Age of Worms Campaign Journal *SPOILERS*

[Deadtissue]

I have been running an Age of Worms campaign for about a year now and starting keeping a Journal of it after the first few sessions. I originally had intended one of the players would keep a journal but when that did not materialize I did. We are all in our 40's, have been playing for some 25 years together and have kids, jobs etc but still manage to get together 2 or 3 times a months to play for 4 or 5 hours and we just finished The ARENA though we mix in a little Shadowrun and another DND campaign when I need a break. Its been alot of fun so far with no only one death in the party and many memorable moments.

From this point forward this post is one giant ***SPOILER*** for anyone who has not run or been through the adventure so you have been warned

Without further ado here is the 1st journal entry it picks up right after they had defeated the Temple of Hextor and moved cautiously into the Temple of Erynthul.

The Cast at this point is:
Mallaur: 4th level Paladin of Heironeous (The Classic Paladin run my a new player to the group who is doing quite well) assigned to Diamond Lake's Garrison. He as been sent to investigate the rumors of a cult under the mine and enlisted the aid of the other party members.

Orlant: 4th Dwarven Ranger (swapped out animal companion for Flanking Shot ACF) He is a typical dwarf who is trapped in Diamond Lake until he gets assigned to escort an ore shipment back to his clan in the mountains. In the meantime he has hooked up with the group and is enjoying thier company.

Trill: 4th Wizard she has a club foot and an interest in the element of air hoping to free herself from limits her foot impose on her. Her mother (Air Genasi) and father (human) both worked in the carnival that came to Diamond lake and became the house of wonders.

Sister Martin: 4th Priest of Wee Jas - He is part of the Green Sisters cult (the only male) in Diamond Lake having been found in a grave there with no memory of his past.

A new character also joins in this session a player who was previously unavailable but joined now. Morden Galen Priest of St. Cuthbert who was also sent to investigate the troubles in Diamond Lake but was take prisoner by some cultists enroute.

Next Session: Hey where did that rope come from?

The way forward was more tunnels cut from the natural rock some of it through a vien of iron ore. Orlant advanced while the others prepared themselves to continue and came across two of the Grimlocks wrestling in a fair sized cavern. He returned and informed the group. Discussions on how to take these two out without alerting the rest of the cave complex continued while Orlant returned to the cave and killed both Grimlocks with a couple of well placed arrows before they even realized they were being shot at. Orlant walked the corridor again to inform the group that there were no longer 2 living Grimlocks guarding the way ahead and that it was not safe to continue. So they did.
The cavern they entered required them to climb a steep 5' incline to reach the cavern floor. Once up it they could see an tunnel heading to the northwest, a tunnel to the south east and a raised area to the north that appeared to have a third tunnel entrance. Orlant moved to the closest tunnel the one to the NW. It was a barracks and he noted that a half dozen Grimlocks were gearing up for a fight having obviously heard the group enter the main cavern. He launched a couple arrows at them and moved back out to allow Mallaur to take their charge. Martin moved in behind him to support him and Orlant struggled to get a clear shot at Mallaur's opponent where he could. The fight did not last long as Mallaur's armor and Martin's wand of CLW worked against the Grimlock advance stopping it in its tracks. Once cleared Mallaur began searching the room for loot. The rest of the group watched as he tried to bend down in full plate to look into cracks int he walls and floor. A few moments later he stopped, looked back at the group and said "Orlant! This room needs to be searched, have at it" in a commanding and noble voice that only a paladin could produce. Orlant donned his goggles of minute seeing and found several hidden caches including a pouch of gems. Trill catalogued all his finds and the group made their way back to the main cavern.

After some discussion about what direction they would take next they decided to send Orlant to scout again this time up the ledge to the north. Orlant ascended the incline and made is way into the tunnel entrance, he could smell a sickly sweet odor coming from it and then saw a gigantic smoke breathing Grimlock with a greataxe charging towards him. He plugged the brute with two arrows before the great axe hit him and nearly dropped him but he rolled with it and slid down the incline as Mallaur moved to block the Grimlocks advance. Orlant quickly recovered with some healing aid from Martin and began adding arrows to the sword wounds Mallaur was inflicting on the mushroom smoking Grimlock weight-lifter with the Great axe. Trill contemplated using one of her final spells but the filthy humanoid was slain before things got dire enough for her to strain herself. Orlant and Trill searched the cavern where the it lived and determined that it must have been some kind of champion given the number of trophies it kept and the loot it possessed, err they now possessed.

The final corridor from the bigger cavern remained to the south and they eagerly entered it. It wound slowly down into the earth. Chanting could be heard as they got closer to the bottom. Orlant edged forward to assess the situation but this time he got too close and the Grimlocks sensed him before he saw them. Armed with long spears they began to prod Orlant forcing him back. The rest of the group began to advance when they hear the sounds of battle. The room they were in was fairly big with most of them not able to see the far end clearly. What could be seen was a small fire burning about 10ft above them around which danced a crazy looking Grimlock, this one with large staring eyes and the source of the chanting, and a bound captive at his feet near the fire. The 40 some feet distance between them and him was a depression of sorts with the floor dropping off 10 feet and running 40ft to the base of a 20ft cliff the Priest of Erynthul was perched upon.
As the group engaged and quicly dispatched the long spear wielding sentries the Priest babbled forth a litany of obsenity which it turns out passes for spellcasting if you worship a God of Chaos, Murder, and Evil. Orlant found it difficult to land a solid shot on the priest with arrows as they seemed to deflect away at the last moment and that was on top of the fact he was insanely difficult to hit to start with. Mallaur made a rather elegant jump (he was getting the hang of full plate) down to the cavern floor and began heading towards the priest yelling for him to come down and fight with honor. Trill cast the last of her spells and began digging out her spellbook thinking to cast from it if things got bad and Martin tried with his heavy crossbow to at least distract the Priest of Erynthul.

As Mallaur grew nearer the cliff a knotted rope dropped down and Orlant who by this time had grown weary of missing the priest moved ahead of Mallaur to quickly shimmy up the rope bringing the fight to the evil son of a druegar. Trill had attracted the the priests attention with her spellcasting and was now being assaulted with a spiritual morning star and Martin moved to heal her.

Filled with confidence with his recent jumping success Mallaur began ascending the cliff with much grunting and heaving. He made it to the summit though and helped Orlant to put an end to the priest. The battle won they looked upon the captive who lay naked with an executioners hood over his head, hands bound, and feet recently unbound and near the other end of the rope. Perhaps the priest did not lower it to fight honorably after all?

Trill, Mallaur and Martin questioned the captive and ascertained the was a Priest of St. Cuthbert who had recently been sent by the church in Greyhawk City to investigate the emergence of some Green wormed zombies in the area. It seems the Church had found a necromancer recently returned from the area who having been convicted of setting up an orphanage and using the children in some sort of necromantic experiment confessed to the knowledge of the worms during interrogation. Unfortunately while he was enroute to Diamond Lake he was waylayed by cultists and brought here. He recalls 3 priests discussing his fate. That he would be the final sacrifice to the "Overgod" and they argued for some time over who would have the honor of sacrificing him. Apparently Erynthul won.

As they interrogated the man named Morgen Galem, Priest of the Cudgel, Orlant found a trove of treasure, much of it Morden's equipment but some nice items that Trill noted in her list of treasures. There was a couple sheets of parchment, obviously written by the former priest of Erynthul, that offered some portents about the Overgod and a coming "Age of Worms".

The group helped Morden recover his own gear and agreed to move back to the temple of Hextor as it seemed more secure and had sufficient supplies and beds for them to restock. They noted as they crossed back throught the temples entrance that it seemed colder in the large room with the pool but that the elevator and third temple door seem unchanged.

The group is now 5th level and have added a 5th member a 4th lvl Aasimar Cleric of St. Cuthbert.

End of Session.

Session 2 Green is the color of the day -

Following the defeat of the temple of Erynthul the group made its way back through the cavern complex out to the main Temple area. The elevator remained in place and all was quiet so they returned to the Temple of Hextor to rest once again. They barred the entry doors to the temple shut and found nearby bunks to rest in, replenished supplies from the ample stock bearing the Rampant Rooster Logo of Balabar Smenk's trading house and set about setting a watch on the door.
Martin took the first watch and about 1 hour in was interupted from his meditation by a coded knock on the main doors (3-2-1-2). Odd that was the same code as he put in place at the Shrine of the Green Lady. The knock came again and Martin rushed to alert Orlant and Mallaur who were restocking their ammunition in the the nearby guard room.
When the knock came again they were ready and Martin removed the bar while Orlant and Mallaur grabbed the "knocker" and pulled him inside while Martin closed and re-barred the door. The "Knocker" turned out to be a rather ordinary looking human, again one of the villagers known to work at Ragnar Dourstones Mine as a cook and apparently a cultist as well.

Orlant secured the prisoner with rope while Martin began to question him. The prisoner was very bold in telling Martin that he would tell him nothing he did not already know and Mallaur stepped in to convince the cultist that co-operation would be best. The prisoner responded to Mallaur by telling him he was just making his usual food delivery to the temple. Orlant inquired asked if he was alone and he said one other was with him which set Mallaur and Orlant off at a run out into the main temple. Orlant was in the lead and spotted a fellow moving towards the temple of Vecna with a box. He spotted the Dwarf hurtling towards him with murder in his and dropped the box rushing towards the temple door. Fortunately Orlant was quicker and a barrage of arrows dropped the man before the box of groceries hit the floor.

Meanwhile Martin asked the prisoner what he meant by "what he already knew". The man's response was even more puzzling. He whispered "Look man I get it you do not want to blow your cover, no worries I will keep my mouth shut". Martin stood there stunned for a bit until Mallaur and Orlant returned with the delivery man's companions corpse. This seemed to upset the delivery man and Martin looked a Mallaur and said I need 10 minutes with this man alone. Morden spoke up and said I will attend that conversation and they moved him off to the old holding pen of the dire boar they had narrowly defeated just a couple days ago.

Martin then set about questioning the prisoner while the watchful priest of the Cudgel looked dropping the head of his mace into his hand, over and over. Martin started his questioning trying to determine if the man knew him. He did know him from a few years back. Where? When the cult first arrived, comon man, your a vecnite I know you are, just loosen the bonds and walk away your secret is safe with my but what about your friend there? (Martin had cast detect thoughts before he entered the room and was shocked at what he detected...). The questioning ended there and Martin stormed out of the cell. Morden spoke to Mallaur and they moved some food and water into the cell, untied the prisoner and locked the door on the outside with the heavy padlock that held the giant boar.

The group slept fitfully and awoke to continue their assault. They moved out into the main room connecting the 3 temples and prepared to enter the Temple of Vecna, the third and final in this temple. Martin had been gifted a especially powerful spell through his prayers and granted Mallaur two more arms allowing him to make 4 attacks at once and increased his strength as well with another spell. Mallaur called on his Divine Favor and Orlant cast longstrider so he could scout ahead.

After checking the door to the temple for traps Orlant cautiously opened in and peered into the darkness. His dwarven heritage told him some fine craftsman sculpted the tunnels ahead. He moved silently forward checking carefully for traps to the first intersection while the group awaited his signal.

He could feel the stone was not solid around him, secret doors were in the hall, he signaled the others forward. Mallaur lit up his sword "Final Rest" to provide light and entered the polished stone hall in his full plate. It was like nails on a chaulkboard for Orlant. Apparently others in the complex also found the noise discomforting and they heard a screech off in the distance. "Dire Weasels, blood sucking furballs!" Orlant had heard that sound before (successful Know dungeoneering check).

What followed was an 45 minute long game of whack-a-mole. The group was in a maze constructed such that a series of secret doors that opened and closed at the command of a group of Kenku (Vecna Birdmen) Rogues and a Sorcerer whose sole mission was to see the party dead. The Dire Weasels diverted the attention of the group initially. The bird men began hit and run raids fom out of the secret doors and around the corners of the tunnels. They attacked from behind and to each side of the group suddenly and then dodged back for cover or surprised group members to fire crossbows at critical body parts (Sneak Attacks). Fireballs were launched and magic missiles hurled from the darkness. Orlant tried to lock down as many secret doors as he could but there were just to many and the party kept advancing further into the maze. But Mallaurs multi-armed persistence and Orlants bow struck back and once the bulk of the opposition fell the group slowed down and began a more methodical search of the place. They found two things of interest as they moved through the maze: 1. Martin could detect the presence of the near flawlessly hidden secret doors throughout the maze and 2. Martin could open and close them with a thought just as the bird men had done. Nobody questioned this surprising ability as this allowed them to hunt down the last of the Kenku rogues and find their lairs (and treasure) within the maze. It also allowed them access to the inner sanctum of the temple of Vecna.

A secret door farthest from the entrance lead into a small space with a door, that door lead to a well lit temple made of green stone shot with writhing purple viens whose sealing was support by pillars that appeared to have many humanoids trapped within, hands pushing out against the their prisons. This area was inhabited by two Vecnan Wizards and an insubstantial being who rushed at the group. It babbled whispered jibberish that made no sense to the groups casters but Mallaur and Orlant understood and obeyed its suggestion to find cover. They pulled back behind the group and advised the others to also take cover. Luckily they did not, Morden tried to command the creature to flee but it charged forward into Martin's wall of faith where it faltered and dissappeared (nice roll, Martin!). One of the wizards had quaffed a potion and turned to mist floating out of the room past a low alter into a room behind it while the other cast a spell sending arcane sigils from his mouth through the wall behind him then he followed his fellow cultist in drinking a potion and floating away.

Morden, Martin and Trill advanced into the altar room. Martin moved to close to a pillar and was grappled by the hands while Mallaur and Orlant got over the need to get cover and moved to the fore. Mallaur charged into the room the two clouds of wizard had headed into and found them both there with a survivor from the maze, the lead Kenku rogue who immediately tried to lay Mallaur low. Mallaur began to fight him as Orlant moved up behind him to try and get a shot into the room and the wizard fired off a color spray momentarily blinding the two. Back in the altar area Martin freed him self from the many handed pillar and moved up to support Orlant with a Lesser Vigor spell, Morden covered the other end of the temple to prevent being flanked and Trill moved between the two (forming a nice straight line). Luckily Morden noticed a Faceless Wizard appear around a corner to face him some 30'away yelling "Istus you have returned to the fold slay them all!), unluckily the Command to "die" Morden interupted him with failed to illicit the appropriate response. The response he got was a lightning bolt that dropped the already wounded Martin and Trill to the floor bleeding and left Morden smoking with all his hair on end. Mallaur continued to fight the Kenku rogue and the two apprentice wizards while Orlant turned and opened up on Wizard with no face.

Morden tried again to Command the wizard to desist and was answerd with a Huge Fiendish Centipede obscuring this view, of everything. Orlant also had a clear view of it and a couple of well placed arrows saw its head explode is a shower of evil bug goo followed by a hissing disolving mess of a body. Morden then moved to stabilize Trill and Martin. Orlant began a barrage on the Wizard but found him exceedingly difficult to hit and even harder to injure. Mallaur finished off his opponents and headed back to help with the wizard and thats when the Wizard cast Web tangling Morden, Orlant, and Mallaur. Morden cast a bulls strength on him self and moved slowly throught the web towards the injured Trill and Orlant continued to try and strike the Wizard though the increased cover of webs while Mallaur tried to back out of the webbing.

While Morden tried to stabilize everyone, Mallaur began working on another route to flank the Wizard, and Orlant continued to fire at the obscured heavily buffed Wizard inflicting minor wounds the wizard managed to take Morden out of the fight with a Magic missile and wound Orlant. Orlant at this point had had enough and pushed throught the web and charged the Wizard with his Waraxe landing a solid blow this time. Mallaur arrived through a door of the altar area behind Orlant but just in front of Morden and moved to Stabilize the now bleeding Morden before moving off to help Orlant.

With two armed and armoured warriors moving in on him the Wizard broke into retreat leaving a flaming sphere and a Kenku rogue for Orlant to contend with. The rogue only slowed Orlant down briefly and well Mallaur was just slow so they Wizard dissappeared behind a door before either caught up. WHen they did it was in a mall room now filled with a wizard holding the last wisps of a consumed scroll who could barely be made out behind the Fiendish Ape that whalloped Orland as he moved through the door dropping him to the ground. Mallaur stepped into the gap and ran the ape through and closed on the now desperate Wizard. Mallaur offered no quarter and the Wizard asked for none as he lunged at Mallaur with his dagger leaving an opening that Mallaur drove his longsword through. The Faceless One was no more.

Orlant resumed consciousness on his own thanks to the vigor placed upon him by Martin. They all regrouped and removed the webs and burned through all but one of their CLW wands bringing the group back to near full strength. Just as they completed this task and set to looking for the loot and answers the temple might offer they all heard a muffled yet primal scream echo through the temple from beyond its walls. Something had awoken and it was evil......

Anyway if this generates enough reads I will post a few a week until the playground is caught up. My writing style is usually just a brain dump as soon after the session as I can do it so please excuse the extremely long sentences.

Cheers.

[TheJake]

Please keep posting. If I am saddled with GMing my group (I prefer to play for a change) next I plan on running this. So I'm keen to keep reading.

Also, if you could post any notes or problems you find with the modules as they are written that would be invaluable to future GMs (like myself) who could do with the benefit of your experience.

Thanks,

- J.

[Deadtissue]

Thanks and I can tell you that I have run everything from B2 Keep on the Borderlands the Tomb of Horrors to this series (well half of it so far) and its pertty good. You can tell different authors wrote them but all in all so far they hold together pretty good.

I recommend a well balanced group of characters to get through the challenges and definitely some strong front line warrior types to hold the line as there are always strong melee opponents you throw up against your group.

The first two sections are pretty straightforward dungeon crawls but once you hit the big city things start to get complicated and really take a thorough understanding of the material to pull off.

Up to this point in the campaign I had only tailored the loot to the group and added some opponents here and there if I felt the 5 player group was too strong for key fights.

[Kire_Nessumsar]

*Bookmarked*

[Deadtissue]

The next installment was a wrap up of the Mines portion. The heroes are victorious but have one little item left to take care of:

The group really started to Gel in this session and the dynamics of the group going forward were more tight knit.

The Overgod Cometh, Mallaur Taketh away!



Having healed gotten everyone on their feet and knowing that something "big" was on its way Trill directed to group to start scouring the temple of Vecna for anything that could help them. They looted the bodies of the High Priest/Wizard and his apprentices and tore his lab apart. They came up with some potions, a rod, cloak, shield and some spellbooks and scrolls. They found the Codex that would decode the parchment they found in the Temple of Hextor and some Treatise on Alchemical Necromancy.

They used even more of their dwindling resources and healed everyone to full strength and moved to the maze to seek out whatever was coming. As they approached the Maze entrance from the temple of Vecna they heard a sound like "100 doors all slamming closed at the same time". Orlant figured all the secret doors in the maze all just opened or closed. He opened the door linking the temple to the maze and noted the secret door was open. All the secret doors are now open he informed the group. Trill wrangled them back into the Inner Sanctum and set up to make their stand.

They did not have long to wait, as Mallaur stepped up to the entrance The Overgod appeared, 10ft tall, 6 armed, covered in arcane runes, and apparently upset. It made its entrance by shoving the Full Plate encased Paladin 15ft across the room into the far wall and closing on the group.

Spells and weapons were unleashed against the hulking figure, Trill found it was innately resistant to magic and when she failed to overcome that resistance the arcane runes would absorb her magic and heal the Overgod, Orlants arrows encountered no such problems but its reach kept him ducking while he kept up a steady hail of arrows, Martin caught an unlucky backhand and Morden a beating trying to get to Martin to prevent him from bleeding out.

In the end Martial prowess of Orlant and Mallaur saw the end of the Overgod, Mallaur's new sword "Final Rest" struck true (Critical) and incinerated the dark heart of the Overgods avatar with a divine burst of energy.

Battered and beaten but victorious they headed out of the Temple of Vecna and back into the main temple room with the intent of getting the hell out of this cursed place. They arrived to find the elevator smashed to bits. They were not going to be leaving that way anytime soon. It was decided that they would rest remainder of the day, interrogate the prisoner, sort through the loot they had found as they needed to lighten the load they were taking out now that they elevator was destroyed, decipher the text from the Hextor Scroll and tomorrow Orlant would ascend the shaft and rig the pulley system to work with a makeshift platform Morden would build out of the old elevators remains.

A good plan. A few hitches, one they found the prisoner in several places/pieces, apparently the Overgod disapproved of his imprisonment, making an interrogation difficult, Morden's comment to the mess they found was "He was evil, had it comin". During the night Martin confided to Orlant, Trill and Mallaur (Once Morden was on watch) that he had no memory of his life before 3 years ago when the Green Sisters found his unconscious body in an open grave. He was accepted and indoctrinated by them and that is all he remembers of his life. He could well have been a Vecna Cultist for all he knows and assures them that if he was he has no desire to be again nor would he ever betray them he added that he did not trust Morden enough to have this admission in front of him. Mallaur's response was "I Believe you Martin" and nothing more was said about it.

The scroll was full of information like the fact they did not fight "THE" Overgod but rather the Ebon Aspect, some sort of lesser avatar of the overgod, and that the Green Worms were associated with some sort of Herald of the Overgod named Kyuss. Smenk was slated for assassination. The agents of the cult were heading to Mistmarsh to help herald in the coming of "The Age of Worms" through something lizard men may have and if not they are going to "The RIft". All interesting but they were not in any shape to do anything about it yet.

It was a 4 hour climb for Orlant but he did make it and begin to pull up the rest of the group. Martin, Morden, Trill and finally Mallaur.

During the Trill's ascent Orlant, Morden and Martin had to deal with a mine guard when he came to investigate the noise coming from the top secret elevator room that "nobody" was supposed to know about. After caving his head in Morden tossed his body down the elevator shaft. Trill was mortified at this saying "He was just doing his job" to which Morden replied "He was evil, had it comin".

They made their way through the mine towards the surface and the Ragnar Dourstone's Mining Camp. They met no resistance as the miners and guards thought it better to give the gore spattered menacing adventurers a wide berth and quickly closed the gates to the camp behind them.

They returned to Diamond Lake and dumped all the loot they were lugging back to town with Trill at Alustan's tower and the understanding that she would get it all appraised, sell what she could and they would meet in a couple days to divvy it up.

Next session was alot of admin and setting up for the foray into the swamp.

A Rest before the Worms:

Cast of Characters Update (cuz its time)

Mallaur - 5th Human Paladin of Heironeous - Steel Encased Tank
Orlant - 5th Dwarf Ranger (ACF: Trapfinding & Distracting Shot) Archer
Trill - 5th Female Human Wizard - Specialized in Lightning and Air spells
Sister Martin - Male 5th Cloistered Cleric of Wee Jas
Morden Galen - Male Aasimar 5th Cleric of St. Cuthbert (Cudgel)

Over the next two weeks a few things occurred to our brave band of adventurers. They all returned to their homes and lives to rest, train, and recoup.

Trill had much catching up to do on her studies with Allustan. Allustan her mentor in turn had many questions for her about the temple but even more about the Cairn they had found the artifacts of the Windlords of Aquaa in. He gave her access to his spellbooks, arranged for the local Gnome Jeweller to come and appraise the loot they had found, identified the magical stuff with Trill and saw that nobody bothered her as she scribed many new spells into her spellbook and created new magic wands to use in the future.

Mallaur returned to his church and reported to his High Priest of the success the group had in defeating the temple. He is not sure but he thinks the High Priest might even be starting to like him. He then began to train in earnest and caught up on his prayers. He enjoyed sparring with his peers and showing them moves they had never seen him perform before and even educating a few of them with new tactics. He was required to lead the high priest and a contingent of the garrison back to the temple to ensure it was cleared of cultists and to seal it until an investigation could be conducted into how a cult of this size was able to operate in secrecy. He was also introduced to a new squire he would be taking on in the near future. Jayson Mux, the son of a Noble in Greyhawk who requested he be squired to a knight of Heironeous and had a few more months of basic training before he would be joining Mallaur.

Orlant got drunk and stayed that way for a couple days untill Balabar Smenk located him and brought him to his manor. Orlant and the mine manager discussed how "completely" the cult was dealt with and that there was little in the temple that could implicate him or rather all evidence showed him to be innocent of any involvement with the cult. He was then summoned by the Graysmere Dwarven Embassador with whom he had been stationed as a guard in the past until a caravan took him home. That went poorly when the Embassador demanded he remain in the embassy in case he was needed or find other accommodations. Orlant is now homeless but the Ladies at the Purple Rose are helping him tend to his loss.

Sister Martin was sequestered in the Cult of the Green Lady's shrine for most of the two weeks praying, training and meditating with the High Priestess on what he had done before his time with Wee Jas (he has no recollection of his life before 3 years ago when he was found in an open grave in the graveyard by the sisters). He was asked by the High Priestess for a look at the documents they had found in the temple of Vecna as any scheme Vecna was involved in Wee Jas would want to know. Marin had gotten the documents from Trill and the originals are now with the Sisters.

Morden having recently been a prisoner underground in the Temple of Erynthul was overwhelmed with joy upon arriving in Diamond Lake to report to the High Priest of St. Cuthbert. Unfortunately the High Priest was recovering from his morning service and an Acolyte received him. He spent a few days praying, flagellating, and training and only took meals with his brethren. Eventually he spoke with the High Priest and conveyed the story of the reported Green Worms, the Overgod, and the Cult beneath the Dourstone Mine. This caused the High Priest to set up a vigil on the Mayors premises until the Mayor agreed to bring the Mine Manager to trial and allowed the Church Of St. Cuthbert admission to the mine to purge its unholiness.

It seems that the adventurers return had caused quite a bit of political turmoil. The Mayors corrupt Sherrif and his men were rounding up the adventurers, the mine managers and miners when Allustan (The Mayor's brother) suggested that they would be better off gathering evidence and that perhaps the Church of Heironeous and St. Cuthbert would be better suited to conduct a trial and find suspects. This bought the group a couple weeks of breathing time as the case put together by the high priests of the two major temples in town. That did not stop the various mine managers from trying to pump the team for information on each others involvement but for the most part the group was too busy with training and buying and selling loot to bother with the politicking.

Allustan after reviewing the information Trill had brought from the temple on green worms suggested they go meet a Battle-mage he knew who was stationed in the MistMarsh (two days away) as she had sent him a report suggesting that Green worms being talked about by the denizens of the swamp and that it was agitating the locals. Allustan also indicated he wanted the groups map of the Cairn and its location as he wanted to pursue the caved in area Trill spoke in the hopes of finding more artifacts. That would of course wait until the followed up the only lead they had on the Green worms....the Mistmarsh. Allustan informed the Mayor where they would be going and when they would return as the group were key witnesses in the upcoming trial of the Dourstone Mine's manager.

[Deadtissue]

The next portion of the Age of Worms was alot of fun for us. The characters are coming into thier own now 5th level. The Wizard could not wait to try out her new spells, the Paladin wore a suit of full plate and as the players of Orlant and Mallaur put it they could now be "Two Cleric Crazy!" as they had two clerics. Sister Martin (the cloistered cleric) had taken to bringing cover with him everywhere in the form of a tower sheild. He had no proficiency with it, it put him into a medium load alone and as a result he took huge penalites in melee and physical skills as well but he would not relent. I finally got rid of it in this next run!

I have read other journals where the DMs have suggested this section was weak in comparison to the characters. My players are not huge optimizers but they do know the rules well and are very experienced so yes lizard men were not a huge threat but I have always been a fan of using the environment as a threat. All my players fear water to the point of being phobic in game after years of me using the swimming rules and water to great effect. So though the lizardmen were not a huge threat they were alot of fun in this environment. Being neutral and doing what lizardmen do also created some "moral" issues for a Paladin who up to now what fighting against opponents representing the big 3 evil gods of the Greyhawk world and was used to smiting at will. That said I upped the HD on the Cheiftan abit and played with his feats so as not to get one-shotted but other than that I did not need make any changes to this section, even on the fly.

Here is part one of the Mistmarsh:

Mistmarsh meets Full Plate!

Once Trill had finished her training and the loot was divided up the group set to getting ready to escort Allustan into the Mistmarsh to a Fort named Blackwall Keep. One of two the City of Greyhawk had built to deter the denizens of the Mistmarsh from raiding civilized lands. This Tower was on the northern edge of the swamp and a friend of Allustan's was stationed there. Marzena was a battlemage who had once apprenticed with Allustan's own mentor when they were younger. She had sent Allustan a letter reporting that there had been sightings of creatures in the swamps infested with green worms and she wanted his help.
It would be a two day ride the first leg taking them along the trade road east of Diamond Lake. Allustan informed them they would camp the night in an old farmhouse and head south from there another days ride to the keep.
The party members owned, borrowed or bought a horse and they set out. The first day they met some Gnome Merchants on their way back from a trade mission in the City of Greyhawk. They warned the group they had heard there were some goblin bandits operating in the area. At the end of the day the group spent an enjoyable evening at the old farmhouse regaling Allustan with their details of their previous adventure into the Overgod's Temple and set out fresh the next day.
They spotted some Goblin raiders early that day but the green skinned raiders showed great wisdom in giving the group a wide berth and fading back into safety of the forest. The rest of the day was uneventful until the landscape began to change. The trees became stunted and the smell of decay clung to the damp air. They had entered the northern border of the Mistmarsh and decided that Orlant should range ahead and scout because if the Marsh was dangerous enough Allustan felt he needed an escort they wanted as much warning as the could get if any danger lay ahead.
Once they were only a few miles from the Keep Orlant sensed something was amiss, it became too quiet. Soon everyone could smell a mix of smoke and blood on the evening air. Orlant moved cautiously ahead of the group and approached the tower. He could see there had been an attack on the tower. The corral was empty except for a few dead animals and they were flying the “send reinforcement” flag. He moved slowly to higher ground and from there spotted at least 6 groups of lizardmen (5-6 to a group) surrounding the tower out of bow shot behind reed walls they had erected in the grass surrounding the tower. He quietly returned to the group and let them know what lay ahead.
After a bit of a discussion it was agreed that Allustan would use his teleport scroll to return to Diamond Lake and rally the garrison there to come and assist the tower. Meantime the adventurers would stay and do what they could to assist the beleaguered troops at Blackwall Keep. Allustan estimated he would return in two or three days with reinforcements. Mallaur turned from where Allustan stood seconds ago and faced the group and said "So?".

