Opening the front doors (Or bashing them down. I'm not sure which they agreed on, but the end result was the same), the Pushermen found themselves in the lobby of the mansion that was most recently occupied by a cult of, if the web-themed decor could be trusted, followers of Lolth the Spider Queen. They found a black book written in elven. None of them understood the language, but Samel knew its alphabet, and the name "Lolth" in the title confirmed their suspicions.
Inside the book, they also found a card with the word "ESTANOUHIR" written in the elven alphabet. Was this someone's name? It wasn't familiar to anyone. Samel spent his time trying to identify the card while Nalied looked at the fancy doors. One of them had a golden doorknob shaped like a hand. He tried to turn it, and it grabbed his wrist and started squeezing, but he forced his way free before it did any harm.
The lobby inspection was cut short by a woman screaming. The sound came through the opposite door. Running through into the hallway and through the far door, one of them lit a sun rod and saw that the screaming came not from a woman but from a giant spider. The spider had learned to scream like a human woman in order to lure in rescuers when it got hungry. Also waiting to feast were another giant spider and a swarm of smaller ones.
Underneath the large web covering half the room was a golden doorknob. Instantly, the heroes knew they found the key to the other door. The spiders were ruthless and hungry but were defeated in time, and the web was burned away to recover the doorknob.
Before diving too deep into the secrets of the cult, they group chose to try the third door in the lobby, leading into a short corridor with two spiral staircases leading up and down on either side, both locked away behind heavy iron gates. Nalied tried his hand at picking the locks for several minutes, but the mechanism proved more difficult than he was capable of defeating. Time to move on.
All throughout this, the party was taking turns deciphering the card they found. The letters could be rearranged to make a good handful of words, none of which were in any way useful. And Samel had taken to shouting "Estanouhir!" at things to see how they reacted. But anyway.
In the next room they found a sort of art gallery/tribute room. On the wall hung six portraits of former drow leaders, all wearing identical robes and pins shaped like the symbol of Lolth. Each painting had a leader's name and the dates they were in power. (None of them were named Estanouhir.) In the center of the room was a statue of the founder of the cult in the same outfit holding a staff. On the west wall was an iron portcullis leading into a small alcove with nothing but a few random bones inside. Maybe they used to keep a dangerous pet in there. On the north wall were three identical double doors with large grinning skulls in the middle of them. Above the doors were numbers, 30738, 31402, and 42812.
On a hunch, Ka-Moh tried the center door and was blasted with corrosive acid. That was not the correct door. No more trying doors, they decided, until they figured out the numbers. Chrome tended to Ka-Moh's chemical burns, and one of them decided to try lifting the portcullis. After two tries, it was up. Nalied randomly tossed a sun rod into the alcove and saw it cause ripples in the air and then stop. It wasn't empty. A gelatinous cube of living corrosive goo slimed its way out and engulfed Ka-Moh, who escaped and was re-engulfed two or three times. After learning to keep their distance, the Pushermen launched ranged attacks until the cube had melted down to nothing.
Afterwards, the group spent a good while trying to decipher both the numbers above the doors and who and what the portraits were supposed to be exactly. After I hit everyone over the head with a clue hammer, they figured out the letters in "Estanouhir" correspond with the numbers "1234567890", giving the doors labels of "Truth", "Tears", and "Ashes". The correct door, of course, was Truth.
...
And since I've had a few chapters worth of posts happen since I started writing this, I'll cut this off here and try and only post major plot points and a few interesting details. I hope.
April 12, 2010
March 15, 2010
Chapter 5: To Coverton!
Father Osiris informed the Pushermen that there was a man in the town of Coverton who preferred to be known by his initials, CW, and that he was not a fan of late payments. With the road through Summerwood blocked by a wall of ice proving especially difficult for the local mages to melt, the Pushermen decided to find another way around. Their remaining options were to find a path down through the mountains to the north, try to find a boat that will get them and their cargo across the lake to the south, or go the looooong way around through through the southern woods that run a little close to demonic territory.
They loaded the safes full of gold pieces onto their cart and rode down to the port by the lake where they found only two small piers, with one cargo ship some tough-looking men were loading random crates onto. Not believing they had the funding, or otherwise being unwilling to pay for shipment and passage, the Pushermen sought a bargain with the captain and found one. For protection against the monsters of the lake, the captain would allow them free passage. But not their horses. He just had no room for them. With time costing lives, the heroes released their horses into the wild on the chance that maybe at least one of them will still be around when they return.
