I. THE DUEL March 5th 217B Theringil identified some of the items that he received from Fharlanghn and one of them (Fharlanghn's journal) would give him a +2 inherent bonus to Wisdom if he spent several days studying it. So he spent the day studying it while other people got into trouble buying and selling items around town. Qualintal finally decided to sell half a dozen of his backup weapons to get a nice new primary weapon. Berrik received a hand me down ring and cloak as the rest of the party upgraded gear. Berrik grumbled something about thieves and rings and his mithrael breast plate but it was not very coherent. But then again the dwarf was staggering drunk having consumed a couple gallons of ale before realizing his heroes feast spell had ended. March 6th 217B Herunaro received a sending from Brahmin the Seraphim. Apparently Herunaro is challenged to a duel by the Vrock Guildamere in Pandemonium. The official challenge went something like: "You have insulted Guildamere and his wines. He demands the satisfaction of a duel in Eco's vault at noon tomorrow. Come prepared to pay restitution." Herunaro rejected the challenge stating that the location was not convenient and that he would prefer a neutral area that was more accessible from the prime. He also called the Vrock a buzzard and stated his wines were nothing but vinegar. March 7th 217B Theringil read his book for a few hours and found an amusing chapter labeled things not to do. The following is an excerpt from that chapter that I forgot to hand him during the run. Go on a long trip with a stranger whom shows wealth yet no knowledge of a trade. Eat barbeque made by Erythnul or his followers. Make fun of a barbarians pretenses at honor Nor a paladins Challenge a dwarf to a drinking contest. Even if you win due to Hero's feast the dwarf will probably poison himself before admitting defeat and then you will have his family calling in challenges. Help a goblin tribe without exacting some reward. Otherwise they will come screaming to you for aid every time they have any problem whatsoever and that gets really tiresome. Volunteer for a cause that has no clear goals nor end in sight. Fight a creature that can be tricked or bribed. Steal something that can be earned. Say yes when someone asks if you would mind being a god. Attend poker night with Constantine. Settle an argument through coin toss. #%$ those luck gods. Play poker with a deck that is magical no matter how much the owner swears that it is safe. Buy a magic item "As is" Eat something that talks. (unless it asks you to, or you are really really hungry) Date a woman whose intelligence and hunger for power exceeds your own. Herunaro was challenged again by Guildamere this time it was in the outlands and Herunaro accepted the challenge. The group splits into two factions. The strike team, and the duelers. The duelers (Herunaro and his seconds Qualintal and Swiftwind) travel to the site of the dual. Protected by an Astral projection they travel to the outlands via foot guided by Qualintal. When they arrive the Vrock is already staging theatrics to turn the crowd against the elf. A sizable crowd has gathered to see the event. The Vrock's seconds are two Babau servants. The duel mediator is Lord Bollypupwug the Flatulent Toad Lord. (Former immortal god of Sladi or some such) The Vrock continues exhorting the crowd as the heroes approach. As the elf enters the square in which the duel is to take place the Vrock cries, "And look upon the visage of my enemy. He who disgraced my stellar collection of ancient and rare wines. What say you fellow fiends, shall this day see justice and the rule of Law over Light?" The crowd howled in anticipation of bloodshed, but Herunaro held his hands up and an expectant hush fell over the crowd. Speaking softly to made the crowd still to hear his retort. He states, "I may have insulted his wine, I did not come here to be whined at by a Vrock." The crowd roared in derision as the Vrock turned scarlet and mopped his forehead with a silken handkerchief. The Vrock's further protestations could not overcome the shear volume of the crowd. Lord Bollypupwug then stepped forth and put his hands out. In low croaks and belches he put forth the terms of the duel. No one in the square seems to understand a word he says. Yet the forms of the duel were pretty standard. The Vrock stated that the duel would be to first blood and the loser would pay restitution for damage to the Vrock's wine cellars. Herunaro is given the choice of weapons and declared that the duel is to be fought with natural weapons only. This gets another round of applause and the Vrock appears surprised since he clearly did not expect the elf to fight him unarmed. The Vrock shrugged at the crowd making a show of removing his rapier and scroll belt to show he was prepared to fight on more favorable terms, but still the crowd seems to have been won over by the Herunaro's shear audacity. The Vrock then steps forth and accepts the terms and Lord Bollypupwug points the contestants to their relative positions. He then gestures the crowd back a safe distance and even blasts a few stragglers with blasphemy spells. Then Bollypupwug pulls forth a slime and goo encrusted handkerchief from his shirt pocket and after wiping his nose tosses the handkerchief into the air to start the duel. As the handkerchief leaves the Toad Lord's hand the Vrock invokes a spell creating a dozen images of him milling around. Herunaro also invokes a spell to shapeshift into the form of a Gigantic Silver Dragon. The Vrock cries treachery but Bollypupwug looks on the Vrock's pleas dismissively. The Vrock then runs over to his table and grabs his scrolls. He whips out a scroll and reads it aloud with a flourish causing his illusionary duplicates to wink out. The dragon then takes a swing at the Vrock but can not get closer than 10 feet to the vulture headed demon. Herunaro realizes that the Vrock must have cast an Antimagic circle and hope to corner him with the spell. Herunaro then takes to the air and plays a game of cat and mouse over the next hour or so. Meanwhile watching the battle via scrying Theringil and Berrik travel to the Vrock's home and have their merry way with his wine cellar. Berrik claims a couple dozen bottles of hundred year old brandy underneath the huge halfwit demon butler nose. When the quasit chamberlain becomes suspicious and orders the butler