From the Ashes (Updated 11/04/2008)

[ThirdWizard]

After Sapphire deftly picked the lock, they pushed the door open and entered the dingy entranceway. The place was lit with dim torchlight, and a stone hallway crept out in front of them, a door on their left several yards in front of them, and two doors on the right, one close by and the other at the end of the hallway. Sapphire went first, checking for any traps that might be in the room, stopping at the first doorway and giving it a once over. Satisfied that it wasn't trapped, she checked the lock. The door being unlocked, she stepped back to let Quinn take the lead as they checked out the other side.

Pushing the door open, Quinn found himself face to face with several robed figures and another in leather armor. The guy in leather, made a quick grab for his longbow and darted for the back, while the others pulled curved knives from under their cloaks. The PCs reacted at the same time, their weapons ready, and started moving toward the enemies in the other room.

With the sound of battle beginning, they heard move noise coming from the other door across the hall, and it flew open revealing another three robed figures, one of which was taller than the others and carried a staff. That one muttered something, pointing his staff at them, and lightning arced through the air toward them, striking Quinn, Korvun, and Tordek.

At the same time, the archer flung a rear door in the room he was in open, and jumped into the hallway at the far end, loosing two arrows straight at Alandra, one of them grazing her leg. She returned the favor, flinging two of her own arrows at the man, both of them coming close to embedding themselves into his chest. Winded, the man took two steps backward, getting back his footing.

Quinn took advantage of the opportunity, running toward the archer, his halberd stretched outward, but the floor gave way under him and he plummeted several feet into a hidden pit with a crash. Looking around, the walls were rough, and he didn't think it would be too difficult to climb back out. As he looked around, however, he noticed dozens of eyes gleaming on the far side of the pit.

Tordek moved backward, allowing Korvun to position himself between the mass of oncoming enemies and the squishier party members. He let out a stream of light, striking one of their attackers and sending him to the ground screaming in pain. Korvun took the opportunity to move forward and cut down another one as Sapphire slipped to the side and pelted the sorcerer with a blast of eldritch might.

The archer and Alandra exchanged more arrows as the mage in the other room pointed toward Sapphire, striking her with pure force square in the chest. She retreated backward, firing another blast at him while Korvun attempted to hold off an attack from the rabble, several of them managing to move around him and flank Tordek and menace Alandra. While this was going on Quinn was being covered with a horde of rats, climbing and biting all over him, as he tried desperately to pull himself out of the pit.

As the PCs moved in closer together to try to keep away the robed figures surrounding them, the mage took his opportunity, a globe of bright light forming on the tip of his staff, he cackled out a shout and it flew toward them, exploding in a blast of thunderous sound ringing through their ears and bodies, shocking them dumb. But, Alandra then managed to turn the tables on the archer and drop him as Sapphire dropped another one of the robed figures.

Finally, out of the pit, Quinn moved over to aid his allies, cleaving through two of the assailants at once, and letting Korvun move over to help Tordek. With the rabble dropped, Alandra and Sapphire quickly ganged up on the mage, who tried to escape but was felled by ranged attacks.

OOC:
[sblock]I really liked this encounter. It included a pit trap with a rat swarm at the bottom, 6 Human Rabble, an Elf Archer, and a Human Mage. The rabble were in the front keeping the melee characters from getting to the mage, while the archer hid behind the trap (which caught Quinn). The minions making up the front line actually worked well.

The only real problem was that the rats climbed up out of the pit after Quinn (with a Climb Speed 2) and continued the fight. Without a wizard in the party, ti was actually the last thing they dropped and was made boring without any Close or Area attacks to deal full damage. In the future I'm going to have to avoid swarms. They just aren't fun for this particular group, unfortunately.[/sblock]

Injured, the party was forced to rest before moving on, checking over the corpses and making sure each and every one of them was dead while deciding which way would be best to move on - both the room with the mage and the one the archer had occupied had doors leading further into the temple. Putting it to a vote, they decided to go through the door with the archer.

Sapphire checked the door for traps, but found nothing and they opened it. On the other side was a long hallway with a door on the far end.

"That's definately not a trap," Quinn pointed out sarcastically.

Sapphire offered "I'll... stay in here. You guys go ahead."

"I'll stay here too," said Tordek.

"Me too," said Alandra.

"Ooh, no. Sapphire, you're coming with us." said Quinn. "You're the one who can look for traps."

Sapphire sighed, but accepted, and she, Quinn, and Korven went into the room while the others waited outside. It wasn't long before Korvun, however, not Sapphire found the trap. And, of course, he pointed it out by accidentally stepping on a stone that depressed into the floor, making several spears fly up out of the ground and attempt to stab his friends. At the same time, the door slammed closed behind them cutting them off from Alandra and Tordek, and a trap door opened in the ceiling, releasing a gooey orangish-yellowy-brownish amorphous creature.

With the door closing on them, Tordek and Alandra had no idea what was happening on the inside, except that it couldn't be good due to all the screaming and shouting that the others were doing. And the fact that an obvious trap had just been sprung, which is rarely advantageous to those who set them off. So, they did the only sensible thing they could do, which was to repeatedly throw themselves at the wooden door, hoping to break the thing down.

At the same time, the others readied their weapons, trying to attack the jelly-like creature who clung to the walls and pounded them with pseudopods as it did so. At the same time they tried to avoid the spears coming up from the ground underneath them, stabbing at them as they fought.

