Erastus 4, 4712
When they returned to Fort Inevitable yesterday, the Cooper sisters agreed to investigate who would possibly want Zoarth dead. This morning, Darelle and Daryle gather at Darelle's house for a light breakfast.
Gerald returns to Fort Inevitable with his mother Gertrude and he wants installs her at his house. However, she currently lives with her cousin outside of the town walls but comes and visits. Gerald is currently trying to regularize her situation with the Hellknights.
Over two years ago, in an incredible plot twist that no one would ever have believed, the back of his hand had been branded with a rune signifying a vow of marriage with Miévi, a younger daughter of the Elven chief from across the river where the family farm was located. Though old, for a human, she somehow had been smitten with the under fifteen years old, pimply faced and no-prospect Gerald and had, one suspects in a fit of utter insanity she was often plagued by, decided that he, a teenager without abilities, money, or even a reputation, would make the perfect husband. Something about his bloodline, she muttered to her confidants. Could she smell the demons that plague the Shadowborns, or was she simply crazy?
Be that as it may, Gerald also brought back Miévi Gertywindindlysin with him, and quickly realized that it may have been a mistake to do so as a wife can be very demanding of one's time. Gerald's wife was supposedly two days behind but should be arriving within the day, but then it turns out that she's already been here four days because she arrived with the quarterly caravan. Gerald has to pay the Hellknights a fee of 100 crowns to receive the proper permits for his wife to live in Fort Inevitable, since she is elvish.
Gerald takes his wife and his mother to visit Falandra, Abernard, and Dr. Mordel. He runs into several people along the way, including Roscoe, Nissa, and Cassandra, which almost leads to a catfight between the sorceress and Miévi. He then runs into his sisters, who have come into Fort Inevitable to resupply before heading out to track where the giants came from. Sensing an opportunity to abandon his new wife, Gerald jumps at the chance to go with his sisters, and they decide to report their departure until tomorrow so Gerald can settle his affairs and attempt to catch the double that has been going around town for the last month pretending to be him. His plan is simple. Since he is supposed to work with Falandra tomorrow, like he did today, he will be the first one at work and he hopes to catch the fake Gerald in the act of impersonation.
Erastus 5, 4712
Gerald arrives at work bright and early. It's almost a relief after the long fight he and Miévi had over his behavior with Cassandra while she was still in the woods around Xer. Who knew Elven wives could be so temperamental? By noon, the fake Gerald still hasn't arrived at work.
Darelle touches base with Dr. Mordel about her blue pegasus powder. Dr. Mordel's alchemist research shows that the magical ingredient missing is a pegasus' hoof. Mordel can order one, but it will take at least three months before it will arrive in Fort Inevitable. Or Darelle can take her chances and hope to find one in her adventuring. Darelle is concerned that finding the missing ingredient will be very difficult indeed.
Finally, in the afternoon, Daryle picks up her siblings and they head out. They plan on trekking back to the giants' fort and hope that the tracks continue from there.
Erastus 8, 4712
After an uneventful trip through the wilderness, the Coopers reach the giants' fort in the morning. They discover a large path that has been traveled by a group of giants heading west towards Zoarth's house. The path also heads east, but both rangers are able to identify that the eastern path is not as recent as the western path. Clearly the giants stopped here for a few days before continuing on their mission.
The Coopers pursue the trail and continue eastward. The terrain changes from forests to a barren landscape, and soon the vegetation disappears all together. Darelle remembers the warning Zoarth gave them about a dragon living in these parts. Soon they see in the distance a large worm floating in the sky. The Coopers attempt to find shelter, but are unable to locate anything other than tall boulders. The worm is moving fast, and the distance is closing rapidly. Daryle recognizes the monster as a crag linnorm, a type of wingless dragon. It's pretty dumb, but very vicious.
The Coopers engage in combat with the creature. Gerald takes to the sky, while Darelle becomes invisible. Daryle fires arrows after arrows, but the dragon is too quick and Gerald suffers the effects of its breath weapon before crashing to the ground. Darelle strikes it with her sword, but she too is taken down. The dragon returns for another pass, but Daryle's true shot shatters internal organs and the dragon crashes to the ground, where it is quickly dispatched. Gerald is healed and revived.
The Coopers decide to look for its lair, and as dust comes over the barrens they find it. Along with a large quantity of coins, they discover a +2 frost longsword, a +1 heavy steel blinding shield, a wand of cure serious wounds (19 charges), and gauntlets of dexterity +2. The siblings share the items and decide to camp here for the night.
