Dezik Buruun
In The News
Breland Ledger: Sul 15 Sypheros - Front Page
Brelish Forces to Move on Droaam Offensive - The arrival of the mobile fortress of Argonth last week caught the Droaamish forces of balance and allowed a significant Brelish victory. The monstrous hordes were pushed back to the area surrounding the city of
General ir'Camyra pressed King Boranel for permission to siege the city of
There was some resistance among parliament to advancing further into Droaam, rather than just holding off the hordes, but the general consensus was positive, and King Boranel gave the order. Brelish troops have begun an assault on the city of
There are still several legions of monstrous troops between our fighters and Graywall, but their morale is running low, based on their recent losses.
Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 22 Sypheros - Your Health
Minor Disease Outbreak in
The disease is characterized by large greenish lesions, which weep a slimy green fluid. The disease seems to be spread by touch, especially touching the sores and their discharge. It has been difficult to attain what happens during the advanced stages of the disease. It seems that at least a few people have died, but further information has been difficult to gather.
For now the outbreak seems confined to the lower regions, so most of us should be able to safely ignore it for now. Upper city citizens are cautioned against traveling to the lower regions for any reason for the time being.
Chronicle
A dull morning crept over the slopes of Dezik Buruun. Deep within the volcano Cora awoke amidst the inky blackness. Relighting her bulls-eye lantern she looked cautiously around the room. She had slept beneath a fallen bookcase in the ancient library of Suthar Draal. She had spent a fitful night, fearing her own demise. Amidst broken sleep she had prayed to Olladra for luck; but she didn’t feel particularly lucky just now.
She rose, pushing away the wall of books she had made for protection. She had to find Sadie and Thaspar. She had to… somehow. She prayed one last time for luck. In that moment the entire chamber rumbled from deep within the volcanic depths. Several books came tumbling off the shelves. One struck Cora on the head and then lay in front of her. The book was another which detailed the construction process of Suthar Draal. On the front was a stencil of a grinning hobgoblin. The book was entitled “Ever Downwards – How the Pursuance of Mine Goals Leadeth Me Always Downward”. Cora was pondering if this was just a coincidence when another book fell. It was a book on divination entitled “Yes It’s An Omen”.
This was some obvious luck from above, but Cora was still hesitant to leave here place of safety. She spent most of the day pouring over books, but as it drew to what she imagined must be evening, she decided she had better try to head "downwards." She headed south to the staircase she had descended earlier. Sneaking cautiously forward, her heart was pounding in her chest. There could be anything down here. With a shudder, she passed the room full of bones. She came again to the room where she had hidden from the huge apes. It was then she noticed that the natural tunnel, which emerged from the northwest corner of the room, sloped steeply downward.
Swallowing her fear she began crawling through the narrow passage. It was a tight squeeze, even for a halfling, and it took some contortions to make it through. The walls and floor of the tunnel were slippery from the fine mist which seeped from somewhere below. As Cora slide out from a particularly small opening into a larger tunnel she suddenly found herself on much steeper rock. She lost her footing on the slippery surface and was suddenly sailing down the slippery chute. With a jolt her light went out. Then… suddenly she was in mid-air. All was black around her. In a moment of clarity, she pondered where she had gone wrong - she was sure that she had interpreted Olladra's prodding correctly. Then with a thud she crashed into a wall and then she was falling.
***
Sadie and Thaspar sat, recuperating in the darkness - there was no sense wasting lamp oil. Thaspar's bones were still sore, but his body had been growing quite resilient lately. It had taken a lot of punishment, and it seemed like his body was healing faster than ever before. As he focused on overcoming the pain he heard a sudden noise from above. There was a crash, followed by a shriek, and then a loud slap-splash in the pool next to him.
Both Sadie and Thaspar were up immediately, with lanterns on. They saw Cora, immersed in the hot pool, sputtering and trying to break the surface. They were momentarily shocked to see the halfling, but the shock turned to horror as they saw her stop struggling - her arms falling limp. She was sinking into the pool.
Thinking quickly Sadie reached out over the pool to grab the little halfling, while Thaspar held onto her from the pools edge. Sadie plunged her hand in and grabbed Cora, but she couldn't hold on, and dropped her. This threw Thaspar off balance, and suddenly they both toppled into the pool as well. Sadie was almost getting used to the feeling of scalding water engulfing her body by now. She grabbed Cora and pulled for the shore. Thaspar reached the edge first, and after pulling himself out, he reached in and wrenched the other two from the water.
