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Sereck 7-22

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 6 months ago

 

7/22/08 Journal of Sereck

The first battle.

 

The trap room of the dungeon was quiet, as we stood there all looking at Cabal in the cage. The structure was too heavy to lift, and there were traps all around the room, so just pushing it over would risk setting off another unseen trap. I was outside my element here, as were the others, and we all looked at Orrin for guidance. Seeing our glances, he sighed heavily, having decided on a course of action that he must not have had full confidence in.

 

“I will phase shift him out of there…if I can,” said Orrin. I glanced at the others, who were also just watching Orrin, as he walked over to Cabal in the cage and held out his hand. Without a response, Cabal grasped his hand. I am not sure what I was expecting, some mystical casting or deep concentration maybe. But Orrin never does that when he does his little jump, and he didn’t do it this time. One moment they were holding hands, then a shimmer, as if the light in the room had changed, and they had exchanged positions!

 

“Well, I guess that didn’t work the way you thought it would, aye Orrin,” commented Cabal, now on the outside of the cage. But Orrin didn’t answer, he stood there, hand stretched out, looking straight ahead, oblivious to those of us around him.

“Oh great,” said Kernosh, “what’s wrong with him now?”

Cabal moved in closer and looked at Orrin, waving his hand in front of his face. Finally, Cabal shook his head and chuckled. “The strain must have been more than he had expected. He’s stunned. I’d suggest having him lay down so he doesn’t fall over, but, I guess we will just have to let him be until he comes out of it.” And without another word, Cabal started searching the room as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

 

I walked over to the cage and looked at Orrin. His chest was rising and falling, but he didn’t move. I carefully pinched his arm between two of my clawed fingers, but nothing. His flesh was warm, but he was as Cabal had said, he was stunned into silence. A joke entered the back of my consciousness but I forced it away.

 

“Eladrin, oddest people I’ve ever seen. You’d not be catching a dwarf falling asleep standing up like that. And with his eyes open, it gives me the creeps,” said Duncan as he was standing next to me looking into the cage. I could only nod in agreement.

 

“It must be the magical fire, I sense magic everywhere and that means I can’t find any magical doors or traps,” complained Cabal as he and Kernosh were moving around the room of traps. Occasionally, Cabal would stop and mark and area with chalk, identifying a trap.

Duncan and I stood next to the cage, unwilling to assist the trap detection by stepping on one.

 

“Looks like the area between the cages is clear, the triggers must all be along the walls,” called out Cabal again as he started examining the walls more closely. I notice Duncan next to me has pulled out a goblet and has filled it with a liquid containing the unmistakable scent of alcohol. Seeing me staring, he takes a moment to offer me a drink, which I decline. I am not forbidden from drinking alcohol, but standing in the middle of a room full of traps was the wrong place to be drinking in my opinion, especially anything he might be carrying on his person. And the dwarf said Eladrin were odd.

 

“Aha,” exclaimed Cabal from across the room. I realized I had missed something, as I look up and see that not only has Cabal found a control box on a wall, but has activated it and opened up a formerly hidden door. Some stones above the door had rotated into an odd configuration and words can be seen.

 

“It says ‘The resting place of Ayfedi’ above the door. Any ideas?” asked Cabal looking at Kernosh and myself. “Sounds like a dragonborn name but not one that I recall,” answered Kernosh. Duncan put away his now empty mug and nodded towards the door, as the two of us followed the other two adventurers into its dark embrace. I glanced back at Orrin, and he seemed quite content to stand in the cage unmoving.

 

As the two of us arrive in the damp hallway behind the door, I see that Cabal is again reading text written on the wall. The dragonborn letters are hardly visible on the damp and mold covered walls, but the flickering of the torchlight at least makes them stand out.

“What does it say,” I ask of Cabal.

“I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t make sense. It says ‘it is unfortunate as it is meant to be,’ what the heck does that mean?”

I shrug back to Cabal, as does everyone else as he begins to move forward.

 

“Traps,” I call out, thinking he must have forgotten to check for them.

“Brick floor, solid looking. Based on the other traps so far, we should be fine,” he answers back as he continues to move forward towards a room at the end. He pauses but a moment and continues walking inside. The torchlight illuminates the small area, and a sarcophagus is clearly visible on the far side. Symbols to Bahamut are on the burial container, and various battles scenes can be seen in old and tattered tapestries along the walls. Water had gotten in and destroyed the once wonderfully crafted depictions.

