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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8317902" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 36: THE BATTLE OF CROSSROAD KEEP</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 23 June 2021</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>There were a dozen ships floating in the strange emptiness of the Far Realm, each identifiable as belonging to the dark elves of the Underdark city of Overreach, but until now Jhasspok had only ever seen them floating on the Bioluminescent Sea. Having learned how to "fall" in any direction they wanted by simply wishing it, the five former arena slaves checked out each of the vessels in turn. Of course, as soon as Cramer left the first ship - filled with human samurai from the faraway land of Jakura - his <em>find the path</em> spell kicked back in, showing him he was to return to that first vessel, but he had learned from telepathically "talking" with the drow pilot of that vessel, a male drow sorcerer named <strong>Dh'aeve</strong>, that these ships would remain frozen in time for another day and a half before returning to the Material Plane and having a sense of normal time return to them, so the gnome decided the exploration was worth the risk.</p><p></p><p>Five of the ships, it turned out, were manned by slaves who'd had the <em>contagion</em> spell cast upon them. They had drow handlers on board, keeping the slaves at bay with long, wooden prods - rather like rakes without the tines - which would be used to toss them overboard once they'd gotten into position over the areas they were to infest. Other ships were filled with drow combatants, presumably ready to strike out against the forces of Greenvale and her surface allies.</p><p></p><p>Cramer worked hard, praying over his spell selection, for while he had the ability to cast a quite wide variety of spells, there were only a small handful that could be cast during a timeless span and which would then "kick in" when the vessels returned to the Material Plane. After much deliberation, he opted for the following:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A <em>symbol of fear</em> at the front of one of the contagion ships, which in theory would cause the panicked slaves to flee back among their drow handlers, hopefully spreading their various diseases among the dark elves</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A <em>mark of justice</em> upon the brows of two of the other drow "pilots" keeping their individual contagion ships afloat, triggered to cause an irrational fear of piloting a ship when they attempted to do just that (the gnome cleric hoped that might cause the ships to veer widely off course when they re-emerged in the skies above Shadeath, and possibly even plummet to their destruction if the pilots actually fled their magical helms which allowed the ships to fly in the first place)</li> </ul><p>Jhasspok came up with a means to take out the twenty samurai on the vessel on which they'd be riding home: after borrowing a bucket from Utred, he squatted over it and produced a rather large pellet of solid waste, topped with the white, foamy uric acid that made up the majority of his liquid wastes. This messy concoction was then thoroughly mixed into a paste and liberally applied over the open eyes of the twenty samurai, each frozen between moments in time and unable to be directly affected. But once they ships re-entered the Material Plane and time returned back to its normal flow, Jhasspok assured the others that the men in the "funny-looking armor" would be temporarily blinded - at least for long enough to allow the five adventurers to cut them down without much resistance.</p><p></p><p>"You're a twisted little freak sometimes, Jhasspok," Khari informed the lizardfolk.</p><p></p><p>"An' ye can keep that bucket when you're done with it," Utred advised Jhasspok. "I got plenty others - I don't really want that one back. Seriously."</p><p></p><p>As a final addition to their plans, they "fell" through the sky back to the odd structure they'd left earlier, but only to lug the slain bodies of as many of the odd spidery creatures they'd encountered and slain; to the drow, the spider was a symbol of Lolth, their primary Demon-Goddess - and Cramer assured them the "sudden appearance" (from their frame of view) of dead spiders aboard each of the drow vessels would be seen as an omen of the very worst sort. "Demoralization might count for something," the gnome cleric suggested hopefully.</p><p></p><p>"I think we're getting close to returning to normal time," Marlo observed, pointing directly in front of the floating ship of samurai. There, a black opening was forming, irising open wider and wider at a speed too slow to actually track. But the ship was lined up to enter directly into it, assuming it was big enough to encompass the vessel by the time it got that far.</p><p></p><p>"Everybody get ready!" Cramer called to the others. Khari, Jhasspok, and Utred went to the back of the main deck, directly behind the Jakuran samurai. Marlo stood behind Dh'aeve, her <em>arcane blade </em>out and ready to threaten the drow spellcaster if he tried anything. Cramer stood on the rooftop of the back of the ship, directly above Dh'aeve and Marlo and began casting the spells he wanted to have already affecting him when they returned to the Material Plane - which looked to be any second now, for the hole in front of the vessel was now irising open at a speed that could be seen and the ship was noticeably moving forward. He cast a <em>longstrider</em> spell upon himself and three <em>shield of faith</em> spells upon the lizardfolk and the two dwarves. Marlo cast a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell upon the group of five heroes. As an added precaution, the little gnome activated his <em>ring of invisibility</em> and faded from view.