Post by thedungeonmaster on Nov 16, 2009 16:40:13 GMT 8
This following excerpt is based on a D&D session that took place on Friday the Thirteenth – November 2009 from 2230hrs to the next day at about 0530hrs.
The party of 5 comprises of Tas'sadar - Genasi Warlord (played by Marcus); Mobius – Human Wizard (played by Edmund); Gond Oremighty - Goliath Fighter (played by Eugene); Viona – Human Shaman (played by Alvin); and Lucien - Human Ranger (played by Dominic).
The session starts when the PCs finally recover the Crown of Whispers; and with the help of Silverhelm and the other silver dragons, the party is flown to Cormyr – Suzail. The party puts up at the residence of the noble – Sir Lancaster. Taking the opportunity to recover and stock up on supplies, the heroes are thrown into more complicating issues – both political and non-political.
Sir Lancaster offers the party 5000gp if they are able to tame the wild Stonelands, so that Cormyr could widen its territorial influence. The Purple Dragons and War Wizards of Cormyr have to keep a constant vigil against Netheril. As such, the party’s assistance to aid in the cleansing of the Stonelands would relieve the pressure off from Cormyr a little.
The party then takes a walk along in the streets of Suzail and decide to visit the tavern – Caramon & Friends. At the tavern – through the tavern-keeper, the party learns of a couple believed to be taking in newborn babies along with 100gp for their mercenary services. It is unknown who hires them, and what the newborn babies are for. But the tavern-keeper; Majere, reveals that he had came to Suzail to escape from a nightmare where he found his own baby son dead, drained of blood. And the same thing is happening in Suzail.
The party also meets a bard – Slash Turner; at the tavern who sings of an old Netherese ruin in the King’s Forest of Cormyr known as Elfmound. When the party informs Sir Lancaster that they desire to travel to the King’s Forest as the couple was also last seen there, the noble also admits that Suzail would pay another 5000gp if they are willing to uncover the secret of the Netherese ruin; believed to be secured with a rune that curses would-be travellers with a death curse.
The adventure begins on the 20th day of Tarsakh
Orianthi... the solid female guitarist' or the hot Succubus.... either way would be fine...
Investigating Stonelands
Encounter 1 – Madness on the Plains
The party travel to the Stonelands by riding horses. On the morning of the 5th day of travel, the party arrive at the Stonelands. The horses won’t move further, and the party has no choice but to walk on. Amidst a mild sandstone billowing about the dilapidated ruins, the party encounter shadowy beast-like forms in the haze.
The party realize that they have encountered orc warriors; a huge troll and a small creature - a quickling. But they soon realise that there is more danger as they feel intense heat coming from a woman with wings… a harpy.
Encounter 2 – The Bulette
Advancing towards the pyramid like building, the party are thrown off guard as the earth beneath starts to shake and realise that they have been attacked by a bulette! Having to deal with a swam of young rust monsters and a worg, the party manage to survive the encounter barely, and as they defeat the last of the monsters, Lucien comes running after the party. He had been away and failed to meet up with the rest on time back at Suzail.
Encounter 3 – The Lost Ruins
The party climb down into the pyramid from the peak.
As you enter through the run-down entrance into what seems like a spiral staircase downwards. As you proceed further down, the air becomes cool and moist. You hear the sound of water dripping at the bottom end. Soon, you reach the end of the stairwell. Ahead you can see that a path leads on. But you are surrounded by angry growls as you notice that you seem to have entered some habitat of some underground bestial creatures. But you notice two crazed looking humanoids brandishing their greatswords as they leer at you… you know that they don’t belong from this material plane.
One of them speaks in an ancient sounding tongue
The party eventually realise they are in the company of aberrant creatures – a pair of foulspawn berserkers. And to make it worse, large creatures crawl about the chamber - a grick, bloodspike behemoth and a destrachan. And just when the party thought all was over with…
Encounter 4 – Bloodkiss Beholder
As you move onwards into the next chamber… you freeze as you notice something floating in the air… You recognize this creature… but you know that it seems to be a stronger version…
The huge floating object is actually a big eye-ball with tentacles writhing… it seems to speak to you, “I know of your coming… I know… lay your weapons down… help me in my quest to purify these lands. Your efforts to destroy whatever that is coming your way is futile…”
The party is put to a test as they encounter the true might of the undead bloodkiss beholder, the source of all the beasts ravaging the Stonelands.
Elfmound
The party return to Suzail and claim their monetary reward. Mobius is still unhappy that the clues to the couple taking in newborn babies for an unknown [evil cause] are vague and it irks him. But, the party are led on to investigate the Elfmound. The party decide that with a chance, they can make some sense out of the couple’s deeds as they were last spotted in the King’s Forest, where the Elfmound is situated.
