Post by David on Jun 29, 2011 13:43:17 GMT -5
After a nap the heroes (Mikhail with Пётр, Daj, Bradeen with Dale, Cliffy, River, Helga, and Jamal) decided to head after the fleeing hill giant which is host to the spirit of the Whyestil Lake. The four hosts of the river spirits (Daj, Bradeen, Cliffy, and Moonlight) combine their powers to determine the lake-host's approximate distance and direction. Then Moonlight assumes the shape of a small bird and using Helga's lighten load spell and Mikhail and Cliffy's bags of holding, Mikhail is able to psionically teleport the group back to the shores of the Dulsi River. The snow is worse here and Helga and Mikhail pass around endure cold spells so the heroes can use the river spirits and River and Daj's tracking and woodcraft skills to intercept the giant by hiking through the night and in the the storm.
Around 3am, the spirits sense that the giant has quit moving. Near dawn the exhausted heroes catch up with the giant's location. Mikhail assumes the form of a hawk and scouts from the air, finding a crude hill giant camp composed of quickly-felled trees and a rough blaze for warmth. There are about a half dozen sleeping giants and no sentries.
The heroes split into two groups to attack the giants. Coming from the front are the four river-spirit hosts plus Mikhail, while River, Helga, and Jamal circle around from behind. Or, that's the plan...
Unfortunately, from the safety of the sky, Mikhail didn't spy the four bugbear waiting in ambush which his group walked right into. Although not dangerous, these four sounded the alarm and were joined by four more. The hairy goblinoids were nearly the death of Bradeen, though Cliffy and Daj saved her. That's when three more giants arrived, one at full strength.
The other half of the party heard the commotion and rushed to join the melee. Mikhail and Daj used the druid's earlier entangle for covered and charged in order to bring the battle to the jotuns. After a short but fierce fight, the monsters all lay dead. River and Daj started tracking and realized four ogres and a giant had fled the battle. The lake-host was not among the fallen...
Cliffy took point, racing headlong through the snow-covered, hilly woods. Right on the elf's heals were River, Daj, Mikhail and Piotr with Jamal quickly falling behind and Helga and Bradeen (in her blankets) falling that much further behind. The ogres, realizing they were being chased, turned and fought, SOMEHOW surprising poor Cliffy (terrible rolls, Ray!). The elven mage/thief nearly died under a hair of spears.
The heroes, however, made very short work of the ogres and headed on after the giant. Possessed of spirit-enhanced stamina, the creature managed to easily stay ahead of its pursuers. Finally, at a point where the woods thinned, the heroes saw the jotun over a half mile ahead and still running while they were exhausted and ready to collapse. With no other recourse and no time to act, Mikhail scooped up Daj and combining both his teleport powers appears ahead of the giant. Daj rolled into an attack crouch and with two scimitar strikes dropped the giant into a coma. The other heroes arrived, Mikhail tended the wounded (including the giant), and the group rested.
Two hours later, River slit the giant/lake-host's throat and releasing the essence of the Whyestil Lake while Mikhail teleported the lot back to the standing stones, where River became the Lake's host. Now very late in the day and with the lake spirit in a "friendly" host, the river spirits kept their end of the bargain and cured the heroes of lycanthropy. Helga shattered the last of the spirit stones, sending out a pulse of spiritual energy far stronger than when Maedhros draws upon the healing power of the Tree of Life. Tired and week, the heroes agreed to rest further, allowing Mikhail the time he needed to regain his strength before teleporting the group to his home in Klarr.
Nearly two hours into this rest is when the roof of the giant's lair was torn off and a 20' tall blue-and-white ape peered down at the party. The heroes grabbed their weapons, but the beast did not attack. Instead, it carefully reached down and touched it's massive thumb to River's forehead...
...and the half-elf saw a vision of a time long ago, a time known to but nearly forgotten by the lake spirit within him, a time before the spirit even had a name. It was an age at the dawn of awareness, when humans still dwelt in caves and had just mastered fire. While a handful had begun to venerate such lesser concepts as rivers and lakes, the most common deities represented eight basic concept: life and death, good and evil, violence and insanity, greed and survival...
