Teaching the Daask a Lesson

In The News

Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 1 Therendor- Front Page
Merrin Tox Acquitted - Merrin Tox (now fiancé to hero of Sharn Sadie Wolfchild) was acquitted by the High Court of Sharn this Wir 25 Olarune. Tox, a paladin of the Silver Flame, had been charged with the murder of two shifters, and was suspected in the murder of Silver Flame archieophant Ythanna Morr. Tox was acquitted after the changeling known as Qwip confessed the murders, after being captured by Sadie and the other heroes of Sharn.

Sadie, Thaspar, and Cora were aided by another Sharn local, a warforged who has taken the name Garen. The Inquisitive has learned that Garen has been a companion of the heroes for nearly three months now, and has been helpful in several of their more recent heroic deeds. Perhaps the ranks of the heroes of Sharn are growing?

Chronicle

It was raining; and danger was afoot in the City of Towers. Cora, Sadie, and Thaspar sat quietly in the remains of The Lizard’s Mantle. The mantle was already undergoing renovations and repairs, and in a week or two it would be as good as new. In the meantime that Inn’s most famous patrons met to discuss just how they were going to deal with the Daask.

It was decided that they must strike fast and hard. The attack would serve three purposes:

1. Prevent whatever attack the Daask were planning, with all the weaponry they had confiscated from the old Knight's Wind headquarters
2. Send a message, saying not to mess with them or the Lizard's Mantle
3. Simple revenge

The one problem with the plan, as it currently stood, was that they didn't know where to go looking for the Daask, besides somewhere in Khyber's Gate. Cora checked out the word on the streets, but she found out little more than they already knew. The Daask were based in the Cogs, but lately they had been aggressively moving into the territory of other gangs, large and small, across the city.

During this time they also began renovations on the old Knight's Wind headquarters. Sadie had concocted a plan to help protect lower Sharn from further problems. It would essentially be an expanded form of the Knight's Wind. Employing all of the races of the lower city, and based out of the old HQ, they would protect this neighborhood. While Cora searched for information on the Daask, Sadie found the first recruits.

Several of the surviving halflings were willing to join. In addition Twitch, and a few other shifters joined the mix. Sadie had bigger issues to worry about at the moment, however, and so she left further recruiting to the members themselves. It shouldn't be hard with a name like Sadie Wolfchild, and the heroes of Sharn, to back them up.

Once they felt that they were ready, Cora, Sadie, and Thaspar set off for the Cogs. They decided to use the same lift as last time in lower Tavick's Landing. In this part of town things weren't so close. They were near the walls, which meant that one could actually see the sky, gray as it was. Out in the relative open the rain bombarded the cobblestone streets, as they made their way eastward.

As Sadie passed through the gray sheets of water, she slowly become aware of a faint sound. It was like some king of dark chanting. Slowly the chatter and bustle in the streets began to die down and everyone around her, one by one, fells silent. Her companions were listening too. Everyone was looking around for the source as the evil chant began waxing to full volume. Yet, there was nothing to be seen.

Suddenly from behind them a cacophonous shower of rubble and debris filled the air as a building burst open. For a moment all that Sadie could see was dust, but slowly the dark form a of a large and twisted figure emerged. It was a statue, crudely hewn from purplish rock. It resembled a deformed humanoid shape, and its overlong limbs were pocked and tumorous. It arms terminated in small, but pitch black hands. It looked like a huge idol to a dark and unholy god.

Its face; however, was its most disturbing feature. Simple, and carven flat, it was marked with the same unnatural symbol Sadie had seen in Hallowfield and Aruldusk. The symbol was cut deeply into the face, and it was leaking reddy-black blood, which trickled down, spotting the ground below in patches of deep vermilion, and spreading under the influence of the incessant rain.

The construction would have been nearly 25 feet tall, but it stooped, as if deformed.

It took little notice of the people in the streets, now fleeing for safety. Crushing several underfoot, it charged directly toward the trio. With each thunderous step the sound of dark chanting grew louder.

Sadie and Thaspar readied their weapons for the inevitable attack. Cora quickly turned invisible.

