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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:14:29 GMT -5
Session 27: Saturday, November 6, 2010
Having learned that they are in Mintar, Leon and Thallatos take a look at the battle still going on around them. When they realize that symbols of the Church of Bane are omnipresent, not only on banners fluttering in the city streets but also upon the uniforms of the soldiers fighting the Kuo-Toa invasion, they decide that this fight is none of their concern. Thallatos goes as far as to animate some of the fallen soldiers as skeletons, which nearly earns him an attack from a few of their still-living comrades.
With that, Leon and Thallatos decide to leave Mintar behind. Finding an unpaved track heading west, they follow it out of the city and back toward Tethyr.
The track eventually turns north toward Saradush, which Leon and Thallatos recognize from their previous visit. As they get closer, Thallatos again begins to notice the pull of Iltkazar on his undead horde, but they are not close enough to the former dwarven city for it to cause much difficulty.
By riding inside the undead siege crab and piling Thallatos’s slower minions atop it, they are able to travel quickly, at speeds of around fourteen miles per hour. When it comes time for Thallatos to rest, he orders the crab to continue moving forward at this speed, and Leon watches the road, promising to awaken Thallatos if he needs to give the crab new instructions. The rest of the time, Leon works at translating the tomes of necromancy which he took from Iltkazar’s library.
In this way, they manage to reach the outskirts of Darromar in only a day’s travel, arriving in late afternoon on the 8th of Eleint. Thallatos decides to remain outside the city with his undead horde, while Leon goes in to see the queen.
Leon is received at the palace and is ushered in to meet the queen with little delay. This time, Queen Zaranda receives him alone. While her orog bodyguard is present, King Haedrak is not attending this audience.
Queen Zaranda is impressed at the speed at which Leon was able to arrive, and mild surprise that he is alone. She does thank him, however, for Thallatos not bringing their transport into the city.
Leon tells the queen that there is a dwarven city within the kingdom, and asks if she has heard of Iltkazar. Queen Zaranda tells him that Tethyr’s borders do not extend into the Underdark, and so Iltkazar is technically outside their borders since it’s in the Underdark. She also mentions that Tethyr has had occasional trade with Iltkazar, but has had no contact for awhile.
Leon then explains what he and Thallatos discovered – that the entire city of Iltkazar was turned into zombies. He explains how they mimicked their former lives in a hideous parody of life, which is most unusual behavior for mindless undead. Queen Zaranda comments that, while she herself does not study any necromancy, even she knows that to be strange.
Leon finishes his story by producing the volumes he salvaged from the royal library at Iltkazar – the most recent histories and many of the oldest, as well as several books on magic. The only books he doesn’t turn over are the few tomes of necromancy which Leon has been translating from Dwarvish for Thallatos.
Queen Zaranda tells Leon that the world owes him a debt of gratitude for rescuing some irreplaceable history, because the fall of Iltkazar marks the end of an era. Iltkazar was part of the ancient dwarven kingdom of Shanatar, and was the last remaining vestige of it. Leon replies that he hopes she will keep this in mind when determining the sale price of Castle Tethyr, and she replies that she will.
There remains one piece of business, the reason that the queen asked Leon to come to the palace. She explains that it would be easier to show him than to explain it, and asks Leon to follow. When she turns for the dungeons, Leon becomes nervous. She leads him through a dark hallway to a single, windowless room in the dungeons, the walls of which are stained with blood.
Queen Zaranda explains that this was the room where Leon’s former companion Torgeth was being kept, separate from the other prisoners due to his dangerous capabilities. Zaranda tells Leon that two guards were found unconscious in the hallway outside his cell, and that in addition to the bloodstains on the walls, a single white flower, itself stained with blood, was found lying on the floor of the cell.
Leon says he has seen this before, and that from what he’s heard the flower is a message of death. He inspects the cell for water or ice, any indication that Torgeth might have used his breath weapon, but finds the cell no more damp than might otherwise be expected. The queen explains that this cell is protected by an anti-magic field, which would negate Torgeth’s icy breath.
The queen says that Torgeth’s location is unknown, and they do not know whether he is alive or dead. Attempts to locate him through divination thus far have yielded nothing, and they cannot even be sure whether the two guards were attacked by him or by someone else, as neither saw their attacker. Leon asks what he is to do with this information, and the queen replies that he should be vigilant, as Torgeth might resent his friends for letting him be taken into custody without a fight.
Before he leaves, Queen Zaranda also gives a letter to Leon, and asks him to deliver it to a man named Lhaeo, who is with his friends. Leon takes the letter and says he will deliver it.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Nym, and Lhaeo find some much-needed respite from demon attacks, and manage to travel unimpeded for a few days. They see nothing out of the ordinary, and other than carrion birds the only thing they spy in the sky is a single creature, which flies high overhead one night while Vanemuine is on watch. He thinks it may be a dragon, and rouses Tyrrox for his opinion. While it is impossible to tell at the height the creature was flying and in the dark, Tyrrox agrees that it very well could be a dragon. The creature does not make another appearance.
They continue to push for 10 to 12 hours of travel per day, and make the ruins of Castle Tethyr late on the 8th of Eleint. They are greeted by Helena, who tells them that Faelar is around somewhere on the castle grounds, but Garm and Bobo are in town getting supplies.
Helena inquires why Leon is not with them, so Tyrrox explains that he is with Thallatos and they will be coming in a few days. Helena excuses herself, and goes to write Leon in her journey book.
The following morning, Tyrrox heads for Zazesspur to find Red Forman and bring him and his crew back to work. He gives Vanemuine and Nym a portion of the castle repair funds, and they head out to the nearby farms to bring the farmers back to work. The two elves come back with even more workers than they had before.
In the city, Tyrrox easily finds Red Forman and has him gather up the work crew. They procure some wagons to transport the crew, but Tyrrox soon learns that the price of horses has skyrocketed as people have begun using some of them for food. Red suggests buying mules instead, which although slower than horses are also significantly cheaper. Tyrrox agrees, and they buy a supply of mules to pull the wagons.
It is late afternoon by the time Tyrrox leads the wagon train back to the castle. As he approaches the castle gate from the west, Tyrrox spies a very large crablike creature, with runes inscribed on its shell, approaching from the east. Since it looks threatening, Tyrrox tells Red to pull up the wagons and remain behind while he deals with it. Red goes a step farther and forms the wagons into a protective circle.
Tyrrox unsheathes his lance and charges at the creature, striking it a blow and running past. A laser blast emerges from beneath the crab and strikes Tyrrox.
Seeing the confrontation from atop the castle walls, Vanemuine and Nym (who arrived back at the castle a few hours prior) move to assist Tyrrox. Vanemuine takes to the air with his flying carpet, and attempts to sap the crab’s strength with his magic. Meanwhile, Nym prepares a searing light spell.
A ramp extends from the bottom of the crab, and a bunch of humanoid skeletons begin pouring out. Tyrrox hesitates, and calls out “Thallatos?” Thallatos, who is indeed inside the crab, commands it and all his skeletons to raise their hands in a gesture of surrender, then he and Leon step out from the crab.
Thallatos explains the nature of the siege crab to Tyrrox and the others, and reveals that it can be ridden inside like a vehicle. Since the crab is undead and never tires, Thallatos explains that it is a great vehicle for travel.
With their little joke successfully played, Thallatos summons up his larger undead minions, which he had left in hiding a short distance away to avoid rousing suspicion. The horde is moved into the castle grounds out of sight. Only then does Tyrrox have Red Forman bring the workers in through the gate.
Fully reunited for the first time in eight days, the group exchanges a few stories about their travels. Tyrrox tells Leon and Thallatos about the encounters with the demons, omitting only the encounter with the stranger named Seth (because Tyrrox does not remember that bit thanks to the Nalfeshnee’s mind-enfeebling magic). In return, Leon tells him about what they found in the east, and about the queen’s message regarding Torgeth. Leon asks if there is a man named Lhaeo here, and Tyrrox points him out. Leon hands over the queen’s letter before going back to Tyrrox and the others.
With the sun low in the sky, the reunited group decides to finish clearing out the building known as the Small Hall, so that the work crew can begin restoring one of the castle’s several buildings to functionality.
While the crew resumes cutting the overgrowth from some of the castle’s fields and courtyards, Thallatos positions his larger undead at the front and rear entrances to the Small Hall. Then the group divides in two. Because Leon and Thallatos have not been in the Small Hall before, Vanemuine guides them to explore the western parts of the building, while Tyrrox and Nym check out the right side.
The building is much as the group left it before. As they near the rear stairwell, Vanemuine and Leon hear the sound of flapping wings. Although Leon believes they come from the direction of the stairwell, Vanemuine insists the sound comes from a hallway in the other direction. Thallatos details a few of his skeletal guards to hold the stairway and kill anything that comes down, then he and Leon follow Vanemuine to check the other direction.
Vanemuine moves out into the hallway, having heard the sound of flapping wings get closer. As Thallatos comes in behind him, he hears a sudden movement overhead, and the skeletal eagle riding on his shoulder falls to the ground. Thallatos feels another weight perch on his shoulder, and discovers that his imp familiar has returned. The imp explains that it came back to the castle to wait for him after they were separated. When Thallatos puts the eagle back on his shoulder, the imp knocks it off again, displaying a bit of jealousy. Thallatos decides to let the eagle walk.
When they reach the old kitchens, the group finds them heavily infested with a swarm of rats. Leon flies up to the ceiling and rains down a cone of fire, cooking the rats alive and killing them en masse. The rest of the ground floor remains clear, though Tyrrox gets his revenge on the others by jumping out of a doorway to surprise them.
Next, the group descends into the basement, the area in which the large serpent-like skeletal creature once resided. Upon hearing the tale of the creature, Thallatos expresses his profound disappointment that he was not there to witness (and perhaps control) the monster. However, he also decides that this room would make a good place to store some of his smaller minions (since the larger ones can’t get inside the building). Thallatos has some of his skeletons pile the stray bones off to one side and clear the rest of the room.
Next, the group heads back upstairs, continuing up to the second floor. They encounter a few cockatrices, which are dispatched easily. However, in one room teeming with the creatures, there is a much larger cockatrice, about the size of a grown man. The larger cockatrice attacks in concert with its smaller brethren, but is still defeated after causing only minor wounds and failing to petrify anyone.
Thallatos has all the bodies of the creatures that have been found in the Small Hall brought together by his skeletons. He casts a spell of desecration in one of the kitchens, and animates the largest cockatrice as well as the rats. The rest of the bodies are stored in the basement room in case he wants to raise them later.
Now that the Small Hall has been cleared out, Tyrrox instructs Red Forman to have the building cleaned up to prepare for repairing it. Since the Small Hall is the first building to be cleared of monsters, it will be the first building restored to full use.
The group searches the castle grounds and locates the stables. Although the building is run down, there is still enough left that it can be repaired. There are a few old horse skeletons in the remains of the stalls, which Thallatos claims and has added to his stash in the Small Hall basement. Tyrrox has Red put the mules in the stable for now.
Next, the four towers at the corners of the outer wall are searched. Although there are signs that various animals once nested in them, they are all abandoned now. The northwest tower appears to have once contained a rookery where birds of some kind were kept, although there is nothing there now but a few broken cages.
Leon finds Helena, who is taking a stroll through the courtyards, and does a little catching up.
The group checks out another building near the southeast corner of the castle grounds, and about the same size as the Small Hall but one floor taller. Inside, they find many rooms of equal size, with marks on the ground indicating that there were multiple beds in each room. There are also some long-ruined pieces of furniture that may once have been beds, tables, and chairs. From this, it is deduced that this building was a barracks that once hosted the castle guard.
Inside the barracks there is also a room that was clearly used as an armory. Although it has been pretty thoroughly picked over, the group does find a few pieces of well-made weapons and armor that were left behind for some reason, including a two-ended sword, a kukri, a large steel shield, and a few other things.
Tyrrox declares that he would like a building specifically to accommodate non-bipedal species such as centaurs, and a special room for his own use. He wants to convert the barracks, but Leon has the idea of building a new building for this purpose, and suggests a site on a patch of open land that has been cleared by the work crew. Tyrrox sees the wisdom in this, and speaks to Red Forman about getting that project started.
By this time night has fallen, and the group decides that on the following day they will explore the two largest buildings on the castle lands and clear them of monsters.
XP Awarded: 2,050 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Dec 10, 2010 2:03:38 GMT -5
Session 28: Saturday, November 20, 2010
The group sets off for Zazesspur to do some shopping, both for magic items and for supplies for the castle. In addition to selling off some of their magical loot and buying more, the group decides to purchase a large water tank to store water for Castle Tethyr.
When confronted by the logistics of transporting such a large contraption, the group decides instead to have it constructed at the castle by a team of dwarven metalworkers hired for the purpose. As a side effect, the castle’s smithy will have to be restored to working operation first.
Tyrrox visits the Smiling Centaur tavern to ask its owner Berdak about the construction of the place. Tyrrox wants to have a similar facility set up on the grounds of Castle Tethyr, so he wants to know if there are architectural plans available. Berdak explains that he does not have a copy of the plans himself, and that the original architect has died. The architect’s son has taken up the family business, but he lives in Velen, a small city located on a heavily forested peninsula to the northwest. Tyrrox decides that it would be too much trouble to track him down, so Berdak suggests checking to see if a copy of the plans was stored at the hall of records in Zazesspur.
Before leaving for the hall of records, Tyrrox and Berdak discuss the possibility of turning the Smiling Centaur into a franchise and opening a branch at Castle Tethyr. Berdak seems open to the possibility. Tyrrox then heads for the hall of records, and discovers that no records at all exist for the construction of the Smiling Centaur. The clerk tells him that the absence of records for plans, building permits, or anything of the sort suggests that the construction was illegal.
Upon learning of this, Leon hires a courier to send word to his friend and fellow lawyer Kingston Moonshadow in Darromar. Leon wants to hire Kingston to initiate proceedings to foreclose upon the tavern and purchase it. A small bribe is offered to the clerk to ensure that the group will have advance notice before the building is put up for auction, so that they can attempt to purchase it before the opportunity arises for someone else to do so.
When their errands in town are done, the group returns to Castle Tethyr. On the way, they notice something flying overhead, but since it makes no effort to approach them, they ignore it and continue on their way.
That flying creature is a griffon carrying a rider, a wood elf named Solius. Solius is flying to Myratma to visit with his son and daughter, whom he has not seen in months. However, when he arrives in town he finds both of their homes locked up with nobody home.
Thanks to a letter he received from his son a couple months back, Solius knows that his daughter was going to compete in a big dance contest some time back. With that as his only lead, he starts asking around to learn what he can of his children’s whereabouts.
Solius’s inquiries lead him to a tavern called the Gambling Ghost. The bartender points out to him two individuals who were said to be present at the dance contest – a dangerous-looking halfling and a tanned-looking young man with golden eyes.
Solius first approaches the halfling, who displays open hostility toward him, seemingly for no other reason than because he’s one of the “big folk.” The halfling tells him to get lost and refuses to speak to him. So Solius tries the other person, the tanned youth at the bar who is wearing an open vest.
From this man, Solius learns of the riot that broke out at the dance contest, that the prize was stolen, and the general descriptions of those who got away. From there Solius goes to the police, who inform him that his son and daughter, Terinor and Tamuril, were murdered by a dragon-man named Torgeth. The police tell Solius about how his children’s killer was being held in Darromar awaiting trial, but then vanished from custody.
Solius determines that the people he passed en route to the city might well be the same people that this Torgeth was once known to adventure with, so he turns around and heads for Castle Tethyr where they seemed to be going.
Meanwhile, at the castle Tyrrox, Leon, Thallatos, Vanemuine, Nym, and Lhaeo investigate the Grand Hall, the largest and most prominent building on the castle grounds. The throne room still bears signs of battle from when Leon and Tyrrox fought against Irea here before. In fact, pieces of the Shield Guardian they destroyed still litter the room.
The group travels through the massive ground floor of the building, which is about three times the size of the Small Hall. They investigate numerous rooms, many of which still bear signs of the burning, looting, and fighting that occurred there decades ago, as well as the neglect of long years since.
Upon investigating the western stairs, they find apartments on the second floor, but also find that the top of the western tower has disappeared. There are signs of destruction but no signs of what happened to the rubble. Conversely, the eastern tower (where Lhaeo informs the group housed the royal apartments), seems to have broken off and fallen down onto the roof rest of the building.
The group clears the rooms one by one, identifying the purpose of most rooms. Eventually they move on to the royal apartments. Lhaeo, who professes himself an amateur historian, describes for the others the events that led to the burning and abandonment of Castle Tethyr.
Lhaeo tells them about how the crown prince (older brother to the current King Haedrak III) conspired with a top general to betray the king, setting fires to cover his crime. Even as the fires spread out of control, the general and prince both betrayed each other, leading to decades of civil war.
