Dark Paths 50 - The Grand Finale

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 50
September 28, 2014

And So It Ends...

In Another Time, long, long ago

The remaining members of the Gold Goblin Crew pressed forward in this ancient shadow of Celwynvian, the Elvish city of Mierani Forest. Their destination was an observatory they had spied from the other side of town with strange lights flashing. After some time, the Crew arrived near their target. They had been stealthy on their approach, avoiding flying demons, a few Drow patrols as well as the occasional flyby from Razorhorn the Green Dragon.

Seems to be getting worse!

All the while, the sky overhead continues to swirl and pulsate as the ominous vortex continues to threaten to seemingly swallow up the entire world. Occasional fireballs streak across the sky, emanating from the vortex. This vortex is reminiscent of the one that appeared over Riddleport right before the meteor came down and struck Devil's Elbow. This vortex is at least 100 times as big, though, indicating something larger and more destructive may be on its way!
Two stoic Elves (not Drow) stood guard at the entrance to the Observatory. An attempt to negotiate with them broke down when Aragon attempted to disarm them. Both Elves simply vanished with the slightest contact from Aragon's blades, thought, making ingress to the building easy enough. 

They group enters the observatory and begin looking for the way up. They encounter much in the way of astronomical displays and even some Elves seemingly trying to figure out what is going on with the strange vortex in the sky. The Elves pay no mind to the Crew and they likewise move through without bothering them.

Flaming undead!

Soon, the Crew encounters the first wave of resistance. In a large room with a huge balcony overlooking the far end, they are accosted by a handful of flaming undead of some type. They prove to be challenging opponents due to the cloud of fire that surrounds each one. Snargash puts his glue spell to good use and many of them are immobilized, making it easy enough to bypass them and press on further into the building.

The center of the observatory holds the way up. Two staircases curve along the inside of this central chamber. The space in between the stairs appears to be a deep, black void filled with stars... some sort of astronomical device. The Crew heads up one set of stairs and finds themselves on the 2nd level, nothing more than a landing for both sets of stairs that continue up to the next level. The strong stench of Troglodyte drifts down from above and Aethel uses his magic to help Guy avoid the debilitating stench they are sure to encounter shortly. Aragon accidentally takes in a huge breath of the foul smell and begins coughing and spitting. Snargash quickly moves to alleviate the effect using his magic. 


As the next landing is approached, Aragon hurries up to find several Troglodytes and a Drow swordsman wielding a greatsword and clad in plate that is crackling with electric energy. The Troglodytes attempt to push Aragon off the nearby balcony as the others move up and engage. Guy puts his psionic abilities to good use peppering the Trogs. The Drow swordsman singles out Aragon and charges in but somehow manages to drop his sword along the way. Eventually he recovers and engages with Aragon. Snargash rushes up and screams in the Drow's face, stunning him momentarily. Aragon springs into action, nearly decapitating the Drow before another Drow appears. The second Drow appears to be some sort of wizard floating at the top of the next flight of stairs. He started flinging fireballs from an ornate staff. After a few moments more of the melee with the Trogs, they were intimidated by Snargash and began a retreat, allowing the focus to shift to the Drow.  Guy is blasted by a fireball, catches on fire and goes unconscious. Fortunately Snargash is close to provide support and Guy is back on his feet in no time!

The dark skinned Elves retreated to the upper level of the observatory and the Crew followed cautiously. The Drow swordsman presented himself and Aragon again engaged. The Drow wizard was flying in the air, up above a giant orrey. The fight rages on between the Gold Goblin Crew and two very powerful and skilled Drow. Eventually the tide is turned when Aragon finally gets the best of the swordsman and Aethel casts a spell producing a blinding flash of light right in the wizards face. Guy continues to fire psionic projectiles at the wizard while Aragon, using his Slippers of Wall Climbing, runs up the side of the giant celestial model. Meanwhile, Aethel uses his magic to reshape the many arms and parts of the orrey, turning it into a gigantic cage around the blinded Drow wizard.

Taking the fight to the roof!

Trapped and blinded, the Drow was quickly dispatched. It was discovered that he wore a purple amulet around his neck that Aethel identified as some sort of magical key or trigger, possibly for the portal leading back to their own "time." 