Quinn was the best off, using his superior reach to slash at the thing and being protected by his armor. Sapphire found a safe spot by the door and attempted to unlock it from the inside while the others attempted to bash it down, and Korvun found another safe spot by the wall and swung his falchion through the air, cutting the monster as it repeatedly pounded on him with surprisingly solid blows.

After several back and forth attacks, the creature split into two! One of them crawled along the floor to the other side of the room and proceded to pelt Quinn while the remaining blobby bits kept hitting Korvun. Sapphire gave up on the lock and started blasting away, while Tordek and Alandra kept up their pounding.

Finally, the door broke down, and Alandra fired shots which sank deep into the creature as Tordek gave those inside some much needed healing. After a few more blows from Korvun, that one drooped and plopped down from its perch, covering him with slime. Turning to the other one, they managed to finish it off, and retreated back through the doorway, away from the trap.

Now that the monster was gone, and they had escaped from the room, Sapphire was able to take her time finding and disabling the triggering mechanisms for the trap. The room finally safe, they kept moving through the temple, hoping that they were almost to their destination, and that the trap had not slowed them down too much in their quest.

OOC:
[sblock]Okay, so this wasn't the best designed encounter. By now I've learned several things about 4e encounter design. One important tenet is: mobility is fun. They like to move around and to not just stand there and slug it out. Which is what this encoutner mainly consisted of. Because the room was so cramped and dangerous, they found safe spots and stuck to them.

If I had it to do over again, I would use several different kinds of traps, preferably some that encouraged movement, like swinging boulders or some such, where the PCs could take cover with the trap/environment and interact with it more. I learned something, though![/sblock]

 

[ThirdWizard]

Pushing onward, the PCs found themselves in a dark room, no torchlight here to light their way. They could see pillars moving into the darkness on the far side, and the sun rod Tordek carried illuminated some stairs leading upward to the second floor. Statues stood in the two corners they could see, and old rusty chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

They entered slowly, keeping their eyes out for anything lurking in the shadows. Quinn took the lead, with Korvun behind him. Then they heard a creaking from the corners, and the two statues turned their heads toward, them, stepping out into the floor toward them. Quinn and Korvun attempted to intercept the constructs, but two small creatures in cloak and dagger jumped them from behind the pillars, striking hard, a third appearing at the top of the stairs silently shooting a sling bullet into the party, striking Tordek before he could react.

Quinn and Korvun did what they could to try and keep the creatures away from the other party members, but one of the statues on the far side of the room moved toward Alandra faster than expected. She managed to move away and shoot at it, but it continued after her while the small creatures attempted to move around and flank Korvun while the other statue kept Quinn busy.

The party, surrounded, was having trouble keeping up with the onslaught from all sides, and Tordek moved to intercept the statue away from Alandra. He wasn't used to melee, but she needed room to shoot, and hopefully bring down one of the darting humanoid things. The one at the top of the stairs still raining down attacks from above.

The small creatures proved to hit hard but be fragile, however, and with a sweep of his halberd, beheaded it. One down, he focused his attention of the statue attack him from the other side. Tordek spent more time healing himself than the injured Korvun, who was looking tired and beaten at this point, but managed to hold the creature off Alandra long enough for her to drop the enemy on top of the stairs, who was sent flailing down the staircase to the bottom where his kneck made a loud popping sound.

Finally, the last humanoid died about the same time as the first statue, the former's guts spilled out onto the floor and the statue's torso breaking in half from a blast from Tordek. The others down, the party focused their attacks on the final remaining statue and pulverized it. However, they had come out of this one was many injuries, Korvun and Quinn were on their last legs, and they hoped that whatever lay up the stairs wasn't going to be the end to them.

OOC:
[sblock]At this point, I think Korvun had 2 healing surges, Quinn had 3, and the others were low as well. They had used their dailies in the fight with the dragon and had never had an extended rest. Basically, they were on their last legs.

This battle was 2 dark creepers, 1 halfling slinger (dark creeper slinger), and 2 iron defenders (stone statues). At this point, they've had the fight with the dragon, the cultists when they came in, the jelly with the traps, and now the dark creepers. They've been pouned, in other words. Remember, they're level 2: a standard encounter for them should be 625 XP. Most of these have been higher, and this last one was 750 XP, a level 3 encounter. The one coming up? That's 875: a level 4 encounter.[/sblock]

Exploring the temple, they found the second floor empty, but a staircase leading up to another story near the back of the building, on the opposite side as the entrance. Pushing onward, they ignored their aches, their pulled muscles, and the cuts littering their bodies. They needed to finish this rescue if it killed them.

 

[ThirdWizard]

So, I'm way behind due to some unforeseen stuff.

I'm going to work on getting caught up with the current campaign. Rescue Gone Wrong is almost finished here (really wish I had time to finish it the day I was writing it up.) After that, I have four more adventures that I need to write up. I'm having trouble remembering details, so the accounts will probably have to be either more summarized or slightly fabricated. We'll see.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The second floor of the temple was empty except for a dozen or so empty rooms, some of which looked like had been moved into recently - although any furniture was long dilapidated. Checking each one quickly, they eventually found a staircase leading up to the small third floor they had seen from outside. Checking for traps, they made their way up to the top, readying their weapons and flinging the door open at the top of the narrow stairway.

