Darmanicus
I'm Ray...of Enfeeblement
Tallarn said:
Yes and yes.
Good thing about 'Arcane Reach' vs 'Spectral Hand' is the no limit on the level of spell you can use with it.
Mind you, SH has a far greater reach
The Age of Worms - Morrus' Campaign - Finished 6th August!!
Yes and yes.
Good thing about 'Arcane Reach' vs 'Spectral Hand' is the no limit on the level of spell you can use with it.
Mind you, SH has a far greater reach
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
Having cast a spell and asked Fahrlanghan whether there was “any way we could obtain the belt without fighting with the titan who was wearing it”, he repeated to us his God’s message that “A bargain may yield results, although avoid the madness trigger”.
I followed this up with a spell of my own, trying to learn more about the titan himself. “Kranathos the titan desires freedom above all. A gracious host, remain his honoured guest lest you induce his madness”, came my response.
Swallowing hard, I cast a spell and ambled off towards the fortress, leaving my companions behind. Once I had almost reached the stone walls, four gargoyles detached from the walls and swooped down to stand before me. One hopped forwards, and spoke. “Krathanos the Conqueror, exiled by the gods for his designs to rule all of creation, and shackled by the treacherous druids of Tilagos until such time as brave stalwarts arrive to free him, bids you welcome, and invites you to partake of his hospitality. You will be given food and shelter as you desire.”
“I would be obliged and humbled,” I replied, and was escorted into the fortress by the hulking bow-armed gargoyles, as two others watched from the walls. There, I approached the massive titan who was standing near one wall. Up close, I could see he had a huge string of black pearls around his neck and a vast sack hanging from his belt.
I bowed, and introduced myself to Kranathos, suppressing any nerves from my voice as I did so.
“Come. You will eat with me,” he boomed. “The honour and hospitality of the titans is legendary. What is it that you would feast upon?”
There was a momentary pause, before I told him that whatever he had in mind would be fine, and then started to explain my predicament. As I was telling the story, to the best of my ability I could see him starting to fall into my tale and becoming enmeshed in it, before suddenly his eyes glazed over and snarled at me.
“Bored now,” he announced. “You speak like the other one who came and aske about my belt.”
“Another one?”
“Yes,” he replied as he reached into his sack and withdrew what looked for all the world like a raggedly torn-off cow’s head. “They sent a minotaur to parley with me, but I killed it. I hate things whose heads are different to their bodies. But I would take off my belt and give it to you if you can to one small thing for me. I wish to be away from this place. I have been here long enough and it is time for me to be free.”
I sent a signal, and was joined before too long by Fez, Janga and Endo. As they approached, I tried to explain to the titan that if we completed our quest then he would be freed, but he was simply not having it. Once there, Endo cast one of his most powerful spells.
“I wish,” he announced, that the titan Kranathos be transferred to the Prime Material plane as soon as he releases his belt.”
The titan glowered down at us all, suddenly furious.
“That was not what we agreed,” he bellowed. “How dare you impugn my honour! I had agreed only to give you the belt after I was taken away from this pitiful realm. I will consent for one of you to transfer with me and I shall give them the belt.”
There was something slightly out of place. His body language, his voice, all completely believable, but looking at my colleagues I could tell that none of them believed a word the titan was saying either.
“Mighty sir,” said Endo. “The spell has been cast, and you heard me word it. You have only to release the belt, and you will be freed…”
“Do not anger me,” bellowed the titan, before his mood abruptly changed. “There is another way. You could reach a bargain. Perhaps 350,000 pieces of gold or magical trinkets which amuse me sufficiently, and I could be persuaded to part with it…”
We looked at one another once again.
“Can we retreat a short distance, sir?” I was cautious as I asked him. “I would wish to speak to my comrades before we invest so much wealth for but one item.
As he nodded, we retreated back to rejoin Flynne.
.oOo.
When we returned, we were all invisible, enhanced beyond all recognition with an awesome array of spells, bardsongs and potions. Each of us was invisible and flying after one fashion or another, and Fez had been turned into a towering annis hag, displaced and protected with every single protective ward known to bard, wizard or cleric-kind. We were as ready for combat as we were physically capable of being, and hurtled towards the tower.
Drawing close and unable to make out either the gargoyles or the titan, I unleashed a tremendous blast of fire on the caged girallons. Amidst a massive explosion, all but one of the creatures was killed. Immediately afterwards, the 6 gargoyles stood from their places of hiding around the walls, and plied their terrible bows.
Well over 20 arrows slammed into the ground around me and scythed through my armour. The protection from my cloak of displacement was nothing to that much fire, and I was in agony in a heartbeat.
I could not see my friends advance, but suddenly the titan blinked into existence amidst a roar of magic. He was flying, and was right next to Flynne – swinging his terrible morningstar again and again and sending blood spattering in all direction. Looking horribly dazed, Flynne’s flight became slow and erratic as he practically staggered through the air away from the titan.
I heard Fez screaming before he blinked into sight 30 feet from the titan. He closed in a mad wailing dash and slashed a heavy claw across its chest. Kranathos barely even blinked.
To one side I could hear Endo casting another ‘wish’ spell, whilst to the other Janga had clearly cast a spell of his own curing Flynne of all of his injuries. Then one of the gargoyles turned on the roof and used some object on Janga’s enchantments, stripping many of them away before the other 5 fired shot after shot at the heavily armoured gnome.
Backing away from the titan and fading from sight, Flynne fired once again at the closest gargoyle with the magic-dispelling item, before the titan raised his morningstar.
A blast of lightning crashed from the head of the weapon, blasting past Janga and then washing over Fez (who had been protected against lightning at Endo’s recommendation). The titan then spun his morningstar over and over again at the barbarian’s annis hag form. Each of the lethal strikes was swung with precision, and each of them either scraped off his massively enchanted flesh or slammed straight through the face of the displaced image of the barbarian I had created.
Fez slashed and clawed at the titan, and we realized that the titan was also displaced.
At this point, Endo acted. The sound of congo drums began to echo around the fortress,as Endo cast one of his newest spells – ‘Endo’s Dirge of Deathly Drums’. His invisible familiar swooped in, but somehow the titan picked it out and swatted it with his massive weapon. The brave raven flew in and touched the titan, and it started to twitch. The huge titan began to dance, and I could hear Endo yell out a triumphant “YES!” from off to my left.
