| Current Turn? | No |  | Subject: | Under the Cloud Giant's Castle |
| Campaign: | Greyhawk | | Turn Start Date: | 9/4/597 |
| Adventure: | Seas of Fate | | Turn End Date: | 9/4/597 |
| Adventure Number: | AAJ | | Characters: | Barthon Brightwave, Darkthorn, Dyson Teague, Kalin, Lorcan Smythe, Orielne, Wiley Finch |
| Turn Number: | 1.5 | | Send To: | fivewands@championsoftheempire.com; dntimm@gmail.com; mghaught@gmail.com |
| Greyhawk Campaign? | Yes | | Combat Turn? | No |
| Name | Lethal | NL | Current | END | PROT | LOW | DEF | ROF | Flash | Heal | Luck Pts | Fate Pts | |
| Darkthorn | 8 | 0 | 101/109 | /0 | 11 | 3 | 78 | 10 | 0/0 | 4/day | 2/2 | 1/1 | |
| Dyson Teague | 0 | 0 | 95/95 | 2/2 | 12 | 4 | 89 | 14 | 0/0 | 1/day | 2/3 | 1/2 | |
| Kalin | 0 | 0 | 74/74 | /0 | 8 | 3 | 73 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/day | 2/2 | 1/1 | |
| Lorcan Smythe | 0 | 0 | 64/64 | 8/8 | 10 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 1/1 | 1/day | 1/2 | 1/1 | |
| Wiley Finch | 0 | 0 | 90/90 | /0 | 11 | 4 | 66 | 20 | 0/0 | 1/day | 2/2 | 1/1 | |
| Barthon Brightwave | 0 | 0 | 74/74 | 14/14 | 9 | 4 | 90 | 20 | 0/0 | 1/day | 4/4 | 2/3 | |
| Aeryl Razorfin | 4 | 0 | 79/83 | 8/8 | 7 | 4 | 56 | 10 | 0/0 | 2/day | 1/3 | 1/1 | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mage/Psioncist Name | Psionic Pts | Spell Pts | Spell Pool | Miscellaneous Information |
| Lorcan Smythe | 4/4 | 12/19 | 19/19 | |
| Wiley Finch | / | 15/21 | 11/11 | |
| Kalin | 14/14 | / | / | |
| Darkthorn | 9/9 | / | / | |
| | | | |
| Name | Notes |
| Darkthorn | Ranger Pool (26/27), 25% DR Crushing, Elemental & Non-Elemental, Detect Ambush, Accelerated Healing (3 days), Lesser Enchantment |
| Dyson Teague | Lesser Enchantment |
| Kalin | Cleric Pool (20/25), Lesser Enchantment |
| Lorcan Smythe | Lesser Enchantment |
| Wiley Finch | 25% DR Elemental, Familiar-Cristo (not along), Lesser Enchantment |
| Barthon | Magic Points (19/19), Lesser Enchantment |
| Aeryl | Lesser Enchantment |
|
11/10/2022 (GM-Steve)
Darkthorn and Dyson continued to attack the black clouds but all they did was push them back. Then Wiley attacked with Blood Drencher (short sword) and the cloud "popped" in a frenzy of electrical energy and was no more, causing a bit of electrical damage to Wiley. Kalin tried to move away from the one that attacked him but it stayed close. Then Aeryl attacked one with his spear and it also popped, causing electrical damage to him. Barthan attacked multiple times with his longsword, scoring at least 2 grievous hits and a critical hit, but all they did was move the clouds back.
Kalin suggested using pointed weapons and that turned out to be the key. Darkthorn exchanged his battle axe for his bow and started shooting them, starting with the one in front of him and each hit caused one to pop. Any that popped near someone also damaged them with electricity. Barthon switched from attacking with longsword to attacking with dagger and started popping the three attacking him.
In this manner, they destroyed all the storm clouds. Then they did some healing before moving on. In the next passage, they saw two more storm clouds ahead and Darkthorn and Aeryl used their bows to destroy them.
