Community

EPISODE THIRTY: The Fists of Madryth, Part Two (Level 13)

 

The Players:

Kristy Eagar (Nirvani)

Mike Eagar (Sadhai)

Adam Rodgers (Arhuzimel)

Kent Lloyd (Lirrech)

DM: Graham Ward

 

As the party descended the stairs, the tension in the air grew even greater. The sounds of their footfall faded away until they found themselves completely defeaned. Arhuzimel’s shadowblades formed in his hands from the shadows around them.

They were in a narrow hallway that turned to the right. Two closed doors lay on the left. Sadhai opened the first, but it only got about four inches open before it stopped against the body of a priest. Forcing it open, Sadhai rounded the door to find a many-legged foulspawn stooping over another corpse. He was about to back out of the room, but noticed that the corpse wasn’t decomposed like the other eighty-year-old bodies they had seen. The pause cost him his stealth, and the foulspawn reared on him, shrieking in his mind.

Dozens of foulspawn began crawling down from tunnels in the walls. As the adventurers diced them up, more would teleport into their place. Soon, however, they were all dead. Sadhai saw that the priest, however, was not, and revived him.

On his shaven head he wore another glyph, one of the fists of Madryth. His large beard was grizzled, and he looked to be in his late forties. As he opened his eyes and sat up, it became clear that he was blind. Despite the silence imposed this close to the location of the portal to Madryth, the party questioned him through the telepathic connection of the phylactery glyph. His name was Lirrech. He had been sent to the lost temple by other Senfaerists to investigate what happened. He knew little more than our adventurers, due to the experimental nature of Madryth’s creation.

Before reaching the second door, they found another disturbing sight. A priest’s body was sprawled beside the wall, having scratched a strange drawing into the stone with his bare hand. Arhuzimel pointed out that it looked like an illithid, tentacle-mouthed stalkers of the Underdark.

Nirvani, frustrate by the unnatural silence, listened against the second door and heard nothing. She braced herself to fling it open, but Sadhai stopped her. With a little crucial advice, she opened it silently. It was the holiest chamber of the temple, fitted with a large throne and altar, the walls thick with holy writings. As she moved in, a larger foulspawn dropped on top of her in a surprise attack.

It had a long proboscis, like a huge, twisted mosquito. The others rushed in, but the foulspawn teleported out to the hallway. After a short battle, and a flurry of strikes from the party’s respective Fist glyphs, it lay dead. Nirvani was severely wounded, and had to lean on Sadhai as they continued forward. Lirrech had already disappeared into the next room.

Following him, the party softly rounded the corner into a circular chamber. Arhuzimel smelled burning, and pulled a white-hot bow from his pack. It had singed its cloth wrapping. He laid it on the ground and moved forward. As they entered the chamber, they saw several large foulspawn, a floating, tentacled aberration, and a hooded humanoid figure, all turned away from the doorway, looking up toward the domed ceiling. There on a ledge hung Lirrech, sprawled like a spider on the wall.

They cleared their minds and moved silently forward, but Nirvani’s consciousness made an impression on the atmosphere of the chamber. The illithid, feeling the presence of a powerful immortal, turned and lunged at the party. As the first blows were dealt, the exhausted Nirvani felt the illithid’s psyhic presence seize her like a vice. Her mind had no time to recover or escape. With a courageous call she fell down, clothed in the rags of her imposter’s armor. Sadhai called out, but was forced to keep his emotions from surfacing as the terrifying mind flayer struck at him again and again.

Arhuzimel fended off the wrathful attacks of the foulspawn berserkers while Sadhai used his psionic glyph to attack the illithid. Lirrech, being blasted by fire from the floating aberration, danced to evade the blows. Slowly they lost their stamina. Psychic blasts from the illithid dazed them, and the foulspawn charged again and again with razor fists. The aberration turned, revealing an enormous, central eye and a fanged mouth. Its tentacles, sparking with fire, were tipped with more eyes. It put the fear of fire on them again and again.

