Post by David on Mar 7, 2016 15:26:51 GMT -5
Taarna and Mikhail appear one hundred feet above Lake Udrukankar at the edge of Tovag Baragu on the outskirts of the Baklunish capitol of Udrukankar. All around the two reign the Invoked Devastation. A cloud of fog obscures vision while muffling and distorting sound. Meanwhile a slow, magical malaise permeates the region causing flesh, bone, wood, cloth, and even metal to rot and decay. All around Taarna and Mikhail, they can see wooden ships sinking as the crew die horribly as their flesh becomes necrotic and falls away to reveal dissolving bones beneath. As if that weren’t enough, the heroes see countless hordes of strange daemons, hordlings of Hades, slaughtering any living thing they encounter. Near the shore are several massive indigo-colored stork-monsters with bronze beaks and hand-like wings, preying upon those fortunate enough not to die instantly from the rotting air. In the fog, the pair can also make out the shapes of massive black horses with flaming hooves and mouths, some ridden by evil looking hags. In the distance, one evil-looking figure out of the viewer’s worst nightmare rides the largest of these horses, swinging his enormous scythe among the dying and harvesting their souls. Taarna holds onto Mikhail as the young druid casts water walking on the pair to enable them to reach shore – in Mikhail’s time, the lake is mostly a salt flat, but before the Invoked Devastation, the lake is massive and deep, supporting a thriving ecosystem as well as a brusque merchant fleet.
Taarna and Mikhail can feel their bodies resisting the rotting effects of the fog, very slowly succumbing. They land on the water and race for the shore where they encounter and battle six hordlings. These daemons are covered in black quill-like fur, huge claws, fang-filled orange maws, and a barbed tail. Taarna does fairly well against the monstrosities but they nearly kill Mikhail. Taarna narrowly rescues the young man, impaled on the back of the last hordling. They run up the steps to the massive complex of pale stone menhirs that make up Tovag Baragu. Once inside, Mikhail cure diseases himself, but before he can cure Taarna, five huge dire wolves arrive snarling. The druid speaks to the wolves, but cannot convince them to bring the party, now climbing out of the two bags of holding, to the Baklunish magi. Mikhail risks insanity and opens his mind to the animals, but even then he cannot convince them. Their howls, however, bring four figures…who prepare to attack once Tar’jar slaughters one of the wolves. Brock tries to knock the wolves away and Mikhail telempathically instills fear in the beasts, driving them away. Which is when the party finds itself inside a wall of fire!
Taarna and Mikhail try to talk to the approaching figures. A female firbolg, Leila, stands ready to defend, Lady Rindrelle, high priestess of Berei. Flanking her are a pair of skilled archers. Talking proves useless, particularly since pretty much the whole party appears to be Suloise with the exception of Tolus and Mikhail, who ultimately submits to a charm spell. Desperate to save his own timeline, Mikhail then shares EVERYTHING with ‘his trusted ally,’ Lady Rindrelle, including the fact that the heroes are from the future. About this time, Father Dugan arrives and verifies that what he and what Taarna are saying is indeed the truth. About this time, Kahan precognitively realizes that the heroes are almost too late – the Scarlet Brotherhood is about to attack and assassinate the magi!
In the center of the stone circle, assassins appear among the dozen spell-casters. Several attacks fail, but the sword strikes of a Suel general wielding an iron longsword with ornate angels making up the hilt and a flawless adamantium shield wound Wayland Darkmantle followed by an arrow of slaying which drops him. Setrog, the general, then takes the time to massacre the, greatest Baklunish wizard ever, making anything short of resurrection impossible. The Brotherhood, benefiting from a haste spell, carves a path of destruction through the hapless Bakluns. The Grandfather of Assassins tries to slay Kaleth Cork, a half-sidhe sorcerer-warrior and greatest hero of the Celts, but the attacks are largely ineffective. Several other magi are already near death…
On the outskirts of the complex of menhirs, nearly a half mile away, the heroes race to save the Bakluns and their own future. Mikhail grabs Taarna and teleports to the inner circle while Esmerelda casts a dimensional fold to the same location, where Mother Maggie’s twin scimitars hack down her would-be doppleganger assassin, finally spilling Suel blood. A flurry of dispel magics and haste spells restore the balance somewhat. Further, two mages time heal themselves, restoring themselves to full strength and undoing much of the initial damage the Suloise hit team inflicted. Unfortunately, Mother Maggie goes down with a broken hip.
