Maave and Kad’s cunning plan worked a treat! The two gnoll guards were fast asleep as we snuck our horses and cart down the corridor and out the main gate without incident. We decided to ride all the way back to Neiklot thinking we would get a better price on our treasure.
Maave utilized all his skills and was able to get us top dollar on our items from the dragon hoard. In fact he was able to get 1,000 GP for the gold serpent statue. (There was a vicious rumor circulating that he actually received 2,000 GP, but Maave wouldn’t do that to his other adventurers, would he?) Apparently, dressing as a woman seems to get a better value from his victims, er cough, cough customers. Anyway, we all received 1,060 GP to add to our accounts.
We noticed banners around town advertising that the beautiful and talented Steele Gazelle (or Pronghorn, as Maave insisted on calling her) was performing that night at the Diamond Spider. We decided to take in the show. Maave showed up still in his female disguise. Kad sent a note to us via his raven saying he was ill and was going to turn in early.
We arrived and were shown to a booth with a great view of the stage, where other dancers and acrobats were performing before the big show. We had just finished our first round of drinks, when another round of drinks were brought to us. The waitress pointed out a young man sitting nearby as our benefactor.
We invited him to our table and he introduced himself as Korvin. One of our party remembered that a local Earl had a son named Korvin. Turns out, he was the self same fellow. He told us he had been tasked with researching the growing dark powers in and around the Temple of Elemental Evil, and was looking for hardy adventurers to assist him. He said he was a user of magic and made many magical items useful to a party such as ours. He seemed a nice enough young man, with many resources and financial backing (as Maave quickly pointed out), so we decided to let him join our little band.
The next day, we took a tour of the Gnome Tech shop. There were many strange and wonderous items, and many that would come in handy in a fight, but sadly the prices were too much for our pocketbooks to handle.
Kad sent another note to us saying he had contracted Dysentery and was forced to rest in town close to his physicians (and the chamber pot). So the rest of us made ready and headed back to the Temple. After 3 days we arrived. We decided to leave our cart (which we had purchased in Neiklot) and the horses outside in a make-shift corral with plenty of food and water.
We entered the main gate quietly, with Maave scouting ahead. As we neared the main corridor, he heard footsteps coming from his left. With Oren waiting in hiding, he stepped out into the corridor and shouted “Holy *(&$#@, someone left the gate open!”, and ran away from the guards. The guards started chasing him and then Oren stepped out and quickly sent them into the next life. Two more were following so Korvin stepped out and set them on fire. Oren finished them off as well. We hid the bodies in a side room and cleaned the area up as best as we could.
Close by was another closed room. Maave listened through the door and thought there were a couple more gnolls inside. All of us hid in the main corridor, while Phidias entered the room disguised as a priest, and shouted “Intruders, come quickly”, and ran back to his waiting companions. Two gnolls quickly followed him and were taken out. Two more had snuck through a back door and came upon us from another room, but they too succumbed.
We decided to use the ore carts once again, and explore to tracks that went to the right of the main corridor. We had not gotten far when a passageway opened on our left. We got out and discovered a stone statue of a gnoll. Upon further inspection, Oren realized this was too detailed to have been a statue, this had once been a living gnoll. Maave scouted ahead silently and came upon a second stone gnoll. At the back of the cavern he discovered a basilisk that was sound asleep. Maave crept back to the party and we formed our plan.
Korvin cast Haste on Oren and Maave. He also cast Fly and Invisibility on Oren. Oren flew silently towards the basilisk until he was right above his head. Meanwhile, Maave snuck in until he was next to the beast. Phidias prepared his healing spells and was holding the Stone Salve just in case…
When all was ready, Maave once again came through with a mighty (and lucky) thrust of his sword and stabbed the creature in his nether regions. It died before it could awaken. Oren cut off it’s head and it was put into a sack to be used possibly as a weapon. Korvin also collected some blood and other samples. Sadly, there were no other treasures in the cavern. And so we travel on…
Forgot to mention that we also skinned the green dragon, with the intent to sell the hide in town. Maave also took the dragon’s claws and teeth. Oren offered to craft a necklace out of the claws and teeth for him, or perhaps to inlay them into his leather armor. Maave had mentioned using one of the hollowed out teeth as a cod piece, until it was pointed out that this was only a large dragon and the teeth were probably no bigger than that of one of our horses. With Maave being elven, Oren wondered if perhaps that would be enough, but didn’t really want to go there…
As we were loading our loot from the four-armed ape’s nest, we were surprised by a large green dragon, who claimed the treasure was his (cheeky). Having fought a dragon in the past, albeit a smaller one, Oren yelled “spread out”, and headed for cover behind an ore cart. Maave took cover behind a cave wall. The others seemed frozen on the spot.
Maave decided to try conversing with the beast (still from behind the wall). He spun a tale that would make the great bards proud! He almost had the dragon convinced to let us go our way unscathed…almost.
Alas, the dragon made up his mind to take our treasure and our lives. Oren put a couple arrows into him, just before he loosed his dragon breath upon us, causing much damage to all but Maave (still behind the wall), and burning up our priestly disguises.
In the mean time, Maave drank a potion of Invisibility and began making his way behind the dragon. Phidias was busy healing everyone, and Kad did some damage with a fireball, that singed the beast. Then he cast an Enlarge spell on Oren. Just then, we were hit with another blast from the dragon’s maw.
Oren used his Helm of Glorious Recovery so he could continue to keep the dragon’s attention. Meanwhile, with some prompting from Phidias, Maave attacked from behind with a mighty stroke of his dagger. He hit the dragon so hard he punctured his lung. The beast doubled over and croaked out his last breath.
After an exuberant celebration, and lots of healing, we barricaded ourselves in the dragon’s lair and rested for the night.
The next morning, we got back into the ore carts and headed further into the mine. We didn’t get far before we found the end of the tracks and a 40 foot tall conveyor system. The building seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. We decided it would make a nice base of operation, but we wanted to get our treasure back to town and replenish our supplies. We climbed back into the carts and headed back up the tracks the way we had come.
We made it back to the room where we had stashed our wagon without incidence. Maave made a careful survey of the area. The room with the wagon was undisturbed, thankfully. However, he heard voices through the door that led to the main passageway out. After checking under the door, he determined there were at least two Knoll guarding the passageway.
Our plan is to wait until they are opposite the door, then Maave will throw the door open, while Kad casts Sleep on them. We can only hope that will leave us with a clear way out…
After losing our iron cart to the rust monster during the last encounter, we decided to go back and get another cart. Luckily, there were 2 still operable, so we took both, with 2 adventurers in each.
We hadn’t gone far when we encountered a large passageway on our right. Kad sent his raven down to check it out. He came back and reported that something had been living there, but wasn’t home right now.
Maeve was not to be stopped, he had to check it out. We entered a large room with primitively (in Oren’s opinion) decorated walls. In one corner was a levitated terra cotta pyramid. After determining that it was magic but not evil, Maeve decided to make a grab for it. He discovered it was the smoothest thing he ever picked up. After several attempts to secure it, it dropped to the floor and shattered. In it’s place there appeared a large, hairy, four-armed ape-like creature with a mouth full of teeth.
Maeve was the first to be attacked and was beat up pretty badly. He promptly moved back. Oren got several hits on it but was disappointed to discover that his damage was not as much as he hoped. The monster seemed to be hurt more by magic missiles, flaming swords, and Phidias’ mace.
Over time, we whittled away at the fiend and he was eventually bested. We searched his habitation and discovered: 980 GP; 2100 GP worth of gems; a gold serpent statue (200 GP) weighing 200 lbs.; a large masterwork shield with a green dragon emblem on it (320 GP); a Scroll of See Invisibility; and a Scroll of Alter Self.
After healing up a bit, we headed back to the ore carts. Just as we were getting ready to enter the carts, we heard a voice saying “Where are you going with my possessions!”. We turned to find ourselves facing a large green dragon…
So the last few weeks have been spent with a combination of working our way through this multi layered dungeon. collecting some treasure and getting a feel for this world. Then traveling back and forth from dungeon to city every few days for supplies and news.
