Eberron Adventure: Eleventh Session

The party, consisting of Zyn, the drow ranger, Kyllar the human wizard, Nameless the gnome barbarian, and Turnin the human monk (Shadowale, the halfling rogue was still unconscious, dragged behind the party on the magical disc, or placed gingerly into the Bag of Holding with a burst of air when the party knew things would get bad) left the blacksmith, and advanced through the wilderness, marching for most of the day towards the still-quite-distant city of Sharn before a terrible hoot/roar alerted them to danger. Up ahead, a warforged burst out from some foliage; an enraged owlbear shredding through the brush in hot pursuit. Noticing the party, the warforged turned, sprinting towards our heroes, shouting for aid without really bothering to see whether it was actually being offered.

Even from a distance, the drow ranger Zyn noticed a gleam, coming from the owlbear’s side, and recognized the beast as the subject of a bonafide quest from Brenda’s notes. The party arranged themselves to engage the owlbear as the warforged ran through…

The human monk Turnin landed the final blow against the beast, which collapsed on the ground. The blade was embedded in the beast’s side, hilt still gleaming and aimed at the sky. Turnin quickly drew the sword from the carcass, and began making swooshing sounds and slicing through the aid. The silliness was quickly put to an end, and the blade was turned over to Zyn and Kyllar (the latter would magically inspect it later, and would determine that the blade cuts unusually deep for its size, and would love to strike a critical blow to an enemy…). As the blade was passed around, the party spoke with Gofer, the warforged whom they had just saved.

Gofer offered up some silver and healing potions for saving his life, and explained that we was a courier from House Orien (a guild of Eberron, specializing in the transportation of items and persons), searching for two things: Bulwark's shield, and adventurers who had traveled with a dwarf druid named Bearchief. The party's interest was piqued at both Gofer's tasks.

The party learns that both Gofer and Bulwark belonged to the same warforged organization, and that Gofer was sent to find him, since Bulwark had not returned when he said he would. The party offers their condolences, and Kyllar offers up Bulwark's shield without hesitation. Gofer takes the loss in stride, and offers the party broaches/pins in the shape of a bone, with gears on the ends. The broaches were tweaked, and they began to glow ever so slightly as they were handed out. Gofer explained that if the party displays these trinkets as they approached Sharn, his society would have their backs.

And upon learning that the party had indeed traveled with Bearchief, Gofer procured a small stone carving of a bear, sitting upright on its haunches, and with a dwarven beard, and handed it to Kyllar. Gofer relates that Bearchief is looking for the party, and has sent out a few wandering couriers such as himself in an attempt to contact our heroes. Bearchief can speak through these totems, and checks in at sunset. If the party just sits tight, Bearchief will be in touch soon...

...the party does decided to sit tight, and Gofer leaves them, thanking them again for saving him, and for their generosity. At sundown, Bearchief whispers from the totem. The party chats quickly, and Bearchief soon turns the conversation towards the task at hand, providing the party with some personal backstory along the way.

Bearchief’s druidic circle had a relic in their care, but the order was murdered and the relic was stolen when Bearchief was still an initiate in the circle. Bearchief, the sole survivor of the massacre, became an adventurer, traveling the world, but always keeping an eye out for rumors about the relic. After he had left the part, Bearchief had tracked the relic to an area nearby. Originally, he planned on using the totems to locate and then join the party, but not the relic shard is trembling. Something is about to go down, and there is no time to travel.

Instead, Bearchief will project his spirit through the totem, using it as both a lens and an anchor to guide the party using spells and partial possession (through the totem, Bearchief can inhabit a body friendly to him, and can work in concert with it, boosting skills and coordination; or inhabit an unfriendly body, working against the owner, making them less skilled and coordinated).

After a tough day's march, the party arrives in the foothills of a mountain. Several of the previously-encountered large spiders and the spider-wranglers are around, and a fight erupts. The spiders moved in to maul the party, and the spider-wranglers used magical cantrips to whip spidery threads, and pull members of the party out of position. After dispatching these  corrupted beings, as well as a gargantuan, mutated spider, the party learns that they are results of attempts to corrupt the relic.

In what appears to be a dead end in the foothills, the party begins clearing the web-covered crevices, uncovering some basic loot and eventually a narrow, winding path, carved into the mountain by a trickling stream of acid from the surrounding corruption. The path winds down and down into the rock, becoming more or a tunnel, burrowing into the mountain. The party reaches the end without more than superficial damage from the acid and misplaced steps.

The path forks at the end, and Bearchief suggests the party go left. Zyn attempts to stealthy scout ahead, but fails, and finds himself isolated in a huge cavernous room, streams of the draining acid pooling in numerous gouges in the earthen floor, the pools turning the cavern floor into a stinging, acidic maze of sorts. Several druid-looking humanoids are preparing defenses, and the stealthy approach blown, Zyn takes aim at a druid cranking one of three large wheels, and maims him with a well-placed arrow.

