Game Sagas - Old #4

"For Whom the Bell Gnolls"
By Biff the Bluesleeves 9/8/07

Convalescing with the rest of the party at their stately manor the Paladin receives an urgent request from the town’s high priest of Heironeous, asking his immediate presence. The Paladin obliges, once at the temple is greeted by the high priest and a priestess that he has never seen. The high priest explains that the female is a good priestess of a Greek pantheon from a distant town. The Greek temple recently had a burglary in their Relic vault where the guards were charmed to gain access, and two items were stolen; A large gold and mithril Alpha symbol and a weapon called the Sword of Chaos. The Sword of Chaos was a very powerful evil artifact that was being kept in the temple for safekeeping. The Greek priestess was frank and to the point; They did not dare let it become common knowledge that the Sword and holy symbol were missing, and they did not wish to attract attention by sending out fleets of their own Priests to search for them. They were asking the temple of Heironeous to recommend a good adventuring party that was not linked to the Greek temple in any way. This party would track the sword and symbol down, recover them both, and return them to the Greek temple. The Greeks had divined the region where the symbol had been taken but got no reading at all for the sword. After discussing it with his party the Paladin agreed to accept the mission. The party got their gear together and was transported via Dimension Door to right outside a town in the region that the symbol had been tracked to. 

The Thief knew that this region had been a part of a war that had ended within the last year. While this kingdom had won the war the party would never have know it to look at the surrounding area. The farm fields were scorched and barren, and the few clustered houses were boarded up fast. One building stood with an open door. Light emanated from it, and the faint sound of subdued conversation could be heard. The party entered the building to find that it was a tavern. The locals clammed up immediately at the sight of armed strangers, but the grizzled bar keep waved them over to him. The party began to question the bar keep as to what had happened. He confirmed that the war had taken their crops, and they were not sure how they were going to survive the winter. As the group began to question the bar keep further a boy in his young teens came racing into the tavern warning everyone that he had sighted a party of Gnolls on the hill. A group of townsfolk grabbed their weapons and ran from the tavern, with the party following close behind. 

On the ridge ahead in the fading daylight 2 Gnolls were spotted. The Paladin called for his war horse and the Monk ran right up the hill with his 60 move base and engaged the Gnolls. The rest of the party followed as fast as they could. The Monk unhappily discovered that several more Gnolls were waiting at the top of the hill. One of them was a Shaman, and she cast a spell. A gigantic Earth Elemental reared out of the ground right in front of the Monk and attacked. The Paladin rode right past the monster in pursuit of the fleeing Gnolls, and was surrounded by the Gnolls. The Gnolls all escaped, and after some difficulty the party defeated the Earth Elemental. The party returned to the town, and the bar keep asked for their help. He said that the Gnolls had begun to come closer and closer to the village, and he wanted the party to find out what they were doing. The party agreed and set out the next morning. On the hill they again ran into a party of Gnolls. They defeated this one too, and captured a survivor. He led them to a cliff face, and they proceeded single file up the narrow pass, led by the Mage. Once the party got halfway up they began to get struck repeatedly by lightning that was coming from a flying Dire Wolf. The party struggles up the hill under the onslaught only to be greeted by Gnolls. A battle ensued, with the party fighting the melee Gnolls as they are all being struck from above by the circling Dire Wolf/Shaman overhead. The party defeated the Gnolls and reached the inside of the Gnolls fortress. They continued to be zapped by lightning even inside the hall, so the Mage and Bladesinger cats Improved Invisibility and Fly on themselves. They took to the skies in pursuit of the Dire Wolf/Shaman. The Thief, Cleric, Monk and Paladin ventured inside the hall and discovered that the passageway went left or straight. From both directions Gnoll parties were coming to attack the party. The Thief, Monk and Paladin ducked down the left passage, and the Cleric cast Enlarge on himself to take on the war party coming down the straight passage. 

As the Monk, Thief and Paladin were charging down the hall a Shaman in that party cast Spikes, and the entire floor of all of the adjacent passages was covered with spikes. This caused the party to move at half move base and take a D8 damage roll for every 5 feet moved. After a lot of fighting the Gnolls in the hall were defeated. Up in the air the Bladesinger and the mage were having trouble finding the Shaman, who had turned herself into something else. The Mage cast True Seeing on himself and identified that the Shaman had transformed herself into an Eagle. The Bladesinger and Mage cut her down in the air and joined the Party back in the hall. The group found a trap door in the floor, and climbed down a 20 foot ladder into another room. This room contained a giant treasure chest and a larger than human sized bed. Going out of the room were 2 passages, and the party proceeded down one of them. They stumbled right into a fire trap, which went off in a huge explosion, where the Thief, Bladesinger and Paladin took damage. This brought 3 Flynn’s running, and the giant Gnolls proceeded to tear into the party. The Bladesinger was almost killed, as was the Thief. The Mage charmed one of the Flynns, and he helped the Party attacks his friends. Both Flynn’s were killed, and the party took some time to heal their wounds before they went further into the dungeon.