The weapons of the elf and shifter bit into the stone composing the construct, but Sadie found that she was unable to deal a significant amount of damage. She decided to retreat to the rooftop, where she could use her bow with slightly more safety.

She had just cleared the wall when the behemoth arched its back. The blood trickling from its face grew more torrential, and then suddenly it spewed forth a hot spray of fell blood. Cora shook off the effect, but Thaspar, who had taken the brunt of the evil attack, could not. His mind was suddenly poisoned against his friends. His thoughts were twisted by dark magic. He realized in that moment that Cora, and Sadie were his most hated enemies, and he wanted nothing more than to exterminate them immediately. Since he couldn't see his invisible ally, he set his sights on the shifter.

Meanwhile Sadie was firing arrows from her bow of frost at the huge idol. It seemed to perceive her as a threat. Stretching up to its full height, it brought its weighty fists down on the shifter, hard. The blow was painful, but something more was held within those blackened fists. A seed of madness suddenly sprouted in Sadie's mind. Her sanity left her, and screaming she ran away at full speed, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Thaspar, upon seeing his ultimate nemesis flee took off after her at top speed. Both were using boots of haste, so this meant no little distance was covered. Thaspar stuck to the street beneath, as Sadie vaulted alleys above him.

This left Cora standing, invisible and alone, with the huge statue. She was more than a little confused by this behavior, but she had not choice but to pursue. The construct lumbered slowly after them.

Thaspar chased tirelessly after Sadie. When he saw that she had stopped, he began climbing the nearby shop to reach the rooftop. He found the shifter there, babbling incoherently. The pursuing monstrosity stricken from his thoughts, he attacked her mercilessly with his ancestral sword. Perhaps some of Cora's luck had worn off on the Shifter, or perhaps Thaspar's fury had made him careless. Despite her maddened state, Sadie dodged every swing of the wicked instrument.

Thaspar's rage grew as his quarry dodged his every blow. He swore vengeance and was about to launch another attack, when the madness left him. Reality faded back into his mind. Sadie was a longstanding friend. It had been the idol's dark blood which had tampered with his mind. He turned his face to the pursuing construct.

At this time Sadie decided it would be best to stab Thaspar with her anarchic dagger, before running away at full speed, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Before Thaspar could recover from the stab to his back, the huge monster crashed into the elf, its blackened fists pummeling him mercilessly. He fought back with ferocity. His own fists smashing and crushing the stone idol. The statue proved too much, however. Soon Thaspar lay bleeding to death on the rooftop.

Meanwhile, Cora found herself on the ground, in a one-on-one battle with the construct. The little halfling, about 1/10 the size of her foe, had been hurling darts filled with various alchemical concoctions at the statue. Its lower half was now engulfed in magically burning alchemists fire, and its back showed the marks of acid.

With the elf no longer a threat, the behemoth turned its attention to its tiny foe, smashing her with its deadly fists. Cora shook off the madness contained within them with ease, though the massive damage was more difficult to simply ignore. Realizing she was outmatched in a toe-to-toe fight, she retreated quickly to a nearby alley. She moved down the alley, just out of reach, and began once again hurling alchemical darts.

After futilely trying to reach the halfling for a moment, the stone hulk began using his limbs to simply smash down the buildings on either side of the alley. However, a fast as it smashed, Cora would simply inch backwards and throw more darts. The damage to the idol was taking its toll.

The construction seemed to realize, however, that it wasn't making any progress. It slowly turned and began to plod back towards the wounded and unconscious Thaspar. Cora pursued.

Then, from nearly a mile away an arrow came hurtling through the rain. Sadie, her mind warped with madness, had decided to attack the idol after all. By some miracle her shot was true, and the frost arrow came crashing into the statue. At the same time Cora hurled another dart filled with alchemist's fire.

The statue stumbled, but it still managed to stagger after the halfling, who, once again fled down the alleyway. Burning with alchemist's fire, the behemoth finally collapsed. Its huge form came crashing down on the alley, all but the destroying the shops it had previously damaged.

As the dust settled all that remained was a massive 25 foot tall construct, lying destroyed beside the triumphant, and 3 foot tall Cora.

