Total XP: 4234 (level 5 at 5500xp)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Traps and living statues
Next, we went to the force wall and Treble checked it out for traps. He noticed pressure plates in the floor and a hidden control panel. Treble assured everyone that the pressure plates were disabled, but when he stepped on it, he and Aurora were blown back. He managed to trigger the trap two or three times before managing to disable the force wall. At that point, we decided to head back up to rest. Brogar was laying on the trap door, but he let us in when Phelaia spoke to him with her mind. We rested there, and the next morning, under the ostensible cover of augmenting her weapon's accuracy, I got to take a good look at Phelaia's staff. By the creator's sigil imbued onto it, I could see that she is still using the weapon that Nasira made for her. I'm glad to see that it is still serving her well.
We went into the underground lair and again, we drank the magic water. This time, I got the power to discern lies, and Phelaia got the ability to speak with the dead. Colvin, on the other hand, didn't fare so well and ended up feeling quite ill. (That same night, Aurora, Brogar, and I healed him, so he did not have any lasting effects.) We proceeded through the now-disabled force wall and into another room. Through there, Treble told us that he saw a lightning trap ahead into the next room. So several of us crowded into the small anteroom to check it out, and found ourselves shot with poison needles. Ouch. In the end, I bolstered Phelaia with strength and she and Treble headed in to disable the lightning trap.
We found ourselves at another large room with runes on the floor. We were debating the best cautious and tactical approach to take, when Colvin exclaimed "It's time to be bold!" and charged in. Immediately four fire elementals appeared in the runes and all attacked him. He dropped and found himself dying, until I healed him. That's twice now that I've saved his life. Then, after I brought him back up, he was trying to find the best way out of the pickle he'd got himself into, and the best plan he could come up with was to roast the area before fleeing. Unfortunately, Brogar was standing there and wasn't looking too hot, and Colvin pretty much did him in, too. I brought Brogar back up, too, and together we all destroyed the fire elementals. Weaker ones kept appearing as time passed, and Aurora ran over to the brazier and pushed it over, causing it to break into rubble. The runes went dark and the summoning stopped.
We entered the next room, which was filled with statues and a grid of letters on the floor. We checked out the statues (except Aurora who was knocking them over and vandalizing the place). Between Phelaia and me, we weren't able to figure out how to work the puzzle or how to disable the trap. Treble got tired of waiting and put his foot on the letter "C," immediately causing five of the statues to come alive. The statues seemed pretty strong--one of the fist ones dealt a pretty devastating blow to Phelaia right off. I shot some bolts at the crossbow one, hindering its ability to attack, while boosting the abilities of my allies to attack and cause damage to their targets. The cobra statue poisoned Brogar and Mishaan, and after taking a bunch of hits, Brogar dropped again. This time, Colvin helped bring him back up, offering an apology as he healed the paladin.
After defeating the statues, we determined that the puzzle activated a magical teleportation device. After a number of unsuccessful tries, we finally decided to have four of us stand on a letter each spelling "CROW," and the statue that we had put into the teleporter disappeared. Now we know how to activate that when we are ready to come back and go into the vault tomorrow. In the meantime, we healed Colvin and Phelaia talked to the dead, asking them how to get safely to the vault and inquiring about their next planned quests before their deaths. I suggested moving the enchantment from our unused longsword to another weapon, and Aurora was interested in upgrading her mace, so I spent some time in the evening imbuing the magic onto her mace and removing the enchantment from the longsword. I'm happy with the finished product, and I think it will serve her needs well.
We went into the underground lair and again, we drank the magic water. This time, I got the power to discern lies, and Phelaia got the ability to speak with the dead. Colvin, on the other hand, didn't fare so well and ended up feeling quite ill. (That same night, Aurora, Brogar, and I healed him, so he did not have any lasting effects.) We proceeded through the now-disabled force wall and into another room. Through there, Treble told us that he saw a lightning trap ahead into the next room. So several of us crowded into the small anteroom to check it out, and found ourselves shot with poison needles. Ouch. In the end, I bolstered Phelaia with strength and she and Treble headed in to disable the lightning trap.
We found ourselves at another large room with runes on the floor. We were debating the best cautious and tactical approach to take, when Colvin exclaimed "It's time to be bold!" and charged in. Immediately four fire elementals appeared in the runes and all attacked him. He dropped and found himself dying, until I healed him. That's twice now that I've saved his life. Then, after I brought him back up, he was trying to find the best way out of the pickle he'd got himself into, and the best plan he could come up with was to roast the area before fleeing. Unfortunately, Brogar was standing there and wasn't looking too hot, and Colvin pretty much did him in, too. I brought Brogar back up, too, and together we all destroyed the fire elementals. Weaker ones kept appearing as time passed, and Aurora ran over to the brazier and pushed it over, causing it to break into rubble. The runes went dark and the summoning stopped.
