Session #82: Raiders in the Dark (Part II)

Tselem blasted the creatures with his acid wave, nearly melting most of them. A blast of fire then finished the job for most of them, including the slug monster. The fish-creatures were incensed by this (they'd been shouting curses in Deep Speech this whole time, but only Maak Tol could understand them). Two of the harpoon-wielding enemies were able to pull Tselem and Taumir off the chariot into the water! Azeri & Maak Tol tried to pull them back out, but they weren't quite strong enough. It didn't really matter though, as both were able to tread water and continue launching attacks. Taumir was just as lethal with his arrows, cleaving foes in half with his tiny spears.

Their ranks finally thinned, the fish-creatures could no longer press the advantage, and soon they all were dead! Tselem then swam through his own portal and launched himself back on top of the cloud chariot.

Rewards

• 27,000 XP each!
• (Reminder: we're suspending monetary/treasure rewards for now since your collected net worth is nearly 1 billion GP at this point.)

Session #81: Raiders in the Dark (Part I)

For the next day and a half the party made their way through Khyber, hoping they were drawing closer to Orisis' lair. In the pitch black, only Maak Tol could see clearly, while the rest of the party relied on Tselem's magical lights to feel their way along. The passage of time was hard to gauge, but their trip was thankfully free of encounters with monsters.

By their reckoning it was evening on the 21st of Sypheros when they entered the cavern. It was a huge room, so large that even Maak Tol could not see the other side. They could all feel the breezes blowing through, and they could also see, hear, and smell the massive lake filling the chamber. The water was rank, but calm, and lapped gently at the shore only a few feet from where they stood.

The party couldn't see any way through but across the lake, but were wary of what might be lurking beneath it, so they weren't about to swim. So Azeri cast her cloud chariot and they all boarded for the trip across. They skimmed a dozen feet or more above the surface, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of trouble.

And sure enough it wasn't long before they found some. From beneath the dark surface emerged a half-dozen fish-like humanoids with bows and arrows. Warbling in Deep Speech, they began shooting at the party. Their arrows didn't pose much of threat, but these few attackers did not remain few for long. More began to emerge, these with harpoons. And as they continued to shout in their gravely voices, a huge monster rose from the water in front of them. This abomination looked like a cross between a slug and a fish, and dripped with foul-smelling mucus. At its appearance, the attackers began to chant, which Maak Tol recognized as praise to 'the glory of Aboleth!'

Tselem blasted the creatures in the water with chain lightning, using their environment against them. In retaliation, one of the harpoon-armed creatures struck Taumir, pulling him into the water! As he surfaced, another half-dozen creatures surfaced, surrounding him! But Taumir was having none of this - he launched himself back onto the chariot, sending out a blast that blew away almost all of the attackers surrounding him. 

Tselem, ever the inventor, cast a portal that opened underneath their attackers and exited to their side. It effectively created rapids beneath them and a firehose in their faces. They were still fish, so it didn't drown or hurt them, but it did slow them down.

Maak Tol, using one of his flying forms, flew down a few feet towards the water to do his part in the fray. Since the slime monster had appeared the whole party had been feeling a certain amount of psychic pressure, and now Maak Tol felt himself falling under its control. Thankfully he was able to throw it off.

More fish creatures surfaced and tried to get to Maak Tol. Tselem used an ice attack that killed them all. More surfaced and began attacking. Azeri burned them all to death. The water was now as thick with corpses (some frozen) as it was with attackers. 

Rewards
(Nothing yet, encounter is still on-going)

Sessions #79 & #80: The Darkness and the Defiance (Parts I & II)

Part I

The party teleported to the city of Cragwar, which lies on the border between Thrane and Aundair, and their popularity followed them. They did their best to stay out of the spotlight, and spent some time researching Orisis and Khyber in Cragwar's library. They found very little useful information - very few people ever returned from adventuring in the Underdark, and those that did were often traumatized or even insane.

