Author: Stan Shinn (Page 45 of 111)

February 5, Third Age 1331

Adventuring Party Present

• Ghost Dancer—a man, with war chants and self proclaimed Indian
• Ivamel—a man with a stranger past…
• Lundie—the pious dwarf, devout and strong
• Quintos—from a noble family and a roman veneficus, a warlock of the IX legion

Having cleared Bone Hill of its evil denizens and retrieving their first Urthjarl stone, the party sets off for Nimroth (now know as Restenford).  On they way, a small group of orcs attempted to ambush the heroes.  Unfortunately for the orcs, the heroes, made wiser and stronger from their ordeal in Bone Hill, easily spotted the ambush and quickly dispatched their foolish and under prepared foes.  Fortunately for the heroes, this kept the trip from being entirely…uninteresting.  Interestingly, these orcs were branded with a skull and would appear to belong to a different group than the orcs who attacked Sophia’s caravan about a week ago.

The deceased elf swinging from the newly constructed gallows outside Nimroth’s north gate did little to deter the parties plans.  Still riding the confidence of their week long string of victories, the heroes shun rest in favor of pursuing various leads or time for meditating on their new found powers.

Lundie sought out Thordin, a highly skilled dwarven blacksmith, in the hopes of learning something about the smithing techniques used to make an ancient shield found in Bone Hill.  Lundie’s hopes are to employ the techniques to improve his own shield.  Thordin thinks it can be done with a few days work.

Ivamel heads for Elinae’s Reliquary where he seeks information on a mystical item know as The Deck of Many Things.  He learns that such an item is rumored to be in use within the citystate of Redmark, itself.  Also and rather oddly, Elinae has some probing questions for him about his thoughts on the current political climate of Redmark.

Ghost Dancer, yet again, bee-lines to Sister Sophia.  He claims he is just informing her of the parties progress and to be looking for rumors.  But everyone knows it’s just a cover for his deep affection for… holy places.  During his visit, Sophia tells him that, according to ancient text, another Urthjarl stone is located in the ruins of a place once known as Xikchulmak, which is about 30 miles north west of Ulpar.  Ulpar is at least a months journey south of Nimroth.

Quintos heads for The Minotaur and The Emperor Inn in hopes to have a quiet meal and drink before retiring to begin a 10 hour ritual he’s just learned that will find him a familiar.  This dream is ill-fated, though.  It is soon discovered that Stanford, a mercenary several bricks shy of a load, has been abusing Quintos’ current favorite tavern winch, Lyndette.  Quintos will not abide this and waits for Standford to arrive.  Stanford does not disappoint and shows up with two friends.

A fight breaks out almost immediately and definitely before Quintos finishes his drink or food.  With the clever use of his new spell Hunger of Hadar and a wand of fear, Quintos is able to dispatch his foes and finish his drink and food at the same time.  However, this is not likely the end of this feud but the beginning of something bigger.  Each of these mean apparently belonged to a large and powerful mercenary group who’s symbol is a two-headed eagle.

Having finished their various errands, the party settles down for the night with the familiar, lively, and surprisingly soothing performances of Ghost Dancer being heard in the inns main hall.

Rumors & Insights

• The orc raiders appear to be from different factions. Session 01 had squirrel skulls, Session 10 had skulls branded onto shoulders.
• Deck of Many Things rumored to be in use in Redmark (of interest to Ivamel).

Loot

• 1 ok scimitar
• 3 longswords
• 3 chain mail
• 1 shortsword
• 1 light crossbow
• 1gp
• 2 sp
• 17 cp

February 4, Third Age 1331

Adventuring Party Present

• Ghost Dancer—a man, with war chants and self proclaimed Indian
• Ivamel—a man with a stranger past…
• Lundie—the pious dwarf, devout and strong
• Quintos—from a noble family and a roman veneficus, a warlock of the IX legion

Part I: Morning Comes

Marcus left to visit the brothers at the Temple of the Lots the evening before. Wanting to spend as much time as he could researching the Horn of Bugbearhalla and the Urthjarl stone. Quintos, Ghost Dancer, Ivamel, and Lundie awoke to a deep chill and grey morning sky. A light snow had covered the ground, the adventurers, and their steeds as they slept.