After Allustan had teleported back to Diamond Lake for help the group discussed the tactics they would use. Orlant had moved about the outlying area around the keep and reported back so they knew the entrance to the fort was on the far side of the structure and that at least 30 lizard men surrounded it just out of bowshot. It was decided to circle through the dense underbrush hidden from view and attempt to rush the entrance from the east side. They hobbled the horses and began to move through the brush.
Mallaur was having a difficult time and the group was anxious to get to the aid of the beleaguered troops. It took close to an hour to move around the fields to get to the east side and as they approached the spot they had chosen the sun dipped in the sky and with a shout lizard men picked up their reed walls and charged the tower.
Orlant moved easily through the underbrush with the magic of a Longstride spell moving him quickly along and as he broke the cover he began laying into the closest group with arrows. Trill still deeper in the think brush cast her newly acquired fly spell and shot up out over the stunted vegetation while Mallaur was pushed and/or pulled through the brush by Martin and Morden.
The lizardmen sent 5 groups at the tower holding 2 in reserve with the leaders directly south of the tower and its entrance. Two groups charged the recently barricaded door while 3 others moved to the rear of the tower to place the reed walls as a ladder to access the tower. As the lizard men approached the militia began to move out to the tower walls to fire arrows at the closest of them.
Trill placed a mirror image on herself and dropped a Web spell on the lizards at the back of the tower. That got her a couple javelins thrown at her to little effect with the range and the mirror image. Orlant continued his ranged barrage but the lizard men got organized and charged him. Meanwhile as Mallaur continued to struggle through the scrub, Martin and Morden blessed him with great strength and endurance. Martin then moved ahead to assist Orlant.
Trill continued to try to slow the advance of the lizard men at the back of the tower with magic missiles and scintillating spheres as the assault on the front door continued. Orlant and Martin dealt with the first charge while a second formed this one backed up by some Javelins from the obvious leader of the Warband.
From her position above the battlefield Trill could see that her fellow adventurers were not going to reach the front door in time so she moved to the towers roof for a better look. As she grew close the guards who had been signaling her for help, yelling that the lizard men had taken some of them hostage and that she should go save them immediately. Trill took the current assault to be a more pressing issue and was a little confused on why the soldier thought otherwise.
Finally Mallaur cleared the wooded area and charged the formation of lizard men who were throwing javelins at Orlant and the priests. He crashed into their line dropping two with his first swing and leaving the last 4 less sure of their chances. It also demonstrated to the lizard man leader of the attack that he had definitely lost the advantage and he signaled a retreat.
Trill could now see that the door to the tower was beaten down and lizard men were moving into the tower. She dropped down in front of the doorway and unleashed a colorspray that quite effectively laid low all the lizard men left there.
Orlant, Martin, Morden, and Mallaur drove the rest of the lizards south into the swamp and watched them disappear into the rapidly forming mist. They took stock of the situation and found that they had captured 3 lizard men from the web and colorspray. There were only 14 guards remaining from the garrison of 32. They were told that three of the guards and Marzena the battlemage they had come to see were captured in the first attack the day before and carried south into the swamp. The Garrison leader was also killed in the initial surprise attack.

Morden began working on repairing and strengthening the Towers main door with his carpentry skills, Orlant helped the soldiers retrieve arrows (and their horses) from the fields as they were almost out while Trill and Mallaur interrogated the Lizardman captives. Since they only spoke Draconic Trill had to do the interrogation and her awkward and shy attempts to coerce information from them only got her the following facts:

1. They were attacking in retaliation for the attack on their tribe by the Arcanists from Greyhawk City.
2. The captives were taken back to their lair as all captives are food.
3. The Arcanists brought the green worms to their tribe and nearly wiped them out two years ago their new leader will crush all the humans and fill all lizard bellies with delicious meat!
4. They would like to eat Trill.

The soldiers of the fort were very freaked out by the attack and the fact that a few of their number were off to a Lizard man pantry in the swamp. As Mallaur was a member of the Garrison from Diamond Lake the men at arms pretty much demanded that the group go after their comrades in arms before it was too late. Trill had blown most of her spells for the day having used them in the terrific show of force that drove the lizardmen back into the swamp but she agreed saving the guardsmen was important and Orlant confirmed the longer they waited the harder it would be to track them so they all set off into the swamp surrounded by a growing cloud of mosquitoes.
The first two hours they just headed south slowly as the Mist was thick and slowed them considerably. Orlant did his best to stay on the trail; he was not a trained tracker but could follow this trail as it was obvious the lizardmen made no attempt to hide their tracks. The pressed on into the night avoiding the various crocodiles and smaller animals of the swamp. One group of animals were not to be avoided...a pack of ghouls came screaming out of the swamp and then went screaming back into the swamp as Morden, Martin, and Mallaur all presented their holy symbols and commanded them to begone!!
Around 2 am they caught up to the dozen or so lizardmen who had retreated from the tower attack and their leader. As soon as the adventurers were spotted the lizardmen were up and running. This time though Orlant dropped several entangles on them to slow their escape. He missed the leader and his shaman though. Trill urged Orlant to pursue the two escaping leaders while the rest of the group fought the lizardmen he had slowed. Orlant shot off into the night in pursuit and the rest formed a V behind Mallaur and moved to combat the entangled Lizardmen.
The fight was a long one even though the lizardmen were entangled as Orlant was gone and Trill low on spells the ranged offensive capabilities of the group were greatly reduced. Mallaur also had a hard time hitting the Lizardmen forcing Morden to pitch in on the melee and Martin even expended his death touch to lay low one that got past Mallaur. Once the last of the lizardmen were dispatched and looted the group looked about their camp. They obviously planned on staying the night and that is why they had caught up. Orlant had still not returned so the set out after him despite the lack of a tracker Morden was not totally unfamiliar with living in the wild and managed to pick up the trail through the marsh.
About half our later they came upon the scene of a struggle. The lizardman shaman was dead, its body filled with Orlants arrows, on the ground some 30' away was Orlant’s bow near a pool of Orlants blood. What “was” missing was Orlant and the Lizardman leader. They combed about in the brush a bit looking to see if Orlant had crawled away. Morden found signs that the lizardman was dragging/carrying Orlant south and that’s when a spider the size of a house descended from the mandragoo trees and attacked Mallaur.
Again the group felt the loss of Orlant and Trill's spells as they only had crossbows to combat the monstrosity. It stayed just out of reach above Mallaur until Martin dashed over to Mallaur and enlarged him to stand 10’ tall with the wand they had taken in the Temple of Vecna. For his efforts Martin was bitten and would soon be overcome by the poison of the spider. With Mallaur now able to reach the lunging spider and resisting the poison it was hitting him with the fight was soon over as the spider retreated. 1 minute later Martin was immobile on the ground with a cold sweat and shaking violently. Morden did what he could for Martin and then cast Bull Strength on himself to carry the fallen priest in pursuit of Orlant. As the group moved out into the swamp a gnarled humanoid figure rose from the brackish waters and dragged Martins tower shield down into the swamp.....
It seemed that the Leader they followed feared they would catch up more than he wanted to have Orlant as a prisoner (or food) as they soon spotted him in the distance and he dropped Orlant onto the ground and took off at a run. They immediately set to reviving Orlant and determined he would not have survived too much more punishment having lost a lot of blood. They could tell the Lizardman had bound his wounds to ensure he did not bleed out. He wanted him alive for some reason. They also realized that they were spent and could not continue. The captives who were taken would have to wait 8 more hours as the group was in no shape for a rescue in a Lizardman Lair now. They thought the loss of the 30 reptiles they had killed thus far might surely help in the upcoming rescue though. The rest of that night passed as peacefully as a night in a marsh can.
When they awoke Morden restored some of Martin's lost strength and he was able to move again though still greatly weakened. Orlant was anxious for round two with the lizard leader and set off to pick his trail. What he did find was a lizard patrol which he followed back to a huge copse of Mandragoo Trees whose roots were a wall and appeared to be the lair he sought. He returned and gathered his group for the rescue/payback....

[Deadtissue]

What follows is session 7 and part II of the Mistmarsh. Mallaur experiences what happens when Paladins enjoy killing a bit too much, Orlant gets robbed of his much sought after payback and rolls a "1" at a very inopportune time, Trill gets to negotiate, and the characters achieve 6th level.

Just "Tap" it with your axe.....

While Orlant sought out the lair of the lizardmen the rest of the group broke camp and prepared to resume their trudge through the marsh. They were more than a little happy to hear that the object of their journey was close now and eagerly set off with Orlant to take the battle to the Lizardfolk of the Mistmarsh.

Two days of being wet, covered in a constant cloud of biting insects, and wounded did not have any of the group in very good humour when they arrived at the dense root system of some immense Mangaroo trees. The lizardfolk had set up shop here according to Orlant and the group cautiously entered by pushing aside some moss and stepping into a gloomy hallway. The walls were a tangle of wet roots, moss and mud; the floors packed mud and pools of swamp water; and tendrils of moss and plant roots dangled from the ceiling. The air was moist and the biting insects of the swamp were abundant is small clouds. The organic material all around them absorbed sounds and the constant drip of water masked the sound that was not absorbed by the vegetation. Orlant quietly advanced into the lair with the rest of the group in tow.

A short distance in Orlant spots a couple of lizardfolk milling about an intersection. He advises the group and they decide to send Mallaur in the lead with Orlant covering him. Mallaur receives his usual bull's strength from Martin and a silence spell on a branch he holds in his shield hand as they advance. The lizardfolk are taken by surprise and quickly dispatched by Mallaur and Orlant. Trill had stressed that they had the element of surprise and would not be able to communicate in the silence zone before the spell was cast so the group moved quickly from the intersection north along the twisting hallways. Next Orlant signalled that 4 more lizard folk were ahead and Mallaur charged into a small dimly lit room. Final Rest lit the way as he charged at the obviously off duty lizardfolk while Orlant peppered one of the two awake denizens of the lair with arrows. The other two were reclining on the ground when the group entered in a shroud of silence and moved to gather up their weapons to defend their home. Too late though as Mallaur and Orlant dispatched all the occupants of the room with brutal efficiency then began searching for any loot that might be hidden in this living area. Loot secured they moved deeper into the lair and dispatched one more group of sleeping, eating, or resting lizardfolk. It was at this point that Mallaur began to feel a bit guilty about attacking the unarmed and sleeping Lizardfolk who up to this point did not even radiate evil. Even if it was not guilt he did realize that he no longer had the blessing of Heironeous necessary to cast his Divine Favor prayer...odd. Trill also noted that there did not appear to be any young lizardfolk which was odd as her research indicated that the young slept with the adults.

The next corridor Orlant corridor explored he did not return from for a long minute. Trill signalled Mallaur to follow and the group headed down the corridor to find Orlant in the grips of an enormous Otyugh. Orlant dangled from the creature’s tentacles and Mallaur moved in to free the dwarf. Not long after Mallaur joined Orlant in being entangled and crushed. Good times!...Morden moved into the room and began to harass the filth covered beast while Martin worked to move over to the now much wounded Orlant. Meanwhile with the silence field in the room Morden and Martin found casting spells impossible while Trill who was out the silence field found hearing the Lizardfolk who had arrived in the den they just left remarkably easy. She put the 2 creatures to sleep before they could sound an alarm and moved to help out in the cesspool the rest of the group was now fighting in. Mallaur manage to get an arm free and throw the silence stick clear of the group so Martin could heal Orlant who now lay unconscious and discarded in the brackish water. Morden continued to attack and Trill seeing the shape things were in released an Electrical Sphere (Fire Ball) upon the creature, Morden and Mallaur. This and the few hits Mallaur had landed on the creature earlier in the fight slowed it. Martin’s work allowed Orlant to rise from the muck, Waraxe in a hand, and land the killing stroke. The “Toilet Monster” as Orlant dubbed it was vanquished and much healing was done. Orlant did a quick search of the room for his bow while the others moved back into the den with the sleeping lizardfolk. Note: A few of the group had contracted filth fever from the fetid pools but they did not suffer long as the onset was not until they were able to rest and apply curative spells.

Without their silence stick they had to advance more cautiously now. They carefully bound the two sleeping lizardfolk and carried on deeper into the lair. Orlant continued to scout ahead and at a split in the hall he noted stairs up one way and a room with the Lizard that bested him in the swamp regaling a group of Lizardfolk with a story that looked suspiciously like the fight he had while clutching a lock of his hair....Well he loses it! He snaps!...and carefully lines up a shot when all of a sudden he is looking at a wall of steel and mud. Mallaur had charged into the room and began to engage the foe. The leader seeing the Paladin charging into the room turns tail and runs while Mallaur fights the other lizardfolk in the room to clear a path for Orlant. One of the lizardfolk slain my Mallaur issued a stream of green worms from its mouth that died shortly after leaving its body. They stayed well clear of the worms but the group and the remaining lizardfolk who witnessed it were all shaken by the sight. By the time they had cleared a path it became apparent that the lizardfolk leader who fled was merely flanking. He rushed up behind the group intent on murder but Morden and Trill managed to dispatch him before he did much damage. Orlant was not impressed at being robbed of his vengeance but he did retrieve his hair.

This area was now clear and Orlant moved ahead up a ramp to a dryer part of the lair he saw that the passage continued but had two rooms off it one on each side. He peered into the first but the line of sight was blocked by a large root, the other held what appeared to be some sort of lizard witch doctor holding a snake, a fire pit, and a female human mage bound and looking pretty beat up. Orlant returned and reported his scouting report to the group. Again they discussed possible plans but finally agreed with Trill (they always agreed with Trill) that perhaps they should parlay with the obviously more intelligent witchdoctor (casters are always more intelligent right?) so as not to further endanger the mage but if any move was made to harm her they would full out attack.

They crept forward and entered the Witchdoctors room. He seemed to be aware of them and was not surprised when Trill opened a dialogue with him in Draconic. Seems he was not a Witchdoctor but rather a druid and a hermaphrodite at that! So it seemed “it” would consider freeing Marzeena the female human but only if the group helped him out with a problem or two. Trill negotiated the freedom of Marzeena in exchange for the death of the new King (who lived across the hall). It seems the Druid did not approve of some of the new Kings policies including the attacks on humans, allying with a Dragon, and entrusting their eggs to her (the dragon). It also revealed that the Dragon had left one of its own eggs with the Lizardfolk eggs as a gesture of trust when Trill asked why they would ever agree to such a thing. The druid further offered to release the other soldiers who were captured if Trill could negotiate a peace treaty with the humans. Once the King was dead it would fall to the druid to pick a new leader for the tribe and wanted things to return to how they were. In order for that to happen he wanted assurances in writing that if the Twisted Branch tribe ceased hostilities that they would suffer no repercussions.

The King offered little challenge to the group. He was a recognized gladiator from the Free City (Mallaur had watched him in the arena a few years prior) and possessed a magical returning Trident but he was no matched for the combined might of the group who quickly slew him and his mate. His corpse was stripped of all possessions and the throne room sacked of valuables. The group then returned to the druid to report on their success and collect Marzeena. The druid kept his word and restated the he would hold the other three prisoners until they returned with a peace treaty from the city. Trill inquired as to the eggs the Druid had mentioned and asked if she could see them as she feared that they might have another infestation of green worms. She relayed the story of the fight earlier in the lair where one of the lizardfolk had been infested with green worms that left its body only when it was killed. Shaken by the news of Green worms in his home the druid agreed to allow Trill to see the hatchery but informed her that the Dragon had left guards on the eggs and that she might only be allowed to view them from afar something the druid was none to happy about either. Trill informed the Druid that she would take care of the Dragons guards and not to worry. As Trill and the druid carried out this animated conversation in Draconic the rest of the group helped Marzeena out of her bonds, healed her broken jaw and fingers (the Druid said the King did it and he had done what he could for her without openly defying the kings orders), and returned her equipment to her (they had found it in the throne room).

The group was led to the egg chamber by the Druid. Not all the group followed though as the passage submerged and travelled some 100’ underwater. Mallaur, Morden, Marzeena and Martin decided it would be best if they stayed behind and guarded the only exit for Trill and Orlant who followed the druid into the warm swampy water. The Druid advised them in Draconic that the waterway was trapped and to follow him closely to avoid the traps. (in case you missed it only Trill speaks Draconic).

Emerging from the submerged passageway into a large humid chamber revealed hundreds of Eggs guarded by 6 Burly black scaled Kobolds. In the center of the cavern was a large black Dragon Egg on a small pedestal overlooking all the lizardfolk eggs. The kobolds barked at the Druid demanding to know why he had brought outsiders into the Egg Chamber and threatened to report to their master Illthane, the Black Horror of the Mistmarsh! The lizardfolk Druid said to Trill they should probably leave and Trill signalled Orlant to depart. As Orlant entered the watery passage Trill signalled him to wait, turned and cast a Lightning Ball on the Kobolds killing all but one instantly. That one looked stunned when Orlant’s arrow ended its life. The Druid looked equally shocked but as Trill began gathering the loot from the Kobolds bodies it understood that it was now free of the yoke of Illthane and told Trill it would return with the rest of his tribe to remove the eggs from here before the Dragon returned and bowed to her in thanks. As the Druid disappeared into the submerged passage Trill began wading out carefully through the lizardfolk eggs toward the dragon egg. She tried to lift it off its pedestal but it seemed stuck. She asked Orlant to try to break the seal to the pedestal by saying “Just Tap it near the base with your axe.....”. She recalled how much cash they had gotten for a baby Owlbear and figured somebody would pay good cash for a Dragon Egg. Orlant set to work.
The Druid emerged from the tunnel hissed something at the rest of the group and rushed excitedly back into the lizard lair. Morden and Mallaur exchanged glances and shrugged. Morden then decided the others might be in trouble and dove into the submerged tunnel. He made it about 15’ when a submerged root grabbed his foot. He struggled and almost drowning while freeing himself and resurfaced to have Mallaur help him out of the water choking and sputtering. Just as Morden was recovered from that the Druid and 4 Lizardfolk raced by them into the water back to the Egg chamber.

While Morden was trying to join them Orlant was happily chipping away at the egg when he noticed a large chest submerged nearby. This minor distraction caused him to swing a bit harder and a bit off the mark and his axe sank into the shell of the dragon egg (rolled a “1” to hit). Long Pause, Oops, Orlant pulled the axe out and…..green worms began to spill out of it into the water. The worms immediately began to swim to nearby Lizardfolk eggs and enter them. As more worms spilled forth and began to spread to more eggs. Trill quickly fired off a fan of fire destroying many but she also opened up more of the egg allowing more worms to spill forth. Orlant helplessly tried to step on as many as he could. In desperation Trill looked at Orlant, pulled a bead from the necklace they had found back in the Temple of Vecna and waited. Orlant nodded and Trill dropped the bead, an explosion of fire engulfed them and all the remaining worms. It was then some of the lizard eggs broke open and tiny worm infested lizardfolklings tried to swarm Orlant. He raised his bronze toed boots and crushed them all in a whirling, jumping, frenzy which Trill found quite amusing given his smoking beard and string of curses. In fact when he had finished squishing the nasty regenerating little mooks and found Trill laughing at him as she stood there, still smoking from the fire blast herself, he joined in and laughed himself hoarse, and that is how the druid and his 4 assistance found them.

Though disappointed at the loss of many of the eggs after hearing Trill recount what happened and witnessing the aftermath it was again forced to thank Trill for helping the tribe. The druid had the other 4 lizardfolk begin removing the eggs. Trill and Orlant struggled with the submerged chest Orlant had spotted and carefully removed it from the Egg chamber rejoining the rest of the group who were still trying to figure out what the Heironeous was going on in the Egg chamber.

The group stayed the night with the Lizardfolk though well away from them and most of them were not thrilled with the losses the tribe now faced and blamed the group. The Druid stayed with them though while guiding the tribe to scout out a new den for the safety of the eggs and the future of the tribe. The group left the next day and the Druid promised to send a scout back to Blackwall Keep once a month on the full moon to check make contact if the group returns with a peace treaty. The final three prisoners would be returned on then.

It took two more days to get back to Blackwall keep. They were all glad to see bug-free, dry, ground when they emerged from the marsh at Blackwall until one of the soldiers came running up to them. Out of breath he explained that they were needed at the tower. Seems they had a bit of a problem and that they should come quickly. Once at the tower they explained that the last battle mage had not actually gone mad and run off into the swamp as they had told Marzeena. Rather he had gotten sick and began trying to kill everyone. Not wanting to kill their friend they had locked him in the basement in an escape tunnel they had begun building. That had been fine for the last year but it seems that one the last attack by the Lizard men one had gotten in and maybe thinking there were valuables in the room had broken off the lock. Seems the battle mage was not dead because now he, the lizardman, and one of the guards were now walking around in the basement looking for more recruits for the zombie club they had started. They keep managing to break the barricade, grab another person and drag him into the basement. They keep shoring up the door but as the number of green wormed zombies increase so does the speed they take down the door.
Not seeing any point in berating the obviously terrified guardsmen the group sets off into the basement to do battle with an actually Green Worm infested zombie they have heard so much about. As they reach the bottom of the stairs Orlant and Mallaur are immediately rushed by two of the zombies. Orlant is forced to fight it and notices every time it hits him a worm flies off and tries to burrow into him. He scrapes them off as quickly as he can while Mallaur hammers the zombie fighting him. Both Mallaur and Orlant manage to fight off a feeling of terror that the zombies seem to inspire. Mallaur again is troubled by this as normally he is fearless due to his faith. He knows atonement is required and hopes what faith he has left will see him through the coming battles till he can atone. Morden joins Orlant and tries to turn the Zombies. He is surprised by their resistance and fails to turn one and receives a hammering blow and worm on his exposed flesh for his trouble. Martin and Trill arrive in the basement to find Morden struggling as the green worm bores through his arm into his torso while Orlant hacks at the zombie and scrapes worms from his and Morden’s flesh before more can burrow. Mallaur as has slain one Zombie and pursues a second one it having fled from Martin’s turn attempt. Morden can now feel the worm scraping its way into his cranium and screams for help. Martin shrugs sympathetically and suggests that he will prepare his corpse for the journey to Wee Jas’s realm. Morden realizes that Mallaur being a paladin might be able to remove disease and runs over to Mallaur who is now dispatching the last zombie. Morden stumbles over to Mallaur with desperation in his eyes knowing it will not be long before his brain becomes worm food. Mallaur says a quick prayer of forgiveness to Heironeous places a hand on the forehead of Morden and feels the rush of divine power flow through him into Morden. Morden rises and says “I think I am ok, thanks” and wanders back upstairs.

Later that day while the group is resting and telling the tale of their adventure to the fascinated guardsmen and Marzeena the reinforcements from Diamond Lake’s Garrison arrive. The Tower will be repaired and a new commander is in place. They also have a letter from Allustan asking the group to return to Diamond Lake and to bring Marzeena if she still lives. An order from the Garrison commander clears her for the journey.

The group then returned to Diamond Lake with little difficulty and are now all 6th level.

[Deadtissue]

The fallout from the discovery and destruction of the Cult of the Ebon Triad had the down of Diamond Lake in a frenzy but oddly none of the players seemed that interested in RPing it out so I glossed over it and only drew a few in ending the trial quickly and sending them off to the next part.

The group are now done with Diamond Lake and off to The Free City of Greyhawk. They had not been able to turn their loot into usable items due to the limitations of Diamond Lake and were anxious to go shopping in a big city. Due to the lifestyle of Orlant the dwarven ranger I was able to easily replace him with a doppleganger early on and the player got to run the doppleganger for most of the next two sessions. Good Fun!

The Dopplegangers were tough and resulted in alot of great roleplaying. I once again ran the adventure as advertised but added the required fluff to make it flow well with the characters being run. The interaction between Trill and the doppleganger guardsmen was classic and the look of disgust on the player of Morden's face when I described the bodies changing to grey featureless humanoids was sheer joy for a DM to behold.

Here is what happened next:

To Greyhawk and....below?


As Trill finished crafting wands, Mallaur took a couple days to instruct and get to know his new squire, Morden prayed for guidance, Sister Martin searched his soul, and Orlant drank until he was good and drunk, the trial of the mine managers raged. The characters were called upon to speak to various facts and Orlant was brought forward as a character witness. In the end the owner of the mine was given a year’s house arrest and his holdings given over to the Mayor until his sentence ended. Balabar Smenk was given a commendation for acting in the interest of Diamond Lake by hiring the adventurers to stop the cult.

Once the trial reached its agonizing conclusion Allustan and Trill laid plans for the group to go to The Free City of Greyhawk to see a scholar there name Eligios since the Battlemage Marzeena offered very little they did not already know. They would bring all of the items they found to date regarding the Windlords of Aquaa, the Ebon Triad, and the Age of Worms to relay their story in the hopes that Eligios would be able to tell them more about what was and what will likely come to be.

The group left Diamond Lake on a chilly morning by Coach. They all jammed in and placed all their unsold valuables in a locked chest placed atop said purveyance. The journey would take 3 days. The first day they were tracked by something through the hills but they eventually outpaced it/them.

Day two they were set upon by two Trolls who actually tried to rob them. The trolls stopped the coach and demanded any valuables. It was not long before they realized this was no ordinary coach. One troll was laid low with magical fire and bow fire as the other troll took out the driver and guard while the group struggled to get into position to damage it without being killed themselves. Before they could deliver the final blow on the second troll it begged for mercy. Unfortunately (as far as Orlant was concerned) Mallaur understood the dialect Giants spoke in this part of the world and insisted the group stand down. After a brief discussion they found out a group of adventurers had found the Trolls camp and killed 5 of the 7 of them, stolen all their loot, and burned or “freed” their supplies. These two brothers were all that were left and were trying to raise some cash to hire Hill giants to kill the adventurers. Orlant insisted they were just stalling and as they discussed the fate of this last troll the other stood back up and readied for a charge. The trolls both decided the Mallaur had a better option. They would head back into the hills and rob the road no more on penalty of the group returning and killing both the brothers ensuring they would never get their vengeance. Orlant did not look terribly happy as the two regenerating goliaths stomped off into the nearby forest.

Day three saw them safely arrive at the gates of Greyhawk where they were dropped by the coach to stand in line with their goods for nearly 2 hours. The guards shook them down demanding to search them and ask of their purpose. Mallaur bore it all with quiet patience as did the rest of the group and soon they were walking the busy streets of the Free City. They only made it a few blocks however when the intersection ahead was choked with people who were watching some sort of parade.

Trill asked about the crowd and found out the procession was in celebration of the coming Tournament of Champions the yearly gladiatorial event that would see groups of challengers face off for prizes and with the winner receiving the Belt of the Champion to wear for the year and the right to fight again in the next tournament against a special opponent! This particular procession included a rather angry beast with the head of a lion, ram and blue dragon that Orlant shouted out was a Chimera, its handlers, and a group of Gnomish clowns who threw pies and acrobatically moved about the crowd. Around the time the angry beast made it halfway through the intersection its glass shielded iron barred cage collapsed and the beast burst onto the street sending the onlookers scattering, the gnomes piling into a very small carriage pulled by a pony and the handlers looking for cover. Two of the handlers were immediately crushed or eaten. At the same moment Trill was pick-pocketed and Orlant set off after the thieves. Mallaur pushed through the crowd as Trill flew above the crowd for a better look. Martin moved to support Mallaur and Morden began to close on the beast.
As they engaged the Chimera and all suffered its breath weapon Orlant gave up on the thieves and returned to help the group. Trill had suggested they keep the beast alive initially as likely the performers livelihood depended on the beast but after a few lighting breaths and the deaths of a couple civilians the fight turned deadly and with the support of Orlants arrows the beast soon lay still and very dead in the middle of the street.
The trainers and other performers offer the group their begrudging thanks and set to cleaning up the street under direction of the city guard while the group continued deeper into the city destined for the Garden District and the home of the Sage Eligios. Trill reported only having been robbed of a few coins and that it was not worth following up.

They arrived at the door of his stark white marble home surrounded by nicely groomed gardens and burbling fountains around dinner time. An elderly elf answered and after a brief discussion escorted them into a sitting room where they soon met Eligios. They told their story and he listened patiently until handed the evidence their adventures had produced. He told them that he would do the research for free as it was very interesting but that it would take a week or two to finish and they should go and enjoy the city while they wait. He suggested they stay at the Crooked House Inn while they wait as the inn keeper there was a friend and would take good care of them. They got directions to the Midnight Muddle (the neighbourhood where the in was) and Eligios promised to let them know when he had something for them.

They found the Crooked House Inn without incident and received a hearty welcome from Telgast the Gnomish Innkeeper. They were given individual rooms on the second and third floor, a hot meal and clean hot water to clean up in. It seemed an ideal place to stay so they agreed they would at least meet here for evening meals as everyone had shopping, training, or info gathering to do:

Trill: set to selling some of the magic they found with the wizards guild after she had provided the guild a letter of introduction from Allustan and completed the exams required to become a member. She assisted Mallaur on the promised Peace Treaty for the Lizardfolk of the Mist Marsh and conducted some spell research at the Guilds Libraries and Labs. The results of her research into a few tombs she had found in the Whispering Cairn allowed her to summon an elemental companion and focus her studies more on the elemental of air while incorporating the power of LAW! (Trill entered the Windlord Savant of Aquaa PRC).

Mallaur (and Squire): sold off some of the excess magic weaponry at the Arena and noted the arena itself was closed to prepare for the upcoming tournament. Even though the arena was closed the weapons and armor merchants were all open for business and he found an Elven smith who would take his full plate on trade for a custom suit of Mithril Full Plate though it was estimated to take a few weeks to make. Mallaur then set to having a Peace Treaty drawn up to bring back to the Mist Marshes Twisted Branch Tribe in accordance with the Penance he was undertaking to make up for his errors in judgment at their lair. Trill provided the documentation and some legal advice while Mallaur knowledge of the nobility and diplomacy skills carried it through the courts and got an accord signed.
Mallaur was also invited to join a special order of Templar’s named The Protectorate of the Holy Bolt. These martial men and women were given special training to make them tougher and more resistant to damage so that they could survive the rigors of battle with the enemy longer and further from the churches protection. (Mallaur entered the Pious Templar Prestige Class). The Order subjected him to a rigorous battery of physical and mental tests as well as long hours of prayer and atonement before accepting him.

Martin: reported on the involvement of Vecna and the Overgod’s avatar being summoned to the Temple of Wee Jas and spent a week being interviewed and debriefed on his experiences. They sought to purge him of his past acquaintance with the Church of Vecna through a series of prayer sessions, spells, and holy foods and drink culminating with him spending 24 hours in the coffin of one of WeeJas’s wisest sainted Necromancers who was now dust and residual divine power.

Morden: returned to his Church to report on his findings on the Green Worm issue and the Overgod. During the week of his arrival a Holy Day involving self-flagellation and fasting took place and he was given a place of honor during the service. He was trained and told to continue with the group running down the source of the Green Worm infestation and the Ebon Triad’s involvement as the group was obviously chosen by the gods to banish this evil from the world….but keep an eye on the ex-priest of Vecna!

Orlant: got drunk, then found some cultural events that led to sex, then got drunk, slept for two days somewhere then ate and began the cycle again. NOTE: It was at this point Orlant was replaced by a Doppelganger! The doppelganger was run by the same player from this point forward with instructions to observe the group, hinder them where possible, and wait until signalled before attacking them.

On the third day of the second week once all the treasure had been sold and the profits divided up, shopping had been completed with many items yet to be delivered, training complete, the group began to wonder how much longer they would wait for the Sage to deliver them with information that would allow them to start planning their next step in dealing with the Plague of Green Worms. They had finished their meal and discussion of what to do next. Martin, Trill and Morden had turned in to their respective rooms at the inn.

Mallaur and Orlant sat at their table pondering what to do the following day when Martin came walking down the stairs from the second floor and called Telgast who was barkeeping at the time over to him. The gnome smiled and strolled down the bar to serve the Priest of WeeJas who then stabbed him in the chest with a dagger and bolted back up the stairs. Mallaur rushed behind the bar to help the barkeep and Orlant headed to the stairs with bow in hand after Martin. The dozen or so patrons in the main room of the Crooked House began to move closer to the bar muttering about the Priest and his group being in cahoots and why was Mallaur now hunched over the body of the Innkeeper…To finish him off?.
Orlant ran upstairs to look for Martin and passed a merchant who was on his way down. Trill heard the commotion on the second floor and headed down as well in time to see Mallaur warning the occupants of the bar back while he stood over the now full recovered Telgast (Lay of Hands) while the merchant tried very hard to convince the crowd that Mallaur and his group were responsible for the attack and should be held until the authorities arrived.
Orlant returned from Martin’s room (who was asleep in a different outfit (his nightie, eww) than the one he was in 2 minutes ago in the Bar) to see Mallaur, Trill, and the “Merchant” arguing about who was responsible for the stabbing Telgast who was crouched under the bar looking terrified.

