By the time the party
retuned to the house Randall Morn had put at their disposal, spring was
breaking over the land, and the party settled down to furnish their new base of
operations. A week or so later they were called to the citadel by Larkall
Greenspan, a number of people had disappeared recently, probably the work
of bandits. The most recent victim was the son of a prominent local farmer
Arnulf Hopkirk (brother of the blacksmith) and he asked the party to
investigate. This the party readily agreed to, and after briefly visiting
Arnulf and his hysterical wife, the headed north to the field the boy had last
been seen in.
Searching the area, Seladrin found signs of a struggle and tracks heading north
towards a ruined mill a couple of miles away. As Seladrin led the party along
the "bandit's" trail, they were suddenly ambushed, as fusillade
of arrows came towards them, accompanied by a "Glitterdust" spell.
Fortunately the arrows all missed and the party quickly shook off the effects
of the spell. In characteristic fashion Senella immediately charged into
combat, as did Seladrin and Nystrae. Ramas launched a magic missile at the
spellcaster, while Nym unlimbered her bow. As his colleagues fell around him in
the melee that followed - the spellcaster suddenly vanished.
Quickly stripping the corpses, the party moved forward into a clearing where
the ruined mill stood, they spent some time searching the area and looking for
the invisible spellcaster before being reasonable sure they'd scared him off.
They then prepared to descend into the basement of the ruined mill There they found more "bandits" -
although they were looking more and more like soldiers rather than simple
bandits! After they cleared them out they moved on to a lower level where the
found Ristim Hopkirk manacled to a wall. The boy was hysterical and as Nym
moved to free him, the others took up defensive positions.
Just as Seladrin noted a secret door in the wall opposite, someone cast a
stinking cloud spell. Retching, and nauseated by the effects of the spell Nym
rushed through the cloud, into a hail of arrows from the soldiers waiting on
the other side. Randall, Seladrin Nystrae and Senella also moved through to the
other side of the cloud, although Nystrae seemed badly affected by the spell
and was temporarily incapacitated. Nym, Seladrin and Senella moved to
attack the soldiers, while Randall closed on the spellcaster who retaliated
with an "enervation". Ramas eventually managed to dispel the stinking
cloud and moved through, pausing only to calm the even more panicking Ristim,
in his own inimitable style.
As the others cut their way through the soldiers, Randal closed on the wizard
and attacked him, the wizard deciding that discretion was the better part of
valour, withdrew from the fray heading towards a nearby alcove - unfortunately
for him, Seladrin was in his way and swiftly despatched him.
Once all the enemies had been disposed of, Nym managed to free Ristim, who told
them that the soldiers had taken the others in the alcove area. Close
examination showed the alcove to contain a carving of a large city dominating
one wall, in front of which was a brazier of salt. Ramas also noted copious
quantities of salt scattered about the floor in front of the carving, they
guessed it was some kind of portal, but deciding to leave that till later, they
sent Ristin packing home and checked out the secret door to discover a
storeroom containing some relics from the wizards tower the mill had been built
on.
After Ramas and Seladrin dropped some gear off at the Hopkirk farmstead, the
party experimented for a while with the portal, before finally hitting on the
right key. Uncharacteristically Ramas was first through ( obviously a rush of
blood to the head there!). Finding himself in a cave with a shrine to Mystra in
it. The shrine depicted Mystra from before the Time Of Troubles so was
obviously an old one. As the others arrived through the portal one by one, they
quickly noted there was no way back! Fortunately there was however an exit to
the cave which Seladrin noticed was heavily warded against both evil
outsiders and undead.
Outside the cave, as a guard, who Seladrin managed to sneak up on and subdue.
Interrogating the guard they discovered that she was a soldier in the Cult of
The Dragon, she also told them the cult had recently occupied this area near
the city of Myth Drannor and had been shipping slaves in to help with the
digging as they searched for powerful magic items in the ruins. After paying
the guard 50 gp to forget she'd ever seen them, which she seemed very keen to
so, especially with a shortsword at her throat, the party headed out into the
forests of Cormanthor. A short distance into the woods they met Tarbash a gnome
making a living from scavenging the ruins who advised the Cult nearby were
concentrated in the Polyandrium - a cemetery, he also offered them shelter in
his hideout if need be and asked that while they were rescuing the others they
could look out for his cousin.
After spending a
quiet evening pumping the gnome Tarbash for as much info as they could about
Myth Drannor, it's environs and the doings of the Cult, the party set out
towards the river. To Tarbash's consternation, both small boats used to ferry
people across were on the other side, unfazed, Seladrin dived into the river
and swimming across with a rope attached managed to retrieve one of the boats
and all were ferried across safely, on the other side, Tarbash pointed them to
the trail that led to the Polyadrium and took his leave.
