Book 1:
Chapter 3
“A
Hollow Under Two Large Stones”
GM: Dale Carroll
Characters:
Jennifer Smith - Ioreth,
High Woman Magic User
Baranora,
High Woman Fighter
Melody Soice - Elari, High Elf Healer
Anarion,
High Man Ranger
Kelvin Soice - Feor-fin, High Man Paladin
Crissaegrim,
High Man Cleric
Session 17
Elari keeps Feor-fin from falling. Crissaegrim kills #4 with a lucky arrow shot. The combined attacks of spiders #2, 3 and 6
badly hurt Crissaegrim and eventually knock Baranora unconscious. Feor-fin is on the other side of the outlet
and has badly hurt #1 who retreats and is replaced by #5. Elari puts spider #3 magically asleep long
enough for Crissaegrim and Anarion to seriously hurt it. Spider #2 continues to attack the downed
Baranora, savaging her body eventually impaling her heart. Spider#2 then jumps up and tries to attack
Anarion but Ioreth promptly electrocutes the beast. Anarion kills #6 then #3.
Spiders #1 and 5 are both badly hurt and try to run away but Feor-fin
kills #5 first. Feor-fin and Anarion
carefully follow the retreating #1 down a narrow corridor, through a small bone
strewn cavern, into a larger worked room with an exit on the opposite side to
what looks like another room. Feor-fin
and Anarion hear noises from the other room and move up slowly. The rest of the party tries to save
Baranora. Drawing on the unholy power
of her Spider ring Elari is able to repair the heart damage. Ioreth and Crissaegrim begin to heal her
extensive internal bleeding. More
scuttling noises are heard from down the SW opening, Ioreth shoves her magical
staff into the narrow opening and succeeds beautifully; much too well as a
massive bust of fire fills the opening so much that the back-blast nearly
immolates herself and the rest of the party as well. Crissaegrim is knocked unconscious; scuttling noises turn to
thrashing then stop. Feor-fin and
Anarion carefully round the corner and find spider #1 …and its mother.
Session 18
This ‘adult’ spider is at least 4 ½ feet tall and charges after
Anarion and Feor-fin who retreat to just inside the bone filled cavern so they
have room to fight but the adult spider is restricted. Blocked behind the adult spider in the
corridor is the badly hurt but still ready for a fight spider #1. Feor-fin is hurt, stunned, pulls back behind
Anarion to recover but this allows the adult spider to advance and gives spider
#1 the opening to burst out of the corridor and attack Anarion as well. Hearing the cries of combat Ioreth leaves
the rest of the party and moves up the channel to behind Feor-fin and Anarion,
she is only able to singe the adult before it strikes her hard forcing her to
retreat back to Elari. Anarion kills
spider #1. The tough exoskeleton and
large mass of the adult spider allows it to absorb tremendous punishment but
Feor-fin and Anarion are able to wound it enough so that as a desperate measure
it pushes past the heroes and charges down the corridor after Ioreth and the
rest of the party. Just as it bursts
through the opening Ioreth burns a leg off the spider. Unfortunately, this was not enough to stop
the inrushing beast and as Ioreth turns to flee it leaps onto her back pinning
and crushing her. Anarion is the first
to get down the corridor and up through a leg joint buries his sword into the spider. The exhausted and wounded Ioreth tries to
heal herself but is too weak to control her own magic and suffers a minor
stroke, <<knocked unconscious she will be unable to cast spells for at
least two weeks and is at -50 to ALL actions for 1 day>>
Session 19
After resting for 4 hours it is now morning day 11. The heroes move out through the northeast
outlet to explore rest of complex.
Complex is small, mostly natural cavern that has been expanded and
worked. Complex is basically empty, no
artifacts or carved symbols, but spider tracks all over. Past point of first meeting with adult
spider, ‘no nest’ sighted. Branch. Left branch links back up with the southwest
outlet and at a wide point in the corridor has a sarcophagus, no magic or evil
detected so bypassed. Between the
southwest outlet and the sarcophagus the corridor makes a right angle turn, at
this turn some kind of plate or trigger was detected on the floor, bypassed. No sign of creature Ioreth must have killed
with her staff flame. Right side branch
two goes down a level, climb up level over a rock face where there probably
were dismantled stairs into room with a tri-foil type symbol on floor, 4’ wide
vent in ceiling above symbol from which outside air is coming from. Three sarcophagi beyond symbol, Elari says
the middle sarcophagus has magic emanating from it. Beyond the sarcophagi is the last nest of spiders. Attacked by 5 spiders and one adult spider. No immediate sign of the spider that Ioreth
must have wounded/killed with her staff flame.
