Road to Auer Session 2: Shrub Goblins

Our group numbered nine, with both Harvey missing and Caber taking up a new line of work. The group bought potions from Corsco Wightbane and headed out into the wilds to find the lair of the red capped goblins. Using the wolf ally they had made in the previous session they made their way east of town and into the forest. Stopping to mark his territory and do other wolfish things took a little longer than expected. Following the wolf, they made it to a river and the wolf stopped, something smelled different. A large toad jumped out at the wolf and another broke cover and charged the party. The cleric used his channel divinity to charm both toads, which would only keep them from attacking him and he still had the spell speak with animals up. He told them to betray their master and help him in the woods. The toads did not think the witch would like that. The witch came out of the water, angry her toads were being delayed. The hag stood a skinny ten feet tall and had blue waterlogged skin. She looked at the party and dug her nails into her face. The disfiguring was enough to unnerve a few of the party and then she came in swinging haymakers. Longshot was the only one weakened by her fear effect and was able to resist her killing gaze. The group jumped to action, breaking the charm on the toads and sending spells and steel into the witch. She made to flee and was brought down, falling into the water and bashing her skull. The group made quick work of the toads and took a quick break for some Nonne grilled toads. Balziros took the chance to make a javelin out of the toad bones.

The group followed the wolf to the stone cave mentioned earlier and found it was a large “L” shaped tower. The large wooden doors on the front were closed and flanked by two shrubs. Longshot, having seen a few tricks in their day shot an arrow into one of the bushes. The group was greeted by a scream as a goblin fell out, arrow lodged in its good eye. The other shrub had a goblin fall out and two more on the buildings lower roof stood up with bows at the ready. The group jumped to attention fighting against the visible goblins with much glee. Nonne ran up and jumped to grab the lip of the lower roof and pulled himself up to attack the ranged goblin, noticing after his attack the eight other goblins on the roof building hang gliders. The goblins rushed him and tried to push him off the roof. All eight failed due to leverage and the fact he is a very large dragonborn paladin. They used their nimble escape to flea and climb off the building. Nomi tried to pick up the goblin next to him but it was too slippery and kept slapping his hands. He took the rest of his turn to leap off the building after the goblins and belly flop onto them. He was able to flatten two of them and was damaged himself.

While this was happening, 04 made his way into the front door, finding it unlocked. He noticed three more doors inside, one a large double door and two smaller guard doors. He checked one and found a storage room full of weapons so he took a crossbow. He went to the double door and looked through them to see a hobgoblin in nice armor readying a bow with fancy arrows. He closed the door and heard the hobgoblin lock it, another door sliding, and the door to his left locked as well. the rest of the group mopped up the outer goblins and saw a large arrow hit the wall next to 04’s head. Nonne came and looked into the wall to see a hobgoblin getting ready to draw another arrow and jumped aside to not be struck. Willow entered the room and launched magic missiles through the arrow slit, killing the hobgoblin. They took some time to unlock the side door and found a secret passage into the room with the double doors. They found numerous half-built wicker boulders and signs of numerous goblins living here. The party pressed on, hearing the sounds of dozens of goblins from the next room.

They peeked through the doors and saw an empty meal hall with a staircase going up. With detect magic they could tell there was a magic mote giving off the sounds of goblins attached to the ceiling, and as they were investigating two hobgoblins descended the stairs and started launching arrows at the party. Nonne charged the hobgoblins, noticing a large rug at the base of the stairs. As his foot hit the rug it gave way, he was just able to get his footing and leap onto the stairs as the rest of the rug fell into the pit. The group fell upon the hobgoblins, sending one into the pit and killing the other. They peered down into the hole and could only hear rustling down below and could barely see the glinting of eyes and teeth. Recognizing something terrible was down there, they left the hole alone for now and crept up the stairs. the wolf stayed on the first floor, not wanting to follow over the pit. They found a room with a large war table, four goblins, and two hobgoblins as well as more stairs leading up. Combat was had. The hobgoblins were slain quickly, one getting a moldy bookshelf toppled on him, revealing the swarm of bugs that lived in the mildew covered tomes. They took out three of the goblins and the fourth ran up the next batch of stairs. the party collected themselves and prepared for heading up the next flight, finishing session 2.

Road to Auer Session 1: An adventure Begins

Many years ago, the giants saved bits of life from a great cataclysm. The giants made three islands within a relatively safe area of the world and helped nurture the creatures they saved. The first island had humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and half orcs living in relative peace until one of the giants betrayed his siblings by destroying one of their cities with an army of monsters he had snuck into the sanctuary. The giants bound their wayward brother to the bottom of the ocean and scattered his forces and life has seemingly returned to normal.

            The second island became home to the wilder peoples. Fey, satyrs, cat folk, lizardmen, minotaur, centaur, and goliaths lived in harmony under the protection of a nature goddess, Ellendriana. Ellendriana’s continent was contested at first by a tribe of evil giants that staked claim to its riches. Their champion was composed of the rock itself and was of great size. The giant came at Ellendriana when she had just finished creating her place of power, a stone platform between three mountains. The giant, whose name was lost, was turned into the western mountains and his torso is still visible. The island inhabitants pay homage to Ellendriana and what once was a festival style worshiping grounds has turned into a city called Godmoot.

            The third island is populated by Hobgoblins and Orcs. The hobgoblins have a harsh and cruel god that leads them to slaughter most in their path and make more hobgoblins. The orcs on the other hand worship a giant blue panther beast that was cast out of hell for killing other devils. They had a society based on solar alignment and giant stone ziggurats that reached towards the heavens. The ziggurats were made of obsidian. After many years of “peace” between the two tribes the hobgoblins wiped out over half the population of the orcs and made the rest into slaves. The dead orcs rose again as undead and are seeking ways to over throw the hobgoblins and reclaim their home.  

