Dungeons & Dragons Blog

Blinded by the wight…revved up like a dude frozen in carbonite!

fishyfred — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:39:00 +0000

Taking a look around the lich’s chambers the group does a quick assessment of the situation. A hasty bit of plundering follows while the group tries to orient themselves. Several doors lead to more secret peepholes and passages and one os followed into a strange cavern…complete with hexagonal rite pit, chained and caged corpses/wights a strange knot of living darkness and a brace of shadowspawn guards with wicked flails of electrical blasting. The pit is also home to a strainge and regal woman clad in armor and bearing a snake headed mace.
The group rolls up and attacks…Reza engages a guard, takes a wicked blow and then fells him with a smash from the Mace of Disruption. As he advances, the woman blasts him with a bolt of dark energy – slaying him immediately. Humbar and Feaster move to attack while Barada and Lubbitch ply the bows, shooting at the armor-clad woman and striking her with a pair of telling blows. Humbar takes up the Mace and attacks the next guard while Feaster moves to engage. Humbar is struck blind and Lubbitch drops her bow to take up the Mace and kill the second guard after taking a hit. A net of strange purple energy shrouds the pit and partially screens the woman from view. Barada’s next magical arrow vaporizes in the energy field, and an attempted shot with a normal arrow is deflected from its target.
Barada unlimbers the Rod of Resurrection and raises Reza – pointing him towards the woman of doom. Dalliance is persuaded to use the silvery fire to try and cast Dispel Magic on the energy net – it fails. When Reza uses his boots to leap into battle he passes through the net and is imprisoned in a web of crackling black energy. He crashes to the ground – immobilized.
The woman holds Feaster immobile and Lubbich escapes due to her ring of freedom, passing through the web to engage the target. Barada unlimbers his lute and tries a Dispel of his own, which also fails to affect the web, but frees Bud. Free Bud leaps into action. The woman strikes Lubbitch with the snake-mace – which poisons her and causes her to die. Feaster pops up with a helping of Neutralize Poison and Lubbitch is back in action, striking the woman with the Mace. The battle rages on, with terrible damage dealt. Dalliance uses her last bit of silvery fire to teleport into the heart of the web, attacking the woman with her staff while Feaster and Barada try to engage.
Feaster is slain by the woman, Dalliance is incapable of striking her her and it is left to Barada firing arrows at point blank range to finally deal the fatal blow (yay!), but not until he has wielded and broken the Mace of Disruption (boo!).
The Rod comes out to restore the Feaster to livingness and the wights are slain by Barada’s point-blank arrow fire. The web of dark energy fades away and the Silvery Witch possesses Barada’s body and uses him to blast the knot of darkness with pure silvery light until it is gone, The weave is restored – much to Dalliance’s delight. The group works to formulate a plan of action. Reza is loaded on the carpet of flying and the group makes haste to exit the area. They return to the village they visited before and find the dalefolk in a state of agitation.
Apparently the ranger that the group rescued has been imprisoned on charges of aiding the party in sedition. Judgement is to be passed the next day in the heart of the dale. Barada dons his hat of disguise and rides to the assembly, trailed by Bud in bird form. The rest of the group (Reza now freed) plans a general uprising to try and throw out the invaders, Barada makes his way to the assembly, sees overwhelming force and decides to lay low for a bit. The prisoner is trotted out before the crowd and his crimes are read aloud. Any dissent is dealt with by spells of silence, and the lord judges him to be guilty. He is to be imprisoned for 30 days, then sent to labor in the mines for 25 years. Barada acts, using his lute to dispel magic, breaking the silence spells, as well as an illusion which reveals the ‘lord’ of the dale to be a pretender, The crowd is outraged and mayhem erupts. The ‘lord’ is hustled back inside the tower while the skymages rain fireballs into the crowd to quell the disturbance, Although the crowd is dispersed, the embers of discontent have been fanned into the flames of rebellion. Barada makes his way back to the village and plots with the group. On the ‘morrow…revolution!

