Session 13

The Characters

Telok: Elf cleric of Obad-hai, divine disciple (level 9) CG
Jimwise Welby: Halfling Paladin (Level 9) LG
Jerry Springwater: Human Fighter-Paladin (Level 8) LG
Jestyn: High Elf Wizard (Level 8) CN
Verrof: Earth Genasi Ranger (Level 6) LN
Sithdar Darkblade: Human Rogue-Assassin (9) ?

ADVENTURE 13: DEATH TO THE DROW: The party rested. As he slept, Jerry had a wondrous dream. In it he walked the glorious fields of heaven, towards a shining temple. On the steps of the temple were the thirteen Justicars of old, saintly men and women who welcomed Jerry, guiding him to the door. Yet as he got to the temple entrance, it was yet closed to him, and he knew that to enter, he would have to perform even greater deeds in the name of the goddess. Thus he awoke, feeling refreshed and confident, eager seek a quest and finally become the first Justicar for thousands of years. This morning, Verrof picked up his rust monster glove, though he soon found that the scales were peeling, unable to function without a live rust monster. He took them to the wizards academy, and for a small fee the mages had his one scale preserved in a bottle of liquid. However, he had to keep it in there, so Verrof just tossed the thing down the academy hall, irritating the servant golems and earning himself a fine for littering. Jestyn, meanwhile, woke up to an unpleasant surprise. Going down into the inns stables to look for his Su-Monster, Jestyn failed to charm the thing, and it attacked him, brutalizing the wizard before he could charm it again. The others just had breakfast and got their armor repaired, while Telok bought a ring.
Then they set off for the valley of shrines again. At the shrines, Telok and Jimwise were shocked to see that their friend Pezzels grave was defiled, the body dug up and a symbol of Orcus scratched into the ground. Verrof found tracks going through the forest and towards the burial halls, a sign that the priests of Orcus were not far. While tracking them through the woods, the party was attacked by five ghouls, who they made short work of. At the dungeon entrance, the tracks led further inside, though Verrof lost track of them there. They decided to head down to the second level this time.
South of the main entrance they smelled carrion. In the next cavern were piled heaps of offal and partially digested bodies, hands and heads sticking up at odd intervals from the fetid mounds. Amongst the filth were three carrion crawlersgrub-like beasts with a mouth full of feelers. Yet the beings were too slow to touch the characters. A fireball from Jestyn and a sword strike from Jerry put them all to rest. Searching through the piles of excrement, the wizard and the midget paladin found some interesting items, among them a magical sword of some type and much money. Going through some side tunnels to the south, the characters wound up in a maze of purple mist, where hidden zombies struck at them with halberds. These too were simple foes, and after navigating it for a while, the characters wound up in another large cavern on the east side of the level, where they searched a dead end corridor. Here, they found an illusionary wall, and were quick to go through it. On the other side, a passage eventually led to what looked like a spare survival cache of somebody, with food and bedding to be found. The far wall here radiated magic, and proved to be a similar illusion as before. As the PCs were searching, Jestyns robe of eyes spotted an invisible figure beyond the walla dark-skinned being of some sort, the characters guessed it to be the rumored Natasha, Balcoths drow enemy. They quickly pursued as she ran off down the hall. At the end of the hidden passage they found a door leading to a treasure chamber of sorts, and on the opposite walls Sithdar discovered a secret door, where the PCs had heard some noise before. Opening it, they looked into Natashas chamber, laden with silk, tapestries and filled with a lustrous incence. Natasha herself was lovely on the outside, although both paladins could sense the ugliness within her feminine shell. Telok detected chaos, finding that she must therefore be a follower of chaos and evil. Verrof then insulted and threatened her, and although Natasha claimed innocence, the PCs didnt believe her, and the uncharismatic ranger stepped forward to attack. As battle ensued, Natasha ran out of her room and to the opposite hall, and down into a room containing six of her zombies. They didnt even get a chance, as Jestyn fried all but one with a fireball. The warriors closed in on Natasha, and suddenly she turned invisible and ran. She didnt get far when Telok cast Invisibility Purge, ending her spell. As the warriors surrounded her, Jestyn stayed back and concentrated on countering her spells, resulting in a nearly dead sorceress before long. As she fell to her knees, Jerry suggested they keep her alive for questioning, and they tiny Welby agreed. Verrof would have none of it, as his fanatical hatred of the undead gave him a great loathing of the drow, who associated with them. He instantly bashed in her head with his mace, destroying her lovely face and ending her life. Afterwards, a search of her body found her mace, some magic armor, and a few other items. The PCs took all of them, then rested in her chamber, closing off all exits. Jerry went into a nearby room, finding a magical circle which radiated good magic. Here he rested, praying to his god. Jestyn identified the items, while Sithdar checked the treasure chests in her other room, finding some potions and money. Natashas mace was revealed to be an unholy and poisoned weapon, though highly magical. Verrof, caring not for good nor evil, took it, knowing it would help him fight his foes. Jimwise protested some, though his outrage was soothed by Verrofs promise to destroy the mace once the characters cleansed these halls of evil. Jerry, being in another room, didnt yet see the evil of the mace. Thus the characters rested, distributing their wealth and celebrating their victory over yet another evil foe.

DM’S COMMENTS: Wow, Natasha got it bad this adventure. Due to their robe of eyes, she couldn’t pull off any sort of ambush, so she decided to go the diplomatic route, which didn’t work against my fanatically good PCs who wouldn’t trust a CE character. They just attacked her, and good use of spells made it so that she couldn’t do a single thing aside from dying a horrible death. The carrion crawlers were just as pathetic. It looks like the PCs are nearly done with the tomb, and Rappan Athuk is getting closer.