My Travels Through the Deserts

My party and I have begun to travel across the lands, if that is what you can call them. Our caravan is heading for Tyr. The conditions are barely human. The stench is vile to say the least. I, Barcan, am here with my sister Phye. I am a sorcerer. In these lands my craft is seen as evil, defiling and taboo. I try to keep my arcane powers hidden as much as I can to avoid bringing harm upon Phye and I.

I have been listening to the rumble of the caravan over the desert sand for countless hours trying to get some rest. The rumble begins to fade as I hear another sound replace it. The new sound is strange, a ticking noise like something tapping on the wagon. Then I hear the strange screams from the giant bugs pulling our wagon. The sides of the wagon are quickly deteriorating and the shards are ripping through our supplies. As the roof of the wagon peals away we all reach for whatever we can find to gain cover from the shards. In an instant all goes black as a giant ball of obsidian slams into the wagon throwing us out and across the desert.

When I come to, I am groggy at best. My attention turns to finding my sister and making sure she is still alive. Upon finding her, I notice there are a few other survivors as well. We gather our senses and then notice the next danger of the desert, silt runners! Five of them closing in around us, while shadows of thirty or forty more could be made out in the distance. It is clear they were here for the supplies or to feed on those who did not survive the disaster; however we are between them and there goal. I am sure they are not going to let us pass in peace.

Shikirr, our new Thri-kreen friend, charges forward and strikes at a runner with his spear, driving it deep into it’s leg. Yuka, a Mul fighter, moves in to attack. Upon seeing them charge, I have no choice other than to support their attack. Before casting I pick up some rations and throw them in my bag. Then I begin to call down the power of the stars. The blazing starfall sears their skin, sending the smell of charred lizard skin into the air.

As the battle rages on, the silt runners get the best of Shikirr and knock him unconscious. Seeing this Phye calls upon her devine beliefs to comfort our fallen comrade. Within minutes the tide of the battle has turned against us. Castri, an Elven male from Tyr is hit with multiple poison darts and is overcome by the toxins.

We regroup back by the wagon and make a final push to drive the runners out of our way and escape this no win situation. Hacks and slashes remove arms and legs from the runners and arcing fire burns the skin from their bodies. We are able to grab enough rations for a day or so before we flee into the vast desert, away from the approaching swarm of the silt runners.

I can only hope we find shelter soon and do not perish in this hell of a planet.

Their not undead anymore!

As the party continued to chase Xeres they were stopped again by another cavern of fiends. Inside the cavern a twenty foot wide cavern stood between them and the exit on the other side of the room. In the cavern below undead creatures stirred awaiting their arrival. On the far side of the cave a skeleton burning with mystical fire readied for battle.

Greth began running toward the cavern edge in an attempt to leap over it and engage the burning skeleton. Unfortunately, he caught his foot on a rock mid stride and slid over the edge, falling 20 feet down to the cavern floor. He lay there looking up as the creatures in the cavern closed in on him. Just as Greth looked to be lost, Roseshadow leaped forward slicing through one of the shadow motes closing in on Greth.

The burning skeleton was angered by losing one of his minions and hurled forward a ball of fire. Unable to dodge in time Roseshadow was set ablaze by the molten ball. Garson and Elban made quick work of two other shadow motes in an effort to shield Greth and Roseshadow from further harm. Elwood began invoking powers from within firing forth a blast of energy killing the last mote and stunning a withering that was charging from the cavern.

Returning to his feet, Greth scales the far wall and opens the gates of battle on the burning skeleton. His bones are rattled from the continued strikes and many of his bones begin to crack. While Greth has the burning skeleton in his sights, the rest of the party was dealing with the cavern dwellers. Elban placed his fingers to his temples and next thing that was seen, the creeping wither quickly slid to the edge of a pit and plummeted to the bottom of the pit with a thud.

The party is now in full combat mode landing blows on the skeletons and crushing their bones under the weight of their weapons. Greth has managed to dismantle the burning skeleton and is moving back to help the rest of the party. Before he can reach them they have shattered the remaining skeletons and Elban ends the meager life of the wither by exploding it’s head with his psionic powers.

Realizing the reason they had come in this direction was to catch Xeres. The party makes their way. Up the other side of the cavern and continues to chase him through the caves.

Slacker!

