Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for January 3, 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 party’s sudden, invisible, appearance on the ledge was instantly noted by an equally invisible fang dragon of immense proportions. It moved toward the party and blasted everyone with chain lightning. Thinking quickly, Lyrin blocked its progress with a prismatic wall. The dragon surprised the group, however, by using teleport to end up pinning them between the wall and itself. Lyrin dismissed the wall.

Aridarye attempted to bolster her allies with a good hope, but she was too close to the dragon, and it landed a critical bite. In addition, its bite appeared to drain her life force away, leaving a tattered, discarded carcass on the ground. Eolas used dispel magic to drop the invisible cloak the dragon had thrown over its form. Iapetus, Grim, and Taravin bravely surrounded the dragon and worked to batter at it, but its defenses of mirror image and displacement, as well as its tremendously strong scales, proved too much for them to regularly overcome. Syvarius laboriously plinked away with arrows, landing one or two here or there. Eolas began a serious regiment of dispelling attempts, slowly whittling down the dragon’s wards. Meanwhile, Lyrin and Morak cast spell after spell; although, they proceeded cautiously after seeing Eolas’ polar ray turned back on him. The dwarven rogue, Chuck, steadily bashed away with his throwing hammers. Although he did not deal much damage per hit, he consistently harmed the dragon.

The three melee fighters found themselves in a difficult situation. The dragon sundered Grim’s axe, and he had no backup weapon. He spent the remainder of the fight in a frenzy trying to punch the beast. All three were repeatedly caught by the dragon’s claws and tail and hurled violently to the ground. Eventually, they managed to flank the dragon, which allowed the rogues to land a couple of serious shots. The spellcasters remained frustrated due to all the dragon’s wards and its ability to evade area of effects. They still hammered at the creature, but the process was slow.

The party thought for a moment they had driven the dragon off when they recognized it was casting a teleport. Much to their surprise, it used the spell to position itself in the midst of the casters. They scattered and fell back, and Lyrin found himself isolated from the group. The dragon quickly took advantage and charged the warmage. A critical hit from the wyrm’s bite killed Lyrin instantly. Now some distance from the group, the party prepared for the dragon to pivot around and charge back toward them. Curses erupted from the team when the dragon instead snatched up Lyrin and fled via magic, taking the simian’s magical horde for its own.

Battered, bloodied, and down several allies, the Mercenaries retreated into the cover of a giant dwelling and walled themselves in. They now seek to rest and gain the prayers needed to bring their fallen back from the dead. What will transpire in Kongen-Thulnir during their 8-hour “time out”?

Game summary for December 27, 2007; 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), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).

The party headed toward some of the giant dwellings and came under fire from the inhabitants. They yelled out their intentions, but the barrage continued. From within one room, a bugbear motioned for them. The stinking slave, Broogle by name, begged the party to take him from the city. They agreed they would do so if he would help them find the object they seek. They described the phylactery of Dragotha, but the slave had never seen or heard of it. He helped them find the way down to the Undercity to investigate further.

As they approached the ladder down, they watched five green dragons and a tremendous red dragon assault a fortified giant position. With haste, the Mercenaries attempted to scale the ladder, but Carn and Iapetus plunged into the depths of the gorge. Carn’s magic mended their terrible injuries and was able to fly them back up to join the party. They arrived just in time for an assault by four green dragons. The terror of the wyrms’ approach drove Syvarius, Gazzilfek, Carn, Aridarye, and Broogle into hiding inside a building. Meanwhile, stalwart Taravin, frenzied Grim, and stoic Eolas stood their ground.

The dragons opened their gambit with blasts of flesh-searing acid breath. Eolas unleashed deadly spells, and Taravin and Grim swung biting steel that tore through the draconic scales. One dragon attempted to weaken the two warriors with rays of enfeeblement, but it was too little to make a difference. Within a few moments, the heroes had slain three of the dragons and driven the fourth into a hasty retreat. Soon, the rest of the party emerged from the buildings and returned to the side of the warriors.

Grim nocked an arrow and fired it at the dragons assaulting the giant strongpoint, drawing the attention of the enormous red dragon. It flew overhead, roaring in rage, and most of the party again panicked and ran away. For some reason, the dragon did not engage but instead flew off with the green dragons further into the gorge.

