2014-03-27 - Session 11
2014-04-03 - Session 12
Characters:
Farthing, Faun Wizard
Noide, Celestial Cleric
Phelix, Cat-folk Swashbuckler
Rider, Cat-folk Warrior
Voide, Infernal Warrior/Thief
---
[There is going to be a lot of info in this post on what happened before the games, because a lot of that was handled via email or posting.]
When we left off Phelix and Noide had retreated out of the cave. They rejoined Farthing and the group, beaten and weak decided to head back to town and see if they could not get some assistance.
The Arakun was left as a spy to watch the caves and see what might happen.
When the party arrives back, they immediately put out the word that their friends had been captured and that they could use any help that was offered. Many in the town looked concerned but there were few who offered any sort of help.
Jones and co were nowhere to be found. Some said that they had headed out down the road just a day before the party arrived back, but they had never seen them passing.
After two days of looking for help and finding little, the party was approached by a guard. He told them that a message had come for them, shot into the wall by arrow. It read:
To the (remaining) dishonorable adventures,
Ya says you wants’ta talk but ‘cause of some door malfunction, ya goes off and attack me dear friends the goblins.
It’s lucky dat dey had some help from our troll allies. I was told dat two of your’s fell, and the rest of you ran ’way crying. The trolls took the bodies (I heard dat the big one was a bit crunchy), and most of their stuff, but left behind a pack in which if found something rolled into a bit of cloth. A gem dat looks remarkably like the one I’ve got.
And now I’ve learned what day are! I gets your game now, you came ‘ere to hunt us down fer the gems! You wants to unlock the door and gain all dat power. We’ll he’s told me all about it now, and dat power will be mine.
We can pay off the knolls just like we paid off the others, then I will gain more power dan you ever dreamed.
So you keep on running and crying. Dat power is mine now!
Lord of the Caverns,
Thullakk
After reading the note, the party heard a scream and some commotion coming from around the building. As they arrived around the corner, they saw several people running inside, others were panicked.
A low rumble could be heard over the cries, and felt under their feet. Off in the distance, to the northeast, dark clouds were growing spreading out. The clouds, rumbling, and panic all were growing.
Later Noide found his half-brother, Voide an Infernal, waiting at the inn. He jokingly told his brother that the family always thought it would be him to destroy the worlds, but it turns out that Noide had done it.
---
The next day the group was on their way out of town and ran into Rider an old friend/rival of Phelix. About a month prior he had a distressing dream involving Phelix and had been traveling to join up the group. The following is his dream (from his perspective):
You were bound, gagged, and a hood placed over your head. Two voices could be heard. The first sounded like a man, human most likely.
“What shall we do with these two?”
Another voice, raspy and unpleasant, “This one will serve as a sacrifice. You must perform the ritual. Cut his heart out and restore the power of the altar.”
“And the other one?”
“I will take him. I have many uses for a body such his. Have the Gnolls slap him in chains. I will leave as soon as the ritual is complete.”
“What shall I do then, master?”
“I give you my staff. One of the six chaos items. With it you will draw power from the altar. Restore the old temple, and rule over this land. Soon you will have an army that obeys your every command. Then you can march against Turnwall and take your revenge.”
“And after I shall join you in the ruins of Strife?”
“No, this shall be your domain. Rule over it as you will. I seek the worlds below.”
Next the vision changes. You can see, but everything is dim and distorted. You are tied down, a man stands over you with a long curved knife. He is chanting, then he thrusts his hands down.
Now you seem to be floating. You are in a room, filled with gnolls, hobgoblins, goblins, and something else. Dark shapes in the distance. The man is standing the the middle, holding something in his hand. A strange light lashes out from him and the others all fall down, they appear dead, but then they begin to rise again.
The vision changed again. There is a town on a hill, surrounded on all sides by undead hordes. Flames rise up on the walls. Inside three figures stand trying to hold off the attack, but soon they too are overcome.
You awake in a cold sweat, yelling out. You don’t know what the dream meant, and you don’t think it was meant for you. Because when you woke, you yelled out, “Phelix”.
---
The group got geared up and decided to end this before things got worse.
They got back to the caves and found that most of them had collapsed. The north side of the cliff was just gone, and smoke was rising from a huge open pit. The whole area was filled with zombies of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, and other denizens of the caves.
Rather than battle through the dozens of enemies between them and the entrance to the cave where the altar was said to be, they backtracked around and approached the cliffs from the other side.
Once inside (most of the cavern area was destroyed, but they could now see the walls of some structure within), the made their way through, quickly defeating a group of Zombie Gnolls.
Once inside the tomb area, the group starts to hear a mocking voice. They battle more zombies, Draugr, and make it to a set of double doors.
Beyond they find a large lit room. Here there were several undead and a few Earth Elementals. On the far side of the room was a human mage.
Voide tries to sneak around the perimeter of the room, while the rest of the group engages the other stuff near the door. The mage starts casting Force Dome, Voide can’t make it in time, but throws a dagger at the mage.
The mage was hit, but the Force Dome closes. The mage then tries to cast a spell on Voide, but it fails. This forces him to have to spend a few turns drinking potions.
In the meantime the group has little problem with the other monsters and then all make their way to the Dome. None had any magical weapons and Farthing knew that his projectiles would not get past the dome.
There was a plan to use stench, but it was discovered that Force Dome keeps the air breathable inside like Weather Dome. The mage tried to cast another spell and failed. Then he noticed Noide, and mocked the Celestial.
He tried once more to cast a spell and this time did very well. So well that Noide was not able to resist and Noide became a statue.
The party was enraged by this, all tried to get into the dome once more. Farthing then cast Sparkstorm inside the dome area, and let it blast the mage till he finally fell unconscious.
When the dome came down, Voide went crazy, torturing and mutilating the mage trying to force him to restore Noide. During his brief time conscious, the mage refused, and said that his master would save him.
During this time, the others were smashing the altar till it finally was destroyed, exploding into magical energy.
Also during this time, Farthing picked up the mages staff, which had a large gem set in it. After picking it up, the staff disintegrated in his hand, and the gem flew into and embedded itself into farthings mask (power item), remaking it into something more polished. (The Chaos Staff, is now the Chaos Mask).
The group decided to split. Voide and Rider stayed with the statue of Noide, and the others went back to town to try and get some help from the church. The remainder of the undead had died (again), so the caves were no issue to get out of.
Voide spend some time exploring the other areas, finding a hidden treasure trove, and a spiral staircase that led to a large underground cavern that was quite extensive.
While checking that out, A woman entered into the room with Rider and the Statue of Noide. She came in and told Rider that she was here to collect what was hers. He tried to get between her and the statue and the mage’s unconscious body. She ended getting around the other side of the statue and moved towards the mage.
Rider decided to deny the woman what she wanted, and chopped off the head of the mage. This infuriated the woman, who shoved him back with unnatural force. He then hit her, and she turned to a pile of bones before collapsing.
Just after he heard her voice again saying that she would take what was her’s.
Days later, the others arrive back. They had gotten a scroll of Stone to Flesh, and were able to restore Noide.
---
The altar was destroyed, the town saved, the adventure over. This ended the Caverns of Chaos, which had become a much longer campaign that I had intended.
Next up, a change of scenery… and a lot more crazy!
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