Please note that most of these summaries are based on adventures that are available for download on the internet. These summaries may contain spoilers about the content of those adventures.
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Session 80 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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In the morning, Taliriana transports Brenna's adventurers to Sarwin village. When they arrive, they find the village empty and partially destroyed. A cursory search finds evidence of a massacre and a Goblin fetish, establishing that the attackers were a Goblin warband. They decide that the attackers probably took the road from the village that leads up a rocky embankment to Sarwin Castle, and Talos transforms himself, Adar, and the others into crows. Brenna's adventurers fly directly towards the Castle, bypassing a fortified temporary camp set up around a guard post by the Goblin warband. They note in passing the presence of an ivory-scaled dragon and two huge beasts, each with the ivory-scaled body of a dragon and a pair of shaggy bear heads. As they near the castle, a mighty wind rushes out at them from the tallest tower and coalesces into a whirlwind. The crows go to ground among the fir trees on the mountain-side before the whirlwind reaches them. Talos restores them all to their normal forms, and points out a trail through the trees that leads to the side of the castle, away from the fortified main entrance. Taliriana cloaks them in a sphere of invisibility before they leave the cover of the tree line and approach the castle wall. Marcus quickly locates a well-hidden door in the wall, and they quickly go inside. Brenna's adventurers make their way into the basements of the castle, where they find more evidence of a successful invasion by the Goblin warband, including human corpses hanging from meathooks in the cold room. Their exploration establishes that the north-east basements are sealed behind a barrier of amber energy that neither Taliriana nor Talos can think of a way to pass. The cells are empty, but the stairs leading upwards at the end of the corridor are guarded by a second dragon-woman, similar to the one Ganymede killed at Marcus' townhouse the day before. Brenna's adventurers quickly overpower and kill the woman, using magic to conceal the noise of battle. The stairs lead up to a ransacked common room with several visible doors and one hidden door which Marcus spots. They open the hidden door and find the spider-man lounging on a bed in a bedroom, reading a book. Caught unprepared by their sudden arrival, and unable to raise the alarm because of Taliriana's magic, the spider-man is quickly killed, his body transforming into a spider after his death. Brenna's adventurers continue to explore, finding more bedrooms and another flight of stairs leading upwards. These stairs are blocked at the summit by a wall of smooth, unworked stone, and Taliriana has to create a magic passage through the stone for them to continue. The room beyond contains another flight of stairs leading upwards, also blocked with a wall of stone, and an archway guarded by four goblin warriors leading to a ransacked library that has been turned into a bedroom. The large bed contains two sleeping women, one a dragon-woman like the two already encountered, the other a dirty young human woman with matted hair and grotesque tattoos, similar to those of the goblin warriors. Brenna's adventurers have no difficulty overpowering the goblins, and Taliriana's magic transforms the dragon-woman from flesh to stone, but they don't overcome the guards quickly enough to stop the human woman waking from her sleep and hurredly using a magic incantation to slip away through the world of spirits. Before Ganymede has finished breaking the dragon-woman's stone body into pieces with three powerful blows, they can hear voices shouting in Dakkandi, raising the alarm. Mid Spring 1398 AUC |
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Session 81 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part three (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers discuss what to do now the goblin warband has been alerted and they have lost the element of surprise, but don't reach a decision before they hear the sound of several warriors approaching through the double doors at the end of the library. They prepare for battle and hurl the doors open, confronting another half-dozen goblin warriors. The outmatched goblins are dispatched handily, but not before several more adversaries arrive. Only one is a goblin, taller and better armed than the other goblins and presumably their king, who enters a battle fury that exceeds Ganymede's in intensity. There is also a sallow-skinned elf-woman with dull yellow feathered wings and a bird's feet, who sings beautiful yet terrifying songs of arcane power; two identical beautiful human women with golden-blond hair and violet eyes, one armed with a bow, the other with a war scythe; and a purple-scaled troll with a wolf's