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Menexenus's Age of Worms Campaign Journal
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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 4297355" data-attributes="member: 8951"><p><strong>Sessions 61-62: Alexander's New Cohort Saves the Day</strong></p><p></p><p><em>21st of Readying</em>. When the party returned to Magepoint, they met with Celeste who told them that Tenser was not in residence. The party told her the tale of their combat within the ziggurat. Celeste seemed very intrigued by the description of the two angelic-seeming beings the party had fought. Celeste informed the party that she had heard legends of a lost rogue angel named Kelvos who had supposedly led a small band of like-minded angelic warriors to destroy the growing evil of Kyuss while he was still a mortal. Kelvos and his band had attacked Kyuss in contradiction to explicit orders given by his superiors, but he felt stopping Kyuss was important enough to disobey orders. Sadly, Kelvos and his followers were never heard from again. Celeste told the party that, from their descriptions, she believed that some of the beings the party had fought were remnants of that lost expedition. The party asked her questions about Kelvos's abilities which she answered to the best of her knowledge. The party asked if she would like to accompany them on their next assault of Kuluth-Mar. At first she demurred. She really shouldn't, she said. But soon, she changed her mind and consented to accompany the party to help destroy the abominations that Kelvos and his follower had become. However, she swore the party to secrecy regarding her participation. The party agreed.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <em>26th of Readying</em>. The party made sure to pick up Celeste before teleporting back to Kuluth-Mar. After Alexander cast the spell, the party found itself at its campsite in a jungle clearing atop a hill overlooking the ruins of Kuluth-Mar. They flew over the obsidian wall surrounding the strangely in-tact ziggurat in the center of the ruins. Killick found a slow-moving Kyuss worm in the soil and devoured it to regain the abilities he lost every time he passed over the obsidian wall. Meanwhile, the other party members cast preparatory spells. Alees scouted ahead to get an idea of the position of the enemy forces. She found that the double doors leading into the cavernous worship chamber were closed. She listened at the door and heard hurried movement inside. She came back out to her comrades and informed them that the enemy were aware of the party's presence and seemed to be preparing for battle, just as they were. This caused them to hurry their preparations and attack as swiftly as possible. The party opened the double doors and charged in. They saw the same enemies that they had left behind before approaching them from the room on the left wall - the sundering swordsman, the winged angel with swords for arms, the airwalking skeleton in armor, and the enlarged undead fighter wielding a greatsword. Tarric had activated Branwhite's ability to see invisible creatures, so he was also able to spot Kelvos from his position 10 feet in the air. The enlarged greatsword-wielder charged forward at him and sliced a gaping wound in the Shield Knight's side.</p><p></p><p> Finally seeing a target, Alexander poured all of his prodigious spell-power into destroying the enlarged creature that had harmed his friend Tarric. He sent a volley of maximized, empowered scorching rays into the undead creature's hide. This assault of arcane energy knocked it back on its heels, nearly destroying it. It invoked the worm on itself moved back a bit and called out for assistance. Either Kelvos had no help to give its ally or it chose to leave its companion to its fate. The party heard an invisible figure command the large great-sword wielder to get out of the way. Then, from a position hovering over the pit in the middle of the room, he shot a bolt of lightning toward the party members in the doorway. After striking Alexander, the electricity jumped from one target to the next, harming Norvelle as well. Then the airwalking skeleton called down a Flame Strike in the same location. Despite his wounds, Alexander moved forward and continued focusing his most potent magic on the greatsword-wielder. After another volley enhanced scorching rays, that enemy was destroyed. The party had drawn first-blood in less than half a minute. They were pleased; things were going well. Annoyed at seeing its companion destroyed, invisible Kelvos flew forward and cast a spell causing multi-colored beams to strike the entire party (which was still mostly congregated near the doorway). One of the beams struck Alexander and he was instantly turned to stone! Meanwhile, the sundering knight of Kyuss was using some kind of mental power to show Tarric visions of the Age of Worms, rendering him immobile. Suddenly, the party's two most potent combatants had been neutralized! O, how the tides of war can turn! The party's hopes for a quick victory were dashed.