Tomb of Horrors-Character Gen Guidelines

Hey gang. Okay, looks like Eberron for sure, just a few hoops to jump through for me, no sweat.

Characters are to be of NINTH level. This is a change based on an extra pc and some guidelines from the adventure. Standard array, just like our other Ebberon campaigns. Assign equipment and gold as per the rules for higher level pc's (it's in the character generator).

The first adventure will begin in the Spring of 998, location on Khorvaire tbd after I see the character builds.

It is imperative because of level and the start year that you know what your character was doing during the Last War because undoubtedly you were of a level to be involved just a few short years ago, four since the fall of Cyre, two since the Treaty of Thronehold. Background may not always affect this particular adventure cycle, but it does affect what happens in between and how you deal with each other, of course.

You will begin play as an established adventuring company in part or as a whole so previous connections are necessary. You will begin play with a drama die if you are connected to another pc in a significant way. Make sure you know your character because I am likely to put you in bonus situations where it will matter. :)

It is generally my style to smooth out problems during play so play what you want, I dig variety as long as it doesn't cross over into silly, not something I expect from this group.

So far I have these sketches:

Ben-Hafling Rogue-Traditional Sneak

Chris-Human Warlord-Did I hear that right?, Cyran would be great, angst!

Randy-Elven Paladin from Aerenal-Cool and prolly a hair creepy, much fun.

Nate-Minotaur Monk-Cannot. Wait. For. This.

Dan-Cool Psion with a touch of Bard or Gnome Slinger Rogue or something else....

Paul-I can't remember what you told me, sorry, I wouldn't know the others if they weren't written.

So:

Striker, Leader, Defender, Striker, and Controller or Striker (ranged) and Paul. (I think Paul is a Bard with a touch of Psion! LOL)

Okay, let the games begin. Send me some backgrounds! I'll post this on the blog.

Oh, yeah, it is possible, however unlikely, that you will need a backup character. Or, um, two. :) tie them to your PC or the party and they will start with a drama die as well.

Wandering Wolves: Lightning & Shadows

Dravago 6 - Dravago 13, YK 1000

It took the Wolves four relatively uneventful days to travel back through the jungles of Xen'drik to Stormreach. Halas Martain attempted no further escapes, and when they reached The Citadel of the Twelve, they found Resolute waiting there with Bethesne. He took Halas Martain into custody and the three of them returned, via Orien teleportation, back to Khorvaire.

After a quick journey to the Ship's Cat to pick up Luggoth, the Wolves decided to buy a few supplies around town. They stopped in at Black Iron and Dagoward's Apothecary to pick up some alchemical items, a magic sword and a magic crossbow.

Pel and Lysander spent a day looking around town and listening for information, and heard many choice rumors, all filed away for future reference. In particular, Pel learned that someone had bought 10 barrels of Sooka, a powerful alcoholic beverage, from Molou's Distillery, which was a fairly significant and unusual amount.

Late in the day, they met Ari Romhaar, the elemental mage, in The Ship's Cat to discuss the business with the Behir he had talked to them about a few months ago at the Wolves' Reward.

They found Ari Romhaar fairly trustworthy. He had been running his Elemental Carnival in Fairhaven for four years, having begun it just after the Treaty of Thronehold ended the war. During the war, he was a spellcaster in the Aundarian army. He is an expert with elemental magic, specializing in lightning, and is in several business associations, including one with Tyman Karch, who had vouched for him.

Ari explained that about nine months ago, during one of his regular scouting trips, he heard of a Behir terrorizing the swamps of Xen'drik. He went out to talk to it, and after four separate trips over two months, he offered it 10% of the gate and an up-front payment of 2500 gold to join his circus for a year. The Behir took the money and signed the deal, but when Ari went back with a barge to transport him, the Behir blasted it to smithereens, killed everyone on board and sent Ari packing. When he went back again two weeks later, having secured adventurers to help him, the Behir killed them and scarred Ari, nearly killing him.

Ari explained that he doesn't want the money back. He spent a lot of time and money on this deal, and the Behir negotiated in bad faith. He still has every intention of giving the creature its money, but he has no intention of letting it out of the contract it signed.

Pel and Lysander examined the contract and determined that it wasn't a forgery, that it was legitimate, and though some of the Wolves had qualms about capturing a sentient creature, they were convinced that Ari was the wronged party.

The next morning, using a map provided by Ari, they went back out into Xen'drik to find and capture the Behir. It took them the better part of a day to find it's lair, and when they did, the found the Behir eating noisily, totally unaware of their presence.

As they moved into positions, the Behir finished its meal and pricked its ears up. It snapped its neck up to its full height and looked around at all of them, easily spotting their hidden positions, with the exception of Pel, and said dismissively "Don't tell me Ari sent someone else."

Lysander pretended not to know who Ari was, but feigned interest in what the Behir was talking about. His delaying tactics didn't fool the Behir, however, and it made a run at Brand, lightning crackling all around it, starting the fight.

Pel called down a flame strike that narrowly missed the Behir as it crashed toward Brand, but Lysander pulled his songbow out of his cloak and launched a saga of vengeance that crashed into the beast. Seconds later, it was on Brand, and it swallowed him whole. William, unafraid of the lightning aura, moved in and stabbed Terminus deep into the Behir's neck, unleashing a gout of blood, and then he dropped into his rain of steel stance. Luggoth charged up to join him, slashing the Behir with his axe. The Behir tried to stomp Luggoth and William, but both of them were able to avoid his thundering stomp. Brand used his dragonmark to emerge from William's shadow, and the Behir responded by craning its neck down and swallowing William instead.

As Pel fired a bolt from his new crossbow, Lysander began a song of encouragement and fired another arrow at the Behir. The Behir found William to be a dissatisfying meal, doing as much damage with his rain of steel as the Behir's gullet could deal out, but he was unwilling to let him go. The pain distracted him, however, and he failed to land claw attacks on Lysander, Brand or Luggoth.

From inside the Behir, there came an appalling crunch as William and Vendetta went to work on the creature's internal organs, and the Behir's eyes crossed, dazed by the attack. Luggoth ignored the lightning crackling through him and slashed again at the outside of the Behir, and Brand took aim and marked the beast for death. It fired off a clumsy lightning blast which grazed Luggoth and Pel, and tried to stumble into better position, but the Wolves were having no real trouble with it.

Pel used his trick strike to move into a position where he could manipulate the Behir's movement. Lysander, after seeing the beast shake off his disturbing visions, jumped onto a nearby tree and swung on a branch to run up the back of the Behir. The Behir stomped and knocked down Whitehearth and Luggoth, but the sound of a victorious surge by William resulted in more blood pouring out of the beast. William followed up with his bodyguard's link strike, and the Wolves saw Vendetta stab right out of the Behir's gullet before withdrawing inside to do more damage.

The Behir, even in its arrogance, could see that the fight was going poorly, and tried to withdraw, but Brand, William and Luggoth all attacked him as he tried to flee. He called a halt to hostilities and offered to surrender, and the Wolves ignored his request as the self-serving bluff that it was. In response, he tried to eat Whitehearth, who leaped out of the way.

Lysander, firing from the back of the Behir, launched an arrow into two of his feet, pinning him to the spot, as William spun Vendetta around and slammed the pommel into the back of the Behir's throat, causing his eyes to cross and pass out. William climbed out of the Behir, and the Wolves followed his trail back to his lair.

