June 19, 2010: My Favorite Mistake

Previously, on The Hard Way
The party charges into the final encounter without taking a short rest....
== Dramatis Personae ==
* Aria - warforged bard 8 (Westerling)
* Bim - deva artificer 7 (Malringer)
* Kava - dragonborn paladin 8 (Westerling)
* Mungo - shifter rogue 8 (Westerling/Brighton County)
* River - shifter warden 8 (Westerling/Brighton County)
* Teodahr - elf ranger 8 (Westerling)
* Vitrano - deva avenger 8 (Malringer)
== Lets Finish This ==
After the Hecate wizard fled the room, The Hard Way checked the fallen and discovered an Amulet of Resolution +2 on the body of the High Priestess. None of the members of the cult looked familiar. Led by River and Vitrano, THW travelled a short hallway to the former chambers of the High Priestess. Aria had detected five aberrations and the existence of a proto-rift. Inside the chamber were five foulspawn, two manglers, two berserkers, and a grue. Someone had excavated a pit deep in the floor of the room, and the foulspawn were arrayed in a pentangular formation, focused on opening the way.
River and Kava charged in trying to engage the wizard and one of the berserkers, but the wizard hit Vitrano with a domination power causing him to hit Aria. Time was short, with all the foulspawn working to open the rift, it would be a matter of moments Aria said. Shaking off the effects of the domination, Vitrano lept into the pit and scattered some of the foulspawn and the wizard away from the rift. Aria made its way to the gate and used the Seal of the Watcher to try to close the rift, but was only able to slow the progress of the rift opening. The foulspawn berserker that Kava had distracted and abandoned promptly attacked Aria. Mungo, still gravely injured from the previous fight, skulked and struck from the shadows.
While it closed the rift, Aria got a glimpse of what was about to come through, a floating spherical being with numerous eyes on stalks. When it sealed the rift with a mighty effort of will, the creature, a death-kiss beholder, was caught in the backlash and injured or killed. Pieces came away from it and Aria was drenched in the blood of the monster.
One by one, the foulspawn were distracted and dispatched and Vitrano cornered the wizard so Mungo could finish him.
Afterwards, THW recovered the wizard's cloak,(Cloak of Resistance +2), and realized that Aria's belt, soaked in the blood of the beholder, had become enchanted as well (Belt of Blood), and enhanced the healing received by the wearer.
Experience
20% (10% from last session + 10% for this session since two encounters ran together)
5% Minor quest for solving the disappearances
== First Class Hangin' ==
The survivors and evidence of a long term plot to open the rift were delivered to the town guard. Information in the evidence indicated that the lair of the deathkiss beholder, who had been banished back to the Far Realms years before, lay within a day's travel of the town of Vertan. THW considered that the most likely location would be in the Underdark.
In the meantime, the towns folk rounded up other members of the Hecate Cult and instructed THW on how the law works on the far side of the Parapets. Trials could be held without the presence of the accused. Guilty verdicts usually resulted in two sentences, indentured servitude, or death.
Death sentences involved hanging the convicts at a nearby overhang, where the local river ran into the Underdark. Something that lived in the cave cleaned up the remains, and several ropes which had been bitten through dangled from the top of the rock.
== First a Wave, Then the Biting ==
Mungo decided to sneak into the cave to scout it for THW. The cleft the river entered widened to a broad pool, with high water marks at the river's winter level, but a broad shelf presently. Mungo stumbled over a pile of rocks, attracting the attention of whatever whas in the lake. Several heads appeared, followed by a wave. Mungo high-tailed it just ahead of a many-headed beast that was clearly a cave hydra.
Before deciding that this was their only option to proceed, THW considered the danger to Vertan if the cave hydra ever came out to feed overrode the benefit of having a carrion disposal near the hanging rock.
When THW entered the cave the next day, Vitrano, Kava, and River led, with Mungo, and Bim in the middle, and Teodahr, and Aria in the rear. Not far in, the cave hydra launched itself on them. Vitrano, Kava, and River charged in, Vitrano and Kava dealing telling blows, while River ran around and waved her spear a lot. A single hit on Bim allowed him to teleport back to the cave entrance and fill the air with crossbow bolts. Aria kept the front rank alive, while Mungo pinned the hydra down with thrown daggers. Teodahr filled the air with death, his arrows slaying heads. Unable, or unwilling to retreat, the cave hydra was slain.
Experience
10% moderate encounter (Level+.50)
Achievements
O-o-o-overkill--Teodahr
Bob Was There Too--River
June 5, 2010: With a Little Help from My Friends
July 10, 2010: This Little Light O' Mine
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