Almost immediately, the gargoyle at the front of the fortress turned, and fired off his enchanted item. To all of our immense frustration, Endo’s spell was broken and the titan was freed.
Flynne shot the gargoyle, killing it, but it was too late, and Kranathos acted swiftly. Once again lightning arced around Fez, before every single lethal blow from the morningstar passed through his images once more. Fez countered by latching two claws into the titan and heaving a deep wound into its abdomen as Fez’s, Janga’s and my wounds were healed at an invocation from Janga.
Chanting rapidly, Endo managed to catch one of the gargoyle archers with a spell of slowing, whilst a casual gesture sent a green ray slamming into the chest of a second – in a second the creature cracked and fell into a pile of ashes. My own spell stripped a couple of spells off the titan, and he sank to the floor with a tremendous crash.
The gargoyles, looking around for a target and seeing Endo as the most imminent threat all turned and fired a hail or missiles at the half orc. He yelled in pain being suddenly pierced by at least five or six thick heavy arrows.
Still invisible, Flynne managed to shoot a series of his own enchanted arrows into the closest gargoyle, and it collapsed into a heap.
The titan then cast not one, but two spells onto Fez. Looking through my enchanted glasses, I could see the enchantments we had layered onto Fez being reaved away from him. Shrinking in size and losing perhaps a dozen protective spells, he shrank down to his human size and fell to the earth at Kranathos’ feet. Suddenly looking as small as he ever had done, he slashed a couple of times with his scythe, but his blows lacked the power and enchanted might of only seconds before.
Whilst Janga dropped a pillar of roaring flame over another gargoyle, injuring it grievously, and Flynne managed to slay another. Only three remained, one badly burned and another slowed to a crawl. In the meantime, I placed another spell of invisibility on Endo, who was already casting another spell of his own.
Back in the centre of the stone fortress, the titan hit Fez with yet another countermagic spell, stripping him of the very last of his protective enchantments – the displacement which had managed to make every blow struck to date miss the berserk warrior. Kranathos followed this spell up with a series of blows from his massive morningstar, then on a backswing there was a burst of feathers from one side as Endo’s raven familiar flew in invisibly and was struck by the titan.
The brave bird delivered the spell, however, and Fez swelled once more to the large form of a craggy annis hag, before slashing back at the titan with his new claws. Janga cured him once again, and Endo’s next spell sent lightning arcing from a gargoyle to the titan.
I dashed back in to cast a further spell of displacement on Fez, as Flynne’s arrows started to slam with pinpoint accuracy into the titan’s back; though many passed through the titan’s own displacement spell.
Kranathos responded with a blast of fire as he sent four meteors slamming into Fez’s face. I managed to take cover, but Fez and Janga took the full force of the blast and were both horribly hurt.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Janga stripped away the titan’s last protective spell, meaning that Fez was free to claw away at the massive figure. Endo’s next spell sent yet more lightning crackling between gargoyle and the titan. With a tremendous sigh, the titan’s knees trembled and then collapsed, and the massive figure fell to the floor amidst a cloud of dust and a tremendous crash.
Grinning, we turned with a gleam in our eyes on the remaining gargoyles. A barrage of spells, arrows and scythe blows smashed them from the walls in seconds.
.oOo.
Once the titan’s many enchanted items had been swept into a sack, Janga cast a spell which whisked us back to our home plane of existence for a well earned rest.
I followed this up with a spell of my own, trying to learn more about the titan himself. “Kranathos the titan desires freedom above all. A gracious host, remain his honoured guest lest you induce his madness”, came my response.
Swallowing hard, I cast a spell and ambled off towards the fortress, leaving my companions behind. Once I had almost reached the stone walls, four gargoyles detached from the walls and swooped down to stand before me. One hopped forwards, and spoke. “Krathanos the Conqueror, exiled by the gods for his designs to rule all of creation, and shackled by the treacherous druids of Tilagos until such time as brave stalwarts arrive to free him, bids you welcome, and invites you to partake of his hospitality. You will be given food and shelter as you desire.”
“I would be obliged and humbled,” I replied, and was escorted into the fortress by the hulking bow-armed gargoyles, as two others watched from the walls. There, I approached the massive titan who was standing near one wall. Up close, I could see he had a huge string of black pearls around his neck and a vast sack hanging from his belt.
I bowed, and introduced myself to Kranathos, suppressing any nerves from my voice as I did so.
“Come. You will eat with me,” he boomed. “The honour and hospitality of the titans is legendary. What is it that you would feast upon?”
There was a momentary pause, before I told him that whatever he had in mind would be fine, and then started to explain my predicament. As I was telling the story, to the best of my ability I could see him starting to fall into my tale and becoming enmeshed in it, before suddenly his eyes glazed over and snarled at me.
“Bored now,” he announced. “You speak like the other one who came and aske about my belt.”
“Another one?”
“Yes,” he replied as he reached into his sack and withdrew what looked for all the world like a raggedly torn-off cow’s head. “They sent a minotaur to parley with me, but I killed it. I hate things whose heads are different to their bodies. But I would take off my belt and give it to you if you can to one small thing for me. I wish to be away from this place. I have been here long enough and it is time for me to be free.”
I sent a signal, and was joined before too long by Fez, Janga and Endo. As they approached, I tried to explain to the titan that if we completed our quest then he would be freed, but he was simply not having it. Once there, Endo cast one of his most powerful spells.
“I wish,” he announced, that the titan Kranathos be transferred to the Prime Material plane as soon as he releases his belt.”
The titan glowered down at us all, suddenly furious.
“That was not what we agreed,” he bellowed. “How dare you impugn my honour! I had agreed only to give you the belt after I was taken away from this pitiful realm. I will consent for one of you to transfer with me and I shall give them the belt.”
There was something slightly out of place. His body language, his voice, all completely believable, but looking at my colleagues I could tell that none of them believed a word the titan was saying either.
“Mighty sir,” said Endo. “The spell has been cast, and you heard me word it. You have only to release the belt, and you will be freed…”
“Do not anger me,” bellowed the titan, before his mood abruptly changed. “There is another way. You could reach a bargain. Perhaps 350,000 pieces of gold or magical trinkets which amuse me sufficiently, and I could be persuaded to part with it…”
We looked at one another once again.
