To War Against Felenga (FINAL UPDATE POSTED!)

[the Jester]

The Party Vs. Felenga!

“He is a threat,” the Master of Darkhold confirms. “He’s constructed a key that lets him get in and out of Darkhold at will and gives him a limited amount of control over certain aspects of the environment, time, etc.” He frowns. “I can oppose him, but it is a matter of measure, then countermeasure, then a counter for that or a new measure, and so forth. It would not do to underestimate him.” His face looks fleetingly pained. “I learned that to my sorrow with Fuligin.* “

The Master continues, explaining what he thinks Felenga’s goal is. “There is a very delicate device that ensures that things stay in balance,” he says. “I believe that Felenga wants to destabilize it.”

“What ‘things’ does it keep in balance?” asks Horbin.

“For you, everything,” the Master replies flatly. “It helps maintain your reality.”

So they guard the approach to the chamber housing the device that Felenga is presumably after. They wait uneasily; Drelvin’s hands itch beneath the Deleter. Nervously, they buff up as much as they can; and then it’s just a waiting game. They know which direction Felenga will be coming from; so Malford lays a mind fog down.

And soon the game is over.

”I hear something!” Thrush announces harshly, whipping out his greatsword and moving across the hall, eyes scanning intently for signs of movement in the fog. Orbius casts mass haste and the whole group starts activating all their short-duration spells, from fire shield to blink-

Then Felenga dispels the fog, encloses Horbin the Holy in a forcecage and blasts the solar with seeker missiles. Orbius instantly fires a volley of seekers back at the deadly lich, but they are absorbed into his shield. The Eye follows this up with a lower resistance. Telemundo, meanwhile, disintegrates the forcecage.

There’s movement everywhere as the air elemental swoops in to grapple Felenga! Lester moves in, Felix Optima Maxima coming out of her sheath as he approaches. Spells are arcing at the dreaded lich from the party, the solar- a sunbeam blazes into him, and the smell of scorched flesh rises from his sizzling form!

“Rragh!” Felenga throws the elemental off and fires a quickened finger of death at the solar, destroying it. Then he whirls to face Lester and Thrush, who are rushing at him. As he starts to cast another spell, Drelvin makes his move.

“Your part in this play has been written out!” the archer cries, gesturing with the Deleter. The weapon from the Far Realms convulses around his hands and a jagged streak of light zots into Felenga.

The effects are remarkable. Felenga screams in horrible pain and outrage as much of his power leaves him. He’s been cut off from the Dread Lord! Staggering, he stares wildly at Drelvin.

These... these petty annoyances, thinks Felenga in amazement. I am undone by such as these??

Then a massive blade smacks Felenga from the side, staggering him. Another from the other side, as Angelfire tumbles in to flank! Then there’s an explosion of positive energy as Glantri and Horbin surge out of control, and the energy burns Felenga intensely. Dazzled, hurt worse than- than ever before- the lich prepares to cast a spell, but he doesn’t have time. Horbin’s mass heal deals a devastating amount of damage to Felenga, and he vanishes in a shudder as his contingency goes off.

“Here!” Malford cries, handing Orbius a scroll of Follow Sorcery’s Trail. The Eye reads it off and leads the party after Felenga.

Soon the trail leads back to the bedchamber they met the Master of Darkhold at, but there’s no Felenga there. The bed does show signs of recent use, however...

“We’ve been tricked!” Telemundo cries.

The device, Malford thinks sickly.




*The Master’s son was killed long ago by Fuligin in a confrontation within Darkhold, though none of the pcs in the story know it.


Next Time: The in-game justification for the change to the 3.5 rules!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

You know, when a solar dies in combat, you know you've made the big leagues.

 

[the Jester]

He may be an old man, but Telemundo can move when he has to.

