CHRONICLE VAULT 20081214, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Planting 18, 596 CY
Holed up in the giant city of Kongen-Thulnir, the companions contemplated their next course of action. They held in their possession both of the keys necessary to open the vault, behind which they presumed lay the phylactery of Dragotha the dracolich. One key was given to them by King Achaime Silvereye, and the other they had just taken from the corpse of the hill giant Charlgar in the pit of the Mother Worm.
The vault lay within the Citadel of Weeping Dragons towards the southern side of Kongen-Thulnir. It was a rocky outcropping rising from the canyon floor, with a natural stone bridge arching from the cliff-side city of giants. According to their map given to them by Loncer Amorocco the bridge was about a half-mile south of their current position. Argo poked his head out of the Undercity where they currently were and noted that the dragons attacked the city in regular intervals of about a half hour.
Utilizing this information, the companions - Duke, Kong, Drake, and Argo - made their way through the winding tunnels of the Undercity to the main level of the City of Kings, dodging falling debris along the way. From there they ducked and hid amongst the ruins of the buildings during the dragon raids and ran through the rubble when there was a lull. It took several hours, but they managed to get to the stone bridge with little or no incident.
This side of the bridge was capped with a large archway. Upon it were ancient runes in old dialect of Giant, that Duke was particularly fascinated with. His companions, however, urged him not to tarry as they had a several hundred foot bridge to cross.
They could see the Citadel of Weeping Dragons fairly clearly from their vantage point. It was a foreboding structure, easily four or five stories high with several probably extending into the base of the spire. Fire, stone, and hill giants stood at catapults and ballistas awaiting the inevitable new attack from the rampaging dragons. Two fire giants stood guard at the entrance to the citadel on the other side of the bridge, and it was these two that caused the heroes the most worry.
Should they launch a straight-up attack? Or try to parlay? There wasn't a lot of time in either case, but if they could somehow reason with the leader of the Tiamakal Nul-Shada - a fire giant named Kagro Thundersmiter - their going through the citadel would be much easier. The four companions decided to sneak as much as they could around the sentries and hopefully catch them off guard.
With that in mind, Duke cast a spider climb spell on each of them from his spellbook, as it was agreed by everyone that walking across the bridge was a bad idea. But climbing underneath the bridge ...? Much better idea. So, empowered by magic, the four climbed as fast as they could along the bottom of the natural stone bridge. Argo especially was a shadow amongst the rocks, moving quietly and stealthily.
Once they reached the other side they stealthily climbed around the sentries to a higher point just beyond them. Upon reaching this outcropping, however, Drake scraped his hand against the rock and let loose a shower of debris. This alerted the two fire giant sentries, who immediately gripped their weapons for attack. One of them shouted an alarm, and his voice carried through the citadel.
Deciding that there was little choice in the matter, Drake hefted his sword, gave a shout, and ran forward. He had the advantage of the higher ground, which he used when he leapt off the small ledge and brought his greatsword down in a powerful stroke. The giant was taken aback by the powerful maneuver and staggered.
Kong, not to be outdone, gave a shout announcing his furious barbarian rage and jumped - sword held high overhand - at the other sentry. His blow struck true and the giant was mortally wounded. Argo dropped into the fray as well, cutting the giant with his blades. Duke, however, decided to try a more diplomatic approach - he figured that if they could talk to the guards they could be convinced to take them inside.
The dwarf wizard cast Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter on the giant fighting Kong, sending the sentry into spasms of uncontrollable laughter. The other giant fought valiantly against Drake, and the fighter came to a startling realization. Him and Kong were still very wounded from the fight with the Mother Worm!
Seeing death approach at the hands of their giant opponents, Drake used the last of his wishes granted from the Deck of Many Things to heal the companions. It turned out to be a good idea, as Argo heard the sound of wings beating on the wind nearby. Suddenly a huge blue dragon appeared out of invisibility, breathing a cone of electricity on the hapless combatants! The two giants were no match for the attack and died in that initial onslaught, but the rest of the heroes steeled themselves and shifted focus to the dragon.
The dragon announced itself as Vermirox (a particularly vain move, but not uncommon amongst dragonkind) and promised a slow death. But he ate his words as Drake and Kong moved forward to engage it in melee, Argo taking up a flanking position. Duke stayed out of claw range and lobbed orbs of acid at the dragon, and after a few furious exchange of blows Vermirox's lifeless draconic corpse fell to the canyon floor below.
Knowing that the rest of the dragon raid was on its way, the four heroes beat feet towards the entrance to the citadel. Pushing open the doors revealed a wide corridor, and Drake and Kong took the lead side by side. In anticipation of trouble, Duke created a mirror image of himself to walk alongside his companions.
Disaster struck when the two warriors trigged a trap. They looked up just in time to see a gargantuan gelatinous cube creature fall from the ceiling! Neither ducked out of the way fast enough and they were both engulfed by the creature's gelatinous mass. Kong managed to struggle free, fighting with his barbarian might against the creature's oozy interior, but Drake was not so lucky. Paralyzed by the thing's ooze, the fighter could do nothing but float there and be slowly eaten away by the acid.
