastard sword out and passed over to Alewyth's side of the canyon passageway, looking for where the ghost might have gone. He thought he saw a momentary patch of blue, but when he looked again there was nothing there; recalling the gnome ghost's robes had been a grayish-tan, he put it out of his mind. He pulled out his other wand and used it to give him the added protection of a [I]shield[/I] spell while he contemplated his next move. Xandro already knew his own next move, though; he scrambled down on hands and knees to crawl into the entrance the earth elemental had opened up. Once inside, he found himself inside a cramped tunnel, no higher than five feet tall for its entire length and about half that wide in most sections, and realized that would be plenty roomy to a three-foot-tall gnome. On the wall closest to the outside, he discovered - after activating a sunrod so he could see - a series of levers and projections that (after a moment of two of puzzlement) he decided could very well be a system to allow a cascade of rocks outside to collapse, sealing off the entrance. But if that had been indeed the case, that meant the gnome ghost had purposely sealed himself off from the outside world thousands of years ago. [I]That[/I] certainly didn't sound promising, especially considering the bloodstains on the ghost's face! Hoping he wasn't about to walk into a plague site, the bard followed the narrow tunnel and saw it forked off into two different caves. The cave on the right contained blankets and wooden crates, all looking to be quite ancient but in remarkable condition. Peeking inside a crate, Xandro saw the remains of various foodstuffs, none of it having lasted through the centuries in any fashion even remotely edible. In the cave on the left, Xandro's worst fears were proven to be true, for stacked up in neat rows were several dozen dead gnomes, the dryness and cool temperatures inside this sealed-off tomb having preserved the corpses in a natural mummification process. Xandro was particularly unnerved to see they all had dried bloodstains on their faces in the same manner as the ghost had displayed; belatedly, he put his sleeve up to his nose and mouth and tried not to breath in any poison that might still be active inside the cave tomb. While Xandro had been exploring inside the first gnome habitation complex, Wakuren was exploring what would prove to be the second. He put his hand up against the rock wall the ghost had apparently flown through (according to Alewyth), and while he moved further east his hand suddenly passed right through the wall. Correctly guessing he'd just pierced a permanent [I]illusory wall[/I] spell cast over a cave opening in the canyon cliffside, the half-orc cleric-paladin stuck his head inside, figuring with his innate orcish darkvision he'd be able to see what was inside just fine without a light source. In that he was absolutely correct, but that didn't mean he was going to like what he saw inside. The cave interior was shaped somewhat like a peanut, with the section on the left much smaller than the right side. The left side had apparently been the living quarters of whatever gnome had once lived here (based on the remains of the simple gnome-sized furniture he found there), whereas the rest of the cave had been made into a sort of workshop. And in that workshop stood three immobile statues of metal plates and struts, one obviously patterned after a falcon; one a spider as big around as a dinner plate, and one a wingless dragon slightly larger than a draft horse. But that wasn't all: drifting in the air in the back of the cave was the gnome ghost, bloody face and all, and scattered on the floor at the front of the cave were six blue-scaled lizards, each about the size and general build as an iguana. The lizards all seemed nervous at the intrusion into their lair by first a floating apparition and then by a half-orc in full plate armor; little arcs of electricity sparked off of their scales as they looked worriedly in Wakuren's direction. Instinctively, the half-orc used his paladin training to focus his attention on the auras of the creatures within this cave, somewhat surprised to sense not even a bit of evil in any of them. But evil or not, this was a treasure trove of potential enemies, and Wakuren had no intentions of fighting them off by himself. "Guys?" ha called. "A little help here -- pronto!" Then he cast a [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell and sent it flying in the direction of the hovering ghost; when the heavy mace - formed of pure force energy - struck the undead spirit, it overcame his unearthly structure and he dissipated into nothingness. Wakuren realized that as a ghost he would likely remanifest in a matter of hours or days, but for now at least he was no longer a potential threat. Zander and the cooshee, hearing Wakuren's cries for assistance, ran over towards him, just as the half dozen shocker lizards performed their deadliest defensive maneuver. Arcs of lightning erupted from each