Wulf's "Lazy Days" Campaign Story Hour

[Eridanis]

Session 32 - Guest-Starring Piratecat

This is the session in late June '02 that Piratecat sat in on, and played Rayzik the stone giant. We all got a taste of why he's such a good gamer (as well as a good guy). Several funny quotes at the bottom of the post.

Jorie's Journal:

Our new rockbrother friend is very nice. He even petted me. That felt very good.

Things in this new valley (don't things ever happen in plains, hills, or forests?) are a bit strange. Ordinarily isolationist giants have been attempting to take over the area, driving off most of the local centaur population and attacking a powerful druid. We're going to try to rescue the druid, although it's not easily identified how one could hold a powerful druid. There is little that could hold me if I didn't want to be held.

My magic also seems tainted. I feel like I'm awash in tainted water, the poisonous output of a smelter, perhaps. I believe I'm going to have to rely on that less, and on my shapeshifting more.

Gizmo continues to try to achieve his instinctive rage through conscious activation. I think he's getting close.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

Upon Nikolai's return, we began to make a more thorough search of the buildings on the grounds of the ranch. Even with true seeing cast by Nik, nothing more interesting than the body of the caretaker and a scroll under Haia's bed was found, although clues seemed to point to the reason for the raid: with all of the food and livestock hauled away, along with the druid, it seemed like the giants needed more provisions quickly, probably to support their increased raiding and whatever plans they have in the making. Even knick-knacks from the house's mantle were taken, for whatever unknown reason.

While others searched the house, Nahktibastet and I stayed outside to investigate the barn and to keep guard. Thus, we were the first to encounter Rayzik - a stone giant sent by his people to investigate the increased activity on the part of the fire giants. After ascertaining his good intentions, we welcomed his help and knowledge of the area. Further questions put to the half-elven sisters reinforced the non-intrusive nature of the local yuan-ti colony ("This valley humbles even the hardest hearts.").

After some deliberation, and consultation with Rayzik, we determined to strike out immediately for the volcano fortress. We saw campfires several miles to the north, and we decided to try to attack whatever force was encamped there, and take a prisioner to gather more intelligence about the fortress. After travelling through the night towards the campfire's position (seeing a yuan-ti boundary marker in the middle of the plain on the way), we camped at daybreak our selves, resting until late morning. Prepared for battle, we advanced on a log palisade encircling the enemy camp; Jorie changined into bird form and scouted the area, seeing fire giants AND frost giants, humans, gnolls, centaurs, and trolls within the compound. A patrol fo a dozen various creatures was just leaving the camp; we engaged them (unfortunately alerting the main camp in the process when a centaur in the patrol was able to get back to the camp and die on its doorstep) and killed all but one gnoll. Rayzek proved his worth in battle by slaying gnolls with his thrown boulders, killing them in one shot; Rodrigo roasted half the patrol with a well-placed fireball; and Jorie placed briar patches around their position, funneling the patrol towards Jagg and me. We interrogated the gnoll, who was able to tell us some of the layout of the volcano fortress, but didn't shed any more light on the giants' motivation in attacking the inhabitants of the valley.

Rather than plan a foolish frontal attack on the volcano, Jorie turned us all into ravens so we could more closely investigate it (and hopefully avoid raising the interest of the patrolling red dragon). After learning more about the various entrances in the two guarded towers of the fortress, we pulled out and made camp in the mountains beyond the volcano, where we would hopefully escape detection (and did in fact make it through the night without incident).

The next day, a plan was formed to rescue Haia. Rayzik and Nikolai would be changed into sparrow form and made invisible. They would penetrate as far as possible, and when a door was reached, Rayzik could turn back to his normal form, drink a potion that would allow him to alter his form to that of a fire giant, and then move further in. Once they located Haia, Nik would teleport all three out of the fortress.

From the Journal of Nikolai Davros:

Not trusting the two half-elves, I used True Seeing on them - I could not believe that the Yuan Ti here were friendly, and suspected a deception on the part of the two girls. As it turned out they were just what they claimed to be.

