Rhin retreated into some sort of meditation for a bit, and Hrir returned with rights to 85% of his adamantium. Tranquility was disrupted when fires started breaking out in and around the temple and library. After losing some spellbooks, Rockaneeshoo wished that the books hadn't been burned. His wish came true, but several of his reagents and beakers were destroyed instead. Realizing that the Heart of Fire was responsible, and that they had to take action or risk constant invasion by fire elementals, they started looking for ways to get rid of it. Enli prayed to Ibenaikad, and was told that attuning oneself to the Heart would help as a temporary solution, but that incorporating it into the wheel was the best long-term solution.
A legend lore spell was then cast, revealing that the Heart of Fire is actually the heart of a fire prince. It also revealed that to attune oneself, one must submit to the curse and sacrifice one's most valued possession to the flames. Only then could one harness the powers of the Heart. However the heart of the attuned would be that of the Heart itself, filled with passion and conflagration.
Siala contacted Zana and said that she wanted to get the Wheel back, and could the party come to the secret hideout. Zana said she would see about it. Pelema showed up the next day to discuss things, apparently on Zana's advice.
Pelema admitted that Jiyoomenath's body was under the control of something else, but that she hadn't discovered a weakness in it yet that could be exploited. She did admit that the sigils did not function with the being possessing his body, and that orders could be ignored at this point. However, she said that he was starting to become suspicious now that Calathinius had disappeared, and that by disobeying him in order to bring any of the party back to the hideout would probably mean instant retaliation. She also refused to tell the party much about the location of the hideout, stating that as with all successful guerrilla cells, each cluster should be separate from the others so that if one is compromised, not all of them will be compromised.
She said that she was working on a way to bring the Vlemniir creature down without killing Jiyoomenath, and without setting the party up for suicide. She said that Vlemniir's wheel is essentially the same item that Jiyoomenath was creating, and that allowing it proceed would actually still be in their best interests. She also squashed the idea that adding artifacts to the wheel added special powers to it. Apparently the attack on the party that seemed to use one of the gems in the wheel was merely a Magic Jar spell that used one of the un-filled gems in the wheel, and not an inherent power of the wheel. She also said that she didn't think that the imposter could actually use the sigils at all to tap into their communications.
As a final thought, she said that the horned devils that had been working with Vlemniir seemed to have their own agenda, and that perhaps they could work out a way to make Vlemniir and the devils fight each other so that the party could swoop in at the last minute to finish off the weakened survivor. Or something like that.
The party agreed to let her have the Heart of Fire, and they wrapped it up in stone and handed it to her. She said she'd be in touch, and teleported back home.
The party then paid a short visit to Calathinius. He re-iterated that the flying castle was probably over the waters between the mainland and the trade nation to the south. He also said that he had a somewhat better idea of where the Court of Lumat was located, but that he only knew that it was a cliff fortress on the edge of the great desert.
The party went to Luniel, and then flew south to a human port. They paid a sailor/merchant for some basic information about the trade nation to the south, and then flew off as clouds for a few hundred miles. After 9 hours over the water, they spotted the flying castle about four thousand feet up. It was surrounded by clouds and rotating winds. The party found it impossible to fly close to the castle in cloud form, and difficult to fly close to it in solid form. Rockaneeshoo made Inky fly up from underneath, but Inky was unable to penetrate the wall of winds from below. Urgmob then flew directly above the castle and then became solid. He plummeted towards it and was buffeted by the strong winds. But he compensated nicely, and activated his wand of levitation at the last second to come in for a soft landing on the main dome. He sent a mental image to Rockaneeshoo, who then teleported everyone to Urgmob's location. Peeking over the edge, everyone could see an open courtyard with about 15 reclining giants encircling a musician playing a flute. The music was soft and sad, but calming. Everyone made a will save, and then the words "to be continued..." floated in on the dulcet tones.
8.29.2005
8.24.2005
8/17 session recap
One day in Urgmob's bar, a hobgoblin comes in looking for him. He says that he came across a wounded patrol about a day to the east of town. He says that the survivors told him they'd been attacked by armored humans. When asked why he didn't help them back to town, he said that if they were strong, they'd survive, as Tulgus intended.
