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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7621197" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 48: IT'S ABOUT TIME</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 15</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 12 June 2019</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"Report to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em> immediately. It's good news, and a paying mission." That was the message that went out to the conscripts, courtesy of the rings they wore. The last bit Skevros had put in there to cut off Syngaard's inevitable initial query, but it was Galen who, upon entering the closed tavern, asked the first question: "What's <em>she</em> doing here?"</p><p></p><p>The "she" in question was an elven woman in orange robes identifying her as a member of the Azure Glade Guild of Abjurers. Galen had recognized her at once as the woman who had helped capture - and torture - the reformed succubus Serenity in the basement of her Guild Hall. The memories of her involvement had the paladin's hand on the hilt of the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> he wore at his hip, ready to draw his blade and put it to good use.</p><p></p><p>"At ease," Skevros commanded. "Tienna is here at my recommendation and will be afforded the full hospitality of the kingdom."</p><p></p><p>"But she--!"</p><p></p><p>"I am well aware," interrupted Skevros. "Nonetheless, this is important. Please, take a seat and we will discuss this rationally." Eyes narrowed in disdain, Galen pulled a seat out from the table and sat down, his hand still on the hilt of his longsword. Behind him, the other conscripts took their own seats. Once convinced he had their full attention (in other words, after Syngaard had gotten his customary drink from Karen), the king's adviser continued.</p><p></p><p>"I have had Leorna working on a way to prevent the Mithral Mage from being able to scry upon us. She, in turn, reached out to the most powerful surviving abjurer allied against the Seekers of Eternity."</p><p></p><p>"'Surviving'?" asked Daleth, an eyebrow arched on his elven brow.</p><p></p><p>"There was a great battle among our ranks once we learned the Seekers had infiltrated our Guild and were attempting to take us over from within," Tienna explained. "I am now the Acting Guildmistress."</p><p></p><p>"Good to know," remarked Syngaard, who in truth couldn't care less. He returned his attention to his ale until they got to the important stuff, like how much this mission was going to pay.</p><p></p><p>"I admit to having been duped by the Seekers," said Tienna. "They used my perfectly reasonable hatred of fiends to get me to aid them against Serenity - I had no idea that you...had chosen to ally yourselves with a demon." If there had been any attempt to keep the scorn from her voice at this last bit, it failed miserably. Galen merely grunted in acknowledgement, but his hand dropped from the hilt of his blade - it was, after all, quite logical that she'd have been unaware of the succubus's redemption and it was hard to blame someone for assuming all demons were evil - Serenity had been undeniably evil when he first met her. But he nevertheless focused his attention on Tienna's aura, hoping to catch even the slightest glimmer of evil. No luck, though; Tienna may have been involved in Serenity's capture and torture, but she had apparently done so with the best of intentions.</p><p></p><p>"In any case," Tienna continued, "the reason I'm here today is because I believe I have succeeded in finding a way to block the Mithral Mage's ability to scry upon you at will."</p><p></p><p>"Excellent!" exclaimed Orion. The thought of a lich spying upon her whenever he wanted, without her even knowing he was doing so, creeped the little halfling out considerably.</p><p></p><p>"How will you do so?" asked Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"Wait--if you tell us now, he might be scrying upon us at this moment," cautioned Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"True, and I will take appropriate steps to prevent that eventuality when I tell you the specifics of my plan. But before I do anything, I want you to perform a task for me."</p><p></p><p>"I knew it!" exploded Galen, rising up from his chair. "She has the means of our salvation, but is withholding it!" Skevros had to command the hot-headed paladin to resume his seat. Reluctantly, he did so, glaring at the elven abjurer all the while.</p><p></p><p>Tienna stared down the paladin for a moment, then turned her gaze to the other conscripts in turn. "I want you to search my grandfather's old home for his spellbook," she said. "While you're there, I'd like you to see if you can unearth any clues as to how and why he died."</p><p></p><p>"Whaddaya need us for?" asked Syngaard. "Can't you go get it yourself?"</p><p></p><p>"I have tried, but each attempt to get close to the ruins has been thwarted by an overwhelming, subconscious feeling of terror - likely an abjuration built specifically to keep me away."</p><p></p><p>"So you need us to go get it," reasoned Syngaard. "What's it look like?"</p><p></p><p>"It's a <em>spellbook</em>," scoffed Daleth, his voice dripping with scorn. "It looks like a <em>book</em>. With <em>spells</em> written inside it. Hence the term '<em>spellbook</em>'."</p><p></p><p>"What can you tell us about your grandfather?" asked Kaspar to change the subject as quickly as possible.</p><p></p><p>"The information I have is that he took the name <strong>Kronius</strong> and he was a transmuter, although he stylized himself as a chronomancer - a master of temporal magic." Orion just rolled her eyes at the thought of "Kronius the chronomancer" - they shouldn't let wizards pick their own names like that!</p><p></p><p>"Temporal? What's that - like, it wears off?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"You're thinking - if that's the correct terminology for the limited cognitive process going on inside your cranium - of 'temporary,'" sneered Daleth. "'Temporal' has to do with time."</p><p></p><p>"In any case, his house exploded some 423 years ago - he was presumed to have been slain in the explosion."</p><p></p><p>"Wait, he died 423 years ago and he was only your <em>grandfather</em>?" asked Syngaard. "How's <em>that</em> work?"</p><p></p><p>"Elven longevity is a well-documented fact, as is their disdain for the kind of fecundity that has humans dominating the populace," remarked Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"Elves live long and often go several centuries before having kids," translated Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"Why don't you just concentrate on your ale?" suggested Orion. That actually sounded like a good idea to the scarred fighter; it was taking too long to get to the payment part of this conversation, anyway.</p><p></p><p>"I will teleport you to the ruins. You find his spellbook and any details about his death that you can, and I understand you have the means to return back here on your own."</p><p></p><p>"I ain't hearing nothin' about no payment," pointed out Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"I will pay you each 2,000 pieces of gold to complete this mission, as it is the stated prerequisite for Tienna to render her aid in the matter of the scrying," Skevros replied. "Now then, let us adjourn to the city limits, that you can be teleported on your way."