The found a not-inconsiderable amount of treasure and dispersed it amongst themselves, setting aside 2,500 gold to give back to Ari Romhaar. Then they began wondering how they were going to get the thing back to Stormreach. Finally, they settled on dosing him with some of the Sooka liquor Pel had bought and pushing him into a portal that Brand opened.

The portal closed immediately, and Brand had to spend 10 minutes opening another one. When they returned, they found a panicked group of the Stormreach Watch desperately whacking the Behir with their weapons, unable to penetrate its hide even when it was unconscious. William went and paid gold to some dockworkers to roll the Behir on logs over to the harbor.

Ari, having heard the new that the Behir was captured, came and found them, recovered his gold and paid the Wolves what they were due. They made arrangements to meet soon about bringing the Carnival of Lightning to the Wolves' Reward to perform.

With the Behir and the fugitives dealt with, the Wolves' last reason for visiting Xen'drik was the party being thrown by Kira of the Order of Q'annhyrde's on the next night. Their invitations read simply "Hylanus - The Black Wrack" and "Illumination." Pel and Lysander easily determined that Hylanus was the name of an elf who sometimes visits the Black Wrack, a tavern in Locksmith Square that boasted that it was the "largest tavern in Stormreach."

Lysander went to investigate the Black Wrack, and found a colorful collection of locals and visitors drinking and a wall known for having job postings for adventurers. He spent some time watching the staff, and didn't find anything particularly noteworthy or germane to the Order or Hylanus. After his scouting, he went to the Phiarlan enclave in the Temple district and spoke with Zarzalia Shol d'Phiarlan, a female dragonmarked bard, who looked into the records and determined that the Order had not hired House Phiarlan to entertain at their party.

Pel, meanwhile, stopped in to visit his sect of the Traveler. He discovered a little bit about the Order of Q'annhyrde, notably that they were believers in something called "the Age of Mortals" and generally of a nihilistic viewpoint. He was also told about the Cabal of Shadows, a sect of the Traveler that operates deep underground in Stormreach and is rumored to be involved in dealings with the Bilge Rats.

William took some time to write a letter back to Karola, describing his conquest of the Behir. He then rolled it up, put it in a bottle and threw it into the Thunder Sea.

The Wolves gathered together at the Ship's Cat, where Luggoth, Brand and Whitehearth had been relaxing for the day. Lysander used a bardic ritual to seek rumors, and was able to learn that Hylanus was an assassin for hire who worked for House Thuranni, and that he specialized in blade tricks, stories, bawdy jokes and illusion magic, and that he has operated for several years in Stormreach.

Forewarned as best as they could be, they sought out Hylanus at a corner table at the Black Wrack. He asked them "What do shadows seek?" and they responded with the code phrase from their invitation, "Illumination."

Hylanus knew them immediately, by sight and by reputation, and made small talk with them, focusing particularly on trying to tease information out of Lysander. All the while, Pel studied him, trying to detect his mannerisms so that he'd have an easier time spotting him even in disguise.

Hylanus asked to see their invitations, and told them that they needed to go an alley in Locksmith Square where they would find a hidden door. They were to knock on that door, and someone would ask them "What do dragons and demons alike fear?" The answer was "The Age of Mortals."

The Wolves took their leave of Hylanus and went to the Silverwall district and Locksmith Square. It took them a few minutes, but they found the right alley and the right door, and made their way past security for the evening, a pair of Iron Golems, to enter a very decadent party. Dozens of prostitutes of various races, though mostly elf, tiefling and human, lounged about or danced for customers, while a half-dozen elven bards sang raucous and disturbing songs mocking demons, dragons and gods.

Lysander recognized the place by reputation, realizing that they were in Shadows, an upscale brothel run by House Thuranni. Rumor had it that this was Thuranni's only real presence in Stormreach, and that they generally served as purveyors of pleasure, rather than assassins, while here.

The sumptuous buffet table included a number of items, including something that was obviously scrambled dragon eggs mixed with cheese, peppers and meat. Brand examined the oversized egg shells containing the scrambled egg dish and determined that they were real dragon. Luggoth and Pel both ate the dish, but the other Wolves refrained. William in particular said that if he ever had a dragon asked him if he'd eaten dragon eggs, he wanted to be able to say no.

The Wolves spotted several local celebrities in the crowd, including a dwarf named Jannus Amanatu who was the son of the Storm Lord Yarrick and a member of the Golden Lions, a group of the city's most respected families. Pel also spotted Genne, a changeling that he had heard was a member of the Cabal of Shadows.

Tira, the shapely tiefling woman who was throwing the party, made a point to come over and talk to Luggoth and the rest of the Wolves. She spoke disdainfully of gods, demons and dragons, explaining that the Order believed that mortals were supposed to shape their own destiny. They believed that the Prophecy, and indeed most traditional morality, were a farce.

Lysander offered up a parable about religion and how mortals couldn't really see the shape of it, relating to mice and a musician, and Kira acted amused, but didn't have an immediate answer. She left to mingle, specifically mentioning to Luggoth that he would fit in well with their Order.

However, Luggoth was somewhat disgusted by this show of decadence and amorality. He caught the eye of Dekker d'Orien, the Siberys heir who had brought them to Xen'drik. Dekker made several cryptic comments about The Order, and told Luggoth to ask around about where the name came from.

Luggoth sought out those answers, and found them in the form of a beautiful elven woman who offered physical temptations to go with the answers. Luggoth resisted the temptation, and got only information. He learned that Q'anhyrde is also the name of a dragon in Khorvaire, who served the Chamber for almost a hundred years, deciphering and shaping the Prophecy, but who eventually declared that nothing mattered but the present. Many believe he is the one who started the Order.

The Wolves had had enough of this party and the Order, and they left reasonably early without indulging in most of the debauchery that was offered. While most of the Wolves went back to the Ship's Cat, Luggoth went to the temple district to visit a Church of the Silver Flame before settling in for the night.

Early the next morning, they heard someone banging desperately on their door. When they opened it, weapons at the ready, Elias Volan tumbled in. He looked exhausted and badly burned, and managed to mutter one word before passing out.

"Demons."

7. Into The Vaults

Nymm 7, YK 1000

We make our way to the Guardian Tower, and pass, among other things, a pre-Schism Temple of the Sovereign Host. We go past the Hall of Champions, which is the base camp of the Champions of Argent, and between that and the Temple is the Marketplace, which is a collection of deserted shops and residences.

Obenharr asks us to hold off any questions and help him defend it from siege by giants and elemental creatures, who are making their way to vaults beneath the tower. He heads into the tower, and Rrowthar leads us down to the vaults, where a door is partly ajar.

As Magnus and Xiu examine the well-constructed walls, Torgen and Alain hear odd, metallic whooshing noises from inside. Alain suspects earth and/or cold elementals inside. Xiu sneaks up to the door to scout, and she sees a large earth elemental and three smaller ice elementals, reports back to the group. Magnus gives nail of sealing to Alain and Xiu. Xiu asks Rrowthar what is in the vaults, and he explains that beyond the entry chamber lies an approach that lies upstairs and a central room with magical defenses to prevent intruders.

Xiu pushes the door open, and uses Bait and Switch on the earth elemental and moves in next to the cold elementals. Rrowthar gets into the middle of the door and uses cause fear to push the earth elemental next to Xiu, immobilizing it. Zargosz launches a fire hawk at the ice elemental nearest Xiu, killing it. The earth elemental (Battle Wall) hits Xiu and shakes off fear. Alain uses Greater Magic Weapon on Battle Wall. Frostfell harrier hits Xiu and the other misses Zargosz. Torgen moves in and charges the Battle Wall. Magnus moves in to attack the Frostfell harrier with crushing surge, misses and takes cold damage and slides back on ice.

