Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book Two, Chapter Two

Double Take

Dramatis Personae:

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren, who is the last Vale Elf

Eurydice, Aurora's faerie dragon familiar

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth, the Dark Conjurer

Sarlockh, Pharin's choldrith familiar

Vilrath, Pharin's flesh golem

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer

Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster

Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated 

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter and Beast Master

BarraZotreth, Andolin's displacer beast animal companion

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person, since the bard can't be everywhere at once.

***** Lacysnows 7, CY 710, Somewhere over the Dry Steppes

       Something was very wrong with Andolin. Wrong enough that Douchebag actually asked for my help. Whatever was happening with him though, wasn't something I could do much for; none of my mind effecting spells touched Andolin. It seemed like he was trapped in his own mind, and there was nothing Douchebag or I could do to snap him out of it. At a loss, Douchebag asked me for everything I knew about illithids, but since they hadn't been seen in over two-thousand years, so there really wasn't much knowledge to be had about them. I knew a lot, obviously, but all of my knowledge was ancient, not even close to current. We tried scrying for illithids and found an area that may have been cloaked by them, but that was all we could find. 

***** Lacysnows 8, Somewhere over the Dry Steppes

       It was overly warm today, especially considering that it's the middle of fucking winter, and the altitude we're at was too high to make it this hot. Lothar was standing at the bow of the ship, as if he was waiting for something to happen, which made me uneasy. There were also no clouds in the sky, which was even more unusual, since even in the summer there's still a gloomy cloud covering. Something weird was going on, and I had a feeling it had to do with one of the cults.

       We could see a speck of light in the northeast, moving toward the west quickly. Lothar said we needed to head toward it. Douchebag wanted to go searching for the illithids instead, so Lothar explained to him that Andolin had locked himself in his own mind and he had to help himself. The speck of light was more important than seeking out the illithids that may not even exist anymore. 

       Dervish said he thought the light was heading toward where his people were, and after contacting Aerathema, he determined we needed to get his people to the Vale. Pharin and Dervish's mages came up with the solution to set up two facing Arcane Gates, one to bring them to the ship, and one to take them to the Vale. There would be just a few feet between them on the deck of the ship, enough room to keep them all funneling through. I hate to admit it, but it was a pretty fucking brilliant solution. 

       Once we had this all set up, Pharin realized exactly how many people we had to get through this fucking gate- it would take four and a half fucking hours, but Alyssandra said they could hold it that long. Pharin wanted to just reverse the gravity and hurl Dervish's people through the gates, but that was vetoed instantly; the douche settled for hasting the people instead. On the other side of the gate, we were greeted to a sweltering inferno- that ball of light was making things hot, to say the least. I went through the gate to help keep people calm while they moved, setting up my self-playing instruments along the line to cover more ground. 

       Things were going pretty well until Lothar crashed into the gate, and a power surge followed him. We only needed three more minutes to get everyone through. A moment later Lothar smacked into Dervish, and an armored figure glowing with flames was in front of them. Apparently, when Dervish went to his planet, he had fought this thing. I'm pretty sure it was Cinder. Fucking wonderful. 

       Dervish stepped up to fight Cinder, and he dodged every attack Dervish made. Dervish summoned a group of earth elementals... and they were instantly dusted by a thunder attack by Cinder. I suddenly felt something poke at my mind, it was a fucking weird sensation, so I got a shield going. Dervish kept trying to attack Cinder, and he dodged everything the kasathe threw at him. 

       On the ship, Pharin felt a slight ping on the ship's shield, similar to what he'd felt the night before when the Sultan attacked. A few moments later, the shield was struck hard.

       We heard a rumbling sound coming toward Dervish, and Cinder howled in rage, right before he was smacked by a wave of energy. Lothar casually walked up to Cinder, spun, and energy wrapped around all four of his hammers just before they all smacked right into Cinder, causing him to fly back. It was fucking awesome. Then there was another tremor as Narg appeared, grabbed Cinder, and slammed him into the ground. Narg picked Cinder up as if he weighed nothing, threw him again- away from the gates and people- and told Dervish to get everyone, including Lothar, out of here. 

       The ship's shields were still holding, but the Sultan was fighting hard to penetrate them. 

       Narg was fighting as hard as he could to keep Cinder away while we finished evacuating everyone, and the temperature was steadily rising; the heat was actually getting painful. I hoped my sing would still keep everyone calm enough to get through the gates in an orderly fashion. Then Cinder threw Narg over his head, and it was his turn to fly for a moment. Dervish and Vish caught Narg before he got too far away, and catapulted him right back at Cinder. Narg instantly began beating the Hells out of Cinder. It was pretty hot. Pun intended. 

       The shield began sizzling and crackling as the efforts to break it began to succeed. 

       Narg threw Cinder again- they seemed to like flinging each other around- and Cinder went soaring through trees and into a mountain. But a streak shot away from the mountain quickly, so Narg and Lothar intercepted Cinder and began beating the fuck out of him. Then they swung together and struck as one, and reality itself seemed to ripple for a moment, then with a flash, Cinder was gone.

       We got everyone else through the gates quickly, and as Lothar, Narg, and I returned to the ship, the shield began to crackle. I summoned my shadow twin and each of us healed Narg and Lothar- but not even a power word heal would help Lothar, which was fucking weird. I'd healed him before, so I didn't understand what could possibly be different. 

        Before I could think much about it, a black beam hit the shield. Vish gave Narg five gold and got a Wand of Wonder, which he instantly pointed at the beam... summoning an elephant. I guess since Willow was MIA someone needed to summon a fucking elephant in her stead. Narg picked up the elephant and hurled it at the beam... the poor elephant exploded. Then Narg pulled out a scroll, cast whatever the fuck was on it, and the beam stopped. 

