| Player | Characters |
|---|---|
| Mike | SD, Patrick, John Z, Yosh, Agamemnon |
| Corky | Raifer, Sarsipius, Duther, Max Dare |
| Eric | Les Paul, Hurricane, Slats, Joram, Bannor |
| NPC's | Jockbar, Kunder, PJ |
The outpost crew grew to larger than expected proportions as support personnel poured in from all over. There were folks from Midway (SD, PJ, Hurricane, Joshua and others) and even from Oompa Lloompa island (Joram). In all, 22 people geared up to venture in to the caves and shut down the gates they knew were being used to maraud the area by Githyanki. But just with what exactly were they in league.
The trip to the cavern was swift and without incident and they traversed the caves quickly, meeting up with the dwarves manning the captured mining area. Here they would rest for an evening to gather themselves. The dwarves relayed that they had run across 3 Thri-Kreen scout warriors and were forced to kill them. That they held the mining position was obviously public knowledge to their enemies. They would saddle up and push forward the next day.
Down the left corridor they went, scanning the walls and with Joram in the lead looking for tracks. Eventually they came across a section of the path where there was an grouping of armoured feet. A search of the walls there uncovered two secret doors. With the assistance of an Unseen Servant from Hurricane, they opened both doors. Through the right door, they heard a scraping sound. Raifer, Kunder, Hurricane and his Unseen Servant went in to investigate. The room was another of the way points used by troops. This one was recently inhabited showing still burning lanterns and torches and food left on tables. In the far corner by the commanders section, they heard the sounds again. They approached only to find a slimy, milky viscous fluid covering the floor in tracks. A quick examination proved them to be neither flammable or acidic. Over to the bed they approached. Under it they found a squid like creature with a cornucopia body from which extended a mass of tendrils. This was obviously the source of the fluid on the floor. With one whack of a club, Hurricane squashed it and it popped like a pimple, spewing fluid all over.
They left that room and examined the other room and found it nothing but a large empty hall. The group pushed on down the cave way. After another few hours of walking, they finally approached the only 'feature' in the cavern they had seen since entering, a four way intersection. Knowing this was a likely danger point, they approached with caution. Joram, leading the way, crept closer and spotted a glint reflected off of some form of metal and a few of the others heard some form of movement. The group scattered to the walls and approached the intersection. As they moved closer, Joram finally got a good look and saw 3 Thri-Kreen and a Githyanki waiting around the corner. the Thri-Kreen charged and engaged. The rest of the party charged up for support.
The Thri-Kreen concentrated on Joram, attacking repeatedly with their 4 claws. The Githyanki wizard cast a Haste spell on the creatures allowing them to each get 8 attacks per round. Their attacks critically injured Joram, one of them rendering his weapon arm useless. He needed to slap a healing prayer on himself to enable himself to attack again. The party swarmed up to assist and around to attack the Githyanki. As they turned the corner at their attackers, Joshua chanced to look the other way. There he saw another Githyanki and a small to medium sized mutated Gold Dragon. Unfortunately for the group, by this time they were already engaged in battle and many were within range of its' breath weapon. And the dragon did not hesitate to use it.
The fire spewed forth and hit most of the party and the Thri-Kreen. A number of people were severely wounded, but worst of all was Justin Force. He cooked with the full brunt of the flame and dropped. On his body he still carried one of the 'bang sticks' from a trip off plane. The thing exploded, sending rocks everywhere. Some buried in to his own body, some in the floor and cieling, but the real damage was done to Yosh. Three bullets shot in to him, severly wounding the high level barbarian, another bullet destroyed one of the Thri-Kreen.
SD engaged the Githyanki wizard and traded whiffs and blows, and with Slats' help, they kill him. PJ and Jockbar moved to engage the dragon. Les Paul and Patrick pumped missile weapons in to it. One final blow from the ax of PJ and the worm fell. The group then set on the last Githyanki, surrounding and slaying it. The enemies defeated, they searched the bodies and found an opal pendant and what seemed to be a magical belt on the wizard, which had to be removed by the thieves (Hurricane and Raifer).
It as now necessary to take stock of their wounds. Healing was performed and potions consumed. Both Joram and Yosh came closer to dying than they had in a long time and others required much attention. It was agreed to spend 2 hours for restudy of prayers and spells. Upon completion of this task, they set on again. This time knowing they were waited on, having also heard noise from down the corridor. As they advanced, the cavern slowly turned in to hewn stone work and eventually to a set of stairs that led down. Here was their closest quarry.
Down the stairs they moved. The front ranks fanning out over the widening path, down into the large chamber. 4 lit cauldrons burned, showing the entire space, a small stream ran along the left marking off a small island in the back left corner. An exit hallway was directly across and two cave mouths opened on each far corner. Scattered along the ground to their left were a half dozen or so small mutated gold dragons, on the small island section were 3 or 4 of the squid like creatures of varying sizes, that were attended by Xvart slaves. Emerging from the cavern on the right was a squad of 6 Xvart warriors, and directly across the room stood 3 Githyanki.
