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Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
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<blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 2822151" data-attributes="member: 198"><p><strong>Session 21 (1/21/06) - Over the Wall (or "40,000 Years of Rubbing")</strong></p><p></p><p>Luna nears the wall without trouble but just as she reaches it, she flies smack-dab into an invisible barrier, flattening herself against it with a surprised "squawk!", falling, and then righting herself. She casts a <em>detect magic</em>, which seems to work without trouble, and detects a moderate aura of evocation, as well as some divination and universal magic, mostly in the shape of a barrier in front of her. It stretches as far upwards and on either side as she can detect. She surmises that it is a <em>wall of force</em> and tries flying further away or higher and getting by. Experimentation reveals that it stretches along the inner surface of the stone wall as far as she goes, and as high as she goes. Luna then tries dropping down to the ground and changing shape into an ape and climbing up the wall, which reveals that the <em>wall of force</em> extends to the ground too. Eventually, after trying various things, she tries to climb over the wall in her normal form and is able to do so. Slightly bruised, she heads back to join her companions.</p><p></p><p>When she reaches the village, where some of the drow look at her suspiciously but ask no questions, she finds the others in the middle of a discussion. Six has been suggesting that the island itself is as big a treasure as anything that could be found beyond the wall. He suggests that the group consider setting up an outpost and trying to control/aid/benefit from travel into the interior, just as Stormreach does in Xen'drik. The others have differing opinions about the feasibility of the enterprise. Dala says, "I'm quite sure that as soon as news of this discovery gets out, people will be swarming to this place, so while it's an interesting idea, I'd say we should still get as much out of here as we can this time." Luna returns at this point to report what she saw and experienced. Nameless theorizes that the <em>wall of force</em> might be triggered by a combination of someone trying to leave and doing so by magical means. Luna suggests he try out the theory, but Nameless declines.</p><p></p><p>Rezan returns shortly afterwards to let the group know that accommodation has been arranged at a large hut for them. She also spends some time asking them more questions, especially about their plans for the next day. Nameless and others tell her that they will not cross the wall but will simply go speak to some of the other tribes. She warns that other tribes might be more hostile, and Nameless replies, "In which case, they will rapidly become much smaller tribes."</p><p></p><p>Six asks about the stone walkways leading to the top of the wall, and Rezan says that they are used to post sentries on the wall if they hear dangerous creatures on the other side. She also says that supposedly some generations ago, a few of the surviving High Ones had tried to cross the wall and the drow had used them to fight them back. Six also asks her what they use for money on the island, a concept she seems unclear about. Corven produces a copper, silver and gold coin as examples. Rezan asks, "Like this?" and produces a golden disk from a large pouch she carries around, this one weighing about 5 pounds. Imre, the appraiser in the group, opines that it contains about 250 galifars worth of gold. Unfortunately any marks that it might once have had have been removed by thousands of years of being carried around, so it has no value as a historical artifact.</p><p></p><p>After some discussion, a couple more drow let Rezan know that dinner has been served, and she leads the group to a large open space, where mats have been set for them, with plates and bowls of food nearby. Dozens of other drow join them, though they sit at a discreet distance. During the meal, a small group of drow perform a dance that sets out the history of the world as the tribe sees it, acting as the Scaled Masters and the High Ones in turn. </p><p></p><p>After the dance and dinner, Rezan tells the group to rest and says she will see them the next day. Urden suggests that the group post watches, since he doesn't really trust the tribe, so they do so (with Six remaining on watch throughout, as always). Late in the night, Six, Gareth and Niff notice a small group of drow approach the hut. When they are a little over a hundred feet away, they stop and then head away. Other than that, nothing of note occurs.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p>The next morning, the group joins Rezan for breakfast. As usual, she has the silent Uthgen and the six armored drow with her. Over breakfast, she asks again about the group's plans and Nameless repeats what they said before. Rezan then excuses herself for a few moments and goes to her hut, with Uthgen in tow.</p><p></p><p>The two return and approach the group, and then Rezan shouts, "Kill the liars! They must not cross the wall!" She hurls a small bead in their direction, which explodes with concussive force, battering Corven, Gareth and a couple of others. It expands out into a globe of force that almost engulfs Gareth, but he manages to dodge away. Uthgen rushes forward and strikes at Luna, wounding her slightly. As the other drow grab at their weapons and attack, the Angels and other members of the expedition quickly defend themselves. </p><p></p><p>Nameless is the quickest, casting a spell even before he bothers to stand up, which conjures up a field of <em>black tentacles</em>, which wrap themselves around Rezan and a drow warrior. "I warned you!" he says, as he stands up. Nearby, Corven quickly uses an infusion to make Six's weapon more deadly to drow, and the warforged attacks Uthgen. Which rapidly becomes embarrassing as he tries to trip the drow chieftain and fails to do so, having to drop the chain before being pulled off his own feet instead. Luna steps away from Uthgen and casts <em>produce flame</em>, hitting him with a bolt of flame that pierces his resistance to magic. Gareth attacks one of the other drow with Kizmet.