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!!