Session 37

Members

Grimthain - Dwarven Cleric

Cally - Fighter/Monk

Vincent - Human Paladin

Davros - Dragonborne Swordmage

The Adventure

At the start of our adventuring day, the party stumbled across a wing of Sabreclaws.  The fight was epic.  The Sabreclaws' pool of hit points eliminated the strategies that had worked so well up to this point.  They could not be divided and conquered individually.  Near the end, spells were gone and Grimthain, Vincent, and Cally were nearly dead.

Davros came to the rescue with a timely invisibility spell cast on Grimthain, and the tide of the battle turned.  With the end in sight, Vincent healed himself up and went to work on the sabreclaws surrounding him.  Cally let off flurry of blows after flurry of blows.  The party started to target themselves with spells to hit the entire wing of sabreclaws.  Grimthain grimly flamed both Cally and Vincent in one of his attacks, putting a huge dent in the HP pool of the sabreclaws.

Davros blasted them with prismatic spray.  One by one, the sabreclaws began to feel the debilitating effects of the spells, cutting down on their effectiveness, while at the same time taking massive damage from AOE spells.  Theavaera and Lórien were sorely missed.

That first encounter did the group in for the day.  They headed back to Uzrivoy and took a nap.  Waking the next morning healed and refreshed, they headed for the entrance to the Sabre River.  The black and murky waters flowed from a heart shaped hole in the water.  The party chose wisely to avoid any contact with the water at the source, and headed up a mountain path to the columned entrance they could see from the bottom of the gorge.

Grim and Vincent approaching the source of the Sabre River.

Approaching the columns, a group of bronze golems materialized out of the darkness and stood guard.  One between each column.  In a stroke of tactical mastery, Davros threw one off the side of the cliff.  The rest of the party mopped up the golems and headed over to a grate they found at the back of the humongous entrance hall.

Although no traps were detected, the party chose safety and Grim used his rope so no one had to touch the grate, pulling with such tremendous force that the grate flew back at them.  Opening the chest, they were surprised by a pack of 22 very angry panthers.

Although they were weak, one managed to claw Cally's arm off.  Grimthain killed panthers left and right, all the while muttering to himself about hating cats in general, and panthers specifically.  During the battle with the angry panthers, the bronze golem Davros had telekinesised (yes, this is a verb!) off the cliff finally arrived back in the entrance chamber.  Being the lone survivor, the golem was no challenge.  Cally's flurry of blows dropped panther after panther as well.

After the battle, Cally had an epic breakdown.  In a state of heightened awareness, she had actually picked up her severed arm and was beating panthers with it during the fight.  Then everyone sat down to nurse their wounds.  A short conversation with Vincent, and Cally decided that she couldn't wait a week and a day for her arm to grow back.  Grim agreed and spent the next hour preparing a restoration spell.  Cally experienced exquisite pain as she held the severed arm to the stump and they knitted themselves together.

While Grimthain's attention was turned elsewhere, Vincent went to look in the chest.  He found magnificent set of armor and put it on.  Attuning the Enduring Spirit armor while Grim was busy studying the restoration spell, Vincent felt the power of his holy valor increase.  Grimthain was jealous of the find.

While Grim was restoring Cally, Davros headed off and checked out the doors to the south.  Casting invisibility on himself, he opened the door and looked in.  For as far as he could see (which wasn't far, as he slammed the door shut quickly), but for as far as he could see, there were hundreds upon hundreds of carrion crawlers.  Individually, these posed no threat, but Davros did not know that.  Opening the door again, he cast Evard's Black Tentacles.  That spell was quite useful that day.

Davros cleared a nice area inside the door, but after Cally healed, the carrion crawlers quickly refilled the open space.  Even the sword was consulted for advice on how to get through the hallway.  Everyone agreed that the best strategy would be to fly through.  Davros carried Grimthain and Cally pushed Vincent.  As they passed, carrion crawlers attempted to drop from the ceiling and attack the fresh meat that was almost within their grasp.  At the end of the hallway, one did manage to land on Grim.  The slithering tentacles left a sheen of slime, and Grim was bitten.

It was a bad day for Grimthain.  That day, the rest of the party learned that he both hated and feared bugs and cats.  The unshakable Grim, strong in the face of nearly unkillable sabreclaws was nearly petrified with fear over a bug bite, and he coveted the armor of another man.  Cally and Davros looked on with curiosity as Grim and Vincent talked about Theavaera's favorite spell, Creeping Doom.  That spell would have killed hundreds of those vile insects, and with insects no less.  All the while, Grim was self flagellating himself for the sins he committed.  On this day, the mighty Grim was guilty of lust, greed, fear, wrath, and envy.  Rhorkhad is displeased.

After slamming the door closed, everyone quickly stamped the single carrion crawler that followed them into the light to death.  Davros turned to gaze on a pool of clear water at the east end of the circular room.  As he was looking at the water, it began to churn and whirl.  As fountains of spray began to erupt, the rest of the party took notice.  It was as if giant fish were thrashing around in an area that was much too small for them.

Realizing that the pool was filled by humongous water elementals, Davros stepped forward and asked if they spoke Common.  When he got no response, he tried Primordial.  The elementals spoke Aquan, a dialect of Primordial, so the conversation went on in bits and spurts.

Soon Davros was able to determine that the elementals were stranded in the cave because of the curse on the Sabre River.  Their goal was the same.  There is a worm hole back to the elemental plane of water at the bottom of the cave, but the curse prevents creatures of pure water essence from passing through.

The elementals agreed that Vincent and Davros could enter their pool, but Cally and Grim could not.  They spurned the unwashed dwarf and told him to take a bath.  Grim takes a bath mostly once a month, even when he doesn't need one.  During the conversation, one of the elementals flowed out through a whirlpool in the southeast of the pool.  Upon returning, Davros learned of an item that could greatly benefit the party.  The elementals offered safe passage to the item, but only for Vincent and Davros, as the others were deemed unfit to pass their water.

With this development, we end our adventuring day.  What will the next adventure bring?  Will the party head out of the great bronze doors to the south, or will they split up and send Davie and Vincent on ahead into the water to find the item the elementals were talking about?

Loot

+2 Enduring Spirit Mithral Plate

XP Breakdown

Current Level: 18

Current XP: 370,000