5/27 - 6/1/616: As the Leg Severs...

[Admin]

The continuing saga of the Shattered Circle...


PART IX-I-I: AS THE LEG SEVERS....

The somewhat-intrepid heroes arose early to make the trek back to the mound of iniquity. The followed the winding staircase down with Hagar, that party thief leading the charge. As he entered the first room of the dungeon, he very astutely surveyed the ambush awaiting the party. With a call to back up, the leapt back from the doorway, where two spiders were waiting to drop on any unsuspecting heroes.

The spiders did not lay in wait alone. They were accompanied by nine drow, armed with pistol bows. Livak and Cindari pushed forward, leaving Hagar room to move back. They quickly put a plan together to engage the nearest drow to prevent them from firing their missile weapons. Meanwhile, the mages would try and sleep the spiders. The plan was not perfect, but the front ranks charged into the room with Cindari’s brilliantly lit short sword and several torches at the ready. When the heroes entered, the drow dropped a darkness spell counteracting the flash of Cindari’s sword. The brief moment of confusion allowed the spiders a chance to drop down and attack Cindari and Mikos, while the drow let loose a volley of poisoned bolts, poisoning both Livak and Cindari, who had also been bitten by the spider. Mikos, meanwhile, was able to avoid the spiders’ venomous fangs and dispatch it quickly.

Cindari ignored the spider in order to engage one of the drow to her left, along with Livak, Mikos and Draco. Autumn, Raj and Hagar charged to the right, leaving Nerumi and Ulaanbaatar to cast spells. A sleep spell took out the lone spider, but proved harmless against the magic-resistant drow. Livak and Cindari, both suffering from the effects of the paralytic drow poison continued to fight valiantly. Livak, unfortunately fell at his opponents feet, unable to move. Cindari killed her opponent and then moved in to cover Livak’s body. She was able to strike a few blows before she too fell from the poison. Draco was able to defend them and keep the powerful drow fighter engaged.

On the other side of the combat field, Raj and Nerumi attacked one drow, with Hager and Autumn each attacking another…this left two drow un-engaged. They continued firing their pistol bows into the fray. Nerumi cast a spell to make a Fist of Stone, but a surge turned her hand into a prickly rose bush instead. Ulaanbaatar, cast another sleep spell in hopes of catching the drow, as luck would have it, she succeeded in sleeping one of the drow minions. Hagar, now unengaged, took his attack to slay the sleeping drow. While Raj and Nerumi were able to finally defeat the drow they were fighting. Raj moved on to the unengaged drow in the corner while Nerumi went to attack the other unengaged drow.

Mikos, who was himself engaged in a deadly battle, was holding his own until the drow’s sword went slicing into Mikos’ leg, severing it at the knee. The young gypsy fell stunned to the ground, bleeding profusely. Autumn, in combat with a masterful fighter, let the unengaged Hagar take her place as she ran to defend Mikos. Draco was also on hand to fight which gave Autumn the chance she needed to tend Mikos, who had no hope of saving his leg.

Ulaanbaatar went back into the hallway to cast an Invisibility spell. A prior surge had caused her voice to sound like that of a megaphone, while this went wild and caused the stairs to collapse. She pulled herself out of the 10ft pit, approached the high level drow fighter and screamed in his ear, startling him slightly.

Autumn, realizing they needed to get fighters on their feet, cast slow poison on Cindari, who was still nearly at full hit points despite the poison. As soon as she could act, Cindari charged over to help Raj, so he could leave combat and help the critically injured Mikos, who was in danger of bleeding to death. Draco went and helped Nerumi with the drow she was fighting, so she went to work on the leader. Trying to cast fist of stone again, she ended up shrinking herself to six inches tall. She did her best to attack the powerful drow, who didn’t know she was there, but could do very little damage to him.

The battle was hard pressed. Finally, only the lead drow remained. It was clear that he was more powerful than anyone in else in the party. His vicious attacks seemed never to end, but the party proved victorious in the end….but at what cost?

