Vaeru's Journal 1

25 April 2011

After entering Thunderspire, we found ourselves walking on a cobblestone path dimly lit by torches. Farther down the path we came across a dead horse and a shattered cart. After examining the cart and horse we found that the driver had been trapped underneath and likely died from either the impact of the cart or starvation. The horse clearly died from a massive blow to the head. Upon further examination of the area I noticed little white chunks moving away. These turned out to be pieces of marmaron jewelry that were being carried away by ants. We picked these up and I and Vise put on the rings while Arranis and Alexi put on the amulets. There was an extra ring that Alexi decided he would hold onto.

On past the horse and the cart there was a gaping fissure in the earth about 30 feet wide with water trickling down into it. Alexi dropped a sunrod down into it and just as it disappeared from view it began getting brighter again. With that, a geyser of water erupted from the hole and had I not drawn and plunged my sword into the cobblestone I would not have kept my feet. The others however, didn't manage to keep their feet and were washed into the fissure. Unable to find a good place to tie a rope to, I jumped in after them. As I was falling I noticed that the rest of the party was fighting some water elementals immediately before I hit the water. It felt like some of the biggest hits I've ever taken but after recovering I helped finish off the water elementals. Soon after, the geyser subsided and I was left sinking in my armor. After figuring out how to swim with all the extra weight I swam to the rocky shore Vise had already thrown a sunrod onto. Once we had all managed to get onto shore we found a number of people who turned out to be Alexi's old crew, they were sick with something but between Alexi's cleric abilities and the small amount of healing knowledge I'd gained with the dragonborn we managed to stabilize them. Our wizard, Arranis, managed to dry some driftwood and then light it to make a campfire that we dragged the sick around to keep them warm. After Alexi spoke with his old friends we learned that two of them had been dragged off by ants and Alexi decided to go after them; naturally, we went with him.

Once we were through a short tunnel I entered a small room where some ants immediately attacked, they quickly died to my sword work and a barrage of knives and spells from the others. Once we had cleared the antechamber we tried to relax a little only for more ants to come at us which we again dispatched. Rather than wait for more ants to show up, we moved on and found a much bigger room where the ants were harvesting mushrooms. Vise noticed a mural depicting a battle between angels and demons that had been partially obscured by the mushrooms and the ants' constructions as well as a small altar to Nairo in the far corner from where we entered. I went straight to the middle of the room where the ants converged on me and I swept the smaller ones away like so much chaff with a single sweeping blow of my sword but the larger ones kept biting and grabbing me. Then one of the ants knocked on one of the larger mushrooms which released toxic spores that seeped into my wounds. The pain was unbearable and I fell unconscious to awaken with Alexi, our cleric, administering aid to me. Able to get back on my feet I helped finish off the remaining ants.

With the ants dead, I dusted myself off and treated some of my larger cuts while Vise wandered around gathering mushrooms; for what, I have no clue but I suppose he wouldn't bother unless he had something useful to do with them. We found another tunnel at the far end of the room on the same side as where we entered and after following a short tunnel we found another chamber similar to the one before the main chamber except that the ants had made it of gold coins, glass, and random bits of treasure. I tried to pull a few of the coins out only to have the entire wall collapse on me. I decided to leave before more of the chamber collapsed but Vise stayed and searched for awhile and then emerged with a large magical sword, some strange chainmail, and an orb that seemed to contain a thunderstorm. He gave the orb to Arranis, the chainmail to Alexi, and the sword to me.