Xiu uses Tornado Strike on Battle Wall and Frostfell Harrier, critically hitting the Battle Wall, bloodying it and missing the Harrier, taking cold damage and sliding back, then she shifts back and moves up to the door at the far end. Rrowthar claws the Battle Wall. Zargosz, now standing next to the Battle Wall, shifts back and uses his fire hawk on another Frostfell Harrier, but it misses, and Zargosz is affected by cold damage and slides back. Battle Wall slams its fists into the ground and tries to attack Torgen and Rrowthar, missing both of them. Alain fires magic weapon bolt at Frostfell Harrier near Xiu, destroying it. Frostfell Harrier shifts and attacks Torgen, but misses. Torgen shifts between Frostfell Harrier and Battle Wall, and uses Whirlwind Smite on Harrier, killing it and on the Battle Wall, which is looking pretty bad. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Battle Wall, killing it.

Xiu uses the nail of sealing to seal off the entryway back to the tower. Rrowthar pushes open the door, yells out "The defenses are up! More foes!" and we see four more Frostfell Harriers. Zargosz moves forward. Alain moves up, detects faint aura of enchantment and an abjuration effect in the chamber, and notices that the Harriers are not moving with their usual alacrity, uses curative admixture on Xiu and reloads his crossbow. Frostfell harriers slowly move up and one attacks Rrowthar. Torgen moves and misses. Magnus rushes into the room, drawing an AOO from Harrier, which hits him, and then uses Tide of Iron on the harrier, destroying it.

Xiu sheathes her katar, quick draws her shuriken and kills a harrier with it. Rrowthar moves in and gets in the way of Magnus, attacks another harrier and misses it, but inspires everyone else, although he slides back onto a sigil on the floor. It flares to life and accelerates the slide, and is pushed through another one and past the barrier on the side of the room. Zargosz misses with firehawk, takes cold damage and slides him back. Alain moves up, misses a harrier and is slid back. Frostfell harrier moves to attack Magnus and miss, the other one tries to draw us into the room. Torgen moves up, throws a handaxe at a harrier and kills it. Magnus uses tide of iron on the harrier nearest him and misses, causing him to slide back near Alain, and he moves back to engage again.

Xiu throws shuriken at harrier and kills it. Zargosz moves up, uses prestidigitation to clean dust off part of the floor. Alain moves cautiously in, looking for glyphs, but doesn't see any. Torgen spots two glyphs and moves in, spotting two more, and Magnus moves up to join him, spotting another one.

Xiu follows in the path of the dwarves, and Magnus hears a shout of triumph from beyond the door. Rrowthar is trapped behind the barriers, yelling encouragement at us. Zargosz moves in behind the dwarves. Alain also moves in, and the group is together, moving around the glyphs. Torgen moves up to the door and pulls it open, revealing two Fire Archons and two more Frostfell Harriers, as well as one of the defensive curtains of force. The Fire Archons' shields flare, one crits Torgen and pulls him in, the other one hits as well and Torgen is crispy fried and on fire. Magnus bull charges a Fire Archon, pushing him back and knocking him up, then uses his appalling crunch on the downed Archon, bloodying it.

Xiu moves up, uses defensive stance on Fire Archon and misses with a shuriken. In the back of the room, near the force curtain, a human elemental mage steps out, Magnus spots him wearing a bag of holding, and then mocks us for being too late before firing an elemental burst of cold and fire. He misses Magnus but hits Torgen, sliding him into the corner. Zargosz moves up and calls lightning on the mage, missing. Alain fires and misses the mage, gives restorative infusion to Torgen. The harriers slash at Magnus, but he ignores their attacks due to his resistance, Torgen takes a hit from a harrier. Torgen takes a bunch of fire damage, attacks the frostfell harrier, misses and gets bounced against the wall, he is not on fire or dazed any more. The downed Fire Archon stands up, swings his scimitar at Magnus and misses. The other one attacks Magnus and misses as well. Magnus, standing in the midst of two Archons and two harriers, uses inexorable advance, hitting one Fire Archon.

Xiu moves up, quick draws her katar, changes her defensive stance on the mage, and leaps across the room to land next to the mage with aerial assault. Zargosz hops up and fires locusts out of his mouth at the Fire Archon. Alain pulls out his staff, fires Runic Resistance to kill two harriers, damages bloodied Fire Archon and grants fire resistance to Magnus. Harrier attacks Torgen, bloodying him. Torgen takes a second wind, closes with the fire archon and attacks with valiant strike. Fire archon uses flame shield enticement, hitting Magnus and Torgen, the bloodied fire archon also uses flame shield enticement and hits everyone. Magnus resists all his fire damage, hits the bloodied fire archon, nearly killing it, and he is no longer on fire.

Xiu takes fire damage, uses her armor of sudden recovery to end ongoing fire and gain regeneration, then crits the bloodied fire archon, killing it. She uses her changeling trick on the mage, but he spots it, she uses her action point to use wild tumble cut on the mage, then shifts back. The elemental mage steps back, calls up elemental burst on Xiu, Torgen and Alain, damaging and dazing them, then slams them into the walls. He then spends his action point to do it again, hitting Alain and Torgen and knocking them into the wall, bloodying Alain and knocking Torgen out. Zargosz uses floating death on the fire archon, shifts over to the mage and attacks him, transforms out of his toad form, uses action point to use furious assault and nature's balance on the mage, damaging him and making him vulnerable to damage. Alain takes fire damage, takes second wind, uses action point to fire life-tapping darts at the mage, saves against fire and daze. Frostfell harrier moves to flank Zargosz, slides him into the wall when he misses his AOO, then attacks him, bloodying him. Torgen takes a lot of fire damage, fails his death save. Fire archon crits Magnus, who then takes aura damage, shifts and uses come and get it, drawing in the archon, the harrier and the mage, and the harrier sends him flying into the wall when he misses, then he takes his second wind.

Xiu regenerates, throws a shuriken at the harrier and kills it, she is still dazed. The elemental mage steps back, fires another elemental burst at Alain and Xiu, dazing them. Zargosz moves over and pushes Torgen into the room where Rrowthar can see him, then turns into a big snake. Rrowthar uses healing word on Torgen. Alain uses restorative infusion on himself, is still dazed. Torgen takes fire damage, lays hands on himself, saves against daze. Fire archon regenerates, hits Alain with scimitar. Magnus takes fire damage, moves up and grabs the mage.

Xiu throws a shuriken at the elemental mage, hits him and he teleports away, leaving a burst of elemental force, is still dazed. Zargosz fires and misses fire archon. Alain hits the fire archon with positive energy infusion, saves against daze. Torgen uses majestic word on Alain, lays hands on himself, saves against being on fire. Fire archon hits Alain. Magnus runs around the archon, which misses with his AOO, uses tide of iron to push it next to Xiu.

Xiu hits the fire archon, is still dazed. Zargosz slithers over and spews a cloud of locusts at the fire archon. Alain moves in and kills it with a repulsion strike. We take a brief rest, inspect the area and see that there are things missing that the mage obviously stole.

After about ten minutes, the wards come down, Rrowthar rejoins us, and a lean and haggard Obenharr teleports in. "Argent's defenses are once again in place, we can afford a few moments of rest to talk about the day's events. He took a piece of the divine engine and left everything else." He offers food, drink and explanations.

We take an extended rest, he presents Alain with a magic staff.

