The Prince of Redhand - Part Three

27 July 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th/2nd level male Human Fighter/Tempest
Elzara (Will) 14th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 14th level male Human Druid
Balthazzar (Andrew) 14th level male Human Cleric
Ellan (Ewar) 12th/2nd level male Human Wizard/Archmage
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/7th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

The morning after the feast, a couple of the party seemed to have contracted some kind of food poisoning, but after treatment from Balthazzar all were soon well and raring to go.

Ellan teleported the entire group back to the crypt under St Cuthbert's temple where Balthazzar cast a Speak with Dead spell on the Rhosk's remains. Under interrogation, the cleric's spirit was able to identify the location of the old hideout of the Ebon Triad, and so the party decided to pay a visit.

One there, they realised that the hideout had been beneath a local sickhouse, where the poor went to die when they were too ill to work. The crone who tended to the sick would not allow them in, so Ellan used a teleport spell to penetrate the underground lair.

Inside they were attacked by an animated rope which did major damage to a couple of the less well protected characters.

Entering the abandoned temple itself, the group saw a huge statue of the Ebon Triad which was exactly like the once they had fought at the bottom of Dourstone mine long ago. This statue too attacked, and came close to killing a couple of the front rankers before it was destroyed.

A secret compartment behind a wall provided a veritable treasure trove for the characters. Inside were 10 potions of cure moderate, 10 potions of undetectable alignment, 10 potions of nondetection, ring of evasion, rod of flame extinguishing, wand of lightning bolt (8th, 23 charges), wand of haste (19 charges), belt of Dwarvenkind, cloak of Arachnida, Harp of Charming and 4 beads of force,

As requested, the party vent to visit the Elven sorcerer Lashonna at midnight on the following evening. She told them that she knew who they were, and why they had come to Allhaster.

She provided them with fragments of Ballakarde's journal, which pointed to the Dracolich Dragotha being key to the resurgence of Kyuss.

The journal also indicated that Dragotha had a weakness - it's phylactery had been stolen by a band of Druids called The Order of the Storm who hid it in a place called The Library of Last Resort. They had then sacrificed themselves to ensure that it's location would never be found.

Lashonna also had some bad news, however. It transpired that one of her servants had betrayed her and gone over to her enemies with all her accumilated knowledge.

She offered to scry on this person, and the party agreed, eager to get a glimpse of their foes.

Through the scrying portal the group could make out the deck of a ship which was obviously going through a wild storm, with a man lashed tightly to the mast. Orcish sailors came and went through the image, along with a couple of tieflings, an Effrit and also a tall human who appeared to have the Hand of Vecna attached to his own arm!!

This human noticed the scrying, and killed the prisoner with the Hand of Vecna to break the link.

Ballakarde's journal pointed towards a remote island surrounded by a ferocious storm system as being the most liekly place to pick up clues to the location of the lost library. The party readily agreed to travel to the island to beat the other adventurers to their prize.

Magical Items Found

10 Potions of Cure Moderate
10 Potions of Undetectable Alignment
10 Potions of Nondetection
Ring of Evasion
Rod of Flame Extinguishing
Wand of Lightning Bolt (8th, 23 charges)
Wand of Haste (19 charges)
Belt of Dwarvenkind
Cloak of Arachnida
Harp of Charming
4 Beads of Force


XP Earned -

Hangman Golem – 2,800 XP
Overgod – 12,600 XP


Total XP - 15,400 XP


Volon - 2,566 XP
Eolias - 2,566 XP
Crumpus - 2,566 XP
Ellan - 2,566 XP
Balthazzar - 2,566 XP
Elzara - 2,566 XP


Current Totals -

Volon - 110,315 XP
Eolias – 111,406 XP
Crumpus 111,915 XP
Ellan - 110,165 XP
Balthazzar – 107,566 XP
Elzara – 111,406 XP

The Prince of Redhand - Part Two

20 July 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th/2nd level male Human Fighter/Tempest
Elzara (Will) 134th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 14th level male Human Druid
Balthazzar (Andrew) 134th level male Human Cleric
Ellan (Ewar) 13th/1st level male Human Wizard/Archmage
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/6th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Once Volon and those others affected by the Acid Wraith had been restored to full health the party continued with their exploration of the city.

As they meandered through the marketplace they were approached by a small band of hobgoblins whose leader introduced himself as B'Kruss. He had heard that the party had managed to obtain invites to Prince Zeech's party, and wanted to check them out before the night itself.

After much braggery on both sides, he set the party a challenge - he wanted a race around the city to prove who was the better horseman. The party nominated Volon to represent them, but unfortunately, even after summoning a swift dinosaur as a mount he was no match for the wily hobgoblin who finished the course even before Volon had managed to steer his unruly mount around the first corner.

This was just what the hobgoblins were looking for to prove their superiority, and they swaggered off, loudly celebrating,

Having a couple of days left before the celebrations, the party decided to investigate the ruins of the Temple of St Cuthbert again, but this time they teleported straight into the ruins to make sure that they weren't observed entering the building.

Once inside they entered the old crypt where they were disturbed to find that the priest Rhorsk who had written the book in Tenser's library was still in residence, and even more disturbed when they realised that he had become undead!! Under questioning, Rhorsk explained that he had kept a watch upon the old meeting place of the Ebon Triad for some weeks before the fall of the city, but as he had not seen any activity he had assumed that the cult had either truely been destroyed, or had moved on elsewhere.

When forced to realise his fate, Rhorsk went insane and attacked the party who were forced to put him out of his misery. They then looted chainmail + 2 from his body.

Learning that Prince Zeech would expect a gift from each, the party set about procuring several expensive gifts, and so on the evening of the banquet they were all well prepared when a carriage was sent for them.

The carriage was pulled by harnessed trolls and was driven by a huge half-orc who conveyed them swiftly to the palace.

On arrival they were entertained by the Prince's jester, a halfling-sized creature who called himself the Ominous Fabler until it was time for the evening's events.

During these events, Eolias found himself outshot by the Prince, but managed to aquit himself nicely by winning a silver skull at a later event.

Volon disagreed with the use of innocent animals in the events and so volunteered for the final event to try and outmatch the Prince, which he did with ease.

Just as everyone was ready to sit down for the banquet, the lady Lashonna, being fashionably late, made a grand entrance and sat at the top of the table, next to Eolias.

During the meal that followed, several of the other guests made contact with the party, the most notable of which was ???, the leader of a group of Rangers from the North who intimated to Eolias that they would be willing to follow if the party started an uprising against Prince Zeech.

Balthazzar found a female Halfling merchant named ???? intriguing, and kept plying her with questions, She excused herself part-way through the feast and never returned to the table.

Part-way through the feasting, Elzara was challenged to a duel by B'Kruss, the Hobgoblin leader. For once the Hobgoblin had misjudged his opponent, and quickly fell beneath Elzara's flying fists.
Lashonna eventually spoke with Eolias, and told him that she knew why the group were in Allhaster, and that they should come to her mansion the following evening, around midnight when they could talk in private.


Magical Items Found

Chainmail +2


XP Earned -

Rhorsk – 1,173 XP
Locating the Ebon Triad - 7,050 XP
Zeech's Banquet – 40,200 XP
Roleplay Bonus - 56,544 XP

Total XP - 105,967 XP


Volon - 16,249 XP
Eolias - 18,740 XP
Crumpus - 16,249 XP
Ellan - 16,249 XP
Balthazzar - 18,740 XP
Elzara - 18,740 XP


Current Totals -

Volon - 107,749 XP - Level up to 15 !!
Eolias – 108,840 XP - Level up to 15 !!
Crumpus 108,349 XP - Level up to 15 !!
Ellan - 107,749 XP - Level up to 15 !!
Balthazzar – 105,000 XP - Level up to 15 !!
Elzara – 108,840 XP - Level up to 15 !!