       Suddenly, Pharin felt like he was punched in the side, but nothing was there. Then Dervish felt like he'd been hit and his broom began to spin. I had no fucking idea what was going on. Douchebag said he'd been sucker-punched, then covered himself in faerie fire. Everything went dark as I felt a fist connect to my face.

       I'm not sure how long I was out, but when I came to, I learned it had been fucking Pimbin who'd attacked us. And he'd even knocked out Douchebag. Apparently, he'd decided to hump the leg of one of the cults instead of Pharin's. Yeesh. I hope we don't have to fight the fucker again. 

***** Lacysnows 10, Somewhere above the Dry Steppes

       I asked Narg if he had any clues about Andolin, Narg may not be a mage, but he knows a lot of random shit. He said we either needed to find the illithids or leave Andolin alone to help himself out of his head. 

       That night, Douchebag felt a magical pulse of some sort, so we scryed for it and saw a figure that looks exactly like Lothar smashing his hammers into the ground to make a circle of some sort, the runes looked like the ones on Cinder's dagger, except sloppily constructed. I went to get Lothar up first, and he just jumped off the ship- I guess to go deal with that. I then got Dervish, Vish, and Narg up. Once Narg had been briefed, he said we needed to get to the Vale right away; this was bad. My crystal ball didn't deactivate when I walked away from it to get the others, which it should have, and when I glanced at the ball, the Lothar on the other end of it seemed to be looking at me. Fucking creepy.

       Pharin and Alyssandra opened a huge gate to the Vale, big enough to bring the entire ship through. We were greeted to a massive storm and a few dracoliches. As draconic roars bellowed over the sounds of the storm, Narg jumped ship so he could go get Aerathema. Alyssandra and Sarlockh sped up and rammed into the liches, killing three of them quickly. The other two were wise enough to bail. 

       We emerged into the desolate, glass wasteland that was once my home and landed the ship. Narg was outside the entrance to the catacombs and said he thought he knew which path to take. As soon as we got in the catacombs, I just instinctually knew which tunnels to take. Five hours later, we emerged into a massive forest. 

       It looked just like the forest that was in the Vale before Pharin got his hooks into the place, the only difference was that it was entirely underground. Narg went to get Aerathema while the rest of us looked around. I hadn't been able to sense any of my people since they'd been brought back after Pharin fireballed them, but as soon as I stepped into the cavern, I could sense all three-hundred of them. The magic of the catacombs must have been hiding them. 

       As I marveled at the beauty of the Under Vale, I noticed Pharin planting beans. I hurried to pick them up behind him, but the ground was moist enough to water them. Fucking Douchebag. A mummy tomb began forming in my fucking pocket, so I had to release it. Now the beautiful paradise Aerathema created had been ruined by Pharin. He destroys everything. 

       Narg and Aerathema arrived just in time to see the mummy tomb spring into existence. Narg struggled to hold Aerathema back- she was livid and out for Pharin's blood. Two treants had also popped up from the seeds, and they were fucking corrupted. Dervish and Vish were instantly grappled by their vines, and it took Narg to get Vish out. Aerathema purified the one with Dervish. Narg then allowed the one he'd just freed Vish from to grab him and start pulling him toward its mouth... and then fucking Douchebag let off a sunburst and fried it. Increasing Aerathema's rage toward him. She could have purified it and saved it too. 

       I could feel the rage vibrating off of Aerathema, she completely went off on Douchebag- no surprise. We all entered the tomb, and after a couple hours of walking through corridors, we came to a new passage, that Narg headbutted open. After another half hour or so we realized Aerathema was missing; Narg took off running after her. It was at about that point I realized we were in a maze. 

       Outside of the tomb was a nasty looking mummy who began questioning Pharin on why it was here. After doing some sort of mindfuckery, its tomb vanished. This mummy was the oldest Vale Elf mummy; a member of the True King's Court; it learned from the illithids. It kicked Pharin out of the Under Vale and vanished. It was now protecting the Vale. 

       Since we, unfortunately, needed Douchebag to hold the meeting we'd come here to have, Dervish went and retrieved him. I stayed behind to spend time with my family and friends... what was left of them anyways.

***** Lacysnows 11, Under the Vale of the Mage

       Ten hours later, we were finally fucking able to have our meeting. 

       Aerathema told us that Alucard (Oryn) had fractured his soul into pieces to keep his darker self- Cinder- at bay. The spell the other Lothar was doing would lead him to Alucard's body, which we couldn't have the cults finding. She said Lothar himself was created to be an avatar for multiple gods, and as a result, there were multiple Lothars; but only one should ever be active at any time. So we needed to stop the other Lothar before it could finish the spell. If he found Alucard's body it was game over for everyone. 

       After our meeting, Aerathema sent us back to the ship, and we went after Lothar as quickly as we could. 

       There was no cosmetic difference between the two Lothars, and we could not tell which one was our Lothar. This was just fucking wonderful. They were fighting, and one was still trying to hammer out the circle during the fight, but they moved too quickly for us to tell which one was which. We should have painted our Lothar blue before he left. I may have to do that later. 

       Dervish tried to drop a fireball on the Lothars, but it was repelled by a shield. I tried to dispel it, but it didn't work. That's just fucking great. Dervish flew down to drop more fireballs, I guess he was trying to wear down the shield or something. Pharin dropped some radiant alchemical fire on the shield, along with an ice storm. Fucking nothing happened. Vish used his Wand of Wonder and dropped darkness over them. Apparently, it's just Willow who only summons elephants with the wand. Douchebag dropped a bean on the shield- I think he'd been hoping to create a mummy tomb on top of them. 

