Zuzhul Plaguebringer - The Final Chapter (IWD2 edition)
Genryu
Member Posts: 372
The IWD2 Spell Restricted Specialist Mage Challenge
Foreword
Back when I conceived the pure specialist mage challenge, I never expected it to amount to much, my original goal was simple ....to survive as long as I could. Yet here we are three months, and three games later still surviving. I just couldn't bring myself to stop now, not without properly concluding Zuzhul's story.If you haven't seen any of the previous installments, here are links plus a brief synopsis of each:
Part 1 - The Bhaalspawn Saga: There is one phrase that comes to mind when describing the story of the Bhaalspawn Zuzhul Plaguebringer 'Greatness from small beginnings'. Zuzhul's life is changed forever following the murder of his foster father Gorion, a murder that triggers a deadly chain of events culminating in a deadly war with his godchild siblings. Only one will survive to claim the vacant throne of their dead father, Bhaal the god of murder!
Part 2 - Icewind Dale: For his crimes against the gods, Zuzhul Plaguebringer is stripped of his divine essence and banished almost one hundred years into the past, to the furthest reaches of the spine of the world mountains. Stripped of his powers, can Zuzhul survive the brutal and unforgiving region known as the Icewind Dale, and claw his way back to his former glory?
NOTE TO THE MODERATORS: I hope this journal is ok, I appreciate that IWD2 is not one of Beamdogs Enhanced Editions (Though hopefully that will change in the future!), so I'm not sure if I am breaking any rules running this journal. Still I'd like to come full circle and finish of the story properly, if this is going to be a problem then let me know.
Challenge Rules
Here are my chosen rules, feel free to alter and adjust them to suit your own playthroughs.* Difficulty: Core Rules (This may seem low for all the insane difficulty addicts, but with the imposed restrictions, things quickly become difficult).
* You may only memorize scrolls and cast spells that belong to your chosen school of magic, in my case this is Necromancy.
* The use of wands is allowed, though I try to restrict my usage as I level up.
* Special items that allow you to cast a specific spell X amount of timers per day are allowed.
* Casting from scrolls is allowed, but only if the spell aligns with your chosen magic school.
NOTE: The exceptions to this rule are 'green scrolls' protection from fire, magic etc.
Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Rules
The big change from previous installments is the jump from 2nd edition to 3rd edition rules. If you have not played IWD2 before, there are a lot of big differences which will affect my play through, and how I play it.* Firstly gone are the days of rolling your character, you are now assigned a character with 10 in each statistic, and 16 additional points to distribute as you see fit (+1 point every 4 levels).
*Baldurs Gate II introduced sub classes in the form of kits, in IWD2 we instead gain access to sub races, each race (With the exception of half-orc) is split into three subraces that can be chosen from, each with its own and advantages and disadvantages.
* In previous games a popular powergaming strategy was to drop irrelevant stats like charisma down to 3 to invest more points in your class specific stats. In IWD2 every single statistic has value however, IWD2 introduces skills and feats that are modified by specific stats. Also stats tend to serve many different purposes, for example intelligence doesn't just affect your spell casting, but also the number of skill points you get each level up, wisdom modifies your saving throws etc
* Multi-classing works differently. You have access to all the classes (regardless of race), and can invest a level into any of them whenever you level up (So by 4th level you could be a 2barbarian/1rogue/1sorceror if you so wanted), the only downside with multiclassing is you suffer an XP penalty if there is ever a level gap of more than 1between your chosen classes (Unless investing levels into your races favoured class).
* There are very few weapon and armour restrictions in IWD2, if you want to play an armour plated, greatsword wielding sorcerer, then you can do so long as you invest points into the relevant feats (Note: Each suit of armour has a percentage based chance of causing a spell to fail if worn by an arcane caster, the heavier the armour the greater the chance % of failure, however one feat reduces this chance by 5% for each point invested).
* Experience also works differently, and may be my achilles heel. Experience scales depending on the level difference between you and your enemy, fight an enemy that is significantly more powerful than you, and you will get a big experience bonus. However if you fight a lower level enemy you get reduced experience, and if its a lot weaker than you, then you will get no experience!. As I am soloing and will be leveling up fast initially, I'm going to find my experience severely gimped before to long, greatly reducing my level up speed.
Character Generation
Due to Zuzhul's infernal heritage I opted to take one of the new sub-races, Tiefling! (Asimaar would have probabally made more sense, but I wanted the bonus INT!)
TIEFLING
Advantages:
* +2 INT
* +2 DEX
* 5 points of Fire, Cold and Electrical resistance.
* +2 to Bluff and Hide skill
* Can cast Darkness 1/day
Disadvantages:
* -2 CHR
* Level Adjustment +1: Tieflings are slightly more powerful, and gain levels at a rate of about 1 level slower than the common races.
Strength 10:
In my previous playthoughs I had 18str, as I often found myself forced into melee. However I just don't have the points to invest this time, and out of all stats, this was the most expendable.
Dexterity: 18:
I went 18 for a few reasons. Firstly I plan to invest skill points into Open Locks, and as I'm not a rogue I'm restricted to being able to only invest half as many points into the skill, 18 dex will give me a respectable +4 modifier, on my lock pick checks. High dex will also increase my armour rating, and finally ranged combat gives me a viable back up for when my spells fail me (with only 10str my melee is going to be worthless).
Constitution: 18
Just for the hit points, saves and survivability.
Intelligence: 20
I capped off intelligence completely, in IWD2 intelligence affects the number of skill points received each level up. It will also allow me to cast a lot more spells per level, as well as increasing the potency of my spells, increasing the likelihood of status effects like horror to landing successfully.
Wisdom: 10
I would have benefitted from improved saves against magic if I had raised it, but I was limited on skill points felt the above skills were more useful to my needs.
Charisma: 2
Although charisma plays a much bigger role in conversations in IWD2 (Bluff, Intimidate and Diplomacy skill), I still dropped it right down, keeping the character in line with my previous Zuzhul journals, afterall he is not exactly likable, nor a peoples person.
Skill point distribution:
Class specific skills:
4 Alchemy
4 Concentration
4 Knowledge (arcana)
4 Spell Craft
Cross class skills:
2 Intimidate
2 Open Locks
(Cross class skills cost twice as many points, and you can only invest half as many points into them in total)
My initial two feats were:
Improved Initiative: Casting time reduced by 1
Spell Penetration (1/2): +2 to all spell rolls when trying to overcome an enemies resistance.
Due to my very high intelligence, I was forced to chose five spells during character creation. I will download and use Dalekeeper to delete these additional none necromancy spells.
The necromancy spells I do have however are:
Larloch's Minor Drain
Chill Touch
Minor ray of enfeeblement
4
Comments
Introduction
After my battles against the demon Belhifet, the devastated town of Easthaven, and the tired and mentally scarred villagers of Kuldahar, had slowly returned to a state of normality. The fallen were mourned, homes were rebuilt, and as the months rolled into years, and the years into decades, a period of peace once again fell over the ten towns, and the devastation wrought by the demon became a distant memory.
A memory to all but me....
My long sleep, deep in the lowest crypts of the Vale of Shadows had not been a peaceful one. I am haunted continuously by the same vivid nightmare, the demon Belhifet comes to me in my dreams, promising a millennia of torments, whilst the ghostly visage of his former lieutenant, the elf maiden Ilmadia sits by his side.
He takes great pleasure, whispering his planned tortures into my ear before carefully setting to work on my bound and helpless body. Despite it being a dream, I vividly feel every excruciating cut, every agonizing burn and every broken bone....
That was not the worst part however, huddled behind the maiden Ilmadia sit a pair of shadowy children, twins. Their faces are obscured from me, they never speak, they never even move, and yet those faceless children filled me with more dread than anything I had encountered before. This was more than a dream, it was far to real, a premonition perhaps?
The same dream continued unabated for almost 30 years, never relenting, never changing, until one night.
Many visions flooded my subconscious as I slept that night, I saw a huge army marching under the banner of a formidable Chimera, I saw a large town burning to the ground, and I saw many places from my past, Kuldahar, Dragons Eye and the Severed Hand, but not as I remembered, and then I saw them...
Two shadowy figures, marching at the head of a massive half-breed army. They were not children anymore, their faces were still obscured but I instantly recognized them as the terrible twins, and I was once again filled by a sense of terror and forboding. I heard a demonic chuckle, followed by the familiar voice of Balhefit.
"My Legacy......."
I awoke suddenly, forced from my self imposed hibernation by some unknown power. Something was very wrong, a thousand questions whirled around my head, but I had very few answers.
I stepped from my tomb, but felt unsteady on my feet. Such a long unnatural sleep had left me hazy and weakened, and I knew almost immediately that most of my strength and powers had left me, yet I hadn't aged a day during my long hibernation and I knew full well that lost strength and power could be regained.
I went to retrieve my equipment, but discovered that it hadn't aged well over the last few decades. My robes had rotten in the cold damp environment, losing their enchantment over the years, and my weapons and spell book were all in an advanced state of decay. I left the crypt soon after, eager to find out more of the mysterious twins.
I couldn't be certain, but the sheer size of the town I saw burning in my vision, led me to believe it was Targos, the largest of the Ten Towns. With no other leads to follow, Targos seemed my best for finding some answers.
Unfortunately I didnt even get near to the town of Targos. From my high vantage point at the peak of Kelvin's Cairn, I could see the town was besieged by an immense army of greenskins, Orcs and Goblins fought to smash through the Targos's impressive walls. There was no way in or out of the town ......At least not by land however.
Targos was one of four towns situated along the banks of the massive Maer Dualdon. From my perch on the mountain, I could make out several fishing vessels, delivering reinforcements from the other towns into Targos's docks, whilst at the same time ferrying away refugees from the besieged town.
I had to get into that city, and I was sure the people of Targos were not going to turn away an extra sword arm. The town of Termalaine was closest, and as luck would have it one of the fishing vessels had just docked there, and was once again loading up with soldier and mercenaries.
Within the hour I was aboard the Wicked Wench and sailing towards the besieged town of Targos.
Prologue - Targos
1 Mirtul 1312
Several plumes of smoke could be seen from within the town as we docked. The greenskins must have breached the walls, which is going to make finding answers all the more difficult. I have decided to aid the town for now, as until the greenskin threat is averted, I wont be able to conduct an effective investigation.
Hedron Kerdos the boats captain suggested we seek out the towns mayor, Lord Ulbrec. Ulbrec will be the one planning the towns defense, and should be able to supply me with the lay of the land, and enemy intel.
1 Mirtul 1312
The situation is more desparate than I initially thought, the docks are swarming with greenskins, within a minute of disembarking from the Wicked Wench I was waylaid by goblins. I drained the life from one creature with a Larcloch's Minor drain spell, whilst crippling the other with a ray of enfeeblement, however in my weakened state, my spells will not last for long, I need to find Ulbrec sooner rather than later...
I'm having problems running IWD2, it worked fine last night, but today the game wont even open, it locks up the moment I try to open it. Uninstalling, and then reinstalling the game worked and I could play again, but only until I turned off my PC.
When ever I power down my computer, and then log on again at a later time I find that the game has become unresponsive, I'm not sure why, or what's happening and cannot find a solution online. I've tried running it in different compatibility modes, but to no avail...
Hopefully there will be an EE edition at some point in the future.
EDIT: Nevermind, I've finally managed to overcome the problem.
have you considered playing nwn? expansions could be more fit for a new hero if i remember correctly...
nwn2 motb could finally see zuzhul returning to goodhood with a little bit of imagination.
perhaps new necromancer could take care of the nwn saga?
please, make this happen!
