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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8506254" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 49: THE BROOD OF RADRAVOSSK</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 15/psychic warrior 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 16</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 16</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 5 January 2022</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"So what can we expect going up against vampires?" Utred asked. "Other than wanting to suck our blood, what can they do?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, they like <em>dominating</em> people," answered Cramer, "but as long as we each have a <em>protection from evil</em> spell or <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell up and active, that should prevent that."</p><p></p><p>"So what else?" prompted Utred.</p><p></p><p>"They're able to drain life energy not just through sucking your blood but even through mere contact," the gnome cleric continued.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, so how can we prevent that?"</p><p></p><p>"A <em>death ward</em> spell would do the trick."</p><p></p><p>"Can you cast <em>death ward</em>?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, but only up to five per day, and that would wipe out my entire spell inventory for that level of spell. There are other spells of that level that would prove to be useful in an encounter with vampires: <em>restoration</em>, <em>spell immunity</em>, <em>divine power</em>...."</p><p></p><p>"There are five of us."</p><p></p><p>"I am well aware."</p><p></p><p>"But you don't want to cast five <em>death ward</em> spells on us."</p><p></p><p>"That wouldn't be my first choice, no."</p><p></p><p>And thus Utred, upon returning from having participated in the all-out attack against the last members of the Seekers of Eternity to have been rooted out from their hiding places after having been caught trying to infiltrate and take over the Council of Guilds in the Azure Glade, found himself plunking down a bag of coins at a magic shop where they sold scrolls. He picked up several <em>death ward</em> scrolls, figuring Cramer couldn't complain if the barbarian was providing him with a <em>death ward</em> scroll where all he had to do was cast it on Utred without interfering with his own special spell selection for the day.</p><p></p><p>But the next day Khier - the head of the Church of Boccob in the Azure Glade - led the group to the location of the sealed chamber where the Writhing Gate was said to be located. It was at the end of a series of underground tunnels beneath the city, and the door was on the other side of a bridge over a small underground stream, the perfect way to prevent vampires from being able to exit the chamber even if the sealed door were somehow broken open. "Vampires cannot cross running water," Khier explained. Jhasspok furrowed his brow trying to figure out why that might be, until Utred turned his way and said, "Magic." Ah, that explained it, then - the lizardfolk well knew that magic was weird and didn't often make a whole lot of sense.</p><p></p><p>"Let's cast our prep spells before we go in," suggested Cramer, buffing himself up with a bevy of spells intended to ensure his own protection: <em>longstrider</em>, <em>moment of prescience</em>, <em>detect undead</em>, <em>death ward</em>, and <em>magic circle against evil</em>. Then he used his wand to deliver an <em>owl's wisdom</em> spell to each of the five and used Utred's <em>death ward</em> scrolls to ensure there would be no vampiric energy-draining going on in the battle to come. He then voluntarily cast a <em>protection from evil</em> spell on Utred.</p><p></p><p>Marlo, in the meantime, was almost as busy with her own spellcasting, imbuing herself with a <em>magic circle against evil</em> and then casting the same spell on both Khari and Jhasspok; casting a protective <em>stoneskin</em> spell on the lizardfolk as well; and then the standard <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell that linked all five of the group up in a mental communication network. Khari mentally activated his psionic <em>offensive prescience</em> ability, the better to guide his blows with his <em>earthglide warhammer</em>.</p><p></p><p>Once both spellcasters were ready, Cramer opened the door in the way Khier had shown them. There was silence from within, with only the slight trickling of the water beneath the bridge to be heard. Furthermore, there was nothing to be seen within the chamber on the other side of the door, the whole area having been covered in an unnatural darkness. However, Marlo's <em>robe of eyes</em> was able to pierce the darkness and she explained over the telepathic link what she saw inside: <Seven vampires: four up close, wearing plate mail and armed with swords. Three further back, possibly spellcasters.