CHRONICLE VAULT 20080907, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Date Unknown, Year Unknown
The Kings of the Road, having dealt with the orc pirates and their captain, stood upon the rocky, wind-battered shoreline of Tilagos Island staring into the ruin-dotted interior. With Argo in the lead they set out, not knowing what was in store for them on the path ahead of them but knowing that they had to walk it.
Traversing the blasted interior of the island took several hours but with the skilled halfling ranger in the lead the band of heroes eventually reached what appeared to be the center. There they found an obsidian disc set into the ground, sheltered by a half-shell of broken ruins. Three stylized eyes were set into the disc as well, and Duke could make out faded runes in an ancient dialect of druid. He read them as "return my blood to me and pass through the eye of the storm."
After a bit of debate they decided to pour some of the blood they had from Christine Deasseana into each of the eye sockets in the obsidian disc. Duke carefully distributed the blood into the holes and the heroes watched as something amazing happened. The disc on the ground began to rotate slowly, picking up speed, and as it did the whipping wind around them began to form into a funnel cloud above the round piece of obsidian. The wind picked up speed and with it the tornado became stronger, and after only a moment everyone could see that the center of the whirlwind held a strange vision. Through that vision they saw a lush landscape full of life and vibrant with color - and then they realized that they were looking at Tilagos Island but from a different time.
Duke pondered this new development, considering all options. In the meantime, the rest of his companions leapt headfirst into the portal. When the dwarf turned around he found his party gone and the portal dissipating. Shrugging to himself he stepped through and joined his friends on the other side.
The trip through the portal was jarring, but after a few moments everyone caught their bearings. They were standing in the middle of Tilagos Island and the winds no longer whipped about them, replaced by a gentle breeze and the sounds of insects and birds in the distance. To the south and east was a forest, shrouded in heavy moss and possessing a dark quality to it. To the north and west a foreboding mountain range rose, jagged peaks reaching towards the sky. The air around them felt stale and they felt more than knew that they were no longer on the Prime Material Plane.
After a few minutes of gauging their surroundings Kong noticed movement amongst a few of the nearby lonesome trees. They had only a moment before strange beings emerged from the trees themselves. There were four of them, man-sized, and they carried about them a strong feeling of the elements. Each carried four flapping standards strapped to their back, each representing one of the four basic elements. Their feet barely breezed over the waving grass as they approached.
The lead being identified himself as Tylanthros and welcomed them to Last Resort. Fin explained that they were seeking the secret of the dracolich Dragotha's phylactery, and Tylanthros replied that they were seeking the Fountain of Dreams. In order to gain access to the fountain the companions had to prove themselves to these aging watchers by passing the Trials of Tilagos. Each of the watchers identified one of the trials.
Tylanthros identified the first trial as the Claiming of Krathanos' Golden Belt. Beskawahn stated the second trail was the Silence of the Doomshroud's Mournful Song. Thadimar relayed the third trial as the Death of the Thorn Vale Nightmare. And Sayren-Lei spoke of the Harvest of the Living Feather of the Roc King.
The four watchers then disappeared into the trees from whence they came, leaving the heroes to puzzle over their fate. Drake was especially confused - Tylanthros had indicated that they were the "heroes of old returned" but he certainly made no claim to being a hero. After a bit of discussion they decided to look around, and Argo identified four sets of tracks leading away to the mountains. Three of the tracks were clearly humanoid, while the fourth were bipedal but much larger - and they scorched the earth. With little else to go on they decided to follow the tracks.
Many hours passed as they entered the jagged mountain range, leading inevitably towards the tallest peak of the mountains. Luckily the companions were skilled climbers, especially Kong who grew up in the Griff Mountains. A few falls and scrapes were endured but nothing serious, and eventually they scaled the tallest peak (which they later learned was Bloodfeather Peak). The wind and the cold whipping about them they reached the large crest - and found the dead body of a massive roc.
They puzzled over this discovery. They looked around and could see no other rocs, so they deduced that this creature was the Roc King. But who killed it? Fin pointed out that the trial was to harvest the LIVING feather of the Roc King, and without means of resurrecting the magnificent beast they were left with stealing the feather from whomever killed the creature. But where to go from there?
