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Shadows of Greatness, a Forgotten Realms campaign UPDATED February 1, 2008
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<blockquote data-quote="sniffles" data-source="post: 3473604" data-attributes="member: 30035"><p><strong>Beneath the Temple of the Eye Tyrants</strong></p><p></p><p>My friends and I raced to the relative safety of the ruined temple as fast as our legs would carry us through the sand. I sprang onto a stone ledge just outside the main structure and turned to face our foes, my blades at the ready. As I did so the worms overran both Nekaya-Re and Khai, who had trailed behind the rest of the group in our mad dash. </p><p></p><p>Khai was bowled over by the worm's attack, but righted himself and continued to flee toward the temple ruin. Nekaya-Re, who remained enlarged by Pakkin's helpful potion, was not so easily overcome by the second worm. Erim rushed forward and chanted an eldritch phrase, causing the first worm to pause in its headlong rush toward us. Its partner charged at Nekaya-Re. Liadan then called upon Lathander's might and sent a lance of pure brilliance darting out to pierce the second worm's flesh. </p><p></p><p>Just as this took place, the first worm shook itself free of Erim's spell and began to move again. Baran hurled his grandsire's hammer at the worm menacing Nekaya-Re. It struck with the fury of the dwarves behind its blow. The worm's body suddenly burst asunder, showering the area with poisoned spines and gobbets of hot flesh. By Corellon's mercy I was not struck by any of this foul debris.</p><p></p><p>I determined that I should attack the remaining worm from as great a distance as I could manage. I backed into the shelter of the ruin's remaining walls and exchanged my swords for my bow. Erim then made another arcane gesture and summoned a wall of transparent energy between our party and the worm. The worm rushed forward in pursuit of my retreating friends, but as it came to the magical wall it seemed to sense the barrier and slowed its progress enough that it struck the barrier with little force. </p><p></p><p>Behind me Khai shouted for us to retreat further into the ruined structure, where the stone floor could not be penetrated by the worm. Nekaya-Re then reached her hakra over the magical wall to strike the worm. Erim took the chance to move nearer so that he might direct more arcane energies at the creature, but his spell appeared to take no effect. The worm then burrowed into the sand and emerged on the other side of Erim's wall, snapping at Nekaya-Re with its many jagged teeth.</p><p></p><p>Baran hurled his hammer once again, and its effect was the same - the worm exploded, spraying its substance throughout the area. This time I did not escape injury from the flying bits of searing carcass. But my indignity was little compared to what was to come. </p><p></p><p>The temple ruins were already unstable. Khai had warned us against the rear wall, and a gaping opening lay in the floor just at the base of this unstable piece. Now the entire structure began to collapse in on itself under the assault of two exploding worms. Khai had retreated furthest into the ruins, accompanied by Nekaya-Re's strange companion, Sunshine. Our guide now began to scramble desperately for footing as a great crack spread across the floor and it began to slide toward the hole in the rear of the temple. As we all watched in despair, none of us near enough to render aid, Khai slid down the dark opening and vanished from our sight. Then the rear wall folded itself over the hole like the lid of a cistern and a great tide of sand rushed in to cover the fallen stones.</p><p></p><p>The only sounds once the collapse ceased were the hiss of more sand sliding into the ruins, and our panting breath. Then Erim removed a magic stone from his pouch and set it circling his head before lifting from the floor in flight and descending down a second, smaller opening in one of the corners of the remaining structure. He quickly found that this shaft was choked with ancient rubble. </p><p></p><p>It occurred to Liadan that the temple had been built on a symmetrical design, so she rushed to the opposite corner to seek a similar shaft. Under a coating of sand a circular stone lid was revealed. Baran determined that the stone was not of any great depth. While my dwarven friend worked at this lid to raise it, Liadan extended Lathander's healing grace to those of us who were hurt. It was not until then that I realized how many wounds I carried from our struggle with the desert worms.