Hathun, Second-Week, Fifth-Day, The Now-Year
The PCs search the cloudy, acidic cavern high and low. Slakethirst, Mammae Boe and Un'krug head to the mouth of the lair to question their dragonborn prisoner about what it was that they just dealt with. Greech, meanwhile, has returned after guiding the dragonborn to the lower plateau and the waterfall they can climb to escape back down the Ayrie. He transforms into a baboon, trying to scale the cliff, and falling half to his death. Mamma Boe then spies him and helps him out. After probing around the acid-filled cavern, Vraal and Un'Krug wander off into a neighboring corridor, while Yukkbutt begins to goad and defile the sleeping, ancient dragon they see on one side of the cavern. The cleric and barbarian find Chief Wralasar in the neighboring chamber, minus a leg and an arm that were removed from him, the wounds cauterized. More PCs drift into this chamber, and they all search the area and find some curiosities strewn about the refuse that has piled up there. Flearikz jumps from cage to cage near the ceiling, but finds no more surviving prisoners. Borracho notices something a little strange, one of the sleeping ancient's eyes opening, but doesn't pay it much heed.
The PCs decide to go rest their wounds in the monastery ruins below the cavern, but SlakeThirst, Yukkbutt and Greech remain behind. The dragonborn transforms into a tyrannosaurus rex to start chewing out his slain father's heart, while Yukkbutt watches on with glee. In the midst of the carnage, both the polymorphed SlakeThirst and Greech notice both of the sleeping ancient's eyes opened, and Greech notices a reflection that is not his own before the eyes shut again, possibly some automatic sleep response. The druid also hears a mechanical grinding. The trio then heads down to the ruins below to inform the others of what they have seen. Mamma Boe flies off to nearby Misthome, and tells them she'll be at her home there if they need a place to gather their thoughts. Vraal reminds the group that they have a potential war with the ogres on their hands, and need to get back on the brutes' tracks across the Plateau. The group then rests the nights, the only disturbance being a massive avian that glides over the ruins but does not appear to be another dragon.
Hathun, Second-Week, Sixth-Day, The Now-Year
After waking, Borrach and Kymyl decide to dimension door back up to the lair briefly to check on the sleeping dragon once more, and investigate the odd occurrence with its eyes. Sure enough, after a brief wait, they notice the strange reflections as the eyes flitter open once more. Kymyl begins to hear some strange clicking and squealing noises from inside the cave, and examines it to find a hatch on one of the dragon's jaws...it turns out that this is not in fact Saurvax, but some sort of false, detailed proxy for the legendary creature. Once he and Borracho get through the hatch, they are stunned to find a strange corridor filled with odd, shining structures and devices similar to others the PCs have come across in the past couple months. They also find four of the weird 'reflections', one of which attacks them with a ray weapon while the others retreat to a ledge on the back of the mountain. The pair are able to drive them off, knocking the shooter unconscious. Greech, meanwhile, thinks they've been gone too long and climbs back up to the cave in a spider form.
After defeating the strange humanoid, Borracho takes it and dimension doors back to the ruins below, where the PCs bind, blindfold and mute it. Kymyl follows the rest to the ledge above, but they seem to have disappeared...for a moment, he notes a strange hum, his hairs standing on end, and then a displacement of the light. A moment later, the sun seems to disappear, replaced by blue sky, only for an instant, and then returns. Greech surprises the monk later, before turning back into half-elf form, and then SlakeThirst and Yukkbutt come up to explore what Borracho has found. Below, Vraal begins to interrogate the strange creature, using tongues. It claims to be a deformed orphan from one of the Ten-Tribes, and would prefer death to captivity. It is also quite snarky and condescending to the PCs, calling them all savages. It claims that it and its friends were just wandering around when they themselves find the strange cavern, and then witnessed the fight outside the false-dragon. Un'Krug recognizes the thing as looking just like the enigmatic bounty hunter Diedeath the Mad which was pursuing Cynjak some weeks ago, only dressed much differently. Vraal also recognizes that it looks like the being on one of the giant engraved panels down in the City of the Carvers.
After searching and looting what weird charts and items they can from the glimmering corridor, the PCs above shatter some of the tubes and cylinders and return to the monastery. They all decide they will go to Misthome and seek answers from some of the scholars there about this strange turn of events.
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Greech, Kymyl, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 2700
Inspiration: --
Renown: All PCs maxed out at 15 with Place-of-Scales.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018
28th Fire (2/2/18)
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth-Day, The Now-Year
With the emergence of Greech, Flearikz, Za'ku and Mamma Boe from their cages in the monastery, the tide of the battle swiftly turns, with the last remaining dragonborn cultists and their scaled pets either driven away from the ruins or slain. Borracho clings to life after being healed, and then the group surveys the ruin for any hidden enemies. While several of them are being magically healed, or brought back from unconsciousness, the innocent Place-of-Scales Villagers are set free, and Greech the druid decides to march them down the mountainside to relative safety before setting them back on track to their home village. The PCs learn from a captured guard that Chief Wralasar is probably in the cavern up the wall of the Ayrie from the plateau on which the monastery lies. They recover all their equipment and then set about arming the surviving villagers with bone weaponry that was stolen from their home. Then they decide to rest for a day before risking the cavern, where they suspect Pergeron's handlers are hiding.
Hathun, Second-Week, Fifth-Day, The Now-Year
Using Mamma Boe's magical ladle, the PCs transport themselves up to the cavern and find some torches flickering faintly near the entrance. They decide to leave the guard prisoner hanging by rope form the entrance so he can't go anywhere or alert any of his higher ups. The caverns and corridors beyond are quite large, and after some scouting, Kymyl and Za'ku find out why...the next area is full of glowing green slime and acrid fogs, and also the lair of a huge, misshapen green dragon. As the rest of the party catches up, Slakethirst screams in bloodthirsty recognition of his father...and while there seems to be some faint acknowledgment from the beast, it doesn't seem to be entirely there, so warped and mutated by the glowing green gunk pooled in the center of the room! A battle ensues, with Acidtongue dealing damage with its breath attack, claws and bite, then flying up to safety in the eaves of the cavern when possible; but even though he's able to bring down a good percentage of the party, his disfigurements have neutered his power...he can only take so much alone, and the PCs, through a number of spell attacks, the last of which is delivered by Borracho...destroy the thing.
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: Experience Totals were Reset in this game due to a broadening level spread and disparities between blog-recorded XP and what was on a lot of the character sheets. These have been recorded on the player roster and then the 3800 XP from this session added.
Inspiration: ---
Renown: ---
With the emergence of Greech, Flearikz, Za'ku and Mamma Boe from their cages in the monastery, the tide of the battle swiftly turns, with the last remaining dragonborn cultists and their scaled pets either driven away from the ruins or slain. Borracho clings to life after being healed, and then the group surveys the ruin for any hidden enemies. While several of them are being magically healed, or brought back from unconsciousness, the innocent Place-of-Scales Villagers are set free, and Greech the druid decides to march them down the mountainside to relative safety before setting them back on track to their home village. The PCs learn from a captured guard that Chief Wralasar is probably in the cavern up the wall of the Ayrie from the plateau on which the monastery lies. They recover all their equipment and then set about arming the surviving villagers with bone weaponry that was stolen from their home. Then they decide to rest for a day before risking the cavern, where they suspect Pergeron's handlers are hiding.
Hathun, Second-Week, Fifth-Day, The Now-Year
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: Experience Totals were Reset in this game due to a broadening level spread and disparities between blog-recorded XP and what was on a lot of the character sheets. These have been recorded on the player roster and then the 3800 XP from this session added.
Inspiration: ---
Renown: ---
Monday, January 1, 2018
27th Fire (11/17/17)
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth-Day, The Now-Year
After their narrow victory in the tunnel below the Ayrie, the PCs rest and heal from the mortal wounds so many of them suffered. They backtrack a little to search the giant's hovel below for anything of use, and then decide to press upward and onward. Soon after, they discover that the tunnel has been blocked off with a large mass of stone rubble, which requires a great long time and some magical assistance. Once through, they pass the rest of the tunnel uneventfully, eventually arriving at daylight. A sole dragonborn guard and its pet drake are guarding the tunnel, but the mighty Slakethirst bears a disguise and cons him into thinking he has taken the non-dragonborn prisoners for the cult. They pass by the poor scaly sucker, though his drake does seem a little less trusting.
