|
|
|
|
|
01/23/02 |
|
GREYHAWK 2000 - Stories ADVENTURE 8 - White Plume Mountain
Godsday, the 11th of Reaping 592 CY | We are staying at an inn in Hardby. Hanna has left the party due to Zensun's evil acts. I was sorry to see her go, but I was happy when I saw her replacement. His name is Draedyn and he is an imposing figure and obviously a devout cleric of Pelor by the flaming holy symbols he proudly displays. I was torn between leaving the party to adventure with Hanna or staying with the party and risk never finding another good cleric. Draedyn has solved that problem, and even better, Zensun claims to have had a change of heart … we will see. Waterday, the 12th of Reaping 592 CY Tonight we are camped on the side of the road that leads north from Hardby toward Greyhawk. Last night we were going to meet with some men who we thought were agents of the Longspear Wizards' Guild in order to give them the three artifacts that we had recently recovered. But it turned out that the men were members of the Scarlet Brotherhood and were intent on killing Zensun! There were three of them. We killed one and captured a second, but the third escaped. We questioned our captive then turned him over the church of Pelor in Hardby. He told us that the Scarlet Brotherhood wanted Zensun dead but he would not say why. We also learned that these men had killed the agents of the Longspear Wizards' Guild. With the Scarlet Brotherhood after us, we thought that it would be a good idea to get out of Hardby. I convinced everyone that we should go to Greyhawk. I cannot wait to see it. Waterday, the 26th of Reaping 592CY Greyhawk is amazing. There is nothing that you cannot buy in this city! We have been buying and selling magic items since the day we got here. I have finally contacted the Longspear Wizard's Guild. They were devastated by the loss of their agents at the hands of the Scarlet Brotherhood and said that they no longer had the will to come and get the artifacts that we held and they were ours to do with as we pleased. They told us that the artifacts were a sort of key to open an ancient dungeon filled with fabulous magic weapons. I immediately began researching the location of this dungeon and found what I think to be its location. I think it lies beneath a semi-active volcano called White Plume Mountain located in the highlands just to the north of the Abbor-Alz Hills. We leave tomorrow. 
Sunday, the 2nd of Goodmonth 592CYWe arrived in Emeri today. The sunset lit up the side of White Plume Mountain beautifully. The mountain is about a half-day's horseback ride away and tomorrow we will see if we can get into it. Sunday, the 8th of Goodmonth 592CY Gods I feel bad. On the 3rd of Goodmonth we entered White Plume Mountain. In the very first room we ran afoul of almost a score of bugbears and a powerful human mage. The wizard was using powerful protection magics that were blocking all of our spells. My wand of flesh to stone was the only item I had that I thought would get through the protections. When I went to use it, it backfired. Once again I was turned to stone. My companions were able to overcome the wizard and bugbears and dragged me all the way back to Hardby. There they found a wizard to return me to flesh. From now on I am checking my magic items for curses. Freeday, the 14th of Goodmonth 592CY We are back in the village of Emeri and tomorrow we head back into White Plume Mountain. We have learned a lot about White Plume Mountain. The place was built by an evil human mage named Kareptis. Kareptis created four powerful magic weapons which he imbued with his spirit. When Kareptis was away from White Plume Mountain about 100 years ago, a band of adventurers came in and took three of these weapons. Shortly thereafter Kareptis was killed, but his spirit lived on in his weapons and the new owners of the three stolen weapons returned to White Plume Mountain where they have become slaves. We hope that the power of Kareptis has faded so that we can claim the magic weapons for our own. Freeday, the 16th of Goodmonth 592CY We explored many strange caverns in White Plume Mountain. We found a whole series of caves filled with riotous vegetation in the form of mosses, algae, fungi, and more. Tending this foul garden complex were huge shambling mounds of vegetation. These things attacked us on sight. They were extremely strong and would pull us into them where we were entombed in rotting vegetation. Luckily we were always able to defeat these monstrosities and pull our companions out. At the nexus of this foul garden complex we found a cavern