They found Sandra Mallory inside, chained to an alter at the far end of the room, an intricately carved pool below her that looked like it was made for blood - thankfully empty at the moment. Braziers lit the room in a dull green, and in front of her stood a cloaked figure with a holy symbol to Zehir adorning his neck. At his side was a small creature, apparently made of clay - a homunculus, and two statues like the ones they has seen below were between them.

The PCs rushed into the room. The small stairway wouldn't make a good chokepoint, so they made their way to one side of the room, using the right wall to try and keep the enemy from flanking them. Alandra let out several shots at the head priest while Quinn and Korvun intercepted the statues. The homunculus slid to the left, looking for a hole in their defense, and the head priest shouted a curse, blasting Quinn with dark energy.

From behind one of the braziers, a rock flew at Korvun, striking him. Looking, they could make out the outline of a small humanoid - another one of those creepers they had seen earlier. He pelted them with more sling bullets as Quinn and Korvun held back the statues, Quinn taking the brunt of the assault. Tordek called upon Avandra's favor and healed his injured companion, attempting to strike down the homunculus at the same time, who had by now worked its way around the front line defenders and attacked those in the back.

It was now that from its invisible cover the imp made its move, striking Tordek with its stinger and poisoning him. With this new combatant, the PCs found themselves split by opposing forces and taking punishment from their enemies. Quinn and Korvun focused on a single statue and took it down just as the head priest let out a blast of necrotic energy that caught both of them in the blast, weakening them. Gritting through, however, they turned their attention to the other statue, determined to take on the priest as soon as they could, trusting their companions to take the others.

The poison did nothing to stop Tordek, who quickly shrugged it off. Turning his attention to the imp, he found it fading away into invisibility again. Alandra kept her attention focused on the priest, ignoring the slinger who hid behind the cover of the brazier. Sapphire pelted the homunculus with her blasts, most of her arcane energy spent, but managed to take it out just as the second statue was dropped by the pair in the front, who were on their last legs, having almost no stamina left to speak of.

Quinn retreated to the back, bleeding from several wounds. The slinger had turned to Korvun who now advanced on the priest, almost as bad off as Quinn. The imp popped in and out, stinging, but was ignored for the most part because he proved to be too slippery... better to take out the priest, who proved to be their most powerful adversary.

Korvun and the priest engaged in melee combat, and though Korvun almost died, he prevailed with the aid of the others. The slinger was then dispatched. The imp, however, remained invisible, and his voice echoed through the chamber.

"Complete the ritual... and the power of this place shall be yours to do with as you please."

"Never!" Shouted Korvun. "Show yourself, vile devil. Fight us, and stop this game."

"The followers of Zehir proved to weak... but if you claim this place in the name of my master Asmodeus, you will be rewarded tenfold what he could have shown you."

"Creature, we will never bow before your devil god." Shouted Tordek.

"We shall see." And he was gone.

OOC:
[sblock]This was a hard battle. Quinn and Korvun both nearly died and both were completely out of healing surges by the end of the encounter. It was 875 XP for a group of 5 level 2 PCs, and it consisted of 2 Iron Defenders, a Clay Scout, a Halfling Slinger (Dark Creeper Slinger), and a toned down head priest whats-his-name from H1.
[/sblock]

Unchaining the unconcious Sandra, they made sure she wasn't injured and then checked the room over. They found a journal and several reagents for rituals. Making their way carefully out of the temple, they found a spot to make camp and rested for the night. Reading over the journal, they found that the imp had told the head priest, Hariel, about the temple and shown him now to desecrate it in order to unlock its powers. It seemed that the temple itself was created long ago but had been held by many different followers of different gods, from Moradin, to the Raven Queen, to Tiamat. It was last used by the Kingdom of Reskia under Bane, but when the kingdom fell, it was lost once again.

In the morning they were stiff, but refreshed. Tordek decided that in the future he might claim the temple as his own, but he would need to find a way to consecrate it in alignment with his own goddess, Avandra, to realize its potential. He decided when they returned to town, he would begin some research into that. Sandra awoke, and though shaken by her ordeal, walked back to town herself, along with her childhood friend Sapphire.

In town, father and daughter reunited, and the nobleman was extremely grateful. Tordek began his research while Quinn began work on a plan of his to build up a mercenary force under him, a force to rekindle and reinvigorate his home town of Hent. Several weeks passed as the group waited the month out that the eladrin Caelynnasidhe had promised it would take her to find the details behind their book and creature.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Smoke & Mirrors

The adventuring group split up a bit, each person handling their own business for a time, though they made plans for the future. Tordek wanted to return to the Temple they found and claim it as their own, though he wasn't sure of an exact plan yet. Quinn talked to his mentor, Christopher Kallis, about looking for troops they could recruit into a mercenary company based out of Hent. Their town had fallen on hard times and needed some kind of boost; in a dangerous world, if they could build up a reputation, then they could make a lot of money off such a venture. The others mostly milled around town, helped with local organizations, and enjoyed themselves.

Eventually, time came for the group to re-enter Kelbrook, to revisit Caelynnasidhe to inquire as to what she had found out for them. Using the same path as last time, they traversed the forest, more accustomed to the path. Winter was in full swing at this point, with the ground covered in snow, making travel more difficult, however.

