Wizardru's Story Hour (updated 11/21)

[dravot]

Dravot's Journal - Hexpools

Dravot’s Journal – Hexpools

Today I have seen the horrors of war, and the promise of peace when war is averted. It would appear to be quite the day for paradoxes.

I spoke briefly with Prestwick and Jasmine via sending, and learned that Greyhawk was still standing and not in a great position, but doing ok under the circumstances. The city was now being run by the Scarlet Brotherhood and something called the Greyhawk Dragons, which I was not familiar with. I must speak with the Silvering about them tomorrow.

My next sending was to my mentor, Bellamy. We had some unfinished business and I wished to speak with him about the new developments. I sent my message into the aether, but no response came. This made me quite anxious and I went directly there through word of recall. I arrived in the library of the Temple of Pelor, or rather where the library should have been. The entire temple was a smoking ruin. Embers still glowed in places, testifying to the recent distruction of the temple.

I was speechless. I find it hard to imagine even now. The temple had been my home for much of my time as a novitiate, and it’s completely gone. Even though I couldn’t speak, I quickly scanned the area for clues. Much of Hexpools had met with the same fate as the temple. Mostly rubble remained in the immediate area. A few buildings or partial buildings stood here or there, but Hexpools was gone.

I moved carefully through the rubble, looking for survivors from what conflagration might have caused this disaster. I came across a half-elf, thin and gaunt. When he saw me approach he fled. I chose not to pursue him, as I felt that running heedlessly through the ruins would be dangerous. I continued on, and came across several more people who also fled. One of them looked up as she darted down the street and then I saw it; a red dragon flying above the remnants of the city. I quickly scanned the skies and saw two or three more of the foul creatures. At this point I relayed what I had learned to my companions as I considered my options. We needed more information than the bare facts as I understood them, so I decided to continue, and imitated the behavior of the others as I moved on; occasionally looking up, darting from spot to spot, never staying out in the open for long.

Thirty minutes later I came across a building still standing. Outside the building a cleric of Fharlanghn was feeding a line of people. I approached slowly; the cleric looked up and realized by the condition of my garments that I was not a victim of the disaster. Various scents and odors competed for my attention; the soup that he was serving, the smoky haze that hung over the city and the stench of decaying bodies all swirled around us.

He asked my name, and I answered simply. This was not a time and place for titles. His eyes opened wide. “Dravot? Is that truly your name? Are you a follower of Pelor?”

I confess that this perplexed me quite a bit, but I answered his questions. “It is indeed my name, and I do have the honor of being a cleric of Pelor.”

He quickly ushered me into the building, looking over his shoulder at those receiving food. “That is not a safe name to be spoken on the streets. People…things…are looking for you.”

“How, looking for me?”

Aerich (for that was his name) then told me of the assault on Hexpools. Undead troops invaded the city. The Temple of Pelor lead the defense of the city, but no one had heard from them since the fight. He presumed them to be dead. The intelligent undead asked those in the city for Dravot, constantly seeking Dravot, killing indiscriminantly when they thought it might gain them intelligence as to my whereabouts.

Shortly thereafter the red dragons arrived. Given the work between the bugbears and the black dragons here in the north, I cannot believe that this was a coincidence, nor mere opportunism on the part of the wyrms. People are trapped in town. No one who tries to leave is heard from again, but it is not known if they are killed or if they actually escaped. The reds allow some food to come into town from time to time, but it’s barely enough for those still alive. Aerich speculated aloud that they were being kept for some later nefarious purpose.

This news was just starting to settle in a rather discomforting manner when he told me more unsettling news. The effort to contain Rauxes had failed utterly and those who occupied it roamed the countryside freely. No one had heard from the Overlord for some time either, and he was looking for me as well.

And yet there was more news, or rather, a rumor that he had heard of. A cult had arisen in the eastern portion of the city. A cult dedicated to that of a wyrm. My blood ran cold when I heard this. Apparently the cult had existed for sometime, but only in secrecy. This has changed since the coming of the red dragons.

I thanked Aerich for this information, though it upset me quite a bit. I swore to him that this would be fixed. I feel almost like it was my fault, that I should have been there, though I had responsibilities elsewhere. He then gave me a small tidbit of good news: an underground resistance was forming, and he was part of it. I told him that I would probably need to call upon this resistance when we liberated the town, and handed him some coins to help with the effort.

That done, I helped him to feed those who came for food, and heal and give comfort as best I could before I returned back to the grove.

I can still smell the smoke. It permeates my clothes thoroughly. I doubt that I will be able to rid it from my memories for quite a while. It will fade once we free Hexpools I am sure.

Meanwhile, I have much to do, and much to be concerned about. Jasmine reported to me that food is quite expensive in Greyhawk, and she will need some money in order to keep the house going. I must meet with Prestwick to find out more about the situation there, and yet I worry about the presence of the Scarlet Brotherhood throughout the city. I fear that yet again, I may not be able to walk down the streets and will be forced to skulk about like our foes are accustomed to.

Tomorrow I will speak with Thora and learn of Brindinford’s fate. Given Hexpool’s situation, I fear for my family and my town. If it is standing, it is only because the Foe is watching it for my return.

The more I think about this, and write about it, the angrier this makes me. Regardless, I am sure that we will prevail. Even now, I am making plans for our assault of Rauxes and my grandfather, Chavram.

I take some minor comfort at least in knowing that the peoples here will have a chance at peace, thanks to Aethramyr's efforts today.

 

[Zad]

Chapter 13

OOC Notes:

Exp this session is 2500. This was mostly a cleanup session providing a little downtime we needed. Also part way through the session, MSWord/my laptop got weird, and I lost the session notes up to that point.

This Week’s Adventure:

With the dragons run off, we turned our attention to the mess at hand. Dravot and Aethramyr began tending to the wounded villagers while Bolo looked after Ravenna and the great rowan. Scorch was talking to his sister and pushed a bucket into her hands, when the ground shook with the landing of the Hammer.

The copper dragon swiveled his head at Scorch, who it seemed had intentions on Ebonclaw’s remains, and told him that would not be wise – they had a duty to perform with the fallen dragons. Scorch, immediately recognizing the futility of arguing, simply uttered a “Feh” and put his bucket away.

A minute later, another copper arrived. It was easily twice the size of the Hammer. It took in the scene a moment, then slowly shifted its way down to the form of a six-and-a-half foot tall human. The Hammer looked on and waited. His air was not exactly deferential, but something else. What became clear quickly.

He introduced himself brusquely as The Anvil. Obviously the Hammer’s older brother. He spoke largely to Dravot and Aethramyr, though I can’t say why. He was very insistent that we not touch the remains of Ebonclaw or the other blacks. They had to be “collared” – some type of ritual from the tone of it. Perhaps it had to do with insuring they were not resurrected. In any case, we left them to their business as there was plenty for us to attend to.

One of the primary concerns was the huge pools of acid. They were generated somehow, and hopefully could be eliminated. Bolo communed with nature and was able to determine that there was a portal at the bottom of the large pool. Scorch then did some investigation with Valanthe, and they determined that there was indeed a one-way portal from somewhere that was belching all this acid into the ground. The other smaller pools were where it had seeped up. They weren’t sure how the portal was made – punched through from the other side it seemed. “The other side” was unclear in this case, but Scorch thought it might be some layer of the Abyss. Also the huge drill we found lying near the tree had something to do with it. It was iron and lead, five feet long, with some mithril inlay, and definitely magical. Scorch thought they could use it to seal the breach, and shifted into a stone giant and picked it up. He still had his acid resistance spell running, and stepped into the pool with the large drill.

A few moments later he hurriedly hauled himself out, and just in time. The acid was freezing solid. While Scorch got out, the drill bit was frozen inside, as all the acid pools crystallized and hardened.

This was both good and bad. It neutralized the acid for now, but only in the grove. There was a second portal that was creating the acid pools in the village area. We could find no way to seal that off without the drill bit. The Owl provided the solution to that however, and set several clockworks at chipping away the acid and freeing the bit. Each one was a tiny thing, and removed only slivers, but as a group, their results were most surprising. As they chipped at the acid, they removed the frozen fluid so that it wouldn’t thaw and contaminate the ground again. Within a few hours they had freed the drill bit, and Scorch sealed the second portal, with the same result – the pools again froze.

