March 12th, 2017

Return to the Hidden Citadel and then South


Random Acts of Adventuring
The very few adventurers of the day, from left to right:
Nilo playing Arden, halfling cleric and long-suffering healer
Chris playing Deckard Stormfallow, human fighter, pamphlet scribe, and holder of the awesome DM's Screen
Sarai playing Desorna, elven fighter and easily distracted SQUIRREL! What?
Zack playing Ahri, elven magic-user who is ready to drop a lightning bolt, any time, any place, so long as Desorna's down range
And, by divine fiat as usual, the DM playing Ydee, Catherine's half-elven thief and mostly sitting this out without pay mercenary
The party began this adventure with Deckard paying for training yet again as he made another level after his impressive one-on-one battle against the Gallium Golem. While in town the party was distracted chasing different goals and daydreams, so only a portion of the core returned to the citadel in an attempt to try to find a secret access door into the impling's vault at the bottom of the well.
A very minor encounter was had with a small group of frog-men creatures that surrounded Desorna in the night. Luckily (?) Ahri was able to take them all out with a lightning bolt spell, which also toasted Desorna. Ouch? Well, she asked for it. Really, she did.
A day and change after that night encounter they made it to the citadel. As they moved through the dungeon they came through a door and encountered another group of five adventurers. It started as a John Woo, moment, but once the effort was made to parley, the two group recognized each other as being friendly instead of hostile. The leader of the other group, a fighter named Johnathan, did the talking, explaining that they were badly wounded and looking for a way back out after getting confused after hitting teleporter rooms in the maze. Their thief had been killed by a trap and their cleric by a weird green ogre-thing. They were badly wounded and just wanted to get the heck out of there and back to town. Arden healed the group with his tome and they led them to the exit. The NPC group offered thanks and made their way back to town, with one of the group shaking Arden's hand in thanks and giving him a gem in the handshake as a more tangible form of thanks.
On the way they ran into three of the plague zombie monsters, two ogres and one that might have been a cleric at some point. One quick battle later Desorna was thoroughly coated in goop from the exploding hulks. The DM's description: “Ever been sneezed on by a snotty-nosed small child? It's like being sneezed on by a hundred of them at once.” And there was cringing.
Back the group went to the spiral pit where Desorna and Ahri descended into the pit while the others remained up top and safe. Even with a detect invisible spell, Ahri could not see any kind of secret door or panel that might help them. After Ahri and Desorna had dumped every coin they possessed into the well they were released. The detect invisibility found nothing of interest at the top of the well, so the frustrated party said “Forget this.” and left again.
A minor encounter with a wyvern on the way home troubled most of them not one iota, though Desorna was mildly inconvenienced by both the wyvern's attack on her and Ahri's lightning bolt that helped convince the wyvern to drop Desorna. The beast chased off, they finished their rest and made it back to town without much more in the way of excitement.
Back in town Deckard went to look to see if the other group had made it back okay. He met Johnathan in the tavern with one of his companions and learned that they were all alive and fairly well. Reassured by this, Deckard took two copies of pamphlets he had written of what to watch out for to the Curio Shop to see if he could make a deal with the mages for distribution. Cayne Collier, owner of the Curio Shop, offered 25 g.p. to Deckard for his pamphlet and the rights to copy and sell them for a few gold each. Deckard agreed and a stronger contact was forged between Deckard and the Mages' Guild. Deckard also asked about the Castle in the Cursed Valley, and Cayne said he would have to contact the other mages, but the oldest among them, a witch named Bogdan, might have some information.
Later that day, the apprentice of Cormac Halfdain, a young human named Aber, came to the Tavern to fetch Deckard. Deckard was taken to the Curio Shop and communicated with Bogdan through a magic mirror. Some basic information was given, and Deckard began to make his plans for a journey south to the Cursed Valley.
Since the rest of the party was still chasing their own objectives, Deckard, Ydee, Ahri, and Desorna headed on the southern road to the Rim, a high bluff that marked the northern boundary of the Valley with the rest of the party to follow soon after. They stopped in the village of Rimwatch View and took lodgings at the Dancing Pony, the only inn and tavern in town. Since the party had an official chit, after speaking with Captain Carrick in town and being approved as advance scouts, they received inexpensive lodgings in the common room and discounts on their meal. Deckard asked the barkeep Bill if he knew anything about the palace in the valley. Bill said nothing other than stories, but that Ol' Earl, a half-elf of many years, might be able to tell them more since he had been a woodsman and trapper all along the Rim in his younger days.
Earl came in that evening and was a font of information, telling the group that he had actually seen some tower tops over the tree tops at the far east end of the valley. Encouraged by this story most of the party decided to head south first thing in the morning with Ahri remaining behind to inform the stragglers what they had decided and where they were going. The other three quickly went south and climbed the Rim, spending a little time gazing over its misty environs before heading east along the ridgetop. As they headed along, they heard a noise and turned to see a large winged creature rise up from the forests and fens within. It rose up higher than their level and then flew directly towards them...
And there we stopped for the night.

The base experience for the party is 346 xp for each character participating and 173 xp for Ydee. Arden gets an extra 250 xp for healing the other group. Desorna gets the 250 xp prize for being the first one to the game and 125 xp for Deckard for being second.

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