Finally, as the group reaches the royal quarters in the eastern tower, they find a closed and locked door. Unlike every other door in the castle, this one has not been broken or burned. Tyrrox kicks in the door, revealing an antechamber with another closed door beyond. The group realizes that whatever malevolent forces still lurk in this castle are probably to be found beyond the door, which has some flickering light coming from beneath it.
Thallatos casts a spell to detect the presence of undead behind the door, and finds several undead present, including one of overwhelming power. He warns the others of this development. Because the light on the other side of the door seems to be coming from flames, Leon decides to be first through the door because of his fire resistance.
Leon tries to kick in the door, but hurts his foot. So he instead steps back and disintegrates it with an eldritch blast. Inside the chamber he finds a group of skeletons which are on fire, as well as two other unique creatures. One is a skeletal figure in tattered, burnt garments with two gems in the eye sockets of his skull – one red and one black, known as an Eye of Fear and Flame. And finally, there is a spectral figure cloaked in darkness, floating above and behind the rest.
The spectral figure passes through the wall out into the night air as the rest attack. Lhaeo casts a spell to turn himself incorporeal and pursues it outside, leaving everyone else to deal with the rest. For all that they are on fire, the flaming skeletons prove to be not much more dangerous than regular skeletons, and most are dispatched quite easily. The Eye of Fear and Flame, however, drops a fireball on the group, causing severe damage.
Meanwhile, Solius arrives at the outside of the castle gates, saddle-sore from many hours of riding his exhausted griffon back and forth across the countryside. He sees some flashes of light from deep within the castle grounds, and Solius’s eyes (keen even by elven standards) pick out a battle going on in the air.
Spurring his exhausted mount on into the castle, Solius alights atop the Small Hall and perceives a flying man battling a wraithlike creature in the air outside the Grand Hall, and signs of other combat going on inside. The man is not faring well against the wraith, and so Solius fires a couple arrows from his magical bow to come to the man’s aid.
Inside, the Eye of Fear and Flame shows its other power as it inspires magical fear in Thallatos, causing him to flee the room. Thallatos flees down the stairs back into the main hall, and Vanemuine pursues to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or run into something else.
Trusting Tyrrox and Nym to finish off the Eye of Fear and Flame, Leon flies out of the room and through a hole in the wall outside to come to Lhaeo’s aid. The badly injured Lhaeo gladly retreats from the Dread Wraith, polymorphs himself into a Stirge and flies back into the castle.
Inside, the Eye of Fear and Flame is defeated by Nym, and Tyrrox clears out the last of the fire skeletons. Outside, Leon finishes off the Dread Wraith with help from Solius, who then introduces himself to Leon and explains his purpose in being there.
While Lhaeo receives some much-needed healing from Nym, Vanemuine eventually catches up to Thallatos and the two of them return to the scene of the battle. Leon introduces Solius to everyone else, and they share what they know of Torgeth – that his murder of Solius’s children was unknown to them until Torgeth was arrested at the gates of the royal palace in Darromar, and that he recently disappeared from an antimagic cell there. They explain to him the bloodstained lotus flower and what it supposedly means, and also reveal their belief that if Torgeth lives, he could be somewhere in Myratma.
Since the hour is late and Solius needs rest, he is offered the hospitality of the castle and accepts. He accompanies the group as they explore the last part of the Grand Hall – the basement. There they find the dungeons, as well as the area where the castle’s various privies empty. They also find a vault, which has been picked clean but is otherwise mostly intact.
The next morning, the group explores the last remaining building in the castle grounds, which turns out to be a series of apartments. Once that is cleared, Castle Tethyr is officially declared free of monsters. Tyrrox informs Red Forman that the area is safe for his workmen. The dwarven crew also arrives to begin their work on the water tank.
XP Awarded: 2,000 + petition
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Dec 16, 2010 7:16:03 GMT -5
So what happened at this grand battle I missed?
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Post by Velaryon on Dec 16, 2010 15:31:10 GMT -5
I'll give you the Cliff Notes version via PM, but I haven't written the full summary yet. Do you have notes for the part that you were there for?
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Dec 16, 2010 20:54:43 GMT -5
Sort of. They are really vague but I can post them if you think they will help.
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Post by Velaryon on Dec 16, 2010 22:08:07 GMT -5
They will. Unless it's like "One of us did this thing, but I don't remember what it was, and then that guy sitting across the table from me rolled a die, but I didn't know what it was for or what he got." And if you DID write that exact sentence, I will laugh my ass off and probably give you petition points.
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Feb 24, 2011 16:13:02 GMT -5
There seems to be a lack of summaries here...
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Post by Velaryon on Feb 25, 2011 19:42:00 GMT -5
Yeah, sorry about that. I know I've been slacking there. I think after tomorrow, I will combine the last couple sessions into one big summary, covering the journey down through the maze into the Eyes of Night hideout, the big battle there, and whatever happens in the aftermath.
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Feb 27, 2011 1:28:50 GMT -5
Ok that sounds good.
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Post by Velaryon on Sept 5, 2011 23:26:57 GMT -5
Session 29: Sunday, December 12, 2010 Session 30: Friday, January 21, 2011 Session 31: Saturday, February 5, 2011 Session 32: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Now that Castle Tethyr is finally cleared and ready for renovation, the group decides to get some things done in Myratma. They board the group’s new carriage, which is enlarged, armored in mithral, and equipped with siege weapons. Siege crab pulls the assembly, and the group (accompanied by Lhaeo) heads for the city.
Along the way, Thallatos is approached by Lhaeo, who is clearly bothered by something. Lhaeo asks whether it is possible that the dread wraith encountered in the throne room, and the other undead with the gems in its eyes, might possibly have been the previous king of Tethyr, Alemander IV, and his treacherous son Prince Alemander V.
Thallatos explains that while the undead might have been formed from the deaths of the king and prince, and might even possess some residual memories from those men, these particular undead are not actually those people. Some kinds of undead remain the same person, but these are not among those kinds. Lhaeo seems relieved by this information, thanks Thallatos, and goes back to wait with the others.
After many hours of travel, the group starts to get near the city. The distinctive-looking mithral-armored carriage and the giant undead crab are moved far off the road to avoid as much notice as possible. Thallatos, Leon, and Vanemuine go into town while the others remain outside. Solius goes into town on his own business as well, promising to meet up with the others eventually.
In town, the three of them try to gather some information on a few subjects. Thallatos is unable to discover the whereabouts of Tabitha, as she hasn’t been seen at the Gambling Ghost in days. Word is left at the Myratma council hall that the group would like to arrange a meeting with Seth, the stranger who arrived out of thin air to help Tyrrox, Nym, and Vanemuine. They are told to go to the abandoned mansion at the northeast end of town the following night.
The next day, Tyrrox runs to Zazesspur to pick up some magical items for himself and Leon, and the others wait for him. That evening, the group (minus Tyrrox) travels to the meeting place to speak to Seth. Nym tells the others that this mansion is the ruins of the Jhannivar estate.
The Jhannivvar family were the founders and longtime rulers of Myratma. Though a lot of people now have the Jhannivvar name, not all of them are closely (or even directly) connected to the former ruling family.
The Jhannivvar rule in Myratma lasted until near the end of the Reclamation Wars, when the Lord Jhannivvar attempted to proclaim himself the rightful king. This dragged out the civil wars even longer, until Lord Jhannivvar was eventually defeated. He was killed and his manor was left to decay. Now, it seems that this Seth is using the place as a hideout.
When the group arrives at the Jhannivvar ruins, they are escorted inside. Seth awaits in the parlor, which is still furnished as if it were an occupied house rather than the ruin that it is supposed to be. Seth is attended by a small group of people who seem to be servants. Upon learning the purpose for their visit, Seth dispatches one to bring someone named Aginor.
Aginor turns out to be someone that Leon and Vanemuine have met before. Vanemuine knows Aginor as the leader of a group that attacked the rehearsal studio of Og! the Smasher when Tyrrox and Vanemuine were acting as Og!’s backup dancers. Leon knows Aginor as the fellow warlock whom he met and exchanged pleasantries with during the riot following Og! the Smasher’s performance at the dance contest.
The group explains that they intend to go after the Eyes of Night, and would like assistance. The Bone Claws are receptive to this idea, as they have been reduced in power and prestige thanks to the Eyes of Night. Aginor provides a bit of intelligence the group has uncovered: the location of the Eyes of Night headquarters. It seems they are located in a labyrinth beneath the city, at the center of a maze filled with traps, both magical and mundane. The maze has two entrances, of which the Bone Claws have found one. The famous restaurant The Efreetium apparently contains one of the entrances.
The group quickly lays out a plan of attack. When they choose to attack the following morning, the two Bone Claws representatives’ enthusiasm cools. Unfortunately they are either unable or unwilling to provide much in the way of physical assistance for a morning attack.
Thallatos also asks after Tabitha, just to see if they might have encountered her. Although Seth denies it, one of his attendants accidentally lets the truth slip. Seth is forced to admit that he caught the royal agent snooping around and locked her up to keep her quiet. As a sign of good faith, he turns her over to the group.
The group eventually take their leave of the Bone Claws, with much less good feeling than was present before. They return to the others outside the city and make plans for the next day. Lhaeo pledges to inform the city guard so they can establish a perimeter around the Efreetium and keep civilians from getting in the way.
Early the next morning, the group sets off for the Efreetium. True to his word, Lhaeo has the local guard keeping people away. Tabitha uses some of her illusion magic to help get most of Thallatos’s undead to the building without causing a panic, though an occasional person manages to see through one of her illusions.
Once inside, the group announces their intentions to the restaurant staff. The maitre d’ at first denies that there is any connection to the Eyes of Night gang, but eventually a trapdoor is found in the restaurant’s wine cellar which leads downward. Everyone starts heading in, and Leon steals a few bottles of wine before going with.
At the bottom of the descending staircase is the entrance to a maze, just like the group was warned about by the Bone Claws. With some degree of apprehension, everyone forms up in line and starts heading into the maze.
Predictably, the maze is full of traps, everything from arrow and spear launchers, to scything blades, to pitfalls, to magical traps. Some of these are avoided with the assistance of Tabitha, who is able to spot many of the traps and direct the group around, or Lhaeo, who at one point uses a stone shape spell to cover up a bunch of spear-launching traps embedded in the wall. But just in case, Thallatos always has one of his displacer beasts walk in front, and heals it after it stumbles through a trap.
The long, slow process continues for what seems like hours, until the displacer beast triggers a blade barrier spell which blocks the entire corridor ahead of them. When the spell shows no signs of letting up after a couple minutes’ wait, the group decides they don’t have all day. Thallatos orders his umber hulk skeleton to burrow a hole through the side wall of the corridor.
The umber hulk bursts through the wall into another corridor, and the group looks both ways down the dark hallway before choosing a direction. This leads to a very long straightaway, which continues for hundreds of feet before turning a corner. There are a few more traps, but nothing as difficult as another blade barrier.
The long straightaway finally comes to and end, and they round a corner. Part of the floor collapses, causing the displacer beast and several others to fall. It is a long and frustrating process getting everyone back out of the pit, especially Tyrrox.
Just on the other side of the pit, the party finds its greatest challenge yet – a six-armed demon with the lower body of a massive snake. Unfortunately, most of Thallatos’s undead are still trapped behind the pitfall, along with Lhaeo. With their forces separated like this, the party must take on the mighty demon with only a fraction of their strength.
Things get worse when the marilith casts a blade barrier spell right in the center of their ranks. A few people are able to drop to the ground and duck under the spinning blades, but not everyone is so fortunate. Leon, while on the ground, sees that Tabitha is unconscious and bleeding from her wounds. Unfortunately, she had turned invisible moments before, so the others have no idea she is even hurt. Leon crawls over to her inert body, rummages for his curing wand, and restores her enough that she can move to safety.
While everyone is moving clear of the blades, the marilith draws six swords and moves in for the attack. The fight is quick and brutal, and the marilith seems to be gaining the upper hand, until Thallatos uses one of his newest spells to summon a wall of wailing spirits. In addition to its fearsome appearance, the wall causes a deep, supernatural fear in those on the wrong side of the wall. Although strong-willed, the marilith proves no exception, and the magically-induced fear causes it to flee down the opposite corridor. Tyrrox thunders off in pursuit, being the only one with a hope of catching the fleeing demon before it comes to its senses.
Meanwhile, the others take a moment to catch their breath and assess their situation. Leon has gotten Tabitha to safety and back on her feet, and she dispels the blade barrier so that the rest of their forces can be brought across the gap.
With the imminent threat removed, the group notices a huge metal door against the wall behind where the marilith was standing. It seems that by breaking through a wall, they have inadvertently circumvented the majority of the maze. While they wait for Tyrrox to return, Tabitha checks the door for traps. She finds a couple and disables them, but does not find them all. She triggers a trap onto herself and is wounded once more.
Tyrrox chases the fleeing demon down the corridor, another long straightaway like the one from which the party emerged a few minutes before. However, in a straight path the centaur is faster, and he rides down the marilith and impales her with his lance. The marilith falls to the ground, dead. As Tyrrox turns around to head back to the others, he hears voices echoing from the direction where the marilith was heading. He assumes they are Eyes of Night members patrolling the maze, and hurries back.
When Tyrrox rejoins the others, they patch themselves up and then Leon melts through the door with his eldritch blasts, to prevent the rest of the traps on the door from hindering them. The mundane traps are averted, but the magical traps still go off, now targeting Leon. However, he survives and destroys the door.
Inside, they find the true hideout of the Eyes of Night thieves’ guild. However, by now their presence is well-known, and preparations have been made. The first obstacles in their way are half a dozen centaur-like demons, floating an inch or two above the ground, known as Armanites. The Armanites draw their lances and charge through the air as the group rushes forward to meet them.
Only when they have moved in do they realize that there are men waiting in the corners to surround them in ambush. Despite being surrounded, the group fights back and overcomes the thieves and the Armanites. Tabitha blinds two of them with a glitterdust spell, while Tyrrox meets their charge with one of his own. Leon fires an eldritch blast at an Armanite, and Vanemuine fends off the attacking thieves, killing a couple of them. Thallatos marshals his undead, and they swarm over the attackers. It doesn’t take long before all six Armanites and all the thieves in this room lie dead.
Moving beyond into the next chamber, the group finds more demons waiting for them. These, however, are familiar. One is the Nalfeshnee that had enfeebled Tyrrox’s mind. Another is the Retriever that had petrified Thallatos. The third and final demon is something new – a large demon called a Glabrezu.
These prove to be another difficult challenge, especially because someone is sniping the group with poisoned crossbow bolts from the shadows. Tabitha breaks off to search the side rooms and kills a few thieves while the group fights off the demons. One by one they are slain.
The sniper, however, is still in the room somewhere. To get some cover and time to heal from wounds, Thallatos throws up another spiritwall spell. On the other side of the wall, through the haze of wailing spirits, the group can see two cloaked figures flee through the door into the next chamber, closing it behind them.
With the brief respite gained by the spirit wall, Thallatos heals his undead while Nym tends to everyone else. Once everybody is good to go, Thallatos dismisses the spell, and the group moves to check out the corner storage rooms in this chamber. They find half a dozen or so magical items, chief among them a powerfully enchanted bow. They also find quite a few drow, slain by rapier thrusts courtesy of Tabitha.
As they are looting this antechamber, Vanemuine hears the sounds of someone approaching from back the way they came. He alerts the others, and they turn to find Solius approaching with some allies – the Red Lotus guild. Among them are the pale-skinned ninja with the long braid, two twin teenage girls (one was a dancer in the contest a few months ago, her sister was her musical accompaniment), and some other forces, every one of them a foreigner from the distant lands of Kara-Tur, the continent to the east of Faerun.
Solius explains that his inquiries led him to the Red Lotus, who were more than willing to join the battle against the Eyes of Night. It seems they have common cause – their true enemy was Torgeth, never Tyrrox or any of the others.
The pale-skinned ninja, whose name is Toshiro, explains that Torgeth dishonored him by humiliating him during the battle at the dance contest, and so he sent a bloodied lotus as a warning to Torgeth that he would be a target. Somehow it was delivered to Tyrrox by mistake.
When he learned that Torgeth was imprisoned in the dungeons of the royal palace in Darromar, Toshiro led his Red Lotus assassins there to slay Torgeth, but he swears he only knocked out the guards, and did not kill any of them. They were surprised to find that Torgeth was already in the process of breaking free, having somehow found the power to do so despite being in an isolated cell protected from his draconic abilities. Torgeth broke free of them and escaped.
