NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9641495" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 93: ENTERING THE FORBIDDEN LANDSPC Roster: Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 19             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 10/eldritch knight 3             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 9/paladin 10             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 13             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 19Game Session Date: 5 April 2025 - - -"Thank you," said Wakuren to the shopkeeper, taking the ioun stone he had just purchased and dropping it into his pocket; no need for it to draw any attention to himself by having it spin around his head just yet.  He turned to leave, not noticing the drow's furrowed brow as he tried to match Wakuren's image - he was wearing the guise of a full-blooded drow, courtesy of his robe of blending, so as not to stand out - against his horrible accent, which almost made him sound like he had some sort of orc blood in his lineage.  But then the shopkeeper shrugged; odd accent or not, the man's money was legit, and that was all that really mattered to him.Wakuren hurried back towards the inn where Beetle had taken up residence for the night; the little halfling had smuggled Hesperna's lamp into his room, and surely no one would suspect the tiny room of holding the five adventurers who had just slain the city-state's undead king and queen.  But as the half-orc strolled down the street, he happened to look up at a second-story building, whose jutting balcony seemed awfully familiar....  It was only when the drow woman stepped out onto the balcony, and a bat flew out of the night sky to approach her and take on a humanoid form, that Wakuren recognized the scene as one he and his dreamwalking companions had seen now twice in the Dreamlands."You have come," said the young drow maiden, pulling her long, white hair out of the way and exposing her supple neck to the drow vampire who gazed hungrily in her direction."And you are here, waiting for me, as promised," he replied."I will always be here for you, My Lord," the woman answered, adding, "For as long as you desire."  But then their conversation was abruptly ended by the sudden appearance of a hooded, cloaked drow male air walking up to the balcony level from the street below."Sorry to interrupt," interjected Wakuren, pulling back the hood and allowing the startled vampire to see his forehead, and the Mark of Akari etched upon it.  "But I, and other Emissaries of Akari, are on our way to the Forbidden Lands.  I wish to confirm it is directly north of this city.""Wh--what?" stuttered the vampire.  "Uh, yes, yes, My Lord Emissary.  Five days straight north, through the desert.""And that's where I'll find the sphinx?" Wakuren pressed."Yes.""Very well - thank you for the information."  He glanced over at the young drow woman, hands covering her sheer nightgown, clearly not having expected anyone to see her midnight tryst but the vampire she willingly allowed to feed from her.  "Carry on, you two!"  And Wakuren air walked back down to street level, continuing his journey back to Beetle's room.The next morning, after saying their pre-dawn farewells to Beetle and Robin, who departed the city on the group's last two remaining bonehead dinosaur mounts, Wakuren (once again disguised as a full-blooded drow), smuggled the others out of the city in Hesperna's lamp, heading straight to where he had left the wood colossus in its manor form.  It had one main difference since the previous day; the palanquin that once held the mummy lord leaders of the city was now attached to the attic roof, held in place with sovereign glue and some boards of just the right size.  "What do you think?" he asked the other four dreamwalkers as they emerged from the extradimensional space inside the magic lamp."Well, it's not going to win any architectural awards," commented Alewyth."It doesn't need to look fancy," countered Wakuren.  "But now two of you can sit up top, getting a good view of any threats before they get too close, and be protected from enemy spells."  They'd learned by fighting the mummy lords the day before the palanquin was shielded by a spell reflection effect.  After some discussion, it was decided Wakuren would pilot the wood colossus from the control room as usual, with Xandro in the room with him, while Alewyth and Zander (and the elf's pseudodragon familiar Petey) would ride topside and perform lookout duties.  