</p><p></p><p>The spellcasters performed their normal preparatory spellcasting, Daleth casting a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself and his pseudodragon familiar Todd, then another one on Orion using a scroll she provided. The halfling fed her ghost dog Carl his customary <em>potion of mage armor</em>, while Galen, contrary to his usual self, opted to forego any pre-emptive spellcasting at all. Judging from his sour look, it was entirely possible he didn't trust himself not to botch the casting given his current state of distraction at the anger he felt toward Tienna.</p><p></p><p>The elven abjurer cast the <em>teleport</em> spell and the conscripts found themselves standing before a set of marble ruins. The bluish tint of the vegetation all around confirmed that they were indeed within the Azure Glade. "This is odd," pointed out Kaspar. "Some of these walls are obviously quite ancient, while others could have been assembled together but yesterday." Indeed, there was quite a discrepancy between the various bits of remaining wall. There was a marble archway at the back of the ruins, it being one of the pieces that looked to be of remarkably recent construction.</p><p></p><p>Orion had Carl phase to the Ethereal Plane to see if she could see anything different from that vantage point, but everything there looked quite to same as it did on the Material Plane.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard, on a hunch, walked over behind the archway and peered through it from the other end. Everything looked normal, but his every instinct told him this recent-looking archway was the key to this place - it was probably one of those deals like the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em> where if you were wearing the right ring, the door would open not to a storeroom but to Skevros's extradimensional mansion. Not wanting to put any of his better weapons at risk, he pulled his backup longsword from his <em> bag of holding</em> and poked its edge through the arch's doorway.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, that was enough to send arcs of blue energy erupting from the archway, striking the steel blade, and sending two blasts of electricity - or what looked like blue lightning, anyway - to strike the ground at either side of the other assembled conscripts. Energy welled up at the strike-points, coalescing into two vaguely humanoid shapes made of blue energy. They had the standard humanoid build, but their arms seemed extra long and their hands and clawed fingers were exceptionally huge, twitching as if in anticipation.</p><p></p><p>"Betcha these are temporary time elementals!" Syngaard called to the others, causing Daleth to visibly flinch at the stupid human's ignorance. The bald fighter sheathed his longsword - it was nothing special, just a run-of-the-mill sword he'd picked up somewhere during his adventuring career - and pulled his magical morningstar from his belt. If he was going into battle with time elementals, he wanted his most powerful weapon in hand.</p><p></p><p>Oddly enough, Syngaard had guessed absolutely correctly about these being time elementals, despite him never having even heard of such a thing before. One of the humanoid-shaped energy-things swiped its massive claws at Daleth, who fortunately was attentive enough to pull back out of the way at the last moment. The other approached Galen, who likewise avoided the thing's clawed swipe. Daleth cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the one menacing him, all the while trying to understand what exactly it was he was fighting. Despite Syngaard's general ignorance, he seemed to have hit it on the head in this instance, for these beings <em>did</em> actually seem to be composed of temporal energy. Todd, at his master's side, wisely opted to forego his normal stinger attack, realizing an elemental creature would be immune to his sleep venom.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard charged at the temporal elemental attacking Daleth, running through the archway to do so - it was the most direct path, and he assumed by triggering it in the first place it had already done whatever harm it could do. In this his usually-accurate instincts deserted him, for bolts of temporal energy struck Syngaard as he ran through the archway and by he time he had gotten to within striking range of his target, the bald fighter had aged six years! He took the odd feeling in stride, though, connecting solidly with his morningstar against the bluish energy of his elemental foe.</p><p></p><p>Orion, still on the Ethereal Plane with Carl, assumed the rest of the party had things well in hand and decided to see what she could do about locating Tienna's grandfather's spellbook. Looking about the ruins, it seemed as if at one time it might have had a second floor; on the assumption that the whole building might have sunken into the ground over the centuries, she had Carl phase lower into the earth below them. However, her blind fumblings through the solid ground below them proven the fallacy of that notion and she had Carl return back to normal ground level.</p><p></p><p>Galen stepped forward and got in three good strikes in a row with the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> against the time elemental facing him. It was a shame, he mused, that these creatures didn't have auras of evil, nor were they undead, for his longsword was empowered to deal considerable more damage to creatures of that vile breed. From behind him, Kaspar raised a hand to his amulet and summoned forth the spirit of his giant stag beetle, John, causing him to manifest behind the time elemental facing off against Galen.</p><p></p><p>But now the time elementals surged forward, one continuing to attack Galen while the other dropped away from Daleth and headed for Kaspar. Each merely touched their respective victims, but each touch aged their foes by several years. (Of the two, Galen felt the difference much more sharply than did Kaspar, considering how big a percentage of their overall lifespans a year was to members of their respective races.)</p><p></p><p>Daleth shot another <em>magic missile</em> at the time elemental he had been fighting and was gratified to see his spell cause the creature to implode, arcing back to the archway as blue lightning and causing a shimmering, blue energy field to coalesce in the doorway. Syngaard, in the meantime, rushed over to attack the other time elemental, and while his morningstar hit true it did so at the cost of another decade of age being grafted onto the bald fighter's body.</p><p></p><p>Orion was glad not to be fighting the time elementals and getting aged; she fully planned to live every possible minute of her maximum lifespan! She sent Carl over to investigate the shimmering field of energy covering the archway's interior, through which it looked like she could see a set of stairs leading up - stairs which had not been present earlier! As Kaspar and Galen finished off the other time elemental, its energy arced over to the archway as well, and now there was definitely a stairwell leading up to another level - although said stairwell was only visible from one side of the archway; from any other angle, it simply wasn't there.