lizard, linking them all together in a momentary electrical spider-web before it exploded into a blast of electricity centered upon the lizard closest to the entrance to their lair. The blast struck Wakuren, and inside his full plate mail he was shocked to the point his teeth rattled. Arcs of electricity hit each of the three "statues" as well, but where the hit they seemed to do no damage whatsoever - quite the contrary, the jolt of electrical energy seemed to awaken them from their millennia-long slumber. Light started growing inside the gemstones marking where eyes would be in their terrestrial counterparts: a pair of large diamonds on the part of the clockwork dragon; two pieces of obsidian on the falcon construct; and eight black onyxes on the wicked-looking head of the spider construct. Activated by the lightning strike, gears started spinning and internal components started moving. Most disturbingly of all, a whining noise started building inside the dragon's throat, as if something were charging up. With a sudden movement, the falcon construct spread its wings out wide, metal feathers splayed, and it launched itself from the rock shelf upon which it had been perched and crossed the distance to the cave opening in a mere moment. But Wakuren, senses wide open to any attack by this multitude of foes, brought his [I]shield of Cal[/I] slamming down upon the metal bird's head, sending it crashing to the stone floor, where pieces of it broke off and scattered. Just that quickly, the half-orc had taken out yet another foe with one attack. Alewyth had been over by the entrance to the first cave network - the one Xandro had scrambled into - and had just cast a [I]soften earth and stone[/I] spell to help widen the passageway so the archaeologists could more easily make their way inside, when she heard Wakuren's cry for help and headed that way, sending her earth elemental ahead of her. Earthgliding through the solid stone wall and finding itself inside a cave with a metal spider construct before it, it lashed out with a stony fist and smashed several of the arachnid's legs on one side. The construct spun about awkwardly and tried biting the elemental creature, but its metal mandibles scratched their way along its stony hide without making much of an impact. The clockwork dragon moved to the front of the cave opening and bit at Wakuren, the hum increasing in volume as it did so. Thurloe saw a bit of what looked like a metal head pop out of the seemingly solid stone wall and, guessing it was an illusion, stabbed his bastard sword into the gap. Sure enough, all it took was for [I]Spellslicer[/I] to touch the [I]illusory wall[/I] spell for the camouflaged covering over the cave entrance to blink out of existence, revealing the myriad enemies before the spellsword. "Oh, crap!" Thurloe muttered. Xandro crawled back out of the gnome caverns and headed for Wakuren and Thurloe, Robin following, still playing the inspirational tune. Xandro found he was rather enjoying somebody else playing the song of inspirational courage for a change, as it allowed him to contribute towards combat in a more direct fashion. He drew his [I]frost short sword[/I] from his scabbard as he approached the clockwork dragon's cave. Behind him, the archaeologists entered the cave network, now that they had some confirmation from the adventurers that any dangerous traps or creatures were not likely present. Percivane Weatherford led the group inside, eager to make up for three days' worth of lost time spent sleeping on this dig. Wakuren took a step back and summoned an air element dire wolf before him, the creature taking form as a mass of swirling winds that gradually took on a lupine form. The half-orc's [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell was still in effect, and he sent it after the clockwork dragon, the impact creating a gonging sound when it struck the construct's partially hollow head. The wolf snapped at the dragon's legs, but its air-blast teeth couldn't seem to do much against legs of solid iron. Zander also approached and sent a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell to strike the dragon, and while it seemed to do a bit of harm the construct seemed to have a lot of artificial life left in it. The cooshee tried biting at one of its legs, but found his teeth were no more effective than those of the air element dire wolf. Then the shocker lizards, true to their name and nature, surprised everyone in the vicinity by sending out a burst of electricity arcing out in all directions for a second time. Wakuren took the worst of the blast, but Thurloe and the air element dire wolf were hit as well - as was the earth elemental, who was instantly slain by the electricity coursing through its body and was returned to the Elemental Plane of Earth from where it had been summoned. Unnoticed by the heroes - all of whom were more focused upon the clockwork dragon at the front of the cave opening - the unconscious dire wolverine suddenly vanished, the time limit on its summoning