Combined attacks of spiders #3, 4 and the adult bring Baranora down with
severe bleeding. Feor-fin kills the
adult but is knocked out by the combined attacks of #2,3 and 4. Anarion and Elari kill #1 and 5. Crissaegrim switching his bow for mace and
shield defends the left flank. Elari
finishes off the badly wounded #4.
Anarion slowly winning against #3 but takes an unlucky devastating hit
and is knocked down with severe bleeding.
Spider #2 manages to inject Crissaegrim with a large dose of venom that
leaves him dazed <<stunned for 5 rounds>>. Ioreth, still largely dazed, has enough
sense left to step in at this time to defend Crissaegrim. Spider #2 eventually cripples Ioreth who
bleeding profusely, withdraws, then the spider wastes the rest of the time
missing Crissaegrim. Trying to defend
Anarion’s body Elari’s sword breaks against spider #3. Elari tries to grab Anarion’s holy sword but
it rejects her, a voice sounding in her head “Be gone foul thing!”. Sword would have electrocuted Elari if she
had not immediately let go. Elari puts
spider #3 asleep long enough to kill it.
Elari puts #2 asleep long enough for Crissaegrim to seriously wound it
but Elari gets the final kill. Seems to
be the limit of the complex.
Session 20
Crissaegrim and Elari engage in desperate action to save their
dying comrades. Baranora is in
particularly bad shape with Ioreth only a bit better. Instead of using First Aid Elari takes all the bleeding onto
herself, too much bleeding and she falls unconscious and has trouble stopping
the bleeding. Inspired to save his
expiring friends Crissaegrim is able to staunch the much of the bleeding
himself. Elari nearly dies from this
blood loss alone; Crissaegrim at the last second is able to pull her back from
the brink <<use of fate point a make a successful Life Keeping
Spell>>. They have at least
managed to stabilize Feor-fin and Anarion.
Meanwhile the spider’s poison continues to cause damage to Ioreth and
Baranora who are already in critical condition. Manwe calls on Crissaegrim to halt prolonging Baranora suffering
<<multiple failures to successfully cast Life Keeping Spell>> and
her soul finally departs from this earth.
Elari and Crissaegrim, by now focusing their healing efforts on Ioreth
are much more easily able to stabilize her.
Elari mediates for 2 hours while Crissaegrim stands guard. Afternoon of day 11.
<<Elari, Anarion
to 6th level. Feor-fin,
Crissaegrim, Ioreth to 5th level. >>
Session 21
Party rests for 12 more hours and completes healing. Elari has begun to hate the Spider ring and
finally asks for Crissaegrim’s help in removing the cursed thing. Crissaegrim prays for help from Manwe and
his prayers are answered << double open ended roll to Neutralize Curse –
ring is neutralized for ~5 minutes>>.
Rip off the ring. Surprise! The
ring has infected Elari’s blood with its poison/curse. Elari’s finger starts to turn black. Anarion chops Elari’s ring finger off. Not much help as rest of hand starts
dying. Crissaegrim casts Neutralize
Curse on Elari, Elari casts Neutralize Poison on herself – but this gives
temporary relief only, Elari continues to slowly die. Desperate, Anarion strikes the Spider ring with the holy ‘Evil
Fear My Wrath’ sword. A massive
electrical shockwave badly injures or stuns the entire party, Crissaegrim and
Ioreth especially affected. Finger
reattached, and Elari puts back on the ring.
The party rests for 12 hours to recover from the effects of the
blast. Afternoon day of 12. Heroes investigate the Left sarcophagi, seems
to be sealed with a tar like substance that has not degraded over time. The seal broken and a yellowish gas start
escaping. Party retreats, no ill
effects, gas settles as yellowish dust.
Dust does not react to fire, is carefully brushed off cloths. Lid lifted off the Left sarcophagi; find
only bones and rotted cloths so the lid is replaced. Attempt to remove the lid from middle sarcophagi, no success
despite many tries. The Heroes leave;
on the way out they attempt to trigger the plate/trigger between the southwest
outlet and the lone sarcophagi. They
hear a ‘click’ and nothing more. Leave
complex, hear a repetitive gong like sound.
Heroes go to investigate, if only to silence noise so it does not bring
more orcs. Find it is coming from
another nearby joint between two rocks located to the SW of this complex. Ioreth left outside to give warning if
anyone comes. Feor-fin, Anarion,
Crissaegrim and Elari proceed inside.
