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The Adventures of Baabby and Sam - a Skylanders Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7263439" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 23: AVRIL'S IN PERIL</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 12</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 12</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 22 October 2017</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>Returning back to Skylanders Academy, the adventurers and Hex reported in to Master Eon, and just as Sam had hoped, the elderly Portal Master agreed to let them keep the treasure they had unearthed in the ratmen warrens. "YES!" exclaimed Sam excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. "C'mon, guys -- let's go shopping!"</p><p></p><p>One quick excursion to the magic shops in the area left both Baabby and Sam with some upgrades to their equipment: Baabby's <em>+4 belt of giant strength</em> was exchanged for a <em>+6</em> model, and Sam traded in his <em>lesser bracers of archery</em> for a <em>greater</em> pair. Baabby also splurged on a dusty rose prism <em>ioun stone</em> which granted him an insightful awareness about when people were about to attack him. "I dunno," frowned Sam. "I don't think I could concentrate with a pebble flying around my head all the time."</p><p></p><p>"You haave a haard enough time concentrating aas it is," agreed Baabby. But the little crow purchased a jar of <em>Keoghtom's ointment</em> "just to have in case of emergencies," and even Sapphrina parted with some of her hard-earned coins: she purchased an <em>amulet of health</em> that purported to allow her to survive longer in combat before needing to be healed. "Good choice," Sam agreed.</p><p></p><p>And then, on a sudden whim, the little crow stopped off in a dollmaker's shop, returning with a small purchase of some sort held in a closed bag.</p><p></p><p>"Whaat's thaat?" asked Baabby.</p><p></p><p>"I'll show you guys later, the next time we're on the airship," promised Sam.</p><p></p><p>The trio returned to Skylanders Academy, where they found Master Eon listening to a report from a rather excitable frost elf who had shown up during their shopping trip. "...They were attacking from all directions!" the elf exclaimed. Sam noted the elf was blue in the face, but then a closer look showed his skin was actually blue all over, unlike the normal green skin of the elves he knew, like the Skylander Stealth Elf. "Blasts of fire!" the elf said excitedly. "And electricity! And cold! There must have been a whole army of them!"</p><p></p><p>Sam normally hated entering a conversation in the middle, but his curiosity compelled him to jump in anyway. "An army of what?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Invisible dragons!" replied the blue-skinned elf.</p><p></p><p>"How did you know they were invisible dragons?" Sam persisted.</p><p></p><p>"I saw them with my own eyes!" declared the elf.</p><p></p><p>"You saw <em>invisible</em> dragons?" Sapphrina queried, just to be sure she was hearing what she thought she was hearing.</p><p></p><p>"Well, they were invisible most of the time," stammered the elf. "Whenever they'd use their breath weapons, they'd turn visible for a moment, then turn back invisible again!" Sapphrina shrugged; that matched with what she knew of the standard <em>invisibility</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>"Whaat color were they?" asked Baabby. "When they were visible, I mean."</p><p></p><p>"I'm-- I'm not sure," admitted the frazzled elf. "It all happened so fast...." At Master Eon's urging, the elf started his tale over from the beginning and brought the trio of adventurers up to speed. The leader of the frost elf army, one <strong>Avril</strong> by name, had been leading an expedition along the northern banks of Everfrost Lake on a floating island several hours away. There had been some recently unearthed ruins, including a stone keep hidden inside a grove of evergreen trees, and inside the stone keep was a frozen-over gateway of some sort. There were ancient runes carved near the gate, indicating a certain sword with eight rune-shaped holes in it was needed to fulfill a certain prophecy. But on the way to the stone keep the expedition had been attacked by invisible dragons, and Avril had been captured by a pair of two floating mages. Other than the frost elf standing before them, she was the only other member of the expedition that might still be alive.</p><p></p><p>"Thaat's my greatsword!" exclaimed Baabby excitedly.</p><p></p><p>"Can't be. Your sword's got ten rune holes," pointed out Sam.</p><p></p><p>"It does <em>now</em>," argued Sapphrina. "But if those runes are ancient, then the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> would have only had eight rune-holes at the time the prophecy was made."</p><p></p><p>"In any case," interjected Master Eon, "it would seem these are the individuals involved in the prophecy. I would ask you to direct them to your floating island, so they can help you in finding the missing Avril."</p><p></p><p>"Of course," replied the frost elf.</p><p></p><p>"We'd be glad to help," agreed Sapphrina, and Baabby nodded his agreement by her side. Sam wasn't normally so quick to volunteer for prophecy-related missions that didn't promise a big pile of gold at the end of them, but he was still in a pretty good mood after having gotten to keep the ratmen's gold from their last adventure, so he said nothing and went willingly along with the others. Perched in his place of honor on the little crow's left shoulder, Shelldon seemed content with the plan.</p><p></p><p>Once the group had boarded the troll airship and Statue Boy had it heading in the correct direction, Sam, unable to wait any longer, pulled open the bag he had purchased from the doll shop. He then pulled out a tiny little captain's hat and plopped it on the head of his pet snail. It fit snugly right behind his eyestalks. "Ta-dah!" announced Sam proudly. "May I present to you: Captain Shelldon!" And swinging his right hand smartly up to his brow, he popped off an impressive salute.