Post by Admin on Nov 16, 2005 18:45:29 GMT -5
This is the Shattered Circle story as experienced by Cindari. I'm not certain everything is in the right order as this encompasses at least three game sessions...I tried to give an overview of events, this is not an in-depth story, rich in details...
It's really been like a soap opera, of sorts...so I'm calling it:
As the Circle Shatters (along with legs, and ribs, and skulls, and eyes, and... )
It was early-May when Cindari and Smerelkir left from Nulb. Their party of "New Heroes" had left for parts unknown, leaving the two fighters in hostile country alone. They tried to follow, but lost track of them, so they decided to hook up with the nearest gypsy caravan they could find.
An old gypsy woman, Oma (was that her name?), told Cindari that fate had brought her to the caravan. Her path now led toward a small village outside of Seant in the county of Onwal. Oma then instructed her grandson to take Cindari and Smerelkir to this new location, and new group of heroes, as Fate demanded. So the man whisked the lovers to Seant via a carpet of flying.
In a small village five days journey from Seant, they met up with a ragtag group of adventurers, which consisted of: Autumn, a giantess druid; Rajinder, a young teenage boy who has the power to heal with his mind; Ragnar, a gruff cleric of Thor; Ulaanbaatar, a mage with a witchy (hat) outlook on life; Andy, a foul mouthed leprechaun w/ a penchant for voyeurism; Draco, an inexperienced Paladin of Bahamut; Mikos, a gypsy mage w/ a badly damaged leg and his two trusty canine companions; Hagar, a heroic thief. The group, like the “New Heroes,” was on a mission. Strange dreams had visited Autumn and Mikos. They were told they were reincarnations of powerful heroes who were trying to find their way home.
As fate would have it, the group was in need of tough fighters. Cindari and Smerelkir rounded out the group in a somewhat tentative alliance. Smerelkir’s abrasive personality caused friction within the group, most notably with Ragnar and Autumn. Cindari tried to soothe things over so there was at least a workable peace.
Almost immediately, the group headed to a nearby mound in the earth. On top of the mound lies an ancient circle of standing stones; a vast dungeon complex is underneath; it is rumored to house the monster-ish dreams of the Elder Elemental God. The party, on previous raids, had been able to clear most of the first level out....so they proceeded directly to the stairway down to the lower level. Near the top, they were beset by strange arachnid men. The spider creatures, called Chitney, used four arms, one to carry a shield while the three remaining attacked with various weapons. One tactic included throwing weighted spears at party members on the stairs in hopes of knocking off the narrow ledge of stairs. Autumn nearly became the first casualty when the arachnid spear targeted the giantess when she lost her balance; it was Smerelkir who saved her life and pulled her back to safety.
After defeating the odd creatures who used weapons made of hardened webs, the group quickly made it to the bottom. They explored the side passages and found a room with small mushrooms, there was a faint hum coming from the mushrooms. Cindari and Smirelkir, never having seen such a thing moved into the room and the mushrooms began shrieking! The ear-splitting sound brought Chitney and Plant monsters (name??) into the area to slay any intruders. Even a small velociraptor came out of hiding to kill the intruders. A hard battle was fought, bringing many of the group near death. Through the healing of the cleric and druid (and the rivalry between the Chitney and plant monsters) the party was able to reassemble, get on their feet and flee the dungeon…barely!
The group gathered back at the local inn where they spent time to rest and recuperate. The next day, they made another attempt at the mound. Following their previous path toward the lower level, they made it with very little standing in their way. However, once down there, they came upon a colossal cavern with a massive sphere suspended in the center of it by rigid webs. Towers could be seen at the top of the sphere, with dozens of Chitney crawling about. The heroes believing their mission lay in that room, volleyed off a faerie fire spell in hopes of calling the Chitney to them. They meanwhile created a fighting line in a narrow hallway with Cindari and Smirelkir the front line of defense with Ragnar Chanting, giving us the blessings of his warrior God. The one problem, which the party didn’t account for, was the Chitney could climb over the barrier of the two warriors, who were each embroiled in a battle with three Chitney apiece (yeah, that’s like 9 attacks per round!!).