Argo and Kong faced off against the gelatinous cube, unsure as to how to proceed. Sadly, the thing proceeded instead, surging forward with a massive schlucking sound and engulfing both the halfling and the barbarian. This time Kong's limbs went stiff, but Argo held his breath and fought to escape the creature's insides.
Duke was left outside the gelatinous cube, lobbing spell after spell at the thing. While the creature did not seem to possess any inherent resistance to his arcane will, it was a long fight that forced the dwarf wizard outside the citadel to avoid being sucked inside. All the while his companions were slowly being eaten away by the cube's acidic digestive juices. Finally, after a particularly well-thrown orb of acid, the gelatinous cube's structure collapsed, sending a small tidal wave of crystalline ooze flowing in all directions. Luckily the creature's death ended the paralysis and capture of the three heroes.
Duke used charges from his wand of cure moderate wounds to patch up his companions as best he could. They forged onward, finding little on the first floor. The second floor also contained no giants, but they did not pause for full investigation. The third floor held a chamber right in front of the stairs, and Kong kicked its door open to find out what was inside.
It appeared to be some sort of meeting room, with a giant-sized table and chairs dominating the center. Seated at one of the chairs was a fire giant, who had been gripping the sides of the chair so hard that there were visible grip marks. One of his eyes was bigger than the other and twitched incessantly. He said nothing, simply staring at the intruders.
Duke ventured a phrase of greeting when suddenly the giant leapt on top of the table, bellowing in rage! He pulled out a giant battleaxe and handaxe, each wreathed in flames, and charged the heroes. Clearly deranged and mad with battle lust, the four companions stood their ground and fought the insane giant. He was a clever opponent, but Argo finally dropped him after several intense exchanges of blows.
As the giant fell to the ground, the door on the opposite side of the room opened. Inside stepped another fire giant, but this one held a more regal pose and carried a massive greataxe. He announced himself as Kagro Thundersmiter, clan leader of the Tiamakal Nul-Shada, and demanded to know what the companions were doing here, and if they were the ones who stole the key. Argo stammered out a few suggestions when Kagro noticed the body of the fallen giant.
His eyes turned fierce and he stepped forward, raising his axe in a killing stroke. Just as the heroes prepared for a tough melee Drake's last ability from the Deck of Many Things kicked in. He shouted that they had both of the keys to the vault and that Charlgar was the one who stole it. This caused Kagro to stop and consider the situation a bit more carefully. He lowered his axe and demanded an explanation.
Argo and Duke explained that they met with King Achaime Silvereye and were given one of the keys to the vault, and got the other from the body of the hill giant Charlgar. Kagro indicated that Charlgar was seen in the company of Vercinabex Tor, the frost giant sorcerer and advisor to the Tiamakal Nul-Shada. The fire giant explained that Tor had been obsessed with the contents of the vault, with which the clan was tasked with defending against all foes. He had no idea what was behind it and he didn't want to. But Tor needed to be confronted.
Kagro demanded that the companions follow him to confront the frost giant sorcerer in his chamber in the lower levels of the citadel. Seeing little option, and wanting to go along anyway, they agreed and the five of them followed the winding staircase to the lower levels. There, Kagro kicked down the door to a chamber.
Inside was a large room, clearly the dwelling place of a frost giant - it was noticeably colder than the rest of the citadel. Vercinabex Tor sat at his desk poring over volumes of lore when Kagro Thundersmiter demanded to know the truth of the situation. The heroes slowly entered the room and took up flanking positions on either side of the fire giant. Tor sighed and stood up, saying that it was time to finally end the charade. With blinding speed he shouted arcane words and a blast of prismatic color burst from his hands, encapsulating everyone!
Luckily there were no terrible effects from the spell, and Kong, Drake, and Kagro charged forward to engage the frost giant in melee. Tor carried a massive warmace and was no pushover in melee, but it was his spellcasting that caused the most trouble. Duke lobbed a few orbs of acid at the sorcerer, but it wasn't enough to stop him. Vercinabex Tor unleashed another prismatic spray at his opponents and things did not go so well this time.
Drake the Slayer and Kong of the Mountains died after being hit by the green ray of the frost giant sorcerer Vercinabex Tor's prismatic spray.
Kagro Thundersmiter fell to the spell as well, but Argo and Duke escaped without too much permanent damage. Seeing an opportunity to end the fight, Argo lunged forward in a rage and stabbed at Tor repeatedly with his daggers and sword. Combined with the spells of Duke the frost giant sorcerer collapsed against the side of his chamber, dead.
Argo and Duke were left standing in the chamber, their two dead companions lying nearby. They knew the vault containing Dragotha's phylactery was not far beyond his chamber, but they also knew that they didn't want to confront the traps and guardians with their friends. So, gathering up everyone, Duke cast a teleport spell and transported the four of them to Bloodstone.
There they managed to get an audience with King Toka, who understood the plight they were in and decided to help. He needed to rest for a few hours, but afterwards he would be able to bring back the dead companions with a powerful resurrection spell. Seeing little choice Duke and Argo slept fitfully, knowing that the dragon siege of Kongen-Thulnir could be over and the phylactery of the dracolich claimed before they could return.