Interestingly as the Owl moved about, she was barking orders to Ember. Ember did not strike me as the particularly respectful type but she jumped for the Owl. Apparently the Owl had taken her as an apprentice, and took no lip.

Meanwhile Bolo did what he could for the tree and Ravenna. Ravenna looked terrible – the blight affecting both the local fauna and the trees across the world was taking its toll on her. She walked with a crutch and was very weak. There was little that could be done for her except make her comfortable and try to determine what was attacking the world tree.

While all this was going on, I contacted the Silvering. We had been out of touch for too long. After the conversation, I marveled at how he had the uncanny ability to tell you things, and still leave you feeling as if you didn’t know any more than when the conversation started.

In any case, he answered quickly, and the image formed in my mind of a vast, blasted desert, the very sand turned into glass Lying in the sun was an ancient silver dragon, older than anything I’d seen. Apparently he didn’t quite feel the need to mask himself as much lately.

“Ebonclaw is dead. The blacks here are in retreat.”

“Excellent,” he said. Then a bit of concern “Did we loose any of you?” I told him no, we had all survived. This seemed to please him, and in doing so pleased me. He seemed concerned for us, but whereas Lord Gelban seemed to worry out of genuine concern, the Silvering had a different tone – more like worry for a valuable tool. Or perhaps not – who can ponder the minds of dragons.

I brought him up to date on recent events, including chasing Sebastian, the finding of the evocation binder and subsequent release of it. He seemed somewhat saddened by this, but I couldn’t quite understand why. I told him we thought it was the best way to keep it from the hands of our enemies, and he quite agreed, but still I got from him a sense of loss.

I went on to tell him of our sudden return and what we had found here. What I neglected to mention was any details about our trip to the astral, or Ruun-Khazai. I also made no mention of the Mark of Fire. For now that was something we had decided to keep to ourselves.

I asked him what had been going on in our absence. He said that the war raged on across the Flaness. Greyhawk was a neutral area, controlled by the Greyhawk Dragons (which he did not explain) and behind the scenes by the Scarlet Brotherhood. Mitric and Dyvers were safe cities. Also we could take sanctuary in the Lendore Isles. Aethramyr would be most welcome there of course, as one of Sehanine’s champions, even though he has not yet received the call. I would be welcome there as well. If we gave him a few days notice, he could arrange for the humans and the halfling to be safe there as well.

I was most puzzled by why the break – why did Infernus move, and what did he hope to gain? He told me even the chromatics are not united any more – the reds stand alone, and seem content with that. They must have something up their sleeve to have moved like this. Meanwhile the other chromatics move as they see fit. The scaled council still exists – others have risen to take the place of those who have left, and the goal is the same: stability in the Flaness. It’s simply a much bigger problem now.

When I inquired about Lord Gelban, he said that Lord Gelban was being held in the Durance Vile on the elemental plane of fire by Infernus. I didn’t inquire what was being done to retrieve him – I would have to assume that all steps were being taken.

I made arrangements with him to see to Ariadne’s safety. Clearly she was not safe here, and it was a matter the dragons should see to personally.

I also asked about the war in Celene. He told me that the County and Duchy of Ulek had joined in the fight, and the horrors had been driven past the borders of Celene.

We discussed a few other minor matters, but to my surprise he had no immediate requests or missions. This was fine as far as I was concerned – we had more than enough to deal with. So we ended our conversation there.

The rest of the day we spent cleaning up the mess as best we could. Scorch turned his attention to how our teleportation arrival was deflected – he could not determine the exact means but it was the work of some kind of greater planar power.

Scorch was also showing uncharacteristic concern over Venn. The mage had been taken away, and was being held in some kind of cage of roots with a dirt floor. The left side of his head had been partially shaved, and a red tattoo or marking put there. It almost looked like a pattern that someone intended to cut into him. Scorch scried him several times but he was always unconscious, though in different positions. Scorch believed he was not on this plane but was on some demi-plane somewhere.

I was of little help here, and had worries of my own to attend to. I was somewhat calmed by the Silvering’s words that Celene was well, but my worries were not totally eased. I had hoped to travel to Aran’gel at the front, but Scorch was unable to scry him so that I could teleport via the helm. So failing that I decided to go to the Queen. However my initial attempt at teleportation failed.

Before I could ponder this long, the mark on my hand began warming and itching slightly. After a moment, I heard the Queen’s voice in my head saying “Try again and you will be admitted.”

And I did, and landed properly this time at the family estate. Mother was well, indeed somewhat more relaxed not having Father underfoot constantly. I quickly flew off to the palace. Below me I could see several legions of troops – apparently Onselven’s recommendations were being heeded. In the air I was challenged several times by hippogriff riders, but was cleared quickly each time.

I landed at the palace and was shown to where the Queen was after being warned she was in the midst of one of the more tiresome fay mysteries. In a large chamber, she was painting on the floor in colored sand. It seemed she had been working with it over-long, and while it once may have been a beautiful stag, she had worked with it took long and it now looked something more like a hedgehog with antlers. Nonetheless I waited patiently beside Onselven, who said nothing as I arrived. Next to him was the same Swiftrunner of Ehlonna I met before, who nodded as I came in. She and I exchanged a few words, but still Onselven said nothing, never even turning to notice me.

I looked at him closely, and decided he was sleeping, standing up, with his eyes open.

The Queen continued in the sand for an hour or more. While this was happening, Dravot relayed over the scale the devastation in Hexpools. I had no great love of the city, but no great hate, and to see people living in fear like that saddened my heard.

I was tempted to say something to the Queen, but as long as no more dragons descended up north, I could wait for my Queen. Finally she stood up and brushed the sand from her dress, either being satisfied with the work or totally disgusted with it.

She walked over and I curtsied low and she greeted me. She apologized that I was turned away initially but once I was identified all was well, and I should have no difficulties in the future. We left the room that we might speak, and as we walked away, she said “Someone wake Onselven please.”

At the sound of his name, he woke with a small start, saying “I’m awake Your Majesty. I have been listening this whole time,” as he hurried after us. “And where are we going, Your Majesty?”

I could see a smirk as she said over her shoulder “You know….the place we discussed earlier?” She said quietly to me and the Swiftrunner “Now when we get to that corner, run.”

I laughed a little and as we turned the corner, the Queen did indeed break into a full run. I stayed one step behind her, as did the runner. Of course she was hardly making an effort at it.

I was no expert on the Queen’s behavior but this was more levity than I had ever seen, and despite the war something seems to have improved her mood. There was a definite lightness in her step as we entered the throne room and again wound our way down to the binder.

The Queen seemed relieved once in its presence – she said it was the one place she could speak freely and know she would not be overheard.

I told her about Sebastian, and the binder, much as I had to the Silvering. And as with him, left out mention of the fortress or the Mark of Fire. Had my Queen asked I would have offered the information, but it didn’t seem necessary for now.

She told me of the wars here, and that Aran’gel had indeed joined the fighting in the south. The horrors had only attacked haphazardly of late, and in seeming desperation. They had spread out doing more guerilla fighting, and the main forces had retreated to the same warrens that the orcs had in the Hateful War. Some advisors were advocating chasing them down and destroying them, while others felt it was a trap. The Queen was not ready to commit her forces, since Turosh Mac had not shown his hand in this yet and she did not wish to leave Celene vulnerable. Personally I thought this was the best course – there was much deception in the events unfolding and such a move could be ruinous.

I told her of the dragon’s wars. She was keenly interested in this. She said to me “You are the only source of information I have left among the dragons I can trust. This is most important to me.” I gave her a puzzled look – the implication was that she had sources that she could not trust elsewhere. Rather than keep this to myself, I asked who these sources were. She was taken aback by this boldness at first, but then seemed to suddenly remember it was one of her champions. She only said that such things were hers to know, and that should I have need of the information, she would tell me.

