Tor Bladebearer's Story Hour Returns

[Tor Bladebearer]

So about a year and a half ago, I started posting the logs of my story hour here. Then, about a year ago, alas, real life intervened and the work schedules of all involved put the game on hiatus for a year (the computer game we were all working on went into crunch mode for a year).

Well, now that we're finally out of that, the campaign is gearing back up again! The old Story Hour thread has long since lapsed into oblivion.

So here are the intro notes and first 4 runs from the old story hour posted again....

PLUS: the final double-length run from before we went on hiatus, which was never posted before, is now complete and also can be found here!

For anyone who read the story hour before (which is maybe 1 person if I'm lucky , enjoy the first update in a year! For anyone else, here's the story hour from the start...

By way of brief introduction, I'm a life-long RPGer (who here isn't?) and I've been GMing off and on for about 20 years now. I was a player in Piratecat's and Sagiro's story hours and my campaign is heavily influenced by the style of those two masters, no doubt.

The next real update, with post-hiatus content, should be in about a week or so.

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

General Information:

Watchtower Isle is a smallish island, about 10 miles across the long way, and perhaps 3 or 4 miles across the narrow. Much of the island is rocky, though the center of the island has heavy vegetation and a small forest. Craggy rocks and rugged terrain form most of the outer edges of the island, though there are small rocky beaches along most of the island.

Tall cliffs of a pale gray stone line the Western side of the island, and the fierce waves smashing against their base make a dramatic sight to see. These cliffs also give the name to the one settlement on the island, a small town called Gray Cliffs. The town is built along the beach where the island is most accessible by the sea. The Eastern side of the island is riddled with natural caves. Lining the Southern side of the island are the “Serpent’s Fangs”, a vicious area marked with sharp spiky rocks jutting up out of the ocean and treacherous reefs. Any ship that wanders too close to the Fangs is invariably destroyed.

It is chilly much of the year, and the island is often battered by powerful thunderstorms in the Winter and Spring. The weather is still temperate enough to grow a small selection of crops, although the main food source on the island is fishing. Fishermen out of Gray Cliffs bring in large catches of fish daily, and the bounty of the sea provides the staple food for all inhabitants of the island. There are also a variety of smaller animals that live on the uninhabited parts of the island, including a few larger wild animals such as wild boar.

Much of the Western part of the island is covered in ancient ruins of a long-lost empire. While adventurous teenagers head into the ruins looking for excitement, the ruins have been long abandoned and picked over through the years, and nothing of value remains. Little is commonly known about the previous city that existed on the island, although it is clear from the serpent-themed architecture that snakes featured heavily in their culture. In addition to the ruins, other remains of this older civilization can be found across the island in the form of small shrines or statues.

Giving the island its name is a large stone watch tower that sits on the highest cliff, on the Northwest corner of the island. While this tower may have served as a lighthouse for travelers long ago, it has been abandoned for many years. The large structure still stands, and is visible from anywhere on the Western side of the island.

There is very little, almost nonexistent, trade or travel between Watchtower Isle and the mainland of Jun Halai. While ships from foreign lands have been known to sometimes arrive, none have shown up in recent memory. Jun Halai is a much larger sub-continent to the East, an island of the considerably larger continent of Taradin that is the extent of the known world.

Gray Cliffs itself is a healthy fishing community on Watchtower Isle, consisting of approximately two hundred residents. Most are human, but there is a small halfling community integrated into the town as well. Because the community is small, and visitors are rare, just about everyone in the town is familiar with everyone else, and can recognize them on sight if not by name. While it is built in the shadow of the older ruins on the island, most of the buildings in the town are of more modern construction.

Inhabitants of Gray Cliffs:

Here are some of the more well-known residents of the town, and common knowledge about their personality and activities.

Joseph Netter: Mayor of the town, an honest and competent man but complacent and not much of a risk taker. Back in his day he was a fierce and proud sailor and warrior, but is now getting on in years and has grown much more conservative.

Malcolm Preen: The Mayor’s assistant and heir apparent. Seen as a bit of an over-achiever who tends to make a mountain out of a molehill, but is a good man who works hard for the town.

Samwell and Elda Taproot: Halfling proprietors of the Aemon’s Forge, the one and only tavern in Gray Cliffs. The common room is often comfortably full, and the stout beer brewed by the Taproots is the only real source of alcohol for the island. One of the notable features of the place is the giant forge in the center of the common room, of which the tavern is named. The tavern is the social center of the town.

Tala, Milo, and Jacie Taproot: The children (also halflings, of course) of the tavern proprietors. Tala, the oldest, is the only Druid on the island and is often called in to help with problems in the crops or assist in healing. Milo is the middle child, and has a reputation for getting into mischief and spending a lot of time exploring the old ruins. Jacie is the youngest child, 10 years old, a cute-as-a-button little halfling girl, and she is often helping out around the tavern.

Critias Pellorn: Old sage who has a tower on the outskirts of the island. He has been on the island for as long as anyone can remember. He is distant and aloof from the rest of the island, and only comes into the town periodically for some supplies. He is known to dislike unexpected visitors to his tower.

Errok & Mathis Tain: A pair of large and burly brothers, now in their early 20s, known as the town bullies. Frequent tormentors of all the other adolescents in the town.

Cedric and Aspellia Strider: Disappeared 13 years ago and presumed dead at sea. Before their disappearance, they were very active about trying to map out the various ruins and caves on the island, as well as creating charts of the treacherous naval hazards around the outskirts of the island. Both were believed to be wizards, though that may just be rumor.

“Ug” Strider: Orphaned by the loss of his parents 13 years ago, Ug was raised by the Mayor and sort of collectively by the town. Ug is strong as an ox, but dumb as a brick, and one of the best fighters in the town. He works at the docks, moving cargo and helping fishermen.

Caladriel Eltaris: A very old elven bard, he can often be found telling tales and singing ballads in the Aemon’s Forge common room.

Jakob Reedy: A curmudgeonly old Cleric who maintains the town’s small shrine to Neris (Goddess of the Sea). While his bedside manner is severely lacking, he is the main healer on the island and the only religious figure in the town.

Torix: A foreigner from strange barbarian lands who washed up after a shipwreck two years ago. His ways are odd, but he has been accepted among the people of the town. He has earned a name among the hunters and fishermen of the town with his prowess with a harpoon.

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

(Run 1 begins)

March 21, 295 YF

From their favorite spot, high atop the ancient watchtower, Tala and Milo Taproot watch a spring thunderstorm roll in across the island. The storms are always a good show, but the two halflings spot something very unusual from the tall tower; a large ship sailing towards the island! Neither of them can remember a ship ever coming to the island before, making this a very notable occurrence. They quickly realize something must be wrong, for the ship is headed directly towards the Serpent’s Fangs, a devastating area of jutting rocks and treacherous reefs on the South side of the island. Realizing that there is a disaster in the making, the two set off back towards the town of Gray Cliffs to try and tell someone about the ship.

Enter our first two PCs. Tala is a 1st level Druid, while Milo is a 1st level Rogue. Tala is fairly level-headed, and has befriended a Red Kite Hawk, named Barav Kree. Milo is energetic and has an over-active imagination. He keeps notes about his adventures in a small journal. The siblings are children of the town’s tavernkeepers.

The pair heads to the Mayor’s house, but cannot find the Mayor himself. They do manage to find the Mayor’s assistant, Malcolm. Concerned about the news of a ship headed for the Fangs, he begins to put together a small group to go look for and help anyone who makes it to shore. Going to the docks, he drafts two of the local fisherman, Torix and Ug, to join the halflings. They are instructed to head to the South shore, while Malcolm goes back into the city to try and find the Mayor and organize additional help.

Enter the next two PCs. Torix is a 1st level Barbarian, and Ug is a 1st level Fighter. Torix has flaming red hair, and uses a vicious harpoon as a weapon. Ug is somewhat, um, mentally challenged, and has trouble understanding anything complicated.

Milo heads off to try and find the town’s resident cleric, Jakob. The other three head directly to the coast, with Ug carrying Torix’s rowboat. Daylight is rapidly fading, and by the time they get to the coast they are peering around in semi-darkness. Having failed to find Jakob, Milo manages to catch up to the others a little while later.

The storm begins to intensify, and the group can see that off in the distance strange energies are coruscating in the sky and odd, colored lighting is striking out in the ocean. During one particularly brilliant flash, they are actually able to identify the ship out at the edge of the Serpent’s Fangs, perhaps a half-mile out. While they can’t tell much from this distance, it appears to have broken in two, and the back half has been grounded on one of the large stone outcroppings. They can only barely see the other half of the ship sinking under the waves.

There is some consideration of taking Torix’s boat out into the Fangs, but they quickly realize that would suicide. Instead, the party begins to move along the beach, looking for anyone who might have abandoned ship. It is slow going in the torrential downpour with almost no light. They think about lighting a torch, but the heavy rain prevents them from doing so. After trudging along the rocky shore for over a mile, they spot two bodies, unmoving, lying in the surf. Tala invokes Light, and a cloud of fireflies manifests and then settles in on the head of the torch.

They rush forward to the first, but find the stocky man has already died of unknown injuries. He was still clutching a shield, with a sunburst pattern with flaming fist in the center. Beyond their ability to save, they immediately turned their attention to the other body. As they approached, he jolted awake, began coughing up water and trying to get to his feet.

Enter our fifth PC, a 1st level Sorceror. He is a human in his early 20s, and speaks with a strong foreign accent.

The man is unable to remember what he was doing on the ship, where he is, or even what his name is. He is somewhat surprised to discover that he has an odd silvery tattoo on the back of his left hand that he’s never seen before. Searching around the beach, he manages to find a few pieces of equipment that he recognizes as his.

While the rest of the party is busy talking to the newcomer, Milo searches through the belongings of the dead man. He finds a few coins, and a small scroll, drenched to the point of being almost illegible. Showing the scroll to the rest of the party, they try to read what of it they can.

“-- Sunscorch:

By the holy vestment of the Order of –

-- vital that you find and research these defenses, such that the city of Rak Shaol --

-- immemorial. In the pursuit of such goals, you are empower to employ whatever means you see fit to --

-- happen. As you know, these enchantments are focused on two specific artifacts. The first of these, the Warding Stone, should still be --

-- of the Warden of the island. The second, you should be able – “

The bottom of the text is fairly clear:

“May the Protector watch over you,

Hadrian Daybreak
High Prelate, Church of Helias, Solara”

As the group is discussing the letter, a huge bolt of lightning strikes very close, just up in the hills overlooking the shore. A series of powerful strikes lands all around the general area. The washed-ashore stranger spots a figure up on the hill, backlit by lightning. He is wearing some kind of robes and holding up a carved staff, but little more than that can be seen from the silhouette.

Speculation on who that person was is quickly cut short by a two strange creatures running down the beach towards the party, one coming from each direction. Loping on all fours, these strange lizard creatures have green mottled skin, and look like a strange blend between a lizard and a frog. As they approach they switch to standing on just their rear two legs, and the party can see that their front two legs have long, wickedly sharp claws. Once the creatures get closer, the party can see that they are oddly somewhat translucent, and do not seem to be completely real or solid.

Tala manages to Entangle one of them, seaweed shooting up out of the beach and whipping about. That slows its approach enough for the rest of the party to organize. Torix’s harpoon is quickly lost in the midst of the mass of flailing seaweed after a missed shot. The lizard-frog creature manages to extricate itself slowly from the fronds, and starts attacking Tala and Milo. Ug tries to whack it with an improvised club from a torch, not having brought any weapons with him. Torix, on the other hand, is a walking arsenal, using his scimitar once his harpoon is lost, and he and Milo quickly defeat the creature. When the last blow to it is struck, it dissolves into a cloud of dark dust and settles to the ground.