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, good grief," sighed Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>The trip lasted just short of two hours, at which time Statue Boy brought the airship down in a snow-covered clearing. There was an evergreen forest nearby, their green needles coated with a light dusting of snow. "Brrr!" shivered Sapphrina, watching her breath frost in the cold air. Baabby didn't seem to mind the cold, but then he was covered in woolly fleece. Naturally, the frost elf wasn't bothered, either, but then this was his natural environment. "Aren't you cold, Sam?" she asked, looking for someone else to share her discomfort.</p><p></p><p>"Nah, this isn't so bad," replied the crow archer, then added, ",,,but then again, I'm part penguin on my mother's side."</p><p></p><p>"It's this way," announced the frost elf, leaping over the side of the airship. Baabby and Sam did likewise, while Sapphrina flapped her fairy wings and followed in their wake, rubbing her bare arms to keep warm. They went down a path between clumps of trees until they came to a fork. The right path continued on solid land, while to the left the path followed a frozen stream to a large, iced-over lake. In the "V" of the fork stood a large grove of trees, spaced closely together. "The fort's in there," the frost elf said, indicating the grove just ahead.</p><p></p><p>"Let's go this way," suggested Baabby, heading off to the right. The snow was slippery enough; he didn't want to try traversing an icy, frozen stream - his hooves would likely find little traction on such a surface.</p><p></p><p>"Hold up," said Sam suddenly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder to keep him from continuing on ahead.</p><p></p><p>"Whaat's up?" Baabby asked.</p><p></p><p>"I thought I saw something."</p><p></p><p>"Like what?" asked Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"It was a kind of flickering, just ahead," Sam said, squinting in the cold air.</p><p></p><p>"The invisible dragons!" gasped the frost elf. "So you saw them too?"</p><p></p><p>"You can't see an invisible--" began Sam - but then he was cut off by the fiery blast of an invisible dragon. The cone of fire emanated from a large lizard of some type, and even if it didn't have wings, a lizard of that size that breathed fire would likely best be described as a dragon. This was no dragon any of the heroes had ever seen before, though: it was yellowish, with bands of brown along its back and sides, rather like a reptilian bumblebee. But the heroes had little time to spend pontificating on the creature's most appropriate nomenclature: they were embroiled in a combat for their lives, and the blast of fire had engulfed the four of them, singeing feathers, fleece, and skin alike.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina was the first to react; with a few arcane syllables and a gesture or two, she cast a <em>haste</em> spell on the heroes, having learned from previous combats that giving Baabby and Sam extra attacks was never a bad thing, and had often spelled the difference between success and failure. She then flapped her wings and flew straight up, gaining enough elevation to see there were no other flickerings in the area that might indicate other invisible dragons ready to attack, but also high enough to spot the top of the stone keep hidden in the grove of evergreens. The roof of the keep was manned by two floating wizards in blue robes: spell punks, and those aligned with the Water element, judging from the stylized water-drop emblems stitched onto their garments. The fairy dropped back down below the tree line before she was spotted by the pair.</p><p></p><p>Sam used his additional speed to crank off a flurry of arrows at the still-visible land dragon before it could reactivate its <em>invisibility</em>. The first one he had powered up with explosive energy from his Dynabow 3.0, and the explosion caught the dragon by surprise, likely dealing extra damage to it. As the normal arrows that followed found their marks, Sam noticed the dragon's scales were changing colors, taking on an orangey hue.</p><p></p><p>Baabby had his <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> in hand, but the dragon struck out at him before the baabarian could react. Sharp teeth crunched down onto the sheep-man's shoulder as two sets of front claws ripped across his torso. Baabby cried out in pain, and Sapphrina reacted by casting a <em>mass cure moderate wounds</em> spell that healed up some of the damage dealt by the dragon's fiery breath. That was enough for the frost elf, though: he wasted no time running back the way they had come, before any more of these invisible dragons showed up!</p><p></p><p>Sam sent another flurry of arrows at the dragon, whose scales were now a brilliant orange-red. The explosion from his first missile was half fire and half technological in nature, but it seemed as if the creature had only been harmed by the tech half of the blast. Still, the archer was glad to see that regular old arrows still managed to penetrate the dragon's hide.</p><p></p><p>And that wasn't all that could penetrate its hide, as Baabby ably demonstrated with his massive greatsword. The <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> cut a deep gash in the creature's underside, just below its neck and between its front legs. The dragon roared in pain as drops of its hot blood spilled to the ground and stained the snow. And then it took its anger out at the one who had just hurt it, biting and clawing at the baabarian in a frantic frenzy of teeth and claws. Still, these attacks were keeping the creature visible, which made it easier for the heroes to fight it.</p><p></p><p>Sam sent four more arrows racing into the dragon's hide, and three of them stuck there when they hit. But then Baabby, in a frenzy of his own (his fueled by baabaric rage), slashed again and again at his foe, causing blood to flow freely from the beast's new wounds like gushing fountains. The dragon took on a distinctly bluish appearance, which Sam at first took to be caused by extreme blood loss. "We've got it on the ropes!" he called excitedly.</p><p></p><p>And then the creature opened its tooth-filled maw and spewed forth a bolt of electricity, which went zapping out in a cone that caught up both Baabby and Sam. Sapphrina, fortunately out of range, was the first to make the connection between its sudden change of coloration and its new breath weapon. "We're fighting an elemental chameleon!" she called out to the others.