The Crew quickly backtracked across the strange, out-of-time version of Celwynvian and found the place that they had initially appeared. Aethel activated the portal key and the entire crew was magically transported away..... 

The Drow are finally defeated!

Notes

Finally, we made it! Ahh, it feels good to get to the end of the campaign, despite the fact that we lost a few along the way. There will be a final wrap-up story post just to wrap things up, but that will come a little later. 

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 42

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 42
January 5, 2014

Dismantling the Lab

Roll20 Chat Log

Session Summary

Part of the lab

The Crew continued their mission to neutralize the Drow alchemy lab by pressing their attack against the Troglodytes guarding the tower. Darkness still enveloped the entrance to the building, keeping several members of the Crew in the dark. Snargash managed to cast a Levitation spell, allowing him to raise up and out of the caustic muck that was eating away at his feet and shoes while Aethel, in airy form, drew fire from the advancing Trogs. Never on to let the others have all the fun, Bodi charged headlong into the darkness, running right into Snargash. Aragon also followed into the darkness, though he did so by running along the wall of the tower utilizing the magical slippers he had taken of a previous Drow adversary. Meanwhile, Paal watched the rear approach, keeping an eye out in case any enemies tried to sneak up from behind.

The lab guards

Meanwhile, Guy, who had penetrated the tower through a hole in the roof, engaged the Drow Alchemist he found inside the tower. Using his psionic ability, he flung a rock at his target, only to find the same bullet rocketing back at him! He used his psionic shield to protect himself from his own attack. The Alchemist began tossing vials of alchemist's fire at Guy, causing several fires in the area!

Back in the darkened entrance, Aethel began casting a powerful light spell designed to get rid of the Drow darkness and Bodi, not realizing his mage friend was taking care of the problem, used his Dark Vision spellstone that the Elves had given him. Able to see again, he rushed forward into the tower. Aragon had also made it to the interior of the tower as well. Snargash floated up above the darkness just in time to see it vanish. Paal then approached and engaged a Troglodyte while his boots began to disintegrate in the acid swamp. Snargash descended and engaged the javelin wielding Trog as well.

Drow Alchemist

Inside the tower, Aragon engaged some Trogs and the Drow. He was able to put down some of the Troglodytes, but the Drow proved trickier. He defended, retreated and threw all manner of nasty alchemical concoctions, not the least of which were vials that burst into flame, creating numerous fiery obstacles, cutting Aragon off from reaching him.

The battle raged on for several more moments. Bodi dodged a thrown vial, only to have it burst into flames behind him, right in front of his Troglodyte pursuer. Aethel sent a lightning bolt at the Alchemist, not realizing he had protected himself with some sort of magical warding that sent all missiles back at their caster. Another alchemist's fire struck Bodi and engulfed him in flames, but instead of trying to put it out, Bodi heroically charged the dark Elf and tried grappling him. The slippery Drow managed to retreat, backing himself into a bit of a corner.

Outside, Paal and Snargash dealt with the Trogs and hurried inside just in time to see Guy take out the Trog who had engaged Aragon, allowing the Elven Bladedancer the opportunity he needed to leap across the flames directly behind the Alchemist and strike him down. The sole remaining Troglodyte tried to flee and managed to run directly into Paal and Snargash, who wasted no time in taking him out. With some choice words, Bodi dropped to the ground and began rolling about until his flaming form had been extinguished.

The Alchemy Lab

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

As the Drow alchemist lies dead and Bodi extinguishes himself, a quick look around the room is made. There are several fires burning, including the one that was already burning when the Crew got here. In less than a minute, the three large floor fires caused by the alchemist’s fire burn out, leaving crispy black marks on the floor where the flames had just been. The fire on the rear table is a different matter. It has completely spread to the whole table top, burning what looks like notes and books as well as several alchemical reagents, which are smoking, sparking and putting off various colors of smoke and strong odors.

The mission to the lab was to neutralize the Drow’s poison and alchemical manufacture and supply. Taking out the alchemist seems like a decent step along that path, though there still remains the two glass cylinders of black and green liquids, the tank of clear liquid off to the left, three bubbling cauldrons of bubbling liquids that are creating the huge cloud of noxious smoke drifting above Celwynvian in addition to the boxes, sacks, crates and barrels of alchemical compounds stacked in various places around the room.

