OH ZENITH, WHERE ART THOU?

A thank you to Mansir for writing about 95% of what you are about to read.

"I imagine we’ll spend the next couple of hours sorting through these goods. That was an ingenious system you set up for destroying the half kuo-toa and half dragon spawn in the pool. I'm glad we have a pause in the action!"

Churchkey praised Barret for his creative use of spear fishing and grappling hook handling (a grappling hook, I might add, that becomes very handy later) and then the paladin took a moment to catch his breath.

The party was miffed. No I mean really miffed. Visions of grandeur of carrying a giant head of a dragon into the cauldron would have been amazing to say the least, but it seemed to be fleeting now. That was their second drake they'd encountered and let escape. Moral was low, and a lot of party members disconcerted.

The Vanguard was recently joined by Shensen, a Drow elf druid and her two cohorts, Falio and Fellion and after gathering up a mass of treasure from the giant beast that had turned tail, and winked out of existence; the party had a quick huddle.

A lot of folks wanted to rest and replenish their resources, not quite certain of what lay ahead, nor how long it would take to complete their final objective of trying to find Splintershield.

Shensen, however, brought up the dangerous possibility the kuo toa would be back and probably in a much greater quantity. They've been known to always try and reclaim their territories, and could make a return as soon as the very next day. The party pressed on. They were low on resources, and still had entire areas of the underdark unexplored.

They started with some large double doors that they left untouched near the intersection where they fought the black dragon. Barret checked for traps, and Churchkey concentrated to see if anything unholy awaited them on the other side.

Convinced it was safe, the Vanguard pressed open the doors that led into a room with an altar and a few statues inside. The statues appeared to be courageous kuo-toa figures struck in various poses. Some were crouching holding a spear and shield; others were wielding swords and nets. All of them had a noticeable grievous wound on them.

The altar had two heavy incense burners, and a large crab claw jutting up from the middle of it.

Barret lobbed his spear at a statue that crashed off its pedestal and lay there, unmoving. Then the spear magically reappeared in his hand.

Churchkey decided it was secure to step in, and the floor vanished beneath his feet.

He luckily avoided the spikes waiting at the bottom, save for some scratches on his armor, but realized he wasn't alone in the large pit.

Transparent shadows swirled and came into shape. A floating hooded figure reached out an incorporeal hand to try and drain the very soul of the paladin.

The party dropped a rope, and valiantly tried to get Churchkey out of harms way.

Bolgrim pushed himself forward, sneered at the wraith, and lit up the pit in a bright beam of light, instantly obliterating the undead spirit.

After getting Churchkey out, Barret reset the trap and stabilized it so the party could walk safely into the room.

Donner and Bolgrim went to the altar in the back, and the monk decided the burners, cast of gold, and would be worth something. Bolgrim decided the crab claw alter had to go and a few strokes from his hammer toppled the altar, and probably awoke the rest of the denizens in the underdark.

Pepper realized the statues were stuffed, and they were heroes. One part of the room had the male warriors and the other parts were females who had died giving birth to the abominations they'd encountered before. All were considered honored heroes to the Kuo toa.

The party decided to head to the next area. After returning to the earlier chamber with the massive statue and tiered floors, they climbed some stairs to the next area. Pepper figured out a drawbridge mechanism that allowed the Vanguard to get across to the double doors.

After carefully proceeding inward, the party turned left and noticed fragments and debris littering the floor in this lozenge shaped room (yes, lozenge is a shape, sort of pill like). Shensen peered into the room trying to discern if anything else was stirring about. Barret started to cautiously sweep the floor as he started to clear a path to another door. The party waited patiently as the rogue slowly accessed the door. Silently he peered inside the chamber.

Zenith stood motionless atop his throne of patched flesh. He had a large dwarven war axe within reach, and in his right hand he clutched a glowing spherical object. With one fluid motion, the seemingly slow dwarf pitched the orb. It shattered and he was soon lunging towards the door near Barret.

Barret simply closed the door.

Pepper died.

The figure appeared to the Vanguard only after mortally wounding Pepper in the back ranks. He lay motionless on the floor, with a kuo toa assassin deftly withdrawing his poison encrusted blade.

Meanwhile, Barret and the Drow elf druid, attempted to stop the now raging dwarf from leaving his confines. Barret stopped the handles with his grappling hook (told ya!); while Shensen pushed against the door with whatever strength she could muster. A large axe thudded against the door, which was starting to slowly burst.

Connel swiftly healed the seemingly lifeless Pepper who stirred wearily from the brink of death. The Vangaurd, along with Fellion and Fario, surrounded the killer kuo toa and blocked off any attempts for it to escape.

Nearby the blade of the war axe came down heavily and nearly destroyed the grappling hook to which Barret responded by interleaving a crowbar into the handles. The druid kept bracing herself against the failing door.

The assassin tumbled from the side of the wall, and amazingly landed away from the pursuers attempting to run out the way the Vanguard came in. The party quickly surrounded the kuo toa and again it tried to escape. But try as it might, the assassin couldn’t outrun the monk or the barbarian. Donner unleashed some punches, but Connel simply eviscerated the frog man with the strength of Kord and his massive sword.

Again the war axe cleaved down into the growing fissure in the door. The crow bar looked like it was about the finally be demolished. Barret fired his hand crossbow in retaliation through the gap, landing a bolt into Zenith, who was hit but seemingly impervious.

“We could use some help over here!” barked Barret, as he ascended effortlessly with the aid of his boots, arranging himself over the failing doorway. Shensen started casting a spell to call upon some assistance. The Vanguard hustled over as the doorway collapsed.