“Can we retreat a short distance, sir?” I was cautious as I asked him. “I would wish to speak to my comrades before we invest so much wealth for but one item.
As he nodded, we retreated back to rejoin Flynne.
.oOo.
When we returned, we were all invisible, enhanced beyond all recognition with an awesome array of spells, bardsongs and potions. Each of us was invisible and flying after one fashion or another, and Fez had been turned into a towering annis hag, displaced and protected with every single protective ward known to bard, wizard or cleric-kind. We were as ready for combat as we were physically capable of being, and hurtled towards the tower.
Drawing close and unable to make out either the gargoyles or the titan, I unleashed a tremendous blast of fire on the caged girallons. Amidst a massive explosion, all but one of the creatures was killed. Immediately afterwards, the 6 gargoyles stood from their places of hiding around the walls, and plied their terrible bows.
Well over 20 arrows slammed into the ground around me and scythed through my armour. The protection from my cloak of displacement was nothing to that much fire, and I was in agony in a heartbeat.
I could not see my friends advance, but suddenly the titan blinked into existence amidst a roar of magic. He was flying, and was right next to Flynne – swinging his terrible morningstar again and again and sending blood spattering in all direction. Looking horribly dazed, Flynne’s flight became slow and erratic as he practically staggered through the air away from the titan.
I heard Fez screaming before he blinked into sight 30 feet from the titan. He closed in a mad wailing dash and slashed a heavy claw across its chest. Kranathos barely even blinked.
To one side I could hear Endo casting another ‘wish’ spell, whilst to the other Janga had clearly cast a spell of his own curing Flynne of all of his injuries. Then one of the gargoyles turned on the roof and used some object on Janga’s enchantments, stripping many of them away before the other 5 fired shot after shot at the heavily armoured gnome.
Backing away from the titan and fading from sight, Flynne fired once again at the closest gargoyle with the magic-dispelling item, before the titan raised his morningstar.
A blast of lightning crashed from the head of the weapon, blasting past Janga and then washing over Fez (who had been protected against lightning at Endo’s recommendation). The titan then spun his morningstar over and over again at the barbarian’s annis hag form. Each of the lethal strikes was swung with precision, and each of them either scraped off his massively enchanted flesh or slammed straight through the face of the displaced image of the barbarian I had created.
Fez slashed and clawed at the titan, and we realized that the titan was also displaced.
At this point, Endo acted. The sound of congo drums began to echo around the fortress,as Endo cast one of his newest spells – ‘Endo’s Dirge of Deathly Drums’. His invisible familiar swooped in, but somehow the titan picked it out and swatted it with his massive weapon. The brave raven flew in and touched the titan, and it started to twitch. The huge titan began to dance, and I could hear Endo yell out a triumphant “YES!” from off to my left.
Almost immediately, the gargoyle at the front of the fortress turned, and fired off his enchanted item. To all of our immense frustration, Endo’s spell was broken and the titan was freed.
Flynne shot the gargoyle, killing it, but it was too late, and Kranathos acted swiftly. Once again lightning arced around Fez, before every single lethal blow from the morningstar passed through his images once more. Fez countered by latching two claws into the titan and heaving a deep wound into its abdomen as Fez’s, Janga’s and my wounds were healed at an invocation from Janga.
Chanting rapidly, Endo managed to catch one of the gargoyle archers with a spell of slowing, whilst a casual gesture sent a green ray slamming into the chest of a second – in a second the creature cracked and fell into a pile of ashes. My own spell stripped a couple of spells off the titan, and he sank to the floor with a tremendous crash.
The gargoyles, looking around for a target and seeing Endo as the most imminent threat all turned and fired a hail or missiles at the half orc. He yelled in pain being suddenly pierced by at least five or six thick heavy arrows.
Still invisible, Flynne managed to shoot a series of his own enchanted arrows into the closest gargoyle, and it collapsed into a heap.
The titan then cast not one, but two spells onto Fez. Looking through my enchanted glasses, I could see the enchantments we had layered onto Fez being reaved away from him. Shrinking in size and losing perhaps a dozen protective spells, he shrank down to his human size and fell to the earth at Kranathos’ feet. Suddenly looking as small as he ever had done, he slashed a couple of times with his scythe, but his blows lacked the power and enchanted might of only seconds before.
Whilst Janga dropped a pillar of roaring flame over another gargoyle, injuring it grievously, and Flynne managed to slay another. Only three remained, one badly burned and another slowed to a crawl. In the meantime, I placed another spell of invisibility on Endo, who was already casting another spell of his own.
Back in the centre of the stone fortress, the titan hit Fez with yet another countermagic spell, stripping him of the very last of his protective enchantments – the displacement which had managed to make every blow struck to date miss the berserk warrior. Kranathos followed this spell up with a series of blows from his massive morningstar, then on a backswing there was a burst of feathers from one side as Endo’s raven familiar flew in invisibly and was struck by the titan.
The brave bird delivered the spell, however, and Fez swelled once more to the large form of a craggy annis hag, before slashing back at the titan with his new claws. Janga cured him once again, and Endo’s next spell sent lightning arcing from a gargoyle to the titan.
I dashed back in to cast a further spell of displacement on Fez, as Flynne’s arrows started to slam with pinpoint accuracy into the titan’s back; though many passed through the titan’s own displacement spell.
Kranathos responded with a blast of fire as he sent four meteors slamming into Fez’s face. I managed to take cover, but Fez and Janga took the full force of the blast and were both horribly hurt.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Janga stripped away the titan’s last protective spell, meaning that Fez was free to claw away at the massive figure. Endo’s next spell sent yet more lightning crackling between gargoyle and the titan. With a tremendous sigh, the titan’s knees trembled and then collapsed, and the massive figure fell to the floor amidst a cloud of dust and a tremendous crash.
Grinning, we turned with a gleam in our eyes on the remaining gargoyles. A barrage of spells, arrows and scythe blows smashed them from the walls in seconds.
.oOo.
Once the titan’s many enchanted items had been swept into a sack, Janga cast a spell which whisked us back to our home plane of existence for a well earned rest.
Inconsequenti-AL
Breaks Games
Thanks for the writeup there Mr Eccles! Rocking stuff!
