Post by David on Aug 11, 2010 14:28:02 GMT -5
The heroes (Torr with Zayüß, Squattingbeaver, Lowdog, Aine with Dresher, plus Aurora) decide to travel through Fleureville in order to reach Chateauenfer and then Pommeville, where the plan is to cross back to Oerth and ask BlackRobe to lift the quest in order for the heroes to destroy Sidra, save Maedhros, AND seal the gate between Charn and Oerth. Thanks to Idky's clear the path the train rockets through Fleureville (and its DENSE foliage) without incident.
Late in the day, the heroes arrive at Chateauenfer where they're forced to abandon their train and walk around the city. En route the party meets and quickly dispatches five jackalwere as well as a dozen harpies. At one point, a harpy charms Aurora who starts trying to kill Aine. After the battle, the witch tries to slap the princess and the two nearly return to blows. Yavin and 'Beaver telepathically settle things, but there's clear bad blood between the two women.
The heroes camp outside of Chateauenfer without incident and with the aid of a easy march make it to Pommeville in a single day. A single gargoyle arrives in transit, but Aine toss a sleep on the beastie and it falls to its death....*crash!*
The morning of the 18th, the heroes arrive at Pommeville. They immediately head to Deer Leap Hill and the stone henge back to Oerth. 'Beaver almost steps through before he realizes that the gate no longer leads to Oerth but rather the mountainous pass of a frozen, arctic world, with a steaming, steed, verdant river-valley in the distance. That's when the hobgoblin tosses a molotov cocktail through the gate and nearly burns the shaman. Two arrows kill the monster but the party becomes quite concerned. Aine and Idky discuss the situation and come up that this world is, indeed, another planet within the ancient Baklunish gate-network, a frozen, largely-uninhabitable world of icy planes criss-crossed by ridiculously-steep rocky canyons etched across the surface by geo-thermal river valleys. Etheria is a home to a few goblins and trolls in the swaths of warmth, with a smattering of fierce polar-beasts vying for dominance on the main "surface". The Bakluns and later refugees avoided Etheria for a reason...
The party makes contact with Montrose who explains that a group of green-skinned creatures has come and begun to raid the orchards outside of town (all of the fields and orchards within town have gone barren and rotted from the effects of the runestone...). There heroes go to deal with these invaders. Using Yavin's telepathy and 'Beaver's ESP, the party begins a dialog with the dozen goblins, hobgoblins, and extra-burly goblins. A sleep from Aine drops half of them and Lowdog knocks the leader to the ground. A brief "dialog" send the goblins on their way back through the gate, although they vow to return...
The heroes spend the rest of the day plant growthing a huge hedge of thorny bushes and small oaks to block the gate's access to Charn. As night falls, the party beds down in one of the houses on the same side of the river as Deer Leap Hill and the gate.
It's nearly midnight when Lowdog awakens the party; a huge bonfire on the hill shows where creatures are burning the thorny hedge and trees. The totemic warrior awakens the shaman, who then awakens Aine. Using his ESP to link into Dresher's thoughts, 'Beaver is able to see what the owl-familiar can see, even as far away as the gate. Aine sends the bird to reconnoiter the scene.
A veritable army of goblins and trolls has come to Charn. More than a hundred goblins lead by a powerfully-built, crown-wearing goblin are there. Also present and tearing up the trees are nearly two dozen trolls, two-headed trolls, and two-headed giants! Within a few minutes, the barrier on the Charn side of the gate is no more and the goblins and trolls are setting up a perimeter on Deer Leap Hill amid the monsoon rains...
The heroes move to repell the intruders. It takes a few minutes for everyone to get ready and during that time Dresher resists a sleep spell tossed her way. Unfortunately, 'Beaver can't maintain the connection and loses contact with the familiar.
The heroes head up the hill, trusting to Lowdog and Yavin's infravision and Torr's enhanced senses. Alas but the goblins and (especially) the trolls have even better infravision and entrap the party. Goblins archers, hobgoblin crossbowmen, and über-goblin molotov-cocktail chuckers bombard the heroes as two ettins charge!
Lowdog and Torr make fairly short work of the ettins as Aine and Aurora use up their sleep spells taking out all of the goblins and hobgoblins. 'Beaver had cast an animal summoning earlier and the wolves with him are set to the task of slaying the sleeping goblins...
Trolls and two-headed trolls join the melee and Torr quaffs his potion of immoliation, bursting into flame. The paladin and totemic warrior go back to back amid the towering foes...which is when the rest of the party is hit with a bolt of lighting from the sky! Someone has called lightning on them! Yavin is unhurt and 'Beaver mostly resists the spell, but Aurora and Aine are barely alive. Yavin tosses a globe of darkness for cover (trusting to his ability to see in magical darkness) and 'Beaver assumes the form of a hummingbird and goes off in search of the spell caster.
