MONDAY, AUGUST 3RD - MASTER AND APPRENTICE CAMPAIGN 1 : SESSION 19+20 RECAPS
Aldor’s - Journal Entries 19 & 20
Overcoming Adversity, and making new friends…
The next morning started with a problem. We'd lost the trail.
Now, normally that would be concerning. We were chasing vague leads through a swamp that looked like it actively hated life itself, and somehow we'd managed to lose even the tiny amount of direction we had. Fortunately, unlike certain members of my traveling companions, I possess both intelligence and a helpful feathered associate. I sent my wren companion ahead, and before long we had our next point of interest.
The swamp only got worse from there.
We eventually came upon a river of filthy, stagnant water that looked like the sort of thing that develops sentience and starts cursing bloodlines. Nobody seemed eager to wade through it, so I conjured Tenser's Floating Disk and ferried us across. After securing a rope line for good measure, we continued onward.
Not long after, Cade discovered the remains of what appeared to be an ancient settlement. Crumbling stone structures stood half-swallowed by the swamp, and more importantly, he found footprints. Actual signs that someone had been through here recently.
By then night had fallen, and we needed somewhere to sleep. We chose the most intact structure we could find, which quickly proved to be more than an old dwelling. After lighting the interior with several carefully placed Dancing Lights, we saw the truth of it. The building was supported by enormous petrified tree trunks serving as columns. Weathered stone and wooden pews filled the room.
It was clearly some kind of place of worship.
I spent some time studying it for magical significance, but nothing particularly stood out. Ancient, yes. Creepy, certainly. Mysteriously enchanted? Not that I could tell.
The night remained uneventful until Ukalis' watch.
The wizard sensed movement outside and enhanced his vision to pierce the darkness. There was a figure lurking nearby. After a brief exchange involving Dancing Lights, translation issues, and Cade proving once again that not everyone speaks Orcish, I managed to talk the stranger down before anybody started shooting.
His name was Skagg, and he appeared to be a Lizard-Folk, which I had heard rumors of in the city, but never seen one first hand.
We shared a meal, exchanged stories, and received a warning.
"Don't go west to the Stones." The next morning Skagg was gone, and I left him some rations as a thank you for the info on the area.
Naturally, we immediately went west to the Stones.
After another day's travel, we reached them.
The place was unsettling from the moment we arrived. The stones rose from the earth in a formation that resembled an enormous clenched fist, their dark surfaces gleaming like obsidian. We made camp nearby and settled in for the night.
That was our second mistake.
A pack of feral-looking zombies descended on us, sprinting through the darkness on all fours like rabid animals. Ukalis blasted them with magic while Cade filled the air with bolts. I scattered caltrops and ball bearings in their path.
Unfortunately, these things apparently cared very little about sensible battlefield obstacles.
They crashed through our defenses and slammed directly into us.
The fight was ugly, but eventually we gained the upper hand. A well-placed sneak attack from yours truly, combined with several devastating strikes from Cade and well-timed magic from Ukalis, finally put the creatures down.
With the threat eliminated, we approached the great mound beneath the obsidian stones.
That was where things got significantly worse.
A slimy monstrosity emerged that defied every attempt we made to kill it. Our weapons barely affected it. Our spells seemed ineffective. For a while it felt less like a battle and more like the creature had collectively decided to beat the life out of us for daring to exist in its presence.
At one point I had to save Cade by anchoring the creature with the web enchantment on my rapier. Beyond that, I would like the official record to show that Ukalis largely carried the encounter while the rest of us desperately tried not to die.
Eventually we survived.
I'm still not entirely sure how.
At the center of the formation we found what appeared to be an altar. Cade approached first and was rewarded with a painful blast of psychic energy. We unanimously agreed that whatever secrets the altar was holding could remain secret for the foreseeable future.
Sometimes wisdom means walking away.
Continuing west, we passed bodies floating in the waters and entered an even worse section of swamp. Imagine the previous swamp, then remove whatever tiny shred of comfort you found there.
Areas of unnatural silence drifted through the mist.
The atmosphere felt wrong.
Then we spotted another figure.
This one wore a cloak with no identifying insignia and moved carefully through the marsh.
A brief misunderstanding followed.
I threw my voice to misdirect, which led to the stranger silencing Cade with magic before anyone could properly introduce themselves. Realizing things were escalating unnecessarily, I slipped around behind the newcomer and quietly cast Message.
"No need for magic, friend."
Once I had her attention, I assured her that we meant no harm. We were simply heading west.
As it turned out, the stranger was Halathai.
She decided not to try and kill us, which was a promising start to the relationship.
Together we continued westward.
Eventually we discovered a small hut containing three corpses.
Halathai used Speak with Dead, giving us five precious questions.
The answers painted an interesting picture.
A wizard in gray robes had visited less than a week ago. He had come alone. He had offered payment in exchange for collecting components.
Not exactly complete answers, but enough to keep us moving.
Once the questioning was done, we burned the bodies. No reason to leave them behind for someone else to use.
The trail led us onward until we reached a strange barren bowl of dead earth where nothing grew. No trees. No life.
Just a cave.
Because our decision-making remains consistently excellent, we entered.
Inside we found a deep chasm. Once again, Tenser's Floating Disk saved us a difficult crossing. Deeper within, we discovered a trap door that radiated unmistakable magical enchantment.
Rather than immediately opening the obviously magical trap door hidden in a cave at the center of a dead wasteland, we decided to rest.
In hindsight, perhaps we should have reconsidered.
During the night, Halathai thought she heard something and cast Silence.
Unfortunately, whatever had been approaching apparently interpreted that spell as an invitation.
A creature attacked.
The worst part was that Cade and Halathai ended up fighting the thing inside the sphere of magical silence while the rest of us slept blissfully unaware of the battle happening nearby.
Only after Halathai dropped the spell were we finally alerted.
A well-placed bolt from her and a crushing hammer strike from Cade finally brought the creature down. After patching Cade up, we decided it was time to investigate the trap door.
Below, we discovered a partially open doorway and the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh.
Three sconces lined the wall. One stood out immediately because there was no soot behind it.
The hidden mechanism opened a concealed compartment containing a chest.
Inside we found some gold, and wand and supplies, likely someones secret stash, now much less of a secret.
Further ahead stood a massive reinforced door, far sturdier than any we'd encountered so far.
Beyond it waited something horrifying.
The chamber looked like a necromancer's butcher shop. Corpses and cadavers littered the room in various states of disassembly. We barely had time to absorb the scene before several of the bodies sat upright and attacked.
Fortunately, those proved manageable.
We cut them down and advanced into the adjoining chamber.
Which was when every skeleton in the room decided to wake up.
Skeletal warriors began emerging from every corner, closing in from all sides as we entered the chamber.
Surrounded by undead.
Again….
We’ll see how we fare against the thralls of Theran the Necromancer next time in…The Maze!