As the three adventures broke their fast, they discussed what still needed to be done. More than just Bone Hill was on their minds. Rumors are swirling all around them. Each day seems to bring more urgency to their tasks. Rumors of magical beasts, towers of shadows, racial injustice in Nimroth, and what the Lady Sophia might find in her studies.

Quintos finishes his meal with a long drink from his water flask. Lundie, Ghost dancer, and Ivamel all lok at each other with raised eye brows. Quintos sees the looks of his companions, corks his water flask, places it back on his pack; raises his head with a smile. “What? I had to run out of the good stuff at some point in this gods forsaken land.”

Part II: Bone Hill must be cleansed

Our band of adventurers extinguishes the night’s fire and decides to handle the task in front of them. Not knowing what they may still yet find, they begin the trek back into the cursed lands that surround the ancient castle.

As they descend back into the underground caverns the group thinks to check behind the door near the end of the stairs of the bottom level. Behind the door they find a ladder. Ghost Dancer nimbly climbs the ladder and sees that it leads to a hatch that opens into the remains of the siege tower that had been against the castles outer walls. He finds odd footsteps in the snow but decides to lock back the hatch and leave that trouble to the outside.

Players had to fill out their Last Will & Testament before the big encounter!

Part III: Undead, and more undead, and more again

Back into the depths the four head with the confidence of youth. Beyond yet another locked door they happen appears what runes that when examined closer appear to form a doorway. Quintos reads the symbols and confirms that it does indeed to be a doorway of some sorts. Ghost Dancer and Ivamel work together to open the door using what appears to be some sort of magical hand holds. The door slowly slides open and foul air rushes out. Lundie says a quiet prayer to Dumathoin, the dwarven god of buried secrets.
The party descends more stairs and into a room. They feel the weight of evil on them; their weapons start to glow in a sinister blue light. Ghost Dancer moves forward wearily, his light spell only providing minimal light in this deep cavern. Lundie moves ahead to try and see the danger ahead in the dark without the source of evil gaining the upper hand. As Lundie edges closer he makes out a figure on a throne in the room before him. The evils of the world come full force on Lundie as his stare catches this creature. Lundie divines from his god Moradin that this is a dark undead evil, a wraith. Ivamel alerts the group to the sound of footsteps coming from behind them.

Quintos stands ram rod straight, “Guys, you handle this undead creature quickly. I’ll hold the back!” Ivamel and Lundie move forward slowly. Not knowing what to make of Qunitos’s command. A short time passes, “Go now! I mean this!” Quintos barks out. His three fellows feel the earnestness in Quintos and jump into action.

Lundie pray-begs Moradin to turn this evil creature and slowly enters the room. Ivamel runs to directly in front of the dark creature. The creature only moves to run away from the glowing emblem of Moradin on Lundie’s shield. Ghost Dancer moves quietly into the room, keeping his distance safe but within full range of his weapons.

Lighting glows from behind and the crackle resounds through the rooms. Lundie charges the wraith, Ivamel swings again. Ghost Dancer casts a spell to guide Lundie and Ivamel in their strikes. The wraith is floating between this plane and another. Lundie again calls on Moradin to bless his weapon and slams a blow into the wraith, the radiant glow seeming to have a good effect. The wraith reaches for Ivamel, Ivamel shifts his weight in time and the creatures reach is not enough. This continues, every combantat doing their part. More flashes of lighting. Lundie yells out, “Quintos, come on man! We need you in here! In here!!” No answer for Lundie.
Ghost Dancer times an arrow to land just as the wraith comes full into this plane. Ivamel commands Lundie to make a quick strike at just that same moment. Ivamel strikes as well. Lundie is then able to make his own attack on the back swing. All the damage mounting up, Lundie calls out again; “Quintos man, we need you in here man!!” Lundie’s pleas are met with just flashing lights and sounds of lighting and magic.

Finally, Ivamel, Lundie, and Ghost Dancer are able to vanquish the wraith. As they turn around to admonish Quintos for his lack of fight, they see a wide-eyed young man, sweat soaked, lighting staff glowing blue, and TWENTY dead bugbear zombies and skeletons across the floor. The closest one just 5 feet from Quintos the farthest all the way back to the door some 75 feet away! Quintos drops to the floor; Lundie walks over and places his hand on Quintos’ shoulder. “Well done, young man … very well done,” the dwarf gives a sly grin to Qunitos. Ivamel looks around, “So these all just stopped when we killed the wraith, right?”. Quintos looks around and with a broad smile says, “Who needs Marcus?!?” Ghost Dancer starts the laughter for the friends.

Part IV: Finally the tower

The four make it over to the tower the only place that has not been searched. Ivamel and Lundie lead the trek up the spiral stairs, to almost the third floor. When the old stairs give way and the two crash down. Ivamel looks up and says, “Look there…under the stairs.” Quintos lays down and starts to gather the bag, only to see it slip out of his grasp. The bag rips open and gold coins rain down on Lundie and Ivamel, both just laughing at the rain of gold. Ghost Dancer looks inside the bag to find a silver ring made to look like a wrapped feather, obviously of Elven making.

Part V: Afterwards

Quintos continues the ascent to the top of the tower and watches the sunset in the west. The rest attempt to setup some “bugbear scare crows” in effort to ward off others. Ghost Dancer collects a few books for Qunitos. Shortly after sunset, Quintos climbs down from the tower and joins his fellows on their mounts. Ghost Dancer says quietly but firmly, “Men…let’s go gather Marcus.” Ivamel adds, “Then to Nimroth, to visit Sister Sophia and plan our futures.”

Part VI: Loot

• Ghost Dancer
  52 GP
  Ring of Feather Fall
• Ivamel
  52 GP
• Lundie
  52 GP
• Marcus
  52 GP
• Quintos
  52 GP

February 3, Third Age 1331

Dawn broke around on a chilly morning. Our travelers had last night defeated Hashar in combat and banished his bugbear tribe. Or at least all that was left, some woman and children. Our travelers:

• Ghost Dancer—a man, with war chants and self proclaimed Indian
• Ivamel—a man with a stranger past…
• Lundie—the pious dwarf, devout and strong
• Marcus—an officer in the IX legion and a roman priest of Mars
• Quintos—from a noble family and a roman veneficus, a warlock of the IX legion

Marcus was dreaming or perhaps it was a nightmare. He saw Hashar in what must have been Bugbear hell. Hashar was marshaling some of the Bugbear forces against a Bugbear demon lord with a pitchfork. They were arguing. Marcus felt sick and awoke in a sweat. He immediately reached out to his friend Quintos, waking him. As Quintos asked why Marcus would disrupt his sleep, the alcohol still on his breath, Marcus seeing that Quintos did not appreciate the nudge awake, he went to Lundie to discuss this nightmare. They discussed, wondering if Hashar’s power was stronger than they realized and what foul plot or battle in Bugbear hell that Hashar was leading. Marcus in a strange way, admired his leadership potential.

Moments latter, Ghostdancer walked into the camp, he had left to do some research. He told us of a library, he just visited called Elinae’s reliquary. At this place, he investigated a strange Earth creature the “Buffalo”. During his studies he found an island called the Isle of Vridensia. Quintos recovering from his hang over, hearing the name recalls some lore he studied during his arcane training. Quintos stated the Isle, during the second age, was a place that wizards brought many of the creatures of Earth to Thrëa. Creatures like Minotaurs, Gorgons, Cyclops, etc. Quintos was not sure of the reason for this action.

After a reasonable or questionable breakfast cooked by Marcus, the party decided to head back into the Castle at Bone Hill in search of the first gem of Uthjarl.

