Adventures in Saltmarsh - Session 5

Party: 

♦ Solace (female tiefling bard, haunted-one background)
♦ Magnus Argyros (dragonborn sorcerer) 
♦ Naero (human paladin)
♦ Sir Drake Mc Gruff (halfling rogue)
♦ Aranthir (elf rogue)
♦ Rok Stonefist (half-orc barbarian)

We all make our way back into the mess hall, Drake the last to join us. He overhears a low growl and undead moans from deeper into the cave, but we decide to take a rest before venturing further. Drake sets up a simple tripwire with a bell that can alert us if anything should pass into the corridor as we rest. 

As our short rest draws to a close, one of the pirates stirs awake. He's initially very gutsy, but a mix of intimidation from Rok and some kindness from Naero, loosen his tongue. He mentions the "operation" is new, that the boss, named Sanbalet, is further in the cave, and that he has lots of "pets". Undead pets. They've been smuggling weapons to a lizard-folk lair south of Saltmarsh. He didn't seem to know much about the undead we dealt with in the mansion. Magnus can tell he's not telling the whole truth. Our other captured pirate seems to be draining in color and though it's already been a couple of hours since we stabilized. Naero assumes he may have internal injuries and picks him up to take him into the separate chamber. He casts Cure Wounds on him, and we overhear a muffled conversation. Naero attempts to discuss things with him calmly, as the pirate freaks out over his leg injury. He does confirm what the other pirate said, and adds that there were 10 pirates in all, not counting their boss. Naero lets him consider his options in that separate room for a bit,as he rejoins us. Rok is heading towards the chamber as Drake overhears the undead moans yet again, and a vaguely humanoid greenish silhouette is entering the mess-hall from the secret entrance. Magnus attacks it and it seems to disappear into the wall... Might have been an illusion? 

We return to the matter at hand, getting insight from the pirates. Rok enters the chamber briefly, and when he exits he informs Naero that the pirate is ready to talk. Naero learns of various creatures the pirate has seen "the boss" control, and other details about the operation - including how a ship signals the pirates, their ship is sailed into the bay, where they take the weapons and then put them in a shipment that is taken to the lizard-folk. The pirate knows this smuggling business isn't good, but he gets paid 3 gold a day, and 10 gold for every successful shipment, so he sticks with it.We decide to put both pirates in the DANGER room, tied up and gagged.

We decide to let our rogues scout out the place a few dozen feet in front of us, and they sneakily advance through the cave corridors, with us closely behind. 

We find a number of smugglers further into the caverns, protected by an illusory rock formation. One of them wears robes that sound like the pirates' description of their boss. We wage combat and there's again a mention of fighting non-lethally. Rok and Solace seem against it this time, killing several targets, but despite these feelings, an archer in the back surrenders and we leave him alive. He shares similar information as the other two. In addition, Jack, for that was his name - does share a bit more about the ship that delivers the goods to the smugglers, the Sea Ghost, captained by a human man named Siggurt. Searching Sanbalet's body, we find a note that the archer confirms is a code used in the operation:

Jack mentions there's one more smuggler, hiding in a closet on the first floor whose job it was to keep the house appearing haunted for anyone who dared enter. We make a point to get him before leaving. 

We loot the bodies and the caves, finding brandy, silk scrolls and a magical scale mail that Rok equips. The enchantment gives him a swim speed equal to his walking speed. Further down an inclined corridor we find a boat anchored in the cave. We agree to take the brandy to the docks by boat (Drake maneuvering the ship with Jack), and we load up the silk scrolls in the Bag of Holding to sell later. 

We decide to get the remaining smuggler from the first floor before leaving for the inn, agreeing that we would turn in the smugglers left alive at the guard post. We find him in the last chamber on the right, tied up and starting his little gimmick, but when he realises we know most of the story and his purpose there, he defeatedly accepts his fate. 

We leave the haunted house with the surviving smugglers in tow, planning to leave them with the Saltmarsh Guard Post.

Adventures in Saltmarsh - Session 4

Party: 

♦ Solace (female tiefling bard, haunted-one background)
♦ Magnus Argyros (dragonborn sorcerer) 
♦ Naero (human paladin)
♦ Sir Drake Mc Gruff (halfling rogue)
♦ Aranthir (elf rogue)
♦ Rok Stonefist (half-orc barbarian)

After we find ourselves alone, Lady Oland making her way out the inn door, we consider our day. While we all agree we'll return to the Haunted House today, many also have small errands in town. We make our way to a marketplace, where we all make barters and trades. Solace convinces a merchant to sell her a light armor, a studded leather, trading in a garish oil-skin coat found in the Haunted House, and 3 bottles of perfume she owned, as well as some gold she made along the way.

