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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8414760" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 43: BACK DOWN IN REVIN TOWN</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 13/psychic warrior 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 14</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 29 September 2021</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>It was good to be back in Greenvale after so much time spent trudging around in the lightless caverns and tunnels of the Underdark. It was good to sleep in a real bed, and to eat better fare than trail rations, and to be able to shop for needed goods. The group spent quite a bit of time topside in the various magic shops - for the sunborn drow had quite a few spellcasters among their number - making new purchases and seeing to having some of their previously-existing magic items upgraded in power.</p><p></p><p>They also spent a fair bit of time among the Greenvale sages, discussing various strategies about taking down the remaining Writhing Gates. Of course, they already knew where the one House Jalamir had used was located, but that put it lower on the priority list, at least by Cramer Appleknocker's reasoning - they could always go take that one out of commission any time they wanted, or any time they needed a few days to fill. Right now, the gnome cleric was more interested in winkling out the exact location of the "Writhing Chamber" the doomed assassin known only as the Observer had said was somewhere beneath the city of Revin. And the easiest way to do that, the sages all agreed, was to have the group <em>teleport</em> to Revin and then use a <em>find the path</em> spell to lead them directly to where they needed to go.</p><p></p><p>So, after a few days of recuperating and having their magical upgrades attended to, the five adventurers gathered together and the gnome cleric of Fharlanghn cast the <em>teleport</em> spell that sent them instantly traversing the miles between the two cities and ending up in the city of Revin without incident. "I gotta admit, that sure beats hoofin' it by foot!" Utred enthused.</p><p></p><p>Cramer pulled out the scroll containing the <em>find the path</em> spell he'd purchased for this endeavor and spoke the magic syllables that activated the spell. Instantly, to his own vision - and his alone - a series of arrows appeared on the ground before him, pointing the way the group would need to go to find the Writhing Chamber. "This way," Cramer pointed, waving Utred over so he could take his customary seat upon the dwarven barbarian's backpack. Climbing up into position, he told Utred, "I'll tell you which way to go."</p><p></p><p>"You usually do," agreed Utred.</p><p></p><p>"Don't you get tired of lugging him around all the time?" demanded Marlo, looking in disdain at the lazy gnome.</p><p></p><p>"Eh, he's not that heavy," Utred commented. "Plus, I don't have the weight of all those weapons anymore, so I'm actually carrying less weight with him on me back than I was before." Utred Butterflinger was a walking arsenal and until recently he'd traveled with all sorts of weapons hanging off of his belt or strapped to his back. One of the Greenvale weaponsmiths had suggested a means of decluttering his arsenal, in the purchase of an extradimensional carrying case. Much like an oversize quiver, it was a wide leather cylinder, closed at the bottom but open at the top, with a strap that allowed the dwarf to easily sling it over his shoulder. But by placing his hand inside the extradimensional opening at the top, he could instantly grab any of the many weapons he kept stored inside and it would immediately jump to hand. Best of all, its magic "shrunk" the weapons during transit, so he could fit weapons - like his <em>flaming greataxe</em> - whose bladed weapon-heads were too big to fit through the opening without magical aid. Utred called it his "weapons locker" and he was well and truly pleased with its purchase.</p><p></p><p>Cramer and Utred led the others through the winding streets of Revin, through a different section of town than the area they'd last explored the last time they were here. That had been in the market district - where they had been attacked by the Observer the first time, with her wannabe-assassin recruits. Knowing there was likely an Assassins Guild somewhere in Revin, Utred and Khari kept a wary eye out, looking in recessed doorways and alleyways between buildings, even up at the rooftops - anywhere an assassin might be lurking, waiting to get the drop on them. Bringing up the rear by a wide margin, Jhasspok was keeping an eye out, too - but he was mostly worried about the <em>fireball</em> sun, for despite how much Marlo and Cramer insisted it was far, far away and couldn't come to get them, the lizardfolk wasn't quite willing to take that on faith. He looked around for assassins as well, but most of his attention was spent making sure the <em>fireball</em> sun kept its distance.</p><p></p><p>And then, just like that, the <em>fireball</em> sun was gone.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok flinched, suspecting that sun was up to something - was it shutting itself off so it could somehow try to sneak up on them? Cramer, however, was much more versed in spellcraft and immediately recognized it for what it was: a <em>darkness</em> spell, no doubt cast in preparation for an attack. He cast a <em>quickened magic vestment</em> spell upon himself as Utred pulled his <em>greenflame greataxe</em> from his weapons locker and sprinted forward at full speed, wanting to get himself and his gnome piggyback passenger out of the radius of darkness as quickly as possible, for if the assassins wanted them encloaked in deep shadows then the barbarian wanted them out in the sunlight that much more.</p><p></p><p>As he ran, Utred saw a leather-clad male rogue step out of the shadows of a side alley as a female rogue emerged from an opposite alleyway across the street. Utred veered to the left, racing towards the male and bringing his greataxe swinging into his chest as he got within range. The rogue dodged backwards in time to save his life but not quick enough to avoid having a horizontal rip tear through his leathers and the skin of his chest from the power of the dwarf's swing.</p><p></p><p>Inside the circle of darkness, another rogue stepped up beside Marlo and stabbed out with his blade. However, he hadn't contended on the sorceress wearing a <em>robe of eyes</em> and she saw him coming even though he had approached from behind, which allowed her to pivot out of the way at the last moment.</p><p></p><p>There were also two attackers stationed on the rooftop of a building to the right of the heroes. One of these wielded a longbow and sent an arrow streaking toward Cramer's head, but as he was still on Utred's backpack at the moment the dwarf's combat movements accidentally moved him out of the arrow's flight path at the last second. Cramer looked up at the archer after the arrow whizzed by his head and saw the other rooftop figure as well, a robed human, likely a wizard or cleric. The gnome cast a <em>spell resistance</em> spell upon himself and wriggled down off of Utred's backpack, landing nimbly on the street and rushing away from the group, trying to get himself far enough away from Utred that they couldn't both be targeted by the same <em>fireball</em> spell. His speed was enhanced by the <em>longstrider</em> spell he habitually cast upon himself each morning. But he heard footsteps coming up behind him and dared a backwards glance; the female assassin was coming after him, short sword in hand and seemingly ready to gut him.