Solius explains that they encountered resistance in the maze, and that’s why they are late. Furthermore, there are more Eyes of Night reinforcements coming in behind them. It is decided that Solius, Toshiro, and the twins (whose names are Mizuki and Ayame) will accompany the main party, and the rest of the Red Lotus forces will try and hold back the reinforcements. Thallatos sends most of his minions with them as well, keeping a few of his most powerful along with himself.
Lhaeo, who was grievously wounded in the fight with the three demons, announces that most of his spells are exhausted, and he can be of little further use to them. Before they advance, he casts a few more spells to help them, then promises to do what he can to help the rear-guard.
The group that is pushing forward consists of Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Nym, Thallatos (with his displacer beast pack lord and wyvern), Tabitha, Solius, Toshiro, and the twins Mizuki and Ayame. When they’re ready, they push open the door to the next chamber and continue on.
The first sight to greet their eyes is Erisha, the dancer and lieutenant of the Eyes of Night, whom they had killed and whose body Thallatos had animated as a skeleton. She is now very much alive, but is chained to an altar facing the doorway. Nym and Leon conclude that she is being used as an offering to the drow goddess Lolth for some reason.
They decide to leave Erisha alone for now, and investigate the rest of the area. There are two doors to the left of the central area, two doors to the right, and another set of large double doors behind the altar.
Each of the four doors to the sides lead to bedrooms. A quick search is conducted, and it is determined that these rooms belong to the lieutenants of the guild. The rooms to the left belong to Erisha and to Yoren (the cowardly man whom Oz once described as a cruel bully, and with whom the group has tangled several times before although he has always gotten away).
One room to the right belongs to the sniper, whom Leon knows to be a woman since he confronted her face to face once before. One drawer in her room is full of crossbow bolts, and her closet is full of many different styles of clothing, both male and female. The fourth room belongs to someone else, but no one the group has ever met.
Once the search of the four bedrooms is completed, the group’s attention returns to Erisha, who is unconscious on the altar. She is given a small amount of healing to awaken her. Erisha tells them that they are all going to die, and they should run away now so that maybe some of them might make it. Before she can explain herself, the altar begins to glow and some sort of transformation begins to happen to her.
Leon and Solius try to remove Erisha from the altar, but she is screaming and thrashing around. Something bursts out of her chest and grows to a huge size. It’s a huge spider-like demon called a Bebilith. The demon attacks the closest target, which turns out to be Tyrrox, and latches hold of him with its forelegs. It starts prying apart the plates of his armor, discarding them on the floor as it burrows inside to try and tear him apart.
Vanemuine blasts the Bebilith with a ray of enfeeblement, weakening it. Thallatos weakens it more with an energy-draining spell. Leon ignites the demon’s flesh with a blast of hellfire, and Tyrrox fights his way free long enough to charge it with his lance. Solius stikes the killing blow with a flurry of arrows to the demon’s face.
Thallatos casts a desecration spell on the altar, where the remains of Erisha’s body remain gruesomely splattered, and animates the bebilith to join his horde. Tyrrox then smashes the altar in a fit of rage over his damaged armor.
Leon helps Tyrrox temporarily rig up the armor so that it can be worn for a little longer, but it will need more permanent repairs as soon as they can be arranged. In the meantime, he replaces the damaged pieces of plate, and is ready to go once more.
They push open the wooden doors to the next room, and see several foes awaiting them. Front and center is a dwarf, standing square to them wearing what appears to be a red cloak, and with an axe planted in front of him, holding the handle. Something seems familiar about him, but it takes the group a few moments to recognize Torgeth.
Torgeth has somehow reverted to his original species, no longer a dragonborn of Bahamut. Before their eyes, the cloak unfolds to become a pair of red dragon wings.
Behind Torgeth, there is a huge minotaur-like demon called a Goristro, a huge hulking monster with a small black mustache. Behind the Goristro is an armored drow woman, the priestess of Lolth that is one of the two co-leaders of the Eyes of Night.
When the group tries to enter the room, they find that it is protected by a forbiddance spell, clerical magic that wards the area against planar travel and causes harm to anyone of different alignment from the caster. Unfortunately, that includes all of them.
Suspecting that the forbiddance effect might be tied to the entryway, Thallatos has one of his minions break a hole through the wall into the larger room, but that proves not to be the case.
The group spreads out to attack, with the Goristro being the biggest threat at first. The priestess of Lolth remains in the background, casting various spells on herself. One causes her to grow to roughly the size of Tyrrox, though she is still dwarfed by the massive Goristro, whose horns are nearly scraping the high ceiling of this room.
Torgeth proves difficult to strike a solid blow on, as he is very well-armored and magically protected. However, Thallatos casts an Evard’s black tentacles spell that ensnares Torgeth, holding him in place long enough for Tyrrox (who is able to fly above the reach of the tentacles thanks to Leon’s using his wand to make the centaur fly) to impale him with his lance.
Vanemuine weakens the Goristro with a ray of enfeeblement, draining an exceptional amount of the creature’s strength. The priestess finally makes an offensive move, casting an area spell that paralyzes Toshiro, Mizuki, and Ayame. Despite being well within the reach of the black tentacles, they seem unable to grasp the priestess. However, they seem to be reaching into a side door that leads to a side room, and grappling someone hidden in there.
Eventually the Goristro is slain, leaving only the priestess to worry about, or so it appears at first. Thallatos is struck from behind by a blunt object, and suddenly feels himself unable to cast the black tentacles spell for some reason. He looks behind him, and sees a man he has never seen before.
Standing there is a man of Calishite heritage, older than Thallatos by some years with just the slightest hints of gray creeping into his hair, mustache and beard. He is lightly armored in close-fitting clothing, wearing a bunch of rings on his hands, and a bright purple turban on his head. He is holding a mace that is dripping blood from the spot where Thallatos was struck on the back of the head.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox and Leon find themselves unable to score a serious wound on the priestess, who is protected not only by her plate armor but by heavy layers of protective magic. She responds to their efforts with a disintegration spell that nearly kills Leon outright, and a curse on Tyrrox that renders him so weak he can barely move.
Vanemuine joins in and tries to slash the priestess with his blade, but she disarms him and contemptuously flings the blade across the room, where he cannot safely reach it because of the black tentacles, which grasp blindly for anything that comes in reach.
The man who attacked Thallatos reveals himself to be the other leader of the Eyes of Night, and tries to persuade Thallatos to surrender. However, Thallatos sees what trouble his friends are in and instead steps closer to help them. He targets the priestess with dispelling magic, trying to destroy her protective enchantments. He doesn’t get all of them, but one he does get is the magic that was protecting her from being grabbed.
The tentacles snatch at the priestess, and Leon uses a new invocation of his own, which causes chains ablaze with fire to sprout from the ground and grapple her as well. Now that many of her magical protections are stripped away, and she is held fast by tentacle and chain, the priestess is less formidable.
Meanwhile, the other guild leader has slipped away. He attacks Leon out of the blue, stripping away his ability to use some of his invocations. However, the man sees the battle going against his guild, and remains hidden rather than confronting them openly.
Finally the priestess is slain, and an anguished scream comes from one of the side rooms, the one where the tentacles continue to grapple someone who is out of sight.
Finally, the battle begins to wind down. Tyrrox succumbs to his many injuries and falls down dead, but only for a moment as Nym is there with a spell that quickly raises him before his soul has even left the body.
Yoren tries to attack from the shadows, but he is outnumbered and quickly slain. The other man is still making himself scarce, so Vanemuine decides to look for the source of the scream.
Inside the side room (which turns out to be the priestess’s personal chambers), he finds the sniper, a drow woman with pink eyes instead of the red color that dark elves normally have. She trains her crossbow on Vanemuine, but when he promises she will not be harmed, she surrenders. She says that she never liked the priestess anyway, but Vanemuine spots a tear in her eye as she says it.
The drow girl is taken prisoner and tied up by Vanemuine and Thallatos. In the meantime, Leon strikes a verbal agreement with the guild’s other leader, extracting a ransom and the promise to leave town and not seek revenge. But when he demands to make the agreement binding with a magical contract, the man flees by using a magical ring to burrow a tunnel into the ground and flees down it. When Leon pursues, the tunnel abruptly ends and there is no sign of the man.
As the group begins patching up their numerous wounds, Thallatos heads back to one of the previous rooms. There he is greeted by an astonishing sight – the thieves’ guild leader is trapped by steel bands that have pinned his arms to his sides, and he is held by someone wearing Lhaeo’s clothes, but not Lhaeo.
It takes Thallatos a moment to recognize the man in this situation, but he realizes that this is none other than Haedrak III, husband of Queen Zaranda and King of Tethyr! He reveals that he was Lhaeo all along, and apologizes for the deception but says it was necessary. He informs Thallatos that the battle outside is over as well. They won, and the Eyes of Night forces have all been either slain or captured. A few of Thallatos’s minions were destroyed, but most are still intact.
King Haedrak leads his prisoner back to the others, and reveals his true identity to them all. He explains that he came along with them to see the truth of the situation in Myratma for himself, and to get to know personally these people who want to purchase Castle Tethyr and run it themselves.
Haedrak has judged them worthy, and accepts their proposal. He informs them that he will agree to sell them Castle Tethyr and the surrounding grounds, and the price will be the contents of the Eyes of Night’s treasure vault, which is protected by wards and adamantine doors, located to the very rear of the underground guild complex. Unfortunately, the deal must be made sight unseen, so the group reluctantly agrees despite not knowing what might await them in the vault. Furthermore, Haedrak agrees to have the weakening curse removed from Tyrrox, since Nym is unable to remove it himself.
Haedrak informs the group that they may keep everything found in the guild hideout, including the belongings taken from the priestess and the other guild leader, except for what’s in the vault.
Lastly, the king tells them that there are two conditions on the sale of the castle. First, they must give the castle a new name, since it is no longer the ruling seat of the Tethyrian royalty. Secondly, one of them must be raised to a lordship, although he leaves it up to the group to decide whom. They decide on Thallatos, a choice that Haedrak finds acceptable despite Thallatos’s necromantic powers.
The last thing to be resolved right now is the fate of the surviving Red Lotus members. On one hand, they did help defeat the Eyes of Night. While Toshiro and the twins were of little help against the guild leadership, their underlings did well against the enemy forces. Toshiro agrees to surrender himself to the king without a fight, on the condition that Leon take custody of the girls Mizuki and Ayame, and take them away from Myratma. He agrees, and King Haedrak finds the agreement acceptable. He also takes custody of the other prisoner, the young drow woman whom Vanemuine captured.
From here, the group begins the long, laborious process of transporting their haul to the surface, so it can be shipped to their new castle. Haedrak promises to make the official arrangements for the sale and Thallatos’s ennoblement when things are settled in Myratma. The group begins the slow trek back to their new home, and to a brief respite from their adventures.
XP Awarded: Session 29 – 4,700 + petition Session 30 – 2,142 + petition Session 31 – 2,829 + petition Session 32 – 5,757 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Sept 5, 2011 23:27:39 GMT -5
There seems to be a lack of summaries here... Finally, I have rectified that problem. Beware though, it's a long read.
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Sept 6, 2011 8:18:26 GMT -5
Excellent!
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Thallatos
Dread Necromancer
All the "evil" power for all the good applications
Posts: 185
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Post by Thallatos on Sept 7, 2011 16:53:36 GMT -5
It's a damn good read sir! Thanks for putting all that effort forth on it. Very great to get caught back up. Certainly makes you wanna play again doesn't it? hehe
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Sept 7, 2011 20:52:46 GMT -5
I don't know about you but it makes Tyrrox want to murder some sea hag river dragon mer kraken men for sure!
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leon
Hellfire Warlock
Posts: 185
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Post by leon on Sept 8, 2011 2:12:57 GMT -5
but...that guy was actually a dragon wasn't he?
meh, we could take him!
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 26, 2011 23:14:13 GMT -5
Time Skip, Part 1
Here is a brief rundown of the events that take place between the fall of the Eyes of Night thieves' guild on the 12th of Eleint, and the beginning of our next session.
Later that day, the group of you consisting of Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Leon, Thallatos, Solius, and Nym, as well as Tabitha and the twin girls Mizuki and Ayame that you accepted custody of from the Red Lotus guild, settle down at a secure location to celebrate your victories and divide up the spoils of your conquest. Tabitha takes her modest share and then departs to go and help the King, who is wrapping up the remaining details of your battle. The twins remain silent in the background, watching you do your thing but remaining quiet unless spoken to.
The following day, Leon makes arrangements to sell off the various things that none of you decided to keep, and purchase the upgrades and new items that you all agreed upon. Some of the gear upgrades that you arrange for will take weeks, even months to complete, so some of you go for awhile without certain of your usual items. Leon manages to secure a very favorable rate for your transactions because of the sheer quantity of business you are providing.
Once those arrangements are made, Leon then speaks to Thallatos and the two of them decide to pay a little visit to the Bone Claws, the other thieves' guild who provided you with the location of the Eyes of Night hideout but gave no further assistance.
Tabitha injects herself into the outing, saying she has a score to settle with this Lord Seth, and the twins (who have concluded that Thallatos is the leader and assigned themselves as his personal bodyguards regardless of what he says) come along as well.
Massing all of Thallatos’s undead horde, they march over to the Jhannivar ruins, the dilapidated mansion where the group met with the Bone Claws a few nights prior. Much as she did the previous day, Tabitha cloaks the entire horde in illusion magic so that it can pass through the city with a minimum of disruption.
The trip ends with a vicious fight between them and the Bone Claws. Lord Seth, who turns out to be a vampire, is slain by Leon, although not before he dominates Mizuki and commands her to attack Thallatos. The previously unknown leader of the group, Bone Claw McGraw, is slain, but Aginor the warlock escapes without a trace. Thallatos and Ayame manage to subdue Mizuki without hurting her too badly, and Ayame also saves Tabitha from a life-threatening injury by placing one of her swords (which heals the wielder when it draws blood) in the unconscious Tabitha’s palm and slicing her own hand with it.
Leaving the even more dilapidated Jhannivar ruins behind, the group retreats to lick their wounds. Ayame and Tabitha both require medical attention, and Mizuki is still under the effects of Seth’s mental domination. Thallatos is forced to keep her bound until they can seek someone to remove the compulsion effect.
The loot from this mini-adventure is given to the twins and Tabitha, who once more takes her leave to resume her duties with the King. Leon heads back to Castle Tethyr and Helena, while Thallatos chooses to stay behind in Myratma for a few more days.
The following morning however, Thallatos wakes up extremely sick with fever. He refuses to seek medical attention, preferring to try and sleep through the sickness. However, it gets progressively worse for several days, until finally Mizuki (now free from her mental compulsion and extremely ashamed of what she has done) seeks out a healer and brings him to the ailing Thallatos. He is diagnosed with filth fever, which he contracted from a wound suffered in combat with the Bone Claws, and the disease is removed. Thallatos eventually concludes his business in town, and heads back to the castle to rejoin the others.
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 27, 2011 1:31:51 GMT -5
Time Skip, Part 2
After some negotiation and heated discussions, the group rechristens their new castle Heavenforth Manor. Work on reconstructing the castle continues, and support staff is hired to get the place running. The dwarven team restores the castle smithy to full operating capacity, and next completes the water tower. Nym gradually starts to fill the tower with water by using his magic to conjure it.
Thallatos travels to Darromar, where he is officially raised by Queen Zaranda to the title Count of Bardshyr County (the area containing Heavenforth Manor). The rest of the party are invited to the ceremony as well, though whether they come is up to each one of you individually.
Leon proposes to Helena, and she accepts. He asks to meet her family, and so Helena takes him to Myratma, where she leads him to the family crypt and reveals that her father was “The Pretender Prince” Yusuf Jhannivar, the former ruler of Myratma and a traitor who attempted to usurp the throne from Queen Zaranda near the war’s end. The end result of this was prolonging the wars for more than a year before Yusuf was slain and peace was restored. Helena does not mourn her father. Shortly thereafter, she marries Leon in a ceremony at Heavenforth Manor, attended by the party and other guests including the royal family and other acquaintances of the group.
Leon quickly finds himself in charge of organizing most of the day-to-day operations of the castle, and hires some more staff in addition to the workers that Tyrrox already hired. Among other things, he hires cooks, cleaning staff, couriers, a clerk, a brewer, and a staff of guards. He also hires a butler named Sinclair, to whom he is able to delegate many of the tasks related to managing these people.
As the days pass somewhat uneventfully, Tyrrox finds himself reexamining some choices in his life, and decides that the knightly code he has pledged himself to is not for him after all. Seeking for a way to partially reinvent himself, he is told by Nym of a wise sage that lives alone in the western Starspire Mountains that can help Tyrrox with his dilemma. Nym reveals that he too once faced a similar situation in his life and was able, with this sage’s help, to become the humble servant of Ilmater that he is today.