Upon spending some time in the city we all have found connections within the city that are useful to each of us in our own right. my momentary thoughts of being the lone wizard in a land went away pretty quickly. It seems that there are indeed wizards here but we are a hunted lot. The sorcerers here took control long ago and effectively killed off most of the wizard influence and now the wizards hide like criminals. Sad though it may be that this land is missing most of what would be the greatest researches it could have had. I at least am glad to have some kind of colleagues to speak with.
The rest of my companions spent their time in various ways Oren found his way into the merchants guild and the young Teagan into the thieves guild Phidius spends most of is time spouting rhetoric at anybody in ear shot. The other dwarf of the party has decided to leave the party and go his own way in an unknown land. he was always a bit quite and now he is silent.
One of the main ways we have pasted time and earned some gold and a bit of notoriety is at the arena. it is a large part of the city economy here everyone goes and a lot of money moves within its walls. At first my companions took their turns their as i did not want to reveal myself as a wizard. They did well in their way. Brought in some gold and some useful items. got our parties names out there a bit as a force to be respected.
As for my wizards guild i have done some training and research with them a worthy lot of casters. i have yet to meet the head of the order but i am hoping to get there soon, as they came to me with a request from him. The prices on all magical items around town have been going up because there is a group of clerics with and odd triangle symbol in gold and black on their robes that are buying them all up. The leader of my guild wishes for me to find out the source of these clerics.
After some experiments the wizards noticed that the aura of my magic doesn’t fit as wizard or really sorcerer. So the plan that we came up with was for me to go to the arena and compete to get the attention of the sorcerers. And hopefully they wouldn’t see me for what i am.
So my turn came up for the arena. This inst something that i really looked at as fitting for someone of my standing but duty calls i suppose. It was decided for me and Oren to go in together. The first to rounds of battle we went through with relative ease. The last round though turned out to be battle worth of bards tales indeed. i had to expend every spell at my disposal just to survive.
At the end of the battle i was escorted by armed guards to speak with the sorcerers. I was worried i did not know how it was going to go. The thought of spending a night in prison wasn’t appealing. But as I spoke with them and they asked me where i was from and where because they had not heard of me before. I told them that i was from a small village in the north that my family have all been casters and it was of its own kind that many had talked about how and why our family was a little different. All those years of lieing to nobles and ealing with lieing nobles pays off at last i suppose.
The told me that all sorcerers must register in the city so i had to sign and was not pleased to learn that with this registration came some kind of locate spell so that they can now know where i am. I am going to have to avoid going to the wizards hide out until i can break this spell.
As for the clerics buying all of the magic items in the city it seems that the government knows as little as anyone else. Seeing the prowess i had in the arena they asked for my assistance in finding out about them and that this request was backed by the king himself. And with similar requests from all of the parties respective guilds we decided to ask around and watch for these clerics and follow them to where they are taking the magic items to.
The group had set out on a chase following a caravan of wagons driven by a group of evil clerics that the king as well as other factions want to know more about. As the group reached Hommlet the caravan seemed to vanish from sight. Asking around town for some clues and information they learned that the owner of the shop Potions&Elixirs has gone missing and that he had on occasion walked down to the old moathouse. Without a good way to continue their chase of the caravan for the time being they decided to venture down the 10mi. to look for spoonwar. On the way down they came across a trapper/hunter that told them that if spoonwar went down there then he is dead cause there was a dragon there.
