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Message: <blockquote data-quote="solomanii" data-source="post: 1389765" data-attributes="member: 13963">Totally Arbitrary Campaign Setting IIIOur intrepid band of adventurers;Cleopatra Jones, 6th Wizard/4th Cleric of Erollisi Marr.Volvodor, 10th level Minotaur Fighter.Syrnio, Half-Aquatic Elf Monk of the Quivering Palm (10th).Ned Sin, A recovering Barghest (10th).Glint, Elven Ranger (10th).Sir John, Human Proxy of Mithaniel Marr (10th Paladin).The story so far: After being tasked with a strange assassination mission(to kill their benefactor, a certain Lodash, before he becomes powerful,i.e. they need to go back in time) and having the time portal misfiresending them to Baator (via the Astral) the heroes end up in Sigil.   Theyland smack bang in the middle of the Mortuary and manage to make their wayout with a minimum of fuss and no bloodshed.  They spend sometime in theHive district and discovered, to their chagrin, that they had been theirbefore.  Atleast, other versions of them had.  While this is going onCleopatra Jones soon discovers that her clerical spells have stoppedfunctioning.  This was coupled with an affliction of nightmares aboutErollisi Marr (the characters deity) being imprisoned in the Abyss byGraz'zt.  They decide to try and find out what happened to Erollisi.  Aftersome research and garnish they find a portal in the Slaags that leadsdirectly to Grazz'ts Triple Realm.  We pickup the story with the charactersabout to approach the portal.Todays episode: Deciding not to track Kadyx but head directly for theportal they are "ambushed" by a horde of Dretches and Abyssal Maws.  Theydispatch them easily with the help of an old comrade named Glint and SirJohn, the Proxy of Mithaniel Marr (the brother of Erollisi Marr).  Both SirJohn and Glint decide to join our heroes in their journey to the Abyss.Sir John provides Cleopatra Jones with a power key in the shape of a cross(an X) which will allow her to use her healing spells at full strength inthe Abyss.In his usual gruff fashion Volvador picks up Ned and throws him through theportal.  Ned doesn't like this one bit and immediately charms Volvador tostop him "goblin throwing" him through doorways all the time.No sooner had they come through the portal into the town of Samoria thenthey were beset by a band of wandering Bar-lgura "thugs".   With some quicktactical thinking they managed to overcome the thugs with only some oftheir resources used (some wounds, a few spells gone etc.).  (DMs Note:  Ilove Bar-lgura, they make excellent opponents against melee heavy partywith their Spring Attack abilities and brutal strength).After some more research and devising a cunning plan to "disguise" Sir John(who, as a Paladin, is a big red walking target in the Abyss) as a specialpresent/prisoner of Mareet (the Succubus who runs Samoria) the partydiscovers that it is fairly common knowledge that Grazz't  has a lady guestwho fits the description of Erollisi.  After a few more close encounterswith the locals (including the closest thing to a police force the townhas, the Lady's Lancers - Alu-Fiend enforcers of Mareet) they are told thatthe lords lady guest travels between Samoria and Zelatar the capital of thetriple planes every few months.  The journey takes 1 week overland but mostpeople use the Fiery Cauldrons to teleport from one city to the next.  TheFiery Cauldrons are found throughout the Triple Realm and are miniaturevolcanoes of green flames and lava.  Some are portals and some are justtiny geysers of heat and pain.Garnishing a few of the locals they find a cauldron that will "take themdirectly to Zelatar".  Of course, this is the Abyss, and instead it dropsthem in the middle of the Viper Forest.  Zelatar is within sight, but theparty has to spend 2 days and 1 night in the eerie forest (obviously theydidn't use enough garnish).They spend an uneventful day travelling through the viper forest followingthe meandering River of Salt.  The forest is bereft of animals and thetrees gently sway even when there is no wind.  Glint recognises the treesas Viper Trees - snake headed abominations.As night falls (but before the players light a fire) the forest is filledwith an incomprehensible whispering and the nearest trees uproot themselvesand attack the party.  Each of the "branches" of the tree turn into fullgrown vipers and they strike at the party.  Ned is paralysed by the venomof the tree.  The rest of the party carry the fight with a well placedfireball and alchemical fire (molotov).  The trees are highly flammable andburn quickly, some of them exploding on death and igniting other trees.Eventually a forest fire starts and the forest becomes a raging inferno.The heat and the fumes threaten to kill the party.  They have the abilityto outrun the fire, but only temporarily since eventually their staminawill run out.  Crossing the river to the other bank (which is flame free)does not seem possible since the river has a corrosive affect on anythingplaced into it.  One of the original viper trees the party fell was of hugesize.  Using his awesome strength Volvador picks the tree up and uses it asa bridge to get to the other side of the river.  The party manage to makeit across before the tree is completely dissolved.They watch as the far bank is engulfed in flames.  The forest is filledwith whispers ("murderers") as they set-up camp.  CJ casts remove paralysison Ned and he recovers, but the poison has also debilitated his ability toco-ordinate (-4 to dex).  The party stick close to the bank as far awayfrom the trees as possible with a large bonfire to keep the trees away.Inexplicably, Volvador believes that the fire wont keep the trees away anddecides to go for a walk along the beach - alone and without a flame.  Whenhe is 50' away from the party 4 huge Viper Trees animate and attackcatching him by surprise.  Volvador, being stubborn, insists he can handleit himself and tells the party not to intervene.  The Trees have otherideas.  On their first attack the first Viper tree scores a critical hit aswell as paralysing Volvador.  At this point he still insists he can handleit (despite being completely immobilised with the added bonus of -4 todex).  After another round of punishment the party decides to intervene.The battle is tough and Ned Cin, trying to feed a healing potion toVolvador is again paralysed and loses another 4 DEX.  The night sky isfilled with a fiery red light just after the combatants hear CJ yelling"INCOMING FIREBALL!" from the campsite (about 50' away).  The other playersduck for cover as an incoming Fireball (Sir John takes one for the teambeing in the radius of the fireball) lays the remaining viper trees low.After a night of rest the party moves off, without further incident, toZelatar.  The poisons DEX penalty is persistent and has not worn off yetand is unaffected by Neutralise Poison.  The game ends for the night.Glints backstory: John is a new player to 3e but and old hand at d&d.Glint knows the PCs when they lived on Pangaei and adventured with thembefore they went there seperate ways.  One of his adventures leads him to aplace called the Anvil of Time.  This Anvil is a kind of time machine andflings him, as far as he can tell, into the future.  When he leaves theAnvil, Pangaei seems to have been decimated by an apocalyptic war.  Theland is charred and it seems the old order of undead rulers has been sweptaway.  The place is ruled by some gaunt, yellow-gray skinned humanoids whodress in gothic armour.  They pursue him for days when they finally traphim.  In a final desperate bid to escape he dives through two overhangingtrees which form a portal that leads to the Sigil sewers beneath theSlaags.Sir Johns backstory: Sir John was meant to be a 5 minute NPC who gives theplayers some info and the power key.  But we had a new player who wanted tohave a go at D&D so we let him take over the reigns of Sir John, hence hisdecision to help the party in the abyss.  The player was only visitingJapan for a few weeks so he wont be seeing the rest of this adventure out.</blockquote>

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