March 5
The party prepared themselves for the assault on Arcane Darkness, those baddies who kill or enslave elves. Presented before them was a locked cage, but they came together and developed a plan involving Teleport and some beat down. They attacked those guarding the trap - Cilistro Gelby (sorcerer), Hurley Idris (fighter), and Vladimir Troy (duelist). During the battle, Cilistro Gelby cast Prismatic Spray, which I think the party will agree is a far more gay spell when they are getting the facial rather than giving the facial. Sadly, Tomas was turned to stone, and Tyrone was killed by poison. Still, the party pressed and overcame the enemies.
Only in D&D is there a situation where it's free to fix someone who has been turned into stone but costs 25,000gp to fix someone who has been killed by poison. He was a fucking statue.
After approximately 3 days the party reentered the slavers' above, cutting their deadline close. They found a few captured elves and released them. They also found the sleeping chambers of the slavers... except they were really just traps, but the fucking rogue kept opening the door. The next campaign is going to be fun because I don't think anyone is going to be a rogue. And by "fun" I mean "fun for John."
The party also found the cook, but he only cooked for the slaves. Oddly enough, the party let him go. I think they're growing soft.
They then found the main chamber, and that's when the awesome battle started up. On the slavers side...
Sierra Faust - The beautiful archer with strawberry blonde hair and a green cloak.
Olin Nesbit - The ugly fellow with a shaved head and a thick black beard. He generally fought with twin scimitars.
Anesio Galo - A wizard with straight black hair in a pony tail, a patchy, scraggily beard, and a black cloak with an image of wolves howling at the moon.
Simon Voleta - The head wizard, and presumably the leader of Arcane Darkness. He's tall and skinny and has thinning brown hair. He wears a black cloak over pink robes.
Three unnamed archers
Three unnamed melee fellows
The battle was most glorious. Sadly, the party made themselves invisible, and then Tyrone attacked. He did some good damage, but by being the first visible character when the archers got to go, he was down and dying. When a fireball came by moments later, he was dead dead. Everyone cried a little bit. Prismatic sprays went everywhere, but the only person who got sent to another plane was one of the unnamed archers (he was pissed). People were dehydrated and burned. Signy was very upset that the one or two different people she attacked were not evil. She never bothered to wonder how only a few people in her own party are good despite the whole "save the world" approach they've taken.
It first looked like the party may end up as slaves, which would be fucking awesome. But eventually the tide turned. Marchosias and Sunny were the ones who could get to the main wizard, and they are, at this point, virtually immune to things wizards can do. The flank was but a turn away, and some of Simon's defenses were dispelled. Knowing that once the party had time to cast Dim Anchor it would be a fight to the death, Simon took Sierra and Anesio out of there as soon as they were suffering. In hindsight, Anesio realized he could have walked over to Olin and taken him to Simon with Dim Door, but he was momentarily thinking that Dim Door was only for one person. Oops. He's feeling rather bad about the whole thing.
The battle was over, and the party discovered the hidden chambers. Gayape McFaggle finally found himself some spell books, and then all the pages were stuck together. Tomas and Eron's parents and sister were freed, and everyone rejoiced. Yay! Upon receiving XP, the party trained themselves for a long ass time.
Late summer befell them, and that's when disaster struck. While perhaps the party would wish to have more time to fuck around, the bad guys already delayed their schedule some to accommodate the training. The disaster that struck them was their Emerald Hearts had turned dark and cloudy.
The party set off immediately for Gwynneth. There they found their friend Cathal had done well for himself. He was High Druid, and he was with Prince Rayan. They explained that a few days before the Moonwells had all turned black. The areas around the Moonwells are wilting, and the party can feel the sickness in the land. The familiar pulse of the Moonshaes is weak. There is not much time.
Cathal believes that there is a First Moonwell, that which feeds all the other Moonwells. If anything affects them all, he believes it must come from there. Sadly, no one has seen the First Moonwell. It is believed to exist high above the clouds near the peak of Mt Finnisglen. The way is said to be blocked, and the Claddagh Hammer is needed to get to it.
The Hammer was once a weapon of the people of the Moonshaes, but it was stolen centuries ago by the northmen raiders. They took it back to Icewind Dale, where it was last heard to be in the possession of the Tribe of the White Wolf.
The party set off immediately for Ten Towns, specifically Bryn Shander. These people did not like outsiders. They were not offensive, just not eager to talk to them. This changed when Sunny met a priestess of Moradin. Her name was Braga Dunn, and she was quite pretty. She wore thin robes that showed off her "curves." She was very into Sunny, and while she did not want him to leave, she told them about the hammer.
The Tribe of the White Wolf had been destroyed. Some said it was warriors, some said it was ghosts. Some say there are hundreds, and some say there are only four. Some have headed towards the old lands of the Tribe of the White Wolf near Reghed Glacier. Those who said they planned to make a challenge never returned. Those who just went out there to investigate usually returned and said they saw nothing.
The party journeyed through the early winter snow (in Icewind Dale, it's winter). When they arrived near Reghed Glacier, the party attempted to list the offenses committed by the spirits like they were King George III and they were trying to win the support of the French. Eventually they got something going on, and the cold mists rolled in. In the sudden silence, they could heard but the sound of horses.
Quote:
From the south, you can smell the rotting stench of the first even from this distance. His flesh is pale and covered with open sores. Flies buzz around his head. He carries a scimitar and rides a white horse.
From the east, you cannot see the second figure for his full plate covers him entirely. He looks large and powerful. The armor is black, and he sits astride a red horse. He carries a large hammer at his side, and a large sword is on his back.
From the west you see thin man, so thin you think he cannot still live. He is nude except for a loincloth. His sunken eyes stare at you, and it feels as though he is looking at you like food. He rides a black horse and carries a bow.
From the north comes a skeleton in black robes. He looks in your direction but without any sort of emotion, as if you are irrelevant. He sits astride a pale horse and carries a scythe.
Roll inits!