> This last was a guess on her part by the way they were not wearing armor and two of them - the males - were making strange hand gestures; unbeknownst to the sorceress, they were each casting a <em>false life</em> spell to boost their staying power in the battle to come.</p><p></p><p>Khari moved cautiously into the darkened room, warhammer in hand and ready to strike at whichever vampire opted to try to close in for the kill. His <em>slave-light cloak</em> had been activated and this allowed him to see a few feet away before the illumination was swallowed by the surrounding darkness. He got his opportunity almost immediately, as an armored vampire came in with his sword swinging; Khari dodged the blow and sent his own weapon striking sideways into the vampire's torso. But then the other three were on him, attacking from all directions, and it was more than the dwarven fighter could do to fend off all of their attacks. Sword-blades pierced his flesh, causing the blood to flow and the vampires to go crazy at the scent.</p><p></p><p>Marlo opted to remain at the open doorway and not actually enter the chamber, for from where she stood she was able to lob an <em>empowered maximized fireball</em> over Khari's head to explode in the back half of the chamber, right in the midst of all three vampire spellcasters. Fortunately for him, one of them was completely unharmed by the powerful blast of magical fire energy, as his spell resistance prevented the flames from even touching his body. Neither of the other two were as lucky, though, with the other male wizard having been saved solely by his fortuitous <em>false life</em> spell (without which he'd have been burned to a crisp at once) and the female vampire sorceress clinging to the semblance of life seemingly through sheer tenacity.</p><p></p><p>The vampire sorceress retaliated at once with a <em>chain lightning</em> spell directed at Marlo, which arced off to hit the other four intruders as well. Then she silently backed away from her fellow spellcasters, hoping to get out of range of any further area-of-effect spells that might be hurled their way.</p><p></p><p>Utred ignored the pain of the blast of lightning and charged; one side benefit of having been struck by a <em>chain lightning</em> spell was for a brief moment the barbarian had gotten to see the locations of the four armored vampires ganging up on his fellow dwarf. Charging into the darkness, he brought his <em>flaming Elderwood greataxe</em> down upon the form of the closest vampire, tearing a rent into the plate mail and carving into the undead flesh beneath.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok couldn't see much beyond the feeble illumination provided by his own <em>slave-light cloak</em> but he followed Marlo's telepathic directions to guide him around the four vampires gathered together up front so he could reach the possibly more dangerous spellcasters in the back. He held his original magic battleaxe in hand, as his new one dealt frost damage and Cramer had advised the lizardfolk the vampires' undead flesh would make them immune to the cold damage from his newer axe. His old axe couldn't store a spell like his new one could, but overall Jhasspok didn't mind; his old battleaxe felt comfortable in his hands. He found himself face to face with one of the two vampire wizards, who hurriedly backed away from the rampaging reptile and blasted him with three gouts of flame from a <em>scorching ray</em> spell. The other wizard opted to cast a <em>resist fire</em> spell on himself, not wanting to experience another of Marlo's enhanced <em>fireball</em> spells.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>mass cure critical wounds</em> spell on all four armored vampires and all of the heroes but Jhasspok, who was already too far into the chamber to be within range of the spell. The gnome's spell had the twin benefits of healing up the worst of the damage they'd taken from the <em>chain lightning</em> spell (and in Khari's case, the multiple stab wounds he'd received by being the first to engage the vampire fighters) while at the same time adversely affecting the undead flesh of the vampires, the healing energy acting more like acid to their unholy forms.</p><p></p><p>From the light of his cloak Khari could see the floor of the chamber in which he stood was made of unworked stone, so he activated his warhammer's <em>earthglide</em> ability and sunk into the ground, popping up directly behind one of the vampires who had been stabbing at him. He got in a good strike from his hammer before the vampire even knew he was there. And then Cramer cast a <em>quickened searing light</em> spell at another of the vampire fighters, the spell's energy affecting him in a manner rather pleasing to the little gnome.