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
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and Cleric of Moradin, Guardian of the Book of Vile Darkness
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
Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon
Comrades we have lost:
Jayce, killed by Josiah
Jarrid, corrupted by Cult after Jayce's death
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, and the sword hilt
***** Day five in Kester
The morning of the championship battle, Pharin proposed a plan to the group. He wanted everyone to buy items of Fireball and Firestorm, as a way of "fixing" the fight. Dervish, Pimbin, and Andolin were going to go to Dervish's paradise after they took down "The Barbarian," and Pharin would be the official winner. The drow tasked Nanu to find a Bottle of Air, so that she and Aurora could be "summoned" by him- they would be hiding in Nanu's portable hole with his familiar until the time came, Aurora just needed to disguise herself as something Pharin actually would summon- she tasked Skye with finding something to use as a disguise. Aurora was sent to the slave auctions, to buy a halfling, drow, and a human with about two extra arms worth of weight, just in case the contest officials wanted to test the remains of the group to make sure they were indeed the right race. The three men would be dropping ashes at their feet a second before Pharin set off his fire items, to make it appear like he had actually incinerated them.
I went to the slave auctions, and while looking over the "merchandise" I found someone I knew: my childhood best friend, Ilryne. I attempted to send Beauty with the blood drawing dagger from Aerys to get a sample of her blood so I could ask Pharin to help me track her later, but the guards noticed my poor familiar and killed her... the Shayl's dagger dropping to the ground. I had accidentally implicated them in attempting to tamper with slaves. It was an accident, but I doubt the twins will see it that way. I bought the slaves I needed and waited as long as I could for Ilryne to come up for auction, but my kind are considered prime merchandise since we're rarely seen outside of the Vale. A slave of her "quality" would be coming up toward the end, and time was not on my side. I vowed to look for her after the fight was over, my kind can get a general sense of each other through the birthmark we all bear, it would have to do for tracking her.
Everything seemed to be coming together well for the group, upon Aurora's return Pharin and Andolin vaporized the slaves with their fire breath, and they passed out the ashes to the others without explaining where they came from. Nanu found a Bottle of Air, so she and Aurora climbed in the nightmorc's portable hole and settled down to wait. Since the pieces of Vecna and that mysterious hilt refused to go into extradimensional spaces, Pharin took the sword hilt that was in Nanu's possession and Dervish took the Hand from Aurora. Since they didn't want too many pieces in the arena at once, the group took the Arm to the Temple of Nerull, after much insistence from Pimbin that his temple could protect it. Skye kept the Head in her possession, since she didn't want to be in the fight; they decided she would be placing the bets for the group and everyone gave her their wagers. Unfortunately for Aurora and Nanu, the arena had wards on it that forced them out of the portable hole the moment Pharin walked into his ready room; they pair joined Skye and Lan in the stands to watch the fight.
Jarrid was indeed the champion the cult had placed in the fight, but given all of the careful preparation the group had put into this, they felt confident that they could bring the barbarian down easily enough. What they didn't take into account was that Jarrid was smarter than Jayce, and he knew the skills of the party- except for Pimbin. Jarrid's first move was to slam an anti-magic field rod into the ground, dropping all of the group's carefully set up spells, and disconnecting them from the enchantment on Aurora's bagpipes. This fight did not begin well for Andolin, since Jarrid also knocked him out instantly; since Pharin couldn't cast any spells with the field up he went to help revive his brother- potions were unaffected by the field. The brothers both began to roast Jarrid with their fire breath, pretending they were getting it from potions, and Pharin realized he needed to break or bury the rod if he wanted magic back.
Outside the ring, Aurora and Nanu thought they saw something out of the corner of their eyes, but dismissed it until Lan got up and ran. Nanu went taking off after Lan, but he was able to navigate the crowd much easier than her, and she couldn't catch up to him. Frustrated, the nightmorc leapt toward the direction she had seen him go, landing on six people and killing them instantly. Lan found her when the crowd began screaming in terror after seeing six people get pulverized by the huge, black beast. Then the crowd began screaming in a different way, more like a mob-mentality akin to a riot. The nightmorc leapt again to close the distance between herself and the paladin, killing six more people.
