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Menexenus's Age of Worms Campaign Journal
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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3765162" data-attributes="member: 8951"><p><strong>Sessions 42 & 43: Exploring Icosiol's Cairn</strong></p><p></p><p><em>17th of Harvester</em>. The party used its Wand of Restoration to heal the ability damage that many in the party had sustained from the Dread Wraith. Then Alees spent a few hours taking a close look at all of the walls in the cairn, looking for secret doors. When none were found, the party had no other choice but to begin exploring the tunnels that had been submerged when Alees set off the trap. Luckily, many members of the party had selected spells with just such an exploration in mind. Thorash and Killick worked together to cast Water Breathing and Freedom of Movement on the whole party. They then climbed down the iron rungs toward the two passages that Alees had briefly observed before the river had come rushing in.</p><p></p><p> First the party explored the passage leading upstream (northeast). The party moved forward at a snail's pace as Alees took the lead and did her best to look for traps in murky water. None were found. However, when the passage led out to the larger river channel, Alees found the mechanism that had allowed the water to flood the tunnel in the first place. After a couple minutes of work, she was able to repair the mechanism, allowing a large metal door to slide back into place, blocking off the flow of water. Now that the water source had been closed off, the water within the tunnel flowed out in a matter of minutes and the party was once again standing in breathable air. They returned to the iron rungs and then followed the eastern passage. This led out to a yawning chasm of natural rock, about 25 or 30 feet in diameter, into which fell the rushing red river. The waterfall was quite noisy. Many members of the party spotted an apparently man-made ledge on the far side of the waterfall. After considering how they could safely cross the chasm, Alees produced a potion of Fly and gave it to Tarric to drink. The then flew the party members across one at a time. Once across, the party members saw that there was a short stairway leading up to a room lined with statues. The party could feel the temperature drop as they approached the stairs, and they could see that the floor of the room on the other side of the stairs was covered in red ice.</p><p></p><p> Tarric decided to do some quick reconnaissance before the duration of the Fly spell ran out. He flew up as far as he could until the space tightened and the passages became to small for him to navigate. Then he flew down into the waterfall. After zigzagging a bit, bouncing of rock formations, the waterfall collected in a pool about 30 feet below the ledge where the rest of the party was standing. Tarric could see that the water continued pouring down into the chasm from the edge of the pool. As he was flying down to get a closer look, he heard the twang of 6 separate crossbows and felt the bolts rush by him from out of the darkness. Tarric decided to fly immediately back up to the rest of the party rather than try to face his ambushers alone. They did not pursue him and he escaped without suffering much harm. </p><p></p><p> Since there was no pursuit, the party decided to continue exploring the cold room up the stairs. They walked up the stairs and found a room lined by 6 statues. All of the statues had their hands outstretched, and 5 of the 6 had little models of tall buildings the likes of which the party had never seen floating just above their outstretched hands. There was one door on the wall. Alees investigated the statues and noticed that there was a lever behind the statue without a building model. When she alerted the party to its existence, the statue in front of it turned, grasped the lever and yanked down on it, causing an iron portcullis to fall from the ceiling in both of the archways leading in and out. This left half of the party inside the room and half on the outside. The statue-being said something to the party but it was in a language that they did not understand. A fight commenced during which the being simply touched the party members and drew their life-forces out. The statue-being seemed to be largely mechanical in nature, and when he drew out the party members' life force with his touch, this seemed to have the effect of repairing its mechanisms. Alees had the presence of mind to flip the lever back to the open position, allowing the portcullis to slowly retract back into the ceiling. Killick shouted back at the statue the phrase he had heard the Dread Wraith use a few hours earlier. However, these words merely puzzled the creature and it replied using words that the party still did not understand. Before the mechanical being could be surrounded by party members, Thorash cast a Flame Strike on the creature, causing the icy floor to melt in the location where the column of flame erupted. Tarric, Killick, and Katawan led the melee portion of the battle, and eventually the creature fell.