</p><p></p><p>With a lurch, the ship leaped forward and suddenly the strangeness of the Far Realm was replaced with the comfortably orthodox view of a blue sky streaked with fluffy, white clouds. There was a forest and roadways below; directly below, some hundred feet or so, was the familiar outline of the Crossroad Keep, a structure the heroes had stayed in before. But the pleasant view was interrupted by the sudden shrieks of startled samurai, who clawed at their eyes and a few of whom started retching involuntarily.</p><p></p><p>On the rooftops of the keep's buildings below, elven archers turned inwards above them and raised their bows; they'd naturally been expecting an attack from somewhere outside the keep, not directly above it. Inside the four towers at each corner of the Keep, the wizards stationed within snarled in fury, for the magical defenses had likewise been positioned for an attack to the keep's exterior, not above it. The <em>scorching ray</em> spells the tower's defenses could bring to bear against the enemy would only be useful if the ship would fly off to one side of the building, something it seemed unwilling to do - whatever magic allowed it to suddenly appear in the skies above were likewise keeping it from drifting off to either side.</p><p></p><p>With a grin, Khari began mowing his way through the blinded samurai directly before him, the first swing of his warhammer crushing the man's skull and the follow-up strike knocking him over the side of the floating vessel. The dwarven fighter expected to hear the man's screams as he plummeted to his death, but instead a thin, metal chain around one ankle began glowing and the samurai floated down safely to the ground below, a one-shot <em>feather fall</em> spell kicking in as the man left the side of the vessel. (Of course, in this case it was a moot point, for the man was already dead, his skull having been caved in despite the elaborate helmet he wore.)</p><p></p><p>Utred had planned on mowing his way through the samurai before him with his greataxe as well, but right before the ship exited the Far Realm he realized he'd be able to get a whole bunch of them with one of the beads from his <em>necklace of fireballs</em>. Plucking forth a bead, he threw it into the air and watched as the resulting explosion caught a full eight of the samurai in the very front of the flying vessel. The dwarven barbarian's only regret was that he'd already used up his more powerful beads, leaving behind only his weaker versions that burned up the lot of the eight Jakuran warriors but didn't manage to slay any of them outright.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, down below on one of the rooftops of the Keep, a black-robed figure in among the rest of the elven defensive forces lowered his hood, revealing the unmistakable, four-tentacled face of N'zorthal, the illithid Administer of Discipline for House Jalamir - and, more importantly, a secret adherent of the Dying One, the mind flayer's Elder God whose tentacles made up the Writhing Gates allowing for teleportation among the world of Shadeath. Shouting his exultation telepathically to all around him, he cried, <They have arrived! The time of awakening is here! Master, take of my body and walk the world once more!></p><p></p><p>With these words, a sudden realization overcame Cramer and Marlo. Recalling that the last time they had seen N'zorthal was when they had rescued him from an attempt by the Mortal Queen to summon an avatar to attack Greenvale, Cramer advanced his concerns over the telepathic link - once again causing Jhasspok to cry out in alarm at the sudden voice in his head - that they had only <em>assumed</em> it was to have been an avatar of Lolth the drow would have summoned.</p><p></p><p><Why would the Mortal Queen summon an avatar of the Dying One?> Marlo asked over the link.</p><p></p><p><Not sure, but no time to worry about it - that avatar's our biggest worry right now! Definitely a bigger threat than these poop-blinded samurai! Everyone: we've got to stop N'zorthal!></p><p></p><p>Marlo slipped the <em>arcane blade</em> back into its sheath at her hip and stepped away from Dh'aeve. She cast an <em>invisibility</em> spell upon herself as she leaped over the side of the floating vessel, using her <em>boots of levitation</em> to slow her fall as she landed gracefully on a rooftop below. Streams of vomit streaked by her as the samurai above succumbed to having had lizardfolk wastes rubbed onto their eyeballs. Another one fell overboard as a result of his violet thrashings, the <em>feather fall ankle bracelet</em> lowering him down at a safe and steady pace. Unbeknownst to the heroes, this was actually <strong>Lord Shirimono</strong>, the leader of the samurai troop - a man who had been slain earlier in his own lands but returned to life by those for whom he pledged his loyalty and his service.</p><p></p><p>Khari frightened Marlo when she saw him suddenly plummet to the earth below; she'd feared he'd likewise fallen off the side of the ship and was about to meet a messy death on the ground a hundred feet below. But he had his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> gripped firmly in his hands, and when his body reached the ground the earth simply opened up beneath him and embraced him as it would a long-lost friend, slowing his fall and returning him unharmed to the surface above in a matter of mere seconds. Rising up from the ground with his weapon in hand, Khari Hammerslammer approached the building upon the roof of which stood N'zorthal.</p><p></p><p>Cramer called for Utred to duck down and as the barbarian bent to comply, the invisible gnome leaped off the roof at the back of the ship and landed on the dwarf's shoulders, imbuing him with a <em>fly</em> spell as he took his position sitting upon Utred's backpack. "Fly down to N'zorthal!" Cramer commanded.</p><p></p><p>"What about Jhasspok?" Utred called back as he pushed a blinded samurai out of his way and lifted a booted foot over the side of the vessel. Utred knew the lizardfolk weighed a ton and it was unlikely even he would be able to carry them both at one time.