Session 41: Taman Gets His Vengeance
Dramatis Personae:
Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)/Wizard
Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)
Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge)
Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger (Horizon Walker)
Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)
GM - Everyone Else
18 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 108) (immediately after)
We began where we left off -- standing in a corridor inside a mountain looking into a huge room with 10 of the grues, a fomorian, a broken dilyarli female (Allina), and, most importantly, Ildna, the dilyarli who killed Taman’s family. The room had some pillars/joined up stalactites-stalagmites and a large double door at the far end. We could hear things coming up the hallway behind us and caught a glimpse of a couple of the manglers (the gribbly monster from Harl’s library) and a Skinless One (the thing from Tummeleen).
Orryk threw the last bead from the Necklace of Fireballs into the room to announce our presence (and kill three of the grues).
Then Taman stepped up to say something to Ildna.
Taman: At last we meet, for the first time, for the last time. You have slaughtered many, including my family, for unknown reasons. You will explain your motives now. The Knights of Luminosity will exact my revenge, and then we will destroy the Epiphany Machine.
(Taman's player: "The Knights of Luminosity" is a work in progress.
Joybell's player: I like it.)
Ildna: It came to me that by fulfilling their bargains, they were making the Tundra Queen stronger. And that’s not a good thing.
Then he slipped out of the room through the large doors at the far end. Joybell wished he’d stayed, because that’s an interesting concept and she’d have liked to talk with him more about that. She was expecting someone touched by the Outer Chaos to be totally gibbering and mad, but that’s not an inherently insane thought.
Anyway, he left, to Taman’s intense frustration and disappointment. So Taman put his hunter’s mark on Allina and shot her.
Joybell galloped in on Scooby, killing a grue and ending up behind one of the natural pillars in the room where Allina couldn’t see her. Mo moved into the room and viciously mocked a grue.
Mo: Hey, your balls are showing.
Then he inspired Taman.
Thneed moved into a room and took out a grue, then Allina moved up and shot her with her longbow.
The skinless one caught up to Fiona, just reaching her but not able to attack. She immediately misty-stepped away and ran behind one of the pillars. Then she firebolted Allina because she was one of the biggest threats in the room.
Three of the grues swarmed Joybell -- one of them got a critical hit. The fomorian also moved up on Joybell but then rather than attacking her, he gave Taman the evil eye, causing him psychic damage. Taman could feel his body starting to twist and cripple, but he shook off the effect.
The manglers ran into the room but weren’t able to attack anyone. Orryk threw the Bead of Force, trying to catch them both in a hamster ball, but they skipped out of the way. Orryk moved further away from them and sent Omnath around the side of the room out of danger for the moment.
Taman moved (dashing the last five feet) and attacked the fomorian, hitting because of Mo’s inspiration.
Joybell cast misty step on herself and Scooby to get out of the cluster of grues (and the fomorian) then charged Allina, hitting and smiting her twice.
Mo cast a hypnotic pattern on the skinless one and the two manglers, which hypnotized all three of them, at least for the moment neutralizing the threat from behind us. Then he ran toward a group of grues. Thneed shot one of them twice, but it survived her arrows.
Allina attacked Joybell and put her corrupting susurrations, the nasty whispers that aren’t an attack or a spell and just do psychic damage, on Taman and Mo. The whisper, and the ensuing mental pain, cause Mo to lose his concentration on the hypnotic pattern, so the manglers and the skinless one were once again free to attack.
Freed from the pretty lights, the skinless one rushed Thneed but couldn’t get to her. Fiona dropped a fireball on the manglers and the skinless one, then she ran around the pillar she was hiding behind before seeing how much damage she did.
Mo and Taman were attacked by the grues and the fomori turned to attack Taman. Taman’s good luck caused one of the blows to miss and the other just went wide.
One of the manglers ran at blinding speed to Mo and the other to Thneed. Then they extruded lots of bladed pseudopods or tentacles and attacked in a whirlwind. Mo took three hits for 39 points of damage, which he reduced with cutting words. Thneed was hit by five of the six tentacles from her mangler, taking 53 points of damage.