Esmerelda, Cymoril, Father Dugan and his dwarven ally, Otto, Lady Rindrelle and her firbolg guardian, Leila, as well as Kahan manage to get through the dimensional fold to the center of Tovag Baragu, but they age unnaturally and the spell results in a semi-permanent rift, triggering a series of strange temporal effects. Mistral unleashes a chain lightning that slays three Brotherhood assassins, but inflicts some harm on the heroes. For his efforts, he is one of the targets of Dal, daughter of Kord. She uses her black eog hammer of lightning bolts to unleash a lightning bolt that instantly kills Allistair the Bold and Skieeraakra the ambassador of the aaracrocra and wounds Mistral and Hannok the druidic ambassador of the wood elves. An arrow of mage slaying finishes Iris Rainbird, Wayland’s ally and apprentice. All the Suloise assailants are on the defensive, already four of the Baklunish magi lie dead…
One of the Brotherhood assassins runs off as one of the magi manages to dispel Esemerelda’s dimensional fold. Lady Rindrelle uses the scroll Mikhail gave her to cast mass cure serious wounds, restoring Mother Maggie’s leg and healing most of the wounded heroes. Cymoril goes after Dal, but the godling is more than her match. Setrog slays Jhordan even as most of his other Brotherhood allies fall. Mistral joins her. Six of the Baklunish magi lie dead even as most of the Suloise assailants are in a similar state. With at least three of the major spell-casters out as well as three of their lesser-known allies, casting the ritual to call forth the Rain of Colorless Fire seems nearly impossible. And with the Baklunish and their allies from the future rallying while the Brotherhood forces fall, further victories seem quite unlikely.
Lady Rindrelle curses Dal with clumsiness. As a result, when the daughter of Kord tries to use her cubic gate to flee, she accidentally draws herself, Cymoril, and Taarna all to the ethereal plane. A volley of several dispel magics manage to bring all three back, but Dal manages to trigger the correct cube face this time, disappearing to safety. Brock arrives and goes for Setrog, but it is Kaleth that slays the Suel general. He then goes after Katan, pummeling him to unconsciousness with Brock’s aid. The heroes are victorious. Two of the Suel have escaped, but the Grandfather of Assassins, Claire Voyant, and Katan are captives and the rest are dead. Unfortunately, so too are Wayland Darkmantle, Iris Rainbird, Jhordan the Heirophant, Allistair the Bold, Mistral, and Skieeraakra.
Mother Maggie explains that time is of the essence. If the ritual is to be invoked, it must be cast soon. After there are, quite frankly, not enough spell-casters left… Father Dugan steps forward with his rod of resurrection and restores Wayland Darkmantle to life. Lady Rindrelle then heals the ancient, enigmatic mage, restoring him to fighting strength. She then casts raise dead and heal on Jhordan as well, restoring her. But this only leaves seven to cast the ritual which requires twelve. Seeing the truth in Taarna and Mikhail’s words, Father Dugan agrees to take part, even though this spell will obliterate his homeland. Justice must be served… Similarly, Lady Rindrelle also agrees to take part. The gathered magi look to the heroes. Without hesitation, Brock volunteers, followed almost immediately by Mikhail. All eyes turn to Esmerelda, but Kahan speaks up, offering to do his part. Mother Maggie explains the dangers of the spell and how the witch would be better suited, but Esmerelda agrees to let Kahan take part, though she uses a moment to aid everyone’s success, bolstered by a chant from Taarna.
The spell-casters take their places in the inner circle of stones towering 40’ above them. The heroes gather the bodies of the fallen as well as the captives to a safe distance outside the circle. At the signal from Esmerelda, the ritual to call down the Rain of Colorless Fire begins…
During the hour long spell, Esmerelda casts speak with dead on the apparent leader of the Suloise, General Setrog. She learns from him that even if successful, the Baklunish and the rest of the Flanesse is still doomed. The location of the Cone of the Magi is known and with it the Suel survivors can call down another Invoked Devastation in the future. The Rain of Colorless Fire will bury the relic in Xodast’s lair and render it inaccessible for centuries…when the Brotherhood of the future will easily be able to recover it. Esmerelda then turns to the unconscious assassin, Claire, for further information. And aid restores her to consciousness while an ESP extracts some information. Unfortunately, the assassin is able to shield her thoughts and drive the witch out. The witch of the Norns tries to charm the lead assassin, but this too fails. Finally, however, Hannok the wood elf blankets the three captives with charm person spells, ensnaring each. The heroes then learn the specifics of the Cone’s location in Xodast’s lair.