The Polyandrium
The party set
off up the trail, with Seladrin scouting about 30ft ahead, when suddenly two
large trolls burst from the undergrowth and attacked, their fearful claws
ripping into the ranger. As Seladrin's bloodied body fell to the ground her
comrades rushed to her aid, too late! Realising there was little help for their
colleague as the spied her mangled and torn body, Senella and Nystrae closed to
combat with the trolls while Ramas cast his "pyramids of doom" and
Nym peppered the beasts with arrows. As the fight continued the heroes watched
in horror as the trolls fell apparently slain, only to rise again and renew
their attacks. Senella and Nym started hacking at the beasts on the ground,
only to watch as their flesh repaired itself from each blow, Ramas ran back to
the river to see if Tarbash were still about and whether he might have any
advice on how to deal with the trolls. Just catching the gnome as he was
climbing out of the boat on the other side, Ramas gleaned that fire or
acid was required to despatch the trolls finally. Nym attempted to set one on
fire using a pint of oil, but it seemed to have little effect. Eventually,
fearing to create the huge fire, that would be necessary to burn to large
giants so close to the Polyadrium and the cult forces, they decided to toss the
unconscious trolls into the river.
Moving further up the trail, the depleted party reached the Polyadrium, ahead
of them they could see what must be the Tower of Bones referred to by Tarbash ,
beyond that in a relatively clear area they could see many cult soldiers and
robed cultist moving between the various crypts that dotted the area, While
Ramas and Nystrae hid in the bushes Nym and Senella moved forward to
scout the entrance to the tower. As Nym searched for traps, Ramas suddenly
spotted a Cult patrol appear from the back of the tower and head directly
towards them, and frantically tried to attract Nym's attention, fortunately he
was able to do so and the two managed to duck out of sight just as
the patrol rounded the corner. before he could relax however Ramas, heart sunk
to his boots as the patrol continued on in a direct path towards the trail, he
and Nystrae were hiding behind, the two adventurers froze in position, however
some minute movement must have betrayed them and suddenly one of the guards stopped
and exclaiming loudly began calling for aid. Ramas reacted swiftly and casting
a sleep spell managed to take out 4 of the patrol, two members of the patrol
were unaffected however and as cult forces from all over the Polyadrium began
to converge on the area, he and Nystrae retreated back into the forest. Nym and
Senella seeing the large numbers of troops heading towards them also melted
back into the forest. Watching all this from an unseen vantage point in a
nearby tree a watching Paladin-Cleric of Lathander coolly assessed the
position.
As the Cult forces continued the systematic sweep through the forest, Ramas and
Nystrae were lucky enough to evade notice, Senella and Nym looped round through
the forest to the west evading the guards. As searching cult forces continued
towards the river, Nystrae and Rams broke cover and headed back towards the
Tower of Bones, meeting Senella and Nym and the arrived from the west. As they
pondered their action the watching Paladin-Cleric of Lathander, deciding these
might be allies against the Cult strode forward purposefully and introduced
himself as Algon. Working on that basis that any enemy of the Cult was a
potential friend, they decided to continue their investigations into the Cult's
activities together and swiftly entered the Tower.
Quickly disposing of the two guards in the hallway, the party moved to the
rooms beyond, in one room, they found a sleeping young man, whom they subdued
and bound and gagged. In another room obviously a barracks from the number of
bunks they found three sleeping guards, Algon immediately challenged them to
surrender, the cultists, bleary eyed from sleep, grabbed their swords and
rushed him and embraced their doom! In the other room Nym and Senella recovered
some small amount of treasure before suddenly Senella turned and cruelly sunk
her waraxe into the head of the helpless bound and gagged prisoner!
Deciding to forego moving up the tower for the moment, the party
descended to the basement, finding first an empty holding area for prisoners
and a chapel dedicated to Velsharoon then another empty room, before Senella
opened a door into a foul necromancer's workshop, and charged in. Unfortunately
for her, after her charge, the cult guard near the door slammed the door shut
and barred it. Cut off from her comrades, Senella was left to face the Cult
necromancer, his four zombie slaves and the Cult guard. Surrounded, by enemies,
Senella fought bravely against overwhelming odds, as her friends increasingly
desperately tried to get into the room. The odds proved too much for even such
a doughty fighter as Senella and she fell before the onslaught just as Algon
finally smashed through the door and laid hand on her. Once the Rest of the
party was able to join the fray the cult forces in the room were swiftly
despatched. Especially when Nystrae called on the power of her goddess to
destroy the zombies.