with a huge worm-like fungal growth dominating the center of it. This growth as large as a castle tower. Near the base of the thing was a strange looking dwarf. Its hair seemed to have been replaced with fungus. It wielded a crystalline staff which issued forth ice storms and cones of cold. We defeated the dwarf in a fierce battle and claimed the crystalline staff, possibly one of the four weapons we were seeking. We were not able to get close to the fungal tower, however. The thing was alive and would bend over and eat anything near it! On our way out of the mountain, we were ambushed by a band of evil elves lead by an elven vampire. The battle was going our way until Grock did the unthinkable. He took out the crystalline staff we had captured, leveled it, and let fly a cone of cold. That would not have been so bad, except he caught Virgil and Draedyn in its path. Virgil survived, but Draedyn fell dead. The rest of us had to run for our lives. Only after we were sure that the evil elves were not following us did we stop and sneak back in to recover Draedyn's body. Now we are back on the road for Greyhawk. Oh, before I forget, we do not have the crystalline staff with us because Grock dropped it before he ran. Sunday, the 23rd of Goodmonth 592CY Well, we are back in Greyhawk and all is well. We were able to get a Cleric of Pelor to cast a True Resurrection spell on Draedyn. I have begun work on a new magic item, an amulet of health. We will be leaving to return to White Plume Mountain soon. Sunday, the 10th of Harvester 592CY Here we are back at Emeri once again. I hope this expedition to White Plume Mountain goes better than the first two did. 
Moonday, the 11th of Harvester 592CYWe immediately ran into the evil elves and their vampire leader on our return into the mountain. We killed them all and saw the vampire floating away as a misty vapor. We followed and ran afoul of a flesh golem guardian. Once past the guardian, we came to a huge cavern filled with boiling mud. The only way to cross the cavern was via large wooden platforms suspended from the ceiling by heavy iron chains. It was quite a jump from one platform to the next. I decided to fly across the chamber with a rope securing it at each platform and at a stalagmite at the end. When tying the last knot, I ran into a nasty surprise. From out of thin air, the master vampire apeared. He was wielding the artifact hammer, Whelm, and he was swinging it down on me. The thing hit me with such force that I was knocked off the ledge toward the boiling mud pit. Luckily I was still flying and I flew back toward the party as fast as I could. The vampire followed close behind and before I could get to safety he let loose a terrible lightning bolt from Whelm. I was able to dodge most of the blast but Draedyn was caught square and killed. The fight with the vampire raged on back and forth across the cavern. Before we could finish him off, he had killed Zensun and destroyed Feanor's sword. Waterday, the 19th of Harvester 592CY Back in Greyhawk once again. We got both Zensun and Draedyn resurrected today. I'm not so sure going back to White Plume Mountain was a good idea. NEW! Starday, the 1st of Ready'reat 592CY We are back in Emeri. While we were gone a large band of gnolls, ogres, and trolls overran Ringwall. The Lord of Emeri sent a force of militia to try and drive them away but that force never returned. Now is gathering together more militia in fear that the band of monsters might overrun Emeri next. We offered to liberate Ringwall and drive the monsters away for 2000gp and he accepted. We spent the rest of the day buying every vial of acid or alchemists fire that they had in the town. Sunday, the 2nd of Ready'reat 592CY We set off for Ringwall first thing in the morning. Damoni was leading our way and looking for humanoid tracks. It is nice to have the ranger back. About halfway to Ringwall we spotted 2 trolls and 8 gnolls. The trolls charged and the gnolls held back and fired arrows at us. I was hit twice by poisoned arrows from these monsters before I started firing back with magic missiles. Dreadyn summoned 2 fire and 3 air elementals that helped us defeat the trolls and then ripped apart the gnoll ranks. We finished the rest of them off. By the end of the day we could see Ringwall. It was a sad sight. Much of the town had been burned and the part that wasn't was inhabited by gnolls, ogres, and trolls. There were bodies lying in the streets and even some being roasted over fires. We made a good defensible camp near the town and made our plan for tomorrow's assault. 
