David's campaign started in February 2006 and put characters in the Shackled City. The adventure started with the characters in a city called Cauldron.
Cauldron has seen many adventures over the years. The town's buildings, tightly packed and built from volcanic rock and wood, line the inner bowl of a nameless, dormant volcano. Cobblestone roads form concentric circles around a small lake of cold water, which fills the volcano's basin. Although the town's sewage seeps into the lake, local clerics routinely purify the water for the citizens in exchange for charitable donations to their temples.
A 50-foot-tall fortified wall of black malachite encircles the city, tracing the outer rim of the volcano. Four roads descend the outer walls of the volcano, becoming major thoroughfares that lead to other towns and distant realms. The districts nearer the rim of the city tend to be occupied by upper class families and merchants. The closer one gets to the center of town (and the closer to the pungent odors of the central lake), the shoddier the construction and the more dangerous the dark alleys.
Most people get around Cauldron on foot, although the town has its share of wagons and carriages, most of them owned by merchants and nobles.
Cauldron's major exports come from two sources: mines and plantations. Both industries are based in the hills surrounding the city, and are managed by various noble families who live in the area. Obsidian and diamonds are the primary products mined in the region. Plantations usually produce sugarcane and coffee. Most of those who dwell in the city itself are either merchants, scholars, or workers in the mines and plantations in the lowlands. Water is never scarce in town, but most of the city's food must be imported from Sasserine since the local fishing and farming enterprises are meager at best.
Taxes are fairly light in Cauldron. Citizens pay a modest yearly flat tax of 1 gp, while merchants and nobles pay a 5% income tax each year. In addition, a 1 sp gate tax is charged for non-citizens who enter the city by any of its four gates.
The three dominant religions of Cauldron are the churches of St. Cuthbert, Kord, and Wee Jas, in that order. The church of Pelor also maintains a small shrine within city walls, but Pelor's influence in the area has always been small.
In the nearby region are three other human settlements. Hollowsky is the smallest of the four settlements in the region, with a population of only 460, barely qualifying as a village. Hollowsky is notable mostly as the hometown of one of the region's more benevolent nobles, Lady Ophellha Knowlern. Lady Knowlern owns a multitude of businesses in the region, the most well-known of which is the Cusp of Sunrise. She has never married, and inherited her money from her parents. She owns a small brewery, the Drunken Morkoth Inn, and two plantations, among many other interests and investments.
The town of Kingfisher Hollow, with its population of 2100 souls, is the second largest settlement in the area. It's also the primary location for the region's plantations - the town is surrounded by fields of coffee and sugarcane. Traditionally, two noble families jointly lead Kingfisher Hollow. Of late, the Aslaxians have taken up the reigns increasingly as the Taskerhills have declined. Today, only one Taskerhill remains - and he's more interested in seeking redemption in the arms of St. Cuthbert than helping run a town. Zachary Aslaxian couldn't be happier.
The village of Redgorge was the first human settlement in the area. Founded about 700 years ago, Redgorge was one a much larger settlement, but it has declined over the years. Today, Redgorge is a farming and mining village. The old Stomemason District is visibly depopulated and most of its buildings lie empty and in ruin. Over the decades, most of Redgorge's masons left to work in Cauldron.
Characters of the Farinus Five
Former members of the Farinus Five
Deceased Characters of the Farinus Five
| Character Background |
|
Vuruk's Background Vuruk Wormblade's family lives among the humans
since his adoptive parents are human. Vuruk Wormblade feels at
home in high altitude and rugged lands where vegetation is sparse above
the tree line, but forests and meadows predominate lower down. Vuruk
Wormblade grew up with cold winters, but warm summers. |
| Flick |
| Holly |
| Ninia |
| Prejitao Astralslayer |
| Deris |
| Peter (deceased) |
| Sarah (deceased) |
| Violet (deceased) |
| Farinus (deceased) |
| Homer (left the party) |
| Carlos (deceased) |
| Saber (deceased) |
| Serge(deceased) |
| Yhoyas (left the party) (deceased) |
| Marv (deceased) |
| Fidel (deceased) |
| Tien (deceased) |
| Avatar (deceased) |
|
Malystryx (left the party) Malystryx Zyn is a half-elf sorcerer from the town of Hollowsky. He was raised in a impoverished household, but Malystryx, knowing he was above such poverty, made sure that he would have all he desired in life. He was intense, possibly due to his wyrm-blooded family history, and manipulative, surrounding himself with those that could help him, and always taking full advantage of a situation. If not given all that he wanted, it was his mission to make sure those who defied him would pay for their crimes. Malystryx was calulating, knowing the limitations of his sorcery as well as his physical abilities, so he would often wait for the proper time to strike. If associates were in a bind, he would often wait until the time was right to assist, in order to obtain the proper level of praise for "saving the day". Malystryx was not shy about reaping the maximum benefits, for minimum work. He hated most people, thinking they were beneath him, especially those who were far superior physically to him, secretly fearing his spells not powerful enough to stop or control them should they attempt to engage him in a fight. Overall, Malystryx longed to be the most powerful sorcerer ever, and control Cauldron and it's surrounding area through fear and intimidation. |
| Torkimada (deceased) |
| Jordan (deceased) |
| Eldric (deceased) |
| Torin (left the party) |
|
Gunter's (left the party) Gunter's life on the frontier is spartan and dangerous, but it encourages self-sufficiency. Most homesteads include only one or two families. Gunter feels at home in high altitude and rugged lands where vegetation is
sparse above the tree line, but forests and meadows predominate lower down. Gunter learned basic wilderness survival skills. Gunter spent time seeking animal skins or meat in the wilderness. Gunter learned farming and animal husbandry techniques. Gunter lost a parent or other significant family member. Gunter participated in a minor adventure such as building a homestead or working on a caravan on a new route. Gunter was most influenced by childhood and youth events which cover the most dramatic aspects of his past. Gunter has no known family. Raised by father until he died when Gunter
was young. Gunter's family has no internal organization. Family members are
responsible for their own actions. Gunter's family has no ability to defend
themselves. Gunter's family is known for involvement in the community and acting
to help others. Gunter's family has no specific political stance. Both of Gunter's parents are deceased, Mother at child birth, father killed
by bandits while he was protecting a caravan. Gunter is an only child Gunter
remember his grandparents, but they have passed away. Gunter has other relatives
out there somewhere, but doesn’t know who or how many. |
Adventure 1: Missing Orphans
Adventure 2: Inside the Tunnels
After receiving the map from Kegen, the group descended the stairs into the gnome tunnels. They reach a room of masks and doors uneventfully. Each door has a gnome rune inscribed on it. Vuruk decides to open one of the doors and is attacked by two shadowy creatures like the one that attacked Eldric. Eldric and Malystryx cast magic missiles to vanquish one, while Vuruk destroys the others with a single hit.
Gunter tossed a creature’s body down a secret corridor found by Eldric and sees it slide out of sight after hitting the far wall. Vuruk pays no mind to this corridor and attempts to open the door next to the one which the creatures attacked him from, but fails to open it. The others attempt to open the door but also fail. Malystryx, bored with the whole situation, casts detect magic and sees that the rune and masks are all glowing…meaning that the masks and sigil are magical. After this new information, opening the door is abandoned.
The group turns their attention to Gunter’s corridor. Violet disables the trap door and turns a stone to open a door leading into a dark room. The room has several doors inscribed with gnome runes, and 2 large doors. When walking, Eldric sees another door that Vuruk goes and opens. Inside is a small gnome armory. The group selects which items they want and walk away.
Violet opens the large double iron doors and the group walks into a large chamber. A grell attacks Vuruk. Eldric tries to magic missile the grell. The grell ends up paralyzing most of the party, but eventually succumbs to Eldric’s magic missile. Vuruk finds money, daggers, and potions. The party leaves to rest for the night.
The next day, several of the party walks down a newly opened passageway from the large chamber while the others search the chamber. Gunter is severely hurt by two shadowy creatures who sneak attack him, he eventually falls, but is healed after 1 creature is destroyed and the other runs.
This attack weakened the confidence of many of the group, so they decide to return to the original mask chamber to search the other corridor. They eventually arrive at another corridor of doors. After attempting to burn through a door, one rune shoots cold rays at Vuruk after he slices through the burning door, but Vuruk is healed by Carlos. That room is searched and nothing is found. Several other doors are likewise burned and various magical traps are sprung from each. Nothing is found in these rooms. The group is left trying to decide its’ next move.
Adventure 3: Just Keep Looking….
Gunter continues to burn down doors. The group walks into the room and a creature hiding in the shadows attacks Malystryx and then runs down a hidden corridor.
Violet, the dog, and Carlos have left to search another corridor, and come across a large, ornately decorated gnome chamber with a fountain on one end. After leaving this room, a dark creature attacks the dog, but misses. The dog retaliates and manages to trip the creature.
Gunter heard the dog and ran down the tunnel from the room he was in, finding the tunnel connect him to the rest of the party. He attacks and misses the creature. Malystryx runs down the tunnel as well and shoots a magic missile at the creature. The dog finally manages to kill the creature. Violet searches the creature, finding several items and giving these items to members of the party.
Malystryx goes into the large chamber, walks to the fountain and casts Detect Magic. Two creatures appear from behind columns and stab him, causing him to fall to the ground. The group advances, attacking the creatures. Farinus and Eldric are able to kill the creatures. Carlos revives Malystryx and he drinks a potion to heal himself.
The party decides to return to the surface to enable their magical allies to replenish their spells for future battle. Violet sells some items that she has procured along the way and distributes the money amongst the party. Most buy potions of cure light wounds.
The next day, Gunter runs down to burn some more doors. After the inevitable traps have been sprung, the group finds several worthless items in the room. The group heads back to search the large chamber with the fountain. Gunter continues his pyro-maniacal ways and Malystryx is once again struck down by two ghostly swords from a glyph while standing by the fountain. Malystryx is once again revived by the party and drinks his potion to cure himself…again. The party is able to destroy a dire rat and continues the search.
A hidden door is found and Farinus goes to search the room. Vuruk goes on his own to investigate the door and falls into a trap. He is dropped into a pit of spiked walls where the floor continuously throws him into the spikes. Luckily for him, his armor manages to take the brunt of the spikes. Eventually the group hears his call for help. Gunter runs to his aid and falls in the pit himself. The two strongest party members are thrown into the spiked walls. Eventually, Gunter is able to get out of the pit with the help of Farinus, then the two manage to pull Vuruk out of the pit.
Adventure 4: Splitting to Search
The group decided to split up to search different directions. The two gnomes, halfling and Barbarian ventured into some tunnels to search for the children. The dwarf, half-orc, warmage, and sorcerer ventured in some abandoned rooms to search. The short group found a semi-transparent figure who spoke to them, but the group couldn't understand him. The Paladin's group found three spiders in what appeared to be a large bathroom. The group rejoined forces and burned a few more doors down. A dire rat appeared and bit the Paladin.
After a bit more searching the group returned to the surface for a night of rest.
Adventure 5: Dissention in the Party
Violet, Carlos, YoYo and the dogs decided to spend the night under the trees in the Gnome layer. They are attacked in the night, but the brave little people are able to destroy their attackers.
