RC: No. America Tue/Sun - Dead Snows

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9 Eleint

Pheldas, during the evening hours, traveled to the ‘Wizard’s Loft’ to see if he could gain entrance. There was no door located anywhere on the tower, just an inscription written in magic. The inscription simply states ‘Speak enter and come in’. Pheldas tried this in every language he knew, but could not gain entrance. He left mumbling to himself.

Xalen , having 200 gold burning a hole in his pocket, went to the local trinket shop, Furjur’s Flying Carpet, to see if he could acquire some magic item. He met six sisters running the shop. The eldest of them, Krystal Lycerra, took a fancy to him. He showed an interest in learning about magic and she took him to the Wizard’s Loft, as her guest, she is a member. He inquired about shadow magic, but not much in the way of tomes was there. Xalen remained at the tower until late in the evening. Xalen explained to Krystal that the group was heading to Ascore, and before she left for home she gave him a ring which he may find useful.

10 Eleint

In the morning, the group set off early toward the next stop along the way, a monastery called Dead Snows. They arrived after a day of uneventful travel. The Abby is run by a group of Monks dedicated to service to Lathander. Xalen and Pheldas, after the evening meal, went to the Abby’s library to check for information about Ascore and the North. They found two tomes which peaked their interest. One was Volo’s Guide to the North and the other was called The Lost City of Ascore written by Brother Aldamious Quinn. Brother Quinn was the monk who showed the two to the library. They asked him several questions, and discovered that at the center of the ruins is a circle of pillars which seem to be the focus of the Shade Lords interest in the ruins. They asked if he had ever heard of a Serena Novamyst, he had not. he did remember a guest called Seri Nova. She was researching Ascore, stayed for a week, and left about two days ago, toward Ascore. Brother Quinn agreed to sell them a copy of the map he drew of the ruins.

The two then went back to the Inn where the others had retired to their rooms.

Xalen and Pheldas each get 100 XP for doing research on Ascore at every chance they get.

 

The stone lodging was not exactly the best quality of a bed for the mage. As Pheldas retired to his chamber, his will to rest was little, so he lighted up a magical lantern and turned to reading. First in his plan was another chapter of "The Mounted Dganoneer's Manual of Horseback Riding". The opinion on mounts have certainly changed during the last days of the mage's travels, and day after day, he studied to discover new facts and techniques of improving his skill in riding. After several pages of "The Manual..." Pheldas put the book away and recalled his collected information on Ascore.

Shadow Magic. In his mind, Pheldas had no knowledge on what 'shadow magic' is. All he could do is assume it to be a branch of the Illusion school of wizardy, as any scholar would have done, classify the term in relation to the known aspects of The Craft. As a wizard by training, he had his own opinion on the arcane schools. Pheldas thought the school of Enchantment to be the bane of Good magic, used only to do evil and destroy the freedom of mind. As his master, Pheldas swore to oppose the twisted enchantments, banish their control over people and protect himself from the foul influence. But his quick classification of 'shadow magic' as illusionary magic had left the mage in doubt. Illusion was a school he had respect for, as it challenges a mind, allows those affected to fight back and prove their mental power and intellect, not just be merely dominated and magically forced to do one's bidding. No, 'shadow magic' is wielded by an evil person. Serena Novamyst... The name must have an elven origin, Pheldas thought. He brought up many arguments to reassure himself of the thought that Ascore is a home for just a devout researcher of the Craft. Zhentarim, dark elves, these two are the epitome of evil, and if they work side by side - the evil must be great indeed. But it is worth to go there and investigate, even though the troupe might be in great peril.

As he grew tired of staying awake, Pheldas thanked Lathander for the shelter of good he was in, and retired to sleep.

 

It amazed even Xalen how much things can change in a few days time. It seemed that was all his life had done in the past few weeks was change, radically, perhaps for the worst...perhaps not. Even though they had passed only weeks before, his life in Waterdeep seemed a quickly fading memory as more recent events clouded his mind, changing and shaping him perhaps as they saw fit. Xalen sighed and walked out of the monastary and into the evening air. It was brisk, but not altogether unpleasant. Old stone walls and towerets loomed overhead as he walked around the courtyards and gardens of the monastary.