</p><p></p><p>Cramer answered Utred by calling out to Jhasspok, "Grab one of the samurai and leap over the side of the ship! He'll float you down to safety!" Jhasspok merely nodded his understanding, pulling his battleaxe from the back of the samurai he'd just slain. He wasn't sure why taking a samurai with him was necessary, especially not after the gnome had already shown him how to fly in the Far Realm by simply deciding which way was down, but he shrugged and accepted it as some weird way magic worked or something - there was really no making sense of it and the practical lizardfolk had long since given up trying to do so. Grabbing an enemy before leaping off the side of the ship and flying down to N'zorthal seemed like it had an extra, unnecessary step, but so be it.</p><p></p><p>Astonished at having a mind flayer appear among them, the elven archers lining the Crossroad Keep released their arrows at N'zorthal. Surprisingly, some of them actually seemed to do some damage, even as the illithid's entire body seemed to swell with an unearthly energy. Utred landed softly on a building across the way from where the mind flayer stood, the invisible cleric of Fharlanghn still perched upon his backpack. His greataxe was in his hands and he prepared himself for a flying dash across the building rooftops towards his foe.</p><p></p><p>But N'zorthal - or rather, the intellect of Uboros currently inhabiting his body - had other plans. <Come to me, we have much to discuss!> he called out to the heroes, snapping two of his facial tentacles together.</p><p></p><p>Instantly, time froze all around the heroes just as it had on the dozen Overreach ships in the Far Realm. Only the five heroes and N'zorthal were unaffected. Cramer, Utred, and Marlo each noticed an uncontrolled flinch from the mind flayer as he caused the <em>time stop </em>effect, as if using this much power was causing his mortal form some amount of pain. Furthermore, it looked as if the illithid's four facial tentacles were each splitting down their lengths; before long, there would be eight tentacles instead of the standard four. Cramer assumed this was merely a slow-motion transformation into the Dying One's normal full hundred tentacles sprouting from his squidlike face.</p><p></p><p>With a wave of his hand, a table and seating for six appeared in the courtyard of the Crossroad Keep. One chair was built like a throne; the illithid floated down to that seat and took it for himself. Of the other seats, four were standard chairs and the last was more of a stool - and better suited for a lizardfolk with a powerful tail jutting out behind him. <It is in your best interests to at least hear me out,> Uboros warned the heroes.</p><p></p><p>Somewhat apprehensive of taking on the avatar of an actual deity, the party hesitantly agreed to listen to what the Elder God had to say. Upon Cramer's orders, Utred flew up to the ship to go fetch Jhasspok, who was having a frustrating time trying to grab one of the samurai like Cramer had said and leap over the side of the ship - the strangely-armored man was back to being like a statue again and no matter how Jhasspok struggled he couldn't even get the samurai to budge from his current position. "Never mind, Jhasspok," Utred said, flying over to the lizardfolk and grabbing him under his arms. "Let's go see what the squid-head has to say."</p><p></p><p>Once everyone was in position - with weapons still in hand if not actively threatening the Elder God's avatar - Uboros informed them, rather nonchalantly, <Death itself is painless. Dying, however, is agony. Dying for eternities beyond counting...is unimaginable. You seek my death, and I welcome it. I can aid and guide you, if you'll but swear a pact to do your utmost to bring about my death. The death of my true form, not merely this avatar. You need not answer out loud.></p><p></p><p>But Cramer recalled the prophecies about the Dying One's plans, especially the one about having a giant, tentacled worm eat the Dying One's brain and thus gain all of his knowledge and power for itself - a means by which Uboros was to "eat himself to become himself." Looking up at the tentacled menace before him, the little gnome asked, "What about your 'rebirth,' though?"</p><p></p><p><Need you concern yourself about that?> the Dying One asked Cramer as a means of reply. But that wasn't all Uboros was doing - he was simultaneously having five different private mental conversations with each of the heroes, offering them all sorts of benefits if they'd only swear undying allegiance to him. Before Marlo he dangled the opportunities of nearly unlimited spellcasting power, a level far beyond that of most mortal spellcasters. To Utred he sent images of the dwarf filled to the brim with vitality, wading his way through dozens of enemies and hardly even noticing the slight wounds that made it past his defenses. Khari was treated to a similar vision of his own dwarven body rippling with muscles, swinging his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> with enough power to bring down a castle wall. Cramer's mental visions were similar to Marlo's with the gnome's mind opened to such an extent he'd be able to cast a far greater number of spells than any gnome cleric before him.</p><p></p><p>With Jhasspok, he didn't bother with anything more extensive than the image of the lizardfolk sitting before a vast pile of fish, more than he could ever eat in one sitting.</p><p></p><p>"But I thought you were going to destroy the world," Jhasspok argued aloud, the fact having stuck somewhere in the deep recesses of his reptilian brain. Try as he might, he couldn't see the point of having all the fish you could eat if there was no world left to live in while you were doing so.</p><p></p><p><All things must eventually come to an end,> Uboros countered. <The question you must ask yourself is: which side do you want to be on? Surely it makes more sense to be allied with the one wielding the power to destroy a world, rather than striving futilely against him?