Things are becoming bleak for Torr and Lowdog. The paladin is holding his own, but the totemic warrior is being worn down by the ettins. Meanwhile a troll charges Yavin and the women. The cleric of Celestian mentally links with Aurora so she can somewhat see in the darkness. The Princess then guns down the troll! Aine steps to the edge of the darkness and sees the battle. Worried, she quaffs her red potion...of mass destruction!
Lowdog falls, leaving Torr alone to battle the trolls and ettins! None strike through his guard, but those extra-strong and tall goblins with them use curved blades to hack at the paladin from behind...although the aura of flame wounds them back badly, Torr is running out of strength....
Which is when the tide of battle is turned again. Invoking the potion, Aine lets loose a barrage of fiery female phantoms that blast away each of the goblins and hobgoblins, slaughter most of the über-goblins, and wound several of the trolls and ettins. Torr sets about clearing the rest.
'Beaver finds the Goblin King with another five trolls, three two-headed trolls, and four ettins guarding him as well as a host of other goblins. The shaman heads back and helps with the battle, but the Goblin King hasn't missed Aine's major magics and is on his way to shore up his troops...!
Yavin flies up to catch the King's attention...and the goblin spell-caster unleashes another call lightning on the cleric of Celestian...which has nearly no effect thanks to his magical torc of protection from lightning...! 'Beaver then abates the monsoon, depriving the enemy of any more lightning...
Yavin joins Torr and begins to use his flame blade to hack off the heads of downed trolls. Things are looking good and there are only a few foes left...until the Goblin King and his bodyguards arrive...!
Torr is suddenly surrounded and while the paladin uses his healing to restore Lowdog, he, Torr, and Yavin are all quickly overwhelmed and knocked to the ground. All that saves the paladin, in fact, is his aura of flames as the trolls from Etheria are even more hesitant to battle fire than most...avoiding the use of their fierce bites after they feel the flames of his aura. 'Beaver summons spirit beavers to help keep the trolls and ettins busy...
Zayüß by this point has charged in and is keeping four trolls busy by leading them off (smart horse!). He even manages to join the fight for a moment, seriously wounding (and driving off) an ettin while taking serious damage himself. Aurora charges up and opens up on the Goblin King, seriously wounding him. The goblins all retreat, but 'Beaver is surrounded with only a few enemies dropped by his beaver spirits. The shaman goes ethereal as Aine flees to Zayüß with four trolls chasing them.
Status (grim):
'Beaver: 28 of 70, cast CLW, precip / all 2nd / all 3rd / x2 / CCW, totem, used all PSPs, humming bird, ethereal
Aine: 10 of 21, 1gb, three rounds til spellcasting, cast CW / all 2nd
Lowdog: 0 of 91
Aurora: 1 of 23, out of spells, out of bullets
Torr: 0 of 82
Zayüß: 18 of 42
Yavin: 0 of 49, cast darkness / flameblade, used 42 PSPs, fly-power
Late in the day, the heroes arrive at Chateauenfer where they're forced to abandon their train and walk around the city. En route the party meets and quickly dispatches five jackalwere as well as a dozen harpies. At one point, a harpy charms Aurora who starts trying to kill Aine. After the battle, the witch tries to slap the princess and the two nearly return to blows. Yavin and 'Beaver telepathically settle things, but there's clear bad blood between the two women.
The heroes camp outside of Chateauenfer without incident and with the aid of a easy march make it to Pommeville in a single day. A single gargoyle arrives in transit, but Aine toss a sleep on the beastie and it falls to its death....*crash!*
The morning of the 18th, the heroes arrive at Pommeville. They immediately head to Deer Leap Hill and the stone henge back to Oerth. 'Beaver almost steps through before he realizes that the gate no longer leads to Oerth but rather the mountainous pass of a frozen, arctic world, with a steaming, steed, verdant river-valley in the distance. That's when the hobgoblin tosses a molotov cocktail through the gate and nearly burns the shaman. Two arrows kill the monster but the party becomes quite concerned. Aine and Idky discuss the situation and come up that this world is, indeed, another planet within the ancient Baklunish gate-network, a frozen, largely-uninhabitable world of icy planes criss-crossed by ridiculously-steep rocky canyons etched across the surface by geo-thermal river valleys. Etheria is a home to a few goblins and trolls in the swaths of warmth, with a smattering of fierce polar-beasts vying for dominance on the main "surface". The Bakluns and later refugees avoided Etheria for a reason...
The party makes contact with Montrose who explains that a group of green-skinned creatures has come and begun to raid the orchards outside of town (all of the fields and orchards within town have gone barren and rotted from the effects of the runestone...). There heroes go to deal with these invaders. Using Yavin's telepathy and 'Beaver's ESP, the party begins a dialog with the dozen goblins, hobgoblins, and extra-burly goblins. A sleep from Aine drops half of them and Lowdog knocks the leader to the ground. A brief "dialog" send the goblins on their way back through the gate, although they vow to return...
The heroes spend the rest of the day plant growthing a huge hedge of thorny bushes and small oaks to block the gate's access to Charn. As night falls, the party beds down in one of the houses on the same side of the river as Deer Leap Hill and the gate.
It's nearly midnight when Lowdog awakens the party; a huge bonfire on the hill shows where creatures are burning the thorny hedge and trees. The totemic warrior awakens the shaman, who then awakens Aine. Using his ESP to link into Dresher's thoughts, 'Beaver is able to see what the owl-familiar can see, even as far away as the gate. Aine sends the bird to reconnoiter the scene.
A veritable army of goblins and trolls has come to Charn. More than a hundred goblins lead by a powerfully-built, crown-wearing goblin are there. Also present and tearing up the trees are nearly two dozen trolls, two-headed trolls, and two-headed giants! Within a few minutes, the barrier on the Charn side of the gate is no more and the goblins and trolls are setting up a perimeter on Deer Leap Hill amid the monsoon rains...
The heroes move to repell the intruders. It takes a few minutes for everyone to get ready and during that time Dresher resists a sleep spell tossed her way. Unfortunately, 'Beaver can't maintain the connection and loses contact with the familiar.
The heroes head up the hill, trusting to Lowdog and Yavin's infravision and Torr's enhanced senses. Alas but the goblins and (especially) the trolls have even better infravision and entrap the party. Goblins archers, hobgoblin crossbowmen, and über-goblin molotov-cocktail chuckers bombard the heroes as two ettins charge!
Lowdog and Torr make fairly short work of the ettins as Aine and Aurora use up their sleep spells taking out all of the goblins and hobgoblins. 'Beaver had cast an animal summoning earlier and the wolves with him are set to the task of slaying the sleeping goblins...
Trolls and two-headed trolls join the melee and Torr quaffs his potion of immoliation, bursting into flame. The paladin and totemic warrior go back to back amid the towering foes...which is when the rest of the party is hit with a bolt of lighting from the sky! Someone has called lightning on them! Yavin is unhurt and 'Beaver mostly resists the spell, but Aurora and Aine are barely alive. Yavin tosses a globe of darkness for cover (trusting to his ability to see in magical darkness) and 'Beaver assumes the form of a hummingbird and goes off in search of the spell caster.
Things are becoming bleak for Torr and Lowdog. The paladin is holding his own, but the totemic warrior is being worn down by the ettins. Meanwhile a troll charges Yavin and the women. The cleric of Celestian mentally links with Aurora so she can somewhat see in the darkness. The Princess then guns down the troll! Aine steps to the edge of the darkness and sees the battle. Worried, she quaffs her red potion...of mass destruction!
Lowdog falls, leaving Torr alone to battle the trolls and ettins! None strike through his guard, but those extra-strong and tall goblins with them use curved blades to hack at the paladin from behind...although the aura of flame wounds them back badly, Torr is running out of strength....
Which is when the tide of battle is turned again. Invoking the potion, Aine lets loose a barrage of fiery female phantoms that blast away each of the goblins and hobgoblins, slaughter most of the über-goblins, and wound several of the trolls and ettins. Torr sets about clearing the rest.
'Beaver finds the Goblin King with another five trolls, three two-headed trolls, and four ettins guarding him as well as a host of other goblins. The shaman heads back and helps with the battle, but the Goblin King hasn't missed Aine's major magics and is on his way to shore up his troops...!
Yavin flies up to catch the King's attention...and the goblin spell-caster unleashes another call lightning on the cleric of Celestian...which has nearly no effect thanks to his magical torc of protection from lightning...! 'Beaver then abates the monsoon, depriving the enemy of any more lightning...
Yavin joins Torr and begins to use his flame blade to hack off the heads of downed trolls. Things are looking good and there are only a few foes left...until the Goblin King and his bodyguards arrive...!
Torr is suddenly surrounded and while the paladin uses his healing to restore Lowdog, he, Torr, and Yavin are all quickly overwhelmed and knocked to the ground. All that saves the paladin, in fact, is his aura of flames as the trolls from Etheria are even more hesitant to battle fire than most...avoiding the use of their fierce bites after they feel the flames of his aura. 'Beaver summons spirit beavers to help keep the trolls and ettins busy...
Zayüß by this point has charged in and is keeping four trolls busy by leading them off (smart horse!). He even manages to join the fight for a moment, seriously wounding (and driving off) an ettin while taking serious damage himself. Aurora charges up and opens up on the Goblin King, seriously wounding him. The goblins all retreat, but 'Beaver is surrounded with only a few enemies dropped by his beaver spirits. The shaman goes ethereal as Aine flees to Zayüß with four trolls chasing them.
Status (grim):
'Beaver: 28 of 70, cast CLW, precip / all 2nd / all 3rd / x2 / CCW, totem, used all PSPs, humming bird, ethereal
Aine: 10 of 21, 1gb, three rounds til spellcasting, cast CW / all 2nd
Lowdog: 0 of 91
Aurora: 1 of 23, out of spells, out of bullets
Torr: 0 of 82
Zayüß: 18 of 42
Yavin: 0 of 49, cast darkness / flameblade, used 42 PSPs, fly-power
