Game-Summaries:3/10/2018 Recollections

Recollections by Ci

The Book of the Mountain says "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake." We unfortunately did just that last night while setting a trap for the Drow Hune. Rather than trust to our plan and let him walk into our ambush, we revealed ourselves early and were forced to fight on ground not of our choosing. Hune utilized a spider to scout ahead, and Tallulah was discovered outside the cave where we had set our trap. We were forced to fight him on the Hillock outside. The battle was brief but intense, with Hune throwing devastating Magic and summoning a creature from the Underdark. Tallulah and her wolf companion were both hit. I was struck by fiendish fire every time my arrows or my blade pierced Hune's flesh. It was Hune's death, however, that unleashed his most dangerous magic.

With our entire party focused on defeating Hune, he finally fell to our attacks. With his dying breath he spit one final curse, and his body was consumed by flames which then erupted outwards to engulf us all. I seemed to have particularly drawn his ire, and was twice burned by the otherworldly flames. Indeed, if not for the help of my companions, I would have gone early to walk the paths of the life beyond this one. I was revived by Loco and his magic projectiles, and as we gathered ourselves to face our remaining foe, the imposing Draegloth, we were again surprised. The creature did not attack again, and instead sued for peace! Zifu Poe's words echoed in my head as we listened to the Draegloth's proposal, "No life is insignificant. If we have the wisdom to learn, all may teach us their virtues." I could not see the virtue in this creature, but in honor of the Grandmaster and in deference to my companions wishes, I agreed to let the creature go. It is my hope that some peaceful solution may be found to the chaos of these incursions from the Underdark, but I wonder if these creatures truly know or value peace. As the Book says, "While I breathe, I hope, but while I hope, I prepare."

Finally, a personal note for Jeroy... I am afraid there wasn't enough left of Hune to put on a spike. We did bring you back a bottle of what little was left of him to set on your mantle. May you spend many happy hours contemplating the horrible way he died!

Recollections by Sakura no Kaze

We had a very nice and elaborate trap laid out which went all to hell at first contact. Someone said, "nothing survives past first contact." Our trap and the battle with Hune was only interesting in that it revealed some interesting bits of information. At his defeat, Hune performed a Death Curse that nearly wiped out half the party. It seemed a version of Hellish Feedback.

Hune also summoned a Draegloth, who was quite annoyed by the entire episode. To avoid death, the Draegloth conversed with us and told us some of their plans. He tells us that his mistress is Halisstra and that Lolth has abandoned all Drow and the Underdark. Hune's job was probably to open portals to let the Drow enter this realm. Draegloth is telling us that Drow are kind and peaceful and his example given leads me to believe that his definition of kind is wildly different from mine. I, one of the people, cannot abide by such a waste of life, of the common people. The Draegloth also tells us that Halisstra is his mother.

The Draegloth seems genuine in wanting a home and brokering peace and despite our gut instinct to kill him, we let him live and he says that an emissary will be sent to Solace in two 10-days. The pass phrase to be used is "Hune's head on a spike."

We collect some of the bloody remains in a spare vial we have for Jeroy's pleasure. There was no actual head left to put on a spike for him.

Back at Solace

We speak to Grandmaster Aetheres at the top of the tower, where he is currently tending to the ravens. We told him about our encounter with Hune and that he said something about ley lines upon death. The Grandmaster suggested that the mage might be a ley mage. We also tell him of Lolth's silence/abandonment and that Drow are seeking a new realm. Millions of them. To this, the Grandmaster suggested that we were naive to believe the Draegloth and that we have already sent an emissary to the Underdark. In a couple of months we're mounting an expedition to retrieve them and are currently accepting volunteers for the job.

Recollections by Tallulah

Tracking Down Hune Part II 3.10.346

After my last encounter with Hune I decided I wanted to be a part of the group that brought him down. He seemed incredibly dangerous and his ability to open and close portals to the Underdark was a serious threat to Solace. I spent some time informing the local farmers about the drow with the fungal growths and checked in with them daily until someone spotted an infected looking drow. The farmer was able to give me a general direction from which it came. From there I was able to track several locations that Hune had open and closed portals and, based on the tracks, brought drow from the Underdark. There was a pattern to the locations he had chosen for his portals so I was fairly certain I knew where he would show up next.

My companions on this mission would be Loco, Sarya, Ci and Sakura. In the weeks leading up to it, the five of us got together to discuss our plan in the hopes we could lay a trap for an unsuspecting Hune. Ci acquired the Stone of Hallowing and Slippers of Spider Climbing from the vault as they seemed like we could put them to good use against Hune.

The hillock I estimated Hune would travel to next was 25 miles Southeast of Solace. It took us most of the day to get to the hillock but as I had learned, all of Hune’s movements happened after nightfall so we had sufficient time to prepare our trap. There was a cavern inside the hillock that Hune would likely use as cover for his portal. I would scout at the top of the hillock, Loco set an alarm near me that I would activate when I spotted Hune giving my companions notice. Sakura would then make Ci and Sarya invisible and Ci would attempt to use the Stone of Hallowing against Hune as early in battle as possible while the rest of the party was hiding deeper in the cavern. The goal would be to draw Hune into the largest room of the cavern and fight him there.

