Lórien and Thea's Adventures

After splitting from the party, Thea followed Lórien on his quest for Necromantic knowledge and power.  Lórien was able to locate a second Necromancer's tomb with the information he found in the Keraptis' tomb and that was where he was headed.  They passed the traps and killed the guardians of the tomb easily.
  Lórien found the necromancer in this tomb still alive in suspended animation.  With a mutter, he woke the sleeping mage.  Where is the hand!"
  "You will never find it," the necromancer growled.
  "No, that is where you are wrong", and Lórien reached out into the necromancer's mind and took hold of his thoughts.  "How do you like the pits of hell?"
  Lórien smiled as his old stand by, Phantasmal Force, worked again.  He rather liked the image of hellfire and the smell of brimstone he sent directly into the necromancer's brain.
  "That always makes me shiver when you do that," said Thea.
  "Want to see the fires of hell first hand druid?  I could make it happen you know," replied Lórien.
  "No, no thank you.  I will pass".
  Lórien waited a good five minutes before releasing the necromancer from his mental prison.  The necromancer was ragged.  His white robes dripping sweat and smoking from the power of the spell.  "I grow weary of this game, where is it!".
  "You will never get the location out of me".
  Lórien muttered a few words.  Lórien broke through the planar border and contacted Iban.  "Do I need this guy to find your hand?"
   "NO!" boomed the god's voice in Lórien's head.
  "Good enough."  Lórien reached out wiggled his fingers and turned the necromancer to salt.  "I didn't need to do that, but one must keep up appearances you know."  He sent out tendrils of arcane magic and sensed the faint aura of the hand.  A quick thunderwave took out the secret door, and Lórien found artifact he sought.  He took out his obsidian dagger and prepared to do some surgery.
  "I can't let you do that," said Thea.
  "You can't stop me," replied Lórien.
  Thea raised a hand and cast a sunbeam directly at Lórien, but her eyes went wide as it passed right through his body.  "I though it might come to this,"  Lórien said from behind Thea.
  Thea saw the flames of hell begin to rise up around her.  She began to fight the fear as it gripped her heart, all the while thinking, "I am immune to to this!"  Gathering her will to break the spell, Thea realized too late that she had been fooled.  It was not phantasmal force, but Lórien's major illusion that she mistook for it.
  "I told you I could scare you ..." Lórien said as he held up a large gem and cast trap the soul.  Pulling out his dagger again, Lórien chopped off his right hand and held the hand of Iban to the stump.  The lifeless hand started twitching as the writhing tendons and blood vessels knit themselves to their counter parts in Lórien's body.
  "Now, what shall we do with you?  I know ... "  Lórien set the gem down next to a sarcophagus and cast earthquake.  After 30 seconds, the cave started to collapse.  Lórien teleported to the surface as the entire tomb caved in on itself.  The telepathic screaming from Thea grew fainter and fainter as he moved away.  Lórien was smiling and the hand was pleased.

Undersea Boat

Undersea Boat
This item appears identical to a standard riverboat (20 foot long and 8 foot wide), and can be used as one.
Property:  When underwater, the boat radiates a water breathing effect, protecting all passengers and crew as long as they touch it, however, the actual boat has an Armor Class of 15, and it has 80 hull points.
No rowers or sailors are required,if the command words are known. It will obey commands to start, stop, turn to port (left),turn to starboard (right), stop turning (while keeping the same speed), submerge, level off, and surface.  The undersea boat can be fitted with grips so that the passengers can hold on to the sides and avoid drifting away.

Kilborn's Army

"NO!  NO!  NO!" Kilborn shouted, "Keep your hips low and you feet apart, or the last thing you'll see is the rabid Taldor with a spear in yer guts."

Kilborn's army was growing daily.  He had lost patients with the leaders of the Morin and Tamar tribes, and decided to recruit his own army. By now he had 40 troops and numbers were growing as one or two new recruits showed up on a daily basis.