Opposite where we had entered this large chamber was another tunnel slick with ant spittle. At the end of which we found a pit and a sturdy looking rope ladder attached to some sort of sculpture. I crouched low and leapt for the ladder but came up short and fell about fifteen feet before I could grab hold of it. Suddenly, the sculpture gave way and I was falling again. With a sudden jerk the sculpture stopped falling and I tried with all my might to hold on to the ladder but my own momentum was too much. Much to my chagrin, I was falling again. I hit an acrid smelling liquid hard and felt my flesh begin to burn. In sheer panic I managed to swim out of it before my skin had been burned off only to be knocked back in by a couple of ants. After I had gotten back onto the low ledge for the second time I killed the ants with a single vengeful swing. Farther on, I could make out some stairs and I hoped I could find someplace to lay up and tend to the acid burns. Luckily, I ran into the rest of the party who seemed to have had some trouble of their own as I noticed Arranis had punctures in his leather armor and a few chain links in Alexi's mail had been rent open. With a little healing and the relief of finding everyone, I felt much better and we moved on down a long tunnel at the end of which we found the queen's nest. Flying drones attacked us and just as the fight seemed to be turning against us we began to hear a whining, then there were tremors that closed off the tunnel we had entered as Kruthiks burst through the far wall and attacked the ants. Vise and I were still fighting two of the ants that had attacked us when Alexi noticed two ants come through a small hole to our left carrying some marmaron. The Kruthik Hive Queen missed with a massive spray of acid and hit the ants and the marmaron. Suddenly, it was pitch black. I attempted to light a sunrod but the roomed remained as though all light had left the world. Then the shadow gathered into a massive black lion which jumped into Vise's shadow and he went out as though hit by a giant's club. Then Vise stood back up as though nothing had happened, meanwhile the kruthiks and ants had killed each other. I went first and followed the Hive Queen's tunnel into a room that seemed to be a Kruthik stable. That's when I noticed the greedy gleam of a rust monster's eyes as it hungrily looked at my armor. I slashed with my sword but to no avail, it seemed to have used the metal it had eaten to give itself a hard carapace. With its attack my armor started rusting and Vise got into a position to exploit its vulnerable spot as Arranis shot a ray of frost at it. Its tongue lashed out and dissolved my armor and then sucked it in. In vengeance, I sunk my sword into its face, killing it. After splitting it open, I found all that was left of my armor, just the residuum that had enchanted my scale armor. Alexi kindly gave me his old chainmail and we dragged his companions that we had found in the Ant Queen's lair into this room. Vise wandered around a storeroom for a bit before we decided to knock on a massive red door with the symbol for the Turathy empire carved into its center and the emblems of Salvotian and Nairo on either side. A slit was pulled open and violet eyes framed in a red face peered out and asked "Who are you?".

30 April 2011

After we answered, we heard some muttering before the door opened and whole squad of teiflings relieved us of our weapons and marched us into a waiting room. We were taken to see their lord in a room sparsely decorated with cacti. The lord turned out to be Gavotte, the tiefling who helped us kill Kalarel. He was surprised to see us but before we could give any explanation a soldier suggested we be executed for killing their kruthiks. Suddenly, from outside, we heard a soldier yell "Why are the lights out!". Gavotte sent someone to investigate while Alexi explained how we wound up here. After we recounted our adventures. Gavotte hatefully mentioned a Dravon route out of this place and we gathered he also knew what had caused that strange wind in Fallcrest; though he never told us. Then we heard a bang on the door, I opened it to find a guard on the floor and Vyse, who had snuck off sometime earlier. He quickly explained what had happened and with the rest of us vouching for him, Gavotte accepted his story.

Having finished the conversation we secured Gavotte's help in digging a way to Alexi's crew. One of them had been eaten and all of the eyes of the sick were rimmed in purple. On the way back to Gavotte's base I saw a black cat with a collar, which was strange but I gave it no further thought. We carried the rest of the crew back to Gavotte's base and he kindly let us stay the night. I slept peacefully in my hammock after the exhaustion of the day but I awoke in the morning to see large claw marks in the stone of the hall and Arranis holding a weird heart. Arranis explained that he and Vyse had heard strange noises in the night and woke up to find the strange claw marks as well as a cat who had dropped the heart. Alexi visited his crew and noticed that those the disease inflicted were getting worse.

The tieflings had prepared a boat for us which we found Arranis could steer using magic but he could only just manage it. He managed to get us to some docks where we noticed a great many Dravon. We determined that Vyse and Alexi would go and see if they could find a way into the city and some help for Alexi's sick crew.

After waiting for a bit, I saw Vyse and Alexi running as fast as they could back to us but before we could cast off with them aboard the guards had boarded. We fought, but one of the guards knocked me out with a blow to the head.

7 May 2011

I awoke to find myself in prison with two other humans. Vyse got us out and we, along with many other prisoners, attempted a jail break and I led the charge only to get bottlenecked by some soldiers as the guard wizards rained spells upon our heads. After taking one too many hits again I fell unconscious.

21 August 2011

I awoke to find myself in a cage. From what I overheard of the guards' conversation I came to understand that we were being moved to a higher security prison. On my way in I noticed many of the building to be built of what appeared to be giant bones. The prison itself was set into an overhanging cliff. Our cells hung thousands of feet into the air with a window/toilet that let us see the Dravon headquarters. After listening to the guards and talking with my dravon cellmate I discovered we were in the Dravic colony of Thundermarl. This colony had once been an ancient Dwarven city, [DM note: a minotaur city which was taken over by the dwarves. The eladrin later established a town in the cauldera. All three races are still present. Very multicultural.] abandoned, autumn Eladrin began to take residence in it. While the Eladrin still lived on the surface the Dravon had taken control of the city and turned it into a colony.

