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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7352703" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 44: VANDERGROTTEN'S LEGACY</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 13</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 13</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 13</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 13</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 13</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 13</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 12 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 24 February 2018</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"Well, this is nice," commented Binkadink, helping himself to another buttered roll. "I have to say, Ingebold, this is probably my favorite non-healing spell you can cast."</p><p></p><p>"Aye," agreed the dwarven cleric. "An' th' <em>heroes' feast</em> not only provides us with good food, it also makes us immune t' poison fer th' next twelve hours or so." Gilbert, too lazy to get it himself, had his <em>unseen servant</em> fetch him the pitcher of chilled juice and fill up his glass.</p><p></p><p>"So what's on the agenda today, Gilbert?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"No agenda," the hefty mage answered. "We on down time today."</p><p></p><p>"Then why the feast?"</p><p></p><p>"I wanted t' try out th' spell, fer one thing," answered Ingebold. "I've nae cast it before. But I'm thinkin' this might be a normal part of each mornin', circumstances permittin'."</p><p></p><p>"I'm all for that!" belched Binkadink. At his side, Finoula scowled at the little gnome's manners and reached over for another cluster of grapes.</p><p></p><p>After that, each of the adventurers spent some time doing things their adventuring lifestyle didn't always give the time to do. Darrien wrestled in the courtyard with his dire bear cub, Grumps Junior, while next to him Finoula played tug-the-rag with her trained timber wolf, Wrath. Binkadink gave Obvious a good rubdown; Aithanar had been taking good care of the jackalope but the gnome liked spending time with his riding mount and hadn't had a whole lot of time to do so in recent months. Castillan and Aithanar sparred up on top of one of the towers of Battershield Keep, keeping their combat skills honed, although the bounder noted his younger brother had a hard time concentrating, as he kept sneaking glimpses down to the courtyard where Finoula played with her wolf. The two front tower roofs were also occupied; Gilbert and Mudpie looked out over the expanse of the Vesve Forest in the distance from atop the northeastern tower, while over on the northwestern tower Hagan had his weasel familiar Wezhley jumping up on his hind legs for treats. As for Ingebold, she was in her room, praying before her altar to Moradin the Soul-Forger. As an adventuring cleric, that was something she didn't often get to do; she made a mental note to see about assembling a miniature altar for the small room she shared with Finoula aboard the dragonfly vessel.</p><p></p><p>The sudden sound of flapping wings caused Finoula to duck and look around; it had sounded like a bat had flown right by her head. Not seeing anything, she called out to the others, "Anybody see a bat?" Those in the courtyard with her looked around but saw nothing. Then Wrath tugged the rag still in his jaws, and the ranger returned her attention to the tug-of-war with her pet wolf.</p><p></p><p>And then, with a pop of displaced air, two human figures materialized on the top of the stable roof, looking over the open courtyard of Battershield Keep. One was an older man, gray of beard and wearing a wizard's robes, with a wizened staff in one hand. Beside him stood a much younger man wearing studded leather armor and wielding a rapier. "You see him anywhere?" asked the younger man, <strong>Dardennex</strong>.</p><p></p><p>"No, but he's around here somewhere - I can feel him over the link," replied <strong>Tremayne</strong>, looking down in irritation at the adventurers below him. Darrien happened to look up and see the figures and called out, "Hey!" The others glanced over to see what he was looking at; Finoula put her hands on the weapons at her hips, leaving Wrath to win the tug-of-war uncontested, while Binkadink grabbed up the magical glaive he had leaned against the far wall of the courtyard. Castillan and Aithanar left their perch atop the southeastern tower and headed down the stairs to the courtyard below.</p><p></p><p>"Can we help you?" Finoula called up to the stable roof as the Kordovians all stopped what they were doing and stared at these trespassers. But neither of the visitors seemed bothered by the attention. "They're likely in cahoots with him," observed Tremayne. "Why else would he show up here, wherever the Hell we are?"</p><p></p><p>"Who exactly are you talking about?" called Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>Dardennex gave an appraising look at the adventurers arrayed before them. "We can take 'em," he opined.</p><p></p><p>That was all the justification the adventurers felt they needed, as the rogue had more or less stated an intention to attack them all. From the northeastern tower, Gilbert cast a <em>haste</em> spell on his friends in the courtyard, catching all but Hagan and himself and their two respective familiars, and Ingebold who was still in her room at the tower three levels below where Gilbert stood. Mudpie, unable to "swim" through worked stone in the way he could normal earth and rock, started heading along the battlements to the stairs at the other end of the keep.</p><p></p><p>"Let's go, Obvious!" called Binkadink, leaping onto the back of his jackalope with his glaive in hand. With no further prompting, Obvious leaped up onto the roof of the stables in a single hop - Binkadink had to grab hold of one of his antlers to keep from falling, as the mount wasn't saddled up - then spun to face the two intruders. Binkadink slapped out with his glaive, smacking the wizard in the side of the head with the flat of his weapon's blade. Tremayne staggered a bit but remained standing - although he had to lean on his staff to maintain his balance. But then he pushed past his companion (and act which earned him another smack with the gnome's weapon), backing toward the front of the keep while Dardennex kept Binkadink at bay. Unseen by the rogue, Castillan activated his ring and <em>dimension doored</em> into place behind him. And then Tremayne cast a <em>chain lightning</em> spell which blasted into Castillan and arced across to Binkadink and Obvious and down to everyone else in the courtyard.</p><p></p><p>However, Tremayne hadn't yet seen Hagan looking down from the top of the tower at his back. The half-orc sorcerer had seen him, though, and fired off a <em>chain lightning</em> spell of his own. His spell didn't have as many secondary arcs, but then the odds in this fight were somewhat lopsided. The blast knocked Tremayne out cold, and he toppled off the side of the roof to land in a heap on the courtyard ground.</p><p></p><p>As Darrien was standing right by the controls, he started winding up the lever that began raising the drawbridge to the keep - no sense in giving the rogue an easy exit. He also pounded on the door beside him, which led to the stairwell just outside Ingebold's room. "Ingebold!" he called. "We're fighting bad guys out here!" The cleric popped her head out of the door immediately thereafter, looking in consternation at the battle raging in the courtyard and on the stable roof. "I cannae leave ye be fer five minutes without ye gettin' into trouble!" she scolded.</p><p></p><p>Finoula had her <em>flaming whip of thorns</em> out and flicked it at Dardennex, who stood close enough to the roof's edge, facing down Binkadink and Obvious, to make the attack possible. She managed to hit the rogue, but was unsuccessful in her subsequent trip attack - a shame, for she had wanted to drag him off the rooftop where she could really get at him! But Castillan took advantage of the distraction, sending his sap crashing down on the back of Dardennex's head. He collapsed at once, and it was only sheer luck that prevented him from taking an unconscious dive over the edge of the roof.</p><p></p><p>Several minutes later, all of the heroes were assembled in the courtyard - all but Hagan, who was keeping watch from his tower roof, in case this was just an initial strike force. Dardennex had been stripped of his armor (including a black vest and a pair of black boots which both radiated magic, according to Ingebold) and the two intruders had both been stripped of all equipment (each had worn a magic ring), all of which was piled out of reach of the captives. Dardennex had been tied up with a length of rope, but rather than fishing about for another rope to bind Tremayne, they took the equally-effective measure of having Obvious sit on his chest. Ingebold applied <em>cure minor wound</em> spells to revive both captives to consciousness.</p><p></p><p>"Now, what all this about?" demanded Gilbert Fung. "Why you teleport here, cause all this trouble?"</p><p></p><p>"Damn his hide!" snarled Tremayne, still not answering directly - these two had an annoying habit of talking back and forth to each other while dismissing everyone else. "I never should have called him to service!"</p><p></p><p>"He has caused us a bit of trouble here," admitted Dardennex, struggling with his bonds to no avail. "Can you still feel him?"</p><p></p><p>"Hey, wizard!" called Gilbert, poking Tremayne in the shoulder with a chubby finger. "We talking to you here!"</p><p></p><p>"Yes," replied Tremayne, answering his cohort while still ignoring an increasingly annoyed Gilbert. "He's feeling elated - as if something he's been waiting a long time for is finally about to happen! Damn that <strong>Vandergrotten</strong>!"</p><p></p><p>"Wait--Vandergrotten?" asked Finoula. She'd heard that name before; wasn't that the wizard who had originally owned this very keep? But wasn't he long since dead?</p><p></p><p>"My quasit familiar," admitted Tremayne, finally responding to one of his captors. That filled in a lot of missing information: if Vandergrotten was a quasit, that meant he must have died and been reborn in the Abyss...and then eventually called back, many years later, to the Material Plane to serve as a familiar to an evil wizard. "They're both evil," confirmed Ingebold, casting a quick <em>detect evil</em> spell on their captives.</p><p></p><p>"Aithanar!" Gilbert called. "Go search inside keep--look for quasit!" The wizard had noticed Wrath, after having won his tug-of-war, had been nosing about along the ground leading to the door to the back building's entryway. A set of insectoid prints could be seen heading toward the door; it's possible the quasit - while fully <em>invisible</em> - had transformed from a bat into a centipede and entered the building's interior through the slight gap beneath the door.</p><p></p><p>"On it!" called the elven fighter, running to the door and into the building's interior rooms to start his search.</p><p></p><p>The ground suddenly began to shudder. Through the still-open drawbridge - for Darrien had stopped trying to raise it once he saw Dardennex had been subdued by Castillan - the group could see mounds of earth being pushed aside, as an enormous head of iron rose up from the ground. This was followed by a massive set of metal shoulders, and then a torso, until an iron golem easily 20 feet tall stood just outside Battershield Keep, clumps of moist earth falling from its metal form. In one hand it held an iron sword longer than a man was tall. "At long last!" it bellowed in a mechanical voice. "I can finally put an end to that gods-be-damned orc who's taken over the kingdom!" The heroes readied for an impending attack, but it didn't come - instead, the iron juggernaut stomped off, heading directly towards the castle in the distance.</p><p></p><p>"Crap! We got to stop it!" announced Gilbert. From the top of the northwest tower, Hagan cast a <em>fly</em> spell upon himself, made sure Wezhley was secure on his shoulder, and took off in pursuit.