Rhenny
Adventurer
So that we can begin Princes of the Apocalypse, we've decided to put this campaign on the back burner 3/4 finished.
Session 16: Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle Campaign (WARNING: Mega Spoilers!!!)
Cast of Characters (6th Level) - 2 hour session
Eyeta – Female Human Fighter
Kat – Female Human Wizard (DM PC)
Vale – Male High Elven Rogue (DM PC)
Erebus – Male Human War Cleric
Ivan – Human Monk of Elements
The party had had a night’s rest outside Ironaxe Hall and realized that they needed to get to the shrine of Moradin to use Derwin’s Hammer upon it. When they entered the main hall of the crumbling fortress, they realized that the room had been cleaned and all was quiet, an eerie, unsettling quiet. Erebus took lead and walked deeper into the fortress and turned a few corners heading towards the shrine. When the party entered the shrine, it was Vale who saw a large specter sitting on one of the pews next to the anvil alter. The group recognized it as Lump, the Half-Ogre, who they had spoken with just the other day when they entered the keep for the first time. Lump’s specter looked at the group in a forlorn way and said, “you promised to get my rat, Scratches.” Then he screamed a horrible scream and pointed his spectral finger at Erebus. Erebus felt an unholy curse attacking his very soul, but the cleric’s faith was strong enough to resist. Before the specter could attack, the others cut it down. Then Erebus went to the anvil and smashed Derwin’s Hammer down on top of it. With that, the anvil itself started to glow orange and get hot. Within a minute it melted to the ground and a glowing stone was left behind. Katka said that this must be the Elemental Fire Key. Valemon used mage hand to lift the key from the ground, but just then, the party heard a voice from the doorway.
When they turned to look, they saw 3 wraiths and 3 wights standing before the bald Red Wizard with writhing snake tattoos, Arvik Zaltos. Arvik said, “I see you’ve gotten the Fire key. Good. Now hand it over and I’ll let you leave with your lives. Last time I instructed my minions to take you alive. I will not issue the same instruction this time. This time you shall be destroyed.”
The group didn’t make any move to give the key to Zaltos so his wraiths and wights attacked. During the battle, Erebus invoked spirit guardians. Ivan attacked with flurry of blows. Eyeta used her magical longspear and Vale fired his bow and disengaged to stay away from some of the undead horrors. Ivan, Erebus and Vale were all injured. Ivan could withstand the wraith’s touch, but Erebus succumbed to it and felt his life force seep away. He was still alive, but he did feel much weaker. Katka blasted the foes with a fireball, and the group noticed that Arvik Zaltos was completely unharmed by the spell. The fight went on and Katka was able to unleash another fireball. At this point, Zaltos turned to Katka and uttered a spell. Katka was dominated by the Red Wizard and he told her to destroy the others. Before Kat could act, Ivan moved through the spirit guardians (which had already done damage to a number of wraiths and wights). He was able to get behind Arvik Zaltos and attack doing damage to the foe. Then, using his second attack, Ivan shoved Zaltos into the spirit guardians, which did some damage. It was then on Ivan's 3rd attack that he was able to break Zaltos' concentration so Katka regained control of hersefl.
Soon after, Erebus let his spirit guardians dissipate and then conjured a spiritual hammer to attack Zaltos along with his own attacks using Derwin’s Hammer. Vale even lined up a perfect bow shot with sneak attack against Zaltos, but the party was shocked when the arrow, which should have skewered Zaltos through the eye, just bounced off doing no damage at all. (Vale’s bow nor his arrows were magical).
