SESSION THIRTEEN: just rewards
KELLAN's THIRTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
To All whom these presents come, Greeting:
The time for final reckoning was at hand. After defeating the dragon in the lair beneath the local lake, our party decided to return to the complex to determine what else remained there. John Wells insisted on us leaving the gems (collected at the expense of great time and effort on our part) with him so that they would not fall into the hands of the Arxiphext. While an understandable precaution, we declined to do so, noting that the gems seemed to have a protective effect on Jaag, our dwarven fighter. Wells then had Task, his lizardman warrior/companion (remarkably, a creature free of evil influence) accompany us as we returned to the lake.
We proceeded to the laboratory the party had previously discovered, and after destroying the remaining kobold eggs, investigated the shaft to be found there. A great fall lay below us (later determined to be nearly 400 feet), and as we pondered how to decend while minimizing the risk to ourselves, we determined that we would tie ourselves together, Rodrigo the sorceror would cast a spell of feather fall on all of us, and Nikolai the cleric would cast a spell of flying on Jagg so as to leave one of us more prepared to manouever should the necessity arise. We jumped in to the shaft, and fell slowly past tunnels that had been carved through the rock all around. We were attacked by small floating eyeballs with strange eye-ray powers ('gauths' as my companions styled them), but we were able to make it to the bottom alive.
A wondrous and terrible sight greeted us: we were located in a huge bowl-shaped cavern, with small eye-beings creating a huge spire, like a focus, in the middle, pointing toward the sky that would never be seen by the cave's inhabitants. There, we faced the evil challenger we came there to defeat: an undead 'beholder' (as my companions called it), shorn of the eyes that are the hallmark of their race, but still mighty in power and using a floating cloud of tiny eyes to see and fight. The terrible battle continued; Rodrigo cut the rope binding us to Jagg and glued the free end to the beholder creature, certainly risking our companion's life but an interesting battle tactic nonetheless (we have had more than our share of retreating foes in this quest). We had a very difficult time harming the monster; much of our damage was inflicted by casting healing spells (harmful to undead, of course) on it, but its 'gauth' servants were able to use their own “wounding” spells to heal it during the battle. Task helped a little, killing three of the gauths himself, but his main concern proved to be the safety of the gems (when our companion Jorie was struck down, apparently dead, Task dragged the body out of the fight and looted the gem from his body - had I not been otherwise occupied fighting the monster, I would have had words with him there!). We eventually triumphed in the exhausting battle, and returned to the surface (luckily, Jorie was not dead, but merely paralyzed).
Wells was willing to trade services and goods for the gems, and seeing no further use for them, we all agreed to trade; I was able to retire my monetary debt to the party as well as have magical enhancements placed on my armor. Also, we spent some party funds to create a fund for village families whose loved ones had perished during the crisis that faced their community. While I am glad we have vanquished the evil threatening this town, I feel that I might someday be called once again to this place.
We now will head northward to Littleburg; when I made known my intention to return to the chapterhouse, most of my companions expressed a desire to come, too. It is hoped that we will find new challenges and new evils to defeat.
I will post this in the event that this letter arrives before myself and my party; if I precede it, this will all of course be already known to you. I remain
In the service of the Great Knight,
Yours humbly,
Kellan Evershar
*****
DMs THIRTEENTH SESSION SUMMARY
The party had now recovered all the gems-- all, that is, except for the few that John Wells was holding. They returned to Mirrormere to regroup and speak with the wizard-- who they still expected to betray them at some point.
It took them two full days to work up the nerve to visit Wells at his tree-house in the lake. Dria and the lizardman stood by while they discussed matters.
As usual, Wells was cagey, explaining only that the gems, full of necromantic and abjurative magic, served as some sort of phylactery as well as a protective device. Not only was he unwilling to hand over the remaining gems, he flatly insisted that the group turn over their gems to him. They were intent, it seemed, on diving back into the hole to tackle the Arxephext, and Wells was in no mood to see the gems fall into its... hands... or, whatever.
Still the party wouldn't budge-- not even for 5,000 gold per gem. Of course, they were keenly aware that the last potential "seller" to arrive in Mirrormere—the gnome rogue—left with neither gems, nor his life. Kellan raised this point briefly, mentioning first theft, then murder (eliciting a low hiss from the lizardman). Wells put their minds at ease (the "seller" was, after all, a common thief) but there was no way, no way in hell, they were going to hand over all the gems to Wells.
