The New Epic Chronicles

[James McMurray]

Next the heroes travel to the pool of pain, where Bumtin and Tsura flat out refuse to go near the Flux Slime. However, after a bit of shopping, the group returns with several torches and the two warriors burn a path to the pool. Rikus dives right in, and laughs aloud when the pool throws him back out. Greyhawk is a bit more careful in passing the slime, but he also bathes in eternal torment. Tsura still refuses to go near the pool while the slime is there, but Toshiro demands obedience. He picks her up and carries her to the pool, dropping her in. She screams in anger and pain as the pool's razor sharp tendrils of blood lash out and drag her in.

Minutes later, she is hurtled out through the covering of slime, and although Toshiro rushes to her side, he is too late to save the old woman from the ravages of Boccob's blood.

Seeing that, Bumtin again flat out refuses, but the party again takes the torches and this time burns away all of the slime, which explodes in a flash of harmless light when gone. Bumtin then bathes in the pool, his tiny gnomish body ravaged by the waters. But when he steps out, he knows he will never again be concerned about lesser pains.

Returning to Oerth, the party hangs out in Greyhawk City waiting for their items to be crafter. Their second night there, they attempt to resurrect Tsura, but her anger at having been tossed into the slime against her will is too strong, and she refuses to return. Toshiro, in a streak of uncharacteristic disdain for a revered ancestor, writes it off as her being too chaotic and not honorable enough.

Most simply idle away the long days, but Bumtin lives it up in style, sampling almost every streetwalker the city has to offer. Days before their items are prepared, he requests to again go to the Pool of Love. Needless to say, his new definition of "love" is quickly refused.

The morning after the party receives their last item, they are relaxing in Bumtin's Magnificent Mansion, eating a heroes feast, when a side door swings open. Behind it they see another feast hall, and they recognize several of the deities whose rise to power they witnessed on their journey through time. Among them are Corellon, Heironious, and Ehlonna. Corellon nods to Farlight, and then a jolly large friar steps into view. He squeezes his large frame through the doorway, and asks if he can sit down.

Plopping down into a chair that creaks under his weight, he looks at the sumptuous repast in front of him. "Mind if I have m'self a bit of a nosh?" He inquires in a cheerful deep voice. Farlight nods and the man grabs up a large turkey leg. He doesn't bother to shake it off of the body though, and the whole turkey comes up towards his waiting mouth. A few large bites later he gets a hold of himself and sets the leg aside.

"Allo there. I'm Solliers. I've been tasked by the deities over there (he nods to the now closed door) to bring you a message and an offer. As you've seen, pantheons can rise 'n fall, and that time is nearly on us. Sometimes is a big to-do, and others it passes with ease. This is lookin' t'be one of the latter.
"Y'see, the gods've decided they'll set up their champions for great quests, and the mortals that do the best in these will get to rise to divinity as the old bunch steps down. Because of your works both here and in time, they've chosen you two as their champions." This last statement is directed at Farlight and Toshiro.

"You others have a bit of a lucky break in that you're along for the ride, and could very well find yerselves in the grand parade at the end. Mostly the gods are just curious about you two though, as they can't seem to find out anything about you." This last is directed to the time-displaced Rikus and Bumtin. The two simply nod and explain that they are from the past. When told when from, Solliers' interest peaks. "Oh my, I remember those days! Very rough and tumble sort of time it was. Growth of civilization, stamping out of chaos, and all that. You must be very proud! But I digress, and I've got lots more to do.

"In any case, what do you say? Care to give it a whirl?" The fast talking priest finally stops, and the room hangs in silence for a minute, before he again starts up. "C'mon now, I don't have a lot of time. We'll just go around the table, shall we?"

His gaze first rests on Farlight, who immediately proclaims his honor at having been chosen, and his desire to step up into the shoes of his lord.

Next in line is Greyhawk, never far from his charge's side. But the enigmatic city / man doesn't say a word, and Solliers chimes in, "We'll come back to you then, shall we?"

Next is Rikus, who says, "I'm just along for the ride. But sure."

Toshiro is obviously deep in thought, and Solliers moves on to Bumtin, who instantly jumps at the chance for such power.

Back around to Greyhawk this time, who has apparently come to a decision. "I go where my lord leads."

Solliers laughs out loud. "Good man. Perhaps you could be the god of servitude. Haven't 'ad one o' those in a while, and its been ever so hard to find good help. Exceptin' your's truly of course."

Again he turns to Toshiro, who is still deep in thought. A few silent moments later and the large samurai takes a deep grumbling breath in. When he breathes out again it is to say, "I would be greatly honored to become a revered ancestor of my clan."

Solliers breathes a loud sigh of relief. "Whew! I was afraid you'd composed another of those haikus! But I'm afraid you misunderstand my taciturn friend. You won't be an ancestor, you'll be a god. You have no children now, and you'll find it hard, but not impossible to have children after your rise. But keep this in mind: the current group of deities that oversees your lands are not the sort to care for worship, and this allows your people to revere their ancestors rather than gods. The next group, who knows? It might be that it falls upon you to preserve your peoples' current way of life."

When phrased that way, Toshiro is quick to agree.

"Excellent! In that case, your mission… should you choose to accept it…" Solliers laughs. Well, you've already accepted it of course, so there was no point in that, I've just always wanted to say it. Very mysterious of me you know. But anyway, I digress yet again. Where was I?"

Bumtin says, "mission." And Solliers continues.

"Oh yes, the mission, right. Your mission… should you choose to accept it…" another pause and chuckle. "Is to travel tot he lands of the Valley of Bloodstone, on the borders between Geoff and the Valley of the Mage. For now, you must make the land yours and protect it from its current ravagers."