Thurloe, on the other hand, had decided he'd use a new spell of his, phantom steed, to ride out ahead of the colossus and act as a scout.For the first two days, this worked out just fine.  Alewyth began each day with a heroes' feast, as usual, and Wakuren had taken to casting the spell find the path to direct them unerringly towards the entrance to the Forbidden Lands.  They had noticed that this was the most barren desert they'd ever seen; their home continent of Armaturia had desert lands at it center, but these barren dunes offered nothing but sand, sand, and more sand - not a speck of vegetation to break up the monotony.  Xandro spent a good chunk of each day practicing on his lute; he'd allowed Robin to perform those duties when she'd been part of their group, but now she was gone, waiting two cities over for the dreamwalkers to do what they needed to do in the Forbidden Lands.It was on the third day they got their first bit of excitement since entering the barren desert.  Thurloe was about 400 feet in front of the wood colossus, riding his phantom steed (which took on the form of a normal horse despite the fact there didn't seem to be any horses on the continent of Talonia), when the sands erupted immediately before him and a massive, arachnoid form scrambled up from beneath the desert sands.  With a sense of relief, the spellsword realized this was a colossal monstrous scorpion - they'd been expecting its appearance any time now for three whole days, having been forewarned of its likely appearance in a prescient dreamscape many weeks back.From their high perches, Alewyth and Zander spotted the commotion and called out to the others.  Xandro immediately started singing the song of inspirational courage, which boosted the combat effectiveness of all but Thurloe; it served the spellsword right for insisting upon ranging so far ahead of the others.  Thurloe, they could see, had his phantom steed fall back as he cast a lightning bolt spell directly at the monstrous scorpion.  Alewyth followed almost immediately with an empowered flame strike spell, dropping holy energy down upon the massive arachnid.  Zander cast a chain lightning spell at the scorpion, as it was one of the few spells he could cast at a target so far away, for while the wood colossus plodded ever onward, it would take it some time to bridge the distance between itself and its passengers and the battle playing out hundreds of feet ahead of them.Its armored carapace smoking from the fire and lightning spell attacks, the colossal scorpion skittered forward at a speed much faster than Thurloe would have guessed possible, even in a creature that size.  Before he could maneuver his phantom steed out of the way, the creature's tail stinger came striking at him like a fired bolt, piercing him through his armor at his shoulder.  He grunted from the pain of the attack, but was secure in the knowledge that any poison entering his system through the wound would do him no further harm, protected as he was against all poisons and venoms from Alewyth's heroes' feast spell that morning.Wakuren called out across the planes, and his air element heavy warhorse, Nimbus, appeared in a flash of lightning.  But the half-orc didn't leap onto its broad back as expected; rather, he urged Xandro to ride the cloud-horse into battle, where he could bring his magic rapier Deathwhisper to bear that much sooner than the wood colossus could bring him to the fight.  Excited at the new experience, Xandro leaped onto Nimbus' broad back and the cloud-horse sprinted forward through the sky.Thurloe had his phantom steed back further away from the scorpion, and the spellsword fired off a ray of enfeeblement spell at their foe.  Alewyth cast a normal flame strike spell (having only prayed for the one empowered spell of the same type that morning), covering the scorpion's top side with a gout of falling flames once again.  Zander cast another of his chain lightning spells, even though he didn't have a secondary target to which he could arc off bolts of secondary electrical pain.  But though the spells all hurt the scorpion to one extent or another, it was still very much in the fight, skittering forward again and stabbing Thurloe for a second time.Wakuren called forth a searing light spell, sending it from the wood colossus's attic-head down to the massive arachnid, as Nimbus and Xandro streaked through the sky above it.  