The Trouble with Demons ... :
3-1 The Fell Pass
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Background and Summary: Winter caravans travelling between
ArDan and Glantri have been lost, and the Party goes to investigate.
Arctic Manticores and Gryphons are the likely culprits; but far
more dangerous foes are found and dispatched in caves, including
a Beholder. Just as they leave the complex, a powerful demon named
Maoleonan appears, snatches Fundin, and vanishes.
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(Session 171)
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| Coirë 32 |
Party meets Ciaran
Conmhaighe MacDougall, a former adventuring mate of 'Sheh and
Eldor. He has come on behalf of the great Celtic nation ArDan to petition
Glantri for assistance. Winter caravans have gone missing in the wildlands
between the two nations. Glantri officials are not overly concerned,
but the Party decides they should investigate. ('Sheh is relieved
to see her houseguests finally depart.) Some suspect the culprit is
just local wildlife (Orcs or perhaps Giants). However, a few years
ago a small band of outcast Dwarves migrated to near the main trail
in order to set up "a new kingdom"; perhaps their greed
has taken the better of them? No one has heard from the Dwarves in
two years, though, so it is not clear if they are suspects or victims
of the activity. |
| Coirë 35 |
As an honourable mission is afoot, Chumley
(Cv5) joins. As well, Ciaran
(NrC6/R5) joins. The Party uses Glantri teleporters to go to Tallinn,
the southernmost city. Chumley has never seen of such magical transport,
and has some difficulty controlling his horse through it; but no one
dies. |
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The Party learns that no caravans are scheduled
to leave for at least several weeks, when the weather will turn warmer.
However, they find a merchant who can be monetarily persuaded to leave
almost immediately. The Party buys up some local goods (vodka, fine
wool, and some specialty foods), and joins the caravan. Someone learns
of the sudden departure plans, and asks to join, being an isolated
adventurer wanting to return to ArDan: Fundin
Babblebrook (R5) joins. |
| Coirë 37 |
Party leaves with caravan. First few days
are hard going, with cold, harsh headwind and snow. |
| Coirë 41 |
Party nears where the Dwarven colony may
be located. Ciaran, Fundin, and Jett head off in the presumed direction;
X goes as well, flying invisibly. While they are gone, the caravan
is attacked by 4 large and very quiet flying creatures: Arctic Manticore.
Many of the merchant's team are killed, but the Party succeeds in
killing all of the beasts. |
| (S172) |
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The Party surveys what is left of the merchant's
team, and advises that they turn back; the advice is taken. One sleigh
cart was partially damaged when a beast crashed into it, so it is
left behind; the Party stuffs the corpse of one of the beasts into
the cart, in the hope that it will survive scavengers long enough
for any expedition from Glantri to investigate, if they so desire.
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Meanwhile, the other four proceed across
country. They find an abandoned, partially built wooden bridge, which
leads to a somewhat used path that climbs into the mountains, which
they follow. They are suddenly attacked by three Gryphons. Fundin
is nearly torn to shreds; X is caught in her own fireball when a Gryphon
charges her; in the end, the four are victorious. Thinking that more
trouble may lie ahead, they retreat back to the wooden bridge; X flies
back to the rest of the party. |
| Coirë 42 |
The Party regroups at the wooden bridge. |
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(S173)
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| Coirë 43 |
Party returns to where some were attacked
by Gryphons, and proceeds further into the mountains. After a while,
the path ends at a large ledge with 3 cave mouths. The first shows
use of relatively recent mining activity but is blocked with rubble.
In front of the middle one is a large pit filled with bones - mostly
Horse, Human, and Dwarf; the Party enters the cave, and finds broken
and discarded weapons and armour bits and large tunnels. |
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Pushing on and splitting up, Ciaran finds
tracks from very large cat-like beings - Manticores? A large rock
is found that glows dimly. X touches it and nearly loses her hand
to acid - the rock is covered with a Grey Ooze. They soon dispatch
the Ooze; but when X turns to grab some broken weapon bits so as to
poke around in the Ooze's remains, she comes face to face with over
a dozen Ogres that were sneaking up behind the Party. Before anyone
can react, X is chopped down. Vragg arrives next, and ends up fighting
Vlog the Ogre Lord; within a few rounds Vragg is killed (he
reaches out with one hand to take a potion of healing from Jett; before
he can fully defend himself or take the potion, he's clobbered for
24 points). Ciaran has a spell interrupted; the wild magic surge creates
a 30' deep pit in front of him, conveniently trapping his attacker.
