Reign of Winter #28: Hired guns, soup's on, shadows, Vsevolod and Svathurim! Bebolith!!!

The diary of Zaaz Bloodfortune

As a witch of the good, I feel I need to try to make the world a better place.   However, the chaos within all things also speaks to me.   The tough part is to try not to listen to those things that, no matter how evil they may be at first glance, seem to make a lot of sense.  For example, currently, the voice of chaos within me tells me that capturing Snori, turning him into a stew, and then serving it to Tauvem is something quite reasonable.   Now, I will certainly admit that I have in the past tried to trick Snori into indulging in a small love potion or two, with the express goal of having a bit of humor while doing some… ahem… research...   That however, has nothing on this latest “joke” of his that may very well get a strange crazy man killed.

We had been about to leave the room when suddenly a man in full, though quite shabby, armor came running in.   Lobbing two vials of holy water at the party he turned to me and asked, “Are you Zaaz?”  Having hit us with nothing damaging, we decided to investigate instead of ending him.   A simple sleep spell and down he went.  When we woke up we found that Snori, on his visit to town with me, had left a note saying that I was a prisoner of Demons and that there was a reward to free me.  In fact, Snori did pay him, once he woke from our spell, a princely 5,000 gold pieces.   For such a fee we received the assistance of a lowly Paladin that has obviously been God touched if you know what I mean.  Of course I didn’t realize quite how crazy he was.   Figuring we could always use more help I offered to pay him a bit to come with us.   Surely, with Snori paying him so much he must be worth it.  Soon enough though it became clear how far below us he is.  Calling himself Don Keehoetee and from Credorn in Iboria, he has no business being in Artrosia.   Truly he must be called by a god in that he managed to navigate the halls filled with powerful creatures and did find us.

Wasting no more time we decided that if he came along he would at least be useful in providing another target… I mean warrior against the horrors ahead.   Dalomar moved forward and into the next room and called us forward to see a strange sight.  In the next room a cauldron stood bubbling and steaming, surrounded by a ring of runes.   The runes read, “Spice is the Variety of Life”.  Beside the cauldron was a table with a stained ladle and six glass jars.  The jars were labeled Delicious, Hagbalm, Witches Kiss, Devils Dung, Dream Spice, and Alacorn root.  I move up beside Dalomar and looked, when suddenly a Mihstu came out of the bubbling mixture.  The thing appeared to be just a white smoke, but it shot tentacles out at us that were decidedly not mist.  As Dalomar moved out of range in a flipping, spinning, jump, the tentacles shot forward to grab me.   Don ran up and swung his rusty sword at the beast, but didn’t seem to cause it any harm.  Soon enough he joined me in my struggle to escape.  Having had enough of this, Yoska moved up and quickly finished it off.

I shook myself and healed minor wounds suffered by Don and I, then looked again at the spices.   The rest thought me crazy, but I knew I needed to try the spices out.  In short order I discovered that by combining the various items one could make a sleep agent, a poison, a healing draught, some other kind of healing, and a last that just made me feel tingly and good all over. 

While I was busy with the cauldron, Dalomar continued to scout and soon enough a group of Shadows burst in to the room to attack us.   This gave me another reason to consider if I should kill Snori.   It seems that the lead shadow took one look at Tauvem and told the other shadows, “Leave that one alone for he seeks Count Renalc.”   If anything can speak for evil character, it would be a Shadow saying to leave you alone. 

We battled the Shadows, but their touch was draining.  Sadobras was hit and lost much of his strength.   The battle raged back and forth with Yoska killing one and Tauvum offering Gretta a ghost touch sword to help.  Their manuvers put three in a line and I was able to use my lighting bolt to good effect.  Yoska was then attacked by the Greater Shadow and almost killed.  We finished them off, but the battle left damages not easy to heal.   A Scroll of Lesser restoration helped to heal Yoska’s strength.  Then, a notion hit me and I gave Gretta some of the witches kiss and devils dung mixture that had made me feel tingly.   It helped restore Gretta some, though not to full strength.