During the search we were approached by a Stone Giant, who had been sent by his clan to learn why the Fire Giants were so aggressive lately. We teamed up with him, and made out way towards the volcano. Partway there we found evidence of a fort, and of a patrol leaving. We ambushed the patrol, which consisted of a Fire Giant, 2 Trolls, a couple of humans, and a number of gnolls.

Prepared this time, we handled them with ease. We considered attacking the fort, but it was highly defended, with multiple giants. We decided to bypass it; Jorie transformed us all into birds and we flew to the volcano. After resting, the Stone Giant and I entered the caverns guarded by one of the two
entrance towers. I was in bird form (thanks to Jorie), and he was disguised magically to look like a troll. He bluffed his way past a guard, with me perched on his shoulder, and we made our way further in.

Our goal is to locate the Druidess, free her, get her to shapechange into a smaller form, and then teleport out.

*******
Lots of great quotes:

PirateCat (as Rayzik): "May I pet your badger?"
Eridanis (as Kellan): "Sir, Jorie is not our pet; he is a valued member..."
Dinkeldog (as Jorie): "Now wait - no one's tried petting me before; I might like it."

Rayzik to Jagg, while trying to figure out how to get into the fortress: "Do you have any experience in landing?"

Rodrigo, on the weight limit while Nik teleports Haia and Rayzik out of the fortress: "Hopefully the druid is not a fat chick."

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I am glad to see you continuing these, Matt. I hate to see a snapped and frayed thread!


Wulf

 

[Eridanis]

Yeah, it's a weakness of mine. I like to finish things that have been started; I can't fight it.

(Have you gotten my emails this week?)

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

No, I haven't got your email. Please contact me by ENworld private message (and give me your email addy there as well).

Hopefully today? I would love to get your feedback on my adventure for the Boston crowd tomorrow.


Wulf

 

[Eridanis]

Session 33 - When the paladin's away...

I missed this session, and no one else wrote a blow-by-blow account (Edit: Not true; Jorie's journal is pasted in below), but here’s what I remember happening second-hand (and Wulf, please chime in if I’ve missed anything important):

Rayzik and Nicolai had little luck penetrating the fortress; after battling several giants, the group teleported back to Verbobonc to regroup. The group returned to the fortress, and tried another sortie; Rayzik died, as did Jaag again, for the final time. Rodrigo teleported Jaag's body back to Mirrormere for burial, as he had requested (and was buried with almost all his equipment, to Rodrigo's consternation).

Rodrigo’s Journal

Hastur had asked me to say a few words as they laid Jaag to rest.

Kind, gentle, caring, jolly, foppish, cowardly. Those are things
that we might say if this were a bootlicking elf that we mourn. But this was a warrior! A proud dwarven fighter that time after time lept into the fray to hack down the evil scum that we fought on a daily basis. It was often hard for Jaag and I. Many a time we had to leap into a dragon's maw to save Nick, and on more than one occasion we had to pull Kellan off a she-beast to keep him from tarnishing his honor. But alas that is what heroes like us are made of. Jaag was not content to sit on the sidelines of life or to kill for profit or joy. Jaag simply saw it as doing what he could for the good folk of Mirrormere and the rest of the world. He certainly had a sampling of the afterlife a time or two before and finally decided that his job was done in this world. As I held him dying in my arms he handed me some of his most precious belongings, and took off his boots, and said "Take these and do some good." So it is with a heavy heart that I say fairwell to Jaag and may he find much happiness at the eternal forge.

I also left a few suggestions for his gravestone:

Here lies Jaag
All crumpled and torn
I think I’ll keep his boots
They don't look very worn.

Here lies Jaag
Now he is dead
One time too many
He got hit in the head.

Here lies Jaag
We planted him raw
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.

In Jaag's pocket he will have written a letter to be delivered to Hastur as follows:

Hey, Hastur!