></p><p></p><p>"Well..." Jhasspok began, thinking how best to make his argument. But words were hard: there were so many of them and you had to string them in just the right way for them to make any sense. Then he figured out the best way to make his point, leaping from his stool and bringing his battleaxe crashing down upon the avatar's head, nearly severing a tentacle in the process - although it was possible it was just continuing the self-dividing process that was still ongoing; N'zorthal's stolen body now sported at least two dozen of the facial appendages.</p><p></p><p>Khari's intellectual capacities were about at the same level as Jhasspok's; neither was particularly known for their brilliant insights. But each well knew the importance of standing by one's friends, so when the dwarven fighter saw his lizardfolk pal engaged in a battle far, far out of his league Khari didn't hesitate for a moment before earthgliding below the ground, only to pop up behind the Elder God's throne and bring his warhammer crashing down upon his bald skull. Utred dashed forward and attacked the Elder God as well, getting in a solid blow with his greataxe. But he was brought into battle as much by the avatar's promises of personal power and his stated desire for his own true death as by the unvoiced requirements of dwarven brotherhood.</p><p></p><p><Excellent! It has been so long since I experienced true combat!> exulted Uboros as he stood from his throne and focused his attention on Cramer, still seated across the table from him. The avatar hardly noticed as Jhasspok and the two dwarves each swung at his body with their assorted weapons, his entire mental focus centered on the massive blast of a psionic <em>energy ray</em> that speared across at the gnome, enveloping his body in unearthly fires. The gnome only had a split second by which to counter with his last-ditch effort - a <em>quickened cure minor wounds</em> spell that stoked the very last ember of life force still left in his little body after the brutal attack - and collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his scorched form.</p><p></p><p>Marlo cast an <em>empowered lightning bolt</em> spell across the table at Uboros and surprised herself at how effective an attack it was. Jhasspok and Utred continued their assaults upon the avatar's form with their axes and Khari did likewise with his warhammer, until Uboros swiveled in position and blasted the Hammerslammer dwarf with the same type of <em>energy ray</em> that had felled Cramer. But this apparently wasn't as direct a hit, for though Khari buckled temporarily from the pain of the mental assault he still remained standing, his grip tightened on his weapon and his teeth gritted in determination.</p><p></p><p>But flakes of skin were erupting from Uboros's body as the unearthly energies of an Elder God burned their way through the mortal form of N'zorthal, a frail vessel indeed to hold such power for long. Jhasspok darted forth, slashing with his weapon and snapping with his teeth, ending up with a mouthful of ashes as the mind flayer's body burned its way all the way through and dissipated into nothingness as the Elder God's delighted cackling echoed through the heroes' minds. Upon the death of the avatar, time started flowing all around the heroes once again and astonished elven archers wondered aloud how the five heroes had suddenly made it down below into the courtyard, around a table and six seats that hadn't been there a mere moment ago. They watched in puzzlement as Marlo leaped to the side of the table, unstoppering a healing potion from her belt and lifting it to Cramer's lips, coaxing the life-giving fluid down the gnome's broken body. The meager contents of the elixir were at least enough to rise the gnome to full wakefulness, where he insisted on taking care of the rest of the business at hand.</p><p></p><p>And quite frankly, after having taken down the avatar of an illithid Elder God, slaying the remaining blinded samurai on the floating ship above was child's play.</p><p></p><p>"Is N'zorthal dead?" Cramer wanted to know, having been unconscious during the avatar's sudden demise. Marlo assured him that he had been burned to ashes from within. "Bugger," complained the gnome cleric. "I wanted to kill him myself. Oh well."</p><p></p><p>Having watched the party's progress through the magical sensors of his flying ship, Dh'aeve agreed to join their side. He had his own reasons for hating the Mortal Queen and saw the five former House Jalamir arena slaves before him as his best method of extracting his revenge against her.</p><p></p><p>"Listen up," he advised. "I think I know a way we can take down the Mortal Queen, once and for all, if you're interested."</p><p></p><p>It turned out they were.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>So, some interesting things came about as a result of this adventure (and the previous one), things that the players are all aware of but not all of the PCs know about. Not surprisingly, Marlo took Uboros up on his offer and as a result her Charisma has been increased to a whopping 26! Also, when she checked on her toad familiar Truffles, who had spent the entire adventure in a pocket of her robes (as is normal for him when he's not otherwise needed), she found him covered in tentacles - apparently exposure to the otherworldly energies of the Far Realm has mutated him (as he hadn't been given a headband to ward off the effects of the plane like Marlo and the other four PCs had received), granting him the pseudonatural template.</p><p></p><p>But more of a surprise was that Utred took Uboros up on his offer as well, lured to the "dark side" by the siren call of a 26 Constitution. So we'll have to see how this plays out, as Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok are now the only ones to have turned down the Dying One's offer, and neither of them are aware of the fact that Marlo and Utred have apparently joined up with the illithid Elder God we're prophesied to slay. At this point, I'm just hoping that they're both just trying to "play" Uboros, taking him up on his offer but betraying him at the last minute when the tentacled worm comes to "devour Uboros to become Uboros." Joey's already having second thoughts about Utred's agreement, but I cautioned him that Elder Gods generally are strict adherents to the concept of "no takesie-backsies." Now I've got Joey worried that Utred's going to start growing tentacles out of his butt or something.