</p><p></p><p>Using his axe of adamantine and the enchanted rod of immobility that he carries, Baran was able to lever up the stone lid, revealing a dark shaft a little less than twice my height in diameter. As he lifted it away a foul odor of decay was released. He then suspended the magic rod in the air and tied one end of his never-ending rope to it, attaching the spool at the other end of the rope to his belt. With Baran in the lead and myself and Pakkin taking up the rear, we began to descend.</p><p></p><p>As we lowered ourselves into the unknown depths of the eye-tyrants' temple, Baran noted that there was something peculiar in the shaft below us. He removed his coin of unending light from where it hung around his neck and dropped it down the shaft. He then reported that the shaft had been set with a trap to harm the unwary, three blades that would spring out of the shaft walls to slash at anyone descending the shaft. </p><p></p><p>Nekaya-Re dangled an end of her own silken rope down the shaft to determine if the blades would react to it and if they could reach it. It became apparent that should one of the blades be disabled or destroyed we might continue our descent by pressing against that side of the shaft. Erim then carefully directed a spell into the groove containing one blade, shattering the blade and sending its sharp shards tumbling harmlessly below. </p><p></p><p>Suddenly the light below us changed, growing brighter. To our dismay we saw a small eye tyrant rising up the shaft, with Baran's glowing coin resting atop its roughly spherical body! As I hung feeling frustrated by my inability to act, Baran let go the rope and dropped down the shaft on top of the creature.</p><p></p><p>An alien voice cried out from below and I saw a brief flash of red light as Baran tumbled to the bottom of the shaft and landed in a heap. Erim murmured the words of a simple spell and a bright missile shot from his fingers to strike the eye tyrant. It collapsed to the floor like a punctured bladder of air. Baran shouted up to us that two more of the creatures could be seen from his vantage.</p><p></p><p>Erim described an arcane gesture and endowed all of us but Nekaya-Re with the ability to float gently to the floor of the shaft. Freed from having to cling to the rope, I was able to draw my swords and stab one of the eye creatures as I drifted downward. I felt a brief curious sensation as one of its six eyes glared at me, but this did not disturb my ability to harm it. </p><p></p><p>Below me I heard Liadan utter a short prayer and the entire shaft lit up with the warmth of the sun's rays. Then my feet touched the floor. One of the eye creatures was wobbling about eratically, apparently blinded by the light. Baran hurled his hammer at the other creature. Despite its wounds the thing turned one of its eye-stalks toward me and a black energy flowed from its alien eye. I was able to strike it nonetheless, though I could feel my arms trembling with weariness as I brought my swords to bear. </p><p></p><p>Pakkin fired arrows at the creatures, while Liadan raised the mace that she now seldom uses to strike. Her blow brought down the eye tyrant that had ensorcelled me. Nekaya-Re summoned the energies of the circlet she wears to blast the second creature. Both creatures joined their fellow on the filthy floor of the malodorous chamber.</p><p></p><p>The softly glowing form of Sunshine appeared from the darkness, coming to Nekaya-Re's side. She communed silently for a moment with the creature, then turned to report more dismaying news: a larger eye tyrant had evidently turned Khai to stone! Without our guide we had no hope of finding the Pillars of Fire, so we steeled ourselves to do battle with one of the larger creatures. Nekaya-Re and Liadan summoned the divine power of their gods to remove the exhaustion that Baran and I had suffered, and Erim warned us of what other powers the larger eye tyrant might possess.</p><p></p><p>We found that another narrow shaft descended from this chamber, the eye tyrants having no need of stairways to ascend. In an effort to lure the larger creature to us, we threw the corpses of its smaller kin down the shaft. Baran lent me a sword he carries that can contain a single spell, so that I might use both Brimstone's flames and the lightning the other sword contained against the creature. He also prepared a magical rod that can absorb arcane energies, and most amazingly he revealed that a small figurine of an elephant he has been carrying for some while can be triggered to transform itself into an actual elephant! This beast he commanded to push a boulder into the shaft when the eye tyrant began to ascend.