Obviously, if you're reading this letter my companions have somehow slipped up or I let the lust of the ale's rage take me too far into the fight. It seems I've paid my debt to Heironeous at least, and that fool of a paladin Kellan will no doubt go charging ahead even without me to look after the lad. Goodness knows the way that boy steps into things he still needs someone to guide him. I know you won't be able to give me a truly proper clan burial, but have no shame for it. You've been a great father to me and a strong dwarf if ever there was one. If you ever find my father again, tell him how proud I am of him for choosing you as his friend. And when next we meet in the Hall of Heroes, I'll be waiting to greet you and celebrate your coming!

Three cheers for the Hammerklangs! And farewell my good friend.

Jaag

Jorie's Journal:

And so the fortress fell. In the process, Jaag passed beyond this realm for the final time, and Razak, Gizmo, and Kellan nearly joined him.

Our initial plan was to set near the fortress and let Rodrigo eliminate the frost giants, trolls, and gnolls. His fireballs would never affect the fire giants and hellhounds, so we would need to take care of those. When the outpost's dragon came to help it, Rod was able to stop it with the help of a phantasmal killer. Shortly thereafter, the game was on.

Jaag, as usual, got himself isolated. Okay, so the more correct reason is that everyone agreed on a tactic, and Kellan decided to land in the middle of the courtyard instead of at one end with the rest of us. So Jaag got swarmed by hellhounds and trolls. Eventually the hill giants went to attack him, as well. Gizmo landed while I summoned a dire ape as a natural ally. Immediately thereafter, I animal growth'd the two of them.

Gizmo is much more formidable when grown; the dire ape was huge. He tore into one of the fire giants, but was unfortunately unable to survive to finish the job or tear into the next one. (Note to self: more dire apes next time.) As the fight turned against us, the sphinx saved us. A symbol of persuasion kept the fire giants and two remaining hill giants from turning us into paste.

If we were smart, we'd have stopped there and returned to the Druid's cabin. Not being smart, we attempted to take out the remaining few giants. We should have left well enough alone.

At the end, Gizmo was an unconscious heap that barely survived the return to his normal size. The sphinx took several giant attacks retrieving Kellan, and Nik had to dash into the midst of the melee to teleport Razak out.

Note to self: make sure there is stone available before preparing a wall of stone.

 

[pogre]

I also left a few suggestions for his gravestone:

Excellent!

 

[Baron Von StarBlade]

Re: Session 33 - When the paladin's away...

I think that was my first session. I was lucky enough to play Kellan during your absence. Too bad it was left out that Kellan's mount was inadvertently responsible for the demise of Jaag. Something about charming a bunch of Fire giants into believing their camp was haunted by dwarven ghosts
Oh well. I still believe Jaag actually had cursed boots.

 

[Eridanis]

Session 34 - Clues Divined and Pursued

This session is the premiere of Baron Von Starblade’s character, Garrett Blackrock - a halfling rogue/lasher with a slightly bloodthirsty attitude. Painfully’s new character, Drake Whiteraven, an elven enchanter, also joined the group this session. (I also updated the previous session with a journal from Jorie I just found.)

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

After the assault on the giant outpost, we returned to the ranch to rest. My faithful fellow warrior, Jaag, has perished again, and there is no hope for recovering his soul. His loss saddens me. While he tended to be quiet and keep to himself, his skill with the axe and his courageous, stalwart self were a comfort to me and an asset to our group. Rodrigo teleported his body back to Mirromere for his mentor to bury, and he said he made sure to speak a few words before he left. Hopefully, the spirit of the moment moderated his usual flippancy, and his words will be a comfort to the people of the village. Rayzik also perished in the battle; it turns out he was an ogre, not a giant, but his aid was invaluable to us, and he, too, will be missed.

Joining our group are two local heroes: Drake Whiteraven, an elven wizard who specializes in the non-violent uses of magic, and Garrett Blackrock, a stout-hearted halfling with a mastery of the bullwhip. Hopefully, Garrett's skills both in searching and battle will prove useful to us.

