Wulf's "Lazy Days" Campaign Story Hour

[Eridanis]

Session 37 - "Greed, for the lack of a better word, is STUPID"

Rodrigo’s Journal:

Well Nik's dead...and apparently staying that way. But the bad news is that we couldn't really scrape much off his dead body. It seems he promised it all to some schmuck back home. About what I would expect from him anyway, all that nobility and hero crap really went to his head. He never did understand that this was just a way to retire early and live off the "respect" of damsels in distress. I guess we all have our reasons.

I suppose there are some lessons to be learned here by all:

* For all the little sorcerers out there, don't throw invis on the only guy that can take a shot or two from a giant. The giants are smart enough to pick another target.

* Is that a wand of healing in your pocket or are you just happy to be a cleric? You can't heal anyone else if you’re dead. ********(insert your God here)****** helps those who helps themselves.

* Have your fellow adventurers, you know, those guys that lay their lives on the line for you, all sign a pre-nuptual agreement. That way when they go the good guys get your stuff, not some lack witted goat herder that will use that cloak of protection to keep hail stones off his county-fair-winning pig.

* Work on your concentration. This one goes for all those who aspire to wield divine or arcane power. When you really need to get your spell off you can't let something as minor as the occasional scratchy crotch (an I speak from experience here) impair your ability to cast the mojo that you need. Spend a little less time working on your knitting skills and work on casting with distractions. My preference was trying to concentrate while getting worked over by my favorite twins in the red lite district. Nothing more distracting than that if ya know what I mean. The only problem is that some times my spells go off before I want them to.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

With Nikolai and Garret leading the way, we crept towards the location of dragon hoard, paying no heed to my suggestions that it might be more prudent to retreat and heal rather than seek the treasure. Drake cast knock to open the final doors, and before we stepped through I concentrated to find evil while Nikolai cast detect magic. I sensed evil right behind the doors, and as we prepared for further battle, two fire giants stepped around and attacked.

The two were much more potent fighters than the others we encountered. One loosed a magical dancing sword to attack us while it pulled another sword to continue its attack. Garret made several telling attacks, and my sword drew some blood, but few of my attacks were able to connect against the armor of the giants. Drake cast feeblemind on one of the giants, but it didn’t seem to feel the loss, as it continued to attack with purpose. Jorie was killed in his dire bear form, and Nikolai, turning to move away from the battle to cast a quick heal and rejoin the fight, was felled by one massive blow from the giant’s sword. While this battle continued, Nahktibastet heard sounds of other giants coming from the other direction; Drake quickly raised a wall of force to keep them at bay while we had our hands full with the two in front of us. We finally killed the two; astoundingly, as Drake and I quickly gathered the bodies to teleport out, Rodrigo and Garret lept over the dead giants and entered the dragon’s room! There would be too much weight for Drake to carry all of us, so he took the corpses of Jorie, Nikolai, Gizmo, and along with Nahktibastet, telported to Verbobonc. With sword drawn, I ran for the room, hoping to catch Rodrigo before he looted the hoard and teleported away without me. Immediately upon entering the room, I stepped through the spikes that Jorie had created earlier, slowing me down enough so that I barely reached Rod and Garret in time; surrounded by fiery worms, we teleported out just in time.

We were able to raise Jorie, but poor Nikolai, my friend and advisor, is gone for all time. We have now permanently lost two of us that first came to these frozen wastes to deal with the assault on the gods, and we are no closer to having any idea how to stop it. Our ignorance hounds us: what is causing the problem? Where does the problem lie? Who is behind it? How do we stop it? Perhaps the illithid is behind it, but we can’t know for certain. Perhaps the yuan-ti are, but moving against them without better evidence would simply be a shot in the dark, perhaps wasted effort. If we had some way to find out the composition of the remaining forces against us, that would be an advantage. If we had the power to defeat even the lowliest giants without losing at least one of the party to death on each encounter, that would be an advantage. If we could get some definite answers or advice as to the cause of the divine problems, that would be an advantage – but divine agents are too busy to comply, and at any rate, Nikolai is dead, and we have no way to get that information any longer. My superior repremands me for Nikolai’s death, and I share his anger. I am unworthy of this task, and yet I will keep trying to solve these problems until my final breath. Unfortunately, that could be any moment now, and my death, it seems, would not get us closer to our goal.

Brute force cannot solve this problem, but we have no other means at our disposal. What do we do next? We have taken several days to re-equip and think on our situation. But undoubtedly our enemies also prepare for our return. Hopefully some kind of revelation or turning point is at hand.

I remain your humble – yet frustrated – servant,

Kellan Evershar

(postscript)

Lady Taskmettle –

I have asked my compainions to return my holy symbol to the Church to be added to the Roll of the Fallen in the event of my passing. The only other item I have of importance in this world is the Evershar family blade now in your safekeeping. As I am the last of the Evershars, the line of my forbears serving the Church will be at an end. I entrust to you the proper way to pass that blade on to future generations of paladins of the church.

- K.E.

Garret’s Journal:

Since I was the stealthiest member of the party I was out in front
looking for unsuspecting giants or other enemies. Nicoli continued
pointing me in the direction of the dragon's horde passing many hallways and doors, until we came to a group of two giant sized stone doors. After a brief discussion, we opened the doors and our eyes gazed upon a horde of gold, gems, and items. Finally all of our hard work had paid off. Unfortunately we forgot the cardinal rule of dragon hordes. A Dragon **never** leaves his treasure unguarded. From behind the opened doors two more fire giants and they began to attack the nearest persons
in sight, in this case Kellan and Nicoli.

Still invisible I felt comfortable in delivery much pain and
suffering onto these giants but the past combat must have drained me more than I expected. No matter how hard I tried I was barely able to penetrate the giant's armor, and when I did they barely seemed to notice. Then came the moment that we won't soon forget, Rodrigo decided to make Kellan invisible so he may further wreck havoc upon the two giants, but in doing so left Jorie and Nicoli as the only viable targets for the vicious giants. The first giant killed Jorie instantly. The second charged into Nicoli impaling him with its great sword, killing him also. With renewed stamina and power Kellan and I quickly killed the first giant mere moments after it had killed Jorie. Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, Gizmo and the Sphinx notified us that giant reinforcements were on the way.