Dalomar went and scouted again, finding a room with Stalactites and Stalagmites.  The ceiling is far above and a cryptic rune is carved in the floor.  It seems to be something to hold a prisoner in.  Decided to check it out later he moved on.  Next, he found a door with a rune in Iobarian that said, “As the seasons of life change, so we must sacrifice the past for the wisdom of our years.”  Going down farther, Dalomar found a Glyph trap on the stair.   Analyzing it he realized it was probably a ritualistic glyph for a croneing ritual.  A glyph that connects to a chain of glyphs to a purpose. 

Moving forward I examined the Glyphs and realized he was correct, it was a croning ritual.   Looking at each, I made the decision to move forward.

Stepping over the first I declared, “I Zaaz Bloodfortune sacrifice my youth to the three that are one.”

Stepping over the next I declared, “I, Zaaz Bloodfortune, sacrifice my fertility to the three that are one.”

Continuing on, I stripped away the pieces of my past and walked the stages of youth, fertility, strength, and life till I got to the end.  Once completed, I felt a great peace within and a connection to Baba.   Though we may be very different and she quite harsh, she still honored the same understanding of life that all Witches should.

My companions followed my example and made their way beyond the trap.  Going past the door at the end, we came into a room that again made me realize the power of Jadranka and her illusions.  A great cornfield spread beyond the door under a dark and moonlit sky.  Dead ravens littered the ground and Jadranka stood before us.   Telling us that she had “Renewed faith in us because of the dreams of the rider that Dalomar had.  She tells us of the Giants, Centaurs, and Demons that had taken over the pit.  She charges us to destroy them and disappears again.

Dalomar scouted forward again and we followed.  Coming to the mangled corpse of a bone devil, Snori used his shrink skill to carry the body with him.  Scared to think of what that little beast will do with it.  On we went to a door almost off its hinges and we found a pair of frost giants standing over the remains of a golem.  Snori, as usual flys over and stabs one before we can stop him forcing the battle to begin.  Yoska, taking advantage of the distraction, runs up and stabs one of the Giants.   Blood runs in a river from its wounds in one of the most massive attacks I’ve yet seen.  Calling down sleep on one I put my hexes to good use.   Sadobras moves up and finishes off the one Yoska wounded, leaving only the sleeping one.  Coordinating our attacks we all hit the sleeping giant at the same time and finish it off. 

Beyond them is a door that we can’t seem to open.  Tauvem and Snori step into the Shadow realm and move through to the other side.  Beyond they saw a massive room with parts distant enough in the darkness to hide what lay there.  Close by though was a Centaur covered in blood.  Some sort of war priest he turned his terrible gaze on Snori and Tauvem and told them, “You should not be here,” and threw a blindness spell at Tauvem.  He shrugged it off, but then was hit by three massive arrows out of the darkness.  Snori healed him a bit and he managed to shadow walk back out the room.  Seeing Tauvem’s condition and knowing Snori was alone, I had a serious moral decision to make.   It would certainly be possible to have confidence in my party member’s ability to escape and evade, take my time healing Tauvem, and then see if Snori was ok.   Or, I could try to get the rest of the party in to help.  

A spell I know that blinks one back and forth between the ethereal and material planes was what I cast.  Though Snori may be difficult to deal with, he was travelling with us and had occasionally managed to help.  Stepping through the door I tried to work loose the axe haft that ran through the door handles holding it shut, but my strength was not enough.  Sadobras cast stone shape, removing the stone around the door and allowing Gretta to push the entire thing inwards.  The rest of the party comes in and just in time.  Snori cast dancing lights off in the distant part of the cave and we can see meniers surrounding a pit with some sort of disturbance in the air above it.  This had to be the pit of Eons I said to myself.  Coming towards us from that side of the room was a disturbing site.  Some kind of monsterous Frost Giant/Centaur hybrid with eight legs strode our way.  Thinking through the creatures of the north I had heard of I realized it was a Svathirum. 

