Post by David on Jul 7, 2008 12:55:32 GMT -5
The party (Dion, Clanndennagh, Marc, Mikhail with Samhain, Sky, Cliffy, and Max) closed up the Waterfront Hostel, throwing out all the slept and fallen. Clanndennagh used his mental powers to heal Dick while Mikhail tended to Dala and Pearl. Dion then threw a bucket of water on Dick, which revived him (barely). Dion and Clanndennagh attempted to question the man, but he wouldn't break. Until Dion charmed him...
A crowd was meanwhile gathering downstairs. Dick "confided" in Dion that he wanted to kill all the other party members; Dion pretended it was a good idea, but that it should be done later. Meanwhile, the cleric of Apollo asked the hostler to get rid of the crowd. Dick spoke with Tolub, the pirate captain, and convinced him all was well (because Tolub is a tool, really, since Dion kept feeding the charmed man lines!). After the crowd was gone, the party started cleaning up the hostel, while Cliffy searched the various private rooms for hidden loot! Then one of the fallen, Unmasnot, one of Dick's henchmen, starts knocking at the kitchen door and gets let in. He starts trying to incite Dick, who runs upstairs to check on Dala. While he's gone, Dion nearly kills Unmasnot (Mikhail stabilized him afterwards). When Dick finds out, he thinks Marc or Clanndennagh did it and tries to get Dion to help him fight them. While Dion isn't looking, Dick grabs Unmasnot's sword and attacks Marc who fights back, but it's Dion who take Dick out from behind, Mikhail again tending to the wounds. Marc moves Dick upstairs and the party gets ready to leave.
That's when there's another knock, this time at the front door. After some questions, it turns out it's Dajamira, invisible, trying to join back up with the party. She'd been tailing them for nearly two days, trying to catch up and the commotion in town is what lead her to the hostel. About this time Dion heads upstairs one last time, only to find Dick awake (Marc had pulled his punch) and ready to lead a fight against the party. And despite the fact that Dion had attacked him, the putz is still charmed!. Dion remedies that and takes the man out again. Then, as everyone prepares to leave, Mikhail and Marc make a quick check of the "prisoners", secretly, Sammy killing Pearl and Marc beheading Dick, Dala, and Unmasnot ("Why leave evil, depraved slavers behind who will try to kill us again?").
The group heads toward the Temple, stopping about a half hour outside of town. There, they see two (familiar) lizard men feasting on the remains of the bandits that had jumped the party that morning. Daj tried to talk with them, but they were still pissed at her, threatening to eat her if she got in their way again. So much for saving them! The party didn't bother with the lizard men, though, since Dajamira explained they were charmed by Jaroo to attack the Temple and avoid harming any non-Temple members.
The party followed Dick's advice and waiting until near sunset to enter the Temple. So they rested about six hours off the side of the trail, Clanndennagh using this time to regain his mental strength and psionically heal the wounded. As darkness approached, the heroes reached the ruins and Daj started tracking. She noted that the main entrance had no foot-traffic, but instead a trail to the side did. The group followed this, taking a half-hour detour around the periphery of the site, hearing animals in the brush for the later half. When the group arrived at the side gate, they were challenged by shadowy figures with inhuman voices. The party gave the password they learned from Dick (and were all wearing Temple livery and cloaks), explaining they were going to sell Marc to the Earth Temple as a sacrifice, under orders from the drow priestess. It worked, and Daj followed the tracks the long way to the tower at the rear of the ruin, again taking quite a bit of extra time.
At the tower, the party again repeated the ruse, with both Daj and Cliffy invisible. When Clanndennagh entered for payment for Marc (unarmed and grabbed by four men), Cliffy slipped in too. Then, Cliffy let loose a web while Clanndennagh used a psionic blast. The few fighters who were left were short work, save Brion, the leader of the tower. Brion asked for quarter and told the party that those killed within the dungeons lost their souls to the "forces of the Temple" -- the tower may or may not fall into the same category, but either way, Brion was a brigand, not a fanatic! Using Mikhail's empathy, the party started to hammer out some conditions, but waffled too much with terms, so Brion tried to make a run for it. That's when still-invisible Daj gutted him (she'd missed most of the previous fight since Clanndennagh hadn't seen her and caught her in the full psi blast).
The heroes hurried through the secret trap door, since they knew the wererats were alerted to their presence. They gathered up Brion's treasure, including a full set of traveling gear and a list of tragets in Hommlet, Klarr, and Thistledown, and followed the downward sloping passage. After five minutes they came to a chamber containing a grayish-brown, eight-legged reptile! The basilisk looked right at Dion but only managed to turn Max to stone...
Daj and Marc charged, eyes closed, only to run into flaming oil (out of nowhere!). The basilisk started chomping on Marc as he leapt out of the fiery ditch. That's when the beast master invoked his ring of darkness and attacked. Without it's petrifying gaze and unable to see, the basilisk didn't do well against the heroes. Just as it was about to fall, however, a voice said "light" and suddenly the darkness was gone. At this point is was Marc, Daj, Sky, and Clanndennagh trying to fight it. All but the snake felt a spell hit them, and the psi-warrior quit moving, his eyes still closed. Mikhail empathically induced fear in the basilisk and Marc killed it. That's when the party heard a pair of doors creak open...