"At the very least, then, I’ll send my servant with you to safeguard the gems.”
The lizardman looked surprised but nodded. “By your command, Teacher.” He crept out of the room to gather his “adventuring” gear—though if it consisted of much more than his usual boots, a hooded cloak, a wide belt, and his immense falchion, the party couldn’t tell.
He crossed to room to a small box and exchanged a look with Wells. “I’ll need that gem...”
“The green one? You worry too much.”
Dria fixed Wells with a glare and spoke up. “Take it. Come back safe.”
The lizardman pulled out the green gem and studied it for a moment at the end of the necklace where it hung. He started to don the necklace, then suddenly thought better of it. He snapped the gem off its cord and, to Kellan’s surprise, popped it into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
The lizardman hid himself within his hooded cloak, his tail lithely snaking out of sight to disappear under the cloak with practiced grace. “I’m ready.”
As the group lowered themselves out of the tree, Wells called to his reptilian servant. “Don’t forget your duty!”
*****
The party returned to the Arxiphext’s lair, and the lizardman wasted no time in preparing himself for battle. He threw off his travelling cloak, revealing himself completely to the party for the first time. Strange, scaly blue scars criss-crossed his chest, back, and arms. Some of the thickest, oldest scars had sprouted coarse, black, spidery hair. Most of the party turned away in disgust, but Rodrigo couldn’t resist a Detect Magic.
Boots, belt, falchion, and a hint of a ring—all magical. Rod could even sense the gem in the reptile’s gut—but that was it: He sure travelled light. Task stood quietly and waited for the party to decide what to do next.
The party peered down into the hole at the edge of the laboratory room. They could barely make out dark shadows along the walls, indicating that the main central shaft was criss-crossed at all angles by several other passages. Eventually they settled on using feather fall to reach the bottom. However, fearful of the gauth’s dispel magic ability—or worse, an anti-magic cone from a true beholder—Nik cast fly on Jaag. They tied themselves together and left a 40’ trailing rope to Jaag. If anything went wrong, he could at least slow their fall.
As one, they jumped into the hole. Sure enough, as they passed the passageways, several gauths came out behind them to attack. Once again, their inflict wounds rays seemed to have no effect on Jaag, but their electric blasts were no picnic. Jaag cried out and Rod looked up, launching fireballs past the dwarf to explode in an impressive air-burst above him. The gauths were blasted; Jaag was not.
Nik called their attention to the scene below them. “Guys…”
A huge spike was approaching from the floor below. Made entirely of some sort of secreted resin, the spike stood a good sixty feet from the bottom of the bowl like cavern they were approaching. They dropped several sunrods to the floor.
The resin spike—indeed, the entire resin covered floor and walls—were filled with small, vestigal eye-kin, most of them no more than a few inches across. Some of them chewed and nibbled at the spire, adding more resin, while others used their eyes to distintegrate tiny portions at a time, carving it all into shape. Along the walls they could see many bowl-shaped recessions, some of them occupied by yet another, larger kind of eye-kin—shrivelled and pasty, with a single large eye.
And then, before they had even floated all the way to the ground, the Arxiphext struck. It hovered suddenly into view, a huge orb with blackened, empty eye sockets. Where its eyes had gone they could not guess, but it seemed to have no trouble zeroing in on them. The creature opened its huge maw and bit down on Kellan, who immediately felt a shockingly cold chill across his entire body. The creature’s mouth opened still wider, as if it would engulf him entirely, but Kellan managed to struggle free.
Rod wasted no time attacking the thing with his spells, but after the first volley of magic missiles struck, a multitude of smaller eye-kin zipped to its aid, completely surrounding its body. The party attacked with spells and weapons, but seemed only to succeed in killing the smaller orbs. Each time the thing attacked, the orbs would move aside for it to bite, then quickly return to protect it moments later.
To make matters worse, several gauths appeared, and things started to look bleak. From a distance they used their electric eyes to blast the party, while using their red eye-beams to somehow HEAL the Arxiphext.
The party was being slowly ground down, while the eye-kin seemed to be regaining strength. Their only ray of hope was eventually driving off the smaller eyes that protected the Arxiphext.