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In the meantime, Chumley (still mounted
on his trusted steed), Aknot, and Fundin had headed off a different
way. When the Ooze had been killed but before the Ogres had arrived,
Vishu ran to tell the three to wait as the Party was just mopping
up after a combat. Chumley, being ever astute, only paid attention
to the word "combat" turns and charges towards glory. Soon
after, Vishu is surprised to hear more sounds of combat (with the
Ogres); so she and Aknot race to join in. Fundin is by far the slowest,
and pays the price: 4 more Ogres suprise him and beat him to a pulp
before Aknot and Vishu can turn around and help. Chumley, on the other
hand, charges into and through the midst of the Ogres; then dismounts
and attacks from the far side; two Ogres happily oblige to play, and
beat Chumley nearly to death; only a quick Death's Door cast
by Ciaran saves him. |
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In the end, all Ogres are killed except
the one in the pit; but Vragg is dead, Chumley, Fundin, and X are
crippled. Mei-Peng charms Vitl the Ogre in the pit, and they learn
some things from him about the complex they have entered (such as:
Vlog was their leader, Manticores don't taste very good, and he left
some beer and lunch at the firepit when he was summoned to attack
the invaders). |
| (S174) |
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Mei-Peng raises a few Orgre corpses and
has them dig for a while in the sandy chamber where Manticores may
have lived. Concerned that more Ogres may find them in their present,
beat-up condition, the Party then retreats back downhill to their
previous camp site. X offers to fly back to Tallinn with Vragg's corpse,
about 2 days back north, in order to have him raised. While they are
away, the rest of the Party rests, enjoying the fine winterland scenery.
Vitl is not allowed to eat Chumley's horse, so Jett and Fundin spend
some time hunting. X is successful in finding a Norse temple there,
and indeed Vragg is raised. |
| Coirë 47 |
In the late afternoon, X and Vragg return.
The Party heads back into the cave complex. Vitl explains, very roughly,
the layout of the cavern that the Ogres had taken over 2 winters ago.
There were some Dwarves living here then, but they were very tasty
(and too few, complains Vitl). |
| (S175) |
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When the Party comes to the great hall,
they find 10 Ogres having dinner. A battle ensues; other than Vitl
(who dies) and Chumley, the Party takes little damage and easily defeats
the Ogres. Exploring futher, they find a room with 8 heavily armed
and armoured Goblins looking very dazed, sitting in a circle. Communication
is not possible, except that one whispers "Eyes! Eyes! Awful,
yellow eyes!" After some investigation, the Party thinks the
Goblins are under some sort of charm that compels them to stay put;
it must be very strong, because none of them have eaten in many days.
Mei-Peng casts Dispel Magic on all of them, and frees one (X
casts the same spell to no avail; the high failure rate on two castings
suggests very strong magic). Boltar explains that they were a patrol
sent out to find some Human named Feratta who was late showing up;
they came into a cave complex, avoided some Gargoyles, then saw some
floating yellow eyes ... and that is the last he remembers. The room
they were found in is not at all familiar - Boltar has no idea how
they got there. |
| (S176) |
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| Coirë 48 |
After several more Dispel Magic castings
by X, Mei-Peng, and Ciaran, 6 of the 8 Golbins are revived. They are
begrudgingly thankful and left to care for the remaing two; Vishu
even loans them her Ring of Sustenance, which may help the two survive.
