#47 - Haunted Battlefield

The party exited the mine through the lower exit.  A Duergar guard opened a locked gate around a spirl staircase.  Samm stayed behind at the gate, keeping guard while the party scouted ahead.

The stairs exited into a wide cavern, with darkness stretching out in all directions.  Unlike the mushroom forest or the canton valley to the south, the ceiling of the cave is lower and even here, just 14 to 15 feet above.

As the party passed through this huge cavern beneath the Green Mountain, they entered the sight of an ancient battle.  Bones cracked beneath their feet.

Soon they were confronted by a wraith.  The wraith called up at his command a group of 4 skeletons. 

As combat began, 2 Ghasts crawled into the fray, and a 4-armed skeleton joined by the Wraith's side.  Throughout the battle, the Wraith shouted commands to cause more skeletons to arise and join the fight.

In total, the party has to overcome 1 wraith, 1 spectre, 1 4-armed skeleton, 2 ghasts, and 16 skeletons.

Gevin fell near death in this battle. 

The party expended many resources to survive this foe.  A Shatter spell from Winsor finished off many of the skeletons to finish the battle.

Thought badly wounded, the party moved across the field further.  They witnessed 4 ghostly images marching across the field, singing an ancient battle song.  These soldiers appeared to be stuck in an endless loop, marching and singing, the disappearing.  Then reappearing to march the same stretch of ground, and sing the same song again.  The party watched this as many as ten times, with the sequence restarting every 4 to 5 minutes.

The song the heard was this.

King Roulant lived a sad sad life

Reached 80 years, yet had no wife

Offered his throne to a fair young bride

Then King Roulant fell ill and died

Queen Egilina ruled the land

Her General was next to take her hand

When the General was old and grey

Fair Egilina had not aged a day

Others came, and time passed by

10 princes ruled by Egilna’s side

Each had his day, then passed away

The Ageless Queen would ever stay

We ride today for the Ageless Queen

Though the sickness strikes our land

We ride today for Ageless Queen

Pray Victory be soon at hand

We ride today with the Ageless Queen

To face Dragon’s fire Infernal

We ride today with the Ageless Queen

If we stand or if we fall, her rule shall be eternal

The party continued on, leaving the ghostly troops behind, still singing and marching.  Eventually the reached the center of the area beneath the mountain.  A stairway there rose to a mezzanine, overlooking the battlefield.  There they found a resting party of Drow.  It consisted of 2 sailors captured by the Bahumati from the Black Fleet.  There names area Ban'enthy and Nyat.  Two Quaggoth servants were with them.

These Drow had escaped from Bahumati enslavement, and they were eager to make peace with the party. 

#46 - The Mad Giant

Perra rejoined the party.  He had been scouting the Kobold base camp.

He found there to be around 1000 beings of various races working in and around the base camp.  2 to 3 hundred kobold, 2 to 3 hundred winged kobolds, 20 or so wyrmpriests, 20 or so dragonborn knights.  hundreds of slaves of various reptiloid and humanoid races.  All of these workers were trying to restore an ancient stronghold within the Green Mountain, preparing for some kind of "consecration" ceremony that would set the stage for the arrival of many more kobolds, reestablishing a part of the ancient bahumati empire.

Perra also learned the the Bahumati are struggling with an infestation of undead within the mountain.  They have for some reason been unable to remove the ancient curse that keeps the dead from resting. 

Perra had a conversation with a drow slave among the kobolds.  He learned that this drow had been a sailor in "The Black Fleet", sailing the Great Dark Sea.  It confronted a fleet of Bahumati ships, and was taken prisoner.

After Perras return, the part scouted out the "Mad Giant".  The found the formorian, and his two ogre companions in the river. They learned that he was indeed "mad", going from fits of laughter, to crying about his ugly appearance, to angry trantrums where he beats boulders with his club.

The party engaged the Mad Giant in conversation.  Perra attempted to win him over with the promise of a potion that would make him beautiful.  There was no such potion of course, and when the Giant realized he was being lied to, a battle ensued.

The party (to the DMs surprise) took down the Giant and his companions with relative ease.  A very effective fireball from Jhunter took all of them down a notch.  And a flurry of blows from Samm finished them off.