Meanwhile, in the city, Malystryx went and sold his gems for 200 gold pieces. After a failed attempt to bluff the rest of the group into thinking he sold them for less, he buys 5 potions of cure light wounds and gives one each to Eldric, Vuruk, and Farinus. The remaining 2 he keeps for himself.
The group goes to Kegen’s house and nobody answers the door. They go in and call to him. A half-elf comes down and tells them of an attack on Kegen. The half-elf explains that he and another half-elf were walking by the shop and heard noises, so they came in to find Kegen. The group does not trust the half-elf, so Vuruk goes and checks on Kegen himself. Kegen confirms the story. The half-elves are Fario and Fellian.
Malystryx whispers in elven to Fario and Fellian. He learns a half-elf wizard named Ashtaff is missing and they are searching for him. Their research into a book of the History of Jadradune has led them here. Malystryx senses they could be useful, and may pay more reward, so he tells them the group will help them find Ashtaff. He also tells them to ignore Gunter, he does not speak for the group.
Some of the group is still hesitant to take the half-elves with them. Farinus and Eldric go to search for the book on the History of Jadradune to confirm Fario and Fellian’s story. The rest of the part, including Fario and Fellian, go back into the tunnels. On the way down, Malystryx explains the history of the group in elven. Vuruk and Gunter get angry as they do not understand elven, and already do not trust or like Malystryx. They meet up with Carlos, YoYo and Violet, who proudly tell of their defeat of the attackers. They search where the companion creature which was following them was. They only find his garments. YoYo takes his mask.
Farinus and Eldric find the book at the library and learn of the Jadradune tunnels and that there are more entrances than the one in Kegen’s shop.
The group goes into a room and finds Kegen’s rat. The chest under it begins to speak in goblin. Only Violet could understand it, so she relayed messages from the rest of the party. She agrees to bring the box food in exchange for the rat. The group gets the skulk bodies and the box eats one of them. Gunter cautiously takes the rat.
The group asks about the door behind the chest. He explains that another like him, a meaner one, is in the room.
YoYo and Gunter bring the rat back to Kegen. Gunter threatens Kegen with death if he sees him again. Kegen is in shock, as is YoYo. They then set off to find chickens to appease the hungry chest.
Farinus and Eldric meet the party back in the tunnels and tell of their discovery. The chest, meanwhile, details to Violet that Kasmojin is the head slaver, responsible for the abductions. The skulks are led by Lothid, who works for Kasmojin. Kasmojin is in the Malokite Fortress, which is beneath the gnome tunnels.
They coerce the chest to leave the room by using the chickens. They burn a door and dispense with 2 rats, but not before Violet is bitten. They burn another door and Farinus takes 2 spears from waiting hobgoblins. The group dispatches them without much further effort. Eldric detects a hidden door that drops into a trap. Luckily, nobody was hurt. Fellian heals the group, thus improving the groups trust in him.
The group pulls a lever on the wall and a door lowers the groups toward the Malakite Fortress.
The group is attached by a large ogre. They are badly hurt, but eventually defeat the ogre. They find a chest with coins and gems. Eldric finds hidden doors.
The group decides to once again leave the tunnels for the night after the battle with the ogre. They arrive to the entrance to Kegen’s shop to find the door locked. They are eventually able to break it down. Kegen explains Gunter’s threat which he attempts to deny and explain himself. YoYo only laughs at the whole situation. Gunter expresses his disgust with the group for not serving justice to Kegen, who is putting his rat before the children. Malystryx expresses to the half-elves how he believes Gunter cannot be trusted and is jeopardizing the mission (and thus, Malystryx’s reward).
The group disperses for the night. Malystryx retrieves his wand and stone from the Sage who identified them as a magical wand for detecting hidden doors and a stone for sustaining a person without food and water. The sage tells him of Sky’s magical shop where he could sell them. Intrigued, Malystryx goes to Sky and trades Sky the wand and stone for a wand of Melf’s Acid arrow, a wand of cure light wounds, and a handy haversack. Malystryx thought about charming the gnome, but decided to take less now and get more in future business dealings.
Adventure 6: A Lesson in Gnome Construct-ion
Vuruk’s poison begins to dissipate, while Violet’s just begins to take hold of her. She is weakened.
The group arrives to find the Kegen’s door locked by the constable. After going to the constable, it is discovered that Gunter told the constable about Kegen’s involvement with the children’s captors and he is arrested. Eldric is able to convince the constable that they are close to finding the children and the group takes the keys and heads to the tunnels.
Malystryx takes Carlos aside and gives him the wand of Cure Light Wounds. He explains that certain party members are more important than others and the rest of the group should not be told of the wand. Eldric overhears the conversation, but says nothing.
In the tunnels, the group finds a room with 2 large gnome defense constructs. YoYo tells them in gnome to move and they do. The group hears another voice in gnomish coming from a wall. Malystryx and Violet see 2 dark creatures attack Violet. Luckily, they miss. Vuruk kills one of the creatures while YoYo and the other dark creature attempt to seize control of the constructs while speaking gnomish. The dark creature gains control, yells to the constructs in gnomish and then flees down a passageway. The constructs send a sonic scream at the group. Gunter is stunned, while Malystryx is seriously wounded. Carlos heals Malystryx. The group continues to attack. YoYo commands the constructs to stop and they obey. Vuruk goes through a secret door and finds a dark creature who commands the constructs to attack once more. YoYo is able to command the creatures to attack each other. Vuruk destroys the fleeing creature, thus putting the constructs fully in control by YoYo. One of the constructs is severely damaged by the other as YoYo laughs and tells them to cease fighting.
The groups, spent and hurt by the fight, leaves the tunnels. Malystryx, YoYo and Farrinus go to Sky to sell the construct. YoYo sees a rune for the "Last Laugh" on Sky’s shop and wonders of her allegiances. YoYo tries to negotiate with Sky, but after not getting what he wanted, leaves to go seek another buyer. They arrive at the alchemist’s shop. When he goes outside, Malystryx detects magic and takes 3 of the alchemist’s potions. He rejoins the group and leaves with them to go to the Blue Crater Academy with the construct. YoYo is able to negotiate a price of 1000 gold pieces and agrees to teach classes on gnomish language in order to control the construct. By now, the rest of the group has arrived from healing.
Gunter complains about time being wasted due to the casters being weakened early in the day. He says that the magic users are holding back the fighters. Farinus surprisingly stands up for the magic users and explains how they are holding their own healing the fighters and Eldric’s spells have been particularly useful to the group. Gunter grudgingly does not return to the tunnels on his own. When the group disperses, Malystryx returns to Sky and pays her to identify his stolen potions, she tells him to return the next day.
The next day, YoYo receives the rest of the payment for the construct and the group waits for him to complete his class. During the wait, Malystryx returns to Sky to discover his guile has rewarded him with a potion of Owl’s Wisdom, a potion of Lesser Restoration, and a potion of Enlarge Person. Malystryx is pleased and returns to the group.
Finally, the group returns back to the tunnels. Carlos is hit with ghostly sickles in a room after Gunter burns more doors. Obviously, they were another gnome trap. Rats come out and attack the party. Vuruk kills one, Gunter the other. The group searches some rooms while Violet disables a trap. They go into a room that looks like a classroom and find a secret door. Inside the hidden room is a dense fog. YoYo and Carlos sense it is not a natural fog. The group has Farinus in front, and Vuruk in back carrying a rope while they all hold on in the middle. They are attacked by centipedes, but none can see them. Eventually, the group is able to find them and Eldric, Gunter, and Charlie, Carlos’ faithful companion, destroy the centipedes.
Another room that is found contains a construct that does not obey commands. It does not appear to be completed. Behind this construct is an angry looking creature, almost like a skulk only wrapped in bandages. After taking a magic missile from Eldric, the skulk falls, but the wrappings form a new humanoid creature standing on top of the body. The wrappings attack Farinus and take control of him. The group attacks, damaging the wrappings and the now consumed Farinus. Malystryx casts Detect Magic and discovers the wrappings are a ragamuffin. The creature gains total control over Farinus and he attacks Gunter. Eventually, Farinus falls, and the ragamuffin reforms. Eldric destroys the ragamuffin with a magic missile.
The groups heals Farinus, who does not know what happened. Shaken and spent, they decide to once again rest and return to the surface.
Adventure 7: Treasures Abound
The next morning, the group meets and Eldric tells how he had heard stories the night before about goblins being spotted around town.
The group returns to the gnome tunnels. They continue to search more rooms. Eldric again finds secret doors. Opening the door finds a new corridor. Spears shoot from the wall, hitting Vuruk and Farinus. They are able to make it to a room much like a vault. Violet is able to disable the trap. There is nothing of consequence in the room, so the group continues to search.
The group arrives in a room to find a dark figure. He identifies himself as Yurathyb, and begins to question the group. Vuruk demands to be brought to the children. Yurathyb boldly explains that the children are with Kazmogen, and he has nothing to do with them. He refuses to accompany the group and Vuruk charges him in anger. Yurathyb fills the room with fog as Vuruk swings. The group is completely disoriented, and Vuruk is attacked. Gunter makes his way to Vuruk’s side, as does Charlie. The bold fighters of the group are all eventually in the fog near Vuruk; however, none can see further than immediately next to them. Eldric is able to cast a hail storm behind Yurathyb. Farinus is fallen by a sneak attack of a blinking creature. Eventually, YoYo is able to revive Farinus. The fighters are flailing uselessly through the fog, while at the same time Yurathyb and the blinking creature continue to inflict injuries on the party. Vuruk finally hits the blinking creature, killing him. Yurathyb tumbles through the fog and the fighters, but Violet has been patiently waiting and drops Yurathyb with an arrow. Violet is very pleased with herself and makes sure to let the party know that she finished off what they could not.
Violet searches the body and finds a “D” rune key for herself and a potion and a magic stick which she gives to Malystryx. Fellian heals the party to the best of his ability. Gunter goes on with his pyro-maniacal ways, burning down doors freely. In one room, he finds an “R” rune key which he gives to Violet. Another “J” door is opened to reveal a hall to a room. Eldric discovers a secret door and it is opened to reveal full plate armor in a room with an urn of treasure. Malystryx casts Detect Magic and sees the entire room is filled with illusion magic. In a rare display of complete truth, Malystryx does not hide his findings, however, the group does not believe him and rush in. Violet spills the urn taking many treasures. The group takes the treasure while Vuruk takes the armor. Another secret door reveals a locked chest, more gnome plate armor, and a hook hammer. Violet opens the chest and the plate armor animates. It attacks Violet, while Vuruk swings and misses.
Brave YoYo, hearing the group being attacked, boldy and selflessly, without any regard for he or his noble dog steed’s own safety, charges into the wrong room. He then realizes his mistake and goes to the correct room. The groups continues to attack: the brave fighters continuously missing, while Malystryx and Eldric slowly whittle away the armor with magic missiles. Finally, Vuruk and Gunter destroy the armor with mighty swings of their weapons, thus taking the glory for the Malystryx and Eldric’s effort.
