(April 27, 2008)

After the epic escape from the Temple of Daudhir, the party boards the pirate ship to sail to the Veil of Winter to follow up on some leads from earlier and to investigate Rathgar's mysterious past. A quick stop in Freeport for supplies brings rumors of war. It is said that Krogland has invaded and annexed a town called "Crescent" something, and a combined force of Fitzleon and Veil soldiers were moving to battle the Orcs. The pirates of Freeport, of course, were more looking for a quick coin to be had in the midst of war, and didn't have much to say about the politics of it all…

The ship lands at the easten edge of the Veil mountains, at a spot previously marked "Dwarven Enclave." There, they are met by Wonko the Sane, a hobgoblin cleric of Vecna. He claims to have been sent by Flying Sir General King Emperor Admiral (he bought a boat) Mardek Krog the Orc the Dragonslayer Bandit, but his worship of Vecna and his general creepy nature make the party instantly distrust him.

He leads them through the abandoned Dwarven tunnels in pitch-blackness. There are strange sounds, always in the distance. After hours of traveling, the caven opens up into a larger area, with the first signs of life being a band of Gnolls. 

The party approaches cautiously, but the Gnolls react quickly and begin to move on the party, and send out a Stone Golem working for them to aid in the harrassment. Lack of light leads to some problems, and the gnolls are a bit tougher than expected.

The gnolls are eventually wiped out, but the battle against the Stone Golem takes a bit longer. The spellcasters are stymied against the magic-immune construct, and the warriors lack the equipment necessary to inflict heavy damage. Eventually, Rathgar and Ceridan get pumped full of enhancement spells, including being enlarged. A massive slugfest between the enlarged Ceridan and the Stone Golem ensues (not unlike a game of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Golems) until the combined weight shatters the Golem.

Meanwhile, Wonko starts raising the dead Gnolls as zombies. Ceridan "accidentally" destroys one of them, but Wonko uses the rest to guard the area. The party, exhausted from the fight, wants to rest in the area to recover. Wonko warns against this, telling of dire spirits that roam the mountains. After some debate, they press on.

After another few hours of travel through the dark tunnels, an insignia of a Granite Warhammer containing an Acorn is spotted to the entrance of a ruined Dwarven town, matching the insignia on an amulet left with Rathgar since birth. Upon investigating, they are greeted by a ghostly army of Dwarves… and one human druid, Verdigris, who died in the attack on Morning on Crescent.

He explains that an evil dwarf by the name of Freizen betrayed the town by giving away their location to Califyra, the white dragon. They were wiped out, but sent the baby Rathgar away with Verdigris to be safe and protect him from the massacre. Rathgar was presented with The Maelstrom Hammer, the legendary weapon of the town. It would not function fully until the honor of the Maelstrom clan was restored.

Some ghostly questions later, the party also figures out where Kyuzo the silver dragon lay sleeping: in the middle of the arctic tundra. Before venturing on, the Scales decide to stock up on Adamantine weapons to fight against Freizen's constructs. Dulin's teleport scroll takes a disguised Knolan and wildshaped Haladorr back to Fitzleon, where he quickly stocks up. Knolan also gets some gossip about the war, and how Elrick of Astley has joined with the Orcs against Fitzleon.

Knolan reappears at the party (using another purchased teleport), and the Scales have two choices: free the dragon in the wastes, or go after Freizen by following the gnoll and golem tracks back to town. After some discussion, they stick with the primary mission to free the dragon. Wonko takes the lead again. 

Heavy snow and winds batter the party. While some use magic to protect themselves against the cold, others rely simply on some heavy weather and their own perserverance. In the middle of a frozen snowbank sit two Frost Giants. One is relaxing on a stone bench while the other patrols on a Mastadon. Curled up nearby is a Purple Worm. Though at first stealth is attempted, Ceridan rushes forward and takes out the seated Frost Giant. That Frost Giant will never get a chance to get up: after being stunned, Knolan inflicts Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the giant. 

The Purple Worm uncoils, and sees its first meal: Ceridan. The elf is quickly swallowed, and many more would soon follow him. However, the Monk would not be easy to digest, laying flurries of blows into the inside of the Worm. Rathgar and Knolan would be swallowed soon after, and spend their time keeping Ceridan alive as he lay into the belly of the beat.

The rest of the party worked on disabling the Mastodon-riding Frost Giant by blasting him with Flamestrikes and gold dragon breath. In the process, Haladorr's new companion (a dire ape, way out of his natural climate) was tragically speared by the Mastodon's tusk. Dulin's Bladesinging helped bring down the giant rider, and the druid used his animal skills to calm the furry elephant.

Ceridan eventually burst out of the Purple Worm's stomach, and all the guardians were defeated. Then came the question of how to free Kyuzo?

Unlike the other four dragons, the silver dragon's prison was a simple one: many feet of ice. Though running low on energy from the battle, the party had enough fire left to blast their way down to free the dragon, who erupted from the ice. She had some questions, and offered the Scales a ride to their next destination (even scooping up the Mastodon with her hind claws.)

Wonko cursed at the party: "What about me?" They offered him a chance to raise Frost Giants and a Purple Worm from the dead, which he seemed to take as fair trade. 

The party is dropped off outside of the Gnoll city, where their foul workshops spit smoke clouds into the air, dirtying the otherwise pure white landscape. The Veil of Winter's war machine was in full swing, and one cursed Dwarf was at the center of it. Most of the city was on the march, so finding the workshop of Freizen didn't prove difficult. It was also the only building in town patrolled by four constructs.