    

The three islands for the most part have ignored each other, not wanting to draw attention to their own politics and problems with outsiders. The hobgoblins from the third island have started invading the second islands and have set up a small base camp on the southern shore. Some first islanders have made their way into the second island but tend to return home with tales of wonder or horror depending on their experiences.

Our new adventure started on the Northern Island with the party being hired to help transport medical supplies from the town of Jarl to the trade city of Telas. Telas was suffering from an illness spreading within the forest of Briar’s Woods and other supplies had been stolen on the roads by goblin bandits. The party consisted of Longshot the half elf ranger, foe of goblins, Terror the tiefling dragon blooded sorcerer, Harvey the eladrin warlock, follower of the archfey, Nonne the bronze dragonborn noble paladin, ruler of a small kingdom of kobolds, Balziros the lizardfolk cleric of nature, he wandered away from his tribe and was raised by a priest of Telln, Gorg the triton paladin, faithful of Korten, 04 the human paladin, with a haunted past, Halanthis the Eladrin druid, Caber the centaur rogue, Willow the human fighter, and Madkris the dragonborn artificer. 

With the new team assembled and introduced they quickly started on their way to Telas. They were escorting three carts with dwarven drivers. The carts contained all of the medical supplies as well as any gear they might need on the road. The first day of travel was rather boring, not much other then great time out in the sun and walking passed large abandoned towers off the road. When they set camp, the watch noticed giggling in the distance, which was odd for a nighttime creature. Balziros used thaumaturgy, shouting “Who Goes There!” causing the giggling to flee into the night. In the morning they set out again, seeing tiny footprints quite a distance from their camp site.

They continued on the road and saw something very strange. There was a large boulder in the center of the road, no dirt displaced, no crater, no drag marks. Longshot approached to take a closer look and knew something was up and Noni walked right up to the “boulder” and gave it a quick shove. From inside they heard a scream as the paper covered wicker boulder not only slid, startling the five goblins with loaded crossbows inside, but also caused the fake boulder to start rolling down the road. The goblins were filthy and wearing crimson caps that looked wet with blood. Halanthis and Gorg suggested they might be peaceful but spells and attacks were had.

As they dealt with those five goblins, they noticed five more goblins on makeshift hang gliders descending on them from the sky. They also saw a very tall tree with a goblin stuck in the branches with a broken hang glider. One of the glider goblins seemed to be in charge, or at least moderately more intelligent than his brethren, he had broken aviator goggles and was able to dodge many of the party’s attacks. Gorg attempted to be nonviolent until one of the goblins attempted to attack her, causing her view to change. One of the drivers was hit by an errant spell, Halanthis was downed by a pair of goblins. It was a tense moment but Balziros was able to heal him up before it got dangerous. They cleaned up the last goblin, investigated the tree with the goblin stuck on it by snapping the rope connecting him to his glider by throwing a spear at it and watched the goblin plummet the thirty feet into the ground. They rolled every goblin body and found conveniently gold equal to the party members. They noticed each goblin did have the bloody caps and a strange jagged grim tattoo. They took some goblin ears and a couple of heads just in case. They fixed up the wagons, healed up the wounded driver, and set off towards town again. They discussed tracing the goblins back to their lair but figured it was a good idea to get the carts to town first and could always head back this way.

That night when they rested, they could faintly hear wolf howls. The next morning, they got within eyesight of Telas before the wolves caught up with them. Two wolves in fact, each with two goblins riding on their backs. Because they noticed the goblins while they had the advantage of range, they were able to thin the heard. The first wolf went down, each goblin succumbing to their wounds and magically created bonfires. The other wolf got close to the party, one goblin hanging off the side due to a bad ride check. Balziros cast animal friendship on the wolf and gained a buddy. The last goblin ran off, screaming for his boss to help. From a distant hill the party saw the glint of an arrow as it flew to its target, silencing the loud goblin instantly. They saw something ride off over the hill and lost sight of it. the nature cleric cast speak with animals to converse with their wolf friend and found out about the stone caves the goblins lived in, the other wolves, and the wolf was not good at judging distance. Comically it was okay at pantomiming a few other things. It told them about the dead dried out gross goblin meat he and his pack had been eating, the strange tall man in the tattered cloak that did not smell right, flashes of light. With confusing information, the party collected a few more ears, beheaded the dead wolf, collected the metal arrow from the dead goblin, and finished escorting the convoy of carts into town.

The cart drivers were familiar to the guards and let in without a question. The party on the other hand was an odd assortment. The gate guards consisted of a finely dressed gnome and two burly halforcs. The group told the gnome they were hired to escort the carts and the gnome conferred with the drivers and relented, giving the party fifty gold each. Nonne also attempted to give the gnome the wolf head and a goblin head. The gnome motioned for one of his half orc minions to take it and tried to get the party through the gate quicker. One of the guards saw the live wolf with the party and tried to tell them they could not bring it into the city, but Balziros was able to convince him it was a strong dog. They asked who to talk to for information in town and were told to head to the tavern and ask for Corsco Wightbane.

