Elementia Game 7

Game Master: Jeff
Game Edition: D&D 3.5
Players: Andrew, Dave, Elijah, Adam
Starting Level: 1  

Quote of the Evening:
"Give me a break, I've never played for a rock worm before!"

Introduction

Since Tom was unavailable, Jeff -our DM- played as his character Hector, while the rest of us fell into our familiar roles.

And... Tom is also in a different part of the country. Luckily he emailed us this photo.

We left off last game having defeated the mummies in the sand room, and having claimed the Sand Orb! However, victory came at a price. Cyrano de Bergerac was infected with Mummy Rot! We had escaped the room by climbing a long ladder that led into a small corridor. There we stood, waiting for what would happen next.

Scene 1 Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures. 

At the end of the  corridor  there was a pool of water. At the bottom of it everyone in the party could see the elemental switches just like in the pond from Elementia Game 6. However, everyone in the group was growing hungry and refused to go any further until their bellies were full.

It had been hours since the party had entered the tunnel, and their light breakfast of mouthful of mushroom was starting to wear a little thin. Anything to eat would be acceptable.

 Breakfast of Champions.

Luckily Mäaar spotted a rat and shot it with an arrow. Now, one cooked Rat between 5 is hardly a meal, but it was a little more food in their guts, and they swallowed it down, trying not to think about where it came from.

While they rested, Hector used his magics, and managed to cure Cyrano of his Mummy Rot, earning his respect and thanks.

With their meal finished, and a few wounds healed, they felt ready to take on the rest of the dungeon. Ghar volunteered to swim down a activate the switches as he had done before, knowing they would open the next door. However, this wasn't an easy task as the group had forgotten much about the complexities of the temple. Needless to say Ghar almost drowned... again.

However, just before he ran out of air, he solved the puzzle and the water drained into a whirlpool that sucked Ghar down into the next room. Cyrano plugged his nose and holding his hat and jumped after the barbarian, and the rest of the party reluctantly followed.

Scene 2 The Withered Forest.

The waterfall ended in a pool at the back of a small cave. Somewhat jumbled for their water-slide adventure, the party gathered themselves and took in their surroundings. A large pond of water blocked the entrance to the cave, and on the other side stood four men inspecting a strange wooden pedestal. Three of the men where guards, and one of them appeared to be a scholar of some sort.

Mäaar silently slipped across the water, remaining hidden from the four men and managed to over hear that they were looking for the water orb, and that one of their parties -Team 2- had gone missing. Two of the Guards then left with the scholar, while the other stayed behind and continued to inspect the pedestal. Mäaar silenced the straggler with a sleeping arrow and ended his dreams with a dagger to the throat.

He then returned to the party and they followed him a cross the lake... Well, that was what they intended to do. Everyone entered the pool, and one by one, they all almost drowned.

They finally made it to the shore, and inspected the wooden pedestal that stood before a forest of dead and withered trees. Cyrano recognized the water symbol carved into the pedestal and an indentation to place the Water Orb. They checked our stock of orbs, They had a Fire Orb, an Air Orb and a Sand Orb, but no Water Orb, so they decided to explore the forest.

You could just hear the Zelda music playing!

After some searching they found a helix shaped path that lead through woods, and six clearings with strange stone slabs in them. The stones had a new symbol carved on them that none of the group had seen before: the sun. It was in the same style as the other elemental symbols; perhaps it was hinting at a new element? Unable to find more, the group continued down the path until they came to a great old tree.

Buried within it's hollow roots they saw the Plant Orb, but couldn't reach it so dense were the trees branches and roots. A quick look revealed what seemed to be an entrance on the tree, but strange and magically glowing vines blocked the entrance.

Stuck at a dead end on their current path, they party followed the other half of the helix path, which lead them to the next chamber.

Scene 3 The Frozen Door, and The Mural.

The next chamber held another beautiful mural, and intricate carvings covered the walls. The mural depicted an elven wizard battling a giant worm on the open desert. He was using cold spells to battle the creature, which seemed to be howling at their touch.

At first they noticed the worm resembled the one they had released in the chamber earlier, but then Cyrano had a realization: Elves weren't supposed to know how to use magic, so how could there be an elven wizard?  The party' eyes darted toward Lycien who quickly changed the subject, pointing out that there was another receptacle for an orb, this time the Sand Orb.

