Rel's Faded Glory III: Glory Reborn (FINAL UPDATE 6/22 - SHE'S DONE, BABY!!)

[Rel]

Marius was closest to the passageway and was the obvious target for the Spider Folk. First was a bolt of greenish goop that shot from the outstretched palm of one of the spider men. It missed Marius but only barely. Another of the arachnid assailants wove a ball of webs from its spinnerets and hurled it at him but he ducked out of the way of the attack.

Marius had time to call out a brief warning to his companions as another of the Spider Folk scurried forth and lay a hand on his arm. Whatever foul magic it had attempted must have failed because Marius was able to jerk his arm free with no ill effects. But the Diplomat ran out of luck as the fourth attacker was able to hit him with another ball of webs and root him to the spot.

Scipio had more immediate concerns than the treacherous Spider Folk. No longer constrained to guard Speaks, he leaped upon the nearest lizard and shredded it with his claws. His jaws closed around it and the blood of fresh prey dripped deliciously into his mouth for the first time in far too long.

Although Marius had not been able to avoid the web attack, he was well trained in escaping bonds and slipped out from the strands that attempted to hold him. He stepped out of the enwebbed stones and held his blades at the ready as he shot he Spider Folk an arrogant smile. His smile ended abruptly as he heard an all-too-familiar “click-click” behind him and he dove for cover between the rocks, barely escaping the blast of lightning. Others were less fortunate.

Marcus absorbed the blast fully and felt himself teetering on the edge of consciousness as his muscles clenched involuntarily in agony. Scipio caught the shock along his flank and his fur was badly singed. And the arm-grabbing spider man who had come forward to attack Marius caught the burst full in the face and was flash-fried where he stood.

A short distance away Cathal received a far lesser shock from the sole lizard near him. He responded with an two-handed chop from his sword that cut the creature in half. Above, Speaks healed himself from a blast that he had absorbed earlier in the battle and prepared to dive back into the fray to aid his friends. Lazarius continued to fly as best he could in the cramped confines of the sink hole. He could see that his friends were having a tough time of it battling on two fronts and let fly with a flurry of Acid Orbs at the Shocker Lizards, killing one and wounding another.

The Spider Folk launched another volley of magical attacks at the party starting with an explosion of Glittering Dust that blinded Scipio and nearly did so to Marcus. Another of them launched a second Acid Arrow at Lazarius and struck him, inflicting a minor but persistently burning wound. The third hurled another web wad at Marius and managed to entangle him yet again.

Scipio turned on these latest attackers and let the body of the Shocker Lizard fall from his mouth. His muzzle went to the ground as he tried to pick up the scent of the Spider Folk. He smelled the Empire Man close by along with a strange, musky smell that he associated with the webs these creatures wove.

Marius struggled to free himself from the webs and was startled to look up and see Scipio sniffing at him as though he might make a nice meal. He was close enough to see blood dripping from the cat’s fangs and hoped dearly that it was that of an enemy.

Nearby Cathal, the last of the Shocker Lizards could smell the blood of its brethren thick in the air. It ducked back beneath a rock rather than remain as a target for Cathal who stood nearby with a bloody sword.

Robbed of that target, the Brigante warrior bounded from stone to stone and brought his sword to bear upon one of the Spider Folk. He dealt it a broad but shallow cut across the abdomen. His own burns from the lizards screamed in pain and helped to fuel his rage. And a good thing too for without it he would likely succumb to unconsciousness.

From above, Speaks dove straight down to arrive at the side of Scipio and attempt to treat his wounds before he sprang amongst the arachnid spellcasters. Marcus likewise did his best to heal his own wounds before going hand to hand with the many-handed Spider Folk (he bottomed out at 3 HP during this fight). Behind him he heard the heavy beat of wings as Lazarius swooped low to the bottom of the pit. In one hand he held a thin rod and the other pointed at the Spider Folk. He gritted his teeth and tried to focus his mind away from the pain of the burning acid at his side. Bursts of lightning erupted through the ranks of the Spider Folk, skillfully avoiding the other party members for a change. The foe facing Cathal went down twitching and the others looked badly wounded.

