Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Adventures of Baabby and Sam - a Skylanders Campaign
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7298022" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 25: THE FINAL ERUPTION OF MOUNT MABUVIUS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 14</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 14</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 9 December 2017</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Returning back to the library of the Skylanders Academy Building, the trio of heroes met back up with Master Eon - and a familiar face.</p><p></p><p>"I believe you recall Lady Radia," remarked the elderly Portal Master.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed we do," replied Sapphrina. The light elemental was a hard person to forget: she was an eight-foot-tall woman with a regal bearing, her body composed entirely of a warm, diffuse light which radiated in illuminated patterns across her contours. She was the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Dawn - and Baabby had recently been the gladiatorial representative of her warring kingdom.</p><p></p><p>"Now that the Twilight Kingdoms are no longer at war," Lady Radia stated, "we have had time to delve further into the Prophecies of the Devourer."</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah, Donnie-Boy?" asked Sam with a smirk on his beak. "What did they say, that his downfall would be preceded by the arrival of a dark and ravishingly-handsome gentleman of the avian persuasion?" The little crow ran a hand through the feathers on his head to make sure none were sticking up.</p><p></p><p>"Our studies have us worried," admitted the light elemental, all but ignoring Sam's interruption.</p><p></p><p>"<em>You're</em> worried?" asked Sam. "<em>We're</em> the ones who have to fight him!"</p><p></p><p>"That's what has us worried," admitted Lady Radia, and Sam frowned at the implied rebuke. He never really liked those uppity light elemental folks from their stupid Kingdom of Dawn anyway!</p><p></p><p>"We have been focusing on the time of his second rise," continued the ambassador. "According to our calculations, the Devourer of Nightmares will escape his imprisonment in three days."</p><p></p><p>"<em>Three days</em>?" gasped Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"...You mean, like, it'll take him three full days to finally bust out of his cage, but that still won't be for months yet?" hoped Sam, hoping like he'd never hoped before.</p><p></p><p>"I mean that according to our best researchers, prophets, and prognosticators, the Devourer of Nightmares will only remain confined for three more days, at most. After which time he will once again be free to attempt to destroy all of Skylands."</p><p></p><p>"I, uh, don't imagine you have really, really bad researchers, prophets, and progwhatsicators," gulped Sam.</p><p></p><p>"On the contrary, they are renowned for their accuracy and exactitude. They did, you will recall, predict that the Dawn Sheep and the Dusk Crow would bring peace to the war-torn Twilight Kingdoms."</p><p></p><p>"Ah, crap," muttered Sam, looking up at his baabarian friend. "Three days, Baabby! What are we going to do in three days?"</p><p></p><p>"Get the Fire Rune," replied the sheep-man, quite unperturbed by the sudden deadline. The Fire Rune was the only magic rune missing from his mighty <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>, the only weapon powerful enough to be able to permanently destroy the Devourer of Nightmares. And he, according to legend, was the only person in all of Skylands to be able to wield it in the battle to come. But if all of this power and responsibility weighed heavily on the baabarian's broad shoulders, he showed no sign of it. Baabby had always been a rather easy-going, laid-back sheep-man.</p><p></p><p>"We'd better head off now, then," suggested Sapphrina. "Time is of the essence!"</p><p></p><p>"Wait," commanded Lady Radia. "I am sure you will have time to upgrade your weapons and armor in the manner you deem most likely to aid you in your efforts to defeat our joint foe. Toward that regard, my Twin Kingdoms offer you this sum of 30,000 pieces of gold from the Royal Treasury."</p><p></p><p>"I always liked you Dawn Kingdom folks!" gushed Sam, stepping forward to receive the bulging bag of coins.</p><p></p><p>"Do you think we should, given the time constraints?" asked Sapphrina with a worried tone in her voice. Baabby might be taking the fact that they had three days to save all of Skylands rather easily, but the fairy certainly was not!</p><p></p><p>"I am sure you will have plenty of time," assured Master Eon. "I believe you have gathered each of the previous runes on the day you set forth to fetch them; the Fire Rune should be no exception. And that will leave us two more days to make our best plans as to fighting the Devourer."</p><p></p><p>Thus reassured, the trio dashed off to the city for upgrades, Baabby and Sapphrina making suggestions along the way. Sam, normally the loudest-mouthed of the trio, was uncharacteristically silent.</p><p></p><p>"Aare you okay, Sam?" asked Baabby as they approached a magic shop.</p><p></p><p>"Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine. Here, you guys go on in -- I'll catch up with you."