Adventure Date: November 4, 2012
Last Updated: May 22, 2013
Our heroes stood around the defeated water elemental. The next day, the group rested. The group decides to stay and keep an eye open on the island. A squadron of 20 halfling soldiers approach the group, carrying supplies. They plan to restore the lighthouse and reinforce the region. The adventurers depart on the boat.
When they arrive at the port town of Krenalir, the halflings are effusive with their praise. Master Trader Aumble is there to greet the group when they arrive and thank them too. As compensation, the group is promised a 10 percent discount on all goods throughout Luiren. Quite generous for a community so focused on economics.
While wandering around town, the group hears that the community is troubled by raiders. The inhabitants are also buzzing about news of an "Angel falling to earth" in Shoun. Our heroes are also concerned to hear of terrfying tales of ghost attacks on the local halfling population. Thruldar, a town in Luiren, site of the ghosthin war, worshipping Malar (under attack from nightmare creatures). Something about a Bog King and Dambrath?
Lady A investigates the reports of an "Angel". Few facts found, just rumours.
Irrstra's interviews a local who indicates that the dwarven merchants may be outfitting the "Raiders" with armaments. Motivation of the dwarves: monopoly on trade, protection racket...
Leeloo negotiates trade/sale of procurred items. Group members purchase platinum rings as part of a component in Leeloo's shield other spell.
The group divides up the treasure and go about their purchases. They each got:
333 pp
2988 gp
206 sp
600 cp
1 green gem (5 gp)
1 jewellry (100 gp)
2 gems (75 gp each)
1 obsidian gem (25 gp)
1 pearl (100 gp)
Group members purchase platinum rings as component of "shield other" spell.
A party is organized in the honour of the group.
After ceremony where our heroes were made Shields of Yondalla.
"No! This is wrong!" Hin begin looking around uneasily and more than a few of them become angry when they see the source of the voice. Mayor Hudkin Madhair steps forward to address Weninda Vrinn and the other hin - he pointedly ignores any non-hin. He is well-dressed, with a ceremonial sash hanging off his shoulder displaying his rank and position to all. Average in height (at least for a hin), his brown hair is tousled and stands up in multiple directions. A scar mars the right side of his face, and he seems to be missing the top of his right ear.
"This is wrong! These outsiders will only bring ruin to us and Luiren as a whole! I’ve traveled with them. I know! You voted me mayor years ago for my experience with the world outside of Luiren and that had been one of the wisest choices you have ever made! But honouring these... leeches... with a sacred title for deeds any hin could have done, that is insanity!"
Mayor Madhair’s face starts to turn red as his anger builds. Whirling suddenly, he points at you and shouts, "What have you done to earn these accolades? Nothing. You are not welcome here."
As the mayor speaks, Weninda Vrinn eyes narrow and her brows meet over her pert nose. Her voice stays soft, but her words are hot with anger. The mayor, seeing her as if for the first time, feels something akin to awe in her presence.
"Nothing!" she says, biting off the word. "They have given us all that they are - their sweat and blood - and faced threats on our behalf! More of their lives than you will know or understand have been given to protect the hin. It was they who smashed the raiders attacking our land and our ships. If not for them, the hin of Shoun, maybe the hin in all of Luiren, would be wracked with thirst and would have had their crops fail. If not for their mercy, the hin of Duvik’s Pass would be dead, or worse, at the hands of evil. They smashed the forces that had made the false beacon on the Isle of Quelthir. If not for them, our ships, our livelihood, would be at the bottom of the seas. Do you think you could have accomplished a fraction of what they have done? Without their aid, Shoun and Duvik’s Pass would have been lost to us."
Weninda’s voice rises. "Who are you to judge their actions?" Hudkin steps back before the controlled fury of the priestess’ words. "No, Hudkin, they have not given us much. They have given us everything!" Fear is painted clearly on Hudkin’s face. He knew that he had overstepped his authority. Stammering his apologies to Weninda, she turns her back on him.
Her anger vanishes as she addresses the party. With a chuckle, she says, "I tend to forget myself on occasion. My apologies." Over her shoulder, you can see Hudkin staring at you, his eyes full of hatred. Turning on his heel, he pushes his way through the crowd. Then Weninda turns serious again. "The honour we have placed upon you is a sacred one. Please do not forget that and carry yourselves with integrity. Yondalla guard you." Bowing to the party, she calls over several priests and begins sending them on errands.
As if this were a signal, platters of food and pitchers of drink are brought out and placed on tables all around. The crowd cheers again as they begin to eat and drink in celebration.
The party decides to join a caravan that skirts the Mortik Swamp and is going to Beluar and then on to Shoun so that they can investigate the Fallen Angel and then go on to help the Ghost Hin.
The group sets about oufitting themselves. The region is known to be highly aquatic and swampy, so the group selects appropriate items to help deal with the hostile environment.