</p><p></p><p> With the threat over, the party opened the door on the wall near where the false statue had been standing. They were disappointed to discover a completely bare small room. Alees went inside to look for secret doors but found none. So the party turned its attention to the adjoining hallway. Its floor was also covered in red ice. Two enormous ice statues with white arcane runes on them stood vigil over this long empty hall. When Katawan crossed the threshold into this hallway, the statues came alive and attacked the party. They shot icy shards from their hands at those who were close by. The ice in their eyes caused one or two party members to become temporarily blinded. Alexander and Katawan rained fireballs on these ice creatures, exposing a large hole in the floor. Thorash's Magic Missiles (from a wand) were ineffective. Eventually, Thorash and Alexander simultaneously realized that no magic except fire-based spells could effect these large constructs. Tarric found that his bastard sword slid right off the creatures, like an ice skate. So most of the damage was left to Killick and Katawan, who eventually did fell the creatures along with their comrades.</p><p></p><p> With all of their Water Breathing and Freedom of Action spells still in operation, the party decided to jump down into the hole exposed by the fireballs into a calm area of the red river that they had encountered elsewhere. Thorash and Killick led the way as the party explored the underwater environment. Before the party had gone far, Thorash and Killick were struck by pseudopods. The damage was minimal, but Thorash noticed that his own blood was leaving his body where he had been struck and traveling in ribbons to join the pseudopod. This blood loss weakened the party members while strengthening the blob-like creature. After some observation, Thorash determined that there were two of these creatures and they were not only ooze-like, they were also undead. As much of the party retreated back up the rope which Katawan had tied off ahead of time, Thorash moved into a position where he could present his holy symbol. He did so, but his words were garbled by water and they undead oozes seemed to be unaffected. When Tarric and Thorash saw the two oozes splitting off to form new oozes, they joined the retreat. The party climbed back up to the hallway in the hopes that the oozes would not follow, but they did follow. </p><p></p><p> The party was particularly low on spells and resources. And since there was a waterfall behind them, the party was forced to make a stand. They concentrated their attacks on the first one to emerge through the hole in the floor killing it rather quickly. Thorash once again brandished his holy symbol, causing one of the creatures to flee. The party slowly retreated in the face of the other two newly created oozes. However, after the party threw everything it had left at them (like Alexander's Shocking Grasp spell), they were indeed destroyed. About 2 minutes later, the one that Thorash had chased off returned. But with all 6 party members attacking that one target, it did not last very long.</p><p></p><p> With the threat over, the party decided to check out the door at the far end of the hallway. Behind the door, they found a swirling whirlpool of snow, sleet, and ice approximately 15 feet across. Because Killick had previously cast a spell protecting him from cold, he jumped in and stirred around with his quarterstaff, looking for treasure. None was found, however, when Killick emerged from the whirlpool, Tarric noticed that Killick seemed more commanding, handsome, and inspiring than he had been before.</p><p></p><p> It looked like the party would have to venture down the waterfall to find Icosiel's final resting place. But the party would be doing nothing else today. They were completely tapped out. So they withdrew carefully back through the cairn to the safety of the Whispering Cairn in order to make camp.</p><p></p><p> <em>18th of Harvester</em>. The party had decided to make camp in Icosiol's Cairn, in case whoever had stolen the Seal returned. The night was uneventful and the party returned to exploration after all the spellcasters had a chance to rest, pray, and rememorize. Once the party returned to the top of the waterfall, they had a prolonged discussion about how best to proceed. Thorash mentioned that he could cast a spell on most of the party that would allow them to turn into a vapor and float down to the bottom of the shaft. Thorash cast the spell and then drifted down 30 feet to the large basin where the red water was pooling. He was attacked by crossbow wielding Wind Warriors, like the ones the party had faced guarding Zosiel's sarcophagus. The crossbow bolts passed harmlessly through him. Thorash ignored the attackers and surveyed the location, looking for likely secret doors or entrances to additional rooms. However, he found nothing of the sort. By this time, the Wind Warriors had put away their crossbows and drawn their swords. Although most of the warriors tried cleaving into Thorash with their swords, one of them clanged his two longswords together, producing a sonic effect which damaged Thorash. Seeing that their sword-strokes did no damage, all 6 Wind Warriors began attacking Thorash with their sonic attacks. Thorash retreated back to the top of the waterfall. When there was no pursuit, Thorash made himself solid again.