Friday, May 26, 2017
Friday, May 19, 2017
The cloud giant's cats
Erastus 3, 4712
Following the green storm that affected the area two weeks ago, a flood of cats have appeared in Fort Inevitable and have made themselves a general nuisance with their incessant begging and meowing. Residents, fed up with the noise and the aggravations, have requested that measures be taken to rid the town of its unwanted cat residents. The only benefit seems to be that there are no rodents left anywhere within five miles of Fort Inevitable.
Plagued with so many cats, residents are asking that a solution be found. Roscoe asks his two ranger sisters to come up with ideas. Daryle can't come up with anything specific, but Darelle proposes that a cat recipe contest be held. This event, to be called the Purrfect Plate festival, could take place in one week, giving enough time to the area's best cooks to learn how to cook cats. Roscoe thinks it's a great idea, and he approves it. He orders that notices be posted and the town crier spread the news.
The sisters return to Daryle's place to continue working on their renovations. After a light lunch at the Shadowborn Manor, Daryle and Darelle receive a visitor. Shim Longbranch brings the sisters a wheelbarrow in which is a large burlap bag. He tells them that he and the recruits were out hunting in the woods west of the Emerald Spire yesterday when they ambushed a trio of goblins. They were heading west, away from the Spire, and were carrying this bag with them. Darelle inquires the direction in which they were heading, and Shim replies towards giants country. All three goblins bore the mark of Greenhide's Dark Blood tribe.
Shim wheels the wheelbarrow inside the courtyard, and Darelle takes it out of the bag. a large tome written in dwarvish. Using her Eastern Star ioun stone, she translates the title of the book for Shim and Daryle. Titled The Strength of the Mighty in dwarwish, Darelle is unable to open the book as it appears to be magically locked. Invited to remain for lunch, Shim shares a meal with the sisters and leaves to return to the Hunters' Lodge. Darelle sends a tree token message to Falandra asking her to come and examine the new book.
Falandra arrives a couple hours later, and after looking at the book and casting a few spells she informs the Cooper sisters that only a wizard with giant blood can counteract the magic lock placed on this book. Fortunately, she knows of a cloud giant wizard named Zoarth, who is a collector of books much like herself. She has met him a couple of times at intriguing book auctions held in learned cities, and is willing to travel with the sisters to go visit him. When Darelle tells her they will be employing her blue pegasus, Falandra decides a letter introducing the sisters to Zoarth would be much better.
Falandra also tells the sisters that Zoarth is not only a book collector but a lover of cats. He has hundreds of them in his keep. Thus, the recent appearance of both this book and of the cats in Fort Inevitable may be connected with the green storm. As to why the goblins were transporting the book, she can only speculate that Greenhide had figured out how it was locked and they were probably taking it to their giant allies so it could be opened.
If the cats in town are indeed Zoarth, they are about to be eaten. Darelle decides that Roscoe must be warned before the notices go up, but at the same moment they heard the town crier passing by, yelling out information about the new festival while hanging up a notice from a nearby tree.
Armed with directions and Falandra's letter of introduction, Daryle and Darelle fly on the blue pegasus and arrive in the wizard's keep area about three hours later.A large storm blocks forward progress in the air, but the trees below are not completely bent, which suggests that the strength of the winds is much lower on the ground. The sisters decide to land and walk the remaining distance. The going is not difficult and soon they overtake a group of four hill giants accompanied by two ogres and four dire wolves, as well as a truly massive dire wolf leading the pack. They wisely decide to keep a distance between them and the giants' party. Eventually, they clear the storm and enter its eye. The winds die down, and they can see a truly magnificent keep floating on a cloud. A brass road spirals from the ground to the keep's main entrance. There are several giants on the path, and the party they were following begins the ascend.
Sensing combat in their future, Daryle hides the book, and they too begin to climb the ramp. After two complete loops, they arrive at the base of the keep. The doors are still fifty feet up from here and another quarter turn, but it looks like someone breached the basement of the keep and entered it through a large hole. From the hole a hill giant with hammers instead of hands steps out, and he gloats that the great wizard could only get such puny allies to help him. He then attacks the sisters. Shooting from a distance, they get two volley of arrows into him before he reaches them. He almost knocks Darelle off the ramp to her doom, but Daryle rescues her, and a well-placed arrow in his eye sends the giant to the edge. Darelle finishes him off with a well-placed sword hit to the knee which forces him over the edge. He crashes a hundred feet below and does not get up.
