Session 29, Grish-Ta-Nak Down, and Finding Wyrmbane
Paldegora
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Session 29 – 2023-08-26
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Summary
Detail
This session started with Symon turning around after looking through the door that Theo, Bloodfist, and Lurzz came through and seeing a large Wyvern coming through the opposite door. The wyvern charging into the room was huge, brown, and had red scales on his face. Grish-ta-nak shouted, “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE SERVANTS OF GRIZZOLO. YOU WILL ALL DIE!”. He began to inhale. The room suddenly filled with a blueish light, almost like a fog, and some figures that seemed familiar to them appeared around them. They were the guardians from the cemetery. One of them, in a booming voice, said, “You are all declared allies of King Nordain, Wolf of the North!, Fight now and cleanse this abomination from the heart of Nordanlum!”. They reached out and touched each member of the Company and where they expected to feel an icy touch, the touch instead burned. With that sensation, everyone was fully healed. There was a brief second where everyone felt slightly dizzy and then the entities disappeared. Along with their disappearance, the light faded, and they were once again facing Grish-ta-nak.
Grish-ta-nak was drawing a breath. Angelique handed a potion of fire resistance to Xor. At the same time, Grisjh-ta-nak released his breath weapon at Eryn. The damage was great and she collapsed. Xor drank the potion. Cal-El charged the wyvern and missed both attacks swinging wildly. Cassandra charged up and missed as well. Symon used his wand of paralyzation. It failed to hold him. In the next series of attacks, Cal-El missed again. Grish-ta-nak took a bite at Cal-El and hit him. Cassandra dodged his tail and the wicked stinger on the tip of it. Symon attempted to paralyze him again and again, it failed. Cassandra attacked and missed again. Angelique attacked and missed. Xor charged up to him and missed. Angelique missed her second attack. Cassandra missed her second attack. Xor missed his second attack as well.
Angelique poured a dose of her healing potion to get Eryn alive again and then dumped in two more doses to get her back up and able to fight again. Symon tried the wand again but it failed. Xor attacked and missed. Cal-El finally hit him and definitely hurt him. Cassandra missed again. Grish-ta-nak missed with both of his attacks. In the next round, Cal-El missed both attacks, Symon used a wand of magic missiles and did some damage. Cassandra hit him and he was looking pretty bad. He tried to attack back and missed both attacks. Angelique ran up and used her Staff of Striking and hit him, putting him down. Eryn drank her regular potion of healing. He was worth 10,000xps.
Eryn picked the lock and opened the box that she had pulled from the column. She found an iron rod, very plain looking. There was a scroll case that looked very old. There were two pieces of parchment tied up with a ribbon. There was also a small wooden case. She opened the box and found it lined with velvet that held a wand. Symon looked at the two parchments. One was a map with a red line indicating a path to take through the Drakemoors and the Valley of The Bones, to a hidden cave way north of here. There was writing on it that said, “This is the map to the Dragon's Vale, provided by Grizzolo!”. At the bottom of the map was written, “Beware the guardian!”. The handwriting was that of King Lundor. Symon then opened the other parchment. The handwriting was King Lundor's again and said, “In honor of vanquishing my foes, I have decided to leave Wyrmbane here, in a place of honor, to watch over all until needed again.”. Symon checked the scroll case and found it to be empty. He looked at the iron rod and found it was plain. He took it over to Grish-ta-nak's body and held it close, pointing it at him. Nothing happened. He looked at the wand and thought it was the best looking wand he had every seen. Whoever designed it put a lot of detail into it. There was nothing to tell him what it did. Angelique didn't see anything more than Symon did when she checked everything out. She called Cassandra over to look at it and she told them that it was just some heavy iron. She saw nothing special about it.
Xor was walking around Gris-ta-nak's body and noticed that there was no floor through he doorway he entered from. He went to the doorway and looked down but it was dark. They were above the room with the doors that they couldn't open. Angelique shined a lantern down the hole and Xor climbed down. The room below had a nasty smell to it. There were no torches in the area but about a hundred feet into the room, there was a small ball glowing with a violet light. It was on a raised pedestal. Xor whispered up, “Send someone else down before I light a torch. They can watch and be ready in case there is something down here.”. Cal-El climbed down next and stood at the edge of Angelique's light, looking in. He saw nothing that gave off a heat signature. He could see the ball and that it rested on an ornate pedestal. He could also see an area on the eastern side of the room with straw that must have been here Grish-ta-nak slept. Xor lit a torch for light. He could now see that all of the doors they'd tried to enter were blocked with piles of heavy stones.