Brrrrwaaaang!

fishyfred — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:09:12 +0000

Exploring the ledges near the edge of the vast cavern reveals some footprints that lead off into the darkness. A lit path seems to pass directly through the boulder field. Investigation reveals that the boulders behave as normal rocks _except_ for the part where they whiz about in space as though unaffected by gravity. Arrows and coins that are projected into the area behave as expected, falling into the vast chasm. There is a brief amount of head scratching and some calls to ‘sleep on the matter’, but in the end it is decided that hanging about on the ledges is probably not conducive to continued drawing of breath and the decision is made to cross the chasm.
Dalliance wishes a bridge into existence and the group readies itself for a brief transit that skirts the edge of one of the boulder fields.
Reza carries a length of rope and crosses first and it is only his potion of spider climbing that prevents him from being knocked into the chasm by the boulder that homes in on, and smashes into, him.
Worried glances amongst the group members. Perhaps it will be harder than hoped for. Secondary measures are readied and the march resumes.
Each party member save Barada is struck by one or more smallish stones and the rope saves most of them. Humbar must resort to his potion of Gaseous Form to avoid death – but eventually all are grouped on the opposite side.
A short hall leads to doors that bear a sigil they have seen before.
While Humbar solidifies, Barada and Dalliance share lore about the various wizards of which they know. Finally they decide they have sussed out the rune originator but he died over four centuries past.
Dalliances muses on the possibilities. One – a wizard’s tomb, full of nasty traps and the like, but stuffed with neat-o magic items that can be plundered. On the other hand, it could be the above, but with an undead occupant. Mayhap this is a lich’s lair? Hmm. Oh well, enough musing, time for action.
Opening the doors presents new mysteries. Booted, Sandal Shod and Clawed feet have all traversed the area within, coming from various points and leading to a common one. Choosing to investigate sandals first brings the group into a large bedroom suite and face to face with a pair of dusky-skinned humans in plate mail. Reza squints menacingly then springs into action. The guards react with a combination of flame blasts from wands and attacks from halberds. As the party streams into the area, black, rubbery tentacles spring out of the ground and starts crushing the life out of Lubbitch. While Reza makes short work of his opponent, Bud and Barada engage the more distant one with fist and arrow.
Dalliance is feeling safe in her Globe of Invulnerability, but a Feeblemind spell ends that train of thought..and delays the departure of any future trains. Luckily, Dalliance has been tongue-kissing goddesses lately and she uses one third of the silvery kiss to restore her intellect. She uses a wand of invisibility detection to reveal the presence of a shadowy woman clad in rich brocade. While Dalliance watches, the woman appears to step into the shadows and vanishes.
Reza suddenly finds himself confronted by a shadowy woman clad in rich brocade who seems to step out of the shadows. She seizes him and attempts to drain him of most of his vitality. Luckily for Reza – scarabs of protection are built for just these occasions and he is saved. As the lady steps back into shadow and reappears across the room, Reza pauses to grab his handy Mace of Disruption in the hope she is some sort of undead. His boots of springing bring him to her in an instant and as she turns, he smashes her with the MoD and destroys her. Moments later the second guard is dead as well. Lubbitch’s tentacles are slain and she is healed, While the party strips the cooling corpses and laments about the mace annihilating ‘all the good stuff’, the room is investigated while decisions are made about sleeping. A secret door is found, then opened, then investigated. A hallway leads to more decisions than can be dealt with in short order and the group settles down for a nap.
No visitors come to disturb their slumber and once refreshed they decide to press on,. Dallaince is alarmed to find that she can no longer retain as many spells as previous, probably due to the unraveling effect on the weave of magic. A highly motivated group moves quickly through the corridors and finds peepholes and more secret doors.
The first door reveals a ‘blinded’ beholder and the group moves to attack. Reza falls into a pit and is near death before it is discovered that the whole room is a trap and the beholder is illusionary. After Humbar restores Reza, the group decides to return to the secret passage. Eventually they come to a locked stone door.
They open it quickly and find themselves in the lich’s laboratory. A stunned undead stares at them. A mere moment’s hesitation is all, but that brief pause proves decisive. Reza thrusts forth the wand of illumination and flash-bangs the decaying wizard, them leaps across the room with his boots – landing on the mage’s workbench and smashing him with the MoD. No easy kill this time, but damage is still meted out, then another strike from Reza rocks him on his heels. Meanwhile, Lubbitch and Feaster are running to the fray. Dalliance and Barada assist and it is ON! The mage cast a mass hold spell, but the group is awash in rings of freedom and magical protections and only Bud Feaster falls victim. Reza thrusts the wand towards the mage and flashes him again, them smashes him again. The smash and flash maneuver renders his opponent in bad shape and Lubbitch and Barada help to make it worse. The mage turns invisible, but Dalliance is hep to that trick.
The wand doesn’t care if you can be seen, just if you are undead and the burst is fatal…the lich lies dead upon the stony floor.