The Coopers glance inside the hole. They notice a large room, where five hill giants and a stone giant fight a huge air elemental. They join the fray and hurl arrows at the giants, who are too engaged with the elemental to notice the two humans taking cover behind a fallen giant. However a well placed arrow to the stone giant's rear end attracts his attention, and as the air elemental dies, the remaining three giants attack. Daryle and Darelle make quick work of them, but must pause to heal. They are approached by a cat who asks them to go to the base of keep, which is under attack and in danger of collapsing. The sisters can feel it vibrate and oscillate dangerously every minute or so. If the keep falls out of sky, all of its denizens will die on impact.
They quickly travel downstairs and come upon a frost giant and an insect-like creature from the outer planes. The creature is attacking the column with a spear, transforming the mist into ice and shattering it. Darelle summons a small fire elemental, and the situation becomes a stalemate. Daryle notices that the giant is controlling the creature, and the sisters attack the giant. Darelle casts entangle, and Daryle lights the entanglement on fire, causing significant damage. The planar creature does not react, but continues to fight the fire elemental. The Coopers fight the frost giant but nearly lose their lives in the process. They succeed in killing the giant, only to realize that it was the planar creature that controlled it, not the other way around. Sensing that its moment of glory has come, the planar creature jumps into the columnhoping to destroy it but Darelle communes with her deity and her small elemental intercepts the devil as it teleports, preventing it from reaching the column.
The Coopers ascend the stairs, again, and reach the great entry hall. Here, a cloud giant stands in the arms of an even bigger statue and fires lightning bolts at hill and stone giants. A giant meaner than most riding an armored triceratops charges the Coopers, and they fight savagely while all around them the giants continue to battle. The effort is staggering, but the sisters are eventually triumphant over the giant, and the triceratops in its fear and anger rushes out the hall and slips on the brass ramp, falling to its miserable end. At the same time Zoarth manages to kill the last giant, and soon all three of them meet at the base of the statue.
Zoarth introduces himself and thanks the Coopers profusely for coming to his aid. Hundreds of cats emerge from their hiding places and begin to swarm both the wizard and the Coopers. They give him Falandra's letter of introduction, and Zoarth tells them that any friend of Falandra is a friend of his. They explain the purpose of their visit, and soon they recuperate the book. Zoarth tells them what it does and explains that it can be read twice more before its magical powers are exhausted. Thanking them again, he gifts them the book. He then tells them he has a request. He's not sure why these giants have attacked his keep, but he's convinced there will be another assault. He wants to investigate who's behind the attack, but can't leave the keep. Could the sisters take it upon themselves to find out who sponsored this assault? He would reward them handsomely if they could. They agree to help. Zoarth tells them he will bring them back to Fort Inevitable and recuperate his cats. Darelle asks him how they will travel, and Zoarth proudly displays a cupboard filled with jars of cloud, one of his proudest inventions.
Darelle sends a tree token message to Roscoe to explain the misunderstanding about the cats and request the cancellation of the festival and their arrival. In Fort Inevitable Zoarth is reunited with his cats, and he tells the sisters that it shouldn't be too hard to follow the trail of destruction that brought the giants to his keep. He also warns the sisters about the dragon that dwells in the hills about a day's trip away from the hill giants' fort ...
Following the green storm that affected the area two weeks ago, a flood of cats have appeared in Fort Inevitable and have made themselves a general nuisance with their incessant begging and meowing. Residents, fed up with the noise and the aggravations, have requested that measures be taken to rid the town of its unwanted cat residents. The only benefit seems to be that there are no rodents left anywhere within five miles of Fort Inevitable.
Plagued with so many cats, residents are asking that a solution be found. Roscoe asks his two ranger sisters to come up with ideas. Daryle can't come up with anything specific, but Darelle proposes that a cat recipe contest be held. This event, to be called the Purrfect Plate festival, could take place in one week, giving enough time to the area's best cooks to learn how to cook cats. Roscoe thinks it's a great idea, and he approves it. He orders that notices be posted and the town crier spread the news.