Above the doorway, Zenith Splintershield’s father appeared soothingly speaking, “You don’t want to do this.” Barret’s use of his cap of disguise seemed to momentarily faze the raging dwarf. He said nothing for a quick moment, and then pressed his onslaught.

Churchkey felt the dwarf wasn’t alone, but whatever was in the room with the dwarf, was hidden to the naked eye of the Vanguard. Some party members tried to go in and surround Zenith, but were stopped by invisible foes near the dwarf. Arrows flung from their bow, swords clashed against metal armor, and protection and healing spells went off. The infamous summoned jaguar made a return and magically appeared behind Zenith. Slowly the Vanguard got into the room, and surrounded the dwarf. There were bodies hanging from chains in the ceiling and a large circular symbol radiating magic in the middle of the room. Unseen stalkers wisped about and hindered the party.

Combat ensued and the invisible stalkers were slowly vanquished and the party started to press the advantage.

Zenith was wreaking havoc in his vicinity, dropping the jaguar effortlessly and not seeming himself, was condemning the party while unleashing terrifying blows to the surrounding party members. As folks mustered around, trying to press for a flank or move out of harms way, his war axe spun around and mortally caught Fario, who crumpled to the floor struck in such a way that no healing or bandage would save him.

Finally, Zenith collapsed. His eyes fluttered to awareness. He was aware of his surroundings, but seemingly not himself. His voice was low and monotone, nonthreatening yet uncaring at the same time. Churchkey tried to make the defeated dwarf confess about the use of his surroundings. Pepper cast a spell to help safeguard the body of the fallen Fario.

The Vanguard learned there was a portal in the room, where Zenith was to take the party to kill them. Not certain where exactly it went and seeing as the party was anxious to leave, the made their exit to the surface, stopping along the way to grab the two prisoners they encountered near the entrance. Churchkey proclaimed that if any of them try to escape, kill them.

Shensun helped situate a good area to make camp before continuing out into the wilderness and making their way back to the Cauldron. The party went to bed that night, and not long after the first watch, Fellion heard an unnatural sound and shushed the low conversation. The Vanguard was slowly roused from their slumber.

One of the prisoner’s rope bonds lay in an empty spot. Looking up at the ceiling, a large rat was trying to make an escape. The party made quick work of the wererat, and finished sleeping for the night.

The Vanguard arrived at last to the Cauldron. The half orc guards are a common sight and the party has to pay a tax upon reentrance. Also, with the aid of Barret’s hat, the drow elf was easily disguised and could accompany the party. They learn along with the half orc guard regiments that patrol the street, a new face has shown up at the Church of Saint Cuthbert.

The party bathes and return to the Cusp of the Sunrise and claimed their reward. They are greeted by Vhalantru who has graciously put up Celest and the elder Splintershield at his private manor. The Vanguard tries to include the cost of raising Fario... Vhalantru puts in 4,000 of his own cash to aid in the return of their cohort’s life, The rest of the party chip in and gather up enough coinage to raise is dead body.

It doesn't take long to understand what has happened in the few weeks since the Vanguard left on their journey. Old copies of the Broadsides dot the sides of buildings and...well... the attitude of the population is quite prominent. The merchant class is furious at the tax rates. Embril is no longer in Cauldron (Away doing work for WeeJas herself). Reconstruction of the poor districts is improving but the wealthy are taking it on the jaw in regard to import and export costs. The Stormblades are not in town but are out on some mission by the new acting head of the church of St. Cuthbert.

The party begins some down-time, training, resting and drinking in the local news.

It is here the Vanguard, now seemingly more powerful than before, decide where to venture next.

Did someone say Storamere?

After a long night of healing and regaining spells the party feels much better, especially with the aid of their new companions. Shensen and Churchkey spend about 30 minutes talking in private about who knows what. Otherwise the two young ½ elves spend their time licking their own wounds and chatting up Fharlanghn. At this the party is offered to join their group and thus makes a new prestige class open to everyone (The Pathwarden).

The night goes by pretty uneventfully and with little to no sounds emanating from the rest of the temple or rooms. After a little discussion it is decided that even though the prisoners have all said that Splintershield is located up that the party does not want to be flanked. Especially by a group as challenging as the Kua-toa. So, through the bottom double doors they go.

After opening the doors and looking down a long corridor that has a four way intersection located 25 feet away, the party makes a long and patient walk down the corridor following the ever watchful eyes of Barrett. No traps but the intersection leads to ever-increasing curiosity. To one side there are obviously different chambers closed off by curtains. To the other side a large room with a stairwell leading up into the darkness. The room is also covered with a large pool of water.

Ahead is a set of large double doors.

Setting up a guard post facing the open room with a majority of the party the rest of the party makes their way to the curtained off chambers. With a prodigious use of “detect evil” Churchkey eventually notes that the chamber at the end of the hall has a figure in it. Pepper, Barrett, and Churchkey spring into action and begin combat with a wicked spear wielding Kua-Toa. Immediately it becomes apparent that his spear is quite magical and that this is no ordinary amphibious pugilist.

A few rounds later a spear comes hurling out of the water towards the guards at the intersection. The rest of the party springs into action. Some draw swords others bows but all come charging the two Kua-toa in the water.

Splashing into the water goes Donner and Connel, followed closely by the duo-sword weilding Fario and Fellian takes out a bow. Bolgrim charges to the edge of the water. It is soon realized that there is more than just these guards inhabiting the water. Two swarms of bizarre black tadpoles nip and bite at the legs of those in the water causing extreme damage by both their biting and acid.

