Early Morning, Kelehess 1st
Chasing Dragons
The scions continued their pursuit of the two dragons, their captive Grenwigne and the chasing brother Erig. Over roots and wet leaves, down a corridor of autumn trees, some fared better than others along the slick riverbank.
Kaylan
Just then something skidded down the tree slope and nearly crashed into the group, a woman of auburn-red hair with fine clothes and a somewhat noble demeanor. She carried a Phoenix symbol close, somewhat of a bold proclamation of Kalindian faith considering the kingdom they were in. She called for a halt, recognizing Giers, who in turn thought she also looked strangely familiar.
In a stunning acrobatic display, Takeshi did a forward flip over the woman's head, intent on catching his dragon quarry and racing on ahead. The others initiated conversation, slowing a bit, but as the caboose lumbered over, Hulda lifted the girl over her shoulder and carried on. The cleric was, to say, speechless. Isabella offered a diplomatic apology, but after all they were in the middle of a chase.
The Screaming Cave
Takeshi was the first to come across a massive jut of metallic stone piecing the forest floor and forcing the river to part around either side of it. It was overgrown and mossy, with a cave like a mouth angled up into the frigid night sky. Erig was just running in, as Grenwigne screamed from somewhere deeper.
The ranger threw down a green longsword as a marker and scrambled inside, just as the others rounded the riverbend. Giers took up the ranger's sword and was the next to reach the threshold, just in time to hear a tremendous clatter and fall.
Have a Nice Trip
The agile ranger seemed to lose his grace in the dim light of the entrance, which sharply dropped down a thirty foot slope. His feet went out from under him and he rolled painfully down to the bottom, into a dimly lit main line tunnel stretching into blackness. Grenwigne's screamed carried down somewhere in the black.
He slowly rose as the others caught up to him.
Welcoming Committee
The scions didn't get much farther when they were confronted with rust-skinned, warty goblinoids in drab leathers, each marked by a black hand with a red eye in its palm. Takeshi recongized them immediately from his Warden studies as Hobgoblins, children of the dark god Invidious (Envy), given as a gift to Superbia (Pride). They were known for their superior fighting prowess to the normal goblin and their militaristic structure.
The Speaker, their sergeant, stepped forth, two archers at his back, and weathered the groups threats and insults well. He had a bit of an accent given his fangs, making it hard to properly ennunciate each word, but his insults and taunts spoke well-enough. Soon the group was faced with a fight.
A Massacre
What resulted was a massacre. The arcane, martial and divine might of the scions proved more than a match for both archers, and nearly overcame The Speaker had not reinforcements arrived after a calculated yielding of ground. Even with fresh hobgoblin troops, Hulda's hammer, Takeshi's arrows, Portia's shuriken and and the sting of magic overcame them.
Very Well, Indeed
Mid-way through the fight, a smooth, sultry voice commended the group in the dark. Though challenged to show herself, the voice could only laugh. To her, it seemed, this was all just a game. She also passingly mentioned that the scions had no business with The Hand of Doom, though what exactly that was remains a mystery.
Clipping Wings
Giers, meantime, had entered a deadly melee with The Speaker, trading blows, insults and threats in kind. The hobgoblin landed a hard blow, but likewise the paladin. It looked as if eventually the ethrey would prevail, that is until the military-minded Takeshi quickly downed The Speaker with an arrow into each eye. He fell back, dead.
Behind The Curtain
Hulda had decided to let her brother have his duel, instead investigating a strange pair of red eyes she'd glimpsed off behind the paladin. Realizing there was a piece of wall missing, instead replaced with a curtain with plaster to give it the texture of cave wall, she wound up her hammer and struck through. She caught only air.
A Drow!
Portia followed after the half-giant, passing the curtain and coming into a narrow corridor. What she saw gave her a start, and ended up both arousing and alarming Giers, disgusting Isabella, and perhaps infuriating the rest. A voluptuous elf with ebon skin and flowing white hair leaned foward, one hand on her knee and the other pressed over her lush lips. She was dressed in constricting leathers that left little to the imagination, painfully tight so that they dug red and bruised, and she balanced on shiny black stilettos. A drow!
Pain and Pleasure
She launched a devastating necrotic attack against the group, within a range of a hundred feet! The injured group worked their way down into the corridor then, attacking the drow that would quickly become known as The Dominatrix. She proved unbelievably agile in heels, dodging and cartwheeling even as the bogart initiated her own sort of wheeling attacks.
The few times The Dominatrix was hit caused her extreme ecstacy in her pain, the dark elf getting off on it right in front of them, and many of her moves were evocative of a street-corner slut. Isabella called her as much, though never managed to land an attack, perhaps so distracted by the beauty and the wretchedness.
Poison Spiked Trap
The Dominatrix lured Giers down steps, which proved to actually be a false floor. Before his wings to launch him over the obstacle, his armor weighed him down a twenty foot drop onto poisoned spikes. The snare nearly claimed him, then, but for the grace of Kalinda as channeled through Kaylan and the sturdy pulley system provided by Hulda's thick frame and a rope.
Into the Dark
Portia flipped down the stair railing, still intact, and into the next room, entirely pitch black. She made some exploratory attacks, but only ever ended up catching shadows. The Dominatrix landed an attack in the dark, the click of her heels the only real tell, but always managed to turn or wheel out of retribution's reach.
It wasn't long before Takeshi made a mighty leap over the pit and joined Portia, followed by the unsure wizard. Isabella had fallen in the river earlier and only by Gier's reflexes avoided drowning. This time, she stumbled and fell for the pit, but the magic of her feyleaf sandals saved her, teleporting her to the other side in an expediture of fey magic.
Prison
Isabella's light-enchanted antlers shed some of the room, revealing VERY bloody floors, in fact so bloody they looked painted dark red. Portia cracked a sunrod and the entire room was exposed, a wide, low-ceiled room whose only distiguished feature was the fenced-in prison. Within linged a twig blight and triffid guard, two fey like the ones from Green Chapel. There was also a wooden door off to the side, next to which The Dominatrix lingered.
Portia, Takeshi and Isabella attacked. The drow was at a loss in bright light, without the shadows as her ally, and began taking more serious hits, down to the point she was nearly spent. She never once wavered, enjoying every bit of agony with as much enthusiasm as giving it.
Toss, Toss
Hulda took Kaylan and Giers, tossing them both over the spiked pit and into the next room with a slight smile. Giers assured Kaylan that the half-giant was quite good at this sort of work, after which she agreed to be tossed. They both landed in the prison and were about to attack when things went from promising to menacing.
What A Way To Go
Portia landed a brutal strike against the drow, sending her to the brink of unconsciousness, and she stumbled back. Yet instead of passing out, she fell into the wall behind her and activated a stone panel in the wall beside the door. Suddenly stone gears lurched and grinding wheels started. It turned out the low ceiling, looking like a great, slanted slab, was also stained blood-red. It began to crush downward, in fact a crushing cieling trap. The panel also triggered an iron portcullus which blocked Hulda from leaping over the pit and entering the room herself.
The drow fell on her ass and grinned, remarking how terrible a way to go this would be, then how she always used to love watching past victims in their last few moments alive when she'd been where Hulda was now.
Kalinda's Wrath
Tired of this drow and her wickedness, Kaylan brought the fiery judgment of Kalinda upon her. The drow burst into flames from the toes up, slowly consumed in divine fire until her leathers, hair and flesh blacked and fell off. It was a horrible way to go, one that wiped The Dominatrix's smile as she discovered pain not even she could handle.
Portia or Bust
As the ceiling continued its quick descent, it fell into the hands of the rogue to get the scions out alive. She fiddled with the panel, looking for a way to deactivate the trap, but her efforts proved futile. With the desperate pleas of Giers and Kaylan behind him, Portia turned her attention to the wood door. Giers has already tried to spear it, the weapon proving quite useless in the situation. However, with some lock picks and a little finesse, the door opened for the bogart and the group scrambled out.