</p><p></p><p>The four armored vampires opted to team up two-to-one against the two dwarves in their midst. Their blades came swinging in with surprising speed and more power behind the strikes than either dwarf would have believed possible, even knowing these were undead beings before them powered by negative energy. But then Marlo helped even the odds by summoning a greater fire elemental directly behind the row of vampiric fighters. A flaming fist came crashing down upon one of the vampires, exposing its sudden presence in the best possible way. Utred's greataxe slew the first of the vampires as its attention was momentarily diverted by the massive creature of living flame behind it. Its body exploded into mist, which seemed to dissipate to nothingness in the poorly-lit chamber.</p><p></p><p>In the back of the darkened chamber - where Jhasspok could now see the tentacles of the inactive Writhing Gate lying limply on the stone cavern floor - the lizardfolk's battleaxe slew the wizard he'd been facing, the blow powered by the rage he felt at having the <em>scorching ray</em> spell explode up in his face mere moments before. Its body turned first to mist and then seemed to scatter away in all directions, becoming effectively nothing the lizardfolk could detect. The vampire sorceress also took the opportunity to cast a <em>resist fire</em> spell on herself, judging it to be the type of energy these living interlopers were most likely to use against them, if the fight thus far was any indication.</p><p></p><p>Cramer took his first steps into the darkened chamber, casting a <em>holy aura</em> spell on himself, Marlo, and the dwarves as he did so. Then the sole remaining vampire wizard cast a spell, not on himself but on his sorcerous companion; the <em>enervation</em> spell had the same effect on her as a healing spell would have on a living creature. Jhasspok didn't yet realize it, but these spellcasting vampires were making themselves harder to kill, and that was on top of their own unnatural fast healing which allowed their undead flesh to slowly regenerate any physical wounds.</p><p></p><p>But regenerating flesh only worked up to a point, as Utred demonstrated by cutting down another fighter into mist and then cleaving his weapon into the other vampire before him, slaying that one as well. The remaining fighter decided he'd take out one of the spellcasters and grappled with Cramer, which turned out to be a mistake, as the cleric of Fharlanghn simply used his innate <em>freedom of movement</em> ability to wriggle himself free of the undead foe's grasp. And then the vampire was himself grabbed from behind, in this case by the burning hands of a greater fire elemental. He screamed in pain as his undead flesh caught fire and he burned to death, his cries silenced as his body exploded into silent mist.</p><p></p><p><Are they going to escape to their coffins?> Utred asked over the link.</p><p></p><p><Don't see any coffins in here,> Cramer answered. <If they go two hours or so without reaching their coffins, they'll die permanently. We'll give the place a thorough check once we finish the rest of them off.></p><p></p><p>Marlo cast an <em>empowered maximized scorching ray</em> spell at the remaining male vampire wizard and was dismayed to see him come through relatively unscathed; the sorceress realized he must have protected himself after the mega-<em>fireball</em> spell she'd tossed their way earlier. The vampire sorceress cast another protective spell upon herself (nervously eyeing both Jhasspok and Marlo as she did so), this time <em>spell turning</em>. And then Utred, fresh out of combatants in the front half of the chamber, raced to the back half, pulling out the <em>Null Axe</em> from his belt as he did so and starting to unwrap it. <Leave that for later!> warned Marlo over the link, <If you release the <em>Null Axe</em> now, it'll undo all of your protective spells!></p><p></p><p><Hmm,> Utred replied. <Good point.> He kept the <em>Null Axe</em> in its protective wrapping and stuffed in back into his belt, feeling the solid blade against the small of his back once again. Then, <em>flaming Elderwood greataxe</em> in hand, he looked about for his next melee combatant.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok had found one and had charged at the second male vampire wizard, bringing his battleaxe slicing into his side. But then the wizard took a step back and cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell that surged through the reptile and also hit Utred. But the dwarven barbarian had been shielded by Cramer's <em>holy aura</em> spell and was completely unaffected; Jhasspok was not so protected and took the full brunt of the spell but his barbaric rage was still in place and he barely felt the pain. (That, he knew in the back of his reptilian brain, would come later when he had calmed down. At least it always had in the past.)</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>daylight</em> spell into the chamber, hoping to overcome the unnatural darkness and allow everyone to see normally, but the spell didn't have the intended effect. But Khari didn't need to see the whole chamber - he just charged toward the back and altered course once the undead wizard came into view. His warhammer hit the spellcaster with a resounding slam of breaking bones. The vampire stumbled, his face showing he was in an inordinate level of pain, but then Marlo made the pain all go away by casting an <em>empowered disintegrate</em> spell on him that blasted him to unfeeling mist.