Session 22: Fire & Water

The group of heroes retreated down the cavern away from the fire, doused themselves with water, and waited for the oily flames and black smoke to die out. As they waited they could here taunts and cajoles coming from the reptiles. Prophit understood their slithering language but refused to repeat what foul oaths were being said.

Krius, aghast at the underhanded tactics used by the foul lizard men, was the first to take up arms against them again. Sooty smoke still lingering, he moved forward and peered around the corner. At the top of the stairs the lizardmen had regrouped. There were four green scaled lizardmen, a scrawny pale scaled one holding a torch ready to throw, and two huge brutes holding head sized rocks. New barrels of oil were poised, ready to be tipped over as well; the reptiles had a strong defensive position.

As the paladin made his presence known to the creatures one of the brutes heaved a large boulder that shattered against the wall of the cave inches from his head. Throwing caution aside Krius stepped fourth. Not to be outdone Mannon darted out and advanced up the stairs with Krius while in the back Elarios notched arrows, Alton prepared spells, and Prophit blessed the group with a holy shield.

Mannon and Krius moved up the stairs ready to do battle, two more boulders flew, one bounded off of Krius' shield the other flew over Mannon's head. Determined to throw havoc into the lizardmen's plans Alton fired twin beams of arcane cold rooting two of them in place while Elarios sent a pair of arrows perfectly aimed into one of the boulder throwing brutes.

In retaliation the frustrated lizardmen pushed the barrels in front of them towards the arrow firing elf and spell slinging drow. Elarios deftly leapt over his while Alton was hit and sent tumbling down the stairs.

Oil spilled everywhere and Prophit, Alton, and Elarios were standing in its midst. Before any of them had time to move the craven pale scaled lizardman threw a burning brand in the rancid oil causing sooty flames to once again burst forth.

Back on the stairs Krius and Mannon were battling to reach the top and engage their foes. Mannon's wily magic cursed one after another. Krius battered them with trusty sword and shield. Soon they were at the top of the landing. Mannon executed an ancient warlock evocation, vanished and appeared across the room tempting one of the big brutes to charge his position while Krius stepped into a throng of foes and boldly challenged them all.

Elarios stepped from the flames at the bottom of the stairs and let arrows fly, viciously wounding two foes with one shot. Meanwhile Alton was back on his feet and working his way up the stairs with Prophit behind him sending healing energy into blistering wounds.

Alton and Prophit joined Krius in close combat. Mannon was harrying them with warlock befuddlement. The thick skulled lizardmen frustrated with fighting a small halfling who could seemingly vanish and reappear at will concentrated their attack on the paladin. With a swipe of a tail Krius was on the ground and a crushing blow from a giant mace battered him while he was down.

Elarios seeing Krius in trouble fired a pair of arrows into one of the big brutes. The ponderous beast let out a death howl, looked at the ranger with rage, then collapsed tumbling down the stairs landing on the elf pinning him under its foul smelling carcass.

Krius was back on his feet thanks to a healing prayer from Prophit, the heroes converged on the remaining lizardmen to finish the battle. Back in one corner of the room the craven dart shooting lizardman attempted to make an escape through a door.

Alton summoned a cloud of minuscule daggers that swarmed over the bewildered reptile. It was soon overwhelmed and died a death of a thousand cuts. Not taking a moment to lower his defenses Alton sent another cloud of daggers to harass the last remaining brute. This distraction proved enough and the foe was soon felled.

Battered, burned, and tired the group slumped to the ground to rest. The oily fire at the foot of the stairs went out while they rested and quiet descended, the only sound the faint heart like beat echoing from somewhere deep in the cavern.

The group took stock of where they were. It was a large chamber, some kind of ceremonial hall. Old moldy frescoes were barley visible after centuries of decay and neglect. A crudely constructed reed wall blocked off half the room to the west. Naturally this drew the curiosity of Mannon.

Barely rested he hopped up and dashed across the flagstone floor. After a bit of investigating he determined that there was a strange statue standing in a pool of tranquil water on the other side of the reed wall. Beset by halfling curiosity he pulled a section of the reed wall down and entered the unexplored area beyond.

Flickering gold! At the foot of the statue were a series of gold medallions. His eyes couldn't make out the details; however Elarios' superior vision saw them. A bear, a fox, a tiger, a snake, a turtle, an owl, and a raven. Seven gold discs embedded at the foot of the dais on which the statue stood. Mannon couldn't resist the temptation of gold and jumped into the foot deep water of the pool of water to investigate. As soon as both feet touched the bottom of the pool the water erupted in a swirling vortex that coalesced into a humanoid shape, faint runes flickering under its surface. It collapsed on Mannon chilling him to his core causing great pain. The strange creature reformed several feet away from him.

Ever a fountain of knowledge Alton informed the group that the creature was a water weird, an arcane elemental being often used by the ancients as a guardian of sacred sites.

Quick to act Krius brushed aside Alton and ignited the power of his flaming blade and stepped into the water to battle the guardian. What passed for eyes on the creature flared and all light in this half of the room went out with a hiss of magical energy.

Enough ambient light remained for Elarios to send a barrage of arrows into the creature. Krius attacked with his blade while Alton and Prophit sent magical assistance his way. Mannon cursed the liquid being and sent magic attacks of his own.

The guardian was a difficult foe to dispatch and it chilled Krius to his bones as it had Mannon. As he and Mannon were redying to deliver a death blow to the elemental form Alton informed them that the creature would explode upon its death. Confident with his divine favor Krius was undeterred and smote the watery foe. As Alton had predicted it froze in place then exploded in shards of ice and was no more.

Mannon's magical ever burning torch relit itself and the tantalizing gold discs were once again available for plunder. Reaching under the water the would be thief felt a jolt of psychic energy overcome him as he tried to pull the sigil of the raven out of the stone. Wanting the gold more than the pain hurt him Mannon used his thieves tools to chisel out the gold. After a bit of work, triumph! It was in his hands. However his newly won treasure just as quickly dissolved into worthless dust.

For once Alton's knowledge provided no clues about the strange discs and despite his outward drow appearance his inner halfling wanted to investigate the discs as well.

Krius wanted nothing to do with potentially blasphemous underwater icons and encouraged the group not to tarry and make haste deeper into the caves, the demon's skull awaits...

The characters present:
* Alton/Morrainna (Aaron), drow wizard
* Mannon (Dave), halfling warlock
* Prophit (Jeff), human cleric
* Squire Krius (Matt), human paladin
* Elarios Amanodel (Mark, absent ran by DM), elf ranger

Rumors and clues gathered (this session):
* Strange medallions in pool seem to have unlocked magical properties.

Treasure found (this session):
* None

Foes/traps/tricks overcome (this session):
* 2 blackscale brutes
* 4 lizardmen clubbers
* 1 lizardman blowgun snippier
* 1 water guardian

Experience gained (this session):
295 each player