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, good!" responded Sam. "I always like to make sure I know exactly what it is that's killing me!" But the fairy was already flying close and casting another <em>mass cure moderate wounds</em> spell that dealt with the worst of their damage.</p><p></p><p>The elemental chameleon looked to be on its last legs, though - and wobbly ones at that. It faded from view as it ambled away, seeking to escape invisibly. Sam raced closer, realizing he'd only get in one shot that way but wanting it to be an explosive one. His arrow missed making a direct hit but caught the retreating beast in its blast radius. Unfortunately, the explosion was a piddling little one, one of the weakest the Dynabow 3.0 had ever produced. "No fair!" squawked the crow in irritation, cheated of his kill of a beast that big.</p><p></p><p>Not surprisingly, it was Baabby who took the creature down with another powerful strike of the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>. Sam just shook his head in disbelief. A little bit stronger of an explosion and the killing blow would have been his!</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina flew in and cast healing spells on the group, getting them all back up to full strength - or very close to it, in any case. "Do you think there are any more of them still in the area?" she asked nervously.</p><p></p><p>"I wouldn't be surprised if that's all there ever was," Sam said. "One elemental chameleon, if it kept popping back invisible after attacking, and changing color and breath weapons all the time - well, those frost elves could easily believe there were a bunch of them, couldn't they?"</p><p></p><p>"It's possible," conceded Baabby. "But let's go check out thaat stone fort Sapphrina found."</p><p></p><p>Rather than try to force their way through the doubtlessly locked and guarded front door, the group decided for a more unorthodox approach. Sapphrina cast a pair of <em>fly</em> spells on her landbound compatriots and all three took to the air. By then, the fairy's <em>haste</em> spell had run its course, but the heroes were pretty sure they could take out a pair of water spell punks without the benefits of such a spell.</p><p></p><p>They were right, but it wasn't as easy as they had envisioned. First of all, these were greater spell punks, a type of mage the group had never before encountered. But Sam's initial explosive arrow caught them both in its blast radius, and then the archer chose one at random to try to turn into a pincushion with regular arrows. Before he could get off any subsequent shots, though, both spell punks targeted him with their primary attacks: a pair of icy blasts from their spiked hands went flying in the archer's direction. Fortunately, Sam was able to dodge the icy blasts in time, and they passed harmlessly above his head.</p><p></p><p>"Nice!" said Sapphrina appreciatively.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, it was nothing," scoffed Sam. "After all: I'm part duck on my mother's side!"</p><p></p><p>The fairy breathed a sigh of exasperation. "I flew right into that one," she scolded herself.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina judged that water spell punks would likely be most susceptible to fire-based attacks, so she cast a <em>fireball</em> spell that engulfed both floating mages. That was enough to take them both out. Baabby, not even getting in a single hit before the combat was over, had the good grace to congratulate the fairy on her combat prowess.</p><p></p><p>Landing on the stone keep's roof, the trio found a door leading to a set of stone steps leading down to a lower level. Their <em>fly</em> spells still active, Baabby and Sam crept down the stairs, with Sapphrina floating behind them on flapping fairy-wings. There was a door at the bottom of the stairs, leading into a large opening. At the ground level stood the frozen rift with a ring of fire (actually, a <em>wall of fire</em> spell bent around it and pumping heat at it in an effort to melt the ice encompassing it) while flanking it on three sides was a higher platform - on the same level as the door to the stairs from above. Two sets of shorter steps led down to the ground level from this platform. But there were two more greater spell punks floating on the flanking platform, one directly ahead and one off to the right. Off in the back corner stood a column of bluish ice.</p><p></p><p>The spell punk directly ahead - a greater fire spell punk, judging by the bright red robes with the fiery emblem emblazoned across it - lifted its hands and sent a blast of flames (Sapphrina recognized it as a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell that had had its electrical energy converted to fire) directly at the three heroes. Neither could avoid it in the close quarters of the bottom of the stairwell, and the heroes cried out in pain as the spell hit.</p><p></p><p>Then Sam managed to hover just a little higher than the hulking baabarian in front of him, using Baabby's massive body as a shield while he sent a flurry of normal arrows flying at the spell punk. (He figured a fiery explosion wouldn't do much to a creature devoted to the element of Fire.) All four hit, but the archer was disappointed to see the spell punk still standing - well, floating anyway - after his awesome barrage.</p><p></p><p>But then across the room, the greater water spell punk sent what looked like several snowballs flying in Sam's direction; just as his Fire comrade had used a fire-based <em>lightning bolt</em> spell, this was a cold-based <em>scorching ray</em> spell. Two of the spheres hit Sam, who squawked in indignation: "Hey! No fair!"</p><p></p><p>Baabby reactivated his <em>fly</em> spell and charged directly through the air, blade first, at the greater fire spell punk floating before him. The sword bit deep into the spell punk's flesh. Behind him, Sapphrina cast the last of her <em>mass cure moderate wounds</em> spells to keep the heroes in the fight that much longer.