to accost the men. Theringil cast Prismatic circle around himself and the dwarf. Still in a prestigious feat of persistence the butler crashes through all but the last of the 9 magical walls surrounding the pair before getting shunted to another dimension. Theringil then released both an earthquake and a fire storm upon the cellar while Berrik looked on sadly as hundreds of wine bottles were destroyed. The entire cavern crumbled and fell in the conflagration, but the magical sphere protected the pair from the tons of falling rocks. With their covert mission a complete success the two shifted back to the outlands to watch the last half of the duel which was turning out to be quite long. Eventually the Vrock dismissed his antimagic circle and invoked Law to guide his hand. Herunaro seeing the magic circle was down flew over the VroVrock's head and blasted him with a paralyzing cone of gas. The Vrock fell limp to the ground and then teleported away before the dragon could land and administer the first blow (probably a coup de grace). Lord Bollypupwug announced Herunaro as the winner and everyone was happy. Well everyone except the pit fiend whom had just sold the Vrock's underlings an insurance policy for the wine cellar, but that is a story for another time. As part of the winners privilege Herunaro was assigned the services of the two Babau since their master had left them behind and not designated another prize for the elf. The elf acquired the Babau some cleaning supplies (in this case shaggy dogs and soap) and told them to help their master clean up a little mess. After cleaning up for their old master they were to come find him in the middle of Mechanus killing anyone who blocked their way. The Babau's eyes lit up with unholy fervor at the commands and prostrated themselves before their lord before heading back to pandemonium munching on the dogs as they went. II. The Gambit Back on the material plane the group met with Alex whom had been working on items with the Church of Jaas. The church had provided the raw materials, while Alex provided the natural skill and craftsmanship. Apparently Alex had been working on the items for some time, when the party abruptly visited him in the Library he only had enough warning to sudden minor create those busts of him self covering all the works in progress. Apparently he explained all the busts of him, were covering the real items he was working on. Swiftwind got a vorpal frost-burst scimitar. Qualintal some +5 barding of speed and a cloak of lesser displacement, Herunaro a ring of spell turning, Theringil a Mighty Ghosttouch bow and 16 arrows of Greater Slaying (1/2 each of fiend and dragon), and Berrik got some +5 Admantium full plate, and a +3 animated shield. Later that day Herunaro received a message that Lady Helandial wanted an audience. Her agents had heard of a missionary visiting the city with a gem of some power. This man was trying to find a lawful order willing to take the Diamond of Chaos and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Herunaro went with the lady to see this man. Herunaro took the form of a Solar for the trip. Appearing to the man first as a weathered traveler he "reveal" he was an angel having heard of the man's mission. The man became evasive and stated that he was really looking for someone else. When Herunaro pushed him he finally admitted that the diamond wasn't real and showed it to the Angel. Unfortunately Herunaro made the mistake of picking up the gem and was attacked spiritually and shoved inside the gem. The man then plucked the gem out of the air and disappeared. Lady Helandial watching everything from the shadows outside the room was quite distraught fortunately she had the sense to immediately tell the rest of the party what had happened. The party went to investigate and it quickly be came apparent that Herunaro was kidnapped by Constantine after being lured by the tale of a Chaos diamond. Herunaro escaped after a bargaining session, but infuriated the party hunted down and killed the agents of Constantine involved in the plot. Using magic to track Constantine's teleportations the party followed him to a ocean temple somewhere in the Kingdom of the Isles where he was waiting for a raffle to end. The party then pulled out the stops and stormed the church with spells blazing. It was close, relied mostly on items and information they acquired that day so Constantine had little warning. He still almost escaped via a contingency spell. The group contacted Jaas for assistance and she recovered the real Chaos Diamond Herunaro had been handed by Constantine. She then used the gem to Soul Bind Constantine so that no Constantine clones or followers will be able to bring him back without taking the Gem back from Jaas. Jaas then tried to turn the gem back over to the party, but the party demurred afraid that it would be bad to let Constantine get into the Bastion even in a soul jar. As long as the gem is kept safe and outside Constantine should not resurface. (A little extreme in my opinion, but the party and I don't seem to see eye to eye on this Constantine fellow.) The group was not allowed to loot Constantine's temple nor corpse until specialists have examined everything very carefully to make sure that he left no surprises behind. (Jaas is overseeing the investigation) We left off right as Kellerik came asking for Berrik to visit home for a few days. Turns out there is a big banquet in his honor. The dwarves had been waiting to celebrate some of your recent heroics and when Berrik hadn't returned Kellerik came to find you and drag him back. (They only know up to the Iron tower, but Berrik has a lot of tales to tell, some of them even true I suspect) It seems like a lot of equipment got shoveled on the group all at once, but basically the party's allies are helping to equip them before the trip into the Bastion. There has been some talk of inside the Bastion you may be cut off. Also there is the fear that if you fail it isn't like you can just walk in and try again. But that is because nothing is known about what exists inside the Bastion. March 8th 217B SESSION END Morning of March 8th 217B NEXT TIME : The Bastion. ENEMIES DEFEATED ---------------- Vrock and his wine cellars Constantine Priest Constantine. EXPERIENCE TOTALS (Session 64) ----------------- Herunaro Swiftwind Berrik Qualintal Theringil 183660 176772 181888 183639 183634