10 June 2006
Players/Characters
Aust (Russell) 2nd/2nd level male Elven Spellthief/Rogue
Elzara (Will) 4th level female Elven Monk
Tovar Hammerguild (Ian) 4th level Male Dwarven Paladin
Tanith (Ewar) 3rd/1st level male Human Sorcerer/Warmage
Alexis Serria (Andrew) 3rd /1st level female Human Cleric/Fighter
Eolias (Richard) 3rd/1st level male Elven Ranger/Sorcerer
Game Events
Barely pausing to draw breath the party charged into the next room, surprising six more Grimlocks who didn't stand a chance against the massed firepower that the group can now muster.
Swelled with their success they switched their attention to the final passageway that spiraled down and down until they came out in a small cavern that had a 10' high shelf blocking the way forwards, over which they could make out a faint reddish glow, such as from a small fire or perhaps a lantern.
Elzara and Eolias swarmed up the cliff face, only to be met by three mask-wearing Grimlocks armed with longspears who were protecting their holy man who was perched ontop of another 10' high shelf behind them. They poked their spears at Elzara (being the first to reach the top). Wounded quite badly, Elzara fell back, slow-falling back down and Eolias also fell, using his ring of Feather Falling to float down gently.
Unable to get a line-of-sight to the enemy, Eolias tossed a vial of Alchemist's fire over the edge, followed by a Sound Burst spell from Alexis, but as the party tried to assault the cliff en mass a retaliatory sound-burst spell exploded in their midst, followed by a Spiritual Weapon attacking Eolias.
Alexis managed to scale the cliff and moved to engage the mask-wearing Grimocks, being hit with Javelins and longspears on the way. Elzara, Tanith and Aust also reached the edge, but were then attacked by the Grimlock Spellcaster who had made himself invisible and charged into them, dropping both Elzara and Aust. As he became visible the party noticed with horror that he had sewn large preseved eyes into his empty eyesockets to give him a fixed strange staring expression
Tovar, meanwhile, was struggling to climb the cliff, even when assisted by Eolias. Dwarves are very dangerous over short distances - as long as that distance isn't up. Even a charge from the wand of enlarge didn't help much.
Alexis managed to fell the last of the mask wearers and entered combat with the leader but fell as Eolias once more reached the platform and was engaged by the madman. Being a ranged specialist Eolias was faring badly until Tovar saw his chance and got in a solid hit on the Grimlock when he strayed too close to the edge of the cliff.
With their companions dying all around, Eolias and Tovar managed to finish off the Grimlock and administered aid to the fallen, rescuing more than one from the brink of death.
The bodies were looted and the battered group decided to spend the next 18 hours resting until Alexis could regain her spells and heal them all back to a semblance of health.
A Rope of Climbing and a suit of +1 Banded mail were found on the Leader's body along with a couple of scrolls that were written in a very disjointed cryptic style. Tanith used a Comprehend Languages spell to get the gist of what they were saying - lots of ranting about the Age of Worms and Great Kyuss - , and also deciphered the Braille on the potions - 2 x Remove Fear, 3 x Cure Light Wounds.
Whilst the rest of the party slept, Eolias was on watch when he heard a bellowing cry echo down the passages and heard the unmistakeable sound of wood being splintered, albeit quite far away. He also heard the sounds of one or more large things movong about, also a long way distant, but nothing came to disturb them throughout their rest.
The next morning the almost fully healed party returned to the large cavern containing the pool and elevator they found the elevator in pieces. Tovar moved towards the pool just as a 10' six-armed figure stepped out and attacked.
Eolias and Aust stood back and shot, Tanith let fly with Magic Missiles while Tovar, Alexis and Elzara were engaged by the beast.
Eolias' first shots didn't do much damae so Alexis cast Magic Weapon on his bow to try and negate any damage resistance which appeared to do the trick as a Spiritual Weapon appeared and attacked Eolias. As Tanith's spells seemed to be healing the monster he also tried to use ranged weapons but to no avail due to damage resistance.
Eventually the sheer force of numbers wore it down and it collapsed to the floor, dead.
Tovar, who had noticed the surface of the black pool pulsate after the creasture had climbed out of it, was horrified to see another, identical creature rise up and attack the party.
Already weakened by the previous battle the group fared less well, especially as this creature seemed to posses a rage-like ability which was very effective in dropping both Tovar and Alexis, joining Elzara who was already lying down on the job!
As the echoes died away it was left to Eolias and Aust to bring round their colleagues as Tanith too had succombed to the might of the creature before it fell.
After ascending the remains of the elevator's ropework the party found that Dourstone Mine had been abandoned. There was evidence that at least one of the six-armed beasts had ascended to this level, but no trace of it could now be found. Eolias examined the tracks carefully and announced that the beast(s) had indeed returned to the cavern where they were eventually slain.
The group returned to Diamond Lake, battered but not beaten, with lots of nice new shiny things to play with.
Allustan agreed to identify the magical items for free in return for information upon what they ahd been facing over the past few days.
These items were Full Plate +1, Pearl of Power - Level 1, +1 Ring of Protection, +1 Bracers of Armour, Lesser Rod of Extend, +1 Large Steel Shield of Blinding, Cloak of Charisma +2, +1 Studded Leather, +1 Mithril Shirt, 2 potions of Remove Fear, 3 potions of Cure Light Wounds, and a Heward's Handy Haversack.
Upon pooling their resources the party decided to invest in a Wand of Cure Medium Wounds and four potions of Mage Armour for Elzara.
The group, spending more and more time with their new-found friend Allustan, rested in and around Diamond Lake for a further week whilst Allustan's investigations were continuing.
Towards the end of the week Allustan came to the group with a proposition - he wanted to pay an old friend a visit in connection with the rumours of worms and undead in the hills, and asks the party to accompany him - both as friends and bodyguards.
His friend's name is Marzena and she is a battle-mage for the Free City, currently posted at Blackwall Keep on the edge of the Mistmarshes, about 2 days ride away.
Magical Items Found
- Rope of Climbing
- Banded Mail +1
XP Summary
- 6 Grimlocks - 1,800 XP
- 3 Mask-wearing Grimlocks - 900 XP
- Grimlock Shaman - 1,600 XP
- 2 Ebon Aspects - 4,800 XP
Total XP - 9,100 or 1,516 XP each
(Only 1,364 XP for Eolias due to multiclassing penalties)
No comments:
Post a Comment