Seesion 3 September 26 2009  Mazes, Pedastals and the Grove

Attending:
Tom, Dave, Sean, Kyle and Leigh

Party Update and Review

Arendis (air-eND-dis)– Elven Ranger

"Handsome" Luke- Half-Orc Fighter -

Dayereth (Day-err-ethh) Eladrin Wizard -

Nadarresh (Nah-Darr-resh) - Dragonborn Ranger -

The group seems much more at ease with each other and the bonds of friendship forged in battle, have grown stronger as they all seek to defeat the evil that has seemed to dog their every step.  They make for the ruined tower and make camp with a small caravan.  In the night, their sleep is disturbed by the howl of wolves but no attacks seem to come.  When morning comes fresh tracks were found within twenty yards of the campfires though it seems the wolves found easier prey and had attacked a campsite just down the road dragging four men into the night leaving the animals behind.  Upon reaching the ruined tower and descending into the shaft the musty odor seems to have gotten somewhat worse. Rats or something else had eaten the remains of the ogre at least so the flies that were thick in the air on your last visit were largely absent.

Pulling the reagents from his belt pouch, Aerandis carefully scribes the runes around the scrying pool as instructed by the druids and tosses the gilded acorn into the pool. A moment where nothing seems to happens, passes and the party is fearful that Aerandis has made some error. Then the acorn begins to dissolve in the water as if it were exposed to acid, and the reflection in the pool changes. The view is of a platform in a small clearing. The sky is a slate blue with pale clouds passing unnervingly fast through the sky.  From this vantage point you can see hedgerows neatly trimmed spreading off beneath the platform forming a labyrinth and in the distance a black Obelisk rises out of the verge edge of your sight. Pool begins to ripple, the magic won’t last long, you must step into the pool before the portal closes.

They step through entering onto a pedestal about four feet high, with magical runes inscribed in a circle.  Hedges 12 feet tall surround them on all sides and intertwined within them are moving vines that seem quite deadly, as a body is stuck inside the hedges.  Dayereth goes to examine the area but before he gets anywhere, Arendis turns his bow about, firing off an arrow at a stirge that had come down along with several of his friends.  The party almost thoroughly surprised, is quick to act but Luke gets boxed in by three of the creatures, Dayereth teleports away to the other side.  A few more arrows and Luke’s powerful slashes takes down two of the beasts as does a cloud of daggers.  Nadarresh fearing for his companions, runs across the pool, splashing the water everywhere and puts himself in the middle of the creatures, hitting only one of the three and then breathes lightning striking another one.  The Stirges slightly annoyed at this latch their suckers onto him as Luke manages to fight off the last one that was attached to him.  Within a short time, the last Stirge falls to the ground, dying.

As they recover, they notice that the vines within are still active but stay away from them.  Using his magic, Dayereth pulls out a few things including a bluish frozen orb, of which he is quite careful about touching as well as some chalk that doesn’t wash off.  We also notice that there is an obelisk in the distance and Nadarresh and Luke lift Arendis above the hedges so he can scout out the best way to go.  It is then that they all realize that the maze is moving as soon as they turn away form it.  Deciding the obelisk is slightly to the south and west they move forward, Dayereth using his magic writes every so often an arrow pointing out the direction we are going.  After many wrong turns we find that the hedges as they move, sometimes make the chalk marks walk directly into the hedges.  Recalling the mangled body, we know it would not do well to venture off the pathway.  Arendis keen and always wary, hears a noise that sounds like heavy snorting.  He turns and then all of them notice a huge Minotaur, with a huge two handed axe, bigger than Nadarresh or Luke.  Trying his best to communicate, one of the party tries to speak with him, when he is ignored he asks, “Do you know who I am?” seeming to fail to change the Minotaurs reaction, Arendis fires off an arrow that goes just wide and the Giant beast runs away.  They give chase but the trail ends in the hedges.

Nadrresh having a brief bit of insight, lifts Arendis and they continue onward and after many mishaps, they all hear the sound of running water, quite close and spot a clearing.  They move into it where they are attacked by large dire rats, but quickly dispatch them all.  The clearing has a small stream running through it and continuing onward underneath the hedges.  On the far side, they find a huge gong that says, “Pathway to the grove.”  Worn down a bit they decide to rest for some time to get themselves together and deciding that if they follow the sound of the water, they might find a way to the obelisk which seems to be the center of the maze.  After a good rest they make progress towards the obelisk and as they near it, Arendis hears the Minotaur and quiets everyone.  Dayereth using his magic creates the sounds of the  party walking ahead of where they are, as Nadarresh quietly makes his way forward, hoping to give the Minotaur an added surprise.  Successfully, the Minotaur blindly swings at the magical sounds and then Nadarresh attacks in typical fury, dealing the beast a fair amount of damage but still it seems not to notice and strikes back knocking him on his back.  Luke charges in and nearly takes him down as a hail of arrows comes in from Arendis and more spells from Dayereth finally ends the battle.

As the others rest up, Dayereth examines the Obelisk and works out that the many symbols must be matched in a specific order but is unable to figure it out at first.  With the help of the others, he writes the patterns down but nothing seems to happen despite the personal blood sacrifices they give.  After a few tries, Dayereth writes it down, gives his blood and touching the obelisk, disappears much to their surprise.  Unfortunately the rest of the party did not go with him and tried repeatedly but merely suffered a slight pain feeling a bit winded each time.

Dayereth arrived in an odd room that was dark with the same strange sigils on the floor and two disheveled priests who were ready to attack him on sight.  He dropped them quickly then realized that the others were not there and found out how to get back down to the others and immediately asked where they were and why they did not come with him.  He then told the rest to touch the obelisk while he draws the sigils and as they do are all teleported back to the room.  Examining the room the only doorway is to the north, so they gather the bodies of the two fallen priests and plan for Arendis and Dayereth to pose as the guards and enter into the room with Luke and Nadarresh ready to come into the room on their signal.  The pair take positions as the others donning the robes come into the room to see many priests surrounding a high priestess on a pedestal with an orb sitting in the middle.  She shouts, “Fools!  You’ll interrupt the ritual!”  Dayereth says quietly, “He has to go to the bathroom…”  On that statement, Arendis grabbed his bow from Nadarresh and fired upon the high priestess but as the arrow was about to strike her, it turned and hit one of her priests.  Nadarresh jumped into the fray, taking down two priests with a few swings and then another with his lightning breath.  Luke charged forward as Dayereth casts an icy spell that made the priests lose their footing as Luke dropped another of the priests, as he died, they noticed like the others his spirit seemed to flow into the orb, similar to the dagger.  The Priestess ability to thwart attacks made her very difficult to defeat but after some simple tactics and persistence they finish her off.  As she dies however an explosion from the orb unleashes an evil being that uses a dark necrotic power over all in the room, sending Nadarresh reeling in pain.

The others attack with fervor doing all they can as another wave of dark energy is unleashed yet again.  Nadarresh strikes out hard with both his swords but goes down when she unleashes her wave of energy.  Luke strikes her again and again as Dayereth comes to help Nadarresh, who finally regains consciousness.  The party scans the room and find that all the priests are defeated as is the evil that infected the orb and with that the party goes about examining the room, finding no other passageways or doors.  A few of the party, disgusted by the evil that has transpired here in the priests worship of an evil deity do what they can to destroy the room by robbing it of its powers, which comes down to defacement of the alter and holy symbols.  Holding here for the night they decide to go back in the morning.