</p><p></p><p>But then another figure burst out of the radius of the <em>darkness</em> spell. This was Khari Hammerslammer, <em>earthglide warhammer </em> in hand as he ran to catch up with the woman chasing down Cramer. From what the dwarven fighter could tell, it looked like there were five assassins after them, this time all of them human. Well, they'd fought off similar odds before and prevailed!</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok had seen a glimpse of the two figures on the rooftop before the light went away and had heard the distinctive <em>twang</em> of an arrow being fired by one of them. He was not what anyone would call a tactician by any means - he relied upon instinct more than fully thought-out strategies - but somewhere in the back of his lizard brain he realized having two enemies out of reach was not a good thing. Thus, before he'd even had time to process the information his eyes had been telling him, Jhasspok was implementing a fix to the problem at hand. He raced diagonally ahead, towards the two-story building upon which the two snipers were standing. It was dark, so Jhasspok leaped on instinct, jumping when it seemed like the right time rather than when he could actually see the building before him. But his memory of the building's location was correct; he hit stone about halfway up the side of the structure and frantically started climbing, skittering up the building rather like a lizard. Toward the end of his climb he emerged from the hemisphere of magical <em>darkness</em> and soon after he pulled himself up onto the rooftop, about halfway between a robed spellcaster of some sort and a human archer.</p><p></p><p>In the street below, the male rogue flanked Khari and stabbed out with his blade, catching the dwarf in the side - but, surprisingly, the blow wasn't anywhere near as painful as Khari, who had been stabbed many times in his adventuring career, would have expected. Utred joined the conga line as he stepped into place behind the man who had just stabbed Khari, slicing into him in turn with his greataxe. Behind, in the darkness, Marlo cast an <em>empowered shocking grasp</em> spell and spun upon her attacker, hoping to make contact and trigger the spell hanging on her fingertips, ready for release. But he was equally nimble in the darkness and avoided the touch, leaving the untriggered spell active upon the sorceress's fingertips.</p><p></p><p>To facilitate his climb, Jhasspok had left his battleaxe hanging on his leather weapon-belt. As he scrambled to arm himself now that he was up on the rooftop against two enemies, the robed man surprised him by racing forward and slapping a hand down upon Jhasspok's arm. The lizardfolk had expected a <em>lightning bolt</em> or <em>magic missile</em> or some sort of ranged spell, but this, while activated by touch, was definitely a spell of some sort, for Jhasspok could feel pain at the site of the touch as magical venom tried flowing into his system. But Jhasspok had spent his early years as a drow slave; the experience had made him tough and able to overcome all kinds of physical punishment as needed and he gutted his way through the magic attack, causing the spell's effects to minimize and then dissipate. That did, however, make it easy for the lizardfolk to decide which of the two potential assassins should be his first target.</p><p></p><p>Marlo once again dodged a sword-strike from the assassin attacking her, who then managed to evade her second attempt at touching him and activating her <em>empowered shocking grasp</em> spell. The archer on the rooftop rushed over to attack Jhasspok since he was facing the human wizard who had hired him and his band, but his sword missed the reptile, who was maneuvering into place to bring the blade of his battleaxe down upon the spellcaster. The axe struck true, eliciting a cry of pain from the human wizard.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast an <em>inflict critical wounds</em> spell on the female assassin and she fell to the street, unconscious and making her way towards death. Almost immediately thereafter, Khari's warhammer crashed into the side of the male assassin's head, crushing in the side of his skull. He also fell where he stood, just behind his female associate in hitting the ground but having already beaten her to lifelessness.</p><p></p><p>Marlo had had enough of this "fumble around in the dark" nonsense; despite still having an <em>empowered shocking grasp</em> spell waiting on her fingertips, she mentally activated her boots and levitated into the air. Once out of the hemisphere of the <em>darkness</em> spell's effect, she could see the others: Khari, Utred, and Cramer looking down at the two assassins they'd just dropped, while above Jhasspok was being attacked by a human archer after he'd just hit a drow spellcaster with his battleaxe. Marlo hadn't realized she was seeing through the drow's <em>disguise self</em> spell via the enhanced vision aspect of her <em>robe of eyes</em> and assumed Jhasspok realized he was fighting a drow. But that put her mind to ease, if she'd had any doubts about these assassins - if they had a drow among their numbers then Marlo and her companions were definitely on the side of the angels in this fight.</p><p></p><p>Up on the rooftop, the drow - still a human as far as Jhasspok could tell - stepped away and cast an <em>invisibility</em> spell on himself. Jhasspok snarled in fury, assuming his prey had just <em>teleported</em> away. He spun to the archer and snarled, "That one might have gotten away, but that just means I'll rip your throat out instead of his!" He did his best to look like a ferocious, upright dinosaur, for he knew humans and other mammals were often intimidated by his reptilian form.</p><p></p><p>But Marlo saw right through the drow spellcaster's <em>invisibility</em> spell; with her <em>robe of eyes</em>, she could see him just fine. Below her, she could hear her would-be assassin fumbling around in the dark trying to find her, to no avail.</p><p></p><p>And then, to her surprise, the archer on the rooftop gave a startled cry and leaped off the edge of the rooftop to the area inside the <em>darkness</em> spell below. Jhasspok was surprised his threat had had such an immediate effect, but the archer's intentions were soon shown to be based on something other than abject terror as he sprinted out of the <em>darkness</em> spell calling his wife's name. Ignoring the armed and armored foes all about him, he made a bee-line for the woman Cramer had downed with his <em>inflict critical wounds</em> spell. He brushed past the gnome in his haste and Cramer took the opportunity to cast a <em>poison</em> spell upon the disheveled ranger, causing him to double over in pain but still slowly make his way toward his target.</p><p></p><p>"You've lost the advantage of surprise and now you're outnumbered," Cramer pointed out. "Surrender and you can still walk out of here alive."</p><p></p><p>To his surprise, the archer took him up on the offer immediately. "Fine, yes, we surrender - just help me with her!" He pulled his dying wife to a sitting position and tried slapping her awake. Her head just lolled in his arms.</p><p></p><p>But up on the rooftop (and believing himself to be all alone, for he didn't realize the wounded drow spellcaster was merely invisible), Jhasspok hadn't heard the offer and agreement of surrender; as far as he was concerned one of his two opponents had <em>teleported</em> away but the other one was still within sight, down there menacing Cramer. Jhasspok raced for the side of the rooftop, kicking a foot upon the top of the crenellations there and springing across the gap to the rooftop of the next building in line, a building which happened to be beside the area where Cramer and the archer stood, the latter trying to revive another assassin to bring her back into the fray! Not spending any time wondering why the gnome cleric was allowing this, Jhasspok crossed the rooftop of this second building and leaped down upon the archer, landing on him with all of his weight behind him, snapping at his throat.</p><p></p><p>"Jhasspok, no!" cried Cramer. "They've surrendered!"</p><p></p><p>"They what?" Jhasspok echoed, confused. Still up in the air, Marlo saw the drow spellcaster cast another spell and this time disappear even from her view, for it was a <em>dimension door</em> spell this time. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, to find out the other rogue below her had likewise surrendered to Utred and Khari. Everyone gathered over by the archer and his wife, who he was still trying to revive.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, time to spill your guts," Cramer said. Jhasspok perked up at this, thinking maybe they were going to slay their enemies after all, but no - the gnome apparently just meant it was time for talking. And the archer had apparently taken the gnome's meaning at once, for he started explaining. Jhasspok just sighed in frustration.</p><p></p><p>"We're a band of adventurers, like yourselves," the archer said. "We were hired to take you five in - alive - to answer for your crimes."</p><p></p><p>"Crimes?" demanded Marlo. "What crimes?"</p><p></p><p>"The wizard with us, he was the one who hired us. He said you'd killed a member of his family and he wanted to take you to his sister to answer for your crimes."</p><p></p><p>An expression of confusion crossed Marlo's face. "And you took the word of a drow?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>Now it was the ranger's turn to look confused. "Drow? What drow?" Marlo explained and was surprised to learn she had been the only one to see through the spellcaster's <em>disguise self</em> spell. The ranger was particularly aghast, declaring vehemently that had they known they were working for a drow they'd never have taken the assignment. Cramer believed him.</p><p></p><p>The gnome fished around at his belt pouch and pulled out a <em>potion of neutralize poison</em>. "Here," he said, passing it over to the ranger. "You'll need this to counteract the spell I hit you with." He pulled out another flask - a <em>potion of cure moderate wounds</em> - and handed it over. "And this ought to revive your wife." Then he turned to the other rogue and spelled out the price of the two potions, demanding to be reimbursed. He turned out his coin purse and hurried to comply. "Sorry about your dead guy there," Cramer said, "but remember: you attacked us first." Then the two groups went their separate ways, Cramer and his friends following the still-active arrows of his <em>find the path</em> spell and the others carrying the dead body of their slain comrade to the nearest temple where they hoped to get him raised from the dead. If they were going to do so, though, they were going to pay for that out of their own pocket, Cramer vowed.</p><p></p><p>The arrows led the gnome down into the cellar of an abandoned building, from which they pointed through a hidden passageway into a maze of underground tunnels - not anywhere as deep as in the Underdark, but far enough away from the surface that they weren't likely to be accidentally discovered. The passageway, Marlo spotted with her exceptionally powerful robe-enhanced darkvision (she was able to see twice as far as either of the dwarves), soon opened into a larger chamber from which they could hear talking. Cramer noted this was where his arrows suddenly stopped: that was the Writhing Chamber ahead and it was occupied by forces unknown. And sure enough, a quick peek inside showed a ring of ten tentacles, although these were each splayed out unmoving upon the ground, while a pair of drow chastised a mind flayer seated in the control seat beside the tentacle in the farthest back of the chamber.</p><p></p><p>Cramer thus led the group to their logical destination: back the way they'd come, at least as far as a couple of right-angle turns in the passageways they'd traversed. "Okay," he told them, activating his <em>slave-light cloak</em> to a minimum setting (for he'd had them do without light sources during this underground trek, not wanting to warn anyone of their approach - the two dwarves and Marlo had been their eyes, while Cramer directed their course since the magical arrows were still visible to him even in absolute darkness and Jhasspok had followed blindly with a hand on Khari's shoulder). "Time for any prep spells we want active before we go in. We know the way now."</p><p></p><p>Marlo began by casting the traditional <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell upon the group, followed by a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell centered upon herself. Utred passed over a scroll he'd purchased in Greenvale containing the <em>death ward</em> spell, asking her to cast it on him. She did so, then held up her <em>wand of invisibility</em>. "Anybody want to stroll in there invisible?" she asked. Jhasspok and the dwarves raised their hands immediately. Marlo made them invisible and then applied the wand to herself. "Cramer?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"Not me," the gnome replied, instead asking Utred for his <em>hat of disguise</em>. "I'm going in as a drow."</p><p></p><p>"A particularly short drow," Marlo pointed out as Utred plopped the hat on the gnome's head and Cramer altered his facial features and skin coloration to appear like a dark elf.</p><p></p><p>"Easily fixed," countered Cramer, casting a <em>righteous might</em> spell upon himself, causing him to grow in size to well within drow height standards - plus granting him a slew of combat bonuses in the bargain.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, have fun with that," Marlo replied, casting a <em>teleport</em> spell on the other four of them, placing them into the Writhing Chamber, about a quarter of the way around the circle of dead tentacles from the mind flayer.</p><p></p><p>"Hey there!" called a voice from the front of the chamber. It was Cramer, strolling in as bold as you please in his magical drow get-up. "I seek to join the followers of Uboros!" Unseen, Khari and Utred gripped their weapons, ready to leap into battle.</p><p></p><p>The male drow stepped forward (Marlo was able to identify him as the spellcaster on the rooftops above), speaking in the drow language. "What House are you from?" he demanded.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Cramer had learned the drow tongue during his time in captivity as a slave of the Overreach. "I am from House Jalamir," he answered, quite truthfully, in the language of the dark elves.</p><p></p><p>But the assassin wasn't in the least bit tricked. Turning to his sister, he said contemptuously, "It's probably the dwarf, using the <em>hat of disguise</em>."</p><p></p><p>That was an opening Utred couldn't resist. Sprinting forward, he popped back into visibility as he brought his greataxe swinging into the body of the drow assassin. "No, I'm right <em>here!</em>" he grunted with a grin on his now-visible face. Khari followed in Utred's footsteps, bringing his warhammer swinging into the female duskblade, his <em>invisibility</em> spell likewise vanishing during the attack. The duskblade snarled in fury at Khari's attack and stabbed at him twice with her <em>sword of wounding</em>, the first strike imbued with a <em>vampiric touch</em> spell that further drained the dwarf's vitality while increasing that of the drow.</p><p></p><p>In Jhasspok's mind, the fact that the two dwarves were in combat with the drow meant it was up to him to take on the mind flayer. But he was well aware that mind flayers could zap you with that mind blast of theirs, causing you to stand there immobile and all but insensate. Fortunately, Jhasspok had a plan to bypass that particular ability: since the illithid was seated in a chair facing forward, he'd just sneak around behind him and attack him from behind, out of the range of the potential cone of the mind blast! Well pleased with the brilliance of this plan, Jhasspok snuck around the ring of drooping tentacles until he was behind the mind flayer, then he brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the illithid, cutting into the creature's shoulder. He noted a strange thing as he popped back into visibility: the mind flayer was chained to the chair by the ankle.</p><p></p><p>And then the mind flayer demonstrated the futility of Jhasspok's cunning strategy by simply turning in place and facing the lizardfolk behind him. Fully expecting to be taken out by a mind blast, Jhasspok was surprised when the mind flayer made a simple - and quite reasonable - <em>suggestion</em> instead. <Why don't you focus your attention on killing the drow?> he said directly into the reptile's brain. Yes, that made perfect sense to Jhasspok!</p><p></p><p>Marlo drew her <em>arcane blade</em> and activated it, a blade springing out of the empty hilt at her mental command and expanding to the size of a longsword. She stabbed at the drow assassin, whose attention thus far had been focused on fighting off Utred. Cramer continued his approach, casting a <em>blade barrier</em> spell that started at the duskblade and continued in a straight line to the seated mind flayer. As blades suddenly materialized and started slicing and stabbing, the duskblade leaped to one side; the mind flayer had no such option and was quickly hacked to pieces, which flew about in all directions. Jhasspok snapped a couple of them out of the air - mind flayer flesh was very similar to that of octopi and squid, as he well knew - and focused his attention on the duskblade, who was on the same side of the <em>blade barrier</em> as the lizardfolk. She was a drow and it had been <em>suggested</em> that he slay the drow. Very well then: Jhasspok had his next target!</p><p></p><p>Khari activated his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> and burrowed a short distance under the stone floor of the chamber, popping back up behind the drow assassin and slamming him in the back with his hammer. That pushed him closer to Utred, who slew him with his greataxe and then pivoted to bring his blade slicing into the duskblade next. She was left staggering and on her last legs, but she was still alive.</p><p></p><p>Not for very much longer, though, for Jhasspok charged at her and nearly cut her in two pieces with his battleaxe. She fell to the ground, dead. And then Jhasspok locked eyes with Cramer, still in his drow appearance thanks to the magic of the <em>hat of disguise</em>. Jhasspok saw a drow, tightened his grip on his battleaxe, and readied himself to charge across the distance between them. Cramer saw the bloodlust in the reptile's eyes and knew Jhasspok meant to slay him.</p><p></p><p>It would have been a simple matter, at this point, to take off the <em>hat of disguise</em> and reveal himself as the gnome cleric Jhasspok had known since Cramer had first been captured by the drow; that would have instantly prevented the lizardfolk from wanting to kill the gnome. But it looked like combat was over, the three enemies having been slain, and Cramer was still a gnome - and gnomes liked nothing so much as a good prank. So instead, Cramer cast a spell he'd never had the occasion to use before. <em>Mislead</em> caused the gnome to become invisible, at the same time leaving behind an exact - but quite illusory - copy of himself in his place. Cramer merely had to take a step to the side as Jhasspok came barreling in, swinging his battleaxe for all it was worth. (Utred, seeing the impending attack and realizing the "drow" was really Cramer, went to tackle the gnome but passed right through him.) Jhasspok similarly met no resistance as his axe-blade went through the illusory drow, which Cramer caused to wince as if he'd been hurt by the lizardfolk's attack. So Jhasspok attacked again, swinging his weapon at a foe who wasn't really there, despite the evidence of the lizardfolk's eyes. Cramer had a good old time leading Jhasspok this way and that as he caused his drow duplicate to try to avoid the lizardfolk's attacks.</p><p></p><p>Marlo rolled her eyes at the gnome's silliness - and, unseen by her, each of the hundreds of eyes on her <em>robe of eyes</em> did likewise - and turned to do the job they had all come here to do. Casting a <em>disintegrate</em> spell at the nearest tentacle, she was pleased to see the dead flesh of an Elder God no longer contained any of the frightful spell resistance that made it all but impossible to affect when the Dying One had still been alive. Utred, seeing that Cramer was in no real danger (he wasn't sure how the cleric had done it, but he'd seen Jhasspok's axe go right through the drow with no effect), pulled out the <em>Null Axe</em> and similarly got to work, chopping the dead flesh off at the base where it rose up out of the stone floor.</p><p></p><p>By the time the tentacles had all been dealt with and the Writhing Chamber was no more, Jhasspok was just about winded and Cramer had tired of his game. He allowed the <em>mislead</em> spell to expire, causing the illusory drow to wink out of existence as he himself became visible once more. But by then he'd taken the <em>hat of disguise</em> from his head and looked like his normal self. Jhasspok looked around the chamber and saw no more drow that needed to be slain. Good! He set head of the battleaxe down on the stone floor and leaned over, catching his breath.</p><p></p><p>But now Khari had become intrigued with the possibilities. "Can I see that?" he asked Cramer. The cleric passed over the <em>hat of disguise</em> without comment, curious as to what the dwarven fighter had planned.</p><p></p><p>"Hey Jhasspok, over here!" called Khari. Jhasspok turned to look and there stood a drow, dressed in Khari's armor and holding his warhammer! That could only mean one thing: a drow had killed Khari and taken his stuff! Enraged, the lizardfolk crossed the room and brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the vile drow.</p><p></p><p>Only the vile drow was no longer there. Right before Jhasspok had reached him, Khari used his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> to slip beneath the stone floor, move about ten feet to his right, and pop back up again. "Over here!" he called, causing the lizardfolk to spin about and race his way to the attack. This went on for some time until Marlo noticed and chided the dwarf. "You're going to cause him to die of a heart attack if you don't cut out your shenanigans!"</p><p></p><p>Properly chastised, Khari rose back up from the stone floor, this time with hat in hand and looking like his own self. "Sorry, Jhasspok," he said as he passed the <em>hat of disguise</em> back to Cramer, who in turn gave it back to Utred. Jhasspok was a bit peeved at the prank that had been played upon him by his friends, at least until they promised to make it up to him once they got back to Greenvale by buying him as much fish as he could eat.</p><p></p><p>"Sssss sssss sssss sssss!" chuckled Jhasspok, laughing at the thought that they had no idea how much fish he could eat in one sitting, if money was not an issue.</p><p></p><p>"Well, while you guys were all clowning around, Utred and I got the mission done," pointed out Marlo, indicating the completely demolished Writhing Gate before them. There was no way anybody was even going to be able to use it again.</p><p></p><p>"And a fine job you did," agreed Cramer. "Come on: huddle up and I'll <em>teleport</em> us back to Greenvale."