A quick look around the room also reveals a large metal grate in the floor in the eastern portion of the room.

Guy spends a moment studying the flaming table before stepping back towards the entrance. "Well, looks like this is well on its way to being destroyed. What do you say we regroup outside and I ping rocks at the cylinders until they break and watch the roof burn some more?"

Aragon frowns.  “But would that not spew all this foul liquid over the whole forest?  Is there not some other way to render this poison inert?”  And he looks at Aethel, who he considers the “brains” of this outfit.

Paal says, "As detrimental as that may be, is it worth risking our lives trying to stop it? The stuff is going to go… somewhere.. it cannot be unmade. The forest will recover."

Bodi moves back from the fire, slowly and in pain.   Wincing, he comments to his companions…..”Can someone do something about this burn?   Also, i think I ruined my boots going through the acid in the floor….my feet hurt as well.”

Bodi moves back waiting for someone to tend to his wounds.   He looks at the grate in the floor.   “Um, before you go dumping those chemicals out, it may not hurt to find out just where that potentially leads to.   If it leads to a water source, you may not want to dump those chemicals in there.    I am also thinking that, since these drow tend to live underground, perhaps there is a passage way down there that they access, and as such we should also investigate that as well.”

A quick estimation of the structure that the lab is located in is that it is mostly constructed out of stone. The 2 fires burning in the roof area may be enough to weaken the limited wooden supports to eventually bring down the stone dome, and that would no doubt destroy the lab and all of its contents, though it looks like it would take considerable time and possibly a little bit of encouraging.

The grate on the right side of the room leads down only a few feet to a muddy patch of earth, possibly an underground spring or stream of some sort, though not flowing at the moment.

Athel begins doing a careful alchemical-minded examination of the various substances, starting with the substances with the largest volume, and working down.  He contemplates determining what would be harmful to the environment (and how to render it inert), but also what may be effective use to the elven war effort in the area.

Returning to his solid form, Aethel begins looking around the lab, trying to figure out exactly what to do to neutralize the foul Drow alchemy without harming the local environment. In his examinations, he accidentally knocks over one of the kettles burning over the fire, splashing acid everywhere, even managing to splash himself a bit.

After a bit of examination, Aethel believes he can safely neutralize the components of the lab and as far as what might be useful, it seems that most of the liquids in the lab are not fully concocted yet and none of them would be especially useful in warfare, at least not without causing considerable collateral damage to the forest as well. The Elven wizard estimates that it will take him several hours to safely dismantle the entire lab correctly, which, when he explains it to some of his more impulsive companions, does not go over very well.

Aragon watches, impressed at his friend’s knowledge.  Maybe there are more ways to solve a problem than the point of a sword.  Maybe there is more to life than just slashing and killing your way through foes.  Maybe there is a path for me other than the Dance… Nah.

Cast of Characters: 

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

Dark Paths 21

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 21
December 23, 2012

Delving More Deeper?

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

The party continues exploring the rough and uneven floored cavern. There only seems to be one direction to go, and the party continues to travel in that direction. There is much climbing and clambering as the passage goes up and down, always damp, mostly down. After about a half hour of underground hiking, the passage begins to angle back up and shortly after that, the incessant dripping stops and the tunnel is much drier.

After another half hour of hiking, they discover a strange chamber. This cavern is bathed in a strange orangish-purple glow that seems to reduce visibility rather than increase it, and in fact, seems to inhibit other light sources as well. The glow comes from a number of large rock nodules placed at intervals about the room. The eastern portion of the chamber is occupied by a still, black pool whose surface reflects the strange light.

As Aragon steps into the room, a large tentacled creature leaps from the water! A battle is

soon upon the Crew as another, large tentacled creature emerged and attacked. They creatures used their tentacles to great affect, striking and grappling enemies and nearly pulling Snargash to a watery death. Normal weapons seemed to have little affect on them, though magic and magic weapons seemed to do the job. Eventually, using magic and a few lucky hits,the creatures are defeated, but not before the two Troglodytes that had fled earlier rejoin the battle. They two are dispatched quickly and they move on to the next chamber to investigate the strange purplish glow.

