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
Raiders of the Overreach
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: 8001905" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 23: OUT OF THE FIRE AND INTO THE FREEZER</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 8</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 28 May 2020</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>"Gather together," Cramer told the others, waving them forward with his hands. "I'll cast a <em>dimension door</em> spell to get us to the top of the cliff." The others gathered around him, he cast the spell, and nothing happened - save for the green glow which briefly suffused each of the five in a soft illumination.</p><p></p><p>"That's odd," replied the gnome cleric, frowning. "There seems to be some sort of <em>dimensional lock</em> effect in place here, as well as the necromantic energy suffusing the area. Very strange."</p><p></p><p>"What does it mean?" asked Khari.</p><p></p><p>"It means I can't get us up the cliff with my spell," Cramer replied, still frowning. "I suppose I could cast a <em>fly</em> spell on myself, but I doubt I'd be able to carry some of you...." He looked at Jhasspok, who stood twice the little gnome's height.</p><p></p><p>"Cast it on someone else, then," suggested Utred.</p><p></p><p>"Save your spell," interjected Marlo, pulling off her <em>boots of levitation</em>. She looked over at Jhasspok, the strongest of the five and therefore the one best suited to carry the others, one by one, up the side of the cliff. Then, looking down at his reptilian feet, with their wide, splayed toes ending in claws, she mirrored Cramer's frown. "I don't think these would be able to resize to fit you," she said; magical boots could shift their dimensions somewhat to fit the size of the wearer's feet, but that was assuming the wearer's foot conformed to the standard human build. Instead, she turned to Khari. "Here," she said, passing her boots over to him. "You can ferry each of us up."</p><p></p><p>Khari removed his own leather boots, tied their laces together, and flipped them over his shoulder out of the way. Then, after donning Marlo's <em>boots of levitation</em> (which did in fact resize to fit the dwarf's wider feet), he looked at the others. "Who's first?" he asked, looking at Jhasspok and Utred. As they were the heaviest it made sense that one of them would be taken to the cliff-top first; not only so Khari's subsequent loads would be lighter as time went on but also because whoever went first would be left alone at the top of the cliff while Khari went down to fetch the others.</p><p></p><p>"I'll go," offered Utred. He stood behind Khari and gripped his fellow dwarf's shoulders. Then Khari <em>levitated</em> straight up the side of the cliff; fortunately, it was almost perfectly vertical so Utred was able to step off onto the solid earth at the top; Marlo's boots did not provide for any motion other than straight up and straight down.</p><p></p><p>"Cold up here," commented Utred, dropping his pack onto the ground and rummaging through it. Fortunately, he had a set of cold weather gear. Khari dropped back down and by the time he'd ferried Jhasspok to the top of the cliff, Utred was wearing his heavy coat and passed a warm blanket over to the lizardfolk, who had no such protection and didn't even wear any clothes. Jhasspok took the warm blanket gratefully, wrapping it over his <em>slave-light cloak</em>. "My feet hurt," he said.</p><p></p><p>"What, from the cold?" asked Utred. They were in the tundra up here at the top of the cliff (despite the burning desert below them) and while there wasn't any snow at the top of the cliff they could see some off in the distance, among the pine trees.</p><p></p><p>"I don't think so," Jhasspok replied, sitting down and brushing sand off the bottoms of his feet. Patches of reptilian skin came off with the sand.</p><p></p><p>"Huh," snorted Utred. "Almost looks like sunburn."</p><p></p><p>"Sunburn? What is 'sunburn'?"</p><p></p><p>"You stay out in the sunlight for too long, the sun burns your skin, turns it all red," Utred explained. Then, looking at Jhasspok's green scales, he amended, "Well, maybe not yours." Jhasspok squinted up suspiciously at the fireball sun in the sky as Khari brought Marlo up to the top of the cliff. The sorcerer scolded Jhasspok for staring directly at the sun.</p><p></p><p>When Cramer was brought to the top and Khari gave Marlo her boots back, the little cleric examined the bottoms of Jhasspok's feet. "Yep, burns," he agreed. "Probably from standing in the sand down there without anything between it and your feet." Even without her boots on, Marlo had at least been wearing her socks so she wasn't similarly troubled. But the application of a healing spell restored Jhasspok's feet to their normal, healthy state and he declared himself fit to travel.</p><p></p><p>"Do we even know where we want to go?" asked Khari, lacing his own boots back up as Marlo pulled on her own cold weather gear. She passed her winter blanket over to Khari, who wrapped it around himself. Cramer did the same with his own, gnome-sized blanket.</p><p></p><p>"We don't know where exactly we are on the map, or if we're even on the map," Cramer answered. "But we're somewhere along the miles-long rift at the northern border of the Burning Wastes, so we'll want to go west." He looked up at the sun; Jhasspok was about to warn him you weren't supposed to look directly at it when the gnome dropped his gaze and pointed off to his left. "This way," the gnome said, heading westward.</p><p></p><p>The group spent the next hours in silent trudging. Once they got to the trees and the snow they formed a single line, with Jhasspok in the lead and the others following in his footsteps. (Jhasspok, who had never seen snow before in his life, asked the dwarves what it was and Cramer piped up with, "They're scales from the Great Sky Fish, who lives behind the Really Big Pearl." Jhasspok nodded appreciatively at the perfectly reasonable explanation and pressed on in silence, which was all Cramer really cared about at that point.)</p><p></p><p>By the time the group stopped for the evening, the three of them without cold weather gear were feeling the effects of the cold. Fortunately, the <em>ironsilk tent</em>, once deployed, contained an automatic <em>endure elements</em> spell effect and that kept the temperature reasonable. Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok practically collapsed inside the tent and enjoyed the warmer clime.