Thurloe decided to stop backing away from the fight and start using his bastard sword Spellslicer, activating his torc of the titans to bring a little extra strength to bear.  His blade came swinging down multiple times in as many seconds, carving its way through the scorpion's armored exoskeleton.  Up on top of the palanquin above the wood colossus's head, Alewyth cast an empowered searing light spell down at the scorpion, and this finally did the creature in.  It collapsed onto the desert sands, sending a blast of sand in all directions.However, just as had happened in their prescient dreamscape, no sooner was the first monstrous scorpion slain than another one rose up from the ground to join in the battle.  It scurried forward, catching up to Thurloe and his phantom steed in no time.  But the wood colossus had been closing the distance, and Wakuren judged he was within range for a thunder strike spell.  With a blast of thunder, the spell rolled across the scorpion's back, sending bits of its carapace flying as the sonic damage cracked its outer shell.  And then Nimbus came diving down from the sky, buzzing close enough to the scorpion that Xandro was able to lean to the side and bring Deathwhisper sliding deep between its carapace plates.Thurloe and his phantom steed raced around the body of the dead scorpion, striking this second foe at the base of its raised tail with his bastard sword.  Alewyth, for her part, tried freezing up the vicious arachnid with a hold monster spell, but it had no effect.  Zander, not seeing a reason to stray from what had been working well thus far, cast another chain lightning spell at the second scorpion, but then it spun about and struck with amazing speed, catching both Xandro and Thurloe in its wide-open claws.  It sent its tail stinger stabbing deep into Xandro's torso, puncturing his armor and his lung alike.But by now the wood colossus was within striking distance, and it did just that, raising up a massive foot and sending it crashing down upon the arachnid's flat back, pinning it in place with the bulk of its weight.  Zander further weakened the scorpion with a ray of enfeeblement spell, while Xandro and Thurloe attacked the giant vermin's pincers while still held fast between them.  Together, these attacks did their work, causing the scorpion to fall dead to the desert floor, releasing its pinned captives upon its death.  Wakuren and Alewyth made themselves helpful with casting healing spells to those who needed them, and then they were back on their way north once more, seeking out the Forbidden Lands.On the fourth day of travel, after having been chided by his teammates for having strayed so far ahead of the others the day before, Thurloe opted to only range 200 feet ahead of the wood colossus and its passengers.  However, this time Xandro was beside him, once again riding upon Nimbus.  The spellsword shielded the sun from his eyes as he sought to verify what he thought he'd seen up ahead: a patch of green, an unexpected bit of color in the otherwise featureless desert.  But sure enough, at the top of a dune ahead, he could make out what looked like a massive cactus, and there was some sort of localized sandstorm beside it.  But as he got closer, he could see both cactus and sandstorm were themselves moving towards the spellsword, each having a somewhat humanoid build.Xandro had Nimbus drop back, and he started playing the song of inspirational courage on his Dardolian Lute.  Thurloe dropped back astride his phantom steed as well, casting a shield spell upon himself as he did so with his wand.  Up on the palanquin, Alewyth struggled to recall if she knew anything about humanoid cacti; it seemed there was some sort of desert equivalent to a treant, and this looked to be a truly massive version of one - a saguaro sentinel, if she recalled correctly.  As for the humanoid sand cloud, she assumed it was either some sort of elemental or a golem - hopefully the former.Zander struck first with a horrid wilting spell on the saguaro sentinel from the palanquin's other seat, thinking a plant creature would suffer even more from such a spell than other living foes.  In this the elf sorcerer was absolutely correct; he could practically see the saguaro sentinel dry up as the spell struck true.  But it lumbered on, and the sand golem at its side did likewise.  