Session 31

Members

 * Alli
 * Raekor, the barbarian previously known as Bacon
 * Eriden
 * Euphemia Waterspot
 * Lloyd Dragonsbane
 * The Cleric

Plot Hooks
War! Dragons, paladins, devils, demons, ice warriors. This one is much less of a hool and more of a huge glaring challenge.

Timeline
Day 72

The Adventure
We begin our adventure in the evening. Four hours from the end of the Thirteenth Age, P'hul's 'Age of Disease'. As the party walks out of the temple of Aghad, they hear chanting and screaming from the temple of Sai. They were mostly ignored as they snuck in to check things out.

A naked preistess was preciding over a ceremony. On the alter was another naked woman who was clearly not a willing participant. As the party stepped forth, the wailing of the priests ceased as they looked on in shocked silence. One of the priests, pointed his long wicked dagger at the party and yelled, "Blasphemer! The girl is our sacrifice!"

The priest made a desperate but futile dive for Eriden, but was quickly cut down. The others soon followed. Collecting the dagger and whip of Sai, it occurred to the party that they weren't sure if the King in Yellow wanted the weapons or the girl, as both were on the alter at different times. Outside of the temple, Eriden healed the girl, and the party headed to Luck's Rise and the temple to Andhur Regvos.

The party was stopped at the front gate, but managed to talk their way in as Euphemia intimidated the guards into letting them through. They showed clear disdain for Alli though. Making a B-Line for the temple, they headed up the stairs. At the top, a blind priest greeted them. Euphemia kept up a heated conversation with the priest.

The priest explained things at length, "The best proof of our faith is felt in the darkness; do you not feel it? In this absolute darkness, do you not feel the sensation of supernatural presence? Does not a subtle fear, a certain respect, find its way into your heart?"

"That very uncertainty is a sign of the awe that our lord inspires; you, an unbeliever, feel only the lightest touch of his power. You have known only Andhur, the darkness that passes; before entering this shrine, you have most likely never even known what full darkness was like, for in the outside world the light creeps in everywhere, continuing the eternal battle. Here, though, is the fortress of Andhur, where the darkness does not pass, but endures forever. The darkness goes on, though you and others like you may leave and return once again to the light."

As the conversation went on, Eriden slipped in. The doors were not locked, but he figured out that one must be closed for the other to open, so as to not let any light into the temple. He motioned for the party to get the outer door closed, as as it did, he headed inside. Eriden was quickly lost and mostly blinded by the magical darkness and the apparent maze that was the entrance into the temple.

From the dark, he heard footsteps and a voice, "Give up, defiler. You cannot get away from us; even should you somehow slay us all, you will never escape. The only exit is through the maze, and without a guide you will never find the true path."


 * "Do you know what will happen, defiler, if you do not surrender? You will tire eventually; you will fall, and sleep, and when you do we will capture and bind you. Then, when you are securely bound, you will make a sacrifice. Not to Andhur, the darkness that passes, but to everlasting Regvos; you will become one of us."


 * "Blasphemer! Do you know how the sacrifice is performed, in cases such as yours? A rope, a thick rope knotted twice, is placed around your head, with the knots resting upon your closed eyelids."

Eriden lit up his sword, the Shard of Light and killed the priest. He noticed that dust lay thick on the floor, and the frequently used path was clear. Setting forth through the maze, he found the inner temple and the alter. The priests had gathered at this point, "So, thief, you lied to us, and brought in some way to make fire. We dare not attack you, thus, when you have your sword and we are unarmed; but still, you cannot find your way out. The maze will stop you. Return the stone to its place, defiler." The voice yelled in a low and authoritative tone.

By this point the conversation at the temple entrance was getting boring. Raekor threw the priest off the stairs. The party got the front door open and managed to get in. Eriden's anxious wolves ran on ahead and found the true path through the darkness quickly. Euphemia quickly got lost, but the dogs grabbed her as Eriden fought his way out of the temple.

As the party made their exit, Thundercloud Tower approached. They jumped aboard before every resident of Luck's Rise could stop them, and sailed off to the temple of Tema. Onboard, the Kender explained that Gylian had been kidnapped. There were signs of a struggle and some deep scratches. Gylian put up a valiant fight against Sepsecolskegyth, but in the end, it was not enough.