</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Logan once again pulled a fast one on us: we had expected to be attacked by assassins once we returned to Revin but we hadn't expected to be attacked by a band of neutral rogues who'd been duped by their employer. (They were even using <em>merciful</em> weapons, which dealt nonlethal damage.) The drow assassin, it turns out, had been a cousin of the Mortal Queen and was none too pleased at the events that came about as a result of us having slain her.</p><p></p><p>We all leveled up to 15th at the end of this adventure. Khari and Jhasspok each added another level of fighter, while everyone else stuck to their normal classes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8414760, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 43: BACK DOWN IN REVIN TOWN[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 14[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 13/psychic warrior 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 14[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 14[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 29 September 2021 - - - It was good to be back in Greenvale after so much time spent trudging around in the lightless caverns and tunnels of the Underdark. It was good to sleep in a real bed, and to eat better fare than trail rations, and to be able to shop for needed goods. The group spent quite a bit of time topside in the various magic shops - for the sunborn drow had quite a few spellcasters among their number - making new purchases and seeing to having some of their previously-existing magic items upgraded in power. They also spent a fair bit of time among the Greenvale sages, discussing various strategies about taking down the remaining Writhing Gates. Of course, they already knew where the one House Jalamir had used was located, but that put it lower on the priority list, at least by Cramer Appleknocker's reasoning - they could always go take that one out of commission any time they wanted, or any time they needed a few days to fill. Right now, the gnome cleric was more interested in winkling out the exact location of the "Writhing Chamber" the doomed assassin known only as the Observer had said was somewhere beneath the city of Revin. And the easiest way to do that, the sages all agreed, was to have the group [I]teleport[/I] to Revin and then use a [I]find the path[/I] spell to lead them directly to where they needed to go. So, after a few days of recuperating and having their magical upgrades attended to, the five adventurers gathered together and the gnome cleric of Fharlanghn cast the [I]teleport[/I] spell that sent them instantly traversing the miles between the two cities and ending up in the city of Revin without incident. "I gotta admit, that sure beats hoofin' it by foot!" Utred enthused. Cramer pulled out the scroll containing the [I]find the path[/I] spell he'd purchased for this endeavor and spoke the magic syllables that activated the spell. Instantly, to his own vision - and his alone - a series of arrows appeared on the ground before him, pointing the way the group would need to go to find the Writhing Chamber. "This way," Cramer pointed, waving Utred over so he could take his customary seat upon the dwarven barbarian's backpack. Climbing up into position, he told Utred, "I'll tell you which way to go." "You usually do," agreed Utred. "Don't you get tired of lugging him around all the time?" demanded Marlo, looking in disdain at the lazy gnome. "Eh, he's not that heavy," Utred commented. "Plus, I don't have the weight of all those weapons anymore, so I'm actually carrying less weight with him on me back than I was before." Utred Butterflinger was a walking arsenal and until recently he'd traveled with all sorts of weapons hanging off of his belt or strapped to his back. One of the Greenvale weaponsmiths had suggested a means of decluttering his arsenal, in the purchase of an extradimensional carrying case. Much like an oversize quiver, it was a wide leather cylinder, closed at the bottom but open at the top, with a strap that allowed the dwarf to easily sling it over his shoulder. But by placing his hand inside the extradimensional opening at the top, he could instantly grab any of the many weapons he kept stored inside and it would immediately jump to hand. Best of all, its magic "shrunk" the weapons during transit, so he could fit weapons - like his [I]flaming greataxe[/I] - whose bladed weapon-heads were too big to fit through the opening without magical aid. Utred called it his "weapons locker" and he was well and truly pleased with its purchase. Cramer and Utred led the others through the winding streets of Revin, through a different section of town than the area they'd last explored the last time they were here. That had been in the market district - where they had been attacked by the Observer the first time, with her wannabe-assassin recruits. Knowing there was likely an Assassins Guild somewhere in Revin, Utred and Khari kept a wary eye out, looking in recessed doorways and alleyways between buildings, even up at the rooftops - anywhere an assassin might be lurking, waiting to get the drop on them. Bringing up the rear by a wide margin, Jhasspok was keeping an eye out, too - but he was mostly worried about the [I]fireball[/I] sun, for despite how much Marlo and Cramer insisted it was far, far away and couldn't come to get them, the lizardfolk wasn't quite willing to take that on faith. He looked around for assassins as well, but most of his attention was spent making sure the [I]fireball[/I] sun kept its distance. And then, just like that, the [I]fireball[/I] sun was gone. Jhasspok flinched, suspecting that sun was up to something - was it shutting itself off so it could somehow try to sneak up on them? Cramer, however, was much more versed in spellcraft and immediately recognized it for what it was: a [I]darkness[/I] spell, no doubt cast in preparation for an attack. He cast a [I]quickened magic vestment[/I] spell upon himself as Utred pulled his [I]greenflame greataxe[/I] from his weapons locker and sprinted forward at full speed, wanting to get himself and his gnome piggyback passenger out of the radius of darkness as quickly as possible, for if the assassins wanted them encloaked in deep shadows then the barbarian wanted them out in the sunlight that much more. As he ran, Utred saw a leather-clad male rogue step out of the shadows of a side alley as a female rogue emerged from an opposite alleyway across the street. Utred veered to the left, racing towards the male and bringing his greataxe swinging into his chest as he got within range. The rogue dodged backwards in time to save his life but not quick enough to avoid having a horizontal rip tear through his leathers and the skin of his chest from the power of the dwarf's swing. Inside the circle of darkness, another rogue stepped up beside Marlo and stabbed out with his blade. However, he hadn't contended on the sorceress wearing a [I]robe of eyes[/I] and she saw him coming even though he had approached from behind, which allowed her to pivot out of the way at the last moment. There were also two attackers stationed on the rooftop of a building to the right of the heroes. One of these wielded a longbow and sent an arrow streaking toward Cramer's head, but as he was still on Utred's backpack at the moment the dwarf's combat movements accidentally moved him out of the arrow's flight path at the last second. Cramer looked up at the archer after the arrow whizzed by his head and saw the other rooftop figure as well, a robed human, likely a wizard or cleric. The gnome cast a [I]spell resistance[/I] spell upon himself and wriggled down off of Utred's backpack, landing nimbly on the street and rushing away from the group, trying to get himself far enough away from Utred that they couldn't both be targeted by the same [I]fireball[/I] spell. His