The morning of the sixteenth day of the present crisis, we returned to the giant's outpost to look for clues. Other than the abscence of several barrels of alcohol, and a dead yuan-ti stuffed into another barrel, there seemed to be nothing to guide our next move. Drake immediately contributed by offering to scry for the druidess to ascertain if she was still alive; this proved to be the case. With this knowledge, it was decided that with the knowledge of the cell, Garrett and Nik could safely teleport in, retrieve the druidness, and immediately teleport out. This was done; she was in very bad shape, but Nikolai's and my healing miracles quickly brought her around to the point that she could fill us in on what she knew.

The motivation for the giants is simple: war and domination. The mastermind of the whole recent uprising is a mind flayer, who has taken control of the maurauding forces with a brew of highly addictive mead that enables the illithid to control those who consume it. The bees that produce the honey to make this mead are of a very strange type, and their queen bee is completely under the control of the illithid.

While we are of course suspicious of the yuan-ti presence here, we have decided to deal with them after dealing with the giants, as we will receive no support from the locals when it comes time to come to grips with the "friendly" abominations. We decided to try to teleport directly into the giant stronghold and kill the queen bee and/or the illithid. By cutting off the head of the organization, we hope to confuse the rest to the point that they can be stopped from maurauding the valley. Failing that, the lack of leadership will presumably make it easier to destroy them in detail.

On Day 17, we teleported into the druidess' former cell, all in bird form, thanks to Jorie's spell. We made our way down the hall, and were confronted by several trolls and a giant.

Garrett’s Journal:

Drake and I had only been in the druid camp for a few hours when Nicolai arrived. He stepped out of thin air with the unconscious body of the half-ogre Razik on his side. Nicolai tried to revive the half-ogre however his attempt came moments late. We assisted Nicolai with the burial and I was slightly concerned that my first encounter with my future travelling companions resulted in the burial of a fallen comrade, and a fellow rogue at that. The rest of the party arrived well into the night carrying the remains of the slain dwarf Jaag. After a short amount of time bickering over the dwarves boots, it was determined that the party would travel to their hometown and return the
remains of Jaag for a formal Dwarven burial. The rest of the evening was uneventful.

The next morning, Drake used his extensive magical abilities to scry the location of the captured druidess whom I am tasked to rescue. Drake, Nicolai, and myself all used magic to teleport, quite an interesting feeling I might add, into her cell and rescue her. I offered to scout outside however Nicolai and Drake seemed to think it was not wise. After a brief conversation we found out that there were other prisoners whom we were unable to rescue at the time since Nicolai was afraid we would exceed out teleport weight limit, so much for the all mighty powers of magic!

After speaking with the druidess we found out that a mindflayer had taken over the area. It appears that honey from an extra-planar bee makes victims more susceptible to his mind influencing powers. The mindflayer harvests the honey to make mead that is distributed to the various giant and monster factions. Rodrigo seemed to have much hatred for mindflayers and it was decided that we would search out this
mindflayer and destroy him.

We prepared out plan for sneaking into the Fire Giant's fortress for the rest of the day and we decided to execute our plan first thing the next morning. Jorie transformed the entire party into birds, another new experience for me, and Drake teleported us all into the cell of the druidess. I found this specifically enjoyable as he used his magic as a sparrow! Unfortunately a pair of Gnoll sentries alerted the giants of our arrival. Nikolai quickly dispatched them and then used his divined the location of the queen bee.

The party seemed to be unaccustomed to having someone with my talents as they took off through the main door of the prison with out even checking it. I find it surprising that the party has survived as long as they have. Upon opening the door, the party was beset upon by a large force of Fire giants and trolls.

Rodridgo quickly cast invisibility upon me so I might best utilize my roguish abilities and Kellan and I stepped up to contend on the main force, however an invisible wizard caught the party by surprise. The wizard assaulted the party with brilliant bolts of lightning. Kellan seemed to be a magnet as he almost succumbed to the second lightning bolt, I, however, managed to avoid any damage from the lightning's
shocking fingers. Jorie the badger utilized his druidic magic and summoned a shimmering fire around the invisible wizard. This allowed his larger replica and myself to quickly defeat the attacking wizard. Just as the hostile wizard collapsed, Drake summoned forth a giant shimmering wall to separate the masses of fire giants and trolls from us.