Now in the city they were directed to head to the local tavern for information and Corsco Wightbane, finding themselves in the threshold of the Rusty Bone. They watched as a drunk patron was tossed out into the trough outside and could see the dimly lit interior. A group of them entered, while a few others stood outside to people watch. Caber led the charge into the tavern and went up to the barkeep, ordering himself two ales and asking to see Corsco Wightbane. The Gnome bartender kept them coming and told the group he was detained for the moment and should be down in a few minutes. The group outside could see there were all kinds of people in town, from the standard dwarves and gnomes to an overabundance of tiefling and some bird people. A few of them noticed a green skinned red bearded dwarf yelling and his possible apprentice in the street. They also saw the drunk man that had been thrown out being lifted out of the water trough by a horse. Some light thievery happened. While both groups were waiting, they were entertained by an ogre piano player with only the highest and lowest key working on his instrument. No one commented on his playing for safety reasons. Harvey did use mage hand to show him hitting both keys with one hand and the ogre seemed pleased, again it was hard to tell.

Around twenty minutes later a red skinned, white haired, shirtless elf descended from upstairs and summoned a bottle of wine with magic. He sat at the bar and looked around seeing a pile of new faces. He greeted them and got a smattering of names back, Harvey’s acronym caused him to lose about thirty golds worth of wine in a spit take. They told him about the goblins, the red caps, the strange tattoos, and the metal arrow. Corsco showed them the arrow was unbreakable, a few of his men had been killed by such an arrow. He paid each of them additional gold for the goblins they had slain and gave them a little bit of lore about the creatures. He mentioned they probably had a keep out in the woods somewhere to the east, since the northern woods had the sickness that had been creeping into town. They agreed to look into the issue and were given rooms for the night at an inn across the street. Out first session ended there and the party made it to level 2.

Road to Auer is a homebrew campaign using the Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons rule set.

Road to Auer update

On January 8th I will be starting up a new campaign here in the store. Characters will start at first level for this game. I would prefer you use the base players handbook for this game, making things a little simpler if people are jumping in with new character at the store. Special cases can be addressed if need be. We will be using a modified standard array, 16,15,14,13,11,9. I am attaching a list of NPC characters for character background reasons, I would like each player to pick an NPC to have some sort of bond, be it a child hood friend, enemy, or ally. If you would like to make up a contact for me to add to the city instead, that is cool too.

The adventure takes place on what is called known only as the Northern Island. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings live together in three larger towns and two small trade cities nestled among mountains and forests. Tieflings, half orcs, and dragonborn are more often found in the small trade cities, they are not normally trusted in the larger towns.

Four giant brothers built this land and became gods, one betrayed the others, destroyed the town of Auer, and was soundly defeated by his brothers. They bound the betrayer to the bottom of the sea, hoping he would never return. His minions still gather in hordes and attack the cities but recently their attacks have been growing bolder. Dark things are stirring and it is up to the party to thwart them.

The people of the Northern Island have knowledge of the other two larger islands out there, one is a wild place of cat people, monsters and nature. The other island was rumored to be a land of tribal panther worshiping orcs that had been wiped out by hobgoblin invaders, it is far enough away to be someone else’s problem. Occasionally traders will make it as far as the northern island and they are met with suspicion.

The adventures will be starting in or near the town of Jarl. Job boards are always a great place to find work and can be found in Smithy’s, the local drinking hole for most of the city. Being an island there is plenty of work out on the sea as well. Odd disappearances have been happening on the trade routes, strange lights have been seen out on the water at night, people are starting to get worried.

Npcs of note:

Smithy: owner of Smithy’s, has a soft spot for adventurers and can help party members get in touch with guilds. He is a retired adventurer, now operating the only bar and black smith in town.

Cervantes: strange information broker and mage. Good natured and has a tendency to get overly excited about magic.

Reginald: traveling wizard, wears brown robes and gets himself into trouble.

Lord Umben: ruler of Jarl, more like a mayor. He and his family have been in charge of the city for many generations. He married into a merchant family.

Bran-Lee: ruler of the thieves’ guild, the Coffer. She is rarely seen but has her agents everywhere.

High priest Felton: she runs the temples of the Three. The people worship the three giants, gaining strength and spells from their power. Gods of the northern island: Korten, the god of warriors. War domain. Telln, the god of travelers. Knowledge and Nature domains. Roth, god of law. Protection and life domains. Neln, the god of secrets and betrayal (evil, players are not able to worship him)

Janriss: she runs the magic guild in town, the Ilris Arcanum. Promising students are usually scouted out when they are young and brought to the Arcanum.

Lady Umben-Jericho: high captain of the merchant guilds, her useless husband runs the town, she rules the sea.

Common foes to the societies: orcs, gnolls, ogres, and red cap goblinoids. Dragons are far less common place. The ocean is without salt, many creatures that normally would be found only in salt water have adapted to this odd ocean. There are many small islands between the Northern Island and the other big islands, many of which have been left unexplored. Ships have shown up to trade with both Moco and Ellic, strangers have started wandering the land. Undead are a common problem.

Towns:

Auer- once the capital and home of the king, Auer is now a ruin. Neln and his forces destroyed the city, killing the inhabitants. Now only ghosts and the undead remain. The old king was a mage of great power before his death. Before he was king, he was known as the Crimson Count until he won the throne by conquest. After the fall of Auer none wanted claim to the throne, fearing his spirit might come back or calamity would befall the other cities. For almost three hundred years the city has sat lifeless.

Ellic- home to the inventors’ league, Ellic is a dangerous place to walk without watching your step. Many gnomes and chaotic types call Ellic home. Strange contraptions are for sale, most are only slightly useful, like an automated hat tipper or wind up mice. Odd cloaked figures have been seen coming off ships from the other islands, they obscure their bodies, wearing heavy robes at all times, they have been bringing all sorts of new technological ideas to the island. The city has a regent, Lord Nailes, a self-named lord, conducts the legal and political business of the town, seeking trade agreements with outsiders as well as maintaining the peace. The local law enforcement are called the gears, for they are the well-oiled machine of the law. 