As soon as the creature was clear, Rod cut himself free from the group. Now holding the end of the tether to which Jaag was still attached, Rodrigo upended an entire bottle of Sovereign Glue onto the rope and whipped it towards the Arxiphext.
Suddenly, Jaag found himself attached to an angry undead beholder. (He didn’t remember that in the job description…)
Still, the group couldn’t get to the gauths to stop them. Nik had had enough of being blasted with electricity and watching them heal the Arxiphext, and he cast an obscuring mist around them all. It had the desired effect—the gauths could no longer target them without closing the distance.
Through it all, Task seemed to watch and wait. Just as the party thought that the lizardman had watched and waited a little too long for their liking, he sprang into action, moving off into the mists to deal with the gauths. They heard his falchion sing, and the hiss of a dying gauth, but that was the only evidence of his handiwork.
The gauths closed in to protect their leader, while Kellan and Jaag pounded away on its rubbery hide. Rod, Jorie, and Nik stayed close and held their actions to engage any gauths that came within reach. Sure enough, a gauth suddenly appeared in the mist next to Rodrigo, healing the Arxiphext with one eye and blasting Rodrigo with the other. Near death, Rod fought down the instinct to back away. Casting defensively, he held his ground and blasted the gauth right back.
Another gauth appeared in the mist beside Nik, who was no better off than Rod. He thrust weakly at the gauth, then grit his teeth and prepared for the worst. Suddenly, the lizardman slid out of the mist beside him. Nik counted four or five lightning strokes with the falchion, each striking with uncanny precision. The gauth fell in half-- and Task split those halves in half again before they even hit the ground.
Just as the battle seemed to turn in their favor, it took a turn for the worse. The Arxiphext had reached the limit of its patience with Jorie, who had spent the entirety of the battle touching it repeatedly with his healing wand. The huge maw opened and closed on the gnome—and in one stroke, Jorie dropped dead. The others stood by, stunned—counting their blessings that whatever foul power had drained Jorie’s life force had so far, miraculously, spared them.
Knowing now that they could be killed by a single bite of the creature, the fight took on a new urgency—yet the lizardman was apparently too preoccupied with his own “duty” to bring his nasty swordsmanship to bear against the threat. Nik watched as Task nonchalantly dragged the gnome from the battle, pulled the gem from around Jorie’s neck, and swallowed it, too.
Fortunately, his help wasn’t needed. Kellan, Rod, and Jaag managed to finish off the creature. It slumped to the ground, motionless. Rod wasted no time, using his various fire spells to clear away the obscuring mist and then the remainder of his fireballs to blast holy hell out of the rest of the cavern. The sound of shrivelling eye-kin was music to their ears.
Nik bent low over Jorie, acting on a hunch. Sure enough, there were signs of life. The gnome was merely paralyzed—though without his clerical training, neither Nik nor anyone else would ever have known the difference between that grim paralysis, and death.
Eventually the lizardman spoke up, his long tongue tasting the air. “We’re done here. Time to go.”
And with that, satisfied with a job well done, they headed home.
*****
Wells was pleased, and not a bit surprised, to see them return. He wasted no time congratulating them on their success—and offering them something in exchange for their gems, which they would no longer need. The entire group laid out their demands—some gold, of course, along with some things that Wells could enchant for them, and some things that Dria could create.
One by one they turned over their gems to the wizard. All except Rodrigo, who held on to the nagging suspicion that Wells was up to something.
Dria sidled up to him. “Surely there’s something I can do for you, Rod.”
Rodrigo looked at the box where the rest of his companions had already tossed their gems. What harm could one more do?
He looked at Dria. “How about me, you, and the miller’s daughter?”
Wells laughed. “That can be arranged... I’ll even throw the miller’s wife into the bargain!”
*****
RODRIGO's THIRTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
As my mind wanders considering the recent events I have come up with a few proverbs:
Rodrigo says: Three bushes in the hand are worth a stone in your pocket.
Rodrigo says: Fighters are the anchor of any good party. Dwarven fighters glued to Beholders are especially good anchors.
Other quotes heard during our recent triumph:
Kellan: Forever shall we guard these stones to prevent evil from... uh... how much did you say you will give me for it?
Dria: Oh yes, thats it Rodrigo!
Miller's (ex)Wife: Oh yes, thats it Dria!
Miller's Daughter: Oh yes, thats it Mom!