Hearing the commotion, the rest of the party begins to file down the left path. These druid-like humanoids put up a resistance, using similar magical hook shots to snag the party and drag them into the acid pools. The party spreads out, attempting to down the druids one-on-one, but this stratagem fails. As they become wounded and cornered, each druid shapeshifts, turning into scorpion like monsters, or unrecognizable creatures with scythes for arms. Both forms lash out against the party, causing serious trauma, particularly to Turnin, who is kept in fighting form by the presence of Bearchief's spirit (and Bearchief's very dedicated heals, emanating from the totem). As the party attempts to combat the new forms of the druids, giant bats appear from a dark opening at the far end of the cavern, who shapeshift into other druids as they reach the party. One finishes up what his companion died trying to do; and turns the wheel one last time, allowing some unseen mechanism to stop the acid from draining further. The little paths the party had been using to avoid the acidic pools get smaller and smaller…

The battle is vicious, but in time, the party is able to down the shape-shifted druids, and they choose to "open" the three wheels, and let the acid drain from the room. In short order, the acid pools have seeped through the dirt and muck that is the floor of this cavern, and the party rests for a short while before pressing on.

The party cautiously approaches the dark maw from which the giant bats emerged previously, and find a 200 foot drop beyond. Fortunately, the drop was irregular, and there appeared to be several sizable ledges on the descent. The party opted to lower themselves down one-by-one, with Bearchief semi-possessing almost each member in turn to aid them in their descent.

Unfortunately, Zyn refused to share his body, and was dropped three times by Nameless, the “strongest” member of the party, and who was serving as anchor, lowering the rest of the party down from ledge to ledge. With the last 50 feet to go, the party decided to take a long rest before finishing their descent.

Once the party had all reached the bottom, they walked a short distance, and soon found themselves in another cavernous room. Nameless’s faultless sense of direction placed them below the first cavern. Having turned the wheels above, the party saw that the acid was free to seep down into this room, where it coalesced into three pools which housed three water elementals, now corrupted by the acid. Upon being spotted, a druid of some importance slapped the ground, and a stone golem rose up, coalescing from the rock, and three other druids moved to resist the party.

Bearchief summoned a potent Moonbeam, and wielded it with abandon, searing several of the foes. Kyllar and Zyn unleashed a barrage of ranged attacks as well, including a Shatter spell, but they themselves did not move. The Stone Giant charged the party, slamming the ground and dealing massive damage, though not engaging any particular member of the party, while the acid elementals and druids advanced menacingly. Battle erupted in full as the party came to their senses and tried to avoid the golem’s heavy swings.

The druids conjured silky spider whips, again pulling the party out of their planned positions, while the acidic elementals attempted to hug and engulf the closest party member. Bearchief’s Moonbeam zipped around, finishing off many of his foes with sweet, sweet, lunar-inspired vengeance. Nameless was pulled away from fighting the golem, and still obviously ragin’ turned and cleaved the lead druid in two. Its controller quite dead, the golem became inanimate, and the party breathed a sigh of relief as they finished off the scattered druids and little elementals that remained. Turnin, having been hugged inside the last remaining elemental, swing his fists and quarterstaff around furiously and then burst free from the thing, its membrane splitting and expelling the interior of itself violently. Kyllar inspected the body of the lead druid, and found another shard from Bearchief’s relic, it too trembling and pulsating.

The party chides Bearchief, wondering why he never summoned a stone avatar to protect them, but the bickering soon stops as the party realizes that this room bears the tell-tale signs of an old dragon horde!

Ever-eager for material gain, the party fans out, quickly sifting through the room’s contents. Unfortunately, most of the treasures had been permanently befouled by the acid, and were corroded and in a useless state. However, several shut chests were found, their contents protected from the acid. Before they could perform identification rituals or an accurate inventory of their haul, Bearchief’s shard resonated. So did the one Kyllar had just obtained. Bearchief deduces that they must be quite close to the relic, and that something is about to occur, so the party pressed on. They left the hoard room via a tunnel opposite the way they entered, whose walls were slick with acidic moss and corrupted vines, though the acid here was not strong enough to burn through their clothes or armor.

In these tight quarters, the party found their path blocked by a humanoid and what appeared to be two giant wolves. Still in marching order, the party peered around the diminutive Nameless to see what the heck the hold up was. Also curious, Bearchief reached out and quickly cursed, relating to the party that this being was a MINDFLAYER, an evil being of immense psychic and magical power.