The Prince of Redhand - Part One

13 July 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th/1st level male Human Fighter/Tempest
Elzara (Will) 13th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 13th level male Human Druid
Balthazzar (Andrew) 13th level male Human Cleric
Ellan (Ewar) 12th/1st level male Human Wizard/Archmage
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/6th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Upon their return to Magepoint, the group met with Agath, Celeste and Eligos who had not been idle whilst the party had been adventuring far to the south.

Several of Balakarde's notes had been found in Tenser's library, indicating the city of Allhaster far to the north as the next logical place to follow the Age of Worms prophecy.

A book by a priest of St Cuthbert called Rhosk noted that the Ebon Triad had been originally founded in Allhaster, but was all but destroyed when the current ruler, Prince Zeech, secceded to the throne two decades before. One of the main reasons the cult was destroyed was an Elven spellcaster named Lashonna.

Ballakarde's notes suggested that he was going to speak to Lashonna, and also check out the priest Rhosk (even though he had not been heard of since then) and he was also going to try to locate the original hideout of the Ebon Triad cult.

Ellan teleported the party to the outskirts of the city, and after managing to bribe their way past the corrupt gate guards the party found reasonable accomodation in a tavern near to the arena.

Asking around, the group discovered where Lashonna lived, and went to pay a visit, only to be politely turned away by the guards on the gate who advised them that Lashonna was not receiving visitors for at least a couple of months. He also told the characters that she would be attending the Prince's banquet at the end of the week, and if the group were able to obtain an invite then they could speak with her there.

More investigation led the party to a merchant who had been given the responsibility of allocating any spare invitations to the Prince's celebration, and Ellan managed to impress him into providing the group with invites on the condition that Ellan himself would be held responsible for the actions of his friends.

With a week to kill, the group explored the rest of the town. Due to some extreme law enforcement by a flock of angels backed up by large and nasty hobgoblin guards there was surprisingly little crime, but the general feeling the group got was one of general resignation and oppression.

Locating the ruins of the temple of St Cuthbert, the party ignored a 'Keep Out' message and entered only to be confronted by an angel who teleported herself into the ruins a few minutes later and instructed them to leave. Restraining Eolias, the group did as they were bid and moved on to the temple of Hextor where they introduced themselves to the somewhat innefectual high priest.

Following rumours of a lair outside the walls that had until recently been occupied by a Black Dragon the party set out to explore, only to be ambushed by four young adult dragons who 'encouraged' the group to enter the lair and defeat the monster contained within which had proved resistant to their acid attacks.

Readily agreeing, the party entered and were attacked by a strange acid ooze hybrid,.

Melee attacks on the creature caused acid damage to the attacker, so it was mainly left to the spellcasters to defeat the creature, but not without cost.

Volon bore the brunt of it's attacks, and was reduced to 1 strength and Ellan lost most of his magic items to it's acid attack. Ellan decided that the best course of action was to teleport both Volon and himself back to the tavern to recouperate whilst the rest of the party searched the lair and returned on foot.

Searching uncovered two strange potions which were later identified as providing permanent stat boosts to Constitution and Strength and to Charisma, but finding nothing else the party exited the lair and went to report back to the Black Dragons.

Erupting from thier hiding places in the nearby river, the dragons ambushed the party and sprayed them with their acid breath, causing many of Eolias' magical items to melt, as had Ellan's earlier.

After several rounds of combat, the battered party managed to slay three dragons and drive off the last one before returning, battered but victorious, to the tavern.

Magical Items Found

Potion of Strength +1 and Constitution +1
Potion of Charisma +2

XP Earned -

Acid Wraith – 11,700 XP
4 Black Dragons – 5,200 XP


Total XP - 16,900 XP


Volon - 2,340 XP
Eolias - 3,640 XP
Crumpus - 3,640 XP
Ellan - 3,640 XP
Balthazzar - 0 XP (not present)
Elzara - 3,640 XP


Current Totals -

Volon - 91,500 XP - Level up to 14!!
Eolias – 90,100 XP
Crumpus 91,100 XP - Level up to 14!!
Ellan - 94,450 XP - Level up to 14!!
Balthazzar – 86,460 XP
Elzara – 90,100 XP

The Spire of Long Shadows - Part Four

6 July 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th/1st level male Human Fighter/Tempest
Elzara (Will) 13th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 13th level male Human Druid
Balthazzar (Andrew) 13th level male Human Cleric
Ellan (Ewar) 13th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/6th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Having nowhere else to go, the group approached the sea of worms, but were attacked by two of the spell-casting undead supported by a gargantuan worm that rose from the surface of the worms to attack. This took the group a little time to defeat, but eventually they were all flying above the surface courtesy of Ellan to one of the opposite passageways.

At the end of this passage the group were confronted by an undead spellweaver which immediately cast Repulsion to keep them all away.

Volon managed to dispel the Repulsion allowing the party’s fighters to get into combat, following up with summoning an Earth Elemental which managed to grab and pin the spellweaver before it was Plane Shifted away.

The group managed to destroy the spellweaver and experienced a sixth vision, which showed all the Age of Worms prophecies coming to pass with hte exception of the final two, 'A tripartite spirit once again becomes one, and at its advice are the mighty undone', and 'On the eve of the Age of Worms a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead'.

The spellweaver had managed to inflict major damage on the characters before it was defeated, so after looting the corpse of a Robe of Resistance +5, Ring of Force Shield, Rod of Fury +2, Rod of Extend and a Circlet of Charisma +6 the party retired to the Naga’s chamber to rest and recover spells.

Returning across the sea of worms they noticed that all the worms appeared to have died, and at the end of the final passage they discovered three more Kyuss undead, similar to the one which had killed Elzara earlier, but they posed no problems for the full strength party and were soon despatched.

These bodies had 3 x +2 Full Plate, 3 x +1 Heavy Steel Shield, 3 x +1 Unholy Bastard Swords.

Gathering their treasures together, Ellan transported the group back to Magepoint to report their findings back to Tenser.


Magical Items Found

Robe of Resistance +5
Ring of Force Shield
Rod of Fury +2
Rod of Extend
Circlet of Charisma +6
3 x +2 Full Plate
3 x +1 Heavy Steel Shield
3 x +1 Unholy Bastard Swords


XP Earned

2 x Kyuss Wormcaller – 2,600 XP
Overworm – 7,800 XP
Spellweaver - 15,600 XP
Interpreting Vision 6 – 5,850 XP
3 x Kyuss Knights – 11,700 XP

Total XP - 43,550 XP


Volon - 7,260 XP
Eolias - 7,260 XP
Crumpus - 7,260 XP
Ellan - 7,260 XP
Balthazzar - 7,260 XP
Elzara - 7,260 XP


Current Totals

Volon - 89,160 XP
Eolias – 86,460 XP
Crumpus 87,460 XP
Ellan - 90,810 XP
Balthazzar – 86,460 XP
Elzara – 86,460 XP

The Spire of Long Shadows - Part Three

22 June 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 12th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 12th level male Human Druid
Balthazzar (Andrew) 12th level male Human Cleric
Ellan (Ewar) 12th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/5th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Returning to Magepoint, the party sought out the High Priest Agath who agreed to cast True Resurrection upon the deceased members of the party.