       Suddenly, the energy in the circle vanished; just as the bean turned into a fucking statue of Pharin. The energy appeared right above us and slammed into us, creating a two-hundred-foot column, that created a hole in the ground, and a hole in our ship- good thing it was an airship and couldn't sink from that. Both Lothars had managed to grab onto the ship instead of being pummeled into the ground by the energy. Vish used his Wand of Wonder again and still didn't summon any elephants. He shot a lightning bolt and followed it up with rain. As Vish set off the Wand, Douchebag dumped some beans on them, creating a geyser of water, a treant, seven shriekers, twenty-four toads, a fruit tree that instantly exploded from the lightning, and seven eggs. None of which was fucking helpful.

       There was a blinding flash from beneath the ship as we rocketed up about four-hundred feet, before Sarlockh regained control of the ship. We heard some banging in the hold of the ship, near the hole, and got back down there in time to see a Lothar whack Dervish with a hammer and send him flying out of the hole. This was getting ridiculous. Both Lothars then jumped out of the hole in the ship- one was glowing with energy and practically oozing with power. They began beating the shit out of each other again

       The earth shook violently as a hammer connected with the ground, and four beams shot out of the ground where the hammer had struck. Lothar split into four fucking avatars. A silver beam shined lifting the glowing Lothar into the air, as the other one was bound by webs. We could see his veins darken, as if he was burning from the inside out, then he was hidden from view as spiders swarmed over him; he exploded. The glowing Lothar vanished. 

       A column of black energy erupted from the earth in the same place we'd seen the fire earlier. The cults had activated another Beacon.

       Before we could react, Vish came running out of the Mansion, yelling he needed help. Alyssandra was dying.

Map by Anna B. Meyer

Map by Anna B. Meyer

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book Two, Chapter One

Shit Has Hit the Fan

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren, who is the last Vale Elf
Eurydice, Aurora's faerie dragon familiar

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth, the Dark Conjurer
Sarlockh, Pharin's choldrith familiar
Vilrath, Pharin's flesh golem

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer

Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated 

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter and Beast Master
BarraZotreth, Andolin's displacer beast animal companion

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person, since the bard can't be everywhere at once.

***** Lacysnows 5, 710 CY, Potidaea Bard College

       I was preparing to leave Potidaea when a messenger came with a letter for Gabrielle. Dread settled over her face as she read it, and called a council meeting. I picked up the words "attack, barbarian, and Jayce," before she vanished into the council room. I contacted Dervish and Pharin through the rings, telling them what I'd heard and coordinating where we should meet up. I couldn't reach Willow or Ralliakkan, there seemed to be something blocking me- and I couldn't scry for them either. 

       We figured out that Jarrid was in the Dry Steppes, while Jayce was gearing up to leave Black Moor. I voted for Dry Steppes, since I couldn't bear the thought of seeing that glorious barbarian as a twisted undead. I met Dervish, Pharin, Andolin, and Dervish's army in the Oasis, and learned that the barbarians were marching quickly toward us. When they were about a minute out, we got reports of another group coming at us from the south. Fucking shit monkeys. Of course they're going to surround us. Dervish, Vish, and I took part of the army to defend the south, leaving Pharin and Andolin to defend the north side. 

       Dervish and I were met with surprise when we saw Nanu leading the southern horde- of course the nightcunt would be easy to flip, she wasn't the smartest horse in the barn. I know that's not the expression, but I don't care. When our former comrade got close enough, we discovered her eyes were completely white- like she was possessed or something. Made sense, she always had a weak will. 

       Dervish unleashed a volley of lye arrows- the ones Lothar had made for us in the Sea of Dust- and they didn't seem to do anything to the fowl foal. I tried one of my Bae'qeshel gifts, Song of the Spider, expecting it to work- nothing happened. Not to her or the barbarians. What the in Nine was going on? That should have easily hit them! Nanu and barbarians were know for not being willful enough to stand up to my charms! I was pissed. 

       Then the bitch bamfed in front of Dervish and started laying into him pretty hard. I pulled out my Horn and summoned twenty berserkers to aid us. Dervish and Vish grouped together and unleashed a whirlwind of blade attacks on the fowl foul- but Vish slipped up and suddenly the bitch had him by the throat. I unleashed a firestorm on the horde, and my berserkers did what they could, but they weren't doing much damage, and were dropping too quickly. At least they'd keep her horde busy while we dealt with her. Dervish did something that sent Vish away, to free him from Nanu's grasp, since the warrior didn't seem to be doing too well on his own. 

       I grabbed another harp and dropped another firestorm on the barbarians, who then dropped all but six of my berserkers. Fucking Hells. Nanu and Dervish were locked in combat- she attempted, and failed, to charm him- and when that didn't work the nightcunt unleashed a series of devastating attacks on him. I sent Eurydice to Dervish to cast a restoration spell, and he perked back up a bit. His army seemed to be doing well against hers, except my poor berserkers, who had all fallen by this point. It was clear Dervish could use some backup against our former comrade, so I drew my Lolth Blade and sent my shadow twin down to help him. Before my double could do much, Nanu unleashed a series of blows at both of them which dropped my twin. 

       Whatever was possessing her was kind of bad ass, a few months ago she wouldn't have been able to drop my shadow twin. Dervish and Nanu continued exchanging blows, while I kept helping his army with firestorms, when suddenly Nanu vanished. Fucking wonderful, the bitch could turn invisible now. We whirled on her troops, and after a few more seconds, there were only four of her people left. Dervish suddenly looked tired, his haste had run out. Nanu, of course, chose that moment to reappear ad began wailing on him. 

