Dark Paths 32

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 32
July 7, 2013

Following Zincher

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

After settling in at Zincher's camp and having some dinner, the Crew is ready to watch and follow Zincher if he leaves the camp, as Erix hinted at earlier. Erix has re-arranged the watch duties so that the Crew won't be missed if they spend the evening out trailing Zincher. Paal takes up a hidden spot just outside of camp to where he can see the back of Zincher's tent while Aethel took on his usual Body of Air form and floated above the camp, watching out of sight in the dark night sky. Aragon and Guy remained at the campfire while Snargash took care of some of the camp's wounded and Bodi spent some alone time with Samaritha Beldusk, the Cyphermage.

Guy Greystone - Telekinetic Gnome

Soon enough, the watchers saw someone sneak out of the back of camp and they followed him, though the figure was making no attempts to be stealthy at all. He skirted around the camp then came out onto the path about 300 yards away from camp and proceeded to head up toward Witchlight, the ruined settlement at the top of the islands ridge. Paal headed back to tell the others while Aethel continued to follow.

Back at camp, Paal told the others what he saw. They spoke to Erix, who confirmed that Zincher was no longer in his tent and then urged them to go out and find out what he had been up to.

Meanwhile, Aethel followed the man as he walked up the path for about a half a mile before turning off toward the steep cliffside and began climbing down a narrow and treacherous path to a ledge some 20 feet above the quiet, rocky surf below. Aethel watched his quarry disappear between to large outcroppings of rock, but did not approach any closer. After about 20 minutes, the figure reappeared and climbed back up the path to the road. Aethel was sure it was Zincher now and when he turned and headed back toward the camp, the Elvish wizard flew quickly back to camp to tell the others. 

Meanwhile, before Aethel could return, the rest of the group (minus Bodi, who was indisposed) got anxious and finally left to go seek Zincher on their own. Paal led them through the forest and to the road at the same spot where he saw the man get on the path. Aethel soon appeared and told them what he had seen. He also told them that he expected Zincher to be coming along the path toward the camp shortly. Aethel then flew back to camp and continued to watch over the quiet camp through the dark of night. 

Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Zincher was seen walking quickly toward the camp. Everyone had taken up hiding  places to watch for him, though he spotted Snargash crouching awkwardly behind a

Snargash trying to hide behind a tree...

nearby tree. Snargash pretended to be praying and Zincher seemed agreeable to that charade. Zincher told the Half Orc to be careful and then headed back to camp, following his previous path through the forest. Snargash followed him back to camp while Paal, Aragon and Guy went on down the road, looking for wherever it was that he had gone. 

Realizing that Aethel had not given them good enough directions to sufficiently track where Zincher had gone, Paal, Aragon and Guy give up on their search after a few hours on the trail and return to camp.

The next morning, Erix asks them what they had discovered and is disappointed that they had not done a better job at following Zincher. He gives them their assignments for the day, which is to try to capture another of the strange creatures roaming the island while providing security for a skymetal excavation team near the crater. This was completely in the opposite direction of where they wanted to go, but they carried out their duties as assigned. Snargash remained at the camp and attempted to treat two men who had been ill due to bites received from some of the creatures. They were in bad shape and their wounds had become swollen and black. Taking his time, Snargash attempted to cure the disease on one of the men, but his ritual ended up taking too long and the man died. He quickly changed his tact and was able to heal the 2nd man without further incident. The first man was burned to prevent him from returning as a zombie.

That night, after dinner, Erix tells them that he has pushed their guard times back for several hours so if

Zincher's cliffside path

they wanted to go check out where Zincher had gone, they could, though they would be expected back soon to relieve others for guard duty. With Aethel showing the way, the path was easy to find and the Crew carefully made their way down the steep and narrow path. Bodi slipped and fell but caught himself before falling over the edge to the rocky shoreline below. Once on the beach, the group attempted a stealthy crossing, but that was not to be as several folk shuffled around and even knocked a small avalanche of rocks plummeting over the edge to the water below.

magical glyph - fire trap

They found the small alcove that Zincher had disappeared into the night before, and with some searching, Aragon was able to find what appeared to be a well hidden secret door and an opening latch for it. Asking Guy for assistance in opening the door, Aragon opened it and in doing so, triggered some sort of magical glyph trap which exploded in flames, searing Guy and Aragon, though the Elf was able to roll out of the way, staying out of the main focus of the blast.