</p><p> </p><p> Since they couldn't see Kelvos and since the sundering knight was causing Tarric's catatonia, Alees and Katawan focused their attacks on it. Katawan assaulted the vile creature with silvered fists of fury while Alees tried to knock the creature off balance and moved around to provide Katawan with flanking attacks. Meanwhile, Killick flew up to occupy the winged being and prevent it from diving at the party with impunity. Lastly, Celeste, who had cast a spell to see invisible creatures, yelled out, "Kelvos, your twisted mockery of an existence ends here! Your suffering ends now!" With that, she flew up in the air toward the location from which the Prismatic Spray had appeared. As she rushed forward, a shimmering greatsword appeared in her hands. She then engaged in an aerial melee combat with an invisible opponent. Alexander's new protege, Norvelle, was shaken at having seen his master turned to stone. He did his best to provide himself and the party with healing when they needed it, but he also stayed out of direct combat. </p><p> </p><p> For about a minute the combat swirled around in this fashion with neither side doing much damage to the other. After having little luck with the winged being, Killick changed targets and attacked the airwalking spellcaster. However, after that spellcaster had exhausted its few flamestrikes, it had nothing left with which to harm the party (all of whose members were warded against death and negative energy effects). So it broke off and flew down into the pit. Killick, sensing that his opponent was near death, followed it down into the pit until it landed in a tunnel and disappeared inside. At this point, Killick thought better of following and flew back up toward the combat against the sundering knight. When the sundering knight found itself unable to land a blow on Katawan, it tried to switch targets and attack Alees. It had more luck with her, but she withdrew. Killick and Katawan blocked it and kept it from pursuing her. Killick struck it with his undead-bane quarterstaff. This seemed to anger it. Even though it was very damaged at this point, it took the time necessary to sunder the petrified wood quarterstaff that Killick had found on the party's first adventure in the Whispering Cairn.</p><p></p><p> Out of other useful spells, Norvelle called on the power of St. Cuthbert and cast a spell making him larger and more powerful. He then charged, heedless of his own safety, into combat, brandishing his mace against the large winged opponent. They traded blows. He even drew Kelvos's attention. (Now that Kelvos was visible, it was apparent to the party members who looked that Celeste and Kelvos were dueling each other with the same kind of shimmering great sword.) Kelvos broke away from Celeste and sliced her greatsword into Norvelle. Norvelle had taken a great deal of damage, and his resolve was wavering. Celeste sensed this. She charged Kelvos and her greatsword sliced through him wounding him grievously, but he wasn't dead. Celeste looked Novelle in the eye and insisted, "Finish him!" Although what he wanted most was to withdraw and heal himself, he heeded Celeste's exhortation and swung his mace at Kelvos. His swing connected, smashing Kelvos's skull. He used the momentum of his swing to attack Kelvos's winged cohort, destroying it as well.</p><p></p><p> Seeing that the momentum of the battle had swung decisively in their favor, Katawan unleashed a flurry of blows against the sundering knight. Alees saw one of Katawan's silver fists punch all the way through the knight's armor, and then it collapsed around his arm onto the floor becoming a pile of writhing worms that decayed and liquefied in a matter of seconds. Suddenly Alees's voice remarked from out of nowhere that, if she had known the party was going to defeat the enemy so quickly and decisively, she wouldn't have wasted her Dust of Disappearance. Celeste congratulated the party on their hard-fought victory and reminded them ominously that she was never here. Then, placing her index finger in front of her lips in a sign of secrecy, she teleported away.</p><p></p><p> Although some in the party were tempted to follow the airwalking skeleton down into the pit, the rest of the party convinced them that it was time to retire. Tarric flew Alexander's statue form back to the campsite while the rest of the party searched the two rooms. Norvelle investigated the room on the right which was apparently a library of some kind. As he looked around it, though, he found himself witnessing another vision of the past. Suddenly the room was much cleaner and newer. There was a man sitting at the desk. The man seemed to be the human form of Kyuss that they had seen in a previous vision. Standing behind him was a six armed undead thing with grey skin. It pointed to something on the desk, a old and pitted bronze disk. Suddenly a look of comprehension bloomed on the man's face... and the vision ended. </p><p></p><p> Inside