Drake summoned forth a magical wall that literally saved the rest of our lives. The reinforcements had just arrived swaying the odds greatly into the favor of the giants, but Drake quickly erected a barrier separating us from the rest of the giants. That left only the one injured fire giant left. Unfortunately for him the combined attack of Kellan, an enraged Gizmo, and myself quickly decimated him. Rodrigo put the exclamation mark on the battle as he summoned forth a horde of energy bolts that struck the giant in the head, killing it. After a quick discussion it was decided that Drake would teleport Gizmo, the Sphinx, Jorie's Corpse, and Nicoli's corpse out of combat while Rodrigo, Kellan and I began taking as much treasure as possible.

Feeling certain we were safe, Rodrigo and I began to move in and
start gathering the treasure. However Jorie was killed before he was able to dispel his spell so forty feet of spiked stones blocked my path to the treasure. My lust for gold was not so easily deterred, as I used my magically enhanced jumping skills to spring forth over the spikes directly onto the mound of treasure.

Our string of bad luck seemed to continue; no sooner had Rodrigo and I started to look through the treasure than three giant worms, dripping lava rose up from the floor underneath us and began to attack. Not wanting to face another battle, Rodrigo yelled to grab some treasure quickly as he was teleporting us out.

Having only moments before Rodrigo's teleportation spell was going to take effect, I reached into the pile and frantically began looking for something to take of value. I quickly bypassed a finely engraved longbow, a dwarven made morning start, for an elegantly crafted mirror. My mentor had told me stories of magical mirrors that would allow people to see into the future, or mirrors that would steal the soul from those who gazed upon it. This **had** to be one of those types mirrors. No sooner had I gotten the mirror into my pack then I felt the tell-tale uneasiness of being magicked miles away from our current location. The last thing I remember seeing was Kellan running full speed across the spiked floor grabbing hold of a fiery Rodrigo just as his teleport spell took effect. Once we were safe from harm, I showed Rodrigo my obviously magic mirror, and he chuckled, stating that I grabbed the one item in the horde that wasn't magical!

Upon arriving into Verbonoc we began searching out the healers to revive Jorie and Nicoli. Unfortunately the healer was unable to persuade Nicoli back into the realms of the living so that left the party with one fewer member.

Drake’s Journal:

What have we gotten ourselves into? It appears we have been briefly distracted from our purpose not once, but twice over. What was first a search to discover why the priests of Heironious were unable to focus on their daily meditations had become a quest to save a druidess from the fire giants, which had then become a mission to destroy the mind-controlling influences of an abominable mind-flayer, which has in turn become another mission to take the dragon's hoard [since we were in the neighborhood]. It seems greed has taken over the group.

Greed has cost us two of the lives of our group.

Nikolai, whose divine aid has helped to bring us so far, is at peace now. And Jorie, with his many animal forms has been blessed with another life. Let us hope it will be a longer lived one than his last.

I worry that should any of my magical protections ever fail, that I will meet my doom at the hands of many, many enemies. Although I should consider pursuing my studies in a quieter place, I feel I've learned a great deal more in these past few days then I have in many years of reading books. Besides which, if I were to leave my companions now, they would most certainly meet their doom. I hope to discover whatever dark secrets this mind flayer might possess, and perhaps turn them to a better purpose.

After our group had barely escaped the giants in their own home, I am thankful for the peaceful rest of a few days here in Verbobonc. I have put my time to good use and have scribed a few more spells into my book. Now, with spells replenished, and fine food in my shoulderbag, we prepare to return to the fire giants while the priests of Heironious continue to watch the night sky and pray for the return of their divine grace.

 

[Eridanis]

Session 38 - In which Drake longs for a sextant

This session introduces Kid Charlamagne's new character, Greymantle. Nicolai's replacement is an half-orc barbarian/ghost walker with many, many ranks in Intimidate.

Amazingly, we have journals from every regular member in this update! Goodness knows we had plenty to talk about (we even used some smart tactics), so without further ado...

Graymantle's Journal (as dictated to a scribe in Kellan's Temple):

Hmm, where do I start? I am not one to write stories. In truth, I do not write much at all, the orphanages of the Theocracy of the Pale where I spent my youth having neglected such niceties. And since then, well, let's just say that though I've heard the pen is mightier than the sword, this has not been my experience.

My masters (for whom I am going to this awful trouble - the writing of reports, that is) sent me to Verbobonc. Some strange business with new stars appearing, old stars vanishing, and gods becoming weaker. They sent all of us flunkies. 'Cause that's what I am, really. Not a planner, or a detective. Just a strong arm, with a good sword, and a weird way of being in the wrong place at the right time.

So they sent me to Verbobonc. To find a druid named Jorie and a paladin named Kellan. And a wanker named Rodrigo. This is what my masters said.

I do not know what a wanker is.

They had been fighting Giants. This, at least, I find to be good. They seemed skeptical of me at first. This is also good, they should not trust me on my word alone. Even if I were not part-orc.

They had two others with them, a runt named Garrett, and a wizard named Drake. Garrett handles a whip in impressive manner, and Drake, well, Drake has poor aim.

We planned on returning to where these Giants lived, to destroy some bees. Magic bees, I gather. They say this is important to what is happening. I think they said that with more hope than with certainty.

We were to teleport to the bee house, and kill the bees, and then get out. I traveled with Rodrigo, Jorie, Jorie's intelligent beast Gizmo, and Garrett. Drake, Kellan, and Kellan's Sphinx mount were to teleport separately.

That's where Drake's poor aim came into it.

We got there, he didn't. Rodrigo made impressively short work of the two giants we found, but was nearly undone by a Mind Flayer that showed up. I was rather beaten up by the Mindflayer and some lava-wurms that attacked. However, we did manage to destroy the bees, even without half our number.

The bees swarmed over us, and both Garrett and I found ourselves rather taken aback with the violence with which Rodrigo and Jorie approached this task. I went to smash the queen bee's crystal honeycomb, but couldn't bear to do it.

Jorie took it away.

For safe keeping, of course.

