10 Hammer 1491

The next day we find a giant mushroom forest with orange glowing bushes beneath them. After a quick scouting by Podkin the infestation is found. A very large troll-like being which is in rotting state and regenerating the same time. It must be in agonizing pain for it moans and groans. The shrubbery tells Cairon that the infesting troll searches for the creatures who are of vital importance to this underground forest and the must go.

An epic battle ensues. A few of our party sneak forward to ambush the abomination, Podkin hammers him with staff and fist, Blue Eyes forces him in a hideous laughter spree and Cairon Polar bear does what a polar bear does best. But alas, they have not used enough violence on this foe. It still stands and his mate appears in play. Together they tag team Podkin who falls and doesn’t stand up. He’s almost done for, but by divine intervention the good grace Cereen helps him to his feet. Flying in from the south there comes the big guns by the name of Nathaniel and his scorching pillar of fire, burning the skin of the infested, but now perished trolls. The remains are burned in a fire and the plants tell Cairon all is well…for now.

On the ceiling of the cave glowing plants can be seen and a small lake is found in which more glowing kelp. Interestingly, the water seems to flow (how can this be?), but the quest of Visla lures the party further and deeper in the Underdark.

Traveling back to the main road and then in a small side passage following the map from Kens we find a very large cavern. There is a village, we estimate about 900 villagers. In the foliage we sneakily hid from a few of them, but alas only the cunning of our druid Cairon saved our hides here. The villagers gone, we quickly found our way to yet another small side passage which led to another cave which holds a small castle. This seems to be the hideout of Visla the mage…tum tum tummmmmm.

Quests completed / achievements / rewards:

• Sidequest “troll infestation” completed; reward: general satisfaction for all
• Presumed hideout of Visla found
• Blue Eyes “girls-i’ve-kissed-list” is now creating side-quests for the party
• Crafting of Podkins staff ensues, “the wood is good” you hear him mumbling in his sleep
• Trolls and fire are a good match
• Cairons cunning knows no bounds and Polar bear violence seems to be an answer, but to what?

Arriving at the villa where Vis’la is presumably holding up. Cairon scouts ahead in spider form. There are 2 large entry doors and behind it is a large entry with staircase leading to the first floor with an enormous painting of 8 Zulkirs with in the centre a lich who stands out. Upon entry the door appears unlocked and we scout the floor. Cairon and Blue Eyes walk up the stair to further inspect the first floor but a sudden gust of wind blows Cairon of the stairs, Blue Eyes can only just hold on. After that the armors who seemed to be on display come to life and attack. We quickly dispatch of them with the help of Xion, who seems trustworthy and very much impressed by Cereen in her angelic appearance casting guiding bolts while flying with spread out wings. Xions background remains a mystery for now, he’s not “volunteering information eloquently”. Something a lot of alcohol and some bardic carousing will probably fix…

Onward! So we leave the two doors on the base floor for what they are and continue on the first floor to the south corridor. There is a magical shimmering and we encounter a Drow servant who disappears quickly. Upon entering the room he went in, there is no one there but a deceased Drow in a torturing chamber with an outside view. Strange? Yes. The bricks of the villa and this room are entirely different, so magic is in play here. We do a lot of searching and investigating and Cairon licks some torturing tools.

In the meanwhile in the corridor Cereen sees the Drow servant for a second time and commands him to “GET OVER HERE” (read it like the Mortal Kombat reference). This time we come to an understanding and the Drow points us to a second room in which we find a bird in a cage, some magical loot (ring of necromancy) which Cairon nicks, a lot of research books (alas, no time to check them out) and some eggs with throbbing veins…

Cairon again in for a fight, somehow enrages the breeding fire birds (phoenix) by barfing cold magic in their faces. We epically flee from the room and we close the door, this again being a magical room in another place it seems. Cairon and Cereen scare the shit out of the now quivering Drow servant. He feebly tries to make a deal, but to no avail. His revenge on his mistress is his own…
He suspects that Vis’la is in the garden, so that’s where we go and that’s where we leave it for the next time…DumTUmDUMMMMM

Accomplishments / Rewards / Noteworthy events:

• New trustworthy companion Xion is added to the party
• New NPC “who shall not be treated gently” added to the world, located in the Temple of Helm in Essembra. This of course is our friend Nathaniel.
• Torturers tools for Cairon along with a slight shift in alignment after licking them?