having expired from when the gnome ghost druid had cast a [I]summon nature's ally[/I] spell to protect the hidden cave complex that four excited archaeologists were currently exploring to their hearts' content. Alewyth ran up to the front of the cave but instead of leaping immediately into the fray, she cast a [I]cure moderate wounds[/I] spell upon Wakuren, who by this time was looking quite frazzled. But then the background hum, which had been building up in intensity, stopped altogether as a mighty blast of electricity erupted from the metal dragon's open mouth and blasted Wakuren's summoned air element dire wolf into nothingness, before striking Wakuren as well and causing him to stagger back on his feet, losing unconsciousness and collapsing into a heap on the ground just outside the cave. Thurloe, seeing how much damage the dragon's electrical blast had done to the stalwart half-orc, blasted the construct with a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell of his own before slinking off around the corner to the east, out of view of the clockwork monstrosity. He had no intentions of being the target of a second such blast, and if this metal lookalike was anything like a true dragon, the spellsword imagined it had plenty more follow-up blasts to come. Xandro followed behind Alewyth and cast a [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell on the bedraggled half-orc; he wasn't as powerful a healer as the dwarven priestess but he was willing to aid however he could. Wakuren was still unconscious, but the bard at least knew now that he was stable and wouldn't bleed out if they could prevent the dragon from dealing him any more damage. Fortunately, despite Wakuren's current lack of consciousness, his [I]spiritual weapon[/I] continued on with its attacks, clanging against the clockwork dragon's metal head with its own focused force energy. Unnoticed, the spider construct started crawling along the wall, making its way toward the cave mouth, ready to follow its automatic programming: to drive off any non-gnomish intruders from the gnomish settlement. (It studiously ignored the shocker lizards, which it recognized as mere animals - and whose electrical blasts had done nothing but power up the construct in the first place.) Fortunately for the elven sorcerer, he had been too far away from the cave opening when both electrical blasts had emanted from the shocker lizards. He did, however, recognize that they proved to be an ongoing danger and needed to be taken out, fast! A well-aimed [I]fireball[/I] towards the back of the cave - far enough that it would encompass the clockwork dragon as well as the shocker lizards but not reach the prone Wakuren - killed all of the blue-scaled reptiles in one blast, and also had the bonus consequence of taking out the spider construct that Zander hadn't even known was there on the wall, for it was well out of his sight on the inside of the cave workshop. The cooshee, realizing it couldn't successfully bite the dragon construct and it was too big to try to trip, backed up by his master and put himself between the sorcerer and the dragon. Alewyth cast a [I]mass cure light wounds[/I] spell which healed up a small amount of damage to everyone within range, which was just enough to bring Wakuren to full wakefulness. However, the healing came at a cost, for the dragon's head darted forward at the end of its long, flexible neck and clamped its metal teeth down upon the priestess's shoulder. And worse yet, that humming sound which had presaged the electrical breath weapon was starting up again.... Thurloe ducked back around the corner long enough to fire off a charge from his [I]wand of magic missiles[/I] at the dragon, then ducked back out of view. Xandro backed up, knowing his limited healing was of little use to the front-line combatants. Wakuren took a moment of self-preservation by casting a [I]cure serious wounds[/I] spell upon himself, boosting the healing with a charge from his [I]ring of mystic healing[/I]. He was then forced to move back as well, but only after seeing Alewyth free herself from the dragon's grasp. And his [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell still pressed on with its attacks. Zander gathered up an appropriate amount of arcane energy and focused it into a spell he'd never cast before: [I]Elobar's black tentacles[/I]. At once, the gnome workshop started growing writhing, black appendages from its stone floor, which wrapped themselves around the clockwork dragon's body and limbs, trying to hold it securely in place. The dragon fought back, loosening a few of the rubbery appendages' hold but failing to fully free itself. Alewyth felt confident enough to step up to the dragon - yet still well away from the radius of the writhing appendages - and clonk it in the head with [I]Sjondra,[/I] the blow hopefully damaging some delicate inner workings in the gnome-crafted automaton. It bit at Alewyth again, but was still unable to escape the tentacles; Zander nodded to himself in