Days 3-6: Turning the Tide!

Things seem to be going uneventfully until Galathir feels cold steel at his throat, and a gruff voice sounds from behind him, “I have men in the woods with your she-devil, say a word and they’ll slit her throat!”

Galathir remains silent, realizing that the man, Romelius, is behind him and is apparently invisible! But the tiefling  looks to Kilskan and taps his Pact Magic once more, reaching out to touch the rogue’s mind, relaying everything that is going on to him. Unfortunately Kilskan can’t get a bead on the man either. The tiefling lets the magic of his lower-planar heritage bubble to the surface, and he conjures the sound of heavy booted feet behind the Romelius. All the man does, however, is call out for his own men to step from the wood. He allows Galathir to get an eyeful of his men holding Sinjun, bound and gagged, sure he can quell the Warlock and whatever that sound was. Unfortunately for Romelius, all it manages to do is enrage the male tiefling to see his mate so treated, as well as encourage him that Sinjun was not only alive, but within eyeshot. Galathir summons his magic and once more summons nightmare images and thoughts with a Dissonant Whisper, inflicting them upon Romelius, who cries out in pain and lurches back, removing the blade from Galathir’s throat. Romelius shouts, “Kill them! Kill them all!” but as Galathir turns, he homes in on the sound of the man’s voice and casts Burning Hands, the sheet of flame swirling around the body of the First Mate as he screams in pain and agony, then crumples to the beach.

Taking advantage of the moment, Galathir summons his blood-driven Thaumaturgy once more, causing his voice to boom out as he speaks, “That’s how the last Captain died as well, anyone else want the job?!” The corsairs decide that they have had enough, and soon enough they are releasing Sinjun and moving into the camp to join the other prisoners. Galathir presses home the point that he’s in charge now, but he and Kilskan begin talking to the pirates, seeking to create a rapport and cement some measure of common ground in hopes of moving things forward to everyone’s mutual benefit.

By morning, the crew has agreed to take the party to the ship so they can all plan to finish the repairs and, eventually, leave the island. Jeurn wakes as well, seemingly miraculously healed overnight. Soon enough, everyone is aboard the Cymbrian ship, and the party searches the Officers’ rooms, revealing 3 chests. They then meet behind closed doors to make plans, eventually deciding to pay the corsairs 5gp per crew to get them onboard for exploring the coastline. (Spent 85gp) The corsairs redouble their repair efforts, hoping to put being trapped on this cursed island behind them as soon as possible, but they seem to agree when Jeurn asks them about circumnavigating the isle and looking for what could be more treasure within its interior.

Additionally, the party learns that Sinjun had come aboard the Argos with Galathir, and is, in fact, his Mate (wife). The two tieflings explained that when they came aboard, the crew of the Argos was almost violently opposed to it, not only because they are tieflings, but also because Sinjun is (obviously) a woman. Since the Captain of the Argos immediately took a shine to her, sexy succubus-kin that she is, the pair decided to let that work to their benefit. So the Captain pulled rank and made arrangements to keep her in his quarters, away from Galathir. Whether the man believed they were kin or whatever, the two needed to make passage, and didn’t want to have to fight the superstitious nature of sailors.

Sinjun reveals that later she came to suspect that the Argos’ captain was up to foul play, having seen a few things that lead her to believe the scum had every intention of selling the party members as slaves, if not just killing them and stealing whatever belongings they might have on them. She never got a chance to investigate further,  however, as the storm came up during the pursuit buy the pirates, and set the sailors afire with their belief that she was a curse on their ship. The crew had actually come to seize her and throw her overboard, and had her out on the deck with the ship ran afoul of a massive rock, sending the tiefling woman and a crewman overboard. She managed to scramble atop a large outcropping, which was likely the one the ship had collided with, and was eventually picked up by  the corsairs.

Apparently her irresistible charms once more served her well, as Khalim, the corsair’s navigator and a spell caster, insisted that the crew take her aboard, apparently sure that she would have some dark secrets to unveil to him. Apparently the crew later learned, from the sailors Galathir spoke with in the camp, that she belonged with the party, and they took her ashore to use her as leverage against the warlock and his companions. Clearly that strategy didn’t go well for Romelius, who they learned was the First Officer.