COMBAT
before the party ever reached the door phidius was pulled off his horse by a giant frog of some kind and nearly eaten whole. other than that the frog fell quickly with most of the fight being done on horseback and kad never leaving his wagon seat. Just past the courtyard the party did indeed run into a dragon. A very young blue dragon that had seemingly just made this place its home. The first to make a move was Teagan and what a move it was taking a quick dash to the left and a well aimed shot with a cross bow (crit) piercing the belly of the beast and knocking it out of the air and leveling the feild. (much to the DMs dismay). But the dragon was quick to take its revenge and shot a bolt of lightening straight at Teagan taking all but 2 of his htipoints in one go. Orin in a true Dwarvish fasion went on a sprint straight at the dragon while Phidius took moment to heal his wounded ally Kad began his casting by summoning a flaming sphere of fire behind the dragon. The dragon took its next move by setting about thrashing Orin with a full round of attacks biting and beating its wings. Teagan since he had such luck before continued on with a circle to the left and another crossbow shot (1hp). phidius began his move towards the dragon and the dragon took this chance moment to fire another blast of lightening hitting Orin, Phidius, and Kad as they lined up in front of him. Not doing nearly as much damage as the straight shot Teagan took but they still felt all the worse for the wear(especially the old wizard). Teagan continued to circle and fire but not doing any real damage but with hopes to gain a flanking position opposite Oren. Phidius got to Orin for some healing and went about Thumping the dragon with his mace. Kad fired off a few spells summoning a skeleton to destract the dragon and throwing his mighty sword right past the dragon….. Thankfully the party was able to finish the dragon off the rest of the way without having to take too much more damage. The puddle As the party set about searching the rest of this old fort and being a little more disappointed then they should have been at not finding a dragons horde of treasure and instead finding a couple corpses one sporting the insignia of the clerics we were chasing. The party went into one of the side rooms and stepped into a puddle that hit back. Not the hardest fight for them after fighting off a dragon they even found it in themselves to joke while fighting. After searching the rest of the rooms they find that there are two sets of stairs going down. After some thought the party decided to pick a room and get some rest because they do not know what waits below.
TREASURE
Dragon 😛 = Cleric corpse>chainmail armor,+1 heavy mace,Scroll cure light wounds,24gp,a very pretty lilac colored stone mask; corpse 2>Masterwork studded leather armor,long sword,+1 short bow,12 arrows of pointyness,13gp,jade peices x3; Assorted Treasure from rooms>long sword,gold chain,34 gp,3pp,33cp,scalemail armor, light crossbow, 24 bolts of dragon felling
I have begun this journal to chronicle my travels and to keep a log of my thoughts as I find my way through this strange new world. We will see where this leads us. So waking up with more than a little confusion in a city that was but wasn’t where I fell asleep we got back to Morabin he filled us in on his story and reasoning for stealing us away from our homeland. He says that there is an evil power that is corrupting this dimension and that we are needed to combat it and that my powers as a wizard are of particular need. I for one wonder just how long this archmage has been walking the planes. I remember hearing about Morabin the storyteller when I was fairly young he was described as old even then. It seems that there are no wizards native to this plane a very odd idea to me. I am going to have to make a trip to the city library on our return I need to know the arcane history of this land. I wonder if there is much of a sorcerers guild they might be able to tell us some of where this evil originated. As for my family on this plane my father appears to be king. But it raises an odd idea to me is there another kadatheron on this plane or did we trade planes. I will have to remember to ask Morabin some of my curiosities. As for the group that I find myself traveling with they seem to be a group of varying talents and skills. Phidious the young cleric will have his place they always do despite my unease with clergy. I will just have to watch what I say in front of him. Not too hard he has his eyes in the future trying to build his gods temple. The dwarves also rather young respectively are very different from each other seemingly. We have one Oren that looks and behaves to be what any dwarf would be proud to have in their family line a talented fighter and a wizard we always have use for a front line defense. The other Argus a ranger and any dwarf that chooses the woods over a cave or smithy has in my opinion something he is hiding or hiding from he remains for now quiet about himself but a useful companion on the road none the less. As for the young half elf writing this I am becoming aware of just how young they all are… But back to Teagan the aspiring thief he has a mind and inclination that I can find very helpful in my ventures. As we take rest from our battles with the vermin that have taken home in this dungeon I feel more at ease after finding some scrolls. I had a worry that my studies would suffer having only sorcerers in this land. I could make quite a name for myself in these lands being the only wizard around…. A thought for another time. I wonder what lies in the deeper levels of this dungeon.
Early in Gazza’s campaign; Kad was a Wizard, a href=”/host/unknown/characters/morabin”>Morabin was a fighter (?), Teagan was a ranger.