Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Aldelle Group – Session 54 – The Vampire Side-Steps Us



Session 54 happened Wednesday, November 23, 2011.

[We’ve been playing regularly over the last month and a half, I’ve just been working on other things and lax in getting the adventure summaries posted.  Exciting things have been happening and yesterday we finished what I’m calling Book 2 (Book 1 having been the exploration of Dyson’s Delve).

We are discussing the possibility of folks changing characters and I’m tempted to switch from Harkaitz, Aziz, and Sarisvati to new characters at roughly the same level.  The reason I’m tempted is that Harkaitz has plans and responsibilities that require him to stop adventuring for a while (you’ll see when I get the adventure logs posted).  The DM is putting a time gap between the end of Book 2 and the beginning of Book 3 and I think that whether or not I continue with Harkaitz depends on the length of that gap.]

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)
Elspeth (female half-elf rogue)
Frankie Hu, Master of the Distracting Fist (male dwarf monk)
Harkaitz of the Red Soul (male human cleric of Ra)

NPCs:
Aziz of the Light (male human paladin, cohort of Harkaitz)
Sarisvati the Sun-touched (female Ifrit oracle, cohort of Aziz)
Midnight (female half-elf witch, cohort of Frankie Hu)
Macha (female human fighter, cohort of Elspeth)
Estrela (female Aasimar druid, cohort of Tre-Ba)
Asmo (male halfling sorcerer)


Morning, August 7, Year of the Earth Rabbit
Praise Ra, who righteously smites the unclean.

Brek’nok sent word that the phylactery was destroyed.  The lich is now consigned to oblivion for all time.  Some celebration is being made and Short John is cooking a celebratory breakfast before we re-enter the Throne of Ra.


Midday, August 7, Year of the Earth Rabbit
Praise Ra, our comfort and guide.

After an excellent breakfast and in high spirits, we entered the Throne of Ra again.  We kept watch on the pyramid during the previous two days and we were fairly certain that the female vampire had not escaped, but now I’m not so certain.

We entered the pyramid and took the left passage across the entry chamber.  We discovered that the mist had returned, obscuring the far corner.  Midnight cast dispel magic to remove the mist, uncovering four animated skeletons: two are bloody skeletal champions and two are bloody and burning skeletal champions.  The skeletal champions immediately charged, attacking Midnight and Macha, who were our front line at that moment.  They failed to injure Macha in the slightest, but Midnight was not so heavily armored and was seriously injured.  She promptly stepped back and Frankie took her place in the front line.  Estrela summoned a swarm of monkeys (I have no idea where the monkeys came from) and I activated my nimbus of light to suppress the fast heal of the skeletal champions [Harkaitz does more damage per round than they fast heal per round].  Sarisvati cast resist energy (fire) on Macha, so when the burning skeletal champions exploded after she and Frankie crushed them, Macha would not be injured.

After that, we made quick time to the elevator chamber, facing no other resistance.  Aziz, Macha, Tre-ba, Estrela (in bat form), and I took the elevator up.  It rose 100 feet, ending in a rectangular chamber with no obvious exits.  Additionally, there was a very real gap between the platform and the ledge around the room that we had to leap across.  That was not pleasant for those of us in armor.

Frankie and Elspeth searched the area and found two concealed switches, each of which exposed an opening on opposite sides of the chamber, 10 feet below the ledge.  We lowered ourselves with rope and checked the one we deemed to be on the left (per our standard procedures) and found a chamber with one door.  Elspeth also found a secret door in that chamber, one which was clearly trapped, but the mechanisms were all on the other side or the door.  Sarisvati used stone shape to create a new portal through the heavy stone door.  Elspeth was then able to disarm the trap, a combined fireball and animate dead trap, tied to the remains in the five stone coffins in the chamber beyond the (once) secret door.  Once we were all through and in the room, I blessed the stone coffins so the skeletal remains would continue their slumber uninterrupted.

This new room had a locked and trapped door out, which Elspeth was able to clear and unlock.  When Macha opened the door, she was rushed by a person in plate mail, bearing the sign of Ra!  The paladin (it turns out) paused when he realized we were not minions of the lich and we talked.  He is a half-elf named Teralis and he was placed here recently by an angel to guard the key to the sacred chambers guarding the portal.  He was greatly disheartened to discover that the lich had bypassed the trials and achieved the portal.  He cheered up slightly when we told him that we had destroyed the lich, but pointed out that until we destroyed the lich’s phylactery, it would rise again.  I will admit I felt a sly grin on my face when I assured him we had that covered and the lich was permanently destroyed.  Teralis nearly collapsed from exhaustion and relief at that point.  He has been here for nearly a week and has had almost no sleep.  Aziz has agreed to stay and stand watch over Teralis while he slept and the rest of us continued to explore the chambers on this level.  Everyone else is ready to go and waiting on me to finish this entry.  Time to finish this then.


Later in the afternoon, August 7, Year of the Earth Rabbit
Praise Ra, who provides insight when we are shrouded in mystery.

While worthwhile, our search is complete and we still have not found the female vampire.

We followed a series of chambers around the perimeter of the elevator shaft.  Half way around we found a shrine to Skylar with a statue of Skylar on a pedestal.  I asked for it to be searched and Elspeth found a hidden compartment in the pedestal containing the Shield of Skylar.  I retrieved it for Aziz’s use.

After finishing our circuit around the elevator shaft and not finding the vampire we sought, we have returned to the Teralis’s chamber and wait for him to finish resting.  He has a ring of sustenance, so he will only need to sleep for another hour or so.  In the meantime we are discussing what to do next.  Aziz now has Skylar’s Sword and Shield.  We know where Skylar’s armor is, but I hope we will not need it.

~*~

Teralis awoke and we talked the situation over with him.  As he is no longer needed here, he has agreed to travel with us.  Midnight finally thought of a way to find the vampire and cast locate creature.  It was below us, apparently in the entry area.  We believe it is trapped by the afternoon sun.

We quickly headed back down to the entry area and found the passage to the entry area obscured by smoke.  We are contemplating our options.

*End of Session*

No comments:

Post a Comment