</p><p></p><p>With the combination of the adventurers, Arrok and Urden, Dala and the four others from Sharn, and the eight porters, the drow are quickly in dire straits, with a couple being quickly cut down. Rezan and the other trapped drow show no sign of being about to escape. A few dozen drow are in the process of rushing to join the fight when Nameless casts a well-placed <em>web</em> spell from one hut to another, catching a number of them. These drow apparently have no idea about such magic, since a couple try to break through by throwing themselves at the <em>web</em>, promptly sticking fast. Uthgen is the only one who seems to be holding his own, managing to wound Six as he retrieves his spiked chain, but Six and Luna then combine to wound him badly. </p><p></p><p>In desperation, Rezan pulls a bead from her necklace and hurls it. To the momentary surprise of the group (and from her expression - hers too), it blossoms into a <em>fireball</em>, scorching a number of people. More alarmingly, it reveals that some of the downed drow are wearing such <em>necklaces of fireball</em>, since it ignites another, which then ignites another, and so on. A total of four fireballs explode in quick succession. When the explosions end, Corven, three porters and the student scribe Maura are all lying on the ground unconscious, while everyone else is scorched to some degree. Not one of the drow besides Uthgen survive.</p><p></p><p>The drow villagers who were hurrying to join the fight stop in horror, scream in terror and flee. Their flight is doubly motivated by the two pseudonatural bison that Nameless had just summoned, which he now commands to kill the drow. They charge off, goring or trampling on the unlucky ones they find. Six, meanwhile, cuts down Uthgen with a mighty blow*, while Rezan and the other drow are squeezed to death by the tentacles. The others hurry to revive the unconscious people and find that luckily none are dead. </p><p></p><p>With the battle quickly terminated, the group does a cursory check of the dead drow, finding two unaffected <em>necklaces</em> (each with one bead) and collecting the large gold piece that they had seen the day before. Six also goes and collects the adamantine spearhead that they had seen used as a roof support. He notices that the vast majority of the drow have managed to flee successfully into the forest, except for the few who are now barricaded in their huts or sitting on a roof screaming with fear while a tentacled bison tries to reach them.</p><p></p><p>Once he rejoins the others, the expedition proceeds over the wall. Reaching the top via the stone walkways, they find it exactly as Luna had described. While they lower themselves and the supplies with ropes, Luna wildshapes into an eagle and flies around to try and spot the nearest trail. She finds one that leads in the general direction of the mountain, and returns to lead the group in that direction. Urden, having seen the mountain, says, "My tribe believed that was the center of the island." Arrok says, "Then I'm guessing if there is something to find, it's there. Let's go."</p><p></p><p>With that, the expedition heads into the forest. Arrok, Urden and Six take the lead, followed by a line of porters, with Corven and Nameless in the middle and Gareth at the rear. Collus and Maura are about a quarter of the way down, while Imre and Niff are about the same distance ahead of Gareth. Luna flies overhead and ahead, using her increased speed to scout ahead and returning at intervals to report with gestures and scratching in the ground. </p><p></p><p>As they proceed over the next few hours, they discover a number of things about the forest. It is a very heavily wooded one, with a canopy that exists on three general levels. The highest trees are over a hundred feet tall, with a lower layer at around sixty feet, and then a third one at about thirty. This arrangement makes it difficult for Luna to get a clear view of the area ahead. Also, they soon discover that the floor of the forest is at various levels. It often falls away to a depth of a hundred feet or more, and then rises abruptly at other times. A few large crevasses are encountered, splitting the ground to deeper depths. These undulations in the terrain are also difficult for Luna to make out if flying above the canopy, and she is eventually reduced to flying about fifty feet above her companions, avoiding the taller trees as she goes.</p><p></p><p>The forest has more than its fair share of fauna, and there are sometimes animal tracks on or near the trail. At one point, Arrok spots a set of humanoid-shaped tracks. They are slightly larger than human-sized, but are oddly misshapen. Arrok and Urden consult but aren't sure what it could be. Since they head along the trail in the same direction that the expedition is heading, and also happen to be no more than a day old, they recommend caution (a little redundantly, since everyone is on alert anyway) and continue. A short time later, Six notices a much larger track. This one must have come from a creature at least fifteen feet tall, also humanoid in general shape, which drags or rests on its knuckles as it walks. It is difficult to say if there was more than one. Arrok and Urden say that they could be hill giants, but the fingers seem more misshapen and hill giants are usually only about 10 feet tall, or 12 feet at the biggest. These tracks seem a little older.</p><p></p><p>The first sign of danger for the group comes from a much smaller set of enemies. A number of the group hear distant chirping, like that of a number of birds. Luna, who is nearby, flies in that direction and returns soon. Unable to explain in detail, she changes back to normal form and explains that she heard a lot more of the sounds but couldn't see anything, though there was rustling in the undergrowth below. Her comment is quickly corroborated as the chirping breaks out nearby, followed by the appearance of a dozen or so small green dinosaurs from the bushes nearby. They are a foot tall and have a large beak-like mouth, with disproportionately large teeth.