</p><p></p><p>"Where's Aavril?" demanded Baabby of the fire spell punk he was now battling face to hooded face. He got no answer - at least not verbally - but by the quick glance the spell punk made in the direction of the bluish ice pillar in the back corner of the room, the baabarian was pretty sure he had gotten his answer. Then the fire spell punk tried something rather foolish: casting a <em>hold person</em> spell on the hulking baabarian waving a greatsword in his face. Before the third syllable of the spell could leave the spell punk's lips, Baabby brought the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> crashing down on the mage's head, killing him instantly. Immediately upon the fire spell punk's death, the <em>wall of fire</em> encircling the frozen gate extinguished like a blown-out candle.</p><p></p><p>Now facing only one target, Sam pivoted and sent four arrows flying at the water spell punk. Not liking that one bit, the floating mage cast a <em>wall of ice</em> spell that sealed him - and the pillar of ice in the corner - from the heroes. He then crossed his arms in smug satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that he was safe, at least for a while.</p><p></p><p>It was a very short while. "Graab on!" Baabby yelled to the others, who barely had a chance to clap their massive friend on the shoulder before he had cast a spell through his magical blade, <em>gating</em> the three of them across to the other side of the room. Before the astonished spell punk could realize the danger he was now in, the fairy sorceress brought him down with a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Immediately, the <em>wall of ice</em> blinked out of existence - as, too, did the column of bluish ice in the corner. There, in its place, stood Avril, the commander of the frost elf army. Her legs buckled, unable to support her weight after having been suspended in ice for so long. Sam dropped his Dynabow 3.0 and caught her before she could hit the floor, then lowered her carefully down to a comfortable position. Sapphrina looked her over and announced she should be fine.</p><p></p><p>"Let's see aabout this gate," said Baabby, stabbing his <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> into the ice covering the frozen gate. The ice was instantly absorbed into the blade, making the gate available for the first time - and, not just incidentally, filling up and energizing the Water Rune in the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>.</p><p></p><p>"This was another one of those dealios where they try to do away with some of the bars of Donnie Boy's cage, wasn't it?" asked Sam.</p><p></p><p>"I think so," agreed Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"Should I use the sword to shut it down?" asked the baabarian.</p><p></p><p>"That would just close it temporarily," said Sapphrina. "We need to shut it down for good. That usually means overloading it with power of the opposite element."</p><p></p><p>"So, fire," surmised Sam.</p><p></p><p>"My blade doesn't haave the Fire Rune," lamented Baabby.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah," sighed Sapphrina. "That's going to be a problem."</p><p></p><p>Baabby was silent a moment, mulling over the possibilities. "No it isn't," he decided. "I caan chaannel the power of spells through my blade, like when I <em>gated</em> us across the room. Maybe I caan do the same thing with a fire spell." He got a good grip on the hilt of his <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>, then turned to Sapphrina. "Caast a <em>firebaall</em> spell on me," he commanded.</p><p></p><p>"Are-- are you sure?" gasped Sapphrina. The sheep-man gave her a look of determination, then nodded his head once.</p><p></p><p>"Okay then..." gulped the fairy, and spoke the words to the spell. A pebble-sized core of fiery energy went streaking from her hand across the room to strike the baabarian. Upon impact, it exploded outwards in a burst of flame. Baabby stifled a cry of pain and instead focused all of his attention on channeling the power of the spell through his blade, which he had thrust inside the once-frozen gate. Flames coursed down the length of the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>, to flood the gate's interior. The inside of the upright magic circle flickered, sputtered, and shut down - permanently, as they had hoped. This particular gate would never be used to remove the Water bars of the energy cage imprisoning the Devourer of Nightmares. The sheep-man stepped back, smiling at his handiwork...all the while curls of smoke swirled up from the woolly fleece covering his body. Where it had once been as white as snow, much of it was now the color of soot, having been blackened by flames.</p><p></p><p>"You keep this up, you'll be the black sheep in your family," pointed out Sam with a sidelong grin.</p><p></p><p>"I kind of aalready aam," replied Baabby - after all, most baabarians were only interested in taking whatever they wanted, regardless of who held it at the time. Baabby was probably the only one of his kind to have walked the path of the hero. But then, he was the legendary Courageous Sheep of legend and prophecy, the one being in all of Skylands who might one day wield enough power to defeat the Devourer of Nightmares once and for all.</p><p></p><p>"But thaat's okay," continued Baabby, casting a healing spell on himself, which, channeled through the Life Rune on his blade, maximized the healing energy to repair his burned fleece. "I'm haappy with who I aam."</p><p></p><p>"And so are we," assured Sapphrina, flying over to give her courageous friend a well-deserved hug.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>Logan used the <em>Winter Forest</em> Pathfinder Flip-Mat for the fight with the elemental chameleon - a creature, I might add, he made up himself. (We used a plastic lizard I had picked up at a dollar store for the mini.) And he had even telegraphed the creature's presence much earlier in the campaign, as one of Sam's first magical sets of armor was made of elemental chameleon hide. The levels of the keep were represented by a few one-piece tiles from a Dungeon Tiles set.