Post by David on May 4, 2012 10:58:44 GMT -5
The heroes (Idky, Torr with Zayüß, Ichi, Yavin, Arthur, and Athos) are allowed to stick around the ruins of Panchengjuduohah for a couple of days to heal up and equip. Athos decides to draw a card from the deck of many things, whispering a prayer to Hermes as he does. He draws a Jack of Hearts. He is told that he will meet four people who are obligated to protect him until they have each saved his life. Their names are: Artec Artlin, the Archer, Hamish of Lionsgate, Katiya the summoner, and Kythra. At that moment, Yavin has a premonition about Artec being in trouble.
After a week, Torr and Ichi head off to their gate, and the rest of the party head through the gate to the next world. Idky, Yavin, Arthur, and Athos step into humid, fetid air. It is quite a bit warmer. There is a slightly fetid smell. It’s nighttime, and they’re in the jungle.
Idky pulls out a light stone. The mist in the gate behind is sparkling gold. At their feet is the sign of a great battle that was very recent. Idky finds human tracks. About ten people came through less than two weeks ago. They were fighting 40+ creatures with tails. The humans lost. Two sets of prints went one way. The others were dragged off. They see remains of one human and a lizard man.
They track the human prints. Orc prints appear along the way. They were carried away. They also encounter hoof prints. In the night, a dozen lizardmen charge them and hurl spears. Idky charges and pulls out his light stone as Arthur lightning bolts them. The bolt kills over half. Yavin also charges.
As they get swarmed by the rest, Idky hears them talking, indicating that they are the ones who took the other humans. Four more lizardmen show up from a different direction. Arthur notices something hiding behind a tree watching the combat. It’s a female dark elf that steps timidly into the light, squinting. She puts out Idky’s continual light and ducks behind the tree.
She (Kythra) feels compelled to help Athos, who has been surrounded by lizardmen and is in dire straits. Just as they’re starting to get things under control, a hunting party of 12 more show up. Idky puts away his light stone, plunging them all in to magical darkness. Kythra casts sleep at the lizardmen on Athos, and two fall asleep. Arthur levitates to get out of range of spears.
Six plunge into the darkness to look for Idky and Yavin. Yavin runs over to save Athos. Out of nowhere, a big fighter (Hamish) rushes into the darkness with a magical sword that momentarily cancels the darkness. But it goes back on again as he rushes back out. A summoner (Katiya) casts the warrior spell, and a big male valkyrie appears. Five more lizardmen arrive.
The drow goes down under some lizardman. Arthur webs the five newcomers, catching them all. Hamish and the male valkyrie start mowing down lizardmen. Katiya casts improved armor on herself. Athos wanders out of the darkness and gets attacked by four lizardmen. The valkyrie heads to help Athos. Yavin also helps out.
Six more lizardmen show up with a shaman. Arhtur gets caught by a hold person spell. Hamish runs through the darkness, following his compulsion to help Athos. His magic sword cancels the darkness, plunging them into normal darkness. Hamish gets caught by another hold person. Yavin, now freed of opponents, goes to help out Hamish, wondering who he is. The shaman casts hold person at Yavin, but it fails.
Arthur is trying to levitate away as he gets clawed by a lizardman. He carries the lizardman with him. The shaman casts prayer. He then revives another lizardman. Katiya summons eight kobolds and commands them to kill the lizardmen.
Arthur deactivates the levitation, dropping with the lizardman. It stuns the monster. Idky casts produce flame for some light and looks for someone to throw it at. Athos and Katiya head over to free Yavin. Just as the cleric of Celestian manages to fight his way to the lizard man priest, the creature causes blindness on him! Somehow, however, Yavin finishes off both of the wounded lizard men on him despite being blinded.
The battle continues and the heroes are victorious, slaying nearly every lizard man except one plus two more in the webs clawed their way to freedom. The party regroups and Yavin sets about healing the wounded.