Upon entering the garden, there seems to be a misunderstanding. We see a dark corridor seemingly leading us deeper underground. To the south of us is another hallway and according to our Drow prisoner (still deeply terrified of Cereen Malorn and Cairon Artax) there should be a laboratory where Vis’la created magical items in recent years. But that was a some time ago, the last months he was solely focussed on his experiments in the study we earlier fled (the one with the phoenix-like-birds).

Leaving the loot for later we press on and quickly see daylight at the end of the tunnel. Nirval revivifies our senses and then flies away. After this we see the gardens, and it is there we find Vis’la sitting on a chair on an elevated platform in his gardens, apparently waiting for us. A few quick words are exchanged, but Vis’la is not the one to surrender lightly.

Battle ensues when Cereen spreads her mighty wings. Vis’la slows Xion and Cairon down and for the first few turns they move like snails. Podkin One-Ear on the other hand moves like the wind and together with Cereen he deals the first few blows on the evil mage only to find he seems armored somehow. Some fireballs, a scorched dog, a giant ape, a lot of giant bats, an invisible-misty-stepping-bard, the killing of 2 firebirds and a bodyguard later we find out Vis’la is somehow entwined with a bony winged being and teleports around the battlefield like a madman. Disgrunted and displeased Xion deals some massive blows to the bony-winged-thingy on Vis’la’s back and he flees in a mist to a dark tunnel.
Podkin’s new forged staff suddenly lights up with runes and while yelling “for Moradin” he runs like an enraged bull into the tunnel after the now fleeing mage. The giant-ape-Cereen quickly follows and

Accomplishments, rewards, strange events:

• nope, no rewards yet, but there is the promise of evil magical artifacts in the Vis’la vaults…
• we all wonder: what will Cereen be wearing after she returns form her apely-transformation?
• and wait: “for Moradin” and a glowing staff? Is Podkin a dwarf in human skin or just bat-shit-crazy? Wait a minute…did he eat batshit from the giant bats? That would explain a lot…
• Next obstacle…a stone door…a most formidible foe…

With the unmatched strength the giant-Cereen-ape opened the stone door and in the following room we find Vis’la and in a sarcophagus the bat-like symbiont who has been feeding of a Drow servant girl. X10-N’s hammer quickly removes conciousness form Vis’la and strange creature is torn to pieces by our apish-celestial. Next stop: the vault. In which we find a lot of books on necromancy (see party loot). We scout the other rooms but find nothing more but the two phoenix prototype eggs which we put in a stone container made by Tebryn. Tebryn seemingly being a mage of some sort, absorbing and creating magic… Tebryn seems more powerful than he led on and now wants to be our advisor and still wants his revenge on his family by whom he was excommunicated.

We leave the mansion of Vis’la with the many rooms in portal-rooms who seem to reside in Thay. And upon exiting we allow Tebryn to dissolve the house what appears to be a magical construct. We sneak past the village and kill a few Drow on the way. But alas, they scream out and we hear horns blow in the village not far away. We try to escape on giant bats but our new friend X10-N is just a tad to heavy for a bat to carry so we run and some of us fly away. We make it to the large trading line and in the 1,5 day following we continue travel to Glen.

Accomplishments / rewards / noteworthy events:

• captured Vis’la alive, escaped the Drow pursuit
• made a new ally Tebryn
• got to know and see our new friend X10-N
• are now hatching 2 proto-firebird eggs…what can go wrong…