The sisters return to Daryle's place to continue working on their renovations. After a light lunch at the Shadowborn Manor, Daryle and Darelle receive a visitor. Shim Longbranch brings the sisters a wheelbarrow in which is a large burlap bag. He tells them that he and the recruits were out hunting in the woods west of the Emerald Spire yesterday when they ambushed a trio of goblins. They were heading west, away from the Spire, and were carrying this bag with them. Darelle inquires the direction in which they were heading, and Shim replies towards giants country. All three goblins bore the mark of Greenhide's Dark Blood tribe.
Shim wheels the wheelbarrow inside the courtyard, and Darelle takes it out of the bag. a large tome written in dwarvish. Using her Eastern Star ioun stone, she translates the title of the book for Shim and Daryle. Titled The Strength of the Mighty in dwarwish, Darelle is unable to open the book as it appears to be magically locked. Invited to remain for lunch, Shim shares a meal with the sisters and leaves to return to the Hunters' Lodge. Darelle sends a tree token message to Falandra asking her to come and examine the new book.
Falandra arrives a couple hours later, and after looking at the book and casting a few spells she informs the Cooper sisters that only a wizard with giant blood can counteract the magic lock placed on this book. Fortunately, she knows of a cloud giant wizard named Zoarth, who is a collector of books much like herself. She has met him a couple of times at intriguing book auctions held in learned cities, and is willing to travel with the sisters to go visit him. When Darelle tells her they will be employing her blue pegasus, Falandra decides a letter introducing the sisters to Zoarth would be much better.
Falandra also tells the sisters that Zoarth is not only a book collector but a lover of cats. He has hundreds of them in his keep. Thus, the recent appearance of both this book and of the cats in Fort Inevitable may be connected with the green storm. As to why the goblins were transporting the book, she can only speculate that Greenhide had figured out how it was locked and they were probably taking it to their giant allies so it could be opened.
If the cats in town are indeed Zoarth, they are about to be eaten. Darelle decides that Roscoe must be warned before the notices go up, but at the same moment they heard the town crier passing by, yelling out information about the new festival while hanging up a notice from a nearby tree.
Armed with directions and Falandra's letter of introduction, Daryle and Darelle fly on the blue pegasus and arrive in the wizard's keep area about three hours later.A large storm blocks forward progress in the air, but the trees below are not completely bent, which suggests that the strength of the winds is much lower on the ground. The sisters decide to land and walk the remaining distance. The going is not difficult and soon they overtake a group of four hill giants accompanied by two ogres and four dire wolves, as well as a truly massive dire wolf leading the pack. They wisely decide to keep a distance between them and the giants' party. Eventually, they clear the storm and enter its eye. The winds die down, and they can see a truly magnificent keep floating on a cloud. A brass road spirals from the ground to the keep's main entrance. There are several giants on the path, and the party they were following begins the ascend.
Sensing combat in their future, Daryle hides the book, and they too begin to climb the ramp. After two complete loops, they arrive at the base of the keep. The doors are still fifty feet up from here and another quarter turn, but it looks like someone breached the basement of the keep and entered it through a large hole. From the hole a hill giant with hammers instead of hands steps out, and he gloats that the great wizard could only get such puny allies to help him. He then attacks the sisters. Shooting from a distance, they get two volley of arrows into him before he reaches them. He almost knocks Darelle off the ramp to her doom, but Daryle rescues her, and a well-placed arrow in his eye sends the giant to the edge. Darelle finishes him off with a well-placed sword hit to the knee which forces him over the edge. He crashes a hundred feet below and does not get up.
The Coopers glance inside the hole. They notice a large room, where five hill giants and a stone giant fight a huge air elemental. They join the fray and hurl arrows at the giants, who are too engaged with the elemental to notice the two humans taking cover behind a fallen giant. However a well placed arrow to the stone giant's rear end attracts his attention, and as the air elemental dies, the remaining three giants attack. Daryle and Darelle make quick work of them, but must pause to heal. They are approached by a cat who asks them to go to the base of keep, which is under attack and in danger of collapsing. The sisters can feel it vibrate and oscillate dangerously every minute or so. If the keep falls out of sky, all of its denizens will die on impact.
They quickly travel downstairs and come upon a frost giant and an insect-like creature from the outer planes. The creature is attacking the column with a spear, transforming the mist into ice and shattering it. Darelle summons a small fire elemental, and the situation becomes a stalemate. Daryle notices that the giant is controlling the creature, and the sisters attack the giant. Darelle casts entangle, and Daryle lights the entanglement on fire, causing significant damage. The planar creature does not react, but continues to fight the fire elemental. The Coopers fight the frost giant but nearly lose their lives in the process. They succeed in killing the giant, only to realize that it was the planar creature that controlled it, not the other way around. Sensing that its moment of glory has come, the planar creature jumps into the columnhoping to destroy it but Darelle communes with her deity and her small elemental intercepts the devil as it teleports, preventing it from reaching the column.
