Wulf's "Lazy Days" Campaign Story Hour
- Thread starter Wulf Ratbane
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Jaag's Journal:
It became clear that the reward for all our efforts was now in our hands, or should I say, in my hands, for it was I, Jaag, "The Mighty," that held the black sword we captured from the bugbear chieftain! Yes, it was my sword now! And any who might try to steal it while it is in my care will meet a foul end! It is a fine blade, but not of any dwarven craftsmanship that I could tell. Perhaps a less choosy warrior might find it useful though.
Kellan was off to talk to his superiors, while Nikolai said something about talking to his god or something as he went off to bed. Sometimes, I think he just talks to himself in his sleep and then says weird stuff the next day, but so far he doesn't seem too, you know, crazy. Meanwhile, Jorie was busy haggling for a drink at the bar, which isn't easy to do when you're a badger. But Rodrigo was mentioning something about knowing somebody who buys such things as the black sword I now possessed. "Why not?," I thought. "Hey, Rod. Let's go talk to your friend and see what kind of price we can get?" A smile crossed his face as I finished my ale, and a few minutes later we were in the seedy backroom of a different bar.
Rodrigo's connection had a buyer in mind right away, and if they can pay a price as high as 38,000gp for a single blade...well then! Ordinarily, I'm patient with the others in the party and let them decide things, but I had been taught to be a good dealmaker by Hastur ever since I was a wee lad. If the gold is good, then there will be no reason to wake the others so late at night, and with this much money, no reason to be disappointed over the trouble we've been through to get it. Finally, my skills as a seller of weapons can be appreciated.
Sure, we had agreed with the lady that she would return our rod of restoration if we gave her the black blade, but we didn't promise, did we? Only Kellan is foolish enough to make promises, and if he did promise I don't remember. Rodrigo said himself that we can make a more powerful magic item than the magic rod that was taken from us with our 38,000 gp, so it only made sense that we would make the smarter deal. Going once?! Going twice?! Sold! Not a bad deal at all if I do say so myself!
Before the end of the night, ironically enough, I spoke with Rodrigo of crafting something magical to strengthen my mind, so as not to become mind-controlled by evil spirits and such like Stirling Dale in the future. Afterwards, being late, I imbued some of my own good spirits and had a few more ales before heading off to bed.
Sometime the next day, I awoke to hear Rodrigo and Nikolai arguing about something. I came down and gave 3 gp to one of the bedchangers to run across the street and fetch me a mug of their best ale from the tavern. But Nikolai kept yelling the whole time about the sword or something. Rodrigo just stood there and pointed at me like I knew something. I finally opened my eyes all the way. I just stared back at Nik and said, "We sold it for a good price. Here. Here's your share." And I handed him a large pouch filled with coins and gems. He wasn't amused. All I could do this early in the morning (and without my morning ale I should add) was stare back dumbly and respond, "what?!"
Nik just fumed off and went to talk to his god again. It didn't take long before I heard a story about some guy that threw a bag of coins and gems into the crowd in the morning marketplace. I felt my own pouch of loot for a moment. Oh well. Maybe Nikolai is more crazy than I thought.
The bedchanger walked in with my first ale of the day at last. Ahhh! Now, where were we?
Journal of Nikolai Davros, Twenty-Seventh entry
I must confess to some concern over the actions, dare I say even the soul, of Rodrigo. At some point, his recklessness will catch up with him, and if he is lucky, it will not be at a point where his loner streak leaves him vulnerable.
But I get ahead of myself.
We returned from the Valley with the Bugbear chieftain's blade. I presumed it to be evil despite Kellan's detection attempt - it is possible to mask such things. Rodrigo wanted to sell the thing, but Jorie and I convinced him to hold off until I could cast Commune the next day.
So during the night he and Jaag sold it anyway.
I was furious. It turned out Jaag was influenced by the blade's magic, but Rodrigo had no such excuse. I did the Commune anyway, and it revealed that the blade was evil, and that it would be best to recover it and either destroy it or give it to the Lady of the Lake.
The buyer of the blade was a man of poor repute named Black Jack Shellac. He was on the road to Hommlet with a 6- hour lead by the time we learned his name the next day. I called an Invisible Stalker and tasked it with the job of recovering the sword. This it did, with little effort. It brought it back to me, and I wrapped it in my poncho so as to not come into direct contact with it, and Jorie and I took it immediately to the Lady. There was no longer any thought in my mind of bargaining for a better deal; this thing needed to be disposed of in the best way possible.
Rodrigo gave me my share of the sale price, some 9,000gp in small diamonds and other gems. I went to the town market, and threw them with all my might into the crowd, and returned to my meditations. Clearly I must have atoning to do.
It became clear that the reward for all our efforts was now in our hands, or should I say, in my hands, for it was I, Jaag, "The Mighty," that held the black sword we captured from the bugbear chieftain! Yes, it was my sword now! And any who might try to steal it while it is in my care will meet a foul end! It is a fine blade, but not of any dwarven craftsmanship that I could tell. Perhaps a less choosy warrior might find it useful though.
Kellan was off to talk to his superiors, while Nikolai said something about talking to his god or something as he went off to bed. Sometimes, I think he just talks to himself in his sleep and then says weird stuff the next day, but so far he doesn't seem too, you know, crazy. Meanwhile, Jorie was busy haggling for a drink at the bar, which isn't easy to do when you're a badger. But Rodrigo was mentioning something about knowing somebody who buys such things as the black sword I now possessed. "Why not?," I thought. "Hey, Rod. Let's go talk to your friend and see what kind of price we can get?" A smile crossed his face as I finished my ale, and a few minutes later we were in the seedy backroom of a different bar.
Rodrigo's connection had a buyer in mind right away, and if they can pay a price as high as 38,000gp for a single blade...well then! Ordinarily, I'm patient with the others in the party and let them decide things, but I had been taught to be a good dealmaker by Hastur ever since I was a wee lad. If the gold is good, then there will be no reason to wake the others so late at night, and with this much money, no reason to be disappointed over the trouble we've been through to get it. Finally, my skills as a seller of weapons can be appreciated.
Sure, we had agreed with the lady that she would return our rod of restoration if we gave her the black blade, but we didn't promise, did we? Only Kellan is foolish enough to make promises, and if he did promise I don't remember. Rodrigo said himself that we can make a more powerful magic item than the magic rod that was taken from us with our 38,000 gp, so it only made sense that we would make the smarter deal. Going once?! Going twice?! Sold! Not a bad deal at all if I do say so myself!
Before the end of the night, ironically enough, I spoke with Rodrigo of crafting something magical to strengthen my mind, so as not to become mind-controlled by evil spirits and such like Stirling Dale in the future. Afterwards, being late, I imbued some of my own good spirits and had a few more ales before heading off to bed.
Sometime the next day, I awoke to hear Rodrigo and Nikolai arguing about something. I came down and gave 3 gp to one of the bedchangers to run across the street and fetch me a mug of their best ale from the tavern. But Nikolai kept yelling the whole time about the sword or something. Rodrigo just stood there and pointed at me like I knew something. I finally opened my eyes all the way. I just stared back at Nik and said, "We sold it for a good price. Here. Here's your share." And I handed him a large pouch filled with coins and gems. He wasn't amused. All I could do this early in the morning (and without my morning ale I should add) was stare back dumbly and respond, "what?!"
Nik just fumed off and went to talk to his god again. It didn't take long before I heard a story about some guy that threw a bag of coins and gems into the crowd in the morning marketplace. I felt my own pouch of loot for a moment. Oh well. Maybe Nikolai is more crazy than I thought.
The bedchanger walked in with my first ale of the day at last. Ahhh! Now, where were we?