As what often happens to their plans, the Scales found themselves arguing about the best course of action. While some concentrated on taking out the exterior guards, Zorgin wasn't content to wait outside and peeked in the doors to the workshop. A research lab, filled with different metallic humanoid figures (and one massive construct with many spikes, seemingly powered by blood) waited for their entry. Sitting in the chair was a Dwarf whose skin had been changed to a pallid, cold color. 

"Surprise!" yelled Knolan, as one of the Scales new battle tactics came into play. He cast a Dimension Door spell and brought himself, Ceridan, and Rathgar face to face with the dwarven traitor. They set upon him before he could react, and make short work of him… until they realize that this was not the real Freizen, but a construct replicant.

Still, they have to deal with the guards, which the voice of Freizen calls "warriors of the future."

In the fight are five constructs: Blood Golem of Hextor, an Inevitable, and three "Warriors of the Future", who display strange combat abilities like "Split the Tree". They all could self-repair. Even the spell-casting golem was to be feared: he can cast Magic Missile every round! (Though sometimes it misses.)

The warriors of the future are no match for the Heroes of the Present. The Blood Golem that had caused so much damage to them way back when was not as much of an issue either. The Inevitable posed the biggest problem, between its self-healing capabilitie, enervation rays, and immunity to non-chaos infused weapons. But when the might of the combined Scales is on you and you alone, you don't stand a chance. 

Outside, Kyuzo was waiting to take them back to Morning right away. There was bad news: Fitzleon had captured many of the Scales allies.

The captured list included:

• Elrick of Astley
• Draube Zerk
• Grob Zerk [Deceased] (illicing a huh? isn't he dead?)
• Tisa
• And most devestating of all, the party's packmules Blue Bob and Sasparilla II

(April 20th, 2008)

After the epic fight last time, the party sets sail for the Elven Duchies to follow up on a few leads, and for Dulin to finally visit home. Arriving in the city of Bel'Armoth,  the party is escorted  to see Elrick of Astley and Celendíon, Dulin's parents. After a rousing rendition of Elrick's famous song, Ceridan De’Arunsel is taken off for treatment for the serious Gas Spore disease he has contracted.

Dulin explains the party's mission, and accuses one of her parents of being half-dragon, a charge which they deny. They then explore the grounds a bit to find some clue as to Dulin's heritage. During the search, Knolan is slapped by one of the maids, who turns out to be Knot Altimus's mother. He offers to pay years of back alimony. 

Rathgar and Haladorr Boro chat up Ceridan's healer, an ancient elf named Gral, but find him nearly incoherent. After Ceridan is good to go, they explore the city. In one of the fine taverns, they overhear someone bragging about valiantly defending Morning on Crescent. The crowd parts, and they spy Mandrake the Younger stuffing his face. Mandrake was presumed dead with the town, and upon seeing the party, attempts to flee, but is easily stopped.

He explains how he was given advance warning by Fitzleon to flee the city, and how it was his duty as Mayor to inform Fitzleon whenever anyone came close to uncovering the dragons. The party takes him back to the ship as prisoner, in case he would be handy later.

During the night, Dulin is approached by her sister Nadin, who reveals herself to be the Blue Talon. She offers to make Dulin a Talon as well, and join her (despite a lot of residual bitterness.) Dulin is given a piece of Daudhir's talon, which allows her to transform for short periods into a blue half-dragon. It also points the way to Daudhir.

In the morning, the party leaves for the Sands of Daud, the mysterious desert to the southwest.

The trail leads to a stepped Pyramid in the middle of the desert, which is surrounded by an unnatural jungle. Worshipping at the temple are many Lizardmen, Yuan-Ti, Troglodytes, and the occasional dinosaur. Dulin approaches and declares that she is the grand-daughter of their God… to which they don't take too kindly to, and the battle is joined.

A fierce battle later (wherein Ceridan spends some time as a snake), the party is victorious. They naturally assume that there is a secret entrance under the altar, and so take their time before descending. Dulin is the first to plunge on, descending into the empty first floor of the pyramid. She quickly determines that the pyramid isn't all that well made, and gets some assistance dropping heavy objects down to smash through the floor.

The next floor featured a Couatl, who happily offers to teleport the party down to meet the dragon. This is a trick to get the party eaten by raptors.

However, they are more than a match for some mere Raptors. The next level down leads into a massive chamber, where Daudhir, great wyrm blue dragon, stays confined.

Dulin converses with her grandmother, but receives only nonsense about the "coming of the 4th age." According to Daudhir, the 4th age:

• Will see her dragon children take over, and gnomes and half-orcs wiped out
• Sorcerers making pacts with infernal powers
• Halflings becoming taller
• Many of the metallic dragons will go away (or be replaced), while chromatics will still reign supreme.
  

Clearly, total nonsense. Occasionally, the party approaches, and she takes a swipe at them.

Near the dragon's horde, they discover a passageway to a reverse-gravity chamber on the other side, which contains Eden, the Copper dragon. After waking up Eden in the requisite way, she explains that she cannot escape while the above chamber holds, and they will have to knock out two important pillars to collapse the pyramid and free her.

Waking Eden alerts Daudhir, who flies into a rage and begins to attack. While trying to avoid her powerful jaws, the Scales hack away at the pillars. Rathgar, an expert in stonework, uses a Stone Shape spell to simultaneously break a pillar and slow down Daudhir. The party then takes a few pot shots at her, and ends up standing in a line… and she unleashes her mighty lightning breath. Heavy damage is incurred, but it also strikes the other pillar, finishing it off.