Things turned ugly when Mallaur misspoke and said “Do not look at me I only make sure Martin is protected from people like you” (Bad diplomacy roll vs the Merchants Bluff) and just as the group was about to become a mob with the merchant slipping towards the door Trill dropped a spell on the room causing everyone (but the group behind the bar) to fall to the floor asleep. The merchant paused for a second as if trying to resist then also sank to the floor.
Orlant then tied the Merchant to a chair (removing his weapons and change purse) and as he completed that task, Martin arrived on the scene to help Mallaur, and Trill apologized to the barkeep and tried to convince him something was done to frame them. That’s when the city watch arrived and upon waking the citizens from their “Deep Slumber” and taking everyone’s statements they decided that it would be best if the merchant and Sister Martin come with them for processing and a judge could figure it out in the morning.
Trill and Mallaur tried to argue Martin’s innocence but the guards were having none of it and marched the two of them off to the nearest Gaole with Trill and Mallaur in tow. Once Martin and the merchant were in cells Trill asked when the trial would be and if a lawyer would be necessary. The guardsmen told them they could come back in the morning before 10am and could bring a lawyer (a bit of contempt seeped through on this).
The next morning at Breakfast a surprised Morden was appraised of the evening events. Trill asked Orlant for the merchant’s belongings and he produced a magic sword, a few coins, and a key shaped like an octopus, and asked Morden to get a lawyer (knowing the Church of the Cudgel had some of the best litigators in the world) to the Gaole while she and the rest of the group headed over with breakfast for Martin.
Morden showed up with the Lawyer just in time to see a visibly upset Trill coming out of the Gaole with Mallaur and Orlant in tow. It seems that Martin was transferred to the waterfront holding area as they had a busy night here. Trill told Morden she did not believe the guards and Mallaur said he sensed they did seem a bit put off. They asked the lawyer where the waterfront holding area was. He told the group no such place existed to his knowledge and Trill dismissed him telling him they would want him to draw up papers to file a formal complaint against the guards at the Gaole. The lawyer trundled off with his 20gp retainer and began the paperwork.

With no more leads other than the items that the merchant had Trill questioned the patrons at the bar if they had seen the Octopus logo on the key before. Nobody seemed to be all that helpful even if they new anything so Trill took the rest of the group to Eligios’s house to seek his assistance. He told them that the Logo on the key matched that of an old warehouse that was in the River Quarter called the Sodden Hold but he was unsure if it was used anymore. With that being the only lead Trill, Orlant, Morden, Mallaur and his newly assigned young and eager squire (name not important and you will find out why soon) set off to the River Quarter.

The Sodden Hold was indeed a warehouse with a large Octopus logo on the sign. It looked as if it was slowly sliding into the river but Orlant explained that based on the wear on the hinges of the large iron bound doors that it was currently in use. The key opened the main doors and allowed them access into a large dusty chamber filled with crates, boxes, barrels and casks. An overhead walkway ran across the far end of the room and it was illuminated from above by magical torches. Orlant lead the way searching for any traps on the floor. Once the group was all inside though 4 of the crates sprang to life and shot pseudo-pods out at the group. These “limbs” struck with terrific force and stuck to whatever they hit. They struck everyone but Orlant and the squire and this made combat tricky as more and more of the crates became stuck to their victims. Orlant made good use of his bow and managed to evade all attacks against him. Unfortunately to hit the creatures he would sometimes hit his own party members. Mallaur will certainly remember the blows he suffered from Orlants mighty bow. Trill was forced to use wands to combat the things as she could not cast spells while being dragged about by the forceful limbs all while yelling to Orlant “Please do NOT help me!!!” Morden was sorely wounded in the fight but in the end all were healed back to full health after the last of the Mimics (Trill identified them after the fight) were destroyed and pried off the party.
The group found some odds and ends of value in the large storage room but more importantly at the end of the catwalk they found a false door leading to the rest of the warehouse that did not seem otherwise accessible from the area they were in. Beyond the door was a small room with a few chests and a door. Trill and Orlant waited for Morden, Mallaur and the squire to catch up and did a quick search of the chests. Once they were all together again they opened the door and looked hopefully upon a series of 6 cells lining a corridor ending in a door. Had they found the “Holding Area” Martin had been moved to? One cell held a body, another 2 city guardsman, 3 were empty and the last held an elven girl whom Mallaur recognized as the daughter of a minor noble house within the city. No Martin. Mallaur questioned the young elven woman but she seemed very hostile and untrusting seeming to mock Mallaur as even being a Templar of the Protectorate of the Holy Bolt in the Cities Church of Heironeous. Morden and Trill tended to the “body” once Morden saw signs of life and restored a rather crazed man to physical health. His mind however seemed broken he raged and cried in cycles. All the while the two guardsmen asked to be freed of their cell. Trill still not terrible trusting of the city guard given her recent experiences cast a detect magic on the two and detected some magic in the bedding. She asked them to move the bedding and the detect magic moved with it. She asked them to pick it up so as they bent to that task and came up with Longswords and Shields the door to the cell popped open and before anyone could react the two guards charged out and began an assault on Morden and Trill. Morden backpedalled to try and get support from Mallaur but before the heavily plated Paladin could get traction Morden was felled from a series of vicious blows. Trill meantime quickly reacted to the attack and popped up a few images of her to confuse her attacker. A few of the images were destroyed before Mallaur’s squire bravely stepped in to protect her.
Once the initial shock of the attack was over a melee ensued that saw the squire and his head separated in a single attack from the guard and Trill continuing her retreat until Orlant was able to stop the advance of the guard. Mallaur found a worthy opponent in the guard he fought and was able to bring Morden back to his feat with the use of his Lay of Foot ability. With Morden healing him the battle soon turned against the guard and, as he fell, Mallaur moved to support Orlant. Seeing that the odds were now against him the guard made to flee back out to the Catwalk, he bull rushed a potion drinking Trill off the small set of stairs that led to the catwalk and ran for it. Magic Missiles do not miss and his retreat was cut short by an even angrier Trill.
As the group gathered over the dead squire Mallaur cursed his luck and demanded the group take the boys body in the bag of holding to be raised after he had found Martin. How could he have allowed the youth to enter such a dangerous place! Meanwhile Morden had examined the guardsman who now looked like a grey skinned humanoid with bulbous eyes, pointy teeth and no other facial features to speak of. He stood from his examination and said to the group “F*&$ing Dopplegangers!”.

So ended this session.

[Deadtissue]

I have 8 more postings before any of you readers are caught up to my campaign, they are almost 11th now and we are playing this weekend. First Dragon Fight! Can't wait. I will keep putting up the postings as quick as I can clean them up.

[Deadtissue]

This is part two of the Mirror of Harsh Reflections. The group levelled twice but did not rest wanting to keep the element of surprise so I allowed them to level mid-dungeon but only HP, BAB, and Saves, and new spells though they did not rest and could not take advantage of the extra spells.
I did not think they would survive the Maze so given the drive they were putting on and low resources I decided that the Orlant Doppleganger with the time he had been given opening the water gate would be confident he could wipe them out by setting up an ambush preventing them from even getting into the lair. The maze would likely have been a TPK at this point with only 3 party members though these players never cease to amaze me when the chips are down so who knows.

Either way I was comfortable having Orlant's doppleganger being too eager to end it given all the opportunities he had to let pass by given his orders.

Here is the next session:

Mostly Below Greyhawk

With the immediate threat of the Doppleganger guards men out of the way the group spoke with the Elven noblewoman and helped her from her cell. They returned to the previous room and she identified the goods taken from her and they also found what appeared to be Sister Martin's possessions (including several lacy bras...?) and an unclaimed magical bag, full of gold. They asked the elf to not return to her home until they found their friend as there was surely a doppelganger or two that would recognize her and perhaps return and alert the lair. She agreed but said she would leave word at an inn where she trusted the owner as to where she could be found and they decided it was time for a password so they could tell each other apart if they were separated and replaced with a doppelganger. Mallaur suggested "Heironeous Is Awesome" was appropriate and everyone agreed it was “unique” enough.
There was some discussion about resting but the group was keenly aware that somewhere in the building Martin was being replaced by a doppelganger and the sooner they found him the less damage would be done so they agreed to continue on. Only a set of doors leading from the holding cells was left so they opened the doors and saw that they were now at the end of the warehouse that sat over the river. They knew this because the floor had fallen away and they could see the river and its bank through the floor support beams that were all that remained of the floor. The support beams were slick and covered with mildew. They could see an that an area lay ahead and around a corner and to get there would mean crossing the slippery wooden beams. Obviously some sick motherless son of a goblin (Orlant’s words) had done this to kill them as various rusty weapons could be seen breaking the rivers surface like spikes should anyone fall from the slippery beams. Mallaur was not impressed but Trill thought she had a solution. First she produced a scroll that allowed her to cast a web in-between the beams that would prevent anyone from falling into the water (or anywhere for that matter) and made the beams sticky enough to prevent the slick surface from being an issue. Morden advised that they could hack through a nearby wall and perhaps avoid the whole thing. As Orlant raised his axe to go to work on the wall Trill completed her preparations and told the group it was now safe to move across the beams. Orlant led and Trill cast a fly spell and followed him out. Malluar and Morden followed slowly behind and that was when two invisible foes struck Trill and Mallaur. They hit hard and almost knocked Mallaur down. Trill could see the outlines and feel the elemental energy radiating from them. She spoke aloud in Auran to them offering a parlay before things escalated. The group then watched as she spoke to the two invisible stalkers. She sounded as though she was pleading with them for a moment then produced two pearls and gave one to each of them. With a whoosh the two air elementals were gone up into the rafters and Trill waved the group ahead.
They all crossed safely and stood on a platform with a door. The sound of the river trickling by was all they could hear and Orlant opened the door. The floor of the room beyond was penetrated by two holes. One hole was merely a rotted area of the floor that opened upon the river (no weapons visible down there) and the other appeared to be a well 10' square and 35' down a large round open tub floated on the surface of what smelled like salt water. A rope tied in an iron ring at the top of the well dropped down into the bucked. Trill flew down and inspected the large tub and reported it floated and could likely hold several people with ease. She dropped a glow stick down into the water and confirmed is was deeper than 20' as the light disappeared into the dark waters. Orlant got into the bucket and jumped around but nothing happened so he returned topside to discuss with the group what they would do next. They were all pretty sure the bucket would descend but they were unsure how to make it work. First they checked the room for hidden switches and found none. Then they discussed sending Orlant back to search the rest of the warehouse but Trill pointed out the two large invisible guardians in the beam room were only paid to let them pass one way and she only had enough pearls left to get them out. Morden suggested maybe it was activated by weight and that if they all go in the tub perhaps it would descend. They decided to try it and that in Mallaur should go first.
Mallaur slung his shield on his back grabbed the rope and slowly lowered himself and his full plate over the edge. He worked is way down 10', then 20', at 30' he stretched and turned to place a foot into the tub but lost his grip and plunged straight down into the cold salty water. He dropped 40' before hitting the bottom and thanks to the glow stick and his sword he could see a short corridor led to an open area ahead. He decided to move forward not able to swim up and walked slowly across the bottom. Before he made if far Trill appeared with a rope in hand and gave him one end and returned to the surface. Mallaur let it hang where Trill had placed it though and continued on moving into a large chamber with a central column that seemed to have a screw like thread pattern on it from top to bottom and as he tried to take in more of the room he spotted a mass of tentacles’ hurtling toward him. He turned and ran as fast as a man in full plate can run underwater. He made it to the rope and yanked as hard as he could, almost pulling Morden into the water, just as he felt the crushing pressure of tentacles encircling his calves. Orlant, Trill and Morden pulled as hard as they could and soon Mallaur broke the surface gasping for air. Unfortunately a hundred pounds of Octopus was still clinging to him and they struggled to finally pull Mallaur free. A final concerted heave and a big splash finally freed Mallaur and they pulled him up over the edge of the well to safety.
They now knew there was something on the other side of the well and likely whatever activated the water elevator was there. All they had to do was get to it. Once again Trill had a plan this time involving Orlant and a scroll of invisibility. The plan was for Orlant to swim through invisibly past the octopus and activate the elevator while the rest of the group waited in the Tub. Orlant dove into the water leaving all his heavier gear and bow behind and disappeared from view while the others carefully lowered Mallaur into the tub and followed down with Orlant’s gear and waited. Trill flew above as long as she could keeping an eye out but eventually had to land as her fly spell wore off. Twenty minutes later the water level began to fall and the tub lowered with it.
The group met Orlant in the large room. The Column Mallaur had seen was now only 10ft high with a set of ladder rungs leading from the floor to its top as it sat in the bottom a huge 40’ drum shaped room. Once they joined Orlant atop it and he had donned all his gear Orlant pulled on a lever in the middle of the column and water rushed into the chamber as the column slowly turned and rose up some 40 ft to come up to a short catwalk that led to a corridor with a door a the end. The group approached the door in single file with Orlant leading and Trill taking up the rear. Trill nodded to advance and Orlant went through the door to the left returning a few breaths later signalling the advance. Mallaur walked into the long corridor with doors at either end and four smaller doors across from him running the length of the far wall. Orlant said the group best head to the left and Trill immediately questioned him suspiciously, “why left?”. "Because the ambush will not work otherwise!" was Orlants response and grey skinned doppelgangers burst from the small doors swarming Mallaur as Orlant stepped clear.
What followed was a great melee with Trill at the back of a hallway unable to do much but watch Mallaurs backside and lots of flailing limbs as the doppelgangers tried again and again to pull Mallaur to the ground and Orlant merrily chopping at anyone who got close enough to help him while alternately shooting arrows at Trill if he could get a shot off at her. Mallaur was near unstoppable in the fight and only was only drawn into a grapple once but only briefly bullying his way through and striking down doppelganger after doppelganger until only one or two were left plus Orlant's double. At that point the battle quickly turned and Mallaur stood over a doppelganger wearing some ill fitting Dwarven gear including a large magical sapphire.
The group was down to three now with (Martin and Orlant missing, and Mallaur’s squire dead) but they sensed they must be close to the end with so many doppelgangers dead now. They stripped the bodies and stowed Orlant's gear in the bag of holding with Martin's and opened the double doors opposite the ones Orlant suggested. They were shocked to see what looked like a war room and the war depicted was one of a battle over possession of the ruling factions of the Free City Of Greyhawk. Piles of documentation and maps were spread about and Trill's and Morden's quick perusal showed the shape shifters had infiltrated unions, guards, political organizations and even the Oligarchy. The gathered all the evidence and stacked it, carefully tied it then, and placed it into the Bad Of Holding, with no obvious exits from the war room they turned back into the hallway.
The inspected the row of doors along the one side of the long corridor and found it to be sleeping quarters for at least 20 Doppelgangers. They had only encountered 11 so far and took note of that fact. They gathered up piles of fine clothes and jewellery that mimicked various guild and noble houses placing it into the now near full bag of holding and returned to inspect the last cubicle and double doors at the end of the hall.
Mallaur decided to check the double doors first and as he approached them he disappeared into a pit trap in the floor. His fall was followed by silence and Trill and Morden ran to the edge of the pit fearing the worst. They peered down into a 30’ deep pit in which was no sign of Mallaur. Trill was immediately suspicious and tried to peer through the floor but in the end she just dropped a rope down and when it went through the floor as she expected. She had Morden lower her down and then saw Mallaur impaled at the bottom of some spikes but alive and yelling though no sound reached her. She dropped the rope to him and returned with Morden to pull him up. As soon as he broke the magical silence they heard him thanking them. Morden pulled his now very familiar wand out and employed it bring the 3 of them to full health and after figuring out the doors over the pit were false they entered the last doppelganger barrack.
The final room had no exits and they were still short Martin and now Orlant so they began to search the walls for secret doors. Trill immediately recognized an entire wall as another illusion as soon as she touched it. Behind the wall a small area was revealed and it did indeed have a door from under which a pale blue light radiated. Mallaur opened the door and stepped through.
The trio of remaining adventurers were met with a shocking sight. Each of them and Orlant and Martin sat manacled to chairs in the centre of the circular room. Lit with blue magical lights they could clearly see and hear the struggles their copies or the real party members made while calling for help and to kill various other individuals. Trill took one look and said from behind Mallaur “Kill the Trill!”, when Mallaur hesitated Morden stepped forward to strike the manacled Trill. The Trill’s manacles fell to the ground and she leapt at Morden. Orlant also broke his bonds though his did not fall off but showed signs of long strain on broken links and he joined into the ensuing melee and 3 doppelgangers were quickly put down. Martin and Orlant were then drilled on the contents and traps of a certain tomb in Whispering Cairn. The group were pretty sure they were back together and Doppelganger free. While Orlant and Martin were given back their gear and donned it, Mallaur checked out a door leading further into the lair form this room.
What came next was a maze of mirrors with walls that shifted and popped up from the floor. It took some time but the group eventually made it through to another doorway. Mallaur had the feeling combat in the maze would have been hell and silently thanked Orlant’s doppelganger for drawing all its friends out to the front hall. The room beyond the maze was very large and well lit with a vaulted ceiling, bizarre torture device with a silver helmet, shelving, a dias and throne atop which sat Allustan, Trill’s mentor from Diamond Lake. As he stood and rested his gaze on the group he said “Its time you learned the truth” and with that he shifted into the form of an old evil looking man and began to cast a spell.
As he completed his spell Morden sent a quick prayer of retribution to St.Cuthbert and struck the shape shifter blind but the damage had been done. Mallaur dropped his holy sword and fled into the maze while Orlant drew his bow and fired it at Trill and Martin stood dumbstruck babbling about the dead. Trill found herself unaffected by the confusion caused by the Doppelgangers spell and low on spells herself. She cast a sphere of howling wind and set it upon the fiend while it moved slowly down off the dias and along a wall toward the group now in the form of a huge orc wielding a glowing greataxe. Orlant regained control at this point and fired into the orc before starting into a Dwarven drinking song and doing a wee jig. Morden tried to engage the orc thinking the blindness would hinder it and suffered a horrible hit in exchange for minor damage he did with his Mace. Martin meanwhile healed Morden and then returned to his ramblings giving the Orc a target he could hear and close on. Trill continued to train the howling sphere on him and using a wand to fire missiles at the orc all the while wearing it down and occasionally the winds would pulls its feet from under it. Martin was struck and fled into the maze. All the while Mallaur still ran screaming in the distance through the maze occasionally passing the door as he ran without purpose or direction and the maze kept turning him around.
Morden healed Martin as he ran and Orlant continued singing oblivious to the Orc closing on him. As the Orc closed on Orlant and raised his axe to strike Orlant ducked and stepped back ready to fire his bow again into the orc who clearly should have died seconds ago but rage and magic kept it up and attacking. Unfortunately as Orlant stepped back he heard a loud click just before the floor fell away under him and he was dumped 20ft down into a pit and onto a bed of sharp spikes.
Trill finally delivered a powerful hit with the defenestrating sphere that flung the Orc to the ceiling and resulted in its corpse hitting the ground. The corpse of course was not an orc but a slightly taller and more powerfully built doppelganger with a spirally tentacle tattooed onto its brow. The corpse also had a ring, an axe, a wand and a key.
The group now moved about recovering, healing, and retrieving the loot strewn about the place. Several more magic gems like the one found on Orlant’s doppelganger were found and Orlant explained he had been subjected to the machine’s helmet and after his mind was assaulted for hours the doppelgangers left with the gem. Perhaps it allowed the doppelgangers more thorough knowledge of their victims? Behind the throne was a room obviously used as living quarters by the Doppelganger’s leader? It held more books and notes on the devious plots overseen by the doppelgangers on the Free City. A large magical mirror was in the room as well as note written in odd hand writing which seemed to be orders for the doppelganger to meet somebody in the sewers to get instruction on some new victims. The note referred to the doppelganger as “Thrall” and the victims as “small minds”.
After rounding up all the treasure and potentially saleable items from the lair the group returned to the water elevator and began descending into the draining room. When the reached the bottom fully expecting to cross to the tub they were surprised when a section of wall opened revealing two dark skinned elves (Drow) who began to attack them without warning. Before the party could react the Drow had cast darkness on the top of the pillar and began shooting crossbows at the group. As the group mustered to respond a third figure emerged from the opening and as they looked down on the squid headed humanoid they were overcome with pain as though a great force tried to take their heads apart from the inside. Only Mallaur and Morden were able to respond pushing past the pain.
Mallaur jumped down the 10’ onto an elf almost killing him with a single blow and landing 10’ from the squid man. Morden tried to command the elf to flee but it failed but it appeared with one bodyguard down “Squid man” made to flee. The two elves slowed Mallaur enough that the squid got away before he could follow and the rest of the group recovered from the Mind Blast.
With no spells left and little will to follow the group decided to return to the city above and regroup. They needed to get the evidence of the doppelgangers to the authorities, rest, and sell their hard earned gains. They did strip the elves of loot and noticed a yellow powder on their boots which Trill identified as a mold that grew in the run off of smithies.
The session ended there and the characters are now all 8th.

[Deadtissue]

Session 10

The group did a fair bit of shopping, updating equipment and magic items. After awhile though worry about a certain "Squid man" set in and they decided it was time to get proactive.

Hunting Under Greyhawk


Up the groups return to the surface they contacted the lawyer they had hired to officially complain about the disappearance of Sister Martin and had him deliver the documents they recovered from the Doppelgangers lair to the City of Greyhawk Mayor’s office.

This created quite a stir and after being interviewed by the City’s special task force, various authorities and organizations set about purging themselves of the doppelganger plants and tried to recover from the shock of the depth the creatures had infiltrated the city’s government, unions, and power blocks.

While the purge was waged by the city guard and the legendary Heroes of Greyhawk a curfew was set and many businesses closed their doors for a few days fearing infiltration or repercussions but eventually all in the Great Free City returned to normal. The group were sent a letter thanking them for their efforts and providing each a letter of credit for 1500gp each to be used within the City. The group moved about the city selling the loot they had recovered and picking up items they had commissioned prior to the problem in the inn that precipitated the desperate search for Martin and fight against the doppelgangers. Mithril Full Plate for Mallaur, wands for Martin and Trill and many of them continued their training. While enjoying the freedom to shop and train all of them fretted over what the Mind Flayer they had encountered was doing while they busied themselves with such mundane matters. The creature had hired the doppelgangers to kill them. They knew it was not likely the last time it would try to take their lives given the damage they had done to its minions and after a week the suspense became too much for them. They began to track down the Mind Flayer looking for the most likely source of the golden mould found on the boots of the Mind Flayers Drow bodyguards. Trill searched the city for forges and tried to locate accurate sewer system maps while Orlant scouted the area’s Trill’s research revealed as likely locations.

After a few days the group gathered and slipped out after curfew to enter the sewers at a location found by Orlant that would likely get them near a Smith whose run-off entered the sewers near the river, the perfect environment of the mould, and close to the warehouse where they Doppelgangers laired. The entrance revealed a ladder that descended into a catch basin for floodwaters. The overflow channel descended even deeper and Orlant led the way. Some 300 feet away and 60ft deeper underground by Orlant’s reckoning he found the brick lined sewer wall was broken away revealing a more natural cavern beyond and a smattering of the golden mould was growing on the edge of the opening.

Orlant reported the find to the group who trailed him by some 40’ as was their usual tactic when scouting ahead was required. They closed up on Orlant as he entered the natural cavern area. His darkvision showed him the layout of the room only in black and white but years of experience underground told him he was looking at some dangerous fungus. He noted the floor was covered in yellow mould and several large toadstools that were likely a variety of fungus that let off a shrill keening noise when disturbed called Shriekers. He began talking with Trill about how best to manage the situation. They agreed fire would destroy the yellow mould and of course they could deal with shriekers…..Morden was anxious to advance and he had a torch. He did not know that shriekers would howl as soon as they detected movement or “light” and as soon as Morden approached to burn back the yellow mould the shriekers began to howl. The group frantically rushed to burn the rest of the mould and destroy the shriekers with fire and missile fire. So much for surprise…

With the fungal threat dealt with Orlant continued through the cavern and down the only exit passage. As he advanced down the passage he saw a lit tinder twig fall from the ceiling onto a large wet area of rock he had just entered…and then it got really hot. Fire leapt up from the floor as alchemist’s fire that had been spread there ignited. As Orlant retreated he spied movement in a crevice higher up and further down the passage…Drow! Mallaur advanced but had to wait for the fire to go down and since Orlant could not get a shot off Mallaur began to climb up to the area the Drow were hidden in on some rough hewn steps created by a Stoneshape spell cast by Morden. Trill and Martin readied wands of magic missiles in case any of the drow stuck their heads out. Once the fire died out Mallaur reached the alcove Orlant advanced with his bow and fired when one drow stuck his head out to fire a hand crossbow. Between the magic missiles and bolts the Drow did not even have time to get a shot off and his two compatriots were busy with a very nimble (in his new Mithril Full Plate) angry Paladin. Mallaur made short work of the two other drow and collected their weapons and several more vials of the volatile liquid while Orlant advanced down the corridor to continue his scouting.
Once the drow were stripped of all the items of any value they had and it was all carefully placed in Trill’s bag of holding the group continued in Orlant’s wake. As they caught up to him they could hear his gruff voice talking with a higher pitched almost musical sounding female. As Mallaur’s sword “Final Rest” shed sufficient light on the encounter to identify the female speaker, a 10’ long red and black banded snake with a human head and mangy looking mane of greasy black hair, Orlant turns to face the group and says “Ah, good you are here! Bout time! , please say high to my new friend Fassash, she is a guardian here and has agreed to let us pass for 1000gp. Trill, pay the girl so we can continue on our way!” The rest of the group’s response was along the lines of “Uhm” but Trill did not hesitate with her answer drawing forth her wand of magic missiles and unload several magical bolts into the Naga. Mallaur noted an especially evil aura about the creature and readied for a charge.

The Naga uttered some arcane words and disappeared as Mallaur charged up to her swinging wildly in an attempt to strike her before she vanished. Orlant looked to Trill shocked at her treatment of the otherwise kind and fair friend he had just made. Trill ignored him and moved deeper into the cavern they were in, she noted a large pool to her right, that radiated a dim phosphorescent light and drained into a trickle into the rock wall of the cavern to her right. Several passages were revealed ahead exits from the cavern which Trill tried to peer down while the rest of the group closed to discuss with Orlant why the large human headed evil snake was not their friend. Orlant remained unconvinced until a small flaming orb streaked toward them from the darkness ahead and blossomed into a huge fireball engulfing all of them but Trill.

Trill shouted “Find that Naga before she kills us all” and cast a few arcane protections on herself while Morden and Martin healed and prayed, Orlant and Mallaur advanced along the left hand wall looking for the Naga they could hear moving against the stone floor ahead. Trill and Martin moved up along the chambers right hand wall and Morden hung back in-between the two. Once they were out of sight with Trill and Martin moving along a passage to the right and Orlant and Martin too the left the Naga struck Morden with a vicious bite poisoning him. He staggered away and called for help. His yell drew more than just his party members though as Drow charged from the magical darkness, they had used to cover their approach, to assault Orlant and Mallaur. Trill moved back towards the Naga and Martin continued down the passage seeing that it curved back on itself and headed towards the sounds of fighting.

Morden staggered towards Orlant and Mallaur as the Naga pressed him looking to get another taste of his celestial flesh. Once Martin and Morden got close enough to Orlant and Mallaur, approaching from either side (as well as the Drow they were not locked in melee combat with) the Naga let loose another fireball. Trill spotted the Naga and let loose with more magic missiles weakening the evil serpent.

Morden, weakened by the poison, and Martin were overcome by the flames and both dropped to the stone floor while Orlant swung his axe wildly trying to push back the drow. Mallaur could not get free of the Drow and was being pressed by a Priestess of Lolth who had entered the fray. Trill left alone to face the Naga continued her barrage of arcane missiles while the Naga tried to close on her with a poisoned bite.

The Naga missed Trill and backed off as more missiles pounded its scaly flesh. It stopped to heal its wounds and then began to flee in earnest and Trill tried to keep up with her, wands flashing missiles, pursued.

Mallaur meanwhile had used his Lay on Foot powers again to revive Morden and Orlant used a magical wand of healing he carried to stabilise Martin even though he left himself open and was grievously wounded by the remaining Drow warriors, but with two clerics now on their feet and healing the two warriors the tide of the battle soon turned. By the time Trill had returned to report the Naga’s escape the Drow all lay dead.

The group now for the first time could view the room the drow had arrived from. It was a large natural cavern that branched off into a few smaller caves, a ramp that held a small shrine to Lolth, and a barred off section with a door set into it. Beyond the bars were 4 zombies, each with a 3 inch diameter hole in the crown of its head revealing a cavity devoid of any brain matter, these Martin destroyed with a word and a wave of his holy symbol. They then moved back into the main chamber and stripped the Drow of valuables and then looked about the cavern for more treasure. It was about this time Morden collapsed overwhelmed by the Naga’s poison. A bit more healing got him to his feet but the group could tell from his ashen face he would not fair well in another fight. As Martin and Mallaur fussed over Morden, Trill and Orlant had a look around and discover a group of people huddled in fear at the back of the cave that lay behind the bars. A couple merchants, a serving girl and a young gnome were all abducted and brought here they explained and told Trill and Orlant that every few days a horrible looking creature with tentacles for a face would arrive and the drow would bring him a prisoner. He would then grab the person by the head and suck his or her brain out leaving the corpse on the ground. The Drow Priestess would then raise it as a zombie. All the prisoners were wild with fear as a result and begged to be released and escorted back to the surface. This would have been straight forward but the serving girl was not a good hearted young lady and when Mallaur subjected the prisoners to his gaze he could feel the sin in her heart. He advised the group she may have sinister intentions and they questioned her until they were certain she was merely a misguided young woman and not a horrible monster in disguise.
Once they were sure they could move the prisoners safely they agreed they would all return to the surface as Morden needed help. Orlant trapped the cell door so they would be able to see if it was disturbed during their absence. They got to the surface unmolested and Trill, Mallaur and Martin saw the prisoners safely to their homes while Morden and Orlant sought help for the Temple of the Cudgel. Though startled by the late arrival Morden’s health was restored by the High Priest without restitution being required due to his acts against the evils in Greyhawk of late, most notably the Dopplegangers but also his investigations and ordeals in Diamond Lake.
The rest of the group rested at the Crooked House and they all made an early start back into the sewers and lair of the Mind Flayer!

[Deadtissue]

This session the group faced the Mind Flayer mastermind behind the dopplegangers and attempt to take over Greyhawk. I modified the map abit not wanting the group to empty out onto a balcony at the same height as the Mind Flayer I changed it to a down ramp that emptied onto the floor. I have used Mind flayers before and thier mind blast can make a battle last ages and this one ran into minutes.
Also I got rid of the two Octopins to keep the fight simple and gave the Flayer a few extra hit dice to make up for it by granting him a couple levels of swashbuckler (I had a cool figure of a mind flayer pirate I wanted to use I will see if I can get a decent sized picture to place in the post as I also made and painted figures for the Octopins).

Trill was extremely paranoid about being ambushed by the naga so getting through the tunnels took a long time as she made sure there were not hidden nagas about.

The Pious Templar power of Mettle is absolutely amazing to have in the Campaign. Mallaur has bypassed two major encounters simply by being able to ignore the no save portion of the effects by making a successful save.

The group now understands the need for each of them to have the ability to deal with aerial threats.