The rest of the basement
level of the Tower of Bones was empty, as was the sub-basement beneath it, so
the adventurers decided to venture to the upper levels. As Senella moved up to
the first floor she ran straight into two cult guards and a young wizard. As
sounds of combat began to reverberate, Algon and Nym moved up the stairway
closely followed by Randall, Rams and Nystrae. As the others joined the melee,
two more young wizards, accompanied by zombies, joined the fray from a nearby
room and from the other side a
necromancer accompanied by two skeletons. Nystrae made short work of the
two zombies, destroying them by invoking Eilistraee, and Algon called on the
power of Lathander to destroy the skeletons. The human guards and two of
the young apprentice necromancers swiftly fell leaving one apprentice and a
necromancer who swiftly surrendered. As Nym hog-tied the prisoners, and
Nystrae healed the wounded, Randall, Algon and Ramas stood guard. Senella
investigated the room the necromancer had emerged from finding four beds at the
foot of each was a chest. A single skeleton stood guard which did not last long
before Senella's onslaught.
Randal and Algon began interrogating the prisoners, getting little sense from
the apprentice, however the necromancer proved more co-operative and Algon made
him give them a tour round the level's facilities before leaving him and the
apprentice bound and gagged on a bed. Nym meanwhile turned her attention
to the chests in the necromancer's room, unfortunately she managed to trip a
poison-dart trap on one of the locks. Before the poison could wreak it's full
havoc, Senella handed her a potion that neutralised the secondary effects.
Still weakened by the effects Nym managed to open the chest and recover the
contents, just as an ear curdling scream echoed from above!
Reacting swiftly Algon ran for the stairs, emerging on the level above straight
into the swords of two cult guards, for a moment he was sorely pressed until
aid arrived in the form of Randall and then Senella. Once the guards were dealt
with, Algon smashed his way through one locked door - finding an empty and
dusty room. Nym picked the lock on a second door to reveal the Cult's
library. The third door was unlocked and led to a relatively richly appointed
bedroom, where a dire-badger ensconced on a cushion eyed them warily. At this
point there was another scream, again from above - coming from the roof. The
party dashed up the last flight of stairs, and pausing only long enough for Nym
to pick the lock, spilled out onto the flat roof of the Tower of Bones!
An unpleasant sight met their eyes - in the far corner a stone altar had been
set up in front of which someone in Cult robes brandished a knife, around him
were zombies and Cult guards, who moved to intercept the party. Randall,
Senella and Algon, joined in combat with the guards, as Nym nimbly worked her
way around to get a bowshot at the Cult priest. Nystrae turned her attention
one more to the hated undead and summoning once again the power of her
moon-goddess turned them. Ramas, dodging round the other side got to a position
where he too had line-of-sight on the priest, and launched his pyramids of doom
! Only to instantly regret it as a return fusillade of magic missiles hit him
from the wand the priest was carrying. As the zombies were destroyed by
Nystrae's turning, the Cult Guards too fell before the onslaught of the party.
Seeing how things were going and smarting from two arrow wounds courtesy of
Nym, the priest moved swiftly to the side walls and clambered over. Nym made
her own way to the side to see the priest clambering down - spider-climbing the
walls, and let fly with another arrow that thudded into the priest. Ramas sped
to the walls as well and began to ready his Rope of Climbing. Algon, Randall
Senella and Nystrae having despatched the guards too, moved to the wide walls
to see the priest reach the ground level. Algon was idly contemplating jumping
down the three stories after him, when, from a nearby bush, Tarbash emerged and
throwing himself at the priest buries his dagger in his throat!
Ramas, putting away the Rope, headed to the altar to discover the barely alive
figure of a gnome bound to the table. Summoning the healing power of Anhur, he
stabilised the gnome. Nym still looking over the wall of the tower noticed that
the Cult forces searching the forest were sweeping back from the river towards
the Polyandrium and shouted a warning to her colleagues that it was time to
leave! After untying the gnome, the party began making their way down through
the tower, Senella however was unable to resist stopping off at the priest's
bedroom and after a brief altercation with the dire-badger recovering the
contents of the room. Randall stopped off to grab the two prisoners and hustled
them out of the Tower. Tarbash, profuse in his thanks for rescuing his cousin
led the party to another one of his hide-outs to the east, avoiding the Cult
forces still searching the forest to the south.
