Rappan Athuk #120: The Horde

The party’s bard, Shia Labeouf, fell silent, leaving the legacy of the lightning devil-face and the first half of the party’s confrontation with the combined force of a race bred for war for others to wonder about. Alas, Shia appears a little tongue-tied.

(-GM)

12th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

As we finished off the last of the grunts, a company of orog spellcaster elites left the safety of their temple to face us. They were very smart, conjuring a wall of wind to deflect our arrows, enhancing their eyes to see through our smoke, and covering our great banner with stone. But they weren’t smart enough, for if they were they would run away.

Deckard made quick work of their magic, dispelling their tricks faster than they could conjure them. We felled them one by one, tearing apart their flimsy charms and cantrips until they were reduced to mud and corpses just like their martial brethren. As we stood on the roof of that profane temple, we heard sounds of more soldiers, marching from every corner of that vast cavern. Let them come. We do not balk at weaklings simply because they come in numbers.

Susurrus unleashed a powerful blast of anti-magic that made the orogs unable to fly, then brought forth a sea of black tentacles that dragged them down into the mud. We flew down to that mass of desperate struggle, and killed them. We killed and killed and killed, and didn’t stop until the entire orog army was reduced to dead flesh and scrap metal.

The cavern was silent. All that remained were the pulsing lights, illuminating the temple of Orcus and the demonic carvings on its walls. We explored the tunnel that their spellcasters fled into, finding an amphitheater with a pool of pitch black liquid in the center, and three mithral golems to defend it.

I attacked one of the golems with the full force of my fury. I dealt six deadly blows to the machine, one of them removing its head, yet the thing fought on. Eventually, like all things that face us, it fell in a pool of its own molten metal. We then investigated the black pool. It appeared to be the very essence of the shadow plane. The orogs would use it to turn their elites into twisted monstrosities. We could not allow such a substance to exist, so we disintegrated the entire pool.

The hole where the liquid once rested revealed a secret tunnel under the amphitheater.

And in that tunnel we found what may be the most formidable enemy yet:

The Mages of Disjunction

Signing off,
Grom-gil-Gorm

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1 / wizard 1 / alchemist 1
Deckard Cain, aasimar oracle 22
Doomfist, oread monk 20
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 3
Shia Labeouf, human bard 20
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 22

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Rappan Athuk #118: Flame, Water, Wind, and Earth

The door to the Golden Toilet opened, and out floated a small flame. As the party beheld it, it grew larger and assumed fire-elemental form. Deckard Cain had been gone awhile, and he asks us to listen.

(-GM)

11th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

My return to the party went more or less how I expected it. A large, menacing dungeon, lots of hostile and powerful enemies, and an epic fight. 

The party had gone beneath the massive statue of Orcus, the Prince of the Undead. I found the party in a rather peculiar situation. The ceiling of the vast cavern was covered with tainted bats, intent upon overwhelming the party. Already dozens, it not a hundred or more, were dead on the ground, their corpses slowly being consumed by the lava Susurrus had conjured. Others resembled pincushions from the arrows DFSIFA had skewered them with. 

Then, out of nowhere, a large demon with octopus tentacles jumped out of the nearby water and swallowed several bats flying towards us, then retreated back to its home in the depths of the lake. We debated our next best course of action, and it was decided that we should head over the lake. However, as soon as we started to fly our way across the lake, the water under us erupted to reveal two of the demons we had just seen. One of them concentrated for a mere second, and Shia Labeouf simply fell out of the air, completely losing his ability to fly; his screams were cut short by the crushing of his slim, fragile form by the monstrous tentacles of our foes. I cursed as our friend’s body was mutilated beyond most forms of healing.

Knowing that there was nothing I could do to save him, I focused and shot a bolt of death energy at the creature still constricting his corpse, greatly wounding it. Doomfist and Grom Gil Gorm engaged the now-wounded sea monster up close and crushed several of its tentacles, Finally, Susurrus shot a pure blast of cold at the enemies, freezing them, while DFSIFA lined up his shot and brought them down in a matter of seconds.

After the fight, I performed a ritual to bring our unfortunate bard back to us, and the rest of the party debated our next move. We eventually moved on, and, after a considerable amount of time spent wandering around the vast chambers of the cave complex, stumbled upon a most horrendous sight.

Towering above us was the largest, most menacing plant I had ever seen, which was identified to us by Susurrus as a mu spore. DFSIFA immediately nocked an arrow, drew, and fired at the beast, piercing its hide. The creature cried out in rage and spat a volley of spores at us. I shot a ray of pure cold at the beast, weakening it. After many an arrow shot, the beast fell to another lancing ray of cold from the hand of Susurrus.