The room mostly matched the room above but it didn't have any windows. The pedestal looked out of place. Cal-El approached the pedestal. The ball rested on some felt on the top of the pedestal. He moved his hands very close to the ball, moving his hands around it but not touching it. He didn't feel anything strange emanating from it. Then the tapped it. As he did, Xor saw him freeze.
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Cal-El, In his mind, saw this fog. It was swirling about. It was misty, like clouds. Then he felt like he was floating above something but couldn't tell what it was. The cloud parted and suddenly he was standing on the side of a mountain. He looked down into this great valley. It was a very long valley, maybe a mile or two wide. It was surrounded by mountains all the way around. All the peaks looked frozen and above them was like a storm, like a blizzard blowing. Down in the valley though, it was lush and green as far as the eye could see. Flowing down the middle of the valley, from this large waterfall on the upper side, was this beautiful stream with crystal clear water that made it look almost magical. The waterfall made noise, almost like music. He scanned around and saw different kinds of grassy fields and little forests. It was just beautiful. There seemed to be a lot of wildlife, butterflies and birds, all that kind of stuff.
When he looked across the valley, to the other side of the mountains, over there he saw something strange. In the dead center between this end of the valley and the other was this extremely large cave. It was massive, maybe thirty guys high. In the very front of it he saw what looked like a raised dais, the size of the mouth of the cave. It was huge and seemed to be all polished marble. The marble itself was so polished and shiny that it was like colors are weaving around in it. It was like it gave off it's own light. To the side of that, towards the waterfall, he saw four smaller caves. The furthest one up it was smaller and had a raised dais also but this dais seemed to be made out of lava. It was black with veins of fire running through it and it was surrounded by molten lava. The cave next to that one, the second cave, he saw another raised dais that seemed to be made out of silver. It was shiny and beautiful with plants and forest and stuff around it. As he looked at it, it seemed sort of musical to him. Next to that cave, the third one down, the dais was made of sandstone. It was surrounded by desert. He saw lightening and sparks flashing on it. The next cave, the forth one, the dais in front of it seemed to be made out of bronze. It was a beautiful dais with forges, metal works, statues, and stuff like that around it.
On the other side of the large cave, in front of the first cave next to it, was a shelf of ice. It was deep blue and very slick with snow surrounding it and it was snowing on it at the time. Next to that one was a cave with a dais in front of it that seemed to be made of copper. It was beautifully shined copper that reminded him of the copper in Sea Spire. There were all of these little whimsical creatures flittering about, skittering and playing. In front of the next cave was a cave with a dais made of granite and stone. He saw vines and tropical vegetation growing up around it. It was humid and steamy. And the last one had a dais made out of a type of rock that he was unfamiliar with. He wasn't sure what it was. It was kind of like obsidian, black looking, and around it was a bog or swamp. There was a haze rising from it. It looked like it would be stinky.
He was just looking around at all of this in amazement. The vision faded and then came back. When it came back, things had changed. Below him in the valley he saw a small hamlet. There were farms and roads and there were people there, moving to and fro. They were not near the caves. The caves were like he had seen them before but there did seem to be a lot of people. On the far end of the valley, opposite the waterfall was a magnificent white castle. It was very far away and hard to see but it was flying banners. He thought the banners had the green and silver look to them as they fluttered in the breeze. He thought it was interesting. People seemed to be going about. He saw orchards and apple trees and all kinds of stuff.
Then the vision faded again and this time when it came back, he saw a pretty little girl with big brown eyes smiling at him. He looked at her but she wasn't familiar. He didn't know who she was. As he watched her, she seemed to grow older. Then the image faded again and came back and she appeared as a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties. She was still very comely looking but her eyes seemed almost dead. She was just staring at him. It was a little unnerving. Then her image faded and he saw darkness. He saw the glow of torches and light. Something very large came towards him. Then suddenly before him, the eye of a dragon was there, looking at and around him. In his mind, there was a loud voice, so loud it made him want to scream. It shouted, “WHO ARE YOU!”. Cal-El felt a sudden panicked, struggling to pull away. The dragon stood back and roared and raged. Everything went dark.
