Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9290965" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 46: RANSOM OR NOT</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 11</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Orchid, elf druid 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 13 March 2024</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"I've got a job for us," Ageratum told the other members of the Trained Professional Adventurers, as she climbed the stairs and entered the top floor of the Light and Dark Club.</p><p></p><p>"Oh?" asked Harlan, his eyebrows raised in surprise. The little halfling was usually more reactive than proactive; it wasn't like her to go seeking out commissions for their services. However, as she explained, that hadn't exactly been the case. She hadn't gone out looking for a job, but rather a member of the local thieves guild came to her, seeking help. "You guys remember Oleg Kulakov, right?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"The gentleman from 'the Hall of Collection and Revenue, Enforcement Division,' as I recall," replied Harlan with a smirk - it was a rather feeble euphemism for the guild of thieves.</p><p></p><p>"That's the one," the halfling replied. "Well, he went and got himself kidnapped a couple of weeks ago. The rival guild sent a ransom note, asking for 25,000 pieces of guild for his safe release. The drop-off point is an abandoned guard station about a day's ride from here, toward the Lortmil Mountains. Another guild member, Boris Predtsiva, went to go scout the place out, but he hasn't been seen since."</p><p></p><p>"And they want us to deliver the ransom?" asked Alistair.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum just laughed. "What? No!" She shook her head at his naivete. "No, they're willing to pay us 5,000 pieces of gold to go slay the lot of them. There's another 5,000 in it for us if we return with Oleg alive."</p><p></p><p>"What about Boris?" asked Orchid.</p><p></p><p>"They didn't say anything about Boris," Ageratum admitted. "I'm sure they'd be fine with us rescuing the two of them, but they aren't paying anything additional for Boris."</p><p></p><p>"So we're putting our lives on the line to rescue a couple of thieves," Chaevaris summed up, ignoring the angry look Ageratum was throwing the archer's way at the flippant disregard for people in her line of work. Sure, she didn't have a whole lot of respect for Oleg or Boris - if they were better at their craft, they wouldn't have gotten caught - but everyone had to make a living some way.</p><p></p><p>"We are rescuing two people held captive by an evil band of rogues with no regard for the sanctity of life and freedom," Harlan explained in a different way. "I say we accept the job."</p><p></p><p>"Uh, good, 'cause I already did, on all of our behalf," admitted Ageratum.</p><p></p><p>"Did you get the payment up front?" asked Alistair, to which the little halfling gave him a look that clearly said, "Of course I did - what, do I look stupid or something?"</p><p></p><p>There was only a few hours left of sunlight left in the day, but that was no impediment; they mounted up and made their way down the road, traveling while the light was good. Then, as the sun set, Chaevaris activated her magic necklace and activated the extradimensional door onto a nearby tree. Opening the door, Alistair bade Carruthers to exit, and once the shield guardian had done so, the elf deactivated the door and then reactivated it onto the tower shield held by the massive construct. One by one, the other heroes brought their steeds into the extradimensional dwelling (Harlan merely dismissed Nova back to the celestial planes that were his home), and then followed suit, closing the door behind them. Chaevaris then clambered up onto Carruthers' shoulder, pointed the way, and set the shield guardian on the path towards the drop-off point, still the better part of a day's ride away. All through the night, Carruthers ambled along the road, being told which way to go by the elven archer or indicated by Ambrose, when the elf grabbed several hours of reverie needed to keep her at peak proficiency. But as per Alistair's instructions, Carruthers stopped a good hour's distance from the abandoned guard post, so there would be little chance of blundering into the path of the kidnappers while most of the party was asleep. The next morning, everyone awoke, got the horses outside (and Alistair used a <em>prestidigitation</em> spell to clean up after them), had their breakfast, and put Carruthers back into the dwelling before making their way for the last hour of travel.</p><p></p><p>"There it is up ahead," Chaevaris pointed out as the group came to the edge of a forested area. Two hundred feet or so away, across an open field, stood the abandoned structure, no longer serving as a guard station but now making do as a temporary thieves guild hideout. She brought her gray horse, Talkacha, to a halt before exiting the handy camouflage of the surrounding woods. Behind her, the others brought their mounts to a halt. "I make out at least one guard," Chaevaris reported, shielding a hand over her eyes and looking at the building, a single-story structure about 15 feet high. A heavy wooden door was planted directly below the battlements where the guard slowly paced back and forth, keeping a wary eye out for trouble.</p><p></p><p>"I should think a bird's-eye reconnaissance would be in order," decided Alistair. On cue, Ambrose flew from his master's shoulder and made a wide circuit around the building, a mere innocent-looking grackle. Upon his return, Ambrose reported there were four guards on station at each point of the compass, plus a fifth guard stationed outside a pair of doors in the interior courtyard. "But of particular note," added Alistair, translating his familiar's situational briefing, "is there's a griffon circling about 100 feet overhead." Chaevaris shielded her eyes again and looked up, spotting the winged guardian. Sure enough, it was making a slow circuit around the building below, in a counterclockwise fashion. She began nocking an arrow to her bow, but then Alistair interrupted her and cast a <em>flame arrow</em> spell upon the group's assorted ammunition.