Rappan Athuk: Ravage of The Unusual Heroes!
- Thread starter Ziona
- Start date
Interested in reading about or helping me plan my Epic Battle against the forces of Gruumsh that currently control the lower levels of Rappan Athuk and have enslaved the Goblin City?
Planning an Epic Battle
Planning an Epic Battle
Breakstone
First Post
Awesome miniature, Xaltar!
I can never get tiger stripes to look good on my minis...
I can never get tiger stripes to look good on my minis...
Here we are, just a few days before the next big battle that could spell the end for the Unusual Heroes.
Will it be a TPK? Only time will tell. Until then, my players and I slave on in preparation.
Here we can watch them paint some of the combatants:
While I amass the Master Maze:
Will it be a TPK? Only time will tell. Until then, my players and I slave on in preparation.
Here we can watch them paint some of the combatants:
While I amass the Master Maze:
Last edited:
Ziona
First Post
Perils of Rappan Athuk
As the heroes continued their descent deeper into Rappan Athuk, they encountered legions of undead orcs, wights and spectres. Although there were a few close calls, it seemed that the undead minions of Gruumsh were minor challenges for the group.
After besting the creatures from several crypts and countless sarcophagi, the heroes began traveling down a wide corridor, which eventually lead them a door. Lox unlocked the door without much trouble and found a small room with a well in the center of the floor.
“Do you hear that humming?” asked Lox.
The party listened and realized they could hear a sort of buzzing noise.
“It must be something in the well,” said Venus. “Stay here while I inspect it.”
“You forget,” said Drexel halting their vampiric friend, “I now have a mask that allows me to fly. I’ll accompany you.”
Venus stood motionless as he wisped into gaseous form and slowly crept down into the well, while Drexel lowered himself down using his mask’s abilities. The duo noticed that the further they went into the well, the less they could hear the ominous buzzing noise. Convinced that the humming was not emanating from the well, Venus and Drexel decided to make their way back up to the room. However, as they tried to do so, they felt themselves being pulled back down. It felt as though something was drawing them further down into the well.
Drexel began to struggle and fought hard against the unseen force, while Venus seemed to wriggle free of the invisible foe. Suddenly, Drexel began moving backwards at a fast pace, and then disappeared entirely! Venus hovered about the area as long as he could without being pulled downwards, then made his way back to the rest of the group.
Venus materialized back in the room, a look of alarm stretching the features of his face.
“Where is Drexel?” asked Ziona.
“Something happened down there,” said Venus, peering into the well for any sign of his friend. “It was like we were being pulled down.”
“So where is Drexel?” echoed Doc.
“I can’t explain it,” said Venus. “He was there one minute, and we were trying to make our way back, but something was tugging at us, like it was pulling us back. I struggled, even in my gaseous form, but I could see that Drexel was being dragged back.”
“Something got Drexel?” asked Lox with fright.
“No, it was more like he disappeared,” said Venus, still peering into the well. “Like he fell through a hole or a portal or something.”
“Do you think he used his Dimension Door spell?” asked Ziona.
“No,” said Rossal suddenly. “I can’t contact him…he’s no longer here,” said the pseudodragon to Ziona.
“Rossal, what are you saying?”
He hesitated a moment, as if trying again to communicate with Drexel, then turned back to Ziona.
“He’s not here…not anywhere within our reach.”
“Rossal said he can’t speak with Drexel…like he left,” explained Ziona to her companions.
Glindil took one of the gold coins from Ziona’s pack and began casting on it. The coin was suddenly glowing with the Light spell that she cast upon it.
“Let us drop it in the well,” she communicated to Ziona.
The party gathered around the well, the eerie buzzing noise still surrounding them, and watched as Glindil dropped the glowing coin into the pit. The coin flipped side over side as it plummeted into the well. However, after a moment, the group gasped as they saw it’s light get swallowed up into a deep blackness.
“A portal perhaps,” said Dent.
“A portal leading where? How are we to find him?” asked Ziona.
“I don’t think we can,” communicated Rossal.