They had come to Cragwar because of its relative proximity to the Black Pit: a terrible crevice in the earth from which strange creatures emerged from time to time, located in a valley in the Blackcap Mountains. A small and unsavory town of the same name overlooked the pit and they knew this was to be their next stop.

They stayed in Cragwar overnight and departed on the morning of 19 Sypheros, traveling south. As they did, they became aware that they were being followed by two dragonborns and two dwarves. After tolerating this for a few hours, when they stopped for lunch, Taumir and Azeri snuck around behind while Tselem and Maak Tol walked right up to them and demanded to know what they wanted. The dragonborns were apparently working for Baron Mucharsen and the dwarves for Vondal. Both Vondal and Mucharsen felt betrayed by the party's past actions and had sent these minions to do something about it.

But these flunkies were neither zealous nor stupid - they quickly realized their masters' grievances held little merit and in any event they were in no position to take on the Knights of the Thirteen Moon. So after some sharp words the party sent them away and continued on their journey.

Night was falling when the party arrived at the town of Black Pit. The reputation of the town was unsavory enough that they approached slowly, observing it from afar as they got closer. Very quickly they realized that the town of Black Pit was a cesspool of suffering. As far as they could tell there were only two types of inhabitants: evil creatures and their victims. Slaves and sacrifices cowered in cages; poor creatures darted through alleyways, trying to escape. Wicked beings, particularly fey ones, were everywhere.

The party knew they could not sit by and do nothing. They snooped around and discovered that Black Pit was a patchwork of different secret cults, each vying to tap into the evil power of the Pit for themselves and/or their deities. The party decided to try and play these rivalries against one another and start some riots. This plan was remarkably successful - through a combination of misdirection, vandalism, and illusion, the party soon had the various groups thinking the others were out to get them. Before long, violence erupted. The party egged on the various groups, making each think the other was attacking them. Black Pit became engulfed in street battles, and fires broke out in every quarter.

The party retreated to a safe distance and watched with satisfaction the stream of slaves and captives escaping. It was now the wee hours of the morning, and only the flames of the town's destruction lit the pitch black night. The party tried to help direct these refugees to safe harbors, and Tselem was  able to teleport a few dozen of them directly back to safety in Cragwar. Many others though fled into the night, their fates unknown.

When the sun finally arose the next morning (20 Sypheros), the town of Black Pit had been completely razed to the ground. The party (having rested after freeing the slaves) now girded their loins and prepared to descend into the actual Black Pit itself. They knew very little about what they were getting into, and despite their fame, power, and wealth, they could not help the fear that gripped them. Steps led down into the Pit itself, and while the party did not hesitate to descended along them, with every footfall they felt a cold fist of despair tightening around each of their hearts.

Part II

The darkness of Khyber enveloped them. Tselem lit a a magical torch so they were not completely blind, but its glow only extended a few meters in each direction. Maak Tol could see well enough without it, but found the gloom no less ominous.

They had barely ventured more than a few minutes into the tunnels and caverns when they began to hear skittering and clicks from some sort of animal. Then, swooping into the light and dropping from the ceiling, they came: hook horrors, abominable eagle-like monsters with long serrated claws instead of wings!

The party was initially alarmed, but their fear soon left them. The hook horrors posed little threat individually, and the party dispatched them fairly easily. Taumir and Tselem especially launched devastating attacks that reduced the creatures to nothing but dust. When the short battle ended, their destruction was so complete it was almost as if they hadn't existed at all.

Somewhat encouraged by this, the party ventured deeper into the Underdark.

Rewards

• 10,000 XP each
• (Reminder: we're suspending monetary/treasure rewards for now since your collected net worth is nearly 1 billion GP at this point.)

Sessions #76-78: The Large Green Monster (Parts I - III)

The party then turned to their new young friend. She told them she came from a tiny village somewhere in the extreme western edge of the Towering Wood. She had been abducted from her home by a devil, and the party realized it was probably the one they had fought earlier that day. She had been taken to Gorthol's lair but had managed to escape and now found herself here.

The party debated what to do, and decided to take Stassi back to her village. This wasn't going to be a straightforward task as the sheltered young girl had no real sense of where she was. But they got some general directions from her and set off for the west.