I began to realize something was wrong in the arena after Nanu and Lan took off. Pharin had not cast any spells, or summoned any of his stupid rabbits. He was stabbing at the rod that Jarrid had slammed into the ground, which made me think that it was something keeping him from casting spells. I got the bright idea to try to help, by throwing Dispel Magic at the ring. I sent Skye after Nanu, since I knew she had items that could do the same thing, which would give me more times to try. My first two tries were completely unsuccessful, but somehow my last attempt broke a spell... just the wrong one. I accidentally broke the barrier surrounding the battlefield, allowing the huge anti-magic field to wash over the entire arena. The audience saw this as an opportunity and began swarming toward the ring, rioting to get to the fight... Oops.
Pharin was continuing to hammer at the rod, when he realized that the hilt he had gotten from Nanu was not affected by the field. He attempted to activate it, since both cults already knew exactly where we were anyways, but Oryn had never given the group instructions on how to activate it, preventing Pharin from doing so. The drow continued working to bury the rod, with Pimbin's help, while Dervish and Andolin kept Jarrid as distracted as they could. Frustrated that this was taking longer than he would have liked- when it was really only a few seconds, but that drow lacks in patience- Pharin attempted to invoke Jayce/Haasenpfeffer to help him break the rod, but the field was too strong for him to even reach the bunny. Eventually, Pharin buried the rod, bringing magic back; which he celebrated by hitting Jarrid with a vicious attack that appeared to severely damage the barbarian. The group paralyzed Jarrid, and Pimbin finished him off, ending the real fight. With the crowd closing in on the group, because of Aurora's mistake, Pharin gave the command to activate the firestorm items they had, everyone dropped their ashes, and went to Dervish's paradise; Andolin was not happy there, it was too sunny.
Skye caught up to Lan and Nanu just as they were exiting the arena, and the sight they were greeted to was not a pleasant one. The Temple of Nerull was in flames, and the drow priestess, the duergar priest, and a new face, a goliath, coming toward them. The group had managed to get the Arm from the Temple, thanks to Pimbin insisting it would be safe there, and seemed to be coming to get the other pieces from the group. The goliath was not with the drow and duergar though, he tackled the dwarf quickly and began fighting him. When the goliath had taken a few hits from the duergar, Skye thought he was on their side and attempted to heal him; he was a vampire, a member of the other cult, trying to take the Arm for himself. The priestess realized in the chaos that was erupting around them, that Skye had the Head, and promptly banished her. The Head began to tumble toward the ground, and Nanu leapt up to catch it before the cult could.
While Pharin's firestorms were going off, I took a look around the arena and noticed that there were about 100 vampires in the crowd, swarming toward the ring; they knew we had some of the components and pieces in it. When Pharin noticed that there were so many vampires in the crowd, heading straight toward him, he began launching fireballs into the crowd. All of the lore says one of the quickest ways to get rid of vampires is fire, and he was certainly aware of that. The air inside the arena was filled with fireball after fireball, hitting both rioters and vampires alike, and the drow blocked the only exit with a flaming web. A cacophony of screams was coming from the audience, who were now terror-stricken at the realization that they were trapped in a flaming arena, which was beginning to collapse, surrounded by vampires. It was a beautiful chorus that complimented the rain of fire well, and the drow's eyes glowed with madness at the sight of the terrified, trapped crowd.
Nanu caught the Head and landed gracefully, while Lan attacked the priestess to break her concentration on the spell keeping Skye banished. The paladin took a severe beating from the drow, but managed to wrench the ring that maintained her concentration off of her... It erupted in black tentacles that instantly began to surround Lan, and his voice joined the spectators in their chorus of screams. Skye appeared just in time to see Nanu banished by the duergar, claiming the Head for himself. The goliath bludgeoned the dwarf until he dropped the Head, then took off running toward the arena, intent on claiming the pieces in Pharin's possession. Lan began to chant to counter the tendrils entwining around him, and he erupted in holy light, forcing the tendrils away from him.
Pharin "summoned" Dervish, Pimbin, and Andolin back so they could join the chaos that was surrounding the arena. By the time they had emerged from the remains of the arena, all hell had broken loose outside. The fires had spread to other buildings, and the vampires were running amok, terrorizing the crowds of people. Andolin waded in to join the fray, gleefully lopping the heads off of any vampire who dared get close to him. Seeing a drow that happy is quite disturbing, I didn't know they were capable of that kind of joy. The goliath escaped with the Head and Arm, and the clerics of Vecna fled before the group could take advantage of their weakened state. They were able to keep the fire contained to only the part of town surrounding the arena, but their were hundreds of victims of Pharin's flames that night.