</p><p></p><p>Before placing her arrow into her composite longbow, Chaevaris removed her <em>ring of invisibility</em> and handed it over to Harlan. "You take this," she suggested. "I think I'll stay back here and snipe at a distance." At her suggestion, Alistair brought Carruthers out from their extradimensional dwelling and assigned him the role of keeping the archer safe. The sorcerer then cast a pair of <em>mage armor</em> spells upon himself and Nova, a pair of <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spells (to get all five heroes in on the mental link), and a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell upon Harlan's winged steed. Harlan cast the spells <em>bull's strength</em> and <em>magic circle against evil</em> on himself and a <em>bless</em> spell on the assembled group. Orchid cast <em>barkskin</em> spells upon herself and Nova, a <em>longstrider</em> spell upon herself, a <em>greater magic fang</em> spell upon Nova, an <em>air walk</em> spell on Chaevaris, and a <em>mass bear's endurance</em> on the assembled group. She then instructed Shushitan to look after the horses as usual and the timber wolf chuffed his understanding, tail wagging at once again being put in charge.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, then," Chaevaris said once everyone was ready. "When I shoot the griffon, that'll be your signal."</p><p></p><p>"Got it," affirmed Alistair. Unseen, Nova took to the skies, flying toward the guard station, flying about 30 feet up. Ageratum stood beside the sorcerer and activated her <em>bracelet of invisibility</em>, similarly fading from view.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris tracked the griffon's flight, waiting until it had made a full circuit and was once again facing her way. Then, focusing the whole of her attention upon its right eye, she waited until the optimal moment and then let fly. The arrow ignited in mid-flight, finding its target and penetrating the griffon's skull through its right eye socket, slaying the great beast immediately. With a startled squawk, it plummeted down to the earth like a meteorite, crashing along the southern end of the open courtyard in the midst of the guard station.</p><p></p><p>"Holy crap!" yelled the rogue stationed outside the doors to the building's interior, abandoning his station and running over to the downed griffon to investigate. The four guards up on the battlements all looked behind them to see what the commotion was about. And in that instant, Alistair cast his <em>dimension door</em> spell, transporting the four heroes to the rooftop at the northeast corner of the building. Back in the forested area, Chaevaris was fitting another arrow into her longbow and taking careful aim at the southern guard, waiting for him to turn around so she could try to place her next arrow into his eye socket. (It was getting to be a kind of game to her.)</p><p></p><p>Orchid stepped away from Alistair and cast a <em>summon swarm</em> spell, causing the eastern guard to suddenly be covered in spiders. He gave a startled shriek, slapping at his arms and sides in an attempt to brush them off his body. But he was bitten a few dozen times despite his best efforts, and he staggered and danced his way down the battlement to the north, getting even closer to the one who had done this to him - not that he noticed, in his panic.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum, in the meantime, broke off to the west, sneaking up on the northern guard whose back was turned to her as he started to resume his normal post. Her <em>human bane short sword</em> stabbed deep into his lower back, almost dropping him instantly. There was no door at either end of the battlement, merely a set of stairs that doubled back down into the courtyard; the guard tried escaping in that fashion, but the switchback of the steps brought him right back in reach of the halfling's sword, and he finished his trip down the stairs in a lifeless heap after Ageratum's flashing blade nearly severed his neck. Chaevaris slew the southern guard with her second arrow, then activated her <em>boots of speed</em> and started running toward the building, Carruthers following behind at a much slower speed. The western guard, quite intelligently, opened the door at the north end of the battlement section and fled through it.</p><p></p><p>One of the doors abandoned by the courtyard guard suddenly swung open and an armored man came rushing out of it, drawn by the sounds of combat. He too started making his way towards the downed griffon, only to be attacked from behind and above by a paladin's fiery sword and an unseen creature's kicking hooves. Then Alistair cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell down into the courtyard and across the eastern battlement, slaying the easternmost guard (and all of the summoned spiders from Orchid's spell) and the courtyard guard, while adding a layer of frost onto the startled fighter Harlan had just attacked from Nova's back. (The paladin's attack had returned him to full visibility, whereas Nova remained unseen by dint of the more powerful <em>greater invisibility</em> spell, making it look like the half-elf was squatting in mid-air.) The fighter spun and looked up in amazement at the oddly-positioned paladin, but was brought down by a <em>flame strike</em> spell from Orchid before he could return an attack at Harlan.</p><p></p><p>As Ambrose took off and started his own aerial reconnaissance around the building, another figure stepped through the door the fighter had just exited. However, this member, a rogue named <strong>Dick</strong>, took one look at the chaos and the dead bodies of his allies and decided he'd best return the way he came, at best speed. He slammed the door behind him as he fled. Ageratum ran after him, using the <em>spider climb</em> ability of her <em>cloak of arachnida</em> to scamper down the side of the wall, slapping her bracelet and fading back into invisibility as she did so. Nova landed in the courtyard, spun about, and kicked at the door before she could get there - but it failed to open, nor did it smash to smithereens as the pegasus had apparently hoped.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris continued running toward the building, Carruthers dropping further and further behind as his speed was not magically enhanced as hers was. If this bothered him - considering he was supposed to keep her safe from harm, as per Alistair's verbal instructions - his motionless construct face gave no indication. He likewise gave no indication when Chaevaris rose from the ground, continuing to run but now doing so in the air (Orchid's <em>air walk</em> spell still active) so she could clear the battlements to the south of the guard station. She heard a crash of some sort off to her right, past the corpse of the dead griffon, and looked askance at a pair of wide doors that opened on rollers, barn-style - the sound had come from in there.