Eventually, he came upon an old stone wishing pool. The water was seemed almost black against the night sky as the wind pushed ripples across the surface, Xalen stared for a moment, hoping to see somethig perhaps to define him, to give him some direction. He had set out on this adventure to hopefully follow in his grandfathers footsteps. Never would he have guessed such a long and winding road would have brought him hear, closer than he's ever been to possible death at the hands of dark magic and an evil conspiracy. His life seemed to be spinning out of control, and yet somehow he felt comfortable with this right now, as if this was what he was meant to do. Xalen searched around in his coin purse and found a copper. He closed his eyes for a moment as he held it tight in his fist. As he opened them, he turned to walk away, tossing the copper in the pool, the splash rippling the night air behind him.

Xalen made his way back to his room, and readied himself for bed. After polishing his armor and honing his blades, he fell into his bed, feeling content that whatever came in Ascore, he would somehow come out alive and find his way back...

 

ooc: Ok, I'm finally de-grounded. I don't knw exactly what going on, but i'll try to swing with it.

 

11 Eleint

In the morning, Brother Quinn, delivered a copy of the map as promised. (It can be viewed at http://people.ne.mediaone.net/frankmarianne) Brother Quinn also warned that he has heard rumors of a small Verbeeg family taking up residence near the gates of Ascore. He further explained about the layout of the area around Ascore, particularly when approaching the ruins from the west. The only way into the city is through the western gates, then there is a hill with two huge griffin statues which guard the entrance to the passage which leads down the 850 foot cliff to the city, the passage is a staircase. The last thing Brother Quinn told them was of a rumor he heard about a secret passage which lead from the stairs to the Main Citadel, passing under the city.

With that, the group headed out toward Ascore. After traveling for about 2 hours, Xalen and Pimm spotted a group of horsed riders approaching from the east, there were about a dozen. The party decided that it would be best to hide in some nearby brush, and waited for the riders to go by. They did not have to wait for long, 14 Orcs riding heavy horses passed by, riding hard. Before the party was able to react and continue, Xalen spotted a large blue creature flying toward them, also from the east, they decided to remain hidden. The Blue Dragon flew over them in pursuit of the Orcs.

The party arrived at the ruins of an outpost of the city just as the sun was setting. From there, the massive walls and gates of the once great city could be seen. Xalen and Phineous checked out the ruins, and found an almost dead dwarf inside the only standing building left. Phineous bandaged the Dwarfs wounds as best he could, but the bleeding did not stop until Pimm cast Cure Minor Wounds on him. Phineous left to scout out the gates to the city. Pimm decided to check out the Dwarfs belongings. He found a map case and a purse. The purse contained 4 Gold Pieces and one coin made from an alloy no-one recognized. The alloy coin radiated magic when Pheldas checked. The map inside the case was one similar to theirs, except it had some notes added to it. The notes explained the location of the entrance to the secret passage, and was written in “Undercommon”. At this point, Phineous returned from his scouting carrying a shield and hammer, presumably the dwarfs. Pimm had Calin tie up the dwarf, and then cast two Cure Light Wounds on him, the Dwarf regained consciousness. The Dwarf immediately questions the party as to why they have tied him up, and does not tell them anything, stating that he will remain as silent as the wind so long as he is tied up. Pimm came close to ending the dwarf’s life, but was stayed by Pheldas and Xalen. Pimm then suggests they dunk the dwarf in the well, and Talia thinks they should leave him to her wolf. Pheldas and Xalen convince the others to untie him. Upon being set free, the dwarf answers one question; ‘Where did the dwarf get the map he was carrying’, the answer was that he made it. The Dwarf then began an incantation. Everyone reacted by trying to attack the dwarf, but they were too late, the dwarf disappeared. Pimm noticed, upon closer inspection, that the handwriting on the map seemed familiar, but he was having trouble placing it. The party was discussing what to do, when Pimm remembered who’s handwriting it was like, Serena Novamyst’s. The dwarf was Serena polymorphed into the likeness of a male dwarf. It was decided that they could not remain in the outpost for the night, and Phineous remembered seeing a cave in the hillside, they moved to the cave. A passage leading into the hill was discovered in the back of the cave. Phineous was elected to explore it. He discovered that it leads to the lair of the Verbeeg, a cave located on the other side of the hill.