Meanwhile, the shipwrecked newcomer faces down the other creature by himself. Spotting his lost crossbow in the surf, he goes after it, but the lizard-frog thing is on him before he can even get a shot off. Instead, he quickly casts a spell, and the creature is caugh directly in a Color Spray. It succumbs, and then Ug finishes it off with a crashing blow from a heavy rock. This one too turns into a cloud of dark dust once slain.

Although none of the party has taken any damage, they are all tired, soaked to the bone, confused about what has just happened to them, and are unable to find any other survivors on the beach. Torix recovers his harpoon from the now-normal seaweed, and then shoulders the dead body. The group trudges back to Gray Cliffs, regrouping at Milo and Tala’s parents’ tavern, Aemon’s Forge.

One of the notable elements of the tavern is the very large anvil that is one of the center tables in the common room. The oversized fireplace was clearly once part of a large forge, complete with bellows.

They decide to go back into the tavern from the rear, leaving the body outside, with Torix standing guard over it. The rest of the party heads inside. It takes Ug a few moments to realize that he still has the boat on his shoulders, to the amusement of the rest of the party. Elda Taproot, Milo and Tala’s mother, is working in the kitchen, and is immediately concerned for her drenched children and their friends. Milo and Tala head out into the common room to see who is there. They spot the Mayor, as well as a stranger in simple robes, sitting in the corner with a gnarled old staff. The pair talks to the Mayor, who goes out back to see the body and talk with the others.

It takes a little bit of convincing before the Mayor believes their story, having heard a few too many stories of “monsters” from Milo in the past. Eventually convinced, the Mayor sends for Jakob to come and take care of final rites on the body. As it is already late in the evening, with the storm still battering the island, they decide that they won’t be able to find anything further tonight. The Mayor instructs them to all meet back at the tavern in the morning, and they plan to mount an expedition at dawn to search the shore for wreckage and clues.

Milo returns to the common room and tries to engage the stranger in conversation, who politely deflects Milo’s attempts. Milo then tries to surreptitiously spy on the stranger by doing “chores” next to him, but then a few moments later oddly decides to carry out his chores elsewhere in the inn. Tala has a brief confrontation with the Tain brothers, the town’s bullies, but she comes out victorious in their verbal sparring.

The shipwrecked newcomer finally remembers his name, Fargo, though no further details on his background. Fargo arranges with Samwell Taproot to stay in the tavern over night, and they learn that the mysterious robed stranger is doing the same.

Meanwhile, the old cleric Jakob arrives, and with Torix’s help they take the body back to the shrine of Neris. Jakob performs last rites on the body, then they throw the corpse into the ocean, where it immediately drawn out into the open ocean by the prayers of the cleric. Torix and Jakob briefly discuss theology, which Torix does not have a very good grasp of.

Torix's lack of understanding of divine powers and Jakob's crotchety personality make for a pretty amusing combination...

Torix: (shows Jakob the dead body) "Surely the power of Neris can still heal him?"
Jakob: (kicks the body) "Nope. Looks pretty dead to me."

The rest of the evening passes uneventfully.

(end Part I)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

Part 2

March 22, 295 YF

As dawn begins to break in the town, the storm has subsided and the previous evening’s dangers seem further away. The Aemon’s Forge is filled with the smells of eggs and bacon as Elda Taproot prepares a hearty breakfast. Milo discovers that the mysterious traveler has left sometime during the night, although no one noticed him leaving.

Jakob and Mayor Netter come to the tavern just as Torix and Ug are arriving from the docks. The Mayor is somewhat flustered, and he tells that party that during the night, someone broke into his house and stole a very important item from him. While he is suspicious of both of the new arrivals to the island, he seems fairly convinced of Fargo’s innocence. He warns them that should they encounter the stranger, not to try and fight him, for he is very dangerous. The Mayor doesn’t offer any further details about how he knows these things.

With the storm gone, and daylight shining brightly outside, the group heads out to the beach to see what they can find among any wreckage that might have washed ashore. At the Mayor’s request, Jakob joins the group to make sure they don’t get into too much trouble, and provide assistance on the remote chance that they find further survivors. Jakob is wearing very old and battered blue leather armor, and has a small shield with a cresting wave painted on it, the holy symbol of Neris.

Jakob is a NPC, a 1st level Cleric of Neris, the Goddess of the Sea and Weather. He is well known for being gruff and somewhat unpleasant, and is constantly grumbling about the situations the party finds themselves in.

Ug shoulders the boat again, and the party makes their way to the beach. In the clear morning light, the party can see some of the wreckage out among the Serpent’s Fangs. They cannot make out much detail from this distance, but at least one large piece of the ship still seems to be intact, stuck on a large rock spire. Many pieces of debris have washed up on the shore, and smashed bits of wood or ruined equipment are found every few hundred feet.

Judging by the splintered pieces of ship on the beach, it appears as if the ship was mostly just smashed apart. However, there are also some charred pieces and large scorchmarks that indicate something stranger. Sifting through the debris, the party finds what was probably once part of the hull, with a piece of name painted across it… “cean’s Pri”. The party surmises that the Ocean’s Pride was likely the name of the ship.

Further down the beach, the party finds a dead crewman, face down in the surf. He appears to have suffered many cuts and slashes, drowned, and most of his lower body is horribly burnt away. His only possession is an earring, made out of bone, carved in the shape of a small scorpion, which was somehow still on his ear.

The party slowly makes their way down the beach, looking for further clues. They discuss some of what they found the previous day, and ask Jakob who Helias is (referenced in the mostly illegible letter). Jakob explains that Helias is the God of the Sun, but he doesn’t know too many more details than that. This prompts more religious discussion between Jakob and Torix.

Torix: “In a fight between Neris and Helias, who would win?”
Jakob: “Eh, it doesn’t quite work like that…”

They only come across one other interesting item, a small black box. The box is battered, but still closed, and appears to have survived the trip relatively unharmed. Fargo casts Detect Magic and sees that strong magic is radiating from the inside of the box.

After debating the possible traps on the box, the party decides to give it to Ug to try and open it, and he happily volunteers. However, Ug’s idea of cautiously opening the box is to smash it against a large rock on the ground as hard as he can! He gets in a few good whacks before the party stops him.

Opening the box more normally, they discover inside two items, an aged scrollcase and a beautiful triangular milky crystal. The crystal is warm to the touch, and has fine silver lines etching curves within it. Picking up the crystal, Fargo discovers that it is actually a square-cut crystal… no wait, it has five sides. Puzzled, he discovers that it appears to have a different shape depending on how it is viewed, in a fashion that defies conventional logic. As he tries to figure it out, Fargo’s head starts hurting, and he stops. Ug makes a plea to be the holder of the “pretty rock”, but the rest of the party decides against it.

Within the scrollcase is a very old piece of parchment with a picture of a hillside and cave entrance drawn on it. The entrance is framed with carved runes, and two large statues stand in front of it, swords crossed in the air. At the top of the drawing, the words “Vak Toran” are written, and near the cave, the word “Rakalith” with a small line pointing to the entrance.

As the party puzzles over what the drawing means, Fargo confesses to the rest of the group that he may have further information about what is going on that he wants to share with everyone else. He reveals a scroll that he found among his washed-up belongings, and lets the group read it:

Fargo –
Just a gentle reminder to you, little sparrow. Our deal states that you will return to me the artifact known as the Web of Shadows by January 1st of next year, or else you will be considered in violation of the terms of the agreement. We both know how unpleasant that might become, especially considering what you have left with me as collateral.

When you recover the item, you can find me in the usual places in Arunjar. My sources tell me that you’ve joined an expedition headed to Vak Toran already, which is good. As you know, we value and reward comptence as strongly as we punish incomptence. You already know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of that, no?

-- Argo

(sealed with the imprint of a black rose with prominent thorns)


Milo and Tala both think that the statues in the drawning might be the same as some ruined statues over on the Eastern side the island, where sea caves run all through the island. Before going there, however, Torix and Fargo decide to row out to the edge of the Fangs in the rowboat, and see if they can reach the wreckage and investigate more closely.

As they approach the wreckage, they can more clearly see what happened to the Ocean’s Pride. The ship appears to have been cut in two, almost as if chopped in half by a giant axe, as inconceivable as that is. The half that is still intact has been … impaled on a particularly large spike of rock, as if dropped on it from above. These details make Torix and Fargo nervous as they approach.

As they begin to get close to the ship, the sea around the small boat starts getting very choppy and rough. Even just a few hundred feet away, the sea is calm, but the area right around the rowboat is churning and tossing violently. Torix manages to keep the boat from flipping over, but they decide to return to shore. Once they head away from the wreck, the sea immediately returns to normal. As they return to the shore, Fargo sees a glimpse of some sort of buildings or geometric shapes far below the waves, although Torix sees nothing.

Back on land, the party heads up towards the hills of the Eastern part of the island. Sure enough, the collapsed statue that the halflings lead them to looks very similar to one of the two from the drawing, and other large piles of rubble could plausibly be the remains of the other. The clearest indicator that they have found the right place, however, is the very entrance from the drawing there in the side of the hill! Meters of rock appear to have been blasted away from the hillside, revealing the entrance.

The party debates what to do next, and spends some time investigating the runes around the entranceway. Milo laboriously copies them down in his journal, and Fargo looks for signs of magic around the entrance, and discovers that the small crystal gets very warm as he gets close. After a little while, they decide to go into the cave and argue some about who should go first. Milo courageously volunteers to go in last. Torix walks into the entrance – and is immediately stopped by some sort of invisible resistance. Putting two and two together, Fargo takes out the triangular (?) crystal and reaches forward into the arch with it.

There is an immediate reaction, as a field of energy becomes visible in the entrance, and then is sucked into the crystal. The small stone immediately becomes clear instead of milky, and the silver lines within begin to slowly move. On closer inspection, it is clear that there are fine cracks running all throughout the crystal. The entrance is no longer blocked, and the party heads into the tunnel beyond. Ug continues to ask to hold the crystal, which he now refers to as the “shiny rock”.

Following the tunnel for several hundred feet, in a room off to the side, they see a very strange sight. The room is some kind of storeroom, with a number of crates stacked all around. Two strange serpent-like humanoids in ornate armor, with swords drawn, are standing over a third serpent-man in robes who lies in a pool of blood, apparently dead. One of the two still has blood all over his sword, and they are engaged in some kind of heated discussion.

On the other half of the room, a very large spider, perhaps 10’ in diameter, is menacing a pair of young looking dwarves. Instead of having normal spider legs, the two front legs of the creature are large, curved blades. One of the dwarves has a greataxe drawn, while the other is in plain robes.

The entire room is completely unmoving, a frozen snapshot in time. Even the torches on the wall are stopped, mid-flicker. A thick web of blue lines of energy crisscrosses throughout the entire room, a giant cat’s cradle. Fargo notices that the lines are less dense around the two warriors, and they appear to be bowing outwards from the wall, away from a small crystal vein in the cave wall.

Seeing the serpent-men, Ug starts screaming and runs outside. The rest of the party debates what to do, whether they should return to the town and tell someone about their finding, go further down the tunnel, or try and figure out what is going on with the room and perhaps rescue the endangered dwarves. However, the question is soon rendered moot, as Torix kicks a small stone into the web of energy, and it begins to unravel!