A lot of this is because of the fact that he's got Marius' sidestep already in effect. In any event, he vanishes from the party's location and reappears thirty feet from the door to the vital room. And there's Felenga, at the door. The old sorcerer unfurls a scroll and his voice shakes as he reads it off- I'm alone against him! he thinks wildly. Then the horrid wilting from the scroll scorches out, blasting at Felenga-

No effect.*

And the Dark One returns the favor with a quickened horrid wilting at Telemundo, surely more than enough to destroy him- except he sidesteps away, saving his life. Shaking, further away down the hall, Telemundo casts Marius' sidestep again- the quick-save expended his previous one. He dreads returning to face Felenga, but-

He hears a loud blasting sound, and knows in his heart that Felenga's got that damned door open. Suddenly things are even more critical.

Lester flashes past him, bat-wings beating furiously. He swings Felix Optima Maxima, under the effects of Orbius' far strike spell as soon as he rounds the corner and can see the lich, but it glances harmlessly from Felenga's magical protections. A quickened searing light shines out from the L's outstretched hand, burning into Felenga's shoulder. With a sneer the arch-lich shrugs it off.

And he's already got the door open. Beyond it, there's something huge, but Lester doesn't have time to take it in. The rest of the group appears, carried by the Eye's teleportation magic, and Malford casts true strike and then uses a limited wish to mime a dimensional anchor on Felenga. This time he succeeds! The air elemental moves in, grabbing the lich, and Angelfire springs forward to attack; and Telemundo reappears and starts firing heedless disintegrates at Felenga.

The lich roars in anger, and escapes the grapple with a double extended, quickened ghostform. Laughing evilly, he moves into the room. Behind him, a huge device seems to balance the entire universe on its gears and fulcrums. Some huge chunk of nature that strongly resembles a moon that he helped destroy in the prior universe is in there, too- probably millions of tons of rock- it's huge. But there's no time for that now! Felenga's in there, the clock's run out, it's now or never!

The dreaded arch lich turns to the device and raises his arms. The rust monster tentacles that writhe from his shoulders spasm gleefully. He hurls his ghostly form half into the device and turns to face the party. Will they dare attack him now, with his very form half within the device they're guarding?

Drelvin the archer, wearing the Deleter, cries in a firm voice, "You are a mistake and I am here to correct you!" The blast from the weird glove-like device arcs out and hits Felenga square in the back. The lich gives a horrible scream and, to the party's amazement, the tentacles start to shrivel and turn to ash! So too his horn; they shrink and draw back into his forehead! Whatever it's doing to him, it's working, Drelvin thinks grimly. His throat is tight; the Deleter is taking its toll on him as well.

Malford flies forward as Felenga reels, and the gnome king yells out, "I just wanted you to see the face of the gnome who organized your downfall!" -And he casts antimagic field. Felenga howls as he's blown out of the device as he becomes corporeal, and his form flies across the room to land, motionless, on the ground in a smoking heap. The lights in the room flicker and dim.

Dead.

At least, his body is...

As the antimagic field intersects the great device, all of our heroes feel their stomachs plummet. Something feels... weird... wrong... different...

Malford immediately dismisses the antimagic field once Felenga's demise has been confirmed, and the lights in the room steady.

"It's not over," Orbius states. "We still have to get his phylactery."

"Hopefully we've weakened him significantly," says Drelvin, just as the Master of Darkhold hurries in. He rushes to the device and examines it carefully.

"What happened?" His face is expressionless as he turns to the party. Does he glance longer at Lester? Who can say. Regardless, the party tells the tale, and the Master of Darkhold turns back to the device and spends a few moments making adjustments. Finally, he walks away from the device with a pensive look on his face. "There may be... repercussions to your action," he tells Malford, "but I will strive to minimize them."

"I didn't have much choice," Malford says.

The Master of Darkhold takes Drelvin away for a time. When he returns, the archer is wearing dark gloves, but the Deleter is no longer on his hands. He's not sure exactly what the Master did to take the damn thing off, and he doesn't even really want to know. And from how his hands feel, he's afraid to take the gloves off. The Master returns the Deleter to the group as well, and Telemundo glances over at it lovingly more than once.