      Vish appeared at her flank and he and Dervish began laying into the nightmorc. Then, since she just wasn't going down, Dervish had his mages magic missile the cunt. Nanu was hit with 108 magic missiles all at once, and she finally went down. When the dust cleared we discovered it wasn't Nanu, but instead a fucking doppelganger. Explains why she was able to do so much damage to us all.

       Apparently Douchebag and Andolin had an easy time taking down their half of the horde, and it was very clear that Jarrid had only been there as a distraction. At about the same time Not-Nanu got magic missiled to death, he said his test was completed and vanished. 

       We set up camp at the Oasis, it made the most sense to stay there for the night. At some point during the night, we felt this massive pulse of energy, and a huge fire erupted about forty leagues from us. We figured it was a failed attempt to activate a beacon. Douchebag decided that meant we should just summon a ton of demons to fight the undead hordes, while the rest of us took on the beacons. 

       Pharin said he's try to find the beacon locations, who the fuck knows how, and I'd scry for the locations of the hordes. Aeryn and Aerys had apparently been risen and joined the ranks of our enemies. They had about 500 people in the Udgru Forest. Jayce had about fifty people with him, and there was no sign of Jarrid or Nanu. I attempted to scry Willow and Ralliakkan, but all I got were some brief flashes of brown and green. The world is going to Hells fucking fast. 

       Douchebag found some decent potential locations for the beacons, so that gave us a starting point, if we wanted to deal with those first. 

***** Lacysnows 6, Dry Steppes Oasis

       We did a little bit of shopping before heading out this morning. But when we tried to teleport to the beacon location, we discovered that the entire continent was locked down. There was no teleporting, no plane shifting, nothing. Fuck. 

       We were going to turn a folding boat into a permanent airship to let us travel; it was the only way we could get around in a somewhat reasonable amount of time. When we began to get everything ready, Lan appeared; Pelor had sent him to help us with this. He was able to help douchebag with the ritual to make it an airship, and to make the spell permanent. This was going to take a long ass time though, we weren't looking at a simple ritual.

***** Lacysnows 7, Dry Steppes Oasis

       Everything was finally ready to go to make an airship. Dervish's wizards were going to help douchebag in the ritual; Lan used their blood to amplify power for Pharin to make the spell work. As soon as the spell was finished, Lan vanished. I guess Pelor decided he didn't need to stick around.

       Pharin and I created together a Magnificent Mansion on the ship to house all of Dervish's mages, and all of us, comfortably on the ship. I was reluctant to help douchebag with anything, but we needed this to be a more powerful spell than normal. After that, we were finally ready to set "sail."

       As we were getting in the air, something made of fire crashed into the ship and made an enormous hole. Pharin and I, together (shudder) made a massive Hut that encompassed the ship to protect it from anymore falling objects. More fire pelted the shield, while Pharin reached out mentally, and discovered there was something on the underside of the ship- the fire was just a decoy.

       Then the Sultan of Nothing appeared on our ship. Andolin attacked him and went right through him; then he seemed to be in a daze. Another decoy.

       Then the actual Sultan of Nothing (Kester) appeared above our ship- in the Hut- and plummeted to the deck as Dervish's mages dispelled all of his magical crap. Unfortunately, this also dispelled all of the buffs I'd already placed on myself and the others. The Sultan turned into smoke and filled the Hut; it was just a camouflage tactic, he was flying around the ship, and we were now completely unaware of where the fuck he was. Then my body was hit with a pain so intense I couldn't move. It hit everyone except Douchebag and two of Dervish's mages.

       Pharin stabbed the Sultan with Cinder's dagger, and the Sultan dispelled the Hut and vanished. The ship stopped moving. Pharin cast darkness on himself, and grabbed Andolin to merge with him, but the Sultan managed to stop them. To keep that from happening again, Pharin put an anti-magic field on himself, merged with his brother, and dropped the field. Andolin was very out of it. 

       Douchebag and the Sultan exchanged blows for a few moments, and the Sultan seemed to be winning; then a massive beam of radiant energy slammed into him. Lothar was floating in front of Pharin, Dervish's mages had summoned him. The Sultan was on the ground below us now, and the others dropped 1200 pounds of adamantine on him. Pharin went flying toward him, hoping to trap the Sultan's soul before it went back to the phylactery. A massive explosion rocked the earth below us as the Sultan died from our heavy metal attack, and the soul was gone.

       Lothar and Dervish's people got to repairs on the ship while Douchebag and I set up a new mansion and shield.

       Later that night, Pharin asked me to tell him everything I knew about mind flayers so he could work on making sure a psychic attack from the Sultan couldn't happen again. He started up a ritual, that I reluctantly helped with. There was something wrong with Andolin; to Pharin, through their psychic bond, it looked like Andolin's brain was jumping around. Weird things kept happening during the ritual- candles flickering out, book pages on their own, that kind of shit. After a bit, Pharin said he didn't need my help anymore, so I headed to my rooms.

       Pharin attempted to merge with his brother, to figure out what was wrong, but he hit a block. No matter what he tried, he could not merge with Andolin, and Andolin wasn't responding to him at all. As a last resort, Pharin punched his brother, and Andolin finally looked up, then collapsed. 

Map by Anna B. Meyer

Aurora's Adventures: The Quest for the Silver Star

The Quest for the Silver Star

Dramatis Personae:

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren

Eurydice, Aurora's faerie dragon familiar

Gabrielle

The Interpretive Dancer

NOTE: Everything is from Aurora's perspective, but anything in italics is what actually happened, since the bard always exaggerates. 

***** Tinklingice, 710 CY, Potidaea Bard College

       After months of spending every spare moment I had scouring the library, looking for something that would help me undo whatever Pharin had done to my people, I finally found the reference to something called the Silver Star. It seemed to be a combination of a Fates card and a Wish, and it could undo anything. I had to find it. 