The orderly tents set up in an unused field was starting to look like a small town.  New latrines were dug and a large open air kitchen were set up to feed the troops.

Kilborn enjoyed his life as a farmer, but felt the power of the demon growing steadily.  He bore the responsibility of not killing it when he had a chance on a troubled brow.  He first made appeals to the chiefs of the warring tribes to set aside their enmities and mobilize for the upcoming war.  On subsequent beer runs, he began to talk to the townspeople as well.  Finally he realized that he must do something.  Kilborn's Regiment was founded.

It was difficult at first, but after a few recruits showed up with their families, things got easier.  T'Kalo, owner of the Haraza Axe and Sword shop set up a makeshift smithy and was busy hammering out axes.  He showed up with Yukris, a Tamar scout, a few weeks earlier.  Yukris was one of the few who had any military training, and was quickly rising in the ranks, currently holding the title of Lieutenant.

From Kafari came Bolrus, Kilborn's second Lieutenant.  Although he had no military training, his life as an explorer helped with logistics and planning in the field.  It was his idea to set up the city as a semi-circle, with a large communal bonfire at the center.  Along with him came the crossbow instructor.

From Tulara came Telana.  She was not handy with an axe or a sword, but she could sew a uniform in a day and a half.  She took charge of outfitting the troops.  It had been Yukris' idea to establish a new dress code from early on.  It also helped reduce the old frictions between the warring tribes.

Trillax, an ancient wizard from Phoroshi, also wandered in at some point.  He found two dwarves who had the potential to become mages, appropriated them from the rank and file troops, and began their training immediately.  Although they would not be trained as well as he would have liked, he knew a well placed thunderwave could turn the tide of a small battle.

Kilborn sat with his two Lieutenants and Trillax.  He hoped his message would get through to the bearers of Khamalkhad.  His coffers were running low, and he needed money for supplies and steel for weapons.

Session 39

Session 39

Members

Vincent Tigersoul - Human Paladin
Davros Northdrake - Dragonborn Swordmage
Renlan Leaf Drifter - Elf Ranger

The Adventure

We started off in Davro's home plane.  Attempting to get back, Davros had a problem with his spell and the party was split.  He ended up with Vincent and Renlan standing in front of a mysterious cavern.  On closer inspection, he found it to be the Sea Temple, resting place of Melmalan, the water god.

Adventuring down into the depths to gain the blessings of the Water God, the party encountered the remnants of trolls had regenerated and repopulated the old living quarters.  Vincent began the fight with some difficulty.  Possibly doing more damage to Renlan than he did to the trolls.

When the party realized that they needed fire to stop the troll's regeneration, Davros lit up a Flame Blade.  Pieces of arms and heads were flying everywhere.  Biting and scratching the players' legs and ankles.  A head slowly pulled itself along the floor by its lips, only to get kicked away by Renlan.  After a long and hard battle, the party was victorious.  

Delving further into the Sea Temple, the party was attacked by a group of Ropers.  The ropers were quickly destroyed.

Heading down a level, the party avoided combat with a group of water elementals.  During the conversation, Davros asked about the water god, and was given directions to his location.  In the bottom level of the Sea Temple, the secret word was whispered and Melmalan came to life.

He bestowed his gift of +1 Wisdom and gave everyone the ability to swim (add proficiency bonus to swim checks).  Davros was cocky and abrupt to the god, and realized that he should probably stay away from elementals in the near future.

Their next stop was the Church of Hantaknor.  An old acolyte was cleaning and showed the party the right direction to go.  Whispering the secret word to awaken the Fire God, everyone in the party felt stronger, with a +1 bonus to Constitution and a deeper knowledge of fire.  Davros also managed to anger this god before it returned to slumber.  A last bit of advice to Vincent was that he should visit his brother, Tito, protector of the weak.

The party made it half way across Tarq on their way back to the heart of the Sabre River, and stopped off at Kilborne's farm to rest for the night.