Lots of fiddling around with settings, but it seems that I can still run the game in windowed mode, so my problem is obviously a video issue. Its not ideal, but I'll be able to continue at least.
1 Mirtul 1312
Pools of crimson gore provided a stark contrast against the white snow, and every street corner was littered with the broken bodies of the dead, or dying. As I fought my way through the devastated streets, I happened upon a dwarf who unlike the rest of the unfortunate souls I had encountered, seemed to revel in the chaos. Countless goblin corpses littered the ground around the blood spattered warrior, he glanced up at me as I approached, whilst casually pulling his embedded axe from the skull of his latest victim.
"Oh-oh! Fear not my pale friend, there be more enough greenskins for the both of us!"
The Dwarf, Jorun Tamewater informed me that most of his adversaries this day had been armed with pickaxes. It's likely they are sappers, who have bypassed the city walls by tunneling under the city. Jorun suspects that they tunneled in from the vast cave network below Targos, he also mentioned that the fighting was thickest near the warehouses in the north ...interesting, are the goblins coming in from beneath the warehouses?
I looted a finely crafted crossbow from one of the corpses. With my spells almost spent, and with no safe place to rest, the weapon should allow me to safely deal with the greenskins from distance.
1 Mirtul 1312
Further down the street, I discovered several of the towns militia drinking away their coin in the local tavern, whilst their town burned down all around them. I tried to rally the troops and alert them to the towns impending doom, but the fools threatened to gut me if I didn't leave them to their cups, if I still had my powers I would have struck them down there and then, and marched their corpses outside to aid in the defense.
The barkeep wasn't much better, despite the cries of terror coming from outside he was in a total state of denial, and point blank refused to believe me, even threatening to have me thrown out if I continued to 'cause trouble'. Oooooh he hasn't seen *me* cause trouble yet, this is infuriating.
The only other capable sword arm in the tavern, an old gnarly barbarian trader refused to aid the town on account of a promise he had made to the captain of the guard about using his weapon in Targos.
FOOLS!!! All of them are bloody fools! I hope their tavern burns and comes crashing down upon their heads.
1 Mirtul 1312
Jorun was right, the warehouse was positively swarming with goblins, this is definitely the source. Fortunately I managed to surprise the greenskins, landing a crossbow bolt between the eyes of one of the filthy creatures. The stupid things charged right for me, and I was able to get off a second bolt, dropping another of the goblins.
Handicapped by their short legs, I was able to easily outpace the monsters, stopping just long enough to fire off the occasional missile at the group, one by one I picked the stupid creatures apart, as they foolishly threw themselves at me. Within a few minutes the warehouse was clear, and I actually felt stronger for my efforts, my power returning slowly but surely.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
1 Alchemy
1 Concentration
1 Knowledge (arcana)
1 Spell Craft
1 Bluff
[/spoiler]
At the back of the warehouse I discovered a trapdoor leading to a small cellar, and as the Dwarf had suspected the back wall had been collapsed, leading to a network of caves and tunnels. It would probably be a good idea to clear the cave out before resuming my search for mayor Ulbrec, the last thing I wanted was an army of gobins coming at me from behind.
The warehouse was just the tip of the figurative iceberg, there was a small army holed up in the small cave network, and I was ambushed almost as soon as I entered. There were too many to go toe to toe with, and so I just ran. Keeping my distance as best I could, I ran deeper and deeper into the maze, whilst more and more and more goblins crawled out from their hiding holes in the walls.
As I evaded my pursuers, I began to learn the lay of the land and I soon noticed that many of the tunnels looped around and came back on them selves. I started to lure the hoard around in big circles, shooting them as I ran. Thankfully goblins are not known for their intellect, and were too stupid to realize that if half of their group had ran the opposite way, then they would have been able to cut me off and corner me.
The chase was a long one, but one by one I took out the goblins with my trusty crossbow, until the group was no more. I had to stop momentarily to catch my breath. Among the bodies I discovered several vials of burning oil which I stuffed into my pack.
Further in I came upon hundreds of tons of rubble that blocked the main passageway leading in and out of the caves. It would seem that the goblins had caused a cave in, trapping themselves in the cave network. This was a relief, it meant that once this section of the cave was clear, I wouldn't have to worry about goblin reinforcements any time soon.
Picking off, smaller groups of goblins one at a time, I eventually found the goblin leader, a mean looking fellow named Rukwurm and his lieutenant Ulek. I quickly found myself on the back foot, and had to retreat as more of the goblin chiefs men joined the battle. I made my way back to the narrow circular tunnel that I had employed to take down the first group, however this time I allowed them to draw near...
The fiery oils of burning I had looted earlier proved to be especially devastating in the narrow confines of the tunnel, igniting the creatures and lighting them up like a Thayvian candle. The goblins rolled aroud on the floor screaming, desperately trying to extinguish the agonizing flames. I didn't give them the chance, tossing a second vial into the burning crowd.
There was little of interest among the charred corpses, with the exception of an obviously enchanted scroll that I found on the chieftain, which somehow had survived the flames. Try as I might, I just couldn't make any sense of the runes, it was definitely important however. I stuffed the scroll into my pack, and then turned to leave, maybe someone in Targos could identify it for me?
All this conflict had stirred a familiar sensation deep within me, the feint tingling of negative plane energy as my powers slowly began to reawaken from my long slumber in the Vale of Shadows.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
Skills
1 Alchemy
1 Concentration
1 Knowledge (arcana)
1 Spell Craft
1 open locks
Feats
Spell Penetration (2/2 = +4 on all spell rolls against an enemies resistance)
[/spoiler]
1 Mirtul 1312
The town center was not half as chaotic as the docks district had been, and whilst the beat of the great orcish war drums could be heard echoing through the mountainous valleys all around town, the green skins had not yet breached Targos's impressive walls. I should be safe here, for now...
Making my way through the town I began to notice the familiar tingling sensation of negative plane energy, it was feint at first, almost imperceptible, but to one such as myself, attuned to such energies, it didn't take long to track the source. I could sense a tormented soul trapped somewhere within a nearby Inn 'The Weeping Widow'. The anguish I could sense coming from the wretched spirit was most delicious, and I just had to investigate.
The Inn was especially quiet, with most of the towns inhabitants having already fled in the face of the orcish invasion. I sat down at the bar and pressed the Innkeeper, one Cahl-Hyred for more information on the presence I had felt earlier.
The Weeping Widow Inn was aptly named because of the wailing spirit that haunts the building during the night. As the local legend goes, the inn was formerly the home of the spirit, who upon learning her husband had downed in a ship wreck, jumped to her death from one of the upper windows, falling down the steep cliff face outside.
Soon after her broken body was discovered on the jagged rocks on the banks of Maer Dualdon,
the hauntings began. Each night the spirit could be heard, crying from her room, waiting for her lost husband who will never return.
The Innkeeper, has offered a reward if I am able to shut the spirit up once and for all. I decided to pay for a bed until nightfall, so that I can meet with this spirit myself. However before I retired to my room, a glass bottle sitting on the bar caught my attention, whilst rather bland looking, it somehow had the touch of the negative plane on it.
According to Cahl-Hyred, a priest of Myrkul recently stayed at the Inn, the priest had refused to pay for his room, instead giving Cahl this 'potion' and informing him that it would more than cover the cost of his stay. It didn't take me long to identify the liquid, it was just plain water, the priest had obviously tried to dupe the innkeeper. However the bottle itself was enchanted, specifically it was ghost touched! The Inn keeper, a superstitious fool, didn't want anything to do with the item once he learned its true nature, and so I happily relieved him of the valuable artifact, before retiring to my room.
2 Mirtul 1312
My sleep proved a restless one, as always, the demon Belhifet came to me in my dreams, whispering into my ear promises of countless sadistic tortures, whilst the terrible faceless twins watched from the shadows......
I awoke suddenly, drenched in sweat, the pitiful wailing of the anguished spirit had disturbed me from my slumber, rescuing me from the demons nightmares. I sat up, and glanced out of my window, it was dark out now, the silvery light of a large full moon illuminated the buildings of Targos from above. I rose from my bed and slowly got dressed. The spirits wailing had subsided into a weak sobbing, but it was close by, probably the room next door.
I made my way next door, and let myself into the adjoining room. The room had been abandoned, left undisturbed for many years, it was completely trashed, furniture was toppled over, ornaments thrown around and smashed. Old moth eaten curtains danced in the cool night breeze, the window was still smashed all these years after the spirit had thrown her self to her death. Looking out of the window and on to the calm waters of Maer Dualdon stood the weeping apparition.
The ghost is stubborn, and almost unresponsive. I no longer possess my former mastery over the dead, and so cannot simply destroy her. I suspect if I am to silence the spirit and claim the innkeeps reward, then I will need to give the spirit some kind of closure. Bah! Such a waste of my time and talents, if only I wasn't so desperately in need of gold and new equipment....
There was nothing I could do now, so I returned to my room for the night, but this time sleep didn't come.
2 Mirtul 1312
The following morning, I made my way back down stairs, and before leaving the Inn, I pressed Cahl-Hyred for more information on the Inn's specter. Apparently, part of her husbands shipwreck had later washed ashore, some of which was used to build the Salty Dog Tavern, down in the docks district. Maybe I could find something there, that would put the spirit to rest?
2 Mirtul 1312
In much the same manner that I discovered the weeping spirit at the Inn, the familiar tingle of negative plane energy led me to a seemingly abandoned home north of the Inn. I cautiously approached, unsure of what to expect, I pushed the door ajar ever so slightly.
What I saw caught me off guard, it was less a case of the *walking* dead, and more a case of the *talking* dead. Three corpses were lined up along the floor, a militia man, a villager and a goblin. A grubby, unkept old man walked over to the dead commoner, bent down and whispered something in its ear, and to my total surprise the corpse responded!
"Yeah, you greedy old coot! It's hidden away in the fire place, you will find it behind the loose brick, three down, and two across...."
The ability to converse with the dead, what a wonderful gift! This must be the priest of Myrkul, who Cahl-Hyred had told me about. I entered into the room, now confident there was no threat hiding within. The priest was startled by my entrance, quickly shushing his dead friend. I glanced over to the fireplace, and the priest shifted nervously from foot to foot, was he using his gift to coax out the location of hidden valuables from the houses former inhabitant?
I turned my attention from the fire place, and back to the priest and he visibly relaxed. Apparently, the priest had been hired by Lord Ulbrec to gather intel from both the dead goblins and Targos's fallen scouts. The priest hadn't yet ascertained any meaningful information, as it was obvious that he was much more interested in abusing his position for personal gain, I could respect that...
The priests blood drained from his face when I mentioned the ghost touched bottle. As I suspected he hadn't realized the items true value when he had tried to dupe the innkeeper, and he was obviously sickened that he had given away such a treasure. Still he was a good sport about it, informing me that I would be able to catch and hold one of the weeping widows ghostly tears in the bottle. Such things have much value, and are often used in powerful enchantments, it may be worth visiting the spirit once again.
Before leaving my curiosity got the better of me, and as I wandered over to the fireplace I heard the priest let out a dejected sigh. Following the dead villagers directions, I soon found the loose brick which concealed a hidden stash of 55 gold and an Iol Gem.
Returning to the Salty Dog tavern, I soon came upon the likeness of the weeping widows ghostly specter Viera, in the form of a ships prow. Before his death, Donovan must have had his boats prow carved into the visage of his wife.
Maybe with this old relic I can give the spirit some closure and finally shut the wailing old banshee up for good. Before leaving, I noticed that the barbarian merchant Gutherwulfe was engaging in a drinking competition, offering his enchanted amulet to anyone who could best him. I've drunk nectar with the gods, I'm sure I could keep up with a mangy flea ridden barbarian...