One responded by moving toward Cathal who felt himself gripped by mind-numbing cold before the creature used its magic to cover the ground beneath he and Scipio in a slippery Grease. The other began to retreat up the corridor making high, chittering noises in the direction of its only living ally.

Scipio attempted to pursue but only managed to run in place and fall to the slippery ground. Cathal kept his footing and moved toward his enemy and delivered another blow, wounding it even further.

Speaks flittered off of Scipio’s shoulder and alighted on another rock as he conjured a Flaming Sphere that blocked the escape of the other spider man. A moment later the fiery ball rolled into the creature, killing it.

The last of the Spider Folk raised its arms in a desperate act of spellcasting but was thwarted as Marcus stepped behind it and brought his mace down upon the creature’s skull.

The sinkhole filled with silence and stillness for a moment before Cathal grunted. The others watched as he limped over to one of the lizards struck down by Speaks’ Flame Strike. He dropped his sword on the ground and delivered a vicious bite to the lizard’s haunch. He growled around a mouth full of charred meat and scales, “Tastes good!”

Then the last of the rage left him and he slumped to the ground unconscious.

 

[Darklone]

Bon appetit

 

[Riggs]

shocking

Those lizards were no fun to mess with once they got out in numbers.

The good news about going through this part the way we did was that we avoided the traps the spider-folk set (the globes Rel mentioned stuck in the webs we were sure were of no good intent, and we thought that spiders would never leave eggs or anything of value out on the fringe like that). We also avoided most of the spider population, whatever number that was.

The bad news was that they ambushed us anyway, knowing how deadly the shockers were in numbers. Had we successfully destroyed all the spider guys with the frontal assault proposed, we could have rested and then fought separate fights. We were fully buffed up at that time, as SWS mentioned.

I think it would have depended on variables we couldn't know, like how damaging the traps were and how many hit us, and how many spiders were even there to fight us if we took them all on.

To be honest, as the player of Marius, I think I pushed my argument harder than I normally would care to just because I felt (correctly or incorrectly) that Marius had had precious little chance to contribute his main role. In a non-urban setting with most of the talking to date being Barbarians (where SWS was a hero and Cathal was a member) or a captive dragon-guy thing which was a bumbling community interrogation of sorts to begin with, but then diplomatic, or rockmen and animals whom only SWS could converse with, it was probably just me wanting to continue having fun with Marius' main skill after getting a little chance with it with the gatekeepers. No whining or worries then or now, just me remembering- or trying to.

At this time in the campaign, Marius hadn't become the go-to guy for diplomacy or all things gabby. The other players hadn't had a chance to even see he could do that either. Many of the speaking encounters to that time he couldn't do or help with because of stuff like exotic language requirements or class specifics like Druids can speak with animals, etc. Also, since I was married to the idea that I must waste my time with stupid prestige classes like the R.E., many of my early points went to requirements instead of things that could be helping right then, like speaking Terran :\


As Rel described here though, I only thought that Marius' best skill was diplomacy and such. It turns out it was getting into-and out of-trouble, even if it took the entire combat or campaign.

 

[Rel]

Speaks’ panting breath formed small clouds in the frigid air that were carried away on the night breeze that seemed to cut into his flesh through the protection of his robes and armor. He cursed out loud in three different languages though there was nobody around to hear them. His fellow companions didn’t speak the languages of Earth and Fire creatures anyway.

It was clear now that the giant’s path was too unpredictable for him to successfully lay a Snare and following any further in his wounded condition was simply asking for trouble. Frustrated, he reached out for the Wild around him and assumed eagle form. As he winged his way northward to the sinkhole he tried to piece together the chaos of the battle he had just participated in…

They had spent several days encamped at the bottom of the sinkhole. It only made sense as winter had taken a firm grip of the surface world of the Black Peaks and thick snow stretched out in every direction from the top of the deep hole they had battled the Shocker Lizards and treacherous Spider Folk in. While glad to be free of the confining monotony of the Delver Tunnel, they needed some time. All were seriously wounded from the battle, their food supplies were low (not counting the slain lizards) and Lazarius insisted that the tome from which he prepared his spells was badly in need of updating.