the room were rows of dusty books. There were also 12 jars resting on a shelf, each containing a writhing gray worm with arcane symbols written on it suspended in a cloudy liquid. With a Detect Magic spell, the party determined that the only thing magical in the room were the worms in the jars. Norvelle told the rest of the party about what he saw in his vision. Being the party's expert on worms, Killick looked more closely at the worms in the jars. He also found a book that was lying open on a small pedastal near the jars. He investigates it closely as well. </p><p></p><p> In the mean time, Norvelle approached the other room across from the first one. Apparently this room had been a torture chamber. But before he could make out any details, Norvelle found himself witnessing another vision. In this one, he saw the same man accompanied by the same 6-armed, gray-skinned creature. The creature presents a jeweled golden box to the man. He opens it, and with a pair of iron tongs, pulls out a writhing green worm. The man's expression turns to one of exaltation as he examines the worm... and the vision fades. The room's walls are covered with ancient instruments of torture, rusted iron hooks, knives, and other unrecognizable tools of vile intent. One of the walls had apparently contained a pane of glass, as there was broken glass and green liquid on the floor. Apparently, the glass had made up part of the far wall and the green liquid had been retained behind it. Apparently the liquid had only been released days ago, as it was not yet completely dried.</p><p></p><p> At this point, Alees suddenly appeared at the edge of the pit. She informed the party that she had scouted out the tunnels below with the remainder of the invisibility effect. After a few twists and turns she had come upon a wormlike creature with a horrific humanoid face. Although it didn't see her, when she looked at its eyes, she felt strange as if she were being overcome by some sort of magical effect. But she shook off its effects and flew back to report what she had found to the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p> With this new knowlege of what enemies might be waiting below, the party instructed Norvelle to keep watch at the top of the pit while they looted the undead bodies for valuables. Alees left the obvious stuff to her party mates while she looked around for secret doors and compartments. After about 30 minutes, Norvelle called out that he had seen a face like the one Alees had described poking its head out of the top tunnel. He had also felt that strange, disorienting magical effect that Alees had felt. The party looked over the edge to see if it was still there, but it was gone. The party continued looting and searching until their fly spells were about to wear off. Then they grabbed what they could and returned to their campsite on the hill about two miles from the ziggurat.</p><p></p><p> <em>27th of Readying</em>. Norvelle tried to cast Break Enchantment on Alexander's statue with no luck. Killick learned that the worms in the jars would provide one with knowledge if one were to consume the worm (and survive). Figuring that he had the best chance to survive, he took the rest of the party back to the library and consumed 10 of the worms one-by-one. Each time, the process was disgusting to watch and visibly painful. On two occasions, Killick screamed out as the worms made it to his brain. But both times, he was able to bring himself under control. After this ordeal, he seemed to lost some of his wits and had trouble expressing himself in clear sentences. However, Norvelle cast a Restoration spell on him, and he was back to his old self. In fact, he seemed noticeably improved - more knowledgeable about every subject. Seeing the benefits that Killick had gained, Katawan risked swallowing the remaining 2 worms that Killick had said were repeats. Katawan suffered no ill effects after swallowing the worms, and seemed to gain increased knowledge of religion and arcane spells. After this the party retired to its campsite.</p><p></p><p> <em>28th of Readying</em>. Norvelle successfully broke the enchantment on Alexander's statue, returning him to normal. Alexander teleported the party back to Saltmarsh, where they stayed the night at the inn.</p><p></p><p> <em>1st of Coldeven</em>. The party completed the second leg of the trip to Magepoint. They sold the unclaimed magic items that the undead had been wearing, settled some debts, and purchased a few items. Killick found someone skilled enough to repair his petrified wood quarterstaff inexpensively. Killick purchased the components necessary to research a spell.