10 April 2020 Session

CAST:

• Hera the cleric
• Nightshade the half-dragon sorcerer
• Stormwind the ranger
• Franklin the tortle kensei
• AAAAH the fighter
• Marvolo the fire wizard
• Toram the binder seeking Arithel
• Frank the dwarf

The group had last entered a cavern in the Abyss and faced a larger than usual Balor who welcomed the group to his domain.  He said he was not interested in entertaining them at the current time and said they could test their worthiness with his minions first.  He backed away into the humid mist as five individuals walked out of the mist.

The giant (top left) was heavily muscled and had numerous skulls hanging from his belt.  He a large maul in his right hand and a vicious looking pick in the left.  The maul seemed popular as a heavily armored, human sized warrior (top middle) in black stepped forward with his.  The black demon (top right) at least ten feet tall and had flames flickering within his chest cavity.  It dropped the large heart it was carrying as it walked forward, looking rather angry that he had to do so.  Another warrior (bottom left) wearing a helmet that resembled a skull prepared his rather large great sword for combat.  Lastly, the air crackled with electricity as what the group assumed to be a wizard prepared for the battle.

Stormwind was concerned that the battle was not much of an alternative as compared to fighting the balor.  Yet, it was too late to turn back.

Nightshade was gauging the opponnents when she heard noises of approaching footsteps coming form the tunnel that led into the balor's cavern.  If this was more foes, the party would be in for a tough fight on two fronts.  Fortunately, it did not look like this would be the case as a group of five ran forward, all bearing holy symbols of various faiths.

Top Left: Arkansis; Top Middle: Arya the White; Top Right: Derek the Brave, Bottom Left: Beric the wizard; Bottom Right: Lucetta Gentile

One of the women stepped forward and introduced herself as Lucetta.  She and her companions were from the Righteous Army of the White Flame.  She said they had to go with Derek, a cleric of the order of St. Cuthbert.  She and the remaining soldiers would hold off the evil minions as long as they could.  The group was a bit confused as to why they could not fight together.

Derek explained he was here to rescue a celestial named Arithel and that the portal to enter Arithel's prison was only available for the next few moments.  He was told of the arrival of the bearers of the Rod of Law by his god and that they would be instrumental in the rescue of Arithel.

Upon hearing Arithel's name, Toram stepped forward and greeted Derek, stating that he also sought to rescue Arithel and that this encounter was quite providential.  He was prepared to assist Derek to the best of his ability. Frank meanwhile, not fully attached to the group and seeing an enemy in front of him decided to stay and help Lucetta.  There was a blast of lightning as the evil wizard released his spell.

Derek hurried the group back down the long hall to the cavern at the bottom of the shaft while drawing out a glowing tesseract.  He placed it on the ground as the entered the cavern, waved his hands while casting a spell.  A small portal opened and he directed everyone to go through.

Poof, the group stepped out onto a stone floored room that had a pit in the middle and exits to the west, north and east.  Hera looked into the pit and saw that it was filled with bodies and body parts - some fresher, some definitely older.  As others gathered around, they noticed movement - someone was alive down there.

Nightshade flew down and grabbed the person.  He seemed to be okay, just tangled up in the mess and slightly groggy.  He introduced himself as Marvolo and thanked the party for bringing him out.  When asked what he was doing here, he said he wasn't sure.  He had been chasing a fiend that was responsible for some murders, there was a bright flash and next thing he knew he was being carried by Nightshade.  He indicated he was a fire wizard and asked if he could join the group for safety as they pursued their search for Arithel.  Everyone agreed and the group headed west down a set of stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs was a platform connected to a floating wooden bridge that went over a pool of water to another platform.  At the other platform, a bridge headed north out of the room.  As the group started to cross the bridge, a terrible screeching sound was heard as two harpies fired arrows from above before swooping down to attack.

The groups launched their attacks and during the combat some sahuagin were seen climbing out onto the far platform ready to join the fray.  However, when they saw the harpies quickly dispatched, the decided to go back into the water.  The party did not pursue them and continued north up some stairs.

As Stormwind approached the top of the stairs, he could see several feet shuffling back and forth in the room.  He warned the others that something was up ahead and prepared his weapon.  As he entered the room, he saw several zombies that were covered in frost and ice.  The floor of the room was slick with icy patches which made the footing a little treacherous at times.  The zombies turned and began to shuffle towards the group as they came into the room.  The clerics began turning and destroyed some of the zombies while the others were attacked in hand to hand.

Being occupied by the zombies, the group was attacked unawares by a strange looking fiend that breathed a noxious gas on everyone.  It smelt horrible and some of the party suffered some burning to their lungs.  As the zombies were finished off, the group turned their attention to the strange demon and defeated it rather quickly.