Here is session 11 Mind the Flayer

The group returned to the underground complex and found everything as they left it. The bodies of the drow lay as they had and the prison cells door was still trapped. The Mind Flayer if it was here had not come out for breakfast yet. They took a deep breath and continued into the complex down a tight corridor that seemed to open up ahead.
With Orlant in the lead the proceeded and he stopped the group short in a small circular room. He noted a sigil on the floor resembling that same symbol that identified the Mind Flayers minions and more importantly a magical glyph on the ceiling that was set to rain magical acid down on them, which he disabled by firing arrows into the lines until they were disrupted and the magic ruined.
They next room they encountered featured two white marble pillars carved to look like entwined tentacles on either side of two white marble doors veined with a purple stone. As they approached they were attacked by three bulbous tentacled creatures whose single unblinking eye seemed to slow the actions of those it gazed upon. Orlant recognized them as Aberrations and though he could not identify them specifically his aberration slaying arrows did not care when they hit with explosive force nor did Mallaur’s longsword “Final Rest” and soon the creatures bodies were left behind like hacked up pin cushions. The doors were locked but again Orlants skills with stone and machinery came in handy as he manipulated the bar off its rest with a serious of shims and wires. Beyond the doors lay a circular room with a single exit lined with benches that held manacles attached to them and that faced a pulsing 10ft brain made of the same purple stone the seemed to vein the marble walls, floors and ceilings.
As Orlant stepped into the room to look around his mind was assaulted with thoughts of joining the Zyrzog , whoever that was, and he he had a sudden urge to manacle himself to a seat and await the awesome Zyrzog’s arrival. His natural stubbornness and Dwarven heritage allowed him to fight off the initial assault but he knew he would not resist long and left the room with a pounding headache. He drew his bow and took a shot at the brain from outside the room and watched as it left only a scratch.
At this point Mallaur asked Morden for his mace and shrugging Morden handed it over. Mallaur strode into the room and began pounding on the brain with the mace breaking fist sized pieces of it off as his mind was assaulted by the brains dominating effect. His Templar training (Mettle) had prepared him for this situation though and he shrugged off the brains attempt to dominate and its lasting effects (wisdom drain) long enough to crack the brain to its core ending its assault. He tossed Morden back his mace, thanked him, drew his longs sword and said “Lets go!”
The group entered the room as Orlant moved to the ramp exiting the room. The corridor ran in a spiral down into another circular room with the ramp continuing out the far side of the room and a door on one wall. The room was obviously lab and library of sorts. A huge see through vat of green liquid filled half the room and out of it came a huge aberration like the ones that assaulted them outside Zyrzog’s home. Though it did a fair bit of damage with its tentacles a few well placed spells and attacks the group destroyed it. They had a quick search of the lab while Orlant checked the door for traps and locks. They found a vast library of aberrations as well as the designs for the creatures, apparently called Octopins by Zyrzog, and a new creature called a mind worm that reduces the host’s resistance to suggestion but they found no such creatures present. They placed all the books and documents into a magic bag and entered the corridor beyond the doorway from the lab.
Beyond the door a set of steep stairs opened into another circular room, this one held a pool of water at its center and was circled by benches. Upon looking into the pool one could see the room with the now cracked brain statue. A viewing pool?, the group wasted no time on it and preceded down another ramp out of the room that brought them to their goal or them to Zyrzog. A huge room lay ahead with a domed 80 foot ceiling a raised dais that encircled a pool of dark waters from which rose a black basalt column covered in strange glowing runes that bathed the room in a weird eerie light. Hovering in mid-air 40’ above the pool was Zyrzog the Mind Flayer and as soon as Orlant took in the room at the bottom of the ramp and raised a fist in warning to the group Zyrzog welcomed them with a lightning bolt and a promise of their brains making a delicious feast and their fear being a pleasant garnish! Apparently this Mind Flayer has flair of the dramatic.
Shaking off the effects of the lightning bolt the group quickly got themselves clear of the confines of the corridor and prepared to meet the Mind Flayer in battle. But how to get to him soon became the greatest obstacle. Orlant presented his solution by lobbing a volley of arrows and this would have been very effective had the Mind Flayer not also possessed the power of displacement and so most of his arrows missed. Those that hit had the desired effect and as Trill was discoverying that Zyrzog was also very resistant to magic the Mind Flayer unleashed a mental blast that left most of the group including Trill and Orlant stunned. Martin fired with his crossbow and Mallaur moved out of the arc of the mind flayer’s field of view to minimize the damage it could do with its mental assaults. Problem was it was also a sorcerer and its rays of enfeeblement did not help Mallaur’s confidence. Morden’s Airwalk spell did however, and even weakened Mallaur was soon chopping away at Zyrzog while Trill recovered and used what spells she had left to harass the floating aberration. Mallaur was dropped to the ground unconscious once and Martin was very nearly killed but the group pulled through and with a few last desperate pushes Zyrzog was hard pressed and unleashed a couple more lighting bolts and mind blasts before he was finally laid low and dropped to the floor utterly dead. The corpse was stripped of magic items including a key and the room searched. They noticed the pool of water was filled with what they thought at first where tadpoles but on closer inspection they shared an aspect of the Mind Flayer that screamed offspring at least until the pool was filled with fire and they screamed aaahhhhh!...gurgle.
A door at the back of the room revealed a den and sleeping area for Zyrzog that included a bed, a chest, a writing desk and several bookshelves. The chest contained a small fortune in coin and gems. The desk contained various documents and contracts from various guilds in the city and a ledger dating back several years. Some of the more recent entries interested the group greatly though. Of note was a payment from one Loris Raknian (Director of the Free City Arena) for the removal from existence of one Mallaur, Templar Knight of Heironeous; Trill, Apprentice Wizard to Allustan of Diamond Lake; Orlant, Dwarven Ranger of the Iron Hills; Morden Galen Priest of St. Cuthbert and resident of Greyhawk; and finally Sister Martin of the Wee Jas and Cult of the Green Sisters. The only other exchange between the two appears a couple years earlier when Raknian purchased something called the Apostolic Scrolls. The ledger was stowed with the coin from the Chest in a magical bag and the group moved out the only other exit from the great hall they fought Zyrzog in.
This hall led to what appeared to be a museum, a statue of a great winged demon stood in the center of the round room and the walls were lined with trophy cases containing all manner of strange items. As Orlant moved to check the area for traps Morden, who was tired and most of the group was out of spells at this point, moved to begin moving the items from the cases to his haversack first grabbing a stuffed Juvenile Green Dragon head. As he did this the demon statue turned into a statue and shrieked as it filled the room with spores and attacked. The tight confines of the room and the demon teleporting about made an already difficult fight harder given the lack of healing and firepower the group had left after their battle with Zyrzog. They did prevail in the end and luckily the demon did not summon aid from the abyss as Trill deduced it could have had it been so inclined. Mallaur informed everyone that most everything in the cases radiated some degree of malign energy and should probably be left alone. At this point nobody argued and they all retreated as quickly as they could back to the surface.

[Deadtissue]

Session 12 the group gets caught up on the Age of Worms lore by Eligos the Loremaster and find out taking down Loris Raknian is not as simple as providing the authorities with a ledger listing to remove the group "From play".

Trill was very interested in the possibility of betting on the fights (especially on their team) and I seem to recall a journal written a few years ago where the DM had to curtail this as the groups made insane amounts of money. The material actually says bets (except that offered by the thieves guild) are limited to 250-500gp. I allowed them to bet up to 250 initially and 500 on the final 2 rounds and this seemed to work well.

The group are all now 9th (Morden paid off his +1 LA).

Here is the session: Pre_Games
After a hearty meal and a good nights rest (not worrying about when a mind flayer will show up helped) the group met again to decide what to do now. The immediate threat to their lives was over but now they had a bigger possibly more dangerous opponent that had apparently orchestrated all of the horrible events they had been subjected to over the last few weeks. They discussed it and decided they had a few days at least before Loris Raknian would even find out that his assassin had been eliminated. They would inform the churches of the location of the cursed items and the Mind Flayer lair while selling loot, researching new spells, scribing scrolls and making new purchases before announcing their triumph over Zyrzog. In all this excitement and the back to back events of late they had almost forgotten why they had come to the Free City. The second night after they escaped Zyrzog’s lair they received word that the scribe Eligos was ready to see them and had word on their findings in Diamond Lake. That night they attended the home of Eligos and were invited to share a meal with the Loremaster. He had much to reveal:
1. Some of the items they had retrieved though interesting had nothing to do with the Age of Worms such as the horns of a demon killed by a windlord or the inactive Talisman of the Sphere.
2. The Age of Worms has been spoken of years in many forms including the End of Days, the Eternal Ruin, the Dark Days etc. Basically it talks of transforming the world into a dark place of death and disease. The Age of Worms is referred to in many dark texts, such as, Book of Vile Darkness, Necronomicon, Libris Mortis, and the Apostolic Scrolls.
3. The worms are in fact from an undead called the Spawn of Kyuss once created by the now God of Undead Kyuss. They are one of the weakest forms of Undead created by Kyuss. They are especially fecund making their appearance in numbers very worrisome.
4. The cults of Kyuss are usually small usually a single priest with an alter ego and its involvement with the Ebon Triad is troublesome if the small cult is manipulating the larger to some goal like the Age of Worms
5. All these many clues lead Eligos to worry something big is brewing and it cannot be good.


As they discussed all this Trill noted that the Apostolic Scrolls were in the hands of Loris Raknian and that he in fact was the one who involved the group in the doppelganger ring by way of assassinating them. Eligos explains that the scrolls allegedly allow the owner to summon a great undead beast created by Kyuss called an Ulgurstasta a vile creation capable of eating living beings and spewing them forth as undead. The scrolls also detail rituals to allow it to create more powerful undead and at a tremendous rate.
As for the assassination attempt Eligos warns the group that Loris is a powerful man in Greyhawk and accusing him even with the evidence they had will be difficult as he has many friends and is quite popular amongst the cities nobles. The games are coming up so Eligos assumes Loris may be looking to that now and they have some breathing room. Perhaps fleeing the city would be best but finding out what Raknian plans to do with the scrolls might warrant staying. Eligos promises to think on the matter and with that dinner ends.
The next day while the group is shopping and training they are once again summoned by messenger to meet with Eligos. They join him after lunch and he tells them he might have a way to get them close to Loris Raknian. Earlier in the month Eligos had been approached by an old friend looking to help somebody find some gladiators to sponsor in the games. He had not met the group then and gave it no thought and when he did later he realized you were not the gladiator type and on an important mission for Allustan. Last nights meeting changed all that and Eligos now would like the group to consider the sponsors offer to get into the area and have a look around for the scrolls and to see what Raknian is really up to. He did not think Raknian could act against them directly until the games ended that way and they would be inside. The group agreed to meet with Celeste and her friend that night at the Crooked House and left Eligos to arrange it.
The meeting between Celeste and her friend Ekaym Smallcask went well for all. Ekaym was a travelling merchant lucky enough to win one of the lotteries licenses for gladiatorial teams but has had a very tough time finding a team and he turned to Celeste for help. After a bit of negotiating on the split of any purse won by the newly named FISTS OF GLORY, Led by his Holy Nibs Mallaur of the Holy Bolts, signed the roster of the Gladiatorial License. They were informed the following evening was the opening ceremony and after that the Games begin.

After a flurry of shopping the group met Ekaym at the Crooked House and then made their way to the arena together. At the gates they were allowed entry after Ekaym displayed his license and introduced each of his gladiators with a brief description of their deeds including breaking up a ring of dopplegangers that threatened the safety of all the citizens of the great Free City of Greyhawk. They were shown to their seats at a huge circular set of tables all ending with a stage where acrobats and jugglers currently performed and offered wine and exotic appetizers. Soon Loris Raknian arrived with his Elite Bodyguard and an elderly mage later introduced as Talabir Welik the games referee.
The group was served a sumptuous meal while Nobles, Politicians, Merchants and High Rollers walked around and interviewed the various Gladitorial teams to assess who they would be betting on. In the background entertainers worked hard to please the crowd on the stage with singing, acting, acrobatics and dancing. During this time Mallaur walked Trill about the crowd trying to get a better look at the competition and a closer look at Loris Raknian.
Morden noted that Ekaym was spending an awful lot of time lingering near Loris Raknian as well and that many of the Gladitorial teams here were not necessarily of noble heart, heck even Gnolls and a couple of Kobolds had been allowed to enter.
At some point in the evening Orlant made an old acquaintance in Tirra the Elven rogue he had met long ago in Diamond Lake and was part of the team led by Auric, Last years Champion. Orlant was surprised to hear she would not be competing citing that brawling in public was bad for ”business” and offered him a business opportunity to invest in a high stakes bet on the games that would be backed by her guild. He ended up borrowing a bit from Morden but met the minimum ante to get in on it. He spent the rest of the evening regaling her with stories of his prowess and hearing how she and her group fought against a band of trolls and a rival Thieves guild trying to make inroads into Greyhawk. She also asked that Orlant have mercy if he faced Auric and Kellek on the field as they were her friends and she did not want to see them killed. Orlant promised to do what he could before the night ended and they parted ways.
Trill gathered what information she could on the other teams and the games in general just as Loris Raknian called for the crowds attention. He raised his cup and bellowed “LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!” and to the applause of all the spectators the gladiators were led down a ramp to the Ceonoby beneath the arena floor.

[Deadtissue]

Session 13 - First fight in the Arena

I added an extra horseman, 2 gnolls, 1 elven archer to the fight in an effort to make the fights last longer. Here is the result of those efforts...

Fists of Glory!

The Ceonoby was an old underground cavern lined with living cells, well-lit, and warm. A huge set of tables and benches filled a large central area in front of a well stocked and manned kitchen that would feed all the gladiators their 3 squares a day. The only other major feature was a stream that entered the cavernous space formed a pool then continued on out of the Ceonoby. On this the first night 24 teams of Gladiators moved to their assigned cells and began preparing for the next days fights. The mood was sobering and though the group longed to look around the area Orlants quick scout about showed 3 exits (one they came in from above), a lot of guards at each and a whole bunch of very gruff gladiators.

FIGHT #1
The Fists awoke to the sounds of an army preparing for battle, the gladiatorial teams were up and equipping themselves, partaking of the morning meal and noting their fights for the day from a large poster pinned up beside the kitchen. They got ready and sent Orlant to have a look at who they would be up against. It seemed they would be fighting:

1. Arcane Auriga – 4 Elven women dressed in chain and wielding bows.
2. Badlands Revenge – A human druid, his alligator pet, and 3 gnarly gnolls armed with Halberds
3. Sapphire Squad – The Jann swordsman who had hit on Trill the night before and 3 human riders in heavy armor.

Their fight was not until 10 am so they moved to the exit to see if they could go up and watches the fights prior to their own and were informed that they could not leave the Ceonoby so instead they went and ate. Trill asked the cook for some information about the other two exits and found out about the “Titan’s House” an old area that used to house gladiators before the new Ceonoby was built. It is said that it held a lair of undead that Loris Raknian himself when he as still a gladiator had fought back into the earth and sealed them off with a stone plug. The other led to lower access to the old area when it was smaller, since the renovations it was now all sealed off. Korush the Jann stopped by to speak with Trill about the upcoming fight promising to treat her team as a gentlemen but that he too fought for Glory and there could only be one winner, Trill acknowledged him but offered little else and at that point they were interrupted and told to gather their goods for they were up.
The guards led the 4 teams up a ramp out into the mid-morning sun shining down on the arena floor. The crowds were already warmed up from the previous fight and it looked to have been a good one with the area floor still showing spots wet with blood and a large dark stain (Trill recognized it as the result of an elemental acid spell) near the north corner. They took this all in as the Referee read out the rules to the teams and introduced each team and its leader citing the Fists of Glory as “Led by the most Pious of Knights, Mallaur of the Holy Bolt and his team of intrepid slayers, The FISTS OF GLORY, Saviours of Greyhawk, and an end to those who would oppose the Law.” At which point the crowd went wild. The other introductions were met with applause and each team cast spells and drank potions while the referee droned on. Finally each team was stationed at point 60’ apart from each other, the guards left the field, and Loris Raknian stood and said “BEGIN!”
The first to act were the elven warriors. They raised their bows and launched their arrows at the gnolls who seemed to hardly notice the rain of arrows as they charged towards the elves with hatred in their eyes. As the gnolls charged the elves Korush, the Jann, signalled his horsemen to attack and they began to move out away from him in formation on the Fists. The lead rider was slowed when Morden dropped a flame strike on him incinerating his mount and leaving the rider smoking as he rolled to his feet and retrieved his scimitar. Mallaur then moved towards the riders as Trill readied a spell, Martin became Martin(s) (Mirror Image) and Orlant began firing off arrows at gnolls to help.
The Gnolls and elves fought a close range fight with the gnolls forcing the elves back with their halberds and limiting their ability to use their bows. The Druid lobbed fist sized balls of fire at the elves, then sent his gator after a rider who came to close, and moved to follow them once Trill had dropped a field of black grabbing tentacles onto the gnoll/elf fight.
Mallaur engaged the riders and they moved past with Martin, Trill and Morden making short work of them before they could close on them. Korush rode expertly past Mallaur striking him in passing leaving him little time to react. Mallaur yelled “Get down here and fight me like man!” and with a flourish and a flip Korush did. He landed expertly beside Mallaur and made a show of dancing about Mallaur as he struck. Mallaur’s heavy armor made him all but immune the the light scimitar Korush wielded while Mallaur swung “Final Rest” with such deadly force at Korush leaving him hard pressed and barely able to evade the mighty swings.
As Korush and Mallaur faced off the tentacles Trill had summoned brought the fight between the elves and gnolls to an end just as Rennida, the leader of the team Arcane Auriga, shouted out “No have mercy on my daughter!”. Korush winked at Mallaur and said “I would be best served my offering my skills to Ladies then” and with a bow turned to leap over the corpse of the firestuck horse being devoured by the hungry Alligator behind him. As Korush leapt though, Mallaur roared “Do not turn your back on me!” and with a single mighty swing (critical) tore through the Jann from temple to testicles with acid, from a prayer Sister Martin laid on his sword before the match began, spraying all over the corpse and leaving the two halves smoking as it dissolved into the sand. Mallaur then moved toward the druid who was crossing the field to back up and redirect his gator from its horse meat meal to something still living.
With the rest of the horsemen, gnolls and elves out of the fight and Mallaur moving towards him covered in the gore of his last opponent the druid surrendered, turned to the Gnolls and said “give it up, we’ve lost!”, called his gator, and left the field.
Soon after the elves surrendered, Trill dismissed the field of black tentacles, the crowd began chanting “Fists of Glory!, Fists of the Free City!, HURRAH!”. The Fists looked from each other up at the crown and felt the power of 15,000 people chanting their name. Humbled, they were escorted from the field to the Ceonoby as crews came out to clean up the smoking mess left by Mallaur and Morden.

That afternoon as teams left in 4’s and only a single team returned saw the Ceonoby get quieter and quieter. By supper there were only 6 teams left, Auric’s Warband, Fists of Glory, Draconic Brood, Snow Leopards, Skull of Murq, and Pitch Blade. All the teams sat well away from each other as supper was served. All knew the following day would see them pitted one team against another and everyone had their poker faces on.
Orlant noted that the previous large number of guards had diminished to just a few guarding the exit out of the Ceonoby and even they looked dead on their feet after the days activities. He informed Trill they could probably slip out after lights out and investigate arena but until then the Titan’s House or the old area basement were within reach. Since they had used few resources in the first round of the tournament Trill rounded up the group and set Orlant out to scout the Titan’s House while they followed. It was an old housing area for gladiators but did not share the warmth and illumination of the Ceonoby. The underground stream from the Ceonoby continued to flow through house and into a large pool at this farthest end. It was in here the passage ended. Trill sent her Air elemental familiar into the water, under protest, to explore and it returned saying that two exits existed that were as small as she was and that a plug covered the far wall. Morden suggested that if it were stone he could remove and so removed his armor and swam under the effects of a freedom of movement spell into the pool to search the far end while the rest of the group watched from the shore. He used a prayer to reshape the stone plug and glimpsed a corridor beyond as the plug fell out of said corridor.
After a brief discussion on the best time to pursue investigating this new avenue it was determined now was. They all swam or walked underwater and up out into an underground passage that stank of death. They soon advanced into a room and a small swarm of Ghasts charged then fell to dust as both Morden and Martin channelled the positive energy of their gods into the undead monsters. One was shielded by a rock column and instead of mindlessly charging the group in ran and disappeared into a small tunnel. Silence and the stench of death were all that remained as Orlant peered down the small tunnel to ensure the threat was gone then moved about this room noting another exit and the sound of water echoing from it.
Trill sent her familiar after the Ghast as nobody could easily fit down the small tunnel. Soon after the elemental left they heard a booming roar and crash emanate from the tunnel followed by a rush of fetid air as Trills familiar sped past them through the room as though fleeing something. Trill called her familiar back and it came once it was assured the gigantic undead foe she had startled was not pursuing her. The familiar explained to Trill that many tunnels branch off and form bit of a maze with crawling room only but that they eventually enter a large chamber that held a massive undead humanoid.
With the small tunnel scouted the group decided the trickling sound of water was more appealing and moved off down the larger corridor. The entered large water filled room with a small beach and a stream flowing through it. The water was only a few feet deep as Orlant scouted about and determined that the passage the stream entered would be navigable by the group if they ducked a bit. The proceeded wading downstream until they came to another collector room. This one had a rusted grate doorway leading back towards the arena and the floor was covered in rotting flotsam. The ceiling and walls were covered in a thick rancid looking slime as well which Orlant reported would likely be home to animate slimes, oozes, jellies or fungi.
At this point the group decided given that they had a match in the morning and were low on spells they would return to the Ceonoby and come back the following night. They withdrew without issues and Morden returned early the next morning to reseal the passage.

[Deadtissue]

Session 13a _ We got alot done that session so the second arena fight was also played. I added a third member to the group to offset the 5 man team of players. It worked. Also of note Greater Blink is an amazing defensive spell in a melee.

Here it is

Pitched Battle

Rested and ready the group returned to the meal area to check the day's matches. They would be facing Pitch Blade – 3 Dwarves armed with, chainmail, shields and flaming adamantine Greatswords.

The fight would occur were up later in the day at 2 PM. They paced and waited as their opponents sat across from them sneering and sharpening their weapons. Eventually the guards summoned them and once again led them up to the floor of the arena where they were immediately greeted by the cheering fans of Greyhawk City. “Fists!, Fists!, Fists!”.
Introductions were made, rules reiterated, potions drunk, spells cast, weapons drawn, positions taken, rages entered (apparently the Dwarves were barbarians and got pretty worked up as they cursed and beat each other about the head and chest) and finally “BEGIN!” was shouted by Loris Raknian.
The dwarves flew up into the air and charged. They headed right for Morden, Orlant, and Martin. Mallaur got a swipe at the one headed for Morden as Martin had cast and Enlarge spell that made him 8ft tall giving him the reach he need to hit the flying dwarf. Unfortunately he did not stop the crazed dwarf who immediately began to carve Morden up with his flaming greatsword.
Martin had used a scroll to create multiple images of him self and the second dwarf began hacking through them quickly, forcing Martin to use a second scroll. Trill blinked her way through the melee with blades passing through her body whenever she got to close using her spells to batter the dwarves when she could. While this occurred Orlant was pinned down by the third dwarf who nearly clove Orlant’s beloved bow in two with his sword effectively taking it out of the fight and forcing Orlant to rely on his axe. A ferocious melee ensued.
Morden was cut down early in the fight and the crowd screamed in anger. Mallaur was forced to aid the priest before he could pursue the dwarves. Martin and Trill fought for their lives as the two dwarves pressed them relentlessly and Orlant struggled to pin the third dwarf who was trying to move around him to aid his brothers in ending the Fists of Glory casters lives. The dwarves were not fighting with any reserve and had murder in their eyes. The group knew they were fighting for their lives there would be no quarter from these brutes despite the rules.
The melee was intense with Mallaur and Orlant unable to bring their weapons to bear on the dwarves as the stocky bastards continually moved using Martin and Trill as shields. Trill and Martin unleashed lightning, magic missiles, and other offence spells to put down their opponents as well as more than a few defensive spells to stay alive during this time. Eventually they employed dispelling magic to reduce the near unstoppable berserkers defences’ enough that one was finally brought down.
Morden now healed back up began to harass the dwarves with will crushing spells and eventually blinded one just as Mallaur finished him. Morden’s efforts would have had more effect had the dwarves not been near mindless in their rage. Martin taking the lead from Trill also dispelled magic on another of the dwarves reducing him in strength and removing his ability to fly. The dwarves rage seemed to come to an end and the numbers now began to show as the group methodically cut down the last two dwarves. Silence, then the crowd goes wild! They chant resume their chant of “Fists!, Fists!, Fists!”.
Mallaur was looking up at Loris Raknian as the last berserker dropped and noted with satisfaction that the Arena owner’s faced showed surprise then anger at the outcome if only briefly. Loris was all statesmen as he presented Ekaym with their prize money and, ironically, a gold statue of a Dwarf gladiator.
They were they last fight of the day and returned to the Ceonoby as supper was being served. The 2 other remaining teams, Auric’s Warband and the Skull of Murq congratulated them and moved back to their cells to rest as they had obviously seen some heavy fighting in their matches as well.
The Fists sat in silence as they ate and returned to their cell to rest when Ekaym their manager arrived with their prize monies. They decided to let him hold onto it and those who bet let their money ride on them for the next fight, Trill even doubled down on a bet on Auric’s Warband against the traditional Monster fight that last years champions would partake in.
At this point Ekaym confessed that money was not the only reason for entering them in the games. He had wanted to get close to Raknian as his own sister had come to Greyhawk a year ago. She too was a performer and he determined that she caught Raknians eye. They became lovers but she disappeared last year during the games. He came looking for her and is pretty sure that she was murdered but wants to be sure. He had hoped he could get in and have a look around the palace of Loris but it has been more difficult than he expected. He has a couple bribes in with kitchen staff and hopes that will come to fruition in the next couple days. He asks the group to have a look down here in the Ceonoby to see if they can find anything out or get access to the palace and in return he will not take his 30% cut of their winnings. The group agreed and Ekaym leaves them to rest and plot what to do next as the following day they are likely going to face the Skull of Murq a group of dark looking casters.
They decide to wait until dark and have Trill take a quick jaunt upstairs invisibly. She easily slipped by the drowsing guards and moved up to the maintenance floor directly under the arena. She was looking for a way into Loris Raknian’s palace and quickly found it and two very alert elite guards. She decided perhaps a tour of the maintenance floor would be better suited since she was alone. She cast a spell to allow her to detect secret doors and began to move about. She found workshops, cells with animals and guard rooms she carefully and a circular metal pillar in a circular room at the center of the floor. As she wandered about her spell led her to a wine cellar which contained a secret door at its rear. She noted its location and quickly padded back to the Ceonoby before her spell elapsed.

So ended the session.

[Deadtissue]

The group decideds to investigate a secret door Trill spotted on a recon she had done a couple nights earlier. Obviously secret doors hide things people do not want found so it made sense they check it out.

Orlant fails a few crucial saves but survives as the title of this entry suggests:smallwink:.

Mettle comes through again in spades and this is the lowest on resources the group has been in a while which is impressive given the are 9th level.

14 – Two Clerics Reckless

The Fists of Glory left the arena floor, returned to the Ceonoby, and went straight to their cell. There they healed up using wands and potions until all were fit and ready to fight again. They took stock of their remaining spells (about half were uncast after they battle with Pitch Blade) and listened as Trill laid out her plan for the evening. First they would eat with the other two teams and once they wandered away from the common area they would bribe the guards to allow them to explore the service area sighting boredom and a feeling of being trapped as good reasons to let them go up top. 50gp being the second good reason. If that worked they would move quickly and quietly through the service level back to the wine cellar where she had detected the secret door and they would see what secrets the arena held.

Dinner was a sober occasion with only Auric, Kelleck of Auric’s Warband, and the 4 members of the Skull of Murq in attendance. Most of the interaction between the three teams consisted of a lot of glaring and hair flicking (Between Auric and Mallaur).
The Skulls quickly ate and left and Kelleck drew Auric away soon after. With that Mallaur moved over to the two guards playing at dice by the exit to the service level. “Guards, we would like to move more freely about the arena as we grow wearing of both the scenery and the company, present company excluded of course, here in the Ceonoby, perhaps we could reach an arrangement that would allow me and my compatriots to explore the service level above?” asked Mallaur. “You want to go upstairs?” replied the guard without looking up at Mallaur who quickly said “Precisely my good man!” The guard then looked up at the group dubiously and placed his right hand out as he said “If its discovered you left the area service area or Ceonoby area you will be disqualified.” Trill then spoke up and offered “50gp and our promise to return shortly would surely allow you to let us pass and have a quick look, we will be back before the guard change we promise”, the guard took the small bag of gold with a grin and thrust his thumb towards the stairway behind him.

