Saturday, February 9, 2013

Session 8


Members

Kilborn Blindshaft - Dwarven Fighter
Solaris - Human Ranger
Lórien - Elf Wizard
Kylaria Delani - Elf Rogue
Marcillus - Human Cleric

The Adventure

The party started off the adventure in the tavern on the Keep on the borderlands.  They were low on funds, but managed to buy up a few new magic bows.  Kylaria picked up the Bow of Neverending Arrows, and Solaris picked up a Bow of Doubling.  Kilborn did some shopping to fill out his Healer's Kit and pick up some trail rations as well.

While in the tavern, a local homeless boy came in asking for donations for the local orphanage.  Lórien decided to give him the jeweled goblet he plucked from the hands of Kilborn.  Kilborn had forgotten it entirely since getting his Evercool Mug.  Lórien's unexpected donation set the foundations for a school library that improved the lives of many young residents of the Keep.  The head of the school made a plaque dedicating the new library to Lórien.  It hangs there in his honor.

While in the Keep, Lórien was able to do some research and learned the name of the devil who awaited them in the Underground Pass.  The Barbed Devil called Hamatula.  No one was sure what one of the adventurers was talking about when they mentioned that the devil looked exactly like the one he found on something called 'the internet'.  Irmo suspected it was some sort of meta reference, but couldn't place it.

A now well stocked party headed back to the Caves of Chaos and the Underground Pass for what would be their last time.  After a long discussion, they realized that the unicorn would not survive the removal of its horn.  The unicorn seemed resigned to its fate as well.  Pushing the cage into the subterranean lake, it suffocated, and the party was able to grab the horn.

Adding the paladin's crests and unicorn horn to the well, the seal was broken.  The entire party felt a wave of evil spread over them.  Heading down the well, the party entered a shrine.  Kylaria knew Hamatula could not be surprised, but did not realize he began a summoning ritual the moment the enchantment on the well was lifted.  Uninterrupted, the devil had time to summon another Barbed Devil to aid him in his fight.
Hamatula, the Barbed Devil

With heroic speed, the party dropped the summoned devil and went after Hamatula.  It put up a weak fight, and as it neared death, it broke a clay tablet and summoned a portal to escape.  Soon after, another portal opened and the avatar of Nebelun popped out.  The halfling explained that Lightbringer could not make it himself, but asked him for help.  The Lightbringer was afraid that the young gods of the new realm could not defeat Hamatula.  He offered Marcillus his god's mace to go after the devil and destroy it.  Marcillus quickly agreed to the quest.

At the same time, Kylaria noticed a small black case among the remains of a dead adventurer.  He felt a strange sense of 
Déjà vu.  Kylaria had seen the same case, or one very much like it somewhere.  Upon examining the case, he went through the tools.  On shutting the case, it magically melded into his skin. Looking at his hand with surprise, Kylaria was able to summon the case back out with just a thought.

Lórien was mesmerized by the arcane power coming from a small box on the altar.  He grabbed the box and snuck off to an ante-chamber to examine what could possibly exude so much power.  Kilborn also felt Khamalkhad pulling toward the rift.  It was as if the axe had a strong desire to enter.

Kylaria had a few questions for the avatar of Nebelun.  She was not excited about the prospect of leaving everyone and everything she knew to follow after a rogue devil.  Driving a hard bargain, she enticed the avatar to offer something more enticing.  Failing to appeal to her altruism, the avatar offered a potion of Master Thievery.  Kylaria was still unsatisfied, so the avatar threw in a magic stiletto to sweeten the bribe.

Portal to a different realm
Kylaria might not have know that Nebelun is the god of inventions and good luck.  Driving such a hard bargain when he knew he had the upper hand might have repercussions if Kylaria ever has dealings with Nebelun in the future.

As the avatar stepped into his portal and winked out, the party heard 
Lórien scream from the other room.  Running to see what happened, they found the box open and a bloody and unconscious Lórien on the floor with a bloody obsidian dagger in his hand.  Marcillus sensed that the box did not radiate the evil he felt earlier.  Kylaria demanded to know what happened.  Lórien professed to have no memory of what happened.  The rest of the party examined him, but found nothing out of the ordinary.  After a bit of healing, the party entered the portal.