Then Zaltos told the group that he knew it was Isteval who had sent them. He cackled and said, “when you get back to Daggerford, tell Isteval that he shall suffer.” With that, the Red Wizard disengaged and ran toward the stairway leading up to the next level. The group was able to finish the last of the undead and avoid more serious damage as Ivan gave chase. Ivan’s ability to activate his ki and run like the wind helped him catch up to Zaltos on the stairway. He attacked and tripped the Red Wizard instead of doing damage; then he pummeled the prone wizard. Soon, Erebus, Vale, Eyeta and Kat came closer, but before they could get to Zaltos, Zaltos uttered more magical words and he disappeared. The group, thought that he had used an invisibility spell like the other Red Wizard they encountered, so Ivan attacked the area where he last saw the prone foe. Ivan’s attacks met with no resistance. Zaltos was not there. He must have teleported or shifted planes.
The group took a short rest to tend to their wounds, but Erebus had no means to restore his drained life. The group was injured, but they were happy because they had prevented Zaltos from obtaining the Elemental Fire key. They were not as fortunate with the Water key a few weeks ago, nor were they able to get the Earth key a few days ago, but this time they had the Fire key.
Before leaving, Eyeta and Erebus wanted to use their last remaining iron coin to open one more safe in the halls above. They found a room with 4 iron safes and picked one of the 4. Inside they found a small chest with caltrops, a healer’s kit (which Eyeta took), 3 flasks of Acid and 3 flasks of Alchemists Fire. They also found a beautifully crafted pair of gauntlets. Erebus took them and put them on, and immediately felt the muscles in his arms begin to ripple. In time, they learned that these were gauntlets of Ogre power, and Erebus’ strength was enhanced.
The group left Ironaxe Hall to find that it was dark and rainy once again. They found Alagarthas, the Eleven Prince who had stayed outside to guard and tend to the mounts. They told him about their adventure within, and they all started traveling south. Before they could put some distance between themselves and Ironaxe Hall, they felt the ground shake before them. Ivan was able to notice the invisible dragon as the rain cascaded off its body. This was Cluth, the Emerald Assassin, that the group had encountered earlier. The very dragon that killed all of Alagarthas' followers. Cluth was glad to see Alagarthas and Vale…two Elves, his favorite meat. Alagarthas knew that it was he who Cluth was hunting so he fired some arrows at the beast and the others spread out so that the creature’s poison breath could not take them all at once. Cluth breathed his poison cloud in Alagarthas’ direction, unfortunately, Kat was also within the cloud. Kat must have held her breath at the right time because she did not collapse from the poison; however, Alagarthas did. He fell to the ground grasping for air, dying.
Although Katka and Erebus were unable to overcome Dragonfear for a few rounds, the others were able to do some damage to Cluth. Then when Katka and Erebus overcame the fear, they added to the dragon’s woes. Eyeta used her longspear and distracting strike to great advantage. Vale connected with a sneak attack. Katka blasted the dragon with a fireball. The dragon moved toward the fallen Elf Prince, took his body in his mouth and bit down hard, killing Alagarthas (a natural 20 for the bite!!! ouch). This enraged the party and they fought more fervently. Erebus called upon his God to give those around him holy power when they hit the foe. Eyeta stabbed the beast and Katka used a more powerful burning hands spell to wound it further. Before Cluth could take to wing, Ivan used “Dragon Thumper”, the magical mace, making a flurry of blows. It was his last attack that brought the Emerald Assassin down.
Erebus quickly took out his remaining diamond and placed his hands on the dead body of the Elven Prince. Divine power surged into Alagarthas and he was revivified. The Elf thanked the party for bringing him back from beyond, and he told that he could now go home to his clan with proof of Cluth’s death so that he could become leader of the Northern Forest Elves. He told the party that they would always be welcome among his clan and if they ever needed sanctuary up north they could come to their forest. He gave the group one of his arrows, intricately carved with Elven runes; then he headed to the north while the adventurers bid him farewell and continued their journey south, back to Daggerford.
When the adventurers arrived at Daggerford, a crowd of people flocked to them. They were all interested in what had transpired on their journey, but the group was more interested in finding Isteval than speaking with the good people. Captain Miller also saw the group and looked over at them just before entering the Lady Luck Tavern. Even Ivan resisted the urge to go drink with the Captain realizing that they had to tell Isteval all about their adventure and find out what they should do with the Fire key.