Jorie’s Journal:

With Nik's passing, only Rodrigo and myself remain from the original Mirrormere party. I miss Tanthril. My new home, however, is going to remain the valley. Someone needs to protect it, especially with the powerful gate in the temple basement. Note to self: check in with Church of Fharlanghn to see how their recovery efforts are proceeding. I'm afraid a simple Druid of the Lady isn't going to be up to the task of defending it alone.

We continue trying to break the fortress with the giants. The effects of the tainted magic are growing. Rod nearly fried Garret when he hallucinated what he claimed was a dozen mind flayers.

Gizmo appears to have mastered his feral rage. I'm very proud of my friend. I believe that Polly is interested in studying magic, while Spot is interested in stealth and tracking. Perhaps he'll put some effort into studying as a ranger, although he will likely pursue some rogue-ish training as well.

Rodrigo’s Journal:

We managed to find another member for our party. I am not sure who exactly found him or where but he is a big nasty half orc, just the type we need. Quite frankly the guy really creeps me out and I am not even sure what his name is. But if he can split some skulls then he is good enough for me. Definitely not the type that I would want to take to the pub to hunt lasses. Upon our return to town I have been wondering what sort of criteria we might need for a fighting man in our group. I have come up with a few tests that I would like to see a prospective warrior pass.

Harvest Some Peasants - Completely encircle the would-be adventurer with a ring of 8 peasants or so. The contestant gets a single swing to see how many he can get through. Paladins need not apply. For the faint of heart I would recommend using pigs instead. Then you can have a barbecue afterward. If you use peasants you just get a mess that nobody really wants to have to clean up.

Verbabonc Dirt Dive - I have seen this being done by some of our fair city's less educated folk. We can find a tower, the taller the better. Then we simply have our candidate jump off. If he can survive then we know at least he can stand up to a few hits from a giant or two.

Make an Omelet - All you halflings out there can settle down. This really doesn't have anything to do with cooking. We can take him down to the militia drilling grounds and set up one of the practice dummies in full plate. Covered in head to toe with the exception of his groin. If our candidate realizes the opening and puts a well-placed bastard sword in his eggs then at least he is smart enough to work with us.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

As we made ready to return to the giant fortress, an half-orc by the name of Greymantle offered his services to us. Although he seems “creepy”, as Rodrigo might say, he impressed us with his capabilities with the sword as well as his general trustworthiness, and we have decided to take him along – we can do no worse than we are doing right now.

Before leaving, Drake attempted his contact other plane spell – not as reliable and far more dangerous than Nikolai’s resources, but another source of information nonetheless. Knowing that responses might be incorrect, we still asked the following questions:

- Is the mind flayer taking orders from someone else? NO
- Is there another gate in the valley we should be concerned with? NO
- Is another deity involved in the magical interference? An angry NO
- Is there an artifact or magical talisman involved? YES
- Who possesses this artifact? THE LADY

“The Lady” caused some speculation that the Lady in the jungle valley might be to blame, but part of me is skeptical about jumping to that conclusion.

Jorie consulted several of his druidic associates, and they were of the opinion that the bee colony should be destroyed, as they offered no peaceful benefit by themselves, and instead posed a hazard if in the wrong hands (as has been demonstrated). With a course of action before us, we tried to teleport into the bee cavern – and were thwarted by a forbiddance spell placed on hat area, as well as others. With our spells replenished the next day, Rodrigo hit upon the idea of teleporting in 60 feet ABOVE the floor – out of the range of the forbiddance spell. With feather fall spells on all of us, we should all be safe enough to not take damage from the fall. Nahktibastet and I would travel with Drake, while Jorie, Garrett, Greymantle, and Gizmo would travel with Rodrigo. Nahktibastet’s clairvoyance showed that there were several giants in the cavern, along with humans and trolls carting off bee honey, so forewarned, we teleported.

Then the unthinkable happened. Somehow, Drake’s spell did not go off properly, and we were deposited far from our destination. Quickly, Drake readied his second teleport, and off we went – arriving even further away than before.

Nahktibastet followed the course of the battle and saw that the others were able to kill the giants and others without loss of life on our side. They discovered a giant crystal that seemed to have some connection to the bees’ power, and Jorie changed into griffon form, flew up, and brought it down, presumably to take it back for study. When Drake can prepare more teleports in the morning, we can return to Verbobonc, hopefully to learn good news.

Garret’s Journal:

Upon arriving into Verbobonc, Rodrigo suggested that we use part of the loot that has been attained to further enchant my magical whip. While waiting for my whip we met up with a very scary half orc named Greymantle. He offered his assistance, and I admit he definitely seemed quite frightening. After six days I got my new and improved whip back and I was itching to try it out. We formulated a plan to teleport into the fire giant's keep into two main parties. Strike team one consisted of Rodrigo, Jorie, Greymantle and myself. Strike team two consisted of Drake and Kellan (I guess Kellan needs to go on a diet since he needed his own private teleporter).

We decided to enter into the big cavern containing all the bees and use a nifty spell called "Feather Fall". Supposedly it would prevent us from damage since we were teleporting sixty feet above the cave! I guess I'm starting to get adjusted to all this magical travel as I was only slightly disoriented when we appeared into the cavern. We dropped right into the middle of the garden with only two Fire giant sentries blocking the door. Rodrigo quickly killed the first fire giant and I raced off to kill the second. That is when things got pretty fuzzy. I heard Rodrigo scream and a quick look back saw him running for the end of the cavern, I continued on as quick as my halfling legs would take me, and I guess Greymantle finally got the giants attention as he began charged past me straight for Greymantle. I turned to chase after the giant just in time to see Rodrigo lob multiple fireballs at the doors. My catlike reflexes failed me as I slipped on the rocks and took a face full of fireball. Not being one to wait to see why, I raced off towards the Fire giant that was engaged with Greymantle. We quickly dispatched the remaining sentry as Jorie managed to talk some sense into Rodrigo.

Fearing the giant had gotten a warning off. I raced back to the now-destroyed doors and hid in the shadows. Rodrigo began to summarily destroy the bee hives while Jorie, and Greymantle stood guard. Luck turned out to be on my side as the mind flayer, hidden until now, summoned forth a storm of unholy fire that rained down upon the rest of the group. Rodrigo managed to get a single spell off, just before the Mind flayer unleashed a mental blast, stunning Greymantle, and Rodrigo.