Vanemuine soon seeks this sage as well (independently of Tyrrox since Nym explains that such a quest for self-realization can only be undertaken alone), because he believes that he can better hone his skills on the path of the bladesinger.
Since the changes he seeks in his life are less drastic, Vanemuine’s quest is completed more quickly, and he returns to Heavenforth Manor before Tyrrox, having gained increased mastery of his blade magic. Leon, who is finding that he as well wants to change something in his life, leaves his now visibly-pregnant wife to seek this same sage up in the mountains.
Tyrrox returns, having made some changes to the way he approaches battle and life. Leon returns as well, now sporting a hellhound that he seems to have adopted. It scares some people around the Manor, but seems to obey Leon pretty faithfully and so doesn’t cause much trouble.
Count Thallatos takes a tour of his new domain, making an effort to visit every town within the borders of County Bardshyr. He finds that the towns, as well as many of the outlying farms, are somewhat empty as many people have been flocking to the cities due to the severe drought that continues to plague the land. Everywhere he goes, Thallatos is flanked by his self-appointed twin bodyguards.
Solius Arkirian settles in at Heavenforth Manor along with his children Terinor and Tamuril, who were resurrected after the battle in Myratma. Grateful to the group for helping to return his children to him, Solius goes back into semi-retirement, living at the castle with his son and daughter. Solius helps to guard the manor, especially while many of the others are gone, and Terinor volunteers to join the guard staff. Tamuril has no martial skill, but she quickly becomes popular among the common folk at the castle and helps to lift their spirits for the hard work ahead.
Restoration of the castle buildings progresses at a decent rate, especially as more help is brought in. There are no shortage of workers willing to do whatever is needed for the promise of decent pay, shelter, and especially food. In addition, once a week Ayame is able to use the Lyre of Building that Leon purchased to do the work of hundreds of men in fixing up the castle. In the span of two months, the Small Hall, barracks, and guest apartments are restored enough to become operable and inhabitable, though they still need to be furnished. More work is also done on the outer wall and the three gates, though they remain a work in progress.
Heavenforth Manor quickly transforms from an abandoned ruin into a flourishing small town. There is no shortage of workers, and many of them bring families with them as well. Nym finds that the water he produces is often used as quickly as he produces it, but much of the grounds around the barracks (where most of the workers have taken up residence) are quickly converted into gardens which produce some vegetables to help feed the rapidly growing castle population. However, demand still outweighs supply, and it becomes clear that food is still a major issue, especially as more people begin arriving almost daily at the castle gates, looking for work as word spreads of the restored castle.
Along with the influx of people, stories begin to spread of the heroes who have made this place possible. In addition to the now-famous story of how you all routed three powerful thieves’ guilds, word has spread of other heroic deeds such as how you helped bring in a shipment of food to Darromar some months back. The vast majority of tales told about the group are positive, though a few dark tales are occasionally whispered, such as Leon possessing devilish power or Thallatos commanding abominable monsters. One worker swears he once saw Tyrrox destroy a tavern in Darromar in a fit of madness. These tales are generally scoffed at, and those who tell them shamed into silence.
In addition to the traffic of common people that pass through the castle, several other people come and go at intervals. Helena’s friends Garm, Bobo, and Faelar continue to work for the Silver Shield Mercenaries, though they spend a fair amount of time around the Manor as well. Tabitha Manchune stops by on her way back to Darromar, and seeks a private audience with the Count. One of the maids whispers tales that she saw a couple of tears on Ms. Manchune’s face as she left.
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 27, 2011 2:27:26 GMT -5
Time Skip, Part 3
While Heavenforth Manor has risen like a phoenix and started to become the haven that you all have hoped for, not everything is so positive elsewhere in Tethyr.
King Haedrak has remained in Myratma for the time being, having concluded that the city cannot be left to its own devices after such upheaval as it has suffered in the last few months. He has suspended the Town Council of Myratma for the time being, and is ruling the city directly, a decision approved by Queen Zaranda. And the king has not been idle, as he has been thoroughly examining every public official from the highest magistrate to the lowest deputies and tax collectors, sniffing out the corrupt. He has dismissed numerous officials at all levels of government, and had many others arrested. He has also survived two assassination attempts: one of the Council members tried to poison him, and a man leapt out of a crowd to try and knife him.
Although the Eyes of Night and the Bone Claws appear to be more or less finished, it is known that thieves’ guilds still exist in Myratma. Although a significant portion of the Red Lotus guild was arrested peaceably on the 12th of Eleint, it appears that they were only one faction of the guild and others yet remain active. In addition, the guild called the Whisperknives escaped the recent events completely unscathed. Neither guild has made any visible moves so far, although whether this is due to the king’s presence or some other factor remains unknown.
As the month of Eleint came to a close, the Highharvesttide holiday came and went mostly unremarked. Government officials estimate that over 95% of the season’s crops were completely decimated, and the population is almost entirely dependent on imported food at this point. Queen Zaranda has suspended all grain taxes for the remainder of the year, and is relying on merchant taxes and foreign loans to feed her people.
The caravan of much-needed food that was delivered to Darromar in mid-Eleasis has been completely distributed and consumed by this point. The caravan drivers that were hailed as heroes at first began to receive less welcome once their supplies ran out, and the city guard nearly had to step in to prevent a riot when news spread that the caravan’s supply had run out. People have looked for another caravan of food to appear, but one has yet to appear.
Thus far, few if any people have starved to death, but all five of Tethyr’s largest cities have instituted strict rationing of food, though food banks are sorely pressed as city populations swell to two and three times their normal size. Reports of disease have become somewhat more common, as seems inevitable as people crowd together suddenly in cities barely able to contain their number. Large shantytowns have begun to spring up outside Zazesspur and Darromar, and reports from Myratma indicate that quite a few people are taking the road south to Memnon in Calimshan.
The upper class so far remains largely unaffected by the food shortage, as most nobles and rich merchants can afford to import their own food, and some can also produce it magically. Several counts and dukes have made a show of opening their own food stores to their people, while a few others are taking extended vacations in other lands.
Churches in all the major cities hold numerous food drives, and the Church of Ilmater has declared a fast among all its clergy, ruling that its clerics and priests may eat and drink only the bare minimum to sustain life, as their duty is to provide for the sustenance of all people before themselves. Unfortunately, more than one overzealous priest has starved themselves too far, and gone to sleep hungry one night only to never awake.
Temperatures across the land remain hot as midsummer, though in neighboring lands the season has shifted to the beginning of winter. While people in the country of Amn to the north begin to dress more warmly, and snow has already begun to fall in lands farther north like Cormyr, the people of Tethyr continue to sweat through their days and nights.
With the death of crops, grasses, and trees all over Tethyr, the plains have been ravaged by several violent dust storms. The River Sulduskoon and River Ith have been reduced to mere trickles compared to their previous conditions, and some of their tributaries have dried up entirely. Villages close to the Starspire Mountains reported brief upsurges in productivity as ice caps melted and caused the Sulduskoon to briefly swell, but the water quickly evaporated in the unseasonably high heat, and the mountain towns were soon no better off than anyone else.
Word from the elves of the Wealdath has been almost nonexistent, as fewer and fewer elves journey outside their forest during these hard times. Lord Rauthomyr, Treespeaker for the elves of the Wealdath and the elven emissary to Darromar, informs the queen that there have been difficulties with numerous dead trees, resulting in several forest fires that have been difficult to put out. Rumors of increased gnoll raids and other monster sightings are also reported.
The druid circle at Mosstone remains unable to break the drought, as their attempts to control the weather have proved no more fruitful than before. Archdruid Arkaneus Silvermane has spent so much time researching new spells to try and restore normal weather patterns or at least divine the cause of this dry spell that his health has begun to suffer.
Scouts and surveyors have determined that the effects of the drought stop at the nation’s borders. Whoever or whatever is behind this event, it is clearly a targeted attack upon Tethyr, as all neighboring lands remain under normal weather patterns. Unfortunately, the most powerful divination magic the government can access has thus far been unable to pinpoint the cause of the drought.
Internationally, further aid has been slow in coming. While Tethyr maintains positive relations with several nations to the north and east, all have been stockpiling their own supplies of food since the cause of Tethyr’s mysterious malady remains unknown. Whenever Duchess Haresdown or another Tethyrian ambassador asks for aid, they are told that none can be spared, as nations have to protect themselves in case something similar should happen to them. While a few individual donors from various places have sent aid to Tethyr, it is far from the response that could have been hoped for. Calimshan to the south provides some food, but at inflated prices due to the high demand. Amn to the north has similarly squeezed Tethyrian merchants, but relations with Amn have been strained for years so this is not unexpected.
It is into this bleak scenario that we rejoin the campaign, as Heavenforth Manor becomes an oasis of safety and relative comfort in the distressed land of Tethyr.
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Nov 27, 2011 11:04:05 GMT -5
Very nice read. Can't wait to play today.
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 27, 2011 12:53:15 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear it. I'm looking forward to this as well.
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 29, 2011 2:37:06 GMT -5
Session 33: Sunday, November 27, 2011
After the group’s now-famous victories in Myratma over most of the thieves’ guilds there, word has spread far and wide of their deeds two and a half months past. In addition, their purchase and ongoing rehabilitation of Castle Tethyr, now known as Heavenforth Manor, has become one of the most talked-about topics in the land. Word has spread even as far as the druid enclave outside Mosstone, a small town located on the Trade Way in the Wealdath forest. It is here that Goroc Hellscream, once an ally and traveling companion of these same heroes (some of them, anyway), learns of their good fortune and decides to pay them a visit.
Goroc was slain by a pack of wild krenshar when he left his comrades behind in the city of Darromar to pursue a lead on an investigation he had taken up separately from them. In his enthusiasm to track down the wanted party, he not only forgot to tell his party members where he was going, but did not even stop to rest, recover his wounds, and refresh his spells for the day. He simply took his gorilla companion Patrick and set off in pursuit of the lead.
After Goroc died, Patrick retrieved his body and, upon his massive shoulders, bore it back home not to Darromar but to the druid enclave from whence he originally came. The druids there reincarnated their wayward brother into a new body, still that of a half-orc, and for a time he rejoined their society.
Over the next few months, Goroc worked feverishly at the enclave, growing in power and strength. He found himself spending increasing amounts of time with his gorilla Patrick, and found that he had an affinity with the ape. Soon that affinity expanded to apes in general, as he picked up two more gorilla companions whom he named Avery and William. Like Patrick, he trained them to wrestle and gave them masks to wear. Patrick became so involved with his gorillas that even his magical studies began to lapse, and he stopped learning to cast more powerful druid magic. Nor did he learn to transform his body into other animals, although he became as swift and agile as almost any animal in his own natural form.
Now, Goroc leaves the enclave once more, vowing to his elders that he will be more careful this time, and follows the road south. He is able to obtain directions to Heavenforth Manor from travelers along the road, and sets what for him is an easy pace so that his three gorillas can keep up with him.
On the 27th of Uktar, Goroc comes within sight of the Manor. He spots an armored figure up on the walls that he identifies as Tyrrox, who is holding a massive ballista as if it were a normal crossbow and using it for target practice. He also sees an older elven man at ground level, who is likewise doing target practice with a longbow. However, his targets are not the dummies made of earth and wood that sit outside the castle wall, but the ballista bolts that Tyrrox is firing. And he is striking each and every one of them midair.
Goroc swiftly approaches the outer wall, where he is seen by both Tyrrox and Solius. Solius remains wary but does not draw his bow against this stranger, and the guardsmen at the gate look confused and slightly intimidated until Tyrrox, recognizing Goroc, tells them to stand down.
Goroc and his gorillas climb the outer wall and greet the centaur, who is surprised to see him again. Tyrrox brings Goroc to find Leon, who has taken up residence in an office in the Small Hall where he is swamped with paperwork regarding castle logistics and other matters. Leon brings Goroc to Count Thallatos, who is out on the grounds trying to work the soil alongside the common men. Goroc briefly explains his history with the group to Thallatos, including his untimely death and reincarnation, and Leon concludes the story by telling Thallatos he was Goroc’s replacement with the group (which is not strictly true, as Goroc’s replacement was Torgeth Deepdraft, and they did not meet Thallatos until much later).
Goroc says that he would like to work with them again, and Thallatos recognizes the opportunity to get some relief for Nym Eveningfall, the cleric of Ilmater who is sorely overworked in trying to provide adequate food and water for the manor’s needs. He leads Goroc to the bronze water tower, which despite Nym’s efforts is nearly empty due to the ever-increasing water needs of the growing populace. Goroc agrees to help with this chore.
Word of Goroc’s return is brought to Vanemuine, who is currently at the stables, which are in poor but usable condition. Once everyone is assembled, Leon mentions that he wants to take a trip to Calimport, capital of the nation Calimshan to the south of Tethyr, to buy some things he was not able to obtain anywhere in Tethyr. He wants to leave the next morning, and asks if anyone wants to come along. Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Goroc, and Thallatos all decide to come.
After hastily making arrangements for the manor in their absence, the group sets out at dawn the following morning. Solius, who although semi-retired maintains an honorary position as captain of the guard, is left in charge and the butler Sinclair, a man hired by Leon, is put in charge of day-to-day affairs. Helena (who by now is about 5 ½ months pregnant) wishes them good fortune and speed on their journey.
Although it is late in the year, the weather remains that of midsummer, and the temperature is blisteringly hot during the day. Although the group is mostly traveling by carriage, the heat is still a danger so Goroc casts endure elements spells on himself, Leon, Thallatos, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine. The twins and the gorillas do without for the time being.
The group’s huge, fortified “siege carriage” is hitched up to Thallatos’s siege crab minion, who pulls the carriage tirelessly on the road. From previous experience, they know that it takes about eight hours to reach Myratma, through which the southern road passes on the way to Calimport. The twins Mizuki and Ayame, who have been acting as Thallatos’s self-appointed bodyguards since they came to the estate, ride with him inside siege crab’s carapace. Everyone else rides on the carriage, even Tyrrox. Leon toys with the idea of tying himself to the back of the carriage and flying like a kite, but ultimately decides against it.
Goroc, who can move much faster afoot, decides that he would like to get to the city ahead of the others and do some sightseeing, as he has not been to Myratma since the group first came to the city guarding a river barge some months ago.
Before Goroc goes on ahead, Thallatos tells him that their carriage will not be passing through the city, as he wants to keep siege crab out of sight as much as possible. Instead, he intends to leave the road before they come in sight of Myratma, and rejoin it south of the city. Goroc says he will catch them on the road south of Myratma, and goes on ahead.
Goroc spends some time in the city, not having been around this many people since the last time he left Darromar. Evidently he enjoys cities a bit more than many of his fellow druids. He notices that the city appears much more crowded than it did months ago when he was last there, although the streets are actively policed which keeps the crowds mostly civil. Goroc decides to gamble, and although he ends up losing money he counts it as time well spent. When he is finished, Goroc hits the road and eventually catches up to the wagon.
The day continues to pass, and the sun is beginning to set by the time the siege carriage crosses into Calimshan at the city of Memnon. Memnon is a smaller city than any of Tethyr’s major cities, and is primarily a garrison and port. The city is walled, and its harbor includes many ships, both merchants and warships. Other than Leon, who spent some time here briefly years ago, none of the group has been to this city before.
Although the hour is late, the group wants to keep this trip as brief as possible (especially Leon, who does not like to be away from Helena for very long these days), so they press onward. The siege carriage heads into the Calim Desert, which although dangerously hot during the day, is actually quite cold at nighttime. Due to one of the magical rings he wears, Thallatos needs only two hours of sleep, so he pushes siege crab onward for a bit longer.
Eventually Thallatos needs to rest, and he no longer trusts his minions to continue tasks without his supervision, so he orders the carriage to a halt for a couple of hours. A watch is set up, and everyone else sets up camp to rest as well. Leon, who takes first watch, hears a sound like thunder in the distance, but nothing else of note happens. Vanemuine and Thallatos are the next to awaken, and on their watch they see that the thunder-like noise is actually the passing of huge wormlike creatures passing in the distance. The sandworms do not approach the camp, so the night passes uneventfully and the group sets out in the morning.
As the rapidly rising heat begins to take a toll on the group, Goroc realizes he has forgotten to renew the endure elements spells on everyone, and does so. The carriage continues on through the desert until Thallatos spots a moving lump of sand ahead by the road and calls a halt. The moving lump of sand turns toward them, then sinks back down. Word is spread to everyone else, and they arm themselves and scan the surrounding area in silent, tense anticipation. The undead which Thallatos has brought with him on this trip fan out behind the carriage, watching the back while Leon and Vanemuine take to the sky. Tyrrox mans the ballista atop the carriage, and Goroc circles his gorillas to watch with him.