Hehe - that was one tough fight.
I want to know what kind of sadist thinks a Titan isn't challenging enough for a party of 15-16th level adventurers - so throws in a pack of Advanced Gargoyle Fighters.
Not to give too much away, but this also turns up to be a warm up for something a whole load uglier.
Really need smileys for 'Doomed' and 'Bitten off more than we can chew'.
Hehe - that was one tough fight.
I want to know what kind of sadist thinks a Titan isn't challenging enough for a party of 15-16th level adventurers - so throws in a pack of Advanced Gargoyle Fighters.
Not to give too much away, but this also turns up to be a warm up for something a whole load uglier.
Really need smileys for 'Doomed' and 'Bitten off more than we can chew'.
Mathew_Freeman
First Post
I have to say I am massively impressed with you lot for winning against that monster!
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
Grabbing everything of value, Janga cast a powerful spell to transport us all back to the Prime Material plane, and then teleported us back to the Free Cities. After a period of selling and buying and a night’s rest, we were back on the island, wreathed in storms. Figuring that we would have to locate Darl Zuethos’ group to recover the feather they had taken, we decided that we would find them and then work out how best to ambush them.
“Fez,” I casually remarked as I cast a spell, “I just remembered. There is a gigantic fat woman who wanted to speak to you back in Mage Point – you only have to step through this doorway to see her.”
We all followed him through the portal to Tilagos, at which point we realised something was wrong. Something was very wrong indeed.
.oOo.
The gaunt figure of Darl Zuethos stood a short distance away from us, his near-skeletal left hand raised as though in command to the rest of his team. A flaming djinn sat on a massive black mount, which breathed thick dark smoke and whose hooves were wreathed in fire. Off to our right was the huge heavy-set figure of a horned devil, whose massive wings unfurled as its tremendous clawed hands twisted angrily around a huge spiked chain easily three times my height in length.
Finally, Zuethos’ two tiefling followers, each clearly trained in speed and unarmed fighting could be seen hurtling towards us. As they closed, I had just enough time to register that they were both heavily enchanted before they got too close, and everything went silent. Clearly one of the spells they were enchanted with was a silence dweomer.
Picking their target carefully, each of the two monks drove a powerful blow into Endo’s chest. Fists driving into each side of his lungs and kidneys, the wizard’s half orc face went slack with a breathless and confused expression.
Gesturing, the efreeti blasted a series of rays of fire at Endo, then threw a fireball which burst in our midst. As we blinked away the pain, we could just see the nightmare the efreeti was riding rise into the air away from us.
Fez stepped back, and drove his scythe heavily into one of the monks threatening Endo, before the horned devil lumbered forwards, striking Flynne across the side of his face with the massive spiked chain. A brief flash of a strange otherworldly power sparked from the chain to Flynne, and I could see that he was dazed by the blow.
I could see, but not hear, the necromancer casting a spell of great potency and complexity, and held my breath for a second awaiting the hammer to fall – but it didn’t. Janga hurtled up into the sky, tiny wings attached to his boots fluttering madly, and I could see him throwing a powerful dispelling magic down onto one of the two tiefling monks. Looking around through the magical lenses of my Clair de Lunettes, I could see some of the auras around the monk disappear, and hastened to follow suit. I called on the levitating powers of my boots and shot up out of the silenced area and flung a dispelling spell of my own down at the second monk. Instantly I could hear the moaning of Flynne and Endo, as well as Fez’ furious angry bellowing beneath me.
I could also hear the repeated sounds of fists smacking into orc flesh, as the two monks pummelled Endo, and amidst the sound of bones breaking, my comrade collapsed to the floor.
Wielding a flaming falchion, the efreeti rode down from the sky slashing at Fez as he came, before turning in the saddle and launching another stream of fire down towards the barbarian, wreathing him in fire and making him bellow in pain and rage.
Turning, Fez took out his anger on the monk he was still near, hacking at it several times with his scythe until it collapsed to the floor by his feet.
.oOo.
My heart leapt as I saw Flynne groaning and begin to stir, but immediately he was beaten to the point of insensibility by the towering devil. The foot long barbs down the length of the chain had torn terrible gaps in his flesh, whilst the devil’s innate stunning ability had again staggered my comrade; the scaled elf was sagging at the knee, clearly only standing through force of will.
At a magical exhortation from Darl, the near-dead monk at Fez’ feet started to gasp a deep and ragged breath and I could see the tiefling’s muscles tense in readiness before it leapt back to its feet. I dropped down to join the others, flinging an ineffectual spell at Zuethos as I yelled up to Janga “get us out of here!”
He fell from the sky to join us, casting a spell of planar transport as he did so. In a heartbeat, the storm-filled sky of Tilagos was replaced by the calm blue sky over a meadow some distance from an unfamiliar range of mountains. We lay on the grass, gripping one another tightly as we registered that Endo’s broken body wasn’t moving at all. The wizard was dead once again.
Counting to 5 to allow Zuethos’ spell to pick up on us before we teleported away, Janga and I did what we could to heal the others and prepare for a second ambush. Janga then teleported us away and back to the town of Mage Point – we staggered and fell into the inn, where we knew we would be protected from further scrying magics.
.oOo.
The next day, we teleported to the Free City, where we sold Kranathos’ massive maul and bought two powerful scrolls of resurrection magics, one of which we used immediately to bring Endo back to life. We returned to Mage Point, and rested within one of Endo’s Magnificent Mansion spells. Once there, Janga cast a powerful spell to allow him to ask questions of Fahrlanghan, his deity.
“Was our arrival on the plane of Tilagos disclosed to Darl Zuethos by the female kenku,” he asked.
YES
“Is she in Mage Point?”
NO
“Does Zuethos and his group intend to ambush us again?”
YES
“Are our quests complete?”
NO
“Is the only task yet to complete that of claiming the roc’s feather?”
YES
“Could we complete that task by restoring the roc to life?”
YES
“Have Zuethos and his team completed their own quests?”
NO
“Do they need the belt from us?”
YES
“Is Zuethos protected from magical spells?”
YES
“Would the monks be affected by enchantment spells?”
YES
“Are the group which recently killed Endo within 100 feet of the portal on the Tilagos demi-plane?”