</p><p></p><p>"Where are you going?" asked Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"Shelldon and I just need to run a quick errand," the little crow replied, referring to the snail perched on his left shoulder. "We'll be back before you're done." Baabby entered the shop and started looking for enhancement items, while the fairy remained outside and watched where their archer friend was headed. She saw him duck into a stonecarver's shop and shook her head in disbelief. <em>He</em> certainly wasn't worried about the outcome of the upcoming battle against the Devourer, if he was already planning ahead to have a commemorative statue made of the event! No doubt it would be a heroic pose of the little crow standing over the slain head of his foe, as if he had single-handedly defeated the hundred-foot-tall menace all by himself! Rolling her eyes at the imagined image, she entered the shop and found Baabby.</p><p></p><p>Sam caught up with the others just as they were about to leave the magic shop. Sapphrina had purchased a silver bracelet that increased her charisma, and which would thus make her spells that much more difficult for her foes to overcome. "What about you, Baabby?" asked Sam.</p><p></p><p>"I didn't get aanything," admitted the baabarian. "I waas going to pick up a <em>brooch of health +4</em>, but it's too expensive."</p><p></p><p>"Nonsense!" replied Sam, spinning his friend around and marching him back into the shop. "How much were you short?"</p><p></p><p>"Three thousaand."</p><p></p><p>"Here you go," replied Sam, handing over a pouch of gold from his own stash.</p><p></p><p>"I caan't aaccept this," argued Baabby. "This is your money."</p><p></p><p>"Are you crazy?" answered Sam. "This doodad will make you even tougher than you are now. In three days, we're going to be in the fight of our lives - with the lives of <em>everybody else we know, and tons more we don't</em>, hanging in the balance! And let's face it, it's going to be you doing the bulk of the work against Donnie-Boy. Sapph and I will do what we can, but you're the only one who can kill him. This is gonna save my life, the same as everybody else's. So take the money and better our chances to save the Skylands!"</p><p></p><p>"Aare you sure?" asked Baabby.</p><p></p><p>"How often does Sam, of all people, give away money?" interjected Sapphrina. "If he's doing so now, you know it's got to be for a very good reason." That was all the logic it took; Baabby eventually took the extra three thousand gold pieces and added it to the 13,000 of his own to purchase his brooch.</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" he said. "I caan use it to claasp my cloak together!" Sam just shook his head in disbelief; in three days all of Skylands would either be destroyed by an insane demigod or saved through the intervention of a muscle-headed baabarian, and all the legendary "Courageous Sheep" was concerned about was that his magical doodad - which would help him shrug off wounds during battle - could also be used as a cloak-pin.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, look at all the Mabu," pointed out Sapphrina. Once the fairy had mentioned it, the other two heroes looked about and saw that there <em>were</em> an awful lot of the fuzzy bear-men about in the town today.</p><p></p><p>"Thaat's weird," admitted Baabby.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina took wing and flew across the street, on a bee-line to a particular Mabu she had seen and recognized. "What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously.</p><p></p><p>"Our entire village was evacuated," replied the elder Mabu. "Mount Mabuvius is erupting. Rivers of magma threatened to overtake our poor village, so we had no choice. Already part of the mountain-top has crumbled away under the explosions, and the crater is twice as wide now as it once was."</p><p></p><p>"We need to get back there!" replied Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"To the airship!" called Sam. "We'll get Statue Boy to pilot us there!"</p><p></p><p>"That's too slow!" argued the fairy. "Plus, we have access to a Portal master, remember?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah."</p><p></p><p>Master Eon was more than happy to conjure up a portal to the top of Mount Mabuvius, and soon after returning to the library the trio stood in the middle of the crater of the massive volcano. And the Mabu had been right: the crater was now at least twice as big as it had been when the adventurers were here last.</p><p></p><p>But they weren't alone. Standing some ways away was a fire elemental - another familiar face, for this was Incinceria, who lived here in Mount Mabuvius. She was channeling energy into the bubbling magma filling the crater's center. About 30 feet away from her was a slightly smaller version of herself, this one with fiery wings flapping on her back. She, too, was engaged in whatever it was they were doing.</p><p></p><p>Sam wasn't sure just what was going on. "Are they keeping the lava at bay - or coaxing it forth?" he asked Sapphrina. "Are they good guys or bad guys?" It was hard to tell from just looking, and Incinceria had been a formidable enemy before, although it had turned out she had been under the domination of an evil spell punk at the time.</p><p></p><p>Then they heroes noticed something else they hadn't picked up on at first: lying on the rocks between magma pools was a sundered door, and the stone frame that once held it upright, smashed into several pieces. This had been the door to the Fire Rift, where Baabby had originally channeled the Fire Rune into his greatsword. It didn't look like that was going to be a possibility anymore!</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, a flaming hand rose up from the magma. The hand was gigantic, and as it rose it revealed below it a forearm, an elbow, and then an upper arm, all made of flame - before a massive head popped up alongside the arm, a head that was itself taller than Baabby's entire body. "ALL SHALL BURN!" it roared with a voice like a crackling bonfire, as it swatted the winged fire elemental, sending her crashing into the side of the crater wall.