Suddenly, a female assassin nearly killed Dion with a single blow. Meanwhile, a mage charmed Marc and sicced him on Sammy and Mikhail. Cliffy slipped and fell and Clanndennagh was held; things didn't look good.
Sky tried to bite the mage. Mikhail had Sammy hold off Marc while he erased the assassin's short-term memory. Dion reeled. Daj stepped up to protect the cleric. Cliffy tried for the wizard, but the man's quasit took out the elf. Daj shouted to Dion to knock Clanndennagh over, which the priest of Apollo did. At that point, the ranger pulled out her wand and unleashed a lightning bolt which caught the assassin, mage, and quasit all. Amazingly enough, the mage took the full brunt of the attack, falling back stunned (although the quasit was totally unhurt). Marc, meanwhile, slipped and fell while fighting Sammy, giving the heroes a chance! Mikhail again voided the assassin's memory, preventing her from attacking.
Daj started to use her enchanted scimitar against the assassin (also, clearly a fighter!) while Mikhail and Sky attacked the mage, taking him out. The quasit wounded Mikhail while Marc fell victim to Sammy's bite. Dion turned on the fighter/assassin and Daj joined Sky (since Mikhail was now busy with the demon-familiar). The fire snake's fangs ended the mage's life, breaking his charm. Mikhail psionically distracted the quasit and Daj hacked it. With Mikhail's blessing, the no-longer-charmed Marc got free of Samhain. Meanwhile, Dion was taking serious punishment from the fighter/assassin.
Sammy, Sky, and Dajamira slaughtered the quasit while Marc and Dion finished off the female warrior. Mikhail began tending the wounded and Dion used a cure light wounds to restore Cliffy to consciousness. The elf used his thieving skills and wand to search out hidden treasure and magical traps in the two rooms the mage and assassin had come out of. Using Dion's dispel magic, clever Cliffy pilfered a map of the dungeon the heroes were in! That said, the elven mage/thief was convinced there were more rooms, since there was no sign of the mage's spell book or material components.
Down one member (the petrified Max) and very seriously wounds (except Sky), the heroes elected to rest instead of continuing. They headed back up the escape passage, traveling nearly a half hour, until they came out in a derelict farm house, left abandoned some 30 years (right about the time of the Battle of Emridy Meadows). In the barn outside, however, were six well-tended light warhorses.
The heroes blocked up the trap door and settled in for the night, Clanndennagh building a smokeless fire in the hearth...
Clanndennagh: 24 of 32
Dion: 23 of 42
Sky: 46 of 52
Marc: 30 of 50
Mikhail: 29 of 39
Sammy: full (24)
Cliffy: 23 of 35
Dajamira: 22 of 31
A crowd was meanwhile gathering downstairs. Dick "confided" in Dion that he wanted to kill all the other party members; Dion pretended it was a good idea, but that it should be done later. Meanwhile, the cleric of Apollo asked the hostler to get rid of the crowd. Dick spoke with Tolub, the pirate captain, and convinced him all was well (because Tolub is a tool, really, since Dion kept feeding the charmed man lines!). After the crowd was gone, the party started cleaning up the hostel, while Cliffy searched the various private rooms for hidden loot! Then one of the fallen, Unmasnot, one of Dick's henchmen, starts knocking at the kitchen door and gets let in. He starts trying to incite Dick, who runs upstairs to check on Dala. While he's gone, Dion nearly kills Unmasnot (Mikhail stabilized him afterwards). When Dick finds out, he thinks Marc or Clanndennagh did it and tries to get Dion to help him fight them. While Dion isn't looking, Dick grabs Unmasnot's sword and attacks Marc who fights back, but it's Dion who take Dick out from behind, Mikhail again tending to the wounds. Marc moves Dick upstairs and the party gets ready to leave.
That's when there's another knock, this time at the front door. After some questions, it turns out it's Dajamira, invisible, trying to join back up with the party. She'd been tailing them for nearly two days, trying to catch up and the commotion in town is what lead her to the hostel. About this time Dion heads upstairs one last time, only to find Dick awake (Marc had pulled his punch) and ready to lead a fight against the party. And despite the fact that Dion had attacked him, the putz is still charmed!. Dion remedies that and takes the man out again. Then, as everyone prepares to leave, Mikhail and Marc make a quick check of the "prisoners", secretly, Sammy killing Pearl and Marc beheading Dick, Dala, and Unmasnot ("Why leave evil, depraved slavers behind who will try to kill us again?").
The group heads toward the Temple, stopping about a half hour outside of town. There, they see two (familiar) lizard men feasting on the remains of the bandits that had jumped the party that morning. Daj tried to talk with them, but they were still pissed at her, threatening to eat her if she got in their way again. So much for saving them! The party didn't bother with the lizard men, though, since Dajamira explained they were charmed by Jaroo to attack the Temple and avoid harming any non-Temple members.