They set up camp in the mouth of the Delver Tunnel but were mistrustful of another attack by the Spider Folk. Speaks solved this problem by conjuring a Wood Wose and instructing it to start removing stones from his Bag of Endless Rocks and piling them some fifty feet back up the tunnel. As the pile grew higher and higher, Speaks would periodically Stone Shape these rocks into a continuous wall. It took nearly two days but the wall finally reached the top of the large tunnel and they were sealed off from they way they had come.

Meanwhile Marcus tended to the wounds of his companions until their encounter with the Shocker Lizards became only one more painful memory. Once healed, Marius and Cathal joined Speaks on some short forays into the surrounding mountains to hunt for game. Though they came from opposite ends of the world, both the Imperial and the Barbarian were skilled at woodcraft and they managed to bring down a deer and a brace of the large rabbits that inhabited the low valley thickets of the Black Peaks. Once they managed to throw enough wood down into the depths of the sinkhole they set about preserving enough of the meat to carry them further on their journey north along the spine of the Black Peaks.

Marius reckoned that they had covered at least 200 miles as they had traveled in the tunnels beneath the mountains. They still had no way of knowing exactly where Ilrath was but Lazarius promised that he would soon be able to fix that problem. He had been diligently copying a scroll that he had been carrying for months and told them that they would soon be able to pinpoint Ilrath’s location and move to it far more rapidly than their progress had been so far. He was just capping his quill and calling it a night when they were attacked.

The first they knew of anything being amiss was when they heard a rhythmic “whoomping” noise. They rushed to the mouth of the tunnel and looked up to where the top of the sinkhole ringed a circle of night sky some hundred feet above them. They saw a winged serpentine shape blotting out the stars and then everything exploded in flames. The heat of the flames was not life threatening to most of the group but Scipio was badly burned and Speaks firmly commanded him to stay put until they could find out who or what was attacking them. They recovered quickly and rushed out to find themselves confronted by a wide variety of fearsome enemies.

Marcus found himself face to face with what he could only describe as a dragon. Atop its back was a thick bodied semblance of a man far larger than any of them had ever seen. A giant wielding an enormous club. Another such giant floated to the ground without benefit of wings or mount using what must have been some sort of magic. The large chamber at the bottom of the sinkhole began to feel crowded.

Marius and Cathal rushed to try and flank the giant that was floating to the floor of the chamber as Marcus swung his mace at the steed of the other. Speaks used his magic to conjure a column of flame that engulfed rider and mount alike. Lazarius fired off a Lightning Bolt that wounded the other giant before he touched the ground.

The enemies returned this hostility. The giant mounted on the winged serpent dismounted and began to lay about him with the tree trunk he wielded. The other did the same as soon as his feet were on the ground. The dragon thing got its jaws around Marcus and followed up with an attack from its tail which was discovered to have a stinger at the tip, not unlike that of the Scorpion Men they had encountered some weeks ago.

Without warning another pillar of fire descended upon Speaks who struggled to see where it could have come from. Above he saw a pair of birds gliding deeper down into the sinkhole. Herons.

Marcus gritted his teeth as he felt the poison pump into his body from the tail of the dragon but he was hale and hearty and fought off its effects for the time being. His muscled arm gripped his mace tightly and he brought it down squarely on the center of the creature’s head. Bone exploded and blood flew as the creature slumped to the ground as if poleaxed. (timely crit here for near maximum damage)

Marius and Cathal continued to circle and stab at the giant they faced putting their weapons precisely into its innards. It landed a club blow on Cathal that jarred the Brigante’s bones but he kept his feet. The other giant moved to attack Speaks, pursuing him across the jagged floor of the sinkhole.

Speaks backpedaled before the oncoming giant and called out to his companions, “Kill the birds!” Lazarius looked skyward and found a target, engulfing it in a ball of lightning. He grinned at his success but his satisfaction was cut short as a large, blue female form materialized in front of him and a Cone of Cold burst from her outstretched hands to engulf Lazarius and Speaks.

