Post by Stingray888 on Aug 10, 2013 6:22:18 GMT
Lost in thought my kettle of tea begins to boil over.
I quickly remove it from the fire and pour myself a mug. I am again distracted by the memory of the days before this...
The spirits of the wood hinted that something was amiss in the area of Lake Shale as I traveled the road north of Ilium. I swiftly sent word out in all directions hoping some of my fellow Riders would hear of the disturbance and join me at the lake. I feared some new menace had arisen in the area of one of the natural Shrines, and that the peaceful Gypsies camped there or the Druid Enclave would be in need of aide.
I was met there by an Elderly Man in a hood and flowing robes whom I had never met before, but who reeked of Alchemical dabblings, and had a mind that seemed to wander much. He camped near the Gypsies, who were in a bit of a flurry at the other strange new arrival who had put up a tent just north of their camp. A little man that was of no race I was familiar with, but would soon make his acquaintance…
I approached his tent first as there was a sign posted outside of it. It boasted of the Challenge of the Outer Worlds… and a race called the Githyanki. I am unfamiliar with that name as is the strange Alchemist smoking his pipe. Others begin to arrive at the clearing, Taimore Shad-alee, Aeronca, Gnarl Drukaga the Dwarf, Dups Vralderna, Chine Unduther the Sword-mistress, and others who are too far from the campfire to make out, but their scents are familiar under the taints of armor or leather.
The Stranger awakens from his meditations and steps toward the campfire, and we get our first good look at an Outsider. He announces in a loud voice that he is Ergoo Nabul, and that he has come to offer a test of wits and courage from the outer worlds. A reward of 2000 gold pieces is offered for each Magical Stone returned from the great maze hidden beyond the Portal we are told is within the tent Nabul has erected. Many of us are up to the challenge for the sheer sport of it, or the lure of gold that many of us have so little of… We enter the tent and the portal one by one…
And find our selves in a most unsettling place! A cave darker than any in the Underdark… filled with echoes of ungodly wailing and screams of torment and madness! Our group is swiftly scattered by the pervading gloom, and the unsettling screams coming from the very walls themselves… and we know without a doubt that we are not alone in these caves. The soles of my boots tremble with the thumping of very large footfalls somewhere nearby.
Aeronca is the first to strike what lurks in the darkness ahead and below us… Umberhulks and Illithid skulk the plane below us and cast their horrid mind magicks at our party. Hours pass filled with battle and terror as we make our way thru the gloom and the screams, encountering beasts familiar, or bizarre as part of this now dreaded test. Beholders, an Elderly Black Dragon, Efreeti, and other creatures we have never seen as well as twisted copies of our friends Moriand and Gnarl inhabit these caves and tunnels that claw at the fabric of our sanity.
All of us are convinced that this is something more than a simple test of skill and wit. Friend Drake Argente arrived before we plunged into the portal and gave Ergoo Nabul his special look, and noted no evil emanating from the little Outsider… but now we began to wonder about this challenge we have taken up? We could understand now why none had been successful in recovering these Stones before. Our group had long since gotten separated in the tunnels and all the varied Portals hidden within this maze. We were in groups of 2 or 3 members now, and hopelessly lost along the circuit of portals leading to different worlds on different planes. Taimore and I found ourselves on a plane of haze and stinking of ash, inhabited by the strangest things we have yet seen. Small bizarre constructs with one great eye in the center of their bodies, strutting on two metal legs, with odd things protruding from their backs like little flapping wings! They appeared harmless as they roamed around the field so we let them be…
In the distance we could make out a Town, with a Tower in the north of it, so we made our way there. We were soon up to our necks in trouble, battling deadly Maugs similar to what Moriand and I had fought back in the Kalamen Museum when we claimed the Magical Tapestry from Zarathos’ Forces. Taimore and I fought our way thru the entire town and retreated to the outskirts to rest before seeking the portal out of this world.
We made our way thru the haze and found ourselves back at the entry portal, where we discovered a familiar set of boot prints in the mud and ash. Aeronca had found her way to this realm, but we have seen no other sign of her… her tracks petered out as we again neared the town of the Maugs. Taimore lit a torch hoping Aeronca would make out its’ light in the haze of this oddly lit world. Having traversed the town again and finding no sign of her we decided to check within the buildings to see if she had taken shelter within… Taimore jammed his torch into a rack on the side of the House we entered to mark our passage.
More constructs were within and we soon found ourselves in battle. The Maugs were vanquished, but there was no sign of Aeronca, and no portal within either… so we left, collected our torch and moved on to the Tower…
Here Taimore and I fell prey to a deadly trap, mere feet within the Tower! A Lich unlike any I have ever seen… with metal parts as well as rotting flesh stood within, guarded by the Toughest Maugs we had yet encountered! Laid low by the Lich’s spells and the might of his constructs we lay there dazed, battered and helpless while he gloated and pondered an excruciating and final demise for us!