</p><p></p><p> He described all that he had witnessed to the rest of the party and then cast a spell protecting him from sonic energy. Killick did the same. Again, there was more discussion about how best to proceed. Some thought it would be best for Thorash to lead the Warriors away to give Alees time to check more carefully for secret doors. However, the party could not reach consensus. Finally, in frustration, Alexander simply flew down to face the Warriors, casting a fireball on them. Killick sprouted wings and joined his childhood friend. The rest of the party, though, was forced to move slowly down to the combat in vapor form and then begin the slow process of resolidification. During that process, Alexander was surrounded by the floating suits of ceramic full plate armor. He moved away from his attackers, taking some damage in the process, and then cast Shout on them, causing their armor to crack a bit. Killick landed on the lip of the basin and fought the Warriors that would face him in melee. Soon thereafter, the other members of the party appeared in vapor form and took up the remaining positions on the lip of the basin. All except Thorash, that is, who moved out beyond the lip of the basin to peer down into the shaft. He could not see the bottom. The wind warriors attacked Killick with physical attacks and the gaseous party members with sonic attacks. Alexander withdrew to the top of the waterfall to use his Wand of False Life. Two of the six Wind Warriors moved to attack Thorash, who chose to continue downward until he could see the bottom. </p><p></p><p> Soon the rest of the party was solid again and began attacking the Warriors in earnest. The Warrior on Tarric and Katawan's side of the battle was quickly felled. Katawan waded into the basin to get to the fight on the opposite side. He discovered that the water was only about neck deep at its highest point. Tarric then followed him across. Meanwhile, Alees was exploring some of her new feats on the opposite side. She was now able to get attacks of opportunity when others hit a target that she flanked. She was also able to get extra attacks when an opponent was successfully feinted or otherwise caught flat-footed. However, when the remaining Wind Warriors discovered that they could not strike Killick, they turned their attention to Alees. Alexander swooped down and put one of them inside a Wall of Fire to help protect her. Soon after this, however, the two remaining Wind Warriors withdrew from this battle to join their brethren who were pursuing Thorash down the shaft.</p><p> </p><p> When it became clear that the Wind Warriors were relentlessly using their sonic attacks on Thorash and that he was not coming back up, Killick flew down after him. The rest of the party reluctantly made themselves gaseous again, and slowly began heading down. Since that was the way that the rest of the party seemed to be heading, Alexander decided to accompany them as well. Since Alexander was flying via the Fly spell and was not gaseous, he caught up to the combat relatively quickly and found Killick in mid-air combat with 2 of the Warriors. Many quarterstaff blows and Magic Missile castings later, only 2 of the original 6 Wind Warriors remained. </p><p></p><p> They broke off pursuit once Thorash found the bottom of the shaft. The waterfall was finally hitting bottom. It pooled up on one side of a large cavern and then began channeling swiftly downhill towards the far end of the cavern. With the Wind Warriors breaking off, the rest of the party quickly caught up and resolidified, grateful to be standing on solid ground again. While they talked about how best to proceed, some of the party members noticed a sickly green light reflecting off some of the rocks on the far side of the cavern. Shortly thereafter a gaunt man with a goatee and a greatsword strapped to his back approached the party holding a lantern aloft - a lantern that emitted a sickly green light. This stranger hailed the party and welcomed them cordially. He introduced himself as Moreto, Marquis of Ravenstone. He described himself as an explorer from a nation known as the White Kingdom which existed far below in the Underdark. He said that he had been trying for months now to discover a way to the surface. He explained that he wished to open up trade routes to the surface in hopes of eventually finding allies for his nation's war against the dark elves. He told the party that he had been trying for months to find a way up the waterfall, but his progress had been stymied by the Wind Warriors. He wondered if the party could help him.</p><p></p><p> During his introduction, Thorash interrupted him more than once to ask about the bodies that he had left behind him. Each time, Moreto looked puzzled at him and then continued on, essentially ignoring him. Finally, Thorash announced to the party that Moreto was an undead creature and that there were two other undead standing somewhere behind him, out of sight. With a sigh, Moreto acknowledged that he was indeed undead and that he did indeed have two bodyguards following him. He explained that he had been informed of the surface dwellers' prejudice against his kind, so he had chosen to address the party without his companions, given that their appearance was a bit more disturbing than his own. He insisted that surely beings of reason could come to an amicable arrangement regardless of their prejudices. He said that he was willing to pay for the information he sought. He said that in one of his attempts to bypass the Wind Warriors, he had teleported blindly into a room containing an altar with a large seal sitting on it. Since it glowed with powerful magic, he had taken the object. But as soon as he had done so, he had been attacked by a giant spider and forced to teleport back down here to his campsite. Since he had no idea what the object was, he would be willing to part with it in exchange for information about how to reach the surface safely. The party asked for time to confer, and Moreto walked back around a corner to give them some privacy.