Elari detects magic from somewhere to the East, underground. Down short slope, R turn to Southeast to
corridor. Same style of worked and
expanded cavern as before. Passed
opening in ceiling which opens directly into the lone sarcophagi just beyond the
southwest outlet of the previous complex.
Sound is very loud now, fabric stuffed in ears to protect them. R turn to Southwest, opens up to a small
room with 8 armed and armored skeletons along wall (4 armed with spears, 4
armed with axe and shield), a gong on the far side that seems to be ringing
magically. As a guess, the bones may
originally be that of high men.
Session 22
The eyes of the skeletons come to life with an evil glow and
they start advancing on the heroes. The
heroes rapidly back up to just out side the entrance so four of them have room
to maneuver but the skeletons can only come out two at a time. Ioreth with her magical staff steps up,
everyone else ducks. Ioreth again
succeeds wonderfully with her staff, doing moderate damage to all the skeletons
and to herself. Ioreth notices just in
time to restrain a secondary power of the staff to cause an expanding ring of
fire around the bearer that in this case would have immolated her friends. In alternating rows of axe men then
spearmen, the skeletons advance past the entrance and combat beings. Crissaegrim takes a hit to his Achilles
tendon and has to withdraw and pulls out his bow. Ioreth clambers on top of the entrance and shoots arrows down at
the ghastly foes. Because of their formation
the spear armed skeletons are able to support their axe-armed brethren. The skeletons are extremely powerful and
fairly smart but our heroes are better, 5 skeletons are ground into dust before
Anarion also takes a hit to a tendon in his legs but the three remaining
skeletons withdraw beyond the R turn in the corridor. The heroes pull back and Elari begins to heal the wounds,
focusing her body’s efforts it will take approx 30 minutes for Elari to grow
new tendons. While the heroes are
tending to their wounds Feor-fin notices something moving in the bush off in
the distance to the Northwest.
Crissaegrim is able to discern that it is an orc. Feor-fin and Anarion race off to kill the
orc, while Crissaegrim and Ioreth drag Elari to a more defensible position on
top of the entrance to the spider complex.
The orc gives cry for help and as Feor-fin and Anarion crest a rise they
come skidding to a stop, gulp and run back for their lives as five goblin
mounted Wargs come over the next rise.
Crissaegrim and Ioreth drag the still hobbled Elari into the main room
of the spider complex. Feor-fin and
Anarion make it back in time, standing just outside the entrance they shoot
arrows at the lead Warg and actually manage to hurt the ravening beast in the
leg causing him to stumble and fall spilling his rider. However, at least twenty more dark forms of
orcs are seen running up well behind the Wargs. The heroes retreat to just outside the entrance. The dark forces are coming up from behind
the Southeast pointing entrance, the leader Warg and another leap over the
entrance attempting to land in front of the heroes. Bad mistake as it allows for the alert heroes to get a hurried
shot at their bellies. Feor-fin misses
but Anarion is able to fatally stab the leader Warg in the throat as it sails
over him. Hopefully this combat will go
well for the heroes, they are fewer in number but the orcs are noticeably tired
from their run and it is daylight outside.
It is still afternoon of day 12.
Session 23
Anarion, Crissaegrim and Feor-fin hold the entranceway. The fight goes well for the heroes until a
Warg leaps up and disembowels Crissaegrim.
Crissaegrim in screaming agony falls back. Elari has managed to crawl forward and begins to heal
Crissaegrim. Elari cannot be moved for
at least 1 day while her body tries to knit together her intestines. Crissaegrim has not quite yet recovered
before a goblin makes a lucky stab at Feor-fin’s heart. Ioreth draws her sword and nimbly leaps over
her fallen companions to hold the right flank.
Elari takes the stab to the heart upon herself, falling unconscious and
forgoing the dark temptation to use her cursed ring, Elari’s body begins the
long and difficult preparations to close this wound to. Feor-fin recovers, Ioreth falls back, and
orcs start arriving at the entranceway.
A giant orc armed with a two-handed sword appears behind the rest and
tossing aside his companions starts pushing his way forward towards
Feor-fin. Our heroes prepare for this
titanic confrontation. Anarion summons
forth a firebolt that would have incinerated the head off this foul champion,
…but he dodges it << orc champion has a Fate Point and uses it, rerolling
the hit >> but only partially as the burning bolt splashes across his
face instead, making him even uglier if that were possible, and knocking him
out.