</p><p></p><p>"Wrath: Guard!" commanded Finoula, pointing at the prisoners as she took off after the mechanical humanoid. The wolf obediently returned by Dardennex's bound form and stood watch over him, exposing his fangs in case the prisoner got any ideas. Darrien likewise sent Grumps Junior to watch over the wizard as he sprinted off behind Finoula, both of them still <em>hasted</em> by Gilbert's spell. Castillan ran right behind them. Binkadink leaped back atop Obvious - causing a grunt of pain from Tremayne, upon whose chest the jackalope had been putting his weight - and the two bounded off. Ingebold followed, but without having been part of the group of <em>haste</em> recipients, she started falling behind almost immediately.</p><p></p><p>That left Gilbert and Mudpie alone with the two guard animals and the two prisoners. "Scoot!" commanded the wizard, shooing Wrath and Grumps Junior away. Then he cast a <em>fireball</em> spell at the two captives, not wanting to chance their escape while the heroes were away. Tremayne, having nearly been killed by Hagan's <em>chain lightning</em> spell and only kept alive by the minimal healing provided by Ingebold, was slain immediately. Dardennex also made a point of falling over, unmoving, after the spell's casting, but Gilbert wasn't about to be fooled; he had Mudpie approach and administer a killing blow to the man's skull just to be sure.</p><p></p><p>Outside the keep, Ingebold cast a <em>bless</em> spell on the group before they got too far out of range. Hagan cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell on himself and then got ready to repeat that same spell on as many of his friends as he could, recognizing they were liable to need its protection against a foe that big and powerful. He wasn't wrong, either; Finoula had managed to catch up to the iron juggernaut and struck it across the knee joint with her longsword <em>Tahlmalaera</em>; in retaliation, the golem swung at the offending elf with its enormous sword, <em>smiting</em> the ranger for good measure. Finoula went sprawling, very close to death.</p><p></p><p>"Finoula!" called Ingebold from some distance behind, racing up to heal her Battle-Sister. Despite the magic boots she wore that enhanced her speed to that of a human, even while wearing her heavy armor, she felt as if she were caught in one of those dreams where it felt like you were running through molasses.</p><p></p><p>Hagan was unable to reach Finoula right away but he angled his flight path and flew up to Binkadink astride Obvious. "Here you go," said the half-orc, firing off a <em>stoneskin</em> spell on the gnome. "Thanks!" replied Binkadink, then urged his jackalope to bound up beside the iron juggernaut. He sent his magical glaive slamming into the side of the fearsome automaton, dealing quite a bit of damage due to the <em>golembane scarab</em> he wore pinned to his cloak.</p><p></p><p>Darrien pulled his <em>figurine of wondrous power</em> out of his belt pouch and activated it, leaping atop the <em>ebony fly</em> as it manifested. A <em>haste</em> spell was one thing, but now he had an even faster speed! He pulled back on a readied arrow while astride his fly, launching it at the iron juggernaut as he got within his preferred range: close enough to make the shot count, but far enough back to remain out of reach of an immediate counterattack.</p><p></p><p>Crumpled on the ground, Finoula guzzled down a <em>potion of cure light wounds</em> - it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and it was all she had on her at the moment. But soon thereafter Ingebold arrived and placed her hands on Finoula's crushed ribs, healing them instantly with a rush of positive energy. "Praise be t' Moradin!" the cleric exclaimed.</p><p></p><p>Back at the keep, Gilbert still hadn't left yet. After ensuring the two captives weren't going to be causing any further mischief, he started casting preparatory spells upon his familiar. "You going to be combat machine, just like enemy!" declared the portly wizard, casting first a <em>Tenser's transformation</em> spell on his familiar and then a <em>polymorph</em> spell that caused Mudpie to assume the same general form, but one 16 feet tall. He had other spells he could have cast upon the earth elemental, but by now the group was out of view over the horizon.</p><p></p><p>"They probably in wheat fields by now," surmised Gilbert, mentally plotting out the juggernaut's course if it was making a bee-line for the castle. "Let's go!" Casting a <em>teleport</em> spell upon himself and his familiar, the two appeared in the same wheat field where the rest of the group was currently battling the iron juggernaut - but at the other end of it.</p><p></p><p>Having seen the damage the metal foe did to Finoula (and not realizing part of that damage had been the result of a <em>smite good</em> attack that couldn't be repeated for another day), Castillan chose to put his greater speed to its best possible use - ignoring the battle at hand and warning the townspeople ahead in the iron juggernaut's path of the impending danger.</p><p></p><p>For its part, the iron juggernaut made a mostly-straight path towards the castle, only deviating for a few steps at a time if there was an irritating hero within reach. His sword came swinging out at Darrien, nearly sending him tumbling off of his fly; severely wounded, the ranger was forced to back off even further. He didn't have any healing at hand, so he just kept peppering the construct with arrows, only now from a greater distance away.</p><p></p><p>Hagan had just cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell on Finoula and offered to cast another upon Ingebold, but she shooed him away. "Use 'em on those what can get close!" she advised, and Hagan flew off in Darrien's direction.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink sent Obvious on a parallel course to the iron juggernaut, swinging his glaive for all he was worth as they got alongside the construct. He scored a large rent in the side of the thing's armor. However, the juggernaut was able to bring a crushing retaliation with his massive sword, swinging down not upon the gnome who had struck him but the hippity-hopping jackalope that provided him his speed and mobility. Two of Obvious's legs broke instantly and the poor creature flopped over onto its side, trapping the gnome beneath it. Binkadink screamed in equal parts worry, concern, and hatred, unable to help his friend and mount and unable to extricate himself from underneath his bulk. The jackalope's blood washed over him, soaking the nearby ground.