8/9/17
We are meeting at the Diamond Spider. We meet a Bard, named, Karandaman. He sings a song of the
Wyrmshadow battle and tells the crowd that several heroes of the battle are in attendance.
Modax tells us about nightmares he’s been having. Balders has them too. They involve birds and wings
and they wake up in a cold sweat and are getting fatigued. Modax asks Karandaman if he has any
suggestions to help. He casts Lesser Restoration on Modax. He feels better and the exhaustion goes
away.
Karandaman suggest they go to the temple of Apollo to see what they would suggest. For 100 GP, the
priests will perform an augury. They take Modax into a room of contemplation. The priest clean him to
go before the Gods. They give him a pamphlet with words to memorize.
They take him to a small room with a small altar. Modax stands before the altar and says the words.
The priests chant in rhythms. The dreams come out of Modax and the priests recoil, the bells ring and
there is chaos.
A senior priest comes into the room. He tells Modax he has been cursed. It is tied to his blood. He tells
the priest that his brother also has the same dreams. The priest thinks that all his siblings are cursed.
They cannot remove it without all three being present.
They tell Karandaman what the situation is. They tell him this sounds like Divine Magic. They would
require more funds to look into it further.
Modax asks Balders where Raxhanne is, but he doesn’t know. Spider Bras was going to be helping her
with a project.
They go back to the Diamond Spider. Spider is not currently in. We ask his lieutenants about Spider,
and one named Tepo comes to us and tells us that Spider is missing. Modax tells him we are looking for
Raxhanne. Tepo tells us she is looking for Demon Blood to improve her powers. Spider gave her a book
with a map leading to a forgotten temple two days ride away.
Tepo introduces us to Aaro Anseraat, a Fighter. He is a skinny human in his mid-twenties. He will travel
with us to help find Spider. He is good with a sword, long range weapons, and will never get lost in the
city.
It takes us about a day to organize the party.
The next day, Modax’s exhaustion is back. He had bad dreams again. We go to the temple of Apollo
and purchase a minor Sun Stone. It has 10 charges of Lesser Restoration. Meena gives them 500 GP for
it.
We head out. We ride hard and long. We get to the base of a mountain. We have to climb from here.
We camp for the night. We find a campsite, and unpack the horses. We start to cook a meal and are
overwhelmed by a swarm of rats.
The horses bolt.
Meena uses her Javelin of Lightening and burns several rats and stabs a few with the javelin.
Karandaman casts Bardic Inspiration on Balders as a bonus action. Then he casts Sleep on the remaining
rats.
Modax casts Thunderwave and takes out the rest of the rats.
We rest the remainder of the night. Balders hears something during the night, but he can’t see it.
We wake up and see words scratched in the dirt in three languages, saying “Go Away”. It looks like it
was made by a human finger. Something tried to conceal their tracks, but they seem to come from
nowhere and go nowhere. Balders wonders if it might have been a type of bird creature.
Meena goes out and in two hours finds all the horses and brings them back to camp.
Karandaman casts Song of Rest and heals the horses, Modak, and Balders back.
Meena feels something and the horses nicker. A swarm of ravens attack us out of the sky.
**
Karandaman casts Bardic Inspiriation on Meena.
Meena uses her Javelin and burns several with lightening and pierces several.
The ravens do damage to Aaro.
Aaro holds his rapier and several ravens impale themselves.
Balders swings with is great axe and crits the swarm. They are all dead.
**
Modax is curled up in a ball. His dreams have been about birds. He is losing his sanity, but manages to
hold on. Karandaman talks to him and calms him down.
Meena sees the remainder of the swarm form the word “leave”. She says nothing after seeing Modax’s
reaction.
Karandaman uses the Sun Stones and casts Lesser Restoration on Modax and Balders.
The swarms seem to be trying to move us away from where the temple is on the map.
We find a place to keep the horses about a mile from the camp.
Meena is able to find an old trailhead, in about 4 hours. It goes up and switches back and goes out of
sight. The party moves up the trail.
Karandaman hears something.
A sprite appears in front of Meena, tries to shoot an arrow, but breaks it’s bow. Meena says “Yes?”, and
it flies off.
Meena shoots it and takes it out.
Meena sees 3 vultures circling the party, but says nothing.
We are passing an old tree, and it swings a branch at Meena, hitting her.
Meena hits it 3 times with her swords.
Balders attacks with his axe, hitting it once.
Modax casts Chill Touch on the tree.
