Post by Bandgoat on Aug 4, 2013 22:12:47 GMT -6
Kuthona 14, 4707 – Late Evening
Dearest Illya,
Disaster. I believe my new adventuring partners suffer from a lack of leadership: a flaw I intend to remedy in the days to come.
Yesterday, as we rummaged through the red dragon cave overlooking Jorgenfist, we found what appeared to be a naturally-occurring crack in the wall large enough for us to explore. After we fenced the loot, bought some much-needed items, and regained our strength, we opted to search this tunnel, again putting our primary objective on hold. The tunnel did not diverge or split and the floor seemed to gently slope downward through the mountain. After several hours of exploring in the dark, we realized that the cavern kept corkscrewing down into the mountain, descending, we believed, below the valley floor. Finally, after hours of descent from the dragon cave, we came to an intersection in the cavern. Lai’Ki believed one tunnel led in the direction of the valley, possibly underneath the very fortress we came to assault. The other tunnel continued downward below the mountain. True to form, we decided to abandon our sole purpose for even being in this part of Varisia, and we started to explore the deeper caves below.
As we descended, the size of the tunnel expanded so it was not as cramped and we encountered moisture dripping from the ceiling and walls. The water collecting and flowing on the floor got several inches deep. The grade also became steeper and the footing slippery. Soon after, Lai’Ki noticed a faint breeze coming from the direction we were traveling.
At last, we came upon an immense cavern containing a vast subterranean lake. Due to the size and darkness of the cave, none of us were able to see much about its features beyond a few feet. In hindsight, we should have shot a magically glowing arrow across the lake as far as we could shoot it (though it is never wise to disturb the water of a tranquil pool), but other, more reckless plans were already underway.
The dangerously curious tiefling started testing the water. First he prodded it with his staff, examining its depth. He then felt it with his finger. Having determined that the lake bottom sloped sharply downward near shore, indicating an extremely deep body of water, and thinking the water felt bitterly cold to the touch, we knew we could not swim or wade through to explore it. Since the shoreline only extended a few dozen yards before contacting the cavern walls, we certainly could not circumvent the obstacle. Nala then unilaterally decided to take wing and fly out over the lake to see if there was a destination on the opposite side. I quickly lost sight of him since he did not possess any form of lighting, and so he was on his own.
Minutes passed. It was an uncomfortable silence with no communication between us and our alchemist. Then we heard a bloodcurdling scream. With a quick look at the other party members, I could tell we were all thinking the same thing: Could we not just leave him? However, my conscience got the better of me. With a collective sigh, we made ready to rescue him. In the distance, about a furlong away, we saw the flash of an alchemical bomb as well as Nala suspended over the water, wrapped up in a ball of tentacles. The creature attacking him had a long neck and a serpentine head with rows of sharp teeth. Soril quickly used his newly-found magical staff to get us all flying and we moved out over the water. However, before we had a chance to reach him, Nala’s screams suddenly fell silent. Eventually, we made it to the scene of the carnage (though not without some grossly mismanaged tactical movements by some party members) where we attacked the ferocious aquatic creature. We forced it to drop what was left of our tiefling colleague and flee into the dark depths below.
It was not until we were safely back on shore a few paces back up the tunnel that Tolgun, gasping for breath, asked, “What was that thing?!” To which Soril responded, “That was Nala being an arse.” While Ryll quietly tended to the tiefling, Lai’Ki and I put our heads together to realize that the creature we fought in the underground lake matched the description of a creature legend says hunts The Storval Deep, a lake near Turtleback Ferry: a creature known as Black Magga. From what we understand, we were lucky to have lost only one of our number.
We discussed going back after the creature, but decided against it since we had no way of finding it. Upon examining the remains of Nala, we teleported to Magnimar with the corpse. There, we enlisted the aid of some very helpful clerics to return Nala to the living. Actually, it was rather nice to rest a night indoors for a change. We intend to return early in the morning and pick up where we left off.
- Always Your Loving Wife, E
Kuthona 15, 4707 – Unknown Time (Probably Late Afternoon)
It is difficult to judge the passing of time when your day is spent underground. However, what I believe to be a subterranean passage into the fortress of Jorgenfist is preferable to a frontal assault through an army of giants. We have only stopped briefly before continuing our exploration, so I will be as terse as possible.