King Galifar sent Obenharr here, and sent champions, and he's been here ever since. Argent's mission to guard against incursions from the elemental chaos. According to the Paragon compact, champions are to be sent every generation. Alain explains that Galifar has fallen. The giants are behind the latest attack, but Obenharr is surprised to learn that the mage who attacked us was human. They stole a piece of the divine engine that the dragons used to imprison a primordial named Tinanoh.

If there is a power behind this that is controlling the giants, perhaps that explains the change in strategy. A magical effect keeps the temple district from falling to ruin, even though the inhabitants of the city have died out long ago. Most of the former inhabitants have either died or left when no further champions were sent.

Obenharr did detect the mage teleporting out, but was too weak from sealing the defenses. He tells us about the divine engine, which was used after the end of the war between the demons and dragons. The dragons established the paragon compact, and bound all future civilizations to this compact, which defends Eberron against powerful threats to the safety of the world. The Mystagogues guard against Xoriat, the Argent Defenders protect against the Elemental Chaos.

Quotes:
"Nobody puts Battle Wall in a corner!"

6. Defending Argent

Nymm 7, YK 1000

Bulette misses Magnus. Zargosz, immobilized, turns into a giant toad, fires lightning from his mouth at a Bulette and his crocodile bites and grabs the basilisk, then he turns into a stone toad. Obenharr begins trying to reinforce the magical protections around Argent. Magnus determines that Obenharr is using ancient warding rituals that may be the basis of Kundarak rituals, and the statue is of Boldrei, then attacks and bloodies the Bulette. Galeb Duhr attack Torgen, then withdraws, drawing AOO from Torgen, and the other calls forth a wall of stone that misses Torgen. Another Galeb tries to hit the crocodile with a stone wall, but fails.

Xiu uses her acrobatic strike on the bloodied Bulette, who is looking wan. Torgen attacks a Galeb Duhr through its stone wall. Rrowthar shifts back and roars, blasting the non-bloodied Bulette and healing his allies. Alain steps out and uses lightning motes on Bulettes and basilisk, and is slowed as a result. Bulette leaps at Torgen and attacks, missing. The bloodied Bulette takes 5 from Zargosz's effect, takes her second wind. Crocodile attacks basilisk and misses, and is no longer slowed. Obenharr continues the ritual. Magnus uses crushing surge on the bloodied Bulette and crits him. Galeb Duhr throws rock at Torgen and hits him, another one punches and bloodies him and the other attacks the Crocodile.

Xiu uses acrobatic strike on the bloodied Bulette, nearly killing it, and uses action point but misses. Torgen attacks Galeb Duhr, bloodying him, then moves away, drawing an AOO from the Galeb Duhr and then spends his action point to charge the other Galeb Duhr. Basilisk uses gaze on Rrowthar, Alain and Crocodile, hitting Alain and slowing him. Rrowthar moves. Alain steps into predatory shards, fires off a static shock that bloodies the basilisk and saves versus slow, but is immobilized by basilisk's gaze. Bulette digs into ground, comes up and sprays earth and stone at Rrowthar, crocodile and Alain. The other Bulette shifts, taking an AOO from Magnus that kills him. Crocodile bites the basilisk. Obenharr continues his ritual. Magnus steps and engages the other Bulette. Galeb Duhr attacks Torgen, Magnus and Obenharr unsuccessfully.

Xiu moves in to flank Bulette with Alain with Tornado Strike, hitting him and sliding him into the predatory shards. Torgen runs up next to the Galeb Duhr and attacks him with Ardent Strike and gives Divine Mettle to Alain, ending his petrification. Basilisk takes lightning damage, attacks and bloodies the crocodile, then saves against lightning. Rrowthar uses healing word on Torgen, almost fully healing him, then attacks and bloodies the Bulette. Alain shifts and attacks Bulette with aggravating force. Bulette takes lightning damage, leaps out of the predatory shards and misses Magnus, spends action point to take his second wind, and is no longer bloodied, fails his lightning save. Crocodile misses the basilisk. Obenharr continues the ritual, but makes no progress this round. Magnus hits the Bulette, bloodying him and pushing him into the predatory shards. Galeb Duhrs throw stone shards at Torgen and crocodile.

Xiu moves to flank with crocodile and stabs the basilisk, nearly killing it. Torgen moves in and attacks bloodied Galeb Duhr, missing. Basilisk misses crocodile. Rrowthar misses Bulette. Alain moves in and kills the basilisk, moves his dancing shield to Magnus. Bulette takes lightning and force damage, it dives underground and attacks Alain, who crits with shockweave armor and dazes the Bulette, but then is knocked prone. Crocodile attacks Galeb Duhr and grabs him. Magnus dives into the tunnel and misses the Bulette. Torgen gets hit with stone shards by Galeb Duhr, the other one punches the crocodile.

Xiu acrobatically moves between the statues to get to flanking the Galeb Duhr with crocodile, attacks with Acrobatic Strike. Torgen moves in, attacks bloodied Galeb Duhr and misses. Rrowthar attacks the Galeb Duhr, flanking with Torgen. Alain stands up, draws his crossbow and fires an aggravating force bolt at the Galeb Duhr being bitten by the crocodile, bloodying it. Crocodile bites the Galeb Duhr. Obenharr completes his ritual and a wave of energy seals the Bulette tunnels and expands outward, inadvertantly trapping Magnus underground with the Bulette. Magnus attacks the Bulette with crushing surge. Galeb Duhr throws stone shard at Torgen, the other one uses his stone wall and misses Torgen and Rrowthar. The other Galeb Duhr kills the crocodile.

Xiu uses changeling trick to gain combat advantage on the Galeb Duhr and stabs him, nearly killing him. Torgen crits the Galeb Duhr and kills it, then closes with the other one. Rrowthar moves to flank with Xiu and kills it. Alain fires an aggravating force bolt at the last Galeb Duhr and hits it. Bulette tries to bite Magnus and misses. Obenharr fires and kills the last Galeb Duhr. Magnus misses the Bulette.

Rrowthar administers oil of flesh returned to Zargosz. Bulette hits Magnus. Magnus pulls out a sunrod and tries to irritate the Bulette into diving for the surface. After Obenharr defuses the ward effect in that area, it dives up into the room with Magnus on his back, hitting him with a crit, which Magnus negates with his shield.

Obenharr calls up a map of the city in the reflecting pool and shows us the areas under attack. "Other invaders have entered the city. I must go to the highest level of the guardian's tower. Rrowthar will lead you to the intruders so you can deal with them." We are unable to take a short rest, and follow Rrowthar to a more collapsed part of town. A rough voice calls out "You are not the old annoying one. I do not know who you are, but you're too late! Our task here has been completed!"

Everyone but Torgen notices a large hole in the air above the street pulsing with elemental energy. A large magma elemental humanoid stands in one of the rubbled buildings. Magnus can see the magma brute, but senses more elemental creatures behind walls that we can't see.

Xiu pulls out a distance shuriken and throws it at the Magma Brute, but misses. Rrowthar moves into the building and sees two "little rocky things" and crits the Magma Brute. Zargosz moves up with Rrowthar and sees the "rocky things" made up of shards of stone and fires a Storm Spike at the Magma Brute, activates his Ring of Giants to push him down and blast him into wall. Torgen summons Wrath of God, then charges Magma Strider and misses him. From his new vantage point, he sees more stone creatures and a Hill Giant. Hill Giant fires volcanic blast, hitting Torgen, making him vulnerable to fire. Alain misses with crossbow bolt but gives magic weapon to Xiu and Magnus. Magnus uses his action point, runs up to engage the other Magma Strider with Kneebreaker. Stony creatures move in to surround Torgen and Magnus. Magma Brute smashes Rrowthar, lighting him on fire, and takes Storm Spike damage from staying in one place.