Milliardo decided not to rejoin the group, so Agath introduced Balthazar, a cleric who would be willing to accompany the party.

The newcomer was swiftly brought up to speed with what had gone before. The update completed, Ellan cast teleport and returned them to the City of Kuluth-Mar.

Swiftly returning to the library-type room where they had been so easily rousted before the party made swift work of despatching their undead foes with Ellan’s disintegrate spells being very useful. Looting the remains turned up 3 x +1 Full Plate and a +1 Mithril Breastplate.

Once their opponents were dead the group experienced another vision – this showed Kyuss being tought something by a six-armed spellweaver. After this the group had a chance to investigate the room more fully and discovered several green worms that were intended to infiltrate the mind of the host and give innate bonuses to specific knowledges. Ellan and Balthazar both partook of the worms, but the remainder of the group refused.

Moving to the central pit, a dropped coin proved that the pit was very deep, so Ellan used Dimension Door to transport himself and Volon 490 feet down, which left them flying 10’ above a room filled with thousands of swarming green worms, which they eventually destroyed with the use of spells.

Ellan brought the rest of the party down, and they moved into the next chamber which was filled with rows and rows of bodies which appeared to be still fresh.

The next room was similar, but here the bodies were mere skeletons, the flesh having decayed many years before.

A passage was discovered that led to a literal sea of green worms with a couple of exits across from the characters.

Another door opened onto a chamber filled with books and scrolls that had been fashioned into some kind of nest.

Carefully checking the room, the group came upon a Naga which was eager to talk rather than attack. Balthazar spoke with the creature and discovered that it was willing to leave all it’s magical possessions behind if the group could help it to escape from the city – at present it could not cross the obsidian ring.

The group agreed, and Elzara used her step ability to cross the Naga out of the city. Searching the room, the group found a magical book which turned out to be a Manual of Bodily Health +1 that Crumpus took and started to examine.

Returning to the only door yet unopened on this side of the worm sea the group discovered a room with a strange fountain carved from black marble, and three of the strange hunch-backed Kyuss undead guarding it.

Crumpus was affected by a suggestion spell and went to drink the water, and Eolias fell victim to a Quickened Hold Person spell before the rest of the group managed to defeat their foes, recovering 3 +1 Mithril Breatplates from the bodies.

A fifth vision showing the passing of Kyuss into godhood was experienced in this room showing the entire city being sacrificed.


Magical Items Found

+1 Full Plate x 3
+1 Mithril Breastplate x 4
Manual of Bodily Health +1


XP Earned

Interpreting Vision 4 – 5,400 XP
3 x Swords of Kyuss – 5,400 XP
4 x Kyuss Wormcaller - 7,200 XP
Interpreting Vision 5 – 7,200 XP
6 x Wormswarm – 5,400 XP
Naga – 10,800 XP



Total XP - 41,400 XP


Volon - 8,700 XP
Eolias - 6,000 XP
Crumpus - 6,000 XP
Ellan - 8,700 XP
Balthazzar - 6,000 XP
Elzara - 6,000 XP


Current Totals

Volon - 81,900 XP - Level up to 13!
Eolias – 79,200 XP - Level up to 13!
Crumpus 79,200 XP - Level up to 13!
Ellan - 83,550 XP - Level up to 13!
Balthazzar – 79,200 XP - Level up to 13!
Elzara – 79,200 XP - Level up to 13!

The Spire of Long Shadows - Part Two

15 June 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 12th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 12th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 12th level male Human Druid
Milliardo Maquis (Andrew) 12th level male Human Knight
Ellan (Ewar) 12th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/5th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Tenser provided the party with two scrolls of Greater Teleport to allow them to travel to the ruined city of Kuluth-Mar.

On arrival the group found themselves looking down onto what had once been a magnificent city, but was now in ruins and mostly covered by encroaching jungle.

The main points of interest were a 30' obsidian wall surrounding a huge ziggurat, at the peak of which was a strange looking spire that had been broken at its apex.

Vollon wild shaped into an eagle and flew over the wall, noting that it was 5' wide, and was inscribed with glowing runes on the top. The runes repeated the same phrase over and over, and by using a Comprehend Languages spell the group read that it said 'Kyuss, forever bound'

When they crossed the wall, Elzara and Eolias felt a strange popping sensation in their heads, but apart from that there appeared to be no other effects.

As the party carefully approached the pyramid they all experienced a vision in which the city was restored to its former glory and the space around the ziggurat was filled with thousands of people, all worshiping one man on a green throne. The crowd were chanting for Kyuss.

As the vision faded, one of the group noticed that the ground was slowly moving, and brushing off the surface revealed hundreds of tiny green worms!

At this, the party all broke and ran for cover at the pyramid, Elzara easily outdistancing the rest, but that proved to be her downfall.

As she raced up the steps of the ziggurat she was attacked from the shadows by a Kyuss Knight, plus two giant undead beetles whose maddening clicking caused several of the party to stop and cover their ears.

Before help could arrive, Elzara had been cut down and lay still on the step as Ellan managed to disintegrate both Knight and one of the beetles. The Knight's magical Full Plate +2, heavy Steel Shield +1 and +1 Unholy Bastard Sword were collected by the group whilst Volon cast reincarnate on their fallen comrade.

Returning to life as a Human, Elzara rejoined the party and they decided to investigate the strange-looking spire. Volon wild-shaped and flew up to get a closer look, but as he got close to the ruined apex the party all experienced another vision in which the peak was restored as a fifteen foot tall three foot thick trapezoidal pinnacle of black rock. The characters only had enough time to register this before it was ripped off and carried away by an ancient red dragon.

Entering the pyramid they passed through an antechamber and came into a large room which dominated the interior of the ziggurat - doors led off but the main point of interest was a large jagged hole in the floor which appeared to have been blasted, felling pillars all around it.

As they approached the hole feelings of palpable evil eminated from it, so the group decided to try the doors first.

One led to another antechamber which mirrored the one through which they had entered, but upon opening the third door they were confronted by a dark skinned Elf flanked by two 9' tall angels who immediately attacked.

The angels turned their forearms into flaming blades and attacked whilst the Elf started to cast spells at the group.

One of the angels smashed a glass wall, releasing a swarm of greem worms which landed squarely upon Milliardo.

Ellan once again came to the rescue with his disintegrate spells, but not before the angels had done serious damage to the main fighters by diving at them and turning incorporeal to pass through the characters.

As soon as the last enemy fell, the group experienced another vision in which a strange six-armed undead creature presented Kyuss with a green worm. The party identified the creature as a spell weaver - a creature that can cast up to six levels of spells in a single round.

From their foes the party took a +3 breastplate and a +4 unholy greatsword.

Eager to press on the group moved to open the final door to find a kind of library guarded by four more Kyuss creatures whom they attacked.

Unfortunately these creatures had a way of dealing negative energy damage which healed them whilst injuring the party. This, combined with the fact that the characters had not fully healed after the encounter with the angels, led to both Millardo and Crumpus being hacked apart, and Ellan surviving just long enough to use the scroll of Teleport provided by Tenser to snatch the rest of the party from certain death!