After the administration of healing potions, the three sat together, steaming and recounting the events that had happened since they had been split up. Cora was very sad to hear that Majeek had died, but was glad to be back with her companions, who were alive. They were also very glad to see her in one piece as well.
The little escapade in the pool had undone any good that resting might have done, so all three decided to rest one more day before tackling whatever was muttering inside the door - which was their only escape.
When they woke naturally at what they assumed was the next morning, they wasted no time. There was nothing for it but to open that door and explore the room. Inside was a scene of destruction. The furniture and trappings of the room were ancient, but they showed more signs of damage than the ravishes of age. Most of the furniture had been chopped and hacked. Lying on the floor were several ancient skeletons, many with broken ribs and missing arms. Some held weapons and many had weapons jabbed into them. There was a door to the south; and no obvious source for the muttering - but it was definitely coming from the room.
They searched and eventually Cora found the source. It was an ordinary looking dagger, but it constantly muttered in some incomprehensible language. Sadie was furious: "This thing kept me up, worrying, for two days!" They decided to keep the dagger, but to wrap it in pieces of wood (in case it was cursed) and put it in the pack of holding (to muffle the sound).
Opening the door to the south they came into an underground street. The floor was made of flagstones, and was uneven from years of disrepair. The ceiling was high and roughly hewn from stone. Along the street with simple, squat, stone buildings - clearly goblinoid architecture. Some of the buildings extended right to the ceiling, while others had a small space between their roofs and the cavern's top. They could go in virtually any direction.
The first thing they did was to find the lay of the land. They moved about the underground street, taking note of all of the buildings and doorways. After a few minutes they had mapped out the entire area. Most of the streets were cut off by rubble and rock. Now that they understood their surroundings, they decided to start exploring the subterranean buildings.
Their first choice was the southernmost building - chosen simply because it was the closest when they finished mapping the streets. Inside was an impressive array of magical equipment. The room was filled with every sort of apparatus imaginable. There were long glass tubes, metal rods, arcane machines, odd contraptions, beakers, human sized jars, waterwheels, electrodes and all manner of strange contrivances hanging from the ceiling. As they searched the arcane laboratory they discovered that most of the truly magical items, rods, potions, and wands, seemed to have been stripped from the devices. Still, Cora retrieved a particularly odd piece of mechanical artifice for her uncle Roktok.
The halfling was just stowing the device when she noticed a huge creature descending from amongst the ceiling fixtures. It was large, as big as a table. Its body was, in essence, a large, purplish, fleshy sheet. Two "corners" however, were tipped with long cruel claws. In the opposite corners were a nasty little head with tiny teeth, and a long whip-like, barbed tail. It was descending on Thaspar.
"Look out," Cora cried.
But it was unnecessary. Although Thaspar had not seen the aberration, it miscalculated and ended up swooping down on a piece of machinery instead. It turned its tiny, bat-like, head to Thaspar and hissed.
The rest of the trio wasted no time. Cora let fly with here darts, and Sadie began slashing the creature with short sword. She had been encountered a few aberrant creatures in her time in the sewers, culminating with the Dolgaunt atop the Sharn skybridge, and while Majeek was with the party he had tutored her on some of the finer points of aberrant anatomy. He was particularly good at dispatching the unnatural horrors, and Sadie had picked up a lot. She used this knowledge to her advantage, striking out at the creature’s weak points.
The creature was not going to go down without a fight, however. Lunging once again at the elf, the creature wrapped its cloak-like body around Thaspar. Its claws dug in to hold it in place, and its horrid mouth began ripping at the elf's flesh. Sadie saw no other option. She slashed at the creature which engulfed her companion. With a gruesome ripping noise, her sword tore the creature in two. Convulsing the beast slid from the elf, leaving him drenched in its slimy green blood. Sadie's strike had cut through the creature and hurt Thaspar, but the wound was not deep, and it was a necessary evil.
The room to the northeast was tried next. Inside was a writhing mass of rats. Regular rats. Large rates. Dire rats. Horrid rats. The room was a sea of rats. Sadie quickly closed the door.
Further north was a room with a primitive version of the symbol of the Dark Six emblazoned on it. They decided to pass by this room for the time being.
They checked out the room to the west. Inside were half-a dozen horrible creatures. They were short and a bit lumpy. They had pale flesh and long claw tipped arms. Each looked like someone had taken two creatures and somehow crammed them into one. Their heads were a combination of two faces that burst from their chest. Each sported four arms. They were hideous, and each one was deformed just a little bit differently from the last. They were all gathered around something, tearing out chunks of ragged flesh with their teeth. Sadie shut the door.
