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

 Crossing the Desert Part 3:

The Devil'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 and Starlock of Y'Chuk
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and former Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth

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 13 to the Forgotten City- the Sulhaut Mountains

       When we awoke the next evening, we found the fires that had been blazing in the forest to be gone. They weren't even smoking anymore. Dervish realized that he should warn his mercenaries about the zombies, only to find out that they were under attack by bunny shaped fire elementals. Fucking Pharin apparently just released them to do whatever they wanted after summoning them last night. We set off toward sunset again, and Lothar again refused a broom or mount, he just wanted to walk. The problem is that foolish feline is ridiculously slow, so we were once again crawling at a snail's pace. 

       After some time into our travels, we heard music, the sound of the Graybeards, the sonic monks. I've heard about them before, obviously, so I had to meet them. The things they can do with their voices are incredible, and I would love to learn from them. Pharin and Lothar stayed behind while the rest of us went to investigate. We decided to travel longer than normal in an attempt to reach the monks, and we saw some will-o-wisps in the trees below us after it became fully dark. Fortunately we were flying high enough that the little pests didn't mess with us. Of course if they had we would have crushed them instantly, but the loss of time and waste of resources would have been annoying. Maybe we should have attacked them, it could have made an amusing tale... Oh well.

       Pharin and Lothar continued traveling at an agonizingly slow speed. They set up camp for the night and were unmolested both in travel and camp.

***** Day 14 to the Forgotten City- the Sulhaut Mountains

       Eventually we came upon a huge cliff that seemed to go on forever. It sounded like the monks were coming from up there, so we decided to fly up it. Turns out that was a bad idea. There was a thick fog above us that we had to fly into in order to get up this cliff. After we entered the mist, Willow got hit with a sleep spell and passed out. I was able to cast a levitation spell on her quickly enough to prevent her from plummeting to her doom. The mess that her body would have become would have been beyond my abilities to bring back the dead. Right after I caught Willow, Dervish passed out, but thankfully he was on a carpet, so he didn't begin plummeting to his doom. At a loss for what to do, I threw a wall of wind around us in an attempt to cleanse the air. My plan didn't work quickly enough, and within seconds I found myself drifting off to sleep.

       Lothar discovered the next morning that his fur had changed from tabby to gray, and his eyes were suddenly red. Pharin had brought Lothar to Lolth's attention, and she wanted him. 

       While Pharin and Lothar traveled far behind the rest of the party, they noticed there were people hiding in the bushes around them; they were one of the tattooed tribes that inhabits the region. The tribe demanded that Pharin and Lothar leave the area immediately, which of course wasn't going to happen. Lothar responded by terrifying them, using an intimidating presence he had not shown before. Pharin summoned a firewall around them to keep the group at bay; they began firing arrows at Lothar. 

       When the tribe became unable to really hit Pharin and Lothar through the fire wall, they began chanting, and a fog began rolling in... the same fog the rest of the party was dealing with at the cliff. Pharin began throwing a dust of dryness out, in hopes of keeping the air clear. When the dust reached its limit for absorbing the fog, it became a little marble of the stuff; which the enemy proceeded to pick at and throw in Pharin's face, knocking him unconscious. At some point in the fray Lothar also succumbed to the fog and fell into the same deep slumber as his comrades.

***** An unknown amount of time later...

       I awoke in some sort of cave that appeared to be deep underground, and the effects of the fog had left me feeling well rested instead of hungover. All of my belongings were gone, including the communication rings, which Pharin had made invisible. The cell I was in didn't seem to have any doors or windows, it was just a sealed room of dirt and rock. I began trying to think of how in the Nine Hells I was going to escape this chamber, I wasn't sure if my voice would be enough this time. 

       Lothar began praying when he woke up, and he got a response, from Lolth. The Spider Queen had altered Lothar's pebble while he slept, and he was now her priest, a really high ranking one. This was why his fur and eyes had changed color. Lolth gave Lothar a drider to tear the cells open and give him a chance to escape. 

       The wall to Pharin's cell was suddenly ripped open, and the drow found himself facing a huge drider, with Lothar riding it. Lothar commanded the drider to begin ripping open cell after cell, and anyone who wasn't a member of the party was given a simple choice: join Lolth or die. Most were too terrified to even respond, which is a perfectly reasonable reaction to having your prison sliced open and being faced with a drider. Unfortunately for those poor prisoners, none of them were willing to convert to the Spider Queen- the drider gleefully devoured them all in a matter of seconds. 