The barbarians drink of choice was Braehg, a foul tasting concoction that burns on the way down, and on the way back out....
I could see it in the burly barbarians face, he had figured me for an easy mark. His confidence was short lived however. I was built of a hardy constitution, I had god blood in my veins and easily keep pace with the barrel chested man. Before long it was Gutherwulfe who began to falter, he rocked visibly from side to side, and his speech became more slurred with each round. After the fifth round, the barbarian finally collapsed.
I didn't wait for the man to come around, I claimed my prize and then left. I identified the items enchantment as one of summoning, allowing me to call upon a large wolf in battle. Unfortunately the items magical energy is almost spent, allowing me possibly three uses at most.
Armed with proof of her husbands demise I returned to the tortured soul at the Weeping Widow. Viera stopped sobbing as I entered her room with the prow of Damien's ship slumped over my shoulder, and just stared at it, it almost seemed as if she was staring through it and to something in the distance. Finally her gaze met with mine, and she offered a sad smile.
Thank you..
Before she made her final journey to the otherworld, I made a request of the spirit, to shed one final tear, which I captured in my ghost touched bottle, and then she was gone.
Cahl-Hyred was not as grateful as he had promised, trying to weasel his way out of my reward. He soon came around when I threatened to hide the ghost touched bottle in his Inn, luring more malevolent spirits to the premises. He gave me his weeks take, a measly 50 gold, not a fitting reward for my efforts with the tiresome spirit.
3 Mirtul 1312
I finally tracked Ulbrec to the towns large administrative building. Ulbrec looked haggard and exhausted, as if he hadn't slept in days, maps detailing troop movements and battle strategies were strewn about his desk, which he was studying intently.
The lord looked up as I approached and rather bluntly told me to 'Return to your bloody post at the docks, if you know what is good for you'. I let the case of mistake identity slide, and continued towards the mayor. Once he realized that I was not one of his mercenaries, he apologized for his previous rudeness, explaining that goblins had attacked the docks, and that his patience for the incompetent mercenaries hired to defend them had grown thin.
Ulbrec was thrilled when I informed him that that threat had been averted. He told me that he would authorize his lieutenant Shawford Crale to reward me for my efforts, and that if I was willing to help further I should report to Shawford, who will make it worth my while.
In the buildings library I met Ulbrec's wife, an Elvan enchantress named Elytharra. The enchantress was most helpful in identifying the scroll I had discovered, it was an miscast and expended teleportation scroll, one of a pair that can be used to teleport a group to the possessor of the second scroll. The goblins had been trying to warp more of their allies into the tunnels below town, but fortunately had failed to correctly use the spell. This troubled Elytharra who had for some time believed there was a traitor in town, goblins don't typically have access to such magic, someone armed the invaders with those scrolls, but who?
Before leaving, I asked if the enchantress could do anything with my ghostly tear. She offered to either buy it from me for 500gp, or to enchant a small dagger with it, that would prove highly effective against spectral undead. As I have my own talents when it comes to dealing with the dead, I opted for the gold.
Before I left, Elytharra offered to open up her inventory of magic to me. There were no scrolls suitable for one of my dark talents, but I did pick up a scroll case.
Tymora must be smiling upon me today, no sooner had I left Ulbrecs place, I accidentally stumbled upon Targos's traitor in the very next building! A dirty, flea ridden man dressed in tattered robes, had taken over the abandoned home, yet despite his run down appearance, I could sense the arcane power coursing through his veins, this man was no simple begger, he was a mage of no small power.
I initially didn't realize who I was dealing with, until the man spotted the rolled up scroll of teleportation hung from my belt strap. Upon spotting the scroll, he demanded I give it to him, before using one of his own to summon a hoard of goblins into the house.
I managed to strike the mage with a glancing bolt from my crossbow, however I was unprepared for the unprepared for the sudden goblin reinforcements I was quickly surrounded and overwhelmed. backed into a corner, I thought I was done for, but the mage was foolish and went completely berserk, firing off his spells with reckless abandon. He released a large blast of colour spray into the room, I managed to shrug off its harmful effects, but the goblins were not so lucky, all collapsing to the ground fast asleep, the fool had taken out his own allies!
Panic gripped the mages face, and I could see him preparing another spell. Not wasting my opportunity I raised up my crossbow one final time, this time blasting a bolt through the mages throat and stopping his incantation in its tracks. The mage dropped to his knees, fumbling with the embedded bolt. He tried to beg for mercy, but all he could do was gurgle blood, my next bolt found his skull.....
The sleeping goblins offered no resistance as I crept between then, slitting there throats one by one. There was little of value on the corpses, with the exception of the mages tattered rags, despite its appearance, the robes had a significant defensive enchantment upon them.
3 Mirtul 1312
As a made my way through the large town, I happened upon a familiar sight. A large ship floated several feet above the air, suspended from a giant balloon. Surely it couldn't be? But it was unmistakable....
As I drew nearer, I recognized the old gnome stood by the anchored vessel. He was older for sure, sporting a head full of grey hair and a few additional wrinkles, but it was most definitely Oswald Fiddlebender, the crazy alchemist I'd met in Kuldahar all those years ago.
The Gnomes eye sight must have been failing him, because he didn't recognize me.
"Oswald, is that really you?"
"Well, that would depend on who's asking, if this is about that turnip mead I brewed, then there are strictly no refunds, the purple skin is perfectly harmless side affect, and should wear off within eight to ten weeks...."
"It's me you senile old coot, Zuzhul Plaguebringer"
"Oh~ho! What a jest, everyone knows that the hero of Kuldahar eloped with the frost giant Joril, to live happily ever after at the spine of the world. Oh such a pretty little girl that Zuzhul was..."
"Eh... What?...."
"Ooooh that reminds me of the time my brother-in-law, Belwar Jansen, of the Amnish Jansens......."
It took a long time to finally shut the gnome up, and he had obviously lost a few more of his marbles since we last met, but finally I was able to ascertain what he was doing in Targos. Lord Ulbrec had commissioned him as a scout, from the skies, Oswalds ship proved the perfect method of scouting out enemy troop movements and numbers.
I invested in some healing potions, and then made me way further into the town.
4 Mirtul 1312
I had an interesting encounter today, in a makeshift hospital tent, a dying soldier asked me to pass on a love letter intended for his wife, to his commander, one Captain Mariner. Mariner will supposedly ensure the letter is delivered after the war is over.
As I turned to leave, one of the priests pulled me to one side, and informed me that he had suspicions the soldier was a doppleganger spy and requested to read the letter. As he suspected, the letter contained a detailed analysis of Targos's defenses, and it was obvious that this 'Captain Mariner' was a traitor, the priest switched the letter for another enchanted copy he had prepared, one that would blow up in the face of who ever opened it.
Before I left I made sure to eliminate the doppleganger, the last thing I wanted was for the creature to learn of my deception and come at me wearing the face of a friend.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
Attributes
+1 Intelligence = 21
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 7
+1 Concentration = 7
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 7
+1 Spell Craft = 7
+1 Bluff = 1
[/spoiler]
I tracked Commander Shawford to a large palisade that had been hastily erected around the town. Even now, as the wooden walls were being reinforced from within, I could hear the greenskins baying at the gates, testing the towns defenses, and trying to worm their way in through any weak link they could find.
Commander Shawford was set up in one of the few remaining buildings in the area that hadn't been pulled down to help build the palisade. After rewarding me for my efforts against the goblins at the docks, he set me to work on series of mundane tasks.
I spent the better part of the day, running supplies to the militia stationed on the wall, as well as assisting the Dwarven engineer Olaf Tamewater in reinforcing the towns defenses. Truth be told, it was pretty dull work and a complete waste of my true 'talents'.
Later on in the afternoon, things started to become interesting. I was sent to assist Koluhm, the priest of Myrkul whom I had spoken with earlier on. Apparently, the priest was having trouble interrogating the dead goblins, due to his poor grasp of the goblin tongue. I however was taught many languages whilst under the tutelage of my foster father Gorion, and the priests of Oghma, and had a fairly decent grasp of the goblin tongue.
I met with Koluhm within the hour, and we wasted no time in questioning the dead goblin. Our findings were grim to say the least, he spoke of an alliance of the tribes, commanded by three of their mightiest and most cunning leaders Caballus, Ghotrag and Vghotan. More worryingly however, the goblin mentioned that the tribes had been united under the banner of the Three Headed Chimera. I thought back to my nightmares, the shadowy demon twins and their army of half breeds march under a banner depicting a Chimera, surely this cannot be a coincidence?
I tried to press the goblin further, but he just began to laugh, stating that we were too late. The three goblin leaders were planning to launch a major assault this very evening, meaning to strike from three different sides simultaneously. I glanced out of the window, and could see the sun was already beginning to set behind the craggy peak of Kelvin's Cairn ....DAMMIT!!! They could attack at any minute!
Wasting no time, I left Koluhm and his corpses and hastily made my way back to the palisade, they need to be warned, I refuse to die in this backwater cesspit of a town.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 8
+1 Concentration = 8
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 8
+1 Spell Craft = 8
+1 Open Locks = 4
Feats
+1 Spell Focus: Necromancy = 1/2
[/spoiler]
I could hear the screams long before I reached the Palisade, the goblins had obviously breached the towns walls, and the battle was in full flow. From a distance the palisade was bathed in an orange glow as several fires began to spread.
I picked up the pace, and soon reached the fortifications. It was a blood bath! The militia totally unprepared for such an assault, were being swiftly overwhelmed, there was no way the townsmen could hold out for much longer.
I didn't have time to collect my thoughts or come up with a plan of action, as I had walked straight into a skirmish between a small goblin war band and a lone soldier, they cut him down effortlessly and immediately turned their attention towards me. I slowly backed away, my spell book was currently lacking any serious firepower, and my crossbow would prove ineffective if I became surrounded, by the hoard.
Instead I reached down into my pockets and pulled out a few vials of flaming oil. As soon as the goblins were upon me I launched the vials through the air, shattering them at the hoards feet. Several of the group were instantly immolated, whilst many of the others scattered, desperately trying to flee the burning flames. My small victory was short lived however. As if from now where an especially mean looking goblin burst on to the scene, riding atop an immensely large and powerful looking Worg.
I'd bet a gold piece that this was the goblin leader Vghotan, whose name translates simply as wolf fang. Vghotan galloped around the battlefield rallying his fleeing troups, and ordering them back to the battle. As fearful as they were of my burning oil, they were exponentially more terrified of their chieftain Vghotan.
I soon found myself assaulted once again from all sides, all around me I could see Targos's defenses falling to the sea of green faces that were pouring in through the broken walls. If we were to turn the tide of this battle, then I would need to cut off the armies head, by slaying the three leaders ...starting with the worg rider.
I ignored the enclosing goblins, and took aim at the charging chieftain, striking him hard with a bolt that would have killed an ordinary goblin, the berserk leader seemed unphased however. A split second later, both the goblin hoard and Vghotan were upon me, attacking wildly. I jumped backwards whilst smashing open another vial of flaming oil at the feet of the goblin invaders.
Once again the goblins were ignited like Thayvian firecrackers, I continued to backpeddle away from the small inferno, I could see virtually nothing through the thick flames, but still raised another vial up above my head, and waited...
Suddenly Vghotan burst through the flames, his worg stunk of singed hair and the goblins leather armour was smouldering, yet the goblin berserker was still very much in the fight. Behind him a badly burned wolf, and a couple of goblins staggered out of the flames, the rest of their allies lay burning at their feet. Before I could finish off the group with a third and final oil bomb, I was suddenly hit by a glancing blow from a goblin arrow. Glacing over the shoulder of the incoming goblin leader, I spotted a number of goblin reinforcements gathering in the distance.