Suddenly, a huge desiccated tentacle snaps up through the sand to wrap itself around the skeletal Goristro. The tentacle tries to pull Goristro beneath the sand, but it stands firm and resists the pull. Thallatos, who has descended the ramp out of siege crab to better command his horde, orders the closest ones to attack the tentacle. Vanemuine also blasts it with a ray of enfeeblement spell. The owner of the tentacle quickly abandons its attack and retreats beneath the sand once more.
Another tentacle sprouts from the sand and wraps around the skeletal marilith, and quickly drags it beneath the sand, though not before taking some more hits. Everyone waits for an opportunity to strike the creature as it surfaces, but it remains hidden below the sands for awhile. Finally, the creature breaks the surface and reveals itself – a mass of long tentacles and slightly shorter arms attached to a body that looks like the face of a giant illithid. Its very sight inspires everyone to recoil in horror, and freezes several people in their tracks. Everyone else unloads the barrage they’ve been holding back.
Tyrrox tries to leap off the wagon and charge the tentacled monstrosity, but finds he does not have a clear line of attack, so he instead repositions himself to charge. Leon blasts it with a vitriolic eldritch blast, causing part of its hide to be doused in boiling acid. Goroc casts an inferno spell targeting the creature, causing it to ignite on fire. To his surprise, the flame catches better than he could have hoped for.
Leon identifies the monstrosity as an ancient undead monstrosity called a Crawling Apocalypse, a war weapon designed by an ancient, vanished civilization. His studies mentioned a monster with disease-ridden tentacles whose wounds rapidly healed. Naturally, the group dubs this abomination a “Sand Kraken.”
They concentrate attacks on the Sand Kraken, and Tyrrox delivers a punishing final blow by ramming his lance through its eye. Thallatos, recovered from his paralyzing shock, announces that he wants to study the creature further, but they do not have time now. He uses another of his rings to summon two massive walls of stone, creating a crude covering to hopefully protect the carcass from the elements until they pass it again on the return trip.
Finally, Thallatos unloads his undead umber hulk, which he carries inside a portable hole, and commands it to dig around the area where the marilith was pulled beneath the sand. Eventually the marilith is found, damaged from the beating it took from the tentacles but still intact. He heals its damaged body and everyone loads up the carriage and continues on.
A few hours later, they reach Calimport, having taken less than two days to reach the port city all the way from Heavenforth Manor. Thallatos stashes his undead outside the city and the group heads in on foot.
The band divides into two smaller groups. Leon, Thallatos, and the twins set off to look for someone selling the exotic goods that Leon wanted to come here for, while Vanemuine, Tyrrox, and Goroc and his gorillas look for someone capable of casting a discern location spell, or at least providing a scroll of it.
They present themselves at the gates to the city, and answer some questions regarding their purpose here and so on. Due to Thallatos’s noble standing and Leon’s apparent wealth and refined dress, they are granted access to the upper city, a higher-class area that is mostly composed of shops on the higher floors of buildings, and is traversed by a series of catwalks, balconies, and bridges. Everyone else is restricted to the lower city, which means they walk on the ground and deal with the common crowds. Even Ayame and Mizuki are refused entrance to the upper city, so they must do their best to keep up with Thallatos from the ground (not an uncommon arrangement between servants and masters, according to the official at the gate). Goroc wants to bring all three of his gorillas into the city, and although the officials do not want to let him do so, they eventually relent but warn he is personally responsible for their actions.
Leon gets directions to a dealer in exotic animals, and he and Thallatos head there. Leon explains to the proprietor that he is looking to buy either hippogriffs or pegasi. The dealer replies that a pegasus is an intelligent creature, and therefore beyond his purview. He suggests they check out the city auction blocks to find pegasi. Leon replies that hippogriffs will do fine.
With minor assistance from Thallatos, Leon attempts to bargain over the price of the hippogriffs. He ends up paying more gold than he was looking to spend, but he gets fully trained creatures, and the dealer also throws in slave boys to ride them and a cat-o-nine-tails to keep the slaves in line. Leon and Thallatos make arrangements to pick up the hippogriffs (and the slaves) after they conclude their other business in the city.
Meanwhile, the others look for someone who can cast the spell they need. One person recommends they seek a certain priestess of the Lady of Loss who should be able to help them. However, as a follower of Selûne, Vanemuine knows that the Lady of Loss is another name for the goddess Shar, who is the archenemy of Selûne. He vetoes that idea, so they keep looking.
Further inquiries point them towards a temple of a deity known as Bhaelros, whom Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Goroc have never heard of. However, the deity’s symbol, three lightning bolts of different colors, sets off warning bells in Goroc’s mind. He can’t identify the god Bhaelros, but believes that he’s possibly an evil deity or at least not a good one. They decide to give this one a pass as well.
Vanmuine suggests that they confine their inquiries to an arcane spellcaster who might be able to help them, since all the clerics they are being led to seem to be evil. It takes awhile, but someone points out a black tower on the city skyline, and tells them that the one who lives there might be able to help.
Goroc decides that he wants to avoid the crowds, and uses an air walk spell on himself and his gorillas. He tells Vanemuine and Tyrrox to meet him there when he can and sets off. After not too long however, Goroc finds that he is being followed by a local-looking man on a flying carpet. He hails the man, who tells him that there is no flying allowed in the city. It’s a security precaution, he tells Goroc, and tells him to go back down among “the other rabble.” Goroc goes as if to do so, but in the end simply air walks lower to the ground where he is less likely to be noticed.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine follow as best they can, but they have to deal with large crowds. Also, they catch a young boy trying to pickpocket them, and run him off. The incident is repeated several more times as they cross the city, making for the black tower in the distance. By the time they reach the base of the tower, Goroc is there and waiting for them. Unfortunately, they can find no door at the base of the tower by which to enter. Goroc, however, spots a balcony about sixty feet up, and air walks his way up there. Vanemuine follows on his carpet, and Tyrrox is left outside to wait since there is no way for him to get up there.
Goroc and Vanemuine reach the balcony, and find that there is a closed door. Goroc knocks, and a mouth appears on the door demanding to know who disturbs the Mighty Black Wizard. They identify themselves and explain their purpose, and the mouth demands tribute. They give it some gold, and the door opens, revealing a small dark area with a glowing symbol on the ground. When they step inside and stand on the symbol, the door slams shut behind them. Goroc and Vanemuine get a sudden feeling as if they are descending rapidly, though the room does not seem to move. After a few seconds of this, the feeling goes away and the door opens once more. However, rather than the balcony, it now opens into a dimly-lit laboratory.
As they step out of the little alcove from which they are entering, Goroc and Vanemuine look around. There are multiple sets of glowing eyes watching them from around the room. Strangely, even though Goroc can see even in pitch darkness, his eyes cannot penetrate the darkness hiding whatever belongs to those eyes.
Outside, Tyrrox looks around the area where he’s waiting, and suddenly from nowhere comes a dirty, homeless-looking man who starts polishing the centaur’s horseshoes with a cloth, completely unasked. Tyrrox gives the man a coin to leave him alone, and the man praises his generosity before going back wherever he came from.
Inside, Goroc and Vanemuine try to bargain with the as-yet-unseen “Mighty Black Wizard,” asking for a scroll of discern location or for him to cast the spell. The Mighty Black Wizard, however, claims to have no need of coins, and demands a service in exchange for his help. He wants them to slay Meranoth, a brown dragon who lives in the Calim Desert a hundred miles or so west of the main road, and bring him the dragon’s hide. His lair is located far beneath the sands, so it is difficult to find. However, the Mighty Black Wizard informs them that he has no interest in the contents of its treasure horde, so if they can find it, they can keep it.
Goroc agrees to slay the dragon, and asks to be teleported outside. The Mighty Black Wizard says he’s not going to waste a spell on them, and they can get back out the way they came in. Unfortunately, the duration on Goroc’s air walk spell has run out, and he is unwilling to fall or jump all the way down. Vanemuine does not believe that his carpet can carry the weight of both of them at once, so Goroc threatens to smash down the wall and exit that way if the Wizard doesn’t let him out.
The Mighty Black Wizard does nothing, so Goroc casts a spell to enhance his strength and tries to hammer his way through the wall of the tower with his club, a large tree trunk. He makes minimal dents in the wall at first, but redoubles his effort and starts swinging harder. Finally the Mighty Black Wizard relents, and opens a door in the wall to outside the tower. Goroc and Vanemuine head outside, and find Tyrrox and the gorillas waiting for them. The doorway shuts behind them, and once more the outer wall appears completely smooth. They brief Tyrrox on what occurred inside, and then everyone sets off for the city gate where they came in, if they can find it.
Thallatos and Leon hunt for a magic item dealer’s shop to buy more food-producing items for the manor. Their inquiries lead them to the shop of one Ali Abdul Al-Marraq Jamal, who claims to have the finest selection in all of Calimshan. Leon explains what they’re looking for, and Ali quotes him a price that he says is the current market value, due to severely increased demand lately. However, as Leon starts threatening to look elsewhere, Ali offers a discounted price, still well above the standard price but much better than the initial offer, and sweetens the deal by offering a cursed sword as well. Interested in the cursed sword, Leon agrees to the sale, and Thallatos has the items gift wrapped.
As Leon and Thallatos head back to pick up the hippogriffs, Thallatos realizes that they haven’t seen Mizuki or Ayame in quite awhile. Unfortunately, the girls were not able to keep up with him due to the crowds, and somehow got separated. He begins searching for them, and after awhile they find him. Rejoining Leon, they head for the city gates to meet up with Vanemuine, Tyrrox, and Goroc, but they are not there yet.
Leon makes inquiries of people, and finds out that the others headed for the black tower. He starts to fly in that direction, when a man on a flying carpet chases him down and informs him that this is a restricted area and flying is not allowed. When Leon attempts to ignore the man, he fires a ray of frost spell at Leon as a warning shot, causing him to stop. Leon demands to know the man’s name, and the man identifies himself as Ali Ali Ali. Leon says he will be speaking to the man’s superior, and he says that his superior is named Abdullah Abdullah Abdullah.
XP Awarded: 2,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Jan 30, 2012 3:43:27 GMT -5
Session 34: Saturday, November 28, 2012
Despite his aerial confrontation with Ali Ali Ali, Leon refuses to land and stay on the ground. After repeated attempts to force him to land, Ali Ali Ali fires a magic missile spell at Leon. Once again he refuses to land, and instead turns invisible. Without the means to locate him at the moment, the enforcer instead casts a gust of wind spell to try and push the invisible Leon away. It doesn’t work, and Leon simply flies away while Ali tries in vain to find him.
Eventually he locates Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Goroc near the black tower, and is filled in on the details of their discussion with the Mighty Black Wizard. Leon is not at all happy to learn that they’ve agreed to kill a dragon just to get one scroll (even for a pretty powerful spell), but feels bound by the agreement that was made. Thinking for a minute, he tells them what he knows about brown dragons: that they’re wingless, acid-spitting dragons that burrow through the earth, often nest underground, and are said to be fond of horseflesh.
Unfortunately, they have little to no information about this specific dragon, such as exactly where in the desert it lives or even how old it is. After meeting up with Thallatos and the twins and explaining the situation, they decide to ask around town and try to find out some information on this dragon Meranoth.
Most of the people they talk to can’t help with their inquiries, but Tyrrox finds someone who points them toward a library that might have some information they can use. Leon is familiar with this library, as it’s at the same college where he studied law some years ago. He leads them to the campus, and goes looking for an old professor whom he thinks might be able to help him get access to the library since it’s not open to the public. Unfortunately he finds out that the professor died some time ago.
With no other ideas, the group heads to the library. Leon manages to talk their way inside so they can look at the book as long as they don’t remove it from the building. It takes awhile for the librarian to find the book they’re looking for, but eventually the group settles in to see what they can find.
The book reveals that brown dragons originated in the nation of Mulhorand in eastern Faerun, where they may have been created from other dragons as a product of wizards’ experimentation . Whatever the cause, brown dragons have since spread westward from Mulhorand, although few are known to have come as far west as Calimshan. As such, the dragon Meranoth is of particular note, and has a section of the book dedicated to him.
Meranoth is estimated to be somewhere between 650-750 years old, which would make him very old but not a great wyrm. The exact location of his lair is not known, but there are several recorded sightings over the last few centuries in a certain part of the desert, a mere hundred or so miles from Calimport. By plotting the sightings on a map, they are able to triangulate a fairly small area within a few miles where most sightings of Meranoth have occurred, and decide to look for him there. Unfortunately, there are no landmarks in that area, merely open desert, so Goroc suggests buying some navigational tools to make sure they don’t get lost looking for the area.
As brown dragons are said to be fond of horse meat, the group decides to get some horses to bring out into the desert with them. Thallatos suggests they could save money by getting dead horses, but they are unable to find any so they buy some ponies.
Boarding arrangements are made for the hippogriffs and slaves that Leon and Thallatos bought. As the siege carriage will not travel well over sand, the group purchases a small boat hull that is temporarily attached to the bottom of the carriage in place of wheels, so that siege crab can drag it more easily over the sand.
Although the hour is now late and the sun has already set, the group decides not to waste any time before heading out into the desert. They travel until they are too tired to continue and set up camp.
The next couple days of travel are fairly uneventful; although several bandit groups are known to menace the area, none of them trouble the group. Leon and Thallatos think they see some men on horseback watching them from distant dunes or rock outcroppings occasionally, but no one approaches. Likely the presence of giant undead monsters with the group is enough to scare off any bandits that might be in the area.
The month of Uktar comes to an end, and the group marks the Feast of the Moon holiday, a celebration of ancestors and honored dead, in the desert with each other for company. The following day begins the month of Nightal, the final month of the year. In most of Faerun, winter is beginning to set in. The Calim Desert, however, is still swelteringly hot during the day, although the nights are freezing cold. Up north in Tethyr, it’s also undoubtedly still hot.
On the 1st of Nightal, the group nears the area where they believe Meranoth’s lair might be located. Leon shares with the others a tale of an ancient city that was said to be located somewhere in this area centuries or even millennia ago, although the desert sands have long since swallowed it up. Several of the group idly wonder whether the dragon has taken up residence in the buried city.
As they begin to organize a search pattern, the group spots a huge man-shaped construct made of pure sand stalking toward them purposefully, sand swirling around its feet badly enough to obscure vision. Imposing though this sand golem appears, it proves no great challenge for the group, who make short work of it and resume their search.
The search continues for several hours with no success. Leon has his hellhound Rezso try to pick up a scent to follow, but that proves fruitless. After three hours of dedicated searching, the only sign that they might be in the right area is a half-buried skeleton belonging to a camel or some other similar animal, which looks like it has been gnawed on by something big. With their search thus far yielding no results, the group untethers the ponies and lets them wander freely while they continue to search.
Some time later, the monotony is broken up when a gargantuan shape breaks the surface of the desert, snatches one of the ponies, and disappears once more beneath the sand before anyone can react. Thallatos quickly has the other two frightened ponies herded closer together and uses his ring of elemental command to create and shape a bowl of stone so that nothing will come from below and grab them as well.
The next moments pass in tense silence as the group prepares to fight, scanning their surroundings warily for any sign of movement. Siege crab is detached from the carriage as Leon and Vanemuine take to the skies, and Mizuki and Ayame set up and load the ballista on top of the carriage, smearing on the ballista bolt the same poison they often use on their swords.
Thallatos arrays his undead minions in a line and tentatively calls out to the dragon, asking to speak to him. Leon calls out for the dragon to show himself as well.
The brown dragon erupts from beneath the sands in a fearsome display, spewing a line of acid that does not approach any of the living members of the group, but douses several of Thallatos’s minions. His deep, rumbling voice tells them to speak their piece.
Instead, they attack. As brown dragons are immune to acid, Leon blasts it with hellfire instead, sometimes but not always overcoming the dragon’s spell resistance. He fares better than Vanemuine, whose fire bolt and ray of enfeeblement spells are unable to affect the dragon.
Tyrrox and Thallatos take a more direct approach, as the necromancer orders his horde of undead forward into battle and Tyrrox moves in as well. Meranoth responds by summoning up a raging sandstorm, which completely obscures the vision of everyone caught in it and scours them with biting sand.
One by one, most of the party gets clear of the sandstorm, though Meranoth has bought time to focus on the undead. As Tyrrox and Vanemuine come forward out of the sandstorm, they are caught in a cone of acid breath along with some of the undead. Leon flies above the storm and resumes blasting the dragon, who had used his brief respite to cast a spell which causes his scales to glow. As a result, the eldritch blast impacts harmlessly on the scintillating scales.