In the aftermath, Thaspar was healed with Cora's wand, and the halfling also used a scroll to lift the madness which had refused to take leave of Sadie. Finally coming to her senses, she realized that she was lucky that she hadn't stumbled into a crowd of people in her insane state.

The group surmised that the construct was clearly related to the issues in Hallowfield, given the symbol, but there wasn't much else to go on. They didn't even consider tracking it back to its source. There were more important matters related to the Daask.

They decided to press on to the Cogs.

As the slow lift made its way down into the cogs, the trio could feel the temperature steadily increasing. By the time it reached the sooty, narrow, blackened passage at the end of the ride they had fully remembered just how oppressively hot it was in the depths of Sharn. The air was filled with sulphurous smoke, and everything more than 10 feet away grew hazy and indistinct. The smoke chocked their lungs and stung their eyes.

Once again the metallic groans and loud bangs of the Cogs assailed their ears. Everything was the crash and low rumble of industry.

Up ahead the a red glow filled the end of the hallway

Again they passed through the interlaced maze of iron walkways, which lay suspended above massive pits of molten rock far below. Even from their height the heat was sickening. It took several minutes to navigate the catwalks, but soon enough they were in the narrow, winding passages which made up most of the cogs. The streets (which were essentially wide corridors) wound their way through the mishmash of the undercity. The maze of streets would have been utterly disorienting without their map. The streets were lined with doors of varying types, from makeshift curtains, to large oak doors. Sometimes a door would be several feet off the ground, completely off kilter with the street.

Everything was dimly lit by sputtering everburning torches. There were plenty of shadows, and it seemed the torches had been placed as far apart as possible, as long as the streets are still navigable. As they passed further from the industrial area of the Cogs and towards Khyber’s Gate the smell slowly shifted from that of smoke and sulphur, to one of squalor. The sour stench of garbage, sewage and sweat began to permeate the air.

The denizens were mostly goblins, but the odd ogre or human passed by. Everyone on the streets seemed edgy. The bigger creatures pushed the smaller ones around without a thought.

They were in Khyber’s Gate.

A quick survey of the locals didn't net any additional information, so they decided to investigate Takkani's old hideout. A few minute's walk found them in the familiar alley off Blastfire Street. There were no guards outside the door this time, and the place seemed deserted.

They gathered on the steps, and Sadie began picking the lock on the door. Within a few seconds there was a click and the lock was open. Unfortunately they found the door was also barred. This allowed Sadie to make use of her brand new ring to cast Knock. The bar swung open and the door did likewise.

Inside they found a drug house. Lounging about the place were goblins, ogres, and gnolls, in various states of drugged stupor. The denizens of the drug den made no motions to hamper them in any way, but neither were they useful. The trio quickly found the store room in the back. It was filled to the ceiling with crates full of flasks and vials - the drugs. They were just discussing what they were going to do with the substances, when a voice came up behind them.

"What in Khyber are you doing in my storeroom?"

It was goblin - large as their kind goes. He had a huge warty patch above his right eye.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated himself.

Cora was already walking towards him with a smooth answer, "We have a message for Takkani. Is he here?"

"Takkani is dead! And besides he hasn't lived here for months. But that doesn't answer why are you in my storeroom."

"Oh, well, could you tell me where he was working." Sadie slunk slowly behind the goblin, and silently drew her sap.

"He was up at the headquarters. But I have no idea where that is."

"Where would that be?" Sadie readied the sap.

"As if I would tell some random halfling I found in my storeroom."

Thwack. The goblin's unconscious form crumpled to the stone floor.

After the goblin was tied up, Cora and Sadie took turns interrogating him. Unfortunately he really didn't know where the Daask hideout was. He did however, give them a lead on a drug running middleman - Cask. A large black man. They were given a rough location, and were told to "look for a dragon with a wounded leg."

An hour later they were standing outside a door below a sign with stylized dragon. Its leg was wounded and was dripping blood. The building had no windows, and showed no signs of occupancy. Sadie decided to attempt picking the lock.