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The violet light on the orb went out. Cal-El was still holding it but he was back to being himself. Xor simply saw him frozen and now he was back, moving and alert. Cal-El let go of the orb but nothing about it changed. Xor asked if he was okay. Cal indicated that he wasn't sure. They searched the whole room and found nothing of value. Apparently wyvern's aren't the hoarders that dragons are. Cal-El wrapped the orb up and took it with him. They climbed back up and rejoined the others. Xor relayed what he saw and Cal-El was going to have to do a lot of writing since he had no other way to relay what he had experienced. Xor retrieved his pitons and ropes. Cal-El showed the orb to everyone. It was dark out. Something that they hadn't noticed before was a crude sliding door in the ceiling, above the dais on the left side. It didn't look like part of the original architecture. It was really big like maybe it was Grish-ta-nak's exit. It was about 30 feet up. Erin wasn't sure if she would be able to open it once she got there but decided to try. She started to climb but lost her hold quickly and fell back down. Seeing that there would be nothing to hold onto when she got there, she decided to stop trying.
Cal-El went out and walked the four sides of the wall, looking out over the area for torchlight. He saw light in the village in the distance, but nothing around the hold. They decided to stay and rest for the night. They set up a watch with Cal-El and Eryn outside while the rest of the Company rested inside. Cal-El moved to the southeast corner of the rampart around the courtyard where he could see if anyone came through the front gate. Eryn settled in on the northern side closer to the chapel but in the shadows, so she could rest but be available should Cal-El need her. While the night passed, Eryn dozed and Lurzz took this opportunity to attack Cal-El but missed all three attacks. Before Cal-El could respond, Lurzz attacked again and missed all three attacks again. Cal-El clanged his swords together hoping to rouse Eryn and then attacked Lurzz. He hit him twice doing quite a bit of damage. Eryn heard the clanging of weapons and jumped up. Lurzz tried to fly over and below the wall, attempting to escape. Cal-El was able to hit him one more time, which was enough as the next sound heard was that of a body slamming into the ground.
Cal-El looked over the wall and see's Lurzz on the ground in a heap. Eryn ran over and Cal-El pointed over the wall. She looked and saw the corpse. Cal-El pointed out that he hadn't exploded or anything that the draconians usually do when they die. He motioned for her to go check him to make sure he was dead. He got out his rope and eased her down. She checked and he seemed dead. She cut his throat to be sure. She searched him but found nothing of interest on him. She tried to figure out how hide him. Cal-El shook the rope. Eryn thought about climbing back up but realized he was suggesting that she tie him off so he can pull him back up and hide him up there. He motioned for her to ride up with him. She did and as he pulled them up, she kept him from bouncing against the wall all the way up. They hid him in the chapel with the rest of the bodies. Then they went back to the watch, Cal-El and then later, Eryn. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.
The sun came up and the Company moved out of the chapel and towards the tower. They reached the bridge and checked it to see how sturdy it was. Apparently the original bridge had collapsed and the goblins built this make-shift bridge to get to the tower. Eryn, roped off to Xor, moved across slowly. It held her fine. She helped anchor from the other side as everyone else crossed. Everyone made it over without any problems. The other side had an empty half room sized area. There was a staircase leading up the north wall to a door. Eryn went up and checked the door. She listened at the door and heard a roaring sound. She let everyone else know what she heard and they all moved back up to the door. Eryn cracked the door a little only to have it ripped from her hand. Beyond it was a roaring swirling ball of fire. She could see no way to cross it without getting burned. There were stairs about 20 feet away. There was a wall between the fire and those steps. That blocked the fire from hitting them. If she could get to it, she would be okay. She made a run for it and took a lot of damage making it there.