The wind was in their favor for half the journey but turned against them, allowing two iron cobras to catch up with them and ram the side of the boat. The captain and all his wimpy strong men vanished below deck with a shout from the captain to raise the sails in case they get on deck, because a torn sail would not be good. Besides the fact that they were made of iron, the cobras were made harder to hit by being in the water. (I'm not sure they should even be able to swim, but I don't care.) They managed to get one on deck while the other made busy trying to put a hole in the boat, but luckily the hull held. The first wrapped itself around the mast, making it difficult to hit without damaging the boat, but Nalied hit it with a psychic chaos bolt, perfectly boat safe, and defeated it. The other soon jumped on board and was also defeated. The grateful captain completed the journey and offered the men free passage again whenever they needed.
With no horses, the heroes were stuck pulling the very heavy cart themselves. It took them much time and energy, but a day later they reached Tear Shed Road, a road paved with gravestones and lined with sad-looking flowers. (In retrospect, there should have been a Will save against shedding a tear, but whatever.) A few hours later, they found themselves in the almost empty ex-mining town of Coverton, for a total of three days travel and six days late.
The local bartender said he worked for CW but they would have to wait until he came back from a job, so he offered them a free stay in one of the rooms upstairs until he came back. It was two hours past sunset when they were called out to speak with Mr. CW.
They stepped into his office, where Christopher Walken (!!) turned around in a comfy-looking black chair holding a cigar. And then I found out I am terrible at doing a Walken impersonation. Therefore, Matt filled in the gaps where funny Walken-ized words just had to be said. Depending on how you pronounce "drow".
Mr. Walken went on a brief lecture about Tear Shed Road and the cost of tardiness. They were his men, and if the message had arrived one day sooner, telling them not to attack, they would all still be alive. One day, he said, can cost 700 lives. So for him to threaten the lives of 30 innocent people for 6 days was merciful to him. He reasoned (wrongly) that he saved 75 lives with those healing salves. Taking a 30-life refund would still be a net positive for them.
However, Mr. Walken was willing to pardon the debt if the Pushermen would handle a few tasks for him. He recently reacquired a piece of property that belonged to him over 17 years ago. But its previous owners were a very deadly cult of drow (dark elves) called the Daughters of Darkness, and they were fond of tricks and traps. He needed them to do two things. Number one, make his old home safe. Trigger or disarm the traps, smoosh any remaining spiders, and such. Number two, bring back his Sun Candle that the drow stole from him. Not just any candle will do. It needs to be lit with a special green fire, that no doubt the dark elves figured out how to make.
The Pushermen agreed to the offer and made their way up to the estate...
They loaded the safes full of gold pieces onto their cart and rode down to the port by the lake where they found only two small piers, with one cargo ship some tough-looking men were loading random crates onto. Not believing they had the funding, or otherwise being unwilling to pay for shipment and passage, the Pushermen sought a bargain with the captain and found one. For protection against the monsters of the lake, the captain would allow them free passage. But not their horses. He just had no room for them. With time costing lives, the heroes released their horses into the wild on the chance that maybe at least one of them will still be around when they return.
The wind was in their favor for half the journey but turned against them, allowing two iron cobras to catch up with them and ram the side of the boat. The captain and all his wimpy strong men vanished below deck with a shout from the captain to raise the sails in case they get on deck, because a torn sail would not be good. Besides the fact that they were made of iron, the cobras were made harder to hit by being in the water. (I'm not sure they should even be able to swim, but I don't care.) They managed to get one on deck while the other made busy trying to put a hole in the boat, but luckily the hull held. The first wrapped itself around the mast, making it difficult to hit without damaging the boat, but Nalied hit it with a psychic chaos bolt, perfectly boat safe, and defeated it. The other soon jumped on board and was also defeated. The grateful captain completed the journey and offered the men free passage again whenever they needed.
With no horses, the heroes were stuck pulling the very heavy cart themselves. It took them much time and energy, but a day later they reached Tear Shed Road, a road paved with gravestones and lined with sad-looking flowers. (In retrospect, there should have been a Will save against shedding a tear, but whatever.) A few hours later, they found themselves in the almost empty ex-mining town of Coverton, for a total of three days travel and six days late.
The local bartender said he worked for CW but they would have to wait until he came back from a job, so he offered them a free stay in one of the rooms upstairs until he came back. It was two hours past sunset when they were called out to speak with Mr. CW.