I moved forward to get in range of the priest and tried to hit him with an evil eye to little effect.   Sadobras quickly gets hit and goes down.  The Svathirum charges Don, who has moved up to defend me, and I to the ground.  Still judging the war priest the harder opponent I cast a spell of Enervation against him.   It takes effect, yet seems to do little.  Dalomar spring attacks into the room, striking at the Svathirum, damaging it, and somehow bewildering it as well.  Yoska hits the priest with an improved shocking grasp as the Svathirum lets loose a strange attack that leave Gretta encased in ice.  A hit against me and soon I’m also down.  The next thing I know the battle is over and I learn that Sadobras had used his feather token to spring for the tree for cover and maneuver.  Yoska once again saved the day by finishing the creatures off.  After we found a massive pile of gold.  The magic I had hoped for may not be here, but with over 22,000 pieces of gold, perhaps I can buy what I want.

Tired from the battles we decide to rest and regain our spells before we move on.   Jadranka once again appears and again with words of praise.  Of the pit she can tell us little except that we will need to persevere and be strong of body.  Before she leaves I manage to trade a few spells, familiar to familiar, so at least.

In the morning, rested and ready we decided to go back and take on the room with the sealing rune on it first.  Entering in we had no idea what it held back.  Rows and stalagtites and stalagmites dot the floor and ceiling, many strangely have their tops shorn off.  We moved a bit into the room and were attacked by a massive Bebilith spider.  Giving me a quick bite, my flesh began to melt and burn.  With little strength left after the massive bite I know I have to try to end the combat quickly, so I try to cast my most powerful spell, Baleful Polymorph on it.  It manages to resist the power though and so little remains for me except screaming.  I try to move away, but am quickly struck again.   Gretta encases it with ice as healing magic gets cast on me.   The healing magic does little though as I feel so very tired and weak.  Sadobras again try’s to heal me then moves to the attack.   Dalomar strikes it in a critical spot and the beast screams in pain.  Finally Yoska finishes it off.   I fight back and forth against the melting of my flesh.  The release of my threefold aspect bring back some of my constitution, but not enough.   Taking a potion of lesser restoration, I manage to struggle on longer.  In the end it proves to be enough and I manage to live.  Spread around the room we find many items of magic, yet I feel not happiness in the victory.   We struggled and barely won.   What awaits us in the pit of Eons?

Reign of Winter #27: The Crone! Dream-haunting hags, shopping trips to Centaur town, bastard taxidermists of the nymph and satyr and other strange things...

Diary of Zaaz Bloodfortune.....

Sometimes I feel it must be an affliction of Desna in my life. This desire to explore, search, and learn more drives me onward. It can’t be just a selfish desire for power, can it? Little enough of the supposed riches of the great lair of Baba Yaga have we found. I begin to suspect that what the crone knows, she keeps in her head. A bauble here, a bauble there. Yes, you voices, they are indeed shiny, shiny baubles, yet hardly something to shake the pillars or let one pierce the veil. In the battle where we gained access to the hut I learned more about the reality, or lack thereof, in the things we see around it than what we have found here. Whenever we break to replenish our power, I talk about these things with Grr. My Patron is wise, yet imparts little wisdom beside trite words like “See beyond the deception of the realms.” It makes my cry in frustration to feel so close to understanding, yet so far away. Though they think I don’t see them, but I see the strange looks my comrades give me. They begin to question at my sanity. Well, even more than they did when they found me fist speaking to the voices. Little do they know I question it too…

As Tauvem enters the area, his invisibility purge reveals another Hag. Calling upon her power she quickly casts a deep slumber upon Tauvem and Snori, putting Snori on the ground. Dalomar, who had remained hidden springs to the attack and does a massive strike upon the hag. Realizing something is wrong the rest of us advance as quickly as we can. Calling forth the powers of life I touch upon Sadobras and heal him of some of the damage done by the cursed broom. Calling his thanks to me he charges forward to the attack on his warg. The hag strikes at Dalomar and he evades striking back at a critical point on the had nearly finishing her in just the second of his strikes. Sadobras moves over to guard the defenseless and Snori. Tavum fires his bow at the hag and having had enough of a fair fight she shifts herself to the ethereal plane. Her shadow visage on the material plane grins cruelly as she knows she is relatively safe from harm there. Putting lie to that, I quickly cast the Blink spell and begin to shift back and forth between the two planes. Cursing in frustration the hag moves away into a wall, escaping with its life.