 

“I suppose we can’t open that one either…,”queries Cabal. Without hesitation, both Kernosh and I shake our heads no. But then I think about it, and add “if you find something in the room, a secret opening or stash, you can have that. But you are not opening the sarcophagus to loot it.”

 

I swear I can see Cabal’s lips moving as he turns away, probably a very unkind use of my name and some physical impossibility. Eventually Cabal wanders back to the group, obviously unhappy at the lack of treasure. I want to explain it’s a temple and showing respect is important, but I don’t think he’d care at that moment.

 

“What? Wait everyone, someone is asking for help,” says Kernosh. He had walked over to the sarcophagus and had put his hands on it. I had thought he was merely giving a prayer to the dead, but it became obvious he was actually trying to open it! A horrible thought crossed my mind, and I turned to our resident wizard.

 

“This had better not be one of your pranks Cabal…” and I said it with no humor in my voice. Kernosh stops what he was doing instantly and glarea at Cabal, a look of shock covering the wizards face. But only for a moment, then a huge grin crosses it as he says “No, but I wish I had thought of that earlier! No, it wasn’t anything I did…this time.”

 

Duncan rolls his eyes as he motions to me to look at Kernosh. At the denial of a prank, Kernosh had turned back around and was pulling out the restraining pins on the sarcophagus’s lid. This was a big lid, it would take more than just him to take it off without destroying it. Sighing, I walked over to the other side of the container. “It will go easier if we do this together, agreed?”

Kernosh nods back to me as he finishes pulling out the last pin. It was a heavy lid, and held in place for a very long time. But eventually it started to move.

 

Instantly, a puff of nasty smelling air pours out of the container, smelling of age and of death. I cringed for only a second until a loud roar echoed from the sarcophagus, and a voice of the unliving calls out. “Fleeeesh…,” it calls, as a creature of the undead pushes the lid the rest of the way open and steps out. Decayed flesh clings to the skeletal remains of the once proud dragonborn. His mold covered plate is almost black with taters of cloth tearing under the strain of movement for the first time in centuries. It pauses for only an instant to reach into the coffin for a shield and long sword, and then moves forward to attack.

 

I don’t hesitate and call forth the power of a radiant strike as I swing my axe at the former dragonborn defender. I can tell the holy power added extra damage to the undead creature as hit howled in anger. Kernosh, realizing his mistake, boosts all of our health with a word of power, but caught off guard fails in his attack. Cabal, in a total shock to me, reaches between Kernosh and I and somehow manages to strike the death knight with a dagger…a dagger? This from the person who is always out of range to heal when he needs it.

 

Duncan, unusually quiet this day and realizing the battle had started without him, moves forward and swings both weapons. The undead moves suddenly and avoids the first attack, but the second weapon strikes true taking a chunk out of the creatures side. The attacks must have been taking their toll, when suddenly the undead dragonborns mouth extended to three times as much as would be possible by a living creature, and wails at us. The verbal attack is powerful, but only manages to hit Cabal as he stumbles back a step surprised by the audible attack. But the dead warrior isn’t finished, as his sword swings at an arc and hits me square in the head. Shocked by the wail, I hadn’t expected the backhand strike, and can tell that I’m not fully able to function. I felt as immobilized as Orrin must look.

 

I look deep within myself and call forth my most powerful attack, and retaliate against the undead creature. My axe bites deep, cutting through armor and bone. I can tell I can’t walk anywhere, but my axe is still functioning just fine. The now bloodied creature immediately wails again, but this time we are ready, and nobody is hit.

 

Cabal, standing right in front of the creature, begins casting one of his illusionary ambush spells, and it critically hits the attacker, chips of his armor and bone fly into the air around us. Duncan moves in again with another attack, and one of his attacks also critically smashes into the creatures armor, one of the pieces of plate falling to the floor and echoing in the chamber.

 

Still, the undead must know I’m a paladin, as he turns and shield bashes me. It does no damage, but the longsword that snuck in does, as he again manages to immobilize me with a swinging blow to my skull. Feeling bloodied, I worry that if I take any more hits to the skull I’m going to start falling for Cabal’s pranks.