Slowly, as the chitney worked their way around the fighters out front, party members began to fall. More and more Chitney began swarming the area. Without a plan, the group would have no way to escape and the dungeon would become their tomb. Finally, Smerelkir shouted to throw oil on him…after which he lit himself on fire with his flaming sword, but strangely he did not burn…his clothes, backpack and pouches lit up and burned off of him, but his body was fine. More oil was thrown in front as a barrier. The Chitney were afraid of the fire and backed off! This gave the party just the distraction they needed to escape. With many in the party near death, they ran back to the relative safety of town.
They spent several days in town resting from their injuries, but the peace in town did not last. The group was fast asleep in their rooms at the inn, when five Slaadi attacked. As if they were able to detect the rooms where the reincarnated heroes slept, they ripped one door completely off the hinges. The party rushed to fend off the unexpected attack. Odd, since these were not monsters found in the mound. They came looking for the reincarnated ones. Smerelkir was the first to act, but very quickly the damaging claws of and teeth of the Slaadi critically wounded the naked warrior. Cindari leapt to defend his body, while the other heroes came from their rooms to defend against the onslaught. The croak of the Slaadi knocked out many of the heroes…at one point only Hagar and Ulaanbaatar were the only ones on their feet. While Hagar heroically charged the Slaadi, Ulaanbaatar leapt from a window to avoid the rampaging Slaadi.
The combat was fierce, just as one Slaadi was dropped so was another party member…then the Slaadi began regenerating. The vicious creatures would not stop, they ruthlessly killed Ragnar the party cleric, and left the Paladin of Bahamut unconscious from his wounds. Smirelkir barely hung on to life from his critical injury and other party members had trouble resisting the powerful croak of the monsters. Autumn shouted that SHE was who they were looking for, the reincarnation of Sage, cleric of We Jas. This drew the vile attention of the Slaadi as they did what they could to kill the giantess. Eventually, the tides turned and the party was able to defeat the creatures once and for all…but not without a heavy toll. Several party members were maimed (Hagar had been left blind, Smirelkir’s leg had been badly injured, Andy had a severe concussion, and Rufus (Mikos’ dog) had his leg shattered), dozens of bar patrons had been massacred and the party cleric lay dead. Ulaanbaatar, hearing the combat had ended began looting the dead townsfolk. Cindari ordered her to go for the town clerics or risk her wrath.
The Clerics of Phaulkon arrived and more strife between the town and the party ensued. Cindari demanded the clerics go and check on her party members since they had no one left standing who could heal. When the clerics resisted, Cindari gave a threatening stare. The mayor visited some time later to tell the party that Cindari would have to apologize to the clerics before they would heal her, and he also demanded the party needed to go back to the mound…Autumn explained that until the parties wounds healed and the festering eggs of evil were cured, the party could go no where. The mayor told the group that they either had to go back into the mound or leave the town entirely. Cindari tried to find a solution to accommodate all needs, suggesting the townsfolk gather where they could be defended until the heroes could return to the mound.
More strain between the party and the town was created in subsequent days. Not to mention in-fighting between Autumn and Ulaanbaatar. It seemed there would be no peace for this curséd party. Finally, leaving their injured friends in town, the group returned to the mound…with the addition of Livak, who had returned from Seant, cured from his SLOW problem and Nerumi, a wu-jen who had accompanied Livak.
After a brief skirmish with Chitney on the way in, there seemed to be little in their way. Searching the bodies, the party found a scroll and a damaged wand. As they proceeded further into the dungeon, Autumn decided to open the scroll, in hopes that it was something useful. The opposite proved true! The cursed scroll turned Autumn into a house cat. The curse, however, didn’t stop there. It radiated out from the giant and caught several party members by surprise. Cindari was turned into a raven, Livak was turned into a giant lynx, and Nerumi became a giant ram. Their time in the dungeon was over.
There seemed to be no other alternative than to travel to Seant in hopes of getting the curse removed. In effect, the party abandoned the town for ten days while they traveled to and from Seant. They were indeed able get the effects reversed (except Cindari, who was left with a raven beak for a nose and mouth), the wu-jen and mages in the party took time to learn spells, and then they traveled back to the small town.