       Dervish was the next member of the party to be rescued via drider. I was saved next, and it was a horrifying sight to see Lothar atop that huge drider. The fear that rolled through me like a wave was something I have never experienced, and certainly hope never to feel again. Though that fear will make for a fantastic song. The next cell Lothar busted into was Pimbin's. As we continued down the hall, Lothar opened seven more that all contained strangers; only one of them agreed to convert, the rest were eaten. The screams were almost as horrible as the sight of watching the beast tear into their flesh. Finally we found Willow, and the drider, having completed its work, vanished; thank the Gods. 

       Pharin was able to sense that his things were somewhere above us, so we began moving through the tunnels in what we hoped was the right direction. It stood to reason that if dickhead's stuff was above us, the rest of our stuff would be with his. After what felt like forever, Pimbin thought he heard something ahead of us in the tunnel- possibly our jailers. Pharin levitated up the tunnel, and Pimbin ran up a wall. The ceiling exploded out at us, raining rocks and dirt- a group of succubi and incubi flew in. Pharin cast a sleep spell at the winged villains, and their unconscious bodies began raining down on us. We made short work of them, slicing and dicing the seductors until the room was covered in a pool of blood. We continued on our way up.

       After at least another hour of walking the tunnels began to open up more, and we found more jail cells. In them were vampires, which we began pelting with fire from outside of their cells. We continued moving forward as we did so, the vamps were so weak it was almost pitiful how easy they were to kill. The prisoners became shades as we moved higher up, and we began killing them too. Lothar decided to speed things up by opening up the cell doors; he touched a torch and every door vanished, almost as if they were never there to begin with. 

       As we continued on we saw more vampires and shades, ghosts, wights, mummies, lycanthropes of multiple varieties, minor devils, demons, aberrations, monstrosities, fey, and woodland creatures. It was like we had entered a museum of evil, and every prisoner was frozen in place. Willow decided to enter the cell of one of the fey and vanished instantly. Pharin decided it would be safer to shut the cell doors again, though I think he was just locking Willow in the cell if she was still there, just invisible. We found Willow in another cell, but she was masked by an illusion to hide her true identity. After unsuccessfully waking her from the deep slumber we found her in, Lothar resulted to use blood magic to free the rogue.

       Willow suddenly found herself back in the feywild, surrounded by beauty. The vibrant colors and familiar sounds were soothing to the eladrin, and she felt like she was home again. Then suddenly Lothar appeared in her private paradise, sporting two extra legs- giving him eight limbs total. Willow was ripped from her fictitious feywild by the sovanni, and brought back to the real world. 

       Once Willow was freed we continued our journey up, but this time we stayed clear of the cells, lest another one of us fall prey to it. After a time I heard rattling, like really big bones moving, and I sent Willow ahead of us to scout. She discovered a minotaur skeleton was ambling towards us. Predictably, upon spying us it charged- and Pharin hit it with a levitation spell launching it into the air. Once the beast was airborne the rest of us wailed on it and it was destroyed quickly. 

       We continued on for what seemed like hours, which it may very well have been. Eventually we found an exit to the tunnel we had been climbing, and found two Death Tyrants standing guard outside of the mountain. It appeared we hadn't left the Sulhaut Mountains, we were just trapped in one of the largest ones in the range. Pharin summoned four fiendish cave eels to tunnel the rest of the way up to where our stuff was located. He had planned on going up the mountain a little bit and then tunneling straight in, but the sentry tyrants made the drow alter that plan; at least the jackass is smart enough to avoid those fuckers when we're all in nothing but our small clothes. Unfortunately one of the tyrants realized what we were doing and came after us; we just barely escaped it, by narrowing the tunnel the eels made to where it couldn't get in. 

       We burst forth through the floor of a huge banquet hall, literally crashing what appeared to be a very upscale party. A lot of nobles and about one hundred guards were splattered with food, because of course we busted in through one of the tables. I attempted a dance to charm them, but it didn't work at all. While I was doing that, dickhead grabbed Lothar and tried to dimension door them over to a throne, upon which a duergar was perched. It turned out that we had just crashed Asmodeus' party... of course the daft drow was putting us in even more trouble, that seems to be a specialty of his.

       Asmodeus of course knew who we were, because who hasn't heard of me, and proposed a deal. He offered to hide the Hand for us, keeping it safely out of either cults reach, as long as we returned to him after finding the Sword of Kas, and destroyed the pieces. The God said he would give us his hospitality for the evening, and in the morning he would put us on the other side of the Sulhaut Mountains, at the border of the Sea of Dust. He also told us he would find out which devils were after Pharin and myself, which was quite generous even if it did mean I may not get a cool golden instrument for killing the devil. After the deal had been struck, we discovered that every guest at this party was a god. Literally every god in the realms was there, the party was for them to discuss the Vecna business. When all of the gods come together about something, you know it's bad. 

