Deep in the Darken Wood, facing down a
band of ghastly ghosties, the party had avoided a potentially deadly
fight due to Brevofurgins quick thinking and his knowledge of the
Ergothian tongue. They agreed to follow the head-ghost-in-charge into
the heart of the forest.
The twisted branches and sinister mists
of the Darken Wood concealed a hidden glade. Standing on a rocky
promontory was a magnificent (and sexy) beast: a powerful spirit in
the form of a silver unicorn! Communicating telepathically, the
Unicorn introduced itself as Forestmaster, laird of this realm.
Forestmaster told the heroes that it
had been visited by a Glorious Radiant Being (GRB) who foretold their
imminent arrival. The GRB gave Forestmaster instructions to pass on
to the party. Forestmaster explained that a fearsome army would soon
overrun Abanasinia, and that the only chance to defeat it was to get
the bearer of the BCS to the sunken city of Xak-Tsaroth. In
Xak-Tsaroth waited a great danger, but also a great prize.
 |
| Friendship is Magic! |
Forestmaster was hep to helping our
troupe out, and he summoned his pal Cloud-splitter and his flock of
pegasi to carry the heroes to the Eastwall Mountains. The group had
already determined that they should head to Xak-Tsaroth, and sensing
no treachery they were more than happy to catch a quick flight.
Before they left the glade, they asked the Forestmaster a few
questions, learning that the “prize” was a set of metallic disks
engraved with holy scripture – the Disks of Mishakal.
There was a mid-flight long rest and
then the party was deposited in the eastern reaches of the great
plains of Abanasinia. As they disembarked, they noticed a pillar of
black smoke rising from the western horizon. Goldmoon spazzed-out,
screaming that her village lay in the direction of the burning. The
party debated it, but agreed to a detour on behalf of the princess.
By the time they got to Que-Shu
village, it was too late. The dragon-armies had totally ransacked the
place. Nobody was left alive. Just in case it was not obvious,
mustache twirling villian, Highlord Verminaard had left a note
claiming responsibility. The party made sure to underline and circle
his name several times so they would remember to kill him later.
The party hightailed it back toward the
Eastwall Mountains and the swamps beyond. They crossed through the
Forsaken Pass and made camp high in the mountains, where they had a
better view of the countryside. At dawn on their 4th day
since leaving Solace, the party trudged down from the mountains and
into the swamps.
Brevofurgins took point, stealthily
moving about 100 feet ahead of the group. This proved useful when he
found that their path was blocked by a nest of fearsome saltwater
Crocs! Having not killed anything since last session, the group
decided to charge in rather than find a way around. A battle ensued
between our protagonists and a force of crocodiles, will-o-wisps, and
one giant crocodile. This time the heroes paid extra attention to
battle tactics and it paid off big time.
Continuing through the mucky-muck, they
were at the outskirts of the ruined city. The path into town was
suspiciously blocked by a giant log. Smelling an ambush, Brevofurgins
scouted it out once again, discovering a force of Draconians waiting
for them. The party was able to pre-buff for this encounter,
providing an early edge.
This time the Draconians had a few
tricks of their own – there was a new type of dragon-man, a larger,
meaner spell-casting variety that exploded when killed. They also had
a pet shambling mound who had nearly 150 hit points. Once again, the
party's tactics were superb (and they were rolling great all night)!
Keys to the battle included a crucial use of entanglement, a divide
and conquer strategy, and forcing the powerful shambling mound to
attack Grundlesnatch (high AC) or Solaire (high HP) only. This DM was
impressed.
Before they stepped up to the streets,
the party wanted some additional intel. Salvin knocked one of the
Bozak's unconscious and the party determined to question it before
they took a long rest. The Bozak was a real anus and would not answer
any questions until Marshall ensorcelled him.
The Bozak told them that Xak-Tsaroth
had been the staging ground for the army that destroyed Que-Shu. He
further revealed that several armies had attacked Abanasinia all at
once. Haven was to be attacked on the fifth day! The armies here were
called the “Red Dragon-Army” and the field-commander was this
Verminaard guy. Verminaard had left a garrison in Xak-Tsaroth along
with a black dragon called Onyx. Onyx was guarding something
important.
What really got everybody upset was
when the Bozak described the death of Chief Arrowthorn, Goldmoon's
father. Having taken a liking to the princess and not wanting this
fiend to torture her with his filthy talk, Grundlesnatch and
Brevofurgins cut him down! It was time to get serious.
Nothing now stood between the heroes
and the sunken city. They followed the broken cobblestone streets
towards a natural confluence – a great plaza at the center of the
city. Brevofurgins scouting revealed a force of 9 Baaz, 2 Bozak and 2
flying devils (Green Ashibai). The party pre-buffed and Brevofurgins
fired a stealth shot to start the battle.
Solaire's initiative feat paid off and
he launched a devastating flame strike on the enemies' leadership.
The damage was enough to kill both Bozak outright and bring one Devil
into the danger zone. Marshall followed this up by casting a sleep
spell, which put the injured Devil crashing into slumber. The rest of
the party spread out to intercept the charging Baaz.
At some point in the battle, Princess
Goldmoon seemed to be under a magical compulsion and went running off
toward a temple-building in the east. Brevofurgins tried to intercept
her but she juked him and got away. The party was mopping up the
opposition WHEN THE DRAGON APPEARED!
 |
| Onyx would like a word with you.., |
Flying out of a well-shaft in the
center of the plaza, the HEWJ DRAGON Onyx flew into the air and cast
a spell shrouded herself in impenetrable darkness. The party wasn't
prepared to deal with such witchcraft and so they continued to kill
the last remaining dragon-men on the ground, hoping the dragon would
just go away or something. I do recall that both Grundlesnatch and
Marshall got in some shots on Onyx as she emerged, but nothing
significant.
On its second round, Onyx hocked back,
and delivered an acid loogie that struck Solaire and Salvin. The
Dragon was no joke – Soliare took 57 damage dropping him out of his
final wildshape and all the way down to 1 point away from
perma-death. It was quite shocking. Luckily for our heroes, that was
apparently all the dragon felt like doing that day and it roared off
down the well like a bat out of hell. The party killed the final
dragon-man and we called it for the night.
 |
| Solaire had some bad Acid |
Wow. This session was the tits. It was
dominated by three back to back combats, but somebody had managed to
balance them fairly well (despite the DEADLY SURPRISE at the end
there). Everybody seemed to enjoy it, and I know I can't wait to see
what kind of shananigans they get up to in Xak-Tsaroth's dungeons.
Hi-ho Silver!
DM CHAS
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