Chronicles of Raelthos Moonchild III, P1, Chapter 8

After Skalmad’s dire portent and our experiences with Karavakos in the Pyramid of Shadows we were sure he was not altogether slain. After a brief discussion we decided to push on into the warren in the hope that we would find a way to foil Skalmad’s plans from afar.
The room beyond the bloody corridor was a large subterranean forge with two huge fire-pits and a squat bearded troll barking orders to the blind, grey workers. The element of surprise was lost to us as the squat, bearded troll blacksmith roared to his minions and we surged forward, eldritch lightning sparked from my viscious black rod, felling two of the grey beings in quick succession, Flynn engaged a third while Bax defended the right flank and Illvelios moved deeper into the room. Kallista provided covering fire and Sebastian stomped forward shouting “He’s mine!” and gesturing to the troll with his Mordenkrad…

As I sifted through the weaponry in the forge it was all of a kind, crude forged iron, no sign of the Sunguard. Illvellios called us together, he’d received a psychic communication from the Eladrin Ambassador. Moonstair was heavily under siege, the militia were no match for the marauding troll army, the Eladrin forces were similarly outnumbered and we were their only hope! We gathered our gear and made our way back to the sink-hole cave. It was approaching morning and we clambered up the dirt sides of the pit as the last few stars winked out of sight, I could still feel the pull of caiphon from below the horizon, I can always feel the direction of Caiphon since we left the pyramid.

We forced a march to Moonstair through the clammy morning mist which didn’t quite seem to burn off all day, as the sun rose so too did the midges which seemed to revel in infiltrating Sebastian’s armour, Kallista seemed unaffected by them as they hissed and fizzed, electrified or burned to a crisp if they flew too close. Bax and myself were also largely unaffected minly due to the toughness of our skin.

As we approached Moonstair we could see smoke rising, we broke into a jog and soon came upon the first of the burning farmsteads. As far as the eye could see the outlying lands of Moonstair had been devastated, Kallista guessed we were now only an hour or so behind the trollen army and we re-doubled our efforts. Not far down the road and we heard the screams of a human woman, her pale dirt-smudged face silhoetted in a window-frame spewing thick black smoke. Below her stood a huge troll, laughing and taunting her in broken common. The fields around the farmhouse were also ablaze and we stalked through the burning crops hidden in the cloying smoke and soon we spotted the beastmaster’s wards – six big black hairy wargs stalked around the building, pure feral teeth and muscle that we could smell from upwind, and they could smell us! Quickly Illvelios ordered our battle-lines and we attacked, leaping through the flames, weapons drawn and shouting our anger to supress the waves of fear that rolled off of the fearsome beasts.

and Part 2 from me:

The fight with the Wargs was a tough one, illvellios surely coming off the worst. I dispatched my second troll of the day and felt good for it. Unfortunately there was no time for rest and we moved on once again, but not before we’d doused the flames and calmed those in the burning farmhouse….
 
     Smoke rose from the horizon as we approached Moonstair. Silhouetted against the darkening sky the city was ablaze. The first wall had been badly battered and breached in several places and the sounds of fighting echoed from far into the city.
     We decided to circumnavigate the city and come in from the east via the docks, hopefully taking us into the heart of the city without getting bogged-down in the skirmishes of the to opposing forces. This direction brought us to a watchtower, manned by two guards crewing a great ballista. Flynn, as is usual, saw fit to ascend the tower (on the outside!) and scare the wits out of the two men. Were he a lesser warrior, flynn may have even been cut by the panicked guardsman, much to our amusement.
     A horn sounded off in the distance and before we knew it we were involved in a tough fight with a tentacled monstrosity, seemingly controlled by two Kua-toa warriors.
     “Tentacles!,” cried Moonchild, “why did it have to be tentacles!” He decided to face his fears and launched a dazzling assault at the beast. Ilvellios and I battled against the slime-wrought Kua-toa whilst Flynn launched a volley from the ballista. The fight was a bloody one, finding myself at one point flying through the air into a cage made up entirely of lightning. This hiccup meant i was the last to end my foe, though it was still over quickly.
    
     Moving into the city from the docks we ran into a group of fleeing civilians. It didn’t take long to spot what they were fleeing from. The smoke swirled as three large flying beasts approached our position. Their great wings fanned the fires as they flew low across the rooftops, it was here, I decided, that i would fight them. I entered a nearby building and after a few moments emerged from a window in its roof. Hefting my hammer i bellowed a challenge at one of the creatures, a Wyvern. Flynn in the meantime was swiftly slaying the leader of this troupe, a Troglodyte shaman riding a Manticore. Callista and Raelphos added fire support to myself and Ilvellios, while he and Bax took on another Wyvern. Ending my foe swiftly, with some assisstance, I charged from the roof of my building. Landing squarely at the back of the other Wyvern, using gravity as an ally, I brought my weapon down on the creature’s spine ending its life. As all enemies were finally slain, I couldn’t help but notice the huge grin on my own face, that was fun!
     Bloodied and tired, though more experienced against this multitude of enemies, we moved on to the city proper…..

I’ve tried marmite in most of its forms, from crisps to rice cakes. Yesterday i tried the Marmite Chashew nuts……

In short, not a fan. I’d never had Cashews before, but was generally unimpressed. The tastelessness of the cashews was barely masked by the marmite seasoning, not too different from the rice cakes if i’m honest.