All was quiet when the arrived. The dead calm rankled nerves and made the heroes very suspicious. Thinking the town had either been abandoned or massacred, they went directly to the Inn. Fresh human and Slaadi bodies were strewn about. Very quickly it became clear, no one had left this town alive. Cindari and Smirelkir leapt into the main room of the bar, only to encounter two giant, tentacled brains which reacted quickly and one attacked Autumn, paralyzing her instantly pulling her up toward the ceiling. Smirelkir was able to kill it, and it dropped the giantess to the floor, still paralyzed. Cindari was not fast enough to react before being attacked, but luckily was not paralyzed or swept off her feet. Meanwhile, the back of the party was being attacked by yet another of the marauding brains.
Ulaanbaatar, attempting to help Nerumi and Hagar, tried to magic missile the brain. A powerful surge erupted from the spellcasting causing a body swap between Ulaanbaatar and the Brain. The party fought on as more of the brains attacked. Those in fighting shape filed outside, while the injured were carried inside. Smirelkir, very quickly was wrapped up in the tentacles of one of the brains. Livak attempted to shoot it with arrows, while Cindari ran below it in hopes of catching the unconscious body of smerelkir. Working together, the group finally killed the Brain, while Cindari used her star stone to levitate up and catch Smirelkir….absorbing as much of his fall as possible.
Meanwhile, Ulaanbaatar, stuck in the body of the giant floating brain was trying to communicate, but no one knew what had happened. Finally, she began attacking another brain and the party was able to recognize that something went a little screwy after she cast her spell…especially since the body of Ulaanbaatar was flailing about trying to bite Nerumi’s ankles.
The final brain saw the scene and fled…with Livak, Hagar and Cindari on it’s trail. Livak was able to shoot it enough to make it come back and fight. But Livak was no match for the creature and it wrapped him up and began to carry him off. Cindari, praying for a miracle, picked up Livaks bow and a few arrows and began firing at the creature. Fate was working with her that day, she was able to kill the creature before it could kill Livak or get away.
The party re-grouped and took tally of their injuries. Smirelkir acquired cracked ribs, in addition to his still damaged leg; Ulaanbaatar was trapped in the body of a giant brain…the party uncertain if they can trust her, or if she will revert back to her normal body. With the townsfolk all dead, some in the party feel a deep sense of remorse and responsibility to letting them down and abandoning them in their time of need.
They once again prepare to enter the Shattered Circle, not knowing what the day will bring…
It's really been like a soap opera, of sorts...so I'm calling it:
As the Circle Shatters (along with legs, and ribs, and skulls, and eyes, and... )
It was early-May when Cindari and Smerelkir left from Nulb. Their party of "New Heroes" had left for parts unknown, leaving the two fighters in hostile country alone. They tried to follow, but lost track of them, so they decided to hook up with the nearest gypsy caravan they could find.
An old gypsy woman, Oma (was that her name?), told Cindari that fate had brought her to the caravan. Her path now led toward a small village outside of Seant in the county of Onwal. Oma then instructed her grandson to take Cindari and Smerelkir to this new location, and new group of heroes, as Fate demanded. So the man whisked the lovers to Seant via a carpet of flying.
In a small village five days journey from Seant, they met up with a ragtag group of adventurers, which consisted of: Autumn, a giantess druid; Rajinder, a young teenage boy who has the power to heal with his mind; Ragnar, a gruff cleric of Thor; Ulaanbaatar, a mage with a witchy (hat) outlook on life; Andy, a foul mouthed leprechaun w/ a penchant for voyeurism; Draco, an inexperienced Paladin of Bahamut; Mikos, a gypsy mage w/ a badly damaged leg and his two trusty canine companions; Hagar, a heroic thief. The group, like the “New Heroes,” was on a mission. Strange dreams had visited Autumn and Mikos. They were told they were reincarnations of powerful heroes who were trying to find their way home.
As fate would have it, the group was in need of tough fighters. Cindari and Smerelkir rounded out the group in a somewhat tentative alliance. Smerelkir’s abrasive personality caused friction within the group, most notably with Ragnar and Autumn. Cindari tried to soothe things over so there was at least a workable peace.