The first night they slept in the forest, Alandra was awakened by the sounds of nearby animals - wolves. The animals attacked, apparently undeterred by the fire. Grabbing her bow and calling for the others to get up, she fired on one of the closer ones. There were at least half a dozen, and they were brazen about their attacks. As the others rose and grabbed their weapons, unfortunately armorless in the night, she noticed at the edge of the firelight a larger, more animalistic wolf - a fey wolf leading the others.

As the newly awakened adventurers engaged the wolves, their leader let out a howl, and they retreated as quickly as they had arrived. The group reformed by the fire and stood watch for a while, but the wolves did not return. Returning to their bedding, they slept, at least for a time, until once again the animals attacked again, forcing them up from their sleep only to be met with retreating wolves.

This harrying continued the next night, and the next. As the group continued their journey, they were met night after night by wolves. Sometimes it looked to be the same ones, but as they traveled further, it looked like the fey wolf was finding local packs to make the night raids against them. Sometimes the wolves would fight fiercely for a time, forcing the adventurers to engaged in battle. Other times they would disappear immediately after the adventurers awoke.

After many days of this, as they noticed the familiar land nearby Caelynnasidhe's tower, they were met by none other than Warder Gael, whom they had fought and captured when they first entered the forest. With him was the fey wolf with three of its companions, as well as a total of five eladrin, two bowmen in trees, two sword wielding guards at Gael's sides, and a halbard-wielding enforcer in chain armor.

Gael himself had a smile on his face. The group of harried travelers was worse for wear. They had been fighting wolves for almost a week, and they had no chance to rest during that time, tired, and their stamina falling. Their goal was almost in sight, but Gael stood before them, blocking their way. If it was a fight he was after, they would give it to him, even in the shape they were in. Maybe they would fall, but they would take him with them.

"A deal!" He called out to them, to their surprise.

Deals with fey can be tricky. The deal they had made with Caelynnasidhe was what had gotten them on Warder Gael's bad side in the first place. It had also almost gotten them killed. You never know what you're going to get into until you're neck deep. However, they were in a tough spot, and if there was another option available to them besides a fight, it was best to hear it out.

"What's your offer?" Korvun responded. The adventurers listened carefully.

"I will allow you entrance into the forest, under my own protection as a Warder, as far as the tower you seek. No fey will attack you, and if you are in danger within Kelbrook up to that point, I will be personally held responsible for your well being. In return you will owe me one favor of equal worth."

"What is of equal worth? Is it to be decided by you?" Quinn quipped at the eladrin, a cold look on his face.

Gael stared into the man's eyes, but Quinn did not look away. "You will decide when I ask it of you. If it is not acceptable, you are free to turn me down, and I will relent until I find something to your liking."

Tordek grumbled, low so that only his companions could hear. "I don't believe him. The fey are not trustworthy. He'll trick us."

"We can't take them on, though. If we fight, we'll lose." Alandra pointed out. "We're tired, and they have greater numbers against us."

"Tordek is correct, though." Korvun pointed out. "And, deals with the fey are binding, magically. If we accept the deal, we must do this for him in the future. And, the longer we wait, the worse. We have to intend to do it. We can't turn down a reasonable offer - or one that sounds reasonable at the time. He knows this, and he's using it against us."

"Won't matter if we die here." Alandra said. The others had to agree with this. Whatever deal they made in the future, at least they would have a chance. With the wolves hounding them all this time, they couldn't win this fight. Even fully rested, they weren't sure if they would all pull through. They didn't have any choice. The consensus was reached.

"We accept your offer." Quinn relayed to a smiling Gael.

"Then be off with you. And, remember not to go beyond the tower deeper into the forest. We shall meet again." With that, the Warder and his group departed, and the adventurers were free to move on to the tower.

OOC:
[sblock]Here's a great example of what not to do! The wolf thing - that didn't go over well. In fact, it sucked. Oh, it made logical sense, and it added tension and some interesting roleplaying to the meeting with Gael. But, the encounters with the wolves were simply not fun. They were frustrating for the players, and there was no satisfaction anywhere to be had.

It's okay to frustrate players to a degree as long as there is a payoff down the line. It can work well when the BBEG proves to be one step ahead of them constantly, turning allies against them, doing things that are generally annoy the players (note: players here, not just the PCs), because in the end, it will make the PC's final encounter with him extremely satisfying if and when they actually take him down.

In this case, there was no payoff, no big finish. They negotiated a deal with Gael. The wolves were two bit players who just sat around in the final encounter. Even if Gael had been the one harrying them (even though he was orchestrating it), he basically won. So, I had a frustrating series of encounters, where the PCs got up, engaged the wolves, who then left... over and over... and then nothing.

Bad DM!! Bad Bad Bad DM!!

Lesson learned.[/sblock]

 

[ThirdWizard]

Caelynnasidhe welcomed them into her home. They didn't mention Warder Gael or the promise they had made to her. The two didn't seem on amicable terms, so they had decided it would be best not to tell her that they owed a favor to a Warder of Kelbrook. None of them liked being in the forest. Even with Gael's promise of protection, too many things had gone wrong whenever they had entered its borders. So, they got to business quickly.

They were shown to the second floor of the eladrin's tower. It was a sizable laboratory and library, two entire floors devoted to books and vials. On the walls were glyphs inscribed and carved directly onto the stone, and on the floor rested a perfect circle of gold and silver with runes inscribed around its perimeter. Cabinets lined the walls filled with strange admixtures, bubbling bottles, and collections of body parts from various creatures.