Journal of Nikolai Davros, Twenty-Seventh entry
I must confess to some concern over the actions, dare I say even the soul, of Rodrigo. At some point, his recklessness will catch up with him, and if he is lucky, it will not be at a point where his loner streak leaves him vulnerable.
But I get ahead of myself.
We returned from the Valley with the Bugbear chieftain's blade. I presumed it to be evil despite Kellan's detection attempt - it is possible to mask such things. Rodrigo wanted to sell the thing, but Jorie and I convinced him to hold off until I could cast Commune the next day.
So during the night he and Jaag sold it anyway.
I was furious. It turned out Jaag was influenced by the blade's magic, but Rodrigo had no such excuse. I did the Commune anyway, and it revealed that the blade was evil, and that it would be best to recover it and either destroy it or give it to the Lady of the Lake.
The buyer of the blade was a man of poor repute named Black Jack Shellac. He was on the road to Hommlet with a 6- hour lead by the time we learned his name the next day. I called an Invisible Stalker and tasked it with the job of recovering the sword. This it did, with little effort. It brought it back to me, and I wrapped it in my poncho so as to not come into direct contact with it, and Jorie and I took it immediately to the Lady. There was no longer any thought in my mind of bargaining for a better deal; this thing needed to be disposed of in the best way possible.
Rodrigo gave me my share of the sale price, some 9,000gp in small diamonds and other gems. I went to the town market, and threw them with all my might into the crowd, and returned to my meditations. Clearly I must have atoning to do.
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Jaag’s Journal, Entry 28
Jaag's Journal:
The entrance to the yuan-ti lair appeared vacant and unguarded, but we all knew better. Nikolai detected the presence of a magical glyph at their entrance and, not wanting to spend his magical powers before the coming fight, fearlessly walked in first. Nik didn't appear bothered except for a cough and a shiver. The yuan-ti will have to do better than that to keep us at bay!
Further in, there was a bridge, guarded with another glyph at the far end. Just after the glyph were two chained lizards, alert now and hissing loudly at our presence. As we began to cross, boulders from above came raining down upon Kellan who was in the middle of the bridge. I was able to shoot dead one of the lizards with my arrows before the two of us safely returned to our original side of the bridge. The bridge was then promptly destroyed by more falling boulders from tasloi hidden above on small ledges.
With a little bit of magic from Nik and Rod, we had no more trouble from the tasloi above us or the noisy lizard. Nik flew across carrying Kellan first to let him set off the glyph, then took each of us in turn across the chasm.
We soon came upon a modest forge operated by two bugbears. Kellan and I finished them easily, but some tasloi were up high in the vines and a pair of yuan-ti we hadn't immediately noticed were making their escape.
We eventually pursued the snake men up to a solid copper door. Nik noticed a glyph and triggered it on himself once again--with enough doors and glyphs the snakemen won't be needing to fight us with swords and spears! But ending the glyph wouldn't be enough to get past this time. The door was securely locked. We had no key, and Nik hadn't the skills to get the lock undone. Now what? Rod had no magical tools or tricks up his sleeve at the moment. It appeared we were simply locked out.
That's when little Jorie stepped up to the front and told us to get back. He transformed himself from a badger into a polar bear before our eyes and proceeded to maul the door down. As soon as the door hit the floor the yuan-ti attacked. They transformed Jorie instantly from polar bear to fish. Thank goodness it wasn't me in the front! Just goes to show that when you play with magic, you pay the price in ways unimaginable! But Jorie was something of a shapechanger, so I left him to deal with his trouble as I leaped down to one side of the ramped steps to give me cover from the caster that got Jorie.
Jorie's lepoard leaped forward and sought vengeance for his master while Jorie transformed once again into a polar bear and rejoined the fight.
As Rodrigo prepared me with improved invisibility and haste spells to give me a valuable advantage in avoiding the snakemen's spells, I was making my mark on them with my masterwork arrows. Then, a giant web appeared accross the floor hampering movement as we tried to quickly regroup and pursue the snakemen further into their lair.
Nikolai and Kellan used a dimension door to get behind the enemy yuan-ti, while I faced a wall of tasloi guarding the door. I empowered my magical shield and successfully blinded many of the tasloi in front of me--cutting them down in a fury as I made my way toward Kellan and Nik.
One! Two! Three! Their blindness kept them from hitting me, and I made sure to not let any of them get away. Four! Five! Six! They won't be climbing any vines without their arms now will they!? Seven! Eight! Ahhhh! Feel the rush! GRRRR!!! More than a dozen tasloi littered the floor before I finally reached Kellan's side and helped him finish the snakeman.
Rod and Nik appeared to be battling a 2nd yuan-ti near a statue at the far end of the room. It wasn't until I saw it appear that I realized our fight wasn't over yet. Rod pummeled the snakeman with what seemed like an endless volley of magic missiles. We had it surrounded as we each pummeled it with massive blows until finally it succumbed and became a lifeless husk.
Alas, remembering the lessons taught by adventuring with Rodrigo, I knew better than to trust a sorcerer (and apparently so did Nik as he proceeded to the other snakeman's body), and I cut off the snakeman's head. At least Stirling Dale won't be getting these to become his minions.
Jorie Thunderstone’s Journal (Entry 28)
Today we started the decent into the Yuan-ti fortress.
I have a very bad feeling about this. I don't think we have enough of an escape route.
We seem to be in for a major fight just now. It's most likely the first of several. There are several yuan-ti, one of whom attempted to slay me, which doesn't bode well for either of us. Fortunately, I used my most powerful spell, one which will enlarge Gizmo and Spot to twice their normal sizes. Gizmo also has the Greater Magic Fang on him, so he should be more effective in combat still.
I sure hope they can save my bacon.
Right now I'm flopping and twitching on the floor. I'm going to have to return to my normal form, rather than the bear, as I'll need to conserve my final wildshaping for some obstacle like the huge copper door I had to tear down just prior to becoming a huge (well large anyway) target for the ire of a dozen tasloi and several more yuan-ti.
Journal of Nikolai Davros, Entry Twenty-Eight
The door finally opened (we need to do something about that).
We found ourselves opposed by 4 Yuan Ti (and as it turned out, 2 more invisible that we did not yet see), and a large number of Tasloi up amongst the vines along the ceiling.
I flew above the mess, and with all my enchantments up, was quite effective in battle. Rodrigo let fly a fireball, but its effects were dampened by an Unhallow in the area. We cut them down the old-fashioned way instead.
The invisible Yuan Ti (a wizard and a cleric) retreated beyond yet another door. Jaag and Kellen marched down to see what was up. Luckily the enemy opened the door. 4 ranks of Tasloi blocked the way to 2 abominations and 2 purebloods, but I flew up to Kellen, and Dimension Door'd us both to the rear, where we let loose on the enemy. We were quickly surrounded by more Tasloi, but found them to be little threat. We took down the purebloods first, then the abominations with Jorie's help (in the form of a great white bear).
Jaag amused himself cutting Tasloi to ribbons. Within seconds he had decimated the first group of 16, and started on the second.
Kellen killed the Yuan Ti cleric, but it took a Phantasmal Killer from Rodrigo to bring down the wizard. The cleric had a form of magic that caused a portion of its wounds to be manifested on a large copper Yuan Ti statue in the chamber.
We searched the premises thoroughly. Now we must decide what to do with the treasure found, and more importantly, what to do about Sterling Dale.