Instantly, the room snaps into motion. The two serpent-man soldiers immediately age, their scales rotting away before being reduced to skeletons, and then dust, their now-rusty and useless equipment clattering to the floor. The giant spider continues to bear down on the two dwarves, and the party leaps into the fray!

Enter now our final two PCs. Tardok is a 1st level Fighter, and Anathor is a 1st level Wizard. There is a clear family resemblance between the two of them, and more of their unusal background will be revealed shortly.

Judging that he doesn’t know enough about the situation, Fargo unleashes a Color Spray on the large bladed spider AND the two dwarves! However, they all resist. A stray crossbow bolt fired ostensibly at the party almost winds up hitting one of the dwarves! Things get tense for a few moments between the dwarves and the rest of the party, but they quickly put aside their hostilities to focus on the the spiders.

Torix and Tardok engage the spider in melee combat, while Anathor spends most of the combat trying to hide behind his brother. Baby spiders, also with the strange bladed front legs, drop down from the ceiling all around the rest of the party. Tala and Jakob do their best to try and fight them off, and do miserably, Jakob spending as much time fallen over on the ground as fighting baby spiders.

The battle is practically won in one tremendous blow, as Tardok cleaves the large spider in two with a mighty swing. Green ichor drips across the floor, and three more baby spiders climb out of the corpse much to the disgust of the party. However, with the adult spider defeated, the baby spiders don’t pose too much threat. Torix spears one, and Anathor finishes off another with a Magic Missile. Having heard combat, Ug runs back into the room, just in time to see the combat end.

Tardok’s amazing hit was almost beyond belief. Rolling maximum damage of 12 with his greataxe, with a +4 STR modifier, and then doing triple damage for a whopping total of 48 points! That must be near the maximum theoretical possible damage for a first level character to do without magic items.

Milo searches the robed serpent-man, and finds a few coins, a wavy black dagger, and a thick tome. Torix searches some of the crates, while the rest of the party begins to talk with the very confused dwarves.

My players, all being computer game developers in real life, could not avoid a barrage of egregious first-person-shooter “crate” jokes. The piggy claimed a very good haul for our first run.

The dwarves try and be about their way, unbelieving that anything has changed. They maintain that surely the party must be confused. Deciding to “humor” the strange party that has wandered into the mines, they laboriously explain what is the most basic of common knowledge as far as they are concerned. They were in the Rakalith mines on an errand for their master, and don’t know why the party have never seen Ophidians, the ruling masters of the Ophidian Empire, before. The dwarves seem to think the party must be somewhat touched in the head. They aren’t sure why one of the Ophidians had brought in a docile spider, but Anathor is pretty sure from rumors he’s heard that the Ophidians do some sort of magical research into bizarre monsters deep in the mines.

They answer a few more simple questions, explaining that the Ophidians rule among all the above-ground nations, and they keep lesser races as slaves and servants. Neither dwarf would really classify the Empire as evil, but they clearly rule with an iron hand. The dwarves had come to the city of Rak Shaol in order to study under the legendary Magesmith, Aemon Hammerfist. Milo practically goes berserk when he realizes the connection to his parents' tavern. Some of the party are not convinced of the dwarves’ story either.

Anathor: Oh, like we were on a spider-menacing retreat holiday!?

Still somewhat disbelieving of the party’s story, the dwarves agree to lead them deeper into the mines, where surely they can find someone of authority to explain why these new strangers are so deluded. Their faith is shaken somewhat as they see tunnels long abandonded, dug much further than they had been just hours before. Eventually, they are convinced that something is definitely not right, and want to head to the city to try and find their master before going too much deeper into the tunnels.

The party asks about what was being mined here, and Anathor explains that this is the only known source of Rakalith, a very powerful magical substance. While he is unclear on any of the specifics, he knows that the more advanced mages use it for Planar Magic. None of the party is really certain what that means, but Fargo recognizes it as having something to do with travel or going to other planes of reality. The small crystal they found before is clearly Rakalith. The party finally gives in to Ug’s requests for the “shiny rock” and lets him carry it.

Eventually, the party retraces their steps and heads back out into the sunlight. The dwarves are shocked to see the ruins, and begin to accept that the city they knew is gone. The party begins to head through the forest back towards Gray Cliffs, with more questions than answers…

(Run 1 ends)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

March 22, 295 YF, Late Afternoon

The party emerges from the mines, and begins the walk back towards Gray Cliffs. However, before they have gotten very far, Tala spots Barav Kree (Tala’s hawk) circling overhead. He cries out and flies down, alighting on her outstretched arm. There is a message tied to his leg, which she unties and quickly reads:

Tala –

Do not return to the town under any circumstances. It is extremely dangerous right now. Come to my tower immediately; I have need of your assistance.

-- Critias

There is some debate about whether they should head immediately to the town or follow Critias’ advice. They decide to take the path of caution, and they change course to head towards the sage’s tower on the far Western side of the island. As they cross the island Westward, the dwarves get a good view of the ruined city, and they have a most disturbing revelation: the island is only about half of the size it used to be! The city (and the island) used to stretch out about twice as far to the South as it does now. Most of where the city used to sit is now where the Serpent’s Fangs lie. Given what Fargo saw when they rowed out to the Fangs before, the party presumes that half of the ruined city must lie underwater, beneath the Fangs.

The party presses onwards, heads through the ancient ruins on the island. Anathor and Tardok recognize it as definitely the remains of the city they once lived in. They arrive at Critias’ tower, one of the few buildings in the ruins that remains intact. It stands perhaps 80 feet tall, carved from stone in an architectural style similar to the rest of the ruins, without windows or other features besides an open entryway at the base. The party enters the first level of the tower, and is immediately confronted by a pair of large snarling hounds! The two dogs are larger than the halflings, and they shimmer with energy. Further, the stairs upwards to the tower are now blocked by a translucent orange field of some kind.

Ug begins to cautiously approach the dogs, wanting to pet them, but as he does, they spring into action! Jaws snapping, they engage the party in combat. Further, the hounds appear to be able to howl and shoot bolts of energy through their eyes that badly stun some of the party. The battle is in full swing when Tala begins to realize that these dogs are awfully familiar; in fact there used to be some statues in this very room that look just like them!

Tala might have identified them much sooner; she failed the DC 10 INT check to recall several times in a row at the beginning of the combat. Sometimes the dice are unforgiving…

Quickly realizing what must be going on, she starts calling urgently for Critias. The dogs begin to back down, though the party takes a few more whacks at them for good measure. A few moments later he wanders down the stairs, and is quite startled to see what is going on. Pointing at the dogs in turn he says their names, “Romulus! Remus!” and they turn back into statues, albeit somewhat chipped and cracked ones now.

Embarrassed that he forgot to disable his defenses, he apologies and leads the party upstairs to the top of the tower. They enter a large workshop, with piles of notes covering every surface, books stacked into tottering piles, and arcane research equipment scattered all about. Despite the lack of windows on the outside, the workshop appears to have an excellent view of the surrounding ruins.

At first it is difficult to get a coherent story out of Critias; he is easily distracted by the newcomers to the island and tales of the events that the party has encountered so far. Half the party peppers him with questions about all sorts of things while the other half attempts to keep him on track about what is happening in the town.

For purposes of a halfway-sane Story Hour, it would be rather difficult to recount the disjoint flow of conversation with Critias. Here is the information the party gained in discussion with Critias in a somewhat more linear order.

Critias warns the party that it would be very dangerous for them to return right now; that an evil priest of some power has come to the town and is charming or attacking any who stands in his way. The party describes Lazarus, and Critias says that it is very likely the same person.

He explains that the Mayors of Gray Cliffs have had the responsibility for generations of guarding a powerful artifact, the Warding Stone. Critias believes the Stone is tightly connected to powerful enchantments that protect the island, the same enchanments that likely destroyed the ship that Fargo was on. He isn’t sure how Torix was able to get to the island years ago, but thinks it may have something to do with the fact that Torix was unconscious and not on a boat.

Critias tells the party that Lazarus came to the island to take the Warding Stone for his own foul purposes; and that Mayor Netter had managed to foil him temporarily by fooling him into taking powerless replicas. In the early afternoon, Lazarus discovered the deception and came back to the town, angry and powerful. Critias tells them that the Mayor, the bard Caladriel, and several others in the town were gravely injured by his attack, and he has taken not only the Warding Stone but several Rakalith “gatekeys”, similar to the one the party has. If the party had returned to the town directly and tried to stop him, Lazarus would surely have defeated, and possibly even killed the entire group.

Critias is certain Lazarus is now seeking a way off of the island, and the sage only knows of one way to do so. Deep below the city, there are portals that lead off of the island. They require powerful ancient magics to reactivate, and a gatekey to use, both of which Lazarus likely has. Although he is uncomfortable sending them into such danger, he asks the party to travel deeper into the mines they just discovered in the hopes of tracking Lazarus and monitoring his activities. Critias warns them most strongly not to directly engage the evil priest in combat; doing so would surely lead to their deaths. However, if they can spy on him, see if he is really headed out through a portal in the undercity, then Critias thinks he may still be able to stop him. The party must gather this information for Critias; he cannot go himself without disrupting vital work that he is in the middle of.

All throughout Critias’ description of what Lazarus is up to and what the party must do, the party peppers him with questions on a variety of other topics. He is pleased to meet the dwarves, though doesn’t seem to fully accept their story of being from the past, and is distracted on to other topics before he can question them further. Rak Shaol, he confirms, is the name of the ancient city that used to be on this island. Critias is fascinated to see that the party has an actual gatekey, and is eager to study it further when the opportunity presents itself. The sage confirms that he can in fact translate the Ophidian writings that the party has found, though it would take him considerable time and attention that he cannot spare at the moment.

When the party mentions the Ophidians, Critias is startled, and warns them that that name is never to be mentioned among others. He does not offer any further explanation, telling them that it is truly in their best interests to remain ignorant of the reasons why.

Fargo asks him about the Web of Shadows, and after referencing a few of his volumes he answers that according to legend, there was once a powerful group of assassins operating out of Rak Shaol. The leader of this group used an artifact called the Web of Shadows, and that with it there was no target that was beyond his abilities to eliminate. Unfortunately, he has no information about where it might be now.

The party accepts the task, and prepares to return to the mines in the morning after resting. Before they leave, Critias offers to give them some measure of protection against Lazarus’ enchantments, to protect their minds at least. The party agrees, and Critias casts a spell on the entire group, with sparkles of magical energy settling onto the head of each individual.

Rather than risk returning to the town and encountering Lazarus, the party decides to camp for the night at the base of the tower. In the company of Romulus and Remus, the party sets watches but has an uneventful evening.

Me: Torix, as you settle down for your watch one of the hounds comes over and licks you with an energy tongue. It tingles.
Torix: Torix finds this both strangely appealing and repulsive.

March 23, 295 YF

The next morning, the party memorizes their spells and prepares to head out to the mines. Before leaving, Anathor pilfers a few minor items from Critias’ storehouse, but leaves him a few gold in compensation. They trek back through the ruins and across the island, and return to the cave entrance.

Through all the dust and debris in the mines, Tala is able to track the trail of someone who has come to the mines after the party left them last. The party decides to follow the trail directly rather than explore the areas of the upper limits that they did not venture into before. She is able to follow the trail down into the lower level, into the mining tunnels proper. The maze-like tunnels would have been difficult to search without a guide, but the party is able to use the trail to make their way through easily. Apart from Ug placing a dead baby blade-spider on Tardok’s head, the trip down is uneventful.