Marcus pursued the giant that had gone after Speaks and caught a club blow on his shield as he closed the distance. He managed to land his mace on its thigh and gain its attention. Speaks took advantage of this brief reprieve and moved against the wall of the chamber where he unleashed a new magic for the first time.

The area around the new, blue combatant and also encompassing one of the herons that descended from above began to swirl with powerful winds. Even the large, horned woman struggled to keep from falling down and the bird was flung against the walls of the hole.

Speaks lost track of what was happening in the battle for a few moments as he scrambled to heal the massive wounds he had taken thus far. Just as he started to feel as though he might survive, a figure struggled out of the whirlwind that sheltered him and he looked into the face of one of the Druids. In the man’s hands was a gleaming sickle and on his face was a cruel grin. “Did you think our threats were idle? Well now you’re going to pay for disregarding our warnings. Just like your father.”

Speaks paled at the mention of his father and his mind flooded with questions and answers. He momentarily froze in the face of his adversary who came forward to silence Speaks and end his quest for answers. The Keeper of the Night never saw the mountain of feline flesh that plowed into him and ended his life in a flurry of teeth and claws.

Still slightly stunned at what had just been revealed to him, Speaks tried to clear his head and assess the progress of the battle.

One of the giants was down and the other was fleeing the same way he had come in, slowly rising skyward out of reach of the blades of Marius and Cathal. The blue skinned giantess was down on the ground amid the swirling whirlwind, apparently the target of Lazarius’ magic and Marcus’s mace. The dragon lay dead and the other heron or the Druid he could become was nowhere to be seen.

Speaks knew that if he were going to get any further answers this night they were going to have to come from that fleeing giant. He used more healing magic on himself as the giant rose further, finally gaining the top of the sinkhole and moving out of sight. Speaks’ form drew inward and an eagle shot out of the sinkhole alone into the night, leaving behind his battered and confused companions…

 

[BSF]

Woot! More Rel story hour action. That was a fun read. It will be interesting to see how Speaks deals with all of this.

Riggs,
Somehow I missed your post a while back. From some of the posts Rel has made, it does seem apparent that Marius is good at getting into trouble. I am very much looking forward to reading about it.

 

[Rel]

Speaks rejoined the group to find them all awake and packed, ready to come in search for him if he didn’t return soon. They were glad not to have to address the matter of how to climb the nearly hundred feet to the top of the sinkhole with the stony walls rimed with slippery frost. They huddled in the mouth of the tunnel keeping a wary eye turned toward the top of the hole as Speaks told them of how he was unable to ensnare the fleeing giant.

In turn they told him that the blue skinned demon woman’s body had disappeared in a puff of smoke shortly after he had taken flight. The body of the fallen Druid had been partially consumed by the very hungry Scipio (who hadn’t much cared for the charred lizard flesh). The other Druid had been lost in the chaos of the melee and nobody had seen what became of him.

They began to discuss their options but soon decided that, with most of their spells depleted and still no good way to gain the top of the hole again, it would have to wait until morning. They set a double watch and slept fitfully until morning.

As the pale morning light began to peer down into the sinkhole they noted that the sky was clouded over and Speaks felt certain that snow, perhaps heavy snow, would be falling before midday. They began to debate what to do next.

Their first instinct was to get away from the sinkhole. An enemy had escaped who knew their location and may return with an even greater force. The problem was where to escape to. They would be flying blind, further north into the mountains, into bad weather, with no guarantee that they could find good shelter. Lazarius offered to solve that problem by preparing his mystical Rope Trick that had last been used on their disastrous first night out of Aquae Sulis.

This would solve their shelter problem but it did not change the fact that they had no idea where Ilrath might be and their proposed mode of transport, flying using Speaks’ Feathers spell, would leave them virtually no chance of seeing any signs of his passage. They could of course travel on foot but that would mean having to attempt to cover their tracks or else be easily followed through the snow by the escaped giant and whatever forces he could gather.

Lazarius called again for the group to stay put long enough for him to complete his scribing. He maintained that once he finished putting this latest spell into his book that he would be able to take them directly to Ilrath no matter where he was. The others looked incredulous.