The team will take on the role of "outriders" for a caravan.
Leeloo makes a charitable donation to the Church of Yondalla. The priestess blesses her and embues Leeloo's necklace with a messaging enchantment. She promises to "keep in touch". The priestess assures Leeloo that the mayor is grumpy but harmless.
Norrin is introduced to Leeloo. An agreement of apprenticeship is made.
Lady A inquires into the nature of previous attacks.
The team, on horses, moves to the front of the caravan.
After leaving Krenalir on your way to Luiren
You leave Krenalir’s citrus orchards behind you as you enter more rugged terrain. You crest a hill and look down - to the south of you is the ocean, to the north, Mortik Swamp. As you begin your ascent, movement within Mortik Swamp catches your eye. Lumbering out of the swamp, a large group of merrow (a dozen aquatic ogres) and scrags (a dozen aquatic trolls) push their way through the trees and head at an angle away from your position towards a more hilly area by the road. They shield their eyes from the light, as if it caused them some discomfort.
The ogres and trolls appear to be setting an ambush. The group considers options: hold the caravan, utilize game trails to ambush and/or scout the monsters, or have the caravan backtrack and postpone plans. The group moves into a position to assess the ogres and trolls, moving to higher ground. There is evidence of large creature movement between the swamp, the path and the trail. The group determines that these creatures must have been advised of the caravans arrival: evidence of betrayal, but from who?
The creatures are in the forest, not an environment suitable for aquatic creatures, they are likely in a weakened state. Darkness emerges, the group decides it will camp, and plan to attack the creatures in daylight.
After taking a game trail to avoid a large ambush of aquatic trolls and aquatic ogres from Mortik Swamp
It is late in the evening, the end of a long day's travel. A little off the path to the east is a small deserted glen sheltered by trees and bushes, with a brook running nearby. This appears to be a perfect camp site.
Guards are posted for the watch.
Beside the stream, Irrstra finds what looks like a human skeleton, badly dismembered and several weeks old. The clothes are in shreds, but not far from the skeleton is a half-hidden leather satchel. In the dim light, a scatter of silvery coins is visible, and the remnants of a war hammer that looks as though lightning had struck it several times.
Inside the satchel is a book of spells, filled with ancient and powerfull spells, used by the most powerfull of wizards. The book is emblazoned with a sword icon. Clint's investigation of the book stuns him! The group investigates the scene around the skeleton. Lady A's investigation stuns her as well. The book is put aside to review in the morning. The party goes back to sleep. Even the watch falls asleep...
You see the sword on the book's cover rise up in midair and swell to full size. A voice emanates from the sword:
"Hear now the voice of Lamnian, who in his foolishness came to lay hands on the Book of Blood and was doomed."
"Dylihos of Waterdeep it was who created the Curse of the Shimmering Wrath to defend the Focus of Eryhil'n, where magic creation is dangerously simplified. He had discovered the Focus and how to use it by working in conjunction with his associate, Agrackan Akariias, and he thought they were agreed that it should be defended against unwise use. But Dylihos' reckoning was flawed, for he did not understand the ambitions of Agrackan."
Agrackan drugged Dylihos in an unguarded moment and took Dylihos to the distant citadel of Geryzag, Agrackan's own lair. There, by torture, he drew from Dylihos each of his powerful secrets in turn. Then Agrackan set about to capture his rival's very power. From Dylihos' body would be constructed the terrible Book of Blood. His skin would serve for binding. The crushed powder of his bones would make the stark-white pages. From his blood would be made the ink. Thus, the essence of his magic would be bound into the book. This done, Agrackan planned to return to the Focus and there enchant each page of the book as a permanent scroll of magic, which could be used each day and each day renew itself."
"But Dylihos was not yet dead, and Agrackan in his arrogance boasted of his intentions once too often. With his dying breath, Dylihos summoned all his mystic strength and pronounced the curse of the shimmering wrath (which he had already prepared to guard the Focus itself), that no being should ever touch the Book of Blood and live."
"Agrackan knew it not. He slew Dylihos and completed the book at the Focus as he had planned. But the planar gates had opened. At noon of the day after the book was completed, the first of the mindless entities, a shimmering wrath, appeared and attacked Agrackan. Agrackan destroyed it by his magic. Though he then searched for some clue to the strange creature's origin, he found none."
"On the second day, at noon, two wraths arrived and were destroyed as the first had been. On the third day, four came. On the fourth day, sixteen."
"Desperate, then, Agrackan cast about for the source of the wraths' summoning and discovered that it was the Book of Blood itself! He thus learned of the doom Dylihos had prepared for him. Before the power of that doom, Agrackan was helpless. On the fifth day, 256 wraths came. He did not see the sixth day."
"A thief took the book from abandoned Geryzag, whence Agrackan's fear-stricken servants had already fled. SInce that day, any who have touched the book have suffered Agrackan's fate."
