The Bane of Vecna, those present in this chapter:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry
Pharin, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies, and Andolin's twin
Skye Vindhalle, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies
Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter
Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders
Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk
Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin
Andolin, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin
Pieces of Vecna acquired: Head and Hand
Other components being kept from cult: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, sword hilt
***** Day 8 to Kester
Pharin used dust of disappearance to make the group invisible, while Dervish and Nanu surrounded the priestess and dwarf in silence arrows so Aurora could start her bagpipes without alerting them. As the party advanced on the pair, the dwarf noticed the silence that surrounded him and broke one of the spells quickly; he then hurried over to the priestess. Once they had finished removing the silence spells, they began trying to strip away the group's buffs and defenses. When their first spell went off, Nanu was suddenly visible, and just a few feet from them. Pharin summoned a pair of "wolf bunnies" and a pair of cave crickets- their chirp is so loud that it engulfs any sounds made near them, rendering spells that require speech useless. One of the bunnies exploded the moment it got near the priestess, likely because of something she did. The group peppered the pair with arrows while Nanu began a melee assault; Andolin appeared behind the pair, stabbing the priestess in the back.
Apparently the pair decided they did not want to fight the group this day, they vanished into thin air. The figure they had seen the priestess standing over was still alive, and turned out to be another cultist of Kas. It was decided that they needed to send him somewhere that was better equipped to interrogate the vampire; Pharin sent a message to Lan, who appeared a couple hours later- looking like he had just come from the ruins of Greyhawk; Lan took the prisoner away quickly. During the wait I noticed that the vampire never took his eyes off my drum, he could somehow tell that the Hand was inside it.
There was one mostly intact house left, and the group stayed there for the night.
***** Days 9 and 10 to Kester
We did not get attacked at all this day, but we did meet a very expensive merchant who was also heading to Kester; after much discussion we decided to travel with him.
The next day was also peaceful, and we gratefully enjoyed the break we were being given by the cults.
***** Day 11 to Kester
Our heroes were not attacked on this day either, though they did see fighting in the distance. Bodies were flying, and the group couldn't see what exactly was fighting what. Skye decided to scout the battlefield, and discovered it was two thri-kreen hunting parties, but she couldn't tell what exactly the thri-kreen were fighting. After much discussion, the group decided it wasn't their business and stayed away from the fray.
***** Day 12 to Kester
That morning the group was awoken by the terrified whinnies of the horses that pulled the merchant's wagon. One of the horses was being shredded to pieces by some unseen force, which made the group decide to investigate from the safety of their Huts. What they saw was worse than they imagined... it was Pharin's demon bunnies. They had finally caught up to the monsters, and now had to face their creation.
Pharin set to work making a circle to entrap the monsters, he thought that since they were once his it might work. I used my flute of rodent control in hopes that I could charm the monsters into leaving, to no avail. This brought their attention to us, terrifying those of us who looked at them into paralysis- except for Dervish, who was so scared of them that he ran away. Pharin managed to call one of the bunnies to his circle, while the other two continued to glare at the party and devour the horse.
Dervish recovered from his fear and turned back to face the demons, he completely shredded one of them- but it didn't go down. Pharin put that bunny in his bag of devouring to finish it off, and managed to lure the other two into the bag as well. This ensured that the beasts would die and never return.
Later that day, as the group was beginning to look for a good place to camp for the night, they spotted more of Vecna's cultists heading their way. It looked like they were looking for the group, but couldn't ascertain their exact location- until they actually saw them. Pharin had made an attempt to contain the Hand, and it was somewhat working. The party made quick work of the clerics, but the fighters gave them a bit more trouble- of course the group was able to take them out without much injury.
***** Day 13 to Kester
We were granted another day of peace from the cults. We did spot a thri-kreen hunting party in the distance, but we decided to just sneak around them; thri-kreen can be difficult to fight, and they don't have gear that's really worth the effort it takes to kill them.
That night as we were setting up camp, we heard the crackle of an explosion, and saw a streak of flame in the distance. It appeared to be about sixty miles from where we were, so we didn't worry much about it.
***** Day 14 to Kester
Around midday the group saw both cults battling each other in the distance. Andolin had developed a hatred for undead and demanded that the group go kill them- after much deliberation the group decided to let the cults kill each other first, then they would sneak up and kill whoever was left standing. In the end there were only three of Vecna's cultists left standing, and Andolin decided to teleport to the battlefield to finish them off. Taking them by surprise, he killed all three in a single stroke.
When they were about thirty miles outside of Kester, they came upon a Brewfest celebration. The majority of the group joined in the festivities that night.
***** Day 15 to Kester/Night 1 in Kester
When the group began making their way to the gates of Kester, still with the merchant, they saw a group of the vampires arguing with guards- the guards were paid not to allow them entrance to the city. While our party passed the cultists, they all had their eyes on my drum- apparently all of this bloody cult can sense where I'm keeping the Hand.
Once they were inside the gates of Kester, they parted ways with the merchant and began to head toward an inn. Along the way, an idiotic 15 year-old human male attempted to cut Nanu's pouch from her belt. We think he thought himself invisible. Nanu grabbed the boy by the throat and lifted him with ease off the ground. Pharin patted the lad down and found a small dagger in his possession, which he proceeded to throw down the sewer grate that was near them. This dagger hit a poor drow male who happened to be walking under the grate at that moment. The wound wasn't fatal, it only hit him in the shoulder, but it hurt like hell. Pharin then lifted the sewer grate, and Nanu dropped the human down it... and he landed on top of that poor drow, killing both of them instantly.
When they reached the inn Andolin had pointed them toward, Pharin went inside to get them a room, while Andolin wandered off, and everyone else waited outside. Apparently one of the vampires had been tailing the party, and Andolin captured him as their prisoner. Once inside their suite the group began torturing their prisoner.
Pharin remembered the ritual that would allow him to find other pieces, and took some of the vampire's blood for it. Unfortunately, the Hand was in their custody, so it pointed at Aurora.
During the interrogation of their prisoner, Lan showed up with the vampire he had been given days before. The paladin joined in the torture, and Andolin produced a sun stone of Pelor that Lan had given him. After much of nothing, Lan used a spell that forces undead to speak the truth, though the group didn't learn much from it. They were told that the cult had many of Vecna's pieces, but they could not get an exact number or which ones they had.
Eventually, when it became clear that they would get nothing more useful from the vampires, Pharin summoned brain slugs, something drow priestesses use to extract information. Andolin used one of them, at great pain to himself, and demanded to learn everything it knew; during this memory transfer, its head caved in. When Andolin finally came back to himself, he told the group that there was a huge gathering of the vampires in the Vale. They could only mean my Vale, since it's the closest one to Kester- now things were personal, they had invaded my home.
This shows the path the group traveled in this chapter.
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