It exited into a cave.  Leading the pack, Kylaria saw a group of Taldor further up ahead.  The Taldor looked like misshapen dwarves, but more magical.  Kilborn stepped out to greet them, but was instantly taken aback with the looks of hatred on the Taldor faces.  Lórien destroyed six of the eight Taldor with a stinking cloud, instantaneously turning the tide of the battle.

Heading out of the cave, the party found an old dwarf named Mantar.  Mantar chose to live away from the rest of the dwarven cities because he abhorred the continuous fighting between the two main tribes.  Mantar offered Kylaria a beer from a small oaken cask he carried with him, and the rest of the party shared a drink around his camp fire.

Mantar gave a brief background of the struggles between the Morin and the Tamar tribes.  Lamenting that they would all be destroyed by the Taldor threat if they didn't start to cooperate.  He mentioned magnificent treasures that were now lost to the dwarves, and that if given to one of the chiefs they would make that chief the most powerful dwarf in the land, and unite all of the tribes.

Mantar also gave the adventurers a map of the region.  Looking at the map, the party asked about the closest four cities.  Phoroshe to the northwest, Haraza to the northeast, Kafari to the southeast, and Tulara to the southwest.  Haraza is the capital city of the Tamar tribe, and home to the chief of the tribe, and Kafari is the capital of the Morin.  Phoroshi and Haraza are affiliated with the main clans of Tarq.

Choosing to avoid the bigger cities, the party headed southwest to Kafari.  They found the tavern first off.  Tulara Steak & Ale was a busy place.  The party learned much about the land from listening to rumors in the bar.  Lórien also came by some very useful knowledge in the local loremaster's library.  He learned of the teleportals throughout the land and the tiles that drove them.

He also uncovered some of the history of the Taldor.  How the god Palelil made them because he was jealous of Rohrkhad's dwarves.  Palelil is the misshapen brother of Rohrkhad.  He also discovered their weakness for ale.

Finally, Lórien came across a reference to a magic mask called Throshikhad, or 'Death Face of the God'.  The mask was made by the master craftier Amarant out of the alabaster tears shed by Rohrkhad on the death of the first dwarf.

From there, the party traveled north to the town of Phoroshi.  Entering the Rusty Nail Tavern, they listened for rumors.  Solaris purchased some arrows from the Weapon Depot.  A patron heard them talking about Pradaqa Tower, and offered the password of Vuntista in trade for a lilten, a magic herb sold in town at Falk's Natural Medicine shop.

One of the children heard Kilborn talk about his axe, and instantly knew the name.  Kilborn learned that he wielded a legendary axe from this land.  In both towns the children talked about their favorite hero Bucky.  The bartender mentioned that Bucky is a famous warrior, but hasn't been seen in these parts for many years.

Flesh Golem and it's Taldor summoner
In their travels between towns, the party came across several wandering bands of monsters.  The first was a pair of Taldor and three flesh golems.  Both Lórien and Marcillus did not realize that their magic was ineffective at first.  One of the Taldor had a magic ring of Quickness.

The next encounter was a group of kopru and hill giants.  The Kopru were clearly frustrated in their attempts to dominate Solaris and Marcillus.  The battle was quickly won.

Further down the road, the party came across a Chimera accompanied by its Taldor handler.  The chimera fought hard, but was quickly decimated.

On their way to the Pradaqa Tower, the party came across a group of Manticore and Minotaur.  The final battle of the day proved to be the most difficult.  Both Kilborn and Marcillus fell unconscious.  Kylaria moved in to close range to draw fire from the wizard after Kilborn fell.  After taking a beating, the party gave up their initial plan and headed back to Phoroshi to nurse their wounds and heal.

Loot:

495 gp
2 Carnelian gems (50 gp each)
5 Moonstone gems (50 gp each)
2 chrysoberyl gems (100 gp each)

Magic Items:

Scroll of Cure Light Wounds
9 Teleportal tiles
Ring of Quickness
Nebelun's Mace
Thieves' Tools of Stealth
Rogue's Key
The Eviscerator
Potion of Master Thievery

XP:

Hamatula:  7800
Taldor:  2960
Taldor and golems: 2840
Kopru and giants: 2980
Chimera and drow: 2900
Manticore and Minotaur: 2460
Quest XP:  2000
Per Person: 4911
XP til level: 1589
Total campaign XP per person: 14411







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