The party followed Dick's advice and waiting until near sunset to enter the Temple. So they rested about six hours off the side of the trail, Clanndennagh using this time to regain his mental strength and psionically heal the wounded. As darkness approached, the heroes reached the ruins and Daj started tracking. She noted that the main entrance had no foot-traffic, but instead a trail to the side did. The group followed this, taking a half-hour detour around the periphery of the site, hearing animals in the brush for the later half. When the group arrived at the side gate, they were challenged by shadowy figures with inhuman voices. The party gave the password they learned from Dick (and were all wearing Temple livery and cloaks), explaining they were going to sell Marc to the Earth Temple as a sacrifice, under orders from the drow priestess. It worked, and Daj followed the tracks the long way to the tower at the rear of the ruin, again taking quite a bit of extra time.
At the tower, the party again repeated the ruse, with both Daj and Cliffy invisible. When Clanndennagh entered for payment for Marc (unarmed and grabbed by four men), Cliffy slipped in too. Then, Cliffy let loose a web while Clanndennagh used a psionic blast. The few fighters who were left were short work, save Brion, the leader of the tower. Brion asked for quarter and told the party that those killed within the dungeons lost their souls to the "forces of the Temple" -- the tower may or may not fall into the same category, but either way, Brion was a brigand, not a fanatic! Using Mikhail's empathy, the party started to hammer out some conditions, but waffled too much with terms, so Brion tried to make a run for it. That's when still-invisible Daj gutted him (she'd missed most of the previous fight since Clanndennagh hadn't seen her and caught her in the full psi blast).
The heroes hurried through the secret trap door, since they knew the wererats were alerted to their presence. They gathered up Brion's treasure, including a full set of traveling gear and a list of tragets in Hommlet, Klarr, and Thistledown, and followed the downward sloping passage. After five minutes they came to a chamber containing a grayish-brown, eight-legged reptile! The basilisk looked right at Dion but only managed to turn Max to stone...
Daj and Marc charged, eyes closed, only to run into flaming oil (out of nowhere!). The basilisk started chomping on Marc as he leapt out of the fiery ditch. That's when the beast master invoked his ring of darkness and attacked. Without it's petrifying gaze and unable to see, the basilisk didn't do well against the heroes. Just as it was about to fall, however, a voice said "light" and suddenly the darkness was gone. At this point is was Marc, Daj, Sky, and Clanndennagh trying to fight it. All but the snake felt a spell hit them, and the psi-warrior quit moving, his eyes still closed. Mikhail empathically induced fear in the basilisk and Marc killed it. That's when the party heard a pair of doors creak open...
Suddenly, a female assassin nearly killed Dion with a single blow. Meanwhile, a mage charmed Marc and sicced him on Sammy and Mikhail. Cliffy slipped and fell and Clanndennagh was held; things didn't look good.
Sky tried to bite the mage. Mikhail had Sammy hold off Marc while he erased the assassin's short-term memory. Dion reeled. Daj stepped up to protect the cleric. Cliffy tried for the wizard, but the man's quasit took out the elf. Daj shouted to Dion to knock Clanndennagh over, which the priest of Apollo did. At that point, the ranger pulled out her wand and unleashed a lightning bolt which caught the assassin, mage, and quasit all. Amazingly enough, the mage took the full brunt of the attack, falling back stunned (although the quasit was totally unhurt). Marc, meanwhile, slipped and fell while fighting Sammy, giving the heroes a chance! Mikhail again voided the assassin's memory, preventing her from attacking.
Daj started to use her enchanted scimitar against the assassin (also, clearly a fighter!) while Mikhail and Sky attacked the mage, taking him out. The quasit wounded Mikhail while Marc fell victim to Sammy's bite. Dion turned on the fighter/assassin and Daj joined Sky (since Mikhail was now busy with the demon-familiar). The fire snake's fangs ended the mage's life, breaking his charm. Mikhail psionically distracted the quasit and Daj hacked it. With Mikhail's blessing, the no-longer-charmed Marc got free of Samhain. Meanwhile, Dion was taking serious punishment from the fighter/assassin.
Sammy, Sky, and Dajamira slaughtered the quasit while Marc and Dion finished off the female warrior. Mikhail began tending the wounded and Dion used a cure light wounds to restore Cliffy to consciousness. The elf used his thieving skills and wand to search out hidden treasure and magical traps in the two rooms the mage and assassin had come out of. Using Dion's dispel magic, clever Cliffy pilfered a map of the dungeon the heroes were in! That said, the elven mage/thief was convinced there were more rooms, since there was no sign of the mage's spell book or material components.
Down one member (the petrified Max) and very seriously wounds (except Sky), the heroes elected to rest instead of continuing. They headed back up the escape passage, traveling nearly a half hour, until they came out in a derelict farm house, left abandoned some 30 years (right about the time of the Battle of Emridy Meadows). In the barn outside, however, were six well-tended light warhorses.
The heroes blocked up the trap door and settled in for the night, Clanndennagh building a smokeless fire in the hearth...
Clanndennagh: 24 of 32
Dion: 23 of 42
Sky: 46 of 52
Marc: 30 of 50
Mikhail: 29 of 39
Sammy: full (24)
Cliffy: 23 of 35
Dajamira: 22 of 31