Gizmo, Jorie and I converged on the mind flayer, and after a fierce
battle we managed to knock the beast unconscious. I was moving forward to finish the job, when the four lava worms burst up from the ground and began to attack us. Again I was shocked that the beasts could see through my invisibility but I was very confident in my abilities. I quickly killed the first lava worm, and I had almost finished the second, when the beast dived at the mind flayer’s corpse and retreated into the ground with the corpse! Fearing the other two worms would escape Gizmo, Jorie and I ganged up to defeat the remaining worms. During this time the bees managed to swarm me but I suddenly became very friendly with them.

Once we were able to awaken Rodrigo and Greymantle we decided to take leave of this place. Just then Jorie noticed a huge glowing crystal attached to the ceiling. After a quick discussion Jorie changed shape into a griffon and went to get the magical crystal. Midway up, I realized that the crystal was the home of my friend the queen bee! Fearing that Jorie would harm our friends, Greymantle, who also seemed to be friendly with the bees, and I started yelling at the griffon asking not to hurt our new friend. Carefully though, he picked up the coffin and brought it back down to Rodrigo so we could leave the fiery remains of the cavern.

Once everything was said and done I realized that we were missing the other half of our party. That gave me something to think about as we teleported back to the druid grove with my new found friends. . . the Bees.

Drake’s Journal:

It is with some regret that I make this entry into my diary tonight. You see, it was my task to transport Kellan and myself into the chamber of hives at the fire giant fortress. Not only did I fail in my first attempt, but using my second and final preparation of the spell that I was saving for our hasty escape, I had failed again to reach our destination.

I can only hope our companions still succeeded in our mission to slay the hive and their mind influencing mead. Kellan and I shall return to Verbobonc in the morning. With any luck, our companions will be safely there to greet us.

 

[Painfully]

This was certainly not a shining moment for Drake. But, at least Kellan and Drake got to sing campfire songs together

 

[Eridanis]

And Nahktibastet, too, remember. She's probably a mezzo soprano, Kellan's a baritone, and I imagine Drake's a counter-tenor. Some fine harmonizin' in the desert.

"Where are our friends, my lord... kumbayaa...We're lost in the wilderness again...kumbayaa..."

 

[Eridanis]

Session 39 - Enemies are friends, and friends are enemies

Drake’s Journal:

Kellan and I returned to Verbobonc the next day, after I had erroneously teleported us some distance off our intended target...twice. Luckily, our return to Verbobonc was much less difficult. We regrouped and decided to chance an encounter with the yuan-ti in the valley, with whom we hoped to gather new information.

They were cautious with us, as we with them. Their representative offered to divine our questions if we could rescue one of their members from the Fire Giant's fortress. It seems we had overlooked earlier the possibility of silent captives, and had not bothered to look inside all the cell doors in the prison area.

We agreed to the task. We teleported into the fortress' prison area where we first rescued the druidess. Thankfully, their guards are probably guarding their treasure room rather than the prisoners. We released a fire giant captive who was locked up for refusing the mind-influencing mead. He hopes to stay behind and help his comrades, though I don't see how he could accomplish it alone. Nevertheless, he chose to stay behind while our group teleported back to the grove with a very sick yuan-ti.

The two druid priestesses proceeded to restore the yuan-ti to health, after Kellan's ability to remove disease appeared to fail. After a short rest, we proceeded to travel by foot toward the yuan-ti lair, where they greeted us and prepared to divine our questions.

Does the lady of the lake have the artifact: NO
Is the mind flayer dead: NO
Do we have to destroy the artifact: NO
Is the artifact in the valley: NO
Is the crystal the artifact: NO

After reviewing the answers, and those to previous divinations and planar contacts, we decided to return to the lady of the lake and inquire about the sword. What we found would surprise us all.

After a brief discussion with the lady, where we let her know our suspicions about the sword's powers, we paused, waiting for the lady to return with the sword from her home at the bottom of the lake. After fifteen minutes we knew it had been too long, and that the element of surprise had been lost. So, with potions of water breathing at the ready, we all dove into the lake to repossess the dark blade.

It appeared the lady was waiting for us, only she looked a lot less like a lady, and a lot more like a celestial dragon. But the sword in it's hand convinced me it wasn't my imagination...maybe it's not too late to turn back now.

Three crocodiles appeared to intercept us on the way down. Grimtooth unleashed his fists on them, while Kellan and Greymantle closed ranks with the "lady." The lady fought with them, while resisting every spell I could muster against it. Near the end of the battle, Greymantle lay dying, and Rodrigo managed to teleport close enough to Kellan to pick up his unconscious body, as I delayed the dragon with a wall of force and we teleported back to safety in Verbobonc. It was only after we arrived that I realized that Jorie was not with us. Rodrigo says he saw him flying out of the water as a griffon and should likely be safe.

What else is there to say, except that we failed in our task. We will be better prepared in the next day or two, but so shall the lady. The temple is doing it's best to revive Kellan's body. I fear we may be too late to save him. Greymantle still remains in the lake--a short-lived companion, but his bravery will never be in doubt by those who knew him. So this is the price we pay to our gods. It makes me grateful that I had not chosen the divine path when I was younger.

Now, we must make our final preparations. Should we succeed in our task, I suspect the church of Heironeous will owe us much more than gold could ever repay.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

After returning to the valley after regrouping in Verbobonc, Jorie granted bird form to the entire party, so that we might scout the valley with minimal chance of being spotted. We saw groups of humans and centaurs wandering the valley aimlessly; evidence that we had successfully interrupted the supply of mind-control mead. Finding nothing much else out of the ordinary, we decided to change tactics, and talk to the yuan-ti in this valley. One of the young druidesses accompanied us (to guide us to their cave, but also, I think, to make sure we didn’t attack them outright). We were taken, after some discussion, to Vashilis, their high priest. As much as it turned my stomach to have to parley with these abominations, I know that we need to fight one battle at a time, and this was not the time to add another hostile front to our already overwhelming problems here.

