Session 15

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 9 LG
Jestyn: High Elf Wizard, Level 9 NE
Verrof: Earth Genasi Ranger, Level 6 LN
Sithdar Darkblade: Human Rogue-Assassin, Level 9 ?

ADVENTURE 15: Dirty Deeds and a Virtuous Quest: As it turns out, Jestyn would pay dearly for his use of spells in picking up women. In the morning he was awakened rudely by the two girls, and as the charm spell wore off, they were both very angry with him. They accused him of being an evil monster, and threatened to turn him into the guard for his illegal spell use, or possibly the wizards guild, which would be even worse. Yet Jestyn managed to grab his wand and charm both of them again before they could do anything else. He then ordered them to wait here while he thought of a plan. Meanwhile, the wizard purchased Leomunds Hut, a spell that would create a magical house. He memorized it and went back to the charmed ladies. Then he led them out of town and towards the outskirts of the Imperial Hunting Grounds, an immense forest on the borders of Nenkal City. Setting up his magic shack, Jestyn led the women inside and had them sit at a table. Then, he tried to work out a deal with the two. However, he soon realized that no matter what, the two girls could always go off and tell the guards on him, and the clerical judges of Nenkal could always tell who was truthful. Thus, he began threatening them, promising to use horrible spells if the girls did not cooperate. Angered by this, and feeling they had good odds against the lone man, the women attacked, but failed horribly as Jestyn cast a Bloodstorm, blinding and terrifying them both. After Stoneskinning himself, the wizard gave the two a final offer. One of them had to go with him and accompany him everywhere, the other had to die. Desperate, one of the girls began attacking the other with a knife. Jestyn slew the attacker with some magic missiles, ending her young life. He took the other girl, Anna Marie, and made her go with him. As she was now a shocked and nearly broken person, she agreed, though mostly keeping silent, very afraid of him. Jestyn then took the dead girls body and burned it outside in a large fire. While this went on, a man passed bya local hunter. He spoke briefly with Jestyn, wanting to cook some rabbits on his fire. Fortunately, the wizard was able to convince the hunter to leave. After the body was burned, Jestyn broke up the remaining bones and stuffed them in a blanket, deciding to dump the remains in the sea. By the end of the day he was there, and quickly disposed of the dead girls bones. He then began trying to make friends with Anna Marie, although most of the time she seemed very panicky and withdrawn, wanting only to keep quiet and listen to his orders. Soon, however, they went back to Nenkal, where Jestyn bought her new clothes and the most expensive jewelry he could find.
While this was happening, Telok shopped, Verrof hunted and cooked a deer, and Jerry attended temple duties. Jerrys day was particularly interesting. First off, he listened to a stirring speech by Sartorious, who condemned the actions of Orcus cult, and demanded that the Temple find and destroy it. He suggested that there may be traitors, secret cultists, posing as regular citizens, or demons disguised as nearly anybody. This was met with great applause, the crowd loving the charismatic priest. Afterwards, Jerry got the two scrolls he needed (Raise dead and command) from the high priest. The paladin told his superior about his quest to become a Justicar, and while Sartorious was certainly skeptical, he was also decently encouraging. Jerry also looked over some symbols of Orcus that had been found in the previous church fire, then went off to search the ruins himself. Here, Verrof helped some hired rangers find humanoid tracks that lead off into the city streets. This perplexed him, as the previous burnings had all been performed by beings who merely teleported in and out. Later in the day, Jerry met a beggar in the streets. Completely insane, the man claimed that his master, Orcus, would soon return to the world, and that all the people of Nenkal would suffer. Capturing the beggar, Jerry took him back to the High Temple, letting paladins Jessa and Phillip interrogate him. Other than his talk of a coming apocalypse, the beggars ranting was mostly useless. Eventually, the paladin met with the returning wizard. Knowing nothing of the days vile events, Jerry could still detect some evil from his friend Jestyn, which was rather strange. Jestyn also his new companion with him, and although he refused to talk about it, Jerry knew something was wrong. Another night was spent in Nenkal, and after a brief morning spent eating, with Telok smoking some weeds from his temple gardens, the party left for the burial halls again, bringing the weak and inexperienced Anna Marie along.
The journey there was a simple one, for all except the helpless merchants daughter. Only a brief encounter with spiders in the woods marred the travel, but those were hardly a threat to the heroes. Back at the burial halls the heroes descended to level three, fighting the few remaining Mobats before arriving at the doors to Flails tomb. Here, Jerry used his scroll to open the doors, and him and Jimwise Welby went inside. In the pristine tomb, Flail was again raised, and spoke to Jerry of his quest. Well educated in the books of his religion, versed in diplomacy and skilled at reading people, Jerry was deemed ready to try and take the quest of a Justicar. His motives were also judged to be true, and thus, Flail gave him his quest.
Back before the tombs had been built, these caves had been the lair of a dark druidic circle, led by the insane Gremag, a fallen druid who sought lichdom. He had built a great black monolith deep in the dungeon, to contact his nefarious masters and gain immortality. This monolith was a powerful artifact, capable of gating thousands of demons to his world from hell. Flail said that both the cult of Orcus and Tsathogga sought to unlock its power, and he demanded that it be destroyed by any means possible. This was Jerrys quest, to find the monolith in the hidden chamber where the earths wound bled, and destroy it. He agreed to it. Before he left, Flail gave him a warning about associating with evil folk, stating that he sensed evil from some of the party outside. (Jestyn.)
Coming out, he told the rest of the party what he had learned. Telok, upon hearing of the chamber of earth blood, said that he too needed to go there, stating a mystical vision quest from his god, to retrieve a vial of the stuff. The party sped forth, following directions from flail and heading back to the first level before going past the flooded corridor and through the crystal cave, all the way to the stairs of level 5.
Descending back into the murky grotto of the frog-things, the characters quietly ignored the demonic procession taking place atop a cliff on the other side of the green lake, and went into the nearby alcove, where an illusionary wall supposedly was. The room was visibly empty to all but Telok and Jerry, who soon spotted that the wall wasnt there at all. Despite the best efforts of the others, however, they could not disbelieve the wall, especially Sithdar, who was used to thinking in terms of physical reality. The only way they got through was when Telok used greater dispelling to make the wall disappear, though it immediately began reforming. Beyond, some stairs led further down, twisting and turning several times.
The characters emerged in a very odd place: the walls seeming to breathe, made of perfectly round little particles, which nonetheless stuck together like glue. Both a northern and southern branch existed in this wide cavern of living rock, and immediately, the characters noticed a fire burning nearby, hearing the grunting croaks of the frog-men. The party got the jump on these evil thugs, launching several spells their way, which killed all but the leader before any of them could act. This leader too was taken down by a mace strike of Verrofs. Confident in their victory, the party gathered their spoils and prepared to finish their quest.

DM’S COMMENTS: Kind of a wierd session, what with all the murder and everything, but fun nonetheless. The wizard went a bit crazy, but already he has plans to confess all his sins to Jerry, as the guilt seems to be getting to him. They probably won’t end up kill each other, although the first level commoner girl in the party is always a problem. One more adventure and the main tomb quest will probably be done, though already the PCs had said that they want to slay Gremag. Wish them luck.