By AWizardInDallas on 10/26/2007 4:42 PM

Jails soon made the suggestion that the fellowship retreat to the main hall, where they might find a defensive position from which to rest, pray and recover their collective power to handle another spider onslaught. So, the fellowship retreated to the great hall, clearing more of the webs from the area near the opening into the dry cave complex. Soon, Saille hit upon the idea to use the webbing and several medium-sized boulders to barricade the opening. While clearing the web Duira came upon a strange black bolder covered in web. The rock was drilled with holes and held several pickaxes and mining tools. Clearing the web from the rock, the fellowship discovered it's fist-like shape and that its composition was in fact obsidian! The fellowship had at last found the Obsidian Fist, made into a tool rack and forgotten all these years!

Unfortunately it would only be a few hours before a loud pounding came to the web and stone barricade. Then for a brief time the thudding stopped. It wouldn't be long before the hammering resumed with greater force. The fellowship braced itself for attack as two great claws came bursting through the web and lunged though the rubble for blood. Another, yet smaller, hulking insect beast surged forward to attack the fellowship, still weary from the prior battle. They passed the wand of magic missiles to one another firing into the beast's chest plating as it finally reached Saille and made an attempt to attack her with its gaze. Failing to affect her, the fellowship felled the second hulk with much greater ease.

Would there be more hulks or spiders ramming their way through the broken barricade? Low on arrows, out of healing spells and with more wand power expended, would the fellowship be able to hold out twenty-four more hours?

By AWizardInDallas on 10/26/2007 2:05 PM

Mount Arachnos Umber Hulk

The fellowship was awakened in the early morning hours by the sound of an elderly dwarf clamoring amongst the rocks beneath the shadow of Mount Arachnos. He appeared to be gathering plants into a burlap pouch at his side. Duira and Draupnir decided to amble over and speak with the old man, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. They were surprised to learn that the dwarf's name was Urmanz. However, he quickly corrected Draupnir's immediate misconception by telling them that "many Dwarven children bear the name of the famous late composer." They asked him about the Obsidian Fist, noticing that plants were not the only thing he was gathering. Apparently the rocks beneath the mountain were rife with dead spiders as well. They wonder what he needs dead spiders for but politely avoid asking. He tells them he knows nothing of an Obsidian Fist. They also learn that he has been exiled from Kaurak Kholzil for reasons he clearly didn't want to discuss. Despite their best efforts, the fellowship learns nothing new from this Urmanz.

Stumped by their lack of progress in finding the Obsidian Fist, Duira followed the old man and discovered his nearby home: a rough hewn cave carved from the rock by Dwarven hands. She also found a stone marker nearby, bearing the name "Redhawk" in Dwarven runes. The fellowship came to the conclusion that perhaps Urmanz was once a griffon rider and that Redhawk was his steed (a conclusion later proven correct). Duira left, however, not wishing to anger or intrude upon the ... Read More »

By AWizardInDallas on 10/6/2007 5:16 PM

The Tome of Urmanz left more questions in Saille's mind than it answered.  Resonance frequencies?  The music of the spheres?  Tuning forks and star charts?  Prose in a language no one knows and a drawing of an Obsidian Fist?  What the hell was all of this?  Urmanz was many things, it seemed, including a special kind of crazy.

Armed also with a recommendation from Captain Harrak to speak with Scribbis, the fellowship definitely needed more information about the strange man named Urmanz.  The gnomish seneschal told Saille of his fondness for the man's story.  He was a Celestial.  And of the mortals he fought alongside during the war against Slaughtergarde, he asked one thing -- asylum from heaven.  The mortal leaders of the Luminous Order a thousand years ago laughed at his audacity.   They could not contend with the will of the gods!?  Nonetheless, it seemed that heaven relented in allowing Urmanz to become mortal and remain in the Valley of Obelisks.  He was required to select a mortal form, so he chose to become a dwarf and settled in dwarven lands.  He had warned the powers above that an elusive evil yet remained, despite all they had done to send Slaughtergarde hurtling back to the Abyss in flames.  They would not heed his words.  Perhaps the most interesting fact… Urmanz had been the architect of the obelisks that now protected the valley from another demonic invasion.  Was it also he who altered the gate chamber in the second sliver of Slaughtergarde?  It seemed as likely as any other explanation.

Urmanz's having become mortal would not be the end of his story, but its beginning.  The most compelling part of the story was perhaps the mention of an object called the Obsidian Fist, a great chunk of Abyssal obsidian that would s ... Read More »

By AWizardInDallas on 10/3/2007 10:01 AM

Yes, with the death of Thamior the fellowship decided to return to Oakhurst. Erky Timbers had spent a year in chains, a prisoner of goblins. He'd chosen to fight alongside the fellowship to gain a measure of payback. Having accomplished that he now expressed a desire to return to the sunlit world and the loving arms of his wife and children as well. Who could blame him? So, finding the halls of the Sunless Citadel as quiet as a tomb, they made their way out unopposed. They walked the road in uncomfortable silence, wondering if twig blights still roamed the land and whether they'd meet any. Surprisingly, they did not. Returning to town, they rested and healed and handled adventurer business.

Yet they were uncertain as to whether they had at last defeated the Sunless Citadel. Shadow, conscious of Palomere's warning that a deeper threat lay beneath the citadel, contemplated the notion of once more adding numbers to their fellowship. She also had a task. She took upon herself the unhappy burden of informing Kerowyn Hucrele about the death of her kin. Talgen Hucrele had met his fate with the goblins and hobgoblins; they'd found the chieftain wearing his signet ring. Sharwyn Hucrele had most certainly met with a worse fate, enslaved as she was to the Gulthias tree. Retrieval of her signet ring came at the price of freeing her from bondage to the vampric tree. Sir Braford, a friend of the Hucrele family, had likewise been set free from the tree. Leaving the Hucrele matron with two signet rings and her tears, Shadow returned to the Ol' Boar Inn to contemplate what to do next.

Will Shadow decide to return to the Sunless Citadel? It had after all claimed the lives of many companions: Treecko (halfling druid enslaved to the Gulthias tree), Shawn (missing in action), Thamior (killed by a swarm of stirges), Gilraen (killed by twig blights fighting the wicked druid, Belak the Outcast). Shawn too was still missing, ru ... Read More »