Wandering Wolves: Triumph of the Demons

Dravago 13 - Dravago 15, YK 1000

As William moved to the door to watch out for whatever trouble Elias' arrival heralded, Brand and Lysander attended to Elias, restoring him enough to wake him. He explained that he and the Young Wolves had been guarding a Morgrave Expedition into the jungle for the last few weeks, but that they had been ambushed and taken prisoner by the Emerald Claw in the last week or so.

The Emerald Claw kept the Morgrave team working, looking for artifacts, and Elias confirmed that he had heard the term "Operation: Ascendance" mentioned by one of their leaders. However, this all became a moot point when demons swarmed the camp, killing indiscriminately. The other Young Wolves told Elias he had to go and get help, had to find the Wandering Wolves in Stormreach, and he reluctantly fled.

He didn't know how long it had taken him to reach Stormreach, but he knew that he had to find out what had happened to the expedition and his friends.

William heard a commotion in the common room downstairs, and Lysander came out into the hallway to join them, the two of them heading down to see what was going on. They found Sergeant Natobe of the Watch, who was looking for the Wolves, and asked that they come with him to see the Coin Lord.

The Wolves traveled with Natobe and saw that Stormreach was somewhat deserted-looking. Citizens were being swept into the nearest building, and William noticed that the usually lackluster Stormreach Guard was working with more urgency. They also saw that the Iron Watch, the elite warforged units, were out in force. Lysander remarked that it didn't look like Stormreach at all.

When they arrived at the Stormreach Recruiters, they found the offices transformed into a temporary war room. Maps were up on the walls, and a bald dwarf with a black and silver braided beard strode through in his mithril chain shirt, barking orders. He was introduced to the Wolves as the Coin Lord of Stormreach, Yorrick Amanatu.

Yorrick told the Wolves that they were facing a demon invasion. Not just demons invading physically from the wilds of Xen'drik, but possessing and transforming citizens psychically. That's why they had gathered everyone together, so that they'd be easier to watch for signs of corruption. He wanted the Wolves to go out into Xen'drik and find the portal bringing the demons here and shut it down. In the meantime, the Storm Lords, along with House Lyrandar and Orien, had agreed to close off Xen'drik to avoid the invasion getting to Khorvaire. The ports were closed, teleportation circles were inactive and there was no way of getting on or off the continent for the moment.

The Wolves were given a charter to work for the Stormreach Watch, and Brand warned Yorrick that he should watch out for "Operation: Ascendance," as he suspected the Emerald Claw had something to do with this demon invasion. Yorrick offered to get them whatever help they needed, and the Wolves made preparations for their journey into Xen'drik.

Sgt Natobe to procured antivenom and healing potions for the Wolves and for Elias Volan. Brand left a message drop for Yanesh Hite, sent a Sivis message to Saia Borath, who was currently on Khorvaire, and sent another message to Lady Elaydren, asking her to send the Sea Dart to Xen'drik for use as an emergency escape vessel. Pel sent a message to Captain Vron and to Chance warning them about the situation

After a day and a half of travel, during which they found a number of dead animals, and a dead drow hunting party, indicating that the demons were on the move, the Wolves reached the Morgrave Expedition site. The site was full of carnage, as everyone had been killed, and a handful of demons were still going through the wreckage. Brand and Pel went to reconnoiter the camp, but Brand misstepped, and one of the Mezzodemon guards spotted them. Their leader, a grotesque Solamith, tore one of the disembodied souls from its bodies and threw it at the ground near Pel and Brand, where it exploded, burning Pel with demonic flame.

As Pel's armor flashed and turned him invisible, William gulped his antivenom and rushed forward to meet a swarm of carnage demons, Mezzodemons and an Abyssal Eviscerator that were coming into the jungle after them. Lysander drank his antivenom and fired an arrow into one of the carnage demons, killing it with one shot, as Brand and Luggoth downed their antivenom and moved to join William on the front line.