Magical Items Found

+2 Full Plate
+1 Heavy Steel Shield
+1 Unholy Bastard Sword
+3 Breastplate
+4 Unholy Greatsword


XP Earned

Interpreting Vision 1 – 5,400 XP
1 x Kyuss Knight – 5,400 XP
Interpreting Vision 2 – 5,400 XP
2 x Beetles – 3,600 XP
2 x Wormswarm – 3,600 XP
Elf – 5,400 XP
2 x Angels – 4,800 XP
Interpreting Vision 3 – 7,200 XP



Total XP - 40,800 XP


Volon - 6,800 XP
Eolias - 6,800 XP
Crumpus - 6,800 XP
Ellan - 6,800 XP
Millardo - 6,800 XP
Elzara - 6,800 XP


Current Totals

Volon - 73,200 XP
Eolias – 73,200 XP
Crumpus deceased
Ellan - 74,450 XP
Millardo – deceased
Elzara – 73,200 XP

The Spire of Long Shadows - Part One

1 June 2007

Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 11th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 11th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 11th level male Human Druid
Milliardo Maquis (Andrew) 11th level male Human Knight
Ellan (Ewar) 11th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/4th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Mindful of the mauling that they suffered at the hands of the creature in the portal on their way into the tomb, spells were prepared and weapons hefted in anticipation of a stiff fight.

Crumpus and Milliardo led the way, charging through the portal without any trouble at all, followed swiftly by Eolias.

Ellan cast a Dimension Door spell to transport the remaining party members to safety a few feet past the doorway, but they were shocked to find themselves bounced back as he had chosen a space which was already occupied by solid rock!

Realising that the portal was transporting them much further than his spell, Ellan stepped through but stumbled and fell out of the other end, followed by Volon and Elzara who both nearly fell over the prostrate Wizard.

Meanwhile, Eolias, Crumpus and Milliardo had made the somewhat unnerving discovery that the dragon corpse that they had left blocking the tunnel about a week earlier had been literally eaten from the inside out. All that was left was skin and bones. Checking the bones, Eolias announced that this was the work of one or more undead, probably some kind of Ghouls.

Returning to Diamond Lake, the party found Allustan very busy with the task of organising the rebuilding of the homes and businesses destroyed by the Dragon. He was very happy to see that they had survived, and asked to examine the artefacts that they had discovered in the tomb.

After a few days, he came to the group and explained that he had now reached the limit of his powers and understanding, but recommended that they travel to a small lakeside village about seven day’s travel south, called Magepoint, where his one-time master and friend now resided.

Allustan sent a message to his former mentor, the Archmage Tenser, to introduce the characters and to warn of their impending arrival, and the group set off for Magepoint on newly purchased ponies (plus Milliardo’s warhorse).

Six days into the journey, Eolias’ sharp ears picked up a strange soundm but before he was able to act, four Bone Devils and Two Barbed Devils appeared around them, demanding the piece of the Rod of Seven Parts!!

Using Ice Walls to separate the group, and fear auras on both mounts and riders to split them even further the devils toyed with the group, allowing one or other to nearly escape before teleporting into their path and forcing the fleeing character to retrace their path back to the rest of the group.

The Barbed Devils constantly repeated their requests for the rod, and Ellan had the idea to toss out his own Rod of Maximise as a decoy.

Following a successful opposed Bluff check, the Devils swooped on the rod and teleported away, leaving a battered but thankful party sprawled across the track.

Realising that their assailants might return at any moment once they realised that they had taken the wrong rod, the group hurried into Magepoint where they were pointed in the direction of the Inn.

Waiting for them at the Inn was Celeste, who had been last seen in the Free City just before the Champion’s Games. She welcomed the group, and led them into a meeting room where the party were surprised to see Eligos, now raised and well.

Also present was a female mage (?) who quizzed them on their exploits and what they had learned of the Age of Worms prophecy. After several hours she was satisfied with their answers, and advised them that Tenser was currently on another plane, and that he would send for them when he returned.

Three days later the party found themselves being escorted across the causeway to the Archmage’s tower.

Tenser and his companion Agath, the High Priest of Hieroneous, met them in the library and discussed the specifics of the Age of Worms prophecy, and also examined the various artefacts and evidence that the group had collected over the past few months.

He also told them of a colleague of his called Balakarde who had disappeared several years previously whilst also on the trail of Kyuss

Tenser asked about their encounter with the Devils, and offered to take the fragment of the Rod of Seven Parts off their hands, partly to keep it safe in his vaults, and also partly so he could examine it at his leisure.

In return he offered a powerful magical item to each party member. His offer, not surprisingly, was accepted.

He suggested that their next destination should be the seat of Kyuss’ power when he was still a mortal priest, a city located in a jungle about seven hundred miles to the south.

Magical Items Found

None


XP Earned

4 x Bone Devil – 9,156 XP
2 x Barbed Devil – 8,400 XP
Negotiating with Tenser – 6,000 XP
Roleplay Ad Hoc Award – 20,000 XP

Total XP - 43,536 XP


Volon - 8,256 XP
Eolias - 8,256 XP
Crumpus - 8,256 XP
Ellan - 8,256 XP
Millardo - 8,256 XP
Elzara - 8,256 XP


Current Totals

Volon - 66,000 XP
Eolias – 66,000 XP
Crumpus 69,000 XP
Ellan - 67,650 XP
Millardo – 66,000 XP
Elzara – 66,000 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Part Six

25 May 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 11th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 11th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 11th level male Human Druid
Milliardo Maquis (Andrew) 11th level male Human Knight
Ellan (Ewar) 11th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/4th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Being badly beaten, and with few spells in reserve the party decided to rest outside the pillar room, where they were not disturbed through the night.

Fully restored, Ellan cast fly on himself and Milliardo whilst Volon wildshaped into an Eagle, and all 3 cautiously approached the doors on the far side of the room.

As Milliardo neared the doors he held up the crystal seal as he had before, but this time he was rewarded with a bolt of lightning and a hurricane-force gust of wind that sent him tumbling back across the room.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party had entered the room, just in case the first set of doors closed, splitting the party. Elzara jumped up onto the widest pillar and discovered an indentation which would take the seal.

Milliardo flew to her, and set the seal in place. The pillar upon which they were standing started to rise, and they were eventually lifted up and through the illusory ceiling and into the true tomb.

This tomb was dominated by a sarcophagus floating 10' off the ground with the depiction of a Wind Duke on it’s underside, but before the two could investigate further they were attacked by the guardian of the tomb.

A demon had been lurking invisibly across the room and so was able to attack with surprise, paralysing Elzara and causing Milliardo to flee back through the hole in the floor.

The rest of the group, now all able to fly courtesy of Ellan, attempted to fly up through the ceiling to come to Elzara’s aid, but unfortunately this triggered more lightning and hurricane winds which kept some of them out.

Meanwhile, the demon (which was covered with hundreds of eyes) used a couple of Vampiric Drain attacks on Elzara which nearly killed her. Fortunately the others were able to intervene in the nick of time, but not before being severely mauled themselves.

Running away to heal up, the group made plans to deal with the beast on the next day.

Despite being specifically tooled up to deal with the creature the characters found that it was very hard to hit the demon in the first place, and due to it’s impressive list of immunities, spell resistance and damage reduction any hits that did get through were fairly useless as well.

Eolias discovered another carving of a Wind Duke on the top of the sarcophagus, but this carving had a space for the seal to be inserted.

Whilst the others kept the demon busy Milliardo set the seal in place on the coffin lid which slowly vanished to reveal a +2 mithral axiomatic longsword, a +2 mithral shocking burst shortsword, a piece of the Rod of Seven Parts and a Ring of the Wind Dukes in amongst the remnants of Icosiol's skeleton.

The demon was playing with the group, causing one after another to either run away or be knocked unconscious with pale grey rays it shot from it’s many eyes, and only Ellan was able to do any significant damage, but only when he managed to beat it’s spell resistance.

