18th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
I don’t quite know how to explain what’s happened.
Right after the fight with the Krensher and the Grimlocks, Dolgun found a hidden cache of “the finest brew to be had in this horrid settlement.” He then proceeded to drink himself senseless in a staggeringly short period of time. While we were tryin’ to cajole Dolgun back to the fight he said (at least this is what I believe he said), “Nope. I’m done withsh alllllll that. I’m takin’ thish booozzze back to the guild houshe and sleepin’ wit it. Then, maybe I’ll stay on and help Eldron watch over the place. All this pukin’ has wrecked me throat and I think I’m lossin’ me teeth!”
As that was goin’ on, Valcrist returned to inform us that Mojdeh was cleaned, fed, and restin’. He also showed up with a new recruit! A hulkin’ Half-Orc with arms like trees and a surprisingly un-sloped forehead. He carried a smaller version of Storn’s falchion that looked like a child’s toy in his massive hands. Valcrist had informed him of what was goin’ on and the beast (named Alabron) seemed ready to dispense justice. Valcrist then escorted/carried Dolgun up the elevator and (hopefully) back home. Dolgun also found 'Demon Boy' lurking about in the caves and was bragging how he was going to claim the reward from Zalamandra.
Alabron got his first taste of what we were up against when he charged a lone Grimlock at the end of a hall. Alabron plunged straight into a hidden pit just in front of the Grimlock and the Grimlock then leaped in after him swingin’ a stone mornin’ star! Whe heard a kind of splortchin; sound and a grunt. The Alabron came climbin’ out of the pit covered in Grimlock blood.
Yuck!
At a “t” intersection, we were ambushed by seven more Grimlocks. Hine killed three. Alabron killed two (despite trying to push past one, getting knocked down, and nearly taking Sparrow with him). Justice and I each killed one (mine with a Magic Missile of course). While Sparrow didn’t land any killin’ blows, she kept tumblin’ in behind them setting up flanking positions for Alabron. At one point, Hine nearly killed me with an arrow in the back of the head. Scared the hell outtta me, but my Mage Armor deflected most of the damage.
The passage ended in a large kennel with a ledge that dropped off to another level maybe 50’ below us. There was a ladder of sorts built into the left side of the wall going down, but it didn’t seem trustworthy, so Alabron and Justice set up a rope around a stalagmite to assist climbers. As Sparrow was headin’ down, archer Grimlocks from across the chamber (on a slightly lower ledge) began shootin’ at her! Hine’s archery skills really came in handy here. He killed two of the archers unassisted and he and I teamed up on the last one (Magic Missiles) to kill it.
The Sparrow coordinated this really amazing move. She used the rope to run back and forth across the cave wall (while Alabron kept the rope slack or taut as needed) until she could leap across onto the other ledge! Justice was takin’ bets that she couldn’t pull it off. To be honest, I thought the coordination was too complicated and had my own doubts, but I thought it was in poor taste to bet against a fellow party member. So I took his bet at 3:1. I made 30 gold!
Unfortunately, just because you can do a thing, doesn’t mean you should do a thing. Sparrow found herself alone on the opposite ledge with a pair of dagger-wielding Grimlock barbarians!
The Grimlock’s flew into a frothin’ rage as they came at Sparrow, slashing her repeatedly with their knives. Hine managed to graze one from our perch on the highest ledge. Sparrow started tappin’ the floor and wall next to her to distract the blind Grimlock. The ploy didn’t work as planned. Oh, it distracted the Grimlock, but the thing had cat-like reflexes that allowed it to recover from the distraction instantly. Alabron started climin’ down the ladder intent on helpin’ Sparrow (although how he planned to clime up to the other ledge I have no idea). I could see that Sparrow was in trouble, but I also could tell she needed more help than a simple Magic Missile was gonna provide. So, I grabbed hold of some of that dark energy that these caves had filled me with and blasted the pair of Barbarians with some jet black Magic Missiles that hurt them, but also seemed to leech a little of the life force away! Next to me, Carenthal hit one of the Grmlocks with a light ray.
Hine continued firin’ arrows, but cuoldn’t get a clean shot. Sparrow, realisin’ she was out of her league, did this amazin’ back flip off the ledge and somehow managed to not impale herself on any of the stalagmites on the ground. The Grimlocks leapt off the ledge after her. One of them was nearly impaled on a stalagmite and the other sliced another wound into Sparrow’s flesh. Alabron made it to the floor and I reached for more dark energy and blasted the Grimlocks with more Fel Magic Missiles. They seemed to slump after that barrage. Carenthal hit again with the last bit of his Light of Lunia, but Trogdor’s crossbow bolt flew wide right.
Hine managed to drop the one we had all be concentratin’ on with an arrow right in the forehead. Sparrow shifted into full defense, using her combat expertise to make herself a difficult target. And between her active defense and his weakened condition, the Grimlock could not manage to land another hit with his daggers. A quick exchange later, Alabron managed to close with the Barbarian and kill him.
So, this evil I feel is usable. While we rested (and exhausted the last charge in our wand of healin’) I checked myself to see if I was sufferin’ any ill effects. I didn’t have any abnormal desires all of a sudden. I didn’t feel compelled to channel that dark energy again. All things being equal, I felt exactly the same.
I can’t imagine I can channel that power too often without it bitin’ me in the ass, but for now it seems to be just another extension of my amazin’ Magic Missiles.
Down a rubble-choked passage, we were ambushed by chokers (2 from the front and 2 from behind). They injured us a bit, but we dispatched them easily enough. Of course, now we were goin’ through out healin’ potions.
Another large room with a ramp made of rocks and skulls leadin’ up to a ledge. A Grimlock was positioned to throw boulders down on us. I knocked him down with a Blast of Force and Alabron was able to climb up and finish him off.
After narrowly avoidin’ death beneath a round boulder rolled down crude stairs by a Grimlock, Sparrow had to hold off another one all by herself while we rolled the boulder out of the hall and off the ledge so that Hine could shoot the thing in the eye and kill it.
We are now approachin’ a larger cavern. I sure hope we’re getting’ close to this Grallak character. I’d like to kill the last of these cultists, deal with whatever is in the black pool, and get a hot meal and a bath. Besides, the Monks are expectin’ me soon.
Session 12 - Evil Plots Revealed
17th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Against a feeble argument from Trogdor, we used our one scroll of Remove Curse to wake Storn from his enchanted slumber. I didn’t yell at him. I figure there’ll be time to get him to see what he did wrong when we’re a little safer. Not five minutes later, we found a new anagram. This one was apparently a warnin’ about the double Lightnin’ Bolt trap that Sparrow and Storn had just stumbled into! By the gods, Storn is a tough one! Caught between criss-crossin’ bolts of lightnin’, he just stood there and took it. Right about then, five Kenku and one of their leaders poured out of a secret door and attacked Carenthal and me.
They were on me before I could react, stabbin’ me with their swords in my most vulnerable spots. I killed one with a Blast of Force (took his head clean off). Sparrow was next to react, moving up and coverin’ me and Carenthal. The Kenku swarmed around some side passages to get at Hine and stated stabbin’ his soft spots while one ‘em stabbed Carenthal who was still just standin’ there in a state of shock. Another Kenku tried to kill Sparrow, but slipped on some blood from a previous fight. Sparrow took advantage of his slip and ran him through, addin’ to the blood on the floor. I didn’t want to leave Carenthal in the hall by himself, so I fired a crossbow bolt into the fray (and into a wall). When Carenthal finally reacted, he did a great job, openin’ up with a Burnin’ Hands spell and roastin’ one of the Kenku where it stood (I swear it smelled just like chicken). Trogdor and Dolgun killed the last two Kenku, but the leader escaped down the hall beyond the secret door.