Unfortunately the door appeared to magically warded. It seemed to resist the Shifter's every attempt to pick it. She was just beginning to get frustrated when suddenly the metal slot in the door shot open. A set of eyes appeared behind it.

"What business do you have picking the lock on my door?" It was a gruff and strong sounding voice.

"Uh," stammered Sadie, "we have a message for Cask?"

"Oh yeah, what is it?" he replied.

"We want to talk directly to Cask," Sadie asserted.

"I'm Cask, what do you want?"

"Let us come in and discuss it."

"Ha! Tell you what. I'll meet you at the Shamukaar in an hour. We can talk there."

The slot slammed shut.

An hour later Sadie, Thaspar, and Cora walked in the Shamukaar. The Shamukaar was the most successful tavern in Khyber's Gate. It was known as a safe haven for enemies to meet. It was an unspoken law that you didn't start a fight in the Shamukaar, and if you did you would face the entire tavern full of angry patrons. It was the perfect place for a safe meeting.

Or so they thought.

The meeting with Cask did bear fruit. He turned out to be a large, well build black man. His head was shaved, but he had a braided beard of thick brown hair. After some fierce negotiation, and the exchange of no small sum of gold Cask gave up the location of the secret Daask hideout.

Glancing around furtively, he spoke. "I make my deliveries to a certain spot in the northern area of Khyber’s Gate. If you have a map I can show you. I have heard that it was once a temple to the Dark Six, long ago. I can’t speak to that, I haven’t been very far inside. I do know that the center of Daask power is in that temple." Pointing the spot out on their map, he cast another look around, as if expecting retribution, but no-one seemed to have taken notice.

"Alright, I’ve done my part, I shall part ways with you know." With those words he rose and left the inn immediately.

Finally. They knew where the Daask lair was. It was time for some payback.

They left the bar in high spirits, but as they emerged in the street they found it very different from when they had entered. Earlier it had been a bustle of seedy activity. The corridor was one of the wider ones in Khyber's Gate, and had seemed quite busy. Now it was deserted.

They drew their weapons and fanned out. Thaspar to the northeast, Sadie to the southeast and Cora to the southwest.

Sadie scanned the darkness nervously. What was going on?

Suddenly a monster sprung from its hiding place to the north. In an instant Sadie knew why the street was empty. Fear. A beholder was creature she never would have expected to see in Sharn, but a second was outrageous. Her astonishment turned quickly to cold horror, however, as another globe of many eyes came drifting out from an alley to the south, cutting off their escape.

But it wasn't the end. Even more beholders began to pour out into the street.

Sadie bounded for Cora, and grabbing her by the neck of her cloak she hurtled toward the door of the tavern. It was too late, however. The street was filled with fell pyrotechnics as dozens of undulating eye-stalks fired their fearsome payload in all directions, but especially at Sadie and Cora. Chunks of the walls turned to dust as rays of disintegration missed the mark. Sadie's entire view was a lattice of criss-crossed beams of deadly power.

They were cornered now. They could not escape. Cora and Sadie backed up to get the best cover they could muster behind the uneven street walls. Thaspar fought in the open. His sword and fist were a blur as they cut through the nearest abomination. It fell, but not before he could be hit by several rays. He managed to survive the fiendish attacks, but they took a toll on him. He was wounded, and in danger of dying from mundane attacks. Drawing his bow, he charged down an alley and took cover behind some rubble.

For a few moments everything was chaos. Bows twanged, darts flew, rays of power screeched through the dim light. Sadie jumped, twisting through the air. She dodged one ray, then another, a third hit her, and she felt her limbs hardening to stone. She shook off the effect, and completed her twisting acrobatics to dodge two more rays. The doorframe where she stood was almost entirely reduced to a fine powder.

It was the trio's agility that saved them really. Hunkered behind cover and with lightning reflexes, it was almost impossible for the evil aberrations to score a hit on them with their eye rays - and when they did luck saved them from instant death.

Soon four of the five beholders who had attacked them lay in large gruesome piles in the street. All three of the trio had played a major part in the demise of the beasts. With one abomination left, Cora decided to take a chance and try to flank it. She wanted to try to steal some of the power in its eye rays. She figured that her spell thief abilities had progressed to the point where she could take their powers. However, as she ran across the street to the monster, she noticed a sixth creature approaching.