“I know that none of you have ever been around a real Wizard before, but let me assure you that this is possible. It is among the more potent magics they teach at the Imperial College of Wizardry but I feel that it is within my grasp to use this spell once I have worked through it fully. I’ll be able to Teleport us right into Ilrath’s lap!”

All of them had been burned (literally) by Lazarius’s magic before but he seemed confident in his abilities and they had few options that looked better. That left the matter of fortifying their position as much as possible while they waited for the Wizard to finish his studies and writing. Speaks came up with an answer quickly.

He simply called forth another Wood Wose and had it set about making another wall of stones pulled from the Bag of Endless Rocks. They would wall off the mouth of the tunnel and stay camped between the two walls where any giants would have a very difficult time getting at them.

Thus passed another two days with the group nervously encamped within their walled off section of tunnel. It seemed as though they would never actually escaped the confines of that damned tunnel. Each found reasons to squirm through the narrow opening they had left allowing access to the chamber at the bottom of the sinkhole. It quickly became obvious that they didn’t want to stay here much longer. Despite the cold weather the enormous bodies of the giant and the sting-tailed dragon were starting to decay. In another week the bottom of the sinkhole was going to stink to the top of Celestia.

Speaks would take time when he ventured out to get water to use the pool at the center of the sinkhole in order to Scry for any activity at the top of the hole. Early in the morning on the third day he spotted something that had him hurrying back to warn the others. Gathered near the top of the hole was a strange but sinister looking group of enemies. There were a pair of giants, two large wolves (dire wolves by Speaks’ estimation) and a man who Speaks was certain was one of the Druids hunting them. In the midst of this group a thick pole had been pounded into the ground and a cross beam lashed to it. Upon this pole a man was crucified.

“Who in the hells could that be?” Marcus wondered aloud.

“I’m afraid to guess,” said Speaks, his mind racing in horror at the possibilities.

“They’re clearly meaning to ambush us,” interjected Cathal.

“Clearly,” said Marius. “Let’s ambush them first…”

 

[Rel]

Riggs,
Somehow I missed your post a while back.

I'm guessing that when the Subscriptions database got wiped out that it meant that many regular readers lost track of when posts were made to various threads. I've noted a fair few threads popping up with new posts and saying, "Hey, I should have noticed that that thread was updated." I've gone back to those most important and posted again, making sure to indicate that I wanted to subscribe (since the default is now set to not subscribe).

I'll let Speaks speak for himself about how he absorbed this information (if he doesn't post soon, don't worry - there's about to be somewhat of an info-dump in the story regardless). I will mention that it is a dangling plot thread that was available since before the first session of the first rendition of this campaign. It was a long time coming but I really enjoyed revealing a plot element that was so pivotal in how Speaks' character was shaped.

One other tidbit: You may or may not have noticed that the update earlier that described the battle at the bottom of the sinkhole was somewhat less detailed than usual. That's because I didn't have the excellent Battle Report notes that I've come to rely upon in writing these things up. I don't know if Lazarius' player (he was the one who usually tracked this stuff) wasn't there that night or if it just got lost along the way.

Anyhow, all the PC's performed well that night but I recall Speaks being hit hard with both damage and the revelation about the fate of his father. I used that confusion as a mask for my somewhat poor recollection of the exact details of the battle. So that's the "story behind the story" this time around.

Expect another update about "The Ambush of the Ambushers" soon (hopefully tomorrow). The ironic thing is that, while I DO have a Battle Report to rely upon for this one, this battle was so memorable that I could probably have written it up without one! Trust me when I say that the next update will be one that you find enjoyable.

 

[Darklone]

Uhm. I never subscribed...

 

[Rel]

Marcus shoved his fingers into a thin crack in the stone and felt pain on his raw knuckles. He looked over his shoulder and saw the debris-strewn floor of the sinkhole some 70 feet below. From this height even the bodies of the stinger-dragon and the giant looked small. He said a small prayer to St. Cuthbert and continued to climb. Despite Lazarius’ spell that he’d been assured would let him “climb like a spider”, the warrior-priest knew that he wouldn’t feel secure until his feet were on solid and horizontal ground. He looked over to his right and saw Cathal and Marius and could read similar thoughts on their faces.