</p><p></p><p>Baabby pulled the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> from his back and raced toward the enormous, fiery form. Once he had halved the distance between them, he adopted a defensive posture, ready to strike out with his blade as soon as the elemental beast approached.</p><p></p><p>Incinceria noticed the baabarian's movement from the corner of her eye, spotted the heroes, and then looked back indecisively towards the other fire elemental, who was slowly and painfully gaining her feet by the crater's wall. "Mom, are these your heroes?" the winged elemental asked, spotting the trio herself for the first time.</p><p></p><p>And then Incinceria made her decision.</p><p></p><p>"Protect my daughter, so she can stop the eruption!" she called as she transformed her body into a whirling mass of embers. The fiery tornado wobbled in place, then became an arc of glowing embers heading directly for Sam. The archer shrieked in fear and surprise, but the arc didn't hit him at all; instead, it channeled itself directly into his Dynabow 3.0, which flared in a sheath of flames for a moment. A sudden, telepathic feeling washed over the archer, and he instantly realized his shortbow would now not only be able to ignite his arrows into flames at will, but would also allow it to overcome the inherent damage reduction of fire elementals - much like this Gargantuan monster which threatened to cause Mount Mabuvius to erupt in an explosion powerful enough to wipe out the entire floating island upon which it rose.</p><p></p><p>"I'm gonna have to start calling you the Dynabow 4.0!" Sam chuckled to himself as he pulled the first arrow of the battle from his quiver and fitted it to his weapon.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina flew up towards the flame-beast and cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell that it certainly didn't like at all, judging from the howls of pain and outrage it made. It had been swinging its mighty fist at Baabby when the fairy's spell struck, and the baabarian swung at the incoming fist with his greatsword as it approached. Baabby roared in pain as some of his fleece was burned off from the giant fire elemental's attack, and the flame-beast roared as a few of its fingers went flying off to land in the magma pool beside it. But that was one of the advantages of having a body composed entirely of living fire: you could reapportion the flames as needed. Several gouts of fire erupted in the creature's hand, and new fingers sprouted forth, wiggling as if in anticipation.</p><p></p><p>Sam sent a flurry of arrows crashing up into the creature's head and torso. The first one exploded upon impact, and while Sam had fully expected the beast to shrug off the fiery portion of the blast, he also knew that half of the energy was based on tech magic, which it couldn't as easily ignore. As for the other three arrows, they dashed into the creature's body and were never seen again; if they did any damage, it was impossible to say.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina repositioned herself and cast another <em>cone of cold</em> spell at the beast, just as Baabby hacked away at it with his <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>. Two of his strikes bit deep into the monster's fiery flesh, causing it to roar again in pain. Sam, realizing his arrows couldn't do nearly as much damage to the beast as Baabby's greatsword, dashed up behind his friend and casually touched him on his shoulder, casting one of the most useful spells he knew. Around Baabby's body burst a brief nimbus of reddish energy, as the <em>protection from fire</em> spell took hold. Then, never taking his eye from their massive foe, Sam started backing slowly away as he grabbed for his next arrow.</p><p></p><p>Baabby struck out again at the beast with his greatsword, causing great gouts of fire to erupt from the beast's flaming body at the places where his weapon bit deep. Sapphrina abruptly changed tactics; instead of another <em>cone of cold</em> spell - which were admittedly having an effect, but at nowhere near the rate of Baabby's greatsword - she cast a <em>haste</em> spell that encompassed all three heroes. (It certainly helped that Sam had moved in close instead of keeping his traditional stance as far back from the action as possible!) The fairy was certain that granting the burly baabarian an extra attack here and there would pay strong dividends in the end.</p><p></p><p>Sam shot another flurry of arrows at the flame-beast, one of them exploding in its face and two other flaming arrows actually seeming to hurt the beast. Sapphrina was impressed by the orange streak of flame as each arrow went winging through the air; she was also prepared to appreciate the whooshing sound they made as they flashed by until she realized it was just Sam making the "whooshing" noises as a cool sound effect each time he loosed another shaft.</p><p></p><p>Leaning forward, the flame-beast slammed down at Baabby with both fists, crushing the baabarian with one while he managed to dodge below the other. "Why aare you focusing solely on me?" demanded the baabarian, frustrated at being the creature's only apparent target.</p><p></p><p>"MASTER CALLS FOR YOUR SWORD," answered the towering beast, dispelling any possibility that this sudden attack was random - the giant fire elemental had apparently destroyed the Fire Gate to help release the elemental bars of the cage imprisoning the Devourer of Nightmares, as well as to prevent Baabby from being able to charge his blade with the final required rune. Apparently Don was getting a bit nervous!