Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for February 26, 2008; present characters included Carn Fodelfex (whisper gnome cleric), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Grim Firestorm (shield dwarf barbarian/battlerager/frenzied berserker/warmain), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), and Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer).

The Mercenaries were able to rest within the Citadel, and move toward the vault room, enhancing their abilities with spells as they went. Aridarye used her ring of telekinesis to insert both vault keys in the doors, but she could not turn both at once. With the looming “undead” giants on either side of the door, Grim and Iapetus sprinted for the doors in an effort to turn the keys at the same time. Both skid to a halt as a ghostly figure of a boy appeared, his fingers long and clawed, and his head lolling to one side on his broken neck. The spirit, Alastor Land, called out to Lyrin and told him how both were descendants of ancient guardians the Djinn had set to protect the Whispering Cairn. Alastor helped Lyrin delve into the memories of his ancestors and awaken the ritual of opening. As Alastor faded back into the netherworld, Lyrin began chanting in Druidic, and the party helped him fling the doors wide.

Within the vault rose a platform adorned with a large draconic statue. Resting inside the dragon’s exposed ribcage lie a glowing ruby orb—Dragotha’s phylactery! Immediately, Grim flew across the room to chop at it with his axe while Lyrin battered it with spells. Nothing seemed to harm the stone, and when spells slammed into its shimmering facets, smoke poured from the eyes of the statue. Iapetus examined the statue and found no traps, but he warned the party that the sharp ribs of the statue would be the perfect place to put a trap he may not have discovered. As the team began puzzling over the phylactery, the room began to quake, and a large crack ripped across the floor. Suddenly, light spilled through as a third of the room plunged into the gorge below, riding atop a mudslide. Dust filled the air, which was quickly driven back into the room. The Mercenaries caught sight of a massive dragon winging its way up to the opening just as its horrendous, burning breath filled the room.

The dragon filled part of the room with a mind fog, which destroyed Syvarius’ ability to resist mental influence, and he found himself magically compelled to stay within the room for the next 15 hours. Grim flew out of the vault and assaulted the dragon, only to find himself driven insane by the dragon’s magic. Lyrin, noticing Gazzilfek moving into the room, surrounded the spriggan with a blade barrier. Eolas peppered the dragon with alternating dispel magic and polar ray effects, with tremendous results. Aridarye tried repeatedly to pull the phylactery to her with telekinesis, to no avail. To protect the gem, Lyrin surrounded it with curtain after curtain of blade barriers.

With the insane Grim flying about haphazardly outside, and Syvarius’ arrows only landing a few true strikes, Iapetus felt he alone could bring the fight right to the dragon. With no thought of his own safety, he quaffed a potion of flying and hurtled toward the dragon. His early assault did little, but he pressed the wyrm every time it cast. The dragon unleashed a mass suggestion, which caused Syvarius to cluck like a chicken continually; fortunately, Eolas and Carn avoided the compulsion. The massive winged lizard failed to drive Carn insane and continued to suffer under the arrows of Syvarius, the spells of Eolas, and the biting blade of Iapetus’ legendary Striker.

Eolas, the elven duskblade, successfully stripped the magical defenses from the dragon, leaving it vulnerable to the party’s assault. Brave Iapetus, still battling toe-to-toe (or wing-to-fly, as it were) with the dragon, grabbed the monster (suffering a horrible bite in the process) and pulled himself up astride its neck. With a grunt of effort, the giant vigilante drove Stalker deep into the neck of the dragon, spraying blood high into the air and eliciting a ground shaking roar of rage. With its head thrown back in agony, Eolas saw his opening. His rapid elven magic flowed from his fingers, striking the wyrm in its neck with double polar rays. So precise were the strikes, that part of the dragon’s throat froze and burst, spraying flaming gore and blood into the air. Iapetus lithely leaped away as the carcass plunged into the gorge, thousands of pounds of dragon all but exploding upon impact, spraying gore and entrails hundreds of feet.

