Session 10 Adventure Notes

It's hard to believe that we are already at Session Ten and yet we have been playing for four months now.  It's also hard to imagine that we have had yet another unique session, so different than all the rest.  To summarize the oddness, we only had one combat encounter at the very end, and our heroes have opened up three more minor quests and ignored the major quest while in the very castle they were supposed to go for the quest.

Some other interesting session numbers:
10 sessions
4 months
~2 lbs of Swedish fish (that surprisingly don't taste like fish)
4 pizzas
1 potato chip bag of bring your own strength to open it
and a "golden sack"

Here is our per player XP so far, before we get to the story:
Session 9: 342 XP
Session 8: 787 XP
Session 7: 524 XP
Session 6: 562 XP
Session 5: 278 XP
Session 4: 432 XP
Session 3: 321 XP
Session 2: 585 XP + 50 XP for Shava and Yelsha
Session 1: 375 XP
Total so far: 4206 XP

We opened on our party late in the morning of Day 12 walking out of the Ye Olde Shop of Magic empty handed.  Rhaegar buys a few miscellaneous items and the decide to see what they can find at the Dog's Wag, before sunset.

Through conversation with the barmaid, Helga, and the games master, her husband, Bastrad, they learn that Carric, the Cavalier that was sacrificed at the altar of Vecna, had frequented this establishment, drinking and gambling between jobs.  They also learned that the cloaked figure had not been seen before he met with Carric, but has been back fairly often around sunset, and doesn't ever buy anything, to Helga's dismay.

The whole party, except for Varis sent down to enjoy some dice and card games at the Dog's Wag.  Jadis was the first to break the ice with some play at Roman's Dice and then Chuck-a-Luck.  Eventually others joined him, starting with Yelsha, and then everyone but Varis (who kept watch) playing Three Dragon Ante Emporer's Gambit.  Overall the party did well at the games adding about 100gp to their coffers before realizing the sun was settings as they were cashing out their chips back to gold.

As they were, Varis noticed that a cloaked figure opened the door into the Dog's walk, seemed troubled at seeing Shava, Yelsha, Jadis, Glyth, and Varis, and closed the door and hurried off.  The party followed outside and began to track the figure.  They could tell he was running fast, and despite enthusiasm by Shava, they decided not to run after the trail grew cold. 

The party felt that the cloaked figure was most likely gathering forces, so they rented a few rooms at the end in strategic outlooks locations, they had Yelsha and Jadis sneak around the back so the barmaid wouldn't know they were here (in case she was interrogated), and Doz waited down stairs while chatting up a Minotaur patron.  Those upstairs (sharing some rooms) took turns sleeping and keeping watch.  Around three hours in, the cloaked figure indeed returned, but alone, and Doz overheard him talking to Helga.  He simply asked what she knew about the adventurers that were in earlier (he did show that we felt superior to the barmaid), and having learned little left.  Having been alerted to his presence by a mage hand from Doz, Rhaegar and Jadis moved into a vacant room and caught his return path.  The cloaked figure had headed into the castle, and was not stopped or questioned by the guards.

From then, our heroes decided to take a long rest if nothing more than to prevent from being tired later.  During the night Shava, again had difficulty sleeping, and as he later reported to the party, his dreams are becoming more clear and compelling.  He is being called by Pelor, to a pyramid in the midst of a clearing in a thick forest to the north west.  After they woke on the morning of Day 13, our party decided to send Doz, someone that the cloaked figure did not seem to recognize and was not with them at the arena (they assumed that based on who the cloaked figure noticed this figure must have been at the arena), to the castle to seek an audience with King Helgon.  Yes, they just split the party.

Doz, who later confesses he expected death on this errand, comes to the guards at the castle entrance.  The guards stop him stating that only those on the King's business may enter.  Doz attempts a diplomatic approach with the guards and convinces them to let him pass so that he may offer the king his services to gain his favor.

As he is escorted into the throne room where King Helgon sits, he notices that the cloaked figure is standing behind the left shoulder of the king.  Doz appeals to the king in speech by seeking a homestead and safe passage through his land, in exchange for whatever service the King wishes.  The King offers him a quest to seek out his missing powerful mage.  Helgon had sent the Mage to the Maze of Madness, west from the North Gate of Hilliana through a pass called Tock's Crack in the mountain range to the west.  The mage was to retrieve a "trinket" for him and he has asked Doz to retrieve the trinket with or without the mage.