Cyrano put the Sand Orb into the slot and the wall disappeared revealing the inner chamber where they released the worm, and the beast itself; leering menacingly at them. Before the behemoth could lunge, Cyrano quickly removed the Orb, shutting the opening. Startled, they stood for a moment and then continued to look around the room.

In the corner there was a door covered in ice. It seemed to be the only exit, So Ghar did what came naturally to him. He took Lycien's pick axe and started swinging it at the ice. A few minutes later he had bashed his way through, providing and entrance to the next room.

Before they left, Cyrano noticed the pattern 21685 represented in the crown molding around the top of the room. It would come in handy.

Scene 4 The Frozen Room.

The frozen door led into a huge chamber of ice, sitting on the edge of a subterranean cliff.  At the far end of the chamber, about 100 feet away, a sheen wall of solid ice stood, sealing the room at the far end.

 Before they had any chance to explore, the party noticed the two Guards and the Scholar from the Withered Forest were exploring the ruins; busily deciphering the hieroglyphs that lay around the room. The Scholar heard them enter, but the two guards were busy investigating a series of 10 pillars that were scattered the floor some 80ft from the back wall.

The party surprised the scholar, but with Lycien's quick thinking and a well placed lie from Cyrano, they were able to convince him that they were the missing "Team 2." The scholar seemed relieved and introduced himself as the lead Archaeologist on the dig.

While the introductions were being made, Mäaar used the opportunity to silently deal with the two guards. Just as the Archaeologist noticed this, Ghar brained him with the flat of his axe, knocking the poor fellow out cold.

At first the scholar looked alright, but when he came to a few minutes later, it appeared that Ghar had done some serious brain damage to the man. He would need major medical attention before he could tell them anything useful again.

Although he probably didn't need to, Lycien threw some shackles on the man. And then the group went about solving the next puzzle. It involved moving a block of ice, by sliding it towards the appropriately sequenced column, with the end goal of sending it into a slot on the opposite wall. Each column had a button that raised a small wall beside it, and in that way the party could stop and direct the sliding ice block.

Following the number pattern 21685 and activating the appropriately numbered pillars, guided the block into the slot on the far wall. it seemed a simple task,  but as they pushed the first button the far wall began to move towards them!

The group rushed to get the block in place; succeeding with the wall a mere 10 feet from where they stood! With the block of ice in the slot, a small chamber in the wall opened revealing the Water Orb, and two Ice Mephits.

Stay frosty!

The party easily dealt with them; mostly thanks to a Scorch spell from Lycien. Then, retrieving the Water Orb, they headed back towards the Withered Forest.

Scene 5 Life and Death in the Withered Forest.

Back at the start of the Withered Forest, the group placed the Water Orb into the wooden pedestal, and watched as the woods sprang to life. It was beautiful, but deadly: freshly revived Assassin Vines slithering through the trees.

Seem to be a lot of Assassin Vines in this dungeon.

Cyrano removed the Orb, and immediately the forest fell dead once more. Thinking this was a good way to travel into the woods unabated, the group played around with this for some time, sending Hector to the magic vines concealing the Plant Orb, while the rest positioned  themselves around the stone clearings.

However, it was quickly discover that when the Forest was brought back to life, the magic vines guarding the Plant Orb turned into deadly Assassin Vines. Hector was almost killed by these vines, as was Cyrano, but the brute strength of Ghar helped everyone get through. However, it seemed fighting the plants was not enough to push them back, as for every vine cut another grew in its place.

In the stone clearings with the sun symbols, the group found that ancient mirrors had risen from chambers concealed by the stone slabs and a light was shining down form above. Using the mirrors, the group reflected the light on to the vines, withering them and allowing Hector to claim the Plant Orb. With prize in hand, the party headed back towards the chamber with the Ice room and murals on the wall, in search off the final Elemental Orb: the Metal Orb.

Scene 6 Sneaking Past the Worm

The party returned to the chamber with the mural and put the Sand Orb in it its place, snatching it out before they entered the hall.

The worm was no where in sight, and the group moved silently along the mezzanine, heading to the right until they arrived at a sealed stone slab with another grand mural painted on it.

The painting depicted a forest, similar to the one they encountered in the previous room. Placing the Plant orb in the notch in the mural opened the wall, leading the party into a room of gold with a door that lead to the temple's armoury.

I said GOLD!

Scene 7 The Armoury.