He looks around at the assembled heroes, and grabs back up the turkey and leg. "Well, I've got lots to do still, and precious little time to do it. If there's nothing else, I'll be off." He holds up the turkey, "do you mind?" Farlight says no, and he takes the turkey with him to the door he came in. This time when he opens it and shoves himself through, it is into a bustling city street, where he is seen to flag down a drink vendor before the door shuts behind him, leaving the party alone to discuss what to do.

 

[James McMurray]

Having accepted the quest, our heroes travel by magic to a large city some 200 miles from the valley of Bloodstone. From there they buy horses and travel by land, stopping at every major city along the way in order to learn as much as they can about Bloodstone and its history. They find out:

• The land has changed hands many times in its past, as people fight over the power of the bloodstone mines. Because bloodstones can replace any expensive material component for magic, they are highly prized by spell casters of all sorts.
• Until approximately ten years ago, the valley was held under the rule of the Gran March.
• The location of the mines was lost ten years ago, and expeditionary forces could not find them again, or never returned. In fact, the people who had worked there previously couldn’t even find the place, their memories were hazy at best, non-existent at worst.
• None of the Gran March’s wizards could figure out what had happened, and when war sprung up with the Orcs in the Lortmils, more pressing matters dropped the issue of the mines completely from the courts’ agenda.
• Recently, a bandit army has taken control of the populace of the bloodstone region, demanding tithes every season, and making it so the people who did not flee as refugees could barely keep enough for themselves to survive.

As they get closer to the region, they come across a family of about 30, leaving the valley. Once the wary villagers’ guard is dropped, a brief discussion confirms that the situation is grave in the valley. In a little over a week, the bandit army will come to claim their next tithe, and this man refuses to pay again, choosing to restart his life with his large family than knuckle under to oppressors.

Ahead, the group spies several figures watching them from within a forested area, that practically screams “typical ambush spot.” Sure of themselves, they ride forward. Sure enough, they are ambushed, as several small figures in the trees hurl sticky globs of leaves and sap at them, which burst and spread, sticking the riders to their mounts. Aiming to end this quickly, Farlight calls out a Holy Word, and twelve halflings fall from the trees, dead. Toshiro and Bumtin are both blinded and deafened, and the horses are also killed.

Farlight and Rikus hear several more of the halflings fleeing through the trees, and Farlight moves off in pursuit, catching one from behind and knocking him unconscious before bringing him back to the group. The samurai and sorcerer’s eyes have cleared, and the party revives the young halfling.

A short discussion and apology later, Farlight promises to raise the halfling defenders of the forest the next day, and asks to be taken to the halfling’s leader. It seems these halflings have lived in these forests for generations, and they have managed to drive the bandits off for several years now.

The next day, the dead halflings are revived, the leader allows them into the city. He doubts the party can stand against the bandit army alone, but wishes them luck.

Farther up the road the party meets a large band of about a hundred soldiers, also leaving the valley. It seems that they were paid by the Baron of Bloodstone to protect the populace, but have recently been let go. Baron Tranth fears that they would not be enough to stave off the bandits, and that reprisals would follow a failed defense, so he sent them packing before tribute time arrived.

When they find out that these men are veterans of the giant wars in Geoff, the party quickly hires them. The soldiers tell them that they will have to pay a dragon to enter or leave the valley, but that sometimes the dragon is not there. Bumtin stays behind with them while the remainder of the group travels on ahead to find this dragon and see about paying it or slaying it. They do not find the dragon though, instead, they are attacked by a small band of Hill Giants, which immediately flee when the Priest of Corollan slams a fire storm into them, almost killing them all with one fiery eruption.

A mile farther down the road they come across a band of hill dwarves leaving the valley. They too are tired of the deprivations of the bandits. None of them can direct the party to the mines, even though one older dwarf worked there himself.

Meanwhile, back with the soldier, Bumtin is on the move. As they come over a rise, a gargantuan red dragon swoops down out of the sky and demands his toll. Bumtin reaches into his pouch and pulls out a sheet of cloth. As he spreads the portable hole on the ground, gold glitters up from within and the dragon’s eyes grow hungry. “You may leave the hole here.”

Bumtin refuses, and the dragon breathes. Although Bumtin stands his ground for a moment, when several more illusory duplicates of the dragon appear, he elects to flee and get reinforcements. The soldiers, of course, have long since fled.

Bumtin grabs Farlight, Toshiro, and Rikus and returns to where the dragon was. The three heroes fight valiantly, and drive the dragon away. As they move to gather up the belongings dropped by the fleeing soldiers, the dragon reappears, teleporting in with his slightly smaller mate. The two combined make relatively short work of the party, leaving Greyhawk to wander alone on the road, running back to where the dragon was, but when he gets there the bodies and dragons are nowhere to be seen.

 

[James McMurray]

Having fled and left Farlight and Toshiro to die at the hands of the pair of dragons, Bumtin and Rikus regroup with Greyhawk and then head to Greyhawk City, where they get Farlight resurrected. Farlight quickly resurrects Toshiro, and the group gates to Union city to get their newly revived members some arms and armor. Rikus also purchases a dragon bane short sword, in case he finds himself trapped in a dragon's mouth again.

While speaking to Derrick Montague, their new arms supplier, they learn about a dragon-slayer who is always looking to find dragons to kill. A meeting is arranged, and the party is shortly united with Sovemil, an elven ranger specialized in hunting dragons and fiends.

Five days later their new replacement gear is ready, and they purchase a covered wagon and two mules, in the hopes of luring the dragon into an ambush. They gate to the road and journey forward, but when they see the dragon in the skies hurtling towards them, they know the jig is up as it veers off and starts to circle idly, watching them.

Mules are spurred to greater speed, but the beast swoops in and unleashes its hellish breath, turning the wagon and its pulling team to ash in an instant. The prayers to Corellon leave the group unscathed though, and the fight is on!