From the corner of my eye I saw the door slowly open, and in slipped Aeronca, having seen our torch hanging outside this place. Ever the cautious woman, she slipped within and made with her magics, becoming invisible to our foes. Much mayhem ensued as she raced about the room striking down our foes one by one and becoming invisible again before they could strike at her. Soon just the three of us remained, and Aeronca granted Taimore and I some much needed first aide. After resting and recuperating as best we could, the body of the Lich was searched, and the first of the Magical Stones was found among his possessions! Now all we had to do was find our way back into the portal circuit and the way back to Karador… By my reckoning we had been gone nearly 4 Lomarian days, and there was no telling how our other friends were faring. Other rescues may need to be mounted provided we could get back to familiar territory. We soon found the portal off this ash stinking world, and after a few more portals found ourselves back at the start of this ruckus, having exited a portal in the caves in the north of Lake Shale… I kissed the grassy earth beneath my feet and thanked Mieliki that we were home!
Now to collect our reward and get some answers! Misgivings were running amok thru our heads… we were too seasoned and experienced to not smell a trap after we had set foot in it! Drake told us there was no evil in this little being Ergoo Nabul… but you don’t need to be evil to be treacherous! We asked him about our friends before hinting that we had the stone, and were told that many of them had returned, and a few had even gone back into the Challenge! Evidence of our friends’ returns were scattered around the campgrounds we had made before this all started. Little notes from Gnarl, or Drake, or Moriand stating that they were looking for one friend or another, some like Gnarl were having a grand time sowing carnage on the evil creatures that dwelt within those howling caves! It felt like a trip to the Coliseum in the Lord Enslaver’s City for them…
Taimore and Aeronca turned in the Magical Stone for our reward… and the little Outsider began to dance a strange little victory jig, extolling how at long last he had the Stone! Its’ power was now his to command! And in a bright flash Ergoo Nabul, the Tent, and all his belongings were gone… with only the echoes of his satisfied laughter fading on the winds!
Damnation! We three sat at the campfire realizing we had been hoodwinked! The challenge for centuries had been staged merely to find and claim the One Stone! Taimore munched his hambone in disgust, musing angrily at what we may have unwittingly unleashed on another world, and whether this deed too would come back to bite us on the arse! Aeronca parted company to visit Drakesdale, and report this news. Taimore also rode off to his house in Barthen to clean the stink of the Ash World from his armor and himself…
I waited by the campfire drinking my tea, to see if any of our friends would soon find their way out of the maze or if we would have to go in after them, having found our way thru the entire circuit…
Chine Underthur was the first to return from the maze and share the campfire, so I shared all that transpired with her… ending the tale with these truthful words…
We were snookered!
I quickly remove it from the fire and pour myself a mug. I am again distracted by the memory of the days before this...
The spirits of the wood hinted that something was amiss in the area of Lake Shale as I traveled the road north of Ilium. I swiftly sent word out in all directions hoping some of my fellow Riders would hear of the disturbance and join me at the lake. I feared some new menace had arisen in the area of one of the natural Shrines, and that the peaceful Gypsies camped there or the Druid Enclave would be in need of aide.
I was met there by an Elderly Man in a hood and flowing robes whom I had never met before, but who reeked of Alchemical dabblings, and had a mind that seemed to wander much. He camped near the Gypsies, who were in a bit of a flurry at the other strange new arrival who had put up a tent just north of their camp. A little man that was of no race I was familiar with, but would soon make his acquaintance…
I approached his tent first as there was a sign posted outside of it. It boasted of the Challenge of the Outer Worlds… and a race called the Githyanki. I am unfamiliar with that name as is the strange Alchemist smoking his pipe. Others begin to arrive at the clearing, Taimore Shad-alee, Aeronca, Gnarl Drukaga the Dwarf, Dups Vralderna, Chine Unduther the Sword-mistress, and others who are too far from the campfire to make out, but their scents are familiar under the taints of armor or leather.
The Stranger awakens from his meditations and steps toward the campfire, and we get our first good look at an Outsider. He announces in a loud voice that he is Ergoo Nabul, and that he has come to offer a test of wits and courage from the outer worlds. A reward of 2000 gold pieces is offered for each Magical Stone returned from the great maze hidden beyond the Portal we are told is within the tent Nabul has erected. Many of us are up to the challenge for the sheer sport of it, or the lure of gold that many of us have so little of… We enter the tent and the portal one by one…
And find our selves in a most unsettling place! A cave darker than any in the Underdark… filled with echoes of ungodly wailing and screams of torment and madness! Our group is swiftly scattered by the pervading gloom, and the unsettling screams coming from the very walls themselves… and we know without a doubt that we are not alone in these caves. The soles of my boots tremble with the thumping of very large footfalls somewhere nearby.
Aeronca is the first to strike what lurks in the darkness ahead and below us… Umberhulks and Illithid skulk the plane below us and cast their horrid mind magicks at our party. Hours pass filled with battle and terror as we make our way thru the gloom and the screams, encountering beasts familiar, or bizarre as part of this now dreaded test. Beholders, an Elderly Black Dragon, Efreeti, and other creatures we have never seen as well as twisted copies of our friends Moriand and Gnarl inhabit these caves and tunnels that claw at the fabric of our sanity.