Doz accepted the quest and after stating that he would gather six other adventures for the task, had a page draw up mission documents that would be proof the party was on the king's business while travelling.

Doz reported back to the party, still at the Dog's Wag, and they were excited to hear about the safe passage. They didn't, however, seem interested in the new quest, and on their way to the north gate of Hilliana stopped by to see the Eladrin at the Religious Center to see how her research was going.

She was excited to see them as she indeed has found something.  Here is what she shared:

“I believe I have found something, though obscure.  I found a reference to both an artifact and Vecna in a tome regarding the goddess Melora. I found it so quickly as our center had recently researched Melora on an errand from one of the King’s pages.  Melora is the goddess of the wilderness and the sea.  She is not known to be good or evil and tends to want nature to be untamed and unfettered with.  Sometimes her acts can seem cruel to humans, but she is the closest thing to what some ancient tribes called ‘Mother Earth’.

“What I found in the tome is that there was once a cult, that one reference called them The Ancient Ones.  The Ancient Ones performed some form of dark ritual and/or quest that allowed them to steal power from the gods.  It is written that they were able to channel the power of several gods into a single artifact. 

“This tome describes the powers of Melora, Gruumsh, Sehanine, Moradin, Tiamat, and Vecna.    I can’t tell if that is all the gods trifled with or gather much more than that from this text on Melora, except that there was a new cult formed in the aftermath that were called ‘Light Seekers’ who found a way to destroy the artifact.

“This is the part that excites me as a student of tomes and proud sister.  My sister, Meriele, has been studying the rise and fall of the ancient ‘Light Seekers’, at the Abbey for the Religious Arts on the Isle of Fire.  I haven’t had word from her in a few months with all the road blocks around Hilliana.

“Would you mind carrying her this package along with this tome of Melora?  The book has a note in it to help her see what references I am talking about for you.  We usually send each other little pleasantries every few months, and it’s been dreadful not hearing from her.  Also, and I hate to ask you this, but these books are invaluable and I am already breaking protocol loaning this to you.  Would you be willing to place a 10gp deposit so I can at least fall back on that, if my superiors come complaining?   I will hold it here for you safely on your return of the tome.”

The party asked where the Isle of Fire was.  “Oh, I’m sorry; you must be new in this region.   Most take a ship from the docks at Palancia.  Weather permitting, it’s about two days sail south east to the isle.  They call it the Isle of Fire, because the mountains that make up the isle are frequently throwing smoke into the air.”

Before departing, they had Meriele's sister draw them a map of the northern regions of Hilliana, which was mostly nondescript hill country and the mountain range to the west wrapping around to the north and ending in a dense forest.  It also showed a road heading North from the Hilliana and the splitting into a West and East road.  The west road heads into the mountains through Tock's Crack, and the east road heads closer to the river going east and past the docks that server Hilliana. 

Our heroes accepted the package and proceeded out the North Gate.  When they get to the end of the north road before it heads east and west, they ask Shava for directions who feels that heading due northeast is the proper course.  They walk through the hilly country for over two days before coming to the edge of a dense forest at the morning of Day 15.  Shava again leads the way northeast through the dense forest.  Around midday of Day 15, they come to a clearing in the woods with pile of rumble in the middle.  Some arcana checks, which Yelsha ultimately succeeds in shows immense magic flowing from the rubble. 

During their inspection, three dwarves, two humans, and a drake spring from the trees surprising all but Varis.  Midfight, a dwarf asks, "What have you done with our leader?" to Varis.  Varis answers, "We ate him!"  The dwarf was surprised by the answer.  Our heroes killed all their foes except the dwarf who asked about his leader, who they knocked unconscious for interrogation.  As they revived the dwarf, he burst into ashes and a spectral image of a tiefling appeared over the pile of rubble.

The image of the male tiefling asked "What do you seek in the Pyramid of Shadows?" and Shava immediately answered "The answer to my dreams!"  The image responds, "So shall it be!  Welcome the Pyramid of Shadows.  The only way to win your freedom is to kill us - three times." and the world went black then returned with the absence of the smell of a forest and the stench of too many animals in too small a space in its place.  I think I heard Glyth say, "Shava, what have you gotten us into this time?!?"

And this is where we ended Session 10.  What is the Pyramid of Shadows and what did he mean by kill us three times?  What will happen to the other gazillion quests our party has collected?  Stay tuned; we may have some more answers next session.