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8317902, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 36: THE BATTLE OF CROSSROAD KEEP[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 23 June 2021 - - - There were a dozen ships floating in the strange emptiness of the Far Realm, each identifiable as belonging to the dark elves of the Underdark city of Overreach, but until now Jhasspok had only ever seen them floating on the Bioluminescent Sea. Having learned how to "fall" in any direction they wanted by simply wishing it, the five former arena slaves checked out each of the vessels in turn. Of course, as soon as Cramer left the first ship - filled with human samurai from the faraway land of Jakura - his [I]find the path[/I] spell kicked back in, showing him he was to return to that first vessel, but he had learned from telepathically "talking" with the drow pilot of that vessel, a male drow sorcerer named [B]Dh'aeve[/B], that these ships would remain frozen in time for another day and a half before returning to the Material Plane and having a sense of normal time return to them, so the gnome decided the exploration was worth the risk. Five of the ships, it turned out, were manned by slaves who'd had the [I]contagion[/I] spell cast upon them. They had drow handlers on board, keeping the slaves at bay with long, wooden prods - rather like rakes without the tines - which would be used to toss them overboard once they'd gotten into position over the areas they were to infest. Other ships were filled with drow combatants, presumably ready to strike out against the forces of Greenvale and her surface allies. Cramer worked hard, praying over his spell selection, for while he had the ability to cast a quite wide variety of spells, there were only a small handful that could be cast during a timeless span and which would then "kick in" when the vessels returned to the Material Plane. After much deliberation, he opted for the following: [LIST] [*]A [I]symbol of fear[/I] at the front of one of the contagion ships, which in theory would cause the panicked slaves to flee back among their drow handlers, hopefully spreading their various diseases among the dark elves [*]A [I]mark of justice[/I] upon the brows of two of the other drow "pilots" keeping their individual contagion ships afloat, triggered to cause an irrational fear of piloting a ship when they attempted to do just that (the gnome cleric hoped that might cause the ships to veer widely off course when they re-emerged in the skies above Shadeath, and possibly even plummet to their destruction if the pilots actually fled their magical helms which allowed the ships to fly in the first place) [/LIST] Jhasspok came up with a means to take out the twenty samurai on the vessel on which they'd be riding home: after borrowing a bucket from Utred, he squatted over it and produced a rather large pellet of solid waste, topped with the white, foamy uric acid that made up the majority of his liquid wastes. This messy concoction was then thoroughly mixed into a paste and liberally applied over the open eyes of the twenty samurai, each frozen between moments in time and unable to be directly affected. But once they ships re-entered the Material Plane and time returned back to its normal flow, Jhasspok assured the others that the men in the "funny-looking armor" would be temporarily blinded - at least for long enough to allow the five adventurers to cut them down without much resistance. "You're a twisted little freak sometimes, Jhasspok," Khari informed the lizardfolk. "An' ye can keep that bucket when you're done with it," Utred advised Jhasspok. "I got plenty others - I don't really want that one back. Seriously." As a final addition to their plans, they "fell" through the sky back to the odd structure they'd left earlier, but only to lug the slain bodies of as many of the odd spidery creatures they'd encountered and slain; to the drow, the spider was a symbol of Lolth, their primary Demon-Goddess - and Cramer assured them the "sudden appearance" (from their frame of view) of dead spiders aboard each of the drow vessels would be seen as an omen of the very worst sort. "Demoralization might count for something," the gnome cleric suggested hopefully. "I think we're getting close to returning to normal time," Marlo observed, pointing directly in front of the floating ship of samurai. There, a black opening was forming, irising open wider and wider at a speed too slow to actually track. But the ship was lined up to enter directly into it, assuming it was big enough to encompass the vessel by the time it got that far. "Everybody get ready!" Cramer called to the others. Khari, Jhasspok, and Utred went to the back of the main deck, directly behind the Jakuran samurai. Marlo stood behind Dh'aeve, her [I]arcane blade [/I]out and ready to threaten the drow spellcaster if he tried anything. Cramer stood on the rooftop of the back of the ship, directly above Dh'aeve and Marlo and began casting the spells he wanted to have already affecting him when they returned to the Material Plane - which looked to be any second now, for the hole in front of the vessel was now irising open at a speed that could be seen and the ship was noticeably moving forward. He cast a [I]longstrider[/I] spell upon himself and three [I]shield of faith[/I] spells upon the lizardfolk and the two dwarves. Marlo cast a [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell upon the group of five heroes. As an added precaution, the little gnome activated his [I]ring of invisibility[/I] and faded from view. With a lurch, the ship leaped forward and