I couldn't continue to battle Vghotan out in the open, whilst these archers pinned me down from a distance. I quickly retreated back to Commander Shawfords HQ, and around the side of the building, to cut off the archers lines of sight. My pursuers burst around the corner hot on my heels, and were struck by more burning oil, most of the group fell to the ground, finally succumbing to their injuries, but the stubborn Vghotan refused to die, his bloodlust only increasing with each wound I inflicted upon him. Soon the archers had once again closed the gap, and I was forced to retreat further around the building, cutting off their line of sight once again.
Whilst I could outrun the archers, the deadly Vghotan nipped at my heels the whole way and I took several spear wounds and worg bites for my efforts. With the archers once again out of sight I turned my attention back upon the chieftain, calling upon my necromantic powers and blasting the creature with a series of Larloch's minor drain spells. I could feel my wounds beginning to close almost immediately as I fed off the greenskins life force.
Vghotan was not looking so tough now, his badly burnt mount was panting heavily, whilst the weakened goblin could barely keep ahold of his reigns. I backed away, further around the building, trying to keep my distance from the stinging archers, and then raised my crossbow, waiting for the goblin to follow me around the corner. The moment he showed his ugly face, I released a well placed bolt, finally felling Vghotan's deadly mount, and throwing the goblin down hard onto the ground. Before he could regain his senses, I placed a second bolt through his skull.
With their leader taken care off, I made short work of the feeble archers. No sooner had the last of them fallen, a loud explosion caught my attention, off in the distance a large fireball had just gone off. Targos counted no battle mages within their numbers, could this be the work of Caballus? The goblin shaman and second of the three leaders.
Wasting no time, I ran towards the sound of the explosion. I soon found Caballus dancing around the battlements, laughing to himself manically. Countless dead militiamen lay burning at the goblins feet, and before I could reach him he released another fireball, this time directly at the palisade, blasting the defensive wall into a thousand pieces of splintered kindling.
The shaman shouted but one word at the top of his lungs "GhotraaAAAaaaag!", and with that, the goblin suddenly vanished, warping away to cause more mayhem elsewhere. Before I could give pursuit, a wave of goblins poured in through the newly created opening, led by the largest goblin I had ever seen. This must be Ghotrag.
Luckily, they all decended upon the young guard Kadence before they saw me, giving me time to back off to a safe distance, and get off a few shots with my crossbow. Whilst my aim was true, my bolts bounced off the goblin leaders thick plate mail armour, I was going to have my work cut out for me with this one. Young Kadace didn't stand a chance, he tried to flee, turning to me and screaming for help as the goblins ripped him apart.
Haha! Why would I help when his delicious screams were proving to be such a wonderful distraction? I turned my attention away from Ghotrag, and took to picking off the lesser goblins and archers one by one, attempting to thin their numbers a little, before they inevitably turned their attention towards me. Luckily for me, the screams of his dying brother, had drawn the guardsman Anson over to the group, thanks to the added chaos I was able to take down several of the greenskins before the group split into two, and came at both me and Anson simultaneously.
Unlike the worg rider, I could easily outpace these goblins and their little legs, and with no archers to distract me this time, it didn't prove to difficult to keep my distance and pick them from long range. Within several minutes only the chieftain Ghotrag remained.
Knowing that Ghotrag was possibly the mightiest adversary on the field of battle this day, I turned to my necromancy once again, trying to weaken the brute and slow him down with a ray of enfeeblement spell, but the powerful chieftain easily shrugged off the effects of my magic.
With my arcane spell repertoire exhausted, I instead turned to the powers of my blood, the gifts of my heritage as a tiefling, and as soon as the armored brute was upon me, I released a blindness spell on the creature, and this time it worked. The creature continued to charge at me long after I had stepped aside, eventually running headfirst into the palisade wall.
The goblin stood there dumbfounded, as an enraged Anson rushed the creature. Spurred on by the death of his brother, the militiaman attacked with wild abandon. With the loss of his sight, even as armoured as he was, Ghotrag could do little to defend himself.
I raised my crossbow, and began firing off shots at the chieftain, piecing his impressive armour in several places. Ghotrag found him self completely helpless and was soon reduced to an unidentifiable bloody pulp on the floor.
With the second chieftain downed, I climbed upon to the battlements to survey the battlefield, Caballus had to be about somewhere. Another loud explosion caught my attention, this time coming from the palisades main gates. DAMN IT!! If we lose the gate, Targos is as good as done for....
I ran as fast as I could towards the palisade's entrance, just in time to witness countless goblins breach the encampment. Once again I came face to face with Caballus, the crazed goblin shaman who was once again dancing around the corpses of the fallen, like a brain addled idiot, all the while casually tossing fireballs at friend and foe alike.
Before I had time to catch my breath, Caballus struck me with a chronomatic orb, before ordering his subordinates to attack. My spells were all expended, and I was fast running out of bolts, so I pulled out the last of my burning oil vials, and mouthed a silent prayer that they would be enough.
I threw the first vial directly at the shaman, the flaming oil splashed in all directions as it hit Caballus, igniting several of his nearby allies. Before he could recover, I fired off a quick bolt with my crossbow, hitting the distracted shaman, and almost knocking him to his rump.
I didn't have time to keep the pressure up on the shaman however, as I was soon swarmed by his minions. I began to retreat, dropping several of them with my crossbow as I back peddled. I could see the shaman preparing another spell in the distance, and recognized the incantation almost immediately, Protection from arrows.... My crossbow is going to be worthless against the shaman from now on. The shaman didn't stop there however, my previous assault must have unnerved him, as he began to applying countless defensive spells.
My offensive options were becoming seriously limited, I couldn't afford to let the goblin apply any more defenses. With my last remaining oil vials, one in each hand, I threw them both at the goblin in quick succession. The intense fireball, quickly melted the surrounding snow, and once the flames had subsided all the goblins lay dead, all but Caballus.....
Shielded behind his countless magical protections, I just couldn't harm the imposing shaman, yet *I* was very much vulnerable. With no other course of action available to me, I turned tail and fled, luring the goblin into a game of cat and mouse, desperately trying to distract him long enough for his protective spells to wear off.
Our war of attrition went on for what seemed like an eternity, but he was slowly wearing me down, and his protection from arrows spell, just wouldn't wear off. Off in the distance, I could make out one of Targos's few remaining troops, the Dwarven engineer Olaf Tamewater, who was just finishing off another goblin. Knowing that I had no chance of beating the goblin in a fair melee battle, I lured the shaman over to the battle hardened dwarf.
The experienced dwarf was grateful to have his next victim delivered to him on a silver platter, and quickly began to smash through the shamans magical mirror images, then out of nowhere a second militiaman turned up, and between the three of us, we had the Shaman surrounded. With his spellbook exhausted, and his magical defenses on the wane, we soon overwhelmed the powerful shaman.
It was the Dwarf Olaf who delivered the killing blow, splitting Caballus's skull wide open with his heavy warhammer. With the last of their leaders defeated, and with no one left to keep the goblins organised and focused, the cowardly creatures fell into disarray and began to break away and flee, the few remaining stragglers were easily outmatched by the towns surviving defenses. The casualty count was high, but we had won the day...
I searched the corpses of the goblin commanders, hoping to find some clue as to who is organizing this legion of the chimera, but to no avail. I did however find several enchanted items, a staff and a curious collar. The collar seems to transform my hands into deadly, razor sharp claws, whilst also increasing my speed in combat.
As exhausted as I was, I decided I should probably check in with Shawford before doing anything else.
Shawford is going to feel my wrath if he dares to speak down to me like that again. I almost single handedly turned the tide of that battle, saving Targos from almost certain destruction, my efforts were worth more than the measly reward offered to me. Yet he had the nerve to tell me exactly how he feels about money grubbing mercenaries, did he really think I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart? I prey those goblins return in force, because I'll be damned if I raise a finger to assist that self righteous ingrate again.
4 Mirtul 1312
Lord Ulbrec was much more agreeable, showing me the respect I deserve. Still despite our victory, Ulbrec seems troubled. Whilst, the battle was in full flow, Oswald Fiddlebender had been out scouting in his airship, and believes he has found the main army. Apparently, the goblins that attacked us were an advanced raiding party sent to test our defenses, and only make up a very small part of the Chimrean army.
According to Oswald, a much larger force has taken control of the Shaengarne Bridge, and this is dire news, as the loss of the bridge means that Targos is now cut off from an army of reinforcements coming in from Neverwinter, worse still, the terrain around the bridge makes it the ideal location for an ambush, the Neverwinter army will be walking into a trap.
Ulbrec can no longer spare the men for a direct assault on the bridge, and so wants me to infiltrate the enemy camp, and find a way to retake the bridge from within. After my long hibernation, and the loss of my power, I don't relish the thought of walking into the heart of an enemy army, and yet my dreams of the Chimeran army have been so vivid, almost like the dreams my Bhaalspawn Essence used to impart upon me, somehow I know I am destined to visit that bridge...
I retired to my room at the Weeping Widow once our meeting had concluded, the journey to Shaengarne was going to treacherous, I'll need to be at full strength once I leave Targos.
Chapter 1 - The Battle for Shaengarne Bridge
7 Mirtul 1312
Reaching the bridge is going to prove tougher than expected, it seems that orcish blockades have been set up along the length of the river, preventing anyone from advancing further. I was stopped at one such blockade, by an especially ugly orc sporting a broken tusk and a lazy eye.
The Orc introduced himself as chieftain Torak Skullsplitter, and informed me that this section of the river now belonged to the Broken Tusk Clan, and that I *should* leave, or I *would* die. Heh! I don't have time to detour around these flea ridden brutes, if I have to go through them, then so be it!
The orc's had set up a large blockade along the width of the trail, which prevented me from reaching them, but it also prevented them from reaching me! I slowly unbuckled my crossbow from my belt, like shooting fish in a barrel...
Realizing my hostile intent, Torak suddenly backed away, shouting back to his troops in orcish. Countless orcs suddenly descended onto the barricade, warriors, archers and shaman. Whilst the warriors tried in vain to smash through their own barricade to reach me, I focused on the real threat, releasing bolts at any archer of shaman who made a move.
The orcish archers proved to be unskilled at using their bows, most of their arrows missing by a wide berth. The Shaman however proved dangerous, using summoning spells to swarm me with orcs from beyond the barricade, I quickly learned to direct all efforts into taking the shaman down first... and quickly.
With the shaman taken care of, the unarmored archers fell quickly soon after. That left just the warriors, who were completely helpless as I picked them apart one by one. I really hope there are more of these barricades set up further down the river!
The first wave, of enemies had fallen quickly, but the chieftain Torak had fled early on, I would have to be on my toes from now on, the orcs know I am coming. I dismantled part of the barrier, and then proceeded further upstream.
I cautiously made my way up the mountainous trail, following the winding river further upstream. Suddenly Torak stepped into view from his shadowy hiding spot in the nearby rocks. With his lazy eye I couldn't quite tell whether he was trying to stare me down, or whether he was trying to look at something over my shoulder. Either way, I doubted the creature was truly stupid enough to face me alone, out in the open like this, especially after I just single handedly butchered so many of his men. The crafty old orc was up to something....
He began shouting a series of threats and obscene insults at me, obviously trying to provoke me into action, but all I could focus on was the smell, why did I have to be stood down wind of the mangy critter? Off to the sides of me, I suddenly noticed movement as heavy footed orc's tried to clumsily sneak up on me. Once again Torak turned tail and fled as his men circled in for the kill.