</p><p></p><p>"They're gonna need to rest up, if they're going to do this again tomorrow," Utred pointed out to Marlo. "And if you don't get your rest, you won't be able to cast your spells tomorrow." He rubbed his thick beard in thought. "I can take the first guard shift, if you think your toad can stand a shift as well," he offered.</p><p></p><p>"I have a better idea," Marlo answered, rummaging through her spell scrolls. "I can cast an <em>alarm</em> spell and we can all just sleep though the night."</p><p></p><p>That worked out just fine; the tent and its inhabitants were not disturbed throughout the night and everyone woke much refreshed in the morning. "We got any idea how many days it's gonna take us to get back to civilization?" asked Khari.</p><p></p><p>"No idea," admitted Cramer. "But we'll have a better time of it today: I'll cast an <em>endure elements</em> spell on the three of us without heavy coats."</p><p></p><p>The second day of travel was uneventful, but Marlo and Utred came up with a unique form of travel for her: the dwarf tied one end of his rope around her ankle and then she <em>levitated</em> up as high as the rope would allow; then Utred trudged through the snow with the other men, tugging Marlo behind him like a balloon. Marlo thus didn't have to wear herself out by walking through snow all day like the others, but more importantly she had a good vantage point from nearly 100 feet in the air and could scout ahead for any trouble. "It's like being in a crow's nest," she told the others, then had to explain to Jhasspok what a crow's nest was, which then further necessitated her explaining what a boat was and what a crow was.</p><p></p><p>"Ah, a sky fish," he said, understanding fully.</p><p></p><p>The second day, their first full day of overland travel through the tundra, passed by uneventfully, Marlo having spotted nothing more dangerous than a passing herd of reindeer or elk. And with none of the arena slaves having been fatigued by the cold weather they were able to take their normal guard shifts in the <em>ironsilk tent</em>, saving Marlo's one remaining <em>alarm</em> spell scroll for later when they might need it.</p><p></p><p>It was on their third day of travel when Marlo, from her mid-air perch, saw a flash of movement below and tugged on the rope around her ankle, the signal she and Utred had worked out between themselves. She called down to the others what she saw but they couldn't make out her words; however, she pointed frantically at the approaching beast and the men turned to their right to see what she was pointing at. It was a dire polar bear, racing toward them from the north.</p><p></p><p>"What's that?" Jhasspok asked.</p><p></p><p>"Dire bear," Urtred grunted back, pulling out his <em>Elderwood flaming blade</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Like we fought in the forest," Jhasspok hazarded, although this one seemed even bigger - and a completely different color.</p><p></p><p>Cramer activated his <em>ring of invisibility</em> and ran over towards Utred. Once there, he cast a <em>shield of faith</em> spell upon the dwarven barbarian, readying him for the impending combat. But it was Khari who attacked first; wielding his <em>earthglide warhammer</em>, he tried sliding down into the earth as he charged but was thwarted by the frozen ground which refused to part before him. But he hit the dire polar bear in the side of the head nonetheless, even as Marlo sent an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell flashing down at the great beast. It roared in pain as both blasts of fire struck true, one of them striking it right in the face, burning its sensitive nose and irritating its eyes. Unable to retaliate against the sorcerer in the sky, the bruin slashed at the dwarven fighter standing before it with its great claws, then bit down upon Khari's arm. The Hammerslammer dwarf refused to give it the satisfaction of even a grunt of pain.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok sprinted forward and brought his battleaxe down upon the dire polar bear, chopping the axe-head deep into the side of the bear's skull. It released its grip on Khari at once as it collapsed onto the frozen ground, dead. The lizardfolk set his battleaxe aside and pulled the dagger from his belt, beginning at once to skin the dead bruin. "Meat is meat," he reminded the others. "And the fur will be warm."</p><p></p><p>But then Marlo called down again from her aerial perch. Looking up, Utred saw he frantically pointing in the same direction from which the bear had approached. Looking over, Utred saw two more white shapes approaching and much farther behind, a humanoid figure that could only be a frost giant. But he was far enough away he wasn't likely going to be a concern for some time; of much more immediate importance were the two winter wolves barreling down on the party - or, more accurately, on the dire polar bear they'd been tracking for their master.</p><p></p><p>Cramer took the opportunity before combat began to cast a <em>bless</em> spell on the assembled heroes. And then Khari once again started combat, charging towards the wolf on the right as it approached the group, wisps of frozen breath escaping its lupine muzzle. Khari's warhammer blow sent its head snapping to the left as its teeth clamped down on nothing more solid than air. Marlo, from her aerial vantage point, assessed the dwarf would be able to take care of his current foe and sent an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell down at the other wolf. Both blasts hit and the wolf crumpled at once into a flaming mass in the snow, its fur all but burned off by the power of the human sorcerer's spell.</p><p></p><p>The other winter wolf sent a blast of frigid air straight into Khari's face, but the doughty dwarf ignored the frozen pain of his exposed flesh and pressed on with his attacks. Jhasspok raced over to this new foe, grabbing up his battleaxe on the way and bringing it down upon the winter wolf's side, cutting through a rib or two. But it was Utred's <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em> that slew the beast, with a blow that nearly severed the creature's head clean off.</p><p></p><p>By this time, the frost giant had approached close enough to have seen the carnage wrought by the five arena slaves, who had slain both of his hunting wolves in a matter of mere seconds. He had a nice, solid rock in his hand and he threw it at full force to the combatant he deemed the most needing of immediate slaying: Marlo, who flung fiery death from her very fingertips! The boulder went whizzing by the sorcerer, not close enough for her to even consider altering her aerial height with her magical boots.