The Beardians and their goblin allies were still engaged in open battle with Dokt'mahn Haeten and his orc army. A number of orcs had already fallen to goblin traps and Chauncey's magic, but the corpses of these fallen were being collected into a pile by a couple of orc necromancers. Meanwhile, on the other side of the wind-swept fields, Dokt'mahn Haeten was attacking Chauncey and dealing serious damage, even as he was being surrounded by goblins and Beardians. He swiped at the wizard again -- she managed to dodge -- before shooting up into the sky, a barrage of goblin weaponry raining into the spot he'd just been. He flew across the field and alighted upon a cliff overlooking the group.
At the same time, Andy and his warriors advanced hurridly on the necromancers' corpse pile and were greeted by three barbarian bodyguards. Though the druid was stalled, the other Beardians' attention had also been drawn to his target, and arrows came flying at the necromancers. The missiles flew past or bounced off their decorated armor as the necromancers started their work: the first cast a fine powder across the corpses and the second placed a dark gem into each of their skulls. As each gem was set, the skeleton of the corpse broke free of its charred flesh and stood tall, battleaxe in bony hand. The small undead army began its march towards the foe.
And then the other shoe dropped. On the cliff overlooking the whole battlefield, Dokt'mahn Haeten stretched out his hands and a gale of icy death hailed out. Something like three quarters of the Beardian-goblin army were caught in the blast -- most of the goblins were immediately frozen to death as was one unfortunate wizard. Chauncey the anonymous elf popsicle teetered over and smashed against the ground, icy bits of her breaking off as her lifeless face looked on in frozen horror. The ogre mage cackled and again rose into the sky.
Below, Eddi shrugged off the death of his comrade to focus on surviving himself. He slid down the cliff he'd been standing on overlooking the necromancers' activities and raised his holy symbol, the sign of Kord gleaming in the sunlight. That gleam turned into a white light that scorched the bones of the skeleton army, yet they continued to advance. In retaliation, one of the necromancers pointed at Eddi and the cleric felt his body go numb -- the now familiar feeling of a paralyzation spell.
Meanwhile, Andy and his goblins had taken heavy damage from Haeten's attack, and they retreated from the nearby barbarians. Now the barbarians' closest target was Eddi and they advanced quickly. Grunting, Kerrac, who'd been backing up the cleric, jumped down from the above cliff and launched his sword at the orcs. But by now one had already taken careful aim at the helpless Eddi and its axe came streaking down-- and then the cleric lay in pool of his blood, a gaping wound in his neck.
Now Andy and the remaining goblins were gathering upon the cliff overlooking this scene, the ogre mage all but forgotten as they tried to rescue their healer unit. As Kerrac struck down the orc who'd attacked Eddi, Andy joined him below -- the druid rushed to the cleric and reached out with a curing spell. Skin suddenly regrew over the neck wound and the bleeding stopped -- Eddi returned to his feet with a sigh of relief and his holy symbol in hand. He raised it again, and this time the light passed over his allies, whose wounds closed similarly. Crisis averted, he, Andy, and Kerrac now turned to the six skeletons surrounding them.
Above them, a group of surviving goblins squealed in terror as Dokt'mahn Haeten's greatsword cut through their ranks. Their leader, another hobgoblin like Kerrac, barked out commands at them -- to attack the skeletons below while he held off the ogre mage. As the hobgoblin valiently deflected Haeten's attacks, two of the goblins gave a battlecry and launched two flasks of acid at the undead nearing the cornered Eddi and Andy. The flasks broke against the bared bones, smoldering green liquid splashing over the group of them ...
And that was it. The last strength of the bones, already disintegrated partly by the holy light of Eddi's symbol, gave out under the acid and the skeletons fell apart at the Beardians' feet. Andy wiped the sweat from his brow.
The remaining threats were taken down swiftly. As the drama by the southern cliffside had unfolded, K'Phalvius and his entourage of archers had been sitting out of reach on the northern cliffs, methodically sniping away at orc stragglers and the necromancers, who finally fell to the missiles. All that were left were a couple barbarians and skeletons who had not fallen to the acid, but quickly did to the Beardians' next attacks.
Dokt'mahn Haeten made a last ditch effort to save the situation. He stood above Eddi and cooed magical words at the cleric, speaking out a charm spell, but the cleric's hosility was too great and he resisted the mind trick. Now outnumbered and his defeat probable, the ogre mage chose to retreat. Like a rocket, he jetted into the sky, cursing and yelling out threats of vengeance until he became no more than a dot on the eastern horizon.