Deciding the best way to
disrupt the Cult's activities was to recover the mysterious necromantic device
the Cult was seeking before them the
party resolved to return but first they needed to heal-up. After resting and
recuperating for a day at one of Tarbash's many hideouts in the area, the party
set out once again for the Polyandrium. This time they went at night, hoping to
avoid the bulk of the Cult forces. As they neared the first crypt they were
suddenly set upon by a group of orc zombies - Nystrae managed to turn a couple
and the rest were quickly destroyed by
the others.
The first crypt they
arrived at was graven with images of skulls and death, the stone door to the
tomb was magically fused to the surrounding rock, incised in the door was a
large sun-like rune. The party spent some time trying to find a way in but
eventually decided they would have to find the key! Moving onto the next crypt,
identified by the elven script above the door as the crypt of Rothillion, they
quickly ascertained this one too was sealed this time with a star-rune.
Moving on to the next
crypt, this too was sealed - with a wolf-rune, however in a box near the door
they found a rune stone and a scroll bearing the command word - there was also
a warning message scrawled in chalk in common on the doorway. Ramas opened the
door to reveal steps descending downwards into the darkness. Nym and Senella
cautiously led the way down to a chamber where bronze statues stood guard along
both walls. Nym cautiously searched for traps but found nothing and Senella
stepped confidently forward, straight into a lightning blast that crackled from
the first bronze statue, fortunately she managed to avoid the worst of the
blast, however as she sought healing from Nystrae, Randall moved to support
Nym. Nym moved forwards urgently to investigate the statue again. Finding
nothing, she moved cautiously to the next one, throwing herself swiftly to one
side as another blast of lightning arced out from it. As Nym painstakingly made
her way forward, Senella exhibiting the typical patience of her kind, suddenly
charged forward across the room triggering the remaining traps, and stood
panting and scorched in front
of the door at the other end. As the others moved in, Nystrae moved to hear her
dwarven colleague, Algon suddenly sensed a profound source of evil nearby.
Beyond the door, at the end
of the corridor, Nym swiftly disabled two spear traps and moved through into a
hexagonal chamber beyond where huge tapestries declared the deeds of the elven
hero Kesefhon, beyond the tapestries was another staircase leading down to a
flooded chamber wherein lay a sarcophagus. The party spent some time exploring
this area, but avoided the sarcophagus, Algon meanwhile determined to track to
source of
evil, eventually
determining it lay behind a wall in the bronze statue room. Summoning his
friends, between them they managed to locate a secret door, behind which lay
another sarcophagus and six jars containing sweet smelling ointments.
Determining that the source of evil lay within, Algon and Randall removed the
lid, to reveal the corpse of an elven warrior, although the features were well
preserved the skill was covered with hideous lesions and scars. Algon blessed
some water and sprinkled it over the corpse, as he did so, the apparent corpse
roared with inarticulate rage and stuck at the paladin.
As the mummy lord rose from
the tomb and lashed in a blind rage at those that disturbed his rest, the party
moved to engage and finally despatched
the cursed Kesefhon to his ultimate rest. Recovering the few bits of treasure
from the corpse, they left the crypt. Leaving the area of Kesefhon's tomb the
party continued searching the area of the Polyandrium warily avoiding the Tower
of Bones and the Cult soldiers within.
The next tomb they
examined, the Loresinger's Crypt, was
apparently the burial place of a bard of some renown, and they could hear faint
music coming from within. Although the
tomb was sealed with a harp-rune the Cult had thoughtfully left the
runestone and activation word nearby. Within the small crypt they recovered a
lute a set of pan-pipes and a book of songs.
The next, Ilkesha's Crypt,
had already been ransacked by the Cult although Nym did manage to find some
documents and the House Ilkesha Seal hidden in a compartment in one of the
sarcophagi.
The third crypt, Lyssic's,
was set into the cliff face, the entrance to the tomb was blocked by large
pieces what had once been a huge statue of a warrior on horseback. Randall,
with help from Nym and Nystrae managed to move enough of the debris to clear
the entranceway, where they noted that the door had been wedged open with a
large stone. Entering the tomb, Nym discovered several burned out torches that
had been discarded on the floor, the first door they came to had been bashed
open some time ago and the contents of the storeroom within strewn about the
floor. The next door also showed signs of damage but was still hanging on the
hinges, Randall kicked it in to reveal the remnants of a library, many of the
books and scrolls inside had crumbled to dust, however Randall and Nystrae
managed to salvage a few tomes that Nym estimated might be worth a few bob.
Moving on round the corridor, the found the first of the tombs guardians as
three fighter skeletons attacked Nym. As Randall moved to support his
colleague, Nystrae moved forward and calling once more on the power of her
goddess turned the hated undead, after which Randall moved in and bludgeoned
the cowering skeletons.