NO
“Is the true name of the devil which we recently faced contained within Manzorian’s library?”
YES
“Does Zuethos have someone tasked to watch the portal?”
YES
We contacted Manzorian’s assistant immediately, but she was either unwilling, or unable to help us, claiming not to know how to get into Manzorian’s library and telling us that he was still off-plane dealing with “an unruly demon lord”.
Thwarted, we turned again to make plans.
“Fez,” I casually remarked as I cast a spell, “I just remembered. There is a gigantic fat woman who wanted to speak to you back in Mage Point – you only have to step through this doorway to see her.”
We all followed him through the portal to Tilagos, at which point we realised something was wrong. Something was very wrong indeed.
.oOo.
The gaunt figure of Darl Zuethos stood a short distance away from us, his near-skeletal left hand raised as though in command to the rest of his team. A flaming djinn sat on a massive black mount, which breathed thick dark smoke and whose hooves were wreathed in fire. Off to our right was the huge heavy-set figure of a horned devil, whose massive wings unfurled as its tremendous clawed hands twisted angrily around a huge spiked chain easily three times my height in length.
Finally, Zuethos’ two tiefling followers, each clearly trained in speed and unarmed fighting could be seen hurtling towards us. As they closed, I had just enough time to register that they were both heavily enchanted before they got too close, and everything went silent. Clearly one of the spells they were enchanted with was a silence dweomer.
Picking their target carefully, each of the two monks drove a powerful blow into Endo’s chest. Fists driving into each side of his lungs and kidneys, the wizard’s half orc face went slack with a breathless and confused expression.
Gesturing, the efreeti blasted a series of rays of fire at Endo, then threw a fireball which burst in our midst. As we blinked away the pain, we could just see the nightmare the efreeti was riding rise into the air away from us.
Fez stepped back, and drove his scythe heavily into one of the monks threatening Endo, before the horned devil lumbered forwards, striking Flynne across the side of his face with the massive spiked chain. A brief flash of a strange otherworldly power sparked from the chain to Flynne, and I could see that he was dazed by the blow.
I could see, but not hear, the necromancer casting a spell of great potency and complexity, and held my breath for a second awaiting the hammer to fall – but it didn’t. Janga hurtled up into the sky, tiny wings attached to his boots fluttering madly, and I could see him throwing a powerful dispelling magic down onto one of the two tiefling monks. Looking around through the magical lenses of my Clair de Lunettes, I could see some of the auras around the monk disappear, and hastened to follow suit. I called on the levitating powers of my boots and shot up out of the silenced area and flung a dispelling spell of my own down at the second monk. Instantly I could hear the moaning of Flynne and Endo, as well as Fez’ furious angry bellowing beneath me.
I could also hear the repeated sounds of fists smacking into orc flesh, as the two monks pummelled Endo, and amidst the sound of bones breaking, my comrade collapsed to the floor.
Wielding a flaming falchion, the efreeti rode down from the sky slashing at Fez as he came, before turning in the saddle and launching another stream of fire down towards the barbarian, wreathing him in fire and making him bellow in pain and rage.
Turning, Fez took out his anger on the monk he was still near, hacking at it several times with his scythe until it collapsed to the floor by his feet.
.oOo.
My heart leapt as I saw Flynne groaning and begin to stir, but immediately he was beaten to the point of insensibility by the towering devil. The foot long barbs down the length of the chain had torn terrible gaps in his flesh, whilst the devil’s innate stunning ability had again staggered my comrade; the scaled elf was sagging at the knee, clearly only standing through force of will.
At a magical exhortation from Darl, the near-dead monk at Fez’ feet started to gasp a deep and ragged breath and I could see the tiefling’s muscles tense in readiness before it leapt back to its feet. I dropped down to join the others, flinging an ineffectual spell at Zuethos as I yelled up to Janga “get us out of here!”
He fell from the sky to join us, casting a spell of planar transport as he did so. In a heartbeat, the storm-filled sky of Tilagos was replaced by the calm blue sky over a meadow some distance from an unfamiliar range of mountains. We lay on the grass, gripping one another tightly as we registered that Endo’s broken body wasn’t moving at all. The wizard was dead once again.
Counting to 5 to allow Zuethos’ spell to pick up on us before we teleported away, Janga and I did what we could to heal the others and prepare for a second ambush. Janga then teleported us away and back to the town of Mage Point – we staggered and fell into the inn, where we knew we would be protected from further scrying magics.
.oOo.
The next day, we teleported to the Free City, where we sold Kranathos’ massive maul and bought two powerful scrolls of resurrection magics, one of which we used immediately to bring Endo back to life. We returned to Mage Point, and rested within one of Endo’s Magnificent Mansion spells. Once there, Janga cast a powerful spell to allow him to ask questions of Fahrlanghan, his deity.
“Was our arrival on the plane of Tilagos disclosed to Darl Zuethos by the female kenku,” he asked.
YES
“Is she in Mage Point?”
NO
“Does Zuethos and his group intend to ambush us again?”
YES
“Are our quests complete?”
NO
“Is the only task yet to complete that of claiming the roc’s feather?”
YES
“Could we complete that task by restoring the roc to life?”
YES
“Have Zuethos and his team completed their own quests?”
NO
“Do they need the belt from us?”
YES
“Is Zuethos protected from magical spells?”
YES
“Would the monks be affected by enchantment spells?”
YES
“Are the group which recently killed Endo within 100 feet of the portal on the Tilagos demi-plane?”
NO
“Is the true name of the devil which we recently faced contained within Manzorian’s library?”
YES
“Does Zuethos have someone tasked to watch the portal?”
YES
We contacted Manzorian’s assistant immediately, but she was either unwilling, or unable to help us, claiming not to know how to get into Manzorian’s library and telling us that he was still off-plane dealing with “an unruly demon lord”.
Thwarted, we turned again to make plans.
Mathew_Freeman
First Post
It's always horrible when you're the ones being ambushed.
But a very neat idea to resurrect the roc rather than fighting the other lot again - lateral thinking, nice one!
But a very neat idea to resurrect the roc rather than fighting the other lot again - lateral thinking, nice one!
Darmanicus
I'm Ray...of Enfeeblement
Tallarn said:
Dying wouldn't have been such a pain if I'd been able to do something
1st round - Monks pummel and stun me, and I suffer the effects of both Scorching Ray and Fireball.