The best one of these snacks, in my opinion is the crisps. They have a nice strong flavour, the seasoning leaving your fingers nice and brown and the roof of your mouth a little sore…….. mmmmm

So much has happened in the past day, if time can be reckoned upon so. We pursued the gasseous green essence of the abominable Karavakos into a large room, ramshackle buildings filled the cavern and the sound of a sermon being preached was coming from the largest building. Quickly we concocted a plan, Flynn, Illvellios and Sebastian surrounded the chapel while I snuck out into what could be described as the square. The demi-humans gathered around the twisted cross heard me and I had to bluff my way past, as they moved towards me I blended into the shadows, Kallista stepped forward and incinerated them with a huge gout of magical flame. At the same time Flynn, Illvelios and Sebastian heaved at the supports of the makeshift chapel and it collapsed into a pile of rotten timber and dry mud..
A short battle ensued with more foulspawn, I engaged one four-limbed creature whille Illvellios and Sebastian tried to pin down their leader – the seer that had been holding the sermon. Kallista took quite a beating again but eventually we destroyed all the foul denizens of the hovels of the damned

Julio is missing some sessions, so he kindly figured it into the game:

The fight was over, the fowl spawn and their human acolytes were defeated. Crouching down to clean some gore from his short sword Flynn felt the lightest of touches, spinning he saw a four armed foul spawn running down a side passage. Standing Flynn realised his back pack felt lighter…..wait…what was the foul spawn cradling against it’s chest….the Shard!

Sprinting in the darkness Flynn yelled over his shoulder “it’s stolen the shard of Karavakos, go on with out me, I’ll catch up” lengthening his stride Flynn ran harder, the hunt was on….

Last friday I went to the supermarket for the neccessary ingredients and made me a nice crumble, it turned out quite large. I visited some friends at the weekend and took it down with me.

Apple Crumble + Custard = WIN, thanks Baz and Steps!!

..and from Dan:

“We surged into the room and were instantly battered by the ragining maelstrom of magical energy, somehow Sebastian and I managed to break through to stand before the huge mutant tiefling, is this what will become of me one day…? Sebastien could do little but stand before the beast and deflect its blows as it broke free of it’s shackles. The magical storm appeared to be emanating from a pair of menhirs that this aspect of Karavakos was shackled to. I blasted these black stones and with each bolt of eldritch energy the whirlwind appeared to abate.

With a sharp crack one of the obelisks fell and shattered on the multi-coloured floor. The silence was palpable as the magical wind stopped, echos of the falling stone disappaited and we drew breath. Kallista was on the floor, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, Flynn had been down but flicked up to his feet, Illvellious lowered his shield as he had been trying to force his way through the maelstrom. Sebastian stood on the plinth in the centre of the room swaying.

Of a sudden the abomination screamed, our breaths caught in our throats as we finally got a clear look at this warped aspect of Karavakos, he then warped across the room and flung Sebastian back as a flurry of tentacles burst from his chest. Illvelious screamed at Kallista to get up and we all redoubled our attacks.”

Moving deeper into the pyramid is becoming more disturbing, like my nightmares are coming real, the corridors are becoming cylindrical, organic, it’s as if the pyramid is a giant beast and it is trying to digest us.

We travelled on through the pyramid and entered a room with statues of warriors and a blind-folded Ogre, guess what happened. (written by Dan)

“Half way up the trapped staircase, Illvellios stepped into the Feywild and didn’t come back. Vyrelis believes this to be impossible as the Pyramid is extraplanar? He did disappear though. The upper floor seems to be more deadly than below, we were lured into a battle with abberant beasts by some unknown compulsion. I am updating my journal after an unnerving encounter with a Medusa and her pet blindfold ogre. I believed them to be a thing of myth but Flynn and Sebastien were petrified and I felt the cold stone running in my veins before we killed the monster.
Disaster is upon us, however Kallista is sure that the process is reversable. I awoke Vyrellis and with some cajoling she agreed to help, Illvellios re-appeared, I’ve not had the chance to ask where he has been, and between them they believe that the fresh blood of the Medusa can be used to re-animate our friends, I implore  whatever gods influence reaches this place that they are right.
By Caiphon’s star, I think it’s working!”

Here’s a special appearence from Julio as well:      “Flynn paused in the doorway, casting a furtive glance left and right he stepped in to the chamber not noticing the discarded healing potion vial until it was crushed with a sharp crack under his heal. Before he had time to curse his carelessness Flynn’s attention was drawn to the monstrous Ogre at the rear of the chamber who swung his shaggy head towards the sound, sniffing the air and licking his lips “oooman” he rumbled “mmmm….dinner!”. As the beast took a shambling step towards the hapless rogue Flynn could help noticing the bandages covering the Ogre’s eyes, “typical” he though, “couldn’t be deaf could he”.
 
A shout erupted behind Flynn and Sebastian charged in to the room, slamming straight in to the Ogre, almost too fast to see Flynn noticed an arrow fizz from an unseen archer and pierce Sebastian’s thigh, blood welled but Sebastian charged on regardless. “That won’t do” thought Flynn “that won’t do at all” and with that he sprinted around the corner to give the hidden archer a surprise of their own. 
 
Blade drawn Flynn entered the fray, as he rounded the corner his step faltered and the colour drained from his face “Medusa!” Flynn shouted almost involuntarily, dropping in to a stance Flynn lashed out at the Medusa stunning the beast and giving him time to think. “Medusa” he thought “just as I thought today couldn’t get any worse a bloody Medusa!” All further thoughts were swept aside as he circled the monstrous form, battle was entered, who knew how it would end……” 

Finally, my bit: