January 2, 2010 - The party escapes, battling a vengeful dragon & an abomination on the way out, and return Zenith to his father.
Huron, Vico, Mindbender, Yggdrasil, Briggs, Cram, Razeteron
The party catches their breath and patch up their wounds hurriedly while Yggdrasil and Huron tie up Zenith and stabilize him. Briggs takes down the Splintershield standards. He and Mindbender toy with the idea of wearing them as capes, upside-down. Eventually though the party decides to tie up Zenith and roll him up in the standards so he can't move. They sneak out to the exit to the bridge and peer around - the horde of kuo-toas are still motionless beneath the bridge, humming and deep in meditative trance. A quick party conference occurs where a few ideas are tossed around, including one where Mindbender would shapeshift to look like Zenith and everyone else pretend to be bound prisoners being led across by him. In the end though they decide to sneak across.
Everyone proceeds doing their own thing. Huron sneaks forward while keeping a close watch on the horde below, and manages to quickly hush and halt the party when Briggs accidentally scrapes his dagger along the bridge. Mindbender and Yggdrasil pray to their respective gods for guidance, who reward them by showing them (and only them) the safe path to take. Vico guerrilla crawls along the bridge, suspending himself off the stone with his hands and feet, Razeteron follows everyone, carrying the wrapped-up Zenith on his shoulder. Cram readies ghost sound to distract the kuo-toas should they become alerted.
Also, Mindbender shapechanges into a kuo-toa and Cram casts a kuo-toa illusion over himself in case they are discovered.
The party manages to sneak about halfway across the massive stone bridge when Yggdrasil accidentally knocks some rubble off the bridge into the crowd below. There is a few moments of silence before the kuo-toas ROAR and charge!! They start swarming up the sides of the bridge, climbing over each other to reach the party, while the rest of the throng rush up towards the massive staircase which leads up to the end of the bridge, trying to cut the party off and trap them. Down below, numerous whips start channeling lightning between themselves, and arcs of electricity start leaping around in the horde, gathering strength.
The party runs for their lives for the other side, sprinting as fast as they can and dodging kuo-toa javelins and lightning bolts. Vico picks up Briggs and hurtles down the bridge, but fails an endurance check and gets a cramp in his leg, slowing their progress. Yggdrasil tries to shoot a teleport bolt at the far end of the bridge to quickly travel to the end, but he misses and it flies off into space. Huron and Razeteron take more aggressive actions - Huron roars and scatters a group of kuo-toas climbing over the edge, while Razeteron charges and stomps one kuo-toa who was just climbing over the edge. Mindbender manages to bluff some kuo-toas into leaving him alone, and then forces another kuo-toa to leap off the bridge and take out a clump of kuo-toas channeling lightning.
The Stormhammers hurtle forward, approaching the end of the bridge when Huron suddenly notices that the dark cavern is darker than normal, and that he can't see the light coming from the hole in the roof anymore. Abruptly, just in front of them a cloud of darkness is dispelled and a spray of acid bursts over the party. "There is no escape!" comes a deep raspy voice - Dhorlot is back, angry and looking for vengeance. He follows the acid breath up with a dragonfear roar and a second spray of acid, burning most of the party heavily.
The party, half-depleted already from being unable to rest after the fight with Zenith, unleash everything they have on Dhorlot. Meanwhile, handfuls of kuo-toas catch up to the group from behind and join the fray. At one point Yggdrasil gets charged by three kuo-toas who each manage to stab him. Dhorlot quickly engulfs the bridge in darkness, forcing Huron, Vico and Razeteron to wade in and swing blindly. Making things even worse is Dhorlot's tail lash ability, whipping out at anyone who misses him in melee, knocking them towards the side of the bridge and the huge fall. Mindbender quickly impedes Dhorlot's flying ability by mind controlling him into biting his own wing and ripping it slightly. Yggdrasil plants the party's battle standard in the middle of the bridge, bolstering the party's attacks.
A turning point in the battle comes when Mindbender has a flash of inspiration and prays to Pelor to dispel the dragon's darkness cloud. He is rewarded for his efforts and a beam of blinding sunlight bursts down through the hole in the roof and disintegrates the darkness, surprising Dhorlot and catching him off guard. Vico slashes it with his web blade and activates it, covering Dhorlot in sticky webs. Dhorlot fails his first save against the effect and is immobilized, and Razeteron, Cram and Huron all charge in and try to push the webbed, immobilized dragon off the bridge. However, some lucky rolls on Dhorlot's part keep him on the bridge, albeit prone and halfway off.
Meanwhile, more kuo-toas keep springing into the fight. Cram, Briggs and Yggdrasil alternate their actions between Dhorlot and the kuo-toas, keeping them under control/at bay. One kuo-toa, being unable to reach anyone to attack, uproots Yggdrasil's battle standard, something everyone agreed was a "dick move."
Razeteron attempts to smash Dhorlot off the ledge and wounds it heavily, but before he can follow it up with another attack Dhorlot enrages (ie was bloodied) and unleashes another spray of acid at the party, covering everyone with debilitating acid. Vico readies a strike that will allow him to teleport the dragon off the bridge, but before he can attack someone else's attack knocks Dhorlot along the bridge out of melee range. The dragon finally breaks free of the webs and regains mobility, just in time to eat a MASSIVE CRIT by Razeteron that dealt 84 damage, nearly severing its head. Dhorlot reels, near death, and Huron leaps forward to finish it off...and misses. (As is fitting for Huron.) He spends an action point to attack again and finishes it off.
