Post by David on Jul 20, 2012 15:45:00 GMT -5
Immediately after having finished Diablo, Mikhail deposits Wynd (and Thunder) in Medegia to gather a party together. The young druid leaves the elven cleric of Solonor Thelandira in the company of another party that works for him, Shyana, elven cleric of Hanali Celanil, Zylvanar, drow druid of Ki, SwayOak, Flan shaman, and Baghsheer, mystic of Nog, with the three lions the priest-types have animal friendshipped. The rest had just met with Arod, son of Elfus, an elven fighter/mage from another world. Arod was seeking help to deal with some monsters that were marauding the coastal villages to the North.
The group set out and the first village the party came to was deserted. There was sign of a struggle but no bloodshed and while a couple of buildings had been barricaded, those defenses had all failed. There were no bodies in town save those of a couple guard dogs which had been slain by blunt trauma. Much livestock remained in town and none of the village's treasure was looted. The heroes did find two children hiding, but sent them to the safety of the south in an oxen cart. In the process, the group also found a Spartan mage from the south, Demetrius, also investigating the village.
The group then traveled North, following the tracks of the humanoids that had walked into and out of town. The trackers could find no sign of haste. The party encountered and searched an even larger village to the north, also devoid of humans, this time though there were a couple of decaying bodies, plus those of several guard dogs. The livestock milled about town and there were signs that many humans had fled running inland.
It was night and as the party searched, the drow noticed strange heat-signatures from a copse of trees on the edge of town. He pointed this out and Shyana cast entangle on the region. Zylvanar and Wynd entered to investigate. Several critters were caught in the spell, but five forms came out of the woods. Each was humanoid and hairless, bloated and white, like corpses that had floated in the ocean. They moved slowly but determinately, like zombies. Each was clad in black, asymmetrical leather armor of a fashion, with strangely-shaped metallic studs, some twinkling or red. A few had weapons of a sort grafted in place of missing limbs.
Shyana tried to turn the zombies, but failed. Arod's copper blade hacked one down in a shower of sparks while Baghsheer used fist of stone and a fierce strike to stun another. But undead beings can't be stunned...! Arod found himself jumped by three while two attacked the mystic of Nog. One got a lucky strike and thin tentacles lashed out into Baghsheer's neck. The diminuative mage fell twitching. Except for Zyl and Wynd, the rest of the party moved to engage the pseudo-undead. The three lions proved quite effective in shredding the monsters. Swaying Oak tried a slow poison on the mystic, but it didn't help and his flesh turned pale and clamy like that of the creatures while a blackish line spread along his veins from the wound in his neck.
Within the entangled woods, Wynd and Zyl were doing quite a bit better, with the wood elven cleric killing first one and then another creature. But these humanoids seemed to be quite strong and to have a number of blades allowing them to cut themselves free of the branches. One struck Zyl in the throat with tentacles and the drow dropped.
Meanwhile, Arod, Demetrius, Thunder, and the lions finished off the rest of the humanoids outside the woods. Shyana moved to help Zyl, but was caught in her own entangle. Wynd kept the remaining mosters both busy and dropped one after another. Zyl recovered from his initial shock and limped through the woods to free Shyana. At this point, Baghsheer's body began to exude strange bits of metal and he quit moving. Demetrius ensure each foe was dead, the body having odd metal bones in weird shapes.
Shyana cast cure disease on Zyl, instantly curing the dark elf. The drow druid did the same for Baghsheer. Swaying Oak then cut the couple of bits of metal from his throat, using medicine herbs and a cure light wounds to heal the injuries.
The heroes regrouped and followed one set of tracks inland. They came to another deserted town much like the others. The heroes found a few children and brought them farther West to another town. Arriving just after dark, the heroes found this town was still inhabited, harboring refugees from the other towns to the East. They learned that the creatures had raided the blacksmithies in town, attacking only the able-bodied defenders and carrying them off.