The party stood glaring into the well, too shocked to speak. Finally, Doc broke the silence.
“Hey, listen,” he began. “Drexel is no cad. He’s a very skilled magic user, and I’m sure he’s gonna be okay.”
Ziona listened to her friend’s comforting words and wondered. She knew Doc was right. Drexel was a very talented wizard, but they knew nothing about this portal.
“Doc Midnight is right,” she said finally. “Drexel is very intelligent, and I pray that he will find his way back to us…”
“So we’re just going to leave?” asked Venus raising his voice over the buzzing.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Ziona.
“Hey, everybody,” shouted Lox. “Look over there, the wall is leaking!”
The group turned and noticed that the back wall of the room was in fact leaking something. It was a thick liquid with a rich, golden color to it.
“Honey!” said Rossal with glee.
“Honey?” said Ziona aloud.
The party slowly realized the buzzing was coming from the back wall. They hadn’t noticed it before, but there were small holes in the wall. Some were leaking honey, while others seemed to come alive suddenly with movement.
“BEES!” shouted Lox.
As the group retreated from the small room, the sound of the buzzing grew louder. They listened outside the door and realized the buzzing was not dying down.
“Perhaps we should continue on,” said Dent sullenly.
“Yes,” said Ziona.
Rossal cast a final glance at the door, as if hoping for some sort of communication, but lowered his head after a moment in disappointment.
It seemed Drexel was not going to return.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The heroes traveled along the wide corridor in silence for a long while. The only sound was the occasional sigh of boredom from Lox.
However, the halfling’s sigh changed to an outburst of excitement when they came upon a door. Dent listened carefully for any sign of the buzzing they heard from the last room. Hearing nothing, he left the door to Lox’s expertise.
It was apparent to each of them that this room was an experiment chamber. The horrors that were locked within cages and found dead on tables were too awful to speak of. However, there was one cage that contained a huge tigress and two newborn cubs. The animals appeared to be unharmed, but were obviously frightened.
Dent walked calmly over to the tigress and used his Torc of Animal Speech to communicate with her. He asked her questions about her captor, and explained to her that they would not hurt her, or allow her to be hurt by anyone else. She agreed that no harm would come to them if she were set free, as long as no one tried to harm her cubs.
“We must free her,” said Dent.
“Where will she go? We’re in a dungeon,” said Venus.
“I’ll lead her outdoors. This is no place for a mother and her cubs,” he said. “Lox, work on the lock on her cage.”
“Dent, how do we know she won’t attack us?” asked Venus.
“I have communicated with her,” he said patting his torc. “She has agreed not to harm us as long as we do not try to harm her cubs. She also mentioned a wizard who has been ‘hurting’ all the animals. We must get her to safety.”
The party decided that Dent and Venus would lead the mother and cubs to safety while Ziona, Doc, Lox and the dragons stayed behind.
Ziona and Doc discussed Drexel’s situation while Rossal and Glindil entertained Lox. It remained quiet for quite some time, but before Dent and Venus returned, Rossal warned the group that someone was coming.
The pseudodragon used his Dust of Disappearance to make the party members invisible as a wizard and a large, fleshy golem entered the room. When the wizard saw that his tigress and cubs were missing, he began to shout.
“Koopra! Koopra! What is the meaning of this?!”
The wizard stormed out of the room and came back, angrily pulling a young girl by the hair.
“Look at this! Where is the tiger, Koopra! How did this happen, you ignorant wench?”
“I don’t know,” she cried. “I don’t know…”
The wizard threw the girl to the ground, and she crawled to a corner whimpering.
“I have had it with you, girl,” said the wizard angrily. “You must be punished for this.”
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t see the tiger leave…I don’t know what happened.”
The wizard began clearing one of the tables that had the remains of a shrunken monkey strapped to it.
“You will just have to take the place of the tiger that you lost,” said the wizard. “This will be the last time you meddle in the affairs of a wizard, Koopra! I will enjoy torturing you, girl.”
“No, please,” cried Koopra. She clung to the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Rossal communicated to Ziona that he had a plan. The two dragons soared silently near the wizard and sunk their barbed tails into his back. The wizard didn’t know what hit him as he fell to the ground unconscious.