Kellan’s Journal
After returning to Verbobonc to regroup, we made ready for another foray into the jungle. Teleporting back, we made tracks for the yuan-ti stronghold; since there would be little gained from trying to sneak into the fortress (clanking warriors in armor are not subtle), we simply strode up to the front entrance and made our way in. The doors before us were warded with glyphs; the one at the front door damaged with cold, but otherwise did no harm. We crept futher in, following passageways of worked stone decorated with curling snake-men and ... other things. At one point, a cave, open to the air above, lay before us, with a flimsy 80-foot long rope bridge across and lizards guarding the far end; fearing a trap, Nik flew across to investigate, and detected another glyph at the end of the bridge. As I moved across to to help identify it, tasloi attacked from above with poisoned javelins; Rod's fire spells made short work of their hidey-hole, though, and we made our way across, intentionally setting off the glyph (one that explosively destroyed the bridge's stays on that side), and we moved on.
The passage sloped downward, and eventually passed above a forge; chained below us were two bugbears, obviously slaves and in very poor health. Seeing no other recourse (there was no way to get them to the surface, and they were manifestly evil as well), I put them out of their misery with a quick decapitation each. Continuing down the hallway, we encountered large double doors; Jorie, in bear form, forced the door while we waited a short distance away, and as the doors fell inward, he was instantly hit with a polymorph, turning him into a guppy. We knew that yuan-ti awaited us within, and we quickly moved forward for battle.
The walls of the large room before us were covered in vines and nets, stretching up to the ceiling. As I moved forward into the room and engaged a yuan-ti (one of four visible), more javelins flew from above us; obviously more tasloi were hiding in the vines above. After quickly dispatching one, I moved forward to engage another, but proved slower than Jorie and his animal companions, who made short of it, while Jaag and Nikolai dispatched the other two. There were two more combatants invisible (I was able to see them through Jorie's spell of blindsight), but they moved off deeper in to the complex during the battle. I gave pursuit, slowly making way down the large hallway; Jaag came up to join me and moved ahead down the hallway. Another door lay before us, and we decided on a change of tactics; Jaag booted the door to the sight of several dozen tasloi, and invisible spellcasters beyond, but Nik and I dimension doored into the middle of the room, behind the yuan-ti cleric, and I immediately set to work distracting her. Jaag was an incredible slayer of evil, making very short work of the tasloi, but sheer numbers impeded his progress, while the cleic and the wizard cast spells and attacked us. It was a tough fight, but in the end not as tough as the bugbears; this was due in part to the spell preperations we were able to make (enhancements to strength, sight, speed, and element resistance), and
partly because Rod single-handedly slew the wizard with his phantasmal killer spell, leaving the burden of finishing us to the cleric, who while evil, powerful and enhanced with spells of her own,eventually fell to our spells and blades. We counted ourselves lucky, and made for the surface to regroup.
Jaag's Journal:
The entrance to the yuan-ti lair appeared vacant and unguarded, but we all knew better. Nikolai detected the presence of a magical glyph at their entrance and, not wanting to spend his magical powers before the coming fight, fearlessly walked in first. Nik didn't appear bothered except for a cough and a shiver. The yuan-ti will have to do better than that to keep us at bay!
Further in, there was a bridge, guarded with another glyph at the far end. Just after the glyph were two chained lizards, alert now and hissing loudly at our presence. As we began to cross, boulders from above came raining down upon Kellan who was in the middle of the bridge. I was able to shoot dead one of the lizards with my arrows before the two of us safely returned to our original side of the bridge. The bridge was then promptly destroyed by more falling boulders from tasloi hidden above on small ledges.
With a little bit of magic from Nik and Rod, we had no more trouble from the tasloi above us or the noisy lizard. Nik flew across carrying Kellan first to let him set off the glyph, then took each of us in turn across the chasm.
We soon came upon a modest forge operated by two bugbears. Kellan and I finished them easily, but some tasloi were up high in the vines and a pair of yuan-ti we hadn't immediately noticed were making their escape.
We eventually pursued the snake men up to a solid copper door. Nik noticed a glyph and triggered it on himself once again--with enough doors and glyphs the snakemen won't be needing to fight us with swords and spears! But ending the glyph wouldn't be enough to get past this time. The door was securely locked. We had no key, and Nik hadn't the skills to get the lock undone. Now what? Rod had no magical tools or tricks up his sleeve at the moment. It appeared we were simply locked out.
That's when little Jorie stepped up to the front and told us to get back. He transformed himself from a badger into a polar bear before our eyes and proceeded to maul the door down. As soon as the door hit the floor the yuan-ti attacked. They transformed Jorie instantly from polar bear to fish. Thank goodness it wasn't me in the front! Just goes to show that when you play with magic, you pay the price in ways unimaginable! But Jorie was something of a shapechanger, so I left him to deal with his trouble as I leaped down to one side of the ramped steps to give me cover from the caster that got Jorie.
Jorie's lepoard leaped forward and sought vengeance for his master while Jorie transformed once again into a polar bear and rejoined the fight.
As Rodrigo prepared me with improved invisibility and haste spells to give me a valuable advantage in avoiding the snakemen's spells, I was making my mark on them with my masterwork arrows. Then, a giant web appeared accross the floor hampering movement as we tried to quickly regroup and pursue the snakemen further into their lair.
Nikolai and Kellan used a dimension door to get behind the enemy yuan-ti, while I faced a wall of tasloi guarding the door. I empowered my magical shield and successfully blinded many of the tasloi in front of me--cutting them down in a fury as I made my way toward Kellan and Nik.
One! Two! Three! Their blindness kept them from hitting me, and I made sure to not let any of them get away. Four! Five! Six! They won't be climbing any vines without their arms now will they!? Seven! Eight! Ahhhh! Feel the rush! GRRRR!!! More than a dozen tasloi littered the floor before I finally reached Kellan's side and helped him finish the snakeman.
Rod and Nik appeared to be battling a 2nd yuan-ti near a statue at the far end of the room. It wasn't until I saw it appear that I realized our fight wasn't over yet. Rod pummeled the snakeman with what seemed like an endless volley of magic missiles. We had it surrounded as we each pummeled it with massive blows until finally it succumbed and became a lifeless husk.
Alas, remembering the lessons taught by adventuring with Rodrigo, I knew better than to trust a sorcerer (and apparently so did Nik as he proceeded to the other snakeman's body), and I cut off the snakeman's head. At least Stirling Dale won't be getting these to become his minions.
Jorie Thunderstone’s Journal (Entry 28)
Today we started the decent into the Yuan-ti fortress.
I have a very bad feeling about this. I don't think we have enough of an escape route.
We seem to be in for a major fight just now. It's most likely the first of several. There are several yuan-ti, one of whom attempted to slay me, which doesn't bode well for either of us. Fortunately, I used my most powerful spell, one which will enlarge Gizmo and Spot to twice their normal sizes. Gizmo also has the Greater Magic Fang on him, so he should be more effective in combat still.
I sure hope they can save my bacon.
Right now I'm flopping and twitching on the floor. I'm going to have to return to my normal form, rather than the bear, as I'll need to conserve my final wildshaping for some obstacle like the huge copper door I had to tear down just prior to becoming a huge (well large anyway) target for the ire of a dozen tasloi and several more yuan-ti.
Journal of Nikolai Davros, Entry Twenty-Eight
The door finally opened (we need to do something about that).
We found ourselves opposed by 4 Yuan Ti (and as it turned out, 2 more invisible that we did not yet see), and a large number of Tasloi up amongst the vines along the ceiling.
I flew above the mess, and with all my enchantments up, was quite effective in battle. Rodrigo let fly a fireball, but its effects were dampened by an Unhallow in the area. We cut them down the old-fashioned way instead.