...Blizzard, the Thunderer, the Great Ape of the North, was a force for Good and Protector of Humanity. His ally was Armadon, the Defender, the Tristegasauratops of Life, now dwelling in a grotto beneath the Great Kingdom...
...Their greatest rivals were Diablo, the Fiery Allosaurus of Evil, who dwelt on a distant volcanic island and Necros, the Skeletal Dragon of Death, who awaits in the ruins of a sunken civilization...
...as well as Chaos, the Destroyer, Deranged Homonid of Destruction, now housed within the form of an undead "goddess" on a tropical island and Vertigo, the Cobrasaurus of Insanity and Bad luck, trapped within the ruins of the ancient city of Azura on the moon, Celene, but also manifesting through the ancient standing stones of Tovag Baragu...
...These ancient beings of evil would not rest until they once again ruled humanity...it is with this warning that the ape has come...
...Ironically, of the other two Primordial Gods, neither good nor evil, Talon, Lord of the Raptors and God of Survival was the first of the neanderthals' deities to fall when they were freed by the chiming of the Entropy Bell, falling prey to a fierce female fighter, a great hero of Oerth and Champion of the Tarot, the Heroine, Jessica Talgris. Also slain was Sauron, the Glutton, Master of Greed and God of Avarice, falling to another great hero of Oerth and Champion of the Tarot, the Demonslayer, St Kate the Hungry, although when she too died, the divine essence then passed to the world itself and permeated countless lives...
...What the heroes did with the Lake and River spirits caught the Apes attention. These gods come from this same age, before the dawn of humanity and need to be dealt with in much the same manner. Meanwhile, beware the other Evil Being to the south, sitting on his Throne of Skulls...
...And with that the great ape, radiating nobility and goodwill, left the heroes, bounding off to continue preying on the evil orcs which prowled the Howling Hills and edges of Iuz' land.
The heroes went back to resting and once he regained his strength, Mikhail teleported home to Klarr. In the quiet town, the young psionic druid and Helga spoke with Stephanos, high priest of Apollo and Dion's mentor. Stephanos spoke with Dion's spirit on behalf of Helga. The younger cleric of Apollo agreed to the dwarf's terms (to spread the message of gender equality to all PEOPLE Dion met) for his quest. Mikhail then made a deal with Esmerelda, the Green Witch (of the Norns), who cast a moment spell on Helga, enhancing her casting of the raise dead spell from her scroll. Dion returned to life, but needed several days rest from his ordeal.
Mikhail took Helga and Daj to Greyhawk where they sought out the grove of Ourobous of Diancecht. The mighty cleric was unavailable, but his acolyte, Rain, told the heroes to return later. Daj mentioned her father's connection to Fangoria and was told to come back in the morning instead. The three spend the night in the Green Griffon and met up with Mikhail's old adventuring companions, Joe(sephine) and Jay. The two joined the group and on the morning of the 13th, Ourobous transported the lot of them to Fangoria.
In Fangoria, Helga met with Mirkquinn. The drow priestess was very appreciative of the dwarf's news, but still needed her help with the evil forces invading the Vesve Forest. Now with a penalty to her resistance similar to being blind (-4), Helga left to finish the mission to save the lake and river spirits before returning back to protect the elves of the Vesve.
Mikhail teleported back to Klarr and gathered the full party. Their first stop was the shores of the Whyestil Lake. In order to free the spirits from their hosts, the host needed to die. Mikhail however suggested another plan where Moonlight choked the life out of the host in the appropriate body of water. As a shaman, Moonlight would be able to see the spirit leave the body and could then call to Helga, waiting and wading nearby, to cast death's door and save the host's life at the last possible moment but give the spirit a chance to depart. River agreed to the risk and with his hands tied behind him, was drowned and saved in the south-western shallows. Given the half-elf's encounter with Ghaunadaur, facing the spectre of death was easy...