</p><p></p><p>Finoula caught up to the construct and sent her <em>flaming whip of thorns</em> flashing out at it; she had no false hopes about being able to trip the massive juggernaut, but she hoped to at least do it a bit of damage. Unknown to her, the flames burning along the length of her whip were actually healing the construct by a tiny little bit. Behind her, a massive Mudpie almost as tall as the juggernaut raced up, its footfalls reverberating through the ground as it ran.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold reached Obvious and placed her hands upon the poor creature, who was unconscious from the pain and bleeding out. She channeled a <em>heal</em> spell through her fingers: overkill, no doubt, but the quickest way to ensure the jackalope was returned to his full fighting strength as quickly as possible. But Binkadink wasn't taking any further chances with his friend's life; as soon as Obvious could sit back up, the gnome activated his <em>stilt-boots</em> and raced forward, calling back to his friend to hang back. He put all of his strength into his swing and could feel the power of his magical scarab aiding him in the blow. A large rent tore down the juggernaut's front, a testament to the power behind the blow. At the same time, on the other side of the juggernaut, Finoula struck out again with her snapping whip, and then Mudpie came up behind the construct and gave it a punch with a massive fist the size and construction of a boulder. From overhead, Darrien kept a rain of arrows flying down at the iron juggernaut, hoping they were at least doing some damage.</p><p></p><p>Stopped from making progress towards the castle - and his ultimate goal of killing King Galrich - the iron juggernaut cast forth with one of its Abyssal abilities, engulfing a bunch of its surrounding enemies in an <em>unholy blight</em> effect. Finoula and Ingebold, Binkadink and Obvious, Hagan and Wezhley: all were within the area of effect of the blast, and all were affected, but each was able to summon the necessary fortitude to wrest off the worst of the spell's effects. But the respite gave the iron juggernaut the opening it needed and it started off again towards the castle.</p><p></p><p>But Binkadink was having none of that - not from the thing that hurt his jackalope! With another massive swing of his glaive, he brought the iron juggernaut crashing down face-first into the field of wheat. "Thank goodness!' exclaimed Finoula, glad to see their foe defeated at last - she never again wanted to be hit as hard as it had hit her!</p><p></p><p>But the fight wasn't completely over just yet. A hatch swung open from the juggernaut's back and a gnarled, humanoid creature staggered out, bleeding from the side of its horned head. From the back of his <em>ebony fly</em>, Darrien sent an arrow flying down at it, but it missed the quasit who had been not only piloting the iron juggernaut but fueling its movement with his own Abyssal energies. The "plink" of the arrowhead on the juggernaut's iron frame caused Vandergrotten the quasit to look up and mentally prepare himself to become invisible once again. But then Gilbert Fung cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell from further down the wheat field that almost dropped the vile demon where he stood. Finoula advanced but was just out of range; the juggernaut's shoulder was in the way of her line of sight so she couldn't bring her whip to bear. "Grab him, Mudpie!" Gilbert called as he raced up, winded from the run. Mudpie obediently wrapped a massive hand around the dazed quasit, squeezing him in a vicelike grip.</p><p></p><p>"No..." whined Vandergrotten as he struggled in vain to escape the elemental's clutch. "...What are you going to do with me?"</p><p></p><p>"You brought here to serve as familiar," wheezed Gilbert. "That mean we kill you here, you dead for good. You probably re-form back in Abyss, but with no memories of former life. You no longer be Vandergrotten, just another tormented soul."</p><p></p><p>"Is...is that what you're going to do to me?" whimpered the quasit. "Kill me?"</p><p></p><p>"No," replied Gilbert. "Not me. Come on, Mudpie! Let's finish trip with him!" The mage ambled toward the castle, the rest of the group following. They made it to the castle walls and were allowed entry by the dwarven guard on duty. When they asked for a special meeting with the king, Aerik Battershield was there to ensure it happened at once. "I think ye'll be wantin' t' attend this meetin', Me King!" he advised King Galrich with a smirk.</p><p></p><p>The last thing Vandergrotten saw - his very last sight before oblivion took him back to an eternity of torment in the Abyssal Realms - was the hated sight of Galrich, that gods-be-damned orc, looking down at him while strangling the very life from his body...and wearing the coveted Crown of Kordovia while doing it.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>For those wondering just who this Vandergrotten guy is, he was a foe from the "Wing Three" campaign who absolutely hated the idea that a half-orc bastard was in line to take the throne of Kordovia and did everything he could to stop such a horrid fate from coming to be. (Obviously, his best efforts weren't good enough then, and they weren't good enough now to put an end to King Galrich's reign.) But there's a hidden level underneath Battershield Keep (formerly Vandergrotten Keep), where the wizard Vandergrotten had created a variety of constructs, most of which the Wing Three adventurers had defeated. But knowing he was destined for the Abyss upon his death and certain of his ability to rise through the ranks of demonhood, Vandergrotten created an iron juggernaut that could be powered by the Abyssal energies of a quasit and controlled from within. Then, it was a simple matter to scatter around tomes which purported to extol the virtues of the quasit Vandergrotten as a familiar. Soon after attaining quasithood in the Abyssal planes, the former Kordovian wizard was called into service by Tremayne. Vandergrotten accepted long enough to get his bearings, then skedaddled to set his own plans into motion.