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Diomedes: IWD Update 4

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atcDave

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We set off for the ancient Elven fortress Arundel had told us about. Along the way we stopped by a Halfling village, known as Snowytoes Hamlet.

The residents were a friendly and cheerful bunch, as one often expects from Halflings.

But the village headwoman was grieving. She had recently lost her husband, and had since been haunted by heartbreaking dreams that seemed to call her to a “Black Pyramid” nearby. We promised to take a look at it for her.
Uh yeah, there was a bit of a problem here.

We slew many undead. On entering the pyramid we encountered an alien, evil force. It fed off of, was strengthened by grief and fear. So the Halfling headwoman had been vulnerable to it. We were able to end it. Although in an attempt to upset us? Or something, it threatened that a greater, darker evil than it was growing in strength in this area.

We returned to the village with the news the trouble had been ended, they should be able to sleep without fear.

Another Halfling woman asked if we would be heading back to Kuldahar anytime soon (we would), if we could drop off bags of treats for her sons.

This was definitely a more agreeable chore than battling undead and alien entities, we happily agreed to help.

We eventually made it down to the Elven fortress.

Known now as “The Severed Hand” because of the way its ruined towers reached for the sky. We marveled at how the magic forces could hold the ruins in place, perhaps indefinitely.

We knew the story, the specters of the elves and orcs who battled here ages ago, still battled in the ruins without pause. And we needed to find an ancient elven mage named Larrel.

Immediately on entry we were beset by shadows of orcs and goblins. We defeated many of them. Did we give them rest? Or would this repeat?
There were really a lot of them! So many some shadowed goblins got into our rear, Moya and even Psyche drew weapons for melee so Harg could keep up his precision archery.
There were armored skeletons, and other shadowy things too. We kept very busy for a while. It was hard business, and if we hadn’t grown so much more capable from our experience in the Vale of Shadows, The Dragoneye, and other adventures, we would not have been able to face this!

Finally we reached a floor that seemed quiet. There were a few shadows of elves here, but they seemed more like living elves. They were friendly to us, but seemed to have no knowledge of their actual status.

An elven shopkeeper boasted of his quality wares. He did actually have some goods we could use, we bought some magic arrows and sling bullets.
An inn was empty except for a little girl playing by herself. She happily let us rest at her mother’s inn as long we would play with her after.

This was the top floor of the main Keep. Each of the five towers continued up from here. And this would get strange.

In the armory we met the ancient Elven arms master. She requested that we climb the towers and put her troops to rest.

Oh boy. The first lucid elf spirit we meet, and she wants us to kill the others. Do you kill spirits? Moya suggested there was no easy answer to this, but the lady seems to think destroying the shadowed spirits will give them peace. So that must be the right way to proceed.

It really inspires confidence when your team cleric shrugs.
So we battled elf spirits.
They had a lot more spellcasters than the orcs and goblins we faced earlier. That really kept Psyche busy.

We worked our way through all five towers, even finding a way into the floating remains of the shattered tower. This whole time, Psyche had been finding parts of ancient equipment. Things that looked both magical and well engineered. She had been keeping much of this machinery. That proved fortunate.

Atop the ruined tower was a giant astrolabe. Two figures moved about. One was dressed as a regal arch-mage. He was speaking non-sense, he had lost his mind.

The other was an engineer. He was frustrated that he seemed to be missing parts to get the mechanism working again. Psyche offered up the parts she had collected.

Seriously, if you ever want to make the remains of an ancient elven engineer giddy with joy, hand him the parts and tools he is missing.

We all watched fascinated as the engineer restored the great machine. (Okay, really, Psyche was fascinated, Garaint and I tried to remember which pack had the playing cards).
After just a few short hours the machine shrieked, sparked, steamed and groaned to life. The engineer was very happy. And the ancient arch-mage seemed to find his senses.

Larrel proved friendly and helpful. He knew exactly how to use the Heartstone Gem.

He discerned that we need to search the ancient Dwarven fortress of Dorn’s Deep to find our answers to the source of evil. He was not surprised that evil would be found with the Dwarves. There was deep and ancient antipathy between these elves and the dwarves.

He offered to send us directly there. But we had need of supplies in Kuldahar first, so at a word he transported us there. Serious magical power there…

It was really good to have a night to rest up. We did take care of business in and around town. We needed more arrows and sling bullets, some gear mended, some bags of treats delivered to errent Halflings. But mostly a warm and comfy place surrounded by the living.

*****

I’m still very pleased with how this team is doing. They can unleash a lot of damage quickly. Only minor shortcoming is no real “emergency” fighter for the back rank. Moya is the best option. With decent hit points and good armor class, she can hold off attackers while Psyche and Harg do their thing. In the one battle with all the shadowed orcs and goblins, I did have Psyche draw her dagger and step into melee too. She is *really* not much good at it. But Harg is a devestating archer. The rear rank can defend itself even without a melee type handy.

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