Eberron Adventure Journal: The Wrath of Vulkoor (2)

Vult 9 - Vult 10, YK 998

Part Five: Scorpion's Sting
The journey back into the jungle and to the drow shrine took about four hours on horseback. To no one's surprise, Halas Martain begged off coming along, and so it was that Maechen, Lysander, Luggoth, Brand and Pel journeyed off to rescue Gunter Hegerin from a fate he probably deserved. On the way, Maechen rode alongside the dour Luggoth, explaining to him that he had been sent by his draconic master to observe Luggoth and his part in the prophecy. Maechen recited the passage of the Prophecy, which was: "In the year that an empire of blood strikes against the goddess of blood, a child will be born to a pack of wild men. This tribe, part beast, part man, will roam the land where Xoriat touched the trees and all within. This child, after twenty summers have passed but before twenty five, will find his destiny. He will lose all he holds dear at the hands of evil, and choose instead allies willfully wearing the mark of the wolf, some also bearing the marks of the dragon, to struggle against terrible forces. He will stand and be judged by gods, men and demon alike. He will face his own righteous anger. He will struggle with his own nature. And his decision will tilt the balance." Lysander thought this definitely sounded like Luggoth, but Luggoth himself wasn't so sure, having little interest in prophecy.

Eventually, their journey took them to a rope bridge crossing a deep chasm, which Hackrazet had told them would be about 100 feet or so from the drow temple. Wary of ambush and expecting drow trouble, the group drank antitoxin from the party's store of supplies. Brand then decided to do some scouting, using a scroll of talk to animal to speak with a nearby bird and send him on a scouting mission across the way. The bird gave them enough information to realize that there was a Scorrow with the drow, but didn't spot any of their foes hiding in the forest and undergrowth the other side of the bridge.

Lysander cast invisibility on Brand, who crossed the bridge. About halfway across, he spotted a drow hunter hidden in the underbrush, but when he realized that the drow couldn't see him, he continued on. Slowly, he snuck up behind the drow hunter, but as he was about to strike, a guttural voice called out a warning in the drow language, and a Scorrow rose from its hiding place in the underbrush.

While Maechen meditated to enter prophetic favor, Pel, Lysander and Luggoth charged across the bridge. Two Xen'drik boomerangs came flying out of the jungle, one of them nicking Luggoth's shoulder as he ducked out of the way of the other. Brand attacked the hunter, but with the warning he had gotten from the Scorrow, he managed to turn Brand's deadly sneak attack into merely a severe wound.

The Scorrow rushed over to help, slashing at Brand with his long knives and stinging him, the poison overwhelming Brand's system, even with the antitoxin, and causing him to weaken. Seeing this, Luggoth shifted and rushed to kill the wounded drow hunter in front of Brand, even as Maechen fired magic missiles at the Scorrow. Unfortunately, the magically-resistant Scorrow shrugged the attack, although he couldn't shrug off a slash from Brand's shortsword that chipped away part of his chitinous carapace. Pel, feeling the blessings of the Traveler so that he could evade the underbrush with ease, rushed over to the other drow hunter and dealt him a nearly deadly blow with his scimitar.

The Scorrow struck Brand again with knives and tail, and Brand stumbled back, struggling to remain conscious as the poison coursed through his system and swallowing a potion of cure moderate wounds. Luggoth pressed past the dead drow hunter and slashed the Scorrow with his greatsword, although the beast seemed in fine shape, enough to dodge Maechen's ice knife spell at least.

The other hunter turned and ran back toward the jungle, clearly intending to warn the drow at the temple, but Pel rushed after him, although the blessing of the Traveler faded just as he swung his scimitar, and he struck a thicket of vines instead of the hunter's head. Fortunately, Lysander was watching and managed to drop the runner with an arrow.

The Scorrow rained a couple of ineffective blows on Luggoth's glamered breastplate, and then was beaten down by Luggoth, magic missiles from Maechen and a wound from Brand's rapier. He scuttled back, heading for the deeper jungle, but before he could get far, Luggoth, Pel and Brand pulled out their bows and crossbows and peppered him with bolts and arrows, and Maechen finished him off with his wand of magic missiles.

After giving Brand a potion of lesser restoration to fight off the effects of the poison, the group began moving toward the temple. They moved about forty feet into the jungle, hearing the distant sounds of chanting and drumming, at which point they sent Brand ahead to scout once again. He reported back that there were two drow warriors, two drow women (one obviously a spellcaster), a shaman and a bound and gagged Gunter, and they were performing some kind of ritual to a large scorpion with a fiendish appearance. He believed that because of the noise, they should be able to approach fairly easily.

This turned out to be true, and the Wolves moved into position. Brand fired first, loosing an arrow and killing the warrior who was guarding Gunter. Luggoth fired an arrow into the older drow woman, who reacted by using a scroll of invisibility. Maechen, seeing that the attack was on, launched a fireball that killed the younger drow woman and wounded the shaman, and Lysander launched into an inspiring ballad.