Meanwhile, the ritual nears completion. The light of the son touches down on Oerth, lighting up the evening hemisphere. Solar flames envelope the twelve magi, inflicting terrible damage, despite their magical protections. Kahan falls as the spell completes. Kaleth Cork pulls him to safety as Mikhail and Lady Rindrelle go permanently blind. The heroes all flee the outer ring of stones as the inner ring becomes as hot as the depths of the Elemental Plane of Fire…
There is no time to wait as the solar flares spread. Soon it is clear what will boil away Lake Udrukankar and melt the stones of the city…it’s not the Invoked Devastation…
Lady Rindrelle cures her own blindness and Mikhail’s. The druid psionically stabilizes Kahan as the cleric of Berei uses her scroll to restore his lost life energy. Despite their protections from fire, everyone is badly burned and sore. All of the original Baklunish magi find themselves partially drained of their life energy and everyone now bears wounds that will not fully heal.
Now on the edge of Tovag Baragu, the magi leap out into the edge of the Invoked Devastation and teleport to safety. Hannok and his charmed prisoners join the heroes as Esmerelda, benefitting for a choose future casts a dimensional fold to the courtyard outside Xodast’s residence…
The adventure is far from over…
Status:
Tolus: 28 of 56, STR 18/90
Kahan: 0* of 44, 8gbs, 4psi, -1 LVL, no spells
Brock: -11* from full at -1 LVL, 8gbs, STR 18/00, only 2nd and 5th lvl spells left
Taarna: 27 of 96, no spells left
Esmerelda: 49 (full), only three 3rd lvl and one 5th lvl spell left
___Drusilla: 21 (full)
Cymoril: 42 of 88, no LAY or spells
Tar’jar: 94 of 101, missed most of the action…
Mikhail: 67* of 78, 8gbs, used reptile & dog forms, five 1st and two 5th lvl spells left
___Hannok the Wood Elf: (full), five 1st and three 3rd lvl spells left
___Grandfather: 1
___Claire Voyant: 1
___Katan: 4
YES, the DM made to adjustments/clarifications. First, as we discussed, I assumed that the healers used ALL of their magics to restore the spell-casters to full strength. That means eating goodberries too since that’s a LOT of healing. Second, I forgot that some of the damage from the fire would leak through ANY resistance (1pt per die), hence the additional damage to Kahan, Brock, and Mikhail.
Taarna and Mikhail can feel their bodies resisting the rotting effects of the fog, very slowly succumbing. They land on the water and race for the shore where they encounter and battle six hordlings. These daemons are covered in black quill-like fur, huge claws, fang-filled orange maws, and a barbed tail. Taarna does fairly well against the monstrosities but they nearly kill Mikhail. Taarna narrowly rescues the young man, impaled on the back of the last hordling. They run up the steps to the massive complex of pale stone menhirs that make up Tovag Baragu. Once inside, Mikhail cure diseases himself, but before he can cure Taarna, five huge dire wolves arrive snarling. The druid speaks to the wolves, but cannot convince them to bring the party, now climbing out of the two bags of holding, to the Baklunish magi. Mikhail risks insanity and opens his mind to the animals, but even then he cannot convince them. Their howls, however, bring four figures…who prepare to attack once Tar’jar slaughters one of the wolves. Brock tries to knock the wolves away and Mikhail telempathically instills fear in the beasts, driving them away. Which is when the party finds itself inside a wall of fire!
Taarna and Mikhail try to talk to the approaching figures. A female firbolg, Leila, stands ready to defend, Lady Rindrelle, high priestess of Berei. Flanking her are a pair of skilled archers. Talking proves useless, particularly since pretty much the whole party appears to be Suloise with the exception of Tolus and Mikhail, who ultimately submits to a charm spell. Desperate to save his own timeline, Mikhail then shares EVERYTHING with ‘his trusted ally,’ Lady Rindrelle, including the fact that the heroes are from the future. About this time, Father Dugan arrives and verifies that what he and what Taarna are saying is indeed the truth. About this time, Kahan precognitively realizes that the heroes are almost too late – the Scarlet Brotherhood is about to attack and assassinate the magi!