It turns out that Hamish the burly Highlander and Katiya the summoner were part of a much larger party that had been at Tovag Baragu exploring the massive stonehenge structure and gates there. They came through to this world and were very quickly attacked by a village of lizard men that live near the gate. These lizard men systematically killed and ATE the other nine members of Katiya and Hamish's expedition. The pair have been surviving in the wilds of the "dinosaur and reptile" infested world ever since... They tried a couple of times to use the gate to return home, but each time it's been blue-silver, green, or yellow when they've tried and not functioning. Katiya believes that the gates function differently based on the color of the mist and that those three colors represent "not fully functional".
Not far away is a huge city of red-streaked marble. Hamish and Katiya were interested in searching through it, but between the massive reptiles that dwell nearby by day and the hunting bands of lizard men at night, it's all the pair have been able to manage just to stay alive. In this single battle, the heroes have slain more lizard men than the previous entire party, including Hamish and Katiya, over the course of the last fortnight.
The group moves by darkness to the city, with Yavin and Arthur taking point as they can each see in the dark. The group enters the massive marble metropolis, finding signs of a fierce battle between lizard men and an archer. Idky tracks the wounded humanoid bowman to some sort of palatial villa and the party manages to open the barricaded door. Inside is a huge foyer with simple-but-detailed colored mosaics depicting a civilization of various reptilian creatures in procession and interacting with various "inferior" non-reptilian races, including shaggy bipeds, humans, elves, orcs, and teal-skinned and orange-skinned beings. At the end of this huge processional hallway is a massive vaulted chamber chased in gold, set with further mosaics, and with a single half-orcish archer encased in a sepia snake. Yup, it's Artec!
Arthur uses a minor globe of invulnerability to free the archer as well as deal with over a dozen additional glyphs. The party regroups and decides on their next course of action as the sun rises on this strange, new world...
Party Status:
Idky: 36 of 65, 10psi, 2p, cast produce flame / cure blindness
Arthur: 31 of 48, 10psi, cast MMx4 / web / LB
Yavin: 39 of 54, 10psi, 1p, 67 of 106 PSPs, cast CLW
Hamish: 53 of 73
Kythra 7 (full), 2psi, cast sleep
Katiya:26 of 47, cast MS I / imp armor / warrior
Athos: 7 of 63, 1p
Eeps (thus far): 728 xps EACH
After a week, Torr and Ichi head off to their gate, and the rest of the party head through the gate to the next world. Idky, Yavin, Arthur, and Athos step into humid, fetid air. It is quite a bit warmer. There is a slightly fetid smell. It’s nighttime, and they’re in the jungle.
Idky pulls out a light stone. The mist in the gate behind is sparkling gold. At their feet is the sign of a great battle that was very recent. Idky finds human tracks. About ten people came through less than two weeks ago. They were fighting 40+ creatures with tails. The humans lost. Two sets of prints went one way. The others were dragged off. They see remains of one human and a lizard man.
They track the human prints. Orc prints appear along the way. They were carried away. They also encounter hoof prints. In the night, a dozen lizardmen charge them and hurl spears. Idky charges and pulls out his light stone as Arthur lightning bolts them. The bolt kills over half. Yavin also charges.
As they get swarmed by the rest, Idky hears them talking, indicating that they are the ones who took the other humans. Four more lizardmen show up from a different direction. Arthur notices something hiding behind a tree watching the combat. It’s a female dark elf that steps timidly into the light, squinting. She puts out Idky’s continual light and ducks behind the tree.
She (Kythra) feels compelled to help Athos, who has been surrounded by lizardmen and is in dire straits. Just as they’re starting to get things under control, a hunting party of 12 more show up. Idky puts away his light stone, plunging them all in to magical darkness. Kythra casts sleep at the lizardmen on Athos, and two fall asleep. Arthur levitates to get out of range of spears.