Xiu moves over and flips up onto the wall to attack the stony creature with Clever Strike and destroys it, then spends an action point to move around the Magma Brute and attack it with Acrobatic Strike. Rrowthar takes fire damage, moves in and attacks Magma Brute, bloodying it, then puts himself out. Magma Strider misses Magnus, other Magma Strider misses Torgen. Zargosz uses clay of creation to summon a fierce boar next to the Magma Brute, then uses a Storm Spike on the Magma Brute. Torgen takes fire damage, then swings and misses Magma Strider but kills stone creature, uses lay on hands on himself. Hill Giant Shaman fires volcanic blast and misses Magnus. Alain misses with crossbow bolt, uses curative admixture to un-bloody Rrowthar. Magnus uses Thicket of Blades to attack the Magma Strider and three rock creatures next to him, killing one and causing the others to skitter away and share its energy with the Magma Strider and then charges back to hit Magnus, knocking him down, but he stands back up. They then try to attack Magnus, and one hits. Bloodied Magma Brute moves over to Zargosz and attacks him, lighting him on fire. The other one moves past Torgen, drawing an AOO, then smashes down on Torgen and misses.

Xiu moves up, uses Clever Strike on Magma Brute. Rrowthar moves up and claws Magma Brute with a crit. Magma Strider misses Magnus, moves past him and lights him on fire when he misses his AOO. The other one misses Torgen and moves past him, lighting him on fire when he misses his AOO. Zargosz takes fire damage, transforms into a toad, spews a plague of locusts on the Magma Brute, but misses, leaving a cloud of locusts around the Magma Brute, and the boar attacks and misses. Torgen takes fire damage and attacks the Magma Brute behind him, missing him but marking him, and puts out the fire on him. Hill Giant Shaman fires volcanic blast and hits him. Alain throws Alchemist's Frost at Magma Strider, uses action point to fire Aggravating Force bolt into Magma Brute, killing it. Magnus misses the Strider, takes his second wind, and avoids attacks from the rock creatures. The other Magma Brute misses Torgen.

Xiu moves along the wall, uses Clever Strike to attack the Magma Strider next to Magnus, killing it. Magma Strider misses Torgen, moves away and draws AOO from Torgen and Magnus, both of them catching on fire again. Zargosz hops over and fires plague of locusts at the other Magma Brute. Torgen takes fire damage, is bloodied, and misses, but saves against the effects on him. Hill Giant Shaman misses. Alain fires aggravating force crossbow bolt at remaining Magma Strider, uses Regenerative Infusion on Torgen. Stony creatures attack and miss Magnus. Magma Brute attacks Torgen and misses.

Xiu flanks Magma Strider with Magnus, hits and bloodies it, shifts back out of its reach. Rrawthor moves over to attack the Hill Giant Shaman. Magma Strider attacks Magnus and misses. Zargosz takes fire damage, draws his thundering club and charges the Magma Strider, missing, he is still on fire, and the boar misses. Torgen uses Ardent Strike to hit Magma Brute. Hill Giant Shaman slams his staff into the ground and fires an earth storm out at Rrowthar, bloodying him. Alain moves over to Magma Brute, misses with his staff. Magnus uses Tide of Iron on Magma Strider, pushing him back. The portal of elemental energy expands out further, and bursts out, hitting Rrowthar. Magma Brute tries to smash Torgen and misses.

Xiu attacks the Magma Strider and kills it, then moves over to engage the Hill Giant. Rrowthar moves back, is still blinded. Zargosz takes fire damage, steps back and fires tremor at Magma Brute and misses, but is no longer on fire, the boar crits and destroys a stone creature. Torgen regenerates, misses the Magma Brute, moves off and draws an AOO to move over and lay hands on Rrowthar. Hill Giant Shaman moves away from Xiu, uses action point to fire volcanic blast at Xiu with a crit. Alain hits the Magma Brute, moves past him, drawing a missed AOO that causes him to take holy damage from Torgen's mark, then moves to Rrowthar to use clearsense powder and give him back his sight. Magnus tries to attack stony creature, it misses, rebounds and misses Alain. Rift bursts out, crits the Hill Giant Shaman and damages Magnus. Stony creature attacks Alain and misses. Magma Brute hits Zargosz, setting him on fire again.

Xiu moves to attack Hill Giant Shaman and misses. Rrowthar uses healing word on Torgen, then moves to attack Hill Giant Shaman. Zargosz takes fire damage, charges Magma Brute with thundering club, triggering thundering attack, is still on fire, boar charges the Magma Brute and misses. Torgen moves around to attack Magma Brute. Hill Giant Shaman swings at Xiu with his staff. Alain kills the magma brute with static shock, moves over to stand near Rrowthar and Magnus, pulls out his crossbow and puts his staff back into his cloak. Magnus attacks Hill Giant, immobilizing him. Rift bursts out, damaging most of us.

We manage to kill the Hill Giant, find a scroll that includes a ritual to open an elemental rift. Alain use the ritual to close the rift, with assistance from Torgen and Magnus. Rrowthar suggests we follow him to the guardian's tower to join Obenharr, after we take a brief rest.

Quotes:
"The invisible underground Bulette is marked. And bloodied."
"1... 2... 3... 4... FUCK!"
"I want a Donkey Kong jelly sandwich."
"One-armed lion man is just alright with me."

MVP: Torgen

Wandering Wolves: Whatever Happened to Halas Martain?

Eyre 26 - Dravago 6, YK 1000

Following the scant leads they have, the Wolves, with Resolute guiding them, used House Orien teleportation to arrive in Stormreach, on the trail of Halas Martain.

When they arrived in the Citadel of the Twelve, they were immediately met by Captain Birne, a nearly seven foot tall former savage with an imposing two-handed sword. He gruffly informed them that Greigur, the head of House Deneith and the Sentinel Marshals in Xen'drik, was waiting for them. He guided them through the Respite district and into Forgelight, over to the House Deneith enclave, where they met with Greigur.

One of Greigur's informants had told one of his men that they spotted Halas Martain being led into the jungle by a couple of Stone Giants. He believed they were affiliated with the Dominion of Purity, a faction that seeks to recover the lost culture of the giants, and had a rough idea where they operated, just south of Stormreach. He offered a guess that, "barring the Curse," it should take a day, maybe two to reach them.

They headed to the Southwatch part of the city to look into the Wayfinder Foundation, since Halas was a member, and they found Velenis, a shifter who is the most famous operative of the Foundation in Stormreach at the moment. He offered up apologies, but not much information, as no one at Wayfinder had heard from Halas Martain in quite some time. The Wolves, using money from Viorr's expense account, hired Velenis to help them scout the area and find Halas, and then headed to the Wayward Lobster to have dinner.

While Lysander won over the crowd with a lusty song, Pel bought a round for the house and then went out back to meet his informant, a man named Rajid, using his chameleon ring to slip out the back unobtrusively.

He found Rajid dead, still being chewed on by a few dire rats. His face and hands have been chewed off, and there's a note on him that reads "Stop Looking for Xain." Pel took the note and pushed the body into the water, then gathered up the Wolves to go back to the Ship's Cat, where they were staying. Pel went to the nearest Sivis message station to send a message to his operative Basilisk that "Rajid is dead, watch your back."