suddenly the strangeness of the Far Realm was replaced with the comfortably orthodox view of a blue sky streaked with fluffy, white clouds. There was a forest and roadways below; directly below, some hundred feet or so, was the familiar outline of the Crossroad Keep, a structure the heroes had stayed in before. But the pleasant view was interrupted by the sudden shrieks of startled samurai, who clawed at their eyes and a few of whom started retching involuntarily. On the rooftops of the keep's buildings below, elven archers turned inwards above them and raised their bows; they'd naturally been expecting an attack from somewhere outside the keep, not directly above it. Inside the four towers at each corner of the Keep, the wizards stationed within snarled in fury, for the magical defenses had likewise been positioned for an attack to the keep's exterior, not above it. The [I]scorching ray[/I] spells the tower's defenses could bring to bear against the enemy would only be useful if the ship would fly off to one side of the building, something it seemed unwilling to do - whatever magic allowed it to suddenly appear in the skies above were likewise keeping it from drifting off to either side. With a grin, Khari began mowing his way through the blinded samurai directly before him, the first swing of his warhammer crushing the man's skull and the follow-up strike knocking him over the side of the floating vessel. The dwarven fighter expected to hear the man's screams as he plummeted to his death, but instead a thin, metal chain around one ankle began glowing and the samurai floated down safely to the ground below, a one-shot [I]feather fall[/I] spell kicking in as the man left the side of the vessel. (Of course, in this case it was a moot point, for the man was already dead, his skull having been caved in despite the elaborate helmet he wore.) Utred had planned on mowing his way through the samurai before him with his greataxe as well, but right before the ship exited the Far Realm he realized he'd be able to get a whole bunch of them with one of the beads from his [I]necklace of fireballs[/I]. Plucking forth a bead, he threw it into the air and watched as the resulting explosion caught a full eight of the samurai in the very front of the flying vessel. The dwarven barbarian's only regret was that he'd already used up his more powerful beads, leaving behind only his weaker versions that burned up the lot of the eight Jakuran warriors but didn't manage to slay any of them outright. Suddenly, down below on one of the rooftops of the Keep, a black-robed figure in among the rest of the elven defensive forces lowered his hood, revealing the unmistakable, four-tentacled face of N'zorthal, the illithid Administer of Discipline for House Jalamir - and, more importantly, a secret adherent of the Dying One, the mind flayer's Elder God whose tentacles made up the Writhing Gates allowing for teleportation among the world of Shadeath. Shouting his exultation telepathically to all around him, he cried, <They have arrived! The time of awakening is here! Master, take of my body and walk the world once more!> With these words, a sudden realization overcame Cramer and Marlo. Recalling that the last time they had seen N'zorthal was when they had rescued him from an attempt by the Mortal Queen to summon an avatar to attack Greenvale, Cramer advanced his concerns over the telepathic link - once again causing Jhasspok to cry out in alarm at the sudden voice in his head - that they had only [I]assumed[/I] it was to have been an avatar of Lolth the drow would have summoned. <Why would the Mortal Queen summon an avatar of the Dying One?> Marlo asked over the link. <Not sure, but no time to worry about it - that avatar's our biggest worry right now! Definitely a bigger threat than these poop-blinded samurai! Everyone: we've got to stop N'zorthal!> Marlo slipped the [I]arcane blade[/I] back into its sheath at her hip and stepped away from Dh'aeve. She cast an [I]invisibility[/I] spell upon herself as she leaped over the side of the floating vessel, using her [I]boots of levitation[/I] to slow her fall as she landed gracefully on a rooftop below. Streams of vomit streaked by her as the samurai above succumbed to having had lizardfolk wastes rubbed onto their eyeballs. Another one fell overboard as a result of his violet thrashings, the [I]feather fall ankle bracelet[/I] lowering him down at a safe and steady pace. Unbeknownst to the heroes, this was actually [B]Lord Shirimono[/B], the leader of the samurai troop - a man who had been slain earlier in his own lands but returned to life by those for whom he pledged his loyalty and his service. Khari frightened Marlo when she saw him suddenly plummet to the earth below; she'd feared he'd likewise fallen off the side of the ship and was about to meet a messy death on the ground a hundred feet below. But he had his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] gripped firmly in his hands, and when his body reached the ground the earth simply opened up beneath him and embraced him as it would a long-lost friend, slowing his fall and returning him unharmed to the surface above in a matter of mere seconds. Rising up from the ground with his weapon in hand, Khari Hammerslammer approached the building upon the roof of which stood N'zorthal. Cramer called for Utred to duck down and as the barbarian bent to comply, the invisible gnome leaped off the roof at the back of the ship and landed on the dwarf's shoulders, imbuing him with a [I]fly[/I] spell as he took his position sitting upon Utred's backpack. "Fly down to N'zorthal!" Cramer commanded. "What about Jhasspok?" Utred called back as he pushed a blinded samurai out of his way and lifted a booted foot over the side of the vessel. Utred knew the lizardfolk weighed a ton and it was unlikely even he would be able to carry them both at one time. Cramer answered Utred by calling out to Jhasspok, "Grab one of the samurai and leap over the side of the ship! He'll float you down to safety!" Jhasspok