26 August 2011

For months I had lived off two meals of gruel a day and I was beginning to think that I, along with my companions who I spoke to through our window, were going to spend the rest of our lives here. Then I noticed the lake glowing purple and a strange silence. I tried to see if the guards were around by pushing on the trapdoor above me but none came. Then I heard heavy thumps as of bodies hitting a floor. That's when things got really strange. A man cloaked in black descended into Octavian's cell to give him a drink, he suddenly yelled "I'm free!" and vanished. I noticed the water in the lake beginning to roil as the cloaked man continued to give prisoners, including members of Alexi's crew, the drink and one by one they all vanished. Down on the lake a massive dravic ship breached the surface. Then the black cloaked man entered my cell and asked my name. Ki-Amar (my cellmate) answered quickly and was given the cup. I answered but the cloaked man vanished. Vyse took the cup but a strange voice that came from his cell said "Come and see." I went back to my window and saw that the ship had a tall Dravon on a white stallion surrounded by a great many dravon soldiers.

I decided it was time to get out. I leapt for the trapdoor and managed to hold on and swing myself out. Up top I found all the guards on the floor and a wizard just beginning to stir. Arranis teleported himself out as a great dog rushed over and grabbed me by the leg. I kept kicking at the dog, trying to get it off, until I saw a sword lying next to one of the incapacitated guards. Shaking the dog off and getting to the dead guard, I heard the sounds of Arranis and the other wizard having a little duel of their own. With my borrowed sword and shield and Vyse holding a strange shadowy dagger I'd never seen before we took on the dog while Arranis finished off the wizard. Someone eventually got around to kicking the rope ladder down to Alexi so he could climb out of his cell. Once the guards were down, I put on the scale mail of one of them and we made our way to the door.

2 September 2011

Upon exiting the prison room we came into a familiar room. It was a guardshack very similiar to the one we entered the last time on our first ill fated prison break. This time there were two guards their commander and two wizards waiting for us. While Vyse threw his strange shadow dagger at one of the guards I moved in to attack. Lorric, our fellow dwarf prisoner moved in on the other guard and Arranis cast a spell that made one of the guards drowsy. The wizards hands let loose with bolts of electricity that nearly fried me but Alexi healed most of that. The drowsy guard soon fell asleep and Vyse quickly slit his throat as I took on their commander. She didn't last long against the combination of our weapons and Arranis' freezing attacks. With the fall of the last guard, the mages quickly followed.

We checked to see if our captors had any good equipment. We found that the leader had on a girdle of the oxen, which I put on and Vyse took her leather armor. After a few odd looks he let us know planned to use the breasts of the armor for his gold one he finds it. After a great laugh among us all we took a look around and found two rooms on either side. One of which was a kind of lounge in which we gathered enough rations for about twenty days and the other had a spiral staircase. I tried to lift the solid iron portcullis on the far end of the room to see if we could get out that way but it was beyond my strength. So we went down the spiral staircase. At the bottom we found a damp stone room with an inch of disgusting brown muck. Vyse and I mucked through it to some doors through which we could only hear rushing water. So we went through to find a broken pipe and another room within this main room that had a kind of cage inside attached to ropes at its corners. Vyse couldn't manage to pick the lock so we moved on through another set of doors.

As soon as I had opened that set of doors there was a click and then a buzzing sound. Arranis told us it wasn't magical and as I entered the room we found round saws spinning down the walls and white water rushing along the raised floor into the previous room but at least this water was clean. Vyse ran through the water to get to the switch but was interrupted by two halberds that swept out of the ceiling and knocked him down. Finally Arranis got to the door after making sure his boots didn't touch the muck by purifying the water around him. Blasted Eladrin Wizard... He blinked out of existence and then back in next to the switch and flipped it, halting the buzz of the saws. I then moved past Vyse only to get hit by the halberds myself. Arranis turned the trap off again and Vyse and I crawled to the door.

We heard shrieks of agony on the other side and I burst through to find a what appeared to be a Dravon with white hair, only his skin was white, and he had horns, and he seemed...stretched. He was covered in purple pustles. Across the room their were two cells; one held a water Ganasi and the other a short rat-like human. In each cell monstrous spiked lizards were attacking the chained prisoners. I rushed over to the human's cell and pulled off the bar and attacked the beast inside while Vyse threw his dagger at the hideous Dravon. The Dravon flashed in front of Lorric who had just entered the room and with a blast of purplish black, Lorric's head was gone. Vyse turned around to bury his dagger in the Dravon's heart but as soon as it touched, the Dravon with a crack, swirled into black and purple clouds and vanished. Vyse heard a plink as something metal struck the stone beneath rushing water and he ran off to grab it.