</p><p></p><p>In the meanwhile Liadan blessed us with a prayer. We could now hear noises below as of crude speech, several voices speaking words none of us could comprehend. Nekaya-Re shouted a challenge to the creatures beneath us. Then another of the small creatures ascended the shaft to our level. It was swiftly slain by Nekaya-Re and Baran.</p><p></p><p>But now the larger eye tyrant appeared before us, staring directly into my eyes with its own single large orb. I had set <em>Brimstone</em> alight a moment earlier, but now his flames were extinguished. The circling stone orbiting Nekaya-Re's head fell to the floor. Baran's elephant returned to the form of a tiny stone figurine.</p><p></p><p>I moved to one side and found that I had stepped beyond the range of the creature's magic-suppressing effect, for <em>Brimstone</em> burst once more alight. Erim called a spell to hand that allowed him to lift a large boulder into the air and hurl it at the eye tyrant. The creature in return shot multicolored rays of light from several of its eye-stalks at the mage. Then Nekaya-Re raised her hakra and struck the creature with such force that its eyes at once went dark and it fell to the floor!</p><p></p><p>As there was no sign of Khai in the chamber where we now stood, Liadan and Baran immediately jumped down the shaft the eye tyrants had ascended. I heard both of them grunt in pain as they landed. I elected to use a rope to descend. The floor of the next chamber was covered in slime, and the room was filled with fungi and smelled even more unpleasant that the levels above. Liadan summoned Lathander's radiance into the room to reveal more of its repugnant details - including the presence of three more of the smaller eye tyrants.</p><p>________________________</p><p><strong>Quips & Quotes </strong> (<em>lots of eye puns, what a surpreyes!</em> <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ):</p><p></p><p>Devo: "There's an icon carved on the temple floor."</p><p>patv: "An eye-con?"</p><p></p><p>Jubilee: "I think gloating is a full-round action."</p><p></p><p>patv: "Picture a tunnel."</p><p>Zora: "No, we got the shaft."</p><p></p><p>Devo: "You notice that the small beholders only have 6 eyes."</p><p>Zora: "They're baby beholders. Eventually the baby eyes drop off and their adult eyes come in."</p><p></p><p>Hedrin: "The mother beholder makes eyes-cream."</p><p></p><p>Devo: "You notice a bad smell down here."</p><p>Jubilee: "What do you suppose the beholders eat down here?</p><p>patv: "Beans."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sniffles, post: 3473604, member: 30035"] [b]Beneath the Temple of the Eye Tyrants[/b] My friends and I raced to the relative safety of the ruined temple as fast as our legs would carry us through the sand. I sprang onto a stone ledge just outside the main structure and turned to face our foes, my blades at the ready. As I did so the worms overran both Nekaya-Re and Khai, who had trailed behind the rest of the group in our mad dash. Khai was bowled over by the worm's attack, but righted himself and continued to flee toward the temple ruin. Nekaya-Re, who remained enlarged by Pakkin's helpful potion, was not so easily overcome by the second worm. Erim rushed forward and chanted an eldritch phrase, causing the first worm to pause in its headlong rush toward us. Its partner charged at Nekaya-Re. Liadan then called upon Lathander's might and sent a lance of pure brilliance darting out to pierce the second worm's flesh. Just as this took place, the first worm shook itself free of Erim's spell and began to move again. Baran hurled his grandsire's hammer at the worm menacing Nekaya-Re. It struck with the fury of the dwarves behind its blow. The worm's body suddenly burst asunder, showering the area with poisoned spines and gobbets of hot flesh. By Corellon's mercy I was not struck by any of this foul debris. I determined that I should attack the remaining worm from as great a distance as I could manage. I backed into the shelter of the ruin's remaining walls and exchanged my swords for my bow. Erim then made another arcane gesture and summoned a wall of transparent energy between our party and the worm. The worm rushed forward in pursuit of my retreating friends, but as it came to the magical wall it seemed to sense the barrier and slowed its progress enough that it struck the barrier with little force. Behind me Khai shouted for us to retreat further into the ruined structure, where the stone floor could not be