Sovemil rapidly fires several arrows from his large longbow, which is molded out of dragon horn. The first one plunks satisfyingly between two scales, but only manages to put a tiny tear in the jet black necromantic life shield surrounding the dragon. Farlight creates a whirling wall of blades right where the dragon is, but it quickly pulls out of it. It fails to dodge the black bolt of negative energy that he hurls at it though, and the Energy Drain sucks a small portion of the dragon's strength. Rikus charges, and only his first attack strikes the beast's shield, the rest being deflected before they even reach it. Bumtin grants flight to his party members, and takes tot he air himself.

The dragon whips around and flies off a short way, having now realized that these are the same foes that fought it earlier. It prepares itself even more for battle, calling upon the magic in its draconic blood to enhance itself. Farlight fires forth a green ray, and encases the creature in a shimmering emerald dimensional anchor, hoping to prevent if from teleporting away for aid. Rikus again moves forward and slashes away large chunks of the dragon's life shield, easily seeing past its shadow images thanks to the True Sight cast upon the group previously by the priest of Corellon.

When Sovemil's arrows also strike home, and Bumtin's barrage of three energy drains saps his strength even more, the great beast flexes its powerful wings and hurtles to the North, getting almost 300 yards away before it disappears, invisible. Although the party follows, they cannot catch up to the creature, and are forced to regroup.

Sovemil draws an amulet out from inside his shirt, which can be heard to hum faintly in his hands. Concentrating upon it, he draws the party towards the dragon's lair, unerringly tracking it with his amulet of enemy detection. It is a long four hour trek though, and all of their precious spells have faded away, before they reach a tall cliff face. Eighty feet up the wall is a huge cave entrance, and the amulet points to there as being the closest dragon within one mile.

As Bumtin starts to cast flight on people, sounds of a deep throaty voice casting a spell can be heard, and the party sees the gnome's eyes glaze over. The next thing out of his mouth is, "Pretty flying man". This is followed by inane laughter, and Farlight is quick to recognize a feeblemind when he sees it.

Th group gathers together, and Sovemil's bow sings. Unfortunately he has no idea where the dragon is, and is only hoping to get lucky with a shot in its general direction. Farlight casts heal on Bumtin, and invisibility purge on himself, but the dragon is apparently out of its range. Again the voice is heard, but this time Bumtin fights off the enchantment, and finishes casting flight on his friends. Rikus downs a potion of True Seeing, and Toshiro heads to the cave entrance.

Still hidden and too far from the purge to be revealed, the female dragon yet again attempts to feeblemind the wizard, knowing that to do so will greatly aid their side in the battle. At the very least it will waste a heal spell by the cleric, but once those are gone, it will remove a powerful damage dealer from the fray. She would simply try to hit the priest, but they are notoriously difficult to affect with mental attacks.

Farlight flies upward, and Toshiro reaches the entrance to the cave and moves in. As he does, he hears spellcasting directly in front of him and moments later when Rikus attempts to join him, he is rebuffed by an invisible wall of force. Farlight calls forth a miracle from Corellon and destroys it, but not before Toshiro is badly hurt by the weakened but still fearsome male. With the wall dropped, Rikus's true sight reveals the great wyrm, and he charges it, striking deeply into its hide. Sovemil also flies into the cave entrance, and Bumtin teleports himself and Farlight in.

The dragon lashes out again, killing Toshiro and wounding Rikus. But a karmic strike from Toshiro also wounds him greatly, and the follow-up attacks from Rikus and Sovemil send the dragon fleeing deeper into its lair.

When the party follows into the darkness, they arrive at the entrance of a vast central chamber just in time to see the smaller of the two dragons teleporting away with large piles of treasure. Moments later the larger one also disappears, again with a large portion of its hoard. But not all is taken, and the group begins to explore the chamber, finding great amounts of money and many magic items. Unfortunately, the vast amount of wealth they had hope to find, that which was taken from Toshiro and Farlight's bodies, is nowhere to be found. It appears that all three portable holes have been taken by the dragons.

Standing upright in a corner of the room, slightly away from the main hoard, is a full suit of jet black armor. It does not detect as magical, but when Sovemil proclaims, "dibs!" the suit walks towards him and stares him straight in the face. Bumtin, busily shoveling treasure into his portable hole, looks over to the suit of armor and says, "You could help get the treasure."

The armor looks at him, looks at the hole, looks back at him, and then starts shoveling treasure into the hole with its two adamantine gauntlets. After it is finished, it leaps down into the hole, and simply looks straight up as the gnome lifts it off the ground.

The party, now mildly confused but not overly worried, returns to Greyhawk City to divvy up the treasure. When Bumtin opens the hole, the armor makes a standing leap straight up out of the ten foot deep hole and lands with aloud clang right next to Bumtin. Toshiro is raised, and the group decides they must travel immediately to the village of Bloodstone if they're going to get there in time to meet the Bandits as they arrive for their tribute in two days' time.

 

[James McMurray]

On the way to the Village of Bloodstone, the party wind walks rapidly along the road, searching for the mercenaries they hired. When they find them, it is a horrible sight. It seems the dragons took out their ire on the warriors, as all that remains of them is a large mound of melted metal and flesh. Shaking their heads, the party travels back down the road, and soon arrives above the city of Bloodstone.

The Village of Bloodstone once knew better days. Situated on the shore of Lake Midai where the Beaumaris river runs into the mountains to the south, it was once a center of commerce and trade. There are signs of old mansions, now torn down or burnt, in the fields where farmers labor.

The village is small. The stone defensive wall that once protected it is broken in many places. The road leads through the town gate - the wooden doors sag from their hinges, unable to close.