The next morning, with Velenis leading them, they headed out into the jungles of Xen'drik. After about two days of travel, the found a bridge across a raging river, and on the other side, a patrol of cyclops, stone giants and a fire giant guarding the entry into the Dominion of Purity's territory.

Resolute called out his Name Dread and charged across the bridge, slamming one of his bastard swords into the Fire Giant Forgecaller's leg and pinning him in the spot, as Pel, Luggoth and William charged over the bridge as well. Lysander jumped up onto the ropes of the bridge and took aim with his bow, firing and hitting the Cyclops as it moved onto the bridge to swing its club at Luggoth. The Stone Giant Runecarver spoke some words and fired off a rune of stony sleep which targeted Pel and William, as the other Stone Giants moved in to attack Resolute and Luggoth.

Luggoth swung a mighty blow at the Fire Giant Forgecaller, breaking his nose in a massive gout of blood and causing the mighty giant to stagger back a few steps in pain. As William tried to leap the rope, using his boots of free movement to escape the rune's effects, he caught his foot and landed in front of the Rune Carver, but rolled to his feet and called out both the Runecarver and the Cyclops to come and get it. Pel turned invisible and moved onto the bridge, but the rune affected him, and he was frozen in place as the Cyclops unknowingly moved right past him, angling for Lysander. Lysander responded with disturbing visions that caused the Cyclops to stumble off the side of the bridge, although it managed to grab hold of it rather than fall into the river below, causing the bridge to tilt precariously to one side from his weight. The Runecarver struck at William with his war pick as the Fire Giant risked attacks from both Luggoth and Resolute to call down a flame burst on both of them. The Stone Giants continued their assault on Luggoth and Resolute, bloodying and battering both of them badly.

Pel's invisibility wore off, revealing him as a statue on the bridge, but the Cyclops paid him no attention, instead climbing back up to menace Lysander, who responded with his patented clockwork bomb and sovereign glue trick. When he tried to roll between the Cyclops's legs, it swatted him with his club, and he dropped the bomb, leaving it stuck to the bridge and ticking.

Resolute, Luggoth and William began attacking the Stone Giants in earnest, and when the Runecarver tried to move away, he drew a nasty blow from William, which didn't prevent him from firing off another rune of stony sleep. The Forgecaller blasted Resolute with another fire pillar, which he mostly shrugged off, as the Stone Giants turned their attention to smashing William.

Resolute finished off the Forgecaller as Luggoth and William continued to battle the Stone Giants, and Lysander deftly avoided the Cyclops's attempt to grab him and used his new songbow to cast compulsion on the Cyclops. The arcane effect caused a stream of blood to begin running from the creature's nose. The Runecarver blasted Resolute with a thundering echo, and the other stone giant then swung his club into the warforged's head, knocking him out.

Pel, no longer under the influence of the rune, called on the Traveler to heal Luggoth, and then stood and fired a burst of daunting light at the Stone Giant bashing William, which went wide. Steam began pouring from Resolute's chest, as his systems began to fail, and Luggoth charged over to use his oakhammer rage on the Stone Giant that had dropped Resolute, knocking it prone with a sickening crack that indicated several broken bones. Lysander tried to force the Cyclops to step onto the clockwork bomb, but it resisted him, although that didn't stop Lysander from moving off the bridge, using Majestic Word to heal Resolute and launching vicious mockery at the Cyclops.

As the Runecarver attacked William with his war pick again and one Stone Giant missed following up with a club strike, the other one landed another solid blow on the healed but still downed Resolute. The warforged, badly battered but still awake, stood up and regained his bearings as Luggoth, William and Pel focused on the Stone Giant to keep it from attacking Resolute again.

With a loud click, the timer for the Clockwork Bomb sprung early and exploded, splitting the bridge in the middle and sending the Cyclops plummeting to the water below. The Runecarver again struck William with his war pick, staggering the Deneith momentarily, long enough for the other Stone Giant to swing a solid blow as well.

After Pel healed William, he attacked the Stone Giant with a sly flourish, and William finished it off with a brash strike, opening up his defenses so that the other Stone Giant could bash him hard, cracking several ribs. Resolute stabbed both of his bastard swords into that Stone Giant, and then followed up with another attack, and then another, finally causing the Giant to topple over dead.

The Runecarver, now the only foe left, tried to use his thundering rune, but fell afoul of Pel's flame strike and William's lasting threat, and when he tried to run, William and Resolute finished him.

With the fight over, Velenis climbed across the half-destroyed bridge, and the Wolves took a few minutes to rest, recover and tend to their wounds.

Velenis helped them follow the tracks of the giants down to the rest of the tribe. There they saw that the tribe was quite large, made up of two dozen more stone giants, fire giants and cyclops. Their leaders were a Fire Titan and a Storm Titan, and they had Halas Martain hanging from a large tree about sixty feet in the air. The two Titans were talking to him, asking him about some kind of idol he had stolen from them, and he was telling them that he couldn't remember where he left their treasure, due to some arcane effect on his memory.

After some debate, Lysander stood up and used a ritual to enhance his voice and gave an impressive, peaceful speech about how they wanted Halas Martain, but didn't seek any conflict with the giants. The Titans invited him to come down, and with William by his side, the two walked into the midst of the Dominion of Purity tribe.

The Titans explained that they sought an ancient giant idol, a representation of one of the giant heroes of old which is said to offer a sort of divine right to the leader who has it. Halas had stolen it from them some time ago. If they could get him to give them the idol, and if they would promise that he would be punished for his thievery, they would turn him over to the Sentinel Marshals.

When the Titan lifted Lysander up to Halas, a light seemed to go on in his eyes, and he claimed to remember where the idol was. He claimed that he had hidden it in some Ziggurat ruins while being chased by Drow, and that it was too small for the giants to get into, so the Wolves would have to recover it. The Twelve had rescued him from the drow, but he didn't really remember much of what had happened after that, except that he knew he had run into the Wolves while working for the Twelve. He tried to talk his way into going with them, but neither Lysander nor the Titans wanted that, and instead they got Halas to draw them a map.

After a day of traveling south, they encountered Brand, who had teleported to Stormreach and followed their trail with a message from the Sentinel Marshals in Passage. The servant of an Aundarian winemaker named Bethesne had discovered disturbing writings in his journals and seen him meeting with shadowy figures, and had sent a message to a friend before he mysteriously died. That friend, finding no luck with Aundarian law, contacted the Sentinel Marshals. He also turned up dead, which caused the Marshals to investigate Bethesne, only to find him gone. What they had heard leads them to believe he is tied in with the Lords of Dust, and that he had fled to Xen'drik, so they sent his dossier with Brand to bring to Resolute.

Resolute and Luggoth headed back to Stormreach to get onto Bethesne's trail, and Brand joined the Wolves, who brought him up to speed on what they were doing. As ranking Sentinel Marshal, Resolute put William in charge of the Halas Martain operation, and they all agreed to meet in Stormreach when they had recovered their respective fugitives.

One more day of southward journey later, they came upon the Ziggurat ruins, walking in through a magically protected path that always remained clear-cut even in the heavy jungle. It appeared mostly uninhabited, but the Wolves knew that drow lurked within, and they sent Pel and Brand to scout ahead.

They spotted some Hellstinger scorpions, and while they were both quite stealthy, they didn't account for the scorpions' tremorsense, and it gave off a loud shriek and clacking of its claws, alerting its drow masters to intruders.

The drow emerged from various buildings, throwing poisoned boomerangs at William, trying unsuccessfully to sneak up on Brand and launching darkfire at Pel, a priest of a god other than Vulkoor. William moved in to engage the Hellstinger Scorpion, which grabbed him with one of its claws, but he broke free and swung with a brash strike before dropping into his Rain of Steel stance.