On a work table in the center of the room rested the something wrapped in a heavy cloth and tied with a thin silken rope. "That is the book... I did not want to look upon it after I discovered its identity."

OOC:
[sblock]Those who have played with me in previous games at this point grew a bit... worried. They've had some bad experiences with Intelligent magic items in the past. Some good ones, mind you, but they're rightly scared of any magic item that is bound and someone doesn't want to touch. I knew this, so I thought I'd use this to my advantage to emphasize a bit of important in this item. It made them pay more attention to its back story and give them a little more respect for the item, even though it turned out not to be dangerous to merely handle.

It might sound like metagaming, and it is, but really I'm playing to expectations here. Using my knowledge of the players to get an emotional response from them. I don't want to overuse this kind of thing, or they'll get jaded to it, however, I think its good to every once in a while push the players themselves in order to build tension and keep the game's mood flowing in a particular way.[/sblock]

There was a quick back and forth between the group members, recounting some of the events that had occurred surrounding the discovery of the book: the shadow creature, the strange rituals, the undead outbreak, and the secret silver found in the mine. After refreshing themselves, they asked Caelynnasidhe what she had found.

"Do you know who the Shadow Lord was?" she asked.

Korvun immediately spoke up. "A self proclaimed master of creatures of the Shadowfell. He rose to power about fifty years ago but was put down by a group of adventurers... the Foes of Darkness. There were five of them. He was very dangerous, and a very powerful sorcerer."

Caelynnasidhe nodded. "This is one of his books. He made several of them detailing the Shadowfell and its inhabitants, rituals dealing with said creatures, and so forth. They were spread about Reskia, for what purpose only he knew. Now, every once in a while, one is found. They are hard to find, however. Who knows where this one came from."

Quinn spoke up. "Fifty years ago? Korvun, do you remember who was in the Foes of Darkness?"

The dragonborn thought for a moment. "I believe... there was Clavis Pik, a human, Hgrigga Stout, a dwarf, a halfling who went by Bobbins, Mara Belithis, an elf, and Urithea Daggerblade, a tiefling. They fought against the rise of Bane in Reskia, but ultimately failed to keep his church from gaining prominence among a scared populous who accepted the security that his followers could offer. After the church of Bane took over King's Cross, they faded away."

OOC:
[sblock]Korvun's player really nailed this roll! He already has a great History skill: Training + Int + Dragonborn bonus, and he rolled a 20. It was a great moment, when his PC got to start rambling off this extremely niche information.[/sblock]

Quinn nodded. "Some of them may still be alive. We should look them up later, when we can."

"Agreed," said Tordek. "They might have some useful information. I would guess that creature's on the loose now, and who knows if more were summoned. There were five circles in the mine, after all."

Caelynnasidhe walked over to the book and lifted it up. "I've heard that these books are cursed. Whether that is true or not I do not know. It is simply said that great misfortune befalls those who attempt to use the knowledge contained within its binding."

"Do you know how to open it?" Quinn asked.

Caelynnasidhe paused a moment. "I would be wary of doing such a thing. I wish I had not opened this book myself." She walked over and put the book in his hands. "But yes."

"We may need to someday."

"A deal is a deal." She stepped away from him, putting a couple foot's distance between herself and the book. "The command word to open the book is Vograppt to Nebbr, Primordial for "Long Shadow." She walked back to her table and lifted a green candle from the table. "That is half of our deal. Now I shall tell you about the creature you saw. But, first I must confirm that I am correct. Please follow me."

She led the group down the stairs to the first floor where she lifted a heavy rug to reveal a trap door leading down. A short staircase led them to a huge dark room full of mirrors, possibly a cave at some point. She waved her hand, and the green candle lit, shining a bright light in a large area around them.

Some mirrors were covered by sheets, but those that were not reflected the world... off. Some reflected nothing. Others had almost imperceptible changes in their reflections that changed the viewer's perception of themself in the reflection. Others were not so subtle.

Korvun looking in a mirror saw himself, only dead yet still walking. His flesh was rotting, and his gate a shamble, his eyes dark and lifeless. Quinn, looking in a mirror, saw himself in regalia, the symbols of Pelor inscribed his armor, a streak of gray in his hair. In one mirror Sapphire saw herself relfected with red skin, horns growing from her head, and flames licking up from underneath her. In her eyes were a dark glow, and her fingers ended in fine claws. Tordek saw himself in shining armor, a silver laden holy symbol about his neck. Runes dedicated to the service of Avandra covered his armor from head to toe. Alandra, looking at herself in one mirror, saw her body covered in blood, one leg all but useless, as she hobbled forward clinging to her bow.

After passing those mirrors, and each person getting a different feeling from the experience of seeing these reflections of themselves, the mirrors changed. Now they showed vistas that the group had never seen before. Forests as if the trees were right there in front of them. Mountains with shifting clouds above. Lakes and rivers flowing. All as if they were right there, moving, living a few feet away from view.

Finally, she stopped in front of a mirror with no reflection, only a pure silver gleam about it. Then she spoke. "Shadow Fiend." And, at her words, the silver became clouded, like a black cloud began to envelop the other side of its reflection. Slowly, into focus, came two red balls of light, like small red candles. Around them they could barely make out the outline of a humanoid figure, its shape the same as the creature they had seen in the summoning circle. It was unmistakable.