 

Moving on, Pheldas pondered on the situation
We are not to be blamed for freeing her, are we? How could I know the dwarf to be something other than a dwarf, when it certainly looked like a near-dead dwarf...
After a moment, he spoke aloud:
"So, now our nemesis knows what we are, and mayhap wants us out of her way. We will not take her by surprise... But what keeps mystifying me is - did Serena Novamyst set up the situation with the wounded dwarf just to lure us or did she try to accomplishs some other task of hers? She well could have known about us, that is indeed true, but to risk her life in such a way... We might not know our enemy nearly as good as she knows us."

 

Xalen, who had until then been minding the horses in the back of the cave, turned and joined the others in the discussion. "I for one do not think Serena is our arch enemy any longer *not that she was ever mine but*. I somehow don't beleive this to be some sort of elaborate setup. If it were, my instincts tell me we would be dead by now. I think we have stumbled onto something here. She apeared by all means to truly be hurt, even in her Dwarvish form. Something is happening here is Ascore....something we did not expect. We will have to be extremely carefull from now on. For me, I prefer to make it out of Ascore alive."

Xalen goes to examine the hole in the wall. "This leads to the Veeberg cave you say? How many were there inside the cave? Perhaps we could gain an advantage by *incapactating* one or two of the gaint kin before we aproach the gates. At least if we decided to take on some of the clan this way, we would have suprise on our side. I can't say we could make it through the gates if there were more than one or two of the creatures guarding it."

 

"Arch enemy? Nay, maybe a threat to the folk around. Yet, I have a concern the woman might not think good of us. And the spell she used to slip away from us... Teleportation, it would seem. A spell is very complex, and if she had it in mind, only her wound would seem to hold the fair lady from slaying us all." Pheldas paused to collect his thoughts, "She was not sneaking around the gate in a dwarven form just for entertainement. What would be the reason? She did want to look like a dwarf, mayhap some specific dwarf, but the verb... Or maybe those wer not verbeeg? There's a fine chance that evil doesnt exist in agreement behind thse walls."
Pheldas paused for a moment "As of verbeeg... Did not the monk say 'twas a clan here? If so, we are better left with stealth and concealement, unless someone wills to come forth and scout." he paused again "I suppose we have a key for the secret passage here, shall we take our risk using it?"

[This message has been edited by Skedaddle (edited October 08, 2001).]

 

"What *I* do not understand is why she would be sneaking, prowling, or more importantly dead or dying at all?!? I thought our purpouse in coming here was to stop her plans, and now it seems someone has beaten us to it, but for what reason. Something is amiss, and I don't think it was simply the Veeberg that did that to her. She left for Ascore at least three days ahead of us. Surely she had made her way past those blundering giant kin at the gates. Something more powerful that those beast forced here from the city in here injured and dying state. I know now what, but caution is the utmost importance when we enter the city. I say the secret passage is the best route to gain acess the the Drwarven ruin in the rear of the city. From there, perahps we might have a safer, more secure place to plan out our next move."

Xalen stalked back over to the rest of the group and pointed at the passage. "But our first conern is the Veeberg. How shall we get past the whole clan? I think devide and conqour is the best solution. If we can slay one or two int their cave before we even aproach the gates, we have an advantage. I'm not sure we can sneak past them all and open the sectet passage without them noticing. I personally think perhaps this might be the best course of action. At least we can always retreat back into the passage if things get out of control with the giant beasts. What's the course of action we shall take?"

OOC: Are me and Skeddadle the only ones posting here? Nothing personal, but a two man conversation can get kinda boring sometimes (nothing personal to you either Skeddlel).

 

Phineous glanced back and forth between Pheldas and Xalen. "Perhaps we could use the drow hand crossbow that Pimm showed me. I think it still contains several poisoned darts. In the morning, one of us could sneak through this passage into their lair and use the remaining darts, incapacitating several members. We could then try to lure the others to a secluded location one at a time and ," He makes a slashing motion across his throat, "deal them into the card game of death. The only question is what does the poison do? One other useful thing that could be done, is for the Druid to check for tracks around this area. Perhaps it is not only the Verbeeg that caused Serena trouble.