Waaaaannnng!

fishyfred — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:40:40 +0000

After plundering the room of all its secrets, the party hurries upstairs and starts systematically emptying rooms of all that they can find that retains any value, while keeping an eye out for any guards or forces of the Baneites. A few hours later they conclude that any remaining forces must have fled along with the priest – probably to raise the alarm. Nonetheless, for the moment – their work at Castle Krag is done. Rounding up the locals, they set off on a day’s march to the nearest thorp in the shadow of the Krag. There they tell their tales, try to inspire the populace a bit, set tongues-a-wagging, and redistribute 1000 gold coins to the elders, This prompts a small celebration, and the group (except for Bud, because he is still stone) enjoys themselves.

The following day, the castle plunder is marked for identification and the more memorable items are investigated. Bud is returned to flesh and the group stumbles across a personal diary of the high priest.
Within they find information that – when combined with what they already know – sets them on a course to find the likely temple of Shar, whose clerics are involved in weakening the weave of magic in the area.

They seek and find and enter, battling a behir, discovering secret doors and corridors, fighting enchanted suits of armor and being sniped by screaming crossbow bolts before finally entering a vast chasm full of floating boulders. Perhaps this is the ‘Grinding Gulf’
they have been seeking…perhaps not. Time will tell…

So…how _do_ you spike a portal?

fishyfred — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:56:20 +0000

With the echoes of the hounds dying away, the group decides that haste makes the most sense so they beat fleet feet across the courtyard and through a wooden door into the round tower that makes up a part of the curtain wall surrounding the hilltop. There they find signs of inhabitation – a lot of doors and a set of stairs leading down. They scurry down the stairs and into the basements of the tower, Immediately they encounter a huge ogre and a pair of souped-up undead that are moving boxes. The group attacks with the element of surprise.

Dalliance uses her Undeath to Death to quell the onrushing undead while Lubbitch, Reza, Bud and Barada battle with the ogre. The foe is fearsome and deals savage wounds to the attackers, but after a few tens of seconds the ogre is slain. Humbar casts a Detect Traps spell and peeks his head around the corner of the hallway and collapses in excruciating pain after finding the trap. The hallway marks the entrance to a temple of Bane. Entering the temple, the group is attacked by undead – some puny and laughable, one scary and fearsome.
The scary, fearsome one drains 5 energy levels and 16 points of Constitution before Reza manages to land a solid blow with the Mace of Disruption and consign it to the void.

Despite the notion that there was a survivor of the temple battle that may be spreading the alarm, the group falls back to repair in the Mansion, using Humbar’s Restoration spells as well as Selune’s Silvery Kiss to heal themselves. Emerging after 21 hours, they quickly return to the temple area and begin to search. They find trapped false doors and concealed doors that lead to a silvery portal located in the temple antechamber. A quick bit of head-scratching leads to the temporary solution of a Wall of Stone to seal off the portal from this side. With the threat of reinforcements eliminated for the moment, the group decides to try and clear the fortress of mercenary troops.
They search for, find and investigate the priest’s bolt-hole then go to search his bedroom. There the ubiquitous detection of magic yields two magic books and a pair of magic undead basilisks that turn Bud Feaster into a garden statue.