She lets one of her party barter away her old simple leather armor. She also purchases a flute, and because there was a sale, the whole party saw fit to buy a Healer's Kit.

They decide to gather more information and make their way to see the gravedigger, a tall lanky half-orc who is something of a local historian. On the way Naero drops a dented full-plate armor recovered from a dead adventurer at a blacksmith's for repairs.

The graveyard keeper lets us known that the old owner of the haunted house, an alchemist, named Mr Flamel, was trying to advance the cause of the Philosopher's Stone. It is said that he even took members of his family into his laboratory, likely to experiment on them.

We take our leave and make our way back to the Haunted House. We find a trap we had laid on the ground floor undisturbed, so descend the trap door once more. The mess-hall is largely undisturbed, but the trap is triggered on the DANGER door, and the pirates are nowhere in sight. We still take the time to investigate the secret door that the skeleton alchemist came through, and discover his secret laboratory. Though nothing is magical here, Magnus does take alchemist's supplies, and we also find some cast gold items, which we take.

When re return to the mess-hall, we seem relaxed and distracted, and fail to spot the 3 bandits, who surprise us with combat. We fend them off, though their double attacks leave Rok quite wounded and Aranthir falling unconscious (though Solace heals him during the combat). Naero suggests we should keep one alive, though Rok's next attack lobs a pirate's head clean off. Despite his unwillingness, we do manage to leave one unconscious, but alive, Solace taking him down non-lethally with a short sword. We have him tied up and gagged, as we take a short rest to mend our wounds.

On a chance, Magnus finds a secret door, which we decide to explore once we have rested. Magnus and Naero initially remain behind as we investigate. A tight corridor with stairs leading down open up into a cavern. We overhear noises and see a scout up ahead, opening combat, and Rok also spots some greenish slimes on the ceiling of the cave. Drake quickly calls out to the others to join us, luckily they were within earshot. We engage the pirates, battling 3 of them and the oozes that drop upon us from the ceiling. Yet again, Naero encourages us to knock targets unconscious rather than take them out, which the party seems to agree with less this time around. One seemed enough. Despite the protests, Rok's final attack with his greataxe cuts clear through a scout's leg, leaving him bleeding and unconscious but still clinging onto life. 

We stabilize the pirate, loot the dead smugglers' bodies, and leave the alive one tied up next to his friend in a corner of the mess-hall.

Adventures in Saltmarsh - Session 3

Party: 

♦ Solace (female tiefling bard, haunted-one background)
♦ Magnus Argyros (dragonborn sorcerer) 
♦ Naero (human paladin)
♦ Sir Drake Mc Gruff (halfling rogue)
♦ Aranthir (elf rogue)
♦ Rok Stonefist (half-orc barbarian)

As we enter the room piles of bones animate.

We fight a grueling battle vs. skeletons, one even armed with alchemical items. In the altercation Solace heals an unconscious Naero twice, using up all her spell slots for the day. Mid-way through it looked like the combat was too much for us, and some of us tried retreating, but Rok would hear none of it, and we ended up reentering the chamber and trying to survive the encounter. Miraculously, though none of us unscathed, we lived.

We took some time to loot the chamber, agreeing that we'd need rest before exploring more of the manor. As we made our way out, we overheard voices coming from the mess hall. In a panic we hid in the separate chamber, peeking through to see armed men in sailor's attire. They saw the DANGER door open, and they wanted to look inside, so we took the chance to bar the door on them and flee.

It was clear the mess hall was some sort of pirate hideout, perhaps the old haunted manor is a smuggling den for them of some sorts. As we make our way back into Saltmarsh, we agree not to tell the villagers everything yet, and to explore more of the place the following day, after some healing rest.

We have a hearty dinner at the Snapping Line, Solace casts a series of Prestidigitations and Thaumaturgies, to create a small spectacle for the patrons, without focusing too much attention on herself. She was tired, wounded and fell asleep with ease that night, a sleep untroubled by the usual visions.

In the morning, over breakfast, a noble woman, Lady Oland, approaches the party. She seems suspitious of how they were able to return from the manor, but asks the party to clear the mansion and make it safe, offering some unspecified reward to the party should they manage it. She seems genuinely interested in the wellfare of the city.