Urgmob gathered together the party and Rhin activated the undead dragon for flight duty. They collected the hobgoblin and flew off to the east. Siala and Rockaneeshoo caught sight of two prone hobgoblin bodies in a clearing, and they came down for a landing. One of the hobgoblins was still alive, and was revived by Rhin. He said that his patrol of 6 had run into the humans, and that the humans had decimated them. He pointed in the direction from which he'd come, and Urgmob let his onyx dog track their scent to make sure.
Rhin commanded the dragon to follow Inky, and Rockaneeshoo isntructed inky to stay nearby. The image of Inky leading a black dragon on a town raid was an amusing one.
The party continued on foot, and soon encountered four heavily armored warriors. Siala entangled them, making it hard for them to escape, and the rest of the party attacked. The other humans came up to support their comrades, and there were 14 total. One was a leader, and another was a sorceror. The fight was short. Urgmob dropped arrows into them as fast as possible, Siala shanked a few while invisible, and Rhin sucked the life out of one, and paralyzed the rest. The survivors were stripped, questioned, then released. They were a platoon from the Blacktongue mercenary company, out to avenge the death of Mad Dog. The sorceror was his brother, and the commanding officer was a close friend.
Rhin let the survivors go with the provision that they never come back to bother with this particular vendetta again. There were quite a few pieces of magical armor and protective trinkets that the party scooped up and had the dragon carry back to town.
Urgmob gathered together the party and Rhin activated the undead dragon for flight duty. They collected the hobgoblin and flew off to the east. Siala and Rockaneeshoo caught sight of two prone hobgoblin bodies in a clearing, and they came down for a landing. One of the hobgoblins was still alive, and was revived by Rhin. He said that his patrol of 6 had run into the humans, and that the humans had decimated them. He pointed in the direction from which he'd come, and Urgmob let his onyx dog track their scent to make sure.
Rhin commanded the dragon to follow Inky, and Rockaneeshoo isntructed inky to stay nearby. The image of Inky leading a black dragon on a town raid was an amusing one.
The party continued on foot, and soon encountered four heavily armored warriors. Siala entangled them, making it hard for them to escape, and the rest of the party attacked. The other humans came up to support their comrades, and there were 14 total. One was a leader, and another was a sorceror. The fight was short. Urgmob dropped arrows into them as fast as possible, Siala shanked a few while invisible, and Rhin sucked the life out of one, and paralyzed the rest. The survivors were stripped, questioned, then released. They were a platoon from the Blacktongue mercenary company, out to avenge the death of Mad Dog. The sorceror was his brother, and the commanding officer was a close friend.
Rhin let the survivors go with the provision that they never come back to bother with this particular vendetta again. There were quite a few pieces of magical armor and protective trinkets that the party scooped up and had the dragon carry back to town.
8.13.2005
8/10 dragon egg recap
The party talked over a couple of different things concerning the egg. Hrir said he didn't care as long as he got his 1/6 cut of the treasure value. He was then asked, with his mighty Appraise skill, how much he thought it was worth. He said 200,000 gp. No one took him seriously. Rockaneeshoo said he thought it was worth 100 gp, and offered Hrir double that. Someone brought up the possibility of selling it to the goblins, thinking that the goblins would surely be eaten by the baby dragon. Then they remembered (ie the GM told them) that these puny goblins had pushed the humans back for 15 years, and had even taken a fortified city. These puny goblins also manufacture golems. But what tipped it was when the GM said that visiting the goblins would require an adventure session. So they didn't go visit the goblins.
They did visit Berthold in Fovona, however. He had expanded his shop considerably, and said he'd raise the dragon, learn from it, and probably get a ducal appointment as royal dragon handler. In return he offered 20% off of all puchases and exchanges (gold for magical components) as well as first crack at any "good" stuff he got in. He also threw in a scroll of Locate Creature for the heck of it when Rhin asked. When questioned by Siala about his intentions, he made it clear that he was not interested in killing a baby dragon just to study it. Especially when he had so many dragon corpses coming in from the party already. He understood that adult dragons could develop into horrible creatures, as he was a survivor of a dragon raid many years ago. But he also understood that it was the upbringing that mattered the most when it came to intelligent beings.
The party offloaded the two juvie dragon corpses as well as the mom for a couple of thousand gold, and the deal was done.