One of the drow, a trained Vulkoor assassin, summoned a cloud of darkness and vanished within it. As the other drow stabbed and blasted unsuccessfully at Pel and William, the Wolves focused their attacks on the scorpion. After a volley of attacks by the combined Wolves, William brought the thing down with an appalling crunch.

The drow stingblade began moving around Pel and William with a whirling dervish attack, landing two blows before William spotted the flaw in his pattern and landed a brutal blow on the Stingblade with his axe, knocking him off-balance and forcing him to miss his last two steps and swings at Lysander and Brand. The drow assassin stabbed Lysander twice from within the cloud of darkness, which vanished and left him exposed to retaliation in the form of Pel's flame strike, which blasted the assassin and the stingblade, and to Brand, who marked the assassin with his aegis of assault. The priest, meanwhile, blasted William with a magical stinging blast akin to a scorpion's venom.

William moved into a tactically solid position and called all of his foes to him, but most of them were able to dodge his attacks, except for the assassin, who received a glancing blow from Vendetta. With the drow arrayed around him, however, William was able to begin attacking with his Rain of Steel. The assassin, heedless of the damage from William, stabbed Brand twice, and dodged an attack from Pel.

The Scorpion priest, dragged off the building by William's attack, was displeased to see Brand teleport up next to him and swing his blade, and William, trying to take advantage, pulled the Xen'drik boomerang out of his own chest and threw it at the priest, but his unfamiliarity with his weapon led to him missing.

The drow assassin continued his assault on Pel and Lysander with rapier and crossbow, and Pel followed up with a lingering revelation and shapechanger's feint, as Lysander took a moment to restore himself with a majestic word and his second wind. Brand teleported back away from the priest and marked the assassin for death, and William followed up with his bodyguard's link. Despite the solid hits he was taking, the assassin seemed to be avoiding any major damage, and was still very much in the fight.

The assassin summoned darkness again and fled the combat to find a better position, and the priest called upon the drow stingblade to sacrifice his life, causing him to fall over dead, with an explosion of spectral scorpions rising from his corpse and stinging all around him. The painful stings knocked Pel unconscious briefly, before Lysander could rouse him with a majestic word. Lysander followed this up by aiming his bow very deliberately and landing an arrow in the drow priest's shoulder, causing him to curse with pain and cry out to his god Vulkoor for aid.

The assassin, having found his better position, stabbed his rapier into Brand and bloodied him, but William followed up with his own victorious surge, bloodying the assassin and drawing some vigor of his own. Meanwhile, the scorpion priest began climbing back up to the top of the ziggurat as Pel and Lysander fired and missed him.

The assassin struck William once more, and then he sacrificed his life as the priest summoned the spectral scorpions from his spirit, stinging all of the Wolves, who started climbing up to the ziggurat to attack the priest.

The priest endured and avoided attacks for a few seconds, firing back with pain sting, until William swung a brash strike and dazed the priest with Vendetta, which turned the tide, allowing Pel to stab him with his rapier, and Brand finished the priest off with his swords.

After claiming the treasure, including the giant's idol, from within the ziggurat, the Wolves returned to the giants. They all went in to exchange the idol for Halas, and William put his prisoner in manacles. As they left the giant camp, Lysander glanced back, thinking off launching a series of insults at the beings who had enslaved his ancestors, but Pel convinced him that was probably not the wisest course of action.

Rain began to fall as the Wolves walked through the night, heading back toward Stormreach. Lysander and Brand both spotted the tracks of Yuan-Ti in their path, and after determining that they couldn't easily avoid the Yuan-ti by going around, William secured Halas to a tree with the manacles so they wouldn't have to worry about him.

Pel and Brand managed to sneak up on one of the tents and kill two humans, whom they recognized as snaketongue zealots, human cultists who worshiped the same god as the Yuan-Ti. They then moved further up and spotted several Yuan-Ti, including an Abomination, Sharp-Eyes and their Shadow Snake pet.

Pel fired his hand crossbow into the Shadow Snake as Brand tried to rush it and Lysander fired at it as well, but the snake was too quick for these follow-up attacks, and it responded by rushing forward and biting Pel and Lysander. William charged the Abomination, blocking off an easy path for the other Yuan-Ti, who fired their bows unsuccessfully at William. An Incanter made herself known, stepping out of one of the tents at the rear of the camp and missing an attack on William, who dodged in behind the Abomination for cover.

As the poison from the shadow snake coursed through Pel and Lysander's veins, they attacked the snake with their blades, and Brand moved in to assist as Whitehearth rushed back to bite at the archers. The Abomination slashed into William with his bastard sword as the fighter withdrew and moved to use his appalling crunch on the Shadow Snake, which bit him in retaliation. The physical damage was minor, but the poison allowed the Incanter to briefly take control of William's body. Meanwhile, the Sharp-Eyes, confronted by Whitehearth, put away their bows and drew scimitars to engage the Wolf.

Pel slashed the snake with lingering revelation, very nearly killing it, and Brand finished it off with a twin strike before teleporting over to attack the Incanter. The Abomination, defending his mistress, came over and grabbed Brand, rendering him vulnerable to a follow-up from William, who, under the thrall of the incanter, charged Brand with Vendetta.

William managed to shake off the poison and the incanter's domination to hit her with a lasting threat attack. As he did, Pel and Lysander both opened up with their ranged weapons on the Incanter, and Brand teleported out of the Abomination's grasp. One of the Sharp-Eyes remained engaged with Whitehearth, as the other one moved to help the Incanter and Abomination.

Lysander and Brand finished off the Incanter, and the Abominations and Sharp-Eyes fled into the jungle. The Wolves, seeing no percentage in chasing them down, let them run.

When the went back to the tree, they found that Halas had been doing his best to climb it, hoping to get the manacles off somehow. He sheepishly offered some nonsense excuses before climbing back down. Feeling that this camp was secure enough, the Wolves settled in to rest for the night before heading back to Stormreach the next morning.

The word on Rain of Steel

Warning: This post is probably only relevant (and interesting) to Randy, Dan and Ben

Seems to be that Dan has it right, and William will shortly be getting a big boost to his Rain of Steel damage. There isn't an "official" answer from a WOTC rep, but the consensus, based on reading pre-existing rules, seems to support the way we've been doing it in the Giants game over the Wolves game.

From the forums:

Q: Do you get bonuses (weapon focus, magic weapons etc.) to weapon damage rolls on "rain of steel", "whirling step" "whirling lounge" and such powers?

A: Yes. As long as the power has the Weapon keyword and rolls damage, you get all the bonuses you would get on a normal attack power's damage roll. So while Rain Of Steel doesn't get your Strength bonus because it doesn't say "+STR", it gets all the others.

Any bonus to weapon damage rolls will apply. Any bonus to damage rolls in general will apply. Other bonuses depend on the wording; for example, a bonus to "melee damage rolls" would not apply to Rain of Steel, because it does not have the melee keyword

If the power does static non-rolled damage (for example, Cleave to an adjacent target, or Reaping Strike on a miss) then that damage is not increased.

5. Welcome to Argent

Nymm 1 - Nymm 7, YK 1000

Xau has been put into a healing coma by the head of House Jorasco until we can get a piece of the chaos-infused elemental ebony from which the dagger was fused, and there are rumors that it can be found in Goradra Gap. Legend has it that the Gap is a portal to the Elemental Chaos, it translated to "Torn Earth" in a dwarven dialect that lines up with Torgen's prophecy, Baron Jorlann d'Cannith contacted Alain and they were getting report that shipments from the Mror Holds are being disrupted due to trouble in the Gap. House Kundarak asked Magnus to investigate trouble in the homelands around Goradra Gap.