satisfaction and vowed to put the spell to much more use in the future. Thurloe stepped forward and blasted the dragon again with his [I]wand of magic missiles[/I], no longer feeling the need to duck around the corner now that the crushing tentacles were holding the dragon's head and neck in place. Xandro unpacked the [I]Dardolian lute[/I] from his back, and in counterpoint to Robin's continued song of inspirational courage, sent a well-placed [I]sound burst[/I] into the dragon's chest. Wakuren's [I]spiritual weapon[/I] flew above the tentacles, swooping down to strike the dragon's head and then swinging back up out of range. And then Zander, seeing a fairly helpless target, cast another [I]fireball[/I] spell into the workshop cave, the clockwork dragon his only target. Alewyth swung [I]Sjondra[/I] at the dragon again, but then received a surprise of her own, as the clockwork mechanism burst through the tentacles and exited the cave, nearly bowling her over in the process. Zander frowned, wishing there were some way to move the tentacles after the spell had been cast, but such a maneuver was outside the scope of the spell. Thurloe blasted the dragon with his wand again and then ducked back around the corner. With a dash across the cave opening, Xandro joined him. Wakuren wasn't looking forward to fighting the clockwork dragon directly either if he could help it, so he summoned a celestial bison from the Heavenly Planes. It lowered its shaggy head and charged the dragon, striking him from behind, but even the creature's massive horns weren't powerful enough to do much damage to the construct's metal form. Zander cast another [I]scorching ray[/I] at the dragon, [I]fireball[/I] no longer being an option with too many allies too close to his target. But at least the repeated fire spells seemed to be doing some damage to the automaton. Alewyth was once again standing directly in front of the clockwork dragon and the humming noise in its throat was powering up, indicating another imminent blast of its electrical breath. Casting a [I]meld into stone[/I] spell, she walked into the solid rock of the cave wall, secure in the knowledge she was now safe from any lightning it might choose to send in her direction. But with Alewyth out of range, the dragon spun about and sent its lightning breath directly at the celestial bison, blasting it into oblivion. Wakuren found he didn't even mind, for the great beast would merely be returned to its Heavenly Plane and it had after all served its purpose: taking a bunch of damage that otherwise would likely have been focused onto one or more of the adventurers. Thurloe ducked around the corner and sniped the dragon again with his wand, releasing an involuntary "Eep!" at the realization the clockwork mechanism was now facing in his direction. Xandro opted to stay hidden for the moment, while Robin, still playing her lute, backed slowly away from the action. However, while Robin had wisely opted to turn the corner and back away from the action by taking a passageway leading north (the fight was occurring in a passageway aimed east and west), what she failed to notice was there was a pool of water a bit behind her that was no pool of water at all; the brine ooze, hearing the bard's music, gathered itself up and started slowly heading into her direction, eager for food.... Wakuren started backing away from the dragon, heading over to the first cave the archaeologists had unearthed and inside of which they were still undergoing their explorations. In doing so, he put enough distance between himself and his still-active [I]spiritual weapon[/I] that the force-mace broke off its attack and retreated to hover beside him. But that was all for the best, for from the half-orc's new vantage point he could see a blob of protoplasm oozing its way towards an oblivious Robin. Calling out a warning, he pointed a finger at the new threat and sent his [I]spiritual weapon[/I] charging into the brine ooze's central mass, causing it to ripple to its edges from the force of the blow. Zander cast another [I]scorching ray[/I] at the clockwork dragon, as Alewyth came back out of the solid rock wall and struck the automaton in its side with her dwarven warhammer. The dragon's long neck arched around and it bit her once again, but Alewyth didn't mind - she could see the damage they'd already done to it and it seemed considerable - she was willing to bet she'd outlast this metal beastie at the rate they were going, with her nearly fully healed up and it dripping internal bits of machinery with every movement. "We've nearly got it!" she called out, which prompted Thurloe to duck back around from the corner and give the clockwork dragon a final blast from his [I]wand of magic missiles[/I]. True to the dwarven priestess's predictions, that was enough to take it out of action once and for all; it crashed to the ground with a melodious discordance. But Wakuren was shouting about some blob monster attacking Robin, so Xandro sprinted forward, turned the corner, dashed past his