It must have taken most of a healin’ wand to get Storn fully functional again – although I doubt he’ll ever get that scorch marks off his armor.
We decided to explore the rest of the labyrinth to make sure we had cleared out all the Kenku. We eventually found a torture chamber where we rescued Mojdeh, the sister of the two boys we had rescued from the Lizardfolk almost two ten-day ago. (Her family seems to attract trouble and hardship.)
We sent the girl up with Valcrist, figurin’ he’d have the best chance to sneak her back to the guild hall. There, he could get her new clothes and get her cleaned up. We all agreed to keep secret the fact that Mojdeh had been violated by the cultists. Thanks to the Message spell I put on Valcrist, he was able to warn us that Kullen was on his way down the mine to deliver more supplies.
We debated whether or not to ambush the albino Half-Orc (agreein’ that it looked like he’d have to be dealt with at some point in the near future anyway). In the end, we decided to leave a terse note tellin’ him to leave the supplies by the elevator and went back to deal with the Faceless One.
After triggerin’ another Fireball trap (that Sparrow was somehow able to dodge), we were attacked by an Allip. Trogdor ended up castin’ a Consecrate spell to negate the evil influence of this maze and was then able to turn the creature. As it fled, Carenthal and I managed to “slay” it with Magic Missiles.
Explorin’ some other rooms we found lots of evidence of Smenk’s involvement (mostly in the form of crates and whatnot with his mark on them). Of course, if we try to present this as evidence against him, he’ll probably just claim that all those supplies were stolen from him, but we know better.
The final showdown with the Faceless One was a terrible battle. Carenthal placed a Silence spell on Storn’s sword to try to prevent the Faceless One and his minions from castin’ spells. (I need to have a tactical talk with Carenthal later. It would have been much better to put the Silence spell on one of Sparrow’s arrows. Sparrow’s quicker and more mobile than Storn, and by puttin’ the spell on a secondary weapon, it’d allow her to get rid of it if the situation required it.)
The Faceless One was not alone. With him were four, beautiful but crazed-lookin’ women wearin’ nearly nothin’, another Allip, and the Kenku leader. Hine started us off by shootin’ one of the women. Then all four of ‘em conjured up Flamin’ Spheres and blocked the door with them (very clever that). The Faceless One followed up with a Fireball that scorched most of us (I was out of range, luckily). The Kenku advanced and the Allip flew straight through a wall to attack Trogdor! I blasted the Allip with four Magic Missiles while Storn ran straight through the Flamin’ Spheres, oblivious to the pain, only to be grappled by the strange black hands of one of the room’s pillars! Dolgun also ran through the fires, not as oblivious to the pain, and vomited his acid all over several of the women. Trogdor cast a Cure Moderate Wounds spell, managed to touch the Allip, and killed it while Justice braved the Flamin’ Spheres as well.
Hine finished off the injured acolyte with another arrow. Justice, Storn, and Trogdor were all burned by Flamin’ Spheres as the acolytes started guidin’ ‘em around the room. Sparrow moved into the room (barely avoidin’ a shot from the Kenku’s bow), but got grabbed by the other strange pillar in the room. The Faceless One blasted Dolgun with a volley of Magic Missiles as Carenthal and I moved into the adjoinin’ room, ready to disrupt the Faceless One’s next spell. Storn struggled against the pillar, Dolgun moved up into melee with the acolytes (and within breath weapon range of the Faceless One), and Trogdor came into the fray. Justice, now in melee with the Kenku leader, tried to slash the crow-man, but missed.
Hine shot another acolyte and was in turn burned by two of the Flamin’ Spheres while the other burned Justice (both their natural resistances to fire kept them from being hurt very badly). The Kenku stepped away from Justice and shot him with a poisoned arrow, weakenin’ the Cleric of Tyr. Sparrow managed to slither away from the grasping hands of the pillar that had captured her. The Faceless One started to cast a spell. Before he could finish, Dolgun breathed fire on him and I slammed into him with a devastatingly accurate Blast of Force. Not only did the Faceless One live through that fearsome barrage of energy, but he was able to maintain his focus and complete the Lightin’ Bolt spell! The spell blasted Justice and killed two of his own acolytes in the process. Since Justice was still standin’, that seemed like a good trade. Carenthal put the last acolyte to sleep with a spell just as Storn broke free from his pillar and closed with the Faceless One, envelopin’ him in silence. Trogdor healed Hine and Justice rushed up past the Kenku and stabbed the Faceless One. Somehow, however, Justice’s sword just glanced off the Wizard!
The fight was basically over, however. Storn killed the Faceless One – his powerful blow with his great falchion cut through the Faceless One’s wards and his chest. Hine killed the Kenku leader, embeddin’ a pair of arrows so deeply, you couldn’t see the fletching amidst the Kenku’s own feathers.
What happened after that was mostly clean-up, lootin’, and information gatherin’. We killed another one of those worm-ridden Zombies and questioned our prisoner (a deluded woman named Versasnath). We discovered quite a bit about where all these cultists had come from (The Sunset Hills fleeing the Zhentarium mostly) and why they wanted to raise up an Overgod (power for themselves in the “new world order”). We also found a scary-looking book that we have not yet moved let alone opened and this note:
The Age of Worms
The secrets of this page are most holy. Know ye heretics who invade them that the forces of Myrkul are upon thee. If you read this, Theldrick, you have either slain me and doomed our cause, or the time is nigh for our final victory. At last the riddle of this place is solved. In ages past, a great being known as Kyuss rose above the petty warlords who fought and struggled for material gain. Mighty Kyuss is the herald of the Overgod. Soon, he will sound the clarion call to the faithful. The three sundered faiths shall be made whole.
The Undead our agents spotted must be located and captured. If they bear the worms of Kyuss then they perhaps hold the final answer to our research. The Ebon Aspect stirs within the pool, but it is still not ready to emerge. Perhaps a traumatic event – an invasion by heretics, a great battle fought within these halls – could awaken it. But even then it will attain only a minor form.
The Way of the Ebon Triad
The Way speaks of the danger of awakening the Aspect too soon. Our work will be for naught. We must find the worms and the Undead hosts that carry them. If not here, then we must send agents to the Skull Gorge. If Kyuss himself, or his agents cannot shepherd in the Age of Worms, then we shall do it ourselves so that the Overgod may live.
Our course is clear, my dear Theldrick. Smenk is no longer useful to us and must die. Kill him, then send agents to the Stump Bog, to the southwest. I believe that we will find what we are looking for there, among the Lizardfolk. Summon more of your warriors. If the calculations and portents are correct, the time for covert action is at an end. As the age of worms begins, we must strike hard and fast to prepare the coming of the Overgod.
Of course, dear Theldrick, if you were so rash as to slay my followers and me, then you soon shall join me in the afterlife. Doubtless your treachery has already stirred the Overgod. Our mission has failed, and you will die at his hands.
Not very light readin’.
We decided to rest here in the back rooms to heal and recover spells.
18th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
The front door to the labyrinth was open when we work up. Obviously some Kenku escaped our purge. I wonder where they’ve gone.