The girl was shocked to see the wizard fall, and covered her eyes, fearing what might happen to her next.
Lox ran over to the wizard and used his short sword to deliver a deadly slice to the evil wizard’s neck. He frowned as he wiped his blade on the wizard’s cloak, feeling great sadness over what he had just been forced to do.
Doc and Ziona made their way past the fleshy golem towards the girl. The golem didn’t seem to notice that it’s master had just been slain. It stood against the wall, as motionless as a statue.
“Koopra? Are you okay?” asked Doc.
“We will not hurt you,” said Ziona soothingly.
“INTRUDERS!”
Suddenly the golem sprang to life and began meandering around the room in search of the invisible intruders.
“INTRUDERS! THOW INTRUDERS IN THE PIT! THOW INTRUDERS IN THE PIT!”
The golem repeated it’s threat over and over, searching for the intruders it could not seem to find.
Glindil began casting, and within moments, a celestial badger appeared and began attacking the golem. Seeing that the golem’s attention was suddenly on the badger, Doc tried to get Koopra out of the room, but she clung to the wall in hysterics. Ziona drew her bastard sword and ran to attack the golem with Lox.
Rossal began casting, and struck the golem with his Magic Missiles, while Ziona scored two hits on the large, fleshy beast with her sword. Lox pulled off his attack while Rossal and Ziona attacked again. When Lox struck the golem with his second hit, the creature fell to the ground.
“Innnntooooo piiiiiit….”
Ziona sheathed her sword and cast Invisibility Purge so that Koopra could see all of them.
“It’s okay,” she said to the girl.
“We’re here to free you,” said Doc.
Before anymore could be said or done, the door opened and in walked Dent and Venus. They looked around the room and saw a dead wizard and a fallen golem. Dent looked to his companions with a confused look.
“Uh, did we miss something?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A short while later, Ziona managed to calm Koopra down. Ziona explained how they had come to be in Rappan Athuk, and asked how Koopra had ended up there. The young woman explained that she was kidnapped and brought into the dungeon by the wizard Banth, who had held her captive for months. She said that he made her watch over the animals he experimented on whenever he would leave to capture more.
“Are there any more animals here we should know about?” asked Dent.
“Most of them have died from their wounds,” explained Koopra. “But I think there are some mice left.”
She showed Dent where the mice were and sat down to eat the rations that the group gave to her.
Dent began to speak with the mice, and found that some of them were not mice at all. From what he could tell, some of them seemed to be different animals altogether, while one insisted he was a human.
“I need assistance with these mice,” said Dent to Ziona. “I think they are actually other creatures. They must have been transformed by the wizard.”
“Do you know what creatures they really are?” asked Ziona.
“One says it’s a monkey, and another is a snake. But one says he’s a human.”
Ziona looked at the mice. “Set them on the floor,” she said.
The cleric began casting and suddenly the mice changed back to their original forms. The snake slithered away, while the monkey began climbing one of the cages. The human was a man, who quickly got to his feet.
“I cannot thank you enough,” he said. “My name is Gideon Xol.”
“Well met, Gideon. I am Ziona, and this is Dent Masterson. How have you come to be held captive here?”
“I actually came here to defeat the wizard Banth. I’m sure you can surmise the outcome of our battle,” said Gideon, somewhat embarrassed.
“You are free now,” said Ziona. “and Banth has now been defeated.”
“Yes, but I will not get the bounty on his defeat,” muttered Gideon.
“The bounty?” asked Dent. “You hunt mages?”
“Only the evil mages,” said Gideon. “And he was certainly evil.”
The group spent the rest of the night working on a plan to get Koopra back to the surface, and getting better acquainted with Gideon. They told him about their missing companion, and how they were hoping he might find his way back. Upon hearing that one of their friends disappeared into the well, Koopra became alarmed.
“Your friend may never return,” she interrupted.
“What do you mean? Do you know what is in the well?” asked Dent.