2nd round - DEAD!!!
BAH!
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
“Is the kenku still on the demiplane?”
NO
It was two days later, and we were still casting divination spells with a view to deciding what to do next. They weren’t helping, and several of us (particularly Fez and Flynne) were becoming restless. Flynne had stormed out of the Mansion the day before, yelling in frustration about wanting to do something.
“Is she back on the island on the Prime Material?”
YES
“Is she the only one from her group there?”
NO
“Are they all there?”
NO
“Would they know of our arrival in advance of our getting to the island?”
POTENTIALLY
“Is Darl on the Island?”
YES
“Do those on the island intend to ambush us?”
YES
“Have they set traps for our arrival?”
YES
“Is the devil on the island?”
YES
“Is the efreeti on the island?”
YES
“Are both monks on the island?”
NO
“Would they have prior knowledge of our arrival should we teleport to the island through some kind of magic?”
NO
“Does Darl’s resistance to magic come from an item he has?”
NO
“Is there anybody waiting for us in the corner between the two walls where Evan rested before opening the portal to the demiplane for the first time?” – We had chosen that location as it looked over the portal with some decent cover, though there were many such sites ranged around the entranceway.
NO
.oOo.
Running out of patience and questions, we decided that the time was ripe to mount an ambush of our own, although we still didn’t know where Flynne was. Concerned that Zuethos might realise what we were up to, we dashed into Mage Point and recruited the first likely archer we came across to assist us – a crossbow equipped Halfling named Bob. He seemed very confident in his abilities, but explained that he had recently traded almost all of his equipment in for a single awesomely powerful crossbow and a huge collection of bolts for it. He was therefore keen to find work as soon as possible.
Enlisting Bob, we retired to the mansion to prepare for the fight. A huge series of songs and spells were laid down, layering carefully across one another to make each of us as effective as possible. Confident that we were as ready as we would ever be (as long as Flynne continued to be absent), we stepped out and teleported to a different spot on a wall overlooking the portal.
Across the gap we could see a wall of smoke from the efreeti’s massive nightmare steed, but nothing else was in front of me. Then I glanced to my left, and my jaw dropped open. Perhaps ten feet away from me, and slowly turning to stare down at the group of impetuous adventurers who had just dropped in on it stood the devil, 14 feet of barbs and horns wrapped in a pair of leathery wings and trailing its colossal spiked chain like some vicious tail.
Yelping in alarm, I dashed away from it, casting a spell setting up a moving image of myself in the small area of open ground between myself (cloaked in invisibility), and the flaming efreeti.
Disguised as a wizard, Fez took flight and streaked across the ground towards the efreeti, swinging his scythe heavily across its torso as he arrived. Both it and the cauchemar launched into a counterattack; whilst the flaming smoke-wreathed mount missed, Fez was injured from a single strike from the burning falchion which slipped past all the magical defences we had layered onto him.
In the centre-ground, a monk dashed around a corner yelling a battlecry before launching a leaping attack, foot-first, onto and then through my image of myself. I forced the image to grin in the monk’s direction and yell “Displacement spell, stupid!”
As Endo started casting his spell ‘Endo’s Dirge of Deathly Drums’, I could hear the mystical sound of the phantom drummers he was channelling. Although he was invisible, I could hear as he flung the spell towards the otherwordly attackers. The spell failed, however; no doubt thwarted by their innate resistances to all but the most powerful spells.
Taking his first chance to show us what he was capable of, Bob dived away from the devil in his turn, slapping a series of bolts into his tiny crossbow and firing three of them in phenomenally quick succession into the efreeti. As they struck, I could see them flaring with fire and crackling with lightning; and each slammed home with a blast of sound.
Janga, however, wasn’t as fast. He looked around and saw all of us either diving away from him or fading from sight, and he was left alone; a single tiny armoured form practically at the feet of the horned devil. He opened his mouth to exclaim something, but got no further than “oh, Bu….” When his voice was drowned out by the rage of the devil. The massive clanking chain flailed around; foot long blades scything around it as it whipped through the air; interspersed by savage bites from the devil’s toothy maw and a slap from its barbed tail. Despite the savagery, Janga was unaffected by the devil’s mystical stunning effect; the gnome staggered away from the vast devil.
On the other side of the field of combat, I could see Darl Zuethos stepping out from behind a wall. He approached the area where Fez was fighting the efreeti, and healed the beast completely of all the wounds Bob and Fez had inflicted.
At this point, I flung a bardic spell of sound manipulation towards the efreeti, cauchemar and Zuethos. The cleric managed to shake off the spell, but suddenly the efreeti and his mount paused before a peal of bells sounded out. Every movement that they made, and every time that they opened their mouths, the only noise which could be heard was that of cowbells.
The ringing sound got a great deal louder as the cauchemar-mounted efreeti charged across the end of the island to slash at Endo with his mighty flaming falchion; clearly the creature was able to see through the powerful invisibility spells I have woven over the half-orc mage and myself.
Meanwhile, the monk had clearly decided that he was unable to strike my image, and dashed across to where Bob stood; already threatened by the vast hulking devil which had stalked forwards, the miniscule Halfling was swiftly surrounded by these two foes.
Endo, meanwhile, was being made to look equally small in front of the tremendously large smoke-breathing cauchemar. He stared up at it, and from a few yards away I could hear his teeth grinding together. Then he began to chant in a deep voice; the syllables ground together like two falling tombstones. He completed his spell with a bellow of vengeance, and his magic manifested as a wreathe of small ghosts, each streaming from where the mage was standing to swarm around the head of the efreeti. They swirled around it, cackling, before dipping their tiny clawed hands into its head. The flaming outsider stiffened, and then fell from the cauchemar amidst a tremendous jangling sound of cowbells.
To follow up, Endo yelled a word of power, and the monk abruptly went blind.
.oOo.
Bob was quick to capitalise on this, and shot the monk twice before leaping and spinning away from the situation. He was acrobatic enough even to leave the devil standing still. The Halfling dashed away down a narrow gap between two walls where the devil would struggle to follow him.