This morning, we began our exploration of the tunnel leading from the dragon cave again, this time following the passage toward the valley floor. What seemed like a few hours later, we heard the faint stomping of heavily armored feet. A short way further along the tunnel, I cloaked myself in a magical illusion and peaked around a corner. A peculiar sight I did behold. Before me were several small creatures, all carrying oversized scythes and wearing red pointy hats and thick metal boots…and nothing else. Overhearing part of their conversations to each other, I noticed that they were speaking a dialect of Sylvan. I then tried to intimidate them into letting us pass unhindered saying, “Drop your weapons and no one will get hurt!” That seemed to work, at least briefly. They backed away from me, so I waved the rest of the party ahead. As I neared them, however, and as Tolgun and Ryll walked around the corner into view, the little fey creatures “lost their stuff,” as the colloquialism goes. They immediately rushed us in attack.
Not knowing anything about these creatures, I started the fight with a quick jab against one of them and some defensive spells. Ryll hit ferociously with her sword while Tolgun had trouble hitting his mark (which is understandable considering his choice of weapon and the close quarters). Soril called forth some rolling balls of fire that would continually harass the enemy throughout the fight. Lai’Ki, unfortunately, had no room to enter the combat, unless she could somehow shoot around corners. The red-capped harvesters attacked ferociously – their scythes swinging wildly and their wounds healing at an incredible rate. Nala, who was busily throwing flasks of acid at our assailants, somehow missed his intended target, covering Ryll and me with gobs of burning acid. I remember thinking at that point, as I skewered one of the little attackers, that maybe it would not have been such a bad idea to have left the tiefling’s body to be eaten by Black Magga. Just then, another of the ferocious little blighters swung his scythe so quickly, I did not have time to deflect or dodge his attack. It hit me directly in my side, just below my ribs, creating a large gash and knocking me to the ground where I hit my head, relieving me of my consciousness. I awoke a few seconds later to the sight of a dwarf staring me in the face and a flask of who-knows-what flying through the air at me from Nala. Not knowing whether my comrades had turned on me or if this scene represented my eternal punishment in the Hells, I cleverly dodged out of the way of the incoming projectile. However, I was told that it was a curative potion, so I picked it up from the ground and drank it, feeling much better. The mad red-hatters were right beside me, but Soril had put a wall of force in place, so they were not able to attack me. After Soril killed one with a moving ball of fire, the remaining assailant started to run away. Fearing he might alert others to our presence, I ordered the party to give chase.
We followed the remaining fey creature through the labyrinth of tunnels into a wide room. This cave was cluttered by tiny mounds of carefully sorted junk: bones, scraps of armor, broken weapons, stones, dead rats, and sections of chitin arrested from large vermin. A net hammock dangled from a pair of stalagmites in one corner near our tunnel exit. We saw one of the scythe wielders we just fought hurriedly trying to explain in broken common what was going on, screaming, “Big’uns, big’uns, big’uns!” to a kobold holding a spear and wearing a breastplate. At our entrance into the room, the little lizard-thing maneuvered and attacked Ryll, for an impressive stab. Soril put up a short-lasting wall of acid, killing the redcap. Tolgun moved up to take on the kobold and got impaled on the kobold’s spear, but got in an impressive hit of his own. Soril and I combined our magics to reduce the little fighter’s health, but it kept hissing and attacking. The kobold, never wavering from her intended target, moved up and attacked Tolgun painfully, dropping him to the ground. Nala, who had been between the kobold and our wizard, moved out of the way of the advancing kobold, much to Soril’s chagrin. Soon after, it seemed Tolgun drew a last breath and succumbed to his wounds. I knew then that we would have to finish off our enemy as quickly as possible. I activated a surge of magical power through my sword, tumbled through the kobold’s line of attack, and hit the flank of the creature. Lai’Ki took careful aim and hit the kobold squarely in the chest, while Ryll stepped up and severed its hissing head. Seconds later, Nala was able to breathe life back into Tolgun, who felt drained after the ordeal.
We searched everything and gained some healing. The fey creatures’ hats were at one time white, but had been stained with blood, presumably of their victims. The kobold had a magic short spear, a magic buckler, a magic breastplate, and a Necklace of Fireballs. Luckily, the magic effects Soril, Nala, and I had used had not been enough to set off this hazardous device. Rifling through the kobold’s possessions, we found a medallion that said “The Clan of the Burning Hand Rulez.” We had no idea what that meant. We found nothing else of use.
I then posted Ryll, Nala, and Tolgun at the entrances of this room in case anything else heard our fighting. Now that we have had a moment to rest, we will continue our exploration. Hopefully, our hours of searching have not been in vain and we will soon find the lair of the stone giant responsible for the threat on Varisia.