Two days later, around mid-day on 9 Sypheros, the party and Stassi had made their way a significant distance southeast. As they finished their mid-day meal, they heard a great rushing noise, like a hurricane coming towards them. They looked up and saw to their determination and dread that it was Gorthol, bearing down on them! The massive green dragon strafed them from the air, screaming curses at them for the loss of her children.

Tselem, thinking fast, cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and thrust Stassi inside, to keep her safe for at least the next eight hours. The party cast swirling vortexes and burst of fire & lightning, while Gorthol whipped through the air, shoving them about with her fearful powers and blasting them with her poisonous breath. Both sides seemed evenly matched: the party dealt powerful blows, but Gorthol was relentless in her fury.

Gorthol's anger did not give way to cleverness, though, while the party had many tricks up their collective sleeves. Taumir and Tselem alike got very creative with their spells and magical items, very nearly trapping and even decapitating the dragon! Azeri cast her cloud chariot and Maak Tol cast his eagle form, and they met the dragon in the air. This mighty beast, who had kept a realm in her thrall for centuries, began to falter under the deluge of blows.

The party's onslaught forced her to land, and she found herself entangled with magic vines that left her unable to even lift her head. And at last she succumbed! The pillaging beast, the eater of children, who consorted with and ruled the demons and wraiths of the forest, lay dead, half-choked by underbrush.

The party was exultant in their triumph! They harvested the great beast's bones, which meant they finally had all the components needed for their epic ritual! They then entered the mansion themselves for a bit of a rest. (This proved a tad difficult as Gorthol had died on top of the entrance, but they made it work.)

It took another few days of traveling west, but on the evening of 12 Sypheros, they finally located Stassi's village and reunited her with her family! The village was the humblest of hamlets but the party was able to rest and gather a little information.

Tempted by the alleged proximity of now unguarded ancient dragon lair, the party asked Stassi and her people what they knew about it. It was precious little, but it was enough that the party decided to spend a few days searching for it. Alas, it all came to naught - the secrets of its hiding place had probably died with its mistress. So now (18 Sypheros) the party turned their attention to more pressing matters - finding Orisis in the Khyber Underdark and continuing their mission!

Rewards

• 55,000 XP each!
• You found a Star Opal Ring (Player's Handbook p. 252)

Sessions 74 & 75: The Children of the Swarm (Parts I & II)

The party was naturally flummoxed to set their target flying away, but they knew it was useless to try and follow, she could fly much faster than any of them could move.

As they started making a plan for what they should do next, they became aware of someone calling for help in the forest off to their right. After a moment of deliberation, they decided to head into the forest to investigate. When they did, they came to a clearing, and found a little girl, probably no more than 12, huddled under a tree. The party asked her name and what was wrong. She said her name was Stassi, and that she had escaped from Gorthol's lair. This fact was underscored seconds later when nine young green dragons, clearly Gorthol's children, crested the ridge behind them. They caught sight of Stassi, yelled, "there's our dinner!" and attacked!

The party lept to Stassi's defense, only to have her leap to her own defense! Well, at least to start. Stassi quickly discovered that while she was an equal match for these foes, the party could deal with them with their eyes closed. The dragons could barely scratch the party's armor, while the party literally could not miss. So after a few attacks, Stassi retreated to a safe point and let the party do their work.

Azeri turned herself invisible, and the party whirled through the midst of the dragons, raining down blows. Taumir's arrows and Tselem's magical forks filled the clearing like a deadly mist. The dragons took to the air, trying to use flying attacks against the party, but more than once found themselves blown completely out of the sky. Maak Tol held back a little, but Azeri did not, repeatedly freezing these foes in place so Tselem could strike them with chained lightning attacks! But perhaps the most dramatic moment of all came when Tselem trapped one of the dragons in an inter-dimensional maze which it just barely escaped, only to be struck down at last!

In short it was a quick, one-sided fight that left the party victorious!

Rewards

• 9,000 XP each!
• 35,000 GP total!