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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Zad/Wizardru's Story Hour (*final update 11/12*)
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![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Argent Silvermage
First Post
It was horrible. Nothing went right. NOTHING!
Argent Silvermage
First Post
LOL! No Nothing like that.Nifft said:Did something bite your new PC? I seem to recall a few things biting your old PC...
-- N
I just think my acting is going un-noticed. I have tried to hint at something now for a few games and no one has caught on to it yet. (It's something very in-game. Maybe if the master lets me speak again I'll tell you more)
Argent Silvermage
First Post
You... I... I can.... /Sobs uncontrolablydravot said:
Zad
First Post
Drakthar's way - Chapter 5
Drakthar’s Way – Chapter 5
OOC Notes:
Exp 630 – remember that vampire spawn must apply the level adjustment.
This Week’s Adventure:
“So regardless of cost, you think we need some potions?” Bellsin asked.
“Going back is suicide enough as it is, but if we go back without some basic precautions, then we deserve to serve a bugbear vampire,” Elizabeth said.
Astrid said nothing but just nodded. Sir Alex’s faith or not, luck favored the prepared combatant. Elizabeth knew from talking to Jenya that while the temple could prepare some modest elixirs, they did not have anything on hand that could help them. She first set off for Skie’s shop hoping that the gnome would have the needed potions while at the same time knowing where she would end up.
Just before she got there, she saw Brother Duos running up a side street, huffing and puffing. He soon stopped to catch his breath and Elizabeth walked up to him at a slow pace.
“Oh… there you… (huff… wheeze) are. (pant pant) Wanted to… find you,” he gasped out.
“And so you have,” she replied calmly. She gave him some time to recover, if just to avoid having to explain why the acolyte collapsed in the street.
“Potions… more potions… in the… deep vault. We think there are some Protection from Evil in there… It’s Sarsen’s system and we haven’t decoded them all but we think… there are two.”
She thanked him. The church could not afford to give them out but they would provide them at a discount, which is more than you could say for any other merchant in Cauldron.
Entering Skie’s was no help – she had nothing in stock that would help. Skie must have picked up on Elizabeth’s dread, and offered one more suggestion on where to look, but the trading post turned out to be another dead end.
“No help for it then,” Elizabeth said, steeling herself, and she headed for Weir’s Elixers.
The shop was a three story tower that stuck out in Cauldron as being completely daft. There was a small stylized sign in front marked with a sigil, but nothing else to show what might be sold there or even that it was a shop. Elizabeth took a breath – she had heard enough about Weir to think he was an arrogant ass with overpriced goods, and was not looking forward to this. She knocked and the door opened with a creak.
The interior was lit by several sconces and a small fire over which simmered a kettle. A small creature with bat-like wings perched on the edge, stirring the pot with a large spoon. Fine carpets covered the floors but many had large scorch marks or bleached areas. Around the walls were racks upon racks of liquid-filled glass vials. An austere man supervised the small demon. He wore red robes with gold lining that sported similar bleached areas to the carpets.
“You have found Weir’s Elixers,” he said in a quiet sneering way. “I am Vortimax Weir.”
He was everything she expected and she just wanted to smack him.
“I’m looking for oil to enchant a weapon temporarily,” she said flatly.
“How many do you seek?” he asked.
“Three.”
“Which is my entire stock.” He gestured and three vials came from one of the racks to his hand. He examined each and made a mark with a pen on the label on each.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but wonder if this was just overblown showmanship or if Weir was the genuine article. She looked him over and scanned the shop and concluded (based no doubt on her deep knowledge of the magical arts) that he was in fact truly a powerful man and not simply trying to look like one.
Money was exchanged and she left. As expected, Weir’s prices were ruinous, bordering on robbery. Elizabeth grumped all the way back to the inn about how overpriced everything in Cauldron was.
For the next few hours, she tried to meditate and prepare. From the outside, she was calm, quiet, focused, and serene. But that was a lie. Inside she was in a state of near panic, and only after hours of focus did she even begin to calm down. Assuming she survived the next day, she made a resolution: No More Adventuring. That is, assuming she could actually afford to leave Cauldron.