Surrounded by the Meniers I try to summon the power to look out again across Artrosia, but can’t seem to find the focus to do so. Calling upon my hex of fortune, I bestow it upon Sadobras and he looks around, seeing little besides some Giants traveling over the wall of mountains.

Feeling more ready to test the power of the Asura we go back to the room with the strange stone trees. We try to negotiate, but quickly the strange being attacks us. Dalomar takes a hit, but shrugs it off. I try to use one of my new spells, Phantasmal Killer, to tear at the Asura’s fears, but it shrugs it off. The asura uses a ranged attack on Dalomar hitting him and spraying his blood upon the floor. Dalomar strikes it back and tries a flipping acrobatic escape, but it swatted in midair. Soon enough we also realize this isn’t a battle just with the Asura. The Hag that had escaped at the Meniers has joined the battle and put Sadobras’s Warg to sleep. Tavum moves to try to find the hag, while Yoska moves to attack the Asura. Seeing my chances to strike directly at the Asura as minimal, I call fortune upon Gretta buffing her chances to strike. Before she can do much though, the Asura moves to attack her and she is cut again and again. After five strikes, she drops to the ground. The hag attacks Snori inflicting disease upon him.

The battle seems to be going against us and I begin to wonder the wisdom of continuing to press the attack, but then Tavum gets a serious strike on the hag with a cold iron arrow that seems to seriously hurt it. Yoska casts haste on himself and moves in to strike the Asura. Calling on luck again, this time for Dalomar, he moves up and strikes at the many armed opponent. Moments later Sadobras charges in, skewering it with his lance. Realizing we finally have the better of it, the Asura disappears. Venting our frustration on the remaining hag, Yoska blasts it with a scorching ray while Tavum shoots her again.

The hag taken care of and the Asura apparently gone we start moving on, but are attacked again by it. This time we are ready and I call upon the evil eye to make it easier to hit. Everyone else moves in taking their turns, Dalomar hitting with a massive strike and the creature is no more. Taking the many weapons dropped by it, we call upon healing magic and move on.

We go down to a door and unlock it. Dalomar sees stairs going up. Up he goes and soon we follow, up and find Jadranka standing on a platform. She appears pregnant this time and acting as the mother. Around her are a bunch of Korreds, a hairy kind of fay. She is upset with us that other invaders appeared at the same time and blames us. Marislova has gone as well further drawing her ire. She tells the fay to attack us. Dalomar spring attacks one and the rest of us move up. The creatures do a sonic laugh attack that stuns me. It seems they also can pass through boulders and their hair is writhing like it can attack us. Sadobras charges in doing a trample/overrun on one. It dives out of the way, but Sadobras hits another one for damage. Dalomar attacks again almost taking out one in one hit. I am stunned and can do nothing. Tauvem moves up to strike and kills one. The Korreds aren’t helpless and they move up and attack with their grabbing hair. Yoska comes in and finishes one off. Gretta attacks and hits. Sadobras's warg enlarges and attacks. Sadobras attacks and kills one. Dalomar moves over to the one Gretta wounded and kills it. Tavum kills another. The last one laughs, stunning Dalomar. Soon enough the last one is finished off. We search and then climb the chimney that goes up. It seems to go to surface, but end is blocked.