All of us are convinced that this is something more than a simple test of skill and wit. Friend Drake Argente arrived before we plunged into the portal and gave Ergoo Nabul his special look, and noted no evil emanating from the little Outsider… but now we began to wonder about this challenge we have taken up? We could understand now why none had been successful in recovering these Stones before. Our group had long since gotten separated in the tunnels and all the varied Portals hidden within this maze. We were in groups of 2 or 3 members now, and hopelessly lost along the circuit of portals leading to different worlds on different planes. Taimore and I found ourselves on a plane of haze and stinking of ash, inhabited by the strangest things we have yet seen. Small bizarre constructs with one great eye in the center of their bodies, strutting on two metal legs, with odd things protruding from their backs like little flapping wings! They appeared harmless as they roamed around the field so we let them be…
In the distance we could make out a Town, with a Tower in the north of it, so we made our way there. We were soon up to our necks in trouble, battling deadly Maugs similar to what Moriand and I had fought back in the Kalamen Museum when we claimed the Magical Tapestry from Zarathos’ Forces. Taimore and I fought our way thru the entire town and retreated to the outskirts to rest before seeking the portal out of this world.
We made our way thru the haze and found ourselves back at the entry portal, where we discovered a familiar set of boot prints in the mud and ash. Aeronca had found her way to this realm, but we have seen no other sign of her… her tracks petered out as we again neared the town of the Maugs. Taimore lit a torch hoping Aeronca would make out its’ light in the haze of this oddly lit world. Having traversed the town again and finding no sign of her we decided to check within the buildings to see if she had taken shelter within… Taimore jammed his torch into a rack on the side of the House we entered to mark our passage.
More constructs were within and we soon found ourselves in battle. The Maugs were vanquished, but there was no sign of Aeronca, and no portal within either… so we left, collected our torch and moved on to the Tower…
Here Taimore and I fell prey to a deadly trap, mere feet within the Tower! A Lich unlike any I have ever seen… with metal parts as well as rotting flesh stood within, guarded by the Toughest Maugs we had yet encountered! Laid low by the Lich’s spells and the might of his constructs we lay there dazed, battered and helpless while he gloated and pondered an excruciating and final demise for us!
From the corner of my eye I saw the door slowly open, and in slipped Aeronca, having seen our torch hanging outside this place. Ever the cautious woman, she slipped within and made with her magics, becoming invisible to our foes. Much mayhem ensued as she raced about the room striking down our foes one by one and becoming invisible again before they could strike at her. Soon just the three of us remained, and Aeronca granted Taimore and I some much needed first aide. After resting and recuperating as best we could, the body of the Lich was searched, and the first of the Magical Stones was found among his possessions! Now all we had to do was find our way back into the portal circuit and the way back to Karador… By my reckoning we had been gone nearly 4 Lomarian days, and there was no telling how our other friends were faring. Other rescues may need to be mounted provided we could get back to familiar territory. We soon found the portal off this ash stinking world, and after a few more portals found ourselves back at the start of this ruckus, having exited a portal in the caves in the north of Lake Shale… I kissed the grassy earth beneath my feet and thanked Mieliki that we were home!
Now to collect our reward and get some answers! Misgivings were running amok thru our heads… we were too seasoned and experienced to not smell a trap after we had set foot in it! Drake told us there was no evil in this little being Ergoo Nabul… but you don’t need to be evil to be treacherous! We asked him about our friends before hinting that we had the stone, and were told that many of them had returned, and a few had even gone back into the Challenge! Evidence of our friends’ returns were scattered around the campgrounds we had made before this all started. Little notes from Gnarl, or Drake, or Moriand stating that they were looking for one friend or another, some like Gnarl were having a grand time sowing carnage on the evil creatures that dwelt within those howling caves! It felt like a trip to the Coliseum in the Lord Enslaver’s City for them…
Taimore and Aeronca turned in the Magical Stone for our reward… and the little Outsider began to dance a strange little victory jig, extolling how at long last he had the Stone! Its’ power was now his to command! And in a bright flash Ergoo Nabul, the Tent, and all his belongings were gone… with only the echoes of his satisfied laughter fading on the winds!
Damnation! We three sat at the campfire realizing we had been hoodwinked! The challenge for centuries had been staged merely to find and claim the One Stone! Taimore munched his hambone in disgust, musing angrily at what we may have unwittingly unleashed on another world, and whether this deed too would come back to bite us on the arse! Aeronca parted company to visit Drakesdale, and report this news. Taimore also rode off to his house in Barthen to clean the stink of the Ash World from his armor and himself…
I waited by the campfire drinking my tea, to see if any of our friends would soon find their way out of the maze or if we would have to go in after them, having found our way thru the entire circuit…
Chine Underthur was the first to return from the maze and share the campfire, so I shared all that transpired with her… ending the tale with these truthful words…
We were snookered!