</p><p></p><p> <em>2nd of Coldeven</em>. The party returned to Kuluth-Mar by teleportation. Killick noticed that something humanoid had investigated their campsite in the past couple days. The party decided to abandon its hilltop campsite with a great overlook of the ruins in favor of a more nondescript campsite closer to the city. Because they were concerned about security, the party left Tarric and Grimlock behind to guard the new campsite while the rest of the party flew back to the ziggurat to investigate the tunnels in the pit. </p><p></p><p> They all flew down into the pit and Alexander challenged whatever was within the tunnels to come out and face them. Many members of the party heard slithering sounds coming from within the tunnels. Alees, Alexander, and Norvelle all chose to fly back up to the top of the tunnel to stand on solid ground. Only Killick and Katawan continued flying. Soon thereafter, man-sized green worms with horrific humanoid faces emerged from the numerous tunnels carved into the sheer sides of the pit. All who saw the eyes of these worm-creatures were forced to fight off some sort of magical effect. As soon as the creatures emerged, the party let loose their prepared attacks. Killick and Katawan both flew into the 4 foot tall tunnels to attack their targets in melee. Meanwhile, Alees fired her crossbow at the third worm-creature while Alexander and Norvelle fired ranged spells at it. The worm creature takes a surprisingly large amount of punishment before dying. However, as soon as it died, another slithered forward to take its place. </p><p></p><p> The worm creatures seemed to prefer to attack by casting spells. Killick noticed that his opponent cast Slay Living, Enervation, Ray of Exhaustion, and Blindness at him, all to no effect. Each time, his opponent backed up to cast its spell and Killick was drawn farther and farther into the tunnel. But he was clearly defeating his opponent, so he continued the pursuit nonetheless. However, after about 30 seconds, he noticed a strange silence coming from his partymates outside the tunnel at the top of the pit. Had something happened to them? Killick dismissed this worry and continued attacking.</p><p></p><p> Katawan finished off the worm creature in his tunnel only to see its place taken by another right after it fell. With this brief lull in the action, Katawan also noticed the strange silence coming from outside his tunnel, so he flew back out to see what had happened. He saw Alees, Norvelle, and Alexander just standing at the top of the pit. They were still able to move, but they were doing nothing but looking at each other and at their own hands with confused looks on their faces. Katawan yelled back to Killick that something was wrong. Just then, one of the worm-creatures cast Dispel Magic on his Winged Boots. Luckily, he was close enough to the wall so that he could use his Slow Fall ability. He reached out and grabbed at a crevice along the side of the pit and held on, stopping his descent. He yelled out to Killick that he was unable to fly and hanging from a ledge.</p><p></p><p>(to be continued)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 4297355, member: 8951"] [b]Sessions 61-62: Alexander's New Cohort Saves the Day[/b] [I]21st of Readying[/I]. When the party returned to Magepoint, they met with Celeste who told them that Tenser was not in residence. The party told her the tale of their combat within the ziggurat. Celeste seemed very intrigued by the description of the two angelic-seeming beings the party had fought. Celeste informed the party that she had heard legends of a lost rogue angel named Kelvos who had supposedly led a small band of like-minded angelic warriors to destroy the growing evil of Kyuss while he was still a mortal. Kelvos and his band had attacked Kyuss in contradiction to explicit orders given by his superiors, but he felt stopping Kyuss was important enough to disobey orders. Sadly, Kelvos and his followers were never heard from again. Celeste told the party that, from their descriptions, she believed that some of the beings the party had fought were remnants of that lost expedition. The party asked her questions about Kelvos's abilities which she answered to the best of her knowledge. The party asked if she would like to accompany them on their next assault of Kuluth-Mar. At first she demurred. She really shouldn't, she said. But soon, she changed her mind and consented to accompany the party to help destroy the abominations that Kelvos and his follower had become. However, she swore the party to secrecy regarding her participation. The party agreed. [I]26th of Readying[/I]. The party made sure to pick up Celeste before teleporting back to Kuluth-Mar. After Alexander cast the spell, the party found itself at its campsite in a jungle clearing atop a hill overlooking the ruins of Kuluth-Mar. They flew over the obsidian wall surrounding the strangely in-tact ziggurat in the center of the ruins. Killick found a slow-moving Kyuss worm in the soil and devoured it to regain the abilities he lost every time he passed over the obsidian wall. Meanwhile, the other party members cast preparatory spells. Alees scouted ahead to get an idea of the position of the enemy forces. She found that the double doors leading into the cavernous worship chamber were closed. She listened at the door and heard hurried movement inside. She