Meanwhile, Arranis had gotten to the Genasi's cell and was trying to get the beast away from the poor guy. Vyse soon joined him but they were engulfed by an acidic mess the monster belched forth. Realizing how tough these monters were I used my shield to beat the monster I had engaged back into the cell and slammed the bar back into place. I engaged the other beast as Alexi got past to help the now unconscious Genasi. I was knocked unconscious but Alexi got me up to continue the fight as we cut, stabbed, and launched spell after spell at the monster until with a flourish Vyse put his dagger through its eye.

It was too late for the human in the other cell but Arranis whiled away some time by killing the remaining monster with a 1,000 stings.

9 September 2011

With the other beast doomed to a slow death, I walked over to the poor soul on the table. He was unconscious and no matter what I did it seemed he would not wake. I noticed Vyse begin to wander about the place examining vials, and other strange items on shelves while Arranis began talking to the genasi. It was then I noticed the strange glass vial with a needle on the end of it. I called Vyse over since he seemed to have a knowledge of these things and he told me that it was a syringe. He said that the torturer probably used it to inject the disease he had seen in other vials in the room. It was then I noticed that the person on the table appeared drained, as though he wouldn't be able to stand in a stiff wind and that it seemed he was just a little worse off than he was just a little while ago. Meanwhile the genasi had said something about knowing the way out and interested to know how we could finally leave this accursed prison. The genasi walked off to that grate in the trap area, turned to water, and flowed through the grate. I thought then that our only chance of getting out had just run away.

In the mean time Vyse had harvested a disgusting substance from the horned frog as well as gathered other things from the room. He handed me a minotaur horn to hold onto and told us that with the proper equipment he might be able to brew some potions that gave us invisibility, make us more resilient, and to heal us. Suddenly, we heard a click from the grate. Arranis was the first to get over to it and showed us that the grate had opened as well a tunnel beyond it. The genasi came through for us after all. I picked up the man on the table and we ventured down the tunnel and as we walked Arranis noticed a strange tattoo on the dravon's back. Alexi told us it was symbol of Sirrien as we came to the end of the tunnel, where we found a hole with the water rushing into it. Above us was kind of a rock chimney. For a great deal of time we debated what we should do, climb the chimney or go down the hole. Finally, fed up with the indecision I leapt into the hole. It was a long way down and I slammed into metal bars that must have been part of a ladder many times as I fell. With a great splash I fell into a deep, cold pool of water. I struggled to the surface against the weight of my armor and saw the genasi that had opened the grate. I tried to get his attention but it became apparent that he was only just conscious so I decided to go back up the ladder to show my friends the easier way down. About forty feet from the bottom a large mass of boots and clothing slammed into me and back down the hole I fell. As Arranis and I recovered and I pulled the dravon we'd been carrying around to shore. Vyse and Alexi climbed down the ladder. While the rest of us were drying ourselves off Vyse creeped down the hallway. In a few moments he returned and told us of two genasi at the other end behind a many colored curtain made of many materials. We followed Vyse and entered the room where a water genasi with a sword and an earth genasi with a hammer were talking. Across the room we notice what appears to be piles of rubbish. Noticing us the genasi turned and the earth genasi noticed the water genasi I was carrying and shouted "Is that Dast!? That's Dast!". The genasi then approached us warily and insinuated we were spies especially considering that Alexi was a Dravon. Alexi was able to convince them otherwise and we asked if we could look through the piles. They told us to go ahead. Arranis cleaned things as we eventually managed to find most of our sleeping rolls, sunrods, and other miscellaneous useful items that the dravon must have thrown away. Vyse, determined to find his other things, continued to dig in the filth. Vyse found nothing and looked a little sick from his efforts as asked the genasi about sleeping quarters. They showed us a cave we could sleep in and we rested after a brutal day.

When we awoke, I went to find the water genasi I had carried up from the pool. Eventually, I found him in one of the nearby caves and asked him why he was being tortured. He told me that the torturer was asking about some temple and vault which he knew nothing about. Returning to my friends Arranis told us about how the person who usually smuggled food into their hideout hadn't shown up in a while. We ran into another genasi who told us about a coven of wererats coming from somewhere who seemed to be well equipped and might know how to get out of here. He mentioned that the might be coming from the sewers.