I’ve awoken with a new energy and sense of purpose! Smitin’ all these cultists with force energy has given me a new insight into the nature of Magic Missiles. Not only do I feel like I can now channel enough arcane energy to Empower the Magic Missiles (or even the Persistent Blade), but I think I’ve discovered a way to make the missiles explode out from a central target. I hate to say it, but I can’t wait to try that out!
I also feel a sense of trepidation, however, as well. The evil of these people has saturated the very walls of this place. I get the feelin’ that some of these chambers have been here for ages and these cultists simply dug to ‘em and around ‘em. Worse yet, I think some of it has seeped into me! It’s not so much that I feel like doin’ somethin’ evil myself or that I even condone what these people are doin’. It’s more like I understand it. I understand the power they gained from their evil and how they used it.
It’s enough to make me shudder.
We weren’t ambushed by Kenku. Kullen was not waitin’ for us. And whatever evil was stirrin’ in the black pool was strangely quite as we crossed the elevator room to the last door – the door to the Baahlites.
A windin’, natural, 5’-wide passage emptied out into a small, stomach-shaped chamber where we were attacked by Grimlocks (like the ones that ambushed us on the road home a ten-day ago) and their Krensher pets. One of the Grimlocks was a leader of some sort – a Master of the Hounds if you will.
Everyone got a piece of the action, although it was tough juggling people up and back the narrow hallway to maximize our efforts. Carenthal even killed one of the Krenshers with his crossbow. Dol killed two Krenshers and a Grimlock. Hine killed three Grimlocks. Justice killed a Krensher and the Hound Master. Storn killed a Krensher and a Grimlock. Trogdor kept us all healed and I used the new Rod of Extend Spell we acquired to send a Persistent Blade into the fray. The tiny knife only killed one Grimlock, but it continuously set up flankin’ positions for all my allies, makin’ it easier to kill these evil savages.
Against a feeble argument from Trogdor, we used our one scroll of Remove Curse to wake Storn from his enchanted slumber. I didn’t yell at him. I figure there’ll be time to get him to see what he did wrong when we’re a little safer. Not five minutes later, we found a new anagram. This one was apparently a warnin’ about the double Lightnin’ Bolt trap that Sparrow and Storn had just stumbled into! By the gods, Storn is a tough one! Caught between criss-crossin’ bolts of lightnin’, he just stood there and took it. Right about then, five Kenku and one of their leaders poured out of a secret door and attacked Carenthal and me.
They were on me before I could react, stabbin’ me with their swords in my most vulnerable spots. I killed one with a Blast of Force (took his head clean off). Sparrow was next to react, moving up and coverin’ me and Carenthal. The Kenku swarmed around some side passages to get at Hine and stated stabbin’ his soft spots while one ‘em stabbed Carenthal who was still just standin’ there in a state of shock. Another Kenku tried to kill Sparrow, but slipped on some blood from a previous fight. Sparrow took advantage of his slip and ran him through, addin’ to the blood on the floor. I didn’t want to leave Carenthal in the hall by himself, so I fired a crossbow bolt into the fray (and into a wall). When Carenthal finally reacted, he did a great job, openin’ up with a Burnin’ Hands spell and roastin’ one of the Kenku where it stood (I swear it smelled just like chicken). Trogdor and Dolgun killed the last two Kenku, but the leader escaped down the hall beyond the secret door.
It must have taken most of a healin’ wand to get Storn fully functional again – although I doubt he’ll ever get that scorch marks off his armor.
We decided to explore the rest of the labyrinth to make sure we had cleared out all the Kenku. We eventually found a torture chamber where we rescued Mojdeh, the sister of the two boys we had rescued from the Lizardfolk almost two ten-day ago. (Her family seems to attract trouble and hardship.)
We sent the girl up with Valcrist, figurin’ he’d have the best chance to sneak her back to the guild hall. There, he could get her new clothes and get her cleaned up. We all agreed to keep secret the fact that Mojdeh had been violated by the cultists. Thanks to the Message spell I put on Valcrist, he was able to warn us that Kullen was on his way down the mine to deliver more supplies.
We debated whether or not to ambush the albino Half-Orc (agreein’ that it looked like he’d have to be dealt with at some point in the near future anyway). In the end, we decided to leave a terse note tellin’ him to leave the supplies by the elevator and went back to deal with the Faceless One.
After triggerin’ another Fireball trap (that Sparrow was somehow able to dodge), we were attacked by an Allip. Trogdor ended up castin’ a Consecrate spell to negate the evil influence of this maze and was then able to turn the creature. As it fled, Carenthal and I managed to “slay” it with Magic Missiles.
Explorin’ some other rooms we found lots of evidence of Smenk’s involvement (mostly in the form of crates and whatnot with his mark on them). Of course, if we try to present this as evidence against him, he’ll probably just claim that all those supplies were stolen from him, but we know better.
The final showdown with the Faceless One was a terrible battle. Carenthal placed a Silence spell on Storn’s sword to try to prevent the Faceless One and his minions from castin’ spells. (I need to have a tactical talk with Carenthal later. It would have been much better to put the Silence spell on one of Sparrow’s arrows. Sparrow’s quicker and more mobile than Storn, and by puttin’ the spell on a secondary weapon, it’d allow her to get rid of it if the situation required it.)
The Faceless One was not alone. With him were four, beautiful but crazed-lookin’ women wearin’ nearly nothin’, another Allip, and the Kenku leader. Hine started us off by shootin’ one of the women. Then all four of ‘em conjured up Flamin’ Spheres and blocked the door with them (very clever that). The Faceless One followed up with a Fireball that scorched most of us (I was out of range, luckily). The Kenku advanced and the Allip flew straight through a wall to attack Trogdor! I blasted the Allip with four Magic Missiles while Storn ran straight through the Flamin’ Spheres, oblivious to the pain, only to be grappled by the strange black hands of one of the room’s pillars! Dolgun also ran through the fires, not as oblivious to the pain, and vomited his acid all over several of the women. Trogdor cast a Cure Moderate Wounds spell, managed to touch the Allip, and killed it while Justice braved the Flamin’ Spheres as well.
Hine finished off the injured acolyte with another arrow. Justice, Storn, and Trogdor were all burned by Flamin’ Spheres as the acolytes started guidin’ ‘em around the room. Sparrow moved into the room (barely avoidin’ a shot from the Kenku’s bow), but got grabbed by the other strange pillar in the room. The Faceless One blasted Dolgun with a volley of Magic Missiles as Carenthal and I moved into the adjoinin’ room, ready to disrupt the Faceless One’s next spell. Storn struggled against the pillar, Dolgun moved up into melee with the acolytes (and within breath weapon range of the Faceless One), and Trogdor came into the fray. Justice, now in melee with the Kenku leader, tried to slash the crow-man, but missed.
Hine shot another acolyte and was in turn burned by two of the Flamin’ Spheres while the other burned Justice (both their natural resistances to fire kept them from being hurt very badly). The Kenku stepped away from Justice and shot him with a poisoned arrow, weakenin’ the Cleric of Tyr. Sparrow managed to slither away from the grasping hands of the pillar that had captured her. The Faceless One started to cast a spell. Before he could finish, Dolgun breathed fire on him and I slammed into him with a devastatingly accurate Blast of Force. Not only did the Faceless One live through that fearsome barrage of energy, but he was able to maintain his focus and complete the Lightin’ Bolt spell! The spell blasted Justice and killed two of his own acolytes in the process. Since Justice was still standin’, that seemed like a good trade. Carenthal put the last acolyte to sleep with a spell just as Storn broke free from his pillar and closed with the Faceless One, envelopin’ him in silence. Trogdor healed Hine and Justice rushed up past the Kenku and stabbed the Faceless One. Somehow, however, Justice’s sword just glanced off the Wizard!
The fight was basically over, however. Storn killed the Faceless One – his powerful blow with his great falchion cut through the Faceless One’s wards and his chest. Hine killed the Kenku leader, embeddin’ a pair of arrows so deeply, you couldn’t see the fletching amidst the Kenku’s own feathers.
What happened after that was mostly clean-up, lootin’, and information gatherin’. We killed another one of those worm-ridden Zombies and questioned our prisoner (a deluded woman named Versasnath). We discovered quite a bit about where all these cultists had come from (The Sunset Hills fleeing the Zhentarium mostly) and why they wanted to raise up an Overgod (power for themselves in the “new world order”). We also found a scary-looking book that we have not yet moved let alone opened and this note:
The Age of Worms
The secrets of this page are most holy. Know ye heretics who invade them that the forces of Myrkul are upon thee. If you read this, Theldrick, you have either slain me and doomed our cause, or the time is nigh for our final victory. At last the riddle of this place is solved. In ages past, a great being known as Kyuss rose above the petty warlords who fought and struggled for material gain. Mighty Kyuss is the herald of the Overgod. Soon, he will sound the clarion call to the faithful. The three sundered faiths shall be made whole.
The Undead our agents spotted must be located and captured. If they bear the worms of Kyuss then they perhaps hold the final answer to our research. The Ebon Aspect stirs within the pool, but it is still not ready to emerge. Perhaps a traumatic event – an invasion by heretics, a great battle fought within these halls – could awaken it. But even then it will attain only a minor form.
The Way of the Ebon Triad
The Way speaks of the danger of awakening the Aspect too soon. Our work will be for naught. We must find the worms and the Undead hosts that carry them. If not here, then we must send agents to the Skull Gorge. If Kyuss himself, or his agents cannot shepherd in the Age of Worms, then we shall do it ourselves so that the Overgod may live.
Our course is clear, my dear Theldrick. Smenk is no longer useful to us and must die. Kill him, then send agents to the Stump Bog, to the southwest. I believe that we will find what we are looking for there, among the Lizardfolk. Summon more of your warriors. If the calculations and portents are correct, the time for covert action is at an end. As the age of worms begins, we must strike hard and fast to prepare the coming of the Overgod.
Of course, dear Theldrick, if you were so rash as to slay my followers and me, then you soon shall join me in the afterlife. Doubtless your treachery has already stirred the Overgod. Our mission has failed, and you will die at his hands.
Not very light readin’.
We decided to rest here in the back rooms to heal and recover spells.
18th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
The front door to the labyrinth was open when we work up. Obviously some Kenku escaped our purge. I wonder where they’ve gone.
I’ve awoken with a new energy and sense of purpose! Smitin’ all these cultists with force energy has given me a new insight into the nature of Magic Missiles. Not only do I feel like I can now channel enough arcane energy to Empower the Magic Missiles (or even the Persistent Blade), but I think I’ve discovered a way to make the missiles explode out from a central target. I hate to say it, but I can’t wait to try that out!
I also feel a sense of trepidation, however, as well. The evil of these people has saturated the very walls of this place. I get the feelin’ that some of these chambers have been here for ages and these cultists simply dug to ‘em and around ‘em. Worse yet, I think some of it has seeped into me! It’s not so much that I feel like doin’ somethin’ evil myself or that I even condone what these people are doin’. It’s more like I understand it. I understand the power they gained from their evil and how they used it.
It’s enough to make me shudder.
We weren’t ambushed by Kenku. Kullen was not waitin’ for us. And whatever evil was stirrin’ in the black pool was strangely quite as we crossed the elevator room to the last door – the door to the Baahlites.
A windin’, natural, 5’-wide passage emptied out into a small, stomach-shaped chamber where we were attacked by Grimlocks (like the ones that ambushed us on the road home a ten-day ago) and their Krensher pets. One of the Grimlocks was a leader of some sort – a Master of the Hounds if you will.
Everyone got a piece of the action, although it was tough juggling people up and back the narrow hallway to maximize our efforts. Carenthal even killed one of the Krenshers with his crossbow. Dol killed two Krenshers and a Grimlock. Hine killed three Grimlocks. Justice killed a Krensher and the Hound Master. Storn killed a Krensher and a Grimlock. Trogdor kept us all healed and I used the new Rod of Extend Spell we acquired to send a Persistent Blade into the fray. The tiny knife only killed one Grimlock, but it continuously set up flankin’ positions for all my allies, makin’ it easier to kill these evil savages.
Session 11 - Guardian Stamps
17th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
So, I came up with a rather brilliant plan for spendin’ the night down in the mine. We set up camp in the entry room to the Bane area, out of view of the door to the elevator room. We rebuilt a couple of the skeletal guards, so if anyone saw their way inside it’d look still “normal.” Then I had people on each watch wearin’ the cultist’s robes. The plan must’ve worked because Sparrow received a note on her watch and no alarm was sounded.
Here’s what the note said:
Theldrick (must be the name of that Cleric that tried to take us on all yesterday),
We need to schedule a meeting tomorrow with Grallak (must be the name of the one who leads the Bhaal cult) and discuss with him his latest vision. Also, Smenk is becoming a problem. The food supplies were rotten again. So, send your warriors out at night again to raid and pillage for more food.
Myrkul’s Chosen One , Your Leader
After some discussion, we decided to assault the Myrkulites first, mostly because, if their messenger reported anythin’ suspicious, we wanted to hit ‘em before they had a chance to warn the cult of Bhaal. So, we crossed the pillared room (briefly startled by a sound from the black pool to the south) and gathered at the east door. On the door was an anagram that Carenthal deciphered to read as “Knock Three Times to Enter.” Sparrow then proceeded to knock six times.
Unbelievable! I’ve got no idea why Sparrow believed the cult of Mykrul would have the same secret knock (three pairs of knocks) as the Baneites. I’ve got even less of an idea why Sparrow would think a total of six knocks would be considered three knocks. At any rate, Sparrow’s bafflin’ decision set off some sort of magic trap and we were all caught in a huge explosion!
Sparrow is our “intelligence” officer. Go figure.
We finally got the trap figured out and headed into a labyrinth of narrow passages, narrow side passages, and numerous secret doors. We stopped at an 18”-long black feather standin’ on end with another anagram under it (there was anagram graffiti on the walls, too). Dolgun said it was radiatin’ magic, so we figured it was a trap. Before we could figure out the anagram, however, all hell broke loose.
A black, feathered, bird-man (Carenthal called them Kenku) stepped out of a passage to the east and blasted us all with a Wand of Lightning Bolt! The Kenku got off another blast from the wand before any of us could react and most of us were quite toasty by then. Amazingly enough, our trainin’ paid off. We all had several discussions about how to react if we came under massive magical assault and for the most part, we all reacted exactly as planned!
What followed was a long, tough, runnin’ battle with groups of Kenku (and a couple of Dire Weasels) that came from around corners or slipped behind us through unseen secret doors. The narrow passages worked for the Kenku, enablin’ ‘em to spread us out through several passages so we couldn’t focus our full attention on any one group of ‘em. Aside from one tactical mistake (Justice nearly got himself killed on the feather trap), we all did well, but the fight really belonged to Dolgun, Sparrow, and Storn who each chalked up four kills. We all helped, of course. Justice, who I’m now convinced actually walks with Tyr at his side, stood his ground against numerous foes despite his injuries and became a focus for their attention so Sparrow could get into flankin’ positions. Carenthal and Trogdor provided much needed healin’ at vital times. Hine and Valcrist added to the chaos of battle with buzzin’ arrows and bolts and I assisted with Magic Missiles when the target seemed important, like when I killed the wand wielder.