I tried to give chase, but was distracted all of a sudden as a flaming arrow whistled harmlessly over my shoulder. I almost laughed aloud at the marksman's poor aim until I realized that I wasn't the target. The flaming arrow landed several feet in front of me, right in the middle of what I initially mistook to be a patch of black gravel.
Bright sparks suddenly danced to life, as the black powder ignited, and I realized my folly immediately, KARA-TUR SMOKE POWDER!
I had walked directly into Toraks trap, the powder burned unbelievably fast, following the carefully placed trail of powder to a series of wooden barrels, barrels that I was stood right next too! Orcs closed in from all sides, trying to cut off my escape, but I didn't have time to play their games. I turned about, and sprinted away from the barrels as fast as I could!
I'd barely cleared ten feet when the barrels exploded behind me, throwing me several feet through the air. I was showered with pieces of wood and gore as I tried to stand. Glancing behind me I could see the scattered body parts of several dismembered orcs.
I rose to my feet and continued to run, I was badly injured and very much outnumbered. I headed towards the first orcish barricade, whilst chugging down my last healing potion. The barricade was no longer whole since I had previously smashed my way through it, however I hoped the gap was still narrow enough to bottleneck my pursuers.
I managed to reach the barricade relatively unscathed, but the orc's were hot on my heels. It was then that I remembered the wolf amulet I had won from the barbarian merchant Gutherwulfe, at the Salty Dog. I pulled out the enchanted amulet and prayed that it still held some of its charge. Just before the orc's could close the gap, two large and very vicious looking wolves materialized at my feet, and instantly set about savaging and mauling any orc stupid enough to try and cross the blockade.
With my new 'pets' keeping the orcish hoard well and truly busy, I pulled out my trusty crossbow, and began to pick off the savage greenskins one by one. By the time my wolves had finally been put down, I'd managed cut the orcish hoard down to a fraction of its former size. The few orcs that remained, were easy to slay, as they quickly lost their stomach for the fight and began to flee.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 9
+1 Concentration = 9
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 9
+1 Spell Craft = 9
+1 Intimidate = 4
Feats
+1 Spell Focus: Necromancy = 2/2 (+4 bonus on all necromancy spell success rolls)
[/spoiler]
7 Mirtul 1312
After dealing with the orcs, I soon discovered their camp not far from where I had been ambushed. A battered and bloodied druid lay gagged and bound to one of the trees. After freeing him from his bindings, the druid introduced himself as Dareth Springsong, and informed me that the orcs had recently attacked the home of him and his wife.
Dareth has offered to reward me if happen upon his wife and can escort her home. So long as my reward doesn't consist of twigs and berries, I may consider it. I know what these druids are like when it comes to their worthless 'gifts'.
I stayed the night with Dareth, in his home. Calling upon his nature magic's he was able to heal me of my major wounds, and I awoke the next day refreshed and at full strength.
8 Mirtul 1312
I tracked Dareth's wife to a small clearing in the nearby woods, and not a moment too soon I might add, a handful of orcs had the young woman cornered. Unaware of my presence, I dropped two of the creatures with my bow, before the group even knew what was happening. The last remaining orc proved little challenge without his friends to back him up.
After the battle Sabrina warned me that the orcs had set up a trap further up the river. A vast amount of powder kegs, have been set up along the only path to Shaengarn Ford, and a hidden archer lays in wait on the opposite side of the river, ready to ignite them at the first sign of trouble. I will be blown to pieces if I so much dare step foot on that path.
As thanks for her rescue, the young druid has used her druidic powers to open up a secret trail through the woods, that will allow me to circle around, and sneak up behind the orcish sniper.
Back at the druids home, Dareth rewarded me as promised, not with sticks and dirt as I expected, but a gleaming and obviously enchanted scimitar! Not my weapon of choice, but it will fetch a pretty coin back in Targos. The pair then went one step further, offering to sell me items they had recovered from the corpses of the orcs other victims. Among the couples inventory I discovered two necromantic scrolls, which I gladly paid for. I once again possess the powers of the horror and ghoul touch spells!
8 Mirtul 1312
I stayed with the druids for another night, resting my weary muscles whilst working towards scribing my newly acquired scrolls into my spell book. I woke up the following morning feeling refreshed, and much more confident in my once again growing power.
On Sabrina's directions, I set off bright and early in search of the trail that she had opened up for me. It didn't take long to find, and I soon caught a small group of orcish sentries completely unaware. I focused my dark energies into horror spell and couldn't help but laugh as the terrified creatures tripped over them selves desperately trying to flee.
The orcs scattered in all directions, and I took great pleasure in stalking the horrified brutes through the woods with my trusty crossbow. Once I'd had my fun, I returned to the woodland trail and my hunt for the orc sniper.
I found the orc, and a number of his allies atop a large snow covered, rocky verge. The verge overlooked the icy river, as well as a large number of explosive barrels on the opposite side of the river. This must be the sniper Sabrina warned me of. Once again my horror spell scattered the orcs to the wind, providing me with some rather fun target practice.
[Spoiler]Level Up - Distribution
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 10
+1 Concentration = 10
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 10
+1 Spell Craft = 10
+1 Open locks = 5
[/spoiler]
After the battle, I returned back to the main pathway leading up the Shaengarne, and I wasn't in the least bit surprised to find Torak once again waiting for me near his barrel trap. The orc stared at me as I approached.... or behind me?.... I really couldn't tell anymore.
The orc stood tapping his foot impatiently, whilst holding his empty hands out wide to his sides, as if he was trying to show me how defenseless he was, and bait me into advancing. I wasn't sure what I found more amusing, the fact that he seems to think I would fall for this trap again, or the fact that Torak was completely unaware I had already dealt with his hidden archers.
The ugly orcs broken tusked mouth contorted into a weird smile, as I began to slowly advance. With each step I took, the orcs grin grew wider and wider, well, at least until I casually passed over the halfway point...
Suddenly he didn't seem so sure of himself, glancing nervously towards the rocky verge over on the other side of the river.
I was now three quarters of the way through the orcs makeshift mine field, and I could already see the sweat starting to bead on forehead, as he shuffled sheepishly from foot to foot. I reached slowly behind my back, grasping the wet squishy *thing* that was tied to my belt....
I stopped barely several feet from the chieftain, who was still glancing nervously back to the rocky verge, as if he still expected his marksman to spring up and fire any second now. Carefully I untied the wet *sticky* hair from my belt, and then tossed the object at the Chieftain.
Torak's face changed to one of abject horror, as the still dripping head of his marksman hit the ground with a sickening squelch, before rolling to his feet. The orc, now realizing his reinforcements were not coming, and that his trap had been foiled, turned tail and fled. But still the fool had to have the last word, promising death when next we meet.
Yes my green friend, there will most definitely be death, but I believe you are mistaken as to who exactly will be doing the dying. Until we meet again....
Several miles upstream I found myself on the outskirts of a small logging settlement, or rather a former settlement. The small village reeked of death and decay, and the eerie silence was broken only by the occasional cawing of a crow.
As I rounded a log cabin, I was startled by the sudden flapping wings of a flock of equally startled birds. Disturbed from their feast, the carrion birds flew off, leaving the decomposing and half eaten corpse of one of the villagers... this mans been dead for weeks, what happened here?
9 Mirtul 1312
It didn't take long to discover the truth behind the settlements mysterious demise. Near the center of the village I rounded a corner and came face to face with my new green skinned nemesis Torak, laying quietly in wait for me! Curse my carelessness! I had once again walked straight into the chieftains trap.
As I glanced around at the large force of green skins now appearing from the many wood cabins in the area, it became apparent that Torak must have captured this village to use as a base of operations.
Torak had a grim look on his face, there were no threats this time, no more games. The Chieftain just turned to his lieutenant and ordered him to crush me quickly, as they needed to prepare the army for war... War!? Are they planning to attack Targos again? Or the Neverwinter reinforcements? Whats going on here?
Torak turned his back on me, and marched off deeper into the village, and with that his troops all closed in for the kill. Suddenly I was blinded by a brilliant flash of light, as some kind of portal opened up behind the war band. Squinting through the glare, I could just make out a humanoid silhouette stepping out from the portal.
When the light finally faded, and the portal had closed, there stood a woman with a rather puzzled look on her face, she looked from the orcs, and then to me, at the same time the orcs looked to one another scratching their heads, unsure of what to make of this unexpected development. If this was indeed the woman's intended destination, then she definitely hadn't expected to find her self stepping out into the middle of such a skirmish.
Her initial expression of surprise soon shifted to one of grit and determination as she looked to the sky's and began calling to her god for aid ....It seems that a cleric of Selune has joined the fray.
Things soon got a little crazy, as yet another unexpected player entered into our little game. A large troll appeared from behind a nearby log cabin, and crept up behind the cleric. Distracted by her divine spell casting, the woman didn't notice the sneaky troll swipe an object from her possession before quickly fleeing.
The cleric finished her casting, which encased her in a shimmering suit of magic energy, and summoned a flaming blade into her hand. The orcs had by now come to their senses, and quickly took the offensive, baring down upon both me and the cleric.
Even with my unexpected ally, we were vastly outnumbered by the orc warband. I began by casting a horror spell, hoping to lay down some crowd control. As expected, the orcs who a moment earlier were intent on eviscerating me, soon fled from me in complete terror. The cleric wasn't having such an easy time however, being quickly overwhelmed by the remaining orcs. I directed a second horror spell at the clerics attackers, and then took aim with my crossbow, picking off the fleeing orcs as they ran.
Between our combined efforts we had soon put down every single orc. The woman introduced herself as Emma Moonblade, and as I had already ascertained she was a priestess of Selune. Emma was more than a little distressed, as her most prized possession, a moonblade of Selune had been taken during the battle.
I told her about the troll I had seen sneak up on her during the battle, and the blood drained away from her face. Moonblades are among the most rare and precious gifts bestowed upon her faithful, by the goddess Selune. To the church of Selune, losing such a sacred relic to an agent of darkness would be an unforgivable sin.
Emma was desperate, and pleaded with me to recover her blade. She couldn't leave without it, and yet the battle against the orcs had completely drained her, it would be days until she could call upon the blessings of her goddess again, and by then it could be too late.
I examined the distraught cleric, her spells had worn off now, and she stood there unarmed, weak and defenseless, I couldn't help but laugh, I've always wanted a moonblade....
"Feeling a bit weak are we? It would seem to me that I could simply kill you now, and then recover the blade for my self..."
The priestesses eyes widened in shock and horror, genuinely surprised by my sudden betrayal. The surprise quickly transitioned into anger, as her jaw clenched and her brow furrowed.
"You filthy pig! I curse you and the spawn of the abyss that pushed you from its womb! We *shall* meet again dog, and will settle the score between us then!"
Before I could react, the priestess pulled a small glass orb from the pouch on her belt and shattered it on the ground at her feet. I was suddenly blinded by the glaring light as her portal opened once again, when I finally regained my eye sight both Emma and the portal were gone.
It seems I've made a dangerous enemy out of the church of Selune this day, still it will all be worth it if I can get my hands on that moon blade.
9 Mirtul 1312
Torak must have become quite fearful of me in recent days, because as I approached his camp I was met by a badly beaten slave girl with a message.
Torak had kept a number of the settlements villagers alive, imprisoned within a large pen to be put to work as slaves. The pen is surrounded by exploding powder kegs, and I've been told that if I take another step towards the camp, Torak will blow the slaves to pieces.
Ha! He obviously has no idea who he is dealing with, that tactic hadn't worked for the crazed mage Malavon back in Dorns Deep, and it certainly wouldn't work for this bloated wart bag now, to hell with the villagers!
The slave girl grabbed my arm as I set off to confront the chieftain, pleading with me to stop. I was tempted to put my boot in her stomach until she piqued my curiosity was a better plan of action. The ruined building behind her, once belonged to an apothecary who specialized in potions of invisibility.
The slave proposes that if I can find such a potion, I could sneak in without raising the alarm, and dispatch the few sentries guarding the prisoners. Whilst I have no intention risking my neck for these peasants, the girls plan has merit. A score of desperate slaves trying to flee through the camp would sew a lot of chaos and confusion, this could be just the distraction I need to get close to strike Torak.....
Rummaging through the debris of the old apothecaries building, I finally came across on a single surviving potion of invisibility, I sneaked back to the cover of the forest and set up a camp for the night, tomorrow I would assault the Torak's base, but for now I needed to recover my strength.
I chugged down the vial of sickly sweet liquid and then held my hands out in front of my face, watching as they slowly faded from view. Once I was completely invisible, I made my way into the camp.
The camp was separated into two sections, one housed Torak and his elite guard, whilst the other led to the slave pen, I silently crept through the camp, taking note of its fortifications and sentries as I went, before finally reaching the imprisoned slaves.
The area was better defended than I had expected, the full length of the trail leading to the slaves was teeming with orcs, and I knew that the moment I made my move I would be quickly surrounded by reinforcements. The villagers were trapped helplessly within a ring of explosive barrels, and a short distance away I identified the sniper charged with igniting said barrels, the marksman stood atop a small boulder with a flaming arrow notched ready in his bow.
Hidden safely from view, I turned to the powers native to those of my infernal heritage and hit the archer with a spell of blindness. Rendered harmless, the blinded orc panicked and fell from his perch. My spell had given away my position however, and countless orcs rushed into the area to investigate the sudden commotion.
Fearful of becoming surrounded, I quickly released a horror spell onto the incoming beasts, breaking their morale and giving me a little room to breathe. With my crossbow in hand, I set to work putting down as many of the orcs as I could, however more reinforcements kept pouring into the area, forcing me to expend a second horror spell.
I picked my shots carefully, making every bolt count, but the hoard was just so large! Before long my spells started to wear and the orcs began to regroup, once again coming at me with deadly intent. I consumed even more of my magical energies, desperately trying to keep the large group under control with horror spells.
Before long my repertoire of magic was all but expended, yet three of the orcs still remained. I retreated back down the hill and away from the prisoners, whilst firing upon the pursuing orcs as I fled. I made my final stand among a couple of cabins at the base of the hill, using them as cover and engaging in hit and run tactics with the orcs.
Eventually I put the last miserable orc out of its misery, but the battle had been extremely taxing. My magic reserves were completely drained, I had barely a handful of bolts remaining and my wounds were severe. My plan to use the fleeing prisoners as a distraction unfortunately no longer an option, even if it had worked, in my weakened state I would have been no match for Torak, instead I hobbled back to the slavegirl Kaitlin.
Kaitlin was pleased, and formally introduced me to Arte, one of the slaves I had freed. Arte was once the villages storekeep, and whilst his store had been leveled by the orcs, its hidden cellar remained intact, complete with most of his former inventory. He offered me a large discount in thanks for his rescue, and among his wares I found several burning oils which I purchased ....somewhere nearby there still waits a troll with a moonblade.
Torak would have to wait for now, I was in urgent need of healing, and so retreated back down the river towards the druid couple I had rescued earlier in the week.
I returned to the camp just before dawn, hoping to catch Torak by surprise. As I passed by the hill where I had defeated the orc slavers, I could just about make out the feint silhouettes of several slaves under the pale moonlight. Despite me defeating their captors, many of the slaves had remained atop the steep hill, huddling fearfully together, unwilling to leave in case they were spotted by the orcs at Torak's nearby camp ....the wretched cowards deserve their fate.
As I approached the fortified camp, Torak marched out to meet me. Crudely applied tribal warpaint now covered most of the orcs battle scarred face, whilst an enormous and brutal looking battleaxe rested casually across the crest of his heavily muscled shoulder. The chieftain had not rested on his laurels during my absence, using his time to prepare for one final assault. Behind him stood a score of restless orcs, the last remnants of Torak's Clan, all waiting eagerly for their leaders order to attack.
We faced off for several minutes, each of us trying to gain some measure of our opponent. And then he gave his order! Ten battle hardened and well armed orc warriors suddenly broke into a full charge, some bellowed out war cries in their guttural tongue, whilst others simply slobbered and drooled, but all of them desired blood...
My first inclination was to hit the incoming hoard with a horror spell, but then a better idea came to mind. I turned my back on the orcs and ran. The orcs, falsely believing that I had lost my nerve, picked up the pace and chased me relentlessly, like a pack of hunting dogs on the scent of a tundra rabbit.
I put my head down, leaned forwards and focused on pumping my legs as fast as I could. The orcs were hot on my heel's, but we were so close now.....
As we left Torak's camp behind us, I turned off from the main road, and onto the small winding trail leading up a familiar hill. The powerful orcs were closing the gap with every second that passed, and my legs burned as I forced them to keep pumping up the steep hill, just a little further now.....
The familiar sight of the huddled slaves came into view as I finally breached the crest of the hill. In the light of the slowly rising morning sun, I could just make out the hope in their eyes as I drew nearer, their savior had returned!
The hopeful faces soon turned to screams of terror, as the orc hoard suddenly came into view behind me. The panicked villagers scattered in all directions, desperately trying to flee, but there was nowhere to run too...
The fleeing villagers proved a wonderful distraction, causing complete and utter chaos, and temporarily cutting off the pursuing orcs. I quickly made my way to the pen, and then stopped for a moment to regain my composure, I had little time, and only one shot at this.
The orcs were not slowed for long, shoving aside or trampling underfoot any villager unfortunate enough to get in their way. Within moments the greenskins had barreled into the slave pen after me.
In the tight confines of the slave pen, separated by a score of terrified villagers, the orcs couldn't quite reach me. I quickly backed away as the orcs began hacking away at the slaves, trying to carve a path through them.
I toppled over one of the barrels, making a small exit, and then quickly made my escape. The orcs, now completely overcome with bloodlust were too distracted to notice the small vial of flaming oil I had left on the powder keg in the middle of the pen.
I had barely reached a safe distance when the shockwave of the blast threw me from my feet. The entire valley shook under the force of the immense blast, and I rolled over just in time to witness a raging inferno that even a mighty red dragon would be proud of.
It wasn't over yet however, in the distance I spotted two remaining orcish archers who seemed to have forgotten all about me, their eyes staring off to the clouds in disbelief as countless body parts rained down from the sky. I quietly raised my crossbow and took aim...
A powerful fist caught me off guard, smashing my jaw and throwing my aim off target. I turned around just in time to duck a massive axe. His armour had been charred, and his skin was blistered beyond all recognition, but I'd never forget that broken tusk and lazy eye. How the hell was Torak still standing!?!
The commotion had brought the archers back to their senses, and their attention was now firmly back on me. I narrowly managed to avoid a pair of incoming arrows as I once again dodged Toraks sweeping axe. I quickly engulfed the archers with a horror spell, before calling upon my tiefling blood to blind the berzerk Torak.
In a fit of rage, the blind Torak began swinging his axe around wildly, but striking nothing but air. I had already left the chieftain far behind, as I chased down the fleeing archers. One was felled as a well placed bolt pierced his spine. The remaining orc almost escaped, until I managed to place a bolt through his knee. The brute fell to the ground hard, but still managed to drag himself along the floor, desperate to escape from me. He didn't get very far however, the orc was completely helpless once I pinned him to the ground with my boot and put a bolt through the back of his skull.
I returned to the former slave pen just in time witness the blind chieftain trip over the remains of a dead slave. I was going to enjoy this.....
Torak gasped out aloud as I struck him in the chest with my crossbow, piercing a lung. His breathing suddenly became raspy, as he once again swung his giant axe harmlessly out in front of him, throwing himself off balance and falling to the floor in the process. I quietly circled around the berzerker as he shakily rose to his feet.
My second bolt sliced through the orcs hamstring, dropping him back down to his knees. Grasping his great axe in both hands, the orc let out an almighty roar as he once again swung it around his body in a massive arc. I released two more bolts as I continued to circle around the prone warrior, one in each shoulder.
Toraks axe clanged to the ground, as his arms dropped limply to his sides. The huge orc coughed and spluttered as he tried in vain to catch his breath with a collapsed lung. I finally stopped circling, and came to a stop several feet in front of the gnarly warrior. His sight was finally returning to him, and he slowly and weakly looked up at me, I could see the pure hatred in his face as he stared at me..... or was he staring behind me? I still couldn't tell...
I raised my crossbow one final time, this time putting a bolt through the lazy eye that had so 'bothered' me these past few days.
Finally the chieftain was dead.
Set into the rock face just beyond Torak's camp I came upon a large cave. The floor was slick, and I had to advance cautiously as not to lose my footing. The slimy film that coated the ground glistened under the rays of sunlight that invaded the cave from its large opening. As I ventured further into the cavernous network, the slime became thicker and thicker, and I began to notice several small pools of the stuff dotted around the area.
As I made my way down a winding tunnel, something scuttled across my path from an adjoining tunnel off in the distance, and then it was gone. I paused a moment, squinting down the dark passageway, but could see nothing. I slowly started to advance again, and almost immediately heard that same scuttling noise, it was close this time, passing suddenly right behind my back! I whirled around, but once again there was nothing there.
I picked up the pace, trying to get out from the claustrophobic confines of the narrow passageway, and into the open cavern up ahead. The scuttling started again, this time picking up speed and getting closer and closer. I burst into the large cavern and wheeled about, trying to catch a glimpse of my unseen pursuer. I almost didn't see them until it was too late...
From a shadowy hole in one of the walls, appeared one, and then two, very large carrion crawlers. The deadly hunters had been trying to herd me into their nest, and now it was time to feast. I backed away from the creatures, all too familiar with their paralytic venom. I began to back peddle, trying to take down the creatures from a distance, totally oblivious to the 'pools of slime' that had slowly began to close in behind me.....
I stepped into something wet as I continued to backaway from the crawlers, and then howled in agony as my leg suddenly began to burn. Looking down in horror as I realised that the slime was beginning to 'climb' up my leg, I shook my self free of the gelatinous mass and then began to scan my surroundings, and it dawned on me that I had wandered into an ooze nest.
Carefully watching my step now, I turned my attention back to the crawlers, but had barely fired a shot when I heard the 'groaning'....
I just couldn't catch a break today! From another nearby tunnel, a handful of huminoid figures shambled into the room, and it didn't take me long to identify my new threat, slime zombies!
Still lacking any real offensive magic, I was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the endless waves of enemies. And to make matters worse, the zombies were completely immune to my attacks, whilst the oozes were very resistant, there was no way I could win as things were.
I had hoped to save these for that moonblade stealing troll, but with no other options available to me, I had little choice but to carefully pull several vials of burning oil from pack. One advantage I held over the creatures was mobility, the slimes and zombies moved very slowly, and it didn't take long to herd them all together.
My crossbow may have been all but useless against these new enemies, but the flames from my jars of oil were extremely effective. Before long all that remained was a pile of charred corpses.
[Spoiler]Level 8 - Point Distribution
Attributes
+1 intelligence = 22
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 11
+1 Concentration = 11
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 11
+1 Spell Craft = 11
+1 Intimidate = 5
[/spoiler]
My descent further into the cave, proved relatively uneventful, until a familiar stench began to slowly invade my nostrils ...orcs were nearby!