We then headed back the way we had come previously back to the room where the broken pipe was leaking. I squeezed through and the rest of the group followed, after exiting the pipe I found myself in a larger one with stairs at the other side. Vyse went up them to see and he called us up having run into a man very similar in appearance to the prisoner that the horned frog had killed. We talked to man, who had a set of keys on him that he said he had found. We asked getting out of here and he said we'd have to be a rat to manage it. We also noticed some boxes behind us which he became very defensive of, saying they were his. We again mentioned getting out which continued to get us nowhere. Then we mentioned the other rat man which upset him even more as he learned the genasi had survived and his brother was dead since it was apparently the genasi that had gotten them in trouble in the first place. I attempted to comfort him a little but it only made things worse. While he was inconsolable, I, frustrated whispered we should just take the keys from him. Which the rat-man overheard and screamed "No!" ran away, transformed into a rat and fled into the grated pipe entirely out of our reach.

Next we turned our attention to the boxes the wererat had been so protective of. One of them had a backward seven. We opened that one first and inside we found all our good armor weapons that had been taken from us when we arrived at the prison. I took my bastard sword and put on the familiar dwarven chainmail. In the other box, which had a backward twenty-six, Arranis found a small ivory mirror, I thought the little thing worthless but apparently it was useful to him as he took it. After traveling back down the stairs and squeezing through that pipe again. Vyse wanted to try and pick the lock on the room with the cage in it again. Thinking it was useless as he hadn't managed it before I watched ready to go back down to the caves and try to figure some other way out of here. By some stroke of luck, the lock clicked and Vyse swung open the door.

The cage inside had ropes attached to it hanging all the way down from somewhere high above us. We got in and began trying to pull ourselves up. With a few minor slips me managed to get to the top, where we surprised three dravon; two wizards, and a soldier. Both I and Arranis were able to jump out, despite the floor suddenly being rather sticky but Alexi and Vyse couldn't break free of the stuff. They slipped on the ropes and it fell out of my sight as I engaged the soldier. The fight was arduous as I tried to survive the wizards and the soldier in such a confined space trying to keep them off Arranis but a strong blow knocked me out.

I awoke to find Arranis looking at some lever across the room. I figured one of them might raise and lower the cage so I pulled one of them, only to realize my mistake as an iron gate began to slowly rise and I heard the scrambling of dravon guards. I tried to pull the lever back to shut the gate but it wouldn't budge. Realizing it was hopeless, once the gate was open enough I charged for a massive dravon with a terrible looking axe. He yelled at one of the smaller dravon around him wielding a crossbow, who whipped out a wand and cast some strange spell which made the dravon's eyes glow yellow and their skin red. I swung a mighty blow with my sword only for it to glance off as if I was trying to hit solid steel. An icy ray flew over my shoulder to simply be absorbed. I continued to try and hit them but to no avail, when Alexi and Vyse arrived. Alexi launched a bright spear of light from his hand only for me to see the same thing as with the icy ray. The warden's axe's blows were raining down on me and I questioned whether this was to be my last fight. Then Vyse suddenly yelled, "push them into the cells!" I tried pushing the warden but he laughed it off and with parry from his shield smashed me to the floor.

I switched tactics and tried pushing one of the smaller ones only for him to run right back into the formation. Finally with a group effort we rushed on of the little ones into a cell and slammed it shut on him. The dravon's magic blocking bars prevented him from getting out and we began to desparately push the at the dravon trying to get them into the cells. Exhausted, I began a final push to get the last dravon with a lit wand into a cell. As we slammed the cell door, the warden's eyes stopped glowing and the remaining dravon returned to normal. We descended with a vengeance. With furious swings of my sword I vented my earlier frustration at the uselessness of my previous assaults. Vyse found chink after chink in the warden's armor through which to plunge his dagger. Each time the warden ignited in Alexi's radiant fire I felt as though I could fight forever and each time the Arranis icy rays chilled me as they passed the feeling of inevitable victory grew stronger. It was then, at my greatest confidence the warden landed a blow that would have felled a tree and everything went black. I had the last laugh, as I awoke to find the warden dead and the dravon still locked in the cells we had pushed them into.

After we had gathered our strength Arranis used a small button below the levers that I had missed earlier to lower us back down. We went to the caves and told the genasi that we had found a way out and as we left the gates of the prison one of the genasi handed Vyse a small trinket. It looked like a silver spiderweb with a ruby in the center, and told us "we will remember this, thank you," as we went our separate ways into the city.