------ Level Up -------

Adventures in Saltmarsh - Session 2

Party: 

♦ Solace (female tiefling bard, haunted-one background)
♦ Magnus Argyros (dragonborn sorcerer) 
♦ Naero (human paladin)
♦ Sir Drake Mc Gruff (halfling rogue)
♦ Aranthir (elf rogue)
♦ Rok Stonefist (half-orc barbarian)

On our journey towards the haunted manor, we are accompanied by some of the villagers of Saltmarsh, showing us the way and sharing the tales they know of the place. As we approach however they slowly dwindle in numbers and let the party advance alone.

Disturbing a thorny rose bush we stumble upon some of the local wildlife, giant weasels that attack the party. Though vicious and accurate, we manage to dispose of them, with Naero skinning two of them for their pelts.

While most of the party rests, our rogue explores the garden, finding a woodcutter's axe and disturbing some very large snakes living in the well behind the house. He manages to hide from them, and returns to the party.

We make our way inside, an old moldy place with tight corridors and little rooms. On our leftt we find an old library room and a chamber with a trapdoor, mysterious steps in the dust leading to it.

Heading down, we find the corpse of a bygone adventurer, a body infested with grubs, which we fight. To our luck they were tiny and very slow, and we managed to kill them before they managed to injure us.

We found a secret door in this underground chamber, leading to a large mess hall, beds with locked boxes at the end of them, a table full of food, torches keeping the room brightly lit.

Exploring a separate adjacent room we find a bull's eye lantern, candles, some papers with codes and basic vocabulary in Goblin. This seems to be a private bedroom and office. We also find a spellbook in this chamber.

Rok shall open a door with chalk markings spelling out "DANGER" in the common tongue.

 

Adventures in Saltmarsh - Session 1

Party: 

♦ Solace (female tiefling bard, haunted-one background)
♦ Magnus Argyros (dragonborn sorcerer) 
♦ Naero (human paladin)
♦ Sir Drake Mc Gruff (halfling rogue)
♦ Aranthir (elf rogue)
♦ Rok Stonefist (half-orc barbarian)

The story starts in a tavern, The Snapping Line. There are a few interesting patrons here tonight. A half orc barbarian is telling a story of how he thwarted a spineless noble with his heroics. Commoners cheer at every twist of the tale.

Solace gets one of her strange visions about the half-orc, and she pays close attention to the story, concerned about the man. Though he looked like he could handle himself, she saw hints at a potential retribution from the noble, Gellen Primewater, a gruesome image of the barbarian skewered by several spears.

In another part of the tavern, there was talk of a haunted mansion and some adventurers started talking about going there for loot and glory, and to protect the town, as other curious folk who'd gone there before never returned.

Solace gets involved, wanting to help the group and the town, she does a small performance to earn her a bed in the inn, and in the morning the group gathers for breakfast.

Drakonia Logs - Sessions 10 through 24

The Forming of the Shadowbane

Characters in our party over this entire time:
♦ Alvana (deva avenger -> deva pacifist cleric)
♦ Barrus (bugbear rogue)
♦ Sergo (half-elf warlord)
♦ Rhakka (tiefling warlock -> tiefling monk)
♦ Hadarai (eladrin swordmage)
♦ Ilarion (half-orc rogue)
♦ Elerra (drow warlock)
♦ Oshul (shifter warden)
♦ Elessar (goliath barbarian)
♦ Eckseth (warforged artificer/swordmage)
♦ Balasar (dragonborn elementalist)
♦ Riven (revenant sorcerer)
♦ Zibatar (tiefling warlord)

Note: Despite this long list, we were no more than 8 in a group at one time, and even that proved quite inconvenient, so we forced the group size down to 6, which is more manageable. 

Note2: The "->" indicates characters who have chosen to switch builds, while maintaining roughly the same character personality, and personal goals. More often than not, such decisions were necessary for the party to function well mechanically, and also allowed the player to continue playing characters they were attached to.

Our adventures throughout the last few months (real-time, not game-time, in game it's been about a couple of fortnights) have taken us far and wide across Endallion, the continent shared by the Human Duchies, the Fey Kingdom, the sealed Dwarven Strongholds, and the barbarian Lost Tribes.