Once the repairs are finally complete, they weigh anchor to set sail, only to see a large figure emerge from the brush on shore! The burned visage of the man, if not the way he roars in anger and waves his sword about, makes it clear that perhaps that Volo is not as dead as the party thought he was...

What does the future hold for our brave adventurers?

Day 2 (Part 2): Dead Men Tell No Tales!

From a cluster of tall reeds at the edge of the pirate camp, the party can see there are 10 corsairs milling about, dealing with camp business. Realizing the captain might return with his hunting party at any time, they elect to set upon the men in the camp with haste, in an attempt to eliminate them before more support arrives. They heft their ranged weapons and spells, and let loose into the corsairs!

By the end of the battle, 7 of the pirates lay dead, and the remaining 3 surrender. These three reveal not only the the captain and his hunters will be back before nightfall, but also that a female tiefling is aboard the Cymbrian ship. Galathir is thrilled at what he takes as confirmation that Sinjun is alive and well.

Jeurn refuses to kill the survivors, so the party binds them and heads off into the wilderness, following Garn, who can readily follow the hunting party’s trail. Kilskan scouts ahead and discovers captain Volo, who is traveling with Khalim, apparently a spellcaster, and 10 of his corsairs are on their way up the path.  Based on Kilskan’s report, the party plans an ambush.

As Volo’s raiding party comes into view. Garn uses his Druidic magic to cause the foliage to Entangle several of the corsairs. Galathir follows up by tapping his demonic heritage and conjuring a sphere of Darkness around even more of them. Meanwhile, Jeurn and Kilskan let loose with their Crossbow and Shortbow, both shooting at Volo. The party capitalizes on the element of surprise and follows up quickly, starting with Galathir unleashing Pact Magic on Voloa’s spellcaster, Khalim. His whispers carry nightmare images and terrifying thoughts of The Great Old one into the dark-skinned human’s mind, and send him screaming with pain and fright into the trees. Jeurn steps up, drawing sword and shield, and enters battle with Volo directly, while Garn and Kilskan engage the corsairs that emerge from the Darkness.

The battle quickly escalates to a violent struggle for life as the seemingly well-laid ambush turns into a maelstrom of chaotic combat. At first it seems too many of the Corsairs are free, and as Khalim overcomes the dreadful nightmares of Galathir’s magic, he returns and uses his own spells to Hold Jeurn fast and at Volo’s mercy! The massive captain of the corsairs takes full advantage, unleashing brutal blows with his sword! Kilskan does his best to deliver death to the two corsairs than engage him, but luck is with them, and he soon finds himself ducking beneath their attacks and slipping into the Darkness behind them. Garn holds his own assailants at bay felling one with a mighty blow from his spell-driven cudgel, but things begin to look grim as the enemies who once faced the rogue turn to him instead.

On the other side of the trail, two more corsairs had slipped from the Darkness and moved toward Galathir, even as he closed with Jeurn , Volo and a corsair. The tiefling’s Eldritch Blast lanced into Khalim, crackling with agonizing energy and knocking him, lifeless, to the ground… and breaking his Hold on Jeurn . The Paladin lays back into Volo with renewed vigor, but it seems the huge man can take the punishment! The pirate captain savages Jeurn's defenses and lands another mighty blow even as the corsairs pursuing Galathir move within range. Garn faces off against no less than 4 corsairs now, and things look grim for the heros as Jeurn is knocked prone!

Kilskan strides from the Darkness at just the right moment and lays back into the foes surrounding Garn as Galathir moves up next to Jeurn's crumpled form and raises his hands before him, a sheet of flames erupting from his fingertips as his thumbs touch! Volo howls in pain and rage, but shrugs this attack off as well, but two of his corsairs fall in smoldering heaps! The tiefling’s luck holds as Volo and the remaining corsair both lunge at him and fail to connect, and the tide finally starts to turn as Garn smashes another pirate to the grass! Kilskan slips under the guard of another and a swift thrust ends his life, while Galathir manages to blast Volo with his Eldritch magic, dropping the large man as well!

The remaining 4 corsairs yield, asking quarter, which the part grants in order to tend to Jeurn and stabilize his wounds. Galathir orders the pirates to move the bodies of their fallen comrades to keep them occupied, and then Garn and Kilskan search the lot of the bodies and recover anything of interest. Soon enough Galathir has the 4 prisoners carrying Jeurn back to the pirate camp under his wary eyes.