One thing she was not aware of was the illness of the trees. I told her the condition was on the whole of the Flaness. This was most disturbing to her. So much so that she bade me do whatever I could to find the source of this attack and eliminate it. If the trees die, so too shall the elves. I told her plainly that I had been concerned that I was neglecting my duties at home of late, but since matters here are well in hand, I shall pursue the matter fully.

With that, we ended our conversation. I asked if I could be shown Aran’gel’s whereabouts that I might go there, and she gave me a displeased look and waved a hand about talking to some functionaries to be shown on the map. Either she missed my meaning, which I doubt, or was not inclined to show me that I might teleport there. While not thrilled, I knew when not to press my luck, and took my leave of her. As I left, she bade me find Onselven and send him down when I run across him.

The conversations changed as I emerged into the throne room. I was almost growing used to this. I doubt they realize how easily their conversations are overheard. I heard a number of amusing rumors, including that the Queen had taken me as a lover. At the far end of the room was Onselven, so finding him was simple enough.

“Onselven, Her Majesty bade me tell you where she was that you might join her.”

He looked back at me with a tired look and said “Such a shame you were unable to find me, isn’t it?”

I smiled at him, happy to play a long, for a price. “Yes, it is. You see I was hoping to be shown where Aran’gel was that I might go there, and in that effort didn’t run across you.”

“Yes yes girl. Go down that hall, first left, then a right. Talk to the lad in there.”

His directions led me to an apprentice in a room with a scrying pool, who was able to quickly show me Aran’gel. This was something I should learn how to do at some point I thought. Aran’gel was seated in a camp fletching, talking to a few other men about the proper preparation of food, and the lacking virtues of the cook it seemed. I thanked the apprentice and put on the helm (which drew an appropriately odd look from him) and a moment later appeared in camp.

As soon as I appeared, the bells started ringing, and loudly. It was a standard protection for elven army camps but seemed louder than I remembered. Men started running and jumping, grabbing swords, bows, whatever was at hand.

Aran’gel simply continued talking about spices.

The troops were unsure how to proceed. While I was clearly armed, I wasn’t exactly acting menacing. And once they saw I just one well dressed elf lass, and that Aran’gel wasn’t reacting in the least, they slowly went back to whatever they were doing.

When Aran’gel finally finished his dissertation on cooking, he turned over his shoulder to see who popped in. I smiled at him. “Hello. Miss me?”

He just smiled.

We sat, we talked, we ate. I met a lot of the troops. Their reactions ranged from pleasant to respectful to awed. (I suppose had a champion showed up in camp I would have done the same in their position.) The company commander was a pleasant fellow and despite my lack of any formal rank, would have surely marched off a cliff had I asked.

Aran’gel and I got caught up. I made sure he hadn’t been turned into a statue lately. He could only shake his head. His view of matters in the war matched what I’d been told so far. I cautioned him strongly to be wary – to pursue the horrors was surely to play into their hands.

After several hours, long conversations, and two meals, I returned to the Land of Black Ice. Just in time too.

A large dust cloud was moving in from the east. Only one thing makes that kind of cloud – an army. Scorch scried in and saw an army of thousands of blue bugbears marching this way. It seemed like the entire nation with different tribal banners. At their head was what Scorch though was a female, wearing a skull and with only one eye, and beside her a huge blue bugbear wielding an axe made from some part of one of those ice wurms.

We didn’t know why they were coming, but in those numbers it was surely not good. There were some 8,000 bugbears, compared to a few hundred villagers.

And us.

We prepared spells and moved out to a narrow pass to meet them. The terrain was at least somewhat favorable in that we couldn’t be swarmed from all sides. I wasn’t sure about our odds against 8,000 bugbears, but the ones in the village were fairly hardy beasts. If they were elite troops, then we might have a chance. If they were all like that, it would be very ugly.

Due to our superior mobility, we reached the pass and waited for them. In time they came, like a rolling sea of blue fur. The shaman and large one were in the lead, and with them was one more. This bugbear was being lead on a rope around his neck. He had been completely shaved. It was hard to tell without the fur, but this might have been the one we questioned.

They arrived, and stopped. They called out something – again the language problem. Scorch cast Tongues on Aethramyr. This caused some wariness among the bugbears but the shaman held up her hand. Aethramyr stood forward and spoke to them.

The shaman spoke – she asked why we let that bugbear go. Aethramyr said “We are not murderers.” I remembered just how close I was to killing that bugbear, but saying so would have been unwise.

She said that these lands were their people’s once. Then the monsters came. Then the humans came. Then the dragons came. The dragons promised they could have the land back, despite the bones she cast. She indicated the large bugbear beside her, who towered half again her height, and said “Tavokk speaks for the tribes. He wants war. He does not realize the ruin it will bring. However, if fight him and win, he will relent.”

At that, Tavokk took out his massive weapon and dropped it to the ground. He then removed his breastplate and vambraces, and every other thing on him until he stood a massive mound of blue fur and muscle.

We conversed quickly among ourselves. I said “If you fight him, and win, we don’t have to fight 8,000 bugbears. If you loose, we have to fight 8,000 bugbears. On the other hand, if you don’t fight him, we have to fight 8,000 bugbears anyway. May as well fight him.” Aethramyr was willing, and removed his armor and weapons and stepped out to meet Tavokk.

Tavokk was huge, and twice as tall, and three times the weight of Aethramyr. A huge ogre of a bugbear against the wisp of an elf. Tavokk threw his fists back and roared in a blind rage and came at Aethramyr.

Tavokk’s fist hit Aethramyr’s jaw, but the elf was made of stern stuff. He stepped in and landed four solid punches to Tavokk’s midsection, and the rush of escaping breath was echoed by the bugbears watching. Still he held his feet, and swung another blue fist at the paladin. Aethramyr shrugged this off too, and after his first punch doubled the bugbear over, followed with a left, a right, and an uppercut. The bugbear rocked on his feet and fell backwards.

The bugbears roared in disbelief. Of course only a few hundred could actually see this, and there was a lot of shouting as word passed through the tribes.

The old shaman only shook her head, the bones having told her the outcome this morning.

[OOC: This started off looking like it was going to be an intense battle. Fist fight – subdual damage, between Aethramyr and this massive, unknown bugbear.

The bugbear it seems had a few levels of barbarian and raged at the start of the fight. But he was still a bugbear. He had one attack. Aethramyr has four. Aethramyr has a big strength, and power attack. The first round, the bugbear did 5 points of damage. Aethramyr did 52. A collective “Oooooofff” came from the table. The fight was pretty short.]

The shaman spoke as bugbears propped up their war leader. “You have won. We will go.”

Aethramyr spoke up “These lands are large, and there is much you and the villagers could do for each other. You could live in these lands together in peace. Speak with them, and perhaps an arrangement can be made.”

She nodded at this “There are goods that we can offer each other.”

And thus it was done. We retrieved the Owl who spoke for the village, and they began to work out a suitable arrangement.

We spent the next week in various spots. At time helping in the Land of Black Ice, at others working or resting at Ruun-Khazai. Dravot and Scorch were working on creating various items. Dravot gifted me with a lovely underdress that was enchanted to turn aside arrows. It was a minor spell but a very helpful one nonetheless and I was most grateful.

Scorch worked out the details the Magnificent Mansion, and took no end of joy in it. It certainly will make travel more comfortable.

We also made a few return trips to Sigil. Either we were more lucky, or are becoming wise to its ways, because we suffered no ill incidents. We picked up the items we had ordered, and did a few other transactions besides. I concluded that while the bow we had “acquired” from Fuvex-vex-vex was interesting, it was somewhat impractical. I have worked out a spell to enchant elemental damage on my weapon, and therefore wanted a bow that was highly enchanted but without any unneeded extras. A little pleasant shopping brought me to a merchant with an excellent selection. I have a new bow, made from the fallen branch of a tree on Olympus, and inlaid with mithril, and enchanted to the highest levels. I’m quite pleased.

Now if I only knew where to find the world tree. Perhaps Venn is the key.

 

[Valanthe the Sleepless]

I know, I know...