The mindflayer stalled for time, her facial tentacles writhing, and offered the party a chance to turn back or die. The party considered for several moments, took evidently far too long to respond, and then the wolves were upon Nameless, snapping at him. Kyllar ran beside Nameless, and cast Thunderwave, and in the confines of the tunnel, one of the wolves was knocked into a wall and momentarily dazed, though it reentered the fight quickly. Zyn shot at the mindflayer and Turnin vaulted forward and began to battle the wolves. The mindflayer psychically suggested to the party that they should hug the fluffy wolves, and Nameless looked on with a mix of horror and confusion as everyone else in the party went along with this suggestion. The wolves gnawed into the party mercilessly.

Recovering their senses through pain, the party struck back. Turnin lunged forth, and struck at the mindflayer with a flurry of blows. The mindflayer doubled over, and spat bloody ichor to the ground. As it righter itself, it cast its own magical blast, tossing him back towards the party. The mindflayer began to retreat.

The party caught the airborne Turnin, and prepared to dispatch the last snarling wolf and then pursue, but soon hesitated, awestruck by the scene before them.

As they fought, no one in the party had noticed that the tunnel had begun to widen. Ahead of them, the ground was quite uneven, like rubble from a collapsed building – or a cave old in. The path had become huge, and open to the evening sky. This platform overlooked the Mournland, and the cool evening breeze drifted into the cave. In addition to failing to the view, the party also failed to notice that a second mindflayer had been performing a ritual, Bearchief's relic held high above him as he finished his spell....



.....and from the settled rubble burst a dragon most foul; decayed flesh drooped off its bones and air rustled through the holes in its leathery wings as it reared up, rocks tumbling off its back. Before the performer of the ritual could exert true control over the creature, the raised dragon lashed out, devouring the fleeing, bloodied mindflayer, whose sudden death then also killed the last wolf; such was the charmed bond the mindflayer had apparently cultivated. The summoning mindflayer tensed as he brought the dragon to heel, and then grimly jumped on its back, grimly regarding its slain comrade as it squared itself against the party - the true fight had begun.

The party stood in disbelief for a moment, and then Zyn greedily nocked the Shaft of Dragon Slaying taken from Brenda’s supplies, and loosed it, striking home and dealing the dragon a great, gaping wound. The moment of disbelief passed, and the party went on the offensive.

Bearchief struck out again with Moonbeam, blasting down upon both mount and rider. Zyn stayed back and loosed bolt after bolt from his crossbows. Turnin jumped forth, dodging the dragon's snapping jaws, bounding up the creature’s neck, and then landing several telling strikes against the mindflayer. In turn, the mindflayer had the dragon smash Turnin as he landed, and unleashed a potent Fireball against much of the rest of the party, who were badly burned, but still alive.

The fight was long and arduous. A potent Moonbeam continued to blaze upon the mindflayer and his recently raised mount. The dragon swiped its claws at those who approached, the mindflayer also knocking the party back with magic. The party continued to give it their all, though the dragon reared up often, its undead body taking shots intended for the mindflayer. Running out of spells, Kyllar got close, cast Thunderwave, and the mindflayer failed to hold on, and was knocked off his mount. While Turnin and Zyn had been knocked out, Nameless was able to take a few swings at the prone mindflayer.

A Moonbeam reaching down from the heavens onto the platform zeroed in on the mindflayer, and the cumulative, relentless damage from it eventually caught up with the mindflayer as it struggled to get to its feet. As it life was blasted out of it, the mindflayer fumbled the relic Bearchief sought, it's chipped and weathered form falling from the crook of the mindflayer’s arm, and bouncing to the ground.

Free, the dragon lunged at the relic and swallowed it. Ignoring the party, it reared up, facing the Mournland and roared defiantly. The roar was quickly chocked off by the sounds of grating gravel, and then soon silence as the dragon was turned to stone, a monstrous statue shouting silently while lording over dead landscape.

Then a faint light began to glow from the statue, and from the relic shards held by Kyllar and Bearchief. The light grew stronger, until it washed over the area. Wounds began to close and heal, and the corrupted moss and vines that had been dangling around the tunnel began to shift into healthier colors. Life slowly began to return to the platform, and the tide of healing began to inexorably creep deeper into the caverns from whence the party came.

Motes drifted from the dragon statue and from the now-inert shards held by Kyllar and Bearchief. 
Bearchief remembered that his order's sacred relic, was nicknamed Stubborn. He theorizes that it didn't like being misused by the mindflayers, and now seeks to repair some of the damage it was unwilling a party to. Overtime, the shards will crumble, as will the dragon statue. When that happens, the corruption will have been cleansed, and the relic can truly be reclaimed. For now, it sits safely, diligently restoring what had been befouled.