Saga of Vorpal Chaos 11/24/07- by Biff the Bluesleeves

“Fighting Tooth and Gnoll” 

Recovering from the battle with the Flinds the party heals up and moves further into the network of tunnels. Entering another room the party discovers an enormous bed constructed from reeds. In a passage across from the bed is a trap door with a ladder leading down. Climbing down the party found themselves in a cavernous room with 3 sets of stairs all leading down at the end of it. Here they were attacked by Gnolls. Once the Gnolls were defeated the Cleric, Paladin and Thief were blasted by a fireball that was coming from the bottom of the stairs. The Mage and Bladesinger heard a voice performing a conjuration spell in the shadows downstairs. They headed down to investigate and found a War Mage and a Giantess. The Cleric, Thief and Paladin joined their teammates at the bottom of the stairs. The Bladesinger attacked the War Mage and the Cleric and Paladin attacked the Giantess. The party’s Mage cast Lightning Bolt from his vantage point at the base of the stairs and the Thief fired a light crossbow at the Giantess. The Giantess clobbered the Cleric, doing massive damage to him. The Paladin attempted to use his charm and charisma to convince the Giantess that she was in love with him. This gave the Giantess pause for a couple of rounds as she tried to sort her feelings out. By then the Bladesinger had killed the War Mage, and the Party (minus the Paladin) was able to finish off the Giantess.

In the bedchamber of the War Mage the party found a +2 Ring of Protection, a +1 Ring of Protection, 3 potions, a +4 Headband of Intelligence, a +4 pair of Gloves of Dexterity, a +4 Cloak of Charisma, a Masterwork +3 Mithril breastplate, a spell book, a war journal and a Masterwork Light Crossbow. The Cleric was given the Breastplate, the Thief the Gloves of Dexterity and the crossbow, the Mage the Headband of Intelligence and the spell book, the Bladesinger and the Monk each got a ring, the Paladin got the Cloak of Charisma and the War Journal. The party also recovered 180 arrows, 17 Masterwork Compound Bows, 17 sets of Masterwork Chain mail, and some masterwork Scimitars.

While in town the Paladin read the War Mage’s War Journal and discovered a detailed mention of the Ancient Vampire the party had encountered under Imperial City some time before. The journal entry described how the Vampire had passed through and was seen to enter the ruins of a spire, and included a sketch of the spire and a map to it.

The Party had been concerned about having allowed the Ancient Vampire escape them one time before, leaving him free in parts unknown to prey on innocents. With the new information of his whereabouts they set out for home. Once at the compound they spent 8 days outfitting and preparing themselves for battle with the undead. Eleven gallons of Holy Water was made and carried, and at the end of 8 days the party set off in the direction of the Vampire’s Spire.

The Spire was situated inside a crag. The illustration of it in the War Journal had it topped with a series of points, but the actual tower looked as if it had the top removed. A small building was attached to the front of the Spire, and the only apparent entrance to the building. The party approached the open doorway of the small building and looked in. They were greeted by the sight and smell of several dead bodies in various states of decomposition. No door to the tower was apparent, so the party went inside to the small building to look for a hidden door. The Thief, Paladin and Cleric all dropped down unconscious when they entered, and the Bladesinger had to pull them out. It was discovered that a vine was playing a low, enchanted music that causes the hearer to fall into a deep sleep. The vine was destroyed, and the bodies were searched. A cloak of Elven Kind was found, cleaned and given to the Bladesinger, along with several gold pieces.
After a thorough search it was discovered that no entrance to the tower existed in the lower levels. The only way to enter the tower was to climb to the top where the missing upper level had left an opening. So the Paladin and Bladesinger scaled the tower and peered over the side. Only darkness was visible, so the Paladin dropped his torch into the opening. The torch disappeared into the darkness, and was heard many seconds later to clatter onto the floor.

The Paladin leaned over and attempted to Detect Evil into the darkness. As he squinted a fireball burst out of the darkness and blasted him back over the side. He lost his footing and began to plummet to the ground. The Mage cast Feather Fall on him, and he landed safely. The rest of the party climbed cautiously up the side of the tower, and a plan was formulated. They were going to cast invisibility on the group, centered on the Cleric. They would all then lower themselves single file down a rope into the tower and take whatever had attacked them by surprise. On the way down the Cleric got fireballed. He fell into the Thief, who also fell, which knocked the Mage off the rope as well. The Bladesinger cast Featherfall on himself.
The party was being attacked by a large tentacled monster with wings. The monster seized the Thief and began to crush him. The Cleric and Mage cast spells at the monster as the Bladesinger fired arrows at the it. The Paladin was dangling from the rope beneath the monster. The Mage cast Fly on him and he attacked the monster with his sword. Between the Bladesinger's arrows, the spells from the Mage and Cleric and the Paladin’s sword the monster was killed.
The Party found a hole in the side of the interior wall which seemed to lead to a vault of some sort. There they were attacked by three Wights, who were quickly defeated. The Party looked into the vault and prepared themselves to go in.