Sidrea04 - Voracity
The party returned from their mission to retrieve the Amulet of Maeruka, only to find that the village of Kemend has been badly damaged by a marauding spider-like creature that flies. After some conversation with Tadira, the party finally turned over the amulet to her (so she’s ecstatic over this), and agreed to her proposal. The proposal is that, after the party resolves the insect creature problem at Kemend, the entire party will travel to Averdale, where hopefully the party can gain the help of the high priest of Pelor to aid them with the undead problem.
As the party grew in experience and strength, each party member also gain some unusual powers.
Strangely, Zerkestor seems fond of a piece of stone that he’s taken to call ‘the Whim of Zethunor’ – although it seems to be just a simple rock that he picked up randomly from the ground.
The night that the party returned to the village, Soyoko had another strange dream – with a woman having a union with a great serpent and giving birth to a son with yellow pupils and forked tongue.
The session begins with the party trying to figure out how best to catch the "Vampire" of Kemend. Some of the party members wish to stay within the village and let the creature come to them while the others wish to try to find it in the wilderness. Eventually, the party went forth to search for the creature.
At the second farm that the party reached, the party found large numbers of farm animals that had been turned into zombies, indicating that the "vampire" had just been here recently. After dispatching the zombie chickens and zombie cow, the party settled down for the night.
Amidst the drizzling rain, there came a high pitched cry of an eagle, and the ground beneath the farm house collapsed, revealing a large wolverine. Meanwhile two summoned hippogriffs descend from the sky to attack the party. As the party tries to come to grip against the attackers, lightning bolts descends from the sky to blast at particular party members.
It didn’t take long for the party to realize that the eagle was a wild shaped druid and the wolverine an animal companion. Although it was a tough fight, the party managed to overcome the summoned creatures and the animal companion. Then between Dalrick’s bow and Haeythir’s fireball, the eagle also fell to the ground. The eagle form shimmered to reveal a dead Nerienda – the slave hunter who was contracted to bring back Amathyya Calanor.
In the morning, someone knock on the door of the farmhouse.
It turned out to be Caelin the Pale, a priest of Fharlanghn (God of Roads). Apparently, Caelin has been tracking the flying spider-like creature as well. Caelin says that the elders of his priesthood had discovered that the creature was in the country-side and that he was given the task to find it. Caelin revealed some information about the creature - such as it comes from a plane much hotter than the material plane, which is why it needs to consume blood. However he offered no explanation on why those whom it preys upon turns into undead afterwards.
Apparently, Caelin could speak the language of the creature (known as a dark spithra) and all he asks for is a chance to parlay with the creature and offer it the chance to peacefully depart this plane. If the creature does not wish this, then Caelin offers his help to destroy this menace. To earn the trust of the party, Caelin also help heal some of the party members.
When asked about how he intends to find the creature, Caelin revealed that he has a device that guides him to the dark spithra - it is, in fact, how he had come to this farmhouse, where the most recent attack by the creature occured. After some discussion the party then agreed to Caelin’s proposal.
Near sun-set, the party comes upon a clearing when a dead horse suddenly dropped out of the sky, nearly crushing Haeythir. Then, less than a hundred feet away, the dark spithra landed.
Caelin started to cast boosting spells on himself as the party did the same. Caelin then walked up to the dark spithra and spoke to it in a language that no one can understand. Then, Caelin turned around smiled at the party, and cast a spell on Berek.
Even as Berek managed to shake off the effect of the spell, the illusion about Caelin dissolves, and instead of the simple robes of a priest of Fharlanghn, Caelin wore a suit of full plate armor, decorated with the grinning skulls of Nerull.
Soyoko tried to use his scorching ray spell on Caelin, but Caelin had anticipated this and protected himself against fire. [Aside: Caelin realized the party’s strength in fire attacks because he had examined the remains of the zombies that the party had destroyed earlier.]
Grinning beneath his skull helmet, Caelin’s spike chain lashed out and struck Zerkestor who was stunned by the ferocity of the attack. Surprised by the betrayal of their ally, he party scrambled to attack.
While Berek and Dalrick attempts to close with Caelin, the dark spithra had taken off and grappled Haeythir, ready to suck out his blood. Fortunately, Amathyya cast calm emotion on the dark spithra, which temporarily neutralized the creature as it dropped Haeythir.
The battle took a turn for the worse for the party as Caelin cast shatter on Berek and Berek’s spike chain broke into pieces in his hands. Dalrick struck Caelin, but the dark cleric seems protected by foul magic, and the blow did less damage than it could. Meanwhile, the horse that was dropped by the dark spithra had turned into a zombie and approached the party from behind.
Realizing that the dark cleric is a grave threat to her party members, Amathyya casts Tasha’s hideous laughter on the cleric, and the magical humor worked as the dark cleric fell to the ground laughing. Unfortunately, Amathyya’s casting of a spell means that she could no longer calm the emotion of the dark spithra, and that creature broke free of the enchantment.