Beyond the passage and in the next chamber were about 2 dozen more storm clouds. Now that the group knew how to handle them, they did so from a distance with Darkthorn and Aeryl using arrows to destroy them safely.
They continued searching and, in a dead end chamber, came across an furiously angry ice man, a tall humanoid wearing ice armor, ice shield and carrying an ice bastard sword. He was extremely competent with the sword. Just after the battle started, the ice man turned to gaseous form and went over the heads of the group to the back, where he resumed solid form and attacked Barthon and Wiley. He was especially effective against Wiley, scoring 2 critical hits against him. At one point, he sacrificed a couple of attacks to put up a Wall of Ice, which lasted only a round before Lorcan dispelled it and then, at another time, he sent a freezing blast of wind up the passage. By this time, Barthon had used his acrobatics to get behind the ice man so was unscathed by the wind, as was Dyson, who was out of range.
Eventually the group got him to very badly injured, at which time he attempted to go gaseous again but Barthon got in one last hit which would have done exactly zero damage except that Kalin had an attack bonus going that increased damage by one, which was all of the hit points that the ice man had. He collapsed into a large pile of ice shards and pieces. His ice armor, shield and weapon remained intact and, when Lorcan searched the pile of ice, he found a Nanorien Stone, probably a minor one.
The armor, shield and weapon are made of very dense and very cold ice. Lorcan recalls that the items will begin to melt when taken to warmer climate. Additionally, anyone trying to wear or wield the items would need to have cold protection to prevent them from taking cold damage. Wiley puts the ice sword in his Brace of Weapons. The armor and shield go into the Bag of Holding.
After doing some healing, the group moves on. They enter a very cloudy, misty room and so Lorcan brings up a Mage Wind spell to clear it away. This apparently angers something because, after only a few seconds, an even stronger wind come towards the group from deeper into the room.
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
GM: I awarded 1500 EXP for the session.
12/01/2022 (GM-Steve)
The group moves deeper into the room. Suddenly a lightning bolt comes out of the mist ahead just as Darkthorn sees a dark shape in the fog. The lightning bolt injures several members of the group. The group presses forward and finds a mist giant and battle ensues. As several of the group are battling the mist giant, Barthon heads deeper into the chamber and is suddenly attacked by another mist giant who also uses a lightning bolt, which is targeted not only at Barthon but a couple other members of the group about 25-30 feet away.
The group defeats the first mist giant and Lorcan uses his Mage Wind spell to ensure that the imploding mist that occurred upon "killing" the mist giant is completely dissipated. As others head towards Barthon to help against the other mist giant, it withdraws from combat. Several people get free attacks but it manages to escape into the mostly solid cloud walls of the chamber and the battle is over.
The group sees a pool of water deeper in the chamber within a marble basin about six feet across. The water is still and radiates magic at level 5. As Lorcan stops to study the magic more carefully, others continue to explore the chamber. They find a corpse near the back wall of the chamber, still wearing the armor and weapons of an adventurer. However, as the group approaches, the corpses rises up and moves forward to attack. Dyson attacks the creature with his hand axe and buries the head of the axe in the creature. The creature does not react but, back by the pool, Lorcan howls in pain. Somehow, Dyson's attack hit Lorcan. The creature seemed to open up some sort of very temporary extra-dimensional portal through which Dyson's attack passed to hit Lorcan in the back.
Lorcan, and those guarding him, give up the task of studying the magic of the pool and head down to help the others with the zombie. Those who know of undead creatures are certain that it is not a regular zombie but can't think of any creatures that have the effect that they just witnessed with Dyson's attack. Wiley also attacks the creature and has a similar effect except that he is the target of his own attack. His sword stabs at him from the back as, again, some sort of portal opens temporarily through which his attack passes, to attack himself from the back. Fortunately it was not a very effective attack and he missed himself.