Search we did for another way out and found a long path. On and on it did stretch so we had Dalomar again at the fore. Using a trick he learned to see through doors he lets us know that beyond are several Andrazku and a female Frost Giant. Dalomar throws the door open for us letting Yoska and Gretta move up to flank one of the Andrazku. Almost out of spells I cast a stinking cloud at the Frost Giant to try to weaken it, but it doesn’t miss a step. Sadobras and his warg charge into the room, riding by one Andrazku and killing it in one strike. The giant swings at Sadobras, hitting with its axe while I move up to attack with a sleeping hex. It shrugs it off, but Yoska and Gretta move in bloodying it. Snori pees on a snowball and throws it at the giant hitting it and forces it to wipe its face in disgust. The giant strikes a massive blow to Gretta, almost killing her, but she rallies to retaliate with a massive strike of her own. Yoska charges up his sword with a crackle of electricity and finishes the bitch off. Before we can all turn on the remaining Andrazku, Dalomar springs in and finishes it off.

Standing there panting at the end of the battle, I beg my companions for rest. All my major spells are gone and even magical healing can’t make up for the stress of battle. Moving to a safe area we rest the night, but in the morning Dalomar wakes looking haunted. As he tries to pull himself together a Night Hag appears and demands of him why she saw the Black Rider in his dreams. Why did he die? We explain and she gives us a bottled message before disappearing. We open the bottle and inside a message waits us. The voice of a very old lady crackles forth, “If you hear this, my own blood betrayed me. Jadranka has one key, the other lies in the eon pit." We recognize the Eon pit is related to the curse of Eons done by high level witches. We know it is some kind of cursed area dealing with aging. We remember the raven gave us some hints.

Dalomar may have woken tired, but I find myself brimming with energy. Talking with Grr, I see I have broken through to the Ninth circle of magic. Understanding and power unlike I’ve ever know are mine. Perhaps this is the real secret of Artrosia. Not the knowledge you find here, but the challenge itself pushing you to new levels of strength. Rising from my communion I turn to my companions and announce, “I’m going to take a bath!” Taking much of the wealth the party wishes to sell and one of my companions, I rip through the barriers of reality, making here there and there here, teleporting into town. After some time spent in the tubs, shopping, selling, and such, I return to Artrosia and my companions.

On we decide to go to the crone area and learn that we’ve made a mistake. Selling the Gem of Brightness was the wrong choice. The area of the crone is almost entirely sheathed in darkness and navigating its ways very difficult. Soon we find strange three armed creatures climbing on frames and torturing woodland animals. We quickly kill them all. Searching around we find formula books for the various alchemical creations they were making.

Dalomar scouts and finds another room with totem poles carved with the learning faces of old women. The floor is covered with skins and pelts. Walking around are strange hoarpanther zombies and a Puckwudgie. The Puckwudgie we remember is some strange creature that creates undead. For now we decide to check out a different path.

Soon we find a table with a bowl and flowers that radiate magic. Beyond it Dalomar tells us there is a serious trap. Also there is a Crescent moon symbol and runes surround it. Deciphering them I see they say “From one stage to the next, let my light always guide my path.” In the bowl are wildflowers and carvings of Maidens, nude and doing various tasks. Remembering back we saw something similar where there were wreaths of pinecones doing the same type of things. We arrange the items in the same order from before and the trap disarms.

We decided now that the path is clear to take care of the strange cat zombies and Puckwudgie. Snori and Sadobras charge in while I summon a hound archon. Yoska casts a fireball to roast many of the zombies. The puckwudgie shoots poisoned quills at Yoska damaging his constitution and knocking him out. I heal Yoska and he wakes again. My archon hits one of the zombies, slowing it down. The Puckwudgie goes invisibile again and the orders his Zombies all to attack. With the Puckwudgie invisible, he’ll be able to make quick work of us, so I cast a see invisibility spell and immediately start pointing out the beast, shouting and pointing “He’s there! He’s there” Yoska moves up to finish off the zombie while Sadobras and Gretta move up to attack the Puckwudgie. Digging into my bag of tricks I call forth glitterdust on the Puckwudgie making it permanently visible and we quickly finish it off.

Finding little we moved on again and this time we found where one fo the keys may lue. The eon pit lays ahead of us and we begin our decent. Traps and such abound, but my knowledge of Witchery comes in helpful for once. Down we move and hopefully time will play no tricks on us…