The drow shaman cast Prayer on his allies, and one of them moved over to push Gunter into the pit with the scorpion. Moving quickly, Luggoth shifted, flew into a rage and leaped into the pit, attacking the scorpion with a fury. This distracted the scorpion from its sacrifice and it turned to attack Luggoth, landing savage blows with its claw and tail. Brand also rushed in, pulling out his swords and attacking, but he miscalculated his approach and suffered a vicious claw strike from the scorpion as well.

Maechen cast haste on the party, and then flew into a rage himself, rushing up to attack the shaman. Lysander and Pel both shot arrows that hit the shaman before Maechen clubbed him. Meanwhile, Crowley, Brand's snake, bit the other drow hunter and knocked him unconscious.

Two more hunters emerged from the back of the chamber, throwing Xen'drik boomerangs into the fray, as Luggoth and Brand continued to exchange blows with the scorpion.

Lysander stopped signing, charging the wounded shaman with his rapier and running him through, as Brand launched a flurry of five blows on the scorpion, leaving it bleeding and dying on the floor of its own killing ground.

Luggoth, Pel and Maechen made quick work of the other two drow warriors, and the sacrifice was over. Or so it would seem. Even as Lysander began casting healing spells, and Brand used his pearl of power to cast embrace the wild and search for the invisible drow woman, she was moving into position. She reappeared next to Luggoth and tried to kill him with a skillful attack that marked her as an assassin. Fortunately, Luggoth's endurance enabled him to survive both the attack and the poison on her blade, and before he could respond to her attack, Maechen, Brand and Crowley had dropped her to the floor, leaving Luggoth to administer the final killing blow.

After finding some magic weapons and gold hidden in an altar, the Wolves mounted back up to head back to Hackrazet's farm.

Part Six - A Demon's Bargain:
Four hours later, as the sun began to set, the Wolves arrived back at Hackrazet's farm. He served them a meal of spiced Gur'kash meat and long corn mash, and offered them cots to sleep in the farmhouse above the Gur'kash. He explained that the Bulette usually attacked in the morning, and that it hadn't been by in a few days, so he expected it soon.

Worried about Gunter's health, the Wolves reluctantly decided to try and feed him. Brand prepared weapons, and Lysander a counterspell, as Pel removed his gag, intending to shove corn mash and water into him. The corn mash got to him before he could speak, but he had a second to speak before the glass hit his lips, and he began to cast what Lysander recognized as a teleportation spell, which he couldn't counter. Fortunately, Brand was quick to smack Gunter with their newly found magical hammer, causing him to fumble the words and lose the spell. Pel decided that Gunter had enough to survive on, and wouldn't be getting anything more.

In the morning, the Wolves were awakened by the sound of the celestial Bulette loudly munching on long corn out in the field. Luggoth leaped down to the floor of the barn, but slipped on a pile of Gur'kash dung and mildly twisted his ankle, causing Lysander to chuckle just a little as he nimbly tumbled to the ground and began singing to inspire. Maechen once again entered prophetic favor as Brand tumbled down and cast Cat's Grace, and Pel chose to simply climb down one of the ladders.

The Bulette continued to munch on long corn, blissfully unaware that the Wolves were moving out into the Gur'kash pen and preparing to attack. Maechen cast haste on the party once again, and Pel cast bless.

Having had its fill of long corn, the Bulette dove down into the ground, and the Wolves rushed out into the field, but found only that the hole had filled in. While Maechen, Brand and Pel continued to cast spells to prepare, and the haste slowly dwindled, the Bulette swam underneath the ground toward the Gur'kash pen. He emerged a few seconds later, swallowing one of the Gur'kash whole.

Luggoth shifted and crashed through the fence, slashing at the Bulette, and as the rest of the Wolves moved in, Maechen began firing magic missiles, which the Bulette's celestial aura shrugged off.

The Bulette landed a nasty bite on Luggoth as the haste effect faded, and the Wolves began attacking in earnest, surrounding the celestial beast and slashing at it. The Gur'kash panicked and stampeded, trampling over Maechen as they tried to flee.

Leaping into the air, the Bulette swung all four of its claws at Luggoth, slashing him badly, but he swung his greatsword at its exposed belly as it came down, cutting a six-inch gash and covering himself in some of its innards and half-digested Gur'kash. Lysander and Brand joined in on the attack as Maechen fired empowered magic missiles, and the severely wounded Bulette dove into the ground once more, disappearing before they could land a killing blow.

Unable to track down the Bulette, Hackrazet offered Brand another deal, suggesting that he could simply owe him a favor. The group was wary, given that they already owed a favor to a death priest, but saw no easy way out. Brand negotiated that the deal wouldn't involve killing anyone, or doing incredible harm to anyone they held incredibly dear, and Hackrazet accepted those terms, even throwing in a month worth of Eternal Rations as a thanks for their help in driving the Bulette off.

XP:
Lysander 2980
Luggoth 2980
Pel 2980
Brand 3798
Maechen 3798