Drake’s Journal:

You know you're in for an interesting day when a dead ogre and a dead dwarven warrior arrive in your yard and they're accompanied by a human priest! Apparently the two dead ones hadn't prayed well enough to their gods, for they certainly looked tougher than the lone human. Or perhaps the human was just the more intelligent of the three. Thus, I met Nikolai, and the now resting Ravik and Jaag Hammerklang.

As our allies gathered together, I scried the location of the druidess. I could clearly envision her in her cell, but little more. We rested the night, and the next day we made our move. The halfling rogue and I teleported in to the druidess' cell and quietly tried to revive her. She was beaten, and spoke only with some effort. She said there was another prisoner that the giants argued with from time to time, a dwarf by the sounds of it. But without the aid of all our allies, our mission was clear--get the druidess and get home. So we magically returned to my home for now, unwilling to risk a search for the dwarven prisoner the druidess had briefly mentioned.

Once rested and cared for, the druidess revealed a great deal more information. A mind flayer had discovered a way to create control over his prey by using a honey mead made from a particular breed of bee. This explains the centaurs and humans working for the giants at the lower encampment!

The group of foreigners welcomed me as an ally, and after having learned more of what troubles they have gone through thus far, I decided they could be trusted. There are few who are able to stand up against the giants, but these fellows were proving that they had the courage and tenacity to overcome any obstacle.

In fact, Rodrigo was just saying how he had scared a dragon to death--quite impressive by any standards, but only if it's true! Still, I sense Rodrigo is one that hasn't the patience for lies. He is quick-tongued, but young and hardly looks as intelligent as their talking badger, Jorie.

We rested another day, and made our plan to reenter the giant stronghold. Jorie, twitching his nose and waving his little paws, changed us all into bird forms--I think my pet raven is quite jealous of him. We all teleported into the druidess' cell and from there began to pursue the path to the queen bee's hive. It wasn't long until the alarm went up and we were greeted by trolls and other unlucky things.

I quickly brought up force wall, keeping the trolls at bay, but an enemy spellcaster had snuck past my wall invisibly while using several lightning bolts to wreak havoc upon our warriors. Without his allies, we killed him quickly. Rodrigo quickly looted the dead wizard, while the trolls looked at us through my force wall with furious anger. Our peace won't last much longer.

Best Quote:

"Objects in scry may be larger than they appear." – Rodrigo

 

[Eridanis]

Session 35 - To be a bee or not to be a bee

This session, Tanthril's player rejoined us as Grimtooth the dwarven monk. We knew he wouldn't be available every session to play, but we were glad to have him (and his monk's fists) at the table.

Garrett's Journal:

Nicoli and Kellan were working on getting the giant sized door opened when Drake heard the muffled cries from back down the hall. Determining that the magical barrier would hold, we headed back to find the source of the noise. I quickly dispatched the lock on the cell and found a scantily clad (Not a term I like using for men) dwarf covered with many strange tattoos. The dwarf, Grimtooth, offered to assist us in return for releasing him from his prison; however, the group seemed concerned that with no equipment he would be more of a burden than a help. Grimtooth assured us that his body was his weapon (what ever that means) and his power came from the devilish marking on his skin. With time running out on Nicoli's divination we agreed to take him with us.

Grimtooth quickly showed his worth by assisting in opening the first of many giant sized doors. Still wanting to prove my worth, I offered to scout ahead since I was still invisible from Rodrigo's spellcasting. After a brief discussion with Nicoli on which way to go I headed off a quickly and as quietly as possible. As fate would have it, my scouting ahead saved the party a nasty encounter. Standing just inside the first room I approached were two giant sentries waiting for intruders to approach. Luckily the giants didn't see my approach, but as I turned to leave, the contents in my pack "adjusted," causing enough noise to notify the already alert sentries. Two monstrous swords slammed down right where I was standing. One swing missed badly, crashing into the stone wall, causing shards of rock and dust to splatter against me. The second swipe grazed my arm, but with enough force to knock me back a few feet.