[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited October 09, 2001).]

 

"I cannot be sure, but drow are widely known for their potent sleep poison. If I had a sample, I could try to discern the effect. As for verbeeg, we can try to take on one of them, maybe two, if we act wisely. What of drow poison, methinks it might not have enough power to take a hold on a verbeeg, but again... I cannot be absolutely sure afore I know."

 

"Well Wizard...have you any spells that might incapacitate the Veeberg while we deal with the others in their clan?" Xalen shoots the druid a look. "Yes, that might be something *useful* for you to do. I'd love to know how Seryna met with such fatal wounds. Surely a powerful caster of her stature could have handled a few Veeberg without too much of a proble. No, I feel something else is afoot here in this damned city. Anything we can know of Seryna's mishap would be useful. In the meantime...".

Xalen heads to the wall near the entance and slides down to the floor, covering himself with his bedroll. "I'll take my rest here. If anything interesting comes up, do let me know." With that, Xalen closes his eyes, hoping to find some rest before the dawn.

 

12 Eleint

In the morning, the party decided that in order to get by the Verbeeg, Phineous would create a diversion outside near the gates, while the others crawled through the cave passage into the Verbeeg Lair. From there they would exit and head for the Griffon statues. The plan worked, and the group soon found themselves standing at the ancient western entrance to the city of Ascore. They began to descend the stairs, but after traveling down the stairs for only a short distance, Xalen heard footsteps coming from below, down the stairs. The party returned to the entrance only to discover two of the Verbeeg moving in the direction of the Griffon statues. Back down they went, but not before Pheldas cast Mage Armor on Pimm and Xalen, this action would prove to be life saving for Pimm later.

The stairs move downward in a series of 100 foot lengths connected by a landing, with the next leg moving off at a 90 degree angle. After passing by the first landing, the group ran into 9 skeletons, 5 human sized and 4 larger with the large ones carrying swords, traveling up the stairs. Except for Phineous, the skeletons got the drop on the party. Phineous reacted by attacking the closest skeleton with his club, missing badly. During the skeletons attacks, Pheldas was hit by two claw attacks, reducing him to half. The others were not hit, and the large skeleton attacking Xalen, got his sword wedged in between two stones of the stairs, and dropped it. Pimm was the next to react, and he proceeded to turn undead, causing the entire front line of skeletons, plus one in the rear to retreat to a distance of 10 feet. Pheldas retreated back up the stairs 15 feet to avoid further attacks. Talia used her sling to attack, causing minimal damage. Xalen scored a critical on one of the large skeletons, causing considerable damage. During the next round, Phineous was able to strike one of the large skeletons with his club, but paid the price, getting slashed badly by the sword of the creature. Pimm then went to work with his Morning Star, one of the few weapons employed that did not suffer being halved on damage, and the large skeleton crumbled. After this point, the party had a clear advantage, the skeletons turned by Pimm would not attack until moved on by Pimm. Then came the Pimm show, as he proceeded to attack and smash skeleton after skeleton with his Morning Star, downing 3 of the human sized and severely damaging one of the larger ones. The others managed to finish off the others, and it came down to just one large skeleton. The party struck it with blow after blow, including two critical hits, but it would just not go down. When it was finally able to swing, the massive blow from the Great Sword would have taken Pimm out, most likely, but it was deflected by the mage armor cast on Pimm earlier. Calin scored the final blow to the skeleton, and the battle was over. Xalen took the four swords carried by the large skeletons, two great and two bastard.

The party descended the stairs to the third landing, and proceeded to search for a secret door, indicated on the map that they acquired from Serena. It was found by Phineous, revealing another staircase. The party traveled down this set of stairs to the bottom, over 600 feet, and entered into a chamber 30 feet by 30 feet, with a door opposite the stairs. It was decided that this was a good place to stop and rest, with Pimm casting some healing on the wounded members.

Each party member received 300 experience points.

While resting, Phineous asks Xalen and Pheldas a question, “While you two were reading Brother Quinn’s book, did you notice any useful information, like what kind of creatures live in this God-forsaken place. Or did he just rate the Inns and Taverns?”

 

Pheldas shot a glare at the halfling, getting ready for an argument about out of place humor and respect towards those who help, but then the anger of his faded.

"I certainly think you will find the accomodations in the inns as very good. But I believe 'twould be a pity for you to hear that what stays in the inns does not get its pockets picked easily. You have seen the Blue Wyrm on our way here, brother Quinn also mentioned Brown and Yellow dragons, as well as Brass ones. If Tymora's light shines upon us, we shouldnt get in the way of the first three for, as you might know, they are creatures of evil... Assorted undeath - we did have a pleasure to meet some. There were more, and some names did not sound very familiar to me, elementals... Air elementals that was. Still want to visit the public places and meet with these?"

 

"Something more that book mentioned. Hmmm, lets see....lamas? No, no, that's not it. Ah, yes, Lamias was the term he used. He also wrote something about Abashis and Fire Toads. I can't say I like the sound of that last beast, though to be quite honest, I would prefer to aviod all such things. But I must ask, does anyone else find it odd that there are four species of Great Dragons living in this one city? Strange that they would all share the same area unless there was something to be gained from them all here. Pheldas, you're familiar enough with them I assume. What do you take of this. Seems quite peculiar to me."

[This message has been edited by Crawl (edited October 12, 2001).]

 

"Do you gentlemen really think this is the time to be discussing what we may or may not run into in this hole? Perhaps the monastery would have been a better venue for speculating whether or not we were up for a bit of dragon slaying, eh?"

"Personally I think you can forget about whatever you read in that book. We are in the ruins now, not however many years ago it was written."

"As for what we DO know is dwelling here...," Pimm says to Xalen, pulling an old morning star from his pack, "you'll find this useful should we run into any more of them."

"Lets keep moving... I'd like to cover some more ground while this mage armor lasts."

 

"I can see that you are weilling to go, priest, but Brother Quinn has noticed the inhabitants of this place in his very recent travels, I belive, last year's. For a dragon, year is not any kind of long time period, you know? That could very well mean that dragons still dwell here, ah, by Thauglor's scales, did you not see one on our way here?!"
The mage turned to Xalen:
"Blue and Brass dragons are known to be sworn enemies, for both prefer the similar dwelling place - desert, but uphold different morals, as you might know, Brass wyrms are the defenders of good, which I cannot say of the Blue ones. As for Yellow and Brown ones, they too, frequent the desert as their home."

(Skedaddle, I only changed the name Bronze to Brass, as it should be. Baldak)

[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited October 12, 2001).]

 

" I think it best that we pay heed to the cleric's advice at this particular time. The further we get from those Giants the better off I will feel.
Dragons, on the other hand, well,.....let's just say I wish not to run into any of them any time soon...... We don't need a book to tell us there are dragons in the area. Considering our recent evasion of the blue dragon, I think we can assume that they are near and should be avoided at all costs." Anxious to get moving, Talia motions for Pimm and Xalen to head the group out and continue on their way.

[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited October 12, 2001).]

 

Pimm shrugs, "Allright then, discuss dragons, maybe after that we can sit around and talk about what colored kobalds might be living here too..."

After handing the old morning star to Xalen, Pimm approches the door opposite the stairs and puts an ear to it in an attempt to hear anything on the other side.

 

Xalen looks at the morning star and chunks it in his pack. Though caring little for the clerics ignorant tone, he is smart enough to not negate a useful gift at a time like this. He smirks after Pimm passes and heads back to Pheldas, pulling him aside for a moment and whispering something to him. He walks back to Phineous and mutters, "I see those two have little tolerance for discussion right now. Fine, let the two of them charge off to glory. Hmph, I have no desire to follow them without knowing what I can of what lies ahead. Have you ever encountered any of these beasts?" Xalen looks down at the little harper at back at Pimm.

Suddenly, Xalen relizes he's forgotten something vital, and quickly rumages around in his bag until he pulls out an amulet, which he imediatly dons and holds tight in his hands. He closes his eyes and whispers, "May luck be with us now."



[This message has been edited by Crawl (edited October 13, 2001).]