Moco- the lighthouse city. Moco was heavily influenced by elven architecture and has tall buildings looking out over the ocean, lit with ever burning lanterns to help sailors avoid the reefs. The elves of the city work in tandem with the elves from the southern forest. Many have sought the elves in Moco for guidance, they have been around much longer than the other peoples, and remember a time before the fall or Auer.

Jarl- the city of the steps. The city is broken into rings, the main gate and the highest ring are level with the rest of the island, the other rings descend the cliff face down to the ocean. The grand stairs run from the highest district to the lowest, connecting the town like a main artery. The lower district houses more the warehouses and the docks, the next highest has more of the businesses, the next three layers are residential.

Telas- a smaller trade route stop, Telas is a wild outpost with all manner of clientele. Many taverns and inns dot the streets and a large market square dominates the town center. Occasionally giants come to trade down from the mountains, people claim they even have seen dragons, which is silly. Telas is run by an elf named Corsco Wightbane. He can be usually found within one of the many taverns gambling at all hours.

Rensfield- larger than Telas, Rensfield was built near a large crater that proved to be rich in mineable minerals. The odd wealth has led to larger than expected population boom. Rensfield and Ellic readily trade with eachother, each needing different things from the crater. This trade stop is run by Alindia Copperhelm, an exiled dwarf hailing from Blagengast, and unable to return for reasons.

Blagengast- home of the dwarves. Most of the mountain dwarves can trace their history to the halls of Blagengast, where as the hill dwarves are more common among folks seen within the rest of the cities across the island. Blagengast itself is a work of art, high vaulted ceilings, carved scenes of ancient battles, mines that reach deep into the stone, and warriors that fight against any evils that attempt to escape onto the surface. Kagorack Stonehaven is the Forge King, ruling the mountain dwarves as their all-king. Other stone homes have popped up where rare stone has been found, acting like satellite cities of Blagengast.

Gods of the northern island:

Korten, the god of warriors. War domain. His followers seek to prepare the masses for possible battle. With the dark portents recently unveiled there is fear agents of the betrayer are on the rise again. His sigil is a flaming sword.

Telln, the god of travelers. Knowledge and Nature domains. His followers have built great libraries in the temples, offering knowledge to all that seek it. They also train travelers to safely travel the wilderness, many adventure into the woods and onto the ocean and should have at least basic knowledge of what is out there lurking. His symbol is a winding road.

Roth, god of law. Protection and life domains. Roth’s followers seek to keep the cities safe from the wilderness, dark things seek to end civilization, and it is up to the civilized to protect themselves. His healing light allows for people to survive otherwise lethal ordeals. His sigil is a stout castle.

Neln, the god of secrets and betrayal (evil, players are not able to worship him)

Abyss Modified Session 37: The Final Showdown

They had their big battle. Godric, Tamin, Xanaphia, Orion, Drifting Cloud, Syre, and Thelrum were faced with a dark decision. The big wizards had fixed the scroll in a way that it could be used to summon the demon lords together and hopefully cause them to fight each other and pick off the survivors. The party was given the choice to pick the place the battle would happen. This led to numerous ideas and plots. Options were weighed, caution taken, and a choice was had. They hunted down a volcano and looked for vents leading for any underground chambers nearby that could have a thin crust of cooled rock above a pool of liquid rock. Syre helmed this search and found a suitable location. The party prepared themselves the best they could and let the wizards finish the spell. Their allies consisted of Acererak, Eliminster, the Companion, Professor Pulldiver, Thuds the troll, and Anchor the oni. They planned on dividing the forces, letting them fight a bit, and taking out the survivors. Drifting Cloud cast forbiddance to damage the demon lords every round and Thelrum set up a wall of force to keep the demon lords stuck in the room as long as possible. As the party set themselves up and cast the spell I read this aloud to them.

“Tangible magic courses around you. You see as the weave buckles and bends, chains of light fill the chamber and create vortex of magic. The cave darkens and a loud tearing sound along with the rushing of water fills the world around you. Larger than imaginable, a massive worm like creature with random atrophied limbs crashes head first into the ground, its neck snapping instantly. Dark forms follow it, bouncing off its bulk and slipping in the waves. Orcus, demon prince of death stands up and looks around, seeing the dead fiendwurm and starts digging into its side. Another form rises, his horns wide set, Baphomet roars out a challenge for anyone to face him. Two massive baboon heads lift from the carnage, for a few of you, this creature is familiar, last seen destroying the Koa-toa town of Sloobludop . Demogorgon’s rage shakes the world around him. A smaller form can be seen sprinting away from the other demons, a large drow like figure that could only be Graz’zt himself. Attached to the large worm creature a black and green slime oozes, Juiblex searches for those who thwarted his attack on the gnomes of Blingdenstone. With a scream like a thousand screeching hyenas, Yeenoghu rolls to his feet, already swinging his flail in the air. A large cloud darkens part of the giant worm as mushrooms the size of houses blossom across its form. Zuggtmoy makes her presence known. You have your allies with you. How will you proceed?”

Pile of demon lords

The fiendwurm caught the party off guard. They realized that it was responsible for eating the krakens they had seen dead in the ocean, the water it had been swimming in had cooled the chamber and created steam. I gave the party a few moments to choose which of the demon lords they wanted to fight. After a few minutes they decided to fight Orcus and Graz’zt. Their allies watched each chose a few to fight as well, the mages took Juiblex and Zuggtmoy and the Pulldiver’s Delvers took Yeenoghu and Baphomet. Each group teleported to another chamber to duke it out. the party quickly realized Demogorgon was left in the room with them as well.