</p><p></p><p>"Hold on!" Alistair said as he grabbed the elven druid from behind and repeated the words to his <em>dimension door</em> spell. In the blink of an eye, the two were now over on the western battlements, Orchid now right before the door the fleeing guard had entered and shut behind him. She pulled open the door and followed his trial, seeing him dash through another door on the other side of the room beyond. Orchid raced down the steps, entered the next room, to see the guard about to pass through yet another before him, and Dick coming into this much larger room from the east. Wanting to halt the progress of both of them, she cast a <em>wall of thorns</em> spell across the back edge of the room, imprisoning the pair.</p><p></p><p>But not for long, at least in Dick's case. Invoking some magical property of the armor he wore, the area in his immediate vicinity was instantly covered in shadows, and when they dissipated seconds later he was nowhere to be found, having taken a side-jaunt through the Plane of Shadows to make his escape.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum opened the double doors to the building interior, casting them wide as she ran into the room so Nova and Harlan could both enter. She stayed over by the <em>wall of thorns</em>, knowing the paladin and his invisible steed would be unable to see her in her own presently invisible form. They came galloping into the room, running down its length to get to the cursing guard trying to free himself from the various nettles and thorns stabbing at his armor and clothes. Orchid had purposefully cast the spell just along the back surface of the room, specifically so her friends would still be able to reach their enemies once they were snagged in the spell's confines, and this allowed Nova to run up to the guard and Harlan to run him through with his longsword. Ageratum was there at his side in a jiffy, adding her own blade-thrust to the mix. And just that quickly, the Trained Professional Adventurers had cleared out the top level of the building - with the possible exception of whatever had made the noise in the stables, which Chaevaris was about to investigate.</p><p></p><p>Orchid found a set of stairs that led downstairs, too narrow for Nova to follow. So, discussing it over the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em>, it was decided Nova would go aid Chaevaris and Carruthers - who had caught back up with his elven charge, after having burst through the southern doors to the guard station - in investigating the stables while the other four heroes went downstairs to seek out Oleg and Boris. In the time it took for everyone to reposition themselves, Alistair had cast a <em>haste</em> spell upon himself and Orchid, and the druid had cast a <em>spider climb</em> spell upon herself, just in case it came in handy. Then the four went down the stairs, Harlan and Ageratum in the lead, both now invisible, with Alistair and Orchid just behind.</p><p></p><p>The stairs led to a large room, from which branched off a wide corridor, which took a left turn down another wide passageway before leading to a short set of steps leading into a larger room. And in that larger room, coiled around a hole it had dug through the floor, was an enormous worm with a ring of sharp, pointed teeth projecting outward from its front end and a wicked stinger sticking out from its tail. It made no immediate move as the heroes froze at the top of the steps to consider what they had just spotted, but it could detect all four of them from the vibrations made by their feet, and it turned its head towards them.</p><p></p><p>"I say!" whispered Alistair in awe. "That's a purple worm!" He'd heard tales of such creatures from the other wizards and sorcerers who shared drinks and stories at the Dark and Light Club. Harlan had heard tales of such creatures as well; he cast a <em>resist acid</em> spell upon himself, figuring it would come in handy should he get swallowed whole by the massive worm.</p><p></p><p>Up in the courtyard, Chaevaris landed back on the ground and grabbed one of the sliding doors, pulling it along its wheeled track to the right, the other doors opening at an equal pace to the left due to a pulley system on the inside of the stables. Doing so revealed what had been making the noise inside: a chimera, about the same size and build as the dead griffon, but sporting three separate heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a blue-scaled dragon. "Kill it!" the archer cried out, causing Carruthers - who would have stood there unmoving until the three-headed creature actually made a move against his charge - immediately swung into action, pummeling the chimera with his rock-hard fists. The chimera retaliated with a blast of electricity from the dragon's mouth, striking the construct in its broad chest. Chaevaris back up a few steps - literally up, as the <em>air walk</em> spell was still in effect - and locked onto the dragon head's left eye with her next arrow. The shield guardian gave it another couple of quick blows, the chimera struck at Carruthers with two sets of teeth, a pair of horns, and the claws of its front paws, and then Nova got in a couple of kicks, rearing back on his hind legs. But then Chaevaris got in her shot, and the chimera fell over dead, an arrow lodged through the dragon's left eye socket.</p><p></p><p>Down one level, Alistair initiated combat over the head of the invisible halfling before him by firing a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell through his <em>metamagic rod</em>. The bolt of electricity struck true, but didn't seem to do as much damage as the sorcerer had hoped. At his side, Orchid cast a <em>spike stones</em> spell into the room, covering the entirety of the stone floor, so that when the worm came to attack - they'd decided to hold their ground at the top of the steps and let it come to them - it would slice up its underside. Ageratum fired off a blast from her <em>wand of magic missiles</em>, hitting the worm as well. But then the worm slithered over, ignoring the pain of the slashing along its underside doing so caused from the spikes, and struck at Harlan in a rather snakelike fashion. But its aim was off (or the paladin was just lucky), for the worm missed.