</p><p></p><p>"I'll go in first," Syngaard volunteered, charging through the archway once again, this time from the side among the ruins' interior section. Sure enough, the stairwell was solid, turning at right angles up to another level. The bald fighter soon found himself standing on the second level - one looking perfectly intact at this time despite the fact it was no longer present in his day - and face-to-face with another of these time elemental things, this one twice the size of the ones they'd faced downstairs.</p><p></p><p>The energy-beast stood in the middle of a shallow pool of water, clutching a small elven girl in one massive hand and a mage in silver robes in the other. This gave Syngaard pause for a moment, wondering if this was a younger version of the Mithral Mage, but as the figure struggled his face became visible and he was definitely an elf. (<em>Of course, that don't mean nothin'</em>, thought Syngaard, <em>'cause wasn't Alexandros supposed to be able to inhabit different bodies?</em>) In any case, this elf dude had a chain attached to a large book in a pocket of his silver robes so he figured it was probably Tienna's grandpa and this was the spellbook they'd been sent to fetch. <em>Easy money</em>, Syngaard thought to himself. <em>All we gotta do is kill this bigger time elemental guy, grab the spellbook, and we'll each be two grand richer!</em></p><p></p><p>The robed figure turned toward Syngaard and feebly spoke. "No don't...stop it...." Syngaard threw his <em>returning javelin</em> at the elder time elemental and it responded by tossing the elven wizard against a wall and closing its other hand around the elven girl, shielding her almost entirely from view. She said nothing, apparently unconscious - or already dead.</p><p></p><p>Orion tried entering the magic gate from the Ethereal Plane and discovered she merely went to the other side of the archway that way, not through any time-displaced stairs. So she had Carl manifest back on the Material Plane and they tried it again, this time with success. Bounding up the stairs, she and Carl found themselves standing just behind Syngaard. She raced towards the silver-clad elf wizard crumpled on the floor by the wall, and in so doing, the elder elemental casually reached out and aged her with a touch. Galen pounded up the stairs just behind the halfling and likewise headed for the wizard. Next came Kaspar, and he followed Syngaard's path, straight into combat with the elder time elemental, striking it with a well-placed blow powered by his <em>tenryutsume</em>.</p><p></p><p>The elemental grimaced in pain but had already committed to attacking Syngaard, who as a result found himself in a 42-year-old version of his own body - nearly twice his normal age! He could feel the differences: a diminishing of strength and quickness, as well as an awareness that he was no longer as capable of sustained combat as he was in "his younger days" - despite the fact that his younger days were mere minutes ago! Still, he continued with his attacks, sending the weapon head of his magic morningstar deep into the time elemental's body, and if he didn't have as much power behind his strikes he at least had the wisdom and clarity of mind to place each blow where it would likely do the most damage.</p><p></p><p>Daleth and Todd entered the upper-story room last, the elf taking a strike from the elemental in passing that added a few years onto his frame as well. He went over to the unconscious Kronius just as Orion was pouring the contents of a healing potion down the chronomancer's throat. While the healing likely prevented Kronius from expiring from his wounds, Daleth could see - where the others likely could not - just how incredibly ancient Kronius was; it was very likely he was at the absolute limits of even an elven lifespan. But despite the healing he remained unconscious and Daleth wasn't entirely sure they ever be able to wake him back up again.</p><p></p><p>Galen snapped his head up in a sudden realization then, cursing himself for a fool, then opened his <em>bag of holding</em> and pulled out a greatsword he'd recently taken for his own during the conscripts' adventures. As a <em>frost elemental bane greatsword</em>, its magical enhancements would likely come in very handy against a time elemental, the paladin reasoned. And such was indeed the case, for even with his first successful strike he could feel the power of the weapon tear through the time elemental's energy-lattice body. Kaspar took advantage of the creature's pain to strike a flurry of blows at it from behind, all the while ready to grab the elven girl should the elemental release her. But rather than strike back at the elven monk, the elemental seemed determined to age Syngaard out of existence, for his insubstantial blows aged the fighter even further, well into the old age of 55 human years. But Syngaard, undeterred, continued on with his own attacks, striking the elemental three times in rapid succession, each blow visibly harming the creature made of temporal energy. </p><p></p><p>Daleth raised his <em>metamagic rod</em> in the time elemental's direction and channeled a <em>scorching ray</em> spell through it. He hit with two of his three rays, dealing nowhere as much damage to the energy-beast as he had hoped. But then Galen dealt it another blow with the weapon designed to battle creatures like this, and that was all it took for the elder time elemental's body to implode like the two below had done when slain. Its body collapsed into a gatelike temporal vortex, and the elven girl - looking to be all of ten years old or so - was sucked into the swirling miasma of energy before any in the party could prevent it.</p><p></p><p>"Well, that sucks for her," Syngaard observed while Orion's ministrations finally woke Kronius to full consciousness. Blinking in confusion and looking all around him, he blurted out, "What have you done? You sent the time elemental away!"</p><p></p><p>"It was attacking you!" pointed out Orion.</p><p></p><p>"No--it was draining me of my life essence!" argued Kronius. Orion didn't see the difference and said so.</p><p></p><p>"I had summoned it here to bargain with it to restore my little daughter to life after she'd been slain by devils escaping from the Baator's Breath Mountains!" Kronius explained. "It was taking my temporal energy, aging me to de-age my little daughter back to an earlier time, when she was still hale and healthy! Oh, my poor Tienna!"</p><p></p><p>"Tienna?" exclaimed Galen. "Sir, we were sent by an elven woman named Tienna to fetch your spellbook. She said you were her grandfather, though - not her father."</p><p></p><p>"Then she lived?" gasped Kronius. His eyes flashed back and forth as he examined the possibilities. "Then--the portal she was whisked through will have deposited her safely somewhere in the future? She will grow up separated from her own time - but she will live!" His eyes glistened with tears as he realized his daughter was safe after all. "Then I can die in peace," he said, fumbling with the chain to his spellbook. "Take this," he said, passing it over to Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"Sir, we can try to heal you..." began Galen.</p><p></p><p>"No, no, it's too late...for any of that," Kronius wheezed, his voice getting more and more feeble with each breath. "My body...is older than that...of most elves, I reckon - you cannot cure...extreme old age. Go while you can...I don't know...if the door to the past...will survive my...own...death...."