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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8167682" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 33: DO WE HAVE TO?</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 10</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 1 January 2021</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>The five newly-appointed citizens of Overreach were not particularly surprised to be summoned for another mission - they had no misperceptions that their elevation from slave status to full citizenship had any bearing on the fact they were still expected to do what the drow told them to do - but they were admittedly surprised to find out they had been summoned directly by Matron Jalamir herself. They geared up and soon stood before the drow matriarch of their Noble House.</p><p></p><p>"I have been interrogating Calish," she said without preamble, fully aware that the five former slaves were well-acquainted with her son, who until recently had been the slavemaster in charge of their care. They, in fact, had been the ones to bring him in to House Jalamir after he had defected to House Bel'vior, believing the Mortal Queen to be the likely victor in any Overreach civil war that might erupt between the various factions of the city. "I have found out some disturbing news."</p><p></p><p>None of the five dared interrupt her but rather waited for her to continue at her own pace. "He has told House Bel'vior the location of the Writhing Gate." She let that sink in for a moment, for the hidden illithid teleportation device was located two days away from the city of Overreach and had been a powerful tool in allowing Jalamir slaves to perform raids upon the surface world. None of the other Houses had such a device under their control; it was one of the reasons House Jalamir had risen to be the third-most powerful House in the city.</p><p></p><p>"As a result," Matron Jalamir continued, "House Bel'vior plans to sacrifice N'zorthal in a ritual near the Writhing Gate, to summon a powerful avatar of Lolth to fight on their behalf during the upcoming war. All attempts to scry upon N'zorthal have failed, and his last known location was at the Writhing Gate, attempting to repair it." Again, the five new citizens knew this wasn't entirely true, for there was nothing wrong with the Writhing Gate; N'zorthal had used that as an excuse to remain by the illithid artifact. In fact, the group was fairly certain Matron Jalamir wasn't even aware of the Writhing Gate's true nature: that it derived its power from the Dying One, an illithid Elder God who had been nearly slain by Wee Jas, Goddess of Magic and Death, or that the writhing tentacles that gave the gate its name were actually ten of the hundred tentacles of the Dying One. But they had been forbidden to pass on such information by N'zorthal and the group had no doubt in the mind flayer's ability to read their minds and learn of their treachery if they spoke of the device or the Dying One.</p><p></p><p>"We know very little about the specifics of the avatar-summoning ritual, so N'zorthal must be rescued from the ritual and kept alive thereafter - we don't know if his death at any point after the ritual begins might summon the avatar of Lolth." Cramer's face drained of blood as he realized they were about to be sent to rescue the mind flayer from being sacrificed to Lolth. As N'zorthal served House Jalamir as its Administer of Discipline, the mind flayer had eaten the gnome cleric's brain three times in a row as punishment for disobedience immediately after their first mission and the gnome had harbored a deep hatred for the illithid thereafter.</p><p></p><p>"We will leave for the Writhing Gate at once, Matron," replied Marlo, likewise anticipating their current mission's parameters. Matron Jalamir nodded once, dismissing her troops.</p><p></p><p>"This is just great!" grumbled Utred once well out of earshot. "We have to risk our necks to save a guy we don't really wanna save in the first place!"</p><p></p><p>"It's not like we have a whole lot of choice about the matter," growled Cramer. "I sure wouldn't mind letting N'zorthal get bumped off, but not if it means having an avatar of Lolth running around! That kind of problem we definitely don't need!"</p><p></p><p>"It's funny, but I wouldn't be surprised if summoning an avatar of Lolth is a direct result of us stealing back the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> from the Mortal Queen," observed Marlo. "If she can't have a giant, reptilian monster stomping around smashing her enemies, she'll have an image of her demon-goddess doing the same."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, real funny," grumbled Cramer.</p><p></p><p>The group gathered up their travel gear and headed out of the city. Fortunately, they'd made this trip several times before and it was a relatively straight shot through the Underdark tunnels, with not too many opportunities to get lost. This was also a relatively unused section of tunnels, so they managed to make the trip without encountering any of the various dangers one might expect to run into in the lightless realms below the earth.