Eden breaks free, and scoops up some of the party. Knolan grabs Rathgar's unconcious form, and uses his whip to grab a hold of Eden's leg as she takes to the skies. Beneath them, the pyramid collapses in on Daudhir, burying her beneath the sands… 

(This game was dedicated to the memory of Gary Gygax)

The Black Talon offered an ultimatum, backed up by a huge, flying black dragon. But the party would not back down, and prepared for battle. The Drowfather granted the party a favor, healing them back up to full strength before the big battle, and allowing them two rounds to prepare.

The party blinked back into existence, and got the drop on the Talon and the Dragon. Ceridan De’Arunsel knocked several arrows, and struck true into the Talon, inflicting some critical damage. They try to take out the Talon before he has a chance to strike, but he manages to slip into the shadows to recover. Then, the dragon swoops down and surprised the party by bombarding them with a cone of acid. The damage is minimal, but it’s enough to terrify several party members, who run off in fear…. leaving the party at less than half strength, alone against a huge dragon.

Dulin stands her ground, equipped with all manner of anti-dragon equipment. Unfortunately, she is squished below as the dragon lands, pinned under its enormous girth.

Fred Fade comes down from his perch to help, and asks his riding dog to sniff out where the Talon was hiding. The bloodhound’s keen sense of smell lead them to the shadows, where Fade starts firing off using his patented double crossbow skills.

Dulin, Zorgin’Skeet Rahban, and Knolan Alvaar Altimus continue to hold against the dragon as it bites, rends, and tail-whips. The rest of the party shakes off the dragon fear and charges back to the fight, crashing into the newly revealed Talon. Soon, revenge is had against another one of the evil talons.

The full force of the party is able to focus their attentions on the black dragon. Using the staff gained a long time ago, Dulin continues to use anti-dragon spells on the black dragon, as the rest just concentrate on dealing as much damage as they can. The dragon manages to take down a few party members, but they’re saved just in the nick of time by Rathgar managing to cast a scroll of Mass Heal.

Healed again, attacking en masse, the dragon weakened by spells… the party is victorious! The dragon is dead!

The Scales grab the Talon’s body and head back to the Bronze Order. (Conveniently, they hadn’t moved the monastery very far.) Entering the hall, the monks give the party a respectful ovation for finally stopping the scourge of the Black Talon.

Sister Helena “Handbasket” and the Abbot fill in a few details about Ceridan. He was captain of the White Wind, hired by the Order to deliver a piece of the Dragongate from an order of Dwarves in the Veil of Winter. But during the voyage, there was mutiny by the crew, lead by the Black Talon (then known as Shard), his first mate. The ship crashed, and Ceridan died… but was brought back by Xen, the Brass Dragon, as a scale. The two washed ashore at the Order, where they were both trained, unaware of Shard’s nature, and Ceridan missing all of his memories.

Shard tried to kill Ceridan again, but was stopped by the order. He escaped, and eventually came to be the Black Talon in the employ of the Pirate King (secretly the dragon Munwirthiax.) He made it a mission to destroy the Order and Ceridan.

Ceridan was trained in the ways of the Order, and was not told of his past for fear he would try to take on the Talon.

The tale clued the party in on one important piece of being a Scale: they can only be brought back in proximity to the dragons. Ergo, Xen must be near where the White Wind wrecked. A quick trip by Fred Fade to Freeport later, he returns with their old friend Captain Captain Cloudreaver and his vessel.

The site of the wreck is a strange outcropping of rocks, with a powerful whirlpool underneath. Knolan is overjoyed that he finally has a use for the anchor Quaal’s Feather Token. After some consternation, the party plunges into the whirlpool one by one.

They land in a mysterious underground chamber, immediately set upon by frog men (of various occupations) and an (underwater) land shark.

A single door leads out from the chamber, as they explore the underwater lair. They soon discover that many of the passageways contain deadly traps, including a sliding corridor into acid, a reverse gravity pit trap, and much more.

Some of the party fall back, but others press on. Splitting up to explore some of the more interesting rooms, Ceridan, Colin, and Haladorr encounter some dominating mind flayers…

..while Rathgar and Zorgin discover a research chamber, and are ambushed by an intellect devourer (who had been cleverly hiding in a jar.)

The mind flayers manage to influence Haladorr into walking into a crushing trap in preparation for eating his delicious brains. But a combination of Colin’s energy attacks and Ceridan’s arrows puts a stop to them, so they can run across to the other chamber and help against the big brain.

They are triumphant, and find a variety of potions of energy protection and grenades of different energy types. Exhausted and beat up, they rest.

(This is where we stopped for the night, to be picked up three weeks later.)

The party barricades themselves in the ex-mind flayer room to rest for the night. Then venturing out again, Knolan takes point to look for traps, with Ceridan doing the actual opening… leading him to be zapped time and time again. Then while trying to avoid a lightning trap, he falls into the clutches of a Gelatinous Cube!

After making a pin cushion out of the cube, the party investigates… only to be ambushed by a Carrion Crawler from the ceiling.

A secret door leads to another passage and another door… behind which is the distinctive sound of Owlbear snoring (wwhoooo….grrr….whoooo…grrrr….). The door slides open slowly, and the party spot what appears to be the back of a sleeping beholder.

Ceridan charges in and strikes the helpless beholder… which then EXPLODES! It was a gas spore! (Ah, I love those things, though I was apparently the only person that remembered them from previous editions.)