With the Giant defeated, the party returned to the Duergar who made good on his promise.  He granted passage through the mines to the base of the Green Mountain.  He told them they could exit the mine through 2 different levels.  The upper level would lead the party into the heart of where the Bahumati were working on restoring the mountain stronghold.  The lower level would be into the  catacombs of the old stronghold, the heart of the undead hoard within the mountain.

#45 - The Dwarf's Pass

Samm rejoined the party along the north wall of the canyon, and they made their way west, toward the location marked on the map as "Dwarf's Pass?".

At that location they found a large statue of a Dwarf, embedded in the face of the canyon wall.  (Illustrated by Mary Boehm).

Perra continued on.  His plan was to scout the base camp and the road going North.  As a Dragonborn, he has a good chance to blend in and not be noticed. 

The dwarf's right handed extended from the wall, the with palm facing downward.  Below it, was a large bowl with the words LANND SKILAM AN    .  Saying those words caused the a waterfall to flow from the palm of the statue's hand into the bowl.  The left hand of the dwarf held a bowl with the words LANND SKILAM TAAL   .  Saying those words caused a fire to appear in the bowl.  The party contemplated these words.  Using knowledge of the Giantish language, similar to Dwarvish, they determined that these phrases meant "Earth Masters Water" and "Earth Masters Fire". 

Knowing that the word for "Air" in Giantish is "Alf", they said Lannd Skilam Alf.  The mouth of the statue opened, and a torrent of air pulled Gevin inside. 

The other party members followed.  They found themselves in a chamber.  Scattered around this chamber were 5 large boulders.  Seated at a desk was a bald headed dwarf.  Well, not actually a dwarf at all, but a Duergar.

The Duergar transformed himself to a large size.  He welcomed the party to their new life of employment working in the mines of Greyanna.  He made it clear that he intended to enslave them. 

The 5 boulders animated into Earth Elementals.

The party noticed a wanted poster on the wall.  The Duergar was seeking the return of a "Mad Giant" who had escaped enslavement.

The party bargained with the Duergar, promising to capture and return the Mad Giant, in return for their freedom.  And the Duergar agreed. 

The party exited the chamber with the Duergar's permission, on a torrent of air through the mouth of the statue.

The party scouted the area, took and extended rest, and found the location of the Mad Giant, actually a Formorian, and 2 ogre companions. 

They stopped to plan their next course of action....

#44 Fugitives

As the party descended the tower (Samm had decided to stay behind to guard the bridge), they were confronted by a part of Bahumati.  A Dragonborn Knight of the Darun Order, a kobold Wyrmpriest, with several ordinary and winged kobolds.  The battle took place on a spiral staircase.  At one point during the battle, Windsor provoked a wild magic effect that turned nearly everyone of both sides invisible.  The Wyrmpriest did serious damage to the party with a fireball.  Gevin cleverly neutralized the Wyrmpriest's spellcasting ability with a "silence" spell. 

As the party gained the upper hand, the Wyrmpriest and the Darun fled, using Stinking Cloud to make their escape (for the second time, actually). 

At the bottom of the tower, the party found a map of the area, which included the locations of kobold basecamp near the Great Dark Sea, the road to the North that the Myconids and the Flumph has described.  It also showed something called "Mad Giant's Falls", and "Dwarf's Passage".  The Dwarf's passage was marked with a question mark.


It was clear now that the large community of Bahumati would be made aware of the parties presence.  They camped in the tower for a short rest, but then made for the north wall of the canyon.  Once there, they followed the wall west, toward the Dwarf's Passage. 

The party was attacked by 3 "Hook Horrors", who did significant damage.  Ultimately the party overcame them.

#43 - Trolls

The myconid tribe provided a guide for the party, and told them there were two paths down into the canyon south of the camp.  One was to descend a path beneath a stalactite formation known called "the Frozen Falls".  The other was to cross a bridge to a tower standing in the middle of the canyon, and descend the tower.

The guide took them past the Falls.  They chose not to descend there, and moved on to the bridge.

The last segment of the bridge is collapsible from the other side, and kept in the "down" position.  It looked like the bridge had been recently repaired, probably for use by the kobolds. 

The party used the Ebony Fall magic item to fly across to the main part of the bridge one by one.  After two had crossed, they were greeted by 3 angry trolls.

A battle ensued.  One troll was killed outright, and two were pushed over the side of the bridge.  Gevin was knocked unconscious in the battle, close to death. 