merely nodded his understanding, pulling his battleaxe from the back of the samurai he'd just slain. He wasn't sure why taking a samurai with him was necessary, especially not after the gnome had already shown him how to fly in the Far Realm by simply deciding which way was down, but he shrugged and accepted it as some weird way magic worked or something - there was really no making sense of it and the practical lizardfolk had long since given up trying to do so. Grabbing an enemy before leaping off the side of the ship and flying down to N'zorthal seemed like it had an extra, unnecessary step, but so be it. Astonished at having a mind flayer appear among them, the elven archers lining the Crossroad Keep released their arrows at N'zorthal. Surprisingly, some of them actually seemed to do some damage, even as the illithid's entire body seemed to swell with an unearthly energy. Utred landed softly on a building across the way from where the mind flayer stood, the invisible cleric of Fharlanghn still perched upon his backpack. His greataxe was in his hands and he prepared himself for a flying dash across the building rooftops towards his foe. But N'zorthal - or rather, the intellect of Uboros currently inhabiting his body - had other plans. <Come to me, we have much to discuss!> he called out to the heroes, snapping two of his facial tentacles together. Instantly, time froze all around the heroes just as it had on the dozen Overreach ships in the Far Realm. Only the five heroes and N'zorthal were unaffected. Cramer, Utred, and Marlo each noticed an uncontrolled flinch from the mind flayer as he caused the [I]time stop [/I]effect, as if using this much power was causing his mortal form some amount of pain. Furthermore, it looked as if the illithid's four facial tentacles were each splitting down their lengths; before long, there would be eight tentacles instead of the standard four. Cramer assumed this was merely a slow-motion transformation into the Dying One's normal full hundred tentacles sprouting from his squidlike face. With a wave of his hand, a table and seating for six appeared in the courtyard of the Crossroad Keep. One chair was built like a throne; the illithid floated down to that seat and took it for himself. Of the other seats, four were standard chairs and the last was more of a stool - and better suited for a lizardfolk with a powerful tail jutting out behind him. <It is in your best interests to at least hear me out,> Uboros warned the heroes. Somewhat apprehensive of taking on the avatar of an actual deity, the party hesitantly agreed to listen to what the Elder God had to say. Upon Cramer's orders, Utred flew up to the ship to go fetch Jhasspok, who was having a frustrating time trying to grab one of the samurai like Cramer had said and leap over the side of the ship - the strangely-armored man was back to being like a statue again and no matter how Jhasspok struggled he couldn't even get the samurai to budge from his current position. "Never mind, Jhasspok," Utred said, flying over to the lizardfolk and grabbing him under his arms. "Let's go see what the squid-head has to say." Once everyone was in position - with weapons still in hand if not actively threatening the Elder God's avatar - Uboros informed them, rather nonchalantly, <Death itself is painless. Dying, however, is agony. Dying for eternities beyond counting...is unimaginable. You seek my death, and I welcome it. I can aid and guide you, if you'll but swear a pact to do your utmost to bring about my death. The death of my true form, not merely this avatar. You need not answer out loud.> But Cramer recalled the prophecies about the Dying One's plans, especially the one about having a giant, tentacled worm eat the Dying One's brain and thus gain all of his knowledge and power for itself - a means by which Uboros was to "eat himself to become himself." Looking up at the tentacled menace before him, the little gnome asked, "What about your 'rebirth,' though?" <Need you concern yourself about that?> the Dying One asked Cramer as a means of reply. But that wasn't all Uboros was doing - he was simultaneously having five different private mental conversations with each of the heroes, offering them all sorts of benefits if they'd only swear undying allegiance to him. Before Marlo he dangled the opportunities of nearly unlimited spellcasting power, a level far beyond that of most mortal spellcasters. To Utred he sent images of the dwarf filled to the brim with vitality, wading his way through dozens of enemies and hardly even noticing the slight wounds that made it past his defenses. Khari was treated to a similar vision of his own dwarven body rippling with muscles, swinging his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] with enough power to bring down a castle wall. Cramer's mental visions were similar to Marlo's with the gnome's mind opened to such an extent he'd be able to cast a far greater number of spells than any gnome cleric before him. With Jhasspok, he didn't bother with anything more extensive than the image of the lizardfolk sitting before a vast pile of fish, more than he could ever eat in one sitting. "But I thought you were going to destroy the world," Jhasspok argued aloud, the fact having stuck somewhere in the deep recesses of his reptilian brain. Try as he might, he couldn't see the point of having all the fish you could eat if there was no world left to live in while you were doing so. <All things must eventually come to an end,> Uboros countered. <The question you must ask yourself is: which side do you want to be on? Surely it makes more sense to be allied with the one wielding the power to destroy a world, rather than striving futilely against him?