This campaign journal begins anew from the "Barryland" thread as seen here:

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=16186&page=2

SESSION IV, PART III

Sophocles is in mad pursuit of the Naga, and rounds a corner, out of sight of the party, while chasing after it.

Simon and Aurelia follow, and manage to see an altercation between the two. The Naga...finally fed up with being chased, turns around and faces the hound nipping at its heels. This...thing...slithers around, and jabs him the dog with the barb at the end of its tail.

Naga: "Sssstinking cur..!" :mad:
Sophocles: "Yipe?!!" :eek:

Sophocles collapses....

Aurelia: "Sophocles!"

...and the Naga escapes.

Aurelia and Simon check the poor mutt's vital signs, seeing that Sophocles is still alive. They can hear the footsteps of the rest of the group behind them. Horatio approaches and examines the overgrown pup, and identifies the wound as being filled with Naga venom.

Horatio's player, imurrx, gets an odd look on his face...

...and uses an ensorceled item to heal the poison. Sophocles eyes open, and he hobbles to his feet.

..continued from before.

SESSION IV, PART IV

The party decides to carry on, and make their way down a 10-foot-wide stone corridor, eventually reaching a large open chamber, 35 ft by 65 ft, revealing a shadowy 15-foot-wide flight of stairs...leading upward. They go up.

At the top of the stairs, they see another such chamber of similar size, but with the bass relief of multiple Gargoyles on the walls. Something about these statuesque carvings gives them pause, and makes the group feel uncomfortable, almost the Gargoyles are watching them...

The group decides to go down another corridor, this one 15-feet-wide, heading east. They all stop in their tracks, as they spy a ridiculously large, red, scaly, sinewy tail coiled around the corner of the corridor...

To be continued...

SESSION IV, PART V

The characters come face-to-face with a Red Dragon! :eek: They see a small red Pseudodragon clinging to the ceiling above it, and the Red Dragon seems oblivious to its presence. The party is nervous, and is torn between approaching it, and running away. Well, the Pseudodragon flies off, incurring the wrath of the Red Dragon, which chases it down the corridor. Both Dragons eventually reach a balcony leading outside, but the little fellow escapes.

The party followed them, and parleys with the Dragon. They discover that its name is Mekros Mordigar, and that it's taking temporary residence there at Darkwall. To keep it from attacking, Horatio gives the Dragon his "Magic 8-Ball" as a gift.

Horatio: "Here. Take this.."
Mekros Mordigar: "I accept your bauble, Human.."

The Dragon departs...

...and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

The group is still curious, however (especially Aurelia), and they open a closed door inside the passage they stand in (checking for traps first ). They go through the door, and see before them a veritable banquet of food. A kindly-faced bearded man walks in, alarmed by their presence. A conversation begins, and the man seems friendly and polite. He introduces himself as Ellis. The party soon discovers that they will have company for the meal, and very shortly, they are joined by three others: a dark-eyed man, lean of build (Dimitri), a short, plump woman (Marta), and a supple, attractive, dark-haired woman (Tanya).

The party is invited to join them for the meal, and they do so, though Kratos chose not to sit, behaving gruff and aloof.

The table is covered with all sorts of delicacies, meats, vegetables, chicken, fruits, soups, and pies. While the other characters feel full, Aurelia feels overcome by an overwhelming hunger....

She gorges herself, continuing to eat and eat, consuming food far beyond that of a Kender of her size, or even far beyond someone of three times her size! The group immediately becomes suspicious, and a conflict begins, with them pulling her away from the table. Horatio uses an infusion to cast Dispel Magic on Aurelia, and she comes to her senses, suddenly bazooka barfing all over the place. Their "gracious" hosts gain a dangerous look in their eyes, until  Kratos intimidates them, causing them all to flee the room in near panic.

This room, and the rooms adjoining it, are thoroughly searched, and a potion is found. Horatio senses that it is magical, identifying it as a Potion of Endless Hunger, a vial of liquid inflicting the imbiber with an ever-increasing hunger, until the victim is eventually transformed into a Ghoul! :jaw-dropping:

They take the potion. In another room, they find some herbs, but are unable to identify them. After this, they depart the area to search another section of Darkwall...

=END OF SESSION IV=

SESSION V, PART I

MeatLips brings in a new character, a swordsman of some skill, named Kaine. We have the character arrive while the rest of the party is engaged in the encounter at the banquet.

Kaine is walking down the hallway when he suddenly spies a Raven landing on the balcony. With a mild shock, he hears the bird speak! A conversation begins, and the Raven identifies itself as Banjo. He is slightly irritated with the bird, but is then interrupted by the arrival of a slithering Naga with dark scales...

The Naga and Kaine engage in a parley, with it introducing itself as Cythus. It tries to negotiate with him in order to get the bird as a tasty treat. Banjo is understandably less-than-thrilled about this...