The next room had some sort of symbol on it, but it had been scratched out. Cora could sense several minor magical auras in the room, as well as a strong one, so they decided to investigate. Most of the room had fallen in from the northeast. On the portion of the floor that was not damaged was a tile-work symbol. Thaspar thought it resembled the symbol of the Sovereign Host, but a more simplistic version.
On the southern wall were three silver basins, filled with a clear liquid. On the south wall was a single gold basin. Thaspar tasted each. The silver basins definitely contained potions of Cure Light Wounds. The golden basin had an unfamiliar taste - a bit like almonds, but more bitter. In all there was enough for each person to get three doses of Cure Light Wounds and one does of the mystery potion. They now also had a safe place to rest if need be.
Armed with a new array of healing they decided to tackle the building with the symbol of the Dark Six. They entered through a side door (which did not have any symbols above it). Listening at the door they hear dark chanting from within. Sadie creaked open the door. Within was a partially collapsed chamber. A raised area to the east was surrounded by concentric square steps. Atop the platform were two Dolgaunts. The cilia which covered their sickly pinkish bodies was wriggling, and their long should tentacles were flailing in the air as they chanted in some dark language. Both were holding daggers which they were slowly raising. There was some sort of sacrifice victim between them, but it was hard to see from where they were standing.
The trio dove into combat. The simple Dolgaunts were easy fodder for their blades and they quickly fell. It turned out the victim was one of those little deformed creatures, which fled in terror as soon as it could.
Feeling satisfied in doing a good deed, they decided to check out a hidden door which they had found during their earlier exploration of the streets.
They had discovered a large boulder blocking a passage into the rock, to the west of where they had come into this area. They pushed the rock away and entered the tunnel. It was made of smooth black rock, with a twisting, organic feel. It was hot in the tunnels, and they hoped that they might find Khyber crystals. Soon the passage that they had entered by branched in a number of directions, and they headed north.
The rock narrowed to the point where they had to crawl, and then suddenly opened up again. In the huge cavern below them they could see some sort of conflagration. It was a huge, oozing, reddy-orange blob. It looked as if its thin membrane was struggling to contain a raging inferno within. All over the thing flares of flame would burst forth, before being sealed up. As the group entered the room, it began to slowly seep towards them.
They ran.
They didn't even explore the other passages. They just ran back to the street and sealed up the entrance.
At this point they had explored nearly the entire street. Only one doorway was left. After piecing together some of the ancient maps Cora had torn from the library books, they came to the conclusion that the door probably led (ultimately) to the ancient throne room of Suthar Draal. Listening at the door they heard nothing.
Everyone decided to proceed with caution. Attaching a rope to the handle of the great double doors, they retreated to a nearby building and pulled open the portal. A few seconds later a horrible dolgaunt appeared. It spotted them almost immediately and attacked. A second soon followed. The noise attracted a large number of deformed creatures too. It was a large battle, but all the aberrations soon feel to the trio of heroes. The dolgaunts simply could not get ahold of the group to drain their life fluids. Soon only the three remained standing.
Inside the huge doors was a lavish room. Surprisingly well kept, its silver and gold tapestries depicted all manner of subterranean horrors. Two hobgoblin statutes on either side of the room spewed liquid rock from their mouths, which poured into a small channel that ran across the room - spanned by a bridge.
Another set of double doors awaited them on the other side of the room. There were also two smaller side doors. Cora set about prying gems from the doors, while the others explored the other two rooms. The northern room seemed to be some sort of armory. All manner of weaponry and armor, as well as various equipment was scattered about. The room to the south had several potions, flasks, and vials.
Once they were ready to move on, they pushed open the large doors and proceeded into a long, ornate, and curving hallway. This matched their map, and indicated that the throne room was up ahead. Eventually the hall came to an end in another set of ornate double doors.
Sadie decided to slowly creak the door open and have a peek - but their foes were already waiting for them.
“Welcome to my domain!” a strong voice echoed from the room ahead, filling them with dread. The double doors led into a large room – clearly a throne-room. Although in tatters, a red carpet led from the two sets of double-doors up to a raised platform with three gorgeous thrones on it. The center one was gold, and the two smaller ones to either side were silver. They were all encrusted with glistening gems of varying types. The construction of the room was both crude and stylish. An elaborate chandelier in the center of the room cast fluttering illumination into the entire chamber.
In front of the raised platform were two skeletons and two zombies. The trio was disturbed to notice that the two zombies were wearing House Cannith symbols. Their faces and exposed flesh were covered in grotesque wart-like growths. If these were the other party of adventurers, something horrible had happened to them. The skeletons seemed to be of large ape-like creatures.