Soon, Carn was able to recover Grim, while Aridarye pulled the phylactery from the remains of the statue battered apart by the blade barriers. Gazzilfek made his move, trying to invisibly grab the phylactery. Carn used invisibility purge to reveal the spriggan and darted toward the gemstone himself. Carn took a painful stab from the giant’s sword, but he was able to greater teleport with the phylactery to Waterdeep. As invisibility settled back over Gazzilfek, Iapetus (whose gaze could pierce the shrouding magic) caught a glimpse of the spriggan’s true form—a rotting corpse writhing with green worms. Gazzilfek snarled and disappeared with a tip of his hat.

Grim gathered a fortune in gems and items from the dragon corpse, while the party found a hidden cache of treasure in the vault. Using a sending from a ring found on the dragon, Lyrin called Carn back. Lyrin unleashed a disintegrate, and unprotected by the statue, the phylactery cracked into dust. A dark spirit rushed from the phylactery and darted past the party deeper into the gorge. The gnome then whisked the party away to Longsaddle, home of the loony Harpell family. What course shall Malchor steer the Mercenaries to now? With the phylactery destroyed, can Kyuss’ general be eliminated once and for all?

Game summary for February 19, 2008; present characters included Chuck Ahammer (shield dwarf master thrower/rogue/thunderthrower), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Grim Firestorm (shield dwarf barbarian/battlerager/frenzied berserker/warmain), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The fire giants in the guardroom engaged the Mercenaries immediately, and Grim chopped one down in a moment, terrifying another. The third giant, an arcane caster, empowered a fireball and blasted a large number of the party; however, the team weathered the flames well. The giants fell back further into the room to force the Mercenaries to come to them. Meanwhile, a blast of smoke filled part of the hallway, and Kagro Thundersmiter and another of the Tiamikal Nul-Shada sergeants appeared from nowhere.

Several of the Mercenaries used ranged attacks to bring down the spellguard giant, and Iapetus moved in to engage the remaining sergeant in the room. Grim stepped up to Kagro and found him defended by displacement. Kagro injured Aridarye and brutalized Grim. The frenzied dwarf somehow remained on his feet. Eolas dispelled the displacement from the Heartkeeper, allowing Syvarius and Grim to land a series of solid blows that dropped the fire giant. Soon thereafter, the party mopped up the remaining giants and looted their corpses. Taravin dragged them all into the guardroom and blessed them on their way into the netherworld.

With Kagro’s vault keys in hand, Morak led the team into the bowels of the Citadel in search of the phylactery vault. After a moderate descent, the Mercenaries found a large room, hallway, and stairwell outside of a shrine to Bhaal. Within the shrine writhed a six-armed marilith demon! She immediately conjured blade barriers into the room, but Eolas dispelled them with ease. The archers discovered the visible marilith was an illusion, and Lyrin deduced she had to actually be in the room with them. Taravin used detect evil to locate the marilith, in the form of a spider, hiding on the ceiling. Meanwhile, Iapetus slipped down the stairway and found the vault doors flanked by massive, standing, giant corpses.

The Mercenaries traded spells with the demon for some time. Soon, blade barriers whirled all about the chamber, and charring blasts of conjured flame ripped back and forth through the area. Grim bashed open a closed door and charged in after a frost giant within. The giant dispatched Grim with a maze spell and fled by using the spell upon himself as other party members moved into the room. Meanwhile, Morak dealt a killing blow to the marilith with his conjured flames. The group quickly surrounded the location vacated by the frost giant, but he never returned.

Battered and low on mana, the Mercenaries decide to make camp in the dungeon level before moving on to the vault. Do any defenders remain in the Citadel to drive them out during the night? Can the Mercenaries open the vault doors, and what riches or horrors lie beyond? What have the hordes of dragons been up to while the team has spent days inside the Citadel?

Game summary for February 12, 2008; present characters included Chuck Ahammer (shield dwarf master thrower/rogue/thunderthrower), Grim Firestorm (shield dwarf barbarian/battlerager/frenzied berserker/warmain), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The Mercenaries, inside the front gates of the Citadel of Weeping Dragons, discover secret doors in the entrance hall thanks to Iapetus’ helm. Sneaky Chuck and Iapetus slip through and begin exploring quietly. Two routes outside are discovered along with two ways up higher into the Citadel. Chuck ascends a ladder into a ruined barracks and finds himself outside on one of the walls on the third floor. While investigating the garbage shoot, a blue dragon lands on the barracks and begins rummaging through for missed treasure. As quietly as possible, Chuck makes a break for the ladder and uses feather fall to plummet down to safety. The dragon, noticing him at the last moment, crashes into the building and blasts lightning down the ladder shaft, just missing Chuck as he nimbly rolls to safety at the bottom. He casually remarks to his allies that a dragon is up top.