Then they noticed the figure's eyes begin to turn toward each one of them in turn, a smile creeping slowly over its face. Then, as its mouth began to open, Caelynnasidhe waved her hand and the mirror was silver again, as if the smoke had never been there.

"Was that the creature you saw?"

The group nodded, murmuring yes in broken silence.

"It is a shadow fiend, a creature of the Shadowfell. They were once creatures of the Elemental Chaos, but like many elementals, they spent so much time in the Shadowfell that they eventually changed in nature, like the death giants. They are deceivers and masters of knowledge and magic. They are very dangerous. They can posses mortals. Those that allow them in willingly can gain great power, but will be slowly driven mad... those that resist them are better off, but it depends on how long they can hold out. The Shadow Lord would use them as spies, assassins, and more. Come."

OOC:
[sblock]Ever since I first read about the Shadow Fiend in a Planescape supplement back in the day (I can't recall which one at the moment), I've loved them. I like how they worked behind the scenes manipulating people. I great use of that in one PS adventure I ran where a shadow fiend was controlling the people of Xaos in order to expell the PCs.

So, I decided I wanted to use them. Unfortunately they don't heve 4e stats yet, but either they eventually will or I can easily write up my own. But, I decided to change their backstory a bit to work with the adventure. They're elementals now, or at least, they were, now corrupted by the Shadowfell. So, they don't have to be tied to demons or devils, and I can use them in my Shadow Lord plot with some interesting twists. I think it'll go quite well.[/sblock]

She led them back through the room of mirrors. They neglected to look at their reflections this time, and felt better in the peace of her entrance room. Leaving them to think and discuss things amongst themselves, she went to prepare a meal for them after their long journey.

While resting, they made some plans. They would have to try and track down those members from the old adventuring group, they could try to see where the book came from if possible and what relation it had to the town of Rinthorp and its inhabitants. They also could try to find out what happened to the shadow fiend that they had talked with who was now missing. They had their work cut out for them.

She returned later with some wonderfully tasting food - all served cold. The adventurers hungrily ate. After the meal, she said she had two helpful things for them, but that they were not part of the original deal. If they wished to make a trade for them, however, she would be more than happy to help. All that she needed would be a favor from them in the future, should a need arise. The first item was a circlet of intertwined vines and silver - which she called a Warding Circlet that would help keep out unwanted possession. The second was a book containing a ritual that would forcefully eject a possessing entity.

After mulling over the decision for a minute, they decided that it would be worth it to gain the item and ritual and accepted her terms. They could not use the ritual yet, but it would surely come in handy should they encounter a shadow fiend or someone possessed by one. The favor they did for her before got them into a lot of trouble, which they were still paying for, but at least they would be alive. Alive and in debt beat out dead with no debts.

That night they rested in her tower, then headed out the next morning. The snow slowed their travel, but not by too much, and they found their way back to the road. Gael was true to his word, and they were not attacked during their trip through the forest. They could count that small blessing at least. Finally on the road, they began travel Southward back to Grethtown.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The road that connected the north and south of the Denmount Range wasn't well maintained, but it was traveled by merchants somewhat regularly, so it was fairly clear of rubble and fallen trees. They passed several small farming villages as they hiked down the road back to Grethtown - dozens of small unnamed hamlets lined the roads around the Coalition. The ankle deep snow was pushed away from the middle of the road - a caravan had probably come through recently. It made their time easier, which was a welcome break from the problems that had arisen around them lately.

This relief, though, was short lived.

As they rounded a turn in the road, they were met with a sight that seemed equally as surprised to see a well armed traveling troupe. The first thing they noticed were the goblins in the lead, standing in front of a cart. The cart was laden with bodies and was being pulled by a pair of zombies - one human and one hobgoblin. Half a dozen hobgoblins milled around behind the cart. Everyone froze when they saw each other save the zombies who kept on pulling the cart like nothing had happened.

Then, after an instant of silent shock, everyone started moving at once. One hobgoblin in the rear called out a battle cry, and the goblins rushed forward, their short swords waving as they ran at the group of adventurers. One hobgoblin pulled out a bow and ducked behind the cart, taking careful aim. A well armored hobgoblin pulled out a flail and advanced, calling three of his own kind outfitted in leather with longswords ot his side. A hobgoblin with a staff, the one who had barked the orders at the others, sneered and took cover behind the cart, ordering the zombies to drop the cart and begin shambling forward in attack.

The adventurers were quick to react as well. Quinn and Korvun formed a line as best they could to keep the goblinoids back while the others stepped behind them, readying their weapons themselves. They were outnumbered more than two to one, and while they had fought goblins before, they weren't sure how they would fare against hobgoblins, especially since one of them had command over the undead.

The goblins broke against Quinn and Korvun, hewn down quickly. Then the hobgoblins hit, pushing against the two front line fighters hard. Alandra and the hobgoblin archer traded shots at each other, while Tordek called upon the power of his goddess to blast one of the hobgoblins with a blast of radiance. Sapphire dropped one of the hobgoblins in the front, and backed away behind the others.