The group divides up Felenga's items. The important divisions are-

Telemundo gets a ring of protection +4 and Felenga's staff +5, ghost touch, mortalbane;
Lester gets Felenga's helm of knowing movement, which allows the user to use their teleportation magic more often, and gives it to Orbius. He also takes a wand of dispel magic.
Angelfire takes a wand of fireballs, even though he can't use it, and a Daern's instant fortress.
Maflrod receives a wand of magic missiles and a ring of earth elemental command.
Thrush ends up with Felenga's rod of terror.
Horbin gets the cloak of resistance +5 that the arch-lich wore.
Finally, Drelvin takes Felenga's bracers of armor +8.

The group leaves Darkhold to return to Var and plan their attempt to obtain the phylactery...


*Living targets only, alas.


Next Time: After the phylactery!

 

[the Jester]

Aftershocks

Back in Var, at his temple, Horbin communes.

Are the Bile Lords actively trying to kill us? Yes.
Where are they planning to attack us next? Yes or no.

Huh? thinks Horbin. That doesn’t make much sense.

When? Yes or no.
Who would be good allies for us to seek against the Bile Lords? Yes or no.

Crap, Horbin the Holy thinks.

Has the change from Bile Mountain to Mount Angelfire been noticed by far folk of human or demihuman race? Yes.
By anyone at least as powerful as the party? Yes.
Is Felenga’s phylactery on the plane on which he was killed? Unknown.
Are people who’ve noticed the change in Bile Mountain seeking us? No.
Are the Bile Lords still in Angelfire Mountain? Yes and no.
Does that mean that some are and some aren’t? Yes.
Are the ones not there actively seeking to do us harm? Yes.
Are there more than one? No.
Are they afraid of us? Yes.
Do any of them possess qualities that they particularly fear? Yes.
Is it a good party member? No.
Do they fear the Deleter? No.
Are they aware that we have the Deleter? No.
Are they afraid of evil party members? Yes.

Hmph! This despite the fact that I dealt the death blow to the Bile Lord that we already destroyed! Horbin snorts to himself. Then he reports to the rest of the party. “Commune in only giving me yes or no answers now,” he says worriedly.

“I wonder how far-reaching the effects of the antimagic field on the device will be,” the Eye muses.

Malford shrugs. “I did what I had to. Felenga was ready to act- he was there. That was the only sure way to render him impotent.” But I wonder, too, he thinks.

Telemundo, meanwhile, seeks out Arion the Archmage at his tower. Surprisingly, Arion answers almost as soon as Telemundo knocks, but the conversation goes downhill when Telemundo calls Arion drunk and the Archmage slams the door in his face. Shrugging to himself, the testy old sorcerer returns to the castle, where the group is plotting their next move.

“We have to move fast to destroy Felenga’s phylactery,” Lester is saying. “Otherwise he’s back up in a week or so, and we’ve just wasted our best chance to finish him off.”

“But we don’t have even a clue where it is.” Sybele sighs, cracking her huge knuckles.
So a surgical strike team assembles again, ready to make a raid on the Temple of Elemental Evil in the hopes of
“We do have a clue,” Orbius answers. “The Temple of Elemental Evil. It’s Felenga’s stronghold; it’s our best chance.”

“We don’t know what it looks like, either,” says Horbin. “But we have to try.”

“We should make another surgical strike, maybe see if we can kill another of the Elemental Princes of Evil, and if we can find any info in the process...” The L frowns. “I just wish we knew more about where it was or what is looks like.”

“The Eye of Boccob cannot see this,” Orbius mutters regretfully. “Its vision is clouded by opposing magic.”

“Let’s get ready and go, as soon as possible,” the L urges again. “We only have so much time; we dare not squander it.”

“Without a plan, we won’t accomplish anything,” Malford states.

More discussion, and our heroes finally hit upon an idea. “The nodes!” Lester exclaims. “When we brought the Temple low the first time, collapsing the nodes destroyed the whole thing.”

“How do we do that?” Horbin asks.

“There was a skull, the Orb of Golden Death. We had to destroy it... I remember we had to expose it to extremes of all four elements and stuff. I don’t know, it’s been a long time and a lot of pipe weed.” The Elementalist grins. “But it’s a starting point.”

So a surgical strike team assembles again, ready to make a raid on the Temple of Elemental Evil in the hopes of destroying another Prince or stumbling into a phylactery at random- or at least a clue.