In the blink of an eye my whip was out and I was engaging the attackers, five quick lashes from my whip struck various vital spots on my target. My flurry of attacks must have been wondrous to see, if I wasn't invisible, and my initial assault had one of the giants bleeding from multiple wounds. Two giants against an invisible halfling, of my stature, is hardly fair; and once the rest of the party showed up to assist me the giants went down rather quickly.

After the battle was concluded the party decided it might be best to try to lure the other giants into combat on our terms instead of being surprised by them. Jorie worked his druidic magic and the ground became
filled with vicious stone spikes making the hallway very difficult to traverse. Nicoli prayed for a fly spell, then he and I flew above the spikes looking for other giants to defeat. Unfortunately all of our
preparation went to waste. Nicoli and I were unable to find any other giants so Nicoli left me to shuttle the remaining party members across the hall of spikes.

Nicoli's divination led us up a large shaft and into a long cavern. We traveled down this corridor for hours until Nicoli announced that his spell had expired. Deciding that we had nothing better to do, the party continued down the tunnel for what seemed like an eternity until we came to a strange cavern. A foreign and evil looking altar rested in one corner of the room, two large pillars separated the cavern and
at the far end was a giant sized metal statue next to a small closed door. Again wanting to prove my usefulness I stealthfully crept into the room and searched the altar and pillars for any signs of a trap. Even though my searches came up empty I still had a bad feeling about this room. Having utmost confidence in my skills I bravely walked through the pillars to study the large metal statue. Unfortunately my intuition had been right; I hadn't made it five feet past the pillars when the statue came to life and started lumbering towards me.

The giant construct took a swing at me and surprisingly was barely able to make contact with me. The first thought through my mind was, wow this thing doesn't hit so hard. I should be able stand toe to toe with him for a little bit. With blinding speed I landed four solid shots on the metal behemoth and much to my chagrin the construct seemed to shrug off every single hit. That is when the little bell went off in my mind warning me that this might not have been the smartest thing I could have done. Boy was that an understatement, if the construct had been alive it would have smirked at me as it plodded up next to me and struck me three times in quick succession. My body practically went into shock from the sheer force of the blows. In retrospect the only thing that saved me was Rodrigo's spell that boosted my endurance, without that I would have dropped right there. Fortunately, for me, that didn't happen as I moved back to the cavern entrance as quick as possible. Kellan, Nicoli, and Gizmo rushed past me to engage the new
threat. I stumbled back next to the wall hoping my new friends would be able to defeat this enchanted statue.

The battle seemed to be heading in our favor as Kellan's magical sword seemed to have an adverse effect on the beast. The lightning from Kellan's sword seemed to slow the statue down making it easy for the party to pick apart. Luck, however was not completely on our side; just when it looked as if the golem was defeated, the magical affect wore off and the construct took out its fury on Kellan. The life was extinguished from Kellan's body like a candle in a typhoon. This was the final blow for the construct as the party seemed to gain strength from their fallen comrade.

After the smoke had cleared and the dust had settled, the group decided to head back to Verbobonc to try to raise Kellan. Drake, Grimtooth, Nicoli and myself teleported back to the druid grove, while Jorie, and Rodrigo teleported back to town. The rest of the party arrived that
evening and we began formulating our plan to get back into the mountain fortress. Drake used his magical abilities to scry into the cavern. Much to our dismay the room was occupied with an assortment of trolls and human bandits. This made us rethink our plans. Nicoli then offered to cast a spell of "augury" to confer with his deity on the current crisis. I found it a very strange name for a spell because arguing with a divine power should be near the bottom of one's to do list. After asking a series of questions we decided it would be best to think about the answers we received and discuss it in further detail in the morning.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