Of the once proud goblin tribe that had attempted to ransack Byron Valley, not enough were left to ransack an outhouse. There seemed little cause for celebration as the Beardians gathered around the black and blue corpse of their wizardly companion and Kerrac surveyed his decimated troops. Many had fallen in this war -- but not as many as might have if the orcs had won, and now, finally, Byron Valley was safe again.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Session 9: The Battle at Byron Valley, part one
That night the Beardians slept snug in their beds, while visions of golden sugar plum fairies danced in their heads. If one listened hard, you might have thought you heard the jingle-jingling of sleigh bells in the night ... sleigh bells, or gold coins clinking together.
In the morning, Chauncey and an extremely hung-over Andy entered the main hall of Rammerdung's abode to discover a present for each of them beneath the Goldsmas tree. St. Nickleas had, it seemed, sensed the prescence of their good souls and left the gifts. Over the grumbling of their three neutral-aligned companions, the two unwrapped the boxes -- Chauncey put around her neck a necklace of adaptation, which would allow her to breathe in any environment, even underwater; while Andy held aloft a shiny new flametongue, a long sword with the ability to shoot fireballs.
The excitement of Goldsmas morning behind them, the Beardians turned to the matter of their mission. Rammerdung volunteered to show them the way to the surface (their outpost was nestled underground in the midst of the Maurick Mountains, a few miles from Byron Valley), but still refused to assist in the fight against the orcs. Still, the Beardians took the offer, certain that the tunnel back to the mine would lead into an orcish trap.
They reached the surface world, bid a holly jolly farewell to Rammerdung, and headed east down the mountains. Not enthused by the idea of returning to Kerrac and the villagers with their mission unaccomplished, Eddi suggested they bypass Byron Valley and return straight to the entrance of the mine to launch a second raid. The rest agreed. The plan was to maneuver south past the valley, crossing the road they had taken to get there in the first place, and travel west to find the mine again.
They'd spent four hours climbing down through the steep hills of the mountains by the time they reached the road. As it came into sight, a scream pierced the peacefulness of the forest, alerting the Beardians to the scene on the road below: two gnomes and a frightened horse cowered before three evil-looking orcs. At their feet lay the unmoving body of what was probably the gnomes' bodyguard. Eddi cursed as the memory returned to him: the gnomes were undoubtedly Bill Beard's family, for whom the Beardians were meant to the clear the road of dangers. They rushed down to save the gnomes, but were too late to stop one from falling to an orc's axe.
The Beardians fell into formation, rocking the bewildered orcs like a hurricane. Eddi barrelled down the hill, screaming at the top of his lungs, providing a distraction for the second gnome to flee the scene and hide in the cover of the forest. As the orcs moved against the cleric, Lucky popped out of thin air and struck at one, attacking its weak point for massive damage. The orcs stood no chance. As the rest of the Beardians mopped up, Eddi found the bodyguard and the injured gnome to be alive and used his divine magic to stabilize their wounds. Then he called out to the second gnome, introducing the Beardians as hirlings of their namesake.
At the sound of the name, the gnome, a boy of perhaps twenty years, came hesitantly forward. He'd obviously been mortified by the attack, but managed to introduce himself as Bob Beard, son of Bill Beard, and the other gnome as Brenda, his mother. The light of panic in his eyes, he gibbered out a request to be taken to his father. Eddi growled impatiently: here was yet another irrational obstacle to overcome just to deliver a barber to Burlingham. He snapped that the boy could go to the town himself, and die there!
Bob looked like he was going to cry. Andy put a hand on Eddi's shoulder and the cleric sighed in acknowledgement. They lifted the unconscious gnome and the bodyguard onto Bob's horsecart and lead them into the valley.
Once in town, there were many embarressed looks and much shuffling of feet as Kerrac approached with Bill in tow. The barber hurried his family off to the safety of the church while Kerrac spoke. He was scornful at first, pointing out their failure in the mission, but admitted that the results had not been completely disappointing. The Beardians had not only killed off a good portion of the orc's army, they had provided a long enough distraction for the goblins to set traps through the valley. The goblins' guerilla tactics had shortened the enemy's troops even more. Now, the orcs were marching on the town in a full-on attack, but Kerrac believed that, with the Beardians' help, the goblins could win even in open battle. Impatient to get the war over with, the Beardians agreed.
Kerrac explained the plan: each Beardian would be assigned two support troops from the ranks of hobgoblin fighters and goblin rangers, rogues, and warriors. K'Phalvius was backed by a couple of goblin archers, Andy by warriors, and so on. The two armies would meet in the fields east of the valley, where the orcs would be approaching the village. These fields were surrounded by hills and cliffs and goblin traps were scattered throughout the area. Kerrac was confident the battle would be won, and so the Beardians led their troops to the fields and into the fight.