muzzle, four arms, and a vampire's fell presence. Brenna's adventurers find themselves equally matched at best with the newcomers, who work together to drive them back. During the battle, Ganymede's breastplate barely saves him from an enchanted arrow that tries to pierce his heart, the woman with the war scythe uses magic to heal the goblin berserker as quickly as Ganymede and Marcus can injure him, and Brenna's adventurers manage with difficulty to weaken the four-armed troll so that Talos can destroy it with a beam of light. At that point, the woman with the war scythe uses magic to make time stand still. When time restarts, there is a new creature in the room facing the adventurers: a hulking winged figure, twice the height of everyone else, cloaked by immense bat-like wings and wreathed in flames. Everyone decides it's now time to leave: Ganymede holds the library doors closed against the winged fiend while Taliriana transports everyone else back to Manderley Hall, then Yara uses the summoning bracelet to bring Ganymede to her, alive and safe. Mid Spring 1398 AUC |
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Session 82 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part four (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers assess the situation and decide that they need help overcoming so many powerful foes. Taliriana locates Jonyn in a camp somewhere in Elmet and sends a magic message asking him for help. He agrees straightaway, and she fetches him. At Manderley Hall, the others explain the situation to him in detail. That afternoon, Marcus and Yara go to the University Library to try and learn more about The Thunder Below, and manage to find some references to local earthquakes in south-west Murrell being callsed "underground thunder" and to an extinct cult of Ubothar, an ancient deity of stone and earth in the Lurium Ranges whose titles included "The Thunder Below". Brenna's adventurers conclude that an ancient pagan god (or demon, depending on perspective) is probably trapped beneath the castle, probably in the north-east corner behind the amber barrier, and Halfdan and the warband probably plan to free it. The next morning, Taliriana transports Brenna's adventurers directly into the castle basements, in the pantry beneath the great hall, so that they can save time travelling from the village to the castle. They are immediately engaged in battle, as one of the two-headed bear-dragons is guarding the pantry. The winged fiend comes down the steps from the great hall shortly before the bear-dragon falls, while another dragon-woman enters the pantry through the door to the cells, affording a brief glimpse of the now full-cells before the door closes behind her. While Jonyn and Adar hold off the dragon-woman, the adventurers drive the winged fiend back up the stairs to the great hall, where the winged elf-woman and the two identical women wait behind a screen of four goblin warriors. A mighty battle ensues in the two rooms, as the identical woman with the bow uses magic to slip through the floor to the pantry and bewitch Yara into accepting a life-stealing kiss. Fortunately for Yara, Marcus scares the woman off before she has stolen too much of Yara's life, and she quickly recovers. After killing the dragon-woman, Jonyn joins the battle upstairs, turning the tide against their enemies. The woman with the war scythe stops time again, and when it resumes she crackles with arcane power. However, she is still no match for Jonyn and Ganymede, and only survives because her spells automatically transport her to safety when she is seriously injured. After she has fled, the battle turns decisively against the goblins: two of the four are cut down and killed; one of the remaining goblins is blinded, and flees past the winged woman to the far side of the great hall and through the main doors; the other is greatly wounded, and staggers to a side door which leads to the common room Brenna's adventurers found the day before. Before he can close the door behind him, however, the winged woman sings, enchanting him and Jonyn with her terrible song. Both start to approach the woman, despite Marcus' best efforts to distract her and make her stop singing. Jonyn's axe, Sir Harold, takes control of his body for the first time, surprising the woman greatly and leaving her open for Marcus to cut her down with Thalion Monster-Bane. Jonyn kills the enchanted goblin before charging back to where Ganymede and the winged fiend are locked in battle. Jonyn distracts the fiend, and Marcus again strike the final blow, this time with his holy shortsword. Sir Harold releases Jonyn from his control shortly afterwards, though not before the others have noticed that Jonyn doesn't sound quite "right". Mid Spring 1398 AUC |