They found Isteval and told him about Ironaxe Hall, the Fire Key and Arvik Zaltos. When they told Isteval that Zaltos said that Isteval shall suffer, he seemed worried, but he was bolstered by the fact that the party had found the Fire key. He told them they must take it to Delfen’s Tower, where he and Delfen could perform a ritual to destroy it. That should send a message to the Red Wizards and perhaps buy Isteval, Daggerford and the adventurers some more time.
The party went with Isteval to Delfen’s tower and they watched as Isteval and Delfen were able to destroy the item. With no immediate threats, the party were welcomed to stay through the summer in Daggerford as guests of Sir Isteaval, Lady Maldwyn and Duke Maldwyn. In fact, Duke Maldwyn declared the next thee days as a Summer Festival so there was much rejoicing. Although, sometimes, at night, the adventurers could still hear the strained and evil voice of Arvik Zaltos saying, “Isteval shall suffer.”
End session –
This was a nice ending to Chapter 3. As 6th Level PCs (with a number of magical weapons and now gauntlets of Ogre power), the group is very strong. I was surprised that they took down Cluth, but I guess if the Dragon recharged his breath weapon, or decided to actually attack other PCs rather than take Alagarthas as his prize, it would have been more difficult. That’s pride for you.
We are now going to put this campaign on hold and give the PCs 2 or 3 months of downtime in Daggerford. We want to begin a new campaign using Princes of the Apocalypse.
The player who is playing the monk wants to retrain this monk into a Shadow Monk if we continue the campaign further. He loves the mobility and versatility of his character, but he thinks that the Way of the Elements is not so powerful. I’m going to let him switch over.
If and when we pick up this campaign again, I’ll see if any of the others want to change anything around.
This session was actually worth over 25,000 xp. ( I gave them ½ xp for defeating Zaltos even though he got away).
Also, this was a session run online using Fantasy Grounds. Notice how we accomplished so much in just about 2 hours. As I get more comfortable running Fantasy Grounds, it really helps to keep the game moving.
Session 16: Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle Campaign (WARNING: Mega Spoilers!!!)
Cast of Characters (6th Level) - 2 hour session
Eyeta – Female Human Fighter
Kat – Female Human Wizard (DM PC)
Vale – Male High Elven Rogue (DM PC)
Erebus – Male Human War Cleric
Ivan – Human Monk of Elements
The party had had a night’s rest outside Ironaxe Hall and realized that they needed to get to the shrine of Moradin to use Derwin’s Hammer upon it. When they entered the main hall of the crumbling fortress, they realized that the room had been cleaned and all was quiet, an eerie, unsettling quiet. Erebus took lead and walked deeper into the fortress and turned a few corners heading towards the shrine. When the party entered the shrine, it was Vale who saw a large specter sitting on one of the pews next to the anvil alter. The group recognized it as Lump, the Half-Ogre, who they had spoken with just the other day when they entered the keep for the first time. Lump’s specter looked at the group in a forlorn way and said, “you promised to get my rat, Scratches.” Then he screamed a horrible scream and pointed his spectral finger at Erebus. Erebus felt an unholy curse attacking his very soul, but the cleric’s faith was strong enough to resist. Before the specter could attack, the others cut it down. Then Erebus went to the anvil and smashed Derwin’s Hammer down on top of it. With that, the anvil itself started to glow orange and get hot. Within a minute it melted to the ground and a glowing stone was left behind. Katka said that this must be the Elemental Fire Key. Valemon used mage hand to lift the key from the ground, but just then, the party heard a voice from the doorway.
When they turned to look, they saw 3 wraiths and 3 wights standing before the bald Red Wizard with writhing snake tattoos, Arvik Zaltos. Arvik said, “I see you’ve gotten the Fire key. Good. Now hand it over and I’ll let you leave with your lives. Last time I instructed my minions to take you alive. I will not issue the same instruction this time. This time you shall be destroyed.”
