Tag: demons

Demon Dragon

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

We got to East Haven as the demon dragon was still attacking it. It’s all on fire and falling down. We gotta get it out of the town, so I grab the alarm horn from Eggy and blow it at the dragon. It really works and it breathes pain all over me, but I’m fast and smart so it doesn’t hurt that bad. Doc gets really big and just keeps hitting it right in the face while we all throw stuff at it. Saalym and Sandy fight with a bunch of the blue dwarves first, and then run right up Doc so they can punch it, too! I kill it though! Cuz I’m the strongest! It falls right down in front of us and Explodes! That was really fun!

Doc and I run off with a piece of scale to show the town what I did. We help them kill the rest of the blue dwarves, and tell everyone they’re safe now cuz I killed the demon dragon. Leshy came with so she and Doc can help the hurt people. When we save the people at the townhall, I show them the scale and he takes it. But Leshy says it’s dangerous and takes it back. He says we should take the big statue, too. It all needs to be destroyed or something. I’m going to keep my piece though, it won’t hurt me, I’m too smart!

In the morning, Twitch says he has a new mission for us, to help with the stupid winter goddess lady. Says there’s an old city under the ice with big magic things. Says the dragon heart he got yesterday is a battery for the sun thing, but there’s even better under the ice maybe. We have to go get a book first though, that knows how to get under the ice. That seems like a really smart book, just like me. I know how to get through ice, you chip it out of the way. Twitch says it’s on an island of frost giants, so that will be lots and lots of fun!

Twitch asks then if I still have any of the demon rock. It’s mine though. Eggy says it’s dangerous and it could hurt me. Doc is worried about me, too. Eggy doesn’t want me to end up in a cage like the gnolls’ guy, or crazy like the king we killed. I think he might kill me and take my head, even though I’m faster and smarter than him. I could kill him first, but Saalym wouldn’t like that at all. So, I bury it near the dragon rocks. I know where it is, I can get it back if I want to.

We go check on Good Mead first. The bees are okay, but most of the town is wrecked. We go check on the church where they put Sammy, but the crypt is open and Sammy is gone! Saalym is really upset and no one knows what happened. Maybe he wasn’t really dead. Maybe the winter goddess lady took him. Eggy says we should ask around wherever we go to see if anyone has seen him.

So, I turn into him, as best I can remember and head off to ask everyone in town. Eggy and Saalym shout at me, but it’s what Eggy said to do. I don’t understand why they’re mad. I’ll get her some mead so she doesn’t have to go near the bees. I don’t know why she hates the bees so much. Nobody in town has seen Sammy, but I tell them if they do to tell the Speaker. I make my funny hat change my clothes so they look like Sammy’s, too. But only to show the kids. I think the others would like that even less. Weird.

Saalym doesn’t want my present of mead, so I drink it myself on the way back to the mountains. We gotta make sure all the blue dwarves are dead before we go kill a bunch of giants. But some other blue dwarf lady has taken over the castle. At least she can talk so we understand. She’s not gonna play with the demon rock and doesn’t want to take over Ten Towns, so we let her be. Boring! I wanted to kill more blue dwarves! Time to head for the giants’ island then.

Down With The King!

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

The weird blue Dwarf King says we’re intruders and trash! He sends his even stranger creatures to attack us, poor fungus things. We put them out of their misery. Him too. It’s been a lot of fighting, especially for Saalym and Leshy who went up the elevator alone. Silly girls. What goes up comes back down. So, they take a moment to rest.

Doc and I take a look around. There’s a room full of fungus nastiness. A guard station with some pretty rocks that Twitch won’t let me touch. There’s a big door, but there’s noise behind it, so we wait for everyone to catch up. There’s some blue Dwarves there, trying to tie up a big bug. I shout for them to leave it alone, and they do. But then it and they attack us. Oh well. Mean, nasty blue Dwarves.