Moonday, the 3rd of Ready'reat 592CYWhat a day! It started late on the night of the 2nd at about 3am. Virgil and I were on watch when we were attacked by a band of 2 trolls, 4 ogres, and 8 gnolls. The trolls and ogres charged us and the gnolls snuck around to our flanks, in fact we did not know there were any gnolls until our traps went off. We had set up a glyph of warding on one side of the camp and an alarm spell on the other. The gnolls that activated the glyph of warding were all killed by the blast of acid. The gnolls that activated the alarm spell were soon stopped when Damoni cast an entangle spell on them. We used our big spells on the trolls and ogres that were charging us. I hit them with a lightning bolt and an ice storm. Virgil used Whelm to cast a lightning bolt at them but he missed his mark. Soon the trolls and ogres were upon us. We fought in a tightly grouped bunch and were able to defeat them all, despite an ill timed blast of light from Dreadyn which blinded both me and Grock for a short time. We slept in in the morning so that we would be fresh when we were studying our spells. That day we approached the town and tried to goad some of the humanoids into coming out to fight us. We got more than we bargained for. From out of the town rose a monstrous black ogre with huge dragon wings. The thing carried a great sword that seemed to absorb the light around it, Blackrazor! The thing began flying toward us with the slow and steady beat of its huge dragon wings. We backed up as much as we could so that no other humanoids from the town would join the fray. Virgil demanded that he be the first to attack the Ogre and we all agreed. A running battle ensued, backward and forward we went. Nothing we did seemed to affect this thing and it would not approach to melee range. Then I made the mistake of getting separated from the rest of the group by a short distance. The Ogre swooped down and attacked. One great swing from Blackrazor and I was on the ground, nearly dead. The rest of the party rushed to my aid and the Ogre bounded back into the air. Dreadyn brought me back from the brink of death. I was stunned but alive and I took to the air to use the superior flying granted to me by the fly spell to outfly the Ogre. As I flew circles around him and let loose with my wand of magic missiles he realized he would have to come to the ground and fight us. When he did, our fighters still could not harm him. That is until Virgil attacked with Whelm. One blow from Whelm struck the Ogre in the side of the chest, lightning crackled around the head of the hammer as it drove the Ogre's rib cage in and impaled his heart. The Ogre fell with a clatter to the ground. Blackrazor seemed to fall from his hand in slow motion and hit the ground with a dull, metallic thud. Grock reached for Blackrazor as Virgil yelled "no!" but Virgil was too late. Grock picked up Blackrazor and the weapon immediately took possesion of him. In a deeper voice then normal he demanded the Virgil give him the hammer Whelm. When Virgil refused Grock attacked. There was nothing that we could do to stop him and he finally killed Virgil. After Virgil was dead, Grock picked up Whelm and Blackrazor and Whelm merged into one weapon. Then, in a dark explosion the weapon vanished and from it issued a black, incorporeal shape and flew away toward White Plume Mountain. I think this thing was the spirit of Keraptis! Grock slumped to the ground with Virgil's blood all around him. He swears that he does not remember what happened. Virgil is not going to be pleased when we raise him from the dead. Godsday, the 4th of Ready'reat 592CY We got back to Emeri last night and claimed our reward this morning. Just as we were packing up and getting ready for the 10 day trip to Greyhawk, the ground was shaken by a violent tremor. We looked up and saw the eruption of White Plume Mountain (it is a good thing we were not inside it at the time). I do not know if I was just imagining it or not but I think I saw the face of Kareptis in the billowing plume of smoke and ash. |
|
|
| suggestions | top | greyhawk 2000 stories | campaigns |