The chest reveals itself to be empty. However, Violet reaches in and begins to pull items out of it. Malystryx fills his handy haversack with lots of silver and copper. Vuruk leads the group into another room and vanishes before their eyes. He reappears and then disappears again. Farinus calls to Vuruk, who disbelieves that he is invisible. Eldric determines the room contains invisibility spheres. Violet finds an “A” key.
The group returns to Yurathyb, but fail to intimidate him. Malystryx is able to charm him and interrogate him in a much more effective, and friendly manner. Yurathyb does not know much in regards to the Malachite Fortress. He was the protector of the tunnels. The group believes that Yurathyb has the Vanishing, a belief that Yurathyb does not attempt to prove false. When they are finished the questioning, Gunter goes to Yurathyb and begins to take him to the other room. Malystryx tells Gunter to make it quick and painless.
The group returns to the surface to sell off their many treasures. Malystryx goes to Sky to identify the potions and magic stick. He trades the copper and silver for gold. Violet sells jewelry, while Eldric attempts to return a bracelet to the kin of a kidnapped couple. Vuruk trades gnome plate armor and his banded mail for new full plate armor. The group splits up the remaining money.
Vuruk is walking later and sees grafitti in a strange language on a store-front on his way home. Malystryx and some others go to Sky. Sky tells them that the items are a potion of reduced poison, a potion of remove poison, a potion of cure light wounds, and a wand of sleep (8 charges). Gunter discovers his found animated armor is a dreadguard and he keeps it.
The group returns to the tunnels and descends to the Malachite Fortress. They find a huge armory, with weapons and armor that the fighters are impressed with and feel they must take. They once again place the items in Malystryx’s handy haversack and head back up to the surface for more sales, and wasted time.
Adventure 8: What a Coincidence…a Traveling Cleric
After selling the weapons, the group immediately returns to the Malachite Fortress. They make their way to a large room with iron doors, and a large statue of a chained dwarf. They are attacked by four hobgoblins. Eldric’s hail of stone easily defeats 2 of them, while Farinus is able to dispatch of the other 2.
Gunter is able to detect a secret door. He boldly declares that we no longer need Eldric’s services as he could detect secret doors as well. Farinus is searching the large statue, when the chains on the statue’s arms animate and attack him. The chains slide off the statue and attempt to wrap around Farinus, but he manages to escape. The chains continue to slide and form a humanoid figure which begins to attack the group. Eldric and Malystryx are able to Magic Missile the chains, while the rest of the group is ineffective in their attacks, while the chain creature is effective in attacking the group. Farinus eventually begins to toss acid flasks at the chains. Eldric finishes off the creature with an orb of acid. Once again, Eldric and Farinus prove they are the most consistent killers within the group.
After searching the creatures, the party continues searching rooms. The fighters move ahead of the magic users and find a room with a secret door. Inside the room is a beetle kept within a cage that produces enough light to see the 4 hobgoblins within. Violet is able to attack, but is then viciously stabbed by one of the hobgoblins. Gunter takes out 2 of the hobgoblins. Again, Farinus kills a hobgoblin, while YoYo fireballs the last one to finish him off.
The party finds a room full of treasure and several chests. Malystryx casts Detect Magic and sees 2 of the chest glowing magically. A letter is found on the ground telling Kazmogen that he is being too aggressive in the abduction of the children. It warns of the wrong people noticing the abductions. Violet attempts to open one of the chests when a ghostly dagger attacks. It continues to attack while Violet runs out into the hall, and the rest of the party just looks on dumbfounded. Violet is not pleased after the dagger fades into the nothingness, and sonically screams at the rest of the group for not helping her, as only a woman can. She then returns and tells the group of her suspicion that the other chest is a Mimic. The chest does indeed move. Violet begins speaking to the chest in goblin, and instead of being able to make a deal, this chest attacks! Gunter is the unlucky victim of the chest’s fury. He is grabbed by the chest and pseudopodia begin to crush him. He screams out a curse in gnoll, but nobody understands him. Some members of the group try to heal Gunter while he is still entangled and being crushed. Vuruk attacks the chest and his sword gets stuck in a stick substance on the chest. Gunter is then able to break free, but the chest grabs Farinus instead! As Farinus is being crushed, Vuruk strikes true at the chest with another weapon and vanquishes it.
In the dead mimic’s chest, the group finds treasure and 2 vials of liquid. In one of the other chest are 4 dark keys, and the final chest contains weapons and a can. Malystryx casts Detect Magic on the items, and the liquid vials and cane glow with a magical aura. He offers to take the items to Sky for identification. The group returns to the surface to sell the goods and rest, as they are hurt and spent from the Mimic attack.
While on the surface, Eldric inquires about the availability of a cleric to join their adventure. He is rebuffed at the temple, but is told of a traveling cleric that is in the area. After several attempts by Eldric and Violet to ask the local townsfolk about the location of the traveling cleric, Malystryx gets frustrated, reaches his arm out to the first person he sees and learns exactly where the cleric is: the library. Eldric goes and finds Fidel, the cleric, who is copying books in the library. Eventually, Fidel agrees to join the party.
Malystryx returns to Sky and is told that the potions are 2 potions of darkvision. She says she had a hard time with the cane, but realized that the head of the cane could be removed to reveal a potion of cure moderate wounds. Malystryx gives the darkvision potions to Eldric and keeps the remaining one for himself. Eldric then turns around gives one to Gunter.
The brave adventurers, reinforced with their new Cleric, return to the large room with the iron doors. After some debate, the group chooses to go through the door without the iron bar across it. After going through the door, they hear shouts of “CROWLEX!” Fidel casts Bless on the group. Vuruk charges some hobgoblins across the room that he sees and attacks. Farinus, Gunter, and YoYo also make their way to be near Vuruk when the two hobgoblins dive for two levers on opposite walls. Suddenly, two trap doors open up, and Violet is unlucky enough to fall into one. The group is separated. YoYo, Vuruk, Gunter, and Farinus on one side, Ferrian and Fellio in the middle of the two pits, and Charlie, Violet, Eldric, Malystryx, and Carlos are on the other side. Suddenly hobgoblins come rushing into the middle section from opposite sides, surround Fellio and Ferrian. Eldric casts a hail of stone, destroying two of them. Fellian pushes another into the pit after Violet has removed herself and gone on the side near Charlie. Malystryx draws his wand and casts Sleep on the enemy, but only 1 is put down. YoYo uses a fire spear to burn one of the hobgoblins. Gunter pulls the lever and the pits begin to close. Malystryx, fearing him time with the living is drawing close to an end, thinks for a second about reincarnation, wondering if he would have come back as a Cleric, and then curses Gunter, because only he would be stupid enough to close the pits, leaving the magic users with no protection. Another Eldric hail of stone kills 2 more hobgoblins. Fellio is attacked and falls. Malystryx uses his sleep wand again, this time with a greater sense of urgency and puts 4 hobgoblins to sleep. The fighters are able to get to the other side of the pit and easily move through the sleeping hobgoblins to vanquish them. Vuruk in particular enjoys the carnage. The magical users stand back and watch as the fighters ferociously attack the sleeping hobgoblins as well as the new goblins that emerged from the corridor. Eldric and Malystryx comment how the fighters will most likely take credit for this victory, while they were the ones that made it possible. YoYo finishes closing the pit to re-unite the group. Fellio is revived and the group is healed as much as possible before continuing on their mission.
Adventure 9: Enter Kazmogen
After the battle with the hobgoblins, the group heals themselves and continues on their quest. Violet continues to check doors and then search the rooms. Eventually, they find the metal smith shop of the Malachite Fortress. Halflings and dwarves are chained to the floor: slaves of Kazmogen, forced to make weapons for his minions. Violet unlocks the captives. Lorathan, owner of the bracelet that had been found earlier in the adventure, identifies herself. The group realizes these are some of the missing inhabitants of Cauldron. The groups then gets into a large argument regarding what to do with the former slaves. Some want Fario and Fellian to escort them to the surface, while others believe the entire group should bring them up. Vuruk and Gunter begin to get extremely frustrated with lack of action, with Gunter cursing in gnoll. Eventually, a decision is made to leave Fario and Fellian with the slaves in the metal smith shop, while the rest of the group will go to the slave quarters and free the remaining captives. The group attempts to go one way to the quarters, however, a barred door prevents them from gaining access, so they must find another route through the metal smith.
After some searching, the party comes to a room with children chained to pillars. They see a dark dwarf in black plate metal. While they cannot be sure, Malystryx believes this to be Kazmogen. The alleged Kazmogen has with him another creature who appears to be negotiating with him. Some members of the group attempt to talk to Kazmogen to release the children. Gunter charges in and attacks. The slave buyer enlarges himself. With the slave buyer is a creature with large spike-like quills. The spiked creature attacks Gunther and he is severely hurt. The group keeps trying to attack with little success. Kazmogen hits at Gunter and he falls. Carlos is able to revive and heal him, using Malystryx’s wand with little regard for Malystryx’s previous instructions. Malystryx shoots a magic missile at the spiked creature and he falls dead. The slave buyer steps back and casts a dark fog. Malystryx determines it was an Unholy Blight spell. Many in the group appear to be hurt by the fog, Malystryx, however, is just fine. Suddenly, a creature with many eyes appears and demands Terrem, one of the child slaves. Kazmogen yells that the boy is his, the creature throws a bag of platinum at his feet, Kazmogen is pleased and goes back to his attack. Unfortunately for him, he drops his weapon, and Kazmogen is struck down. The creature takes Terrem and leaves. The slave buyer takes a potion to heal after Fidel is able to critically hit him. YoYo casts a flaming sphere on the slave buyer. He then steps back and disappears. Malystryx casts detect magic and senses a moving aura of magic running to the door. Some of the group hear Fario and Fellian yelling. Gunter and Vuruk go to their aid and they say that a door opened itself.
Meanwhile, Violet unlocks the children. They search the body of Kazmogen and Fidel takes his armor. Violet sneaks into a kitchen and encounters an old man who eventually agrees to go with them.
The group opens the door that leads to the slave quarters. They see a causeway leading down into darkness, with a dark pool on either side. Violet sneaks over the causeway and after opening a door, is seen by a hobgoblin. She screams and runs back to the group screaming “HOBGOBLINS!” Soon after, hobgoblins come streaming through the gauntlet of fighters and fall one after another. Farinus, Fario, and Fellian stay behind with the freed slaves and children, while the rest of the group ventures across the causeway. Hands appear from the wall and attack Vuruk and Violet. Violet is fallen by the attack. The hands then pound YoYo and Fidel. The group runs as Fidel falls down, trying to fool the hands that he is dead. Brave YoYo is able to drag Fidel 5 feet away to save him. Vuruk drags him the rest of the way out. The group returns to Farinus to tell him of their encounter.
Another argument ensues about the direction of the group. Some want to go back up to the surface, while others are determined to continue on. Some make a decision, then change their minds. Eventually, Vuruk and Fidel take the kids and Violet back up to the surface. The rest of the group goes back across the causeway, and take another passage to the cell blocks. 4 cells are occupied. Gunter and Farinus break doors. One of the imprisoned asks about another missing person. They go into a torture room and find another woman. Farinus gives her a cure potion. The woman says she is Korsten Pike, the woman the others inquired about. The group then leaves.