Once they had ascended the second flight it became obvious that the noise made by Mallaur alone would be enough to alert the entire level to their presence so Trill had Sister Martin cast a spell of silence on a stone that they agreed Trill would hold and place in her Magic Haversack when they needed to communicate or thought making noise would be safe. They followed the route Trill had taken previously and except for a brief sighting of patrolling guards they made it undetected to the Wine Cellar where she had detected a secret door and an overwhelming scent of vinegar (soured wine). They then brought down the silence field and let Orlant get to work on figuring out how to open the door and check it for traps while they discussed how they would approach whatever was on the other side. Trill activated the silence and Orlant opened the door and had a look beyond to a landing with stairs down. The vinegar in the wine cellar masked the carnal smell that wafted up from the lower floor but with the door open they could now smell it. Everyone waited as Orlant cautiously moved into the landing to check for….a symbol flashed on the floor below his feet and with an unheard scream he dropped dead to the floor.
Trill immediately pocketed the silence stone as Martin told Mallaur to quickly pull Orlant clear of the landing and moved forward clutching a handful of diamond dust. Once Orlant’s body was clear of the doorframe Sister Martin intoned a deep voiced prayer to Wee Jas while sprinkling a fortune in crushed diamonds over the corpse forcing Orlant’s soul back into its body before it could make its journey to the afterlife. With a start and a gasp like he had been drowning and was taking his first sputtering breath Orlant was on his feet scrambling to bring a weapon to bear on some unseen foe, “Moradin’s Beard what manner of evil was that!” he roared. Morden calmly replied “Symbol of Death spell, we should be more careful; there is obviously a powerful priest at work here”.
Trill asked Orlant “Are you ok?”, Orlant who looked two shades paler than he had a mere minute ago shrugged and replied “I’m alive aren’t I?” as he returned the flask of spirits he had just taken a pull off of to his belt. Morden exhausted one of his healing wands bringing Orlant back to full health and Orlant muttered “Let’s kill these evil baby raping bastards” as he slowly entered the landing again looking closely for any traces of magic or traps this time. Having not been stricken dead again Orlant cautiously advanced down the stairs as Trill put the silence field back up. Once to the bottom of the stairs a corridor ran a short distance to the right and Orlant saw that it ended in a door. He signalled back to Mallaur to advance and headed down the corridor. Once at the door he searched quickly ensure it was not trapped and triggered it to open and stepped back. It opened into a room with some well used coffins on the floor and 4 worm filled zombies that charged upon seeing his living flesh. Spawns of Kyuss again…here?
Orlant got off a couple arrows before being forced to draw his axe and with each swing the zombies took more worms flew about landing on Orlant and forcing him to take time to scrape them off his body. He recalled the ones in the swamp had done to Morden and did not want anything burrowing into his flesh, ever. After a brief pause to turn off the silence and determine that a melee had started at the bottom of the stairs the rest of the group advanced and short work was made of the zombies. A search of Orlant’s back and beard ensured no worms were missed and with a shudder Orlant moved to explore one of the two exits from this room. They had entered what was obviously an old Temple of Kord that was now defaced with chalk drawings of worms and various undead menaces. Morden suggested they had stumbled into an actual temple of Kyuss and Mallaur replied “Not for long!” and followed Orlant.
The room south led to a latrine in the form of a hole cut into the floor and after a quick search they moved on to the other exit finding a corridor ending in a set of doors and a side passage that Orlant had a look down as saw it switched back and ended in another door. Reporting his findings to the group they decided to head straight to the double doors ahead and upon opening them were set upon by a group of 6 Spawn led by some sort of worm ridden skeleton with a 5ft tongue that Martin reported was likely a Morgh. Mallaur charged the nearest zombie channelling positive energy into Final Rest his Relic Longsword causing it to crackle with holy power. Every time he struck a zombie it was reduced to dust in a flash of holy light. As he waded into the undead dodging tongues and having the worms wither has they came in contact with his god protected flesh, Orlant stepped into the room and began unleashing arrows into the undead that were fleeing from Martin’s turning attempts. Unfortunately, one of the undead moved to the other set of doors in the room, opened them and fled through. As the group mopped up the remaining zombies and the Morgh another of the zombies fled through the open doorway.
At this point the group have even fewer spells and resources now than they were comfortable with but knew they were close. Trill returned Mallaurs look of concern and nodded. Mallaur nodded back and moved to the doorway gazing down the corridor at an odd site. A pedestal held a 4ft scroll open, the scroll was bathed in a weird green light that fired a beam perpendicular to him across the room ahead. As Mallaur was joined by Martin at his back and Orlant at his side they spied’ standing a mere 30ft away in front of the scroll was a demonic looking man with glowing green eyes, horns, hoofed feet and a tail wearing chainmail, and holding an nasty looking bone club and shield. He was flanked by two Spawn of Kyuss and with a motion from him they charged. Mallaur turned one to ash with a swing of Final Rest and as Morden and Orlant took the other one down the demonic priest of Kyuss chanted and cast another spell. Trill moved into position to get better line of sight to the new opponent as Mallaur charged at the villain.
Mallaur’s charge halted abruptly as he struck a wall. The wall had allowed his shield and armor to pass through it but his flesh would not. He roared in frustration and turned to Trill, Martin and Morden yelling “I cannot get to him, do something!” and they would have but as the foul priest mouthed the last words of his spell they were all encompassed in a foul writhing storm of unholy power and staggered by its foulness. Trill retaliated with lightning and though it affected the priest it did not seem as effective as it should have been. He was obviously well prepared and this time his chanting resulted in a large hound wreathed in shadow appearing amongst the casters forcing Mallaur back to assist the group.
Once the summoned beast was dealt with, but not before it inflicted a little damage and distracted the casters by unleashing another Unholy Blight, Sister Martin got off a dispel magic on the priest and the barrier dropped allowing Mallaur to close. Mallaur had been damaged by zombies, spells and the unholy blight and was not prepared when the priest closed on him and tapped him between the eyes while saying “And now you die Paladin!” but he obviously did not bank on the fact that the Holy Bolt had trained Mallaur in the art of “Mettle” and he shrugged off the attack with a grunt and laid a beating on the priest with the help of the rest of the group. Once the priest dropped to the ground the group entered the strange room with the scroll and began to look around.
A small unadorned door left the far side of the room and the green beam being emitted from the scroll crossed the room and hit a doorway carved to look like a grinning skull filled with worms that glowed green in the eerie light. Trill and Morden confirmed that the scroll was in fact the Apostolic Scrolls and that they had been activated. After much discussion, while Orlant stripped the evil priest of his equipment, it was decided that they would place the scroll in a bag of holding to remove it safely from the temple. Mallaur would grab it, close it, and quickly place it in a bag held by Morden. The only problem was that when they went to implement the plan the scroll would not move no matter how much force Mallaur applied and when the pedestal was removed the scroll sat in midair immobile. Orlant meanwhile confirmed the carved head was a door, not trapped and unlocked and that the green beam penetrated the stone.
They opened the doors and their eyes followed the green beam down a corridor some 30 feet long to a glowing green barrier fed by the beam. They moved tentatively down the corridor until they could see more clearly beyond the glowing green wall. A gargantuan maggot filled the space beyond the wall curled up as if asleep or in hibernation. The Ulgurstasta had been summoned by the scroll and was here in the arena. The group backed out of the corridor, shut the door, and sat down silent for a moment. “We should clear this temple of the rest of its evil before we deal with this” Trill advised. Mallaur showed his agreement by drawing Final Rest and moving towards the remaining unexplored door. Orlant grunted and moved to the door, while Morden advised “We have almost no healing or spells left Trill”, Trill was about to answer when Orlant looked at Mallaur and said “Two clerics reckless!” and opened the door. He moved cautiously down the corridor beyond using his Dwarven feel for the stone and keen sense to detect traps while approaching a door. He checked it over then opened it revealing a bed chamber. A column carved of green stone filled with worms stood in the center of the room and tapestries on the walls showed undead moving humans like cattle across a landscape to slaughter on another. A large elaborate chest sat at the end of bed and a small icon of Kyuss sat on a night table. In a corner sat the corpse of a woman unmoving upon a chair. Martin examined the corpse and confirmed that she was in fact a zombie and that it was the sister of their employer Ekaym. She still bore the scars and bruising from her strangulation and even an impression of the snake ring worn by Loris Raknian was evident. Trill again spoke up and advised that perhaps they should leave the room as is and return once they had dealt with whatever was down the hallway from this rooms other exit.
Orlant advanced again down the next corridor cautiously checking for any other symbol traps that would strip his soul from his mortal coil. He soon found himself in a small room with a door to his right, a green and black checked curtain hanging from a steel rod to his left and a narrow corridor ahead. He signalled back for everyone to advance and was startled when the curtain moved aside revealing a man sized mound of crud. It immediately tried to immobilize him with some sort of mind magic and as Orlant failed to resist it Mallaur charged in pushing Orlant aside. The creature responded by slamming down a 3ft thick wall of ice separating Orlant and Mallaur from the group. As Mallaur began to shout and chop at the ice the demon (Trill shouted it was a Demon called an Alkilith) teleported into the room where the casters were waiting. Martin ran back towards the room with the scroll while Trill moved quickly out of range and tried to unload the last of her spells on it only to discover not only was it immune to electricity but it was also highly resistance to magic. Morden saw that unless someone stepped into the gap left by Mallaur things were going to get a lot worse fast. He called on St. Cuthbert and grew in size and might and began to swing at the amorphous mass of evil. Trill retreated into the corridor as Morden engaged the demon and saw why Mallaur and Orlant were not coming to their aid. She pulled out a scroll they had found earlier and let lose with a fireball melting much of the wall of ice and creating a cloud of hot steam just as the demon teleported back behind Trill.
Trill turned to see a much reduced Morden, he was smaller again wanting to pursue the creature into the narrow corridor but he also looked very pale seemingly suffering from enervation. Just then Mallaur blew through the ice wall and resumed his attack on the demon forcing it to teleport away and behind Morden again releasing and Unholy blight to little effect on the group and this is where it died, Martin used his wand from the side, Mallaur charged and smote it, Morden swung his morning star into its flank while Trill sent magic missiles its way finally destroying its physical body and sending its vile presence back to the abyss. Orlant quickly checked the door to the north and sensed the corridor beyond given its location and depth underground would lead into Loris’s palace and shut the door. They returned to the bed chamber of the Priest of Kyuss. Now they were truly exhausted. They used what little magic was left and another wand up healing everyone. Morden sat on the bed while he recovered from the weakening he suffered from the demons spells while Orlant went back to examine the trunk and the rest of the group discussed how soon they should get the heck out of the temple and what to do with the zombified remains of their employers sister. It was around that time they noticed that Orlant was gone and wherever he had gone he was naked as all his gear laid on the floor beside the chest he was inspecting a moment before. Trill observed that the inlay on the chest had changed and now depicted a tiny hapless naked dwarf resembling Orlant on its side. Morden opened the chest and felt as though it was tugging at his very soul and though he fought it off he felt drained and was forced to use a wand to recover his the damage his constitution had suffered from a score of green worms burst from his flesh and fell to the floor when he touched the chest. The group could see the contents of the chest now. Whatever it was trapped with was magical in nature and the only who one could deactivate it was trapped within it so Trill tried to dispel the magic with a scroll. Though the chests magic was intact a disgruntled Orlant appeared beside the chest lunging for his clothes and equipment. Redressed and in a fouler mood Orlant refused to have anything more to do with the chest, the temple, or this day of the year, ever!
Mallaur was sure his mettle would over come anything the evil magic of the chest could offer and reached in and began to pull items out. Each item caused Mallaur to grunt and green mucous to run off his mailed hands as the worms that affected Morden turned to goo as soon as they came in contact with Mallaur’s flesh. Trill dutifully placed all the items in her haversack and advised Orlant that if he cut the zombie into pieces they could put it into the bag of holding and return her to her brother. Orlant responded “You are one sick thing Trill, hand me my axe Martin…”.
The group decided without any spells there was little they could do to or about the scroll and so they returned to the Ceonoby. Once there Trill sent her familiar (Air Elemental) with a message for Eligos. They hoped to let him know of the Temple, the Ulgurstasta and Loris’s involvement so that he could alert the guard and advise the Lords of Greyhawk of the situation but the elemental returned later that night saying she could not complete the delivery of the message as neither Eligos nor his servant would respond to her. They just lay on the floor bleeding from wounds to their necks……..
The group is now 10th level and will be fighting in the arena in 10 hours.

[Deadtissue]

The group is now painfully aware that Loris Raknian the director of the Games is trying to kill them on top of his involvement with Kyuss....

15 – Ribbet, Ribbet!

As the exhausted and haggard looking group returned from their “walk around the service level” the guard snickered and advised them they should have a look at the notice board. Trill looked on her way back to their sleeping cells and saw that Auric’s Warband would not be fighting the Beast this year. They would.
To exhausted to care she returned to the cell to advise the group and get some sleep. Most were already asleep but she woke them and noted the guard who took their coin in exchange for “not noting” they had left the Ceonoby smiling at them from outside the cell and once noticed cleared his throat and said “I might know something about the Beast Madtooth and might be able to share what I know for some more of that shiny metal”, Morden transferred 10 platinum pieces from his purse to the guards hand and stepped back glaring at the man. “Ok well, what I heard was that Madtooth is being kept off site on account he is huge and that they need to keep his cell really cold as he is a gigantic Frost Salamander!”, to which Trill responded “Great, beat it” and then turned to the group and said “They have a high pitched shrill that can cause grown men to wet themselves, radiate a cold aura that freezes skin and can breath out a cloud of super chilled air that can freeze a man solid, good night.”
(The group levelled and are now 10th level, Trill and Mallaur taking another prestige level. Everyone else stuck to their core class).
The next morning Auric and Kelleck left the Ceonoby to face off against the Skulls of Murq. The group repaired their armor and equipment, studied the spells they would need to fight Madtooth but spoke and ate little. They knew they were in a bad position again. They were stuck here in the Ceonoby, their only allies in the city were assassinated, a giganitic undead worm (that Trill was now convinced was Loris whathisname) was sleeping beneath them in a secret temple to a god of utter evil and they were about to fight yet another battle to entertain a crowd oblivious to the danger beneath them. The Fists of Glory were in a bit of a bind.
It appeared that should they survive the fight with Madtooth they would be fighting Auric’s Warband as it was they who returned to the Ceonoby to the roar of the crowd in the Arena. Mallaur approached them upon their return and asked how it went of Auric who responded “Get out of my face! You are next if you survive the Beast”. Mallaur took that as good luck and returned to his cell to prep for the next fight. Ekaym their manager arrived at that point and asked if there was anything he could do for them. Morden told Ekaym they had found his Sister and Orlant added “well pieces”. After a moment Ekaym collected himself and asked to transfer the body to his Bag of Holding so he could return her corpse to their home in Cauldron for a proper burial adding that they now had claim to 100% of their winnings. He inquired if there was anything else he could do for them. They asked him to carry a letter from Morden to the temple of St. Cuthbert and another from Mallaur to the Temple of Hieroneous to alert both churches of the Apostolic Scrolls activation, Giant Necrotic worm, and temple of Kyuss under the arena and to send aid. They quickly wrote the letters and Ekaym left with both promising to deliver the message.
The Arena was packed with 16,000 excited and blood thirsty fans all come to see Mallaur and the Fists of Glory due battle with Madtooth the Hungry (whatever that was). The group began to prepare and cast protective and offensive spells on themselves, including a battery of anti-cold defences to protect them from the Salamanders aura and breath weapon, while Talabir the referee made his usual lengthy spiel about the rules and how leaving the area was really the only way you could surrender against such a ravenous foe. He then introduced Madtooth the Hungry and a huge wagon with a large covered box atop could be seen moving down the road towards the Arena from the North…very slowly…and then it stopped. Silence….rumblings amongst the crowd…a messenger runs down the road into the arena and up into the booth of Loris Raknian and his guests. Loris calls to Talabir and Talabir addresses the crowd and gladiators. “There is a problem with one of the wagons wheels and it will be fixed shortly please be patient the fight will begin shortly”. After a few minute the crowd and the Fists begin to get antsy. Loris stands and yells to the arena “Bring out the Clowns!” and two small pony driven wagons enter the arena and the same gnome acrobats and clowns the group had seen weeks earlier escorting the Chimera through the streets spilled out onto the Arena floor, juggling, throwing pies, firing off fireworks and mock fighting for 5 more minutes. At this point the crowd was throwing food and yelling and had nearly reached riot levels when Talabir yelled “Behold the Wagon approaches” and indeed it did and was now almost to the gates 10 minutes late. The huge 20’ square wagon rolled into the area pulled by a team of 4 oxen. The container upon shook and Madtooth roared within each time he moved water spilled from the container….water, not ice, not even ice water. The guards unhooked the oxen and removed them from the arena while 8 others took up lines attached to pins at the 4 corners of the container.
The Fists now realized the delay was intentional, they would not face a frost salamander at all whatever was in that box was huge, wet and hungry, they all envisioned the guard who given them the information (nothing good followed with that image) and their most powerful magic’s had been wasted watching clowns mock them all while Loris Raknian nearly died of laughter in the stands watching events unfold (The clowns were not that funny!).
With a heave and a running start the guards released Madtooth and went running from the area leaving an 18’ tall 3 eyed, tentacle legged frog blinking from the sudden sunlight. Before it could recover Mallaur charged and struck it. The huge frog roared in rage and lashed Mallaur up into its tentacles lifting him from the ground as it moved toward the other food visible not 60’ from it. Morden cast a Righteous might growing in size and strength and moved toward the beast while Orlant fired a volley of arrows specially made to combat just this sort of aberration. Trill cast invisibility and moved out of reach of the beast and Martin took a few steps back.
Mallaur struggled against the beast but could not overcome its grip nor its throat as he was launched up into its mouth and after a brief chewing he was swallowed. The crowd went wild. Morden moved to block the beasts approach on Trill and Martin while Orlant loosed more arrows after moving out to flank it. Trill decided if it was going to be grappling everyone the best approach was to weaken it and she his it with a Ray of enfeeblement. Martin cast a dispel magic in case it was augmented by magic and it seemed to infuriate the beast more as though it had suddenly gotten more hungry.
Mallaur struggled inside its gullet deciding to call upon Hieroneous to heal his wounds before he could exert himself on escape. Orlant was about ready to loose another volley but the beast lashed out and struck him pulling him towards its mouth in its still very strong tentacles while slashing and biting at Morden who decided Trill was onto something and ducked aside while calling on St. Cuthbert to hit the beast with a Moonbeam further weakening it and Trill followed up with yet another Ray of Enfeeblement. This seemed to be creating a problem for the beast and Orlant wavered in front of its mouth as he flailed about trying to escape. Martin readied himself to heal Morden or Orlant if they fell.
Mallaur now struggled against the constant grinding gullet and acid to find a weapon he could use to escape. Eventually he found a dagger and pushed to find the wall of the gullet as one of Orlant’s boots soon came into view. Trill was now throwing lightning balls at the beast which seemed to slow its actions down to a crawl and Morden continued to hammer it with his Morning Star.
As Mallaur fought to find an escape with his dagger Orlant began to rip at the Frogemoth’s inside with his handaxe and with one might pull he tore it wide open ejecting himself onto the ground. As the wound closed up the beast hammered Morden with another blow of a tentacle but it could not find purchase one him due to a Freedom of Movement prayer he could cast earlier and now that it was slowed only a single attack came. Trill now began to hammer the beast with magic missiles as Martin also under the effects of a Freedom of Movement rushed to heal Orlant.
Mallaur finally began to find purchase with his dagger and though he cut at the frogemoth’s flesh he but could not seem to free himself. Orlant move to recover his bow and Trill, Morden and Martin finished off the great beast. Once it had fallen they began to cut Mallaur free of its great big gullet as the while everyone in the crowd was on their feet cheering and chanting Mallaur’s name.
A roar of applause followed Mallaur stepping out of the Frogemoth’s corpse dripping blood and core and he stared up at a visibly upset Loris Raknian while Trill glanced about looking for priests of St. Cuthbert and paladins Paladins of Heironeous to storm the arena: none were seen at this time. The Fists of Glory moved from the field of battle back to the Ceonoby to prepare for the nights activities.
That night was quiet. The group once again discussed the situation they were in and since they could not think of anymore they could do without leaving the arena they were content to wait the night out, rest, recuperate and finish off Auric’s Warband if for no other reason than to spite Loris Raknian and get out of the Arena to hunt him down.

[Zombimode]

Thanks for the write-ups. Im enjoying this so far :smallsmile:

I dont recognize the Beast. You called it a Frogemoth? Never heard of it. Which book contains it?

[Deadtissue]

Thanks for reading.

The Frogemoth is listed as a new monster in the campaign material but I recall meeting one in the old Expidition to the Barrier Peaks AD&D module many moons ago.

[Deadtissue]

The final fight in the area was pretty epic. The Ulgurstasta was a great boss fight to be sure and the potential for 18,000 spawn of kyuss to run rampant through the City of Greyhawk really turned it up a notch.


16 - R U READY TO..hey wait…did you feel that rumbling?

The final day of the Games the crowds were packed into the standing room only. There was the potential of a massive upset with some out of towner’s set to dethrone the existing champions and if the last 4 days were any indication it would be spectacular.
The Fists of Glory were led onto the field first followed by Auric’s Warband. Turns out the Warband included Auric, dressed in plate with a greatsword and animated shield, Khellek the wizard who already was surrounded 6 mirror images of himself, and a group of 3 flesh golems referred to as “the Fleshworks”. As Talabir announced the final bout and the rules in play both groups began casting spells drinking potions and shuffling positions. Trill did a quick check for Holy Reinforcements and did not see any but did note that Loris Raknian was not in the stands for the first time since the games started. “I told you whatshisname was the worm” she whispered to the others.
At Talabir’s signal the match was on. Mallaur had been enlarged and his strength and endurance had been enhanced. Trill took flight and Morden cast Righteous Might on himself while Orlant began peppering the charging golems with arrows. Martin dispelled most of the magic enhancing Auric but he still flew a few feet above the ground. Mallaur moved to take the golem charge while Trill disappeared and moved across the battlefield 40’ above the fray. Auric fired his crossbow at Orlant and Kelleck sapped some of Mallaur’s strength with a Ray of Enfeeblement.
Mallaur and Morden moved to hold the line against the Golem charge as Kelleck cast a spell of confusion on the group. Everyone shrugged on the mental assault and advanced. Sister Martin unleashed another dispel magic this time on Kelleck but to little effect while Trill flew invisibly over Kelleck and Orlant continued pelting the golems with arrows though they were having little effect.
Morden and Mallaur began to trade blows with the flesh golems that had now closed on them. Orlant tried to move to get a shot on Auric who was still firing his crossbow and advancing while Kelleck appeared to be casting more spells including a force shield as Sister Martin moved up behind the melee to heal Morden or Mallaur when needed. Trill appeared as she cast yet another dispel magic on Kelleck leaving him with few defences but revealing herself to his attacks.
The golems were proving difficult to damage while they dished out a fair bit of punishment on both Morden and Mallaur. Auric now moved in a blur into the middle of the group with his great sword drawn and heavy shield weaving about whistling by Orlant and leaving him slashed but still standing. Mallaur roared and raised Final Rest to smite Auric (his hair nemesis) and was surprised to find the energy of his holy smite roll harmlessly from Auric though Final Rest still struck solidly enough and again as he riposted Aurics defensive block. The attack cost Mallaur though as he had to turn his back to the Golems. Morden continued to attack a golem as Kelleck tried to enfeeble Trill but she easily resisted the spell and replied with a Lightning Bolt striking Kelleck near to death. Sister Martin cast a quick healing spell on Mallaur and dodged back clear of the Melee.
Auric spun and attacked Mallaur then deftly danced out of his reach closing on Orlant now but Orlant anticipated him and drove 3 arrows deep into his chest and Martin used a wand of Magic Missiles on Auric. Mallaur followed him drawing attacks from the golems as they pursued their target and in a few short seconds later last years Champion fell to the ground his life blood leaking into the sands….and the Crowd of 18,000 spectators went wild screaming and hammering the wooden floors with their feet. Everyone but the Golems paused briefly at the deafening roar of the crowd then with Kelleck still standing the fight continued.
Mallaur returned his attention back to the Golems and as he did so the floor of the arena shook as an area in the center, between where the golems and the group fought and where Kelleck and Trill were, bowed upwards as if a great force struck it from beneath. Trill yelled “It’s the Worm!” and took a brief glance around the arena for any sign of Paladins, Priests, or Heroes. None were sighted so she drew a wand and readied it against Kelleck but found he was no longer in sight. Morden focused his efforts with Orlant’s assistance on a golem and it began to slow from the beating while Sister Martin cast an invigorating spell on himself to increase his health and backed up a bit more.
Mallaur and the golems continued to exchange blows as the floor exploded and the huge Necrotic Worm they had seen in the green force field below the arena days before rose into view. Hundreds of thin tendrils extended out 40 feet from its body flaying all they touched and it let out a blood curdling roar. Orlant finally finished the golem facing Morden and Morden moved to engage the worm after casting a quickened freedom of movement on himself. Trill located Kelleck at the far end of the arena behind Sister Martin unloading a fireball onto the rest of the group including his fallen comrade Auric who died from the blast. Everyone survived the blast, but everyone except Orlant; who deftly dodged out of the way, and Trill at the far end of the field was damaged by it. Trill then fired a volley of missiles from her wand at Kelleck and watched as they harmlessly were absorbed by an invisible force shield in front of him. Sister Martin had freed a scroll from her haversack and now cast a mirror image on herself and watched as Orlant levelled his bow at Kelleck.
Another brief moment of silence filled the arena as the crowd took in the arrival of the gigantic undead worm. Was it part of the show? Loris Raknian had said the finale this year would be the greatest ever! They roared again and cheered on the Fists of Glory!
Trill glanced nervously around…still no holy men!. The Churches would be responsible if any innocents were killed she thought to herself. Trill took aim at Kelleck again this time with another spell only to see his limp body dropping to the ground with 2 arrows buried deep into his chest. Mallaur continued to slowly pound away and the two golems he alone now faced as Morden engaged the Gigantic worm with his Morningstar and Sister Martin moved out of the field of flaying tendrils. Those Tendrils were slashing at everyone now except Trill and Martin who were out of range and with each slash pain followed throwing off the concentration of those in the midst of the endless flaying. The worm roared and again and lunged at Morden biting him but not able to get a hold of him due his magical field of freedom.
Mallaur dropped one of the two golems as Orlant moved to the outside of the flaying tendrils range and let go a volley of arrows into the worm. Morden stood his ground and continued to pound at it while Trill tried a spell that fizzled against its magical resistant hide. Martin readied himself to rush into the tendrils grasp if needed to heal a group member. The worm tried once more to swallow Morden and left huge ragged rents in the Priests armor as its acid covered fangs dragged across him. Mallaur and Morden were showing the fatigue of the battle now and Sister Martin steeled himself for a run into the flaying tentacles.
Mallaur continued to struggle with the final golem. Orlant continued to fire arrow after arrow into the worm but with no vital spots only his knowledge of the undead allowed his shots to find purchase and the worm roared in fury vomiting forth a huge cone of necrotic acid into the stands covering hundreds of spectators. The blast of acid caused most of the spectators to drop dead instantly. Silence held the crowd again as Martin rushed through the worm’s tendrils to heal Morden losing his images in the process. The crowd suddenly understood what was happening and 18,000 spectators screamed and bolted, all of them trying to escape the arena. Trill flew closer to the area of the worm’s acid breath had hit to take in the damage as the worm began to regurgitate something.
The worm spewed forth a small army of undead between itself and Mallaur and surrounding Morden. Before any of the undead could rise from the ground though Morden yelled a celestial prayer brandishing his holy symbol and turned them all to dust! Mallaur, now clear of the final golem, moved to close on the advancing worm. Martin pulled back again and Orlant continued his relentless stream of arrows into the worms hide. Trill noted that the bodies of the hundreds of slain spectators were now rising from death as Spawn of Kyuss zombies, green worms and all, and moving towards the rest of the crowd flinging worms and necrotic acid as they moved.
Free of the Golems Mallaur charged the worm inflicting massive damage with Final Rest just before it lunged and swallowed him whole. The crowd had it not been fleeing for its collective life would have gone wild at this event but instead the shrieking of the masses was all that could be heard. Orlant attacked again his magical bow sent arrows unerringly through the dense cloud of tendrils all the while his skin was being flayed and now leaked blood from hundreds of tiny cuts. Morden continued to pound on the giant worm punching holes in its necrotic armor while also being flayed.
Trill could now clearly see that the zombies would soon overwhelm even more living spectators if not slowed and so flew above the zombies firing off web spells from a wand to hold them and shield the fleeing spectators from the worms they spit about.
Mallaur now struggled inside the worm; he felt the necrotic acid draining his life away and called on the power of Heironeous to heal him. The worm continued to attack Morden again trying to swallow him but only succeeded in crushing his head and chest his body slipping from its mouth onto the ground. Orlant landed more arrows and shouted for Martin who again rushed in to heal Morden. Trill looked around frantically for any sign of help from the churches they had sent pleas to but saw no aid coming. Hundreds of people were undead now and more every second were being created despite her desperate attempts to slow the tide.
Mallaur now had the strength to be able to struggle once again and drew a dagger and began to cut away at the insides of the worm trying to orient himself to cut at an outside portion in hopes to get free to the outside again. Morden struggled to his feet and began his assault on the worms’ body anew. The worm now lunged at Orlant who, like Mallaur, could not resist the strength of the beast and was drawn into its mouth and down its gullet. Martin continued to heal Morden who was now the only combatant left to face the hideous worm. Trill was oblivious to the fight that raged below and behind her as she scrambled to keep the undead from reaching the living. “Where are they!” she exclaimed.
Mallaur could not seem to find any purchase with his dagger and soon felt boots upon his helmed head and heard Orlant’s muffled yells. Great! Mallaur thought, they were both inside the worm and the poor Dwarf , though strong, would never get free of this if Mallaur could not. Orlant’s opinion differed on this however; he drew out his hand axe, plunged it into the lining of the things gullet and tore a dwarf sized hole to the outside of the beast. He pulled himself through it and watched as the hole closed up behind him as muscle and necrotic flesh pushed the wound closed. Morden was healed again by Martin who despite being flayed was looking up at the worm and swallowing the urge to run for his life while Morden continued to hammer away at the worm though now he had shrunk back to his normal size the Righteous Might of St. Cuthbert having expired. Trill’s web wand was now growing warm to the touch as she used charge after charge slowing containing the advance of Spawn of Kyuss.
Mallaur decided if both he and Orlant were in the beasts’ gullet then the rest of the group would not be able to withstand its might. He focused and called again on the light and power of Heironeous smiting the beast from the inside. As he tore through the gullet the evil power of the worm died and with that its flesh came crashing down and began to dissolve in great clouds of ash and smoke. Morden and Martin dove clear of the crashing corpse as did Orlant who immediately moved in with his hand axe hacking away at its flesh to find Mallaur. Trill was higher up in the stands still applying her webbing and shouting directions down the terror filled crowds to stay calm, move away from the webbing, and get the *%$& out!
As Mallaur was helped from the decaying husk of the Ulgurstasta Martin healed Mallaur, Orlant moved to retrieve his bow, Morden tended to his own wounds, and Trill continued to contain the spread of the undead. Morden and Sister Martin then moved up into the stands and used the channelled positive energy of their respective deities to turn more zombies to dust or steer them towards the webbing. Mallaur and Orlant guarded them striking down as many Zombies as they could. Trill could see from the exhausted looks on her friends faces they would be unable to prevent this horror from escaping into the city and was about to scream her frustration when they all heard the horns of Heironeous and the chanting of St. Cuthbert and then saw a cadre of mages fly over the arena walls lobbing lightning and other arcane energies down on the undead masses. The City of Greyhawk would be saved after all.

[Deadtissue]

The journal is now caught up. Our last session happening this past weekend. The posts will now be every 1-2 weeks. This last session the began to revisit the Whispering Cairn. They fight their first Dragon of the Campaign.

17– Thank the Gods you returned
The Fists of Glory return to the arena 2 days later for the victory celebrations. Loris Raknian does not head them up however with rumours that he left the city with a few of his elite guard and a wagon full of gold. Before a crowd of only 2000 people, the rest fearing the undead, the Mayor of Greyhawk awarded the Fists of Glory the Belt of Champions and 25,000gp for their win and their efforts in saving the city from being over run by undead. Efforts were still being made to hunt down and destroy the last of the Spawn of Kyuss and two days had been spent burying the dead. More than a few valued craftsmen and minor city bureaucrats had been killed when the Ulgurstasta was unleashed into the arena and the ceremonies and burials of them would continue for a few weeks casting a sober mood over the city and many people would still not leave their homes fearing the green wormed walking dead.
That did not however prevent the weary veterans of the Fist of Glory from getting out and spending their hard earned loot.
• Mallaur – through a series of rituals and ceremonies at the Temple of Heironeous worked with the Holy weapon smith and Bishop of War to make “Final Rest” a true “Holy” weapon.
• Trill spent 3 weeks buried in the books at the Mage Guild crafting new scrolls, learning new spells and procuring new spell books. She also visited the Lady Starmane the noble elven girl they rescued from the doppelganger lair to ensure she was well.
• Orlant tried to find a church to enchant his Bow with Holy power but none would accept his hollow vows of faith as conviction enough to deserve the blessing so he found an old Dwarven smith who sold him an ancient, Moradin blessed, Waraxe used by a Dwarven Paladin long since dead and augmented his cloak of resistance.
• Morden took the Murlyn’s spoon and asked for a blessed weapon from the Church. He donated the Morning Star from the Priestess of Lolth to be cleansed and was given “The Cudgel that Never Forgets” a relic created by the Church for its most devout Chapeau’s. He also made use of them any forges and smiths in Greyhawk to augment his armor and picked up some minor magic items.
• Martin took wand of restoration and Strand of Prayer Bead’s from the loot they found, and a small amount of cash.