Unfortunately, Tala loses the trail as it descends into a lower level below the mines. Going down a stone staircase, the party makes their way into a large vaulted tunnel, tall enough that their light barely reaches the curved ceiling above. Without a trail to follow any longer, they begin to search along the corridor. After travelling for some distance in the dark cavernous corridor, their progress is blocked by what appears to have been a major cave-in that goes on for some distance.

Venturing the other way down the corridor, after a while the party comes across a side passage, still intact. At the end of the passage are two rooms, with a dense web of red glowing lines crisscrossing the entire room. The effect looks very similar to the blue lines where the party rescued Anathor and Tardok. Peering into both of the rooms, the party can see that the room is lined with glass cylinders, and there appears to be a humanoid figure in each of them. The party tries tossing a rock at the field, as they did before, but this time the rock bounces right off.

Heading back to the main corridor, they continue along it for another fair distance. The passage ends at a giant pair of double-doors, sealed with magical glyphs on every square inch. Doing their best to analyze the glyphs, the spellcasters come to the conclusion that the wards are focused on keeping something in rather than keeping them out. They decide not to experiment with opening them.

To either side of the door, corridors lead off into the darkness. Following the right branch first, the party comes to a long-abandoned temple of some kind. There are three Ophidian skeletons, in faint remains of robes, arrayed around an altar at the far end of the room, all facing towards it. Sitting on the altar is a golden bracelet of two serpents twined around each other.

The party explores the room, and notes a common symbol of a closed book in all the carvings on the walls. Jakob supposes that it is probably the holy symbol of whatever god was being worshipped here, but he does not recognize it as belonging to any god he knows of. Anathor takes the bracelet from the altar, but the party decides not to play around with it right now.

Instead, they head back to the main corridor, and go down the other side passage. Almost immediately, they see torchlight ahead and the sounds of activity. Milo heads down the passage alone, moving silently in the flickering shadows. Around the corner he sees another temple room, somewhat similar in shape to the one the party just explored.

This one, however, has a large archway at the far end behind a raised altar, with Ophidian script written all along it. To either side of the arch is ornate and complex stonework, with a small fist-sized recession. The temple room itself has lines of glyphs etched in the stone all along the floor, wall, and ceilings. Six pillars, with large stone snakes entwined around them, are spaced throughout the room and the glyphs seem to mostly be radiating outward from the pillars.

Standing in front of the portal, looking through sheafs of parchment, is Lazarus! At least Milo assumes it is Lazarus; he looks somewhat different than the last time the party met him. Whereas before he was a somewhat mild looking traveler, dressed unremarkably with a weathered old staff, he now appears in a robe of shimmering scales, his staff carved in the shape of a hooded cobra. He is bald, with striking features and a commanding aura. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to notice Milo.

Milo was a turbo sneaking machine. He made sneak checks up in the mid-20s several times in a row.

Milo returns to the party, and there is some discussion as to whether they should try and stop him, watch for a bit longer, or just head back now. They do not reach any clear decision, and Anathor and Milo go forward to spy and see if he can figure out more about what Lazarus is up to. The dwarven wizard is unable to tell anything beyond what Milo saw. However, as he is returning to the party, he falls flat on his face, clattering to the ground with a loud grunt! Lazarus calls out, asking who is there. The party remains hidden further down the corridor, but Lazarus does not come out of the room. Milo sees him do something with the staff, and all the glyphs in the room flash briefly.

Eventually Milo decides to get a closer look at what Lazarus is doing. His plan is to advance to the altar using the pillars as cover from being seen. Unfortunately, as soon as he crosses one of the lines of glyphs on the floor, the two stone serpents on the nearest pillar come to life and attack him. Milo tumbles expertly past them to try and flee the room and get back to the rest of the party, but one of the snakes coils around him, pinning the halfling tightly!

Meanwhile, Lazarus has invoked some power of his staff again, and a shimmering energy field springs up around the altar area, emanating from two black faceted rocks on pedestals at either end of the room. He points his staff at the trapped Milo, and a powerful mental force claws at Milo’s mind! But Critias’ protection seems to have worked, and he is able to resist the spell.

Resisting the effects of the staff required a DC 25 will check! Fortunately the mental shielding from Critias gave the party a +15 to resist it…

Hearing combat break out, the party starts running down the corridor to help. They get there in a few rounds, but in that time Milo has almost been crushed into unconsciousness by the giant snake. The party gets bottlenecked up in the small corridor leading to the temple, fighting the other snake that has moved forward to engage them. With a few mightly blows of his harpoon, Torix dispatches one and injures the other enough that it releases the badly injured Milo.

Lazarus attempts to make mental attacks on a few other party members, and they also resist it. He is quite shaken by this failure, and his aura of confidence is replaced with hurried activity. Lazarus takes a small glowing stone, looking just like the one the party has, and places it in the recess to the right of the portal. The archway crackles with energy for a moment and then goes silent. Lazarus begins casting a spell at it.

Fargo determines that he is casting a very lengthy spell, and that the party may still have enough time to stop it. They also notice that Lazarus’ equipment, including a big pile of notes, is lying quite some distance from him, and they decide to try and get to it. Ug rushes forward, crossing more glyph lines and releases serpents from two more pillars! The four serpents quickly surround him, attacking viciously.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party hasn’t quite finished off the last of the first round of serpents. Fargo tries to get past it, but it catches him with a vicious snap of its jaws. He goes down in an unconscious heap, bleeding. Jakob and Tala are doing their best to heal the injuries of the party, which are rapidly accumulating at the hands of the snakes. Torix is still standing only by virtue of his rapidly-fading barbarian rage, and Ug is savaged by the four serpents surrounding him. Further complicating matters, Milo tries to get the party to flee rather than fight, and heads off back down the corridor. Tala has a plan, and tries to rally the party, but mostly confusion reigns.

Just as things are looking grim, the tide turns in favor of our heroes. Fargo is stood back up by some healing, and catches several of the serpents in a Color Spray. The fighters of the group manage to get on top of things, and start slaying serpents in quick order. While this is going on, however, Lazarus is continuing to work his magics, and now the archway is filled with a flickering pale blue light.

Shortly, all of the serpents are defeated; however the party would have to cross several more layers of glyphs to reach the altar and it is clear that Lazarus’ spell will soon be completed. The party springs into action. Torix throws his harpoon at one of the black rocks projecting the energy field; his aim is true and half of the field collapses. Ug leaps over several lines of glyphs, and manages not to trigger any, getting all the way up to where Lazarus is!

Lazarus finally finishes his spell, and the portal before him springs to life, pulsing with energy. Uncertain of his ability to affect the party with his magic, with his defenses just destroyed and a very large fighter bearing down upon him, he grabs the gatekey and leaps through the portal. A few moments later, the energies flicker and go out.

With Lazarus’ disappearance, the glyphs seem to no longer have any effect. The party goes up to the altar to search it more thoroughly. Looking more closely at the archway, they can see that of the recessions on either side of the arch, one is triangular and the other square. However, there is no sign of the energy that activated it a few moments ago. It is fairly clear that the party’s gatekey would fit in the recession, but they decide against trying it.

On the altar itself is a closed book, carved from stone. Despite being carved from solid stone, the party finds that the book can be opened! They cannot read the Ophidian script within, although Milo writes some of it down. As they are looking through the book, more script appears at the “end” of the book.

Behind some rubble collapsed in a corner of the room, the party finds another Ophidian skeleton. However, this one is wearing a dark robe, covered in silver embroidered runes all across it. While it is tailored for an Ophidian, it looks wearable by a human or dwarf (although hardly a perfect fit). Almost unnoticeable against the dark fabric of the robe, the image of a closed book is stiched on the front of the robes in black.

Finally, the party starts going through the belongings that Lazarus left behind. Mostly his things consist of mundane travel gear, such as rations and a bedroll. However, they include many sheets of parchment:

Many pages of scribblings in a flowing, spidery language, similar to the runic carvings seen outside the mine. There are very rough translations of a few phrases throughout:

“Our prison(?) is complete ; we can only wait for the (return? / escape?) and remain faithful.”

“Rakath Arrik = Warding Stone?”

“they move in shadow, death Whispering the names of the knowing”

“Vakath Elat” is written and underlined, with the words “map?” and “Eldon Blakely – C. College”

“… in the final hours the blighted(?) waters themselves brought down even the mightiest of those who remained”

“of the Madness, we still know little. The formless angels doing the bidding of their Mistress undid centuries of civilization in but a few decades.” That passage has an annotation, doubly underlined: “Very dangerous to release.”.

“their research(?) beyond death has proven valuable; Sthanar’s work on the “Unraveler” is more than we could have hoped for. Using just a small piece of the Corruptor’s (essence?), carefully preserved, it can (madness?) (soul?) (unity?)”

---

Pages of diagrams and formulae that make little sense, with the phrase “Fate Conjunction” at the bottom. The work looks incomplete.

---

Several pages of what appears to be a trading ledger, providing an accounting of the purchase and sale of various commodities. The ledger is attributed to “Marcus Swimble, Factor of Trading of the Blue Talon, Dragonscale”.

Injured and exhausted, the party decides to return to Critias and tell him what they found. They makes their way back out of the mines and over to the tower. Dusk is falling as the party returns to the large stone tower. This time, however, the two glowing hounds do not attack the party, and Critias shortly comes down to let them up.

Critias is most concerned when he hears that they encountered Lazarus directly, but very glad that they managed to find where he went and confirm his egress. However, he has bad news for the party. While they were in the mines, he has done some further research on the nature of the enchantments that the Warding Stone was maintaining. He believes that there are powerful and horrific beasts, creations of the Ophidians, that are being kept at bay by the Stone. Without it, it is only a matter of time before they are unleashed on the inhabitants of the island.

Yet there is some hope. If the Warding Stone can be recovered, or Lazarus’ plans for it stopped, then the town and its residents may yet be spared. Critias has another task that he needs this group to carry out for him, one far more dangerous than their previous encounter with Lazarus. He believes that now that the portal has been reactivated, anyone with a suitable gatekey ought to be able to use it, and follow Lazarus through. However, there is no guarantee that on the other side, they will be able to use the portal to return. Unless the attempt is made, though, the entire town of Gray Cliffs and all its residents are sure to be destroyed by the weakening wards.

The party debates among themselves, and decides to venture through the portal to pursue Lazarus. Jakob says he can hardly sit back and watch his town get destroyed, and agrees to join them. It is already late, so the party decides to camp at Critias’ tower once more.

Before settling in for the evening, Fargo casts Detect Magic to go over the various items they have found. He determines that the black wavy dagger, the rune-stitched robe, and the serpent bracelet are all magical. The dagger has light Enchantment magic, while the robe has a jumble of weak fields which are hard to interpret. The bracelet has a much stronger aura of Transformation magic.

Anathor decides to try and wear the bracelet. As soon as he clasps it around his wrist, the serpents in it begin to move, and bite into him! The injury is not severe, and the dwarf can almost immediately feel his pulse quicken and his reflexes sharpen. There is no apparent way to remove the bracelet now that it has shifted. Both Fargo and Anathor try on the rune-stiched robe, but there is no obvious effect for either.

The night passes uneventfully. As dawn breaks, the party prepares to return to Gray Cliffs, gather supplies, get their personal belongings and say their goodbyes to the sleepy fishing village that has been their home…

(Run 2 ends)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

March 24, 295 YF

Before the run begins, the party receives XP for the first two runs, with a base of 325 xp apiece.