It should be noted that Takeshi did attempt to save the prisoners, until he recognized them of the same breeds of fey that tried to kill them in the chapel. He might have pulled out a twig blight, but it was the same species of monster that had bit his balls not a day ago and sent him into a poison coma. With a slight bit of regret, he scrambled out last before the everything in the prison was crushed dead.
Hulda's Second Love
Hulda, meantime, had rushed up the corridor and back into the main line, looking for another way in which to unite with her brother and friends. She wedged a sunrod into the bindings of her hammer, allowing her to see a large swath of the main tunnel. The light revealed a wandering Erig, momentarily blinded by the light, then revolted to find of all the people to meet in the dank dark he found Hulda.
Pleasantries aside, he explained that he'd tried the length of the main line, having come to a locked door he couldn't open. He swore people were watching him and thought his outbursts and blind stumbling an amusing game.
They passed a wall-less guard room along the way, situated between the crossroads of a south wing, a continuation of the main line, and a north wing. Given their bearings, Hulda judged the worth wing off the main line to be the best place to look for the rest. Not far down the hall, the half-giant heard a commotion. Erig began calling desperately for his sister.
The Torture Chamber
The four scions cleared the prison just in the nick of time, elated to be alive. They took a few moments to catch their breath and check to see if anyone was hurt. It was then they heard a small applause.
They turned to find themselves in a circular torture chamber. Devices of agony lined the walls, maidens and racks and dangling shackles. A great well overflowing with hot coals sat in the middle, stabbed with dozens of hot pokers.
The Torturers
Three bugbears, monstrous goblinoids looking like half-grizzlies, held their pokers in their teeth as they clapped with massive claws. Likewise a stunningly handsome dark elf male with silver hair down to his waist, dubbed The Pretty Boy in midnight armor and sporting to mirror-like swords, clapped as he leaned against the wall. Perhaps the most please of the lot was The Lady of Chains, a drow female dawned in leathers similar to The Dominatrix, but who also wore an uncomfortable leather mask that covered the northern hemisphere of her head, but allowed a perfect view of her twisted smile. She swung a spiked chain with deadly promise.
Behind the bugbears, sobbing and bloody, was Grenwigne, half-way in an iron maiden.
The sight was enough to launch the scions into the attack. Takeshi fired his arrows, truly wounding The Lady of Chains, who retaliated with a violent set of strikes of her own as she teleported through the shadows of the room to lash three scions. Portia fired shurikens at one of the bugbears, who looked almost sheepish as they planted into each nipple harmlessly. It was enough to prompt it to go after the boggart, the other two choosing Takeshi and a third Giers.
Big Entrance
Giers heard Erig calling Grenwigne's name and cried out for him. Suddenly the wooden door into the room exploded and Hulda burst in, foot first. She wasted no time swinging her mighty hammer around at the unsuspecting Pretty Boy, catching him in his beautiful face and nearly taking his head off in the process. The drow male had little time to react, managing one blow against the half-giant with his swords before the urias finished him.
Kaylan Drowbane
Again Kaylan grew tired of the despicable drow and conjured the divine light of Kalinda to vanquish another fallen of the light. The Lady of Chain's head reddened, bulged and blistered before her brains seeped out her cranial orifices as a pink foam. Thus was Kaylan Drowbane, slayer of dark elves, who would likely prove their nemesis in whatever paths she crossed them.
You Smell Barbecue?
The bugbears were another matter, tough, hardy creatures that could weather blows by the score. Each was nearly as big as Hulda. They stabbed with their fiery pokers, piercing shoulders and chests, setting half the scions on fire, and downing Takeshi before being taken down themselves.
Grenwigne Freed
As the last of the fighting commenced, Giers managed to free Grenwigne from the contraption. She fell into her arms, riddled with shallow holes that would become telling scars across her body for all her remaining years. Erig took his sister as the paladin went back into battle, scooping her up and leaving the room.
A Moment's Rest
Thus within a doorless torture chamber, the group found a moment's peace. The darkness of the drow complex yawned beyond, echoing sometimes with dark laughter, other times more screams, and even twin roars.
Experience: 319 each (1414 thus far)
Magic: Duelist's Dagger (Portia, off The Dominatrix), Acrobat Stilettos (off The Dominatrix), The Mirrorblade (Takeshi, off The Pretty Boy), Spider's Armor ( off The Pretty Boy), 1 Potion of Healing (Takeshi)
Unclaimed Loot: Hide Armor x3, Leather Armor x 2, Longbow x 2, Quiver of 30 Arrows x 2, Glaive
Claimed: Spiked Chain and Chainmail x 2 (Hulda)
Money: 60 gold pieces, 20 silver pieces (300gp, 120sp total): 50gp, 20sp each
NPCs:
Speaker (dead)
Twig Blight Prisoner (dead)
Triffid Guard Prisoner (dead)
The Dominatrix (dead)
The Lady of Chains (dead)
The Pretty Boy (dead)
Monsters: Hobgoblin Archers, Hobgoblin Grunts, Hobgoblin Sergeant (Speaker), Drow, Bugbear Torturers
Traps: Poison Spiked Pit (level 1 elite), Crushing Ceiling (level 3)
Places: The Screaming Cave
Organizations: The Hand of Doom
Drow: Descended from the illustrious elven princess Mauve, warlock queen of Alistar, the drow were once elves of light and beauty. However in a bid to save humanity from slavery, they lost to the superior might of higher elves. Their punishment was an endless darkness as they were locked away in great Vaults deep underground. Buried alive with only their magic to sustain them, they scratched an existence off fungi and condensation.
Thousands of years in the soundless, lightless Vaults slowly drove them mad and sensory depraved. Their skin became ebon, their hair bleached white, their eyes glowed luminescent. They grew lustful, cruel, strange and twisted. Some turned to false gods of nightmares, beings from other dimensions, and even demons for worship. Others forsook all religion and vowed to live only for the moment, only for themselves, for all their endless years.
After the fall of their jailer, Mauve's father High King Gloriandel, the magic of the Vaults lost enough potency for the queen to break free. She and her elite scoured the underworld cave systems, digging and blasting new ones in their search for the rest of their kin. So was born the Underdark, a twisted labyrinth of caves, caverns, pools and pits. After a hundred years of searching, and nearly every Vault found, she took a new name, The Mab, and established the drow kingdom under the unwanted stretches of the West.
Quick Note: If more than one person wants any of these items, we'll roll 1d100's and the highest number wins. The Duelist's Dagger I'm giving to Portia and The Mirrorblade to Takeshi, though.
Duelist's Dagger
The favorite weapon of a backstabber.
Level: 3
Price: 680 gp
Weapon: Dagger
Enhancement: +1 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d6 damage, or +1d8 damage if you have combat advantage
Power (Daily): Minor Action. You have combat advantage against the next creature you attack with this weapon on this turn.
Special: For Portia's purposes, consider all her improvised weapons to have these enhancements and characteristics. The daily power still can only be used one time between extended rests and does not transfer into a daily power for each improvised weapon.
Acrobat Stilettos
These enchanted stilettos aren't only a dream to walk in, they actually enhance your acrobatic skills.
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Feet
Property: Gain a +1 item bonus to Acrobatics checks.
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. Stand up from prone.
The Mirrorblade
This sleek longsword, polished and reflective like a mirror, suddenly becomes two identical blades with startling speed.
Level: 3
Price: 680 gp
Weapon: Longsword
Enhancement: +1 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d6 damage
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. Split the weapon into two identical weapons, one in your primary hand and one in your off-hand. You can spend another minor action to recombine the weapons into one. If you have the Quick Draw feat, you can split or recombine the weapon as a free action.
Spider's Armor
This black leather armor is favored by those who want to move like a spider along the cavern floor.