Bellsin, Astrid, Elizabeth, Sir Alex, and I met at the appointed time at the bath house and descended into the caves. Once they reached the natural caverns, Sir Alex began banging a loud challenge with sword and shield, calling out to Drakthar to fight him.
Down the passage, a sunrod cracked to life. The light showed a goblin adept holding it, and Drakthar next to him. “Now girl. Seal them.”
A brief word or two, and the passage was filled with sticky webs. Maris beamed.
From there, things only got worse.
Krisfallion cast a spell, and Sir Alex, already stuck in the webbing, froze in place. And Drakthar began slowly walking down the cave.
Astrid struggled to get free of the web and worked her way forward. Elizabeth wasn’t stuck and managed to force her way out of the back webbing. She was free, but the web was still between her and her friends and enemies. She began throwing lit flasks of oil trying to burn away enough of the webs to move through.
Maris then cast forth a green ray, and Sir Alex’s strength drained away. “Good thing we have a paladin with us,” I quipped to myself.
Glyph attempted to cause Sir Alex’s armor to begin heating, but Sir Alex ignored it. “Fool!” Drakthar yelled. “I said I wanted them unharmed!”
“But it probably won’t kill him,” Glyph cried, disappointed.
[The reader should note at this time that the entire table of players stopped upon utterance of those fateful worlds. “Let’s see if we understand this,” the undominated said, “the standard is ‘it probably won’t kill you’? So when we have to put you down, lethal attacks are ok as long as ‘it probably won’t kill you’?” And so it was.]
The only saving grace in this entire disaster was Bellsin. He had been sneaking along the cave, and had gone unnoticed by anyone. If he seized the opportunity, he was by now a good ways away searching for Drakthar’s coffin. Unfortunately he was not completely forgotten.
“Hey, where’s Bellsin?” Kris asked.
“Who? The thief?” Drakthar demanded.
“I don’t see him,” Kris pointed out.
“Find him, fool! Girl, you too!” Drakthar ordered. And Kris went off trying to guess where Bellsin might have gone. Maris was on a ledge overlooking the cave and backed away to join with Kris.
Sir Alex was still frozen in place, Drakthar’s hand around his throat. But Alex’s will was strong and Drakthar was unable to make him serve. Astrid came charging out of the web and was about to attack when Tzaddik cast a spell (odd in itself) and Astrid collapsed asleep.
Elizabeth was now fully panicked. If Bellsin is smart, he’s leaving this place she thought. She was trying her best to decide whether to run. She had almost burned her way through the webbing to the other side where the fight was, but it was now almost hopeless.
“You need to go in,” I said. “You can’t leave Astrid.”
Elizabeth growled in frustration but held her ground and tried to burn away the final feet of the webbing between her and Astrid. Tzaddik was standing over her, getting out rope to tie her up with.
Sir Alex could finally move, but his muscles were nearly useless and Drakthar had him by the throat. “BEND!” Drakthar screamed, but Sir Alex would not serve him. In what was likely his last act of defiance, he managed to force his arm to move and threw his sword…
At Astrid.
It was a clumsy effort but the point poked her just enough to wake her. “Fool!” Drakthar spat. “You think that will matter?”
Astrid stood up, and pulled out a silvered short sword and slashed at Drakthar. It cut him deeply exposing his shriveled lungs and he cursed in anger.
“That’s the break you were looking for,” I said, prodding Elizabeth to charge.
And charge she did. She stuck herself in the last bit of webbing but she was close enough to bring her large silvered blade down on Drakthar. It was a long stroke and she brought it on to Drakthar’s neck. The blade shot through him without stopping and his head lifted into the air before violently exploding into gas along with his body.