-Deckard Cain (Aidan)

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1 / wizard 1 / alchemist 1
Deckard Cain, aasimar oracle 21
Doomfist, oread monk 20
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 3
Shia Labeouf, human bard 20
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 21

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Rappan Athuk #117: Slumbering Tsar

The party, having defeated the Grand Cornu of Orcus, and now races against time to stop a demon lord’s return.

(-GM)

11th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

Before we started our journey back down into Rappan Athuk, we took a trip to the capital’s library to research the person we kill called the Grand Cornu. He had been the head of the cult of Orcus. The gods had imprisoned Orcus because he killed a deity, and Orcus sought a way out. The Grand Cornu’s notes said that Rappan Athuk was a “distraction” from Orcus’ ritual, which was almost complete and was being done somewhere in the ancient, evil ruin of Tsar.

We then proceeded to Tsar.

In the back of the city against a cliff face was a gigantic Orcus statue with a set of large doors at the base. As we approached the giant gates of the cathedral, we noticed a huge dead stone golem. The inside was a great room with many statues. A large well dominated the middle with an uncountable amount of skeletal troops. There were two spots shielded by pitch-black. Once dispelled, the party noticed a large amount of footprints, presumably from another party.

The party went to a large statue at the back of the room. Susurrus sensed magic behind the eyes. When removed, black smoke spewed from the two gems, creating two ghostly hostiles. With a couple of shots from DFSIFA and a punch from Doomfist, they slew the two beasts.

There was a set of small steps in the well, and as the party descended the steps, we noticed some writing reading “Saint Harul’s Well.” Suddenly we heard large banging noises. The door flew open and a huge troll with fangs cast dispel magic to no avail. Grom Gil Gorm rushed the troll and smashed its head to a pulp.

At the bottom of the steps of the well, there was a large room with a single tunnel leading away. Susurrus stated he must birth the Poop Monster and opened a door to the Golden Toilet and closed the door saying he will catch up.

Ahead there was a room with four ropers ready to attack, but DFSIFA was already ready and launched six arrows killing two of them. Doomfist moved forward and threw Grom Gil Gorm into combat range. One of the ropers smacked three tentacles against Doomfist, but he resisted most of the damage but took two strength damage, Grom Gil Gorm killed one, and Doomfist killed the last, concluding the battle.

There were ten plinths in the room, and eight had either stone figurines or iron wands. The last two plinths had nothing, and one stone figurine and an iron wand were on the floor. They resisted all attempts to move them. There was also a secret door with no way to open it. We figured that the room was a puzzle involving the plinths and the stone and iron objects. After almost an hour of puzzle-solving we got the right color coordination and a secret door opened.

Doomfist (Cayden)

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1
Doomfist, oread monk 20
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 2
Shia Labeouf, human bard 19
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 21

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Rappan Athuk #116: Grand Cornu? More Like Grand Centa!

The demesne of the Grand Cornu of Orcus had elaborate torture rooms, followed by opulent, chambers of pleasure. The party confronts the leader of Orcus’ cult in the Mortal Realm.

(-GM)

9th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

There he stood, the Grand Cornu. This was the old elf-priest who’d given us so much trouble. He called up a host of vampires and other such fiendish minions, some of them turning invisible like cowards, and we got to fighting. He started with a spell making the air around us cold. So cold, in fact, that Susurrus told us we’d be encased in ice if we didn’t move around a lot. Pressed in the melee as I was, I had to bull-rush half a dozen vampires to take the steps required.

It was a bottleneck, all right. Yet another situation where them range specialists are much more effective than us melee fighters. Doomfist couldn’t even reach the Cornu for most of the fight, and had to content himself with punching the minions that were blocking his way. He did get a moment of glory, however, when the priest cast implosion on him. Doomfist reflected the elf-magic, giving the Cornu a taste of his own medicine. The Cornu was forced to counter the spell by casting explosion.

 

Rappan Athuk #115: Save or Suck

In an unwritten chapter of our heroes’ tale, they fought an evil party that annoyingly aped their most overpowered powerful abilities in combat. They then explore a stairwell down, deep in the megadungeon, that adjoined the massive temple to Orcus they had fought earlier. One wouldn’t know it (ahem!), but they encounter here an elaborate torture room populated by sadistic kytons.