The crowded hallway

The party watched as Orcus walked over to punch Demogorgon, who did not like the damage he was taking from the magic in the chamber and climbed into the ceiling, digging into the magma tubes. Graz’zt looked at the wall and teleported within the party to sow discord. The group watched as Orcus carved a wicked smile into a ball of flesh he pulled out of the dead wurm and craft it into a pseudo beholder zombie with stringy gristle legs. Graz’zt started cutting into the party with his acid coated sword, dominated Godric’s mind with crown of madness, causing him to swing at his allies. The group was able to focus fire on Graz’zt while dealing with his brutal attacks and counter spelling his efforts to make more allies for himself. Orion made great work of him with many punches and kicks, he was able to resist the stunning attacks too well.

Orcus was approaching the wall of force as the party was phasing their spells through the wall, like tiny birds pecking at him as he took constant damage from the forbiddance spell. Thelrum dropped the wall of force and changed it up to a globe of invulnerability, shielding himself and others from lower level spells and Syre cast magic circle, to give everyone bonuses on saving throws.

Orcus

Graz’zt was the first to fall, the combined efforts of the entire party were enough to remove him from the situation, leaving only a pile of dissolving goo and a large great sword, Godric took the sword. At this point Orcus had made it to the party was swinging away with his club like wand, trying to clear a path out of the forbiddance spells. Xanaphia cast a storm sphere, filling that part of the room with lighting and Drifting Cloud dropped a dawn spells, spilling radiance into the chamber. They noticed falling pebbles above them and grew concerned, figuring that Demogorgon was in the rock above them. They watched as the fleshy monster Orcus made exploded into four smaller creatures from the storm sphere’s lightning damage. The group was not surprised with Demogorgon reaching out from a hole he made in the ceiling to attack Drifting Cloud. The group split their efforts against both foes, aiming to take them down as quickly as possible. Tamin took this chance to escape, and did.

From other chambers they could hear screams and explosions and hoped their allies were doing alright. Drifting Cloud spent most of the combat taunting Orcus trying to distract him. Orcus pushed against the party, trying to make it out of the chamber and into the hallway, but was having difficulty with the wall of heroes refusing to budge. His wounds became too much, the magics and constant radiant damage broke him, Drifting Cloud told him “Anubis says hello” as Orcus became ooze and gristle on the stone floor, leaving only his club like wand behind. Demogorgon pulled the rest of the way through the roof and started tearing into the party. The group, sensing the danger in this foe pulled back into the forbiddance room that would be their sanctuary or trap, having no other way out. Loud booms filled the hallway and from the western wall Baphomet burst through like a fur covered train, and started tearing into Demogorgon. The group double downed their efforts in pelting them with spells and attacks and eventually Demogorgon was brought down by a magic missile spell by Thelrum and Orion defeated Baphomet.

The Companion and the other survivors from the demon lords limped back to the party. The Pulldiver’s Delvers were defeated by Baphomet and Acererak had abandoned the rest to their own fate. Eliminster looked a little worse for wear. The group was given wishes from the Companion as a final payment, terminating their contracts as well. Godric wished to find his father, the whole reason he had gotten into adventuring in the first place. Thelrum went by the book, wishing for the entire party to forever be resistant to slashing damage. Drifting Cloud wished his khopesh of disruption to be sent to the next warrior that would need it in their quest against evil. Syre went the greed route, wanting money, and found her pockets were extradimensional spaces full of coins. After experimenting a bit, she realized it was one hundred thousand gold coins she could access from any pocket she wore. Orion wished for a tent like Daddy Fate's so he could set up a mobile orphanage to save kids in need where ever he traveled.

The party was successful, and much work would need to be done to push the minor demons from the realm, but for now their story is done. A new group of heroes calls for our attention.

Abyss Modified Session 36: The Tower in the Other World

Xanaphia, Orion, Thelrum, and Drifting Cloud returned to the flying ship after dealing with the beacon in the light house. They found Acererak and Ladwin interrogating a disheveled dark elf, Vizeran, who they were blaming for this whole problem with the demon swarms. Godric and Syre looked on very confused as the interrogation had been taking place in front of them. Their henchmen Ralph watched on in terror as well from an illusionary barrel he made. They talked with Acererak and found out the drow wizard had stolen Gromph’s spellbook and had been working with agents in the Underdark to summon all the demon lords to the same place, but something went wrong with the spell, it ejected the demons onto the surface world where they have been causing all sorts of problems.

Drifting Cloud called the Companion with his sending spell to ask if this Acererak was cool to be hanging out with them. The companion was confused by the question and teleported to the ship. He and Acererak gave each other a look, nodded, and set into a plan to help fix what went wrong in the spell. The group sailed the ship to the Sunset Mountains and followed the blip on their map to a strange swampy pond with three pathways that met in the middle. The party went to investigate leaving their employer and Acererak on board with Ladwin, Ixxon the imp, and Ralph the young halfling mage they pseudo adopted.