The team tries the other route up and finds a hallway with several doors. Listening against one, they hear a rustling chain. Chuck and Grim fling open the doors to find a fire giant and a twelve-headed pyrohydra waiting within. Grim wastes no time laying into the hydra, but its remarkable regenerative powers heal the worst of the injuries in moments. All twelve heads unleash a blast of scorching flame that badly wounds several in the party. Iapetus slips in trying to flank the hydra, while the remaining Mercenaries slide into the room and jockey for position. The fire giant clips Iapetus with a spear and draws forth flaming axes, ready to do battle. The spellcasters unleash cold upon the monsters, and Grim manages to slay the hydra. The fire giant tears into Iapetus but is nearly cut in twain when Taravin charges and smites with the authority of Kelemvor. Following the battle, Grim’s bloodlust overwhelmed him, and he killed Lyrin before calming down.

With no means to recover Lyrin, the party begins discussing plans. The dead giant’s corpse was quickly looted and the room secured. After a time, a knock comes at the locked door and a giant shouts for “Bram”. Iapetus (a giant himself) yells back that everything is fine, while Taravin rattles the hydra’s chain. The giant bought the lie and left. The Mercenaries set up watch and allow Morak to recover his spells and pray for raise dead and discern location. With Lyrin restored, the party presses on.

Morak leads the team up another level in search of the chamber of the Heartkeeper, where the other vault key lies. In a trophy room, a ceiling door is found way above the group’s heads. Before going through, the team moves about to secure all the other exits. The northern door opens, and a group of mail-clad giants comes pouring through. Will the Citadel’s defenders get to even the score with the murderous home-invaders? What have the dragons done in all the time the Mercenaries have spent inside?

Game summary for February 7, 2008; present characters included Chuck Ahammer (shield dwarf master thrower/rogue/thunderthrower), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

After a refreshing camp, the Mercenaries prepare to search the carrion pit for the key in earnest. Lyrin has the idea of casting elemental swarm and summoning a small army of air elementals to scour the caves for the key and wipe out the carrion crawlers. He summons over a dozen elementals who make short work of the vermin and discover a massive Mother Worm deeper in the caves. Morak shields the team with mass neutralize poison, and the elementals carry the party down into the darkness.

The Mother Worm horribly burned Syvarius with a blast of acidic spittle. Meanwhile, the air elementals surround the beast and try to batter away at it; however, its tough hide proves too resilient. It discorporates numerous elementals with its bashing tentacles. Arrows and spells bombard the Mother Worm, but she shrugs off many of the effects. Iapetus and Taravin rush forward and slash away at the beast with their blades. The Mother Worm fights back and severely injures Iapetus and beats Taravin into unconsciousness.

Syvarius pulls out the stops and takes power shots with his bow, while Morak continues battering away at the creature’s spell resistance. Eolas finds the monster at least partially vulnerable to cold and unleashes a barrage of polar rays. Aridarye casts a number of spells to aid allies and attempts several offensive effects against the crawler. With the assistance of Gazzilfek, Chuck makes an effective series of well-placed hammer throws. Finally, Lyrin’s magic breaks the last bit of strength held by the writhing worm, and she dies a horrendous, gore-soaked death.

After the battle, Iapetus uses locate object to find the vault key in the stomach of the Mother Worm. It takes a while, but the Mercenaries cut their way into the center of the worm and extract the key. They quickly exit the carrion pit and head toward the Citadel of Weeping Dragons. Once there, they send a magically cloaked Chuck over to scout. After hearing his report, the party moves up to the battered gates and slips inside. The only signs of giants so far have been the cooling pools of blood outside the Citadel. Is anyone home? Is Dragotha’s phylactery locked away safely in the vault, or have the dragons already retrieved it?