Lirrech was the second to fall. The aberration cut him down in a blast of fire. His smoldering body lay in the center of the chamber while the others continued. Sadhai, gearing up all his strength, made a focused attack with the Eagle’s Fist. His talon-like form was perfect, striking the illithid first in the arm, which broke, then in the face. It fell dead.

Arhuzimel cut down one of the foulspawn, only to be torched by the tentacled aberration’s ray of fire. He dropped unconscious, still blazing like a torch. Sadhai mustered his last strength, killing the foulspawn and landing another Eagle’s Fist in the eye of the floating aberration. He looked around him in pain. Nirvani was stone dead.

He raced to give Arhuzimel and Lirrech first aid. They sputtered, woke from unconsciousness, and got to their feet. With a little rest and recuperation, they felt ready to move on from this hellish temple. Sadhai opened the portal to Madryth over the fountain in the center of the chamber, and they stepped inside.

 

XP: 2,594 Each

 

[Foulspawn Surge Encounter: 975 XP

Saving Lirrech: 200 XP

Solving the Mystery of the Temple: 700 XP

Fouspawn Seer Encounter: 600 XP

Illithid Cohorts Encounter: 6,800 XP

Instant Kills: 300 XP

Avoiding a TPK: 100 XP

Entering Madryth: 700 XP

TOTAL: 10,375]

 

--

Back to Campaign Index

< Previous Episode  |  Next Episode >

 

EPISODE TWENTY-EIGHT: Return to the Deeps (Level 12)

 

The Players:

Mike Eagar (Sadhai)

Kent Lloyd (Kloric)

DM: Kristy Eagar

 

 Kloric and Sadhai were asleep in their shared room when an urgent knock at the door awoke them. It was Orleo Kolet, the goliath, who summoned them to the kitchen. Nirvani and several others, mostly agents from the Lirandi enclave, were gathered around a table covered with a large map.

Orleo explained that he and his sister, along with the priest, had been interrupted in their task of closing the portal in Binbara from the other side. They were forced to hide as an overwhelming force of neogi warriors stormed through the caves and attacked the other hive. The two neogi tribes were now in full war. As soon as the fighting had moved away from the portal, the three had come through.

It was the perfect opportunity to strike at the neogi again, and Nirvani was eager to free any remaining slaves they had been forced to leave behind in the hive during their last raid. She had already sent a messenger through the portal to seek more agents from other enclaves for help in the strike. She proposed that she, Kloric, and Sadhai would each lead a strike team, entering the hive from different tunnels and moving fast to take advantage of the confusion of the ongoing battle within. Their mission: to wipe out the hive, and destroy the invading neogi soldiers from the other hive before the creatures could claim any powerful magic items within the nest.

After some debate Sadhai and Kloric agreed, and the heroes went to the teleportation chamber to gather their teams. As they reached the large room, Brink, Matlali and Eyahue arrived through the teleportation circle. Brink had some potions for everyone, a ward against some psychic energy that he thought would be helpful.

Kloric’s team: 

• Orleo Kolet (male goliath warden), twin of Orlea, agent from Binbara enclave
• Orlea Kolet (female goliath seeker), twin of Orleo, agent from Binbara enclave
• Volan Black (male human cleric), agent from Lirandi enclave

Sadhai’s team: 

• Nolam Winters (male human fighter), agent from Lirandi enclave
• Mita Xatlaca (female human cleric), agent from Lirandi enclave
• Ripsey Diptipple (male human invoker), 70 year old eccentric man, agent from Lirandi enclave

 

Nirvani’s team:

• Fastus Onforoth (male jhareth paladin), has been wandering the Norlythe in search of a secret city, recently helping the dwarves of Ykhel
• Eyáhue Tican (male human rogue), husband of Matlali, agent from the Yollotli enclave
• Matlali Tican (female human warden), wife of Eyahue, agent from the Yollotli enclave

 

The three teams moved quickly in to the chaos of battle, striking from different directions. They moved past tangled heaps of neogi and umber hulk bodies, and took the opportunity to smear themselves liberally with neogi oil. The scent-marking gave them a significant stealth advantage against the nogi of the home tribe.