Yes, it's way over due, but here are some of the pictures from the battle with Ebon Claw the black dragon. I'll put some commentary below each one.

Wizardru made these ahead of time so we got some really nice colored maps. He didn't unveil them until we arrived on the scene.

This first batch below is the arrival in the one village in the land of black ice.

#1

Okay, this is what we first see, before Wizardru starts to place the minis. Yellow rectangles are the tops of the houses. The 2-tone green blobs through out the village are acid pits that kind of bubbled up out of the ground. We came in from the left side of the picture.

#2

After Wizardru layed out the scenario before us. Circled on the left is Blind Jack, the Umberhulk Monk (yes you read that right) and the other circle is Lord Carrion, a big old flesh golem.

#3

Just a better ground view.

#4

Okay this is part way into it. We are circled in blue. Kayleigh and Scorch are airborn, Aethrymere, Dravot, and Valanthe are in the main ground mele, Bolo is off camera to the left sucking up bug bears with a twister. Blind Jack has been smacked down, and we are facing Lord Carrion (red circle). Red Bone , the Wight Assasin, has been detected (purple hash lines) but it's still uncertail her exact location.

#5

Just a closer shot. Purple arrows are pointing at our locations. Oh and Dravot finally took care of Redbone.

Okay that's the first half of the battle. Next post will be the showdown with Ebon Claw. Hopefully I'll post that by Tuesday night.

 

[WizarDru]

Re: I know, I know...

Wizardru made these ahead of time so we got some really nice colored maps. He didn't unveil them until we arrived on the scene.

This first batch below is the arrival in the one village in the land of black ice.

#1

IMAGE REMOVED FOR BANDWIDTH AND SANITY'S SAKE

Okay, this is what we first see, before Wizardru starts to place the minis. Yellow rectangles are the tops of the houses. The 2-tone green blobs through out the village are acid pits that kind of bubbled up out of the ground. We came in from the left side of the picture.

Normally, Scorch or one of the others assembles the card table that extends our gaming table prior to the start of the game, and then pulls out the rather large table containing our battlemap. On this particular evening, I put Scorch off twice, and on the third time just said, "Don't worry about the map. When we need it...I'll get it."

Scorch just stared at me with his patented 'Mr. Burns' look, and said "Oh. Aaaahhh. I see. Preparation." One could almost see the cogs turning in his head. A pre-made battlefield meant a planned-out encounter, with the enemies prepared to take advantage of the terrain.

I even went to the trouble of making the map several pages beneath the first blank page, in case someone got to the book before I could warn them away.

Of course, they never expected a SECOND map.

The party had been looking for some payback on Redbone in particular, so they were ecstatic to have reduced to her so much ash. And this was intended as nothing more than a prelude to the main event. It was also there to reinforce the power of the PCs, and to show them how far they'd come. All of the blue bugbears were advanced with something like 7 levels of warrior, I think, and the gang sliced through them like a hot knife through butter.

It also puts Ebonclaw in his proper perspective, when he arrives (and Scorch had the perfect miniature for him...although at that scale, they stop deserving the name 'miniature').

You should see those pictures soon enough. I'm still not sure that I play dragons to the best of their abilities, but Ebonclaw, like Nightscale before him, was powerful enough to make the party sweat for a while, without resorting to save-or-die abilities (although two rounds in melee with Ebonclaw WOULD equal save or die....minus the save.

 

[Zad]

The Green and the Black Chapter 1

The Green and The Black

Chapter 1

OOC Notes:
Experience this session is 1500

Loot was:
Helm of underwater action
+3 shield (large metal)
Ring of mind shielding
Wand of Magic Missiles 5th level caster
Coin and gems worth 21,000gp

This Week’s Adventure:

Dravot returned from a scouting trip around Rauxes with some interesting information. Apparently Kargoth and Chavram had a falling out. Chavram and his gnoll army are heading for the Shield Lands and Iuz, while Kargoth’s whereabouts are unknown. It is unknown if Kargoth is in control of Rauxes, or if Chavram is simply on his errand and will return. In either case it might be an opportune time to attack Rauxes while Chavram is away.

All kinds of evils roam the area, and a sickly fog is turning people into undead horrors.

Most of this information came to him by way of Bellamy. Bellamy is unfortunately now deceased. Dravot spoke with his ghost, who still lingers.

Despite this, we felt it was not the time to go to Rauxes. Bolo felt our first task must be to help the World Tree, and my Queen felt likewise. Of course we still had no idea how to reach the demi-plane where the tree was, but Bolo felt we should return to the Land of Black Ice and that the tree there may provide a link.

In hindsight it made perfect sense. We didn’t have to figure out how to reach the World Tree – someone already did that. We just had to figure out how to follow them.

Bolo, Scorch and Valanthe set themselves to the task. The drill was somehow used to create a portal and the Owl had freed it from the frozen acid. I tried to follow the discussion but my magical education proved inadequate and they quickly lost me. But after some hours, they had worked something out and believed they could open a portal to the demi-plane where the Tree resided.

We gathered ourselves and cast our spells and triggered the portal.

On the other side was a thin carpet of lush grass in an artificial clearing. It was as if something hollowed out a large bowl in the middle of heavy undergrowth. The portal appeared in the cut end of a root from which we emerged. The root reached into a huge wall of moist earth behind us, which also rose overhead and formed the ceiling.

A quick examination of the area showed patches of dried blood on the grass, indicating some violence in the area. The blood was human or humanoid, according to Bolo, and some of them had died here, but there was no sign of any bodies.

Three tunnels left the area, twisting off out of sight. Lacking any idea which way to proceed, we took the left tunnel. It twisted and turned over 300 feet, generally heading upward, and opening to a clearing. It was not exactly open to the sky – twisting roots formed a thick canopy overhead, letting in little light. Valanthe scouting ahead felt the taste of something evil ahead.

As the clearing came into my view, I gasped in horror, seeing the massive mooncalf waiting in the clearing, cloaked in invisibility. The mooncalf saw my reaction and moved to attack quickly, its ambush ruined. In the future I must remember to be more subtle.

[Ok that’s not really what happened. What really happened was we sensed some kind of nearby presence but couldn’t really understand it. Now remember we haven’t played in several weeks so we were all a bit rusty. I suddenly remembered I now had permanent See Invisible, and asked “Is there anything invisible in the clearing? Because I have that permanency on see invis now.” And Wizardru said “Oh yeah. That’s right. Well yeah, there’s a big friggin mooncalf there.” And I went “eeep” and failed a bluff check to conceal my reaction, and we went from there.]

The mooncalf was much larger than the one at Nightfang Spire. It had some kind of sickly pulsing whitish flesh growing on it, and inside there was an eye moving about through the channels of flesh.

We moved quickly to avoid its long tentacles. Valanthe moved aside while I glittered the mooncalf to take away its stealth. The beast hovered into the air and crept closer to reach us in the tunnel. Scorch intoned the familiar and welcome mass haste. The mooncalf shot some tentacles down the hall, lashing at Aethramyr and me. It was hovering just out of reach. I countered by firing a few rounds and backing off.

Dravot took advantage of the terrain, and put a blade barrier into the air above the tunnel entrance. The mooncalf would have to descend to avoid the flashing blades, which would bring it into our reach, or it would have to continue to be torn apart. An excellent move.

Valanthe had crept up the walls and leapt to attack the mooncalf. Unfortunately she missed her step, and landed lower on the mooncalf than she had wanted, which took her through the blade barrier. She managed to twist away from the blades though and made her strike and then jumped to the ground.

Scorch was getting revved up. The beast was resistant to some elements – that much we knew from my arrows – so Scorch tried a few different things, throwing a cone of cold followed by a lightning bolt. The mooncalf resisted slightly but still felt the brunt of those spells.

The mooncalf chose to remain within the blades, though why I cannot say. It lashed two massive arms out at Aethramyr and grabbed him and began to squeeze. You could hear the cracking of his ribs in the beast’s grip. I fired more shots into the fleshy arms, and the whirling blades continued to tear large chunks out of it. Scorch let off one more cone of cold and the calf lurched and crashed to the ground.