</p><p></p><p>However, on the second day when they recognized they were coming close to the Writhing Gate chamber, they slowed their pace and Marlo and Cramer started casting the normal preparatory spells they preferred to have in place right before leaping into combat. They could hear chanting coming from the chamber ahead so it sounded like the ceremony had already started, but that also meant the participants would likely not be able to hear the sounds of the gnomish cleric and the human sorcerer casting their own spells. Cramer cast <em>magic circle against evil</em>, <em>death ward</em>, and <em>true seeing</em> spells upon himself and an <em>aid</em> spell upon Khari. Marlo used five charges from her new wand and covered each of the five former slaves with an <em>invisibility</em> spell. Then, unable to be seen without magical assistance, they sped forward to the chamber ahead.</p><p></p><p>The Writhing Gate was in the back end of the cavern; immediately before it, a <em>magic circle</em> had been carved into the stone floor and its circumference ringed with various mystical runes and glyphs. N'zorthal was held down in the center of the circle by a quartet of undead skeletons grasping his limbs, but the mind flayer was motionless but for the steady movement of his chest, indicating he was still breathing - so the sacrifice had not yet been carried through. Armed and armored drow also ringed the circle, likely guardians to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted before its completion. And in the back stood two female drow spellcasters, one an obvious cleric of Lolth and the other appearing to be a sorceress.</p><p></p><p>"Jhasspok, you head straight for the two women in the back and kill them," Cramer whispered to the lizardfolk, realizing he'd otherwise just deal with whoever was closest and the cleric wanted the spellcasters out of the picture as quickly as possible. As the gnome gave his orders, a slight rippling effect on the stone floor beside him indicated Khari had just used his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> to travel below the cavern; the dwarven fighter popped back into visibility as he popped up from the floor along the side of the <em>magic circle</em>, smashing the skeleton that had been holding onto N'zorthal's left ankle. The skeleton's bones exploded into shards by the force of the dwarf's blow. Khari suddenly found himself being attacked by three drow warriors, but he held his own against them.</p><p></p><p>And then Cramer struck what was to turn out to be a lethal blow to the ritual's success. Choosing a point on the floor halfway between the two drow spellcasters, he cast a <em>silence</em> spell and the chanting the two had been doing suddenly ceased. Utred charged straight ahead, ignoring the skeletons and drow warriors and heading for the drow sorceress. His greataxe swung in a powerful arc as the <em>invisibility</em> spell dissipated from Utred's form, giving the startled spellcaster just enough time to step back enough that the blow wasn't immediately lethal. She turned and fled at once, running full-bore for the Writhing Gate, seeking primarily to escape the radius of the <em>silence</em> spell preventing her from further chanting and spellcasting herself, but fleeing from Utred also very high on her list of reasons.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok sprinted forward parallel to Utred, leaping over a skeleton holding N'zorthal because it wasn't his target: the drow cleric was. His battleaxe drew blood as he too popped back into view and the spellcaster staggered back a step, trying not to fall over from the blow. She retaliated at once with her own weapon, a fiendish-looking scourge whose ends came whipping towards the lizardfolk, but he successfully blocked the attack with his shield.</p><p></p><p>With three foes suddenly seeming to materialize around the <em>magic circle</em>, the skeletons swarmed Utred and Jhasspok, whose axes were kept busy chopping the animated undead into pieces. Then Marlo became visible as well as she cast an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell that encompassed the three drow warriors attacking Khari and two tougher drow fighters moving up behind them to come to the defense of the ritual participants. Their attacks all ceased as they were forced to direct their attention against the pitch-black appendages squeezing the very life from their bodies.</p><p></p><p>The lone drow warrior not being crushed by Marlo's spell raced up to stab at Khari with his sword, but the dwarf brought him down with one blow of his warhammer and then cleaved the weapon-head into one of his compatriots bound at the edge of the writhing tentacles. Both drow died within seconds of each other. One of the other drow pinned by the tentacles managed to wriggle free, but the magical attack had unnerved him and instead of doing his duty to the Mortal Queen and fighting off her enemies, he turned and tried to flee for his life. Of course, there was only one way out of the cavern - the way the heroes had entered - but fortunately they were mostly further into the chamber. If he could just make it around the field of tentacles without anyone noticing him....