As the Solamith pelted them with flaming souls from its own body, the Wolves engaged the other demons, changing the energy on their attacks to deal with the demons' variable resistance. William killed the remaining carnage demons with a swipe of Vendetta, and then set in on one of the Mezzodemons, as Luggoth began struggling with the Eviscerator, which grabbed him first and then pulled Lysander in as well.

Pel and Brand kept moving, changing targets, as William focused on finishing off a Mezzodemon before moving in to help Luggoth with the Eviscerator. Pel, Brand and Lysander fought with the other two Mezzodemons, dealing with their skewering tridents and poison breath.

The Eviscerator continued to tear into Luggoth, bloodying him and allowing him to shift forms, and Brand moved over to help, stabbing both swords through vital spots in the demon's anatomy, weakening it enough that the next blast of soulfire from the Solamith, aimed at the entire group, killed it.

The Wolves turned their attention to the last two Mezzodemons and finished one off with the assistance of more friendly fire from the Solamith, which also had the unfortunate effect of nearly killing Elias Volan, who was way out of his depth with these demons.

After stabilizing Elias, they closed in on the Solamith itself, nearly at full health thanks to its regenerating properties. William hit it with Vendetta and dazed the creature, allowing Brand to move in and flank, and Luggoth and Pel closed in on the other side of it. Meanwhile, Lysander kept up the arrow fire on the remaining Mezzodemon, and Brand finally teleported over and finished it with Whitehearth with a circling strike.

With the demons destroyed, the Wolves and Elias searched the camp. They found some art objects recovered by the Morgrave team, as well as a pair of magical hero's gauntlets. They also found bodies of the Emerald Claw and the Morgrave expedition, but they did not find the bodies of the Young Wolves. Luggoth spotted tracks of other demons leading back into the jungle, and guessed that they had carried the Young Wolves off.

The Wolves took a brief rest, with Lysander singing, and Pel took the time to consecrate the Emerald Claw bodies to prevent them from being raised as undead.

Brand began to get a sinking feeling as they traveled, as he realized that the tracks were leading them to Hackrazet's farm. Shortly thereafter, they found themselves at the farm, and saw that the Orien guards had been slaughtered. An enormous glowing portal was situated right in front of the barn, and the Young Wolves, unconscious, were strapped to some kind of wheeled platform right in front of it. Standing guard was a twenty foot tall Goristro demon, which spotted Pel as he attempted to move closer.

The Wolves launched some strikes at the Goristro, and saw a pair of firestorm elementals moving out toward them as well. After activating a mechanism that sent the Young Wolves through the portal, Hackrazet leaned out of the barn and taunted them, but Pel realized that he was subtly telling them that they needed to get into the portal.

Using a variety of acrobatic ability, invisibility and brute force, the Wolves managed to force their way past the Goristro, although Elias Volan was critically wounded in the attempt. They dove through the portal one at a time, uncertain what to expect, and Pel came last, carrying Elias on his back.

They landed, scattered, on the other side of the portal, and stood up to see the Dead-Gray Mist all around them. Clearly, they were in the Mournland. The approaching patrol of warforged seemed to confirm this, except that the warforged were supported by some strange clouds of whirring mechanical horrors, one of which was shooting out electrical and psychic energy that connected with the warforged from time to time.

As the warforged got closer, the Wolves saw that they weren't quite right either. They had pustules all over their bodies and some of them had malformed tentacles. Lysander thought they looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it, other than to recognize that they had been touched by Xoriat, the plane of madness.

Lysander destroyed two of the swarms of creatures with disturbing visions, and Pel destroyed one with a quarrel from his crossbow, while Brand threw a tethercord to hold one of the warforged warriors back. The warforged roraed and snapped the tethercord almost immediately, although it held him back long enough for Brand to get into a better position.