(Note: Deponent tries not to get that much into the details of a combat, but naughty word howdy that’s a lot of damage for one round!) (GM note: Two of those hits were crits, which goes some way to explaining how it was so much damage.)
Orryk moved up next to Thneed, with Omnath, and Omnath cast a fog cloud over Thneed, Mo, and the manglers. Then he used his elemental affinity, Patient Badger Waits, to sense the tremors in the earth from the manglers and attacked one of them -- stunning it with his stunning strike then hitting it again with his unarmed attack.
Orryk made it possible for Mo and Thneed to get away from the manglers safely, because the manglers wouldn’t be able to see to do an opportunity attack when they left.
Mo, after Taman repositioned himself and Joybell hit Allina twice, took advantage of the opportunity Orryk made and ran away, taking an opportunity attack from a couple of grues, but not from the mangler, then he cast a shatter spell back where he was, killing one of the grues and hurting the mangler. Thneed ran out of the fog cloud and killed the other grue Mo had run away from.
Allina attacked Joybell first with her sword, missing, and then with a breath of bitter cold, which also missed.
The skinless one moved toward Fiona and began to dodge and weave. Fiona ran away from it and then cast magic missile on it. The two remaining grues attacked - one came out of the fog cloud and attacked Mo, the other attacked Taman - both missed. The fomorian missed Taman because of another lucky break but then hit him again. Taman was able to dodge much of the damage from that.
The mangler that had been on Mo couldn’t see anyone or anything in the fog, but when it ran out of the fog it spotted Mo again and attacked. Fortunately it wasn’t able to do the whirling bladed pseudopod attack again, but it still hit twice and did a fair amount of damage.
Orryk pulled out the Mace of Smiting (from Turnik Steeltear’s hoard) and attacked the mangler he had stunned with it. He hit it twice with the mace and then punched it to death with his unarmed strike.
Taman disengaged from the fomori and ran away, throwing a dagger at Allina as he went. The surprise attack got through her defenses and did her a lot of damage. Joybell followed up with a hit -- she thought about drawing down power for a divine smite and decided against it. She immediately regretted that decision when Allina stood, staggered and bloodied and near to death at the end.
Mo cast a powerful shatter spell on the grue and the mangler immediately behind him. He inspired Orryk, hoping that Orryk would kill the monsters for him.
Mo: Please kill this thing.
Thneed moved her hunters mark to the skinned one and dropped it after two really terrifyingly solid hits.
Allina attacked Joybell, missing with her rapier twice but critically hitting with her chill breath despite the Cloak of Displacement. Fortunately, Joybell was able to resist much of the damage because of being a paladin.
Fiona shifted around behind her pillar so she could cast scorching ray, hitting the fomorian with it three times.
The fomorian moved to Mo, who was closer and not in cover.
Mo: That’s probably going to be unpleasant.
The fomorian hit Mo twice and even with Mo using his cutting words to reduce the damage, he dropped to the first attack. Orryk did something to lower the damage from the second attack so that Mo didn’t wind out with two failed death saves.
The mangler then moved to Orryk and attacked with the whirling bladed tentacle attack getting three hits but fortunately no crits. Orryk put the mace away and began to attack with his deathtouch gloves, getting some of his hitpoints back from the mangler with two hits, one because of Mo’s inspiration.
Omnath, with a healing potion on a belt at his waist, started flying toward Mo.
Taman attacked the last remaining grue, which had survived fireball and shatter and several attacks, and killed it finally. Joybell finally dropped Allina then rode over to the fomorian and smote it with her second attack.
Thneed put her hunters mark on the fomorian and then shot it.
Fiona cast healing word on Mo.
Fiona: Wake up, Mo!!
Then she firebolted the fomorian, but missed.
The fomorian then turned to Taman and attacked with his great club, hitting twice. Even with his uncanny ability to dodge damage, Taman was dropped.
The mangler attacked Orryk, fortunately just with two bladed pseudopods rather than six.
Mo, awake and still lying on the ground: Hey! Stop it!
His cutting words caused the mangler to miss with both of its attacks. Orryk then turned around and punched it with the deathtouch gloves, getting some strength back and dropping it.
Taman, dropped by the fomorian, lay on the ground and gurgled, a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, Mo stood up and cast healing word on Taman before stabbing the fomori in the balls with his rapier.
With the fomorian the only remaining opponent, all of our attacks were focused there. Thneed shot at it. Joybell attacked with her short sword. Fiona cast a guiding bolt (which sadly missed). Orryk hit it twice with the deathtouch gloves, getting more of his strength back.
The fomorian turned to attack Mo, who had stood up too far away from Joybell for her to protect him with her shield, dropping him again. Taman moved right next to Joybell, so she could protect him, then attacked the giant as well.
Thneed and Fiona both hit the giant, Thneed with two arrows, Fiona with a ray from a Scorching Ray spell.
The fomorian attacked Orryk, who went invisible after the first hit. Despite that the fomorian’s second attack hit as well. Orryk immediately punched the fomorian with the deathtouch gloves, getting some of that strength back, then he too moved near Joybell. Omnath, who’d been crossing the battlefield for a few seconds, got to Mo and poured a healing potion into him.
Mobile medic to the rescue!
Taman attacked the giant, hitting well with his sneak attack, then disengaged and ran behind one of the pillars.
Joybell dropped the giant with her attack and actually remembered to do a healing word with the Sword of the Medic, healing Mo some.
We dragged the body of the fomorian in front of the double doors, blocking them shut, then Fiona made a tiny hut and we took a desperately needed short rest. Mo played us a song that helped us heal and rest better.
Looting the bodies, only Allina had anything at all and that was just a longbow, a rapier and 18 arrows, which were given to Theed (I believe).
After we finished our short rest, we dragged the dead fomorian away from the doors and proceeded through. There was a short hall with doors at the far end -- as we proceeded along it, Joybell talked with Taman about the possibility of casting an Aura of Vitality around herself.
Taman kicked open the double doors, which went into a large-ish room with no other exits. Most of the room looked like the same rock we’d been traveling through, but one corner looked pitted and weathered like it had been through a thousand years of freeze-thaw cycles -- with chips flaking off. Ildna stood in that corner.
Mo: Eureka! The Epiphany Machine!
Ildna: Not anymore, dammit.
Joybell: What does that mean?
Taman: It has abandoned you.
Ildna: It was here. Now it’s gone.
Taman: Did you know what deal my parents made with the Tundra Queen before you killed them.
Ildna: They promised <<then his words devolved into polyglot gibberish, each word and at times each syllable in a different language>>
Despite talking with Taman about casting Aura of Vitality as we approached the room, as soon as Ildna started talking in Outer Chaos Crazy Gibberish, Joybell charged him.
Joybell: We talked about it, but he’s there and needs attacking.
Her indecision affected her swings though, and she missed with both attacks. Fortunately, Thneed hit with both of her arrows. Joybell and Thneed both forgot to avert their eyes from Ildna’s gaze and began to feel cold freezing their bodies as they started to turn to ice.
Mo cast a faerie fire on Ildna, making him sparkle green, then he inspired Taman.
Mo: Make sure you kill him.
Ildna created his corrupting susurration, except instead of whispers, his were screaming in Thneed’s ears. Then he attacked Joybell with his rapier. He blew a chill breath on her and she could see that it was considerably stronger than Allina’s -- the water in the air turned immediately to tiny ice crystals which began falling to the ground. Fortunately, all of his attacks missed.
Orryk ran around behind Ildna then attacked with the mace of smiting -- he tried to stun it but it resisted the stunning effect. Omnath, now a magma mephit, cast heat metal on Ildna’s rapier. He immediately dropped the rapier.
Taman: I’ve saved something specially for you.
Then he pulled out a handful of salt from his pocket and threw it at Ildna’s eyes, to blind him and eliminate the ice-gaze but missed.
Fiona cast a high level scorching ray, hitting him with four of the five rays of fire. Ildna screamed when the fire touched him.
Despite the cold creeping over her, Joybell cast a searing smite and hit him, setting him on fire. Thneed hit him twice with her arrows, though her feet were frozen in place.
Mo inspired Thneed.
Mo: Stay toasty! Don’t freeze!
Then he shot Ildna with his crossbow and moved into the room.
Ildna started screaming in gibberish, and it hurt. Orryk, Joybell, Taman and Thneed all took psychic damage from the corrupting screaming gibberish. Thneed was dropped and immediately failed a death save.
Orryk closed his eyes and used his patient badger tremor sense to attack Ildna, hitting him and stunning him. Taman averted his eyes, put his hunters mark on Ildna and made a sneaky attack while Ildna’s attention was on Joybell and Orryk.
Fiona dropped a fireball on the cluster of combatants, shaping it around everyone except Ildna. Because of being stunned by Orryk’s strike, he was unable to do anything but scream as the fire burned into his icy flesh.
Joybell, fearing that she’d turn to ice with the Necklace of Prayer Beads on her, threw the beads to the ground then attacked, calling down a lot of divine energy on him. The furious energy warmed her and she shook off the freezing chill that had been overtaking her.
Mo took a shot with his crossbow from the other side of the room, then he inspired Joybell.
Mo: Please kill this guy for me.
Orryk hit him and tried to stun him again -- it took two tries and Orryk’s last bit of Ki energy, but he was able to stun Ildna a second time. Taman, realizing that while stunned Ildna couldn’t use his gaze attack, attacked without averting his eyes, but alas still missed.
Fortunately, Fiona still had enough magical energy left to cast a big fireball right on him -- he burst into flame. By the time the flames had dissipated, his body was melting away, leaving only a rapier, longbow and arrows.
Joybell picked up the necklace from where she’d dropped it and immediately used it on Thneed, restoring her to flesh and blood. Shen she laid on hands and healed her as well.
Thneed sat against the wall of the room shivering. Omnath, a magma mephit, moved next to her so she could warm up on his heat.
Fiona cast detect magic. None of the things left when Ildna melted away were magical. However, there were shelves in the other corner of the room and looking on those we found Wonderful Things:
There were coins:
8141 sp (some of it in trade bars)
2080 gp
107 pp
There were non-magical art objects (each worth 250gp):
A gold ring with bloodstones
A carved agate statuette
A large gold bracelet
A bronze crown
All were decorated with dwarven motifs and were clearly dwarven work.
There was a non-magical set of Dwarven full plate, obviously sized for a dwarf.
And then there were magical things:
Rope of Entanglement (Taman)
Ring of Channeling (attunement) (Only Joybell and Fiona can use this and neither of them really want to use an attunement slot on it, so it’s probably for sale or trade.)
Wand of the War Mage (attunement)(Fiona)
Book of Physical Prowess (Joybell latched onto this and will not let go)
Warhammer +3 (Joybell)
Amulet of the Planes (attunement)(Orryk)
Necklace of Adaptation (Mo)
As Mo picked up the necklace, it began speaking to him in dwarvish in a shy and halting voice.
Necklace: Are you going to Torm Danhar?
We learned that the necklace’s name was Emnoll and it, the dwarven plate and the warhammer were all the possessions of a dwarf warrior named Altor Ironhand, who fell to Ildna and his chaos thralls. Emnoll said that it, the armor and the hammer are all still the possessions of the Ironhand clan.
Joybell: We should take this stuff back to them. I also have some other dwarven things, armor and shield and a war hammer, in my bag. Though I don’t mind using the warhammer for a while before we get there.
Orryk: That is not our highest priority right now, but we definitely want to do that.
Treasure:
Merry loot-mas! Including the art, everyone gets: 17 pp, 513 gp, 1356 sp. Leftovers for party funds: 5 pp, 2 gp, 5 sp.
The magical items have been allocated as above. Fiona is going to un-attune with a Brooch of Shielding, so that will be available if anyone wants it.
Dramatis Personae:
Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)/Wizard
Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)
Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge)
Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger (Horizon Walker)
Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)
GM - Everyone Else
18 Harfastin 748 (Campaign day 108) (immediately after)
We began where we left off -- standing in a corridor inside a mountain looking into a huge room with 10 of the grues, a fomorian, a broken dilyarli female (Allina), and, most importantly, Ildna, the dilyarli who killed Taman’s family. The room had some pillars/joined up stalactites-stalagmites and a large double door at the far end. We could hear things coming up the hallway behind us and caught a glimpse of a couple of the manglers (the gribbly monster from Harl’s library) and a Skinless One (the thing from Tummeleen).
Orryk threw the last bead from the Necklace of Fireballs into the room to announce our presence (and kill three of the grues).
Then Taman stepped up to say something to Ildna.
Taman: At last we meet, for the first time, for the last time. You have slaughtered many, including my family, for unknown reasons. You will explain your motives now. The Knights of Luminosity will exact my revenge, and then we will destroy the Epiphany Machine.
(Taman's player: "The Knights of Luminosity" is a work in progress.
Joybell's player: I like it.)
Ildna: It came to me that by fulfilling their bargains, they were making the Tundra Queen stronger. And that’s not a good thing.
Then he slipped out of the room through the large doors at the far end. Joybell wished he’d stayed, because that’s an interesting concept and she’d have liked to talk with him more about that. She was expecting someone touched by the Outer Chaos to be totally gibbering and mad, but that’s not an inherently insane thought.
Anyway, he left, to Taman’s intense frustration and disappointment. So Taman put his hunter’s mark on Allina and shot her.
Joybell galloped in on Scooby, killing a grue and ending up behind one of the natural pillars in the room where Allina couldn’t see her. Mo moved into the room and viciously mocked a grue.
Mo: Hey, your balls are showing.
Then he inspired Taman.
Thneed moved into a room and took out a grue, then Allina moved up and shot her with her longbow.
The skinless one caught up to Fiona, just reaching her but not able to attack. She immediately misty-stepped away and ran behind one of the pillars. Then she firebolted Allina because she was one of the biggest threats in the room.
Three of the grues swarmed Joybell -- one of them got a critical hit. The fomorian also moved up on Joybell but then rather than attacking her, he gave Taman the evil eye, causing him psychic damage. Taman could feel his body starting to twist and cripple, but he shook off the effect.
The manglers ran into the room but weren’t able to attack anyone. Orryk threw the Bead of Force, trying to catch them both in a hamster ball, but they skipped out of the way. Orryk moved further away from them and sent Omnath around the side of the room out of danger for the moment.
Taman moved (dashing the last five feet) and attacked the fomorian, hitting because of Mo’s inspiration.
Joybell cast misty step on herself and Scooby to get out of the cluster of grues (and the fomorian) then charged Allina, hitting and smiting her twice.
Mo cast a hypnotic pattern on the skinless one and the two manglers, which hypnotized all three of them, at least for the moment neutralizing the threat from behind us. Then he ran toward a group of grues. Thneed shot one of them twice, but it survived her arrows.
Allina attacked Joybell and put her corrupting susurrations, the nasty whispers that aren’t an attack or a spell and just do psychic damage, on Taman and Mo. The whisper, and the ensuing mental pain, cause Mo to lose his concentration on the hypnotic pattern, so the manglers and the skinless one were once again free to attack.
Freed from the pretty lights, the skinless one rushed Thneed but couldn’t get to her. Fiona dropped a fireball on the manglers and the skinless one, then she ran around the pillar she was hiding behind before seeing how much damage she did.
Mo and Taman were attacked by the grues and the fomori turned to attack Taman. Taman’s good luck caused one of the blows to miss and the other just went wide.
One of the manglers ran at blinding speed to Mo and the other to Thneed. Then they extruded lots of bladed pseudopods or tentacles and attacked in a whirlwind. Mo took three hits for 39 points of damage, which he reduced with cutting words. Thneed was hit by five of the six tentacles from her mangler, taking 53 points of damage.
(Note: Deponent tries not to get that much into the details of a combat, but naughty word howdy that’s a lot of damage for one round!) (GM note: Two of those hits were crits, which goes some way to explaining how it was so much damage.)
Orryk moved up next to Thneed, with Omnath, and Omnath cast a fog cloud over Thneed, Mo, and the manglers. Then he used his elemental affinity, Patient Badger Waits, to sense the tremors in the earth from the manglers and attacked one of them -- stunning it with his stunning strike then hitting it again with his unarmed attack.
Orryk made it possible for Mo and Thneed to get away from the manglers safely, because the manglers wouldn’t be able to see to do an opportunity attack when they left.
Mo, after Taman repositioned himself and Joybell hit Allina twice, took advantage of the opportunity Orryk made and ran away, taking an opportunity attack from a couple of grues, but not from the mangler, then he cast a shatter spell back where he was, killing one of the grues and hurting the mangler. Thneed ran out of the fog cloud and killed the other grue Mo had run away from.
Allina attacked Joybell first with her sword, missing, and then with a breath of bitter cold, which also missed.
The skinless one moved toward Fiona and began to dodge and weave. Fiona ran away from it and then cast magic missile on it. The two remaining grues attacked - one came out of the fog cloud and attacked Mo, the other attacked Taman - both missed. The fomorian missed Taman because of another lucky break but then hit him again. Taman was able to dodge much of the damage from that.
The mangler that had been on Mo couldn’t see anyone or anything in the fog, but when it ran out of the fog it spotted Mo again and attacked. Fortunately it wasn’t able to do the whirling bladed pseudopod attack again, but it still hit twice and did a fair amount of damage.
Orryk pulled out the Mace of Smiting (from Turnik Steeltear’s hoard) and attacked the mangler he had stunned with it. He hit it twice with the mace and then punched it to death with his unarmed strike.
Taman disengaged from the fomori and ran away, throwing a dagger at Allina as he went. The surprise attack got through her defenses and did her a lot of damage. Joybell followed up with a hit -- she thought about drawing down power for a divine smite and decided against it. She immediately regretted that decision when Allina stood, staggered and bloodied and near to death at the end.
Mo cast a powerful shatter spell on the grue and the mangler immediately behind him. He inspired Orryk, hoping that Orryk would kill the monsters for him.
Mo: Please kill this thing.
Thneed moved her hunters mark to the skinned one and dropped it after two really terrifyingly solid hits.
Allina attacked Joybell, missing with her rapier twice but critically hitting with her chill breath despite the Cloak of Displacement. Fortunately, Joybell was able to resist much of the damage because of being a paladin.
Fiona shifted around behind her pillar so she could cast scorching ray, hitting the fomorian with it three times.
The fomorian moved to Mo, who was closer and not in cover.
Mo: That’s probably going to be unpleasant.
The fomorian hit Mo twice and even with Mo using his cutting words to reduce the damage, he dropped to the first attack. Orryk did something to lower the damage from the second attack so that Mo didn’t wind out with two failed death saves.
The mangler then moved to Orryk and attacked with the whirling bladed tentacle attack getting three hits but fortunately no crits. Orryk put the mace away and began to attack with his deathtouch gloves, getting some of his hitpoints back from the mangler with two hits, one because of Mo’s inspiration.
Omnath, with a healing potion on a belt at his waist, started flying toward Mo.
Taman attacked the last remaining grue, which had survived fireball and shatter and several attacks, and killed it finally. Joybell finally dropped Allina then rode over to the fomorian and smote it with her second attack.
Thneed put her hunters mark on the fomorian and then shot it.
Fiona cast healing word on Mo.
Fiona: Wake up, Mo!!
Then she firebolted the fomorian, but missed.
The fomorian then turned to Taman and attacked with his great club, hitting twice. Even with his uncanny ability to dodge damage, Taman was dropped.
The mangler attacked Orryk, fortunately just with two bladed pseudopods rather than six.
