FInal Eberron Game - Carrions' Journal
Today was the third of three Eberron games that Dave Lozzi has run. A perfect way to cap off my birthday weekend. I had a blast! If you like this sort of thing, peer behind the cut...
We flew by airship back to Sharn. Not surprisingly, with the dimensional apogee of the realm of fire so close, Sharn was experiencing a brutal heat wave (for those that feel such things). We found the Needle almost deserted. A lone halfling, the same one as before, handed us a note that led to a meeting place where Tofrin Damalec would meet us.
At the meeting place, Tofrin had been killed. He’d been burnt and his heart removed in an amateur fashion. I tried replacing his heart with the Heart of the Scorpion we had recovered. Unfortunately, Tofrin had no Vecna Conduits in his chest as a necromantic construct would and the experiment proved futile. The expression of Kark’s face as I handed the gem back was unreadable.
We followed a trail of clues to an information broker who was eventually cooperative (and eventually bleeding, thanks to Tars). His confessions led us to an abandoned silver mine in the Cogs under Sharn. We didn’t run into any problems from Daask and the large numbers of warforged in the lower levels are evidently more concerned with working for a living that harassing travelers.
In the silver mines, we fought and killed agents of the Emerald Claw, the masterminds of the plot to destroy Sharn. I tested a new spell, transforming myself in to a sort of warforged werewolf (I was hesitant to field test this in front of two devotees of the Silver Flame, but they too busy to notice). While I enjoyed the greater mobility my form allowed, I found the bite of a metallic snout to be strangely ineffectual.
On the corpse of an Emerald Claw wizard, I found a scroll with a curious spell. Zituke’s Body Of War transforms the caster into a raging engine of destruction: a warforged titan. According to the notes on the scroll, Zituke of Cyre used it to drive off an entire regiment of Karnnathi cavalry during the Last War. The effort killed him and with his dying breaths he scribed this scroll to pass the secret of his transformation on. I would need to save this scroll for later study. Perhaps I could transcribe the spell into my own book…
After a great deal of fighting, we arrived at a chamber that was very heavily guarded. In addition to fiery undead and Azer, we fought a red dragon! Jin, brave…and possibly suicidal… used her spiked chain to climb on the beast. It dropped back down the pit it had risen from. I Dimension Hopped over to the pit and immediately began falling myself, sword ignited and pointing down. I landed on the dragon, injuring it, but Jin had looped her chain on a rock ledge. The dragon was further damaged and this unit fell off and hit the bottom of the pit, a largish chamber with a floor of very hard stone. This unit bounced, sustaining heavy damage but still functioning.
Moments later, the dragon and Jin descended as well, the dragon proving uninterested in discussion. Jin knocked it out and I leeched its life energy, removing the threat and restoring energy lost to this unit in the fall.
Rejoined by our companions, we entered a very large chamber with great pools of magma and a bridge over these pools. Along with some vexing salamanders, we faced the devastating attacks of a pyrohydra! This hideous beast almost proved our undoing!
Jin invoked the Silver Flame as the insidious Lamishal appeared at the far end of the magma cavern. An impressive warhorse suddenly appeared, meant to carry Jin to battle, sent by the Silver Flame. Jin and Kark raced off to confront Lamishal while the rest of us faced the pyrohydra, which was already sprouting new heads from our initial attacks.
Galdar and Tars saved this unit a number of times. Sergeant VanRoth was not so fortunate. The pyrohydra supplemented crushing bites with withering blasts of flame. This unit was sorely wounded. Energy levels dropped close to a level that would force stasis and even permanent damage or destruction. Sergeant VanRoth, my leader and hero of the Last War…was incinerated.
There was no time for shock, at least not for my companions. They unleashed viscous attacks at the beast, driving it back time and again, only to have it return with more heads than before.
Meanwhile, across the vast expanse of lava, Jin and Kark rode until they were face-to-face with Lamishal. Kark reached into his cloak and produced a portable pit, a magic device that created a pit in the space where it was thrown.
“You’ll never stop us, you fools”, Lamishal was screaming, “In mere moments, the realm of fire will become coterminous with Sharn! You have no-“
Kark flung the pit under him. He fell into it. The angle was such that molten magma poured in after. The end of Lamishal. But my compan- my friends would still need time to complete the ritual and lock the gate to the realm of fire. I needed to buy them time.
