Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 3979342" data-attributes="member: 5675">We decided that the only route we had not explored was back through the secret door we had investigated and then closed, which led from the main double doors into the body of the citadel itself – right underneath the titanic ooze, which was part of some substantial trap mechanism. Pushing the secret door open, the trap itself was the work of moments for Flynne, who found a wide and untrodden area of the floor and banged a couple of spikes into it to ensure it stayed in place. Grinning, several of us then floated over the trapped area, at which point Flynne stomped across muttering something about “ungrateful bastards” to himself as he knelt to heave the pitons back out of the floor re-activating the trap. Once Flynne had picked the tremendous lock (having to use one of his magical shortswords as an improvised lockpick as the mechanism was so large), and indicated that all was silent beyond, Fez shoved the door wide open for the rest of us.Beyond lay a broad, dark and circular chamber, completely empty apart from the corridors leading away to our left and right, and the tremendous scorch marks all over the chamber itself. Black marks from fire lay across deep rents of acid and the stench of azone. Feeling the breeze rush through the room, Endo chuckled in understanding. “It’s a diversion chamber,” he announced as though that was supposed to mean anything to us. “A dragon gets this far into the building, and then crashes the doors open. What does a dragon do first? It breathes fire, and the air currents in this room are set up to ensure that dragon breath doesn’t hit what it was aimed at. Then you get some mates, yeah? Down these two corridors, and they come out with big spears. I can guarantee one of them’s going to find something worth stabbing on that dragon, whichever way it’s facing.”Wincing, we picked the left corridor, and headed along it; turning sharply left again before we picked our way down some dark stairs into a narrow passageway beyond..oOo.At the bottom of the narrow stairs, the passage opened out very slightly as it turned sharply to the left. As we advanced the 20 feet towards the door at the end (ignoring the door to the right halfway along for the moment), and Flynne pushed gently at the door to check what might lie beyond. He abruptly turned, and opened his mouth to call something, but I could see him suddenly looking down the corridor at something. Something tall. Something behind me.I spun on the spot, and looked up at the towering form of a marilith. The huge female torso swung six heavy scimitars, one of which was burning brightly, whilst the the creature’s heavy tail lashed around her.There was an incantation from Endo behind me and I could feel the surge of magic as he flung a massive spell at the marilith, before swearing.“It’s a gods damned illusion,” he spat; and I could see at once that he was right. Flynne, however, was not convinced and sent arrow after arrow streaming down the corridor to spark off the wall behind her. I turned back, and could now see into the room beyond Endo and Flynne at the other end of the short corridor. Squinting around Fez’s polymorphed annis hag form, I could see another scaled multi-limbed opponent in there, but this one appeared to be made from stone. Fearing a powerful spell of protection had been cast at the demon, I flung a counter-spell at what I could see, but the stony marilith didn’t even blink in the teeth of my spell.Pausing only to let Janga cast a spell of alignment on his cold iron flail, Fez began to move forwards, but not before a whirling wall of blades materialised behind Janga and myself. As Fez moved towards the stone marilith, however, something else slashed down from near the ceiling, sparking off his metal armour. Endo flung a spell past Fez, whilst I cast a hastening spell and Flynne fired a series of arrows into the room. Blood spattered from something; not the stone marilith but something else invisible in the small circular chamber. A second wall of whirling blades slashed into place within the small chamber, hacking the arms and tail-tip off the statue. Fez ignored the barrier, and simply hacked through it; his flail carving deep furrows into her flesh, and blood spattered around the walls of the small room. Endo flung another spell at her, and I followed this up with one of my own, filling the chamber with sparkling glittering golden dust which not only thwarted her invisibility spell, but also her hiding form was clearly outlined with the glitter. Flynne started shooting once again, and sparkling golden blood dripped from the marilith where the spell effects faded and the golden sparks faded to red. The marilith gestured, and I felt an invisible force grip me and throw me backwards, and I could see Flynne’s limbs flailing as he was thrown through the air as well. In unison, we each twisted in the air and then spun, each of us gyring at the last possible moment so that we span through the blade barrier, caught ourselves with one hand and one foot as we crashed into the back wall before dropping to the ground. I straightened my hat, and noticed that Flynne was already nocking more arrows to his bow. Beyond the flashing blade wall, I saw that Fez was still hacking at the marilith, but then the side door crashed open, and a towering frost giant, encrusted with ice and clutching an ice-covered warmace glowered out at us all. With a wave and an incantation, the frost giant cast a terrible spell, and Fez simply disappeared. Endo, apparently, recognised what was going on, cast a spell of his own wishing that the barbarian be returned to us quickly. He then flung a powerful draining spell onto the