After this, the group is wary of attacking again but Kalin decides to try to turn it. He utters the necessary prayers to turn undead. Upon doing so, the creature looks towards Kalin with a look that seems almost one of gratitude, and collapses to the ground. Lorcan and Wiley suspect that the dead adventurer was under some sort of curse, which was somehow dispelled by Kalin's turning.
As the battle was going on, Aeryl and Barthon strayed a bit too close to the misty wall and the mist giant who had previously escaped attacked them out of the wall. Barthon was quick enough to attack back but then both moved a bit further away from the wall.
Looking at the corpse, the group sees that he was armed with a long sword and longbow and wearing leather armor. He also had a quiver over this shoulder. Both weapons radiate magic at level 2 and are identified as +1 weapons. The armor radiates magic at level 3 and is also +1 armor. The quiver radiates magic at level 5 and the group recognizes it as something called Arawan's Quiver. It has 5 arrows within. When an arrow is drawn forth by the attuned user, and fired, a new arrow appears the following round. Additionally, whenever an arrow is fired, a roll is made to see the effect of the arrow. Most will end up being +1 or +2 arrows but other effects are possible, including an arrow that explodes as a fireball, or one that splits into multiple arrows after being fired.
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
GM: Darkthorn currently has the Longbow of Infinite Arrows and is happy with it so Arawan's Quiver should probably go to either Wiley or Aeryl. I'm more inclined to say Aeryl since Wiley doesn't use his bow as often as Aeryl does.
12/08/2022 (GM-Steve)
Worried about the mist giant, the group decides to retreat to the previous chamber. However, on their way there, the mist giant attacks Lorcan from out of the misty walls of the tunnel. He hits with a critical hit. The group breaks into a run and makes it to the next chamber where they rest well away from the walls so they can hopefully see the mist giant should it approach.
The group spends some time doing first aid and healing. Then Wiley decides to use his Wizard Eye to do some scouting. He finds a chamber with some sort of cloud bush growing in it, not far from a hole in the floor that the group suspects leads down to additional tunnels under the cloud giant's fortress. He also finds a chamber with some sort of glinting in one of the walls. He suspects it may be a gem embedded in the cloudy wall.
The group heads in that direction. It has been almost an hour and they hope that the mist giant will have tired of stalking them. They are wrong and, as the group is transiting a cloudy tunnel, the mist giant attacks out of the walls. It again targets Lorcan, hitting him but not badly. The group rushes forward towards the next open chamber to discuss their options. They come up with two possibilities for keeping track of the unseen mist giant. The first is a Location spell from Wiley and the second is a Detect Ambush spell from Darkthorn. Both are cast and the group moves forward. Both spells tell the group that the mist giant is indeed stalking Lorcan, staying within the misty walls abreast of Lorcan and waiting for him to get close enough to attack through the walls. Clearly the mist giant has no appetite to come out and suffer the attacks of the entire group.
GM: Once the group had time to think about it, they came to the conclusion that the mist giant was primarily stalking Lorcan because Lorcan is the one who used his Mage Wind spell in the mist giant battle to disperse the mist of the original mist giant after the group killed it. He did this to keep it from regenerating. Apparently it worked and angered the other mist giant.
Through hook and crook, the group manages to avoid attacks by the mist giant all the way to the room where Wiley had spotted some gems in the wall. As Darkthorn approaches the wall with the gems, which he clearly sees, he senses an ambush ahead from a direction other than the mist giant. As he reaches the wall and is near a gem, seven shadows step out of the wall and begin attacking.
Although everyone with any appropriate lore identifies the creatures as undead shadows, and Kalin begins attempting to turn them, it suddenly becomes apparent that they are something else when one of them casts some sort of electrical bolt at him. Others follow suit. Lorcan immediately recognizes the mistake and knows that these are elemental creatures known as storm shadows, which are all but indistinguishable from undead shadows.
Those attacking with metal weapons, quickly find that electricity from the creatures travels back along the blade and hurts them. This includes Barthon, Wiley and Lorcan, but not Kalin, Dyson or Darkthorn. Initially the creatures attempted to touch their opponents but, when those attacks were easily dodged, they took to using electrical bolts every round.