As the group returns to the camp, it quickly becomes obvious that the other prisoners escaped and took the Dinghy, even if there is no sign of it at the Cymbrian vessel moored offshore. The party decides to settle in for the night, with Kilskan and Galathir taking the first watch, while Garn takes his rest and seeks to recover his spells.

Day 2 (Part 1): Back into Darkness!

After a long rest, the party returned the next morning to the tomb below the ziggurat and proceeded to dispatch with the remaining skeletons, suffering only minor injuries in the process.  They then turned their attention to the mysterious sarcophagus.

All four assisted in lifting and turning the lid so that it rested crosswise.  Within lay a desiccated mummy with a large ruby amulet about its neck.  Kilskan attempted to carefully lift it up using his sword.  As he did, the mummy suddenly came to life and grasped the blade in its iron grip!

Kilskan tried to pull it free, but the creature wrenched it from his grasp.  The others immediately threw themselves into the fray to assist.  Juern threw blow after powerful blow, but his sword showed little evidence of damaging the creature.  Galathir blasted it with his eldritch magic, but still it lived.  Garn attempted to destroy the thing with fire, but the amulet seemed to protect it from the flames.  Finally, Kilskan drew the obsidian dagger he found and thrust it into the creature's chest, eliciting a mental blast of agony that could be felt by all.  The mummy grasped Kilskan's arm, causing a searing pain as his flesh rotted before him, but a mighty blow from Garn's magical club shorn the grasping arm asunder.  A final deep thrust of the ancient dagger from Kilskan, and Koth Amun Atla, priest-king of Xotli, Lord of the Eternal Night, was no more.

After the battle, Galathir discovered a secret door behind the sarcophagus, revealing a large open hall with a high vaulted ceiling and stairs leading out on the opposite side.  The hall, as they soon learned, was filled with stirges hanging from the ceiling asleep.

The four started back to return from whence they came when, suddenly, they heard the sounds of men coming down the stairs!

There was no choice.  They ran back to the great hall and, as quickly and as quietly as they could, made their way across to the stairway beyond.  At last, they all made it up the stairs, only to find a blocked passage!

The sounds of men, undoubtedly the Cymbrian corsairs, grew louder.  A small hole could be seen in the rubble of the passage where sunlight pierced the darkness.  Carefully yet quickly, Garn and Kilskan widened the passage while Galathir and Juern turned to face what foes may emerge from the hall.

Men's voices were now heard below and soon the hall erupted in a cloud of screeching, bloodthirsty bat-like creatures.  Screams of surprise and agony filled the hall, and stirges were beginning to filter into the passage.  Juern swung wildly at the swarming creatures while Garn and Kilskan abandoned all stealth and worked all the more furiously to widen the passage.

"Stand back, only my magic can save us!" declared Galathir Darkstone as a blast of eldritch force burst the passage open.

The dwarf and half-elf scrambled through the opening, followed quickly by Galathir and Juern.  The tiefling cried out in pain as a stirge's barb pierced his neck.  The paladin was covered in stirges, and one had found a chink in his armor and was gorging itself on his blood.

The four burst forth into the sunlight and raced across the clearing into the woods.  Once safely away they carefully removed the remaining stirges and took account of their wounds.  Galathir turned pale, if such a thing is possible, and fainted from blood loss, whereupon Garn quickly revived him with his druidic magic.  Juern was weakened by able to carry on.  They moved to higher ground and took another long rest.

By mid afternoon they were back on their feet and headed toward the corsairs' camp along the shore.  As they traversed the valley region they came upon another group of corsairs traveling north and hid while they passed.  The corsairs seemed to be looking for someone.

Once the men had passed, the party continued south, following the stream to the shoreside camp.  From a concealed vantage point they took account of their situation.  The sloop was still there, and there were about ten corsairs milling about the camp.  Others could be seen on the ship.  Pulled up on the shore was a small dingy, large enough for about six people.

We left with the adventurers deliberating over what to do next…

Day 1: Shipwrecked!

