Otto casts Acid fog
into the room and closes the door to leave the spell to do its
business, after some time the door is opened again to show that the
man eating plants survived but all other vegetation in the room had
been destroyed.
Otto decides to
fireball the remainder of the plants, as the spell explodes the noise
of shrieking plants could be heard over the roaring fire causing the
surviving plants to cower in the corner of the pool room away from
the group.
The group investigated
the room whilst keep clear of the cowering plants but they found
nothing of interest nor any clue as to the whereabouts of the fey
queen.
Drawing a blank on what
to do or where to go next the group decide to head back downstairs to
the library and see if the water mephit may be able to shed some
light on the matter.
After kicking in the
door to the room and Vaneer demanding that mephit heed to their
mastery and immense superiority they soon learn that the creatures
name was Pludok and he continuously insisted that he would not betray
his queen though each time with a weird rolling of his eyes or jerk
of his neck.
Vaneer and Miro soon
realised that the Mephit was hinting that he would actually tell them
what they wanted to hear but he couldn't even if he wanted to.
Vaneer offers to bless
the creature for his assistance so far to which the mephit gladly
accepts only to find out that after casting it was a telepathic bond
between Pludok and the group.
Whilst carrying on with
some banter verbally with Pludok the group also talk telepathically
with the creature and soon discover that he has been kept in this
room for a hundred years just to ensure that the water clock runs
without issue.
Like most of the
denizens of this fortress he wants to leave but in doing so would
cause the queen to kill him so he would be more happy to help
telepathically providing the queen doesn't find out to which the
group agree.
The queen has created a
dimensional pocket which she calls her “special place” where she
is hiding and can view all that happens within her fort from within
this little pocket hence Pludoks over sickening earlier outing of
loyalty to her.
When asked how she
enters and leaves the pocket the mephit shrugs his shoulders as to
how but he knew there were four locations to which she could enter
and leave, the first being the tallest tree in the courtyard, the
Throne, the pool in the garden and her bed in the master bedroom.
The group finish their
niceties and make their “excuses” to leave the mephit alone and
return to exploring the fort.
They decide to head
back to the pool in the garden and investigate the area more
thoroughly, with the use of detect magic Otto notices a small pin of
conjuration magic emanating from the center of the pool.
Both Miro and Otto
decide to “figure out” how to break open the door between them
and after a short period of time the pair manage to somehow force
open the portal to the pocket dimension.
As the step through the
portal they soon find themselves standing in a hallway with only a
candelabra sitting on a small wooden table next to a mirror nearby.
Miro and Natalia notice
some movement in the mirror other than themselves as they walked past
and upon closer investigation notice that somehow they were watching
their younger self's some twenty years ago walking through a cave and
fighting the minions of the purple kolbold.
Before the fight ended
the purple kolbold walks through the mirror and turns into the
familiar form of emissary.
Emissary greets the
group and motions them to look at the following mirrors referring to
what they'd see as more like the groups “greatest hits” whilst
they make their way down the corridor towards the waiting queen.
One of these hits
happened to show Miro exchanging a unicorns horn with Emissary for
four thousand gold and an favour to which the rest of the group
suddenly looked questioningly at the halfling who offered up no
excuse nor reason.
Eventually the corridor
ended at a shimmering portal where Emissary turned to them and said
“Beyond you will find the Queen, good luck!” and he disappeared.
The group takes a
minute to prepare and then step through the portal into a vast
chamber like room where the queen stood waiting, “Do you wish to
offer parley?” she questioned them.
Vaneer stepped forward
and offered her the land of the monster kingdom in return for aiding
the kingdom of Dragonmere in taking Restov and destroying the house
of Surtova. She countered the offer with yes but only if she has all
the lands that currently belong to Dragonmere.
The group promptly
responded with “No way in hell you hag!”.
The chamber then begins
to form into a circular room around them with 4 portals at the
compass points, 3 are shimmering whilst one shows the corridor they
just entered through. The queen stood about 40ft in front of them and
they quickly became aware that there was a presence also behind them.
As the group looks
behind them the queen chuckles “This is my Bob!” smiling at
Natalia whilst nodding at the Huge 6 limbed creature snarling at them
with needle like teeth and a glowing blue aura around it's eyes.
Otto realises that the
creature is a Bander-snatch which has the ability to suppresses all
magic within a certain area and hastily informs the entire group.
The Queen advances
towards Natalia and hits her really hard (137),
Vaneer casts
destruction at the queen which does little followed by a quickened
Blindness which fails.
Hugo attacks the
Bander-snatch and hits for little damage,
Miro flanks the
Bander-snatch and hits the creature hard,
Natalia backs away from
the queen and casts a quickened cure mod on herself before shifting
into an Air elemental,
Boss steps back and
shoots at the Bander-snatch and hits four times,
Otto moves away from
the Bander-snatch and casts Maze at the queen causing her to
disappear,
Bander-snatch attacks
Miro firsts and hits three times (136) whilst grappling the halfling
in its teeth,
Bander-snatch attacks
Hugo and hits with its tail leaver the fighter stuck with quills,
Queen doesn't return
from the Maze,
Vaneer casts Heal on
Natalia,
Hugo attacks the
Bander-snatch and hits,
Miro attempts to escape
from the Bander-snatch but fails,
Natalia heals Vaneer
and then flies upwards,
Otto casts Prismatic
Wall at where the queen should reappear followed by a quickened
resist Cold on Vaneer,
Boss shoots at the
Bander-snatch and hits four times,
Bander-snatch charges
at Boss and hits him three times (104),
Queen reappears where
the Bander-snatch was first standing after using plane shift to
escape the maze and casts prismatic ray at some of the group;
Vaneer – Insane Ray
– Fails,
Otto – Acid Ray –
Fails,
Natalia – Insane Ray
– Passes.
Vaneer fails to cast
Harm on the queen and casts a quickened Sound Burst which has little
affect,
Hugo uses his Rod of
Razors on the Bander-snatch and his four times killing the huge
beast,
Miro shoots at the
queen and misses on all arrows,
Natalia casts Finger of
death at the queen but the spell fails,
Boss shoots at the
queen six times and misses on all,
Otto casts a quickened
Fireball which fails followed by another Maze spell causing her to
disappear again,
Queen suddenly
reappears via another plane shift and casts Maze on Vaneer causing
the cleric to disappear,
Vaneer babbles like a
mad man in the middle of a maze on another plane of existence,
Hugo uses the Horn of
Blasting on the the queen which causes some damage but not before
making Hugo's eyes explode!!!
Miro moves into attack
the queen and his eyes start to bulge but Briar begins to glow at the
last second and his eyes return to normal,
Natalia casts Heal on
Miro,
Boss shoots at the
Queen but misses,
Otto casts Greater
dispel on the queen followed by a quickened Magic missile,
The Queen casts
Firestorm over the group followed by a quickened Freezing Sphere and
then followed up with a quickened flamestrike,
Boss falls to the
ground unconscious,
Vaneer attacks at
nothing in the maze,
Hugo drinks a potion to
restore his blindness,
Miro attacks and hits
the queen twice making himself a target of interest,
Natalia Heals herself,
Otto casts Maze causing
the queen to disappear again,
Boss by some miracle
manages to stabilise,
Queen planeshifts back
to the fight and cast Baleful Polymorph (form of a mole) on Miro but
he manages to resist the spell,
Vaneer hits himself,
Hugo swings at the
queen but misses,
Miro swings Briar and
connects with the queens head as the blade slices through skin and
bone like a hot blade through butter causing the royal head to start
flying through the air minus a body.
Just before the head
lands on the ground it begins to glow golden and time appears to
reverse as the head seems to travel back and reattaches to the queens
head to her body.
Natalia heals Boss,
Boss shoots at the
queen and misses,
Otto casts Maze again
and the queen vanishes,
Vaneer gets the
opportunity to cast heal on himself and cures his insanity,
Hugo drinks a potion a
potion of cure serious,
Miro prepares to attack
the Queen when she returns,
Natalia starts casting
a summoning spell,
Boss drinks a potion of
cure serious,
Otto moves about and
drinks a potion of cure serious,
Queen reappears and
casts feeblemind on Otto but fails to affect him,
Hugo attempts to charge
the queen but misses,
Miro flanks the queen
but fails to hit,
Natalia summons a
purple wurm which attacks but misses the queen followed by a
quickened finger of death which does little damage,
Otto casts finger of
death but it does little damage,
Boss shoots and misses,
Hugo attacks and
misses,
Miro attacks the queen
and hits,
Queen casts
disintegrate on Miro and hurts the halfling,
Natalia casts Greater
Dispel magic,
Purple wurm fails to
eat the queen,
Otto casts finger of
death but it fails to affect,
Boss shoots and misses,
Queen casts finger of
death on Miro which kills him but Briar brings the halfling back to
life,
Vaneer finally returns
from the Maze and casts a quickened sound burst,
Hugo swings his blade
but misses,
Miro attacks the queen
and hits twice,
Natalia casts greater
dispel again which appeared to have some affect,
Purple wurm attacks and
hits but fails to grapple the queen,
Otto casts finger of
death will again little affect,
Boss shoots and misses,
Queen casts quicken
dimensional door and casts maze on Vaneer,
Hugo attacks and
misses,
Miro charges at the
queen and manages to lop of her head again but this time it doesn't
glow so he crushes the head under his boot.