Six plunge into the darkness to look for Idky and Yavin. Yavin runs over to save Athos. Out of nowhere, a big fighter (Hamish) rushes into the darkness with a magical sword that momentarily cancels the darkness. But it goes back on again as he rushes back out. A summoner (Katiya) casts the warrior spell, and a big male valkyrie appears. Five more lizardmen arrive.
The drow goes down under some lizardman. Arthur webs the five newcomers, catching them all. Hamish and the male valkyrie start mowing down lizardmen. Katiya casts improved armor on herself. Athos wanders out of the darkness and gets attacked by four lizardmen. The valkyrie heads to help Athos. Yavin also helps out.
Six more lizardmen show up with a shaman. Arhtur gets caught by a hold person spell. Hamish runs through the darkness, following his compulsion to help Athos. His magic sword cancels the darkness, plunging them into normal darkness. Hamish gets caught by another hold person. Yavin, now freed of opponents, goes to help out Hamish, wondering who he is. The shaman casts hold person at Yavin, but it fails.
Arthur is trying to levitate away as he gets clawed by a lizardman. He carries the lizardman with him. The shaman casts prayer. He then revives another lizardman. Katiya summons eight kobolds and commands them to kill the lizardmen.
Arthur deactivates the levitation, dropping with the lizardman. It stuns the monster. Idky casts produce flame for some light and looks for someone to throw it at. Athos and Katiya head over to free Yavin. Just as the cleric of Celestian manages to fight his way to the lizard man priest, the creature causes blindness on him! Somehow, however, Yavin finishes off both of the wounded lizard men on him despite being blinded.
The battle continues and the heroes are victorious, slaying nearly every lizard man except one plus two more in the webs clawed their way to freedom. The party regroups and Yavin sets about healing the wounded.
It turns out that Hamish the burly Highlander and Katiya the summoner were part of a much larger party that had been at Tovag Baragu exploring the massive stonehenge structure and gates there. They came through to this world and were very quickly attacked by a village of lizard men that live near the gate. These lizard men systematically killed and ATE the other nine members of Katiya and Hamish's expedition. The pair have been surviving in the wilds of the "dinosaur and reptile" infested world ever since... They tried a couple of times to use the gate to return home, but each time it's been blue-silver, green, or yellow when they've tried and not functioning. Katiya believes that the gates function differently based on the color of the mist and that those three colors represent "not fully functional".
Not far away is a huge city of red-streaked marble. Hamish and Katiya were interested in searching through it, but between the massive reptiles that dwell nearby by day and the hunting bands of lizard men at night, it's all the pair have been able to manage just to stay alive. In this single battle, the heroes have slain more lizard men than the previous entire party, including Hamish and Katiya, over the course of the last fortnight.
The group moves by darkness to the city, with Yavin and Arthur taking point as they can each see in the dark. The group enters the massive marble metropolis, finding signs of a fierce battle between lizard men and an archer. Idky tracks the wounded humanoid bowman to some sort of palatial villa and the party manages to open the barricaded door. Inside is a huge foyer with simple-but-detailed colored mosaics depicting a civilization of various reptilian creatures in procession and interacting with various "inferior" non-reptilian races, including shaggy bipeds, humans, elves, orcs, and teal-skinned and orange-skinned beings. At the end of this huge processional hallway is a massive vaulted chamber chased in gold, set with further mosaics, and with a single half-orcish archer encased in a sepia snake. Yup, it's Artec!
Arthur uses a minor globe of invulnerability to free the archer as well as deal with over a dozen additional glyphs. The party regroups and decides on their next course of action as the sun rises on this strange, new world...
Party Status:
Idky: 36 of 65, 10psi, 2p, cast produce flame / cure blindness
Arthur: 31 of 48, 10psi, cast MMx4 / web / LB
Yavin: 39 of 54, 10psi, 1p, 67 of 106 PSPs, cast CLW
Hamish: 53 of 73
Kythra 7 (full), 2psi, cast sleep
Katiya:26 of 47, cast MS I / imp armor / warrior
Athos: 7 of 63, 1p
Eeps (thus far): 728 xps EACH