2022/12/14: Hunting for the Sword of Heroes Part 3 Report

General Summary

Pregame notes

Sunderfury may join in the party to deal with the fungus cave   Quests:
Get Sunderfury's sword
Go after Ehel (bad plan for now)
Go after Necrosa (Ad.)
Help Blythe deal with a proto-deity in a sword (requires commitment for a while, sticking to strong characters)
Free Nadira
Delving into Malakai's mountain
Othar's quest for the sword (Al., E., L.)
Kill the Lord of Nightmare (M., Ad.)   "You ever wonder why time wizards look so old? It's not because they choose to, it's because of all the stress of dealing with assholes like us!" - E   "Herb's doesn't offer insurance policies anymore. Thanks, Humphery!"   After discussion, it seems like we're continuing the Othar quest!    

Main notes

Garrek, Othar, Shane, Malthoronam Ruincu (Ruin-sue), Morros, Buzz, Union   We're hopping back to a week or so before the beginning of downtime, resuming after Othar finished scouting.   Malthoronam was on a boat trip and got in an accident in a storm. He and a part of a rowboat washed up on shore. Buzz and Union got caught by time shenanigans. Buzz was considering options for building his superyacht. Suddenly a giant portal opened up and Chaz-Achk-Thuum's booming voice said "GET IN." Buzz said "You got it, big man!", drew a sword, and jumped in. Garrek has been base-building in the swamp, occasionally looking around the area. Shane has been helping, and preaching the word of Sith in Hliden's village. Union got a portal much like Buzz's.   Hliden is like 6'4".   Othar was just arriving at the meeting place when two big portals opened up and deposited Buzz and Union. Othar introduced himself to Union and offered his hand. Union gave his name and didn't take the hand. Othar will remember that.   Union: "I was bored in Malakai's living room and this is better than nothing."   Malthoronam stumbled out of the bushes and joined the group. During the introductions, Morros was busy inspecting her pile of bones (her spellbook) in the corner, and Garrek was busy fiddling with a book of grudges (adding something about chaos annoying him).   We're currently in the Formosa region of Altaia.   Othar gave his scouting report. He checked around the swamp a bit more, then the forest, then the dragon mountain. He didn't find much hostile in the swamps. It's treacherous, but not many creatures. There was a swamp hag who told him to get off her lawn. There's not enough food in the area even for her, let alone a dragon. Othar didn't get any info from her, despite (questionable) attempts to be polite.   Once he got to the forest, things got... peculiar. He was attacked by demonic wolves with too many jaws, and about the size of a clydesdale. Intimidating them and killing one just made them more eager. Othar went full draconic, and that just made them call in reinforcements. They were a challenge even to him in small numbers, and it seemed there was something with a horn coordinating them. Then Othar went to his home, his old home, the dragon mountain. There was carnage, and none of his draconic brethren. Something seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.   Even the necromancers' tower in the distance had fallen to rubble. And it seemed like the demonic beasts and things had been the things the dragons were fighting.   We're looking for a sword to give to Othar's lord and potentially turn the tide of the war against undead in Thesk.   Othar thinks the sword might be underground under the nearby human city. Which is mostly in ruins.   Apparently the hobgoblins say the humans of the region "disappeared", and now they sneak out of the swamps, kill, and vanish again.   The party flew Morros over to where the hag lives and dropped her off to do some diplomacy. The hag came out. The first thing Morros saw was her huge golden eyes. "Ooh, what have we here?"   It's unclear what sort of hag she is. An oddly colored night hag? A unique hag? Whatever she is, she thinks Morros might make a good meal, or at least might provide one in return for divination aid. She wants Morros to kill a giant crocodile/alligator and get eggs.   The party tracked down the croc's nest and Morros got to digging in hopes of drawing her out. It worked: Morros was swallowed whole as the monster burst from the water, and Malthoronam was thrown 20 feet be a tail swipe. Union's responding swipes were ineffective, but Malthoronam's arrows weren't, sprouting from the beast's eyes. And then the crocodile went to give a hissing roar, but suddenly went still; ice began sprouting from its mouth and eyes. There are drawbacks to swallowing a prepared water mage.   Othar pulled its mouth open so Morros could get out, and Garrek gave her a gruff pat and encouraging word, speeding the healing of her wounds. Shane finished the healing while Malthoronam regenerated on his own.   The group searched the area. Union found a choppy green sword stuck in a tree near the croc area. Sort of like a thick machete. The hilt is almost a corroded color, but the blade is dark green and sort of striated. Maybe some sort of vine sword. It seems like it was calling to Union (though that might have just been "get me out of this tree, I'm so bored!").   Morros teleported the party and their meaty loot back near the hag.   The hag provided the divination requested. The sword is real. Name is the Altus Alai. It has existed since the beginning of this world. Most of its wielders have been found wanting sooner or later; and then the sword recalls its blessings, often at the worst time for its wielder. The sword is quite indestructible.   She doesn't know where it is, but she has some storybooks of her own. In one, a stygian forest lake. Looks like mirror of the sky. Lake far above the mountains. A sword of purity is in it. A land untouched. In another such tale, a tower of necromancy, among its many treasures is a legendary sword, corrupted and twisted by the magics of the place. Defended by a beast of death. Last possibility, a mountain vault, far to the south, under a great dome of stone. Hidden for many generations, and a sword is one of its most ancient relics. Guarded by an ancient dragon and some other monsters.   The group returned to the hobgoblin village to discuss their next steps. None of them wanted to visit the tower of necromancers. The vault is more easily located, so they decided to head for that first. But first, the sun was going down, so the party set up camp. No need to fly through the night and run themselves ragged.   They identified the sword they'd found. Gainor, Sword of the Woods. +3 broadsword, has additional woodsy abilities that can be unlocked.   During the night, while Malthoronam was on watch, some large winged forms were spotted incoming. They had concerningly humanoid bodies, and if they were that far up... they were big. Malthoronam jumped to waking people up, and that's when the first fireball came in.   The roof Garrek had built for the central citadel of the fort he'd built from boredom held up, saving all but Malthoranam from the fire. The party woke up to everything around them burning. Buzz opened the door of his magically created metal and stone fortress to see what was going on, and the rest of the party started trying to filter in. Othar, who had generated a wall of dark fire in hopes of blocking some of the fire, turned the wall into a blast cone in hopes of smashing the attackers from the sky. Garrek fumbled to grab his gear.   Malthoronam finally got to see past the fire, and saw that the attackers were a dozen glabrezu. He shot one to death before getting into cover.   Garrek, still in the process of waking up, managed to grab his backpack, weapons, and shield, then had to choose between taking his flamethrower and his armor. The armor was closer. He got into the cover of Buzz's fortress before the roof of the citadel could collapse.   Shane, seeing that Garrek had left behind his beloved flamethrower, went into Withdraw and grabbed it, then got into cover and healed the seriously wounded Malthoronam before putting on all of his gear.   Buzz stepped out and launched himself into the air on flaming wings. Seeing the swarm of greater demons, he activated a pile of magical gear and then opened up in apocalyptic fire (and fireworks, and bubblegum) with his pistols. Only seven glabrezu survived, and those were buried in bubblegum and falling from the sky.   The spellcasters continued to provide AA, smiting demons. Othar drew Buzz forward in the initiative order, letting him toss out another 80 ruby fireballs. The last three glabrezu were crushed and slashed to death.   Several of the glabrezu, those killed by Othar's darkfire, didn't poof into acidic puddles like the rest. Their souls were dead, their bodies were left.   The bedrolls were a write-off.   Divination says there's someone who's out to get the party, and these sorts of attacks will just continue.

Rewards Granted

2 xp, Gainor, Sword of the Woods, various demon bits

Character(s) interacted with

the hag