Players: feel free to correct and update the story in the comments.  Anyone is welcome to make story suggestions and comments as well.  We actually just transitioned into a pre-made module called Pyramid of Shadows.  Another new and very different session awaits.

Also, we are tentatively schedule to reconvene on Saturday, March 24th, at 4pm.  This is not as firm as we usually have when leaving a session, but a few folks had to do some more thorough calendar checking.  Let me know!

Games of Chance - 175 XP
Encounter 25 - Chasing Shadows - 0 XP
Encounter 26 - Fighting Shadows - 0 XP
Encounter 27 - Hilliana Castle Gate - 362 XP - Doz only
King Helgon - Safe Passage
Encounter A1 - Forest Clearing - 1400 XP

Session Experience:  1575 XP / 7 PCs = 225 XP + 362 XP for Doz
Adventure Experience: 4206 XP +  225 XP = 4431 XP + 50 XP for Shava/Yelsha, & 362 XP for Doz
Level 5 at 5500 XP

DM Ruling:  I awarded the XP for Encounter 27 to Doz only.  Had it not been for a lucky Diplomacy role, he could have well triggered a combat encounter by himself and died before his party could assist.  Give that Doz is also behind in experience points, I doubly felt this was fair for everyone.

Encounters New Season

Last week, we met at Morningstar Games for a new twist on an Encounters session.  We got together to build our characters for the upcoming adventure starting this coming Wednesday.  I also have decided not to DM Encounter this session so I can have a change to play along side my daughter as opposed to opposed to her (pun intended).

We have two new DMs for this season, one of which was my first DM, and another who I can't wait to see her style of DMing.  Should be interesting. 

This new season, lots of Dwarves and Elemental themes.  The Elder Elemental Eye is the name of the Adventure and you can read more about it at http://wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/dndencounters.

Hope to see you there.  Feel free to RSVP so we can make sure we have seats and tables enough for everyone to enjoy.

Encounters Session 13 - The Finale

It is done.  Our party slayed Soryth, whom had just completed stealing all of Caerwyn's sould, releasing the trapped soul back into the crypt that contained Porpherio and Caerwyn.  As soon as that concluded, all the fey creatures that were barred from entering the Palace of Spires came and in turn called forth their Fey Lords.  All were allowed to drink from the Fountain Heal All without the curse of being trapped on the island forever and be granted one wish each.  Juliana and Orlando were wished back to their realm to live happily ever after and our heroes were celebrated in the three cities.   A heroes reception waited for them Sybar where they were rewarded from completing the Count's Task.  From their, our adventuring heroes broke apart and went their separate ways, to find the results of their wishes waiting for them (and we heard fame, glory, and power among a  few of the wishes).

The End.

I hope to have some announcements for you shortly regarding the next adventure and what we will be up to this coming Wednesday at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads.

Encounters Sessions 9-12

Sorry for the delay in updating the story notes.  Sometimes work gets in the way of my D&D habit :)

Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar (mediator between Tamora and Carric)
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Basal, Ragnar's cousin, sent to kill Orlando/Porpherio
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag, at the Palace of Spires
Kalbon, Soryth's partner in crime?

In Encounter 9, our party traveled with Basal and Orlando back to Ragnar's camp.  They fey were more united now.  Uma asked that the party be gentle on any fey that Soryth must certainly be swaying if at all possible and the party is led to the maze entrance that guards the Palace of Spires.  Before getting to rest fully, our party is ambushed by Xivorts rolling down logs down a hill toward their camp.  Our party is ultimately successful, and finally gets a much needed long rest before entering the maze.

In Encounter 10, the wander the maze getting lost several times and upon finally finding the center, where they enter their leaf keys, two boggles steal their keys and run off in the maze.  Our party gives chase and fights these boggles in the close and confusing confines of the maze.  Some neat tricks of the boggles allowed them to divide the party some but, as seems typical in these matters, the party ends up victorious once again.  They come back to the center and reinsert the keys, to be whisked away to a glorious courtyard in front a palace.

In Encounter 11, our heroes fought two possessed fey berserkers, two xivorts, a boggle snatcher, and a xivort shadow caller.   The party broke the spell on the two berserkers and dispatched the rest of the foes.  The few turn out to be from the rescue party and are brothers.  Alain finds a magical chrysanthemum in the courtyard and decides to take it with him.  They then figure out a puzzle where the door to the palace is reflective and has no reflection, but their reflections in the pool in the center seem "independent".  They ultimately ask their reflections to op en the door for them and they do.  Two lifelike statues around the door speak "Enter in Peace,"  Our heroes sheath their weapons and enter.