Encounter 1 – The Fey Mound
The PCs arrive at Elfmound and realise that it is actually a fey mound on top of a flat-topped hill. A fey mound where a dead fey being had been buried.
As the guards leave the clearing, you stand and see ahead of you a flat-topped hill. Elfmound, or so they call. You can see that lights seem to be dancing around the hill and you thought you heard some giggling from the hill.
As the party advances towards the mound, a geyser suddenly spurts out from the ground beneath [affecting Viona and Gond; and Gond became very furious as such, and started bitching about who’s great idea it was to come to the Elfmound].
As the hot underground water splashes about, you hear the sound of hooves as you see the shape of a horse appearing atop the mound. It seems to look at you and it starts to speak [in Elven], “Thou hast trespassed thy holy grounds… Mighty heroes, what brings you here? I beseech you to leave as this forest is sacred to powers ancient even than the dragons”. As the horse speaks, you notice something shiny on its forehead… it’s a horn. And behind the creature, you see trees moving and some big-sized humanoids moving about.
The party manage to overcome the encounter by talking to the unicorn, and getting the unicorn to let them pass through.
Encounter 2 – The Seductive Devil
The party manage to break the runes holding the door and avoid the death curse as Lucien managed to invoke the correct Elven chant. The party enter a huge ancient chamber…
As you move on along the dank corridor down, you enter a chamber and notice that you have entered an extremely dim room. In the corner, you see a beautiful lady advancing towards you. She reaches out to you with her hands, smiling with tears streaming down her cheeks, “You have come to rescue me?”
Just then you see a big-sized humanoid coming from behind, it has the head of a bull and it seems to snort in anger as it bellows, “Orianthi~! Stop this madness~!”
Just then you seem to hear the sounds of something scuttling around from the depths of darkness beyond.
The party encounter a Succubus! And a minotaur is behind. The Succubus manage to come to Gond and implants a kiss on him, and he soon becomes infatuated with her; and is unable to attack her, and whoever attacks her, he would protect her.
A figure suddenly appears from the darkness, on top of a large reddish-brown spider. It seems to be an elf, but of a darker creed. He suddenly speaks, “Orianthi… stop fooling around… Your lips are meant only for me.” The elf dismounts and pats the spider on its head and speaks, “Crahtuk! Deal with them for me, won’t you?”
And just as the Succubus charms Gond, a drow appears.
A fierce battle ensues, and the party emerge victorious although after a much dire situation. And the adventure comes to a halt.
The party of 5 comprises of Tas'sadar - Genasi Warlord (played by Marcus); Mobius – Human Wizard (played by Edmund); Gond Oremighty - Goliath Fighter (played by Eugene); Viona – Human Shaman (played by Alvin); and Lucien - Human Ranger (played by Dominic).
The session starts when the PCs finally recover the Crown of Whispers; and with the help of Silverhelm and the other silver dragons, the party is flown to Cormyr – Suzail. The party puts up at the residence of the noble – Sir Lancaster. Taking the opportunity to recover and stock up on supplies, the heroes are thrown into more complicating issues – both political and non-political.
Sir Lancaster offers the party 5000gp if they are able to tame the wild Stonelands, so that Cormyr could widen its territorial influence. The Purple Dragons and War Wizards of Cormyr have to keep a constant vigil against Netheril. As such, the party’s assistance to aid in the cleansing of the Stonelands would relieve the pressure off from Cormyr a little.
The party then takes a walk along in the streets of Suzail and decide to visit the tavern – Caramon & Friends. At the tavern – through the tavern-keeper, the party learns of a couple believed to be taking in newborn babies along with 100gp for their mercenary services. It is unknown who hires them, and what the newborn babies are for. But the tavern-keeper; Majere, reveals that he had came to Suzail to escape from a nightmare where he found his own baby son dead, drained of blood. And the same thing is happening in Suzail.
The party also meets a bard – Slash Turner; at the tavern who sings of an old Netherese ruin in the King’s Forest of Cormyr known as Elfmound. When the party informs Sir Lancaster that they desire to travel to the King’s Forest as the couple was also last seen there, the noble also admits that Suzail would pay another 5000gp if they are willing to uncover the secret of the Netherese ruin; believed to be secured with a rune that curses would-be travellers with a death curse.
The adventure begins on the 20th day of Tarsakh
Orianthi... the solid female guitarist' or the hot Succubus.... either way would be fine...
Investigating Stonelands
Encounter 1 – Madness on the Plains
The party travel to the Stonelands by riding horses. On the morning of the 5th day of travel, the party arrive at the Stonelands. The horses won’t move further, and the party has no choice but to walk on. Amidst a mild sandstone billowing about the dilapidated ruins, the party encounter shadowy beast-like forms in the haze.