The battle was not going well. Then one of the storm shadows spoke in Elementian and said, "Leave our gems alone." The group took this as meaning that the storm shadows would stop attacking if the group retreated. This the group did and the storm shadows melded back into the misty walls.
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
GM: I awarded 1700 EXP for last night.
12/15/2022 (GM-Steve)
With the mist giant still stalking Lorcan, the group uses a new tactic to minimize the attacks. They decide to run towards the next cloud chamber. The mist giant was able to only get a single attack on Lorcan as the group ran down a narrow tunnel.
The next chamber they entered was empty but, after a couple of rounds, a lightning bolt shot out of the wall and hit Aeryl. Suspecting that more lightning bolts might be forthcoming, the group ran out of the room and to the far exit from the mist giant's original chamber.
The group decided against proceeding cautiously down the narrow passages and, instead, Darkthorn would lead the way at a run and would trigger any lightning traps by running through them. He cast a Protection from Lightning spell on himself to make himself temporarily immune to electrical attacks. This helped as he ended up triggering multiple such traps.
The next chamber held a cloud bush with icy, green berries. Lorcan had heard of cloud bushes but did not remember what the berries did other than that they had a magical effect of some type. Darkthorn tried one and it allowed him to fly for about 20 minutes. The group found only one other ripe berry.
Lorcan was attacked again by the mist giant on the jog to the next chamber. It initially appeared empty but Lorcan noticed an invisible presence similar to the invisible stalker seen earlier. He remarked on this to the group saying that he saw "another" invisible stalker This caused the invisible stalker to speak up and ask, "another invisible stalker? Have you seen my brother?"
Kalin began talking to him and informed him that they had indeed run into another invisible stalker and gave him directions on how to get there. Kalin asked if he had seen a fairy statue but he said no, that the only statue he had seen was a big green human statue in the dark forest. He provided directions to the dark forest.
The group had been aware of a distant, high-pitched keening sound at the edge of their hearing and learned that this was the mist giant attempting to call more mist giants to come and seek vengeance for the killing of the other mist giant.
The invisible stalker also mentioned that they should talk to the dryad by the fountain as she might know more of the dark forest and the fairy statue. He provided directions before departing.
Following the directions, the group sought out the "dryad" which turned out to be a sylph. She was informative and helpful and mentioned that the dark forest was now infested with evil in the form of an army of evil faeries. She hoped to go there but feared the dark forest until it was cleansed. For now she was content to muse by the fountain (another Pool of Sustenance) and contemplate the future. She declined to join the group as they made their way to the dark forest.
The group again ran down the cloud tunnel to the dark forest. Lorcan was attacked only once.
The dark forest was enclosed by a high, vine wall that would hopefully afford protection from sudden attacks by the mist giant. The group quickly located the green man statue that the invisible stalker spoke of and wondered if he had been some sort of guardian of the forest who was turned to stone, allowing the forest to be infested with evil. The entire area radiated strong magic.
The group began exploring the forest, starting by following the outer vine walls. At one point the group turned around and went in the other direction when Darkthorn's Danger Sense alerted him that a safer place to rest and recuperate might be found in the other direction.
The group had reached a relative wide area along the vine wall when a razor sharp dart suddenly shot out of the trees ahead of them and hit Darkthorn.
This is where we stopped for the night.
GM: One thing that I forgot is that Darkthorn's falcon follower is with him. This would not have changed anything but I should try to remember it.
GM: I awarded 1700 exp for last night.
12/22/2022 (GM-Steve)
The group soon discovered that it was some sort of animated tree that was shooting the razor darts at them. The group moved forward to engage. It was at this time that both Dyson and Barthon discovered that their flaming weapons would not flame on. Dyson used his Brace of Throwing Weapons to switch to a hand axe. His first attack missed but his second attack hit. However, as it was about to hit, the wood of the weapon suddenly warped and Dyson ended up damaging himself instead of the tree. Meanwhile, Barthon moved up and attacked with his sword. The tree was difficult to hit but Barthon still scored a couple of minor hits.