Thallatos manages to dispel the sandstorm, and orders his undead to attack. Many of their blows bounce harmlessly off the dragon’s armored hide, but a few, particularly from siege crab, strike more solidly. Tyrrox also wounds the dragon solidly with his lance, though he also is hurt quite badly. At one point, Meranoth tries to seize Tyrrox in his mighty jaws and swallow him whole, but fortunately Tyrrox’s magical ring causes the dragon’s teeth to slide off his armor, unable to grip him. Nonetheless, he makes a tactical retreat.
Finally presented with their first mostly clear shot, Mizuki and Ayame try to fire the ballista. Unfortunately for them, the massive bolt slips out and falls back, cracking Mizuki in the face and knocking her to the ground behind the carriage. Ayame helps her back up, and they reload the ballista and fire again, but the shot goes wide.
Vanemuine flies forward, attacking above and from the side. The dragon sees him there but is dealing with multiple other attackers. Darting in on his carpet, the elf scores several solid blows with his sword, which crackles with the energy of four elements on the blade. Although he strikes several times, Vanemuine scores one particularly vicious blow that leaves a bleeding wound on the dragon’s neck.
Leon and his hound both continue firing eldritch blasts at the dragon, but the enchantment on his scales deflects the blasts harmlessly away. Thallatos attempts to dispel the enchantment, but it fails (although he does end several other spells active on Meranoth).
Seeing that Tyrrox is badly hurt, Goroc emerges from the carriage where he has been staying back. Although he is eager to fight, Goroc has already used up much of his magic in protecting the entire party from the harsh effects of the desert climate, and more importantly he is staying back to heal wounds.
Although Meranoth proves to be an extremely dangerous fighter, the dragon finds the superior numbers of his opponents beginning to tell against him. He backs up a bit and growls out an incantation, then disappears. Leon confirms that the dragon has not turned invisible, so it seems he has escaped via teleportation.
A few tense moments pass, and it becomes clear the dragon is not coming back. Thallatos begins the time-consuming process of healing the considerable damage done to his minions, while Goroc tends the living members of the party.
Leon sends his hellhound over to the location where the dragon disappeared and tells him to pick up a scent. While they are unable to follow where the dragon teleported, they can try to trace back its path to see where it came from. Unfortunately, that means going underneath the sands.
The tunnels the burrowing dragon left collapsed under the weight of the sands above, and likewise the umber hulk skeleton, which Thallatos brings out of his portable hole, is unable to create a path the group can follow. Unfortunately this means that anyone who tries to go beneath the sands will likely suffocate.
The group spends awhile hashing out their options, and eventually comes up with a plan. Leon pulls out a scroll, and uses it to teleport back to Calimport, specifically to the magic shop he dealt with previously. Once there, he buys more scrolls of teleportation, as well as a bottle that magically produces an infinite supply of breathable air. As long as one puts the bottle to their mouth, they can breathe indefinitely in environments where they would otherwise suffocate. Seeing that Leon is highly agitated, the merchant sells him the items more or less for market value.
Leon uses one of the teleportation scrolls to return to the battlefield in the desert, where the others have pried open the chest cavity of the umber hulk exoskeleton and crammed Thallatos inside. He is barely able to fit in, forced to curl up in the fetal position. Leon gives him the bottle of air and then they seal him up inside the umber hulk, with Thallatos ordering it to stay with the hellhound.
Once Thallatos is sealed up inside as best as possible, Leon orders Rezso to follow the dragon’s scent. The hellhound starts furiously digging in the sand, and the umber hulk helps. After a couple minutes, they disappear beneath the sand, leaving the group to wait. The hope is that they will find the dragon’s lair before they pass beyond the range of Leon’s empathic link with the hellhound. If that happens, he will hopefully be able to tell when they find something, then will scry on the hound’s location (which he can do once a day through the bond with his hound) and then use one of the scrolls to teleport there. Unfortunately, they will not be able to bring the entire group along, so it will just be Leon, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine going.
However, after a couple hours Leon loses the empathic link, meaning that the hound has passed beyond the range of it. However, Leon had planned for this possibility, and determined that he would give them ten hours before scrying on his hound to see what’s going on. It proves to be a very long ten hours.
Meanwhile, Thallatos finds it hard to keep track of time while curled up into a tight ball inside the undead carapace of his umber hulk skeleton. For what seems like endless hours, all he can hear is the muffled sound of digging and the occasional growl or yelp from the hellhound.
Finally, the digging stops. Thallatos forces his way out of the umber hulk’s chest to find himself in what appears to be an underground dome of some sort. Able to see in the pitch blackness thanks to his magical goggles, he takes note of a dome high overhead, and sees cracks running along it where sand occasionally trickles in. Behind him, he sees a wall with a hole, though which he seems to have emerged. There is another wall ahead of him, with an archway that the hound seems to be looking at and softly growling.
Thallatos takes that to mean the dragon might be near, so he cautiously approaches. Doing his best to remain unseen by anything that might lurk in there, he edges up to the archway and peeks through. He sees what appears to be an ancient amphitheatre, with rows of stone benches facing down toward an area that’s beyond the range of his darkvision. Absolutely no light penetrates the blackness, and he can find no confirmation whether Meranoth is here.
Unwilling to enter the amphitheatre by himself, a tired and extremely sore Thallatos remains outside. He examines the outside wall of the amphitheatre, and though it’s impossible to read in the dark he does find some raised etchings that he is able to examine by a combination of sight and touch. Based on some symbols he finds, Thallatos hazards a guess that this is a temple to a long-dead god named Ibrandul. All he knows about Ibrandul is that he is dead, and is now an aspect of Shar, one of the most well-known and feared evil goddesses in the world.
With nothing else to do but wait, Thallatos packs his umber hulk back into the portable hole, letting out the marilith skeleton that he had brought along just in case. He then settles down to wait alongside Leon’s hellhound, who has already picked a spot on the ground and gone to sleep.
This is how Leon finds them when he eventually uses his scrying ability to find them, and so he prepares to teleport himself, Vanemuine, and Tyrrox to the location. He examines the area as well as possible through the scrying sensor, then pulls out the scroll and casts the spell.
Upon arriving, they can instantly tell something is wrong. For starters, they are all in some degree of pain, as something went wrong with the teleportation and partly scrambled them. Those who can see in the pitch blackness figure out that the area looks similar to the one where Leon saw Thallatos, but there is no sign of either him or the hellhound.
XP Awarded: 4,725 + petition
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Thallatos
Dread Necromancer
All the "evil" power for all the good applications
Posts: 185
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Post by Thallatos on Jan 30, 2012 12:35:44 GMT -5
I perfectly understand where you what was being done when the Dragon shot the undead then spoke, however in character Thallatos takes that as harming something more dear than "just" an animated skeleton. It was a death to reason for him.
Also, you bring up a good point. Has enough time passed that while waiting with his back against the wall; would Thallatos feel tired as though he as getting sleepy? Should I consider him resting at some point in the massive hours spent?
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Post by Velaryon on Jan 31, 2012 19:19:27 GMT -5
I perfectly understand where you what was being done when the Dragon shot the undead then spoke, however in character Thallatos takes that as harming something more dear than "just" an animated skeleton. It was a death to reason for him. Look at it how you want to. At the end of the day, it was still you guys coming out into his territory to kill him. With your Ring of Sustenance, you have adequate time to sleep before anyone gets there, if you would be willing to risk it in a place like that. I forget if we houseruled it or not, but by the rules you still need eight hours of at least non-activity and relaxation to regain spells, despite the ring. You haven't had that much time.
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Tyrrox Zym
Monster of Legend
Sea hag river dragon mer kraken men exist!
Posts: 473
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Post by Tyrrox Zym on Jan 31, 2012 20:32:06 GMT -5
I forget if we house ruled it or not, but by the rules you still need eight hours of at least non-activity and relaxation to regain spells, despite the ring. You haven't had that much time. I personally think that rule is dumb. He needs time sure, but not 6 hours.
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Thallatos
Dread Necromancer
All the "evil" power for all the good applications
Posts: 185
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Post by Thallatos on Jan 31, 2012 23:50:59 GMT -5
We obviously can't agree on perspective with the Dragon so we may as well move on. We have two completely different versions.
No John I wasn't trying to get my spells, merely my sleep. I'm a spontaneous caster anyway;) This is one of the situations my kind does well in.
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Post by Velaryon on Feb 1, 2012 3:53:37 GMT -5
Well like I said, if you're willing to try and sleep in a place like this, separated from your party with only Leon's hellhound and your marilith skeleton for company/to stand watch, then you have plenty of time.
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Post by Velaryon on May 1, 2012 0:55:41 GMT -5
Session 35: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Having arrived at a location that appears similar to the place in which Leon scried on his hellhound Rezso, Leon, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine try to get their bearings while suffering the pain of a misaimed teleport spell. While Leon and Tyrrox can see in the pitch blackness, Vanemuine’s elven eyes need at least a little bit of light, so he draws his sword. The multicolored glow given off by the four kinds of elemental energy dancing along the blade is enough for him to see for a short distance.
Unfortunately, there is no sign of Thallatos or Rezso. Leon calls out to them, but hears no response. He tries to sense his hound through their empathic link, and is able that way to determine that they are at least within a mile of the right location. Leon inspects the carvings on the wall and comes to the same conclusion as Thallatos, that this is an ancient temple consecrated to a long-dead god named Ibrandul who is now an aspect of the goddess Shar. Leon calls out an insult to Shar, calling her the Great Whore, before he remembers that Shar is said to be aware of everything that is spoken or done in darkness.
Meanwhile, Thallatos has been waiting for the others to arrive. Having rested for two hours to replenish his spells, he is starting to think about doing some exploring on his own when Rezso’s ears perk up. The hell hound’s head cocks to the side for a moment, as if some unspoken exchange is going on, then it starts trotting off. Thallatos quickly stirs himself and follows, ordering his marilith skeleton to follow.
After following the wall carvings for a bit, Leon and Vanemuine discover that the wall curves gently as it goes on. Tyrrox, who starts following the opposite wall of the canyon made of natural rock, notices the same thing. It appears that the cavern may be roughly circular, and the carved walls are evidently the outside of a massive temple that is also circular.
The three of them circle the huge temple until they find a large doorway that goes inside, and they move in. Inside, from what they can see the temple is a huge amphitheatre. What were once stairs descending toward the central area have long since been smoothed over by time and worn down by acid, and now form the shape of a long descending ramp.
Tyrrox hears a noise above, but neither his nor Leon’s vision can see far enough into the blackness to tell what caused it. Leon lights a torch and passes it to Tyrrox, who throws it upward to illuminate the area and hopefully spot the source of the sound. The torchlight glistens off of something black upon the ceiling, which the group suspects might be an ooze of some kind, perhaps a black pudding, but the brief reflection is not enough for a positive identification.
Outside the temple, Rezso catches his master’s scent and bounds off in pursuit at top speed. Thallatos finds that he can’t keep pace with the hound, so he has the marilith skeleton scoop him up and chase after it. Unfortunately, they chase after the hound so quickly that when it turns into the doorway where Leon and the others went, Thallatos and the marilith dash right on by without seeing Rezso turn off.
Fortunately, Leon and the others see it happen, and Tyrrox runs after Thallatos to get his attention. Meanwhile, Leon and Vanemuine step a bit deeper into the theatre, only to see the massive head of a brown dragon appear suddenly out of the darkness. Although startled by the dragon’s sudden appearance, Leon tries to speak to it. He receives no response however, and begins to suspect that it might be just an illusion. He tries to talk Vanemuine into approaching closer to check it out, but Vanemuine is having none of it so Leon approaches instead.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox catches up to Thallatos, explains what happened, and the two of them return toward the others. However, as they approach they see the massive body of a brown dragon blocking the path, facing in through the doorway they need to pass through. When it sits there for a few moments without any apparent change, and Tyrrox notices that he can’t hear any sound coming from the dragon, he approaches cautiously and tries to touch it. He discovers that this dragon is an illusion.
Tyrrox and Thallatos head inside to the others, and see the other dragon. That one is confirmed to be an illusion as well, and they call out to Meranoth to tell the dragon that they are not here to battle him. However, at that moment they are attacked by a group of black pudding oozes. Tyrrox discovers that their acidic bodies are corrosive to his lance, and also piercing weapons just cause the black puddings to split into smaller versions, so he stays back out of the fight while the others handle it with magic. The oozes are destroyed with a minimum of fuss. Vanemuine debuts a new spell that he has learned in which he sends a swarm of scarabs to attack, and Leon discovers that the oozes are vulnerable to cold energy.
While the others battle the oozes, Tyrrox keeps an eye out for other dangers in the temple. In the distance he spots a brief glint of metal reflecting light from one of his friends’ spells, although he can’t be sure what it is. He also hears the sound of metal scraping along the ground.
When the black puddings are dealt with, Tyrrox tells the others what he saw and heard and everyone prepares for the unknown danger. Suddenly, the form of the dragon Meranoth is illuminated in the darkness, as his scales glow with the effects of a defensive spell. The light shed by his scintillating scales also reveals that the dragon has donned a custom-fitted set of massive plate mail. For all that though, close inspection reveals that the brown dragon is not fully recovered from their previous battle, although he does look healthier than when last they saw him.
This time, however, cooler heads prevail and the group manages to talk with the dragon Meranoth instead of immediately coming to blows. They question why the Mighty Black Wizard wants this particular dragon dead, and Meranoth reveals that they have some past history. It seems that the Mighty Black Wizard needed the blood and skin of a brown dragon to perform some kind of ritual, and chose Meranoth. Exactly what that ritual was, the dragon does not know.
The two of them clashed several times, and Meranoth admits that he survived through luck and running away because the wizard was more powerful than him. Eventually, Meranoth was able to fake his death and substitute the body of some other creature, which the Mighty Black Wizard used to go forward with his ritual. Without the proper ingredients the ritual somehow went awry, and since then nobody has seen the Wizard outside of his tower. It is Meranoth’s belief that the Mighty Black Wizard is no longer able to leave his tower, although he has in the past sent other adventurers in his stead to take out the dragon in revenge for causing his ritual to backfire. Thus far, none of them has seriously endangered Meranoth, until today.
Thallatos explains the group’s own situation, and that they need a scroll of the spell discern location. He asks whether Meranoth can supply the spell, but unfortunately he cannot. After hearing the dragon’s tale, the group does not want to slay the dragon anymore, but unfortunately they have trouble seeing an alternative that will allow them to get this spell.
Meranoth suggests that if the group can find a way to move the wizard’s tower, they can gain some influence over him. Since the Mighty Black Wizard apparently cannot leave his tower, finding a way to move it to their own castle might give them leverage over the wizard, not to mention a powerful spellcaster with a vested interest in protecting their castle. Unfortunately, nobody can think of a way to move the tower from its present location.
Finally, another plan is concocted. Meranoth asks whether the group has access to a cleric with the ability to resurrect the dead, and they tell him about Nym. After a little more negotiating, the dragon is willing to allow them to kill him and present his hide to the Mighty Black Wizard, provided that they have their friend Nym raise him from the dead at the earliest possible time afterward. This would have the added benefit of hopefully getting the Mighty Black Wizard off the dragon’s trail, allowing him to live in peace in his desert retreat.
The plan begins with Meranoth teleporting the group a few at a time back to their desert campsite, where Goroc is still waiting with Ayame, Mizuki, his gorillas, and the rest of Thallatos’s undead army. From there, Leon and Tyrrox teleport back to Heavenforth Manor, where Leon explains the plan to Nym Eveningfall. Leon also notes that Nym has lost a lot of weight thanks to the Church of Ilmater’s decree that all clergy must fast because of the nationwide famine. Leon tries to convince the cleric that he is no good to anyone if he dies of starvation, and that the journey into the Calim Desert will try his health, but no argument (no matter how logical) will persuade Nym to disobey a direct edict from his church.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox makes a quick trip to Zazesspur to purchase the diamonds needed for the resurrection spell, with money supplied by Meranoth. Once Tyrrox returns and Nym prepares the necessary spells, the three of them teleport back to the campsite in the desert where the others still wait.
With all the preparations in place, Meranoth reluctantly stretches out his neck and tells Tyrrox to make it look good, in case the Mighty Black Wizard tries to scry on them again. Tyrrox lines up a charging attack with his lance and kills the dragon.
Although the group is denied the reward of the dragon’s treasure hoard for their trouble, they realize that the Mighty Black Wizard requires only the hide of the dragon as proof of Meranoth’s demise. The rest of the dragon, from the bones to the meat to the organs, can all be sold for a good price to the right buyer. Nym casts a spell to prevent the corpse’s decay, and after skinning the dragon they carve up the rest of the carcass for transport back to Calimport. Once they are underway, Nym begins the process of resurrecting the dragon, and then waits for the others to come back and retrieve him.