</p><p></p><p>"What the Hell are you shrimpy poachers even doing here?" complained the frost giant to himself, unaware that Cramer's <em>helm of comprehend languages</em> translated the Giant tongue just fine. The little gnome raced forward towards Khari, who by this time looked like he could use a healing spell or two after the damage he'd sustained in combat with these arctic beasts.</p><p></p><p>But Khari didn't stick around for healing; he was racing towards this newest threat. Despite his limited intellect, he was battle-wary enough to realize it was in his best interests to bring fire to this fight if possible, so he switched weapons on the way, pulling out the new <em>keen flaming burst longsword</em> he'd taken from the Dragon Prince several days ago. The blade dug deep into the frost giant's leg, the flames burning the blue flesh where it wasn't covered in the white fur hide armor the giant wore.</p><p></p><p>Marlo proved the giant's assertion that she was his greatest danger by sending another of her <em>empowered scorching rays</em> spells down at him, each ray striking with a stunning accuracy that had the giant momentarily sheathed in flames. Then, while he was distracted by the pain of the fearful burning he was undergoing, Utred and Jhasspok raced up, each striking with their weapons on either side of him. Utred used his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em>, the flames of its blade burning the frost giant just as badly despite their unusual green color. Jhasspok had also picked up a <em>flaming weapon</em> from the Dragon Prince's men - his was a spear whose tip burned with fire - but in his haste he stuck to his trusty battleaxe; the spears he'd taken he carried in the same hand as his shield so it was somewhat awkward for him to switch weapons and he couldn't do it as fast as either of the dwarves could.</p><p></p><p>Growling in pain, the frost giant snarled, "What are you even doing here in our lands?" Hearing this, Cramer - who understood the question thanks to his magic helm - dropped out of his <em>invisibility</em> effect and called off the attack. "Stop attacking us and we'll stop attacking you!" he called to the giant. "Can you understand me?"</p><p></p><p>"I unnerstand," replied the giant in poor but passable Common. He took a step back away from these "shrimpy poachers" but they didn't press on with their attacks.</p><p></p><p>"We're here by accident," Cramer told the giant, answering his original question. "We're trying to get to Rimefjord, to speak to your leader."</p><p></p><p>"Rimefjord? That hundreds miles distance," replied the giant, causing Khari to sigh in exasperation. Hundreds of miles of trudging through the tundra? That would take weeks! "Why my wolves you kill?" the giant demanded.</p><p></p><p>"Because they attacked us," countered Cramer. "We wouldn't have bothered them otherwise."</p><p></p><p>"We track bear many of days," complained the giant. "Then from us you take prey!"</p><p></p><p>"Again, we only attacked the bear because it attacked us first," countered Cramer. "But we don't want the bear - you're welcome to it, if you want." Jhasspok's mouth dropped open in surprise at this; <em>he</em> certainly wanted the bear!</p><p></p><p>"You can eat the wolves," the lizardfolk counter-proposed. "Meat is meat." He looked over at the one Marlo had taken out with her fire spell. "And that one's already cooked!"</p><p></p><p>"Not eat pets!" snarled the frost giant and Cramer quickly sent a "settle down" signal to Jhasspok. He didn't want to stand before the leader of the frost giants asking for their help in taking on the Overreach drow after having slain a member of their...tribe, or nation, or whatever. Jhasspok eventually agreed not to push the point; he supposed he could make do with a winter wolf pelt instead of a dire polar bear pelt, as long as it wasn't the one that was all burned up.</p><p></p><p>That settled, the frost giant resumed the skinning operation Jhasspok had just gotten started on with the dead bruin. The others eventually convinced Jhasspok he didn't need a winter wolf pelt to keep warm, as Cramer's <em>endure elements</em> spell was sufficient protection. He couldn't argue against that so, still somewhat grumpy, he agreed they could press on with their trek. After all, it would be weeks of travel, apparently, through territory where those not of the giant races weren't exactly welcome - best to get through the journey at best speed.</p><p></p><p>It was a matter of mere minutes later that the group found a figure standing before them, draped entirely in heavy, black furs. She stood as if waiting patiently for their arrival. Marlo was as shocked as the others, as she hadn't seen the figure's approach - and in fact, there weren't any footprints in the snow around her - she'd apparently just <em>teleported</em> to her current position! But she couldn't call down to her friends from 100 feet in the air, so she started reducing her altitude at once. If nothing else, she was curious to hear what this mysterious figure had to say.</p><p></p><p>"I understand you are headed to Rimefjord," the figure said, her voice muffled somewhat by the full mask and goggles she wore. The goggles were made of some dark material, preventing the heroes from seeing her eyes.</p><p></p><p>"And how exactly is it you understand that?" asked Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"I have my ways," answered the figure, which was no answer at all. "But I have a proposition for you: I will <em>teleport</em> us all to Rimefjord, saving you weeks of weary travel, if you will in turn do a small favor for me."</p><p></p><p>Khari was suspicious but also curious. "What's the favor?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"There is a relic hidden in the ruins beneath the giant settlement. I want you to fetch it and bring it to me."</p><p></p><p>"Why don't you do it yourself?" demanded Utred. "If you can <em>teleport</em> all that distance, you should be powerful enough to go fetch yourself a relic out of some ruins." Jhasspok didn't want to interrupt the proceedings but he made a mental note to ask Utred what a "relic" was when he had the chance.</p><p></p><p>"There are...reasons," she conceded, again not providing much in the way of an answer.</p><p></p><p>"I don't like it," whispered Utred to the others - including Marlo, who had dropped down from the sky to join in the huddled conversation.