Saturday, September 17, 2011

Recap # 28 - Out of the Frying Pan and into the Boiling Cauldron

Author's note:
So, being delinquent 2 years ago accounts for a number of recaps that didn't occur. I'm going to wave my magic DM hands and point out the following:

  • The party made it to the Elemental Chaos (Plane of Fire) via a ritual/portal in Mount Onatar in Eberron. However one of their arch rivals - Skamos the Tiefling - followed them through. In the ensuing battle he summoned the undead Sinruth and managed to get his hands on the two Phoenix items that the party was carrying.
  • The party destroyed Sinruth but before Skamos to escape a huge devil appeared. From the brief conversation (i.e. begging and pleading on Skamos part) it was evident to the party that their was a past history between the two.
  • The devil proceeded to smash Skamos to a pulp (literally), take the Phoenix items for himself, and turn the party to stone.
  • Unbeknownst to the now-petrified heroes, this entire scene was witnessed by a Korred scout/thief named Ize. He observed a squad of Salamanders and Azers from the nearby city move in and engage the devil who they called Zul'bar. The devil teleported away and the squad loaded up the newly created statues and headed back to town.
  • Ize carefully made his way back to his superiors to report these incredible events.
The Session
  • The party "awoke" to find themselves standing in small, well-kept park or garden. Before them stood 5 individuals: 4 humans - one of which looked to be a young teen boy - and a small, unkempt individual who was urging them to quickly follow before they were discovered by the Chattlemaster's Guard and summarily executed.
  • After a brief moment the party recognized two of the strangers as their previous comrades Tharunn and Jaryn. They looked like they had aged though.
  • One of the other men introduced himself as Harrison Crabfeather. He had just completed a ritual to free the party from their stone stasis of over two years. At the urging of Tharunn the party struggled to follow their rescuers through the streets and alleyways toward safety in "The Pit". No small feat as they felt weak and slow from petrification effects.
  • The party discovered that Harrison had some allies creating distractions throughout the city to try and hide the escape.
  • During their flight Harrison's companion - a warlock of some sort - tripped and fell while crossing a street to an alley. He was spotted by a group of guardsmen who began firing arrows down the alley.
  • At the head of the group ran the small, unkempt creature who had been introduced as the Korred named Ize. In a dark shadow of the alley he pulled out some small device, murmured some soft words and open a magically sealed door before plunging into the hole.
  • It turned out to be a escape shaft of some sort. One by one the party leaped into the darkness and slid crazily through the tunnel. It was a struggle to keep from getting disoriented and dizzy. Braddoc and Delian brought of the rear and somehow Ize appeared behind them to seal the door again.
  • At the bottom the party found themselves in a dimly lit sealed room. After a moment, Ize extinguished the light and repeated his actions from above. Another sealed door opened. This time the party found themselves looking across a huge cavern decorated in hanging chains, winches, elevators, and bridges. Jaryn indicated that the need to get to a tunnel approximately 50 feet below in order to continue their journey.
  • Sizing up the jump, Ethan took hold of one end of a rope in his pack, handed the other end to Braddoc, Sterling, and Delian an pitched himself deftly from the edge of the drop. Landing like a cat, proceeded to tie off his end of the rope and hide in the shadows watching for danger.
  • One by one the party began making their way down the rope. Unfortunately they were spotted by some guards on an upper tier along the cavern wall. As arrows began to pelt down onto the party Tharunn and Jaryn nodded their heads to the group, indicated to Harrison and Ize that they would meet up "at the usual spot" later, and headed off along the ledge into the steamy shadows.
  • Aside from the warlock who nearly plunged to his death as his hung from one hand over the vast cavern, the party managed to make their way down. Together they pulled the rope and rock it was tied to off the upper ledge and let it plunge into the depths before they headed into the dark cave behind them. The rest of the journey was uneventful as they slide down another (very long) tube and found themselves lying on the ground before two more Korred. Ize introduced them as Two-Toes and Shaman. They only spoke an old elvish dialect.
  • After a brief conversation Two-Toes and Shaman turned and left. The party took a short rest and finally had a chance to properly dialogue with Harrison and his companion. (Noah, I need your warlock's name man!)
  • A short time later an alarm was raised. It seems a demon Solamith had recently found its way into the tunnels here and had taken to killing and feeding upon anyone unlucky enough to meet it. The party decided to assist.
  • A short distance away they found 5-6 Korred battling the Solamith who had allied itself with 2 Chasme, 2 Canoloth, and 4 Canoloth Harriers. Though they fought bravely, 4 of the Korred perished. 
  • Though still sluggish, the party waded into the battle toward the 20 ft ledge from which the Solamith was tearing out chunks of its own flesh and hurling onto its enemies below. With tongues reminiscent of chameleons, the Canoloth peppered the party from up to 20 feet away keeping them dazed at every turn.
  • As they cleared the floor below the party was able to make their way onto the ledge. From their they surrounded the demon and eventually destroyed it thereby earning some respect and trust from the local Korred.
  • As they searched the corpses and tended to the wounded Ize ran in. With a grave look he informed the party that Tharunn and Jaryn had somehow been captured. The party was requested to join Two-Toes and Shaman for a meeting.



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