Meanwhile, looking into a crystal smeared with the blood of our heroes, taken from the sites of their battles within Bile Mountain, Tamult the Bile Lord smiles grimly and turns to his powerful servants. [color=CCA477] “Prepare yourselves,”[/color] he hisses. [color=CCA477]“It’s time.”[/color]


Next Time: In the middle of an ambush, our heroes are ambushed!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Double ambushing! It'll be like the Battle Of Koom Valley again!

So, how did your players find 3.5e? Did they adapt fairly swiftly?

 

[the Jester]

Double ambushing! It'll be like the Battle Of Koom Valley again!

So, how did your players find 3.5e? Did they adapt fairly swiftly?

It's still too early to tell. We've only played one high-level session since we switched (it's been mostly the halfling Of Sound Mind game). The players decided to try to pick it up with low-level pcs first.

I'm working on the next update right now!

 

[the Jester]

An Ambush Within An Ambush

Our heroes teleport in en mass, arriving in the same chamber in which they previously ambushed and killed Imix, the Prince of Evil Elemental Fire. This time their arrival is immediately met by a quartet of gigantic elementals, one of each type. Lester’s allied air elemental, reduced in size for teleportation, engages the enemy air elemental. Lester himself fires off a volley of antielemental bolts, a spell he’d devised over a century ago to do battle with the previous rise of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Telemundo dodges more nimbly than an old man should, firing a polar ray at the enemy fire elemental even as it joins the attack on Lester’s elemental ally.

I wish Thrush was here, Sybele thinks as she manifests displacement. But he’s not; he stayed behind to babysit. Kids... the future...

She puts it out of her mind as she springs to attack the air elemental, inflicting devastating damage.*

The water elemental that the L targeted with his bolts smashes a huge watery fist at him, but he dodges aside. So far, the party’s doing well; they’re barely hurt and the enemies are already somewhat weakened. And Felenga hasn’t shown up; that’s good. Probably he’s still stuck in his phylactery, thinks Lester. Then he spreads his arms wide and calls on elemental forces, channeling energy to rebuke the elementals! He feels the forces flow around him and they almost jerk him from his feet as he directs them. A spasm of energy seems to constrict his chest and for a moment he can’t breathe due to the sheer power of the elements. But as much as he can direct is not enough to overcome the powerful elementals before the party. Cursing to himself, the L pulls Felix Optima Maxima from her sheath.

Angelfire is hacking at the fire elemental with brutal efficiency. It’s gradually dimming from white-hot to a mellower yellow. There’s a sneer on the Coilite’s scarlet-skinned face; he does not fear a thing of fire! The air elemental that aids the group whips into his flaming adversary from the side, pummeling it mercilessly. It dances to a low red color. Finally, as a ray of deadly cold shoots into it, the thing flickers and goes out.

Then there’s a soft whump as Tamult the Bile Lord and his two lackeys appear from nowhere, joining the fight to our heroes’ dismay.

Tamult looks greatly like Chemnu, the other Bile Lord the party battled; and though his features are notable different, it’s clear he’s of the same kind. He stands ten feet tall, withered with age; his skin is yellow and drips disgusting yellow bile like sweat. A few small patches of hair remain on his head. He’s skinny to the point of gauntness, and just as Chemnu was, he’s surrounded by a cloud of noxious yellow gas at all times. Even as he appears, the party feels the wrath of his chain lightning.

His two freakish companions send chills down the party’s spines.

The first is plainly an illithid; though our heroes don’t know it, he is Master Grullbilosk. He, too, drips with bile, a nasty stench emanating from him. His tentacles writhe in endless pain as he stairs at the group, and he slowly raises what appears to be a lantern with a brain inside it.

The other is plainly undead, also dripping with bile; but it’s of a strange, elephant-like humanoid race with a bifurcated trunk. A few slabs of flesh remain on it, hanging in ragged strands, the bile falling from them; but there are many places where bone is visible on its grotesque frame. A cold, hateful light burns in its hollow eyes. It casts a spell as our heroes realize in horror that it's a lich.