This next cave is illuminated by strangely glowing crystals protruding from two stony outcroppings that rest on either side of a low natural shelf on the southern wall. This shelf has been converted into a bed of sorts, complete with a luxurious white fur blanket lying crumpled on it, a velvet pillow, and a platinum filigreed foot-chest. A pair of black boots rests beside the small ledge.

A narrow passage leads out to the east.

Bodi begins fantasizing about how he could use the purple glowing crystals to enhance his romantic moments with the ladies while Aragon tries to sense if there are any invisible foes in the area. Everyone else rests. Bodi picks the lock on the foot-chest and it reveals 12 platinum coins with the same strange Elvish script on it, a small black onyx gem, a small black velvet pouch tied shut, a small bottle with a cork stopper with sticky stuff all over it and a fancy brass perfume vial.

Aragon can see down through the twists and turns of the tunnel to the east and can see someone or something moving around in an apparent chamber some distance away.

Up ahead, a strange, hunched over creature ambles up the passage. It

sees the group and grunts a cry of distress.

Session Notes

Due to the timing of this session just before Christmas and New Years, there was no Continuing Story action. Everyone got a well deserved break from the campaign to enjoy the holidays.

Also, Bodi earned a bonus CP for participating in the Continuing Story posting. I award Plot Points for posting to the continuing story posts. A character can earn up to 3 PP per session. The PP can be used as a modifier to any dice roll made during the session. They are 1=1 if used BEFORE the roll or cost 2=1 if used AFTER the roll. I also keep track of all PP earned and whenever a Player racks up 25 PP, they earn a bonus CP for that session. Its a little way to reward the players for contributing to the online- play-by-post aspect of the game.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 20

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 20
December 9, 2012

Delving Deeper?

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

The battle between the Gold Goblin Crew continues to rage on. The Troglodytes have a good number of reinforcements and are even joined by a strange giant insect with some sort of fungus growth on its head and back. Aragon is taken aback and a bit startled by the appearance of such a large and icky bug,

but battles on. Aethel flings his magical lightning around the place, lighting up Trogs left and right while Guy continues to pummel them with his psionic projectiles. Bodi leads the way in flinging bad insults and copious threats to foes who undoubtedly don't even understand them, though this would never stop Bodi. Snargash maneuvers around the battlefield providing support and backup for whoever needs it, with either his spells or his staff. 

Aethel uses his magic to levitate the bug/ fungus creature and suspends it in midair in the middle of the chamber so it can't strike anyone. Snargash declares "Pinata Party!" and chases after it as Aethel magically floats it away. The Trog's are quickly routed and as the party pushes forward into their camp, a second wave of lizardfolk leap out and press the attack again. Aethel uses his magic to this time turn a large section of the floor into impassable mud, slowing and stopping several of the Troglodytes. This group is much smaller and in no time, they too are dispatched.  Several of the Trogs manage to get away from the melee and flee out of a passage on the other side of the chamber. Aragon and Bodi quickly take up the chase as everyone else finishes up after the combat. 

Continued Story Doc

Continued Story Summary

Aragon and Bodi return to the group after giving the fleeing Troglodytes a bit of a chase, but unfortunately the lizardfolk had too much of a lead and knew the terrain better and moved quicker. They they explored the immediate area, noting that it appeared to be the Trog's current lair, though nothing suggested it was permanent, the amount of trash and waste indicated it had been there for a few weeks at least. A search turned up very little in the way of value or use, though it was noted that quite a few empty wine bottles of a variety commonly used in the Gold Goblin were present in the trash heap and scattered around the camp. Upon finding these, Aragon also recalls occasionally smelling a similar musty smell down in the wine cellar. A few Healing Potions are discovered as is a small pouch with strange silver coins bearing what appears to be Elvish script, though neither Aethel or Aragon can read it.

Everyone recovers their gear after the fight and catches their breath. Snargash gives two potion vials (sleeing gas and alchemist fire) to Guy to hold, thinking that his telekinesis would probably be able to place them in more strategic locations that his Half-Orc throwing arm.

