Adventures 17 -19 - Closing the Door

Part I

Played May 2, 2005

Dateline: 3-20 Lharvion 999 (mid-summer – equivalent to July)

Featuring Baqar, Jory, Kirin, Metal Guy, and Quarion

Prominent Locations, NPCs and Organizations:

• Xen’drik – Continent once (some 40,000 years ago) ruled by an empire of giants. Now covered by ancient ruins with horrible beasts and dark elves guarding over them, along with the now-savage giants.
• Aerenal – Tropical subcontinent and center of elven culture. Ruled by the Undying – elves whose existence continues beyond their death, their bodies animated by positive energy (unlike undead who exist through negative energy).
• Pylas Talaear – Main port on Aerenal – typically the only city outsiders are allowed to see.
• Syraen Melideth – Governor of Pylas Talaer, a beautiful elf woman with a full-sized skull tattooed on her face. Very patient with outlanders (especially savage Halflings)
• Jerinae Lecaer – Elvish historian and expert in antiquities
• Tanak-Shaebron – Shadow Fey the heroes had captured in previous adventures (he is given a name in this adventure). He escaped in Sharn in the adventure Dravago Wedding – more to the point, he was left in the care of the Boromar Clan who turned out to be less than trustworthy.

Capsule Summary

After their time at sea, the port city of Pylas Talaer was a most welcome sight. Our heroes had been granted a rate honor – an audience with the governor of Pylas Talaer, Syraen Melideth, She thanked them for their service in dealing with the Zombie Crown and indicated that she knew about their quest to destroy the Shadow Key. She referred them to Jerrinas Lecaer, one of the more learned historians on Aerenal, a specialist in the antiquities of Xen’drik – he would most definitely be able to help them.

After a week of shopping, studying, and training, our heroes ventured into the jungles of Aerenal to the Lecaer family compound. Jerinae was indeed a useful source if information about the Key… He told them it can be used to open a special portal to the Plane of Shadow – in theory the portal should have been able to leak out into the world of Eberron – indeed that is what the Shadar Kai had been hoping – but they had been cursed… Instead it linked them to the Plane of Shadow.

The key is dangerous – at the very least it could be used to bring in other creatures of shadow… The key can be destroyed – though it would require fully opening the portal. He explained that the portal itself is made up of shadow. Once the portal were opened the key would be embedded within the portal – if someone were to snap it in half it while shutting the gate it would close the gate forever. Unfortunately it would also probably kill whoever did the snapping… Though a construct would probably be immune to such an effect…

The gate was once in Xen’drik, but not any longer. The elves took it with them. It is safely guarded by the Undying in one of the many secret caches on Aerenal – when the elves left Xen’drik, they took many artifacts with them. He offered to lead the characters on an expedition to get to the gate. Though he did not seem all that useful in a fight, he did seem knowledgeable about the Key and the Gate.

The Gate Cache was hidden in the mountains north of the Blackwood Jungle, some 300 miles from Pylas Talaer. For the most part the journey passed pleasantly enough – Aerenal was no ravaged wilderness like the Mournland, having many settlements and roads. Their going got rough as they began passing through the mountains. A bridge over a ravine had been destroyed in a recent storm, forcing them to try crossing the ravine via a fallen tree.

That turned out to be a dangerous proposition. Fluffy, Baqar’s clawfoot, sensed something was up. He sniffed at the air. Something was there. Jory scouted ahead across the fallen tree - there was an ambush – a Shadow Mastiff on the fallen tree and Tanak-Shaebron, a Shadow Fey ninja attacking them from behind. The Mastiff let out a horrifying wail which filled poor Metal Guy and Baqar’s hearts with dread – causing them to begin fleeing. Kirin used her music to counter the effects of this howl [DM note – Since poor overworked DM was running two PCs as NPCs this adventure, he neglected to notice he gave this power to Kirin one level early… Oops… We’ll just chalk it up as one-time divine inspiration… The good news is DM is now sleep-deprived, having a newborn baby in the house… So if you want to try casting 9^th level spells, you might get away with it…] Our heroes triumphed against their foes and began making their way forward to the Gate Cache. But if they had been tracked to Aerenal by Tanak-Shaebron, there might be more of the Shadow Fey on Aerenal…

Experience and Loot

· Tanak-Shaebron was a fifth level Shadow Fey Ninja. With a Challenge Rating of 6 you earned 2250 experience points.

· The Shadow Mastiff was Challenge Rating 5, worth 1500 experience.

· Total experience earned is 3750, or 750 each. Still a ways to go for 6^th level.

· Shaebron had: Weapons: +1 Chain, spiked (2,325 gp); +1 Silver, Alchemical Dagger (2,322 gp); Shortbow, composite, Masterwork (375 gp); 10 +1 Arrows (47 gp each); 5 +2 Arrows (167 gp each) Goods: Coin: gp (23) (23 gp); Coin: pp (15) (worth 150 gp). He also had a Gal-Ralan, a bracer which pierces the flesh. It is used exclusively by the Shadow Fey. If you could find an interested buyer you could get 1250 gp for it, but doing so will not be easy.

Closing the Door, Part II

Played May 30, 2005

Dateline: 21-23 Lharvion 999 (mid-summer – equivalent to July)

Featuring Baqar, Jory, Metal Guy, and Quarion

“I can’t climb a damn rope, how am I gonna tumble?”