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The Party continues exploring rooms. Once
again, the only room that proves harmful is one into which Chumley
walks first; he finds the Ogres' pet bear, who hasn't been able to
play with anyone nor had any fresh food in several days. After the
first round, Vragg and Jett are able to calm down the bear and charm
it; but Chumley resumes the battle and almost dies. When the bear
is finally killed, Jett, Artemisia, and especially Vragg are incensed
with Chumley for what to them was a pointless killing. |
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They push on, leave the area with worked
tunnels and rooms, and find a natural vent-like passage leading down
into hot and muggy caverns. |
| (S177) |
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The Party comes to a cavern containing a
Gargoyle nest. 11 resident Gargoyles attack, which the Party has little
difficulty dispatching. However, one flew into Taro, driving her into
X who was part way through casting Web; the spell goes wild
and instead a Fireball goes off in her face. (Ironically, that
is the spell X originally wanted to cast, but correctly deduced that
there was not enough room to safely cast it.) The blast kills both
Bob and Chumley (still incurable from the bear fight) and destroys
half of Ciaran's gear. It also interrupts Mei-Peng's spell; rather
than getting off a Viper's Bite, 6 harmless snakes pop out
of her fingers. |
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Pushing on, the Party finds a small geyser
that appears to be illuminated from within. Ciaran jokingly suggests,
for no particular reason, that a Djinn might live in it. Vishu cautiously
explores, and is suddenly confronted by ... a large and grumpy Djinn.
It challenges her: "Mortal Fool! Know you what comes at the end
of Life?!?" Vishu replies that life follow life. The Djinn hesitates,
and then begrudgingly accepts the reply; he also tosses her a bag
of silver and tells them all to leave him alone. (X considered blurting
out "the letter 'E'"; the mood of the beast suggests that
such a smart-ass reply might not have been such a great idea.) |
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A cavern filled with large toadstools and
spider webs is easily dealt with by a Fireball from X. This
reveals a small passageway that cork-screws upwards to another set
of very warm and humid caverns. |
| (S178) |
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They meet a human: Sister Feratta, High
Priestess of the Church Militant of Huldra, apparently the person
the Goblins were sent to find. She claims to have been wandering around
an exit-less ring of caverns for 10 years; and prior to the Party's
arrival, she has only met one other being (a dishevelled elven sort
named "Potato" looking for someone; she blipped in, then
blipped out a few minutes later). They ask many questions of Feratta;
her responses seem in keeping with her claims. The Party also notices
that the way they came in has vanished; they can find no other exit
and are trapped. Feratta
implicitly joins. [At this point, unknown to the Party, time ceases
to pass in the outside world - when they finally exit (session 179)
after 2 days, no real time had passed.] |
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There is, however, a fabulous looking sword
embedded in a wall. Feratta says it has been there since she arrived;
she cannot pull it out. Before spellcasters can determine anything
about the sword, Ciaran walks up and pulls it out ... and vanishes
with it. |
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Ciaran finds himself alone in a small cave,
surrounded by skulls of various humanoids in small alcoves all chanting
"no escape but death" in a multitude of languages. There
is one vacant alcove. An adjoining cave contains a 10' diameter glowing,
raised dais or platform. Otherwise there is no exit nor anything else
of interest. After searching the two caves, Ciaran steps onto the
platform. He immediately shrinks to 1/10 his normal size, together
with the new sword; however, all of his gear and even clothes remains
unchanged (or did it grow to immense size while he stayed the same?
Ciaran cannot tell). A glowing dome now encompasses the 100'+ wide
platform. There is one other occupant: a Flesh Golem, armed with a
very similar looking sword. |
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The Golem attacks Ciaran. Ciaran finds himself
unable to harm the Golem, but the Golem can slice him up. Ciaran finds
that Cause Light Wounds works against the Golem, but he has
very few spell points. He can outrun the monster, allowing him time
to cast spells, but there is nowhere to escape. Finally he sinks a
blow into the Golem; but then the Golem kills Ciaran ... |
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And Ciaran appears in the cavern, naked,
seemingly alive but mentally in shock. All of his gear is beside him;
the sword is back in the wall. The Party finds him and he relates
as best he can what happened. The Party is now able to study the sword's
hilt; Mei-Peng finds some Hannu script that reads "Fighter Bane",
while Artemisia learns that it is associated with someone named Cheng
Hsao and urges one to "kill Lanefan". The Party knows of
a human named Lanefan - an adventuring companion of Mei-Peng's mother;
but the connection to their situation is not obvious. They settle
down for the night. |
| Coirë 48 |
Convinced that this is the way out, the
Party decides to send Jett in, pumped with protective spells and carrying
X (loaded with offensive spells). Jett pulls out the sword and vanishes,
but X simply falls to the ground. Alone, Jett confronts the Golem.