The wood colossus stomped forward to meet them.As a precaution, Wakuren cast a wind wall spell at the open windows of the attic control room in which he sat, preventing any sand from entering - he was worried about the sand golem and what its whirling sands could to at close range.  Thurloe and Xandro continued to encourage their steeds to fall back, away from the advancing threats.Alewyth tried another hold monster spell and today she had much better luck than the day before: the sand golem stopped in its tracks, although the cloud of whirling sands all around its blocky body continued spinning about it.  But now the saguaro sentinel was moving away from the motionless golem, making it the predominant target for the moment.  Zander cast a lightning bolt at the advancing cactus-creature, and this was enough to slay it outright.  Wakuren cast an air walk spell on himself, preparing to exit the wood colossus's control room through the open windows in the front if it came to that.  But his spell was unnecessary, for Alewyth summoned an elder earth elemental and Zander summoned forth a huge fire elemental, and between the two of them and the wood colossus itself, the sand golem was soon pummeled to death, the sands making up its bulky humanoid form spilling in all directions and forming a little dune where it once stood.The group returned to their trek northward.And sure enough, on the fifth day, Wakuren, Alewyth, and Zander spotted a rocky line of cliffs in the distance.  There before the cliffs stood a gigantic carving of a reclining sphinx, right at the end of the arrows only Wakuren could see as a result of his find the path spell, cast anew each morning before setting off on their continued journey.  The statue sat unmoving until the group arrived directly before it, and then its head moved to face them.  It opened its granite mouth, and spoke."WHY HAVE YOU COME?" it demanded in a voice that reverberated off the stone cliffs behind it."We seek the Forbidden Lands, sent forth by the god Akari," replied Wakuren."THEN EACH MUST PROVE THEIR WORTHINESS BY ANSWERING A RIDDLE.  ONCE YOU HAVE ANSWERED YOUR RIDDLE CORRECTLY, YOU MAY WAIT AT THE SIDE UNTIL ALL HAVE BEEN GIVEN A CHANCE TO ENTER.  I WILL SLAY ANY WHO ANSWER INCORRECTLY, THEN THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED MY TEST MAY ENTER THE FORBIDDEN LANDS ALL AT ONCE.  WHO WILL ANSWER THE FIRST RIDDLE?""I guess I will," replied Alewyth, stepping out of the front door of the wooden colossus, which Wakuren had converted back to its manor house form for that very reason.  Once she, Zander, and Alewyth had exited, he had the colossus resume its humanoid form and stand by, thinking if any of them failed to answer their riddle correctly it might not be a bad idea to have a giant wooden construct on their side fighting against the giant stone sphinx colossus.The sphinx bent its head forward and looked down upon the dwarf priestess and spoke the first riddle."BEGIN WITH A VEGETABLE GROWN IN A POD ADD TO IT THE OBLIGATION TO REPAY ADD THE PREFIX THAT MEANS YOU'RE NO LONGER THAT WAY STATE THE THREE-LETTER WORD, I'LL GIVE NO FURTHER PROD"The others all stared at Alewyth as she puzzled out the answer on her own, each fearing to say anything and be accused of having cheated to help her.  But she nodded her head after having figured out the answer on her own, and mentally rechecked her work: pea, owe, ex.  Finally, she answered, "Pox.""CORRECT."  Alewyth strode forward, to stand between the sphinx's two forelegs, sheltered in the shade of its massive, stone head.Wakuren strode forward.  "I'll go next," he announced."OF THE CARDINAL DIRECTIONS THERE ARE ONLY BUT FOUR AND THESE LETTERS ARE ALL SHOWN ON MAPS, TO BE SURE USING EACH ONE BUT ONCE, ALL FOUR IN A ROW PROVIDE TWO DIFFERENT WORDS WHEN ARRANGED THUS AND SO.""'News'," replied Wakuren at once, adding after a moment's thought, "...and 'sewn.'""CORRECT."  Wakuren walked over and joined Alewyth in the shade under its massive chin."I'll go next," offered up Xandro, stepping forward."FOR EACH THREE-LETTER WORD, CHANGE BUT ONE AT A TIME TO MAKE A NEW WORD ACCORDING TO THE RHYME BEGIN WITH THE BURNING ORB UP IN THE SKY CHANGE THE VOWEL TO FORM A FATHER'S LITTLE GUY CHANGE A LETTER TO SPELL OUT A PIGLET'S MOTHER THEN A WEAPON, FORMED WHEN YOU CHANGE OUT ANOTHER THE NEXT WORD'S ANOTHER FORM OF QUICKSAND CHANGE A LETTER TO FORM A SACK HELD IN YOUR HAND FOR THE FINAL EXCHANGE, MAKE A WORD MEANING 'CRONE' THEN TELL ME THE WORDS, IF THE ANSWERS ARE KNOWN"Xandro had been visualizing the answers as each clue was given, and he spouted them out before he forgot which one came in which order.  "Sun, son, sow, bow, bog, bag, hag.""CORRECT."  Xandro gave a huge sigh of relief and went to join the other two."Might as well get this over with," said Thurloe, stepping forward.  "Let's hear it.""I'M A MOMNET IN TIME THAT OCCURS EVERY DAY I'M THE SAME UPSIDE-DOWN IF YOU WRITE IT THAT WAY""That doesn't make any sense," complained Thurloe, causing Wakuren and Alewyth to gasp in surprise - would they need to jump into battle with the sphinx colossus?  But then Thurloe added, "Oh, no wait, I get it: 'NOON.'""CORRECT."  Smirking heavily, Thurloe sauntered over to the others, leaving only Zander and Petey standing, awaiting the final riddle.  But the sphinx colossus apparently didn't consider a mere familiar as needing to answer a separate riddle, for it fixed its stony gaze upon Zander and asked its final question."TAKE THE NUMBER THAT HAS AS MANY LETTERS AS ITSELF MULTIPLY IT BY TEN AND SET IT ASIDE ON THE SHELF TAKE THE FIRST TWO-DIGIT PRIME NUMBER, AND MAKE IT A SQUARE ADD THAT NUMBER TO 3 AND PLACE IT THERE ON THE STAIR THEN TAKE THE NUMBER FROM THE SHELF AND DIVIDE IT BY TWO ADD IT TO THE STAIR'S NUMBER, AND THEN HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL DO: DIVIDE IT BY A DOZEN, SPELL OUT THE NUMBER CREATED AND READ ME OFF THE VOWELS IN THE WORD THUS INDICATED""Figures I get the tough one," grumbled the elf.  But Petey was able to repeat the riddle word for word, telepathically, allowing his master to do the required arithmetic.  "Four gets me forty," he puzzled, "then 11 gets me 121, then 124...let's see, 40 becomes 20, so the 124 becomes 144...divided makes it 12...okay, I've got my answer for you: E, E!""CORRECT."  Zander nearly collapsed in relief."YOU MAY ENTER," announced the sphinx colossus, opening its mouth out wide and lowering its chin to the ground.  There was about a three-foot-wide tunnel in its mouth leading into darkness; apparently, the way into the Forbidden Lands was through the sphinx colossus itself."Wait!" called out Wakuren.  "Can I bring my wood colossus inside?"  But there was no answer, so Wakuren instructed the wooden humanoid figure, with the palanquin attached to the top of its head, to go stand by the side of the cliff and await their return, fighting off anyone else who tried to enter it.  Then he joined the others, who were already entering the sphinx colossus's mouth.  He noticed an initial, faint repulsion effect as he entered, but he looked down and saw it was only affecting the loose grains of sand that had clung to his clothing, keeping them from dirtying up the interior.It was dark in the narrow tunnel, which widened into a square room lit only by the sunlight seen through the narrow passageway behind them.  Xandro activated his goggles of the night so could see as well as Alewyth and Wakuren, whereas Thurloe and Zander held everburning torches to provide illumination for themselves.  The back wall of the room held an open doorway, and while the room itself was dark, the chamber beyond was pitch black, impenetrable even to the darkvision enjoyed by three of the heroes.  Wisps of mist pooled out of the doorway."A final riddle, before you proceed any further," said an unseen voice in the room.  "Talk among yourselves if you wish before giving a single answer for the group."Wakuren looked to the others, then spoke on all of their behalf.  "We're ready," he said."THESE ANIMALS HAVE THREE LETTERS IN THEIR NAME THE FIRST IS A LARGE DEER, WITH ANTLERS ITS FAME TO THAT ADD A FELINE, A-PROWL ON THE HUNT JOIN THE TWO NAMES, THEN READ THE WORD FORMED BACK TO FRONT""These undead guys sure like their rhyming riddles," muttered Thurloe to himself.  But the others were devoting their energies to solving the answer, and before long Alewyth responded with, "Tackle.""Sure enough," replied the unseen voice.  "Go ahead, then, into the darkness with you."Thurloe cast a protection from evil spell and stepped forward into the darkness.  The first thing he noticed was it was cold, followed immediately by the realization the fog was seemingly pushing back against him: solid fog, he surmised.  But there was a tingling sensation in the back of his mind that felt like someone was trying to take a peek inside: mind fog as well, he wondered?  