The party breaks camp at the base of Critias’ tower, and heads back into Gray Cliffs to gather supplies and say their farewells. It is clear that the town has been through a bit of a fight; there are scorch marks on walls, overturned carts, and clear signs of violence. When they get to get to the Aemon’s Forge, they see that much of the front half of the building has collapsed! Hasty repairs have been done to the worst of the damage.

Once inside, the dwarves are horrified to see that their master’s forge has, in fact, been turned into a tavern. The once-glorious silver glowing anvil now looks completely mundane, and has been turned into a table in the middle of the common room.

The tavern is busy with activity, serving as a makeshift infirmary of sorts for the injured. Several townsfolk have various cuts, bruises, or broken bones, and the few women tending them are glad to have Jakob’s assistance. Caladriel, the old elven bard, and Mayor Netter are also in the infirmary, both unconscious. To the best of his healing arts, Jakob determines that while their bodies are not that badly damaged, Lazarus has grievously wounded their minds. He is unsure when they might re-awaken.

The elder Taproots are overjoyed at the return of their children. Samwell was injured in the attack, and is hobbling around the inn with the aid of a cane. Milo tells his father all about their recent journeys, and while he is disbelieving at first, he is convinced when Tala confirms it. Milo asks after the shortbow his father keeps, hoping to take it with him on their journey, but unfortunately finds out that it was destroyed in the attack. The party replenishes their stores of rations, torches, and other minor goods from the tavern’s stocks, while Elda makes sure that they at least all leave with a good breakfast in them. Both parents put a good guilt trip on Tala and Milo for leaving behind the inn, especially with the threat of unknown creatures attacking in the future, but the two are not dissuaded from their plan.

Meanwhile, the new “acting Mayor”, Malcolm Preen, has come into the common room of the inn and he urgently flags the attention of the rest of the party. He has just talked to Critias, and makes it very clear to the party that he thinks the old sage’s tale is utter hogwash. He tries his best to persuade the party to keep all their tales of danger and ancient treasures to themselves, and hopes that they won’t waste any more time with Critias’ “fools errand”. Malcolm is quite concerned about getting everyone worried over “fairy tales” and pooh-poohs the party’s suggestion that he try to rally the defenses of the town. After it is clear that he will not convince the party to just drop the whole issue, he agrees with Tala that it would be best for all concerned if they leave the town as soon as possible, hoping that this will all blow over. Malcolm doesn’t score any points with the dwarves, either, referring to them as “gnomes” and generally being quite distrustful of all the newcomers to the island.

As the party is preparing to leave, a very small halfling girl comes sneaking out of the back kitchen. Jacie, the youngest of the Taproot siblings, goes over to Ug and asks him to make sure that he takes care of Tala and Milo on their adventure. Ug shows her his “shiny stone” and she is very impressed. Jacie asks Ug to bring her back one, and she tries in vain to get her brother and sister to agree to let her join the group. Pouting that they get to go off and have exciting adventures while she has to do dishes, she says goodbye and scampers back into the kitchen.

Finally, the party sets out to leave Gray Cliffs behind, headed to parts unknown. Milo leaves a goodbye note for his parents, along with 10 gold pieces. The party debates whether or not to bring Torix’s rowboat with them, and decide that they might need it. Loaded down with supplies and now a boat, the party leaves the town and returns to the ancient mines on the far side of the island. Tala is unsure whether she’ll be able to get her hawk, Barav Kree, to come with them underground, but after some coercing she is successful.

On the way down to the portal deep in the mines, the party stops to experiment more with the two rooms with the red energy fields and glass cylinders. Tardok even tries to cut through them with his axe, but is sent flying across the hallway for his efforts. Finding no way to get into the rooms, the party proceeds to the closed-book temple with the portal.

Inserting the rakalith stone into the triangular hole on the right side of the portal, the archway springs to life with flickering blue and gray energies. A high-pitched keening sound starts coming from the key. One at a time, the party leaps through the portal. There is some brief attempt to rope together party members, but those holding the rope are sucked in afterward. All the while, the keening is getting louder. Finally, Ug is the last to go, and he grabs the key…

… and it won’t come out. He tries to pry it out with his sword, and it shatters into a thousand tiny pieces! The energies in the portal begin to grow unstable, whips of energy lashing out of the portal. Alarmed, Ug tosses the boat through the portal then leaps through himself.

The party has the strangest sensation of being smeared out into a twisting river of energy where they can no longer see each other, or even themselves. They are disoriented by the sensation of speeding along with the “current” of the river. Without warning, the river becomes turbulent and incoherent, and then with a blinding flash of light, they lose consciousness…

Some time later...

Tala slowly wakes up, realizing that someone is going through her belongings! She is in total darkness, and covered with a inch-thick layer of gravel and small rocks. She quickly casts Lightand the glowing cloud of fireflies reveals a ratlike-humanoid just a few feet away, looking at her in surprise.

Tala and the ratman, along with the unconscious bodies of the rest of the party, are in a room very similar to the temple with the portal they were in previously, only in a far worse state of disrepair. Most of the pillars have collapsed, and the room has filled with a variety of junk: broken furniture, piles of rock, moldy fabrics, and the like. There is a portal archway, just like the one they traveled through, in the same place in the room, and it still flickers with a hint of energy. The whole room is covered with small gravel, as if it had been sprayed out of the portal after the party came through. Torix’s rowboat lies in one corner of the room, in bad shape after its journey through the portal.

Alarmed at Tala’s revival, the ratman grabs his overstuffed sack of loot and bolts out of the room. With lightning-quick reflexes, Tala throws an Entangle over the one exit from the room, and the thief is immediately caught in a writhing tangle of roots shooting up through the debris. She begins trying to wake the other party members, and soon the whole party is on their feet and attacking the ratman. After a mightly blow from Ug, he bleeds to death, trapped in the twisting roots. Milo recovers the bag of stuff, and finds most of the party’s valuables and finer items inside. However, the party discovers that all of their rations, water, and wine are missing as well.

A quick search of the debris doesn’t turn up much interesting, but Milo does find a scroll case, complete with a magical scroll inside! Jakob recognizes it as Divine magic, but says that it would take some time from him or Tala to decipher it. After pausing for a moment to gather their bearings, the party heads out and finds themselves in a tunnel somewhat like the tunnels outside the temple in the lowest level of the mines, though clearly a different layout. From behind a closed door ahead, they can hear the sounds of activity and rat-like chittering.

With Ug leading the charge, the party smashes in through the door, to find a very surprised group of ratmen feasting on their stolen rations! Two of the ratmen are in battered leather armor and wielding ill-kept swords, while the rest are in tattered rags just like the thief the party dispatched. Between mighty blows from Ug and a well-placed Color Spray from Fargo, the party makes short work of them all. Jakob manages to keep one from bleeding to death, but the party realizes they have no way to interrogate him, and just leave the ratman behind, tied and gagged.

Me: There is rat spit all over the wine skin.
Torix: I’ve drank worse.

The room has similar piles of junk and debris piled in the corners, while the rats themselves were sitting on or around a few large broken tables. There are a number of small, uneven but smooth holes in the walls and ceiling of the room, leading into tiny tunnels. There are several exits from the room, and the party argues which direction to proceed next. The party waffles back and forth, and eventually Ug strikes out in one direction over the objections of the rest of the party. The party quickly follows, not wanting to get separated.

Entering another junk-filled room, the party enters but sees no sign of ratmen. Once they are fully in the room, however, the piles of debris all around the room explode into action, sword-wielding ratmen leaping out and ambushing the party from all directions! Several of the weaker unarmed ratmen creep in from the other hallways as well.

The combat is vicious, with even the best fighters having a hard time hitting the nimble ratmen, and most of the spellcasters trapped in melee combat. Anathor puts a Charm Person on one of the ratmen, and attempts to send him to keep the other rats from getting reinforcements. While the language barrier makes the situation unclear, the ratman does go over to the approaching unarmed ratmen. He has some sort of discussion with them, and they go scurrying back off into the tunnels.

Meanwhile, the combat is raging and much of the party is wounded. Torix, distracted by the charmed ratman running around behind him, suffers a devastating hit from his opponent. The ratman’s sword thrusts clear through his shoulder, and Torix falls to the ground in a heap. Tala quickly disengages and uses a Cure Light Wounds to bring the gravely injured Torix back to his feet.

It has become a running joke that being healed by Tala involves chewing on extremely bad-tasting roots.

Milo manages to fell his opponent in solo combat with a few well-placed blows from the black wavy dagger found on the dead Ophidians. As the fight continued, the stabbed ratmen began to look very ill and keeled over. Meanwhile, Ug finally manages to land a brutal attack on one of the ratmen, cleaving him in two, while the band of spellcasters at the far end of the room get the upper hand over their combatants. Eventually, the ratmen are all dispatched, but not without having inflicted some serious wounds on the party.

Their newly-charmed ratman friend tries to convince them to go one way, further into the "manmade" tunnels, but the party instead decides to go in the other direction, into some more natural tunnels. The ratman follows them, but as they enter a large cavernous area, he becomes quite agitated. Making some sort of arm-flapping gesture of warning, he tries one last time to get the party to go the other way, then runs off himself.

Cautiously, the party explores the large cavern. The sound of many bats flapping off in the distance becomes quite clear, along with the sound of running water. Sticking to the edges of the cavern, the party finds that it curves around and is eventually blocked by a river, some thirty feet across at and least a few feet deep at the edges, moving swifty. The party decides to turn back and explore more of the ratman tunnels. They note more of the small smooth holes in the cavern wall.

Returning back to the corridor right outside the portal room, the party finds a room with two large portcullises (portculli?) blocking a stairwell down. The winching mechanism is on this side of the gates, and with a little elbow grease the party raises both of them. They then decide not to actually go down the stairwell, and debate whether or not to re-close the gates. Half the party wants to leave then open, the other wants to leave them closed.

Ug: Ug votes we close just one.

Surprisingly enough, the party goes with Ug’s suggestion and closes only one of the portcullises. They then return to the large cavern to explore it more fully. This time they go around the other edge of the cavern, and find that it too meets the river. As they follow the edge of the river, the sound of bats moving in the distance is definitely increasing, and they are sounding more and more agitated. Midway through the cavern, the party finds a five foot wide stone natural bridge crossing over the river.

Their unfortunate ratman “friend” from before is at the foot of the bridge, lying dead in a pool of blood. The cause of death is hundreds of small bites, and many chunks of flesh are ripped gruesomely from the corpse. Most of the party is having second thoughts about crossing the river, but Ug and Milo decide to set off across the narrow bridge!

They are quickly surrounded by a cloud of bats that descends from the cavern overhead. While each bat bite doesn’t hurt much, and they are individually killed easily, their sheer numbers are daunting. The party, aided by a hunting Barav Kree, fights back and forth across the river as hordes of bats assault them. Torix sprints across the arch, and is quickly plunged into darkness and surrounded on all sides by bats. The rest of the party manages to battle their way across, though Tardok makes his crossing, very, very slowly and carefully. All the bats surrounding Torix are eventually dispatched, though not before he is bitten numerous times. Afterwards, Jakob and Tala use the last of their healing on the injured party.

Jakob: Neris, heal this idiot who ran across and got attacked in the darkness by a lot of bats.
Torix: They will tell stories of my great valor!
Jakob: Yeah, they’ll tell them at your funeral!
Torix: Yes, they will!
Jakob: That was supposed to dissuade you!