It turned out that the yuan-ti were missing several of their ‘broodmates.’ In particular, a diplomat named Mismis had been sent a month ago to find out what was causing the giants to start terrorizing the area, and she had not returned. If we rescued this diplomat, the high priest agreed to tell us what he knew of the late problems with spellcasters. As we were familiar with the giant’s cellblock, Garrett, Drake, and Graymantle teleported in, found the cell with the yuan-ti, and teleported out (after gathering a bit of information from a fire giant prisoner who hadn’t gone along with the others in the mind flyer plan). We returned Mismis to the yuan-ti; she was found to be infected with the red ache, but after a moment’s pause (remembering the fate of Stirling Dale, and who had done that to him), I cured her of the disease.

Vashilis related a divination their dread gods had provided to them:

“Prison, key, and panoply of guards
Seeking souls to burst the wards,
Blackest bridge twixt silver stars”

We took the “bridge” to possibly be the gates we knew the yuan-ti were using; seeking souls probably means they’re collecting souls in some fashion to break the bonds holding. . . what?

The yuan-ti knew the answer. “There is a resurgence of the elder gods,” he said. “The human gods will not survive their return.” (Causing Rodrigo to quip: “We don’t have to outrun the elder gods – just the halfling ones.”) As tactfully as possible, I suggested that perhaps it would be in the yuan-ti’s interest if they returned. “No one wants them to return – even us. Only the servitors of the elder gods wish their return,” was the reply.

We left the caves with more information than we started with (and also knowing that they too use the gates, two of which we’ve discovered – we’ll need to deal with that when the time comes). Drake cast another contact other plane, and we determined that the “key” in the prophecy was actually the black sword, once wielded by the bugbear chieftain in the jungle valley, then given to the Lady of the Lake upon the suggestion of Fharlanghan’s servants. Now knowing a terrible danger lay on the bed of a lake, possibly without the Lady there knowing the full significance, we teleported there to retrieve it and destroy it.

The Lady was less than convinced that we would be able to destroy it, but after extended talk, she agreed to bring it to us. Time passed, and we realized – as we’d feared – that she would not return, and in fact may have been turned already to the sword’s will. Having prepared ourselves with water breathing potions, all of us, save for Nahktibastet, dove down to the depths. There, four giant crocodiles met us, controlled by the Lady in what might be her true form, that of a sea dragon. She had a magical staff in one claw, and the sword in another, and she proceeded to nearly ignore the few attacks Graymantle and I were able to land on her. I was the first to fall – staggered by her attacks, and slain by a single slash of the sword. My comrades tell me Graymantle quickly fell, too, and the rest were barely able to escape in time.

The last time I died, I remember having a body, I remember green fields and starry skies, I remember the companionship of heroes and holy ones, and the near-yet-far presence of our lord Heironeous. This time was different. I cannot even relate the experience – nor do I wish to remember it, except that I remember it too clearly anyway – but I was adrift in a void, tortured by the groaning infinite void, belittled by my utter insignificance. The only “other” was the malignant presence, the consuming hate that was the un-soul of the sword. A mindless negation of life that hungered for souls to unlock the gates that lead to something worse than Hell, worse than Hades, and worse than any of our clerics and mystics have imagined could exist. I don’t know how I survived – I just know that I want no one to ever experience that again. This force must be stopped, and it might require us to ally with creatures such as the yuan-ti in order to fight an evil greater even than that which they represent.

Grimtooth’s Journal:

After retrieving my personal belongings from my former captors, the fire giants, I returned to the city of Verbobonc with the hopes of meeting up with my rescuers once again. It was an odd band of would-be heroes, but just as good as any that I would find here in the middle of nowhere. If anything, they would be a means to exercise my skills by presenting me with multiple opportunities to rearrange some faces and further perfect my yu martial arts style. As luck would have it, I was able to track down a few members of the group I was in search of. They did not seem opposed to me tagging along and before I knew it, I was magically teleporting around to and fro as they began collecting information about some sort of evil magical artifact. After consulting some rather questionable folk (i.e. immortal beings) along with some Yuan-ti, it was finally determined that the artifact they sought lay in the hands of a lady from their past. After enduring the many seemingly endless days of riddles, useless banter, and general meddling, I was quite eager to stick the boot leather to some unwilling foe. I supposed a lady of the lake would do.

Unsurprisingly, the lady who possessed the evil artifact did not want to relinquish it so our party was forced into trying to take it from her. As we pursued her into her underwater lair, we had the
misfortune to discover that the lady (surprise, surprise) was not all that she appeared. She now took the form of a formidable serpentine abomination. At this point, our party became separated as some eager fighters within our party closed ranks with the lady and her evil artifact. Seeing as our sorcerer and wizard had been left behind undefended, I began the tedious process of eliminating the oversized crocodiles that had been sent to intercept us with the assistance of the halfling named Garrett and a large badger friend of Jorie the shapeshifter. After a few brief moments wrestling with and dispatching of the crocodiles, I looked up to see two of our party swimming with the fish at the bottom of the lake, the paladin Kellan and the half-orc Gray Mantle. The fight looked to be faring poorly for our side indeed.

If I were a smart dwarf, I would have left right there and then, but I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to fight especially since this particular opportunity had taken much longer than usual to get. I began swimming directly toward the lady dragon and hit her with a flurry of attacks that would have easily downed any other creature. Realizing I was seriously outclassed, I left my fate in my dwarven-bred resilience and began to attempt to disarm the creature as she fiercely pummeled me with claw, tooth, sword, and tail. This was her home turf, and there was no way for me to dodge her blows underwater. I could see that I was distracting her, if only temporarily. I just hoped that I could hold out long enough for my allies to discover a way to take her down. Just as I could feel the halls of Moradin calling me, the sorcerer Rodrigo had had enough and whisked us all away to safety to fight another day. My ego is certainly bruised, but it’s nothing another run in with the lady dragon won’t be able to fix.

 

[Eridanis]

Session 40 - Artifact Hunting

Sorry about the hiatus; tempus fugit, and all that...