</p><p></p><p>Alistair fired off another <em>lightning bolt</em> spell through his magical rod, once again hitting but failing to do as much damage as he'd hoped. The rod only worked three times per day, so he only had one more use of it in this fight. Orchid then cast a <em>freedom of movement</em> spell upon Harlan, having been worried the worm would have gobbled him up and swallowed him down into its gullet, not realizing the paladin had already prepared himself for such an eventuality. Now his <em>resist acid</em> spell wouldn't be needed, for the druid's spell would ensure he never got swallowed in the first place.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum tried firing her <em>magic missile</em> wand a second time but it didn't cooperate; she opted to scoot back behind Alistair, the worm now too close for her personal comfort. Harlan got a good grip on his sword and prepared to strike when the worm next made an attempt, for after having failed to bite the paladin it had reared back, well out of range of his sword, and he had no desire to go running across a field of <em>spike stones</em> to get to it.</p><p></p><p>The worm made its next move fairly quickly, once again darting its tooth-filled maw at Harlan (and once again missing, although this time it cost it a slice across its front end with a <em>flaming burst longsword</em>), but then stabbing forward with its tail end, the venom-dripping stinger finding success where the creature's maw had not. Harlan felt a burning sensation in his leg where the stinger had stabbed him and felt the strength slowly start to drain from his body.</p><p></p><p>Alistair blasted the worm with his last <em>maximized lightning bolt</em> spell of the day, and this one seemed to finally have the full effect. Orchid, out of combat spells by this time, shot at the massive worm with her <em>frost longbow</em>, the arrow magically imbued with both fire and cold effects, the cold from the bow and the fire from Alistair's <em>flame arrow</em> spell. The arrow buried itself up to the feathered end of the shaft and the druid was initially proud of her shot, until she realized it would have been pretty embarrassing to have missed a target that large. But then the worm teetered over to the side, coming to a crash on the floor, where it lay still - Orchid's arrow shot had been the killing blow after all, and she decided to go ahead and be proud of her shot after all.</p><p></p><p>"Let me deactivate the <em>spike stones</em>," the druid offered, and once she had done so Ageratum ran into the room and over to a side room she'd spotted, where there were two bodies slumped along the floor - perhaps these were the imprisoned Oleg and Boris they sought? As she approached, she could determine several things all at once: these were indeed the two men they sought, Oleg having a chain around his ankle that secured him to the wall; they were both obviously dead; and the warmth was being leeched out of her body at an astounding rate. Maybe it had something to do with the patches of mold growing all around - and over - the bodies of the thieves guild members lying on the floor?</p><p></p><p>"Get back out of there!" Orchid commanded, then spun to face Alistair. "Dismiss your <em>flame arrow </em>spell from my arrows!" she commanded. After the sorcerer hurried to do so, she sent arrow after arrow into the room, each one aimed at a different clump of the brown mold and each infused with cold energy from her <em>frost longbow</em>. Once Alistair had figured out the reason for her actions, he mentally thought to himself (and careful not to broadcast it over the telepathic link still in place) that a simple <em>cone of cold</em> spell cast into the room would have done the job that much quicker, but he let the druid have her moment in the spotlight. "Brown mold - it grows when it absorbs heat, but can be killed with cold energy," Orchid explained.</p><p></p><p>Once the brown mold had been slain, Alistair wondered aloud, "I wonder what caused it to cover them like that. Surely the kidnappers wouldn't have purposefully slain the victim they hoped to hold for ransom?"</p><p></p><p>"Here's your answer," replied Ageratum, having re-entered the cell area once the brown mold had been reduced to frozen ashes. She held up a wand in one hand. "I found this in Boris's hand - it's a <em>wand of burning hands</em>. The dumbass must've snuck in here, thinking he'd do the big heroic rescue thing, and used a fire-based spell on the brown mold."</p><p></p><p>"...which would have caused it to grow exponentially, and cover the two of them," Alistair realized. He looked down at Boris. "Idiot! Your ignorance caused your own deaths!"</p><p></p><p>"And cost us that second 5,000 gold pieces," the little halfling reminded him. The sorcerer just shook his head in disbelief. "There are some things that simply require Trained Professional Adventurers," he opined.</p><p></p><p>Exploring the cell further, Ageratum discovered an <em>illusory wall</em> in the back, out of reach of Oleg, beyond which was a pile of rubble, where a set of stairs had collapsed. It looked like it might be possible for someone as small as Ageratum to wriggle down there to a lower level, but such antics weren't really necessary - if they wished to explore the lower level, there was the wide-open hole the purple worm had tunneled from below.</p><p></p><p>"Well?" asked Harlan. "It seems our rescue mission was a bust. Do we wish to go see what's on the level below us? I'm sure the worm was in no way connected to the thieves guild, but there might be something worth investigating below."</p><p></p><p>"It wouldn't do any harm," pointed out Ageratum. "And we're already here."</p><p></p><p>"I know what Elfy Danger Silverleaf would do!" enthused Alistair. Then calling over the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell to Chaevaris, he thought, <Elfy! We found some tunnels on a lower level down here! Come check it out with us - and bring Carruthers!></p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Next session, we'll go see what's on the lower level, which has absolutely nothing to do with the kidnappers. Alistair's all for pressing forward immediately, but Chaevaris has already put forth the notion that if we're going to do this, we may as well camp out for the day and start fresh with a full complement of spells. (And Orchid can prepare spells more suited for underground exploration.) Sure, that's probably more sensible, but where's her sense of adventure?