I advanced warily onwards, unsure whether a second clan had made their home down here in the caverns. A few minutes later I came upon a pair of sentries, guarding one of the tunnels. I watched from the shadows for a few minutes, but it soon became apparent that the pair were alone, and so I unbuckled my crossbow, and stepped out into the open.
The orcs actually caught me off guard, rather than attack me, they just looked up casually and nodded at me in acknowledgement.
"Yous here see leader? Yoo see Vrek!"
Seeing an opportunity to avoid a confrontion, or at the very least prevent the alarm from being raised before I reached their leader, I decided to play along.
"Yes, he is expecting me and I shouldn't keep him waiting"
The orc raised a gnarly finger, and pointed further down the tunnel
"Cheef in da big cave, yoo go now"
I quickly hurried off down the tunnel, as not to raise suspicion, completely amazed by the general stupidity of orc kind. The tunnel led to an large open cave, containing a small hoard of orcs. Perched upon a large throne, carved into the rock sat the orcs chieftain, a very large..... errm, cave troll?
So this is Vrek? I recognised the beast from outside, this was most definitely the troll who had stole the Selunite priestesses moonblade, but why? And why was he the head of an orc tribe? The troll watched me intently from his throne as I approached, before rising up to speak.
"Torak dead! Vrek is strongest, so now Vrek is chief of Broken Tusk Clan! Yoo bow to chief puny uman!"
It would be a cold day in hell before *I* knelt down to such a wretched creature, instead I unclipped my crossbow from my belt. The troll let out a hoarse throaty laugh as he realised my intent.
"Yous weapuns, cant hurt Vrek..... see!"
The troll reached down, embedding one of his razor sharp claws into his opposing wrist, he then proceeded to slice open his arm from the wrist, all the way up to his elbow, grinning to himself as the wound closed up almost as quickly as it had been inflicted.
"Only one weapun hurt Vrek, but no more! Vrek is strongest!"
The stupid creature glanced over to the chest sat behind his throne as he mentioned the weapon ...my long awaited prize.
The trolls gloating was getting old, it was time to see just how tough this new chieftain really was. I raised my weapon, and fired a bolt that struck the beast square between the eyes. His head snapped backwards under the force of the blow, but came right back up again as he casually tore the bolt free from his skull.
Vreks men responded in kind, his warriors charged whilst several archers tried to pin me down under a hail of arrowfire. I engulfed the archers with magical horror, and then retreated down the corridor, all the while firing bolt after bolt into the stubborn troll. My earlier battle had consumed all but a handful of my burning oil, so I was going to have to first weaken the brute the old fashioned way, if I was to have any hope of slaying him.
The pursuing troll soon began to resemble a walking pin cushion as I relentlessly pumped him full of iron, but it barely slowed him down, his wounds continued to close, almost as quickly as I could inflict them. When I finally reached the large open cavern where I had previously battled the carrion crawlers, I stopped for a moment, to allow the hoard a second to catch up. As got closer to the tunnels exit, I tossed one of my oil vials into the narrow confines of the tunnel.
Vrek and his allies burst into the large cavern screaming in agony, as flames licked at their flesh and clothing. I took aim once again, and continued to concentrate all of my attacks upon the troll, if I relented for but a moment then all my attacks will have been for naught.
I continued to keep my distance, engaging the group from range, and slowly but surely I began to whittle the mighty troll down. The group began working in unison, trying to surround and me, but I used their tactics to my advantage, letting them close in before shattering another jar of burning oil at their feet. Vrek howled in agony once again, as the flames blistered his flesh.
Unlike my crossbow attacks, his nasty burns refused to regenerate, and the troll was struggling to keep up now. Unfortunately I was soon forced to break away from my assault to deal with the archers who had now regained their composure, and were once again trying to pepper me with arrows from afar. I reapplied my horror spell, and turned back to the troll.
After a small eternity of hit and run tactics the troll finally succumbed to his wounds, dropping to the floor seemingly dead. I'd dealt with enough trolls in my lifetime to know better however. I sent the pursuing orcs scuttling away with a horror spell, and then made my way over to the prone troll.
I uncorked my last remaining vial of oil, pouring the liquid over the unmoving corpse before setting it alight. Vrek sprung to life suddenly, screaming in absolute agony, whilst desperately trying to roll out the flames, but it was too late, the beast was done for.
With their leader dead, it was easy enough to pick off the fleeing orcs, and once the cave was clear of dangers, I made my way back to the throne room. I opened up Vrek's chest and admired the magnificent weapon within. The hilt was ornately crafted, inlaid with various precious gemstones, but it was the blade itself that caught my attention, it was not crafted from traditional metals, but was made completely out of incorporeal moonlight.
I'd read about these valuable weapons during my days at Candlekeep, magical, weightless and deadly, especially against the undead. I reached down, eager to claim my prize and held it up to admire more closely. Something was wrong however, the moment I grasped the hilt, my hand began to burn, the pain growing more and more intense and I stubbornly clung one, before eventually I was forced to drop the weapon.
It would seem that goddess Selune had made certain that those of my moral alignment would never be able to wield her impressive weapons. I pulled the blanket from my pack, and carefully wrapped the sword. I may not be able use wield the weapon, but such a sword would fetch a huge price to the right buyer.
I feel that I may have met my match against this army of the Chimera, their ranks are not just restricted to the greenskins, but to a whole wealth of different races and creatures. The closer I draw to the bridge, the more powerful my adversaries have become. So far I've found myself trying to battle through a host of wererats, agents of Malar, as well as enormous and powerful bugbears. The worst part is I fear that I've only seen the tip of the iceberg....
Lacking the firepower of my old spellbook, I'm fast becoming outmatched by the Chimeran army. I am going to need help if I am to advance further....
I returned to Targos late the following evening, and tracked down my eccentric friend Oswald Fiddlebender. His oils of burning had served me well these past couple of weeks, but against the overwhelming numbers I was now facing, I was going to need something with a little more Ooumph!
On the alchemists recommendation, I purchased a whole crate containing potions of explosions, the most deadly of all the gnomes concoctions. They were not cheap, but the 2,500gp I made selling Emma's Moonblade at the Galloway trading emporium went a long way in covering my costs.
Armed to the teeth, with enough fire power to drop an entire city garrison, I set off one last time, to make my final push for the bridge.
15 Mirtul 1312
The Chimran army had set one final trap for me as I drew nearer to the bridge. Countless orcs, harpies and werecreatures sprung from concealment as I passed through the long boulder strewn valley.
I quickly ran through the winding valley, as more and more creatures poured out from their hiding spots. The wererats were especially tough, almost invulnerable to my crossbow fire, and I knew I'd never defeat them in a fair fight. I kept running, trying to lure as many of the beasts out of hiding as I could, and then I stopped as the ambush party caught up. It was time to counter their trap, with one of my own....
The beasts were caught completely by surprise as Oswald's deadly concoction ignited and tore through their ranks, rending limbs and scorching flesh. Once the dust had settled, most my pursuers lay dead, however several of the hardy wererats had survived, and whilst severely injured were quickly beginning to regenerate. From a safe distance, I threw a second jar of exploding liquid into the middle of the writhing creatures, this time when the dust cleared, the corpses stayed still.
13 Mirtul 1312
I didn't expect the damn priestess to make her move quite so soon! Before I'd even left the valley, the Selunite priestess intercepted me, and she had brought allies. These guys take the theft of their holy relics seriously!
A stern faced paladin of Selune stood by Emma's side, heavily armoured and carrying a large double handed sword, the holy warrior obviously meant business. Just behind the pair stood a duo of 'warriors of virtue', spectral knights in the service of selune, usually only called upon during desperate times, to dispose of especially troublesome agents of evil.... I should feel honored!
The priestess took a step forward.
"I have hunted you down dog! Selune has shown me the true depths of your evil, and I know exactly how you sacrificed the villagers of Coran's Buff, to save your own skin in your battle with Torak! For your crimes against humanity, and for the theft of our most holy artifact you have been sentenced to death! Any last words.. dog?"
"Just three priestess... NECRO MANTICA TERRONIUM!"
The priestess, who but a moment earlier had spoken with such confidence in her voice, suddenly lost her nerve as I completed the incantation for my horror spell. The stalwart Paladin and his fearless spectral allies were not so easily distracted however. As Emma turned to flee, the three warriors advanced with steely conviction, I do hate Paladins.....
I ignored the priestess for now, and took aim at one of the spectral warriors. The unnatural knight staggered backwards as my bolt pierced its armour plated chest, good! For a moment there I was worried that my weapon would have no effect. I quickly retreated to a natural formation of tall boulders, using the cover to disappear from view, so that I could come around behind them.
Using the rock formation to my advantage, I kept my distance from the Selunites, popping from cover only long enough to fire off the occasional bolt. In their heavy armour, the warriors couldn't keep up with me and I easily dispatched the two spectral knights. I was so distracted by the paladin however, that I failed to notice that my horror spell had worn off, and the Priestess of Selune was now creeping up behind me.
My muscles suddenly went numb as the priestess released a hold person spell upon me. I somehow managed to stagger onwards, resisting her magic through force of will. I retaliated by hitting the priestess once more with a horror spell, sending her running for cover.
That was a close call! I decided it would be wise to deal with the priestess now, I might not be so lucky if she creeps up on me again. I gave chase through the maze like rocky terrain, firing off shots as she ran in and out of cover, all the while listening for the paladins clunking armour ...he was close by!
As I turned a corner, I finally caught a lucky break! Emma darted out of cover in front of me, totally unaware that I was stood behind her completely exposed back.
The priestess fell to the ground, desperately gasping for breath as her lifeblood slowly drained away.
"NoooOOOOOOOoooo!!! EMMA!"
I whirled around just as the grief stricken Paladin barreled into me, throwing me to the floor. We wrestled upon the ground, trading blows, each of us trying to gain the advantage, however the Paladin proved the stronger and easily overpowered me, wrapping his arm around my throat and locking me in a vice like choke hold.
"VOULAIRE...... KALACHA*gasp*.... NAUSIUM!....."
The Paladin suddenly turned a pale sickly green colour, and his strength quickly began to fail him as my ray of enfeeblement spell took effect. I broke myself free from the Paladins weakening chokehold, and clambered to my feet.
I recovered my weapon, and backed away as the Paladin forced himself back on to his feet. Paladins... they just don't know when to give up! With my spell draining his strength, the warrior could barely move under the weight of his full plate armour, but still the stubborn fool advanced! I don't know how the old warrior expected this scenario to end, but I took great pleasure punching holes through his armour with my crossbow.
Thats one less Paladin polluting the world, I consider today a good day.
Off in the near distance, the Shaengarne bridge finally came into view, but it was not the impressive bridge that first caught my attention. Several hundred meters downstream from the bridge, and immense dam was being built.
Why were the Chimeran army building a dam here? It made no sense, with the river frozen it just wasn't practical, in fact when the river thaws, the damn would more than likely overflow and burst its banks!
Of course! It suddenly dawned upon me! That is exactly what the Chimeran forces were hoping for. Spring was fast approaching, and when the snows begin to melt, the damn will almost certainly overfill and burst its walls. The Shaengarne river, followed by Maer Dualdon would be flooded, and every town and village along the bank of the great lake would be washed away, Lonelywood, Bremen, Termalaine... Targos...
Their plan is to wipe out the towns without a prolonged siege, and with little loss of life to their own forces, clever! I would of course have to foil their plan, and destroy this dam whilst it was still safe to do so, still I couldn't help but admire their creativity. Commander Shawford is going to have to pay me triple for this!
