Chapter 13: The Wild Frontier
The night of their arrival in Everlund, the group enjoyed a hot meal and the performance of a local elven bard. The bard sang of a group of heroes known as the planeswalkers, and the tale proved to be a local favorite. After their meal and show, Keladrien and Nalzmyr snuck away to the city cemetery and broke into a mausoleum to steal skeletons Keladrien could later raise as undead minions. Keladrien accidentally smashed his foot with a rock while trying to break the lock, and they alerted a nearby farmer. Thanks to Keladrien's magic, they turned invisible and were able to whisk the skeletons away unnoticed. Back in town, the two took advantage of their invisibility to play pranks on Kathra. The pranks proved highly disruptive to the tavern, and the group ended up paying the barkeep as an apology. Before the night was over, Nalzmyr would also play a game of Dragonchess in the tavern and cheat his way to victory. Pan caroused with the townsfolk and learned of an abandoned temple of bane nearby that showed signs of activity recently.
In the middle of the night, a frantic inkeep woke Kathra to tell her their carriage had been stolen by bandits. The group gathered their horses (safe from the bandits in the stables) and rode out to find the bandits. They discovered them in a cave nearby, and stealthily dispatched sentries at the entrance (one of them was turned into a spectre by Nalzmyr). After alerting the bandits inside the cave, they prepared an ambush. Keladrien waited for the bandits outside the cave and blasted them with a fireball as they neared. Combat ensued between the bandits and the savage seven, with the seven eventually slaying the last of the bandits. They found their stolen carriage, as well as the bandit group's loot from other travellers. They returned to town with their carriage and returned to sleep.
In the morning, the group sold the horses they had found in the bandit cave as well as most of the loot. After spending time in the cold, they decided to purchase winter clothing. Keladrien also purchased a black mage robe from the town mage, and Pan found a halfling herbalist who sold him some "halfling's leaf." The group decided to investigate the temple of bane, and questioned a priest at the temple of helm. They learned the location of the abandoned temple, and set out soon after.
After a day of travel, the group came upon a sheer cliff wall leading up to a cave entrance 50 feet above. Keladrien floated his immovable rod up to the cliff edge, and Nalzmyr commanded his rope of climbing to tie itself around it. They climbed up and entered the temple.
In the first room of the temple, they found themselves mysteriously at ease. Nalzmyr and Keladrien saw through this and recognized the feeling as false. Bright glowing pillars stood throughout the room, as well as statues of gargoyles around the walls and a painting of a black hand on the floor. Touching the pillars pulsed the room with light and granted magical hardiness to the person touching it. As they opened one of many doors, four gargoyles came to life and attacked them. After killing the gargoyles, the group touched a pillar again and found that it made the dead gargoyles disappear and regenerated one of them. They proceeded through the door.
The next room was perpetually dim, with pillars of shadowy gloom throughout. Touching the pillars assaulted Nalzmyr with necromantic cold energy, but Keladrien's risen undead were granted magical toughness from it. As they opened one of the doors in this room (which led nowhere), wraiths began to appear near the pillars. As they battled them, more wraiths appeared. One of them drained Pan of much of his life, and Nalzmyr fled through one of the other doors. As the group fled, Keladrien flooded the room with magical light, preventing the wraiths from following. Before leaving, Kathra called upon her deity to cause the wraiths to flee.
The next room was lit in dim red light, with pillars of red marble. The floors and pillars were covered in blood, and a thin mist hovered about the pillars. The group chose the correct door, and no enemies came forth to attack them. The following room had the appearance of a monastic courtyard, with sleeping quarters around the walls and several pillars in the center. Shackled to the pillar were 3 orcs, each in a trance they could not be broken out of. Keladrien ordered one of his skeletons to slap one of the orcs, which alerted the creatures sleeping in the quarters. Hobgoblins and an orc burst out from the rooms and attacked the group. Two of the hobgoblins were spellcasters and assaulted them with magic, while a hobgoblin captain attacked with martial might and an orc shamaness tried to use her magic to hinder them. Though Keladrien lost a skeleton, the group defeated the goblinoids and Nalzmyr gained a new spectre minion (from the slain hobgoblin captain). They chose to rest here, with Keladrien summoning forth a magical hut for them to take shelter in for an hour...
The Ballad of the Planeswalkers, by the elven bard Tiiriel Leluvanar (as heard at the dreaming dragon inn, Everlund): Let me tell you tonight the tale
Of heroes long forgotten
I'll sing, I hope, to bring them back
and all of you regale. They walked the planes far and wide
and Brought back worthy allies
Darkest shades and wilder beasts
Fought back the modron tide. Four there were among the party
One dusky fiery maiden
She took the shape of many beasts
and rent her foes rightly. Let's not forget the mage's bane
One wizard high and mighty
Ensorcelled blades would swing about
And cleave his foes in twain. And one so young, yet blessed with might
his fiery fist a-swinging
This farmer's boy, this folk hero
Smote demons left and right. At last we come to one so odd
A creature from the depths
So curious was this far traveller
He came back from the dead. So excuse my lack of rhyme just then
I nearly can't believe it
That these four brave and fearsome ones
Ever walked the lands of men.
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