Mo, awake and still lying on the ground: Hey! Stop it!
His cutting words caused the mangler to miss with both of its attacks. Orryk then turned around and punched it with the deathtouch gloves, getting some strength back and dropping it.
Taman, dropped by the fomorian, lay on the ground and gurgled, a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, Mo stood up and cast healing word on Taman before stabbing the fomori in the balls with his rapier.
With the fomorian the only remaining opponent, all of our attacks were focused there. Thneed shot at it. Joybell attacked with her short sword. Fiona cast a guiding bolt (which sadly missed). Orryk hit it twice with the deathtouch gloves, getting more of his strength back.
The fomorian turned to attack Mo, who had stood up too far away from Joybell for her to protect him with her shield, dropping him again. Taman moved right next to Joybell, so she could protect him, then attacked the giant as well.
Thneed and Fiona both hit the giant, Thneed with two arrows, Fiona with a ray from a Scorching Ray spell.
The fomorian attacked Orryk, who went invisible after the first hit. Despite that the fomorian’s second attack hit as well. Orryk immediately punched the fomorian with the deathtouch gloves, getting some of that strength back, then he too moved near Joybell. Omnath, who’d been crossing the battlefield for a few seconds, got to Mo and poured a healing potion into him.
Mobile medic to the rescue!
Taman attacked the giant, hitting well with his sneak attack, then disengaged and ran behind one of the pillars.
Joybell dropped the giant with her attack and actually remembered to do a healing word with the Sword of the Medic, healing Mo some.
We dragged the body of the fomorian in front of the double doors, blocking them shut, then Fiona made a tiny hut and we took a desperately needed short rest. Mo played us a song that helped us heal and rest better.
Looting the bodies, only Allina had anything at all and that was just a longbow, a rapier and 18 arrows, which were given to Theed (I believe).
After we finished our short rest, we dragged the dead fomorian away from the doors and proceeded through. There was a short hall with doors at the far end -- as we proceeded along it, Joybell talked with Taman about the possibility of casting an Aura of Vitality around herself.
Taman kicked open the double doors, which went into a large-ish room with no other exits. Most of the room looked like the same rock we’d been traveling through, but one corner looked pitted and weathered like it had been through a thousand years of freeze-thaw cycles -- with chips flaking off. Ildna stood in that corner.
Mo: Eureka! The Epiphany Machine!
Ildna: Not anymore, dammit.
Joybell: What does that mean?
Taman: It has abandoned you.
Ildna: It was here. Now it’s gone.
Taman: Did you know what deal my parents made with the Tundra Queen before you killed them.
Ildna: They promised <<then his words devolved into polyglot gibberish, each word and at times each syllable in a different language>>
Despite talking with Taman about casting Aura of Vitality as we approached the room, as soon as Ildna started talking in Outer Chaos Crazy Gibberish, Joybell charged him.
Joybell: We talked about it, but he’s there and needs attacking.
Her indecision affected her swings though, and she missed with both attacks. Fortunately, Thneed hit with both of her arrows. Joybell and Thneed both forgot to avert their eyes from Ildna’s gaze and began to feel cold freezing their bodies as they started to turn to ice.
Mo cast a faerie fire on Ildna, making him sparkle green, then he inspired Taman.
Mo: Make sure you kill him.
Ildna created his corrupting susurration, except instead of whispers, his were screaming in Thneed’s ears. Then he attacked Joybell with his rapier. He blew a chill breath on her and she could see that it was considerably stronger than Allina’s -- the water in the air turned immediately to tiny ice crystals which began falling to the ground. Fortunately, all of his attacks missed.
Orryk ran around behind Ildna then attacked with the mace of smiting -- he tried to stun it but it resisted the stunning effect. Omnath, now a magma mephit, cast heat metal on Ildna’s rapier. He immediately dropped the rapier.
Taman: I’ve saved something specially for you.
Then he pulled out a handful of salt from his pocket and threw it at Ildna’s eyes, to blind him and eliminate the ice-gaze but missed.