The gas collected itself and began moving up the ledge and down the passage. This left Tzaddik and Glyphandar alone with two very unhappy women. “No no, wait!” he said. “You’ll like serving the master! You’ll see it’s a good thing!” Glyph pleaded. Elizabeth slashed at Glyph [Note: “It probably won’t kill him”] who tried to heat Elizabeth’s armor. Unfortunately the act of the spell left him vulnerable, and the girls smashed their pommels into his head and gut and he crumpled. Tzaddik had no choice but to attack but his heart wasn’t in it, and the girls pummeled him into unconsciousness too.
It was in some ways refreshing.
Meanwhile, Bellsin was doing far better. He had attempted to penetrate into the caves but was stopped by a goblin guard with two shocker lizards. While he was backing out, he came upon Kris who was searching for him. Kris went right by him without even noticing. Bellsin stepped out of the shadow and grabbed onto Kris, and used his power to steal an enchantment from Kris. He stole the only one there was – the domination.
Bellsin was protected by a potion so for the time being it had no effect. Kris, suddenly under his own will, just stopped and yelled “Dammit!”
The two of them went off to find Maris. They did so openly, and walked by the goblin guard giving the password. Kris had a hunch where the coffin was and they went towards it. They met up in a throne room where Maris found them. The throne itself, a construction of bone and muscle that looked as if it was made from corpse parts, was not as easily fooled and started to attack. Kris yelled to Maris “Bellsin is with us now – you need to help us.”
”Well,” she reasoned ”the master must have told Kris to, so I better help.”
The throne was being difficult but Kris had a sudden idea, and began using the wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. After a few hits the chair fell apart.
Once the throne was destroyed, Maris suddenly knew the master was vanquished. She looked to Kris for what to do next, and Bellsin subdued her in one swift stroke. Bellsin and Kris went through the forbidden door and down the hall found a stone coffin with small holes, the gas still seeping inside.
The girls had just caught up (the goblins were apparently abandoning their posts) and together they smashed the coffen and cleansed it with holy water that Sir Alex had brought for that purpose.
With the vampire dead, we could wake up the consciousness-challenged members of the group safely. The previously enslaved members talked of mercenaries that were staying here – a tiefling woman and others. We went to investigate but they too had left the area. In their quarters was one dropped page of a long letter. It was addressed to someone named Xoden.
Deeper in the caves we found the exit to the outside – a cave on the outer edge of the caldera. They tied of a large piece of cloth to serve as a marker so this entry could be found later from the outside by Captain Skellerang. Near the exit were several crates of supplies – mostly foodstuffs. All were marked with a symbol of a small black birdcage.
The rest of the facility had been abandoned when the vampire fell, so the group spent some time to collect the spoils of their slim victory. The venture had already been too much of a disaster to leave behind what few rewards might exist. Spoils in hand, they returned to the surface and found Captain Skellerang waiting.
“You survived? Is the vampire destroyed then?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sir Alex said, and said no more.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” the Captain said.
“Well,” Astrid said, “you could carry this bag of ears…”
Loot:
Magical self-heating cauldron
17,200 cp
3,500 sp
Rusty battleaxe
Composite longbow (+3 str bonus)
Quiver (Ehlonna’s)
Masterwork rapier
Masterwork silver spear
Breastplate (shaped like a griffon)
Mithril chain shirt
Heavy darkwood shield
Gold bracelet (Drakthar’s treasure)
Silver comb inlaid with amber (Drakthar’s treasure)
Small ivory flute (Drakthar’s treasure)
Necklace of missiles (type 2)
Quaal’s feather token (?)
Drakthar’s Way – Chapter 5
OOC Notes:
Exp 630 – remember that vampire spawn must apply the level adjustment.
This Week’s Adventure:
“So regardless of cost, you think we need some potions?” Bellsin asked.
“Going back is suicide enough as it is, but if we go back without some basic precautions, then we deserve to serve a bugbear vampire,” Elizabeth said.
Astrid said nothing but just nodded. Sir Alex’s faith or not, luck favored the prepared combatant. Elizabeth knew from talking to Jenya that while the temple could prepare some modest elixirs, they did not have anything on hand that could help them. She first set off for Skie’s shop hoping that the gnome would have the needed potions while at the same time knowing where she would end up.