Nirvani led her team through the main entrance, creating a stir and taking serious wounds, but drawing attention away from the other teams. They came out battered and exhausted of healing powers, but alive. Sadhai and Kloric each took their teams through several fast-paced small battles, wiping out room after room of neogi and umber hulks with clever strategy and deadly attacks. They found no sign of any slaves in these outer chambers.

Finally, all three groups converged on the huge central chamber, where the floor seethed with the soft white bodies of mindless neogi young. The last few surviving neogi warriors of the invading force were slowly being torn apart and eaten alive by the spawn swarms, and their screams filled the foul-smelling air.

Bloodied and staggering, Nirvani and her group could not avoid detection. She strode forward resolutely and spoke briefly with the neogi Great Old Master from across the huge chamber. He dismissed her attempts at communication. Kloric and Sadhai’s groups remained hidden as masses of neogi and umber hulks charged Nirvani’s strike team.

The hidden forces took strategic shots at the open fray, until Kloric led his forces into the battle. Sadhai waited longer, using clever ranged attacks to continue disrupting the melee. The heroes struggle through the tense battle, finally defeating the Neogi and the umber hulks, and wiping out all of the writhing larvae. Nirvani and Fastus were bloodied and reeling from their wounds, but no one on any of the strike teams had been killed.

In a small room off this central cavern, they found a trove of artifacts. Four humanoid skeletons stood proudly displayed on stands like battle trophies. Other artifacts and powerful items the neogi have collected littered the room.

• Steel bracers inscribed with images of sharp blades and set with moonstones
• Green thimbles that fit neatly over the thumbs
• Leathery elbow guards
• Silver ring with an intricate knotting pattern
• Two small chests of dwarven silver rods, at least 10,000.

On a pedestal among the artifacts they found a clouded crystal sphere the size of a human head. The orb was cool to the touch and strangely heavy for its size. Brilliant blue, purple, and silver mists swirl within, and it radiates with arcane energy. After some discussion, they decided that Nirvani should carry it in her bag of holding.

Sadhai was drawn to a strange, pitch-black short sword that radiates dark energy. It seemed to call out to him, and he took it. Near the sword lay a silvery gray crystal. Its sides and back are flat, bound with steel, and a long chain is linked to the top. Nirvani examined the fist symbol etched on it in the eastern style. It was certainly an item used by worshipers of Senfaer, the god of order and psionics. From the blood-stained barbs on the back she could tell it was designed to be worn, pressed directly into the skin of the user.

Kloric, anxious to find out if the ritual to resurrect his wife is ready to begin yet, accompanied the wounded enclave operatives back to the Lirandi. Although wounded and weak, Nirvani remained behind with Sadhai, renewed in her determination to find any remaining captives. Sadhai burned the bodies and they began a more thorough search of the large complex.

 

XP: 3,675 Each

 

[Kloric’s Team Mini-battles: 2,000 XP

Sadhai’s Team Mini-battles: 2000 XP

Strategy in the Outer Caves: 500 XP

Posing as Slaves: 100 XP

Creative Use of Terrain: 100 XP

Final Neogi Battle Encounter: 2,150 XP

Clearing the Hive: 500 XP

TOTAL: 7,350 XP]

 

--

Back to Campaign Index

< Previous Episode  |  Next Episode >

 

EPISODE TWENTY-NINE: The Fists of Madryth, Part One (Level 12)

 

The Players:

Kristy Eagar (Nirvani)

Mike Eagar (Sadhai)

Adam Rodger (Arhuzmel)

DM: Graham Ward

 

In a dark recess of the central chamber Nirvani and Sadhai came upon a naturally-formed oubliette with an iron grate resting over the top. Sadhai peeked over to see half a dozen captives, and two corpses. Among them was a strange man who introduced himself as Arhuzimel. His skin was the color of charcoal, and his eyes white, with no pupils. At first Nirvani thought he might be a daemon in Elder Form, but his skin color reminded her of something she once read about men who involuntarily host a parasitic spirit from the Shadowfell. The book had called them “shades.”

As the freed prisoners caught up with Kloric and the others departing the hive, Nirvani and Sadhai talked with Arhuzimel and found his gear in a hoard of equipment and valuables. He was caught and imprisoned in a nearby village, the only one left alive out of his entire company.