In the middle of the hilly expanse of grass and brush, a barn stood tall against the sky. Beyond it, the Beardians could see the orcs gathering, and among them a familiar blue shape. Dokt'mahn Haeten, the ogre mage, glanced across at the awaiting army and grinned. His feet hung limply as they left the ground and he flew weightlessly into the air. He called out a warcry in orcish, then, in mid-air, vanished, certainly to attack when the Beardians were weakest. Below, the orcs bellowed a challenge that shook the cliffs in its volume. They charged across the field.
Hell broke loose. Not all of hell, but a good amount -- enough to make the scene dramatic. Many orcs actually fell to the goblins' well-placed traps and others to the archers' hail of arrows. Meanwhile, the Beardian army scrabbled to find the high ground in the fields. Eddi caught sight of an orc squad heading for the cover of the barn; he smiled grimly at his cleverness as he lit an arrow with flaming oil and fired at the hay in the building -- the fire spread quickly and the orcs scurried out. Chauncey, meanwhile, sent her support troops to hold the ground ahead to keep the enemy from reaching her. She waited patiently for the opportunity, then summoned an enormous fireball, burning four orc troops to ash.
With a mocking laugh, Dokt'mahn Haeten appeared in the air above her and lashed out with his eight-foot-long greatsword. The wizard's panicked cry alerted the other Beardians, and their troops moved swiftly on Haeten, but the mage's armor and aerobatics deflected most of their blows.
On a cliff overlooking the battleground, K'Phalvius watched with curiousity and horror as the orcs performed a strange maneuver: certain squads were gathering the dead and even charred bodies of their fellows and dumping them into a pile. As they performed the act of descecration, a singular orc dressed in what K'Phalvius now recognized as necromancer's robes approached the corpses. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.
Had Kerrac underestimated the strength of the orc army? Dokt'mahn Haeten was a wrecking ball on the battlefield, and that was bad enough -- now one or more necromancers had appeared to bolster the army's numbers. How could the Beardians win against a foe whose troops could be constantly replenished?
In the morning, Chauncey and an extremely hung-over Andy entered the main hall of Rammerdung's abode to discover a present for each of them beneath the Goldsmas tree. St. Nickleas had, it seemed, sensed the prescence of their good souls and left the gifts. Over the grumbling of their three neutral-aligned companions, the two unwrapped the boxes -- Chauncey put around her neck a necklace of adaptation, which would allow her to breathe in any environment, even underwater; while Andy held aloft a shiny new flametongue, a long sword with the ability to shoot fireballs.
The excitement of Goldsmas morning behind them, the Beardians turned to the matter of their mission. Rammerdung volunteered to show them the way to the surface (their outpost was nestled underground in the midst of the Maurick Mountains, a few miles from Byron Valley), but still refused to assist in the fight against the orcs. Still, the Beardians took the offer, certain that the tunnel back to the mine would lead into an orcish trap.
They reached the surface world, bid a holly jolly farewell to Rammerdung, and headed east down the mountains. Not enthused by the idea of returning to Kerrac and the villagers with their mission unaccomplished, Eddi suggested they bypass Byron Valley and return straight to the entrance of the mine to launch a second raid. The rest agreed. The plan was to maneuver south past the valley, crossing the road they had taken to get there in the first place, and travel west to find the mine again.
They'd spent four hours climbing down through the steep hills of the mountains by the time they reached the road. As it came into sight, a scream pierced the peacefulness of the forest, alerting the Beardians to the scene on the road below: two gnomes and a frightened horse cowered before three evil-looking orcs. At their feet lay the unmoving body of what was probably the gnomes' bodyguard. Eddi cursed as the memory returned to him: the gnomes were undoubtedly Bill Beard's family, for whom the Beardians were meant to the clear the road of dangers. They rushed down to save the gnomes, but were too late to stop one from falling to an orc's axe.
The Beardians fell into formation, rocking the bewildered orcs like a hurricane. Eddi barrelled down the hill, screaming at the top of his lungs, providing a distraction for the second gnome to flee the scene and hide in the cover of the forest. As the orcs moved against the cleric, Lucky popped out of thin air and struck at one, attacking its weak point for massive damage. The orcs stood no chance. As the rest of the Beardians mopped up, Eddi found the bodyguard and the injured gnome to be alive and used his divine magic to stabilize their wounds. Then he called out to the second gnome, introducing the Beardians as hirlings of their namesake.