</p><p></p><p> Soon thereafter, the party called for him to return. Alexander, speaking on behalf of the party, informed Moreto that they had decided that they could not reveal the way to the surface for political reasons. However, they were interested in bartering for the magical Seal. Although Moreto was disappointed, he thought for a moment and said that if the party would bring him the head of the spider, he would gladly give them the Seal. The party asked to confer again, and again he gave them their privacy. Even though the party had already slain the spider, they were concerned that Moreto might somehow link up with the Cult of Kyuss on the surface and somehow make it stronger. So they did not wish to let him know that it was already dead.</p><p></p><p> At long last, they called Moreto back once more. Alexander, speaking for the whole party, regretfully informed him that they could not make any deal with him. Furthermore, he would be required to surrender the Seal to them or face destruction. Moreto began casting a protective spell and the battle was on! Moreto created a globe of protective energy around himself and called his servants forward. However, Thorash quickly dispelled Moreto's protective bubble, effectively negating his action. Meanwhile, the party's melee combatants moved forward, striking him and flanking him. Killick summoned a dire wolf and Killick's wardog Grimlock successfully tripped him. Finding himself prone and surrounded, Moreto drew a wand from his belt and activated it, causing him to disappear. With Moreto gone, the party focused its attacks on the two Mohrgs which had appeared from behind the corner. They focused on one and quickly destroyed it with (among other things) Magic Missiles and a Searing Light. The second one grabbed Alees and paralyzed her with its purple worm tongue. At this point, Moreto appeared from around the corner, apologized to its minion, and fired off a Lightning Bolt which struck all of the party except Alexander and Thorash who were too far back to be in the line of effect. Being paralyzed, Alees took the full brunt of the attack and fell to the ground with a dull thump. All of her exposed skin was charred and sizzling. Killick moved to her side and cast a curative spell on her immediately. Then he ordered Grimlock to drag her out of harm's way. However, such caution was unnecessary as the next blow from Katawan's fist felled the undead creature.</p><p></p><p> With the battle over, the party gathered around Alees to see if she would be OK. Unexpectedly, a ghostly figure resembling Moreto rose suddenly from the undead explorer's body. But recognizing that it was certainly outmatched, Moreto's new aspect flew directly into the nearest wall rather than face the party again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 3765162, member: 8951"] [b]Sessions 42 & 43: Exploring Icosiol's Cairn[/b] [I]17th of Harvester[/I]. The party used its Wand of Restoration to heal the ability damage that many in the party had sustained from the Dread Wraith. Then Alees spent a few hours taking a close look at all of the walls in the cairn, looking for secret doors. When none were found, the party had no other choice but to begin exploring the tunnels that had been submerged when Alees set off the trap. Luckily, many members of the party had selected spells with just such an exploration in mind. Thorash and Killick worked together to cast Water Breathing and Freedom of Movement on the whole party. They then climbed down the iron rungs toward the two passages that Alees had briefly observed before the river had come rushing in. First the party explored the passage leading upstream (northeast). The party moved forward at a snail's pace as Alees took the lead and did her best to look for traps in murky water. None were found. However, when the passage led out to the larger river channel, Alees found the mechanism that had allowed the water to flood the tunnel in the first place. After a couple minutes of work, she was able to repair the mechanism, allowing a large metal door to slide back into place, blocking off the flow of water. Now that the water source had been closed off, the water within the tunnel flowed out in a matter of minutes and the party was once again standing in breathable air. They returned to the iron rungs and then followed the eastern passage. This led out to a yawning chasm of natural rock, about 25 or 30 feet in diameter, into which fell the rushing red river. The waterfall was quite noisy. Many members of the party spotted an apparently man-made ledge on the far side of the waterfall. After considering how they could safely cross the chasm, Alees produced a potion of Fly and gave it to Tarric to drink. The then flew the party members across one at a time. Once across, the party members saw that there was a short stairway leading up to a room lined with statues. The party could feel the temperature drop as they approached the stairs, and they could see that the floor of the room on the other side of the stairs was covered in red ice. Tarric decided to do some quick reconnaissance before the duration of the Fly spell ran out. He flew up as far as he could until the space tightened and the passages became to small for him to navigate. Then he flew down into the waterfall. After zigzagging a