Almost immediately, the group headed to a nearby mound in the earth. On top of the mound lies an ancient circle of standing stones; a vast dungeon complex is underneath; it is rumored to house the monster-ish dreams of the Elder Elemental God. The party, on previous raids, had been able to clear most of the first level out....so they proceeded directly to the stairway down to the lower level. Near the top, they were beset by strange arachnid men. The spider creatures, called Chitney, used four arms, one to carry a shield while the three remaining attacked with various weapons. One tactic included throwing weighted spears at party members on the stairs in hopes of knocking off the narrow ledge of stairs. Autumn nearly became the first casualty when the arachnid spear targeted the giantess when she lost her balance; it was Smerelkir who saved her life and pulled her back to safety.
After defeating the odd creatures who used weapons made of hardened webs, the group quickly made it to the bottom. They explored the side passages and found a room with small mushrooms, there was a faint hum coming from the mushrooms. Cindari and Smirelkir, never having seen such a thing moved into the room and the mushrooms began shrieking! The ear-splitting sound brought Chitney and Plant monsters (name??) into the area to slay any intruders. Even a small velociraptor came out of hiding to kill the intruders. A hard battle was fought, bringing many of the group near death. Through the healing of the cleric and druid (and the rivalry between the Chitney and plant monsters) the party was able to reassemble, get on their feet and flee the dungeon…barely!
The group gathered back at the local inn where they spent time to rest and recuperate. The next day, they made another attempt at the mound. Following their previous path toward the lower level, they made it with very little standing in their way. However, once down there, they came upon a colossal cavern with a massive sphere suspended in the center of it by rigid webs. Towers could be seen at the top of the sphere, with dozens of Chitney crawling about. The heroes believing their mission lay in that room, volleyed off a faerie fire spell in hopes of calling the Chitney to them. They meanwhile created a fighting line in a narrow hallway with Cindari and Smirelkir the front line of defense with Ragnar Chanting, giving us the blessings of his warrior God. The one problem, which the party didn’t account for, was the Chitney could climb over the barrier of the two warriors, who were each embroiled in a battle with three Chitney apiece (yeah, that’s like 9 attacks per round!!).
Slowly, as the chitney worked their way around the fighters out front, party members began to fall. More and more Chitney began swarming the area. Without a plan, the group would have no way to escape and the dungeon would become their tomb. Finally, Smerelkir shouted to throw oil on him…after which he lit himself on fire with his flaming sword, but strangely he did not burn…his clothes, backpack and pouches lit up and burned off of him, but his body was fine. More oil was thrown in front as a barrier. The Chitney were afraid of the fire and backed off! This gave the party just the distraction they needed to escape. With many in the party near death, they ran back to the relative safety of town.
They spent several days in town resting from their injuries, but the peace in town did not last. The group was fast asleep in their rooms at the inn, when five Slaadi attacked. As if they were able to detect the rooms where the reincarnated heroes slept, they ripped one door completely off the hinges. The party rushed to fend off the unexpected attack. Odd, since these were not monsters found in the mound. They came looking for the reincarnated ones. Smerelkir was the first to act, but very quickly the damaging claws of and teeth of the Slaadi critically wounded the naked warrior. Cindari leapt to defend his body, while the other heroes came from their rooms to defend against the onslaught. The croak of the Slaadi knocked out many of the heroes…at one point only Hagar and Ulaanbaatar were the only ones on their feet. While Hagar heroically charged the Slaadi, Ulaanbaatar leapt from a window to avoid the rampaging Slaadi.
The combat was fierce, just as one Slaadi was dropped so was another party member…then the Slaadi began regenerating. The vicious creatures would not stop, they ruthlessly killed Ragnar the party cleric, and left the Paladin of Bahamut unconscious from his wounds. Smirelkir barely hung on to life from his critical injury and other party members had trouble resisting the powerful croak of the monsters. Autumn shouted that SHE was who they were looking for, the reincarnation of Sage, cleric of We Jas. This drew the vile attention of the Slaadi as they did what they could to kill the giantess. Eventually, the tides turned and the party was able to defeat the creatures once and for all…but not without a heavy toll. Several party members were maimed (Hagar had been left blind, Smirelkir’s leg had been badly injured, Andy had a severe concussion, and Rufus (Mikos’ dog) had his leg shattered), dozens of bar patrons had been massacred and the party cleric lay dead. Ulaanbaatar, hearing the combat had ended began looting the dead townsfolk. Cindari ordered her to go for the town clerics or risk her wrath.