And all hell breaks loose....


Next Time: Well, that’s pretty obvious, innit??



*78 points of damage in one round. Ouch.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Did the words "Bwaahahahahah!" spring to your lips at any point during all this?

 

[the Jester]

Ambush Within an Ambush!

The loxo lich’s spell zarks out, catching most of the party in a chain lightning! Then, before anyone else can react, Orbius, the Eye of Boccob, pulls the serious guns out and casts time stop. To everyone else, it seems as if there’s an explosion of color, a puncture, and a maze, taking the enemy earth elemental out of the fight, at least for a while. His lower resistance at the Bile Lord goes unseen but fails to penetrate Tamult’s resistance itself.

Telemundo acts boldly, casting finger of death at the illithid. The creature hisses in pain as it staggers back, clutches for a moment at its chest, and then falls! “First blood!” the aged sorcerer shouts gleefully, turning towards the Bile Lord.

Angelfire smiles grimly, concentrating on de-grafting his falchion from his hand. A Bile Lord! I guess it’s time... He pulls forth the Deleter, tingling with both anticipation and dread. The Deleter itself feels an unholy greedy lust at this point, but that’s another story.

The battle rages! The L and his allied elemental attack the Temple’s evil air elemental as Horbin the Holy casts a feeblemind at the Bile Lord, to no effect. In return, Tamult the Bile Lord fires an eerie ray of disintegration at Horbin, which the cleric manages to survive. Nobody really wants to engage Tamult at close range; they remember how nauseous the cloud of bile vapor made them when they fought Chemnu. More disintegration beams shoot through the air from Telemundo and the loxo lich, and then Tamult fires another one himself, this time at Telemundo- and in a burst of light, the sorcerer is gone! An acidball* explodes within the group from the lich, and the sizzling green liquid brings a chorus of screams from our heroes.

“We’ve got to finish these guys fast!” Lester cries, and he casts a spell he created himself years ago to oppose the Temple of Elemental Evil: Lester’s antielemental bolts. Bolts of earth-powered energy fire out at the party’s air elemental adversary, counteracting it, dealing it great damage! There’s a howling sound, like a hurricane tearing the ground apart, and the elemental dies.

Angel gingerly inserts his hands into the Deleter. It feels organic- as he pulls the glove-like thing over his hands, he can feel it settling in around him, pressing in. There’s a definite pressure on his fingers... With a grin he points at Tamult.

There’s a purple crackling bolt that blasts from Angelfire, almost knocking him from his feet, and into Tamult. The Bile Lord turns with a cry, his gaze settling on Angelfire with almost physical force. The scarlet Coilite grins.

“Bring it!” he crows.

Then Lester’s elemental ally swoops in, smashing into Tamult. The Bile Lord struggles for a moment, but he’s grappled!

“Here you go!” cries Horbin. “This is for Telemendo!” Full of anger and sorrow, the holy man casts a spell of destruction at the grappled Bile Lord- and, to everyone’s surprise, it succeeds.** Tamult gives a terrible, high-pitched scream, and then he withers to blackened bones and ash in mere seconds!

“Ahh, thank you!” the dire loxo lich cries. “You have freed me, to resolve my own problems!” With that, he teleports away and the fight’s over. Our heroes, shaken by the assault and the loss of Telemundo, debate leaving for a moment.

“No way!” declares Lester. “We’re still in good shape, we have most of our spells still, let’s go kick some butt and do a little damage while we’re here.”

“Sure, why not,” says Sybele, easily persuaded as always.

“Let’s wait for the mazed elemental to return and kill it, then see if we can take and question a prisoner,” Orbius suggests....


*Which is to say, a fireball modified with the Energy Substitution (acid) feat.

**Natural one on the save after Horbin rolled well enough to penetrate his SR. Curses. Horbin’s had more instant-kills, I swear.


Next Time: Sybele’s idea of how to deal with prisoners!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Don't you just high level combat...I'm getting towards that stage myself with my 12th level fighter...so I utterly understand how lethal things are getting aruond here.

Although 78 points in one round isn't that hard when you're power attacking and do 1d8+28 each time you hit.