Fario and Fellian are told by the released slaves that their friend was already sold and they thank the group for all of their help before leaving. The orphans are returned to the orphanage. The group tells the militia about those who were rescued.
Adventure 10: A Magnificent Plan
A messenger seeks the groups at their respective places of rest and requests their presence at the Temple of St. Cuthbert to retrieve a letter from the captain of the town guard which calls for them to meet. The group goes to meet the captain. He speaks of how there is a goblin problem in the town and he wants us to help. He offers 5 gold per goblin ear. Malystryx, in a drunken state, demand 10 gold per head. The rest of the party mocks him. The captain details how the goblins have been striking. Fidel wants to bring the dogs to the scene of the last goblin sighting in attempt to track them.
Eldric goes around asking about goblin graffiti. Violet encounters a woman with goblin graffiti on the back of her house. Her graffiti says “Drakthar’s dead! Long live Drakthar!” in goblin. After separating to investigate their respective ideas on the best way to search for goblins, the group meets back up to discuss what they have found.
A 5 ft. tall plump lady says hello to Malystryx and says she has info regarding the goblins. He asks her to walk with him, out of the earshot of the group. She says to check out Orax Bath House, but be careful because Orax is a former adventurer. Malystryx thinks he charms her, and asks how to get in touch with her. She says she will be watching from above. She leaves. Malaystryx returns to the group and tells them his new information.
The party goes to the Orax Bath House. ½ the party pays to go in, while the rest remain outside. Vuruk and Farinus disrobe and sit around a pool. They make acquaintances with a man and speak of the goblin situation.
Malystryx casts Detect Magic and senses a magical presence in Orax’s office. He reveals his information to Vuruk, who then asks to search the empty rooms and his office. Orax refuses the search of his office. The group concedes and leaves. Gunter then rushed in and tried to intimidate Orax, who then pulled an axe and said that the goblins weren’t there. Gunter does not trust Orax, but Fidel casts Calm on him and leads him out.
Vuruk goes to the town law and explains the suspicions surrounding Orax. They say nothing can be done. Eldric tries to get Violet to sneak in Orax’ place for a look around. She says nothing. Vuruk questioned Malystryx about the lady he spoke to and wants him to cast Detect Magic on the building. Wanting an ally against Gunter, he does what Vuruk wants and finds nothing.
Vuruk, Farrinus, Malystryx, and Gunter head to the tavern. After a few rounds, Farrinus wants to paint a sign saying “Goblin Rumble at Midnight” and post it where the goblin graffiti is and Carlos puts one at the Bath House. His plan is to have all the goblins meet the fighters at the town pavilion to finish it once and for all. Vuruk especially thinks it’s a great idea, while Malystryx likes the insanity of the idea.
In the meantime, Violet has snuck off to the Bath House and attempts to gain access to his office. Conveniently, and without any reason, Gunter left the bar to go stand outside of the Bath House, not knowing Violet is inside. Violet goes into a corridor leading to Orax’ house and decides to go downstairs. She sees a goblin! Violet runs and many goblins give chase. Violet runs out the door and Gunter sees her. All the goblins pour out of the Bath House. They surround Gunter and Violet. They all attack. Suddenly, Orax comes running from the Bath House and attacks Gunter, critically hitting him.
Meanwhile, the town guard meets the rest of the party at the pavilion. They ask if the group thinks the signs will really work. Vuruk steadfastly says “yes” and the guards believe him. They offer some of the guards to assist. The party accepts the help, but asks that they stay out of sight for the time being.
Back at the Bath House, Violet suddenly disappears and Gunter retreats. Orax sees this and returns to the Bath House, while the goblins take their dead and leave. Gunter encounters a patrol and tells of the attacks, in particular Orax’ involvement. He demands they go retrieve the rest of the party, and in particular, Fidel, the cleric.
Violet, still invisible, follows the goblins to a warehouse.
Gunter returns with 2 guards and confronts Orax. He threatens to kill him. Gunter demands to be let in, but Orax refuses. He keeps trying to convince the guards about Orax, but when they do not believe him, he charges Orax and viciously hurts him. Were-rats attack the guards. Gunter kills Orax.
The rest of the party arrives, begrudgingly as they were close to the time of the Rumble. They engage the were-rats, who have just killed on of the guards. The group, including Gunter, attacks the were-rats. A large battle ensues with Eldric killing a couple of were-rats with his spells. When the were-rats die, they turn back to human. Gunter and Farrinus kill the remaining were-rats.
Everyone tries to sort out what just happened. Gunter, in frustration, says the entire group is stupid. Malastryx smiles, knowing that the group is turning against Gunter. There is no consensus as to what the next move should be with some wanting to search the Bath House and some wanting to return to the pavilion for the Rumble.
Violet arrives screaming about goblins in a warehouse. The group eventually decides to follow her back to the warehouse. Vuruk opens the door and Farrinus sees goblins writing on the walls. In the warehouse, goblins attack the group. Malystryx charms one, but not speaking goblin, the goblin does not understand his friendly suggestions and continues fighting. The group kills all of the goblins. Suddenly, two more tumble through the door. They attack Malaystryx and Eldric, but are soon destroyed. Eldric reads the goblin writing on the walls to the rest of the group.
Adventure 11: So You Wanted A Goblin Rumble…
The party is in the bath house, all alone, and bar the door to the lower level. The groups leaves and agrees to meet back at the bath house at dawn. Gunter decides to remain in the office overnight, just in case. Malystryx has fleeting thoughts of burning the place down.
The next morning, the group meets up and goes to the bath house. When arriving, they see 2 guards standing at the door. The group ask the guards what they are doing and are told that they have a few questions for the group regarding Orax’ death. As she was a witness, Violet explains to the guards how the goblins attacked and Orax helped the goblins. Malystryx makes sure to tell them how earlier Gunter had tried to intimidate and threaten Orax. The group corroborates Violet’s story, as much as possible from not being there, and the guards leave to tell the captain.
The group then enters the bath house and make their way down the stairs to the lower hallway. The hall appears long, but is dark. They walk across and look into a large chamber with cots and pillars with an open door on the other side. The group goes and looks into the open door. It seems to be a supply room with pallets and crates. A goblin pops out from behind a crate and attacks Violet. Violet is able to hit it and then Farinus runs over and crushes it with his war axe. Two more goblins appear. Vuruk is able to kill one. Violet searches the first dead one and gets a small amount of money. Farinus runs over to the other goblin and is suddenly swarmed by goblins from another hallway, and is severely hurt. The group attacks and kills a couple of them, but more come out. Farinus kills one that tries to roll past him. The battle continues with Eldric and YoYo summoning wolves. Farinus kills one goblin and cleaves to another. He thanks St. Cuthbert for guiding his axe. Gunter cuts the ears off and puts them in Malystryx’ bag. Vuruk guards the door while Farinus is healed.
The group opens the crates finding weapons and supplies.
Farinus and Fidel guard the hall that the goblins came from while the door which Vuruk was watching is explored. The entire group then decides to go and explore. In a room, they find a stone in the floor which the fighters move to reveal a 5 ft. compartment with many items. Gunter jumps down and hands up the items. Malystryx murmurs that they would be better off closing him in it. The items are distributed to the group.
A door on the other side of the room is opened, revealing a small hallway with another door at the end. Going through this door, they see two goblins looking over an edge leading down to a large cavern. Gunter kills one and he falls over the edge. Vuruk rushes the goblin, but he easily brushes off the Paladin's rush. The goblin screams something, jumps over the side and falls unconscious. The group sees no way to get down, so they return to hall where the goblin battle occurred. They go down the hallway that the goblins came from and see doors leading to the large chamber. They hear sounds coming from the north, away from the chamber and they go to investigate. They come across chambers full of sleeping pads, dung, and yellow bones. Some of the party sees goblins creeping from the shadows. They attack! YoYo summons a hippogriff, which kills a goblin. Malystryx is healed by Fidel. All the goblins are destroyed. Gunter opens a door to find skinned animals hanging from hooks. Opening another door reveals 3 goblins. One is killed and the others run. Gunter and YoYo give chase.
Suddenly, more goblins appear behind Carlos and Farinus. The party goes into combat. Gunter runs around and sees a huge line of goblins coming. The goblins swarm into the room and surround many of the party. Malystryx puts 2 to sleep. The attacks continue with the fighters killing and getting hit and the spell casters whittling them down. Farinus tries to cleave to a sleeping goblin and hits Vuruk instead. Eventually, all the goblins are killed or run. The group, in a bloodthirsty rage, chase after the retreating goblins. They kill them all.
Adventure 12: Whose Idea Was This?
After defeating all the fleeing goblins, the group hears a door opening and they go to investigate. They eventually arrive at a room with clay flasks and pots. Malystryx detects magic and discovers liquid in the cauldron is conjuration magic and the cauldron and flask are emanating transmutation magic. Vuruk takes a flask and fills it with the conjuration liquid. YoYo thinks the potion in a cup is a see invisibility potion. He drinks some of the cup, but feels nothing. Gunter drinks the potion out of the cauldron, but also does not feel anything different.
The party leaves and goes to another door. The room appears to be a bathroom and has excrement and slime on the floor. They leave.
Another door leads to another large room of excrement. They keep going through foul rooms. Eventually, they go towards the other end of the hallway and see a goblin talking to the air with a large wolf-like creature next to him. The group hears goblins shout. Suddenly, Vuruk is charged by the wolf and is tripped. Gunter smashes the goblin. Suddenly, 2 other goblins appear and shoot scorching rays at Gunter, hurting him. YoYo summons a hippogriff who gets between the group and goblin mages. Gunter goes after the goblins that attacked him. Farinus is able to smash the wolf-like creature after others have weakened it. The hippogriff destroys the final goblin. Gunter cuts off the ears and puts them in Malystryx’s bag.
The group goes into the large cavernous room they found before. They hear howling as they are looking around. Goblins appear from one end of the cavern, and begin attacking. Malystryx casts sleep with his wand and three goblins fall asleep. One of the goblins puts Fidel to sleep. Farinus is able to destroy one and cleave, killing another. Malystryx kicks Fidel to wake him up. Farinus kills two more goblins. YoYo summons another hippogriff who eats one of the sleeping goblins. Gunter kills another, and Vuruk ties up the last one. Eldric questions the goblin about Drakthar. At first, the goblin is resistant to the questioning, but he eventually reveals Drakthar’s location. He tells that Drakthar is a powerful bugbear wizard that summons rats.
The group decides to go back to the surface to turn over the ears and the captive goblin. They bring him to the captain of the town guard, who is not happy about the goblin being in his jail. Gunter, Malystryx, and Eldric go to Skye to see about the potions that were found. Skye charges Gunter to identify the potions. Violet comes up to Gunter as he is leaving the shop, and they walk off alone. They open the box that Gunter has carried for a while now and split the money that is inside. At first, they decide to keep the money for themselves, but then split it amongst the group. Gunter, Vuruk, and Farinus sell weapons and share the gold.
The next morning, the group meets at Skye’s and is told that the potions are cure light wounds, one of cat’s grace, and one of bull’s strength. Gunter gives Malystryx the cat’s grace potion. Malystryx laughs at the irony of Gunter giving him a potion to help Malaystryx eventually blind-side him with a scorching ray! Malystryx then remembers that Vuruk gave him a flask to identify the potion, so he leaves it with Skye for fear of Vuruk’s retribution.