</p><p></p><p>"You heard the man!" exclaimed Syngaard. "Let's get out of here!" He led the exodus back down the stairs and through the archway back into the ruins of the place in their own time. Shortly after exiting, an explosion of temporal energy could be heard through the archway to the past, which was cut off suddenly as the marble archway collapsed into a heap of shattered stone. Kaspar silently retrieved the <em>ring of return</em> from his robes and held it out so the others could each grab hold of it, then said the words that returned them all to the outskirts of Durnhill's capital city.</p><p></p><p>Once Skevros and Tienna had been told of their experiences, the elven abjurer accepted her father's spellbook from Daleth. "The man who found me and raised me as a child - he must have heard the stories of Kronius, figured out what had happened, and told me I was Kronius's granddaughter. That must have just been an assumption on his part - or perhaps he was purposefully shielding me from the confusing mechanics of chronomancy...."</p><p></p><p>"In any case, we held up our part of the bargain," Syngaard pointed out. Skevros nodded and indicated a chest of coins that had been brought to the tavern in the conscripts' absence. The bald fighter grinned and gave the king's adviser a "thumbs up" to indicate his pleasure at the end of a successful business transaction. But Orion wanted to get on with the business of shielding the Mithral Mage from being able to scry upon them at will.</p><p></p><p>"Here," said Tienna, passing along a pair of rubbery plugs to each of the heroes. "Place these in your nostrils."</p><p></p><p>"This a joke?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"I assure you it is not," replied Skevros. As the conscripts suspiciously applied the nose plugs, Tienna started passing out blindfolds to everyone as well. Galen began to protest, but once again Skevros assured him it was necessary. "We do not want to allow Alexandros - if he is watching through any of our eyes at this moment - to gain any information about what we are about to do."</p><p></p><p>"Very well," sighed the paladin, putting the blindfold in place.</p><p></p><p>"Bud the dose plugs?" asked Syngaard. "We afraid he's gonna sdniff out what we're sayin'?"</p><p></p><p>"You will be imbibing a potion," Skevros replied. "We do not want him to deduce any of its contents by smell and have a leg up in trying to counter its effects." Orion was still skeptical, so the adviser reassured her, "I already drank the mixture you are about to imbibe - Tienna gave it to me while you were on your mission."</p><p></p><p>Begrudgingly - and suspecting a trick - the conscripts placed their blindfolds on. Orion felt a potion vial being placed into her hands. "Take this for later," Tienna said. "It's for Hirek, on the Ethereal Plane." Just to be sure, Orion pocketed the potion vial, removed her blindfold, climbed upon Carl's <em>ghost touch saddle</em>, and had him shunt them to the Ethereal Plane. Sure enough, there was Hirek, waiting patiently. He nodded silently and the halfling had Carl return them to the Material Plane, where she placed her blindfold back in place. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's do this."</p><p></p><p>With a clinking of glass, vials were placed before each of the heroes, who were told to drink up. "Galen, Kaspar, Orion - I will need your weapons, if you please," said Skevros as the conscripts drank down their mixtures. "I promise you they will be returned to you at the end of the procedure." Wordlessly, Kaspar removed his <em>tenryutsume</em> while Galen passed over the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> and Orion handed over her <em>nightflame short sword</em>. Each weapon was placed in a small barrel containing the mixture the heroes had just sampled, so they could absorb the effects as well. "Orion, if you would please give Hirek his portion, then return directly back here?"</p><p></p><p>Orion and Carl vanished from sight, only to return again a moment later. "Done," she said.</p><p></p><p>"It is safe to remove the blindfolds and nose plugs now, if you like," Tienna said. "Alexandros has been successfully blocked from scrying upon you or the weapons infused with the spirits of your allies."</p><p></p><p>And then another presence manifested in the room - the spirit of Osleth, rising forth from Orion's blade. "Now that we are all protected from Alexandros's sight, I can explain my plan to destroy his phylactery," he announced. "As you know, his phylactery takes the form of his osteovox, which is composed of the souls and memories of all who know his true name. This phylactery, I have learned, can be destroyed - but only from within."</p><p></p><p>"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"There are five other essences bound within the osteovox; likely the Jakuran gods Alexandros slew. There is also something else...something alive and unsettling within. Freeing the divine essences and slaying whatever that 'other' thing is should destroy his phylactery. The Mithral Mage will survive the destruction of his phylactery, of course, but it will weaken him considerably - and his current body will be his last."</p><p></p><p>"That seems simple enough," observed Galen.</p><p></p><p>"The only problem," continued Osleth, "is entering his phylactery. The only way in...is to die. Once you are dead, the spirits of Hirek, Tenryu, Zehkar, and myself will merge with your own to protect you from the worst effects of the phylactery's defenses."</p><p></p><p>"Wait, so we all gotta die in order to take down Alexandros?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"I fear so. But rest assured, we will have contingencies in place to have you resurr--"</p><p></p><p>"I'll kill the halfling!" the bald fighter interrupted.</p><p></p><p>"What the Hell?" demanded Orion. "What'd I ever do to you?" And then she remembered her <em>potion of reduce person</em> prank - but that surely didn't warrant such a lethal retaliation! Syngaard, she realized, just had problems with the entire halfling race.</p><p></p><p>"That won't be necessary, Syngaard," Skevros insisted. "You slaying each other, or even yourselves, would look suspicious. It would be better for you to die in battle against a more powerful enemy."</p><p></p><p>Osleth continued on. "Although you must die to accomplish this task, the best course of action will be to carry out your normal business as usual - and then, the next time Alexandros crosses your path, fight him with everything you have as if you're trying to slay him."</p><p></p><p>"We <em>will</em> be trying to slay him," argued Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Trying, yes - but he is still much too powerful for you. He will best you, but if you die at his hands he will think the threat you represent dealt with and will likely leave Durnhill alone from that point on. You can then destroy his phylactery from within, after which time you will be resurrected and can then deal with the Mithral Mage on a permanent basis."</p><p></p><p>"I like it," grinned Syngaard. "When do we start?"