The group began heading to the inn, which was a safe distance from the flames, and planned to visit the sultanate in the morning to claim the Talisman of Ultimate Evil as Pharin's prize.
***** Day five in Kester
The morning of the championship battle, Pharin proposed a plan to the group. He wanted everyone to buy items of Fireball and Firestorm, as a way of "fixing" the fight. Dervish, Pimbin, and Andolin were going to go to Dervish's paradise after they took down "The Barbarian," and Pharin would be the official winner. The drow tasked Nanu to find a Bottle of Air, so that she and Aurora could be "summoned" by him- they would be hiding in Nanu's portable hole with his familiar until the time came, Aurora just needed to disguise herself as something Pharin actually would summon- she tasked Skye with finding something to use as a disguise. Aurora was sent to the slave auctions, to buy a halfling, drow, and a human with about two extra arms worth of weight, just in case the contest officials wanted to test the remains of the group to make sure they were indeed the right race. The three men would be dropping ashes at their feet a second before Pharin set off his fire items, to make it appear like he had actually incinerated them.
I went to the slave auctions, and while looking over the "merchandise" I found someone I knew: my childhood best friend, Ilryne. I attempted to send Beauty with the blood drawing dagger from Aerys to get a sample of her blood so I could ask Pharin to help me track her later, but the guards noticed my poor familiar and killed her... the Shayl's dagger dropping to the ground. I had accidentally implicated them in attempting to tamper with slaves. It was an accident, but I doubt the twins will see it that way. I bought the slaves I needed and waited as long as I could for Ilryne to come up for auction, but my kind are considered prime merchandise since we're rarely seen outside of the Vale. A slave of her "quality" would be coming up toward the end, and time was not on my side. I vowed to look for her after the fight was over, my kind can get a general sense of each other through the birthmark we all bear, it would have to do for tracking her.
Everything seemed to be coming together well for the group, upon Aurora's return Pharin and Andolin vaporized the slaves with their fire breath, and they passed out the ashes to the others without explaining where they came from. Nanu found a Bottle of Air, so she and Aurora climbed in the nightmorc's portable hole and settled down to wait. Since the pieces of Vecna and that mysterious hilt refused to go into extradimensional spaces, Pharin took the sword hilt that was in Nanu's possession and Dervish took the Hand from Aurora. Since they didn't want too many pieces in the arena at once, the group took the Arm to the Temple of Nerull, after much insistence from Pimbin that his temple could protect it. Skye kept the Head in her possession, since she didn't want to be in the fight; they decided she would be placing the bets for the group and everyone gave her their wagers. Unfortunately for Aurora and Nanu, the arena had wards on it that forced them out of the portable hole the moment Pharin walked into his ready room; they pair joined Skye and Lan in the stands to watch the fight.
Jarrid was indeed the champion the cult had placed in the fight, but given all of the careful preparation the group had put into this, they felt confident that they could bring the barbarian down easily enough. What they didn't take into account was that Jarrid was smarter than Jayce, and he knew the skills of the party- except for Pimbin. Jarrid's first move was to slam an anti-magic field rod into the ground, dropping all of the group's carefully set up spells, and disconnecting them from the enchantment on Aurora's bagpipes. This fight did not begin well for Andolin, since Jarrid also knocked him out instantly; since Pharin couldn't cast any spells with the field up he went to help revive his brother- potions were unaffected by the field. The brothers both began to roast Jarrid with their fire breath, pretending they were getting it from potions, and Pharin realized he needed to break or bury the rod if he wanted magic back.
Outside the ring, Aurora and Nanu thought they saw something out of the corner of their eyes, but dismissed it until Lan got up and ran. Nanu went taking off after Lan, but he was able to navigate the crowd much easier than her, and she couldn't catch up to him. Frustrated, the nightmorc leapt toward the direction she had seen him go, landing on six people and killing them instantly. Lan found her when the crowd began screaming in terror after seeing six people get pulverized by the huge, black beast. Then the crowd began screaming in a different way, more like a mob-mentality akin to a riot. The nightmorc leapt again to close the distance between herself and the paladin, killing six more people.
I began to realize something was wrong in the arena after Nanu and Lan took off. Pharin had not cast any spells, or summoned any of his stupid rabbits. He was stabbing at the rod that Jarrid had slammed into the ground, which made me think that it was something keeping him from casting spells. I got the bright idea to try to help, by throwing Dispel Magic at the ring. I sent Skye after Nanu, since I knew she had items that could do the same thing, which would give me more times to try. My first two tries were completely unsuccessful, but somehow my last attempt broke a spell... just the wrong one. I accidentally broke the barrier surrounding the battlefield, allowing the huge anti-magic field to wash over the entire arena. The audience saw this as an opportunity and began swarming toward the ring, rioting to get to the fight... Oops.