The group returns to the cavern and goes through a door into another hallway. In a rare show of unity, the spell casters convince the fighters that it is best to go after Drakthar with the casters at full strength. Eldric casts continual flame on Gunter’s chain.
In the cave, Farinus hears what sounds like a swarm of bats coming towards them. Suddenly, bats are everywhere. Malystryx tries to cast, but suddenly feels sick and cannot cast. Farinus throws an alchemist fire vial against the ceiling, killing several bats. The group tries to run into the room and makes it. Vuruk closes the door. Farinus is stuck outside as Vuruk miscounted the group. Malystryx drinks a potion to heal himself. Farinus gets into the room and the bats continue to pound on the door. The group heals themselves. They wait until they no longer hear the bats outside of the door.
Adventure 13: A Little Help Here!!
After escaping to the room, the group waits for the swarm of bats to leave. When they no longer hear the bats outside, Vuruk opens the door to see hundreds of dead bats. He leads the group towards a rope bridge over a chasm. The bridge looks rickety, but YoYo and Violet make it across. As Fidel attempts to cross, he loses his balance and tumbles into the chasm. Farinus and Vuruk decide to hold a rope as Gunter tries to climb down to save Fidel.
Meanwhile, two lizards come up behind YoYo and Violet. YoYo attempts to calm the lizards with his druid powers. A goblin comes up from behind the lizards and prods them forward. YoYo and Violet feel a static charge in their hair. Sparks shoot out from between the lizards as a bolt of electricity shoots by Violet, narrowly missing her. Farinus nimbly runs across the bridge and nearly makes it to the other side before Carlos sends Charlie across, thus causing the bridge to collapse. Farinus and Charlie both fall into the chasm. After finally getting his balance, Gunter makes it to the bottom of the cavern and goes to aid Fidel. Violet is hit by a scorching ray from the goblin. Gunter gives Fidel a potion and he is partially healed, and after being delivered another by Farinus, Fidel is once again standing and he fully heals himself. After the lizards are destroyed, YoYo laments their death as Violet critically hits and kills the goblin.
Vuruk takes off his armor and climbs down the rope. Malystryx tries to climb, but falls. Carlos also joins the party in the chasm. Farinus had taken a potion of spider climb and he goes to untie Vuruk’s rope, and then goes back down and up the other side to hold the rope. The party slowly climbs up the other side and they all make it. They come across 2 chambers after getting themselves back in their armor. The first has blood painted walls and a large chair made of sewn together faces and bones. In the other larger chamber is a hole in the floor that has sunk and leads to a tunnel. The group decides to explore the chair first. YoYo sees red eyes in the darkness behind the chair and he tells everyone. The chair springs to life and attacks Farinus. Gunter charges and hits with his chain, but it does not appear to do much damage. The chair attacks and hits Gunter. The group attacks. Malystryx tries to use his Melf’s acid arrow wand, but misses. Gunter eventually hits the chair and he causes the chair to fall. The red eyes can no longer be seen.
Vuruk then goes to the other chamber and looks into a room with stairs on the other side and rat droppings on the floor. The party follows and goes down the stairs, sees nothing interesting, and then goes back up to the room with the chair. They go to a ladder hanging off of the edge of a ledge behind the chair and climb down.
A large bat suddenly swoops down and attacks Vuruk. Malystryx uses his acid arrow wand and the groups hears a thud against the far wall in the dark. Malystryx is pleased with himself and murmurs how he didn’t need St. Cuthbert to destroy the bat. Suddenly, a bugbear appears and yells out “Why are you in my cavern?” Eldric demands to know who it is. The bugbear identifies himself as Drakthar. Gunter suddenly feels a little woozy when Drakthar tries to make him agree to leave. Angered by this, Gunter charges.
Drakthar changes into a large dire wolf and rushes forward. YoYo’s summoned hippogriff bites Drakthar, the wolf, but the wound closes almost instantly. Malystryx hits with an acid arrow and those wounds do not close as quickly. Eldric hits with a magic missile. The hippogriff tries to bite, but overextends himself and misses. After taking another magic missile, Drakthar turns into a cloud and heads towards another ladder on the far wall. It drifts up the ladder and out of site.
The group climbs the ladder in pursuit. On the ledge is a room of treasure, money, and weapons strewn about. Vuruk finds another compartment in the floor. Violet opens a chest and Malystryx casts Detect Magic on the contents. Several of the items are glowing inside. Violet gives Malystryx the items to later take to Skye.
The party then tries to open the compartment in the floor. It takes Farinus, with assists from Gunter, Vuruk, and Fidel to open the compartment. Inside, they see Drakthar lying there. His eyes open, revealing the red eyes that YoYo had seen in the chair room. He grabs Fidel and Fidel falls to the floor unconscious; however, Drakthar looks stronger. The group takes turns attacking Drakthar, leaving Farinus holding the compartment door by himself. He pulls the lid back and drops it to the ground. Eldric hits Drakthar with a magic missile, who then turns into a mist, and then appears to be sleeping. Farinus cuts off Drakthar’s head and the group chops apart the rest of his limbs. Drakthar’s body turns to maggots and Eldric casts burning hands to destroy the maggots while the head of Drakthar rots to nothingness. The group collects the treasure in the room and returns to the surface.
Back in Cauldron, they go to the captain of the guard and explain to him what happened and he thanks them. They collect on the remaining goblin ears that Malystryx is carrying. Eldric convinces the captain of the need for a place for Carlos to craft his magical items, a headquarters of sorts for the group, and he is able to help them.
Fidel goes to the temple to see if he can be healed from the debilitating spell that Drakthar cast on him. Unfortunately, he is told they do not have the power to do it. Fidel is able to recover somewhat, but was not able to completely recover to his previous state.
Adventure 14: Drunken Stupor
Yo yo the garden gnome decided to remain in the garden at 101 Vuruk's place for a time. Gunther left the group to return to the wild and was quickly replaced by a monk.
Well the group entered a drinking contest, well at least 5 of the Farinus' Five entered the contest. Farinus made it to the top 4 on the 5th day of drinking. Violet actually beat Fidel in Day 1.
A few days after the contest the group was invited to a noble ball. The group was insulted by a noble adventuring party and Fidel actually insulted them back. Violet was spat upon.
The next day, the group was asked by the priestess of St. Cuthbert to find the High priest who was missing and last heard from at a monkey tavern a day's ride outside of Cauldron. The group went to investigate and attacked some brigands and monkeys in the Inn.
Adventure 15: Missing Wands
The group fought some more monkeys, found the Cleric's beheaded body but found no wands. The group returned to Cauldron and were attacked by dinosaurs. The group spent a lot of time investigating who the wands could have gone to, they had vague description of a female barbarian.
Adventure 16: The broken rope
Violet bought a map that supposedly led to a lair where the group could find the person who might have stolen the wands. The group went into a lava tube and headed deep under Cauldron. The group discovered an underground lake and attempted to cross the lake on an old rope and pulley gondola. The gondola rope broke as Vuruk and Fidel suspected and the group plummeted into the water below. A large sea serpent attacked them and everyone barely managed to swim to shore. T the monk had to rescue Malystryx. Carlos summoned a few dolphin to help rescue the others. Brave Farinus remained a float in heavy plate and still managed to slay the beast. A while later they managed to swim across to kill a fish man then arrived at a fortress in the cliff face where the gondola led. The group killed a few barbarian guards and boarded up for the night to rest.
Adventure 17: No Vacancy - Violet's Violent Death
The party barricades the only entrance and exit to the cultist barracks with beds and other items around the room. With some sense of security now, the spell casters in the party begin an uneasy repose to regain their lost spells. The melee combatants in the party decide to divide up the watches into three shifts. The party's monk took the first watch, and that is where the party's problems began. During the watch, the monk noticed that someone was trying to force the door open from the outside. The sound of men ramming a door and weapons colliding on wood could be heard as the intruders pounded mercilessly on the door to the barracks. The monk decided the situation may soon grow dangerous, and he woke the paladin, Vuruk, and the fighter, Farinus. As the enemies began to tear the door to pieces in an attempt to break into the room, the rest of the team was awaken to deal with the threat. A hole torn into the door exposed the faces of the intruders to the waiting party, who saw that the same bandits they had engaged in previous battles were trying to gain access to the barracks (initially, they were probably just trying to rest, but having since found their resting areas occupied they would not find sleep but bloodshed). With the door rapidly being sundered, the Farinus gave Eldric, the warmage, some caltrops and oil to place on the ground in front of the door as obstacles to the enemies. Eldric placed the oil and caltrops in front of the door to the point that no one could enter or leave the room with any ease. Soon, the door was nearly demolished, and the bandits would have an entryway into the room. Eldric then placed a Flaming sphere above the caltrops and oil. Now once the door was destroyed the enemies would have to suffer a gauntlet of traps combined for deadly effect, and soon after the casting of the Flaming sphere, the door was demolished and the bandits rushed in. 4 tried to rush in rapidly, one bandit managed to escape the oil, the caltrops, and flame, but his three other companions did not fair as well and ended up slipping on the slick floor. The one that was able to escape the oil was quickly surrounded by the melee combatants in the party, who quickly surrounded and dispatched the opponent. The thief Violet fired bolts from her light crossbow at the party in an attempt to finish the foes before they had a chance to regain their footing. The next round came, and the bandits attempted to stand. Their attempts were in vain as the floor was too slippery to walk on, and only ended up burning themselves on the flaming sphere. Farinus, Vuruk, and the monk attacked the prone bandits, and two were slayed. Two other bandits in the hallway noticed the destruction that was wrought upon their comrades and fell back to warn others of the party's success against the first wave. The last prone bandit that was caught in the slippery oil begged for his life, and the party obliged his request and held their attacks against the man as he crawled away. That battle seemed over to most of the party. The Flaming sphere was dismissed and a bed was pushed over the caltrops and oil to act as a bridge.
The monk proceeded down the hallway to look for the two bandits that escaped. Upon reaching the bend in the hall, he quickly retreated back to the barracks to inform the rest of the party that about ten more bandits were coming and the red-headed woman who organized the capturing of the wands was with them.
Deafening Silence
The monk quickly returned to the room, and Farinus pulled the bed back into room. The monk then went into the door just down the hall from the barracks in an attempt to flank the enemy once they broke into the room. Now with the oil and caltrops exposed again, the party once again had a small measure of security. A bandit rushed into the room, but began to slip on the oil. While he was regaining his footing, Violet struck the bandit through the eye with a bolt. He quickly slumped to the ground dead as Violet reloaded her crossbow. Eldric placed another Flaming sphere into the breach to prevent another invader from approaching. The warriors in the party took position around the entrance to the room to seal off any possible route to the casters in the back. Violet struck another bandit in the hallway with a bolt. He survived the strike, but Eldric moved his Flaming sphere over the opponent who quickly was engulfed in flame (who was also the one that begged for mercy earlier and was apparently healed).