She heard it say, "Sorry I'm late," in Undercommon.

She dove behind the other beholder, and with a quick stab she stole some of its power, and left it in a ruinous heap.

It seemed like things were nearly over. But then, the aberration fired its disintegration ray at the halfling. She ducked, quickly, behind the large body of her defeated foe. In an instant her cover turned to dust. She turned to run, but it was too late. There was a flash of light, and she felt her limbs hardening. She tried to fight it. She had to escape. She couldn't move. She... couldn't... move...

Thaspar and Sadie attacked the final beholder with more ferocity than all the others combined. He had turned their friend into a statue! The beast tried to repeat its tactics, disintegrating the beholder Thaspar was using for cover. The elf shook off the flesh to stone ray, however. In a moment it was all over. Thrashing wildly the final aberration drifted slowly to the ground where it convulsed for a moment, then lay still: a large, and ruined mass.

Thaspar and Sadie stood silent. The remains of six beholders (2 of them dust) arrayed about them. It was a surreal moment.

Cora's stone state unfortunately meant that they could not further pursue the Daask this day. They would have to return to the surface and get Cora returned to normal. They put the stone halfling in the bag of holding and headed back to the upper world. Before this, however, they made sure to harvest the beholder eye-stalks, and eyes. They figured that such artifacts would be worth something.

Only one cleric in town had sufficient knowledge to cast the necessary spell to revive Cora. It was an all day affair tracking him down and getting the healing administered. But once Cora was whole again, they wasted no time. She was as eager as anyone to get back and show the Daask they were not to be trifled with. They decided, however, that since they had already spent most of the day away, that they would rest and recover their spells and items.

They set out immediately the next day, and headed down to Khyber's Gate. Their first stop was at the establishment of their friend Cask. Cora walked boldly up to his door and thumped three times. The slot slid open.

"What do you want?"

Before anyone could react Cora had a spell out. She had charmed Cask.

Under the influence of the spell, the large man let them into his home, just a small one room laboratory. He confessed that he had set them up, but that the Daask headquarters location he had given them was genuine. He also let them know about a plethora of evil deeds that he had done or was planning. They decided that they couldn't in conscience let him live. Sadie and Thaspar did the honors.

The next stop was the temple of the Dark Six, and the Daask.

In the northern part of Khyber's gate the streets were narrower, and denizens were fiercer. The very air exuded danger. Now and then they would hear a stifled cry. As they walked the streets they noticed creatures sizing them up, then thinking better of it.

They found the temple just where Cask had promised. A broken hole in the wall of a side street revealed their destination. The pathway on up to the temple was flanked on either side by deep pits. The red glow illuminating them betrayed molten rock below. Two monstrous statues on either side of the doorway spewed liquid fire which trickled down the street.

They made quick work of the door guards, and soon found themselves inside.

The anteroom to the temple was covered from floor to ceiling in a mural depicting the Dark Six. Despite being in terrible repair it was still disturbing. Each of the fell gods was displayed:

The Devourer - depicted as a large merfolk at the center of raging storm – ships meeting their doom all about him.
The Fury – portrayed as twisted snake like worm. Its red eyes seemed to watch from the ancient image.
The Keeper – Here portrayed as a grossly fat human, with blood trickling down his jowls.
The Mockery – A ghastly figure with the skin stripped from his bones, and clad in the skins of his enemies.
The Shadow – A dark and shadowy dragon, rearing up to devour those who entered the temple.
The Traveler - A doppelganger changing form, and looking on the others with a wicked smile

They passed through the entranceway, killing the gnoll guards there, and made their way down a long flight of stairs. At the bottom was a five sided room. On the far side pillars revealed a hallway which stretched on to another set of pillars. Beyond that they could see creatures milling about. There was also a door to the southwest.

They decided to take a stealthy approach, and try the side door. Sadie had no trouble picking the lock.