</p><p></p><p>"Looting the stiffs" resulted in a nice <em>+3 lance</em> and <em>+4 heavy steel shield</em> for Harlan, courtesy of the 10th-level fighter slain up on the courtyard. Ageratum's keeping the <em>wand of burning hands</em> and the <em>thieves' coil</em> (teleportation rope) she took off of Boris's corpse, and we're going to sell the surplus armor and weapons we took from the rogues.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9290965, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 46: RANSOM OR NOT[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 11[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Orchid, elf druid 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 13 March 2024 - - - "I've got a job for us," Ageratum told the other members of the Trained Professional Adventurers, as she climbed the stairs and entered the top floor of the Light and Dark Club. "Oh?" asked Harlan, his eyebrows raised in surprise. The little halfling was usually more reactive than proactive; it wasn't like her to go seeking out commissions for their services. However, as she explained, that hadn't exactly been the case. She hadn't gone out looking for a job, but rather a member of the local thieves guild came to her, seeking help. "You guys remember Oleg Kulakov, right?" she asked. "The gentleman from 'the Hall of Collection and Revenue, Enforcement Division,' as I recall," replied Harlan with a smirk - it was a rather feeble euphemism for the guild of thieves. "That's the one," the halfling replied. "Well, he went and got himself kidnapped a couple of weeks ago. The rival guild sent a ransom note, asking for 25,000 pieces of guild for his safe release. The drop-off point is an abandoned guard station about a day's ride from here, toward the Lortmil Mountains. Another guild member, Boris Predtsiva, went to go scout the place out, but he hasn't been seen since." "And they want us to deliver the ransom?" asked Alistair. Ageratum just laughed. "What? No!" She shook her head at his naivete. "No, they're willing to pay us 5,000 pieces of gold to go slay the lot of them. There's another 5,000 in it for us if we return with Oleg alive." "What about Boris?" asked Orchid. "They didn't say anything about Boris," Ageratum admitted. "I'm sure they'd be fine with us rescuing the two of them, but they aren't paying anything additional for Boris." "So we're putting our lives on the line to rescue a couple of thieves," Chaevaris summed up, ignoring the angry look Ageratum was throwing the archer's way at the flippant disregard for people in her line of work. Sure, she didn't have a whole lot of respect for Oleg or Boris - if they were better at their craft, they wouldn't have gotten caught - but everyone had to make a living some way. "We are rescuing two people held captive by an evil band of rogues with no regard for the sanctity of life and freedom," Harlan explained in a different way. "I say we accept the job." "Uh, good, 'cause I already did, on all of our behalf," admitted Ageratum. "Did you get the payment up front?" asked Alistair, to which the little halfling gave him a look that clearly said, "Of course I did - what, do I look stupid or something?" There was only a few hours left of sunlight left in the day, but that was no impediment; they mounted up and made their way down the road, traveling while the light was good. Then, as the sun set, Chaevaris activated her magic necklace and activated the extradimensional door onto a nearby tree. Opening the door, Alistair bade Carruthers to exit, and once the shield guardian had done so, the elf deactivated the door and then reactivated it onto the tower shield held by the massive construct. One by one, the other heroes brought their steeds into the extradimensional dwelling (Harlan merely dismissed Nova back to the celestial planes that were his home), and then followed suit, closing the door behind them. Chaevaris then clambered up onto Carruthers' shoulder, pointed the way, and set the shield guardian on the path towards the drop-off point, still the better part of a day's ride away. All through the night, Carruthers ambled along the road, being told which way to go by the elven archer or indicated by Ambrose, when the elf grabbed several hours of reverie needed to keep her at peak proficiency. But as per Alistair's instructions, Carruthers stopped a good hour's distance from the abandoned guard post, so there would be little chance of blundering into the path of the kidnappers while most of the party was asleep. The next morning, everyone awoke, got the horses outside (and Alistair used a [I]prestidigitation[/I] spell to clean up after them), had their breakfast, and put Carruthers back into the dwelling before making their way for the last hour of travel. "There it is up ahead," Chaevaris pointed out as the group came to the edge of a forested area. Two hundred feet or so away, across an open field, stood the abandoned structure, no longer serving as a guard station but now making do as a temporary thieves guild hideout. She brought her gray horse, Talkacha, to a halt before exiting the handy camouflage of the surrounding woods. Behind her, the others brought their mounts to a halt. "I make out at least one guard," Chaevaris reported, shielding a hand over her eyes and looking at the building, a single-story structure about 15 feet high. A heavy wooden door was planted directly below the battlements where the guard slowly paced back and forth, keeping a wary eye out for trouble. "I should think a bird's-eye reconnaissance would be in order," decided Alistair. On cue, Ambrose flew from his master's shoulder and made a wide circuit around the building, a mere innocent-looking grackle. Upon his return, Ambrose reported there were four guards on station at each point of the compass, plus a fifth guard stationed outside a pair of doors in the interior courtyard. "But of particular note," added Alistair, translating his familiar's situational briefing, "is there's a griffon circling about 100 feet overhead." Chaevaris shielded her eyes again and looked up, spotting the winged guardian. Sure enough, it was making a slow circuit around the building below, in a counterclockwise fashion. She began nocking an arrow to her bow, but then Alistair interrupted her and cast a [I]flame arrow[/I] spell upon the group's assorted