Sessions 31 and 32 happened Tuesday, June 7, and Monday, June 13th, 2011. Due to where the sessions broke, this journal entry will cover two sessions as there was no way for Harkaitz to make a journal entry once the action started.
This campaign used the Dyson’s Delve dungeon pages on A Character for Every Game as a starting point, but has now moved on to new material from the DM-in-training. I heartily recommend Dyson's Delve as a beginning adventure.
Adventuring Group:
Tre-ba Bel a sheer (female elf alchemist)
Frankie Hu, Master of the Distracting Fist (male dwarf monk)
Luna (female elf sorcerer)
Wednesday (female elf rogue)
Harkaitz of the Red Soul (male human cleric of Ra)
NPCs:
Aziz of the Light (male human paladin, cohort of Harkaitz)
Sarisvati the Suntouched (female Ifrit oracle, cohort of Aziz)
Midnight (female half-elf witch, cohort of Frankie Hu)
Ferahal (male elf arcane archer plus ?)
Short John Copper (male halfling expert)
The Red Shirts (elven warriors attached to the Group)
Brand and Zephyr (a mated pair of pseudo-dragons)
Nionel (female drow cleric, temporary ally)
Evening, May 17, Year of the Earth Rabbit
Praise Ra, in whose light we seek redemption.
[Journal entry continued from previous posting – start reading here.]
After we burned down the drider, Wednesday checked the ornate double doors at the back of the room. She found a trap designed to release multiple fireballs, covering the entire room with flame. We prudently stepped out of the room while she disabled the trap. Once she disabled the trap, we re-entered the room. She then investigated the locking mechanism. It was trapped as well. Yes, the lock was trapped separately from the door. Drow!
After the second trap was disabled (and a third sweep for traps was completed), Frankie opened the doors to the next chamber. This was the gate room. The room was roughly diamond shaped with a high [50-foot] ceiling. In addition to the gate, glowing in the far corner of the room, this chamber contained an old foe – the vrock from the previous gate, flanked by two erinyes. The vrock did not immediately recognize us (we were disguised as drow after all), but we recognized him. We attacked immediately.
We concentrated all of our attacks against the vrock. As a result, the vrock went down quickly, but not before injuring several of us and infecting Wednesday with some sort of spores (which I cured during the combat with a bless). The erinyes were flying and would have been difficult to get to, except for Frankie’s ability to run up walls. He ran up a wall to one of the erinyes and grabbed its wings before letting gravity take over. Frankie was able to acrobatically twist during the fall, ensuring the erinyes ended up taking the brunt of the damage from the fall. Then the rest of us piled attacks on the erinyes. The second erinyes quickly moved away from the wall it had been flying near.
Attacking two individuals piled on the floor is tricky and Wednesday nearly killed Frankie when she accidentally stabbed him instead of the erinyes. I was able to keep him alive by healing him, which was necessary more than once. When we finally killed the first erinyes (not an easy task as they are immune or resistant to most attacks), the second decided to teleport away, rather than face our combined attacks alone.
While my companions collected any usable valuables, I attempted to destroy the gate by stone shaping the rock it rested on. After the stone was folded and distorted, the gate reformed and remained active. I was at a loss, having no back-up plan. We were all out of spells and potions and did not want to be trapped here once the drow civil war played out. We were all exhausted and in need of sleep, which led me to thinking about what time it might be on the surface (the drow keep a separate time as they have no sun to track it). Going through my journal, I realized it might actually be dawn, when Ra answers prayers! I explained this to my companions and we decided to hole up here while I prayed to Ra. The doors to the gate room were closed and Wednesday re-set the lock trap.
As I cleared my mind and offered prayers to Ra, I felt His divine presence almost immediately. The feeling of the sun shining on my soul was most needed at that point and provided some measure of comfort to my guilt at Sarisvati’s death. When I finished my meditations, I had a new path to follow. I summoned a planar ally and was rewarded by the appearance of Uxatas, a bralani servant of Ra.
We questioned Uxatas as to how to stop the demons and devils from destroying the world. Uxatas explained that the gates could not be destroyed as they were integral to the existence of the world. The gods could not remove the demons and devils from the gate room as the demons and devils could draw on the power of the gate to resist being sent back. Now that they had been eliminated physically, holy forces could move in and hold the gate. Uxatas then added three new locations to our map, stating that these were the locations of additional gates where the forces of evil were in control. He then offered to transport us to any location.
I deferred the teleportation until I could confer with Nionel. She was staying to the edge of the room, clearly uncomfortable with the bralani’s presence. I confirmed with her that our mutual obligations were balanced and that the drow would seal away the gate room. We made cordial good-byes and Wednesday disarmed the trap and let her out through the doors before closing them behind her. We then accepted Uxatas’s teleportation offer to go to Ttaeladra so we could make our final report there.
We were enveloped in a blinding flash of light and found ourselves in the central market of Ttaeladra. Short John and the Red Shirts were also here, looking quite surprised. Ferahal was given the Matriarch’s head (but not the crown) to make his report to the Captain of the Watch while the rest of us adjourned to the nearest tavern for food.
Later that day, at Noon, I cast raise dead to bring Sarisvati back to life.
Yesterday we sold off the drow equipment we had collected, along with most of the magic items taken from the Matriarch. The resulting coinage was split amongst the group (including a share set aside for group expenses). Today we procured supplies and mapped out a route to our next destination, deep in the desert Aziz and I grew up in.
*End of Session*
[This brings us current. The next story arc goes through the desert that makes up the southern end of the continent we are adventuring on. After that there is a mountain gate and one in the swamp, near the village of the lizardfolk we have friends in (from back in the Delve). I personally hope that the mountain gate will let the other characters shine more as I feel Harkaitz is getting a bit much of the spotlight.]
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