Pharin was continuing to hammer at the rod, when he realized that the hilt he had gotten from Nanu was not affected by the field. He attempted to activate it, since both cults already knew exactly where we were anyways, but Oryn had never given the group instructions on how to activate it, preventing Pharin from doing so. The drow continued working to bury the rod, with Pimbin's help, while Dervish and Andolin kept Jarrid as distracted as they could. Frustrated that this was taking longer than he would have liked- when it was really only a few seconds, but that drow lacks in patience- Pharin attempted to invoke Jayce/Haasenpfeffer to help him break the rod, but the field was too strong for him to even reach the bunny. Eventually, Pharin buried the rod, bringing magic back; which he celebrated by hitting Jarrid with a vicious attack that appeared to severely damage the barbarian. The group paralyzed Jarrid, and Pimbin finished him off, ending the real fight. With the crowd closing in on the group, because of Aurora's mistake, Pharin gave the command to activate the firestorm items they had, everyone dropped their ashes, and went to Dervish's paradise; Andolin was not happy there, it was too sunny.
Skye caught up to Lan and Nanu just as they were exiting the arena, and the sight they were greeted to was not a pleasant one. The Temple of Nerull was in flames, and the drow priestess, the duergar priest, and a new face, a goliath, coming toward them. The group had managed to get the Arm from the Temple, thanks to Pimbin insisting it would be safe there, and seemed to be coming to get the other pieces from the group. The goliath was not with the drow and duergar though, he tackled the dwarf quickly and began fighting him. When the goliath had taken a few hits from the duergar, Skye thought he was on their side and attempted to heal him; he was a vampire, a member of the other cult, trying to take the Arm for himself. The priestess realized in the chaos that was erupting around them, that Skye had the Head, and promptly banished her. The Head began to tumble toward the ground, and Nanu leapt up to catch it before the cult could.
While Pharin's firestorms were going off, I took a look around the arena and noticed that there were about 100 vampires in the crowd, swarming toward the ring; they knew we had some of the components and pieces in it. When Pharin noticed that there were so many vampires in the crowd, heading straight toward him, he began launching fireballs into the crowd. All of the lore says one of the quickest ways to get rid of vampires is fire, and he was certainly aware of that. The air inside the arena was filled with fireball after fireball, hitting both rioters and vampires alike, and the drow blocked the only exit with a flaming web. A cacophony of screams was coming from the audience, who were now terror-stricken at the realization that they were trapped in a flaming arena, which was beginning to collapse, surrounded by vampires. It was a beautiful chorus that complimented the rain of fire well, and the drow's eyes glowed with madness at the sight of the terrified, trapped crowd.
Nanu caught the Head and landed gracefully, while Lan attacked the priestess to break her concentration on the spell keeping Skye banished. The paladin took a severe beating from the drow, but managed to wrench the ring that maintained her concentration off of her... It erupted in black tentacles that instantly began to surround Lan, and his voice joined the spectators in their chorus of screams. Skye appeared just in time to see Nanu banished by the duergar, claiming the Head for himself. The goliath bludgeoned the dwarf until he dropped the Head, then took off running toward the arena, intent on claiming the pieces in Pharin's possession. Lan began to chant to counter the tendrils entwining around him, and he erupted in holy light, forcing the tendrils away from him.
Pharin "summoned" Dervish, Pimbin, and Andolin back so they could join the chaos that was surrounding the arena. By the time they had emerged from the remains of the arena, all hell had broken loose outside. The fires had spread to other buildings, and the vampires were running amok, terrorizing the crowds of people. Andolin waded in to join the fray, gleefully lopping the heads off of any vampire who dared get close to him. Seeing a drow that happy is quite disturbing, I didn't know they were capable of that kind of joy. The goliath escaped with the Head and Arm, and the clerics of Vecna fled before the group could take advantage of their weakened state. They were able to keep the fire contained to only the part of town surrounding the arena, but their were hundreds of victims of Pharin's flames that night.
The group began heading to the inn, which was a safe distance from the flames, and planned to visit the sultanate in the morning to claim the Talisman of Ultimate Evil as Pharin's prize.
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