When the last Kenku died, we were overcome by a wave of dread. Not sure what that was all about. It didn’t seem magical in nature nor did it have any effect on us other than to be damned unsettling’. We regrouped and healed and started seachin’ the corridors. Eventually, we discovered a normal wooden door with another anagram and a magical trap.
Despite our efforts, the trap went off bathin’ us all in flames and then a pair of armored Undead (Dread Guards) came out of the room beyond the door!
Sparrow managed to hit one with her rapier and then tumble away from its sword. Dolgun moved into her spot and puked sticky acid all over the lead Dread Guard. The Undead attacked Dolgun, but he hid behind his tower shield so they could barely even see him let alone hit him. Storn attacked from around the corner at the lead Dread Guard, tryin’ to destroy the thing in one hit, but his blow glanced off the wall. Justice tried to turn the Undead, but just like in the bane area, the unhallowed ground made turnin’ all but impossible. That didn’t stop Trogdor from tryin’ (and failin’) as well. I blasted the thing with an extra hot volley of Magic Missiles.
The worst part about all these narrow passages for me was it made most of my other spells ineffective. Luckily, I like Magic Missile. A lot.
Dolgun belched forth a line of fire on the two Dread Guards, but they seemed to be immune to fire! Then the lead Undead cut a chunk outta Dolgun’s shield and a slightly smaller chunk outta Dolgun himself. That’s when Justice switched places with Dolgun. Storn missed again and almost threw out his back he was swingin’ so hard. I switched places with Hine to give him a better shot at the Undead, but he still missed and Trogdor’s turning attempt failed again.
Dolgun next tried a line of acid, which succeeded in burnin’ and pittin’ the Dread Guard’s armor. The Dread Guards and Justice traded blows, but only the Undead’s swords drew blood. Storn missed again. Seriously, does he have to swing like a mad-man on every attack? Hine and Valcrist both managed to fire through the melee and hit the Dread Guard and I helped with some Magic Missiles. Then Trogdor conjured up some kind of rainstorm of holy water! The Dread Guard didn’t like that at all!
Justice finally managed to hit one of the Dread Guards and then Carenthal cast a Bless spell. The two Dread Guards slashed into Justice and he would’ve died right there if not for a timely Close Wounds from Carenthal. Then the Dread Guard tried to switch positions (apparently they are quite clever), but Justice cut the damaged one down as it tried to escape then managed to parry the other Guard’s attack. Finally, all Storn’s gruntin’ paid off and be brought his falchion down in a crashin’ blow that literally shattered the remainin’ Dread Guard! Trogdor’s Holy Storm melted away the remains of the Undead until only their helmets were left.
Their magical but eviiil helmets.
So even after I told him not to, Storn put on one of the helmets and promptly collapsed on the floor! We all thought he was dead, but as it turned out, he was just comatose thanks to some lingerin’ curse residin’ within the helm.
We really didn’t have time for this.
So, I came up with a rather brilliant plan for spendin’ the night down in the mine. We set up camp in the entry room to the Bane area, out of view of the door to the elevator room. We rebuilt a couple of the skeletal guards, so if anyone saw their way inside it’d look still “normal.” Then I had people on each watch wearin’ the cultist’s robes. The plan must’ve worked because Sparrow received a note on her watch and no alarm was sounded.
Here’s what the note said:
Theldrick (must be the name of that Cleric that tried to take us on all yesterday),
We need to schedule a meeting tomorrow with Grallak (must be the name of the one who leads the Bhaal cult) and discuss with him his latest vision. Also, Smenk is becoming a problem. The food supplies were rotten again. So, send your warriors out at night again to raid and pillage for more food.
Myrkul’s Chosen One , Your Leader
After some discussion, we decided to assault the Myrkulites first, mostly because, if their messenger reported anythin’ suspicious, we wanted to hit ‘em before they had a chance to warn the cult of Bhaal. So, we crossed the pillared room (briefly startled by a sound from the black pool to the south) and gathered at the east door. On the door was an anagram that Carenthal deciphered to read as “Knock Three Times to Enter.” Sparrow then proceeded to knock six times.
Unbelievable! I’ve got no idea why Sparrow believed the cult of Mykrul would have the same secret knock (three pairs of knocks) as the Baneites. I’ve got even less of an idea why Sparrow would think a total of six knocks would be considered three knocks. At any rate, Sparrow’s bafflin’ decision set off some sort of magic trap and we were all caught in a huge explosion!
Sparrow is our “intelligence” officer. Go figure.
We finally got the trap figured out and headed into a labyrinth of narrow passages, narrow side passages, and numerous secret doors. We stopped at an 18”-long black feather standin’ on end with another anagram under it (there was anagram graffiti on the walls, too). Dolgun said it was radiatin’ magic, so we figured it was a trap. Before we could figure out the anagram, however, all hell broke loose.
A black, feathered, bird-man (Carenthal called them Kenku) stepped out of a passage to the east and blasted us all with a Wand of Lightning Bolt! The Kenku got off another blast from the wand before any of us could react and most of us were quite toasty by then. Amazingly enough, our trainin’ paid off. We all had several discussions about how to react if we came under massive magical assault and for the most part, we all reacted exactly as planned!
What followed was a long, tough, runnin’ battle with groups of Kenku (and a couple of Dire Weasels) that came from around corners or slipped behind us through unseen secret doors. The narrow passages worked for the Kenku, enablin’ ‘em to spread us out through several passages so we couldn’t focus our full attention on any one group of ‘em. Aside from one tactical mistake (Justice nearly got himself killed on the feather trap), we all did well, but the fight really belonged to Dolgun, Sparrow, and Storn who each chalked up four kills. We all helped, of course. Justice, who I’m now convinced actually walks with Tyr at his side, stood his ground against numerous foes despite his injuries and became a focus for their attention so Sparrow could get into flankin’ positions. Carenthal and Trogdor provided much needed healin’ at vital times. Hine and Valcrist added to the chaos of battle with buzzin’ arrows and bolts and I assisted with Magic Missiles when the target seemed important, like when I killed the wand wielder.
When the last Kenku died, we were overcome by a wave of dread. Not sure what that was all about. It didn’t seem magical in nature nor did it have any effect on us other than to be damned unsettling’. We regrouped and healed and started seachin’ the corridors. Eventually, we discovered a normal wooden door with another anagram and a magical trap.
Despite our efforts, the trap went off bathin’ us all in flames and then a pair of armored Undead (Dread Guards) came out of the room beyond the door!
Sparrow managed to hit one with her rapier and then tumble away from its sword. Dolgun moved into her spot and puked sticky acid all over the lead Dread Guard. The Undead attacked Dolgun, but he hid behind his tower shield so they could barely even see him let alone hit him. Storn attacked from around the corner at the lead Dread Guard, tryin’ to destroy the thing in one hit, but his blow glanced off the wall. Justice tried to turn the Undead, but just like in the bane area, the unhallowed ground made turnin’ all but impossible. That didn’t stop Trogdor from tryin’ (and failin’) as well. I blasted the thing with an extra hot volley of Magic Missiles.
The worst part about all these narrow passages for me was it made most of my other spells ineffective. Luckily, I like Magic Missile. A lot.