“I know that Banth instructed the golem to throw any intruders into the well. He said that it sent them to another plane…he threatened to throw me in pretty often…”
“He can no longer harm you,” said Ziona.
“Do you know which plane the portal sends it’s victims to?” asked Gideon with interest.
“I am sorry, but I do not. I only know that it got rid of anyone who was unlucky enough to fall in,” said Koopra.
Ziona looked to Dent and Doc with sadness and fear.
What if they never saw Drexel again?
The Adventure Continues…
As the heroes continued their descent deeper into Rappan Athuk, they encountered legions of undead orcs, wights and spectres. Although there were a few close calls, it seemed that the undead minions of Gruumsh were minor challenges for the group.
After besting the creatures from several crypts and countless sarcophagi, the heroes began traveling down a wide corridor, which eventually lead them a door. Lox unlocked the door without much trouble and found a small room with a well in the center of the floor.
“Do you hear that humming?” asked Lox.
The party listened and realized they could hear a sort of buzzing noise.
“It must be something in the well,” said Venus. “Stay here while I inspect it.”
“You forget,” said Drexel halting their vampiric friend, “I now have a mask that allows me to fly. I’ll accompany you.”
Venus stood motionless as he wisped into gaseous form and slowly crept down into the well, while Drexel lowered himself down using his mask’s abilities. The duo noticed that the further they went into the well, the less they could hear the ominous buzzing noise. Convinced that the humming was not emanating from the well, Venus and Drexel decided to make their way back up to the room. However, as they tried to do so, they felt themselves being pulled back down. It felt as though something was drawing them further down into the well.
Drexel began to struggle and fought hard against the unseen force, while Venus seemed to wriggle free of the invisible foe. Suddenly, Drexel began moving backwards at a fast pace, and then disappeared entirely! Venus hovered about the area as long as he could without being pulled downwards, then made his way back to the rest of the group.
Venus materialized back in the room, a look of alarm stretching the features of his face.
“Where is Drexel?” asked Ziona.
“Something happened down there,” said Venus, peering into the well for any sign of his friend. “It was like we were being pulled down.”
“So where is Drexel?” echoed Doc.
“I can’t explain it,” said Venus. “He was there one minute, and we were trying to make our way back, but something was tugging at us, like it was pulling us back. I struggled, even in my gaseous form, but I could see that Drexel was being dragged back.”
“Something got Drexel?” asked Lox with fright.
“No, it was more like he disappeared,” said Venus, still peering into the well. “Like he fell through a hole or a portal or something.”
“Do you think he used his Dimension Door spell?” asked Ziona.
“No,” said Rossal suddenly. “I can’t contact him…he’s no longer here,” said the pseudodragon to Ziona.
“Rossal, what are you saying?”
He hesitated a moment, as if trying again to communicate with Drexel, then turned back to Ziona.
“He’s not here…not anywhere within our reach.”
“Rossal said he can’t speak with Drexel…like he left,” explained Ziona to her companions.
Glindil took one of the gold coins from Ziona’s pack and began casting on it. The coin was suddenly glowing with the Light spell that she cast upon it.
“Let us drop it in the well,” she communicated to Ziona.
The party gathered around the well, the eerie buzzing noise still surrounding them, and watched as Glindil dropped the glowing coin into the pit. The coin flipped side over side as it plummeted into the well. However, after a moment, the group gasped as they saw it’s light get swallowed up into a deep blackness.
“A portal perhaps,” said Dent.
“A portal leading where? How are we to find him?” asked Ziona.
“I don’t think we can,” communicated Rossal.
The party stood glaring into the well, too shocked to speak. Finally, Doc broke the silence.
“Hey, listen,” he began. “Drexel is no cad. He’s a very skilled magic user, and I’m sure he’s gonna be okay.”
Ziona listened to her friend’s comforting words and wondered. She knew Doc was right. Drexel was a very talented wizard, but they knew nothing about this portal.
“Doc Midnight is right,” she said finally. “Drexel is very intelligent, and I pray that he will find his way back to us…”
“So we’re just going to leave?” asked Venus raising his voice over the buzzing.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Ziona.