Their drop to earth draws a few stares out of a large building whose sign bears three dancing clowns. The citizens of Bloodstone gather outside silently to watch the group's arrival. These are obviously poor people, fearful and distrustful of outsiders. You watch their sullen faces as you descend from the sky. A few of the men are armed with crudely fashioned homemade weapons, but none of them move to even touch them, unsure if you are emissaries of the Bandit Army or not. A few woodsmen carry bows at their sides. All in all, not a promising lot from which to forge an army.

A heavyset young man with a bushy blonde beard steps out of the inn in front of you, wiping his hands on his apron. The building is as poor as the town, but it was obviously once a very fine place. He greets you with a hearty, booming voice. "Welcome, I say, Welcome! Welcome to the Inn of the Clowns. I am your humble host, Stefan.

Stefan the Innkeeper is the first person you've seen yet that seems genuinely glad to see you. He, at least, is not afraid of adventurers from the outside world.

"Please, enter my humble establishment," Stefan booms. "Our home is your home. Raquel! Carlotta! Make our guests comfortable! What can I bring you fine gentleman this evening?"

"Bumten Von'Deren at your service" Making sure to say it loud enough so that everyone in the bar hears me. Then while scanning the room " Don't look so sad my friends! THis is a time of celebration...Drinks for everyone Stefan!" Sit down next to Rikus and try to get the attention of the prettiest bar maiden. Farlight shakes his head at the horny gnome.

"We need to start recruiting troops asap. I would propose the sorcerer teleport him and myself to the various towns we came through on the way here and hire who we can. For mass transit of the troops to here, we can have the sorcerer teleport what he can, I'll word of recall what I can (teleporting back to a place with him) and wind walk as much of the rest as possible. Although I think he can probably teleport most of what we find. Builders and engineers will also be needed. Some catapults and ballistas will be usefull for slowing/weakening and advancing army as well as dealing with wyvrns and giants. Any thoughts?"

Rikus suggests opening a gate to a different plane with a large field in it, and then walking the troops through. On the other side another gate could be opened to the Village of Bloodstone. I think talking to the baron and seeing what sort of defenses if any are left here in town, as well as getting him on board with the plan else we may find him working against us for fear of reprisal."

Farlight says, "I'm also a little worried about those dragons joining in on the bandit attack. I don't see a prob with the tribute bandits, as long as we set up an ambush in town, and have up spells to prevent them from teleporting out to warn the horde, we should be ok.

Bumtin looks over from where he was trying (unsuccessfully) to get Carlotta's eye, "Yeah I can teleport a ton of people in a day if I need to. I did ask aust's friend to look into hiring troops in Greyhawk."

Farlight says, "Maybe there is some way we can use magic to build defenses more quickly, we'll need to check into that also". When no one offers any immediate advice, Bumtin speaks up.

"While you guys are talking to the Baron unless my company is required I would like to get a better look at this town." This last bit is obviously not phrased as a question. "Carlotta would you mind?"

Carlotta isn't sure, but after Stefan nods his ok, she says, "I get off in between lunch and dinner, in about an hour. Perhaps I could show your lordship about."

At the sound of that, one of the men in the back of the back of the room stands up. He's a weasely looking fellow with an unshaven face and a beard that looks like it is trying to grow itself as far away from his ugly face as it can. "What makes you think you can do anything about the bandits? And why should we even believe anything you have to say. You're probably just bandits yourselves, come down to see if there'll be any trouble come tribute time! Chased off the dragons my ass!"

Bumtin laughs at the dirty man, and its obvious that pisses him off.

He stomps over to the gnome's table and kicks his chair (and Bumtin as well) over into the floor. "Don't laugh at me you little piece of ! If you want anything out of the people in this town, you're gonna have to grow some ing manners and learn that you ain't until you've proven you're . Stefan's got a business to run, so he'll humor your cockamamie claims, but if you expect anyone else to follow you, much less even believe you're the new dragon-slaying stewards, you'd damn well learn to treat folks with respect!"

Stefan moves over to the table and speaks calmly to the big guy, "Jacob. Jacob. Lets calm down now. These folks are going to have to discuss things with Tranth before any sort of stewardship is aranged. And maybe they are full of crap. But they did come floating down out of the sky looking like clouds, and that speaks volumes to me."

Jacob still doesn't look impressed, and he just stands over Bumtin, who is now covered in his drink.

"Hold, if there is any need for violence, it won't be with the little gnome. Please address your assults and complaints to me, my companions have little patience with such things. I never said we slayed the dragons, they fled, and as I'm sure you know dragons move very quickly and are difficult to track. We did expell them from their cave, and hopefully they won't return. I am Farlight. As for if we are bandits, I assure you we are not. You are correct in assuming there is no way to tell at this point, but once we start investing resources into this town, rather then taking from it, it will be shown that we are not."

"Well, that remains to be seen I s'pose. Tell your little bitch here to learn some manners, or I'll 'ave to teach 'im."

At this, Sovemil stands and turns his attention to Jacob. "Friend, I would appreciate a bit more respect for my companions, if that is not too much to ask," he says with a glance toward Bumtin. "He meant no offense, if you follow me, but please accept my apology for his words in any case."

"I'll be needing an apology from him. Not you."

Stands up and start brushing the excess drink off his robe. "LISTEN HERE FOOL, YOUR IGNORANCE IS YOUR ONLY SAVING GRACE!" turn and walk towards the door. "Farlight deal with this man before I have to." "Stefan, I am just stepping outside for a moment please let me know what my tab is." "And Carlotta I well see you soon." This last bit for Carlotta is accompanied by a wink and a smile.