- Quarion (to Jory, in response to the suggestion that he tumble past a dinosaur)

Eberron Dinosaur Glossary:

• Carver - Deinonychus
• Clawfoot – Velociraptor
• Swordtooth Titan – Tyrannosaurus Rex

There were definite signs that the Shadow Fey had been this way. As the heroes awoke, they saw signs of a fire some fifteen miles distant. Their guide informed them a village was there, guarding over the cache. Metal Guy and Baqar (mounted on Fluffy) scouted ahead while the remainder of the group followed at a more leisurely pace. (Kirin more so than others, being under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms which caused her to wander off and shout words of encouragement – a sure sign of a sleepy DM unable to run an extra NPC…)

Metal Guy and Baqar decided to rejoin the rest of their band when they saw the foot prints of a Swordtooth Titan, not something they wished to face without the rest of the party.

The fires from the burning village were extinguished by a midday rain which showed no signs of abating. At the outskirts of the village they ran into survivors who informed them that the Shadow Fey had indeed ransacked the village, the tiny village. Unfortunately their guardian Swordtooth Titam was no longer under their control as the Shadow Fey had killed the village druid. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Swordtooth did not sleep. Instead it was prowling about the cemetery on the outskirts of the village. Not the normal hunting grounds for such a beast, but there were some yummy elf children holed up in one of the tombs. While the elves embraced death, they preferred to be above the age of ten. [DM Question of the week… If elves live to be centuries, are the “terrible twos” for elves actually a decade in length? If so that could explain why there are so few elves… It is also worth noting three is much worse than two. Not only can they tantrum but their command of English is better…] The villagers had managed to harass the Shadow Fey, cutting their numbers from roughly two dozen to one dozen.

A noble streak moved our heroes to help rescue the kids. They split into small groups, each hiding in a tomb while Fluffy and Baqar approached the Swordtooth. His master plan was to use his ranger abilities to talk with the dinosaur and convince it that there was much better hunting to the south. A whole valley filled with dumb, slow, fat herbivores. Miraculously, his charm worked, and big dinosaur headed off. Unfortunately, a trio of Carvers choose that moment to attack – they had been waiting for their big cousin to have her meal and then dine on leftover scraps – dinosaurs, like most carnivores, being opportunistic scavengers… Their initial assault did terrible damage to our heroes, especially Jory and Quarion. Fluffy had some difficulty finishing off his bigger cousins. However, in the end our heroes triumphed, despite being able to testify to the effectiveness of

Experience:

• Overcoming Swordtooth Titan – CR8. 4500 XP.
• Defeating Carvers. CR 3 each. 750 XP each, 2250 XP total.

You earned a total of 6750 XP, or 1688 each. Total experience earned per character is roughly 12,954. 6^th level at 15,000.

Closing the Door, Part III

Played June 13, 2005

Dateline: 25 Lharvion 999 (mid-summer – equivalent to July)

Featuring Baqar, Jory, Metal Guy, and Quarion

“Why didn’t you use your famous flurry of blows?”

“Usually I don’t hit when I do a flurry of blows…”

- Baqar and Metal Guy discussing combat tactics

The entrance to Morn Hróta (elvish for the Shadow Caverns) was open. This would normally be a good thing, with the convenience being much appreciated. However, given the fact that the Shadow Fey had already been there, it was probably a bad thing.

Metal Guy lighting his lantern, the party ventured into the entry cavern. Jory scanned the hall for traps – none she could find. Though it turned out there were quite a few, as Jory went flying down into a spiked pit trap. After getting hauled up by Metal Guy she found two more pits. And some peepholes on the east wall – someone might have been enjoying their distress…

Moving along, the next room was the “resting” area for the Undying Guardians who were… lying on the floor, dead. So much for their reputation of Undying. Jory’s eyes redeemed themselves by spotting four Shadow Fey hiding – hiding in areas which should have been a lot harder to hide in. Metal Guy took some hard hits initially, after being dragged down by one of their spiked chains and then pummeled with another one. However, Quarion’s fire magic was rather effective in torching them and our heroes eventually overcame them. The southern corridor was blocked by a pair of brick stone walls, forcing our heroes to go to two separate rooms to activate mechanisms to cause them both to recess (and our heroes also endured ambushes in the process).

As our heroes advanced forward past the now recessed brick walls, Quarion’s elvish eyes noticed that one of the walls was illusionary. Deciding that that was far more interesting than the trap no doubt waiting for them [DM note – it was a really cool Indiana Jones rolling boulder trap too…], they passed through the illusionary wall. Following the tunnels, our heroes noticed the light seemed to be diminishing. And shadows appeared where there should be none. Finally, one of those shadows moved, attacking Metal Guy. He felt his strength drain by this being of living shadow. Our heroes attacked the shadow, discovering that only magic weapons and spells worked against it – and even then the weapons were just as likely pass harmlessly through it. However they persevered and finally gained entry to a large room filled with random light and darkness – and saw the shadow portal on the opposite side. Blocking them was another Shadow and a pair of Shadow Fey. Baqar felt his strength drained by the icy touch of the Shadow. Quarion summoned a Lemure Devil to aid them in their battle – the Lemure never did manage to hit anything, but he did provide a nice distraction. Though battered and weakened, our heroes overcame their foes. Leaving noting between them and the Shadow Gate.

Metal Guy inserted the key into the portal. As it began to open he snapped it in half, just as he had been instructed – sure enough the Key at last was destroyed – and the portal was sealed shut – possibly forever. A part of the Key survived – in the form of a ring, now around one of his fingers…

Experience:

· You defeated a total of six Shadow Fey. Each was challenge rating 1, for 300 XP each or 1800 total.

· The spiked pit traps were CR 2. With three of them, each worth 500 XP or 1500 total.

· The first Shadow was CR 3, worth 750 XP.

· The second Shadow was CR 8, worth 4500 XP.

Total experience earned for adventure – 8550 or 2138 each. That brings you to a total XP earned of 15,092, just enough to make 6^th level.