He, too, finds the fancy sword particularly useless in combat; but
creates a magic club from a now-giant arrow and beats the Golem to
a pulp; reduced to -2 hit points, Jett is victorious ... |
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And Jett appears in the cavern, naked, alive
but mentally in shock. All of his gear is beside him; the sword is
back in the wall. The Party is puzzled. |
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Vragg comes to realise that Chumley's horse
has been behaving quite skittish, especially in one region of the
caverns. With Speak with Animals, Vraggs learns that the horse
sees Orcs and Wolves where the Party sees a stone wall. The horse
is so perturbed that it flees back to where the Party first entered
and pushes its way through the stone wall! No Party member can follow,
however; to them, it is a solid wall. The Party is puzzled. |
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X summons some Goblins. They, too, see the
Orcs and Wolves and also the horse ("Can we eat the horse, boss?!?");
but they all appear to be stationary. Summoned Kobolds report other
passageways that the Party cannot see. The Party is puzzled. |
| (S179) |
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| Coirë 48 |
Bones far from the sword are examined; Mei-Peng
is able to reassemble the skull (creatively); it seems to resemble
what would be in the head of the Golem. Hoping to put the skull in
the vacant alcove in the cave, various Party members try to return
to the skull-filled cave; but they finds that now no one is able to
pull the sword from the wall. They also notice that the words "Fighter
Bane" are no longer engraved on the hilt; many blame Jett for
not dying against the Golem and thus breaking, well, something important.
X casts Size Alteration on the sword, and it falls out. They
see that "kill Lanefan" is written all over the blade (again,
in Hannu). |
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Suddenly a dishevelled Part-Elf appears in their midst - the one
called "Potato", according to Feratta. She berated Karg
for constantly calling X "Appppil"; for this person is
the real Appppil [a deceased character in Beory, a 3rd edition campaign,
having the same player as X]. She amazingly is not chided for her
feeble pseudonym (for what is an apple underground but a potato?).
She ignores questions about how to escape, and and pulls out a spectacularly
flashy scroll and reads:
I, Appppil Pagey (that's A, 4 p's, i, l), on behalf of ....
[grrr] ... Shauna Lightfingers, present a belated birthday present
to X'eng Mei-Peng, daughter of the second most famous mage of Dafan,
X'eng Tao Tse
The scroll then bursts into sparkes and vanishes. Appppil struggles
to pull an ornate wooden box from a pocket; eventually she pulls
it out, plus some human hanging on to the box. "Sigh; don't
you hate pick-pockets?", she says, and drops the pocket dweller
on the floor. No one knows this new person, who introduces herself
as Anne. Appppil
hands the box to Mei-Peng, who finds it contains a deck of cards.
Appppil says that everyone can draw between 0 and 3 cards each,
and warns that they can be very beneficial or very dangerous. It
is, in fact, a Deck of Many Things.
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Mei-Peng draws 2 cards: The Gem and
The Throne. she obtains 50 valuable gems, feels a sudden surge
in leadership capabilities, and feels certain that she is an owner
of a keep ... somewhere. |
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Ciaran opts to draw 3 cards (but ultimately only draws 2). The
first is The Star, which boosts his Wisdom. The second is
The Moon, which grants him 4 wishes. He wishes for a way
out ... nothing happens. He wishes not to have to draw a 3rd card.
He wishes that "Lanefan" be here, and some foul-mouthed
fighter named Lanefan
appears in their midst. He then wishes he could always raise the
dead, the result of which is not immediately obvious.