</p><p></p><p>The most impressive part of the battles in this adventure was the round that Baabby hit three times with his <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> while fighting the elemental chameleon, two of them being confirmed critical hits. Baabby managed to deal a total of 134 points of damage in that one round - astonishing Logan to no end, as the creature had 138 hit points at that time and he figured it would still be around for a while. Sam got to attack next, missing a direct hit with explosive arrow (the creature was invisible at the time), which meant he just caught it in the blast radius and it got a save for half damage. I then proceeded to roll 7 points of damage on 5d6, it made its save, and Sam ended up dealing a whopping 3 points of damage - which, of course, left it with a single hit point when Baabby's turn came up next. (Grrr! So close!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7263439, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 23: AVRIL'S IN PERIL[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 12[/INDENT] [INDENT] Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 12[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 12[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 22 October 2017 - - - Returning back to Skylanders Academy, the adventurers and Hex reported in to Master Eon, and just as Sam had hoped, the elderly Portal Master agreed to let them keep the treasure they had unearthed in the ratmen warrens. "YES!" exclaimed Sam excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. "C'mon, guys -- let's go shopping!" One quick excursion to the magic shops in the area left both Baabby and Sam with some upgrades to their equipment: Baabby's [I]+4 belt of giant strength[/I] was exchanged for a [I]+6[/I] model, and Sam traded in his [I]lesser bracers of archery[/I] for a [I]greater[/I] pair. Baabby also splurged on a dusty rose prism [I]ioun stone[/I] which granted him an insightful awareness about when people were about to attack him. "I dunno," frowned Sam. "I don't think I could concentrate with a pebble flying around my head all the time." "You haave a haard enough time concentrating aas it is," agreed Baabby. But the little crow purchased a jar of [I]Keoghtom's ointment[/I] "just to have in case of emergencies," and even Sapphrina parted with some of her hard-earned coins: she purchased an [I]amulet of health[/I] that purported to allow her to survive longer in combat before needing to be healed. "Good choice," Sam agreed. And then, on a sudden whim, the little crow stopped off in a dollmaker's shop, returning with a small purchase of some sort held in a closed bag. "Whaat's thaat?" asked Baabby. "I'll show you guys later, the next time we're on the airship," promised Sam. The trio returned to Skylanders Academy, where they found Master Eon listening to a report from a rather excitable frost elf who had shown up during their shopping trip. "...They were attacking from all directions!" the elf exclaimed. Sam noted the elf was blue in the face, but then a closer look showed his skin was actually blue all over, unlike the normal green skin of the elves he knew, like the Skylander Stealth Elf. "Blasts of fire!" the elf said excitedly. "And electricity! And cold! There must have been a whole army of them!" Sam normally hated entering a conversation in the middle, but his curiosity compelled him to jump in anyway. "An army of what?" he asked. "Invisible dragons!" replied the blue-skinned elf. "How did you know they were invisible dragons?" Sam persisted. "I saw them with my own eyes!" declared the elf. "You saw [I]invisible[/I] dragons?" Sapphrina queried, just to be sure she was hearing what she thought she was hearing. "Well, they were invisible most of the time," stammered the elf. "Whenever they'd use their breath weapons, they'd turn visible for a moment, then turn back invisible again!" Sapphrina shrugged; that matched with what she knew of the standard [I]invisibility[/I] spell. "Whaat color were they?" asked Baabby. "When they were visible, I mean." "I'm-- I'm not sure," admitted the frazzled elf. "It all happened so fast...." At Master Eon's urging, the elf started his tale over from the beginning and brought the trio of adventurers up to speed. The leader of the frost elf army, one [B]Avril[/B] by name, had been leading an expedition along the northern banks of Everfrost Lake on a floating island several hours away. There had been some recently unearthed ruins, including a stone keep hidden inside a grove of evergreen trees, and inside the stone keep was a frozen-over gateway of some sort. There were ancient runes carved near the gate, indicating a certain sword with eight rune-shaped holes in it was needed to fulfill a certain prophecy. But on the way to the stone keep the expedition had been attacked by invisible dragons, and Avril had been captured by a pair of two floating mages. Other than the frost elf standing before them, she was the only other member of the expedition that might still be alive. "Thaat's my greatsword!" exclaimed Baabby excitedly. "Can't be. Your sword's got ten rune holes," pointed out Sam. "It does [I]now[/I]," argued Sapphrina. "But if those runes are ancient, then the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] would have only had eight rune-holes at the time the prophecy was made." "In any case," interjected Master Eon, "it would seem these are the individuals involved in the prophecy. I would ask you to direct them to your floating island, so they can help you in finding the missing Avril." "Of course," replied the frost elf. "We'd be glad to help," agreed Sapphrina, and Baabby nodded his agreement by her side. Sam wasn't normally so quick to volunteer for prophecy-related missions that didn't promise a big pile of gold at the end of them, but he was still in a pretty good mood after having gotten to keep the ratmen's gold from their last adventure, so he said nothing and went willingly along with the others. Perched in his place of honor on the little crow's left shoulder, Shelldon seemed content with the plan. Once the group had boarded the troll airship and Statue Boy had it heading in the correct direction, Sam, unable to wait any longer, pulled open the bag he had purchased from the doll shop. He then pulled out a tiny little captain's hat and plopped it on the head of his pet snail. It fit snugly right behind his