 

I decide to take a defensive stance to get my second wind. Kernosh, seeing my troubles, assists me with another word of power that refreshes me even more.

Daggers bounce off the undead while I catch my breath, as Cabal cast yet another one of his powerful illusions. Then a new dagger flies across the room and sticks right in the skull of the undead dragonborn. Orrin has finally decided to join the fray.

 

The added attack proves too much, as the skeletal form shakes and falls limp to the floor in a loud clang of armor. Briefly, a faint whisper of a voice is heard, “thanks you brothers” as a slight shimmer appears over the body, and vanishes.

 

“Nice of you to show up,” comments Duncan to Orrin, who politely bows his head in return.

 

“Looks like a nice sword or shield, might be worth something. Even seems to be magical if one of you guys wants it,” says Cabal offhandedly. His obvious attempt to loot the tomb falls on deaf ears though, as Kernosh and I place the body back in the sarcophagus, put the shield and sword back in position, and lift the heavy lid back into place. As we all begin to leave the room, I look back to see Kernosh scratching something in the wall above the sarcophagus in draconic, “Now resting peacefully.”

 

I nod my approval to him as he turns back around and we make our way back to the trap room.

 

-----

 

As I watch, Cabal and Orrin work their way around the room looking for another door. Having found the first one, they easily find the next door, disable the traps and motion for us to follow them inside.

Unlike any of the previous passages, there are stairs that lead down to a shallow decent. Again, the walls are covered in worn and mostly destroyed tapestries that once depicted exquisite scenes, but now only server as a home to mold. I walk up to look closer at what seems to be a history scene of battle, but the hanging disintegrates at my touch, lost to the ages. Moving further into the room, I hear someone in front of me quietly call out “finally” as we enter the storage room.

 

Four chests line the far wall, and Orrin doesn’t hesitate but a moment before heading towards them.

Cabal, standing quietly with his hand extended, murmurs some arcane incantation. When the spell complete, he wanders over to a pile of books and promptly starts picking up scrolls and looking through the books. He must have detected some sort of magic.

“Not a weapon in the place….typical,” comments Duncan, as he leans partly in the hallway watching the entryway. Kernosh starts checking the barrels and crates, but only sounds of disgust come from his direction. None of the items had been magically protected and had gone bad.

 

Having nothing really to do, I ask to Cabal “find anything interesting or of any use there?”

“Actually, yes. Four scrolls of item enchantment, and bits and pieces of some diaries or daily manuals. Some of the phrases look important, so I’m trying to salvage as many good pieces as possible. The problem is the books just keep falling apart, and I’m not finding much.”

Watching him work, I realize my hands were not built for the delicate task, so I look over to where Orrin is. He had just opened the fourth chest, looked inside, and kicked it!

 

“What about you Orrin,” I ask.

“Bronze coins. Four chests full of completely worthless bronze coins. Oh sure, if we had a wagon we might make some money, but it wouldn’t pay for the cost of renting a wagon. A total waste of our time,” and so saying Orrin kicked the chest again and walked over to look at what Orrin was working on.

“I don’t think it’s a total waste, this is dragonborn history,” comments Kernosh, as he filled a bag full of a random assortment of bronze coins. Again, I was caught off guard by his dedication to dragonborn society, and so I produce a bag and fill it with some coins as well. He had a good point after all.

 

“Oh…this is bad” says Cabal

“Wait, what are you reading there?” asks Kurnash.

“Ohhhh, shit….” Continues Cabal.

“The weapon will destroy all the area the size of a town….it says” says Cabal. “This one says ‘why would the Bannites give such a terrible weapon to the Orcs.’”

“The weapon? Maybe you should read all the pages.”

 

“Here is what the notes say…kind of:”

The ritual failed, now we’ve created a monstrosity

We have found the weapon and are attempting to destroy it.

we have lost contact with Arcodia (Arcodia is the ancient dragon empire that fell 2500 years ago),

We failed; the weapons physical form can’t be destroyed but we killed the foul leader and I don’t think the goblins know how to use it themselves.

We lost contact with towns to the south and to the east, don’t know about the west”

They will attack tomorrow and we must repair:

We celebrate our 15th year in the temple

Fortunately the Orcs don’t know how to use the weapon.