</p><p></p><p>"How'd she even find us?" asked Khari. "Out here in the middle of nowhere? That's kind of convenient."</p><p></p><p>"And I don't like the fact that we can't see anything of her at all," added Marlo. A sudden thought struck her and she turned to the mysterious figure before them. "You're a drow, aren't you?" she accused. "That's why you're covered up so much, so not even an inch of your skin is showing!" She turned back to her friends. "She's probably trying to get us to do something to help the Overreach armies!"</p><p></p><p>"Take off your mask," demanded Cramer. "Let us see you." If she was a drow, he wanted to see her hair color - although he realized a simple <em>prestidigitation</em> or <em>alter self</em> spell could allow a normal drow to pass herself off as a sunborn drow with oddly-colored hair.</p><p></p><p>"I don't think so," replied the masked woman.</p><p></p><p>"Then say, 'Matron Bel'vior is a big, stupid butthead,'" suggested Jhasspok, catching onto the fact the gnome cleric wanted some proof this mysterious stranger wasn't allied with the drow of the Overreach. In the lizardfolk's mind, this was something no drow loyal to the Overreach nobility would dare speak aloud.</p><p></p><p>The woman turned until she was directly addressing the gnome, as if knowing full well the powers of his magic <em>helm of comprehend languages</em>. Then, in perfectly fluent Drow - a language none of the arena slaves knew but all could recognize as such when spoken - she said, "Why would I say such untruths about myself?"</p><p></p><p>Cramer gasped aloud. The others turned to him, wondering what it was she had said. "She's Matron Bel'vior!" the gnome cried out.</p><p></p><p>Hands went immediately to weapons and Marlo grabbed up a scroll containing the <em>hypnotism</em> spell, hoping against hope she'd be able to catch the stranger under a <em>fascination</em> effect before she could use any of her magics upon the group. But <strong>Llolnida Alyxyra Bel'vior</strong>, the Mortal Queen, raised a hand in warning and said, "Do not try to harm me: I can and will slay you all instantly if I need to." Then, seeing her warning had had the desired effect - none of the combatants had stepped forward and although hands still gripped weapons they were lowered at the heroes' sides - she moved her fingers in a pass across the arena slaves as she muttered a few syllables of magical power.</p><p></p><p>Belatedly, Cramer guessed what she was doing. She confirmed it, saying, "I have just used a <em>miracle</em> spell to place a <em>quest</em> upon you. You will now either fetch the relic for me or you will waste away to nothing as you trudge through the tundra, dying painfully for having disobeyed my direct orders." She removed her helmet and goggles, revealing a set of demonic horns tapering back from her forehead, proof of her Abyssal blood just as the darkness of her ebon skin showed her drow heritage. "For whatever else you may be, you are still slaves to the drow of the Overreach - and I rule the Overreach!"</p><p></p><p>There were muttered grumblings and not a few dwarven curses before Cramer told the others, "We don't really have much of a choice here. For her to have cast a <em>miracle</em>, she's among the most powerful spellcasters on the planet." He turned to the Mortal Queen, who was smirking in that irritating way completely mastered by just about all members of the drow race. "What does this relic look like, and what does it do?"</p><p></p><p>"What it does need not concern you," she said. "However, it is a crystalline object, nearly spherical, with a thousand facets and similar objects nested within it. I need it to deal with the little 'dragon problem' your interference has caused in my plans." This simple statement made Cramer believe it was entirely possible they were being sent to fetch the fabled <em>orb of red dragonkind</em>, with which the Mortal Queen could <em>dominate</em> Dragon King Ixenilowan, using him as her puppet. That would be much worse than simply negating his agreement to fight against the Mortal Queen's armies - it would have him actively fighting against those who would aid Greenvale!</p><p></p><p>Cramer made a silent oath to himself: he would find some way to defy the Mortal Queen's wishes and prevent the powerful relic from getting into her hands. Marlo, not privy to just what this relic was or what it might do, silent swore to herself she'd try to find some way to warn Dragon King Ixenilowan of the Mortal Queen's plans against him, for having the slaves fetch this relic seemed to somehow play into dealing with the "dragon problem." She owed it to the red dragon - a relative, no matter how remotely - to warn him against the danger to himself. The dwarves silently swore they'd each do whatever it took to eventually cut this Mortal Queen bitch down with their weapons, one way or the other. Jhasspok swore to himself that he'd remember to ask Utred what a "relic" was - and what was that other word? Oh yeah, "facet." That one, too.</p><p></p><p>"If we're all ready...?" asked the Mortal Queen, and then without waiting for a response cast another <em>miracle</em> spell that <em>teleported</em> everyone to Rimefjord.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>This adventure took much less time than Logan had anticipated, mostly due to the fact our dice were going out of their way to support us while Logan's were in the midst of some sort of treacherous mutiny. No kidding: Jhasspok, Khari, Utred, and Marlo all got at least one confirmed crit with our attacks this session. (Marlo's was with an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell against a creature vulnerable to fire, so she rolled damage, we added 50% of the total - as per the Empower Spell feat - and then applied another 50% to the new total for the confirmed crit. It's no wonder the winter wolf curled up in a ball of flame and died after being hit with just that one spell!) Meanwhile, Logan's enemy forces managed to miss us left and right with their attacks; we all roll in the open so this wasn't any sudden decision to take it easy on us or anything. Some days are just like that.