eyestalks. "Ta-dah!" announced Sam proudly. "May I present to you: Captain Shelldon!" And swinging his right hand smartly up to his brow, he popped off an impressive salute. "Oh, good grief," sighed Sapphrina. The trip lasted just short of two hours, at which time Statue Boy brought the airship down in a snow-covered clearing. There was an evergreen forest nearby, their green needles coated with a light dusting of snow. "Brrr!" shivered Sapphrina, watching her breath frost in the cold air. Baabby didn't seem to mind the cold, but then he was covered in woolly fleece. Naturally, the frost elf wasn't bothered, either, but then this was his natural environment. "Aren't you cold, Sam?" she asked, looking for someone else to share her discomfort. "Nah, this isn't so bad," replied the crow archer, then added, ",,,but then again, I'm part penguin on my mother's side." "It's this way," announced the frost elf, leaping over the side of the airship. Baabby and Sam did likewise, while Sapphrina flapped her fairy wings and followed in their wake, rubbing her bare arms to keep warm. They went down a path between clumps of trees until they came to a fork. The right path continued on solid land, while to the left the path followed a frozen stream to a large, iced-over lake. In the "V" of the fork stood a large grove of trees, spaced closely together. "The fort's in there," the frost elf said, indicating the grove just ahead. "Let's go this way," suggested Baabby, heading off to the right. The snow was slippery enough; he didn't want to try traversing an icy, frozen stream - his hooves would likely find little traction on such a surface. "Hold up," said Sam suddenly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder to keep him from continuing on ahead. "Whaat's up?" Baabby asked. "I thought I saw something." "Like what?" asked Sapphrina. "It was a kind of flickering, just ahead," Sam said, squinting in the cold air. "The invisible dragons!" gasped the frost elf. "So you saw them too?" "You can't see an invisible--" began Sam - but then he was cut off by the fiery blast of an invisible dragon. The cone of fire emanated from a large lizard of some type, and even if it didn't have wings, a lizard of that size that breathed fire would likely best be described as a dragon. This was no dragon any of the heroes had ever seen before, though: it was yellowish, with bands of brown along its back and sides, rather like a reptilian bumblebee. But the heroes had little time to spend pontificating on the creature's most appropriate nomenclature: they were embroiled in a combat for their lives, and the blast of fire had engulfed the four of them, singeing feathers, fleece, and skin alike. Sapphrina was the first to react; with a few arcane syllables and a gesture or two, she cast a [I]haste[/I] spell on the heroes, having learned from previous combats that giving Baabby and Sam extra attacks was never a bad thing, and had often spelled the difference between success and failure. She then flapped her wings and flew straight up, gaining enough elevation to see there were no other flickerings in the area that might indicate other invisible dragons ready to attack, but also high enough to spot the top of the stone keep hidden in the grove of evergreens. The roof of the keep was manned by two floating wizards in blue robes: spell punks, and those aligned with the Water element, judging from the stylized water-drop emblems stitched onto their garments. The fairy dropped back down below the tree line before she was spotted by the pair. Sam used his additional speed to crank off a flurry of arrows at the still-visible land dragon before it could reactivate its [I]invisibility[/I]. The first one he had powered up with explosive energy from his Dynabow 3.0, and the explosion caught the dragon by surprise, likely dealing extra damage to it. As the normal arrows that followed found their marks, Sam noticed the dragon's scales were changing colors, taking on an orangey hue. Baabby had his [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] in hand, but the dragon struck out at him before the baabarian could react. Sharp teeth crunched down onto the sheep-man's shoulder as two sets of front claws ripped across his torso. Baabby cried out in pain, and Sapphrina reacted by casting a [I]mass cure moderate wounds[/I] spell that healed up some of the damage dealt by the dragon's fiery breath. That was enough for the frost elf, though: he wasted no time running back the way they had come, before any more of these invisible dragons showed up! Sam sent another flurry of arrows at the dragon, whose scales were now a brilliant orange-red. The explosion from his first missile was half fire and half technological in nature, but it seemed as if the creature had only been harmed by the tech half of the blast. Still, the archer was glad to see that regular old arrows still managed to penetrate the dragon's hide. And that wasn't all that could penetrate its hide, as Baabby ably demonstrated with his massive greatsword. The [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] cut a deep gash in the creature's underside, just below its neck and between its front legs. The dragon roared in pain as drops of its hot blood spilled to the ground and stained the snow. And then it took its anger out at the one who had just hurt it, biting and clawing at the baabarian in a frantic frenzy of teeth and claws. Still, these attacks were keeping the creature visible, which made it easier for the heroes to fight it. Sam sent four more arrows racing into the dragon's hide, and three of them stuck there when they hit. But then Baabby, in a frenzy of his own (his fueled by baabaric rage), slashed again and again at his foe, causing blood to flow freely from the beast's new wounds like gushing fountains. The dragon took on a distinctly bluish appearance, which Sam at first took to be caused by extreme blood loss. "We've got it on the ropes!" he called excitedly. And then the creature opened its tooth-filled maw and spewed forth a bolt of electricity, which went zapping out in a cone that caught up both Baabby and Sam. Sapphrina, fortunately out of range, was the first to make the connection between its sudden change of coloration and its new breath weapon. "We're