</p><p></p><p>Logan ran Ingebold at the beginning of this adventure, but once Jacob decided Castillan's best use was to warn others of the impending iron juggernaut attack, Logan passed Ingebold over to Jacob to run so he could stay in the game.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: My Dalek "Exterminate!" shirt, because that's what Vandergrotten wanted to do to "that gods-be-damned orc," and also because a Dalek represents a small, organic being encased inside an armored exterior, much like the iron juggernaut powered by Vandergrotten's Abyssal quasit nature.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7352703, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 44: VANDERGROTTEN'S LEGACY[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 13 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 13 Darrien, half-elf ranger 13 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 13 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 13 Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 13[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 3 Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 12 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 24 February 2018 - - - "Well, this is nice," commented Binkadink, helping himself to another buttered roll. "I have to say, Ingebold, this is probably my favorite non-healing spell you can cast." "Aye," agreed the dwarven cleric. "An' th' [i]heroes' feast[/i] not only provides us with good food, it also makes us immune t' poison fer th' next twelve hours or so." Gilbert, too lazy to get it himself, had his [i]unseen servant[/i] fetch him the pitcher of chilled juice and fill up his glass. "So what's on the agenda today, Gilbert?" asked Darrien. "No agenda," the hefty mage answered. "We on down time today." "Then why the feast?" "I wanted t' try out th' spell, fer one thing," answered Ingebold. "I've nae cast it before. But I'm thinkin' this might be a normal part of each mornin', circumstances permittin'." "I'm all for that!" belched Binkadink. At his side, Finoula scowled at the little gnome's manners and reached over for another cluster of grapes. After that, each of the adventurers spent some time doing things their adventuring lifestyle didn't always give the time to do. Darrien wrestled in the courtyard with his dire bear cub, Grumps Junior, while next to him Finoula played tug-the-rag with her trained timber wolf, Wrath. Binkadink gave Obvious a good rubdown; Aithanar had been taking good care of the jackalope but the gnome liked spending time with his riding mount and hadn't had a whole lot of time to do so in recent months. Castillan and Aithanar sparred up on top of one of the towers of Battershield Keep, keeping their combat skills honed, although the bounder noted his younger brother had a hard time concentrating, as he kept sneaking glimpses down to the courtyard where Finoula played with her wolf. The two front tower roofs were also occupied; Gilbert and Mudpie looked out over the expanse of the Vesve Forest in the distance from atop the northeastern tower, while over on the northwestern tower Hagan had his weasel familiar Wezhley jumping up on his hind legs for treats. As for Ingebold, she was in her room, praying before her altar to Moradin the Soul-Forger. As an adventuring cleric, that was something she didn't often get to do; she made a mental note to see about assembling a miniature altar for the small room she shared with Finoula aboard the dragonfly vessel. The sudden sound of flapping wings caused Finoula to duck and look around; it had sounded like a bat had flown right by her head. Not seeing anything, she called out to the others, "Anybody see a bat?" Those in the courtyard with her looked around but saw nothing. Then Wrath tugged the rag still in his jaws, and the ranger returned her attention to the tug-of-war with her pet wolf. And then, with a pop of displaced air, two human figures materialized on the top of the stable roof, looking over the open courtyard of Battershield Keep. One was an older man, gray of beard and wearing a wizard's robes, with a wizened staff in one hand. Beside him stood a much younger man wearing studded leather armor and wielding a rapier. "You see him anywhere?" asked the younger man, [b]Dardennex[/b]. "No, but he's around here somewhere - I can feel him over the link," replied [b]Tremayne[/b], looking down in irritation at the adventurers below him. Darrien happened to look up and see the figures and called out, "Hey!" The others glanced over to see what he was looking at; Finoula put her hands on the weapons at her hips, leaving Wrath to win the tug-of-war uncontested, while Binkadink grabbed up the magical glaive he had leaned against the far wall of the courtyard. Castillan and Aithanar left their perch atop the southeastern tower and headed down the stairs to the courtyard below. "Can we help you?" Finoula called up to the stable roof as the Kordovians all stopped what they were doing and stared at these trespassers. But neither of the visitors seemed bothered by the attention. "They're likely in cahoots with him," observed Tremayne. "Why else would he show up here, wherever the Hell we are?" "Who exactly are you talking about?" called Binkadink. Dardennex gave an appraising look at the adventurers arrayed before them. "We can take 'em," he opined. That was all the justification the adventurers felt they needed, as the rogue had more or less stated an intention to attack them all. From the northeastern tower, Gilbert cast a [i]haste[/i] spell on his friends in the courtyard, catching all but Hagan and himself and their two respective familiars, and Ingebold who was still in her room at the tower three levels below where Gilbert stood. Mudpie, unable to "swim" through worked stone in the way he could normal earth and rock, started heading along the battlements to the stairs at the other end of the keep. "Let's go, Obvious!" called Binkadink, leaping onto the back of his jackalope with his glaive in hand. With no further prompting, Obvious leaped up onto the roof of the stables in a single hop - Binkadink had to grab hold of one of his antlers to keep from falling, as the mount wasn't saddled up - then spun to face the two intruders. Binkadink slapped out with his glaive, smacking the wizard in the side of the head with the flat of his weapon's blade. Tremayne