The heroes headed northwest, trying to figure the scope of the attacks. They found yet another deserted town and evidence that the creatures had no gone much farther North. Turning back to the site of their battle, the heroes arrived there by the evening of the 5th. Wynd was able to make out a trail into the surf -- it appeared that the creatures used the water to hide their tracks and direction of travel, but the elven cleric was too crafty. The heroes headed up the beach to where they encountered a large mass of 15 of the beings. Swaying Oak cast emotion read to better understand is foes, sensing great harmony, much like a hive of insects. The creatures sensed and responded to this psychic intrusion.
"We are the Borg. Your existence as you know it is over. We will add your technological and biological uniqueness to our own. Resistance is futile...."
That's when Arod tossed a fireball at them! Over half of them exploded and those that remained were little match for Wynd, Thunder, Baghsheer's burning hands, or the lions. During the fight, Swaying Oak tried to hold them, but only one was caught in the spell. Wynd cast cure disease on this one, curing his condition. But the fisherman was suffering, dying from something inside himself that none of the healers could understand or cure. Before he passed, however, Arod used an ESP spell to learn what had happened and what the party still faced.
Exactly 127 Borg drones were guarding the cavern ahead, in addition to a few more that were serving as scouts. The creatures shared a single, unified consciousness, granting them great knowledge and insight as well as instantaneous communication. They were already aware of the party and eager to assimilate any "casters" in the group. The Borg were meanwhile gathering material in order to build an "interplexing beacon" to act as a "subplace raydeeo" in order to communicate with their community.
It would seem that a group of nine had passed through a gate ("two-dimensional spatial discontinuity") from another world. They had appeared on Oerth underwater off the coast, but cut off from their "family". All but three had tried to return and reestablish a connection, but none returned and the link did not reactive. The creatures then set about exploring and attempting to survive until help came. They encountered some primitives who were uninteresting, but those creatures returned with another humanoid capable of "distorting objective reality" with his gestures and words while the man's allies attacked. The creatures assimilated the lot and became curious about this strange technology of "magic" although the cleric of Ahto no longer seemed able to generate the necessary "faith" to continue spell-casting. Seeking out a "wizard" to assimilate, the Borg hit another village and gathered raw materials as well as fought an entity capable of "altering the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere along a directed path" -- the lightning bolt destroyed four Borg. The creatures attacked and two just shut down, but then the mage was assimilated. Another attempt to initiate the strange formulae in his mind caused that drone to explode. The remaining drones that elected to hold up and create a beacon while seeking more "reality-altering scientists and researchers" to assimilate.
The group set out and the first village the party came to was deserted. There was sign of a struggle but no bloodshed and while a couple of buildings had been barricaded, those defenses had all failed. There were no bodies in town save those of a couple guard dogs which had been slain by blunt trauma. Much livestock remained in town and none of the village's treasure was looted. The heroes did find two children hiding, but sent them to the safety of the south in an oxen cart. In the process, the group also found a Spartan mage from the south, Demetrius, also investigating the village.
The group then traveled North, following the tracks of the humanoids that had walked into and out of town. The trackers could find no sign of haste. The party encountered and searched an even larger village to the north, also devoid of humans, this time though there were a couple of decaying bodies, plus those of several guard dogs. The livestock milled about town and there were signs that many humans had fled running inland.
It was night and as the party searched, the drow noticed strange heat-signatures from a copse of trees on the edge of town. He pointed this out and Shyana cast entangle on the region. Zylvanar and Wynd entered to investigate. Several critters were caught in the spell, but five forms came out of the woods. Each was humanoid and hairless, bloated and white, like corpses that had floated in the ocean. They moved slowly but determinately, like zombies. Each was clad in black, asymmetrical leather armor of a fashion, with strangely-shaped metallic studs, some twinkling or red. A few had weapons of a sort grafted in place of missing limbs.
Shyana tried to turn the zombies, but failed. Arod's copper blade hacked one down in a shower of sparks while Baghsheer used fist of stone and a fierce strike to stun another. But undead beings can't be stunned...! Arod found himself jumped by three while two attacked the mystic of Nog. One got a lucky strike and thin tentacles lashed out into Baghsheer's neck. The diminuative mage fell twitching. Except for Zyl and Wynd, the rest of the party moved to engage the pseudo-undead. The three lions proved quite effective in shredding the monsters. Swaying Oak tried a slow poison on the mystic, but it didn't help and his flesh turned pale and clamy like that of the creatures while a blackish line spread along his veins from the wound in his neck.