       Asmodeus let me use a really pretty and amazingly tuned golden violin for the night! I wish I could have kept it, and it renewed my desire to obtain one of these for myself. We all spent the evening mingling with deities, and we all hooked up with a different god. I don't remember, or care, which gods the others boned, but I got to bone Hathor. Since she's a goddess of hearth and home, in addition to music, it was interesting... and now I have awesome bragging rights.

***** Day 15 to the Forgotten City- the Sea of Dust

       The next morning we awoke to find ourselves in a very roomy tent and the bottom of the mountains. Since it's so obscenely hot in the desert, we decided to stick with our normal schedule, and stayed in the tent for the day. When night came and we left the tent, the moment we were all out of the tent, it vanished into thin air. 

       Lothar again refused any assistance traveling, but since Lolth had given him two more legs, which were almost invisible, he was actually able to move as fast as the rest of us for once. I think he may be a Favored of Lolth, which is probably not a good thing considering how devious the Spider is. 

       We discovered the remnants of a road in the sand, a reminder that the Sea of Dust wasn't always an uninhabitable wasteland. 

       Nothing really interesting happened though. I hate the stupid desert so much.

***** Day 16- the Sea of Dust

       Out of sheer boredom, Lothar used one of his magic beans that day, and a bulette appeared. Of course we made quick work of the stupid thing. Nothing else happened. The desert is so fucking boring. 

***** Day 17- the Sea of Dust

       Something actually happened! It was such a great relief from the tedium of traveling in this barren desert!

       Off in the distance we spotted a giant statue, that looked like it was possibly a humanoid of some kind, but there didn't seem to be any definitive features to it. As we drew closer, proceeding with caution, we realized it was a huge iron golem; which of course I knew that they were once guardians of the ancient roads of a people now long dead. It was surprising to see one still intact, I had thought they would have been destroyed by the same thing that destroyed this part of Flanaess. We didn't think something that had been sitting out here for so long was still even partially functional, but we were wrong. 

       Pharin approached the golem and felt a hum coming off of it. When Dervish approached, following Pharin, the golem's eyes turned red; the ancient guardian was still compelled to protect what was long dead. The golem turned and attacked Pharin, which was awesome. The jackass hadn't expected it at all. Lothar joined the fray and beheaded it, but it isn't a living creature, so it was able to keep fighting. It hurled Lothar into the sand, and somehow cut its own arm off in the process. Lothar flung a vial into the golem, a vial of sovereign glue, which gummed up its parts and shut the stupid golem down. When Dervish realized it was made of star metal, we spent a good portion of that day slicing the golem up into ingots.

Aurora's Tales: The History of the Valley Elves

       Thousands of years ago, my people entered the Vale and made it our home. We were accepted by the Seldarine as elves, and lived in peace for many centuries. Then the Elfwars began, and everyone turned on the drow, except for the Vale. My people chose not to participate in this war, for not all drow were guilty of the crimes they were accused of. We saw them as our kin still, and we refused to turn on them, which made all other elves, including the drow, turn their backs to us. If that was not bad enough, the Seldarine even turned their backs to us, wanting nothing to do with the only race of elves who refused to fight.

       Our druids sealed the entrance to the Vale, by making the Dim Forest grow to cover the only safe entrance to the valley. Since we were now hated almost as much as the drow, our king decided it would be best to awaken the forest, to help keep unwanted people from wandering in. The forest had always been home to ferocious magical, and non-magical, beasts and awakening them made the Dim Forest one of the most feared places in the south. The Pandarans still reigned over the Barrier Peaks at that time, so they king felt that the mountain range surrounding us was well protected.

       The myths, for that is all that's left, say that the king bound our people as a whole to some manifestation of Chaos, and that is why the other elves and their gods turned their backs to us. The Vale was once called the Valley of Chaos, due to this manifestation of chaos, and it is still a very chaotic place to be. Some say that there is a foreboding presence in the Vale, brought forth by negative energy that dwells there, though I know no one alive today has ever recorded feeling such a presence. Portals and gateways randomly open throughout the Vale, leading to strange worlds and bringing the strange beasts that roam our lands with them. Every Child of the Vale is born with a birthmark, said to symbolize the king's pledge; this mark allows us to travel throughout the Vale unmolested by the beasts, communicate over long distances, and kill us- though we think the first Mage caused the latter. The mark is only supposed to kill us if we're captured and cannot escape in an undetermined amount of time; we believe the first Mage laid this curse on us when he was forcing us to raid neighboring countries. 

       It is a faint rumor that Vecna comes from the Vale, and that he is the entity of Chaos we're bound to- that's just silly though. The King would never have bound us to the lichgod. 

       For a time my people lived in peace and solitude. Eventually gnomes tunneled in through the Peaks, and desired to join our isolated land. The king allowed them, because the gnomes would bring us trade, and they were excellent miners. Humans trickled in over the years with the gnomes, and they joined our society as well. We took in many during the Great Migration who could not find homes elsewhere.

       After a few centuries of my people living in solitude, the king decided that enough was enough, He thought that we had isolated ourselves too much, and it was time to rejoin the world. So our beloved king packed himself and his court, and headed out of the Valley. We know that he spent a couple of months in the Duchy of Geoff, our closest neighbors who we have always had a good trading relationship with, and he was last seen entering the mountains with the promise that he would return when he found a way for us to get back into the Seldarine's favor. There is a prophecy that he will return to us when he has found a way for us to go "home," though no one has ever been entirely sure of the meaning of that. Though after being banished by the drow cunt of Vecna, I believe I have found the home he referred to, but I don't know how to get back there without being banished. No one ever saw or heard from him or anyone of in his court again. I've always wondered what happened to our king, and hope to learn of his fate before I return home.

       It is said that the king bestowed upon the Grand Duke of Geoff an oak chest that contained sacred artifacts, and scrolls dating back to the beginning of my people. The Duke swore an oath to our king, one that included his entire line of descendants, that stated he would protect the sacred relics and history of the Vale until the One True King returned to his people. I did attempt to find it when I went to Geoff, but the ninth daughter of a clan chief doesn't hold as much weight outside of my valley; I was never granted audience with the Duke. I suspect everything has been destroyed by now though, this was almost three hundred years ago. 

       Life in the Vale continued on until about a month after the king vanished into the mountains. He had taken his court with him, a court that consisted of the powerful wizards and druids who managed the Vale's defenses. Suddenly we were left unprotected. The spells they used to shield us were beginning to dwindle, because they required upkeep and no one was left to keep them going. My people spiraled into anarchy and Chaos, which is likely the true reason for the Vale's old name. Suddenly the fearsome beasts who had always protected us, began attacking at random. But no one could leave. Anyone who tried to leave was found dead and bloodied, or never seen again. Rumors began to circulate that we could not live outside of the Vale, because of the oath the king of old had made to Chaos. From what I understand, this is still believed both in and out of the Vale; we don't leave it much, most of my people see little point in doing so- most other races despise us, so living outside our valley can be taxing.

       When we thought all hope was lost, Jaran Krimeeah entered our valley. Krimeeah was a wizard from the Great Kingdom, who had been exiled and came to the Vale seeking a new home. The talents that exiled him from his old home, made him accepted and beloved in his new home. Krimeeah had done much experimenting in planar control and summoning; he was able to take control of the beasts roaming the Vale, and stop them from randomly attacking us. He saved us all, and was rewarded by being made the ruler of the Vale; which was renamed the Valley of the Mage in his honor. The titles "The Exalted One," "The Black One," and "The Mage" were bestowed upon him. These titles are still used by our rulers today.

       Krimeeah brought with him a female drow, who became his Enforcer- no one has ever learned her name. She ran all military defenses, both magical and mundane. Everything went well for a while, and life seemed to return to normal. While music remained the main tool for teaching, Krimeeah gave us little time to play for enjoyment; this is when being a bard started to become undesirable- only those who had lived a long life were permitted into the college.

       Though unbeknownst to the Mage, many of my people wanted our king back, and began seeking information on their rare treks to the outside world. Those who remembered the king found the Black One to be tyrannical, and wanted to be free of his grasp. He would frequently unleash his monsters on those who he felt defied him; so the movement to displace him fell deep underground. Such things were spoken of in hushed tones, for the Mage had eyes everywhere. My people were forced to participate in raids on Geoff and the small villages that lined the Dim Forest. Though we never took gold, slaves, or other treasures- we took basic necessities of living, like grain and cloth. Resources had become scarce during our time of Chaos, and that was the only was the Mage would let us rebuild.

       The Mage was paranoid, and made my people build the Black Keep for him to live in. It is said that the true reason he demanded a new dwelling was because he did not want my people to be reminded of our missing king when seeking an audience with our new ruler. Once it was complete, he set up vicious magical traps in and around the entire Citadel to ensnare anyone who attempted to sneak in. Krimeeah feared the prophecy that our king would return, knowing he would be unseated as ruler. Some say he spent much time studying how he could use the prophecy to his advantage, but nothing seemed to have come from it.