Seated in the center throne was a disturbing looking creature. Its greenish, lumpy form was large and hairless and more than filled the golden throne. It was shaped like a massive, lumpy, muscular humanoid. Its eyes were yellow and it smiled wickedly at them. Its thick arms hung down beside the throne. In each of its beefy hands it was grasping huge, wicked looking butcher's cleavers, splattered with dried blood. Two long tongues slithered from its mouth and were licking its misshapen face.
“Welcome to my domain!” it boomed in a deep and terrifying voice, “This will be your new home. I am Hrugrek your new master. It has been a long time since I had intelligent visitors, and now I have had them twice in as many weeks. You will make excellent servants.”
As the aberration slowly rose from its throne, its long tongues snaked from its mouth, dripping black ichor. Winding around its arms, they licked the blades of its massive cleavers. Moving forward with powerful strides it raised the cleavers menacingly.
Sadie slammed the door.
It was not enough. Soon the door was being pulled open by one of the large skeletons. She grabbed the door and held it with all her might. Filled with unholy strength, the skeleton ripped the door from her grasp and advanced into the hallway. Everyone prepared for battle.
Thaspar moved to the front and engaged one of the advancing skeletons. The other, beside him, fought with the shifter, while Cora threw darts from behind. Thaspar’s fists proved to be the most effective weapon against the skeletons and one soon feel. The large, fleshless horrors were not pushovers, however. Both Thaspar and Sadie felt the sharp rake of their horrible talons.
As the skeleton fell, Thaspar shuddered to see the gruesome aberration fill its place. Seven feet tall, the lumpy greenish-yellow creature was thickly muscled. Its smile was pure evil. Thaspar could feel the power in its limbs as the creature roared up to him. He tried to dodge, but the brute’s wicked, heavy, cleaver plunged into his shoulder with an agonizing crunching noise. Reeling with pain, he saw the beast's black tongue sliding down the cleaver to lick the blood from the wound. Then, with a stomach lurching shot of pain the cleaver ripped free of his body. Thaspar could see revolting, wart-like lesions appearing along the wound, where the tongue had licked it. The creature was already raising the second cleaver.
Cora was watching the battle from the rear, when she was struck by an idea. It was gutsy, but it might just pay off. She suddenly jumped forward and began throwing darts and taunting the gruesome creature. The gambit seemed to pay off; the monster was becoming enraged by her insults. It began to advance on her. Seeing what was going on Thaspar moved aside and the aberration charged the little halfling. Bringing out her sword she braced herself for attack.
The first blow caught her square on the shoulder. The force was extreme and almost took her off her feet. Like before, the slimy black tongue raised disgusting growths around the wound. Using her sword as her last defense, she managed to deflect the second blow of the fierce cleaver. The monstrosity was fast. Its arms were pumping the cleavers down on the halfling like pistons. The third blow hit hard. Cora hoped that this would pay off after all.
It did. When the creature passed by, Sadie quickly nipped in behind it. She thrust her sword into the fiend from behind. Roaring with pain, it continued its onslaught, but now its focus was distracted. Cora slashed at the monster, but she was too busy trying to defend herself to make a proper attempt.
Suddenly his devilish grin turned to shock and dismay. Sadie's sword protruded from his chest. Looking down his eyes were suddenly afraid, then he slid off the sword into a gruesome heap. Cora's risk had paid off.
By this time Thaspar had destroyed the second skeleton, and together with Sadie he hacked the two zombies to pieces.
Exhausted from the battle, they paused to rest into the ancient throne room.
Once they had caught their breath, and drunk their potions, they set about exploring the room. Cora's eyes veritably glinted at the site of the jewel encrusted thrones. They were too heavy to carry out, so Cora wanted to pry the gems free. Sadie was hesitant at first, but eventually Cora got her way. In addition, they searched the room from top to bottom, and they were not disappointed.
A secret door in the southwest corner led to a small room. The room was extremely hot, and a small window was why. It opened onto a vast sea of molten rock. The only object in the room was a small stone device. Mounted on the floor it had a sloped slot in which a stone slider was situated. The slider was at the bottom of the slope, but looked liked it could be pushed upwards.
Sadie wondered if this might be the switch depicted on Cora's map. As they were pondering what to do, Cora impulsively decided to push the slider. As it crunched up the stone ramp there was a low rumbling gurgle, far to the east. When she let it go at the top, it began slowly grinding its way back down.
