Session Sixty-One Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)

Session 61, September 8 2021

Introduction

We continue at 6:30AM on the 24th of Laurilden (00.000.10.07 on Apocalypse Clock) with the party underway once more after camping for the night in the jungles of western Curmidden. Their goal is still Hdrasta and One Horn, but a perilous encounter late at night with a wandering Thessalhydra has exhausted some of their resources and left them injured. Are they still ready for the dangers ahead of them?

Larry's Summary

Ajax the Raven flies ahead and returns to warn us of giant scorpions ahead.

We go back to try and find the Thessalahydra lair. Ranarth tries to track it but we doubt he found the path and Velkin finds a lizard to talk to and it agrees to help us track the Thessalahydra back to its lair. It is a couple hours to the South/Southeast. It is a large cave that is empty, most likely because of the acid.

We continue up the side and Ajax comes back and gives us the layout of the plateau and 4 giants, hobgoblins, and goblins.

Overnight, Lambertus is healed. On the final watch two DVLs appear and notice us and come toward us. We have a long fight where they hit us a few times, and we have a hard time hitting them.

Khelratha shoots one DVL with the acid sack from the Thessalahydra and hurts it bad.

The wounded one is blinded by light from Kauri killing one of the orcs. It then throws up a wall of fire. We hurt it a bit more and then it disappeared.

Druul tried to summon help and felt a hand grasping him and Druul disappeared into the pocket.

The other DVL kept focusing on Brendil and it threw up a wall of fire. Then it dropped it bident and tried to grapple Brendil, but Brendil threw it off, stunning it. Brendil then killed it with his mace.

Lungmold picked up the bident. Khelratha smashed the skull of the slain orc "to keep them from raising it and talking to it." Then he took the rope and gage binding it.

We then decided to go into the web portal for help from the Winter King. We found a servant of the Winter King waiting holding Druul's hand. We rolled in the DVL to take parts off it.

We then told Ajax to fold it up and fly to the lake. (Ajax offered to toss it into the hole of Hdrasta or take it to the gryphon nest above Hdrasta.

It is now the early morning the 25th of Laurilden. 00.000.10.08 on the Apocalypse Clock.

Velkin's Scrolls

Velkin Scrolls 31 – Session 61

Hdrasta look

Laurilden 24, 6:30am

We follow our illustrious ranger Raynarth to find the Thesselhydra’s lair in hopes of recovering some treasure. Being charitable and kind, I chat up a rather large lizard and double check Raynarth’s observations. He points us toward some rather large reptillian footprints that Raynarth passed by. Now he’s on the trail, we follow the tracks to it’s lair. Which of course is muddy and empty of anything of interest to us.

About noon we stop for a snack, Forcas shoots our lizard guide and he and I have a fresh lunch. The others seem a little disturbed. Ahh well, Forcas and I are happy. Crap. There I go again, treating him a little more as a hired hand instead of a servitor.

We travel on towards Hdrasta and as we move out of the trees, we see a figure, unmoving on a hillock, it’s a statue without a head facing westward, the direction we came from. Not certain male or female as it’s robed. The statue has been defaced by fire and claw, possibly from a dragon long ago. A candleholder has a broken candle. It’s one of the Shrines. Of Feldma. Kauri places his everlit candle on the candleholder and we get a feeling that all is well and sensible. (Wisdom +2 for a while.) Protector of the wisdom’s dying light.

Ajax comes back from some scouting and says by about midday tomorrow we should be at the Hdrasta encampment. It’s rather large. 5 large wooden buildings crudely made surrounding a big hole in the ground. 2 wooden guard towers about 40’ tall uphill from the hole. The hole is about 40’ across. There’s stone structure above it with a pulley system. Better quality to the pulleys. 2 ballistas, 4 giants, a bunch of orcs and hobgoblins. Uphill past it there’s an old griffin nest that’s empty. Didn’t see the pulley system in use while he was there.

We contemplate a bit and I check the Underdark map: One entrance west of here well past the farthest known outpost in the western quadrant. The next closest is in Glavnon on the other side of the mountains. And another north of the mountains close to the caverns of the dead (Greybeard).

Lungmold questions Droog. Coming in from East or West. It’s a bit of a blind spot come in from the side and straight up a sheer surface to get you in close but once over the lip everyone’ll see you. In the lower levels there’s lots of collapsed caves. Many denizens. One horn’s been cleaning out the areas below. Once One Horn showed up he kicked ‘em to the surface to build up defenses.

We find a passable campsite and during the last watch we’re attacked by 9’ tall devils Leathery batwings, forked tails, scaly skin, long pointy horns with reddish glowing eyes using 2 tined forks for weapons. They’re susceptible to poison, and acid, but are immune to normal weapons. It’s a close fight, I shadowstep and backstab while others engage directly. Khelratha squirts one with the thesselhydra acid gland. Kauri blinds one with light cast from an orc’s life force donation.

Druul disappears into his pocket to somewhere.

They are tough and drop walls of fire.

Brendil shakes a grapple attempt and kills it while it’s stunned.

The others fled.

We’re pretty certain they were sent to dispatch those troublesome meddlers… us. Joy.

We decide to get out of sight and enter the Web Portal and find Druul standing there with a winter elf. We roll the devil’s body and take some parts.

We take a fork (Lungmold), 2 horns, a tail, pinions from the wings and some scales from the one we killed.

Ajax will fly to Montoa with the portal and open it at the predetermined time.

We go to visit the Winter King.