(-GM)

9th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

Finally, a chance to fight our foes in close combat! For too long have we been thwarted from the shadows by this troupe of turmoil. Countless exploits ruined from afar by these nefarious nemesis, and until now they have not dared to show their faces. I suppose their arrogance has gotten the better of them. They think that they have a chance in the light because they have won in the dark. They are wrong, for the light from the fires of open combat will sear at their treacherous eyes and pierce their skin with a pain matched only by the pain of our hungry steel.

We surrounded them with expert precision, taking care to ensure that no route remained which our rivals could flee to once they realize their doom has arrived. Our enemies, still drunk with their first rush of adrenaline, failed to notice their entrapment until it was too late. They screamed in rage and charged us with weapons levelled, bows drawn, and elf-spells at the ready.

I raised Vox, the great mace that was once the weapon of Maphistal, mighty demonic servant of Orcus himself, before we stole the mace from him and slew him with it. I let loose a guttural roar, filled with the frustration of unsettled scores. I picked out the leader of the band and ran straight toward him, Vox speeding toward a killing blow-

Wait, just kidding. I failed the will save. Now I get to sit in a cage for the rest of the fight.

Signing off,
Grom-gil-Gorm

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1
Doomfist, oread monk 19
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 1
Shia Labeouf, human bard 19
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 21

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Rappan Athuk #113: The Other Side

We last left our heroes as they were stopping the End of the World, confronting the Beast of the Tomb that preceded even the Cult of Orcus.

(-GM)

7th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

For once we were applying a tactical strategy instead of charging directly into battle. We used the red tunnel as a choke point to keep the screaming beasts from hurting us, summoned some decoy fire elementals to keep them occupied, and pummeled them with meteors and arrows. It worked for a while, but after the elementals died the Ravager, frustrated at having nothing to attack, tried to leave the cavern and continue its mission to destroy the world.

We squeezed through the tunnel with as much dignity as possible. The battle seemed to come to a stalemate as both sides inflicted large amounts of damage but couldn’t kill anything.

It was then that I had a realization: why not go for the head?

Several crushed skulls later, we looted the rooms and found nothing but some potent magical artifacts. We decided that this would be a good time to rest, maybe celebrate with a round of ale.

As we neared the exit, we heard a voice: “Did you kill the Ravager yet?”

“Um, yes…” replied Shia, the articulate one.

“Good. That makes this the perfect time to kill you.” And our impersonators sprang out of the shadows and attacked us!

Signing off,
Grom-gil-Gorm

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1
Doomfist, oread monk 19
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 1
n, elven haunt-collector occultist 18
Shia Labeouf, human bard 19
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 20

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Rappan Athuk #112: The End Is Nigh

The party was rejoined by the mage Susurrus and the monk Doomfist to take on the Ravager.

(-GM)

7th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

We then started the process of pre-buffing, but we were cut off by two meteor swarms flying at the party…

At first, I was reluctant to leave the golden toilet. But when I heard about my party fighting the Ravager’s spawn I rushed to their aid, all the way down through the labyrinth we call Rappen Athuk.

N, Shia, Grom-Gil-Gorm, and DFSIFA had already slaughtered the beast, describing it as a strange shape-shifting creature. After the story time, we made our way towards the third tunnel that had red light that sucked our life if we touched it. As we walked, DFSIFA noticed that the pyramid had stabilized and was back to containing the Ravager and its spawn, but before we could fight the ravager we had to get to the end of the tunnel with red light.

N cast a wall of force at the end of the tunnel. We then started the process of pre-buffing, but we were cut off by two meteor swarms flying at the party, one flying past and doing minor damage but the second directly impacting Grom-Gil-Gorm, before anyone had time to react a fireball came flying at us dealing a petite amount of damage. Doomfist then preceded to fly at the pit fiends and smack one, failing to bypass its damage resistance. Then DFSIFA shot a few arrows dropping one of the two. The battle ended with Grom-Gil-Gorm crushing the second one’s skull

We proceeded then to waste around one or two hours on how to release the Ravager and its spawn. We ended up sealing ourselves in the room and going in the red tunnel so that when we deactivated the red light the creatures could not escape and we would have a chokepoint. After a quick rest, we finally disabled the last light beam. Nothing happened for almost a whole minute, but then the room started to rumble and the pyramid started to crumble into light shards, revealing what I could only describe as a heap of hideous creatures that spilled out onto the ground around where the pyramid used to be.

DFSIFA with his quick and nimble fingers nocked an arrow or two, maybe more, and launched them straight into the Ravager’s skull, clearly weakening it greatly.