The group didn’t make any move to give the key to Zaltos so his wraiths and wights attacked. During the battle, Erebus invoked spirit guardians. Ivan attacked with flurry of blows. Eyeta used her magical longspear and Vale fired his bow and disengaged to stay away from some of the undead horrors. Ivan, Erebus and Vale were all injured. Ivan could withstand the wraith’s touch, but Erebus succumbed to it and felt his life force seep away. He was still alive, but he did feel much weaker. Katka blasted the foes with a fireball, and the group noticed that Arvik Zaltos was completely unharmed by the spell. The fight went on and Katka was able to unleash another fireball. At this point, Zaltos turned to Katka and uttered a spell. Katka was dominated by the Red Wizard and he told her to destroy the others. Before Kat could act, Ivan moved through the spirit guardians (which had already done damage to a number of wraiths and wights). He was able to get behind Arvik Zaltos and attack doing damage to the foe. Then, using his second attack, Ivan shoved Zaltos into the spirit guardians, which did some damage. It was then on Ivan's 3rd attack that he was able to break Zaltos' concentration so Katka regained control of hersefl.
Soon after, Erebus let his spirit guardians dissipate and then conjured a spiritual hammer to attack Zaltos along with his own attacks using Derwin’s Hammer. Vale even lined up a perfect bow shot with sneak attack against Zaltos, but the party was shocked when the arrow, which should have skewered Zaltos through the eye, just bounced off doing no damage at all. (Vale’s bow nor his arrows were magical).
Then Zaltos told the group that he knew it was Isteval who had sent them. He cackled and said, “when you get back to Daggerford, tell Isteval that he shall suffer.” With that, the Red Wizard disengaged and ran toward the stairway leading up to the next level. The group was able to finish the last of the undead and avoid more serious damage as Ivan gave chase. Ivan’s ability to activate his ki and run like the wind helped him catch up to Zaltos on the stairway. He attacked and tripped the Red Wizard instead of doing damage; then he pummeled the prone wizard. Soon, Erebus, Vale, Eyeta and Kat came closer, but before they could get to Zaltos, Zaltos uttered more magical words and he disappeared. The group, thought that he had used an invisibility spell like the other Red Wizard they encountered, so Ivan attacked the area where he last saw the prone foe. Ivan’s attacks met with no resistance. Zaltos was not there. He must have teleported or shifted planes.
The group took a short rest to tend to their wounds, but Erebus had no means to restore his drained life. The group was injured, but they were happy because they had prevented Zaltos from obtaining the Elemental Fire key. They were not as fortunate with the Water key a few weeks ago, nor were they able to get the Earth key a few days ago, but this time they had the Fire key.
Before leaving, Eyeta and Erebus wanted to use their last remaining iron coin to open one more safe in the halls above. They found a room with 4 iron safes and picked one of the 4. Inside they found a small chest with caltrops, a healer’s kit (which Eyeta took), 3 flasks of Acid and 3 flasks of Alchemists Fire. They also found a beautifully crafted pair of gauntlets. Erebus took them and put them on, and immediately felt the muscles in his arms begin to ripple. In time, they learned that these were gauntlets of Ogre power, and Erebus’ strength was enhanced.
The group left Ironaxe Hall to find that it was dark and rainy once again. They found Alagarthas, the Eleven Prince who had stayed outside to guard and tend to the mounts. They told him about their adventure within, and they all started traveling south. Before they could put some distance between themselves and Ironaxe Hall, they felt the ground shake before them. Ivan was able to notice the invisible dragon as the rain cascaded off its body. This was Cluth, the Emerald Assassin, that the group had encountered earlier. The very dragon that killed all of Alagarthas' followers. Cluth was glad to see Alagarthas and Vale…two Elves, his favorite meat. Alagarthas knew that it was he who Cluth was hunting so he fired some arrows at the beast and the others spread out so that the creature’s poison breath could not take them all at once. Cluth breathed his poison cloud in Alagarthas’ direction, unfortunately, Kat was also within the cloud. Kat must have held her breath at the right time because she did not collapse from the poison; however, Alagarthas did. He fell to the ground grasping for air, dying.