Since K-Mark was off with his woman, and Chaz was laid out with the chicken pox, we didn't do anything other than play Citadels that evening. Next session Chaz will be in New York, and Mr. Too Frank will be off doing something else as well.
They did visit Berthold in Fovona, however. He had expanded his shop considerably, and said he'd raise the dragon, learn from it, and probably get a ducal appointment as royal dragon handler. In return he offered 20% off of all puchases and exchanges (gold for magical components) as well as first crack at any "good" stuff he got in. He also threw in a scroll of Locate Creature for the heck of it when Rhin asked. When questioned by Siala about his intentions, he made it clear that he was not interested in killing a baby dragon just to study it. Especially when he had so many dragon corpses coming in from the party already. He understood that adult dragons could develop into horrible creatures, as he was a survivor of a dragon raid many years ago. But he also understood that it was the upbringing that mattered the most when it came to intelligent beings.
The party offloaded the two juvie dragon corpses as well as the mom for a couple of thousand gold, and the deal was done.
Since K-Mark was off with his woman, and Chaz was laid out with the chicken pox, we didn't do anything other than play Citadels that evening. Next session Chaz will be in New York, and Mr. Too Frank will be off doing something else as well.
8.10.2005
8/3 xp totals
Urgmob : 132,610 (still 16)
Rhin : 121,810 (LEVEL UP to 16)
Rockaneeshoo : 147,368 (still 17)
Enli : 152,462 (still 17)
Siala : 105,300 (LEVEL UP to 15)
Hrir : 120,917 (LEVEL UP to 16)
Rhin : 121,810 (LEVEL UP to 16)
Rockaneeshoo : 147,368 (still 17)
Enli : 152,462 (still 17)
Siala : 105,300 (LEVEL UP to 15)
Hrir : 120,917 (LEVEL UP to 16)
8.09.2005
8/3 session recap and xp awards
The iron doors opened onto a wide hallway that ran about a hundred feet long. Siala started checking for traps, and once again Hrir lost his patience immediately. He strode forward and was nearly instantly crushed by the floor as it rose to meet the ceiling. As it lowered back to floor level, Hrir rolled his battered body off on the other side from the party. Thinking perhaps the trap was triggered on the floor, Enli flew over to assist Hrir. He was also smashed against the ceiling. Siala merely looked at them, and then continued her search of the area. She eventually found the trigger for the trap, and was able to jam it so that the other could pass. Starting at the edge of the wall, she continued her search forward and immediately found spring-loaded spikes in the floor coated with dragon bile. She found two of these on one side of the hallway, and then came to the center section that was flanked by two huge doors. She checked one, and could find no traps, despite Rockaneeshoo's assertion that it was magical. As she checked the other one, Enli came traipsing up the hallway and stepped on a spike trap on the side that Siala hadn't checked yet. He came away limping a little, and the rest of the party avoided the edges of the hallway from that point on.
Siala attempted to pick the lock on the magical door, and the hallway behind her was hit with Dispel Magic. Heroes Feast seemed to be the only casualty for most people. Furthermore, the door was completely fake, only there to trick invaders into dispelling themselves a little.
The second doorway was strongly locked, but Siala jimmied it with her dagger and opened it onto a corridor that bent to the right about 45 feet ahead. Once again, Siala went forward to search for traps, and once again Hrir ran forward ahead of her. He found an ambush of three juvenile dragons.
While he battled the dragons, the rest of the party ran up against a wall of force that had sprung up in the corridor behind Hrir. Rockaneeshoo disintegrated it, and Urgmob started putting arrows into dragonflesh. The dragons commented to each other in draconic that it was a good thing someone had come along because mom had been starving them for a week or more. Rhin and Enli responded by taunting the dragons in their own language, saying that they'd killed their mommy, which put the young drakes into a fury. The fight didn't last long, though. As soon as two of them went down, the third fled through a tunnel in the ceiling. Finding nothing but refuse in the room, and unwilling to pursue their prey through a vertical cave, the party moved back into the main corridor.
Hrir once again sprung a trap. This time it was the twin of the one at the front of the hall. After being smashed against the ceiling, Siala came forward and disabled it deftly. There were two doors at the corners of the hallway. One had a magical ray trap that Siala discovered and disabled. Behind it was a small sleeping chamber with a minor amount of money and a gem. It also had a few low-level spellbooks and history books.
The other doorway led to a hallway with an extremely secure, solid adamantine door. Siala was able to pick it's lock after a few moments, and the party entered a circular hallway while Hrir stayed behind to drool over the block of solid metal. Three doors were found, two facing out from the hallway, and the other facing inward. Being very careful, Siala detected that the handle to the inner doorway was covered with dragon bile. After carefully wiping it down, she picked the lock and opened the door.
Inside was a small pile of treasure with a large red egg on top. The pile radiated heat, and Rockaneeshoo detected magic items imbedded in the pile of silver. Hrir made an appearance, and picked up the egg, revealing a fist-sized glowing red stone. In order to get all of the treasure, someone had to pick up the stone, and Enli decided he'd do it. His hands immediately started to smolder and burn, but his protective spells kept him from harm. For 12 seconds, that is. After that, he started to burn for real. Hrir decided to take the stone from him, and Enli wouldn't let him. Anger flared in Enli, and a scuffle broke out between the half-dragon-dwarf and the halfling-angel. Both had Freedom of Movement, and thus grappling had no effect. Hrir was finally able to disarm Enli, however, and the Iron Bands of Bilarro were applied to Enli. Hrir appeared to have no problems with the stone, and once the rest of the treasure was loaded (and a few items taken out of the rug of holding) he put the stone in and closed it back up.
The party tried dispelling and breaking the enchantment on Enli, but neither worked. Siala checked the rest of the doors and found only traps, no rooms of treasure or monsters. The party retreated and went back to Oriv. Enli was finally freed from his state of irrationality, and all was well with the world.
For retrieving the Heart of Fire, and for defeating some dragon fledglings, everyone gets 3000xp.
Siala attempted to pick the lock on the magical door, and the hallway behind her was hit with Dispel Magic. Heroes Feast seemed to be the only casualty for most people. Furthermore, the door was completely fake, only there to trick invaders into dispelling themselves a little.
The second doorway was strongly locked, but Siala jimmied it with her dagger and opened it onto a corridor that bent to the right about 45 feet ahead. Once again, Siala went forward to search for traps, and once again Hrir ran forward ahead of her. He found an ambush of three juvenile dragons.
While he battled the dragons, the rest of the party ran up against a wall of force that had sprung up in the corridor behind Hrir. Rockaneeshoo disintegrated it, and Urgmob started putting arrows into dragonflesh. The dragons commented to each other in draconic that it was a good thing someone had come along because mom had been starving them for a week or more. Rhin and Enli responded by taunting the dragons in their own language, saying that they'd killed their mommy, which put the young drakes into a fury. The fight didn't last long, though. As soon as two of them went down, the third fled through a tunnel in the ceiling. Finding nothing but refuse in the room, and unwilling to pursue their prey through a vertical cave, the party moved back into the main corridor.
Hrir once again sprung a trap. This time it was the twin of the one at the front of the hall. After being smashed against the ceiling, Siala came forward and disabled it deftly. There were two doors at the corners of the hallway. One had a magical ray trap that Siala discovered and disabled. Behind it was a small sleeping chamber with a minor amount of money and a gem. It also had a few low-level spellbooks and history books.
The other doorway led to a hallway with an extremely secure, solid adamantine door. Siala was able to pick it's lock after a few moments, and the party entered a circular hallway while Hrir stayed behind to drool over the block of solid metal. Three doors were found, two facing out from the hallway, and the other facing inward. Being very careful, Siala detected that the handle to the inner doorway was covered with dragon bile. After carefully wiping it down, she picked the lock and opened the door.
Inside was a small pile of treasure with a large red egg on top. The pile radiated heat, and Rockaneeshoo detected magic items imbedded in the pile of silver. Hrir made an appearance, and picked up the egg, revealing a fist-sized glowing red stone. In order to get all of the treasure, someone had to pick up the stone, and Enli decided he'd do it. His hands immediately started to smolder and burn, but his protective spells kept him from harm. For 12 seconds, that is. After that, he started to burn for real. Hrir decided to take the stone from him, and Enli wouldn't let him. Anger flared in Enli, and a scuffle broke out between the half-dragon-dwarf and the halfling-angel. Both had Freedom of Movement, and thus grappling had no effect. Hrir was finally able to disarm Enli, however, and the Iron Bands of Bilarro were applied to Enli. Hrir appeared to have no problems with the stone, and once the rest of the treasure was loaded (and a few items taken out of the rug of holding) he put the stone in and closed it back up.
The party tried dispelling and breaking the enchantment on Enli, but neither worked. Siala checked the rest of the doors and found only traps, no rooms of treasure or monsters. The party retreated and went back to Oriv. Enli was finally freed from his state of irrationality, and all was well with the world.
For retrieving the Heart of Fire, and for defeating some dragon fledglings, everyone gets 3000xp.
8.02.2005
7/27 session recap and xp
Rhin returned from his volcano reconnaissance with a report of an old crater with odd fires lingering about it. The party packed up and headed out to investigate. Siala took a closer look as an invisible cloud, and saw what were probably three fire elementals just hanging out on the surface. Enli, Rockaneeshoo, and Hrir (?) went to parley with them. The elementals were agitated, and expressed consternation at the fact that air elementals (aka the party) were bugging them. They threatened to burn the party, but Enli offered to help them. They told a disjointed and short tale of how they had been run off by something, and couldn't get back. Enli convinced them to show the party where they originally came from. It was a tunnel carved into the rock of a neighboring mountain. The party landed, and the fire elementals threatened again to help them NOW, or be burned.
At that point, a robed human came from inside the tunnel, and the fire elementals fled. There was a minor standoff, but introductions were made. He said his name was Pelfrey Godwin, and that he was an adventurer. He had heard that there was an underground hoard of magical treasure and knowledge here, and was exploring the tunnel. When asked why he was alone, he said that there weren't many people as powerful as him, and that the trip was mostly impossible for others. Seeing that the party was relatively powerful themselves, he asked if they could help him. He had disabled one trap, but then been stymied by the second.
Not to be easily tricked, the party asked if they could place a Quest or Geas on Pelfrey to be sure of his intent. He declined that course of action, as would most people. Enli suggested casting Zone of Truth, which Pelfrey agreed to. He then agreed to a non-aggression pact with the party. Enli detected an enchantment on him, but wasn't sure it was the Zone of Truth. Siala tried to detect his thoughts, but his mind was impenetrable. The party said that they'd help him, but that they had first dibs on treasure, and required the fist-sized stone called the Heart of Fire. He agreed to that, and the party moved inside the tunnel.
Siala took the point, and discovered several traps, all of which were quite tricky to detect and disarm. She exercised her skill to it's utmost, and had disabled a few traps when the party suddenly became impatient with her. Hrir decided to simply trigger the traps himself, and let her disable them later. Several fireballs, lightning bolts, and a cone of cold later, the party had come to a wide cave-like chamber with large iron doors on the opposite side. The party fanned out to explore, Siala started examining the door, and Enli cast Daylight on several walls.
At this point, Pelfrey laughed from behind them, and said that the party was stronger than he had anticipated. His laughter grew deeper and more sinister as he suddenly transformed into a gargantuan red dragon, blocking the exit passage with his massive body. Rhin made a run for it, dodging underneath his legs, but the dragon stomped upon him, pinning him to the ground, and cracking some of Rhin's bones. Rockaneeshoo saved Rhin with a timely Reverse Gravity, which released Rhin and hurled both Rhin and the dragon to the ceiling. Urgmob launched a barrage of arrows at the dragon, striking true several times. Siala found no mundane traps on the iron doors, but the magical aura persisted on it. She then started to unlock them. Enli and Hrir were busy casting buff spells for a few seconds, and then the dragon breathed fire on at least half the party. Urgmob and Rockaneeshoo took the brunt of the assault, and Enli was scorched a fair amount. Rhin was nearly destroyed from his tangle with the dragon, but was still making his way towards the exit.