The disturbing eye that was visible inside the pale fleshy growth was turned around and inert but I still made sure to put an arrow through it to be sure.

We now could look around the scene more closely. Robes were scattered about, covered in blood. Some large animals – not the mooncalf – had ripped them apart.

There was one passage out, and we moved down it more cautiously. It twisted and turned, and came to another clearing. There were many corpses around, mostly in druidic robes. They were dead one or two days ago, and it seemed the internal organs were harvested and removed. They were all . . . modified. One had a fleshy growth on his face somewhat like the mooncalf giving him another eye. Another had an arm replaced with a crab claw, and a third had something indescribable on his chest. They were definitely druids of Vecna but this again raises the question of why the main temple of Vecna didn’t know about this.

Bolo began to believe that these passages were formed by magic, and not purely druidic magic either.

In the middle of the area is an eight foot high root that ended here. Driven into the root was a spike engulfed in black flame. Certainly something that didn’t belong here.

We manage to remove the spike after some effort. The energies of Pelor had some impact, and Valanthe was able to do something with it also, and we managed to ultimately use a rope to yank it free. The wound remained however, and Bolo was unable to effect any healing or repair. Not being able to do much else, we moved on.

In the next clearing we could see two enormous wolves, pacing angrily. They were not undead but did have the taint of evil, though not over their entire bodies. Both were badly wounded and one had a black shadowy hole in him, akin to the messenger who was touched by the Theopart.

These wolves had been attacked, but survived. But would they now attack us?

 

[dravot]

Scouting Rauxes

Dravot’s Journal - Scouting Rauxes

Thorkeld was waiting for me at the country estate, with full travel kit, including a horse for me. I smiled and apologized for the misunderstanding. We were not going by horseback today. I handed him a white, hooded robe and after he put it on, I teleported us to the outskirts of Rel Devyn, the closest location I had familiar knowledge of near to Rauxes. The road into town was deserted, and eerily quiet. I was curious to check out town but we had no time, and I didn’t want to alert anyone to my presence. This area of the world was becoming rather dangerous for me to show my face.

We shifted into windwalk form and struck out due east. It was my plan to head straight east until I hit the main river from Rauxes and then head north toward it; at least I knew that much of the terrain.

After 4 hours we reached the river. We came into a clearing beside the river, the remains of a bridge spanning the river. Refugees were moving across the remnants at all haste. Looking across the river, we saw a large yellow, sickly fog cloud moving toward them. In front of the fog were slow moving humans – instinctively I realized that they were zombies. We moved across the river with due haste and shifted back to material form, assessing the situation all the while. It was frustrating to be unable to react while in windwalk form; I was impatient to act. The fog engulfed another man at that time. He fell, coughing and screaming, shuddered for a minute and stood up, obviously now a zombie. I then noticed that they weren’t normal zombies, but had thorns protruding from their skin. Panic continued to grow as people jumped into the river, or knocked others into the water as they scrambled for the far bank.

A young man was bravely standing on the shore, helping the refugees, trying to keep them moving calmly and quickly across the river. He had on vestments of Pelor, and looked vaguely familiar to me, although I couldn’t place where I had met him…most likely in Hexpools when I was a novitiate. I told him that I was a friend and set about dealing with the situation.

The fog was actually 2 individual clouds, not one. They radiated undead, but in a diffuse, spread out manner. It was quite odd. A simple turning killed off one and then the other. The zombies were of low level and crumbled into dust before the might of Pelor.

That done, I turned to my fellow cleric. “Excuse me, my good lord. Your face is familiar, but I confess that I don’t recall your name. Have we met before?” He was about my age, clean shaven, with a full, thick head of blonde hair.

He smiled at me. “’My lord’? Since when have you been so formal with me, Dravot?”

At that point I realized that he was undead as well, but not any type I had encountered previously. Thorkeld saw my confusion and whispered to me “He’s not evil, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I grew weak in the knees as I realized who he was. “Bellamy?” He nodded and smiled again. “But…how? I tried to contact you via sending? You’re young again? I went to Hexpools to find you…the destruction is awful. I have nightmares about it still. What happened?”

He responded. “I was in Hexpools when they attacked. I lead the defenses, but we were completely overwhelmed by their numbers. I died that day, but Pelor has sent me back in this form to continue my work. I would have found you, but I can only get so far from Hexpools and you were too far away.”

I offered to resurrect him, but he declined. “If I were resurrected, I would be in my old, weak body. Now I have extra abilities at my disposal, and can do more, although my spells are somewhat limited.”

At this point we tended to the wounded and helped them across the river, and continued to talk. He knew that Kargoth and Chavram had a falling out, but didn’t know what it was about. Chavram was headed north from Rauxes with his gnoll army, toward the Shieldlands. Bellamy was fairly sure that my grandfather wasn’t ready for Apotheosis, so his intentions were a mystery to us still. I told him of our release of the binder, and our search for the world tree, and other bits of news.
Shortly the refugees were all across the river and we had to depart. Bellamy assured me that he could probably contact me via sending (provided that Pelor granted him the spell), but I couldn’t send back to him.

We headed north along the river to Rauxes. The area surrounding the city was pure devastation. Hexpools was a charming hamlet compared to what we saw. Plants were corrupted or dead or both. No human built item stood more than 2 feet above the ground. I sensed undead and was nearly overwhelmed by the presence of it; underneath me, waiting, and ahead in Rauxes as well.

The city was encased in what I can only describe as a black sphere or bubble, darker than night. From time to time we could catch a brief glimpse of the city burning. I contacted Scorch to scry me and learn the area. This would be our landing zone when the time came to deal with Rauxes. Afterward we scouted around a bit more, discovering green acid fogs hanging low over the horizon, and more blight all around.

When we felt that we had learned all we could, we teleported back to Brindinford, and I then headed back to my friends. When I left Thorkeld I told him that when this was all over, he and my sister were going to have a proper wedding, and I left before he could respond.

 

[WizarDru]

Best moment of Saturday's game, for me:

Zad is acting as going down the list of loot, verifying who took what item, and what will be sold with Fuvex-vex-vex when it's convienent (acting as party accountant ). I'm in the kitchen, getting coffee, with Scorch and Dravot standing nearby.


Zad: "Pale Blue Ioun Stone, who wanted it?"
Valanthe: "Not me, I'm good."
Scorch: "Didn't Aethramyr want that?"
Aethramyr: "Who to the what, now?"
Zad: "Pale Blue Ioun Stone. It's yours."
Aethramyr: [flips through DMG] "Okeydokey."
Zad: "Meager ring of Protection +2? Not much at our level, anyone still need one?"

[mutual assent to sell item through Fuvex-vex-vex at earlier convience...assorted discussion occurs]

Zad: "Stone of Good Luck?"
DM(me, joking): "Me! I'll take that."

To which Scorch scrunches up his face, affects his most curmudgeonly 'scorch' voice, wags his finger at me and cries:

"NO! None for YOU! From you, WE ONLY TAKE!"

Ahhh, it's good to be appreciated.

 

[Zad]

The Green and the Black Chapter 2

Oh yeah that helm. It's uber. Oh yeah. Uh huh. (As Kayleigh tosses it in the "sell" pile.)

Chapter 2

OOC Notes:

Experience is 1175 this week. Look for much nastiness next time.

Loot:

Clearing out some old loot matters gave us the following:

Three scrolls of stoneskin: Scorch, Valanthe, Kayleigh
Two potions of heroism: keeping
Stone of good luck: Bolo
Ioun stone +2 cha: Aethramyr

New Loot:
String of pearls, 4000gp
Anklet, 7000gp
Assorted coin, summarized, 23,500gp.
Total: 34,500gp.


This Week’s Adventure:

Bolo cautiously tried to approach the two wolves. Both were very agitated and likely not in their normal minds. However as he crept closer, one of the wolves saw him as a threat and turned to pounce on him. It bounded forward in a massive leap and we scrambled to save Bolo from becoming yet another digestive distraction.