Level: 3
Price: 680 gp
Armor: Leather
Enhancement: +1 AC
Property: Gain an item bonus to Athletics checks and Stealth checks equal to the armor's enhancement bonus.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Session 4: Greener Pastures
Afternoon, Delempar 31st - Early Morning, Kelehess 1st
Facing the Feylord
Weathering the initial attacks well, The Spirit of Winter flapped his mighty wings and took air, only to blow a blast of cold over Hulda and Portia. Its breath was sub-zero, to the point it even stung the resistant half-jotun. Then it soared overhead, crashing at the mouth of the escape tunnel, blocking Takeshi inside and preventing anyone else from leaving without feeling the feylord's retribution.
Ravaged Ranger
As Takeshi peppered it with arrows, which landed hard and did noticeable damage to its brittle frame, The Spirit clawed and bellowed down the tunnel, bringing the ranger to the brink of death. He threw his swords, planting them both in the monster's back, and fled to a defensable position to await the others.
Kalinda's Might
Giers, perhaps most offended by the feylord's presence, stabbed and skewered the creature over and over again, but in one particularly high call to Kalinda, he jabbed the monster through the side and caused a great leak of blackish-green blood. The monster wailed as the holy light burned the wound, emanating from the paladin's weapon, which helped to inspire the others and give Giers the confidence to face this beast until the cold, bitter end.
Cursed Witch
Isabella, obviously terrified, was struck by several blasts of arctic cold, freezing her garments, crystallizing her hair, and leaving her with a numb, blue complexion. Yet she clung to her wand and did her mother proud, finding gal to face the frosted behemoth, and in fact send two jets of explosive, well-aimed fire which seared its sunken cheeks, forehead and eyelids into blackened ash.
Though others might have hit harder, The Spirit of Winter found fire the most abhorrent of all attacks, killer of cold and plants alike, and promised her the more torturous death when all was done. It took supreme pleasure in her fearful reaction.
Bogarts with Shovels
Teeth chattering, enveloped in the cold aura of the feylord, Portia resolved to remain between its legs, whacking ankles, shins and toes with her shovel. At her most remarkable, the boggart launched a deft and agile attack for The Spirit's groin, landing the most devestating singular attack on the monster throughout the course of the battle. With a hollow ring, the creature doubled over, nearly collapsing.
A little later on, Portia was responsible for a rain of shuriken that tore ribbons of the feylord's throat and eyes and brought it to the brink of destruction.
Batter Up
Hulda, Hulda, Hulda. Such a quiet girl, some would say, and a large one, but with hammer in hand and enemy in front of her she can bring down mountains of pain. Like avalanches she struck, crushing and clocking whole pieces of the feylord apart. Though at times it proved too quick for her laborious strikes, one particularly well-placed strike tore half the face off the monster and sent it stumbling back against the Underdome wall, clearing the escape route in the process.
And when The Spirit of Winter was spent, the Starsdottir chopped its legs out from under it. In a last defiant howl with the backing of countless winter storms, it crashed against the frozen ground and shattered into a thousand pieces.
The Gaze of The Green God Is Upon You All!
In its last few moments of existence, the ancient creature spat, "You haven't beaten me. You've only drawn the gaze of The Green God upon you!" What greater implications the ominous tiding could mean, for now, remained an unsettling mystery.
The Heart of the Wild
While the others regrouped, hefted the unconscious Nors, and went about collecting the spoils of battle, the rogue gravitated to the fist-sized emerald in the center of the planar wheel, eyes transfixed on its otherworldly gleam. With some help from Hulda, Portia managed to pry the thing loose, only then recognizing its great heritage as The Heart of the Wild. It was unclear just who beyond the half-giant saw the bogart pocket the gem, but no doubt an artifact of such magnitude would have great ramifications, greater than Portia babying it like a child.
Hungry, Hungry Chapel
Takeshi scouted on ahead, backtracking to the chapel proper, only to find all the corpses had been absorbed into the greenery. Sounds of digestion resounded throughout the room, as precious nutrients were drained from the dead. The half-elf moved to a window and pushed the roots away, scanning for a clear coast. Indeed there was one, and soon after the others came up the way and eventually exited.
Dark Skull Missing!
One of the first things Hulda, Giers and Isabella noticed was that Dark Skull's stripped corpse was missing! It boded ill, as ill as the great plumes of smoke coming from the still-burning town of Angern. Smoke and fire would likely draw attention, circusfolk attention. Exhausted though they all were, the group pushed on into the woods, knowing to stay anywhere in sight of the chapel or the smoke could be their discovery and recapture.
Cleansing By Fire
Before they left, though, Isabella demanded the unholy greenhouse be burned, and without much more prompting ignited it herself. The wild roots, moss and the like seemed overly adverse to fire, more so than natural growth, and quickly lit up. At that point the half-giant dragged Isabella away, as she'd managed to light a perfect beacon as to their location in her hasty revenge.
Back in The Black Forest
Within fifteen minutes hiking, Isabella in the lead, half the group simply couldn't go on from exhaustion. As it was, even Hulda was getting tuckered out having fought so many battles and now carrying the two unconscious Nors. As they were forced to take a short break, the Norsman began to stir.
Inquisitors Erig and Grenwigne
The Norsman, whose named was revealed to be Erig, panicked when he saw who and what held him captive. Hulda was quick to take him by the ankle, turning him upside down until he calmed down. It wasn't happening, as he and Giers went back and forth, the latter convinced they were invaders, then in league with the feylord, and finally that they were Athan fugitives. As an act of good faith, Hulda put him down, though couldn't quite control her looks (which made him cringe every time).
The Norswoman woke soon after, whose name was revealed to be Grenwigne. She seemed a little more level headed, accepting food and drink, though her brother Erig outright refused such from what he called animals and later illegal immigrants. He still wasn't sure the half-giant, half-raptoran and half-goblin hadn't kidnapped the girl (Isabella) and man (Takeshi) along with he and his sister. Grenwigne calmed his worries, assuring him the fey were the cause of all the devastation at the chapel, and she mourned Father Laurel a moment.
Isabella woke, then, and wrestled for head of diplomacy. Giers was reluctant to give it and more than once the two degenerated into bickering children. However, the calming presence of Hulda and the diplomatic upbringing of the princess ultimately prevailed.
Grenwigne revealed who exactly they were then, Inquisitors of the Kingdom Secret Police or Inquisition as it was otherwise known, charged with the defense of the empire against all threats magic, political, military or otherwise. Specifically, Grenwigne and Erig had been sent by the Bishop of Provia to investigate the sudden stop in communication between he and the local Angernian abbot of Nor. Unfortunately, as the group well knew, what she'd uncovered was worse than her most vivid nightmares.
Displease his sister revealed even this much, Erig demanded the group provision them and then accompany the two back to Provia for questioning by his superior Interrogator Bluch. Grenwigne winced, whispering something about "Bloody" Bluch, but ultimately agreed with her brother. If they didn't and a superior found out, it'd cost them their lives for betraying their oath.
The Deal
Seemingly at an impasse, Isabella offered the idea of pretending either party never met the other. The two could get all the credit for dealing with the chapel and the feylord, and the group could remain in anonymity. Surprisingly enough, Erig agreed, overjoyed what it would do for his career. Grenwigne seemed less pleased, but went along with it. With a deal made, they asked for clothing and supplies enough for the few days it'd take to reach Provia. Armor was given, and rations, and in a surprising act of charity Takeshi offered the Norswoman one of the longswords.
I Find Elves Fascinating
Grenwigne was almost immediately smitten, beginning an awkward conversation with the ranger that implied she was picking up what he was putting down. The disgusted Erig, armor dawned and supplies gathered, dragged his sister away into the woods, expressing he hoped never to see their beastly faces ever again.
Grenwigne called back to Takeshi as she was being pulled along to beware the main road and avoid the northeast, as that path led to Provia, where they'd likely hang the group from the wall. The Kingdom, understandably, hated elves and half-elves, having been under their yolk as slaves for thousands of years.
A Smart Move
Having just started settling in, Isabella suggested they move camp, obviously not trusting the Inquisitors. Everyone agreed and for the next hour they practically dragged themselves to what seemed a safe and defensible position. The smoke was out of sight, and the smell of burning gone, and it seemed as good a place as any. Afternoon turned to evening and watches began...