GM: (hands Dale a Black Dragon miniature) That's what an actual black dragon looks like. Mike L: Except it has little buds for oranges. Justin: ...WHAT?
The rest of the kuo-toa horde is thundering over the bridge towards them now, so they quickly cut off Dhorlot's head and stick it in the bag of holding, grab the burned-by-acid, rolled-in-a-standard Zenith and haul ass back through Bhal-Hama. They run through the lower waterfall entrance, through the torture room, and up into the entry landing where they also pause and grab the smoking pair of boots from before. Echoing all throughout the shrine they can hear kuo-toas roaring and pursuing them.
They run out the front door down the steps, all except for Vico who runs into the next room and upstairs so he can leap out of the eye-windows and receive the slow-fall effect. Some whips almost catch him, and are only steps behind him when he leaps out the eye-windows. They don't leap out, but instead start chanting and droning in prayer. Vico hurls his sword at one and skewers it, and Cram magic missiles another one from down below, but more and more join them and further chanting can be heard from inside the temple. A terrible sense of dread starts filling the cavern.
The party hurries down the stairs to cross the watery cave, where the boat is waiting for them at the lake. However they stop in their tracks as a grotesque, fleshy blob with mouths and eyes all over and countless tentacles slowly materializes into view, rising magically out of a shallow stream that crosses the cavern. The party hurriedly readies their weapons, only to see a second, and then a third monster appear farther into the cave, towards the boat, though these ones appear ghostly and unmoving. Vico realizes he knows exactly what these creatures are (natural 20 on Arcana check) - Far Realm Abominations, who are grotesque horrors capable of warping reality and afflicting the mind with powerful nightmares. He also remembers that its mind is splintered into three distinct beings, though he doesn't know what that means.
There is some quick discussion about what to do - some people want to quickly kill the monsters, while others want to just flee and run past them to get to the boat. The monster doesn't wait though, murmuring at Mindbender and Briggs, who suddenly vanish. The rest of the party rushes to the attack, only to get stunned by an unearthly, maddening howl. They are surprised to see the closest monster suddenly stop moving and seem to phase out of reality, becoming transparent and faded, while one of the other forms then turns solid and "awakens", and starts blasting the party with beams of energy that assaults their minds, bodies and health all at once (mechanic: if the attack roll hit any of the target's defenses, it counted as a hit). They quickly realize that the creature is able to act independently three separate times, in any of the three bodies, and only the "active" one can be injured.
Briggs and Mindbender join the fray as they seem to morph out of the flesh of the beasts, Briggs looking even more disheveled and insane than normal. The two start working their way to the back of the room, making for the boat. Vico is unable to shrug off the mental dazing and stands there, reeling while the fight rages on around him. The creature also constantly warps people around the room, punishing anyone who injures it by shunting them to a different location.
One of the bodies raises itself up and engulfs Razeteron, who vanishes, only to reappear on the creature's next turn at a different body. Razeteron appears next to it, only all his gear, clothes, hair, etc. is reversed to what it normally is. Briggs is also sporting a surprisingly long beard. On Razeteron's next turn, the reverse Razeteron charges at Cram and slashes him heavily, almost killing him. Razeteron makes a saving throw after that and reappears where he was engulfted, and the reverse version of him vanishes.
Vico finally manages to break free of the stun effect and uses his second wind, then fey steps next to the beast and misses with both his free attack and his real one. To add injury to insult, he is stunned again immediately afterwards, and knocked into a pit by a thrashing abomination tentacle. Huron is knocked in on top of him, and a short time later so is Razeteron. They both climb out, but Razeteron performs first aid on Vico before climbing out to try to help him shrug off the stun but Vico fails his save AGAIN.
Mindbender and Briggs leap onto the boat, prepared to fight the strange kuo-toa ferryman if necessary, but he just blankly stares at them. They start casting spells and attacking the abomination from aboard the boat, and get the ferryman to bring the boat right up onto the shore, as close to the others as possible. Briggs tries to cast a spell at the horror but critically fails, knocking himself prone in the boat and amusingly knocking Mindbender and the ferryman out into the water.
As the party is struggling to pin down and fight the weird phasing beast, a kuo-toa whip emerges from the entrance and starts hurling lightning bolts into the fray. To the party's displeasure, a short time later a second kuo-toa joins him and starts adding power to the lightning strikes, adding even more urgency to the party's immediate escape. As more and more whips start joining them, throwing thunderous, powerful lightning into the cavern, the party manages to finish off the abomination, grab Yggdrasil and Vico (who are both blinded and leap into the boat. They yell at the ferryman to push off and they drift off into the underground lake, as the whips run up to the edge of the water and simply stare at the departing vessel.
The exhausted but victorious Stormhammers arrive back at town and go to meet Davked and get their reward. Alahind greets them and says that Davked's condition has worsened, but he will take Zenith off their hands and wait to speak to Davked on their behalf. The party is having NONE OF THIS though, and grumpily demand to speak with Davked NOW. Alahind is a bit surprised, but a few minutes later comes back and says a meeting will be possible shortly. They meet with Davked, who is so weak he can't speak, but he nods to his retinue who steps forward and gives the party their reward (4000 gp, I believe it was).
The party also checks in on the armorer to see what could be made from the red dragon corpse. A few minor items have been successfully crafted, but of note is an amazing set of dragonhide armor, which Huron takes. Razeteron inquires about turning the black dragon head into some sort of pauldron or helm. Over the next few days Yggdrasil plans on further working on the church to the Warforged god, and Mindbender wants to renovate and finish up his house.
PARTY REACHES 9TH LEVEL
No comments:
Post a Comment