With that, the Crew heads off, following the fleeing Trogs further along the caverns, hoping to find them and learn more about where Saul had been trying to escape off to.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 19

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 19
November 25, 2012

Take Me Down to Troglodyte City

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

Having settled everything up at the Gold Goblin as best as they could, the party is ready to descend down in to the underground caverns that Saul was attempting to escape to. Aethel magically prepared several rings with magical light so they would be able to see while underground. Aethel and Guy used their powers to lower themselves down into the caverns while everyone else uses the rickety ladders and damp ropes to descend several levels to the bottom, some 50 or so feet below the fighting pit in the basement of the Gold Goblin. At the bottom of the sinkhole, a frothing pool of water with obvious undgerground connections to the harbor, fills the chamber. A narrow path skirts the pool and exits the chamber by a low passage. In the passage beyond the pool, a floundering Swamp Barracuda is encountered. The aggressive fish attacks. A second Swamp Barracuda leaps from the water and attacks as well. The fish are dealt with quickly and the Crew proceeds more cautiously until they reach a 'T' intersection. 


The passage winds away to the left and to the right it opens up into a larger cavern with crystal encrusted walls. Aragon and Aethel take a peek down the left side narrow passage as the more curious approach the crystal formations.  This twisting tunnel is thick with hanging stalactites that glitter strangely. They seem to have crystalline veins running through them as well as larger nodes of translucent crystal. A musty, foul stench wafts from the darkened passage beyond.

Off to the left, the tunnel widens into a small chamber. Aragon can see what looks like a skeleton leaning against the far wall of the chamber. As Bodi and Guy move farther into the room, one of the crystal structures suddenly explodes in a brilliant flash of blinding light. Having just shielded their eyes in time, Bodi and Guy see that the light flash came not from one of the rock formations, but from a strange creature clinging to the ceiling that resembled a rock formation! Bodi advanced and threw one of his many throwing knives at the thing, but it

Strange Crystal-Rock Creature

bounced off the rocky hide and clattered to the floor. As soon as Bodi got closer, a shocking arc of electricity flew from the creature and struck him, sending a jolt through his body, knocking him to the ground, stunned.

Aragon and Aethel turn to join their friends at the sound of the commotion. Guy begins flinging telekinetic bullets around while Snargash grabs Bodi and attempts to drag him out of harms way. Snargash then becomes the target of the shocking bolt, and though it hits him, he manages to shake off the jolting stun.

Aragon moves in and manages to slice the creature from the wall only to realize that it wasn't the only one in the chamber. Another blinding flash of light nearly blinds the entire party again. The second crystal rock creature begins flinging its shocking arc's of lightning around, hitting and stunning Aragon, knocking the nimble Elf to the ground. He tries to acrobatically flip to his feet but is unable to, though from his seated position, he sees movement further down the passageway as a handful of bipedal lizard folk advance toward the Crew. Snargash is also stunned by the electric attack and goes down. Guy keeps his barrage of psionically propelled rocks up, attempting to take the electric flinging beast out.

Soon the group of smelly lizard folk, Troglodytes, have advanced, only to meet one of Aethel's

Troglodyte warrior

own lightning bolts. The bolt sends them dodging while the crystal rock creature attacks and stuns Bodi again, sending him to the ground in a crackling heap. Aragon quickly finishes off the strange underground creature and all eyes turn to the advancing Trogs.

Continued Story Doc

Continued Story Summary

As the new foes advanced, the Crew had to face, or more specifically, nose off with a new threat, that of the retched stench of the Troglodytes. Bodi was immediately overcome with sickness at the smell, as it reminded him of a previous encounter with a plus sized lover. 

Aragon cuts through the Troglodytes with his twin blades, Aethel blasts them with lightning and Guy continues to pepper them with psionically flung rocks. Snargash uses his magic to heal and bolster the wounded and down. 

In a tragic turn, Aragon accidentially strikes an overhead rock formation instead of one of the Troglodytes and wrenches his shoulder. He nearly drops his blade as his arm falls useless at his side. Bodi rejoins the fray and everyone pushes forward, battling Trogs as they move through the cavern. 

Session Notes

This was the first time that the characters fought in a 'traditional' dungeon setting and it was interesting. All their previous encounters had been either on the streets of Riddleport, inside the Gold Goblin or in some other outside area. It was interesting watching them deal with natural hazards (light, uneven footing, water), unknown terrain and access points and fight with an some completely unknown foes that seemed to have plenty of reinforcements.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM