[FR]The Return of the Heroes of the Vilhon Reach (updated 8/20!)

[Broccli_Head]

more like a few weeks

Chaos in the Underdark, part II, Highharvestide,1378 DR,Year of the Cauldron

Benito Moltos strode with purpose through one of the countless dark passageways of the Darklands, somewhere west of Ironfang Deep, and far beneath the Orsaun Mountains. Ahead of him, darting unseen, merely a shadow even to those denizens of the deeps who could see in the oppressive gloom, Grim scouted. Even further ahead a great direwolf paused and sniffed the ground. This was the form that Ariod had taken for their pursuit. Beside him stode Aris Cloud-dancer, Blue Destiny drawn but dimmed for any source of light would be a beacon to the many predators that hunted in the lands below. Behind Benito, came the rest of the Heroes of the Reach--Ivan, Ellysidell, and Kyros--mostly clanking away their position to any would be monster of the Underdark that happened nearby. They followed a group of six dwarven crusaders, that had somehow been tricked by an evil god to steal the Starym Moonblade, and use it against the duergar of nearby Dunsperirin, the Steel Kingdom. The Heroes hoped to catch them before they were slaughtered by the grey dwarves, or servants of the evil god that had tricked them.

Benito and Ellysidell supsected the culprit was the Spider Queen herself. Dwalin had related that the priestess of Halea Brightaxe had been told of a dream that these dwarven females had had; a dream where the goddess herself had spoken to them to take the powerful artifact and use it against their enemies.

The moonblade wanted to be found.

Benito had fervently prayed to Ilmater that the foolish dwarves had not yet opened the lead, anti-magicked case. The Heroes had rushed like madmen from the Hall of Artifacts to what Dwalin had called the Staging Area, a well-guarded portal station that led to the nearby upperdark. Benito had conducted a ritual calling on the most powerful and miraculous divinations granted by Ilmater to first find and then navigate a path to the suicide procession. Then they had gone through, to a concealed room, carved into the side of a large cavern, and had continued with haste. Too many had died because of the blade. Benito wanted to make sure that no more did.

Ariod paused and cocked his head. Then he nodded to Aris who put his ear to the ground. The genasi ranger heard very well the regular footsteps of plate-mailed dwarves on the march. He signed to the darkness, confident that Grim from his shadowy perch would see and then relay his message.

**

Noise...regular, like marching up ahead. Will scout further. Hold your position.

Hearing Grim in his head, Benito stopped and held up his hand to the rest of the group to halt as well. He began to hear the sound of metal shod feet echoing in the darkness.

"Go!" he hissed

Ariod bounded forward with Aris at his flank, and they entered a larger cavern. They blinked at the sudden stab of dim light emanating from the group of six dwarven female warriors that they had been tracking. The shapchanging druid shifted to the form of an air elemental while Aris moved held back, letting the others by, wary as always of a trap. Ellysidell ran past catching up to the dwarves, with Ivan and Kyros close on his heels. He grabbed at the case, and after a brief struggle, the stronger Chosen of Fenmaril Mestarine wrenched the case free. Ivan and Kyros attacked the dwarven warriors, attempting to subdue them for their own good. The dwarves retaliated with a ferver, but they were severly outmatched. The Mithral Knight and the Rashemani dodged and turned aside their wild axe slashes while Ariod spun past them and buffeted them from behind. Ellysidell slide the case to Benito.

"Good dwarves, you have been tricked by evil forces," proclaimed the cleric of Ilmater. "This container holds a powerful and malicious artifact. It only leads you to your doom. It is to be destroyed. Surrender and return with us to your home."

His plea fell on deaf ears.

"Hurry!" cried Aris from Benito's side. "I have a bad feeling about this."

And as if on cue, the darkness became darker and impenatrable to their darkvision. Aris heard the near inaudible thwips of many light crossbows firing. His heart sunk as he tumbled instinctively.

"Drow!"

 

[honorwolf]

Excellent! Drow,tricked dwarves,evil swords, and just darkness. I hate the underdark. I hate drow, I hate duped dwarves, and I absolutely hate evil moonblades. By the way did I mention I also hate darkness.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Excellent! I hate the underdark. I hate drow !