They discussed how to get people to her but she had them wait as she continued up to see what was on the next floor. She cracked the door open on that floor and it was completely dark. She opened it the rest of the way and the room was empty, except for a couple of tables with chairs around them. She snuck over to the stairs going up. From above, she could see light from the outside. She climbed that set of stairs and looked around, seeing a circular flat top with four platforms sticking out in all four directions. There was a brazier on each of those platforms. In the middle was a pyramid shaped metal platform with a metal ball on top of it. There was a red circle painted around that whole platform. The ball on the top of the pyramid was made from brass or maybe gold. She went back down to the second floor and searched it, finding nothing. She went back down to the first floor and called across to the others and describing to them what she saw.
Symon read over the note about Wyrmbane being at the highest part. They suggested lighting the braziers. She went back up and found the fuel in the braziers was either non-existent or too wet to burn. She went back to the second floor and fetched some chairs to break up. She had to chop on them to break them up. She finally broke them up and loaded up the braziers and got them lit. It wasn't long before she could see that the light from the fires could easily be seen in the valley. She finally gave up finessing this whole thing and just walked over into the circle and touched the ball. Nothing happened. She looked at the ball more closely now and saw that it was gold. She tried to pull the ball off the top but it was fastened onto the pyramid. She searched it out more and realized that the ball was twisted on there. She spun it until it let go and could be tilted on it's hinge to the side. She tilted it over, exposing a hole in the pedestal below it. She looked into the hollow part and saw something wrapped in a cloth. She pulled it out and it was very long and tied. She untied it and rolled it out to find the wrap was a wolf of the north flag. Inside it was a very magnificent long sword. It was very ornate and in pristine condition, with a lot of filigree and a lot of intricate work on the handle.
She rewrapped the sword and headed back down to the others. She called across, “Okay, I found the sword but I can't get back across this room.”. They worked at it for a while and Angelique finally had to cast protection from fire on herself and walked over, cast a heal and a resist fire on Eryn and they ran back through the fire and out. She still took a little damage but made it back in one piece. She showed the sword to everyone. Cal-El noticed that her clothes were undamaged. Only she was burned. They added it to the pile of things to check later. Angelique healed Eryn with a keoghtom's ointment. They crossed the bridge again, much as they did getting to the tower. Cal-El crossed first, tied off to Xor, then they both held a rope while everyone else used the rope for support. On the other side they discussed what to do next. They went back into the room with Grish-ta-nak and took off one of his claws, and from Bloodfist, they took off an identifying patch. They returned to the room with the goblins, and showed them the items so they would know that Grish-ta-nak and Bloodfist were dead. They offered them a chance to leave. They were surprised. Symon told them the village below was still unsafe for them. They followed us out and once out, thanked us and took off.
The Company turned their attention north. They moved north toward the river and found an old bridge where they could cross and did so. Then they moved toward the south and an old road that led through the woods and through some hills to the north again and came out overlooking some moors. Based on the map, they were looking at the Drakemoors. There was very thin grass and stones covered in ice and snow. It was all they could see in the distance. They stopped at the edge of the mountains and rested. They set up the tent to deflect the wind and Angelique built a small fire. Before they could start identifying anything, they needed to find out for sure what was magical. They slept the evening under the pelts. In the morning, Angelique used a detect magic spell to figure out what was magical and what wasn't. They would wait until the next evening to identify some of the items zs that would weaken Symon and he wouod need the night to recover. Theo's sword, shield, and chainmail all glowed. From Bloodfist's items, the morning star and shield both glowed. The rod and wand glowed. Also, the very magnificent long sword glowed.
They set out across the moor. Eryn reminded them to keep an eye to the sky as these things fly and may come at us that way. They watched and walked and the weather beat on them. It began to darken and they picked a place to set up a camp. They pulled out the items and Symon began identifying them. They started off with the magnificent sword, the wand, the rod, and the chainmail. The magnificent sword was identified as Wyrmbane. It was a +1 long sword, +3 vs reptiles. The wand was a Wand of Wonder. The iron rod was a Rod of Dragon Detection but he felt there was something else about it that he couldn't put his finger on. He didn't know how it would signal that a dragon was near. The chainmail was Chainmail +2. Cassandra took the chainmail. Symon took the wand of course. Wyrmbane was given to Cal-El. The rod was put away on the bag of holding.
This is where we stopped!
Experience points this week, 2000 + 10% of 200 for a total of 2200.
Start the recording!