Battle at the Gates:

Following Barrus' reinstatement as his tribe's rightful heir and chief, he took the bugbears and headed with them stealthily into the forest, as a strike group for the great battle ahead. He had about 200 trained warriors.
Meanwhile, the Omega Company arrived, and we met Durom for ourselves, a gruff dwarf, with a fondness for liquor, but a ready and able crew at his hand. Not quite as able was his aircraft, an ooooold eladrin vessel which was powered by a fire elemental rather than a storm one (like more modern vessels). To be kind, it was a hunk of junk, but the armament on it was front-line. Durom's men were likewise rough around the edges, but excellent and dedicated soldiers. And acting major, Hadarai now commanded the Omega Company, and all its men. Oshul's tribe was perhaps the most defensible position, being on a high hill with a pass through the mountains nearby. We took ornithopters to sweep the coming forces and rid ourselves of some of them, Barrus's met attacked from the safety of the forests, and when they reached the gates we'd built around Oshul's Tribe, they were few and decimated by our small army. We sustained considerable, but relatively few casualties, compared to the massive army that came at us, which was almost entirely decimated, the remaining men captured.
In the aftermath of the battle, we had a group of 2000 men, ready to aid the elven war effort against the Shadow, on the other field. They would take a long time to travel to their new war-front, but would indubitably add much needed muscle to our cause.

Revisiting the Kraken

After the battle, everyone had a while of downtime, a period which Alvana spent in training to become a ritual caster, and to transcribe ritual scrolls in her own book. In the meantime the others met with Elven officials, including high ranking members of the Spider League (Elerra and Kalrethral), and learned of the Shadow's current intent was related to the Dwarves. These creatures had sealed themselves in their underground mountain strongholds a century prior, and they had not been heard of since, but old elven sages knew the dwarves had captured a primordial elemental. Some rumors said this might be Vessuvu himself (although not all rumors turn out to be true, and this one did not). In any case, the Shadow wished to unleash the primordial, so it would do great harm to the dwarves, allowing him to safely peruse their runic archives looking for the Key to the Forge (of which our party had a small piece of a larger image, in the book of Ervaril)
Although the dwarven situation sounded like it required urgent-enough attention, our party, being the adventurers that they are, decided to revisit the Kraken they had fled from before, the one who spoke of its "shinies", and who was no doubt an awkward guard placed there by a mage in his desire to protect his treasure cache. It was Alvana who proposed that a series of well-placed rituals could not only return them to that same location in the mountain, even though a cave had collapsed meanwhile, but even grant them the gifts that aquatic creatures enjoy - such as breathing underwater, swimming expertly, and fighting underwater without penalties.
The battle was still difficult, the fiendish Kraken had been touched by hell, and it was all the more a worthy opponent for seeing us again, and truly wanted us dead. Fortunately, we killed it instead.
Inside the chamber he was guarding, we found a treasure cache of things, gold and gems and assorted treasures of all sorts, but also a Lesser Ring of Feather Fall, a Shadow Warlock Armor, a divine boon known as Nature's Fervor, and a strange dreamcatcher. When Alvana picked it up, it awoke and greeted her, as a a Fearcatcher of Bane, an awakened item. He told Alvana that the Banisher and it were once a set, but sensed that the Spirit of the Banisher was gone now, perhaps it had died. In dialogue with the Fearcatcher, Alvana summarised that its soul was evil, and was resolute to not heed it for advice, although she still tried to obtrain information from it, to little success.
After obtaining the treasure in the cache we made our way towards the Dwarven mountains, and we found two trails heading in opposite directions - one leading up and one down below. We chose to head up the mountain, and we came to a small cavern where we fought ogres and goblins.

The Howling Cave

The path towards the dwarves was wroth with peril. We had to deal with an unseelie cave dryad, who was bound to a very beautiful tree that grew at the center of one cave, on an island in the middle of a lake. A vile controlling creature, it kept us far away and kept caging us with the trees roots, that spanned the room, making her nearly impossible to attack outright, which frustrated many of us. After she was destroyed, we searched the area and found a baffled tiefling woman buried at the roots of the tree, barely breathing. We managed to stabilize her and explained that we'd lead her back to civilization if she came with us for now. (We made good on this promise, leaving her at the first real civilized establishment we could find).
Following stairs made of marble and granite, we reached a long chasm, a great ravine. Unknown to us, this location was The Bridge of the Faithful, a defense dwarves had established before reaching one of their secluded monasteries. The real trick was that air currents from above and bellow cancelled each other out, allowing someone who'd run head first into the ravine, and jump, to float safely on the other side. It took us a while to understand he physics of it, but once we realized the trick, we moved safely across.
We traversed a forest of luminescent giant mushrooms, known as deathcaps, and prior to arriving at the dwarven Monastery of the Rolling Barrel, notes on the walls explained and portrayed the principles of the Fists of Zuoken - Discipline, Serenity and Harmonious Perfection. The Monastery itself was located at the top of a mote of earth and rock, with a winding road leading from the exit of the cave all the way up to its gates. Inside, a peaceful, if inebriated, group of 100 dwarven monks welcomed us into their temple and brewhouse.

The Monastery of the Rolling Barrel

The Dwarven Monastery, led by a drunken master by the name of Thoril, was a place of meditation and revelation for many of us. We were welcomed to drink the mighty dwarven ale, which put all of us out-cold, as we were unused to the very strong alcohol, and placed us in a common dream, where Thoril joined us, and welcoming our questions. Hadarai's warring attitude did not sit well with the pacifist grand master, and he removed him from the discussion very soon. Hadarai was annoyed by this, and sought understanding among other dwarves, who likewise embraced the ways of peace. He pointed out that people are dying and that their action may help reduce war losses. Hadarai's attempts to make them join the war effort fell on deaf ears, which infuriated him. The angry eladrin rudely changed the composition of the dwarves' beer (ahem. if you know what I mean.), which they did not mind. However when Hadarai spoke ill of the grand-master, and spoke against the teachings of Peace, he was rapidly knocked out, and left to awaken at the outer gates of the monastery. He made a small cut on his hand, with his sword and wrote in his own blood "This is the price of dwarven peace."
Meanwhile, Alvana and Rhakka in particular were rather fascinated by the teachings of the monks. Although the concept of peace seemed somewhat foreign to the deva, exploring the monastery's inner sanctum made her past lives speak to her in an amazing way. Travering the spiraling room, she read about the principles of the unbroken circle, which she clumsily tried to meditate upon:
     1. "Strength lies in knowing oneself."
     2. "A willingness to learn, is a sign of strenght."
     3. "Endure. In enduring, you grow strong."
     4. "Learn to see the whole, or be blinded by the truth"
     5. "Many in unison can accomplish more than many alone"
     6. "Seek balance, or lose sight of your goal"
     7. "Patience is a virtue"
     8. "Focus and discipline are key to strength, division is a key to weakness."
In traversing the wisdom of these words, even though some seemed like foreign notions, and others as truths, close to her heart, Alvana saw a vision of Korevar, the one her sweetheart's confection was attuned to. He seemed almost an ascended angel, and made Alvana realized that she had lived through 100 incarnations to get to the point where she was now. Her current, 101st, would complete a cycle, and she could begin anew. She realized that she could make a powerful statement with her final incarnation, and if she'd embrace the spirit of fate, knowledge, and civilization, of all that is good, and of Peace itself, she too had to become a symbol of peace... A compassionate symbol of life, rather than a steel blade that delivers death. As she reached the top of the spire, her conclusions and inner changes brought forth powerful winds and she radiated, illuminating the top of the inner sanctum like a lighthouse beacon. In a moment of brilliant insight, she realized that the names civilizations have given gods are false, and that faith lies in principles alone. Gods may be illusions, but faith can move mountains and make the spirit soar.

Alvana of the Sacred Heart - Pax Lilium. My own artwork.

Rhakka himself embraced the monastic traditions, although his own experiences were tied to an enchanted book in the monastery's library, "The way of the Desert Wind". Rhakka found it is a way of preserving the body in the most harsh and cruel conditions, it is a way of balancing your mind, body and soul to withstand the lack of resources needed for survival, it was a way of survival. The discipline is meant to balance your life even when darkness swallows you, when you feel the world turn against you and you feel the fear, when even your people want you dead for their own purposes. Rhakka had visions of  the sands of the tiefling deserts on Yiluma-Orod, and found a new monk calling attuning his fiery blood to incendiary daggers.

Rhakka of the Burning Sands. My gift to Dumi on his bday!

The Pits of Molten Death

After a brief time spent in the monastery, we asked where we might find the other dwarves, and Thoril explained that they are beyond the Gates of the Golden Mithral, a door which opens only with the Eternal Flame. They add that it was stolen by an unknown evil (which we all assumed to be the Shadow), and that one more was given to guard and protect by a very powerful guardian. To reach him, we'd need to tread beyond the Mushroom Forest, past the Echoing Tunnel, through the Venting Hollow and across the Pits of Molten Death.