 

We surmise the giant sphere we had seen earlier is probably the giant weapon the notes mention, but are not 100% certian of the order of the notes.

We guess the timeline is about 2000 years ago. Kernosh was right about the coins being part of the dragonborn history. Carefully we look again at the pages, to see if we can gain any more insight, but the rest of the pages are beyond our ability to read. We decide there is nothing more here, so we go back to the main room. Kernosh and I pray for guidance about the door that says “this way” but get no response. We again deduce it is a trap and begin to depart from the temple.

 

Kernosh, in the lead, heads up the stairs first. As he reaches the top of the stairs, he stops in his tracks at the sight of goblins coming right at him. He freezes and doesn’t make a sound because they don’t seem to see him. His hand, using one of the hand signals taught to us by Duncan, indicates that we should stop and be quite. Not knowing what he sees, we all freeze, especially me in my loud plate armor.

 

As he watches, the goblins walk right towards him, and then, instead of going down the steps they seem to walk on an invisible floor, and literally walked right through him! Kernosh looks more intently at the goblins wondering if maybe they are an illusion. But they seem solid enough; he can almost smell the disgusting goblin scent.

 

Without thinking, Kernosh growls at the goblins. At the sound, they stop and whirl around to face him, eyes searching. Again Kernosh stands still, making not a sound or movement. Farther down the stairs, the rest of us wait in careful preparation. Orrin and Cabal have moved in close to Kernosh to observe what he is seeing. The goblins are standing on the invisible floor and are quite animated in their movements as they talk. But to Kernosh, it sounds like they are sixty feet away, not the foot or two they truly are. Cabal, witnessing this, determines there must be a powerful protection spell that is hiding the temple from the goblins, but won’t be able to tell us until they all depart.

 

Suddenly, a large hobgoblin moves up to the goblins and begins hitting them with his spear, urging them to continue moving. Again, we watch this in silence as the goblins and the hobgoblin, approximately forty, begin their trek through the woods towards the villages we just came from.

 

“Good, their gone,” says Cabal, “I think there is a very powerful protection spell hiding the temple. We could see them, they couldn’t see us. It must be powerful indeed to be working two thousand…” and he quiets as Kernosh motions with his hand again. Another group is approaching from the north. As we watch, a group of humans displaying the symbol of Bane approach the temple.

They five humans are joking and making fun of the goblins as they walk. Suddenly, as they move forward, one of them moves to the edge of the protection field and stops.

 

“Wait…give me the book.” As the human goes over and pulls out a book and starts flipping through it.

The human is in the field but cannot see us as he is reading the book. We wait patiently to see what he is going to do.

He shuts the book and steps out of the field, and then moves back into it. “I think we need to investigate this further, this must be one of the old places we have been reading about. We need to investigate this don’t we?”

“Yes,” says the cleric of Bane “The goblins will wait at the next town.”

“Ok, stay here and be ready, let me investigate a bit” And so saying, the human moves up towards the protection area again.

 

Kernosh moves up, as the rest of us slowly begin to close the gap to the humans, as they are about thirty feet away from the temple door. As Kernosh gets up to 10 feet a way, the human stops and looks directly where Kernosh is, as though he can hear him, but doesn’t actually see him. As he does that, the other humans move forward.

 

“Very strange, perhaps the power of Bane will collapse this.” Says the cleric.

As we move forward, the mage of Ban is overheard saying “let them hit us” as we are within striking distance. Apparently the sound coming from us was louder than the sounds we heard from them.

 

Sereck suddenly has a chilling thought, if we attack, the veil might lift. And it might lift permanently, not just for these five. Quietly, he lifts his arm and motions for everyone to hold their positions. The humans continue to stand still, directly in front of us, waiting for us to attack. Minutes pass without either group moving.

 

Finally, the mage of Bane says “I thought I had heard something, and the book said that if blood is spilled while someone is in the vale it would have opened the vale to us. But, apparently I was wrong. Well, we can try to pierce it the hard way later, but we best rejoin the goblins. We will come back to destroy this vale and investigate what it is hiding at another time.” The others shrug and they begin to walk down the path the goblins took, although they are no longer laughing.

 

“We have already fought too many battles this day, we are going to have to let them go,” states Kernosh.