Lastly for this update, in Encounter 12, the party explores the castle entrance and finds a fountain with nymphs playing.  They ask the party to solve a few puzzles in the room.  Our party takes some damage removing some glyphs that turned a room for night to daylight, and they located some "crystal" ware that chimes to teach some squawking birds to sing.  Having completed these two challenges, the nymphs form a water stairway to the chamber above, just as Kalbon and two pixies drop from above to engage the party. 

In nearly one hit, a party member bloodies a pixie, who then recognize the party as friends thanks to their saving of previous fey creatures such as the two fey berserkers from the previous encounter.  They flee the battle.  Unfortunately, when our characters draw their weapons, the status just outside the door come to life and engage the enemy.  They do not engage Kalbon because he fights with his horns.   Our party concentrates their attacks on Kalbon, nearly avoiding the statues, killing Kalbon in three rounds and quickly sheathed their weapons.  Once all sheathed, the statues immediately regress back to their pedestals and turn back to the stone.   They hear a scream from upstairs and approach up the stairs as the session ends.

The final encounter of Beyond the Crystal Cave, Session 13, will be this Wednesday at 6pm at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads.  If you would like us to save you seat, and allow us to prepare for the right number of folks, please feel free to RSVP by commenting here.

Session 9 Adventure Notes

Our last session was an interesting twist.  We played during daylight only, had a new young player, and had a lot of party discussion regarding alignment how to handle story elements.  We also went back to the beginning to recalculate experience points, as some how, our players lost track of their most prized position, Experience Points.  Here is our experience totals thus far:

Session 8: 787 XP
Session 7: 524 XP
Session 6: 562 XP
Session 5: 278 XP
Session 4: 432 XP
Session 3: 321 XP
Session 2: 585 XP + 50 XP for Shava and Yelsha
Session 1: 375 XP
Total so far: 3864 XP

Basically, most of the party felt stronger at the end of last session, and didn't realize it. 

Now to the story.

Our party was taking a long rest after getting their butt kicks in the Desert Cave.  During the long rest Varis noticed that Shava was sleeping well.  When confronted Shava just brushed it off as a dream.  As they were packing up camp a tall figure approached their camp from the west.  From the looks of him, he looks like a Minotaur Paladin.  Yep, a Minotaur Lawful Good Paladin named Minron (not Nimrod as was pointed out to me on more than one occasion) joins the party.

Minron hears of their troubles with the Pentagon of Vecna and inspects.  He determines that it must be evil and recommends its destruction.  He also finds it difficult to put it down but does accomplish the task.  They carefully put it back and in Shava's pack after deciding that Shava is the best choice based on will and alignment (a nod to Glyth with the higher will and "lower" alignment).

After a lengthy discussion they decide to head West, early in Day 11. back to the crossroads from whence they came and from there to head North toward Hilliana.  Some of the debate was between the princess rescue, and dealing with the Pentagon, but they concluded that their only clue regarding the Pentagon was in Hilliana as was the princess so they proceeded there.

As they approach Hilliana, they make out an encampment blocking the bridge across the river to Hilliana castle.  They choose between approaching the encampment with various methods of accomplishing that, and following a path they discovered that ran parallel to the road through the woods to the west.  To take the path, they had to ditch their cart and felt that the going would be tough with their horses as well, thought the brought them anyways.  They ditched their cart in the woods and covered it with limbs, and then took any stuff they couldn't carry and buried in deeper in the woods, supposedly taking good notes on how to retrieve it later. 

Along the first half of the trail, several of the party just didn't have the skills to navigate their horse through the tight trail and the party lost of two of their six horses.  During the last half of the trail, they lost two more (one of them their warhorse).  They emerged on a bank of land between a rushing river and think wood to the West of the encampment.  As they march further west, upstream of the river, they begin to smell a foul smell in the air and eventually see an opening on the other side of the river.  A closer inspection (though still across the river), they suspect that it is man made and the source of the stench, possibly a sewer from Hilliana and a stealthy entrance into the town. 

After inspecting the river more closely, they decide their best bet is ford it and to head further upstream should the rushing current carry them.  As they head further upstream, the luck up and find a narrower part of the stream and its a bit calmer.  They also found a dying tree near the river bank.  The party decides that not everyone is so athletic so they send Rhaegar across first with a rope tied him.  He fords the river by starting with a running jump crossing almost half the distance at once.  He then loses a few feet downstream but crosses unscathed.