"Yet there is hope, for I have discerned the end of the curse and I place this quest upon you. Go to the Vale of Yvvivor, below the crest of Mount Yvvivor, within two nights before or after the full moon. There find the Focus of Eryhil'n. Once you have reached that place, lay the book within the Focus and pronounce backward the name of the man who made it: Agrackan's it is; Nakcarga's it shall not be! In that moment, the book shall be destroyed, and the curse shall be removed from you and placed within the Focus, so that anyone who comes to the Focus after you will suffer the curse."
"Pray, when you hear these words, that the Vale is close and the full moon is at hand - as it was not for me. Pray that those who have borne this curse and this quest before you have carried the book within reach of your goal at a time propitious for your survival."
"This much aid I can give you: Ask, 'Where is the Focus?' and the Sword of Lamnian will point your way. If mage you may be, know that the sword is part of medalion set upon the cover of the book and bears the enchantment Mordenkainen's Sword."
When you round the tip of Mount Yvvivor and the ruins on its flank are in sight, read the blank page in the center of the book and follow the instructions thereon."
"Go! Delay not! And may the gods be your friends."
The next morning, our heroes discover that they have all had the same dream. Norrin, Leeloo and Rath point out that they have not touched the cursed Book of Blood so maybe they are not cursed like the others. Just whose idea was it anyway to touch that stupid book.
The group decides they better heed the warning, and consult the emblem to find the way to the focus. It tells them they need to go further inland, towards Dambrath.
Roryn does not detect any evil emmanating from the book.
The team moves towards the site of a bombed dwarven settlement. There is significant climbing involved. Lady A experiments with using the book, and is able to cast a spell to give herself the power of flight. She flies, with no ill effects. The spell disappears from the page inside the book.
Lady A flies around the area to scout ahead. Scanning the immediate area below, she spots four half-drow on horseback. Lady A returns to the group, and the team marches on through dense vegetation towards their destination.
At high noon, a shimmering wrath appears, just as the dream predicted.
Lady A unleashes a lightning bolt at the creature, to no effect.
Leeloo is attacked by the creature and gets hit by some sort of electrical attack.
Leeloo initiates her protective wards on those nearby. Then both clerics attempt to turn the wrath, but fail to have an effect.
Irrstra covers her crossbow bolts with oil to make them magical in nature.
Rath attacks and hits, but is also electrocuted for his trouble.
Clint attacks with his magic greatsword, cutting the creature into two halves, which then fade away to nothingness.
The group determines that the shimmering wrath is a creature from the negative energy plane.
The group sets out in a marching order that has proved to be tactically proficient in the past. Consulting the sword icon once again, the group moves up yet another hill.
Irrstra hears an unrecognizable language up ahead and notifies the group. A large dwarven-carved menhir of basalt is covered in dwarven runes. The group continues to quickly march forward to the focus, hoping they will survive and have time to return and inspect this ancient monolith more closely.
Suddenly, a half-drow raiding party attack from horseback. The leader shouts orders at the other five soldiers. The raiding party leaves behind a halfling prisoner as they charge.
Irrstra, Roryn and Rath are attacked. Irrstra kills Rath's attacker, but Irrstra and Roryn are hit by the raiders lances.
The leader of the half-drow is just shouting out commands to the others. Irrstra deciphers the language and learns that there is a threat to the fallen halfling. Irrstra attacks using her hand crossbow and hits the leader.
Clint moves swiftly, despite the bad back, and kills one of the horsemen.
Norrin heals Roryn. Roryn attacks and hits and kills another of the horsemen, but misses another as he cleaves through the air.
Lady A makes an 80 foot run for the half-drow leader.
Leeloo blasts and kills another rider with acid/eldritch energy.
The half-drow leader flees, flinging his dagger at the halfling prisoner as he rides by.
Irrstra attacks with her crossbow and hits another retreating half-drow rider.
Clint hops onto a riderless steed, and starts to chase the half-drow leader on horseback.
Norrin makes a run towards the fallen halfling prisoner, but is still out of reach.
Roryn runs in the direction of the half-drow leader's retreat.
Lady A follows Norrin to the halfling prisoner, and does her best to reassure him.
The half-drow leader spurs on his steed and gains a significant lead, being 170 feet ahead.
Irrstra moves forward to a defensive position in front of the halfling prisoner.
Clint dismounts, and grabs his longbow, taking carefull aim at the cowardly retreating figure. His arrow lands true, injuring the half-drow leader further.
Norrin reaches the halfling prisoner.
Rath's bow attack is not as accurate as Clint's. Actually it was nowhere close, and missed by a wide berth.
Roryn stops by the halfling prisoner, and does his best to heal him. Lady A also provides comfort and healing and removes the prisoner's gag. The poor soul appears to be out his mind, showing signs of significant torture and trauma.