fighting an elemental chameleon!" she called out to the others. "Oh, good!" responded Sam. "I always like to make sure I know exactly what it is that's killing me!" But the fairy was already flying close and casting another [I]mass cure moderate wounds[/I] spell that dealt with the worst of their damage. The elemental chameleon looked to be on its last legs, though - and wobbly ones at that. It faded from view as it ambled away, seeking to escape invisibly. Sam raced closer, realizing he'd only get in one shot that way but wanting it to be an explosive one. His arrow missed making a direct hit but caught the retreating beast in its blast radius. Unfortunately, the explosion was a piddling little one, one of the weakest the Dynabow 3.0 had ever produced. "No fair!" squawked the crow in irritation, cheated of his kill of a beast that big. Not surprisingly, it was Baabby who took the creature down with another powerful strike of the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I]. Sam just shook his head in disbelief. A little bit stronger of an explosion and the killing blow would have been his! Sapphrina flew in and cast healing spells on the group, getting them all back up to full strength - or very close to it, in any case. "Do you think there are any more of them still in the area?" she asked nervously. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's all there ever was," Sam said. "One elemental chameleon, if it kept popping back invisible after attacking, and changing color and breath weapons all the time - well, those frost elves could easily believe there were a bunch of them, couldn't they?" "It's possible," conceded Baabby. "But let's go check out thaat stone fort Sapphrina found." Rather than try to force their way through the doubtlessly locked and guarded front door, the group decided for a more unorthodox approach. Sapphrina cast a pair of [I]fly[/I] spells on her landbound compatriots and all three took to the air. By then, the fairy's [I]haste[/I] spell had run its course, but the heroes were pretty sure they could take out a pair of water spell punks without the benefits of such a spell. They were right, but it wasn't as easy as they had envisioned. First of all, these were greater spell punks, a type of mage the group had never before encountered. But Sam's initial explosive arrow caught them both in its blast radius, and then the archer chose one at random to try to turn into a pincushion with regular arrows. Before he could get off any subsequent shots, though, both spell punks targeted him with their primary attacks: a pair of icy blasts from their spiked hands went flying in the archer's direction. Fortunately, Sam was able to dodge the icy blasts in time, and they passed harmlessly above his head. "Nice!" said Sapphrina appreciatively. "Oh, it was nothing," scoffed Sam. "After all: I'm part duck on my mother's side!" The fairy breathed a sigh of exasperation. "I flew right into that one," she scolded herself. Sapphrina judged that water spell punks would likely be most susceptible to fire-based attacks, so she cast a [I]fireball[/I] spell that engulfed both floating mages. That was enough to take them both out. Baabby, not even getting in a single hit before the combat was over, had the good grace to congratulate the fairy on her combat prowess. Landing on the stone keep's roof, the trio found a door leading to a set of stone steps leading down to a lower level. Their [I]fly[/I] spells still active, Baabby and Sam crept down the stairs, with Sapphrina floating behind them on flapping fairy-wings. There was a door at the bottom of the stairs, leading into a large opening. At the ground level stood the frozen rift with a ring of fire (actually, a [I]wall of fire[/I] spell bent around it and pumping heat at it in an effort to melt the ice encompassing it) while flanking it on three sides was a higher platform - on the same level as the door to the stairs from above. Two sets of shorter steps led down to the ground level from this platform. But there were two more greater spell punks floating on the flanking platform, one directly ahead and one off to the right. Off in the back corner stood a column of bluish ice. The spell punk directly ahead - a greater fire spell punk, judging by the bright red robes with the fiery emblem emblazoned across it - lifted its hands and sent a blast of flames (Sapphrina recognized it as a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell that had had its electrical energy converted to fire) directly at the three heroes. Neither could avoid it in the close quarters of the bottom of the stairwell, and the heroes cried out in pain as the spell hit. Then Sam managed to hover just a little higher than the hulking baabarian in front of him, using Baabby's massive body as a shield while he sent a flurry of normal arrows flying at the spell punk. (He figured a fiery explosion wouldn't do much to a creature devoted to the element of Fire.) All four hit, but the archer was disappointed to see the spell punk still standing - well, floating anyway - after his awesome barrage. But then across the room, the greater water spell punk sent what looked like several snowballs flying in Sam's direction; just as his Fire comrade had used a fire-based [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell, this was a cold-based [I]scorching ray[/I] spell. Two of the spheres hit Sam, who squawked in indignation: "Hey! No fair!" Baabby reactivated his [I]fly[/I] spell and charged directly through the air, blade first, at the greater fire spell punk floating before him. The sword bit deep into the spell punk's flesh. Behind him, Sapphrina cast the last of her [I]mass cure moderate wounds[/I] spells to keep the heroes in the fight that much longer. "Where's Aavril?" demanded Baabby of the fire spell punk he was now battling face to hooded face. He got no answer - at least not verbally - but by the quick glance the spell punk made in the direction of the bluish ice pillar in the back corner of the room, the baabarian was pretty sure he had gotten his answer. Then the fire spell punk tried something rather foolish: casting a [I]hold person[/I] spell on the hulking baabarian waving a greatsword in his face. Before the third syllable of the