</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Logan had actually anticipated at least one of the PCs dying the last time we faced Alexandros - but his damage dice sucked and we were all able to bug out before the Mithral Mage could kill any of us. Had any of the PCs died then, Logan had a "while you were dead" briefing all ready to go, which would have spelled out the plan Osleth explained to us at the end of this adventure. But we silly players refused to give the DM the PC deaths he expected so he had to go this route instead.</p><p></p><p>It's actually kind of cool that our big plan to take down Alexandros involves him killing us all first.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and the aging effects from the time elementals eventually all wore off, so I won't be playing Syngaard as a 55-year-old any more. (Which is fine with me, as I play a 55-year-old in real life!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7621197, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 48: IT'S ABOUT TIME[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 14 Galen Thorne, human paladin 15 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 15 Syngaard, human fighter 15[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 12 June 2019 - - - "Report to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i] immediately. It's good news, and a paying mission." That was the message that went out to the conscripts, courtesy of the rings they wore. The last bit Skevros had put in there to cut off Syngaard's inevitable initial query, but it was Galen who, upon entering the closed tavern, asked the first question: "What's [i]she[/i] doing here?" The "she" in question was an elven woman in orange robes identifying her as a member of the Azure Glade Guild of Abjurers. Galen had recognized her at once as the woman who had helped capture - and torture - the reformed succubus Serenity in the basement of her Guild Hall. The memories of her involvement had the paladin's hand on the hilt of the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] he wore at his hip, ready to draw his blade and put it to good use. "At ease," Skevros commanded. "Tienna is here at my recommendation and will be afforded the full hospitality of the kingdom." "But she--!" "I am well aware," interrupted Skevros. "Nonetheless, this is important. Please, take a seat and we will discuss this rationally." Eyes narrowed in disdain, Galen pulled a seat out from the table and sat down, his hand still on the hilt of his longsword. Behind him, the other conscripts took their own seats. Once convinced he had their full attention (in other words, after Syngaard had gotten his customary drink from Karen), the king's adviser continued. "I have had Leorna working on a way to prevent the Mithral Mage from being able to scry upon us. She, in turn, reached out to the most powerful surviving abjurer allied against the Seekers of Eternity." "'Surviving'?" asked Daleth, an eyebrow arched on his elven brow. "There was a great battle among our ranks once we learned the Seekers had infiltrated our Guild and were attempting to take us over from within," Tienna explained. "I am now the Acting Guildmistress." "Good to know," remarked Syngaard, who in truth couldn't care less. He returned his attention to his ale until they got to the important stuff, like how much this mission was going to pay. "I admit to having been duped by the Seekers," said Tienna. "They used my perfectly reasonable hatred of fiends to get me to aid them against Serenity - I had no idea that you...had chosen to ally yourselves with a demon." If there had been any attempt to keep the scorn from her voice at this last bit, it failed miserably. Galen merely grunted in acknowledgement, but his hand dropped from the hilt of his blade - it was, after all, quite logical that she'd have been unaware of the succubus's redemption and it was hard to blame someone for assuming all demons were evil - Serenity had been undeniably evil when he first met her. But he nevertheless focused his attention on Tienna's aura, hoping to catch even the slightest glimmer of evil. No luck, though; Tienna may have been involved in Serenity's capture and torture, but she had apparently done so with the best of intentions. "In any case," Tienna continued, "the reason I'm here today is because I believe I have succeeded in finding a way to block the Mithral Mage's ability to scry upon you at will." "Excellent!" exclaimed Orion. The thought of a lich spying upon her whenever he wanted, without her even knowing he was doing so, creeped the little halfling out considerably. "How will you do so?" asked Kaspar. "Wait--if you tell us now, he might be scrying upon us at this moment," cautioned Daleth. "True, and I will take appropriate steps to prevent that eventuality when I tell you the specifics of my plan. But before I do anything, I want you to perform a task for me." "I knew it!" exploded Galen, rising up from his chair. "She has the means of our salvation, but is withholding it!" Skevros had to command the hot-headed paladin to resume his seat. Reluctantly, he did so, glaring at the elven abjurer all the while. Tienna stared down the paladin for a moment, then turned her gaze to the other conscripts in turn. "I want you to search my grandfather's old home for his spellbook," she said. "While you're there, I'd like you to see if you can unearth any clues as to how and why he died." "Whaddaya need us for?" asked Syngaard. "Can't you go get it yourself?" "I have tried, but each attempt to get close to the ruins has been thwarted by an overwhelming, subconscious feeling of terror - likely an abjuration built specifically to keep me away." "So you need us to go get it," reasoned Syngaard. "What's it look like?" "It's a [i]spellbook[/i]," scoffed Daleth, his voice dripping with scorn. "It looks like a [i]book[/i]. With [i]spells[/i] written inside it. Hence the term '[i]spellbook[/i]'." "What can you tell us about your grandfather?" asked Kaspar to change the subject as quickly as possible. "The information I have is that he took the name [b]Kronius[/b] and he was a transmuter, although he stylized himself as a chronomancer - a master of temporal magic." Orion just rolled her eyes at the thought of "Kronius the chronomancer" - they shouldn't let wizards pick their own names like that! "Temporal? What's that - like, it wears off?" asked Syngaard. "You're thinking - if that's the correct terminology for the limited cognitive process going on inside your cranium - of 'temporary,'" sneered Daleth. "'Temporal' has to do with time." "In any case, his house exploded some 423 years ago - he was presumed to have been slain in the explosion." "Wait, he died 423 years ago and he was only your [i]grandfather[/i]?" asked Syngaard. "How's [i]that[/i] work?" "Elven longevity is a well-documented fact, as is their disdain for the kind of fecundity that has humans dominating the populace," remarked Daleth. "Elves live long and often go several centuries before having kids," translated Kaspar. "Why don't you just concentrate on your ale?" suggested Orion. That actually sounded like a good idea to the scarred fighter; it was taking too long to get to the payment part of this conversation, anyway. "I will teleport you to the ruins. You find his spellbook and any details about his death that you can, and I understand you have the means to return back here on your own." "I ain't hearing nothin' about no payment," pointed out