The invisible Yuan Ti (a wizard and a cleric) retreated beyond yet another door. Jaag and Kellen marched down to see what was up. Luckily the enemy opened the door. 4 ranks of Tasloi blocked the way to 2 abominations and 2 purebloods, but I flew up to Kellen, and Dimension Door'd us both to the rear, where we let loose on the enemy. We were quickly surrounded by more Tasloi, but found them to be little threat. We took down the purebloods first, then the abominations with Jorie's help (in the form of a great white bear).
Jaag amused himself cutting Tasloi to ribbons. Within seconds he had decimated the first group of 16, and started on the second.
Kellen killed the Yuan Ti cleric, but it took a Phantasmal Killer from Rodrigo to bring down the wizard. The cleric had a form of magic that caused a portion of its wounds to be manifested on a large copper Yuan Ti statue in the chamber.
We searched the premises thoroughly. Now we must decide what to do with the treasure found, and more importantly, what to do about Sterling Dale.
Kellan’s Journal
After returning to Verbobonc to regroup, we made ready for another foray into the jungle. Teleporting back, we made tracks for the yuan-ti stronghold; since there would be little gained from trying to sneak into the fortress (clanking warriors in armor are not subtle), we simply strode up to the front entrance and made our way in. The doors before us were warded with glyphs; the one at the front door damaged with cold, but otherwise did no harm. We crept futher in, following passageways of worked stone decorated with curling snake-men and ... other things. At one point, a cave, open to the air above, lay before us, with a flimsy 80-foot long rope bridge across and lizards guarding the far end; fearing a trap, Nik flew across to investigate, and detected another glyph at the end of the bridge. As I moved across to to help identify it, tasloi attacked from above with poisoned javelins; Rod's fire spells made short work of their hidey-hole, though, and we made our way across, intentionally setting off the glyph (one that explosively destroyed the bridge's stays on that side), and we moved on.
The passage sloped downward, and eventually passed above a forge; chained below us were two bugbears, obviously slaves and in very poor health. Seeing no other recourse (there was no way to get them to the surface, and they were manifestly evil as well), I put them out of their misery with a quick decapitation each. Continuing down the hallway, we encountered large double doors; Jorie, in bear form, forced the door while we waited a short distance away, and as the doors fell inward, he was instantly hit with a polymorph, turning him into a guppy. We knew that yuan-ti awaited us within, and we quickly moved forward for battle.
The walls of the large room before us were covered in vines and nets, stretching up to the ceiling. As I moved forward into the room and engaged a yuan-ti (one of four visible), more javelins flew from above us; obviously more tasloi were hiding in the vines above. After quickly dispatching one, I moved forward to engage another, but proved slower than Jorie and his animal companions, who made short of it, while Jaag and Nikolai dispatched the other two. There were two more combatants invisible (I was able to see them through Jorie's spell of blindsight), but they moved off deeper in to the complex during the battle. I gave pursuit, slowly making way down the large hallway; Jaag came up to join me and moved ahead down the hallway. Another door lay before us, and we decided on a change of tactics; Jaag booted the door to the sight of several dozen tasloi, and invisible spellcasters beyond, but Nik and I dimension doored into the middle of the room, behind the yuan-ti cleric, and I immediately set to work distracting her. Jaag was an incredible slayer of evil, making very short work of the tasloi, but sheer numbers impeded his progress, while the cleic and the wizard cast spells and attacked us. It was a tough fight, but in the end not as tough as the bugbears; this was due in part to the spell preperations we were able to make (enhancements to strength, sight, speed, and element resistance), and
partly because Rod single-handedly slew the wizard with his phantasmal killer spell, leaving the burden of finishing us to the cleric, who while evil, powerful and enhanced with spells of her own,eventually fell to our spells and blades. We counted ourselves lucky, and made for the surface to regroup.
Painfully
First Post
Actually, Jaag never picked up great cleave, but he did use cleave. I think he had just gained two attacks per round about then, so he cut down maybe two or three tasloi per round. It helped a lot that the tasloi were blinded too. It took Kellan and Nik the same amount of time to kill the two snakemen near them as it did for Jaag to chop through the dozen or more tasloi standing between them.
From the Journal of Nikolai Davros…
We mopped up the remaining Yuan Ti and delved deeply into their lair. We located the gate out, as well as a box which we suspect holds the key to the gate. After discussions, we decided that it was vital to destroy Sterling Dale. I didn't ask Kellen of his prior pledges to leave him alone; I feel no compunction to spare Dale, especially after his vampire spawn attacked us in the burial mound.
We couldn't use magic to find Dale, but we could use it to find his Wyvern. We did so, and started the ascent to the Wasp Nest where he had secreted himself. I flew Jaag up, while Rod climbed invisibly. The Wyvern attacked us in mid-flight, and poisoned Jaag. Rod drove the thing off with his magic, and then blew it out of the sky.
We advanced into the nest, finally fighting Dale and several spawn in a large chamber filled with wasps and their homes. A missed the vampire with a Searing Light, but caught him with the second. We turned his spawn, and forced him to take mist form.
His resting place is in this nest somewhere, and I have a plan to find it.
Sir Kellan’s Diary
The yuan-ti stronghold lay before us, and somewhere within lay the gate we had been sent to secure. After searching the area with no further resistance, we discovered it: a circular object on a stage-like platform, the outside covered in symbols and constellations we did not recognize. A podium at the base of the stage held a hexagonal slot about 3 inches deep - obviously meant for a key of some sort. After resting the night, we investigated the area further, and discovered a secret hiding spot that held a box and a book - each radiating magic.
After discussing the situation, we determined that rather than continue spending time examining the gate, we should seek out Stirling Dale – the only force left in he valley that could pose a threat to us and the gate. After discussing various magical solutions, I suggested trying to locate the wyvern-like creature that served as Dale's mount; this led us to travel across the valley, past the lake (where the Lady was nowhere to be found), past the old bugbear fortress, and to the far cliff wall - where the nest was to be found, some 250 feet above our heads.
Nik cast his fly spell to ferry Jaag, Rod, and me up to the nest. Jaag was first, and so was the first to be attacked; about 150 feet up, the wyvern attacked from the air. While it certainly posed a threat, a combination of Rod's fireball and magic missiles, along with a few arrows and crossbow bolts, felled the creature, and caused it to crash into the lake. Soon, we were all the cave mouth that served as a staging area to enter the nest.
From the start, we were attacked by the nasty beasts; one of Jorie's spells caused the vermin to be replled from him, and that gave us some room to fight them. We advanced to find the beginning of the nest itself – climbing it would prove to be nearly impossible in full armor, and it fell to Nik to ferry Jagg to the interior, while Rod teleported me into the thick of the fray, where the wasps were joined by Dale himself.
Dale seemed to be surprised that we were coming for him, or perhaps it was his bravado that made him try to fool us into thinking he was not a threat. At any rate, Dale's prowess as a swordsman was quickly proven to be well-founded; with his first blow, Dale sundered Jaag's magical axe, and the brave dwarf fell after several quick blows. Jorie summoned and magically enhanced several leopards to deal with the wasps, letting us concentrate on the vampire who wreaked terrible wounds on all of us, draining energy from all but Rod. Just as victory semed to be his, and he began to gloat, I raised my blade and shouted, "I shall die as a true Paladin of Heironeous!" Whith what would certainly be my last swing, I connected, and brought the vampire so close to death that he needed to turn gaseous, and flee.
Jorie's Journal
I knew this final showdown with Stirling Dale was going to be too dangerous, so Spot and Polly stayed safely away. Gizmo should be safe enough, though, and I was planning on Animal Growth'ing him in addition.
We knew Dale would be in a giant wasp nest, so I memorized repel vermin to help keep them under control. Then we set off in the direction of Dale's mount--a wyvern--using the result of my circle dance. Fortunately, the wyvern was relatively close to his master. Unfortunately, when we got to the cliff face, Nik decided to take Jaag up to the opening to the nest.
