Blog from September, 2018

Setup

The party had descended into Shadowcrag, crossing over the bleached bones and rusted equipment of hundreds of orcs, and found themselves in front of the only remaining undamaged building in Kithkaira. Using the holy symbol of Yornan - an ancient symbol of the god Amaunator - the party pierced the Green Dome surrounding the palace and moved inside. Immediately inside, the ancient remains of of long-dead orcs were replaced with the freshly killed body of orcs with similar armor and appearance.

The most notable item in the great front hall of the palace was a large red dome which appeared to contain the motionless forms of the Polonian group that had descended into the city with a kidnapped Priest of Amaunator only a few days before.

Initial inspection of the red dome had resulted in Yornan losing his holy symbol within and the party, temporarily bereft of ideas, pondered what to do next.

Past the Red Dome

As the party pondered the relationship between holy symbols and the ability to penetrate the domes, Rhagal took a staff topped by a depiction of a demon skull and flames from the body of a dead, orcish priest and pressed it to the red dome. The dome dissolved into a slushy liquid and the Polonian within were and prepared to attack.

A quick battle highlighted by slashing sneak attacks of Rhagal and the immense damage absorbed by Hurodash resulted in a victory. One Polonian had escaped and one remained for questioning. The others lay dead. A suggestion spell and some intimidation gave the party the information that it was their old nemesis Percy that they were following through the palace.

The Guests on the Upper Floors

Quick recon by Rhagal gave the party a good view of the upper two floors. The second floor was dominated by more domes - now realized to be spheres - of blue and white color. The top floor of the tower contained the dead body of an elf within a white circle bordered with runes that had seemingly been drawn for a mystical rite.

The blue sphere was seen to contain the pacing figure of an immense Orc, seven and a half feet tall, dressed in dreadful but majestic armor beneath ornate robes with tattoos of living fire flickering on both arms. He stared at them but made no attempt to communicate. The party returned hours later after a rest and found the same orc there, still pacing and unchanged in every way.

The party negotiated and the orc within - who identified himself as Kerrik the Vengeful - agreed to not harm the party and answer questions if he were released. The blue dome was destroyed, turning into tinkling shards of glass upon being touched by the holy symbol of the Polonian priest killed earlier.

After identifying the current location as being Kithkaira and explaining that he been imprisoned in that dome for “many lifetimes”, he tore a rift in air itself and slipped through to a barren and fiery wasteland beyond.

Just as the rift almost sealed itself, a long, gnarled figure with a hint of tint claw slipped through and tore the gate back open. Stepping through, this new figure appeared to be quite old, tall and slender, with a long tangled white beard. Tiny buds of horns sprouted from his forehead. Despite his frail appearance, the figure radiated command and with a small gesture for Corliss to follow. He headed up the stairs to the third floor and Corliss followed, both intrigued and nearly compelled by the charisma emanating from the man. After a short discussion in Sylvan, the visitor collected a stone lantern with a base perhaps eighteen inches in diameter and proceeded back down the stairs.

A quick tap and nearly inaudible word and the arcane practitioners in the room saw an enormous trail of light spring up. Seemingly visible through walls, glowing lines fifty wide stretched from the city running both north and southeasterly. Only in the very area of the city, the beam was not solid, it was shattered into hundreds of jagged pieces.

With a quick comment to “take the ring”, the figure disappeared into the same rift, only this time it was a dark and sinister overgrown forest in the background. As he disappeared, another figure streaked out from behind the staircase and dove through the doorway just as it closed. The party realized that it was Percy who had eluded them once more.

The Top of the Tower

At the top of the tower an elf, seemingly freshly killed, lay within an arcane circle made of white powder. He was dressed in simple robes except for a signet ring on his left hand. Corliss reached across the circle and slipped the ring from the finger of the dead elf. The sleeve of Corliss brushed the circle as he pulled back his arm, disturbing the ancient spell.

The green dome that remained outside fell, and the white dome on the second level disappeared. And that remained of note was a spellbook on a small stand that the party collected before leaving and making their way back to Highbridge.

Highlights

Following a dream in which Corliss finds himself speaking sylvan with an unknown entity, he feels compelled to travel to Shadowcrag.

Their university contact Yancey Figbottom gives some instructions, both Corliss follows his instincts and they find Shadowcrag, a huge ravine torn open by a powerful spell cast by an elven captain in the last days of the wars between the elves and the orcs. A small fort at the edge of the ravine holds two Polonian guards that are quickly dispatched. The tell the party that Polonians had travelled into the city below just two days before, taking with them a captured priest of Amaunator. At the bottom of the ravine lies the remains of the elven city of Kithkaira.

The party crosses a rickety, rope bridge with fragile wooden steps. As they cross, a wyvern attacks. Yornan almost falls from the bridge and is saved by a rope tangled around his leg. Rhagal shoots the wyvern with his magic arrows. Finally, the party kills the wyvern as a wounded Corliss barely makes it to safety.

Crossing to the city, the party first stands in a well-preserved stone courtyard. The other portions of the city are ruined, but a single large palace or template stands before them, covered by a large green dome. The party can barely see through it. The bleached bones and rusty remains of an orc army are everywhere, scattered across the courtyard and the bottom of the ravine.

The green dome appears impenetrable. The party learns that the green dome can be breached only in the immediate presence of Yornan’s holy symbol of his god. They walk through and find the interior of the dome very different. Here’s the orcish bodies are still fresh and have not yet begun to decay. A few more steps into the palace and they find the freshly murdered body of a priest of Amaunator.

Just a few more steps inside the green dome and the party is attacked by an earth elemental that they manage to dispatch.

Deeper into the palace the party enters an ornate room filled with paintings and frescos of elves armed with spears victorious over their orcs foes. Filling a large portion of the room and the archway into the next room is a red dome, much smaller than the green dome that surrounds the palace, both otherwise seemingly similar.

The party examines the red dome, and instead of being hard and unyielding like the green dome, the surface of the red dome seems soft and gooey. Inside the dome, the party can see multiple Polonians, including a priest. As they examine and touch the dome, it appears to be trying to pull in anyone or anything that contacts it. Party members manage the extricate themselves from its grasp, but Yornan presses his holy symbol into it. The dome grabs hold of Yornan’s arm and only the strength of Hurodash is sufficient to save him from being sucked in. However, Yornan loses grip of his holy symbol, which remains is pulled fully into the red dome and remains suspended in the air, about two feet inside the surface.

Highlights

After the battle with the Ettins, the party follows the steering stone in their possession and hobbles into a shanty town in the woods. They deliver messages to a overly cautious Martin Shimlock while Cirnan Sulo mocks him and demands that they take immediate action against the Polonians.

The party thinks Cirnan is a tool and discusses fighting him , but instead leaves to explore the Black Forest north of the Green River.

Eventually the party happens upon a single elven scout - the first full-blooded elf that the party has ever seen and perhaps the first elf anyone from The Riding has seen in hundreds of years. Yornan walks out onto a wooden bridge to speak with him. They converse in a language that - of the party - only Yornan knows. He pledges that he does not support the evil water devils and agrees to participate in an ambush that is about to occur.

The party hides on a small hillock on one side of the stream that rises out of the marsh. The elf stands alone on the other side. As the Polonians cross the bridge, the party can barely see traces of what are presumably other elves that rises from the scrub and marsh and kill. On their own side of the bridge, the party handles the Polonians easily, but almost falls to an giant alligator that crawls from the swamp. Only the fortitude of Hurodash supplemented by the healing spells of Yornan is sufficient to keep the gator at bay.

At the end of the fight, the elf reappears on the bridge, bows once in the direction of the party, and then disappears into marsh. He leaves behind one small gift, a quiver of 8 arrows.