The companions decided to rest in a nearby outcropping and consider their options. As they rested they realized that the sun, if there was such a thing hidden by a perpetually overcast sky, never set. It never got dark in Last Resort.
After resting they decided that Drake would use one of the gifts from the Deck of Many Things to "solve a dilemma." The large fighter squeezed his eyes shut and asked where Krathanos' belt was. He got the distinct impression that it was somewhere on the southeastern coast of Tilagos Island, and so Duke gathered everyone about and cast his teleport spell to take them to the shore. The teleport was a bit jarring, but the heroes found themselves standing on the shore of the island.
A short distance away they spotted a crumbling keep, worn with age and apparent conflict. Before they could react they were surrounding by four huge gargoyles, who welcomed them to the realm of "Krathanos the Conquerer, exiled by the gods for his designs to rule all of creation, and shackled by the treacherous druids of Tilagos until such time as brave stalwarts arrive to free him." It was where they wanted to be anyway so they let the gargoyles lead the way to the keep. As they walked Duke remembered hearing something about a being named Krathanos - a titan whose murderous reign ended abruptly fifteen centuries ago.
There they were brought into the broken ruins and presented to the titan Krathanos. The titan was clearly insane but he wore a massive golden belt studded with emeralds. The belt, he said, was more precious to him than anything. But he was willing to trade the belt for one of the heroes. This sparked a lively discussion over who would sacrifice themselves and what exactly Krathanos wanted with one of them, but the titan eventually seemed to snap and raise his hammer in anger. Suddenly he called down a meteor swarm against the heroes, wounding everyone.
As Kong charged the titan to engage in melee, it became apparent that after the meteor swarm the companions were in a world of hurt. Everyone was teetering on the brink of death, and with no other options Drake decided to use another gift from the Deck of Many Things - he wished that he and his companions were restored to full health. The whims of fate decided to let this pass and suddenly everyone's wounds were healed.
The fight raged on but the combined might of the heroes eventually triumphed over Krathanos, who collapsed with a mighty groan. The golden belt around his waist weighed over 120 pounds but there was enough room in people's holding sacks to carry the item. One trial complete, three left to go.
Without so much as a rest the heroes decided to venture into the forest, which they identified as the Doomshroud, and see if they could silence the forest's mournful song. Whatever that meant. Argo again took the lead, after several hours of hiking through the dark gloomy forest they started to hear something.
It was soft and low, and tugged at the heartstrings, but only Argo, Fin, Drake, and Kong heard the tune. The four of them stopped in their tracks and listend intently - and suddenly their eyes glazed over as if in a trance and they started to shuffle away into the heart of the forest. Duke, not hearing the song, thought of ways to stop his companions. But after a few minutes the dwarf heard the song and he was entranced by the music. The five heroes of the Kings of the Road marched into the heart of the Doomshroud, helpless and compelled by a force beyond their control.
They awoke in a bad position. They were lined up in front of a giant black tree that possessed a sort of malevolent intelligence, and they were being whipped by the strong branches of the strange tree. And then it expelled a gust of forceful air that knocked most of them down and things were not looking good. Kong used his greatsword to great effect while Duke and Fin crawled away avoiding the creature's whipping attacks. Drake and Argo were in bad spots, and after only a short amount of melee they both found themselves facing death.
But the clever halfling had a few tricks up his sleeve and he decided to use his own gift from the Deck of Many Things when he saw the tree's limb come hurdling towards his face. Fate shifted Argo to a different spot and the blows fell against the hard earth. Drake, however, had no such tricks and was pummelled to death.
Drake the Slayer died after being beat repeatedly by an ancient night twist on the demiplane of Last Resort.
It was Duke's orb of acid hurdled against the tree that finally felled it and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Duke needed a bit of time before he could use his reincarnation magic on the fallen Drake, and so they rested in the large grove that held the night twist. As they rested they noticed that the Doomshroud Forest around them seemed to hold less darkness, as if some great evil had ended. Which it had. Two trials complete, two left.
After the rest Duke prepped the reincarnation, and after a short time Drake's spirit returned in the body of a freakishly large dwarf. It was Drake, who had been returned as dwarf and was not happy about it. He had three wish gifts left but decided to give the whole bearded thing a try. Kong especially was still very wounded and requested a more rest and so the heroes continued to rest, contemplating their next action.