The party's problems quickly came to a critical point when the red-haired woman stood in front of the doorway. She was tall and attractive, but her inner madness and hatred could be seen through the tattoos that were drawn across her gentle face. Her armor was covered in runes of Hextor that seemed to cast an oppressive feeling over all who would gaze upon her. She stared past the ball of fire that hovered in mid-air a few feet in front of her and laid her gaze upon Vuruk. She began to utter blasphemous words and suddenly a palor of silence surrounded Vuruk and everyone around him. The party was quickly stunned by the spell that was cast on them. They had never fought an enemy that could cast spells such as this and were unprepared for the consequences. Eldric, Malystryx the sorcerer, and Carlos the druid quickly realized that this was a Silence spell that was cast on Vuruk. They realized that this spell would extend to about 20 feet surrounding Vuruk and no spells that required a spoken word would function within this radius. Eldric quickly thought of any spells that he could cast that did not require a verbal component. After a few moments, he remembered Ice Knife did not require him to speak any words, and he began to conjure a blade of ice in his hands. Once the spell was ready, he projected the shard at the heretical woman, and the shard struck deep into her leg. Her leg was damaged severely, and she was unable to move with the same grace she had before. Realizing that she may be outmatched with the party, the red-haired woman retreated down the hallway. The enemies quickly realized that entering the room would certainly be a death sentence for anyone fool hardy enough to try it. All of the bandits fell back into the hallway to await the party's inevitable counterattack.
Eldric realized that his Flamingsphere was blocking any type of offensive movement by the warriors in the party, so he had it move further down the hall, but the sphere could not leave his range of vision. This left Eldric with only one option. He must span the gap of oil and caltrops and guide the sphere down towards his foes. However, Eldric is far too weak to move a bed by himself, so he went to ask Farinus if he could assist.
Communication was difficult since the Silence spell was still in effect. Eldric attempted to gesture to Farinus to move the bed into position. Farinus made some gestures back, but Eldric could not comprehend the idea behind them. Farinus appeared to sigh and moved the bed into position. Eldric then climbed the bed and peered down the hall. He quickly noticed three arrows soaring straight towards him and tried to take evasive action.
Two of the arrows were deflected by his Mitral chain shirt, but one pierced his armor and left him bloodied. Eldric quickly commanded his sphere to roll over one of the archers and severely burned one. Farinus and Vuruk saw the opportunity to turn the tide on their attackers, and both raced into the hall and began to cut down the longbow wielding bandits, each cutting down the foe in the process. Fidel the cleric, Malystryx, Carlos and his dog, Violet, and Eldric rushed into the room where the monk was. He was quite surprised to see the combat still going on since he heard nothing but silence. Eldric moved into a position where he could cast spells out of the silence radius. He found a perfect spot where he could see Farinus and Vuruk in the hallway, and he then casted Hail of Stone on three enemies that Vuruk and Farinus were engaged with. The three enemies were bombarded by magical stones that appeared right agove them, and each was crushed under the great weight. Vuruk and Farinus then raced down the hall to smite the last three bandits and the woman. The hallway was blocked by these enemies who stood in two pairs. The woman and another bandit had weapons readied for Vuruk and Farinus while the two other enemies stood behind them and fired arrows at the daring adventurers. The arrows were easily deflected by the heroes' thick armor, but both were struck by the waiting foes once they advanced. Farinus in particular took a powerful blow from the woman's greatmace. A blow so powerful that it would have killed most men, but Farinus was able to stave off the pain and continue fighting. Eldric then moved into position into the hallway, so that he could provide Farinus and Vuruk with magical support. As Eldric got into position, Violet, who was at the doorway of the room, said she felt like someone had just brushed past her. Farinus landed a solid blow against the woman and pierced her armor.
Vuruk then took a mighty swing at the servant of Hextor and with enough force that his blade flew into the nearby bandit. The woman quickly slumped to the ground mortally wounded, while the monk ran down the hallway and dodged the other two bandits to attack the rear right bandit.
At that same moment, a wizard suddenly appeared in the room with the other members, and before anyone could act, he projected a terrible bolt of lighting through the room and hall that struck Maylystryx, Fidel, Violet, and Eldric. Violet was able to completely dodge out of the way of the bolt, and Malystryx was only grazed. However, Eldric and Fidel were directly struck by the bolt and were nearly incinerated each. Fidel fell to the ground unconscious, and Eldric was alive and standing but severely wounded.
Luckily for Fidel, the lightning seemed to cauterize the wound since he barely bled from the injury. Eldric moved out of the line of sight from the wizard and quaffed a healing potion to revitalize himself. The warriors in the party finished off two more of the bandits and focused their attention on the last one before they could see what was going on in the other room.
Carlos had his dog Jackal pull down the the wizard and maul him on the ground. Violet attempted to strike the wizard with her crossbow but had many problems trying to hit with the dog in the way. The wizard then was able to cast another spell while on the ground and reached out and touched Jackal. An eerie green light seemed to transfer from Jackal's body and travel through the wizards hand. Wounds appeared all over Jackal's canine frame, while the wizard's wounds seemed to vanish. Jackal proceeded to bite and gnaw at the wizard, who quickly rose to his feet. Eldric noticed the wizard and prepared to cast a magic missile spell to interrupt him if he attempted to cast. Instead of trying for another spell, it seemed that the wizard was reaching for a potion on his belt. Before the wizard could actually grab the potion, Malystryx decided it was time to act and casted a Scorching Ray at the wizard. The burning hot light struck the wizard directly in the chest and charred away his flesh and left him dead on the spot. The warriors then finished the last bandit, and finally the encounter was over. The wizard and woman were looted and 6 wands were removed from the corpses along with a variety of other items. Malystryx had a detect magic spell active and determined that four of these wands radiated transmutation magic. Carlos then informed the party that transmutation magic is the school of magic that wands being searched for would radiate.
The party then cheered as they had discovered four of the wands, but they were still missing four more.
Should We Stay Or Should We Go?
Fidel was brought back to consciousness by a healing potion given to him by Farinus. The party then proceeded to rest in the room down the hall from the barracks. Once everyone had a chance to sleep, Carlos and Fidel healed everyone in the party to a near unwounded state, but now both healers were nearly out of curative magic. Then the party began to argue over what to do next. It was unsure still if these were the wands of Control Water, and even if they were would the town need all eight wands to have any chance of avoiding a disaster? Carlos suggested that he summon a hyppogriff and fly up to the entrance of the cave and return the wands.
Vuruk said that this would not be safe since enemies may be waiting for our departure in the tunnel to the surface, and they would be able to quickly dispatch the small halfling. Eldric then presented the idea that a rope could be lowered over the cliff if Carlos could summon a hyppogriff to get up there. This would be an easy enough climb for most members of the party.
Although, Eldric still felt that it was a wiser idea to search the complex for another possible exit and for the other four wands. Farinus shared his feelings that we should atleast get these four up and devised making a rudimentary raft to float to the other side of the cliff and throw grappling hooks. The party continued to discuss and all but Farinus decided that we should keep on searching. Farinus acquiesced to the party's desire in order to keep a sense of unity and followed the rest of the group throughout the dungeon.
Panic Room
The party explored further in the dungeon and came across a kitchen storage area. Past on these storage rooms was a room full of strips of white cloth that were hanging everywhere from the ceiling, while a large web spanned the room. The party felt that this room had danger written all over it. The monk then lit one of the cloth strips with a torch. The fire quickly spread across the strips and the room was set ablaze. Bells began dropping from the tops of the strips, and Eldric devised that this was some sort of warning device to let someone or something know that intruders have entered the room. The party then exited that room through another door and were led into a large unused dining table.
The Wall
The party searched the dining room and found nothing in there of interest other than the table was covered in dust. The room had multiple exits and the party took the southern doors first. These doors led outside to the beach of the lake where a dilapidated old building stood with the rope pulley attached to it. The party decided to investigate and Farinus entered the building. The building seemed to have a useless hallway for its first room. The foyer lay empty and dusty with just a large wall dividing it and the next room. Farinus laughed about who would build a wall there.
Just as he had his last snicker, the wall came tumbling down on top of him. The party gasped as Farinus was covered in pounds of bricks and stone. However, Farinus quickly emerged from the rubble covered with dust and some blood, and he realized maybe he should not tempt fate with silly comments.
The building contained another large pulley system like the one across the lake, and the party came to the conclusion this was the final destination of the cage if it would not have fallen into the water. Farinus pulled up the extent of rope from the lake that the pully was attached to, and the party proceeded back to the dining room.
You Are Only As Good As Your Search Skill
The party then proceeded to explore the dungeon unchallenged it seemed. Violet was experlty searhing out a variety of traps and disarming them. However, she fell into a pit trap that she was attempting to disarm, but Farinus had tied a rope around her and prevented her from falling in. She also picked the locks on two arsenal's that were very difficult.
However, none of the rooms yielded any great booty or any clues to the missing wands. Violet then opened the lock of a door that opened to reveal a room with a steaming fountain of water, a large chest, and an assortment of sparring tools strewn about the room. Vuruk, who was opening doors previously, did not enter this one first since he was going to allow Violet a chance to open the chest.. Violoet searched the door for traps and found none. However, Violet missed the the class in Thief 101 about that springing stone door with razor sharp drills trap. As she entered the room, the door quickly slammed on her powerfully and trapped her in between the wall and the door. Drills then seemed to erupt from the door and stab into her body and begin spinning. The whole ordeal happened with such force that it nearly cut the poor halfling in half. Fidel quickly healed her and brougth her back to conscousness while everyone else tried to free her from the door. It was to no avail. Violet even tried slipping out of the door herself, but she was caught too tightly. Carlos then healed her again to grant her a few more seconds. The rest of the party struggled to free her from the clamps of the door. In the end, the party was unable to free Violet and she was crushed by the door. Vuruk removed most of her body in order to give her a proper funeral. She was a good trap disarmer and rogue and will be missed.
Adventure 18: The Chest And
The Door
The party mourned for the loss of their Halfling rogue, but soon regained their
composure. First, Torin the monk, jumped the through the door and landed into
the room beyond. Inside the room, he spotted some training dummies and a heated
vat of water. Of more significance, he spied a chest inside the room, which may
have contained the wands of control water that the party desperately searched
for. However, the chest was made of metal and weighed too much for the young
monk to pick up. A plan was quickly devised between Vuruk and Torin. The plan
encompassed Vuruk throwing a rope into the room where Torin would tie the rope
to the chest. The chest would then be pulled into the hallway where the door
would spring onto the chest but be unable to crush the heavy metal chest. The
party struggled to move the chest through the room from pulling on the room.
Once the chest was pulled to the threshold of the hallway, the door slammed on
the chest. The chest was undamaged by the heavy door, but the rope was severed
by the one of the sharp blades that erupted from the door. The door was allowed
to close again and reopened. The ends of the rope were tied together and the
chest was pulled into the middle of the door. The door once again slammed on the
chest and severed the rope. Luckily, the chest was caught in the middle of the
door, and the party could reach the lock of the chest to open it.