In the center of the stone circle, assassins appear among the dozen spell-casters. Several attacks fail, but the sword strikes of a Suel general wielding an iron longsword with ornate angels making up the hilt and a flawless adamantium shield wound Wayland Darkmantle followed by an arrow of slaying which drops him. Setrog, the general, then takes the time to massacre the, greatest Baklunish wizard ever, making anything short of resurrection impossible. The Brotherhood, benefiting from a haste spell, carves a path of destruction through the hapless Bakluns. The Grandfather of Assassins tries to slay Kaleth Cork, a half-sidhe sorcerer-warrior and greatest hero of the Celts, but the attacks are largely ineffective. Several other magi are already near death…
On the outskirts of the complex of menhirs, nearly a half mile away, the heroes race to save the Bakluns and their own future. Mikhail grabs Taarna and teleports to the inner circle while Esmerelda casts a dimensional fold to the same location, where Mother Maggie’s twin scimitars hack down her would-be doppleganger assassin, finally spilling Suel blood. A flurry of dispel magics and haste spells restore the balance somewhat. Further, two mages time heal themselves, restoring themselves to full strength and undoing much of the initial damage the Suloise hit team inflicted. Unfortunately, Mother Maggie goes down with a broken hip.
Esmerelda, Cymoril, Father Dugan and his dwarven ally, Otto, Lady Rindrelle and her firbolg guardian, Leila, as well as Kahan manage to get through the dimensional fold to the center of Tovag Baragu, but they age unnaturally and the spell results in a semi-permanent rift, triggering a series of strange temporal effects. Mistral unleashes a chain lightning that slays three Brotherhood assassins, but inflicts some harm on the heroes. For his efforts, he is one of the targets of Dal, daughter of Kord. She uses her black eog hammer of lightning bolts to unleash a lightning bolt that instantly kills Allistair the Bold and Skieeraakra the ambassador of the aaracrocra and wounds Mistral and Hannok the druidic ambassador of the wood elves. An arrow of mage slaying finishes Iris Rainbird, Wayland’s ally and apprentice. All the Suloise assailants are on the defensive, already four of the Baklunish magi lie dead…
One of the Brotherhood assassins runs off as one of the magi manages to dispel Esemerelda’s dimensional fold. Lady Rindrelle uses the scroll Mikhail gave her to cast mass cure serious wounds, restoring Mother Maggie’s leg and healing most of the wounded heroes. Cymoril goes after Dal, but the godling is more than her match. Setrog slays Jhordan even as most of his other Brotherhood allies fall. Mistral joins her. Six of the Baklunish magi lie dead even as most of the Suloise assailants are in a similar state. With at least three of the major spell-casters out as well as three of their lesser-known allies, casting the ritual to call forth the Rain of Colorless Fire seems nearly impossible. And with the Baklunish and their allies from the future rallying while the Brotherhood forces fall, further victories seem quite unlikely.
Lady Rindrelle curses Dal with clumsiness. As a result, when the daughter of Kord tries to use her cubic gate to flee, she accidentally draws herself, Cymoril, and Taarna all to the ethereal plane. A volley of several dispel magics manage to bring all three back, but Dal manages to trigger the correct cube face this time, disappearing to safety. Brock arrives and goes for Setrog, but it is Kaleth that slays the Suel general. He then goes after Katan, pummeling him to unconsciousness with Brock’s aid. The heroes are victorious. Two of the Suel have escaped, but the Grandfather of Assassins, Claire Voyant, and Katan are captives and the rest are dead. Unfortunately, so too are Wayland Darkmantle, Iris Rainbird, Jhordan the Heirophant, Allistair the Bold, Mistral, and Skieeraakra.