The party stood around using magic to determine what was going on at the crossroads for a bit until the sun set behind the mountains and a gateway appeared before them, leading to some desolate looking realm. they hesitantly entered and saw a large broken and ruined city with a central tower that had broken in numerous places, floating hundreds of feet above its original base. Thelrum used levitate to ignore the base of the tower and take everyone up to the top. He took Syre first and they discovered the top of the tower gave way to a flat platform with stairs down that appeared to have lost the higher levels as well as a marilith, a demon with six arms and a snake bottom. She was having a one-sided conversation with someone about the group not having arrived, possibly with a variant of the sending spell. The creature went on to explain her group was excellent at their job and would not fail. By this point the rest of the party had been taxied up and Drifting Cloud and Godric decided some trickery was in order. They approached the marilith and asked if she would be interested in purchasing some fine yeti meat they were willing to supply. The marilith was confused, but interested until one of her allies, an undead boneclaw came up from a flight of stairs situated in the center of the tower.

Combat was had, Thelrum banished the first boneclaw and a second one followed up the stairs and the Marilith resisted the spell. Godric pushed the marilith down the stairs and Orion was grabbed by the boneclaw. Drifting Cloud summoned a swarm of scarabs on the stairs, hitting both the feet of the boneclaw and the marilith. Orion was able to jump out of the way after pummeling the undead into the bug pile. Xanaphia and Syre used spells and threw around inspiration to the party. Eventually the marilith fell to the party and the banished boneclaw returned to its own realm via the magic of the spell. The group let the bugs clear out of the stairs and traveled down them, finding a strange doorway with shimmering energy inside of it. 

Through the doorway they found large chamber filled with odd walkways, multiple tables covered in historical documents, and a large wooden door on the opposite side of the chamber from where they entered. As they started rummaging through the room, they found out a few things. The ruined city was Andorel, it had disappeared and been stuck on the plane of shadow and been shunted around the cosmos for a few hundred years. It had been a city of mages before its destruction. They also discovered a strange scratching coming from the other side of the door. Thelrum used arcane lock to seal the door and Godric laid on the floor and looked underneath the door and saw massive strange feet on the other side, he tickled them with mage hand. The creature on the other side screeched and broke the door open. it failed to hit Godric with its massive claws. The creature looked similar to a bone devil and was some kind of guardian of this chamber. Thelrum banished it as well and another two showed up and they could hear noises from the back of the next chamber. As the party fought against the two strange bone creatures they were ambushed by three cloaked figures, bodaks, which tried to use their gaze attacks to kill the party. Many lightning bolts were thrown, many punches were made, and songs were sung. Eventually the party was victorious and decided to figure out what was on the next room.

They found two doors on opposite walls as well as a large pit with a writhing pile of teeth, gristle, and bones. The party threw some fire spells down at it but it seemed to have little effect. They checked the east door and found a room with a large brain eating monster in a glass jar and hundreds of empty smaller jars that once held brains. They locked that door and went to the western door. They found a hall leading north to a celestial map of foreign skies, which happened to be the heavens of Eberron. To the south was a closed door, which opened as they approached. At this point Godric had the idea to pull a prank on the strange pile of bones and teeth and relieved himself over the edge. At the same time the rest of the group found the last beacon of Mystra and lit it with holy fire.

The large pit filled with celestial fire, Godric assumed it was his donation that did it while the rest of the group came back to find him pulling his pants back up. The building started shaking so they fled. They feather fell to the ground and made it a good deal away from the structure before it hit the ground. They noticed a strange cocoon like structure made of bone slowly floating down from the sky and when they touched it a strange man in red robes with a long white beard woke up. They found out he was Elminster, a mage from their world, who had no idea about the demons. They gave him some jerky and he volunteered to help. He went through the portal with them and skeptically joined the group of mages working on the scroll to try to fix everything, or at least get all the demon lords into the same place. He had had some history with both the Companion as well as Acererak in this time line, and rather not talk about.

Now the group prepares, if the scrollwork goes according to plan, they will summon all the demon lords into the same place. With their blessings of Mystra they stand a great chance at turning the demonic horde.

Abyss Modified Session 35: the Quiet Chult

The party, tonight consisting of Thelrum, Orion, Drifting Cloud, Xanaphia, and Tamin, contacted their allies to fly above the dome of the Moon Well and drop a rope for them to climb out. They left the beholder behind, amazed the beast had not killed them. Back on their ship they contacted the Companion to see if their allies, Pulldiver’s Delvers, had finished up with the Thayan temple and heard back they were successful. The group decided to go to the temple on Chult next, the Sunset Mountains were not further away but sounded pleasant. While sailing above the water they watched for any strange monsters or demons and were lucky, nothing attacked or even noticed them. 

Eventually they could see an island off in the distance, and as they approached, they noticed the corpse of a giant dragon turtle split in half, floating in the water. They remembered hearing this creature was a protector of the harbor of Port Nyanzaru and guessed they would not have to pay tribute, so they flew on. Once they found their way into port, they found the town deserted. The normal sounds and sights were missing. Thelrum used see invisibility and noticed a leather clad figure breaking into one of the building’s rooftop vents and called out to him as the group dropped to the city streets, sending their airship to circle above. The figure, startled, dropped the wooden venting cover and it clattered loudly to the street. The group paused, feeling an odd quaking in the streets and could hear something large approaching.