ammunition. Before placing her arrow into her composite longbow, Chaevaris removed her [I]ring of invisibility[/I] and handed it over to Harlan. "You take this," she suggested. "I think I'll stay back here and snipe at a distance." At her suggestion, Alistair brought Carruthers out from their extradimensional dwelling and assigned him the role of keeping the archer safe. The sorcerer then cast a pair of [I]mage armor[/I] spells upon himself and Nova, a pair of [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spells (to get all five heroes in on the mental link), and a [I]greater invisibility[/I] spell upon Harlan's winged steed. Harlan cast the spells [I]bull's strength[/I] and [I]magic circle against evil[/I] on himself and a [I]bless[/I] spell on the assembled group. Orchid cast [I]barkskin[/I] spells upon herself and Nova, a [I]longstrider[/I] spell upon herself, a [I]greater magic fang[/I] spell upon Nova, an [I]air walk[/I] spell on Chaevaris, and a [I]mass bear's endurance[/I] on the assembled group. She then instructed Shushitan to look after the horses as usual and the timber wolf chuffed his understanding, tail wagging at once again being put in charge. "Okay, then," Chaevaris said once everyone was ready. "When I shoot the griffon, that'll be your signal." "Got it," affirmed Alistair. Unseen, Nova took to the skies, flying toward the guard station, flying about 30 feet up. Ageratum stood beside the sorcerer and activated her [I]bracelet of invisibility[/I], similarly fading from view. Chaevaris tracked the griffon's flight, waiting until it had made a full circuit and was once again facing her way. Then, focusing the whole of her attention upon its right eye, she waited until the optimal moment and then let fly. The arrow ignited in mid-flight, finding its target and penetrating the griffon's skull through its right eye socket, slaying the great beast immediately. With a startled squawk, it plummeted down to the earth like a meteorite, crashing along the southern end of the open courtyard in the midst of the guard station. "Holy crap!" yelled the rogue stationed outside the doors to the building's interior, abandoning his station and running over to the downed griffon to investigate. The four guards up on the battlements all looked behind them to see what the commotion was about. And in that instant, Alistair cast his [I]dimension door[/I] spell, transporting the four heroes to the rooftop at the northeast corner of the building. Back in the forested area, Chaevaris was fitting another arrow into her longbow and taking careful aim at the southern guard, waiting for him to turn around so she could try to place her next arrow into his eye socket. (It was getting to be a kind of game to her.) Orchid stepped away from Alistair and cast a [I]summon swarm[/I] spell, causing the eastern guard to suddenly be covered in spiders. He gave a startled shriek, slapping at his arms and sides in an attempt to brush them off his body. But he was bitten a few dozen times despite his best efforts, and he staggered and danced his way down the battlement to the north, getting even closer to the one who had done this to him - not that he noticed, in his panic. Ageratum, in the meantime, broke off to the west, sneaking up on the northern guard whose back was turned to her as he started to resume his normal post. Her [I]human bane short sword[/I] stabbed deep into his lower back, almost dropping him instantly. There was no door at either end of the battlement, merely a set of stairs that doubled back down into the courtyard; the guard tried escaping in that fashion, but the switchback of the steps brought him right back in reach of the halfling's sword, and he finished his trip down the stairs in a lifeless heap after Ageratum's flashing blade nearly severed his neck. Chaevaris slew the southern guard with her second arrow, then activated her [I]boots of speed[/I] and started running toward the building, Carruthers following behind at a much slower speed. The western guard, quite intelligently, opened the door at the north end of the battlement section and fled through it. One of the doors abandoned by the courtyard guard suddenly swung open and an armored man came rushing out of it, drawn by the sounds of combat. He too started making his way towards the downed griffon, only to be attacked from behind and above by a paladin's fiery sword and an unseen creature's kicking hooves. Then Alistair cast a [I]cone of cold[/I] spell down into the courtyard and across the eastern battlement, slaying the easternmost guard (and all of the summoned spiders from Orchid's spell) and the courtyard guard, while adding a layer of frost onto the startled fighter Harlan had just attacked from Nova's back. (The paladin's attack had returned him to full visibility, whereas Nova remained unseen by dint of the more powerful [I]greater invisibility[/I] spell, making it look like the half-elf was squatting in mid-air.) The fighter spun and looked up in amazement at the oddly-positioned paladin, but was brought down by a [I]flame strike[/I] spell from Orchid before he could return an attack at Harlan. As Ambrose took off and started his own aerial reconnaissance around the building, another figure stepped through the door the fighter had just exited. However, this member, a rogue named [B]Dick[/B], took one look at the chaos and the dead bodies of his allies and decided he'd best return the way he came, at best speed. He slammed the door behind him as he fled. Ageratum ran after him, using the [I]spider climb[/I] ability of her [I]cloak of arachnida[/I] to scamper down the side of the wall, slapping her bracelet and fading back into invisibility as she did so. Nova landed in the courtyard, spun about, and kicked at the door before she could get there - but it failed to open, nor did it smash to smithereens as the pegasus had apparently hoped. Chaevaris continued running toward the building, Carruthers dropping further and further behind as his speed was not magically enhanced as hers was. If this bothered him - considering he was supposed to keep her safe from harm, as per Alistair's verbal instructions - his motionless construct face gave no indication. He likewise gave no indication when Chaevaris rose from the ground, continuing to run but now doing so in the air (Orchid's [I]air walk[/I] spell still active) so she could clear the battlements to the south of the guard station. She heard a crash of some sort off to her right, past