penetrated by the worm. Nekaya-Re then reached her hakra over the magical wall to strike the worm. Erim took the chance to move nearer so that he might direct more arcane energies at the creature, but his spell appeared to take no effect. The worm then burrowed into the sand and emerged on the other side of Erim's wall, snapping at Nekaya-Re with its many jagged teeth. Baran hurled his hammer once again, and its effect was the same - the worm exploded, spraying its substance throughout the area. This time I did not escape injury from the flying bits of searing carcass. But my indignity was little compared to what was to come. The temple ruins were already unstable. Khai had warned us against the rear wall, and a gaping opening lay in the floor just at the base of this unstable piece. Now the entire structure began to collapse in on itself under the assault of two exploding worms. Khai had retreated furthest into the ruins, accompanied by Nekaya-Re's strange companion, Sunshine. Our guide now began to scramble desperately for footing as a great crack spread across the floor and it began to slide toward the hole in the rear of the temple. As we all watched in despair, none of us near enough to render aid, Khai slid down the dark opening and vanished from our sight. Then the rear wall folded itself over the hole like the lid of a cistern and a great tide of sand rushed in to cover the fallen stones. The only sounds once the collapse ceased were the hiss of more sand sliding into the ruins, and our panting breath. Then Erim removed a magic stone from his pouch and set it circling his head before lifting from the floor in flight and descending down a second, smaller opening in one of the corners of the remaining structure. He quickly found that this shaft was choked with ancient rubble. It occurred to Liadan that the temple had been built on a symmetrical design, so she rushed to the opposite corner to seek a similar shaft. Under a coating of sand a circular stone lid was revealed. Baran determined that the stone was not of any great depth. While my dwarven friend worked at this lid to raise it, Liadan extended Lathander's healing grace to those of us who were hurt. It was not until then that I realized how many wounds I carried from our struggle with the desert worms. Using his axe of adamantine and the enchanted rod of immobility that he carries, Baran was able to lever up the stone lid, revealing a dark shaft a little less than twice my height in diameter. As he lifted it away a foul odor of decay was released. He then suspended the magic rod in the air and tied one end of his never-ending rope to it, attaching the spool at the other end of the rope to his belt. With Baran in the lead and myself and Pakkin taking up the rear, we began to descend. As we lowered ourselves into the unknown depths of the eye-tyrants' temple, Baran noted that there was something peculiar in the shaft below us. He removed his coin of unending light from where it hung around his neck and dropped it down the shaft. He then reported that the shaft had been set with a trap to harm the unwary, three blades that would spring out of the shaft walls to slash at anyone descending the shaft. Nekaya-Re dangled an end of her own silken rope down the shaft to determine if the blades would react to it and if they could reach it. It became apparent that should one of the blades be disabled or destroyed we might continue our descent by pressing against that side of the shaft. Erim then carefully directed a spell into the groove containing one blade, shattering the blade and sending its sharp shards tumbling harmlessly below. Suddenly the light below us changed, growing brighter. To our dismay we saw a small eye tyrant rising up the shaft, with Baran's glowing coin resting atop its roughly spherical body! As I hung feeling frustrated by my inability to act, Baran let go the rope and dropped down the shaft on top of the creature. An alien voice cried out from below and I saw a brief flash of red light as Baran tumbled to the bottom of the shaft and landed in a heap. Erim murmured the words of a simple spell and a bright missile shot from his fingers to strike the eye tyrant. It collapsed to the floor like a punctured bladder of air. Baran shouted up to us that two more of the creatures could be seen from his vantage. Erim described an arcane gesture and endowed all of us but Nekaya-Re with the ability to float gently to the floor of the shaft. Freed from having to cling to the rope, I was able to draw my swords and stab one of the eye creatures as I drifted downward. I