After a few hours Toka called upon the grace of Pelor and restored Kong and Drake to their bodies, whole and unhurt. With nary a moment to waste Duke cast another powerful teleport spell that took them right back to Vercinabex Tor's chamber. Descending the last flight of stairs they came to the entryway to the vault in the depths of the Citadel of Weeping Dragons.
As they approached they were suddenly confronted by the spiritual form of Shanks Dar'Rill, the halfling warrior who died in the gladiator arena of Greyhawk! Shanks explained that he had been traveling in the spirit world since then and had learned much about the upcoming Age of Worms. He told the story of what had happened so far, including a recap of Kyuss' rise to godhood and his bid to bring about the apocalypse many centuries ago. Luckily, descendants of the mighty Wind Dukes of Aaqa - the druids of the Order of the Storm - were there to stop him then. And now, it fell the companions, who Shanks believed had the blood of the Vaati in them as well.
Shanks warned the heroes that behind the vault door was indeed Dragotha's phylactery, but by opening the door they were inviting a world of trouble. Firstly, once it was opened Dragotha would know of the phylactery's precise location, and would certainly send his draconic minions that raided Kongen-Thulnir even now to retrieve. Secondly, and more important, he told them that if they chose to destroy the phylactery, Dragotha might be able to regain some of the escaping essence to grow even more powerful.
With that the ghostly halfling disappeared with a smile. The four heroes approached the doors to the vault, which seemed to detail Kyuss' final defeat at the hands of the druids. They also found carvings representing themselves, fighting the undead horde beside the druids! It was an eerie feeling, but they pushed past it to open the doors.
Beyond lay a magnificent chamber, at the far end of which rested a strange multi-facteded box. The sides of the box were carved to resemble leering draconic faces and strange whispers echoed in the room constantly. They knew they had found the phylactery of Dragotha the dracolich.
The four companions gathered around the phylactery, trying to decide what to do. They faced a tough decision - destroy it now and risk Dragotha being more powerful, or keep it and risk the safety of everyone around them. It was eventually decided to keep it for now, at least to study, and Duke reached out with eager hands to grasp the box and place inside his bag. As his flesh touched the sides, the dwarf's head was rushed with shouting words, nothing distinct but mind-numbing. He barely managed to shove it into his bag before his will gave way completely.
The deed done, they prepared to leave. Fate, it would seem, had other ideas, as the four discovered when the side of the chamber melted away like so much butter. Suddenly, bursting forth from the rock now made mud, an enormous red dragon emeged, bellowing in rage! Argo recognized it as the largest of the dragons leading the assault on Kongen-Thulnir. The dragon announced itself as Brazzemal the Burning and demanded the phylactery in exchange for quick deaths.
Argo wasn't have any of that, and charged forward to confront the new threat. Unfortunately Brazzemal was quicker and snatched up the hapless halfling in one snap! Too close for comfort the remaining three companions attacked the dragon, but after a moment it spat Argo out onto the group in a torrent of fire!
The blast was devastating, sending Duke into unconsciousness. A powerful barbarian rage gripped Kong and he fought on heedless of his wounds. His sword, made of crackling energy, cut through the dragon's thick hide and connected with true blows on every swing. Drake, though stronger, had a difficult time piercing the beast's side, and only landed a few telling blows. Argo managed to dump a potion of healing down Duke's throat, reviving the dwarf, but the halfling was knocked aside like a ragdoll and sent into unconsciousness.
Duke, Kong, and Drake were now faced with a difficult decision. Duke had the phylactery, and he could teleport away, but he would be leaving some of his friends behind - the time it would take everyone to gather in close proximity before the dragon breathed again was too short. Kong was in the throes of his rage and fought on, sending dragon blood flying and Brazzemal into a fury. Drake fought desperately, and when it was decided he was going to grab the halfling his mad dash was stopped when Brazzemal snatched the fighter up in his powerful jaws!
Duke closed his eyes and prepared to teleport away, hoping he could have his friends brought back from death, when suddenly the red dragon bellowed out a deafening cry - a death cry! Kong's barbarian rage induced blows had finally struck home, and his sword cut through the dragon's heart. Brazzemal the Burning's eyes went dark and the gargantuan dragon corpse fell to the valley floor below.
Quickly Duke healed Argo and Drake enough to bring them to consciousness. It was decided at that moment that breaking the phylactery was the better option - they simply couldn't risk the safety of everyone around them. Dumping the box out onto the ground, Drake raised his sword and brought it crashing down onto the phylactery. It cracked and after another blow broke, sending wisps of essence disappearing into the ether around them.
They decided to teleport to Bloodstone to regroup before setting off to confront the general of Kyuss' army and keeper of the Wormgod's physical presence - Dragotha, the first dracolich in existence.
Session Updates
Whew! Good session, good session. We start in on the end game here - the end is finally in sight. Will it be for better or worse? Good or evil? Glorious triumph or horrendous defeat? We find out soon.
XP Recap
17th-level 25,500
18th-level 18,900
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
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