Within one of the small pyramids among the green dragon cult's ruined monastery, the Misthome adventurers continue to stay imprisoned. Guards arrive and drag off the elf Flearikz, taunting the others in the process, while the neighboring cells are full of nervous chatter from the captives from Place-of-Scales. When a ruckuss breaks out at the monastery's walls, the two guards move to the entrance of the structure's dungeon, giving these heroes their chance to break out. And true enough, the main body of PCs has breached the outer wall of the ruin, alerting the green dragon cultists within, including the young dragon itself, Pergeron and Mosshe the Markswyrm. A frenetic and violent battle breaks out, with the chained and malnourished dragonborn prisoners staring on in shock and desperation...
The PCs take a hammering, but through a mixture of might and magic they manage to bring down most of the ground guards and their pets, even Pergeron eventually falls. By this point, the PCs held captive have now managed to break free and take on their two guards with nary but their skills, spells and bare hands, and they have grabbed their weapons and begun to fight out in the monastery. After a grueling trial, Borracho manages to let loose the final spell to bring the young green dragon crashing, before he is himself laid low by the drake guard-dogs. As the two groups of PCs, one recently liberated and fresh for battle, and the other weary and largely unconscious, the dwarf bard clings on desperately for life...a contest which will only be determined by the roll of a die...
PCs: Borracho, Greech, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 3200 (though XP reset is coming up)
Inspiration: ---
Renown: The Ten-Tribes (a point), Place-of-Scales (5 points)
After their narrow victory in the tunnel below the Ayrie, the PCs rest and heal from the mortal wounds so many of them suffered. They backtrack a little to search the giant's hovel below for anything of use, and then decide to press upward and onward. Soon after, they discover that the tunnel has been blocked off with a large mass of stone rubble, which requires a great long time and some magical assistance. Once through, they pass the rest of the tunnel uneventfully, eventually arriving at daylight. A sole dragonborn guard and its pet drake are guarding the tunnel, but the mighty Slakethirst bears a disguise and cons him into thinking he has taken the non-dragonborn prisoners for the cult. They pass by the poor scaly sucker, though his drake does seem a little less trusting.
Within one of the small pyramids among the green dragon cult's ruined monastery, the Misthome adventurers continue to stay imprisoned. Guards arrive and drag off the elf Flearikz, taunting the others in the process, while the neighboring cells are full of nervous chatter from the captives from Place-of-Scales. When a ruckuss breaks out at the monastery's walls, the two guards move to the entrance of the structure's dungeon, giving these heroes their chance to break out. And true enough, the main body of PCs has breached the outer wall of the ruin, alerting the green dragon cultists within, including the young dragon itself, Pergeron and Mosshe the Markswyrm. A frenetic and violent battle breaks out, with the chained and malnourished dragonborn prisoners staring on in shock and desperation...
The PCs take a hammering, but through a mixture of might and magic they manage to bring down most of the ground guards and their pets, even Pergeron eventually falls. By this point, the PCs held captive have now managed to break free and take on their two guards with nary but their skills, spells and bare hands, and they have grabbed their weapons and begun to fight out in the monastery. After a grueling trial, Borracho manages to let loose the final spell to bring the young green dragon crashing, before he is himself laid low by the drake guard-dogs. As the two groups of PCs, one recently liberated and fresh for battle, and the other weary and largely unconscious, the dwarf bard clings on desperately for life...a contest which will only be determined by the roll of a die...
PCs: Borracho, Greech, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 3200 (though XP reset is coming up)
Inspiration: ---
Renown: The Ten-Tribes (a point), Place-of-Scales (5 points)
Friday, September 29, 2017
26th Fire (9/29/17)
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth-Day, The Now-Year
A younger green dragon carries a dragonborn up to the mountainside monastery, and then tears her apart to make an example to the other Place-of-Scales prisoners. Among them is a quartet of Misthome-based adventurers, including Flearikz, Greech, Mamma Boe and Za'ku, who were captured by the green dragonborn ascendants some time ago. All recoil in horror at the grisly feast, fearing what might become of them next.
Backtrack, one day prior: Kymyl scales the stalactite that exits the City of the Carvers to the mountainside above, and proceeds along the path that his companions' blazed before him. He finds the mysterious dome, the broken automaton, and other signs as he tracks them across the mountain trail and to the waterfall, which he deftly begins to ascend. Above, Slakethirst and Borracho have finally finished their aerial scouting mission, when they notice the lone monk's climb, and swoop down to assist him. The three press on through the trampled jungle plateau, discovering Nexos and his sister's remains. After a brief conversation, the handsome lad decides he should leave with whatever he can salvage of her. The trio of PCs then discover the bodies above...and the stone lean-to which leads to the tunnel into the Ayrie...