Syngaard. "I will pay you each 2,000 pieces of gold to complete this mission, as it is the stated prerequisite for Tienna to render her aid in the matter of the scrying," Skevros replied. "Now then, let us adjourn to the city limits, that you can be teleported on your way." The spellcasters performed their normal preparatory spellcasting, Daleth casting a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell upon himself and his pseudodragon familiar Todd, then another one on Orion using a scroll she provided. The halfling fed her ghost dog Carl his customary [i]potion of mage armor[/i], while Galen, contrary to his usual self, opted to forego any pre-emptive spellcasting at all. Judging from his sour look, it was entirely possible he didn't trust himself not to botch the casting given his current state of distraction at the anger he felt toward Tienna. The elven abjurer cast the [i]teleport[/i] spell and the conscripts found themselves standing before a set of marble ruins. The bluish tint of the vegetation all around confirmed that they were indeed within the Azure Glade. "This is odd," pointed out Kaspar. "Some of these walls are obviously quite ancient, while others could have been assembled together but yesterday." Indeed, there was quite a discrepancy between the various bits of remaining wall. There was a marble archway at the back of the ruins, it being one of the pieces that looked to be of remarkably recent construction. Orion had Carl phase to the Ethereal Plane to see if she could see anything different from that vantage point, but everything there looked quite to same as it did on the Material Plane. Syngaard, on a hunch, walked over behind the archway and peered through it from the other end. Everything looked normal, but his every instinct told him this recent-looking archway was the key to this place - it was probably one of those deals like the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i] where if you were wearing the right ring, the door would open not to a storeroom but to Skevros's extradimensional mansion. Not wanting to put any of his better weapons at risk, he pulled his backup longsword from his [i] bag of holding[/i] and poked its edge through the arch's doorway. Sure enough, that was enough to send arcs of blue energy erupting from the archway, striking the steel blade, and sending two blasts of electricity - or what looked like blue lightning, anyway - to strike the ground at either side of the other assembled conscripts. Energy welled up at the strike-points, coalescing into two vaguely humanoid shapes made of blue energy. They had the standard humanoid build, but their arms seemed extra long and their hands and clawed fingers were exceptionally huge, twitching as if in anticipation. "Betcha these are temporary time elementals!" Syngaard called to the others, causing Daleth to visibly flinch at the stupid human's ignorance. The bald fighter sheathed his longsword - it was nothing special, just a run-of-the-mill sword he'd picked up somewhere during his adventuring career - and pulled his magical morningstar from his belt. If he was going into battle with time elementals, he wanted his most powerful weapon in hand. Oddly enough, Syngaard had guessed absolutely correctly about these being time elementals, despite him never having even heard of such a thing before. One of the humanoid-shaped energy-things swiped its massive claws at Daleth, who fortunately was attentive enough to pull back out of the way at the last moment. The other approached Galen, who likewise avoided the thing's clawed swipe. Daleth cast a [i]magic missile[/i] spell at the one menacing him, all the while trying to understand what exactly it was he was fighting. Despite Syngaard's general ignorance, he seemed to have hit it on the head in this instance, for these beings [i]did[/i] actually seem to be composed of temporal energy. Todd, at his master's side, wisely opted to forego his normal stinger attack, realizing an elemental creature would be immune to his sleep venom. Syngaard charged at the temporal elemental attacking Daleth, running through the archway to do so - it was the most direct path, and he assumed by triggering it in the first place it had already done whatever harm it could do. In this his usually-accurate instincts deserted him, for bolts of temporal energy struck Syngaard as he ran through the archway and by he time he had gotten to within striking range of his target, the bald fighter had aged six years! He took the odd feeling in stride, though, connecting solidly with his morningstar against the bluish energy of his elemental foe. Orion, still on the Ethereal Plane with Carl, assumed the rest of the party had things well in hand and decided to see what she could do about locating Tienna's grandfather's spellbook. Looking about the ruins, it seemed as if at one time it might have had a second floor; on the assumption that the whole building might have sunken into the ground over the centuries, she had Carl phase lower into the earth below them. However, her blind fumblings through the solid ground below them proven the fallacy of that notion and she had Carl return back to normal ground level. Galen stepped forward and got in three good strikes in a row with the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] against the time elemental facing him. It was a shame, he mused, that these creatures didn't have auras of evil, nor were they undead, for his longsword was empowered to deal considerable more damage to creatures of that vile breed. From behind him, Kaspar raised a hand to his amulet and summoned forth the spirit of his giant stag beetle, John, causing him to manifest behind the time elemental facing off against Galen. But now the time elementals surged forward, one continuing to attack Galen while the other dropped away from Daleth and headed for Kaspar. Each merely touched their respective victims, but each touch aged their foes by several years. (Of the two, Galen felt the difference much more sharply than did Kaspar, considering how big a percentage of their overall lifespans a year was to members of their respective races.) Daleth shot another [i]magic missile[/i] at the time elemental he had been fighting and was gratified to see his spell cause the creature to implode, arcing back to the archway as blue lightning and causing a shimmering, blue energy field to coalesce in the doorway. Syngaard, in the meantime, rushed over to attack the other time elemental, and while his morningstar hit true it did so at the cost of another decade of age being grafted onto the bald fighter's body. Orion was glad not to be fighting the time elementals and getting aged; she fully planned to live every possible minute of her maximum lifespan! She sent Carl over to investigate the shimmering field of energy covering the archway's interior, through which it looked like she could see a set of stairs leading up - stairs which had not been present earlier! As Kaspar and Galen finished off the other time elemental, its energy arced over to the archway as well, and now there was definitely a stairwell leading up to another level - although said stairwell was only visible from one side of the archway; from any other angle, it simply wasn't there. "I'll go in first," Syngaard volunteered, charging through the archway once again, this time from the side among the ruins' interior section. Sure enough, the stairwell was solid, turning at right angles up to another level. The bald fighter soon found himself standing on the second level - one looking perfectly intact at this time despite the fact it was no longer present in his day - and face-to-face with another of these time elemental things, this one twice the size of the ones they'd faced downstairs. The energy-beast stood in the middle of a shallow pool of water, clutching a small elven girl in one massive hand and a mage in silver robes in the other. This gave Syngaard pause for a moment, wondering if this was a younger version of the Mithral Mage, but as the figure struggled his face became visible and he was definitely an elf. ([i]Of course, that don't mean nothin'[/i], thought Syngaard, [i]'cause wasn't Alexandros supposed to be able to inhabit different bodies?