Yes, yes I have been slacking in my bloggity bloggity duties. This week will wrap up the first season of encounters, have me playing in an adventure and finally posting the three adventures I still owe you.

As a side note I will be posting the Dark Sun previews I talked about a few weeks back. Bare with me while I get my schedule back on track. And don’t miss PFSMonkey.wordpress.com for info about my Pathfinder Society game play. I think I have my first character ready for the table.

Week of May 24th

This week has me DM’ing two games. The first will be week 11 of Encounters. We are getting close to the end of the storyline. It promises not to have as many holes as the finale of Lost. In addition, on Thursday I will be running the ever popular Arts module. It promises to be filled with action, adventure, laughs and heartache. Check back for the stories.

I still owe you a post from my game on last Saturday. It is in the works and will be up before the end of the week.

Run, Xeres, Run!

As Xeres escaped across the bridge, the party caught their breath and readied for the chase. He had enough of a lead that as they entered the room all they saw was Xeres exiting through the door across the room and Fayne’s feet kicking over his shoulder.

The room they had entered was a sight to behold. Beyond the alchemical beakers and instruments scattered on the tables and bookshelves, the whole room was coated in a light fungus and mold. The party pushed open the doors and the residents inside stirred.

Elwood was the first to act. Raising his hand to the sky he summoned the power of the Gods, sending forth radiant bursts at the three gaseous spores. One of the bursts found it’s mark and the spore burst. As it did so a shower of small spores spread from it’s explosion. The party tried to hold their breath, but it was a moment too late and the poison entered their bodies.

The myconid rotpriests slogged forward across the mossy ground. They stretched upward a few feet and quickly slammed themselves back down towards the ground, releasing a burst of of mushroom spores into the air. The spores gravitate towards the party and cling to their armor and skin. The spores release a burst of energy across the net they formed on the party spreading damage throughout the ranks. Roseshadow quickly made her way to the front of the battle. She flipped herself up on to one of the tables and sliced a large hunk out of the side of a myconid guard. Elban shifted to get a better angle and psionically blasted a rotpriest. It stumbled backwards in agony.

The myconid guards took swings at Roseshadow and Jayke. Their spiked fists landing squarely on them both. Jayke could not take anymore of the pain and fell unconscious to the floor. Garson moved up behind Jayke and traced an ancient rune on his forehead to mend his wounds. He then lashed out and struck the guard who had knocked out Jayke. Greth leaped forward spinning and lashing out at the myconids around him. His five storms landed a solid blow on one of the remaining spores. It exploded in a burst of gas and fungus. The other myconids took a deep breath of the released fungus and appeared to heal some of their wounds.

The rotpriests again stretched for the sky and puffed out mushroom clouds on the party. This time; however they did not stick to the party they merely floated to the floor. Roseshadow again slashes with all her might and cuts deeply in to the guard. The party quickly notices the pain of the guard is being shared through the moss with the other myconids in the area.

While the party has been focused on the myconids, they failed to see a large green slime making it’s way towards them along the ceiling. The slime drops from above and Greth tumbles out of the way barely avoiding being engulfed by the slime. After tumbling out of the way Greth spins to his left and in a blur of motion slides across the mossy floor as if skating on ice. As he passes by each of the myconids he strikes at them knocking chunks off their mushroomy bodies.

Elwood sees an opening while they are focused on Greth and targets the slime with a focused blast of radiant energy burning a large portion of the slime. The smell is horrific. In an instant the slime regains it’s purpose and engulfs Roseshadow in it’s globulous form. Elwood tries again to burn the slime and fails. Roseshadow franticly shakes to free herself from the slime. She does so and it oozes over Greth engulfing him. The myconid guards pummel Garson with their spiked fists knocking him to the ground. Things are beginning to look grim for the party.

Just as all seems lost, Jayke channels his divine power down upon the party. The power courses through them and mends their wounds. As the battle rages on the party dispatches the green slime and one of the guards. Roseshadow quickly slashes and kills the last of the guards and then spins to cut through one of the rotpriests. Her attack finds it’s mark and downs the rotpriest where it stood. As it slumps to the ground spores pour out of it and energize the party. Garson uses his new found energy to return to his feet and makes short work of the remaining rotpriest, again returning some energy to the party. The battle had been won. The battered party had survived the onslaught of the myconids.