They stepped into his office, where Christopher Walken (!!) turned around in a comfy-looking black chair holding a cigar. And then I found out I am terrible at doing a Walken impersonation. Therefore, Matt filled in the gaps where funny Walken-ized words just had to be said. Depending on how you pronounce "drow".
Mr. Walken went on a brief lecture about Tear Shed Road and the cost of tardiness. They were his men, and if the message had arrived one day sooner, telling them not to attack, they would all still be alive. One day, he said, can cost 700 lives. So for him to threaten the lives of 30 innocent people for 6 days was merciful to him. He reasoned (wrongly) that he saved 75 lives with those healing salves. Taking a 30-life refund would still be a net positive for them.
However, Mr. Walken was willing to pardon the debt if the Pushermen would handle a few tasks for him. He recently reacquired a piece of property that belonged to him over 17 years ago. But its previous owners were a very deadly cult of drow (dark elves) called the Daughters of Darkness, and they were fond of tricks and traps. He needed them to do two things. Number one, make his old home safe. Trigger or disarm the traps, smoosh any remaining spiders, and such. Number two, bring back his Sun Candle that the drow stole from him. Not just any candle will do. It needs to be lit with a special green fire, that no doubt the dark elves figured out how to make.
The Pushermen agreed to the offer and made their way up to the estate...
February 26, 2010
Chapter 4: Summerwood Continued
After the ghostly battle, the Pushermen came upon a wall of ice several feet thick next to a sign pointing the way to Tear Shed. Melting through the wall would have taken more time than it would to die of hypothermia, and the ice wasn't clear enough to see whether the missing cargo was on the other side, so they decided to find another way after dealing with the dragon.
Moving cautiously forward, they found a goblin, magic rod raised, reciting the ritual to turn the magic shield in front of him into residuum, a silver dust that's essentially concentrated magic. Nalied turned into a goblin and attempted to convince the goblin that their leader wants the shield turned over to him, but the bluff failed: The goblin had no leader. With a cry, a beefier goblin joined him as well as two large ferocious bats, but they were all swiftly defeated, and Ka-Moh collected a proud and mightier shield with which to bash enemies, increasing the overall Pushitude of the Pushermen.
Moving past the suddenly irrelevant druid shrine*, the party encounters two hobgoblins and a cavern choker, but we all wanted to get to the dragon, so Nalied bluffed his way past that battle by convincing the hobgoblins to kill each other, and the choker decided to stop existing.
Up the steep slope to the highest point in Summerwood, the Pushermen ascended to find... nothing. No dragon. But on the far side were the crates of healing salve, undamaged. But they knew better. The dragon was hiding. They stopped to listen, and indeed, they could hear its breathing, though subtle. With a cry, the dragon burst from the snow and blasted everyone with ice, freezing them in place. The dragon swooped for the nearest intruder, Samel, and gave him two great swipes of his claws, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Ka-Moh used his new magic pipe to speak the dragon's language and taunted him, making him angrier, while Chrome made his way over to heal Samel. The battle wore on dragon and humanoid alike, but the Pushermen were gaining the advantage.
As the dragon was near its last breath, Ka-Moh swung up the dragon's neck preparing to chop at its head with the edge of his new shield. With his pipe, he offered two options: Become his personal riding dragon, or die. Far too angered to accept such a request, and being a proud and mighty dragon anyway, he refused with the final words: "I WOULD RATHER DIE TWICE!" followed by the pounding of Ka-Moh's shield into its neck and a crash to the ground.
Ka-Moh worked on removing the dragon's head for the reward while the others went to inspect what turned out to be the wrecked coach which the dragon had stolen for its polished steel lining. They found all the salves intact as well as a survivor of the men who were bringing them. Stowing the salves one at a time inside Chrome's extradimensional compartment, they carried the injured man to the nearest ring of mushrooms to give him some life back. Also in amonst the dragon's horde were some new magic armor and a morningstar, which was given to Chrome. Nalied was feeling itemless. But he'll probably find something good next time.
Before they could leave the forest, Ka-Moh caught a familiar sent. Something from home. Behind him came the voice of his clan sister Pethani. "Brotha Ka-Moh!" greeted excitedly. The exchange went from friendly talk to the realization that Pethani wanted nothing to do with the Pushermen and everything to do with the dragon's head and its reward. She and Ka-Moh wrestled at it, but Pethani's grip slipped, and she stepped backwards. "Fine," she said and disappeared out of sight at the first convenient moment.