16 Mirtul 1312
The Dam was guarded by Malarites! Especially savage and brutal priests and druids of the beastlord Malar, and it wasn't long until my scent was picked up by their great hunting cats. So much for the stealthy approach.
Several Malarites assembled to defend the dam, followed by their loyal pets. Before I could react, countless vines and thorny brambles burst out from the ground beneath my feet, wrapping around my legs, and pinning me to the ground. A druids entangle spell!
My adversaries rushed in for the kill, but many of them soon became entangled in their own spell! Now rooted to the ground, the Malarites couldn't quite reach me, but I could reach them! I unbuckled my crossbow and took aim.
I didn't get many shots off before the determined Malarites managed to force their way through the grasping vines. I waited until the group was almost upon me, and then sent them running with a horror spell.
In their desperate attempt to escape, the malorites only served to get them selves even more tangled in the mass of brambles. I returned to my previous tactic of shooting the malarites and their beasts. One by one I put the helpless beasts down.
Their entangle spell unfortunately wore off just before I had finished my work, however this only slowed their inevitible demise, as I kept the priests at bay with my horror spells. Before long, the first wave of Malarites had been defeated.
Just behind me, a large wooden beam helped support the large dam wall. A few well placed blows and the support collapsed, off in the distance I could see a second support beam, if I could dismantle that one then the dam would surely fall!
[Spoiler]Level 9 - Point Distribution
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 12
+1 Concentration = 12
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 12
+1 Spell Craft = 12
+1 Open Locks = 6
Feats
Dash ( +15% Movement speed )
[/spoiler]
16 Mirtul 1312
I encountered several more Malarite groups as I advanced, but none quite as big as the first. Once again, the first inclination of these fools was to hit me with an entangle spell. I fought my way over the length of the dam, using the druids own entangle spells against them, and made relatively short work of the guardians in the process.
I drew my enchanted shortsword as I finally approached the last support strut, cursing myself for not bringing an axe with me. After about five minutes of hacking away, the giant wooden beam gave way. The dam still stood, but its walls were now so weakened, that it couldn't possibly hold enough water to flood the Shaengarne.
17 Mirtul 1312
It seems that the destruction I have wrought between here and Targos has not gone unnoticed, a small army lay assembled before me at the foot of the Shaengarne bridge. I've been expected it would seem.
I rummage through my potion case as I approached, my earlier battle against the wererats had severely eaten into my supply, but I still had three potions of explosions remaining, as well as two vials of flaming oil. I transferred them into the pockets of my robes for quick access, something told me I was going to need them.
Off in the distance I could see an immensely large bugbear giving out orders, within moments a pair of powerful ogres had begun to smash through bridges support beams. They were trying to collapse the bridge, rather than see it be retaken! If that happens Targos will never see the Neverwinter reinforcements.
I didn't have any time to waste! I needed to take those ogres down quickly, I broke into a sprint and headed right for the bridge. A sea of green faces charged forwards, intent on meeting me head on, among their number were several towering bugbears, easily two to three times the size of an orc, I doubted very much I'd survive a direct blow from one of those brutes.
The orcs were almost upon me, but I couldn't afford to slow down. I cleared my mind, ready for my first spell.
"NECRO MANTICA TERRONIUM!"
The sea of green suddenly the parted, and opened up in front of me, as the orcs now suddenly filled with dread desperately tried to clamber away from me. I charged through their ranks and kept running.
More and more reinforcements appeared as I reached the bridge, too many! Scores of orcs, bugbears, wererats and malarites all closed in behind me. Suddenly several familiar faces also shambled into view in front of me, they were the villagers I had killed from the nearby logging community.
I barged past the zombies and kept going until I reached the ogres! Wasting no time, I hit one of the creatures with a horror spell, that should at least slow them down a bit. Before I could focus on the other, my pursuers finally caught up. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I had no choice but to loose one of my vials upon the incoming army.
I followed up my assault by hitting the burning creatures with a horror spell, before turning my attention back upon the ogres. The brutes were tough, especially as I was also trying to contend with wave after wave of enemy reinforcements. I used Oswald's minor vials of burning oil to ignite one of the ogres, before finishing it off with my crossbow. The second one had to wait however, as fresh reinforcements poured onto the bridge. I turned the fools back with another horror spell, and then resumed my assault on the final ogre. Eventually the brute fell!
The bridge was saved for now, but the same could not yet be said about me, as even more enemies were rushing onto the bridge. Tymora was smiling upon me however, as one of the large bugbears got stuck in the small gap between an overturned horse cart, and a stack of barrels, which bottlenecked the rest of the pursuing army. I seized on the opportunity, throwing my second, and then third and final exploding potion into the heart of the hoard.
The bridge shook under the force of the blast, and for a moment I feared I that I may have ended up collapsing the bridge myself! The bridge held strong however, and once the flames had cleared only a handful of badly wounded wererats has survived. Taking no chances with the dangerous creatures, I released another horror onto the group, before picking them off at my leisure with my crossbow. The bridge was finally clear!
I wasn't out of the woods yet however, a large enemy force still remained out on the large open plain overlooking the bridge, I could see orcs, harpies, a handful of human mages, as well as a huge verbeeg! They still had fight left in them, and were not willing to lose the bridge without a fight.
Fortunately for me, I now held a defensible position, and with ogres now dead, time was back on my side. I no longer had to fight recklessly, and could take my time picking off small groups at a time.
The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, but gradually I began to mop up the remnants of the army, little by little, kill by kill.
The battle for Shaengarne bridge was finally won! Among the bodies I found many healing potions, and a lot of gold, but two items stood out above all others, a valuable bag of holding and a pair of enchanted boots, which render me immune to the effects of the entangle spell, these will be useful if I find myself once again faced off against the Malarites.
[Spoiler]Level 10 - Point Distribution
Skills
+1 Alchemy = 13
+1 Concentration = 13
+1 Knowledge (arcana) = 13
+1 Spell Craft = 13
+1 Intimidate = 6
Feats
Subvocal Casting ( Immunity to silence )
[/spoiler]
19 Mirtul 1312
The journey back to Targos proved uneventful, however my plans for a few days of rest and recover were thwarted when I reported back to Lord Ulbrec. Ulbrec's scouts have finally sent word back to Targos, and it appears that they have discovered the location of the the goblins fortress. I am to rendezvous with the scouts, and assault the fortress whilst the greenskins are still weakened. If I can slay their leader, then the immediate threat to Targos will be over.
*sigh* No rest for the wicked!
Before I left, I paid Shawford Crale a visit to claim my reward, I am now 3,000gp richer, and finally starting to earn coin worthy of my services.
From my rocky perch, high up on the cliff face, I could see the whole valley sprawling out in front of me. At the far end sat the imposing goblin fortress, completely surrounded by a large wooden palisade, that was locked up tight! There was no way I was walking in through the front door.
A rustling in the bushes behind my caught me attention, and as I turned around out stepped a weary looking elvan woman.
It was Ennelia, one of Ulbrec's scouts whom I was supposed to meet. The woman wasted no time filling me in on the situation. We needed to reach the fortress, but the Palisade was locked up tight and without siege engines was practically impenetrable. Ennelia believes that they may have discovered another entrance however, off to the east is a lightly guarded gate which leaves to a subterranean cave. It is her belief that this cave leads underground, and into the grounds of the fortress.
Unfortunately they were ambushed whilst investigating this cave, and her partner Branston was captured during their attempted escape. Before I left, the scout warned me of the goblin's war drums, enchanted by their shamans, the drums don't just raise the alarm and alert the nearby goblins of my presence, but they will teleport in an endless wave of goblin worg riders until the drum is destroyed! It is imperative that I don't allow any goblin to raise the alarm, lest I get get swarmed by a greenskin hoard.
20 Mirtul 1312
A short way from Ennelia's hiding spot I came upon a small goblin camp. I caught the creatures unawares however, and they proved a very small challenge. Searching through the tents after my battle, I came upon an enchanted staff. The staff has a small chance to dispel enchantments with each successful blow.
20 Mirtul 1312
I just had a very close call at one of the goblin camps. I encountered one of those enchanted drums that Ennelia had spoken of. As I battled a pair of half goblins, one of their shaman appeared from nowhere, and made a break for the drum. I managed to pierce, and slice through the drums skin with a bolt before he could raise the alarm, but only just. In future I'll have to make sure I disable these things as soon as I encounter them.
20 Mirtul 1312
I've located the side gate that Ennelia directed me too. Though the goblins appear to have improved their security since the two scouts were caught trespassing in their facility. The gate was locked up tight, though I had found a key on one of the goblin commanders I had defeated at the previous camp. Before I could pull the key from my pocket, a deep booming voice called out from other side, demanding that I identify my self.
I tried to convince the voice that I was the tribes chieftain, but I guess my goblin impression still needs a little work, as my attempt to bluff my way through the gate failed. I pulled the large rusty key from my pocket, unsure whether it would even fit. I couldn't help breath a sigh of relief as I heard the lock *click* as the key turned in the hole.
I flung the door open hard, ready to surprise whatever goblins lay beyond. Instead it was me who was caught off guard, as came face to face with a party of trolls and ogres!
This was bad! I had expended my entire stock of burning oil on the Shaengarne bridge, and now I had no way of defeating these trolls, I barged my way past the creatures and made a mad dash to the cave entrance, praying that I wasn't running into a dead end.
I ran deeper and deeper into the cave, eventually losing my pursuers in the branching tunnels. I walked around a corner, and into a large cave.
The phrase "Out of the frying pan, and into the fire" suddenly came to mind.....
I appear to have found my way into some kind of goblin barracks, there must have been twenty, maybe even thirty greenskins sleeping in the small tents set up around the perimeter of the room. A few more goblins sat around a large fire in the center of the cave, bickering among themselves over a half eaten shank of meat. Several large worgs sat among them, sprawled out lazily in front of the warm fire.
Unwilling to reveal my presence just yet, I glanced around the room, searching for someway I could safely make my way through the large cave, though I quickly concluded that I would be hard pressed to make it through unscathed.
At the southern most end of the cave, a few of the tents were stacked with crates and boxes, that seemed to contain plunder from a recent raid. It was feint, almost imperceptible but I could sense a familiar necromantic energy coming from the one of the tents, I tried to focus on the energy, to lock on to its source, and... BINGO!
Strapped casually around one of the crates, hung a cylindrical leather case, a mage's scroll case! I couldn't be sure that the cases contents would be of any use in my current predicament, but I had no better options available at this moment.
The bickering goblins around the fire appeared much to distracted to notice me, so I took the risk and crept out into the cave, trying not to wake any of the sleeping goblins. I got maybe ten feet into the cave, when one of the ever alert worgs ears suddenly sat bolt upright, its ears stood up on end, and completely alert! The creature turned its head towards me... stealth never was my strong point.
Within moments the alarm had been raised, and the sleeping goblins were beginning to rise from their slumber. I broke into a run, firing off several horror spells at the incoming goblins as I moved. I somehow reached the scroll case unscathed, quickly unsealing it, I glanced inside... The fates have been kind to me today! Within the container were three scrolls, a useless fireball scroll and two scrolls of necromancy 'Vampiric Touch' and 'Skull Trap'.
I stuffed them into my robes and turned back to the goblins. Not willing to take any chances, I released another horror spell into the room, and then quickly ran back up the tunnel to safety, only stopping when I was certain that the goblins were not pursuing.
I ducked off into one of the branching side tunnels and set up my camp for the night. Zuzhul is finally back in action, and tomorrow I'm going to show those goblins what true power looks like!