Normally, I'd agree that Jaag was the best choice to take the brunt of the initial assault. This time, though, I was prepared. Repel vermin would keep the bad things at bay, the others could come in as needed, I had a lesser restoration memorized and another in an infusion, and neutralize poison as well. If I needed it, I could wildshape into a bear, but nothing should be able to make it past the barrier.
Before I knew what was happening, though, Jaag was up on the ledge. Then the wyvern struck, and the aerial battle involving everyone else (Gizmo and I just watched from the sidelines, lacking any good ranged firepower). Eventually the wyvern retreated, but the wasps had discovered Jaag and before Nik could get me up there, Jaag had been stung a couple times, including a couple times by the wyvern. With his dwarven consititution, he seemed to be only minimally affected. Lesser restoration helped ease that damage.
Getting everyone else up and clearing out the rest of the giant wasps didn't take too long. I changed into polar bear form, since the uneven floor looked to be more easily traveled in that form, and I might need to be able to strike some blow. I had powered Gizmo up with a greater magic fang, so he was practically a force of nature on his own. Rod expended a great amount of his magical power on the wyvern, so he created a flaming sphere and mostly stayed out of the way, as did I.
Coming around out of the first chamber of the nest into the next larger chamber (as well as onto much more difficult terrain as the honeycomb was more developed here), we were ambushed by a large amount of wasps and several vampire spawn in addition to Stirling himself. 'Why?' he asked us, as if he didn't recall the vampire spawn he'd set on us several times in the recent past.
Standing aside and reaching into my spell component pouch which Gizmo had carried for me, I pulled what I needed to cast a summoning spell and call on several leopards for aid. The leopards appeared while Gizmo moved forward with them prepared to strike at the vampires while they tackled the wasps. Everyone else moved forward, as well, although Jaag and Kellan seemed to have trouble moving on the uneven flooring. Nik finally solved the problem by flying over to Kellan and grabbing him, then using one of the spells granted to him by Fharlanghn, travelled right next to Stirling.
At my next opportunity, I grew Gizmo and the leopards to a much larger size and unleashed them on our foes. True to the plan, Gizmo started in on the nearest of the vampire spawn, which had flanked Kellan along with Stirling. It was vitally important to remove the distraction behind Kellan as Stirling seemed to be launching mighty blows.
It was a difficult battle, but eventually we were able to reduce Stirling and his spawn to clouds of mist that fled elsewhere. I'm sure we'll find a way to where he is. Nik always has a plan...
We mopped up the remaining Yuan Ti and delved deeply into their lair. We located the gate out, as well as a box which we suspect holds the key to the gate. After discussions, we decided that it was vital to destroy Sterling Dale. I didn't ask Kellen of his prior pledges to leave him alone; I feel no compunction to spare Dale, especially after his vampire spawn attacked us in the burial mound.
We couldn't use magic to find Dale, but we could use it to find his Wyvern. We did so, and started the ascent to the Wasp Nest where he had secreted himself. I flew Jaag up, while Rod climbed invisibly. The Wyvern attacked us in mid-flight, and poisoned Jaag. Rod drove the thing off with his magic, and then blew it out of the sky.
We advanced into the nest, finally fighting Dale and several spawn in a large chamber filled with wasps and their homes. A missed the vampire with a Searing Light, but caught him with the second. We turned his spawn, and forced him to take mist form.
His resting place is in this nest somewhere, and I have a plan to find it.
Sir Kellan’s Diary
The yuan-ti stronghold lay before us, and somewhere within lay the gate we had been sent to secure. After searching the area with no further resistance, we discovered it: a circular object on a stage-like platform, the outside covered in symbols and constellations we did not recognize. A podium at the base of the stage held a hexagonal slot about 3 inches deep - obviously meant for a key of some sort. After resting the night, we investigated the area further, and discovered a secret hiding spot that held a box and a book - each radiating magic.
After discussing the situation, we determined that rather than continue spending time examining the gate, we should seek out Stirling Dale – the only force left in he valley that could pose a threat to us and the gate. After discussing various magical solutions, I suggested trying to locate the wyvern-like creature that served as Dale's mount; this led us to travel across the valley, past the lake (where the Lady was nowhere to be found), past the old bugbear fortress, and to the far cliff wall - where the nest was to be found, some 250 feet above our heads.
Nik cast his fly spell to ferry Jaag, Rod, and me up to the nest. Jaag was first, and so was the first to be attacked; about 150 feet up, the wyvern attacked from the air. While it certainly posed a threat, a combination of Rod's fireball and magic missiles, along with a few arrows and crossbow bolts, felled the creature, and caused it to crash into the lake. Soon, we were all the cave mouth that served as a staging area to enter the nest.
From the start, we were attacked by the nasty beasts; one of Jorie's spells caused the vermin to be replled from him, and that gave us some room to fight them. We advanced to find the beginning of the nest itself – climbing it would prove to be nearly impossible in full armor, and it fell to Nik to ferry Jagg to the interior, while Rod teleported me into the thick of the fray, where the wasps were joined by Dale himself.
Dale seemed to be surprised that we were coming for him, or perhaps it was his bravado that made him try to fool us into thinking he was not a threat. At any rate, Dale's prowess as a swordsman was quickly proven to be well-founded; with his first blow, Dale sundered Jaag's magical axe, and the brave dwarf fell after several quick blows. Jorie summoned and magically enhanced several leopards to deal with the wasps, letting us concentrate on the vampire who wreaked terrible wounds on all of us, draining energy from all but Rod. Just as victory semed to be his, and he began to gloat, I raised my blade and shouted, "I shall die as a true Paladin of Heironeous!" Whith what would certainly be my last swing, I connected, and brought the vampire so close to death that he needed to turn gaseous, and flee.
Jorie's Journal
I knew this final showdown with Stirling Dale was going to be too dangerous, so Spot and Polly stayed safely away. Gizmo should be safe enough, though, and I was planning on Animal Growth'ing him in addition.
We knew Dale would be in a giant wasp nest, so I memorized repel vermin to help keep them under control. Then we set off in the direction of Dale's mount--a wyvern--using the result of my circle dance. Fortunately, the wyvern was relatively close to his master. Unfortunately, when we got to the cliff face, Nik decided to take Jaag up to the opening to the nest.
Normally, I'd agree that Jaag was the best choice to take the brunt of the initial assault. This time, though, I was prepared. Repel vermin would keep the bad things at bay, the others could come in as needed, I had a lesser restoration memorized and another in an infusion, and neutralize poison as well. If I needed it, I could wildshape into a bear, but nothing should be able to make it past the barrier.
Before I knew what was happening, though, Jaag was up on the ledge. Then the wyvern struck, and the aerial battle involving everyone else (Gizmo and I just watched from the sidelines, lacking any good ranged firepower). Eventually the wyvern retreated, but the wasps had discovered Jaag and before Nik could get me up there, Jaag had been stung a couple times, including a couple times by the wyvern. With his dwarven consititution, he seemed to be only minimally affected. Lesser restoration helped ease that damage.
Getting everyone else up and clearing out the rest of the giant wasps didn't take too long. I changed into polar bear form, since the uneven floor looked to be more easily traveled in that form, and I might need to be able to strike some blow. I had powered Gizmo up with a greater magic fang, so he was practically a force of nature on his own. Rod expended a great amount of his magical power on the wyvern, so he created a flaming sphere and mostly stayed out of the way, as did I.
Coming around out of the first chamber of the nest into the next larger chamber (as well as onto much more difficult terrain as the honeycomb was more developed here), we were ambushed by a large amount of wasps and several vampire spawn in addition to Stirling himself. 'Why?' he asked us, as if he didn't recall the vampire spawn he'd set on us several times in the recent past.