bardic counterpart and sent a second [I]sound burst[/I] directly at the brine ooze. Robin spun in place, saw the approaching danger, and once again backed away, and Xandro couldn't help but admire her composure, for she not once faltered in the words to her song of inspirational courage. The brine ooze remained motionless for a moment, leading Xandro to guess he'd actually temporarily stunned it with his [I]sound burst[/I]. Wakuren stepped up, right hand raised, and summoned a [I]javelin of lightning[/I] into his gauntlet. Throwing it at the brine ooze, he saw the electricity scatter all across its amorphous body, shocking the blob from one end of its body to the other. His [I]spiritual weapon[/I] got in one final hit before it disappeared, the time limit of the spell having expired. Zander blasted the brine ooze with another [I]scorching ray[/I] spell, Thurloe tossed a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at it from his wand, and Alewyth smashed her hammer down onto it, but it was Xandro that made the killing blow, striking cobra-fast with his [I]frost short sword[/I], causing the creature's amorphous body to lose all cohesion and spill out along the ground like a puddle, slowly seeping into the parched earth. Thurloe gave the nearby canyon passageways a good scan before announcing, "It looks like that's it, guys. Good work." Then they went to go check up on the four archaeologists they'd left to their explorations. "Look at this!" Percivane said excitedly, holding an ancient piece of parchment he'd managed to unfold without destroying it. "It was behind one of these crates." He read the gnomish characters on the page, something none of the adventurers could have done, for none of them were familiar with the Gnomish tongue. "It's a note written by the druidic leader of the gnome settlement, no doubt that ghost we saw fly out of here. It tells of a strange traveler, a 'large, round-eared elf' who staggered into their encampment, nearly dead from sunstroke. The gnomes tended to him as best they could, but he died and was buried nearby. Soon thereafter, the gnomes began bleeding from their facial orifices. This strange, new disease proved to be fatal within a few scant hours. None of the gnomes survived, the druid being the last of his group. The dead gnomes from the settlement were gathered up in next cave over, then the druid activated the rockfall trap that sealed this area off - he hoped to contain the disease in that manner and prevent it from spreading any further. The letter is signed, '[B]Bumblebuster Butterburp[/B].'" Thurloe just rolled his eyes. "Gnomes and their goofy names," he scoffed. But Alewyth voiced a particular concern she had. "Are we safe?" she asked. "By opening the passageway, did we allow the disease to escape?" "Certainly not," scoffed Percivane. "We've been exposed to the gnome bodies next door, with no ill effects. I'd imagine, given the two thousand years since these events occurred, the disease has likely burned itself out." "I wouldn't be too sure of that," replied Zander. He turned to his companions. "Remember, we saw that svirfneblin girl start bleeding from her eyes and nose, in the Underdark. What was it she said again, right before she died?" Xandro gave it some thought, thinking back to when Streggin, their dwarven scout who spoke Gnomish, had translated what she had said as she died. It was one word..."Deathborn," he replied, the word popping back into his memory. "Definitely odd," Wakuren mused. He turned to Percivane Weatherford. "With your permission, sir, I think we'd like to camp out here with you overnight. Tomorrow, I'd like to cast a [I]speak with dead[/I] spell upon the body of this Bumblebuster, to see what we might learn of his experiences before they all died." The archaeologist agreed that would be a fine idea, and he set the others off to draw detailed diagrams of the three metal constructs the gnomes had built, likely as lair guardians. "Once we've documented their appearances, you are free to remove the gems as payment for your services here today, not only in awakening me from my dreams, but also in fighting off the creatures that would have killed us." That put a big grin on Thurloe's face, as he went off with all haste with the archaeologists back over to the downed constructs. The next morning, Wakuren cast his [I]speak with dead[/I] spell, after finding the corpse among the dead gnomes - all preserved by the cool air in the sealed-off cave network - wearing the same robes and hat as the ghost they'd fought the day before. Wakuren had already identified the ring the little gnome wore on his right hand as being magical, and Percivane allowed Zander to keep it (after it too had been fully diagrammed in detail in the notes the archaeologists were taking) after they had determined it was a [I]ring of mystic lightning[/I] which powered the electricity-based spells of the wearer. They'd discussed their options earlier and come up with a list of questions they wanted answered, if at all possible. After