I don't think that they like you either

Next post should be fun...if I can muster the brain power to finish it , should be up soon

 

[honorwolf]

It doesn't matter what the dark elves think! It doesn't matter what the darkness thinks! It doesn't matter what the tricked dwarves think! And It doesn't matter what the evil sword thinks. All that matters is what the
CloudDancer thinks!

 

[Broccli_Head]

Chaos in the Underdark, part III, Highharvestide,1378 DR,Year of the Cauldron

Benito Moltos was barely phased. Calling on the blessing of Ilmater he brought daylight to the darkness, cancelling out the shrowds that the drow had brought down and bringing a radiance to the gloom. However, the light extended only about sixty paces in every direction, where an impenetrable blackness remained. There were a whole lot of drow out there.

Grabbing the sword-case he yelled, "Fall back, there are too many!"

Another volley of small bolts followed and most of them bounced and skipped along the stone, and only a few hit their marks. Aris speculated that the drow were firing randomly. Two dwarves, however, had been unlucky, and toppled forward, victims of the famed drow sleep poison.

Ellysidell slammed Golden-fire into the side of the dwarven warrior who had held the case dropping her to the ground. Then he scooped her into his arms and began to retreat towards Benito's position. Ivan scowled, but saw the tactical rationale to leave the situation. He also backed away towards the others as he faced the edge of the darkness.

Then a huge spider leg, as thick around as a stalactite stabbed out at him from beyond the black veil, slicing along his shoulder and upper back, leaving it slightly numb. The Rashemani cried out, and instinctively struck back. Sparks flew, but he felt as if he had just stuck stone. An explosion sounded behind him, and he heard Benito and Ellysidell's yells of shock and pain. The enormous spider scuttled into view and Ivan gasped. Then his eyes widened in horror as thousands of fist-sized spiders erupted from the darkness.

Benito and Ellysidell had been hit with a column of fire and unholy energy. Aris Cloud-dancer had dived away at the last second rolling back to his feet.

"Spellcasters!" cried the priest.

"You don't know the half of it!" replied Ivan slapping away another barbed, giant spider leg.

He rolled his shoulder trying to stave off the unnatural stiffness and soreness. Briefly, he touched the wound. It bled at an alarming rate. The gigantic spider came fully into view. It was a sickly green color with baleful red eyes, and it was bigger than Ivan expected.

Grim watched the spectacle from the shadows and tried to calculate the trajectory of the bolts to hunt down the evil enemy. He felt a pinprick of pain slice across his wrist, and the tell-tale burn of poison. Another bounced off his leather vest.

Impossible! he complained.

He heard a third whiz by his ear. Then caution took over. The hunter had become the hunted.

"Time. We need time," muttered the cleric under his breath after shooting the jade spider with a beam of searing light that had richoted away at an obtuse angle apparently doing nothing.

His bass voice rumbled through the cavern as he spoke another prayer to Ilmater. Between Ivan and the great, jade spider arose a wall of stone.

"Regroup, Heroes. Let us get away from here!" cried out Aris, moving towards the entrance.

On the other side of the wall, Ariod attempted as best he could to disperse the swarm of spiders, but there were too many. His heart went out to the fallen dwarves. They had been overrun by the vermin and were being sickeningly consumed. Fortunately, his current elemental form could not vomit. He sailed over the wall, and the spider swarm followed.

On the other side of the wall, Ivan saw the spike-ladden legs of the gargantuan spider feel their way beyond. Then the rest of the horror's bulk propelled itself up and over. Ellysidell put down the dwarf to help Ivan hack at the creature's legs. It was like striking stone. He raged as the giant spider tore into him with its thorny, column-like appendages. He shook off the sudden feeling of stiffness and with Ivan continued to hold the rear. Smaller spiders swarmed around them and nipped at their legs and jumped to bite their bare flesh.

"We are trapped!" came the report from Aris.