The larger cloud blasted them with psychic energy, and they realized that it was repairing the others. However, with two of the warforged firing off spells and the others moving in to swing with their swords, the Wolves were forced to deal with them first. Luggoth and Lysander spent much of the fight stunned by the psychic attacks, which made for a much tougher fight for Pel, William and Brand.

As Pel slashed his rapier through the last of the smaller clockwork swarms, he recognized the form that Lysander had been trying to place: It looked like Xulo, the evil sentient creation pattern that had killed him in the underbelly of Xen'drik so long ago.

When Lysander and Luggoth recovered from the psychic attacks of the larger swarm, the Wolves were able to regroup and destroy the other warforged. The swarm tried to flee, but was unable to escape Lysander's compulsion and arrows and William's blade.

William suggested that they find a defensible position where they could rest, but after a bit of scouting, Brand wasn't able to find much of anything. Lysander found a hill that they could hide behind to a degree, and realized that he recognized Brelish flora on it. He guessed that they were a few hours from Silver Lake, near the Wolves' Reward, and that they definitely weren't in the Mournland, despite the presence of the mist.

William and Lysander created circles of defense against aberrations and undead and William set up his Eye of Alarm to create a defensive perimeter. Pel watched them all for signs of infection by the mist as Brand went back to hide their tracks. Unfortunately, after about three hours, they spotted a patrol of warforged, foulspawn and a beholder coming their way, and they had to abandon their makeshift camp and keep moving. Exhaustion and the despair of the Dead-Gray Mist began to set in, and the patrol was catching up. Lysander detected extremely strong illusion magic to what he believed was the north, and Brand tried to lead them toward it, but he was exhausted and ensorceled, and the lack of landmarks lead him to taking them in the wrong direction.

As they closed in on the patrol, a dark portal opened up next to them and a changeling dressed in the garb of a follower of the Traveler told them he could take them to Safe Haven. With no other choice, they jumped into the portal, with William expressing more than a little doubt about this decision.

The changeling introduced himself as Eress, and they realized that they were in a completed, albeit abandoned, version of Galifar's Hope. They also deduced that they were in the future, which was confirmed when Eress took them to one of the suites where they found a very old Lysander waiting for them.

Lysander's dragonmarks were glowing constantly, and it was clear he was using his powers for something. He explained what was going on, but in an enigmatic manner, explaining that he was worried about changing the future too much.

Lysander and Hackrazet had sent a message back to Hackrazet's younger self to open the portal and bring the Wolves to this future. The Dead-Gray mist was now everywhere, and all the dragonmarked creatures had been rounded up by the Xoriat-tinged forces controlled by Xulo, the sentient creation pattern. In the western part of Khorvaire, the Lords of Dust were warring with Droaam, the last holdout kingdom, while Lysander's resistance, made up mostly of a Cult of the Traveler that Brand and Pel had founded.

Lysander suspected that giving them this knowledge of the future could result in an even worse future, but he and Hackrazet realized that they were losing, and that the future couldn't really get much worse, so they decided to take the chance. Now that the Wolves had seen that Xulo was a threat, he hoped that the early warning would help them deal with him before he rose to the prominence he had here. He gave them a handful of gifts from their future-selves, including a holy symbol of the Traveler,
a Belt of Breaching from the Eldritch Knights, a ring of protection and a stalwart belt. Then he began explaining how they would get back home. He had set up a portal at Whitehearth, within the Mournland, now the only place on the face of Khorvaire not surrounded by the Dead-Gray Mist. He had rigged a special lightning rail engine at Passage that Brand could activate and take them to the edge of the Mournland, where they would find an elemental land cart to take them to Whitehearth. Only a dragonmark could activate the time portal, and all the dragonmarked heirs were gone, so Lysander reasoned it was safe enough until they got there.