Session 24
Then there is the blast of a horn in the distance, the orcs
point excitedly to the North and withdraw off a bit. The sound of approaching horses is heard. Enemies or Allies? Allies of the orcs it would seem, according to Ioreth the orcs
begin talking of “The Lady” and some arguments heard. A female voice in elvish calls out. Elvish voice says we will be allowed to live if we give up the
“darkling stone”. Elari briefly tries
to talk to this woman who turns out to be a half-elf, Elari tries to put a
spell on her and fails, so combat begins again. Up to the cave mouth walks a giant goblin, at least 7 feet tall
and starts combating with Feor-fin.
Also plaguing the paladin is a dark Northman priest and the Lady begins
shooting with a heavy crossbow.
Session 25
The heroes continue the fight, concentrating especially on the
giant goblin that is apparently named ‘Frithgoth Blood Eye’, forcing him to
withdraw. After peppering the heroes
with crossbow bolts The Lady uses her magic to leap directly into the fray, only
to be rendered briefly unconscious by Elari’s magic. The badly wounded Frithgoth sacrifices himself to protect his
lady and he falls, as does the orc champion.
Wielding a huge battle-axe the Lady is a devastating opponent and faces
off against Anarion and Feor-fin.
Anarion was able to shoot a flame bolt that engulfed the dark Northman
priest in fire but the priest was able to heal himself before he succumbed to
the shock.
Session 26
Crissaegrim uses his magic to quell the Lady’s lust to fight
<<Calming spell>>. The
Lady uses her magic to leap back out to beside the dark priest. The badly wounded Anarion withdraws to
Elari’s side to be healed of his many hurts.
As soon as Anarion returns to the line the badly wounded Feor-fin also
withdraws to Elari’s side for relief.
Only partially healed Feor-fin tries to call upon the spirit of Manwe to
protect him against the priest’s dark magic, but in his fear he shows his lack
of faith and he is rejected <<stunned for 4 rounds after fumble to cast a
Cancel Channeling spell>>
Session 27
The battle continues.
The heroes are forced back a bit but they still hold the line. The Lady jumps over to the side of
Frithgoth, her fallen hobgoblin, and begins administering potions of healing
magic. The Lady then jumps into the
fray but is blocked by Feor-fin.
Restored after drinking more potions Frithgoth lumbers forward. The dark priest continues to work his evil
magic, doing great harm to the bodies of Anarion and Feor-fin.
Session 28
The battle continues.
Crissaegrim uses his magic to quell the Frithgoth’s lust to fight
<<Calming spell>> but that will be his last spell of the day as he
is exhausted. A badly wounded orc gets
in a lucky shot on Feor-fin; Feor-fin is stunned and driven to his knees. Anarion dives in to stop the Lady from
finishing Feor-fin and takes a punishing hit from the Lady. Elari is able to put Frithgoth to sleep but
the combined efforts of Crissaegrim and Ioreth are only able to wound him
before he recovers. The heroes are
pushed farther back to into the cave.
Overcome with many wounds Anarion falls.
Session 29
The battle continues.
Elari is able to put Frithgoth to sleep again; Crissaegrim tries to take
advantage of this but is stymied by arrow fire from the few remaining
orcs. Suffering many wounds battling
orcs, Ioreth slumps unconscious against the cave wall. Frithgoth eventually recovers and is able
to overpower Crissaegrim who falls bleeding to the ground. However, Crissaegrim had managed to hold off
Frithgoth long enough for Elari to crawl over to the unconscious form of
Anarion. Feor-fin had been successfully
holding off the Lady for some time but at this point she demands of the Paladin
that he surrender and badly wounded, Feor-fin is forced to consider it. But in the mean time at great cost to
herself Elari has been able to restore Anarion so he can fight and Anarion
stabs Frithgoth mortally in the gut
<<Struck through the liver, Frithgoth will die within 2
hours>>. Feor-fin smiles and
declines the Lady’s offer. Having
taken so many of Anarion’s wounds onto herself Elari slumps to the ground
unconscious. Anarion finishes off all
but one of the orcs who is badly wounded anyways; Anarion looks free to attack
the Dark Priest. At this point the Lady
stops toying with Feor-fin and dispatches him handily <<use of Haste
spell to effect two devastating attacks, Feor-fin can only block
one>>. Anarion decides to
run. Pushing past the Dark Priest, he
is just outside the cave mouth when the Lady uses her magic to leap in front of
Anarion. Anarion attacks desperately
but fails and the Lady smashes him unconscious to the ground for his impudence.