Intro
Part 1
On a rainy journey, the group traveled through the mountain pass north of their keep. Before a small valley, they encountered Lasher, the sometimes-helpful giant Mimic who exchanges information for meat. They learned about Ogres and Trolls in the small valley.
They came across a camp of ogres outside of a cave roasting and cannibalizing one of their own. The party quickly thins out the ogres as a pair of trolls bound out of the cave and get roasted by a wall of fire and a rain of arrows. The caves and corpses were looted and the party was on their way.
The party made their way through the rest of the valley to the wedge between two mountains that lead up to a roaring waterfall topped with a pair of statues of the Elf Sovereigns. A staircase fashioned out of the stone leads a long way toward the waterfall, where a small worn cave allows for some convenient resting before entering the Elf Kings Tomb in search of the way to Lich Valley.
Entering the complex, the group surmises three possible paths. One through the calcified dead, one past the marble cloaked statues with faces of swirling black smoke, and across the cavernous lake to a glowing winged statue. Daisy, flying above the lake, sees the heat form of something massive swimming counter-clockwise under the surface.
The group decimated the calcified dead and entered the hall where they came across the chained door and a door bas-reliefed with an ornate elfin crown. They vanquished a pair of priestly wights before any level drains can occur then proceeded through the room to the north.
Advancing through the room, the statues moved to intercept the intruders. Combat is joined and the Undead Elf King awoke from the sarcophagus, paralyzing Jaque and Daisy in fear. Bastian and Kira fought in the room as the Elf King attempted to blast them with magic. Doran hurled some high tier magic missiles at it while Bastian rushed to melee it in. Finally, Daisy and Jaque freed themselves in fear after the King went down and finished the remaining statue.
Treasure total:
- Gems total value: 3560 gp.
- 900 gp
- elfin chain
- 8000 gp, Potion, Scroll, Potion, Magical Plate Armor , Magical Splint Mail, Wand
Monsters defeated:
- 5 Ogres
- 2 Trolls
- 9 Calcified Dead
- 2 Wights
- 2 Greater Stone Guardians
- 1 Elf King
Part 2
The party left the crypts to hear, through the sounds of rushing water to the west, an echoing screeching. A cacophony of hoots answered it. The chained door still sat to the south.
They investigated a locked and stuck door. Once they made enough noise trying to knock it open, after a failed lockpicking, the hooting started up again from the north west.
A voice from behind the chained door spoke. "It sounds like you need my help." The party considered it as they talked through the door at the thing.
They finally set their eyes on the door to the north and got through the lockpick with Bastians luck. Inside, two high back chairs sit on opposite sides of a round table, ashes and bone sit in a pile on each. Empty torch sconces along the east and west walls show an origin point to a massive flame.
The party found a fork.
The hooting got louder and the thing behind the door talked the party into freeing them, prompted by the appearance of a single orange-black demon orangutans, the Bar-lgura. Dorian stone shaped the door to free the thing.
One Bar-lgura charged and realizing Kiras protection from evil, deviated towards Bastion. Jaques and Bastian faced off against it as more appeared out of thin air. One telekinesis'd Kira, sliding her up and down the wall against her will.
The stoneshape spell of Dorians completed and out stepped a huge cloaked form, cords of muscle on his night-black skin. A stained blindfold covered his eyes but he steps forward with clawed feet confidently.
On the next round he lifted his blindfold and death-gazed a bar-lgura. The parties strength quickly overwhelmed the weaker demons readily and the proceeded to the next room to the north after the Bodak left on his own, advising of the direction to the portal they were after, and giving them a final warning:
"Whatever it is you're doing here, you might make haste. I can smell their sickening fur."
In room to the north, Wooden elven mannequins are posed as people having some sort of dinner party. Some are are frozen in mid-gesture as if caught mid-conversation. They saw dust patterns that led them to see that there was a secret door to the north where a crazed wizard dwelled.
They ended up knocking out the wizard, taking his wand and spellbook, and came back for him later as they further investigated. They also found he had a magical table that produced fresh food daily, but excremented gleefully in the halls of the elven tomb only for something to come along and take it.
They found a room of pine coffins, corpses smashed inside. They found a letter on a corpse that detailed the crazed wizards mistake on summoning the Bodak and has been in hiding ever since and how knight that accompanied him fell, but knew he was doomed.