> "Well..." Jhasspok began, thinking how best to make his argument. But words were hard: there were so many of them and you had to string them in just the right way for them to make any sense. Then he figured out the best way to make his point, leaping from his stool and bringing his battleaxe crashing down upon the avatar's head, nearly severing a tentacle in the process - although it was possible it was just continuing the self-dividing process that was still ongoing; N'zorthal's stolen body now sported at least two dozen of the facial appendages. Khari's intellectual capacities were about at the same level as Jhasspok's; neither was particularly known for their brilliant insights. But each well knew the importance of standing by one's friends, so when the dwarven fighter saw his lizardfolk pal engaged in a battle far, far out of his league Khari didn't hesitate for a moment before earthgliding below the ground, only to pop up behind the Elder God's throne and bring his warhammer crashing down upon his bald skull. Utred dashed forward and attacked the Elder God as well, getting in a solid blow with his greataxe. But he was brought into battle as much by the avatar's promises of personal power and his stated desire for his own true death as by the unvoiced requirements of dwarven brotherhood. <Excellent! It has been so long since I experienced true combat!> exulted Uboros as he stood from his throne and focused his attention on Cramer, still seated across the table from him. The avatar hardly noticed as Jhasspok and the two dwarves each swung at his body with their assorted weapons, his entire mental focus centered on the massive blast of a psionic [I]energy ray[/I] that speared across at the gnome, enveloping his body in unearthly fires. The gnome only had a split second by which to counter with his last-ditch effort - a [I]quickened cure minor wounds[/I] spell that stoked the very last ember of life force still left in his little body after the brutal attack - and collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his scorched form. Marlo cast an [I]empowered lightning bolt[/I] spell across the table at Uboros and surprised herself at how effective an attack it was. Jhasspok and Utred continued their assaults upon the avatar's form with their axes and Khari did likewise with his warhammer, until Uboros swiveled in position and blasted the Hammerslammer dwarf with the same type of [I]energy ray[/I] that had felled Cramer. But this apparently wasn't as direct a hit, for though Khari buckled temporarily from the pain of the mental assault he still remained standing, his grip tightened on his weapon and his teeth gritted in determination. But flakes of skin were erupting from Uboros's body as the unearthly energies of an Elder God burned their way through the mortal form of N'zorthal, a frail vessel indeed to hold such power for long. Jhasspok darted forth, slashing with his weapon and snapping with his teeth, ending up with a mouthful of ashes as the mind flayer's body burned its way all the way through and dissipated into nothingness as the Elder God's delighted cackling echoed through the heroes' minds. Upon the death of the avatar, time started flowing all around the heroes once again and astonished elven archers wondered aloud how the five heroes had suddenly made it down below into the courtyard, around a table and six seats that hadn't been there a mere moment ago. They watched in puzzlement as Marlo leaped to the side of the table, unstoppering a healing potion from her belt and lifting it to Cramer's lips, coaxing the life-giving fluid down the gnome's broken body. The meager contents of the elixir were at least enough to rise the gnome to full wakefulness, where he insisted on taking care of the rest of the business at hand. And quite frankly, after having taken down the avatar of an illithid Elder God, slaying the remaining blinded samurai on the floating ship above was child's play. "Is N'zorthal dead?" Cramer wanted to know, having been unconscious during the avatar's sudden demise. Marlo assured him that he had been burned to ashes from within. "Bugger," complained the gnome cleric. "I wanted to kill him myself. Oh well." Having watched the party's progress through the magical sensors of his flying ship, Dh'aeve agreed to join their side. He had his own reasons for hating the Mortal Queen and saw the five former House Jalamir arena slaves before him as his best method of extracting his revenge against her. "Listen up," he advised. "I think I know a way we can take down the Mortal Queen, once and for all, if you're interested." It turned out they were. - - - So, some interesting things came about as a result of this adventure (and the previous one), things that the players are all aware of but not all of the PCs know about. Not surprisingly, Marlo took Uboros up on his offer and as a result her Charisma has been increased to a whopping 26! Also, when she checked on her toad familiar Truffles, who had spent the entire adventure in a pocket of her robes (as is normal for him when he's not otherwise needed), she found him covered in tentacles - apparently exposure to the otherworldly energies of the Far Realm has mutated him (as he hadn't been given a headband to ward off the effects of the plane like Marlo and the other four PCs had received), granting him the pseudonatural template. But more of a surprise was that Utred took Uboros up on his offer as well, lured to the "dark side" by the siren call of a 26 Constitution. So we'll have to see how this plays out, as Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok are now the only ones to have turned down the Dying One's offer, and neither of them are aware of the fact that Marlo and Utred have apparently joined up with the illithid Elder God we're prophesied to slay. At this point, I'm just hoping that they're both just trying to "play" Uboros, taking him up on his offer but betraying him at the last minute when the tentacled worm comes to "devour Uboros to become Uboros." Joey's already having second thoughts about Utred's agreement, but I cautioned him that Elder Gods generally are strict adherents to the concept of "no takesie-backsies." Now I've got Joey worried that Utred's going to start growing tentacles out of his butt or something. [/QUOTE]
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