Just before she got there, she saw Brother Duos running up a side street, huffing and puffing. He soon stopped to catch his breath and Elizabeth walked up to him at a slow pace.
“Oh… there you… (huff… wheeze) are. (pant pant) Wanted to… find you,” he gasped out.
“And so you have,” she replied calmly. She gave him some time to recover, if just to avoid having to explain why the acolyte collapsed in the street.
“Potions… more potions… in the… deep vault. We think there are some Protection from Evil in there… It’s Sarsen’s system and we haven’t decoded them all but we think… there are two.”
She thanked him. The church could not afford to give them out but they would provide them at a discount, which is more than you could say for any other merchant in Cauldron.
Entering Skie’s was no help – she had nothing in stock that would help. Skie must have picked up on Elizabeth’s dread, and offered one more suggestion on where to look, but the trading post turned out to be another dead end.
“No help for it then,” Elizabeth said, steeling herself, and she headed for Weir’s Elixers.
The shop was a three story tower that stuck out in Cauldron as being completely daft. There was a small stylized sign in front marked with a sigil, but nothing else to show what might be sold there or even that it was a shop. Elizabeth took a breath – she had heard enough about Weir to think he was an arrogant ass with overpriced goods, and was not looking forward to this. She knocked and the door opened with a creak.
The interior was lit by several sconces and a small fire over which simmered a kettle. A small creature with bat-like wings perched on the edge, stirring the pot with a large spoon. Fine carpets covered the floors but many had large scorch marks or bleached areas. Around the walls were racks upon racks of liquid-filled glass vials. An austere man supervised the small demon. He wore red robes with gold lining that sported similar bleached areas to the carpets.
“You have found Weir’s Elixers,” he said in a quiet sneering way. “I am Vortimax Weir.”
He was everything she expected and she just wanted to smack him.
“I’m looking for oil to enchant a weapon temporarily,” she said flatly.
“How many do you seek?” he asked.
“Three.”
“Which is my entire stock.” He gestured and three vials came from one of the racks to his hand. He examined each and made a mark with a pen on the label on each.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but wonder if this was just overblown showmanship or if Weir was the genuine article. She looked him over and scanned the shop and concluded (based no doubt on her deep knowledge of the magical arts) that he was in fact truly a powerful man and not simply trying to look like one.
Money was exchanged and she left. As expected, Weir’s prices were ruinous, bordering on robbery. Elizabeth grumped all the way back to the inn about how overpriced everything in Cauldron was.
For the next few hours, she tried to meditate and prepare. From the outside, she was calm, quiet, focused, and serene. But that was a lie. Inside she was in a state of near panic, and only after hours of focus did she even begin to calm down. Assuming she survived the next day, she made a resolution: No More Adventuring. That is, assuming she could actually afford to leave Cauldron.
Bellsin, Astrid, Elizabeth, Sir Alex, and I met at the appointed time at the bath house and descended into the caves. Once they reached the natural caverns, Sir Alex began banging a loud challenge with sword and shield, calling out to Drakthar to fight him.
Down the passage, a sunrod cracked to life. The light showed a goblin adept holding it, and Drakthar next to him. “Now girl. Seal them.”
A brief word or two, and the passage was filled with sticky webs. Maris beamed.
From there, things only got worse.
Krisfallion cast a spell, and Sir Alex, already stuck in the webbing, froze in place. And Drakthar began slowly walking down the cave.
Astrid struggled to get free of the web and worked her way forward. Elizabeth wasn’t stuck and managed to force her way out of the back webbing. She was free, but the web was still between her and her friends and enemies. She began throwing lit flasks of oil trying to burn away enough of the webs to move through.
Maris then cast forth a green ray, and Sir Alex’s strength drained away. “Good thing we have a paladin with us,” I quipped to myself.