The next room is a huge forge that seems to pulse with a heartbeat. There’s lots of blue Dwarves in here on top of a bunch of towers. And there’s some of the big furry guys from the throne room down by the forge. Eggy shows off the head of the crazy king, trying to say we set them free, but I guess they didn’t like that.

We fought the ones on our tower and shot at the ones in other places. It looked like some of the other Dwarves liked that the king was dead, because they was fighting on some of the towers. Doc went down with Sandy to fight the furry things, but there were tiny ninjas on the floor that kept stabbing his ankles. They took care of it all though. Eggy says there weren’t ninjas, it was just a spell. I don’t think that’s how spells work.

When everyone’s dead, we take a look around the forge. It’s really hot! Twitch says there’s a dragon’s heart in the forge, from a red one. He wants to kill the heart or the forge or something, so that they can’t make another demon dragon. That’s boring though, it doesn’t fight back. There’s all kinds of scraps of the tingly demon rock, so I snag a really small one when Twitch is busy. It’s not fair I’m not allowed to have one.

Doc and I take a look around. There’s a bunch of clothes and gear on one wall, so we go in the nearby door. There’s a big Dwarf lady statue in there, but her head’s cut off, and there’s a weird purple guy chained to it. He doesn’t look so good. Doc says he’s dead. There’s more doors, so we keep going. There’s a blue Dwarf behind one of them. He wants to experiment on me, just like he did the dead purple guy outside. That’s no okay, so Doc hits him, and he turns all red and spikey and then he explodes. I take his hat, I like it, it’s funny. Everybody came running because of the fight, and Twitch gets really interested in the stone tablets in the room. He starts rubbing paper over them with charcoal or something. Seems boring.

Doc and I wander off again, but this time Eggy and Leshy follow. We find a couple dwarves in robes torturing a couple other dwarves. We save one of them. A lady dwarf, but she runs away. There’s weird coffins in here, but they have spikes inside them. Next we find a bedroom with moldy ale and empty chests. Then we find some of those big armor Dwarves and a lever. I make the lever go and then we smash them out of their armor. They were protecting a room full of chests with locks on them. Eggy remembers that we have a paper of symbols that might match them, so we come back later.

The next room we find is lots more fun. There’s six blue Dwarves all drinking. When Eggy shows them the dead King’s head, three of them help us attack the other three. But then more arrive and some of them are bad and some of them help us. Only four of them survive though. But at least it was better than none like it seemed in the forge room. There’s also a hall full of lightning.

We gather the group back up again and find a prison with some naked people the Dwarves had kidnapped. All their stuff is back out by the room with the rocks, so we give it all back and help them get back out of the castle. There’s also a bunch of big riding lizards, but Eggy can’t make friends with them, so we leave them alone. The only other tunnel down here seems to go all they way under the dark.

We talk about taking a big rest, but people are worried about the dragon. So they think about the map and distances and think maybe we can save a couple towns if we leave right now. So, we head back out of the mountain and down. We run into a friend of Twitch’s. She’s nice and came to find us to get our help with the dragon. So, off we rush.

A Maze and A Vision

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

Jump?!?

They sent off the quiet young lady to fly around and investigate, and when she returns, they all decide the best course of action was to jump off a cliff! Yes, they have featherfall, but in a temple like this, anything could happen! There’s still a Vrock flying around! And it did come in for a swoop, but fortunately, they put it down before it could fly away with the adorable little one.

So many bodies down there. The Cobalt Soul contingent, and a number of Aurora Watch. We walk quickly away, the young lady has already taken from them what might be needed to identify them. There is an unstable gate down here, one the mages had suspected, but left alone. They were more focused inside the temple, what was keeping it filled with demons time and again. I warn them against getting too close, and we head for the path that was found back inside.

Chains covering the floor, and three different paths ahead. Purple, Green, and Darkness. The books from the Cobalt monks mentioned this, but not a solution. The crossing is perilous, but we all eventually enter the purple tunnel. The pressure of the temple is awful in here, I feel sick to my stomach. It takes far too long to reach the next branching. The tunnels have changed order, but the chains remain.

The strange small one goes in, dodging the chains and having a good look around. He notices a nearly worn away symbol of the Chained Oblivion above the dark pathway. We all bolster up and make our way across, some with more difficulty than others, into the darkness. It feels better in here, calmer, though it is difficult to see ahead, and the tunnel changes quite frequently. We do reach the third branching, and spot the symbol above the darkness again. Across we go, pulling a few out of chains, and do an very… well, one would call it hilly outside. Much traveling up and down, until we find ourselves back at the beginning.

It’s much easier now, to spot the symbol above the darkness, now that we know what to look for. We have to take all three dark paths to get through. So, we soldier on, through the chains, and the pain. It’s a good thing Morty has that little heal-bot running, but it still hurts. We finally reach the other side and find a winding staircase further into the mountain depths.

It’s a long, twisty way down, but nothing haunts us, or trips us, or sends us sliding. The chamber at the end is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is as though the gods themselves struck through this mountain of betrayal and crystalized their love and beauty in the depth of this cavern. Also, their sheer might, as these crystals are razor sharp, and it takes a bit of doing to get everyone down mostly safely.

The altar at the center calls to young Shak’Nul, and his amulet. The Jewel senses the power here, and the moment it touches down, an apparition appears. It is the boy from Question’s visions! Then it is a battle for this very temple, and the boy fights alone, and the very gods fight over him. He is alone again, in a sunken city. Could this be Cael Morrow? Is it all true? Is he trapped for the ages, beneath Ank’Harel?! We have to go home!

Oh. Oh no. Aloysia found us, and demanded the jewel. Fortunately, her crew aren’t too keen on attacking my friends. Kai’Osh begins to beat his drum, and they calm even further. Except for a couple of them, but they are kept at bay. Aloysia was so upset, she tried to bring the entire mountain down upon us before she ran! By the time we got back up the stairs, she and the others were gone. A flash of light, a teleport circle, perhaps, took them all away.

They left behind, a shattered stained glass portal, and six very angry flames, however. One of whom got our little metal cleric on their side for a moment or two of healing, That would have served us far better. They want us to dance with them. I wonder, had we before, if they could have truly shown us the way. Too late for all that now, as we extinguish their flames, one by one.

Now, how do we get out? Jonas opens a door to the right and discovers giant demon flies. Closes the door quickly, but they do not try to follow. Protecting their hive, one might guess. The door to the south opens upon a long hall of flickering torches. This makes Kai’Osh more nervous than the demons, and he may very well be right. Jonas heads back in to deal with the flies, and a droning noise fills the room. Urzu falls unconscious as soon as she enters their room. Little SHAGWIC pulls her out, but the Chasmes just follow. Mimi falls next, and again, but the others cut down the flies before they are able to drain too much life from their fellows. Morty digs through the body of one, but just gets covered in goo. They do find some interesting bits in the next room – some motes of possibility contained within glass orbs, and a ruby vial. Concerned with what might lie ahead, we take some time to rest. Those bugs didn’t hit often, but they hit Hard.

The far door is opened and we reach another intersection, the door to the left begins to glow with the Jewel. We have found our way out! We quickly head that way, and across the stone bridge. Gathering up all our strength, we push the gates open just enough to startle the guards into brandishing their weapons at us. They quickly realize who we are and let us through. No one else has come out since we went in, but they are glad someone has made it out safely.

I explain to the Noble Fragments, for they truly are, having kept me mostly safe through our entire endeavor, what I know of the Vermillion Consortium and the Sunken City beneath Ank’Harel. The power they are trying to usurp for themselves, and the danger, should they get their hands on the Jewel. I invite them to return with me, to find this Alyxian in the depths, and solve the mystery of this power. I also invite them to breakfast after they agree. I am starving!

Cursed by a God

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

I’ve never been cursed by a god before and I do not ever want to be again. I almost killed that pleasant young fellow, Kai’Osh. Fortunately, he was able to calm everyone down enough to pull through and shake it off. Oh why did I ever agree to come in here?