Night Hunter
In the middle of the night, on Isabella and Takeshi's watch, Portia suddenly awoke. Checking to see if the gem was alright, which it was, she happened to catch something moving in the trees above the group. It looked vaguely leonine, or perhaps reptilian for the wings. Trying to keep casual, she made to look like she was going to pee, but uncharacteristically made far too much noise. She then tried to double back and sneak up on the creature, but broke enough twigs and shifted enough leaves to spook the hunter and send it flitting through the trees and out of sight.
Sufficiently spooked, and well-enough rested, the sentries woke the rest and the group moved on in the wee hours of the morning, well before sunrise.
Takeshi Scouts
The ranger scouted north, eventually finding a flow of water that could rightly be called a river, though a small one. Across the way he noticed something drinking from the swift waters, about the size of a lion with a long neck, long tail, and reptilian wings. The finer details of the creature were lost in the dark, but Takeshi had his suspicions. Suddenly another broke the canopy and landed beside it. In a hushed voice it spoke! Takeshi wasn't able to discern the language, though it did nod the way of the camp.
The sounds of the rest of the group coming up scattered the hunters into the far woods. They almost tripped over the hidden ranger, who then judged the river too wide and too quick to ford. The scions hiked along the bank for a good ten minutes before reaching a point narrow enough to leap over.
And in that moment, Grenwigne's voice screamed in the night, "Erig! Help me!"
Rivers are Deadly
Understandbly nervous, Hulda leaped, but cleared it easily. Takeshi upstaged everyone, though, with a forward somersault entering into an ape swing from low branches to reach the other side. Giers could reasonably rely on his little wings, and Portia her agility, but poor Isabella tripped before she even began and fell head-first into the rushing water. Only the paladin's quick reflexes saved the girl from potential death.
Purple Dragons!
Suddenly one of the leonine night hunters exploded into view, Grenwigne in it's clutches. It was a dragon wyrmling, no mistaking it! However, to the learned's shock, its scales were royal purple and its look unlike any species of dragon known. Indeed purple dragons were never thought to exist until this very moment, as the group watched one sail through the night with the young inquisitor in its clutches. Hulda swung at it, missing well wide, as did Portia with a few shuriken.
Takeshi was about to fire when Erig exploded out of the brush, sword drawn, racing after his sister, only to stop a moment in disbelief at the scions' presence. Then he continued down the river bank, a second purple wyrmling crashing through the trees just after him.
Experience: 270 each (1095 thus far, LEVEL UP)
Magic: The Heart of the Wild (Portia), Stag's Helm (Isabella), 3 pairs of Feyleaf Sandals (Hulda, Takeshi, Isabella), 2 Potions of Healing (Giers)
Loot: Fine red robe with white fur trim (Isabella), 1 chainmail suit and 2 longswords (Hulda), 1 longsword (Takeshi), Flawed Emerald (Hulda, 100gp)
Money: 80gp (240gp, 100sp total): 48gp, 20sp each
NPCs:
The Spirit of Winter (dead)
Inquisitor Erig
Inquisitor Grenwigne
Monsters: Feylord, 2 Purple Dragon Wyrmlings
The Heart of the Wild
This flawless, fist-sized emerald glows with otherworldly light.
Artifact
Properties: The Heart of the Wild is a focus artifact of incredible potential, perfectly attuned to the verdant feyhome plane known as The Wild. It can act as an encyclopedia of fey, a navigator for traveling the plane, and can even imbue certain items with fey magic. In a teleportation device, The Heart acts as a key for entering and leaving The Wild.
The Heart is one of a series of gems corresponding to the known cosmology.
Stag Helm
This helm sports a set of antlers and makes you as alert as a stag.
Level: 5
Price: 1000 gp
Item Slot: Head
Property: Gain a +2 item bonus to passive Perception checks. Also, you can take a minor action during a round when you are surprised.
Feyleaf Sandals (x3)
This delicate footgear incorporates Wild leaves into its design.
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Feet
Power (Daily • Teleportation): When you fall, instead teleport safely to the nearest horizontal surface within 5 squares that can support your weight, take no falling damage, and land on your feet.
Facing the Feylord
Weathering the initial attacks well, The Spirit of Winter flapped his mighty wings and took air, only to blow a blast of cold over Hulda and Portia. Its breath was sub-zero, to the point it even stung the resistant half-jotun. Then it soared overhead, crashing at the mouth of the escape tunnel, blocking Takeshi inside and preventing anyone else from leaving without feeling the feylord's retribution.
Ravaged Ranger
As Takeshi peppered it with arrows, which landed hard and did noticeable damage to its brittle frame, The Spirit clawed and bellowed down the tunnel, bringing the ranger to the brink of death. He threw his swords, planting them both in the monster's back, and fled to a defensable position to await the others.
Kalinda's Might
Giers, perhaps most offended by the feylord's presence, stabbed and skewered the creature over and over again, but in one particularly high call to Kalinda, he jabbed the monster through the side and caused a great leak of blackish-green blood. The monster wailed as the holy light burned the wound, emanating from the paladin's weapon, which helped to inspire the others and give Giers the confidence to face this beast until the cold, bitter end.
Cursed Witch
Isabella, obviously terrified, was struck by several blasts of arctic cold, freezing her garments, crystallizing her hair, and leaving her with a numb, blue complexion. Yet she clung to her wand and did her mother proud, finding gal to face the frosted behemoth, and in fact send two jets of explosive, well-aimed fire which seared its sunken cheeks, forehead and eyelids into blackened ash.
Though others might have hit harder, The Spirit of Winter found fire the most abhorrent of all attacks, killer of cold and plants alike, and promised her the more torturous death when all was done. It took supreme pleasure in her fearful reaction.
Bogarts with Shovels
Teeth chattering, enveloped in the cold aura of the feylord, Portia resolved to remain between its legs, whacking ankles, shins and toes with her shovel. At her most remarkable, the boggart launched a deft and agile attack for The Spirit's groin, landing the most devestating singular attack on the monster throughout the course of the battle. With a hollow ring, the creature doubled over, nearly collapsing.
A little later on, Portia was responsible for a rain of shuriken that tore ribbons of the feylord's throat and eyes and brought it to the brink of destruction.
Batter Up
Hulda, Hulda, Hulda. Such a quiet girl, some would say, and a large one, but with hammer in hand and enemy in front of her she can bring down mountains of pain. Like avalanches she struck, crushing and clocking whole pieces of the feylord apart. Though at times it proved too quick for her laborious strikes, one particularly well-placed strike tore half the face off the monster and sent it stumbling back against the Underdome wall, clearing the escape route in the process.
And when The Spirit of Winter was spent, the Starsdottir chopped its legs out from under it. In a last defiant howl with the backing of countless winter storms, it crashed against the frozen ground and shattered into a thousand pieces.
The Gaze of The Green God Is Upon You All!
In its last few moments of existence, the ancient creature spat, "You haven't beaten me. You've only drawn the gaze of The Green God upon you!" What greater implications the ominous tiding could mean, for now, remained an unsettling mystery.
The Heart of the Wild
While the others regrouped, hefted the unconscious Nors, and went about collecting the spoils of battle, the rogue gravitated to the fist-sized emerald in the center of the planar wheel, eyes transfixed on its otherworldly gleam. With some help from Hulda, Portia managed to pry the thing loose, only then recognizing its great heritage as The Heart of the Wild. It was unclear just who beyond the half-giant saw the bogart pocket the gem, but no doubt an artifact of such magnitude would have great ramifications, greater than Portia babying it like a child.
Hungry, Hungry Chapel
Takeshi scouted on ahead, backtracking to the chapel proper, only to find all the corpses had been absorbed into the greenery. Sounds of digestion resounded throughout the room, as precious nutrients were drained from the dead. The half-elf moved to a window and pushed the roots away, scanning for a clear coast. Indeed there was one, and soon after the others came up the way and eventually exited.