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Session 83 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part five (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers pursue the blinded goblin before it can raise the alarm. However, when they open the door to the entry hall, they find another force arrayed against them behind a barricade of chairs and sofas. In addition to six goblin archers at the barricade, there is also the king of the goblin warband, the dirty human woman with an escort of another dragon-woman and four more goblin warriors, a six-armed Batubatani woman with the lower half of a giant snake armed with longswords, and the spider-man, restored to life by necromantic magic. The dirty human woman has just finished questioning the blinded goblin in Dakkandi, then kills him with a word for his weakness. At that, Talos engulfs the room in a burst of fire that injures many of the goblin warband and incinerates the human woman, but has no effect on the sinuous snake-woman or the spider-man. The archers have little effect on Jonyn and Ganymede as they enter the room, but the snake-woman's magic creates several lines of dancing longswords that split Brenna's adventurers up into small groups, making it harder for them to advance and to coordinate their strategy. Jonyn and Ganymede's magic rings let them see the ghostly figure of a heavily tattooed goblin shaman rise out of the smouldering body of the human woman and possess one of the goblin warriors nearby: once that occurs, Brenna's adventurers also have to contend with Halfdan's magic, which coats the floor beneath their feet in slippery ice, engulfs them in fiery bursts, and sears them with bolts of lightning. Talos and Taliriana gradually remove the spells cast by Halfdan and the snake-woman, allowing Marcus, Jonyn and Ganymede more freedom to engage the enemy. Marcus concentrates on dueling with the spider-man, who finds himself at a disadvantage and is reduced to hurling webs at Marcus in a futile attempt to slow him down before Thalion Monster-Bane claims another victim. Halfdan's second host body is killed by Talos and Taliriana's magics, then his third is killed trying to reclaim the backpack off his first host body, and then Halfdan's spirit flees the room. After scattering the goblin warriors at the barricade, Jonyn and Ganymede plow through the snake-woman and the warband, including two reinforcements who enter from the far side of the hall, and end up facing the goblin king and the dragon-woman respectively. Only the dragon-woman remains alive when a handsome adult man with silver hair and part-elven features appears in the room accompanied by the second two-headed bear-dragons. The man's voice and bearing exude confidence, and the dragon-woman appeals to her father, Alorzulan, for aid before Ganymede cuts her down with a finishing blow. Alorzulan transforms into an ivory dragon while the dragon-bear attacks. Brenna's adventurers start preparing to leave, and Marcus has Yara take the backpack off the young woman's corpse. Unfortunately for Yara, Halfdan's spirit returns and possesses her, and she has to be restrained by Marcus and Taliriana until Jonyn can approach and drive out the spirit, which cannot stand remaining in her body while in the presence of his holy axe. Halfdan's spirit again flees the room. While this is going on, Talos attempts to match Alorzulan's transformation with one of his own, but his dragon-form is outmatched by Alorzulan's power. Adar and Ganymede struggle to defeat the second dragon-bear while Alorzulan is slowing defeating Talos, and the dragon-bear almost kills Adar and seriously injures Ganymede before it is killed. When Talos falls back to heal his wounds, Alorzulan tries to persuade Marcus to join him and turn on his friends. Marcus finds Alorzulan's voice enticing, but manages to resist temptation and remain clear-headed. Brenna's adventurers begin to leave: Marcus uses a magic spell written on one of his scrolls to return to Manderley Hall with Yara and Adar, while Taliriana waits for Ganymede and Talos to fall back and join her and Jonyn. In response, Alorzulan uses magic to anchor Taliriana in the physical world and prevent her travelling through the world of spirits. Taliriana manages to overcome Alorzulan's magic with her own, and then keeps her focus when Alorzulan times his magic bolts to strike her in mid-spell, safely returning to Manderley Hall with Ganymede, Talos and Jonyn. At Manderley Hall, they investigate the backpack, which contains a mostly-complete set of bones wrapped in a cloth. Thinking that the bones may be what is binding Halfdan's spirit to the physical world, Jonyn, Marcus and Yara take them to the cathedral for advice on what to do with them. On the church's advice they grind the bones to powder and scatter them at an intersection, so that if Halfdan's spirit is destroyed his soul will move on through the Cycle of Arda towards his next life. Mid Spring 1398 AUC |
