Friday, February 20, 2009

Denar's Elder Wisdom (Tyma 1-1)

Elder Wisdom by David Ridout Denar

w/ Ariadne (fem minotaur barbarian), Lando Asterion (male minotaur fighter), & Paelius aka Runt (at 5'9” he's the shortest person, male eladrin wizard)

Hired by Tuanek of House Jalt

Off to investigate neighboring ruins.


Came across kobolds halfheartedly guarding amongst pillars. There's also a drake with them. Leader ordered them to kill us; stupid degenerate half-breed.
  1. Yellow-crest waited for the wyrm priest, who called upon Tiamat to bless them. Then the Shield advanced forward. I embarrassed myself when I breathed and hit no one. The eladrin did something arcane and managed to kill one of the lessers. The guard drake came forward while Ariadne attacked one of the kobolds that I missed. Lando charged the drake with his horns. He knocked the drake prone. The kobold stabbed Ariadne as another tossed a javelin to hit me. A third one chucked a javelin at the bull but missed.

  2. Wyrmpriest came forward and threw an energy orb at Paelius. The shield did nothing effective and I healed Paelius somewhat. He came up to hit four of them with burning hands, using his accurate wand but missed the priest. Another kobold fell. Guard drake bloodied Lando. Ariadne missed the kobold and moved past two more to get behind them. All three struck at her and two hit her. Lando, using the flank that the other minotaur provided, still missed. Lessers hit me with a javelin and another one tried to circled around Ariadne to stab her but she gored him.

  3. Wyrm priest backed up a little and hit Paelius with fire. Dragon Shield, marked by Lando, hit the minotaur and returned the mark. I used Healing word on Lando before getting into the lesser's face. Paelius hit one kobold with flaming burst, then he hid behind Lando. Guard Drake missed the male minotaur while the female one provoked an op to charge the Wyrm Priest with her horns. She got quite bloodied and the wyrm priest was prone. She then (1 AP) avalanche struck the Wyrm Priest. She killed him and charged the Guard Drake, although she missed. She was bloodied. Lando used a Reaping Strike on the Guard Drake. One lesser completely missed Ariadne while the other missed me.

  4. Dragon Shield attacked Ariadne and stabbed her. I shifted back and hit the kobold with Sacred Flame giving Ariadne a temporary hit point. Paelius killed the other lesser [minion] kobold. Guard Drake snapped at Lando while Ariadne attacked the Guard Drake. She whacked it with her great axe using a Howling Strike. Lando used Reaping Strike on the Guard Drake. The kobold followed me and hit me again.

  5. Dragon Shield hit Ariadne but failed to drop her, then he shifted away from the Guard Drake. My Sacred Flame missed but Paelius' Flame Burst killed the minion. Guard Drake, trapped between the minotaurs, still managed to bloody Lando. Ariadne used her Second Wind. Lando used his Crushing Surge to hit the Guard Drake, taking him down. The bull moved to set up a possible flank on the Dragon Shield.

  6. Dragon Shield shifted, missed Lando and shifted again. I tried to heal the bull but fail. Paelius' Magic Missile hit the Shield. Ariadne charged the bloodied Shield but missed. Lando circled to flank the last kobold and hit him.

  7. The marked Shield hit Lando and shifted again. I tried to heal Lando and failed again. Paelius fey stepped to follow the Shield and took him down but not kill him.

I questioned the little lesser. The leader led them here because supposedly there's a servant to Tiamat here; a blue dragon and they came to offer their services and worship. He gave up his magic gloves and promised to go home.

We met a dwarf, Durnth, a local adventurer by the side of the road and he offeredfood and company. Asked about blue dragons but he didn't know much about it. After lunch, he pulled out waterlogged boots and gave them as a gift (Wavestrider boots) to Ariadne and a bag of pungent herbs for each of us.


Finally we reached the ruins, which was once a great entranceway. Ariadne kept her eyes open for traps but did not see any that were still functional. She did find a +1 great axe. There's several places where Tiamat's emblem had been scratched into the walls. Ariadne, the Bahamut worshipper, the poor deluded cow, scratched them out.


Moving along, the area had been partially cleared. Someone had been camping there and were not good housekeepers.

The ceiling was partially collapsed and rubble littered the room. Bat-like creatures attacked.