Over the link, Scorch asked Bolo if we need to keep one alive, and he said “Yes”. Turns out later that there was a bit of a miscommunication here – Bolo wanted both alive, but Scorch and I at the least heard “Keep one alive” and that meant obvious implications for the other one.

I fired several arrows into the wolf closing on Bolo but then Scorch negated it with a Hold Monster. The battle then shifted quickly to us and the other wolf. The wolf snapped at Bolo a few times as Aethramyr tried to hold it off and distract it.

Valanthe had crept up to look at the wolf and tried to analyze the tear in the reality that was blighting it. Meanwhile on an impluse, Dravot channeled positive energy at the shadowy mass, and it receded and disappeared somewhat. Another burst caused it to disappear entirely.

The wolf however was too frenzied to be grateful, but now we knew it could be cured and as such we changed our tack. Bolo succeeded in charming the beast, but now it was friendly only to him, and proceeded to attack Aethramyr. I was hasted thanks to Scorch’s earlier mass haste, and so I used a spell to change my arrows to bludgeon rather than pierce. With these I could attempt to subdue the wolf, and after several sharp strikes the wolf fell over unconscious.

Dravot went to the held wolf, and repeated the same procedure. Like the other, he was able to completely remove the shadowy affliction. However since we still didn’t think we could reason with them, we made sure to withdraw before the hold monster wore off. We hoped the wolves would be eased by us finding and removing the greater problem here.

We then found another problem. Where Bolo had been bitten there was a certain taint, as if the scarring was overly much and the flesh blackened. It would likely have some kind of effect on him, and very soon, if we didn’t fix it. Dravot thought a remove curse might remove it, or perhaps a laying of hands. Unfortunately Aethramyr had used much of his power earlier but did all he could. Dravot and Scorch managed to remove the taint with remove curse after that.

While they examined the wolves and what not, Valanthe and I scouted around the clearing. The edges of it were blighted – some growth was dead while the rest was a sickly white and clearly dying. It was as if someone went around the edge killing the vegetation. In some areas it barely touched the edge of the clearing while in others went some feet back. Looking over it all, it seemed that someone had used some kind of cone effect over and over but what that was, I couldn’t guess.

We moved on, trying to find more of the source of the problems. One passage led sharply upward and we took that one. As we moved through this tunnel, we heard the sound of the wind rustling through the trees. Valanthe and I looked at each other, both realizing that this wasn’t the wind – the sound was wrong. But it was some kind of movement through the undergrowth going so fast that it just sounded like wind. The sound came up behind us, and then moved past us, going parallel to the corridor, then stopped ahead. As we got closer, the sound stopped, and left an ominous silence behind.

We stopped in the corridor unsure of what to make of this. But we didn’t want to go back to the wolves, so we simply shrugged and moved up. As we moved, the buzzing rose to a crescendo and thousands of spiders erupted from the walls, floor and ceiling.

We briefly debated a cloudkill but decided to just try and outdistance it. We moved forward as best we could – I think Aethramyr lingered long enough to try a dispel magic but it had no noticeable effect. We suddenly broke into a massive clearing.

We seemed to be on the ground level now of a massive, canopied forest. The world ash rose up ahead dominating the entire scene. It’s massive roots reached out so large as to form rolling hills in the area.

Pinned to the tree was the Green Man. His legs and one arm were pinned to the tree by black beams of energy that came from the floor at random angles while the last arm hung limp at his side, with a black mark where it had likely been similarly pinned to the tree.

Around the tree roamed three massive spiders, guarding the area.

But the smaller vermin were wasting no time behind us and erupted out of the tunnel. Instead of biting those they could reach, they rushed past us, and in a blur came together on the side of a root so big it was more of a hill.

They skittered and scuttled. And soon they became words.

You should not have come.

The spiders froze that way for a few moments, then moved again.

You cannot win.

…

Faithful to the Green, will make you die.

…

I will see you blighted like the rest.

The spiders seemed to be loosing their cohesive qualities, and began wandering off. The few that remained with their purpose began gnawing in the root and after a moment skittered away. Into the root they had chewed a name

Tan the Clearcut

The large spiders had not taken notice of us yet, but perhaps were alerted by Tan or someone else, and squealed and charged. We laid down some protective spells and fired a few long range attacks. Then Bolo shifted to a cheetah and sprinted off towards the Green Man. This seemed a bit odd as he was now effectively cut off from the rest of us. I opened fire at an approaching spider as more buffs were cast. Then Scorch got a hold monster on a second spider, taking it out of the fight. Bolo’s bold move seemed even odder when the roots near the tree began to thrash about, and three root horrors emerged from below the ground. They seemed somewhat like root horrors but were clearly some kind of new mutation of that twisted breed.

The injured spider moved up and snapped at Aethrmyr. Bolo decided something larger was called for and shifted form to an elephant. Scorch tossed in a fireball to help support Bolo – the horror shrugged off some but not all of it. One of the horrors jumped up and as it landed, tunneled into the ground and began moving under the root structure towards us.

I put several more arrows into the injured spider and then decided to try something new and fired a hail of arrows, putting a solid shot into every creature before us. It was a rather satisfying thing to do.

One of the other root horrors dove under the surface and then rose out to snap at Bolo’s now massive leg. Meanwhile Dravot had moved himself into just the right spot, and uttered a Holy Word. A shaft of sunlight came down on each of the spiders near him, and they were dismissed from this demi-plane.

Aethrmayr hopped onto the carpet behind Valanthe. (This carpet is fast becoming a favorite in the group.) Valanthe took the carpet forward to meet the root horrors, as Bolo stomped them with massive grey feet.

The submerged horror then surfaced and bit at Dravot but had little effect. I started firing arrows into it, since now Bolo had some help on the way. And Aethramyr leapt from the carpet and brought Shatterspike down in a vicious arc, smashing one root horror into a half dozen pieces.

[OOC: He did four attacks, three were criticals. Totaled, it was 125 points. Ow.]

Dravot didn’t much care for the attentions of the root horror, and teleported up to the Green Man and cast Heal. His limp arm seemed somewhat strengthened by this and the Green Man became vaguely conscious.

Valanthe moved behind a root horror and promptly rendered it into individual rootlets. This left only one horror left, and it didn’t survive long enough to pose much of a menace.

We moved to further examine the plight of the Green Man. The intense shadowy beams were coming through the ground at different angles. There was even a hole where there must have been one pinning his arm – this was heading in the general direction of the chamber where we had removed the spike. There must be three other spikes in other chambers holding him here.

As we discussed this, Valanthe caught sight of an orc watching us from the shadows of the nearby growth. As soon as it saw her looking at him, it melded into the growth and retreated, and we were unable to follow.

Bolo spoke to the World Tree, trying to find the orc. The tree was very slow to respond, as if the thoughts took time to move through the massive ash. The Tree said that Tan was below with her undead, and also in another area the orcish druid was guarding one of the spikes. As Bolo’s spell ran out, the Tree created symbols with the roots. Valanthe was able to decipher some of it, but not all.

I tried to speak to the Green Man but he was not responsive and still distressed. I spoke to him gently in Sylvan and told him we would help him, and did my best to ease him. His free hand seemed to now be clutching the World Ash, but for what reason I couldn’t say.

Valanthe found several sacks spun of spider silk. It seemed the spiders were perhaps bribed for their services, as we found a great deal of coin and gemstones inside the sacks.

It was time to find the source of this problem and put an end to it. There were eight tunnels from this area heading back into the root structures below. As we debated which direction to head, the beam of shadow that had been missing from the Green Man’s arm faintly started to return. We thought that perhaps someone was attempting to reset that spike and moved quickly to that area.

We found the clearing still empty. However where before we left the spike suspended in mid air from a rope, now the rope was broken and the spike had started to re-insert itself into the ground. These spikes, Scorch believed, were not alone, but had some kind of power source. Until that source was neutralized, the spikes would continue to be a problem.