</p><p></p><p>The dinosaurs scamper forward, eyeing the group with their beady eyes and chirping as they come. One reaches Gareth and looks up at him. The paladin is apparently not an animal-lover, since he says, "I don't trust these," and takes a swing at it with his sword. To the surprise and amusement of the rest, he misses by a mile** as the creature quickly darts aside. Luna begins to yell, "Gareth - there's no need fo..." but is cut off by a chorus of chirping, as hundreds of the creatures swarm out of the bushes at the group.</p><p></p><p>Everyone has weapons and wands prepared, so the creatures take a volley of shots, but that only leaves a few of them dead. Nameless manages to cast a spell and <em>fly</em> up above them, but they literally roll over the others, biting and scratching with glee. Six is the first to realize that discretion is much the better part of valor here and runs for the closest tree, trailing dinosaurs as he goes. He leaps up and grabs a branch and pulls himself off the ground. Luna swears in anger and then unleashes a <em>flame strike</em>, which roasts dozens of the creatures, clearing a space for her to also run and get up a tree. </p><p></p><p>After some abortive attempts to cut down some, many of the others manage to do the same, though Corven and most of the porters are hampered by the pain*** of lots of small teeth and claws ripping at them. After a few seconds, they too manage to make their way to some plant or the other. Only two of the porters are unable to flee. Nameless swoops down and manages to barely pull one off the ground, but it's too late for the other. The dinosaurs literally rip apart the screaming man, feasting on him even before he's dead. After depositing the unconscious porter near Gareth, who barely made it off the ground with his armor, so that he can be healed, Nameless <em>summon</em>s three pseudonatural bison. Their magical resistance to damage stands them in good stead against the creatures and after they have trampled a fair number (Six has already nailed a number with a <em>fireball</em> via one of the beads from the drow), the dinosaurs disperse. </p><p></p><p>The remaining members of the expedition slowly climb down and tend to their wounds. The remains of the dead porter, who has been reduced almost to a skeleton, are interred in a shallow grave nearby and the reduced group continues on its way. Someone jokes that they just got treed by the equivalent of a swarm of featherless, green chickens. Nobody seems to find the comment that amusing.</p><p></p><p>After a couple more hours of traveling, by which time the trail has ended abruptly and been left behind, Arrok suggests that they now make camp. The group picks a site near the base of one of the abrupt descents that they have found in the forest floor, so that they are protected from a couple of sides. The area has a broad open space in the forest canopy above it, and while they are making camp, they see dozens of bats rise from the forest about a mile away. This wouldn't be unusual, but after they account for the distance, they realize that the bats must be about the size of small ponies. But apparently they aren't the largest things in the island's sky. As they fly about, a pair of much larger winged creatures (evidently some sort of dinosaur) zoom up out of the forest near them. They swiftly grab a bat each and wing away with their struggling prey, long leathery wings propelling them away from the party. </p><p></p><p>"You know," comments Six after seeing that, "Suddenly I'm glad that I'm not the one flying around as a bird." Nameless points out that if Luna's swallowed by one of those things, she can turn into a porcupine or some such, but Luna doesn't seem that enthused about the possibility.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p>The night passes without trouble, though some of those on watch hear large creatures moving around in the distance, and at one point, a loud roar wakes the sleepers. The next morning, the group heads on. Luna, flying above, estimates that they have covered about a dozen miles from the wall, and that it will take them two more days or so to reach the mountain.</p><p></p><p>An hour or so after they head out, the group stumbles across a strange area. To the view of those behind him Six, who is only a few steps ahead of Arrok and Urden, suddenly appears to be four times the distance away. Six himself notes that the area around him seems to have suddenly expanded in distance. He promptly leaps back, looking to those outside as if he covered a large distance in a second. </p><p></p><p>The porters promptly stop, while the other Angels and the experts from Sharn hurry up to join Six. Nameless uses a <em>detect magic</em> to discover that the area ahead is highly magical, in the shape of a large cylinder that must be about two hundred feet in width and forty in height. Powerful auras of transmutation, enchantment and universal magic fill the area, but they apparently do not come from extant spells. </p><p></p><p>While he is discovering this and discussing it with the others, Corven enters the area, with Six accompanying him. Those outside see the same distortion in space that they had, and soon realize there is a distortion in time as well, with those inside seeming to move much faster. Experimentation and discussion reveals that the area within is four times as wide as it seems to be from the outside, and time within moves four times as fast. A dropped coin, for example, falls at normal speed inside but for those outside, seems to fall in slow motion. Even more interestingly, this spatial distortion applies only to distance, with trees, people and other such things appearing exactly the same size. Perhaps due to these strange effects, this section of the forest has no birds or animals within it that the group can see.