XP

380,000

Current level: 18

Loot

3 Clear Spindle Ioun Stones

6 Flaming arrows

Session 38

Members

Grimthain - Dwarven Cleric

Cally - Fighter/Monk

Vincent - Human Paladin

Davros - Dragonborne Swordmage
Renlan Leaf Drifter - Elf Ranger

The Adventure

Our adventuring day began with the party choosing to take the path fraught with danger over the possibility of splitting the party and drowning while going the watery route.  Cautiously, the party headed deeper into the mountain.  Going down the stairs, they found a huge room, golden columns supported the ceiling and a serene pool off to the side.

The party came across another wing of sabreclaws.  It was a smaller wing than they encountered earlier, but after a second wing joined, things began to heat up.  The mage and the ranger were surrounded by the creatures from the second wing.  This fight did not strain the resources nearly as much as the earlier encounter with a large wing of sabreclaws did.  The party may be lucky that there are no rules for flanking in this edition.

After combat, the part found magical healing properties in the pool of water.  Grimthain actually took a bath.  Cally was naked in the pool as well.  She stepped out of the pool and followed the party until she dip dried.  Everyone was able to resist staring though.

During the fight, a ranger joined in.  In the melee, he was not able to introduce himself, but after combat ended he joined in the healing powers of the pool and introduced himself.  He was on an adventure and was charmed by the enchantment on the river and was guarding a vast treasure.  The room to the northeast was filled with gold ingots.  More than the party could hold, even with their bag of holding.  Renlan, the ranger, joined up and followed along to the eastern room.

In the eastern room, the party found an underground river.  Venturing forth, they encountered the maze of the eye tyrant.  Encountering Dread Wraiths, the party knew something was laying in wait.  After making their way through the maze, they stumbled on a secret door.  When opened, a beholder was on the other side.  As combat began, more Dread Wraiths appeared from the walls and floor.

The beholder's eye rays started to take a toll on the party, and Davros cam up with a plan.  He brought the entire party back to his plane.  They materialized in a tavern.  Grimthain was the first to notice that there was a parallel universe with some of his old adventuring companions.  Lórien, Solaris, Callyn, and Kilborn were there having a drink.  Kilborn was able to get the message that he was tired of farming and bent to the responsibility he felt.  He is gathering an army to fight the demon he was partially responsible for bringing to Tarq, and asked for support from the party.  They also sensed that Lórien had clearly turned to evil.

Davros decided that Lórien needed to die, and began to fight him.  To the surprise of the party, Solaris joined in to help.  Solaris escaped the melee after Lórien was killed, so the party was unable to question him though.  In searching Lórien's loot, the party did come across another bag of holding.  The contents will help both the party and Kilborn's efforts.

We ended today's adventure in the tavern.  Grimthain made himself a whiskey and water with the water from the serene pool, and will find that although the healing properties are gone, it leaves no hang over.

Current level and XP

XP 380,000
Level 18

Loot

From the bag of holding:
500 pp
1500 gp
400 ep
2000 sp
Various gems worth 10,000 gp
4 earrings (worth 1100 gp)
3 gold bracelets (300 gp each)
1 Gold necklace with a diamond and sapphire pendant (worth 1200 gp)
+1 Plate mail
+1 Chainmail
+1 Leather armor

3 +1 shields
5 +1 Javelins
2 +1 Longswords
2 +1 daggers
+1 huge two handed sword
+1 Longsword
+1 Shortsword (+2 against giants)
28 +1 arrows
Boots of levitation

Potion of water breathing

Scroll of Feather Fall

Scroll of False Life

Scroll of Comprehend Languages

Scroll of Blur

Scroll of Mirror Image.

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

Enduring Spirit Mithral Plate

The divine power imbued in this set of plate mail inures you to damage.

+2 Enduring Spirit Mithral Plate

Properties:
+2 to AC
As a free action, once per day when you use a channel divinity power, gain +2 to AC for the rest of the encounter.