Deciding that this might be the "switch" on Cora’s parchment, they decided to try following the map, to see if they could find the "entrance". This led them out the only other exit to the room, a second set of double doors, which led to a long upward staircase.
The floor at the top of the stairs quickly gave way to natural caverns. As they looked around, Cora began to recognize the place. This was where she had been earlier when she saw the dead body. Nothing remained of it now, except for a bloody streak. Her suspicions were confirmed as they headed north into the large open room with at least a dozen smaller rooms within it.
They quickly and quietly slipped through the room, trying to get their bearings on the map. There was a section of the map that looked like it might represent the rooms. They followed it east. Soon they came to the patch of luminescent fungus. Sadie recognized it as harmless (and in fact edible) fungus. Cora didn't tell her how she had climbed over the roof to avoid it earlier.
The map took them past a few doors, and eventually led to the beginning of a shattered set of stairs, that almost immediately became a natural cavern, leading downwards. They had come a fair ways since the throne room - it had been at least half an hour, but it looked like they were on the right track. They descended into the gloom.
The tunnel was very narrow and circuitous. It twisted and turned, lurching up, then plunging down. Often they had to contort, crawl, or wriggle to make it through. After, what seemed like ages the cavern finally opened up and they were able to walk. They were completely disoriented, but as they passed a fork they went straight, since the map seemed to go straight after curling. The open cavern went on for quite some time, and they were just beginning to worry when they came to a non-natural wall, with two stone doors set into it.
Cora went over the doors carefully, and found that the handle of the right door seemed to be attached to some kind of mechanism, but the left door looked safe. Remaining cautious Sadie creaked open the door.
Inside the doorway was a completely square room. The southwest corner had slightly fallen in, but it remained mostly intact. The room was made of roughly hewn stone. In the center was a raised portion. On each of the four sides of the platform was a fierce looking goblinoid statue that looked like it was lunging forwards to attack the pit in the center of the platform. This pit was also square, and about two feet in from the edge of the platform. It was filled, almost to the lip, with lava.
The trio quickly decided that this was the entrance, and that it was probably controlled by the switch. They assumed the switch had slid back to its initial position, so they carefully crept back to the throne room, cautiously avoiding several creatures.
This time, they jammed the switch open with an axe (taken from the nearby armory), and slunk back to the room with the lava. Again, they narrowly avoided attacks from various denizens of the subterranean ruin.
This time, where there had been lava, there was instead a square tunnel leading down twenty feet, before turning and heading off, in the opposite direction of the doors. Cut into the stone wall was a ladder of footholds. Despite the lack of lava the rock was still very hot. The trio began trying to fashion thick walking pads when Sadie had a brainstorm.
To the surprise of the rest of the party, she dumped everything out of their pack of holding. Then, she slipped back through the tunnel and out into the underground city. Judging by their current location and Cora’s recounting of her exploration she quickly found the shaft that Cora had fallen down earlier. Digging her claws into the slippery rock, she crept down to the lip of the chute. She smiled when she saw below her the hot pool of water where they had spent the last few nights. Attaching a rope to the pack she lowered it down into the pool. With a gurgling whirlpool the entire pack was filled with water. The pack was enchanted, of course. Though it always weighed only 15 pounds, it could carry up to 250 pounds of equipment.... or water.
She passed without incident back to the room with the "entrance". Careful of the hot steam it would produce, she began slowly pouring the water out of the pack, into the passage. As steam filled the room, and wafted up to the city above, the passage slowly cooled. By the time she had emptied her pack most of the floor was walkable, and only the far end was still quite hot.
After refilling the pack with their gear, all three set off through the stone tunnel. The walls were still quite hot, and the heat emanating from them was tiring and oppressive. Using pieces of cloth they climbed the still hot opposing side of the passage - it was a stone ladder, just like the entrance. They climbed up the twenty feet of hot rock and out into an outer chamber. They were not prepared for what they saw.
The heat was nearly unbearable. They found themselves standing on a walkway made of square rock in the middle a huge sea of lava. There was liquid magma around them as far as they could see, and the ceiling was lost overhead. The lava was churning and occasionally washed over the edge of the walkway. The man-made peninsula had a natural stone “railing” on either side – berms of hardened lava.
The walkway jutted out into the glowing sea for at least 100 feet, and then ended in a large circular platform. On the platform was a raised table. They saw this all in silhouette, because 50 feet behind that was a massive conflagration.
An astonishingly large being of pure flame blazed on the far side of the platform. Roughly humanoid in shape, the colossal being's head was hung in subjugation. Four huge, glowing, red chains stretched from its limbs to the walls of the cavern. A fifth chain about its neck seemed attached to the platform ahead.
Everyone had a pretty good idea what might be on the table, and what would probably happen if they disturbed it. Yet, there was nothing else for it but to investigate the stone table.
As they passed down the stone walkway, flanked on either side by hardened rock, the heat was unbelievable. They felt almost sick and light-headed as they trudged down the pathway. Within seconds they were all soaked with sweat, the radiant heat scorching their bodies.
All around them the sea of lava churned and erupted in loud bursts. The huge being of flame seemed to take no notice of them. Nothing opposed them, but by the time they reached the circular platform they were exhausted by the heat.
On the stone table was a black rod. On one end was a scintillating blue sphere. On the other, a scintillating red sphere. Cora could sense an overwhelming magical aura emanating from the artifact. This was what they had come for.
It was difficult to make decisions with the fiery heat sweltering over them. The roar of flames and a constant rumble made it necessary to shout to each other. In the end the plan was simply "grab the rod and run". Cora decided to head back through the passage to the room with the statues. Sadie would grab the rod and run. Thaspar would run with her, in case she needed combat support. It was the best plan they could come up with.
Sadie and Thaspar waited; sweat pouring off them, for Cora to get to the other side. When enough time had elapsed they tensed themselves, and got ready to spring. Her heart pounding with suspense, Sadie reached out for the rod. Her muscles were spasming with tension as she placed her hand over the rod. She hesitated. In a sweeping motion she grabbed the artifact and began to run.
Everything began to shake violently and a deep rumbling tore through the air so that they could hear nothing else. Before they could even sprint from the platform, Sadie and Thaspar were hurled to the ground by the intense vibration. It was all they could do to avoid being thrown into the lava. Then, with five quick snaps the five glowing chains restraining the huge being of fire were released. Amidst a deafening rumble the creature raised its colossal head and stood erect. The enormous conflagration burst forth with fiery energy and black coal-like eyes flicked open - a deep, horrible laugh suddenly roared from within its flaming depths – ha ha ha. Then, suddenly it plunged into the lava. With a rumbling burble it was gone.
The ground began to shake even more violently that before. The world was a blur to the elf and shifter desperately clinging to the rock platform.
Then, for a moment, the rumbling stopped.
With a huge burst of sound Thaspar and Sadie were hurled into the air. With sudden horror Thaspar found himself clinging to the chunk of rock that was once the platform as is hurtled through the air. Along with Sadie, he was on the crest of a massive wave of lava. Everything was a blur. The walkway in front of him was buckling and cracking as the lava engulfed it. Stalactites and chunks of molten rock flew by. Suddenly a stone wall was rushing up. The platform crashed against it and he was thrown into space. As he fell, he could see chunks of fire of molten rock all around him, and tumbling through the air beside him was Sadie.
Sadie crashed down hard onto hot, black stone. Thaspar managed to slow his fall using the nearby rock wall. In a stupor Sadie quickly took in her surroundings. She was on the base of the catwalk which has been utterly destroyed. The entrance that she had come through had been torn away, but the tunnel lay open ahead of her. Thaspar was by her side. Confused as to why they were not engulfed in lava, she glanced around and found herself in the trough of where the wave of magma had struck the wall. All around the shifter were 50 foot walls of molten rock, and they were about to crash down on her and Thaspar. Towering even over the massive waves was the terrifying figure of fire, roaring with madness!
They ran. They ran like they never though that they could. The floor of the passage was covered with a thin layer of magma which scorched their feet. They didn't care. They ran. They could hear and feel the lava mounting behind them - roaring down the hallway towards them at terrifying speed. The searing heat scorched their backs. They could see the end of the passage up ahead. It was so hot that it felt as though their very clothes would burst into flame. They raced up the stone ladder and heaved themselves from the pit. The lava slammed against the edge of the pit, slopping over in a spectacular gush of heat and slowly began oozing out of the hole.
The lava began filling the room at an alarming rate, but they were already gone - all three of them. Racing, wriggling, and crawling through the adjoining tunnel as fast as they could. All around them everything was rumbling. Dezik Buruun was erupting.
After several harrying minutes, squeezing through the narrow tunnel they emerged, back in the underground city of
“Hand over the rod, and we won’t kill you,” the girl on the left smiled triumphantly. Her voice was as beautiful as a song, and as menacing as a viper. “Make your choice.” The other said.
The trio didn't even answer. They just attacked. They had had enough of these girls. The women immediately dove into battle as well; their fantastically beautiful forms whirling as they met the party head on. It was time to teach these three upstarts a lesson.
What the two ninjas did not know, however, was that Cora had just used the wand of spider climb on all three of her group. This turned Cora and Thaspar into amazing climbers... and Sadie into a climbing goddess.
Cora decided to climb up onto the ceiling, out of harms way. She could hear the lava burbling up the tunnel behind her. The deep rumbling in the earth also seemed to be getting stronger. She watched Thaspar and Sadie below her. Each moved to engage one of the beautiful women, Sadie on the left, Thaspar on the right. The fighting was fierce. Thaspar turned his attention to Sadie’s opponent and they attacked her together. The monk's fists were a blur in the hot gloom. Sadie's sword hummed as it split the air, crashing down on her foe. The ninja's
The fight was going well for Thaspar. For the most part he had avoided his opponent's kamas. The two assassins did not seem to be entering the battle. Instead they stayed behind. They uttered dark chants and were clearly casting evil spells on the party. As he fought, he felt a sense of impending doom come over him. He had trained too long to let anything like that affect him, and he shook off the spell. He hoped that they didn't have anything else more powerful up their sleeves.
Sadie was angry. These stupid ninjas had stolen an artifact from them already, and gotten her friends arrested and nearly fed to a Behir! Her blade hacked and slashed at the girl in front of her mercilessly. A faint shimmer of a feral glint began to appear in the shifter's eyes.
Suddenly the world exploded.
The entire complex of rooms to their right just blew apart. The entire group was rained with chunks burning timber and molten rock. Most of the combatants were agile enough to escape harms way, but one of the assassins got to feel hot magma splatter across his face. He began to scream in agony and scrape it off.
Where the rooms had once been was a ragged, gaping hole, and just below the lip was a bubbling mass of lava, which was quickly climbing over the edge of the pit.
The ninjas were momentarily distracted, and with a sweeping slash of her sword and a flurry of blows from Thaspar the woman on the left staggered and fell. Her minions immediately began casting healing spells upon her. The other girl swiveled on the shifter - her beautiful face contorted into a mask of hateful fury. She dove at Sadie.
"Just gimme the rod," she screeched – the soothing beauty of her voice abandoned.
Sadie had run into the fight holding the rod in her hand. When the battle had begun she had slipped it into the pack. Unfortunately, that meant her opponents knew exactly where it was. Sadie and the ninja locked into a fierce grapple.
As the lava swelled over from the northeast, Cora could see it bubbling up from the tunnel to the southwest. In a few seconds, their only escape route, a narrow patch of crumbling flagstone still attached to the western wall, would be engulfed. She didn't have time to think of this, however, because her friend Sadie was fighting for her life on the floor, as lava oozed towards her from all sides. The ninja grappling her was defenseless against the halfling’s attacks, so she hurled darts, and wondered if they could possibly make it out alive.
Sadie fought with all her strength against her assailant. They were pretty equally matched, but the ninja was just a little better. Inexorably she was forced to the ground. Two pairs of hands - shifter and ninja - were wrapped around the woman’s
"Give it to me you filthy shifter witch!"
Wrestling on the floor, Sadie kicked out at the ninja, and with a quick motion got back on her feet. They were now holding on to either side of the pack - each pulling and straining with all their strength. Thaspar was locked in combat with the second ninja who had been revived by her companions.
In a moment of agonizing defeat, Sadie felt her grip loosing on the pack. She couldn't dig in her claws for fear of puncturing the magic bag. Then, suddenly, the bag was in the hands of the ninja, who was quickly climbing up the wall and away to safety.
There was no path out now, except by wall.
The look on Sadie's face was terrifying. She was like some kind of feral beast as she roared up the wall. Running headlong along the vertical surface she charged toward the fleeing ninja. The ninja was an excellent climber, but no match for Sadie with a spider climb spell. Sadie leapt like a fierce animal and brought her sword crashing down on the ninja. The woman managed to dodge at the last second. Sadie's sword came down with desperate force, and sent chunks of rock flying into the lava below.
The heat was getting oppressive again, as Sadie raced after the ninja, above a sea of molten rock. Behind her Thaspar, Cora, and the second ninja were following on the wall. The two assassins were left behind - trapped between opposing lava flows. Within seconds their screams were muted by the flowing magma.
Despite her climbing finesse, Sadie could not quite get enough purchase to properly strike out at the ninja. Running purely on beast-like adrenaline, she rushed ahead and leapt down to the floor, just ahead of the lava flow. The ninja rushed by on the roof. Here eyes glinting with rage she swung her sword. It roared through the air and with thud the ninja was tossed to the ground - her lifeless eyes frozen in surprise.