The portal had lead the forces of Xulo to Galifar's Hope, and Lysander was informed that those forces were at the gate. He sent Eress to take the Wolves down to the dock, where they boarded a battered Sea Dart and descended into Silver Lake. As they left, the Wolves looked back and saw that Galifar's Hope was cast in illusory flame, a pretense that had clearly kept it safe up to this point, but now Xulo knew the truth. They knew as they left that Lysander had sacrificed his safe haven and probably most of his resistance to get them these clues about Xulo.

The Wolves were battered and bloodied from their fights, Brand at the very edge of exhaustion, but they didn't have time to take much of a rest. As they pulled up to the dock as Passage, they saw through the periscope that Kuo-Toa guards awaited them. Brand used his dragonmark to give himself the ability to walk on water, and then they pulled the Sea Dart right up to the docks, diving out to engage the Kuo-Toa.

The Wolves came out fighting, and discovered that some of the Kuo-Toa were using nets to try and drag them into the water, while others unleashed a psychic scream and their priest used a spell to cause Pel's lungs to fill with water. Brand stayed at a distance, running across the water and directing Whitehearth to attack, while Luggoth and William took the fight directly to the Kuo-Toa soldiers.

Pel fired his lightning crossbow into the water, electrocuting three of the Kuo-Toa, as another used his dredging hook to grab him and drag him off the edge of the pier and into the water. Brand moved in on the net wielder, knocking him over and then stabbing his eldritch blade through its chest, and William moved in to finish it off with Vendetta, sending its head rolling into the nearby water with a plop.

As Lysander peppered the Kuo-Toa troops with arrows, Pel climbed back onto the pier and attacked the other net-wielding Kuo-Toa, which used its dredge hook to push him back into the water, allowing another one to swim underneath him and stab him with its sword.

Whitehearth and Luggoth tore into another soldier as William drew two more in next to him. Pel, bolstered by a Majestic Word from Lysander, swam to the pier and fired his hand crossbow at the Kuo-Toa that had dumped him in the water, but as he began climbing up and firing again and again, the Kuo-Toa spun and leaped out of the way, trying to avoid the kill shot.

William was battling several soldiers and taking a bit of a beating, although Lysander did his best to keep him healed and in the fight. Brand teleported in, switching places with William, allowing William to close in on another soldier and finish it off with an appalling crunch.

With two of their number remaining, the Kuo-Toa attempted to flee, one by means of the water and the other by running into Passage. The Wolves were able to catch up and kill the one headed to Passage, but the other swam out too far for anyone but Brand to catch, and he was too weary and wounded to risk chasing it alone.

After tossing the bodies of the Kuo-Toa into the lake, William climbed to the top of a nearby building to look out at Passage. He saw that the inhabitants were mostly foulspawn and aberrations, with the Xoriat-tainted warforged acting as guards. Lysander used his dragonmark to cast an illusion of all of them as various Foulspawn, and they began making their way to the lightning rail station.

Brand's knowledge of Passage, along with Pel's knowledge of how to best use back alleys and shortcuts, got them to the lightning rail station fairly quickly, where they found the train car guarded by numerous warforged. Luggoth, unable to speak Deep Speech but able to portray anger convincingly, walked over and began making loud, threatening noises and gestures at the warforged, convincing them to move along and letting the Wolves board the car.

Once inside, they went to the front, where Brand tried to snap the lightning reins to life. Unfortunately, as he had never done this before, only seen it done, he was able only to spark it to life for a brief second, drawing a great deal of attention. As foulspawn and warforged gathered outside, William and Luggoth moved to guard the door against any intruders.

Pel fired his lightning crossbow into the elemental ring as Brand tried once again to snap the reins, and he managed to bring the ring to life fully, as Lysander turned various controls to get the car rolling on the lightning rail track, crashing through a few of the bolder foulspawn and warforged in the way.

The car built up to what Brand estimated was about twice the speed of what lightning rail trains were usually capable of, and he taught everyone enough about the basic guidance of the train that they could take turns watching the reins. Then they all took to the cabins for a long, well-deserved rest.

After about eight hours, they all gathered at the front of the car to make the turn onto the tracks leading toward Starilaskur. Moving at breakneck speed, they almost didn't make the turn, and they were slammed up against the walls of the car, but they managed to turn and get onto the right track.

As they approached Starilaskur, the car began slowing down, despite the orders Brand was giving it. As they closed in on the station, Brand realized that someone else was controlling it. This gave them pause. First of all, there weren't supposed to be any other dragonmarked individuals, and secondly, there weren't supposed to be any powerful enough to override Brand.

The station appeared abandoned and disused, and Brand, knowing the layout of a lightning rail station, suggested that they sneak in through the cargo hold and see what was going on. Pel and Brand made their way into the darkened cargo hold, and though Brand thought he heard something, it wasn't soon enough to prevent the Nothic guarding the area from using mind rot on both him and Pel, pushing them out onto the station.

With the attack begun, William abandoned subtlety and crashed through the main doors of the station, where he saw a massive Neogi, a pair of warforged and a Foulspawn Ragehulk. He gave a grim smile and waded into their midst, swinging Vendetta into all of them and drawing first blood.

While William battled the bulk of the forces alone, the rest of the Wolves engaged the Nothic, which used its rotting gaze and mind rot to turn them against one another and push them around the darkened cargo hold. Finally Brand used an attack to draw the Nothic outside so that they could fully see its horrible form, and it began cackling madly, and the psychic emanations of the cackle disturbed the Wolves fighting it.

Pel moved invisibly past the Nothic to help William, who was taking quite a battering from the Neogi's scythe-like claws and the swords of the warforged, but was giving as good as he got. He and Pel managed to kill the Neogi first, as it was unable to escape William and get to a distance where its ranged attacks would have been more useful.

Meanwhile, Brand and Whitehearth were able to flank the Nothic and finish it off, freeing all of the Wolves to go and battle alongside William and Pel. As Brand finished off one of the warforged, six Kuo-Toa Mad Ones emerged from the Orien lounge, but Lysander and William made short work of them. William then finished off the remaining warforged as Luggoth, Brand and Whitehearth went to work on the Ragehulk, although William moved over and finished it with an appalling crunch.

They entered the Orien lounge area and discovered a giant machine that appeared to be a blend of Cannith technology and Xoriat flesh-melding. A female Orien dragonmarked heir was bonded to the machine, which was clearly boosting her dragonmark's power with excruciating consequences. There was no way to free her, so William gave her a quick death with Vendetta, and as she died, the machine powered down, freeing the lightning rail for travel once more.

Five hours later, the lightning rail was approaching the Vathirond station, the last stop before the end of the line. Brand spotted something on the line, and realized it was some kind of House Cannith device right before it triggered, destroying the elemental ring and freeing the bound air elemental. As the elemental tore apart its prison of the train car, the Wolves got out and fled into Vathirond, where they found themselves the target of a concentrated manhunt by Xulo's forces.

Using all their skills, the Wolves managed to get out of Vathirond and into the Mournland, where they found Failin's land cart waiting for them. Brand activated the cart and they traveled along the line of mist to the west, avoiding warforged and foulspawn patrols.

At one point, when they thought they might be able to slow a bit and rest, Lysander spotted the shadow of something huge on the horizon. They looked up and saw what appeared to be a city-sized warforged, traveling on four legs, covered in arcane energy and giving off smoke and steam. Lysander identified it as using the Xulo patterns, and tried to nudge the others to go investigate, but Pel remembered the last time Lysander had talked him into investigating Xulo, and used his insight to help guess at the thing's movements and guide Brand so that they didn't cross its path.

When they arrived at Whitehearth, they found that it appeared to be deserted, as Lysander had promised. They used the keycharms they had gathered on one of their very early adventures to descend into the bowels of Whitehearth once more, and reached the experimentation room.