Signing off so I can go have some fun killing the Ravager.
Doomfist (Cayden)

=========================

Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1
Doomfist, oread monk 18
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20
n, elven haunt-collector occultist 18
Shia Labeouf, human bard 18
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 20

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Rappan Athuk #111: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

In a missing chapter of our tale, the party encountered a prismatic pyramid containing the Ravager, powered by three beams of light. They nearly fell to the manifold eye-beams of a Gibbering Orb, but prevailed.

We bid a fond farewell to Valestar Eckhart, the last remaining member of the original party and its first scribe nearly four years ago. His conversion to Iomedae to unlike the powers of his new artifact sword came at the price of duty to a higher Cause, for he now joins the crusaders standing watch at Kenabres at the edge of the Worldwound.

Susurrus is on a sojourn, and Deckard Cain had to look into mysterious portents in the town of New Tristram.

(-GM)

6th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

Three of our number have left us, and one mysterious stranger from this ancient prison has joined. None of us who remained had any healing power, so we were forced to rely on potions and scrolls. After maneuvering around some obstacles in our path, we returned to the great glass prism. It had not changed since we had left it, but we checked the blue tunnel anyway. There was nothing in it save a strange staff. After temporarily dispelling the blue light, the staff was revealed to be a potent staff of the magi.

“This world puts a dangerous amount of trust in elf-magic,” said I, “Where I come from, the elves destroyed themselves with their greed.”

It was then that I noticed the stranger, n, had pointed ears. I was in the presence of an elf! When I asked about his people, he told me he didn’t remember anything.

 

Rappan Athuk #109: Dispelling All Doubt

The wardens of the monstrous Ravager test the party’s strength.

(-GM)

6th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

I shot arrow after arrow at the golems surrounding us. My arrows flew faster than an unladen swallow, slicing through the rocky flesh of these creatures. I laughed loudly as I watched our spellcasters fail at any sort of magical attack against these foes. They were made of rock, therefore most wizardry accomplished nothing.

Given time, I would have slain them all but eventually, Susurrus found a spell that could damage them. He summoned a wall of lava that swallowed two of the golems as they tried to pass through it. Grom-Gil-Gorm and I tore our way through the remaining enemies. The room was now silent. The only thing that remained of interest was the big statue of an angel. We considered trying to free them but they had the *circle triangle group thingy* emblazoned on them. We figured that they were probably here to defend this place and freeing them would only lead to more fighting. We continued forward to the far end of the room where a tunnel led onward.

The tunnel was quite short and ended with a vault door. However, it was no match for the might of our paladin, Valestar. He turned the wheel and the door swung open. Beyond stood a fearsome undead. I lit a smoke stick immediately, expecting a fight, but Valestar held me back from shooting. He whispered quickly to me that this creature was less evil than most things we had encountered so far and that we should talk to it first and maybe get some information.

 

Rappan Athuk #108: Monsters, Monsters Everywhere, but Not a Coin to Loot

Grom-gil-Gorm does not forego his go to grumble.

(-GM)

6th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

How did the trees live without sunlight?

We reached the bottom of the murky tunnel. The area was completely dark until Susurrus lit his elf-torch. What sort of monsters would you expect to find in a dark cavern? Rats, trolls, oozes perhaps? No, the monsters that assaulted us were trees. How did the trees live without sunlight? Where was their soil? What did they have against us? I asked myself these questions as we turned the attackers into splinters, and could not come up with the answer. (They were special stone treants! -GM)

Yet another padlock awaited us at the end of the room. The others were all frail of form, built for stealth instead of strength, so the burden of forcing the padlock open fell upon my shoulders. The door opened into a room filled with whirling blades of stone.

 

I knew the elves had a spell that turned stone into mud, but Susurrus told us that we faced “special” stone that did not respond to his elf-magic. We were forced to walk through and accept that we would receive a few cuts.

 

The walls of the next room we entered had a bas relief of the army that imprisoned the Ravager, along with a single statue in the center. These carvings failed to imprison themselves, as they all came to life and attacked us.

 

The others killed many of them, but they did so at range, cowering in the corner with their bows. I was the only one brave enough to face them head on. If there was any treasure in that room, it was I who’d be most worthy of it, yet there was no treasure. Not a single object of monetary value. It seems the heroes of this age would be paupers.

 

Signing off,
Grom-gil-Gorm

=========================

Deckard Cain, aasimar oracle 19
Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20
Doomfist, oread monk 18
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 19
Susurrus of the Wind, sylph wizard 19
Shia Labeouf, merfolk bard 18
Valestar Ekhart, aasimar paladin 20

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