Dark Skull Missing!
One of the first things Hulda, Giers and Isabella noticed was that Dark Skull's stripped corpse was missing! It boded ill, as ill as the great plumes of smoke coming from the still-burning town of Angern. Smoke and fire would likely draw attention, circusfolk attention. Exhausted though they all were, the group pushed on into the woods, knowing to stay anywhere in sight of the chapel or the smoke could be their discovery and recapture.
Cleansing By Fire
Before they left, though, Isabella demanded the unholy greenhouse be burned, and without much more prompting ignited it herself. The wild roots, moss and the like seemed overly adverse to fire, more so than natural growth, and quickly lit up. At that point the half-giant dragged Isabella away, as she'd managed to light a perfect beacon as to their location in her hasty revenge.
Back in The Black Forest
Within fifteen minutes hiking, Isabella in the lead, half the group simply couldn't go on from exhaustion. As it was, even Hulda was getting tuckered out having fought so many battles and now carrying the two unconscious Nors. As they were forced to take a short break, the Norsman began to stir.
Inquisitors Erig and Grenwigne
The Norsman, whose named was revealed to be Erig, panicked when he saw who and what held him captive. Hulda was quick to take him by the ankle, turning him upside down until he calmed down. It wasn't happening, as he and Giers went back and forth, the latter convinced they were invaders, then in league with the feylord, and finally that they were Athan fugitives. As an act of good faith, Hulda put him down, though couldn't quite control her looks (which made him cringe every time).
The Norswoman woke soon after, whose name was revealed to be Grenwigne. She seemed a little more level headed, accepting food and drink, though her brother Erig outright refused such from what he called animals and later illegal immigrants. He still wasn't sure the half-giant, half-raptoran and half-goblin hadn't kidnapped the girl (Isabella) and man (Takeshi) along with he and his sister. Grenwigne calmed his worries, assuring him the fey were the cause of all the devastation at the chapel, and she mourned Father Laurel a moment.
Isabella woke, then, and wrestled for head of diplomacy. Giers was reluctant to give it and more than once the two degenerated into bickering children. However, the calming presence of Hulda and the diplomatic upbringing of the princess ultimately prevailed.
Grenwigne revealed who exactly they were then, Inquisitors of the Kingdom Secret Police or Inquisition as it was otherwise known, charged with the defense of the empire against all threats magic, political, military or otherwise. Specifically, Grenwigne and Erig had been sent by the Bishop of Provia to investigate the sudden stop in communication between he and the local Angernian abbot of Nor. Unfortunately, as the group well knew, what she'd uncovered was worse than her most vivid nightmares.
Displease his sister revealed even this much, Erig demanded the group provision them and then accompany the two back to Provia for questioning by his superior Interrogator Bluch. Grenwigne winced, whispering something about "Bloody" Bluch, but ultimately agreed with her brother. If they didn't and a superior found out, it'd cost them their lives for betraying their oath.
The Deal
Seemingly at an impasse, Isabella offered the idea of pretending either party never met the other. The two could get all the credit for dealing with the chapel and the feylord, and the group could remain in anonymity. Surprisingly enough, Erig agreed, overjoyed what it would do for his career. Grenwigne seemed less pleased, but went along with it. With a deal made, they asked for clothing and supplies enough for the few days it'd take to reach Provia. Armor was given, and rations, and in a surprising act of charity Takeshi offered the Norswoman one of the longswords.
I Find Elves Fascinating
Grenwigne was almost immediately smitten, beginning an awkward conversation with the ranger that implied she was picking up what he was putting down. The disgusted Erig, armor dawned and supplies gathered, dragged his sister away into the woods, expressing he hoped never to see their beastly faces ever again.
Grenwigne called back to Takeshi as she was being pulled along to beware the main road and avoid the northeast, as that path led to Provia, where they'd likely hang the group from the wall. The Kingdom, understandably, hated elves and half-elves, having been under their yolk as slaves for thousands of years.
A Smart Move
Having just started settling in, Isabella suggested they move camp, obviously not trusting the Inquisitors. Everyone agreed and for the next hour they practically dragged themselves to what seemed a safe and defensible position. The smoke was out of sight, and the smell of burning gone, and it seemed as good a place as any. Afternoon turned to evening and watches began...
Night Hunter
In the middle of the night, on Isabella and Takeshi's watch, Portia suddenly awoke. Checking to see if the gem was alright, which it was, she happened to catch something moving in the trees above the group. It looked vaguely leonine, or perhaps reptilian for the wings. Trying to keep casual, she made to look like she was going to pee, but uncharacteristically made far too much noise. She then tried to double back and sneak up on the creature, but broke enough twigs and shifted enough leaves to spook the hunter and send it flitting through the trees and out of sight.
Sufficiently spooked, and well-enough rested, the sentries woke the rest and the group moved on in the wee hours of the morning, well before sunrise.
Takeshi Scouts
The ranger scouted north, eventually finding a flow of water that could rightly be called a river, though a small one. Across the way he noticed something drinking from the swift waters, about the size of a lion with a long neck, long tail, and reptilian wings. The finer details of the creature were lost in the dark, but Takeshi had his suspicions. Suddenly another broke the canopy and landed beside it. In a hushed voice it spoke! Takeshi wasn't able to discern the language, though it did nod the way of the camp.
The sounds of the rest of the group coming up scattered the hunters into the far woods. They almost tripped over the hidden ranger, who then judged the river too wide and too quick to ford. The scions hiked along the bank for a good ten minutes before reaching a point narrow enough to leap over.
And in that moment, Grenwigne's voice screamed in the night, "Erig! Help me!"
Rivers are Deadly
Understandbly nervous, Hulda leaped, but cleared it easily. Takeshi upstaged everyone, though, with a forward somersault entering into an ape swing from low branches to reach the other side. Giers could reasonably rely on his little wings, and Portia her agility, but poor Isabella tripped before she even began and fell head-first into the rushing water. Only the paladin's quick reflexes saved the girl from potential death.
Purple Dragons!
Suddenly one of the leonine night hunters exploded into view, Grenwigne in it's clutches. It was a dragon wyrmling, no mistaking it! However, to the learned's shock, its scales were royal purple and its look unlike any species of dragon known. Indeed purple dragons were never thought to exist until this very moment, as the group watched one sail through the night with the young inquisitor in its clutches. Hulda swung at it, missing well wide, as did Portia with a few shuriken.
Takeshi was about to fire when Erig exploded out of the brush, sword drawn, racing after his sister, only to stop a moment in disbelief at the scions' presence. Then he continued down the river bank, a second purple wyrmling crashing through the trees just after him.
Experience: 270 each (1095 thus far, LEVEL UP)
Magic: The Heart of the Wild (Portia), Stag's Helm (Isabella), 3 pairs of Feyleaf Sandals (Hulda, Takeshi, Isabella), 2 Potions of Healing (Giers)
Loot: Fine red robe with white fur trim (Isabella), 1 chainmail suit and 2 longswords (Hulda), 1 longsword (Takeshi), Flawed Emerald (Hulda, 100gp)
Money: 80gp (240gp, 100sp total): 48gp, 20sp each
NPCs:
The Spirit of Winter (dead)
Inquisitor Erig
Inquisitor Grenwigne
Monsters: Feylord, 2 Purple Dragon Wyrmlings
The Heart of the Wild
This flawless, fist-sized emerald glows with otherworldly light.
Artifact
Properties: The Heart of the Wild is a focus artifact of incredible potential, perfectly attuned to the verdant feyhome plane known as The Wild. It can act as an encyclopedia of fey, a navigator for traveling the plane, and can even imbue certain items with fey magic. In a teleportation device, The Heart acts as a key for entering and leaving The Wild.
The Heart is one of a series of gems corresponding to the known cosmology.
Stag Helm
This helm sports a set of antlers and makes you as alert as a stag.
Level: 5
Price: 1000 gp
Item Slot: Head
Property: Gain a +2 item bonus to passive Perception checks. Also, you can take a minor action during a round when you are surprised.