Bolo said that he could perhaps find out where our enemies were. He sat upon the ground for some minutes, communing with nature. He tried to find an unnatural power in the area, and was shown a vision of a man lying in a cage of roots with a flimsy lock. The man was wearing only a shirt and breeches, and the scene exactly matched what Scorch had seen when scrying Venn. As Venn rolled over in his fitful semi-conscious state, Bolo could see a gaping black maw carved into his chest and a shape carved into him. Scorch believes this is the actual Theopart itself, and that Venn is somehow powering these spikes against his will. Bolo’s description of the scene was wretched and I could only wonder what poor Venn had done to deserve this.

When sensing for undead, Bolo saw a clearing with five dire bears. They had huge chunks of their flesh missing, and their internal organs were not all present. One was larger than the others, and the form blurred to a human woman dressed in rags. This must be Tan. Her eyesockets were nothing more than glowing red energy.

Bolo turned his mind to the orc druid. I had to wonder if this was one that we had encountered before, perhaps the one who laid the ambush at the Stonetooth. Bolo saw him in another clearing, dominated by a huge root descending into the ground, but it had been cut through and the black spike inserted into the exposed end. He was dressed more like a shaman, draped in fetishes and a third eye tattooed above his own. Piles of brown robes were nearby, and several sets of bones, all picked clean. Some of then looked like they had been burned.

Unfortunately we didn’t know how to find any of these people. So we resolved ourselves to continuing our search. Tan the Clearcut would be in for some unpleasantness indeed, and that orcish shaman was owed a return on pain from long ago.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

A Halflings point of view...

Where do I begin? I feel like I've been in a dream. My friends Scorch and Val helped me to open a Portal to the World Tree. (I wonder if this could be made permenant?). We go to the demi-plane that is "Prospero's Grove" and I'm in Heaven and Hell all at the same time. A Blighter has been at work here destroying the World Tree.
We came upon a mated pair of Legendary wolves how had been hurt most dreadfuly. I tried to approach them but I miss-stepped and set the female off. She charged me and we had to fight them. luckily we were able to subdue them and cure thier physical damage... the taint on thier souls is another matter.

I found that the name of the Blighter is Taen the Clearcut. She seems to have been a druid but she died and now is an undead mockery of all she stood for while alive. I wonder if there is a way to save her? Beory only knows. She may not even deserve the thought of redemption but I have to think of her as a person not just an enemy.
My spells seem to function a bitr differently here. harder to cast them but they are in some ways stronger for the presence of the World Tree. (I still cannot believe I spoke with the mother of all green things.) I'm worried that the extent of the damage they could cause will be irreversible. But I must have faith in the Green.
There is an Orc Hexer here as well. I can only hope that I have the time to rest and regain my spells. I could use gaze screen with that one.

 

[Zad]

The Green and the Black Chapter 3

OOC Notes:

Experience this session is 5600.

Loot was . . . more extensive than I was expecting. I didn’t think Taen would be packing heavy for her excursion.

17,000gp in assorted coin
3,200gp in assorted gems
+2 longbow (sell)
+3 full plate (sell)
Potion of invisibility with 3 doses (keep)
Ring of force shield (Aethramyr? Market 8.5k)
Rod of splendor (Dravot? This has a +4 charisma bonus, plus some other goofy powers, market 25k)
Belt of giant strength +4 (Aethramyr, other items shuffled)
Pale blue rhomboid ioun stone (+2 strength - Kayleigh? Market 8k)
Cloak of minor displacement


This Week’s Adventure:

Knowing at least what we’re facing, we set out in search of the evils lurking in the grove. Valanthe had been keeping a crude map of the areas we had found so we just started heading out in directions we had not yet been, hoping to find Taen. As we moved, Dravot was clearly pondering something, and finally spoke up. “I suspect Taen is a lich.” He took a few moments to detail liches, including the phylactery, which we must destroy to permanently vanquish Taen. More complications.

The tunnel we had chosen descended slightly and banked The vegetation was slowly changing and we were moving into a more moist, earthen area, seeing actual dirt rather than a mass of roots. The tunnel however was not simply created by a parting of the roots as most had, but was clawed and ripped out. A light grass was springing up on the floor, and got thicker and taller as we moved farther in.

The grass was above my knees when the tunnel opened into a cavern. Roots hung from and crossed the ceiling fifty feet above and the grass was five feet high within the space.

Valanthe and I studied the cavern carefully looking for any sign of habitation, both sharing an unspoken feeling that something was here. She caught a flash of a grey, reptilian wing cresting above the grass for a moment then sinking back down. It was tattered and full of holes and scars. As fast as it appeared, it was gone.

If there was a big dragon here, so be it. But it wasn’t Taen. So we backed out and went another way. In our roaming we came back to the world tree – there was no sign of the remains of the root horrors or the spider corpse. The Green Man looked unchanged however, and we headed down another tunnel.

In a nondescript tunnel area, Valanthe became uneasy, sensing something. She looked for a trap but only had the feeling that something was there. A quick detect magic revealed the magical trap, and Valanthe managed to trigger it safely. A series of prismatic beams shot from the ceiling in an all-too-familiar array. We silently moved on.

Fifty feet further, Valanthe saw something else amiss. Nothing magical this time, this trap was a deadly but simple bit of swinging sharp sticks. Valanthe tripped it and we moved on.

We came to another large chamber and at the opening was a corpse. It wore a brown robe and had an extra arm. We didn’t take much time to examine it, as Valanthe and I spotted someone watchign us from the vegetation at edge of the clearing. She crept up on it, while pulled into the shadows, and the others moved in.

As we moved past, it was clear the body was dead a week at least, slashed in several areas and once clean across the throat. The extra arm ended in a three-pronged claw.

The figure in the trees wore a red scarf and loose leathers, and carried two sickles. We at first thought it might be the orc, but it was definitely not orcish.

Aethramyr called out to him, extending a hand. We weren’t sure this creature was our enemy and needed no extras. The man was uncertain at first, and then decided to withdraw but Valanthe grabbed his arm before he could leave. She could see his eyes, which were vaguely cat like, and his skin was redder than it should be. He grabbed a sickle and said “Foul ones, you will not trick me a second time!”

I called out “We are friends of the Green and if you are as well, we have no quarrel with you.” To show some good faith and trust, I asked Valanthe to let him go, and he could judge us for himself. He was still unconvinced but after much conversation and words from Bolo became willing to at least hear us out. In the end it came to Bolo to convince him we were here to help, and they slipped through the impossibly tight vegetation into another chamber nearby. This was it seems some kind of test. Bolo saw a pile of stones, a cairn really. It was, the man said, his master. Bolo offered to reincarnate his master, and this did much to gain the man’s trust.

In a short time they returned – Bolo, the man – Certimo – and a centaur. A centaur. The centaur was being led and looked somewhat disoriented. Bolo had a flash of an idea and offered the centaur his old leather armor, dug out of his portable hole. The centaur took it and began gnawing on it, and Certimo gently took it away and set it aside.

Certimo told us a little about what had happened here but indeed we had already learned much of it. He said that three of the spikes were unguarded. My quick math showed we had found the unguarded one already, one was guarded by Taen and another by the orc – Certimo called him Goshnak. That left a spike that we assumed was unguarded but must be guarded by something we didn’t know about. Certimo said it was guarded by a dragon from the pit, and we all started nodding and saying “Ahh ok. Found that.” The lich summoned it with the aid of the wizard.

The wizard can be found in the area beyond Taen. She guards him but not closely and he has been able to slip past her from time to time.

Dravot examined the dead druid that Certimo had killed. On the back of his neck was a black patch, similar to the burns that we cured Bolo of. It was a year old or more. He had a holy symbol of Vecna, but concealed within was a symbol of Therizdun. We kept the symbol as it surely added to the Vecna-Therizdun mystery.

Scorch took out his crystal ball and scried the dragon. Inside the cavern a circle of grass was smashed flat and burned. A black spike was there. The dragon was greyish purple. Its wings were tattered and it was quite sizable. It had a crazed look in its eyes. Scorch believed it was summoned here from Tarterus.

Certimo also told us of Goshnak. He was once a druid but his new masters have given him fell powers. He struck down his master with the power of his third eye. It did not kill him outright but weakened him and Taen’s servants did the rest.