spell could leave the spell punk's lips, Baabby brought the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] crashing down on the mage's head, killing him instantly. Immediately upon the fire spell punk's death, the [I]wall of fire[/I] encircling the frozen gate extinguished like a blown-out candle. Now facing only one target, Sam pivoted and sent four arrows flying at the water spell punk. Not liking that one bit, the floating mage cast a [I]wall of ice[/I] spell that sealed him - and the pillar of ice in the corner - from the heroes. He then crossed his arms in smug satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that he was safe, at least for a while. It was a very short while. "Graab on!" Baabby yelled to the others, who barely had a chance to clap their massive friend on the shoulder before he had cast a spell through his magical blade, [I]gating[/I] the three of them across to the other side of the room. Before the astonished spell punk could realize the danger he was now in, the fairy sorceress brought him down with a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell. Immediately, the [I]wall of ice[/I] blinked out of existence - as, too, did the column of bluish ice in the corner. There, in its place, stood Avril, the commander of the frost elf army. Her legs buckled, unable to support her weight after having been suspended in ice for so long. Sam dropped his Dynabow 3.0 and caught her before she could hit the floor, then lowered her carefully down to a comfortable position. Sapphrina looked her over and announced she should be fine. "Let's see aabout this gate," said Baabby, stabbing his [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] into the ice covering the frozen gate. The ice was instantly absorbed into the blade, making the gate available for the first time - and, not just incidentally, filling up and energizing the Water Rune in the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I]. "This was another one of those dealios where they try to do away with some of the bars of Donnie Boy's cage, wasn't it?" asked Sam. "I think so," agreed Sapphrina. "Should I use the sword to shut it down?" asked the baabarian. "That would just close it temporarily," said Sapphrina. "We need to shut it down for good. That usually means overloading it with power of the opposite element." "So, fire," surmised Sam. "My blade doesn't haave the Fire Rune," lamented Baabby. "Yeah," sighed Sapphrina. "That's going to be a problem." Baabby was silent a moment, mulling over the possibilities. "No it isn't," he decided. "I caan chaannel the power of spells through my blade, like when I [I]gated[/I] us across the room. Maybe I caan do the same thing with a fire spell." He got a good grip on the hilt of his [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I], then turned to Sapphrina. "Caast a [I]firebaall[/I] spell on me," he commanded. "Are-- are you sure?" gasped Sapphrina. The sheep-man gave her a look of determination, then nodded his head once. "Okay then..." gulped the fairy, and spoke the words to the spell. A pebble-sized core of fiery energy went streaking from her hand across the room to strike the baabarian. Upon impact, it exploded outwards in a burst of flame. Baabby stifled a cry of pain and instead focused all of his attention on channeling the power of the spell through his blade, which he had thrust inside the once-frozen gate. Flames coursed down the length of the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I], to flood the gate's interior. The inside of the upright magic circle flickered, sputtered, and shut down - permanently, as they had hoped. This particular gate would never be used to remove the Water bars of the energy cage imprisoning the Devourer of Nightmares. The sheep-man stepped back, smiling at his handiwork...all the while curls of smoke swirled up from the woolly fleece covering his body. Where it had once been as white as snow, much of it was now the color of soot, having been blackened by flames. "You keep this up, you'll be the black sheep in your family," pointed out Sam with a sidelong grin. "I kind of aalready aam," replied Baabby - after all, most baabarians were only interested in taking whatever they wanted, regardless of who held it at the time. Baabby was probably the only one of his kind to have walked the path of the hero. But then, he was the legendary Courageous Sheep of legend and prophecy, the one being in all of Skylands who might one day wield enough power to defeat the Devourer of Nightmares once and for all. "But thaat's okay," continued Baabby, casting a healing spell on himself, which, channeled through the Life Rune on his blade, maximized the healing energy to repair his burned fleece. "I'm haappy with who I aam." "And so are we," assured Sapphrina, flying over to give her courageous friend a well-deserved hug. - - - Logan used the [I]Winter Forest[/I] Pathfinder Flip-Mat for the fight with the elemental chameleon - a creature, I might add, he made up himself. (We used a plastic lizard I had picked up at a dollar store for the mini.) And he had even telegraphed the creature's presence much earlier in the campaign, as one of Sam's first magical sets of armor was made of elemental chameleon hide. The levels of the keep were represented by a few one-piece tiles from a Dungeon Tiles set. The most impressive part of the battles in this adventure was the round that Baabby hit three times with his [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] while fighting the elemental chameleon, two of them being confirmed critical hits. Baabby managed to deal a total of 134 points of damage in that one round - astonishing Logan to no end, as the creature had 138 hit points at that time and he figured it would still be around for a while. Sam got to attack next, missing a direct hit with explosive arrow (the creature was invisible at the time), which meant he just caught it in the blast radius and it got a save for half damage. I then proceeded to roll 7 points of damage on 5d6, it made its save, and Sam ended up dealing a whopping 3 points of damage - which, of course, left it with a single hit point when Baabby's turn came up next. (Grrr! So close!) [/QUOTE]
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