| Game Master: System: Date: | Ken Dungeons & Dragons 5e Homebrew Campaign 2nd February 2023 |
| Characters: | Fayd – Half Orc Barbarian (Deceased) Gunnar Orcsson – Half Orc Barbarian Jaraziah Grimm – Human Cleric (On Hiatus) Iivan – Drow Rogue/Fighter Balasar Aurumingis – Dragonborn Sorcerer Luther Merton – Half Elf Bard Navarro Trovatero de Vimaa – Half Elf Paladin Hamlet Wolffort- Half Elf Warlock Dorian Hammerbeard – Dwarven Cleric “Tourist”-Human Fighter Gregg the Guide – Human Druid Tad Hemlock – Halfling Bard (Retired) Tianzi – Half Elf Sorlock (Retired) Yorhorn – Half Elf Paladin (Retired) |
Having confirmed Iivan’s suspicions that Sexerella did not in fact fit through the only door to the chamber she resided in, a dissappointed Navarro allowed himself reluctantly to be dragged away from the pristine chariot and agreed that they would continue searching the Nearith structure they found themselves in. Gathering themselves they cautiously proceeded down the stairs, Dorian marvelling at the impossibly smooth stonework and pausing to examine the craftsmanship further
“You can all go on without me, I’ll catch up with you shortly” they called out to the others as he stopped to get a better look at the intricate join between two slabs
“Shortly is the only way they do anything eh” quipped Iivan to Luther as they left the Dwarf to indulge their curiosity and continued to descend the smooth even steps. Hamlet let the others pass him as decided to wait with the Dwarf lest they become lost or triggered some ancient trap.
Eventually, they reached the bottom and began to gaze around the cylopean chamber they found. High vaulted ceilings hung well over 30ft above them, causing their steps to echo strangely as they moved. Doors, each far larger than a man stood arrayed around the walls, two on the left and another pair on their right, more fallen statuary depicting the strange, presumably Nearith warriors lay strewn about the chamber, all bathed in a faint blueish light that revealed on the opposite side a large and very imposing throne, complete with reading podium.
“Dibs!” called Luther eyeing the throne as he pushed past the others to enter the chamber proper, but the fleet footed Drow had beaten him to it and Luther was able to witness the strange blue orb flare brightly for a moment before Iivan yelped and darted back into the stairwell where the others were huddled.
“Ok, so there’s a trap” grimaced the Dark Elf rubbing his arm tenderly
“Ha! No mere trap can stand in our way men” replied Navarro
“But perhaps it might be best to leave that sort of cowardly, nefarious stuff to one familar with it and trained in it’s ways?” suggested Hamlet, diplomatically trying to steer Navarro away from a frontal assault on what seemed to be a floating lantern of sorts.
“Hmmm, you make a good point Lieutenant” he turned to face Iivan “Drow, deal with this distraction and report back immediately”
Iivan shot the knight a withering look and was about to reply when Luther stepped forward carrying his crossbow and began to take aim at the glowing sphere
“I’ve got this” he stated matter of factly, his bolt flying out and striking the glowing orb with a flare, leaving the orb glowing more weakly.
“Good shot Squire! I’m pleased you’ve been keeping up with your weapon practice” said Navarro proudly as Luther pulled another bolt from his pack and slotted it before beginning to haul the bowstring back for another shot.
“So slow” muttered Balasar, raising his hand and launching a streak of flame at the orb, but on reaching the sphere the magical flame seemed to be absorbed by the object – which began to glow brighly again “Interesting…” and raised his hand again
“Did you just….heal that thing?” asked Luther incredulously
“Stand back mage, let my Squire handle this” commanded Navarro, keen to see his careful training coming to fruition
Luther sighted again and again scored a hit, this time shattering the orb and extinguishing it’s light entirely, earning a round of quiet applause from the others – Iivan somehow managing to clap sarcastically.
With the strange magical device destroyed they began to move into the chamber proper, Navarro as usual pushing ahead and heading for the furthest door on the left – no doubt hoping to find another chariot. Balasar turned right and entered a narrow chamber, Greg and Nick took the other door on the left as Luther moved across towards the throne, Iivan walking with him but eyes fixed on the last remaining door on the right of the chamber whilst Gunnar stooped over one of the fallen statues and began examining it. Balasar open his chosen door and entered into a long narrow room that had Eight seats along the left hand side, each facing a number of what appeared to be picture frames, moving closer to investigate he found burnt scraps of paper or canvass on the floor along with patches of oil. Coupled with the smell of charring he idly wondered what the frames might have held, and who would have set them ablaze…so recently.
Meanwhile, Luther’s investigation of the large throne had triggered another cunning trap – a sticking cloud of noxious gas spewing from the rear and enveloping the young elf. Furious and reeking worse than some of Gunnar’s old budgie smugglers he stalked after Iivan and entered a room packed with myriad stuffed animals, chests and racks of potions and coins piled in loose heaps. However what drew his eyes was a large golden elephant, a loud cry of fear echoed through the room and Iivan dashed out to investigate, the door sliding closed behind him and leaving Luther to investigate alone. Curious about what was happening Luther turned to follow the rogue but round the door was sealed shut, he battered his fists and yelled for his companions to come and help him. Gunnar and Iivan immediately moved to the door, the drow carefully examining the area for a locking mechanism while Gunnar eyed the door and pulled his trusty crowbar from his pack
“Give me some room” he said to Iivan as he forced the end of the bar at the bottom of the sealed doorway and tried to pry it open. Seeing this Balasar wandered over
“Shall I just blast it open?” he offered helpfully
“Luther’s on the other side of it you idiot – how many more of us do you plan on killing?” snapped Iivan “leave it to the smart” he gestured to himself “and the strong” he added nodding at Gunnar who was still grunting with effort. Balasar sniffed and left the pair to their foolishness and went in search of Navarro.