       I tried using Legend Lore on the Silver Star, and found it was last used to reinforce the southeast wall of a city. After another week or so of research I found three different locations it could possibly mean, and only one would have actually had a southeast wall. It was in the Sea of Dust along the Hellfurnaces mountains, and was so ancient that its name had been lost. I couldn't find Gabrielle anywhere, so I decided to go hire myself some muscle- Dervish's mercenaries in the Dry Steppes should do nicely. 

       I teleported over there, and with some persuasion I hired fifteen of them. I had to do this in two teleports, since I couldn't take sixteen people in a single go. The first teleport didn't go so well, and the seven who were with me were scattered away. I popped back over to the oasis, not telling the other eight about their lost buddies, and teleported again... We found ourselves surrounded by thri-kreen- oops? I bamfed us back to the oasis, but not before the thri-kreen killed four of them. I felt a little bad, so I gave them a bunch of money and left. 

       My story to the other bards was much more valiant, in which I didn't lose anyone and they slaughtered a bunch of thri-kreen before I got us out of there. My bards totally bought it- except Gabby and the Dancer. The Dancer was interesting to me, she never spoke, and she looked like a Vale Elf, but said she wasn't one. All of her communication was through interpretive dance. I was fascinated with her. 

       I went back to my books after sharing my tale, before Gabby and the Dancer found me. The three of us teleported right to the city gates- Gabrielle's teleport was better than mine, but she is THE bard. I marched up to the gates and pulled on them, opening these ancient doors with a marvelous feat of strength. Gabrielle and the Dancer had to help Aurora open the gates, she wasn't strong enough to do it on her own. 

       The city was covered in sand, and devoid of all life- which we expected. It was eerie how calm everything was in here. Since the place was huge, the three of us split up- but not before Gabby cast something to give us telepathy so we could communicate. I found what seemed to be an underground complex, so I used my Ring of Djinn Summoning to have one come clear the sand for me so I could get to it. It took longer than I'd like to admit. 

       When it was finally cleared enough, I found a corridor that sloped down, hopped on my broom, and went down. After a little while, I realized I wasn't really moving- this was some sort of maze spell. The moment I realized this I found myself in total darkness. 

       Aurora spent several minutes flying down this false path before realizing she wasn't moving. In that time, the Dancer found her, said- without saying- that this had to be connected to the star, thought for a moment, and vanished. Aurora took a couple more minutes, and a hint from Gabrielle, to find the path. 

       I could see Gabby and the Dancer, but in a kind of abstract way, like they were there, but not really. I thought about the star, and saw something glimmering on a pedestal. I turned to tell my friends, but they weren't there. The moment my hand closed on what I was sure was the star, the darkness melted away and I found myself in a vision. 

       I saw the city when it was thriving, and they were in a great battle. Undead and demons were attacking the city, and the residents were fighting hard to protect themselves. I was shifted around countless times, seeing the fight from many angles. It was incredible. Eventually I could see the commander of the attacking army- Vecna... and he was still alive. A chill ran through me as Vecna looked up, right at me, and seemed to stare into my soul. 

       The next thing I knew I was standing in front of the gate, holding a glimmering box made of ivory. The gates were closed, and Gabby and the Dancer were there. Gabrielle asked where the hell I'd been- apparently I had been missing for two weeks now. Neither of them remembered going into the city with me- it was like so many legends. 

       I looked at the little box in my hand, and attempted to will it into a star- it worked! The three of us realized it was a puzzle, and we'd need a wizard to help fully unlock it. 

       As we prepared to head back to the College, suddenly a beacon of pure darkness shot up into the air, on the other side of the continent. The cultists had found beaten us to the beacons. Fuck.

Map by Anna B. Meyer

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Twenty-Three

The Parting of Ways

Dramatis Personae: 

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group; also known as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard and Bae'qeshel; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard and Priest of Lolth; "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 and Dragon blood Sorcerer

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders

Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk of Nerull and Starlock of Y'Chuk
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue, summoner of elephants

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated 

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg

Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon

Comrades we have lost:

Jayce, the Human Barbarian- killed by Josiah; soul possibly destroyed by Pharin

Jarrid, the Human Barbarian- killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during Kester Championship

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins- killed during the Sultan of Kester's assault of House Braz'Dracon

Nanu's Innocent Bystander Slaughtering: 18

Pieces of Vecna Acquired: Hand and Eye

Other Components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness. Fang of Kas, the Dagger of Cinder, and the Sword of Kas

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person, since the bard can't be everywhere at once.

***** Ekbir, the Underbazaar

       As we gathered our bearings after the grueling battles over the last twenty-four hours, a crowd of drow began flooding out of their fortresses. I decided to explain to them what exactly had just happened, because it sounded like fun and I like telling stories where I'm the star. Pharin and Pimbin wandered off to try to find where Cinder's weapons had wandered off to; the wizard wanted that staff back. When I was about halfway through my tale, Ralliakkan announced through the rings that around eight thousand thri-kreen were converging on the city. We had to escape, now. Pharin met us at the crater, where I was quickly wrapping up my tale, and teleported us to the one place he thought we'd be safe: the Demonweb Pits, inside Lolth's Tabernacle. 

***** Lolth's Tabernacle

       I once again found myself in the presence of my new goddess, who was wearing the form of a beautiful drow female with sultry curves and a full, pouty mouth. If I didn't know who she was, I would definitely want to have a night with her. Lolth released Dervish from the flask, and settled in to tell us about Cinder.