       When mobs of giants began ransacking the other nations in our area, a delegation was sent to beseech the Black One. Someone in the group recognized the Black One, not as Jaran Krimeeah, but as Nyeru of Bissel; another exiled mage, this one had been exiled for necromancy. No one knows what happened to Krimeeah, we know only that one day Nyeru was the new Mage; though he continued to claim he was Krimeeah, the Enforcer backed up his claim so no one ever questioned it. Some believe that Krimeeah handed his throne over to Nyeru and took up plane walking, so that he could better hide from the enemies he had made.

       It is rumored that the Mage has hidden many artifacts in the Citadel and the Keep. At one point it was said that my people guarded the Sword of Kas, or one of the pieces of Vecna- though the legends surrounding that have always been vague. Some say Mordenkainen from the Circle of Eight visited our valley, searching for an artifact the Mage was rumored to own; it was called the Scepter of Shadows.

       The Sundering gravely injured the Vale, and no one knows what happened to the Mage or the Enforcer, but they vanished during the Chaos that began roaming free again- just like when our king left us. It is said that my people renewed our oath to the entity of Chaos that holds our home. The Archmage of the wizard tower took up the throne of the Mage, for the first time in centuries one of our own people leads us; though it is rumored that he only rules because Chaos lets him do so. He is thought to be more the representative of Chaos than the actual ruler. After the Sundering most of our artifacts disappeared, and have not yet resurfaced. I believe that many of the missing pieces of our history are locked in the Citadel- no one has been able to enter it and survive since the Black One moved into the Keep. We don't know if Geoff still holds the sacred chest, since the Sundering could have destroyed everything it contained; no one has ever been granted audience by the Duke either, so we cannot even confirm this part of the legend. We still hope our True King will return to us, with the sacred chest, free our bonds, and lead us home.

Map by Anna B. Meyer

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

 Crossing the Desert Part 2: 

The Sulhaut Mountains

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 and Starlock of Y'Chuk
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.

***** Time Bubble, 60 days

       We spend two months in that time bubble, during which Pharin constructed the most bizarre flesh golem I've ever seen. It is mostly composed of a drider, but it has Skye's arm, the one that dragon bit off. It is a bit off putting, fortunately Pharin hasn't had it out running about yet, since it needs armor before he can release it to play. Dervish, Pimbin, and I spent the bulk of our time reading; once I finished tearing through my books I made a bracelet that lets me make my instruments play themselves, and an amulet that gives me a 10 piece orchestra accompaniment whenever I want. Willow worked on making illusion arrows, though she definitely needs help in that department; she shows promise, but is no artificer yet.

       While in the time bubble Pimbin told me of a nightmare he had, where he faced something that called itself the Destroyer. Based on what he told me, I figured out it was one of the Old Gods, the forgotten ones, who used to make warlock pacts. Somehow Pimbin had drawn the Destroyer's attention, and had been ensnared in a pact; the monk was now a Starlock. 

       Since Oryn is extremely old, I decided to take the opportunity to ask him if he had the answer to the riddle I've been trying to solve: what happened to the One True King of the Vale after he vanished into the mountains? Oryn sighed sadly and told me that his soul had been claimed by Vecna. The box filled with artifacts from my people was being guarded by Vecna's cult. Somehow they had been able to claim the most important pieces of the Vale's history, and the only man who could unlock it. I have to free my King's soul and reclaim that treasure; it belongs to the Vale, not these horrible cultists. 

       It was nice to have time to get things done, but I was very happy to leave that bubble. Being productive is nice, but there's no action to it, it gives no ground for new stories. My stories require action, without it I'm bored; I couldn't even summon another giant in this place. BORING.

       When we finally emerged from that boring plane, we found Ralliakkan waiting for us in the dragon's lair. She pointed out that now that we had someone who could pick locks, we didn't need her anymore; we agreed and she left. After much deliberation, it was decided that Lothar would join us; Dervish insisted because he wanted to learn how to smith mithrilmantine from him. What the dumbass didn't know was that Lothar had lost his clerical power because of the Book of Vile Darkness, and without his clerical powers, he didn't know how to make it. Oh the irony. 

***** Days 4 and 5 in the Desert

       After Ralliakkan departed, we continued our trek south. Nothing happened for the next two days, not even purple worms. It was almost as fucking boring as the time bubble thingy. Lothar hadn't shown up yet.

***** Day 6 in the Desert

       We decided to try to get some worms again, Pharin even summoned an earth elemental to make some rumbles to draw attention. Apparently this isn't the right season for the worms. Another boring, taleless day passed. We really need some fucking action.

