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terryclothTonight we actually played more of City of the Spider Queen, in a way. The central encounter wasn't actually *in* the book, as such, although it seemed a reasonable thing for the enemy to do in the situation the players had put her in.
Ressurecting May took a couple days. The drow prisoner was handed over to the Baldur's Gate authorities for questioning, and Abbey managed to get herself into some trouble [whose nature will be decided later] that meant she was left behind when May, Erdann, and Conner teleported back to Szith Morcane.
After a Heroes' Feast, they teleported back to the mage's tower. There they were spotted by and fought four vampiric golbins, whom May killed most of with a prismatic spray, his shiny (quite literally) new spell.
Instead of following the gaseous goblins, possibly into a trap, the party searched the rest of the mage tower, finding nothing of interest except for a demon trapped in a magic circle, which they left to rot despite its pleas.
Then it was off to the residential level, where the remaining living inhabitants of Szith Morcane took shelter in the house of the priest of the Slime God cult. The party decided not to molest them, and in fact only cursorily examined the village, noting the lake and river and large iron gate blocking a large tunnel heading downwards... perhaps to the Underdark proper?
At any rate, the drow there seemed no threat, so it was off to the bottom level to finish off the vampires.
The vamps were waiting, and a dozen goblins tried to charm the party as they came to the entrance, to no avail -- they were all protected by Conner's persistant Magic Circle against Evil. Fearing another prismatic spray, they scurried into the side corridors, leaving the party to face the Forbiddance.
The party was unable to enter the Forbiddance this time, until May eventually dispelled it, on the fourth try. Then they entered, and were swarmed by vampire goblins. Within a round, the goblin vamplings were nearly wiped out... just in time for the bugbear vampires to appear. And the drider vampires. And the Giant vampires. And the drow.
Erdann used animal growth on his wolf, which began biting and tripping the giants, while Conner held off the bugbears. May's prismatic spray got rid of one of the giants, and his ring of evasion saved him from certain brutal injury at the hands of the Drow Mistress's flame strike.
A web from one of the drider vampires separated Conner and May from Erdann, and while they fought off the lesser drow and most of the remaining vampires, Erdann and his wolf took down the second giant vampire and the Drow Mistress herself -- who turned out to also be a vampire, as well as a powerful cleric. Her spells badly wounded the wolf, but in its enlarged form it was a terrifying juggernaught of death, and soon she was gaseous along with her minions.
May trapped her in a wall-of-force bubble.
It was time to find the coffins. The drider nests were finally spotted in the ceiling of the makeshift temple to Kiranislee in which the drow vampire was bubbled, and were burned and destroyed, dooming the gaseous driders. The party mapped out the entire level, eventually winding their way to the heart of it, where they finished off a foppish drow male and his pet displacer beast, then headed for the central chamber itself.
The door was guarded by a flame strike, and inside a gaunt drow sat on a throne of bone, smirking at them. Their diplomatic overtures were ignored, as was their subsequent entry and somewhat thorough (but not completely thorough, as they didn't want to take so much time that the vampire escaped from the bubble) search of the walls. Eventually, they realized that the pillar et al were an illusion.
So, downstairs, since the coffin had still not been found. There they found the corpses of the drow's slaves, twice as many of them as they'd fought as vampires -- not all of them were vampires yet. They were staked, their heads cut off, and then dragged out into the sunlight, in pieces in the case of the giants. May re-bubbled the vampire several times while this went on.
Finally, Erdann realized that a gaseous vampire was not an ethereal vampire, and used a wall of stone to encase it more permanently. Thus freed from time constraints, the party did a thorough search of the suspicious central chamber, finally finding the secret door to the head vampire's coffin.
Breaking it open triggered a blade barrier... but a special one that blocked the door, but didn't fill the room with blades of death (as it was intended to force people out of the room so that the vampire could recover in peace). So Erdann and May, who'd failed their saves, were trapped inside with the coffin, which they smashed and looted. It contained quite a bit of monetary wealth, and a sketchy map of the underdark.
They teleported around quite a bit, then, escaping the barrier and returning to Baldur's Gate to consult with the priests about the proper methods of vampire slaying, then back to Szith Morcane to loot the dead body of the last vampire, who'd perished when she was unable to return to her coffin, which had been smashed in any case.
All the loot was taken back and sold for an awful lot of money... then the party returned to Daggerford, to ask for payment for their work. The city was in high alert, with makeshift fortifications and the populace up in arms -- it had suffered several attacks in reprisal for the party's efforts. Still, they hadn't been attacked for several nights, so the Lord agreed to accompany the party (along with a large guard force of course) to the ruins of Szith Morcane to confirm its destruction.
The destruction was duly exhibited, and it was discovered that the last drow had fled the city, back into the underdark. The party was paid the 5000 gold (a tiny fraction of what they'd already made by selling captured drow equipment), but returned the next day to Szith Morcane to kill the keening drow spirit that had taken out May.
With the proper preparations -- death wards, and etherealness -- the spirit was easily dispatched. May and Erdann used stone shape and summoned thoqqas to carve a 450 foot channel from the river in the cavern above, where the common drow had lived, to the temple, to flood it -- figuring that the running water would kill any remaining vampires they hadn't found.
Then it was back to Baldur's Gate once more, to retrieve Abbey, before they ventured deeper into the underdark, eager to see the locations depicted on the map, and hopefully find more treasure.
last session next session
Luis wasn't able to play tonight, which is why Abbey was absent. Hopefully he'll be able to make the next session, as the party won't be able to teleport back and forth so blithely in the next part.