The vast devil charged instead towards Endo, screaming imprecations as it went before slashing a terrible blow across his side with the huge barbed chain. There was a huge flash of eldritch power which threatened to surround the mage, but was then suppressed by an even greater flash of divine power as Fahrlanghan’s blessing (laid on Endo that morning by Janga) saved him from being dazed.
Darl, meanwhile, cast an awesome spell of divine power, which wracked Fez in tremendous pain. His back twisted in agony, but Zuethos was already moving away; as he did so he invoked a second spell with just a word, and Endo and I immediately became visible as he closed on us.
I responded by dashing out of the area of Zuethos’ spell, and was relieved to see myself disappear once again. Then I pulled a bone wand from my belt and triggered it. A dark ray shot into the side of Zuethos’ head, and he yelled in pain and alarm as some of his most powerful magics were simply pulled from his mind. I grinned to myself and tucked the wand of enervation we had claimed from the true ghoul Moretto back into my belt.
Amidst the ringing of cowbells, the cauchemar then dashed over to slash at Fez, and a crossbow bolt glanced off the Jangahty warrior’s armour from somewhere unseen.
Endo cast a spell of his own upon Darl Zuethos, and the cleric screamed in pain, clutching at his temples with the grey-skinned Hand of Vecna as Endo’s spell tore away much of his ability to cast spells.
From behind the wall, Bob’s pinpoint-accurate crossbow fire slammed again and again into the monk, and the tiefling collapsed onto the floor, pierced through with enchanted bolts.
At this point, the demon’s chain-weapon tore into Janga, and the gnome cleric was simply torn limb from limb; massive spikes and barbs gouging his flesh and rending his bone and the grisly mess of a gnome was spattered across the floor to lie dead on the ground.
Darl, meanwhile, took his vengeance. Speaking words of power, he reached out and backhanded Fez across the face with the grisly Hand of Vecna. The barbarian was enveloped in dark shadows as the Hand and the spell took effect and tore away much of his life force.
Focussing, I used my projected image to unleashed a tremendous bellow across the field of battle. The yell washed over Janga’s broken body, blasting through several foes. Blood began to leak from the ears of the kenku who I could suddenly see in the centre of the battlefield, and Zuethos’ nose began to bleed freely. Both of them clutched their hands to their ears as they yelled in pain and agony.
A massive blast of lightning then shot from Endo’s position, slamming into Zuethos’ stunned form and then ricocheting into the other villains around him. Zuethos’ yell was incoherent in his deafness, and he died there, in the blast of lightning and stench of ozone.
“Surrender or die,” demanded Endo of the horned devil, as Bob’s crossbow bolts slammed into its flank. “No,” he then shouted. “Leave the devil alone – I wish to compact with it!”
Severely wounded, the devil responded by simply vanishing amidst a storm of brimstone smoke.
.oOo.
I ran across the battlefield to Fez, passing him a flask and healing some of his wounds to a point that I could no longer see his lung through one of the slashes. He quaffed the flask’s contents which healed many of the rest of his grievous injuries before slashing the cauchemar down to size.
Endo and I then proceeded to simply cover the area of our combat with spells of glitterdust, until the glowing form of the kenku assassin was revealed. The second we could see her, she was transfixed by spells, sonic blasts and crossbow bolts before Fez’ enraged form arrived to slash at her remains with his massive and terrible scythe.
The battle was over, and we had won.
NO
It was two days later, and we were still casting divination spells with a view to deciding what to do next. They weren’t helping, and several of us (particularly Fez and Flynne) were becoming restless. Flynne had stormed out of the Mansion the day before, yelling in frustration about wanting to do something.
“Is she back on the island on the Prime Material?”
YES
“Is she the only one from her group there?”
NO
“Are they all there?”
NO
“Would they know of our arrival in advance of our getting to the island?”
POTENTIALLY
“Is Darl on the Island?”
YES
“Do those on the island intend to ambush us?”
YES
“Have they set traps for our arrival?”
YES
“Is the devil on the island?”
YES
“Is the efreeti on the island?”
YES
“Are both monks on the island?”
NO
“Would they have prior knowledge of our arrival should we teleport to the island through some kind of magic?”
NO
“Does Darl’s resistance to magic come from an item he has?”
NO
“Is there anybody waiting for us in the corner between the two walls where Evan rested before opening the portal to the demiplane for the first time?” – We had chosen that location as it looked over the portal with some decent cover, though there were many such sites ranged around the entranceway.
NO
.oOo.
Running out of patience and questions, we decided that the time was ripe to mount an ambush of our own, although we still didn’t know where Flynne was. Concerned that Zuethos might realise what we were up to, we dashed into Mage Point and recruited the first likely archer we came across to assist us – a crossbow equipped Halfling named Bob. He seemed very confident in his abilities, but explained that he had recently traded almost all of his equipment in for a single awesomely powerful crossbow and a huge collection of bolts for it. He was therefore keen to find work as soon as possible.
Enlisting Bob, we retired to the mansion to prepare for the fight. A huge series of songs and spells were laid down, layering carefully across one another to make each of us as effective as possible. Confident that we were as ready as we would ever be (as long as Flynne continued to be absent), we stepped out and teleported to a different spot on a wall overlooking the portal.
Across the gap we could see a wall of smoke from the efreeti’s massive nightmare steed, but nothing else was in front of me. Then I glanced to my left, and my jaw dropped open. Perhaps ten feet away from me, and slowly turning to stare down at the group of impetuous adventurers who had just dropped in on it stood the devil, 14 feet of barbs and horns wrapped in a pair of leathery wings and trailing its colossal spiked chain like some vicious tail.
Yelping in alarm, I dashed away from it, casting a spell setting up a moving image of myself in the small area of open ground between myself (cloaked in invisibility), and the flaming efreeti.
Disguised as a wizard, Fez took flight and streaked across the ground towards the efreeti, swinging his scythe heavily across its torso as he arrived. Both it and the cauchemar launched into a counterattack; whilst the flaming smoke-wreathed mount missed, Fez was injured from a single strike from the burning falchion which slipped past all the magical defences we had layered onto him.
In the centre-ground, a monk dashed around a corner yelling a battlecry before launching a leaping attack, foot-first, onto and then through my image of myself. I forced the image to grin in the monk’s direction and yell “Displacement spell, stupid!”
