Session 94 Report

General Summary

Selia Roselyn Maxwell used Greater Teleport to transport the party to her family’s home in Falfar, South Durman. They arrived in her old bedroom in the Maxwell estate and startled some of the serving staff as they walked through the manor accompanied by Fisher and Pennig. Selia’s mother was also surprised to see her, and her entourage. She greeted her daughter, expressing surprise at her sudden arrival. But Selia stressed the urgent need to speak with her father. Selia found her father, Duke Elijah Maxwell II, in his office. She asked about Vanimelda and learned that she was at the mines to the north studying the symbol they had found there. When Selia explained to him the message she received from Vanimelda, Duke Maxwell began calling for messengers. Selia told him she could teleport them there and that Haymin’s Heroes would investigate the situation, but Duke Maxwell was insistent in using his guards. Eventually, Kyrie Eleison Thatcher-Stone put him in a Bag of Holding, along with the rest of the party so that Selia could cast her spell. Selia, accompanied by Pennig and Fisher, arrived at the entrance to the mines. There were several dead bodies showing recent wounds lying on the ground and several strange, winged creatures circling above. Then more of these creatures flew out of the cave. Selia emptied the Bag of Holding containing Pyzar Zim, Titta Morco, Kyrie, and her father. Then she told her father to empty out one of the other bags. Titta flew up at one of the creatures and attacked while Pyzar emptied one of the bags. The duke followed his lead and emptied the other bag as instructed. The winged creatures attacked with their claws and beak-like snouts filled with teeth. But between the party’s weapons and spells, they were defeated easily. The party could see a group of guards rushing towards the mines from the nearby town to the south. Selia told her father to stay with the guards and secure the area. Haymin’s Heroes would go into the mine and find Vanimelda. He agreed and headed to greet the guards. Inside the mines there were a few branching paths. Sound could be heard from each and a couple reflected with distant torchlight. They tried the left path first and came to an area where four armed men were standing guard while two robed men were facing opposite corners and chanting the words to a spell. The men spoke in a language none of them understood and raised their weapons when they noticed the party. Selia cast Fireball into the area and wounded them all. One of the robed men cast a spell and turned invisible. Suddenly, two twisted creatures that vaguely resembled hounds appeared from the corners of the room. They had long tongues capped in a spike and they rushed forward to attack Pyzar who was closest. Luckily, he evaded their tongues. The other robed man came around the corner and cast Baleful Polymorph on Pyzar, turning him into a rat. Despite this, the hounds and men were defeated quickly, but the invisible spellcaster tried to fly away. He was caught and killed before he could get far. Kyrie cast Break Enchantment on Pyzar and he returned to normal, though he was completely naked as all his gear was in a pile on the floor. Before he could get his armor back on, however, some ghouls and a ghast came from one of the other tunnels. Pyzar kept trying to get dressed as quickly as possible with Selia’s help while the rest of the party destroyed the undead easily enough. Then then began investigating the men they had killed. The spellcasters were wearing masks with a tentacle pattern woven into it. Before long, however, more monsters came from the northern tunnel. There were two pairs of twisted tentacled creatures. One pair could fly and was a mass of tentacles, eyes, and mouths. The other pair were larger creatures, standing upright with clawed limbs, tentacles, and a mouth-like opening at the top. Along with these creatures were more ghouls and ghasts. The flying creatures possessed a frightening aura that caused Auren Sylynn to panic. Kyrie broke him out of his fear with a spell before he could go far. This battle was a little tougher, but Haymin’s Heroes prevailed, despite Pyzar being unavailable as he was still getting his plate mail on. When this wave was done, there were no more monsters coming at them. The party looked around at the other caves and found empty mining areas. They continued farther into the main tunnel and eventually came to a larger cave where they saw the opened magical gate at the far end. But before this gate were several armed men. There was another spellcaster wearing a similar mask to the ones they had already faced. But there was also a pair that wore a mask with cloth tentacles hanging from it, giving them the vague appearance of mind flayers. What looked like acolytes were setting up an altar with an idol on top of it. The idol was of a bulky illithid-like creature, but with wings. They spoke in that same unfamiliar language, but Kyrie with the aid of a spell understood their words. “Kill the intruders. Protect the gate!”

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists