Session 36
Current Date
1254 A.C. Season of Ardus, Month of Cartor, Withdrawal, the Second
Events
Day 191 - After the battle with the jackal warriors, Iris gave the room a closer examination and discovered some gemstones and a scarab beetle amulet. The amulet, ended up being a key in the empty sarcophagus which opened a staircase to another hidden chamber. The party descended the stairs to find a large bronze door that was slowly opening on its own.
Inside the hidden chamber they were greeted by a woman in a lavishly decorated hall. She introduced herself as Queen Nebet-Nehat, ruler of Akhetaten. She admitted to being "preserved" but showed no obvious hostility toward the group. The group acted cordially and a favorable encounter ensued.
During the encounter, Nebet-Nehat offered a proposal; if Tila would teach her some of the spells that were missing from her research she would give her valuable ceramic jars which contained the symbols of her language which Tila could take back to her library for research. Tila agreed and taught Nebet-Nehat Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Nebet-Nehat was pleased and upheld her end of the bargain. Tila placed the 5 canopic jars in her bag of holding.
Nebet-Nehat also admitted that the obelisk outside was a prison that was keeping her trapped in her temple. She asked if the party would destroy the obelisk for her. The party took a day to rest and make a decision.
Day 192 - After much discussion and communing with various entities (including Moradin and an attempt to "send" a message to Vartu, the rakshasa), they decided to leave the temple without further interaction with the Queen and continued on their original quest for the behir. Just before leaving they sent a magical missive to the Sages Academy to inform them of what they found, set a Hallow spell at the entrance of the temple and blocked off the entrance with a stone wall (inscribing a message of warning in various languages.
Day 194 - 2 days later traveling through the desert the party found themselves in the Mahzar Badlands which buffers the Great Rakaran Desert and the Glass Wall. Rhuk and Iris begin their search looking for the Aaracokra village and instead find the remains of a fresh battle between the Aaracokra and the Tlincalli (scorpion men). Investigation of the scene revealed that is was a fresh battle, no more than an hour or two before and there were two survivors. Ferlith and Iris wrestled with a weakened Tlincalli but it resisted and had to be put down. The surviving Aaracokra was willing to cooperate in exchange for healing its wings. It lead the party back to its nest.
Upon arrival Ferlith used Wall of Stone to build a ramp up to the nest where they spoke with the flock's elders and learned that the behir was called the Slithering Storm. They both worshiped and feared the creature as a demon that was sent by their gods for the punishment of sins that they did not yet understand. While they feared the behir, it was part of their religion so they were unwilling to assist in hunting it, fearing that it would impose even more punishment from their gods. They did finally admit that they regularly sacrificed goats to the behir as offerings to prevent it from feeding on them. This is why the attacked the Tlincalli, to steal their goats for sacrifice.
While speaking with the Aaracokra, Ferlith tried to establish himself as a servant of the gods by demonstrating his command of the Hammer of Moradin, but, embarrassingly, the hammer would not form. He did some soul searching and realized that when he tried to contact Vartu for assistance with Queen Nebet-Nehat, Moradin was less than pleased that he would consort with fiends (especially one that had misused the Soul Forge).
Day 195 - The group took a long rest at the Aaracokra nest before heading out to find the sacrifice location and set up a trap for the behir. While they were interviewing the Aaracokra they inadvertently gave the group a clue about where to look. They said that the behir, being an evil demon, comes toward them from the opposite direction of their gods. Rhuk, understanding the nature of the landscape, realized that the winds in this area, always come from the south, so it made sense that the behir would live in the wall toward the north. While traveling north, Iris and Rhuk both had the feeling of being hunted, but, no direct evidence was found.
Eventually, they discovered a live goat tethered to a small ledge about 30 feet off the ground. Ferlith and Tila climb the wall to get to the goat, while Iris and Rhuk hid behind a rocky outcropping some distance away and then they waited. About 30 minutes later, Iris detected that the Horse and Camel were acting agitated and then saw the behir climbing down from a mesa ledge to attack them. Iris spooked the horse which ran away, but, the Behir was able to constrict and swallow the camel. It then dashed back up the wall, passed Ferlith and Tila into a hole in the side of the cliff.
The group chased after it. Rhuk and Iris (through the ring of spell storing) both tracked it with Hunter's Mark which allowed them to know where it was in the twisting cavern. This prevented them from being surprised as the behir tried to lure into dead ends and choke points. It was successful at electrifying the tunnel by using its breath weapon on the wet floor and at one point had constricted Tila and tried to swallow her whole, but, both attempts lead to failure. Eventually, after many hit and run attempts against the group, the behir was beaten and loosing blood. It retreated to its own nest deep in the cavern where the party cornered it.
In one last final attack, the behir cried out for mercy in the common tongue. This was enough to startle the group and they stayed their final assault and showed the beast mercy. It turned out that he was guarding a clutch of eggs. showing subservience toward his merciful hunters he engaged in conversation with the group and explained that a few weeks ago he and his mate were out hunting for goats when they were assaulted by 3 dragons; creatures which his parents had only spoken about but never actually encountered. They were taken by surprise and his mate was killed and her body taken away.
Ferlith, seeing that some of the eggs had been damaged by one of Tila's spells (just before they ended their assault) decided to sacrifice some of the parties diamonds and cast revivify on the eggs to bring them back to life. This sacrifice was enough for Moradin to forgive Ferlith for his previous transgression and he was, once again, able to summon his Hammer.
The group assumed that these were the three dragon children of the Frozen Scale Queen that had escaped the battle of Scarab Oasis some time ago. The behir, who called himself Eshon, offered to hunt these dragons alongside Rhuk and her pack in exchange for the mercy they showed him. They agreed and all of them spent a long rest recovering from the previous altercation.
Day 196 - Eshon said that he could climb the wall to the top, but, the wind didn't like creatures intruding on their territory. If anyone got knocked off he would not turn around for them. They decided to use their ropes to tie themselves to Eshon and Eshon started his ascent up the Glass Wall. As they group ascended the winds started to pick up and each member of the group, including Eshon, was pummeled by forceful blasts of wind on the way up. However, with the rope securely tightened, no one fell off and only a few bruises were incurred.
After reaching the top, the party realized that it was very cold, similar to the shadowfell tundra, which is the perfect location for a white dragon to make a new lair. Eshon began tracking the dragon and Rhuk cast Hunter's Mark to keep tabs on Eshon. Before going too far into the frozen mountains, the group decided to put on their cold weather gear which they had stored in their bags of holding. Upon opening her bag, Tila was assaulted by 4 blasts of sand that escaped her bag and went off the cliff. She then noticed that all 5 of the canopic jars she had stored in her bag was missing.
Following Eshon, they first discovered the corpse of a roc that had been killed within the last week. Its wings were mangled and its heart ripped from its chest. Eshon suggested that the dragon was establishing dominance in the region. Before they could continue the hunt the further they heard the roar of the dragon echoing through the mountains. The roar started an avalanche. Thinking quickly Ferlith cast Wall of Stone to envelope the party in a stone fortification which prevented any damage from the avalanche. After a few moments, he released the wall of stone which then left behind an icy dome of condensed snow. Ferlith burst through using his hammer and the battle with the dragon begun.
As before the battle was fierce. The dragon used its advantage of flight to keep out of reach of most of the team's attacks. Learning from their previous encounter, the team attempted to teleport (using dimension door) on to the dragons back, but, this time the party was less skillful in staying on, suffering from falling damage in the process. Eshon suggested that they force the dragon to land so he could go in for the kill.
Eventually, the dragon did decide to land in order to attack Iris, believing that it could just swoop in and out using its aerial agility (legendary wing action). however, Eshon saw his opportunity and was able to successfully constrict and restrain the dragon preventing it from flying away. With the dragon successfully restrained on the ground the party was able to deliver quite a bit of damage and the dragon fell. Eshon delivered the killed blow by snapping its neck.
After the battle, Eshon continued to search and discovered the mangled corpse of his dead mate. Rhuk, took the rib bone she was after and then used the rod of resurrection on the dead behir to revive the mate. Eshon calmed his mate and together they escorted the group back down the cliff side to ground. Eshon and told the group that they would continue the hunt for the other dragons when their young have hatched. They have new purpose now and no longer have a need to hunt goats or the Aaracokra for food.
REWARDS:
1 Behir Rib Bone
4 White Dragon Scales
1 Dragon Eye
COMBAT and EXPERIENCE SUMMARY:
1 Behir - 1800 xp
1 Adult White Shadow Dragon (divided 5 ways) - 2300 xp
Cordial negotiations with god Queen Nebet-Nehat - 300 xp
Showing mercy to ones foe - 500 xp
Meeting with the Aaracokra and learning some lore - 100 xp
Total for Session - 5000 xp
Running XP Total = 112943 xp / 120,000 xp goal for level 13