He had run into a wall of webs that had not been there before. He struck at them, and it was as if he struck metal, the cords of silk were so strong and magically enchanced. With all his strength he tore away his scimitar. They were sticky also. From the corner of his eye, he detected movement and somersaulted away. Three human-sized spiders dropped from the webs. Their eyes glared with menance and evil, and a foul ichor dripped from their clicking mandibles. Aris drew his hand axe and prepared his defense.

With the exception of Grim, whose wherabouts were unknown, the rest of the party were hedged in by thousands upon thousands of spiders. Stomping and slashing and had no effect. The floor thickened and became slick with the fluids of hundreds of squashed arachnids. Suddenly, a block of the swarm was burned to ash. Ariod had changed to become an elemental of fire.

Benito assessed the situation. They had to leave. They were hemmed in. Their main foe was turning aside the hacks and slashes of their best fighters.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"I'm sorry, Ivan, Ellysidell."

Directly upon the jade spider, he called down a column of sonic energy and holy flames, adding metamagic power. The blast engulfed the weapon's master and the widl elf. He staggered at the effort, and then nearly cried as the spider, though blackened and scorched by the sonic flamestrike still kept moving.

Aris leaped and slashed and stabbed all the while dodging the fiendish fangs of the spiders. Grim darting from the shadows, ducked and weaved between their spindly legs and added more damage, ripping out their guts from beneath while Aris tore their carapaces from above. Shortly, there were no more large spiders, just seemingly an infinite number of little ones. Both dexterous warriors dove away from webs cast from the darkness. Space was getting tight as the rest of the Heroes backed into their area.

"Benito, can you do something about that wall?" pointed Aris at the iron-like webs that barred their path.

Ivan, scorched and cut, rolled around on the ground crushing more spiders, and barely avoided another viscious slice from the giant jade beast that continued to harry them. One of its legs hung limply thanks to Ellysidell, and black ichor oozed and bubbled from the wound.

A war cry brought from the flank got the genasi's attention as several drow detached themselves from the darkness and charged the party. The melee became fierce. Benito put down his cargo--a lead case and an unconscious dwarven female--and prayed for Ilmater to give him the power to remove the webs. A huge section vanished, only to reveal another wall behind it. A red beam of energy hit the small of his back, searing his flesh.

"Do not worry, drow priestess, wherever you are. I will deal with you very soon."

He dispelled the second set.

"Now let's get out of here!"

He began to run to the passageway. Grim ran after. Behind him, the jade spider still harassed the party, while the drow fighters fell to the blades of the Heroes. The spider lashed out at random with one of its spikey legs, cutting Aris across the legs even as he tumbled backwards. His joints stiffened and stone crept across his body.

"Noo--!"

His cry stopped short as his body hardened to stone, still possessing the momentum of his leap. Ellysidell dropped his weapon and dove to catch his friend. A drow male punished him with a slice across the back. But the wild elf slid under the falling statue of Aris saving the genasi's stone head by a hair's breadth.

Benito could not wait any longer as he saw Ellysidell roll gingerly into the entrance carrying a statue. Ivan was on his heels.

"Ilmater, show them your power!" he prayed raising both his arms in supplication.

And the earth complied as the Wrath of Ilmater brought down the cavern...

**

The dust settled and the aftershocks of the earthquake echoed throughout the Darklands. Ellysidell's magical falchion gave the passageway an eerie orange light as it protruded from between two boulders.

A single, stone-spiked leg twitched from the rubble, and then lay still.

Ivan pushed the last drow from his body. The warrior had leaped at Ivan at the last second, knocking both to the ground and away from the rockfall, that hopefully, had buried all the other drow within the cavern. He kicked the unconscious body of his enemy and raised his scimitar to finish him.

"Wait," suggested Benito Moltos grabbing the Rashemani's arm. "Ilmater has spared him. He can be redeemed."

Ivan gave Benito a curious look, but then shrugged his shoulders. Benito then squatted beside the drow and stabilized him. Then he tossed him over his shoulder.

"Grim. This one lives," he said firmly to a nearby shadow.

Ellysidell worked his blade free from the debris and hefted Aris across his back.