***** Days 7-9 in the Desert

       Nothing happened. Nothing at all. I hate this stupid desert so much. Why couldn't the stupid sword be somewhere more fun than this? 

***** Day 10 in the Desert

       We finally made it to the stupid foothills of the stupid mountain range we had to go over to get to the Sea of Dust. Still nothing interesting happened. Lothar still hadn't joined us yet. Pharin attempted to summon Lothar, but the dick wouldn't come. Apparently Lothar decided to walk his happy ass down the stupid desert to meet us, as part of his stupid atonement to try to get stupid Moradin to take him back. I used my crystal ball to scry Lothar's location, and saw he was in a tomb surrounded by mummies. He was kicking serious ass, but waiting for him was so boring. We contacted Oryn, to see if he would get us to Lothar, but he denied our request; he approved of Lothar's stupid atonement plan.

       Pharin was almost as bored as I was, so he decided to summon Andolin so we could get moving. Even stupid Andolin wouldn't come. He told Pharin to wait two days.

***** Day 11 in the Desert

       I scryed the location I last saw Lothar in, there was nothing but bandages and blood. A lot of blood. The carnage was horrifying, there were half unwrapped mummies everywhere, limbs and bandages were wantonly strewn about this dust filled tomb. I didn't see the damn cat anywhere, of any pieces of him, so I decided to scry for him next, attempting to see through his eyes- which he let me do. He appeared in front of me the moment my scrying was finished, and I found myself looking through his eyes at myself. It was much stranger than looking in a mirror, especially since he doesn't see the full color spectrum I do.

       After discovering that Lothar's powers had been revoked by Moradin, Dervish got the brilliant idea to summon him. I would have objected if I hadn't spent so many days starved for action; at the very least I would get a decent story out of this, especially if he killed Dervish for having the audacity to summon him. That would have been hilarious. Moradin's avatar was channeled through Lothar; he suddenly became the vessel for the God who had so recently rejected him. Dervish told Moradin we should help pay Lothar's penance, since he only fell because he was helping our little band. Moradin responded by completely encasing us in rock, it was terrifying; I thought he would kill us for having summoned him. Pharin and Pimbin ran off before the rock completely sealed us in, and they got chased by rocs... too bad one of them didn't get eaten, that would have been great.

       It took much convincing, but eventually we- mostly Dervish- convinced Moradin to let us help Lothar repent. The douchebag took a tiny pebble, infused it with magic, and threw it into the damn mountain. We were instructed to find the stupid thing, and bring it to his temple (though he never said which temple) and Lothar's penance would be paid. Finding a pebble in a mountain is a ridiculous task, but no one ever said Moradin was a nice God. Poor Lothar collapsed once Moradin left his body, he was exhausted from playing host to his deity. He wouldn't let me work healing magic on him, the idiot wanted to suffer.

       Since this crap with Moradin took so much of our day, we decided to spend another night at the base of the Sulhaut Mountains, and begin our search for that stupid rock in the morning, or evening. Traveling all night and sleeping all day is completely throwing off my phrases, but no matter; I know what I mean, and so should everyone else. If this confuses someone, obviously they aren't as fantastic as I am.

       Pharin decided to send out an earth elemental to scout the woods near us, to make sure there wasn't anything lurking nearby. Dervish and Willow also went off scouting, and I sent Eurydice with Willow so I could be alerted if she ran into trouble; Pharin hadn't given her a communication ring yet. Willow thought something was following her, but when we looked harder we didn't see anything out of place.

***** Day 12 to the Forgotten City: the Sulhaut Mountains

       We began our climb up the Sulhaut Mountains, looking for that stupid pebble. Lothar was still completely exhausted, and refused a broom to make travel easier. That stupid cat insists on suffering; we don't need a damned martyr following us around, that's boring. Of course if he becomes a famous martyr I could become rich selling his story, but considering how boring he is, I doubt that will happen. The others scouted ahead while I stayed back, flying at a snail's pace above the fucking feline.

       The others told me that they were seeing shadows in the woods, and hearing weird rattling and shuffling noises. Upon investigation, they discovered there was a shitload of zombies and skeletons coming right for us. FINALLY  SOMETHING INTERESTING WAS HAPPENING!!!! Nothing like a hoard of undead to liven up the party, pun intended. At about the time Dervish was reporting this to us I saw a Death Knight coming right for Lothar and myself, along with two shades.

       The dumb cat ran straight for the Knight and began bludgeoning him with his four hammers (one for each hand), and he was able to muster up some radiant energy to smack it with; though that could have been something one of his hammers just does, I don't know, I've never paid much attention. He lopped its head off with the Vorpal Blade he won from the dragon's lair, but the thing just wouldn't go down. It actually seemed to have better accuracy without its head on, since it began actually hurting Lothar.