After a couple days of travel, the group reaches Calimport. They immediately head for the Mighty Black Wizard’s tower, and arrive to see that there is still no door to the inside at ground level. Not wanting to waste any time, Thallatos uses his ring to create a passage through the wall, which draws an immediate response from the wizard. A cage of force encloses the group, and Leon’s ring turns a spell that was directed at him, which causes the entire tower to shake violently for a few moments. Despite the initial tensions, the group delivers the dragon hide and receives the scroll from the Mighty Black Wizard. With their prize in hand, they set off on their way, leaving the black tower (and its Mighty Black inhabitant) behind.
Before leaving the city, Leon takes to the streets to hawk the body parts of the dragon. He sells dragon meat to anyone willing to pay premium prices for the privilege of dining on such a mighty beast, bones and organs as various folk remedies or spell components, and anything else he can sell of the dragon’s body. All told, by the time the last body part has been sold off, Leon has acquired about 65,000 gold for his trouble, and the group feels better about losing out on Meranoth’s hoard.
Also before leaving the city, Tyrrox sells off the gauntlets he has been wearing and buys another pair of magical gloves in their place, which will help him with his new style of fighting with two weapons.
Leon and Thallatos meet up with Nym and Meranoth in the desert, where Thallatos concocts a magical pact with the dragon as a token of esteem. In exchange for giving up one of his spell slots, Thallatos is granted some other magical abilities by the dragon, creating a bond between them. Leon also delivers a letter from Tyrrox, in which the centaur apologizes for his role in their battle and offers to do the dragon a favor if he needs help some time in the future.
Perusing the scroll on the way home to Tethyr, Thallatos and Leon realize that in order to find Thallatos’s girlfriend Elysa, they will need some personal effect or possession of hers. Unfortunately Thallatos doesn’t carry any of her possessions on him, so the group makes a detour on the way home and heads for Darromar instead. There Thallatos heads for the home he shared with his girlfriend before her mysterious disappearance, which was located in the back of the shop they ran together. Once that is obtained, Leon performs the divination magic right there in the shop.
As the spell works its magic, it provides increasingly specific descriptions of Elysa’s location. The spell reveals that Elysa is currently located on the material plane, on the continent of Faerun, in the nation of Amn, in the city of Esmeltaran, in a building known as Runhave’s Masks, currently in the bathroom of said building.
Now Thallatos’s destination is clear – he will seek out this Runhave’s Masks place in Amn, and the others all choose to go with him. First, they head back to Heavenforth Manor since it’s on the way anyway, and because they need to drop off some of the things they purchased in Calimport such as the hippogriffs and the slave children.
They find that Solius has kept the Manor running well in their absence, and that Red Forman and his workers have completed repairs on several of the buildings such as the barracks and the Small Hall. Red also notes that although the water tower is functional, people are having trouble getting the water to where it needs to go. So far it is being used to create some gardens within the castle grounds, but transporting the water to the surrounding farms has not yet been successful. After consulting with the group, Red convinces them to build an aqueduct system to help get the tower water to the outlying farms.
Next, the repair crews start to work on the massive guest apartments, which the group decides to christen the Hotel Meranoth in honor of the dragon they fought and came to respect. This provides them with a ready-made slogan for the inn, “Fit for a dragon.” The name is especially appropriate since Tyrrox plans to devote a significant portion of the available space to accommodations for non-humanoids.
Since the Small Hall is adequate for the group’s administrative and personal needs, Leon proposes the idea of devoting the Grand Hall to the founding of a magic academy. They can offer space to mages from around Tethyr and beyond, so that they can pursue their magical studies in safety and quiet. The only payments they will need to make in return is to contribute to the safety of the Manor and help to defend it if necessary. Leon sends out three letters to Darromar: one to the royal family proposing this idea and asking their blessing, another to the wizard Egbert Mourgram, with whom the group has had some dealings in the pas, and finally to the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild head office, inviting them to open an outpost at Heavenforth Manor.
Having done all they can without delaying their journey any further, the group loads up the siege carriage once more and sets off for Amn, following the road west to Zazesspur and then north through the Starspire Mountains. Night falls as they are about halfway through the mountain pass, and so the group sets up camp for the night. Leon draws the watch, and he happens to see a bright light a ways down the mountain. The light moves out of view, but when it reappears closer a few minutes later, Leon takes to the skies to get a better perspective.
Eventually the light comes close enough for Leon to see the source – a being made of pure fire, flanked by a cadre of fire giants. No ordinary elemental, Leon recognizes this creature from his readings as a Holocaust Disciple, a much more dangerous foe. He tries to hail the creature in several languages, but meets no success until he tries the Common tongue. He asks whether they are friend or foe, and they respond by attacking. The Holocaust Disciple displays the ability to create powerful flaming explosions emanating from its body, which its fire giant allies prove completely immune to.
The attack wakes up some of the other group members, and the rest are quickly woken by the screams of those who are caught in the radius of the fiery blast. Thallatos emerges from inside siege crab singed and burned, and orders his marilith skeleton into battle. Unfortunately, both of the twins are badly hurt by the initial attack and are forced to back out of the battle before it even begins.
The marilith engages the group of fire giants, proving itself a mostly even match for them, while the others do what they can against the Holocaust Disciple. The being of pure fire is able to fly, putting it beyond the reach of the group’s melee fighters. So they assist the marilith skeleton in dealing with the fire giants while Leon tries his best to keep the Holocaust Disciple from slaughtering the group of them, a task made all the more difficult when it wreathes itself in blue flames, which negate its vulnerability to blasts of cold energy. To make matters worse for Leon, the Holocaust Disciple proves to be resistant to magical energy in general.
Under the combined assault of half a dozen fire giants, the marilith skeleton is very nearly destroyed, saved only by magical healing from Thallatos and Leon distracting the Holocaust Disciple away from finishing the job. With the leader drawn away though, the group is able to pick off the giants one at a time, and the battle finishes when Leon puts the Holocaust Disciple down with some blasts of hellfire, which effects even a creature made of elemental fire.
XP Awarded: 2,800 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Jan 10, 2014 3:27:11 GMT -5
Session 36.1: Saturday, August 3, 2013
After making sure that there are no more threats in the area, the group beds down again and posts another watch. The rest of the night camped in the mountain pass is uneventful. When morning arrives, camp is packed up and the fire giants’ bodies are looted. A little ways down the road, Tyrrox finds some large burlap sacks that the giants had apparently set down before approaching the camp in the night. Inside, he finds some corpses and various treasure. Leon identifies a few of the items as magical, and Thallatos uses his Ring of Earth Mastery to bury the unidentified corpses.
Shortly thereafter, camp is packed up and the group continues their trek through the Starspire Mountains. The weather continues to be unseasonably warm even this far north, and thus the passes are completely devoid of snow. This makes travel easy, and after a few hours the group comes down from the mountains. They continue to follow the Trade Way north along the cost until they reach the town of Mosstone, on the southwestern edge of the Wealdath forest.
Leon tells the others what he knows about Mosstone, and Goroc (who was raised at the nearby druid grove) chimes in now and then as well. They tell the others that Mosstone is primarily a trading post town, a waystation on the road between Zazesspur and the cities to the north. Some trade is also conducted here with the local druids and the elves of the Wealdath.
Normally, Mosstone is pretty quiet at this time of year because there is far less traffic on the Trade Way during the winter. However, right now the town is overflowing as much as it does during the height of summer. Past the edge of town the group can see the western edge of the forest, including one massive oak tree that stands far above the others. This is where the druid enclave is located.
Even though they leave Thallatos’s undead outside the town, the group still attracts plenty of attention on their way in due to their striking appearance. As the crowds part to allow them passage on the street, Leon hears his name and that of the others murmured in the crowd – they are apparently becoming pretty well-known. Tyrrox greets random people in a friendly manner, including children (whom he does his best to avoid frightening).
One child asks Tyrrox for an autograph, which he signs. The centaur asks where he and his friends can get good food and drink, and is directed to a place called the Oakfather’s Boon. He gives a substantial amount of gold to the boy and leads the group there.
The group heads to the Oakfather’s Boon and begins to eat, drink, talk, and listen. Goroc begins drinking at the bar, so Vanemuine takes it upon himself to try and keep the gorillas out of grouble. Tyrrox chats with random people and does a bit of dancing, while Thallatos heads up to his room, trailed by his young bodyguards.
Leon spots a familiar face at the bar, a woman whom he knows he has encountered but cannot remember where. He recognizes her distinctive hairstyle – cut to shoulder length with the tips dyed blood red. He orders a mixed drink called the Horrible Nightmare (which is flavored with a night hag’s heartstone and set on fire when served), and approaches the woman.
As he gets close to her, Leon sees that she wears a hammer and longsword at her belt, and finally places where he knows the woman from. She is Raina Scarlett, the pirate captain the group took prisoner after her ship attacked a small coastal town. She recognizes Leon as well, calls him a creep, and tells him to get lost. After offering his own parting insult, he leaves her alone. He continues drinking, and eventually approaches her again to argue and gloat, and tell her to stay on the up-and-up. Though she is very unfriendly, she doesn’t rise to his bait so Leon gets bored and leaves him alone again.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine get into a dance-off with a stranger, which ends with the centaur being declared the winner. He continues dancing with other random people, including a female centaur, until the dance floor empties for the night.
As the others retire to their rented rooms for the evening, Goroc sets off for the druid grove outside of town. On the way he runs into a druid named Jerry, and they do some catching up. Jerry tells him that the druids have discovered that the drought area matches Tethyr’s political borders exactly – as soon as they cross into a neighboring land, the weather returns to normal and can be magically controlled as usual. However, they remain unable to pierce the magical drought within Tethyr itself.
In the meantime, most druids are devoting their daily spells to creating as much food and water as possible, while the more powerful druids continue researching the problem. They have reached out to other druid circles as well as any churches that might know something of the problem – even evil gods such as Talos or Umberlee, but with no results. Either no one knows or no one will tell what is causing the problem.
In the morning, Goroc returns to the Oakfather’s Boon and shares this information with the others. He also tells them what he learned at the druid grove itself. Food shortages have been a problem even here, a town that borders a massive forest and is only a few miles from the coastline. As a result, local officials have had to limit hunting in order to protect the game in the forest from being driven to extinction, and those who defy these laws are punished severely.
However, there have also been a number of disappearances reported. Most people who go missing are travelers (of whom there are more than usual because of the drought), but a few locals have disappeared as well. The cause of these disappearances is unknown, but some think that the elves of the Wealdath might be getting more aggressive in protecting the forest and their borders.
When the group leave their rooms and come down to the common room, they are greeted by a crowd of people. Word of their arrival in town has spread, and some of their exploits are well known. People want to shake everyone’s hands, get autographs, and just rub shoulders with well-known adventurers. Thallatos, for the most part, is left alone though, partly because of his higher social status and partly because people are just a little creeped out by him.
Goroc makes his way through the crowd to Tyrrox and tells him what’s been going on. He says he thinks they should approach the mystery of the drought by looking into who benefits from the damage it causes. He also mentions the disappearances and thinks they should investigate. As they are discussing the problem, they are approached by a one-eyed dwarf named Angar “Steeleye” Axeson. Goroc knows that Steeleye is a local smith, and his nickname comes from his good eye for metalworking, rather than the steel ball that replaced his missing eye. In addition to being the best smith in town, Steeleye is also the mayor of Mosstone.
Steeleye approaches the group, greets them briefly, and then comes straight to the point: he asks them to help investigate the disappearances. Thallatos is torn, because he wants to hurry to Amn and find his girlfriend Elysa while the information they still have is current, but he doesn’t want to leave people in danger who need help either. After a brief discussion, it is decided that the group will split: Thallatos and Leon will teleport ahead to Amn, while Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Goroc try to determine the fate of the missing townsfolk. After making their decision they part ways to prepare for their separate tasks.
Steeleye introduces Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Goroc to a man named Rynstag. Rynstag, a ranger who specializes in archery, discovered the latest disappearances just this morning. Steeleye asks him to join these adventurers and lead them to the scene of the disappearance. While they’re discussing it, a foreign-looking man emerges from the crowd and asks to help out. His name is Yukimura, and he is wearing red armor and carrying a big spear. He isn’t from the area but wants to help solve the disappearances, so they agree to let him come along.
Rynstag takes the group north of town about a mile, where they come across a couple of smashed wagons. A few small animals are crawling over the wagons, but they scatter at the group’s approach. Tyrrox and Yukimura look over the wagons while Goroc and Rynstag look for tracks approaching and leaving the area.
Tyrrox figures out that whatever smashed apart the wagons, it was very big. He finds a stray boot, and when he lifts it up a severed foot falls out of it. Yukimura finds that the wagons contained crates of food (which is probably what drew the animals), and finds a crossbow on the driver’s seat, which he takes for himself. Meanwhile, Rynstag and Goroc find that signs of something big and bulky dragging itself along into the forest. Whatever it is, it seems to leave behind a trail of leaves and plant matter, and it isn’t trying to hide its passage. Rynstag announces that it’s a large, mobile carnivorous plant of some kind.
The creature has many hours’ head start, but Rynstag and Goroc believe that it doesn’t move very quickly, so they believe they can catch it if they move fast. They begin tracking at a quick pace, with the rest of the group keeping pace. After several hours’ jogging, Yukimura and a couple of the gorillas start to fall behind, so the group slows down a bit. Along the creature’s wide swath of destruction, Goroc finds signs that it has killed and eaten some animals as well.
After a few minutes of moving at a slower pace, the group starts running again because they believe they’ve almost caught up to it. As they run, Goroc and Rynstag are surprised to hear what sounds like singing echoing through the trees up ahead. They redouble their efforts to catch up, worried that someone might be in the forest and accidentally draw the creature’s attention.
However, as they run and start to get closer, the singing seems to pace them. They get close enough to hear that the words are in Sylvan, the language of fey, but every time they believe they’re about to catch up to the singer, it leaps ahead again.
Finally, Goroc calls out that the tracks they’re following are very recent, and moments later the group spots a large green mass crashing through the trees ahead. Rynstag’s suspicions are confirmed when he recognizes the creature as a Tendriculos, a giant mound of vegetation with long tendrils and a giant mouth full of large fangs made of thorns and sharp branches. However, it’s by far the biggest one he’s ever seen.
As the group closes with the Tendriculos, the singing pauses, and the same voice speaks words of spellcasting. Suddenly, a tyrannosaurus appears and attacks the group. They fight the dinosaur as well as the plant monster while keeping an eye out for the spellcaster, who remains hidden among the trees while assaulting them with some sort of magically-induced fear effect.
Tyrrox, Goroc, and Rynstag attack the Tendriculos while Vanemuine, Yukimura, and Goroc’s apes focus on the tyrannosaurus. When the dinosaur is defeated, the summoning spell is dismissed and it vanishes. Meanwhile, the plant creature attacks Tyrrox and tries to pull him into its giant maw, but thanks to his ring it cannot get a grip on him. Vanemuine also saps its strength with his magic, causing its attacks to be weaker.
Suddenly, Tyrrox feels his body begin to act of its own accord. He ceases attacking the Tendriculos and begins to prance majestically, a ridiculous sight during the intense fight. Meanwhile, the Tendriculos continues to attack the centaur. Finally, Tyrrox and Rynstag notice a figure moving among the trees, prancing just like Tyrrox. Rynstag uses a tree stride spell to appear near this new figure, whom he at first takes for an elf. However, once he’s closer, Rynstag sees that he seems to be something different. This stranger is well over a foot taller than normal for elves, his eyes are glowing green, and there’s just something… not human or elflike about him.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine calls out to the others that the Tendriculos seems to be healing from its wounds. The plant creature grabs Vanemuine with its tendrils and starts pulling him into its mouth.
Rynstag shouts out at the stranger, trying to distract him so that Tyrrox can regain control of his body. Instead, the stranger cheerfully says hi to him, and then sings in a low, menacing voice, “run boy run.” The ranger is suddenly overcome by fear, and he flees back towards Tyrrox, who is also singing the same words.
Vanemuine is swallowed whole by the Tendriculos, and ends up in the creature’s digestive system. Although it has no proper stomach, its digestive cavity contains both a digesting acid as well as a paralyzing agent. As he feels his body going numb, Vanemuine finds that he is too constricted to cut his way free with a sword. However, he is able to cast a doom scarabs spell, and the scarabs chew a hole through the creature’s body. Vanemuine tumbles out, and the creature is now badly wounded.
Vanemuine and Goroc manage to take the Tendriculos down, attempting to use acid from Vanemuine’s sword to counteract its healing and keep it dead. Meanwhile, Tyrrox continues mimicking the stranger’s actions like a puppet. Yukimura sees this, charges the stranger, and strikes several times with his spear. The stranger does not seem as grievously wounded as might be expected, and he begins to swing and stab his staff at the air. As it turns out, he is forcing Tyrrox to attack Yukimura, and nearly kills him.