We take an airship to Krona Peak, and the scruffy raven that we noticed observing us a few times in Stormhome does as well. At some point, the raven transforms into Zargosz Duur and explains that he is a Gatekeeper Mystagogue and is headed to the Gap to investigate divination by the Druid Council.

After landing at Krona Peak, we buy 7 magebred horses from House Vadalis so that we'll have backups. We can travel about 50 miles a day, which takes us about a week of travel across the foothills of the Ironroot Mountains. About halfway to our destination, we enter a large clearing, and a rocky protrusion bars our way, with a few large trees ablaze with arcane fire.

Zargosz and Xiu stealthily scout around the protrusion and see a lion-like humanoid from a race none of us have seen before, five sparks of fire dancing around the wounded lion-man, as well as two pillars of fire, a rock elemental of some kind and a fire archon leading them. The lion-man is holding a singed scroll in one paw.

Xiu launches a handspring assault on the Fire Archon, and is inside a cloud of fire and ash. Alain casts a cold fleeting dweomer on Magnus's axe, and he moves up. Zargosz enters a fast stance and moves up as well.

Xiu enters Sidestep Stance focusing on the Archon, uses Acrobatic Strike on him and bloodies him. Torgen charges the Archon with Ardent Strike, but misses. Alain casts Resistive Formula on Xiu, fires Greater Magic Weapon that misses the Archon but infuses Torgen's weapon. One earth elemental moves to interpose between us and the lion-man, the other one rumbles toward Magnus and pounds his fists into the earth, but Magnus resists any damage. The sparks rush in, strike the lion-man and then bounce back out, he takes three hits and one crit, and is alive but badly wounded. Archon blasts Xiu and Zargosz with fire, drawing them to him. Magnus goes into Reign of Steel and charges into the midst of the elementals, drawing an AOO from the Fire Archon, uses his action point for Come and Get It to pull in the Archon, a Fire Elemental, an Earth Elemental and a Spark, destroying the Spark and critting the Archon, nearly killing him. Fire Elemental takes ROS damage, backs up and tries to slam Magnus but misses, the other one fires a lance of flame towards Xiu, Torgen and Zargosz, hitting only Torgen, doing fire damage and immobilizing him. Zargosz takes fire from the tree and the fire elemental's fireburst, then rushes across the battlefield to defend the lion-man and fires Floating Death, a burst of insects, at two of the flame sparks, missing both of them, speeds over to the other two and fires the burst at the other two sparks, destroying them but they explode and scorch Zargosz. He uses action point to call lightning down on the fire archon, fire elemental, earth elemental and Magnus, hitting only the earth elemental. Lion-Man invokes a blessing of Dol Dorn on Zargosz for healing surge +8, then he roars at the sparks and pushes them away, immobilizing them.

Xiu takes 10 fire damage, moves in to attack the Fire Archon and then shifts out of the firestorm. Torgen takes 10 fire damage, draws his hand-axe and misses, uses healing on the lion-man to un-bloody him, then saves against immobile. Alain fires runic resistance at the Archon, killing him and giving fire resistance to Xiu and Magnus. Earth elemental swings and misses Magnus, the other one hits Alain. Sparks break free of immobilization, Magnus uses Shielded Sides to shift and attacks the fire elemental, bloodying it, and marks most of the remaining elementals. Bloodied fire elemental takes ROS and launches a firestorm at Magnus and the earth elemental, bloodying the earth elemental and missing Magnus. The other fire elemental shifts back toward the fiery tree. Zargosz fires a plague of locusts at the earth elemental with furious assault.

Xiu moves to attack earth elemental and very nearly kills it with her Wild Tumble Cut. Torgen takes fire damage, moves over to assist Alain against earth elemental. Alain uses magic weapon on the earth elemental. The other earth elemental dies from ROS, and the one next to Alain and Torgen uses a rumble that hits Alain and shifts him back away from the elemental. The sparks attack the lion-man but miss. Alain hits the elemental with magic weapon. Magnus takes some fire damage, then takes an AOO from the bloodied fire elemental before killing him with inexorable advance. Fire elemental fires another firestorm on Magnus. Zargosz runs between the firestorms and throws storm spike at the earth elemental.

Xiu moves to attack remaining fire elemental. Torgen attacks the earth elemental and gives Alain a healing surge. Alain moves up and misses with Magic Weapon. The elemental misses Alain and Torgen, takes thunder damage that bloodies him. The sparks bloody the lion-man. Magnus shakes off the immobilization, then charges the fire elemental with bull charge for a crit, doing a massive amount of ongoing damage and knocking it prone, bloodying him. Fire elemental takes ROS damage and ongoing damage, and has gone from nearly fully healthy to almost dead, and misses Magnus. Zargosz goes back to help the lion-man with the sparks with a vine burst that destroys them both.

Xiu moves in and kills the fire elemental, Torgen attacks the earth elemental, Alain hits him with repulsion strike. The earth elemental attacks Torgen and misses, then Magnus comes over and kills it.

The lion-man thanks us and says that we saved him the trouble of finding us. He introduces himself as Rrowthar, and says it is his honor to deliver unto us an invitation, and hands us two sheets of vellum. One is a ritual scroll, the other is a letter. The letter reads:

Honor and invitation. Stand forth and be recognized, the invitation has been given, the choice has been made. As heroes of your realm and warriors without equal, you have been chosen for the singular honor of serving the great and ancient city of Argent. Accept this duty and privilege, the world needs you. Obenharr, Last Guardian of Argent. None of us have ever heard of Argent before.

Argent was established in the wake of the Dawn War in agreement with the dragons. We read the scroll and teleport to Argent. We are in a courtyard full of marble statues, a statue of a female dressed in robes overlooks a glowing reflecting pool. An elderly human, Obenharr, welcomes us, and then the whole place shakes. We are introduced as the palace continues to shake. Two Bulettes burrow into the hall.

Xiu moves into the Bulette's square. Torgen attacks the other Bulette. A stone-eye basilisk comes up through the tunnel and targets Rrowthar, Zargosz and Alain are slowed (save ends). Alain throws a blinding bomb at the Basilisk, uses an action point to fire predatory shards at the Basilisk and Bulette. Other Bulette uses earth burrow to pass underneath Torgen, and the Bulette sprays rock and earth at Rrowthar and Torgen. The other Bulette digs away from the shards, sprays Zargosz with rock and dirt and knocks Alain prone. Zargosz summons a crocodile which bites and grabs the basilisk, then is immobilized. Obenharr runs to the statue to try and restore the magical defenses. Torgen hears more creatures coming in throough the tunnels. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Bulette and misses. Galeb Duhr come up from one tunnel and move toward Obenharr, pick up the shattered stones and hurl them at Alain and Torgen.

Xiu uses Bloodbath on Bulette, Torgen charges the Galeb Duhr with Ardent Strike and marks both of them. Basilisk takes predatory shard damage, escapes the crocodile's grab. Rrowthar uses a healing power that blasts the Bulette and heals many of us. Alain is prone, stands up, casts dancing shield on himself, fires positive energy infusion bolt into Bulette that Xiu is riding. Bulette jumps at Rrowthar and hits him.

Quotes of the Evening:
"I turn into a Monitor Lizard because it pleases me."
"It was about protoplasm riding a dinosaur, but you made it something dirty."