Yosh, Raifer and PJ charged across the room at the Gith, the rest fanned out to engage the other creatures. The first Gith laced a Lightning Bolt in to the chest of Yosh, knocking him to the ground. The second hurled a fireball at a grouping of folks around SD, significant beacuse SD's Fire Shield from his sword was already used defending the flame breath from the earlier dragon. John Z and SD let loose their own Lightning Bolts at the first Githyanki. Sarsipius invoked a Prayer, while Agamemnons' attempt for a Bless failed. The party engaging the small dragons found that they too had breath weapons and were not hesitant to use it. While not overwhelming, they certainly inflicted fire damage on a number of party members.
The next move by John Z was to hurl his own Fireball at the Gith, only to find he had his own Fire Shield. So SD let loose another Lightning Bolt, knocking the Gith down. The others moved in to engage the Gith, and sword blows were traded. PJ took several severe blows from a Special Sword wielding warrior. Rafier was struck by a Magic Missile from the Gith he engaged. The remainder of the group moved in on the small dragons and tried to dispatch them from farther away, Patrick, Les, Duthar and Slats all managed a kill and the others engaged the Xvarts. At that moment, a larger version of the curious work creatures emerged from the cavern behind the stream. Seeing the dragons and worms being killed, it let out a high pitched wail.
The battle continued with the fallen Gith standing and firing a Magic Missile at SD. John Z replied by Summoning an Earth Elemental to engage the strange work that had worked its way across the stream. Along with the thing, several slaves began to make an attempt to run. One of them was caught by the tendrils of a small creature, holding him fast, putting some form of excruciating pain through its body. The Earth Elemental moved to attack. The worm's attacks severely wound the elemental.
Meanwhile, SD uses a Dimension Door to quickly move to the Gith so as to engage. PJ, Raifer and Yosh trade more shots with a Gith almost dropping from one of PJ's strikes. The Gith wizard sunk a Melf's acid arrow in to SD. The fight with the Xvarts was now in full contact. But these were no ordinary Xvarts, they had the special damage resistant shields they had seen long ago, but these were better. They did not flicker when active, only when struck. And then they seemed to cause some form of kick back charge that caused a shock to the attacker. Joram waded in to them, thirsty for a 'giant class' kill. This fight would go on for a while. At that point, Bannor worked his way around the fight to spy what was in the far cave. This foresight gave the party warning that an adult mutated Gold Dragon was approaching.
As the dragon entered the chamber, the adult worm thing left, followed by several of the smaller ones. the dragon looked about the room, surveying the scene. The Xvart battle was now turning for the party, the smaller gold dragons had been all killed, the Earth Elemental was wildly pummeling the worm and the heavy hitters were now starting to get the best of the Githyanki. Two Gith were dropped in sword combat SD and PJ. Seeing the dragon, Joram charged it, trying to attract its' fire away from the others.
The Earth Elemental had finally destroyed the worm it fought, but now it turned on John and charged. He had obviously lost control. John used a Dimension Door to get away from it, but the elemental followed, lumbering along at its slow pace.
Slats, Duthar and Sarsipius attempted to cross the stream to assist the slaves, but Slats got too close to one of the worms still there. It struck him several times with its tendrils and began to literally suck the life out of him. Slats was gone, and in its place was something transforming in to a new creature. This fate was already seen when the slave was attacked. Duthar attempted to kill them both, but his crossbow would not function properly, so he eventually just cut their throats.
With most of the other creatures dispatched including the last Gith, many of the party charged the dragon to engage it. Having seen the situation, the dragon opted to cook as many as it could get, firing his breath at the cluster of creatures in and around the remaining Xvarts. The flame destroyed the last of the Xvarts along with Les Paul, Hurricane, Joshua and Max Dare. John Z cast a Lightning Bolt at the Dragon, but the shot reflected up and struck the cieling. The bolt ruptured the roof collapsing a portion on those below. Fortunately, the dragon took the brunt of the falling debris, and with a few more well placed attacks, they were able to defeat the creature with Joram delivering the killing blow.
At that point the group turned to get the elemental with a pair of Ice Storm spells delivered, it finally decided to leave, heavily wounded from the battles. The party now regrouped and began the healilng of those they could. But they had already lost 6 of the 22 that started the trip. Further investigation of the caverns revealed a number of additional Xvart slaves held. It was decided that Joram and Bannor would lead them back out and arrange for any reinforcements for the party to join as soon as possible. The party staying behind set up for a defense position and camped.
Next time....
This page and its contents are presented solely for the purpose of the RPG game events conducted by a private group. Any references to people or places is explicitly within the context of these RPG games and has no connection to any other similarly named source.
Bob Senkewicz / Howell, New Jersey / senk@optonline.net