       Cinder was too powerful, and there was a prophecy that he would destroy not just Oerth, but every world. The realms as a whole would cease to be if Cinder had been permitted to stay as he was. All of the gods came together to bind Cinder into a rather benign form, suppressing the majority of his abilities. They thought a halfling would be an appropriate race for Cinder, since halflings are one of the most harmless races; their cheery demeanor would do well to calm the storm that resides in Cinder. And now, thanks to the cults, this ancient power has been freed. Not good. 

       After hearing Lolth's tale, Pharin began blaming his prophecy of being the destroyer of Oerth on Oryn. He was doing his usual obnoxious round about laying blame bullshit, but Lolth saw through it and hurled a web at him. I think I'll like my new goddess. 

       Dervish decided to bring up the attempted genocide of my people, as well as Pharin's destruction of the Vale, thinking Lolth would serve as a judge or something. The kasathe seems to think he's some sort of constable and actually has power to do things. He demanded I be paid reparations for Pharin's actions, and Lolth produced a beautiful blackened longsword. Not wanting to offend the Spider Queen, I took it. The moment my hand closed over the hilt, I saw the sword's forging; this was Lolth's Moonblade, and she oversaw its forging personally. While I would have liked to see Pharin punished, I couldn't complain about such a wonderful gift. Plus Lolth probably would have taken offense, and I've heard stories of what happens to people who offend her. 

       Even though I accepted the sword, Dervish continued pressing the issue. The result was a ridiculous circular argument between him, Pharin, and Lolth; it was rather amusing. Eventually Dervish got tired of arguing in circles and dropped his charges against the wizard. It's probably a good thing he did too, I'd hate to think what Lolth would do if she grew bored of the fight before the kasathe gave up. 

       Once that was settled, the Spider Queen had something to show us. First we saw thri-kreen destroying Ekbir, and Pharin's compound. The Dry Steppes Oasis was aflame, and the Forgotten City was surrounded by about twenty thousand soldiers; they weren't in the city though, probably because of the pillar of light. Absolutely nothing remained of Kester. The cults had swarmed everywhere we had touched and destroyed it. All of the good we had done was just reversed. 

       Lolth announced that someone was knocking at her door, but she didn't know who. Apparently the goddess couldn't just look through a peep hole or something. Pharin offered to investigate it, and we were suddenly standing outside the Tabernacle, Narg was banging on the gate and Ralliakkan was standing to the side. Narg handed out letters to us, and vanished, leaving Ralliakkan behind. 

       Dervish's letter was from his mercenary group in the desert. They had escaped the decimation of the Oasis, and were currently hiding in some mountains to the north. Their leader had been lost to them, and they were requesting that Dervish come lead them.

       Pharin's letter was from his priestess, who had a theory about the beacons. She thought they could be used as a bridge between worlds. The wizard needed to join his house to assist in this; he also wanted to start his own wizard school.

       Nanu's letter was from her tribe, telling her that some of their leaders had signed on with one of the cults. They needed the nightmorc to come home and help them.

       I got a letter from Gabrielle's College! The Battle Bard herself had heard of me and wanted to write my story! My idol had noticed me! I knew I was the best bard to leave the Vale! One of my dreams had been accomplished, and I couldn't stop squealing with joy.

       Pimbin received a contract from his temple, with the party's names down as the marks. The halfling was being tasked to kill the people he had spent months with. He couldn't tell anyone about the contract because of a geas, and he couldn't just squirm out of it. Pimbin's loyalty was being tested, would he stay loyal to his order, or would he stay loyal to his comrades?

       In lieu of a letter for Willow, Ralliakkan recruited her. She offered to take the eladrin with her, on the condition that Willow followed her every instruction. It wouldn't be easy, but the rewards would be plenty. Willow accepted the offer to be Ralliakkan's apprentice.

       Ralliakkan decided we needed to blow off some steam before we went our separate ways. She took us to a beautiful bath house filled with pools as far as the eye could see. We spent the next day lounging in Ralliakkan's bath, drinking, and enjoying ourselves. While most of us were still not parting as friends, we were parting under amicable terms, and that was about as good as we could get. 

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Fourteen

Crossing the Desert Part 1:

The Dragon's Lair

Dramatis Personae:

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't

Pharin Braz'Dracon, 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 of Nerull
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and former Cleric of Moradin

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg

Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon

Comrades we have lost:

Jayce, the Human Barbarian- killed by Josiah

Jarrid, the Human Barbarian- killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during Kester Championship

Pieces of Vecna acquired: Hand and Eye

Other components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, and the sword hilt

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person.

***** Day 2 in the Desert

       Shortly after the worm incident, as we were setting up breakfast, Nanu vanished; we assumed Oryn had taken her for some other project, so we didn't think much of it. Though it was still odd that she just vanished without a trace. Without her clunky hooves to draw the worms for us, Pharin decided to drag a bag of rocks on the ground behind his carpet. 

       While we were traveling we came across a group of nomads who had crap to trade. Even though their selection was absolute garbage, they did know how to make health potions from the local plants, a talent that Pharin found useful enough to ask them to teach him. Five hours later we were finally back on the road. We spend far too much time waiting on that damned wizard.

       As we were setting up camp for the day, we heard the rumbling of a worm below us, so we decided to set up our camp for the night on the rocks, that way we wouldn't attract them during our sleeping hours again. A worm exploded out of the rocks as we drew near, with Narg right behind it. Pharin attempted to take it out and failed miserably, but Narg took it out with ease. Skye got the strange idea to turn the corpse into a zombie and use it to try to attract other worms using their mating dance. She's an odd little druid.

***** Day 3 in the Desert: the Dragons

       That evening before disappearing, Narg used a wish to grant us all resistance to fire. We continued our journey south, with Skye's zombie worm doing its mating dance underground... it was ridiculous and really slow going. As we were flying, Pharin noticed a sink hole and decided that we should investigate it; it looked like a dragon hole, so of course we had to go check it out. 