</p><p></p><p>The expedition members spend some time studying the area and conjecturing what its source could be. Collus surmises that it might be some after-effect of the destruction of the giants by the dragons. Six is more interested in practical aspects, wondering whether they would be able to rest within this area for 2 hours in the outside world and gain the full benefits of the 8 hrs of time that would pass within. Though they've broken camp too recently to try the experiment, the cartographer Niff marks the area carefully in the map that he's been making of the island, so that they can perhaps try it on their return.</p><p></p><p>The group continues onwards, changing direction slightly to start using a nearby trail that Luna has spotted. Around noon, a few of them hear movement among the trees to their right. The source is quickly revealed, as five humanoid-shaped figures emerge from among the trees to hurl javelins, winging Arrok and badly wounding Collus. As he cries out and drops to the ground, those who spotted the creatures return fire or cry warnings to the others. As the creatures move closer, the adventurers see that they resemble trolls but are only slightly taller than humans, with warty yellowish-green skin. They wear no armor, or clothing for that matter besides a couple of pouches and straps, but have a pair of javelins strapped to their backs. </p><p></p><p>Luna comes flying back in eagle form, casting a spell to <em>entangle</em> the creatures, but only one is affected, being stuck in place with vegetation wreathed around its legs. The other four move closer, hurling more javelins, even as the porters, Imre, Dala and Niff respond with a volley of crossbow bolts. Nameless sends a <em>fireball</em> that explodes in their midst, scorching them all, though they seem able to dodge the worst of the blast. Urden charges forward with scimitars flashing, followed closely by Arrok, who yells a warning of "Forest trolls! Careful - they use poison!" Six, who has waited momentarily to fire his bow moves up as well. Gareth, a little far from the attackers due to his position at the rear, moves up too, <em>bless</em>ing those around him. Corven, who has infused his wand to fire twin rays at once also does so, and characteristically enough, fails to activate it**** when in range. </p><p></p><p>The amount of crossbow bolts being fired means a few hit home, and by the time Arrok, Urden and Six reach the enemy, all of the trolls are wounded. As they attack, they see that the trolls' wounds are gradually closing, though not as effectively as a normal troll's would. They hack into the creatures, causing further damage. All of them take a few minor wounds in turn, but one troll quickly goes down. The <em>entangle</em>d one staggers under a volley of crossbow bolts and a hurled <em>produce flame</em> from Luna, but manages to hurl one last javelin. It ricochets off a porter's pack and buries itself in the already wounded and poisoned Collus, killing him instantly. Maura, next to him, gives a scream and hurls herself at the body, trying vainly to revive the elderly scholar. A pair of <em>scorching ray</em>s that Corven finally manages to fire slam into the troll's chest and drops it in a heap.</p><p></p><p>The remaining three trolls attempt to flee, but Six and Arrok cut one down as it goes. The other two head back into the trees, their flesh changing color slightly to blend into the background and making them difficult to see. Gareth, who has just managed to move up to join Corven, watches in frustration, knowing that he cannot catch them in his heavy armor. </p><p></p><p>Nameless, launching <em>magic missile</em>s from behind a tree on the other side of the porters, where he has taken cover against stray spears, gives a yell of pain as a javelin slashes his side. This one comes from behind him, on the opposite side of the trail from where the trolls attacked. Spinning around, he sees another five trolls heading for the group, these ones above the ground and moving along the overhanging tree-branches. Besides the javelin that hit him, four more fly into the porters, hitting one of them. Maura, weeping over Collus' still form, barely has time to look up as one pins her to the ground.</p><p></p><p>Nameless feels the sting of poison on the javelin-tip but manages to resist it, moving back around the tree. He casts a <em>stinking cloud</em> spell that envelops all the trolls. He hears growls and cries of surprise, followed by a 'thump' as one falls out of a tree. By the time four of them emerge from the cloud, Urden, Six and Corven are racing back and have almost reached him, with the slower Arrok and Gareth some distance behind. </p><p></p><p>While Luna hurls more bolts of flame, Nameless uses another spell to <em>slow</em> the trolls, though only one is affected. Another, the fifth and last to emerge, has apparently been affected by the <em>cloud</em> and is unable to fight, choking and coughing. One troll comes rushing up with a snarl and swings at Nameless, but he manages to dodge away. Corven appears next to him and levels his wand, blasting the troll back. The others are soon there too, and quickly engage the rest.</p><p></p><p>Gareth slashes one badly, is clawed in turn, and quickly realizes that the trolls have poisoned claws too, as he feels his vitality lowered. Still, he wounds it again, as does Six, causing it to try to flee. A pseudonatural bison appears beside it and smashes it to the ground. Arrok and Urden, who apparently have some expertise at fighting together and against such creatures, take the <em>slow</em>ed one down. Corven blasts a third off its feet. The nauseated one has already fled and so does the remaining one, pursued by the bison. </p><p></p><p>Corven, who has very clearly been enjoying his wand's effectiveness, thinks for a moment of pursuing, but decides not to. He returns to rejoin the others and heads back to the porters, to take stock of losses and heal the wounded. They find that Collus and Maura are both dead, as is another porter, while two others are wounded and poisoned. </p><p></p><p>* Crits with drow-bane spiked chains hurt!