The party realize that they have encountered orc warriors; a huge troll and a small creature - a quickling. But they soon realise that there is more danger as they feel intense heat coming from a woman with wings… a harpy.
Encounter 2 – The Bulette
Advancing towards the pyramid like building, the party are thrown off guard as the earth beneath starts to shake and realise that they have been attacked by a bulette! Having to deal with a swam of young rust monsters and a worg, the party manage to survive the encounter barely, and as they defeat the last of the monsters, Lucien comes running after the party. He had been away and failed to meet up with the rest on time back at Suzail.
Encounter 3 – The Lost Ruins
The party climb down into the pyramid from the peak.
As you enter through the run-down entrance into what seems like a spiral staircase downwards. As you proceed further down, the air becomes cool and moist. You hear the sound of water dripping at the bottom end. Soon, you reach the end of the stairwell. Ahead you can see that a path leads on. But you are surrounded by angry growls as you notice that you seem to have entered some habitat of some underground bestial creatures. But you notice two crazed looking humanoids brandishing their greatswords as they leer at you… you know that they don’t belong from this material plane.
One of them speaks in an ancient sounding tongue
The party eventually realise they are in the company of aberrant creatures – a pair of foulspawn berserkers. And to make it worse, large creatures crawl about the chamber - a grick, bloodspike behemoth and a destrachan. And just when the party thought all was over with…
Encounter 4 – Bloodkiss Beholder
As you move onwards into the next chamber… you freeze as you notice something floating in the air… You recognize this creature… but you know that it seems to be a stronger version…
The huge floating object is actually a big eye-ball with tentacles writhing… it seems to speak to you, “I know of your coming… I know… lay your weapons down… help me in my quest to purify these lands. Your efforts to destroy whatever that is coming your way is futile…”
The party is put to a test as they encounter the true might of the undead bloodkiss beholder, the source of all the beasts ravaging the Stonelands.
Elfmound
The party return to Suzail and claim their monetary reward. Mobius is still unhappy that the clues to the couple taking in newborn babies for an unknown [evil cause] are vague and it irks him. But, the party are led on to investigate the Elfmound. The party decide that with a chance, they can make some sense out of the couple’s deeds as they were last spotted in the King’s Forest, where the Elfmound is situated.
Encounter 1 – The Fey Mound
The PCs arrive at Elfmound and realise that it is actually a fey mound on top of a flat-topped hill. A fey mound where a dead fey being had been buried.
As the guards leave the clearing, you stand and see ahead of you a flat-topped hill. Elfmound, or so they call. You can see that lights seem to be dancing around the hill and you thought you heard some giggling from the hill.
As the party advances towards the mound, a geyser suddenly spurts out from the ground beneath [affecting Viona and Gond; and Gond became very furious as such, and started bitching about who’s great idea it was to come to the Elfmound].
As the hot underground water splashes about, you hear the sound of hooves as you see the shape of a horse appearing atop the mound. It seems to look at you and it starts to speak [in Elven], “Thou hast trespassed thy holy grounds… Mighty heroes, what brings you here? I beseech you to leave as this forest is sacred to powers ancient even than the dragons”. As the horse speaks, you notice something shiny on its forehead… it’s a horn. And behind the creature, you see trees moving and some big-sized humanoids moving about.
The party manage to overcome the encounter by talking to the unicorn, and getting the unicorn to let them pass through.
Encounter 2 – The Seductive Devil
The party manage to break the runes holding the door and avoid the death curse as Lucien managed to invoke the correct Elven chant. The party enter a huge ancient chamber…
As you move on along the dank corridor down, you enter a chamber and notice that you have entered an extremely dim room. In the corner, you see a beautiful lady advancing towards you. She reaches out to you with her hands, smiling with tears streaming down her cheeks, “You have come to rescue me?”
Just then you see a big-sized humanoid coming from behind, it has the head of a bull and it seems to snort in anger as it bellows, “Orianthi~! Stop this madness~!”
Just then you seem to hear the sounds of something scuttling around from the depths of darkness beyond.
The party encounter a Succubus! And a minotaur is behind. The Succubus manage to come to Gond and implants a kiss on him, and he soon becomes infatuated with her; and is unable to attack her, and whoever attacks her, he would protect her.
A figure suddenly appears from the darkness, on top of a large reddish-brown spider. It seems to be an elf, but of a darker creed. He suddenly speaks, “Orianthi… stop fooling around… Your lips are meant only for me.” The elf dismounts and pats the spider on its head and speaks, “Crahtuk! Deal with them for me, won’t you?”
And just as the Succubus charms Gond, a drow appears.
A fierce battle ensues, and the party emerge victorious although after a much dire situation. And the adventure comes to a halt.