speed was enhanced by the [I]longstrider[/I] spell he habitually cast upon himself each morning. But he heard footsteps coming up behind him and dared a backwards glance; the female assassin was coming after him, short sword in hand and seemingly ready to gut him. But then another figure burst out of the radius of the [I]darkness[/I] spell. This was Khari Hammerslammer, [I]earthglide warhammer [/I] in hand as he ran to catch up with the woman chasing down Cramer. From what the dwarven fighter could tell, it looked like there were five assassins after them, this time all of them human. Well, they'd fought off similar odds before and prevailed! Jhasspok had seen a glimpse of the two figures on the rooftop before the light went away and had heard the distinctive [I]twang[/I] of an arrow being fired by one of them. He was not what anyone would call a tactician by any means - he relied upon instinct more than fully thought-out strategies - but somewhere in the back of his lizard brain he realized having two enemies out of reach was not a good thing. Thus, before he'd even had time to process the information his eyes had been telling him, Jhasspok was implementing a fix to the problem at hand. He raced diagonally ahead, towards the two-story building upon which the two snipers were standing. It was dark, so Jhasspok leaped on instinct, jumping when it seemed like the right time rather than when he could actually see the building before him. But his memory of the building's location was correct; he hit stone about halfway up the side of the structure and frantically started climbing, skittering up the building rather like a lizard. Toward the end of his climb he emerged from the hemisphere of magical [I]darkness[/I] and soon after he pulled himself up onto the rooftop, about halfway between a robed spellcaster of some sort and a human archer. In the street below, the male rogue flanked Khari and stabbed out with his blade, catching the dwarf in the side - but, surprisingly, the blow wasn't anywhere near as painful as Khari, who had been stabbed many times in his adventuring career, would have expected. Utred joined the conga line as he stepped into place behind the man who had just stabbed Khari, slicing into him in turn with his greataxe. Behind, in the darkness, Marlo cast an [I]empowered shocking grasp[/I] spell and spun upon her attacker, hoping to make contact and trigger the spell hanging on her fingertips, ready for release. But he was equally nimble in the darkness and avoided the touch, leaving the untriggered spell active upon the sorceress's fingertips. To facilitate his climb, Jhasspok had left his battleaxe hanging on his leather weapon-belt. As he scrambled to arm himself now that he was up on the rooftop against two enemies, the robed man surprised him by racing forward and slapping a hand down upon Jhasspok's arm. The lizardfolk had expected a [I]lightning bolt[/I] or [I]magic missile[/I] or some sort of ranged spell, but this, while activated by touch, was definitely a spell of some sort, for Jhasspok could feel pain at the site of the touch as magical venom tried flowing into his system. But Jhasspok had spent his early years as a drow slave; the experience had made him tough and able to overcome all kinds of physical punishment as needed and he gutted his way through the magic attack, causing the spell's effects to minimize and then dissipate. That did, however, make it easy for the lizardfolk to decide which of the two potential assassins should be his first target. Marlo once again dodged a sword-strike from the assassin attacking her, who then managed to evade her second attempt at touching him and activating her [I]empowered shocking grasp[/I] spell. The archer on the rooftop rushed over to attack Jhasspok since he was facing the human wizard who had hired him and his band, but his sword missed the reptile, who was maneuvering into place to bring the blade of his battleaxe down upon the spellcaster. The axe struck true, eliciting a cry of pain from the human wizard. Cramer cast an [I]inflict critical wounds[/I] spell on the female assassin and she fell to the street, unconscious and making her way towards death. Almost immediately thereafter, Khari's warhammer crashed into the side of the male assassin's head, crushing in the side of his skull. He also fell where he stood, just behind his female associate in hitting the ground but having already beaten her to lifelessness. Marlo had had enough of this "fumble around in the dark" nonsense; despite still having an [I]empowered shocking grasp[/I] spell waiting on her fingertips, she mentally activated her boots and levitated into the air. Once out of the hemisphere of the [I]darkness[/I] spell's effect, she could see the others: Khari, Utred, and Cramer looking down at the two assassins they'd just dropped, while above Jhasspok was being attacked by a human archer after he'd just hit a drow spellcaster with his battleaxe. Marlo hadn't realized she was seeing through the drow's [I]disguise self[/I] spell via the enhanced vision aspect of her [I]robe of eyes[/I] and assumed Jhasspok realized he was fighting a drow. But that put her mind to ease, if she'd had any doubts about these assassins - if they had a drow among their numbers then Marlo and her companions were definitely on the side of the angels in this fight. Up on the rooftop, the drow - still a human as far as Jhasspok could tell - stepped away and cast an [I]invisibility[/I] spell on himself. Jhasspok snarled in fury, assuming his prey had just [I]teleported[/I] away. He spun to the archer and snarled, "That one might have gotten away, but that just means I'll rip your throat out instead of his!" He did his best to look like a ferocious, upright dinosaur, for he knew humans and other mammals were often intimidated by his reptilian form. But Marlo saw right through the drow spellcaster's [I]invisibility[/I] spell; with her [I]robe of eyes[/I], she could see him just fine. Below her, she could hear her would-be assassin fumbling around in the dark trying to find her, to no avail. And then, to her surprise, the archer on the rooftop gave a startled cry and leaped off the edge of the rooftop to the area inside the [I]darkness[/I] spell below. Jhasspok was surprised his threat had had such an immediate effect, but the archer's intentions were soon shown to be based on something other than abject terror as he sprinted out of the [I]darkness[/I] spell calling his wife's name. Ignoring the armed and armored foes all about him, he made a bee-line for the woman Cramer had downed with his [I]inflict critical wounds[/I] spell. He brushed past the gnome in his haste and Cramer took the opportunity to cast a [I]poison[/I] spell upon the disheveled ranger, causing him to double over in pain but still slowly make his way toward his target. "You've lost the advantage of surprise and now you're outnumbered," Cramer pointed out. "Surrender and you can still walk out of here alive." To his surprise, the archer took him up on the offer immediately. "Fine, yes, we surrender - just help me with her!" He pulled his dying wife to a sitting position and tried slapping her awake. Her head just lolled in his arms. But up on the rooftop (and believing himself to be all alone, for he didn't realize the wounded drow spellcaster was merely invisible), Jhasspok hadn't heard the offer and agreement of surrender; as far as he was concerned one of his two opponents had [I]teleported[/I] away but the other one was still within sight, down there menacing Cramer. Jhasspok raced for the side of the rooftop, kicking a foot upon the top of the crenellations there and springing across the gap to the rooftop of the next building in line, a building which happened to be beside the area where Cramer and the archer stood, the latter trying to revive another assassin to bring her back into the fray! Not spending any time wondering why the gnome cleric was allowing this, Jhasspok crossed the rooftop of this second building and leaped down upon the archer, landing on him with all of his weight behind him, snapping at his throat. "Jhasspok, no!" cried Cramer. "They've surrendered!" "They what?" Jhasspok echoed, confused. Still up in the air, Marlo saw the drow spellcaster cast another spell and this time disappear even from her view, for it was a [I]dimension door[/I] spell this time. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, to find out the other rogue below her had likewise surrendered to Utred and Khari. Everyone gathered over by the archer and his wife, who he was still trying to revive. "Okay, time to spill your guts," Cramer said. Jhasspok perked up at this, thinking maybe they were going to slay their enemies after all, but no - the gnome apparently just meant it was time for talking. And the archer had apparently taken the gnome's meaning at once, for he started explaining. Jhasspok just sighed in frustration. "We're a band of adventurers, like yourselves," the archer said. "We were hired to take you five in - alive - to answer for your crimes." "Crimes?" demanded Marlo. "What crimes?" "The wizard with us, he was the one who hired us. He said you'd killed a member of his family and he wanted to take you to his sister to answer for your crimes." An expression of confusion crossed Marlo's face. "And you took the word of a drow?" she asked. Now it was the ranger's turn to look confused. "Drow? What drow?" Marlo explained and was surprised to learn she had been the only one to see through the spellcaster's [I]disguise self[/I] spell. The ranger was particularly aghast, declaring vehemently that had they known they were working for a drow they'd never have taken the assignment. Cramer believed him. The gnome fished around at his belt pouch and pulled out a [I]potion of neutralize poison[/I]. "Here," he said, passing it over to the ranger. "You'll need this to counteract the spell I hit you with." He pulled out another flask - a [I]potion of cure moderate wounds[/I] - and handed it over. "And this ought to revive your wife." Then he turned to the other rogue and spelled out the price of the two potions, demanding to be reimbursed. He turned out his coin purse and hurried to comply. "Sorry about your dead guy there," Cramer said, "but remember: you attacked us first." Then the two groups went their separate ways, Cramer and his friends following the still-active arrows of his [I]find the path[/I] spell and the others carrying the dead body of their slain comrade to the nearest temple where they hoped to get him raised from the dead. If they were going to do so, though, they were going to pay for that out of their own pocket, Cramer vowed. The arrows led the gnome down into the cellar of an abandoned building, from which they pointed through a hidden passageway into a maze of underground tunnels - not anywhere as deep as in the Underdark, but far enough away from the surface that they weren't likely to be accidentally discovered. The passageway, Marlo spotted with her exceptionally powerful robe-enhanced darkvision (she was able to see twice as far as either of the dwarves), soon opened into a larger chamber from which they could hear talking. Cramer noted this was where his arrows suddenly stopped: that was the Writhing Chamber ahead and it was occupied by forces unknown. And sure enough, a quick peek inside showed a ring of ten tentacles, although these were each splayed out unmoving upon the ground, while a pair of drow chastised a mind flayer seated in the control seat beside the tentacle in the farthest back of the chamber. Cramer thus led the group to their logical destination: back the way they'd come, at least as far as a couple of right-angle turns in the passageways they'd traversed. "Okay," he told them, activating his [I]slave-light cloak[/I] to a minimum setting (for he'd had them do without light sources during this underground trek, not wanting to warn anyone of their approach - the two dwarves and Marlo had been their eyes, while Cramer directed their course since the magical arrows were still visible to him even in absolute darkness and Jhasspok had followed blindly with a hand on Khari's shoulder). "Time for any prep spells we want active before we go in. We know the way now." Marlo began by casting the traditional [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell upon the group, followed by a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell centered upon herself. Utred passed over a scroll he'd purchased in Greenvale containing the [I]death ward[/I] spell, asking her to cast it on him. She did so, then held up her [I]wand of invisibility[/I]. "Anybody want to stroll in there invisible?" she asked. Jhasspok and the dwarves raised their hands immediately. Marlo made them invisible and then applied the wand to herself. "Cramer?" she asked. "Not me," the gnome replied, instead asking Utred for his [I]hat of disguise[/I]. "I'm going in as a drow." "A particularly short drow," Marlo pointed out as Utred plopped the hat on the gnome's head and Cramer altered his facial features and skin coloration to appear like a dark elf. "Easily fixed," countered Cramer, casting a [I]righteous might[/I] spell upon himself, causing him to grow in size to well within drow height standards - plus granting him a slew of combat bonuses in the bargain. "Okay, have fun with that," Marlo replied, casting a [I]teleport[/I] spell on the other four of them, placing them into the Writhing Chamber, about a quarter of the way around the circle of dead tentacles from the mind flayer. "Hey there!" called a voice from the front of the chamber. It was Cramer, strolling in as bold as you please in his magical drow get-up. "I seek to join the followers of Uboros!" Unseen, Khari and Utred gripped their weapons, ready to leap into battle. The male drow stepped forward (Marlo was able to identify him as the spellcaster on the rooftops above), speaking in the drow language. "What House are you from?" he demanded. Fortunately, Cramer had learned the drow tongue during his time in captivity as a slave of the Overreach. "I am from House Jalamir," he answered, quite truthfully, in the language of the dark elves. But the assassin wasn't in the least bit tricked. Turning to his sister, he said contemptuously, "It's probably the dwarf, using the [I]hat of disguise[/I]." That was an opening Utred couldn't resist. Sprinting forward, he popped back into visibility as he brought his greataxe swinging into the body of the drow assassin. "No, I'm right [I]here![/I]" he grunted with a grin on his now-visible face. Khari followed in Utred's footsteps, bringing his warhammer swinging into the female duskblade, his [I]invisibility[/I] spell likewise vanishing during the attack. The duskblade snarled in fury at Khari's attack and stabbed at him twice with her [I]sword of wounding[/I], the first strike imbued with a [I]vampiric touch[/I] spell that further drained the dwarf's vitality while increasing that of the drow. In Jhasspok's mind, the fact that the two dwarves were in combat with the drow meant it was up to him to take on the mind flayer. But he was well aware that mind flayers could zap you with that mind blast of theirs, causing you to stand there immobile and all but insensate. Fortunately, Jhasspok had a plan to bypass that particular ability: since the illithid was seated in a chair facing forward, he'd just sneak around behind him and attack him from behind, out of the range of the potential cone of the mind blast! Well pleased with the brilliance of this plan, Jhasspok snuck around the ring of drooping tentacles until he was behind the mind flayer, then he brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the illithid, cutting into the creature's shoulder. He noted a strange thing as he popped back into visibility: the mind flayer was chained to the chair by the ankle. And then the mind flayer demonstrated the futility of Jhasspok's cunning strategy by simply turning in place and facing the lizardfolk behind him. Fully expecting to be taken out by a mind blast, Jhasspok was surprised when the mind flayer made a simple - and quite reasonable - [I]suggestion[/I] instead. <Why don't you focus your attention on killing the drow?