       After some time traveling in the tunnel, which grew gradually bigger the further we went, Pharin announced that he thought it was a blue dragon's lair. Finally, after what felt like forever, we reached a massive chamber with a giant pile of loot in the middle of it, but there was no sign of a dragon. We soon discovered it had heard us coming and hidden under the pile of treasure; it exploded out of the pile and attacked- it was indeed a blue dragon. 

       Dervish and Pimbin immediately began assaulting it, and actually did some decent damage to it. Pimbin broke its arm and a rib, while Dervish sliced at its leg. While they sliced at it, Pharin summoned two hyenadons to assault it. The dragon, filled with rage at being hacked at by our group, sliced through Dervish's helmet and messed him up. I used one of my harps to drop a firestorm on top of the dragon, and it screamed in pain; a horrible blood-curdling screech that cut into your very soul- I need to figure out how to reproduce that sound. In a final attempt to take us down with it, it blew itself up, and fortunately failed to kill Dervish, who was still right next to it hacking away.

       A second before the blue blew itself up, the wall behind us burst open, and a brass dragon fly in and attacked Pharin. Dervish decided to try to talk to the dragon, to no avail. Pharin had a plan, but knew it had resistances to certain things, so he asked Skye and I to attempt to whittle those down for him first. It didn't like Skye, and it began trying to eat her. Knowing that most creatures cannot drink genasi ale and live, she dumped a bottle it down its throat while she hung in its mouth, but the dragon survived.

       Pharin summoned in an air elemental, but its whirlwind powers did nothing. While he was doing that I attempted to send a potion of gaseous form to Skye via my familiar, Eurydice; the dragon spotted her and quickly dispatched of my poor faerie dragon. Skye cast a web down its throat to attempt to keep it from fully swallowing her, but it can use its fire breath even when it has a mouth full of druid; it knocked her unconscious. I attempted to convince it to drop her, telling it that she would give it indigestion and it really didn't want to swallow a yucky druid. Fucker wouldn't listen to me and swallowed Skye, except for one arm that it bit off. 

       Dervish had given himself haste while fighting the first dragon, and it having worn out left him drained; he summoned a mansion in the sky and collapsed inside to recover without staring down a dragon. The wall to the cave exploded outward yet again, and this time another blue came out, with Ralliakkan hot on its tail. As quickly as she appeared, she vanished... Ralliakkan is good at doing that. While she was gone we continued to battle the dragons, but we didn't seem to be doing much to them. When she finally reappeared seconds, that felt like hours, later, she grappled it with an imprisonment spell, but the fucker escaped. She realized that Skye was missing and teleported herself inside the brass dragon's stomach, reappearing with Skye's corpse. 

       The spell required to resurrect Skye takes me an hour to cast, so Ralliakkan used an item that not only brought Skye back, but regrew her arm too. Skye was pissed, she bludgeoned the hell out of that dragon. Finally Pharin was able to finish it off by skewering its heart with his staff. For some reason that daft drow decided to go inside its heart. I don't think I'll ever understand him. 

       Skye claimed the brass dragon's scales, which was only fair since it had killed her. She decided that it was time for her to pursue safer ventures, and left to join Aerathema, after cussing out everyone except Ralliakkan and I. We were the only ones who weren't giant assholes to her. 

       We found a sword of legend in the dragon's lair, one that is said to kill anything once. So it will instantly kill a drow once, but we don't know what it will do if we try to kill a second one. It had runes on the blade showing each type of thing it had killed, but they were difficult to decipher. We also found a Vorpal sword among the loot, and since we all wanted it, we cast lots to see who would win it- Lothar was the winner. He teleported in briefly to claim his prize, and I gave him a belt that we had found that can make its wearer stronger. 

       Pharin decided he needed a time manipulation of sixty days, but he knew we couldn't spare that much time in reality, so he asked Oryn for assistance. Fortunately our employer is generous and granted us sixty days in a demiplane while only four days took place in the real world. 

       Oryn had an Eladrin with him when he brought us to him, a treasure hunter named Willow. She had been looking for that sword of legend we found, but Pimbin had been the one to end up with it, and he only does what Pharin tells him to, so she didn't get the sword. 

       We were given four hours to prepare ourselves for the time in the demiplane, since that was how long it would take Oryn to gather the components he needed for that spell to work. Pharin returned in three with a dead drider. An hour after that our employer appeared with pieces of a freshly killed beholder; he said he hadn't had that much fun in ages. 

       Dervish wanted to visit some merchants (that man shops more than anyone I've ever met), and Oryn found some, but they would only come to us for a large sum of money. Ralliakkan made them come on her own, and Dervish compensated her for her time. We shopped while Willow and Ralliakkan robbed the merchants. Willow snagged an Anstruth Harp and gave it to me for a super low price, and for me identifying a pair of boots she had stolen. I like her. 

       I had gotten a crystal ball earlier and tried to see what was happening in the Vale. I couldn't see anything, nor were any of my messages getting through. I asked Oryn about it, and he handed me an eye and told me to swallow it. It was disgusting, but it showed me what I needed to see, and the Vale was worse than I had thought. There were vampires everywhere, blood was flowing freely from my people as screams of rage and terror rang out from everywhere. I had to get home soon.

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Thirteen, Ekbir and the Dry Steppes Bazaar

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't

Pharin Braz'Dracon, 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 of Nerull

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and former Cleric of Moradin

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg

Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon

Comrades we have lost:

Jayce, killed by Josiah

Jarrid, killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish

Pieces of Vecna acquired: Hand and Eye

Other components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, and the sword hilt

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person.