</p><p></p><p>But man, are we all chafing under the Mortal Queen's <em>quest </em>spell! Dan and I both made instant transformations into rules lawyers, studying up the <em>miracle</em> and <em>geas/quest</em> spells looking for a loophole to get out of the task to which we've been set. It's going to be interesting to see where we end up going from here; I haven't failed to notice we're actively planning on how we can possibly save an evil, ancient red dragon. The enemies of my enemies and all that, I suppose, but this alliance is making for some strange bedfellows...speaking of which, getting the frost giants to join our alliance is going to be difficult - and would be even if we didn't have the Mortal Queen herself hanging around with us now. The frost giants aren't likely to want to help the Greenvale drow, probably thinking the Overreach armies won't think it worth their while to try to enslave frost giants. It's going to be a pretty hard sell, getting them to help us.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8001905, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 23: OUT OF THE FIRE AND INTO THE FREEZER[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 8[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 28 May 2020 - - - "Gather together," Cramer told the others, waving them forward with his hands. "I'll cast a [I]dimension door[/I] spell to get us to the top of the cliff." The others gathered around him, he cast the spell, and nothing happened - save for the green glow which briefly suffused each of the five in a soft illumination. "That's odd," replied the gnome cleric, frowning. "There seems to be some sort of [I]dimensional lock[/I] effect in place here, as well as the necromantic energy suffusing the area. Very strange." "What does it mean?" asked Khari. "It means I can't get us up the cliff with my spell," Cramer replied, still frowning. "I suppose I could cast a [I]fly[/I] spell on myself, but I doubt I'd be able to carry some of you...." He looked at Jhasspok, who stood twice the little gnome's height. "Cast it on someone else, then," suggested Utred. "Save your spell," interjected Marlo, pulling off her [I]boots of levitation[/I]. She looked over at Jhasspok, the strongest of the five and therefore the one best suited to carry the others, one by one, up the side of the cliff. Then, looking down at his reptilian feet, with their wide, splayed toes ending in claws, she mirrored Cramer's frown. "I don't think these would be able to resize to fit you," she said; magical boots could shift their dimensions somewhat to fit the size of the wearer's feet, but that was assuming the wearer's foot conformed to the standard human build. Instead, she turned to Khari. "Here," she said, passing her boots over to him. "You can ferry each of us up." Khari removed his own leather boots, tied their laces together, and flipped them over his shoulder out of the way. Then, after donning Marlo's [I]boots of levitation[/I] (which did in fact resize to fit the dwarf's wider feet), he looked at the others. "Who's first?" he asked, looking at Jhasspok and Utred. As they were the heaviest it made sense that one of them would be taken to the cliff-top first; not only so Khari's subsequent loads would be lighter as time went on but also because whoever went first would be left alone at the top of the cliff while Khari went down to fetch the others. "I'll go," offered Utred. He stood behind Khari and gripped his fellow dwarf's shoulders. Then Khari [I]levitated[/I] straight up the side of the cliff; fortunately, it was almost perfectly vertical so Utred was able to step off onto the solid earth at the top; Marlo's boots did not provide for any motion other than straight up and straight down. "Cold up here," commented Utred, dropping his pack onto the ground and rummaging through it. Fortunately, he had a set of cold weather gear. Khari dropped back down and by the time he'd ferried Jhasspok to the top of the cliff, Utred was wearing his heavy coat and passed a warm blanket over to the lizardfolk, who had no such protection and didn't even wear any clothes. Jhasspok took the warm blanket gratefully, wrapping it over his [I]slave-light cloak[/I]. "My feet hurt," he said. "What, from the cold?" asked Utred. They were in the tundra up here at the top of the cliff (despite the burning desert below them) and while there wasn't any snow at the top of the cliff they could see some off in the distance, among the pine trees. "I don't think so," Jhasspok replied, sitting down and brushing sand off the bottoms of his feet. Patches of reptilian skin came off with the sand. "Huh," snorted Utred. "Almost looks like sunburn." "Sunburn? What is 'sunburn'?" "You stay out in the sunlight for too long, the sun burns your skin, turns it all red," Utred explained. Then, looking at Jhasspok's green scales, he amended, "Well, maybe not yours." Jhasspok squinted up suspiciously at the fireball sun in the sky as Khari brought Marlo up to the top of the cliff. The sorcerer scolded Jhasspok for staring directly at the sun. When Cramer was brought to the top and Khari gave Marlo her boots back, the little cleric examined the bottoms of Jhasspok's feet. "Yep, burns," he agreed. "Probably from standing in the sand down there without anything between it and your feet." Even without her boots on, Marlo had at least been wearing her socks so she wasn't similarly troubled. But the application of a healing spell restored Jhasspok's feet to their normal, healthy state and he declared himself fit to travel. "Do we even know where we want to go?" asked Khari, lacing his own boots back up as Marlo pulled on her own cold weather gear. She passed her winter blanket over to Khari, who wrapped it around himself. Cramer did the same with his own, gnome-sized blanket. "We don't know where exactly we are on the map, or if we're even on the map," Cramer answered. "But we're somewhere along the miles-long rift at the northern border of the Burning Wastes, so we'll want to go west." He looked up at the sun; Jhasspok was about to warn him you weren't supposed to look directly at it when the gnome dropped his gaze and pointed off to his left. "This way," the gnome said, heading westward. The group spent the next hours in silent trudging. Once they got to the trees and the snow they formed a single line, with Jhasspok in the lead and the others following in his footsteps. (Jhasspok, who had never seen snow before in his life, asked the dwarves what it was and Cramer piped up with, "They're scales from the Great Sky Fish, who lives behind the Really Big Pearl." Jhasspok nodded appreciatively at the perfectly reasonable explanation and pressed on in silence, which was all Cramer really cared about at that point.) By the time the group stopped for the evening, the three of them without cold weather gear were feeling the effects of the cold. Fortunately, the [I]ironsilk tent[/I], once deployed, contained an automatic [I]endure elements[/I] spell effect and that kept the temperature reasonable. Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok practically collapsed inside the tent and enjoyed the warmer clime. "They're gonna need to rest up, if they're going to do this again tomorrow," Utred pointed out to Marlo. "And if you don't get your rest, you won't be able to cast your spells tomorrow." He rubbed his thick beard in thought. "I can take the first guard shift, if you think your toad can stand a shift as well," he offered. "I have a better idea," Marlo answered, rummaging through her spell scrolls. "I can cast an [I]alarm[/I] spell and we can all just sleep though the night." That worked out just fine; the tent and its inhabitants were not disturbed throughout the night and everyone woke much refreshed in the morning. "We got any idea how many days it's gonna take us to get back to civilization?" asked Khari. "No idea," admitted Cramer. "But we'll have a better time of it today: I'll cast an [I]endure elements[/I] spell on the three of us without heavy coats." The second day of travel was uneventful, but Marlo and Utred came up with a unique form of travel for her: the dwarf tied one end of his rope around her ankle and then she [I]levitated[/I] up as high as the rope would allow; then Utred trudged through the snow with the other men, tugging Marlo behind him like a balloon. Marlo thus didn't have to wear herself out by walking through snow all day like the others, but more importantly she had a good vantage point from nearly 100 feet in the air and could scout ahead for any trouble. "It's like being in a crow's nest," she told the others, then had to explain to Jhasspok what a crow's nest was, which then further necessitated her explaining what a boat was and what a crow was. "Ah, a sky fish," he said, understanding fully. The second day, their first full day of overland travel through the tundra, passed by uneventfully, Marlo having spotted nothing more dangerous than a passing herd of reindeer or elk. And with none of the arena slaves having been fatigued by the cold weather they were able to take their normal guard shifts in the [I]ironsilk tent[/I], saving Marlo's one remaining [I]alarm[/I] spell scroll for later when they might need it. It was on their third day of travel when Marlo, from her mid-air perch, saw a flash of movement below and tugged on the rope around her ankle, the signal she and Utred had worked out between themselves. She called down to the others what she saw but they couldn't make out her words; however, she pointed frantically at the approaching beast and the men turned to their right to see what she was pointing at. It was a dire polar bear, racing toward them from the north. "What's that?" Jhasspok asked. "Dire bear," Urtred grunted back, pulling out his [I]Elderwood flaming blade[/I]. "Like we fought in the forest," Jhasspok hazarded, although this one seemed even bigger - and a completely different color. Cramer activated his [I]ring of invisibility[/I] and ran over towards Utred. Once there, he cast a [I]shield of faith[/I] spell upon the dwarven barbarian, readying him for the impending combat. But it was Khari who attacked first; wielding his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I], he tried sliding down into the earth as he charged but was thwarted by the frozen ground which refused to part before him. But he hit the dire polar bear in the side of the head nonetheless, even as Marlo sent an [I]empowered scorching ray[/I] spell flashing down at the great beast. It roared in pain as both blasts of fire struck true, one of them striking it right in the face, burning its sensitive nose and irritating its eyes. Unable to retaliate against the sorcerer in the sky, the bruin slashed at the dwarven fighter standing before it with its great claws, then bit down upon Khari's arm. The Hammerslammer dwarf refused to give it the satisfaction of even a grunt of pain. Jhasspok sprinted forward and brought his battleaxe down upon the dire polar bear, chopping the axe-head deep into the side of the bear's skull. It released its grip on Khari at once as it collapsed onto the frozen ground, dead. The lizardfolk set his battleaxe aside and pulled the dagger from his belt, beginning at once to skin the dead bruin. "Meat is meat," he reminded the others. "And the fur will be warm." But then Marlo called down again from her aerial perch. Looking up, Utred saw he frantically pointing in the same direction from which the bear had approached. Looking over, Utred saw two more white shapes approaching and much farther behind, a humanoid figure that could only be a frost giant. But he was far enough away he wasn't likely going to be a concern for some time; of much more immediate importance were the two winter wolves barreling down on the party - or, more accurately, on the dire polar bear they'd been tracking for their master. Cramer took the opportunity before combat began to cast a [I]bless[/I] spell on the assembled heroes. And then Khari once again started combat, charging towards the wolf on the right as it approached the group, wisps of frozen breath escaping its lupine muzzle. Khari's warhammer blow sent its head snapping to the left as its teeth clamped down on nothing more solid than air. Marlo, from her aerial vantage point, assessed the dwarf would be able to take care of his current foe and sent an [I]empowered scorching ray[/I] spell down at the other wolf. Both blasts hit and the wolf crumpled at once into a flaming mass in the snow, its fur all but burned off by the power of the human sorcerer's spell. The other winter wolf sent a blast of frigid air straight into Khari's face, but the doughty dwarf ignored the frozen pain of his exposed flesh and pressed on with his attacks. Jhasspok raced over to this new foe, grabbing up his battleaxe on the way and bringing it down upon the winter wolf's side, cutting through a rib or two. But it was Utred's [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I] that slew the beast, with a blow that nearly severed the creature's head clean off. By this time, the frost giant had approached close enough to have seen the carnage wrought by the five arena slaves, who had slain both of his hunting wolves in a matter of mere seconds. He had a nice, solid rock in his hand and he threw it at full force to the combatant he deemed the most needing of immediate slaying: Marlo, who flung fiery death from her very fingertips! The boulder went whizzing by