Rhaegar and Minron hold both ends of the rope and Minron ties another rope to each party member who attempts to cross.  Glyth gets part way then teleports the rest of the way providing assistance to Rhaegar on the far side of the river.  The rope makes it easier for most of the players to cross river but the current keeps sweeping their feet out.  They frequently use the rope to drag a character back to the near shore.   Some have difficulty getting across, and ultimately Minron takes a few attempts to throw an end of the rope across the river to Rhaegar.  Now when a character lets go of the rope across the attached rope to their body can drag them to the far shore.  This gets the rest of the party across though Jadis and Varis take some drowning damage from being submerged while drug to the far shore.  Everyone catches their breath before heading into the suspected sewer entrance.

Dark?  Check.  Smelly?  Check.  Damp?  Check.  Sewer?  Definitely.  Any monsters, just a baby crocodile 45 years after being dumped into the sewer out of a chamber pot.  Our party deftly converges on the poor lonely Vicejaw Crocodile bloodying him quickly before four more Crocodiles emerge from the murky sewer water to bite our party.  Several crocodiles bite and clamp down on the party in a grab, and then did massive damage as the grab continued.  That is, until Rhaegar burned her daily which allowed party members to slide other party members on a hit.  The DM's parade being rained on, a Cavern Choker emerges around a bend in the sewer line and lashes out with tentacles at Shava who is in the front.  The Choker begins to drag Shava away from the party before Shava finally gets in an escape and retreats closer to the party.  Another Choker emerges from the opposite direction slinging tentacles at Varis and after a few tries grabbing him.  The slide powers prove to difficulty and very little additional damage is done, even with a sixth crocodile shows up.  One Choker did get in a very clever hit by using Varis as a human shield when Minron closed for an attack.  Varis tries to forgive, but Glyth still seems to carry a fire in her eye when looking at Minron.

Having cleared the sewer, Rhaegar since that he felt stronger and as he suggested to the party that they step back outside away from this smell so he could do some exercises to make him stronger, Shava, Yelsha, Glyth, Varis, and Jadis, say "Hey, wait a minute, I think I need to do some studying, too."  Low and behold, six of our party members advance to the fourth level while enjoying a long rest after a long day of travelling.  This rest carries them into the dark hours of Day 11, and then they reenter the sewer.

After making their way through the sewer, they discover two discernible exits.  One, a ladder up to a trap door, and the other, a open exit into the town itself, probably an entrance for the unfortunate souls how have to perform maintenance down here, that also allows for water runoff.  Glyth stealthily checks the trapdoor and finds that it leads to the storeroom of a tavern but store room door is open and there seemed to be a good bit of foot traffic by the door.   They nominate Glyth to then poke her head out of the open exit and slightly startle an old man, dressed in rags, with "crazy eyes" who slightly startles them back with "Hello dare!".  A very difficult conversation ensures with a few of the characters revealing themselves at a time, usually greeted with another surprised "Hello dare!".  This crazy old man, though speaking in riddles with phrases such as "I is invisible and he sees things" and offering the "pears of his presence".  He also mentions that "pears are fruits" before holding out his hand.

Minron gives the old man a gold piece and the old man offers additional cryptic information.  It takes numerous gold pieces, and a (failed) attempt at silver pieces from Glyth, to get some additional information.  Our party learns that the King has gone mad, he found something, and that he is sending folks to find more things.  He even suggests that maybe the party could go find something for the King.  As is typical with this party, things started to get a little rough when the well was running dry, so he yanked a last coin out of Minron's hand and bolted off into the dark cackling all the while.

Our heroes finally get a chance to see their surroundings and they see the sign for the Dog's Wag not 30 feet away from them.  They also describe this area of town as "Seedy".  Rhaegar decides he is too good for this side of town, passes the Dog's Wag and asks a towns person about a nicer place (speaking of payment).   Our citizen takes them to the Gilded Flute tavern further East in town.  As she does so, Rhaegar suddenly gets a little cheap and the middle-class citizen makes an idle threat of making sure folks knew the party was in town and leaves.  Rhaegar then rethought the situation and chased after the citizen offering her a gold piece for the escort and an extra for her silence.  The citizen smiled, took the gold and was off.