Aaro casts Firebolt, hitting it. It is also on fire.
Karandaman casts Bardic Inspiration on Meena. Then he throws a dagger at the tree, hitting it.
**
Meena hits the tree twice and it falls across our path.
Modax suggests we try to speak with an animal and let them know we mean them no harm. We are just
trying break the curse.
We take a short rest so Meena can learn the spell.
We head up the trail, past the burning tree, which has burned down well.
Meena looses the trail, and falls looking for it. As she stumbles, 3 skeletons jump her.
**
Aaro casts Firebolt, hitting one.
Meena drinks a potion of Healing.
Modax cast Chill Touch, but misses.
Karanaman casts Healing Word on Meena, healing her a bit more.
Balders moves up the hill toward the skeletons, clambering on the rocks.
The skeletons miss Meena.
**
Aaro casts Firebolt hitting one.
Meena takes out two of the skeletons.
Modax casts Chill Touch on the remaining skeleton, hitting it.
Karanadaman casts Bardic Inspiration on Meena.
Balders moves closer.
The skeleton misses.
We take out the remaining skeleton.
Meena drinks another potion of Healing.
Karandaman sings his Song of Rest healing back another 6 pts.
==========================
You take a rest along to ancient road to the temple at the peak, awaiting what new powers of nature will be directed at you. As before, Modax and Balders gain no benefit from resting (but the sun stone keeps the exhaustion at bay) and you get a sense of urgency because you will not be able to complete a long or short rest to regain powers/spells used. Meena is communing with the land, trying desperately to figure out how the powers of nature have been turned against even herself – a ranger. She mutters prayers to Apollo and thanks to every god and goddess she can think of. Karandaman overhears Meena and joins in the prayers. The ground softly begins to tremble. Balders yells and grabs his axe, looking for the next opponent. Meena stands and the world spins wildly around her… weapons and held items drops as she staggers. Karandaman gets a vision of weal and woe. A voice speaks to everyone but is hear by no beast… “The path is fraught with peril and a cause you do not understand. From nature have you taken, and now nature takes in return. Meena will guide you in spirit, but the energy of her form will go to repair the damage you have done over time. Now go, and seek your fortune… and I pray it will find a way to work within the great mother’s vision!”
==========================
Story Only: The group decides to wait for Meena to recover.
10/19/17
Modax comes down with dysentery, so he goes back and guards the horses.
We look up the hill for a space to rest. We make our way up the trail. We go up the switchback, about
60 feet from a ledge. We notice many animals paralleling our trail. We find a place to camp that is
defensible.
Karandaman casts Leomund’s Tiny Hut. We also set watches. A few animals come close, but move off.
There is a crow that lands on the hut.
Meena tells the party she is going to go talk to the crow. She asks him why they are following them. It
says “Go, go, go”. She asks why. He can’t answer. She asks who is at the top? He says Daigun. She
asks if Daigun is human like her. The crow says “wings”. She asks why Daigun wants us gone. He can’t
answer. He asks for food. We give him food. Meena asks him if he can tell the other animals not to
attack us. He says “food”. We agree. He leaves and returns with about 200 other crows. We give
them several days rations. They leave.
We finish our rest, but it is still night so we continue resting. At 6:30 am we come out of the Hut and we
realize it is very warm. Something doesn’t seem right. We look up to the ledge and see a tower that
wasn’t there before. It has markings as if a serpent has wrapped around it. Karandaman recalls a story
of a tower like this that was destroyed long ago, the broken tower of Dezure.
Aaro looks around and sees we are on the same mountain, but below us looks more tropical. We are
puzzled. Aaro breaks off a branch and shows it to Meena. It is definitely a tropical tree. They seem to
have grown overnight.
Karandaman recalls that the tower of Dezure was the house of a famous wizard known for his powers of
illusion. The only way out of the illusion was to go through it. He also remembers that Dezure, a half-
elf, was associated with Yuan-Ti, snake humanoids.
Aaro decides to try to climb a near-by tree. He is unable to climb it. Karandaman tries next, but is
unable as well. Meena tries and is successful. She climbs about 20 feet up. The base of the tower is
close by. All around looks tropical. We are surrounded by trees. She sees a door in the tower. It does
not look locked.
We decide to continue climbing the mountain toward the tower. We move carefully, up to the tower.
Nothing attacks us. Balders walks up and opens the door. We are in a large foyer with tapestries.
Karandaman does not see any traps. A fire appears, and then there is food on the table. Karandaman
tries to walk through the wall, but hits his nose instead.