Finally, Elzara recalled that she had an Oil of Bless Weapon which she used to anoint her fists, allowing her to bypass the demon’s damage reduction. After this, it was all over very swiftly, leaving the party to claim the demon’s +2 unholy longsword.

As they examined the treasure from the sarcophagus, a feeling of anger swept over them, but quickly changed into one of blessing. At this, Eolias realised that the inert Talisman of the Sphere that he had been carrying since the first adventure in the Whispering Cairn was now fully activated, and Elzara’s Circlet of Wisdom was also upgraded to +4, and would also now act as a Circlet of Persuasion as well.

Very pleased with their finds, the party prepared to leave the tomb of Icosiol

Magical Items Found

+2 Unholy Longsword
+2 Mithral Axiomatic Longsword
+2 Mithral Shocking Burst Shortsword
Part of the Rod of 7 parts
Ring of the Wind Dukes


XP Earned

Oculous Demon – 0,000 XP
Gaining the Blessing of Icosiol – 0,000 XP

Total XP - 3,600 XP

Volon - 00 XP
Eolias - 00 XP
Crumpus - 00 XP
Ellan - 00 XP
Millardo - 00 XP
Elzara - 00 XP

Current Totals

Volon - 57,744 XP
Eolias – 57,744 XP
Crumpus 60,744 XP
Ellan - 59,394 XP
Millardo – 57,744 XP
Elzara – 57,744 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Part Five

11 May 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 11th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 11th level female Elven Monk
Volon (Ian) 11th level male Human Druid
Milliardo Maquis (Andrew) 11th level male Human Knight
Ellan (Ewar) 11th level male Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/4th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

After a fruitless search for their missing companions, Elzara, Volon, Milliardo and Crumpus healed back to full and went to speak with Moreto who was still waiting for them by the red river.

Moreto asked after the two missing characters, but was successfully bluffed by Milliardo that they were investigating elsewhere and were making sure that the spider did not return.

Moreto cautiously entered the spider's room, and when it was obvious that the spider had indeed been driven off, he upheld his end of the bargain and handed over the crystal seal to Millardo, then he and his Mohrg minions left the tomb.

Shortly after this, Eolias and Ellan arrived, relating a tale of planar travel and battling giant undead, but they were remarkably unscathed!

The seal was examined, one side showed three symbols in Aquan for 'Pesh' 'Aaqa' and 'Icosiol', the other showed a picture of a Wind Duke holding the seal up high infront of a pair of huge black doors whilst standing on a pillar slightly larger than the seal itself.

Returning to one of the doors near to the statue from where Kamaal had removed the mithril greatsword, the party opened it to discover a room covered in burning hot coals inhabited by a large salamander and a huge fire elemental. The Salamander introduced himself as ?????, and advised the party not to step into the room as he would then have to attack them, something which he would rather not do. He explained that he could not attack the holder of the seal of Icosiol - this tallied with the groups earlier observation that the Symbol of Law traps were now inoperative.

The remainder of the upper level was checked thoroughly but found to be empty, so the group used Ellan's spells to traverse the waterfall once more.

As soon as Millardo (the holder of the seal) reached the area where the second Wind Warrior ambush had taken place he immediately noticed a secret door in the rockface which was outlined with softly glowing light that no one else could see.

Opening the door the party found a steep staircase, at the top of which was a cavern blocked off by 50' tall black doors which were covered by hundreds of runes and symbols.

Standing before the doors, Milliardo raised aloft the seal and spoke aloud the three runes. The doors silently opened to reveal a strange room beyond.

There was no floor, but approximately 80' down a mass of clouds boiled and swirled, lit from within by occasional flashes of purple lightning. In front of the party were several pillars which thrust through the clouds, one was slowly rotating in place, one appeared to be coated in tar, one was a lighter colour, one reached to the roof and the last was about twice the diameter of the others. Across the other side of the room were another pair of black doors matching those that Milliardo had just opened.

Being the most proficient in jump, Elzara lept easily across the gaps between the first few pillars with no trouble, but as she reached the other doors a gust of wind and lightning bolt forced her onto the tar-covered pillar. This tarry substance turned out to be some kind of rubber forcing a balance check, which she failed and fell into the pit, falling 500' through the clouds before hitting the bottom and being knocked unconcious.

Seeing this, Ellan, Milliardo and Volon used their spells and wild shape to fly across to try and help Elzara, but were set upon by two huge air elementals that were hiding in the clouds.

Volon was caught in a whirlwind effect and thrown out at the bottom of the pit whilst the other elemental entered combat with the remainder of the group.

Volon healed Elzara, and they both started up, Volon wildshaping and flying, Elzara climbing, and they eventually reached the top just as the party managed to kill the last elemental

Magical Items Found

None


XP Summary

2 Air Elementals - 3,600 XP

Total XP - 3,600 XP


Volon - 600 XP
Eolias - 600 XP
Crumpus - 600 XP
Ellan - 600 XP
Millardo - 600 XP
Elzara - 600 XP


Current Totals

Volon - 57,744 XP
Eolias – 57,744 XP
Crumpus 59,744 XP
Ellan - 59,394 XP
Millardo – 57,744 XP
Elzara – 57,744 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Planes Apart

11 May 2007

Players/Characters

Ellan (Ewar) 11th level Human Wizard
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/4th level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer


Game Events

Stranded on the Plane of Shadows by the guardian of Icosiol’s tomb, Ellan and Eolias sifted through the piles of coin and other mundane items in the spider’s lair in the hope of finding a way back to the Prime Material plane.

Having found nothing of use, they set off through the shadowy realm to try and locate a gate between the planes, Ellan remembering that such areas, whilst uncommon, did exist. He also recalled that they were also usually watched by strong guardians.

After travelling for several hours they were drawn to a place where some slight strands of colour were visible in amongst the monochrome drabness of this plane. Getting closer it became apparent that these swirls of colour were emanating from a tiny tear in the fabric of the plane, but as they approached to investigate they were set upon by a Dread Wraith who had noted their advance.

Eolias was hit first, and decided to retreat to use his arrows from range, leaving the hapless Wizard to combat the undead menace face to face.

Using all his spells to their maximum effect, Ellan was able to withstand the assault of the Wraith, and between them the Archer and Wizard managed to do enough damage to force the monster from the plane of Shadows.

Ellan checked the area and discovered the remnants of a spellbook which contained a few spells that he did not already know.

Pushing through the tear joining the planes the two found themselves back in the Tomb of Icosiol, and hurried to join the rest of the party where they found that time had passed more slowly for them, what has seemed like 10 mins had actually taken over 30!.

Magical Items Found

None


XP Summary

Dread Wraith - 3,3000 XP

Total XP - 3,300 XP

Eolias - 825 XP (50% NPC)
Ellan - 1,650 XP


Current Totals

Eolias – 0,000 XP
Ellan - 0,000 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Part Four

4 May 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 10th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 10th level female Elven Monk
Kamal (Ian) 6th level Male Troglodyte Hexblade
Zoook (Ewar) 10th level Gnome Bard
Milliardo Maquis (Andrew) 10th level male Human Knight
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/3rd level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Deciding that Allustan would probably be more use to the party outside Icosiol’s Tomb (and also less of a liability in a firefight) the Mage was asked to return to Diamond Lake to reassure the inhabitants that the Black Dragon was indeed dead. The characters rested to heal and recover some ability damage before pressing on.

It now appeared that the only way forwards was follow the red river down the waterfall where Elzara and Zoook had rescued Milliardo the day before. They decided to return to the ice room and then to the waterfall through the secret door at the end of the corridor, and so they once again entered the river.