</p><p></p><p>Baabby gave the flame-beast something to get nervous about: swinging frantically with his enchanted blade, he sliced through the creature's flaming body in several different directions in quick succession, the Dark Rune allowing him to deal critical-level damage to the elemental despite its normal immunity to such extra damage. Roaring in pain at the attacks, the creature realized for the first time since encountering the heroes that there was a good possibility he couldn't win this fight. It was a new feeling for the fire elemental, facing an actual threat in battle!</p><p></p><p>Having done what she could to increase Baabby's combat prowess, Sapphrina fell back to her <em>cone of cold</em> spells, darting in to ensure she kept Baabby out of the area of effect. Sam, still making sound effects, hit with five arrows in rapid succession, one of them exploding in a blast of tech-based magic (and some fire as well, which the elemental beast ignored). Roaring in fury - and not a little bit of fear - the flaming brute lashed out again at Baabby with his massive fists, hoping to bring down this surprising threat before his blasted sword did any more damage; he was confident he could then take out the other two at his leisure. Both flaming fists crashed into Baabby, eliciting a mere grunt of pain from the sheep-man, his only admission that he was in any kind of trouble.</p><p></p><p>But those were the last two punches the giant fire elemental would ever make, for the furious sheep-man performed an onslaught the likes of which he'd never performed before: each strike was made with an uncanny precision, each blow driving deep into the fiery heart of his flaming foe. By the time his burst of slashing fury was through, the elemental's body had collapsed into a gush of falling flames which spread out in all directions like a fountain, then - just as Incinceria's body had become a line of embers before enhancing the Dynabow 3.0 - the flame-remnants became a swirl of burning ashes which circled and then made a bee-line for the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>. There's no way the Devourer of Nightmares could have predicted it, but the greatsword had engulfed the power of its dying foe and transformed the flame-energy into a new Fire Rune.</p><p></p><p>With all ten runes intact for the first time ever, the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> shone with a brilliance that briefly rivaled the sun.</p><p></p><p>"Whoa!" cried out the winged fire elemental who had stayed back out of harm's way during the fight. "Mom was right about you guys!"</p><p></p><p>"What's your name, kid?" asked Sam.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Haten</strong>," replied the winged fire elemental, pronouncing it to sound like "hotten."</p><p></p><p>"Well, Little Hottie," replied Sam, "Your mom always was a good judge of character."</p><p></p><p>"I'd better see what I can do to calm this down," said Haten, focusing her attention back on the bubbling magma at her feet. Concentrating fiercely, she held her arms out towards the magma and caused it to stop bubbling in the area in which she was focusing. A circle of calm appeared in the middle of the magma-filled crater, which expanded in diameter as the fire elemental concentrated on her work.</p><p></p><p>"You're doing it!" cried Sapphrina as she tended to Baabby's wounds with a few choice healing spells. He gruffly waved her off, complaining that his various scratches and burns were "nothing." After a few minutes, the lava began cooling, its color darkening from a bright reddish-orange to the dark gray of the surrounding rock.</p><p></p><p>"...And it's done," announced Haten with a nod of satisfaction. She might not have been able to help fight off the giant fire elemental working for a demigod trying to destroy all of existence, but she could certainly cool off an active volcano with ease. In fact, this would be the last time the volcano ever erupted; after this, its subsided into permanent inactivity.</p><p></p><p>"Nice job, Little Hottie!" praised Sam. "It's almost as if you're part water elemental on your mother's side."</p><p></p><p>"Not this again!" muttered Sapphrina. "Doesn't he ever get tired of the same old shtick?"</p><p></p><p>"Hey! I can't help it if I like repeating the same old jokes over and over," replied Sam with an indignant look at his fairy friend.</p><p></p><p>"You can't? I don't see why not!"</p><p></p><p>"It's not my fault," Sam replied, giving Haten a sly wink on the side. "...I'm part parrot on my mother's side!"</p><p></p><p>"I flew right into that one," muttered Sapphrina with a groan.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Judging from the howls of excitement, this was one of Harry's favorite adventures in this whole campaign. At one point, Baabby managed to deal 196 points of damage in a single round: four attacks (thanks to a +14/+9/+4 Base Attack Bonus for being 14th level and an extra attack due to a <em>haste</em> spell), three of which hit and two of them being confirmed criticals. (The Dark Rune allows the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> to deal critical damage to creatures normally immune to such attacks.) Even with the 30-point reduction for the giant fire elemental's DR 10, that was still 166 points of damage from one PC in one round. It's no wonder Harry spontaneously got up from his chair and invented the "I'm gonna kill it!" dance on the spot!