What they found there was evidence that it was not as abandoned as they might have hoped. The portal was open, glowing with a bright blue light, and seconds later, a once-human self-forged wearing the dragonmark of House Cannith emerged, with iron archons and warforged in tow. He gave a shriek of rage when he saw the Wolves, yelling out that they had come to close the portal, and ordered his minions to attack.

The Iron Archons and warforged put up a deadly fight, but the Wolves managed to prevail. Lysander, Brand and Pel all tried to trick the self-forged, who called himself the Mastermaker, into revealing his true identity, but he was either too clever or too mad to do so. As his last minion fell, he dove into the portal, and it shut down with a bright blue flash of energy.

Resolving to follow him, Brand used his dragonmark to open the portal, only to see that it now glowed a deep crimson. They reasoned that different dragonmarks provided different destinations, and that this horror from the future now resided in their past. Still, they were going home, and the Wolves, along with the Young Wolves, stepped through the portal to emerge out of a linked portal on the island facing the Wolves' Reward, mere minutes after they had left Xen'drik originally.

8. Auctorita Draconis

Nymm 8, YK 1000

Obanar explains that the mage took one of the five pieces of Auctorita Draconis, which is the artifact that was used to sever the planar connection to Dal Quor, and could be used to reforge it. When the artifact was used, it was destroyed by a dragon and shattered into five pieces, which were hidden.

We need Siberys dragonshards so Obanar can build us the Implements of Argent, a magic item set useful in battling the giants assaulting Argent. Quar, the former guardian, died but we could talk to him in the necropolis, and he might be able to tell us where to locate the dragonshards. We could also check into the library to find information on the location of pieces of the Auctorita Draconis, and we need to find out what happened the Torrians, the rest of the army that helps to defend Argent. Obanar doesn't know where they are, but they departed a long time ago, forswearing their oaths to defend Argent. The Proctor, who led them out, has his ex-home and office here in Argent, and we might find clues there. Obanar can also perform a divination that will allow to have visions of when they left.

Most of us go to the library, while Magnus goes with Rrowthar to help re-establish the defenses on Argent. Zargosz, Alain and Xiu puzzle out the basics of the library layout and find scrolls and books related to the Quori invasion. Meanwhile, Magnus is learning about the arcane sigils protecting the devices. Zargosz researches the physiology of dragons, trying to draw some conclusions to understand how they used the artifact, leading him to suspect that at least one dragon must have been involved in the first use. Alain studies the history tomes for clues, while Torgen analyzes historical texts as well. We found numerous hints and clues that allowed Xiu to find hidden texts in the library, which led to even more material.

Magnus determines that another planar rift opened to let the mage and his elementals in to the archives.

In the third hour of research, Zargosz uses herbs to try and keep us all awake and focused. Alain finds an arcane tome and examines it, and Xiu finds a tome devoted to research on a chaos artifact, a weapon forged in the elemental chaos that has a mind of its own and can assume any shape. She pockets it. Torgen continues researching history, and we have successfully discovered some information on the Auctorica Draconis. It was known by the giants as Piranoth's Bane, who was a Quori who was "banished for all eternity" by one of these artifacts. We learn the names of the three dragons involved in its creation. Vvaraak created it, Ygrathor for her skill in Warding and Zinorum for constructing it and giving it form. It had to be used after Piranoth was defeated, and he was in an unconscious state. Dragon Omega, known for his mighty strength, split it into five pieces across the multiverse. One piece was found by a champion named Deecon, who gave it to the guardians of Argent.

Magnus has developed specifications for a new ward that Obanar and Rrowthar can craft to make the vaults more secure.

We all head over to the chapel to search their scrolls. Magnus searches for hidden documents, and feels like he is being watched. Torgen begins to lead a chant of meditation to his elven ancestors, and we all begin praying to our various gods, and we get a vision of darkness and crawling horrors in return. We continue praying, and tendrils of dark energy are making their way into our body. Xiu loses a healing surge as strength begins to be drawn out of her body. Magnus gets the impression that the dark presence that is trying to disrupt us is related to Xoriat, the plane of madness. We continue praying, and despite our misgivings and the presence of Xoriat, we feel safe and at peace. We see a projection of a servitor of Vvaraak.