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Vragg opts for 2 cards. The Key gives
him a fancy looking morning star. The Sun gives him a nice
jar of healing ointment and bestows an immense amount of experience
upon him ... enough that he needs training for 9th level! |
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Vishu draws 1 card and pulls The Moon
again, which bestows 2 wishes. She wishes for complete understanding
of their predicament, and learns that it is Feratta that is cursed
to remain here ... and any who choose to be with her; the only way
to leave is to abandon, drive off, or kill Feratta. She then wishes
for Feratta to be driven off. |
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Feratta quits the Party, abruptly
running away [marking the point at which the Party escapes the Treadmill].
Moments later Orcs and huge Wargs erupt out of a wall, and a battle
ensues. Appppil backs away, as she is not permitted to aid the Party.
Even so, Lanefan rudely orders her away (for her own protection);
Appppil has had enough of people ordering her around, and turns her
Staff of Wonder on him; his fancy pants that grant Haste
are countered with Slow. Otherwise, the Party cooperates reasonably
well and defeat the enemy without too much difficulty. Appppil announces
that the card pulling must continue. |
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X declines to pull any cards.
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Lanefan says "gimme gimme gimme".
Appppil hesitates briefly, and says he is not allowed to pull cards. |
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Anne says "gimme gimme gimme"
and is allowed to pick cards (Anne has implicitly joined the Party
by now); she opts for 3. She pulls The Skull ... oh, oh. Death
appears (or maybe just a minion?) in full cloak and with large scythe.
Anne blasts Death with various nifty devices and is aided by copious
cures from Vragg, but eventually Death kills Anne. Death warns
Vragg not to tempt Death again, and then vanishes. No more cards for
Anne. |
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Karg randomly chooses to take 1 card, and
pulls Euryale. Nothing obviously happens, but he gets a bad
feeling about the card. |
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Fundin opts for 2 cards. He pulls Flames.
Nothing obviously happens, but he gets a very bad feeling about the
card. He then pulls Flames again, and gets an even worse feeling
... |
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Taro declines to pull any cards. |
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Jett declines to pull any cards.
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Aknot opts for 1 card, and pulls The
Jester. He is given a choice between experience or 2 more cards.
He plays it safe and chooses experience, enough to bump to 8th level.
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Artemisia opts for 1 card and pulls The
Star. She gets to choose which of her stats to improve, and becomes
the most dexterous character the campaign has ever seen. |
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Appppil announces that her business here
is done, and then vanishes. |
| (S180) |
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The Party now notices that various passageways
are visible where before they only saw bare wall. They loot the dead
Orcs and Anne (learning that she was a spell caster of some sort).
They also notice that Lanefan is no longer present, nor is the fancy
sword from the wall. While some members explore around cautiously,
X, Vishu, and Aknot search for Feratta. They find her lurking about
as far away as she could possibly get from where was the Party when
Vishu's wish drove her away; she urges them to leave her alone, but
they insist on asking her if there is anything they can do to help,
including killing her. She replies that she wants to figure out her
curse, so no thanks to the killing. When X, Vishu and Aknot turn to
leave Feratta for good, they find that they can no longer see any
exits. Ciaran demonstrates walking through what they think are solid
walls, and this soon allows them to see out again. |
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One exit seems to lead to daylight, so they
head that way. They find a cave with roughly carved steps leading
up to the ceiling. Fundin climbs and abruptly vanishes from sight;
he finds it leads into a large chamber with a floating crystalline
sphere floating in the centre. In the sphere lies a sleeping (or dead)
old woman. When Fundin approaches, she awakes and offers him a "secret"
if he brings her a "gift"; the implication seems to be that
if he brings her a life, she can provide information. He backs away
and rejoins the party. Vishu wonders if the old woman is Signy (see
Forgotten Entrance),
and so goes up to investigate; the old woman is not familiar (but
hints that she knows of Signy), and is disappointed that Vishu is
not a "gift"; Vishu descends. Ciaran then goes up; the old
woman is again disappointed, and clearly getting annoyed with trivial
visits; Ciaran suggests that perhaps Feratta would volunteer to be
a gift, but the old woman cannot go to her and vice versa; Ciaran
returns. X then goes up. She attempts to summon some monsters or animals,
but gets nothing; she quickly returns. |
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X needs to rearrange her spells so as to
cast another summoning spell. The rest of the Party cannot bear to
do nothing for an entire half hour, so explores further towards where
seems to be daylight. They come to a room containing about a dozen
grubby young human men sitting about a camp fire; they are quite rude
in response to the Party's queries. Artemisia strikes up a song, which
catches their begrudging attention; but when she starts trying to
charm them, they immediately attack. They also transform into large
wolf-like humanoids - they are all werewolves. Mei-Peng scares one
off, back towards X; they later find that it got as far as Feratta,
who killed it. Artemisia, Vragg and especially Ciaran are all mauled,
but otherwise the Party is able to kill the monsters without too much
difficulty. Vragg casts Cure Disease on all who were bitten
by the werewolves, as the wounds look rather sickly. |
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X summons 5 giant Rats and climbs to the
chamber. She offers the Rats as gifts to the old woman, and receives
in return a detailed explanation of how to recombine the 4 worlds
of Dafan; she is not too happy with the answer, but at least it suggests
she need not do anything now. |
| (S181) |
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| Coirë 49 |
More exploring leads to two large Wyverns.