It is also noted that there is a mettle grate/portcullis that descends into the water. At one point Donner leaps a skinny portion of the water and looks/listens at the grate.... he hears and sees more kua-toa coming. Donner leaps to the other side of the pool and waits next to the portcullis to attack anything that come out.

Unfortunately, the Kua-toa spearman is taking way more time than expected. No one is being really wounded but their are a lot of nicks and cuts. However, the spearman is obviously an accomplished warrior.

The combat against the two warriors in the pool is almost finished when a white hot flash of lightening arcs out from behind the portcullis. Fellian is staggered back and the portcullis opens.

Charging out of the portcullis are some of the heavily armored clerics. The team jumps into action and a deadly combat ensues.

Meanwhile, Churchkey, Barrett and Pepper have felled the Spearman. Quickly
Barrett picks up the obviously magical spear. When they hear what turns out to be a second electrical strike. The trio very quickly rushes back to the rest of the party.

Here they jump into the action. They see the clerics and a number of female kuo-toa that have now joined the fray. Rounds of combat go by and the party is making strong headway. When they hear a very loud crash of doors being kicked open at the top of the stairwell that extends into the darkness. Shensen (the only one who’s dark vision is strong enough to see the top of the stairs) yells, “Run! Dragon!”

The party makes dutiful and rapid retreat to the intersection. Churchkey summons his horse while others take up positions. The dragon charges down the stairs and across the water causing a torrent of water to splash onto the once dry stonework. The size and ferocity of the Black Dragon causes some to falter in their actions but the overwhelming aura of Churchkey keeps people from fleeing.

Churchkey mounts the horse and has a lance in hand, Connell, Shensen and Bolgrim ready themselves. Meanwhile Barrett and Fario are on either side of the four way intersection with readied actions. At this a gout of acid brings pain and suffering to those in the corridor.

The Dragon makes a charge towards Churchkey. At this, those on the opposing sides of the intersection spring into action. Donner makes a great use of his spring attack by leaping across the intersection and bonking the wyrme on his way by. Others use bows and yet other engage in hand-to-hand.

The Beast takes large painful chunks of flesh from members of the party and acid sprays across the adventurers. Then Shensen is able to summon her pet jaguar behind the dragon giving the rogues a hayday for damage and ease to attack. Finally the dragon totally bloodied makes a rapid move backwards overrunning the jaguar. The party charges after the dragon. The dragon on his last legs is able to make it up the stairs and cast a spell. He then winks out of existance.

Both buzzed by how close they were to defeating the dragon and exhausted by the damage they sustained the party makes their way into the dragons den and spends the next couple hours sorting through goods and setting up a system to destroy the ½ kuo-toa/ ½ black dragon spawn.

It is here the we have paused the action.

Stay tuned for more adventures at Bill and Kelseys.

A Return from Intermission (2/3/08)

So after we returned from the proverbial bathroom and collected another beer from the fridge [burp] we continue in mid action......

The winged she demon having nearly run out of arrows makes one last flyby and again makes Churchkey her target. she lands up on one of the mettle catwalks obscured from view.

Barrett, using his spider climb tries to use the statue as cover and climbs so he is level with the winged bringer of death.

Bolgrim helps bring Churchkey from the throngs of death via the power of Pelor.

Connel also looking like a sieve stays under the protection of the stone alter and heals himself.

Churchkey swaps weapons and barks a command for the troops to gather together.

Pepper helps in the healing of churchkey

Donner gathers around the crowd.

At this the Winged beast launches herself off the catwalk with sword in hand. She charges Churchkey. At this the party begins a massive cooperative siege against the winged demon. It takes close to full minutes of combat but finally she falls to her death.

At this the party takes a look around the carnage. Bolgrim holds up the wand of healing that has expelled nearly 20 charges in almost as many rounds.... smoke emanates from the wand. Donner guards against one of the locked doors located behind the statue.

While the group begins collecting items the healing commences.

A couple of minutes later Churchkey announces that friends are on their way. About a minute later the door Donner is at opens and Donner quickly holds the door closed. Some very, very large Kua-Toa in full armor is on the other side of the door. The party prepares and Churchkey replies with an added little message in his head... "hurry".

While party members get into place, Barrett behind Donner holding the door and Bolgrim saying a prayer of blessings to the party, when the second door opens revealing a Duegar. A quick bolt from Peppers crossbow buries itself into the Duegars chest. Churchkey charges and removes fells the underdark dwarf.

Meanwhile when the Kua-Toa pulls mightily on the door, Donner lets go of the door and steps around the corner. The Kua-Toa stumbles back but very quickly was able to gain composer and casts a spell at Barrett who feels the stinging pain of his muscles atrophying leaving him weak.

Connell, Churchkey, Pepper and Bolgrim charge into the room past the Duegar. The room is about 2-3 feet deep with clear water. Sloshing through the water they make it to the heavily armored and magically buffed Priest.

Donner jumps into the room in front of Barrett and the party surrounds this creature. The Kua-toa prooves to not only be amazing difficult to hit, but taking 52 hp from Churchkey the first round gave everyone a moment to pause.

Entering the Temple room from the door under the statue comes the aid Churchkey was talking about. The Kua-Toa then casts a spell and the water level in the room expands with in seconds to be 10' deep. The water pressure pushes the doors closed with a loud and wet CRASH.