Somewhere behind and below him Lazarius was supposedly circling the sinkhole on wobbly wings that had magically sprouted from his back. No one could be certain of where the Wizard really was because he was invisible. As for Speaks, he’d not even left the safety of their burrow yet. Marcus hoped that the Druid was doing what he said that he would.

He moved forward as quietly as he could in his armor and was doing a surprisingly good job of it. His silent movement was so successful that he could very distinctly hear the loud pops that rang out from the stone just before it began to disintegrate under his hands. One whole side of the lip of the sinkhole came loose and began to tumble down into the hole, permanently entombing the dead foes they had left there and very nearly sealing Speaks With Stone into the confines of their hideaway.

In a scrambling panic Marcus thrust his hands through the crumbling stone seeking a firm handhold. He caught a protruding corner of a boulder, firmly stuck in the earth around it, and managed to hold on as large chunks of earth and stone tumbled past. He looked desperately over toward Cathal and Marius to see if they’d fallen to their almost certain deaths.

The Brigante had two hands thrust through the loose earth that poured around him and clenched his eyes shut against the dust and dirt that poured over him. He needed a bath (all of them did really) but he was holding on well. Marius looked for a moment as if the avalanche would take him down into the pit as he backslid nearly 20 feet but somehow, miraculously found the most tenuous of holds and hung on.

(I must interject a GM note here. Marius’ player was not there that night and his PC was being run by someone else. He easily had the highest Reflex save bonus in the party by a good margin. But the dice were unkind and he failed the roll. I hauled out a small pile of d6’s and started to roll some of the most brutal falling damage I’ve ever seen. As the numbers began to add up it seemed very obvious that Marius was about to be very dead.

Suddenly one of the other players called out, “Wait! Can he chip it?” We use a sort of “Hero Point” mechanic represented by poker chips awarded when players say and do things that add to the game in some outstanding or humorous manner. Marius’ player is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and thus had built up a nice backlog of three “chips” that could be spent to re-roll any single die roll.

I let the player running the character spend one of Marius’ chips to re-roll the Reflex save. He rolled horribly AGAIN and so spent another chip. The die bounced to a halt showing a third result less than 5 in as many rolls. A nervous look passed between the players as they spent Marius’ third and final chip and rolled the associated d20. They finally got a decent result and Marius survived the first die roll of the night.

His player gave the others no end of grief about this upon his return but admitted that he’d rather have no chips than no Marius.)

As the last bits of dirt and gravel trickled past the trio of warriors, they knew that the jig was up and their attempted ambush had been thwarted. They hastened to the top of the hole to attempt to bring battle to their enemies before more magic was leveled at them while they climbed.

Marcus was the first to gain the top and was immediately lunged at by one of the wolves, its white coat nearly camouflaging it against the snow. Its teeth tried to find purchase on his armor but failed. The other white wolf circled the rim of the pit and breathed an icy cone of cold air on Marcus and Marius, who still clung to the wall some 30 feet below (did I say “Dire Wolves”? I meant “Dire Winter Wolves”).

Marius scrambled further up the side of the sinkhole wishing he was anywhere but trapped, clinging to this infernal wall and exposed to danger with no ability to fight back. Cathal had the same feelings and was closer to the top. He scrambled to his feet and took a moment to call on the his inner power to Shield him from his enemies’ blows. (Cathal’s hodge podge of multiclassing had now expanded to include Sorcerer. But wait, it gets better)

Marcus and Cathal started to look about to see where they might best engage the enemy when the enemy saved them the trouble. A giant charged each of them, not as they expected them to with clubs swinging, but instead simply bashing roughly into them with the enormous weight of their bodies.

Marius could see that he was one quick sprint from the top of the hole and reached out to grab his next handhold when he heard the bellowing of the giants. He heard the clatter of armor from above the lip of the sinkhole and looked up in horror to see both Marcus and Cathal fly backwards over the edge and fall helplessly past him.

 

[Darklone]

Wozzah, it's hailing updates!

Someone got a Featherfall at hand?