As Endo started casting his spell ‘Endo’s Dirge of Deathly Drums’, I could hear the mystical sound of the phantom drummers he was channelling. Although he was invisible, I could hear as he flung the spell towards the otherwordly attackers. The spell failed, however; no doubt thwarted by their innate resistances to all but the most powerful spells.
Taking his first chance to show us what he was capable of, Bob dived away from the devil in his turn, slapping a series of bolts into his tiny crossbow and firing three of them in phenomenally quick succession into the efreeti. As they struck, I could see them flaring with fire and crackling with lightning; and each slammed home with a blast of sound.
Janga, however, wasn’t as fast. He looked around and saw all of us either diving away from him or fading from sight, and he was left alone; a single tiny armoured form practically at the feet of the horned devil. He opened his mouth to exclaim something, but got no further than “oh, Bu….” When his voice was drowned out by the rage of the devil. The massive clanking chain flailed around; foot long blades scything around it as it whipped through the air; interspersed by savage bites from the devil’s toothy maw and a slap from its barbed tail. Despite the savagery, Janga was unaffected by the devil’s mystical stunning effect; the gnome staggered away from the vast devil.
On the other side of the field of combat, I could see Darl Zuethos stepping out from behind a wall. He approached the area where Fez was fighting the efreeti, and healed the beast completely of all the wounds Bob and Fez had inflicted.
At this point, I flung a bardic spell of sound manipulation towards the efreeti, cauchemar and Zuethos. The cleric managed to shake off the spell, but suddenly the efreeti and his mount paused before a peal of bells sounded out. Every movement that they made, and every time that they opened their mouths, the only noise which could be heard was that of cowbells.
The ringing sound got a great deal louder as the cauchemar-mounted efreeti charged across the end of the island to slash at Endo with his mighty flaming falchion; clearly the creature was able to see through the powerful invisibility spells I have woven over the half-orc mage and myself.
Meanwhile, the monk had clearly decided that he was unable to strike my image, and dashed across to where Bob stood; already threatened by the vast hulking devil which had stalked forwards, the miniscule Halfling was swiftly surrounded by these two foes.
Endo, meanwhile, was being made to look equally small in front of the tremendously large smoke-breathing cauchemar. He stared up at it, and from a few yards away I could hear his teeth grinding together. Then he began to chant in a deep voice; the syllables ground together like two falling tombstones. He completed his spell with a bellow of vengeance, and his magic manifested as a wreathe of small ghosts, each streaming from where the mage was standing to swarm around the head of the efreeti. They swirled around it, cackling, before dipping their tiny clawed hands into its head. The flaming outsider stiffened, and then fell from the cauchemar amidst a tremendous jangling sound of cowbells.
To follow up, Endo yelled a word of power, and the monk abruptly went blind.
.oOo.
Bob was quick to capitalise on this, and shot the monk twice before leaping and spinning away from the situation. He was acrobatic enough even to leave the devil standing still. The Halfling dashed away down a narrow gap between two walls where the devil would struggle to follow him.
The vast devil charged instead towards Endo, screaming imprecations as it went before slashing a terrible blow across his side with the huge barbed chain. There was a huge flash of eldritch power which threatened to surround the mage, but was then suppressed by an even greater flash of divine power as Fahrlanghan’s blessing (laid on Endo that morning by Janga) saved him from being dazed.
Darl, meanwhile, cast an awesome spell of divine power, which wracked Fez in tremendous pain. His back twisted in agony, but Zuethos was already moving away; as he did so he invoked a second spell with just a word, and Endo and I immediately became visible as he closed on us.
I responded by dashing out of the area of Zuethos’ spell, and was relieved to see myself disappear once again. Then I pulled a bone wand from my belt and triggered it. A dark ray shot into the side of Zuethos’ head, and he yelled in pain and alarm as some of his most powerful magics were simply pulled from his mind. I grinned to myself and tucked the wand of enervation we had claimed from the true ghoul Moretto back into my belt.
Amidst the ringing of cowbells, the cauchemar then dashed over to slash at Fez, and a crossbow bolt glanced off the Jangahty warrior’s armour from somewhere unseen.
Endo cast a spell of his own upon Darl Zuethos, and the cleric screamed in pain, clutching at his temples with the grey-skinned Hand of Vecna as Endo’s spell tore away much of his ability to cast spells.
From behind the wall, Bob’s pinpoint-accurate crossbow fire slammed again and again into the monk, and the tiefling collapsed onto the floor, pierced through with enchanted bolts.
At this point, the demon’s chain-weapon tore into Janga, and the gnome cleric was simply torn limb from limb; massive spikes and barbs gouging his flesh and rending his bone and the grisly mess of a gnome was spattered across the floor to lie dead on the ground.
Darl, meanwhile, took his vengeance. Speaking words of power, he reached out and backhanded Fez across the face with the grisly Hand of Vecna. The barbarian was enveloped in dark shadows as the Hand and the spell took effect and tore away much of his life force.
Focussing, I used my projected image to unleashed a tremendous bellow across the field of battle. The yell washed over Janga’s broken body, blasting through several foes. Blood began to leak from the ears of the kenku who I could suddenly see in the centre of the battlefield, and Zuethos’ nose began to bleed freely. Both of them clutched their hands to their ears as they yelled in pain and agony.
A massive blast of lightning then shot from Endo’s position, slamming into Zuethos’ stunned form and then ricocheting into the other villains around him. Zuethos’ yell was incoherent in his deafness, and he died there, in the blast of lightning and stench of ozone.
“Surrender or die,” demanded Endo of the horned devil, as Bob’s crossbow bolts slammed into its flank. “No,” he then shouted. “Leave the devil alone – I wish to compact with it!”
Severely wounded, the devil responded by simply vanishing amidst a storm of brimstone smoke.
.oOo.
I ran across the battlefield to Fez, passing him a flask and healing some of his wounds to a point that I could no longer see his lung through one of the slashes. He quaffed the flask’s contents which healed many of the rest of his grievous injuries before slashing the cauchemar down to size.
Endo and I then proceeded to simply cover the area of our combat with spells of glitterdust, until the glowing form of the kenku assassin was revealed. The second we could see her, she was transfixed by spells, sonic blasts and crossbow bolts before Fez’ enraged form arrived to slash at her remains with his massive and terrible scythe.
The battle was over, and we had won.
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