The second chapter of the Orb series. The Orb of The Sun, a
near-priceless orange diamond with immense magical potential, had been located
through a divination spell to be at the center of a deadly trap-filled labyrinth. A
demon lord, Ru'dukk, was on his way to claim the gem, destroy its guardian, and
possibly use the gem to overthrow Valor's reign. The mission was to get to the gem
and bring it out before the demon lord was able to get his corruptive claws on it.
Ring Keys would be awarded to all who attempted (and survived to tell the bards of
the traps in the maze for their stories). Rich treasures awaited those who returned
the gem. Two warnings were issued: Only two people had ever emerged alive from that
place, it was not for the faint of heart, and those with evil in their hearts (i.e.
any evil alignment) must not touch the gem with their bare hands; it had powerful
wards in place!
Some Details:
- The magical radiation inside the place causes *magical* resistances, protections,
speed changes and force effects to be nil or useless. This means no Mage
Armor, Magic Missile, Haste, Endure/Protection from Elements, and so on.
Elemental spells will do one of two things: fail utterly and backlash
the energy on the caster (normal damage, Reflex half DC 22), or cause
FULL damage to ONE target ONLY, no save (so Fireballs only hit one person).
Protections that are alchemical or otherwise in nature (Antitoxin, for
example) still will kick in. Oddly enough, anyone inside is protected
by two things: Protection from Petrification, and a Stoneskin.
- Detect Magic is useless. Way too much magic in the entire place. See Invisible
may cause false images to be seen.
- Teleporting/incorporeal/passwall is likewise blocked. This place's walls
extend BEYOND the ethereal plane and into half a dozen others.
- You die, you stay dead. Your body rots away in a single round and your goods...
well, they vanish to somewhere within the place. Any magic they had goes to
fuel the spells warding the gems and shielding the interior from all scrying
spells.
- The Orb of The Sun is in five pieces, each warded against evil (alignments).
You need the FULL gem to get the unique Ioun Stone of my own
devising (Spell Storing as Ring, with free use of several feats plus a
resistance bonus)
- The demon lord searching for the gem is a Balor with a Greater Barghest fetish.
(I was going to make him a Pit Fiend, but they're lawful evil and I don't
want people (i.e. Lich boy) making deals) And watch out for his Marilith
girlfriend. Yes, they're affected by 1 and 3 above, so their natural defenses
are down, and this includes their immunities.
- A blue crystal sphere, part of a key to seal demons away, was used to
protect the one who put the gem here in the first place [out of game:
This item was in Little Shop of Horrors... and its owner has a head start
on you! In his possession, it won't do much, though :)].
- Finally, a dozen [buff in the HP dept] wyverns guard the most important item,
which melds the 5 gems as one. The largest has spells, two heads, and two
tails.
Now you know why it was Danger 5; this was designed to KILL if you didn't think
(sphinx riddles, anyone?) or act smart and careful. Scared yet? And then there were
the lethal traps coating the place...
Success was defined by attempting the maze and getting at least one part of the Orb
of The Sun.
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- Ghost Wind
Player: Christopher J. Ford
Illiri (Human Sorcerer 16), Ja'Nek (Human Cleric 4 / Psion 1),
Melee (Dwarf Fighter 5), Thomas (Human Ranger 5),
Elizabeth (Human Sorcerer 5), Lyrin (Human Bard 12), and
Khevak (Halfling Psion 3) came into this one looking a little worried,
knowing most of their spells would fail if cast inside the place. Knowing it
would be better to have a plan of action first, they withdrew to their camp
outside and each drank an antitoxin. After watching the rest of the teams
enter, they came up with a plan of action.
To test a theory, Illiri cast a Telekinetic Sphere inside the opening to the
dungeon. Seeing it fail, Lyrin did some scouting and cast a Shout spell on
some crystals down the main hallway of the place in case they were evil
traps (they turned out to be illusions). Returning to the opening with
Ja'Nek in tow, they cast a Wall of Force on the opening so no evil (namely,
the Marilith and Balor) would escape. Finding that the "prohibited" spells
would work if cast outside before going in, only Ja'Nek and Illiri entered
so as to put minimal strain upon the team if they lost their lives. Lyrin
meanwhile stayed outside, casting Fortissimo and singing through the Wall of
Force to inspire courage in the teams inside.
They chose the center hallway and, after going down the corridor, found
a spiral set of stairs along with Slate (although they couldn't see him).
The blue crystal orb, offered temporarily by team Shadowrun, protected
Illiri from the first rule of the dungeon, making her that much more dangerous
and allowing her spells to function. She called up another Telekinetic
Sphere and she and Ja'Nek used it as an elevator to descend the stairwell
shaft. When the wyvern started attacking the sphere, they were able to
locate the beasts without seeing them. Illiri teleported to the stairs
just outside of striking distance and assaulted the wyverns with repeated
Sonic Orb spells so no one else would be hurt. Ever see something with
a 35' wingspan try to fit into a place just 7' wide, with a sphere of
force blocking the opening? I didn't think so. Fish have a better chance
in their favorite barrel. Several of the Sonic Orbs missed their mark,
though they did inadvertently take out the leader. Ja'Nek continued descending
in the sphere until he reached the bottom. Lisonamit (Twig) dispelled
the darkness and Illiri dropped the sphere. Ja'Nek began attacking from
the ground as Illiri continued her assault from above.
Several fallen wyverns later, they helped team Twig get the crown that
melded the gems into one, fulfilled a contract by disintegrating team
Shadowrun, and easily escaped with their lives intact. There was a lot
of grumbling about how they had gotten no treasure afterward, but all agreed
that it was better to live poor than die greedy.