Not knowing the whereabouts of Gylian, the party headed to their original destination. Raekor was itching to fire the Magic Missile cannon at the people flocking into the temple of night. The tower touched down and Euphemia intimidated her way in. She stole the Moon Stone of Tema, and made it out before the followers of Tema rioted. The next stop was Sorcerer's Rise.

Harbard uth Farnan, Paladin of the Knights of Solamnia, sensed the dragonlance through the tower's walls. He called Darius of Trebbel and some of the other guards and demanded that the party turn it over. With a little discussion, the party handed over the artifact, knowing that the lawful good paladins of the order would use it well.

Berylmaker, the head cleric gave his advice to the party as well. During this time, Eriden took the long way and made a stop in Nature's Rise. While there, he managed to talk another follower of Nature into giving up the ingredients for a magical tattoo. The head druid and the rangers also had a proposition for him ...

Eriden watched the tower fly through the air as he ran along the bridge to the Sunken Temple, he heard a voice addressing the party, "You broke your word! You gave assent by silence to our bargain, thief, yet you harmed no one in the temple of P'hul. You were to slay a priest of P'hul. Now you enter the temple of the Final God, yet the cult's priest is nowhere within. You scorn our agreement, and be sure that if you come alive from this cavern, you shall die nonetheless."

They recognized it as the voice of the head priest of Aghad. Having no time for him, the party went straight to the entrance of the final temple. Raekor seemed to have been all hopped on some form of drug, and in his excitement, jumped in and swam through the underground entrance. He quickly swam back out and the rest of the party went in.

Inside was a small temple. Bolted onto the alter was a strange semi-human skull somewhere between human and giant in size and shape, save that it was impossibly tall and narrow, and two twisting horns thrust up from its temples; its teeth were gone, and its jaws leered open. As the party approached, Alli stayed back. Before anyone could react, a huge worm sprang up through the floor. It coated the temple in hot lava and the fight began. Raecor and the cleric quickly had their shoes burned off. The worm opened with a huge hit to the barbarian. Eriden wailed on it with his swords. Alli rained arrows from afar, and the cleric beat away with his spiritual weapon. The beast battled on. blow after blow was landed, but it would not drop. Finally the cleric held up his prayer book and uttered a final prayer, thinking he had felled the beast, but he missed the final stab from Eriden.

The time destruction was quickly approaching. Running back to the tower, the party went straight to the temple of Bheleu. The first thing they noticed was that the barricade on the front door was gone and smoke and flames were shooting from the broken dome. Inside was filled with people. They were in various groups doing strange and different things. Drums pounded and in the center was a huge fire that people were dancing around. Eriden was the first to see Gylian. He was behind the fire, hanging from a cross ... the dragons had crucified him. The the west, a group of draconians was fighting with lesser devils.

As the midnight hour approached, the cleric and Eriden went for the bon fire. At the last second, the sword of Bheleu tipped over and was replaced by the sword of Koros. The rangers and druids had managed to disrupt the Age of Destruction and replace it with the Age of War. As soon as Eriden put his hand on the blade, an eruption of blue flame cut through the temple, destroying everything and everyone in it, including Gylian. By sheer luck the rest of the party survived the massive outpouring of energy that had killed most of the mortals within 100 meters.

As Eriden got to his feet, he saw four horsemen approach. Riding on the wind. Mars, the god of war stepped up and greeted his new avatar.

The rest of the riders approached the party and gave out gifts. Two magic rings and a shield. What do these new magic items do? Eriden was also entrusted with a scroll tube for Euphemia.

The soul of Gylian was gone from his body, but held in limbo. He could not die until the fiftheen age. Yet he could not live on without the Age of Destruction. In the ancient books, it was written that a warrior would bring a sword from the fire to start this age. Gylian was destined to do it, but in the end, the Ranger was the one to draw the sword from the fires of the temple of Bheleu. Weilding his new weapon, he refused to let Gylian die. Having Death before him, he commanded the soul of Gylian be returned to his lifeless body. As was commanded, as was done. Gylian rose again, but was stripped of his burden. Stripped of his power. Just a mere mortal. He is alive ... for now, yet completely mortal.

We end our session with a war going on in the planes to the east of Dus Hara. The dragon contingent is clearly visible. The wizards are raining down fireballs and lightning. You are tired, but the night is not over yet.

XP
Current level: 14

Loot

 * Moon Orb of Tema
 * 2 Magic Rings
 * Magic Shield
 * Magic sword