Rynstag, who has gotten control of himself, jumps onto the motionless body of the Tendriculos and fires several shots at him. He and Goroc notice that the stranger, who still resembles a very tall elf, seems to be under some sort of magical disguising effect, and is probably not what he appears to be.
Goroc directs his ape Patrick to try and grab the “elf,” but he fails to grab him. The stranger uses Tyrrox to attack Patrick, then dodges an attack by Goroc as well. The stranger cartwheels away (causing Tyrrox to fall over when he attempts the same), pulls out a scroll, and steps into a tree, where he vanishes.
Rynstag casts a baleful polymorph spell on the unmoving Tendriculos, turning it into a squirrel. In its present condition, it does not survive the transformation. Goroc searches the area for the stranger, but he’s gone. When Tyrrox gains control of his body, he apologizes for almost killing Yukimura.
Rynstag shares his conclusion that the stranger was not an elf at all, but some kind of fey creature. He’s not sure exactly what, but it’s probably behind the disappearances, although it was clearly using the Tendriculos as well.
Some loot is found inside the plant monster’s gullet, and then after searching the area, the group makes their way back toward Mosstone. Every once in awhile they hear singing in the distance among the trees, but it never comes close to them. When they make it back, the group report their findings.
XP Awarded: <let me get back to you on that>
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Post by Velaryon on Jan 10, 2014 3:28:03 GMT -5
Session 36.2: Sunday, August 4, 2013
After some discussion, Thallatos and Leon decide to go on ahead to Amn while the rest of the party stays behind at Mosstone to try and solve the mystery of the recent disappearances outside of town. The two of them decide to teleport straight to Esmeltaran using a scroll that Leon has been carrying. However, this means that they cannot take Thallatos’s undead along. Since they may need to use another scroll to teleport away, they cannot take too many people either. Thallatos thus orders the twins to remain behind as well, though they are not happy with his decision.
Thallatos informs mayor Steeleye that his “mode of conveyance” is remaining behind just outside the city to the south. He tells the dwarf where it’s located and asks him to make sure it, along with the two girls, remains undisturbed. The mayor agrees, and goes off to attend his duties.
Leon and Thallatos decide that going openly as themselves might be a bad idea for various reasons, so they assume false identities and disguises. Leon calls himself Drag Seagram, and Thallatos takes the name Wold Brown. Before they go, Leon points out to Thallatos that it’s possible Elysa (Thallatos’s long-missing girlfriend) may not have disappeared unwillingly. Thallatos doesn’t want to think about that.
They use the scroll and arrive in the city of Esmeltaran. Since they haven’t been there before and are operating mostly on maps and rough description, the spell does not bring them directly to the place known as Runhave’s Masks, but instead drops them into a crowded street, directly in the path of an oncoming carriage.
Drag and Wold manage not to get run over, and they take stock of their location. They start asking around about this Runhave’s Masks place, and learn a few things about it. It’s said to be an easily affordable tavern and festhall that mostly caters to foreigners. The name comes from the fact that the staff there all dress in masks. Drag and Wold find out the place’s location and how to get there from where they are.
Drag also asks about where they could purchase certain magical items. While there aren’t really much in the way of magic shops in Esmeltaran (a city that primarily trades in resorts and tourism), they are told to inquire at a tavern called the Eye Tyrant. The place is mostly a hangout for off-duty guards and bouncers, and non-locals are not welcomed there. However, there is someone there who might be able to help them with what they’re looking for.
Drag and Wold head to the Eye Tyrant, and find exactly the cold reception they were warned about. As outsiders, they are not welcomed at this establishment. However, one man who seems to be an off-duty constable suggests that they check out a tavern named the Days of Eleint (a reference to the Ten Black Days of Eleint, the events that led to Tethyr’s long civil war), and look for a man named Grimm.
For the moment though, Drag and Wold decide to look at what magic shops do exist in Esmeltaran. Drag Seagram wants to see if food-producing items are more affordable here than they have been in Tethyr and Calimshan. They find an establishment run by a man named Fizzlebert, who tells them that he does not carry any such items. In a prosperous resort town like Esmeltaran there is simply no demand for such things. He offers to commission their creation or import them from another city, but Drag declines the offer.
Now that the dinner hour has arrived, Wold is eager to head over to Runhave’s Masks and see what they can find out, so he and Drag decide to go in and order some food. They are served rather exotic dishes: polar bear flank steak with quarren on the cob and a side of shocker lizard on a stick for Wold Brown, and catoblepas roast for Drag Seagram (though neither he nor the serving girl can seem to pronounce the name of the dish). Both Wold and Drag choose not to consume alcohol, both to keep their wits about them and in Drag’s case, because of bad experiences in the past with Genie Juice, the day’s special.
As they were told, all the employees at Runhave’s Masks are masked. Wold and Drag scan the crowd for Elysa, but Wold does not see her and Drag does not recognize anyone matching her description. Eventually however, Drag spots a woman whose hair and telltale half-elf ears at least match the description at the far side of the room. She is dressed as one of the waitresses so he cannot see her face, and she walks into another room before he can point her out to Wold. He quickly tells Wold what he saw, then decides to go investigate.
First Drag heads to the bathroom, where he activates two of his warlock invocations: one to fly, and another to turn himself invisible. Then he leaves the bathroom and floats into the room where he saw the woman going.
Leon locates her quickly enough, and drifts as close as he can to try and overhear her. She is standing by one of the tables, introducing herself to the customers as Alice. She sounds sincere enough to Leon, so after observing her for a couple more minutes he returns to the bathroom, dismisses his invocations, and assumes the identity of Drag Seagram again before heading back to his table.
He and Wold discuss what he found in the other room, and decide to wait and see if Wold can get a look at her. After waiting for awhile they do not see her reappear, so Drag decides to go snooping again. While Wold orders dessert so that his lingering appears natural, Drag heads for the bathroom again, where he once again flies and turns invisible.
Leon this time heads into the back of the restaurant, following one of the serving girls into the kitchen area. He searches the area, notes a closed door to what looks like an office, and then proceeds into the storerooms to continue his search. In the wine cellar (which is kept pitch black when no one is in there retrieving something), he activates another invocation to see in the darkness, and continues snooping. In the back of the room he finds a barrel covered in dust that looks like it is rarely used, unlike all of the other barrels and kegs. After examining it more closely, he activates what turns out to be a secret door by pushing on the barrel’s tap. The barrel swings open to reveal a small tunnel into another room, which contains a staircase that descends underground.
Leon follows the spiraling staircase for what seems like hundreds of feet, and finds himself thinking of a similar hidden entrance that he and his friends discovered in the Efreetium in Myratma, which led to the underground complex where the Eyes of Night guild made their hideout.
Finally the staircase ends, and opens into some underground tunnels. There is a sign at the bottom that reads “Welcome to the Underdark.” After exploring the tunnels for a short way without finding anyone (renewing his invocation as necessary to remain invisible), Leon makes some noise to hear the echoes, and to see if anything is down here. He startles a small, dark being that looks like it might be a deep gnome, which takes off running out of its hiding place down the tunnels. Leon flies after it for awhile, and eventually it stops running to catch its breath. It shouts something in a language Leon does not understand, and Leon realizes he can’t communicate with it, so he turns and heads back the way he came.
Leon heads up the staircase and back into the hidden room behind the secret door in the storeroom, but when he opens the secret door he startles one of the serving girls who was in there to retrieve something. Thinking quickly, he pretends to be a ghost and tries to frighten here away. The girl screams and runs away, so Leon follows.
The scream can be heard all through the restaurant, so out in the common area Wold Brown stands up from his table and goes to investigate. On his way toward the kitchens however, he looks into the other room where Drag had spotted the girl Alice earlier, and Wold now sees her there as well, talking to the customers and trying to assure them that everything is okay. Though it’s not yet possible to be sure, everything he can see tells him that Alice could very well be Elysa. He approaches and tells her that he’s looking for someone like her.
As Wold converses with Alice, he becomes totally sure that she is Elysa. However, she denies it and appears not to recognize him or the names Thal or Thallatos.
Leon emerges back into the kitchen, which has been stirred up by the commotion of the screaming girl. He sees the office door open and a man come out, carrying a cane. He is well-dressed and appears to be the owner of the establishment. As the owner starts trying to assess the situation and calm the girl down enough to tell him what’s going on, Leon makes for the open office door.
As soon as he reaches the doorway however, the restaurant owner instantly stops midsentence and turns toward Leon. He mutters something like “Think you can sneak up on me, eh?” Leon decides to get out and tries to fly back out into the restaurant, but finds himself suddenly unable to move.
Leon realizes that he is being magically held, but as the man approaches, Leon has a sudden realization. The restaurant owner is a good and trusted friend, and he would never do something like that. As if to prove the point, the man releases Leon from the spell and asks the warlock to tell him what he needs. Leon explains why he and Thallatos are here, and the man assures him that no such woman is here at the restaurant. If they thought they recognized her among the staff, surely it’s a case of mistaken identity. Leon is assured that his new friend would never lie about something like that, and after the owner offers to give both him and Thallatos their meals on the house, he happily goes back out to the common room to share the good news.
Wold surreptitiously tries dispelling magic on Elysa, in case she is being magically enchanted somehow. Nothing changes, however. Then Leon comes out, and is acting much more cheerful and friendly than Wold/Thallatos has ever seen him. Wold knows something is wrong and decides that the two of them need to get out of there, because they’re not going to make any further progress now. They give the voucher for their meal, leave a tip, and exit the restaurant. Thallatos tries to dispel the charm effect on Leon but is unable to do it.
Next, Thallatos and Leon head to the Days of Eleint tavern to find the man named Grimm. The tavern is decorated with various treasures and riches stolen from Tethyr during the Interregnum period (the time when Tethyr had no true ruler). Leon is tempted to take something that came from House Jhannivar because it might help Helena prove her heritage. After a few inquiries they find Grimm, and inquire about purchasing a Field Provisions Box from him. Grimm tells them to come back the following night to see an associate of his, and they should be able to get one. Grimm also tells them that he has seen people come out of Runhave’s Masks before acting similarly to how Leon is now.
After leaving the Days of Eleint, Leon and Thallatos head to the Golden Sands Inn to get rooms for the night. Although the hour is late, neither is tired yet because of their Rings of Sustenance. Leon is still feeling oddly friendly, so he buys several rounds of drinks for everyone in the common room. Thallatos goes along mostly to make sure that nothing bad happens, all while trying to figure out what to do about this odd condition.
Eventually they do retire their rooms for the two hours of sleep they need. Upon waking up, Leon contacts Helena to discuss baby names, but they don’t agree on anything just yet. Once he and Thallatos are both awake, Leon tells him the full story of what he found in the kitchen and underground. After a few more hours of hanging out together, the charm effect finally wears off, leaving Leon very angry about having been manipulated like that.
The two of them go back to Fizzlebert’s shop to get some items identified and kill some more time before the evening. Leon buys a Dispelling Cord for Thallatos in case they need to do it again, then they assume new disguises and go back to Runhave’s Masks, where they get a table in the area Alice was waiting on the previous day.
It turns out that Alice is not there that day, but they do uncover some other information. Leon scans the staff for magical auras and finds that the hostess carries several magic items, and both she and all the waitresses they encounter have some auras of enchantment on them. Leon suspects that the hostess’s magical items are to boost her armor, and some sort of hidden blade with a necromancy aura.
Since they’ve found out everything they can this time, Thallatos and Leon take their leave. This time however, Thallatos leaves his imp familiar behind with instructions to watch for any of the waitresses leaving. The imp is cautioned to be careful in case there is anyone around who can see through his invisibility.
After leaving, they put on their disguises from the previous night and go to meet Grimm’s contact, who turns out to be an off-duty constable. He sells them a Field Provisions Box on the down low, because it was confiscated from an arrest.
That night, Thallatos and Leon return to Runhave’s Masks, where the imp meets them outside. He tells them that the restaurant servers do not leave the restaurant. Instead, they each go up into the restaurant’s second floor and stay there overnight.
The two of them make plans on what to do, and decide to wait until about half an hour after the restaurant closes for the evening. Thallatos opens his portable hole and lets out his marilith skeleton. Then they circle around to the back of the building, where Thallatos uses his Ring of Elemental Command to open a hole through the wall, directly into the rear office. Inside they find the owner and his wife the hostess, who are seated around the desk going over their receipts for the night. Leon flies in through the hole and summons up fiery chains to bind the man before he can react.
Bound by the burning chains, the restaurant owner is not able to use any of his enchantment magic. The only thing he is able to do, it turns out, is teleport out of the room, leaving his wife behind. Leon directs the chains to ensnare her, and she does not try to struggle against them. However, she vows to tell them nothing. Leon dispels the chains and the marilith skeleton seizes the woman in four of its arms. Thallatos takes her outside, and Leon searches the office. He finds a spellbook in a drawer, and at first inspection it seems not to be trapped.
Outside, Thallatos creates another hole through the outer wall, this one into the second floor of the building. Upstairs, he encounters several of the other waitresses but does not find Alice. He asks the frightened women where Alice is, and they say that she was told to lay low because people were looking for her. Unfortunately none of them know where Alice might have gone.
Downstairs in the office, Leon forces open a chest and finds some magical gear, which he takes. He then writes a ransom note, telling the owner to meet them in a crowded public street. He then goes upstairs to join Thallatos.
They search the master bedroom and see signs that someone seems to have packed hurriedly and fled. They find a jewelry chest that contains vials they believe are various poisons. They ask the hostess what the vials are and she tells them to “try them and find out.” Instead, they give her Thallatos’s Bottle of Air and imprison her in the portable hole for the time being. They then leave and close up the holes they’ve made in the outer walls.
After leaving they head to another inn called The Veiled Vampiress where they take out rooms for the night and plan out their next step. They start examining the papers that Leon took from the office. The most interesting item seems at first to be a letter from his mother, but after a dispelling it turns out to contain a secret message. The secret message says to keep “her” safe, and mentions that she doesn’t know who she is. It offers great compensation for this task. The letter is stamped with a seal that appears to be a variation on the symbol of the church of Waukeen, goddess of trade, money, and wealth. The bottom of the seal says “1BA.” Neither of them knows what that means.
Leon also finds what appears to be a bill of sale written in another language. Thanks to one of his warlock powers, Leon is able to read it. It turns out the item sold was a person, and the buyer’s name looks like that of a drow.
Thallatos and Leon discuss the possibility of assuming the restaurant owner’s identity or impersonating him, so they practice disguising Leon as him just in case it comes up some time in the future.
The next morning, they visit Fizzlebert’s shop again, this time with yet another set of disguises. They buy scrolls of teleport, dimensional anchor, discern location, and greater scrying. Then they decide not to wait for the evening’s meeting mentioned in the ransom note, and instead use the scrolls to try and find Alice.
The greater scrying spell fails to locate Alice, but discern location comes through once more, and reveals that she is in room 212 of an inn called Shazzelim’s Retreat in town. Even though it’s still very early in the morning, they head there immediately.
Once they get to Shazzelim’s Retreat, they order a room there. Then they sneak out into the hallway and head for room 212. Thallatos uses his gauntlet to rust the lock on the door, and then Leon rushes in, ready to use the scroll of dimensional anchor to stop anyone from teleporting out. However, the restaurant owner is not there – only Alice, who is fast asleep. Leon turns invisible and closes the door, while Thallatos wakes her up to try and talk her into coming willingly.
Alice is startled when he wakes her, but does not panic. Thallatos tries to explain what’s going on but he can’t seem to get through to her. He asks Leon to show her the evidence they found, and he does. She replies that anyone could have written it, and they have no answer for that.
They question Alice about how far back she can remember, and it turns out she can’t remember past about seven months ago. This coincides roughly with the time Elysa went missing. They manage to convince Alice to come back with them to the magic shop to try and find a spell to restore her memory. They also discover why it has been so hard to locate her with divination magic – a pair of magical items she wears at all times, a cloak and a white crystal that she wears on her forehead.
At Fizzlebert’s magic shop, they find that the highest-level spell scrolls are not available. However, Leon purchases a scroll of analyze dweomer in order to determine what spells are active on Alice, and they find that she is affected by a perpetual charm person spell which is resistant to dispelling. Leon tries a scroll of break enchantment, and that does the trick. However, her memory is still not restored.
Now that she is no longer charmed, Alice realizes that she has been taken advantage of by the owner of Runhave’s Masks. She is not sure whether she believes all of Thallatos’s story that she is Elysa, but she agrees to come back with them to Tethyr for now. However, she keeps on her anti-divination gear, just in case. Leon buys another scroll of break enchantment to use on the man’s wife later on.
XP Awarded: <let me get back to you on that>
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