Greg had been exploring what seemed to be an old storeroom, finding surprisingly fresh supplies in the dimly lit room – pausing to take a bite of an apple he caught a flash of movement between the shelves ahead of him. Suddenly the room seemed to grow darker and close in around him, he felt his body tense and the hairs on his neck stand on end…something was very wrong here. With a cry of fright he ran, clattering into Nick and sprinting back to the throne room. Gunnar and Iivan staring and readying themselves for combat at his sudden arrival.
Balasar found Navarro gazing in wonder at a strange series of statues, arrayed in a spiral around a larger figure stood in the centre of the room
“What is it?” asked the Dragonborn
“I don’t know, but I know some of these people” replied Navarro gesturing to the smaller figures “Look, that’s Tad” he gestured to the closest statues
Balasar looked but saw nothing, still the scaleless races all looked the same to him – lacking the magestic lineage of dragonkind, on impulse he aimed a kick at the small figure, toppling it and sending careening into it’s companions in a growing cacophony of noise as statue after statue toppled into it’s neighbour until the last finally thudded into the larger central figure with a crash. Navarro turned to him but before he could speak flashes of purple light emanated from all around them and more of the rift demons stepped out of the air, Navarro bellowed a warning before turning to face the massive creature that has materialised in the room with them.
Luther span round and saw a nightmare crawl into existence in the room behind him, he yelled for help and pounded on the door in panic before he felt a touch on his shoulder
“Don’t worry, I’m here with you” a familiar voice whispered in his mind
“Fayd?” he asked, turning and seeing his old friend standing with him, Fayd grinned and nodded
On the otherside of the door Iivan has seen the flashes of purple and could see strange otherworldly shapes flickeing into existence, knowing they were about to be assailed by creatures from the rift he tensed and turned to Gunnar
“Work faster” he urged
“I know” grunted Gunnar testily, sinews straining as he searched for leverage with his crowbar
Iivan saw more rift demons emerge from the doorway beside them, causing Greg to yelp and sprint towards the throne
“Gunnar” he began
“I know!” interrupted the sweating orc through gritted teeth as he fought for leverage and force open the door which had snapped shut to trap Luther
Luther backed away from the rift demon that was stalking him across the room, hoping that if he was quiet he might evade it until help arrived. The faceless horror advanced slowly, somehow sensing his presence it’s maw opened and strings of gelatinous liquid oozed slowly from it’s mouth. Feeling the terror rising in his chest Luther unleashed a blast of magic at the fell beast, causing it to flinch away before dashing across the floor on it’s suckered pseudopods towards him.
With a roar Gunnar finally managed to find purchase and force the door open, seeing Luther backing away from a rift demon the barbarian called to Iivan and, drawing his sword ran forward to flank the creature stalking Luther. Iivan stared down the two demons rushing towards him and moved to block the doorway, bravely holding his ground to buy Luther and Gunnar time as the Bard launched powerful magical blasts at the rift demon, surprising Gunnar who had never seen the Bard using that kind of magic before.
Navarro and Balasar were hard pressed fighting against a monsterous rift demon that nearly filled the chamber, the paladin’s martial prowess being tested to the quick trying to shield his companion as they tried to regroup with the rest of their party. Taking full use of Navarro’s actions Balasar was sending gouts of flame into the tightly packed demons that were closing in around Greg. Nick was hard pressed himself, burning through his reserves of magical power with reckless abandon, throwing up defensive spells to deflect some of the blows raining down on him from all sides. Greg’s fear induced efforts to escape had finally left him with nowhere to turn, and he was cut down by the whiplike strikes of the demon’s tentacles before his companions could come to his aid.
“Greg’s down” bellowed Iivan back over his shoulder to Gunnar, dancing between his opponents strikes and lashing out with his blade when an opening presented itself, the orc didn’t answer but continued to hack away at the demon he and Luther were battling. As his sword bit home again the blade flared and a surge of magic flowed out from the blood soaked steel, the magic reached Luther, Iivan and Greg restoring some of their vigour.
Navarro strode out of the door opposite and called on Helm to aid his companions, healing himself, Nick and Greg with his God’s power – Rocinate obidiently trotting at his heels to protect him from the demons trying to surround him, the stalwart warhorse using it’s great strength to kick and bite anything that closed in on it’s master.
“We need to kill the leader, not waste time of these little ones” called Iivan, having the presence of mind to recall their previous battles with the rift spawn and their inability to remain in this realm without their master.
“Working on it” grunted Gunnar, hacking at the demon with his sword and, with Luther’s magic pummelling it from the side, was able to hack the beast down, pausing only to check the bard was ok he rushed past Iivan, shrugging off the blows of the demons crowding toward Iivan and Greg as he pushed past them to try and reach what he thought was their leader. Iivan snapped off a shot from his bow that thudded into the demon’s chitinous carapace. Balasar skipped lightly through the melee to unleash a torrent of flames which engulfed several of the demons, Greg drew on the power of nature to surround the remaining demons with tangled barbed vines, Navarro closed the gap to the demon’s leader and took advantage of Gunnar’s distracting presence to strike the fell creature with his holy blade, fuelling the power of the attack still further with his own innate magical power. The holy fire engulfed the creature and with a peircing shriek of rage it and it’s companions were torn from this reality, banished back to their home plane and leaving the party battered and panting from their exertions.