The door was now open, and anyone inside potentially alerted by the explosion of magical flames.

Scenic ocean front ledge complete with secret door and FIRE TRAP!

Session Notes

We were plagued with all sorts of problems getting to this session. It was almost a month late due to computer and network issues. One player had MapTool connection issues due to an operating system upgrade (but eventually made it online), another could not connect to MapTool from work and another had to leave an hour early, so we were down one and a half players. I was also using a different setup than usual since my network was having problems, and continued having trouble throughout the session (which I think we got under control when we dropped the video feed from the hangout and just kept it to voice chat) though it did allow me to use dual monitors, which was nice for MapTool and Hangouts and having character sheets and PDFs of various references open at once. 

There will also not be a direct continuing story for this session due to being right on the brink of the campaign arc final encounter. Each player has the option of doing a 'flashback' type of continuing story if they wish.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed (265 pts) - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind (270 pts) - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone (259 pts) - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal Ulfsun (256 pts) - Northman Human ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown (265 pts) - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Wandered Roads 10

Wandered Roads of Varisia
Session 10
April 21, 2012
Campaign Timeline

You Fight Me

Dark Shadows

Finally recovered from the epic battle with Nualia and her evil companions, the party decides to press on and continue exploring the ancient ruins that had become the base of operations of the foes of Sandpoint. After exploring what appeared to be Nualia's study/ religious sanctum, the group headed back to the L-shaped room where their fallen foes lay. The column of massive gold coins still piqued the curiosity of some, but no one could figure out what it was, while the other half of the group checked out the massive stone doors at the other end of the room. After removing the iron spikes that held the door closed, Ehlyna pushed the heavy doors open to reveal a long, dark chamber lined with sarcophagi and pillars with a statue of the same grim fellow who has been depicted in most of the statuary in this place. Noting some spiritual movement at the far end of the room, Kallin heads over to take a look, hoping to make contact with the restless dead and offer his aid. Unfortunately, the dark shadows had other things in mind and immediately set to draining Kallin's strength from his body.

His friends quickly came to his aid, but not before being sapped of much of his strength. Ehlyna also fell victim to the dread touch of one of the evil spirits before she was able to slay them with help from Kallin's spirit magic.

With the 3 evil shadow spirits defeated, the party continued their explorations, though there seemed to be no remaining doors to go through. Thinking that there may be something behind a blank space in the wall, Vexeron used his magic to see through the wall and sure enough, there appeared to be a secret tunnel there. With this success, Vexeron went back to the giant gold coin column and tried his magic again, and there was a chamber beyond that as well. Choosing to search the other passage first, the party searched and even though they knew it was there, they could not find access to the tunnel. Again, using his magic, Vexeron was able to determine where the door was and Ellie managed to figure out its opening mechanism. The tunnel led off into the darkness and branched off in 2 different hallways both with stairs leading down. Deciding to finish the exploration of the current level before delving any deeper, the group returned to the gold coin column barrier. Another spell casting showed a tiny slot in the wall to the side, just the right size for a coin, and after a gold coin was dropped into it, the column rumbled and sank into the floor, revealing a large antechamber beyond.

Three sets of carved stone doors led out of this room, and exploring them on at time, the party first found what appeared to be some sort of ancient labratory/ operating/ torture room. Finding nothing of real value besides some bizarre tools and sharp implements of pain, they moved on to the next room. This room held an elaborate throne upon which sat an illusory image of the man continued to be depicted nearby. The illusion was of the man sitting there speaking, waving his hands around, though no one could decipher what he was saying, though it did become apparent that the illusion was stuck on some sort or repeating loop of about 15 seconds long. Creeped out, the party moved on to the 3rd set of doors.

These doors were slightly different and in the middle of where they came together, there was a circular indention with carved out shapes of the 7-pointed star that had been seen before.

It was a hand across and half a hand deep and looked to be some sort of arcane key hole. Force would not budge the doors, but then someone remembered seeing something that may have worked back in the laboratory  Originally thinking it was just another tool of torture, the party retrieved the key and fit it into place. With a click and a low buzz, the door opened.

The chamber that lay beyond was warm and humid. A huge pit of fire was in the center of the room. Two wooden racks of burning candles stood in the near corners. On the far wall was a carving of the 7-pointed star nearly 10 feet across. Seeing no immediate threats, the group entered the room and began examining things. Without warning, a huge wolf like beast on 2 legs appeared out of thin air and attacked Vexeron from behind, nearly rendering him unconscious.

Evil Demon Beast

As everyone turned to react, the creature disappeared. Within a moment he appeared again and pressed the attack. Daellin used his magic to allow himself to see the creature when it turned invisible and he called out its location. The beast continued this tactic for a while as the party hit him with sword, arrow and magical bolt, all seeming to have only minimal effect. Hoping to gain the upper hand, Daellin used his magic on Ehlyna to allow her to see the creature as well, unfortunately that was not the only magic being worked on the Dwarf warrior.

As Daellin and Ehlyna moved up toward the creature, Ehlyna unexpectedly turned and swung her axe at Daellin. Using his magic to blink away out into the antechamber, Daellin went on the defensive. Seeing this dangerous turn of events, Calina attempted to neutralize Ehlyna by shoving her to the ground. This only slowed her down as she quickly gathered her axe and headed after the fleeing Elf. At this point, the party, now divided, was on the run as the wolf demon continued to try to tear them to shreds with his razor sharp claws. Everyone headed for the door that Ellie was guarding, and as the murderous Dwarf passed, she managed to get herself tangled up in Ehlyna's legs and both of them crashed hard to the floor just past the door. Daellin had been laying in wait just outside the door and attempted to knock the enraged Dwarf out by pummeling her in the head with his sword pommel, but unfortunately, the Dwarf's head was just too thick.

Once out in the hall, the doors were pulled closed quickly and several folk piled on top of Ehlyna, who was still trying to get at Daellin and no doubt kill him for all the 'stupid Dwarf' comments he had been making all day. As everyone reached to get a grip on the rampaging Dwarf, the Elf continued to bash her in the head with the handle of his weapon, but to no avail.

At least the wolf demon had not followed them into the other chamber.... yet....

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

The Elf, Daellin, continued to bash his companions head in, though he felt that the Dwarf’s skull was just too thick for it to work. Meanwhile, Kallin, Calina and Ellie were all dogpiled on top of the prone Ehlyna, trying to hold her down and stop her from killing Daellin. Vexeron leaned heavily against a nearby wall, heavily fatigued and wounded from the short battle with the wolf-demon-creature in the room beyond.

Calina holds tightly to Ehlyna as the Dwarf continues to struggle against her captors. Calina feels the many memories and emotions of the day wash over her while she attempts to understand the dwarf's sudden fury against the Elf. While it's true that the Elf taunted Ehlyna many times, the Dwarf had never failed to stand her ground against any verbal banter and always happily dished it back to the Elf. The attack on Daellin was different, and Calina is sure that some form of magic must be involved. Friends do not kill friends!

Calina leans close to Ehlyna's head, and begins to hum the tune of a lullaby. She didn't remember the words of the song, only the soothing sound of her mother's voice from so long ago.

After several more moments of struggling, Ellie was able to pull Ehlyna’s heavy helmet off and Daellin manages to get a few good hits in, just enough to knock the raging Dwarf out, but not enough to seriously hurt her.

“She’s going to have a headache when she wakes up,” Daellin remarks then slumps to the floor exhausted.

Everyone sits still, an eerie, deathly silence fills the chamber. The doors leading to the demon’s chamber remain closed and still. Apparently he is not giving chase. Eventually, the silence is broken by the soft sounds of Ellie crying as she kneels next to the unconscious Dwarf.

Characters Present:

Kallin Hawkril, Half-Orc shaman and budding Priest of Pharasma - played by +Daniel Ernst
Calina, Varisian Human archer and scout - played by +Carol Coburn
Daellin Silvanthalas, Elven Farstrider Ranger - played by +Ben Lipe
Vexeron, Human Wizard - Played by +Greg Grady 
Elyna Fuzziface, Dwarven warrior - played by +Jodi H
Ellie, Halfling finder of things not necessarily lost - played by +Megan McCarron

and +Jason Woollard as the DM