Three arms and all those chains. Is this Torog or Tharzidun? Or both? Doors without hinges or handles in the middle of a tortured giant’s stomach. Magic, obviously. Oh look, black pustules of evil, and now they’re shooting them. So disgusting and splashy, but at least the sword brothers didn’t climb up there to stab at them. Well, at least it worked and the doors are open now. Fascinating black swirling nothingness. Wait, what? You want to go inside? But there’s two other ways out! Oh dear.

More darkness, low ceiling and crowded with stalactites and stalagmites. Quietly, it says, boiling trouble, and not what it seems. So, we go quiet, until we hit a stream of acid. The little metal one decides to jump it, and makes such a ruckus, that he wakes four ropers! No, no, no, no, no! I do not like this one bit. They kept grabbing us up and trying to bite our heads off!

At least I found competent help, and we all make it through alive. What’s this? Now they want to go get loot out of the acid river?! Adventurers! Poor Jonas keeps tossing images of himself at the acid, and they keep burning up. Finally, the little metal man goes in himself, and comes out steaming with some gold and a sword hilt. And we go onward.

To a room dedicated to Gruumsh! Five massive, fiend-corrupted, orcs with equally massive axes and spears. Oh, and did I mention the boiling blood?? Nope, no way, not going in there. Oh, it’s really bad, they’re falling. That little blue-haired girl pulls them back up though, thank the Primes. The blood finally recedes when the last orc falls.

Everyone is exhausted, so we gather up the loot and head into the next hallway to rest. Urzutha pulls up a rope trick and we have a nice safe rest, identifying all the strange weapons they’ve picked up. Most of them are cursed, of course. This place tends to do that. After the rope trick wears off and nothing has changed, the group decides to take a proper long rest. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea in a place like this, but they are all clearly beat to all the hells below.

By the time everyone is rested, the door back to the blood chamber has resealed itself. The strange little green one says there’s something invisible in there now. So, we leave it be and head down the hallway, and out of Gruumsh’s mouth into a wide and deep chasm. It seems like where we came in might be above us? No way to tell really. Jonas tosses a coin, but no one hears it land below. Then there’s a flash of light and demonic screeches as two Vrocks fly up to attack. They take one down, and the other flies away, but there doesn’t seem to be any way off this ledge other than climbing or flying ourselves.

~Prolix Yusaf

The Rush of Danger

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, Netherdeep1 Comment

The young rush so quickly toward danger. First Juhka, and now Kai’Osh and his new friends. I was surprised to see them in the demon city. Perhaps as surprised as he was to see me. But Verin asked, and when a Thelyss asks, you can hardly refuse.

They looked to have made it through the Gibbering Mouther attack fairly unscathed. Quite a large group of fighters young Kai’Osh has gathered around him. All so very young. Well, perhaps not the gnomes, it’s hard to tell with their kind. Invited to speak with Verin himself afterwards, so good fighters, at the least.

The soldiers do love to gossip about new comers. One told me the metal gnome impressed Bautha with his healing the wounded. Even pessimistic little Naevyn might survive, if she rests before joining the next fight instead of throwing her life away. Old Kalym said they were very respectful, even joining him in prayers. Foghome told me at breakfast that he’s worried though. Said they seemed to be rushing headlong toward the Betrayer’s Rise. Following visions and relics of the Calamity.

I think he’s right. They had already gone to bed by the time I got to the Ready Room for a drink. Prolix and Question were excitedly talking about having another group on their side. Prolix a little less excitedly, of course. He was bemoaning offering to go inside with them, but it sounded like the only way to keep them away from Aloysia. I thought Kai’Osh was smarter than to take a harpy’s money.

Not a day into their stay here in Bazzoxan, and they’re already heading into the mouth of the Abyss. Looked like an cursed start, they battled demons on the Rise before they even got inside the door this morning. Well, I do wish them luck, they will need all they can muster.

~Sevonious