       I had two shades on me, but I was able to stupefy them with my voice and was able to take them out in a matter of seconds. After killing(?) the shades with song, I turned to help Lothar with the Death Knight, just in time to see a column of brilliant white light erupt from one of his hammers. When the light vanished, the Knight was gone; Lothar collapsed, so I had to run to his aid, healing him.

       While the bard and her charge were dealing with their own enemies, Pharin was having the time of his life setting the forest on fire. First he summoned a fire elemental to start burning down the trees, or undead depending on how you look at it, then he began launching fireballs into the woods. It was a good thing Skye had left the group, or there would have been an interesting confrontation after this battle ended. 

       Dervish and Pimbin set up their own strange attack system to deal with the hordes. Dervish held Pimbin by his feet and began whirling him around, while holding weapons in his other two hands. It only worked for a few seconds though, then Pimbin began getting pummeled by the undead; Dervish was completely unphased by this, or just didn't care, and he continued whirling around.

       Lothar was bleeding badly, and I couldn't get the wounds to close. I was frantically casting healing spells trying to stay ahead of the bleeding so he wouldn't bleed out. In the middle of my healing, I heard something in the brush, and was suddenly overwhelmed by terror; in the same instant Lothar awoke, just in time to see a lich emerge from the brush. Of course the stupid cat leapt at the lich, never mind that he was just bleeding to death a few seconds ago. I announced the lich's presence over the rings, and the others began coming toward my location. I decided to blow my Horn of Valhalla, and summoned fifteen berserkers who proceeded to surround the lich and begin stabbing the hell out of it. Pimbin dealt the killing blow, and Pharin attempted to trap its soul in a circle, so it couldn't get back to its phylactery; of course the daft drow failed.

       Willow noticed a shadow, and since the lich was taken care of, she decided to go after it. She came upon a floating sphere, that to her terror ended up being a zombie beholder. She instantly pulled a star from her robe and hurled it at the beast, then turned invisible to hide from it... unsuccessfully. Willow then pulled out her Staff of Thunder and Lightning, and its bellow alerted the group that she may be in trouble. The group rushed to Willow's aid, and somehow Pimbin appeared just in time to deal the killing blow... again.

       Right before Pharin went off the help Willow with the undead beholder, he decided to summon a group of three fire elementals in the form of bunnies. He instructed them to have fun, and they began to contribute to the blaze that was becoming this area of the mountains. 

       While the others ran off to help Willow, Lothar took off towards yet another new arrival- a Pit Fiend. I went after him with my berserkers, but before either of us could reach it to attack, Pharin showed up. The wizard turned the devil into a snail, and dropped it into his Bag of Devouring. It turns out that Lothar had not been running this way because of the fiend, but because he sensed the pebble... which was in the fiend's hand when Pharin polymorphed it. The pebble, Lothar's chance at redemption, was devoured along with the fiend. Pharin attempted to summon the pebble to no avail.

       Now there was a furious feline hot on Pharin's tail. Pharin decided to fly off, so I gave Lothar my broom; I wanted to see the stupid drow get his comeuppance. Unfortunately my broom is a little slower than Pharin's carpet, so Lothar couldn't catch him, but he did throw his hammer up toward the carpet, hitting Pharin right in the ass.

       What Lothar didn't know was that Pharin had cajoled Ralliakkan into wishing for Lothar's pebble, though she wanted to hang on to it for a while. She likely found Lothar attacking Pharin as amusing as the rest of the party. Pharin offered to buy the pebble from her, but Ralliakkan isn't cheap. She would only give him the pebble for five hundred acres of land that she could grow poppies on. After much deliberation with Andolin, Pharin was able to acquire the land and pay the rogue her fee.

       Before going to bed I sent Skye a note telling her what Pharin had done to the mountains. I figured she would want to repair the damage cause by the drow, which of course she did. We also discussed ending Pharin, a task that really needed to happen; she told me when the time came to finish him, she would be at my side. 

***** Day 13 to the Forgotten City- the Sulhaut Mountains

       The next morning Lothar awoke to find his pebble in a calcified spider web; of course Pharin had brought Lolth into this.