Dolgun belched forth a line of fire on the two Dread Guards, but they seemed to be immune to fire! Then the lead Undead cut a chunk outta Dolgun’s shield and a slightly smaller chunk outta Dolgun himself. That’s when Justice switched places with Dolgun. Storn missed again and almost threw out his back he was swingin’ so hard. I switched places with Hine to give him a better shot at the Undead, but he still missed and Trogdor’s turning attempt failed again.
Dolgun next tried a line of acid, which succeeded in burnin’ and pittin’ the Dread Guard’s armor. The Dread Guards and Justice traded blows, but only the Undead’s swords drew blood. Storn missed again. Seriously, does he have to swing like a mad-man on every attack? Hine and Valcrist both managed to fire through the melee and hit the Dread Guard and I helped with some Magic Missiles. Then Trogdor conjured up some kind of rainstorm of holy water! The Dread Guard didn’t like that at all!
Justice finally managed to hit one of the Dread Guards and then Carenthal cast a Bless spell. The two Dread Guards slashed into Justice and he would’ve died right there if not for a timely Close Wounds from Carenthal. Then the Dread Guard tried to switch positions (apparently they are quite clever), but Justice cut the damaged one down as it tried to escape then managed to parry the other Guard’s attack. Finally, all Storn’s gruntin’ paid off and be brought his falchion down in a crashin’ blow that literally shattered the remainin’ Dread Guard! Trogdor’s Holy Storm melted away the remains of the Undead until only their helmets were left.
Their magical but eviiil helmets.
So even after I told him not to, Storn put on one of the helmets and promptly collapsed on the floor! We all thought he was dead, but as it turned out, he was just comatose thanks to some lingerin’ curse residin’ within the helm.
We really didn’t have time for this.
Session 10 - It's a Dead god Party
16th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
One look at the room where “the Beast” had been kept an’ every shred of sympathy I had for them fellers trapped in the burnin’ rooms was gone. The chamber was covered in blood – the kind of spray only a livin’-at-the-time victim makes and there was the mangled corpse of at least one child. A child!
At that moment, every single cultist in this mine signed his or her own death warrant because now we (every single one of us) were resolved.
Enraged, Justice led the charge through the double doors (literally and metaphorically) into a large, balconied room with a gigantic, obsidian statue of Bane. In the far corner, three cultists were chantin’ – maybe even summonin’ some foul demon. Hine and Valcrist were first in the room, droppin’ one of the cultists with their ranged weapons. Justice charged to get toe-to-toe with the last two, Sparrow grazed one with an arrow, and then Dolgun vomited acid all over them (killin’ the injured one)!
That Dwarf is the most disgustin’ person I’ve ever met. Effective, but repulsive.
That’s when an iron wall slid down from the ceilin’ and trapped me and Carenthal outside the room in the hall! Guessin’ that the hall to our right would eventually hook up with the main room, Carenthal and I ran down it and opened the door. Behind the door? A couple of Humans (a man and a woman) in half-plate armor and three of those tough Tiefling warriors! I reacted first and slammed a Blast of Force into the lead Tiefling, but he was not knocked down as I’d hoped. Carenthal followed up with a Sleep spell however, droppin’ him in his tracks.
Not really sure what happened in the main room after that. The fellas tell me they hacked the leg off the Bane statue and used it as a ramp to get to the balconies and apparently, Justice killed a guy by hookin’ him with a grappling hook and yankin’ him to the floor! I wish I’d been there to witness such heroics, but we had our own problems.
The man in the half-plate revealed himself as a Cleric (of Bane I would assume) when he cast Shield of Faith on himself as one of the Tieflings ran up a flight of stairs to join the fray in the main room and the other Tiefling leapt over his sleepin’ companion and tried to take my head off with his axe. Carenthal tried to save me by castin’ Hold Person on the Tiefling, but that failed because he was a Tiefling (a Native Outsider) and inherently immune to such a spell. Pity, that. That’s when the leader charged up and killed his own Tiefling follower with an unbelievably powerful blow of his sword just so he could get to me!. Guess he didn’t like my comment to Carenthal when I asked, “Should I tell them their god’s dead?”
Duckin’ under the Cleric’s follow-up attack, Carenthal and I retreated down the hall. We then proceeded to lead him on a merry chase all the way back into the elevator room and all its pillars. We’d stop periodically to pepper him with crossbow bolts or Magic Missiles and I kept tauntin’ him. The way I figured it, he was never gonna catch us in all that armor and we could run him ragged so he couldn’t rejoin the fight against our friends.
Sure enough, my plan worked, and I only had to trade blows with him once. He hit me hard, but my Spell Shield absorbed most of the damage leavin’ me with a little scratch. That’s when I saw Sparrow sneakin’ up behind him silent and deadly as a panther. So I grinned at him and said, “No wonder Bane died. With weak-ass followers like you, he must of rolled over and died of embarrassment” and then literally skipped away from him.
I’m sure my antics would have been enough to keep the guy’s attention on me so Sparrow could take him out from behind, but Storn showed up. He came barrelin’ from around the corner, huffin’, puffin’, and clangin’ and I could see Sparrow’s wicked grin turn into a frustrated frown. Before she could say anythin’ to Storn, the Cleric had turned, charged, and crushed Sparrow beneath his massive Heavy Flail which glowed and gave off an evil feeling! She went down like a marionette who suddenly finds all its strings cut and Stron shouted, “Noooooooo!” and cut the Cleric down in one chargin’ blow.
We ended up savin’ Sparrow before she bled to death and joinin’ the rest of the fight just as they killed the woman Cleric. The two Clerics had thoroughly evil weapons, so we shattered ‘em and looted the rest of their possessions.
We desecrated a small shrine to Bane and then had to destroy another worm-ridden Zombie. I say “another” because the guys had to deal with one earlier in the main room. These worm-Zombies were tough and fast and the worms kept trying to leap out and get us! They were also impossible to Turn in this unhallowed place, so the only way to kill them was by sword, spell, and acidic Dwarf vomit.
Horrifying.
At the very back of this complex of rooms, we killed three more cultists (Dolgun killed them with a gout of fire) and pursued the last remaining Cleric into the battle arena where he challenged us to fight him. I suppose he thought we’d try to fight him one at a time. I suppose he thought he’d have the use of his spells. Unfortunately for him, however, we brought lots of things down the mine with us. We brought outfits, shovels, torches, ropes, and a host of other minin’ stuff. But we brought no mercy down with us. Not a scrap.
Personally, I think it was the Silence spell Carenthal put on Storn’s sword that did the trick. Twice, it kept the man from using his divine magic to change the fight. The fact that we all ganged up on him helped, too. The only person who didn’t really assist in the fight was me. I was tapped and barely had enough energy left to conjure up a Message spell, so all I can could do was fire my crossbow (ineffectually) into the fray.
Every Banite is dead. Their possessions now belong to us, to create whatever good deeds we can manage from them. We discovered that the three cults of the dead gods
(Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul) have formed themselves into somethin’ called the Ebon Triad. They’re tryin’ to meld the three and resurrect him into some kind of evil “Overgod,” which you have to admit, sounds bad.
On the positive side, it appears from the Cleric’s writin’s, it doesn’t sound like the three cults play well together. In fact, it seems like they’re barely maintainin’ civil relations at all. Maybe we can do somethin’ to push them over the edge.