The group spent close to a month in Greyhawk before Morden and Trill met and decided it was time to pursue the trail of worms. Eligios the Loremaster had suggested they return to Allustan and the letter he left suggested they see Allustan’s Master and they had no idea who that was. They would need to return to Diamond Lake and take their findings back to Trill’s Mentor. Morden and Trill rounded up the other “Fists” and made arrangements to leave the Free City of Greyhawk. It had been close to 2 months since they were last in Diamond Lake but nobody seemed to miss it. Regardless they either needed to follow up on the clues regarding the Age of Worms or were going to for the adventure. Either way when Trill summoned 5 smokey phantasmal horses for them to mount they all boarded the magical beasts and stormed through the gates of Greyhawk and onto the road west to Diamond lake at magically enhanced speed that turned a 3 day journey into a single days ride.
They arrived in Diamond Lake as the sun was beginning to set. The days were growing longer now as spring had arrived and the twilight allowed them to see the down as they rounded a hill and began to descend into the town. Trill was shocked to note that Allstan’s Tower was not visible and as the group entered the town square the reason for that became apparent. A swath of destruction with destroyed buildings, furrowed ground and acid burnt foliage and buildings was evident from the crumbling remains of Allustan’ s tower through several homes, across the square and ending at the Emporium which was now smoking rubble. Townsfolk began to emerge from the buildings surrounding the townsquare including the Sherriff. They approached Trill and asked what they were doing in town. Her response was a question “What happened here?”
The Sherriff relayed the story. Two days ago a Black Dragon the size of a huge warhorse arrived in town and attacked Allustan’s tower. It then moved towards the town square as Toliver Trask (the militia Captain) had organized a defensive force to stop it. It was enraged and destroyed or killed everything in its path including all the soldiers and most of the Emporium’s talents before rounding up townsfolk into the town square. It would ask somebody where Allustan was and if they did not reply with the right answer the dragon would snap their head from their body, almost 20 people died before the Mayor (Allustan’s brother) arrived and told the dragon that Allustan had crossed the lake and was exploring a Cairn there called the “Whispering Cairn”. It was the same cairn that had launched the group on its path of adventure only a few months ago.
Tolivar Trask showed up with his face bandaged and arm in a sling. Yesterday he was on his death bed but Valkur the Priest of Heironeous had been treating his wounds and he was back on his feet. He walked through the crowd to Mallaur and said “You must slay the dragon for if it returns I doubt it will stop until Diamond Lake is no more”. Mallaur responded “Well Fists, we have a dragon to slay”. He got no response but Trill said it would wait until first light and that they would need a boat to get them there and lodgings for the night. Tolivar told them they could stay at any inn they liked and that a boat would be waiting for them first thing and he dispersed the crowd sending everyone home and escorted the group to the Inn. He told them all he knew of the dragon’s abilities, size and demeanour (a right evil bitch). He updated them on Allustan who had been at the cairn off and on for a month now and had just left with fresh supplies to return there shortly before the Dragon arrived. The group had no further questions so Tolivar left them to rest and prepare for the following day.
They awoke early before the first light of day and prepared their gear, spells (Trill enhanced her familiar and Morden cast Shield other on Orlant), and weapons before eating a hearty breakfast and marching down to the peer. A sleek elven looking vessel awaited them crewed by 3 half-elves (seems the Merchant Tilgast’s boat had been either volunteered or recruited). The journey across the lake was quick taking only one half hour and only Orlant seemed leery as he looked over the edge and asked Trill “Can Dragons swim?”. “Not that long” was Trills response.
They disembarked on shore and began the 45 minute climb up the scree and brush covered hill that would take them to the entrance of the Whispering Cairn. As they approached they could see the hill where the cave entrance lay and were walking up a switchback path when they heard the beat of wings behind them. The entire group except Orlant who had taken the lead to scout was subjected to a nasty blast of acid as the dragon flew by overhead. The trees and foliage offered a bit of coverage and the damage was minor (bad roll) but Morden and Martin both found the acid left them feeling weak and dizzy as though poisoned. As the Dragon veered up the hill and landed atop the cave they were heading to it roared and said “Dragotha take you all, the wizard is mine!”. Trill faded from sight with her acid wounded familiar, Orlant took aim and released several arrows into the dragon’s hide, Mallaur stormed up the hill as fast as his plate clad feet would take him, Martin provided acid resistance to very one but Orlant who was out of range and Morden cast a prayer on the group.
The dragon sought to end any attempts to engage it at range but laying down fields of magic darkness but Martin counteracted this with a magical field of daylight. Trill took to the air and moved invisibly towards the Ilthane (she recalled that a Black dragon named Ilthane was responsible for the Lizardmen of the Mistmarsh’s woes and assumed this to the be same dragon back for vengeance), while Mallaur continued up the hill past Orlant who continued to pelt the dragon with arrows though most glanced off her as her hide and some sort of magical screen protected her. Morden also moved up the hill and fired his crossbow at the dragon also with no effect.
Ilthane once again launched into the air as Orlant continued his barrage. The dragon headed right at Trill despite her invisibility and slashed her with its claws as it passed. Despite the attack Trill maintained her concentration and cast an assay spell resistance to determine the best way to magically assault the naturally resistant dragon as it swung it’s head around and bathed Morden, Martin and Orlant in acid as it breathed again. Martin again was affected by the poison and was greatly weakened by it though the acid did little to all three of them now that they were magically protected. Trill now realized invisibility meant little against the dragon so she unleashed a Lightning Bolt into the flank of the Dragon who roared in pain from the magical energies. Mallaur charged clear of the brush and up to the cave and realized the Dragon had gone. Martin put spell resistance in place upon himself in the hopes that it would further protect him from the acid breath and poison of the dragon while Morden cast a spell on the flying wyrm to dispel any magical protections it had in place and Orlant soon reported his arrows were finding flesh much easier now.
The dragons flesh was filled with arrows and Trill now cast a damaging electrical field on her. The dragon dropped down into the midst of Orlant, Morden and Martin in an effort to end the constant arrow fire so she could deal with Trill. The attacks she made on Orlant did enough damage to drop Morden who was channelling the damage Orlant took to himself through a spell he cast earlier. Martin moved quickly to help Morden while Orlant drew out his new Holy Waraxe and began to hack at the angry dragon. Trill began to pelt the beast with Magic Missiles as it thrashed about on the ground with the rest of the group and all the while Mallaur, still at the cave, looked about trying to see what was happening.
The dragon leapt into the air and flew up the hill towards its forested top. Orlant retrieved his bow and let loose a single shot while the electrical field continued to damage the dragon. Trill moved away from the dragon’s flight path fearing its claws and delivered more magic missiles as Martin continued to help Morden recover his health. The dragon now desperate pumped its wings madly trying gain altitude to escape the constant arrows and magical attacks. The beast died in the air though as the electrical field continued its snapping and crackling on its hide and more arrows arrived from Orlant’s bow along with a final volley of Magical Missiles from Trill striking its head and vulnerable neck causing it to fall from the sky and land with a splintering crash into the forest.
Orlant moved up the hill quickly to check on the health of the Dragon. He returned shortly reporting it dead and brandishing one of its fangs, big as a large hunting knife. He suggested that they send Trill’s familiar back to Diamond Lake to get a crew out to butcher the beast and harvest its various parts for sale. Trill said she cared not what happened to the foul beast and that the wolves could have the carcass for all she cared. Allustan was more important to her and so they all moved into the cave as Orlant set about looking for traces of Trill’s mentor.
Orlant soon picked up a blood trail that led deeper into the cave. They all reminisced about their earlier foray here and the problems they had with beetles. Morden and Martin used wands to restore the strength damage they had taken from Ilthane’s poisonous breath and Orlant soon found the area Allustan had excavated. It revealed a wide corridor that ended in a black lacquered door. It appeared to be almost a liquid surrounded by stones that formed a frame with each stone bearing a rune. Orlant noted a faint trail of blood that seemed to head to the portal and moved to investigate the door.He was checking the runes and surface for traps when two clawed hands swiped at him. The blows were aimed this face and chest leaving huge welts and bloody cuts in their wake. Orlant stumbled back exclaiming “Moradin’s Beard what the *$#% was that!”. Trill quizzed Orlant on what he saw and the group collectively determined an Abyssal Ghoul was behind the black veil. Trill wondered whether it was a veil or not as it appeared from the runes to be a portal. The Ghoul seemed to be actually residing in the portal itself totally concealed from them except when it chose to reach out. It seemed to be able to see them clearly as Mallaur moved to reach into the door to check Trill’s theory when it attacked again this time grabbing Mallaur and pulling him towards the door. Orlant grabbed Mallaur and tried to keep him from being pulled in as Martin stepped behind Mallaur and freed him from its grasp by gifting him with a blessing from Wee Jas freeing him from the things grip and all other things what would restrict his freedom of movement.
Martin suggested that turning it, as it was undead, may either destroy it or force from the portal. They agreed to try it but two attempts from him and one for Morden did not seem to have any effect. The group mulled over the problem for a bit longer until Mallaur suggested that he could just run at the portal and if it got in his way he would flatten it. This seemed reasonable to everyone else so the readied themselves to follow in his wake and Morden increased Mallaur’s strength to ensure the greatest chance of success. Mallaur backed up to give him room to get up some speed and charged into the portal. The ghoul tried to grab him but he smashed into with such force it what thrown onto its back and before it could right itself the Fists of Glory had passed onto the other side of the portal into a wide corridor with howling smoke blowing through it. They all moved away from the portal to ensure the ghoul could not grab at them on this side and they did not see it again.
Orlant noted that they were now a significantly deeper distance underground than they had been and tried to let the group know but the howling winds were deafening. He glanced about and noted 12 small fluted protrusions and with a quick check determined that is where the noise was coming from and was about to break them when Martin cast another spell on him which changed his perceptions. He could now make out 6 invisible forms flitting through the smoky winds. He decided to not damage the hallway as it might upset the entities. He signalled to Trill that they were not alone and pointed to the smoked. Now that the group were all looking; they could all make out glimpses of humanoid figures flying through the winds. Trill announced “We mean you no harm, may we pass?” in Auran the language of the plane of Air. She got no response and everyone seemed to be waiting on her lead as they wearily regarded the portal and then the winds ahead of them. She again pleaded with the invisible creatures to let them pass and advanced. They entire group cautiously followed Trill into the next room 40’ away.
This room has huge with a 40’ ceiling and a set of double doors on each of the other 3 walls of the room. Columns lined half the room on two of the walls and several patches of blades sat on the floor thrust up at the ceiling. Runes and words lined the walls written in Vaati the ancient language of the Windlords and strange depressions lined the walls at floor level. Trill was able to translate the Vaati runes as she had been studying them for some months. They spoke of Icosiel the great Wind Duke who fought the Spider-Wolf in the final battle between Law and Chaos and of the many deeds and sacrifices made by the Wind Dukes to end the terror the forces of Chaos were inflicting across the inner planes.
Orlant noted the odd speck of blood heading to the doors on the south wall to the right of them on the other side of a patch of blades. Trill nodded to Orlant for though they could now hear each other the howling in the room behind them was still quite loud at this room’s entrance. Orlant advanced into the room and only got about 5 ft when suddenly he was thrown into the air and fell with arms and legs flailing into the blades. He grunted in pain as lay he cut and bruised wedged between the blades as his Mithril Chain deflected most of the damage. Mallaur carefully moved against the field of blades to lift Orlant out. A bit of healing later and Orlant was now carefully checking the floor for traps. He found a safe route to the double doors and signalled the party to advance. Once they were together again Orlant stepped forward to check the double doors for traps and again set off another with a badly placed hand. This time though the depressions around the room released a gas that blew out and flowed up the walls. The gas was coloured and displayed various pictorials of the Wind Dukes accepting the surrender of many demons. Icosiel stood above them all holding a square tablet and a great Rod. This would have been way more interesting especially to Morden had the poison not left him dizzy and stumbling to his knees. By the time this had occurred and the gas dissipated Orlant had opened the doors and began checking for traps down the corridor that lay beyond them. The group quickly followed eager to get off any pressure pads they were standing on that activated the gas. Morden used his wand of restoration to remove the clumsiness caused by the gas as soon as he was able.
The corridor they were now in was some 60’ long ending in double doors. An intersection lay some 20’ down in length and in the middle of that intersection was a 8 foot tall gold statue of a Wind Duke wielding a Mithril great sword in one hand and a balance in the other. 8 Glowing lanterns floated about the statue lighting the hallways. As the group took this in Orlant halted his advance to report a magical symbol on the floor which he chose not to deactivate given the results he had on the doors gas trap, he carefully moved around it and followed the blood trail he had picked up again. It seemed to lead off to the right so they followed the corridor leading in that direction some 20’ to a set of double doors. Once no Orlant confirmed there were no traps on the door it was opened to reveal another large room. Stairs on either side of the door led up to a balcony that edged the room and led to a set of double doors. The floor beneath the balcony was made of a black tile, seemingly light absorbent, under a large black sphere that hung from the ceiling. A purplish light spread throughout the room from 4 wagon wheel chandeliers banded in metal with each spoke resembling the inactive Talisman of the Sphere they found in the other part of the tomb that Trill now carried. The rims of the chandeliers were shaped as a string of figures depicting all manner of chaos beasts and demons surrendering to the Wind Lords. The room seemed to absorb sound making it eerily quiet.

[Deadtissue]

Well this session nearly ended the campaign. For whatever reason the group overlooked some basic dungeon survival techniques and almost ended up in a TPK situation. Perhaps the high level magic and spells has led them to forget the basics or they were just having an off night. the fight took nearly 2 hours to resolve with Mallaurs high armor class and Trill's defenses drawing it out for a win.

Here is the story of how a group of 10th level characters were almost killed by a DC15 balance check, let it be a warning to you all!

18– Has anyone seen the bridge?

The room before the group held no visible threats so Orlant began slowly and methodically searching for the invisible threats including traps and hidden doorways while Mallaur tried to focus on any sources of Evil and developed a headache and an overwhelming sense of bad in the room. Three doors exited the room but one Orlant identified as the one Allustan likely went through so the group made its way to it not entering the area with the black floor or touching any of the items that hung from the ceiling. Once ready Orlant pushed open the double doors leading south from the room and entered the corridor beyond.
This corridor turned west after 15 feet or so and descended as a ramp down into the gloom at a fairly steep angle. Suspecting the worst the group tied some rope to Orlant as he descended to search the ramp. Soon after he got around the corner Mallaur stood ready at Morden screamed drawing everyone’s attention to the 12ft long spider that had appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Martin and now began fading into nothingness before anyone could do more that hear Morden’s scream. Orlant and Mallaur returned to the room, weapons drawn, while Morden and Trill looked about for any sign of Martin or the spider. After a quick discussion they decided to move on, it was obvious nothing could be done for Martin and if they kept searching they might find him before he was eaten or worse.
With Orlant tied to a rope 40’ ahead of the group they descended the ramp into a large room with many columns doors to the north and south and a stairway leading to another set of double doors on the west wall. Statues lined the doors to the north and west and the entire room was covered in the shadow of webs like a tracery though no webs could be found. Orlant picked up the blood trail on the stairs and was about to open the door when the Shadow Spider appeared near the group and asked “Why are you here near my lair?, you would steal from my own places?” Trill quickly responded “no we are looking for the friend you stole”. The discussion that followed led to the group agreeing to deal with something called “The Marquis of the River” in exchange for a powerful magic item the group would leave with “Flycatcher” the shadow spider who had ambushed and stole Martin.
Meanwhile Martin had been wrapped tightly in spider silk and left on the Shadow plane. He escaped his bonds once the spider left and searched for a way out and had found one when the spider returned and dragged him into the material plane and dropped him on the group in front of the group. Orlant looked at Martin and said “You can thank the hair for being allowed to keep you stuff, Ha!” Trill explained they had needed to make a deal to get him back and the spider wanted some magic as collateral until the group returned with the Marquis’s head. They were going to give her Martins gear until Mallaur had stepped in and having confirmed the spider was not evil negotiated that the head was enough given how powerful the group was and how the Marquis was no longer going to be a threat to Flycatcher.
The spider mentioned that the Marquis could be found at the bottom of the river and pointed to the door to the north stating the river was that way. It spoke constantly about its lair and the need to protect it from robbers and that it had been stolen from once and it would not happen again. The Marquis was mentioned many times and it seemed he was one of the thieves. Martin was also referred to as “delicious” on more than one occasion and with that final word the spider looked off away from the group and faded from view.
United again the group decided it was time to follow up on their promise to stop the Marquis. They opened to door to the north and viewed a large cavern with a bridge spanning a blood red river leading to a set of massive doors on the far bank. The bridge however was soaked and crumbling at the piles leaving its surface uneven and slanted in places. Trill sent her elemental familiar down the river to explore and find out where it led. She informed Trill that it led to a waterfall some 200 feet downstream and that the falls ended in a small lake 150 feet down from there and oh there were several angry air elementals down there and were following her back up.
Luckily they gave up the chase and Trill`s familiar returned unharmed.
They decided Orlant would search the far bank first and he nimbly crossed the bridge and looked about. As he arrived on the far bank a large pebbly mound of a creature with 3 arms, legs and eyes raised out of the earth and bit Orlant on the arm. `Xorn!`, Orlant shouted and stepped away from the beast firing arrows into its rocky hide. Five more of the beasts appeared and attacked on both sides of the river. Mallaur sprinted across the bridge causing it to shake with rocks and stones falling into the water in his wake as he passed; his magical boots allowed him to ignore the rough terrain and deliver a charge. Two Xorn attacked Morden and Martin as well but were soon driven off by flame strikes and moonbeam spells. In fact the fight lasted only a few second as the Xorns realized they were bested when one of the was dropped dead and so the rest retreated into the rock leaving the group on either side of the bridge in silence.
Trill instructed Orlant and Mallaur to return to the room so they could rest as they were low on spells and needed to regroup. Orlant said they should join him on that side as he did not fancy sleeping in the lair of a Shadow Spider. Trill countered that they had made a deal and it was probably safer. Orlant insisted his side was safer and even searched about for traps. Morden decided Orlant was right and began to cross the bridge but lost his footing and fell off into the river…..
`Whoa!`, Orlant shouted as Morden sank beneath the waves. `Hey, Trill! Morden is in the river do something!` Mallaur screamed and to which Trill replied ``I do not have any spells left for river rescues! I do not believe this is happening. There is nothing we can do for him. Now get over here so we can rest and go rescue Morden in the morning``.
Orlant finally relented and began to cross back over the river. Mallaur was less sure of his return trip as during the fight with the xorn when he tried to reposition the flagstone he was standing on gave way and had dropped him 20`onto the beach requiring Orlant to pull him up so he asked Orlant for help. `Just follow my exact footsteps` Orlant told Mallaur and they started out onto the bridge. About halfway across Orlant noticed the rope the group had tied around his waist and the rest of it slung over his shoulders and that’s when the bridge gave way under the combined weight of Orlant and Mallaur plunging them both into the river.
Now while that was happening Morden had fought for his life as he was dragged across the bottom of the river for some 200ft before plunging off a cliff in a waterfall falling some 150` into a shallow pool breaking ribs and collapsing his lung. He lay stunned briefly until the water entering his one good lung caused him to start and roll over. From that position he looked up with his celestial eyes and noticed 6 flying knights hovering in the darkness over the pool nearby and froze. They did not appear to see him so he sank back into the pool and moved into the foam caused by the falls and hoped help would arrive soon.
It did but not in the form he expected. Orlant`s screaming body fell not 10`from where Morden was hidden followed by the enormous splash Mallaur`s near perfect belly flop produced off to his right. The `Knights` Morden saw descended immediately after Orlant hit the water giving them little time to recover. Mallaur`s sword gave off light revealing that the knights were in fact Wind Warriors similar to the ones they had fought long ago in a different part of this tomb and would explain the air elementals Trill`s familiar had seen. Different in that they were much tougher and fought with much more skill. Orlant, Mallaur and Morden began to fight the 6 wind warriors already exhausted near death from the damage they had taken from the fall, and with Morden nearly out of spells. Morden was dropped but brought back from the brink of death by Mallaur`s lay of hands, Orlant also fell but was revived by Mordens last healing spells and still they continued to battle slaying only a single Wind warrior in that time.
Trill and Martin discussed the options. Most of the group was now washed down stream. At first the decided they had no choice but to stay put and get their spells back and then head out to find them in the morning but then after searching through backpacks and scroll cases Trill decided she might be able to launch some sort of rescue attempt and informed Martin to look through his gear and see if he could join her otherwise she would be back in the morning for Martin if she could. She read aloud her fly spell and sped off down the river to the waterfall.
By the time Trill arrived at the scene of the battle they had destroyed on of the Wind Warriors but Morden was face down in the lake drifting slowly to the bottom. Orlant was a mass of cuts and bruises facing off against two warriors and Mallaur fighting 3 of the things taking a constant beating on his armor as they struggled to penetrate the mithral barrier. Trill immediately sprang into action putting up defensive magics to protect her and started with the last of her spells knowing full well these creatures were immune to her most potent magic; lightning.
One of the wind warriors left Mallaur to attack Trill it wove its swords expertly at her but her defensive magics allowed her to phase into the ethereal as the blades struck protecting her corporeal body and allowing her to deliver a stream of magic missiles into its elemental body. Orlant finally downed one of his attackers but that left an opening for the other and Orlant was run through slumping into the water leaking large amounts of lifeblood. Mallaur renewed his attack and killed one of his attackers leaving only two in the fight. The desperate battle continued with Mallaur having to cease attacking in an attempt to heal himself with potions and his helm of recovery all the while Trill punished the wind warrior that attacked her with Missiles from two wands at once.
Mallaur slew another of the attackers but blood seeped from his armor and he would not last much longer. Trill`s attacker dissolved from her constant assault and she moved to help Mallaur invisibly. She used scrolls to renew her defences and then magically compelled the warrior to attack her instead of Mallaur. It did as she said and as it moved to attack her by clanging its swords together sending a sonic blast her way Mallaur moved to Morden`s corpse to look for his wand of healing. Trill played a cat and mouse game with the last Wind warrior expending more scrolls and wand charges to stay alive while dealing damage to the elemental. As soon as Mallaur could he charged the elemental and put it down. Trill and Mallaur eyed each other knowing if she had not shown up she would have found 3 corpses in the morning. Martin dragged Morden from the water and revived him from death then moved to see if Orlant was dead or could be healed though he had few means left to heal anyone either. He had found a fly spell in the bottom of his backpack long forgotten until today and flew down just as the battle neared its conclusion.
The group knew they needed to rest and rest now. Orlant would need to be raised from the dead as the window to revive him had passed. They could not teleport back to Diamond Lake as they were not really sure where they were and could not rest in the lake. The only dry land nearby appeared to be either back up or across a small chasm the water descended into a small cave was dry and clear of enemies. After some discussion they used a scroll of dimension door to transport Mallaur, Morden and Orlant over to the cave while Trill flew over. They set up to rest for the night after using most of their remaining disposable healing magic to get Mallaur, Trill and Morden back to full strength.

[Deadtissue]

We had a good session this past weekend and accomplished alot but they are still not finished this section of the adventure. Another death occured largely due to poor tactics on the groups part but some of that was the layout of the dungeon. The demon was tough and a group with low Fort saves would be wiped out so be careful with it.

Here is our session 19:

Safety First

They awoke the next morning in the damp mist filled cave. Martin used more of his precious diamond dust to raise Orlant from the dead. Morden and Martin then healed him back to full strength. They were all wet and quite miserable as they ate rations, prayed, and studied in silence.

Orlant was in fouler mood than usual as Trill suggested he be lowered further into the rivers vertical drop shaft to see if they can continue to move down the river using mundane methods. Everyone assembled and pitched in their rope while Orlant tied them together while weaving a muttered string of obscenity into a tapestry as well, and used his grappling hook to secure it all in a crevasse. He tied himself off and the group lowered him into the darkness. Trill’s air elemental familiar descended with him whispering in Orlant’s ear about how it hated getting wet. This did nothing to improve Orlants mood either.

Some 150ft down Orlant tugged the rope twice and his descent stopped. He was a couple feet above a lake some 50’ across, the middle of it churned up by the water falling from above and the far side sliding off the edge to resume its drop into the darkness. He could see no beaches and realized he would need to descend on the opposite side to continue down which would be a trick climb and nearly impossible for the weaker members of the party. Trill’s familiar informed Orlant that Trill wanted them to hurry up. Orlant stared at the wee sylph until it flew up into the darkness out of his sight. He had one last look around for any other dangers and tugged once on the rope signally Mallaur to pull him up.

Many ideas were batted about with regards to how they would descend to meet the Marquis and get his head but in the end everyone agreed that despite its short duration Trill’s magic was the best solution. Trill cast a “Fly” spell on everyone and they descended knowing they had only 10 minutes of flight available to them then they would fall. Luckily, they reached the terminus of the falling water in 3 minutes after descending some 500 more feet. They now floated in the air in a cavern whose ceiling shone like a night sky as an eerie green light coming from the far end of the cavern reflected off many small crystals in the ceiling. Below them a frothing surge of water kicked up mist for some 20ft but then settled down and flowed as a normal river should again horizontal and away from them towards the light. Trill flew to the ceiling to inspect the crystals hoping they were diamonds they could use to raise the dead or at least make her rich. They turned out to be quartz and Orlant had begun to advance down the length of the cavern floating a couple feet above the floor so she focused her attention back on the rest of the cavern.

Orlant had advanced some 40 feet when a human sized figure emerged from small crevasse in the side of the cavern. He held his hands out, one empty and one holding a lantern that was the source of the green illumination. He spoke aloud with a strange accent “Hello travellers, Greetings, you look tired and wet please, I only wish to parlay and mean you no harm”. Orlant responded to his plea “Who are ye and what are ya doing down ere?” while Mallaur looked upon the man’s aura and noted the evil it contained.

“I am the Moreto, the Marquis of Ravenstone and am pleased to make your acquaintance Sir Dwarf, whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?” the pale figure said. Mallaur, Trill, and Morden had floated down into the light by now and Martin had taken up a position just outside the light and near an outcropping that provided some cover. Trill whispered “5 minutes left on our flight” and Martin studied the figure trying to figure out what manner of undead he was, as his color and movement reminded him of a ghoul yet this one was well dressed, well mannered, and was not ravenously trying to devour their flesh.

Trill now spoke to Moreto “ My friend asked what you are doing down here and I suggest you answer him as he is in a foul mood today”. The not ghoul smiled and said “Understandably, well I here as the result of a long journey from deep in the Underdark, I am trying to get out of here to the surface. Perhaps you could assist me with that and I can help you in return?”

What followed was a negotiation. Moreto was told of the group’s mission to collect his head for the spider due to something he stole, Moreto counter offered to surrender the crystal tablet he stole and assist the group with the spider if they could provide him with a map to the surface. The details were slowly worked out between Trill and Moreto while Orlant and Mallaur discussed the pitfalls of making deals with evil humanoids from the Underdark. At one point Moreto looked and them and said “I am standing right here?” Orlant grunted and turned his attention back to Mallaur who was trying very hard not to charge Moreto outright but it seemed that his goals were inline with theirs and he could find no good reason to end Moreto’s life until the deal was reached and Moreto called his “retinue” out to join them. Two Morhg’s sidled up to Moreto’s side and he pointed up the river they way the group and come and said “Shall we?”

Mallaur looked at Moreto and said “Uhm, they will not be joining us! Please stand aside as I need to end the existence of your “retinue” now”. Moreto frowned and said “What kind of Marquis would I be without servants? Oh well I guess I can leave them behind and send them back to the Underdark, but you will not harm them”.

Mallaur’s reply sounded as Final Rest was drawn from its scabbard and Mallaur charged yelling “Oh yes I will!”. Moreto and his Morhg’s reacted very quickly with one Morhg stepping in front of Moreto to stop Mallaur but not quick enough to stop Mallaur from completing his charge and smiting Moreto, Final Rest reacted as though it had struck undead flesh and Mallaur cursed him. The Morhg’s struggled to pull the Paladin away from their master and came under fire Orlant’s bow, Trill’s Spells and Morden rushed in to bring his Cudgel to bear on the undead. Moreto managed to cast a spell and step clear of Mallaur before he became entangled in a melee. His spell protected him from most minor magic’s and survived Martins attempt to dispel it allowing him to flee down river in earnest.

As he fled he dropped the 18” square tablet he said he had stolen from the tomb and it slid into the river. The river’s current slowly pushed the thick tablet into its waters and it would have sunk had Trill not flown to it and grabbed it out of the water. As she pulled it out of the red water a brief feeling of warmth rushed over her but then it turned into a vision of an angry Windlord staring through her and a feeling that something hostile was coming. She quickly dropped the stone onto the far bank and readied herself for an attack. Meanwhile the rest of the group dispatched the two undead minions of Moreto and caught up to Trill. Two minutes of the fly spell remained and Moreto had a good head start on them down the river.

Trill studied the tablet and noted the same 3 vaati symbols she had seen repeated elsewhere in the tomb. The symbols were for Aqaa, Pesh, and Icosiel and the other side had a picture of a Windlord holding this same stone above his head while standing on another and floating in the air before a pair of giant black doors. Obviously it required some sort of activation as the now escaped Moreto was handling it so why could she not. She spoke the 3 symbols aloud in Vaati and grabbed the stone. This time the feeling of warmth stayed and she briefly glimpsed the smiling face of the Windlord. She looked at the rest of the group and said “If we go now we can make it back up, otherwise we sleep down here with Moreto?” With a nod from everyone they flew as fast as they could back up the river’s vertical shaft. As they ascended Trill noted the lit outline of a doorway about halfway up hidden behind the waterfall. She pointed it out to Orlant but he could not see it so she led the group through the water fall up a short corridor to a wall that opened as she stepped towards it.

A set of stairs led upwards a short distance to a chamber whose far wall was a gigantic pair of black double doors covered in Vaati runes. Orlant began is search of the room and then the doors. He reported they were magically locked and trapped. The trap was always on in the form of magically active symbols but they did not seem to be having any adverse effect on anyone. The doors were probably one foot thick granite and plated in Adamantine. Each door was each 15 feet wide by 40 feet high. Trill lifted the tablet which she knew now was a Seal and said aloud the Vaati words, Aqaa, Pesh, and Icosiel. The doors soundlessly opened and revealed a room that was a cacophony of storm like sounds with wind blowing and thunder crashing. “True Ghoul!” exclaimed Martin. Everyone turned and looked at the dark robed priest –ess. “Oh, Moreto I just remembered the lore about True Ghouls its been bugging me since we met him. He is a ghoul that controls his hunger I think a bunch of them live in the underdark…nevermind I will tell you later….”

They looked down into an 80 foot deep pit whose bottom appeared to be a light blue glowing fog. The room some 60 feet deep and with a ceiling that was 40 feet above them was made to look even bigger as all the walls and ceiling were alive with moving scenes of storm clouds and weather that could be heard but not felt as the air in the room itself was still. Rising from the fog below were 8 pillars, the first of which was roughly in the center of the doorway, 3ft in diameter and 5ft from the doorways ledge. The second pillar was a further 5 feet into the room and 2 ft higher than the first. The third pillar rose all the way to the ceiling and was again 5ft further into the room. The fourth was the same diameter as the others and 2ft higher than the last but it slowly rotated in a clockwise direction. The fifth was another 2feet higher and covered in some sort of black liquid almost like a tar and to its right was a 8ft diameter pillar and 5ft closer to the far wall was the last pillar a total of 8ft above the ledge they stood on and 5ft away from the far wall where another ledge was level with its top and in front of a set of black doors set into the far wall.