The group turned to see from two of the alleys two huge sized tyrannosaurus rexes, no longer living but undead. The beasts roared and the party went into action. Orion charged up to one of them and laid into it with multiple strikes and was close enough to see dozens of humanoid forms within the belly of the beast, also zombies, pushing against the ribs trying to reach out and grab Orion. Drifting Cloud prepared to turn the undead when they got into range and the second rex charged him and Thelrum. Divine energy coursed through Drifting Cloud and hit the rex, causing it to turn and flee, but not before it coughed up a zombie, which turned to ash from the divine energy. Tamin made his way into one of the buildings and closed the door, finding himself surrounded by unmoving husks, corpses that had been mummified rapidly. Xanaphia slung eldritch blasts at the wounded rex, scoring multiple hits. The wounded rex coughed up more zombies around Orion and attempted to attack him but failed to find its mark. The zombies were ineffective as well. The group could hear someone bumping around in one of the buildings, hearing someone say that the group seemed to have it handled. Thelrum blasted the wounded rex with more magic while the turned Rex fled into the quiet jungle. Tamin made his away to the second floor of his corpse building and could see out one of the windows and launched a few arrows at the wounded rex, which eventually fell and burst open, releasing the zombies. The group made wuick work of them. The door to one of the buildings opened and a leather armored mask wearing figure came out to thank the party for their intervention. They could see a fancy jade dagger on his hip.

The figure introduced himself as Ladwin, it turned out he was scouting for any survivors and loot when the party came along. The group was rightfully concerned and asked what happened to the city. Ladwin explained that a new guy showed up and was pissing off his boss, taking control of the jungle and making an army of the undead. The party inquired about Ladwin’s boss and was told he specialized in making tombs, one was here on the island, the other had been around for a long time. He mentioned the name Acererak and the group went pale. A few of them relayed what they knew about the Lich and his Tomb of Horrors and Tomb of Annihilation. Ladwin asked if they wanted to meet the boss and they unanimously said no. He mentioned that the rival was some guy named Orcus, the group was equally pale from that name as well, knowing that getting between a demon lord of undeath and a super powerful lich would be dangerous. Ladwin took off his mask, revealing a skull and scratched his bare skull before returning it to his face.

Drifting Cloud broke off from the group to ask for guidance. He asked if Orcus was still on the island, finding Anubis answering yes. He asked if Anubis wanted him to deal with Orcus, and was given a strange no. He asked for a sign from Anubis, and was answered yes. The Khopesh Drifting Cloud was wielding lit up, now glowing brightly. When he started walking around with it out it glowed brighter when pointed to the south eastern direction. The party got back on their ship, Ladwin tagging along, and headed the direction the sword told them to go.

They soared above the silent jungle, seeing large areas of devastation and places where demonic creatures were burrowing out of the ground. They chose to avoid all that nonsense. The sword led them to an abandoned lighthouse with golden flame iconography. The structure was overrun with plant life and the once glass covered atrium was completely shattered. From the deck of the ship they could see the torch or brazier for the top of the lighthouse was missing. When they made landfall, they went in the atrium windows and found numerous bodies of slain monks, now skeletal, laying around the ground. Drifting Cloud used eyes of the grave and they dinged as undead. He turned undead, causing a few to rise and flee into the jungle and another to stand up start mumbling about the snake men and the beacon. Thelrum cast detect magic and massive energies were radiating from the basement of the structure.

The group left the undead alone and made their way into the dark interior of the lighthouse, finding a large room stacked with bits of shipwrecks, broken furniture, lumber, kitchen supplies, and paper. The doorway was strange, there seemed to be numerous teeth set in lines across the threshold of the room. The room had a high ceiling and many of the items within were stacked about fifteen feet high, cutting off the party’s views of each other. They split up and started searching for the beacon and Thelrum could feel the magical energy at the edge of his spell, and suddenly it was charging towards him.

A large spell stitched creature with the body of gargantuan bipedal lion, odd mantis armor, and multiple eyes crashed through the garbage in the room, and around its neck was a large stone beacon. The group jumped into action. They were unsure if it was a construct or an undead, but either way they unloaded everything they had on the monster. Orion got in close and the beast knocked him down, it spread out its attacks, bowling over most of the party, mauled Drifting Cloud and Xanaphia /dealing massive damage, this monster was not messing around. Drifting Cloud put up a guardian of the faith behind it, dealing some nice damage. Thelrum attempted to banish it but the magic was resisted. Xanaphia cast eldritch blast and shot at the beast with her crossbow, hoping to get a bolt to stick for heat metal. One of her higher spells surged, causing her to teleport around every round. Drifting Cloud cast spiritual weapon, which followed the monster around, the khopesh glowing with radiant energy.

After a few attacks were traded they could hear Ladwin using a spell to talk to someone mentioning the terrifying monster. Moments later a figure walked out of a shadow. Covered in purple robes, metallic staff at hand, large demon faced amulet around its skeletal neck and a massive helm, Acererak entered the fray, and he was pissed. He threw magical bolts into the creature and granted Tamin greater invisibility. Ladwin jumped on the beasts back and started stabbing into it with his jade dagger.

Thelrum got in a great lightning bolt on the beast and could see the strange lich summoning a ball of pure darkness between his hands. Tamin used his sneak attacks to great effect, Drifting Cloud kept himself and everyone else alive while dropping toll the dead on the beast. Orion constantly was bashing on the beast with multiple landed punches and sword slashes. Xanaphia was able to land the killing blow with eldritch blast. They watched as Acererak passed the black orb of shadow over the body of the beast, disintegrating it slowly, and as he finished he grabbed Ladwin’s shoulder and they teleported away without a word to the group. The group took the beacon from the room and carried it up the lighthouse, finding a grove on the floor sized perfectly for it and lit it. the party gained another level for their struggle, now hitting 12^th level. 