Feyleaf Sandals (x3)
This delicate footgear incorporates Wild leaves into its design.
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Feet
Power (Daily • Teleportation): When you fall, instead teleport safely to the nearest horizontal surface within 5 squares that can support your weight, take no falling damage, and land on your feet.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Session 3: Seeking Paradise
Mid-Morning, Delempar 31st, 17 AD
Chapel of The Green God
The group mustered the courage to peek inside the chapel, but the doors swung wide, revealing them to a small green mass. The church, once of the imperial patriarch Nor, had been entirely reclaimed by something wilder than nature, massive roots broken through the floors, choking the walls and ceiling, moss covering every pew and carpeting the walk to the flowery base of a dais. The altar itself was a squat, living tree, bent as a tabletop and candled by strange pods that attracted mass fireflies.
Six cultists sat the pews, looking crazed and swollen from severe allergic reactions to the overwhelming flora. From a stone door behind the altar emerged two women, and Takeshi dragged behind them. A wood door sat off to the side.
Flora and Fauna
The twin sisters were of a beauty impossible for the mortal world, pale and perfect, with flax hair and impecable figures. One wore garlands and the other fox furs, and introduced themselves as Flora and Fauna. With surprising strength they tossed Takeshi, bound in vines from his ankles to his lips, down the steps, and asked if the scions sought Paradise. In a quick trade of words, the sisters revealed they did not want to fight, but instead for the group to take their friend and go.
It might have been a sweet deal if not for the fact Portia was missing. When questioned about this, the sisters frowned, explaining she was needed to usher The Spirit back to Paradise, and that she would not be returned. Negotiations at a close, a fight looked ready to boil.
Takeshi the Tiger
And just before fighting broke out, the ranger managed a feat of tigerish strength and burst his bonds with a bulge of muscle and dig of faint claws. He clawed to his feet, taking on the nearest cultists with bare hands.
Fight of Their Lives
As cultists swarmed, giant barb-firing blood sprouted above, and Flora and Fauna revealed the ability to turn garland into razor wire, the children began the fight of their lives. Down one member, the ranger unarmed, and three would-be saviors tired after fights in the village and the graveyard, the advantage was obviously on the side of the chapel.
Recognizing this, Hulda launched Isabella, who'd been injured in the initial attack, for the side door, hoping to get her to safety. Instead cultists cornered the little wizard, where she fought until dropped.
Hulda's Awesome Pull
As the rest of the group fared just as poorly, Hulda grabbed Fauna's garland whip, which missed an attack on the half-giant and lodged into a nearby pew. With a titan's strength, she lurched the triffid across the room and hammered her mid-air into the opposite pews. The brutalized creature was slow to rise, and the move increased moral amongst the scions.
The Battle Turns
Giers moved to Isabella's aid, fending off the two fanatics long enough to feed Isabella a potion of healing. However it wasn't much longer before the heroic paladin fell himself in defense of the girl, having taken at least one of the cultists with him.
After finishing off Fauna, Hulda charged the cultists harrowing Takeshi, and tore two in half before golfing a third dead in the rafters. Yet in her execution of the one sister, Flora had been driven mad, and she unleashed her full fury against Hulda until she finally dropped.
Takeshi, meantime, knocked a cultist out with a mighty punch, proving again to have a wicked upper cut, but even as he caught his sword from the then-conscious paladin and cut down another, the evil blossoms from beyond his reach shot him down. It seemed he was suffering from a particularly bad allergic reaction as his skin blotches and purpled.
And Then There Was One
Isabella soon found herself alone. She had managed to destroy two of the three blooms, but one continued to fire, whilst Flora saught to cut her down with garland whips. However the wizard wisely used the pews as cover, firing and ducking behind, and Flora and the perched plant couldn't quite get her.
Giers' Resurgence
The group was in need of a miracle and Kalinda saw fit to grant them one, as Giers recovered from his momentary unconsciousness. He rose in a heroic charge and cut down Flora where she stood. But no sooner had he done so, the chapel bloom fired a barb in his neck and he fell down once more.
The act of defiance inspired Isabella to take aim and ultimately destroy the final bloom. Fate had favored the young this day... though looking around the chapel, at all the corpses of the enemy and soon-to-be corpses of her allies, it could have gone either way.
Isabella the Hospitaler
Using her training in the Church of Gabriel, she managed to stabilize her fallen friends and return them to consciousness. Then they had a much needed rest, after Hulda barricaded the entrances to avoid sudden disturbances. The managed to bind their wounds and regain their strength, readying themselves for deeper delves. Portia was still missing and from the way the sisters spoke she hadn't much time left.
The Chamber of Father Laurel
They ventured beyond the side door first, finding a small chamber that once belonged to the abbot of Nor who resided in the chapel when it was still dedicated to The Patriarch. He was now nailed to the wall as a grotesque ornament, festing with fungi above a bet of dirt in a room overgrown with fungi and moss.
Some searching uncovered a chest filled with frozen, skinned foxes looking too unsavory to eat, and a bit of coin. Isabella also found a magic pair of glasses in a leather case inscribed with "Father Laurel". They enabled her to read any language.
Old Catacombs
The scions then tried the heavy stone door behind the altar, overgrown with moss and ivy, and which revealed a narrow, dark stone stairwell. They ventured down, Hulda not particularly liking the enclosed space that she barely squeezed through, and emptied into an old catacomb with three tiers of shelving and supported by squat pillars.
A thin mist curled off the floor, rolling through a massive hole in the back wall and into a timber-ribbed tunnel. Apparently there'd been some unfinished excavation in the past few years. It was much colder down here, below even freezing. Light, and then singing, came from down the tunnel.
The Underdome
Takeshi quietly in the lead, noogies and clumsiness marked the parade behind him, but even that was drowned out by the eerie, yet beautiful, chior singing that resounded ahead. Spoken entirely in elven, they sung of The Spirit's return home, and how one was lucky to go with him. It was basically a goodbye song, which only spurred Takeshi and the rest further.
They came to the threshold of a huge domed space, some forty feet high and a little larger in diameter, reinforced and supported by a framework of timber looking like the interior ribs of a turtle shell. The cold was even deeper here, and the floor and walls covered with snow. Great roots and vines snaked across the walls and ceiling, sheathed in ice.
In one corner sat three iron cages, similarly sheathed in ice, containing an unconscious Norsman, unconscious Norswoman, and thirdly a little figure wrapped in bear furs. Portia! Three supernaturally beautiful creatures, triplets, male versions of the sisters, sang with four warped little monsters looking to have been shaped of bark and rat parts, all of them led by a broad, burly human in red robes and wearing a helm reminiscent of a stag, with great antlers sprouting from either temple.
Surprise!
Fighting to the front, Isabella fired a surprise attack centered around The Horned Conductor. The orb caught the leader and two of his warrior guard, and otherwise causing a general turn and panic.
The Spirit's Ilk
The three guardians unfurled their beautiful faces as the sisters had earlier and charged, managing to pierce the planar veils long enough to teleport in front of Takeshi, Giers and Hulda respectively. They proved capable warriors, wielding their green longswords with terrible efficiency.
And chasing after them with moves of blinding quickness were the blights. One managed to latch onto Isabella and harrow her with poisoned bites, another going after Takeshi's jewels and a third Giers' ankles.
A Fight for Freedom
Portia, having pocketed the keys on The Horned Conductor's person as he was struck, managed to open her cage door. However the creak of the hinges drew two twig blights against her and she began a fight for freedom, the keys like daggers in her hands.
A Mighty Throw
Hulda, sensing a great threat from The Horned Conductor, threw Giers across the room, the glide of his wings carrying him down in a strike against the leader. He followed up with another attack, impaling the heathan through the gut with his spear.