Trill cast a spell allowing her to identify that the 3rd pillar was illusory magic and that the black tar was transmutative magic, the walls and ceiling possessed magic that was evocative and abjuring in nature and that the far doors had magic on them as well. The fog below them was conjuration magic and there were several magical beings within it. “Wow” Was all she said. The group came up with a plan to get to the far side of the room. Trill explained that whoever made the room likely would not appreciate us just flying across it so they would ensure that would be dangerous or at least that was her theory so Orlant and Mallaur would be tied together and make their was across the pillars jumping from pillar to pillar until they made it to the large pillar. The group would hold a rope that secured them and would allow the group to pull them back to the doorway if they fell. Once they reached the large pillar Trill would teleport herself and the two clerics across to the ledge with the doorway, open the door and then get Mallaur and Orlant safely across.

Once the plan was in place Orlant set to tying the rope lines, Mallaur took his backpack, extra weapons, and shield and put them in Morden’s Bag of holding. Trill fired her crossbow at the illusionary pillar and sighed as it went right through. “Orlant, Mallaur, when you have to jump to that pillar you need to make the leap on faith, the pillar ends level with the one before it the rest is an illusion” she reported. “Great and if we lack the faith?” asked Orlant. “You have your ruby slippers (anklets of translocation) just use them to teleport you back to the other pillar before you fall and you are tied on so no worries, just try it” was Trill’s reply. Martin suggested that Orlant and Mallaur be gifted with Freedom of Movement spells in case the black substance was sticky or slippery .With everything in place Orlant leapt to the first pillar. Nothing happened.

He then leapt to the second and waited for the Full plate wearing Mallaur to take the first jump. Martin had augmented his strength with a prayer and Mallaur easily made the jump despite being in heavy Mithril armor. Mallaur braced himself and Orlant readied himself to jump “into” the next pillar. Orlant leapt and landed apparently landing inside the pillar though they could see his outline as he jumped to the rotating pillar. Mallaur leapt then as well landing inside the pillar and quickly readying himself to replace Orlant on the rotating pillar once he leapt over to the tar covered pillar then to the large pillar as Mallaur kept up leaping deftly across the pillars. The leap from to the large pillar was Orlant’s first mistake and he fell a bit short but used his anklets to carry him onto the pillar. Mallaur did not miss and soon both of them were on the large pillar. They untied the long line linking them back with the group and signalled Trill they were ready. Martin and Morden stepped close to Trill as she uttered an arcane syllable and the three disappeared from the doorway and reappeared 10 feet from Orlant and Mallaur on the ledge.

As Trill held up the seal before the doors and spoke the three Vaati command words Orlant noticed an impression of the seal in the top of the pillar he was standing on. Orlant let Trill know of his find but Trill was still determined to get through the doors. She and Martin searched it for a way to open it but eventually determined that it was not a door but rather a set of doors attached to a solid rock wall.

Trill was about to throw Orlant the seal when she realized that if he messed up the pronunciation of the Vaati symbols they might be fighting its guardian while perched on pillars suspended in a room with no floor so instead Trill used her anklets of translocation to teleport the short distance between the ledge she was on and the large pillar. Once there she placed the seal into the small impression in the center of the pillars top. At once the pillar began to turn and rise up towards the ceiling with each revolution. Trill immediately repeated the translocation trick and reappears on the ledge with the two clerics while Orlant nodded and Mallaur and the both ran and leapt Mallaur for the last pillar and Orlant for the slick oil covered one. The pillar continued to rise and Mallaur landed exactly in the center of the last pillar only to shout as it crumbled to dust under the impact and he began to fall causing Orlant to almost miss the target of his leap. Orlant grabbed hold of the edge of the pillar and tried to scramble up before Mallaur’s full weight dropped onto the rope. Mallaur slammed into the pillar 20ft below Orlant as the dwarf struggled to hold on using his “ruby slippers” again to get into a position that would allow him more leverage to pull himself up onto the pillar. The large pillar had risen to within 10 feet of the ceiling now and Trill followed the rise of the seal from its surface and into/through the ceiling. It did not float back down. The top of the pillar was some 30’ above all of them and the only way up would be to fly or teleport and Trill was all out of spells. “Rope of Climbing! I have a rope of climbing!” exclaimed Martin. “Great! That would have been good to mention about 10 MINUTES AGO!” was Orlants retort and he grunted under the strain of pulling Mallaur up onto his not quite big enough for two people pillar. Trill could only shake her head and formulate another plan.

The rope was passed to Orlant as one end of it would stick to wherever it was commanded to go. Orlant then used it to attach to the top of the large pillar and he climbed the knots that magically formed in it once it was attached while Mallaur held the other end and then they reversed it as Mallaur ascended it. They noted with relief that the seal was back in place on the top of the pillar. Trill suggested Orlant stand on it and see where it takes him while the rest of them climb up onto the pillar as it would become too crowded with all of them up there. He stood on it and noted two people could likely manage standing on it as it was very stable. He readied his bow as it rose up into the ceiling disappearing into it.

Once up clerics and wizard were tied for safety and then ascended the rope to the top of the large pillar. Martin was first and once untied he stepped on the seal that had reappeared after Orlant disappeared. He too rose into the ceiling followed my Morden and finally Trill and Mallaur shared the stones ride up. Almost a minute passed between each party members ride….

Orlant arrived in a very high vaulted chamber entering at one end through the floor. Once in the stone seal seemed to become part of the floor. The ceiling was some 60’ above him and magical floating lanterns lit the room and the sarcophagus it held. A great marble coffin floating 10’ off the floor and the walls were decorated with processions of outsiders and Windlord s spiralling up to the ceiling and figure of that Icosiel guy Trill was always going on about. Orlant’s first thought was “Paydirt”, his second was “Oh crap did that demon with the big ugly sword, 7 images of itself and eyeballs all over its body just appear out of thin air”. He was hit by 3 beams of black energy that fired from the eyeballs that dotted the beats body and they left him wracked with pain and blurred his vision. “Crap” he let loose a volley of arrows, two struck images and they faced leaving only 6 targets before him the last arrow struck the demons hide but it was a glancing blow at best. The demon howled with what seemed like glee and let loose with another volley of eyebeams while moving through the room almost dancing. The bolts struck Orlant and he was overcome with fear, he dropped his bow and ran from the demon deeper into the tomb finding cover behind a podium of granite. The demon disappeared from view and as Orlant overcame the fear and rose with his Holy waraxe in hand the demon struck him again from behind with its sword and eyebeams. Orlant got one wild swing at the demon striking another image before he blacked out screaming as the eyebolts seemed to tear at his soul.

Martin took in the same room Orlant did. When he arrived it was quiet, the only sign of Orlant was his bow lying on the ground just behind a pillar 5 feet away. “Uh, oh” Martin clutched his Holy symbol and the demon appeared and fired its eyebeams at him, Martin had no chance against the negative energy tearing at him and he blacked out almost immediately.

Morden rose into the next. He knew something was wrong immediately as he could smell Martins entrails from the entrance, he did not have time to note Orlant’s bow or body collapsed behind the podium. He did have time to take in Martin’s poor ravaged body though as the demon began its 3rd attack run; at him. Morden fought off some of the fear effects of the eyebeams and countered with a protection from evil and sanctuary prayer hoping to hold off the demon until Mallaur arrived. The demon’s eyebeams struck again this time one missed but the other two overcame Morden and he too fled to the rear of the room where Orlant lay before regaining his composure. He prepared to strike at the demon with a flame strike but the demon’s eyebeams and an uttered spell fuelled with chaotic power dropped the Priest of St.Cuthbert to the ground.

Mallaur and Trill arrived together just as the demon readied itself to dismember Morden’s still living body. Mallaur wasted no time and charged right at the demon brandishing Final Rest. He saw the multiple images and began to hack and cleave at the demon in an attempt to destroy them. Trill again found she was low on the spells she would have like to have to combat this deadly outsider whom she assumed was immune to her lightning spells but used her remaining magics to assay its defenses then went to work with her magic missiles. Eyebeams flew and Mallaur shrugged of their fear inducing effects though they negative energy tore at this very core. The demon used its unholy blade to defend against final rest and dark energies exploded against the holy blade. Without its images Mallaur roared a battle call of Hieroneous and smote the demon with a hammer blow that staggered it. Trill was overcome by one of the eyebeams and the damage she took was beginning to worry her once she regained control of her senses. Mallaur was forced to slow his attacks to pour positive energy into his body to repair the damage the eyebolts were doing and Trill had to resort to wands to continue her assault on the demon. Eventually with a soul-chilling laugh the demon faded from this plane leaving an ichorous pool of black eyeballs that smoked and bubbled to nothingness on the floor.

Trill went to Martin and quickly moved on. Triage dictated that she see to Morden and Orlant. She feared the worse but both, though suffering the hideous wounds caused by the eyebeams, were only in some deep sleep filled with nightmares that she was able to rouse them from. There was a lesson here somewhere but time to reflect on that would come later.

They carefully wrapped up Martin in his cloak careful to keep her clothes in place and lowered him into the Bag of Holding until Morden could call his soul back to its earthly home. They moved to explore the rest of the Tomb area.

The sarcophagus hovered in mid-air, Orlant searched it carefully and reported no traps nor anyway to open it. The top had a relief of Icosiel whose hands extended out of the top and were held as if to receive an 18” wide seal…Trill placed the seal in his hands and the top of the coffin lifted up to the ceiling. Though nothing but dust remained of the Windlord his possessions were still intact: A Mithril short sword, a Runestaff, a Ring, and an 8” a piece of a broken rod. As Mallaur, Orlant, Morden and Trill removed the items they could feel a presence and for a moment that presence was angry, all four of them slowly moved the objects back towards the coffin but as they did the presence turned to a warm glow that filled them with confidence that taking the objects to continue the fight against chaos and evil was righteous. Trill also felt the Talisman of the Sphere she carried was now fully powered. It did not glow or make a sound but she knew that it would now work if ever she comes face to sphere with a sphere of annihilation.

They moved about the tomb and decided it was safe to rest and recuperate here before trying to find a way out.
The next morning Morden helped Martins soul return from its journey to the bosom of Wee Jas back to his own bodies and they healed his physical body to full health. Orlant reported that the coffin lid closed and Trill took the seal. They placed it in another impression at the head of the room and as each stepped on it they were teleported back to the room with the massive black doors and as soon as they were all there Trill cast fly spells on each of them and they ascended the Blood River back to its highest point and that is where the session ended.

[Deadtissue]

Session 20 saw the group complete the Gathering Of Winds. They are 11th level now.

This session the player for Sister Martin and Trill were not present so I ran Trill and left Sister Martin in the wings as it was generally a wrap up of the tomb.

They fight with the Kolyarut had me worried as they did not seem to be willing to retreat from it and I took some prodding on my part to get them to retreat. Its quite a powerful enemy perhaps one to be careful of with a group that has no way to deliver high burst damage thats effective against constructs with 10/Chaos DR, Fast Healing, and Vampiric Touch as melee attack.

Session 20 Electrifrying -


The group flew back up the 500ft shaft and returned to the beginning of the falls. As they flew up they were afforded a much better view of the area than when they were tumbling down the fast moving river and could see a lot of the rock had been eroded over the millennia since the tomb was built. A stairway was all that was left of a corridor and Orlant flew to them and began to search about. They rose to a wall but his knowledge of stonework told him a false door lie in the middle of the wall and he searched out a rock that when turned would slide the wall down into the floor. The rest of the group hovered over the falls nearby as Orlant worked and joined him once he signalled the all clear.

Orlant triggered the door and looked beyond a very short corridor into an antechamber lined with 6 statues. A small door way to right was visible behind one of the statues and the far end of the chamber held an archway that revealed a long room beyond it. The statues were of Wind Dukes and all but one held a hovering miniature building over its cupped hands. The floor was a mirror of reddish ice and Orlant’s breath frosted slightly as he entered the room looking for traps. The floor was slippery so Orlant flew over the ice as he moved up beside the statue in front of the door. Mallaur had tested the floor with his Vanguard boots and found he would have sure footing if his fly spell wore out before they were done in these chambers.

As Orlant reached to search the door for traps the statue in front of it came to life and released a bolt of black energy at Orlant draining away some of his life force leaving him enervated. The statue now appeared as a mechanical man draped in fine silk robes that moved with unnatural fluidity. “Kolyarut from the plane of Mechanus” shouted Morden as he moved up to support Mallaur and Orlant. Trill and Martin landed on the steps and prepared for a fight. Mallaur flew into the room over to the machine man. As Mallaur approached the golem like machine reached to a small knob on the wall and pulled it down a track cut into the wall and as it slid down so did a portcullis over both entries into the chamber leaving Morden, Martin, and Trill cut off from the room.

Orlant swung his axe at the creature finding purchase difficult on its metal hide and Mallaur moved in with Final Rest and encountered the same issue this thing was tough. It swung its fists at Orlant and with each hit Orlant felt more of his energy drained and watched in awe as the few scrapes he had inflicted on the construct disappeared leaving smooth perfect metallic surface. Morden began to fire spells at the creature but found it difficult to overcome its innate resistance to magic. Trill reviewed her repertoire of spells and also found she had little that would work on a foe made of metal but she assayed its magic resistance and began to use magic missiles of force to batter the creature. Mallaur continued to press with his longsword but each time he inflicted significant damage it would repair itself and transfer more of Orlants lifeforce into itself and at times glowed with magical vigor making it even harder to damage. Orlant felt himself weakened to the point his life was once again in jeopardy and he backed away and changed to his bow. Morden continued to try and damage the thing with spells and attracted its attention with a flamestrike. It released its black enervating beam and left Morden weakened and unable to command his more powerful spells.

They fought for several minutes unable but were unable to leave so much as a scratch on the Kolyarut. Seeing that they needed to bring more weapons to bear on their foe Orlant feigned a charge and at the last second dove behind the creature to push the lever back up opening the doorways allowing a now enlarged and very angry Morden into the room. Trill moved into the door way and cast more missiles in order to keep a constant stream of damage on the outsider. Mallaur was not the target of the life draining attacks and had to back off and heal himself. Morden’s mace was having no more effect on it that the slashing weapons of his comrades and arms. Orlant switched again to his bow in the hopes of upping his damage output and Mallaur pressed the attack again. Morden used a moment when the foe was focused elsewhere to move through the door and into the room beyond to ensure Allustan was not there. The room was empty and he rejoined the fight and informing the group that Trill’s Mentor was not in the immediate area. Soon after that Trill shouted “Its hopeless we need to regroup! Let’s get out of here before the fly spell wears off!” and launched herself into the air over the waterfall. The rest of the group followed suit quickly and the Kolyarut followed them to the stairs firing off black bolts in their wake but could not follow beyond that.

They flew only a couple feet above the river as quickly as they could back to the bridge they had fallen off the day before. Orlant guided them to the large doors they had been inspecting when disaster had struck. Orlant picked up where he left off with opening the door but quickly realized the door was actually a giant unsolvable puzzle that was wasting time and had only more rock behind it. He told Trill and they rushed to fly to the other side of the chamber, their flying magic, ran out as they entered back into the room of Flycatcher. Orlant checked to see if the blood trail leading up the stairs from the room was still intact or if it had been disturbed while Trill, Morden and Martin reviewed what magical resources they had to continue the search. After a brief discussion they all decided it would be better to rest another day in this room before continuing on the search for Allustan or even leaving the tomb. It was then that the giant shadow spider appeared in the room asking if they had destroyed the Marquis and returned with proof of his demise. Mallaur told the creature “Though he is not dead being undead to start, he has been driven off, his foul servitors destroyed and the item he stole returned!” and signalled to Morden to provide the Mhorg heads as evidence and to Trill to turn over the Seal of Law. Reluctantly Trill handed the creature the stone talisman and it collect it with the heads and faded from view again drawn into the shadows. Watches were set and the group began cleaning and drying their gear while preparing for the next days tasks.

They were not disturbed again until the following morning as they broke fast. The shadow spider appeared over Martin and asked if he was done with the hard tack he was soaking in water. He offered it up and the spider took it gently and faded again back to its larder. With a shudder Martin pulled out another loaf and finished his meal. Rested and replenished the group set off up the stairs and deeper into the tomb.
The room beyond the spider room was well lit by a column of light the came from the ceiling down up on a golden statue of Icosiel looking up at the light while shielding his glittering gemstone eyes from its light. His ascension to the heavens being depicted in this room had the walls were all covered in elaborate carvings of wind dukes and planar creatures all kneeling nearby. A single door was located in the wall the entrances right and Orlant moved carefully along the edge to it. He could hear a crackling noise and noted a flicker of light at the doors seams. He called for the group to join him. Mallaur asked about the gems and gold on the statue and Orlant replied “If you want em, go git em, I have died enough this week.” And opened the door.

Within the 40’ diameter room was a large sphere of crackling energy seemingly generated by an 8’ Iron spike protruding from the ceiling. Electrical energy crackled in the room and everyone’s hair stood on end as the smell of ozone rushed into the statue room. Orlant was about to close the door when he noted a figure suspended in the globe of energy. Trills mentor was held immobile within the sphere and looked more than a little beat up but still whole and possibly alive. They all offered up solutions from using Morden’s anti-magic sphere to Mallaur bull rushing in and knocking Allustan out. But during the conversation Orlant said I wonder if any of the energy will arch and stepped into the room. A bolt of lightning arced from the spike to Orlant who jumped out of the way just in time. “Wonder if can only produce one at a time?” asked Orlant and Mallaur offered his body to help with the test. Two bolts struck at them when they both entered the room. Mallaur staggered as the energy ripped through him but luckily Orlant wore the ring of the Wind Dukes and it offered a fair amount of resistance to electrical energies on top of his natural resistance to magic and ability to evade the bulk of the bolts force.

It was decided that Trill would cast a fly spell on Orlant, the priests would bless him as best they could to survive as long as possible in the room and that Orlant would try to deactivate the device. A good plan; except Orlant need to dodge the lightning bolts at point blank range while trying to disconnect an 8ft solid Iron spike from its mooring and not touching it directly. After a minute or so Orlant had to leave the room to be healed his hair smoking and singed and his flesh burnt in places. Healed up he returned and tried again screaming in pain each time he was struck full on by a bolt he could not avoid while prying at the spike. Three time he had to get out of the room to heal and return to the painful process. It was no easy task disabling such a marvel of engineering in magic. Being a dwarf with a high pain threshold, a pint of whiskey, a knowledge of traps and magical resistance to lightning allowed him to eventually overcome it and once disabled Allustan dropped to the ground. Morden and Martin rushed in to see to Allustan’s wounds preventing him from bleeding to death. Orlant cleared his throat indicating he too was wounded and if help was not forthcoming they priest might well be as well.
Trill and Allustan shared a few moments in joyful reuniting while Orlant was healed and Mallaur investigated another door out of the room to the south again. Orlant checked it for traps and opened it. It led to a short stairwell that ended in a 40’ deep pit. The pits bottom included to passageways that led off towards the river. The wall facing the stairs included rungs down but Orlant returned to the room looked at Mallaur and said “We saved the wizard, lets get out of here.”. Mallaur looked to Trill and could see she was still quite emotional about the rescue of her mentor and he moved towards them guiding them back out of the tomb.
Trill and Allustan spoke about what had happened to him, what they had found in the tomb, and what they had found in Greyhawk. They passed through the remainder of the tomb and back to the portal where Mallaur flattened the Abyssal Ghoul with practiced ease and they returned to the Whispering Cairn. They discussed what to do next and when Trill offered to teleport Allustan, herself and Martin back to Diamond Lake and send the boat back for the rest Allustan said “I think my role in this has ended. The student seems to have become the Mentor, Trill, its time you sought the guidance of somebody who can provide more than I, when you are ready you should go to see my old Mentor, the Archmage Tenser.”

The session ends here.


From here on end the scale of encounters and tempo changes and I am curious to see how my group fares.

Next session is in two months (Christmas Break).

[Deadtissue]

After a long break we played again this past weekend. I was short two players (Mallaur and Morden) but had a friend available to play an NPC (previously played a Gnome bard NPC). The group needed a bit more experience to get them to 12th so I decided to run a small adventure from Libris Mortis. To introduce it to the group I needed a quick NPC and used the vigilante build by Nightwatch from the Iron Chef. So Nightwatch if you are reading this thanks!

The session was a fun one especially the ending. We play again next weekend and will be back to full strength to start the next section of the Age of Worms.

Sessions 21 - No!, You go first!

After Allustan was settled back into town and construction arranged to begin on a new tower the group gathered their worldly goods and made their way to Greyhawk on Trill’s summoned steeds. The trip took a single day as they sped through the countryside. Once they arrived they were whisked through the gates and hailed by the locals as the Champions of Greyhawk. They returned to the Crooked House Inn and ate a hearty meal before dispersing to the various tasks they had in the city.
Trill and Morden moved to sell the surplus treasure they had acquired from the Tomb of Icosiel and divide the loot out amongst the group. The all did some shopping (and drinking in Orlant’s case) and Trill told the group she would need a week or two before she would be ready to travel to Magepoint. Everyone agreed they needed to rest and recuperate after the last few months and returned to their respective organizations to report on what had happened and where they would be heading next. In all cases the group members sponsors approved the trip to Magepoint.
After a week into the rest Sister Martin was summoned to her superior’s chambers. He wanted Martin to investigate a request for help the Church had received from an individual who believed on of the Lord’s Council was involved in the abduction of citizens and subjecting them to possession by spirits of the dead. Normally this would be discounted except the Church was already investigating this noble as she had been actively seeking information on the process to become a Lich and the Church was always suspicious of those seeking undeath for the wrong reasons. The Noble’s name was Indimri and she is a known Necromancer who does not acknowledge the Church of Wee Jas. Martin was to meet with the individual, a citizen named Alexander Nite, and assess the validity of his claims. If Martin suspects he speaks the truth then he is to investigate the allegations and report back to the Church.
Martin collected Trill and Orlant to escort him to the meeting as Morden and Mallaur were unavailable. Trill agreed after much questioning as to the nature of what they were doing and Orlant, being sober at the time Martin asked, had nothing better to do. The three walked through the Temple District to arrive at the assigned meeting place, a cozy watering hole called the Crooked Crook. The proprietor obviously a hailed from the Great Desert and served exotic tea’s which did not impress Orlant in the least. The clientele was made of way priests from the area and a dark haired man dressed in black studded leathers that sat in a booth in the back of the bar with a trident and hooked net leaning against the wall beside him.
As Martin approached the table Trill slipped behind him and cast a detect magic to discover the fellow not only possessed a fair amount of magical gear but that he was also divining them with his own magic.
After everyone introduced themselves, and Orlant finished complaining to the server about the complete lack of Ale in a place that calls itself a bar, the group got down to business. At Martins request Alex told them why he came to the Church for help. He explained that he frequently patrolled the slums and trades district to help keep the criminal element from taking advantage of honest citizens. He had investigated some missing person complaints surrounding Lady Indimri. Several citizens had gone to her estate to find work and were never seen again. He was not able to find any direct link so he forgot about it until a few months ago when he met somebody in a bar who claimed to have just gotten back to the Free City after taking a job for gardener with the Lady Indimri only to wake up in a symbol drawn on the floor with a spirit in his body telling him to buy a new dress and it would make him beautiful. No sooner did he finish telling himself no he was thrown into another symbol and arrived in the middle of field….250 miles or so south of Greyhawk. He said Lady Indimri was present for the whole thing and some sort of crazy looking golem that stank of earth and death.
Needless to say this renewed Alex’s interest in the noblewoman. He returned to her estate and over the series of a couple weeks searched her entire estate and found no evidence of symbols but did find an area below the Servants quarters that he could not divine. When he detected evil in the cellar of the servant’s quarters he was left stunned by its magnitude. At that point he petitioned the Church of Wee Jas for help as possession and necromancy were a little out of his area of specialization.
While Alex told the group of the evidence he had to date Trill recalled a Lady Indimri that she had met during the Champions Games opening night ceremonies; a very large woman with too much make-up and pallid skin. She also recalled an Urban Legend called the “Nightwatch”. An individual or group that doled out vigilante justice in the slums of Greyhawk; could this be one of the members of that organization? Trill did not approve of vigilantism and would not tolerate from anyone working with her. Meanwhile Orlant was pouring some spirits into the tea he was force to order under the house one drink minimum and adding more as he tasted it until in the end it was more spirit than tea.
Martin asked Alex if he had found any evidence that Lady Indimri was or had in her possession the means to become a Lich. His response was “No that is new information to me, is she a lich? That’s why I called you in; this is out of my league.”
Martin replied “I do not know but these spirit possessions do require me to investigate so we will help you, we need a plan though”
Alex suggested they move in after dark break into the servant’s quarters and slide into the un-sryable area and do what needs to be done. Trill however insisted they get solid evidence that something evil is going on before they break anything so her plan involved Orlant and Alex sneaking in and verifying that evil was afoot. If it was, Martin and Trill would join them and they would enter together. Martin would provide Orlant the ability to cast some of her spells including, detect evil and zone of silence so he could determine the location of any evil presence may be lurking and defend himself if the necromancer attacks, as well, as protect him negative energy with a Death Ward. Trill would also create a mind link with Orlant so they could communicate while separated. All agreed to meet back at the Crooked Crook the following night to being the investigation.
Trill used that time to follow up on the fact that all the disappearances were at the manor at the city administration office. It seemed that Lady Indimri had been looking for a gardener for about 7 years now. Alex had mentioned that none of the gardeners stayed on the grounds at night as they had strange dreams when they slept on the grounds and so stayed in hostels nearby.
Martin also researched a bit about Indimri and found that her manor was previously owned by a Necromancer called “The Ancient” who died a few years ago of natural causes. He was a worshipper of Wee Jas and a small cult was actually dedicated to the maintenance of his tomb and the huge body of necromantic knowledge he left to the church when he passed.
Orlant found out that in order to get a good drink you had to leave the temple district entirely.
The next night Trill and Martin cast the spells Olrant would need to carry out the plan and he and Alex set off into the night while Martin and Trill moved a few blocks away from the Manor to await word from Orlant that there was indeed something going on at the Manor that required investigation.
Orlant and Alex moved unseen through the Manor’s manicured lawns and shrubberies until the reached the Servant’s quarters. Orlant used to cloak to muffle the sound of the window they broke to gain entry and waited while Alex moved to a trigger a latch that slid the table back and revealed a trap door down. Orlant reported his progress to Trill and she told him to cast the detect evil and have a look down below.
Alex was about to descend and Orlant signalled for him to stand back and quickly looked about for tripwires or trap triggers and found none. He helped Alex grab a nearby ladder and lower it down onto the earthen floor of the cellar beneath them and began to descend down into the darkness. Orlant of course could see perfectly in the darkness with his keen dwarven eyes and so when a bolt of black energy stuck at him he was able to dodge away and back up the ladder. He then had a second look around the trapdoor and this time found a latch that he tripped and descended slowly again ready to dodge out of the way of anything that came at him. This time nothing did. He detected evil on the door and was overwhelmed by whatever was beyond a black stone door set in the wall or maybe the door itself. BIG BAD EVIL. He reported to Trill that something down there was not good and she and Martin should come have a look. Alex joined Orlant to wait in the cellar while Trill and Martin made there way to them. Trill chose to fly once there and descended into the cellar in flight while Martin climbed down the ladder.
With a nod from Trill, Alex moved to the door and pulled it open slowly as it weighed a great deal. Orlant then peered into the room beyond that glowed with an eerie green glow emitted from a 30ft diameter pentagram. The circular room the pentagram filled also had several dark doors and a 7 ft tall grinning humanoid who exclaimed “Welcome, come to the center of the symbol, destiny awaits!” Orlant stepped up and slammed the door shut. The group repositioned itself and Trill cast a shield spell. Orlant now took the door and heaved it open. The undead monstrosity that Martin would later identify as a Blaspheme reached into the space Martin stood, grabbed him and pulled him into its embrace while biting down on his shoulder. The color immediately drained from Martin’s face from the bite and he appeared to almost go limp.
Orlant stepped back from the door raised his bow and sent 3 very precise shots into the Blaspheme’s shoulder and arms. It did not let go though and rushed back into the room dragging Martin to the center and dropping him. Alex moved up to block the creature from getting out of the room while Trill pelted it with Magic Missiles.
Martin could now see a host of ghostly spirits in his peripheral vision whirling around him as though he was glimpsing into the Negative Energy Plane and tried to stand to escape as several spirit rushed to him and tried to enter his body. He managed to force the spirits away through sheer willpower but was rewarded with another bite from the Blaspheme causing him to stagger to his knees. He channelled positive energy to restore his strength and ran to the door as Orlant pelted the creature with arrows and Trill weakened the beast with a Ray of Enfeeblement from the Runestaff of Law. The Blaspheme largely ignored Martin at this point and charged Alex who tried to deflect its charge with his trident but missed and was bullied by the monster into the room as well.
As Alex was dragged into the center of the room Trill timed dropping a Web into room to trap the Blaspheme there as Orlant continued to pound it with arrows relying on his knowledge of undead to bypass its tough hide. A voice from behind the undead called out “Omphedius!, what is going on out there? I feel another bout of the Sloth coming on quickly bring me a spirit!” But unable to break free of the web before being destroyed by Trill and Orlant the Blaspheme let out a wail as the negative energy animating it was sucked into the pentagrams glowing sigils. Again the voice called “Omphedius, Now!”
Alex was freed from the webbing by Orlant who had lit a torch and entered the room. Both Orlant and Alex now both found themselves with a spirit riding inside there heads as they lacked the mental training Trill and Martin had used to defy the spirits access to their minds. Martin raised a circle of protection around himself before he entered the room and this seemed to strengthen the walls between the planes and prevent any more spirits from assailing them.
With the webs cleared they began checking the four doors looking for the Necromancer responsible for this and to help Orlant and Alex be rid of their ghostly companions. They found an alchemical lab long disused; a Parlour that once had been luxurious but now was faded and worse filled with corpses. They then found a room with a two small pentagrams that glowed with the same green light and set between them an enormous chair upon which sat an enormous woman. Before two undead that stank of earth and death surged to attack. At that point Orlant cast the Silence spell Martin had given him. Alex and Orlant fought the two undead monsters and resisted their slam attacks attempts to literally drive them into the ground while Martin spirits clear and Trill backed out of the zone of silence to be ready to cast her spells.
As the two undead fell and Trill began casting Lady Indrimi waddled over to one of the pentagrams and disappeared in a puff of green alchemical smoke.
“Great!” exclaimed Trill “Now we need to follow her before she gets away” but first they scoured the other 3 rooms and found two caches of lost magic items including a huge Grimoire filled with spells likely a copy or even the original spellbook of The Ancient. This was quickly accomplished when Alex cast a spell that lit up all the secret compartments to the naked eye and done safely as Orlant found and disabled a nasty poison needle trap.
With the loot all under wraps the group began to discuss how they could pursue the necromancer. Trill was now convinced that perhaps vigilante justice was an appropriate response and Alex could see the murder in her eyes though all he really wanted was to find some evidence to link her to the kidnappings and disappearances. “Orlant, you are our scout, you can go first” said Trill, “Nope, I am not going through any portal, I have died enough this year and I just know that does not lead anywhere good, you go first” was Orlant’s reply. “But we have to find her or she will keep on killing people with these spirits, we need to follow her before she gets away” pleaded Trill. “Allright, allright, but I know this will not end well” and Orlant stepped into the pentagram followed by Martin, Alex and Trill.
Orlant appeared on a mountainside under a starry sky some 300 feet of cliff beneath him, Trill found herself over a lake with the shoreline lit up in the distance by a small town which oddly enough turned out to be Magepoint, Alex was in the plains which he soon learned were in the Pomarj as he was soon being hunted by a warband of orcs, and Martin was in a dark forest.
Once Trill had her bearings she teleported back to Greyhawk and bought a scroll of Scrying from the guild. Once she studied it and placed it in her spellbook she began to locate each of the team, teleport to them, and returned with them to Greyhawk though Orlant was close enough she picked him up by phantom horse.
Once the panic of finding and returning everyone to Greyhawk was over Martin and Trill wanted to continue the pursuit of Lady Indimri. Alex had collected enough evidence that he thought the people of Greyhawk would be safe and disappeared back into the slums to find an exorcist to remove the spirit that occupied his mind.
Martin reported his findings to the Church and asked to continue the investigation and ultimately end the predations of Lady Indimri but was told the case had been handed to the Ruby Order as it was a delicate political thing to bring down a Lady of Greyhawk and besides they needed Martin and the fists of Glory to get to Magepoint and enlist the aid of Tenser to prevent the next act of the Age of Worms.
Trill demanded a full explanation from Martin on what the Church was going to do about the problem and though not satisfied with the answer She got agreed the Age of Worms was more important.
Orlant now had a drinking buddy and wandered away from the temple district in search of a good stout.The session ended there

[Deadtissue]

This session was alot of updating character sheets and organizing for the next part of the Age of Worms. The group spent a fair amount of time trying to decide if giving up the Rod was worth the items Tenser offered.