Abyss Modified Session 34: Behold, a Well Below

Our adventure started with the group talking with the Pulldiver Delvers about an escape plan and raiding the rest of the treasure hoard. The professor had a way out and would share it with the group. The party heard the sounds of battle above them as battle was joined and the dragon was back from its banishment. Orion reported Haskan was gone as he rejoined the group. They teleported back to their ship, found a wayward Tamin on board, also hired by the Companion, and set sail as far away as they could get. Their journey to the Moonshae Isles was quick. They observed swarms of flying creatures above Waterdeep so they kept their distance. Large swaths of destruction swept across the land, strange monsters could be seen hunting animals and when they hit the ocean, they found the putrid green water polluted with the corpses of dead whales and what appeared to be a dead kraken. As they watched something bit the kraken in half and pulled it under the water.

They sailed higher in the clouds as to not be noticed by whatever was eating krakens, and eventually started seeing islands in the distance, almost glowing green on the horizon. They flew over majestic mountains and forests that seemed almost untouched by the devastation found elsewhere. There were castles that looked as if they were under siege by other worlds creatures, but helping them was not the groups goal. They checked their map and found Oman, the island they needed to find within sight. They eventually found a strange tower next to a large burial mound with a deep cave on its side. The party noticed the piles of corpses littering the ground between the cave mouth and the stone tower.

They called out a greeting and watched as one of the windows on the tower, an iron slab covering it, lifted up and a small head poked out and asked who they were. Before they could answer the slab slammed shut and another one opened, again revealing a small face and vaguely they could see red hats on the figures. The party asked about all the dead bodies and were told the people had tried to rise up against the tower, and for that were struck down. the group asked who was in charge and was told the master was down in the mound, doing some sort of magics. The group thanked them and headed into the mound, avoiding the pile of humanoid corpses.

The tunnel was a perfectly smooth cylinder carved out of the stone. It led miles upon miles down into the island and eventually the party lost sight of the light behind them. They came to a chamber with two stone figures sitting in the center, facing the entrance and slightly blocking the way out, another smooth tunnel. The party was not sure what the figures were and Drifting Cloud started casting detect magic. As soon as he started the magic the figures started talking to each other, placing bets if Drifting Cloud would finish his spell or not. He stopped and one stone man passed the other a few coins. The group grilled the strange rock men, claiming that they themselves had come here to work with the master, with a high deception check. The stone men, Galeb Duhr, claimed that Many Eyes had come down and was doing magic with the old Moon Well. Many Eyes, or Zaelzorb as they found out, seemed to be some kind of monster with undead minions and was further into the mound. The Galeb Duhr demanded the party, even if they shared the same boss, that they would need some sort of tax to let them pass. Godric asked if they would have to pay on the return trip and the creatures laughed. They gave the creatures a few coins and headed deeper into the mound.

Zaelzorb and his henchmen at the Moon Well

Finding cover

They found a large chamber with a domed ceiling and a hill topped with a green glowing well.there were broken buildings and a few pillars on the field as well, almost as if the ground itself had devoured this chamber to lock it away. At the apex of the dome a faint ray of moonlight trickled in. Two cloaked figures and a huge beholder were staring deeply into the water of the well. Mild panic set in and the group separated, Xanaphia and Tamin running off towards the broken building, Drifting Cloud, Godric, and Orion attempting to hide behind a large boulder. Godric only got as far as a smaller outcropping of rocks. The beholder, Zaelzorb saw them. He turned his central eye on the ruined building, catching Xanaphia and Tamin within its anti-magic cone. It blasted at Godric, Orion, and Drifting Cloud with its eye beams, they were able to resist most of their effects. Drifting Cloud dropped a spiritual guardian of Anubis, which took a few chunks out of Zaelzorb before getting out of range. The beholder took to the sky, wanting to reduce the effectiveness of the two melee fighters closing in.

Chaos

As the battle progressed the cloaked figures made their way around the ruins and the pillars and attempted to restrain the group with magic so their master could blast them easier, one succeeded in holding Drifting Cloud in place. Orion was thrown into the air with telekinesis, Tamin found magic oils do not work while within the gaze of a beholder, various members of the group were blasted with death rays numerous times. Godric was able to get on top of the beholder and lop off one of its eye stalks, driving the beast into a rage. Orion attempted to throw his javelin of lightning but it failed to activate, falling to the ground. Once Orion was free, he attempted to get the javelin again but the beholder hit him with a sleep ray. Xanaphia wild surged quicker spells, which only helped a little bit, allowing for a spell and full weapon attack using the almost forgotten crossbow. Tamin made great use of his sneak attack, picking his shots carefully and attempting to not draw attention to himself.

Pesky adventurer being tackled by a bag of bones on a beholder

Godric, atop Zaelzorb, continued to hack into the beast, eventually getting tackled by one of the cloaked figures, a deathlock. He was being sick of getting blasted with terrible arcane energy and fled with misty step to run and heal up a bit. Around this time, he noticed Orion asleep so he threw one of the juggling mushrooms from his pack at him, waking him from his badly timed slumber. Orion was then hit with a fear ray, which he elected to ignore being a monk. Eventually they took down the two deathlock cultists and Zaelzorb had had enough. He started fleeing but Godric was in his way. He used his telekinetic ray and just shoved Godric into the corrupted moon well. Zaelzorb started retreating towards the domes moonlit peak but was struck down by the combined efforts of the group, almost falling on the submerged Godric.

Moments before Godric was in the corrupted Moon Well

The group pulled Godric out of the disgusting water and he was in drastic pain, possibly even cursed. Drifting Cloud cast remove curse twice, once on Godric removing his goopy affliction, and once on the Moon Well. They harvested parts of the beholder, tossing it into braziers and cleansed the demonic essence from the burial mound. We stopped there for the night, and the party leveled to level 11.  

*I did not make the amazing battle map, it belongs to my FLGS*