“But they know where the temple is, they will be coming back,” comments Orrin.

“I agree, the humans should be taken out before they can reach the goblins.” I say to the group.

“Yes, we should go after them.” Chimes in Cabal.

Kernosh exhales a deep breath, his decision to avoid battle not having the desired effect. Everyone stares at Kernosh to see if he will allow the pursuit or not.

“Well, it seems I am outvoted. But they have gotten pretty far away by now, how can we catch up?” he states.

“Horses, lets just ride them down!”

“Fine, everyone to your horses.”

 

Quickly, we race to where our horses were tethered. Fortunately, they had been in the veil and quiet as the goblins moved past, or they would have surely been seen. We ride frantically through the woods, hopeful that our speed will make up for the lack of stealth. We manage to get within seventy feed of the humans when suddenly they spin around and attack with bows and magic.

A crossbow bolt flies out and hits Kernosh in the chest. He rocks back in his saddle but manages to stay on the horse. He points to the mage, and with that movement the target for the group is assigned. But the mage saw his movement, and he aims his staff in Kernosh’s direction. Daggers appear and pound into Kernosh as he again fails to dodge the attack while mounted. Sereck releases an arrow at the mage and a stone is flung from Duncan’s sling as both hit the mage. Orrin becomes the next target as arrows fly in his direction, one managing to hit him in the shoulder. The cleric, waving his arms, throws some sort of spell that also manages to connect with Orrin. The battle seems to be going against us, as yet another arrow flies through the air and smacks into Cabal. As the point of impact begins to burn, Cabal yells “Damn, poison!” as he reaches up and pulls the arrow out.

 

Kernosh is looking bloodied as I ride up beside him, so I use the opportunity to use a lay of hands to try and heal him. For Cabal, I pray for assistance against the poison, such that Bahamut could help him fight it off. Orrin manages to throw a dagger at the mage, and all but the mage and an archer rush up close to attack Cabal and Orrin. The attacks prove too much for Orrin, and he drops to the ground under the barrage. I realize I have to do something; there is no way for me to reach Orrin. I breathe deep and exhale, releasing lightning at the attackers. One of them drops from the assault instantly. I then get behind the attacker on Cabal and swing my axe at him. The warrior is caught in the neck as I sever his spine and drops to the ground. Kernosh manages to assist Orrin, so Orrin still obeying the orders of Kernosh, throws another dagger at the mage. The cleric of Bane yells an obscenity and moves up to attack Orrin but misses.

Suddenly Duncan charges the archer next to the mage and manages to hit with both his swords, cutting the fellow into pieces as he also tumbles to the ground.

 

And suddenly, all that are left are the lone mage and the cleric next to Kernosh, Orrin, and I. Kernosh, realizing the two have vital information, urges his mount into a full gallop. The dragonborn warrior charges with reckless abandon directly for the mage, roaring as he pulls his to a stop directly in front of the mage, his horse rearing up on two legs as he aims his sword at the mage and yells “Surrender or die human!”

The human’s legs give way at the sight, as the mage drops to his knees, terrified of warrior in front of him. Duncan nods his approval at the sight, and charges up and attacks the cleric.

 

As the cleric turns to face Duncan, his eyes go wide at the sight of the mage on the ground, surrendered to Kernosh. “The cowardly fool! You will die for this!” and the cleric runs right out of combat to the kneeling mage. All of us swing and a few attacks land opening large wounds on the retreating cleric, but he manages to get all the way to the mage and shoves his sword all the way through the human.

Before the cleric can turn around, one of Orrin’s daggers enters the back of his skull, and he falls to the ground dead.

 

For a moment, all is quiet except for our heavy breathing and the panting of the horses. Then, the distant sound of the goblins moving fast comes to our ears. We have no time to look over the bodies for either the book or any magical items.

“Quick, grab the bodies and put them on the horses, we can escape this fight!” I yell to the ground.

“Good plan, move!” yells Kernosh, as each of us grab a body, leaving only one of the lowly archers behind. We ride until the goblins give up pursuit, and then we continue to ride until we are on the outskirts of Glenmaple. Finding an out of the way spot far from the road, we search the bodies, and then leave them for the animals to claim before heading into town.

 

First Campaign

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