The battle within the tunnel is joined by a group of dragonborn ascendant berserkers, sorcerers and trained drake pets, and it gets brutal quickly, with the sorcerers weaving magic to hinder the half-orc brothers and their companions, and the melee combatants beginning to take chunks out of them. The dragonborn escapee Noogal is taken down after valiantly standing her ground for as long as possible, but there is new hope when, unbeknownst to Yukkbutt, Un'krug and Vraal, their struggle has been heard further down the tunnel.
Meanwhile, the quartet of adventurers are forced into a pit fight against four dragonborn from the Place-of-Scales, presumably to convert them into bloodthirsty ascendants. However, they have met their match and are quickly disarmed by the veterans, even without their regular equipment! The green dragon observer is quite amused, and realizes it can use these 'guests' to further his cause, and potentially force a large conversion rate to serve his master Saurvax. The group is marched back to its cell below the monastery grounds.
At last, SlakeThirst, Borracho and Kymyl arrive to assist their allies in the tunnel brawl, and nearly too late, as they are overwhelmed and swarmed by the tactics and ferocity of the ascendant and their pets. But they don't simply lie down and die, rushing further in to face off against the casters, and are only finished off through a desperate combination of healing and self-sacrifice by the heroes. As the last of the dragonborn berserkers falls, the reality dawns upon the party of how beaten down they have come, how uncertain their near future, as their numbers are so greatly diminished...
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Greech, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 3800
Inspiration: ---
Renown: ---
A younger green dragon carries a dragonborn up to the mountainside monastery, and then tears her apart to make an example to the other Place-of-Scales prisoners. Among them is a quartet of Misthome-based adventurers, including Flearikz, Greech, Mamma Boe and Za'ku, who were captured by the green dragonborn ascendants some time ago. All recoil in horror at the grisly feast, fearing what might become of them next.
Backtrack, one day prior: Kymyl scales the stalactite that exits the City of the Carvers to the mountainside above, and proceeds along the path that his companions' blazed before him. He finds the mysterious dome, the broken automaton, and other signs as he tracks them across the mountain trail and to the waterfall, which he deftly begins to ascend. Above, Slakethirst and Borracho have finally finished their aerial scouting mission, when they notice the lone monk's climb, and swoop down to assist him. The three press on through the trampled jungle plateau, discovering Nexos and his sister's remains. After a brief conversation, the handsome lad decides he should leave with whatever he can salvage of her. The trio of PCs then discover the bodies above...and the stone lean-to which leads to the tunnel into the Ayrie...
The battle within the tunnel is joined by a group of dragonborn ascendant berserkers, sorcerers and trained drake pets, and it gets brutal quickly, with the sorcerers weaving magic to hinder the half-orc brothers and their companions, and the melee combatants beginning to take chunks out of them. The dragonborn escapee Noogal is taken down after valiantly standing her ground for as long as possible, but there is new hope when, unbeknownst to Yukkbutt, Un'krug and Vraal, their struggle has been heard further down the tunnel.
Meanwhile, the quartet of adventurers are forced into a pit fight against four dragonborn from the Place-of-Scales, presumably to convert them into bloodthirsty ascendants. However, they have met their match and are quickly disarmed by the veterans, even without their regular equipment! The green dragon observer is quite amused, and realizes it can use these 'guests' to further his cause, and potentially force a large conversion rate to serve his master Saurvax. The group is marched back to its cell below the monastery grounds.
At last, SlakeThirst, Borracho and Kymyl arrive to assist their allies in the tunnel brawl, and nearly too late, as they are overwhelmed and swarmed by the tactics and ferocity of the ascendant and their pets. But they don't simply lie down and die, rushing further in to face off against the casters, and are only finished off through a desperate combination of healing and self-sacrifice by the heroes. As the last of the dragonborn berserkers falls, the reality dawns upon the party of how beaten down they have come, how uncertain their near future, as their numbers are so greatly diminished...