</p><p></p><p>Cramer finally popped back to visibility as he cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> in the direction of the drow sorceress, back over by the Writhing Gate. The shimmering field of force took on the appearance of a quarterstaff and slammed down at the drow spellcaster, whacking her on the side of the head and sending her reeling. And by then Utred had chased her down as well, his greataxe thirsting for her blood. She cast a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell and stifled a sigh of relief when she stepped to the side and Utred was no longer sure exactly where she might be - unaware that Cramer saw her exact location just fine with his active <em>true seeing</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok continued attacking the drow cleric as the remaining skeletons tried entering the fray, their bony claws ineffectual against the lizardfolk's thick scales. From across the chamber, Marlo cast an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> and the streams of flame went streaking over to the drow cleric as well - but only one of them managed to successfully strike its target. The cleric, clearly in pain, rapidly stepped backwards and was pleased when the sounds of combat all around her suddenly became audible all at once - she had just stepped outside the area of effect of the gnome's <em>silence</em> spell! With great relief she cast a <em>cure critical wounds</em> spell on herself, healing a good chunk of the damage she'd sustained thus far.</p><p></p><p>With a roar of determination, one of the drow fighters - a personal bodyguard of the cleric - ripped free from the black tentacles winding around him and positioned himself between his mistress and the rampaging lizardfolk eager to slay her. His sword came slashing at Jhasspok, but the reptile's shield blocked the blow. Khari slew another of the pinned drow warriors within reach, leaving the others - too far into the tentacle mass to be able to reach - to be crushed by the spell's effects. Meanwhile, the one free warrior continued his stealthy approach around the tentacle mass, waiting for the opportunity to make his dash for freedom. He looked around, saw nobody, and made his break - only to have Khari suddenly rise up from the stone floor before him, for the dwarf had seen his dash for freedom at the last moment and earthglided below the tentacle-mass to cut him off. One swing of his dwarven warhammer was all it took to take the cowardly drow warrior out of the fight.</p><p></p><p>Cramer sent his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> slamming down at the astonished drow sorceress - who had been sure she was safe beneath the <em>greater invisibility</em> spell she'd cast upon herself - and then channeled a burst of positive energy through his holy symbol, blasting the remaining undead skeletons to dust. Utred, seeing the <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> strike true, swung his axe at the area where he believed the sorceress must be and got lucky, his blade slicing through her abdomen and spilling coils of intestines out onto the floor at her feet. She fell over, dead, returning to visibility in the process.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, with single-minded determination, dodged past the drow bodyguard - even though that meant taking a hit from his greatsword - to get to his primary target, the drow cleric Cramer had assigned him to kill. He hit, and his attack caused her quite a bit of pain, but not as much pain as Marlo's subsequent follow-on <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell caused, this time hitting her target with all three rays of flame. But the drow cleric had already committed to casting an <em>inflict serious wounds</em> spell on the lizardfolk and saw through with that attack. Jhasspok hissed in pain at the spellcaster's touch, then again as the fighter's greatsword went slicing into his flesh, parting scales with the power of the sword's swing. But then Cramer redirected his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> over to the wounded cleric, dropping her at last. Figuring the others could deal with any clean-up operations by this point, the cleric went over to check on N'zorthal, just to make sure he was still alive.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok did finally finish off the drow bodyguard, getting his battleaxe past his defenses and then surprising him by ripping his throat out with his sharp teeth. Idly, the lizardfolk wondered why so many of his enemies forgot he was capable of such a maneuver; it wasn't like his mouthful of sharp teeth were hidden or anything.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a healing spell or two on the unconscious mind flayer, waking up the hated Administer of Discipline. Greatly weakened by the ordeal, the mind flayer helped himself to a few of the brains of the fallen drow, picking through them to feast on those who were still tenuously clinging to life, for N'zorthal greatly preferred eating brains out of the skulls of still-living prey. </p><p></p><p>"The Mortal Queen isn't going to like this at all," observed Khari once Marlo dismissed her <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell, those still in its multilimbed embrace long since having been slain.</p><p></p><p>"That's kind of the point," Cramer replied.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, but remember: without our slave tattoos she can't have scried upon us, so with any luck she won't know who it was who stopped her ceremony," added Marlo. "And the anti-scrying measures they put into place to prevent us from scrying on the ritual will hopefully have also prevented her from watching us butcher her forces."</p><p></p><p><You no longer have slave tattoos?> asked N'zorthal telepathically while slurping down the contents of a drow's skull.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, there have been a few changes since you last saw us," replied Cramer. "Let's go: we'll fill you in on the way back to Overreach."