They also found the room of pillars and quickly surmised the puzzle of spelling O P E N to find the way towards the main chamber foyer. This chamber was littered with dried wine casks where rats have nest in the corner, seemingly tunneled in from a break in the north.
In between, they discovered some rats hoarding a severed hand with a magic ring. Bastion used his animal speech to convince them to give it to him. And they warned them of the vengeful elf spirits in the main chamber beyond.
They retrieved the wizard and the fighter was able to pretend he was the fallen companion of his from long ago. It was not difficult, given the wizards crazed state. He agreed to accompany them, lamenting how long it's been since he's seen the sun.
They proceeded into the main chamber and the phantasmal elven dead rushed to attack, attempting to age them with their vile touch. They had a cloaked one among them, who positioned itself to cast spells.
But the party had spells of their own. Melee was met by some, as other phantasmal elves started melding through the walls of the carefully chosen chokepoint. Melee flurried as the halfling, Daisy, rained arrows from above. A fireball finished off the bulk of the vengeful dead, but the cowled figure had a perfectly lined up lightning bolt that singed the party badly.
Some charges occurred in the next round and the caster lost it's spell and fell to the flurry of blows. Seeing that they could go back south to the water where a great beast dwelled, or north, they also noticed that a door to the east had an oily black pooling seeping out. Recognizing this as a black pudding, the party wasted no time to the north, through double-doors flanked by marble elven statues with the heads replaced by crude granite arachnid heads.
Heading through the north hall, they found two eastern branches. One roughly eroded that had the sound of rushing water, no doubt leading back to the central waterfall. The other leading to a room with an apparent barrier of white light, filled with motes of thick dust. A table and rectangular object floating within. Straight ahead was a blue translucent barrier, which behind held a horribly monstrous arachnid form with cleaver-like fore-legs. It seems that no magic could go through the barrier and the creature could not cross it, himself. The portal the party sought was right behind the monster, a wall of force in between them.
Treasure
- Wand of Wonder 16 charges
- Spellbook of Thrubora, The Magnificent
- 13 sapphire 100 gp ea
- 6 ceremonial dagger 150 ea
- Magical ring
Monsters defeated:
- 5 Barlgura
- 1 Very depressed Wizard
- 6 Phantasmal Vengeful Elves
- 1 Phantasmal Wizard
Part 3
Very short session...
The group was resource dried and in need of a round of healing. They decided to take their chances camping out in the secret living quarters. Able to avoid random occurrences through the night, the party directly confronted the Retriever, the massive spider-like beast that guarded the portal. While Jaques took a heavy heat ray directly, the action economy of 5 adventurers versus one thing did not let him get a second round.
The party stepped through the portal, blinded by the light, and finding themselves a few hours short of twilight on the mountain side overlooking a massive tortoise with buildings set on top of it in the distance.
Making their way through the forested trails down the mountain, the party encountered a clearing where moss-covered stones carpeted the ground. At the center sat a stone fire ring. Encircling the fire ring were three majestic elven statues, carved from shimmering marble. Each statue held a space where something once resided in their clasped hands.
Eventually, Kira fashioned make-shift torches that were placed into the hands of the statues. This caused a flame to spring forth from the stone ring accompanied by the smell of pines and lilacs. It lasted for 10 hours, keeping some shadow mastiffs at bay later that night. Though a few did get fireballed to chase them off.
Finally, they arrived at Glenhaven. A lower town under the massive tortoise with a portal that transported to the upper town. Along the way, town crier walked down the street ringing a bell. He announced that the Glenhaven has placed a bounty of 3000 gold pieces for the capture of a thief named Derthag Alk. Derthag has stolen the symbolic scythe from The Jagged Scythe.
In the upper city, Bastion learned about the dwarven saying 'skin of the snake' as a way to remember how the snake-men and troglodytes took their homeland long ago in the north edge of the valley.
Kira, working with Priestess Isabelle of the Light learned of farmers to the north, south of the Heribyr river bend, have banded together, giving offerings to the spirit of the tall grass to protect the healthy livestock and crops.
Hooks are in bold.
Treasure
- Magic Quiver
- Magic Short Sword
- Magic Dice
Monsters defeated:
- 5 Shadow Mastiffs... kinda
- 1 Retriever
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