Lorcan hit it first with a Bolt of Water and then a Torrential Geyser.
Darkthorn, after seeing the effect of attacking with an axe, decided to move past the tree and see what was further up the narrow path between the thick trees and the vine wall. Aeryl moved up and attacked.
Meanwhile, some barely visible faeries on the other side of the stream, and hidden in the woods, started using blowpipes to shoot razor darts at the group. Also, both Barthon and Dyson stumbled in the thick grass while they were moving around but neither one fell.
Barthon, seeing that he was not being very effective against the tree, decided to jump into the stream. The fast moving stream quickly carried him downstream. He was feeling a bit euphoric but very quickly noticed that his hands were thick with leeches. Other leeches were probably already under his armor. He quickly quit the water and jumped to the side of the stream and started frantically removing leeches. That was the last that he remembered before he passed out.
Dyson tried to run down the stream to find out where Barthon was going but he tripped and fell, dropping both his shield and axe. Fortunately neither fell into the stream. The rest of the group decided to give up on attacking the tree and started to follow Darkthorn. The tree continue to shoot razor darts at them until they were out of range.
Dyson managed to recover his shield and weapon and gave up on trying to find Barthon. He hurried after the rest of the group.
The group, minus Barthon, came to an old building in a clearing between the thick vegetation and the vine wall. Dyson checked it out and, in a corner in the dark building, saw a body slumped near a far corner. Kalin came in with light and saw that the body was Barthon. He appeared to be a asleep but quickly came awake as Kalin started to shake him. Barthon was naked but for a loincloth but all of his armor, weapons and other equipment was nearby. He quickly donned it while telling the group what had happened to him. He also said that he dreamed that two beautiful ladies tended to him. It felt like he had been out for at least an hour, but only a couple of minutes had gone by between the time the group last saw Barthon and when they found him.
The group still did not feel comfortable trying to camp in the Dark Forest, even in the cabin so they continued moving. Faeries in the woods occasionally sniped at them with blowguns.
The group came to a ring of mushrooms laid out like a faerie ring but the group was unsure of what it meant. An Augury was inconclusive. Not wanting to continue getting attacked by faeries, the group decided to use the folding boat in the stream. They opened it and climbed aboard. The boat was almost as wide as the stream but the banks were grassy and did not impede the progress of the boat. Lorcan and Barthon took turns steering.
The stream let out into a lake. The group briefly considered using the larger version of the boat and spending the night in the middle of the lake but Dyson's Danger Sense was warning him that this could be fatal. Instead they pressed on through an outlet from the lake. After traveling for a couple hundred feet, Darkthorn's Environmental Sensitivity sensed a break in the overwhelming danger of the Dark Forest. He poled the boat to a stop, skewing it sideways and wedging it at a point where a wide path led off to the left. The group disembarked and refolded the boat. The path led a short distance to the vine wall but the vines were thinner here and Darkthorn spotted a cloud path beyond the vines. The group made their way to the cloud path. Wiley's Location spell, locked on the vengeful mist giant, pointed behind the group. The group could still distantly hear the high-pitched keening of the mist giant trying to summon more mist giants to his cause.
The group decided to follow the cloud path at a good clip rather than cautiously. Even so, Lorcan was attacked by mist giants two times before they reached the end of the cloud path where it disgorged onto a grassy peninsula. And the Location arrow indicated that these were different mist giants. On the peninsula was a boat and beyond was a mist shrouded lake. The group unfolded their boat again and took to the sea, putting some distance between them and the grassy peninsula. There they spent some time doing first aid and healing. Lorcan used his Waters of Vision spell but the results were inconclusive. Darkthorn cast a Commune with Nature spell and learned that there was an island somewhere ahead in the misty lake. There were also a couple of moderately powerful creatures, including one that was of a woodland nature.
The group decided to spend the night on the boat, resting and recuperating. The night passed with no attacks.
GM: I awarded 1700 exp for last night. |
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