As they made acquaintance, the cry of a child rang faintly through the cavern. Nirvani sprang into action, and with Sadhai’s help found a crevice in the wall that led into a deeply delved tunnel. It was only a few feet in diameter, but Nirvani started down toward the cries. Sadhai followed, casually inviting Arhuzimel to join if he wasn’t too weak. The shade looked around quickly, then darted down the crawl space after his new companions.

After a quarter of an hour or more crawling down the descending passage, they reached the far exit, which was nearly blocked by a fallen statue. The tunnel here opened into a large chamber, where three grimlocks skulked in the dark chamber, holding stone clubs or axes. One was crouched to the floor, chewing on a haunch of freshly killed meat. As Nirvani (blind in the pitch-dark) went to light her torch, Sadhai silently grabbed her wrist and gestured for her to be quiet. With a look between them, Sadhai and Arhuzimel leaped toward the grimlocks in a surprise attack. Nirvani lit her torch and joined the fray.

As they fought, several more limber grimlocks dropped from the ceiling, their arms and fronts covered in a short white fur that seemed to help them grip against the stone. It wasn’t long before the subterranean scavengers were killed or sent running.

On closer examination they found that this chamber must have been the first level of a temple to Senfaer. The ceiling above the main entrance had fallen in, blocking it completely. The walls were draped with a thin paper (weighted on the bottom by rolled steel rods). Stars, planets, and other elemental images were painted on the paper drapes, along with the phrase Free from persecution, free from Vinramar in Trentsmin. Neogi and human bodies littered the room.

They followed the path of the fleeing grimlocks down a narrow staircase through the far wall. The next room was a wide hallway, divided into temporary rooms by the same paper blinds. Sadhai listened to the door opposite the entrance, and heard a gurgling, gibbering sound oddly like a child crying. He wondered if this was what had lured them down into the temple.

In this hallway they found the corpse of a priest in blue and silver robes. In its hands were clutched several scrolls. One was a sort of inventory of treasure delivered to neogi. The other was a journal, dated about eighty years ago. It told that the priests had been persecuted by the anti-religious dwarves. In desperation for sanctuary they turned to the neogi, who in return for handsome payment dug the plot for this subterranean temple. But the men were foolish to trust the neogi – the creatures dug secret entrances into the temple, and collapsed the ceiling on the main stair toward the surface. The priests were trapped and attacked. Despite unfavorable odds, they killed the neogi attackers, but they were still stranded underground. Something else continued to plague them. Some hideous thing was playing with their minds, and snatching them up from their prison one by one. The journal ended with the phrase “Madryth with protect us.”

Apart from the scrolls, the monk’s corpse bore a crystal phylactery with a chain, just like the one the adventurers had found in the neogi vault. Nirvani took it from his head and dug the barbs into her own forehead. Immediately she felt a rush of psionic energy, and became aware of a new fighting style, the Viper’s Fist. Arhuzimel next donned the Viper’s Fist, and Nirvani tried on the first glyph, which turned out to be the Spider’s Fist.

Armed with their new psionic artifacts, the three heroes staged a surprise attack on the room from which the gibbering was coming. There were two neogi, an umber hulk, and several disturbing creatures, which Nirvani recognized as foulspawn, humans misshapen from being taken as slaves to the Far Realm. Their skin sagged like wet burlap, and they sported extra limbs, almost like a neogi’s, that had sprouted from their core.

It was a short fight. Sadhai aimed perfect shots at each of the neogi (killing them instantly), while Arhuzimel used the Viper’s Fist to teleport around the room, attacking everything in sight with deadly speed. At one point, with the aid of the Viper’s Fist, he broke through a foulspawn’s face with his bare hands. Nirvani carved up the umber hulk and dropped it dead with her fierce sword.

Down a staircase to the right, the party found a bathing room, where a third corpse clutched a second journal-scroll. It told of how the Senfaer priests created Madryth, an extra-dimensional world where they could escape from the tormentor in the sealed temple. The Fists of Madryth open the gate to the alternate dimension. This body wore a third Fist of Maryth: the Eagle’s Fist, which Sadhai donned with a shrug of his shoulders.