The explosion awakes the owlbears, who attack!

Another short fight later, their incessant hooting is laid to rest. They search the room, finding some illusory fires, below which is some pitch black. Knolan investigates, and thinks about jumping in. He decides instead to lower a rope down, then brings back up the rope… to find it eaten. Yes, the statue contained a sphere of annihilation. The bard once again narrowly escapes certain doom.

(the whole dungeon- click on the picture for all the details)

The exploration continues, including encountering a particularly devious magic trap. The trap makes those who step onto it succumb to overwhelming greed, leading to a big scuffle (and spells being thrown) between Ceridan, Knolan, and Zorgin, as the rest amusedly look on. The next room is open to reveal… treasure chests! The greedy party members dive in to grab the money all for themselves, only to find that the chests are, in fact, disguised Umber Hulks.

Greed and Confusion intersects, and there is a hard fought battle with lots of mental derangements against three umber hulks. In time, all is shaken off, and there are no hard feelings (yeah, right.)

The dungeon explored, the party returns to a blue glowing door, which proceeds to test each party member’s knowledge. No one completely passes, but some do better than others. Regardless, they make it through, and descend the staircase to the next floor.

A strange shrine greets the party one floor down. Five statues in different colors stand in the corners, with a big statue to Tiamat looming over the room.

The naturally inquisitive members investigate the statues, which then begin to spring to life, one at a time. Energy attacks appear to have no effect, but enough damage turns them back into statues.

After all five statues of dragons have come to life, the shrine to Tiamat lurches forth, and begins to attack, belching out different breath weapons every time. Though the party has been damaged and trashed by the dungeon before, their anti-dragon arsenal once again comes in handy, and the Aspect of Tiamat is returned to statue form.

Two spouts form, one to return to the surface, the other goes downward. Of course, they head downward to more adventure!

Underneath, they discover the slumbering Xen, bronze dragon, in a massive chamber filling with water. Knolan’s last 0 level spell, Message, is used once again to wake a dragon. He comes awake with a massive yawn, and is quickly filled in by the party. They promptly forgot to ask him about many things.

The up-spout goes to the surface, back on to Cloudreaver’s ship… which is being watched by the Pirate King and his massive, heavily armed ship. The Pirate King demands the Dragongate immediately, shifting into his full gargantuan black dragon form to threaten the party with extended death (as opposed to immediate death.)

The party tries to stall and weighs its options. Toss the dragongate overboard? Try to alert Xen? But the plan ultimately is for Knolan to pull out the Dragongate and try to use it. He focuses all his arcane knowledge. Soon, his head is filled with various whispers, at first nonsense, but then stating “Tiamat calls you home.” Knolan, hesitantly and inquisitively, says “Tiamat calls you home?”

Clouds form above, and energy streaks across the sky. A rift forms, leading to a dimension of madness and despair. Winds pick up, but seem to only grab a hold of the Dragon and some of his draconic crew. Even in the face of terror, the black dragon does not cry out and he is sucked away.

The portal begins to close… but not before something can escape. Virivis, “The Creator”, has left his prison. A quick “Power Word Stun” incapacitates most of the party, and a Telekinesis retrieves the Dragongate from Knolan’s frozen hand. The Creator informs the party that now that he has returned, he has the tools to conquer the world. He begins to cast a spell to eliminate the party… but is interrupted by a cannonball off his port bow. The Creator teleports away as the party is rescued by a pirate fleet.

The explanations come quick: The Pirate King is dead, and he was a big dragon. The Pirate Council holds an emergency meeting to find a successor. A new Pirate King has never been chosen before, but according to the lore, the honor goes to the registered pirate with the biggest fleet. At first, it is thought that this would be Captain Ishae Vorlas, but in fact it turns out to be Cloudreaver who commands the mercenary merchant fleet in Krogland.

Cloudreaver is quick to offer some proclamations during his new rule. Peace is declared with the Bronze Order, to finally unify Pirates and Ninjas. The party is to be given the Pirate King’s old vessel, the Skullripper. Captain Vorlas will captain it and escort the party where they need to go. And on the way out, they recover a treasure map that contained much of the King’s treasure.

Another dragon freed, treasure and a boat gained, the Scales of Justice set sail for the Elven Kingdoms, to find a clue for the whereabouts of the penultimate dragon…

After the last disturbing adventure, the party decides where to head off to next. But as they rest and recover, Richard Chelton disappears, taking with him a share of the profits. He’s even covered his tracks from the party. Where is he headed? No one is sure…

Betrayal aside, the party decides to head to the Bronze Order to report on the revelations from Inn-is-mouth. Morning offers to teleport the party directly there.

A short pop later, they arrive on the slope heading up to the monastery. Ceridan De’Arunsel says that it is traditional to bring an offering to the Abbot, usually a pail of water from the well at the base.

After a few difficult climbs (it’s hard to climb a mountain with a bucket full of water in 1 hand!) the party made it to the monastery… only to find it deserted. From the looks of the crops, it hadn’t been deserted long.

Venturing inside, the party begins to investigate, unaware that they are being watched. As Ceridan investigates something interesting, he is grabbed from behind and placed into a choke hold. A female voice said “If I wished you harm, you would be dead now.” He is released, and realizes that he was just grappled by his old teacher, Sister Helena “Handbasket”.

