So this time we started out entering the castle of ill repute,
which Lukaros admitted he'd visited ages ago when he was a minor acolyte, but
never saw the insides of. He said
that all he knew was that there was an underground complex where the temple
was. He warned you that he'd be
throwing disturbing Lunar magics on himself, and he did; his skin rippled with
rubbery magical energy (he was regenerating 5 hp/round!).
You found a well shaft with a rope leading into a shallow pool,
and went inside. Down a long
passage you met seven ghosts, including a fatigue wraith that hurt Elohwyn
badly, and assorted others that were tough but no serious match for your
combined strength.
In another cave, Lukaros warned you that the mists hanging there
were foul, and then Groloday inspected it and drew the attention of something
lurking in a cave beyond. You
prepared and then rushed it; it was a poison gas-breathing stoorwyrm, a
chaos-tainted draconic thing. Quick
blows from Ji's truesword hacked it down before it could cause too much
havoc. You held your breath and
made it through its cave, rushing past old weapons and armor of its victims and
down a clear passage that led deep into the valley floor. At the bottom of the passage was a door,
behind which Lukaros was sure Nolantor was chanting. You threw everything magical you had and
hacked down the door.
Beyond was Nolantor, in a temple/shrine to The Crimson Bat,
calling up one of its spawn or something.
A demonic shade rolled out of a chasm that divided the room into two
halves, and struck fear into many of you.
Groloday and Nikkolai spent much of the ensuing battles cowering in
fear, but Ji and others hewed the mighty demon down. Elohwyn flew past it and engaged
Nolantor in a game of cat and mouse (cat and bat?), as he cursed at you for
interrupting him. Ji tried a
triumphant leap across the chasm to join her, but fell short and nearly dropped
into oblivion! Dorgon crept across
the wall to help Elohwyn as she let loose her salamander, but she had a hard
time catching Nolantor, who had concealing magics on him.
Nolantor tried to mindblast Dorgon as he climbed, but failed and
left himself open long enough for Elohwyn to get in a blow that severed his
sword arm (after Lukaros dispelled his Concealment). Bleeding to death, Nolantor cried to The
Bat to take him as sacrifice and bring ruin to his enemies. Nolantor was slurped into the void, and
out came a bat spawn of fearsome power.
Ji was hauled out of the pit just in time, and things looked very bad
(Groloday, Nikkolai, and Lukaros held by its tongues). But lucky blows by Elohwyn and Dorgon
knocked it out quickly, and it slid into the abyss, dragging the others toward
it! Luckily its grip was loosed by
swords and its unconsciousness, so the three tongue-tied men pulled free in
time. Phew, was it over?
No. Noises from the
passage you'd just come down revealed that others were coming. Broo spilled into the cavern; most were
weak or wounded and some exploded, harming others, but Ronan the Prosecutor was
there (risen from the dead!). Ronan
dispelled the command spell on ELohwyn's salamander and it had to be dispatched
by Ji after burning a few broo.
Ronan engaged Elohwyn, dismissing her remaining Shield and then
mindblasting her! Things looked bad
yet again. But Lukaros bravely
waded into battle with Ronan, who sought him anyway, and a very lucky head blow
(I rolled all of these head hits, honestly!!!) took out Ronan. Lukaros spitefully dragged him to the
abyss and kicked him in. Ironic
because it would happen to him, too, moments later!
The broo were pressed into the cavern by berserk storm bulls,
hacking anything down that they saw.
The high khan saw Ji and laid into him, but his Berserk spell was
dispelled by Lukaros. A second khan
came and the same happened, but Lukaros passed out from the exertion. The third khan came and was fighting
mightily until he came to his senses and stopped the assault. The three khans rested while their
warriors hacked up any remaining broo.
Dorgon warned them that Lukaros was chaotic, and they slew him and
tossed him into the pit too! You
laid waste to the temple and plundered what you could, throwing anything evil
into the chaos void. Handy, that
void was.
On the way out, greedy Nikkolai couldn't resist the urge to search
among the spoils in the stoorwyrm's lair.
He grabbed a couple of magic things (silver scimitar and lead ingot) but
then took a whiff of the gas and dropped stone dead. Dorgon had to haul him out, and there
was no way to revive him. (Into the
chaos void for Nikkolai too? Just
kidding)
The storm bulls, led by Kharzad Storm Khan and his two khans,
explained that most of them came from the Lance Clan of the Bison Riders, whose
main clan was at the Hidden Greens headed for Pavis now to see some prophecized
wonder. The storm bulls were
returning from near Waterby where they had hunted broo but lost faith in Bos
Tauros, and pursued a main broo force (this one) deep into the hills for weeks,
ultimately tracking them here. They
were sorry about having to kill all your beasts, which the broo infected for
sure, and they had heard from scouts that you were around here hunting moon
men, so they offered to ride with you back to Pavis as allies.
And 2 weeks later you rode with a swelling horde of Bison Riders
from the Lance Clan and other nomads that joined them merrily along the
way. Word came that:
1) The Crimson Bat is/was at the Pairing Stone and/or Waterby
area, and many have been fed to it!
2) Pavis is under siege by all the tribes of Prax, who have sworn
to burn it down and slay every Lunar in the place!
3) Once you reach Far End, which has been wiped from existence by
the nomads, Groloday says he has more information on what's going on.... And you can see fires burning all around
the river valley, and the moon hangs high over the river turning its waters
blood red, and everywhere you can see there are nomads and their beasts around
Pavis.
The Hero Wars are well underway. They are the struggle between This Side
and The Other Side.