Session 26: One Step Forward, Two Giant Steps Back


 * BATTLE RESUMES!
 * Vikrit shoots the drow caster, who moves out of the silence and summons a snakeline staff right in front of Vesun (Carlos guest-starring) and it hits him. Vesun tries to dispel it and fucks up, Sarienne tries to hit it but it’s incorporeal. Tork acid arrows the caster.
 * Vikrit misses the caster and ducks into cover. Something big and metal (spider-shaped) comes out from around a building. The caster casts something on himself. Sarienne runs around to where the drow arrowbois are hiding. Vesun dimension doors himself and Tork up onto a tower. Tork tries to Scorching Ray and manages to set the roof of the building Sarienne is next to on fire. Vanesse (J) jumps up on the ramparts to “help” Vikrit. The metal thing moves between two buildings, the drow throw boomerangs at Sarienne, who runs to the tower and gets healed by Vesun. Tork fucks up more Scorching Rays.
 * Vikrit tries to shoot the metal spider but his arrows don’t penetrate (5 damage did jack shit). One of the drow takes a potion. Sarienne moves up. Vesun starts summoning a monstrous centipede near the robot. Sarienne fights with the drow. Vikrit runs up a tower. Vanesse gets bit by the robot and keeps fighting, centipede starts attacking the robot. Tork magic missiles one of the drow. Vanesse chops off 2 of the spider’s legs. Vesun tries to use hold person on one of the drow and fails. Vikrit runs down and around. Vanesse hacks up the spider. One drow runs toward Vikrit, advancing behind the building. Sarienne trips the other drow. Tork magic missiles the life out of the running drow. Vesun moves up. Sarienne kills the guy she tripped when he tries to get away.
 * Vikrit uses Embrace the Wild and sniffs out the shaman, who went to the edge of the cliff–and the smell dissipates. Things the party finds:
 * Notes on the walls: press once for red, press twice for blue
 * Potion of shield of faith (Tork)
 * Vanesse finds a strange (un)holy symbol.
 * Vesun finds a map of the nearby area (patrol routes), path to temple - charts of the sky with constellations marked in possibly Jana’s handwriting? Also, a letter written to someone named “Heredin”.
 * We sleep with Vanesse taking watch. Vikrit slips her 1 gold as thanks.
 * The next day: we cross the river. There’s a big monolith glowing red.
 * We go investigate. It has carvings that were worn away long ago. There is a small slab of stone that looks pressable. A drow and a large angry ape emerge from the woods.
 * The ape jumps out and picks Vikrit (screaming) up. The drow hits Sarienne with a chain weapon. Vesun tries to hit the drow with Searing Light and misses. The ape chucks Vikrit across the clearing but he rolls and manages to land okay. Vanesse runs at the drow but the ape rakes and catches her. Tork Lightning bolts the two enemies.
 * Vikrit crits on the ape and does 30 goddamn damage. Vesun misses the drow, who blasts her with 17 points of electricity damage. Vanesse (?) splits him in half.
 * Vikrit finds a scroll on the druid: Poison - Caster level 7th, DC 16. Also climbs the trees and scouts toward the temple - can’t see it.
 * Vesun finds odd large markings in Giant. Tork presses the button with mage hand - it turns blue with a press, can turn it off blue + 1x. We press it a bunch of times and ultimately leave it off.
 * We head down toward the temple. The entrance and stairs are massive. There’s water going down stairs, hits steaming and bubbling mud pit.
 * Vesun casts Water Walk and starts crossing. Vanesse follows through the mud. It’s very hot and sludgy, gets hotter… and five thoqquas emerge. Vikrit gets a shot off on one.
 * Vanesse and Vesun, impressively, throw their weapons accidentally into the mud. Vikrit destroys one of the thoqquas. Vanesse goes and gets the weapons. Vesun goes to touch Vanesse with Freedom of Movement and gets hit hard and set on fire. Vikrit kills another one, and the other two retreat.
 * We continue on through the mud, Vanesse carrying Vikrit across the mud (Sarienne tromps through). We find more giant-sized stairs.
 * There are 3 big bronze statues of trolls with huge bastard swords. Tork mage hands and touches one of the statues, and nothing happens. Vanesse strides forward, and there is a creaking sound–the statue closest to her smacks her with its sword. Vikrit hides. Vanesse ducks under the statues and can see the corridor made of obsidian, with a massive statue at the end that looks like a cyclops king.
 * Vesun makes Tork invisible, and he lines up a beautiful lightning bolt that completely fries the statues.
 * We continue on toward the king statue. There’s water flowing underneath it from a pool behind it. Sarienne sneaks up and looks for traps, seeing something written at the base of the statue.
 * Vesun uses a scroll of Comprehend Languages: “Gyrothrax the great one eyed king - bow before him on your knees”
 * Sarienne starts knee-walking past the statue… and gets blasted with a beam, losing 2 levels (:. The eye’s red glow dims. Vesun casts Dispel Magic on it and the eye’s light fades completely. Vesun restores Sarienne 1 level.
 * We pass the statue. There are lots of pillars and the pool.
 * Vikrit looks into the pool and can see something glimmering, calls Vanesse over. It looks about 60 feet down.
 * Three skeletal trolls emerge from behind the pillars, and an even bigger giant with two fused heads (ettin) skeleton.
 * The ettin skeleton goes toward Vikrit and Sarienne. Sarienne tries to shoot it and snaps her bowstring.
 * Vikrit runs away and hides behind Tork. Tork scorching rays one of the trolls. Vesun tries to turn undead and doesn’t roll high enough. Sarienne gets hit hard by the ettin’s mace. Vanesse destroys one troll and cleaves - killing the other one. Sarienne gets around the remaining troll. Vikrit throws a holy water flask (NOTE TO MONICA: SPLASH DAMAGE WITH HOLY WATER SUCKS). The ettin smacks Tork very hard, then Vanesse destroys it with a 69-damage hit (nice). Sarienne attacks the troll and it hits her back. Vikrit hits it with another holy water flask. Vesun finally turns it and Sarienne kills it after it runs past her.
 * Vanesse instantly jumps into the water with her armor on.
 * Talking about Vanesse - Janaka: “Would you say that she’s an 8?” “Would you say that her charisma was an 8?” “It is, actually.” DM: “Speaking of 8, you take -8 on your swim check.”
 * The shiny thing is suspended in a jellylike cube… and the water is being pulled down, and she passes out.
 * Vikrit dives down to get her with a rope around him, on top of Vesun’s celestial porpoise, and they bring her up.
 * Vikrit dives back in with the dolphin to try to attack the cube, but it swipes at him and knocks him out when he cuts into it (natural 1 on fort save). The porpoise dumps Vikrit back onto the ground.
 * Tork lightnings the water to attack the cube.
 * Sarienne checks out the next chamber and gets attacked by a swarm of bats.
 * GOOD THING NO ONE WAS AROUND TO WATCH THESE MORONS TRY TO DROWN THEMSELVES.
 * Tork opens another door to a gigantic hall with a massive throne. There is the skeletal body of a giant sitting on it. Vesun reads “here sits the unchallenged ruler of … King Samri the 3rd”
 * Vanesse rolls the highest (with a -1) history check somehow (“I read a book!”). This is the most famous king of the cloud giants.
 * Vesun casts light. There is something glinting against the back wall. Vikrit asks Tork to float him in, can’t really see, so he comes back.
 * We all line up to take a ranged shot at the giant… and Tork scorching rays it. Nothing happens for a second… and then it gets up and walks out of the chamber.
 * It gets up and slams Vanesse with its massive mace. Everyone runs behind the pillars (Sarienne trying to shoot it but it doesn’t do much), it advances and smashes one instead of Sarienne. Vikrit throws his last holy water flask at it to little effect.
 * Vanesse finds a lever at the back of the throne. The back rises up slowly–it leads to a path of stairs down… that are medium sized, not giant sized. Vikrit dashes across toward the throne room. The giant advances toward Tork… suddenly, a definitely not suspicious human man in black robes pops out of nothingness and says “Can you kill it?!” Tork says “let’s kill it!” He summons huge tentacles to grapple the skeleton. Vesun turns it and does a bunch of damage.
 * Vanesse finds a tomb, a bunch of coins she’s never seen (very big) neatly stacked, sarcophagus, a gigantic golden band studded with gems, a glass sphere with some kind of swirling white cloud in it.
 * The giant keeps struggling with the tentacles. Vikrit shoots at it from the doorway to the hall. Tork lightning bolts it. The mage shoots a black ray out of his finger at the giant but misses. Vesun heals the giant for a bunch of damage. It smashes the tentacles. Vikrit shoots it again, Tork scorches it very badly.
 * The mage blasts it with 5 magic missiles. Sarienne fires an arrow straight into the base of its skull and its head pops off and sinks into the pool.
 * The team asks who the mysterious mage is. He says he’s “Charlie”, captured by the drow and brought here from exploring Xendrik. Vikrit and Sarienne can tell there’s something he’s not telling us.
 * There’s a quarterstaff-sized giant’s wand, and the orb. Charlie goes over to the ring and examines it - says it’s a giant’s ring from ~3000 years ago, Vesun confirms it has a jeweler’s name. Giant’s wand - wand of fireball, Tork rolls a 1 and thinks it’s a wand of ice storm, Vanesse rolls a 20 and knows it’s a wand of fireball (Vesun doesn’t believe her). Charlie casts detect magic, Vesun tries using the Geiger Counter and it breaks - very powerful magic.
 * On the obsidian band around the glass sphere: “The realm of madness sealed away/betrayed by one who slipped [his/her] chains/the keepers’ legacy overturned/spirit of the ancient kings unwound/may the four winds this [vessel/prison] tempt/torn Azure Sky made whole again” - THIS IS THE RELIC WE WERE LOOKING FOR.
 * While examining the orb and presumably casting something to tell us something about it, Charlie suddenly teleports away. Vikrit’s agonized scream of frustration echoes throughout the chamber.
 * He has a piece of paper that has fallen out of his pocket, and it’s Jana’s address.
 * Eventually we kill the gelatinous cube and get the shiny thing… it’s a piece of silver.
 * Vikrit and Sarienne get the drop on the shaman and gag/manacle him, bring him back to camp.