She explains that she and another member of the order Colin Whittmore stayed behind to wait for Ceridan. The order had to move because they are being hunted by Black Talon. She has a mission for them: to head to the city of Van Legas, a city of crime and corruption. There, they would hire a private detective to help draw out the Black Talon and take care of him once and for all. As part of bait, Helena sends along a piece of the “DragonGate”, though they don’t know what it is.

Upon arriving in Van Legas, Knolan Alvaar Altimus decides to head into a bar to get the word on the street. It isn’t until inside that the party realizes that it’s a drow bar they have walked into… and they don’t respond too well to the elves in the party.

The party then begins to split up to explore the cursed city (it appears to be in a state of perpetual cloudiness.)

Dulin encounters Perot Hercules and is taken for a bit of a ride. Meanwhile, the rest of the party finds lodging for the night in one of the more reputable establishments, and finds out from the innkeep that Hemlock Domes is the greatest detective. And so, everyone meets up to hire his services.

On 221B Baker Street (passing by various pies and breads), they are lead into the study of Hemlock Domes by his assistant Hamish, Son of Wats. Hemlock lists off a number of facts about the party, using his superior deductive skills. All of the observations are elementary, of course.

Dulin agrees to hire the detective at the exorbitant fee of 500 gp plus expenses. She also begins to wonder about her home…

That evening, the party heads back to their lodgings, while Dulin desires more finery and stays at a Grand Casino.

In the middle of the night, as Knolan struggles to stay awake on his watch, armed Drow begin charging up the stairs. Knolan quickly fires off a Grease spell, which causes one of the attackers to slip down the steps.

The party is alerted, and they leap into action. Some are in their skivies, and so fight at a bit of a disadvantage. Their new companion Colin activates some fancy powers, but fails to contend with the Drow’s spell resistance. And Ceridan found that the Drow he was fighting was actually a vampire, and thus would prove to be more of a challenge.

Still, thanks to some powerful spells and powers, the party is victorious. Then the thought occurs to them: Dulin is probably in trouble too. Under the influence of haste, they speed off into the night to find her.

Meanwhile, Dulin is awakened in the middle of the night by her door being torn to splinters by a Werewolf! She quickly fires up her Mage Armor before it closes the distance. Then she engages in some fancy swordwork to keep it at bay. After a while, she switches to her wand of vampiric touch, which proves more effective then her non-silver sword.

She gets in a few shots while keep the beast’s ravening bites at bay, and the rest of the party bursts in to finish it off.

The party seeks some answers. Knolan tries to get into Hemlock’s abode by disguising himself as a Drow, but is hit by a lightning bolt for his ruse. Then Knolan runs into Fred Fade and ends up receiving his services for free. Fred takes Knolan some places to shop, and explains that The Drowfather is in charge of organized crime, and may have something to do with their troubles.

Some more shopping, including some preparation against vampires, happens in town. Knolan seeks more info, and is asked to accompany some goons to see The Drowfather himself.

The party is lead into a back-alley pizza joint, where some shady doings are happening. A back room conceals the office of The Drowfather… who doesn’t quite have the accent that the party expects! The Drowfather (who comes from the Frozen North) says “It’s aboot time you showed up.” After some quick talk about what he considers bacon and a strange thing called “hockey”, they get down to business.

The Drowfather wants the Black Talon taken out too. He also happens to have come into possession of the other piece of the DragonGate. The problem is, he disposed of it in the same place that he disposes people who become a problem. The party is free to take it, as long as they use it to get the Talon out of the way.

Down a deep, dark, cavern is the area where the Drowfather “takes care of” troublemakers. Landing in a disgusting pile of bodies, they move cautiously down the cavern, Knolan taking the lead (as the defacto new trap-finder now that Richard is gone.) He moves out into the darkness… and the darkness coalesces, and strikes! The restless dead strike against the living, sapping their life energy. After a few strength-draining hits, they banish one, and the other retreats further down.

Ceridan fires a light arrow after the creature, then fires more magic arrows to finish it off.

They proceed cautiously into the room, when they finally decide… “hey, let’s look up…”

BAM! A giant spider, discolored and looking especially nasty, descends and sprays the party with webbing, trapping Knolan and Rathgar. Ceridan (who has to resist jumping on the creature’s back), Dulin, and Colin bombard the big spider. The spider rears back, mandibles dripping with dark energy, and critically hits the good Ranger/Monk. They respond by whacking the spider into oblivion as the others finally escape.

Digging through the webbing, they find the other piece of the DragonGate, which fuses to the other piece in a flash of light.

Drowfather’s goons lift the party out. As they step out into the alley, they are greeted with a familiar face: the Black Talon has shown himself. He offers a bargain: in exchange for the DragonGate, he will show the party where Xen the Bronze is imprisoned.

The party demands answers about the DragonGate, but Black Talon gives none. They do notice that he seems to have a particular dislike for Ceridan, even though they didn’t know they had ever met.

Despite being still weakened from the shadows and the spider, the Scales of Justice prepare for battle. The Black Talon gestures, and a huge Black Dragon appears in the sky above them.

The Black Talon flashes a sadistic smile at Dulin, Knolan, Rathgar, and Ceridan.

“I’m going to enjoy killing each of you again.”

Adventure 13 Rewards

(February 17th)

During the return sail from the Isle of Inn-is-Mouth Ceridan De’Arunsel and Knolan Alvaar Altimus spoke to Captain Cloudreaver about gathering some of the other ship’s captains together as a fleet for Krog (either in service or as paid mercenaries). The Cpt. made no promises but said he would try talking to some of the other ship captains. The party then saw to it that Flying Sir General King Emperor Admiral (he bought a boat) Mardek Krog the Orc the Dragonslayer Bandit and his new bride returned home safely.