Certimo also knew the grove and could direct us to the spikes. We ask him to lead us to Taen which he is more than willing to do. He said that while his skills at stealth are good, he believes ours are better if we wish to slip past Taen. I made it clear that once we found Taen, we would be doing something a tad more violent than “slipping past”.

On the way we had to pass a chamber with several stags. They all had the taint that the wolves had, and we did our best to slip past them. Scorch brought up an invisibility sphere to cloak us but one of them heard Bolo hiccup however and was looking our way.

Given that these were animals, and somewhat maddened at that, I took a risk and threw a ghost sound on the other side of the stag to draw its attention. The sound worked and it started moving that way to investigate, and we moved through without further incident.

As we moved down, the vegetation grew more sickly. The suffuse light that was all over began to darken. The tunnel opened into another large chamber with huge rocks that looked as if they had been dropped from above. The vegetation here was simply dead and the area was a massive compost heap. Three undead dire bears could be seen moving around the area.

The black spike was in the center, sending a beam of solid shadow up through the ceiling, drawing in all light around it.

The front of the cave was blocked by a swarm of insects. We weren’t sure if this was damaging or just to serve as a warning but we planned to bypass it in either case, and teleport two groups into the room.

I cast haste and Scorch dimension-door’d myself and Bolo and Certimo into the room. Our landing was disrupted by the shadow beam but not terribly so – we just landed in the wrong spot. Aethramyr teleported in with the rest of the group, and the battle was on.

Our plan was to direct all possible fire at Taen but she was not in sight at the moment. Perhaps she was behind a boulder or just not in the room. I gained some altitude and fired at one of the bears. I was hoping Dravot would be able to turn the two nearby ones so I fired at one farther away.

Valanthe spotted Taen behind a large rock. Scorch opened our attacks on her with a greater dispelling, peeling away much of her protective magic. (Unfortunately not her haste.) Bolo then dropped a flame strike on top of her after shifting into the form of a massive ape.

Taen spat curses and threw two fingers of death at Bolo and Dravot, both of whom overcame the nastier part of the effect. Dravot tried to turn the bears, bringing forth Pelor’s light but it was insufficient to effect them. That was a bad thing indeed as I was hopeful we could eliminate at least some of them that way.

Aethramyr moved towards Taen but was cut off by another bear coming from behind a rock. The bears near him began clawing at Dravot with unrelenting ferocity, while Certimo engaged another bear and they traded blows.

I moved towards Taen and began pumping arrows into her as fast as I could. As I rose to get sight of her, she was in the form of a dire bear, with flesh hanging off and rotting, but standing on two legs. She screamed as several firey arrows landed solidly. But it was nothing compared to the fireball that Scorch threw next.

Taen was hurt but not giving up easily. A keening wail came as her horrid wilting ripped through the area, catching most of us. Bolo particularly was almost overcome by it. She then dispelled my magics (leaving me to fall 20 feet from the air onto a rock) and then ran into the walls.

This was very bad. Given a respite, she could heal, or escape, or who knew what. Bolo was determined to go after her but given his injuries this seemed unwise.

Dravot, having tried a few times unsuccessfully to turn the bears, changed tacks and readied a sunbeam. He was now facing two bears and they were each clawing at him. He was staggering under the attack, alive but not able to keep that up much longer. Aethramyr, blocked by the bear, tore into it with Shatterspike. Certimo moved to Aethramyr and cast Pass without trace on him, allowing him to follow Taen as well. That could spell the difference between victory and defeat.

One of the bears wheeled around and turned on Scorch. Scorch spent much of his combat time in the shape of a grick these days, and I had hoped the bear would miss something that small. It lashed out with a massive paw and smashed into Scorch, who flew into a rock and slumped to the ground, dead.

I didn’t even have time to be mad. If we didn’t move fast, he wouldn’t be alone.

[OOC: This was looking very ugly for us. We were all anywhere from “significantly injured” to “nearly dead” and the lich had run so some of us would have to chase after her. Meanwhile the fact that the bears were 20 hd meant that even though Dravot was rolling well he couldn’t turn them. And those things dished out a LOT of punishment. And of course loosing Scorch was a big blow, not only to our damage output but to morale as well.]

I re-cast my haste, spun on the bear near Aethramyr, and put in several arrows to kill it. Valanthe danced around another bear, careful to not get caught exposed. Bolo moved to chase down Taen, with Aethramyr right after him, pausing long enough to heal himself. That elf could take a lot of punishment, but he had taken a lot already, and the move was wise.

Dravot needed some luck, but could find none. He sanctified the area and tried again to turn the bears but still could not. Meanwhile the bears continued to slash at him and Certimo. Certimo was giving as good as he got, but he too was looking desperate.

[OOC: Note that in this round a bear actually missed an attack. They hit flawlessly to this point, but one of them finally rolled a one.]

I opened fire and after several arrows another bear slumped over. Dravot let off a sunbeam and vaporized another. Finally the tables were turning – Dravot was no longer being pressed and only one bear remained which we dispatched.

Bolo and Aethramyr were chasing after Taen, who stopped long enough to heal herself. Bolo swung at her and undid some of her healing. She swung back with a wicked death scythe but Bolo ducked out of the arc. But her hatred for Bolo would cost her – it gave Aethramyr time to close in, and with several quick strokes cut her apart, and before she could even crash to the ground, her body turned to dust and scattered.

Aethramyr took a moment to sunder the death scythe and her blighter’s armor, and took the cloak that remained behind and he and Bolo returned.

Dravot and I went over to Scorch’s body, now returned to human form. Before we could even get close however, there was a flashing. The small gem he wore on his neck and so frequently clutched at was glowing and pulsing light. After a moment his body floated into the air and then in one flash, disappeared.

I had barely started thinking about how we would get Scorch resurrected, and it seems he had taken steps for such an event on his own. I suppose I should have expected it from Scorch. Still I didn’t like not knowing where he was, and I would feel a lot better once I saw him alive again.

We collected ourselves and healed our wounds. Afterward we were whole again, except for our missing man. But we were also nearly out of spells.

Bolo had several sunbeams he had held, and emptied them into the black spike, mostly to see what the effect would be. It turned out to work better than any of us could have anticipated – the spike burst apart into fragments, consumed by the bright light. The shadowy beam stopped and there was a virtual explosion of metal.

Not the metal of the spike however. It seemed that this spike was different from the other one we had seen. It had some kind of extra dimensional compartment, and when shattered the contents spilled out everywhere. It was coins. Probably Taen’s money. Scattered around were gems, and a few items besides.

While we were looking at the mess and collecting it, Dravot picked up a bit of paper with some arcane scribblings on it. He looked around and found another, and a third. He started examining them and looked up.

“Bolo… this was her phylactery. She’s gone for good.”

Bolo could do little more than beam a smile, glad to return some of the pain that the blighter had inflicted.

Once we felt we were healed enough to move, we checked the room towards which Taen was moving. As expected, we found Venn in a weak cell. The Theerpart was imbedded in his chest and he looked as if it was consuming him. We spared the last bit of healing we had to restore him somewhat but he was still unconscious.

Suddenly I looked up with an odd feeling. We were being scried. There was no way to tell by whom, but it wasn’t a good sign. After a minute, it stopped, leaving an unsettling emptiness.

We carefully moved him back to Certimo’s chamber, careful not to touch the shadowy parts on him. At that point we received a sending. It was Scorch, who was apparently alive again and in the Academy. He said he could return in the morning and was scrying us now for any reply. It was him scrying us before.

Sure enough the sensor returned, and we told him of Venn quickly and that he should find whatever information he could on removing and/or transporting a Theerpart.

We knew we couldn’t engage the orc or the dragon in our current state, and so we settled in to rest and recover spells. The centaur was getting his bearings and perhaps could help us understand the Theerpart and what to do with it.

To me it was similar to a binder – it was too dangerous to keep, and must be guarded. But unlike a binder, we couldn’t release the djinn to destroy it. We have heard of one person who dealt with the Theerparts before – Mordenkainen. Perhaps he could deal with it again.

But first things first – we must finish cleansing the grove, and deal with the orc and the dragon.

Especially the orc.