At the sound of the name, the gnome, a boy of perhaps twenty years, came hesitantly forward. He'd obviously been mortified by the attack, but managed to introduce himself as Bob Beard, son of Bill Beard, and the other gnome as Brenda, his mother. The light of panic in his eyes, he gibbered out a request to be taken to his father. Eddi growled impatiently: here was yet another irrational obstacle to overcome just to deliver a barber to Burlingham. He snapped that the boy could go to the town himself, and die there!
Bob looked like he was going to cry. Andy put a hand on Eddi's shoulder and the cleric sighed in acknowledgement. They lifted the unconscious gnome and the bodyguard onto Bob's horsecart and lead them into the valley.
Once in town, there were many embarressed looks and much shuffling of feet as Kerrac approached with Bill in tow. The barber hurried his family off to the safety of the church while Kerrac spoke. He was scornful at first, pointing out their failure in the mission, but admitted that the results had not been completely disappointing. The Beardians had not only killed off a good portion of the orc's army, they had provided a long enough distraction for the goblins to set traps through the valley. The goblins' guerilla tactics had shortened the enemy's troops even more. Now, the orcs were marching on the town in a full-on attack, but Kerrac believed that, with the Beardians' help, the goblins could win even in open battle. Impatient to get the war over with, the Beardians agreed.
Kerrac explained the plan: each Beardian would be assigned two support troops from the ranks of hobgoblin fighters and goblin rangers, rogues, and warriors. K'Phalvius was backed by a couple of goblin archers, Andy by warriors, and so on. The two armies would meet in the fields east of the valley, where the orcs would be approaching the village. These fields were surrounded by hills and cliffs and goblin traps were scattered throughout the area. Kerrac was confident the battle would be won, and so the Beardians led their troops to the fields and into the fight.
In the middle of the hilly expanse of grass and brush, a barn stood tall against the sky. Beyond it, the Beardians could see the orcs gathering, and among them a familiar blue shape. Dokt'mahn Haeten, the ogre mage, glanced across at the awaiting army and grinned. His feet hung limply as they left the ground and he flew weightlessly into the air. He called out a warcry in orcish, then, in mid-air, vanished, certainly to attack when the Beardians were weakest. Below, the orcs bellowed a challenge that shook the cliffs in its volume. They charged across the field.
Hell broke loose. Not all of hell, but a good amount -- enough to make the scene dramatic. Many orcs actually fell to the goblins' well-placed traps and others to the archers' hail of arrows. Meanwhile, the Beardian army scrabbled to find the high ground in the fields. Eddi caught sight of an orc squad heading for the cover of the barn; he smiled grimly at his cleverness as he lit an arrow with flaming oil and fired at the hay in the building -- the fire spread quickly and the orcs scurried out. Chauncey, meanwhile, sent her support troops to hold the ground ahead to keep the enemy from reaching her. She waited patiently for the opportunity, then summoned an enormous fireball, burning four orc troops to ash.
With a mocking laugh, Dokt'mahn Haeten appeared in the air above her and lashed out with his eight-foot-long greatsword. The wizard's panicked cry alerted the other Beardians, and their troops moved swiftly on Haeten, but the mage's armor and aerobatics deflected most of their blows.
On a cliff overlooking the battleground, K'Phalvius watched with curiousity and horror as the orcs performed a strange maneuver: certain squads were gathering the dead and even charred bodies of their fellows and dumping them into a pile. As they performed the act of descecration, a singular orc dressed in what K'Phalvius now recognized as necromancer's robes approached the corpses. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.
Had Kerrac underestimated the strength of the orc army? Dokt'mahn Haeten was a wrecking ball on the battlefield, and that was bad enough -- now one or more necromancers had appeared to bolster the army's numbers. How could the Beardians win against a foe whose troops could be constantly replenished?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Session 8: Rammerdung
So, after running through Nigel's campaign, we have returned to the adventures of the Beardians, minus the aforementioned Nigel, unfortunately. You shall be missed, sir!
The updated player list is now:
Sango.....The DM
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
During the session detailed in this post, Auren was handled by the DM, not Nigel.
Another major change was the switch from the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rulebooks to the Pathfinder rules. I elected to make the change to Pathfinder because it is actually an improved version of 3.5 and I had not heard flattering things about D&D 4E. This means there have been various changes to characters and their abilities and spells, some major, some minor. Also, since this is not exactly a D&D blog anymore, I've changed the name to The Beardian Blog.
Now, without further ado...
========
The ogre mage's evil laugh echoed through the furnace he'd disappeared into. As it faded, the Beardians gathered to assess the situation. Feeling quickly returned to Andy's limbs and he stumbled out of the receding paralysis; meanwhile, Eddi let out a burst of healing energy, relieving his comrades of their wounds.