Glyph attempted to cause Sir Alex’s armor to begin heating, but Sir Alex ignored it. “Fool!” Drakthar yelled. “I said I wanted them unharmed!”
“But it probably won’t kill him,” Glyph cried, disappointed.
[The reader should note at this time that the entire table of players stopped upon utterance of those fateful worlds. “Let’s see if we understand this,” the undominated said, “the standard is ‘it probably won’t kill you’? So when we have to put you down, lethal attacks are ok as long as ‘it probably won’t kill you’?” And so it was.]
The only saving grace in this entire disaster was Bellsin. He had been sneaking along the cave, and had gone unnoticed by anyone. If he seized the opportunity, he was by now a good ways away searching for Drakthar’s coffin. Unfortunately he was not completely forgotten.
“Hey, where’s Bellsin?” Kris asked.
“Who? The thief?” Drakthar demanded.
“I don’t see him,” Kris pointed out.
“Find him, fool! Girl, you too!” Drakthar ordered. And Kris went off trying to guess where Bellsin might have gone. Maris was on a ledge overlooking the cave and backed away to join with Kris.
Sir Alex was still frozen in place, Drakthar’s hand around his throat. But Alex’s will was strong and Drakthar was unable to make him serve. Astrid came charging out of the web and was about to attack when Tzaddik cast a spell (odd in itself) and Astrid collapsed asleep.
Elizabeth was now fully panicked. If Bellsin is smart, he’s leaving this place she thought. She was trying her best to decide whether to run. She had almost burned her way through the webbing to the other side where the fight was, but it was now almost hopeless.
“You need to go in,” I said. “You can’t leave Astrid.”
Elizabeth growled in frustration but held her ground and tried to burn away the final feet of the webbing between her and Astrid. Tzaddik was standing over her, getting out rope to tie her up with.
Sir Alex could finally move, but his muscles were nearly useless and Drakthar had him by the throat. “BEND!” Drakthar screamed, but Sir Alex would not serve him. In what was likely his last act of defiance, he managed to force his arm to move and threw his sword…
At Astrid.
It was a clumsy effort but the point poked her just enough to wake her. “Fool!” Drakthar spat. “You think that will matter?”
Astrid stood up, and pulled out a silvered short sword and slashed at Drakthar. It cut him deeply exposing his shriveled lungs and he cursed in anger.
“That’s the break you were looking for,” I said, prodding Elizabeth to charge.
And charge she did. She stuck herself in the last bit of webbing but she was close enough to bring her large silvered blade down on Drakthar. It was a long stroke and she brought it on to Drakthar’s neck. The blade shot through him without stopping and his head lifted into the air before violently exploding into gas along with his body.
The gas collected itself and began moving up the ledge and down the passage. This left Tzaddik and Glyphandar alone with two very unhappy women. “No no, wait!” he said. “You’ll like serving the master! You’ll see it’s a good thing!” Glyph pleaded. Elizabeth slashed at Glyph [Note: “It probably won’t kill him”] who tried to heat Elizabeth’s armor. Unfortunately the act of the spell left him vulnerable, and the girls smashed their pommels into his head and gut and he crumpled. Tzaddik had no choice but to attack but his heart wasn’t in it, and the girls pummeled him into unconsciousness too.
It was in some ways refreshing.
Meanwhile, Bellsin was doing far better. He had attempted to penetrate into the caves but was stopped by a goblin guard with two shocker lizards. While he was backing out, he came upon Kris who was searching for him. Kris went right by him without even noticing. Bellsin stepped out of the shadow and grabbed onto Kris, and used his power to steal an enchantment from Kris. He stole the only one there was – the domination.
Bellsin was protected by a potion so for the time being it had no effect. Kris, suddenly under his own will, just stopped and yelled “Dammit!”
The two of them went off to find Maris. They did so openly, and walked by the goblin guard giving the password. Kris had a hunch where the coffin was and they went towards it. They met up in a throne room where Maris found them. The throne itself, a construction of bone and muscle that looked as if it was made from corpse parts, was not as easily fooled and started to attack. Kris yelled to Maris “Bellsin is with us now – you need to help us.”