- E
Dearest Illya,
Disaster. I believe my new adventuring partners suffer from a lack of leadership: a flaw I intend to remedy in the days to come.
Yesterday, as we rummaged through the red dragon cave overlooking Jorgenfist, we found what appeared to be a naturally-occurring crack in the wall large enough for us to explore. After we fenced the loot, bought some much-needed items, and regained our strength, we opted to search this tunnel, again putting our primary objective on hold. The tunnel did not diverge or split and the floor seemed to gently slope downward through the mountain. After several hours of exploring in the dark, we realized that the cavern kept corkscrewing down into the mountain, descending, we believed, below the valley floor. Finally, after hours of descent from the dragon cave, we came to an intersection in the cavern. Lai’Ki believed one tunnel led in the direction of the valley, possibly underneath the very fortress we came to assault. The other tunnel continued downward below the mountain. True to form, we decided to abandon our sole purpose for even being in this part of Varisia, and we started to explore the deeper caves below.
As we descended, the size of the tunnel expanded so it was not as cramped and we encountered moisture dripping from the ceiling and walls. The water collecting and flowing on the floor got several inches deep. The grade also became steeper and the footing slippery. Soon after, Lai’Ki noticed a faint breeze coming from the direction we were traveling.
At last, we came upon an immense cavern containing a vast subterranean lake. Due to the size and darkness of the cave, none of us were able to see much about its features beyond a few feet. In hindsight, we should have shot a magically glowing arrow across the lake as far as we could shoot it (though it is never wise to disturb the water of a tranquil pool), but other, more reckless plans were already underway.
The dangerously curious tiefling started testing the water. First he prodded it with his staff, examining its depth. He then felt it with his finger. Having determined that the lake bottom sloped sharply downward near shore, indicating an extremely deep body of water, and thinking the water felt bitterly cold to the touch, we knew we could not swim or wade through to explore it. Since the shoreline only extended a few dozen yards before contacting the cavern walls, we certainly could not circumvent the obstacle. Nala then unilaterally decided to take wing and fly out over the lake to see if there was a destination on the opposite side. I quickly lost sight of him since he did not possess any form of lighting, and so he was on his own.
Minutes passed. It was an uncomfortable silence with no communication between us and our alchemist. Then we heard a bloodcurdling scream. With a quick look at the other party members, I could tell we were all thinking the same thing: Could we not just leave him? However, my conscience got the better of me. With a collective sigh, we made ready to rescue him. In the distance, about a furlong away, we saw the flash of an alchemical bomb as well as Nala suspended over the water, wrapped up in a ball of tentacles. The creature attacking him had a long neck and a serpentine head with rows of sharp teeth. Soril quickly used his newly-found magical staff to get us all flying and we moved out over the water. However, before we had a chance to reach him, Nala’s screams suddenly fell silent. Eventually, we made it to the scene of the carnage (though not without some grossly mismanaged tactical movements by some party members) where we attacked the ferocious aquatic creature. We forced it to drop what was left of our tiefling colleague and flee into the dark depths below.
It was not until we were safely back on shore a few paces back up the tunnel that Tolgun, gasping for breath, asked, “What was that thing?!” To which Soril responded, “That was Nala being an arse.” While Ryll quietly tended to the tiefling, Lai’Ki and I put our heads together to realize that the creature we fought in the underground lake matched the description of a creature legend says hunts The Storval Deep, a lake near Turtleback Ferry: a creature known as Black Magga. From what we understand, we were lucky to have lost only one of our number.
We discussed going back after the creature, but decided against it since we had no way of finding it. Upon examining the remains of Nala, we teleported to Magnimar with the corpse. There, we enlisted the aid of some very helpful clerics to return Nala to the living. Actually, it was rather nice to rest a night indoors for a change. We intend to return early in the morning and pick up where we left off.
- Always Your Loving Wife, E
Kuthona 15, 4707 – Unknown Time (Probably Late Afternoon)
It is difficult to judge the passing of time when your day is spent underground. However, what I believe to be a subterranean passage into the fortress of Jorgenfist is preferable to a frontal assault through an army of giants. We have only stopped briefly before continuing our exploration, so I will be as terse as possible.