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

Returning to the jungle valley, we quickly found Nahktibastet, and,
amazingly, Greymantle. My wonderful companion had dove down to the lakebed after the dragon’s departure, and retrieved his body; his self-created coma-like state had saved him from certain death, though he would not have been able to make it out of the lake without her help.

We discussed our next move. While confident that we could best her with improved tactics, we tried to think of a non-lethal way to get the sword away from her, since we were convinved she had been dominated by the sword and did not control her actions. After deciding a protection from evil spell would be ineffective against an artifact’s domination, and having no way to contact the Celestial Bureaucracy she undoubtedly was a part of for advice, we decided to go forth and either disarm, subdue, or kill her, as necessary.

Prepared ourselves with freedom of movement and water breathing potions, we moved to the island in the lake, hoping to catch her attention. Of course, she did not respond; so underwater we went, Graymantle and I in the lead. The dragon quickly appeared at a distance, and prepared to cast spells; the ghostwalker and I advnaced, while Jorie summoned a half-dozen sharks to aid us (some of which were dominated by the dragon, but those were quickly disposed of by their comrades). After quickly coming very close to killing her, she shifted to the ethereal plane and escaped; Graymantle shifted over, too, but thought better of confronting her alone, and so returned. Grimtooth and Garrett moved to find her treasure hoard, thinking that perhaps she might return if her haord were threatened; Rodrigo took a different tack, flying up above the surface of the lake to catch her there if possible.

Unfortunately, his plan worked. The dragon could not resist such a tempting target, apparently; we found Rod’s cloak floating on the water mingled with but a few pieces of his body. This being the first time he has died, I wondered if the journey over and back would give him some wisdom or insight – or at least would shake the terrible magic taint from him; neither happened when Drake and I returned to the temple to have him resurrected. Instead, he sputtered, mumbled something about “almost getting her”, and told us that she was very badly injured.

The next day, the 32nd since the bad magical effects began, found us teleporting back to our friends and plotting how to find and finish the dragon. Drake was able to scry her location – flying over the jungle treetops – and casting mass fly from a scroll, we then telported to her location. She imemdiately went ethereal, but we were ready this time – I had obtained two scrolls of plane shift from the temple, and cast the spell to allow us to follow. Upon arriving, Drake immediately cast a dimensional anchor spell to keep her near us, and the final fight began in earnest. Grimtooth was slowly dying in her coils, while Graymantle received the full effect of her crushing jaws; my sword cut broad, telling swaths in her armor, and she was nearly dead before Rodrigo enfeebled her mind (possibly doing the same to himself, as he then insanely began to attack Gizmo). My last slash bringing her to unconsiousness, I turned to help calm Rodrigo – who unfortuantly discarded our plan to try to keep her alive by fireballing her to death. [“The Celestial Bureaucracy can kiss my left nut.”]


Rodrigo’s Journal:

The madness has finally taken me!!!! I find myself floating in an endless sea of grey mist then am suddenly snapped back into reality as I lie in the Temple of Hieroneous. I know that I was not killed by the vile beast but somehow she has duped my friends into thinking just that. She will not fool me though..............

Well the damn thing is dead and we have this cursed sword in our posession. Luckily I had the stones to do what had to be done to her. We had been warned that even though she might be separated from the sword she still might be controlled by it. I figured that a few bumps and bruises was not not going to break the bond either but a good dose of cleansing fire most likely would. Unfortunately her "hoard" was not much more than a handful of beggars and an apprentice mage could have accumulated. We found nothing of use and the paltry sum of gold that we uncovered will barely cover the costs that we incurred getting this thing back. Obviously this was the pawn shop manager of the gods. Just a bunch of low rent crap and a few coppers. Thank Fate I sold it in the first place or we would be in the hole on this adventure. Poverty and exploding whores was not why I signed up to be an adventurer. At this point I think that our best maneuver would be to have the dragon broought back to help us negotiate a safe passage through the giants and destroy the sword. Of course I do think we need to spend the rest of the cash before she wakes up.

Jorie’s Journal:

Well, the dragon was defeated and the sword is back in our hands where we can destroy it. I'm not sure the death of the Lady of the Lake is the best thing for all involved. Somehow we're going to have to find a new guardian for the mongrelmen, as I'm fairly certain they cannot survive on their own.

Hopefully destroying the sword will take care of the problems with the fabric of magic. Rod is getting a little strange at times, and Drake has gone right off the deep end, trying to kill Gizmo even. With luck I can get a couple additional druids to come to the valley. It's too important with the gate to leave to the predations of the Scarlet Brotherhood. I'd prefer the red brothers get a surprise they don't want when they stumble upon my new home.

Drake's Journal:

Two parts:

--at the Temple of Heironeous--
We were all wary, but determined, the first time we engaged the lady of the lake. Nobody had guessed that her true form was that of a celestial dragon--still, we had no choice but to do our best to recover the dark blade. We paid dearly for our amateurish efforts--both Kellan and Greymantle fell in the battle. We managed to recover Kellan's body, and Rodrigo says he saw Jorie carrying Greymantle away from the lake, though they did not return with us to the temple.

The priests here have returned Kellan to us in one piece, and yet they do not seem to appreciate our efforts.

Once I use my powers to locate the lady, we shall pay her another visit. Kellan seems even more determined than before to defeat the lady, while I feel I can be ineffective at best. The lady resisted everything I had thrown at it! We will have to see what comes about tomorrow. It is with sincere hope that this shall not be my final entry.

--Victory at the lake!--
We are victorious! Rejoined with Greymantle and Jorie, we regrouped at the Valley of Stirling Dale. It didn't take us long to find the dragon lady! Kellan and Grimtooth fearlessly locked themselves in combat with the dragon lady, and bought us the valuable time we needed to perform our necessary spells. A dimensional anchor provided the power to bind her and prevent her from escaping our blows as she had done the first time. Though both Rodrigo and I suffered from ill effects--and I admit to losing control of myself only briefly--we managed to outlast the battle.

The lady could sense the tide of battle turning against her. Our confidence was high. Then the lady disappeared. But Rodrigo acted quickly, and with his gifted sight, eyed the dragon lady and let loose all his powers upon her. And at last the dragon lady fell!