Moving forward father into
a room beyond, "guarded" by a hundred clay statuettes, a glowing
longsword sat atop a pedestal. As she moved forwards Nym noted that the blade
of the longsword had a series of curious grooves running the length of the
blade. Not unexpectedly as Nym retrieved the sword, the clay soldiers animated,
many however crumbled to dust , leaving three groups of 12 which swarmed over
Nym, Randal and Nystrae jabbing at them with their spears. As the three swatted
at the diminutive clay constructs, Ramas summoned the holy weapon of Anhur to
aid them and in short order the clay army was defeated.
In the corridor beyond this
room they found a stairway leading downwards, but before investigating, they
discovered an illusory wall ( although Nym took some considerable convincing
that the wall wasn't real) beyond after passing the desiccated body of a gnome
impaled on a spear trap, they found a curious sight - atop a glass pillar,
suspended in a blue flame was a gleaming longsword, the pommel of which was
blazoned with the symbol of Lathander. Confronted by the sword blazoned with
the symbol of his god, obviously a powerful weapon of his faith, Algon
knelt in prayer and considered what he should do. Eventually making a decision
he moved forward humbly and thrusting his hand into the blue flame grasped the
hilt of the sword. Sensing a strong feeling of approval from the blade as he
withdrew the blade from the flame it began to glow softly lighting the
room as the blue flame snuffed out. Ramas used his magicks to identify
the sword as "First Light" an intelligent holy longsword, dedicated
to the service of Lathander.
Moving down the stairway to the flooded level of the tomb, Nym spent some time
searching the door for traps, finding none, then manage with Senella's help to
open the door against the force of the water. The flooded room beyond was
dominated by two large statues of warriors - a dwarf and an elf - flanking a
marble door. Two wooden doors led off to either side. Floating in the water
were three bloated and water-logged obviously dead for some time even a cursory
investigation revealed that this was a party of adventurers that had made it
thus far before perishing. As Nym and Senella began investigation the bloated
corpses, and Ramas began studying a waterlogged spellbook retrieved from one of
the bodies, Algon moved to investigate the marbled door, as he did so the two
statues animated and attacked him.
As the statues slammed into him Algon collapsed into the foetid water
automatically stabilised by his Domain power. "First Light" using its
special ability cast a cure moderate wounds on him, Nym poured a potion of CLW
down his throat, and he rejoined the combat. After the statues were destroyed,
Nystrae healed the remaining damage.
Investigating the marble door there appeared no obvious mechanisms for
opening other than two slots, Nym on close investigation ascertained that the
slots were grooved, in similar fashion to the longsword retrieved from the clay
army room, and thrusting it into one of the slots heard a satisfying clicking
sound. However when she attempted to remove the blade to insert it in the other
slot, it would not release - there must be another key-blade somewhere!
As Nym and Senella began painstakingly searching through the water-logged room,
the others quickly searched the two side chambers finding them flooded and with
bodies lying on slabs partially submerged. Emerging from the side-rooms to
discover Nym and Senella vainly searching from the centre of the room outwards,
Nystrae suggested they concentrate their searches in the doorway area,
whereupon they discovered the second key-blade and unlocked the marble door. As
the water and the rest of the party rushed through to the room beyond, Ramas
lagged behind and cast detect magic in the room finding a quarterstaff and a
warhammer in the murky depths.
In the room beyond, was Lyssic's sarcophagus, inside they found the Rune of
stars, but no command word! Searching the room thoroughly Nym discovered a
secret door and a passageway that led ultimately into an abandoned barracks in
Myth Drannor opposite Castle Cormanthor . After briefly exploring the
ruined barracks they headed back to Lyssic's tomb. Emerging from the tomb, as the
dawn sun rose in the sky they were confronted by a Cult necromancer accompanied
a squad of Cult soldiers. The necromancer's dramatic speech calling on the
party to surrender was cut short as Senella charged him and silenced him with
her waraxe, as their leader fell the cult soldiers moved to attack but proved
little challenge to the party. After disposing of the bodies inside the tomb,
the party headed back to Tarbash's hideout to rest. While Ramas, Nym and Randal remained resting in Tarbash's
hideout, Senella, Algon and Nystrae decided to explore Rothillion's Tomb using
the Rune of Stars.