Rhakka in the fiery pits. Drawn by Dumi

 Traversing these chambers was essentially a delve, we dealt with sulfurous gas and aggressively territorial myconics in the first room, then the basalt changed to a crystalline rock that propelled sound, finding ourselves taking thunder-damage from the attacks of destrachans - blind creatures that used sound and thunderous voices as defenses. The Venting Hollows were an area where geysers could pop from almost anywhere and made the aid rancid with an acidic smell. The heat in the air made it obvious that we were approaching some sort of underground volcano.
Finally the Pits were a large cavern with a real volcano, and a volcanic dragon and fire bats, at the top of which was the artifact we were looking for. We battled the shifty fire breathing creature, but when Alvana pacified the dragon, forbidding it to attack, it flew to the top of the cavern, took the Eternal Flame, folded his wings, and plummetted safely into the lava pit below him, thus ending the combat.
Quite upset for our failure, we returned to the Dwarven Monastery.

The Vaults and the Four Paths.

If there's one thing dwarven drunks can do, is confuse you, and send you on a wild goose chance, which you later find out was QUITE unnecessary. Upon our return, Thoril asked us if we have the eternal flame, we commented that we didn't manage to obtain the artefact, and he explained that the Eternal Flame is rather within our own powers, and our quest to the Molten Pits have given us the wisdom and experience to know what must be done at the Gates of Golden Mithral.... Groaaaan.

Indeed, the Dwarven Gates were opened by triggering a specific sequence of runes by infusing them with fire, and the Eternal Flame was merely an artefact that could have accomplished the infusion. All magical fire would have worked, and it did, as our group treaded into the deep complex of mines. A warforged named Eckseth, who had been manufactured by a dwarf named Hex Redbeard, but then lost track of him, asked to join our party as he wanted to find his maker and master.

Inside the dwarven corridors, we found a gruesome sight, thousands upon thousands of slaughtered dwarves, many with burn marks on them. It appeared that inside their sealed gates, none remained, and few answers could be given. We knew the Shadow wanted to steal the dwarven runic keys, but did not know where to start in searching for it ourselves, so Hadarai and Alvana tried to find the body of a dwarven general, and Alvana cast Speak with Dead on its body. After some flattery and diplomatic explanations, th spirit introduced itself as Durambar the Grey, Defender of the Stonefist Clan, General of the Manticore Legion, and allowed us to ask our 3 questions. Firstly, we asked how they managed to chain the primordial in the first place, and why. They used binds of steelsong, forced upon the primordial, Etnassan, by the Runepriests of the Steel Circle. The primordial was their nemesis, for in its volcano he stirred and collapsed dwarven mines, and with fury roared and flooded mine-shafts with lava, sealing them and many lives. Understanding, we then asked, where are the rune keys?, to which the spirit responded simply The Lost Vaults of the 7th clan. Finally, we asked it who could assemble the key, an answer which he did not know - he believed the one who knew the assembling mechanism to be long-gone, but was uncertain about the nature of the rune keys in general. As the information was essential, we agreed to cast the ritual once more, to ask one final question - How were we to get to the Lost Vaults? We were told we'd need to traverse 4 challenges, the Path of Famine, The Path of War, The Path of Plague, and the Path of Death.
The Path of Famine was a lesson in endurance, we walked into an encased dome filled with a mold of rotting, which spoiled our food supplies and turned our water into a poisonous gelatine. We had to wait and allow the mold to make lacerations on our skin, and resist the temptation to eat the fowl thing, for what seemed like days, although an enchanted sphere at the center of the room which controlled the light, may also have controlled the passage of time in the room. Once enough time had passed, 3 doors opened, and in dwarven runes a ritual of Traveller's Feast was awarded to us. Alvana cast Comprehend languages, and also made an Amanuensis ritual to copy the ritual once she understood it, in case it may be necessary later.
The Path of War was a familiar sight to any adventurer, a group of relentless monsters, who attacked us and wanted our final deaths. They were vile ghouls, and they were defeated swiftly. Although the enemies were killed, dwarven tradition also calls for one to honor their ancestors through battle. While the next door did not open, we found the walls covered in a time-consuming religious ritual for honoring the departed. We slowly deciphered each word. The rune of understanding bore with it a message: "Death is not only the end, it is also the beginning." Near it, a rune of opening, which, once activated, opened 3 doors. It was hard to see in the pitch darkness, and our magic light seemed to be absorbed in this eerie area. The runes on the wall read that we were approaching the laboratory of Phadar the Mad, a genius who developed diseases, powerful plagues, and viruses. He was killed by his clan members after accidentally freeing a disease upon his own people. A living gate barred the way into his laboratory however. It demanded blood to open. We fed it our very vitality, and it cackled louder with every drop it absorbed. When it was satiated it opened with an eerie "Welcome to your doom, fools."
Thus we arrived at the Path of the Plague. On a big cauldron, many runes spoke of death. We found Phadar's Scheleton in the room, and his hard to ignore phantom stirring the cauldron muttering "boil boil work and toil" repeatedly. Upon seeing us, the phantom demanded that we drink from the cauldron, and be amazed at the variety of effects his diseased soup would give us. Unsure, but aware that in the Path of the Plague, the soul had to cleanse itself, the four of us drank up our diseased bowls, and Phadar's ghost laughed maniacally, exploring our initial effects, and telling us just what the diseases we manifested were: Lockjaw, Fowl Rotting, Cackle Fever and Blistering Corruption, each affected our bodies, and we felt oozy and weakened. Phadar declared that the antidote was ours to create if we wanted to avoid a most gruesome death, or tremendous impairments in our futures, and a puzzle unfurled before us. Two bottles labeled enhancer and nullifier, and some colored liquids with different labels on them - a red one, fire and speed, a yellow one, high temperature and a nerve ending, a green one, with a tree on it, and a violet one with poisonous acid. Combining the red and green one with an enhancer, and the yellow and violet one with a nullifier created a transparent potion that smelled like honey, and Phadar scoffed, as we drank the potion and got rid of the fowl diseases. In the room. a large book with a big skull on it, which read The Alchemy of the Body, was a useful ritual focus which we took with us.
In Phadar's laboratory, a teleportation circle activated which would lead us into the cavern which would take us through the Path of Death. We were attatcked there by a group of orcs, but when they saw a reddish glow, they used grappling hooks to propel themselves to another area of the cave, and fled, hiding.