> he said directly into the reptile's brain. Yes, that made perfect sense to Jhasspok! Marlo drew her [I]arcane blade[/I] and activated it, a blade springing out of the empty hilt at her mental command and expanding to the size of a longsword. She stabbed at the drow assassin, whose attention thus far had been focused on fighting off Utred. Cramer continued his approach, casting a [I]blade barrier[/I] spell that started at the duskblade and continued in a straight line to the seated mind flayer. As blades suddenly materialized and started slicing and stabbing, the duskblade leaped to one side; the mind flayer had no such option and was quickly hacked to pieces, which flew about in all directions. Jhasspok snapped a couple of them out of the air - mind flayer flesh was very similar to that of octopi and squid, as he well knew - and focused his attention on the duskblade, who was on the same side of the [I]blade barrier[/I] as the lizardfolk. She was a drow and it had been [I]suggested[/I] that he slay the drow. Very well then: Jhasspok had his next target! Khari activated his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] and burrowed a short distance under the stone floor of the chamber, popping back up behind the drow assassin and slamming him in the back with his hammer. That pushed him closer to Utred, who slew him with his greataxe and then pivoted to bring his blade slicing into the duskblade next. She was left staggering and on her last legs, but she was still alive. Not for very much longer, though, for Jhasspok charged at her and nearly cut her in two pieces with his battleaxe. She fell to the ground, dead. And then Jhasspok locked eyes with Cramer, still in his drow appearance thanks to the magic of the [I]hat of disguise[/I]. Jhasspok saw a drow, tightened his grip on his battleaxe, and readied himself to charge across the distance between them. Cramer saw the bloodlust in the reptile's eyes and knew Jhasspok meant to slay him. It would have been a simple matter, at this point, to take off the [I]hat of disguise[/I] and reveal himself as the gnome cleric Jhasspok had known since Cramer had first been captured by the drow; that would have instantly prevented the lizardfolk from wanting to kill the gnome. But it looked like combat was over, the three enemies having been slain, and Cramer was still a gnome - and gnomes liked nothing so much as a good prank. So instead, Cramer cast a spell he'd never had the occasion to use before. [I]Mislead[/I] caused the gnome to become invisible, at the same time leaving behind an exact - but quite illusory - copy of himself in his place. Cramer merely had to take a step to the side as Jhasspok came barreling in, swinging his battleaxe for all it was worth. (Utred, seeing the impending attack and realizing the "drow" was really Cramer, went to tackle the gnome but passed right through him.) Jhasspok similarly met no resistance as his axe-blade went through the illusory drow, which Cramer caused to wince as if he'd been hurt by the lizardfolk's attack. So Jhasspok attacked again, swinging his weapon at a foe who wasn't really there, despite the evidence of the lizardfolk's eyes. Cramer had a good old time leading Jhasspok this way and that as he caused his drow duplicate to try to avoid the lizardfolk's attacks. Marlo rolled her eyes at the gnome's silliness - and, unseen by her, each of the hundreds of eyes on her [I]robe of eyes[/I] did likewise - and turned to do the job they had all come here to do. Casting a [I]disintegrate[/I] spell at the nearest tentacle, she was pleased to see the dead flesh of an Elder God no longer contained any of the frightful spell resistance that made it all but impossible to affect when the Dying One had still been alive. Utred, seeing that Cramer was in no real danger (he wasn't sure how the cleric had done it, but he'd seen Jhasspok's axe go right through the drow with no effect), pulled out the [I]Null Axe[/I] and similarly got to work, chopping the dead flesh off at the base where it rose up out of the stone floor. By the time the tentacles had all been dealt with and the Writhing Chamber was no more, Jhasspok was just about winded and Cramer had tired of his game. He allowed the [I]mislead[/I] spell to expire, causing the illusory drow to wink out of existence as he himself became visible once more. But by then he'd taken the [I]hat of disguise[/I] from his head and looked like his normal self. Jhasspok looked around the chamber and saw no more drow that needed to be slain. Good! He set head of the battleaxe down on the stone floor and leaned over, catching his breath. But now Khari had become intrigued with the possibilities. "Can I see that?" he asked Cramer. The cleric passed over the [I]hat of disguise[/I] without comment, curious as to what the dwarven fighter had planned. "Hey Jhasspok, over here!" called Khari. Jhasspok turned to look and there stood a drow, dressed in Khari's armor and holding his warhammer! That could only mean one thing: a drow had killed Khari and taken his stuff! Enraged, the lizardfolk crossed the room and brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the vile drow. Only the vile drow was no longer there. Right before Jhasspok had reached him, Khari used his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] to slip beneath the stone floor, move about ten feet to his right, and pop back up again. "Over here!" he called, causing the lizardfolk to spin about and race his way to the attack. This went on for some time until Marlo noticed and chided the dwarf. "You're going to cause him to die of a heart attack if you don't cut out your shenanigans!" Properly chastised, Khari rose back up from the stone floor, this time with hat in hand and looking like his own self. "Sorry, Jhasspok," he said as he passed the [I]hat of disguise[/I] back to Cramer, who in turn gave it back to Utred. Jhasspok was a bit peeved at the prank that had been played upon him by his friends, at least until they promised to make it up to him once they got back to Greenvale by buying him as much fish as he could eat. "Sssss sssss sssss sssss!" chuckled Jhasspok, laughing at the thought that they had no idea how much fish he could eat in one sitting, if money was not an issue. "Well, while you guys were all clowning around, Utred and I got the mission done," pointed out Marlo, indicating the completely demolished Writhing Gate before them. There was no way anybody was even going to be able to use it again. "And a fine job you did," agreed Cramer. "Come on: huddle up and I'll [I]teleport[/I] us back to Greenvale." - - - Logan once again pulled a fast one on us: we had expected to be attacked by assassins once we returned to Revin but we hadn't expected to be attacked by a band of neutral rogues who'd been duped by their employer. (They were even using [I]merciful[/I] weapons, which dealt nonlethal damage.) The drow assassin, it turns out, had been a cousin of the Mortal Queen and was none too pleased at the events that came about as a result of us having slain her. We all leveled up to 15th at the end of this adventure. Khari and Jhasspok each added another level of fighter, while everyone else stuck to their normal classes. [/QUOTE]
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