</p><p></p><p>"Head towards the back of the chamber," Marlo directed her summoned fire elemental and the creature followed its mistress's instructions. It found the last remaining vampire and sent a blazing fist crashing down upon her. The undead sorceress's <em>resist fire</em> spell prevented her from catching fire but did nothing against the solid blow that was landed upon her and she staggered from the onslaught. But channeling arcane power through her undead body, she brought forth a <em>chain lightning</em> spell, centered upon the fire elemental and arcing off to strike Jhasspok and Khari - but again, the dwarf had been protected by Cramer's <em>holy aura</em> spell and was not at all affected. Jhasspok, with little arcs of electricity rising up and down his body and the charred scales on his face already starting to peel away, had no idea why the dwarves were all of a sudden seemingly immune to the effects of magic.</p><p></p><p>Utred activated his <em>winged boots</em> and flew over in the direction the <em>chain lightning</em> spell had originated, finding the vampire sorceress in that fashion. He brought his greataxe crashing down upon her, slicing a deep gash in her undead flesh, before Jhasspok stormed over and brought the killing blow. She exploded into a fine mist that soon dissipated to nothingness.</p><p></p><p><Is that all of them?> Utred called out, looking in all directions for more vampires to kill.</p><p></p><p><That's all seven of them dead,> Marlo confirmed, being the only one who'd been able to see in the whole chamber during the entire fight (besides the vampires). She scanned the chamber in all directions. <And there are no signs of coffins anywhere.></p><p></p><p>That was all Utred needed to hear; switching out his greataxe for the <em>Null Axe, </em>he began chopping away at the tentacles from the depowered Writhing Gate at their roots. As he chopped through each one, the extraplanar hole from which it emerged sealed up. Once all ten had been severed in such a fashion, the darkness effect went away as well.</p><p></p><p>"Ew!" complained Marlo, getting a close look at one of the severed tentacles. There were puncture marks all up and down its length, and a quick perusal of the other severed appendages showed they too had been likewise penetrated by vampire fangs. "Those vampires have survived all this time - all these centuries! - by sucking the blood of the Dying One!"</p><p></p><p>"No wonder they were so strong!" exclaimed Utred.</p><p></p><p>"I <em>thought</em> they were a little on the tough side," admitted Khari as Cramer cast a few choice healing spells on Jhasspok. The lizardfolk was busy pulling dead scales off of his face; as he'd expected, once the battle was over and he calmed down the pain had showed up in full force. He looked over to the dwarves, neither of whom had been particularly hurt in the fight with the vampires, at least not to the extent the lizardfolk had been.</p><p></p><p>"Whatcha thinking, Jhasspok?" asked the cleric as he cast the last healing spell the lizardfolk would need, by the look of things.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok tried to organize his thoughts as he pondered why the dwarves hadn't been as beaten up by the vampires' spells as he had been. Finally, he just summed it all up with, "Magic is <em>weird</em>."</p><p></p><p>"To non-practitioners, it most certainly can appear to be so," agreed the gnome cheerfully. Jhasspok just grunted and decided to ask Utred what a "non-practitioner" was, if he remembered later on.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>As we had pretty much expected, this was just one big fight against a group of vampiric members of a Seekers of Eternity sect who had been holed up for centuries in a Writhing Gate chamber. Of course, the fact that they'd been drinking the Dying One's blood all this time had granted them all the pseudonatural template, which we hadn't expected!</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, we did a bit of "retroactive continuity" during this session when we were looking through the Writhing Gates we still needed to take down and realized we had never dealt with the one we'd originally used, a day and a half from the Overreach. Logan decided since we had recently spent a good 3-4 weeks waiting for our protective items to be crafted (that would allow us to survive the life-draining effects of the Desolate Waste), it made sense that we'd have spent part of that time taking out that Writhing Gate, which wasn't guarded by anything in the meantime. So by the power of DM hand-waving, we deemed it to have been already accomplished.