Artemisia is poisoned (and saved by Jett), but otherwise the Party
defeats them with little difficulty. |
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A large metal slab is found, standing upright
in a cavern. Ciaran's tries to knock on it, is stuck to it, paralysed,
and zapped for some damage. Fundin uses rope to free Ciaran. |
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The Party finds the encampment of the Orcs
and Wargs that attacked them the day before. Left behind was a captive:
Elena is unbound, ungagged, and given a friendly welcome (Vishu even
gives her a spare Ring of Protection as she looks like she
needs it): Lady Elena Grey
joins. |
| (S182) |
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Party explores some more and finds 4 rock-throwing
Hill Giants the hard way. Mei-Peng almost killed by one rock and a
wayward Lightning Bolt from X. Elena somehow charms one giant;
Ciaran attacks it anyway, and is almost killed. Bortl the giant
explains that he and his buddies were here looking for fun; fun being
throwing boulders at "little pigs" (Orcs?), apparently a
hillarious sport. The Party rests for the night. |
| (S183) |
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| Coirë 50 |
Following Bortl, who hunts for "little
pigs", the Party comes to a cavern with a pool of black water.
Experimenting with Destroy Water, they release 4 Wraiths which
they dispatch very quickly (especially with the assistance of Jett's
Mace of Disruption). |
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Dredging the pool, they find some loot.
Two brooches prove to be Death Scarabs that almost kill Elena
and Karg; Karg's armour is de-magicked during the efforts to remove
a scarab. |
| (S184) |
Some abandoned caravan goods are found.
Several groups of Gargoyles are encountered and defeated. 6 Centaurs
are rescued from a prison cell. |
| (S185) |
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| Coirë 51 |
After sending the Centaurs on their way,
the Party continues exploring. Gargoyles ambush them, and several
throw glowing, sticky blobs at various people; however, all who are
hit merely feel brief, vague flashes of unpleasantness. The Gargoyles
are dispatched. |
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Bortl finds some big snakes in holes in
the wall. He is bit and vanishes, leaving behind his clothes and gear.
Otherwise, the snakes are dispatched with little difficulty. |
| (S186) |
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More exploring finally leads back to an
area visited before. The Party converges on an unexplored central
region, and finds a cavern with a pool of molten metal, a Beholder
and 8 elite Gargoyles. A short, furious battle ensues. Charmed against
the Party, Artemisia almost kills Mei-Peng and X with point-blank
arrow shots. Interrupted spells trigger two wild magic surges, and
the Gargoyles suffer numerous fumbles during their flurry of attacks.