The dust flew as the front liners assaulted each other, but two more hobgoblins dropped quickly, and the flail wielder found himself against Quinn and Korvun by himself, the zombies slow gait keeping them out of melee for a bit longer. Alandra and the hobgoblin archer exchanged more fire, and the hobgoblin was worse for it, turning to take full cover behind the cart. With that, the hobgoblin with the staff emerged and blasted Quinn with a bolt of force from his staff.

With the zombies joining the front line, the battle became more difficult. They hit hard. However, Tordek healed what damage was done and them moved forward, channeling energies from his goddess into the air around them, sending the zombies staggering back away from melee again. With the zombies held back, Quinn and Korvun made short of the lone hobgoblin.

The archer moved out form behind the cart once again, trying to drop Alandra, but he was outclassed and dropped himself instead. With that, the warcaster charged forward with a guttural warcry, bringing the zombies with him as they fought off Tordek's power, and joined melee together. However, without support, he and his minions were slain.

With the unexpected battle over, the group stood again in silence for a moment, looking at the cart full of dead bodies, perhaps two dozen all packed into the small cart. The bodies were freshly dead, perhaps only a couple of days at most. Wherever they had come from, this could not be good. The zombies were an indication of the bodies' purpose, a sickening one by the group's standard. But, what to do with the bodies.

They decided burial would be difficult, so they took the bodies and burned them. They washed the cart and kept it for themselves. They decided that they would have to look into hobgoblin activity in the area.

OOC:
[sblock]Yes. They kept the cart. Ooh a cart! We could use a cart! Yeesh. I felt kinda bad about it. But, they had such glee in their faces at seeing it... There's just something disturbing about the whole thing. Of course, now they prize that cart above just about any other posession of theirs. Even the horses they have now purchased to pull it. It's insanity, I tell you. Pure insanity.[/sblock]

Back in Grethtown, there was a buzz in the air. It seemed some representatives of King's Cross, a town far to the West was having problems and looking for any who would help. They decided they had enough on their plates at the moment, but kept their ears open for further events in these troubles.

After a week of rest, investigation into local matters, and the like, Quinn met up with Christopher Kallis, who arrived back in town. He had been in Hent, building up a barraks and using his contacts to see if he could find anyone who they could recruit. He told Quinn that there was a mercenary group to the South who was having problems. He might be able to convince them to come work for them if he went himself. Kallis would continue to try and recruit local talent.

OOC:
[sblock]At this point, I had laid out a lot of plot hooks for them to go after, some of which they still haven't had time to touch upon. And, they still had the temple to work on, the dragon to deal with, and now more information on the ritual book, the creature, hobgoblin activity, stuff happening in King's Cross, and recruiting to do for their mercenary group they were trying to form. Fun times lay ahead.[/sblock]

 

[ThirdWizard]

Leader of Men

OOC:[sblock]I'm going to keep this one brief, going over the main details, then leave some space to come back and finish it. It was mostly a side adventure, though it does have enough consequences that I won't skip over the whole thing. Right now I'd like to catch up to where we are in the game, so I'll mostly gloss this one.[/sblock]

Heading south, the group decided to push off other matters for now in order to try and recruit troops for their standing mercenary force they are trying to build up. The town they were headed to was about a month away, so the trip was fairly long. They were attacked by bandits once on the trip (who they intimidated away without battle) and demons charged from the forest to attack them as well. The demons left an easy trail to follow back to where they came from, but the adventurers weighed the risk of discovering where these vile creatures had come from against the possibility of losing their cart, and decided that the cart was far too important to leave behind.

OOC:[sblock]Yes, I don't expect my players to jump at every hook I throw. But, come on. Skipping out on tracking demons because you like your 20 gp cart? They'll never live this one down. Ever.[/sblock]

After arriving in town, the group met up with the leader of the mercenaries, Lion's Pride, who were having a hard time. Their leader was a man named Nathan Hart, and he was desperately trying to keep morale up. The men followed him loyally, but with a recent horrible defeat in the nearby swamp, they were having a difficult time. What they thought was a den of kobolds turned out to be controlled by a group of lizardfolk.

Seizing upon the opportunity, Quinn decided to lead them into combat against the ones who defeated them. The kobolds by far outnumbered their lizardfolk masters, and the troops could handle them. The adventurers would be left to deal with the lizards themselves, a task they felt up to. If they succeeded, morale would be raized, and the men would be more willing to follow Nathan in serving Quinn and his new found company to the north.

OOC:[sblock]I decided that I wanted to run mass combat, but I didn't want to have to worry about the odds and ends of the NPCs fighting other NPCs. (I really hate rolling NPCs vs. NPCs.) I decided to make the combat encouters of the troops vs. the kobolds happen completely "off screen" using skill challenges, with the ability of the PCs to command the troops determining how well the troops performed. I could put the rules I created in the house rules section at some point.

The basics of it are that the PCs use skills like Diplomacy, History, Religion, and other things to order the men around, use battlefield tactics, and keep morale up. These skill checks determine how the troops come out of the battles at the end. Morale bonuses are awarded for really good checks, which give bonuses to the next battle that comes up. If checks go badly, troops die, morale goes down, etc. It worked pretty well.[/sblock]

And so they went into the swamp. After a day tracking back toward the ruins that the kobolds and lizards called home, they were attacked by former companions, soldiers risen from as the undead, fighting their former allies. After defeating them, somehow they managed to keep the men's spirits up enough to continue onward.