Krog charged his adviser Malevictus to accompanying the party to meet their Dragon friend (Morning) and open discussions about allying. Some members of the party, seemingly from the future, purchased items and alcohol at the merchants in Krogville before (after?) departing.

At the border between Krogland and the lands of Fitzleon the party awoke to find themselves in darkness witnessing ghosts of fallen elves and hobgoblins attacking one another. After a terrifying amount of time they eventually awoke unharmed yet disturbed by these horrifying illusions that seemed to cause the party to attack / trip one another. Not nearly enough grappling was done.

Upon arrival at Morning on Crescent the party found Morning resting happily on the surface with many elementals moving about working to rebuild her former palace. After some discourse and plot, Knolan discovered that Howe was not in his home and the party quickly noticed some horse-like tracks leading off to the north. Morning tasked the party with finding their missing friend, because they’re heartless bastards and wouldn’t do it without provocation.

Nearing the north-western tip of the Crescent forest the party heard the cries of an injured bear nearby a river. Approaching they found a hideous Ogre wearing a cloak of various skins with two hunting boars about to kill the bear (that was caught in a trap). Deciding that without a Druid the party really doesn’t care about a lonesome bear being eaten, they examined closer to find that the bear was incredibly well kept and seemingly tamed as if by some kind of person who would tame animals (and perhaps is half-animal himself?)

After rectifying the situation with the Ogre and boars, the bear was set free and immediately began leading the party along a path towards what appeared to be a boarded up cottage and a nearby barn. A pit trap was nearly walked into, and then climbed around/avoided, as an Ogre playing a giant banjo nearby fled into the barn. Investigating the barn the full might of the party fell upon the four deformed ogres inside and their two trained giant boars.

The party then moved to investigate the heavily boarded up house and its grossly engraved wood porch with bone chimes. Eventually entering the house through an eldritch blasted window, the party continued through a series of gross and corpse-riddled rooms. Two child-like ogres were offed, secret doors and a disgusting bathroom were found, then the party decided to venture into the most heavily boarded room to find a Zombie Ogre doing naughty things to some grossly obese female Ogre with two other Zomb-ogres standing guard.

Being in a cramped hallway, half of the party ventured upstairs to attempt an assault from above only to find Howe near death, with a missing leg, hanging from meat hooks in a room with a moss-covered Ogre of some kind (Tendriculos). Eventually the mossy ogre was offed, the floor in this room destroyed to expose the gruesome scene below to a pincer attack-like barrage of missle weapons. Also of note is that the female Ogre keeps her rat familiar in her body-folds.

Sensing defeat, the massive She-Ogre teleported out of the room. After a quick regroup, Ceridan suggested checking out the barn again, being the only logical place for her to have gone. Sure enough, there she was in her corpulent glory. The party jumped her (in a slightly different way) before she could recoup or even drink any tasty moonshine.

Monsters killed, Howe rescued (despite being near death), the party quickly fled back to Morning where Howe could be restored back to health. No doubt he will be haunted for a long time by what he was subjected to, and is no doubt an alcoholic (still).

(January 27th & Feb. 2nd)

“Arrest them!” yells King Krog as Mama Zerk looks on. The divine spell casters prepare for a fight, but eventually, the party surrenders to Krog’s army.

The party sits shackled in cells until Malevictus returns and tells Knolan Alvaar Altimus to free the other party members to stop the impostors who replaced Krog & Zerk. Thanks to a simple yet effective distraction by Richard Chelton, the party is able to escape.

“Stop that Krog!” yells Krog, or at least Knolan described as Krog. Some firepower reveals the other impostors to be an Intellect Devourer and Astral Construct.

The impostors plow through the guards in an attempt to get to Klorphax in his magical prison. A crowded battle, with Krog’s guards attempting to get shots in, ensues in the hallway. The creatures are defeated before busting in, and the door is shut before the Great Wyrm decides to fry the hall…

Malevictus informs the party that they must rescue Krog. He has arranged transport to the last known spot of Krog and his bride: the resort island of Inn-is-mouth.

The party boards the ship captained by “Definitely Not a Pirate” Captain Cloudreaver, who reveals a piece of Ceridan De’Arunsel’s past. Getting close to the island, the ship is attacked by a ferocious Dragon Turtle. Using dragon-fighting weapons, a trained water elemental, and some shell-surfing skills, the beast is cut down.

The party investigates the island and the Merry Otter resort, run by Sahuagin and Kuo-Toa. Dulin and Zorgin pose as newlyweds and investigate the Honeymoon Suite to get a lead on Krog, while the rest investigate around. The caretakers of the island seem to live in one central structure. But the party decides to rest and recuperate after the savage Dragon Turtle attack.

In the middle of the night, Dulin and Zorgin are abducted by a Mind Flayer and powerful Sahuagin bodyguards. Dulin’s empathic link with her familiar enables her to signal trouble to Knolan. They leap into action, but are momentarily fooled by an Illithid illusion.

A lucky arrow shot nearly destroys the Mind Flayer, but he is able to teleport away before the killing blow can be delivered. A fight ensues with the psychic warrior Sahuagin, and the two “newlyweds” are rescued.

The next day, the party does a bit more investigating. They hear of “The Creator” who took the inhabitants of the island and combined them with aquatic creatures to survive, and told them to take care of the island (and left forever.)

Herb Silverleaf, used scroll salesmen, meets Knolan, and Knolan realizes that Herb’s memory has been tampered with. Strange doings are afoot! Resort-goers are being abducted bu the fish-men… but for what purpose?

Meanwhile, Zorgin has an “encounter” with Praxis Hillton, Dwarven Socialite.

Eventually, while the resort’s caretakers work on throwing a big bash at the waterfall, the group infiltrates the central compound. Knolan disguises himself as a Sahuagin, Richard Chelton goes invisible, and everyone else piles into a laundry cart.

In the basement, they come across dread happenings: abductees are being sacrificed so as to bring back The Creator into the world.

Battle ensues! But enough blood is spilled on the summoning circle to bring forth a creature from… somewhere else. A strange creature of tentacles and heads charges into the midst of the group, intent on spilling as much blood as possible.

It takes an all-out effort to defeat the Mind Flayer and the strange summoned creature. At last, the island and the prisoners are saved.

Epilogue

The creature shrieks an inhuman scream and contorts into nothingness, leaving only splattered demon blood as evidence it was ever there. The party works to free the prisoners and bring them above ground. On the way out, the party “liberates” some of the ill-gotten gains of the resort and makes their way to the rendezvous with Cloudreaver. An eerie calm has come over the island… the remaining Kuo-Toa and Sahuagin slink back into the deep. Whether they are finally free or just plotting revenge, you cannot be sure.

The coast is filled with the merchant ships that have made their living ferrying back and forth passengers to the resort island, and were horrified to discover that so many of the families they had carried had been separated thanks to the mind-altering talents of a horrid Illithid. The journey to reunite them won’t be easy, but for the captains, the joy of seeing forcefully-forgotten loved ones reunited will be thanks enough. You yourselves experience this when Herb Silverleaf has his wife and daughter returned to him.

You board Cloudreaver’s ship, and set sail back to Krogland. You continue to try to rouse Krog, who responds only with a slight gleam in his eye and grin. You are sure that with some time (and maybe a bit of magic) he’ll be fit to rule again.

The sun sets on the island of Inn-is-mouth and the tainted resort the Merry Otter. The threat has been stopped for now.

But under the island, a door has been opened, one not easily shut. The Creator gazes through at the world that banished him. The door is still too small for him to return, but in time, he will find his way back. When he does, he will exact vengeance… but on whom?

(January 12th, 2008)

Part 1:

Knolan Alvaar Altimus, Dulin, Rathgar, and Ceridan De’Arunsel disguise themselves as Orcs and infiltrate a Gruumsh cult in Krogland.

Part 2:

The party heads to a volcano near Lenheat. They encounter the Red Talon and cohorts working on a magical rune. Eventually they beat the bad guys and figure out how to open it, and delve into the volcano.

Part 3:

The volcano’s dungeon has many challenges, leading up to a battle with a crafty Efreet, during which the valiant Barbarian Draube Zerk falls in battle. The party also discovers that they are too late to free Lumin the Gold.

Epilogue:

The party rests and is restored to full health by the magic of the strange being known as Protectar. As everyone rests, he channels the power granted to him by Lumin to restore Draube Zerk to life. In the morning, you find that the ritual was successful, but Draube will need long term care and treatment to return to the life of the warrior, since his injuries were so grave.

Protectar also says that during the ritual, Lumin’s spirit appeared, and granted life to another. Lumin decided to create one Scale to protect his unborn son, and to aid the quest to restore all the dragons. One worthy soul perished within his lair: the Hobgoblin that was defeated earlier. He has been restored to life as a second chance to redeem his honor and soul, and granted new powers as befits a servant of a Great Wyrm Gold Dragon.

With new companion in tow, the party heads to krogland to leave Draube with his mother so that he can recover. Upon arriving, the party is quickly escorted to the throne room by Malevictus.

Flying Sir General King Emperor Admiral (he bought a boat) Mardek Krog the Orc the Dragonslayer Bandit and Mama Zerk sit in the audience chamber as you approach to say what has transpired. You can’t help but feel something is wrong… and then Krog orders you all under arrest for Treason. The Royal Guard trains its weapons on you. You pleadingly turn to your companion Malevictus for understanding, only to see dark energy forming around his hands, ready to strike…

(December 30th, 2007)

After gathering as much information from Morning as they could, the party set off to find the other Champions of Bahamut. Morning summoned an earth elemental to dig the party out of her lair, but along the way a deep rumbling interrupted their ascent as an Umber Hulk riding a Bullette burst forth and burrowed straight for the elemental. The party managed to overcome the Umber Hulk’s captivating gaze and chant to stop the gruesome twosome from destroying the still tunneling elemental.

Back on the surface, the party made way to the West towards Krogland and the old town of Lenheat (where a tomb was found with the body of a long-dead Scale). The town of Muta was encountered along the way under siege from renegade Orcs, with Malakai the elder and Ambassador Krusik in the towns square attempting to organize a defense / retreat. The party was split about how to handle the situation, but eventually a group of orcs descended upon the small town (chasing the not so quiet scouts Ceridan and Richard) and a hasty defense was made. Most of the town inhabitants managed to get out alive, amidst orcs slipping off greased rooftops and a raging Eye of Grummsh being paralyzed and coup-de-graced.

The survivors of Muta, the Orcish Envoy, and the party made way to Krogville where they rested and took care of things around the city. While there Knolan discovered someone claiming to be his son, Knolan Alvar Atlimus Jr (Knot), a half-elf from one of Knolan’s various sexual escapades. Knot performed quite well with a custom Dwarven axe converted into a Guitar by the “Son of Gibb”, and even managed to best his father in a ‘Rock Off’ in the tavern. Knolan was approached by an elder orc named Fendarr who will create a custom axe for him if he gathers the necessary components.