</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>After we finished the adventure, Logan informed us that on the two-day trip back, Cramer will receive a <em>sending</em> spell from Lauren, saying they are needed back in Greenvale. It's apparently time for our PCs to uphold our end of the bargain and free the Mithral Mage from Dwarven Hell. Next adventure: "A Bad Day to Be a Dwarf."</p><p></p><p>And we all leveled up, so we're now at 11th level. It'll all be downhill from here!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8167682, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 33: DO WE HAVE TO?[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 10 Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 4 Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 10 Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 10 Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 10[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 1 January 2021 - - - The five newly-appointed citizens of Overreach were not particularly surprised to be summoned for another mission - they had no misperceptions that their elevation from slave status to full citizenship had any bearing on the fact they were still expected to do what the drow told them to do - but they were admittedly surprised to find out they had been summoned directly by Matron Jalamir herself. They geared up and soon stood before the drow matriarch of their Noble House. "I have been interrogating Calish," she said without preamble, fully aware that the five former slaves were well-acquainted with her son, who until recently had been the slavemaster in charge of their care. They, in fact, had been the ones to bring him in to House Jalamir after he had defected to House Bel'vior, believing the Mortal Queen to be the likely victor in any Overreach civil war that might erupt between the various factions of the city. "I have found out some disturbing news." None of the five dared interrupt her but rather waited for her to continue at her own pace. "He has told House Bel'vior the location of the Writhing Gate." She let that sink in for a moment, for the hidden illithid teleportation device was located two days away from the city of Overreach and had been a powerful tool in allowing Jalamir slaves to perform raids upon the surface world. None of the other Houses had such a device under their control; it was one of the reasons House Jalamir had risen to be the third-most powerful House in the city. "As a result," Matron Jalamir continued, "House Bel'vior plans to sacrifice N'zorthal in a ritual near the Writhing Gate, to summon a powerful avatar of Lolth to fight on their behalf during the upcoming war. All attempts to scry upon N'zorthal have failed, and his last known location was at the Writhing Gate, attempting to repair it." Again, the five new citizens knew this wasn't entirely true, for there was nothing wrong with the Writhing Gate; N'zorthal had used that as an excuse to remain by the illithid artifact. In fact, the group was fairly certain Matron Jalamir wasn't even aware of the Writhing Gate's true nature: that it derived its power from the Dying One, an illithid Elder God who had been nearly slain by Wee Jas, Goddess of Magic and Death, or that the writhing tentacles that gave the gate its name were actually ten of the hundred tentacles of the Dying One. But they had been forbidden to pass on such information by N'zorthal and the group had no doubt in the mind flayer's ability to read their minds and learn of their treachery if they spoke of the device or the Dying One. "We know very little about the specifics of the avatar-summoning ritual, so N'zorthal must be rescued from the ritual and kept alive thereafter - we don't know if his death at any point after the ritual begins might summon the avatar of Lolth." Cramer's face drained of blood as he realized they were about to be sent to rescue the mind flayer from being sacrificed to Lolth. As N'zorthal served House Jalamir as its Administer of Discipline, the mind flayer had eaten the gnome cleric's brain three times in a row as punishment for disobedience immediately after their first mission and the gnome had harbored a deep hatred for the illithid thereafter. "We will leave for the Writhing Gate at once, Matron," replied Marlo, likewise anticipating their current mission's parameters. Matron Jalamir nodded once, dismissing her troops. "This is just great!" grumbled Utred once well out of earshot. "We have to risk our necks to save a guy we don't really wanna save in the first place!" "It's not like we have a whole lot of choice about the matter," growled Cramer. "I sure wouldn't mind letting N'zorthal get bumped off, but not if it means having an avatar of Lolth running around! That kind of problem we definitely don't need!" "It's funny, but I wouldn't be surprised if summoning an avatar of Lolth is a direct result of us stealing back the [i]Tarrasque soul prison[/i] from the Mortal Queen," observed Marlo. "If she can't have a giant, reptilian monster stomping around smashing her enemies, she'll have an image of her demon-goddess doing the same." "Yeah, real funny," grumbled Cramer. The group gathered up their travel gear and headed out of the city. Fortunately, they'd made this trip several times before and it was a relatively straight shot through the Underdark tunnels, with not too many opportunities to get lost. This was also a relatively unused section of tunnels, so they managed to make the trip without encountering any of the various dangers one might expect to run into in the lightless realms below the earth. However, on the second day when they recognized they were coming