22 – I’ll take door number Two!

Trill, Mallaur, Orlant and Morden left Greyhawk soon after the teleportation incident. Trill still retained the old spellbook of “The Ancient” until she could finish scribing the spells she wanted from it.Martin had already left for Magepoint ahead of the group as he was sent to Moonpoint, a nearby village, whose priest had gone missing. He was to determine what happened and protect the church until a proper replacement could arrive and then go back to Magepoint and meet the group there.

They travelled by Phantom Steed once again and were almost to the village of Undre where they planned to stop for the night when suddenly Morden and Trill were struck by beams of strange energy (Dimensional Anchor) as walls of ice blocked the road ahead of them. Orlant’s keen eyes saw the source, two Bone Devils that had appeared from thin air floating above the road, and as he was about to react two more smaller and pointier devil’s appeared one up on a cliff the other standing on the wall of ice in front of them. These two dropped an area of Unholy blight that left Orlant injured and dazed and another of Order’s Wrath which only affected Orlant.

The rest of the group suffered minor wounds from the devil’s initial attacks except Mallaur, whose mettle saw him through unscathed. Mallaur charged the Bone Devil nearest Morden unleashing a powerful smite upon it causing it to reel back. Morden followed up with a flame strike but it had little effect on the native of Hell. Trill tried to banish one of the barbed devils back to Hell but failed to overcome its innate resistance to magic. The Bone Devil closest to him attacked Orlant with its poisonous stinger tipped tail and claws. Orlant was left bloodied by the attack and Morden pulled up his shield against the Bone Devil nearest him but the creature gestured towards the hill instead and pulled another ice wall down between itself and Mallaur.

Trill could hear the voice of one of the barbed devils in her mind whispering for her to surrender “the rod fragment” to her and she would be free to go while it dropped an Unholy Blight on Trill, Orlant and Morden. The three of them were injured by the dark miasma of evil magic. Mallaur pulled out the Sword of Aqaa and flew into the air to assault the surprised Bone Devil who had summoned the wall. Trill meanwhile uttered a word to activate her contingent Mirror Image creating four likenesses of herself for the devils to deal with. Morden was ravaged by the now angry devil that Mallaur had assaulted and the other devil attacked Orlant again. Orlant countered with his Holy axe leaving a smaller wound than he had hoped. Mallaur also found though flight was advantageous the shortsword was not having much effect on the devils tough hide. Morden launched moonbeam at the Devil closest him and weakened it while Mallaur continued to slash it with the Sword of Aqaa. Trill now tried to electrify the bone devil wailing on Orlant but again its spell resistance foiled her.

“Give me the rod, mortal!” screamed the other barbed devil’s voice in Trill’s mind as it launched a scorching ray at Trill burning off two of her images. The Bone Devil on Morden was starting to look beaten by Mallaur and Mordens assault but in a puff of sulphurous smoke it disappeared and then just as suddenly appeared on the ridge above them. Orlant chose this moment to catch a breather and attempt to end a devil by activating the Ring of the Wind Dukes. He transformed into a 60’ lightning bolt and passed through the bone devil he fought and the one that had appeared behind and above him on the ridge, damaging both of them and dropping to the ground behind the now heavily wounded bone devil on the ridge. As the crack of Orlant’s magic faded Trill unleashed her own lightning bolt which struck this time damaging the two barbed devils and one of the bone devils as Mallaur charged the now twice lightning bolted Bone devil as it lunged for Trill. The barbed devils tried unsuccessfully to hold Mallaur with magic and demand the rod from Trill. Morden healed his wounds up and moved to help Trill.

Orlant now free of the Devil’s grasp brought his bow to bear on the heavily wounded Devil forcing it to flee again in a puff of black smoke, though this time it did not reappear within sight. Mallaur continued to melee with the Bone Devil as Trill got free of its reach and turned invisible. The remaining Devils now having lost sight of their prime target and suffering heavily from the fight all disappeared as well.

The battle over the group made their way to Undre and slept fitfully until morning. After a quick meal they mounted Trill’s summoned horses and arrived in Magepoint only a few hours later. They rode slowly through the small town taking in the sights. It was obviously flourishing under the shadow of the Arch mage whose Blue Tower was visible from the couple kilometres it was out in the Lake of Unknown Depths, the causeway that connecting it looking like a thread against that distance. They dispelled their horses in front of the All-Seeing Eye Tavern as instructed by Allustan and in fact the only Inn in Magepoint. They entered and marvelled at the grandeur of the otherwise average looking inn. Inside were all the finest quality accoutrements.

This was an inn of some quality and as they noted the large tables and cushioned seats Celeste the young half-elven woman who they had met prior to the Arena strode to meet them. She explained she was sorry for not being there when all hell broke loose in Greyhawk at the end of the games but she had left to attend some other business and had no idea what was going to happen. She told them they were expected and led them to a private room behind the bar.

Sitting in the room already was Eligos looking quite healthy despite the fact Trill’s familiar reported he had been quite dead during the Champions Games when they had last tried to contact him. Eligos explained he had been raised from the dead by a colleague of Tenser and that all would become clear shortly. Celeste also introduced them to a wolfish looking elven woman named Cymria. She would be their contact in town and was one of Tenser’s confidante’s. Cymria invited them to sit and had lunch and a heavy ale to be served as she asked each of the party members of their origins and interests. Cymria was obviously a wizard of some skill but also moved like a warrior with a large sword strapped to her hip, she was obviously a competent woman.

After she interviewed the group over lunch she told them that Tenser was on another plane at the moment attending to certain “events” and that he would see them as soon as he returned. Their room and board were paid in advance by Tenser and that they had the run of the town while they awaited his return. She added a stern note that they should not attempt to approach Tenser’s tower on their own as it had many defences that would activate should they attempt it without a proper escort. With that she left and Celeste took up the conversation asking the group what had happened since they last met while Eligos quietly sipped his ale and listened.

During their wait the group relaxed and met several patrons who were staying at the in as they passed through or took breaks from life in the village. A great range of adventurers, traders, diplomats, and soldiers frequented Magepoint and showed that it was a bit of a hub for adventure should the Fists’ of Glory ever need something to do. On the 4th day Cymria showed up at the Inn and asked the party to gather their things. Tenser was back and wanted to see them right away. On the long walk across the causeway Cymria instructed them on the proper protocols to safely enter the Blue Spire that was Tensers’ tower. They passed through a portal and rode up an elevator into the courtyard where they were led across a parade ground and up the steps into the base of the 170’ tower.

They entered into a huge study, its walls lined with paintings rendered so perfectly it was as if you gazed out only many exotic locations through windows, a large desk covered in scrolls and books, a sitting area where a Dragonchess set was laid out as if a game were at midpoint. Trill noted the pieces were positioned exactly as Allustan’s study set had been. Like his tower Tenser was all in blue, a scimitar pattern stitched into his vest. He was around 60 years old and moved with a military air. He invited the group to the sitting area, introduced himself and asked them why they were here explaining that the only reason he was seeing them at all was on Celeste and Allustan’s recommendation.
He listened as Trill summarized the last few months and the group’s findings. His gaze grew stern when then mentioned the events at the Tomb of Icosiel and he asked to see all the evidence they had collected. He reviewed for some time then returned to the group and told them that they were likely onto something. The Age of worms was a legend told for millennia and what made it unique was that it was always the same. It had not been altered by the various groups who told of it to suit their own ends. The predictions it made had been coming true of late. He told them of the predictions and the events of late the seemed to indicate that the end of days was well upon them. He mentioned one in particular that seemed directly related to the group where artefacts would return to the world and he pointed out the Rod of Law’s parts was likely one of them.
He also told them of a colleague of his named Balakarde who was somewhat obsessed with Kyuss. Balakarde had actually been to what he called the birthplace of Kyuss – Kuluth-Mar, located deep in the Amedio Jungles to the south. He had been there several times though never in the Ziggurat; thought to be ground zero of Kyuss’ ascension to godhood. The last time he returned from Kuluth-Mar Balakarde was agitated and left some notebooks with Tenser and said he had to head north right away and has not been seen since. The notes did not tell Tenser a lot but they told enough to reinforce the Age of Worms Prophecy.
At this point Tenser suggested that the group if they truly wish to get to the bottom of the prophecy they should go to Kuluth-Mar and investigate the ruins as the best way to know your enemy is to find out what made them. He said he cannot aid them directly as his interference would only draw the attention of both his powerful allies and enemies. Shedding that much light on such a thing would not be a good thing at this point but he could provide them the means to get to Kuluth-Mar and back provided Trill was comfortable casting Greater Teleport from a scroll.
Tenser let the group think about it and discuss this option. They agreed it would be a logical next step given they had no other leads. Tenser mentioned he had heard of the trouble they had on the road to Magepoint. He had divined the source as a Pit Fiend who possessed the 6th piece of the Rod and now sought the 7th since it had returned to the prime material plane. He suggested the next group of devils would be stronger and might catch the group at an inopportune time and that he had a suggestion that could help. Give the Rod to Tenser in exchange for one custom magic item each. Tenser said he had some objects he was certain would aid them: An intelligent Ring of wizardry named “Oswald” for Trill, a fine suit of Mithril Plate Armor of Speed that weighed nothing and would float in water, a set of mighty Dastana for Orlant that improved his archery skills and defences, a darkwood heavy shield bearing the mark of St. Cuthbert that protected its wearing from necromancy and could blind devils and undead alike for Morden, and finally one of the fabled Greater Ruby daggers of Wee Jas for Martin.
Trill refused initially and was supported by Morden both arguing that the Rod was an instrument of Law that could be key to helping them fight the Chaos to come but Mallaur argued that the single healing the rod provided everyday was not nearly as useful as the items Tenser offered. Trill demanded to know what Tenser planned on doing with the Rod and why he wanted it. He explained that would hold it safely in a vault until it was needed and that in truth though he wanted to help the group by holding it he was indeed interested in owning the artefact. In the end the group voted 3-2 in favour of leaving the Rod with Tenser and they took the items he offered and returned to the Inn. The next day they arrived back in Tenser’s study ready to head to a jungle location 1800 miles south. Trill took the two scrolls Tenser offered and was instructed to use one of the paintings on the wall of a dark jungle to familiarize herself with her destination. She read the scroll cast the spell and the Fists of Glory were gazing upon a strange cactus shaped obelisk rising up from a ziggurat in the middle of a ruined city.

They made their way through the jungle and came upon a 30’ high black wall that ringed the ziggurat and Trill created a stone ramp to its 5’ wide top. As they mounted the wall they were all overcome with a vision of a huge crowd surrounding the ziggurat chanting “Kyuss!, Kyuss!, Kyuss!” at a man who stood at the apex of the ziggurat dressed in archaic platemail embossed with an ancient symbol of Nerull. As the vision faded they noted a plate clad form in one of the two entrances at the base of the ziggurat as it turned and entered the monument.
As they dropped onto the ground inside the perimeter wall off Martins rope of climbing Orlant noticed that the group was full of green worms of Kyuss and though sluggish they moved to bite him though he found if he kept moving he could stay ahead of them. They crossed the grounds towards the ziggurat and as they did the began to hear a droning sound that was like nails on a chaulk board just as two warhorse sized beetles, the source of the droning, charged from the cave like opening into the ziggurat followed by a plate wearing knight of sorts who drew a Greatsword as he walked forward to back up his beetles.

[Deadtissue]

I have been a couple weeks behind posting as our last session was essentially a brief fight followed by 3 hours of combat. The party vs 3 corrupted angelic outsiders in a room I think was way too small for the fight.

Essentially after defeating the Kyuss Knight and his pet beetles the group entered the base of the obelisk, scouted the main chamber with a large central hole obviously the result of a large explosion from below, then opened the door which held said outsiders.

The fight that ensued used up a great deal of the resources the group had as they kept failing thier wills saves against the suggestion to enter the room. Eventually though the group won out against the outsiders and we are picking up there tomorrow at our next session.

There was little room for roleplaying or anything but combat in session 23 but things will be better paced tomorrow I hope.

I really did not like this room and if I ever run the game again I will replace the two sword archons with some other more physical combat oriented creatures or change it all together into a trap or other challenge.

Sorry for the lack of a proper journal but its was just not worth writing up this last encounter,

Better read next week I promise.

[Deadtissue]

Ok I promised you a better read but we did not have a better session. I have had to come out and tell the players they need to step up thier crowd control. This was another 3 hour fight as the groups clerics spend 90% of thier actions healing the paladin, the major damage dealer was held for half the fight and nobody thought to dispel magic on him, and the Wizard focused on self defense and damaging the enemy spellcaster, fair enough on that one.

I thinks its just the level of play the focus is moving away from melee and magic is becoming more prevelant and powerfull. Hopefully the players make the transition soon as the fights are only getting worse and maybe 7th level spells with open some doors for them.

Has anyone else experienced this change as the characters his 12th?

Here is Session 23b (a was skipped but would read much the same)

Crap! More Undead.

Once they had defeated the 3 corrupted angels and a swarm of the green worms of Kyuss, no small task either they found out, the air again shimmered and each of them shared a vision of a young Kyuss recieving an iron box containing a green worm from an 6 armed creature known as a Spellweaver. Upon seeing the worm Kyuss seemed to contemplate something and then he began to laugh manically while the spellweaver nodded on. They shook off the vision and took stock of what was of use in the room. The angels had little but for a magical mithral breastplate and an Unholy sword.

They left the angels torture chamber and crossed the destroyed mainhall to investigate the final door. This time they only opened one of the double doors after Orlant listened and checked it for traps. With the all clear they opened the door and spreadout ready for anything. The room beyond was filled with bookshelves filled with crumbling tombs, ancient scroll tubes and alchemical jars. Mallaur stepped into the doorway and was immediately charged by two undead knights each wielding a greatsword that dripped acid. This initial assualt almost dropped Mallaur forcing Martin and Morden to rush to his aid. They had both recently been trained in the higher order prayers of thier respective churches and could fully heal Mallaur with a single prayer now. It was taxing though and both clerics knew they could not keep it up for long. Orlant fired arrows into the melee deftly avoiding his fellow adventurerers while placing arrows in the weak points on his chosen targets. Trill provided magical support as a 4 opponent entered the fray slinging spells at Orlant in an effort to take him out of the fight.

Things were not going well Mallaur was taking so much damage from the three knights that it was all Martin and Mallaur could do to keep him from being hacked asunder and once they were forced to enter the room to assist Mallaur they knights turned thier attacks on the two priests. As one of the knights began to come apart another of them let loose a burst of horrible negative energies causing most of the group great damage and healing the three knights with the dark energies. Orlant's valiant battle of wills with the enemy spellcaster finally took a turn and he was left standing paralyzed while the rest of the group fought for thier lives. With Orlant out of the fight Morden called on his Gods Righteous might and entered the fray with Mallaur leaving Martin to heal them both as the called upon almost all his daily allowance of divine power to keep them alive. Finally one of the knights fell and Trill continued to fight the enemy spellcaster while moving out of range of the knights powerful negative energy blast. Morden was struck down again and Martin managed to keep him alive long enough to administer a prayer that allowed him enough strength to heal himself.

Mallaur fought at the point of exhaustion having used all the healing he had at his disposal and continued to hold the knights back as they beat upon his armor without mercy. Orlant finally shook off the effects of the holding spell and rejoined the battle helping Mallaur drop a second knight as Trill continued to ravage the undead cleric of Kyuss and soon the battle turned leaving the group victorious and dizzy as yet another vision took over thier senses.

In this vision they were in the library overlooking a slightly older Kyuss being instructed by the Spellweaver, who was quite obviously undead which Trill mentioned was unsual as Spellweavers were immortal anyway from all the known lore, on some sort of divine ritual.

The session ended there and the group is now level 13.

[Deadtissue]

Ok I promised you a better read but we did not have a better session. I have had to come out and tell the players they need to step up thier crowd control. This was another 3 hour fight as the groups clerics spend 90% of thier actions healing the paladin, the major damage dealer was held for half the fight and nobody thought to cast dispel magic on him, and the Wizard focused on self defense and damaging the enemy spellcaster, fair enough on that one.

I thinks its just the level of play. The focus is moving away from melee and magic is becoming more prevelant and powerfull. Hopefully the players make the transition soon as the fights are only getting worse and maybe 7th level spells with open some doors for them.

Has anyone else experienced this change as the characters hit 12th?:smalleek:

Here is Session 23b (a was skipped but would read much the same)

Crap! More Undead.
Once they had defeated the 3 corrupted angels and a swarm of the green worms of Kyuss, no small task either they found out, the air again shimmered and each of them shared a vision of a young Kyuss recieving an iron box containing a green worm from an 6 armed creature known as a Spellweaver. Upon seeing the worm Kyuss seemed to contemplate something and then he began to laugh manically while the spellweaver nodded on. They shook off the vision and took stock of what was of use in the room. The angels had little but for a magical mithral breastplate and an Unholy sword.

They left the angels torture chamber and crossed the destroyed mainhall to investigate the final door. This time they only opened one of the double doors after Orlant listened and checked it for traps. With the all clear they opened the door and spreadout ready for anything. The room beyond was filled with bookshelves filled with crumbling tombs, ancient scroll tubes and alchemical jars. As Mallaur stepped into the doorway he was immediately charged by two undead knights each wielding a greatsword that dripped acid. This initial assualt almost dropped Mallaur forcing Martin and Morden to rush to his aid. They had both recently been trained in the higher order prayers of thier respective churches and could fully heal Mallaur with a single prayer now. It was taxing though and both clerics knew they could not keep it up for long. Orlant fired arrows into the melee deftly avoiding his fellow adventurerers while placing arrows in the weak points on his chosen targets. Trill provided magical support as a another knight moved on Mallaur and an undead cleric entered the fray slinging spells at Orlant in an effort to take him out of the fight.

Things were not going well at this point, Mallaur was taking so much damage from the three knights that it was all Martin and Mallaur could do to keep him from being hacked asunder. Mallaur tried to hold the doorway but soon enough the priest were were forced to enter the room to assist Mallaur and the knights turned thier attacks on the two priests as the opportunity presented itself forcing them to heal themselves as well.

To make matters worse as one of the knights began to come apart another of them let loose a burst of horrible negative energies causing most of the group great damage while simultaneously healing the three knights. Orlant's valiant battle of wills with the enemy spellcaster finally took a turn and he was left standing paralyzed while the rest of the group fought for thier lives. With Orlant out of the fight Morden called on his Gods Righteous might and entered the fray with Mallaur leaving Martin to heal them both as the called upon almost all his daily allowance of divine power to keep them alive.

Finally one of the knights fell and Trill continued to press the enemy spellcaster while moving out of range of the knights powerful negative energy blast. Morden was struck down and Martin managed to keep him alive long enough to administer a prayer that permitted him enough strength to heal himself.

Mallaur fought at the point of exhaustion having used all the healing he had at his disposal and continued to hold the knights back as they beat upon him without mercy only his newly aquired full plate and mettle allowing him to continue the fight. Orlant finally shook off the effects of the holding spell and rejoined the battle helping Mallaur drop a second knight as Trill continued to ravage the undead cleric of Kyuss and soon the battle turned leaving the group victorious and dizzy as yet another vision took over thier senses.

In this vision they were in the library overlooking a slightly older Kyuss being instructed by the Spellweaver, who was quite obviously undead which Trill mentioned was unsual as Spellweavers were immortal anyway from all the known lore, on some sort of divine ritual.

The session ended there and the group is now level 13.

[Deadtissue]

Well we are almost done the Spire of Long Shadows and got to experience our first use of Anti-magic Shell. Good fun and resulted in the comment "wow this is just like fighting at 1st level all over again" from Mallaur's player.

We should be back to a 2 week cycle again so my posts should be more frequent.

Here is session 24 " Feels like 1st level again"

The group recovered again in their jungle camp and returned inside the black stone circle, crossed the worm infested yard, and entered the base of the spire. They had only one place left to explore the dark pit that had once been the floor of the temple before it had exploded outward when the god Kyuss was born. After a bit of discussion it was determined that Trill would grant everyone flight with a mass fly spell and that Orlant would descend in advance of the group some 40 ft. The pit was some 500ft of darkness and its walls were lines with holes varying from 5 to 10 ft in diameter. The main shaft narrowed as it descended as well meaning by the time they hit the bottom they could potentially be in some tight confines.

As they descended they could hear movement in the tunnels that were the holes lining the pits sides and occasionally Orlant would see a wormlike creature scurry by an opening. At 200ft the creatures made themselves known by stretching out of the holes to touch Martin, Trill and Mallaur and with that touch they released dark energies that staggered Orlant and Mallaur but outright killed Martin. As Martin began to fall down into the darkness Trill cast a web spell across the tunnel halting Martin's descent. Mallaur meanwhile charged on of the 3 Worm Naga's that had launched the attack nearly severing its head with the ferocity of his swing. Morden flew to engage the second attacker and Orlant and the 3rd attacker were now isolated from the rest of the battle by the web Trill had cast above them.
Mallaur quickly finished off the worm he had attacked and moved to assist Morden with his. Orlant let fly with shaft after shaft into the worm naga that tried to reply with spells but could not complete its vocalizations without the deadly arrows interrupting it so it fled as did the naga that Morden and Mallaur had engaged seeing it was outnumbered.
Morden cast a righteous might on himself to make himself bigger and strong enough to carry Martin's corpse until they could deal with his condition, Trill dispelled her web and the group descended as quickly as they could until they were below the wormholes. The were within 20ft of the bottom of the pit now its bottom being a hole about 8ft in diameter opening into a large room whose floor was covered in a thick undulating swarm of green kyuss worms that surged upwards trying to reach Orlant when he entered the room. They would fall short of the ceiling by about 10ft each time and Morden quickly surmised they could lure the worms in striking distance and attack them from their current location. 2 flame strikes and a couple fireballs from Trill and they were looking down on a sea of black puss and crispy worm husks.

They descended into the room and Morden immediately took stock of the components he needed to call Martin's soul back from the it’s journey to his god while Orlant scouted the others cleared an area to perform the prayers over Martin. By the time Orlant reported on the exits from the room Martin was sitting up muttering prayers over himself and promising he would not be caught unaware again. He glowed with divine power when he completed his prayers standing some 8 feet tall and sharing a prayer that infused the whole group with celerity and strength.

They had discovered 3 exits from this room, one into a huge cavern, another to a set of double doors and the last a corridor into a another large room; it was this last path they proceeded down and discovered this room was filled with fresh corpses lined head to tow in neat rows across the rooms floor. Each corpse was under a shroud but each one the looked at was fresh as though it had just been ritually killed by slashing its wrists and jugular. All wore ancient clothing that was also like new. Martin suggested bringing one back from the dead as well but Morden reported they would only have the components to return to more creatures from the dead...perhaps they should save them.

The only exit from that room led to yet another large room with corpses similarly laid out. The only difference was the each corpse in this room had more or less turned to dust and merely moving the shroud would cause them to collapse in a cloud of decay. They spend little time here and continued from the room out its only passage way a long one with a short side tunnel that opened into the large cavern they had seen previously and a set of double doors further on. They approached the double doors and Orlant searched them for traps before opening them on foot as the fly spell had run out at this point.

The room was obviously an old library though many books had not survived very well. The good ones were stacked all about a 8ft long fat green worm with the head of a humanoid, another Worm Naga only this one did not attack as the group’s weapons were drawn and they readied themselves to attack it. No this one said "Can any of you teleport? Please any of you? Can you teleport?” They all looked to Trill who stared vacantly back at them. Mallaur cleared his throat and said " I say there worm why do you address us so. We have already been attacked by your kind and do not see any point in conversing with you as you are quite obviously evil and in league with Kyuss!"
"Wait! I can help you, I know where treasure lies, books of great knowledge and all I as in return is for you to teleport me from here where I have been trapped for eons!" replied the worm. Morden replied to the worm "You deserve a prison worm, why do you suppose we would free you regardless of what treasure you offer?" The worm slithered a bit closer to the group but stopped abruptly as Orlant’s blow string creaked as it was drawn tight to his cheek and the arrows tip levelled at the Naga's head.

"err, I will not harm you, I seek only escape from this place teleport me to any other prison you wish just help me escape this place" begged the naga and while the conversation occurred Martin noted that the scrolls and books of this library were all tombs on Necromancy many of which he thought were only legends. "Perhaps we should leave the worm to his studies and return once we have looked elsewhere in this place to discuss options?", Orlant added "what lies beyond the lake of worms,worm?"

"The Knights of Kyuss and Ma'Kar the Harbinger of Worms...you do not want to go there though best to escape and teleport back from where you came with me and my treasures..." urged the naga to which Mallaur replied "Yeah, we are leaving now worm do not try to follow or we will end you" and with that the group left the room closing the double doors behind them and slowly backed away. Once the reached the end of the hallway the turned and hurried back to the room they had roasted the worm swarms in and headed to the other set of double doors.

Inside they saw 3 wormcallers the undead priests they had encountered in the library above and a huge fountain. Mallaur charged as soon as the door was opened enough and Orlant began driving arrows into another, Morden still under the influence of his righteous might pushed into the room and charged the final wormcaller. Martin drew her dagger which was now some 18" long in his larger form and also closed to assist Orlant leaving Trill to fire magic missiles from the doorway. It only took a dozen seconds to dismember the 3 undead priests but in those 12 heartbeats everyone near the fountain fought to resist the urge to drink of the fountains crystal clear waters. Luckily all resisted the compulsion as once the were clear of the compulsion the illusion was lifted and the could clearly see that the fountain was alive with green worms not water...so they quickly collected the armor and arms of the priests and left the room.

Only the large cavern was left unexplored so the group headed there. They could barely make out the far end of the cavern but the cavern was clearly filled with water and beneath the surface was clearly a awful lot of worms. The group formulated a plan for Orlant to use Mallaur's Sword of Aqaa to fly across and illuminate the far side so that Trill could see a location to teleport too with the rest of the group.

The plan worked as Orlant crossed the water quickly and as soon as Trill saw a hallway on the far side they teleport over just as Orlant landed and 2 Wormcallers emerged from deeper in the corridor to attack. Again a quick battle but the two worm callers managed to inflict some damage on the group forcing them to pause, loot, and heal before opening the double doors behind the priest’s corpses.

Ma'kar the Harbinger of Worms was a Spellweaver but a unique one. He was quite obviously a lich and as soon as the group opened the door and took him in they could all hear his voice in their heads as he telepathically addressed them.

"Welcome Heroes!, I am glad you decided to visit the Birthplace of the God you have done so much to help bring back. Tell me how many of the prophecies are fulfilled? More than a few I suspect as I can feel Kyuss's power growing, tell me what you know!"

The group as one stared back at Ma'kar with the same vacant stares a statue would offer if asked the same question.

Silence filled the hall until finally Orlant said "Stuff You!" and notched an arrow. The battle began and as Ma'kar began casting spells it became apparent this was not going to be an easy fight as he was launching several spells simultaneously. The first was a spell that prevented Mallaur from even approaching and so he could not charge. Orlant buried several arrows into him before he began to blink and 5 more images of him appeared as targets. Martin strode in and began striking down the images in his 8ft tall righteous form and Trill used her magic missiles to bring down the rest. Morden decided that this fight was going to be all about the magic and wanted to even the playing field by erecting an ANTI MAGIC field and strode into the room taking the oomph out of Martin's attack but allowing Mallaur into the room.

Makar moved out of the antimagic and let loose with a stream of spells on Mallaur and himself while Orlant was forced into the room to get a better shot on Makar unfortunately as he did the Liches gaze unnerved him and he dropped his bow and back into the lake of worms area. The fight that took place was a frustrating one for everyone Mallaur could hit the lich but to little effect as his weapons and magical buffs were all normal in the effect of Mordens protective field and Makar could do little but dodge about and strike anyone who closed with him with enervating death touches. Trill was ineffective as well so she cast a fly spell on herself and headed after Orlant before he climbed too far from the group in his fear induced efforts to get away from the Lich. It was like the first fights they had long ago when they had no magic and few resources to bring to bear on their enemies. They struggled to damage the lich when in the anti-magic field but outside the sphere the Lich unleashed horrible magic’s against them.

Once Trill retrieved Orlant and helped him shake off the effects of the fear effect the battle changed. Orlants arrows once again turned the tide of the battle and as the Lich weakened Morden dropped his anti-magic field and Trill brought her most powerful spells to bear on the beleaguered undead spellweaver ending its existence and its hold over this place. They could hear the rumbling above them and the raced into the room to search for clues and valuables. Before they could complete this they were overwhelmed by another vision this one recounting the prophecies that have come true and finally the voices of a thousand souls whisper "A tripartite spirit once again becomes one, and at its advice the mighty are undone." and then "On the eve of the age of worms a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead.' then silence, apparently there are only two unfulfilled prophecies left.

When the vision had faded the rumbling above them stopped and all was silent for a moment. The crash that followed made the rumbling before seemed a mere whisper for it sounded as if the Obsidian Obelisk must surely have fallen above them. They hurried back the way they had come and hoped the exit was still intact.

Session ended here.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.

[Jacque]

Great campaign journal!

I DM a group of 5½ players (5 players and a Healer NPC played by one of the characters with the leadership feat), and we just finished the same campaign last night. I did in many ways enjoy this part even though we typically loathe dungeon crawling. This part was a long trek of 30 minutes work days and novaing.

The outsider fight was tough due to Kelvos' Blasphemy spell. When my players first gave the temple a try, the spell would have killed them all (the characters are very optimized so they are way below recommended level), and the second time it only paralyzed most of them.

The wormswarms were also a time-consuming problem as we, at that time, didnt have an arcane spellcaster with aoe and/or elemental spells.

The deathward spell made most of the encounters trivial unless there were potent spellcasters with dispel magic. I found the battle with the necromancer naga to be much more exciting and climatic than the battle with Mak'ar. I posted the Kyuss knights out, so the necromancer had one and Mak'ar had two - their way of responding to the heroes 30 minutes work days in the temple. The necromancer forced a lot of save or die rolls, but Mak'ar - impressive crowd control abilities as he might possess - simply didn't have sufficient ways of dealing damage.

I look forward to the next part. It looks like an exciting story which requires different talents than sword and spells.

I look forward to read your group's take on it.