came back out to her comrades and informed them that the enemy were aware of the party's presence and seemed to be preparing for battle, just as they were. This caused them to hurry their preparations and attack as swiftly as possible. The party opened the double doors and charged in. They saw the same enemies that they had left behind before approaching them from the room on the left wall - the sundering swordsman, the winged angel with swords for arms, the airwalking skeleton in armor, and the enlarged undead fighter wielding a greatsword. Tarric had activated Branwhite's ability to see invisible creatures, so he was also able to spot Kelvos from his position 10 feet in the air. The enlarged greatsword-wielder charged forward at him and sliced a gaping wound in the Shield Knight's side. Finally seeing a target, Alexander poured all of his prodigious spell-power into destroying the enlarged creature that had harmed his friend Tarric. He sent a volley of maximized, empowered scorching rays into the undead creature's hide. This assault of arcane energy knocked it back on its heels, nearly destroying it. It invoked the worm on itself moved back a bit and called out for assistance. Either Kelvos had no help to give its ally or it chose to leave its companion to its fate. The party heard an invisible figure command the large great-sword wielder to get out of the way. Then, from a position hovering over the pit in the middle of the room, he shot a bolt of lightning toward the party members in the doorway. After striking Alexander, the electricity jumped from one target to the next, harming Norvelle as well. Then the airwalking skeleton called down a Flame Strike in the same location. Despite his wounds, Alexander moved forward and continued focusing his most potent magic on the greatsword-wielder. After another volley enhanced scorching rays, that enemy was destroyed. The party had drawn first-blood in less than half a minute. They were pleased; things were going well. Annoyed at seeing its companion destroyed, invisible Kelvos flew forward and cast a spell causing multi-colored beams to strike the entire party (which was still mostly congregated near the doorway). One of the beams struck Alexander and he was instantly turned to stone! Meanwhile, the sundering knight of Kyuss was using some kind of mental power to show Tarric visions of the Age of Worms, rendering him immobile. Suddenly, the party's two most potent combatants had been neutralized! O, how the tides of war can turn! The party's hopes for a quick victory were dashed. Since they couldn't see Kelvos and since the sundering knight was causing Tarric's catatonia, Alees and Katawan focused their attacks on it. Katawan assaulted the vile creature with silvered fists of fury while Alees tried to knock the creature off balance and moved around to provide Katawan with flanking attacks. Meanwhile, Killick flew up to occupy the winged being and prevent it from diving at the party with impunity. Lastly, Celeste, who had cast a spell to see invisible creatures, yelled out, "Kelvos, your twisted mockery of an existence ends here! Your suffering ends now!" With that, she flew up in the air toward the location from which the Prismatic Spray had appeared. As she rushed forward, a shimmering greatsword appeared in her hands. She then engaged in an aerial melee combat with an invisible opponent. Alexander's new protege, Norvelle, was shaken at having seen his master turned to stone. He did his best to provide himself and the party with healing when they needed it, but he also stayed out of direct combat. For about a minute the combat swirled around in this fashion with neither side doing much damage to the other. After having little luck with the winged being, Killick changed targets and attacked the airwalking spellcaster. However, after that spellcaster had exhausted its few flamestrikes, it had nothing left with which to harm the party (all of whose members were warded against death and negative energy effects). So it broke off and flew down into the pit. Killick, sensing that his opponent was near death, followed it down into the pit until it landed in a tunnel and disappeared inside. At this point, Killick thought better of following and flew back up toward the combat against the sundering knight. When the sundering knight found itself unable to land a blow on Katawan, it tried to switch targets and attack Alees. It had more luck with her, but she withdrew. Killick and Katawan blocked it and kept it from pursuing her. Killick struck it with his undead-bane quarterstaff. This seemed to anger it. Even though it was very damaged at this point, it took the time necessary to sunder the petrified wood quarterstaff that Killick had found on the party's first adventure in the Whispering Cairn. Out of other useful spells, Norvelle called on the power of St. Cuthbert and cast a spell making him larger and more powerful. He then charged, heedless of his own safety, into combat, brandishing his mace against the large winged