Our heroes then found themselves in an empty (it's pretty late at night) but nicely maintained hotel with a female human as the bar keep.  She cautiously offers them rooms (the party really stinks) and says she only has deluxe rooms for 2 gp each, and that a bath was available AND REQUIRED to stay here at 1gp each.  There were two baths available so the party took turns washing up.  With seven rooms, Glyth and Varis bunked up and they converted the seventh room into a meeting room so they could discuss issues (especially the Pentagon) in private.  The sun rises signaling Day 12 during these conversations and, being still rested, they decide as a group to find a place where they can do religious research, possibly check out the Dog's Wag before the Cloaked figure is due to show up, and see what's around town.

The barkeep obliges them with a hand drawn map of Hilliana.  It appears that Hilliana is broken up into districts, with the poor section along the west wall, the great Manors of the wealthy along the south wall, the middle class homes near the west wall.  The Dog's Wag is South East marker and separator between the poor section and the Manors (As well as some space).  The Gilded Flute is the West end marker of the Middle Class section.  Just North of the Middle Class section are the shops.  West of the shops is a small religious center and library with an open park and then cemetery further west.  In the center is Castle Hilliana complete with moat and walls.   There are also large walls around the town with a North and South gate for entrance and exit to the city.

They proceed to the religious center where they diplomatically and discretely talk to the Eladrin female who offers to help them there.  Based on the sketchy information the party provides, she mentions a work of fiction regarding a Ring of Power and a Mountain, but offers to do further research, on how one might destroy an artifact regarding Vecna.  She would not let anyone touch their books due to their value and age, but did seem genuinely intrigues to do the research.   She hopes to have some research completed by tomorrow.

Next our party headed to the merchant district for a little shopping.  They immediately spot a store offering magic items and get to window shopping before realizing they don't have as much money as they had thought.  There were some negotiations and trades transpiring, but everything "cool" someone wanted and thought they could get into their price range, would cost the party almost all their gold, including a one-of-a-king bag of holding.  Glyth had her eye on a few rods <snicker> but ultimately left empty handed and disappointed <snicker, snicker>.

GAMES OF CHANCE.


And that is where we leave our adventures late in the morning of Day 12. 

What will the Eladrin woman find out for our party regarding artifacts of Vecna?
What is waiting for them in Dog's Wag?
What is the name of this campaign and will they ever find out why?
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Experience Points:
   Encounter 17 - River Crossing - 1000 XP
   Encounter 22 - Sewer Passage to Hilliana - 1400 XP
Session Experience: 2400 XP / 7 PCs = 342XP
Adventure Experience: 3864 XP + 342 XP = 4206 XP + 50 XP for Shava and Yelsha
Level 5 at 5500 XP

Session 8 Adventure Notes

We had a last minute cancellation and a no show but we managed with 4 players and 6 player characters.  Our heroes ventured into the desert cave to discover what treasure lay within.

Our party woke during pre-dawn of Day 10 fully rested.  They found that Doz had fled in the night (our cancellation) and Jadis was feeling his prior self again (our no show player was run by his original creator).  After taking stock of these changes, they entered the desert cave. 

Our party is greeted by hot humid air coming from the cave entrance and find a narrow passage with a small lava flow across their path.  Two lava hurlers emerge and start throwing lava balls at our party artillary style.  As they work on their approach, two magma claws (think lava scorpions) break free of their cave wall camoflauge and charge the party.  The heroes take the fight to the magma claws, and as they fight inch by inch down the cave, two fire bats show themselves in the distance, and two more magma claws emerge from their camoflauge hiding place.

While the battle was ultimately won, our party took massive damage, burning through all of their healing options, including first aid, potions, and a seed of healing, and were running dreadfully low on surges during the first encounter of the day.  The fire bats were constantly using a fiery swoop to attack multiple players on a single turn, not only doing some damage, but catching them on fire.  Shava was kept busy attempting to grant saving throws, and heals.  The magma hurlers weren't particullary hard hitting, but when they aimed at a character and missed, their lava ball would hit a nearby ally.   As their enemy's became fewer in number, the badly injured lava hurlers soaked back into the lava flow, and our party was finally allowed to all cross the laval flow and take a much needed short rest.