Rising to his feet and gently resting his hand upon the blade resting comfortably at his hip "If you want our respect you too sir must earn it, your insults do little to aid that cause." The massive warrior strolls forward easily moving the table aside "And as far as the small one goes, call him a bitch again and we will see your threats to their conclusion."(intimidation 23) "My recommendation at this point is for you to sit down and go about your business. If we were bandits you would most assuredly be dead by now"

Rikus reaches into his money pouch retrieving 10 gold coins then turns to Stefan "This should cover the meals" as he hands the coins to Stefan. He then turns to move towards the door and stops with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes and turns back to Jacob " So whats it gonna be friend... do you take us at our word for now or do 'I' get to prove myself to ya"

"Big man with a sword against unarmed folks. Of course I've got to back down, but you can tell that little BITCH that I don't take from nobody, not even you. We'll meet again when you don't have that sword and a buncha friends around, or when I've got one and some o' my own." Jacob turns to leave.

Farlight shakes his head. "By the Gods".... "Lets go speak with the baron, we can work on PR later. I'll hold training tomorrow on how not the threaten and belittle the town folk. Then I'll need to research an impotence spell to cast on the gnome, then maybe we can focus on dealing with the bandits. Sovemil, you're an experienced tracker, do you think you could posibly find the bandits' headquaters.. If so how long would you estimate it taking you... I would like to perform a pre-emptive strike if possible(taken from W's book of bad political moves)" *Stands and moves toward the doors* Thank you for your services, I shall be returning for the evening tonight..Please hold a room(gives money as required)....And please try not to kill anyone people, remember our enemies are common, and they are the bandits."

Rikus undoes the the straps holding the massive sword at his waste and sets it on the nearest bar/counter. He then strolls outside to wait for Jacob leaving the sword on the counter. As he walks out the door he says a few words. "We shall have a go at it then, we will make it civil, I'll be waiting outside without my friends and sword, I'd rather end this now than end up having to fight you to the death later." With that he walks into the streets and begins to unclasp his armor to ready for the ensuing brawl.

Seeing Rikus' anger growing, Sovemil strides out the door with Rikus' sword in hand (to prevent it from "disappearing"). "Rikus, though I may be new to your fellowship here, I believe the best course of action would be one of peace - the bandits are the ones we need to keep our focus on, not silly townsfolk with bigger mouths than intellects," he says, trying desperately to dissuade Rikus from pummeling Jacob into a meaty pile of goo.

When the two make it out into the street, they see Jacob standing next to Bumtin. "Well litle fella, your friends aren't here to protect you now. Care to show me how you'd 'deal with me'"? He reaches down and back to scratch his ass, and gives his hand a crious sniff when he's done. Looking over, he sees Rikus and Sovemil approaching. "Uh huh, time to gang up on someone eh? My problem ain't with either o' you two. Its this little piece of crap that bugs me. If he's a big time dragon hunter he shouldn't ahve any problem witht he likes of me." He looks down at Bumtin, "Unless of course your courage matches your height?"

Bumtin replies, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Well you are just set on fighting me aren't you. I have no weapon on me and you are such a towering man. Now I could fight you, but I am here to help, how about you wait to see what we have to offer then make your judgement on us."

"I already made my judgement on you. Why don't you just show me what it is you've got to offer right now? Unless of course you ain't got . in which case its time for you to leave."

"Well fine Jacob, I guess we'll have to solve this problem won't we." Bumtin starts to roll up the sleeves on his robe. "How about we exchange one blow each? Whomevers hurts the most wins. If you win I well leave and not return. But if I win, you well have to help me and my friends in swaying the other townfolk who may doubt us. I well even let you hit me first, and you can even pick the judge on who decides whose hit was the hardest"

Farlight says "Fine Bumtin, kill him if you must, I will be on my way to speak with the Baron, see you there." He then strides off into the streets, wondering how the group will ever manage to rule well if they can't even keep from brawling in the streets.

A few of the onlookers gasp out loud. Stefan holds up his hand towards Bumtin. "Nobody said anything about killing. I won't be a part of this". He starts to head back inside.

While Bumtin is distraacted by Farlight and Stefan, Jacob charges at him and kicks him, sending him sprawling into the dirt.

Bumtin stands and wipes the dust off of his robe. "Very well done Jacob. Now my turn!" He begins to wave his arms and legs and runs at Jacob screaming "HHHHHIIIIYYYAAAAHHH!" As he reaches Jacob, Bumtin unleashes a portion of the stored agony that he has accumulated from the pool of pain. Clutchng at his arm and screaming in agony, Jacob drops to the ground and begins to sob.

Farlight continues his trek towards the Baron's manor, and reaches it just as the sounds of the townman's cries reach his ears.

Farlight walks through the crumbling gateway into a sparsely grassed courtyard. The two-story manor is in obvious need of repair, but was definitely resplendent in the past. As Farlight walks up and knocks on the front doors, he hears a muffled voice from inside. "Just a moment please." A moment later an older man somewhere in his fifties opens the large double doors. Despite their appearance, they slide open easily at his touch.

"Well hello there my good sir. What brings you to the manor?"

 

[James McMurray]

I know I've missed quite a bit here, but its been a while since it all happened, so please forgive me. For instance, I don't cover the introduction of Ru Ton Pe. He is a monk with a Vow of Poverty that St. Solliers introduces to the party.

Also, both battles to reclaim Bloodstone involve walking graveyards, and although interesting, I forgot to include them and don't have time to insert them. Nobody in the party was severely hurt by either Corpsegatherer.

Farlight asks to meet with Baron Tranth and learns that he already is. It is apparently shortly past the butler’s afternoon nap and the good baron didn’t want to wake the poor fellow up, so decided to answer his own door.

Farlight explains much of what has transpired, and that they wish to help defend the town against the bandit army. The Baron is happy to see them but fearful of reprisals if they fight back. When he learns of the mercenary’s fate at the hands of the dragon, and the subsequent battle where the party fights the mated pair off, he is a bit more confident, but still worried.

The party sets up a plan wherein they will ambush the troops which come themselves, to show the townsfolk that they can defend them well. They hire several units of mercenaries of their own, and have them hide themselves inside the inn and stores in town square. The feeling is that the troops will not actually be necessary, but that they will help bolster confidence in the villagers.

A few days pass and the day of tribute arrives. The party splits up, some moving into the woods outside of the village and the rest hiding inside the village in the hopes of flanking the army. Their plan would have gone off perfectly had it not been shared. The bandit army’s allies in the town manage to leak the word of the plan out, and the party is greatly surprised when troops begin pouring into town through teleportation circles, setting buildings alight.

When one of the commoners in the assembled group of “tribute givers” turns upon his allies and begins killing the militia effortlessly with rapier, the party knows hat has happened. They also get their first glimpse of an epic foe in the form of a single assassin. He fights with the party for a short while, disappearing and reappearing to strike and flee. After a short hop to kill the Baron, he leaves, knowing his current gear is not going to work when facing foes with fortified armor.

The town still burning around them, but the bandit troops chased away, Bumtin casts a limited wish to track the now inactive teleportation circle back to the bandit camp, and with barely a moment to prepare, the party teleports into battle.

They get to the camp and find several troops practicing, and the valley walls lined with giants. Wargs in pens and row upon row of tents gives them some idea of the enemy’s numbers, and they leap into action. Several giants die quickly, but then the party’s offense is forced to redirect itself onto the lesser troops. This happens when Rikus finds out what happens when you get within range of seventy-five third level wizards with magic missiles, and you have neither spell resistance nor a Shield spell handy. He does not survive their assault.

The enemy generals begin to appear, and epic battle is joined. The party has very little trouble though, as the true leaders do not reveal themselves, preferring instead to sit back and see what their foes are capable of. Having a clerical ally with Ignore Material Components and True Resurrection is a great fear reducer.

The party hits hard, but is driven off to recuperate and hire more troops in preparation for another assault. Unfortunately, several units of bandits (including the warg-riders) take the attack as an opportunity to use the still active circles to teleport to the village and overcome the little resistance that remains there. The party now finds themselves with two army camps to destroy.

They perform the three R’s: resurrection, rest, and recuperation, and then head back to Union where they seek to hire mercenaries. Their search soon point them to the race of Maugs. Sentient constructs created for use in the eternal wars on Acheron, these creature are the ultimate soldiers: loyal, tireless, and capable of transporting themselves into battle with no need for food or supplies.

The party hires several units, enough to outnumber their foes two to one. Its an expensive request, but it proves to be very worthwhile, as the maugs easily recapture Bloodstone and route the remaining army. While they fight a battle in the bandit camp, the party fights one high above. Knellick the wizard and his Balor have been resurrected. This time the Balor manages to dominate two party members, making it a very hard fight. Along for the fun is a pair of assassins, and the fabled Grandfather of Assassins. The pair strike down Ru Ton Pe and then finds themselves in difficult positions against Bigby’s Crushing Hands and fortified armor. While they manage to get themselves killed, the Grandfather is not so easily routed. As Banak, the high priest of Orcus also appears to joint he fray, the party finds themselves hurting. Bumtin is killed and Banak driven off, but only the arrival of the mysterious black armor saves Bumtin’s body from the enemy. The Grandfather appears to recognize the armor, and does not try to fight it when it runs up to grab Bumtin’s fallen form and run off with it.

Yet again the party retreats. They have struck a hard blow though, and when next they return to the camp, they find it deserted.

more to come as time permits

 

[Otterscrubber]

Excellent stories so far. I am pleased to see you converting the Bloodstone Pass adventures to 3.5. I also tried to run a high, although not epic, level party using this adventure but was having some trouble trying to keep up with the increased array of abilities available to the party (who was 16th level at the time). I look forward to future postings as we left off right where you left off. I could use some conversion ideas as my first go through was not very satisfying. I found it hard to convert the mission in a challenging way. Keep up the fun.

 

[James McMurray]

Thanks!

Its definitely been a task trying to challenge epic level characters. Sometimes they surprise the crap out of me, like when they gave the great wyrm somewhere around 19 negative levels in a single round. Needless to say, he fled.

I'll have the next update up momentarily. After it, there's only the first portion of their decent into the underdark to write up and I'll be fully caught up.

Its been even harder to try to make sure things are balanced because my party is currently operating below the average wealth levels for their level, thanks to a few deaths and bodies left behind. After the Temple of Orcus they should be back at or above the status quo though.

The thing that has taken the most time is the NPCs. Upgrading them to epic levels requires completely statting them out from scratch, which is quite a job. But its been worth it. I know their capabilities better, have a short summary of what their standard tactics would be, and most importantly begin to think of them as true characters rather than just targets for the PCs. This gives me more of a "don't get killed" mentality then your standard foe has. Several or the upper ranks of the army and the assassin guild have escaped just because they either a) fled well before it was too late, or b) didn't even get involved in combat and instead sat back and watched to see what the party was capable of so they'd be better prepared when they meet up later.

Feel free to email me at jtmcmurray@hotmail.com if you'd like to chat more about the conversion. Can't post too much here or the players will find out.

 

[James McMurray]

With little else to do, and kowing that if they reclaim the mines the Gran March wil send troops to help defend it, the party delves into the forsaken Bloodstone Mines. The upper levels prove pitifully easy to clear out, and none of the inhabitants prove to be any danger. When you’ve faced down Great Wyrms, phase spiders and basilisks are a joke. In fact, the only truly difficult portion came when they made a titch too much noi in one of the older caverns and brought it down upon their heads. But the strong arms of Toshiro and Rikus (and teleportational ability of Bumtin) get them uncovered quickly enough.

Delving deepward, they follow a vertical shaft into the depths of the mine. A few more minor denizens are dispatched, when the sounds of a living mine are heard from ahead. The rhythmic clang and clong of hammers and picks is heard. Investigation reveals a contingent of Duergar mine workers. The party attempts to parlay, and the duergar use that as an opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Their chins drop as every single bolt they fire misses or is deflected, and within minutes they are all dead, victims of tier own treacherous natures.