The Horned Conductor
Well past bloodied, the conductor spat blood and a spell, flinging the paladin back in an explosion of darkness. Shadowstuff clung to his eyes and effectively blinded him, impeding his pursuit of the cult leader as he hobbled for the icy mouth of a cave or a lair. Eventually reaching it, despite the sightless stabbing of the ethrey, he cried within, "Infidels! Infidel defilers in the Underdome!"
Something large stirred deep within the hole.
How About a Little Fire?
Midway through the struggle, Isabella launched a fire-based attack, which seemed to do more damage and bring more pain than any of her other attacks against the triffids. Having discovered their weakness, she quickly took advantage with more bouts of flame that blackened and bubbled.
It Burns Down There
And the dastardly twig blight finally sunk its thorny fangs into a weak point in Takeshi's codpiece, injecting just enough searing poison to take him down. He kissed floor for the second time this morning.
The Spirit Answers
The Horned Conductor was about to call down a second time when a sudden rush of blizzard air flew up in a cawing roar of an answer, uplifting the cult leader and freezing him solid even as he spun in the air. He landed with a crash against the cave floor and scattered into thousands of tiny pieces.
His minions were quickly finished off, Portia using her keys with deft lethality, and Hulda and Isabella taking down the rest. Giers' blindness finally wore off and he looked with horror at what had once been his enemy.
Bracing Themselves
With the short break before The Spirit's arrival, Portia scrambled back into her armor and grabbed a shovel for protection. Likewise everyone dressed their wounds and gathered together, not having time to loot, and seriously considering running back up the way they came. A final explosion of arctic freeze from the cave mouth herald the prophet.
The Spirit of Winter
A gnarled, white avian claw larger than Hulda's hand curled around the mouth of the cave and pulled the rest of the unspeakable out into the open. The Spirit of Winter stood near twenty feet tall, a twisted and emaciated monster covered in a light hoarfrost and dusting of gray feathers. Either shoulder sprouted heavy gray down wings hiding thin, overlong arms beneath. It's head looked vaguely like a ram's, and its forehead like the shell of a great king crab, broad and dull, with horns bent like crustacean arms. Its face was pinched, with piercing white eyes that cut like blades into the hearts and souls of the scions, and where a beak might have been had long since shattered, revealing rows of icicle-like fangs.
It spoke in a voice like the cold of the moonface, the emtpiness of a widow's loss, the fester of all those that ever died in snow...
Nothing of its like had been seen on the face of Othyr since the Demon Wars, and Giers logically called it a demon when delivering a passionate defiance to its very existence. The insulted creature retorted that it was Fey, a king in The Wild and a thrall and prophet of The Green God. He and his ilk of triffids and blights had been stranded on Othyr after a planar cataclysm involving the sinking of Vrauktom. Now he was on the verge of returning home, to Paradise, but he needed green eyes, or better green blood, to open wide the door.
The Planar Wheel
Tucked under the feylord's great wing was a wheel made of exquisite pikes bound in a ring. In their center was a fist-sized emerald which sparkled with otherworldly light. Five of the nine pikes which made the wheel had a head stuck on them, a head with green eyes.
The Spirit threw the wheel hard and planted it into the side of the wall, where the emerald manifested a weak and flickering portal. Again the feylord beckoned the children to come with him to Paradise.
Experience: 255 (825 total)
Magic: Reading Spectacles (Isabella), 2 Potions of Healing
Loot: Leather Armor and Green Longsword (Takeshi), Fox Pelt Outfit (Hulda)
Money: 30 gold pieces, 100 silver pieces (160gp, 100sp group total: 32gp, 20sp each)
NPCs:
Flora (dead)
Fauna (dead)
Father Laurel (dead)
The Horned Conductor (dead)
An Unconscious Norsman
An Unconscious Norswoman
The Spirit of Winter
Monsters: Cultists of The Green God, Chapel Blooms, Triffids (Flora, Fauna, 3 Chapel Guards), Twig Blights
Places: The Green Chapel, Father Laurel's Quarters, The Old Catacombs, The Underdome
Fey: Spawned from primordial earth of a plane known as The Wild, fertilized by the corpse of the goddess Lordanna, and tainted in her last mad moments of agony, the fey are twisted creatures combining the most dangerous aspects of animals, plants and insects. Their Feylords have even inherited elemental or seasonal portfolios, like Winter, Forests or Water.
Chapel of The Green God
The group mustered the courage to peek inside the chapel, but the doors swung wide, revealing them to a small green mass. The church, once of the imperial patriarch Nor, had been entirely reclaimed by something wilder than nature, massive roots broken through the floors, choking the walls and ceiling, moss covering every pew and carpeting the walk to the flowery base of a dais. The altar itself was a squat, living tree, bent as a tabletop and candled by strange pods that attracted mass fireflies.
Six cultists sat the pews, looking crazed and swollen from severe allergic reactions to the overwhelming flora. From a stone door behind the altar emerged two women, and Takeshi dragged behind them. A wood door sat off to the side.
Flora and Fauna
The twin sisters were of a beauty impossible for the mortal world, pale and perfect, with flax hair and impecable figures. One wore garlands and the other fox furs, and introduced themselves as Flora and Fauna. With surprising strength they tossed Takeshi, bound in vines from his ankles to his lips, down the steps, and asked if the scions sought Paradise. In a quick trade of words, the sisters revealed they did not want to fight, but instead for the group to take their friend and go.
It might have been a sweet deal if not for the fact Portia was missing. When questioned about this, the sisters frowned, explaining she was needed to usher The Spirit back to Paradise, and that she would not be returned. Negotiations at a close, a fight looked ready to boil.
Takeshi the Tiger
And just before fighting broke out, the ranger managed a feat of tigerish strength and burst his bonds with a bulge of muscle and dig of faint claws. He clawed to his feet, taking on the nearest cultists with bare hands.
Fight of Their Lives
As cultists swarmed, giant barb-firing blood sprouted above, and Flora and Fauna revealed the ability to turn garland into razor wire, the children began the fight of their lives. Down one member, the ranger unarmed, and three would-be saviors tired after fights in the village and the graveyard, the advantage was obviously on the side of the chapel.
Recognizing this, Hulda launched Isabella, who'd been injured in the initial attack, for the side door, hoping to get her to safety. Instead cultists cornered the little wizard, where she fought until dropped.
Hulda's Awesome Pull
As the rest of the group fared just as poorly, Hulda grabbed Fauna's garland whip, which missed an attack on the half-giant and lodged into a nearby pew. With a titan's strength, she lurched the triffid across the room and hammered her mid-air into the opposite pews. The brutalized creature was slow to rise, and the move increased moral amongst the scions.
The Battle Turns
Giers moved to Isabella's aid, fending off the two fanatics long enough to feed Isabella a potion of healing. However it wasn't much longer before the heroic paladin fell himself in defense of the girl, having taken at least one of the cultists with him.
After finishing off Fauna, Hulda charged the cultists harrowing Takeshi, and tore two in half before golfing a third dead in the rafters. Yet in her execution of the one sister, Flora had been driven mad, and she unleashed her full fury against Hulda until she finally dropped.
Takeshi, meantime, knocked a cultist out with a mighty punch, proving again to have a wicked upper cut, but even as he caught his sword from the then-conscious paladin and cut down another, the evil blossoms from beyond his reach shot him down. It seemed he was suffering from a particularly bad allergic reaction as his skin blotches and purpled.
And Then There Was One
Isabella soon found herself alone. She had managed to destroy two of the three blooms, but one continued to fire, whilst Flora saught to cut her down with garland whips. However the wizard wisely used the pews as cover, firing and ducking behind, and Flora and the perched plant couldn't quite get her.
Giers' Resurgence
The group was in need of a miracle and Kalinda saw fit to grant them one, as Giers recovered from his momentary unconsciousness. He rose in a heroic charge and cut down Flora where she stood. But no sooner had he done so, the chapel bloom fired a barb in his neck and he fell down once more.
The act of defiance inspired Isabella to take aim and ultimately destroy the final bloom. Fate had favored the young this day... though looking around the chapel, at all the corpses of the enemy and soon-to-be corpses of her allies, it could have gone either way.