When they returned to town, Mikos was missing his leg and Cindari was suffering long term poison effects from the spider…but they were all still alive.

To Be Continued....

[Admin]

PART XI-I-I, continued

The group hobbled back to town to rest for the night. Raj, after regaining his psi points, healed the party the best he could. Mikos was crippled, there was no way the party could fix his leg. With the apocalypse fast approaching, there was also no way for them to travel the great distance to Seant for more powerful help.

Day broke on June 1, as the group headed back to the deadly mound. Cindari was still suffering the lingering effects of the spider venom and Cmerilkir made his return to the party, still suffering from an injured leg and ribs which were both healed enough to adventure; he would need to be careful in combat. . The party entered the first room, glancing at the mysterious dragon-embossed door. They proceeded into the dungeon. Rounding the corner, the group spied a glowing web, with a patch of darkness at its center. Recognizing the wraith spider, Autumn cast a faerie for all to see (and HEAR!).

Cmerelkir and Cindari made short work of the spider and continued on their way. They reached the lower level without further incident. The plan was to head toward the passage covered in webs. A quick look into a side room exposed a deadly ambush. Two wraith spiders and three drow had lain in wait for the band of heroes.

While Cmerelkir and Cindari engaged the spiders, others moved in to engage the drow, but the party was not fast enough. A drow mage caught Cmerelkir, Livak, and Cindari in a SLOW spell. Hagar, Raj and Autumn continued battling the drow, but the mage proved elusive, having time to cast Mirror Image on herself. During the battle, Cindari was bitten by the wraith spider and felt some of her life energy (and fighting experience) slip away, making it harder for her to defeat the monster.

Cmerelkir made short work of his spider, despite being slowed. While Ulaanbaatar and Nerumi were using spells to combat the mage; a wisely placed Magic Missile spell blasted into the drow. While she was unharmed, the spell succeeded in nullifying her mirror images as they were NOT resistant to magic. Cindari struggled with the spider but finally killed it, only to find the mage aim a wand at her. The mage cursed as Cindari shook the effects of the wand, while a surge caused a dog to spring forth from the wand and begin attacking Cindari. Cindari ignored the dog as she moved to engage the powerful drow fighters. Draco stepped in to defeat the dog.

With the spiders were finally dead, the party regrouped around the drow. As the party attacked the mage, the other two rushed to her defense. Eventually the tides turned with the help of Raj’s Psi Blast; he dropped the mage to the ground. With one drow protector dead, Hagar grabbed the mage and gave the remaining fighter a chance to surrender. The drow sneered and continued the attack. The party killed him and Hagar gave the death blow to the mage.

Severely beaten up, the party retreated to the “foyer” of the dungeon. There, they rested for five hours so that Raj could heal the party and regain his mental strength. Once they were in fighting condition, the group headed back down to the lower level. This time, there was no ambush. The group took time to explore the side passages around the sphere. The passage that had previously been blocked by webs, led to a deep shaft that led into the bowels of Oerth....it was a tunnel to the Underdark. This made it clear that the Chitine has blocked it off to protect them from the drow.

They decided against following the tunnel, deciding instead to further explore the cavern complex. Very near the tunnel, the party ran across a small underground lake with a skiff tied up at the shore. A small island and glow coming from around a crag could be seen. After some hesistation, Cindari jumped in the skiff…knowing that she could not swim, Cmerelkir picked her up and carried her out of the boat. Livak, Hagar and Ulaanbaatar volunteered to man the boat across the dark, foreboding lake.

The three heroes reached the island. From their vantage point, they could see the glow was attached to a small waterfall. They alsofound a small, odd-looking gnome. The gnome introduced himself to Ulaanbaatar, who luckily spoke the gnome’s language. She learned that the gnome had been captured and abandoned on the little island by the Chitine. The group, feeling uneasy about the situation in which they found themselves, offered to give the gnome a ride back to shore. He warned them of the sea dragon lurking in the depths of the water and mentioned that it wouldn’t be safe. “Of course it won’t!” Ulaanbaatar replied in a matter-of-fact way.