The party used healing magic to revive Gevin.  They also discovered the Troll's treasure hoard.  Lots of coins and gems, and 4 magic items (Gloves of Missile Catching, +1 rapier, +1 longbow, Stone of good luck).

Atop the main part of the tower, where the bridge comes to its end stood a very old statue of a green dragon.

As the party sorted through the treasure they heard two voices shout "Hey, that's our stuff!".  The trolls who fell from the bridge and regenerated and returned to their layer.

More troll battling ensued.  Both were killed outright this time, with Perra using his "Abjure Enemy" Ability to hold one of them off, so the party could fight them one at a time.

#42 - A Long Trek Through Mushrooms

The party continued on down the passage.  They had entered this passage on the north side of the Kobold lair. 

Gevin decided to leave the party and return to the surface.  He wanted to explore the ridge above, and look to see what he could learn of the forest between the ridge and the mountain.  The prisoner at the Cyclops camp had told them there were strange plants in the forest.

Samm, Perra, Windsor, and Jhunter continued on. 

The passage ended at a large cavern.  This cavern was completely filled with giant mushrooms, the size of trees.  It was like un underground forest.  They found that they could travel either by walking beneath the mushrooms, or atop them on the forest canopy.

They found a worn trail through the mushroom forest, and decided to travel beneath the canopy along that trail.

They came to a clearing where they were ambushed.  A Driver firing arrows from a distance on top of the canopy.  As they responded to this attack, to giant spiders joined the fight against them. 

Perra, Windsor, and Samm were all badly injured in this fight.  They killed the giant spiders.  Jhunter scored a critical hit with a fire bolt on the Drider, sending her into retreat.

They rested for an hour, and when they began to move again they were confronted with a mysterious voice, not spoken, but coming directly into their heads.  They were surrounded by mysterious creatures of some sort, communicating with them telepathically.  These creatures were myconids.  Friendly, curious, sentient mushrooms, looking to converse with visitors and learn about the outside world.

In the safety of the Myconid troop, and in the company of their leader ("The Sovereign"), they rested.

From the Sovereign they  learned that the appearance of the kobolds first started about a year ago.  The kobolds are gathering at the mountain for some reason.  The likely come from far to the west, across "The Great Dark Sea".  A kobold had once told The Sovereign that in his home land there were "7 cities of Gold". 

South of the Myconid camp, there is a cliff that drops down into a deep canyon.  There is a river in this canyon that runs west to the Great Dark Sea.  There is likely a trail or road that turns north from this river that is the main route for the kobolds to get to the mountain. 

Gevin is re-united with the party.  He had left the ridge and returned to the passage, and then down to the cavern.  He was found there by the Myconids, and brought to his companions.  He had seen details of the blight in the forest above.

As we leave off, Myconids are escorting the party along a safe route to the cliff. 

#41 - Battle in the Kobold Lair

After the battle with the Cyclops and Dire Wolfs, the party took a short rest to deal with their wounds.

While resting, they smelled the smoke of a camp fire.  At the end of their rest they investigated.

Near a large hill, they found a boulder with crude fortifications built around it.  The camp fire smoke was coming from behind this boulder. 

Behind the boulder, they found a smoldering fire pit, with a spit for cooking.  There was a nest of leaves and dead vegetation, and wolf hairs in the nest. 

They also found a man.  Alive and tied up in a bag.  They freed this man, and he told them how he got there.  He was part of a party of treasure hunters.  They used to seek out sites where people had reported seeing undead.  They had concluded that undead were usually the result of curses placed on important sites by the ancients before the plague came.  And these sites often contain treasures. 

The treasure hunters had come north from Fort Aralan, looking for a mountain where goblins believed that there were undead.  They found this mountain, and they set out across the forest to get there.  But the forest had been stricken by some kind of blight, and aggressive plants attacked them.  They decided to turn back.

Weakened by their battles in the forest, they were no match for the Cyclops and his wolves.  All but two were killed outright.  The last two were taken prisoner.  And the Cyclops ate one of the prisoners for breakfast just this morning. 