The region the party traveled in during this chapter

The Wondrous Life of a Treasure Hunter

                My parents were thrilled when they learned they were to have quadruplets, we fey usually have large families, thus having more children at once is considered a blessing of Titania.  My parents were even more ecstatic to discover each of the four showed promise in magic as wizards or sorcerers as that too, is a great honor.  I, however, am not one of them.  Born 316 years ago, just ten years after my siblings, which, in our world is unheard of as we are nearly immortal, living hundreds of thousands of years so most have children many years apart, as my family had done with my other six siblings.  Yet another reason I am far from the favorite…   

                But it would appear I have gotten ahead of myself, I am Willow Liadon, an Eladrin Elf.  Eladrin elves are literally faerie elves, we have the wondrous faerie magic and the height of an elf.  The best of both worlds if you ask me. 

       My kind live in the Feywild, a vast place many would describe as paradise as it is a mirror image of the material plane but turns its features into spectacular forms.  Vibrant colors, dancing lights, a place of music and wonder, and a world covered in a never-ending twilight, with fireflies and faerie lights moving with the breeze as it passes through rolling meadows and vast groves.  Just as the material plane has places of darkness, the wilds may also be a dangerous place filled with death and despair, as the unseelie fey are hidden among the shadows, ready to stalk their prey. 

                In the middle of a bewitching meadow stands a gargantuan tree, hollowed out to form a city within known as Paarthaera, which is where I am from.   I was always a bit of an outcast, when my siblings were practicing their fireballs and teleportation, I would practice illusionary magic.  While illusions are common among the wilds, my parents seemed only to care for the “more magically gifted,” as they would say, so I was often left to my own devices. 

        At first, I began sneaking around and picking locks to steal small trinkets from my parents and plant it in the jewelry boxes of my other relatives in the hopes they would then be in trouble and I may gain some of their gaze for a time.  Eventually, I also added illusions to the tricks I would pull on my family, making it so an heirloom ring would appear just as a simple thimble so the fury could build in my parents before finally revealing the truth and casting my siblings into greater turmoil.  Nothing gave me greater pleasure than bringing them off their pedestals.  It did not take long for Squelaiche, the Leprechaun Trickster God of Illusions to take notice of me, and guide me on the path of an arcane trickster. 

       Shortly after gaining the attention of my god, I met Tamani, a pixie just a couple years younger than me with a great taste for trickery; he and I became fast friends.  After just a few short months, it was as though Tamani and I had known each other our whole lives.  Doing everything together from laying on a hammock out by a creek, to tormenting our families.  He was my best mate and partner in crime. 

       When I was 240 or so, Squelaiche sent Tam and I on a quest to regain gold, stolen from his personal pot of gold, thus showing us how to sense portals between the Feywilds and Oerth, as well as transfer between the worlds when we pleased.  Our first time in Oerth, we came through a portal near the Grandwood Forest, in a city known as Rel Astra.  As Tam and I had never met non-fey creatures before, communication was rather difficult at first, and on our first mission, we spent fifteen years learning to speak and interact as the humans do.  During those years we joined a crime ring.  We even became known as The Dark Wolf, as they never noticed the pixie in my cloak thus, thinking that we were just one person when I let them see me.

 

       After finding the missing gold, plus a bit more, and returning it to Squelaiche, Tamani and I returned to Rel Astra.  We had grown to like our life of crime, as on Oerth humans reacted much more negatively than fey do to tricks and illusions, making it vastly more amusing to steal from them.  Eventually we tired of messing with humans and instead decided to pursue treasure hunting. 

       As a rule we split everything 50/50 and did not let anyone partake in our adventures, we were a duet, nothing more.  On one particular trip, a slippery little human man, Bert, refused to give us any details of a legendary robe even through torture, forcing us to allow him to join us.  Later we found the robe and, surprise surprise, Bert turned on us, trying to kill us.  The fight started out standard, Tam and I kicking some ass side by side… until it wasn’t so standard any longer.  In a twisted turn of events Bert managed to rip off one of Tam’s wings, he lost control, and I was unable to catch him as he fell to the ground face first, breaking his neck and forever ending his life.  I, too distraught to keep fighting, lost the robe. 

       Finally able to regain my composure an hour or so later, I began to search my surroundings and found only a crumpled piece of paper in Tam’s pocket with three words on it, “Sword of Kas.” I knew what he needed me to do then, find that sword for him, as it was to be our next mission, and promised him I'd to never allow anyone I love to die because of my inability to get to them in time again. I returned to the wilds with his body to prepare a funeral service and plot revenge on Bert.  Two years later, I returned to Oerth with a plan; after six more months, my revenge was complete.  I had killed Bert’s wife and framed him for it, so he may live out the rest of his miserable life rotting in prison.  Not long after the imprisonment, I set out to find out as much as possible about the sword, thus leading me to Oryn Talus and joining forces with the Bane of Vecna.  

Willow Liadon

Tamani

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.