the corpse of the dead griffon, and looked askance at a pair of wide doors that opened on rollers, barn-style - the sound had come from in there. "Hold on!" Alistair said as he grabbed the elven druid from behind and repeated the words to his [I]dimension door[/I] spell. In the blink of an eye, the two were now over on the western battlements, Orchid now right before the door the fleeing guard had entered and shut behind him. She pulled open the door and followed his trial, seeing him dash through another door on the other side of the room beyond. Orchid raced down the steps, entered the next room, to see the guard about to pass through yet another before him, and Dick coming into this much larger room from the east. Wanting to halt the progress of both of them, she cast a [I]wall of thorns[/I] spell across the back edge of the room, imprisoning the pair. But not for long, at least in Dick's case. Invoking some magical property of the armor he wore, the area in his immediate vicinity was instantly covered in shadows, and when they dissipated seconds later he was nowhere to be found, having taken a side-jaunt through the Plane of Shadows to make his escape. Ageratum opened the double doors to the building interior, casting them wide as she ran into the room so Nova and Harlan could both enter. She stayed over by the [I]wall of thorns[/I], knowing the paladin and his invisible steed would be unable to see her in her own presently invisible form. They came galloping into the room, running down its length to get to the cursing guard trying to free himself from the various nettles and thorns stabbing at his armor and clothes. Orchid had purposefully cast the spell just along the back surface of the room, specifically so her friends would still be able to reach their enemies once they were snagged in the spell's confines, and this allowed Nova to run up to the guard and Harlan to run him through with his longsword. Ageratum was there at his side in a jiffy, adding her own blade-thrust to the mix. And just that quickly, the Trained Professional Adventurers had cleared out the top level of the building - with the possible exception of whatever had made the noise in the stables, which Chaevaris was about to investigate. Orchid found a set of stairs that led downstairs, too narrow for Nova to follow. So, discussing it over the [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I], it was decided Nova would go aid Chaevaris and Carruthers - who had caught back up with his elven charge, after having burst through the southern doors to the guard station - in investigating the stables while the other four heroes went downstairs to seek out Oleg and Boris. In the time it took for everyone to reposition themselves, Alistair had cast a [I]haste[/I] spell upon himself and Orchid, and the druid had cast a [I]spider climb[/I] spell upon herself, just in case it came in handy. Then the four went down the stairs, Harlan and Ageratum in the lead, both now invisible, with Alistair and Orchid just behind. The stairs led to a large room, from which branched off a wide corridor, which took a left turn down another wide passageway before leading to a short set of steps leading into a larger room. And in that larger room, coiled around a hole it had dug through the floor, was an enormous worm with a ring of sharp, pointed teeth projecting outward from its front end and a wicked stinger sticking out from its tail. It made no immediate move as the heroes froze at the top of the steps to consider what they had just spotted, but it could detect all four of them from the vibrations made by their feet, and it turned its head towards them. "I say!" whispered Alistair in awe. "That's a purple worm!" He'd heard tales of such creatures from the other wizards and sorcerers who shared drinks and stories at the Dark and Light Club. Harlan had heard tales of such creatures as well; he cast a [I]resist acid[/I] spell upon himself, figuring it would come in handy should he get swallowed whole by the massive worm. Up in the courtyard, Chaevaris landed back on the ground and grabbed one of the sliding doors, pulling it along its wheeled track to the right, the other doors opening at an equal pace to the left due to a pulley system on the inside of the stables. Doing so revealed what had been making the noise inside: a chimera, about the same size and build as the dead griffon, but sporting three separate heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a blue-scaled dragon. "Kill it!" the archer cried out, causing Carruthers - who would have stood there unmoving until the three-headed creature actually made a move against his charge - immediately swung into action, pummeling the chimera with his rock-hard fists. The chimera retaliated with a blast of electricity from the dragon's mouth, striking the construct in its broad chest. Chaevaris back up a few steps - literally up, as the [I]air walk[/I] spell was still in effect - and locked onto the dragon head's left eye with her next arrow. The shield guardian gave it another couple of quick blows, the chimera struck at Carruthers with two sets of teeth, a pair of horns, and the claws of its front paws, and then Nova got in a couple of kicks, rearing back on his hind legs. But then Chaevaris got in her shot, and the chimera fell over dead, an arrow lodged through the dragon's left eye socket. Down one level, Alistair initiated combat over the head of the invisible halfling before him by firing a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell through his [I]metamagic rod[/I]. The bolt of electricity struck true, but didn't seem to do as much damage as the sorcerer had hoped. At his side, Orchid cast a [I]spike stones[/I] spell into the room, covering the entirety of the stone floor, so that when the worm came to attack - they'd decided to hold their ground at the top of the steps and let it come to them - it would slice up its underside. Ageratum fired off a blast from her [I]wand of magic missiles[/I], hitting the worm as well. But then the worm slithered over, ignoring the pain of the slashing along its underside doing so caused from the spikes, and struck at Harlan in a rather snakelike fashion. But its aim was off (or the paladin was just lucky), for the worm missed. Alistair fired off another [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell through his magical rod, once again hitting but failing to do as much damage as he'd hoped. The rod only worked three times