staggered a bit but remained standing - although he had to lean on his staff to maintain his balance. But then he pushed past his companion (and act which earned him another smack with the gnome's weapon), backing toward the front of the keep while Dardennex kept Binkadink at bay. Unseen by the rogue, Castillan activated his ring and [i]dimension doored[/i] into place behind him. And then Tremayne cast a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell which blasted into Castillan and arced across to Binkadink and Obvious and down to everyone else in the courtyard. However, Tremayne hadn't yet seen Hagan looking down from the top of the tower at his back. The half-orc sorcerer had seen him, though, and fired off a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell of his own. His spell didn't have as many secondary arcs, but then the odds in this fight were somewhat lopsided. The blast knocked Tremayne out cold, and he toppled off the side of the roof to land in a heap on the courtyard ground. As Darrien was standing right by the controls, he started winding up the lever that began raising the drawbridge to the keep - no sense in giving the rogue an easy exit. He also pounded on the door beside him, which led to the stairwell just outside Ingebold's room. "Ingebold!" he called. "We're fighting bad guys out here!" The cleric popped her head out of the door immediately thereafter, looking in consternation at the battle raging in the courtyard and on the stable roof. "I cannae leave ye be fer five minutes without ye gettin' into trouble!" she scolded. Finoula had her [i]flaming whip of thorns[/i] out and flicked it at Dardennex, who stood close enough to the roof's edge, facing down Binkadink and Obvious, to make the attack possible. She managed to hit the rogue, but was unsuccessful in her subsequent trip attack - a shame, for she had wanted to drag him off the rooftop where she could really get at him! But Castillan took advantage of the distraction, sending his sap crashing down on the back of Dardennex's head. He collapsed at once, and it was only sheer luck that prevented him from taking an unconscious dive over the edge of the roof. Several minutes later, all of the heroes were assembled in the courtyard - all but Hagan, who was keeping watch from his tower roof, in case this was just an initial strike force. Dardennex had been stripped of his armor (including a black vest and a pair of black boots which both radiated magic, according to Ingebold) and the two intruders had both been stripped of all equipment (each had worn a magic ring), all of which was piled out of reach of the captives. Dardennex had been tied up with a length of rope, but rather than fishing about for another rope to bind Tremayne, they took the equally-effective measure of having Obvious sit on his chest. Ingebold applied [i]cure minor wound[/i] spells to revive both captives to consciousness. "Now, what all this about?" demanded Gilbert Fung. "Why you teleport here, cause all this trouble?" "Damn his hide!" snarled Tremayne, still not answering directly - these two had an annoying habit of talking back and forth to each other while dismissing everyone else. "I never should have called him to service!" "He has caused us a bit of trouble here," admitted Dardennex, struggling with his bonds to no avail. "Can you still feel him?" "Hey, wizard!" called Gilbert, poking Tremayne in the shoulder with a chubby finger. "We talking to you here!" "Yes," replied Tremayne, answering his cohort while still ignoring an increasingly annoyed Gilbert. "He's feeling elated - as if something he's been waiting a long time for is finally about to happen! Damn that [b]Vandergrotten[/b]!" "Wait--Vandergrotten?" asked Finoula. She'd heard that name before; wasn't that the wizard who had originally owned this very keep? But wasn't he long since dead? "My quasit familiar," admitted Tremayne, finally responding to one of his captors. That filled in a lot of missing information: if Vandergrotten was a quasit, that meant he must have died and been reborn in the Abyss...and then eventually called back, many years later, to the Material Plane to serve as a familiar to an evil wizard. "They're both evil," confirmed Ingebold, casting a quick [i]detect evil[/i] spell on their captives. "Aithanar!" Gilbert called. "Go search inside keep--look for quasit!" The wizard had noticed Wrath, after having won his tug-of-war, had been nosing about along the ground leading to the door to the back building's entryway. A set of insectoid prints could be seen heading toward the door; it's possible the quasit - while fully [i]invisible[/i] - had transformed from a bat into a centipede and entered the building's interior through the slight gap beneath the door. "On it!" called the elven fighter, running to the door and into the building's interior rooms to start his search. The ground suddenly began to shudder. Through the still-open drawbridge - for Darrien had stopped trying to raise it once he saw Dardennex had been subdued by Castillan - the group could see mounds of earth being pushed aside, as an enormous head of iron rose up from the ground. This was followed by a massive set of metal shoulders, and then a torso, until an iron golem easily 20 feet tall stood just outside Battershield Keep, clumps of moist earth falling from its metal form. In one hand it held an iron sword longer than a man was tall. "At long last!" it bellowed in a mechanical voice. "I can finally put an end to that gods-be-damned orc who's taken over the kingdom!" The heroes readied for an impending attack, but it didn't come - instead, the iron juggernaut stomped off, heading directly towards the castle in the distance. "Crap! We got to stop it!" announced Gilbert. From the top of the northwest tower, Hagan cast a [i]fly[/i] spell upon himself, made sure Wezhley was secure on his shoulder, and took off in pursuit. "Wrath: Guard!" commanded Finoula, pointing at the prisoners as she took off after the mechanical humanoid. The wolf obediently returned by Dardennex's bound form and stood watch over him, exposing his fangs in case the prisoner got any ideas. Darrien likewise sent Grumps Junior to watch over the wizard as he sprinted off behind Finoula, both of them still [i]hasted[/i] by Gilbert's spell. Castillan ran right behind them. Binkadink leaped back atop Obvious - causing a grunt of pain from Tremayne, upon whose chest the jackalope had been putting his weight - and the two bounded off. Ingebold followed, but without having been part of the group of [i]haste[/i] recipients, she started falling behind almost immediately. That left Gilbert and Mudpie alone with the two guard animals and the two prisoners. "Scoot!" commanded the wizard, shooing Wrath and Grumps Junior away. Then he cast a [i]fireball[/i] spell at the two captives, not wanting to chance their escape while the heroes were away. Tremayne, having nearly been killed by Hagan's [i]chain lightning[/i] spell and only kept alive by the minimal healing provided by Ingebold, was slain immediately. Dardennex also made a point of falling over, unmoving, after the spell's casting, but Gilbert wasn't about to be fooled; he had Mudpie approach and administer a killing blow to the man's skull just to be sure. Outside the keep, Ingebold cast a [i]bless[/i] spell on the group before they got too far out of range. Hagan cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell on himself and then got ready to repeat that same spell on as many of his friends as he could, recognizing they were liable to need its protection against a foe that big and powerful. He wasn't wrong, either; Finoula had managed to catch up to the iron juggernaut and struck it across the knee joint with her longsword [i]Tahlmalaera[/i]; in retaliation, the golem swung at the offending elf with its enormous sword, [i]smiting[/i] the ranger for good measure. Finoula went sprawling, very close to death. "Finoula!" called Ingebold from some distance behind, racing up to heal her Battle-Sister. Despite the magic boots she wore that enhanced her speed to that of a human, even while wearing her heavy armor, she felt as if she were caught in one of those dreams where it felt like you were running through molasses. Hagan was unable to reach Finoula right away but he angled his flight path and flew up to Binkadink astride Obvious. "Here you go," said the half-orc, firing off a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell on the gnome. "Thanks!" replied Binkadink, then urged his jackalope to bound up beside the iron juggernaut. He sent his magical glaive slamming into the side of the fearsome automaton, dealing quite a bit of damage due to the [i]golembane scarab[/i] he wore pinned to his cloak. Darrien pulled his [i]figurine of wondrous power[/i] out of his belt pouch and activated it, leaping atop the [i]ebony fly[/i] as it manifested. A [i]haste[/i] spell was one thing, but now he had an even faster speed! He pulled back on a readied arrow while astride his fly, launching it at the iron juggernaut as he got within his preferred range: close enough to make the shot count, but far enough back to remain out of reach of an immediate counterattack. Crumpled on the ground, Finoula guzzled down a [i]potion of cure light wounds[/i] - it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and it was all she had on her at the moment. But soon thereafter Ingebold arrived and placed her hands on Finoula's crushed ribs, healing them instantly with a rush of positive energy. "Praise be t' Moradin!" the cleric exclaimed. Back at the keep, Gilbert still hadn't left yet. After ensuring the two captives weren't going to be causing any further mischief, he started casting preparatory spells upon his familiar. "You going to be combat machine, just like enemy!" declared the portly wizard, casting first a [i]Tenser's transformation[/i] spell on his familiar and then a [i]polymorph[/i] spell that caused Mudpie to assume the same general form, but one 16 feet tall. He had other spells he could have cast upon the earth elemental, but by now the group was out of view over the horizon. "They probably in wheat fields by now," surmised Gilbert, mentally plotting out the juggernaut's course if it was making a bee-line for the castle. "Let's go!" Casting a [i]teleport[/i] spell upon himself and his familiar, the two appeared in the same wheat field where the rest of the group was currently battling the iron juggernaut - but at the other end of it. Having seen the damage the metal foe did to Finoula (and not realizing part of that damage had been the result of a [i]smite good[/i] attack that couldn't be repeated for another day), Castillan chose to put his greater speed to its best possible use - ignoring the battle at hand and warning the townspeople ahead in the iron juggernaut's path of the impending danger. For its part, the iron juggernaut made a mostly-straight path towards the castle, only deviating for a few steps at a time if there was an irritating hero within reach. His sword came swinging out at Darrien, nearly sending him tumbling off of his fly; severely wounded, the ranger was forced to back off even further. He didn't have any healing at hand, so he just kept peppering the construct with arrows, only now from a greater distance away. Hagan had just cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell on Finoula and offered to cast another upon Ingebold, but she shooed him away. "Use 'em on those what can get close!" she advised, and Hagan flew off in Darrien's direction. Binkadink sent Obvious on a parallel course to the iron juggernaut, swinging his glaive for all he was worth as they got alongside the construct. He scored a large rent in the side of the thing's armor. However, the juggernaut was able to bring a crushing retaliation with his massive sword, swinging down not upon the gnome who had struck him but the hippity-hopping jackalope that provided him his speed and mobility. Two of Obvious's legs broke instantly and the poor creature flopped over onto its side, trapping the gnome beneath it. Binkadink screamed in equal parts worry, concern, and hatred, unable to help his friend and mount and unable to extricate himself from underneath his bulk. The jackalope's blood washed over him, soaking the nearby ground. Finoula caught up to the construct and sent her [i]flaming whip of thorns[/i] flashing out at it; she had no false hopes about being able to trip the massive juggernaut, but she hoped to at least do it a bit of damage. Unknown