Quickly walking down to the room of the statues Lundie said a prayer to Caldrindia’s (Archion) Avatar. The party, then saw a seven foot tall rock slide blocking part of the entrance behind the statue, there was a three foot gap at the top. Peering inside the party and saw a mirror. After much discussion, Ghost Dancer volunteered to go into the room. Marcus tied a rope around his friend in case we needed to drag him back. As Ghost Dancer entered he disappeared. Marcus got very concerned he just lost his friend. It seemed like he was teleported or had traveled possibly to another plane. Marcus rushed into the room, and looked into the mirror to help his friend, knowing he would NEVER leave a man behind. The rest of the party entered and started to carefully search the room and observe the mirror. Quintos, more thoughtfully, decided to use the crystal ball to attempt to locate his friends. Ivamel agreed based on his experience with planar travels. The warlock started his scrying, a process that would take approx 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Ghost Dancer appeared in a pocket dimension, called a mirror dimension. He was on an infinite plane. As he looked around he saw an exact duplicate of himself appearing some 150 feet away. Then seconds latter Marcus, his friend and ally, appeared by him. Then Marcus’s mirror clone appeared 150 feet away next to Ghost Dancers mirror clone . Suddenly, the fight was on a Mirror clone vs. originals a fight to the death. The battle was ultimately won by the originals, defeating their mirror clones. Ghost Dancer single handedly defeated the Marcus clone with heat metal and shatter spells. Marcus in the early pary of the battle seemed disoriented in the mirror plane and seemed disconnected from his gods power, his accuracy was off. Then Ghost Dancer pivoted on his own mirror clone and used Tasha’s insidious laughter to drop his own clone to the ground laughing, incapacitated. Marcus, seeing an opening, abandoned his spell casting, and used his spear quickly charged over and cut the head off Ghost Dancers clone. As the clone fell, the two appeared back into the real world. Once again re-united with their friends, but drained of our magic spells in the fight.

We decided to take a long rest to recoup our spells. During this time we spotted a bug bear skeleton wandering outside the mirror room, it walked away with no conflicts.

So we headed out, down the corridor and found a large door, locked. Ivamel skillfully picked the lock, but even that did not open the door. It was magically locked. So after some discussion, and a quick journey down the hall to find another door, we returned to this door. Ghost Dancer placed a silence spell on the door, while Quintos blasted it with his Eldrich blast while Marcus pitched in with his Sacred flame.

As the door broke open, inside we saw 3 floating eyes with long tongues and 4 eye stalks each.

These creatures, called Spectators looked like the cousins of a beholder. And then we saw on a large pillar the beautiful emerald gem of the Uthjarl gleaming. The focus of our quest was in sight. We must defeat these creatures. Our party started a long battle, it was glorious, each member playing a role. Ivalmal and Lundie advanced into the room to protect the casters, drawing the attentions of the creatures. Ivamal was the target of many rays from the eye stalks of these evil creatures, being paralyzed and confused. Lundie charged forth absorbing rays of pain, healing himself as he marched towards these villainous foes. Quintos threw Edrich blasts, Qhost Dancer cast Shatter, Marcus used his spiritual weapon a spear from Mars and cast a burning beams of holy light at the creatures. Ultimately, Quintos turned the tide of the battle with his dragon staff, he fired a bolt of lighting that destroyed one of the creatures (who was wounded) and seriously damaged a second, who was quickly dispatched. Then the full might of our heros destroyed the third and final Spectator.

Victory was ours we are one step closer on our quest for these eight Urthjarl stones and securing a border of safety for the people of Threa with the orcs. Marcus carefully placed the emerald Uthjarl gem into his belt pouch and carefully into his backpack, as the adventurers vowed to continue to clear Bone Hill and destroy the undead warlock in the Hill. Marcus dreams of a day, where the evil of Bone Hill is purged and this place could become a safe place for the people of Threa…

February 2, Third Age 1331

Below Bone Hill, the heroes encounter a Gelatinous Cube and a two statues which almost prove their undoing. Luckily, Marcus decides to pray before the Arkon, and receives a boon that changes their fortune!

Later, Hashar receives his just reward for trying to swindle the heroes out of the Bugbear Horn of Valhalla.