per day, so he only had one more use of it in this fight. Orchid then cast a [I]freedom of movement[/I] spell upon Harlan, having been worried the worm would have gobbled him up and swallowed him down into its gullet, not realizing the paladin had already prepared himself for such an eventuality. Now his [I]resist acid[/I] spell wouldn't be needed, for the druid's spell would ensure he never got swallowed in the first place. Ageratum tried firing her [I]magic missile[/I] wand a second time but it didn't cooperate; she opted to scoot back behind Alistair, the worm now too close for her personal comfort. Harlan got a good grip on his sword and prepared to strike when the worm next made an attempt, for after having failed to bite the paladin it had reared back, well out of range of his sword, and he had no desire to go running across a field of [I]spike stones[/I] to get to it. The worm made its next move fairly quickly, once again darting its tooth-filled maw at Harlan (and once again missing, although this time it cost it a slice across its front end with a [I]flaming burst longsword[/I]), but then stabbing forward with its tail end, the venom-dripping stinger finding success where the creature's maw had not. Harlan felt a burning sensation in his leg where the stinger had stabbed him and felt the strength slowly start to drain from his body. Alistair blasted the worm with his last [I]maximized lightning bolt[/I] spell of the day, and this one seemed to finally have the full effect. Orchid, out of combat spells by this time, shot at the massive worm with her [I]frost longbow[/I], the arrow magically imbued with both fire and cold effects, the cold from the bow and the fire from Alistair's [I]flame arrow[/I] spell. The arrow buried itself up to the feathered end of the shaft and the druid was initially proud of her shot, until she realized it would have been pretty embarrassing to have missed a target that large. But then the worm teetered over to the side, coming to a crash on the floor, where it lay still - Orchid's arrow shot had been the killing blow after all, and she decided to go ahead and be proud of her shot after all. "Let me deactivate the [I]spike stones[/I]," the druid offered, and once she had done so Ageratum ran into the room and over to a side room she'd spotted, where there were two bodies slumped along the floor - perhaps these were the imprisoned Oleg and Boris they sought? As she approached, she could determine several things all at once: these were indeed the two men they sought, Oleg having a chain around his ankle that secured him to the wall; they were both obviously dead; and the warmth was being leeched out of her body at an astounding rate. Maybe it had something to do with the patches of mold growing all around - and over - the bodies of the thieves guild members lying on the floor? "Get back out of there!" Orchid commanded, then spun to face Alistair. "Dismiss your [I]flame arrow [/I]spell from my arrows!" she commanded. After the sorcerer hurried to do so, she sent arrow after arrow into the room, each one aimed at a different clump of the brown mold and each infused with cold energy from her [I]frost longbow[/I]. Once Alistair had figured out the reason for her actions, he mentally thought to himself (and careful not to broadcast it over the telepathic link still in place) that a simple [I]cone of cold[/I] spell cast into the room would have done the job that much quicker, but he let the druid have her moment in the spotlight. "Brown mold - it grows when it absorbs heat, but can be killed with cold energy," Orchid explained. Once the brown mold had been slain, Alistair wondered aloud, "I wonder what caused it to cover them like that. Surely the kidnappers wouldn't have purposefully slain the victim they hoped to hold for ransom?" "Here's your answer," replied Ageratum, having re-entered the cell area once the brown mold had been reduced to frozen ashes. She held up a wand in one hand. "I found this in Boris's hand - it's a [I]wand of burning hands[/I]. The dumbass must've snuck in here, thinking he'd do the big heroic rescue thing, and used a fire-based spell on the brown mold." "...which would have caused it to grow exponentially, and cover the two of them," Alistair realized. He looked down at Boris. "Idiot! Your ignorance caused your own deaths!" "And cost us that second 5,000 gold pieces," the little halfling reminded him. The sorcerer just shook his head in disbelief. "There are some things that simply require Trained Professional Adventurers," he opined. Exploring the cell further, Ageratum discovered an [I]illusory wall[/I] in the back, out of reach of Oleg, beyond which was a pile of rubble, where a set of stairs had collapsed. It looked like it might be possible for someone as small as Ageratum to wriggle down there to a lower level, but such antics weren't really necessary - if they wished to explore the lower level, there was the wide-open hole the purple worm had tunneled from below. "Well?" asked Harlan. "It seems our rescue mission was a bust. Do we wish to go see what's on the level below us? I'm sure the worm was in no way connected to the thieves guild, but there might be something worth investigating below." "It wouldn't do any harm," pointed out Ageratum. "And we're already here." "I know what Elfy Danger Silverleaf would do!" enthused Alistair. Then calling over the [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell to Chaevaris, he thought, <Elfy! We found some tunnels on a lower level down here! Come check it out with us - and bring Carruthers!> - - - Next session, we'll go see what's on the lower level, which has absolutely nothing to do with the kidnappers. Alistair's all for pressing forward immediately, but Chaevaris has already put forth the notion that if we're going to do this, we may as well camp out for the day and start fresh with a full complement of spells. (And Orchid can prepare spells more suited for underground exploration.) Sure, that's probably more sensible, but where's her sense of adventure? "Looting the stiffs" resulted in a nice [I]+3 lance[/I] and [I]+4 heavy steel shield[/I] for Harlan, courtesy of the 10th-level fighter slain up on the courtyard. Ageratum's keeping the [I]wand of burning hands[/I] and the [I]thieves' coil[/I] (teleportation rope) she took off of Boris's corpse, and we're going to sell the surplus armor and weapons we took from the rogues. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
Top