Post by hubertbartels on Jul 7, 2022 14:21:43 GMT -5
Getting the Gatekeeper
After days of poling our way across a dreary and soggy landscape, we finally arrived at a more rocky and hilly shore. Darro used a hidden cove to hide the flatboat and we packed the supplies for his people in our Bags of Holding. Then we set out on foot to Darro’s village.
As we walked, Darro told us about a recent threat to his home; a Corpse Flower had recently moved into the area and was killing people and raising them as zombies. We quickly agreed to help him and traveled to the area where it had been resting. Kadrin found its tracks and we followed them to a copse of trees. The Corpse Flower, when it saw us on its trail, reached inside of itself and began throwing zombies at us. Torbrand’s fireball fried most of the zombies. It tried to create a younger version of Emrys d’Cannith – but we weren’t fooled and killed the horror. One of the destroyed zombies resembled Tilbor Gruun, the goblin from Sharn. Several of the other destroyed zombies were cultists.
After a night of camping and rest, we arrived at Darro’s village the next evening. The village lay between two hills and had about 500 inhabitants. We met with the half-orc leader, Ulaash at the chief’s home on the edge of the village. As we made known why we had come to his village, two Gatekeeper druids and a hag entered the hut. The hag, Auntie Linette, pointed to us and said that we were the adventurers seen in her visions. The elder Gatekeeper druid, Sammish, invited us to his hut after the village’s welcoming feast.
Later that evening, after the feast, we gathered in Sammish’s hut. Sammish introduced the younger Gatekeeper druid, Orrel as his apprentice. Orrel will be left in the village when Sammish goes to help us with sealing the gate. But before we can begin returning, there is something that Sammish wishes us to do.
The Gatekeeper requested our aid in clearing cultists from a nearby site where Aal’drash and his six Beasts of Corruption had been sealed away. Orrel, in his test to become a full Gatekeeper druid, will help strengthen the seals.
The next morning, we set out for the site, arriving near dusk. It’s an old decaying stone tower with seven or more cultists making a camp site. More cultists are in the shadows at the tower. Torbrand opened the fight with a fireball on their camp fire. As the surviving cultists scrambled for weapons, their leader, a cambion, flew into view. Kadrin, using his boots of flying, rose into the evening sky and knocked the cambion out of the air. Goran and Kadrin were left facing the gladiator with a Daelkyr thing that attached at his throat and bit at anyone that faced his master. The two managed to kill the gladiator. A gibbering mouther came out of the darkness but Kara wore it down until it stopped moving.
Inside the tower ruins, we found a 3 x 3 stone removed to reveal a shaft leading below. Fifty feet down, the shaft opened into a room with multiple vault doors. They were leaking a green fluid into the center of the room. Watching this was a caster in a robe of eyes and accompanied by another gibbering mouther. As we rushed in to the room to interrupt his ritual, a woman with a thorny sword standing by the door struck out at us. Goran skirted the woman and cut down the ritualist. Trouble and Kadrin faced off against the woman and kill her while Kara and Goran made short work of the gibbering mouther.
After the fight, Orrel resealed the six vault doors and closed the site. We returned to the village to recover and make plans. That evening, Orrel was raised to a full Gatekeeper. Sammish and Auntie Linnet suggested that we return to Breland through Droam. It would be faster.
After days of poling our way across a dreary and soggy landscape, we finally arrived at a more rocky and hilly shore. Darro used a hidden cove to hide the flatboat and we packed the supplies for his people in our Bags of Holding. Then we set out on foot to Darro’s village.
As we walked, Darro told us about a recent threat to his home; a Corpse Flower had recently moved into the area and was killing people and raising them as zombies. We quickly agreed to help him and traveled to the area where it had been resting. Kadrin found its tracks and we followed them to a copse of trees. The Corpse Flower, when it saw us on its trail, reached inside of itself and began throwing zombies at us. Torbrand’s fireball fried most of the zombies. It tried to create a younger version of Emrys d’Cannith – but we weren’t fooled and killed the horror. One of the destroyed zombies resembled Tilbor Gruun, the goblin from Sharn. Several of the other destroyed zombies were cultists.
After a night of camping and rest, we arrived at Darro’s village the next evening. The village lay between two hills and had about 500 inhabitants. We met with the half-orc leader, Ulaash at the chief’s home on the edge of the village. As we made known why we had come to his village, two Gatekeeper druids and a hag entered the hut. The hag, Auntie Linette, pointed to us and said that we were the adventurers seen in her visions. The elder Gatekeeper druid, Sammish, invited us to his hut after the village’s welcoming feast.
Later that evening, after the feast, we gathered in Sammish’s hut. Sammish introduced the younger Gatekeeper druid, Orrel as his apprentice. Orrel will be left in the village when Sammish goes to help us with sealing the gate. But before we can begin returning, there is something that Sammish wishes us to do.
The Gatekeeper requested our aid in clearing cultists from a nearby site where Aal’drash and his six Beasts of Corruption had been sealed away. Orrel, in his test to become a full Gatekeeper druid, will help strengthen the seals.
The next morning, we set out for the site, arriving near dusk. It’s an old decaying stone tower with seven or more cultists making a camp site. More cultists are in the shadows at the tower. Torbrand opened the fight with a fireball on their camp fire. As the surviving cultists scrambled for weapons, their leader, a cambion, flew into view. Kadrin, using his boots of flying, rose into the evening sky and knocked the cambion out of the air. Goran and Kadrin were left facing the gladiator with a Daelkyr thing that attached at his throat and bit at anyone that faced his master. The two managed to kill the gladiator. A gibbering mouther came out of the darkness but Kara wore it down until it stopped moving.
Inside the tower ruins, we found a 3 x 3 stone removed to reveal a shaft leading below. Fifty feet down, the shaft opened into a room with multiple vault doors. They were leaking a green fluid into the center of the room. Watching this was a caster in a robe of eyes and accompanied by another gibbering mouther. As we rushed in to the room to interrupt his ritual, a woman with a thorny sword standing by the door struck out at us. Goran skirted the woman and cut down the ritualist. Trouble and Kadrin faced off against the woman and kill her while Kara and Goran made short work of the gibbering mouther.
After the fight, Orrel resealed the six vault doors and closed the site. We returned to the village to recover and make plans. That evening, Orrel was raised to a full Gatekeeper. Sammish and Auntie Linnet suggested that we return to Breland through Droam. It would be faster.