close to the Writhing Gate chamber, they slowed their pace and Marlo and Cramer started casting the normal preparatory spells they preferred to have in place right before leaping into combat. They could hear chanting coming from the chamber ahead so it sounded like the ceremony had already started, but that also meant the participants would likely not be able to hear the sounds of the gnomish cleric and the human sorcerer casting their own spells. Cramer cast [i]magic circle against evil[/i], [i]death ward[/i], and [i]true seeing[/i] spells upon himself and an [i]aid[/i] spell upon Khari. Marlo used five charges from her new wand and covered each of the five former slaves with an [i]invisibility[/i] spell. Then, unable to be seen without magical assistance, they sped forward to the chamber ahead. The Writhing Gate was in the back end of the cavern; immediately before it, a [i]magic circle[/i] had been carved into the stone floor and its circumference ringed with various mystical runes and glyphs. N'zorthal was held down in the center of the circle by a quartet of undead skeletons grasping his limbs, but the mind flayer was motionless but for the steady movement of his chest, indicating he was still breathing - so the sacrifice had not yet been carried through. Armed and armored drow also ringed the circle, likely guardians to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted before its completion. And in the back stood two female drow spellcasters, one an obvious cleric of Lolth and the other appearing to be a sorceress. "Jhasspok, you head straight for the two women in the back and kill them," Cramer whispered to the lizardfolk, realizing he'd otherwise just deal with whoever was closest and the cleric wanted the spellcasters out of the picture as quickly as possible. As the gnome gave his orders, a slight rippling effect on the stone floor beside him indicated Khari had just used his [i]earthglide warhammer[/i] to travel below the cavern; the dwarven fighter popped back into visibility as he popped up from the floor along the side of the [i]magic circle[/i], smashing the skeleton that had been holding onto N'zorthal's left ankle. The skeleton's bones exploded into shards by the force of the dwarf's blow. Khari suddenly found himself being attacked by three drow warriors, but he held his own against them. And then Cramer struck what was to turn out to be a lethal blow to the ritual's success. Choosing a point on the floor halfway between the two drow spellcasters, he cast a [i]silence[/i] spell and the chanting the two had been doing suddenly ceased. Utred charged straight ahead, ignoring the skeletons and drow warriors and heading for the drow sorceress. His greataxe swung in a powerful arc as the [i]invisibility[/i] spell dissipated from Utred's form, giving the startled spellcaster just enough time to step back enough that the blow wasn't immediately lethal. She turned and fled at once, running full-bore for the Writhing Gate, seeking primarily to escape the radius of the [i]silence[/i] spell preventing her from further chanting and spellcasting herself, but fleeing from Utred also very high on her list of reasons. Jhasspok sprinted forward parallel to Utred, leaping over a skeleton holding N'zorthal because it wasn't his target: the drow cleric was. His battleaxe drew blood as he too popped back into view and the spellcaster staggered back a step, trying not to fall over from the blow. She retaliated at once with her own weapon, a fiendish-looking scourge whose ends came whipping towards the lizardfolk, but he successfully blocked the attack with his shield. With three foes suddenly seeming to materialize around the [i]magic circle[/i], the skeletons swarmed Utred and Jhasspok, whose axes were kept busy chopping the animated undead into pieces. Then Marlo became visible as well as she cast an [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell that encompassed the three drow warriors attacking Khari and two tougher drow fighters moving up behind them to come to the defense of the ritual participants. Their attacks all ceased as they were forced to direct their attention against the pitch-black appendages squeezing the very life from their bodies. The lone drow warrior not being crushed by Marlo's spell raced up to stab at Khari with his sword, but the dwarf brought him down with one blow of his warhammer and then cleaved the weapon-head into one of his compatriots bound at the edge of the writhing tentacles. Both drow died within seconds of each other. One of the other drow pinned by the tentacles managed to wriggle free, but the magical attack had unnerved him and instead of doing his duty to the Mortal Queen and fighting off her enemies, he turned and tried to flee for his life. Of course, there was only one way out of the cavern - the way the heroes had entered - but fortunately they were mostly further into the chamber. If he could just make it around the field of tentacles without anyone noticing him.... Cramer finally popped back to visibility as he cast a [i]spiritual weapon[/i] in the direction of the drow sorceress, back over by the Writhing Gate. The shimmering field of force took on the appearance of a quarterstaff and slammed down at the drow spellcaster, whacking her on the side of the head and sending her reeling. And by then Utred had chased her down as well, his greataxe thirsting for her blood. She cast a [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell and stifled a sigh of relief when she stepped to the side and Utred was no