The instant she opened the door, however, a huge beast sprung upon her. The creature was like a large, hairless wolf; its pale, slimy skin covered with bizarre, abstract tattoos. As it moved forward, she could see that it had no head; instead, a long, serpentine neck extended from the middle of its back, terminating in a grotesquely oversized maw filled with multiples rows of teeth. Though it had no eyes, the mouth unerringly whipped around to face them. It leapt forward with a mighty bound, revealing three similar creatures in the room.

Thaspar, Cora, and Sadie were fortunate in two regards. First, the creatures were simply no match for three agile opponents. Their mouths dripped with a foul goo which they could spew over long distances. Fortunately, it was trivial, almost automatic for the trio to easily dodge these blasts. Second, the creatures in the far room seemed to be used to the dog-like aberrations making noise, because the entire combat only gathered a few, "Shut up!"'s and "I hate those damn things!"'s from them.

In a few short moments, all four grotesque abominations lay slain.

The room that they had come from was repulsive, and there wasn't much of interest, except the body of some poor soul who had been thrown to the dog-like creatures. Cora still insisted on searching him. Despite complaints for Sadie and Thaspar, the halfling was rewarded with several scrolls and a fair bit of gold from the adventurer's pack.

Now there was nothing for it, but to attack the large group of monsters congregated to the south.

The trio crept along the hallway, trying to stay hidden behind the pillars. The space beyond was a common room. Two tables sat on either end, and several monstrous humanoids were clustered around them. Cora counted 3 hobgoblins, 2 ibixians, 2 harpies, an ettercap, a half-elf, a minotaur, and a troll.

Slinking back to the room at the base of the stairs, they paused to hash out a plan. They figured it was best to fight them at one of the sets of pillars to avoid being surrounded. Cora mentioned that she had in her possession of a scroll of fireball, and she figured she could "fake it" enough to make use of it. Thus it was decided. Cora would let loose a massive blast of fire in the midst of the common room, and they would wait by the pillars to fight the survivors one at time.

Of course, nothing ever goes to plan. Though, all in all, it worked out pretty well.

A bead of glowing fire emerged from Cora's outstretched fingertip. She had faked enough magical aptitude to case the fireball spell from the scroll. It burst on the unexpecting common room occupants like a squall on an unprepared ship. In an instant everything was chaos. Everyone was burning. The ettercap was slain instantly. The three hobgoblins fled for the far exit. The rest of the rooms occupants, however, turned to attack.

The fight was on.

Their was a mighty cacophony. The harpies wailed. The goat men charged. The troll roared. Blades clashed. Maces smote the air. Thaspar's ancestral blade glowed red. Blood was spilled.

In the end, all that remained were the elf, the halfling, and the shifter. The battle had been challenging, but it was certainly nothing compared to six beholders!

Sheathing their weapons the trio made ready to press further into the realm of the Daask. They had no concept, however, of just what they would face there.

Timeline

• Mol 23 Olarune - Idol Attack, Investigating the Daask, 6 Freakin' Beholders!
• Zol 24 Olarune - Assault on Daask headquarters

People

Cask
A member or associate of the Daask who prepared the Dragon's Blood and other drugs for distribution to the pushers. He was slain for his evil ways.

Heroic Quotes

• "Yay! At least I'm not killing innocent bystanders!" - Bryan (when Sadie was confused)
• "Can I land on him? Does it kill him? I want some XP" - Robert

Adventure Names

• Robert - Advent Shadowguard / The Daask Cleanse Begins
• Robyn - Behold the Dark Six
• Bryan - Neighborhood Watch / Working Our Way Up the Chain of Command

Legends & Lore

A city has stood where Sharn now stands for many years. During the goblin empire the city was known as Dorasharn, and many of the ruins found in its deepest reaches are from that era. Stacked atop this, however, are thousands of years of goblin and human history. A story of wars and magic, hidden beneath the layers of the city of towers.

Statistics

Date Played: December 9, 2006
Session Length: 9 hours
Experience Gained: 16967/character
Foes Vanquished: 1 Rogue Eidolon, 6 - Yes 6 Freakin' Beholders, Cask, 15 or so Daask Members
Number of Party Members Turned to Stone - 1