July 21, 2012

Encounters with the Rusty Mountains' Less Friendly Inhabitants

Having defeated a slew of demons and retrieved half of the blade to Cervantes' sword, the Motley Crew makes its way out of the pyramid. Much to their surprise, they don't emerge to find an angry mob of Rohri villagers waiting to hang them for blowing up part of their sacred monument. Not ones to waste such a gift, the Crew quickly sneak out of the town, making sure to pick up Lieralyn's horse She-Tan on the way. Once they are safely away from the village, they call Narasimha who carries them back to the oasis where Alana and Otter have been waiting.

Upon their return, they find Alana and Otter have put the time to good use improving Alana's archery skills. Before he leaves to return to the Zhentils, Otter tells Alana to come and find him when she feels she's ready to learn more. Once rested, Narasimha flies them the rest of the way to the foot of the Rusty Mountains. The group says their goodbyes to their new sphinx ally before starting their trek up the mountain.

It's evident the ground has been worn down quite a bit since the last time they were on this trial, most likely from hordes of undead marching through. Now they wonder what they will find when they reach the other side of the mountain. Will Phantar have succeeded in holding back this undead army?

Further contemplation is interrupted when a fireball blasts into the middle of the group. The party scatters as bolts of lightning appear seemingly from nowhere to attack them. Sending Nightshade out, Brecaryn reports that there is nothing around them except some vegetation on the ground behind a boulder. Flerm takes a look and only detects vegetation with his infravision. Taking a chance, he shoots an arrow into the ground behind the boulder, hearing nothing but a thud as the arrow pierces the moss.

Malouf: Who dares attack the Motley Crew? Show yourselves!

C'nway, the orange, bloody-mouthed demon from the previous night, appears. Brecaryn frantically looks through her belongings for the scroll containing a Spell of Demon Protection. Inexplicably, Brecaryn has forgotten the entire encounter with C'nway, including the fact that she used the scroll during that fight.

Brecaryn: I'm confused!

Snow: We fought him last night. You just don't remember. Worry about that later.

Malouf runs up and swings his axe at the demon. As they watch the axe go through the demon's body, Brecaryn, Malouf, and Snow realize it is all an illusion.

Malouf: Face us! Stop hiding behind parlor tricks!

Hearing Malouf, the rest of the group sees through the illusion, as well.

Spotting some movement behind the boulder, Alana lets loose an arrow. A tiny female moss creature with elf ears rises up from the vegetation. Malouf immediately attacks the moss, creating a huge mess as mossy vegetation is splattered everywhere.

Brecaryn recognizes the creatures as something called "obliviax". They steal memories. In order to regain them, the victim eats the obliviax in possession of their memories. Brecaryn cautions that there's a chance of being poisoned by the moss when ingested.

Eating a small piece, Malouf suddenly remembers praying to Yondalla the night before. These are clearly Josy's memories. As Brecaryn begins to study the remaining bits of moss, Flerm grabs a large section and swallows it. Flerm isn't poisoned, but he is now in possession of Brecaryn's memories and spellcasting knowledge.

Brecaryn looks at Flerm in horror while Malouf tastes small bits of moss in order to identify the remaining memories. With no chance of getting her own memories back, Brecaryn takes Flerm's moss for future potion-making. The two bicker over the incident as the group moves on. Along the way, the party is attacked by a group of ascomids - round, puffy objects that release spores upon impact. Alana easily picks them off from a safe distance.

Ribbit!

As evening approaches, the Crew starts searching for a likely campsite. They find one looking suspiciously inviting. On alert, Malouf notices the ground around the fire pit is made of wood that has been meticulously covered by dirt and sand. As Malouf continues to investigate, Snow moves to higher ground to keep watch.

Removing a plank, Malouf easily detects a natural gas odor and understands how the trap was supposed to work. Malouf explains that had they lit a fire, it would have burned through the wood, igniting the gas.

While Malouf is talking, Snow detects a whisper of movement in the air. Turning, she reaches out her hand, catching an arrow aimed at her. She now spots two well-hidden men several meters to the north and warns the group.

Brecaryn sends Nightshade up to scout for more attackers. Nightshade sees two more to the west. Lacking spells, Brecaryn takes out her Stave of Swarm, conjuring wasps to attack the pair.

One pulls out a wand and turns Lieralyn into a frog before she can kill him. The other grabs her, putting a sword to her little froggy head.

Bandit: Drop your weapons or I'll kill her. If you let us go, we'll drop the frog.

Flerm complies but threatens to kill them if Lieralyn comes to harm. Josy restores Lieralyn, commenting that based on the effort required to reverse the spell, their magick-user was quite strong. With everyone back to human form, they set off to find a better area in which to camp.

The next day, at the top of the mountain, they do not meet with any frost giants, but detect evidence of a battle near their home. Not finding any frost giant corpses, the Crew hopes their friends are safe.

As they near the dwarf city of Rockholme, the party comes across a skirmish between a group of dwarves and some skeletons. The dwarves easily dispatch the skeletons. Recognizing them as the Motley Crew, the dwarves ask for their assistance in destroying a doomsday device called Mimir's Furnace. Malouf is asked to help the dwarves near the battlefront to deal with a group of undead while the rest go to stop this doomsday device.

A New Friend

After the successful destruction of Mimir's Furnace, the party regroups with Malouf. The dwarves escort them nearly to the foot of the mountain where they encounter another group dwarves and an elf. A dwarf named Nilly explains that the elf Thydor was separated from his group. They hope the Motley Crew can assist Thydor find his way back to his people. The dwarves cannot leave this area as they have been charged with blocking the path of any undead coming down the mountain pass.

Looking out onto the battlefield, the Crew is greeted with a disheartening sight. They had hoped the death of the Oblivion King would turn the tide of battle in their favor, but the undead seem just as organized and numerous as before.