On the third rest period Argo noticed movement amongst the trees on his watch. Stepping into the clearing came four individuals and the halfling found himself paralyzed and unable to take any action as they approached. A large efreeti - a genie from the Elemental Plane of Fire - walked casually, flanked by a pair of tieflings who seemed to follow the path of a monk. Leading them was a man in purple robes whose right arm ended in a twisted, undead hand.
The man, with a bemused look on his face, circled the sleeping companions. Luckily Fin was on his guard and awoke, shouting to awake his friends of the newcomers. Everyone awoke and they realized they were facing the man with the Hand of Vecna, the man Lashonna warned them about. He introduced himself as Darl Quethos, Hand of the Lich-Lord, and his retinue of followers: the efreeti Malhazaar and the Sinfire tiefling twins.
Darl didn't make any threatening actions, and opened a dialogue with the heroes. He proposed joining forces in accomplishing the final trial. He did confirm that it was his band who killed the Roc King, and produced the living feather as proof. He also knew that the companions had completed two of the remaining trials, and suggested that joining forces to defeat the Thorn Vale Nightmare would be in everyone's best interests.
Nobody was happy with the arrangement, but they reasoned that they would have to defeat the Vecnan priest and his followers would eventually, so why not use them to complete the final trial. With much trepidation they agreed and Darl's smile was like a wolf looking upon a field of sheep. He indicated that they had no idea to the location of the Valley of Thorns, and suggested to Duke a spell that was not in his repertoire - find the path. The dwarf was only vaguely familiar with the spell, but after a bit of research they came to the conclusion that this spell would point them towards the valley. Duke needed some time to prepare the spell, and so they decided to rest and prepare.
During the rest period Darl's followers kept their distance but made no threatening actions. On his watch Kong caught movement in the forest and awoke Drake, but the movement did not happen again. The barbarian was on his guard but nothing else untoward happened, and after the rest period Duke cast his spell.
He knew instinctly that the Valley of Thorns was located to the west of Bloodfeather Peak in the jagged mountain range, and so Argo and the dwarf took the lead. Darl and his followers were watched and flanked by the rest of the companions but the trip was uneventful if tense. Crossing into the mountains required the help of everyone, a task made all the more difficult as no one took their eyes off the other forces.
Eventually they reached what could only be the Valley of Thorns - a long, narrow enclosed valley filled to the brim with twisted briars and thorns. Fin identified a cave entrance at the far end, their only lead as to whatever the nightmare was. Duke used his spellbook to cast fly on his companions while Darl used the power of the Hand of Vecna to enchant his own band. The group of nine took to the sky and flew over the valley with ease, approaching the cave entrance cautiously.
Drake and Kong took the lead, entering the cave slowly while everyone else hung out at the entrance (which was set sixty feet above the valley floor). Suddenly a low roar came from the back of the cave and a monstrous creature burst out of the darkness. It was beast from their worst nightmares, resembling a massive boar but with something far more insidious and evil. The nightmare beast trampled over Drake and Kong and leapt out into the air - and flew in step with the rest of the foes!
Combat was engaged, but not in the way people were expecting. One of the tiefling Sinfire twins turned on Fin, wailing on the elf rogue with his deadly fists, while the efreeti Malhazaar, the other tiefling, and Argo faced the nightmare beast. Duke and Darl held back and prepared spells while Kong and Drake picked themselves up.
Then the Hand of the Lich-Lord pointed his clawed finger at the beast - and with a pop the nightmare beast imploded on itself. New lines were drawn, and the heroes faced against the followers of Vecna in an instant. It was a tough combat, and early into it Darl snapped his hand and teleported away, though not before flipping Argo his middle Hand of Vecna finger. The tiefling twins were tough combatants and Kong faced against Malhazaar in a blow-for-blow melee that came down to the wire.
But eventually they triumphed over the three Vecnan followers. They looted the bodies, finding many magical items - including the living feather of the Roc King. With all four trials complete they set their gze on returning to the sight of their appearance on the island to face their fate.
Session Updates
Hoody hoo! Good session, and we got a lot done. Charge ahead with full steam!
XP Recap
14th-level 26,880
15th-level 21,600
16th-level 15,360
18th-level 8,640
Until next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Assocation
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
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