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Session 84 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part six (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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While in Merin, Marcus goes to the shop where he commissions his arcane scrolls of magic and tries to obtain replacements, as he has used most of the scrolls he owns over the past two days. As he is a regular customer who pays on time, the shopkeeper provides him with some replacement scrolls from other customer's orders and only charges a moderate surcharge to compensate the other customers for the now-delayed delivery of their full order. That evening, while planning the following day's assault, Jonyn remembers that there were people being held in the cells. As a result, he insists (and the others agree) that the first thing they do the next morning is rescue those people and have Taliriana return them safely to Manderley Hall. The next day, they return to the castle, travelling to the crypts so that they avoid any guards in the pantry or great hall. From there, they make their way to the cells and free all twelve survivors from Sarwin Village, who haven't seen any guards since yesterday morning, and have gone a day without any food or water. The least distraught, Arend Ganileer, explains that they were being kept as sacrifices for Ubothar, The Thunder Below, as apparently twelve sacrifices are required to complete the ritual of awakening. He also identifies the young woman who was Halfdan's original host body as Arizi Sarwin, who had been missing for three years. Taliriana transports all twelve survivors back to Manderley Hall, where Lady Brenna's servants tend to their needs. While she is gone, Marcus realises they have set off a silent magic alarm at the base of the steps leading up to the common room. Fully expecting a battle when they go upstairs, Brenna's adventurers wait for Taliriana to return, then ensure they are fully prepared. They are not surprised to find Alorzulan, the goblin king (restored to life, no doubt the same way the spider-man had been the day before), and three dragon-women, one of which speaks and acts like Halfdan. Yet another furious battle ensues, and it is again closely-matched, as both sides have prepared themselves with magic spells. Brenna's adventurers also find that the enemy have some plan in mind, as they deliberately target Adar whenever possible, and once Adar is killed, they begin to target Ganymede. However, by that point, Brenna's adventurers have started to make headway of their own, killing the goblin king and one of the three dragon-women while blinding a second dragon-woman. As the battle starts to turn in their favour, they find their way blocked by Alorzulan. Alorzulan's seductive voice persuades several of Brenna's adventurers to drop their weapons, including Ganymede. However, this proves to be his undoing, as Ganymede wrestles Alorzulan to the floor and Jonyn takes the opportunity to sever the dragon's long neck with three mighty blows of his axe. As they advance on the last of the dragon-women, Jonyn's axe again drives Halfdan's spirit from her body. He briefly possesses Ganymede before Brenna's adventurers finish killing the last two dragon-women and bunch together around Jonyn, safe from possession. Halfdan's spirit then leaves the room in a fury. Mid Spring 1398 AUC |
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Session 85 Gany/Mar |
The Thunder Below part seven (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers reassess the situation as they stand around Jonyn. Knowing that they haven't seen either of the two identical women today, they decide to continue to explore before their magics dissipate. They do a quick circuit of the ground floor and the basement, going through the great hall and entry hall to the basements, the pantry, the cells, and back to the common room, where Adar's body has been turned to dust and scattered about the room. Realising there is little chance of tracking down a spirit that can fly and pass through walls, they change their strategy. One of the doors in the common room is made of adamantine and covered with finely details etchings of clouds, lightning bolts, and frolicking spirits. It has no handle, but does have a single keyhole in the centre of the door. Marcus begins to inspect the door, and quickly establishes that the keyhole must be magical, as it has no lock. He inserts one of his skeleton keys and begins trying magic words, hoping one will trigger the spell that opens the door. In the meantime, Jonyn and Ganymede check the last door in the common room, finding a second common room with less ornate furnishings that is guarded by a large four-armed gargoyle. When Jonyn enters the room, he sets off a magic sigil on the floor that engulfs him in a burst of flame: however, the trap and the gargoyle prove no challenge to him, and he quickly dispatches the monster. At the same time, Halfdan returns and possess Ganymede a second time, forcing Jonyn to rush back to the others to drive the spirit out. The second common room has a bloody mural of a scythe, skulls, and face daubed on the stone above a small and recently-built pagan shrine, but Jonyn doesn't separate off from the others to destroy it while Halfdan's spirit hovers somewhere nearby. With Yara's help, Marcus manages to find the right word to make