As they enter the next section of cave, several party members wisely inspected their surroundings and found evidence of a trap in holes in the ground and several pressure plates.  They successfully map out the dangers, but in one area, where they had to jump over a pressure plate, Varis tripped and fell on the pressure plate, causing spears to stab up through the holes mildly injuring Shava.  The spears, now being visible through the holes, proved an easy way to avoid future incident, so Varis sat on the pressure plate and let everyone cross safely, before stepping off, causing the spears to receed again.  As this is occuring a foul smell had been growing and some distant, plentiful foot steps were heard.

When they clear the spear laden section of the cave, they came to a larger lava flow set ten feet down a chasm ten feet across.  The party catches their first glimps of several Dretchs (stink demons).  Rhaegar attempts dimplomacy, and as skilled and well executed as he was, the Dretchs just didn't seem interested and seemed rather simple minded.  A few other party members, Shava and Glyth, begin to check their exits when they hear the word "demon". However, our party cleverly used the chasm as a barrier from the unathletic Dretchs, with Jadis even using ice spells to slip them into the magma.  A cunning use of Fountain of Flame, also by Jadis, at a choke point caused some minor damage to the Dretchs, but more importantly cut off the approach of two flying Gnaw Demons who stood back, waiting for the party to come through the Fountain of Flame.  They found that the Dretchs would resist either the ice or the magma they fell in, but not both.  The dretchs eventually began to cross the lava filled chasm.   As the dretchs were defeated, the left short lived clouds of poison behind. 

Dretchs and their poison clouds behind, our heroes help each other across the chasm, though Varis missed his jump and fell in, catching on fire.  Rheagar, tried to get fancy with a save, by jumping to the far side of the chasm, and catching the ledge to lend Varis a hand, but he missed the ledge, also catching on fire, but quickly climbed up to grab purchase and lend Varis a hand.  The party then prepares behind the Fountain of Flame and enters the Fountain as one to take on the Gnaw Demons.  The Gnaw Demons didn't prove much of challenge, though once party members or themselves were bloodied, they were able to teleport great distances breaking their choke point, but alas, six heroes versus two Gnaw Demons proved no match.  I will note that this encounter took them quite some time to get through, with the spear trap, magma crossing, and a cave that was over 40 squares long, not to mention fighting eight demons in a space only ten to twenty feet wide.

Our heroes finally come to a dead end expecting treasure, they instead find an altar to Vecna.  The altar consisted of a blood stained stone in the middle, and eight pillars around the stone with writing on them.  After some nature and history checks, they discover that the writing on the pillars is probably Barazhad (Abyssal).  They inspected the altar every way they could, including Rhaegar almost bleeding out trying to create a blood sacrafice on the stone.  The finally give up, noting in their quest log that they either need to learn Abyssal or find someone who knows it.

As the come back across the long cave where they fought the demons, they hear foot steps and talking coming from in front of them, barring their path, but unaware of our party.  They hid in the naturual terrain and allowed the party to approach.  They snickered as they heard one of the oncoming fall dead after setting off the spear trap.  A Human Cavalier became visible and challendged the only visible party member.  Rhaegar asked the Cavalier to let them pass or join, but was rejected so that the Cavalier could "collect the bounty."  Behind the Cavalier a host of Human Lackey's and a Human Hexer emerge.  Many Lackeys lost their life trying to cross the chasm as the Hexer cast spells from afar.   Our heroes ganged up hard on the Cavalier droping him uncoucios with a well placed blow, and taking a few errant swings at the Lackeys.  The few that were left after the Cavalier died tried to jump back across the chasm and lost their lives.  The Hexer, who we later learned is named Tiana, conceeded and offered her ability to speak Abyssal and read Barazhad.  The party scrutinized her intensly and determined that she was quite eager to do the task and detected no malice (aside from a morally absent acadamic interest in reciting rituals at Vecna's altar).  Knowing they might need a blood sacrafice they (okay, mostly Rhaegar) tie up the Cavalier and carry him with them back toward the altar.

With great anticipation and wariness our party ends up back at Vecna's altar with someone who can read the writing on the pillars.  Rhaegar proceeds to interrogate Carric (we learn the Cavalier's name) through some pretty bloody torture, and knowing a sacarafice may be next, Yelsha invites Shava and Varis to explore some other cave areas.  Our interregators do learn that they are to go to the Dog's Wag Tavern in the SouthWest region of Hilliana around sunset (the cloacked figure will show on days he is able) and they are supposed to meet the cloaked figure there to claim their bounty of 2000gp.  Our party also infers that this is the very same ruffian that was speaking to the cloaked figure when the guard overheard the directions being given to this cave (and whose directions they took).