We entered the next room, which was filled with statues and a grid of letters on the floor. We checked out the statues (except Aurora who was knocking them over and vandalizing the place). Between Phelaia and me, we weren't able to figure out how to work the puzzle or how to disable the trap. Treble got tired of waiting and put his foot on the letter "C," immediately causing five of the statues to come alive. The statues seemed pretty strong--one of the fist ones dealt a pretty devastating blow to Phelaia right off. I shot some bolts at the crossbow one, hindering its ability to attack, while boosting the abilities of my allies to attack and cause damage to their targets. The cobra statue poisoned Brogar and Mishaan, and after taking a bunch of hits, Brogar dropped again. This time, Colvin helped bring him back up, offering an apology as he healed the paladin.
After defeating the statues, we determined that the puzzle activated a magical teleportation device. After a number of unsuccessful tries, we finally decided to have four of us stand on a letter each spelling "CROW," and the statue that we had put into the teleporter disappeared. Now we know how to activate that when we are ready to come back and go into the vault tomorrow. In the meantime, we healed Colvin and Phelaia talked to the dead, asking them how to get safely to the vault and inquiring about their next planned quests before their deaths. I suggested moving the enchantment from our unused longsword to another weapon, and Aurora was interested in upgrading her mace, so I spent some time in the evening imbuing the magic onto her mace and removing the enchantment from the longsword. I'm happy with the finished product, and I think it will serve her needs well.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
XP for Stormcrow Tor Session #3
Each player gained 372 experience for the session.
Total XP: 3796 (level 4)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Magic water
I found myself urgently awakened in the middle of the night by Colvin, who alerted me to two people descending upon our site. After a few tense moments, Mishaan told us that he had been expecting these two travellers, Phelaia and Brogar. I know Phelaia well, from an encounter several years back where we ended up spending a few months together, but she doesn't know me. She looks to be well, and I am glad to see that. I still carry a lot of gratitude for her for what she did for my mother. I'm still in a bit of shock that she'd wind up here with this lot, and I know I'll have to be careful. At least if I look out for 'er, then I can feel to myself somewhat like I am repaying some of the kindness she showed to my mother way back then. Anyway, she brought a dragonborn with her as well. His name is Brogar, and he said he is Rhogar's brother.
Brogar agreed to watch for attacks from the back, and we went into the underground. It was dark down there, and kind of stinky to boot. Aurora kept insisting that she heard a baby crying. We pursued our way in, and found ourselves up against a bunch of javelin-wielding crow men. They had a witchy type with 'em, who dazed me with force magic, but I retaliated by landing a vital shot with an exceptionally accurate bolt. Treble found himself eaten by a gelatinous cube. We finally took it out, and he saw a sword in the pit. I've never known Treble to pass by any loot, so he climbed into the pit after it, at which point he found himself engulfed in another gelatinous cube. Much cursing ensued on his part, and I did my best to cover my chuckling at 'is predicament. He found a magic longsword down there. None of us carry much interest in it, but when Brogar joins up with us, we might see if he is interested in it.
After clearing the room, we found ourselves with two choices on where to go. We were speculating which direction to take, when Colvin started incanting a ritual and a ghostly hand appeared and suggested that we go to the West. Immediately after getting that divine direction, Colvin decided to go to the East instead, to see what was there. A few of us were debating what to do, and someone mentioned that it could be an idea to seal one of the doors so that nothing would appear at our flank. Colvin exclaimed, "I know just the thing!" and pulled out a nail which he used to seal the East door. After a bit more grumbling we decided to go through the East door, which Colvin had just sealed, in which we found a bunch of stairs, and I could hear dripping water. After determining that it was not a dead end, we turned back, resealed the door, and went through the West set of doors. Through here, we found two rooms: one containing a water fountain, and one containing a bunch of coffins. I saw something hiding between one of the coffins, and I shouted out to it to identify itself. Since it didn't respond, I fired a warning shot and battle ensued. They started exclaiming about "Nobody touch the dragon!" and Aurora went in. A bunch of guys threw javelins at her, and she touched the dragon skeleton, which only succeeded in making them enraged.
I went in so I could help watch Aurora's back, and a bunch of the bastards shot javelins at me, too. One in particular caught me completely unawares since I couldn't see so well in there and I had to retreat and heal myself before going back in to keep an eye on Aurora. I intervened during a few of their attacks and shortly thereafter, the battle was over. We found two of the coffins to be labelled with the names of two of the dead adventurers from the Stormcrow Company: Ullugi Swordbreaker, and Emerald Warlock. After clearing the room, we went to check out the fountain. It was clear to me and to Phelaia that the water was magic. I speculated that drinking it would give us some magic effect, but couldn't be sure without more research what the effect would be. Phelaia's an impulsive young girl and went and took a big swallow. She told us that she felt great and thought she could resist elemental damage. I'm glad she was alright, and to be honest, I really wanted to see what it was like, too, so I drank some as well. I felt like I could commune with the dead.