After dispatching the trolls and giants, Nikolai cast find the path in hopes of locating the queen bee. One of the giants' prisoners, Grimtooth the dwarven monk, accompanied us as we pushed further into the mountain. Nik's spell led us to a huge open shaft we had to ascend; between Nik's flying and Garrett's movement skills, we made our way up, then through a portcullis blocking our way (the actuation switch being just out of the reach of Garrett's whip, Jorie changed form to be able to fly through the bars, then changed form again to raise the gate). The passageway narrowed, turned into a tunnel, and ran for miles though the earth, eventually widening out into a large room, occupied by a huge iron statue, several crystals along the wall, and a large pair of doors at the far end. We suspected the statue was a golem, and after Garrett scouted the room and found no other way through, one of us stepped in to the room. The iron golem activated, and while Nik, Garrett, an I were able to occupy it for some time, I made the mistake of not hitting it with my sword, slowing it with electric energy; it turned on me, and killed me with one blow. (Certainly, it had nothing to do with Jaag's boots being unlucky ... or did it?)

It was Heironeous's wish for me to return here to continue with my quests. I relay to you, in the strictest confidence, what his servants said to me in critiquing my performance as his paladin: I concentrate on abiding by the law, and need to actively do more good in the world. I was somewhat taken aback, as I thought I was doing my best to do just that, but I must ponder what I am doing wrong. I think I need to purge myself of anger, be more willing to bend the rules (c.f. my experiences with the mongrelmen), and be smarter and wiser in fighting my foes. With this wisdom, I was returned to my mortal body. I now know a little of what Jaag knew on his visits to the afterlife; it is very difficult to come back here, knowing the camaraderie and peace that waits on the other side. Nevertheless, back to my duty I go, happy to do what I can in the time I am given.

My comrades had seen fit to take me back to Verbobonc for the resurrection; Nikolai, Jorie, Rodrigo, and Nahktibastest came back to perform the needed ritual. Day 19 found us back to the ranch to regroup; Nahktibastet scried the room with her clairvoyant powers, and found 3 fire giants, 4 trolls, and 10 humans on guard in the room where I met my first death. We discussed how to best take out the giants and trolls, while giving the humans (supposedly under compulsion to serve) an opportunity to flee. Rod assured us he could construct his fireballs in such a way as to not permanently harm the humans (I was skeptical, but willing to try it); the monk could deal subdual damage to them if they tried to attack; and certainly we could heal any who were injured. With our plan ready, we teleported into the waiting battle.

Drake's Journal:

Nikolai called upon his powers to help guide us toward the queen bee, where we hoped to find the mind-controlling leader and to break the enchantment he held over his minions.

The path led us up a large air duct where we could stand on only a small ledge as we looked past the locked gate into an empty room. The heat was becoming unbearable when finally Jorie shapeshifted to get past the bars and reached the lever in the room to open the gate.

As we continued to follow Nik, the path led for a great distance deeper into the earth. I've never known any variety of bee that made their home this deep into the earth. Perhaps I shall research it at a later time. Eventually, we came upon a cave. Along one side was an altar, used for sacrifices I suspect, though of what kind of creatures I dare not say. Several trolls and giants were present, giving confidence to our suspicions that we were near the queen bee. And a little off to one side stood a large iron statue, unremarkable except that it moved!

We prepared ourselves for battle. Rod impressed us with his fireballs while Kellan displayed his prowess with his magical sword. The fire giants and trolls were quick to fall before us. Garret and I crossed quickly to avoid most of the fighting when only the golem was left to fight. It seemed the golem was more powerful than anyone had anticipated. Kellan was finally able to bring it down, where it lay in a lifeless mass. I can only hope we won't have to encounter another one of those things on the other side of this door. For now, Nik and Kellan take stock of our wounds and see that we are prepared to face what lies beyond.

 

[Eridanis]

Session 36 - Oh, bee HIVE!

