Post by David on Sept 3, 2015 15:27:57 GMT -5
Word in the northern portion of the Elven kingdom of Celene is that Nethril, human wizard and advisor to Queen Elena of Fax, is seeking adventurers. Five heroes answered the call, coming to the Drunken Dragon Inn at the edge of the Welkwood Forest. There Ayesha Mandraccia, cleric of Fharlanghn, Pacha the ranger, Tur the elven warrior and his companion, Lilliana the wizardess, Viktor StrongArm, half-orcish ranger, and his cooshee companion, Billi met up with each other and the aged human wizard. Nethril's elven mentor, Taran, was missing and the heroes mission was to find and recover the elven mage. If Taran was dead, then they should at least recover his body. And, in the process, if they find a magical orb, some sort of musical or harmonic sphere, then they would be paid for that as well. Taran was last seen in the ruins of Demara's Castle, so the heroes walked the three and a half hours from the Drunken Dragon to get there, bringing along some of Taran's clothing so Billi could try and track him by scent.
The group comes to the ruins of the castle and Billi picks up a faint scent. Tur locates some bits of ripped brown cloth that have Taran's scent as well. The group reaches the entry, but it is barred by a portcullis. Teenage Viktor steps up and he bends the bars open for the party. Teenage Pacha goes to the main door and knocks it down, revealing three gnolls beyond. Billi tears out one gnolls throat after Tur shoots it and Lilliana uses a sleep spell to drop the other two. Unfortunately, Viktor trips on some rubble and falls through a whole in the floor.
The group continues on and encounters a room full of kobolds fighting. They heroes close the door and the little critters never open it. They then find a well with a giant frog, which they slay quickly as well as a storeroom full of giant rats. The heroes have no need to kill the rodents, so they just close the door and continue. Later, they meet and battle three troglodytes, one of which casts a fear spell on Pacha, who resists it. Unfortunately, the stench of the reptile-men is enough to make Tur and Viktor puke all over themselves throughout the fight. The group then find a room with three bugbear torturing an elf. They narrowly manage to defeat all three hairy goblinoids, but Aeyesha's healing spells are needed to keep everyone alive and even so much be supplemented by a potion of healing that the group had found. The elf the group found was badly hurt, but thanks to some of Aeyesha's goodberries he recovered enough to speak. He is Taran, an elven mage of decent power and roughly commensurate with a human of nearly 30 years. Unfortunately, the bugbear have removed most of Taran's fingers, so he cannot cast spells and is fairly useless in a fight. Viktor escorts the elf to the exit from the castle, though Taran insists that the heroes find the sphere of resonance before the minotaur mage, Bonegnasher, can.
The group continues and finds a room with eight orcs mining the walls randomly. Viktor leads the charge in and with Billi and Pacha's help, they slaughter most of the orcs. One starts to surrender but is so incensed at surrendering to a half-orcish teen (Viktor) that he attacks and Viktor kills him. The group then finds three slaves serving as cooks for the humanoids in the ruins, serving under eight goblins. At Lilliana and Pacha's suggestion, Viktor offers the goblins a handful of copper to simply leave and they jump at the opportunity. The slaves give a rough layout of the area, including were the minotaur's chambers are.
Pacha opens the door to the mintour's room and three huge wardogs snarl at her. She falls back and Viktor and Billi take on the dogs. The cooshee nearly kills one outright and Viktor's sharp blades cause serious damage. Just as the last fall, the minotaur, Bonegnasher, charges out and attacks, though Pacha is his target now as Viktor is forced to retreat to Ayesha for healing. With Billi and Tur's help, Pacha drops the minotaur and the heroes find his loot as well as a strange golden key in the shape of a flute. The group quickly heads to Bonegnasher's treasure room where they battle a greater carrion crawler that nearly kills them all; it paralyzes Pacha, Tur, Viktor, Billi, and Lilliana before Ayesha finally finishes it off. Within is quite a bit more loot...but most of the party is on the verge of death and Ayesha must use several potions of healing to restore everyone to consciousness.
The party returns to where the orcs were digging and Ayesha blows on the key. A musical note comes from the wall and the cleric finds an invisible, extra-dimensional lock which the key fits. Within is Demara's Tomb and her remains, as well as several magical items including the sphere. And three shadows...! Viktor, Pacha, and Tur each square off with one of the undead. Viktor uses the new magical short sword he found and finishes his off first. Pacha has trouble and uses Viktor's magical mace, but the shadow drops her. It also drops Ayesha about the same time that Tur destroys his shadow. The rest of the party gang up on the final shadow and defeat it.
Flushed with victory, the group takes the treasure and heads back to Nethril with Taran and the three slaves they rescued. Quite a good job!
The group comes to the ruins of the castle and Billi picks up a faint scent. Tur locates some bits of ripped brown cloth that have Taran's scent as well. The group reaches the entry, but it is barred by a portcullis. Teenage Viktor steps up and he bends the bars open for the party. Teenage Pacha goes to the main door and knocks it down, revealing three gnolls beyond. Billi tears out one gnolls throat after Tur shoots it and Lilliana uses a sleep spell to drop the other two. Unfortunately, Viktor trips on some rubble and falls through a whole in the floor.
The group continues on and encounters a room full of kobolds fighting. They heroes close the door and the little critters never open it. They then find a well with a giant frog, which they slay quickly as well as a storeroom full of giant rats. The heroes have no need to kill the rodents, so they just close the door and continue. Later, they meet and battle three troglodytes, one of which casts a fear spell on Pacha, who resists it. Unfortunately, the stench of the reptile-men is enough to make Tur and Viktor puke all over themselves throughout the fight. The group then find a room with three bugbear torturing an elf. They narrowly manage to defeat all three hairy goblinoids, but Aeyesha's healing spells are needed to keep everyone alive and even so much be supplemented by a potion of healing that the group had found. The elf the group found was badly hurt, but thanks to some of Aeyesha's goodberries he recovered enough to speak. He is Taran, an elven mage of decent power and roughly commensurate with a human of nearly 30 years. Unfortunately, the bugbear have removed most of Taran's fingers, so he cannot cast spells and is fairly useless in a fight. Viktor escorts the elf to the exit from the castle, though Taran insists that the heroes find the sphere of resonance before the minotaur mage, Bonegnasher, can.
The group continues and finds a room with eight orcs mining the walls randomly. Viktor leads the charge in and with Billi and Pacha's help, they slaughter most of the orcs. One starts to surrender but is so incensed at surrendering to a half-orcish teen (Viktor) that he attacks and Viktor kills him. The group then finds three slaves serving as cooks for the humanoids in the ruins, serving under eight goblins. At Lilliana and Pacha's suggestion, Viktor offers the goblins a handful of copper to simply leave and they jump at the opportunity. The slaves give a rough layout of the area, including were the minotaur's chambers are.
Pacha opens the door to the mintour's room and three huge wardogs snarl at her. She falls back and Viktor and Billi take on the dogs. The cooshee nearly kills one outright and Viktor's sharp blades cause serious damage. Just as the last fall, the minotaur, Bonegnasher, charges out and attacks, though Pacha is his target now as Viktor is forced to retreat to Ayesha for healing. With Billi and Tur's help, Pacha drops the minotaur and the heroes find his loot as well as a strange golden key in the shape of a flute. The group quickly heads to Bonegnasher's treasure room where they battle a greater carrion crawler that nearly kills them all; it paralyzes Pacha, Tur, Viktor, Billi, and Lilliana before Ayesha finally finishes it off. Within is quite a bit more loot...but most of the party is on the verge of death and Ayesha must use several potions of healing to restore everyone to consciousness.
The party returns to where the orcs were digging and Ayesha blows on the key. A musical note comes from the wall and the cleric finds an invisible, extra-dimensional lock which the key fits. Within is Demara's Tomb and her remains, as well as several magical items including the sphere. And three shadows...! Viktor, Pacha, and Tur each square off with one of the undead. Viktor uses the new magical short sword he found and finishes his off first. Pacha has trouble and uses Viktor's magical mace, but the shadow drops her. It also drops Ayesha about the same time that Tur destroys his shadow. The rest of the party gang up on the final shadow and defeat it.
Flushed with victory, the group takes the treasure and heads back to Nethril with Taran and the three slaves they rescued. Quite a good job!