to her, the flames burning along the length of her whip were actually healing the construct by a tiny little bit. Behind her, a massive Mudpie almost as tall as the juggernaut raced up, its footfalls reverberating through the ground as it ran. Ingebold reached Obvious and placed her hands upon the poor creature, who was unconscious from the pain and bleeding out. She channeled a [i]heal[/i] spell through her fingers: overkill, no doubt, but the quickest way to ensure the jackalope was returned to his full fighting strength as quickly as possible. But Binkadink wasn't taking any further chances with his friend's life; as soon as Obvious could sit back up, the gnome activated his [i]stilt-boots[/i] and raced forward, calling back to his friend to hang back. He put all of his strength into his swing and could feel the power of his magical scarab aiding him in the blow. A large rent tore down the juggernaut's front, a testament to the power behind the blow. At the same time, on the other side of the juggernaut, Finoula struck out again with her snapping whip, and then Mudpie came up behind the construct and gave it a punch with a massive fist the size and construction of a boulder. From overhead, Darrien kept a rain of arrows flying down at the iron juggernaut, hoping they were at least doing some damage. Stopped from making progress towards the castle - and his ultimate goal of killing King Galrich - the iron juggernaut cast forth with one of its Abyssal abilities, engulfing a bunch of its surrounding enemies in an [i]unholy blight[/i] effect. Finoula and Ingebold, Binkadink and Obvious, Hagan and Wezhley: all were within the area of effect of the blast, and all were affected, but each was able to summon the necessary fortitude to wrest off the worst of the spell's effects. But the respite gave the iron juggernaut the opening it needed and it started off again towards the castle. But Binkadink was having none of that - not from the thing that hurt his jackalope! With another massive swing of his glaive, he brought the iron juggernaut crashing down face-first into the field of wheat. "Thank goodness!' exclaimed Finoula, glad to see their foe defeated at last - she never again wanted to be hit as hard as it had hit her! But the fight wasn't completely over just yet. A hatch swung open from the juggernaut's back and a gnarled, humanoid creature staggered out, bleeding from the side of its horned head. From the back of his [i]ebony fly[/i], Darrien sent an arrow flying down at it, but it missed the quasit who had been not only piloting the iron juggernaut but fueling its movement with his own Abyssal energies. The "plink" of the arrowhead on the juggernaut's iron frame caused Vandergrotten the quasit to look up and mentally prepare himself to become invisible once again. But then Gilbert Fung cast a [i]magic missile[/i] spell from further down the wheat field that almost dropped the vile demon where he stood. Finoula advanced but was just out of range; the juggernaut's shoulder was in the way of her line of sight so she couldn't bring her whip to bear. "Grab him, Mudpie!" Gilbert called as he raced up, winded from the run. Mudpie obediently wrapped a massive hand around the dazed quasit, squeezing him in a vicelike grip. "No..." whined Vandergrotten as he struggled in vain to escape the elemental's clutch. "...What are you going to do with me?" "You brought here to serve as familiar," wheezed Gilbert. "That mean we kill you here, you dead for good. You probably re-form back in Abyss, but with no memories of former life. You no longer be Vandergrotten, just another tormented soul." "Is...is that what you're going to do to me?" whimpered the quasit. "Kill me?" "No," replied Gilbert. "Not me. Come on, Mudpie! Let's finish trip with him!" The mage ambled toward the castle, the rest of the group following. They made it to the castle walls and were allowed entry by the dwarven guard on duty. When they asked for a special meeting with the king, Aerik Battershield was there to ensure it happened at once. "I think ye'll be wantin' t' attend this meetin', Me King!" he advised King Galrich with a smirk. The last thing Vandergrotten saw - his very last sight before oblivion took him back to an eternity of torment in the Abyssal Realms - was the hated sight of Galrich, that gods-be-damned orc, looking down at him while strangling the very life from his body...and wearing the coveted Crown of Kordovia while doing it. - - - For those wondering just who this Vandergrotten guy is, he was a foe from the "Wing Three" campaign who absolutely hated the idea that a half-orc bastard was in line to take the throne of Kordovia and did everything he could to stop such a horrid fate from coming to be. (Obviously, his best efforts weren't good enough then, and they weren't good enough now to put an end to King Galrich's reign.) But there's a hidden level underneath Battershield Keep (formerly Vandergrotten Keep), where the wizard Vandergrotten had created a variety of constructs, most of which the Wing Three adventurers had defeated. But knowing he was destined for the Abyss upon his death and certain of his ability to rise through the ranks of demonhood, Vandergrotten created an iron juggernaut that could be powered by the Abyssal energies of a quasit and controlled from within. Then, it was a simple matter to scatter around tomes which purported to extol the virtues of the quasit Vandergrotten as a familiar. Soon after attaining quasithood in the Abyssal planes, the former Kordovian wizard was called into service by Tremayne. Vandergrotten accepted long enough to get his bearings, then skedaddled to set his own plans into motion. Logan ran Ingebold at the beginning of this adventure, but once Jacob decided Castillan's best use was to warn others of the impending iron juggernaut attack, Logan passed Ingebold over to Jacob to run so he could stay in the game. - - - T-Shirt Worn: My Dalek "Exterminate!" shirt, because that's what Vandergrotten wanted to do to "that gods-be-damned orc," and also because a Dalek represents a small, organic being encased inside an armored exterior, much like the iron juggernaut powered by Vandergrotten's Abyssal quasit nature. [/QUOTE]
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