This morning, we began our exploration of the tunnel leading from the dragon cave again, this time following the passage toward the valley floor. What seemed like a few hours later, we heard the faint stomping of heavily armored feet. A short way further along the tunnel, I cloaked myself in a magical illusion and peaked around a corner. A peculiar sight I did behold. Before me were several small creatures, all carrying oversized scythes and wearing red pointy hats and thick metal boots…and nothing else. Overhearing part of their conversations to each other, I noticed that they were speaking a dialect of Sylvan. I then tried to intimidate them into letting us pass unhindered saying, “Drop your weapons and no one will get hurt!” That seemed to work, at least briefly. They backed away from me, so I waved the rest of the party ahead. As I neared them, however, and as Tolgun and Ryll walked around the corner into view, the little fey creatures “lost their stuff,” as the colloquialism goes. They immediately rushed us in attack.
Not knowing anything about these creatures, I started the fight with a quick jab against one of them and some defensive spells. Ryll hit ferociously with her sword while Tolgun had trouble hitting his mark (which is understandable considering his choice of weapon and the close quarters). Soril called forth some rolling balls of fire that would continually harass the enemy throughout the fight. Lai’Ki, unfortunately, had no room to enter the combat, unless she could somehow shoot around corners. The red-capped harvesters attacked ferociously – their scythes swinging wildly and their wounds healing at an incredible rate. Nala, who was busily throwing flasks of acid at our assailants, somehow missed his intended target, covering Ryll and me with gobs of burning acid. I remember thinking at that point, as I skewered one of the little attackers, that maybe it would not have been such a bad idea to have left the tiefling’s body to be eaten by Black Magga. Just then, another of the ferocious little blighters swung his scythe so quickly, I did not have time to deflect or dodge his attack. It hit me directly in my side, just below my ribs, creating a large gash and knocking me to the ground where I hit my head, relieving me of my consciousness. I awoke a few seconds later to the sight of a dwarf staring me in the face and a flask of who-knows-what flying through the air at me from Nala. Not knowing whether my comrades had turned on me or if this scene represented my eternal punishment in the Hells, I cleverly dodged out of the way of the incoming projectile. However, I was told that it was a curative potion, so I picked it up from the ground and drank it, feeling much better. The mad red-hatters were right beside me, but Soril had put a wall of force in place, so they were not able to attack me. After Soril killed one with a moving ball of fire, the remaining assailant started to run away. Fearing he might alert others to our presence, I ordered the party to give chase.
We followed the remaining fey creature through the labyrinth of tunnels into a wide room. This cave was cluttered by tiny mounds of carefully sorted junk: bones, scraps of armor, broken weapons, stones, dead rats, and sections of chitin arrested from large vermin. A net hammock dangled from a pair of stalagmites in one corner near our tunnel exit. We saw one of the scythe wielders we just fought hurriedly trying to explain in broken common what was going on, screaming, “Big’uns, big’uns, big’uns!” to a kobold holding a spear and wearing a breastplate. At our entrance into the room, the little lizard-thing maneuvered and attacked Ryll, for an impressive stab. Soril put up a short-lasting wall of acid, killing the redcap. Tolgun moved up to take on the kobold and got impaled on the kobold’s spear, but got in an impressive hit of his own. Soril and I combined our magics to reduce the little fighter’s health, but it kept hissing and attacking. The kobold, never wavering from her intended target, moved up and attacked Tolgun painfully, dropping him to the ground. Nala, who had been between the kobold and our wizard, moved out of the way of the advancing kobold, much to Soril’s chagrin. Soon after, it seemed Tolgun drew a last breath and succumbed to his wounds. I knew then that we would have to finish off our enemy as quickly as possible. I activated a surge of magical power through my sword, tumbled through the kobold’s line of attack, and hit the flank of the creature. Lai’Ki took careful aim and hit the kobold squarely in the chest, while Ryll stepped up and severed its hissing head. Seconds later, Nala was able to breathe life back into Tolgun, who felt drained after the ordeal.
We searched everything and gained some healing. The fey creatures’ hats were at one time white, but had been stained with blood, presumably of their victims. The kobold had a magic short spear, a magic buckler, a magic breastplate, and a Necklace of Fireballs. Luckily, the magic effects Soril, Nala, and I had used had not been enough to set off this hazardous device. Rifling through the kobold’s possessions, we found a medallion that said “The Clan of the Burning Hand Rulez.” We had no idea what that meant. We found nothing else of use.
I then posted Ryll, Nala, and Tolgun at the entrances of this room in case anything else heard our fighting. Now that we have had a moment to rest, we will continue our exploration. Hopefully, our hours of searching have not been in vain and we will soon find the lair of the stone giant responsible for the threat on Varisia.
- E