They fought their way through the outside of the ruins into one of the still-standing structures. The kobolds had set traps for them, and they had to fight in flooded areas made difficult for humans but where lizards could swim freely. The battles were hard fought, but the adventurers and the Lion's Pride came out victorious, collecting the spoils of war before heading back to town with the heads of their enemies on pikes.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Session 6: Dragon Hunting

In order to catch up, I'm going to skip this adventure.

Quick summary: The PCs went to kill the dragon from before. They got the aid of the Heathens, who were basically decimated beyond returning at this point, and found and fought against the dragon's kobold allies, then slew the dragon. They took the temple where they had fought the cultists as their own and began rebuilding it.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Session 7: Shadows of War

Now they had some real property on their hands, but there was the question of what to do with it. The temple itself was nice and large with the area around it already cleared of bandits. Tordek wanted to claim it for Avandra. Whatever dark pact the cult of Zehir had made with the Imp, he could feel the power the temple possessed, which could be consecrated and made to serve his deity. Few temples to Avandra dotted the lands, mostly small shrines located on trails, in forests, and at safe spots along the wilderness. A true temple to her could attract followers from the entire region, pilgrims and travelers welcome inside, offering protection along their travels.

Quinn's growing force was set to vigil over the temple to protect it as they rebuilt it - setting up a small inn and bar, manned by an apprentice they met in Grethtown, but a dwarven apprentice. Christopher Kallis had built up a force in Hent, looked after by the town's militia leader, Nathan Siege. Along Quinn's force, Korvun began to try and set up a small unit of his own, Bahamut's Talon as he called it, made up of Bahamut worshipers.

While they did this, Sapphire took the time to start doing what she (and her employers) liked to dub "delivery work." She would move things around, watch places, things like this, for some simple wages, making some easy money on the side. Nothing to engrossing, but just enough to keep her employers happy. The main guy being a man named Boone who seemed very concerned with staying far away from the business dealings he sent her on. She didn't ask too many questions.

OOC:[sblock]Surely Sapphire's business dealings will in no way come back to bite her or the other party members![/sblock]

So a few months passed. Winter turned colder and darker. The group had dealings with the Greth Traders Guild, working to convince them to help with their temple project. After all, anything that made travel easier was a boon to the Guild. In the end, they convinced them, through their ties with Aeryana Seehe and Owen Mallory, to help bulid the roads that would lead to the temple, but nothing more for the time being.

During this time, reports began to roll into Grethtown and the surrounding hamlets about attacks on settlements along the northern road. Small villages would be found completely vacant, burned to the ground, but with no bodies to speak of. This unsettling matter appeared to take place more than a few times in the short months that passed, and even though the weather was getting colder and travel more harsh, the group was unsettled by the event they had witnessed, the hobgoblins with a cart of human bodies, and decided that the matter needed investigation.

Appearing before Grethtown's nobles and Aeryana , they explained the situation to them, detailing what they had seen and their thoughts on the matter before heading out to investigate themselves. Going north, they visited many small hamlets, hearing stories that they had heard before and asking around to try and find something, anything, new that would help them track down what was responsible.

It was in a small, unnamed, hamlet that they ran into Rory. He was an old man, sitting by a fire outside, trying to warm a small child he held in his arms. The village had no inn, no place for a traveler to stay. That was the norm in this part of the region. He had half-healed burns along his body, which Tordek tried to help heal, though the scars were there forever. They fed him, and helped him, listening to his story.

"It was less than a month ago... I'm ashamed to say. I was hiding... hidden away by my family in the cellar with Jonas here. It was horrible." He began to shudder.

"It's important. What happened?" Quinn asked.

"We were attacked by hobgoblins. They hid me, but there was a small window. I looked out. We were just poor farmers. But, we had heard the stories, so we hired some mercenaries to protect us - Dragonborn. But, they just kept coming."

"They must have had scouts. Come in larger numbers," suggested Alandra. "The group we saw wasn't much."

"It confirms that it was hobgoblins, though," said Korvun.

"Aye. We need to find out where they are," said Tordek.

"What else?" asked Quinn.

The old man broke down for a minute, but then regained control, taking a deep breath. Quinn poured him some more hot drink while they waited patiently for the man to continue the story. "Evil. I saw... evil," the man finally coughed out. "A big guy, monster, like a goblin but bigger..."

"A hobgoblin," informed Quinn. "They're higher up the chain of command."

"He was ordering the others around, yes. He had some kind of symbol around his neck... a holy symbol to Bane. I didn't know they worshipped Bane..." he bit his lower lip. "But it were slashed... desecrated." He looked at the group around him. "But he still wore it. And... I could feel something off about him. Something wrong. And there were bigger creatures he was ordering around to kill the villagers." He started to well up again. "I saw them kill Bill, and Frank, and Joe's poor wife, beaten to death..." He fought back his tears again, coughing out his story. "They set alight my home... set it to burning above me. I barely escaped... barely made it out with Jonas. Barely..." He shuddered. "I hope you can find them. Bring justice to them for all the folk they've carted off for who knows what."

"Did... did you see what they did with the bodies?" asked Tordek.

The man nodded, his voice a whisper. "Piled 'em up. Carted 'em away. Like livestock."

"Thank ye," said Tordek.

"Yes. We'll put them all down," said Quinn.

"Good," the old man replied. "Good."