Across the cavern, the pyrohydra was back to full strength and charging the bridge I was on. I was staggering. I had never felt this way before. Sergeant VanRoth was my oldest friend, even before I began life as a fugitive. Now he was terminated. I would be terminated soon. I would be melted. I would never find my Masters’ killer. I did not want this. I wanted…something. Something many veterans of the Last War spoke of but I had never felt. The pyrohydra had killed my friend. I wanted to hurt it. I wanted justice. No…I wanted Revenge.
The stone bridge shook as the beast crashed near. The scroll unfurled in my shining metal hands. The spell was too complex, it was beyond me. The calm words of my Master whispered in my ear. I felt the Sergeants’ hand on my shoulder plating. The spell rolled out of my mouth, rending the hot air. My vision swam, tinted red. The bridge groaned.
A warforged titan bellowed a challenge, a sound like the lightning rail roaring through a stone and iron tunnel. My life energies were very nearly expended. I would sell my life dearly, then. I would buy my friends time to do what they must.
A giant stone maul, my hand, smashed hydra ribs and a giant axe (my hand?) sliced off heads. Gouts of flame stole my vision time and again and all that remained was the tearing and the smashing. My arms pumped in relentless circles, punishing the beast that took my friends from me. My life energies were torn from me, a bit at a time, but still I swung the maul, the axe…
My friends relate the rest of the story to this unit. I must have blacked out or been lost in rage. Kark completed the ritual. He is just as resourceful as I suspected. The pyrohydra succumbed to the tita- my attacks. It died. VanRoth was avenged.
My friends fought off some hellish hounds as they exited the chamber, the gate sealed. Though I don’t remember doing so, I am told I smashed the bridge into the chamber. The seal is unlikely to be disturbed again.
I “awoke” at an Inn. My friends told me it was the next day and the heat wave was already lifting. We’d saved Sharn. Our victory seemed somewhat hollow without VanRoth there to share in it. I am also concerned about Zituke’s Body of War. Did it totally transform me, or just unlock something already within me? Am I concerned about what it did to me, or that I may never be able to re-create the spell?
I will think about this later. Today, I am told, there is a memorial service for Sergeant VanRoth’s ashes. It is a fitting way to spend the day that the world did not end.
Tomorrow is soon enough to find my Masters’ killer. Tomorrow…
We flew by airship back to Sharn. Not surprisingly, with the dimensional apogee of the realm of fire so close, Sharn was experiencing a brutal heat wave (for those that feel such things). We found the Needle almost deserted. A lone halfling, the same one as before, handed us a note that led to a meeting place where Tofrin Damalec would meet us.
At the meeting place, Tofrin had been killed. He’d been burnt and his heart removed in an amateur fashion. I tried replacing his heart with the Heart of the Scorpion we had recovered. Unfortunately, Tofrin had no Vecna Conduits in his chest as a necromantic construct would and the experiment proved futile. The expression of Kark’s face as I handed the gem back was unreadable.
We followed a trail of clues to an information broker who was eventually cooperative (and eventually bleeding, thanks to Tars). His confessions led us to an abandoned silver mine in the Cogs under Sharn. We didn’t run into any problems from Daask and the large numbers of warforged in the lower levels are evidently more concerned with working for a living that harassing travelers.
In the silver mines, we fought and killed agents of the Emerald Claw, the masterminds of the plot to destroy Sharn. I tested a new spell, transforming myself in to a sort of warforged werewolf (I was hesitant to field test this in front of two devotees of the Silver Flame, but they too busy to notice). While I enjoyed the greater mobility my form allowed, I found the bite of a metallic snout to be strangely ineffectual.
On the corpse of an Emerald Claw wizard, I found a scroll with a curious spell. Zituke’s Body Of War transforms the caster into a raging engine of destruction: a warforged titan. According to the notes on the scroll, Zituke of Cyre used it to drive off an entire regiment of Karnnathi cavalry during the Last War. The effort killed him and with his dying breaths he scribed this scroll to pass the secret of his transformation on. I would need to save this scroll for later study. Perhaps I could transcribe the spell into my own book…
After a great deal of fighting, we arrived at a chamber that was very heavily guarded. In addition to fiery undead and Azer, we fought a red dragon! Jin, brave…and possibly suicidal… used her spiked chain to climb on the beast. It dropped back down the pit it had risen from. I Dimension Hopped over to the pit and immediately began falling myself, sword ignited and pointing down. I landed on the dragon, injuring it, but Jin had looped her chain on a rock ledge. The dragon was further damaged and this unit fell off and hit the bottom of the pit, a largish chamber with a floor of very hard stone. This unit bounced, sustaining heavy damage but still functioning.