</p><p></p><p>And we gained enough XP to reach 17th level at the end of this session. So we're rapidly reaching the end of this campaign, with just another four Writhing Gates to go. And we've decided for the follow-on Wednesday night campaign, Logan will be turning the DM reins over to Dan, who'll be running us through a campaign set in Greyhawk. So Logan and I will both get to be players together for the first time in over a decade, since a few one-shot games in our local comics/game shop. (Those had been pretty pathetic one-shots, too, by the way, which led us looking for our gaming fun elsewhere; I ran Logan through a solo Champions game for a while before we started up our first D&D 3.5 campaign with Dan and his family.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8506254, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 49: THE BROOD OF RADRAVOSSK[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 16[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 15/psychic warrior 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 16[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 16[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 5 January 2022 - - - "So what can we expect going up against vampires?" Utred asked. "Other than wanting to suck our blood, what can they do?" "Well, they like [I]dominating[/I] people," answered Cramer, "but as long as we each have a [I]protection from evil[/I] spell or [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell up and active, that should prevent that." "So what else?" prompted Utred. "They're able to drain life energy not just through sucking your blood but even through mere contact," the gnome cleric continued. "Okay, so how can we prevent that?" "A [I]death ward[/I] spell would do the trick." "Can you cast [I]death ward[/I]?" "Yes, but only up to five per day, and that would wipe out my entire spell inventory for that level of spell. There are other spells of that level that would prove to be useful in an encounter with vampires: [I]restoration[/I], [I]spell immunity[/I], [I]divine power[/I]...." "There are five of us." "I am well aware." "But you don't want to cast five [I]death ward[/I] spells on us." "That wouldn't be my first choice, no." And thus Utred, upon returning from having participated in the all-out attack against the last members of the Seekers of Eternity to have been rooted out from their hiding places after having been caught trying to infiltrate and take over the Council of Guilds in the Azure Glade, found himself plunking down a bag of coins at a magic shop where they sold scrolls. He picked up several [I]death ward[/I] scrolls, figuring Cramer couldn't complain if the barbarian was providing him with a [I]death ward[/I] scroll where all he had to do was cast it on Utred without interfering with his own special spell selection for the day. But the next day Khier - the head of the Church of Boccob in the Azure Glade - led the group to the location of the sealed chamber where the Writhing Gate was said to be located. It was at the end of a series of underground tunnels beneath the city, and the door was on the other side of a bridge over a small underground stream, the perfect way to prevent vampires from being able to exit the chamber even if the sealed door were somehow broken open. "Vampires cannot cross running water," Khier explained. Jhasspok furrowed his brow trying to figure out why that might be, until Utred turned his way and said, "Magic." Ah, that explained it, then - the lizardfolk well knew that magic was weird and didn't often make a whole lot of sense. "Let's cast our prep spells before we go in," suggested Cramer, buffing himself up with a bevy of spells intended to ensure his own protection: [I]longstrider[/I], [I]moment of prescience[/I], [I]detect undead[/I], [I]death ward[/I], and [I]magic circle against evil[/I]. Then he used his wand to deliver an [I]owl's wisdom[/I] spell to each of the five and used Utred's [I]death ward[/I] scrolls to ensure there would be no vampiric energy-draining going on in the battle to come. He then voluntarily cast a [I]protection from evil[/I] spell on Utred. Marlo, in the meantime, was almost as busy with her own spellcasting, imbuing herself with a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] and then casting the same spell on both Khari and Jhasspok; casting a protective [I]stoneskin[/I] spell on the lizardfolk as well; and then the standard [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell that linked all five of the group up in a mental communication network. Khari mentally activated his psionic [I]offensive prescience[/I] ability, the better to guide his blows with his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I]. Once both spellcasters were ready, Cramer opened the door in the way Khier had shown them. There was silence from within, with only the slight trickling of the water beneath the bridge to be heard. Furthermore, there was nothing to be seen within the chamber on the other side of the door, the whole area having been covered in an unnatural darkness. However, Marlo's [I]robe of eyes[/I] was able to pierce the darkness and she explained over the telepathic link what she saw inside: <Seven vampires: four up close, wearing plate mail and armed with swords. Three further back, possibly spellcasters.