***** Ekbir

       We spent the next two and a half days in Ekbir shopping and making magic items. About halfway through the third day I felt a slight tug on my Oryn pouch, as did everyone else who was with us. Inside the bag was a copper coin, and when I touched it I suddenly found myself in Oryn's demiplane. Most of Oryn's agents who we have met were there, including Lothar, which was confusing since he was supposed to be locked up with the Book of Vile Darkness. Apparently Oryn decided Lothar needed some space from the book, it had turned him into a jackass and caused Moradin to turn his back on him; Lothar had lost his clerical power. 

       Oryn himself was not there, but once everyone arrived we received a message from him with instructions to select an agent to take with us to the Forgotten City. We were in for a long trek through the desert to get there, and Oryn knew we would need help. There was a lot of arguing between us about who we should bring, and it didn't help that none of our companions actually wanted to go with us. Pharin and I voted to bring Aerys along, she seemed like she would be good in the desert. The others wanted Ralliakkan, who really didn't want to go, because of the sun; drow hate sunlight enough as it is, but putting a drow in a blinding desert is torture to their sensitive eyes. Next time I have to torture a drow I'll need to remember that... 

       So we had finally begun to convince the others that we should bring Aerys, when Ralliakkan pointed out that none of us could pick a lock. While Pharin had a spell that could do it, it was a loud spell, and it really isn't as good as Ralliakkan is. We asked the others if any of them could open a lock, and Lothar demonstrated his lock picking skills... he smashed the locked with his hammers. I had to repair the stupid lock for Ralliakkan, because apparently I'm the only one who fixes things. Even though Ralliakkan didn't want to go, we needed her. A place like the Forgotten City had to be full of traps and locks, and none of us were able to measure up to her talents. She agreed on the condition that she got Pharin's goggles, which allow him to handle the sunlight.

       We planned to leave the next morning for the Dry Steppes, the oasis on the way to the city. 

***** The Dry Steppes Bazaar

       We spent the next five days shopping at the Dry Steppes, and nothing really happened. We didn't get hit by either cult, there were no tournaments, no random attempts at robbery, nothing! There was a small incident with Pharin being a jackass on our second day in town, and some odd occurrences with the Deck of Many Things on the fifth day. 

       As for Pharin being a jackass on the second day in town... There were two flying carpet merchants, one legitimate one, and one who sold faulty carpets that were likely to explode in your face. Hazeeb, the owner of the faulty carpet stall pissed Pharin off, so he decided to get revenge in one of the most bizarre, roundabout ways I've ever seen.

       Instead of directly attacking Hazeeb, Pharin decided to accuse him loudly of selling exploding carpets, while putting a delayed blast fireball in the stall of the real merchant. While he was loudly ranting about Hazeeb's faulty carpets, the other stall exploded and Pharin framed Hazeeb for the explosion. The guards were confused, and attempted to arrest Pharin for the crime, so he teleported back to Ekbir and we didn't see the wizard again until the next day. I still don't understand why Pharin felt the need to blow up that stall, and the jackass ended up making it so the rest of us couldn't get carpets. 

       By our fifth day in town, Ralliakkan was bored, so she pulled out one of her Decks of Many Things. Pharin got the oh so brilliant idea to thin out the bad cards by giving bums draws first... That was fucking dumb. The first several bums got really good cards, including the vizier, which allows you to get an answer to one question. Pharin decided to use that to find the Sword, but since the bum didn't know anything about Kas, he learned all of that instead. There was some useful information there, but not what we wanted; we sent that bum to Oryn. 

       I drew the card that gives me a devil as an enemy. I think it's the one whose harp I have, it would make the most sense anyways- not that everything that comes from that stupid deck makes fucking sense. Devils are pretty possessive of their instruments, even though they aren't as good at using them as I am. Pharin got the deed to a keep and Ralliakkan got more wishes. If only I had gotten something useful like that. 

       Later that night we went outside of town to summon a lich so that Pharin could do his Fang compass trick again. He seems to have the crappiest lich ever, that guy went down in a single hit. Liches are supposed to be bitches, not easy kills; though I suppose I shouldn't complain too much about it. 

       The Fang pointed directly to the Forgotten City. It had to be hidden somewhere in those ruins, or along the way to them. We decided to leave the following night and begin our journey through the desert. 

***** Day 1 in the desert

     Since we had heard that purple worms can have cool stuff in them, because they swallow people whole, we decided to hunt the while we traveled. Since Nanu can't fly, and is very noisy while running, we used her as bait to draw the worms to us; I took the dagger hilt from her first of course, we couldn't risk her getting swallowed and losing that important item. 

       Drawing the worms to us was fun. Ralliakkan was throwing grenades at the ground to get their attention, and at one point she even summoned a rhino- which got swallowed whole by a worm. When the worm finally surfaced, Ralliakkan landed on it and killed it with a death lance. The second worm was even stranger. Pharin summoned 16 rothe and made them dance, while Ralliakkan cast something that wrapped it in chains. Then, that insane drow dove into its mouth and set off an entire necklace of fireballs, killing it instantly. Ralliakkan is completely insane, and damn is it sexy. 

***** Day 2 in the desert

       When we woke up the next afternoon, we found five Thri-kreen standing outside of our Hut. Pharin attempted some diplomatic ploy that didn't work, though it did make an excellent distraction. While attempting to talk to the bug people, he sensed another worm coming, so he began to make noise to draw it toward us. I gave Nanu my immovable rod and left her in the Hut, while the rest of us got in the air. The poor Thri-kreen were eaten by the worm, and then Pharin reversed gravity, making it airborne. It hung suspended in the air while we killed it, and Pharin skinned it while it was plummeting back to the earth. Right before the worm landed, the Hut spell ended, splattering guts all over Nanu and Pimbin, who had thought they were safe in the Hut.