But our rest shall be shortlived. We have all been warned against touching the evil sword, lest it control the mind of it's user. We need to decide how best to destroy it. The priests at the temple have mentioned using the volcano at the fire giant fortress. Whatever our choices, I shall think more of it tomorrow, after I've had time to rest myself. This has truly been a trying day.

 

[Eridanis]

Session 41 - New Valley, not the same as the Old Valley

Another session where we have journals from all the regulars. With this, we finish Beyond All Reason, and move on to Necropolis, making a pit stop in Call of Cthulhu d20 on the way through...

Jorie’s Journal:

We destroyed the sword, although in the process the Ancient Evil inhabiting it possessed the Fire Giant mage their King had sent with us. After defeating some servant of the Old Ones, the sword's malignant effects on magic ceased to get worse.

They didn't get any better, however, so we were sent through a portal to another world. I've found myself cut off from my Lady; however the absence was quickly filled by another. The Lord Apis has claimed me as a gift from the goddess. I can feel his strength fill me as we head into the Necropolis to retrieve an artifact that can help us seal the danger of the Old Ones away from our world once again.

From the Collected Letters of Sir Kellan Evershar:

We possessed the artifact; what, then, were we to do with it?

After all the fighting and dying we had been through, I suggested a change of strategy. As absurd as it sounded, the others in the valley, though our bitter enemies in other circumstances, had as much to lose as we, so I suggested we try to peacefully approach the fire giants and basically ask them politely if we could destroy the artifact in their volcano. The only other option being to fight our way through (there was no way to access the core from the air), it was quickly agreed to, and someone suggested that we invite a yuan-ti representative along in order to show our honest intentions. The yuan-ti high priest; Mismis; and two others came along as we walked to the front gate of the fire giant fortress (teleportation now being far too dangerous and unreliable to attempt).

We found the doors wide open for us. The two giant guards at the gate asked after our business, and I, carrying the artifact, replied that we wished to destroy the sword in the heart of their citadel’s volcano. They insisted on seeing the sword; I carefully unwrapped the hilt and part of the blade, being careful not to touch it. Satisfied, and more than a little anxious after seeing the artifact, they ushered us to the forge at the heart of the fortress. Their forgemaster, Tian Fullstrike waited there for us, and upon questioning, he relayed some of the sword’s history to us.

The sword had, in fact, been forged at that very place a very long time ago. A joint effort by the mind flayers, the giants, and the yuan-ti, it confined a terrible evil being and kept it from entering this realm. Apparently, as the sword began to be used, and as it was able to consume souls, the being grew more and more powerful. How it came to be in the hands of the bugbear chieftain so far away, we may never know; but it was certain that detroying the sword in the volcanic forge, while possible, would release the evil within. After a few minutes of discussion, we decided we had come to far to turn back, and after casting as many preperatory spells as we dared, Tian strode to the forge and placed the sword within.

The form of the sword slowly changed, melting as if turning into tar. As it melted, stretched, and began to lose its form, I thought I could feel fear and hate, and behind it all, the mindless force of chaos I had known while trapped in the sword. In just a moment’s time, nine insect-bat demons appeared, apparently at the sword’s summons; they quickly attacked, but not before Rodrigo was able to seriously hurt them with well-placed firebrands. One or two giants were plane shifted away by the devils, but otherwise, we were able to deal with them quickly. The sword, however, was still acting; turning and writhing, it forced its way down the throat of Tian, choking him and quickly desiccating his body from within. In seconds, the giant’s form was rippling, and just as it completed a transformation into tar-stuff, it
extended a pseudopod and pulled Grimtooth into its body. For all its evil and power, we were able to deal serious damage to it, and had nearly defeated it when it was able to pull Greymantle, Garrett, and myself into its body as well. At the moment of truth, Rodrigo’s sanity held firm; his disintegration spell ended the being’s threat to us.

It seemed unlikely that a creature defeated so relatively easily would be the source of all the problems, and the yuan-ti promised to give us more information when we were ready to continue our quest. We returned to Verbobonc to resupply, and the sages and clergy we consulted (one of whom was able to name the creature was had defeated, shakily writing the name “shaggoth lord” on a piece of paper and passing it across to me, refusing to say the name) confirmed that the troubles were not over. While things did not seem to be getting worse, rumors indicted that the lesser gods were completely unable to grant spells to worshippers. They felt that we were powerful enough to be able to solve the problem, but not so powerful that the greater beings would be aware of our presence, and would move to stop us. We spent the next week and a half creating magic items for ourselves, and felling as ready as possible, gated back to the arctic valley to continue our quest.

The yuan-ti told us that a rift to the chaos realms still existed, and had to be repaired using an item known to them, but existing on another plane of existence, a place called Khemet, or the Necropolis: a city of the dead accessible only through their system of gates. The device, a phylactery, to heal the rift would be found there, but its guardians would not be willing to share it. (As it turned out, Khemet was Nahktibastet’s place of origin; this would be of great importance to us, since her knowledge would undoubtedly be of great aid to us.) They told us that we would not be able to get our spells from our deities (a disturbing shock to me), but our spells could be granted by allying ourselves with the deities there (an even more disturbing thought). Each of us took a holy symbol at random from a selection they possessed; mine was an amulet with a cobra head, which Nahktibastet told me would a fortuitous choice. Thus prepared, we took the crystal the yuan-ti offered, placed it in their gate, and passed though to the next phase of our mission.

The air was dry; the sun beat down heavily upon us. We stood before a gate leading to a valley in the desert, a large ‘pylon’ with worn and faded pictures, depicting the gods of this plane (Nahktibastet quickly explaining the pictures of gods named Osiris, Anubis, and others). The heat did not permit us much time to discuss; after quickly flying up to survey the immediate area (desert as far as could be seen), we entered the pylon to escape the sun. We cautiously walked past doors on either side of the passage, until a tall jackal-headed man appeared before us. Claiming to be Anubis, the god of the dead, he demanded our names and said that only the dead could pass. As his confederates appeared from the walls, my response was that I had cheated death, and had no fear of it; this response was enough to let me pass, but the others would not be allowed to follow. After a few more moments of discussion, the man lifted his hand, cast a spell, and the melee began…

Rodrigo’s Journal:

Those sniveling little punks should consider themselves lucky to be alive. I must admit that the Yuan-Ti moved up several spots on my s**t list. In the middle of battle they threw themselves on the ground quaking in fear. Had it not been for the tip about this strange place that they call Necropolis we would have had to show them the light. So for now at least my list grows shorter rather than longer:

John Wells (Vampire Scum)
Vampires (Blood Sucking Scum)
Mind Flayers (Squirmy Bastards)
Yuan Ti (Cowardly Dogs)
The "Lady" of the Lake (This one can come off the list finally, although considering her treasure hoard it should be the "Bag Lady of the Lake".)