Adventure 9 Rewards

(Saturday – December 8th, 2007)

Recap:

The party emerges from the tunnels underneath Fitzleon after escaping from the Green Talon in the Royal Treasury Auxiliary.

A chill wind blows over the party, signaling that winter has arrived in Fitzleon.

Staying away from the main roads, the party camps for the night to rest and recover. During Haladorr’s watch, he hears a voice from behind him instructing him to drop his weapons or else he’ll kill Knolan in his sleep. The druid complies, but manages to alert the party. Thog the Bounty Hunter plans to bring the party in for the 2 million gold piece bounty. After rebuffing a few offers, they use their clout with Krog to convince him to let them go.

Morning On Crescent has not faired well during fall and winter. The plants are dying, the animals are dead or have left, and even the mighty river that runs through it has become lackadaisical. It is there that the Green Talon ambushes them, using a pair of dire boars and a lot of arrows.

Both Mimosa and Draube leaped over the river to the forefront of the battle as the rest of the party supported from across the river and formed defensive positions. Through some brutal hits and lucky lightning bolts, the Green Talon fell… only to disappear. Though some vengeance was had, it was only a taste of what was needed.

A quick visit to Howe later the party worked on finding a way to the trapped dragon underneath what remained of the city. Some time was taken to investigate the well, which connected back to a mysterious altar. Some debate later, the party decides to consecrate the altar, which opens the way down the well. Using his spider climb, the Warlock Malevictus investigates down a way, and finds the underground ruins.

The party follows behind, but dwarves are not all that built for climbing, so Rathgar alerts some creatures to their arrival. A fight ensues against some swarms of poisonous spiders, a Shambling Mound, and two Quasits (who quickly vanish.)

Victorious, the party investigates some dragon statues encountered previously. Quickly, Knolan sets about placing the dragon eyes in the statues. It takes a bit of convincing for Dulin to give up her red dragon eye, but it is done, and the statue hands over two more dragon weapons. It then moves to attack Draube, but he shatters it in a single blow.

A massive staircase leads downwards, leading up to giant stone doors that repeat a warning in every known language: “Beware. Danger. Keep Out. Death Awaits.”

This causes some argument among the party members, but after coming so far, they cannot turn back now. The doors are pushed open to reveal a massive chamber with a slumbering dragon. A strange enchantment falls over some of the party: this dragon must be killed!

Mimosa valiantly attempts to defend the creature of good from the advances of the charmed party, when Knolan comes up with an idea: to use the simple “Message” spell to wake the creature.

After a massive yawn, the dragon introduces herself as Morning, a great wyrm brass dragon. She dispels the enchantment, and explains about why the party is there, and how she has come to be there.

Epilogue

At the close of the Draconic Revolution, as the good dragons were placed in magical sleep by the evil dragons, there were the following dragons around:

• Klorphaxius the Red
• Fitzleonikon the Green
• Daudhir the Blue
• Califyra the White
• Munwirthrax the Black

• Morning the Brass
• Lumin the Gold
• Kyuzo the Silver
• Xen the Bronze
• Eden the Copper

The Scales have been charged with the task of finding and freeing the remaining four Champions of Bahamut. Where will they head next?

Adventure 8 Rewards

(Saturday, December 1st)

In the secret tunnels beneath the inner city of Fitzleon, the party encounters Wesley “Weasel” Chelton, and several other members of the Thieves’ Guild. They invite the party to help take part in a heist of the Royal Treasury Auxiliary. In the middle of resting, Dulin appears in a flash of light, aided by the Red Dragon Eye given to her by Klorphax... for a price.

The party is told the Thieves will handle the side vaults, and their object is the main vault. The party will have to figure out how to access it.

Arriving through a secret underground entrance, the party splits off. They fight some small golem sentries, but in the midst of combat, the sounds they make (especially Knolan’s loud singing) attract the attention of guards in the other room. Richard tries to hold them off by tossing in the Orb of the Cube, but slips while throwing and manages to shatter it on the wrong side of the door. Thankfully he is able to force it into the room with the guards and close the door behind.

The party defeats the golems and ransacks the offices to find some clues and a blue key. They then venture into the guard room to find the Cube has eaten the guards… but is still hungry. They also find that two of the treasure chests are not, in fact, filled with treasure, but actually chest-shaped sticky monsters. A battle ensues once again, and they are victorious, added by the late arriving Haladorr and Snake-Slayer (who were lost in the tunnels.)

The party grabs a yellow key and runs upstairs to find the head guardsman: a multi-eyed creature who seem to be linked to a statue in the middle of the room. After being frustrated with the creature’s ability to fly and the statue’s inability to be hurt, Draube Zerk finally finds his way there and starts throwing alchemists fire while Malevictus grabs an amulet off the creature and Jikari fires off as many shots as he can. The party of 9 defeats the creature and recovers a red key.

In the next room is the main vault, sealed by a lock with three colored keyholes and a 1-9 dial. After pondering on the clue given downstairs, Knolan eventually figures out the code, and unlocks the vault as the party is drenched in gold. They also notice a Yellow Dragon Eye, which is quickly scooped up. A booming voice commands: “FREE ME!”

Returning downstairs to find the Thieves, the party discovers that Weasel has betrayed them to the Green Talon, and they are forced to run into the tunnels again.