Although Katka and Erebus were unable to overcome Dragonfear for a few rounds, the others were able to do some damage to Cluth. Then when Katka and Erebus overcame the fear, they added to the dragon’s woes. Eyeta used her longspear and distracting strike to great advantage. Vale connected with a sneak attack. Katka blasted the dragon with a fireball. The dragon moved toward the fallen Elf Prince, took his body in his mouth and bit down hard, killing Alagarthas (a natural 20 for the bite!!! ouch). This enraged the party and they fought more fervently. Erebus called upon his God to give those around him holy power when they hit the foe. Eyeta stabbed the beast and Katka used a more powerful burning hands spell to wound it further. Before Cluth could take to wing, Ivan used “Dragon Thumper”, the magical mace, making a flurry of blows. It was his last attack that brought the Emerald Assassin down.
Erebus quickly took out his remaining diamond and placed his hands on the dead body of the Elven Prince. Divine power surged into Alagarthas and he was revivified. The Elf thanked the party for bringing him back from beyond, and he told that he could now go home to his clan with proof of Cluth’s death so that he could become leader of the Northern Forest Elves. He told the party that they would always be welcome among his clan and if they ever needed sanctuary up north they could come to their forest. He gave the group one of his arrows, intricately carved with Elven runes; then he headed to the north while the adventurers bid him farewell and continued their journey south, back to Daggerford.
When the adventurers arrived at Daggerford, a crowd of people flocked to them. They were all interested in what had transpired on their journey, but the group was more interested in finding Isteval than speaking with the good people. Captain Miller also saw the group and looked over at them just before entering the Lady Luck Tavern. Even Ivan resisted the urge to go drink with the Captain realizing that they had to tell Isteval all about their adventure and find out what they should do with the Fire key.
They found Isteval and told him about Ironaxe Hall, the Fire Key and Arvik Zaltos. When they told Isteval that Zaltos said that Isteval shall suffer, he seemed worried, but he was bolstered by the fact that the party had found the Fire key. He told them they must take it to Delfen’s Tower, where he and Delfen could perform a ritual to destroy it. That should send a message to the Red Wizards and perhaps buy Isteval, Daggerford and the adventurers some more time.
The party went with Isteval to Delfen’s tower and they watched as Isteval and Delfen were able to destroy the item. With no immediate threats, the party were welcomed to stay through the summer in Daggerford as guests of Sir Isteaval, Lady Maldwyn and Duke Maldwyn. In fact, Duke Maldwyn declared the next thee days as a Summer Festival so there was much rejoicing. Although, sometimes, at night, the adventurers could still hear the strained and evil voice of Arvik Zaltos saying, “Isteval shall suffer.”
End session –
This was a nice ending to Chapter 3. As 6th Level PCs (with a number of magical weapons and now gauntlets of Ogre power), the group is very strong. I was surprised that they took down Cluth, but I guess if the Dragon recharged his breath weapon, or decided to actually attack other PCs rather than take Alagarthas as his prize, it would have been more difficult. That’s pride for you.
We are now going to put this campaign on hold and give the PCs 2 or 3 months of downtime in Daggerford. We want to begin a new campaign using Princes of the Apocalypse.
The player who is playing the monk wants to retrain this monk into a Shadow Monk if we continue the campaign further. He loves the mobility and versatility of his character, but he thinks that the Way of the Elements is not so powerful. I’m going to let him switch over.
If and when we pick up this campaign again, I’ll see if any of the others want to change anything around.
This session was actually worth over 25,000 xp. ( I gave them ½ xp for defeating Zaltos even though he got away).
Also, this was a session run online using Fantasy Grounds. Notice how we accomplished so much in just about 2 hours. As I get more comfortable running Fantasy Grounds, it really helps to keep the game moving.