bit, bouncing of rock formations, the waterfall collected in a pool about 30 feet below the ledge where the rest of the party was standing. Tarric could see that the water continued pouring down into the chasm from the edge of the pool. As he was flying down to get a closer look, he heard the twang of 6 separate crossbows and felt the bolts rush by him from out of the darkness. Tarric decided to fly immediately back up to the rest of the party rather than try to face his ambushers alone. They did not pursue him and he escaped without suffering much harm. Since there was no pursuit, the party decided to continue exploring the cold room up the stairs. They walked up the stairs and found a room lined by 6 statues. All of the statues had their hands outstretched, and 5 of the 6 had little models of tall buildings the likes of which the party had never seen floating just above their outstretched hands. There was one door on the wall. Alees investigated the statues and noticed that there was a lever behind the statue without a building model. When she alerted the party to its existence, the statue in front of it turned, grasped the lever and yanked down on it, causing an iron portcullis to fall from the ceiling in both of the archways leading in and out. This left half of the party inside the room and half on the outside. The statue-being said something to the party but it was in a language that they did not understand. A fight commenced during which the being simply touched the party members and drew their life-forces out. The statue-being seemed to be largely mechanical in nature, and when he drew out the party members' life force with his touch, this seemed to have the effect of repairing its mechanisms. Alees had the presence of mind to flip the lever back to the open position, allowing the portcullis to slowly retract back into the ceiling. Killick shouted back at the statue the phrase he had heard the Dread Wraith use a few hours earlier. However, these words merely puzzled the creature and it replied using words that the party still did not understand. Before the mechanical being could be surrounded by party members, Thorash cast a Flame Strike on the creature, causing the icy floor to melt in the location where the column of flame erupted. Tarric, Killick, and Katawan led the melee portion of the battle, and eventually the creature fell. With the threat over, the party opened the door on the wall near where the false statue had been standing. They were disappointed to discover a completely bare small room. Alees went inside to look for secret doors but found none. So the party turned its attention to the adjoining hallway. Its floor was also covered in red ice. Two enormous ice statues with white arcane runes on them stood vigil over this long empty hall. When Katawan crossed the threshold into this hallway, the statues came alive and attacked the party. They shot icy shards from their hands at those who were close by. The ice in their eyes caused one or two party members to become temporarily blinded. Alexander and Katawan rained fireballs on these ice creatures, exposing a large hole in the floor. Thorash's Magic Missiles (from a wand) were ineffective. Eventually, Thorash and Alexander simultaneously realized that no magic except fire-based spells could effect these large constructs. Tarric found that his bastard sword slid right off the creatures, like an ice skate. So most of the damage was left to Killick and Katawan, who eventually did fell the creatures along with their comrades. With all of their Water Breathing and Freedom of Action spells still in operation, the party decided to jump down into the hole exposed by the fireballs into a calm area of the red river that they had encountered elsewhere. Thorash and Killick led the way as the party explored the underwater environment. Before the party had gone far, Thorash and Killick were struck by pseudopods. The damage was minimal, but Thorash noticed that his own blood was leaving his body where he had been struck and traveling in ribbons to join the pseudopod. This blood loss weakened the party members while strengthening the blob-like creature. After some observation, Thorash determined that there were two of these creatures and they were not only ooze-like, they were also undead. As much of the party retreated back up the rope which Katawan had tied off ahead of time, Thorash moved into a position where he could present his holy symbol. He did so, but his words were garbled by water and they undead oozes seemed to be unaffected. When Tarric and Thorash saw the two oozes splitting off to form new oozes, they joined the retreat. The party climbed back up to the hallway in the hopes that the oozes would not follow, but they did follow. The party was particularly low on spells and resources. And since there was a waterfall behind them, the party was forced to make a stand. They concentrated their attacks on the first one to emerge through the hole in the floor killing it rather quickly. Thorash once again brandished his holy symbol, causing one of the creatures to flee. The party slowly retreated in the face of the other two newly created oozes. However, after the party threw everything it had left at them (like Alexander's Shocking Grasp spell), they were indeed destroyed. About 2 minutes later, the one that Thorash had chased off returned. But with all 6 party members attacking that one target, it did not last very long. With the threat over, the party decided