</p><p>** Natural 1</p><p>*** i.e. nauseated</p><p>**** Rolled a 4 when he needs a 5</p><p>***** Only person in the group who could save on a 2. Rolls a 1.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="shilsen, post: 2822151, member: 198"] [B]Session 21 (1/21/06) - Over the Wall (or "40,000 Years of Rubbing")[/B] Luna nears the wall without trouble but just as she reaches it, she flies smack-dab into an invisible barrier, flattening herself against it with a surprised "squawk!", falling, and then righting herself. She casts a [I]detect magic[/I], which seems to work without trouble, and detects a moderate aura of evocation, as well as some divination and universal magic, mostly in the shape of a barrier in front of her. It stretches as far upwards and on either side as she can detect. She surmises that it is a [I]wall of force[/I] and tries flying further away or higher and getting by. Experimentation reveals that it stretches along the inner surface of the stone wall as far as she goes, and as high as she goes. Luna then tries dropping down to the ground and changing shape into an ape and climbing up the wall, which reveals that the [I]wall of force[/I] extends to the ground too. Eventually, after trying various things, she tries to climb over the wall in her normal form and is able to do so. Slightly bruised, she heads back to join her companions. When she reaches the village, where some of the drow look at her suspiciously but ask no questions, she finds the others in the middle of a discussion. Six has been suggesting that the island itself is as big a treasure as anything that could be found beyond the wall. He suggests that the group consider setting up an outpost and trying to control/aid/benefit from travel into the interior, just as Stormreach does in Xen'drik. The others have differing opinions about the feasibility of the enterprise. Dala says, "I'm quite sure that as soon as news of this discovery gets out, people will be swarming to this place, so while it's an interesting idea, I'd say we should still get as much out of here as we can this time." Luna returns at this point to report what she saw and experienced. Nameless theorizes that the [I]wall of force[/I] might be triggered by a combination of someone trying to leave and doing so by magical means. Luna suggests he try out the theory, but Nameless declines. Rezan returns shortly afterwards to let the group know that accommodation has been arranged at a large hut for them. She also spends some time asking them more questions, especially about their plans for the next day. Nameless and others tell her that they will not cross the wall but will simply go speak to some of the other tribes. She warns that other tribes might be more hostile, and Nameless replies, "In which case, they will rapidly become much smaller tribes." Six asks about the stone walkways leading to the top of the wall, and Rezan says that they are used to post sentries on the wall if they hear dangerous creatures on the other side. She also says that supposedly some generations ago, a few of the surviving High Ones had tried to cross the wall and the drow had used them to fight them back. Six also asks her what they use for money on the island, a concept she seems unclear about. Corven produces a copper, silver and gold coin as examples. Rezan asks, "Like this?" and produces a golden disk from a large pouch she carries around, this one weighing about 5 pounds. Imre, the appraiser in the group, opines that it contains about 250 galifars worth of gold. Unfortunately any marks that it might once have had have been removed by thousands of years of being carried around, so it has no value as a historical artifact. After some discussion, a couple more drow let Rezan know that dinner has been served, and she leads the group to a large open space, where mats have been set for them, with plates and bowls of food nearby. Dozens of other drow join them, though they sit at a discreet distance. During the meal, a small group of drow perform a dance that sets out the history of the world as the tribe sees it, acting as the Scaled Masters and the High Ones in turn. After the dance and dinner, Rezan tells the group to rest and says she will see them the next day. Urden suggests that the group post watches, since he doesn't really trust the tribe, so they do so (with Six remaining on watch throughout, as always). Late in the night, Six, Gareth and Niff notice a small group of drow approach the hut. When they are a little over a hundred feet away, they stop and then head away. Other than that, nothing of note occurs. *** The next morning, the group joins Rezan for breakfast. As usual, she has the silent Uthgen and the six armored drow with her. Over breakfast, she asks again about the group's plans and Nameless repeats what they said before. Rezan then excuses herself for a few moments and goes to her hut, with Uthgen in tow. The two return and approach the group, and then Rezan shouts, "Kill the liars! They must not cross the wall!" She hurls a small bead in their direction, which explodes with concussive force, battering Corven, Gareth and a couple of others. It expands out into a globe of force that almost engulfs Gareth, but he manages to dodge away. Uthgen rushes forward and strikes at Luna, wounding her slightly. As the other drow grab at their weapons and attack, the Angels and other members of the expedition quickly defend themselves. Nameless is the quickest, casting a spell even before he bothers to stand up, which conjures up a field of [I]black tentacles[/I], which wrap themselves around Rezan and a drow warrior. "I warned you!" he says, as he stands up. Nearby, Corven quickly uses an infusion to make Six's weapon more deadly to drow, and the warforged attacks Uthgen. Which rapidly becomes