Moments later, the dragon and Jin descended as well, the dragon proving uninterested in discussion. Jin knocked it out and I leeched its life energy, removing the threat and restoring energy lost to this unit in the fall.
Rejoined by our companions, we entered a very large chamber with great pools of magma and a bridge over these pools. Along with some vexing salamanders, we faced the devastating attacks of a pyrohydra! This hideous beast almost proved our undoing!
Jin invoked the Silver Flame as the insidious Lamishal appeared at the far end of the magma cavern. An impressive warhorse suddenly appeared, meant to carry Jin to battle, sent by the Silver Flame. Jin and Kark raced off to confront Lamishal while the rest of us faced the pyrohydra, which was already sprouting new heads from our initial attacks.
Galdar and Tars saved this unit a number of times. Sergeant VanRoth was not so fortunate. The pyrohydra supplemented crushing bites with withering blasts of flame. This unit was sorely wounded. Energy levels dropped close to a level that would force stasis and even permanent damage or destruction. Sergeant VanRoth, my leader and hero of the Last War…was incinerated.
There was no time for shock, at least not for my companions. They unleashed viscous attacks at the beast, driving it back time and again, only to have it return with more heads than before.
Meanwhile, across the vast expanse of lava, Jin and Kark rode until they were face-to-face with Lamishal. Kark reached into his cloak and produced a portable pit, a magic device that created a pit in the space where it was thrown.
“You’ll never stop us, you fools”, Lamishal was screaming, “In mere moments, the realm of fire will become coterminous with Sharn! You have no-“
Kark flung the pit under him. He fell into it. The angle was such that molten magma poured in after. The end of Lamishal. But my compan- my friends would still need time to complete the ritual and lock the gate to the realm of fire. I needed to buy them time.
Across the cavern, the pyrohydra was back to full strength and charging the bridge I was on. I was staggering. I had never felt this way before. Sergeant VanRoth was my oldest friend, even before I began life as a fugitive. Now he was terminated. I would be terminated soon. I would be melted. I would never find my Masters’ killer. I did not want this. I wanted…something. Something many veterans of the Last War spoke of but I had never felt. The pyrohydra had killed my friend. I wanted to hurt it. I wanted justice. No…I wanted Revenge.
The stone bridge shook as the beast crashed near. The scroll unfurled in my shining metal hands. The spell was too complex, it was beyond me. The calm words of my Master whispered in my ear. I felt the Sergeants’ hand on my shoulder plating. The spell rolled out of my mouth, rending the hot air. My vision swam, tinted red. The bridge groaned.
A warforged titan bellowed a challenge, a sound like the lightning rail roaring through a stone and iron tunnel. My life energies were very nearly expended. I would sell my life dearly, then. I would buy my friends time to do what they must.
A giant stone maul, my hand, smashed hydra ribs and a giant axe (my hand?) sliced off heads. Gouts of flame stole my vision time and again and all that remained was the tearing and the smashing. My arms pumped in relentless circles, punishing the beast that took my friends from me. My life energies were torn from me, a bit at a time, but still I swung the maul, the axe…
My friends relate the rest of the story to this unit. I must have blacked out or been lost in rage. Kark completed the ritual. He is just as resourceful as I suspected. The pyrohydra succumbed to the tita- my attacks. It died. VanRoth was avenged.
My friends fought off some hellish hounds as they exited the chamber, the gate sealed. Though I don’t remember doing so, I am told I smashed the bridge into the chamber. The seal is unlikely to be disturbed again.
I “awoke” at an Inn. My friends told me it was the next day and the heat wave was already lifting. We’d saved Sharn. Our victory seemed somewhat hollow without VanRoth there to share in it. I am also concerned about Zituke’s Body of War. Did it totally transform me, or just unlock something already within me? Am I concerned about what it did to me, or that I may never be able to re-create the spell?
I will think about this later. Today, I am told, there is a memorial service for Sergeant VanRoth’s ashes. It is a fitting way to spend the day that the world did not end.
Tomorrow is soon enough to find my Masters’ killer. Tomorrow…