Within the entangled woods, Wynd and Zyl were doing quite a bit better, with the wood elven cleric killing first one and then another creature. But these humanoids seemed to be quite strong and to have a number of blades allowing them to cut themselves free of the branches. One struck Zyl in the throat with tentacles and the drow dropped.
Meanwhile, Arod, Demetrius, Thunder, and the lions finished off the rest of the humanoids outside the woods. Shyana moved to help Zyl, but was caught in her own entangle. Wynd kept the remaining mosters both busy and dropped one after another. Zyl recovered from his initial shock and limped through the woods to free Shyana. At this point, Baghsheer's body began to exude strange bits of metal and he quit moving. Demetrius ensure each foe was dead, the body having odd metal bones in weird shapes.
Shyana cast cure disease on Zyl, instantly curing the dark elf. The drow druid did the same for Baghsheer. Swaying Oak then cut the couple of bits of metal from his throat, using medicine herbs and a cure light wounds to heal the injuries.
The heroes regrouped and followed one set of tracks inland. They came to another deserted town much like the others. The heroes found a few children and brought them farther West to another town. Arriving just after dark, the heroes found this town was still inhabited, harboring refugees from the other towns to the East. They learned that the creatures had raided the blacksmithies in town, attacking only the able-bodied defenders and carrying them off.
The heroes headed northwest, trying to figure the scope of the attacks. They found yet another deserted town and evidence that the creatures had no gone much farther North. Turning back to the site of their battle, the heroes arrived there by the evening of the 5th. Wynd was able to make out a trail into the surf -- it appeared that the creatures used the water to hide their tracks and direction of travel, but the elven cleric was too crafty. The heroes headed up the beach to where they encountered a large mass of 15 of the beings. Swaying Oak cast emotion read to better understand is foes, sensing great harmony, much like a hive of insects. The creatures sensed and responded to this psychic intrusion.
"We are the Borg. Your existence as you know it is over. We will add your technological and biological uniqueness to our own. Resistance is futile...."
That's when Arod tossed a fireball at them! Over half of them exploded and those that remained were little match for Wynd, Thunder, Baghsheer's burning hands, or the lions. During the fight, Swaying Oak tried to hold them, but only one was caught in the spell. Wynd cast cure disease on this one, curing his condition. But the fisherman was suffering, dying from something inside himself that none of the healers could understand or cure. Before he passed, however, Arod used an ESP spell to learn what had happened and what the party still faced.
Exactly 127 Borg drones were guarding the cavern ahead, in addition to a few more that were serving as scouts. The creatures shared a single, unified consciousness, granting them great knowledge and insight as well as instantaneous communication. They were already aware of the party and eager to assimilate any "casters" in the group. The Borg were meanwhile gathering material in order to build an "interplexing beacon" to act as a "subplace raydeeo" in order to communicate with their community.
It would seem that a group of nine had passed through a gate ("two-dimensional spatial discontinuity") from another world. They had appeared on Oerth underwater off the coast, but cut off from their "family". All but three had tried to return and reestablish a connection, but none returned and the link did not reactive. The creatures then set about exploring and attempting to survive until help came. They encountered some primitives who were uninteresting, but those creatures returned with another humanoid capable of "distorting objective reality" with his gestures and words while the man's allies attacked. The creatures assimilated the lot and became curious about this strange technology of "magic" although the cleric of Ahto no longer seemed able to generate the necessary "faith" to continue spell-casting. Seeking out a "wizard" to assimilate, the Borg hit another village and gathered raw materials as well as fought an entity capable of "altering the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere along a directed path" -- the lightning bolt destroyed four Borg. The creatures attacked and two just shut down, but then the mage was assimilated. Another attempt to initiate the strange formulae in his mind caused that drone to explode. The remaining drones that elected to hold up and create a beacon while seeking more "reality-altering scientists and researchers" to assimilate.