"Ivan, please get the dwarf," asked Benito. "Let's leave this place, before any that survived regroup."

Sullenly, and still hurting from the empowered sonic flamestrike the fighter complied.

"Not to worry," came the voice from an incorporeal figure that slipped between the rocks, "I detected nothing else in that cave."

"Still...,"

Ariod the ghost, nodded his head in agreement, and changed to Ariod the direwolf, and began bounding away, back towards the dwarven redoubt.

The rest of the Heroes, burdens in tow, followed.

 

[honorwolf]

And by the way did I mention that I hate spiders!

 

[Malachai_rose]

I had almost forgotten how dire the situation in the cavern was for us. I do remember the only thing on our minds was getting the sword out of harms way as quickly as possible. Man I hated that sword, lol, I mean a really deep abiding hatred. Not the light hearted joking kind of hate that Aris always espouses but more of a thick black viscous kind of hatred

Well good post, I can't wait to see how you write up the conclusion to this unpleasantness in Evermeet

 

[honorwolf]

Dire situations call for dire actions and dire emotions. I for one look forward to the next posts. Especially more of the group interactions and dialogue. Good posts broc.

 

[Broccli_Head]

So here's the plan...in the FR campaign we are finishing off the major thread...The Second Battle of Irieabor, and then we'll go back to Champions for a while until I can get what I want to do for this campaign set in my mind...I estimate that I have 7 to 8 posts to go as I am a few sessions behind. We are currently playing out the Battle, and it has taken three sessions.

Waterdeep, 1 Marponeth, 1378, Year of the Cauldron

Seance of Waterdeep picked his way through the sprawled, passed-out patrons of the Inn of the Dripping Dagger. Behind him a squad of the City Watch gingerly did the same. The guild mage brought a perfumed handkerchief to his face, and backed his mudane gesture up with a cantrip, to prevent the smell of vomit and stale beer from wafting into his nose. He had been interrupted from is intense study of circle magic--the better to know his enemy, the Red Wizards of Thay--with a high priority sending from Guildmistress Mhair Szeltune herself.

Please investigate the Inn of the Dripping Dagger. There was intense revelry and the release of high level magicks. We want to be sure there will be no trouble.

Seance sneered, "Adventurers with more money than they know what to do with."

He knew the signs. He had seen it before. With his magical might he had put down the trouble and dragged more than a few grovelling to the magistrates to spend a few days in the dungeons beneath Castle Waterdeep. They always resisted. He and his hand picked crew from the watch made sure. Plus, he got a cut of the fines if there was violence. The mage smirked as one of his men kicked over a hungover dwarf who was beginning to revive.

Then he stopped short, dumbfounded by his sudden revelation.

"Hold!" he called to the watchman.

He stared at a bench in the corner and double-blinked.

"Impossible!"

The air genasi, dishevelled hair still blowing, stood. Beside him sat a man in gray robes contemplating him or something beyond. Against the wall leaned a very muscular wild elf, and opposite him a warrior in suprisingly still shiny mithral plate armor. Both had their arms folded and serious looks. A brutish looking human male lay across the bench with the bottle of some noxious spirit still gripped in his hand, snoring loudly.

"Aris..Aris Clouddancer?"

The genasi smiled and extended his hand.

"Yes it is I. Glad you finally joined the party, Seance."

**

Benito Moltos reviewed the rapid succession of events that had occured in the last twelve hours. A few minutes earlier he had awakened with a start and searched madly for the Case and the Sword. Then he had remembered and laughed while he had cast a quick orison to dispell the nausea from the drinking last night. Had he really called Alberia with the sending stones that the Mistmaster had gifted them to rat on Aris? Benito chuckled.

They had left Ironfang Deep, called out to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, and the Chosen of Mystra had whisked them to his tower in Waterdeep, the City of Splendors. Right before that he had burned a Mark of Justice on the forehead of the drow male they had captured. He had sent him down the mountains to the Guthmere to repent of his sins and change his ways. The priest of Ilmater sighed. In hindsight that had not been very merciful. He hadn't even gotten the drow's name. Hopefully, when this business with the sword was all done, he could rectify that.