opponent. They traded blows. He even drew Kelvos's attention. (Now that Kelvos was visible, it was apparent to the party members who looked that Celeste and Kelvos were dueling each other with the same kind of shimmering great sword.) Kelvos broke away from Celeste and sliced her greatsword into Norvelle. Norvelle had taken a great deal of damage, and his resolve was wavering. Celeste sensed this. She charged Kelvos and her greatsword sliced through him wounding him grievously, but he wasn't dead. Celeste looked Novelle in the eye and insisted, "Finish him!" Although what he wanted most was to withdraw and heal himself, he heeded Celeste's exhortation and swung his mace at Kelvos. His swing connected, smashing Kelvos's skull. He used the momentum of his swing to attack Kelvos's winged cohort, destroying it as well. Seeing that the momentum of the battle had swung decisively in their favor, Katawan unleashed a flurry of blows against the sundering knight. Alees saw one of Katawan's silver fists punch all the way through the knight's armor, and then it collapsed around his arm onto the floor becoming a pile of writhing worms that decayed and liquefied in a matter of seconds. Suddenly Alees's voice remarked from out of nowhere that, if she had known the party was going to defeat the enemy so quickly and decisively, she wouldn't have wasted her Dust of Disappearance. Celeste congratulated the party on their hard-fought victory and reminded them ominously that she was never here. Then, placing her index finger in front of her lips in a sign of secrecy, she teleported away. Although some in the party were tempted to follow the airwalking skeleton down into the pit, the rest of the party convinced them that it was time to retire. Tarric flew Alexander's statue form back to the campsite while the rest of the party searched the two rooms. Norvelle investigated the room on the right which was apparently a library of some kind. As he looked around it, though, he found himself witnessing another vision of the past. Suddenly the room was much cleaner and newer. There was a man sitting at the desk. The man seemed to be the human form of Kyuss that they had seen in a previous vision. Standing behind him was a six armed undead thing with grey skin. It pointed to something on the desk, a old and pitted bronze disk. Suddenly a look of comprehension bloomed on the man's face... and the vision ended. Inside the room were rows of dusty books. There were also 12 jars resting on a shelf, each containing a writhing gray worm with arcane symbols written on it suspended in a cloudy liquid. With a Detect Magic spell, the party determined that the only thing magical in the room were the worms in the jars. Norvelle told the rest of the party about what he saw in his vision. Being the party's expert on worms, Killick looked more closely at the worms in the jars. He also found a book that was lying open on a small pedastal near the jars. He investigates it closely as well. In the mean time, Norvelle approached the other room across from the first one. Apparently this room had been a torture chamber. But before he could make out any details, Norvelle found himself witnessing another vision. In this one, he saw the same man accompanied by the same 6-armed, gray-skinned creature. The creature presents a jeweled golden box to the man. He opens it, and with a pair of iron tongs, pulls out a writhing green worm. The man's expression turns to one of exaltation as he examines the worm... and the vision fades. The room's walls are covered with ancient instruments of torture, rusted iron hooks, knives, and other unrecognizable tools of vile intent. One of the walls had apparently contained a pane of glass, as there was broken glass and green liquid on the floor. Apparently, the glass had made up part of the far wall and the green liquid had been retained behind it. Apparently the liquid had only been released days ago, as it was not yet completely dried. At this point, Alees suddenly appeared at the edge of the pit. She informed the party that she had scouted out the tunnels below with the remainder of the invisibility effect. After a few twists and turns she had come upon a wormlike creature with a horrific humanoid face. Although it didn't see her, when she looked at its eyes, she felt strange as if she were being overcome by some sort of magical effect. But she shook off its effects and flew back to report what she had found to the rest of the party. With this new knowlege of what enemies might be waiting below, the party instructed Norvelle to keep watch at the top of the pit while they looted the undead bodies for valuables. Alees left the obvious stuff to her party mates while she looked around for secret doors and compartments. After about 30 minutes, Norvelle called out that he had seen a face like the one Alees had described poking its head out of the top tunnel. He had also felt that strange, disorienting magical effect that Alees had felt. The party looked over the edge to see if it was still