Carefully skirting the
Tower of Bones and the Cult archers, after a minor altercation with some orc
zombies, they arrived at the tomb and Algon presented the run and utter the
key-word. Unlike previous tombs, the door to this one opened with a thunderous
roar and a huge symbol blazoned into life in the doorway Illuminating a large
area of the Polyandrium. Algon identified the symbol as a Protection against
Evil, and fearing that the light and noise would summon Cult reinforcements the
party swiftly move into the tomb. Within the tomb they quickly noticed
something amiss many of the organic artefacts in the tomb had rotted or
corroded away as if they had been buried for thousands rather than hundreds of
years. They discovered a library where all the pages of hundreds of volumes had
crumbled to dust - save one! On closer examination of the one surviving volume,
stitched under the fly-leaf, was the final missing page of the Testament of
Jade which Algon quickly re-united with the rest of the book.
Exploring the rest of the
tomb, they found their way to Rothillion's sarcophagus, which they were just
about to examine when from out of thin air a dire wolf appeared and attacked!
As the party moved to defend itself, they all suddenly all felt a strange
pressure on their minds, although Nystrae and Algon shook off the effect, Senella stood dumbstruck as the wolf
continued to tear at her. As she and Algon moved to support their colleague,
Nystrae was sure she felt someone brush past her through the entrance of the
tomb, but there was no time to investigate as Senella was still standing there
letting the dire-wolf savage her. After the beast was dispatched, Nystrae
healed Senella who still appeared affected by the mysterious malady. Eventually
recovering the party managed with some difficulty to lift the crystal lid of
the sarcophagus and from a sandalwood bow within they retrieved the "Rune
of Sun" and it's command word.
Making the way to the tomb
entrance the party prepared to face the cult forces they fully expected to be
waiting in ambush, by downing potions and casting buffing spells. They emerged,
through the glowing symbol to a scene of carnage, Cult soldier lay everywhere,
some their bodies scorched and burned others clearly savaged by a wild beast,
two Cult necromancers who had obviously led the expedition to check what was
happening at the tomb, lay some distance from the rest - the top of their
skulls had been ripped off and the brains within appear to have been removed.
Obviously whatever had been trapped inside the tomb owed no allegiance to the
Cult of the Dragon.
Moving swiftly before more
Cult reinforcements arrived they moved to the final tomb, issuing the command
word and presenting the rune, the stone doorway to this crypt crumbled to dust,
as it did so an unutterably foul stench immediately assaulted the senses.
Retching, but otherwise unaffected the party began the decent into Orbakh's
tomb. At the bottom, narrowly avoiding a pit trap, Senella entered a room and
was attacked by two dire-apes, barely containing their incredulity at finding
dire-apes in a tomb that had been sealed for hundreds of years, Algon and
Nystrae moved to help and the two beasts were slain. Beyond this room Algon
moved through a corridor and was confronted by a bugbear sentry who jabbered a
challenge at him in goblin, unable to comprehend, but detecting the goblinoids
as evil, Algon moved forwards, supported by Nystrae, while Senella moved round
to flank the unfortunate sentry, who was quickly disposed of.
Moving forward, Senella
discovered a group of four bugbears dining on what appeared to be the carcass
of a cow. As she immediately charged in the startled goblinoids reached for
their weapons. Nystrae moved to support the reckless dwarf, while Algon,
echoing Senella's move in the previous moved round to a flanking potion. As
Senella and Nystrae carved their way through the bugbears, Algon came face to
face with one of them attempting to flee, nanoseconds before he fell into a
pit-trap. As the startled bugbear looked down at him, Algon held up a hand to
the creature. The bugbear, even more
startled instinctively reached down and helped the paladin out of the tomb - an
a act that probably saved his life as Senella and Nystrae finished off his
friends.
As the surveyed the
wreckage of combat, Nystrae notices something curious, all the bugbears
appeared to be identical, even down to the broken left incisor that each had.
There was something also wrong about the "cow" that the bugbears had
been feasting on, although given the condition of the remains it was difficult
to ascertain what. As Algon escorted his new friend to the entrance of the tomb
and ushered the somewhat reluctant and fearful goblinoid out, Nystrae and
Senella retuned to examine the carcasses of the dire-apes to discover that they
too were identical!
The party continued their
explorations of the crypt of Orbahk, despatching some wights and finding the lair
of a couple of krenshar , before stumbling over the rather curious sight of a
naked man studying the carcass of one of the stunted cows. For a second the man
seemed astonished to see the party as Senella stood in the doorway and greeted
him and he backed of into the corner of the room, casting a spell as he did so. Algon moved into the
room as the man cast a magic missile spell at Senella, realising the this naked
man was hostile the party moved in swiftly despatched him.
Moving on through the rest
of the complex, jumping over the occasional pit-traps, the came across another
room where what appeared to be the same naked man was discussion with a merrow,
as the party stood in the doorway, than man fell back again casting a spell.