Moving cautiously through the cavern, with the sounds of many bats still overhead, the party proceeds onwards. Reaching the far wall of the cavern, they find a low tunnel, more of a crawlway, leading further. Clambering through the tunnel, the party sees light up ahead!

The party comes out into another large cavern, but this one is lit from a hole several hundred feet above, with sunlight streaming down. Countless bats are flitting around the room, most of them hanging at rest near the top of the cavern. The party can see another exit from the cavern on the far side of the room, but hanging above it is a truly gigantic bat, with a wingspan of at least thirty or forty feet…

Crouching in bat guano at the edge of the crawlway, the party debates what to do next. Tired and injured, they argue whether to press onwards to return to the relative safety of the ratman area. Having gone back and forth in their explorations several times, there is a general sentiment that the party needs to choose a leader, or at least figure out a more coherent plan for where they are going.

Did Lazarus come this way, or did he go through the rats or down past the portcullises? Or did he come out of some other portal altogether? Are the ratmen actually his minions? With no way to return home, trapped between bats on one side and ratmen on the other, the party chooses their next move…

(Run 3 ends)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

(Run 4 begins)

March 24, 295 YF

Camped in the mouth of the crawlway, the party debates whether to press onwards, or risk going back across the larger cavern of bats and risk another attack to camp in the more defensible areas near the ratmen. Given that they are out of spells and fairly wounded, they conclude that an immediate fight against the giant bat would be suicidal. Moving back out into the main cavern, they hear the sounds of agitated bats, but are unmolested as they return to the long-neglected corridors.

Return through the area where they first encountered the ratman, they hear signs of activity up ahead, and then the sound of clawed feet scuttling away. The party also discovers, unsurprisingly, that the captive ratman they had left tied up before has since been freed.

The party opts to make camp in the abandoned room they first arrived in, and assembles makeshift barricades out of the debris piled there. What tiny amount of healing they have left is used, and Tala uses her magics to summon a large gourd full of fresh water. Once their defenses are set, they choose watches and try to get some rest.

During the middle of the “night”, a lone ratman approaches the barricade, clutching a parchment and advancing cautiously. All of the non-spellcasters are roused, and Milo goes out to encounter the ratman. The creature proffers the scroll, and as soon as the message has been delivered, he flees back into the shadows.

Scrawled in very messy script, almost illegibly:
YU COM TALK TO KING OF ALL IN PLACE. WE NO KILL YU IF NICE. YU KILL BAD FLAPS AND MEBBE ME HELP YU NOT DIE TO BONY MEN IF LEAVE.

-KING



Although they suspect a trap, the party (at least the awake members of it) leaves a note out in the corridor, held down with a small pile of rocks, accepting the “king’s” offer. The rest of the night passes uneventfully, although the party’s sense of time is sufficiently off kilter that it is actually a good while after the party is all fully rested before Tala and Jakob sense that they can perform their morning rituals of restoration.

March 25, 295 YF

When morning comes, Fargo is a bit miffed that half the party decided to accept the offer without talking to the other half. Another round of healing spells is cast, leaving the party without much healing magic again, but at least in better shape. Tala also takes the time to cast a pair of Mend spells on Torix’s boat, to begin to repair it.

Leaving the safety of their barricaded room, the party discovers that where they had left their note the night before is now one of those strange, melted and twisting small tunnels. There is no sign of the note or the small pile of rocks. The party conjectures as to what might be making those tunnels, but doesn’t reach any conclusions.

Reaching the room where they had been ambushed by the ratmen before, they are confronted with 4 of the armed ratmen, standing guard over one of the corridors. Fargo tries to communicate with them, waving the scrawled note, and the guards back away to let the party pass.

The room beyond is heaped up with giant piles of garbage and debris. It completely lines the room, piled up to shoulder level all around the edges. It appears to be a room similar to the one they arrived in, with the same distinctive shape and stonework. At the far end of the room, there is an especially large mound of junk, with a “throne” of sorts fashioned at the top. Sitting in the throne is a very large ratman, who surveys the party with beady eyes and then asks them whether they accept his deal.

The ratman king tells the party to go into the cavern with the “flap flaps” and kill the “big flap flap” and return with one of its wings as proof. After some interrogation by the party, he reveals that the other person like them came through before them, went to the cavern and got killed by the “flap flaps”, but got them all angry and now they are attacking his people. After some discussion among themselves, the party verbally agrees to the king’s terms, though amongst themselves they still haven’t decided whether they really intend to follow through or not.

Without the ratmen attacking them, the party continues to explore further in the corridors first, to see if they can find the way up for themselves. Indeed, shortly they find a staircase leading upwards, into a room piled with all sorts of bones. At the edges of the room are very ancient looking armored skeletons, lying at rest with arms folded. Each has a sword atop them, in funeral style. At the entrance to the room, on either side of the corridor, is a stone plate with a 5-pointed star carved upon it.

The party decides that these are probably the “bony men” the king was referring too, and they decide they aren’t up to facing whatever dangers may lurk there without whatever boon the king has promised. Instead, now that they are fully rested, they intend to go and take out the giant bat, and at least see where the corridor beyond that leads.

Travel back through the corridors and into the large bat cave is safe, but when the party attempts to re-cross the bridge again, they are beset once more by a flurry of bats. This time all of the party is caught on the middle of the narrow and slick bridge, and both Torix and Milo nearly plunge into the water of the river below. On the whole the party is better organized to fight off the bats this time, and they do so with fairly minimal damage.

Milo’s first attempt to use thrown rocks as a weapon winds up with him landing a shot squarely on the back of Torix’s head. Well, at least it didn’t do much damage…

With the first wave of bats defeated, the party takes a few moments to heal and regroup. Torix complains about being healed by Tala, since it involves those ill-tasting roots. She makes sure to slip him an extra-foul “special” root (and indeed, it only does a few points of healing).

Prepared for battle, the party goes through the crawlway and back into the smaller cavern with the very large bat. There is still light coming through the entrance high above, though it is no longer a direct beam of sunlight. Once the first few party members are through, Ug lets out a mighty shout and charges across the cavern!

As the party crosses the cavern towards the far tunnel, and the giant bat, the bats spring into action. A large cloud of bats descends on the party from above, surrounding the party and making life very difficult for the spellcasters. Several party members are whittled down severely by the cloud of bats, and since the bats are all mixed throughout the party’s lines, it becomes nearly impossible for anyone to move without incurring many attacks of opportunity. Fargo neutralizes several of them with a good Color Spray, but his next two spells are lost due to broken concentration.

The large bat with the 40’ wingspan (dubbed “Mister Flappy Flap” by the party) is slow to rouse, but then dives into the combat with a vengeance. Ug manages to get in a solid blow, but is himself taken out in one bite from the giant creature.

Ug: Yes, Flappy Flap, Ug has come for you!!

The large bat dishes out some serious damage, but the party lays into it with everything they’ve got. Mighty blows from Tardok and a volley of Magic Missiles from Anathor eventually take it down. Once the large bat is defeated, the other bats begin to freak out, and then shoot upwards, out through the hole in the roof of the cavern. A few moments later a similar rush of bats comes spewing out of the crawlway entrance, filling the room with a seething torrent of bats! Most of the party is able to get to the edges of the room, but Tardok is caught in the middle and is slashed by the frenzy of fleeing creatures.

With the bats all gone, the cavern is eerily quiet, their constant agitated chittering gone. The party stands battered, with Ug down, Fargo clinging barely to consciousness, and everyone else badly injured. They decide to explore the immediate environs further and then camp here before exploring further or going back to the ratmen and possibly having to fight them as well.

Tala discovers that the small passageway the large bat was guarding was previously a nest of some kind. Scorched and dead baby bats (and very large baby bats) are everywhere, along with the charred remains of nesting material. The walls are marked with soot and ash. The party concludes that Lazarus must have come this way and destroyed the bat nest in the process, thus causing the bats to become so aggressive. There is a further tunnel out of the nesting area, but the party decides not to pursue it until after resting.

In the main cave proper, the party hacks off the two wings of the giant bat, and briefly discusses other potential uses for them, like creating a makeshift sail for Torix’s rowboat (an idea he meets with much skepticism). Milo spots a human skeleton in the center of the cavern, covered under many layers of bat droppings. Scraping away some of it, he finds a pendant still intact on the skeleton, with an image of an animal paw cut by a jagged slash.

Although it has been but a few hours of time since they set out from their last encampment, the party prepares to rest and recover again. While camping in the cave is far from pleasant, the time passes uneventfully, and the party has soon recovered all their spells and healed the worst of their injuries. Two giant bat wings in tow, they set out to continue to explore.

March 26, 295 YF

Following the tunnel out past the nursery, it winds upwards for quite some distance before putting the party out in another large cavern. Shortly after entering, the party encounters a large stone monolith, perhaps 9 feet tall. On the “front” face, in the upper left hand corner, there is an embedded Rakalith crystal, illuminated from behind with a deep red light. The monolith is faintly humming. The party debates whether or not to try and remove the stone or otherwise mess with it. Fargo is adamantly against the idea, while Anathor wants to give it a try.

Fargo: “You shouldn’t go messing with things that are thrumming with magical power!”
Anathor: (unimpressed) “Hey, I’m thrumming with magical power!”

The party explores around the edges of the cavern to map it out, and finds a few other passages leading out of the cavern, as well as a small corner of the cavern cut off by what appears to be the same river that flows into the cavern below. They also note more of the strange small melted tunnels, including one natural tunnel which is practically riddled with them.

As they explore the cavern, they also find more, many more, of the strange stone monoliths. Each is identical to the first, with a red-glowing Rakalith crystal embedded on one face. They roughly estimate that there must be at least 50 of the monoliths in the very large cavern.

Exploring one of the tunnels that leads off into the cavern, the party gets back into constructed corridors similar to the ones the ratmen inhabited. They find what appears to be the far side of the bone chamber they encountered earlier, as well an abandoned dining hall and kitchen. One area is caved-in, and blocks their further progress.

The party decides to skip the tunnel that is criss-crossed with the small tunnels (or the “tunnel of doom” as they refer to it) and instead follows a large natural stairway further upwards and out of the cavern. At the top of the stairs, it connects into another series of corridors.

Exploring the corridors, the party finds that this level has been heavily looted just like the levels below, but does appear to be in somewhat better shape. They explore several abandoned rooms, most of which have nothing of value. In the ruins of an abandoned office or study, they find another scroll, this one written in Ophidian, similar to the first scroll that Milo took off of one of the dead Ophidians trapped in stasis.

One room is locked, and Milo detects and disables a trap on it. The party hears a splash on the other side, and strange sizzling noise. Busting down the door, they see that some sort of nasty acid was sprayed onto the doorway. The room itself is filled with cabinets and some sort of complex apparatus, which Anathor recognizes as an alchemical lab. Unfortunately, all the supplies for it have already been removed, with only the large immobile pieces of equipment remaining. In one cabinet, the party does find a box with five small vials of a greenish fluid, as well as a small bag of powder. Fargo casts Detect Magic and discovers that the vials are magical, with a weak Conjuration field upon them. The scroll, powder, and pendant are determined to all be non-magical.

As the party continues to explore, they see ahead the familiar and comfortable glow of natural light! Stepping out into an open circular room, dominated by a large statue in the center, they can see light spilling out into the corridor on the far side of the room. Unfortunately, the room itself appears to offer a barrier to their progress, for radiating outwards from the status in the center are 8 lines of magical glyphs, not unlike the ones the party encountered in their last battle with Lazarus.