The furnace was too small for most of the party to chase the ogre through (who, incidentally, had acquired the dreadful name of Dokt'mahn Haeten over the break), but Chauncey sent her feline familiar to scope it out. A chimney lead up to the bright afternoon sky, but the perceptive cat also found a small vent connecting to the oven of the bakery that Andy had found a couple hours earlier. After a moment, the cat reported back to its master -- it had seen Dokt'mahn Haeten ordering a mass of orcs to raid the room that the Beardians were in!
Eddi suggested expedient retreat and the vote was unanimous. They turned back the way they'd come, to the secret passage near the great stone door. As they neared it, a chill ran down the spines of all but the bravest -- echoing through the passage was an unearthly moaning, emanated by many voices. The orcish zombies staggering down the secret passage looked familiar to the Beardians and they realized they were the animated corpses of the orcs they had already killed. As Auren stepped forward, Eddi pulled him back and shook his head: their best chance was for the cleric to use his ability to channel divine energy to destroy the undead creatures. The zombies shambled around the corner and Eddi tensely waited until the closest was but a hair's breadth away before raising his holy symbol. A bright light shone forth with a white intensity, and as it passed over the zombies they crumbled to ash.
But the Beardians were not out of the fire yet. Andy, bringing up the rear farther back down the tunnel, suddenly notched his bow and cried to his fellows the existence of orcs -- lots of orcs, in fact. TOO MANY orcs. The druid counted fifteen and more coming before sprinting back to rejoin the rest of the party. Meanwhile, at the head of the group, more zombies had appeared along with their master, another orc cleric. Eddi used another holy energy burst, but did not roll as well this time -- the zombies continued to shamble forward, crying for brains. Auren stepped forward to smack down, but his fists seemed barely effective. His efforts were not helped by the orc cleric's attacks -- the monk had to duck and dodge as the orc summoned a magical spear to attack.
Lucky ducked into the space leading to the stone door. The movement caught Eddi's eye, and in the same moment he turned to check it the orc cleric cast a paralyzation spell on him. Frozen staring at the stone door, Eddi was the only Beardian to notice a mat covered in dust and earth lying at its base. It was a dainty little thing, actually, crafted from ancient straw that still held the maroon and azure pattern running along its border. Delicately knitted into the middle of the mat were the words, "Seek, friend, and enter."
The mat drew Andy's attention too. Desperate for a way out of the situation, he approached the door and ran his fingers across its frame and the intimidating lock, searching for the answer to the riddle. His eagle companion, taken in by its master's excitement, hopped down from his shoulder to grapple with the mat and managed to reveal a key hidden beneath it! Fast as a snake, Chauncey snatched the key from the triumphant raptor and thrust it into the lock. It turned easily and the door slowly swung open.
Andy, Chauncey, and Lucky dashed through the door, finding themselves in a long, narrow passage leading into distant darkness. Andy gave a flick of his hand and a magic flame appeared in his palm -- he called for the others to follow as he ran down the now illuminated corridor. The orcs had finally caught up to the group outside and K'Phalvius took some heavy damage as he scrabbled away. Eddi managed to struggle out of the paralysis spell and launched himself forward to hold them off as the half-elf made his escape. Finally, he and Auren were the last outside the door. Auren yelled out his concern for keeping the orcs from staying the door and Eddi replied that he had a plan.
Now, it must be understood at this point that Auren and Eddi had been at each others' throats since first meeting. This is something that, reviewing my previous posts, I seem to have neglected to emphasize. Auren's disciplined, static personality clashed drastically with Eddi's free and chaotic nature and neither had the goodwill to work out their differences. Discussion became a gridlock of arguments and each would frequently subvert the other's intentions, both in and out of battle. So it was not out of character, what Eddi did next.
The cleric grabbed Auren by the robes and hauled the astonished monk above his head. Bunching his muscles, he flung Auren at the orcs crowded into the passage, then skedaddled through the door. As he swung the door closed, K'Phalvius gaping at him, the last sound they two could hear was Auren screaming out vengeance above the warcries of the orcs -- then the door was closed and everything was a muffled cacophony.
Eddi's eyes rolled frantically as he announced the next problem: "Who has the key?!" Chauncey, far down the passage with the other two Beardians, gave a gasp of realization and sprinted back to the door. She tossed the key to the cleric who scrabbled to lock the door ... click! The Beardians held their breath for a tense moment ... and started slightly when the thumping and banging of the orcs against the other side began. Finally, they all gave out a sigh of relief. The great stone door was going to hold and they were safe for now.