longer sure exactly where she might be - unaware that Cramer saw her exact location just fine with his active [i]true seeing[/i] spell. Jhasspok continued attacking the drow cleric as the remaining skeletons tried entering the fray, their bony claws ineffectual against the lizardfolk's thick scales. From across the chamber, Marlo cast an [i]empowered scorching ray[/i] and the streams of flame went streaking over to the drow cleric as well - but only one of them managed to successfully strike its target. The cleric, clearly in pain, rapidly stepped backwards and was pleased when the sounds of combat all around her suddenly became audible all at once - she had just stepped outside the area of effect of the gnome's [i]silence[/i] spell! With great relief she cast a [i]cure critical wounds[/i] spell on herself, healing a good chunk of the damage she'd sustained thus far. With a roar of determination, one of the drow fighters - a personal bodyguard of the cleric - ripped free from the black tentacles winding around him and positioned himself between his mistress and the rampaging lizardfolk eager to slay her. His sword came slashing at Jhasspok, but the reptile's shield blocked the blow. Khari slew another of the pinned drow warriors within reach, leaving the others - too far into the tentacle mass to be able to reach - to be crushed by the spell's effects. Meanwhile, the one free warrior continued his stealthy approach around the tentacle mass, waiting for the opportunity to make his dash for freedom. He looked around, saw nobody, and made his break - only to have Khari suddenly rise up from the stone floor before him, for the dwarf had seen his dash for freedom at the last moment and earthglided below the tentacle-mass to cut him off. One swing of his dwarven warhammer was all it took to take the cowardly drow warrior out of the fight. Cramer sent his [i]spiritual quarterstaff[/i] slamming down at the astonished drow sorceress - who had been sure she was safe beneath the [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell she'd cast upon herself - and then channeled a burst of positive energy through his holy symbol, blasting the remaining undead skeletons to dust. Utred, seeing the [i]spiritual quarterstaff[/i] strike true, swung his axe at the area where he believed the sorceress must be and got lucky, his blade slicing through her abdomen and spilling coils of intestines out onto the floor at her feet. She fell over, dead, returning to visibility in the process. Jhasspok, with single-minded determination, dodged past the drow bodyguard - even though that meant taking a hit from his greatsword - to get to his primary target, the drow cleric Cramer had assigned him to kill. He hit, and his attack caused her quite a bit of pain, but not as much pain as Marlo's subsequent follow-on [i]empowered scorching ray[/i] spell caused, this time hitting her target with all three rays of flame. But the drow cleric had already committed to casting an [i]inflict serious wounds[/i] spell on the lizardfolk and saw through with that attack. Jhasspok hissed in pain at the spellcaster's touch, then again as the fighter's greatsword went slicing into his flesh, parting scales with the power of the sword's swing. But then Cramer redirected his [i]spiritual quarterstaff[/i] over to the wounded cleric, dropping her at last. Figuring the others could deal with any clean-up operations by this point, the cleric went over to check on N'zorthal, just to make sure he was still alive. Jhasspok did finally finish off the drow bodyguard, getting his battleaxe past his defenses and then surprising him by ripping his throat out with his sharp teeth. Idly, the lizardfolk wondered why so many of his enemies forgot he was capable of such a maneuver; it wasn't like his mouthful of sharp teeth were hidden or anything. Cramer cast a healing spell or two on the unconscious mind flayer, waking up the hated Administer of Discipline. Greatly weakened by the ordeal, the mind flayer helped himself to a few of the brains of the fallen drow, picking through them to feast on those who were still tenuously clinging to life, for N'zorthal greatly preferred eating brains out of the skulls of still-living prey. "The Mortal Queen isn't going to like this at all," observed Khari once Marlo dismissed her [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell, those still in its multilimbed embrace long since having been slain. "That's kind of the point," Cramer replied. "Yeah, but remember: without our slave tattoos she can't have scried upon us, so with any luck she won't know who it was who stopped her ceremony," added Marlo. "And the anti-scrying measures they put into place to prevent us from scrying on the ritual will hopefully have also prevented her from watching us butcher her forces." <You no longer have slave tattoos?> asked N'zorthal telepathically while slurping down the contents of a drow's skull. "Yeah, there have been a few changes since you last saw us," replied Cramer. "Let's go: we'll fill you in on the way back to Overreach." - - - After we finished the adventure, Logan informed us that on the two-day trip back, Cramer will receive a [i]sending[/i] spell from Lauren, saying they are needed back in Greenvale. It's apparently time for our PCs to uphold our end of the bargain and free the Mithral Mage from Dwarven Hell. Next adventure: "A Bad Day to Be a Dwarf." And we all leveled up, so we're now at 11th level. It'll all be downhill from here! [/QUOTE]
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