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Greech, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 3800
Inspiration: ---
Renown: ---
Friday, August 18, 2017
25th Fire (8/18/17)
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth Day, the Now Year
The PCs begin to hike further up the Ayrie, arriving at a rocky area pocked with cavern entrances and overgrown vegetation. Within one of the caverns, two dragonborn have been hiding, after escaping from Pergeron's cultists with the held of the witch Shaul Lutrang. She was slain during the escape, but her two charges, Hogarth and Noogal, managed to eke out shelter and some weapons. Slakethirst is hesitant to believe the pair, thinking they might be a trap sent by Pergeron, but they prove their story the best they can, and win the trust of the party. The group travels further north, until the mountain hits a steep incline and they have to climb ledges through a waterfall to traverse any higher. Slakethirst air-lifts Borracho up to scout ahead, disappearing from the party.
After the grueling trial up the waterfall, led by Yukkbutt (who finds a jeweled grappling hook in the process), the PCs arrive in a misty, small, dense jungle plateau, in which they find several trampled paths and an abundance of wildlife. After traveling another quarter or half mile through the vegetation, they arrive at a shabby stone lean-to which serves as the home to a strange mountain giant and her massive, quadroped dinosaur pet. Unable to communicate with these creatures, she and the beast decide they must be snacks, and a melee ensues, with Nexa and the giant exchanging ranged attacks, and the rest of the party closing in. Cynjak and Nahar are laid out a number of times by the pairs' massive clubbing and stomping, only to have Vraal standby to revive them, and the fight is eventually turned against the mammoths...first, the giant falls, then her enraged companion. However, through the fight, Vraal and others have noticed that several winged enemies, possibly of Pergeron's cult, are circling above, noticing the clamor below...
Then Nexa fires off a spell at one of these winged creatures...a dragon! It in turn dives and breathes a poison cloud over most of the already-weakened party, killing Nahar outright and taking down the other paladin and Hogarth, one of the new dragonborn to join the party. Nexa runs off, terrified at the damage she has caused, while the half-orc barbarians, Noogal the dragonborn and Vraal all make a path straight for the giantess' shelter. Within, they find a cavernous slope that seems to lead up to the next shelf of the Ayrie, on which the dragonborn refugees are apparently being imprisoned. Outside, the green dragon lands and rends the corpses of the paladins to pieces, also snatching up the ailing Hogarth and taking her off to the monastery for a later snack... Nexa exchanges fire with the two winged dragonborn (the other two flying shapes), and they eventually bring her down with witch bolts and proceed to devour her corpse, in a grim twist of irony!
Racing up the slope, the four survivors halt in the darkness when they hear the sound of a small force of drakes and dragonborn berserkers bearing down upon them. Vraal uses as much healing as he can before the inevitable confrontation...
PCs: Cynjak, Hogarth, Nahar, Nexa, Noogal (NPC), Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 1900
Inspiration rewarded: ---
Renown: ---
The PCs begin to hike further up the Ayrie, arriving at a rocky area pocked with cavern entrances and overgrown vegetation. Within one of the caverns, two dragonborn have been hiding, after escaping from Pergeron's cultists with the held of the witch Shaul Lutrang. She was slain during the escape, but her two charges, Hogarth and Noogal, managed to eke out shelter and some weapons. Slakethirst is hesitant to believe the pair, thinking they might be a trap sent by Pergeron, but they prove their story the best they can, and win the trust of the party. The group travels further north, until the mountain hits a steep incline and they have to climb ledges through a waterfall to traverse any higher. Slakethirst air-lifts Borracho up to scout ahead, disappearing from the party.
After the grueling trial up the waterfall, led by Yukkbutt (who finds a jeweled grappling hook in the process), the PCs arrive in a misty, small, dense jungle plateau, in which they find several trampled paths and an abundance of wildlife. After traveling another quarter or half mile through the vegetation, they arrive at a shabby stone lean-to which serves as the home to a strange mountain giant and her massive, quadroped dinosaur pet. Unable to communicate with these creatures, she and the beast decide they must be snacks, and a melee ensues, with Nexa and the giant exchanging ranged attacks, and the rest of the party closing in. Cynjak and Nahar are laid out a number of times by the pairs' massive clubbing and stomping, only to have Vraal standby to revive them, and the fight is eventually turned against the mammoths...first, the giant falls, then her enraged companion. However, through the fight, Vraal and others have noticed that several winged enemies, possibly of Pergeron's cult, are circling above, noticing the clamor below...