One look at the room where “the Beast” had been kept an’ every shred of sympathy I had for them fellers trapped in the burnin’ rooms was gone. The chamber was covered in blood – the kind of spray only a livin’-at-the-time victim makes and there was the mangled corpse of at least one child. A child!
At that moment, every single cultist in this mine signed his or her own death warrant because now we (every single one of us) were resolved.
Enraged, Justice led the charge through the double doors (literally and metaphorically) into a large, balconied room with a gigantic, obsidian statue of Bane. In the far corner, three cultists were chantin’ – maybe even summonin’ some foul demon. Hine and Valcrist were first in the room, droppin’ one of the cultists with their ranged weapons. Justice charged to get toe-to-toe with the last two, Sparrow grazed one with an arrow, and then Dolgun vomited acid all over them (killin’ the injured one)!
That Dwarf is the most disgustin’ person I’ve ever met. Effective, but repulsive.
That’s when an iron wall slid down from the ceilin’ and trapped me and Carenthal outside the room in the hall! Guessin’ that the hall to our right would eventually hook up with the main room, Carenthal and I ran down it and opened the door. Behind the door? A couple of Humans (a man and a woman) in half-plate armor and three of those tough Tiefling warriors! I reacted first and slammed a Blast of Force into the lead Tiefling, but he was not knocked down as I’d hoped. Carenthal followed up with a Sleep spell however, droppin’ him in his tracks.
Not really sure what happened in the main room after that. The fellas tell me they hacked the leg off the Bane statue and used it as a ramp to get to the balconies and apparently, Justice killed a guy by hookin’ him with a grappling hook and yankin’ him to the floor! I wish I’d been there to witness such heroics, but we had our own problems.
The man in the half-plate revealed himself as a Cleric (of Bane I would assume) when he cast Shield of Faith on himself as one of the Tieflings ran up a flight of stairs to join the fray in the main room and the other Tiefling leapt over his sleepin’ companion and tried to take my head off with his axe. Carenthal tried to save me by castin’ Hold Person on the Tiefling, but that failed because he was a Tiefling (a Native Outsider) and inherently immune to such a spell. Pity, that. That’s when the leader charged up and killed his own Tiefling follower with an unbelievably powerful blow of his sword just so he could get to me!. Guess he didn’t like my comment to Carenthal when I asked, “Should I tell them their god’s dead?”
Duckin’ under the Cleric’s follow-up attack, Carenthal and I retreated down the hall. We then proceeded to lead him on a merry chase all the way back into the elevator room and all its pillars. We’d stop periodically to pepper him with crossbow bolts or Magic Missiles and I kept tauntin’ him. The way I figured it, he was never gonna catch us in all that armor and we could run him ragged so he couldn’t rejoin the fight against our friends.
Sure enough, my plan worked, and I only had to trade blows with him once. He hit me hard, but my Spell Shield absorbed most of the damage leavin’ me with a little scratch. That’s when I saw Sparrow sneakin’ up behind him silent and deadly as a panther. So I grinned at him and said, “No wonder Bane died. With weak-ass followers like you, he must of rolled over and died of embarrassment” and then literally skipped away from him.
I’m sure my antics would have been enough to keep the guy’s attention on me so Sparrow could take him out from behind, but Storn showed up. He came barrelin’ from around the corner, huffin’, puffin’, and clangin’ and I could see Sparrow’s wicked grin turn into a frustrated frown. Before she could say anythin’ to Storn, the Cleric had turned, charged, and crushed Sparrow beneath his massive Heavy Flail which glowed and gave off an evil feeling! She went down like a marionette who suddenly finds all its strings cut and Stron shouted, “Noooooooo!” and cut the Cleric down in one chargin’ blow.
We ended up savin’ Sparrow before she bled to death and joinin’ the rest of the fight just as they killed the woman Cleric. The two Clerics had thoroughly evil weapons, so we shattered ‘em and looted the rest of their possessions.
We desecrated a small shrine to Bane and then had to destroy another worm-ridden Zombie. I say “another” because the guys had to deal with one earlier in the main room. These worm-Zombies were tough and fast and the worms kept trying to leap out and get us! They were also impossible to Turn in this unhallowed place, so the only way to kill them was by sword, spell, and acidic Dwarf vomit.
Horrifying.
At the very back of this complex of rooms, we killed three more cultists (Dolgun killed them with a gout of fire) and pursued the last remaining Cleric into the battle arena where he challenged us to fight him. I suppose he thought we’d try to fight him one at a time. I suppose he thought he’d have the use of his spells. Unfortunately for him, however, we brought lots of things down the mine with us. We brought outfits, shovels, torches, ropes, and a host of other minin’ stuff. But we brought no mercy down with us. Not a scrap.
Personally, I think it was the Silence spell Carenthal put on Storn’s sword that did the trick. Twice, it kept the man from using his divine magic to change the fight. The fact that we all ganged up on him helped, too. The only person who didn’t really assist in the fight was me. I was tapped and barely had enough energy left to conjure up a Message spell, so all I can could do was fire my crossbow (ineffectually) into the fray.
Every Banite is dead. Their possessions now belong to us, to create whatever good deeds we can manage from them. We discovered that the three cults of the dead gods
(Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul) have formed themselves into somethin’ called the Ebon Triad. They’re tryin’ to meld the three and resurrect him into some kind of evil “Overgod,” which you have to admit, sounds bad.
On the positive side, it appears from the Cleric’s writin’s, it doesn’t sound like the three cults play well together. In fact, it seems like they’re barely maintainin’ civil relations at all. Maybe we can do somethin’ to push them over the edge.
Session 09 - Dire Dealings at Dourstone Mine
13th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Searched all day for kalamanthus. We found a few small plants, but no “source.”
14th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Success! We managed to find a large crop of kalamanthus. I made a map, harvested a goodly amount of the stuff, and brought it to the monks. I made my offering and asked to learn their meditation techniques. I ain’t got an answer yet, but I can’t see why they’d refuse me. Guess I’ll find out later.
15th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
We ran lots of errands today. We reported to the garrison about the bandits (and collected quite a large bounty). We dropped off the rubbin’s to Allustan and told him all about he actual tomb. I managed to collect enough gold to actually buy a magic item! I never thought I’d see the day. When I was in Waterdeep, a friend of mine had a pair of gloves that amplified the power of his spells. He called ‘em Caster’s Gloves. I put an order in for ‘em today. They won’t get here until the 21st, but I guess its wait or go to Waterdeep myself.
Most of us went and had drinks with Sergeant Voss at the Spinning Giant again. I talked to him about getting a social introduction to Lieutenant Machella Venderin. Voss told me I ought to talk to Lieutenant Dolbrun about that.
While I was tryin’ to improve my social calendar, Justice and a few of the others went to gather some more information about the Dourstone mine from Dourstone himself. They didn’t get to see Dourstone, but they did witness Kullen deliverin’ some supplies to what looked like cultists of dead gods. These cultists then took the supplies into the mine!
Something bad is definitely going on down there.
We ended up bargin’ in on Dolgun’s pa in the middle of the night. Him bein’ a foreman at he Dourstone mine, we figured he be the ideal guy to tell us how to get in the mine. Luckily, he wasn’t pleased with the numerous deaths and disappearances happenin’ at the mine. So, he told us to try to sneak in during the guard change while they all meet up in the main house to discuss duties and whatnot.
Sounds like a plan.
16th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
We got ourselves all dolled up in miner’s gear and headed out to the Dourstone Mine. Since we decided to go durin’ the day, it wasn’t Dolgun’s pa’s shift. We almost got nabbed by the foreman, but some quick thinkin’ on my part distracted the foreman and saw us safely into the mine. It took us quite some time to find the deepest part of the mine – the place where the new elevator was located. But find it we did, greased up the gears, and headed down.