Donner swims to the door and tries in vein to pry open the door. Barrett pulls out a crowbar trying to damage the locking mechanism to at least create a leak of some kind. The rest of the party continues to try and fight a slow motion battle underwater.

Charging up the steps are two 1/2 elves who the party has not seen in nearly 7 months lead by Shensen, the beguiling Drow Monk/Druid rescued from the Lucky Monkey.

The two 1/2 elves turn to look at the Druid with a look of... what now? Shensen casts a spell and in moments the door that Barrett is hammering on begins to turn color and start bowing out as the stone begins to soften and turn to mud. Quickly the 1/2 elves also begin to aid Barrett as they realize that a good chunk of the wall also turns to mud. Moments later the slowmotion, underwater combat comes to a close as the water level pours from the room knocking Barrett and one of the 1/2 elves prone and washing them back 5 feet.

At this a combined effort of everyone begins attacking the Kua-Toa. Concentrating once again on Churchkey, it takes Bolgrim, Pepper and at times Connell's healing to keep him alive.

Shensen pulls out a scroll and with that some of the magical enhancements are notably missing from the parties foe. This bolsters the parties moral.

Another 30 seconds of combat goes by. Connel is felled and revived but otherwise healing and wounds are being traded back and forth. When another of the Kua-Toas's buffs is no longer active. At this it is inevitable the party will bring down their foe, but at what cost.

Yet another 30 seconds later, the Koa-Toa falls with a heavy and loud thud. The once clear water is now the breading ground of bacteria and the color of crimson.

We begin next session with an exhausted, bloody, wet, lacking of resources and pleasantly relieved... I mean, what else could be in this unholy underdark temple?

churchkey the yo-yo hitpoint boy (recap 12/30/07)

The party gingerly heads up the steps towards the fish mouth. A few party members note some Kua-toa hiding behind the crenelations around the eyes.

As the party begins their approach four bolts shatter against armor and stone. A number of party members charge into the mouth of the giant fish. Meanwhile, Barrett activates his magic slippers and climbs up to the eyes surprising the Kua-toa. The Kua-toa prove to be more difficult than one would expect, but Barrett still makes relatively short work of these two.

In the foyer, Churchkey pulls back a curtain noting four more Kua-toa preparing themselves for battle. The party launches themselves into the fray. It is noted that a sticky slime encompasses their amphibian bodies and oozes over their shields. This combat also poves to be more difficult than previously thought, but in the end the group destroys the remains of the Kua-Toa.

From here the party licks some of its wounds. Bolgrim listens at the double doors and can just barely hear some kind of rhythmic croaking. Meanwhile Donner heads over to the portcullis. There is a lever to his left and through the portcullis he can see four doors that look very much like prison doors made of mettle mesh woven together making 1 inch holes.

Churchkey and Barrett head upstairs to an armory. Here they mutilate and destroy many, many spears and other weapons.

From here, after taking some time to disable the portcullis mechanism, they walk in and find themselves with two prisoners. One is a human and the other is a halfling. They both claim the other to be lairs. They seem to dislike each other immensely. After a bit of talking with each individually so that the other can not listen in the deduce the following:

• Cherrit the Halfling is from Cauldron... in fact Barrett recognizes him but can't place him.
• Cherrit says he has been locked up for some time and is also looking for Splintershield.
• Cherrit claims he used to work with Splintershield but abandoned him when he wanted to leave the Malachite Fortress to go hunting those in the Underdark.
• Says the place is a maze
• Can't go anywhere without going through the central chamber
• Says Whiteeyes was placed here just a few days ago as a Kua-Toan Spy.
• Cherrit detects evil
  
• White eyes is a human who was doing a bit of pilfering and got lost in this place
• White eyes said he saw a dwarf sitting in a throne someplace upstairs
• White eyes says its near impossible to get there.
• There is a torturer just down the stairs
• White eyes detects evil
  

After some private discussion out of the room the party decides to go down the stairs and at least take care of the torturer. During this conversation, Donner is called by Cherrit. The two have a short conversation together.

the party makes their way down the stairs and then down a dark corridor that slopes down. Up ahead they can see the glow of a brazier giving dim lite to a room. The room has water around 3-4 feet deep. The party moves to the edge of the water and then Barrett climbs on the walls and then the ceiling into the room.

At this a creature rises from the water. Its shape and demeanor are so horrifying that Barrett is terrified and can't get himself to move. A few member of the Vanguard try to move and make their way into the room but then this creature easily cuts through the water and swats at Barrett like a pinata. Bolgrim boldly moves into the room and very deftly calls upon the power of Pelor. Light leaks out of the soaking bandages and with the sound of a breaking suction cup wet bandages are flung wildly around the room.

There is a passage that continues on but the party decides to go back. They do some more research on the double doors that Bolgrim heard the croaking. After some searching a magical ward is found. Pepper examines it more closely and finds that it is a great ward. With that the party steps back and Barrett goes for it. He attempts and fails.. but not enough to set it off. They opt not to try again and hammer spear heads under the door to jam it closed.

The party makes their way back through the muck of the torturer room and end up at a dead end hallway. They easily find the secret door and open it. The door opens under some kind ceiling supported by a great number of pillars and a stairway leading up to it. The sheltered section is part of some greater room that is surrounded by two theirs of catwalks. The room is Huge... both tall and length x width.

The sounds of chanting are noticeable and right above their heads. They have a plan of action. The paladin will have "silence" cast upon his light pendent and ride on the back of Barrett. This should keep the chanters quiet. Donner and Connell are to take care of any guards on the catwalks.