Except, where was Auren? Lucky, Andy, and Chauncey had not seen Eddi's betrayal on the other side of the door. Eddi and K'Phalvius exchanged looks -- the undisciplined half-elf not been the monk's greatest ally, and he could not argue the effectiveness of Eddi's attempt to slow the orcs. Eddi turned back to his (good-aligned) comrades. Auren had stayed behind to hold them off, he said. Besides, he MIGHT still be alive...
The party took a moment to mourn their lost fellow, then turned to exploring the passage. They'd walked through pitch blackness for about a hundred feet before they encountered their first staircase, leading upwards. They continued to travel, taking a moment now and then to renew torches and light spells, for a whole four hours, moving upwards slowly but surely.
Finally, exhausted and demoralized, they spotted a faint light in the distance. Lucky crept forward, recognizing the lighted outline of another sturdy door. From within she could hear much deep-throated laughter -- guffawing, even -- but could not understand the language being spoken. She motioned Chauncey over, for the wizard had mastery of many languages, and she confirmed the voices to be speaking Dwarven. At that, Andy banged on the door and cried out, "Help! Orcs!" which prompted a lot of shouting and clanging of metal from within. The door swung open revealing four well-armored dwarves, and at least eight different axes between them, who demanded the location of the announced orcs. (The dwarves, I mean. That is, the dwarves demanded; not the axes.) Eddi stepped forth to explain the situation and hearing this the dwarves relaxed noticeably. "They will never get past the door; I helped build it meself!" claimed the lead dwarf, who shortly (ha) introduced himself as Rammerdung. This prompted some sniggering from the Beardians, which he either ignored or was oblivious to. "Rammerdung, meet K'Phalvius Hardun," said Eddi.
Rammerdung offered the dwarven abode for the Beardians to rest, much to their relief. He explained the place was an outpost of the nearby dwarven city of Quantran and that the post was a pretty sweet gig since they were rarely bothered by superiors from the city and infrequently saw any action. He seemed, perhaps, too comfortable with the position, for when the Beardians asked his assistance in defeating the orc army he became intent on worming his way out. "Well, we'd have to report back to Quantran, for acting without orders could mean our jobs..." It was obvious that the dwarves had no intention of abandoning their cushy abode, especially not to fight a powerful ogre mage.
Lucky, in the meantime, had been investigating a strangely placed fir tree sitting in a corner of the room. It was decorated with bits of precious metals, mostly gold. There was a lot of gold, particularly in the form of small globes hanging from the tree's branches. The greedy rogue had snatched one away when her hosts weren't looking, only to find that the gold was simply painted on. She caught the attention of Rammerdung, who was desperate to change the subject. "Admiring our Goldsmas tree, hey?"
He explained that this night was the eve of the famously celebrated dwarven holiday of Goldsmas, when good little dwarf boys and gir-- well, mostly just boys -- put up a Goldsmas tree with the expectation of the dwarf spirit St. Nickleas placing presents beneath it. The other holiday tradition was to get shit-faced. At this, Andy's eyes lit up and he asked what there was to drink.
The dwarves exchanged looks and chortles. "Sergoih's Shame! But no non-dwarf can handle this beastie!" One of them slammed a flagon of a thick, red liquid before the druid. Some of it spilled on the table and it ate clean through the wood. Andy looked ecstatic. "If I down this, does my picture get put on the wall of fame?" Rammerdung replied that he would deliver the portrait to the largest tavern in Quantran himself. But, he warned, "it is made from the lava-blood of the thoqqua, a fire elemental. It's also prone to spontaneous combustion. You will probably die. Or explode. Or both." He made sure to repeat this several times until Andy raised his cup and downed the whole thing in one go. His chair skidded and he fell comatose to the ground.
Eddi sighed and cast a healing spell to protect the unconscious man while the dwarves proceeded in further guffawing. With this, the Beardians turned in for the night, the sounds of Goldsmas carols ringing in their ears through the evening.
(Goldsmas carols are a lot like Christmas carols, but the subject is drastically different. Take, for example, the Goldsmas song, "Jingold Bells," which goes something like, "Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold // Gold gold gold gold gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold gold, Hey!")
The updated player list is now:
Sango.....The DM
Adam.....K'Phalvius Hardun the half-elf ranger.
Andy.....Andy the anonymous human druid.
Brian.....Eddi the human cleric.
Chauncey.....Chauncey the anonymous elf wizard.
Sarah.....Elya "Lucky" Nearhit the halfling rogue.
During the session detailed in this post, Auren was handled by the DM, not Nigel.