As the least armoured, Elzara went first, but was swept away by the water and so missed the turning to the icy rooms and was forced over the edge of the waterfall, falling 100’ into a small underground lake. Unfortunately she had no light source so had to strike out blindly in the hope of reaching the shore.

The rest of the party were unaware that Elzara had gone over the waterfall and so were surprised not to find her ahead of them in the icy rooms, but pressed on and started to climb down alongside the raging waters.

After about 100’ the passageway narrowed, the red spray soaking the rocks and making it more treacherous than before, causing first Eolias and then Kamal to fall into the darkness below. Milliardo and Crumpus tried to descend as fast as possible to assist their comrades as Zoook levitated down with them.

As the hapless trio in the water tried to make it to shore, six Wind Warriors flew down into the cavern and started to pepper them with crossbow bolts.

Upon reaching the shore, Eolias made the mistake of shooting back, disarming three warriors with a spectacular display of accuracy. Reforming their weapons, all six fired at the Elf, knocking him unconscious as his companions tried to shield him from further harm.

Eventually the Wind Warriors ran out of quarrels and flew further down into the passageways, leaving the group to dole out their meagre healing before having to follow their foes into the darkness.

The next level down was another large waterfall where the waters swirled before dropping further into the depths.

Whilst the party were investigating this area the six Wind Warriors flew in to attack, using two sword attacks to devastating effect. By striking their swords together the Wind Dukes were able to create a sonic effect, and with multiple uses of this hammering into the group, both Zoook and Kamal were knocked unconcious. Without a healer present the party were unable to save them, even though they managed to defeat the enemy warriors.

As they resting again to heal as best they could, the party spotted a light source falling towards them, which turned out to be a human wizard called Ellan accompanied by a human druid called ???? who was in eagle form. They had been contacted by Allustan and asked to provide arcane and divine support to the party, as both had been in short supply, and so had entered the tomb and followed Allustan's instructions to reach the group.

Eagerly welcoming the new source of healing the party pressed on to a cavern at the foot of the falls where they met a strange gentleman who introduced himself as Moreto, Marquis of Ravenstone.

Moreto was dressed in a stylish, if somewhat outdated outfit, with very pale skin, and teeth that had been filed to a point. He also carried a lantern which gave off an eerie green glow which made flesh look unnatural and anyone who stayed in the light for long started to glow withthe same light. Some of the party were uneasy about this, but the main point of concern came when Moreto introduced them to his two minions, a pair of undead Mohrgs who were under his control!

He admitted to being an adventurer from the White Kingdom, an underground city, who was trying to find a way to the surface when he stumbled upon Icosiol’s tomb. Whilst investigating the upper levels he came across a large 1’ across seal carved from a single crystal, but he was ambushed by the giant spider when trying to leave.

Leaving some of his controlled undead behind to cover his retreat, Moreto managed to escape and has been examining the crystal ever since in the hope that it might provide him with some way to defeat the spider and reach the surface world.

Eolias told Moreto that they had promised the spider that they would attempt to recover it’s stolen property and slay the thief. At this Moreto laughed, and made a counter-offer. If the party would return and attack the spider, he would give them the crystal disk. The disk was engraved with three runes on one side, the other with a scene where a Wind Duke, standing on a floating disk, was holding up the crystal in front of a gigantic pair of black double doors. The runes were quickly identified as Icosiol, Pesh and Aaqq.

Deciding that the spider would probably be the weaker opponent, the group agreed to help Moreto to reach the surface, and so started to scale the waterfall yet again.

Reaching the broken bridge the characters decided to rest and recover here before their assault on the spider. During that evening Eolias once again suffered some CON damage from an unknown source.

Marshalling their resources, the party burst into the spider’s room and attacked, making sure that the vulnerable spellcasters were protected in the middle of the party.

After the initial assault, the spider managed to travel via the shadows thrown by the party’s own light sources and bit both Ellan and Eolias, paralysing and transporting them to it’s lair on the plane of shadows before being driven off by the damage being meted out by the remaining party members.

The four characters left in Icosiol’s Tomb looked for Eolioas and Ellan in vain, whilst the two on the Plane of Shadows filled their pockets with the spider’s treasure.

Magical Items Found

None

XP Summary

6 x Wind Dukes - 9,000 XP
Traversing the Falls - 9,000 XP
Shadow Spider - 9,000 XP
Moreto - 4,500 XP

Total XP - 31,500 XP

Volon - 5,250 XP
Eolias - 5,250 XP
Crumpus - 5,250 XP
Ellan - 5,250 XP
Millardo - 5,250 XP
Elzara - 5,250 XP

Current Totals

Volon - 57,144 XP Level up to 11!!
Eolias – 57,144 XP Level up to 11!!
Crumpus 58,144 XP Level up to 11!!
Ellan - 57,144 XP Level up to 11!!
Millardo – 57,144 XP Level up to 11!!
Elzara – 57,144 XP Level up to 11!!

A Gathering of Winds - Part Three

27 April 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 10th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 10th level female Elven Monk
Kamal (Ian) 6th level Male Troglodyte Hexblade
Zoook (Ewar) 10th level Gnome Bard
Millardo Maquis (Andrew) 10th level male Human Knight
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/3rd level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

With the main healer out of action the party’s first priority became to find a safe place where they could rest and recuperate, the coldness of the current area making it unwise to spend 8 hours there.

A secret door at the end of the corridor opened out onto a huge sinkhole down which the red river poured. There were obvious ledges and cracks that could be used by a climber, and so Elzara and Zoook went to take a look. On the opposite side of the cave they found a barely conscious figure in the water who had obviously been battered around but had been lucky enough to get his cloak hooked over a small rocky outcrop before he had been swept to almost certain death.

Elzara dragged him from the river and brought him back to the rest of the party who helped her recover. He introduced himself as Millardo Maquis and asked to be able to join the party until they managed to escape from the tomb.

The group briefly considered climbing down alongside the falling water, but after watching a dropped sunrod disappear into the depths they decided to return to the main body of the tomb and rest instead.

After quite a while spent negotiating the river the characters made it back to where they had first entered the water and made camp so that the spellcasters could regain their spells. Overnight, both Elzara and Eolias were taken ill, losing some CON. This, it became apparent, was now a major problem as with Alexis’ death they no longer had anyone capable of using the wand of restoration with any guaranteed degree of success!!

The next morning the characters investigated the huge gatehouse doors to find them covered in levers, dials, gears and other devices which made them impossible to open, so they carefully traversed the river and returned to the room containing the Spider creature with which they had bargained earlier.

From there they came to a room which had obviously been a shrine of some sort, but had succumbed to age with threadbare carpets on the floors and faded frescoes on the walls with a small statue of a Wind Duke in the centre of the opposite wall. The statue appeared valuable, so Kamaal rushed in to claim it.

This rash move activated the room’s guardians, a pair of two-dimensional golems who detached themselves from the walls and attacked, causing a badly wounded Kamaal to flee into the main room. Millardo braced himself in the doorway to await the attack of the creatures, but they simply bypassed him with the use of a Passwall ability and pursued Kamaal.

These golems were eventually killed, and the party moved onto the next room which contained a large transparent sphere in which floated an unmoving figure in tattered red robes – they had finally found Allustan!!

Before they could move to release the captive wizard a bolt of lightning came at them from a metal spike at the top of the sphere, and so they retreated out of the room to consider their options.

Elzara tried to attack the spike with a flying leap, but was not able to do much damage, and Zoook was hit by the lightning and disappeared, reappearing next to Allustan, but in stasis.