Just before they put the plan into action, there is a sound of some kind. There is a temporary pause and then a totally different chant is heard. The party sees a winged woman with sinewy line of fire always dancing around her pulling out her bow.

At this the party jumps into action.

To make a long story short. The Clerics chanting are amazing hard to hit. The woman can shoot her bow four times a round and does a devastating large amount of damage. Churchkey is being honed in by the winged woman and Bolgrim is doing everything at his disposal to keep Churchkey alive. His Hp are going up and down each round with frightening frequency. Churchkey drops but is brought back to consciousness.

Donner and Connell take care of the soldiers on the catwalk. Donner goes to help Pepper who is being attacked by one of the clerics and Connell tries to distract the winged woman. It works and for two rounds Connell takes a beating that puts him in the barely alive category.

Finally the four clerics are felled leaving only the winged woman. Her quiver is almost empty... Churchkey and Connell look like they are barely holding on. Bolgrim's wand of healing is smoking from all the uses and pepper is beginning to run out of spells.

It is hear that we left our desperate, yet heroic adventurers.

The Spintershield name rests on your success.

You see a Hydra....... (update 12/16/07)

The party gathers at the pit of seven jaws.

They peer down into the darkness. They can barely see the bottom of this perfectly carved pit. the outside walls have a corrugated mettle stairwell. Each wall drops down 15 feet. By the time one descends each wall you would have reached the bottom of the pit 60 feet below.

The party tentatively moves down the stairwell. Donner making his way first due to his dexterity and speed. About 3/4 of the way down rushing out of a dark fisher in the side of the cave comes a seven headed hydra. The breath emitting from its heads are so terrifyingly cold that Donner immediately drops to near unconsciousness.

The rest of the party charges in. The heads of the hydra snap and blood flows freely. Pepper uses fire rays aimed at the heads trying desperately to rid this foul creature of at least one of its attacks.

Other party members purposely drop off the edge of the stairs to save their monk friend. Bolgrim becomes a healing fiend. All energy goes into keeping people up and alive. The rest of the party wounded from gnashing teeth, and the breath weapons does what they can to damage this thing. Unfortunately, wounds heal so quickly each round that it is astounding. Yet the damage being imparted on the Hydra are adding up faster than it can heal.

Conell does a heroic attack and luckily severs a head from the creature. Peppers fire is damaging different heads causing another to collapse and go limp on the stalk of the creature. The Vanguard is terribly wounded and spells are nearly depleted. Every member of the party is terribly wounded when the final blow is laid upon the creature.

The Vanguard chooses to leave the hydra in the fissure blocking any creatures from coming from the underdark to the surface. However, they do cut off many chunks of meat and cook pounds of it to help restock a few days of supplies.

That night they make camp at the bottom of the pit. From there they set up watch and hopefully regain what they can from the days trials and tribulations. While on watch, Barrett sees the silhouette of a massive human chatting to itself and sniffing loudly. It takes a tentative step onto the stairwell. The stairs put up a loud grunt of strain.

At this Barrett quietly wakes up the rest of the party. As he is quietly waking the party those awake hear the bark of an order and then this massive wolf taking orders from this huge "person". A few rounds of rapid preparation and the wolf is bounding down the stairwell.

Churchkey and the wolf go head to head. The wolf throws Churchkey to the ground. Conell charges up the stairs to aid Churchkey taking a swing at the hound. Others move into key positions and shoot at the giant on the stairs. Bolgrim uses this opportunity to make a magical mace attack the giant whacking at it and drawing blood. At this a 30 pound rock comes rocketing toward Connell. People hear a sickening crunch and Connell is moans. He luckily resists the take down of the wolf but is still severely bloodied by the thing.

Attacks begin to concentrate on the wolf. Connell tries one more round of combat but makes his way off the side of the stairs. Bolgrim boosts Connell with shield other. At this, it is Donner's turn. He is also able to resist the wolfs take-down but not the savagery of its bite. Nor the devastation of the boulder the crashes into the side of his head.

The wolf lasts for no more than a few more seconds and the Vanguard pushes their bodies against the walls protecting themselves from the rain of stone from above.

The Giant charges down the stairs. The stairs drop loads of sand and gravel as the weight of the creatures causes them to shutter.

The giants club is devastating. It can't seem to miss and tosses the brave warriors about. Donner is knocked almost to nothing. Connell in his attempt is tragically beaten but Bolgrim magically takes half the damage. Bolgrim swallows hard at the devastation of what Conell is taking.

Healing, and a strategic balance of trying to surround the giant goes into play. It takes a bit which causes Conell and Bolgrim to suffer another round of terrifying pain. But then all are in place. Churchkey swings swiftly and accurately cutting deep into the back of its legs. Barretts chain lacerating its arms and torso. Donner darts in and out distracting the giant and damaging him at the same time. Beams of destruction emanate from peppers hand and healing is being dispensed without prescription or doctors order from Bolgrim.

The giant finally falls. That next morning the party is stiff and sore. They are tired yet refreshed from their recent success. Two mighty foes felled by their bravery and skill. They have learned a lot and what they have learned they are now putting to practice.

Getting a late start to the day, they remove the hydra corps and make their way into the fissure. The fissure opens up into a slanted cave that heads deep into the mountains. the system is huge. Ceilings are high and cavern are wide. At times there are shafts that dart off in different directions.

After about a 1/4 of a mile they run into what looks like a well used tributary cavern. Definitely not the major rout, but used recently. They do some investigating but realize there is nothing of interest down the corridor.

A bit later they enter a larger cavern. Other exits jut off from this 40 foot wide cavern when out of the darkness their is a flash and three of the Vanguard are jolted by the power of the electric charge. They draw weapons and jump to action. They see a partial humanoid/spider levitating into the air and a mass of webs entangles the group.

Churchkey is altogether out of the web and attempts to destroy the creature but can not reach it. Bolgrom, stuck, casts a freedom of movement and quickly exits the web. Others slowly make their way towards safety. But the going is tremendously difficult and slow.

With only two of the Vanguard to stop this strange and revolting hybrid, Bolgrim dowses the creature in a searing light. With a wave of the creatures hand, it commands Churchkey to leave the cavern. Churchkey feels a subtle want to leave but brushes it off and gives a crass but arguably appropriate response to the creature. Bolgrim again dowses the creature in the light of Pelor.

At this the rest of the Vanguard is slowly escaping the webbing. The creature jolts both Bolgrim and Churchkey with another bolt of lighting and rises another 20 feet higher. The rest of the party attacks and without much trouble, it comes crashing down violently to the cavern floor.

After a bit of searching the party heals up and continues down the cavern system. They can feel the humidity rising and the dirt underfoot is damp and well churned. The walls of the cavern are wet and long ribbons of calcium deposits decorate the walls.

The party then looks down 200 feet at a briny phosphorescent lake. It must be at least 1/2 a mile across. On the opposite side there is a strange building with odd angles and organic structures. It has a stairwell rising out of the briny bottom and into a giant mouth, making the entrance to some large building that looks like a giant prehistoric amphibian of some kind.

The group makes their way slowly down the switchback of stairs that take them to the bottom of this cavern. The lake is murky and a the water warm, making a mist cover the lake.

Peering over the lake at the structure there is no evidence of life, nor are their any boats on this side of the lake. A few moments pass when out of mist a huge canoe paddled by large toad like creature expertly parks the boat. He then croaks something and sits on his haunches. Unlike the picture, he is not holding a weapon, but there is one readily available.

Nervously looking for a clue as to what to do, the party looks at each other. Conell then takes the plunge and steps into the canoe. The unstable boat wobbles and bobs but does not tip. Churchkey raises his hand sliding his fingers together in the gesture of money. Conell mentions the name of Zenith. It croaks some unintelligible response to Conell, that no one can understand but Bolgrim was able to hear the word Blipdoolpoolp contained within his words.

At this the Kua-Toa expertly poles the canoe and then switches to a paddle. The 6-10 minute journey is silent. The canoe is tippy and those in armor are more than nervous. As they get closer to the stairs that lead out of the water the Kua-Toa switches back to a pole and saddles the canoe sideways into the stairwell.

He anchors the Canoe and silently leaps into the water with only his huge eyes exposed above the water. He watches the party as they say their thanks and begin making their way into the fishes mouth.

NOTE: The wacky stairs are a bit of an artist gone bad. ignore all the crazy stairs with the exception of the main stairs going into the mouth. Otherwise it is pretty accurate.

Umberhulks? Deceit and Dragons? Oh whats the world comming to?

Thanks to the literary prowess of Mansir, we have an update far sooner than expected. Thank you and thanks to your writing abilities! It took no more than a few name additions and a few additional facts for this post to become a reality. Mansir... your so cool you are Bolgrim!


"Found it" Barret grudgedly sneered from the low-lit space.

"That sneaky lil bastard had it the whole time. Cripes, I have no idea how anyone could sleep with those things mucking aboot. The short bugger even had a bed made from webs. Ack!"

After much ballyhooing around the caverns and avoiding horded swarms of small arachnids and other crawly denizens, the party finally returned the remaining wands to the Cauldron. The water there was contained and in time the rain wisped away to a petty mist.

The party had some free time to themselves for a change. Donner went back to work, as did Bolgrim. Churchkey met his leading lady with a newfound fervor. Connel returned to help at the orphanage and was given a hero’s welcome from the children. Pepper spent time at the building site of the new cathedral and in his studies. Barret once again did what Barret does. No one knows for certain, and few are brave enough to question him.

The party learned their aged paladin friend had been traveling to and from the Demon Scar. He remains something of a mystery still, rumors are he has returned a man perhaps tainted? Cursed or not, he remained unavailable until another time.

There was also a noted increase in the number of guards. It turns out the new tax was being used to hire 1/2 Orc mercenary guards. So far they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

They have also been impacted by a whole new tax system: this was brought to the forefront by an issue of the Cauldron Broadsides.


Time passed while the party enjoyed being in the daylight again. Ah, beautiful daylight. Pelor graces us with these glorious days after the rainfall.

Barret has purchased part ownership in a bar.

Everyone went for an afternoon lunch in his newfound establishment. The party gathered to discuss their future plans and newly found wealth over some warm food, when Donner and Bolgrim noticed a distant low echo from... underneath? The water in the glasses rippled faintly.

Donner decided to step out for some air and ease his curiosity. There were the crowds shopping, buying goods from the butcher across the way. Down the street near various storage houses, young kids watched a puppet booth, laughing and lost in the show.

Brick and wood exploded across from the children. Dust billowed into the air and screams ensued as people ran around in utter chaos.

The party quickly sprang into action! Pepper, Churchkey, Bolgrim and Donner went out the front door and was met by panicked mobs of townspeople. Barret vanished out the back, while Connel followed quickly.