The archers (Artemisia at first, then Fundin and Taro) pepper the
Beholder; combined with spears thrown by Vishu and a Hailstorm
from Jett, the beast is killed in less that 2 rounds. |
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X finds a hidden chamber above the pool,
containing 4 metal-bound chests. She tries to determine which are
light enough for her to carry on broom and discovers contact poison
the hard way. Karg rescues her and brings up Taro, who finds various
traps; some he disarms, but a gas trap poisons him; again, Karg is
the rescuer. Eventually all chests are brought down and booty is enjoyed
by all. |
| (S187) |
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| Coirë 52 |
In the morning, the Party finds the strangled
corpse of Bortl the giant. The Party thoroughly searches the snake
holes again, but find no clues as to what happened to Bortl. Pushing
on, they come to a large stagnant pool. After some poking around they
provoke some nasty Strangle Weed to attack, which they handily chop
up. They loot the pool. They then find a mud-filled room, into which
some previous travellers had clearly sunk. With much effort, they
manufacture a strong dredging device and loot the mud. They also meet
up with the Goblins they had rescued; Vishu is returned her Ring of
Sustenance, and the Goblins leave the complex. |
| (S188) |
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The Party exits the complex via a route
they had not yet explored. On the way, they are mugged by 7 Trolls.
Artemisia and Elena are nearly torn apart; an interrupted song by
Artemisia causes Jett to lose his comprehension of Common. |
| Coirë 53 |
They rest the night in the old Dwarven great
hall. The next morning, just as they head out of the complex, a large,
hideous, 3-headed, tentacled demon materialises beside them; it mutters
"I spy with my many eyes my spy", and grabs for Fundin.
In one tentacle, it is carrying a very battered Feratta who babbles
seemingly incoherently; but when she utters something like "Tor
Yoe Nam", the demon glares at her and then throws her off the
ledge; X casts a Feather Fall on Feratta, and she drifts out
of sight. Some Party members flee, while others fight; but most blows
have no affect. One demon head breaths fire; several valuable magic
items of Jett and Vragg are destroyed; Aknot is pushed off the ledge,
and tumbles over 100'. The demon soon grabs Fundin and then disappears:
Fundin is gone. |
| |
Ciaran descends over the ledge's side by
rope, and cures a battered Aknot. He also finds the body of Feratta,
who died when thrown by the demon. Ciaran finds he is compelled
to cast a spell on her body, one that he has never cast before and
one with a considerable cost of spell points: Raise Dead. Feratta
is revived. The Party returns to the great hall and rests another
day so as to allow Feratta to recover. She explains that she recognised
the demon (being a rather distinctive beast) as Maoleonan,
whom she has heard resides at Tor Ëonan ("Hill of
Fear"). Artemisia recalls an old tale with a jolly reference
to that place: "a long-abandoned and long-evil Elven estate on
a low hill amidst a shallow valley of decay and corruption".
Feratta casts a Lesser Commune and learns that Fundin is: still
alive, "sort of" at Tor Eonan, the spy referred to by the
demon; and that Maoleonan's greatest weakness is its enemies. She
also learns that despite her apparent 10-year absence from the world,
she has no pressing tasks and thus feels obliged to serve the Party
for a while in exchange for her rescue: Feratta (re)joins the Party.
|
| (S189) |
|
| Coirë 54 |
Party with Feratta leaves the Fell Pass
and walks south to the great Celtic nation of ArDan. |
| Tuilë 1 (Elvish New Year) |
Party arrives in the border town of Sidheag
("SHEE-ak", meaning "wolf"); treasury is divided
and training done: Mei-Peng to N7, Akmot to F8, Jett to NtC7/F5, Vragg
to NtC9 (3 levels), Karg to WrC7, and Ciaran to R6. |
| to Tuilë 5 |
Inquiries are made with various local sages
about Maoleonan and Tor Eonan. They learn little about the demon,
but Tor Eonan is indeed a known location on the northern border of
ArDan, a region avoided by everyone. Feratta casts another Lesser
Commune and obtains a number of powerful enemies of Maoleonan
(including Coronu,
the deceased Vridi emperor Archidamus,
and a supposedly deceased demon named Azakk,
as well as another demon named Tromeda), and a dragon named Hallström.