”Well,” she reasoned ”the master must have told Kris to, so I better help.”
The throne was being difficult but Kris had a sudden idea, and began using the wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. After a few hits the chair fell apart.
Once the throne was destroyed, Maris suddenly knew the master was vanquished. She looked to Kris for what to do next, and Bellsin subdued her in one swift stroke. Bellsin and Kris went through the forbidden door and down the hall found a stone coffin with small holes, the gas still seeping inside.
The girls had just caught up (the goblins were apparently abandoning their posts) and together they smashed the coffen and cleansed it with holy water that Sir Alex had brought for that purpose.
With the vampire dead, we could wake up the consciousness-challenged members of the group safely. The previously enslaved members talked of mercenaries that were staying here – a tiefling woman and others. We went to investigate but they too had left the area. In their quarters was one dropped page of a long letter. It was addressed to someone named Xoden.
“… the Blue Duke has already made arrangements and procured a large number of half orc soldiers from the north. He is currently in negotiations with a noble in Cauldron for their employment. The noble, which I will not name here for obvious reasons, wishes to augment his or her personal bodyguards with stronger mercenaries but not publicly. The Blue Duke has made arrangements with the Cagewrights to smuggle these mercenaries in through Drakthar’s Way. The vampire is incompetent and stupid but convenient so we will deal with him for now….”
Deeper in the caves we found the exit to the outside – a cave on the outer edge of the caldera. They tied of a large piece of cloth to serve as a marker so this entry could be found later from the outside by Captain Skellerang. Near the exit were several crates of supplies – mostly foodstuffs. All were marked with a symbol of a small black birdcage.
The rest of the facility had been abandoned when the vampire fell, so the group spent some time to collect the spoils of their slim victory. The venture had already been too much of a disaster to leave behind what few rewards might exist. Spoils in hand, they returned to the surface and found Captain Skellerang waiting.
“You survived? Is the vampire destroyed then?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sir Alex said, and said no more.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” the Captain said.
“Well,” Astrid said, “you could carry this bag of ears…”
Loot:
Magical self-heating cauldron
17,200 cp
3,500 sp
Rusty battleaxe
Composite longbow (+3 str bonus)
Quiver (Ehlonna’s)
Masterwork rapier
Masterwork silver spear
Breastplate (shaped like a griffon)
Mithril chain shirt
Heavy darkwood shield
Gold bracelet (Drakthar’s treasure)
Silver comb inlaid with amber (Drakthar’s treasure)
Small ivory flute (Drakthar’s treasure)
Necklace of missiles (type 2)
Quaal’s feather token (?)
Argent Silvermage
First Post
The ways of the Artificer
As you may have been thinking "what the hell was the Lawful Good Artificer so blood thirsty for?" and have been right to think that.
I see Glyf as being very devoted to his "group" if that's group is after a bunch of goblins he will do his best to make it clean and neat kills.
He was under a compulsion from a vampire. This led him to be as precise as needed without killing them and Chris could always heal them (he thought).
One thing that was left out of the writeup is that Glyf tried to TALK Astrid out of opposing Drakthar. Why Astrid and not Elizabeth? I'll quote myself "But I don't CARE about Elizabeth." Take that as you will, but I've been hinting for a while now that Glyp has a crush on Astrid.
As you may have been thinking "what the hell was the Lawful Good Artificer so blood thirsty for?" and have been right to think that.
I see Glyf as being very devoted to his "group" if that's group is after a bunch of goblins he will do his best to make it clean and neat kills.
He was under a compulsion from a vampire. This led him to be as precise as needed without killing them and Chris could always heal them (he thought).
One thing that was left out of the writeup is that Glyf tried to TALK Astrid out of opposing Drakthar. Why Astrid and not Elizabeth? I'll quote myself "But I don't CARE about Elizabeth." Take that as you will, but I've been hinting for a while now that Glyp has a crush on Astrid.
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