The Blackstaff had stored their precious item in what he assured them was a very secure place.

"Not even a god could get in here," he had said.

Good! thought Benito. Because gods were after the Starym Moonblade

The drow that had ambushed them in the bowels of the earth had attested to that. The drow had not know much, but he had said that the expedition had been led by a priestess and had left their drow city a month before. The priestess, now buried beneath tons of rubble (he hoped), had had a vision.

The Heroes of the Reach had needed to let down their hair. The inn of choice had become the Inn of the Dripping Dagger. Ivan had even found, albeit diluted, Rashemani jihlud, the infamous firewine. Ivan, Benito, and Aris drank heavily. The others had refrained. Ariod had disappeared at some point. Benito bought all the alchohol in the place and declared an open bar. The Inn of the Dripping Dagger had been packed on the evening of Highharvestide. Daggers and axes had flown all in good fun and there had been no injuries. Benito and Aris had "conversed" in the full grip of their drunkenness with Alberia. Grim had tried to spoil the fun, by lifting the stone. Benito power word, stunned him. The priest did not remember much after that...until this morning.

"We need to get to Evermeet. Quickly," Benito reminded everyone, interrupting the reunion between Seance and Aris.

After some discussion, the time was set. That afternoon, they would continue. But first, there were a few errands to run...

**

Ivan and Ariod, in the form of a hound dog, jogged towards the Dock Ward and the Blushing Mermaid for breakfast. After fun and frolicking with the staff, and a much needed bath, the two continued Ivan's very important quest: the search for real, un-aled firewine.

"Remember, Ariod. What goes on in Waterdeep, stays in Waterdeep. Don't tell Gwyneth."

Benito went to pray at the Piergieron's Palace. Grim and Ellysidell tagged along, admiring, but not touching the splendor.

Aris and Seance with Kyros present had a much needed conversation.

"What have you been doing these five years?"

"Surviving. Learning. Planning. I will one day travel to Thay and wreak havoc. Red Wizards will learn to fear my name."

"Your revenge?"

"That one is dead. I have higher ambitions now. I tracked him here. Destroyed him a day's ride from the city. I decided to stay. The guild took me in."

"I have a job for you."

"Really? Will it lead me to death like the last time? I think not."

"Seance, we need a mage of your caliber. It would help us greatly."

Seance scoffed, "What of your sorcerer?"

Aris dismissed the question.

"You know what, Seance. I need you. We have plans to make right where we caused wrong."

Seance liked feeling needed, wanted, and indespensible.

"For you, Aris Cloud-dancer, I will do this, but for no one else. Tell me what you need me to do?"

**

Ivan showed up with a two huge barrels, courtesy of the Brewer's Guild. Khelben made a face.

"The weight of those items will come close to making teleportation to Evermeet dangerous."

Ivan began to prostest.

"But wait, I have a better idea."

A short time later, Ivan came back with a porcelain flask and a huge smile. He took a swig of untainted jihlud from the item.

"Ahhh! I'm ready."

"Now please all of you, be silent!"

Khelben Arunsun began the ritual. Benito gripped the Case tightly. His stomach turned. He would never get used to that feeling. He heard Ivan speak....

Fool!

Then a flash of light, and the sound of wind chimes, and a bright sun, and vaulted alien, maybe glass structures, and an unearthly singing. Benito's senses were assaulted. Elves in shining plate armor, and diaphonus robes surrounded he and his friends.

Except for one. Ivan, as he had anticipated, was missing.

 

[Malachai_rose]

I remember that session, it was really funny when we used the sending stones to start making "phone calls" while we were hammered, heheh. The really funny part was when Grim tried to take the stones away from us so we couldnt call anyone else I looked at him and in a very slurred fashion said "Grim... I only gots one thing... to say to you... STUN", and power word stunned him he was way mad, lol. All he could do was fume about how he needed a big plus con item to try and get his hp above 150 for the rest of the session. It was classic.

Well, I'm lookin forward to the next few posts Broc. All I gotta say is evil moonblades suck... suck bad. And evil banshees in the service of said evil moonblade suck even more