Standing aside and reaching into my spell component pouch which Gizmo had carried for me, I pulled what I needed to cast a summoning spell and call on several leopards for aid. The leopards appeared while Gizmo moved forward with them prepared to strike at the vampires while they tackled the wasps. Everyone else moved forward, as well, although Jaag and Kellan seemed to have trouble moving on the uneven flooring. Nik finally solved the problem by flying over to Kellan and grabbing him, then using one of the spells granted to him by Fharlanghn, travelled right next to Stirling.
At my next opportunity, I grew Gizmo and the leopards to a much larger size and unleashed them on our foes. True to the plan, Gizmo started in on the nearest of the vampire spawn, which had flanked Kellan along with Stirling. It was vitally important to remove the distraction behind Kellan as Stirling seemed to be launching mighty blows.
It was a difficult battle, but eventually we were able to reduce Stirling and his spawn to clouds of mist that fled elsewhere. I'm sure we'll find a way to where he is. Nik always has a plan...
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From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar
Nikolai cast a spell called ethereal jaunt, which allowed him to follow Dale's mist form to wherever it might go - in this case, further into the cave nest, and up into one of the capped nest cells on the ceiling. Nik returned to us, reporting the presence of five vampire spawn huddling near the cave entrance - Rod lobbed a fireball down the hallway to quickly polish them off, which had the unfortunate side effect of setting the paper nest aflame. Quickly, we detected the cell Dale's regenerating body was cloistered in; rematerializing inside the cell, Nik drove the broken wood haft of Jaag's axe through the vampire's heart. "I will be the first to curse your name, but not the last" - with these words to Nik, Stirling Dale was incapacitated.
While Rod and Jaag teleported back to Verbobonc, Nik and I dragged the fallen paladin's body out into the sunlight. The undead flesh began to wisp and burn, and a glowing light surrounded the body - to be replaced slowly with gathering shadows, and a shrill scream resounded in our ears, as if a soul was being devoured. This is the sad end of our former brother-in-arms, Stirling Dale. I think to the very end he still thought he was capable of carrying out the will of Heironeous, even with the blackness that he knew was encompassing his heart. Surely, some dark power had replaced Dale's holy abilities with evil ones, perhaps with Dale not even fully knowing the import and source of the change. It is certain that our comrade's tale is a cautionary one, a story of hubris and a good man turned evil as much by his quest for power as by an unfortunate encounter with a vampire yuan-ti in a land so far from the place of his final death. Still, his accomplishments in the service of our Master were many, and we have returned his sword to the priests at the temple here, to be treasured so that others may think about his life, undeath, and death, and be made wiser for the contemplation.
Jorie remained in the valley while Nik and I teleported to Verbobonc; we knew we would return in several days, probably with reinforcements from our temples to permanently hold the gateway stronghold. Thus followed several days of recuperation and provisioning; while bland-sounding, it was not without its moments; Rod visited a female sage of his aquaintance (a frequent beneficiary of his coin, if I may put it delicately) to ascertain some information about the black book we had found; the divination went disastrously wrong, as we found out when Rod teleported directly into our compound, screaming for help at the top of his lungs. From what we could gather once we reached the scene, a powerful demon was summoned up by the book, or the act of divination, or both, and the demon wreaked havoc on the place, encasing the entire building in sheets of ice before departing.
Whether coincidence or not, this was the first day that clerics and spellcasters of all types began having troubles receiving or casting spells. Nikolai contacted a lesser servant of Fharlanghan to gather more information, and the harried servant let on that an evil was growing that requires the attention of the gods - an evil not dealt with ever before. In addition, it said that the instrument of doom and salvation lay within our midst. While cryptic, this intelligence made us want to find out more about the portal, and what we would need to do to correct the problems developing all over the known world.
Two days later, Nik and I returned to the valley to tie up many loose ends. We had to hold up our side of the agreement with Nakhtibastet and help her leave the valley; after finding her, we found out that a half-dozen yuan-ti had re-entered the stronghold, and left with something folded up. They were quite agitated, and vanished into the jungle. Nik's teleportation could only be done once per day, so it gave me time to visit the mongrelmen and see what needed to be done there.
Upon my arrival, it was obvious that they did not appreciate all we had done to help their lives in the valley; no matter that we had destroyed their enemies, ending the threats to their lives and their need to live in dank caves. They were angry that I would not rut with their woman, and said they had no need for me as their leader; that my "rash actions would have repercussions" (an enigmatic formulation they would not elaborate on). They released me from the duties of leadership, for which I was grateful; certainly, while I was willing to deal with the consequences of the situation they had placed me in, and help them improve their lives in the valley, they were unwilling to see past their own situation. I cannot blame them for their point of view, but they were even confused as to how I became their leader; they implied that I had eagerly stepped forward to challenge their former leader, when in fact I only stepped forward when no one else would (certainly I would never eagerly claim to be leader of our group; any such title would be for Nikolai to receive if it ever mattered). I shall meditate on the misunderstandings of this situation and hopefully learn how I can avoid such troubles in the future. Certainly, those responsible for guarding the gateway stronghold had best be wary of the folk, for they have proven unreliable as a population to be counted on for aid.
The next day, we prepared to leave with Nakhtibastet, but we first tried to contact the Lady in the Lake, with no success. We teleported back to the outskirts of the city, and I found myself quite saddened at the prospect of leaving such an interesting and faithful ally. After nearly completing our good-byes, I remembered something Rod had mentioned some time ago, and I had discarded out-of-hand: would it be possible to have her as a companion, as some others in our order have done with dragons and unicorns in lieu of mounts? I had discarded the notion, thinking that such a creature would be unwilling to join me, even in a more equal situation than a paladin finds with his special mount, but on impulse, I asked her, and she agreed to join me, on the condition that I would help her with a riddle that had been perplexing her for some time. Each morning, she will ask me for the answer to the riddle, and the day we discover the right answer is the day she leaves my service. This seemed quite equitable to me, and so the agreement was reached.
Now we face more troubling times, and a solution to the current problems seems to lie through the unknown destination on the other side of the planar gate. When I shall be able to report next, only Heironeous knows; but I shall endeavor to do my best to serve him, and you as well, with honor, valor, and humility.
In the service of the Great Knight, I remain,
Yours Faithfully,
Kellan Evershar
From the Journal of Nikolai Davros
We killed Sterling Dale.
It was fitting that I drove the stake home using the split haft of Jaag's axe that Dale himself had sundered in two. We recovered a large amount of treasure from the lair and returned to Verbobonc.
The next day was a strange one. The priests both at my temple and that of Heironeous had poor dreams, and some priests were unable to recover their full allotment of spells. Rodrigo took the book we recovered to Satine, the bard-harlot whom he had struck up an "arrangement" with. She was killed when a demon somehow emerged from her insides with out her permission, killing her in the process. Rod was nearly killed, but escaped. When we returned the brothel was encased in ice, and the demon had fled.
We returned to the valley to bring the Sphinx back, and she struck a deal to act as Kellen's mount (or vice versa, to be more precise).
Divinations and Communes have proven less than conclusive in regard to the cause of this malaise afflicting the clergy. We have learned that some information may be gleaned by using the gate from the Yuan Ti lair. We will have to investigate further...