Still reeling, Sadie reached for the bag, and suddenly found herself in another tug-of-war. The second ninja had arrived and was now after the pack. Sadie was enraged, but not without compassion. "Leave now," she shouted over the rumbling of the volcano, "and you can live! You don't have to die! You can look after your companion and leave." The woman merely set her face in defiance and pulled harder on the bag. By this time, however, Thaspar was bounding off the wall and delivered a near-fatal blow. Assessing the situation, she at last dropped the pack, and made a run for it. Unfortunately, for her, Thaspar was ready for that too, and his punch sent her sprawling on the stone floor. She did not move again.
The ninjas were dead. Sadie was breathing heavily with exhaustion and the adrenaline coursing through her body. The lava was closing in fast.
Cora called from the wall, above the mounting lava, "Uh can I get a little help here." She was stuck.
With some help from Sadie everyone got back onto the ground again, and they ran as fast as they could from the growing lava flow. They charged up the stairs covered in phosphorescent fungus. The fungus was catching fire behind them as the lava flowed over it. They ran. They cared about nothing except getting out of Suthar Draal before it was too late.
They ran past a group of large apes. They climbed over the ceiling of a room filled with a brown mold which sapped the very heat from their bodies. They ran past doors. Olladra seemed to be smiling on them, and they took an almost direct route to the nearest exit. Bursting in on a group of gnoll guards, Cora cried, "Run you fools! The volcano is erupting!"
The trio and the guards alike ran through the shored exit and burst forth into the murky daylight. The sky was filled with dark ash, and everything was rumbling. The citizens of the makeshift town were fleeing and hot ash was setting the ramshackle buildings aflame.
As they ran down the slope of Dezik Buruun, the great volcano burst open in a roaring flower of molten rock. The entire top of the mountain blew apart. Hot boulders, the size of houses hurtled over the landscape. Magma began pouring out from the lip of fiery caldera.
Running crazily, they tore through the area filled with geysers and boiling pools. Everything was going berserk. They were sprayed with hot water, and boiling mud spewed up at them. Still they ran. They ran, up and into the Byeshk foothills. They ran until they found their mounts behind the hill. Then finally, gasping for breath, they fed and saddled their mounts, then rode off south, as fast as they could.
***
Once they were a safe distance away, they gave Majeek a proper burial. Cora said a few words about the ranger. His eagle rested on the grave for the service, then with a lonely cry it circled and flew into the east.
***
As they rode south toward Graywall, each pondered what they would do next, and what purpose the rod could really serve. They had made it all the way to Suthar Draal. They had escaped Dezik Buruun, and now they had the rod! They were a little worried, but it was hard to let those worries taint the glorious feeling of their epic success.
Timeline
- Zol 10 Sypheros - Cora reunited with the others
- Wir 11 Sypheros - Resting all day
- Sor 12 Sypheros - Got the rod and Dezik Buruun erupts
Heroic Actions
- Sadie filled an entire bag of holding with water, to cool a red hot hallway
- Cora acted as Rot Reaver bate, to trick him into being flanked
- Thaspar drop-kicked a Dolgrim
- Cora fell into a pool of hot water and her rescue was almost a total party kill
Heroic Quotes
- "Are these ninjas aberrations perhaps?" -
- "Because she's climbing she has no dex bonus" - Jon "Mwhahahaha...." –
- "And what do we do when we see grayish puddles?" - Sadie "Now we leave them alone." - Cora
Adventure Names
- Robert - Infidel! You Have Touched the Forbidden Treasure! Now You Will Never Again See the Light.... Of Day!
- Robyn - Last Glimpse of the Ninja Twins
- Bryan - Spider-Sadie and the Mystery of the 425,00 Cubic Feet of Steam
Legends & Lore
Sora Katra (the Ace of Spades) is intensely gifted with the power of persuasion. Typically polymorphing into a beautiful form, her natural and magical charms are nearly unrivaled. She acts as the face for the Daughters of Sora Kell, mitigating their horrific actions with soothing words. Beware whenever she opens her mouth.
Statistics
Date Played: March 26, 2006
Session Length: 9 hours
Experience Gained: ?/character
Foes Vanquished: Cloaker, 5 Dolgrims, 4 Dolgaunts, 2 Dire Ape Skeletons, 2 Zombies, 1 Rot Reaver, 2 Nightmare Assassins, 2 Ninjas
Foes Run From: Conflagration Ooze, Many Rats, Several Dolgrims, Elder Fire Elemental
Foes Who Destroyed the Entire Dungeon: Elder Fire Elemental
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