Fiona cast a high level scorching ray, hitting him with four of the five rays of fire. Ildna screamed when the fire touched him.
Despite the cold creeping over her, Joybell cast a searing smite and hit him, setting him on fire. Thneed hit him twice with her arrows, though her feet were frozen in place.
Mo inspired Thneed.
Mo: Stay toasty! Don’t freeze!
Then he shot Ildna with his crossbow and moved into the room.
Ildna started screaming in gibberish, and it hurt. Orryk, Joybell, Taman and Thneed all took psychic damage from the corrupting screaming gibberish. Thneed was dropped and immediately failed a death save.
Orryk closed his eyes and used his patient badger tremor sense to attack Ildna, hitting him and stunning him. Taman averted his eyes, put his hunters mark on Ildna and made a sneaky attack while Ildna’s attention was on Joybell and Orryk.
Fiona dropped a fireball on the cluster of combatants, shaping it around everyone except Ildna. Because of being stunned by Orryk’s strike, he was unable to do anything but scream as the fire burned into his icy flesh.
Joybell, fearing that she’d turn to ice with the Necklace of Prayer Beads on her, threw the beads to the ground then attacked, calling down a lot of divine energy on him. The furious energy warmed her and she shook off the freezing chill that had been overtaking her.
Mo took a shot with his crossbow from the other side of the room, then he inspired Joybell.
Mo: Please kill this guy for me.
Orryk hit him and tried to stun him again -- it took two tries and Orryk’s last bit of Ki energy, but he was able to stun Ildna a second time. Taman, realizing that while stunned Ildna couldn’t use his gaze attack, attacked without averting his eyes, but alas still missed.
Fortunately, Fiona still had enough magical energy left to cast a big fireball right on him -- he burst into flame. By the time the flames had dissipated, his body was melting away, leaving only a rapier, longbow and arrows.
Joybell picked up the necklace from where she’d dropped it and immediately used it on Thneed, restoring her to flesh and blood. Shen she laid on hands and healed her as well.
Thneed sat against the wall of the room shivering. Omnath, a magma mephit, moved next to her so she could warm up on his heat.
Fiona cast detect magic. None of the things left when Ildna melted away were magical. However, there were shelves in the other corner of the room and looking on those we found Wonderful Things:
There were coins:
8141 sp (some of it in trade bars)
2080 gp
107 pp
There were non-magical art objects (each worth 250gp):
A gold ring with bloodstones
A carved agate statuette
A large gold bracelet
A bronze crown
All were decorated with dwarven motifs and were clearly dwarven work.
There was a non-magical set of Dwarven full plate, obviously sized for a dwarf.
And then there were magical things:
Rope of Entanglement (Taman)
Ring of Channeling (attunement) (Only Joybell and Fiona can use this and neither of them really want to use an attunement slot on it, so it’s probably for sale or trade.)
Wand of the War Mage (attunement)(Fiona)
Book of Physical Prowess (Joybell latched onto this and will not let go)
Warhammer +3 (Joybell)
Amulet of the Planes (attunement)(Orryk)
Necklace of Adaptation (Mo)
As Mo picked up the necklace, it began speaking to him in dwarvish in a shy and halting voice.
Necklace: Are you going to Torm Danhar?
We learned that the necklace’s name was Emnoll and it, the dwarven plate and the warhammer were all the possessions of a dwarf warrior named Altor Ironhand, who fell to Ildna and his chaos thralls. Emnoll said that it, the armor and the hammer are all still the possessions of the Ironhand clan.
Joybell: We should take this stuff back to them. I also have some other dwarven things, armor and shield and a war hammer, in my bag. Though I don’t mind using the warhammer for a while before we get there.
Orryk: That is not our highest priority right now, but we definitely want to do that.
Treasure:
Merry loot-mas! Including the art, everyone gets: 17 pp, 513 gp, 1356 sp. Leftovers for party funds: 5 pp, 2 gp, 5 sp.
The magical items have been allocated as above. Fiona is going to un-attune with a Brooch of Shielding, so that will be available if anyone wants it.
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