Another major change was the switch from the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rulebooks to the Pathfinder rules. I elected to make the change to Pathfinder because it is actually an improved version of 3.5 and I had not heard flattering things about D&D 4E. This means there have been various changes to characters and their abilities and spells, some major, some minor. Also, since this is not exactly a D&D blog anymore, I've changed the name to The Beardian Blog.
Now, without further ado...
========
The ogre mage's evil laugh echoed through the furnace he'd disappeared into. As it faded, the Beardians gathered to assess the situation. Feeling quickly returned to Andy's limbs and he stumbled out of the receding paralysis; meanwhile, Eddi let out a burst of healing energy, relieving his comrades of their wounds.
The furnace was too small for most of the party to chase the ogre through (who, incidentally, had acquired the dreadful name of Dokt'mahn Haeten over the break), but Chauncey sent her feline familiar to scope it out. A chimney lead up to the bright afternoon sky, but the perceptive cat also found a small vent connecting to the oven of the bakery that Andy had found a couple hours earlier. After a moment, the cat reported back to its master -- it had seen Dokt'mahn Haeten ordering a mass of orcs to raid the room that the Beardians were in!
Eddi suggested expedient retreat and the vote was unanimous. They turned back the way they'd come, to the secret passage near the great stone door. As they neared it, a chill ran down the spines of all but the bravest -- echoing through the passage was an unearthly moaning, emanated by many voices. The orcish zombies staggering down the secret passage looked familiar to the Beardians and they realized they were the animated corpses of the orcs they had already killed. As Auren stepped forward, Eddi pulled him back and shook his head: their best chance was for the cleric to use his ability to channel divine energy to destroy the undead creatures. The zombies shambled around the corner and Eddi tensely waited until the closest was but a hair's breadth away before raising his holy symbol. A bright light shone forth with a white intensity, and as it passed over the zombies they crumbled to ash.
But the Beardians were not out of the fire yet. Andy, bringing up the rear farther back down the tunnel, suddenly notched his bow and cried to his fellows the existence of orcs -- lots of orcs, in fact. TOO MANY orcs. The druid counted fifteen and more coming before sprinting back to rejoin the rest of the party. Meanwhile, at the head of the group, more zombies had appeared along with their master, another orc cleric. Eddi used another holy energy burst, but did not roll as well this time -- the zombies continued to shamble forward, crying for brains. Auren stepped forward to smack down, but his fists seemed barely effective. His efforts were not helped by the orc cleric's attacks -- the monk had to duck and dodge as the orc summoned a magical spear to attack.
Lucky ducked into the space leading to the stone door. The movement caught Eddi's eye, and in the same moment he turned to check it the orc cleric cast a paralyzation spell on him. Frozen staring at the stone door, Eddi was the only Beardian to notice a mat covered in dust and earth lying at its base. It was a dainty little thing, actually, crafted from ancient straw that still held the maroon and azure pattern running along its border. Delicately knitted into the middle of the mat were the words, "Seek, friend, and enter."
The mat drew Andy's attention too. Desperate for a way out of the situation, he approached the door and ran his fingers across its frame and the intimidating lock, searching for the answer to the riddle. His eagle companion, taken in by its master's excitement, hopped down from his shoulder to grapple with the mat and managed to reveal a key hidden beneath it! Fast as a snake, Chauncey snatched the key from the triumphant raptor and thrust it into the lock. It turned easily and the door slowly swung open.
Andy, Chauncey, and Lucky dashed through the door, finding themselves in a long, narrow passage leading into distant darkness. Andy gave a flick of his hand and a magic flame appeared in his palm -- he called for the others to follow as he ran down the now illuminated corridor. The orcs had finally caught up to the group outside and K'Phalvius took some heavy damage as he scrabbled away. Eddi managed to struggle out of the paralysis spell and launched himself forward to hold them off as the half-elf made his escape. Finally, he and Auren were the last outside the door. Auren yelled out his concern for keeping the orcs from staying the door and Eddi replied that he had a plan.
Now, it must be understood at this point that Auren and Eddi had been at each others' throats since first meeting. This is something that, reviewing my previous posts, I seem to have neglected to emphasize. Auren's disciplined, static personality clashed drastically with Eddi's free and chaotic nature and neither had the goodwill to work out their differences. Discussion became a gridlock of arguments and each would frequently subvert the other's intentions, both in and out of battle. So it was not out of character, what Eddi did next.
The cleric grabbed Auren by the robes and hauled the astonished monk above his head. Bunching his muscles, he flung Auren at the orcs crowded into the passage, then skedaddled through the door. As he swung the door closed, K'Phalvius gaping at him, the last sound they two could hear was Auren screaming out vengeance above the warcries of the orcs -- then the door was closed and everything was a muffled cacophony.