With the combat over, the group had a chance to examine the room more closely.  There was a path to the west and doors on the north and east walls.  The group headed west into a room with four pillars that were connected by shimmering magical energy that enclosed a floating headless body.  Marvolo dispelled the magical force field, allowing others to approach the headless body.  It was the form of a woman, most likely human in a white dress.  To the best they could tell, the body was lifeless yet not cold to the touch.  Despite all attempts, the body could not moved or harmed.  Seeing nothing could be done, the group headed back to the frosty room and went through to the north.

 A set of stone stairs led upwards into darkness. Stormwind walked up the stairs which arrived at a landing that went to the east.  The landing fairly wide with its northern ledge overlooking a deep dark shaft.  Along the east wall was a set of stairs going up which turned left and continued upwards.  As Stormwind approached this next set of stairs, he noticed something odd about the stairs so he cast a spell to determine if any traps were present.  The spell determined the stairs were trapped but no clear indication of what would trigger it.  The tortle said he would go first and began walking up the stairs.  Upon stepping on the sixth stair, the stairs lifted and flipped the tortle down the dark shaft.  He landed hard at the bottom of the shaft, collapsing among other very old bodies of unidentifiable beings.  Due to his athletic prowess, he was not injured and waited for Nightshade to come recover him.

Stormwind then followed up the steps, avoiding the sixth step and made it to the top of the stairs which led to a doorway.
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 The door was opened and it led into a long passageway south.  A connecting passage going to the east could be seen about 30 feet down the hallway.  When that intersecton was reached, doors could be seen to the left and past the intersection a door along the east wall was visible.

The group went to the far door and opened it, revealing a room with an angelic statue in the middle it and a curtain on the east wall leading to another room.  Stormwind entered and went to examine statue which triggered an alarm sound, Beep! Beep! Beep!  Sounds of movement and surprise could be heard beyond the curtain and the group prepared to fight.

A number of people in chainmail with swords came charging out but they were quickly dispatched.  When the combat was done, Toram and Derek consulted with each other as they felt the strong presence of Arithel in the room.  Upon examining the statue more closely, Derek definitely felt the power of Arithel.  He touched the statue and his whole body tensed as some flow of energy entered his body.   He released his grip and collapsed to the ground, still conscious but fatigued.  After a few minutes, he regained his strength and stood up. His eyes now glowed of a pure white energy yet he could still see.  Toram went into meditation and sensed a sliver of Arithel's energy was now in Derek.  It must have been the way his captors kept Arithel from escaping by dispersing his energy into different vessels.

The group went through the curtain into a room that had a wardrobe and desk. Several books were piled precariously on the desk. They were written in an undecipherable language but seemed to about some subject pertaining to arcane magic. The wardrobe had some clothing and a pair of boots in it.  This room led south through another curtained doorway into what looked to be sleeping quarters with two beds in it with a footlocker at the end of each bed. The footlockers contained spare blankets and some weapons - daggers, short sword, arrows. There was also a hidden panel at the bottom of one of the footlockers.  In the secret compartment was an adamantine key about six inches long.  Leaning in one corner of the room was a staff.  It crackled with electricity every few minutes, revealing its magical nature.  Marvolo held onto it, not sure of its function but aware of its potential usefulness.

Another curtained doorway led south into what looked to be a kitchen and dining area.  There was a pot of stew on a fire and bowls of warm stew abandoned on the table. It appeared that dinner had been interrupted. A door led out of the room on the south wall.

The door opened onto a hallway that went east and west.  The group headed east and after about 100 feet, there were openings the north and south.  The group headed north into a 30 x 30 room with three statues near the middle of the room and a larger than usual ogre off in one corner.  The statues were of a tiefling in armor carrying a greatsword, an orc in the robes of a shaman and an orc in scale armor carrying a two handed axe.  AAAAH! walked over and pushed the tiefling statue over, chipping one of the shoulders.

The ogre, responding the loud crash, sniffed the air and asked, "Who there?" in rough common.  Upon closer observation, it could be seen that his eyes were scarred over.  The ogre warned the group that the should no be here and approached, lifting his heavy flail and ready to attack.  Many projectiles were fired as the ogre charged, but he crashed into AAAAH! with a mighty blow.  Suddenly, a medusa appeared amidst the group and nearly petrified the tortle and AAAAH!  The combat went back and forth, both the tortle and AAAH recovered but once again, the medusa's attack began to turn AAAH!'s skin to stone.  Blows were exchanged but the group prevailed and AAAH! returned to normal.

The three statues turned back normal and the tiefling screamed in pain as his shoulder began to bleed.  The orcs looked rather confused and went into a defensive posture.

[there ended this week's session]