Nikolai cast a spell called ethereal jaunt, which allowed him to follow Dale's mist form to wherever it might go - in this case, further into the cave nest, and up into one of the capped nest cells on the ceiling. Nik returned to us, reporting the presence of five vampire spawn huddling near the cave entrance - Rod lobbed a fireball down the hallway to quickly polish them off, which had the unfortunate side effect of setting the paper nest aflame. Quickly, we detected the cell Dale's regenerating body was cloistered in; rematerializing inside the cell, Nik drove the broken wood haft of Jaag's axe through the vampire's heart. "I will be the first to curse your name, but not the last" - with these words to Nik, Stirling Dale was incapacitated.
While Rod and Jaag teleported back to Verbobonc, Nik and I dragged the fallen paladin's body out into the sunlight. The undead flesh began to wisp and burn, and a glowing light surrounded the body - to be replaced slowly with gathering shadows, and a shrill scream resounded in our ears, as if a soul was being devoured. This is the sad end of our former brother-in-arms, Stirling Dale. I think to the very end he still thought he was capable of carrying out the will of Heironeous, even with the blackness that he knew was encompassing his heart. Surely, some dark power had replaced Dale's holy abilities with evil ones, perhaps with Dale not even fully knowing the import and source of the change. It is certain that our comrade's tale is a cautionary one, a story of hubris and a good man turned evil as much by his quest for power as by an unfortunate encounter with a vampire yuan-ti in a land so far from the place of his final death. Still, his accomplishments in the service of our Master were many, and we have returned his sword to the priests at the temple here, to be treasured so that others may think about his life, undeath, and death, and be made wiser for the contemplation.
Jorie remained in the valley while Nik and I teleported to Verbobonc; we knew we would return in several days, probably with reinforcements from our temples to permanently hold the gateway stronghold. Thus followed several days of recuperation and provisioning; while bland-sounding, it was not without its moments; Rod visited a female sage of his aquaintance (a frequent beneficiary of his coin, if I may put it delicately) to ascertain some information about the black book we had found; the divination went disastrously wrong, as we found out when Rod teleported directly into our compound, screaming for help at the top of his lungs. From what we could gather once we reached the scene, a powerful demon was summoned up by the book, or the act of divination, or both, and the demon wreaked havoc on the place, encasing the entire building in sheets of ice before departing.
Whether coincidence or not, this was the first day that clerics and spellcasters of all types began having troubles receiving or casting spells. Nikolai contacted a lesser servant of Fharlanghan to gather more information, and the harried servant let on that an evil was growing that requires the attention of the gods - an evil not dealt with ever before. In addition, it said that the instrument of doom and salvation lay within our midst. While cryptic, this intelligence made us want to find out more about the portal, and what we would need to do to correct the problems developing all over the known world.
Two days later, Nik and I returned to the valley to tie up many loose ends. We had to hold up our side of the agreement with Nakhtibastet and help her leave the valley; after finding her, we found out that a half-dozen yuan-ti had re-entered the stronghold, and left with something folded up. They were quite agitated, and vanished into the jungle. Nik's teleportation could only be done once per day, so it gave me time to visit the mongrelmen and see what needed to be done there.
Upon my arrival, it was obvious that they did not appreciate all we had done to help their lives in the valley; no matter that we had destroyed their enemies, ending the threats to their lives and their need to live in dank caves. They were angry that I would not rut with their woman, and said they had no need for me as their leader; that my "rash actions would have repercussions" (an enigmatic formulation they would not elaborate on). They released me from the duties of leadership, for which I was grateful; certainly, while I was willing to deal with the consequences of the situation they had placed me in, and help them improve their lives in the valley, they were unwilling to see past their own situation. I cannot blame them for their point of view, but they were even confused as to how I became their leader; they implied that I had eagerly stepped forward to challenge their former leader, when in fact I only stepped forward when no one else would (certainly I would never eagerly claim to be leader of our group; any such title would be for Nikolai to receive if it ever mattered). I shall meditate on the misunderstandings of this situation and hopefully learn how I can avoid such troubles in the future. Certainly, those responsible for guarding the gateway stronghold had best be wary of the folk, for they have proven unreliable as a population to be counted on for aid.
The next day, we prepared to leave with Nakhtibastet, but we first tried to contact the Lady in the Lake, with no success. We teleported back to the outskirts of the city, and I found myself quite saddened at the prospect of leaving such an interesting and faithful ally. After nearly completing our good-byes, I remembered something Rod had mentioned some time ago, and I had discarded out-of-hand: would it be possible to have her as a companion, as some others in our order have done with dragons and unicorns in lieu of mounts? I had discarded the notion, thinking that such a creature would be unwilling to join me, even in a more equal situation than a paladin finds with his special mount, but on impulse, I asked her, and she agreed to join me, on the condition that I would help her with a riddle that had been perplexing her for some time. Each morning, she will ask me for the answer to the riddle, and the day we discover the right answer is the day she leaves my service. This seemed quite equitable to me, and so the agreement was reached.
Now we face more troubling times, and a solution to the current problems seems to lie through the unknown destination on the other side of the planar gate. When I shall be able to report next, only Heironeous knows; but I shall endeavor to do my best to serve him, and you as well, with honor, valor, and humility.
In the service of the Great Knight, I remain,
Yours Faithfully,
Kellan Evershar
From the Journal of Nikolai Davros
We killed Sterling Dale.
It was fitting that I drove the stake home using the split haft of Jaag's axe that Dale himself had sundered in two. We recovered a large amount of treasure from the lair and returned to Verbobonc.
The next day was a strange one. The priests both at my temple and that of Heironeous had poor dreams, and some priests were unable to recover their full allotment of spells. Rodrigo took the book we recovered to Satine, the bard-harlot whom he had struck up an "arrangement" with. She was killed when a demon somehow emerged from her insides with out her permission, killing her in the process. Rod was nearly killed, but escaped. When we returned the brothel was encased in ice, and the demon had fled.
We returned to the valley to bring the Sphinx back, and she struck a deal to act as Kellen's mount (or vice versa, to be more precise).
Divinations and Communes have proven less than conclusive in regard to the cause of this malaise afflicting the clergy. We have learned that some information may be gleaned by using the gate from the Yuan Ti lair. We will have to investigate further...
Eridanis
Bard 7/Mod (ret) 10/Mgr 3
Resurrect Thread - a most potent spell (a.k.a. Session 31)
Well, we've got things sorted out, and since Dinkeldog has lost access to the journals, I'm taking up the gauntlet to finish out our run. We have a good dozen and a half sessions in the can, so expect an update or two per week until .... well, you'll see.
Anyway, back to our adventurers:
From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar
To the Radiant Lady Gloriana Taskmettle, greetings -
After several more days spent preparing for the journey (provisioning;
boosting the enchantments on the armor of Nikolai, Jaag, and myself;
preparing healing wands), we teleported to the valley. (On the evening of
the ninth day since the divine problems began, we noticed that the
constellations in the sky were changing - one particular one had a star
missing from it, while another star was added in a different place. This has
caused some consternation with the local clergy.) Nikolai cast plane shift
on the portal. A mercury curtain came into being inside the hoop of the
portal, and Nikolai stepped through. He seemed to shrink, as if moving
quickly off toward the horizon, then disappeared. I was next through,
followed by Rodrigo and Jaag. (Jorie stayed behind to remove the crystal to
test to see if the crystal needed to remain in the portal for it to remain
open; apparently it did, for Jorie did not follow.)
We emerged at the top of another valley, this one as cold as the previous
jungle valley was warm. A forest of pine trees began near to the wide
grassland we stood in. I could hear no animals nearby, nor did I detect any
evil influences; this situation changed quickly, though, when a pair of
elven women broke through the treeline, racing past us and shouting for us
to "Run!". We drew weapons just in time to confront three fire giants
crashing after the elves. Nahktibastet immediately flew towards the nearest;
as she swiped with her claws, I rolled off her back, tucking for the landing
and plunging my sword into the leg of the giant. [I needed to roll a 20 to
pull this off in heavy armor - and did it!] After a furious but brief fight,
we were able to defeat the giants with the help of the elves; after some
quick healing, we accompanied the women back to the ranch they had, until
recently, lived in.