Ka-Moh put his share of the reward money (and borrowed some from Nalied) to hire men to have some of the dragon's scales removed and grafted to his shield.
Father Osiris, whose church needed the salves, came to the Pushermen to ask one more favor. These salves he purchased were not cheap, and the man to be paid for them does not like late payments and isn't above taking lives to ensure he gets his money, and they were already three days behind. And so the Pushermen agreed to deliver the gold safely to Coverton, a mining town up in the Otblak Mountians.
End Chapter.
*When the party leveled up, their passive perception ability was bumped up just past what the healing mushroom rings needed to stay hidden, so the magic mushroom locating rod inside the shrine was useless, so I just said outright that there was no reason to go there. But it would have been cool. If they were near a mushroom, the rod would have made a Mario 1-up sound effect.
Moving cautiously forward, they found a goblin, magic rod raised, reciting the ritual to turn the magic shield in front of him into residuum, a silver dust that's essentially concentrated magic. Nalied turned into a goblin and attempted to convince the goblin that their leader wants the shield turned over to him, but the bluff failed: The goblin had no leader. With a cry, a beefier goblin joined him as well as two large ferocious bats, but they were all swiftly defeated, and Ka-Moh collected a proud and mightier shield with which to bash enemies, increasing the overall Pushitude of the Pushermen.
Moving past the suddenly irrelevant druid shrine*, the party encounters two hobgoblins and a cavern choker, but we all wanted to get to the dragon, so Nalied bluffed his way past that battle by convincing the hobgoblins to kill each other, and the choker decided to stop existing.
Up the steep slope to the highest point in Summerwood, the Pushermen ascended to find... nothing. No dragon. But on the far side were the crates of healing salve, undamaged. But they knew better. The dragon was hiding. They stopped to listen, and indeed, they could hear its breathing, though subtle. With a cry, the dragon burst from the snow and blasted everyone with ice, freezing them in place. The dragon swooped for the nearest intruder, Samel, and gave him two great swipes of his claws, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Ka-Moh used his new magic pipe to speak the dragon's language and taunted him, making him angrier, while Chrome made his way over to heal Samel. The battle wore on dragon and humanoid alike, but the Pushermen were gaining the advantage.
As the dragon was near its last breath, Ka-Moh swung up the dragon's neck preparing to chop at its head with the edge of his new shield. With his pipe, he offered two options: Become his personal riding dragon, or die. Far too angered to accept such a request, and being a proud and mighty dragon anyway, he refused with the final words: "I WOULD RATHER DIE TWICE!" followed by the pounding of Ka-Moh's shield into its neck and a crash to the ground.
Ka-Moh worked on removing the dragon's head for the reward while the others went to inspect what turned out to be the wrecked coach which the dragon had stolen for its polished steel lining. They found all the salves intact as well as a survivor of the men who were bringing them. Stowing the salves one at a time inside Chrome's extradimensional compartment, they carried the injured man to the nearest ring of mushrooms to give him some life back. Also in amonst the dragon's horde were some new magic armor and a morningstar, which was given to Chrome. Nalied was feeling itemless. But he'll probably find something good next time.
Before they could leave the forest, Ka-Moh caught a familiar sent. Something from home. Behind him came the voice of his clan sister Pethani. "Brotha Ka-Moh!" greeted excitedly. The exchange went from friendly talk to the realization that Pethani wanted nothing to do with the Pushermen and everything to do with the dragon's head and its reward. She and Ka-Moh wrestled at it, but Pethani's grip slipped, and she stepped backwards. "Fine," she said and disappeared out of sight at the first convenient moment.
Ka-Moh put his share of the reward money (and borrowed some from Nalied) to hire men to have some of the dragon's scales removed and grafted to his shield.
Father Osiris, whose church needed the salves, came to the Pushermen to ask one more favor. These salves he purchased were not cheap, and the man to be paid for them does not like late payments and isn't above taking lives to ensure he gets his money, and they were already three days behind. And so the Pushermen agreed to deliver the gold safely to Coverton, a mining town up in the Otblak Mountians.
End Chapter.
*When the party leveled up, their passive perception ability was bumped up just past what the healing mushroom rings needed to stay hidden, so the magic mushroom locating rod inside the shrine was useless, so I just said outright that there was no reason to go there. But it would have been cool. If they were near a mushroom, the rod would have made a Mario 1-up sound effect.
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