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