As Haeythir had taken the opportunity to retreat, the dark spithra now went after Soyoko. However, but it failed to grab him.
Meanwhile, Berek and Dalrick took advantage of the dark cleric’s sudden laughter and did massive amounts of damage to the dark cleric, despite his protective magic. Waking up from his laughter, the dark cleric managed to turn himself invisible to avoid further attacks.
Without the dark cleric to contend with, the party managed to focus their attacks. Zerkestor tossed his rock (named the 'Whim of Zethunor') at the zombie. To everyone's surprise, lightning shot out of the sky and struck the zombie horse. The dark spithra went down between a hail of magic missile from Haeythir and Dalrick's blade.
There was a cry of anger as Caelin returned in anger to destroy the party, but it was too little too late and the party killed him.
On the corpse of Caelin, the party found a letter indicating that the dark spithra was summoned by an organization known as the Coil. The priesthood of Nerull was attempting to capture the dark spithra for its own purposes. The letter hints that the plan would take place somewhere in the south-west.
SOME NOTES
1. The party has killed Nerienda the slave-hunter.
2. The party has eliminate the menace of the "vampire" of Kemend.
3. The party has also come across clues that the priesthood of Nerull is planning something in the southwest.
3a. Incidentally southwest is also the direction where the undead horde (that was woken by the party during the retrieval of the Amulet of Maeruka) was headed. Is it coincidence?
4. As the party grew in experience, they seem to develop more unusual powers.
I. Active Quests
a. Get to Averdale.
b. Talk to the priests in Averdale to help resolve the undead problem.
II. Overarching Quests
Redevous at the Delshan Oracle
DM’s POST-MORTEM
This module was inspired by a module named "Gluttony" from Dungeon magazine. The basis of this module was working on the premise that even as the party hunts for the “vampire” of Kemend, the party was hunted by Nerienda, who is merely looking for an opportune moment to destroy the party and take Amathyya captive.
Meanwhile, besides the party, the dark priest of Nerull, Caelin the Pale, is also seeking the “vampire” of Kemend. Eventually the party finds that the dark spithra is not nearly as fierce an opponent as a dark cleric of Nerull. This is actually logical, as the cleric of Nerull was sent to take the dark spithra back to his priesthood, so he was picked and equiped so that he could overpower the dark spithra.
Caelin was actually a derivation from my LG cleric, who was converted to a cleric due mostly to the fact that in LG, a cleric is often a better melee character than a fighter.
The other interesting item to note here is that despite the suspicions of the party, Caelin actually succeeded in his deception. :)
As the party grew in experience and strength, each party member also gain some unusual powers.
Strangely, Zerkestor seems fond of a piece of stone that he’s taken to call ‘the Whim of Zethunor’ – although it seems to be just a simple rock that he picked up randomly from the ground.
The night that the party returned to the village, Soyoko had another strange dream – with a woman having a union with a great serpent and giving birth to a son with yellow pupils and forked tongue.
The session begins with the party trying to figure out how best to catch the "Vampire" of Kemend. Some of the party members wish to stay within the village and let the creature come to them while the others wish to try to find it in the wilderness. Eventually, the party went forth to search for the creature.
At the second farm that the party reached, the party found large numbers of farm animals that had been turned into zombies, indicating that the "vampire" had just been here recently. After dispatching the zombie chickens and zombie cow, the party settled down for the night.
Amidst the drizzling rain, there came a high pitched cry of an eagle, and the ground beneath the farm house collapsed, revealing a large wolverine. Meanwhile two summoned hippogriffs descend from the sky to attack the party. As the party tries to come to grip against the attackers, lightning bolts descends from the sky to blast at particular party members.
It didn’t take long for the party to realize that the eagle was a wild shaped druid and the wolverine an animal companion. Although it was a tough fight, the party managed to overcome the summoned creatures and the animal companion. Then between Dalrick’s bow and Haeythir’s fireball, the eagle also fell to the ground. The eagle form shimmered to reveal a dead Nerienda – the slave hunter who was contracted to bring back Amathyya Calanor.
In the morning, someone knock on the door of the farmhouse.
It turned out to be Caelin the Pale, a priest of Fharlanghn (God of Roads). Apparently, Caelin has been tracking the flying spider-like creature as well. Caelin says that the elders of his priesthood had discovered that the creature was in the country-side and that he was given the task to find it. Caelin revealed some information about the creature - such as it comes from a plane much hotter than the material plane, which is why it needs to consume blood. However he offered no explanation on why those whom it preys upon turns into undead afterwards.
Apparently, Caelin could speak the language of the creature (known as a dark spithra) and all he asks for is a chance to parlay with the creature and offer it the chance to peacefully depart this plane. If the creature does not wish this, then Caelin offers his help to destroy this menace. To earn the trust of the party, Caelin also help heal some of the party members.