Down another staircase lay a small altar room, where a priest’s disemboweled and brain-bereaved body lay across the altar itself. On the body they found another piece of parchment, this one a diagram of what it called “Madryth, the bridge-world.” As they walked deeper into the continuing temple complex, they felt the metal objects on their persons get soft, as if melting. They interpreted from the diagram that Madryth is a world of different physics, where wood and metal behave differently. They rearranged their gear and prepared to descend into the last chamber of the temple, and closer to the bizarre world of Madryth.

 

XP: 2,242 Each

 

[Releasing Prisoners: 25 XP

Grimlock Encounter: 3,000 XP

Foulspawn Encounter: 3,450 XP

Critical Hits: 200 XP

Investigating the Temple: 50 XP

TOTAL: 6,725 XP]

 

--

Back to Campaign Index

< Previous Episode  |  Next Episode >

 

EPISODE TWENTY-SEVEN: Dreams (Level 11) 

 

The Players:

Mike Eagar (Sadhai)

Kent Lloyd (Kloric)

DM: Kristy Eagar

 

Nirvani, Sadhai, and Fastus returned to Lirandi through the portal. A stoic priest remained behind to disenchant the teleportation circle in an hour-long ritual, guarded by Orlea and Orleo, then return to Lirandi on foot. The rescued orphans were being settled in, and those sent to clean up Binbara had already departed. There was still a lot of concern as to how the neogi and the dwarves had been able to come through days ago. The symbol sequence address for each enclave was supposed to be a closely guarded secret. Closing the portal seemed an essential safety measure.

Exhausted, Sadhai went back to the small chamber he and Kloric were assigned, and falls into bed. Kloric was meditating on the other bed. The two of them are swept up into a surreal shared dream that seems supernatural in origin.

Sadhai was riding a camel through shifting dunes. He heard Kloric’s voice beside him, raised against the wind, as a huge curtain of sand raced toward them from the horizon. Kloric dismounted and settled the camels against a nearby dune. They hunkered down, determined to survive. Determining by touch that Sadhai is having trouble breathing the dust-thickened air, Kloric removed his shirt and climbed out of the shelter to cover the gaps with the fabric. Sand scoured his exposed skin, leaving him bloodied, but Sadhai's breathing improved.

Disoriented, deafened, and blinded, they were trapped there for two days in the storm with no food or water. After some hours of following a mirage, Kloric spotted a true oasis to the south. Another three hours and they arrived at what proved to be a massive outcropping of white rock, worn into strange shapes.

There was a tiny oasis within, with a deep pool of water fed by a hidden spring. Palm trees and gnarled cacti flocked the oasis, on the side of which Kloric found bright red, nectar-filled fruit. Though he sensed something not quite right about this cactus, he and Sadhai each sampled a small sliver of the fruit. The camels ate several of them greedily. After eating they rested in the shade of the cactus.

Suddenly, the cactus came to life, lashing out with barbed vines and wading through the sand towards them as the fruit lingering in their systems took control over their minds. The cactus flayed them with thorns and forced to fight each other. After a brief, tense struggle, Sadhai puts a quick end to the cactus with two stunning critical hits. As the camels brayed in the background, Sadhai and Kloric stared at each other in stunned silence, struggling to catch their breath. Shimmering heat waves rose up around them again, becoming stronger, until the dream reality distorted around them and the scene changed.

They found themselves aboard the deck of a heaving ship, caught in the grip of a storm. The main mast of the ship was broken, making the deck a steeply tilted incline. A few terrified sailors were with them, desperately clinging to ropes. Sadhai heard cries for help issuing from below deck, through a trap door that hangs open.

As Kloric lashed himself to the ship and began to pluck sailors from the waves with a thornless version of his druidic thorn whip spell, Sadhai hauled himsef up the steep incline of the deck toward the open hold door. He saw Nirvani chained by the wrists to the lower deck. For some reason the woman is in her true glory form, her glowing skin and red-feathered wings making a striking image in the dark hold. Sadhai leaped into the hold and smashed the lock away.