to check out the door at the far end of the hallway. Behind the door, they found a swirling whirlpool of snow, sleet, and ice approximately 15 feet across. Because Killick had previously cast a spell protecting him from cold, he jumped in and stirred around with his quarterstaff, looking for treasure. None was found, however, when Killick emerged from the whirlpool, Tarric noticed that Killick seemed more commanding, handsome, and inspiring than he had been before. It looked like the party would have to venture down the waterfall to find Icosiel's final resting place. But the party would be doing nothing else today. They were completely tapped out. So they withdrew carefully back through the cairn to the safety of the Whispering Cairn in order to make camp. [I]18th of Harvester[/I]. The party had decided to make camp in Icosiol's Cairn, in case whoever had stolen the Seal returned. The night was uneventful and the party returned to exploration after all the spellcasters had a chance to rest, pray, and rememorize. Once the party returned to the top of the waterfall, they had a prolonged discussion about how best to proceed. Thorash mentioned that he could cast a spell on most of the party that would allow them to turn into a vapor and float down to the bottom of the shaft. Thorash cast the spell and then drifted down 30 feet to the large basin where the red water was pooling. He was attacked by crossbow wielding Wind Warriors, like the ones the party had faced guarding Zosiel's sarcophagus. The crossbow bolts passed harmlessly through him. Thorash ignored the attackers and surveyed the location, looking for likely secret doors or entrances to additional rooms. However, he found nothing of the sort. By this time, the Wind Warriors had put away their crossbows and drawn their swords. Although most of the warriors tried cleaving into Thorash with their swords, one of them clanged his two longswords together, producing a sonic effect which damaged Thorash. Seeing that their sword-strokes did no damage, all 6 Wind Warriors began attacking Thorash with their sonic attacks. Thorash retreated back to the top of the waterfall. When there was no pursuit, Thorash made himself solid again. He described all that he had witnessed to the rest of the party and then cast a spell protecting him from sonic energy. Killick did the same. Again, there was more discussion about how best to proceed. Some thought it would be best for Thorash to lead the Warriors away to give Alees time to check more carefully for secret doors. However, the party could not reach consensus. Finally, in frustration, Alexander simply flew down to face the Warriors, casting a fireball on them. Killick sprouted wings and joined his childhood friend. The rest of the party, though, was forced to move slowly down to the combat in vapor form and then begin the slow process of resolidification. During that process, Alexander was surrounded by the floating suits of ceramic full plate armor. He moved away from his attackers, taking some damage in the process, and then cast Shout on them, causing their armor to crack a bit. Killick landed on the lip of the basin and fought the Warriors that would face him in melee. Soon thereafter, the other members of the party appeared in vapor form and took up the remaining positions on the lip of the basin. All except Thorash, that is, who moved out beyond the lip of the basin to peer down into the shaft. He could not see the bottom. The wind warriors attacked Killick with physical attacks and the gaseous party members with sonic attacks. Alexander withdrew to the top of the waterfall to use his Wand of False Life. Two of the six Wind Warriors moved to attack Thorash, who chose to continue downward until he could see the bottom. Soon the rest of the party was solid again and began attacking the Warriors in earnest. The Warrior on Tarric and Katawan's side of the battle was quickly felled. Katawan waded into the basin to get to the fight on the opposite side. He discovered that the water was only about neck deep at its highest point. Tarric then followed him across. Meanwhile, Alees was exploring some of her new feats on the opposite side. She was now able to get attacks of opportunity when others hit a target that she flanked. She was also able to get extra attacks when an opponent was successfully feinted or otherwise caught flat-footed. However, when the remaining Wind Warriors discovered that they could not strike Killick, they turned their attention to Alees. Alexander swooped down and put one of them inside a Wall of Fire to help protect her. Soon after this, however, the two remaining Wind Warriors withdrew from this battle to join their brethren who were pursuing Thorash down the shaft. When it became clear that the Wind Warriors were relentlessly using their sonic attacks on Thorash and that he was not coming back up, Killick flew down after him. The rest of the party reluctantly made themselves gaseous again, and slowly began heading down. Since that was the way that the rest of the party seemed to be heading, Alexander decided to accompany them as well. Since Alexander was flying via the Fly spell and was not gaseous, he caught up to the combat relatively quickly and found Killick in mid-air combat with 2 of the Warriors. Many quarterstaff blows and Magic Missile castings later, only 2 of the original 6 Wind Warriors remained. They broke off pursuit once Thorash found the bottom of the shaft. The waterfall was finally hitting bottom. It pooled up on one side of a large cavern and then began channeling swiftly downhill towards the far end of the cavern. With the Wind Warriors breaking off, the rest of the party quickly caught up and resolidified, grateful to be standing on solid ground again. While they talked about how best to proceed, some of the party members noticed a sickly green light reflecting off some of the rocks on the far side of the cavern. Shortly thereafter a gaunt man with a goatee and a greatsword strapped to his back approached the party holding a lantern aloft - a lantern that emitted a sickly green light. This stranger hailed the party and welcomed them cordially. He introduced himself as Moreto, Marquis of Ravenstone. He described himself as an explorer from a nation known as the White Kingdom which existed far below in the Underdark. He said that he had been trying for months now to discover a way to the surface. He explained that he wished to open up trade routes to the surface in hopes of eventually finding allies for his nation's war against the dark elves. He told the party that he had been trying for months to find a way up the waterfall, but his progress had been stymied by the Wind Warriors. He wondered if the party could help him. During his introduction, Thorash interrupted him more than once to ask about the bodies that he had left behind him. Each time, Moreto looked puzzled at him and then continued on, essentially ignoring him. Finally, Thorash announced to the party that Moreto was an undead creature and that there were two other undead standing somewhere behind him, out of sight. With a sigh, Moreto acknowledged that he was indeed undead and that he did indeed have two bodyguards following him. He explained that he had been informed of the surface dwellers' prejudice against his kind, so he had chosen to address the party without his companions, given that their appearance was a bit more disturbing than his own. He insisted that surely beings of reason could come to an amicable arrangement regardless of their prejudices. He said that he was willing to pay for the information he sought. He said that in one of his attempts to bypass the Wind Warriors, he had teleported blindly into a room containing an altar with a large seal sitting on it. Since it glowed with powerful magic, he had taken the object. But as soon as he had done so, he had been attacked by a giant spider and forced to teleport back down here to his campsite. Since he had no idea what the object was, he would be willing to part with it in exchange for information about how to reach the surface safely. The party asked for time to confer, and Moreto walked back around a corner to give them some privacy. Soon thereafter, the party called for him to return. Alexander, speaking on behalf of the party, informed Moreto that they had decided that they could not reveal the way to the surface for political reasons. However, they were interested in bartering for the magical Seal. Although Moreto was disappointed, he thought for a moment and said that if the party would bring him the head of the spider, he would gladly give them the Seal. The party asked to confer again, and again he gave them their privacy. Even though the party had already slain the spider, they were concerned that Moreto might somehow link up with the Cult of Kyuss on the surface and somehow make it stronger. So they did not wish to let him know that it was already dead. At long last, they called Moreto back once more. Alexander, speaking for the whole party, regretfully informed him that they could not make any deal with him. Furthermore, he would be required to surrender the Seal to them or face destruction. Moreto began casting a protective spell and the battle was on! Moreto created a globe of protective energy around himself and called his servants forward. However, Thorash quickly dispelled Moreto's protective bubble, effectively negating his action. Meanwhile, the party's melee combatants moved forward, striking him and flanking him. Killick summoned a dire wolf and Killick's wardog Grimlock successfully tripped him. Finding himself prone and surrounded, Moreto drew a wand from his belt and activated it, causing him to disappear. With Moreto gone, the party focused its attacks on the two Mohrgs which had appeared from behind the corner. They focused on one and quickly destroyed it with (among other things) Magic Missiles and a Searing Light. The second one grabbed Alees and paralyzed her with its purple worm tongue. At this point, Moreto appeared from around the corner, apologized to its minion, and fired off a Lightning Bolt which struck all of the party except Alexander and Thorash who were too far back to be in the line of effect. Being paralyzed, Alees took the full brunt of the attack and fell to the ground with a dull thump. All of her exposed skin was charred and sizzling. Killick moved to her side and cast a curative spell on her immediately. Then he ordered Grimlock to drag her out of harm's way. However, such caution was unnecessary as the next blow from Katawan's fist felled the undead creature. With the battle over, the party gathered around Alees to see if she would be OK. Unexpectedly, a ghostly figure resembling Moreto rose suddenly from the undead explorer's body. But recognizing that it was certainly outmatched, Moreto's new aspect flew directly into the nearest wall rather than face the party again. [/QUOTE]
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