There was a pair of Tiefling guards waiting at the bottom of the elevator. By the time they could see that we were not more cultists we were already on the offensive. We managed to dispatch both guards before they could pound on the west door (a door bearing Bane’s symbol). After trying to question one of the guards to no avail, Justice executed the Tiefling!
This, after he had just given us all a lecture about how killin’ a helpless prisoner was always an act of evil. I think Justice has a bit o’ Damaran blood in him.
We headed through the Bane door. Two other doors were down there. One had the symbol of Myrkul on it. The other didn’t have a symbol at all. I used a new spell I’ve developed I call Silent Portal. It makes any door (or similar openin’ portal) completely silent. It let us open the Bane door with nary a sound. Of course, the fourteen Skeletons covered in bells and chimes were not doors.
Although Justice failed to turn the Skeletons, Trogdor succeeded – blowing the Undead to pieces and causing some 200 bells to clatter to the floor. There would be no surprising whatever evil lay behind the other doors in this room.
Sure enough, cultists (some people I even recognized from town) came pourin’ out of the door on the left. Tiefling Fighters started comin’ out of the door on the right. The cultists were untrained, fanatical rabble. They charged into battle screamin’ and, shortly thereafter, died screamin’. The Tieflings were altogether different. Well trained, tough, smart, and able to create shadows to protect themselves – they were a problem. The fight was brutal and confusin’. Dolgun lit the cultist’s barracks on fire and Justice locked them in the room to burn to death. Wow. Trogdor used lots of healing from the new wand and Carenthal and I were hard-pressed to conserve some of our spells. In the end, we were victorious, but the screams of burning people and Tieflings will haunt me, I fear.
Now, durin’ the second half of this grand melee, the double doors down the hall began to shudder as somethin’ large, strong, and pissed off began smashin’ through it. As the last Tiefling died, we ran up and tried to use the doors in the hall to funnel whatever horror was in there into the room where more guards were waitin’ for us. It was an excellent plan, and by all accounts it should have worked.
But it didn’t.
An enormous, crimson boar with huge tusks and all kinds of horns juttin’ out of it bashed its way through our makeshift barrier and started tearin’ into Storn. The beast hit hard and our blows barely even hurt the thing. It was even resistant to magic and avoided a spell from Carenthal and one of my Magic Missiles! Trodor was behind Storn, basically pourin’ healin’ energy from his wand into Storn. It took all of us and many of our resources to kill the beast (turned out to be a Fiendish Dire Boar), but Valcrist got in the final crossbow bolt that killed it.
Gods know what’s waiting for us deeper in the cultist’s chambers.
Searched all day for kalamanthus. We found a few small plants, but no “source.”
14th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Success! We managed to find a large crop of kalamanthus. I made a map, harvested a goodly amount of the stuff, and brought it to the monks. I made my offering and asked to learn their meditation techniques. I ain’t got an answer yet, but I can’t see why they’d refuse me. Guess I’ll find out later.
15th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
We ran lots of errands today. We reported to the garrison about the bandits (and collected quite a large bounty). We dropped off the rubbin’s to Allustan and told him all about he actual tomb. I managed to collect enough gold to actually buy a magic item! I never thought I’d see the day. When I was in Waterdeep, a friend of mine had a pair of gloves that amplified the power of his spells. He called ‘em Caster’s Gloves. I put an order in for ‘em today. They won’t get here until the 21st, but I guess its wait or go to Waterdeep myself.
Most of us went and had drinks with Sergeant Voss at the Spinning Giant again. I talked to him about getting a social introduction to Lieutenant Machella Venderin. Voss told me I ought to talk to Lieutenant Dolbrun about that.
While I was tryin’ to improve my social calendar, Justice and a few of the others went to gather some more information about the Dourstone mine from Dourstone himself. They didn’t get to see Dourstone, but they did witness Kullen deliverin’ some supplies to what looked like cultists of dead gods. These cultists then took the supplies into the mine!
Something bad is definitely going on down there.
We ended up bargin’ in on Dolgun’s pa in the middle of the night. Him bein’ a foreman at he Dourstone mine, we figured he be the ideal guy to tell us how to get in the mine. Luckily, he wasn’t pleased with the numerous deaths and disappearances happenin’ at the mine. So, he told us to try to sneak in during the guard change while they all meet up in the main house to discuss duties and whatnot.
Sounds like a plan.
16th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
We got ourselves all dolled up in miner’s gear and headed out to the Dourstone Mine. Since we decided to go durin’ the day, it wasn’t Dolgun’s pa’s shift. We almost got nabbed by the foreman, but some quick thinkin’ on my part distracted the foreman and saw us safely into the mine. It took us quite some time to find the deepest part of the mine – the place where the new elevator was located. But find it we did, greased up the gears, and headed down.
There was a pair of Tiefling guards waiting at the bottom of the elevator. By the time they could see that we were not more cultists we were already on the offensive. We managed to dispatch both guards before they could pound on the west door (a door bearing Bane’s symbol). After trying to question one of the guards to no avail, Justice executed the Tiefling!
This, after he had just given us all a lecture about how killin’ a helpless prisoner was always an act of evil. I think Justice has a bit o’ Damaran blood in him.
We headed through the Bane door. Two other doors were down there. One had the symbol of Myrkul on it. The other didn’t have a symbol at all. I used a new spell I’ve developed I call Silent Portal. It makes any door (or similar openin’ portal) completely silent. It let us open the Bane door with nary a sound. Of course, the fourteen Skeletons covered in bells and chimes were not doors.
Although Justice failed to turn the Skeletons, Trogdor succeeded – blowing the Undead to pieces and causing some 200 bells to clatter to the floor. There would be no surprising whatever evil lay behind the other doors in this room.
Sure enough, cultists (some people I even recognized from town) came pourin’ out of the door on the left. Tiefling Fighters started comin’ out of the door on the right. The cultists were untrained, fanatical rabble. They charged into battle screamin’ and, shortly thereafter, died screamin’. The Tieflings were altogether different. Well trained, tough, smart, and able to create shadows to protect themselves – they were a problem. The fight was brutal and confusin’. Dolgun lit the cultist’s barracks on fire and Justice locked them in the room to burn to death. Wow. Trogdor used lots of healing from the new wand and Carenthal and I were hard-pressed to conserve some of our spells. In the end, we were victorious, but the screams of burning people and Tieflings will haunt me, I fear.
Now, durin’ the second half of this grand melee, the double doors down the hall began to shudder as somethin’ large, strong, and pissed off began smashin’ through it. As the last Tiefling died, we ran up and tried to use the doors in the hall to funnel whatever horror was in there into the room where more guards were waitin’ for us. It was an excellent plan, and by all accounts it should have worked.
But it didn’t.An enormous, crimson boar with huge tusks and all kinds of horns juttin’ out of it bashed its way through our makeshift barrier and started tearin’ into Storn. The beast hit hard and our blows barely even hurt the thing. It was even resistant to magic and avoided a spell from Carenthal and one of my Magic Missiles! Trodor was behind Storn, basically pourin’ healin’ energy from his wand into Storn. It took all of us and many of our resources to kill the beast (turned out to be a Fiendish Dire Boar), but Valcrist got in the final crossbow bolt that killed it.
Gods know what’s waiting for us deeper in the cultist’s chambers.
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