Eddi's eyes rolled frantically as he announced the next problem: "Who has the key?!" Chauncey, far down the passage with the other two Beardians, gave a gasp of realization and sprinted back to the door. She tossed the key to the cleric who scrabbled to lock the door ... click! The Beardians held their breath for a tense moment ... and started slightly when the thumping and banging of the orcs against the other side began. Finally, they all gave out a sigh of relief. The great stone door was going to hold and they were safe for now.
Except, where was Auren? Lucky, Andy, and Chauncey had not seen Eddi's betrayal on the other side of the door. Eddi and K'Phalvius exchanged looks -- the undisciplined half-elf not been the monk's greatest ally, and he could not argue the effectiveness of Eddi's attempt to slow the orcs. Eddi turned back to his (good-aligned) comrades. Auren had stayed behind to hold them off, he said. Besides, he MIGHT still be alive...
The party took a moment to mourn their lost fellow, then turned to exploring the passage. They'd walked through pitch blackness for about a hundred feet before they encountered their first staircase, leading upwards. They continued to travel, taking a moment now and then to renew torches and light spells, for a whole four hours, moving upwards slowly but surely.
Finally, exhausted and demoralized, they spotted a faint light in the distance. Lucky crept forward, recognizing the lighted outline of another sturdy door. From within she could hear much deep-throated laughter -- guffawing, even -- but could not understand the language being spoken. She motioned Chauncey over, for the wizard had mastery of many languages, and she confirmed the voices to be speaking Dwarven. At that, Andy banged on the door and cried out, "Help! Orcs!" which prompted a lot of shouting and clanging of metal from within. The door swung open revealing four well-armored dwarves, and at least eight different axes between them, who demanded the location of the announced orcs. (The dwarves, I mean. That is, the dwarves demanded; not the axes.) Eddi stepped forth to explain the situation and hearing this the dwarves relaxed noticeably. "They will never get past the door; I helped build it meself!" claimed the lead dwarf, who shortly (ha) introduced himself as Rammerdung. This prompted some sniggering from the Beardians, which he either ignored or was oblivious to. "Rammerdung, meet K'Phalvius Hardun," said Eddi.
Rammerdung offered the dwarven abode for the Beardians to rest, much to their relief. He explained the place was an outpost of the nearby dwarven city of Quantran and that the post was a pretty sweet gig since they were rarely bothered by superiors from the city and infrequently saw any action. He seemed, perhaps, too comfortable with the position, for when the Beardians asked his assistance in defeating the orc army he became intent on worming his way out. "Well, we'd have to report back to Quantran, for acting without orders could mean our jobs..." It was obvious that the dwarves had no intention of abandoning their cushy abode, especially not to fight a powerful ogre mage.
Lucky, in the meantime, had been investigating a strangely placed fir tree sitting in a corner of the room. It was decorated with bits of precious metals, mostly gold. There was a lot of gold, particularly in the form of small globes hanging from the tree's branches. The greedy rogue had snatched one away when her hosts weren't looking, only to find that the gold was simply painted on. She caught the attention of Rammerdung, who was desperate to change the subject. "Admiring our Goldsmas tree, hey?"
He explained that this night was the eve of the famously celebrated dwarven holiday of Goldsmas, when good little dwarf boys and gir-- well, mostly just boys -- put up a Goldsmas tree with the expectation of the dwarf spirit St. Nickleas placing presents beneath it. The other holiday tradition was to get shit-faced. At this, Andy's eyes lit up and he asked what there was to drink.
The dwarves exchanged looks and chortles. "Sergoih's Shame! But no non-dwarf can handle this beastie!" One of them slammed a flagon of a thick, red liquid before the druid. Some of it spilled on the table and it ate clean through the wood. Andy looked ecstatic. "If I down this, does my picture get put on the wall of fame?" Rammerdung replied that he would deliver the portrait to the largest tavern in Quantran himself. But, he warned, "it is made from the lava-blood of the thoqqua, a fire elemental. It's also prone to spontaneous combustion. You will probably die. Or explode. Or both." He made sure to repeat this several times until Andy raised his cup and downed the whole thing in one go. His chair skidded and he fell comatose to the ground.
Eddi sighed and cast a healing spell to protect the unconscious man while the dwarves proceeded in further guffawing. With this, the Beardians turned in for the night, the sounds of Goldsmas carols ringing in their ears through the evening.
(Goldsmas carols are a lot like Christmas carols, but the subject is drastically different. Take, for example, the Goldsmas song, "Jingold Bells," which goes something like, "Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold // Gold gold gold gold gold gold gold, Gold gold gold gold gold gold, Hey!")
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