embarrassing as he tries to trip the drow chieftain and fails to do so, having to drop the chain before being pulled off his own feet instead. Luna steps away from Uthgen and casts [I]produce flame[/I], hitting him with a bolt of flame that pierces his resistance to magic. Gareth attacks one of the other drow with Kizmet. With the combination of the adventurers, Arrok and Urden, Dala and the four others from Sharn, and the eight porters, the drow are quickly in dire straits, with a couple being quickly cut down. Rezan and the other trapped drow show no sign of being about to escape. A few dozen drow are in the process of rushing to join the fight when Nameless casts a well-placed [I]web[/I] spell from one hut to another, catching a number of them. These drow apparently have no idea about such magic, since a couple try to break through by throwing themselves at the [I]web[/I], promptly sticking fast. Uthgen is the only one who seems to be holding his own, managing to wound Six as he retrieves his spiked chain, but Six and Luna then combine to wound him badly. In desperation, Rezan pulls a bead from her necklace and hurls it. To the momentary surprise of the group (and from her expression - hers too), it blossoms into a [I]fireball[/I], scorching a number of people. More alarmingly, it reveals that some of the downed drow are wearing such [I]necklaces of fireball[/I], since it ignites another, which then ignites another, and so on. A total of four fireballs explode in quick succession. When the explosions end, Corven, three porters and the student scribe Maura are all lying on the ground unconscious, while everyone else is scorched to some degree. Not one of the drow besides Uthgen survive. The drow villagers who were hurrying to join the fight stop in horror, scream in terror and flee. Their flight is doubly motivated by the two pseudonatural bison that Nameless had just summoned, which he now commands to kill the drow. They charge off, goring or trampling on the unlucky ones they find. Six, meanwhile, cuts down Uthgen with a mighty blow*, while Rezan and the other drow are squeezed to death by the tentacles. The others hurry to revive the unconscious people and find that luckily none are dead. With the battle quickly terminated, the group does a cursory check of the dead drow, finding two unaffected [I]necklaces[/I] (each with one bead) and collecting the large gold piece that they had seen the day before. Six also goes and collects the adamantine spearhead that they had seen used as a roof support. He notices that the vast majority of the drow have managed to flee successfully into the forest, except for the few who are now barricaded in their huts or sitting on a roof screaming with fear while a tentacled bison tries to reach them. Once he rejoins the others, the expedition proceeds over the wall. Reaching the top via the stone walkways, they find it exactly as Luna had described. While they lower themselves and the supplies with ropes, Luna wildshapes into an eagle and flies around to try and spot the nearest trail. She finds one that leads in the general direction of the mountain, and returns to lead the group in that direction. Urden, having seen the mountain, says, "My tribe believed that was the center of the island." Arrok says, "Then I'm guessing if there is something to find, it's there. Let's go." With that, the expedition heads into the forest. Arrok, Urden and Six take the lead, followed by a line of porters, with Corven and Nameless in the middle and Gareth at the rear. Collus and Maura are about a quarter of the way down, while Imre and Niff are about the same distance ahead of Gareth. Luna flies overhead and ahead, using her increased speed to scout ahead and returning at intervals to report with gestures and scratching in the ground. As they proceed over the next few hours, they discover a number of things about the forest. It is a very heavily wooded one, with a canopy that exists on three general levels. The highest trees are over a hundred feet tall, with a lower layer at around sixty feet, and then a third one at about thirty. This arrangement makes it difficult for Luna to get a clear view of the area ahead. Also, they soon discover that the floor of the forest is at various levels. It often falls away to a depth of a hundred feet or more, and then rises abruptly at other times. A few large crevasses are encountered, splitting the ground to deeper depths. These undulations in the terrain are also difficult for Luna to make out if flying above the canopy, and she is eventually reduced to flying about fifty feet above her companions, avoiding the taller trees as she goes. The forest has more than its fair share of fauna, and there are sometimes animal tracks on or near the trail. At one point, Arrok spots a set of humanoid-shaped tracks. They are slightly larger than human-sized, but are oddly misshapen. Arrok and Urden consult but aren't sure what it could be. Since they head along the trail in the same direction that the expedition is heading, and also happen to be no more than a day old, they recommend caution (a little redundantly, since everyone is on alert anyway) and continue. A short time later, Six notices a much larger track. This one must have come from a creature at least fifteen feet tall, also humanoid in general shape, which drags or rests on its knuckles as it walks. It is difficult to say if there was more than one. Arrok and Urden say that they could be hill giants, but the fingers seem more misshapen and hill giants are usually only about 10 feet tall, or 12 feet at the biggest. These tracks seem a little older. The first sign of danger for the group comes from a much smaller set of enemies. A number of the group hear distant chirping, like that of a number of birds. Luna, who is nearby, flies in that direction and returns soon. Unable to explain in detail, she changes back to normal form and explains that she heard a lot more of the sounds but couldn't see anything, though there was rustling in the undergrowth below. Her