</p><p></p><p>Of course, Logan had given the Gargantuan fire elemental something like 502 hp, but he did so as a test to see how long it would take us to bring it down, so he can best judge how many hit points Don should have when he busts out of his cage and we have to deal with him. (As a result of this adventure, he'll likely have quadruple-digit hit points!)</p><p></p><p>I had made the Gargantuan fire elemental for an earlier Wing Three campaign, but I had merely advanced an elder fire elemental to a higher number of Hit Dice and ignored the restrictions that said that even with max HD it was still a Huge creature. Logan, not finding stats for a Gargantuan fire elemental anywhere (and not wanting to ask me for the stats I had used or where I got them for fear of spilling the beans), used the "Gigantic" template from the <em>Book of Templates</em> to build his own version from scratch.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7298022, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 25: THE FINAL ERUPTION OF MOUNT MABUVIUS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 14[/INDENT] [INDENT] Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 14[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 14[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 9 December 2017 - - - Returning back to the library of the Skylanders Academy Building, the trio of heroes met back up with Master Eon - and a familiar face. "I believe you recall Lady Radia," remarked the elderly Portal Master. "Indeed we do," replied Sapphrina. The light elemental was a hard person to forget: she was an eight-foot-tall woman with a regal bearing, her body composed entirely of a warm, diffuse light which radiated in illuminated patterns across her contours. She was the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Dawn - and Baabby had recently been the gladiatorial representative of her warring kingdom. "Now that the Twilight Kingdoms are no longer at war," Lady Radia stated, "we have had time to delve further into the Prophecies of the Devourer." "Oh yeah, Donnie-Boy?" asked Sam with a smirk on his beak. "What did they say, that his downfall would be preceded by the arrival of a dark and ravishingly-handsome gentleman of the avian persuasion?" The little crow ran a hand through the feathers on his head to make sure none were sticking up. "Our studies have us worried," admitted the light elemental, all but ignoring Sam's interruption. "[I]You're[/I] worried?" asked Sam. "[I]We're[/I] the ones who have to fight him!" "That's what has us worried," admitted Lady Radia, and Sam frowned at the implied rebuke. He never really liked those uppity light elemental folks from their stupid Kingdom of Dawn anyway! "We have been focusing on the time of his second rise," continued the ambassador. "According to our calculations, the Devourer of Nightmares will escape his imprisonment in three days." "[I]Three days[/I]?" gasped Sapphrina. "...You mean, like, it'll take him three full days to finally bust out of his cage, but that still won't be for months yet?" hoped Sam, hoping like he'd never hoped before. "I mean that according to our best researchers, prophets, and prognosticators, the Devourer of Nightmares will only remain confined for three more days, at most. After which time he will once again be free to attempt to destroy all of Skylands." "I, uh, don't imagine you have really, really bad researchers, prophets, and progwhatsicators," gulped Sam. "On the contrary, they are renowned for their accuracy and exactitude. They did, you will recall, predict that the Dawn Sheep and the Dusk Crow would bring peace to the war-torn Twilight Kingdoms." "Ah, crap," muttered Sam, looking up at his baabarian friend. "Three days, Baabby! What are we going to do in three days?" "Get the Fire Rune," replied the sheep-man, quite unperturbed by the sudden deadline. The Fire Rune was the only magic rune missing from his mighty [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I], the only weapon powerful enough to be able to permanently destroy the Devourer of Nightmares. And he, according to legend, was the only person in all of Skylands to be able to wield it in the battle to come. But if all of this power and responsibility weighed heavily on the baabarian's broad shoulders, he showed no sign of it. Baabby had always been a rather easy-going, laid-back sheep-man. "We'd better head off now, then," suggested Sapphrina. "Time is of the essence!" "Wait," commanded Lady Radia. "I am sure you will have time to upgrade your weapons and armor in the manner you deem most likely to aid you in your efforts to defeat our joint foe. Toward that regard, my Twin Kingdoms offer you this sum of 30,000 pieces of gold from the Royal Treasury." "I always liked you Dawn Kingdom folks!" gushed Sam, stepping forward to receive the bulging bag of coins. "Do you think we should, given the time constraints?" asked Sapphrina with a worried tone in her voice. Baabby might be taking the fact that they had three days to save all of Skylands rather easily, but the fairy certainly was not! "I am sure you will have plenty of time," assured Master Eon. "I believe you have gathered each of the previous runes on the day you set forth to fetch them; the Fire Rune should be no exception. And that will leave us two more days to make our best plans as to fighting the Devourer." Thus reassured, the trio dashed off to the city for upgrades, Baabby and Sapphrina making suggestions along the way. Sam, normally the loudest-mouthed of the trio, was uncharacteristically silent. "Aare you okay, Sam?" asked Baabby as they approached a magic shop. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine. Here, you guys go on in -- I'll catch up with you." "Where are you going?" asked Sapphrina. "Shelldon and I just need to run a quick errand," the little crow replied, referring to the snail perched on his left shoulder. "We'll be back before you're done." Baabby entered the shop and started looking for enhancement items, while the fairy remained outside and watched where their archer friend was headed. She saw him duck into a stonecarver's shop and shook her head in disbelief. [I]He[/I] certainly wasn't worried about the outcome of the upcoming battle against the Devourer, if he was already planning ahead to have a commemorative statue made of the event! No doubt it would be a heroic pose of the little crow standing over the slain head of his foe, as if he had single-handedly defeated the hundred-foot-tall menace all by himself! Rolling her eyes at the imagined image, she entered the shop and found Baabby. Sam caught up with the others just as they were about to leave the magic shop. Sapphrina had purchased a silver bracelet that increased her charisma, and which would thus make her spells that much more difficult for her foes to overcome. "What about you, Baabby?" asked Sam. "I didn't get aanything," admitted the baabarian. "I waas going to pick up a [I]brooch of health +4[/I], but it's too expensive." "Nonsense!" replied Sam, spinning his friend around and marching him back into the shop. "How much were you short?" "Three thousaand." "Here you go," replied Sam, handing over a pouch of gold from his own stash. "I caan't aaccept this," argued Baabby. "This is your money." "Are you crazy?" answered Sam. "This doodad will make you even tougher than you are now. In three days, we're going to be in the fight of our lives - with the lives of [I]everybody else we know, and tons more we don't[/I], hanging in the balance! And let's face it, it's going to be you doing the bulk of the work against Donnie-Boy. Sapph and I will do what we can, but you're the only one who can kill him. This is gonna save my life, the same as everybody else's. So take the money and better our chances to save the Skylands!" "Aare you sure?" asked Baabby. "How often does Sam, of all people, give away money?" interjected Sapphrina. "If he's doing so now, you know it's got to be for a very good reason." That was all the logic it took; Baabby eventually took the extra three thousand gold pieces and added it to the 13,000 of his own to purchase his brooch. "Hey!" he said. "I caan use it to claasp my cloak together!" Sam just shook his head in disbelief; in three days all of Skylands would either be destroyed by an insane demigod or saved through the intervention of a muscle-headed baabarian, and all the legendary "Courageous Sheep" was concerned about was that his magical doodad - which would help him shrug off wounds during battle - could also be used as a cloak-pin. "Hey, look at all the Mabu," pointed out Sapphrina. Once the fairy had mentioned it, the other two heroes looked about and saw that there [I]were[/I] an awful lot of the fuzzy bear-men about in the town today. "Thaat's weird," admitted Baabby. Sapphrina took wing and flew across the street, on a bee-line to a particular Mabu she had seen and recognized. "What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously. "Our entire village was evacuated," replied the elder Mabu. "Mount Mabuvius is erupting. Rivers of magma threatened to overtake our poor village, so we had no choice. Already part of the mountain-top has crumbled away under the explosions, and the crater is twice as wide now as it once was." "We need to get back there!" replied Sapphrina. "To the airship!" called Sam. "We'll get Statue Boy to pilot us there!" "That's too slow!" argued the fairy. "Plus, we have access to a Portal master, remember?" "Oh yeah." Master Eon was more than happy to conjure up a portal to the top of Mount Mabuvius, and soon after returning to the library the trio stood in the middle of the crater of the massive volcano. And the Mabu had been right: the crater was now at least twice as big as it had been when the adventurers were here last. But they weren't alone. Standing some ways away was a fire elemental - another familiar face, for this was Incinceria, who lived here in Mount Mabuvius. She was channeling energy into the bubbling magma filling the crater's center. About 30 feet away from her was a slightly smaller version of herself, this one with fiery wings flapping on her back. She, too, was engaged in whatever it was they were doing. Sam wasn't sure just what was going on. "Are they keeping the lava at bay - or coaxing it forth?" he asked Sapphrina. "Are they good guys or bad guys?" It was hard to tell from just looking, and Incinceria had been a formidable enemy before, although it had turned out she had been under the domination of an evil spell punk at the time. Then they heroes noticed something else they hadn't picked up on at first: lying on the rocks between magma pools was a sundered door, and the stone frame that once held it upright, smashed into several pieces. This had been the door to the Fire Rift, where Baabby had originally channeled the Fire Rune into his greatsword. It didn't look like that was going to be a possibility anymore! Suddenly, a flaming hand rose up from the magma. The hand was gigantic, and as it rose it revealed below it a forearm, an elbow, and then an upper arm, all made of flame - before a massive head popped up alongside the arm, a head that was itself taller than Baabby's entire body. "ALL SHALL BURN!" it roared with a voice like a crackling bonfire, as it swatted the winged fire elemental, sending her crashing into the side of the crater wall. Baabby pulled the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] from his back and raced toward the enormous, fiery form. Once he