Arguments raged about the best course of action, but whilst the others argued Eoilas fired arrow after arrow at the metal spike from the relative safety of the doorway.

Eventually the spike gave way, dispelling the stasis field and depositing the Bard and Wizard on the floor. Discovering that Allustan was unconscious, the party reluctantly used some of their precious healing to bring him around.

He explained that he had been ambushed by the dragon as he tried to leave the cairn, and had fled back inside to try and find a potent weapon to deal with the giant lizard when he had been caught by the trap. He told the party that he believed that this was the tomb of the Wind Dukes’ greatest general, Icosiol, and that potent artefacts were often buried with notable Wind Dukes to preserve them for use against Chaos in the future.

Magical Items Found

None

XP Summary

2 x Relief Golems - 4,000 XP
Rescuing Allustan - 9,000 XP

Total XP - 13,000 XP


Kamal - 2,166 XP
Eolias - 2,166 XP
Crumpus - 2,166 XP
Zoook - 2,166 XP
Millardo - 2,166 XP
Elzara - 2,166 XP

Current Totals

Kamal - 52,194 XP
Eolias – 52,194 XP
Crumpus 52,194 XP
Zoook, 52,194 XP
Millardo – 52,194 XP
Elzara – 52,194 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Part Two

20 April 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 10th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 10th level female Elven Monk
Kamal (Ian) 6th level Male Troglodyte Hexblade
Zoook (Ewar) 10th level Gnome Bard
Alexis Serria (Andrew) 6th/4th level female Human Cleric/Fighter
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/3rd level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

Despite being pretty much out of spells, the group decided to follow Flycatcher’s directions without pausing to rest. Leaving the strange spider’s room they came to a largish cavern through which a blood-red river raced into the darkness beyond.

Crossing this eerie waterway was a very old rickety bridge whose pillars had been badly eroded by the churning water over the millennia.

On the opposite side of the river was an impressive gatehouse whose 20’ x 15’ doors were closed and festooned with many obvious locking mechanisms.

Cautiously stepping out on the bridge, Kamaal and Alexis inched out over the rapidly flowing waters but as Crumpus started out to join them the bridge collapsed, throwing Kamaal and Alexis into the waters. Crumpus was lucky enough to be close enough to the shore to throw himself backwards onto dry land but as he landed he was attacked by a pair of Xorn that erupted from the earth on either side of him.

As four more Xorn appeared across the river, Elzara dropped from the doorway to fling a rope into the water to help her colleagues who were rapidly being swept away into the darkness. The rope landed near to both struggling characters but neither the Troglodyte nor the Cleric were unable to help themselves and disappeared from view, carried by the rushing red waters.

Unwilling to leap into the water herself, Elzara turned her attention to the Xorn, assisting the beleaguered Crumpus in despatching them as Eolias poured arrows into the monsters from the safety of the doorway to the usual musical accompaniment from Zoook.

Meanwhile both Alexis and Kamaal had been washed into a side tunnel where they were soon able to stand up. As they advanced they noticed a rapid drop in temperature, but before they were able to return to the main river they were attacked by gigantic amorphous blood-clots that drained the blood from their very bodies causing Con damage!

Alexis recognised these creatures as being undead but was unable to channel enough divine energy through her holy symbol to cause them any problems, and both she and Kamaal were barely holding their own until the rest of the party, having despatched the Xorn, arrived to save the day. Most weapons were doing little damage with the exception of Elzara’s unarmed strikes, but these two creatures were soon despatched, and Con loss being cured with a few charges from Alexis’ Wand of Restoration.

Wading through the remains of the blood-creatures the party moved on into the cold area and were soon standing at the end of the tunnel where everything was encrusted with red ice.

The sharp eyed archer, Eolias, noticed that there was an opening above that had been covered with a thick plug of ice, but a few hits from Crumpus opened a way into a long room above which was also encrusted with the red ice.

Statues of red ice, covered in white, smoking runes stood at each end of the room, and as the party started to haul themselves up both statues animated and moved in to attack, catching Zoook and Crumpus by surprise.

Once again the party found that their weapons were mostly ineffective against these constructs, so it was left to Elzara to prove that her knowledge of martial arts was once again superior.

Badly wounded, Zoook retreated back down the hole as Crumpus himself fell under the relentless attack of one statue. Eolias tossed an alchemist‘s fire at the statue threatening Zoook but didn’t notice how close he was to the other statue, which bludgeoned him from behind whilst his attention was elsewhere.

Alexis and Kamaal scrambled up through the hole to assist, only to be met with a barrage of ice shards fired from the bodies of the ice statues, and this, combined with several well placed blows was enough to leave Alexis joining Crumpus, lifeless on the ice and Kamaal badly wounded.

With her companions either down or mostly ineffective it was left to Elzara to strike the final blows that sent the statues crashing into nothing more than a large pile of red ice cubes.

Her unconscious companions were checked but only Crumpus was still alive – the massive damage taken by Alexis had sent her to meet her god.

Wasting little time in mourning their fallen comrade, the group used the last of their healing spells and potions, and decided to press onwards to try and find somewhere a little more hospitable to rest and recover their spells.

The first door that they tried opened onto a room filled completely with a slowly rotating pool of slushy ice that radiated intense cold. Not wanting to disturb whatever might reside in its frigid depths the characters continued their search for a resting place.

Next was a hallway lined with six statues of Wind Dukes, all but one had a small model of a building floating on a cushion of air above it’s cupped hands. The one without a model stood in front of the only doorway out of this area, but as Elzara tried to move past it the statue animated and triggered a hidden lever to drop portcullises across the north and south ends of the room, and then attacked

Now the statue was moving, the party were able to see that this was actually a mechanoid wearing some kind of golden armour, very reminiscent of the mural in the room with the black sphere.

Elzara immediately tripped the clockwork monster, and managed to keep it pinned down, shrugging off it’s mental attempts to dominate her mind long enough for the rest of the party to hack it apart with practiced ease.

Magical Items Found

None

XP Summary

• 6 x Xorn - 4,000 XP
• 2 x Animated Blood Clots - 6,000 XP
• 2 x Ice Golems - 9,000 XP
• Kolyiarut Inevitable - 6,000 XP

Total XP - 25,000 XP

• Kamal - 4,366 XP
• Eolias - 4,366 XP
• Crumpus - 4,366 XP
• Zoook - 4,366 XP
• Alexis - Deceased
• Elzara - 4,366 XP

Current Totals

Kamal - 50,028 XP
Eolias - 50,028 XP
Crumpus 50,028 XP
Zoook - 50,028 XP
Alexis – Deceased
Elzara - 50,028 XP

A Gathering of Winds - Part One

15 April 2007

Players/Characters

Crumpus (Russell) 9th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 9th level female Elven Monk
Kamal(Ian) 5th level Male Troglodyte Hexblade
Zoook (Ewar) 9th level Gnome Bard
Alexis Serria (Andrew) 5th/4th level female Human Cleric/Fighter
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/2nd level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer

Game Events

The message to Elzara had come from Shag Solomon, her companion at the Emporium where she used to work. News of a dragon attacking Diamond Lake galvanised the party, and they sped off to their old stomping ground, stopping only to purchase several 'essential potions' on the way.

On arrival at the town they found the town's streets to be empty with only frightened guards to be seen skulking under cover and scurrying across open areas. One of these groups of guards recognised the surviving original party members and approached them, beseeching them to slay the Black Dragon that was plaguing the town and free them all from the horrid creature.