The party responds with alacrity, alarm and maximum effect – so Bud is the only casualty of the creatures. Wondering aloud what sort of person could sleep with two undead under the bed, the group returns to the main storeroom, the scene of ogreish combat. Choosing a door at random, Reza boots it open and stares in disbelief at the Horned Devil that stands within and beckons to him to enter. Behind the devil, a semi-circular wall studded with doors and torture equipment. Barada is quick with the Gem of Seeing and yells to the party that the devil is illusionary!

The announcement prompts a fireball that streaks towards the group.
Reza thinks he knows which door it came form and he charges into the room, followed by Lubbitch. As Reza bounces off of the stout door, a second fiery ball explodes. While a Globe of Invulnerability is prepared, Dalliance shatters the door to flinders with a bolt of lightning and reveals the occupants – ugly, twisted demon gurners. As Reza and Lubbitch retreat in search of healing, Dalliance fires off a fireball of her own. It is ignored and returned, and as the Globe arrives, the creatures charge the party. The hand to hand is savage and brief and the creatures are vanquished.

After extinguishing the flames, the group batters open the various doors and releases the occupants. Most are villagers taken from nearby to act as forced labor, but one captive tells the party that he is a local ranger. He offers to help the group by raising a host from the forests nearby in support of their mission to rid the area of evil.
While the help is appreciate, the party tells the villagers to wait in the tempe are while they go and neutralize any remaining threats.

Along the way to the stairs to the surface, they discover a secret door to a secret corridor to a secret room. The secret room has old secret coins and an old secret rug and and old secret sword that turns Reza’s outlook on life decidedly lawful and quite good. Whether the change is permanent or temporary is yet to be determined…

So you say you want a revolution…

fishyfred — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:52:38 +0000

In the aftermath the group spends a few moments preparing, opening the tomb of the spirit of magic and descending the stairs. At the bottom is a plain room, a coffin and a swirling ball of red chaos. It is all eyes and mouths and grasping arms and swirling madness. It is also apparently immune to all magics. Luckily, Reza is carrying the long lance taken from the fallen bat-rat-toad rider. He stands well away from the creature and pokes it repeatedly until it vanishes. When the creature fades away, a shimmering radiance coalesces into a silvery form of a woman. She kisses each party member and delivers some information regarding the unraveling strands of magic and a likely target for the party to engage in their quest to free the dale.

The party rides quickly away from the area, returning to the village they saved and regaling the villagers with their tales of glory. The villagers seem a bit skeptical, but they listen intently. The party quizzes them on local lore and attempts to identify the location of the next target.The next morning, the group rides through the fringes of the forest with Bud flying a looping scout mission in the skies overhead. He spots a rat-bat-toad that seems to be trailing the party.
A quick discussion and the group sets up an ambush. An ambush lightning bolt and a followup fireball from the wand and the rider plummets like a comet from the sky to the ground. Not enough of the rider is found to make looting worthwhile.

Fleeing the scene of the most recent crime, the group wends its way into the foothills and then back up amongst the craggy cliffs. The group – through the eyes of Bud – surveys the scene for the better part of the day, observing the coming and goings of the patrols, riders and strange wall-walking figures. Under cover of darkness, they sneak up the side of the hill and cross into the courtyard. Barada scouts ahead and tries to gain a glimpse of the strange liquid shadows that flow around the courtyard within the wall. Instead he falls into a pit. When he exits, an automaton assembles itself out of the rubble and tries to attack. Dalliance springs into action and disintegrates the offending attacker. Humbar casts Detect Traps and finds another pit – and another automaton. Dalliance disintegrates that one as well.

The liquid shadows coalesce into shadowy hounds that howl bone-chilling howls and attack. The howls cause panic amongst the party members and first Reza, then Barada and finally Humbar panic and run. It is left to Lubbitch to slay the hounds with Dalliance’s help and as the echoes of the howls die out, they wait for the return of the runners and haul Humbar out of one of the pits. A moment later, the group has regrouped and awaits the fall of the other shoe…

aaaaagh, aaaaagh, watch out for that tree!

fishyfred — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:14:33 +0000

After some High Level discussions with the Lords of Waterdeep the group decides to undertake a mission of infiltration and resistance into the Dalelands, to combat the rising influence of the Zhentarim whom are now apparently allied with Drow. Journeying through the less traveled desert roads reduces the chances for encounters, but also means that the group hears almost no news of the happenings in the Dales. Ignorance is often better than bliss, for the group is unburdened by information and is thus free to do whatever seems best at the time.