Colvin didn't believe me, and challenged me to go ask them a question, so I went and asked Ullugi if he could hear me. He said "Yes," in a ghostly voice. That was all the reassurance that Colvin needed, so he drank as well, and said he felt like he could determine whether someone was being honest. I thought it'd be a good idea to take him with me as I went to ask Ullugi and Emerald another question, so he came as I asked them to recount the events of the past fifteen years. An argument ensued between the two of them, and I think I've broken it down to the following main facts:
1) It's a definite possibility that the Wrathstone, the artifact we're looking for, has been made into a necklace. If so, Agera took it.
2) They got the necklace from the lich; Ullugi took it from the Lich after killing it; Emerald had had it paralyzed and he and Agera were killing its bodyguards.
3) Agera killed both Ullugi (dagger) and Emerald (trap on the force wall)
4) Emerald trapped her in the vault and cursed her; likely resulting in her death.
5) The platinum key that we found is the last remaining key, either to the vault or to the force wall, they weren't terribly clear on this point.
I think I'll drink the water again tomorrow!
Brogar agreed to watch for attacks from the back, and we went into the underground. It was dark down there, and kind of stinky to boot. Aurora kept insisting that she heard a baby crying. We pursued our way in, and found ourselves up against a bunch of javelin-wielding crow men. They had a witchy type with 'em, who dazed me with force magic, but I retaliated by landing a vital shot with an exceptionally accurate bolt. Treble found himself eaten by a gelatinous cube. We finally took it out, and he saw a sword in the pit. I've never known Treble to pass by any loot, so he climbed into the pit after it, at which point he found himself engulfed in another gelatinous cube. Much cursing ensued on his part, and I did my best to cover my chuckling at 'is predicament. He found a magic longsword down there. None of us carry much interest in it, but when Brogar joins up with us, we might see if he is interested in it.
After clearing the room, we found ourselves with two choices on where to go. We were speculating which direction to take, when Colvin started incanting a ritual and a ghostly hand appeared and suggested that we go to the West. Immediately after getting that divine direction, Colvin decided to go to the East instead, to see what was there. A few of us were debating what to do, and someone mentioned that it could be an idea to seal one of the doors so that nothing would appear at our flank. Colvin exclaimed, "I know just the thing!" and pulled out a nail which he used to seal the East door. After a bit more grumbling we decided to go through the East door, which Colvin had just sealed, in which we found a bunch of stairs, and I could hear dripping water. After determining that it was not a dead end, we turned back, resealed the door, and went through the West set of doors. Through here, we found two rooms: one containing a water fountain, and one containing a bunch of coffins. I saw something hiding between one of the coffins, and I shouted out to it to identify itself. Since it didn't respond, I fired a warning shot and battle ensued. They started exclaiming about "Nobody touch the dragon!" and Aurora went in. A bunch of guys threw javelins at her, and she touched the dragon skeleton, which only succeeded in making them enraged.
I went in so I could help watch Aurora's back, and a bunch of the bastards shot javelins at me, too. One in particular caught me completely unawares since I couldn't see so well in there and I had to retreat and heal myself before going back in to keep an eye on Aurora. I intervened during a few of their attacks and shortly thereafter, the battle was over. We found two of the coffins to be labelled with the names of two of the dead adventurers from the Stormcrow Company: Ullugi Swordbreaker, and Emerald Warlock. After clearing the room, we went to check out the fountain. It was clear to me and to Phelaia that the water was magic. I speculated that drinking it would give us some magic effect, but couldn't be sure without more research what the effect would be. Phelaia's an impulsive young girl and went and took a big swallow. She told us that she felt great and thought she could resist elemental damage. I'm glad she was alright, and to be honest, I really wanted to see what it was like, too, so I drank some as well. I felt like I could commune with the dead.
Colvin didn't believe me, and challenged me to go ask them a question, so I went and asked Ullugi if he could hear me. He said "Yes," in a ghostly voice. That was all the reassurance that Colvin needed, so he drank as well, and said he felt like he could determine whether someone was being honest. I thought it'd be a good idea to take him with me as I went to ask Ullugi and Emerald another question, so he came as I asked them to recount the events of the past fifteen years. An argument ensued between the two of them, and I think I've broken it down to the following main facts:
1) It's a definite possibility that the Wrathstone, the artifact we're looking for, has been made into a necklace. If so, Agera took it.
2) They got the necklace from the lich; Ullugi took it from the Lich after killing it; Emerald had had it paralyzed and he and Agera were killing its bodyguards.
3) Agera killed both Ullugi (dagger) and Emerald (trap on the force wall)
4) Emerald trapped her in the vault and cursed her; likely resulting in her death.
5) The platinum key that we found is the last remaining key, either to the vault or to the force wall, they weren't terribly clear on this point.
I think I'll drink the water again tomorrow!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
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