[/i]) In any case, this elf dude had a chain attached to a large book in a pocket of his silver robes so he figured it was probably Tienna's grandpa and this was the spellbook they'd been sent to fetch. [i]Easy money[/i], Syngaard thought to himself. [i]All we gotta do is kill this bigger time elemental guy, grab the spellbook, and we'll each be two grand richer![/i] The robed figure turned toward Syngaard and feebly spoke. "No don't...stop it...." Syngaard threw his [i]returning javelin[/i] at the elder time elemental and it responded by tossing the elven wizard against a wall and closing its other hand around the elven girl, shielding her almost entirely from view. She said nothing, apparently unconscious - or already dead. Orion tried entering the magic gate from the Ethereal Plane and discovered she merely went to the other side of the archway that way, not through any time-displaced stairs. So she had Carl manifest back on the Material Plane and they tried it again, this time with success. Bounding up the stairs, she and Carl found themselves standing just behind Syngaard. She raced towards the silver-clad elf wizard crumpled on the floor by the wall, and in so doing, the elder elemental casually reached out and aged her with a touch. Galen pounded up the stairs just behind the halfling and likewise headed for the wizard. Next came Kaspar, and he followed Syngaard's path, straight into combat with the elder time elemental, striking it with a well-placed blow powered by his [i]tenryutsume[/i]. The elemental grimaced in pain but had already committed to attacking Syngaard, who as a result found himself in a 42-year-old version of his own body - nearly twice his normal age! He could feel the differences: a diminishing of strength and quickness, as well as an awareness that he was no longer as capable of sustained combat as he was in "his younger days" - despite the fact that his younger days were mere minutes ago! Still, he continued with his attacks, sending the weapon head of his magic morningstar deep into the time elemental's body, and if he didn't have as much power behind his strikes he at least had the wisdom and clarity of mind to place each blow where it would likely do the most damage. Daleth and Todd entered the upper-story room last, the elf taking a strike from the elemental in passing that added a few years onto his frame as well. He went over to the unconscious Kronius just as Orion was pouring the contents of a healing potion down the chronomancer's throat. While the healing likely prevented Kronius from expiring from his wounds, Daleth could see - where the others likely could not - just how incredibly ancient Kronius was; it was very likely he was at the absolute limits of even an elven lifespan. But despite the healing he remained unconscious and Daleth wasn't entirely sure they ever be able to wake him back up again. Galen snapped his head up in a sudden realization then, cursing himself for a fool, then opened his [i]bag of holding[/i] and pulled out a greatsword he'd recently taken for his own during the conscripts' adventures. As a [i]frost elemental bane greatsword[/i], its magical enhancements would likely come in very handy against a time elemental, the paladin reasoned. And such was indeed the case, for even with his first successful strike he could feel the power of the weapon tear through the time elemental's energy-lattice body. Kaspar took advantage of the creature's pain to strike a flurry of blows at it from behind, all the while ready to grab the elven girl should the elemental release her. But rather than strike back at the elven monk, the elemental seemed determined to age Syngaard out of existence, for his insubstantial blows aged the fighter even further, well into the old age of 55 human years. But Syngaard, undeterred, continued on with his own attacks, striking the elemental three times in rapid succession, each blow visibly harming the creature made of temporal energy. Daleth raised his [i]metamagic rod[/i] in the time elemental's direction and channeled a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell through it. He hit with two of his three rays, dealing nowhere as much damage to the energy-beast as he had hoped. But then Galen dealt it another blow with the weapon designed to battle creatures like this, and that was all it took for the elder time elemental's body to implode like the two below had done when slain. Its body collapsed into a gatelike temporal vortex, and the elven girl - looking to be all of ten years old or so - was sucked into the swirling miasma of energy before any in the party could prevent it. "Well, that sucks for her," Syngaard observed while Orion's ministrations finally woke Kronius to full consciousness. Blinking in confusion and looking all around him, he blurted out, "What have you done? You sent the time elemental away!" "It was attacking you!" pointed out Orion. "No--it was draining me of my life essence!" argued Kronius. Orion didn't see the difference and said so. "I had summoned it here to bargain with it to restore my little daughter to life after she'd been slain by devils escaping from the Baator's Breath Mountains!" Kronius explained. "It was taking my temporal energy, aging me to de-age my little daughter back to an earlier time, when she was still hale and healthy! Oh, my poor Tienna!" "Tienna?" exclaimed Galen. "Sir, we were sent by an elven woman named Tienna to fetch your spellbook. She said you were her grandfather, though - not her father." "Then she lived?" gasped Kronius. His eyes flashed back and forth as he examined the possibilities. "Then--the portal she was whisked through will have deposited her safely somewhere in the future? She will grow up separated from her own time - but she will live!" His eyes glistened with tears as he realized his daughter was safe after all. "Then I can die in peace," he said, fumbling with the chain to his spellbook. "Take this," he said, passing it over to Daleth. "Sir, we can try to heal you..." began Galen. "No, no, it's too late...for any of that," Kronius wheezed, his voice getting more and more feeble with each breath. "My body...is older than that...of most elves, I reckon - you cannot cure...extreme old age. Go while you can...I don't know...if the door to the past...will survive my...own...death...." "You heard the man!" exclaimed Syngaard. "Let's get out of here!" He led the exodus back down the stairs and through the archway back into the ruins of the place in their own time. Shortly