The best news is that I don't feel as loopy now that we have arrived in Necropolis. So as long as I can find something to cuddle up with, that does have a demon exploding out of it, then it just might be a good place to stay if things go bad.

Garret’s Journal:

The past few days have been very difficult for me. After an abrupt
summoning from one of my mentor's students, I returned to my home to assist my teacher overcome a strange illness. Upon returning to my new comrades I was surprised to discover that the party had not only returned to the dragon lady but had defeated her, thus gaining possession of the cursed sword.

After many hours of discussion we decided to take the sword to
the lair of the fire giants so that it could be destroyed in the
heart of the volcano. Fearing our reception would be less than
friendly, we persuaded the Yuan'ti and the druids to come with us and assist in the destruction of the artifact.

Upon meeting up with the giants we discovered that the sword in
question was forged by the fire giants and the mind flayers. Its main purpose was to act as a prison holding the essence of a long forgotten deity, known loosely as an Old One. Fearing the ramifications of the swords destruction the fire giant smith was reluctant to destroy the artifact and thus release the Old One back into this world.

After much convincing the fire giants agreed that it would be better to destroy the artifact so that magic would once again be accessible. Unfortunately during the process of destroying the artifact the fire giant smith was possessed by the essence of the Old One. A great battle ensued between the party and the Old One. During the course of the fight the majority of the party was captured and engulfed in the amorphous shape of the Old One. Luckily, battle ended when Rodrigo disintegrated the blob, not only killing the Old One, but freeing us as well.

Once the dust had settled, we began conferring with the Yuan'ti and learned that we must travel to another dimension so that we can find another artifact to restore the balance of magic in our world. We were informed that the deities of this world were much different than ours, and that they walked amongst the mortals.

Furthermore the Yuan'ti advised us that each member of the party needed to reach into a magical container and draw forth a token of the deity they would worship. My new deity's token was a Crescent Moon. When I inquired about what the token represented, I was told that it suited my personality.

I entered the portal and for a second I thought I walked into the Fire Giant's furnace. Looking around I noticed that we were sitting smack dab in the middle of a huge desert with the only distinguishing feature being a large stone structure directly in front of us. Fearing the heat would soon bake our Paladin, the party decided to head for the building. Upon arriving in the stone structure, I met a strange fellow who claimed to be Anubis. Supposedly this Anubis was the all powerful God of Death. Greymantle had to say something dumb to these guys and they seemed to go crazy attacking us.

Graymantle’s Journal:

With the Dragon dead, we hoped to destroy the sword swiftly. We believed that the best place to do so was in the Fire Giant's lair, in a bed of lava or some such.

We brought the Druids and Yuan Ti with us in hopes of avoiding battle. It turns out that the Giant's weaponsmith had made the sword, long ago, to contain the essence of a strange spirit. He feared that destroying the sword would unleash this spirit, but could offer no help in solving our problems if we didn't.

So he broke it for us in the forge in which it was made.

The spirit escaped, of course. It possessed the Giant, of course. It summoned a small army of minor demonlings that we quickly dispatched, although one caused a Giant to vanish to another plane, according to Rodrigo and Drake. We avoided such a fate.

The Giant changed into a large, weird, blob. This prompted our dwarven monk to try to grapple it, unsuccessfully (also of course). Dwarves can be hard-headed at times. The blob swallowed the little fella right up, although he got in a quite respectable blow in before being eaten.

He wasn't dead, though, not yet. We found the thing to be very tough, and vulnerable to magic, and we were on the verge of killing the thing when it decided to try and eat all of us at once.

It nearly succeeded. Luckily, Rodrigo managed to finish it off by
disintegrating it, freeing myself and most of the others who had just been gobbled up.

The Yuan Ti tell us that there is an artifact that can set things
right, though to get it, we must travel through yet another gate to a place called the Necropolis. Gods are more active there, and the Yuan Ti insist that we take tokens of the foreign gods of that place with us. Mine is of a hawk. A being called Horus, they tell me. We shall see how this all turns out.

Drake’s Journal:

--At the Fire Giant's Keep--
The fire giants greeted us, and upon recognizing the dark blade, agreed to help us destroy it in the very forge where it was created. The melting of a sword is normally an unextraordinary event, but still our group prepared for the worst.

The fiery forge was unable to contain whatever dark magic was contained in the sword, and from it sprang forth several demons. We managed to put them down quickly. Meanwhile, the forgemaster had somehow engulfed the dark entity as the last of the sword melted away in the forge. The entity took the shape of a large ooze-type of creature, and engulfed Kellan, Grimtooth, Greymantle, and Garret, all in turn. It seemed there would be no end to it, until finally Rodrigo successfully disintegrated it.

After all our efforts, the yuan-ti made it clear that the evil contained in the sword was more likely released than destroyed. To complete our task we would have to travel to another place...Khemet.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

This seems like a good place to park this lonely story hour for a while... unless folks are still reading...?


Wulf

 

[Cheiromancer]

Is the campaign continuing?

 

[Eridanis]

Heya, Cheiro!

No, our last game was back in January of this year. Both Wulf and I have moved away from Chicagoland, so it's highly unlikely these characters will have a return engagement.

We did play about five or six more sessions past the last post. I have those journals stored away on CD backup, and when I finally get that box unpacked, I'll be happy to throw them up here for everyone's enjoyment. We really didn't get very far into NECROPOLIS, which made this a good place to stop, but we had one hell of a battle against some nasty high priests that's worth relating...