He concentrated on keeping his mind as blank as possible as he pushed forward into the darkness - which engulfed the light from his everburning torch as a soon as he had entered the room.Behind him, the others followed, Alewyth casting a death ward spell upon herself before entering and Wakuren casting a magic vestment spell to increase his protection.  Zander cast a stoneskin spell on himself and Petey and followed suit.  Thurloe added a bear's endurance spell as he fought his way through the thick, black fog, and Alewyth added a magic circle against evil spell centered on herself.  While they were all clustered together fighting through the thick fog, Zander cast a haste spell on the group, although that didn't help them make their way through the room any faster.  Wakuren cast a freedom of movement spell on himself and was suddenly able to walk through the fog at normal speed; as a result, he was the first to exit the room through the open doorway at the back - and the first to see the figure sitting behind the desk in the room beyond, waiting for their arrival.There was a strange helmet sitting on the table before the seated figure, seemingly made of solid metal such that there would be no way to see out of it once it was on one's head, but that's not what the half-orc was focused upon.  Rather, he was transfixed with the figure himself: a skeleton with strands of hair still stuck to what remained of his scalp, wearing rotting robes.  His skull-face offered no facial features with which to signal surprise, but Wakuren got the impression from the instinctive intake of breath (or what would have been an intake of breath if the lich still breathed) that the undead being was as surprised by Wakuren's appearance as the half-orc was by the lich."Let's wait until everyone exits before we make our introductions," suggested the lich, then muttered to himself, "Mother's going to get a kick out of this!"Once all five heroes were in the room, the lich stood up and introduced himself.  "My name is Pendlebrook," he said.  "May I ask why you wish to enter the Forbidden Lands?"Usually, either Alewyth or Wakuren would have answered for the group, but this time Thurloe was the first to respond.  "We're not sure," he answered.  "We were sent here by Akari.  We assumed you would be able to tell us."Wakuren's heart had just about exploded in his chest when he heard Thurloe supplying their cover story; the brash human more often than not got them into trouble when he opened his mouth.  But this time, the answer apparently worked.  "That would explain the marks of Akari on your foreheads," the lich observed.  "Although not on yours, I see," he said, singling out Xandro.Before Xandro could get out a single word, Thurloe covered him.  "He just works for us," the spellsword explained, relegating his fellow human as a mere servant to the four heroes wearing the mark of the God of Death and Undeath upon their brows."Well then, there's no need to wait any further," said Pendlebrook.  "Let's enter the Forbidden Lands, shall we?"  There was a wooden door behind the lich, and when he opened it, the entire doorway was covered in a blue light, obscuring the view of what lay beyond. "Wait!" pleaded Wakuren.  "We have a wood colossus outside - can he enter the Forbidden Lands with us?""Will he fit in the doorway?" asked Pendlebrook."Well, no,""Then no."The lich stepped into the blue light of the doorway.  One by one, the five dreamwalkers followed, into the Forbidden Lands at last. - - -The players all had a fun time with this, even though the adventure itself was just a series of travel encounters, followed by some riddles.  But I made a scale "miniature" of the sphinx colossus, which took me six sheets of cardstock to print out and glue together; the finished product stands nearly 20 inches long and stands 10 inches high.  (I also made a larger "miniature" of it in a combat pose, using the original artwork from the Pathfinder Bestiary where I found the sphinx colossus stats, but never used it as the players each solved their riddles on their own.)  They've come to the conclusion that the Forbidden Lands could literally be anywhere, even on another plane or in a pocket dimension, figuring the blue light is a planar gate of some type.  They'll find out the truth of the matter soon enough. - - -T-shirt worn: My light blue Red Cross blood drive shirt, to represent the vampire Wakuren interacted with at the beginning of the adventure.  (I don't have any T-shirts particularly appropriate to desert encounters.)</blockquote>

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