Risking peril, the group sailed back to shore unmolested. When the gnome learned how close he was to the surface, he was shocked. For this was deep gnome, who’s home lie in the Underdark. He was curious about the surface, but longed to return home. When the group led him to the tunnel which led back to his home, he gazed upon the bodies of the dead Chitine that surrounded the tunnel’s entrance. He was ecstatic and began removing the heads of the Chitine bodies, explaining that in the Underdark these heads would make him rich. The group left the gnome to his single-minded focus, returning to their exploration. They chose to leave the lake, and its’ unknown inhabitant, alone.

Hagar stealthily moved ahead of the group, finding a rocky slope that led down to a door. After some debate, Autumn drank a half potion of Flight and flew the party down to the door. Cindari and Cmerelkir were first to arrive. A white-robed figure sat praying. Cindari approached and demanded the identity of the creature. With some attitude, the creature demanded the same in return. Hagar, who had arrived next, introduced himself and a conversation ensued. The creature was a Chitine leader, left there to protect the iron door in front of which he stood.

Hagar told the creature the group was here to save the world, which made the creature laugh. The Chitine told them that behind the door lay Colem, the Chitine leader and only those who speak the Holy Name (Word?) may pass through the door. Livak attacked the unnatural creature, with the comment that this creature stands between us and our mission. Cindari and Cmerelkir leaped in to defend Livak. Between the three of them, the creature died quickly. A search of the body uncovered a claw-like key. The party was stumped about its purpose, until Nerumi cast a Know History spell.

The spell uncovered that it was a dragon-lord key. This caused Cindari to immediately recognize that it may be just what they need to open the dragon-embossed door. After quickly making their way back to the entrance room, Hagar used the key in the door, it opened immediately. The party entered the room shaped like a large keyhole. The room narrowed towards the middle then opened up again into a round chamber. This chamber contained a golden pedestal with a gem that appeared to made of mist. Ancient writing covered the wall above the narrow entrance to the chamber. Luckily for the party, Autumn not only spoke, but could read the ancient symbols fluently. It read “Only the respectful shall pass.” Autumn, who worshipped a faith which was related to this ancient one, boldly stepped forward.

A blade, so quick it was hardly seen, scythed through the air. Cuts appeared on the giantess and she stumbled back. Hagar leaped to find the trap that had harmed Autumn. He discovered two scythe blades which were activated by pressure plates on the floor. There was no real way to avoid the plates, but a normal sized man could bow and walk forward to avoid the blades…Autumn would need to crawl. Hagar also was very clever at finding a portcullis at the narrowed entrance. His assumption that the bars would fall and nasty things would happen if one was trapped in there. With Autumn’s flight still in effect, the group spiked the blades and portcullis so they would not have to worry about it for the time being.

Nerumi used another Know History spell to determine what the misty gem actually was. A surge caused the spell to be powered by all of her remaining spell levels, but what the party learned is the alter was sanctified to Pyrrhea, goddess of fire but was later defiled by the minions of Greed. It was also uncovered that the gem was protected by a Para Ice Elemental.

The party did not want to risk a battle with a powerful entity when they were out of healing and spells decided against touching it. Although Cindari reasoned that if the world was cut off from the elemental realms, would the creature still be able to materialize? Not wanting to risk it, the party was about to leave when Raj reached out and touched it. In his head, he heard the name Pyrrhea. Several others touched the gem and heard the same. Upon discussion and reflection, Cindari remembered what the Chitine leader has said,”Only those who speak the Holy name may pass through the door.”

Now armed with what they hope is the word that will allow them to pass through the iron doors, the party locked the room and left the dungeon.

Tomorrow and the battles that lay ahead would come soon enough…

[David]

Great job, Kari!