“Hey, everybody,” shouted Lox. “Look over there, the wall is leaking!”
The group turned and noticed that the back wall of the room was in fact leaking something. It was a thick liquid with a rich, golden color to it.
“Honey!” said Rossal with glee.
“Honey?” said Ziona aloud.
The party slowly realized the buzzing was coming from the back wall. They hadn’t noticed it before, but there were small holes in the wall. Some were leaking honey, while others seemed to come alive suddenly with movement.
“BEES!” shouted Lox.
As the group retreated from the small room, the sound of the buzzing grew louder. They listened outside the door and realized the buzzing was not dying down.
“Perhaps we should continue on,” said Dent sullenly.
“Yes,” said Ziona.
Rossal cast a final glance at the door, as if hoping for some sort of communication, but lowered his head after a moment in disappointment.
It seemed Drexel was not going to return.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The heroes traveled along the wide corridor in silence for a long while. The only sound was the occasional sigh of boredom from Lox.
However, the halfling’s sigh changed to an outburst of excitement when they came upon a door. Dent listened carefully for any sign of the buzzing they heard from the last room. Hearing nothing, he left the door to Lox’s expertise.
It was apparent to each of them that this room was an experiment chamber. The horrors that were locked within cages and found dead on tables were too awful to speak of. However, there was one cage that contained a huge tigress and two newborn cubs. The animals appeared to be unharmed, but were obviously frightened.
Dent walked calmly over to the tigress and used his Torc of Animal Speech to communicate with her. He asked her questions about her captor, and explained to her that they would not hurt her, or allow her to be hurt by anyone else. She agreed that no harm would come to them if she were set free, as long as no one tried to harm her cubs.
“We must free her,” said Dent.
“Where will she go? We’re in a dungeon,” said Venus.
“I’ll lead her outdoors. This is no place for a mother and her cubs,” he said. “Lox, work on the lock on her cage.”
“Dent, how do we know she won’t attack us?” asked Venus.
“I have communicated with her,” he said patting his torc. “She has agreed not to harm us as long as we do not try to harm her cubs. She also mentioned a wizard who has been ‘hurting’ all the animals. We must get her to safety.”
The party decided that Dent and Venus would lead the mother and cubs to safety while Ziona, Doc, Lox and the dragons stayed behind.
Ziona and Doc discussed Drexel’s situation while Rossal and Glindil entertained Lox. It remained quiet for quite some time, but before Dent and Venus returned, Rossal warned the group that someone was coming.
The pseudodragon used his Dust of Disappearance to make the party members invisible as a wizard and a large, fleshy golem entered the room. When the wizard saw that his tigress and cubs were missing, he began to shout.
“Koopra! Koopra! What is the meaning of this?!”
The wizard stormed out of the room and came back, angrily pulling a young girl by the hair.
“Look at this! Where is the tiger, Koopra! How did this happen, you ignorant wench?”
“I don’t know,” she cried. “I don’t know…”
The wizard threw the girl to the ground, and she crawled to a corner whimpering.
“I have had it with you, girl,” said the wizard angrily. “You must be punished for this.”
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t see the tiger leave…I don’t know what happened.”
The wizard began clearing one of the tables that had the remains of a shrunken monkey strapped to it.
“You will just have to take the place of the tiger that you lost,” said the wizard. “This will be the last time you meddle in the affairs of a wizard, Koopra! I will enjoy torturing you, girl.”
“No, please,” cried Koopra. She clung to the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Rossal communicated to Ziona that he had a plan. The two dragons soared silently near the wizard and sunk their barbed tails into his back. The wizard didn’t know what hit him as he fell to the ground unconscious.
The girl was shocked to see the wizard fall, and covered her eyes, fearing what might happen to her next.
Lox ran over to the wizard and used his short sword to deliver a deadly slice to the evil wizard’s neck. He frowned as he wiped his blade on the wizard’s cloak, feeling great sadness over what he had just been forced to do.