Ressurecting May took a couple days. The drow prisoner was handed over to the Baldur's Gate authorities for questioning, and Abbey managed to get herself into some trouble [whose nature will be decided later] that meant she was left behind when May, Erdann, and Conner teleported back to Szith Morcane.
After a Heroes' Feast, they teleported back to the mage's tower. There they were spotted by and fought four vampiric golbins, whom May killed most of with a prismatic spray, his shiny (quite literally) new spell.
Instead of following the gaseous goblins, possibly into a trap, the party searched the rest of the mage tower, finding nothing of interest except for a demon trapped in a magic circle, which they left to rot despite its pleas.
Then it was off to the residential level, where the remaining living inhabitants of Szith Morcane took shelter in the house of the priest of the Slime God cult. The party decided not to molest them, and in fact only cursorily examined the village, noting the lake and river and large iron gate blocking a large tunnel heading downwards... perhaps to the Underdark proper?
At any rate, the drow there seemed no threat, so it was off to the bottom level to finish off the vampires.
The vamps were waiting, and a dozen goblins tried to charm the party as they came to the entrance, to no avail -- they were all protected by Conner's persistant Magic Circle against Evil. Fearing another prismatic spray, they scurried into the side corridors, leaving the party to face the Forbiddance.
The party was unable to enter the Forbiddance this time, until May eventually dispelled it, on the fourth try. Then they entered, and were swarmed by vampire goblins. Within a round, the goblin vamplings were nearly wiped out... just in time for the bugbear vampires to appear. And the drider vampires. And the Giant vampires. And the drow.
Erdann used animal growth on his wolf, which began biting and tripping the giants, while Conner held off the bugbears. May's prismatic spray got rid of one of the giants, and his ring of evasion saved him from certain brutal injury at the hands of the Drow Mistress's flame strike.
A web from one of the drider vampires separated Conner and May from Erdann, and while they fought off the lesser drow and most of the remaining vampires, Erdann and his wolf took down the second giant vampire and the Drow Mistress herself -- who turned out to also be a vampire, as well as a powerful cleric. Her spells badly wounded the wolf, but in its enlarged form it was a terrifying juggernaught of death, and soon she was gaseous along with her minions.
May trapped her in a wall-of-force bubble.
It was time to find the coffins. The drider nests were finally spotted in the ceiling of the makeshift temple to Kiranislee in which the drow vampire was bubbled, and were burned and destroyed, dooming the gaseous driders. The party mapped out the entire level, eventually winding their way to the heart of it, where they finished off a foppish drow male and his pet displacer beast, then headed for the central chamber itself.
The door was guarded by a flame strike, and inside a gaunt drow sat on a throne of bone, smirking at them. Their diplomatic overtures were ignored, as was their subsequent entry and somewhat thorough (but not completely thorough, as they didn't want to take so much time that the vampire escaped from the bubble) search of the walls. Eventually, they realized that the pillar et al were an illusion.
So, downstairs, since the coffin had still not been found. There they found the corpses of the drow's slaves, twice as many of them as they'd fought as vampires -- not all of them were vampires yet. They were staked, their heads cut off, and then dragged out into the sunlight, in pieces in the case of the giants. May re-bubbled the vampire several times while this went on.
Finally, Erdann realized that a gaseous vampire was not an ethereal vampire, and used a wall of stone to encase it more permanently. Thus freed from time constraints, the party did a thorough search of the suspicious central chamber, finally finding the secret door to the head vampire's coffin.
Breaking it open triggered a blade barrier... but a special one that blocked the door, but didn't fill the room with blades of death (as it was intended to force people out of the room so that the vampire could recover in peace). So Erdann and May, who'd failed their saves, were trapped inside with the coffin, which they smashed and looted. It contained quite a bit of monetary wealth, and a sketchy map of the underdark.
They teleported around quite a bit, then, escaping the barrier and returning to Baldur's Gate to consult with the priests about the proper methods of vampire slaying, then back to Szith Morcane to loot the dead body of the last vampire, who'd perished when she was unable to return to her coffin, which had been smashed in any case.
All the loot was taken back and sold for an awful lot of money... then the party returned to Daggerford, to ask for payment for their work. The city was in high alert, with makeshift fortifications and the populace up in arms -- it had suffered several attacks in reprisal for the party's efforts. Still, they hadn't been attacked for several nights, so the Lord agreed to accompany the party (along with a large guard force of course) to the ruins of Szith Morcane to confirm its destruction.
The destruction was duly exhibited, and it was discovered that the last drow had fled the city, back into the underdark. The party was paid the 5000 gold (a tiny fraction of what they'd already made by selling captured drow equipment), but returned the next day to Szith Morcane to kill the keening drow spirit that had taken out May.
With the proper preparations -- death wards, and etherealness -- the spirit was easily dispatched. May and Erdann used stone shape and summoned thoqqas to carve a 450 foot channel from the river in the cavern above, where the common drow had lived, to the temple, to flood it -- figuring that the running water would kill any remaining vampires they hadn't found.
Then it was back to Baldur's Gate once more, to retrieve Abbey, before they ventured deeper into the underdark, eager to see the locations depicted on the map, and hopefully find more treasure.
last session next session
Luis wasn't able to play tonight, which is why Abbey was absent. Hopefully he'll be able to make the next session, as the party won't be able to teleport back and forth so blithely in the next part.