Garret’s Journal:

The group finalized our plans on the continued assault of the fire
giant fortress and we began separating into the two separate teleport parties. Rodrigo used his arcane talents to make me invisible and much healthier, while Drake magically enhanced my agility. Once the group was prepared Rodrigo teleported Gizmo, Jorie, and myself into the altar room, while Drake teleported Nicoli, Kellan, and Nahktibastet.
Still unaccustomed to magical travel, I was slightly dazed when we appeared in the room filled with giants, trolls and gnolls. Luckily the two arcane casters seemed to be unaffected as Drake began weaving his magic so that the entire party began to move faster than humanly possible. Rodrigo instantly began calling forth his magical powers to summon forth a storm of fiery death that rained down upon the gnolls and trolls. In the span of seconds we seemed to have vastly swayed the battle into our favor as only a handful of disoriented Fire giants were left standing.
The rest of the party began to quickly move in and take out the
remaining giants before they could warn anyone else. The two giants guarding the stone doorways seemingly began to retreat as the opened the doors, however unknown to our group the giants were just allowing the true enemies to join into the ensuing combat. Out of the doors stepped that largest lizard I had ever laid eyes on. The beast's scales were the color of lava, and it was both beautiful and horrible to look upon. I had barely come to my senses as the beast opened his mouth and breathed forth a mighty cone of fire directly at me. Luckily my lightning reflexes allowed me to avoid any harm.
The party faced this new challenge with no fear as the entire party surged forth to meet this new challenge. However the giants had one more surprise for us this day. From behind the dragon a horrid creature, later identified as a Mind Flayer, fired forth a column of psionic energy stunning Kellan, and Gizmo. Jorie quickly summoned forth a giant ape that began to attack the dragon as Drake, Nicoli and Rodrigo began casting spells trying to damage and disable the beast. I was faced with a tough dilemma and decided to focus primarily on the Mind flayer. Using my trusty Slave Driver I unleashed a flurry of strikes at the armored foe. The Mind flayer brushed off my attacks and seemed content with directing his pet Displacer beast to eat the stunned Kellan.
The next few moments passed in a blur as the party struggled for its life against the great foes. Slowly we began to make progress, since my attacks were useless against the dragon and the mind flayer I diverted my attention to the two remaining fire giants. Too bad for them, they noticed my whip but were unable to respond to me since I was invisible. Finally the initiative swung back into our favor; the combined assault on the dragon was too much as it collapsed under the barrage of attacks. Seeing that the tide was swaying the Mind Flayer teleported away, much to Nicoli's surprise, leaving a single Fire Giant and a wounded displacer beast to be dispatched.
After doing a quick survey of the party we decided it would be best to press forward since we didn't want to let the fiends regroup. The group continued through the doors and began searching for the mind flayer or the queen bee. We moved through the giant complex until we came upon an area that seemed to be where the mind controlling mead was made. Further investigation revealed a huge cavern filled with millions of bees. This obviously was the location of the extra dimensional bees. A quick scan revealed it was not going to be an easy task to find the queen bee or even exterminate these bees. This left the party lost as to what to do next.
That was when Rodrigo suggested we look for the Dragon's horde of treasure. It is common knowledge that a dragon has a horde, and since we killed the dragon we should definitely go find it. Nicoli began praying to his deity for the location of the treasure and we headed off deeper into the giant fortress looking for treasure.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

We arrived in two separate groups, hoping that we could dispatch our enemies more quickly from two sides. Rodrigo made short work of the humans and trolls with his powerful new small fireballs, leaving the giants for the rest of us to deal with. As we moved to engage, the double doors opened, revealing another red dragon, a mind flayer, and a swarm of bees that immediately filed the room, attacking those who were not with the field of Jorie’s Repel Vermin spell. I ran towards the far wall near the doors, hoping to flank the dragon and the illithid, but part of the way there the tentacled one turned his eyes toward me.. and the rest was swirling darkness.

As I lay stunned on the ground, Nahktibastet had the presence of mind to fly into the battle and drag my body out of the line of combat. Having no way to revive me, my companions were able to defeat the remaining two fire giants and the dragon (mostly due to Drake’s lighting bolts), while the mind flayer was able to use his plane shifting powers to escape.

We went through the double doors, and found the hives of the bees. After some discussion, we decided to leave them alone – they offer a threat to no one as long as they are not controlled by an evil force, and we destroyed the supplies of mind-controlling mead to end that portion of the plot.

Rodrigo insisted we try to find the dragon’s hoard before departing, and Nikolai cast find the path as we slowly made our way back to the giant’s stronghold.