The large statue in the middle of the room is of an Ophidian in robes, with a closed book held in one arm. The other arm lies broken on the floor. There is a small plaque with Ophidian writing at the base of the status. The lines of glyphs converge on the statue, and above each line a faint shimmering can be seen in the air. They all seem to converge on the statue, four lines that go all the way across the room. At both the entrance to the room, and at the corridor on the far side, are a pair of stone pedestals, one one either side of the corridor (for a total of four). The pedestals each have a closed book on them, also carved of stone but of incredible detail.

Milo cautiously approaches the statue to examine it more closely, and is very careful not to cross any of the lines of glyphs. Anathor tries to open one of the books, and while he succeeds, a searing brilliant light shoots out of it, burning into his mind and blinding him! Fortunately he recovers from the blindness after a few minutes.

Unsure how to cross the room, the party goes back to finish exploring where they can. They return to a series of four doors, each marked with an Ophidian symbol, that they had passed over before. Moving more cautiously after seeing the trap on the alchemical lab, Milo carefully searches each door for traps and listens as it. All four rooms appear to be long-abandoned barracks or dormitories of some kind, thoroughly looted. However, the party does manage to find a small wooden carved book hidden amongst the debris.

There is some discussion about whether the book might be the key to the getting through the statue room, although it does not match the size of the books on the pedestals there (nor does it appear to open as they do). The light from beyond tantalizes them with how close to freedom they may be…

(Run 4 ends)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

(Run 5 begins)

March 26, 295 YF

The party returns to the apparent exit, determined to try and find a way out past the lines of glyphs radiating from the statue in the center. Torix tries the direct approach, and boldly steps across of one of the lines. As he does, a the shimmering curtain of energy above the glyphs brightens, and he is sent sprawling backwards. Tala’s keen eye notes, however, that after discharging, the curtain of energy disappears altogether for a few brief moments. Firing a crossbow bolt, they are able to watch the “gap” more closely – it is definitely there, but is a dangerously short window of time to attempt a crossing. The less agile members of the group are definitely concerned about their ability to make it through without having the energy curtain reappear while they are halfway across!

Not yet willing to risk the group crossing the 4 lines of glyphs on either side of the statue, the party decides to spend some more time searching and experimenting. They discover a small recessed 5-pointed star, the same size and shape as the one they found outside of the chamber of bones on the lowest level of the ruins. Remembering the promises of the Rat King, there is some discussion of returning to him to try and claim their reward of protection agains the “bony men”, however they decide the risk of treachery is still too great.

Tardok and Ug, experimenting with the books, try opening the two books on this side of the field at the same time. As before, blinding light sears into their minds, rendering them blind! Torix notes that as they did, he could see light streaming out of the other two closed books on the far side of the room. Aha! Tala and Milo, being the quickest, decide to try and make their way across. Using a handful of pebbles, they activate the glyph lines and begin to nimbly leap across before the shimmering energy reappears. They easily make it across the first three lines, but as Tala is making the last leap to safety, she misjudges the timing… and the field reappears as her foot is still over the glyphs! Fortunately she’s almost full on the other side and while she takes a nasty jolt, she is not seriously injured.

The two halflings quickly scout ahead and confirm that the sunlight ahead is in fact the exit! With a halfling positioned at each of the far books, and the two already-blinded fighters at the near books, they open all 4 books at once. Light flashes out from the books, and the glyphs fade to dim etchings on the ground. The rest of the party quickly heads for the sunlight, escorting the blinded pair as they go.

Sunlight and fresh air! After 3 days in the stale and dusty confines of the ruins, blue sky and a cool breeze is a refreshing change. The party has emerged into what appear to be the rocky foothills of some very large and imposing mountains. Off to the North, they can see where the foothills turn into more gentle terrain. The entrance to the ruins itself appears to have old recently been opened, and with a great deal of force. Shards of rock have been flung outward from the entrance, as if someone had blasted their way out. Just outside the entrance to the old ruins are some very ancient statues, almost completely weathered away. There is faint writing carved into the statues and several of the stones nearby, but it has been rendered completely illegible by weather and time.

Tala scouts around a bit, and finds the tracks of one man on foot, only a few days old – presumably sign that Lazarus came this way as well. With the sun still high in the sky, the party begins to trek down the path, away from the ruins. The path to the ruins is barely even a trail along the side of the rocky hills, but soon meets up with a larger and more travelled route. As night falls, the party can see a large campfire further down into the hills. The party decides to play it safe and make camp for the night rather than approach and investigate. The evening passes with incident, and the party is glad to be able to camp under the stars for a change.

March 27, 295 YF

The next morning, the party proceeds further down the trail, towards where they saw the camp. Before they are even halfway there, they are rudely surprised by a hail of crude nets and spears! A band of goblins leaps out of the rocks above the trail and attacks. Despite the initial advantage of surprise, the small group of goblins is no match for the rested and refreshed adventurers. Color Spray and Magic Missiles fly from Fargo’s fingertips and make short work of most of the group. Seeing the rest of their number cut down, the last two goblins flee for their lives. One is cut down mercilessly as he flees, and the other throws himself to the ground, begging pathetically. The party decides to let it live and Ug knocks it unconscious.

Milo scouts ahead and finds a larger goblin camp, with at least 20 or 30 goblins, with more watching over the camp from the hills above. They have a small group of human captives, mostly young children and teenagers. While they look miserable they don’t appear to have been hurt seriously.

The party discusses possible tactics for taking on the camp. The two halflings propose trying to scare the goblins away, possibly by throwing a severed goblin head into their camp.

Tardok: “What is it with you halflings and your dismembered body parts?”

Eventually the party settles on a two-pronged plan of attack. A few members of the party will climb up above the path, engage the goblins there while distracting the main force while the rest of the party charges in to rescue the captives. The top group is able to move stealthily into position, and sling stones and Magic Missiles quickly dispatch most of the goblins lying in wait.

As the camp is rousing to figure out what is going on, the main party comes barreling into the camp. Fargo tries to catch a large group of goblins with one of his ever-present Color Sprays but the goblins almost entirely resist. Ug throws a volley of spears at the mass of goblins but misses with every single one.

Ug: “Here, arm yourselves, goblins!”

After the opening missile exchanges, the two groups meet in a thick melee. One particularly large goblin charges into the combat, clearly better armed and armored than the crude spears and nets most of the goblins carry. He and Ug square off, and while Ug takes him down with a few mighty blows, Ug in turn falls after taking many spear wounds. As the battle rages, the prisoners shout to be freed, but the party is too deeply engaged in combat to be able to do so. But once the goblins begin to fall the rest quickly break morale and try to flee. The party hunts down most of the fleeing humanoids, but a few manage to escape.

Searching through the bodies of the goblin leader, Torix finds a crude map and a wooden token with a curved sword on it. The map appears to be a scouting report of some kind, with some of the mountain paths drawn on it and the location of several small settlements in the valley below. The rest of the goblins have little of value, though they do have some small polished beads that look like they may be worth something. It suddenly occurs to the party that usually Milo searches the bodies, and somehow suspicously never finds anything…

The party frees the prisoners, and learns that they are a small group from the nearby town of Hillshire, just down in the valley below. Their leader is Mauri, a woman in her early 20s wearing (now somewhat worse for wear) clerical robes. She explains, that she is a priestess of Helias, the protector, and god of the sun. She was leading a group of younger kids from the village into the mountains to find some rare healing herbs. While there are rumors of goblins and other humanoids from time to time, they have never come so far out of the heart of the mountains. When the goblins attacked the small band was taken by surprise, and captured before they were able to flee.

Also among the prisoners is a teenage boy named Athel who continues to maintain they could have escaped on their own and didn’t need any help, and Dagger, a brooding young woman in her late teens who appears to be an expert tracker and fairly skilled with her namesake weapon. Milo immediately takes a liking to Dagger, trying (and failing) a few times to make conversation with her. The rest of the group are younger children, including a cute pair of 10 year old twins who don’t say much but are clearly in awe of the party.

Mauri is quite curious as to the identity of their rescuers. Torix explains that they are trappers, while Fargo explains that they are chasing someone. The rest of the party merely makes jokes. While Mauri is clearly still a bit suspicious she agrees (over Athel’s objections) that they should accept the party’s offer of protection until they return to Hillshire.

As they begin the journey down into the valley, (with their captured goblin still in tow) the party talks with Mauri further about where they are. She explains that they are in the foothills of the Stoneshield mountains, in the Southeast corner of Valoria, more commonly known as the Shining Kingdom. She asks the party for more information on where they came from, but the party doesn’t really answer. Torix dimly recalls hearing of the Stoneshields, as a mountain range in a land far from where he grew up.

The journey down into the valley passes fairly uneventfully. Tala and Mauri compare notes on herbal lore, while Dagger and Torix hunt for food for the group. Torix is quite eager to learn of new gods from the sun priestess as well.

Torix: “So, Mauri, if there were a fight between Helias and Neris, who would win?”

The first night of their journey back, Athel approaches Tardok on his watch in the middle of the night, and proposes that they kill the goblin while everyone else is sleeping, then say that it tried to escape. Tardok simply tells him to shut up and go to sleep with the rest of the children. Athel angrily goes back to the camp. Milo sees this and tries to strike up a more friendly conversation with the teenager, angling for information about Dagger, but doesn’t get very far with him.

(end of part 1)

 

[Tor Bladebearer]

March 28, 295 YF

The next morning, Mauri and Jacob apply more healing to the group, and they set out for Hillshire. By noon they are out of the foothills and passing by clusters of small but well-kept farms. The lightly rolling hills are home to many freshly-plowed fields, brimming with color as spring emerges. Having emerged into the valley, the party can finally get a good view of the Stoneshields to the South, the imposing mountains forming a massive barrier on the horizon.

By mid-afternoon the party finally reaches Hillshire itself. It is not a very large town, with a central square, a few shops, and one main road that crosses through the town. Many of the older buildings are built as burrows into low hills, halfling-style, but all the residents appear to be humans. Tala and Milo ponder what might have happened to the halflings that used to live here. While not larger, Hillshire is still much bigger than Gray Cliffs, and the party takes it all in as they bring the younger kids in the rescued group back to their families. The party is a bit of a spectacle as they travel through the streets, dragging a captured goblin with them.

Having seen to the return of all the younger ones, Athel, Mauri and Dagger agree that they should go see the town’s Mayor, Athel’s father. Mayor Chelmer will surely want to talk to the new travellers and get a report on what they all encountered up in the mountains. The party agrees, and they soon approach the largest house in the town, and go in to see the Mayor.

Ug: “So where should I put this giant bat wing?”

Mayor Chelmer is a large man, with scars on his arms and face that show he has seen some battle in his life. He is very happy to see his son alive and well, but is clearly disappointed that he was captured in the first place, and scolds his son for being so careless. Athel shoots an angry look at the party, and then disappears off into the house.

The mayor has a very gruff manner, and is somewhat suspicious of the travellers in the mountains, but is grateful for their assistance. Clearly the fact that they could hold their own in battle against a group of goblins speaks well for them in his mind. The party tells the mayor about the raiding group, as well as handing over the map and the wooden token to the mayor. They also hand over the captive goblin, and the Mayor summons a few members of the town watch to take custody of him until he can be properly interrogated. Mayor Chelmer tells them that they haven’t had any problems with humanoids up in the mountains for well over a decade now, and is clearly quite concerned about their presence so close. The mayor asks the party to return in the morning, once he has had a chance to talk with some others in town.