Balders volunteers to be blindfolded to test the illusion. We hold a flame under his hand. He feels the
heat.
Aaro takes one of the silverware knives and tosses it away. We hear it falling down the mountain.
There is a door opposite the main door. Aaro opens it and calls “hello”. There is a gently sloping
passageway before us. It is warm in the passageway. We light a torch and look up the passageway. The
air changes and smells of Sulphur. Karandaman checks for traps as we go. He sees a trip wire. He
disables it.
Aaro pokes the torch in and a green scaly hand grabs the torch and tries to pull it out of Aaro’s hand. He
jumps back and slams the door shut.
Balders holds the door closed, but it begins to shake violently. Balders is able to hold it without a
problem.
Aaro prepares Thunderwave. He will cast it after Balders moves and something comes through. Two
troglodytes come through and he releases the spell. It throws them back 10 feet.
Behind the troglodytes, is a large cavern with boiling liquid and a horrible stench.
Karandaman throws a dagger and hits one of them.
Trog 6, the one just hit, attacks Karandaman, hitting him.
Trog 2 attacks Aaro, missing him.
Meena attacks them with her swords, and takes them both out.
Over the top of the door, we see a pair of eyes looking at us as if through a portal.
Karandaman throws a dagger at it.
A hand comes out of the portal. Korandaman throws a dagger at a Boggle.
Balders attacks it with his axe, hitting it once.
Aaro shoots at it, but misses with his longbow.
The hand throws something into the room. It is a vial that breaks upon hitting the floor.
Karandaman inhales the fumes and wretches.
Meena and Karandaman fall prone.
Karanaman moves out of the fumes in the passageway. He throws a dagger and hits it.
Meena moves out of the puddle and shoots with a longbow, but misses.
Balders and Aaro hear more troglodytes coming. Balders attacks the Boggle, hitting it, but it drops a
flask. Some liquid flows out and there is a small spark, but nothing else.
Karandaman retrieves his daggers.
We see two more troglodytes with javelins are ready to attack.
11-02- 17
We find ourselves facing six troglodytes. Four are trying to organize furniture. Two are to the side and
attacking us with javelins.
Meena moves up and attacks Trog 10, killing it.
Aaro casts Firebolt on Trog 1, but misses.
Balders moves up to Trog 1, hitting it and killing it.
Karandaman throws a dagger at Trog 8, but misses.
The Troglodytes attack Balders, with their javelins. They hit him twice.
Meena attacks Trog #10, killing it.
Aaro casts Firebolt on Trog 8, hitting it, but it seems to flicker as it flies.
Balders notices that the bodies in front of him are fading from sight. He moves to the Trogs behind the
furniture, and attacks Trog 8, who seems harder to hit, hitting him and taking him out.
Karandaman attacks Trog 7, hitting it with a dagger.
The two remaining trogs moves closer to Balders and attack, biting him once.
Meena attacks Trog 8, killing it.
Aaro moves closer and shoots with his bow, hitting Trog 7.
Balders attacks, hitting it twice, taking it out.
The bodies fade before our eyes.
We are standing in a sort of parlor. It is dusty. There is a door behind where the Trogs built their
furniture blockade. There is an old chair, that looks like a modern electric chair. Aaro looks at it and
tries to move it, but it is too heavy. It is not dusty or covered with cobwebs, like the rest of the room.
Aaro uses Mage Hand to explore it. There is a box next to the chair.
Krandaman moves behind the chair and looks at it. Aaro joins him. They see an old padlock.
Karnadaman check it for traps. It is not trapped. Aaro tries to pick the lock and is able to open it. He
removes the lock with the Mage Hand. The hand lifts the top. There are beakers, tubes, and alchemy
tools, and another metallic box.
The metal box has carvings of a mask on it, but it appears to be worn. The box has a place where two
tubes can go inside. Aaro uses Mage Hand to pull things out of the trunk and box. It appears that
someone sits in the chair, and something happens to them. We wonder if it belongs to the evil wizard.
He was rumored to steal knowledge from his victims. There appear to be scratches and stains on the
chair.
Aaro takes the box.
We decide to try and burn the chair. The tinder we put around the chair burns, but the chair does not.
We burn the box, burning the chemicals. The smoke starts to accumulate in the room. Meena and Aaro
take damage from the smoke. Aaro suffers more and feels exhausted.
We look out the door where we entered, and all we can see is a grey fog.