Doc and Ziona made their way past the fleshy golem towards the girl. The golem didn’t seem to notice that it’s master had just been slain. It stood against the wall, as motionless as a statue.
“Koopra? Are you okay?” asked Doc.
“We will not hurt you,” said Ziona soothingly.
“INTRUDERS!”
Suddenly the golem sprang to life and began meandering around the room in search of the invisible intruders.
“INTRUDERS! THOW INTRUDERS IN THE PIT! THOW INTRUDERS IN THE PIT!”
The golem repeated it’s threat over and over, searching for the intruders it could not seem to find.
Glindil began casting, and within moments, a celestial badger appeared and began attacking the golem. Seeing that the golem’s attention was suddenly on the badger, Doc tried to get Koopra out of the room, but she clung to the wall in hysterics. Ziona drew her bastard sword and ran to attack the golem with Lox.
Rossal began casting, and struck the golem with his Magic Missiles, while Ziona scored two hits on the large, fleshy beast with her sword. Lox pulled off his attack while Rossal and Ziona attacked again. When Lox struck the golem with his second hit, the creature fell to the ground.
“Innnntooooo piiiiiit….”
Ziona sheathed her sword and cast Invisibility Purge so that Koopra could see all of them.
“It’s okay,” she said to the girl.
“We’re here to free you,” said Doc.
Before anymore could be said or done, the door opened and in walked Dent and Venus. They looked around the room and saw a dead wizard and a fallen golem. Dent looked to his companions with a confused look.
“Uh, did we miss something?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A short while later, Ziona managed to calm Koopra down. Ziona explained how they had come to be in Rappan Athuk, and asked how Koopra had ended up there. The young woman explained that she was kidnapped and brought into the dungeon by the wizard Banth, who had held her captive for months. She said that he made her watch over the animals he experimented on whenever he would leave to capture more.
“Are there any more animals here we should know about?” asked Dent.
“Most of them have died from their wounds,” explained Koopra. “But I think there are some mice left.”
She showed Dent where the mice were and sat down to eat the rations that the group gave to her.
Dent began to speak with the mice, and found that some of them were not mice at all. From what he could tell, some of them seemed to be different animals altogether, while one insisted he was a human.
“I need assistance with these mice,” said Dent to Ziona. “I think they are actually other creatures. They must have been transformed by the wizard.”
“Do you know what creatures they really are?” asked Ziona.
“One says it’s a monkey, and another is a snake. But one says he’s a human.”
Ziona looked at the mice. “Set them on the floor,” she said.
The cleric began casting and suddenly the mice changed back to their original forms. The snake slithered away, while the monkey began climbing one of the cages. The human was a man, who quickly got to his feet.
“I cannot thank you enough,” he said. “My name is Gideon Xol.”
“Well met, Gideon. I am Ziona, and this is Dent Masterson. How have you come to be held captive here?”
“I actually came here to defeat the wizard Banth. I’m sure you can surmise the outcome of our battle,” said Gideon, somewhat embarrassed.
“You are free now,” said Ziona. “and Banth has now been defeated.”
“Yes, but I will not get the bounty on his defeat,” muttered Gideon.
“The bounty?” asked Dent. “You hunt mages?”
“Only the evil mages,” said Gideon. “And he was certainly evil.”
The group spent the rest of the night working on a plan to get Koopra back to the surface, and getting better acquainted with Gideon. They told him about their missing companion, and how they were hoping he might find his way back. Upon hearing that one of their friends disappeared into the well, Koopra became alarmed.
“Your friend may never return,” she interrupted.
“What do you mean? Do you know what is in the well?” asked Dent.
“I know that Banth instructed the golem to throw any intruders into the well. He said that it sent them to another plane…he threatened to throw me in pretty often…”
“He can no longer harm you,” said Ziona.
“Do you know which plane the portal sends it’s victims to?” asked Gideon with interest.
“I am sorry, but I do not. I only know that it got rid of anyone who was unlucky enough to fall in,” said Koopra.
Ziona looked to Dent and Doc with sadness and fear.
What if they never saw Drexel again?
The Adventure Continues…
Last edited:
)
