Thursday knights

Eberron. Even more.

The party stowed the mules and treasures within the cave and ventured further into the ruins. Up a rise that overlooked the entirety of the ancient structures, they picked their way step by step toward the cubic building at the peak. 

It was there that they were stopped in their tracks by the appearance of a foe from the recent past. The dragon had been waiting here for their potential arrival. There was nothing to do, but try to find cover  though it would do them little good, but the dragon didn't attack.

A'lan had dragon blood in his veins and hints of scales on his skin. He stood forth and addressed the dragon in the draconic tongue. " We are not your enemies."

A conversation began with A'lan translating for the group. The dragon asked which of the party was the seeker. After a brief hesitation Ennark spoke up and it was translated back to the dragon.

The dragon explained that the seeker could enter the building and retrieve only one thing that they would know when they saw it. That there was a prophesy involving the seeker that foretold doom for everyone as the most likely outcome and that the dragon had guarded this place from those that would free the prisoner within.

Ennark was deeply concerned though determined to do his best to fulfill the mission given to him by the church, to seek out religious artifacts and relics that may aid in purifying the Silver Flame and lock away the demon lords forever. In he went.

Meanwhile the dragon ate his companions . . . just kidding.

There was a well in the center of the lower chamber within which flickered silver fire. to the left an image of a giant stood atop a plinth. Ahead was the king of dragons upon a similar plinth. To the right was a great stone book. He first approached the giant. It looked at him briefly then returned to ignoring him. The dragon king however conversed with him once asked a question. 

It was revealed that what would be needed to solve the problem presented in the prophecy is the blood of the paladin Tira Miron who had sacrificed herself to seal away the lead demon lord and end the war. What that would entail was left to be seen and Ennark temporarily put the thought aside. His next task was to examine the great tome.

The book opened at his approach and as he reached for the stone pages an image flickered to life above showing a vague map with a red marker and a word or phrase beneath it in another language. He surmised that the marker indicated where he was on the continent. He gestured as if to turn the page and the book did so, revealing a different location on an unknown continent, again with a red marker and another word beneath it. He was about to start copying the information to his journal when the tome closed and shrank to a carriable size. With heavy stone book in hand he returned to the outside, nervous, but accepting his fate at the will of the dragon. 

"Have I chosen correctly?" The dragon was uncertain and asked Ennark what he had seen in the well. Ennark described the changes in the light, first brightening, then darkening, and finally returning to its initial state. The dragon shuddered in fear. After recovering its composure the dragon stated it was now free to return home, and flew away leaving them all to decide the next course of action.

With the help of the party members skilled in the language of the giants, Ennark deduced that the names were those of the trapped demon lords and the book a map to their individual prisons. He dubbed the tome "The Book of Cages".

It was getting late in the day and the party decided the best thing was to return to the cave to rest before leaving for the journey back to Storm Reach the next morning. If only it had been so easy.

As they made their way out of the central ruins, spirits taking the form of flaming skulls arose and pursued them. The fight saw the bombardment of the party with blasts of fire, some against individuals, some covering areas where multiple party members were taking cover. Defeating the closest of these enemies, the party entered a full and rapid retreat eventually leaving the spirits to their business within the heart of the ancient city.

Once safely away, Ennark turned his mind to the riddle of the blood. Could it mean literal blood from her veins? Or maybe it refers to her descendants. How would he know? The morning would call for a Divination ritual to ask a question and hope the answer wouldn't be tainted by the dark element of the flame.

Thursday Knights

 I'm part of a D&D game played over Roll20 on occasional Thursday evenings. We're currently adventuring in the Eberron: Rising From the Last War setting. The Eberron setting is not really that appealing to me, but the group and DM are great fun. I know half of the other participants personally and have gamed with them for a long time. I'm having fun trying to figure out where the story is heading. As I type this it is an hour before start time of another session.

Let me tell you about my character (insert eye roll emoji here).

Ennark is a level 4 cleric of the Silver Flame, Light Domain. He is the party's primary healer, although a couple of other characters contribute to the magical healing routine. 

The Light Domain gives the cleric access to various fire and light spells as the character advances including eventually accessing FIREBALL! Unlike an Evocation wizard the cleric cannot sculpt the spell to avoid torching party members in the area of effect. 

Ennark was a bit spoiled before getting sent off to an adventuring career. He was used to the finer things that come with being around the central church environs and attending to some ranking officials. Someone higher up decided that Ennark should go off in search of relics and artifacts that could be of relevance to the church. 

The adventuring life so far has been filthy and all-to-violent.

His arrival on the continent was frightening. He was immediately set upon by four members of a criminal gang intent on throwing him off the docks to drown in the harbor. Fortunately 5 other fairly new arrivals stepped in to defend him.

Two of the thugs were slain by the party in an act of self defense. This did not solve the problem. Later the party discovered there was a hefty price on their heads offered by the gang known as the Bilge Rats. 

After some communication a meeting was arranged with a neutral adjudicator so negotiations could allow both groups to avoid violence and for the Bilge Rats to get paid off and save face.

I really enjoyed the role play of the negotiation and some verbal sparring that session. I rarely get to do that as a player and it was nice for that side of the character to be involved.

Other adventures have been had. A magical box was recovered from lizardmen, kobolds etc. Snake people ambushed the party trying to get the box. We got paid for that recovery and it was from that money that we paid off the Bilge Rats.

We also owed the Rats a favor as part of buying them off. They called it in quickly and down into the sewers we went. 

Some of their members had been butchered and all they knew was one word - claws - spoken by a dying man. Zombies were encountered, we rescued a missing party member from some Bilge Rat members that apparently had not received the hands off memo, we met more zombies including an undead ogre, and we also got chopped up pretty bad by a War Forged assailant with razor sharp claws on its hands. 

The war forged and his companions had more urgent business and because of that we survived. We discovered more dead victims of Razor as we discovered he was called. There was a portal device down in the adjacent cave system that they had sabotaged and it eventually exploded. We got away from that as well.

We followed the war forged whose group had grown to nearly 20 members and along the way got ambushed by a wyvern that tried to fly off with a party member. It figured out it needed to hunt easier prey and flew off.

At the shoreline we discovered that it wasn't just war forged we were dealing with, but an equally large group of snake people. We observed from hiding as they swapped another magical box for a book of some importance and both groups went their own ways. We then returned to the city to report some of what happened.

The Rats put on a demonstration of what they do to members that break agreements by having one of the goons that kidnapped our fellow adventurer eaten alive by giant rats. Then they heard our report and actually paid us handsomely while trying to get us to work for them. We politely left our options open after that demonstration.

A powerful wizard went missing and we got tasked with finding him. We're about to have some divinations done to give us better clues. 

And now for a salad and some role playing. Game on!