As it happens, the women were druidic apprentices, sent to study with Haia,
the local master by their parents (a human mother and an elven father,
neither of them druids themselves). The giant clan, named the Jirrock, began
to be aggressive just recently; Haia was captured by them just a few days
beforehand in a raid that destroyed the ranch. It seemed as if the giants
were looking for something; the women had no idea what that might have been.
Accompanying the giants were gnolls, trolls, and humans - a combination of
forces never before seen in this valley. There are also yuan-ti living in
the valley (as we expected), but strangely enough, the women claimed they
were freindly to the local peoples, and simply hid in the forest doing no
harm. As hard as I found this to be, the yuan-ti's intent in the area will
bear further investigation.
The night's watch passed uneventfully, save for the fact that we still
seemed to be on Oerth, rather than on another plane - the constellations in
the sky were the same as the familiar ones at home (with the exception of
the strange one-by-one replacement of certain stars, of course). The next
day, Nikolai returned to the site of the past day's battle, and cast speak
with dead on one of the dead bodies. All we wer able to ascertain were the
name of the giant tribe - the Jirroc - and their mission: to conquer the
valley. In order to gain intelligence about the giant's stronghold, located
miles away in a volcano at the other end of the valley, Nikolai and
Nahktibastet flew invisibly toward the stronghold. That mission was cut
short by the presence of a red dragon flying patrol over the volcano;
discretion being the better part of valor in this case, Nahktibastet turned
back to our camp (barely speaking to me the rest of the day as a
consequence) while Nikolai quickly finished his fly-by and returned.
From the Journal of Nikolai Davros:
I fear that in our desire to equip ourselves more fully, we have waited too long and will regret the delay. We are as ready as we can be, but must take every opportunity to take this fight to our enemy.
The problem is, we have no idea who the enemy is. Divinations have proved vague, and we have been told that Communes have been unable to answer the question of what is going on to cause the priests to be unable to regain their full spells. The phenomenon appears to be worsening, and more unknown stars are appearing in the sky.
We went through the gate today. It was bitter cold on the other side; we were unprepared for the change in weather. Curiously, we appear to still be on Oerth; I thought the gate was supposed to Plane Shift us to a specific point on another plane. Perhaps that is what the stars mean? That two planes are converging?
This is more than I can fathom.
There were Fire Giants on the far side of the gate; things looked bad for a moment, but we dealt with three of them. We met some elves, who claim that the local Yuan Ti are friendly. I find this unlikely.
We scouted about, and we saw a dragon. I don't think it saw me. I would not be able to outfly a dragon, but my vastly better maneuverability might allow me to run nevertheless. Luckily, it did not become an issue.
Now that we have a better sense of what is here, we can plan our spell
usage better - I will be ready for Giants and Dragons. Rodrigo will need to learn some manner of adapting his repertoire to combat these beings.
Well, we've got things sorted out, and since Dinkeldog has lost access to the journals, I'm taking up the gauntlet to finish out our run. We have a good dozen and a half sessions in the can, so expect an update or two per week until .... well, you'll see.
Anyway, back to our adventurers:
From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar
To the Radiant Lady Gloriana Taskmettle, greetings -
After several more days spent preparing for the journey (provisioning;
boosting the enchantments on the armor of Nikolai, Jaag, and myself;
preparing healing wands), we teleported to the valley. (On the evening of
the ninth day since the divine problems began, we noticed that the
constellations in the sky were changing - one particular one had a star
missing from it, while another star was added in a different place. This has
caused some consternation with the local clergy.) Nikolai cast plane shift
on the portal. A mercury curtain came into being inside the hoop of the
portal, and Nikolai stepped through. He seemed to shrink, as if moving
quickly off toward the horizon, then disappeared. I was next through,
followed by Rodrigo and Jaag. (Jorie stayed behind to remove the crystal to
test to see if the crystal needed to remain in the portal for it to remain
open; apparently it did, for Jorie did not follow.)
We emerged at the top of another valley, this one as cold as the previous
jungle valley was warm. A forest of pine trees began near to the wide
grassland we stood in. I could hear no animals nearby, nor did I detect any
evil influences; this situation changed quickly, though, when a pair of
elven women broke through the treeline, racing past us and shouting for us
to "Run!". We drew weapons just in time to confront three fire giants
crashing after the elves. Nahktibastet immediately flew towards the nearest;
as she swiped with her claws, I rolled off her back, tucking for the landing
and plunging my sword into the leg of the giant. [I needed to roll a 20 to
pull this off in heavy armor - and did it!] After a furious but brief fight,
we were able to defeat the giants with the help of the elves; after some
quick healing, we accompanied the women back to the ranch they had, until
recently, lived in.
As it happens, the women were druidic apprentices, sent to study with Haia,
the local master by their parents (a human mother and an elven father,
neither of them druids themselves). The giant clan, named the Jirrock, began
to be aggressive just recently; Haia was captured by them just a few days
beforehand in a raid that destroyed the ranch. It seemed as if the giants
were looking for something; the women had no idea what that might have been.
Accompanying the giants were gnolls, trolls, and humans - a combination of
forces never before seen in this valley. There are also yuan-ti living in
the valley (as we expected), but strangely enough, the women claimed they
were freindly to the local peoples, and simply hid in the forest doing no
harm. As hard as I found this to be, the yuan-ti's intent in the area will
bear further investigation.
The night's watch passed uneventfully, save for the fact that we still
seemed to be on Oerth, rather than on another plane - the constellations in
the sky were the same as the familiar ones at home (with the exception of
the strange one-by-one replacement of certain stars, of course). The next
day, Nikolai returned to the site of the past day's battle, and cast speak
with dead on one of the dead bodies. All we wer able to ascertain were the
name of the giant tribe - the Jirroc - and their mission: to conquer the
valley. In order to gain intelligence about the giant's stronghold, located
miles away in a volcano at the other end of the valley, Nikolai and
Nahktibastet flew invisibly toward the stronghold. That mission was cut
short by the presence of a red dragon flying patrol over the volcano;
discretion being the better part of valor in this case, Nahktibastet turned
back to our camp (barely speaking to me the rest of the day as a
consequence) while Nikolai quickly finished his fly-by and returned.
From the Journal of Nikolai Davros:
I fear that in our desire to equip ourselves more fully, we have waited too long and will regret the delay. We are as ready as we can be, but must take every opportunity to take this fight to our enemy.
The problem is, we have no idea who the enemy is. Divinations have proved vague, and we have been told that Communes have been unable to answer the question of what is going on to cause the priests to be unable to regain their full spells. The phenomenon appears to be worsening, and more unknown stars are appearing in the sky.
We went through the gate today. It was bitter cold on the other side; we were unprepared for the change in weather. Curiously, we appear to still be on Oerth; I thought the gate was supposed to Plane Shift us to a specific point on another plane. Perhaps that is what the stars mean? That two planes are converging?
This is more than I can fathom.
There were Fire Giants on the far side of the gate; things looked bad for a moment, but we dealt with three of them. We met some elves, who claim that the local Yuan Ti are friendly. I find this unlikely.
We scouted about, and we saw a dragon. I don't think it saw me. I would not be able to outfly a dragon, but my vastly better maneuverability might allow me to run nevertheless. Luckily, it did not become an issue.
Now that we have a better sense of what is here, we can plan our spell
usage better - I will be ready for Giants and Dragons. Rodrigo will need to learn some manner of adapting his repertoire to combat these beings.
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