Feeling as ready as we could be Wethril and I left our friends and took our post at the top of the hillock scouting for the enemy. When I spotted Hune in the distance he was not alone. Walking approximately 100' in front of him was a large spider. Not wanting everyone in the cavern to be caught unaware and seeing that Hune and the spider were moving slowly I scurried down to the cavern to inform the team. When I returned to the top of the hill with Wethril we were shocked to find the large spider only 100' away—its eyes were glowing white and when it saw me it seemed to recognize me in a really unsettling way. Then, suddenly, its eyes returned to black spidery eyes and it simply walked away, disappearing from view. Startled and unnerved by the spider’s human-like reaction to me I sent Wethril out to scout for signs of Hune or the spider and moved to a rock next to the mouth of the cavern.

Feeling anxious about our plan falling to pieces I summoned Wethril from the North to be close to me when seconds later I felt an unfortunately familiar searing pain tear through me and heard a solid thump. Once again my partner was down and I had to get to him. I charged up the hill toward Wethril when out of nowhere I was blindsided by a blast of immense powerful force knocking me off my feet—Hune. There he was once again standing near Wethril’s fallen body, wearing the same helmet and smug grin he had worn the last time we had met.

Ci—still invisible—made it to the top of the hill and struck Hune square in the chest with both of his arrows. A fiery chasm burst from Hune’s chest where the had arrows landed injuring Ci. I took no time to fire with my longbow striking Hune with great force. Just as it had last time...Hune’s head split in two as he opened a glowing portal in front of him. From the portal emerged an angry and unpleasant looking fiend with glowing red eyes. Hune approached the Draegloth and whispered something to it. Its rage subsided but the calm and focus that followed was even more upsetting.

Ci continued toward Hune attacking with his short sword but each blow more damaging fire erupted from our enemy. I launched an arrow at the Draegloth which found purchase in its elbow. At this point my companions had reached the hillock and joined in the fighting and Wethril awoke from unconsciousness. Sarya, in a barbarian rage, attacked the Draegloth, Sakura cast a powerful firebolt and Loco sent a thunder cannon towards Hune’s first head in a final blow that would be the end of Hune, but not before his second head could utter an arcane spell in Undercommon. Although I heard him clearly, I could not understand most of what he said with the exception of the word "Ley line". A bright blue glow burst from the ground and through Hune’s body exploding flames knocking out myself and Wethril and bringing Ci close to death.

When I came to after being revived the Stone of Hallowing had been activated against the Draegloth but to our surprise, the Draegloth stepped out of the light produced by the stone and requested we stop firing. Sarya spoke to the Draegloth instead of continuing to attack. From him we learned that he comes to our world in peace and did not wish us harm. Against his will he is bound to serve an individual who calls him by his name which Hune had used to control him. For this reason he would not give us his name but agreed to allow us to call him Draegy.

Draegy explained that Lolth has abandoned and cursed his people—they are unable to cast divine spells and are seeking refuge in a new land. Draegy’s mistress (and mother) is called Halisstra. He described Halisstra as a kind and generous leader although the example he gave of her generous nature was that Halisstra chose to cast out a servant for improperly made tea rather than killing them. It would seem Draegy has a different definition of kind and generous than most.

Draegy requested that he send an emissary to Solace from the Underdark within two 10-days to discuss terms and the possibility of housing millions of drow refugees in an underground dwelling in our world. Each realm they have investigated thus far has rejected them. We gave Draegy the key phrase "Hune’s head on a spike" to relay to his emissary so we would be able to identify him when he arrived to Solace. After our conversation and agreement Draegy left us heading South/Southeast to presumably return to the Underdark.

We took inventory of the things that Hune had left behind: an grotesque yet ornate scepter resembling a dead and decayed arm fashioned into a staff—"Staff of Withering"; the helmet turned out to be a "Helm of Teleportation"; as well as "Bracers of Defense." With nothing left of Hune save some bloody, gooey bits, Loco collected what he could into an empty Kaylorr's Kwik-Aid bottle to return to Leroy. Sakura bonded with the helmet while we slept and in the morning we used it to transport, in nearly an instant, to just outside the Solace walls.

When we made it to the Magistery we found Grandmaster Aetheres tending to the crows and ravens at the top of the Magistery tower. Sakura reported our conversation with Draegy and the Grandmaster informed us that the Magistery has already sent an emissary to the Underdark who has not yet returned and that a party of Magistery representatives was being sent to the Underdark to investigate further. Overall, he seemed skeptical that Draegy had been honest with us but interested that he called his mistress Hallisstra instead of Danifae. When we told him of the death spell Hune had used he mentioned we might have had a ley mage on our hands. We consulted him about the staff we had recovered from Hune. The Grandmaster told us that the staff is intelligent, sentient and dangerous. He recommended we destroy it or study it which Sakura decided to do in his downtime to gain more information.

Nothing about this mission went the way I expected it to, although I suppose I should be accustomed to unpredictability by now. Despite Grandmaster Aetheres’ warnings I believe that Draegy was being honest and that his people need help. I hope that if and when the emissary does arrive from the Underdark that the Magistery is open to talks.

Also, I have decided that I want to be a member of the party that travels to the Underdark. I need to see for myself what is going on and discover what my role in this whole thing is. So on that note, Wethril and I have some training to do...