Isabella the Hospitaler
Using her training in the Church of Gabriel, she managed to stabilize her fallen friends and return them to consciousness. Then they had a much needed rest, after Hulda barricaded the entrances to avoid sudden disturbances. The managed to bind their wounds and regain their strength, readying themselves for deeper delves. Portia was still missing and from the way the sisters spoke she hadn't much time left.
The Chamber of Father Laurel
They ventured beyond the side door first, finding a small chamber that once belonged to the abbot of Nor who resided in the chapel when it was still dedicated to The Patriarch. He was now nailed to the wall as a grotesque ornament, festing with fungi above a bet of dirt in a room overgrown with fungi and moss.
Some searching uncovered a chest filled with frozen, skinned foxes looking too unsavory to eat, and a bit of coin. Isabella also found a magic pair of glasses in a leather case inscribed with "Father Laurel". They enabled her to read any language.
Old Catacombs
The scions then tried the heavy stone door behind the altar, overgrown with moss and ivy, and which revealed a narrow, dark stone stairwell. They ventured down, Hulda not particularly liking the enclosed space that she barely squeezed through, and emptied into an old catacomb with three tiers of shelving and supported by squat pillars.
A thin mist curled off the floor, rolling through a massive hole in the back wall and into a timber-ribbed tunnel. Apparently there'd been some unfinished excavation in the past few years. It was much colder down here, below even freezing. Light, and then singing, came from down the tunnel.
The Underdome
Takeshi quietly in the lead, noogies and clumsiness marked the parade behind him, but even that was drowned out by the eerie, yet beautiful, chior singing that resounded ahead. Spoken entirely in elven, they sung of The Spirit's return home, and how one was lucky to go with him. It was basically a goodbye song, which only spurred Takeshi and the rest further.
They came to the threshold of a huge domed space, some forty feet high and a little larger in diameter, reinforced and supported by a framework of timber looking like the interior ribs of a turtle shell. The cold was even deeper here, and the floor and walls covered with snow. Great roots and vines snaked across the walls and ceiling, sheathed in ice.
In one corner sat three iron cages, similarly sheathed in ice, containing an unconscious Norsman, unconscious Norswoman, and thirdly a little figure wrapped in bear furs. Portia! Three supernaturally beautiful creatures, triplets, male versions of the sisters, sang with four warped little monsters looking to have been shaped of bark and rat parts, all of them led by a broad, burly human in red robes and wearing a helm reminiscent of a stag, with great antlers sprouting from either temple.
Surprise!
Fighting to the front, Isabella fired a surprise attack centered around The Horned Conductor. The orb caught the leader and two of his warrior guard, and otherwise causing a general turn and panic.
The Spirit's Ilk
The three guardians unfurled their beautiful faces as the sisters had earlier and charged, managing to pierce the planar veils long enough to teleport in front of Takeshi, Giers and Hulda respectively. They proved capable warriors, wielding their green longswords with terrible efficiency.
And chasing after them with moves of blinding quickness were the blights. One managed to latch onto Isabella and harrow her with poisoned bites, another going after Takeshi's jewels and a third Giers' ankles.
A Fight for Freedom
Portia, having pocketed the keys on The Horned Conductor's person as he was struck, managed to open her cage door. However the creak of the hinges drew two twig blights against her and she began a fight for freedom, the keys like daggers in her hands.
A Mighty Throw
Hulda, sensing a great threat from The Horned Conductor, threw Giers across the room, the glide of his wings carrying him down in a strike against the leader. He followed up with another attack, impaling the heathan through the gut with his spear.
The Horned Conductor
Well past bloodied, the conductor spat blood and a spell, flinging the paladin back in an explosion of darkness. Shadowstuff clung to his eyes and effectively blinded him, impeding his pursuit of the cult leader as he hobbled for the icy mouth of a cave or a lair. Eventually reaching it, despite the sightless stabbing of the ethrey, he cried within, "Infidels! Infidel defilers in the Underdome!"
Something large stirred deep within the hole.
How About a Little Fire?
Midway through the struggle, Isabella launched a fire-based attack, which seemed to do more damage and bring more pain than any of her other attacks against the triffids. Having discovered their weakness, she quickly took advantage with more bouts of flame that blackened and bubbled.
It Burns Down There
And the dastardly twig blight finally sunk its thorny fangs into a weak point in Takeshi's codpiece, injecting just enough searing poison to take him down. He kissed floor for the second time this morning.
The Spirit Answers
The Horned Conductor was about to call down a second time when a sudden rush of blizzard air flew up in a cawing roar of an answer, uplifting the cult leader and freezing him solid even as he spun in the air. He landed with a crash against the cave floor and scattered into thousands of tiny pieces.
His minions were quickly finished off, Portia using her keys with deft lethality, and Hulda and Isabella taking down the rest. Giers' blindness finally wore off and he looked with horror at what had once been his enemy.
Bracing Themselves
With the short break before The Spirit's arrival, Portia scrambled back into her armor and grabbed a shovel for protection. Likewise everyone dressed their wounds and gathered together, not having time to loot, and seriously considering running back up the way they came. A final explosion of arctic freeze from the cave mouth herald the prophet.
The Spirit of Winter
A gnarled, white avian claw larger than Hulda's hand curled around the mouth of the cave and pulled the rest of the unspeakable out into the open. The Spirit of Winter stood near twenty feet tall, a twisted and emaciated monster covered in a light hoarfrost and dusting of gray feathers. Either shoulder sprouted heavy gray down wings hiding thin, overlong arms beneath. It's head looked vaguely like a ram's, and its forehead like the shell of a great king crab, broad and dull, with horns bent like crustacean arms. Its face was pinched, with piercing white eyes that cut like blades into the hearts and souls of the scions, and where a beak might have been had long since shattered, revealing rows of icicle-like fangs.
It spoke in a voice like the cold of the moonface, the emtpiness of a widow's loss, the fester of all those that ever died in snow...
"I am Hunger. I am Thirst. I can fast a thousand years and not starve. I can drink a river of blood and not burst."
Nothing of its like had been seen on the face of Othyr since the Demon Wars, and Giers logically called it a demon when delivering a passionate defiance to its very existence. The insulted creature retorted that it was Fey, a king in The Wild and a thrall and prophet of The Green God. He and his ilk of triffids and blights had been stranded on Othyr after a planar cataclysm involving the sinking of Vrauktom. Now he was on the verge of returning home, to Paradise, but he needed green eyes, or better green blood, to open wide the door.
The Planar Wheel
Tucked under the feylord's great wing was a wheel made of exquisite pikes bound in a ring. In their center was a fist-sized emerald which sparkled with otherworldly light. Five of the nine pikes which made the wheel had a head stuck on them, a head with green eyes.
The Spirit threw the wheel hard and planted it into the side of the wall, where the emerald manifested a weak and flickering portal. Again the feylord beckoned the children to come with him to Paradise.
Experience: 255 (825 total)
Magic: Reading Spectacles (Isabella), 2 Potions of Healing
Loot: Leather Armor and Green Longsword (Takeshi), Fox Pelt Outfit (Hulda)
Money: 30 gold pieces, 100 silver pieces (160gp, 100sp group total: 32gp, 20sp each)
NPCs:
Flora (dead)
Fauna (dead)
Father Laurel (dead)
The Horned Conductor (dead)
An Unconscious Norsman
An Unconscious Norswoman
The Spirit of Winter
Monsters: Cultists of The Green God, Chapel Blooms, Triffids (Flora, Fauna, 3 Chapel Guards), Twig Blights
Places: The Green Chapel, Father Laurel's Quarters, The Old Catacombs, The Underdome
Fey: Spawned from primordial earth of a plane known as The Wild, fertilized by the corpse of the goddess Lordanna, and tainted in her last mad moments of agony, the fey are twisted creatures combining the most dangerous aspects of animals, plants and insects. Their Feylords have even inherited elemental or seasonal portfolios, like Winter, Forests or Water.
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