Since the party's lock picker was recently eviscerated, another method had to be
found to acquire the materials within. Eldric the warmage, cast two minor orbs
of acid on the lock of the chest. The hissing acid burned away at the locking
mechanism on the chest and left the chest open for the party to loot. In order
to prevent other members of the party from being killed by a trap in the chest,
only the monk stayed behind to open the chest. The chest was opened with no
explosions or poison darts flying out. However, the contents were a slightly
disturbing for the young monk in the room. A book with the image of a twisted
face on the cover rested inside of the chest. The monk grabbed the book and
remembered back to his monastic training and remembered the significance of the
image. This was an unholy book of Hextor, and Torin realized the blasphemous
nature of the book and decided that it needed to be destroyed. Torin then pulled
the chest into the room and allowed the door to close. The party then grew
concerned and began to call out to Torin. When Torin did not return their call,
Eldric and Carlos the druid moved to the door. Torin opened the door from the
inside and threw the book in the middle of the doorway in an attempt for the
book to crush and destroy the book. However, the book must not have been heavy
enough to activate the door and nothing happened. Carlos then saw the book and
grabbed it. He also realized it was a book dedicated to Hextor and began to read
its pages.
The rest up the party came to see what was happening in the hallway, and Vuruk
the paladin asked what the book was. Torin explained that the book was devoted
to Hextor, and Vuruk began to raise his eye at the Halfling druid, who was
reading a book that was devoted to evil. Carlos realizing that the paladin was
uneasy with his interest in the book began to explain what secrets it held. He
explained that there was once an Over-being that was a powerful god, but the
Over-being then fragmented into many different beings. One of these beings the
book explained was Hextor the god of tyranny. Vuruk spoke up and said that the
information was blasphemous and should be destroyed. Eldric then intervened and
shared his belief that the book may lead to some clues about what they are
dealing with. Farinus also said that the priests of Wee Jas may be able to more
thoroughly identify the book. With that said, Carlos shoved the book into his
backpack and ended the entire debate.
Torin then decided it was time to leave the room he was in and made a leap
through the door to avoid activating the trap. However, Torin landed short of
his goal and the door slammed him into the wall. Large spikes that jut from the
door pinned the young monk into the wall while he struggled to break free of the
door's heavy weight. The rest of the party then began to assist Vuruk with
trying to free the pinned monk from the door. After two rounds of intense strain
from pulling the door, the door gave way, and the monk was able to slide out.
Friend or Foe?
The party then began to explore more and more of the dungeon. They came across a
spiked floor trap and an illusory floor that led to a watery pit below. The
party decided that these traps probably guarded the multiple entrances that the
dungeon contained and were best left undisturbed. The party continued to explore
and came on to a small prison. Instead of containing cells, the prison had small
cages, and one cage contained a human woman, who in one of the cages. The cage
she was in was too small for her to stand, so she was curled into a ball inside
of it. She was also unconscious and appeared to be badly beaten. Eldric then
began to cast Minor Orb of Acid at the lock on her cage to free the woman, and
Malystryx began to melt away the lock of a small chest he found in the room with
the same spell. Once the lock on the woman's cage was dissolved, Fidel the
cleric quickly diagnosed the woman's health and condition. He was able to bring
her back to consciousness, and she awoke seemingly healthy and alert.
The party then began to ask the imprisoned woman questions about her identity
and how she was captured. The woman explained that her name was Sarah, and that
she was imprisoned by the tattooed woman the party had slain earlier. In order
to confirm if the woman was the same as the party had killed, Sarah was shown
the armor of the woman. Upon sight of the armor, Sarah stated that the woman who
imprisoned her wore this armor. Vuruk introduced the party as the Farinus Five
and stated that we searched for wands with which to save Cauldron. Sarah also
stopped Malystryx from destroying the lock on the chest and stated that her
items may be inside of that chest. Malystryx stopped trying to corrode the lock
away, and Sarah asked if the party had some tools with which to open the chest.
Vuruk then removed some bloodied thieves tools from the small corpse of Violet
that was shoved inside a Handy Haversack. Sarah quickly disabled the lock on the
chest but was stopped by Vuruk before she could remove any of the contents.
Vuruk told her that we were in search of four more wands inside the dungeon, and
that he would look for the wands in the chest. Vuruk quickly parsed through the
items in the chest and found no wands. He then nodded to Sarah that she may take
the items inside, and she quickly donned her armor and grabbed her items that
lay inside. Eldric then explained to Sarah that they were indeed in search of
four wands and for an exit from the dungeon, since the trolley across had
collapsed into the lake. He stated to her that she may tag along with them if
she would like to help find an entrance. She agreed, and the party continued
spelunking with what seemed to be a replacement for Violet.
The party kept exploring and came across a door that led to a room with four
armed guards, who were playing cards and startled by the party opening the door.
Vuruk, who opened the door, quickly drew his longsword. The four guards quickly
snapped to their feet and drew their weapons. Just when combat seemed ready to
break out, Vuruk told the guards that he did not wish to fight. The guards
acknowledged that they did not have any interest in spilling any blood either
but did not lower their guard. Suddenly, one of the guards called out to Sarah,
and asked her where she had been. Sarah stepped up behind Vuruk and explained
that she was taken prisoner by the tattooed woman. Vuruk then asked Sarah what
was her relationship with these guards. She then explained that she was a guard
just like they were under the employment of the cultists but was imprisoned by
the cult leader. Upon hearing this information, Vuruk readied his sword and
faced Sarah. He then told her clearly to move into the room with the other
guards. She rebuffed his request, and then Vuruk advanced towards her slightly
with his weapon out and forcefully told her to enter the room with the guards.
Eldric then said to Sarah, "You should probably listen to Vuruk. He may be a
paladin, but he is very dangerous." Upon hearing this, Sarah entered the room
with the other guards. Vuruk and the guards then lowered their weapons now that
tensions were alleviated. Vuruk then asked the guards if they knew where the
other wands were, but the guards then stated that they had no idea what the
paladin was talking about. Eldric then stepped up and asked if the guards knew
of an exit. The guards plainly stated that the party could take the cage across
the lake. Eldric then stated that the cage was destroyed, and that it could no
longer be used as an exit. A look of fear suddenly swept through the guards as
they realized they may be trapped inside of the complex. Eldric then stated that
if the party finds an exit that they would inform the guards.
A cold foul smelling draft quickly emerged from the tunnel behind the guards,
and Vuruk asked what lay beyond. The guards shrugged and stated that they didn't
know what was behind their. They were given orders to guard this room in case
the alarm was sounded, but since their employer was now deceased those orders
were now annulled. However, they did point out that some of theirs friends tried
sneaking back their but never returned. The party then decided that this area
may be protected by far more powerful minions than the guards and would be a
wise area to keep the wands. The party began to advance down the tunnel, and
Eldric then offered Sarah a chance to follow them, and if she proved useful she
may be able to join the Farinus Five on other adventures.
Vuruk led the party into a rough cavern that opened into a wider room. Upon
first stepping into the room, Vuruk took a quick glance around the room. With
the room seemingly empty, Vuruk advanced and but quickly realized there are more
dangers that can exist other than the ones that can be seen with the eye.
Vuruk's first footstep landed straight on to an invisible Explosive Rune. The
rune burned Vuruk's legs and caused him to curse loudly. Vuruk then advanced
towards a much larger cavern that broke out at the end of this one. One of his
last steps landed on another explosive rune, but Vuruk was able to dodge most of
the flames of this one. Sarah then decided to go first in formation and try to
point out anymore traps that could impede the party or at the very least prevent
Vuruk from ruining a pair of boots.
The cavern the party advanced into had a foul stench, and the origin of the
stench was soon discovered. Not far from the party lay two ogre corpses that
were in late stages of decay and filled the cavern with a noxious odor. In the
far side of the cave, a pile of decaying large monstrous spiders lay in a mass
of protruding legs. To the east and west of the cavern, two exits led deeper
inside of the caves. The party decided to take the Western cave since the
Eastern one would lead the party just past the ogre corpses, who may spring to
life with the proper motivation. Once the party began to move towards the
Western cave, the ogre zombies did in fact begin to writhe and turn. The large
framed beasts quickly rose to their bloated rotten feet and gazed at the party
with lifeless eyes. However, death has not been kind to the frames of these
large zombies, and their actions were delayed by decayed limbs, which gave the
party time to take action. Vuruk and Farinus quickly charged at the nearest ogre
and engaged it in melee. Eldric struck the other ogre with a Scorching Ray, but
the blow was only a glancing one. Carlos summoned a burning sphere on to the one
that Vuruk and Farinus were engaged with, and he ordered his wolf, Jackal, to
attack the other ogre. Torin charged at the other ogre and engaged it in close
combat. Fidel the cleric blessed the party so that their weapons would strike
true. Sarah struck one ogre with a crossbow bolt, but it was relatively
uninjured from the piercing attack. The ogres returned attacks with heavy clubs,
but they were too slow to catch any of the party members. Vuruk and Farinus
finished the first ogre off with swords, while Malystryx hit the other with a
Scorching Ray that scorched its remains. With the ogres zombies dead, the party
continued into the Western cavern.
The western cavern was much smaller than the previous ones. It contained a
strange collection of reddish lava gems and rocks that gave the room a scarlet
color. This color was further embellished with a strange light that was glowing
in the room. The light seemed familiar to Eldric, who identified it as a
Continual Flame spell. The main point of interest in the room though was a large
stone that stood in the dead center of the chamber. It did not cast any light
like the other stones in the room did, and it was covered in a thick dust. Sarah
led the way into the room with Farinus following behind. Upon seeing the stone,
Sarah quickly approached it, but soon two shadowy figures emerged from behind
the stone. They appeared to be dwarves, but their forms were disfigured and
horrible. Where eyes once existed were now filled with a writhing mass of green
worms twisting inside of the empty sockets. Worms even slithered out of the
mouths of the abominations. Farinus quickly rushed up to engage the dwarves as
they approached. The creatures advanced upon the party, and one gave a terrible
shout that caused worms to be ejected from its baleful countenance. The sound
and sight of the ordeal was too much for brave Farinus, who quickly turned away
from the monsters and began to flee. The unnatural sound also frightened Jackal
the wolf, who raced out the room.
The rest of the party was able to control their fear and engage the beasts.
Vuruk tried to concentrate on his faith and recite words with which to force the
undead into submission, but they were beyond his knowledge of religion to
successfully turn. Sarah fired bolts from her crossbow at the creatures. Eldric
hurled an orb of positive energy at the undead monstrosities, while Malystryx
fired Magic Missiles at them from afar. Carlos also fired a Magic Missile at one
of the creatures. Torin engaged one the creatures in melee combat. Fidel tried
to think back to his religious training and identify the creatures. He was able
to identify them and was able to make one of them flee from the holy words that
he proclaimed. With the one creature that Torin was fighting cowering in a
corner, Vuruk advanced on the second creature. Since he was now up close to the
target, he realized that the creatures flesh was quickly rejoining back
together. He then quickly decided to slash at his foe and felled the beast.
Eldric then stepped up and blasted the cowering creature with a Scorching Ray
that charred its flesh and brought it to the ground. Vuruk then poured holy
water on the creature that he slew. The body of the creature totally decayed
leaving only a pile of writhing worms. However, the party had no more holy water
and was unable to do the same with the second creature, so the party had to act
quickly.
Sarah and Torin quickly searched the stone and realized that it could be opened.