the sorcerer, not close enough for her to even consider altering her aerial height with her magical boots. "What the Hell are you shrimpy poachers even doing here?" complained the frost giant to himself, unaware that Cramer's [I]helm of comprehend languages[/I] translated the Giant tongue just fine. The little gnome raced forward towards Khari, who by this time looked like he could use a healing spell or two after the damage he'd sustained in combat with these arctic beasts. But Khari didn't stick around for healing; he was racing towards this newest threat. Despite his limited intellect, he was battle-wary enough to realize it was in his best interests to bring fire to this fight if possible, so he switched weapons on the way, pulling out the new [I]keen flaming burst longsword[/I] he'd taken from the Dragon Prince several days ago. The blade dug deep into the frost giant's leg, the flames burning the blue flesh where it wasn't covered in the white fur hide armor the giant wore. Marlo proved the giant's assertion that she was his greatest danger by sending another of her [I]empowered scorching rays[/I] spells down at him, each ray striking with a stunning accuracy that had the giant momentarily sheathed in flames. Then, while he was distracted by the pain of the fearful burning he was undergoing, Utred and Jhasspok raced up, each striking with their weapons on either side of him. Utred used his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I], the flames of its blade burning the frost giant just as badly despite their unusual green color. Jhasspok had also picked up a [I]flaming weapon[/I] from the Dragon Prince's men - his was a spear whose tip burned with fire - but in his haste he stuck to his trusty battleaxe; the spears he'd taken he carried in the same hand as his shield so it was somewhat awkward for him to switch weapons and he couldn't do it as fast as either of the dwarves could. Growling in pain, the frost giant snarled, "What are you even doing here in our lands?" Hearing this, Cramer - who understood the question thanks to his magic helm - dropped out of his [I]invisibility[/I] effect and called off the attack. "Stop attacking us and we'll stop attacking you!" he called to the giant. "Can you understand me?" "I unnerstand," replied the giant in poor but passable Common. He took a step back away from these "shrimpy poachers" but they didn't press on with their attacks. "We're here by accident," Cramer told the giant, answering his original question. "We're trying to get to Rimefjord, to speak to your leader." "Rimefjord? That hundreds miles distance," replied the giant, causing Khari to sigh in exasperation. Hundreds of miles of trudging through the tundra? That would take weeks! "Why my wolves you kill?" the giant demanded. "Because they attacked us," countered Cramer. "We wouldn't have bothered them otherwise." "We track bear many of days," complained the giant. "Then from us you take prey!" "Again, we only attacked the bear because it attacked us first," countered Cramer. "But we don't want the bear - you're welcome to it, if you want." Jhasspok's mouth dropped open in surprise at this; [I]he[/I] certainly wanted the bear! "You can eat the wolves," the lizardfolk counter-proposed. "Meat is meat." He looked over at the one Marlo had taken out with her fire spell. "And that one's already cooked!" "Not eat pets!" snarled the frost giant and Cramer quickly sent a "settle down" signal to Jhasspok. He didn't want to stand before the leader of the frost giants asking for their help in taking on the Overreach drow after having slain a member of their...tribe, or nation, or whatever. Jhasspok eventually agreed not to push the point; he supposed he could make do with a winter wolf pelt instead of a dire polar bear pelt, as long as it wasn't the one that was all burned up. That settled, the frost giant resumed the skinning operation Jhasspok had just gotten started on with the dead bruin. The others eventually convinced Jhasspok he didn't need a winter wolf pelt to keep warm, as Cramer's [I]endure elements[/I] spell was sufficient protection. He couldn't argue against that so, still somewhat grumpy, he agreed they could press on with their trek. After all, it would be weeks of travel, apparently, through territory where those not of the giant races weren't exactly welcome - best to get through the journey at best speed. It was a matter of mere minutes later that the group found a figure standing before them, draped entirely in heavy, black furs. She stood as if waiting patiently for their arrival. Marlo was as shocked as the others, as she hadn't seen the figure's approach - and in fact, there weren't any footprints in the snow around her - she'd apparently just [I]teleported[/I] to her current position! But she couldn't call down to her friends from 100 feet in the air, so she started reducing her altitude at once. If nothing else, she was curious to hear what this mysterious figure had to say. "I understand you are headed to Rimefjord," the figure said, her voice muffled somewhat by the full mask and goggles she wore. The goggles were made of some dark material, preventing the heroes from seeing her eyes. "And how exactly is it you understand that?" asked Cramer. "I have my ways," answered the figure, which was no answer at all. "But I have a proposition for you: I will [I]teleport[/I] us all to Rimefjord, saving you weeks of weary travel, if you will in turn do a small favor for me." Khari was suspicious but also curious. "What's the favor?" he asked. "There is a relic hidden in the ruins beneath the giant settlement. I want you to fetch it and bring it to me." "Why don't you do it yourself?" demanded Utred. "If you can [I]teleport[/I] all that distance, you should be powerful enough to go fetch yourself a relic out of some ruins." Jhasspok didn't want to interrupt the proceedings but he made a mental note to ask Utred what a "relic" was when he had the chance. "There are...reasons," she conceded, again not providing much in the way of an answer. "I don't like it," whispered Utred to the others - including Marlo, who had dropped down from the sky to join in the huddled conversation. "How'd she even find us?" asked Khari. "Out here in the middle of nowhere? That's kind of convenient." "And I don't like the fact that we can't see anything of her at all," added Marlo. A sudden thought struck her and she turned to the mysterious figure before them. "You're a drow, aren't you?" she accused. "That's why you're covered up so much, so not even an inch of your skin