comment is quickly corroborated as the chirping breaks out nearby, followed by the appearance of a dozen or so small green dinosaurs from the bushes nearby. They are a foot tall and have a large beak-like mouth, with disproportionately large teeth. The dinosaurs scamper forward, eyeing the group with their beady eyes and chirping as they come. One reaches Gareth and looks up at him. The paladin is apparently not an animal-lover, since he says, "I don't trust these," and takes a swing at it with his sword. To the surprise and amusement of the rest, he misses by a mile** as the creature quickly darts aside. Luna begins to yell, "Gareth - there's no need fo..." but is cut off by a chorus of chirping, as hundreds of the creatures swarm out of the bushes at the group. Everyone has weapons and wands prepared, so the creatures take a volley of shots, but that only leaves a few of them dead. Nameless manages to cast a spell and [I]fly[/I] up above them, but they literally roll over the others, biting and scratching with glee. Six is the first to realize that discretion is much the better part of valor here and runs for the closest tree, trailing dinosaurs as he goes. He leaps up and grabs a branch and pulls himself off the ground. Luna swears in anger and then unleashes a [I]flame strike[/I], which roasts dozens of the creatures, clearing a space for her to also run and get up a tree. After some abortive attempts to cut down some, many of the others manage to do the same, though Corven and most of the porters are hampered by the pain*** of lots of small teeth and claws ripping at them. After a few seconds, they too manage to make their way to some plant or the other. Only two of the porters are unable to flee. Nameless swoops down and manages to barely pull one off the ground, but it's too late for the other. The dinosaurs literally rip apart the screaming man, feasting on him even before he's dead. After depositing the unconscious porter near Gareth, who barely made it off the ground with his armor, so that he can be healed, Nameless [I]summon[/I]s three pseudonatural bison. Their magical resistance to damage stands them in good stead against the creatures and after they have trampled a fair number (Six has already nailed a number with a [I]fireball[/I] via one of the beads from the drow), the dinosaurs disperse. The remaining members of the expedition slowly climb down and tend to their wounds. The remains of the dead porter, who has been reduced almost to a skeleton, are interred in a shallow grave nearby and the reduced group continues on its way. Someone jokes that they just got treed by the equivalent of a swarm of featherless, green chickens. Nobody seems to find the comment that amusing. After a couple more hours of traveling, by which time the trail has ended abruptly and been left behind, Arrok suggests that they now make camp. The group picks a site near the base of one of the abrupt descents that they have found in the forest floor, so that they are protected from a couple of sides. The area has a broad open space in the forest canopy above it, and while they are making camp, they see dozens of bats rise from the forest about a mile away. This wouldn't be unusual, but after they account for the distance, they realize that the bats must be about the size of small ponies. But apparently they aren't the largest things in the island's sky. As they fly about, a pair of much larger winged creatures (evidently some sort of dinosaur) zoom up out of the forest near them. They swiftly grab a bat each and wing away with their struggling prey, long leathery wings propelling them away from the party. "You know," comments Six after seeing that, "Suddenly I'm glad that I'm not the one flying around as a bird." Nameless points out that if Luna's swallowed by one of those things, she can turn into a porcupine or some such, but Luna doesn't seem that enthused about the possibility. *** The night passes without trouble, though some of those on watch hear large creatures moving around in the distance, and at one point, a loud roar wakes the sleepers. The next morning, the group heads on. Luna, flying above, estimates that they have covered about a dozen miles from the wall, and that it will take them two more days or so to reach the mountain. An hour or so after they head out, the group stumbles across a strange area. To the view of those behind him Six, who is only a few steps ahead of Arrok and Urden, suddenly appears to be four times the distance away. Six himself notes that the area around him seems to have suddenly expanded in distance. He promptly leaps back, looking to those outside as if he covered a large distance in a second. The porters promptly stop, while the other Angels and the experts from Sharn hurry up to join Six. Nameless uses a [I]detect magic[/I] to discover that the area ahead is highly magical, in the shape of a large cylinder that must be about two hundred feet in width and forty in height. Powerful auras of transmutation, enchantment and universal magic fill the area, but they apparently do not come from extant spells. While he is discovering this and discussing it with the others, Corven enters the area, with Six accompanying him. Those outside see the same distortion in space that they had, and soon realize there is a distortion in time as well, with those inside seeming to move much faster. Experimentation and discussion reveals that the area within is four times as wide as it seems to be from the outside, and time within moves four times as fast. A dropped coin, for example, falls at normal speed inside but for those outside, seems to fall in slow motion. Even more interestingly, this spatial distortion applies only to distance, with trees, people and other such things appearing exactly the same size. Perhaps due to these strange effects, this section of the forest has no birds or animals within it that the group can see. The expedition members spend some time studying the area and conjecturing what its source could be. Collus surmises that it