  1. A stirge flew down to nip Lando and latched on. Two more flew closer. Lando tried to pry the stirge off and moved through the rubble. Ariadne charged a stirge with her horns, goring it, and knocking it into the pit. I moved into the room and hit the latched on stirge with Sacred Flame. Paelius's burning hands burned two of the stirges.

  2. One stirge flew over to bite and latched onto the eladrin. The one in the crevice regained its feet. The last one continued to suck on Lando, who tried to break it off. After two tries [1 AP] the bull managed to get it off of him. The cow charged the one that's no longer attached and Howling Struck it. She hit it hard and it died. She charged around the pit to swing at the one attacking the eladrin. Delicately trying to hit the stirge without hitting the wizard, I missed. Paelius managed to hit it though.

  3. The stirge sucked on the eladrin as the other one failed to pierce my hide. Lando missed his reaping strike but the backswing killed the bloodied stirge. Ariadne hit the one on the wizard and killed it. I used healing word on the wizard.

Searching the room found some blood-drained kobolds. One wore a red iron belt and one had a ritual book with comprehend languages.


Farther on there's a room with a bubbling fountain. Cobwebs curtained the alcoves. Cat-sized reptiles leapt out and two more drakes emerged from the alcove.

  1. Needlefang drake swarm rusheed forward to knock Ariadne prone, then bit her. Paelius hit the swarm with fire. My Sacred Flame completely missed. The two drakes came out enough to breath acid, hit Lando but missed Ariadne. She stood up, ignoring the swarm's aura. She axed the swarm with recuperating strike. The teeth bit into Lando who used his Crushing Strike but missed.

  2. The marked swarm just missed pulling Lando down but bit him anyway. Paelius's burning hit the swarm and he misty stepped beyond it. I managed to heal some of Lando's harm. The drake spit at Paelius missed while the other one spit at Ariadne but also missed. Ariadne was still being bitten by the swarm as she used her Avalanche Strike on it and killed it. She headed for one of the drakes. Lando followed her but managed to charge the drake. He missed.

  3. Paelius went to the other one and used Burning Hands on it. I backed up the eladrin and was useless. The drake tried to get away but got gored by the minotaur and knocked prone. Drake spit to hit Paelius with acid. Ariadne charged the drake with Howling Strike. Lando killed the drake and went to attack the other one. There's an odd clacking noise from that alcove (horn clack of victory).

  4. Paelius hit the drake with magic missile, bloodying it. I managed to hit the drake with Sacred Flame and it spit to hit the wizard. It retreated around a corner. Ariadne joined me and the eladrin. Lando entered the alcove, tearing through the webs.

  5. Paelius headed down the hall to Scorching Burst the Drake, screw cover from the stone corner but he missed. I managed to get caught in the web and used my 2nd healing word on Ariadne. The Drake missed Paelius. Ariadne, now fully healed, closed with the drake but missed. Lando followed Ariadne through the webs but not enough to reach the drake.

  6. Paelius's burning hands dropped the drake.

Searched the room and Waterdeep it. There were well-gnawed bones in the drake nests. There's coins in the fountains. There's a reflective surface in the water, a crystal vial of healing.


Farther into the ruins, there were stone biers; one of which had been defiled. A ghost formed as did skeletons.

The specter spoke: you do not look like the usual interlopers, who are you and what are you doing here?

We introduced ourselves. He was Odak; this was his tomb. They worshipped Gilgeen (god king of the region, killed by Tiamat). The defilers came in. He didn't want to linger but didn't want just anyone to settle his ghost. I racked my brain but know nothing of the people here.

Ariadne found religious symbols and reassembled the sarcophagus. Lando fixed stuff around the mausoleum. Paelius drew the appropriate symbols to prepare for the ritual while Ariadne did more reconstruction. Guided by the body language of the ghosts I gave some direction to Lando. Paelius recalled some of the correct ritual activities.

We continued to work on the mausoleum, looking for broken symbols, etc. Finally, managed to do the ritual. Odak allowed us to take his treasure in thanks.


Back to Ruinspoke and reported.

It took half an hour to get into to see him. He accepted the report & paid. If he recognized my necklace, he said nothing.


50 gp + ritual book: Comprehend Languages

400 exp


1 comment:

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