- Player Log:
- A few notes. The contract issue is meta game info, neither Illiri
nor Ja'Nek actually said anything about it during the session. Unless
one of the other teams mentions it later or goes around playing the
gossip, no one outside of those present knows that it was Illiri that
killed Laurena. Illiri doesn't advertise. As to the claims that she
acted against her alignment, they are without foundation as well as
untrue. Besides, Laurena has been resurrected. Unless she goes back
to using shadows to do her bidding, she's off Illiri's radar with
a clean slate. After all, resurrection is a painful and disturbing
process.
Ghost Wind survives to adventure again.
- Shadowrun
Player: Alain Ackerman
Laurena (Elf Rogue 5 / Assassin 2 / Shadow Dancer 8) entered with shadows at
the ready. While their walking-through-walls power would be neutralized,
they could still slink along the walls and report back if they found anything
interesting. Knowing that the Blue Crystal Sphere was next to useless, she
handed it to Illiri of team Ghost Wind before making her explorations.
Finding a room with thousands of coins attached to strings in the ceiling,
she left one of her shadows to do the collecting as she went in the opposite
direction, not wanting to deal with pit traps or fields of energy blocking
corridors.
Finding a room with numbered blocks, she spent the vast majority of the
adventure trying to figure out the puzzle they were accompanied by. Upon
finding the solution and getting a piece of the Orb of the Sun, she returned
to a room containing a Deck of Many Things. All was well and good with the
first card drawn, but the second one caused all of her items, equipment, and
property to disintegrate. While the other teams prepared to leave
successful, she explored a room of trades [inadvertently causing one of her
shadows to *really* increase in power], nearly jumped into a Sphere of
Annihilation, and ended up getting disintegrated by Illiri of team Ghost
Wind when all was said and done. Team Elemental Fist brought her
back, though. :)
Shadowrun revives to adventure again.
- Elemental Fist
Player: Mark Jerard
Slate Grithen (Human Cleric 5 / Sorcerer 5 / Geomancer 5) entered after
waiting for the other teams to go in. When they didn't, he did. He knew he
had to be careful, so he sprinkled himself with Dust of Disappearance and
protected himself with a Protection from Elements [Fire] spell before going
in. He provided back up support for team Ghost Wind; his animated
phase spider injured one wyvern mid-flight, and his hasted Fireball spells
took down a couple more, despite a nasty backlash of elemental energy. When
all was said and done, he animated a dead wyvern, backed away when Illiri of
team Ghost Wind disintegrated team Shadowrun, then brought back
team Shadowrun via a True Resurrection spell.
Elemental Fist survives to adventure again.
- Mithril Chef
Player: Wayne Edie
Criipt (Human Psionic Warrior 15) gladly entered the dungeon, confident
his mental powers would win the day for him. Passing through the room
of coins and ignoring them, he came to a pit trap that he easily bypassed
by walking up the walls, on the ceiling, and then back down to the floor.
Smashing whatever got in his way (whether it be alive or not), he came
to a water-filled room with several ghostly images of various monsters.
After each monster asked a question which Criipt answered correctly, he
smashed the pedestals the ghostly forms had been resting on.
Upon further exploration, he found a room filled with mirrors, and smashed
them all (not before fighting his double via a Mirror of Opposition, which
he wiped out with little trouble). One of said mirrors was a Mirror of Life
Trapping, which held the Balor; Criipt wasted no time in obliterating the
opposition within a few seconds (and a failed "Death by Massive Damage"
saving throw by the Balor). With the Balor's piece of the Orb of the Sun in
tow, he then entered a flesh golem storage area and later found the Marilith
trying to figure out a puzzle. Surprising her as he did the Balor, she too
was wiped out.
The final room he found had an animated tapestry of two dragons fighting
it out. Patience, lucky hits, and one black dragon breath weapon later,
he had yet another piece of the gem, bringing his total to four. Beheading
the black dragon and taking its skull, he returned to the entrance and
attacked Illiri once while she was disintegrating team Shadowrun. He was
the one to win the day, bringing back the crown and gems and thus he earned
the ioun stone with tons of cool tricks. Criipt's reaction to this was,
"What do I do with this?"
Mithril Chef survives to adventure again?
- Twig
Player: Vanessa Wilcox-Swarez
Lisonamit (Wood Elf Druid 17) did very little during the adventure until
the very end. Riding in on a Dire Emu, he followed team Mithril Chef
around for most of the adventure. Bypassing an energy field through sheer
willpower and finding a Deck of Many Things, he picked one card from it
and was showered with gems. After that, his animals drank from the water-filled
room that Criipt found, and explored a lot of other, already-completed
rooms. Getting slightly frightened once he returned to the entrance (as
it was blocked with a Wall of Force), he sent his animals to look for
an alternate way out.
He then joined team Ghost Wind and team Elemental Fist in
dealing with the wyverns. Casting a Greater Dispel to get rid of the Deeper
Darkness covering the entire room (and failing), he Wild Shaped into a bat to
use echo-location and find the most important piece of the Orb of the Sun.
Easily dodging the attacks of the wyverns, he found it and grabbed the crown
with his claws. he tried another Greater Dispel, and once the room was lit
he waited for the fight to die down. Returning to the entrance once the
reptile menace was dealt with, he gave the crown to Criipt and returned to
the fresh air outside once team Ghost Wind dropped the Walls of Force.
Twig survives to adventure again?
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