giant, which tore at its willpower and casting abilities. Janga’s spell, almost poetically, set up his own barrier of whirling blades over the giant’s entrance, and whilst Flynne slid back through a second tiny gap in the blade barrier before perforating the marilith and sent it crashing to the floor, I cast a simple spell which filled the small room in which the giant stood. The frost giant sorcerer opened his mouth to cast another spell, and realised abruptly that he couldn’t make a sound. He turned, lifted a curtain in the corner of his room, and vanished down a flight of stairs.A few moments later, a frustrated Fez reappeared standing over the corpse of the marilith. We regrouped, and dashed on after, pausing only to snatch a few interesting items from the frost giant’s well appointed study room and then headed on down the stairs.We descended into an oddly shaped room, at the far end of which was a massive set of double doors flanked by towering giants with iron grey skin which seemed dry and cracked; receding from their claws and teeth. Close inspection of the two huge doors showed that each was covered in separate carvings. Across the centre, we could see a figure trapped within a trapezoid shape surrounded by dozens of tiny worms. On the left were hundreds of stone giants fighting worm infested undead. On the right door, a dizen figures stood on a stony ledge carrying out a ritual, whilst defended from the rampaging undead by a handful of familiar looking figures. The doors were locked with two small golden keyholes. .oOo.As we studied the doors, there was a sudden pale shimmering figure which glided through the floor to float in the air before us. My jaw dropped at the sight of the familiar figure – Alastor, the child ghost we had laid to rest back in Diamond Lake, had travelled with us, and seemed to have a message for us. “Well met, friends,” the spirit of the dead farm boy said, “Long have our journeys been since our last meeting. You have come far in your quest to stop the abomination that rises even as we speak, and I have been down long roads in other worlds learning who and what I am. And now, here at this juncture, our paths cross again. Oh I know most of you think you do not know me, for your spirits wore other guises when last we met, but search your souls and all will be made clear. As you have doubtless learned, an age ago the Wind Dukes fought a great battle against the Armies of Chaos. The Rod was broken into seven parts and scattered across the cosmos. Tombs were built to inter the honored dead, but the Wind Dukes did not abandon the field of battle entirely. Certain guardians were left behind to watch and wait for the reemergence of the Age of Worms. One of these guardians was an order of mortal druids. The Wind Dukes taught these druids their secrets, and this order grew powerful. They became the Order of the Storm, and they defeated Kyuss nearly fifteen centuries ago. Kyuss was banished, locked away in a stony prison, but now he threatens once again.”Over long years, the secret watchers joined with the cultures around them. These guardians forgot their cause, and traditions were abandoned. My family, the Land family, named for their sacred attachment to the hallowed grounds of the Wind Dukes, were among the last of these watchers. Though the blood of the Wind Dukes ran thin in my veins, it still called to me and allowed me access to the tomb of Zosiel until my destiny was fulfilled and I fell to a trap. Likewise, your coming to the Whispering Cairn was no accident. I can smell the mark of the Wind Dukes within you, heroes. You may be the last of a long line, the only surviving heirs to the Wind Duke legacy. As such I have come to advise you one more time.”Kyuss’ strength lies in his prison. When he became a god, he became trapped in the focus of his divine apotheosis…a massive monolith of stone affixed to the peak of the Spire of Long Shadows. Dragotha stole this monolith long ago and brought it to his lair in Skull Gorge. Over the centuries, the presence of Kyuss’ monolith transformed this portion of the canyon into what is known today as the Wormcrawl Fissure. Once, after Dragotha was murdered by the Chromatic Dragon and returned to unlife by the Wormgod, Kyuss managed to escape his prison. With Dragotha as the general of his undead armies, the Wormgod rose from the Fissure and attempted to begin the Age of Worms, but the Order of the Storm was ready.“You know of this battle. And now you know that in the room beyond lies Dragotha’s phylactery. Yet to reach it, you must look into your memories, your souls. Find the ritual of opening, and use the vault keys. Yet know also that once these doors open, the phylactery vault will be open to all. Dragotha and his minions will smell his phylactery and they shall come to claim it. You must be quick. If you destroy the phylactery, Dragotha can be truly slain, but as his life-force escapes, he may be able to reclaim some of it from the beyond…destroying the phylactery may make him more dangerous than ever before. Yet I see little choice.“I must go now. You shall not see me again, I think, until you join me on the other side. Good luck, my friends, and farewell…” With that, a smile crossed the ghost’s lips and he simply faded away..oOo.We started to discuss what we had learned, but our thoughts were interrupted by a tremendous crashing as something tore the curtain upstairs from the wall. Two huge giants began to descend, and were not slowed by my shouting that we were trying to get rid of the giants.Within moments, the doorway was blocked by the return of the frost giant sorcerer, and he had brought the giant king with him. Our exit way was blocked, and we were in trouble.</blockquote>

Verification