The clouds of powder and residue cleared, the large monstrous creature more then the height of two and a half men, swung its massive insect like arm into a corner of a building instantly tearing it down. Mandibles and a shell like hide bristled with extra spikes and nasty bits and protected it from any falling debris. The eyes, not two, but four total gave off a radiating gaze aura. Donner started to babble incoherently. Churchkey valiantly strode up to meet the hulking, dark burnt umber colored menace.

The crowds behave strangely, some running away, others pouncing on each other, yet while others just stood there in utter confusion.

Barret arrived from the shadows and aided Churchkey in trying to bring the beast down. Connel plodding down behind the rogue, had a strange cumpulsion to severely strike down a villager in the way. Spiked chains cracked and light erupted. Swords met tough carapace as half orc guards joined in the fray and screams and yelling continued. Chaos ensued and more buildings were brought to ruin.

Then, the creature plowed straight down into the ground, through solid rock and completely vanished.

The party gathered closer together and tended to the wounded. Connel in a fit of guilt brought the dying man to consciousness and profusely apologized to the villager with the gaping chest wound and promptly healed him. Barret quickly put his ear to the ground.

“I hear it.” He said.

The party and the guards prepared for the monster again. They steadied themselves as the thrumming got louder.

Another explosion erupted from inside the other warehouse, and within seconds the wall was demolished in front of the party. The umber hulk emerged and was quickly beaten. As the body now lay lifeless, the crowds gathered. People were healed and a search inside the warehouse by Barret revealed the ground adorned with sigils. Later it was confirmed the creature had been summoned. No one knew who, but suspicions erupted rumors of a rider leaving town on a horse whose hooves didn’t touch the ground.


Later that night the Vangaurd gathered again at the Slippery Eel. Lady Taskerhill decided to play a show to sooth the masses and bring about some calmness that had befallen the area earlier. Lots of locals and nobility showed up to witness the event.

The party was approached by the lovely Celest and presented an invitation for a future business endeavor. She asked the party to meet her and her business associate at the Cusp of Sunrise, the most upper class establishment in Cauldron.

The party accepted and later went to the meeting hall. The establishment welcomed the party with Celestes' invitation in hand. The drinks were meticulous and food was utterly amazing. Some low stress gambling ensued, but more as a social event. Later the party was directed to a private backroom where their dinner would be served.

The ancient dwarf sat, propped up by pillows. The dwarf seemed proud, yet seemingly fragile all the while. In between gasps of breath, he informed the party of his request. He had three sons that he stubbornly drove away. His wife, unhappy she never was more a part of her offspring’s lives due to his bull headed ways, cursed him on her deathbed. He seemed wracked with pain and struggles everyday while this curse remained. Two of the sons have been found. The third, named “Zenith” has been located in the Underdark.
The city sealed up the current way into the caverns below, but the party learns there may be and opening in a fissure. Celeste and aged dwarf, Davked, tell them of an old hermit... Crazy Jared. He lives atop a peak about 4 days walk north of Cauldron. Find him and you will find an entrance into the Underdark.

With that, the Vangaurd sets out on foot.

After a long hike, the party starts approaching the peak, not entirely certain what to look for. Donner notices a quick bright red flash on the horizon that quickly vanishes, followed by a distant rumble.

Connel and Donner start sprinting ahead of the party, certain whatever they witnessed concerns what they came here for.

Churchkey summoned his mount, and grabbed Pepper and bolted after them. Bolgrim and Barret trodded behind them eager to catch up.

The dragon dove down and spewed scorching flames down atop the old man, then furiously roared past him, and whirled around to approach him again.

The hermit laughed maniacally “You double crossing deal breaking overgrown wyrm snake!”

The flying fire lizard, yelling some unknown tongue, bore down on him and belched out another stream of fire that seemed to dissipate around the old man, who continued laughing as the makeshift terrain around him was enveloped in flames.

Some party members drank hiding potions, others went into a quick stealth approach. However, as the remaining members of the Vanguard came over the cusp of the clearing, the dragon reared his head and roared, “You brought friends?”

“Yes! Yes! My army of knights has finally arrived! Hurray!” yelled the hermit boldly to the drake.

In an awesome display of speed the fire lizard approached the party seemingly ready to incinerate them.

Arrows flew through the air, some making their mark. Churchkey fearlessly called the creature out to face him. The party started to mistakenly convene in a small area as the dragon ripped through them dousing some members in a searing trail of flame, and bellowed past them ready to make another approach.

The hermit was furiously running toward the party.

Churchkey trotted forward, lance in hand, and whirled around taunting the creature,” Face me, you coward!” The creature only continued on its path, now enveloping itself in a blue shimmer. Donner called out for healing, and the rest of the party members readied with arrows at a second attack.

Bolgrim ran up to Donner, infused him with the healing power of Pelor, then declared,” Get the hell away from me!”

The hermit was still running toward the party, getting closer. And he was singing!

The dragon bore down a second time. Arrows found their mark, the monk released some mystic energy, and prayers were said. It released a bellow of fire and singed some more party members, then started to make a strategic withdrawal from the fray.

As the winged menace retreated, the old man yelled out in victory, thanking his newfound knights, and invited him into his glorious kingdom… of scorched rocks and smoking bushes?

With a quick wink and a spoken word, the countryside was seemingly transformed into a huge palace, very luxurious and complete with dining chambers. The party started to ask the old man questions and then the hermit told the most fascinating stories with very animated gestures and amazing detail. After a long and arduous process they finally got some answers.

