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It is whispered that a change is coming, wending through the mysts like a fell breeze. The seers of the populace have been warned, the very fabric of magic is changing.
The champions have been called forth once again; this time to investigate a troubling change to the operation of the portal mysts. Reports telling of changes in the feel of the travel routes and intermittant visions of a colorless gray realm, rather than the usual myst formed tunnels, have come in from several travelers.
This interruption in the normal travel and trade routes must be dealt with immediately. Who will answer the challenge?
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- Death from Afar (Epic)
Player: Jonathan Sternfeld
Hearing of the nature of the mission, Tharivol Liadon's (Elf Fighter 6 / Wizard 2 / Arcane Archer 11 / Deepwoods Sniper 2) initial reaction was to go it alone, leaving Sargen and Andrinor to babysit Quarion. However, upon hearing from Ghost Wind that undead were involved in the attacks upon the Myst travelers, Tharivol went home and grabbed Andrinor Agriaba (Human Male Cleric 10), sporting his new Amulet of Undead Turning. Together they went through the Mysts and ended up in what turned out to be the Frontier Nexus, above the crater of Dragon’s Den. While the other teams descended into the crater to find out what was happening, Tharivol and Andrinor stayed topside to keep an eye on an approaching storm. A sudden shadow quake sent Andrinor to the bottom, and then a Disenchanter attacked Tharivol. After a wrestling match with the Disenchanter attached to Tharivol’s armor, the Disenchanter gave up and latched on to his Third Eye instead. Since Tharivol realized he could not beat the beast in strength, he released the Eye and fled down the side of the cliff. The beast went off to feast on its magic snack, and Tharivol joined the rest of the champions in the crater. They all proceeded towards a large building, in the area where the central fountain would be in the Material Plane. As they approached from one side of the crater, the storm cloud came at them from the other side. Tharivol determined it was a sentient creature attacking them, due to the way the cloud was moving, its position and the fact that there were no other clouds around. He unleashed a stream of arrows, and eventually brought the creature down, with the help of Illiri and the other champions, but not before Kristoliana’s friendly Bone Spear was killed. Once inside the building, a series of Shadow Asps were encountered and quickly defeated, yielding small citrines to the sharper eyed champions. The next room contained a Crawling Head. Andrinor had heard of such things and told everyone what he knew. These facts included a susceptibility to water. It was too powerful for Andrinor to Turn, even with his Amulet. Tharivol rushed in, Decanter of Endless Water blazing in Geyser mode, but it did not seem to phase the hideous undead creature. He returned to his trusty bow and helped the other champions defeat it. Tharivol also got a couple of arrows into the Chronotyryn before it disappeared from within Illiri’s force cage. A search revealed a trap door on the ceiling. Tharivol used his rope and grappling hook to get up there, opened the door, and saw another storm cloud waiting above.
Death from Afar survives to adventure again.
- Swarm (Novice)
Player: Mark Jerard
Kristoliana's (Aranean Master of Flies 9 ECL 16) dark vision and incredible speed were a great help during this adventure. She initially did scouting in the portal landing area and found an oily looking pool and giant foot prints. She was also first to spot the building in the center of the crater of shadow. She used her swarm abilities to infiltrate the building via a crack under the front door. She found and dispatched several Shadow Asps in the large hallway just inside the door. Unfortunately while she was fighting she also lost a trusty companion Bone Spear to the giant Thunder Worm outside. The Bone Spear’s valiant fight provided safe retreat for the rest of the champions. Shortly thereafter it was avenged, when the champions finally defeated the Thunder Worm.
In the fight against the Crawling Head, Kristoliana’s swarm helped keep the Head’s spell casting in check. Kristoliana was also first to notice a pair of Caryatid Columns that guarded the inner most room of the building, but they proved little trouble to the champions and were swiftly dispatched. During this fight her favorite mace was shattered on the marble statue. This was truly not her day! She opened the doors to hear voices coming from inside, but allowed her fellow champions to do the exploring. When a Chronotyryn was discovered, she helped in its containment with another well placed swarm. Her swarm also found that the Chronotyryn’s nest contained nine gems that the champions took as recompense for the journey.
Swarm survives to adventure again.
- Ghost Wind (Master)
Player: Christopher J. Ford
Illiri (Human Female Sorcerer 17), Ja'Nek (Human Male Cleric 6 / Psion 1), and Lyrin (Human Male Bard 12) of team Ghost Wind answered the challenge. They entered the Mysts trying to reach Terra 13 and found themselves dumped on the Frontier Nexus. Assuming the area might be hostile and that extra communication abilities would be useful, Ja’Nek mind linked with Tharivol and Illiri quickly erected an Otiluke’s Telekinetic Sphere around the team. She then drifted them about the landscape. This helped the team avoid the shadow quake that struck the area soon after they arrived.
The team was careful to explore the building that the champions found in the center of the crater. They were at a bit of a loss with only normal vision and the reduced efficiency of their torches. This lack almost caused a serious problem when they entered the darkened room containing a Crawling Head. Fortunately no one was injured. The team was first to enter the Chronotyryn’s lair, finding it to contain a most unusually large hourglass, with pink sand, almost empty, an abundance of adamantine feathers that were later gathered up as treasure, and a large stone nest. The resident Chronotyryn was initially quite chatty, giving its name as Kellanved. It gave rather cryptic and incomplete answers to most of the team’s questions however, and then declared itself bored and began attacking the champions. Illiri quickly force caged it to prevent possible mishaps. She was dismayed when it effortlessly disappeared.
Further reconnaissance of the room found a storage chamber with fifteen people in Temporal Stasis. The team then worked to revive these missing travelers. When Kellanved returned to watch the last sand run from the hourglass, tennsions rose in expectation of the conflict. Ja'Nek approached Kellanved and the two of them agreed that it would be best to cease hostilities and focus on what was happening around them. All of the team members noticed a tingle as the sand ran out. As soon as the show was over, they were asked to depart, and assisted in managing the removal of the travelers. Little was actually learned during the mission, but the champions put a positive spin on it when reporting back to Dragon’s Den and noted that travel was again safe.
Ghost Wind survives to adventure again.
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