When asked about how he intends to find the creature, Caelin revealed that he has a device that guides him to the dark spithra - it is, in fact, how he had come to this farmhouse, where the most recent attack by the creature occured. After some discussion the party then agreed to Caelin’s proposal.
Near sun-set, the party comes upon a clearing when a dead horse suddenly dropped out of the sky, nearly crushing Haeythir. Then, less than a hundred feet away, the dark spithra landed.
Caelin started to cast boosting spells on himself as the party did the same. Caelin then walked up to the dark spithra and spoke to it in a language that no one can understand. Then, Caelin turned around smiled at the party, and cast a spell on Berek.
Even as Berek managed to shake off the effect of the spell, the illusion about Caelin dissolves, and instead of the simple robes of a priest of Fharlanghn, Caelin wore a suit of full plate armor, decorated with the grinning skulls of Nerull.
Soyoko tried to use his scorching ray spell on Caelin, but Caelin had anticipated this and protected himself against fire. [Aside: Caelin realized the party’s strength in fire attacks because he had examined the remains of the zombies that the party had destroyed earlier.]
Grinning beneath his skull helmet, Caelin’s spike chain lashed out and struck Zerkestor who was stunned by the ferocity of the attack. Surprised by the betrayal of their ally, he party scrambled to attack.
While Berek and Dalrick attempts to close with Caelin, the dark spithra had taken off and grappled Haeythir, ready to suck out his blood. Fortunately, Amathyya cast calm emotion on the dark spithra, which temporarily neutralized the creature as it dropped Haeythir.
The battle took a turn for the worse for the party as Caelin cast shatter on Berek and Berek’s spike chain broke into pieces in his hands. Dalrick struck Caelin, but the dark cleric seems protected by foul magic, and the blow did less damage than it could. Meanwhile, the horse that was dropped by the dark spithra had turned into a zombie and approached the party from behind.
Realizing that the dark cleric is a grave threat to her party members, Amathyya casts Tasha’s hideous laughter on the cleric, and the magical humor worked as the dark cleric fell to the ground laughing. Unfortunately, Amathyya’s casting of a spell means that she could no longer calm the emotion of the dark spithra, and that creature broke free of the enchantment.
As Haeythir had taken the opportunity to retreat, the dark spithra now went after Soyoko. However, but it failed to grab him.
Meanwhile, Berek and Dalrick took advantage of the dark cleric’s sudden laughter and did massive amounts of damage to the dark cleric, despite his protective magic. Waking up from his laughter, the dark cleric managed to turn himself invisible to avoid further attacks.
Without the dark cleric to contend with, the party managed to focus their attacks. Zerkestor tossed his rock (named the 'Whim of Zethunor') at the zombie. To everyone's surprise, lightning shot out of the sky and struck the zombie horse. The dark spithra went down between a hail of magic missile from Haeythir and Dalrick's blade.
There was a cry of anger as Caelin returned in anger to destroy the party, but it was too little too late and the party killed him.
On the corpse of Caelin, the party found a letter indicating that the dark spithra was summoned by an organization known as the Coil. The priesthood of Nerull was attempting to capture the dark spithra for its own purposes. The letter hints that the plan would take place somewhere in the south-west.
SOME NOTES
1. The party has killed Nerienda the slave-hunter.
2. The party has eliminate the menace of the "vampire" of Kemend.
3. The party has also come across clues that the priesthood of Nerull is planning something in the southwest.
3a. Incidentally southwest is also the direction where the undead horde (that was woken by the party during the retrieval of the Amulet of Maeruka) was headed. Is it coincidence?
4. As the party grew in experience, they seem to develop more unusual powers.
I. Active Quests
a. Get to Averdale.
b. Talk to the priests in Averdale to help resolve the undead problem.
II. Overarching Quests
Redevous at the Delshan Oracle
DM’s POST-MORTEM
This module was inspired by a module named "Gluttony" from Dungeon magazine. The basis of this module was working on the premise that even as the party hunts for the “vampire” of Kemend, the party was hunted by Nerienda, who is merely looking for an opportune moment to destroy the party and take Amathyya captive.
Meanwhile, besides the party, the dark priest of Nerull, Caelin the Pale, is also seeking the “vampire” of Kemend. Eventually the party finds that the dark spithra is not nearly as fierce an opponent as a dark cleric of Nerull. This is actually logical, as the cleric of Nerull was sent to take the dark spithra back to his priesthood, so he was picked and equiped so that he could overpower the dark spithra.
Caelin was actually a derivation from my LG cleric, who was converted to a cleric due mostly to the fact that in LG, a cleric is often a better melee character than a fighter.
The other interesting item to note here is that despite the suspicions of the party, Caelin actually succeeded in his deception. :)