She also learns that Fundin was spying on Tromeda as of Coirë
48, which is the day that Fundin pulled 2 cards from the Deck of
Many Things, and that Tromeda is currently near Vridistan. |
| (S190) |
|
| Tuilë 8 |
A few days before, Vragg had bought from
a local seller a nice morning star that provides True Seeing
when wielded in combat. Returning from training in the woods out of
town, he finds that the weapon is gone from his room, replaced with
a slightly different morning star. It proves to be as powerful a weapon
with a different bonus feature: it can create wine twice a day. Vragg
is annoyed, and convinces his trainer, Bieran de Eis Kühler (He
Who Is Short But Strikes a Dramatic Pose), to ask a few questions
of their deity (Freyr); they learn that Elena was responsible for
the weapon switch, the original weapon is now in Brunland (over 1000km
to the east), and that the person who actually stole the weapon was
someone named Oggrvald. The Party soon learns that a local thief with
that name was recently found dead, with head neatly removed and missing.
Ciaran gets involved now (suspecting that the decapitation was to
prevent Speak with Dead from being used to reveal nefarious
details), and spends much time casting Locate Object around
town on the missing head, to no avail. Before anyone else can find
her, Mei-Peng charms Elena, rounds her up for the night, and learns
what she did and why. |
| Tuilë 9 |
Next day, with most of the Party present,
Vragg and Ciaran confront Elena in their inn's main hall. Elena obfuscates
and in particular claims innocence as to Oggrvald's death. Mei-Peng
explains that via her charm spell, she learned that Elena was afraid
that the True Seeing would reveal things she would rather not
be known (but would not explain what that was); she also explains
that Elena was both a Necromancer and an Assassin, of the Lawful Evil
sort. Vragg desires to have Elena quested to retrieve the original
weapon; others such as Karg are concerned about loyalty issues ("stealing
from Party members" and all that); and Taro walks to the nearest
(other) pub and has a beer or 3. Ciaran is concerned about Evil, Necromancers,
and Assassins in their midst, and so takes matters into his own hands:
he casts a Hold Person on Elena, and when no one else makes
use of the situation, abruptly runs her through: Elena killed by
Ciaran. |
| |
The Party's annoyance now turns to Ciaran.
He explains that as he has the ability to raise the dead, and as he
does not feel compelled to raise Elena (as he was for Feratta), she
in fact should remain dead. Various characters cast Speak with
Dead on Elena's corpse and learn that she now desires to kill
Ciaran (but did not intend to kill anyone in the Party before dying),
and she would "in most cases" accept a vow not to harm anyone
in the Party. |
| |
Vragg asks Feratta if she would raise Elena.
Feratta explains that while she is obliged to offer her services to
the Party, it was Ciaran in particular who brought her back from death;
and thus she feels caught in a moral dilemma. Vragg accepts this,
and asks Bieran; over Ciaran's objections, Bieran casts Raise Dead
on Elena ... but it fails. Bieran believes that Elena's body was too
frail to survive the revival. In any case, this result only heightens
the annoyance felt by many in the Party with Ciaran. Mei-Peng and
Vishu guard over the body after Ciaran speaks of casting Death
Prayer on the corpse; later that night it is moved to the large
local Necromancers guild complex (the Friends of Arawn), a short distance
out of town. |
|
Surviving members:
|
Mei-Peng
(N7), Vishu
(Mk7), Aknot (F8), X
(MU7), Jett (NtC7/F5), Artemisia
(B7), Taro (F6/T7), Karg
(WrC7), Vragg (NtC9), Ciaran
(NrC6/R6), Feratta (NrC10) |
|
New members:
|
Chumley
(Cv5), Ciaran, Fundin
(R5), Feratta, Anne, Elena |
|
Casualties:
|
Vragg (revived), Bob, Chumley, Ciaran (revived somehow),
Anne, (Feratta, who was revived by Ciaran), Elena (failed to be revived) |
|
Retirees:
|
Mei-Peng, Vragg, Jett (so as to complete their training) |
|
Captured, fate unknown:
|
Fundin |
|
Continuing party:
|
Vishu (Mk7), Aknot
(F8), X (MU7), Artemisia
(B7), Taro (F6/T7), Karg
(WrC7), Ciaran (NrC6/R6),
Feratta (NrC10)
|
|