We move to another room through an archway and door on the west side. There is a tunnel that bends
around the corner. It opens up into a room with alcoves. There are about 20 alcoves. About 14 of them
are filled with statues. We wonder if they were victims of the Wizard, as they seem to be people of
knowledge and wisdom.
At the end we find a statue of a strange creature, no one has seen before. It is vaguely humanoid. It has
one giant eye, sharp claws and teeth and a stegosaurus back. The eye seems to follow us.
Aaro starts to shoot it, but Karandaman tells him not to. He puts his bow away. Karandaman seems to
remember it is a Gnothic. They are very intelligent and calculating. It’s gaze can rot the flesh from
bones. They are able to wrest knowledge from other creature’s minds.
We all seem to think that its eye is watching only us. Aaro thinks he hears it breathe. Karandaman
speaks to it and tells it “we mean it no harm, can you communicate with us and see if we can help it”.
Karandaman and Aaro hear it says “No” in a whisper.
Karandaman ask if it knows the way out. They hear it say “Yes”. He asks if it can tell us the way out? It
says “yes”. He asks if it will. “For a price” is the answer. Karandaman asks, “What is the price?” Your
best weapon, it says. Karandaman says, “That is a fair price, but we are not willing to meet it”. “Good
luck” it says.
We go to another door on the north side. There are no traps, it is barred, but not locked otherwise. We
remove the bar. We move a table as a barricade and open the door. There is nothing there but dark,
that moves off.
We enter the hall way with torches lit. We walk in single file with Balders in front. There is door that
appears in front of us, at the same time the light faded on the door we walked in. The door looks very
much like the same door we just went through. Karandaman looks for traps, but there is none. The
door opens smoothly.
We see a stone room, with four passages that lead out, with tapestries on the wall between the
passages. The tapestries look old but not dirty. They seem to be of the same man in different poses.
Aaro theorizes that each passageway might match up with what the man in the tapestry is doing. There
is one with a book first, so we decide to try it. There are other tapestries, one with a garden, one with
the man talking to a dragon, one with the man playing chess with a demon, and one with the man
defeating orcs.
We start out down a passageway between the books and the dragon. The passage curves around so we
cannot see the room behind us. Balders leads us, then Meena, Krandaman, and Aaro.
We hear a tone as a bell and a voice saying “the path has been chosen”.
We turn a corner and we see another room, dimly lit by our torch. It feels warm and dry. There is a
smell that is familiar, but Meena can’t place it.
The light illuminates the room. There are creatures that move back. They seem be scaled slithery
creatures.
Meena casts Speak with Animals. She tells the creatures “we mean you no harm. May we pass?” We
hear a voice that says “This is not your lucky day, you may not pass.” Meena says “that is too bad, we
did not mean to harm you”. The voice says “you have chosen the path of violence.” Meena feels fear
and backs away.
We see a Yuan-ti Abomination and two Giant Constrictor Snakes come out at us.
Meena tries to shoot one of the snakes, but her fear makes her shake and she misses.
Karandaman casts Leomunds Tiny Hut. The hut appears with the party inside it.
Aaro shoots at the Yuan-ti using his sharp shooter skill, but it misses.
Meena hears the Yuan-ti, tell the snakes to move out of the torch light, which they do. She tells the
party.
Balders tries to shoot with his crossbow into the darkness, the last place he saw them. He manages to
hit a snake.
Karanaman takes a torch and throws it across the room. It illuminates the Yuan-ti, who has a long bow
ready. He shoots at it as it flies, but misses. The torch shows all three creatures in dim light.
Meena throws her Javelin of Lightening at the Yuan-ti, hitting it and doing much damage.
Kranaman steps out of the hut and casts Sleep. One snake went to sleep. He steps back in the hut.
Aaro casts Mystic Projection using Thunderwave, hitting Yuan-ti. A loud rumble fills the room. He steps
back in the hut.
Snake 7 snuffs out the torch, on Yuan-ti’s direction, then moves back into the darkness.
Yuan-ti tries to shoot the hut. They bounce off. He moves toward the sleeping snake.
Balders tries to shoot the Yuan-ti in the dark. He gets lucky and hits it.
Meena casts Hail of Thorns. She tries to shoot Yuan-ti but misses.
Karandaman casts Suggestion on Yuan-ti, but there is no effect.
Aaro shoots at Yuan-ti, misses with the arrow, but the Thunderwave hits him again.
Snake 6 is now awake (the Yuan-ti woke him up).
Balders misses his shot.
(One more thunderwave left)