The Clerics of Phaulkon arrived and more strife between the town and the party ensued. Cindari demanded the clerics go and check on her party members since they had no one left standing who could heal. When the clerics resisted, Cindari gave a threatening stare. The mayor visited some time later to tell the party that Cindari would have to apologize to the clerics before they would heal her, and he also demanded the party needed to go back to the mound…Autumn explained that until the parties wounds healed and the festering eggs of evil were cured, the party could go no where. The mayor told the group that they either had to go back into the mound or leave the town entirely. Cindari tried to find a solution to accommodate all needs, suggesting the townsfolk gather where they could be defended until the heroes could return to the mound.
More strain between the party and the town was created in subsequent days. Not to mention in-fighting between Autumn and Ulaanbaatar. It seemed there would be no peace for this curséd party. Finally, leaving their injured friends in town, the group returned to the mound…with the addition of Livak, who had returned from Seant, cured from his SLOW problem and Nerumi, a wu-jen who had accompanied Livak.
After a brief skirmish with Chitney on the way in, there seemed to be little in their way. Searching the bodies, the party found a scroll and a damaged wand. As they proceeded further into the dungeon, Autumn decided to open the scroll, in hopes that it was something useful. The opposite proved true! The cursed scroll turned Autumn into a house cat. The curse, however, didn’t stop there. It radiated out from the giant and caught several party members by surprise. Cindari was turned into a raven, Livak was turned into a giant lynx, and Nerumi became a giant ram. Their time in the dungeon was over.
There seemed to be no other alternative than to travel to Seant in hopes of getting the curse removed. In effect, the party abandoned the town for ten days while they traveled to and from Seant. They were indeed able get the effects reversed (except Cindari, who was left with a raven beak for a nose and mouth), the wu-jen and mages in the party took time to learn spells, and then they traveled back to the small town.
All was quiet when the arrived. The dead calm rankled nerves and made the heroes very suspicious. Thinking the town had either been abandoned or massacred, they went directly to the Inn. Fresh human and Slaadi bodies were strewn about. Very quickly it became clear, no one had left this town alive. Cindari and Smirelkir leapt into the main room of the bar, only to encounter two giant, tentacled brains which reacted quickly and one attacked Autumn, paralyzing her instantly pulling her up toward the ceiling. Smirelkir was able to kill it, and it dropped the giantess to the floor, still paralyzed. Cindari was not fast enough to react before being attacked, but luckily was not paralyzed or swept off her feet. Meanwhile, the back of the party was being attacked by yet another of the marauding brains.
Ulaanbaatar, attempting to help Nerumi and Hagar, tried to magic missile the brain. A powerful surge erupted from the spellcasting causing a body swap between Ulaanbaatar and the Brain. The party fought on as more of the brains attacked. Those in fighting shape filed outside, while the injured were carried inside. Smirelkir, very quickly was wrapped up in the tentacles of one of the brains. Livak attempted to shoot it with arrows, while Cindari ran below it in hopes of catching the unconscious body of smerelkir. Working together, the group finally killed the Brain, while Cindari used her star stone to levitate up and catch Smirelkir….absorbing as much of his fall as possible.
Meanwhile, Ulaanbaatar, stuck in the body of the giant floating brain was trying to communicate, but no one knew what had happened. Finally, she began attacking another brain and the party was able to recognize that something went a little screwy after she cast her spell…especially since the body of Ulaanbaatar was flailing about trying to bite Nerumi’s ankles.
The final brain saw the scene and fled…with Livak, Hagar and Cindari on it’s trail. Livak was able to shoot it enough to make it come back and fight. But Livak was no match for the creature and it wrapped him up and began to carry him off. Cindari, praying for a miracle, picked up Livaks bow and a few arrows and began firing at the creature. Fate was working with her that day, she was able to kill the creature before it could kill Livak or get away.
The party re-grouped and took tally of their injuries. Smirelkir acquired cracked ribs, in addition to his still damaged leg; Ulaanbaatar was trapped in the body of a giant brain…the party uncertain if they can trust her, or if she will revert back to her normal body. With the townsfolk all dead, some in the party feel a deep sense of remorse and responsibility to letting them down and abandoning them in their time of need.
They once again prepare to enter the Shattered Circle, not knowing what the day will bring…