felt a brief curious sensation as one of its six eyes glared at me, but this did not disturb my ability to harm it. Below me I heard Liadan utter a short prayer and the entire shaft lit up with the warmth of the sun's rays. Then my feet touched the floor. One of the eye creatures was wobbling about eratically, apparently blinded by the light. Baran hurled his hammer at the other creature. Despite its wounds the thing turned one of its eye-stalks toward me and a black energy flowed from its alien eye. I was able to strike it nonetheless, though I could feel my arms trembling with weariness as I brought my swords to bear. Pakkin fired arrows at the creatures, while Liadan raised the mace that she now seldom uses to strike. Her blow brought down the eye tyrant that had ensorcelled me. Nekaya-Re summoned the energies of the circlet she wears to blast the second creature. Both creatures joined their fellow on the filthy floor of the malodorous chamber. The softly glowing form of Sunshine appeared from the darkness, coming to Nekaya-Re's side. She communed silently for a moment with the creature, then turned to report more dismaying news: a larger eye tyrant had evidently turned Khai to stone! Without our guide we had no hope of finding the Pillars of Fire, so we steeled ourselves to do battle with one of the larger creatures. Nekaya-Re and Liadan summoned the divine power of their gods to remove the exhaustion that Baran and I had suffered, and Erim warned us of what other powers the larger eye tyrant might possess. We found that another narrow shaft descended from this chamber, the eye tyrants having no need of stairways to ascend. In an effort to lure the larger creature to us, we threw the corpses of its smaller kin down the shaft. Baran lent me a sword he carries that can contain a single spell, so that I might use both Brimstone's flames and the lightning the other sword contained against the creature. He also prepared a magical rod that can absorb arcane energies, and most amazingly he revealed that a small figurine of an elephant he has been carrying for some while can be triggered to transform itself into an actual elephant! This beast he commanded to push a boulder into the shaft when the eye tyrant began to ascend. In the meanwhile Liadan blessed us with a prayer. We could now hear noises below as of crude speech, several voices speaking words none of us could comprehend. Nekaya-Re shouted a challenge to the creatures beneath us. Then another of the small creatures ascended the shaft to our level. It was swiftly slain by Nekaya-Re and Baran. But now the larger eye tyrant appeared before us, staring directly into my eyes with its own single large orb. I had set [I]Brimstone[/I] alight a moment earlier, but now his flames were extinguished. The circling stone orbiting Nekaya-Re's head fell to the floor. Baran's elephant returned to the form of a tiny stone figurine. I moved to one side and found that I had stepped beyond the range of the creature's magic-suppressing effect, for [I]Brimstone[/I] burst once more alight. Erim called a spell to hand that allowed him to lift a large boulder into the air and hurl it at the eye tyrant. The creature in return shot multicolored rays of light from several of its eye-stalks at the mage. Then Nekaya-Re raised her hakra and struck the creature with such force that its eyes at once went dark and it fell to the floor! As there was no sign of Khai in the chamber where we now stood, Liadan and Baran immediately jumped down the shaft the eye tyrants had ascended. I heard both of them grunt in pain as they landed. I elected to use a rope to descend. The floor of the next chamber was covered in slime, and the room was filled with fungi and smelled even more unpleasant that the levels above. Liadan summoned Lathander's radiance into the room to reveal more of its repugnant details - including the presence of three more of the smaller eye tyrants. ________________________ [B]Quips & Quotes [/B] ([I]lots of eye puns, what a surpreyes![/I] ;) ): Devo: "There's an icon carved on the temple floor." patv: "An eye-con?" Jubilee: "I think gloating is a full-round action." patv: "Picture a tunnel." Zora: "No, we got the shaft." Devo: "You notice that the small beholders only have 6 eyes." Zora: "They're baby beholders. Eventually the baby eyes drop off and their adult eyes come in." Hedrin: "The mother beholder makes eyes-cream." Devo: "You notice a bad smell down here." Jubilee: "What do you suppose the beholders eat down here? patv: "Beans." [/QUOTE]
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