Post by David on Jun 14, 2016 19:48:41 GMT -5
The heroes (Taarna, Brock, Esmerelda with Drusilla, Cymoril with Tar'jar, Tolus, and Mikhail) spend the night in the woods where Klarr will one day be built. The following morning, the group tries to figure out a plan to return to the present time after completing their mission. They also lay the foundation for how to send the cone of the magi to the bottom of the sea. The first step is to make use of a magical area in the home of a friend of Tar'jar's. The wizard, known as D'arcturus, was very interested in the ocean and had many useful items to explore it. Further, he died alongside Tar'jar battling the Zargon. Esmerelda plucked the image of the location from Tar'jar's mind using esp, with the plan to use a probability control to reduce the odds of failure of a dimensional fold, but Taarna wisely suggested scrying the location. The first attempt failed and the heroes had a full day of rest in the past, though Tar'jar nearly choked Cymoril to death that evening due to nightmares...
The following day, Esmerelda scried the location and the party set about entering "Doc's" castle. The heroes befriended a group of sprites and "rescued" some barrels of ale from a pair of ankhegs for them. They reached the entrance, avoided the (death) rattle hanging next to the sign in Suloise, Elvish, Gnomish, and Olman to "shake rattle for service." Tar'jar's great strength breached the wizard locked doors until the group reached a central dome with colored exits. Taarna correctly deduced that these were prismatic effects and Esmerelda confirmed this and offered suggestions on how to overcome them. After a bit of fiddling and with quite a bit of luck, the heroes happened upon the entrance to the inside of the castle -- a teleportal.
At this point, Tar'jar, Taarna, and Tolus found themselves battling three modified golems -- an iron golem which blasted fire from its eyes, a stone golem which invoked hold and a flesh golem that crackled with electricity. The latter fell quickly, but the iron golem dished out quite a bit of punishment to Tolus and Tar'jar. The Flan ranger fell back and Mikhail took his place while Taarna finished off the stone golem. Finally, Taarna grabbed one of Tolus' spears and working with Tar'jar destroyed the automaton. The group continued on to find many squashed sea elf bodies in the hallways beyond. Descending to the lower level, they found more as well as a silver golem. The golem was amazingly fast, but the heroes took it out. That's when the swarm of sea elves attacked with tridents and nets. Taarna was caught and would have been in trouble had she not bathed in the blood of a dragon. Cymoril unleashed a burning hands which seriously hurt the elves who ALL focused on the sorceress! A hold person spell then took out Tar'jar and Mikhail. Brock called down a flame strike and the elves fell back, using some device to place a barrier of blue light between themselves and the party.
The heroes tried to figure out their next move and suddenly sea elves lept out of the "standing" fountain of sea water and attacked the heroes from behind. One went for Mikhail, who, though held, simply time shifted to safety. Another grabbed helpless Tar'jar and dragged him into the water to drown... The rest battled the party but were quickly overpowered and slaughtered. During the fight, however, the "elves" revealed hidden talons, showing themselves to actually be malenti. Brock went to rescue Tar'jar, but it turned out that the fountain of sea water was what they were looking for -- though seriously wounded, Tar'jar (and Brock) could now breathe water! The last two malenti fled and the heroes made a minor effort to secure the area before teleporting back to their camp to rest.
The following morning the heroes teleported back only to encounter the now-dying Nilrem the Explorer, the bronze-handed spell-caster who has helped call down the Rain of Colorless Fire. Nilrem complained about the loss of the malenti but the heroes explained their goal. Nilrem asked if he too could be cured and at Taarna's suggestion, Mikhail teleported Nilrem to Jhor'dain, giving the heroes free access to the fountain of water. They entered and Esmerelda dimensional folded the heroes to their destination, arriving on the ocean floor. She then used a find the path to the edge of the sea-trench and the heroes tossed the stone shaped boulder containing the cone into the depths. They then dimensional folded back to Doc/Nilrem's cavern and later met up with Mikhail.
The group went after the cockatrice, which turned everyone but Mikhail to stone. Then, with Alistair's help and spells, the young psi gathered up the party, now itemized and under extension III and left for the astral plane...
The following day, Esmerelda scried the location and the party set about entering "Doc's" castle. The heroes befriended a group of sprites and "rescued" some barrels of ale from a pair of ankhegs for them. They reached the entrance, avoided the (death) rattle hanging next to the sign in Suloise, Elvish, Gnomish, and Olman to "shake rattle for service." Tar'jar's great strength breached the wizard locked doors until the group reached a central dome with colored exits. Taarna correctly deduced that these were prismatic effects and Esmerelda confirmed this and offered suggestions on how to overcome them. After a bit of fiddling and with quite a bit of luck, the heroes happened upon the entrance to the inside of the castle -- a teleportal.
At this point, Tar'jar, Taarna, and Tolus found themselves battling three modified golems -- an iron golem which blasted fire from its eyes, a stone golem which invoked hold and a flesh golem that crackled with electricity. The latter fell quickly, but the iron golem dished out quite a bit of punishment to Tolus and Tar'jar. The Flan ranger fell back and Mikhail took his place while Taarna finished off the stone golem. Finally, Taarna grabbed one of Tolus' spears and working with Tar'jar destroyed the automaton. The group continued on to find many squashed sea elf bodies in the hallways beyond. Descending to the lower level, they found more as well as a silver golem. The golem was amazingly fast, but the heroes took it out. That's when the swarm of sea elves attacked with tridents and nets. Taarna was caught and would have been in trouble had she not bathed in the blood of a dragon. Cymoril unleashed a burning hands which seriously hurt the elves who ALL focused on the sorceress! A hold person spell then took out Tar'jar and Mikhail. Brock called down a flame strike and the elves fell back, using some device to place a barrier of blue light between themselves and the party.
The heroes tried to figure out their next move and suddenly sea elves lept out of the "standing" fountain of sea water and attacked the heroes from behind. One went for Mikhail, who, though held, simply time shifted to safety. Another grabbed helpless Tar'jar and dragged him into the water to drown... The rest battled the party but were quickly overpowered and slaughtered. During the fight, however, the "elves" revealed hidden talons, showing themselves to actually be malenti. Brock went to rescue Tar'jar, but it turned out that the fountain of sea water was what they were looking for -- though seriously wounded, Tar'jar (and Brock) could now breathe water! The last two malenti fled and the heroes made a minor effort to secure the area before teleporting back to their camp to rest.
The following morning the heroes teleported back only to encounter the now-dying Nilrem the Explorer, the bronze-handed spell-caster who has helped call down the Rain of Colorless Fire. Nilrem complained about the loss of the malenti but the heroes explained their goal. Nilrem asked if he too could be cured and at Taarna's suggestion, Mikhail teleported Nilrem to Jhor'dain, giving the heroes free access to the fountain of water. They entered and Esmerelda dimensional folded the heroes to their destination, arriving on the ocean floor. She then used a find the path to the edge of the sea-trench and the heroes tossed the stone shaped boulder containing the cone into the depths. They then dimensional folded back to Doc/Nilrem's cavern and later met up with Mikhail.
The group went after the cockatrice, which turned everyone but Mikhail to stone. Then, with Alistair's help and spells, the young psi gathered up the party, now itemized and under extension III and left for the astral plane...