The Coopers ascend the stairs, again, and reach the great entry hall. Here, a cloud giant stands in the arms of an even bigger statue and fires lightning bolts at hill and stone giants. A giant meaner than most riding an armored triceratops charges the Coopers, and they fight savagely while all around them the giants continue to battle. The effort is staggering, but the sisters are eventually triumphant over the giant, and the triceratops in its fear and anger rushes out the hall and slips on the brass ramp, falling to its miserable end. At the same time Zoarth manages to kill the last giant, and soon all three of them meet at the base of the statue.
Zoarth introduces himself and thanks the Coopers profusely for coming to his aid. Hundreds of cats emerge from their hiding places and begin to swarm both the wizard and the Coopers. They give him Falandra's letter of introduction, and Zoarth tells them that any friend of Falandra is a friend of his. They explain the purpose of their visit, and soon they recuperate the book. Zoarth tells them what it does and explains that it can be read twice more before its magical powers are exhausted. Thanking them again, he gifts them the book. He then tells them he has a request. He's not sure why these giants have attacked his keep, but he's convinced there will be another assault. He wants to investigate who's behind the attack, but can't leave the keep. Could the sisters take it upon themselves to find out who sponsored this assault? He would reward them handsomely if they could. They agree to help. Zoarth tells them he will bring them back to Fort Inevitable and recuperate his cats. Darelle asks him how they will travel, and Zoarth proudly displays a cupboard filled with jars of cloud, one of his proudest inventions.
Darelle sends a tree token message to Roscoe to explain the misunderstanding about the cats and request the cancellation of the festival and their arrival. In Fort Inevitable Zoarth is reunited with his cats, and he tells the sisters that it shouldn't be too hard to follow the trail of destruction that brought the giants to his keep. He also warns the sisters about the dragon that dwells in the hills about a day's trip away from the hill giants' fort ...
Friday, May 12, 2017
Gerald, you killed me again, thank you very much
Sarenith 21, 4712
On this beautiful morning, Roscoe inquires with the guard if there has been signs of Thorne. The head of the night watch reports that the rogue has not been seen since a warrant was issued for his arrest. His associates have revealed some details about his various operations, but all of them are unawares of the extent of Thorne's network.
After a lovely breakfast, Darelle heads over Nolm's Bindery to talks to Falandra about Gerald. She inquires about the different Geralds that have been reported around Fort Inevitable, and Falandra says she has in fact noticed inconsistent performances on the sorcerer's part. Falandra wonders who would take the time and spend the magical power and the money necessary to resurrect Gerald multiple times. Darelle speculates that someone, or something, is attempting to sow chaos, and that Gerald is the perfect agent for that. But who would be able to do so in Fort Inevitable? Falandra believes only High Mother Sarise Dremagne from the Temple of the Golden Key, is capable of performing a resurrection, but she also suspects that the Hellknights also possess this capability.
Darelle then proceeds to the Temple of the Golden Key. She meets with High Mother Sarise, and they discuss Gerald's multiple appearances. Sarise also believes that an agent of chaos must be at work. She acknowledges that she has the power to resurrect a dead person, but it would require a substantial donation to the temple, and in no case would she resurrect a Hellknight. She also suspects the Hellknights possess this ability, but when the Lord Commander Varden was assassinated he was not resurrected. She believes this entire incident was a power play between different Helknight factions.
Omok, meanwhile, spends some time reading the second chapter of the Book of the Damned and gains a new ability.
Daryle arrives in town, and she finds her siblings and Omok. After a meal of sausage, fresh bread and ale, at the Juliver Arms, they gather their gear and they begin the trek back to the Emerald Spire. In the forest, they encounter a disheveled Gerald, bearing scratches and evidence of having been in combat. He reports that he was just coming back from the Spire where he had looked on the 13th level for them, but was attacked by a strange gnarled man and a bunch of twigs on the way out. This Gerald reports having been away from town for four days. A discussion among the Coopers about what to do with all of the Geralds running around. Gerald is incensed that someone would be usurping his good name for nefarious purposes. Omok tells Gerald he can get rid of the other Geralds for a small cost. Gerald says he will think about it, but he really wants to find the other Gerald, discover out who is behind it and why. Maybe, the sorcerer muses, he could unite all of the Geralds and take on Greenhide and his cronies.