after exiting, an explosion of temporal energy could be heard through the archway to the past, which was cut off suddenly as the marble archway collapsed into a heap of shattered stone. Kaspar silently retrieved the [i]ring of return[/i] from his robes and held it out so the others could each grab hold of it, then said the words that returned them all to the outskirts of Durnhill's capital city. Once Skevros and Tienna had been told of their experiences, the elven abjurer accepted her father's spellbook from Daleth. "The man who found me and raised me as a child - he must have heard the stories of Kronius, figured out what had happened, and told me I was Kronius's granddaughter. That must have just been an assumption on his part - or perhaps he was purposefully shielding me from the confusing mechanics of chronomancy...." "In any case, we held up our part of the bargain," Syngaard pointed out. Skevros nodded and indicated a chest of coins that had been brought to the tavern in the conscripts' absence. The bald fighter grinned and gave the king's adviser a "thumbs up" to indicate his pleasure at the end of a successful business transaction. But Orion wanted to get on with the business of shielding the Mithral Mage from being able to scry upon them at will. "Here," said Tienna, passing along a pair of rubbery plugs to each of the heroes. "Place these in your nostrils." "This a joke?" asked Syngaard. "I assure you it is not," replied Skevros. As the conscripts suspiciously applied the nose plugs, Tienna started passing out blindfolds to everyone as well. Galen began to protest, but once again Skevros assured him it was necessary. "We do not want to allow Alexandros - if he is watching through any of our eyes at this moment - to gain any information about what we are about to do." "Very well," sighed the paladin, putting the blindfold in place. "Bud the dose plugs?" asked Syngaard. "We afraid he's gonna sdniff out what we're sayin'?" "You will be imbibing a potion," Skevros replied. "We do not want him to deduce any of its contents by smell and have a leg up in trying to counter its effects." Orion was still skeptical, so the adviser reassured her, "I already drank the mixture you are about to imbibe - Tienna gave it to me while you were on your mission." Begrudgingly - and suspecting a trick - the conscripts placed their blindfolds on. Orion felt a potion vial being placed into her hands. "Take this for later," Tienna said. "It's for Hirek, on the Ethereal Plane." Just to be sure, Orion pocketed the potion vial, removed her blindfold, climbed upon Carl's [i]ghost touch saddle[/i], and had him shunt them to the Ethereal Plane. Sure enough, there was Hirek, waiting patiently. He nodded silently and the halfling had Carl return them to the Material Plane, where she placed her blindfold back in place. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's do this." With a clinking of glass, vials were placed before each of the heroes, who were told to drink up. "Galen, Kaspar, Orion - I will need your weapons, if you please," said Skevros as the conscripts drank down their mixtures. "I promise you they will be returned to you at the end of the procedure." Wordlessly, Kaspar removed his [i]tenryutsume[/i] while Galen passed over the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] and Orion handed over her [i]nightflame short sword[/i]. Each weapon was placed in a small barrel containing the mixture the heroes had just sampled, so they could absorb the effects as well. "Orion, if you would please give Hirek his portion, then return directly back here?" Orion and Carl vanished from sight, only to return again a moment later. "Done," she said. "It is safe to remove the blindfolds and nose plugs now, if you like," Tienna said. "Alexandros has been successfully blocked from scrying upon you or the weapons infused with the spirits of your allies." And then another presence manifested in the room - the spirit of Osleth, rising forth from Orion's blade. "Now that we are all protected from Alexandros's sight, I can explain my plan to destroy his phylactery," he announced. "As you know, his phylactery takes the form of his osteovox, which is composed of the souls and memories of all who know his true name. This phylactery, I have learned, can be destroyed - but only from within." "What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Syngaard. "There are five other essences bound within the osteovox; likely the Jakuran gods Alexandros slew. There is also something else...something alive and unsettling within. Freeing the divine essences and slaying whatever that 'other' thing is should destroy his phylactery. The Mithral Mage will survive the destruction of his phylactery, of course, but it will weaken him considerably - and his current body will be his last." "That seems simple enough," observed Galen. "The only problem," continued Osleth, "is entering his phylactery. The only way in...is to die. Once you are dead, the spirits of Hirek, Tenryu, Zehkar, and myself will merge with your own to protect you from the worst effects of the phylactery's defenses." "Wait, so we all gotta die in order to take down Alexandros?" asked Syngaard. "I fear so. But rest assured, we will have contingencies in place to have you resurr--" "I'll kill the halfling!" the bald fighter interrupted. "What the Hell?" demanded Orion. "What'd I ever do to you?" And then she remembered her [i]potion of reduce person[/i] prank - but that surely didn't warrant such a lethal retaliation! Syngaard, she realized, just had problems with the entire halfling race. "That won't be necessary, Syngaard," Skevros insisted. "You slaying each other, or even yourselves, would look suspicious. It would be better for you to die in battle against a more powerful enemy." Osleth continued on. "Although you must die to accomplish this task, the best course of action will be to carry out your normal business as usual - and then, the next time Alexandros crosses your path, fight him with everything you have as if you're trying to slay him." "We [i]will[/i] be trying to slay him," argued Syngaard. "Trying, yes - but he is still much too powerful for you. He will best you, but if you die at his hands he will think the threat you represent dealt with and will likely leave Durnhill alone from that point on. You can then destroy his phylactery from within, after which time you will be resurrected and can then deal with the Mithral Mage on a permanent basis." "I like it," grinned Syngaard. "When do we start?" - - - Logan had actually anticipated at least one of the PCs dying the last time we faced Alexandros - but his damage dice sucked and we were all able to bug out before the Mithral Mage could kill any of us. Had any of the PCs died then, Logan had a "while you were dead" briefing all ready to go, which would have spelled out the plan Osleth explained to us at the end of this adventure. But we silly players refused to give the DM the PC deaths he expected so he had to go this route instead. It's actually kind of cool that our big plan to take down Alexandros involves him killing us all first. Oh, and the aging effects from the time elementals eventually all wore off, so I won't be playing Syngaard as a 55-year-old any more. (Which is fine with me, as I play a 55-year-old in real life!) [/QUOTE]
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