Day 57 & 58 Caves of Chaos, Chaotic leader destroyed

Cast of Characters:  Quint as DM, Emily as BreAnna, Tais and Harimad, Scott as Glade

Day 57

Wake up and head over to the tavern for breakfast.  The day is overcast as the party heads back to the caves.  They arrive at the caves without incident.  Their is still a foreboding feeling in the air.  The party heads to the entrance to Cave 9 looking forward to some adventuring.

Harimad casts light on her staff and BreAnna casts light on Tais' walking staff.  They proceed down the hall to the previously unexplored passage sloping down to the west.  They head down the slope to where the passage splits heading north and south.  The party heads south towards what appears to be a room.  The room is rather large with four pillars the reach towards a high, domed ceiling.  The floor is a mosiac of black and red stones.  The south wall has an evil looking tapestry with an altar in front of it.  On the altar is a bowl, two goblets, and a vase-shaped pitcher.  Glade casts Phantasmal Force sending an illusion of himself to walk up to the altar.  His alter ego approaches without incident.  Frederick and BreAnna approach the altar without incident.  The rest of the party cautiously enters the room as well.  The contents of the altar are loathsome and covered in blood.  They are also extremely ornate and obviously valuable.  No one in the party wants to physically touch them.  Harimad, standing guard in the door, decides to cast detect magic.  The altar glows slightly and the items on the altar glow brightly.  Glade takes 4 sacks from Harimad.  He puts one sack inside of the another and puts the other two on his hands.  He uses the sacks to scoop up the objects on the altar.  Glade gets hit with a spell that causes him to not want to do anything to get rid of the objects.  He is slowly succumbing to an evil spell.  The clerics notice something is amiss and start to confer amongst themselves.  Glade starts casting a spell and suddenly a wight comes out of the wall.  The clerics quickly cast Hold Person on Glade and the wight disappears just as Legolas fires a magic missile at it.  The party casts Lighten Load on Glade and pushed him onto a sack.  They quickly dragged him back to the keep casting Hold Person on Glade the whole way.  They go directly to the temple where Priestly was able, with the help of the clerics, to get rid of the spell on Glade.  He recounts that he was under the control of an evil force that was causing him to protect the artifacts at all costs.  Priestly destroys the artifacts leaving nothing but worthless slag left.  The party rests and recuperates the rest of the day.

Day 58

Zachary, the bailiff of the fortress, comes and congratulates the party during breakfast and thanks them for all of their work.  He tells them that they won't have any taxes or official fees while they are in the Keep.

The day is overcast again.  The party travels without event to the Caves again.  They head back to the altar room.  They pull down the tapestry and search the room for secret doors.  They don't find anything.  They decide to head north down the unexplored hallway.  The party sees two doors on the right hand side of the hallway.  They approach the first door and don't hear anything when they listen.  They go down to the second door and hear nothing there as well.  They go back to the first and tie a rope to it and open it.  They enter what appear to be living quarters.  They find a bookshelf full of instructional tomes on evil.  They take the books and scrolls back to the tapestry and dump them there.  They also find some fine plates and silverware that appears to be of value.  They decide to leave it and pick it up on the way out.

The go down the passageway and are confronted with a large group of beings streaming out of a doorway.  Glade casts sleep with no affect on the villians.  As they approach, the party sees that they are facing skeletons and undead.  BreAnna and Cassius cast heat metal on the armor of 4 of the skeletons.  They attack BreAnna and Cassius, but miss.  Round two starts with Tais casting Magic Missile at a group of figures that has appeared all the way down the hall hitting one but not enough.  Glade attempts sleep again on the new figures that have appeared.  Four of them fall asleep.  Harimand and Frederick casts Turn Undead and causes  a large group to flee.  Suddenly the hall becomes much quieter as two Silence spells go off.  One centered on the party and one on the group of figures at the end of the hall.  Part of the party retreats down the hall to be able to cast spells.  Glade casts Phantasmal Force causing a wall of fire to spring up between the party and the undead, but it has no affect on them as they are immune to it.  The rest of the party engages in melee combat in eerie silence cutting down several of the undead.  Combat continues with the undead attacking.  Glade throws an flask of oil destroying one zombie and injuring another.  More undead go down to Magic Missiles and melee attacks.  Meanwhile, the humans down the hall have been using this time to wake the other sleeping humans.  The human leader is blinded by Harimand with a light spell but manages to draw his mace anyway.  The four other humans are put to sleep.  The evil leader is hit with two magic missiles just as he swallows a potion causing him to disappear into mist, but he still has a glowing sphere attached to his head.  The sphere rushes towards the party and finishes movement in the midst of the party members.  It's hit by Legolas with a Magic Missile and falls to the ground.  The party continues to mop up the remaining undead creatures while Glade continues to stomp on the mist and hit it with his quarterstaff.  They dispatch the sleeping humans and gather around the glowing mist.  They spend some time healing and seeing what happens to the mist.

The mist condenses after about an hour to the form of a human in black raiment with a red robe underneath. Determining him to be the leader, he is slain, his head cut off, and his robes and other equipment procured. Several items are detected as magical, including his armor, amulets on both him and the other clerics, and his staff. The written material from the living quarters and the vile tapestry are burned upon the unholy altar.

The group returns to the keep and is congratulated by both the keep guards and also by Priestly. He proclaims that the holy quest is finished, with the leader (which he determines from his robes) vanquished. Both Frederick and Cassius state that they will now return to service at the temple. The group inventories equipment. The plate mail and shield are identified as being both +1; the staff is a clerical weapon called a snake staff, with the command word of "Slitherus"; this staff will encompass a hit victim and hold them fast. The amulets, being evil, are given to Priestly to destroy. He has identified the items and given the party a large gold bonus for completing the quest.

Racial balances in the Borderland Keep area

Due to the frontier setting of the Borderland Keep area, the general rugged terrain, and the prevalence of large bands of humanoids, cross breeding by both consent and violence is fairly common. This has led to fairly large populations of half-ogre, half-elf, and half-orc. Due to these populations existing for a few generations, there is a greater tolerance and sometime even acceptance of racial mixes that would otherwise be frowned on or worse in  other lands of the realm.

Half-ogre and half-orc mercenaries have served from time to time at Borderland Keep. The tolerance for these groups and individuals is greatest there. Kingsholme has some tolerance, while Richton is less tolerant as it's population is more pure blood human.

Silver Valley has historically been more tolerant of half-elven folk then is normal for locales of elven folk. This tolerance did not extend to the half-ogre and half-orc ancestry, as these humanoids are sworn enemies of the elves of that land.

Local Geography and Politics

The location of Borderland Keep is indicative of its name; it is on the borders of the realm. Borderland Keep is staffed by a small group of defenders of freedom and law from the forces of chaos and evil. It was positioned to combat at continual hot spot, known as the caves of chaos. These caves have been cleaned of evil several times, but they continue to attract a variety of humanoid classes, sometimes directed by evil human leaders. It is suspected that to be the current case. A large group of adventurers has been loosely contracted by the Temple of the sun, located at Borderland Keep and overseen by Priestly, to investigate and, if possible, remove the current source of leadership there.

Borderland Keep resides in a fairly temperate location of the world. Several of the forces garrisoned at Borderland Keep come from the Kingdom of the Silver Princess to the West. Also, the small hamlet of Kingsholme to the south serves as a trading partner, primarily in manufactured Smith goods from the famed dwarven smith Kahga.

The city of Richton, farther to the south, also provides a supply of men, arms, and food. Richton is a larger municipality with a ruling Duke and nobility. Its economy focuses on grain and fruit production, with some mining of minerals to the north and east.

In the past, Silver Valley, the locale of the Silver Palace, was a great source of strength, both in the form of magic and men. A large elven and other demi-human population resides (or resided?) in this location. However, news lately of Silver Valley has been rare and dark. Something unknown has caused a communication disruption, both of news, and trade.

The road between Kingsholme and the Keep is fraught with peril. There is a narrow mountain pass and large bands of humanoinds and other dangerous monsters are routinely encountered along this journey. Travelers are advised to be well aware of this danger and to approach this trip in large and well prepared numbers.

Character Bio Lleuvonia

Lleuvonia, with a subtitle "The Beautiful", is indeed a very beautiful female elf. She is an elven priestess of the oaken wood order. This nature order holds plant life most sacred and holds the oak tree as the most important of all trees. This order receives direction from a goddess, but information about her is mostly a mystery, as the focus of the religion is upon earthly plants and their protection.

Lleuvonia is currently engaged in service with the Princess of the Silver Palace. As that realm has recently cut off communication with the surrounding area, not much is known about the current status. However, Lleuvonia recently engaged the services of an adventuring party (unnamed) and they disappeared into the wilderness east of the Silver Palace realm.

Llevuvonia is slightly proud and vain, but genuinely cares about her fellow creatures. She has blond hair and prefers clothing in colors of red, magenta, and yellow.

Character Bio Cassius

Cassius is a cleric of the order of the sun, serving under Priestly in Borderland Keep. He has served there for two years, having arrived at the keep for service when he was 20. He has military training and prefers to use mace and shield, which is common for his order.

Cassius is quiet and reserved. He rarely shares his opinion and looks to others for leadership and direction; however, he is not afraid of using his abilities and calling upon his god for assistance. 

Cassius has brown hair cut very short, no facial hair, blue eyes and stands 6' 1" tall. He weighs 185 pounds and has average strength and health. Frederick prefers a black and white robe, with yellow highlights. He wears a skull cap and attempts to keep his clothing clean and comely. 

Cassius has recently been engaged with an adventure party (that as yet has not adopted a name), to investigate the notorious caves of chaos. His main quest is to seek out a rumored temple of evil and vanquish the leader and report. Cassius has developed a friendship with Frederick and respects and admires him, as he has been with the temple several years more then he and also is older then Cassius. When Cassius is finished with the current mission, he intends to devote service time at the Borderland Keep Temple. 

Character Bio Frederick

Frederick is a cleric of the order of the sun, serving under Priestly in Borderland Keep. He has served there for seven years, having arrived at the keep for service when he was 19. He has military training and prefers to use mace and shield, which is common for his order.

Frederick is outgoing and direct. He enjoys leading, but does not chafe under the leadership of others. He will give room for leadership to develop, but when that does not occur, he will start to fill that gap.

Frederick has dark brown hair cut moderately short, no facial hair, brown eyes and stands 5' 9" tall. He weighs 145 pounds and has average strength and health. Frederick prefers a royal blue cloak and a white robe. He attempts to keep these items clean and pleasant, but is not fixated upon beauty.

Frederick has recently been engaged with an adventure party (that as yet has not adopted a name), to investigate the notorious caves of chaos. His main quest is to seek out a rumored temple of evil and vanquish the leader and report. Frederick is good friends with his brother in the faith, Cassius, but finds him to be too quiet for his tastes.

Day 54 Adventures in August 2010

Group of Day 53, joined by:

Legolas Elf Magic User played by Justin

The group eats breakfast at the tavern. Legolas meets the group and asks to join the voyage. The group resupplies and prepares to leave. They all leave to go to the caves. Weather has changed; it is at least 15 degrees cooler. They enter the caves and go to "cave 6". The area is deserted, with the bodies of orcs scattered about. The cave is filled with trash and looks like some creatures lived here. We look through the trash and find nothing.

We leave the cave and walk down the hallway. The walls are slimy and muddy. Legolas lights a torch and burns the slime. Legolas sees a hidden nook and shows the rest of the party. He burns the slime away from the door and opens it. It reveals a room with tables, buckets, chairs, and shields. Legolas sees a similar nook in the north wall. The group opens the box and reveals a long bow, arrows, and other things. Legolas opens the other secret door, which opens into another room.

The room is carpeted, has furniture, and tapestries. It look like a battle was here. The party looks behind the curtain and sees a chest. The chest is opened, revealing copper pieces. The party leaves the room through the door which opens into the hallway. The south leads to a crossroads, which leads to a cave entrance. The party goes to "cave 9".

As soon as we enter, evil fills the air. A shrill piping noise is heard. The floors are smooth and echo. The party looks for traps as they enter the cave; this alerts 8 beings. The group attacks the beings. Breanna, suspecting undead, turns them and 3 flee. The party defeats the others and follow the 3. All 3 are destroyed.

The party regroups and Breanna looks for traps. The group walks south down the hallway. They find a pile of rubble and find a room. Inside, they see skeletons lining the walls. They prepare to enter the room, casting protection from evil on the group, along with bless, aid, and shillelagh. The skeletons do nothing as they enter the room, but the party attacks the skeletons anyway. All of the skeletons are torn to pieces without incident. There were amulets around the necks of the skeletons, that are removed. Legolas looks for secret doors and moves all weapons away from the skeletons. The group decides to eat and sleep for 1 hour. Breanna approaches the throne. She casts detect magic and it appears magical. Belzedar uses a thief tool to remove gems from the throne; he claims 4 gems.

The group leaves the room and heads west. This leads to another room. In the room they see 8 figures similar to the ones fought earlier. They begin to come towards the group. Belzedar makes the first attack. Troy attacks with a crossbow. Frederick and Cassius try to turn the creatures. The creatures attack the group. They do little damage. The group returns the attack, destroy them, and leave the room.

The party moves backwards towards the cave entrance. They approach 2 doors but hear nothing. They open the east door which leads to stairs heading downwards. They open the north door, which goes up the stairs to a room with men in it. Belzedar shoots an arrow, killing one instantly. Legolas shoots a magic missle. They cast silence and hold person. Troy runs up and attacks the men. The group kills the men. They then search the room. The search the bodies and one has an amulet. They find gold in each pouch. Each person gets 7 gold pieces. They gather the armor and the swords. They head back to the keep. Belzedar takes one amulet. The party goes to the priest to show them the amulet. They talk to the priest and destroy the amulet.