The party healed the freed prisoner.  They equipped him with old armor and weapons found in the Cyclops lair.  The prisoner took a pouch from his dead companions equipment and gave it to the party.  To his surprise, this pouch contained a "Portable Hole".  And within the hole was a hoard of treasure. [ 600CP,9000SP,1900GP,60PP,6 250GP
art objects ( Large Gold Bracelet, Brass Mug with Jade Inlay, Gold Bird Cage with Electrum filigree, Bronze Crown, 2 large Tapestries)

Portable Hole]

 

They sent the prisoner on his way, giving him the bronze crown from the hoard.

 

The party continued on to the ridge, where the Bugbear had told them they could find Kobolds. 

 

Samm was still giant from the potion he drank before fighting the Cyclops.  They found the cave entrances, but decided to wait until Samm was normal sized before entering.

 

And while they waiting the Kobolds set an ambush.  Upon entering the cave, the party was blasted by a fireball.  Waiting inside the cave were 4 ordinary kobolds, 4 winged kobolds, and 3 kobold wyrmpriests.  The party won this battle, but took serious damage from the Wyrmpriest's magic.  The last surviving wyrmpriest used Firewall and Stinking Cloud spells to make his escape, through a cave passage on the opposite side from the entrances. 

 

They found a small treasure hoard in the Kobold lair, including many coins, 3 healing potions, 1 "greater healing" potion, and a ranger scroll with "Speak With Animals".    This Kobold lair had obviously once been a goblin lair.  The Kobolds had forced the goblinoids out. 

 

Later the party followed the cave tunnel that the wyrmpriest had used to make his escape.  Far back, and much deeper within the cave, they came to a place where it seemed that the tunnel had been newly excavated.  They speculated on this.  Maybe the Goblins had dug too deep into their cave, and set loose kobolds who were waiting below.  Or maybe the Kobolds had dug their way up to the surface from before. 

 

 

#40 A threat in the north?

This is the first session with the party re-formed, after our switch to version 5 of the rules.

Perra (now re-imagined as a Paladin) was told by Nadarr (the high priest of his temple) that he should meet Sihirbaz (Wizard NPC who runs a magic shop in Alzarad) at the North Gate caravan district in the morning. Sihirbaz was concerned about something and wanted to bring it to the attention of the party.

Perra took along with him to this meeting a new party member, a half-elf bard with wild magic powers named Winsor. The two of them met Sihirbaz as instructed. The old Wizard had brought along with him Jhunter, Samm, and Gevin, three long time members of the party.

At North Gate, Sihirbaz showed the party a wagon full of weapons and armor recovered from a town to the north. A band of goblins and hobgoblins had attacked a town. They were defeated by the townspeople, and this equipment was recovered.

What interested Sihirbaz about this equipment was the trophies that the goblinoids carried with them. They had carried prizes made from the body parts of kobolds. Some from very rare, and until recently unheard of, winged kobolds. They had shrunken skulls and clothing made from wings. It is not unusual for goblins to wear items from enemies defeated in war.

Why were the goblins at war with kobolds in an area where kobolds had never been seen before? This is what Sihirbaz wanted to know. And since the party had frequently encountered kobolds on thier adventures, he came to them.

So the party set off to the north, looking for answers. In a town several days to the north, they met went to a tavern called "The Wandering Spider". Preserved and on display in this tavern were the remains of a kobold. Such a rare creature in these parts was put on display. They learned that this creature had been killed by the bar keepers cousin, a man named Briza. Later the party met Briza. Briza and his sons were awakened one night to find a group of small reptiloids attacking their cattle. They fought them off, killing one. 

Briza said sightings of kobolds were rare still, but attacks by goblins were becoming more common. Because of the war between kobolds and goblins, the goblins were forced to push south into human lands more often.

The party set off to the north-west. Soon they were ambushed by a goblin raiding party (1 bugbear chief, 1 hobgoblin, 5 goblins). They party defeated them quickly, but Samm did take several serious blows.

They captures some of the goblinoids. From them they learned that the kobolds had one day begun to come up from deep within the caves where the goblions make their homes. They were trying to push the goblins out of thier homes. There were kobolds, winged kobolds, and a ruling class of kobold priests. And there were many of them.

The bugbear gave the party directions to a cave recently taken over by kobolds.


Along the way the party was ambushed by a cyclops with 3 dire wolves. Samm used a potion of growth to grow to the size of the cyclops. The party was able to defeat the cyclops and wolves, thanks in large part to Samm's ability to grapple with the cyclops.