Then Nexa fires off a spell at one of these winged creatures...a dragon! It in turn dives and breathes a poison cloud over most of the already-weakened party, killing Nahar outright and taking down the other paladin and Hogarth, one of the new dragonborn to join the party. Nexa runs off, terrified at the damage she has caused, while the half-orc barbarians, Noogal the dragonborn and Vraal all make a path straight for the giantess' shelter. Within, they find a cavernous slope that seems to lead up to the next shelf of the Ayrie, on which the dragonborn refugees are apparently being imprisoned. Outside, the green dragon lands and rends the corpses of the paladins to pieces, also snatching up the ailing Hogarth and taking her off to the monastery for a later snack... Nexa exchanges fire with the two winged dragonborn (the other two flying shapes), and they eventually bring her down with witch bolts and proceed to devour her corpse, in a grim twist of irony!
Racing up the slope, the four survivors halt in the darkness when they hear the sound of a small force of drakes and dragonborn berserkers bearing down upon them. Vraal uses as much healing as he can before the inevitable confrontation...
PCs: Cynjak, Hogarth, Nahar, Nexa, Noogal (NPC), Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 1900
Inspiration rewarded: ---
Renown: ---
Friday, July 28, 2017
24th Fire (7/28/17)
Hathun, Second-Week, Third-Day, the Now Year
As Nahar and Barnowl scramble up the rope to the Carvers' stalactite exit route, the paladin slips and plunges into the darkness of the city below. Nexos strikes off to look for him, while Slakethirst flies near the top of the rope to provide cover for his friends. Once Barnowl gets up the rope, a few of his allies slowly start making their way up after him, but at a normal pace. The mercenary is pressed on all sides by a wave of horrid aberrations, gricks and grells and some sort of super-grick, and he is quickly overwhelmed and left unconscious while the melee is joined. The creatures' climbing and flight abilities give them a heavy advantage in this terrain, plus there is an invisible, cackling wild card flinging spells randomly at our heroes!
At one point, Borracho is mentally compelled by magic to flee, and uses his feather fall to get away from the fighting up on the stalactite, then attempting to himself suggest to Cynjak and Nexa that they should also depart the battle. Upset, the sorceress flings a lightning bolt at one of the grells above, making sure it also slams the dwarf in the face! Bewildered, he doesn't retaliate, unsure of why she doesn't see the sense in his actions. Above, the PCs finally manage to get a hand on the melee against the aberrations, making their way through them and eventually taking down the larger grick and remaining grells, one of which had flown low...but not before Slakethirst has been knocked down onto the stalactite, also unconscious and playing the death game! Nahar manages to rejoin the fight right before its end, offering some added melee power.
Alas, Barnowl doesn't survive the bleed-out...but the dragonborn warlock gets lucky in the nick of time. The PCs briefly curse and mourn, and the party members below make their way up, trying not to slip on the brains, guts and tentacles strewn about the battle site. Yukkbutt claims the large grick's beak for himself, to strap on as an impromptu helmet. Vraal discovers that a robe covered in eye-like patterns has been left behind for the PCs, with a note inside on parchment that reads 'IRONY' in the Dwarf tongue. The heroes make their way further up the stalactite, to emerge in a half-eggshell shaped dome on the mountains surface above. More scenes are carved into the walls of this area, like the mosaics below in the city, but seem to depict a normal skyline, with dragons and hawks, sun and moons, clouds and stars. From outside, Cynjak hears an unusual, slight grinding sound, and when she looks outside, sees something moving slowly about the structure in a semi-regular pattern.
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth Day, the Now Year
Once morning arrives, the party investigates the moving object, which appears to be a slim stone automaton wielding an ancient bronze bell, part of which is destroyed. As they approach, Yukkbutt gets the idea to attack it with one of the animals from his bag of tricks, and a bear appears, moving to maul the unfortunate construct. Once it realizes its not food, it doesn't know what to do, so the half-orc moves up and dismantles the automaton, and Cynjak mercifully smashes up whatever parts of it are still moving. Mend is cast upon the bell, and then Vraal tolls it, causes a reverberation in the dome they slept under, and then a massive booming in the city beneath, which shakes the mountainside a bit before stopping. The PCs then decide to scale a path heading further up the Ayrie.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nexa, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2750
Inspiration rewarded: ---
Renown: ---
At one point, Borracho is mentally compelled by magic to flee, and uses his feather fall to get away from the fighting up on the stalactite, then attempting to himself suggest to Cynjak and Nexa that they should also depart the battle. Upset, the sorceress flings a lightning bolt at one of the grells above, making sure it also slams the dwarf in the face! Bewildered, he doesn't retaliate, unsure of why she doesn't see the sense in his actions. Above, the PCs finally manage to get a hand on the melee against the aberrations, making their way through them and eventually taking down the larger grick and remaining grells, one of which had flown low...but not before Slakethirst has been knocked down onto the stalactite, also unconscious and playing the death game! Nahar manages to rejoin the fight right before its end, offering some added melee power.