Mother Maggie explains that time is of the essence. If the ritual is to be invoked, it must be cast soon. After there are, quite frankly, not enough spell-casters left… Father Dugan steps forward with his rod of resurrection and restores Wayland Darkmantle to life. Lady Rindrelle then heals the ancient, enigmatic mage, restoring him to fighting strength. She then casts raise dead and heal on Jhordan as well, restoring her. But this only leaves seven to cast the ritual which requires twelve. Seeing the truth in Taarna and Mikhail’s words, Father Dugan agrees to take part, even though this spell will obliterate his homeland. Justice must be served… Similarly, Lady Rindrelle also agrees to take part. The gathered magi look to the heroes. Without hesitation, Brock volunteers, followed almost immediately by Mikhail. All eyes turn to Esmerelda, but Kahan speaks up, offering to do his part. Mother Maggie explains the dangers of the spell and how the witch would be better suited, but Esmerelda agrees to let Kahan take part, though she uses a moment to aid everyone’s success, bolstered by a chant from Taarna.
The spell-casters take their places in the inner circle of stones towering 40’ above them. The heroes gather the bodies of the fallen as well as the captives to a safe distance outside the circle. At the signal from Esmerelda, the ritual to call down the Rain of Colorless Fire begins…
During the hour long spell, Esmerelda casts speak with dead on the apparent leader of the Suloise, General Setrog. She learns from him that even if successful, the Baklunish and the rest of the Flanesse is still doomed. The location of the Cone of the Magi is known and with it the Suel survivors can call down another Invoked Devastation in the future. The Rain of Colorless Fire will bury the relic in Xodast’s lair and render it inaccessible for centuries…when the Brotherhood of the future will easily be able to recover it. Esmerelda then turns to the unconscious assassin, Claire, for further information. And aid restores her to consciousness while an ESP extracts some information. Unfortunately, the assassin is able to shield her thoughts and drive the witch out. The witch of the Norns tries to charm the lead assassin, but this too fails. Finally, however, Hannok the wood elf blankets the three captives with charm person spells, ensnaring each. The heroes then learn the specifics of the Cone’s location in Xodast’s lair.
Meanwhile, the ritual nears completion. The light of the son touches down on Oerth, lighting up the evening hemisphere. Solar flames envelope the twelve magi, inflicting terrible damage, despite their magical protections. Kahan falls as the spell completes. Kaleth Cork pulls him to safety as Mikhail and Lady Rindrelle go permanently blind. The heroes all flee the outer ring of stones as the inner ring becomes as hot as the depths of the Elemental Plane of Fire…
There is no time to wait as the solar flares spread. Soon it is clear what will boil away Lake Udrukankar and melt the stones of the city…it’s not the Invoked Devastation…
Lady Rindrelle cures her own blindness and Mikhail’s. The druid psionically stabilizes Kahan as the cleric of Berei uses her scroll to restore his lost life energy. Despite their protections from fire, everyone is badly burned and sore. All of the original Baklunish magi find themselves partially drained of their life energy and everyone now bears wounds that will not fully heal.
Now on the edge of Tovag Baragu, the magi leap out into the edge of the Invoked Devastation and teleport to safety. Hannok and his charmed prisoners join the heroes as Esmerelda, benefitting for a choose future casts a dimensional fold to the courtyard outside Xodast’s residence…
The adventure is far from over…
Status:
Tolus: 28 of 56, STR 18/90
Kahan: 0* of 44, 8gbs, 4psi, -1 LVL, no spells
Brock: -11* from full at -1 LVL, 8gbs, STR 18/00, only 2nd and 5th lvl spells left
Taarna: 27 of 96, no spells left
Esmerelda: 49 (full), only three 3rd lvl and one 5th lvl spell left
___Drusilla: 21 (full)
Cymoril: 42 of 88, no LAY or spells
Tar’jar: 94 of 101, missed most of the action…
Mikhail: 67* of 78, 8gbs, used reptile & dog forms, five 1st and two 5th lvl spells left
___Hannok the Wood Elf: (full), five 1st and three 3rd lvl spells left
___Grandfather: 1
___Claire Voyant: 1
___Katan: 4
YES, the DM made to adjustments/clarifications. First, as we discussed, I assumed that the healers used ALL of their magics to restore the spell-casters to full strength. That means eating goodberries too since that’s a LOT of healing. Second, I forgot that some of the damage from the fire would leak through ANY resistance (1pt per die), hence the additional damage to Kahan, Brock, and Mikhail.