As they prepare to leave, the Mayor asks Dagger whether she had succeeded in finding out anything more about her grandfather. She sadly shakes her head, no. Milo tries to join the conversation about it, but is restrained by the rest of the party.

Ug: “Okay, we are obviously going to need to bind, gag, and hogtie Milo everywhere we go.”

Once outside, Mauri and Dagger say goodbye to the rest of the party. Evening is falling, and everyone is clearly tired from their travels. Mauri gives the party directions to the inn in the town, the “Bouncing Boulder”, and says that they can find her at the Temple of Helias, and should come by to visit before they leave town.

The “Bouncing Boulder” is easy enough to find, a fairly large inn for a town of this size, right in the center of town on the main road. The sign outside portrays a man comically avoiding a huge boulder bouncing past him down a hill. They arrange for rooms, though their coins get a raised eyebrow from the innkeeper. The dwarves and Ug stop only long enough to drop off their equipment before heading to the bar, while the rest of the party makes a rush for the baths.

After getting settled in a bit, Milo and Tala head out to scout the town. The rest of the party goes down to talk with Morris, the innkeeper, who seems a friendly fellow. They ask about other travelers, and briefly describe Lazarus. He confirms that sure enough, a stranger matching that description came through just a few days ago. Lazarus hired a few guards for a trip up to Crossroads, the nearest city. The innkeeper points across the common room to a boisterous red headed man drinking with a few others.

“That’s Murray. He and his toughs do a lot of escort for folks up to Crossroads or to the edge of the Blasted Lands – that friend of yours hired a few of his boys for the trip North.”

Murray is happy to share a round with the party and is in a happy, inebriated mood.

“Oh, yeah, sort of odd-mannered fellow with a staff? He come through just the other day, wanted a bit of escort up through to Crossroads. Usually it’s more merchants and the like wanting me boys to watch their backs, but I’m not one to turn down business! ‘Sides, you do sometimes get a few unpleasant things making their way out of the Blasted Lands, best to be safe and all. He bought a few horses and off they went. Odd friend y’have there, no offense, something just a little unsettling about him.”

On some further discussion with Murray they learn a bit more about local geography. Crossroads is a much larger place than Hillshire, a small city about 5 days on horseback to the North. The few merchants who brave the Blasted Lands to the East come through Hillshire, and then on through Crossroads to the rest of the country, often all the way to the capital city, Solara. They thank Murray for his time and return to the bar to discuss their options.

As they talk, the innkeeper asks them again when they’re from. The party dodges the question again.

“Oh, I had just thought you might be from Arunjar, what with your coins and all.”

The party compares the coins the dwarves had on them, with the old and battered coins used in Grey Cliffs, and the ones given to them in change by the innkeeper. The Valorian coins all have the mark of the sun on them and are in good condition, while the Gray Cliffs coins are very battered and have the mark of an elephant on them. The coins from the dwarves match those found on the Ophidian soldiers, are square, and have similar wavy runic writing on them as they had seen in the ruins.

“Well, I’m no expert on coins and I don’t see anything but proper Valorian minted very often, but I these look like they come from Arunjar. Far, far to the west… some sort of jungle city or the like. Never really left Hillshire myself – tales from those that cross the Blasted Lands are more than enough to keep from wanting to travel again!”

As the evening goes on, Milo and Tala return to the inn. They didn’t find much in the town, though they are definitely sure that those older buildings were built by halflings. At last, filled with ale and good food and glad to finally be back in civilization, the party retires to their rooms for the night.

March 29, 295 YF

The next morning, the party heads back over to the mayor’s house. He tells the party that he is has need of a group to carry a report on the goblin activity to the military stronghold at Sentinel, and they’d be rewarded for their time. He draws the party a rough map of the area – Sentinel is further to the West along the Stoneshields, and apparently guards one of the few passes through the mountains. Scouts from Sentinel would no doubt want to search for more gobins in the foothills, and if there is more trouble with the humanoids brewing, the capital city, Solara, will surely want to know. While the last war with the goblins and other humanoids in the mountains was over a hundred years ago, it was devastating to the country.

The party defers making a decision immediately, and leaves to discuss matters and take care of some errands around the town. Hearing the name of the capital again, the party realizes that was the same city mentioned in the mysterious letter found on the dead soldier on the beach back on the island. It had been signed “Hadrian Daybreak, High Prelate, Church of Helias in Solara”. There is some discussion on whether the Helians are trustworthy or not, though Mauri seems to be.

Next the group goes to the small temple of Helias in the town, to talk to Mauri. She too has a proposition for the group – she is still in need of a rare herb, Obsidian Leaf, that can only be found up in the mountains. Her father suffers from a degenerative condition that is abated by the herb, and their supply has run out. Without access to more, he will probably die within the month. She is returning to the mountains to obtain more, and given the goblin activity would like the assistance of the party. The leaf only grows on the shores of a lake up in the mountains, which is also the site of some ruins and a mysterious pyramid. The legend is that the pyramid contains ways to see beyond the veil of reality, and she admits that she has seen some very odd happenings herself there at the lake. Such a place might be of interest to adventurers such as the party in finding whatever it is they are after.

Milo also asks Mauri what the situation is with Dagger’s grandfather. Mauri explains that her grandfather, Dalton Splitclaw, disappeared on an expedition up into the Stoneshields a few years back. Dagger and her grandfather had been very close, as he had raised her after the untimely death of her parents. Dalton had been a local hero to the town, and had been well known for his amazing tracking skills as well as his “lucky pendant” that he had always been known to wear, some sort of family heirloom. Upon hearing this, the party realizes what must be the identity of the unknown skeleton they found in the cave of bats, wearing the pendant.

After a brief discussion amongst themselves, the party decides almost unanimously that they should help out Mauri, and investigate the mysterious pyramid and Ophidian ruins there, rather than immediately pursue Lazarus or make the Mayor’s trip to Sentinel. Because time is of the essence, they agree to leave first thing tomorrow morning.

While the rest of the party returns to the Bouncing Boulder, Fargo, Tala, and Milo head over to Dagger’s farm on the outskirts of town to bring her the pendant. She immediately recognizes it as her grandfather’s, and snatches it away from Milo. She is fiercely angry at first, demanding to know where they found it. They tell her a simplified version of how they found the body. Her anger fading, she thanks the party then asks to be left alone.

The party spends the rest of the day running errands around the town, buying supplies. Ug goes to the only tailor he can find in town, and commissions cloaks to be made out of the 2 giant batwings that he has, leaving a few gold as a deposit. The tailor is somewhat flummoxed by this request, but agrees to do the best job he can.

That evening at the inn, Milo moons more over Dagger. The rest of the party amuses themselves by hypothesizing catfights between Tala and Dagger. A band of mercenaries has also come into town that night, and is staying at the inn. They are apparently in fresh from a journey across the Blasted Lands, and they tell stories of razor-clawed scaly birds tearing entire caravans to pieces, invisible fields of magic that strike dead any who enter them, and ancient enchantments that can drive men mad. Heads filled with tales of horrors in the Blasted Lands, the party retires.

March 30, 295 YF

The party meets up with Mauri at the temple of Helias, at daybreak. Dagger is also there, and will be helping the group scout and find the ruins. Supplies renewed and well rested, the party heads Southward, back into the imposing Stoneshield Mountains.

April 1, 295 YF

After two days of travelling, the party is back up in the high foothills, up beyond where they first found the main trail after emerging from underground. Disturbingly, Dagger finds recent tracks of goblins in the area.

That night, the party is briefly roused by the sounds of activity outside their camp. It is a tense night, but there is no attack or further sign of the goblins.

April 2, 295 YF

Morning comes, and still no overt sign of the goblins. The party breaks camp, and heads onwards. Within a few hours the rocky mountain trail opens up into an alpine meadow, with sunlight shining on the verdant field before them. Just beyond is a large glassy lake, reflecting the turbulent cloudy skies above. On the far side of the lake a low black pyramidal structure is just barely visible among some ruined buildings.

As the party walks into the meadow and starts taking in the surroundings, they realize there is something very… wrong… with the lake. The reflection is showing the wrong sky. The party comes closer to investigate, and they all seem to have their proper reflections, but disturbingly the weather is not mirrored in the lake.

As Mauri and Dagger prepare to go out and spend some time looking among the growth for the Obsidian Leaf, the rest make a basic camp. Mauri estimates it may take her a few days to find a sufficient quantity of the herb and prepare it for transport.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party goes over to investigate the lake more closely. Ug and Tardok pick up a few rocks and decide to have a skipping contest. Tardok’s rock flies over the lake with a good 8 or 9 skips, but as soon as Ug’s rock touches the water it instantly comes to a stop and slowly sinks downward. The rest of the party chides them for disturbing the lake.

Tala: “See! We should have brought the boat!”
Torix: “No, we should have brought the goblin.”

Torix, Ug, Fargo, and Tardok decide to go across to the far side and investigate the pyramid, while the other half of the party stays behind to help with the herbal collection. It is a nice, if chilly, spring mountain day, and the walk across the lake is quite pleasant when they avoid looking at the lake. There is an ongoing debate about whether they should just go in for a swim to see what happens.

About halfway around their walk, the party notices that the reflections have changed again. The clouds are stormier, and swirling around in the reflected sky, and they can no longer see their own reflections. Instead, they see Lazarus, in his full regalia and serpent staff, walking along the shore. A few moments later the water clouds, then clears again and their normal reflections are back.

They finally get around to the far side, and take a closer look at the pyramid. The pyramid built right up to the edge of the lake, and is made of some sort of shiny black metal. It is very cool to the touch despite the midday sun. Three of the four sides are identical, but the fourth has what looks like a door carved into it, although there is no obvious way to open it. The whole structure stands about 15 feet tall, and it appears that the top is capped with some sort of more crystalline material. Fargo’s Detect Magic reveals that both the pyramid and the lake are extremely magical, to a level that almost seems impossible by any kind of magic he’s ever heard of.

The pyramid does not appear in the reflection on the lake.

Fargo: “Well, that’s odd, but I’m not sure it’s any reason to jump in the water!”

Fargo theorizes that perhaps they travelled to the future somehow, and several other theories are mentioned. Meanwhile, Ug fashions a grappling hook out of his equipment to try and climb to the top of the pyramid. After clambering up, he gets a closer look at the top of the pyramid, but cannot see anything inside the inky crystal. He puts his face to it for a closer look, and suddenly feels energy drain out of him and into the pyramid! Unconscious, he tumbles to the ground at the foot of the pyramid, but recovers a few moments later.

It is well into the afternoon at this point, and the pyramid expedition decides not to poke around any further for the time being. They begin to walk back around to the camp on the opposite side of the lake that they came on. Now, the reflected sky is showing mostly blue skies, but with puffy blue clouds that are scooting across the sky at a very fast pace.

As they are walking back to the camp, suddenly a long wooden pole pops out of the lake, perfectly dry! The party picks it up, quite puzzled. A moment later, Ug takes his pole out of his equipment and tosses it into the lake. There is some debate as to whether or not this is the same pole. The group decides to wrap a note around a rock saying “if you find this, throw it back”, and tosses it in. The rock gets sucked into the lake in the same odd way as before, but there is otherwise no reaction.

Scratching their heads, the group returns to the main camp as the sun is beginning to set. They tell their findings to the rest of the party, and they prepare to settle in for the night, not quite sure what to make of this odd location…

(Run 5 ends)

 

[weiknarf]

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