had halved the distance between them, he adopted a defensive posture, ready to strike out with his blade as soon as the elemental beast approached. Incinceria noticed the baabarian's movement from the corner of her eye, spotted the heroes, and then looked back indecisively towards the other fire elemental, who was slowly and painfully gaining her feet by the crater's wall. "Mom, are these your heroes?" the winged elemental asked, spotting the trio herself for the first time. And then Incinceria made her decision. "Protect my daughter, so she can stop the eruption!" she called as she transformed her body into a whirling mass of embers. The fiery tornado wobbled in place, then became an arc of glowing embers heading directly for Sam. The archer shrieked in fear and surprise, but the arc didn't hit him at all; instead, it channeled itself directly into his Dynabow 3.0, which flared in a sheath of flames for a moment. A sudden, telepathic feeling washed over the archer, and he instantly realized his shortbow would now not only be able to ignite his arrows into flames at will, but would also allow it to overcome the inherent damage reduction of fire elementals - much like this Gargantuan monster which threatened to cause Mount Mabuvius to erupt in an explosion powerful enough to wipe out the entire floating island upon which it rose. "I'm gonna have to start calling you the Dynabow 4.0!" Sam chuckled to himself as he pulled the first arrow of the battle from his quiver and fitted it to his weapon. Sapphrina flew up towards the flame-beast and cast a [I]cone of cold[/I] spell that it certainly didn't like at all, judging from the howls of pain and outrage it made. It had been swinging its mighty fist at Baabby when the fairy's spell struck, and the baabarian swung at the incoming fist with his greatsword as it approached. Baabby roared in pain as some of his fleece was burned off from the giant fire elemental's attack, and the flame-beast roared as a few of its fingers went flying off to land in the magma pool beside it. But that was one of the advantages of having a body composed entirely of living fire: you could reapportion the flames as needed. Several gouts of fire erupted in the creature's hand, and new fingers sprouted forth, wiggling as if in anticipation. Sam sent a flurry of arrows crashing up into the creature's head and torso. The first one exploded upon impact, and while Sam had fully expected the beast to shrug off the fiery portion of the blast, he also knew that half of the energy was based on tech magic, which it couldn't as easily ignore. As for the other three arrows, they dashed into the creature's body and were never seen again; if they did any damage, it was impossible to say. Sapphrina repositioned herself and cast another [I]cone of cold[/I] spell at the beast, just as Baabby hacked away at it with his [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I]. Two of his strikes bit deep into the monster's fiery flesh, causing it to roar again in pain. Sam, realizing his arrows couldn't do nearly as much damage to the beast as Baabby's greatsword, dashed up behind his friend and casually touched him on his shoulder, casting one of the most useful spells he knew. Around Baabby's body burst a brief nimbus of reddish energy, as the [I]protection from fire[/I] spell took hold. Then, never taking his eye from their massive foe, Sam started backing slowly away as he grabbed for his next arrow. Baabby struck out again at the beast with his greatsword, causing great gouts of fire to erupt from the beast's flaming body at the places where his weapon bit deep. Sapphrina abruptly changed tactics; instead of another [I]cone of cold[/I] spell - which were admittedly having an effect, but at nowhere near the rate of Baabby's greatsword - she cast a [I]haste[/I] spell that encompassed all three heroes. (It certainly helped that Sam had moved in close instead of keeping his traditional stance as far back from the action as possible!) The fairy was certain that granting the burly baabarian an extra attack here and there would pay strong dividends in the end. Sam shot another flurry of arrows at the flame-beast, one of them exploding in its face and two other flaming arrows actually seeming to hurt the beast. Sapphrina was impressed by the orange streak of flame as each arrow went winging through the air; she was also prepared to appreciate the whooshing sound they made as they flashed by until she realized it was just Sam making the "whooshing" noises as a cool sound effect each time he loosed another shaft. Leaning forward, the flame-beast slammed down at Baabby with both fists, crushing the baabarian with one while he managed to dodge below the other. "Why aare you focusing solely on me?" demanded the baabarian, frustrated at being the creature's only apparent target. "MASTER CALLS FOR YOUR SWORD," answered the towering beast, dispelling any possibility that this sudden attack was random - the giant fire elemental had apparently destroyed the Fire Gate to help release the elemental bars of the cage imprisoning the Devourer of Nightmares, as well as to prevent Baabby from being able to charge his blade with the final required rune. Apparently Don was getting a bit nervous! Baabby gave the flame-beast something to get nervous about: swinging frantically with his enchanted blade, he sliced through the creature's flaming body in several different directions in quick succession, the Dark Rune allowing him to deal critical-level damage to the elemental despite its normal immunity to such extra damage. Roaring in pain at the attacks, the creature realized for the first time since encountering the heroes that there was