---###   Warning - if you are good aligned IRL, you may want to skip this section   ###---
Our good aligned party members safely out of the room, Tiana finishes her study of the writings and begins to recite a ritual in Abyssal as Rhaegar slices the neck of the Cavalier, spilling ample blood on the altar.
---###   End of an emotionless act by Rhaegar   ###---

Suddenly, the room shakes and bright lights exudes from the blood soaked altar.  The light grows so bright that no one in the room can see, except, somehow, Tiana who recited the ritual.  A shiney trinket of a somewhat large size, shaped like a pentagon emerges from the center of the stone.  Before Tiana can grab it, she notices the room darkens breifly, somehow cancelling out the light for a breif moment before its intesity returns.

For party of heroes that were still int he room, they found themeselves blinded.  Tiana yells out, having been spared blindness, that 6 dark figures have entered the room.  Rheagar swings blindly at approaching figures, Glyth and Jadis back into a wall for cover, and feeling the rumbling, the rest of the party runs back into the altar room.  As the dark figures close with Tiana, Rhaegar's vision clears, and he tries to start hacking at enemies that are pounding Tiana.  Jadis' vision clears so he can begin hurling spells, and a round later, Glyth is back in action with Varis at her side.  Tiana is getting desimated as Rhaegar continues to drop foes near them, and Shava works on healing Tiana, while Yelsha attacks with her Revots, her wolf.

The six figures are shadow creatures, and there appear to be 3 brutes, 2 artillary, and a controller leader.  One of the brutes steals the pentagon shaped Artifact from Tiana.  As this occurs, Tiana becomes dazed and confused and seemingly unable to act or comprehend during battle.  The theiving shadow brute, attempts to run the artifact over to his leader, but is slain by Varis.  Shava is next to act and he instinctively picks up the artifact.  He felt something that he had to shake off, and realized that thsi artifact must reveal secrets.  He is suddenly aware that they have been fighting a three Hex Knights, two Shadow Bolters, and one Shadow Speaker.  These creatures are from the shadowfell, and prize most shiny things, but also worship and prize all things associated with Vecna.  They have no heroes of their own in their realm nor no artisans, and thrive but stealing things that others fine.  They have been monitoring this altar for ages and sprung their ambush as soon as the artifact was free.  Shaking off this rush of images, Shava rejoins the combat, seemingly the new target of all attacks.  From this point our heroes quickly dispatch the rest of the shadow creatures.

They then decide what to do next.  Shava, again, had to shake off some strange feeling.  He wisely decides to take the artifact out of his hand and place it in his backpack.  The party makes there way back to the mouth of the cave, where they find their horses and wagon missing.  Fortunately, they had convinced Carric to spill everything (words and plans before blood) and they find their stuff hidden behind a high spot in the hills. 

We leave our adventurers attempting to rest at the same camp site they rested this morning, ending Day 10 of this campaign.

In my own summary I am going to attempt to list some questions or quests that may be on the mind of our party:

• Returning the +1 Life Drinker sword that Varis carries to Faelywn will complete a minor quest and gain them 1200 gold.  But it fits so well in Varis' hand.
• They may want to try and meet the Cloaked Figure who offered Carric 2000gp to lead a party into this cave and retreive an artifact for him.
• They have promised to rescue King Hrothgar's daughter, Lorgar, or exact vengence for her death without starting a war for 2000gp
• While exploring Hilliana, should they ever get there, they will also be paid 1000gp from King Hrothgar if they can find out what is going on with King Helgon and why he is attacking Palancia.

Experience Points:
   Encounter 20 - Desert Cave Entrance - 1100 XP
   Encounter 21 - Desert Cave Level 2 - 1400 XP
   Encounter 22 - Well & Poorly Met - 1050 XP
   Encounter 23 - Cave Treasure - 1175 XP
Total XP: 4725 XP / 6 PCs = 787 XP per character

I believe this brings most or our original players right next to level 4 and that they are bringing level 4 characters with them next time so be prepared to level up.

It took me quite a while to get all this written up, so our next game is already upon us.  We are scheduled for Sunday noon-6pm, and expecting a new player (who is a well known power gamer) and Jadis' alter ego is supposed to be back.

We also already have the next game scheduled for Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 4pm until our blood thurst is quenched.

As always, I look forward to comments and PMs regarding story ideas and especially comments on story and flavor corrections from above.  I write this all from memory and my original adventure outline.