> This last was a guess on her part by the way they were not wearing armor and two of them - the males - were making strange hand gestures; unbeknownst to the sorceress, they were each casting a [I]false life[/I] spell to boost their staying power in the battle to come. Khari moved cautiously into the darkened room, warhammer in hand and ready to strike at whichever vampire opted to try to close in for the kill. His [I]slave-light cloak[/I] had been activated and this allowed him to see a few feet away before the illumination was swallowed by the surrounding darkness. He got his opportunity almost immediately, as an armored vampire came in with his sword swinging; Khari dodged the blow and sent his own weapon striking sideways into the vampire's torso. But then the other three were on him, attacking from all directions, and it was more than the dwarven fighter could do to fend off all of their attacks. Sword-blades pierced his flesh, causing the blood to flow and the vampires to go crazy at the scent. Marlo opted to remain at the open doorway and not actually enter the chamber, for from where she stood she was able to lob an [I]empowered maximized fireball[/I] over Khari's head to explode in the back half of the chamber, right in the midst of all three vampire spellcasters. Fortunately for him, one of them was completely unharmed by the powerful blast of magical fire energy, as his spell resistance prevented the flames from even touching his body. Neither of the other two were as lucky, though, with the other male wizard having been saved solely by his fortuitous [I]false life[/I] spell (without which he'd have been burned to a crisp at once) and the female vampire sorceress clinging to the semblance of life seemingly through sheer tenacity. The vampire sorceress retaliated at once with a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell directed at Marlo, which arced off to hit the other four intruders as well. Then she silently backed away from her fellow spellcasters, hoping to get out of range of any further area-of-effect spells that might be hurled their way. Utred ignored the pain of the blast of lightning and charged; one side benefit of having been struck by a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell was for a brief moment the barbarian had gotten to see the locations of the four armored vampires ganging up on his fellow dwarf. Charging into the darkness, he brought his [I]flaming Elderwood greataxe[/I] down upon the form of the closest vampire, tearing a rent into the plate mail and carving into the undead flesh beneath. Jhasspok couldn't see much beyond the feeble illumination provided by his own [I]slave-light cloak[/I] but he followed Marlo's telepathic directions to guide him around the four vampires gathered together up front so he could reach the possibly more dangerous spellcasters in the back. He held his original magic battleaxe in hand, as his new one dealt frost damage and Cramer had advised the lizardfolk the vampires' undead flesh would make them immune to the cold damage from his newer axe. His old axe couldn't store a spell like his new one could, but overall Jhasspok didn't mind; his old battleaxe felt comfortable in his hands. He found himself face to face with one of the two vampire wizards, who hurriedly backed away from the rampaging reptile and blasted him with three gouts of flame from a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell. The other wizard opted to cast a [I]resist fire[/I] spell on himself, not wanting to experience another of Marlo's enhanced [I]fireball[/I] spells. Cramer cast a [I]mass cure critical wounds[/I] spell on all four armored vampires and all of the heroes but Jhasspok, who was already too far into the chamber to be within range of the spell. The gnome's spell had the twin benefits of healing up the worst of the damage they'd taken from the [I]chain lightning[/I] spell (and in Khari's case, the multiple stab wounds he'd received by being the first to engage the vampire fighters) while at the same time adversely affecting the undead flesh of the vampires, the healing energy acting more like acid to their unholy forms. From the light of his cloak Khari could see the floor of the chamber in which he stood was made of unworked stone, so he activated his warhammer's [I]earthglide[/I] ability and sunk into the ground, popping up directly behind one of the vampires who had been stabbing at him. He got in a good strike from his hammer before the vampire even knew he was there. And then Cramer cast a [I]quickened searing light[/I] spell at another of the vampire fighters, the spell's energy affecting him in a manner rather pleasing to the little gnome. The four armored vampires opted to team up two-to-one against the two dwarves in their midst. Their blades came swinging in with surprising speed and more power behind the strikes than either dwarf would have believed possible, even knowing these were undead beings before them powered by negative energy. But then Marlo helped even the odds by summoning a greater fire elemental directly behind the row of vampiric fighters. A flaming fist came crashing down upon one of the vampires, exposing its sudden presence in the best possible way. Utred's greataxe slew the first of the vampires as its attention was momentarily diverted by the massive creature of living flame behind it. Its body exploded into mist, which seemed to dissipate to nothingness in the poorly-lit chamber. In the back of the darkened chamber - where Jhasspok could now see the tentacles of the inactive Writhing Gate lying limply on the stone cavern floor - the lizardfolk's battleaxe slew the wizard he'd been facing, the blow powered by the rage he felt at having the [I]scorching ray[/I] spell explode up in his face mere moments before. Its body turned first to mist and then seemed to scatter away in all directions, becoming effectively nothing the lizardfolk could detect. The vampire sorceress also took the opportunity to cast a [I]resist fire[/I] spell on herself, judging it to be the type of energy these living interlopers were most likely to use against them, if the fight thus far was any indication. Cramer took his first steps into the darkened chamber, casting a [I]holy aura[/I] spell on himself, Marlo, and the dwarves as he did so. Then the sole remaining vampire wizard cast a spell, not on himself but on his sorcerous companion; the [I]enervation[/I] spell had the same effect on her as a healing spell would have on a living creature. Jhasspok didn't yet realize it, but these spellcasting vampires were making themselves harder to kill, and that was on top of their own unnatural fast healing which allowed their undead flesh to slowly regenerate any physical wounds. But regenerating flesh only worked up to a point, as Utred demonstrated by cutting down another fighter into mist and then cleaving his weapon into the other vampire before him, slaying that one as well. The remaining fighter decided he'd take out one of the spellcasters and grappled with Cramer, which turned out to be a mistake, as the cleric of Fharlanghn simply used his innate [I]freedom of movement[/I] ability to wriggle himself free of the undead foe's grasp. And then the vampire was himself grabbed from behind, in this case by the burning hands of a greater fire elemental. He screamed in pain as his undead flesh caught fire and he burned to death, his cries silenced as his body exploded into silent mist. <Are they going to escape to their coffins?> Utred asked over the link. <Don't see any coffins in here,> Cramer answered. <If they go two hours or so without reaching their coffins, they'll die permanently. We'll give the place a thorough check once we finish the rest of them off.> Marlo cast an [I]empowered maximized scorching ray[/I] spell at the remaining male vampire wizard and was dismayed to see him come through relatively unscathed; the sorceress realized he must have protected himself after the mega-[I]fireball[/I] spell she'd tossed their way earlier. The vampire sorceress cast another protective spell upon herself (nervously eyeing both Jhasspok and Marlo as she did so), this time [I]spell turning[/I]. And then Utred, fresh out of combatants in the front half of the chamber, raced to the back half, pulling out the [I]Null Axe[/I] from his belt as he did so and starting to unwrap it. <Leave that for later!> warned Marlo over the link, <If you release the [I]Null Axe[/I] now, it'll undo all of your protective spells!> <Hmm,> Utred replied. <Good point.> He kept the [I]Null Axe[/I] in its protective wrapping and stuffed in back into his belt, feeling the solid blade against the small of his back once again. Then, [I]flaming Elderwood greataxe[/I] in hand, he looked about for his next melee combatant. Jhasspok had found one and had charged at the second male vampire wizard, bringing his battleaxe slicing into his side. But then the wizard took a step back and cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell that surged through the reptile and also hit Utred. But the dwarven barbarian had been shielded by Cramer's [I]holy aura[/I] spell and was completely unaffected; Jhasspok was not so protected and took the full brunt of the spell but his barbaric rage was still in place and he barely felt the pain. (That, he knew in the back of his reptilian brain, would come later when he had calmed down. At least it always had in the past.) Cramer cast a [I]daylight[/I] spell into the chamber, hoping to overcome the unnatural darkness and allow everyone to see normally, but the spell didn't have the intended effect. But Khari didn't need to see the whole chamber - he just charged toward the back and altered course once the undead wizard came into view. His warhammer hit the spellcaster with a resounding slam of breaking bones. The vampire stumbled, his face showing he was in an inordinate level of pain, but then Marlo made the pain all go away by casting an [I]empowered disintegrate[/I] spell on him that blasted him to unfeeling mist. "Head towards the back of the chamber," Marlo directed her summoned fire elemental and the creature followed its mistress's instructions. It found the last remaining vampire and sent a blazing fist crashing down upon her. The undead sorceress's [I]resist fire[/I] spell prevented her from catching fire but did nothing against the solid blow that was landed upon her and she staggered from the onslaught. But channeling arcane power through her undead body, she brought forth a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell, centered upon the fire elemental and arcing off to strike Jhasspok and Khari - but again, the dwarf had been protected by Cramer's [I]holy aura[/I] spell and was not at all affected. Jhasspok, with little arcs of electricity rising up and down his body and the charred scales on his face already starting to peel away, had no idea why the dwarves were all of a sudden seemingly immune to the effects of magic. Utred activated his [I]winged boots[/I] and flew over in the direction the [I]chain lightning[/I] spell had originated, finding the vampire sorceress in that fashion. He brought his greataxe crashing down upon her, slicing a deep gash in her undead flesh, before Jhasspok stormed over and brought the killing blow. She exploded into a fine mist that soon dissipated to nothingness. <Is that all of them?> Utred called out, looking in all directions for more vampires to kill. <That's all seven of them dead,> Marlo confirmed, being the only one who'd been able to see in the whole chamber during the entire fight (besides the vampires). She scanned the chamber in all directions. <And there are no signs of coffins anywhere.> That was all Utred needed to hear; switching out his greataxe for the [I]Null Axe, [/I]he began chopping away at the tentacles from the depowered Writhing Gate at their roots. As he chopped through each one, the extraplanar hole from which it emerged sealed up. Once all ten had been severed in such a fashion, the darkness effect went away as well. "Ew!" complained Marlo, getting a close look at one of the severed tentacles. There were puncture marks all up and down its length, and a quick perusal of the other severed appendages showed they too had been likewise penetrated by vampire fangs. "Those vampires have survived all this time - all these centuries! - by sucking the blood of the Dying One!" "No wonder they were so strong!" exclaimed Utred. "I [I]thought[/I] they were a little on the tough side," admitted Khari as Cramer cast a few choice healing spells on Jhasspok. The lizardfolk was busy pulling dead scales off of his face; as he'd expected, once the battle was over and he calmed down the pain had showed up in full force. He looked over to the dwarves, neither of whom had been particularly hurt in the fight with the vampires, at least not to the extent the lizardfolk had been. "Whatcha thinking, Jhasspok?" asked the cleric as he cast the last healing spell the lizardfolk would need, by the look of things. Jhasspok tried to organize his thoughts as he pondered why the dwarves hadn't been as beaten up by the vampires' spells as he had been. Finally, he just summed it all up with, "Magic is [I]weird[/I]." "To non-practitioners, it most certainly can appear to be so," agreed the gnome cheerfully. Jhasspok just grunted and decided to ask Utred what a "non-practitioner" was, if he remembered later on. - - - As we had pretty much expected, this was just one big fight against a group of vampiric members of a Seekers of Eternity sect who had been holed up for centuries in a Writhing Gate chamber. Of course, the fact that they'd been drinking the Dying One's blood all this time had granted them all the pseudonatural template, which we hadn't expected! Incidentally, we did a bit of "retroactive continuity" during this session when we were looking through the Writhing Gates we still needed to take down and realized we had never dealt with the one we'd originally used, a day and a half from the Overreach. Logan decided since we had recently spent a good 3-4 weeks waiting for our protective items to be crafted (that would allow us to survive the life-draining effects of the Desolate Waste), it made sense that we'd have spent part of that time taking out that Writhing Gate, which wasn't guarded by anything in the meantime. So by the power of DM hand-waving, we deemed it to have been already accomplished. And we gained enough XP to reach 17th level at the end of this session. So we're rapidly reaching the end of this campaign, with just another four Writhing Gates to go. And we've decided for the follow-on Wednesday night campaign, Logan will be turning the DM reins over to Dan, who'll be running us through a campaign set in Greyhawk. So Logan and I will both get to be players together for the first time in over a decade, since a few one-shot games in our local comics/game shop. (Those had been pretty pathetic one-shots, too, by the way, which led us looking for our gaming fun elsewhere; I ran Logan through a solo Champions game for a while before we started up our first D&D 3.5 campaign with Dan and his family.) [/QUOTE]
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