Session 11: Anima Sola

After recovering from the battle with the Sahuagin, the party makes their way up to the cavern. The journey takes pretty much all day, and dusk is falling when they arrive. En route, they ask Dayman what exactly they should expect. He says that he's not sure; he knows that magical thieves, like the kind that Cabal has been hiring, have used this cave as a lair. He says he's hoping to find some clues as to who Cabal is and what he is trying to do.

Upon arriving, after a little discussion, they decide to encamp for the night to give the magic users (Maivera, Kriv, and Berekhan) time to study and prepare some rituals. The night passes; Maivera spends most of her time in prayer to Bahamut, while Kriv studies some rituals. The next morning, Kriv brews some healing potions and gives them to Maivera and Berekhan. Then, armed and ready, the party has Dayman make the incantation that opens the cave doors, and head in.

The cave is actually more a tunnel, leading down and down into the side of the mountain. For two hours the party marches forward. They find discarded treasure and such, and pocketed some valuable items, but by and large do not see anything worth noting.

After two hours, the party finally comes to a fork. They decide to go left. Almost immediately they are 'attacked' by a ghostly figure. However, it passes through them, and they realize it is just an apparition. Kriv, however, as the creature passes through her, hears a voice in her head say "Remember." She thinks back to the time when she encountered a Deathlock Wright in the caverns near her home, and how after defeating that enemy, she and Kava decided to go adventuring (which of course is what led them to meet up with Rougi and Jaden in that tavern in Zaimier).

It is an odd encounter, but nothing else seems to happen, and no other creatures or enemies present themselves, so the party keeps going down the tunnel. After about another fifty feet or so, Kava, who is in the front of the group, sees a light in front of her. They reach an opening, and Kava steps into a large cavern. It is about 50 feet wide and 100 feet to the back, and has a roughly oval shape. The room is actually mostly a pit, set about 10 feet down from where Kava currently stands. A shelf about ten feet wide rings the room.

The party all files in and they look down into the pit. It is filled with eggs, hundreds of eggs, and not small ones either; each individual egg is about the size of a human head. The room is bathed with an unearthly glow, and looking closely, they realize that sometimes the eggs move, twicthing ever so slightly.

Suddenly, a shout is heard from across the cavern, and from around the 'walkway' comes running four large bluish-green lizards wielding spears and looking as if they're out for blood. They charge towards the party, shouting curses in Draconic. The thought passes through Kriv's head that these are Troglodytes, cursed minions of the Underdark, but there is no time to ruminate on this.

A savage battle follows. This time Dayman does not run, and even manages to score some good shots with his crossbow. Maivera, conversely, seems a tad intimidated, and does not manage to connect with even one attack. The rest of the party, though, wails on these attackers: Berekhan unleashes some fearsome spells, while Kava spins through the horde, her greataxe whirling with death. The battle is hardly one-sided; Troglodytes stink to high heaven, and the smell distracts them to the point that their attacks are less effective. Still, it is not long before all four Troglodytes lie dead at their feet.

They take a short rest at this point. They are not sure if the the Troglodytes were guarding the eggs, or if the eggs were just incidental. Kriv shoots one of the eggs with her crossbow, but nothing happens, besides some yolk leaking out. Rougi decides to climb down and pick some up; he loads them into the Bag of Holding he took from Jaden, then smashes a couple. When still nothing happens, the party decides to move on.

There are two exits at the back of the cavern; the party makes their way back and chooses the left again. They go another thirty or so feet through the tunnel and find themselves in an even larger cavern. There are two openings at the sides of the room, and it is once again towards the left-most one that they make their way. However, they have made it only a few feet when, from out of the rock floor, over a dozen Troglodyte warriors burst out, and attack. Strangely, they do not use their weapons, but rather grapple each one of them, shouting at them to "give up!" and "hold still!".

The party resists at first, and take out several of their enemies, but are puzzled by their actions. They rarely strike with their clubs, and usually only if provoked first. They seem more interested in tackling them and keeping them restrained. Plus, a figure at the back of the room occassionally call out at them to not resist. So after a few rounds they decide to just wait and see what their enemies have in mind.

From the back of the cavern, the figure walks towards them. Stepping into the light, he confirms their suspicions; he is in fact Cabal. He says that he needs to know who they are, where they came from, who hired them, and what they know about him - he says their quest has wasted far too much of his master's time already. The party tries to ask him questions; he dismisses their queries shortly, demanding they answer his. Berekhan is the first to volunteer information, telling Cabal that he is not really part of their quest, but explains it to him anyway. Cabal repeats his inquries, and the rest of the party answers with what they know of him. (Berekhan manages to teleport close enough to attack Cabal, but it fails, and he is quickly restrained again.)

Cabal seems not terribly satisfied with the answers the party gives: he keeps repeating his questions, and makes it known that he intends to let the Troglodytes torture them in their evil religious rites. The party eventually becomes tired of his questions, but he continually refuses to answer theirs. They do touch an nerve, though, when they accuse him of being a thief - he snaps that he is not a thief, but rather a punisher of thieves. They are able to probe a little further and find out that he isn't really concerned with general thievery, just thievery from his master. But beyond this he is very closed, roughly deflecting their questions.

The party says they have nothing more to tell him. He declares that he thinks they're probably telling him the truth, but he figures he may as well torture some of them to be sure. "Start with the half-wit and the half-breed" he instructs the Troglodytes: they start pulling Maivera and Dayman away. Maivera lets herself be pulled a short distance away from the rest of them, then turns back and says to Kriv, "Remember, Bahamut has great things in store for you!"

Then she turns and spits hard into her captors face. To everyone's surprise, a rock flies out of her mouth, hits the lizard-man in the nose, and rolls onto the floor. Another Troglodyte picks it up. Cabal shouts, "Wait, don't-!" but not before the Troglodyte says, "It says, 'Boom'".

An explosion rips through the cavern. The Troglodytes restraining the party are knocked back, releasing them, while the ceiling caves in around them. For a second everything disappears in a haze of collapsing rock and swirling dust; when it clears, a thick wall of boulders has been formed, cutting the cavern in half. Dayman, Rougi, Kriv, Kava, and Berekhan (as well as six Troglodytes) are on one side, while Cabal, Maivera, and the rest of their enemies are on the other.

The party quickly eliminates the rest of the Troglodytes. They then try to listen across the wall to see if they can hear what is going on. There is a lot of shouting, and the phrase "Go around!" is heard. The party decides there is nothing they can do for Maivera at the moment, and turn to flee the cavern. Kriv is striken with grief at leaving Maivera behind, but she follows.

Rewards

XP: 750

Money: 500 gp

Treasure:
You found several pieces of valuable loot in the cavern:
- Razor Armor +2 (Lvl 7) [p. 231 Player's Handbook]
- Safewing Amulet +2 (Lvl 8) [p. 251 Player's Handbook]
- Dynamic Belt +2 (Lvl 9) [p. 253 Player's Handbook]

Interlude: Level Up!

With the XP gained from last session, everyone will now be moving up to level 5. Brad, since pretty much everyone else is at 6,400 XP now let's just say that's where you're at too.

With level 5, you gain one additional daily power. See your class description to pick the one you want. As always, be sure to pay attention to the prerequisites. While you're looking at your class description, be sure to check and see if any of your class features or other powers increase at level 5, as some do. Finally, be sure to increase your hit points (which will increase your bloodied and surge value) by the amount your class description specifies.

Don't forget, this week we're playing on Friday night. See you at our place at 6:30!

Session 10: Old, New, Borrowed, Brute

Rougi, Kava, Kriv, Maivera, and Jaden make preparations to leave Urlsav for Prosepilis. Maivera suggests they leave Erevan in the Maxé’s custody, so as to not have to drag him all over the place. The party agrees, Maxé accepts, and they head for the temple of Avandra.

The elf cleric that assists them at the temple is chatty, and asks where they are going. They tell him that their eventual destination is the city of Prosepilis, but that they're going to Summercrest for now in order to make their way downriver to their final destination. The cleric says that, if they would like, he can send them to Cornosis, a city that is a little better than halfway between the two cities. The party agrees, hoping to shave some time off their trip.

They arrive at the temple of Avandra in Cornosis, and waste no time making arrangements for their trip downriver. As they are heading for the docks, they pass a cloaked human. Suddenly, Jaden stops, does a double-take, and exclaims, "Berekhan!" It is an old friend of hers, another star-pact warlock. He doesn't quite recognize her at first, but then it comes back to him. They catch up for a second, and Berekhan says that he is kind of drifting at the moment, looking for work. Jaden asks if he'd like to join them; their little quest keeps snowballing, and some extra hands would be good. He accepts, and heads down to the docks with them.

Cornosis is a port town - you can't spit without hitting a riverboat captain, and so securing decent passage takes almost no time at all. The two day trip downriver to Prosepilis is uneventful. Upon arriving at their destination, the party wastes no time tracking down Dayman. The word on the street is that he frequents the Dragonbeard Inn, so it is there that the party heads. The innkeeper tells them that he is not there at the moment, that he kind of comes and goes, sometimes he'll just disappear for days at a time. The party decides to get rooms of their own, and wait it out.

In the meantime, though, they sneak up to Dayman's room, and easily break in. Rummaging around, they find a lot of maps and books, and one map in particular catches their eyes - it is a map of Prosepilis and the surrounding region, with an area to the northwest of the city circled in a dark red. They figure it's as good a lead as any, and that they'll head that way. However, since it's already dark, and it's probably a couple of miles away, they settle in for the night. Rougi decides to spend his trance hiding underneath Dayman's bed so he can't come and go during the night and escape their notice.

The night passes uneventfully as well, though, so the next morning the party gathers to head out. They all show up but Jaden, and after an uncomfortable amount of waiting, they go up to her room to see what's going on. She's not there, but all her stuff is. Going back downstairs, they ask the innkeeper if he's seen her; he says, yeah, she headed out last night. They figure that there's no point in looking or waiting for her, that she must have had something she needed to do, so they leave a message with the innkeeper and head out.

The area around Prosepilis is hilly and thickly forested, so by midday they are only about halfway to the location on the map. As they break for lunch, they hear someone approaching, someone not making any effort to be stealthy. Before long, a figure comes into view from around the trees, a skinny Eladrin male. At the sight of him, Maivera leaps to her feet and cries out, "Dayman!"

Dayman takes one look at the group before him and bolts. Kava is too quick for him though, and pounces, grappling him and holding him in place. He thrashes and shouts things like "why did he send you?!" and "he's not what you think!" It takes a while for Maivera to calm him down and ask him what he's talking about. He had thought 'Vizen' had sent them, and when he realizes that the party is also looking for Cabal, he calms down considerably. He still seems very jumpy and not quite all there, but he makes no other move to escape.

After a little more talking, they all figure out that the place on the map that they were heading to was a series of caves rumored to be a stronghold for 'magical thieves', as Dayman puts it. He said that you need a certain incantation to get through the cave gates, and he has it, but it is written down on a piece of paper back in his room. He is unwilling to let one of the party go back for it without him, and they are not willing to let him out of their sight. So they all head back into town.

Dayman talks non-stop on their trek back. Apparently he has been on the trail of Cabal for many years, and has become more than a little obsessed and paranoid. He does offer one useful piece of information though - the prophet to the Kobolds that the party learned about during the battle of Joff was in fact Cabal! Dayman is relieved that the party has encountered them, for some reason.

Arriving back at the Dragonbeard, the innkeeper says that there was a bit of a commotion earlier; apparently a dead Tiefling female was found at the waterfront today. Kava, Maivera, and Kriv head down to the beach, while Berekhan, Rougi, and Dayman head up to his room to retrieve the paper he needs. The girls arrive at a grassy knoll that slopes down into the harbor, and see it littered with the corpses of several sea-creature looking humanoids. A tree stands in the middle of the knoll, and slumped against it is Jaden. Some unknown cleric is crouched over her, and her friends realize with a start that she is still alive! They rush over to her, pushing the other cleric out of the way (he didn't know what he was doing anyway). Kriv calls Jaden's name, and she looks up at them blearily, uncomprehendingly. Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she appears to summon the last of her strength to grab Kriv's arm. "You're next," she croaks. She coughs a mouthful of blood, and then collapses. Kriv tries to cast a healing spell, but it is too late - she is already dead. Her last words expended the last shreds of life she had left in her.

Mournfully, Kriv casts Gentle Repose on Jaden's remains, and they take her body away.

Back at the inn, Dayman easily locates the paper he needs, which Berekhan promptly takes. Dayman is angry, but Berekhan points out that there is less risk this way; if Dayman is somehow killed, the knowledge of how to get into the caves will not be lost with him. They also inform Dayman that he won't be sleeping in his own bed tonight; a decoy of pillows will, while Rougi trances underneath it again. Dayman is livid at these interferences, but he cannot do anything; even though he's furious, he's afraid they're right.

When the girls return with Jaden's body, Berekhan tells them that a warlock would want to be cremated, and they give her a final send-off. With this somber mood, they turn in for the night.

The next morning Rougi, Kava, Kriv, Berekhan, Dayman, and Maivera gather to head back to the caves. Dayman suggests a slightly quicker route to the caves that goes through the marsh at the edge of town. The party sees no reason not to, so they follow him.

As they are passing through the marsh, they hear something moving in the water, and then a sea creature like the ones Jaden killed steps out of the water onto the road in front of them. He snarles at them in Abysmal and then attacks Kava with his trident. At this, four more like him swarm onto the road behind the party. Dayman, seeing this threat, turns and runs for his life.

A fierce battle ensues, the party and these creatures slashing and shouting at each other in a chaotic interchange on the soggy road. Maivera and Kava both take beatings, but Kriv's healings keep them on their feet, while Berekhan blasts them with deadly accurate spells. Rougi and the pseudodragons methodically picked off the four in the back while Kava pounded away on the one in front. Kava's opponent was quickly disarmed and fighting for his life. He began to plead with her in Common, but she did not stop till he was K.O.ed. A few short rounds later, the other four enemies lay mouldering in the marsh.

The party bound up and then resuscitated the leader to question him. He was guarded and unfriendly, but Berekhan threatened to melt his skull, and that got him talking. It came as little surprise to the party that Cabal had hired them, a deal they accepted because he promised them power over the people of Prosepilis. After questioning him, they make him promise to leave them be, and then release him. He makes as if to walk off, but as soon as he reaches his dropped trident, he picks it up and hurls it at Kava. He misses badly, but is left with no time to mourn his inaccuracy; Rougi's blades and Kava's greataxe pierce him, and he crumbles for the last time.


As the party loots the bodies and recovers from the fight, Dayman wanders back to them, sheepishly applauding their good work.

XP: 1350
Money: None
Treasure: Kelp Robe (magic cloth armor) (Lvl 8, Armor Bonus +2, Market Price 3,400 gp)

Session 9: Hunters

As the party prepares to leave Erevan's house, they hear a large creature making its way up the cliff behind them. A huge shape flies through the air, and then a dracolich crashes down in the front of them! An intense battle follows - the party pulls as one and even though this monstrosity pounds on them, they pound right back, and defeat it soundly, phylactery and all.


The party returns to Summercrest and retries for the evening. The next morning, they avail themselves of the clerics at the temple of Avandra to transport them to the city of Urlsav. Maivera has told them that her mentor, the cleric Maxé (pronounced MAH zay), can help them located Dayman, so they head to the temple of Bahamut in Urlsav.

Arriving in Urlsav, they go to the temple, and tell Maxé some of their story, and after a little convincing, he agrees to help them. Together with Maivera and Kriv, he withdraws into prayer and meditation, consulting with the spirits of the sages, saints and deified heroes of Bahamut. Twice they do this. They are able to determine that Dayman is currently in Prosepilis, a port city on the ocean that divides the continent where Summercrest and the region of Tryn is and the continent where Urlsav is. (It is a month’s journey across the ocean from Urlsav, but only a week’s downriver from Summercrest.) They are not able to locate Vizen, but are able to determine that Vizen is actually a pseudonym, and that his real name is Cabal.

Rewards

XP: 700
Money: 1,720 gp (430 gp per player)
Treasure: None

Session 8: Prayers of the Dragon

It is now the middle of the third day that Rougi has been carrying on his charade of learning to be Erevan's apprentice. During the course of the afternoon, the party has been taking care of errands, particularly selling things found in Erevan's dungeon, but mostly just killing time.

Kriv, Kava, and Jaden are sitting in a tavern, relaxing and drinking. They see a half-elf woman dressed in glittering chainmail walk in. Kriv notices right away that she bears the holy symbols of Bahamut. The woman sees them immediately and walks over to them, stopping in front of Kriv and Kava. Looking between them a little hesitantly, she asks which one is Kriv. Kriv identifies herself, and the woman introduces herself as Maivera, another cleric of Bahamut. "I have been looking for you," she says, "and you have been looking for me, so I am glad we have found each other."

Maivera sits down and they buy her a drink. She tells them that she is one of Qualion's old band, and that yes, they robbed Vondal, that she is one of the ones they've been looking for. She explains that back in the day, the five of them (Qualion, Erevan, Solveliss, Dayman, and herself) were a band of theives, angry at the world and out to cut a piece of it for themselves. They were hired by a Warfoged who called himself Vizen (Maivera says she has come to doubt that that was his name) to rob Vondal and keep half of it for themselves. (When questioned as to why they didn't just take it for themselves, Maivera explains warily that none of them wanted to mess with Vizen.)

DM's note: I meant to say that Vizen told them a secret passageway that allowed them to get in and out, as well as instructions as to how to defeat Vondal's security. He made the theft very easy, did all the preliminary work, which is why he was able to demand half the take.

After the theft, they all went their seperate ways; Erevan and Soveliss settled here in Summercrest, Maivera herself went to Urlsav, a city far from here, and Dayman just disappeared, and she doesn't really know where he is. At this point, Kriv comments that Soveliss is dead, so that leaves only Dayman to track down. Hearing this, though, Maivera's face blanches and she had to excuse herself. Upon returning, it is clear that she had been crying. She apologies for her behavior; she and Soveliss were close once and it had shocked her to hear that he was dead (they hadn't had any contact for the last couple of years).

After regaining her composure, Maivera explains that while living in Urlsav, she realized there was more to life, and that there were better ways to influence the world, and she eventually devoted herself to a life as a cleric of Bahamut. Soveliss, she says, a few years ago, went through something of a 'mid-life crisis' where he began to feel some guilt and remorse for the way things had happened all those years ago, and was going to go back to Elslein and pick up his life to some extent. That was the last she'd heard of him; "I guess he never made it," she mourns. The party lies to her and says that he died quickly and painlessly.

Maivera expresses concern over Erevan; he has grown in magical power far more quickly that she would consider normal. She worries that dark pacts have been made. The party tells her of their experiences in his home and particuarly in his dungeon, feeling her assesment is probably right. With this new information, they begin to think about how their plans must now change.

At Kriv's suggestion, Jaden and Kava go to attend to the psuedodragons while Kriv and Maivera retire to Kriv's room in the inn. Maivera addresses Kriv almost reverently, telling her that a week ago, she was meditating and praying to Bahamut when she actually had a vision of the Dragon God! "He said to me that you have a purpose in this far greater than you know. He said, 'A great evil gathers, and I will guide her to defeat it. You will guide her and in time, she will guide you.'” Maivera says that she has to believe that it is all interconnected somehow - Vizen, their quest from Vondal, and the great evil that gathers. Kriv agrees, and they spend some time praying to Bahamut for guidance. Nothing specific comes, but they feel more refreshed and in-tune with their diety from the experience.

The party comes all back together after dinner that night; Rougi returns from Erevan's manor, and is introduced to Maivera. There is an instant dislike between them. The group catches Rougi up to speed, and then a long discussion ensues as to what their next course of action should be. It is agreed that they should include Vizen in their list of people to seek out, but they cannot agree as to whether they should try to capture Erevan first, and then think about Vizen, or try to get to the bottom of the Vizen story first. In the end, it is decided that Erevan will be easier to deal with, and they are already right here.

The party secludes themselves in the woods near Erevan's house, while Rougi goes back in and returns to his fake studying. After a delay, they send Maivera in to attempt to draw Erevan out so he can be captured. She returns after only a few minutes though, saying that he is too paranoid and suspicious to leave his home. So a new plan is hatched: Kriv will use her ritual book to cast Animal Messenger on one of the psuedodragons, which will take the message to Rougi that Maivera has gone into the house to visit with Erevan and distract him while Rougi searches the third floor of the house. Maivera carries another one of the pseudodragons with her, sleeping and invisible, as an 'alarm' if things go bad.

Rougi is sitting the library when the pseudodragon bursts through the full-length windows, lands at this feet, and speaks the message to him in perfect Common. He tries to grab it, but it flies off before he can. He then hears Maivera's and Erevan's voices passing by the library moving to another part of the house. Rougi siezes the opportunity and quickly makes his way up to the third floor. He begins inspecting all the rooms. Most of them contain none-too-secretive things; he does find a room of spell components and palms a few vials of magic dust. He finds one room that looks and smells as if dark rituals have taken place in it; the bones of a large animal are scattered on the floor. He does not linger there. The next room he comes to is a supply room. Most of the items in it are mundane, but to his great delight he finds a pair of Dimension Shackles! He also pockets a valuable-looking wand.

It is at this point that a loud crash comes from the first floor of the house. On the third floor, Rougi hears it and decides to make his way down to the second floor in a great hurry. Out in the forest, the rest of the party hears it (the enchanted pseudodragon has long since returned to them) and Jaden decides to sneak up and see what is going on. Jaden reaches the house as Maivera storms out the main door, absolutely furious. Erevan, apparently, had said some of the same condescending and racist things to her that he had taunted the party with in the dungeon. She is particuarly incensed that he said that to serve as a cleric is a waste of time and that the only worthwhile pursuit is to be a wizard and study magic. She cannot believe how horribly racist and demeaning he has become.

On the second floor, the door to the room Rougi is in is wrenched open and there stands Erevan. He is very suspicous, and demands to know if he has been on the third floor. Rougi says he hasn't - he tells something of the truth, saying a pseudodragon burst into the house and he has been chasing it, but it just got away. Erevan is clearly still wary of his young apprentice, but he accepts this story, albiet with some reluctance. Rougi then makes a hasty exit, saying he will return to his reading after he has gotten a drink. He descends the stairs under Erevan's untrusting eye.

In the forest, the party and Maivera are having a heated discussion as to what to do now. Maivera is still furious and says she is all for going back in there and knocking his head in and dragging him back to Vondal in chains. Kriv hopes they can find a more peaceful solution, while Jaden and Kava don't see anything that can be done, fearing there is no way to overpower him, seeing as how he used a magical ward last time. Upon hearing this, Maivera says that she thinks ritual like that had to be applied on an ad hoc basis and take several minutes to cast, so if they go right now, he should be vulnerable. The discussion does not end there, but before time runs out the party decides to attack Erevan's house.

They rush the door, only to have Erevan burst out. He demands to know what they want and what they are doing here. Maivera does not waste time or mince words; she rushes up to Erevan and swing at him with her mace. A short intense battle follows; Kriv is able to immobilize the wizard, and after a dazing hit from Kava, they are able to clap him in the Dimensional Shackles and some mundane rope, which effectively takes him prisioner.

With Erevan down, Jaden and Rougi rush into the house, intent on looting and plundering. Kriv watches them go at it with a heavy heart; Maivera tries to console her with the sentiment that that is just how the world works sometimes. To placate her, they say they will let her be the treasurer over the loot gleaned from the house.

Rewards

• You each recieve 600 experience points (XP)
• You each recieved 1,310 gp from the sale of the items you found in Session 7; if you did not add that into your 'bank accounts' during the game, be sure to do so.
• The wand that Rougi stole is a Level 6 Magic Wand (p. 242 PHB)
• Their looting also discovered a Level 5 Flaming Greataxe (see p. 234 PHB, Flaming Weapon)
• Rougi and Jaden, on raiding the storage room on the 3rd floor, found a complete set of spell components for each of the following rituals: Animal Messenger, Arcane Lock, Comprehend Language, Cure Disease, Detect Object, Detect Secret Doors, Discern Lies, Disenchant Magic Item, Drawmij’s Instant Summons, Endure Elements, Eye of Alarm, Hallucinatory Creature, Hallucinatory Item, Hand of Fate, Linked Portal, Magic Circle, Magic Mouth,Make Whole, Phantom Steed, Raise Dead, Remove Affliction, Secret Page, Sending, Shadow Walk, Silence, Speak with Dead, Tenser’s Floating Disk,Travelers’ Feast, Water Breathing, Water Walk, and Wizard's Sight. The whole lot is worth 4, 240 gp. (This includes the vials Rougi palmed.)
• Erevan's manor contained a large number of mundane items that are common to large households and not particuarly valuable by themselves, but collectively worth a good amount. The whole collection of these items weighs about 100 lbs. and would fetch 800 gp on the open market (they're the kind of things there is no black market for - old books, furniture, clothes, etc.)
  

Interlude: Level Up!

All right, while you all have different XP at this point, you should all have enough to move up to level 4! At level 4, you gain another feat, so be sure to pick one out, as well as increasing your hit points (look at your class descriptions). Because you have gone up to an even-numbered level, your level modifier has gone up a point. See the original level-up post, or page 27 in the Player's Handbook, for a refresher on how to take that into account. Also be sure to look at your class features to see if any of them get better at this level.

Now, with reaching level 4 there is a level-up opportunity that we haven't had before, and that is increasing your ability scores! At level 4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, and 28 you're able to increase two of your ability scores by 1. Not the modifier, the actual score; so if you had Constitution 12 and decided you wanted to bump that up you could change it to 13. You can only increase two scores, and you can't increase one score by 2, they have to be seperate scores. If you increase a score in a way that changes your ability modifier, be sure to make sure that addition is added to the things that use that ability score. For example, if you increase Strength from 13 to 14, then your modifier will go up by 1 and your strength attacks go up by 1 as well. Attacks, powers, skills, and defenses are the primary things affected by ability modifer changes.

The Player's Handbook, in my opinion, is not very clear on how to apply these changes, so I would go through your charachter sheet to see where these values will apply. If you have questions, we'll go over it Saturday.

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Session 7: Devils in the Dark

Jaden stands outside the magically locked door, flushed but whole after her battle with Erevan. She makes several attempts to defeat the door's magic, but cannot. In the absence of Erevan, she decides to explore, hoping to find some way into the dungeon she knows now holds her companions captive.

Down in the dungeon, Rougi, Kava, and Kriv are crawling along in the tunnel when Kriv suddenly feels something grab her foot. She calls out to Kava and Rougi, but they have already made their way down the tunnel a good ways, and can't turn around easily. Whatever has grabbed Kriv nearly wrenches her leg off, then yanks her out of the tunnel and into the lake room. Kava quickly makes her way back to help her sister, and boldly attacks the creature, a long-armed, pale monstrosity with sharp, gleaming teeth. To her shock and horror, though, the creature pulls Kriv into the path of the blow, and Kriv herself is nearly killed!


Jaden makes her way to the second floor of Erevan's house, only to then hear what she thinks are the sounds of the party below. She makes her way back down into the basement instead. Seeing a locked door, she breaks it down, only to have a fey panther leap out and attack her!

By this point, Rougi has joined the fight, and he and Kava make short work of the creature. Kriv is saved with a healing potion, and the group takes a short rest before going back into the tunnel to continue their search for the exit.

Jaden's battle with the panther ends up being a chase all across the basement, but eventually she conquers the beast and makes her way through the broken door into the tunnel behind it. However, no more than 15 feet in, the ground beneath her gives way and she tumbles thirty feet down into a pit.

Rougi, Kava, and Kriv emerge from the tunnel into a larger room, where, lo and behold, they find Jaden, recovering from her fall. They realize that Rougi can teleport to the top of this tunnel and then cast down a rope; he does so, and they all climb out pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when they reach the top they find that the door has been repaired and sealed with a more powerful arcane lock than before. Trapped once again, they decide the only thing they can do is head back down into the dungeon.

Since it is by now past midnight, the group decides to camp for the night next to the locked door. Rougi keeps watch while he trances, and no creatures attack them while they rest. In the 'morning', they begin to follow the tunnel down. As they do, Rougi suddenly hears a voice in his head, calling him a fool and belittling the life he has chosen. He pays this voice no heed, laughing about it with the rest of the party.

The party soon finds themselves wandering around a series of rooms and passageways criss-crossed with large but decaying spiderwebs and littered with the bones of animals and humanoids. Thankfully, they do not encounter anything, and their wandering turns out not to be so aimless after all - they find several valuable magic items. These include several pieces of armor, a Circlet of Authority, and an Elven Cloak (more details in the rewards section).

Soon enough they find they exit to the maze and find themselves in a much larger room. There, in the center of it, stands Erevan. The party and he share some angry words, and they try to attack him. However, to their frustration, they find that any and all attacks they try to make just bounce off a magic barrier he has placed around his person.

Erevan addresses Rougi, pretty much ignoring the rest of the party. In fact, while he argues with Rougi, he calls a swarm of rats to attack the rest of them, just so they won't bother him. His conversation with Rougi basically entails him viciously deriding the life of a rouge for an Eladrin, or rather the idea of an Eladrin being anything other than a wizard. He says that money is unimportant, and that Eladrins were meant to live in the Feywild, not to deal with these 'worthless' non-fey creatures (e.g., humans, Dragonborns, Tieflings, etc.) He admits to having been part of Qualion's gang, and while he does not directly confess to having robbed Vondal, he doesn't exactly deny it either. He however dismisses it all as something very long ago.

Rougi realizes that Erevan wants something from him particularly, and while the rats are hardly a threat, they've been trapped in this dungeon for a while, and Erevan himself is currently untouchable. He asks what Erevan wants. He responds in an almost pleading fashion that he wants Rougi to 'accept his true self', and become a wizard, become his apprentice! Rougi is a little flabbergasted at his manner of asking, but bluffs the wizard into believing he would be willing to do that. He however insists that the party be let go; Erevan says if they will leave his home and not harm any more of his pets, that he will not trouble them anymore. Rougi tries to negotiate for some reward as well, but he doesn't get anywhere due to Erevan's disdain for wealth.

The party defeats the rats as this conversation is wrapping up, and are shown the way out of the dungeon. They make it through the door, up the stairs, and back to Summercrest.

Rougi, meanwhile, is lead back into Erevan's study (the floor has been repaired and the bookshelf is upright once more). Erevan shows him a shelf full of books, declaring them to be histories of magic that he must read to gain a foundation of wizardry. He says not to talk to him again until he has read them all, and then leaves. Rougi of course immediately pockets some of the books. He skims a few of them but doesn't really explore them. Later, he explores the house; Erevan prevents him on the third floor, telling him it is private and off-limits, but the rest of the house he can consider his home.

Back in town, the party has found an inn and gotten some dinner, resting up after their dungeon crawl. Rougi joins them that evening after dinner. They are unable to find an exotic animals dealer to do anything with the psuedodragons they captured in the forest, and Rougi discovers the ritual and history books he pocketed are not worth very much, though he does manage to get about 1,000 gp for them.

The party is somewhat at a loss for what to do next. They decide to let Rougi carry on this charade of being Erevan's apprentice for a couple of days at least, and to meet back tomorrow night to discuss their plans once more.

Rewards

Jaden: 525 XP, 540 gp
Rougi: 400 XP, 540 gp (includes the 1,000 gp in-game reward)
Kriv/Kava: 350 XP (each), 540 gp (each)

Treasure (whole party):

• Level 3 Curseforged Armor (p. 227 Player's Handbook)
• Level 4 Black Iron Armor (p. 227 Player's Handbook)
• Level 5 Exalted Armor (p. 230 Player's Handbook)
• Level 6 Horned Helm (p. 249 Player's Handbook)
• Level 7 Circlet of Authority (p. 248 Player's Handbook)
• Level 7 Elven Cloak (p. 250 Player's Handbook)

EDIT: The money rewards are now correct.