The Vanguard of the Cauldron received a handmade map of the entrance to the Underdark..."The Pit of the Seven Jaws"

Dun DUN duuuuuuuuuun.

Stay tuned for what happens next...

WWBD (What would Bolgrim do?)

This will be a shorter post than most. Mostly because Bolgrim destroyed somewhere on the order 40 undead creatures over the course of adventuring. So, with that being said lets do a little retelling of this great tale.

First off the Adventurers spend a little time cleaning up after the great ball. Then the party made their way back to their respective homes and slept for a good 9-10 hours. Everyone was totally exhausted.

That morning Anna Taskerhill and Churchkey have a private talk and then take off for Cauldron Lake and begin sandbagging. They have a short interaction with Jenya who they convince to get some sleep.

Other party members run some errands around town and then make their way to help with the flood relief efforts. Conall arrives a bit later than everyone else, but his bowls are now moving at the correct speed.

Barrett does a bit of info gathering and spends some time listening to the theatric reading of the Broadsides and then takes a copy for himself. After reading this document it brings up a lot of issues both political and social.

That evening, at the insistence of a much rested Jenya. Churchkey gathers the party and they set off that evening for the strange ruins to try and gather the last three wands of water control, not to mention the removal of one wickedly tough creature. Anna Taskerhill takes charge of the efforts to build some temporary dikes and help move those citizens who have just lost their homes and businesses.

The party enters the long tunnel from the jungle into the side of the mountain. Not more than a dozen steps from the end of the tunnel leading to the winch and basket mechanism, Churchkey notes that the ground is littered and splattered with blood. Yet before them stand two of the four guards. After yelling for their attention one of the guards turns and part of his face slides a bit to the right and flaps open all the while the "guard" moves forward mouthing words with no voice.

The party jumps into action and shortly Bolgrim announces that skelitons are susceptible to blunt weapons, but zombies are susceptible to slashing weapons. Everyone does a rapid weapon change as two more zombie guards come out of the guard house. It takes no more than a few rounds of combat, but at this time, the party finds out that these zombies hit really hard.

After a scouting mission using spider climbing it is determined that the beach head has somewhere around a dozen undead on it. With a bit of wrangling they are able to get Bolgrim and Donner to the roof top of the other winch house. Here they wait all of a round and then Bolgrim summons the holy light of Pelor. It was unknown until this time that zombies sound just like really big mosquitoes hitting a bug zaper when Bolgrim is around. It takes out 8 zombies the first round.

A few more rounds go by as the rest of the party is lowered to the beach head. A few rounds of combat but with no real danger.

From here the party makes their way to the carvers where they were last time. Here they make a slow walk into these tainted caverns. The very first cavern has well over a dozen skeletons and zombies. The party waits for Bolgrim and then 10 of the creatures are removed from the combat.

There are a few more combats with random zombies and skeletons. Pepper even destroys a group of normal skelitons and turns some zombies... saving the more serious and devastating turns of Bolgrim.

Heading down the caves where the howling beast came from the party is moving cautiously when there is a great explosion. Churchkey and Barrett are both injured by some sort of magical explosion. At this they hear howling.

Moments later wave after wave of undead come pouring from the upcomming chambers. Bolgrim takes out the first wave with holy fire that turns these damned creatures back to the a peaceful death. Combat is a bit deadly, but not too bad.. when the howling beast emerges.

The last remaining zombies are removed from combat and the party concentrates on this deadly and sickly creature. Donner does a nice job of flanking it and the rest of the party begin to slowly surround this thing... undead or demonic, no one knows.

After far too many rounds it finally dies. It is searched and a good 1/2 hour is used to remove the armor and spiked chain that are actually woven into the fabric of this creatures skin. They also find some wands (some look like the water wands and others do not).

after a bit of healing the party makes their way back towards where they fought the T-Rex. Here they run into a number of waves of undead. Again the holy word of Pelor removes any threat of note. One combat however is just a few zombies and wanting to save the last few of Bolgrims turns for larger combats the other holy men step up to the plate.

They are able to turn the zombies but not destroy them. After killing the few that remain in the chamber they chase after the one that got away.

Turning a corner the party sees a large room rittled with small little glassy gem like flecks of stone in the walls. The light sources are reflected like disco balls around the room. In the dead center of the floor is a very large dark stone alter, coffin, chest. But it is big and boxy.

The party quickly disposes of the zombie in the room and investigates the box. It turns out to have a lid and is also coated in some kind of poison. Using some of the keys found in the caves and some ingenuity they lift the lid only to find two mummified creatures rise from the boxes recesses. Shielded from the fearful nature of these creatures Churchkey runs into battle.

Unfortunately, Bolgrim, Barret and Pepper make a run for it. The fear effect is to strong. Conell, thinking quickly casts a remove fear spell and Barrett and Pepper shake of the fear affects. Conell then has a dickens of a time running after Bolgrim. wishing the dwarf was not wearing those damn magical boots.

Churchkey and Donner take up the front lines attacking these mumified beasts. A few rounds later the now freshing emboldened Barrett and Pepper add backup to these two front-liners.

The mummies finally stop moving and the party can take a look inside the chest. Here they find money. Now when I say money, I'm not talking about $20 that you forgot in your jacket pocket from last winter and then suddenly go..."Hey, cool! lets get a beer". No, I'm talking about the kind of money that might fall out the back of an armored vehicle, help pay down your mortgage sort of money.

It is here our party awaits to adventure again. To finally finish this damn ruins and save the city from the ever rising waters of crater lake.