After interrogating us, Vvaraak tells us that the place we seek is in the Astral Sea, the Temple of Inchoate Mysteries. There are giants there, unlike any we will find on the material plane, that are the foremost experts on Piranoth's Bane, and they know the ritual necessary to restore it to working order.

We explain what we've found to Obanar, who casts the ritual to link us so that we can speak to him telepathically, but he is exhausted and it fails. We are reluctant to share information openly, in case the enemy can overhear us. Obanar gives us the potions to link our minds so we can witness the departure of the Torrians.

We go to the home of the Proctor to look for clues. We discover a hidden room, and the door is trapped and locked. Xiu disarms the trap and unlocks the door, and we find a room full of ledgers and records. Hidden and rolled up in a hollowed-out table leg, we find records from the time of the last Proctor right before the Torrians left Argent. We discover that the proctor, named Thror, has several deposits from Physandos, and realize that he was betraying the Torrians. It takes us about six hours to study all of the documents and discover the lingering effects of arcane magic on the scrolls, with the stink of darkness and mind control.

We take the potions to go back and see Thror talking to the assembled Torrians, who seem uncertain about this gathering. Thror is inciting them to leave, and he is wearing a ring bearing the signet of an ancient cult devoted to Oblievex, a demon. We notice that he is casting a spell without the crowd's knowledge. The mist around us grows darker, as if something else has entered with us. He is taking them to the Sheltered Woods, to become minions of Physandos.

Obanar prepares us a feast, and gives out items that will help us on our quest. We decide to teleport to the Sheltered Woods. Magnus has the Argent Portal ritual. We spot two Torrian guards, who look hungry, after Xiu scouts, Zargosz offers them some food, but one of them thinks it is a trap.

Zargosz fires lightning at one of the Torrians for 16 hp. Xiu uses wild tumble cut for 45 hp on the same Torrian, bloodying it. Torrian hurlers throw spears at Xiu (miss) and Zargosz (miss) and Torgen (hit) and Magnus (hit). Bloodied Torrian shifts and disappears from our sight, the other one moves closer and shifts and vanishes as well, using a sneak attack against Xiu for 23 hp and dazed. Another Torrian climbs up on top of a boulder across the river, calls out a challenge and leaps across the boulder. Alain hits himi with Greater Magic Weapon, uses Resistive Admixture on Xiu (and Torgen) and spends an action point to crit with Repulsion Strike. Magnus unsummons his armor, draws an AOO for 12, leaps across the river, uses his action point to use come and get it on the hurlers, pulling one of them into one of their traps. The trap sets off a wall of dazzling force, smashing into one of the hurlers and pushing him into the deep water. Torgen activates his tremor sense, charges with ardent strike at one of the hidden Torrians and hits him for 16 hp.

Zargosz turns into a frog, fires a plague of locusts at Xiu and the two Torrian guards, missing both guards and hitting Xiu for 7 hp, spends action point to use storm spike on the Torrian hunter for 7 hp, pushing him into the river. Xiu hits the bloodied Torrian for 15 hp, knocking him out, and shifts out of the cloud of locusts, saves against daze. Torrian hurler hits Magnus, the other one floats further downriver. Concealed Torrian hunter moves toward the group and hits Zargosz. Torrian hunter in the river swims up onto the bank. Magnus summons his armor, draws his axe and misses. Torgen hits the concealed Torrian for 16 hp, who is now marked.

Quotes:
"This is non-lethal fisting."

Game Schedule August - October

August 13th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 20th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 27th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)

September 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 10th - Tomb of Horror (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 17th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
September 24th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)

October 1st - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
October 8th - Tomb of Horrors (Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan) (Randy & Paul in NY)
October 15th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
October 22nd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
October 29th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)

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."