The spirit departed River's body and granted the archer-ranger the boon that never would he drown within any fresh waterway touched by the Whyestil Lake. Further, while touching the actual lake waters, he would gain the powers of an animist of his level... Finally, ONCE in his life, River can call upon the spirits to summon his totem's ally.
The group rested briefly before Mikhail teleported them on to the headwaters of the Dulsi River. There, Moonlight again drowned a river host, this time Cliffy. The elf struggled and panicked, but the shaman's skilled freed the spirit while saving the mage/thief. In addition to the boon granted by the lake spirit, the river spirits granted their hosts immunity to drowning in ANY natural body of fresh water ON Oerth as well as free action within those waters.
Around sun-down on the 13th, Mikhail teleported the group on to the headwaters of the Deepstil River where Moonlight easily drowned Daj and freed the river spirit within the half-dryad.
It takes most of the 14th for Mikhail to teleport in stages back to the Opicm River. The heroes dare not venture south lest they get too near to Dorakaa, the capital of Iuz and Iuz' seat on the Throne of Skulls. Bradeen has a great amount of fear about the process and tries to come up with a number of other option, none of which makes much sense. In the end, however, Moonlight momentarily ends the other half-dryad's life as well and frees that river spirit too.
It is now very late and the heroes bed down for the night. How to free the spirit from within Moonlight is not clear. In the morning of the 15th, Mikhail teleports the group to Angel's Rock, home to his long-time friend and adventuring companion, Samandra Talgris. Samandra's husband, Kyron, is a shaman, and should surely know someone capable of assisting the heroes. In the early afternoon the Prince of Angel's Rock meets with the heroes and suggests that he can contact his mentors for help. It might take a couple of days though. Helga cannot wait as her quest continues to go unanswered.
Mikhail agrees to stay behind and transport Moonlight and the shaman to the river bed. First, however, he gathers the rest of the party members and teleports them all (in stages) back to Fangoria where they meet with Mirkquin. In the morning, the heroes are to attack a giant and bugbear encampment on the far shore of the Deepstil River, with the goal to recapture the northern slice of the Vesve Forest from the forces of Evil. Joining the party is a diminuative teenaged drowic priestess of Eilistraee, Mirkquin's ally in Fangoria, Kennibrae Zajalyra, Princess of Erelhui-Cinlu, and her animal companion, the black-furred, white-maned, red-eyed lion, Aslan.
In the morning (of the 16th) Helga's quest will bring her to -7...
Around 3am, the spirits sense that the giant has quit moving. Near dawn the exhausted heroes catch up with the giant's location. Mikhail assumes the form of a hawk and scouts from the air, finding a crude hill giant camp composed of quickly-felled trees and a rough blaze for warmth. There are about a half dozen sleeping giants and no sentries.
The heroes split into two groups to attack the giants. Coming from the front are the four river-spirit hosts plus Mikhail, while River, Helga, and Jamal circle around from behind. Or, that's the plan...
Unfortunately, from the safety of the sky, Mikhail didn't spy the four bugbear waiting in ambush which his group walked right into. Although not dangerous, these four sounded the alarm and were joined by four more. The hairy goblinoids were nearly the death of Bradeen, though Cliffy and Daj saved her. That's when three more giants arrived, one at full strength.
The other half of the party heard the commotion and rushed to join the melee. Mikhail and Daj used the druid's earlier entangle for covered and charged in order to bring the battle to the jotuns. After a short but fierce fight, the monsters all lay dead. River and Daj started tracking and realized four ogres and a giant had fled the battle. The lake-host was not among the fallen...
Cliffy took point, racing headlong through the snow-covered, hilly woods. Right on the elf's heals were River, Daj, Mikhail and Piotr with Jamal quickly falling behind and Helga and Bradeen (in her blankets) falling that much further behind. The ogres, realizing they were being chased, turned and fought, SOMEHOW surprising poor Cliffy (terrible rolls, Ray!). The elven mage/thief nearly died under a hair of spears.