Entering from the high desert, it is only a matter of days before the wanderers happen across a scene of destruction. A small village has been sacked by a pair od (competing/allied) mercenary groups. One is a collection of muscle-bound ogres – smartly armed and armored. The other is a group of well-equipped humans. Scattered around the periphery of the clearing are dead and dying villagers. Dalliance uncorks a ChainLightning spell and the thunderous echoes and reverberations roll across the highlands for a full 14 seconds. When silence falls, so does a rain of arrows on whomever is still standing, followed promptly by a savage beating. The mercenaries are dead, the villagers that can be are saved, Barada uses his Decanter of Endless Water to put out the fires that are consuming the mill and granaries, and the group is treated to a hero’s ‘feast’ At least the liquor is strong and plentiful. Whilst overnighting in what is left of the village, information about the sad state of affairs is relayed, It seems the land is awash in mercenary companies, each working for some sort of Zhentarim entity. It is all muddled up with Bane and Tharzidun and eldritch forces and the like.

Continuing their descent out of the highlands, the next encounter is with a sort of emissary riding a bat-winged rat-faced toad. A few questions are asked, and the answers provided are not met with a warm greeting. The rider informs the group that meddling harpers and the ‘lords’ of Waterdeep are not welcome in the Dales. As he delivers the instructions to remove themselves quickly, Dalliance ends negotiations with a powerful lightning bolt that blasts the mount into pieces. The rider plummets 30 feet into a snowdrift. As he struggles to regain his feet, a wand-induced Fireball helps to clear the area. Within seconds Reza, Lubbitch and Feaster pummel him into near death. As the party strips him of clothing and valuables, near death becomes just plain old death.

As the group makes haste to put distance ‘tween ex-toad and his late rider a ghostly apparition freezes them in their tracks. The patron deity of wizards speaks to Dalliance, and she shares the information with the group. Barada’s extensive knowledge of legend and lore allows the group to piece together interesting bits of information into a coherent direction of travel…a barren hilltop called Watcher’s Knoll. They arrive in the wintery dusk and begin an inspection of the area. It is clear that excavation has taken place, and the stone slab they seek is readily discerned amidst the snow. The group members fan out, with Bud Feaster moving to investigate a large, solitary oak tree. The solitary tree is apparently an illusionary tree as well, for emerging from ‘within’ is a huge set of skeletal dragon remains that savagely attacks the party without preamble. The battle is short but fierce, and the party suffers grievous damage at the claws, wings, teeth and tail of the immense creature. When the sounds of combat have ceased, the group takes inventory of life and limb and wonders if there is a follow-up to the assault….

Traps, schmaps – the demons are the problem!