With a sudden push forward, the dwarves create an opening in the undead horde for the party to rush through, bringing Thydor along with them. Running towards the consecrated spring, they spot a group of rangers fighting undead giants and skeletons and decide to assist.

Flerm: I have fireball!

Sadly, Flerm is unaware of one major restriction of spellcasting - armor cannot be worn. He becomes very aware of this rule when he starts smoking and no fireball appears. The rest of the party charges into the fray.

Josy shouts "Look!", gaining the attention of two skeleton champs and turning them with her symbol of Yondalla. Brecaryn shoots lightning from her fingertips at the giants, realizing too late that Malouf has climbed onto the back of one, inadvertently catching him in her attack.

Having fought several undead giants at this point, Snow goes for her now favored method of dealing with them by shattering their kneecaps, immobilizing the giant zombies and bringing their heads closer to her fist.

To the west, they spot a group of wights standing around with bags on their heads being lead by skeleton champions. Knowing the longer the fight goes on, the more undead will be attracted to the area, the group does as much damage as they can in one concerted effort before making a run for it, reaching the shielded spring a little worse for wear.

Qikko: Ooooh!! Brecaryn! Welcome! Welcome!

The rangers' cleric heals the group while they all exchange greetings. Making sure the rangers do not need any immediate assistance, the Crew heads to the city, running through the blessed stream. On the way there, Snow sees a skeletal creature climbing on the outer walls. She alerts Alana who easily shoots the undead creature down. They do not recognize the creature, but make sure to warn the city guards to watch out for it.

Back in South Luka

They are taken immediately to see Phantar. They find him in a meeting with Lord Miles, Miles' advisor Lightfoot, the captain of the guard Battleaxe Harold, Bull Ironhand of the dwarves, Celial of Morwyn's elves, and Bregné of Eldric's elves.

Lord Miles: (sneering) So, you've returned from your fool's quest.

Ignoring Miles, Snow gives a brief description of the destruction of the Oblivion King's phylactery and physical form. Phantar confirms that there was a brief period of time when the undead seemed to lose focus, wandering aimlessly. But it didn't last and they were back to making a concerted effort to breach the barriers into the rest of Chumera. Brecaryn postulates that the vampires who repeatedly escaped them are likely the ones who have taken up where the lich king left off.

Snow inquires as to the state of the war.

Phantar: Someone (looking at Miles) offended the Broken Bone orcs, and now they refuse to allow any elves or knights through the east side of South Luka. With the magickal barrier down, getting reinforcements into the area is vital to preventing the undead from swarming into the rest of the nation.

Snow: We can talk to them. However, we will need something to bargain with.

Phantar gives Snow permission to make offers to the orcs on his behalf. After the meeting, Snow pulls Phantar aside to get specifics as to the extent of these offers. Phantar agrees to give them the land south of Betaya, north of the Lukan sea by the coast on the condition that the orcs allow open trade routes and do not attack the citizens of Chumera. He knows this will infuriate Miles, but is willing to risk it.

Snow also tries to speak further with Lightfoot regarding the death of Oliver, having noticed the two talking to each other before, but he rebuffs her with an angry dismissal.

With it being too late to leave for the Broken Bone camp, the party breaks up for some much needed rest and relaxation. Malouf takes Thydor under his wing, bringing him to various pubs, ostensibly to help Thydor find his group, but in reality to get them both as drunk as possible. Needless to say, Thydor's friends are never found. So Malouf invites Thydor to stay with the Crew until he does meet up with his friends again.

A Diplomatic Mission

The next day, Thydor offers to stay in South Luka with Josy to help the injured while the others pay a visit to the Broken Bone. Since She-Tan can keep horses calm as they travel past the undead, the party is able to ride, and the journey is accomplished much more quickly than if they made the trip on foot.

Early into their travels, they encounter and plow through a group of undead monsters - a giant lizard, a bugbear, a gnoll, and a minotaur.

Malouf: Die, foul creatures!

And die they do, as the Crew easily decimates them.

Hearing a splash, they look over to the Lukan Sea. To their surprise, a smallish frost giant emerges with a white-haired man cloaked in darkness - probably a vampire.

Frost Giant: By Ymir! You are magnificent! We haven't seen anyone like you since...

Vampire: Let's go. We don't want to mess with these guys.

And the odd pair leave, returning to the water.

Shortly thereafter, the Crew arrives at the Broken Bone fort. Initially, the orcs react with hostility, but upon seeing the flag identifying them, they wave the group in. Eragash of the Broken Bone welcomes them, proudly describing their exploits of late. When Snow brings up the Knights of Phantar, Eragash minces no words as he tells of all the insults they suffered from the humans.

Snow reacts with sympathy, explaining that there are some humans who haven't got the brains to temper their mouths, but reassures him that Phantar in no way shares these ignorant prejudices against the orcs, nor are they in charge of making decisions. She presents Phantar's offer as a show of good faith from Chumera's king. Though at first reluctant and mistrustful, Eragash trusts Snow's assurances and accepts Phantar's offer, agreeing to allow Phantar's people into this area.

Eragash will also send a few representatives of the Broken Bone back to the city with the Crew - an orc general named Grethegar, a goblin, and an ogre. Snow cautions Eragash that they must have level heads because they would most definitely encounter with many more insulting hotheads in South Luka.

Concluding their discussions, Malouf asks the group to go with him to speak to the swamp people camped nearby. Now that Aten has left, the barbarians are unsure of what to do. Malouf sees his friend Lester Glenn in the group and is able to convince him to join forces with the orcs against the undead.

Satisfied with the day's work, the Motley Crew rides back to South Luka. They can't wait to see Lord Miles' face when he finds out what they've done.

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