The heroes, however, made very short work of the ogres and headed on after the giant. Possessed of spirit-enhanced stamina, the creature managed to easily stay ahead of its pursuers. Finally, at a point where the woods thinned, the heroes saw the jotun over a half mile ahead and still running while they were exhausted and ready to collapse. With no other recourse and no time to act, Mikhail scooped up Daj and combining both his teleport powers appears ahead of the giant. Daj rolled into an attack crouch and with two scimitar strikes dropped the giant into a coma. The other heroes arrived, Mikhail tended the wounded (including the giant), and the group rested.
Two hours later, River slit the giant/lake-host's throat and releasing the essence of the Whyestil Lake while Mikhail teleported the lot back to the standing stones, where River became the Lake's host. Now very late in the day and with the lake spirit in a "friendly" host, the river spirits kept their end of the bargain and cured the heroes of lycanthropy. Helga shattered the last of the spirit stones, sending out a pulse of spiritual energy far stronger than when Maedhros draws upon the healing power of the Tree of Life. Tired and week, the heroes agreed to rest further, allowing Mikhail the time he needed to regain his strength before teleporting the group to his home in Klarr.
Nearly two hours into this rest is when the roof of the giant's lair was torn off and a 20' tall blue-and-white ape peered down at the party. The heroes grabbed their weapons, but the beast did not attack. Instead, it carefully reached down and touched it's massive thumb to River's forehead...
...and the half-elf saw a vision of a time long ago, a time known to but nearly forgotten by the lake spirit within him, a time before the spirit even had a name. It was an age at the dawn of awareness, when humans still dwelt in caves and had just mastered fire. While a handful had begun to venerate such lesser concepts as rivers and lakes, the most common deities represented eight basic concept: life and death, good and evil, violence and insanity, greed and survival...
...Blizzard, the Thunderer, the Great Ape of the North, was a force for Good and Protector of Humanity. His ally was Armadon, the Defender, the Tristegasauratops of Life, now dwelling in a grotto beneath the Great Kingdom...
...Their greatest rivals were Diablo, the Fiery Allosaurus of Evil, who dwelt on a distant volcanic island and Necros, the Skeletal Dragon of Death, who awaits in the ruins of a sunken civilization...
...as well as Chaos, the Destroyer, Deranged Homonid of Destruction, now housed within the form of an undead "goddess" on a tropical island and Vertigo, the Cobrasaurus of Insanity and Bad luck, trapped within the ruins of the ancient city of Azura on the moon, Celene, but also manifesting through the ancient standing stones of Tovag Baragu...
...These ancient beings of evil would not rest until they once again ruled humanity...it is with this warning that the ape has come...
...Ironically, of the other two Primordial Gods, neither good nor evil, Talon, Lord of the Raptors and God of Survival was the first of the neanderthals' deities to fall when they were freed by the chiming of the Entropy Bell, falling prey to a fierce female fighter, a great hero of Oerth and Champion of the Tarot, the Heroine, Jessica Talgris. Also slain was Sauron, the Glutton, Master of Greed and God of Avarice, falling to another great hero of Oerth and Champion of the Tarot, the Demonslayer, St Kate the Hungry, although when she too died, the divine essence then passed to the world itself and permeated countless lives...
...What the heroes did with the Lake and River spirits caught the Apes attention. These gods come from this same age, before the dawn of humanity and need to be dealt with in much the same manner. Meanwhile, beware the other Evil Being to the south, sitting on his Throne of Skulls...
...And with that the great ape, radiating nobility and goodwill, left the heroes, bounding off to continue preying on the evil orcs which prowled the Howling Hills and edges of Iuz' land.
The heroes went back to resting and once he regained his strength, Mikhail teleported home to Klarr. In the quiet town, the young psionic druid and Helga spoke with Stephanos, high priest of Apollo and Dion's mentor. Stephanos spoke with Dion's spirit on behalf of Helga. The younger cleric of Apollo agreed to the dwarf's terms (to spread the message of gender equality to all PEOPLE Dion met) for his quest. Mikhail then made a deal with Esmerelda, the Green Witch (of the Norns), who cast a moment spell on Helga, enhancing her casting of the raise dead spell from her scroll. Dion returned to life, but needed several days rest from his ordeal.
