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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dark Dragon" data-source="post: 3552791" data-attributes="member: 1115">Last weekend, the story continued...The party has successfully left the the prison complex and was forced to rest two hours later, because most party members were totally exhausted.Ca. one hour later after the talk with the Green Dragon, the ranger noticed approaching persons. He found out that it may be a hunting party looking for the adventurers... The time for rest was over too early. Thirsty and exhausted, the group stumbled through the dark forest (it was still night).They passed the ruins of an old manor. Only two rooms were still intact (meaning thick stone walls, parts of a roof, a chimney, three small entrances and three small (1 ft. square) windows. The party decided to make a stand here because the hunters were able to follow the party somehow (see below), despite the ranger's use of pass without trace. The alienist was still helpless (Str 0, Con 2) and thus must cast all his spell still...The party remained silent, but four orcs were sent to investigate the ruins. The orcs were quickly killed by the monk and 5 summoned dire lions (the dwarf was still able to use the summon monster VII given to him by the alienist earlier (see above).However, the party's position was now well known. The hunters (a group of 40  ftr 1 orcs and 10 human ftr 3 wandering through the forest in a long line) encircled the building. They were supported by a troll, an ogre-barbarian level 3, 2 wizards level 8 and a cleric of Tiamat of level 8. Two fiendish rangers level 8 hid in sight of the main entrance to shoot everybody who would leave the ruins there. Leader of the hunting party was a fiendish ftr 6/rog 2/blackguard 8 riding a nightmare. Two more troll-fighters would join the group at dawn...The summoned dire lions avoided an all-out assault on the ruins, they killed almost 20 orcs and humans before they were successfully dispelled by the casters or killed by the blackguard. The wizards were not allowed to cast strong attack spells (like fireball) into the ruins for the pregant tempest has to be captured alive. One wizard however used a scintillating sphere and was killed and zombified for this after the battle by the cleric.The other wizard tried to get into the ruins invisible but was detected (i.e. heard) by several adventurers. The alienist cast glitterdust and thus marked the intruder. The monk, the ranger, and the bodyguard killed him fast...Then the monk tried to pave the way for an escape -alone again (*sigh*). The party was virtually trapped in the ruins: the rest of the hunters hid in the forest, waiting to shoot every person trying to escape. The two fiendish rangers had marked their position with a burning torch. They hoped to draw eventual attackers to that position so that the rest of the hunters, especially the humans, could easily join the fight. The monk spotted the two rangers who observed the main entrance (distance to the building 100 ft., but the torch lit up the rangers' place). He attacked them but they were tough foes (65 hp, good melee stats). The dwarf followed the monk to help him. The rest of the party stayed in the ruins. The dire lions were already gone, so the ranger used his summon monster VII (also given to him by the alienist earlier) to call-in reinforcements in form of three elephants...But it was too late: The dwarf and the monk were knocked out after a hard short fight by the rangers who, in return, were killed one round later by one elephant. The ogre was killed by a second elephant. The third elephant temporarily stopped the troll who was about to attack the ruins...The blackguard was frustrated about how bad things developed, so he rode his nightmare into the ruins. The bodyguard (with only 13 hp left) attacked the nightmare but was killed by the blackguard instantly. The alienist summoned a girallon to handle the blackguard. The monster luckily dealt a lot of damage and forced the blackguard to retreat.However, the situation was too bad: three party members out of action, and an unknown number of foes waiting to attack in the forest. The alienist, the tempest, and the ranger decided to escape using gaseous form. This worked, they took separate ways to distract the hunters further. The two remaining elephants caused still some trouble and thus covered the escape.When the spell elapsed, the three hid in the forest: the tempest under fallen leaves, the other two in trees, all at different locations.Meanwhile, the hunters tried to find the escapees. But thanks to the still ongoing pass without trace and the fact that the cleric and the wizard had almost totally exhausted their spell energy, the adventurers were not found. The Green Dragon had a little 'talk' with the Aspect of Tiamat shortly after he had met the fugitive party in the forest (see above). The aspect charmed the dragon and keeps it under control with a magical amulet (an iron ring with thorns and an attached chain), this works like a combined geas/charm monster. The dragon then told the hunters about were to search for the party...The cleric didn't tell the Aspect of Tiamat that the party escaped again, fearing a cruel death otherwise. The monk and the dwarf were captured alive and questioned by the cleric. But the two prisoners didn't know the whereabouts of their friends. But they met their friend, the hathran's bodyguard, who was now a zombie...The monk was brought into the ruins of the manor for later torture. He was enchanted with a dimensional anchor and tied to the chimney, two thugs were the guards.The dwarf should be handed to the orcs for torture as well. The dragon had the idea that the dwarf may lead the hunters secretly to his friends later (since scrying was not possible at the moment and a relative unsure method of location), so he suggested the cleric to give the dwarf to the dragon. The cleric failed his save and thus agreed. The dragon took the dwarf and freed him secretly. Then the dragon returned to the hunters and the blackguard, telling them that the dwarf 'is on his way to Dugmaren Brightmantle '(somewhat true...). The dwarf didn't realize the bluff and was happy about the new 'ally'.The monk was able to loosen secretly the rope that bound him to the chimney. When the cleric showed up, he broke free (although his legs and hands were still bound by iron manacles). Despite a bad AC, low hp and an impaired movement, he tried to escape again. The cleric was surprised and also failed his save against the monk's stunning fist. The two thugs (ftr 1) fell under the monk's blows quickly. In round two, the cleric saved against the next stunning fist and yelled for help, then he cast blindness on the monk. The monk saved and attacked the cleric again. In the third round, the cleric healed himself a bit, but the monk hammered the cleric again. In round four, two orc fighters (ftr 2) arrived at the scene. They were disabled quickly, the cleric cast a healing spell again (but I rolled low). Now the monk was able to finish the cleric off. Then, before the arrival of more fighters, he hid within the chimney, hoping that the dimensional anchor would elapse soon. He was not able to outrun his foes, but his dimension door ability should help... The orcs didn't find him there. The blackguard ordered the hunters to spread out and search the monk. Ajuntis (see above) has arrived at the ruined manor shortly before to talk with the blackguard (another Shadow Master from Telflamm). Ajuntis climbed the roof of the ruins and eventually looked into the chimney. In the same moment, the anchor spell elapsed and the monk escaped...He broke the manacles and was then able to outrun the hunters.Meanwhile, the ranger, the tempest, and the alienist recovered a bit, they slept 12 hours... The alienist summoned a phantom steed to cover some distance, however, he was becoming sick with filth fever... The ranger headed east and found enough water and food to survive. The tempest had bad luck, she turned south and barely found food and water.The hathran had escaped Thay and used several sendings to organise a meeting with her friends near Lake Murthil (ca. 40 miles away from the manor). Everybody except the tempest now tried to go east and reach the lake. The ranger had no problems in getting along, to avoid easy scrying, he walked only during the night. On his way, he created a few simple arrows with bone tips to have more ammunition. The alienist reached the lake first and was healed by the hathran before becoming seriously ill. The monk, thanks to his tattoos, didn't need food and water, also made his way to the lake. The dwarf found no food and water, but he didn't get lost. Already starving, he was found by the monk. The monk had met the alienist and the hathran at the lake earlier. The hathran had brought food and water, then she localised the position of the others via circle dance. The monk brought the dwarf to the lake.The tempest ignored the hathran's sending and tried to reach the small city of Tammar (80 miles away!). She also found no food and water and was starving. She reached the road from Tammar to Kront, encountered a few caravans, but was treated like a beggar. However, she was given some water and even offered a trip to Kront, but she refused any company. The hathran finally used wind walk to find the tempest and bring her to the lake. So it happened, the party is now at the eastern shore of Lake Murtil in Thesk...The hathran was not sure about the security in Immilmar. She dropped a message to her mother about what happened, grabbed some travel stuff, weapons and spell components, then she left Rashemen immediately for the Lake Murtil to meet her friends. She has the feeling that something is wrong (and she is right, her mother was replaced by a durthan, but the hathran does not know this yet!).The green dragon tracked the dwarf and leads the hunters and the blackguard, almost ready to strike...@ Imruphel: Unapprochable East is used first in this group of players. We used the Heartlands setting before.UE is quite nice, and gives the DM a lot of room for a campaign.</blockquote>

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