Alas, Barnowl doesn't survive the bleed-out...but the dragonborn warlock gets lucky in the nick of time. The PCs briefly curse and mourn, and the party members below make their way up, trying not to slip on the brains, guts and tentacles strewn about the battle site. Yukkbutt claims the large grick's beak for himself, to strap on as an impromptu helmet. Vraal discovers that a robe covered in eye-like patterns has been left behind for the PCs, with a note inside on parchment that reads 'IRONY' in the Dwarf tongue. The heroes make their way further up the stalactite, to emerge in a half-eggshell shaped dome on the mountains surface above. More scenes are carved into the walls of this area, like the mosaics below in the city, but seem to depict a normal skyline, with dragons and hawks, sun and moons, clouds and stars. From outside, Cynjak hears an unusual, slight grinding sound, and when she looks outside, sees something moving slowly about the structure in a semi-regular pattern.
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth Day, the Now Year
Once morning arrives, the party investigates the moving object, which appears to be a slim stone automaton wielding an ancient bronze bell, part of which is destroyed. As they approach, Yukkbutt gets the idea to attack it with one of the animals from his bag of tricks, and a bear appears, moving to maul the unfortunate construct. Once it realizes its not food, it doesn't know what to do, so the half-orc moves up and dismantles the automaton, and Cynjak mercifully smashes up whatever parts of it are still moving. Mend is cast upon the bell, and then Vraal tolls it, causes a reverberation in the dome they slept under, and then a massive booming in the city beneath, which shakes the mountainside a bit before stopping. The PCs then decide to scale a path heading further up the Ayrie.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nexa, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2750
Inspiration rewarded: ---
Renown: ---
Friday, June 30, 2017
23rd Fire (6/30/17)
Hathun, Second-Week, Third-Day, the Now Year
After several days at Briar's Edge, Lord Barnowl and Nahar have assured that Eagle Klah sends out messenger birds to the other Ten-Tribes, and stocked up on some supplies. Once the chieftain has successfully scryed out the location of their companions, he arranges transport by a strange spell that warps them to a tree in the vicinity of the City of the Carvers. Surprised to see them, the other PCs get them up to speed on what has transpired with the dragonborn, and the group as a whole decides to explore the underground City to possibly find an easier access point to the monastery where the rogue dragonborn and their masters have abducted the rest of the Place-of-Scales populace.
They find a 'warning' sign left to them by the Blue Lantern Society of Misthome, but proceed through to encounter a trio of strange, fungal creatures which deliver devastating tendril slams and also drain their victims of their life's essence. Many forms of attack seem ineffective, but they manage to turn the threat around and eliminate the things. Barnowl empties out some crude ceremonial urns which have been placed nearby, and then the party heads into the cavern proper, a large underground city composed largely of squat stone one-story homes, stagnant aqueducts and wells, and several larger, anomalous structures and plazas that stand out. The city is built both horizontally and vertically, with homes and stairways claiming purchase on the walls of the cavern. They decide to go around the edges and, for the meantime, avoid the large plaza area at the City center.
Their first stop is a base camp that was left behind for several years by a team of halfling and dwarf explorers, and after consulting a diary that Nexos finds in a ruined tent, they discern that the leader of the expedition has gone mad, and the rest of their number have disappeared or been slain while exploring and researching the place. They next decide to follow an aqueduct to its source, which strangely winds up one of the wells on the floor... Nearby, they find a series of large bas-relief stone slabs which seem to depict various cataclysmic events throughout the Carvers' ancient history, though the PCs themselves don't recognize much of it, except Cynjak, who notices a similarity between one figure in the fifth slab and the bizarre humanoid they fought called Diedeath the Mad, whom was originally mistake for some sort of elf or doppelganger. The Carver artist responsible for these masterful sculptures is known as 'Lumus'.
Next they discover a mausoleum of sorts, with a large spiral stairway that leads down hundreds of feet into the depths of the Underdark. They decide to vacate the space, since it's headed in the wrong direction than the one they intend. They head over to another anomalous structure, originally walled off from the rest of the City, and find a large armory with specialized stations for creating stone and bone weapons. A concealed cache of high quality ('masterwork') weapons is then unearthed, and the PCs arm themselves, including Barnowl's acquisition of stone plate mail. Afterwards, they continue to skirt the outer edges of the City, finding a massive stalactite in the Northwest corner, which descends to 60' off the cavern floor. A stone ladder that once granted access has been shattered, but since this was apparently an escape route with a spiral stone stairway leading to the roof of the cave, they decide to get themselves up there with some ropes and a flying dragonborn warlock.
While scouting the stalactite, SlakeThirst notices some sinuous, strange creature climbing about its exterior, and then is ambushed when a lightning bolt is hurled at him...he manages to dodge much of the blow, and then hears a female cackling voice...Nahar and Barnowl scurry up the rope with potions of climbing as the rest of the party prepares to deal with this threat that might block their access to the mountains above.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nahar, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2550
Inspiration rewarded: None
Renown: None
After several days at Briar's Edge, Lord Barnowl and Nahar have assured that Eagle Klah sends out messenger birds to the other Ten-Tribes, and stocked up on some supplies. Once the chieftain has successfully scryed out the location of their companions, he arranges transport by a strange spell that warps them to a tree in the vicinity of the City of the Carvers. Surprised to see them, the other PCs get them up to speed on what has transpired with the dragonborn, and the group as a whole decides to explore the underground City to possibly find an easier access point to the monastery where the rogue dragonborn and their masters have abducted the rest of the Place-of-Scales populace.
They find a 'warning' sign left to them by the Blue Lantern Society of Misthome, but proceed through to encounter a trio of strange, fungal creatures which deliver devastating tendril slams and also drain their victims of their life's essence. Many forms of attack seem ineffective, but they manage to turn the threat around and eliminate the things. Barnowl empties out some crude ceremonial urns which have been placed nearby, and then the party heads into the cavern proper, a large underground city composed largely of squat stone one-story homes, stagnant aqueducts and wells, and several larger, anomalous structures and plazas that stand out. The city is built both horizontally and vertically, with homes and stairways claiming purchase on the walls of the cavern. They decide to go around the edges and, for the meantime, avoid the large plaza area at the City center.
Their first stop is a base camp that was left behind for several years by a team of halfling and dwarf explorers, and after consulting a diary that Nexos finds in a ruined tent, they discern that the leader of the expedition has gone mad, and the rest of their number have disappeared or been slain while exploring and researching the place. They next decide to follow an aqueduct to its source, which strangely winds up one of the wells on the floor... Nearby, they find a series of large bas-relief stone slabs which seem to depict various cataclysmic events throughout the Carvers' ancient history, though the PCs themselves don't recognize much of it, except Cynjak, who notices a similarity between one figure in the fifth slab and the bizarre humanoid they fought called Diedeath the Mad, whom was originally mistake for some sort of elf or doppelganger. The Carver artist responsible for these masterful sculptures is known as 'Lumus'.
Next they discover a mausoleum of sorts, with a large spiral stairway that leads down hundreds of feet into the depths of the Underdark. They decide to vacate the space, since it's headed in the wrong direction than the one they intend. They head over to another anomalous structure, originally walled off from the rest of the City, and find a large armory with specialized stations for creating stone and bone weapons. A concealed cache of high quality ('masterwork') weapons is then unearthed, and the PCs arm themselves, including Barnowl's acquisition of stone plate mail. Afterwards, they continue to skirt the outer edges of the City, finding a massive stalactite in the Northwest corner, which descends to 60' off the cavern floor. A stone ladder that once granted access has been shattered, but since this was apparently an escape route with a spiral stone stairway leading to the roof of the cave, they decide to get themselves up there with some ropes and a flying dragonborn warlock.
While scouting the stalactite, SlakeThirst notices some sinuous, strange creature climbing about its exterior, and then is ambushed when a lightning bolt is hurled at him...he manages to dodge much of the blow, and then hears a female cackling voice...Nahar and Barnowl scurry up the rope with potions of climbing as the rest of the party prepares to deal with this threat that might block their access to the mountains above.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nahar, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2550
Inspiration rewarded: None
Renown: None
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