the door swing open, revealing a chamber containing a laboratory and an ornate flight of stairs leading upwards. Brenna's adventurers rush inside, closing the door behind them in the hopes it will trap Halfdan outside. While that seems to be the case, the room contains its own dangers, as a powerful gust of wind forms into a whirlwind at the base of the stairs. Brenna's adventurers quickly find it beyond their ability to overcome the whirlwind by force of arms, as one by one they are swept up into the vortex. They are saved by the arrival from the room above of a tall elf-woman with hair so fair it almost glows with light, armed with a golden greatsword and wearing a golden chain shirt over a white tunic and trousers. The woman is escorted by two more air elementals, and she commands the one already in the room to put them down before demanding to know who they are and how they entered the Skytower. Brenna's adventurers quickly introduce themselves, explain that they have been killing the castle's invaders and that Marcus was able to open the door without the key, something that seems to impress her. The woman sends one of the air elementals up into the tower after giving it instructions in the languges of the wind, and waits for it to return. When asked, she tells the adventurers that she has been brought her to guard the Skytower and that her name is Tisa, but is otherwise not very communicative. After a short time, the air elemental returns with a message, and Tisa tells them that they can come up to the next room and talk to the guardian of the Skytower. The next room contains a pair of couches, a set of adamantine double doors like the one in the room below, and another flight of stairs leading upwards. Brenna's adventurers have to pass between two large stone statues, both carved in the shape of a human woman wearing archaic robes, to reach the couches, which face the upper stairs. From there they can see on the upper stairs a beautiful woman with dark blue skin decorated with black tattoos and long braided black hair that moves and curls constantly about her head. The woman wears a white robe like those in Opalar and carrys a short rod of gold, silver, and iron. She introduces herself as Apori, the guardian of the Skytower, and explains that she came to the Skytower when she sensed the attack on Castle Sarwin, created the stasis field around the rooms that lead to the Pit of Ubothar with her stasis sceptre, and set air elementals and Tisa to guard the Skytower and the upper floor of the castle, where the Skykey is hidden in a bedroom safe that she can't open. Brenna's adventurers quickly agree to bring the Skykey to her so that she can be certain Halfdan can't get into the tower to get the sceptre off her and open the way to the Pit of Ubothar. In return, Apori shows them a secret passage out of the room into the second level, and gives them the password that will stop the air elementals and the Fists of Thunder and Lightning attacking them when they enter the bedroom. Brenna's adventurers go to the specific bedroom, which is guarded by a man-like figure made up of sheets of metal held together by electrical current. The Fists of Thunder and Lightning doesn't attack once given the password, and instead complains about how he doesn't get to do anything while on guard duty in this one room. Marcus finds it easy to locate the hidden wall safe, but challenging to open the five timed locks. In the end, he succeeds, opening the safe. Inside is a light blue crystalline key (the Skykey) and a number of papers, including the deed to Sarwin castle, several letters of credit, and several magic spells, one of which Taliriana identifies as a spell that will grant one wish. On the way back to the Skytower, Halfdan manifests and attacks, forced to act before all hope of freeing The Thunder Below is lost, and is destroyed by the adventurers. Back in the Skytower, Apori is very pleased to have the Skykey and the papers. She sends the air elementals to search through the castle for any remaining enemies and the Fists of Thunder and Lightning to the burial preparation chamber to fetch Arezi Sarwin's body so that she can restore the last of the Sarwins to life. The Fists of Thunder and Lightning returns with Arezi's badly burned corpse, which Apori brings back to life, and then (with the bewildered Arezi's permission) uses the wish spell to remove all visible signs of the years she spent possessed by Halfdan. Brenna's adventurers talk briefly with Arezi, but she is clearly dazed and rattled by the sudden and unexpected situation she finds herself in, so they arrange with Apori for Taliriana to return the twelve survivors tomorrow and leave Sarwin Castle for Manderley Hall. At Manderley Hall, Jonyn farewells the others and leaves almost immediately for Merin, intending to travel back to Elmet and rejoin the war. Talos attempts to bring Adar back to life using some of his fur, but Adar no longer wishes to return. The next day, Taliriana returns the survivors to Castle Sarwin. Mid Spring 1398 AUC |