the spell ritual had been completed (followed by a [I]tongues[/I] spell so the half-orc would be able to understand the responses in case the answers were all spoken in Gnomish, or even worse an ancient dialect of the language), Wakuren asked his first question of Bumblebuster Butterburp's mummified corpse. "Why did you not cast the [I]cure disease[/I] spell to save yourself and your people?" "We did, but it had no effect," came the reply. Wakuren translated for the benefit of the others, then mused aloud, "It's possible the disease was magical in nature, like lycanthropy or mummy rot." Then he asked his second question. "Do you know the name of the man who stumbled into your community?" The corpse replied that they did not. "Did the man die of sunstroke or the disease?" "Unknown." "Did his face bleed, like what happened to you?" "No." "You manifested as a ghost. How might we put you to rest?" "I sought only to contain the disease that killed my people. You yet live, so the disease appears to have been contained. I am already at rest; I will not remanifest." "Where did you bury the 'round-eared elf'?" The corpse gave directions some distance away, with enough detail Wakuren was sure he could find the spot if he desired. "Was he carrying anything with him?" "No." "Was he the first to die, before any of the gnomes?" "Yes." "How long was it before the gnomes started getting sick?" "A matter of hours, but once it started, it spread quickly." "Does the word 'deathborn' mean anything to you?" "No." "From which direction did the man come from?" "From the south, apparently from the Centralia Desert." "What time of day was it when the man entered your village?" "Nearly noon." "Is there anyone in particular who hated gnomes for any reason?" Wakuren asked this question because he was starting to feel like this disease, apparently curselike in nature, had been magically crafted specifically to affect gnomes. The corpse hesitated before answering, as if thinking it over and giving it plenty of thought. "The elves disliked the gnomish magical restrictions placed upon them," he finally said. That caused Wakuren to modify his original last question, because this answer demanded further explanation. "What magical restrictions?" he demanded. "Prohibitions against creating undead, which are an abomination upon the earth," replied the corpse. Wakuren rubbed his chin in thought. Did the elves create a magical disease specifically targeting gnomes several thousand years ago? If so, why was the disease apparently not functioning on the surface world any more but still active in the Underdark? These were questions to be figured out later. Following the directions given by the corpse of Bumblebuster Butterburp, Wakuren used his inherent paladin senses to try to detect any traces of evil in the area where the "round-eared elf" - likely the first and only human the gnome druid had ever seen - was said to be buried, and found nothing at all. He opted not to waste any time digging up the body, fairly certain that after a couple thousand years there would be hardly anything left off the man's remains. "I guess we've spent enough time on this," he finally decided. "Best we be on to the next dreamer." They said their farewells to the archaeologists - and Percivane Weatherford promised to give them name credit in the report they'd eventually write up to give to the person responsible for funding the dig, a gnome by the name of Humdrum Thundersnore. "Hey, we know him!" piped up Zander. "He's one of the gnomes from the Hidden Market!" "Small world," muttered Thurloe with a smile on his lips. "Would you mind terribly if I traveled with you for a while?" asked Robin, addressing the question to Xandro. "I'd like to study some of your methods." Xandro was more than happy to have the pretty young bard join their group, glad that there would be someone else willing to play the song of inspirational courage for a change. "Well then, off we go!" replied Alewyth, climbing into the saddle of her dire goat Pyrite. - - - I ordered a Robin mini since she'll be a permanent NPC addition to the party, but it didn't come in in time for this session so we made do with a pink generic playing piece I picked up (with about a dozen other colors) at a Gen Con some decades back. But she arrived the other day, so Logan's going to paint her in time for our next session. Incidentally, [I]Elobar's black tentacles[/I] is identical in all ways to [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I]; I just thought since I was creating a "follow-on" universe for this campaign it would be weird for the main spells to carry the names of wizards from a previous universe. Thus, I renamed all of the spells which carried the names of their original creators, Evard becoming Elobar, Mordenkainen becoming Mandicortello, and so on. - - - T-shirt worn: A "Duck Dynasty" T-shirt, as they're my go-to shirts when it comes to representing gnomes, given their long beards and all. [/QUOTE]
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