fishyfred — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:32:47 +0000

After awakening in the ‘control room’, the party is afflicted by an insidious drain of abilities. Every hour spent within the mine leeches a point from the primary attribute of the character. A full day of rest is required to restore each point lost. However, Dalliance bends time to her will and causes each hour to pass as six. Within a trio of days the party is refreshed and ready to return to the control room.
There Barada discovers other traps are yet unleashed and the controls for said traps are here. The controls to raise and lower the elevator platforms are likewise found within, as well as ‘seeing tubes’ that allow the viewer to see the view from the ceiling in each monitored area. Most are dark, but enough remain lit to give the impression of a vast enterprise with a bustling security detail.
Barada calls up a platform from the depths and the party descends, mindful of the need to make haste. The ride ends in a room with an exit passage that is spacious by dwarven standards, but rather cramped for some of the larger party members. The room is littered with bodies of the Blue Bear Barbarian tribe – home tribe of Da’Nog and Hubar alike – and the walls have pictograms depicting the tribe members fleeing a large figure with horns, fangs and bat wings. Evidence of mining cart traffic can be seen, and the group descends onto the ramp.
As they descend, they hear a sound from behind them. Actually, a pair of sounds – a mocking laugh followed by a heavy crash that gives the impression that something large and heavy has been used to seal the passageway behind them. Down the ramp they go and into a room of rubble and three exits. Sounds reminiscent of a herd of mourning cows and a large but distant spectator sport can be heard. As the party members begin to cross the area, a pair of misshapen grey creatures bolt from concealment and run from the party, adorned with dozens of jingle-jangling bells.
Alarmed at the thought of the alarm, Dalliance, Barada and Lubbitch contrive to fell the creatures as they rush down a hallway that was once filled with dwarven statuary but now contains only rubble. It takes longer than anyone would have liked. As Barada stands point, Dalliance moves up to support, leaving Humbar in the rear. Soon enough a trio of triple armed, double-mouthed toothy horrors heave into view.
Trailing them is a crimson scaled female humanoid with large bat wings. She carries a scimitar that seems to absorb light and leave behind wisps of darkness. Filling the passageway beyond her are a quartet of grey-fleshed, bull-horned humanoids, built to a massive scale. As they advance upon the party she is heard to bellow “Just who in the Nine Hells are you?” With that the battle is joined.
The front ranks batter away at the multi-armed menaces, while Barada shoots arrows as fast as he can. Dalliance tries several tactics, but finds that they are of limited use against outerplanar beings. Spells are cast and blows are traded. The crimson female disappears to reappear behind the party members, and accomplishes two things. First, Humbar the Barbarian is sealed in a bubble of impenetrable force and is left adrift upon the wind. Second, she erects a Wall of Force to seal the party into the hallway. Things turn grim, then better, then grim again. Although the toothy horrors are finally rendered inert, this only means that the square grey bullmen are ready to engage. They deal terrible damage and knock Lubbitch unconscious, and almost slay multiple party members before being battered down. Well, technically, Only two are beaten down. The other pair has withdrawn, and coupled with the absence of the red-scaled womanoid the party thinks that reinforcements are imminent. Barada tries to remove the Wall of Force with his lute, but to no avail.
Sure enough, there are drums and whistles sounding and the background noise has turned from spectator sport to lynch mob. After a few seconds of hurried conversation, Bud activates his Anti-Magic Shield to broach the blocking Wall and the group flees up the stairs, towing the unconscious Lubbitch and pushing the bubbled barbarian.
Confronted with the expected large slab of iron-clad stone that blocks the hallway, the party chugs about 8000gp worth of potions of strength to try and force an opening as the sounds of distant hordes grow ever less distant.
As the party is unable to force the door in time, Dalliance teleports Humbar and Lubbitch back to her tower in Thudheim. Meanwhile the rest of the party members are drinking potions of gaseous form, except Barada, who uses a ring to teleport to the control room. While the rest of the party flees, he unleashes clouds of acid gas and waves of boiling/flaming oil upon the pursuers.

The group regroups in the desert, then Dalliance teleports everyone back to the town of Thudheim.

What next? Only the funion knows!

p-p-i-n-g M-a-u-l. Whats that spell? Shopping Maul!

fishyfred — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:50:08 +0000

Flush with cash, the group spends a brace of years to train Dalliance, instill Barada and Dalliance as the latest two members of the Lords of Waterdeep. Bud visits his hobbit community. Lubbitch and Thad of Thudheim spend time training, while Reza acts as Dalliance’s personal bodyguard while in Waterdeep.

Evil seems to be laying low, and eventually the group gets ready enough to go visit the beholder-guarded dwarven gem mine. Once found, it seems like it is long-abandoned. The party already knows it is stuffed chock-full of traps. Once the main mine doors are opened, it is one trap after another: explosives, spears, steel posts, pit traps, glyphs and the like. After a say or so, the group is three-quarters of the way around a main loop when an illusory wall is detected.
Beyond the wall, more traps, but eventually the group wins into a large control room that oversees a pair of elevators apparently used to haul gems from the depths.

The group pauses to regroup and prepares to deal with the next slew of traps that undoubtedly lies ahead…

“chuff chuff chuff”…here comes Mr. Slippers!

fishyfred — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:50:22 +0000

Returning to the desert in search of the missing dwarven gem mine, the group is headed northward along the abandoned caravan road just beyond the goat-cheese making village, While the group plods through the desert sands, Bud and Barada scout about in bird form. Early one morning Barada spots the now familiar sight of a fez wearing figure shuffling along through the desert. “Tis Mr. Slippers! A brief debate is held about whether to fight or run, but in the end Dalliance opines that it might be better to take him on here and now as opposed to having him turn up later at a more inconvenient time.

Plans are laid: Lubbitch and Barada will soften him up with a few rounds of arrow fire. Reza will hurl Dalliance’s potions of explosion, Humbar will go berserk and ready the sword of Golem slaying (’cause everyone thinks he is a golem), while Bud circles about and will attack from the rear when the opportunity arises. Dalliance will loose some potent magic and stand by as needed. When Mr. Slippers comes within range he cheerfully calls out ‘I’m here to kill you’ – and the battle is joined, Brada looks upon him through the Gem of Seeing and reports that ‘yes, he is a golem’. Dalliance looses a powerful lightning bolt, only to see it grounded into the sand. The first round of missile fire rebounds upon the attackers, throwing parts of the plan into disarray. A second lightning bolt is similarly dispensed with, and more arrows are returned to sender.

As Mr. Slippers climbs out of a huge sandy crater making a distinctive ‘chuff chuff chuff’ shuffling slipper sound, the group attacks.
Berserk Reza and Humbar enter the fray, followed closely by Lubbitch and her flaming two-handed sword. Blows rain down and within a few seconds Lubbitch is dead, her head having been reduced to overripe melon consistency from a wicked blow, Mr. Slippers lights up like a flashbulb and nearly slays the attackers with bursts of magical energy. more missiles, more combat, more deadly damage. Alternating between drinking potions of extra-healing and nearly being beaten to death, Reza grimly battles on. Humbar strikes blows and is eventually felled by a smash from one of the slippered one’s fist. The creature engages Dalliance while the rest of the party flails away at it.
Dalliance takes a pounding, but distracts the creature long enough for Barada to get in a few blows as well as the flying fists of Feaster fury to deal some damage. Party members shoot and strike each other, Reza pops a strap on his magical bracers and it is all looking very grim as the battle rages past the one minute mark. Mr Slippers flashes again and more party members are sorely wounded. Finally, only a few hit points separate Bud from a future as worm food, Barada is dealt a few wicked blows and Dalliance might be considering the wisdom of flight when Reza snatches up the sword of Golem slaying from Humbar’s cooling hand and strikes a savage blow from behind that ends the threat. Total elapsed time from the first arrow…one minute, twenty five seconds.

The discovery is made that the golem is made of solid admantium and garbed in magical fez, slippers, pantaloons and vest. As Lubbitche’s ring of regeneration works it magic upon her, Dalliance teleports the body of Humbar back to the temple of Lathander in Thudheim where he is raised and healed. Rejoining the party, Dalliance summons elephants to drag the body back to Waterdeep, pausing in Thudheim to spread the news of the removal of the slippered threat. An honor guard is dispatched and the group travels to Daggerford, where they are fete’d by the town council. Finally arriving at Waterdeep, the group kicks off a three day long celebration. Amidst the festiveties, Dalliance and Barada are offered positions as Lords of Waterdeep (due to Mr.
Slipper’s removal of two of the previous lords). Dalliance seeks training from Rary and Barada makes sure to tell the tales in every tavern that he can frequent. The golem’s magical garb is found to be a fez of magic resistance, a vest of missile reversal, pantaloons of null gravity and slippers of wind and water walking. Divvy divvy goes the group, and items are distributed. Mr. Slippers is delivered to Lord Stumpy and melted down into bars, fetching a nice dividend of 200,000gp per party member. While Dalliance searches for Rary, the rest of the group ponders what they might do wile their mage is in training…

…say…wasn’t there some sort of dwarven gem mine to go look at?

What’s in the box? Bacon?

fishyfred — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:31:03 +0000

Gathering around the golden sarcophagus, the party begins poking, prodding, prying. Lubbitch’s xray eye is brought to bear and stymied.
Finally, the ram is produced and as Reza stands ready with the Mace of Disruption, Barada and Lubbitch try to open the lid. Varying degrees of success are achieved when a crack opens along one side and it is seem that it is sheets of lead, gold and iron over stone. When the crack opens, a column of fire roars out of the ceiling, but the party members avoid most of the damage by springing aside, or standing far in the back of the party. On the heels of the fire column, a ring of blue fire encircles the sarcophagus, prompting the party to fall back and begin dithering. Dalliance sees that light flashes are being emitted by whatever is within the coffin and she urges rapid action.
Bud uses his Anti-Magic Shell to bridge the ring and the party splits, with Reza, Barada and Lubbitch going to open the lid the rest of the way, while Dalliance and Humbar hide ….er…position themselves strategically.
Another blow causes the lid to begin sliding, and the occupant is lending a helping hand. Blinding light flashes forth and a mummy wrapped in luminescent-rune-inscribed bandages rises out of the coffin. From that point it is a little more than a minute of stark terror and adrenaline-fueled mayhem. As the lid opens, Barada and Lubbitch turn to run, leaving Reza to attack … and miss. A Power Word Kill does not kill Lubbitch, as she is still strong enough to resist the effects, despite her earlier roasting. Humbar unloads bursts of undead-slaying light from the Wand of Illumination. As Reza continues to swing and miss, the creature emerges from the wreckage, brushes Reza aside and engages Lubbitch who has charged with her two handed sword after drinking a potion of Cloud Giant Strength (thoughtfully provided by Barada).
The battle rages on, the creature dealing terrible damage and hissing like fat on a hot griddle; eyes bulging and flaming with hate/lust/whatever. Dalliance shouts encouragement from the back and fires off whatever spells seem useful at the moment. The creature is warded and guarded and absorbs her missiles, or turns them back upon her. It likewise turns Barada’s arrow back upon him, nearly slaying him. Lubbitch, Reza and the monster dance the deadly tango of doom while Bud nervously stands still in order to make sure an avenue of escape through the ring of flame is still open. ‘Flash’ goes the wand, ‘miss’ goes Reza, and it is up to Lubbitch to strike the creature – which earns her a proboscis-induced loss of energy level, as the creature tries to heal itself.
Reza flails (woosh woosh), Lubbitch battles (whackity whack), Feaster is still (ooooooommmmmmm) and Humbar and Dalliance (flash! boom!) keep up the long-range assault. Things are looking grim when the mummy transforms into a demon from the deepest pits of …someplace really bad. It fireballs the party and levitates into the air, but the group is ready and Lubbitch deploys her Wings of Flying while Reza pounds a Potion of Flying. Dalliance yells to Barada “I bet it won’t turn your arrows now!” and Barada looses a wondrous shot that takes the creature ‘twixt the eyes and renders it inert.
Indeed, soon all that is left is a pile of dusty, rune covered bandages and a ruby the approximate size and shape of a human heart.
This is swept into a bag, and then the group settles down. On the morrow, Humbar restores the lost energy level and the party does some quick thinking, Leaving the immediate vicinity, they journey to the village of cheese-making goat herders. There they relax amidst moist and fragrant cheeses while they plot and plan. In the end, it is decided that Barada and Dalliance will travel to Waterdeep while the rest of the group winters in the desert.
While on patrol in the desert, Bud Feaster reports seeing Mr.Slippers (the mage-killing ‘rug merchant’) trudging through the sands towards the party. As soon as Dalliance leaves, he turns and begins heading towards Waterdeep. Dalliance and Barada journey to Silverymoon, where Barada parts with 300,000 gp to buy a bardish lute. They also pawn some of the more evil items to the Lathanderites. Thus replenished, the group returns to the desert and collects the party members.
Deciding that to keep moving minimizes teh odds of running into Mr.
Slippers. Rehashing old leads, it is decided to seek out an abandoned dwarven gem mine. The only salient question is spoken, but unanswered What could be so bad as to cause dwarves to leave a mine full of gemstones?

Guess they’ll find out soon enough…