Despite their excitement, the golden room -though glistening- was unremarkable, and there wasn't a single coin or brick in sight, just smooth golden walls. Disappointed, the party continued into armoury that stood to the left, through an open door way in one of the golden walls.

ballista bolts lined the walls of the armoury, and at the back of the room a mural was painted on the wall suggesting that Fire and Water equaled Sand. There was also a blood receptacle, like the ones activated by Mäaar's and the Kyton's blood earlier in the temple.

Cyrano placed the Sand Orb into the mural's slot causing another six slots to open in the golden room; each one able to take an Elemental Orb. But where was the Metal Orb?

Not seeing anywhere else to go, and knowing that the receptacle was for elven blood, Mäaar volunteered his. As the first drop of his blood hit the receptacle, a trap door to fall out from under him, and he disappeared into the darkness.

Before anyone could follow him, the trap door shut and could not be opened again.

Scene 8 In A Mirror, Darkly.

Mäaar fell into another chamber and landed on his head. In another epileptic flashback to the night of the Vexian invasion, he saw two elven leaders discussing a secret weapon that had been taken by one of their generals. He had fled to the southern forest with what they called the "master key." They also spoke of the key to this temple's vault, and how it rested on the head of the giant worm.

After waking from his vision, Mäaar found himself in a dark room. The only visible object was a metal cage that surrounded the Metal Orb. Standing, he walked over to the cage but was stopped by a voice inside his head: "To claim the orb, you must defeat yourself!" it said.

As the voice faded, Mäaar's shadow sprung to life and the battle began.

Mäaar prepares to battle his own shadow.

His dark side wounded him, but thankfully Mäaar's aim proved truer then his shadow's and he quickly defeated... himself? After his shadow vanished, the bars around the metal orb opened and a staircase descended from the ceiling, leading back to the gold room. Mäaar rejoined the party and everyone placed their orbs into the slots Cyrano had opened. Each Orb went beside their elemental opposite, completing the sequence.

Each of the six Elemental Orbs. Made from push pins, airsoft pellets, glue and a bit of paint.

With the Orbs in place, the temple began to shake and they party heard things shifting back in the chamber with the giant worm. However, before they could investigate, a golden podium with a chest on it, rose from the center of the room. The chest was unlocked, and it contained contains a large vile of a glowing blue liquid. The group quickly determined this was rare purified liquid Elementia Crystal! Very powerful and very dangerous.

Scene 9 Planning for the Worm

Before doing anything, Mäaar peeked out into the chamber with the worm, and saw that ballistas had been lowered onto the stone blocks on either side of the mezzanine. Seeing the weapons, The group quickly decided on a daring plan. they would coat 4 ballista bolts in the liquid as well as Cyrano's rapier, Hector's Mace and Ghar's Axe. Mäaar and Lycien would man the ballistas, while the other three jumped on the worm to distract it and give them time to reload.

It was bold and probably fool hardy, but no one could come up with a better plan, and the 5 charged into the chamber.

Scene 10 Battling the Worm

The plan almost worked. The three jumped onto the worm, but Cyrano fell off the worm on the first attempt. Thankfully he landed on some soft sand and was able to hide on a lower mezzanine. Ghar and Hector got thrown onto the upper mezzanine and continued their assault.

Lycien and Mäaar's ballista assault was doing great damage to the creature, but Lycien missed with one of his bolts! Not something the party could afford.

Things get ugly.

To buy them more time, Cyrano started to use his bardic music to try and fascinate the beast, but his performance was a little lack luster; and that is where our quote of the evening comes from.

The party groaned at Cyrano's Failure who shouted out:

"Give me a break, I've never played for a rock worm before!"

The shout was enough to divert the worm's attention and while it searched for Cyrano, the rest of the party jumped at it and hacked it to pieces

Ghar ripped the key form the top of  the Worm's head, and started towards a new door that had opened on the lower floor. Perhaps it was the chamber containing the prize this temple supposedly held.

Conclusion

That was where we left off the evening. So close to gaining our prize, and yet so far.

However, despite our progress, Jeff was never fully satisfied with how the game had turned out. We didn't get into the inner workings of the city like he wanted us to, and we all agreed that it was time to take the campaign in a new direction.

Jeff is planning to re-do the Elementia campaign as JADE's first Pathfinder Game, and we are all looking forward to it!

To find out the fate of this party, look for it in Elementia: the Epilogue