Session 21, 2008-04-04: Making the Mountain Passable

Session 21: wherein Jakob throws dogs and giants, and the undead become merely dead

Players (Characters)
Scott (Filthy Ike)
Jeremy (Flynn Flamm)
Tony (Brother Jakob)
Rachel (Lotus)
Tom (Nathaniel Graythorne)
DM: Catherine

The party set about upgrading equipment, and Ike found he was a bit short on funds. Lotus made an offer: "you can have 1500 gold pieces, but you can't kill squirrels for a week." Ike's response was "you can keep your damn money." Ike spent the next week killing squirrels. Lotus spent the time talking to and healing squirrels. Jakob spent some time playing with orphans. Nate researched Grayn family history to figure out his relation to Martin Grayn. Flynn threw a benefit concert for the people of Westlay, with Nate providing a lightshow and Ike preparing food.

Minellin informed the party that the Ghern had started travelling southward and burned much of the forest, but that there was no great need for NMR's help at the time. A few days later he let the party know a group of clerics was coming from the mountains to help deal with the Thirsting in Westlay. A day after that, the clerics sent word that they were under attack by big lumbering beasts -- Mivilorns. They sent coordinates, and Nate and the party teleported out, with Flynn casting haste on everyone just before teleporting. Ike started shooting, hitting a far-off squirrel with his first shot and one of the beasts with the next four. Jakob tried to throw another beast aside. Flynn started singing, providing everyone in the area with magical healing. Lotus cast lightning at the pack of beasts. Two of them tried to eat clerics, and two missed on their attempts to eat Ike and Jakob. The remaining clerics started running. Ike kept shooting, and Nate tried to phantasmally kill one of the beasts, but didn't succeed. Jakob's flurry of blows wounded one substantially (183 hp) and Flynn fired his bow. Lotus cast Languor, draining one beast's strength. Two kept eating the clerics they'd bitten, and the other two missed the slightly quicker than normal Ike and Jakob.

Ike finally took down the one he'd been working on, and took another shot at one nearby. Nate unlucked one who had been trying to eat clerics. Jakob tripped one and ruptured its spleen, killing it. Flynn fired a couple more arrows and Lotus flamestriked one of the enemies. It turned to try to eat Jakob, but failed. The other spit one of the clerics out of his mouth and sniffed to see if it was still alive, but his poor luck gave him a mouth full of gravel when trying to bite again. Ike's arrows and Jakob's fists combined to kill one of the remaining mivilorns, and Nate's Phantasmal Killer took down the unlucky one. Several clerics healed Ike and cast Lingering Soul on their fallen brothers, and the party teleported back to Westlay with the recently deceased and as many extra clerics as could be managed.

A couple days later, Minellin sent a message saying that two strange giants had closed off a key mountain pass, and had wraiths along with them. The party decided to disguise themselves as commoners and join a caravan heading over the pass. Lotus summoned a pair of wolves to lead the way. Nate gave everyone mage armor, and Veiled the wolves to look like big strong mercenaries. Lotus cast Death Ward on herself and Jakob, and Flynn hasted the party and sang a song from within the caravan's wagon. As the party reached the spot where the giants were known to dwell, the giants stepped out of a pair of caves. They were surrounded by ghosts, and one said "this is our mountain, claimed for Vash."

Jakob leaped up to the platform where one of the giants stood, and tossed him down onto the road (with some luck from Nate.) The giant stood and flung one of the "mercenary" wolves off of the cliff, and devoured the other with some sort of vortex. The other cast Unholy Blight, sickening Nate. Ike peppered the giant with arrows (191 hp), and his last painful poke made the giant move slower in his last, dying moments. Nate cast Sensory Deprivation on the other giant, meaning the giant could only feel crude sensations, and had no sense of sight, sound, or smell. Flynn nailed it with an arrow, and Lotus' Sudden Stalagmite immobilized it while providing a fairly crude sensation. The caravan's normal mercenaries fired ineffectively at the giant. Jakob's quicksilver boots let him leap over to the other platform, and his flurry seriously wounded the giant. The souls around the giant started screaming, and the valley echoed, scaring the caravan's driver, horses, and guards. Ike finished off the giant, and the ghosts dissipated, but the valley kept whining.

Nate created an illusion of several mercenaries standing on the edge of the road looking into the valley, and then disconnected the horses from the wagon so they wouldn't take it with them when they fled. Flynn tried to use a countersong to help those who'd been scared, but it had no effect. A shrieking undead creature materialized and tried to scare Nate's illusion. A pair of wraiths materialized next to Lotus and attacked, but her Death Ward kept her safe. Ike shot at the shrieking creature, hitting it with several force arrows. Nate unlucked one of the wraiths, and Lotus' sunbeam killed both plus the shrieker. Flynn's countersong counteracted the dying shriek (negative levels). Nate chased down the horses and caravan members, who had finally recovered from their fear, and the party checked out the cave behind the giants' platforms.

The party climbed into a swerving tunnel. Flynn cast a minor light spell on himself since he couldn't see in the dark. A group of wraiths came out from the walls. Flynn played the "OMG Wraiths are PWN3D" song. One wraith struck Lotus ineffectively, one missed Ike, one missed Flynn, and the final one hit Ike but he avoided the drain effect. Jakob's flurry took down two wraiths and Ike's bow took down two more.

The party stepped into a large cave with a pit in the middle. A big black worm-like creature called a Nightcrawler was in the middle of the cave. Jakob charged with a Divine Surge, but missed. Lotus' flamestrike was ineffective against the magically resistant beast. Ike's holy arrows were somewhat effective. Flynn cast Haste and started to retreat. The nightcrawler bit Jakob and held him tight. Nate's unluck failed on the creature, and Jakob barely managed to hit it. Lotus' force dinosaurs were also ineffective. Ike's force arrows made the nightcrawler start to bleed. Flynn stepped forward and cast Freedom of Movement on Jakob, but took a nasty hit for his trouble. The nightcrawler tried to swallow Jakob, but he slipped away. It spit out a cone of cold, catching Flynn completely unaware and leaving him badly hurt. Nate's unluck was again ineffective. Jakob's flurry and Ike's arrows, with some guidance from Lotus, were just enough to bring the nightcrawler down. Flynn kept his song going for the next few minutes as his body magically recovered from the fight.

The party reached level 14.