Chuck

After resting and celebrating with the elves for a few days, we heard news of dark things happening further to the south. Several competing Bhaalspawn were in the area and armies on the march. I’d been thinking about my role as a disrupter of the Bhaalspawn who would cause such havoc.

Sarah and I talked about my role, our role in big events unfolding.
Talking with the rest of the crew, we were soon feeling pretty good about what we should do.

Time to head south.

We encountered Illasera, a Bhaalspawn and hunter of Bhaalspawn. She had a small force with her and expressed delight at being able to kill me.

She was no more threat than the last 30 or so hunters we’ve faced.

Then things got interesting. We were somehow transferred to an alternate plane. A pocket of the Abyss.

It was a sort of pocket plane, I gather created by some connection between me and the Abyss. It was oddly peaceful and terrifying at the same time. Significantly, I was met by a Solar, a powerful agent of good divinity, that offered to prepare me, teach me as we were approaching the fulfillment of prophesy.
This didn’t frighten me as much as it might have a few months ago. I’m confident about who I am, and who by trusted companions are on this journey.
After a test of sorts, a simple if lengthy trial by combat, we were all transported to Saradush. A small city under siege by a Bhaalspawn army. I should say, an army commanded by the Bhaalspawn Yaga-Shura.

He was a giant, reputed to be invincible. Swell. We were briefed by a woman named Melissan, who claimed to be a sort of protector of Bhallspawn. There were many who’d followed her into this city before it was besieged by Yaga-Shura. The local military commander, named Gromnir, has gone completely mad and is holed up in his castle while the city burns. Melissan asked if we could get in to see Gromnir and talk some sense to him.
I’d say that’s a task I can do, except it turns out Gromnir was pretty well secured. We found an underground route through old catacombs that involved fighting a coven of vampires. Fortunately we were well up to the task.

Soon enough we stood before Gromnir. He was completely nuts, and combat ensued. So great, we left a power vacuum in a city under siege. We met with Melissan who suggested we needed to look into the source of Yaga-Shura’s invincibility, and located both the place he was raised, and his base of operations as places to investigate.

Both locations involved a lot of fighting! But we found, the witch who raised Yaga-Shura had taught him the magic of invincibility. It involved hiding his heart deep in his fortress, making him impervious until the heart was destroyed. The witch had been betrayed by Yaga-Shura, and she helped us destroy the heart.

Then it was a matter of returning to Saradush and destroying the Giant. We arrived too late to save the city, only a pitiful few refugees escaped. But we did end the giant.

2 responses to “Chuck: Update 34”

  1. Zeno Avatar

    Nice set here! The undead swamp is probably my favorite. Very evocative mood.

    Sara looks like she’s stepping up in the world. Looks like royalty there!

    What style tags are these? Particularly the undead swamp and the pocket plane. They look very cool, but not like your usual photo-realistic style.

    Illasera looks every bit the irritating goth wanna-be I’ve always imagined her as. Gromnir very much looks the part too. Yaga-Shura looks appropriately nasty, and the other fire giants came out very effectively. I like that whole “obsidian lava” feel around them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. atcDave Avatar
      atcDave

      These all include “photo” in the description, but I’ve long been of the opinion it doesn’t know quite what to do with photos of completely unreal things!

      Additional terms, in anything with the elves, elven homes,I say “Alan Lee/Tolkien style”. For the rest I usually say Larry Elmore style. I always include “medieval-fantasy” too.

      I did change my description of Fire Giants to “black skin, flaming hair, armor, great sword”. The one with two giants, it kept making them too big! So I took the word “giant” out and changed it to “huge men”. Keep it simple!

      Yeah, Sarah looks like she’s holding court! Seems fitting enough.

      I may be down to just two updates left for this run? I think. I will head back to Icewind Dale next, but after the introduction I think I won’t do nearly as much.

      Like

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