there, but it was gone. The party continued looting and searching until their fly spells were about to wear off. Then they grabbed what they could and returned to their campsite on the hill about two miles from the ziggurat. [I]27th of Readying[/I]. Norvelle tried to cast Break Enchantment on Alexander's statue with no luck. Killick learned that the worms in the jars would provide one with knowledge if one were to consume the worm (and survive). Figuring that he had the best chance to survive, he took the rest of the party back to the library and consumed 10 of the worms one-by-one. Each time, the process was disgusting to watch and visibly painful. On two occasions, Killick screamed out as the worms made it to his brain. But both times, he was able to bring himself under control. After this ordeal, he seemed to lost some of his wits and had trouble expressing himself in clear sentences. However, Norvelle cast a Restoration spell on him, and he was back to his old self. In fact, he seemed noticeably improved - more knowledgeable about every subject. Seeing the benefits that Killick had gained, Katawan risked swallowing the remaining 2 worms that Killick had said were repeats. Katawan suffered no ill effects after swallowing the worms, and seemed to gain increased knowledge of religion and arcane spells. After this the party retired to its campsite. [I]28th of Readying[/I]. Norvelle successfully broke the enchantment on Alexander's statue, returning him to normal. Alexander teleported the party back to Saltmarsh, where they stayed the night at the inn. [I]1st of Coldeven[/I]. The party completed the second leg of the trip to Magepoint. They sold the unclaimed magic items that the undead had been wearing, settled some debts, and purchased a few items. Killick found someone skilled enough to repair his petrified wood quarterstaff inexpensively. Killick purchased the components necessary to research a spell. [I]2nd of Coldeven[/I]. The party returned to Kuluth-Mar by teleportation. Killick noticed that something humanoid had investigated their campsite in the past couple days. The party decided to abandon its hilltop campsite with a great overlook of the ruins in favor of a more nondescript campsite closer to the city. Because they were concerned about security, the party left Tarric and Grimlock behind to guard the new campsite while the rest of the party flew back to the ziggurat to investigate the tunnels in the pit. They all flew down into the pit and Alexander challenged whatever was within the tunnels to come out and face them. Many members of the party heard slithering sounds coming from within the tunnels. Alees, Alexander, and Norvelle all chose to fly back up to the top of the tunnel to stand on solid ground. Only Killick and Katawan continued flying. Soon thereafter, man-sized green worms with horrific humanoid faces emerged from the numerous tunnels carved into the sheer sides of the pit. All who saw the eyes of these worm-creatures were forced to fight off some sort of magical effect. As soon as the creatures emerged, the party let loose their prepared attacks. Killick and Katawan both flew into the 4 foot tall tunnels to attack their targets in melee. Meanwhile, Alees fired her crossbow at the third worm-creature while Alexander and Norvelle fired ranged spells at it. The worm creature takes a surprisingly large amount of punishment before dying. However, as soon as it died, another slithered forward to take its place. The worm creatures seemed to prefer to attack by casting spells. Killick noticed that his opponent cast Slay Living, Enervation, Ray of Exhaustion, and Blindness at him, all to no effect. Each time, his opponent backed up to cast its spell and Killick was drawn farther and farther into the tunnel. But he was clearly defeating his opponent, so he continued the pursuit nonetheless. However, after about 30 seconds, he noticed a strange silence coming from his partymates outside the tunnel at the top of the pit. Had something happened to them? Killick dismissed this worry and continued attacking. Katawan finished off the worm creature in his tunnel only to see its place taken by another right after it fell. With this brief lull in the action, Katawan also noticed the strange silence coming from outside his tunnel, so he flew back out to see what had happened. He saw Alees, Norvelle, and Alexander just standing at the top of the pit. They were still able to move, but they were doing nothing but looking at each other and at their own hands with confused looks on their faces. Katawan yelled back to Killick that something was wrong. Just then, one of the worm-creatures cast Dispel Magic on his Winged Boots. Luckily, he was close enough to the wall so that he could use his Slow Fall ability. He reached out and grabbed at a crevice along the side of the pit and held on, stopping his descent. He yelled out to Killick that he was unable to fly and hanging from a ledge. (to be continued) [/QUOTE]
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