DavesGaming

Aias

Entering the tomb of the “Black Wolf” it was obviously more elaborate than any others we’d seen, and bigger than all the other tombs combined. It was also packed with lively undead! One specter, by the name of Mytos, spoke with us and demanded why we disturbed this domain. We explained the threat to the town Kuldahar, and that we were looking for an explanation. This led to a fairly metaphysical discussion about the nature of undeath, but ultimately we were forced to battle.

This temple was a maze of undead, traps and more undead. No doubt, Ila dominates this sort of fighting. I’m coming to feel pretty good about this whole team.

The priestess we recognized as the barmaid Lysan from Kuldahar. We tried to talk with her, but Auril’s agenda is about removing all warmth from the world. Even if we’d reached an agreement about leaving Kresselack’s surprisingly comfy abode alone, Kuldahar itself would remain an impasse. So Lysan had to be removed. No big surprise, she had a number of Yeti followers we had to contend with too.

Kresselack was appreciative but not extremely helpful. Merely assuring us he was not the threat to Kuldahar.
Fair enough. We seem to have restored peace to the Vale of Shadows, so we’ll take the win and look for deeper answers elsewhere.

We talked to Arundel when we got back to town. He was both pleased with our success and disappointed in the lack of further information. He suggested we track down an ancient scrying device at a remote temple he could point to on our maps. We set off to the “Temple of the Forgotten God” quickly. Just outside we met a fleeing giant (guard?) who said something about “bad priests” taking over. On entry we were accused by a priest of slaying his brothers, then immediately called to defend ourselves. We had to fight through a mixed force of priests and their giant guardians.

This was not such a hard battle, although a few us did get “Held”. Hah, yeah, well… we always were strong enough to win the fights with little drama. We arrived at their Holy Vault just too late, a raiding force just ahead of us had already seized the “Heartstone Gem”. We gathered what evidence we could of the attackers and returned to Kuldahar, hoping Arundel could make some sense of this.

There was a vial of poison we found, that Arundel identified as a snake venom. Which indicated a dungeon south of here known as Dragoneye. Lizards and snakes should be expected.

*****

A brief update from the gamer…

This may not be the strongest party I’ve run, but they are adequate. Everyone is around 5th level now.

The melee unit is husband and wife Aias and Ila, with the young warrior Jinella. They are pretty effective. Aias is the strongest, but as a multi-class fighter/cleric he will lag behind the others as a pure warrior. He remains the team leader, he is more experienced than his mere levels indicate and he is very smart.
His wife Ila is the weakest of the melee types, but as an Undead Hunter her specific skill set will be a huge help throughout this run. Its also worth mentioning, with her outstanding Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma I have her on point. She is the tankiest and most diplomatic of the team. Whether we’re facing hordes of skeletons, or a shopkeeper, she’s the first one to interact.
And Jinella is no slouch. As a single class fighter she already has mastery in her long swords, and that will improve. She has no bonuses from Dexterity or Constitution, so she’s sort of a glass cannon. But you know, cannons hit hard, she just needs protection.

The support team is also capable.
Charity might be considered the leader of the rear ranks. She is Intelligent and Charismatic, which defines the role. She’s a good enough mage, although having just hit 5th level she’s only just now at the point she can contribute more significantly in combat.
Pikwell is the cleric/thief. He is capable in both roles, but not overtly powerful in any sense. He can Find/Remove Traps, Open Locks, and heal people. The definition of a support character. When the rear ranks get over-run he is the first to melee. Not because he’s good at it, but because the others are better at range.
Jill is a good archer. With a 16 Dexterity she is not “great”, but she does have mastery in her short bow and that will get better. She also is specialized in Short Sword, she would be better in melee than Pikwell is, but I don’t want to give up on her missile fire. That will always be her primary job.

That’s the team and they’re pretty good. They struggled in a couple of the bigger fights in Kresselack’s Tomb, but blew threw the Forgotten Temple in record time (no rest stops). I will do a couple of the Lava side adventures before they head off to Dragoneye.