Roscoe proposes the idea of a tattoo to identify each Gerald with a specific number, so at least they'd know which one they're dealing with. Gerald is game for it. He could also stylize the blade embedded in his head with a different design. Daryle cuts the conversation short and gives him a shallow cut on the right arm. That should identify at least this Gerald. This is the moment that Gerald chooses to reveal that he has a wife. Gerald officially took her last name of Gertywindindlysin and is no longer a Cooper.
With the death of the Mistress of Thorns, the 9th level is now open for exploration, so the party decide to travel back and liquidate the remaining residents. Unfortunately they never acquired the rune for her level, so they will need to travel either to the 8th level, or to the 10th level. Considering that the 10th level is where the magma dragons lived, the Coopers wisely decide to head back to the snakepeople's level.
The Coopers complete the trek, enter the tunnel leading to the Spire, emerge on the 3rd level, and teleport down to the 8th. Immediately it is clear they are in a section of the dungeon they did not previously explored. The Spire appears to be located in a hatchery. There are several large eggs laying around in carefully built nests. Omok grabs an egg, and so does Roscoe. Omok plans to either cook the thing or see what hatches and raise it as a pet. Unfortunately Roscoe is attacked by an emperor cobra but he drops the egg on its head and it falls unconscious. Roscoe cuts its head and decide to keep the head and dry it out later. Darelle discovers a couple of goblin bodies that have been bitten by the snake. She searches the bodies and discover a lone copper coin. The coin appears to have been minted by Greenhide.
Gerald opens the door, and it explodes in his face. He closes the door and returns to the middle of the room, shaken. Roscoe carefully opens the door as well. It explodes again, the trap having had time to reset while Gerald was explaining that he had not seen anything.
Roscoe enters the room, and recollections immediately flood him as to its purpose. The paladin discovers the entrance at the bottom of the stairs has been barricaded, so he heads for the next door. Darelle follows, and Omok decides to break through the door just as Gerald casts a knock spell. At the same time, a flight of arrows is loosened from the barricade and each Cooper takes a few hits. They enter the next room but not before being splashed by a rain of acid. Gerald, who witnessed this attack, emerges from the hatchery and he sends a fireball against the barricade. It is soon engulfed in flames with the yells of many goblins coming from its ruins. Daryle crosses the expanse of the shrine and joins the rest of the party. She thinks about closing the door, but doesn't. Gerald follows suit.
The room they now find themselves appears to be a sacrificial room with three snake statues. It is evident by the lack of desecration that the goblins have not entered this room. Darelle uses her acrobatic skills and jumps around the room, hoping to trigger a trap, but she finds none. The Coopers explore the room but find no other exits. Daryle climbs one of the snake statues and discovers that they can be turned. She turns her statue, and Darelle does the same for the other statue on the same wall. A secret passage opens.
The hallway leads to a hot spring that must be crossed to reach the other side. Gerald casts ice storm as Daryle examines the spring, catching her by surprise. She avenges herself by firing an arrow and hitting Gerald. The sorcerer has accomplished his goal, however, and the water is frozen solid. The Coopers run across the ice to reach the door. The ice soon melts and the hot spring begins to flow again. Darelle notices that there is a passage underneath the hot water. Since she and the rest of the Coopers are protected against natural heat, she decides she will swim and see where the passage leads.
Darelle emerges in a room with a staircase ascending and another one descending. This looks very familiar. Against the wall, by the pool from which she emerges, is a statue of a snake holding an emerald in its mouth. The other members of the party also make the short swim and come out. Darelle reaches over and touches the emerald. She immediately disappears. Again this feels very familiar to the Coopers. What was it that happened the last time they did this? The remaining Coopers argue among themselves about what they should do next. Omok tires of the conversation, makes the jump to the statue and touches the emerald. He feels pulled away but manages to resist the effects. He successfully pries the emerald out of the snake's mouth, and he decides he will try to touch Gerald with it. Unfortunately Gerald is rather nimble, and he avoids being touched. Roscoe has enough, and he touches the emerald and soon joins Darelle in the snake's labyrinth.