For a second those standing in the doorway felt the overwhelming urge to sleep
but swiftly shook the feeling of and Randall made a bee-line for the naked
sorcerer, dropping him with a swift series of blows, the merrow launched into a
furious assault on Randall ignoring the others as they closed to combat - and
Nystrae's healing magics were called upon more than once.
Down a short stairway,
which took them to a flooded part of the crypt, they found three more merrow
engaged in some kind of wrestling contest, but wisely let them be. Moving
forward to the main part of the crypt they found the most curious sight they'd
seen yet, another version of the naked man they'd now killed twice this time
accompanied by a deepspawn although neither seemed inclined to attack the
party. It quickly became apparent that the deepspawn was in charge as Algon
began negotiating with the creature Eventually the paladin managed to broker an
agreement, the party would stand aside and the deepspawn would depart leaving
the party to the tomb and its contents. Concerned about releasing such a
creature to the world, Algon also negotiated an agreement from the creature
that it would avoid civilised areas.
The party then moved to
investigate the sarcophagus, where they found the Bone Sceptre of Orbakh - the
item the Cult was seeking. As Senella touched the sceptre the air was filled
with a shimmering and the image of a baelnorn The baelnorn announced that he
had come as the sceptre had been touched and asked for the party's help. He told them that he and another of his kind
had been working with another party in the city attempting to thwart the
designs of the Cult. The cult had discovered a Pool of Radiance and corrupted
it and planned top use its power to further corrupt the mythal in the city, boost the power of the dracolich
Perelendrelar and unleash evil across Faerun. The other party was planning an
assault on the dracolich and the senior cultists, however should the dracolich
be slain he would simply rise again from his phylactery, as a result the baelnorns
wished to them to find and destroy the phylactery. The baelnorn suggested that
the party use the tunnel in Lyssic's tomb to get to the city where he would
speak to them again. Agreeing to help
and to meet the baelnorn on the following night, the party returned to
Tarbash's hideout to rest and then moved through Lyssic's tomb to the barracks
in the city. The baelnorn then met them and told them where the phylactery
could be found.
Myth Drannor
After some discussion about
how best to get into Castle Cormanthor, the party decided to head for the
nearby temple of Sehanine Moonbow to
contact the baelnorn again. Making their way round the back of the ruined
barracks the party were briefly attacked by a gang of gargoyles. Swiftly
despatching the gargoyles, they arrived at the area of wasteland where the
temple was hidden under illusions – although Nym stubborn as usual, refused to
believe there was a temple there and took some persuasion. Once in the Temple
they summoned the baelnorn who offered them “invisibility” or “fly” spells to
aid them. After contemplating various options the party decided to disguise
them selves as Cultists and basically try walking through the front door!
Heading back to the barracks ( this time uneventfully). Senella crawled back
through the tunnel to Lyssic’s tomb to retrieve robes from some of the dead
cultists there. On her return it was nearing dawn, so donning the robes they
watched the castle carefully.
As the dawn sun rose and
Algon performed his rituals to greet the Morninglord, the doors of the Castle
opened and cultists and soldiers began streaming out, they noted that two cult
soldiers took up positions at the door accompanied by two large dragonkin.
Moving round the back of the barracks, the party headed boldly down the main
street somewhat amazingly led by Ramas. As they approached the entrance Ramas
marched boldly past the guards, who studiously ignored him, the others after
hesitating for a moment - followed on!
Within the Castle it was a
hive of activity with Cultists, soldiers, undead and dragonkin bustling about.
Attempting to remain inconspicuous, the party made their way straight to the
stairway the baelnorn had identified as leading down. On the level below again
they made there way - attempting to appear innocuous - to the stairway to the
level below that. On that level they wisely avoided the area the dragonkin were
barracked and headed past a storage area for undead to the secret door leading
to the Pool of Radiance. Heading through the tunnel the door at the end was
heavy and rusted, fearing the noise Nym and Senella rubbed lamp oil on the
hinges before opening the door, unfortunately the door still made a load
screeching noise as it opened.