might be some after-effect of the destruction of the giants by the dragons. Six is more interested in practical aspects, wondering whether they would be able to rest within this area for 2 hours in the outside world and gain the full benefits of the 8 hrs of time that would pass within. Though they've broken camp too recently to try the experiment, the cartographer Niff marks the area carefully in the map that he's been making of the island, so that they can perhaps try it on their return. The group continues onwards, changing direction slightly to start using a nearby trail that Luna has spotted. Around noon, a few of them hear movement among the trees to their right. The source is quickly revealed, as five humanoid-shaped figures emerge from among the trees to hurl javelins, winging Arrok and badly wounding Collus. As he cries out and drops to the ground, those who spotted the creatures return fire or cry warnings to the others. As the creatures move closer, the adventurers see that they resemble trolls but are only slightly taller than humans, with warty yellowish-green skin. They wear no armor, or clothing for that matter besides a couple of pouches and straps, but have a pair of javelins strapped to their backs. Luna comes flying back in eagle form, casting a spell to [I]entangle[/I] the creatures, but only one is affected, being stuck in place with vegetation wreathed around its legs. The other four move closer, hurling more javelins, even as the porters, Imre, Dala and Niff respond with a volley of crossbow bolts. Nameless sends a [I]fireball[/I] that explodes in their midst, scorching them all, though they seem able to dodge the worst of the blast. Urden charges forward with scimitars flashing, followed closely by Arrok, who yells a warning of "Forest trolls! Careful - they use poison!" Six, who has waited momentarily to fire his bow moves up as well. Gareth, a little far from the attackers due to his position at the rear, moves up too, [I]bless[/I]ing those around him. Corven, who has infused his wand to fire twin rays at once also does so, and characteristically enough, fails to activate it**** when in range. The amount of crossbow bolts being fired means a few hit home, and by the time Arrok, Urden and Six reach the enemy, all of the trolls are wounded. As they attack, they see that the trolls' wounds are gradually closing, though not as effectively as a normal troll's would. They hack into the creatures, causing further damage. All of them take a few minor wounds in turn, but one troll quickly goes down. The [I]entangle[/I]d one staggers under a volley of crossbow bolts and a hurled [I]produce flame[/I] from Luna, but manages to hurl one last javelin. It ricochets off a porter's pack and buries itself in the already wounded and poisoned Collus, killing him instantly. Maura, next to him, gives a scream and hurls herself at the body, trying vainly to revive the elderly scholar. A pair of [I]scorching ray[/I]s that Corven finally manages to fire slam into the troll's chest and drops it in a heap. The remaining three trolls attempt to flee, but Six and Arrok cut one down as it goes. The other two head back into the trees, their flesh changing color slightly to blend into the background and making them difficult to see. Gareth, who has just managed to move up to join Corven, watches in frustration, knowing that he cannot catch them in his heavy armor. Nameless, launching [I]magic missile[/I]s from behind a tree on the other side of the porters, where he has taken cover against stray spears, gives a yell of pain as a javelin slashes his side. This one comes from behind him, on the opposite side of the trail from where the trolls attacked. Spinning around, he sees another five trolls heading for the group, these ones above the ground and moving along the overhanging tree-branches. Besides the javelin that hit him, four more fly into the porters, hitting one of them. Maura, weeping over Collus' still form, barely has time to look up as one pins her to the ground. Nameless feels the sting of poison on the javelin-tip but manages to resist it, moving back around the tree. He casts a [I]stinking cloud[/I] spell that envelops all the trolls. He hears growls and cries of surprise, followed by a 'thump' as one falls out of a tree. By the time four of them emerge from the cloud, Urden, Six and Corven are racing back and have almost reached him, with the slower Arrok and Gareth some distance behind. While Luna hurls more bolts of flame, Nameless uses another spell to [I]slow[/I] the trolls, though only one is affected. Another, the fifth and last to emerge, has apparently been affected by the [I]cloud[/I] and is unable to fight, choking and coughing. One troll comes rushing up with a snarl and swings at Nameless, but he manages to dodge away. Corven appears next to him and levels his wand, blasting the troll back. The others are soon there too, and quickly engage the rest. Gareth slashes one badly, is clawed in turn, and quickly realizes that the trolls have poisoned claws too, as he feels his vitality lowered. Still, he wounds it again, as does Six, causing it to try to flee. A pseudonatural bison appears beside it and smashes it to the ground. Arrok and Urden, who apparently have some expertise at fighting together and against such creatures, take the [I]slow[/I]ed one down. Corven blasts a third off its feet. The nauseated one has already fled and so does the remaining one, pursued by the bison. Corven, who has very clearly been enjoying his wand's effectiveness, thinks for a moment of pursuing, but decides not to. He returns to rejoin the others and heads back to the porters, to take stock of losses and heal the wounded. They find that Collus and Maura are both dead, as is another porter, while two others are wounded and poisoned. * Crits with drow-bane spiked chains hurt! ** Natural 1 *** i.e. nauseated **** Rolled a 4 when he needs a 5 ***** Only person in the group who could save on a 2. Rolls a 1. [/QUOTE]
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