Mikhail took Helga and Daj to Greyhawk where they sought out the grove of Ourobous of Diancecht. The mighty cleric was unavailable, but his acolyte, Rain, told the heroes to return later. Daj mentioned her father's connection to Fangoria and was told to come back in the morning instead. The three spend the night in the Green Griffon and met up with Mikhail's old adventuring companions, Joe(sephine) and Jay. The two joined the group and on the morning of the 13th, Ourobous transported the lot of them to Fangoria.
In Fangoria, Helga met with Mirkquinn. The drow priestess was very appreciative of the dwarf's news, but still needed her help with the evil forces invading the Vesve Forest. Now with a penalty to her resistance similar to being blind (-4), Helga left to finish the mission to save the lake and river spirits before returning back to protect the elves of the Vesve.
Mikhail teleported back to Klarr and gathered the full party. Their first stop was the shores of the Whyestil Lake. In order to free the spirits from their hosts, the host needed to die. Mikhail however suggested another plan where Moonlight choked the life out of the host in the appropriate body of water. As a shaman, Moonlight would be able to see the spirit leave the body and could then call to Helga, waiting and wading nearby, to cast death's door and save the host's life at the last possible moment but give the spirit a chance to depart. River agreed to the risk and with his hands tied behind him, was drowned and saved in the south-western shallows. Given the half-elf's encounter with Ghaunadaur, facing the spectre of death was easy...
The spirit departed River's body and granted the archer-ranger the boon that never would he drown within any fresh waterway touched by the Whyestil Lake. Further, while touching the actual lake waters, he would gain the powers of an animist of his level... Finally, ONCE in his life, River can call upon the spirits to summon his totem's ally.
The group rested briefly before Mikhail teleported them on to the headwaters of the Dulsi River. There, Moonlight again drowned a river host, this time Cliffy. The elf struggled and panicked, but the shaman's skilled freed the spirit while saving the mage/thief. In addition to the boon granted by the lake spirit, the river spirits granted their hosts immunity to drowning in ANY natural body of fresh water ON Oerth as well as free action within those waters.
Around sun-down on the 13th, Mikhail teleported the group on to the headwaters of the Deepstil River where Moonlight easily drowned Daj and freed the river spirit within the half-dryad.
It takes most of the 14th for Mikhail to teleport in stages back to the Opicm River. The heroes dare not venture south lest they get too near to Dorakaa, the capital of Iuz and Iuz' seat on the Throne of Skulls. Bradeen has a great amount of fear about the process and tries to come up with a number of other option, none of which makes much sense. In the end, however, Moonlight momentarily ends the other half-dryad's life as well and frees that river spirit too.
It is now very late and the heroes bed down for the night. How to free the spirit from within Moonlight is not clear. In the morning of the 15th, Mikhail teleports the group to Angel's Rock, home to his long-time friend and adventuring companion, Samandra Talgris. Samandra's husband, Kyron, is a shaman, and should surely know someone capable of assisting the heroes. In the early afternoon the Prince of Angel's Rock meets with the heroes and suggests that he can contact his mentors for help. It might take a couple of days though. Helga cannot wait as her quest continues to go unanswered.
Mikhail agrees to stay behind and transport Moonlight and the shaman to the river bed. First, however, he gathers the rest of the party members and teleports them all (in stages) back to Fangoria where they meet with Mirkquin. In the morning, the heroes are to attack a giant and bugbear encampment on the far shore of the Deepstil River, with the goal to recapture the northern slice of the Vesve Forest from the forces of Evil. Joining the party is a diminuative teenaged drowic priestess of Eilistraee, Mirkquin's ally in Fangoria, Kennibrae Zajalyra, Princess of Erelhui-Cinlu, and her animal companion, the black-furred, white-maned, red-eyed lion, Aslan.
In the morning (of the 16th) Helga's quest will bring her to -7...