Enli fired off a few massive healing spells and Hrir finally launched his melee assault. Rhin repaired himself with a Harm spell, and Urgmob kept up the archery attacks. Davinov, faced with yet another dragon backed up and "protected" Siala as she finally disabled the most intricate lock she'd ever encountered. Another breath of fire caught a majority of the party, but they were able to dodge a bit better this time, suffering only a minor scorching. Dragon blood flew everywhere once Hrir got into his stride, and when the dragon wavered just a bit, Rhin stepped in and magically drained the last life force from the massive beast. It fell, dead and messy.
Davinov stepped in to help Siala push the massively heavy doors open, and they swung open to reveal a darkness with the words "To Be Continued..."
For defeating the dragon, the party gets 2550xp.
This brings the totals (including magic item creation) to :
Urgmob = 129,610 (16th)
Rhin = 118,810 (15th)
Rockaneeshoo = 144,368 (17th)
Enli = 149,462 (17th)
Siala = 102,300 (14th)
Hrir = 117,917 (15th)
At that point, a robed human came from inside the tunnel, and the fire elementals fled. There was a minor standoff, but introductions were made. He said his name was Pelfrey Godwin, and that he was an adventurer. He had heard that there was an underground hoard of magical treasure and knowledge here, and was exploring the tunnel. When asked why he was alone, he said that there weren't many people as powerful as him, and that the trip was mostly impossible for others. Seeing that the party was relatively powerful themselves, he asked if they could help him. He had disabled one trap, but then been stymied by the second.
Not to be easily tricked, the party asked if they could place a Quest or Geas on Pelfrey to be sure of his intent. He declined that course of action, as would most people. Enli suggested casting Zone of Truth, which Pelfrey agreed to. He then agreed to a non-aggression pact with the party. Enli detected an enchantment on him, but wasn't sure it was the Zone of Truth. Siala tried to detect his thoughts, but his mind was impenetrable. The party said that they'd help him, but that they had first dibs on treasure, and required the fist-sized stone called the Heart of Fire. He agreed to that, and the party moved inside the tunnel.
Siala took the point, and discovered several traps, all of which were quite tricky to detect and disarm. She exercised her skill to it's utmost, and had disabled a few traps when the party suddenly became impatient with her. Hrir decided to simply trigger the traps himself, and let her disable them later. Several fireballs, lightning bolts, and a cone of cold later, the party had come to a wide cave-like chamber with large iron doors on the opposite side. The party fanned out to explore, Siala started examining the door, and Enli cast Daylight on several walls.
At this point, Pelfrey laughed from behind them, and said that the party was stronger than he had anticipated. His laughter grew deeper and more sinister as he suddenly transformed into a gargantuan red dragon, blocking the exit passage with his massive body. Rhin made a run for it, dodging underneath his legs, but the dragon stomped upon him, pinning him to the ground, and cracking some of Rhin's bones. Rockaneeshoo saved Rhin with a timely Reverse Gravity, which released Rhin and hurled both Rhin and the dragon to the ceiling. Urgmob launched a barrage of arrows at the dragon, striking true several times. Siala found no mundane traps on the iron doors, but the magical aura persisted on it. She then started to unlock them. Enli and Hrir were busy casting buff spells for a few seconds, and then the dragon breathed fire on at least half the party. Urgmob and Rockaneeshoo took the brunt of the assault, and Enli was scorched a fair amount. Rhin was nearly destroyed from his tangle with the dragon, but was still making his way towards the exit.
Enli fired off a few massive healing spells and Hrir finally launched his melee assault. Rhin repaired himself with a Harm spell, and Urgmob kept up the archery attacks. Davinov, faced with yet another dragon backed up and "protected" Siala as she finally disabled the most intricate lock she'd ever encountered. Another breath of fire caught a majority of the party, but they were able to dodge a bit better this time, suffering only a minor scorching. Dragon blood flew everywhere once Hrir got into his stride, and when the dragon wavered just a bit, Rhin stepped in and magically drained the last life force from the massive beast. It fell, dead and messy.
Davinov stepped in to help Siala push the massively heavy doors open, and they swung open to reveal a darkness with the words "To Be Continued..."
For defeating the dragon, the party gets 2550xp.
This brings the totals (including magic item creation) to :
Urgmob = 129,610 (16th)
Rhin = 118,810 (15th)
Rockaneeshoo = 144,368 (17th)
Enli = 149,462 (17th)
Siala = 102,300 (14th)
Hrir = 117,917 (15th)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)