Seeing several barrels of salted cod lashed down in the hold as well, he unlashed them, emptied them, and tossed them out of the hold for the others to use as flotation devices. Nirvani slipped, and one of Sadhai's thrown barrels hit her upside the head, knocking her unconscious and flinging her from the ship into the raging water. Sadhai climbed out of the hold screaming her name, just in time to watch a huge wave rip Kloric from the deck.

Kloric hit the water choking, but pale hands caught and pulled him to the surface. He found himself on the turbulent surface, gasping for air and looking right into the eyes of a strange, pale boy with the lower body of a fish. The boy's eyes are a strange light green, his face and dark hair reminding Kloric strongly of Sadhai. "Who are you?" he yelled. "You must tell me!" the boy cried, desperately clinging to Kloric's shirt with his hands. "Who am I? Who am I?"

Sadhai dove into the water, following the glowing light of Nirvani's skin until he reached her. In a great feat of athletic prowess Sadhai pulled her to the surface against the drag of her wings on the water. Kloric, pulling free from the clinging fish-boy, assisted the sailors in making a raft, then made several abortive attempts as a hawk to fly up into the storm and scout for land.

Sadhai was stopped short by the sight of the white-skinned fish-boy, who swam up in front of him. The child grasped Sadhai's collar. To his eyes, the child appeared to look very much like Kloric. "You must help me! Who am I? Who am I?"

Kloric swam to shore with the direction of the fish-boy in the form of a giant kraken. Sadhai scooped up the boy in his arms and staggered through the shallows, carrying him ashore as the sailors and Kloric brought the boat up behind him.

With a dizzying caleidoscope of sliding colors, Sadhai and Kloric awoke. Sadhai was drenched in sweat and gasping. Kloric flopped on his pillow and struggling to breath in the form of a small squid. He turned back into a monkey, and the two looked at each other in confused awe.

 

XP: 3,650 Each

 

[Desert Storm Skill Challenge: 2,800 XP

Zombie Cactus Encounter: 1,200 XP

Sinking Ship Skill Challenge: 2,800 XP

Roleplaying Excellence: 500 XP

TOTAL: 7,300 XP]

 

--

Back to Campaign Index

< Previous Episode  |  Next Episode >

 

EPISODE TWENTY-SIX: Den of the Star-dwellers (Level 11)

 

The Players:

Mike Eagar (Sadhai)

Graham Ward (Fastus)

DM: Kristy Eagar

 

Nirvani and Sadhai went through the portal to Binbara, the Avan Enclave near Ykhel. The teleportation circle room was strewn with the bodies of the people who once lived there, along with several Neogi and strangely, dwarves. Even more strangely, they found Fastus, the jhareth paladin, leaning up against the wall, unconscious and bleeding.

Sadhai searched the enclave for survivors while Nirvani rushed to heal Fastus. He was suffering from a nasty concussion, and came to, groggy and confused. He had been battling neogi with a group of dwarves, when the fight led them to stumble into the ruined enclave, which had fallen to the neogi at least a week earlier. He was surprised to learn that these hidden chambers were a secretive orphanage, as he had seen no sign of children.

Nirvani helped him to a side chamber, and into a bed. As she bound up his wounds, she explained the cryptic message the party had sent him weeks ago, and revealed to him that she not only knew his secret racial identity, but that she was a jhareth as well, showing him her elder form. He looked surprised, but appreciative of her trust. "I see that," he replied in a tone that indicated he was noticing more than just her wings. He added rather ruefully that he should have known.

Sadhai returned with the grim news that he had found no survivors, and no sign of any children. Everything of value in the enclave had been destroyed or carried off. Nirvani went through the portal to bring the news to Father Wittiker, and to bring back help to properly bury the dead. Sadhai sat with Fastus for a while in awkward silence, then stalked out of the room.

Nirvani, Sadhai, and Fastus rested for the evening in the ruined enclave as Fastus recovered from his concussion. Several Avan priests and operatives worked through the night, identifying and removing the dead for burial, and destroying evidence that might link this enclave to any others. The operatives were still at work the next morning, as the trio of adventurers left to explore the cave complex nearby, and track the neogi attackers. 