Otto casts disintegrate
on the queens body and the corpse of the bander-snatch.
After ten minutes
Vaneer returns again from his Maze imprisonment and sets about
healing the group and mending any popped eyes.
With the queen defeated
the group set out to explore the remaining portals, through one
portal they find a shelve containing a number of glass balls each of
which within seemed to hold a figure of sorts. After a short period
of time studying the balls they soon realised that what they had in
their hands was the entire family of the missing Royals from Restov
that disappeared overnight with out a trace.
It was assumed that by
smashing their glass prison the group could rescue the royal family
but was it the best option or could they use this to secure their
foothold within the country that set them on this path originally but
also tried to take it away from them when they became successful.
They took the balls
with them and returned to the pool room from where they entered this
pocket dimension, as soon as they returned to the pool the fort
around them began to age and crumble quickly through time forcing the
group to retreat back off the island as possible.
With the fey queen
finally defeated the group sat on the banks of the lake for a period
of time and took in the realisation that their quest was finally over
after all these long years, they could return home for good and even
possibly leave the adventures to their offspring from now on whilst
they grew old and enjoyed their retirement.
Upon their return to
Wyvernshore against their better judgement the group released the
missing Restov royal family from their glassy prisons and brought the
family up to speed on what has happened with their country since
their disappearance. To the groups surprise the family was grateful
for their rescue and release along with the important knowledge of
what has happened since their disappearance that they offered
Dragonmere a treaty with Restov in return for the loan of the
Dragonmere forces to help dethrone house Surtova from the Restov
throne so that they true heirs could once again sit on the throne to
which the group agreed to and passed the important task onto their
children to handle with success.
The group retired from
adventuring and returned to the task's they enjoyed most till their
times came to meet their chosen deities or in Miro's case a cardboard
box!
King Otto – Ruled for
another 5 years till a Blue Nixie appeared one day with a young Nixie
that she claimed was his son and rightful heir to the Dragonmere
Throne. Outraged the queen hired some gentle persuaders to deal with
the situation but in return Otto had to announce his abdication from
the throne to allow his son Ichabod to rule in his stead. Since that
day at least one claim a year of Otto having another illegitimate
child is presented to the court.
Natalia – Returned to
a peaceful life with Nature and eventually retired from the royal
council to focus more on balancing nature in the lands of Dragonmere
against the demands and constant damages of the kingdoms farming. She
hasn't been seen for a few years now but her grandchildren say she
still lives.
Bob – Thanks to
Vaneer, the deadly badger was restored to his former glory and
accompanied Natalia for many years there after but legends tell of a
giant badger in armour that protects the forests to the west were no
man may now enter, is it Bob? Who knows!
Miro – The kingdoms
General survived longer than most had gambled and he even managed to
keep the kingdom safe for a good period of time after his adventures
but the halfling feel to the blow of his eldest child Mina as she
enacted her revenge on him for having her turned into a Gnome (which
Vaneer cured) as punishment for some ungoodly deed he performed. It's
rumoured that the halfling or what's left of him is buried under the
Kingdoms Treasury in a secret room that he commissioned using
taxpayers money.
Vaneer – The Cleric
of Erastil continued his priestly duties for a couple of years but
clearly his time in the maze alone had a deeper affect on him when
one day in a moment of forgetfulness he accidentally cast Contagion
during a mass blessing and almost wiped out a quarter of Wyvernshores
population. Obviously after that blunder Erastil had no choice but to
revoke the clerics powers and Ichabod banished him from the city
instead of death in light of his services to the throne, he's now
rumoured to be a crazy hermit that lives near an old ruined Erastil
temple to the north somewhere.
THE END
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