The dust on the stone though seemed strange and caused their skin to burn
slightly. They then brushed the dust off and opened the stone. Inside of the
stone lay a fortune in gold and silver, but the wands were not to be found.
Sarah then scooped up the body of loot into her Handy Haversack, but Eldric
asked Vuruk if this was a wise action considering that they knew very little
about the newest members of the party. Vuruk pointed out that it was not, but
her bag would allow her to handle the treasure without slowing anyone down.
Eldric then acquiesced to the point and allowed Sarah to take the coins. The
party then returned to the center room and continued into the Eastern room.
The Eastern cavern twisted around a great deal but led into a much larger cavern
that led further west. However, a large skeletal beast stood some feet in front
of the party. It was completely bare of any flesh, and stood upright on two
legs. The creature resembled a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but the party had no idea what
such a creature was. There was some concern that the creature could have been a
dragon, but Eldric was able to determine that it was not a dragon. Carlos was
not able to identify what the creature may have been in life, so the exact type
of creature could not be determined. As the party edged further, two red pin
points appeared inside the creature's empty sockets, and it raised its toothy
maw towards the party. Sarah then decided to take a decisive move and rushed to
the front and cast a Lesser Orb of Fire at the beast. Farinus then shouted out
to Vuruk to see if they would dare face such a daunting foe with so many in the
party already wounded. Vuruk told Farinus that he was going to flee from this
combat. With that said, Farinus also began to slowly plod his way out of the
cavern. The rest of the adventurers followed suit, but Sarah stayed behind a
bit. The beast quickly ran up to her and snapped at her. The beast ripped out a
hearty chunk of flesh from the young mage rogue. Sarah then began her pursuit
out of the tunnel, and she quickly outpaced the slower members of the party. The
creature followed doggedly through the narrow tunnels, and caught up with Fidel,
who it crushed within its great jaw. It then spit a critically wounded Fidel out
on to the ground and pursued more party members. The best then caught up with
Eldric at the beginning of the first tunnel entered and snapped at him. The bite
severely wounded Eldric, who decided to drop his shield in order to lighten his
load. Eldric then proceeded to run down the tunnel frantically in order to
escape the terror that pursued the party. Luckily, everyone had made it inside
of the narrower entrance tunnel where the creature could not fit. Farinus and
Sarah then began to fire arrows at the creature in an attempt to drive it away,
and their ploy worked as the creature walked away a few moments later. Now
Fidel, who lay near death in the cavern, had to be rescued.
Vuruk realized that Fidel may not have long to live and wanted to rush out and
help the young cleric. However, he also realized that the creature could still
be nearby and could potentially be waiting for a rescue party. Vuruk saw Fidel
from a distance and could not determine if he was dead or not. He then attempted
to lasso Fidel in but to no avail. Sarah then volunteered to sneak out to Fidel
and tie a rope to him. She then ran back to the tunnel while the rest of the
party pulled Fidel to safety. Vuruk then gave Fidel a potion of cure moderate
wounds, and Fidel regained consciousness but was still very wounded.
Adventure 19: Save the town from Flood - Malystryx leaves
The group took another path and killed the
undead dinosaur.
The group found some more wands, fought a Slaad and exited the cavern.
Adventure 20: Saber and Avatar join the Farinus Five
The group took another mission to find a lost son.
Adventure 21: Meeting Crazy Jared - Farinus falls
The group journeyed to Crazy Jared and fought a Red Dragon and Cryo-Hydra. The Cryo-Hydra kills Farinus.
Adventure 22: The Underground Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
The group explores underground ruins of some Kuo-Toa. Carlos and Saber are killed by Kuo-Toa clerics.
Adventure 23: Return to the Kuo-Toa shrine
Flick, Ninia, and Homer are found in a prison and join the party. The party finds Xenith but he refuses to go with them. The group must fight an Erinyes and Xenith's invisible friends.
Adventure 24: Xenith is captured then escapes
The group returns Xenith to Cauldron, but he escapes imprisonment before a reward is presented to the group.
Adventure 25: Second, return to the Kuo-Toa Shrine
The group searches for Xenith but finds Kuo-Toa abominations and the Black Dragon Dhorlot. Dhorlot is slain with no casualties. Upon leaving the depths, the group finds Cerge the half-orc barbarian. The group is attacked by shadows once again and a greater shadow who turns Fidel into a shadow. Vuruk kills Fidel's new shadowy figure.
Adventure 26: A Somber journey home
The group plans to return to Caudron....
Solemnly the party marches on to the top of the Pit of Seven
Jaws, what's left of Fidel in tow. Up top, thankfully, remains the party's
horses, as well as their cavalryman.
"Nothing much happened while you were gone," he's quick to say, "except for two
nights ago. I heard the horses making a ruckus and walked out a bit to try and
see what was causing the commotion. It was then I saw the ugliest ogre I've ever
seen. I thought I was as good as dead, but instead of turning me into paste, he
simply asked for some food. I couldn't believe it! Not only was the ogre not
killing and eating me, but he could speak. I gave him some of the food you
supplied for the horses and he left on his way. I still don't understand it."
The ride back to Cauldron passes uneventfully, and soon everyone finds
themselves once again amid the hustle and bustle of city life. As the day's
past, unrest towards the increasing taxes grows. Earlier rumors about the tax's
cause begin to change as any actual results from them fails to show up. More and
more, people are heard to complain of the tax rate, always making sure they're
out of earshot of the ever increasing half-orc presence on the Town Guard.
Impressed that you managed to slay the dragon, Skie is happy to identify the
items you've brought back with you (albeit at the customary cost). The three
sets of armor from the Kuo-Toas are revealed to all carry simple warding of
defense (+1 quality). The wand from Dhorlot's lair ends up being a Wand of See
Invisibility (11 charges remaining). The rapier, however, excites Skie the most.
Besides basic sigils of accuracy (+1 quality) it also possesses some kind of tie
to the plane of Shadow. She's not quite sure how it was created, but she
suspects the rapiers blade possesses some parallels with a shadow's touch.
The group breaks up a riot in Cauldron near City Hall.
A sleepy group faces 2 Huge Fire Elementals and a burning hotel.
Adventure 27: Search for the Paladin of St. Cuthbert
The group heads east in search of Sir Alec Torsival. The group encounters gnolls along a river.
Adventure 28: The Ogre's map
The group wanders through gnoll infested jungle to find a the demon scar. The group finds a map in an ogre's den where they battle a sloth.
Adventure 29: The Pipe
The group finds a pipe, and heads down it to a location specified by a gnoll shaman. Jordan and Avatar are killed by a Hill Giant while the rest of the party battles Ettin.
Adventure 30: False Sisters
After the battle, the False Sisters appeared as angels but no fight ensued. The group wandered around and fought a Fire Giant, and Serge was beat down. The group then fought 3 more Hill Giants, but the enlarged Vuruk and enlarged Homer beat them down while the spell casters damaged them from afar.
The group met up with Torkimada and Tein who were quick to join the group, having been sent from Red Gorge.
Soon after the group found the 3 false sisters for their true nature... hags. The Farinus Five was confused and dominated quickly. Homer turned on the group. Eldric cast a mean flame strike through most of the party. Ninia also did her share of damage. After a long battle, the 3 False Sisters were defeated. The Farinus Five was pretty badly damaged, but managed to survive with no casualties.
Adventure 31: Crazy Mirror
The group wandered around to find a strange room with an odd mirror. A portal Flick thought and launched himself into it. The group heard nothing for hours then Tein decided to follow. Tercival could be seen in a room in the mirror.
Inside Flick and Tein could not see or hear each other. They didn't even know that Yo yo was also trapped in this weird mirror realm. Yo yo had accompanied Tercival on his quest. Soon Yo Yo, Tein, and Flick fought a few mirror beings and barely escaped to find Tercival. Yo Yo's rhinos defeated the Mirror people. Tercival had gone mad but Flick managed to open a locked door. Tein came back to the room and realized he could see Vuruk and Ninia through another mirror. He communicated to them by using Flick's pencil and parchment.
Adventure 32: Tercival's Fall
As the confused party battles a Glabrezu, Tercival is killed. Yo Yo is killed by his own Rhino.
Adventure 33: Desert Madness
As Tien uttered the words of magic imparted
to him from the spirits and a strangely bearded body began to form next to
Yoyo's inanimate form, the sun rose high into the sky and the expanse less
desert the party now found itself in began to become excessively hot. Several
party members soon found their selves laboring under the oppressive heat, at
least until several spells of endurance were handed out, offering respite from
the relentless sun.
Still the day was hot and only just beginning, so when Tien and Yoyo (still
adjusting to his new dwarven form) spotted an oasis in the distance, it took
little convincing to get Farinus's Five (who now numbered ten) to alter course
slightly.
As the oasis drew closer Yoyo and Tien both noticed something strange ... a
dearth of insects and animals one would expect at a solitary watering hole in
the middle of the desert. Still, despite their cautions, both Vuruk and Sarah
expressed glee at the chance for some shade, and sat down beneath the slightly
stunted palm trees that rung the small sandy pond.
As Yoyo hesitantly dipped his hand into the water, watching the ripples swirl
from his fingers, he realized why no other animals came to this spot to drink.
There was, in fact, no water there, and as this realization sunk in Yoyo looked
up to see the entire oasis shimmer and vanish before his eyes as he pierced its
illusionary nature.
"This isn't real!" he shouted, moments before a pack of scorpionfolk burst up
out of the sand surprising several with the party, too tired from heatstroke to
give their surroundings the usual amount of inspection. The scorpionfolk looked
like incredibly dark skinned humans, from the waist up at least. Below, their
torsos merged with that of a large scorpion, replete with large crushing claws
and a dangerous stinger jutting from their rear. As two of them invoked words of
magic causing their forms to ripple as if a heat mirage, the others charged
forward, leveling their lances and spearing several members of the party,
including Sarah who found herself separated from the rest of her companions.
Marv employed his wand of lightning, but rapidly learned these beasts were
resistant to common magic as his lightning washed over them with little affect.
Yoyo and his rhino companion charged forward as other party members drew weapons
and prepared to fight.
Rapidly the battle began to turn ugly, the scorpionfolk's claws and stingers,
plus their skill with the deadly lances they carried pushing the party back,
clustering them together. Sarah, lacking the protection of heavy armor and being
cut off from her friends, rapidly found herself giving ground as the creature
she fought pushed her back. Seeing its stinger rear back to strike, she dodged
to the left, but too slow. Whipping forward the creature's stinger pierced her
chest, and Sarah fell to the ground unmoving.
Meanwhile, Tien had retreated from another of the creatures as Vuruk stepped
forward to battle it, and Marv, tumbling about like a small acrobat, continued
to bathe the beasts in bolts of lightning from his giant's wand. Homer drew the
ire of two of the beasts, trading vicious jabs back and forth, but knew he could
not stand against both foes for long.
Yoyo and his rhino withdrew, leaving the scorpionfolk they had engaged wounded
and winded, hoping to heal before entering the fray again. Flick meanwhile
lashed out with a burst of magic missiles, neatly eliminating a number of the
images that danced and flickered around the spell casting scorpions.
Drawn by his barrage of lightning bolts, one o