Meanwhile, Omok and Gerald continue to fight, and soon it becomes a full-blown confrontation. Omok uses a slay living spell while Gerald dimension doors the hobgoblin back into the acid temple. Daryle jumps back in the spring and emerges in the other room. She opens the door and discovers a set of goblin sentries. She manages to kill three of them, but the fourth one is proving to be rather tough. Gerald, who was closely behind his sister, sees his sister on the ground in mortal danger, and he unleashes a fire ball, instantly incinerating her opponent but also slaying her. Omok, who was coming from the other side, summons a land shark and attacks Gerald, who joins his sister in death. Omok then touches the emerald and is transported to the snake's labyrinth to join Darelle and Roscoe's doom...
Sarenith 22, 4712
The Coopers awaken one at a time, in warm beds at the Juliver Arms. Doliber is soon with them, and apologizes profusely. The Coopers had eaten the sausage and had all collapsed on the floor soon after, along with several other customers who had also partaken of the inn's fare that noontime. He's not sure how his stock of sausages got poisoned, but all of the victims report living through rather vivid nightmares. Thankfully, a full night's rest did wonders and none of them feel any of the ill effects of this rather strange food poisoning. So, after all of that, the events at the Spire were only a dream. But it felt so real ...
On this beautiful morning, Roscoe inquires with the guard if there has been signs of Thorne. The head of the night watch reports that the rogue has not been seen since a warrant was issued for his arrest. His associates have revealed some details about his various operations, but all of them are unawares of the extent of Thorne's network.
After a lovely breakfast, Darelle heads over Nolm's Bindery to talks to Falandra about Gerald. She inquires about the different Geralds that have been reported around Fort Inevitable, and Falandra says she has in fact noticed inconsistent performances on the sorcerer's part. Falandra wonders who would take the time and spend the magical power and the money necessary to resurrect Gerald multiple times. Darelle speculates that someone, or something, is attempting to sow chaos, and that Gerald is the perfect agent for that. But who would be able to do so in Fort Inevitable? Falandra believes only High Mother Sarise Dremagne from the Temple of the Golden Key, is capable of performing a resurrection, but she also suspects that the Hellknights also possess this capability.
Darelle then proceeds to the Temple of the Golden Key. She meets with High Mother Sarise, and they discuss Gerald's multiple appearances. Sarise also believes that an agent of chaos must be at work. She acknowledges that she has the power to resurrect a dead person, but it would require a substantial donation to the temple, and in no case would she resurrect a Hellknight. She also suspects the Hellknights possess this ability, but when the Lord Commander Varden was assassinated he was not resurrected. She believes this entire incident was a power play between different Helknight factions.
Omok, meanwhile, spends some time reading the second chapter of the Book of the Damned and gains a new ability.
Daryle arrives in town, and she finds her siblings and Omok. After a meal of sausage, fresh bread and ale, at the Juliver Arms, they gather their gear and they begin the trek back to the Emerald Spire. In the forest, they encounter a disheveled Gerald, bearing scratches and evidence of having been in combat. He reports that he was just coming back from the Spire where he had looked on the 13th level for them, but was attacked by a strange gnarled man and a bunch of twigs on the way out. This Gerald reports having been away from town for four days. A discussion among the Coopers about what to do with all of the Geralds running around. Gerald is incensed that someone would be usurping his good name for nefarious purposes. Omok tells Gerald he can get rid of the other Geralds for a small cost. Gerald says he will think about it, but he really wants to find the other Gerald, discover out who is behind it and why. Maybe, the sorcerer muses, he could unite all of the Geralds and take on Greenhide and his cronies.
Roscoe proposes the idea of a tattoo to identify each Gerald with a specific number, so at least they'd know which one they're dealing with. Gerald is game for it. He could also stylize the blade embedded in his head with a different design. Daryle cuts the conversation short and gives him a shallow cut on the right arm. That should identify at least this Gerald. This is the moment that Gerald chooses to reveal that he has a wife. Gerald officially took her last name of Gertywindindlysin and is no longer a Cooper.
With the death of the Mistress of Thorns, the 9th level is now open for exploration, so the party decide to travel back and liquidate the remaining residents. Unfortunately they never acquired the rune for her level, so they will need to travel either to the 8th level, or to the 10th level. Considering that the 10th level is where the magma dragons lived, the Coopers wisely decide to head back to the snakepeople's level.