The tracks led them into a foul-smelling cavern, where three goliaths and five dwarves huddled around a small fire, manacled and chained together. A neogi slaver and two umber hulks guarded the captives. Our heroes attacked immediately.

The combat was intense. The umber hulks repeatedly struck with heavy, jagged claws, and their mandibles proved to be deadly once they had a victim grabbed. The Neogi lashed out with psychic and charm attacks, matching off with Nirvani as Fastus and Sadhai took down the umber hulks. Though Nirvani was dazed for much of the combat, they slew the enemy, and were able to free the slaves.

As Nirvani attempted to communicate with the silent dwarves, Fastus and Sadhai spoke with the Goliath captives. They learned that the hive was currently in a state of great distraction and relative weakness. Traders from another neogi hive had arrived to buy slaves, including the ones just rescued, and tensions were high. It was the perfect opportunity for a stealth mission to penetrate the hive and rescue several more slaves. 

The next few hours were tense. Fastus, Nirvani, and Sadhai crept through the hive, finding several poorly guarded groups of captives that they were able to rescue with a combination of stealth and assassination-style attacks. One chamber, guarded by a single weary umber hulk, held twenty-five children in dark metal cages – the children from the Avan enclave.

After the guard was dispatched, Nirvani escorted the children out of the hive while Sadhai and Fastus pressed forward, hoping to find more victims to free. With time they came to a vast, natural underground chamber, and lurked undetected in the doorway for a moment to observe the bustle within. The floor seethed with swarms of neogi young, mindless eaters with soft white bodies. Several neogi were arrayed around a dais at one side of the room, where the neogi great old master sat. It was shriveled and hardened, but much larger than the one that the party had killed the day before. Another neogi walked through the room, brushing away the swarming youngsters with annoyance as he waded through them.

Although the two men debated charging in and challenging the neogi head-on, they decided that for now it was wiser to retreat. Fastus was reluctant to leave, asserting firmly that the neogi must be destroyed.

Down another passage Fastus and Sadhai, unseen, incited two quarreling neogi into fighting each other. They also came across another slave carrying a tray of burnt meats, and convinced him to help them free an entire kitchen full of slaves. The goliath ran into the kitchen and shouted to the umber hulks within that the neogi masters called for them. Sadhai and Fastus cut the lumbering beasts down as they ran through the doorway. Their strategy left one umber hulk behind, however. Sadhai charged in, seizing it and throwing it into a large cauldron of boiling water, where it was whacked by a female goliath with a wooden spoon before Sadhai finished it off.

The slaves rescued from the kitchen included Orleo, a goliath warden who was one of only two adults to have been taken alive from the enclave. He was greatly impressed by the diplomacy of Fastus, and agreed to join them, as long as they freed his sister immediately. Sadhai, on hearing Orleo describe how the hive scent-marked their slaves, had an idea. The trio cut out the scent-gland from a fallen Neogi, and smeared themselves liberally in the vile excretion.

Their stealth greatly augmented by this sensory deception, they were able to make one last daring rescue. Down a long passage, past several chambers full of neogi, they came to a torture chamber where a slaver was lashing a female goliath with psychic energy. She was Orlea, another Avan operative, and Orleo's twin sister. Sadhai restrained Orleo as Fastus rushed forward and decapitated the slaver in one stunning blow. The goliath twins recommended an immediate retreat, certain that no further slaves could be reached without an open combat against the whole hive.

 

XP: 3,300 Each

 

[Tracking the Neogi: 100 XP

Neogi Den Skill Challenge: 3,000 XP

First Strike Encounter: 1,500 XP

Rescuing the Avan OPeratives: 1,200 XP

Roleplay between Fastus, Sadhai, and Freed Slaves: 300 XP

Creativity and Strategy: 400 XP

Excellent Diplomacy Check: 100 XP

TOTAL: 6,600 XP]

 

--

Back to Campaign Index

< Previous Episode  |  Next Episode >