Etnassan is coming. Drawn by Dumi.

Down the corridor the fabled Etnassan was stirring, making his way towards us. Anybody could have seen by his looks that we were no match to defeat him, so we too fled, down the opposite corridor. The earth was cracked, and narrow bridges traversed the lava filled ravines bellow. As we tried to walk across them they broke, pillars supporting the bridges forcing us forward, in a most dangerous display of athletic skill. Hadarai attempted to speak to Etnassan from across the chasm when we landed safely on the other side. Etnassan furiously demanded their lives. Hadarai flat out told the primordial how he may reach the Monastry of the Rolling Barrel, since it was truly the dwarves he had his qualms with, and dwarven lives he hungered for. In reaction, Etnassan quickly turned away and left, heading towards the Monastery. Alvana was outraged. Had Hadarai trully ensured that the last community of dwarves in the land would be erradicated? How dared he? And over what? The simple fact that they refused to join the war effort? "Their peace is paid for with the blood of my people", Hadarai flatly stated, and Alvana argued that they had a right to stay out of the war if they so pleased, but to send a dangerous primordial after them was far more than spiteful, it was downright vile.After a prolonged argument, Alvana and Hadarai had little more to say, although they carried heavy resentments towards each other.
In the room we were now located, an important rune could be read, a Ward of Power, which protected The Lost Dwarven Archives.

The Dwarven Archives. 

Deactivating the ward, we made our way inside the Lost Archives. Eckseth found himself able to understand the secret indexing method of the dwarves. We walked towards the middle of the archive, the walls along our trip detailing the creation of the dwarves. At the center, a black orb caught in some claws, A password to access the archives was necessary, and it had to do with a date. Important world history is to be remembered, but we did have to base ourselves a bit on luck when it came to translating the date of the event (a great storm), into the Dwarven calendar, which begins with their settlement in the mountains. In any case, we used Eckseth's console to connect to the archive of the clan, and guessed the password via a dangerous trial and error attempt. Fortunately, we were able to gain access. We found that the extremely large archive, also kept a runic imprint of the key. 6 layers of stone, stretching over 3 square kilometers, contained the detailed version of the entire fractal - an undertaking so great, that only dwarves or dragons could attempt it. We tried our best to copy the fractal key via a magic ritual, after downloading the files into Eckseth. The information surrounding the key in the archive spoke of a foresign continent, The Mists, where Terrenis of the Hands of Fate once journeyed, to unlock the forge, and she returned with great power. We now also had a key to this location. Using a teleportation circle we manage to teleport to Gunner's Pride, the Omega Escadron flagship. Unfortunately, we teleport in the middle of an attack...

The Leviathan of Dis

To be continued.

Drakonia Adventure Log - Session 9

The Bloodied Bite

Party: 
♦ Alvana (deva avenger)
♦ Barrus (bugbear rogue)
♦ Sergo (half elf warlord)
♦ Rhakka (tiefling warlock)
♦ Elessar (goliath barbarian)
♦ Hadarai (eladrin swordmage)

Barrus, Sketched by Dumi

    In the morning Hadarai made use of a scroll of sending to talk to the King's Majordomo and send a report, asking for reinforcements. He was told the Omega Company contingent could be sent. It was commanded by a dwarf, by the name of Durom Stormhammer, a man who gets things done. The Legate promotes Hadarai to major in-field, a promotion which remains to be confirmed into position at a later date. The others familiarized themselves with Oshul's stronghold, and Alvana even did a bit of shopping in the tribe before leaving to reinstate Barrus in his rightful position.
    A scout from the Golden Fang led us part of the way towards the Bloodied Bite. The rest of the way was up to them. As the party drew closer to the territory of the enemy tribe, they find the land tainted by Shadow. No animals chose to live on this land. Barrus remembered the forest was once known as The Mad Forest, because the primal spirits were very active in the area. Traveling the tainted land was harrowing, but we endured its difficult conditions.
    We came to a fallen tree, climb atop it, and see a clearing up ahead. This place looked like an ancient fey place of passage, marked by two Guardian Trees, and all could sense this was a perfect spot for an ambush. Hadarai explained that in antique times, this was a place of pilgrimage to a small fey temple of the primal spirits, since before Illithiria was established, when the fey people were nomads. This was part of a Path of Purification. Alvana notices some wisps coming from the lake, and each of us has a sense of peace and homecoming. Despite this, Hadarai feels that something is amiss here, as we are, after all, in a tainted place.
    A prayer to the primal spirit incites the undead in the region, as the wind bares the message “Your gods are worthless here”. We are attacked by a Battle Wight, a creature which drains vitality when it attack with its soul-draining sword, Ghoul Ambushers, who ate their victims when they were immobilized, and Skeletons, which were essentially just cannon fodder compared to the rest. During the combat, from the ruins, a Green Arcanian arose, a ranged undead fighter who was the most dangerous yet. The combat was excruciating, particularly for Barrus, who dealt with the Battle Wight in melee, and was drained of most of his energy. After the fight, we tried out best to redeem this once holy place, and we invoke the spirit of Pakkun, in a ritual to cleanse the place of evil. When we completed it, we heard a mighty bear's roar, and due to a boon named Pakkun's Endurance, we all regained some of the vitality we had lost in the fight.
    A small winding path opens up towards a road that we follow for 2 hours. At the edge of the forest, we find a plateau where the war camp is situated, and we arrive just in time to see its wooden gates open and 2 warbands departing from it. A group of 180-200 warriors in all. The warcamp would likely keep a few remaining guards, sentinels, slaves and other few, about a fifth of the tribe remaining behind. Haradai used a scroll of sending to contact the legate, sending a brief message about the Bloodied Bite warriors who would reach the Golden Fang next sunrise, and asked her to inform Durom.
    The autumn moon was in its first quarter, and it was foggy, perfect conditions for an ambush. We noticed the patterns the sentinels were using between the four guard towers in the camp, and we attempted to disable the sentinels, knocking them out. The camp was still slightly benumbed, only 20 sentinels seemed to be awake in all. We disguised ourselves as sentinels of the camp, and approached the main tent inconspicuously.
    Barrus saw his brother inside, talking heatedly in Goblinoid, about the foolishness of the attack, and the half-orc woman assured him that the sacrifice would not be in vain, and that The Shadow works in mysterious ways. The main army was 3 days away from that measly tribe. “The tactic is very simple”, she explained, giving details that made it apparent that she was an excellent tactician. “The Shadow is now away, and attempts to communicate with the dwarves.” It was obvious to those of us with insight that she knew more about the plan, but if we did not act soon, the window for action might slip away as other guards could be on alert.
    Barrus' Brother bore the same symbols now found on Rhakka as tattoos, but he did not resist the half-orc woman, instead, he was empowered through them to be an even more excellent melee fighter. The guards inside the tent, two Bugbear Wardancers, were dispatched during our surprise attack. Possibly seeing us as a threat, the half-orc woman  used a linked portal which took her through the Shadowfell, to a predesignated destination, one still on this continent, Haradai's keen arcane senses noticed. The fight with the half-machine bugbear was very difficult, Alvana even banishing him for a few seconds in which her companions gathered their breath. “Long have I wanted to decorate my tent with your head”, Barrus' younger brother threatened our friend, but when it became obvious that he would perish, the half orc woman detonated his body with a word from afar, which nearly floored all of us, leaving Barrus standing, in time to reclaim his authority in the tribe, having slain his contender.