After careful questioning, the group discovered that it was three days ago when the dragon first struck, destroying Allustan's house and then, in a rage, continued smashing houses until it reached the town square. The creature then began gathering wounded victims into the square, and demanded to know Allustan's location, eating those who were unable to give an acceptable answer.

A dozen or more poeple were killed before someone was able to tell the dragon that Allustan had been spending most of his time at the Whispering Cairn. The dragon got directions to the ruined tomb and then flew off to the north, and hasn't been seen since, but neither has Allustan.

Cautiously approaching the tomb entrance, the party decided to first scout out the old mine building that they had once used as a base, but apart from several pigeons it showed no signs of having been disturbed for several months.

Moving on to the Cairn entrance itself, Eolias used his tracking skills to determine that there was a fairly well-trodden path to and from the entrance, and that it had been used fairly recently but no dragon tracks. He did manage to discover several clumps of acid-scarred bushes nearby, though.

Whilst the ranger was doing his thing his sharp ears just managed to catch the sound of wingbeats bearing down on the party before a Black Dragon rounded the hilltop and breathed a gout of searing acid over Alexis, Kamaal, Zoook and Crumpus as it sailed past them.

This was no ordinary acid though, as Crumpus felt some of his marvelous strength draining away.

Eolias decided to make a break for the cave but stumbled badly and ended up head-first in the middle of a clump of bushes as the dragon flew back to land directly over the cave entrance to roar out 'Dragotha take you all - the wizard is mine!!'

Alexis tried to inch forwards to parlay with the dragon, but received another blast of acid which also hit the unfortunate Crumpus. This proved to much for the party, who bravely ran away back to the old mine office to heal and restore lost strength scores.

Kamaal reasoned that the dragon must need sleep, so the group decided to return and attempt to enter the cairn again just after midnight on the same day. All was quiet as they approached, but just as they were about to enter Zoook was once more hit by the dragon's breath weapon as it landed just behind them.

Panicking, the characters re-entered the tomb where their adventures had started so many months before and took shelter in a couple of alcoves, hoping that this would cover them from the dragon's acid stream. This may have been a good plan had the dragon followed it too, but, folding it's wings in tight, the dragon squeezed into the passageway and laid into the party with its bite and two front claws.

Eolias moved a short way down the passage as Alexis, Kamaal, Crumpus and the enlarged Elzara engaged the dragon in close combat, whilst Zoook provided musical encouragement. Eolias also noticed that a passage which had been previously buried under a cave-in had now been cleared.

For a short time this was touch and go, for both Kamaal and Crumpus had to retreat from the fight to swig healing draughts, leaving the enlarged Elzara to face the dragon with only Alexis able to assist in close combat. The two fighters were soon able to get back into the fight, but not before enough damage had been dealt to Elzara to leave her on the floor, bleeding from numerous bite and claw wounds. As the beast was reeling from the renewed onslaught, Zoook stepped forwards and pressed his Wand of Inflict Serious Wounds against the dragon's neck, finishing it off in style.

Pausing to heal, the group investigated the newly cleared tunnel to discover a strange doorway, looking very much like a glossy black surface that rippled like water when struck with a stone.

Alexis decided to touch the surface and was totally surprised when withered, clawed arm struck at her out of the surface, dealing large amounts of damage from a sneak attack. Unfortunately, Alexis had failed to heal her own wounds when curing the rest of the party, and collapsed unconsious in front of the portal. Elzara dragged the cleric to safety whilst Zoook applied healing from the wand to get Alexis up again.

Kamaal charged at the portal and found it to be like passing through soft tar, but emerged into a corridor filled with rushing winds and howling noise. Alexis, Elzara and Crumpus also tried to pass through by charging, Alexis made it through but was sneak attacked on the way through by the entity living within the portal, but both Elzara and Crumpus were bounced back.

On the other side, Kamaal and Alexis were surrounded by whirling smoky shapes which caused them to take damage when the smoke was inhaled, and these shapes solidified into six Belkers as Crumpus, Elzara and Eolias made it through the doorway, battered and torn by the inhabitant of the portal.

The Belkers attacked the group and nearly managed to drop Crumpus (on zero HP) and Alexis (on 1) before the battle prowess of Elzara and Kamaal managed to finish off the last of them. After several abortive attempts Zoook also managed to get through the door and rejoin the party

The next room was 40' high, with strange runes running around the walls and statues and reliefs near each of the 3 doors which animated to show Icosiol's victory over Chaos, culminating in Icosiol holding up a square plaque and a staff, as if to show them off to the characters.

Whilst in this room, Zoook decided to investigate a strange spiky stone barrier-like arrangement but activated a trap which blew him onto the spikes, impaling him. Before anyone could react, a large spider-like being scurried out of the shadows and paralysed the hapless Gnome before retreating back into the shadows with Zook firmly grasped in its mandibles. Kamaal approached the shadowy nook , but both spider and Bard were gone.

Moving on, the group came across a large room with dull, black tiles above which a large black sphere was suspended between four chandeliers. There was a balcony around this room showing scenes from the Wind Dukes' battles against Chaos. Also shown was a large mechanical man in golden armour reaching for a square crystal object - three runes were shown falling from the mouth of the construct as he reached out, but without their language specialist the party had to press on.

In a small room nearby, Crumpus broke open six chests containing some jewellery and a wand. In the same room Kamaal was investigating a large funerary urn when he triggered a trap and was hit by a pale grey ray which drained several levels!!

At a corridor intersection was an 8' tall statue of a Wind Duke holding a mithral greatsword, which the party removed, setting off several Word of Law traps on their way through.

As they entered the next room, a voice from the ceiling asked 'I think we must make a deal now?' as the same spider that had snatched Zoook cautiously lowered itself into view. The creature introduced itself as Flycatcher, the Guardian of the Tomb, and asked that the party eliminate a 'two legs' who had been a thorn in its side for millenia, and in return it would release Zoook. Alternatively the party could leave valuables with it as a ransom, and it would return Zoook early. The party offered the mithral greatsword and Alexis' Periapt of Healing, which the spider accepted, and released the Bard from the Plane of Shadows to rejoin his companions.

In a small room off the spider's lair the group found a magical suit of banded mail, but before they could take it they were attacked by a wraith that materialised through the wall and drained Con from those it hit, using spring attack to its best advantage. The monster was eventually despatched, but not before several players were severely drained - Alexis and her Wand of Restore were never more appreciated than now!!

Returning to the balconied room, Zoook was able to read the runes spoken by the mechanoid with a Comprehend Languages spell - these were in Avanti - the Wind Duke language, and were representations of 'Icosiol', 'Pesh' and 'Aaqa', these being the leader of the Wind Dukes, the battlefield where the Wind Dukes defeated Chaos and the name of the Wind Dukes' empire, respectively.

Armed with this information, the group pressed on deeper into the dungeon to search for the 'two legs' to keep their bargain with Flycatcher.

Magical Items Found

• Wand
• Banded Mail

XP Summary

• Black Dragon - 16,200 XP
• Belkers x 6 - 8,100 XP
• Wraith - 5,400 XP

Total XP - 29,700 XP

Kamal - 4,950 XP
Eolias - 4,950 XP
Crumpus - 4,950 XP
Zoook - 4,950 XP
Alexis - 4,950 XP
Elzara - 4,950 XP

Current Totals

Kamal - 45,662 (level up to 10!)
Eolias - 45,662 (level up to 10!)
Crumpus 45,662 (level up to 10!)
Zoook, 45,662 (level up to 10!)
Alexis - 45,815 (level up to 10!)
Elzara - 45,662 (level up to 10!)