The huge cavern in which they now emerged contained of four large rock
platforms connected by bridges over the sickly glow of the corrupted Pool of
Radiance – on the far side they could see three cultists and the phylactery guarded by three
dragonkin – the other occupant of the cavern was a huge zombie black dragon
which immediately flew over to intercept them. As Senella moved to meet the
huge dragon-corpse, Nym unleashed volley of arrows at the dragonkin who were
flying to intercept the party as Nystrae stood to meet their charge. Ramas and
Algon moved round onto one of the rocky bridges to attempt to get to the
cultists – one of whom a half-dragon moved to block them. One of the cultists –
obviously a cleric cast an “unholy blight” at the party near the doorway –
which caused Nym, Senella and some difficulties as the dragonkin and
zombie-dragon closed to attack. As the two dragonkin pressed home their attack,
Nystrae, solely wounded, withdrew to
the relative shelter of the entranceway to the cave where Randal and Nym had
taken up position. Senella, ignoring the huge zombie, activated her ring of
flying and flew across the cavern to where Ramas and Algon were in combat with
Marjan the half-dragon fighter, and another dragonkin. The Cult necromancer
commanded the zombie to follow Senella, while his master the Baneite cleric
Shamoor cast “Bulls Strength” and other buffing spells on himself.
As Senella flew towards her colleagues she saw Ramas
fall before Marjan’s frostblade, and Algo stepping forwad lay on hands to heal
his fallen comrade. Swooping down she
grabbed Ramas and bodily dragged up him after her, shouting at him to retrieve
Orbakh’s sceptre from her Quiver of Ehlonna. Algon, confronted both with the
dragonkin and Marjan commenced a desperate rearguard action. At the cavern
entrance, Randall stepped forward to
engage the dragonkin, ably assisted by Nym’s continued stream of arrows.
Nystrae, after healing herself, stepped forward and began launching a fusillade
of spells against the hated undead. As the battle continued, Senella, still
dangling Ramas beneath her flew straight towards Shamoor and the dracolich’s
phylactery followed by the zombie dragon. While Ramas desperately tried to get
himself into a position where he could use the sceptre, despite being attacked
by Shamoor, Randal and Nym finally despatched the last of the dragonkin, and
along with Nystrae – still launching spells against the zombie – activated
their rings of flying to move swiftly across the cavern. Algon nearby finally
fell beneath the beneath the combined blades of Marjan and the dragonkin, although his Renewal power and the
abilities of First Light conspired to save him from instant death. Randall,
seeing the paladin fall moved to engage the dragonkin as Marjan moved to
protect the phylactery. Nym and Nystrae flew over to the central platform where
they noticed a strange shimmering in the air but no other untoward effects
Watching Ramas crumple
before Shamoor’s frenzied assault, the badly wounded Senella, dropped into the
combat, only to fall fatally before a combined assault from Shamoor, the cult
Necromancer and the zombie. Ramas taking advantage of the distraction the death
of his colleague afforded suddenly lunged forward and flew at the phylactery
uttering the command word to activate the sceptre’s enhanced shatter power as
he struck the crystal. Ramas shot upwards to the roof of the cavern as the
crystal exploded in an unholy miasma of evil cloying energy, an cry of fury and
rage could be heard from elsewhere in the cavern complex, which was itself cut
short as Pereledrelar himself came under attack from the other party who had
been advised by Molostroi the baelnorn to co-ordinate their attack on the
dracolich with the attack on the phylactery.
As the Cult necromancer
directed the zombie to attack Nym and Nystrae, Nym flew over towards where
Algon lay, Marjan, launched himself
towards Ramas and used his fiery breath weapon which engulfed the unfortunate
sorcerer/cleric in flame. Shamoor furious at the success of his enemies cast
another unholy blight towards the area Nym, Algon and Randall were. Nym
realising that Algon, badly wounded as he was would not survive the cloying
miasma around him for long swooped down and dragged the fallen paladin’s body
out of the spell’s effect area. Randal, having slain the last remaining
dragonkin with a mighty blow, straight towards where Ramas lay unconscious.
Nystrae, finally despatching the huge zombie, too had noticed Ramas’s plight -
as he lay dying suspended up near the roof of the cavern and flew towards him
to administer healing.
At that point the caverns
complex was rent with another mighty roar – the death throes of Perelendrelar –
the others had been successful ! Sensing the tide had turned against them and
the death of the dracolich had ruined their plans, Shamoor, the necromancer and
Marjan fled down a nearby tunnel.
Gathering up the corpse of their fallen comrade the party took advantage of the
confusion caused in the Cult ranks by the dracolich’s death to escape through
the tunnel advised by Molostroi to the temple of Shaundakul. Careful to give no
offence to the ghosts who guarded the ruined temple, they made their way
outside where Molostroi met them, and after thanking them profusely cast
invisibility on them to aid their escape. He advised them that the bulk of the
Cult forces outside the city were to the northwest, between them and Daggerdale and advised they return home via
Cormyr to the southwest. Algon, keen to report back to his superiors at the
temple in Marsembar eagerly endorsed this plan and the others accepted the
recommendation however before they set off he used the power of the Jade
Testament to Raise Senella.