is showing!" She turned back to her friends. "She's probably trying to get us to do something to help the Overreach armies!" "Take off your mask," demanded Cramer. "Let us see you." If she was a drow, he wanted to see her hair color - although he realized a simple [I]prestidigitation[/I] or [I]alter self[/I] spell could allow a normal drow to pass herself off as a sunborn drow with oddly-colored hair. "I don't think so," replied the masked woman. "Then say, 'Matron Bel'vior is a big, stupid butthead,'" suggested Jhasspok, catching onto the fact the gnome cleric wanted some proof this mysterious stranger wasn't allied with the drow of the Overreach. In the lizardfolk's mind, this was something no drow loyal to the Overreach nobility would dare speak aloud. The woman turned until she was directly addressing the gnome, as if knowing full well the powers of his magic [I]helm of comprehend languages[/I]. Then, in perfectly fluent Drow - a language none of the arena slaves knew but all could recognize as such when spoken - she said, "Why would I say such untruths about myself?" Cramer gasped aloud. The others turned to him, wondering what it was she had said. "She's Matron Bel'vior!" the gnome cried out. Hands went immediately to weapons and Marlo grabbed up a scroll containing the [I]hypnotism[/I] spell, hoping against hope she'd be able to catch the stranger under a [I]fascination[/I] effect before she could use any of her magics upon the group. But [B]Llolnida Alyxyra Bel'vior[/B], the Mortal Queen, raised a hand in warning and said, "Do not try to harm me: I can and will slay you all instantly if I need to." Then, seeing her warning had had the desired effect - none of the combatants had stepped forward and although hands still gripped weapons they were lowered at the heroes' sides - she moved her fingers in a pass across the arena slaves as she muttered a few syllables of magical power. Belatedly, Cramer guessed what she was doing. She confirmed it, saying, "I have just used a [I]miracle[/I] spell to place a [I]quest[/I] upon you. You will now either fetch the relic for me or you will waste away to nothing as you trudge through the tundra, dying painfully for having disobeyed my direct orders." She removed her helmet and goggles, revealing a set of demonic horns tapering back from her forehead, proof of her Abyssal blood just as the darkness of her ebon skin showed her drow heritage. "For whatever else you may be, you are still slaves to the drow of the Overreach - and I rule the Overreach!" There were muttered grumblings and not a few dwarven curses before Cramer told the others, "We don't really have much of a choice here. For her to have cast a [I]miracle[/I], she's among the most powerful spellcasters on the planet." He turned to the Mortal Queen, who was smirking in that irritating way completely mastered by just about all members of the drow race. "What does this relic look like, and what does it do?" "What it does need not concern you," she said. "However, it is a crystalline object, nearly spherical, with a thousand facets and similar objects nested within it. I need it to deal with the little 'dragon problem' your interference has caused in my plans." This simple statement made Cramer believe it was entirely possible they were being sent to fetch the fabled [I]orb of red dragonkind[/I], with which the Mortal Queen could [I]dominate[/I] Dragon King Ixenilowan, using him as her puppet. That would be much worse than simply negating his agreement to fight against the Mortal Queen's armies - it would have him actively fighting against those who would aid Greenvale! Cramer made a silent oath to himself: he would find some way to defy the Mortal Queen's wishes and prevent the powerful relic from getting into her hands. Marlo, not privy to just what this relic was or what it might do, silent swore to herself she'd try to find some way to warn Dragon King Ixenilowan of the Mortal Queen's plans against him, for having the slaves fetch this relic seemed to somehow play into dealing with the "dragon problem." She owed it to the red dragon - a relative, no matter how remotely - to warn him against the danger to himself. The dwarves silently swore they'd each do whatever it took to eventually cut this Mortal Queen bitch down with their weapons, one way or the other. Jhasspok swore to himself that he'd remember to ask Utred what a "relic" was - and what was that other word? Oh yeah, "facet." That one, too. "If we're all ready...?" asked the Mortal Queen, and then without waiting for a response cast another [I]miracle[/I] spell that [I]teleported[/I] everyone to Rimefjord. - - - This adventure took much less time than Logan had anticipated, mostly due to the fact our dice were going out of their way to support us while Logan's were in the midst of some sort of treacherous mutiny. No kidding: Jhasspok, Khari, Utred, and Marlo all got at least one confirmed crit with our attacks this session. (Marlo's was with an [I]empowered scorching ray[/I] spell against a creature vulnerable to fire, so she rolled damage, we added 50% of the total - as per the Empower Spell feat - and then applied another 50% to the new total for the confirmed crit. It's no wonder the winter wolf curled up in a ball of flame and died after being hit with just that one spell!) Meanwhile, Logan's enemy forces managed to miss us left and right with their attacks; we all roll in the open so this wasn't any sudden decision to take it easy on us or anything. Some days are just like that. But man, are we all chafing under the Mortal Queen's [I]quest [/I]spell! Dan and I both made instant transformations into rules lawyers, studying up the [I]miracle[/I] and [I]geas/quest[/I] spells looking for a loophole to get out of the task to which we've been set. It's going to be interesting to see where we end up going from here; I haven't failed to notice we're actively planning on how we can possibly save an evil, ancient red dragon. The enemies of my enemies and all that, I suppose, but this alliance is making for some strange bedfellows...speaking of which, getting the frost giants to join our alliance is going to be difficult - and would be even if we didn't have the Mortal Queen herself hanging around with us now. The frost giants aren't likely to want to help the Greenvale drow, probably thinking the Overreach armies won't think it worth their while to try to enslave frost giants. It's going to be a pretty hard sell, getting them to help us. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Raiders of the Overreach
Top