Aridarye began a parlay with the giants in the fortification, and they indicated the dragons had only been sieging the city for a few hours. Aridarye attempted to explain that many dragons would continue to assault the city, but the giants seemed unafraid. He told her the stronghold of the Tiamikal Nul-Shada (hunters of Tiamat’s children, in giantish) was not named Citadel of Weeping Dragons in vain. Aridarye left a message she asked be delivered to King Achaime Silvereye and then rejoined the party. Meanwhile, the group noticed the massive bladed tail of a fang dragon disappearing over the ledge of the upper city. Eolas had heard of such dragons, but had not encountered one. He indicated one that large must be at least a wyrm in age.

The Mercenaries spoke to Broogle to find out where the palace of King Silvereye sat within the city. He indicated it was near where the fang dragon had just gone. With no further ado, the party had Iapetus render them all invisible and Carn teleport them up to the ledge they had just seen. Will their instant transport put them nose to snout with a massive, ancient dragon?

Game summary for December 20, 2007; 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).

After a short bit of fact-finding, the party decided they needed more information via magical spells to locate Kongen-Thulnir, so they used secure shelter to make camp on the edge of Skull Gorge. During one of the watches, the group discovered they were being watched by Gazzilfek, the Ominous Fabler they had met back in the court of Tyrant Tarnheel Embuirhan, in Mintarn. He presented himself as a bard spriggan on a mission for a stone giant chieftain. He indicated he sought information on the Age of Worms as well and wanted to accompany the party and document their adventures. The party knows there is something shifty about the Fabler, but they agreed to allow him to come with them for now.

Morak used find the path to locate the giant city of Kongen-Thulnir and lead the party in that direction. After a few days of travel, the Mercenaries found the cliff side city of kings under siege from dozens of dragons. Wyrms of green, black, blue, and even red scales flew about belching fire and acid and otherwise ransacking the city. For their part, the giants were doing an able job defending the city, with many dragons already dead or badly injured. The Mercenaries decided it was a prime opportunity to slip in under the cover of invisibility. It took some time and effort to descend down to the city and slip through the smashed gates, and their magical cloak faded soon after moving within.

No more than a few dozen paces into Kongen-Thulnir, and the Mercenaries suffered their first attack. A massive, hellish green dragon swooped down from hiding on a tower and breathed acid across the group. It landed nearby and prepared to assault the front lines. Eolas wasted no time unleashing a pair of disintegrate rays at the monster. Grim activated his magical boots and moved close to the dragon. He entered a mindless battle frenzy and brutally assaulted the creature. In desperation, it was able to grab him in its mouth and fling him off of the cliff side down 200 feet to the rocks below; however, his stubborn dwarven skull refused to crack, and he dragged his injured self back to his feet. With terrible wounds and an entire party of adventurers facing it (minus Syvarius and Gazzilfek, who had both fled in terror at first sight of the wyrm), the dragon decided this was more than it could currently chew. It slid off the edge of the cliff and began flying away.

Several of the party members leaned out over the cliff to take parting shots at the fleeing dragon; meanwhile, Grim dusted himself off, calmed down, and activated his flying armor to return to the group. As he ascended, a dozen hill giants burst forth from a building and tore into the Mercenaries. Their clubs landed several bruising shots, and Lyrin was hurled into the chasm. Fortunately, he had feather fall to protect him. Morak and Aridarye began blasting away with fire and sonic spells, and Eolas began gutting giants. Chuck used his acrobatics and stealth to get the drop on several as well. Iapetus appeared in bad position, surrounded by giants, but he was able to withstand the onslaught and land some telling blows of his own. Grim, returned from his rock-slam vacation, tore into the giants while Lyrin used his own magic to make his ascent back up the gorge.

Taravin, the group’s knight in tarnished armor, continued urging for diplomacy, and finally the giants (the last two standing) relented. They knew they had been beaten and were eager to find a way to spare their lives. The dumb brutes were not incredibly informative; however, they were able to tell the party of two groups of giants in power in Kongen-Thulnir, the Riftlords and the Rift Crawlers. They indicated the leader of the Rift Crawlers, Charlgar, was trying to overthrow King Silvereye. Unfortunately, they think Charlgar may have gone down in the initial dragon assault. They have not seen the body but are sure their leader would come to organize them if he were able. The Mercenaries let the giants live, and they promptly fled back into a tower.

Now the Mercenaries find themselves in a besieged city of wicked giants. If the dragons were not enough of a problem, the giants seem to be in some kind of civil war. Somewhere in this chaos lies the phylactery of Kyuss’ general, Dragotha. Somewhere else, a hellish green dragon knows of the party’s arrival and will certainly muster her allies for a second confrontation. No matter where the Mercenaries go from here, violence is almost assuredly imminent.