Completely undaunted, the group heads onward. They find another haft gong down, but this one has a working elevator housed in it, and a brass bell hanging beside it. Electing not to ring the bell, they fly down the shaft.

The bottom opens into a tunnel, which twists and turns before opening into a room filled with demons. Abyssal fiends of all shapes and sizes are seen, including two Klurichiir, the generals of the demonic armies. The walls are lined with torches, and as the party enters the torches flare to life as more demons appear in the room. Tiny rips in the fabric of the world let in fiends and the stench of brimstone.

The battle begins, and at the far end of the room the group sees four bedraggled gnomish figures chained to pillars. Their skin is darker than an gnomes the party has seen, for these are svirfneblin. But the party never finds that out, because s part of his first assault on the demon, Bumtin roasts the poor creatures as collateral casualties. He doesn’t seem to concerned about it though.

The battle’s pace mounts, and the torchlight flickers madly as torches light themselves and then go out. More and more demons continue to pour into the room.

While the lesser demons fall quickly, the two generals gate in two Balors, and then enter the fray themselves. Their multiple arms and giant mandibles in their chest tear chunks out of everyone they meet, but combined firepower drops them eventually.

One of the largest threats actually turns out to be the smallest. A small pack of jovocs fight around the balors. But rather than attacking the party they attack themselves! As their claws and teeth tear into their bodies, the pain and torn flesh radiates outward from them, ripping the flesh of all non-demons around them. What would be a suicidal tactic is shown to be demonic joy when the wounds they inflict upon themselves rapidly heal. The damage they deal isn’t much, but it forces the party to hold back their larger arsenal for fear of destroying the jovocs too thoroughly, or destroying the balors nearby. The resultant explosion could easily kill several party members if they feel the brunt of it coupled with the radiated pain from the jovocs.

A few surgical strikes manage to take the bloated little gnome-like demons out, and they then take the balors out shortly thereafter, with some healing in between to ensure the explosions don’t kill anyone.

Just when things start to look good to the party, they go horribly awry. One of the random summonings manages to snag the demon lord Graz’zt from his ebony throne, and he s none too happy. Buffing himself up rapidly, he call out questioning who has brought him. No answer is given, and so he unleashes on the party members. At about that time, the black armor strides into the room, and stands stark still, watching the battle.

A back and forth battle ensues, and then just as suddenly stops when Graz’zt reaches out his hand and rips the soul from Rikus’ chest... “Leave this place and I release your friend.”

The party discusses it briefly, and is then interrupted. In a voice made up of every language the party has ever heard combined with every language they have never heard, the armor speaks. “He who controls this room controls destiny.” It doesn’t elect to elucidate on that cryptic statement, but the party take it as a sign and attacks Graz’zt once again. In retaliation he uses the soul of Rikus to fuel dark magics, destroying it utterly. Although the party does manage to defeat him, the cost is high, as one of their members falls never to battle again, and robbed of his final reward.

Meanwhile, more lesser demons continue to pour into the room, and a possible solution presents itself. It appears as if the more powerful demons there are in the room, the more torches remain lit. As demons die, torches go out. As many of the party continue to fight demons, Ru Ton Pe and Toshiro begin to try to put torches out. The ascetic monk’s fists quickly shatter the wall around one of the torches, freeing it from it holder, but he is unable to put the torch out until a demon dies and it goes out on its own. His holding it doesn’t top it from firing up again moments later as another demon is summoned.

The group decides they must destroy all of the demons to get the torches to go out, and they set about themselves with wild abandon. A few long minutes later and they stand inside a dark chamber, the torches forever dead.

OOC: This last battle took 11+ hours, and could have continued much longer had the group not gotten lucky with their random summoning rolls and gotten a few really weak demons. Orcus’ fist attempt at coming to the plane randomly was incredibly chancy, and managed to snag a different demon lord instead. But its certainly not his last attempt, as the party will soon find out.

Only one more update and I'll be caught up! Hopefully I can get it done this week.

 

[James McMurray]

After resting up, the party headed back into the mines and down the one remaining tunnel. After abut an hour of walking, they knew for certain that they were heading down into the Underdark. After another half-hour the tunnel opened up into a cavern whose depths could not be plumbed by darkvision. Even the ceiling was too high up to find.

Lighting up the place with Corellan’s Daylight, the party moves out into the darkness, following along the wall. After a mile or so they find a rather large river entering he cavern, and follow it to a lake. Bumtin flies out over the lake, but finds nothing and heads back. The group follows the shore to another river, which they follow to the cavern wall, and thence back to their starting spot.

They then cross the second river they found and follow its shore back to the lake. A few miles down they find themselves in the midst of a vast patch of mushrooms. Continuing onward, they avoid several large patches of shriekers, and find themselves walking up to one of he many “animal pens” the Duergar maintain.

This one consists of several large cages holding humans and giant snails. The party moves to free the humans, and when crossbow bolts come hurtling out of the darkness, they rapidly destroy the small band of keepers and guards. Finding one alive, they revive and question him.

Meanwhile, several humans have been freed, and it is learned that they are from Bloodstone. Bumtin uses teleport to ferry them back to town. Ru Ton Pe frees the giant snails, and with his tongue of the sun and moon he speaks to them, learning of the trials they have suffered under the Duergar, and then sending them on their way.

The keeper explains to the party the location of the duergar city and the temple of Orcus that oversees the place. When asked he agrees to lead them there. Its quite obvious from his demeanor that he doesn’t care what happens to the city as long as he comes out of it ok. And despite the fact that he is quite obviously evil, he never once lies.

Bumtin turns the group invisible, and they trek off into the darkness. The invisibility is not much of a hiding place though, as the light sources they carry give away their positions quite handily. As the band comes over a small rise they see a huge army camp stretching out before them. A small group of guards moves out to ask their guide why he has lights when they are outlawed. He sticks to his truthful nature and explains that his captors and new employers had him bring them here on their way to the city. Obviously a battle erupts, and the Duergar army soon finds itself between a rock and a hot place. The hot place wins, in the form of several meteor swarms.

Having mopped up a large portion of the Duergar defenses, the party moves forward again, following a road towards the city and temple of Orcus. They fly over the city streets, Duergar staring up in wonder, and head directly towards the leering Goat Skull carved in the cavern wall. Massive double doors carved in the shape of Orcus himself show the passageway into the temple, and our invisible heroes move ever onward.

As they open the front doors, alarm bells begin to ring, and they move rapidly into a large room. The moment they cross the threshold, wracking pains twist their stomachs, and they appear, the invisibility foiled by the Unhallowed halls.

Doors open and duergar pour in, but are rapidly dispatched. A horrible thing occurs though, every time a party spellcaster attempts to cast, hidden duergar cast silence directly next to their heads. Farlight is stymied by this new tactic, but Bumtin reacts by casting all of his spells silently. The tactic helps, but even the invisibility hiding the duergar does not prevent them from rapidly dying, and the group moves onward.

A large meeting chamber just past the entry hall reveals two giant staircases leading up into the depths of the temple, and fountain of blood spraying up from the center of the room. Ru Ton Pe smashes the fountain, getting blood on himself in the process, and then the party moves back into the entry hall and through another set of double doors.

This room is flanked by two gigantic stone duergar statues. Predictably enough the statues animate and attack when the party enters the room. Ru Ton Pe’s first hit smashes aside a large chunk of stone, revealing gleaming mithral beneath. As the two supposed stone golems move their outer layer cracks and flakes away, revealing the mithral golems underneath.

OOC: I lied. One more update, and then I'm aught up.

 

[James McMurray]

The two giant statues move to pound on Toshiro and Ru Ton Pe, who return suit with their blade and fists respectively. The giant fists of the golems hit hard, but Farlight’s magic keeps them alive with ease. Seeing the combined might of the golems, Bumtin separates one of them from the rest of the room with a wall of force, and the unintelligent golem just pounds on it with its fists, trying to reach its target.

With their combined might, the two warriors quickly pound the statue into oblivion. But as they do so, a door on the far side of the room (behind the wall of force) opens, and several Duergar pour in. Two squads of crossbowmen take up firing positions, while another two squads move to protect them. The wall of force is dropped by Bumtin once the golem is destroyed, and as it does so, Farlight’s invisibility purge stretches outwards, revealing eight black-robed duergar at the far end of the room, behind the crossbowmen.

The battle commences, and the infantry soon fall. The duergar priests fare somewhat better, being able to silence Farlight, but Bumtin’s ability to ignore silence at the expense of mobility soon drives them off. As they try to run, they create a wall of stone partially across the room and head for the exit. But the supernatural speed of Ru Ton Pe blocks the exit before they can all escape. The remaining 5 priests meld into the stone at their feet, hoping to escape, but are rapidly dug out and killed by the monk’s adamantine fists.

With Farlight low on healing magics, and the party injured, the group turns to leave. Bumtin’s first teleport is stopped by the Forbiddance, and they party leaves the temple. Back outside they are able to teleport away, but not before a burst of the chaotic magic turns the walls of the front temple to air, dropping th huge golden door onto the ledge in front of the temple.

The group returns to Greyhawk City and Farlight excuses himself for what he believes wil be a prolonged meditative period. Fearing another assault without a healer, the party invests in few (a very few) healing potions. They then prepare to head back out, and are pleasantly surprised when Farlight returns. His meditations to create a new epic prayer were going to take longer than he’d hoped, and he knew the mission had priority.

The group teleports back to the ledge outside of the temple, and as soon as they enter they hear the sounds of combat up the stairs. Running that way, Ru Ton Pe finds himself blasted by fire with every step of the stairs he passes. His sanctified righteousness protects him from the brunt of the bursts, and when Toshiro follows he goes around the staircases, avoiding all but the top few stairs. He is not protected from fire, and so manages to take the brunt of the blasts, arriving at the top thoroughly scorched. Bumtin’s ring protects him, and Farlight calls forth a protective prayer to render him immune to these small gouts.

At the top of the stairs they see a large brassy scaled half dragon fighting approximately 50 duergar elite guards. He is completely unhurt, but his foes are not faring as well. His scythe has struck down more duergar then are currently standing.

Ru Ton Pe charges up and strikes one down, and Bumtin follows, his Chain Lightning killing almost half of the remaining duergar warriors. As Farlight steps up, his invisibility purge again reveals several hiding duergar, and they only get off one shot before Toshiro charges and kills them all with one massive cleaving blow. It turns out to have been a good thing that one of the preparatory spells went awry and cast enlarge person o him, as the increased reach allows him to destroy the small band of deep dwarves.

Erebus, the half-brass dragon warrior kills 4 more of the dwarves, and he remainder flee. The party let them run, and turns their attention to the large ornate double doors at the end of the hall. Introductions are made, and it is learned that Erebus has come to this temple searching for the Pool of Vengeance. The party is also aware of a pool in the area, and explain that their true goal is to stop Orcus’s minions, but that they would not be averse to finding the Pool.

Stepping through the large doors, they find themselves surrounded on three sides by curtains of noxious and acidic vapor pouring from the ceiling. Erebus’ source for the Pool’s location told him about several trials he had to go through. One of them was a room filled with curtains of acid, some of which were illusory. The party uses limbs from the dead duergar to find the illusionary curtains and fully explores the room. Several doors are found, but only one of them opens, and the party steps through into the next test.