The Coopers complete the trek, enter the tunnel leading to the Spire, emerge on the 3rd level, and teleport down to the 8th. Immediately it is clear they are in a section of the dungeon they did not previously explored. The Spire appears to be located in a hatchery. There are several large eggs laying around in carefully built nests. Omok grabs an egg, and so does Roscoe. Omok plans to either cook the thing or see what hatches and raise it as a pet. Unfortunately Roscoe is attacked by an emperor cobra but he drops the egg on its head and it falls unconscious. Roscoe cuts its head and decide to keep the head and dry it out later. Darelle discovers a couple of goblin bodies that have been bitten by the snake. She searches the bodies and discover a lone copper coin. The coin appears to have been minted by Greenhide.
Gerald opens the door, and it explodes in his face. He closes the door and returns to the middle of the room, shaken. Roscoe carefully opens the door as well. It explodes again, the trap having had time to reset while Gerald was explaining that he had not seen anything.
Roscoe enters the room, and recollections immediately flood him as to its purpose. The paladin discovers the entrance at the bottom of the stairs has been barricaded, so he heads for the next door. Darelle follows, and Omok decides to break through the door just as Gerald casts a knock spell. At the same time, a flight of arrows is loosened from the barricade and each Cooper takes a few hits. They enter the next room but not before being splashed by a rain of acid. Gerald, who witnessed this attack, emerges from the hatchery and he sends a fireball against the barricade. It is soon engulfed in flames with the yells of many goblins coming from its ruins. Daryle crosses the expanse of the shrine and joins the rest of the party. She thinks about closing the door, but doesn't. Gerald follows suit.
The room they now find themselves appears to be a sacrificial room with three snake statues. It is evident by the lack of desecration that the goblins have not entered this room. Darelle uses her acrobatic skills and jumps around the room, hoping to trigger a trap, but she finds none. The Coopers explore the room but find no other exits. Daryle climbs one of the snake statues and discovers that they can be turned. She turns her statue, and Darelle does the same for the other statue on the same wall. A secret passage opens.
The hallway leads to a hot spring that must be crossed to reach the other side. Gerald casts ice storm as Daryle examines the spring, catching her by surprise. She avenges herself by firing an arrow and hitting Gerald. The sorcerer has accomplished his goal, however, and the water is frozen solid. The Coopers run across the ice to reach the door. The ice soon melts and the hot spring begins to flow again. Darelle notices that there is a passage underneath the hot water. Since she and the rest of the Coopers are protected against natural heat, she decides she will swim and see where the passage leads.
Darelle emerges in a room with a staircase ascending and another one descending. This looks very familiar. Against the wall, by the pool from which she emerges, is a statue of a snake holding an emerald in its mouth. The other members of the party also make the short swim and come out. Darelle reaches over and touches the emerald. She immediately disappears. Again this feels very familiar to the Coopers. What was it that happened the last time they did this? The remaining Coopers argue among themselves about what they should do next. Omok tires of the conversation, makes the jump to the statue and touches the emerald. He feels pulled away but manages to resist the effects. He successfully pries the emerald out of the snake's mouth, and he decides he will try to touch Gerald with it. Unfortunately Gerald is rather nimble, and he avoids being touched. Roscoe has enough, and he touches the emerald and soon joins Darelle in the snake's labyrinth.
Meanwhile, Omok and Gerald continue to fight, and soon it becomes a full-blown confrontation. Omok uses a slay living spell while Gerald dimension doors the hobgoblin back into the acid temple. Daryle jumps back in the spring and emerges in the other room. She opens the door and discovers a set of goblin sentries. She manages to kill three of them, but the fourth one is proving to be rather tough. Gerald, who was closely behind his sister, sees his sister on the ground in mortal danger, and he unleashes a fire ball, instantly incinerating her opponent but also slaying her. Omok, who was coming from the other side, summons a land shark and attacks Gerald, who joins his sister in death. Omok then touches the emerald and is transported to the snake's labyrinth to join Darelle and Roscoe's doom...
Sarenith 22, 4712
The Coopers awaken one at a time, in warm beds at the Juliver Arms. Doliber is soon with them, and apologizes profusely. The Coopers had eaten the sausage and had all collapsed on the floor soon after, along with several other customers who had also partaken of the inn's fare that noontime. He's not sure how his stock of sausages got poisoned, but all of the victims report living through rather vivid nightmares. Thankfully, a full night's rest did wonders and none of them feel any of the ill effects of this rather strange food poisoning. So, after all of that, the events at the Spire were only a dream. But it felt so real ...
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