The party had been washed ashore after the ship they were traveling on run afoul of rocks while trying to flee from the Cymbrian pirate. After some time spent recovering and gathering what equipment they could find, they met on the beach again to plan what to do. While discussing things. They were set upon by a pair of black-spined giant crabs. The battle was brief, but furious, and one crab was left dismembered and cracked open, with the other roasted inside its shell by Galathir’s magic, after it had wounded him. Jeurn had also been injured fighting the other crab, but he used his holy magic to heal Galathir first, since his injuries were more severed, before using the remaining trickle of his power to ease his own wound. The group made one last check for supplies and gear, which included securing some of the crab meat for provisions, the party headed up a ridge to find high ground.

Reaching the crest of the ridge they were following, they found they had an excellent view. They could make out the thin ribbon of land they washed up on, the Cymbrian Pirate Ship moored in a natural harbor to the South, and a strange Pyramidal structure inland from the Pirates. After surveying things from the high vantage, they decided that the score pirates near the ship would make a direct assault risky, at least, and decided to investigate the Pyramid, which wasn’t far out of their way headed down to the beach where the pirates were anyway.

The party discovered that Garn was a superior trail-blazer through the sub-tropical overgrowth of the island, and soon enough they found themselves near the base of the pyramid. Galathir offered that he recognized some of the architectural elements of the structure, and that it could be an ancient Atlantean ruin, similar to some he’d read about in his studies. Then it was Kilskan’s turn to put his skills to use, scouting around the base of the odd structure looking for an entrance, while the party trailed at a distance so he could remain undetected, in case there were enemies about.

After circling the Temple, it appeared only a hole in the wall of the upper tier seemed to grant access to the interior. The party set to climbing the 10 foot high steps, only to find themselves facing the largest ape-like beast any of them had ever seen before, who was making quite a show of territorial behavior from the tier above them. Jeurn made an attempt to intimidate the beast into yielding to the party, but it went awry when the beast lunged forward and lifted him, tossing him back down to the lower tier! Kilskan immediately attacked the creature and Galathir followed suit, and they injured it enough it bounded over Jeurn to land on the ground and flee. Galathir, however, launched one more spell at the beast and felled it before it could escape.

Jeurn was stunned, but not too badly injured, and he rejoined the party as they crested the last tier and investigated the opening. Within, they found a chamber that the beast had apparently taken up residence in, fouling it with feces and debris. A brief search revealed a door in one wall, though it would require time to clear rubble and detritus to allow access. The party split the work up over two hours so everyone could get a little rest in, and then made ready to open the door.

Jeurn assisted Kilskan in opening the ancient door, and found it breaking apart as they forced it open. Some of the portal remained on the hinges, but it was clear enough for the party to make out a corridor beyond that lead to stairs that descended.

The group started down the stairs, with Garn and Kilskan leading, lantern lit, followed by Galathir, and Jeugran bringing up the rear guard in case anyone or anything followed them into the temple. At the first landing, they found another ancient door stuck fast in its jam. Jeurn moved up and made quick work of it, sundering it to splintered boards in a moment. He and Kilskan moved into the chamber beyond first, where they discovered a dessicated body in robes lying on the floor as if felled while trying to reach the door. The skull of the creature was apparently bashed in, and further investigation, which lead to turning the body over, revealed that it clutched an ancient, obsidian dagger to its chest. Jeurn said he believed it was a ceremonial blade, of the sort used by some death cults. Kilskan didn’t seem interested at that summation, but Galathir retrieved the scabbard from the body, sheathed the blade, and took it with them.

Further into the chamber, the group found another body, this one secured to some kind of rack as is if for interrogation or torture. The group couldn’t determine for sure what killed the man, but assumed it was unpleasant. The remainder of the chamber was once furnished and decorated, but time had not been kind to any of it, and nothing of value or interest was found, so the party returned to the stairs to descent further.

At the second landing, Jeurn once more shattered an aged door allowing the group access. Within this chamber, the group discovered some kind of raised stone platform with another dessicated corpse upon it. This body was partially wrapped in linens, as if it had been being prepared for some kind of ritual entombment. The group investigated the chamber and discovered a smaller door, which when opened, revealed a small, closet-like chamber where some sealed jars or urns were contained. Galathir suggested that they were probably canopic containers, likely still holding the innards of the body on the other table, if not from his body and several more. They soon returned to the stairs and descended further.