a good possibility he couldn't win this fight. It was a new feeling for the fire elemental, facing an actual threat in battle! Having done what she could to increase Baabby's combat prowess, Sapphrina fell back to her [I]cone of cold[/I] spells, darting in to ensure she kept Baabby out of the area of effect. Sam, still making sound effects, hit with five arrows in rapid succession, one of them exploding in a blast of tech-based magic (and some fire as well, which the elemental beast ignored). Roaring in fury - and not a little bit of fear - the flaming brute lashed out again at Baabby with his massive fists, hoping to bring down this surprising threat before his blasted sword did any more damage; he was confident he could then take out the other two at his leisure. Both flaming fists crashed into Baabby, eliciting a mere grunt of pain from the sheep-man, his only admission that he was in any kind of trouble. But those were the last two punches the giant fire elemental would ever make, for the furious sheep-man performed an onslaught the likes of which he'd never performed before: each strike was made with an uncanny precision, each blow driving deep into the fiery heart of his flaming foe. By the time his burst of slashing fury was through, the elemental's body had collapsed into a gush of falling flames which spread out in all directions like a fountain, then - just as Incinceria's body had become a line of embers before enhancing the Dynabow 3.0 - the flame-remnants became a swirl of burning ashes which circled and then made a bee-line for the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I]. There's no way the Devourer of Nightmares could have predicted it, but the greatsword had engulfed the power of its dying foe and transformed the flame-energy into a new Fire Rune. With all ten runes intact for the first time ever, the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] shone with a brilliance that briefly rivaled the sun. "Whoa!" cried out the winged fire elemental who had stayed back out of harm's way during the fight. "Mom was right about you guys!" "What's your name, kid?" asked Sam. "[B]Haten[/B]," replied the winged fire elemental, pronouncing it to sound like "hotten." "Well, Little Hottie," replied Sam, "Your mom always was a good judge of character." "I'd better see what I can do to calm this down," said Haten, focusing her attention back on the bubbling magma at her feet. Concentrating fiercely, she held her arms out towards the magma and caused it to stop bubbling in the area in which she was focusing. A circle of calm appeared in the middle of the magma-filled crater, which expanded in diameter as the fire elemental concentrated on her work. "You're doing it!" cried Sapphrina as she tended to Baabby's wounds with a few choice healing spells. He gruffly waved her off, complaining that his various scratches and burns were "nothing." After a few minutes, the lava began cooling, its color darkening from a bright reddish-orange to the dark gray of the surrounding rock. "...And it's done," announced Haten with a nod of satisfaction. She might not have been able to help fight off the giant fire elemental working for a demigod trying to destroy all of existence, but she could certainly cool off an active volcano with ease. In fact, this would be the last time the volcano ever erupted; after this, its subsided into permanent inactivity. "Nice job, Little Hottie!" praised Sam. "It's almost as if you're part water elemental on your mother's side." "Not this again!" muttered Sapphrina. "Doesn't he ever get tired of the same old shtick?" "Hey! I can't help it if I like repeating the same old jokes over and over," replied Sam with an indignant look at his fairy friend. "You can't? I don't see why not!" "It's not my fault," Sam replied, giving Haten a sly wink on the side. "...I'm part parrot on my mother's side!" "I flew right into that one," muttered Sapphrina with a groan. - - - Judging from the howls of excitement, this was one of Harry's favorite adventures in this whole campaign. At one point, Baabby managed to deal 196 points of damage in a single round: four attacks (thanks to a +14/+9/+4 Base Attack Bonus for being 14th level and an extra attack due to a [I]haste[/I] spell), three of which hit and two of them being confirmed criticals. (The Dark Rune allows the [I]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/I] to deal critical damage to creatures normally immune to such attacks.) Even with the 30-point reduction for the giant fire elemental's DR 10, that was still 166 points of damage from one PC in one round. It's no wonder Harry spontaneously got up from his chair and invented the "I'm gonna kill it!" dance on the spot! Of course, Logan had given the Gargantuan fire elemental something like 502 hp, but he did so as a test to see how long it would take us to bring it down, so he can best judge how many hit points Don should have when he busts out of his cage and we have to deal with him. (As a result of this adventure, he'll likely have quadruple-digit hit points!) I had made the Gargantuan fire elemental for an earlier Wing Three campaign, but I had merely advanced an elder fire elemental to a higher number of Hit Dice and ignored the restrictions that said that even with max HD it was still a Huge creature. Logan, not finding stats for a Gargantuan fire elemental anywhere (and not wanting to ask me for the stats I had used or where I got them for fear of spilling the beans), used the "Gigantic" template from the [I]Book of Templates[/I] to build his own version from scratch. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Adventures of Baabby and Sam - a Skylanders Campaign
Top