The lowest landing opened to a hallway that lead straight ahead into a dark hall that had a shadowy, hunched figure with eyes that gleamed red, perched upon a pedestal. Jeurn immediately felt the sense of Evil that the Temple had inspired outside grew much stronger here, with Garn and Kilskan feeling a similar increase in their uneasiness regarding the unnatural nature of the Temple and a flat sense of Dread respectively. Galathir, however, felt a sense that something of great power was calling to him. They all moved forward a bit to investigate, but soon enough Kilskan and Jerugan found they had no desire to get any closer. Galathir shrugged and moved forward, interest piqued, with Garn at his side.

After looking at the detail of the statue, as it was revealed to be, complete with glimmering gemstone eyes, they reported what they found to their stalled companions. Galathir felt the statue was reaching out to him, urging him to touch it and have great secrets of power revealed to him. Not unfamiliar with the risks of the unknown, he resisted the urge to touch it, eventually agreeing to withdraw with Garn and investigate the side passage, but stating that he wanted to return here before they left the Temple. However, as the pair turned to walk back to rejoin the group, Galathir found that his resolve wavered, and he MUST touch the statue. Garn acted quickly and placed himself, shield afront, between the tiefling warlock and the statue, and after beginning to force Galathir back, he eventually came to his senses and moved back to the others with the dwarf.

The party moved down the side corridor, and found it opened into a grand, columned chamber with some kind of hieroglyphs on the wall. Additionally, there were some score of skeletons littering the floor, all adorned in ancient bronze armor. The bodies seemed to have all dropped dead, somewhat randomly, and no immediate sign of how they died was apparent. All the same, the group picked their way carefully through the room, not touching the skeletons. Most of the group moved further into an adjoining chamber, where they could see what appeared to be a large sarcophagus. Galathir, however, took the long way around the large room and investigated the hieroglyphs.

The tiefling believed he could make out enough of the meaning of the strange writings to determine that this was a Temple dedicated to an ancient Priest King who lead this death cult. His study was disturbed, however, when one of the skeletons near him surprised him, having risen to its feet just next him… and thrusting its bronze blade into his gut quite rudely!

Galathir cried out in pain, alerting the party to the sudden change in state of this skeleton, and then unleashed his magic on the thing, since he was already all but pinned between it and the wall. Fortunately his spell was quite effective, and it blasted the skeleton apart. Unfortunately, it seemed that some part of the thing bounced off another skeleton, causing it to animate! Jeurn quickly found himself engaged with that skeleton. The situation was perilously close to spiraling out of control as that battle awoke a third skeleton, which the party soon dispatched as well.

Once things were still again, the party collected itself near the sarcophagus niche, which was clear of skeletons. Garn used his Druidic power to heal Galathir’s stab wound. They decided to try intentionally waking and destroying the skeletons one at a time. That effort did not go as well as planned, resulting in more injuries to the party, including to Garn, who had already expended his healing power. The group decided to return to the upper chamber of the Temple and rest while they planned their next move.

Echos of the past... drive us ever forward!

So... it's been decades since we did this... those of us who've done it at all. I, personally, am looking forward to seeing how this game develops. Brian's said he only had a little bit planned... but if I know us, we'll dig and poke and explore, and Brian will find new and interesting ways to keep us entertained. Or kill us. One or the other!

Anyway... I wanted to wait until we had a second session under our belts before I started to set this blog up, since it was entirely possible that we might not manage to get a second session scheduled. Or that we'd get ourselves dead in session 2! While the latter certainly nearly happened, I think we are all entertained enough to keep at it for a while yet. And I wanted a record where it would stay available... no matter what. Thanks for Google running half the internet, and their Way Back Machine archiving, there's a pretty good chance these blogs will never go away. Ever. At least not until we foolish humans manage to kill ourselves off or get slammed by some giant rock from outer space.

So... the cast of our little tale of adventure (in alphabetical order!), which is being lead through this epic story by our Dungeon Master, Brian:

Galathir, the Tiefling Warlock (Played by Chris)

Garn, the Dwarf Druid (Played by Christopher)

Jeurn, the Human Paladin (Played by Kenny)

Kilskan, the Human Rogue (Played by Greg)

Sinjun, the Tiefling Sorcerer (Played by Alisha)

(I might post links to character sheets here at some point. Seems like the kind of OCD nonsense I'd be up to, right?)