Cythus is quite wary of the sword in Kaine's hand, and decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and bids the swordsman a fond farewell, though neither bird nor man feels that the Naga is fond of either of them...

SESSION V, PART II

The party reappears in the hallway, and parleys with Kaine. Much to their surprise, Kratos and Horatio suddenly see their old Raven buddy, Banjo, and they take a little time to become reacquainted with each other.

Soon thereafter, they are joined by a Minotaur named Tombas (run by a new player). The introductions are brief, but the group notices a brief rippling of the stone floor. It is then that a stone face appears on the wall! The party is confronted by an Earth Elemental.

Earth Elemental: "What's...all...this...ruckus?!" :mad:

The group parleys with the Elemental, and questions it about the dungeon. An extremely high Diplomacy check (natural 20) aids in making it most cooperative, and it volunteers much information about the area. After speaking with it, the party travels on...

Everyone decides to engage in some more dungeon exploration, and so they check out the door across the hall, eventually making their way through it. Beyond the door, is a room with a wooden table and chairs, and a painting of a Gargoyle on the wall. Horatio is suspicious of its nature, and quickly senses a magic aura emanating from it. He identifies its abilities, recognizing that the painting is able to create a permanent Resonance Portal, and becomes very excited after discovering its abilities. He wastes no time adding it to the party treasury.

In the room, there are a couple more doors, but the one that draws the most attention, is a very large wooden door reinforced with iron bands. They examine it....and Aurelia attempts to unlock the door. She is suddenly engulfed by an amber blast of energy, the victim of a Sepia Snake Sigil. She is trapped, like a fly in amber....in a state of suspended animation!

It takes some time....but Horatio finally manages to break the enchantment, and free her. She is none the worse for the experience.

At this point, however, the Minotaur, Tombas is fed up, and flexes his mighty muscles. He backs up, and charges straight through the door, knocking it off its hinges, before skidding to a stop to keep from charging headlong through an active Resonance Portal. Elsewhere in the room, four men are shackled to the walls, completely immobile. The characters search the room, and unchain the men, detecting faint signs of life.

At this point, things get weird. Horatio manipulates the portal, so that it will open up to the treasure room downstairs where the other portal was. They try to heal the men, though to no avail.

Tombas takes the door, and tries an experiment. He takes the door, and places the edge of it through the portal. He is surprised when something tugs on it...hard. The Minotaur releases the door, and the party watches it vanish through the portal.

During all this, one of the men wakes, screaming:

Messed Up Dude: "Stay away from that portal! It's a gateway to Hell!"

The healing spell cast on the man doesn't make him feel better. In fact, the man appears to be dying. Horatio suddenly has a look of horror (suspecting that the men are about to transform into Ghouls), and yells:

Horatio: "Everyone get out of the room! Now!!"

The party flees the room, and Horatio uses an infusion to duplicate a Stone Shape spell, in order to wall it off. Suddenly, Kratos says:

Kratos: "Where's Banjo?!"

Simon and Aurelia look around, and see no sign of the bird, but hear rustling from inside the room, and hissing sounds...

Banjo: "You bastards!" (Banjo screams from behind the Stone Shaped wall)

Horatio frantically uses an infusion to open a bird-sized hole in the door, but Banjo does not fly out. They peer inside, and see that the room is empty of naught but the shackles, the portal, and a few bird feathers...

To be continued...

SESSION V, PART III

Realizing where Horatio directed the portal, Simon rushed down the hallway, toward the stairs. Everyone else went to the balcony, and became the recipients of a Feather Fall cast by Aurelia.

As Simon reaches the stairs, he is accosted by half-a-dozen Orcs armed with javelins. He attempts to evade them by using his supernatural ability to run up walls, and then leap over them. However, he is unable to do so before the Orcs start chucking their javelins at him, getting grazed by one of their weapons as he leaps by. The Orcs give chase..

The rest of the party leaps of the balcony, floats down to the ground below, in front of the main entrance, where they all rush to the treasure chamber beyond where they fought a dozen soldiers and their two pet Rust Monsters...

They do not find Banjo, instead discovering the men who have transformed into Ghouls. The battle is pure comedy as the Minotaur, Tombas's player manages to roll three natural 1's in a row. :eek: He keeps drawing from the Critical Fumble deck, and the battle is a disaster for him. As punishment against his evil dice, we put all his 20-siders in the freezer, in the vain hope that they'll roll better.

That said, he is eventually able to triumph over the Ghouls, though only with the party's assistance....

After that is concluded, Simon quickly rejoins the group. The Orcs chasing after Simon suddenly stop in their tracks open spotting them, and decide to turn tail and run. The party eagerly follows...

The Orc soldiers run into some kind of cathedral, where dozens of gray-cloaked figures sit at pews, and another in a darker cloak stands upon a podium. The characters run into the edge of the room, seeing the Orcs address what appears to be a high priest of some kind.

Orc: "Master, we have intruders!"
Cloaked Man: "What?! Seize them!" :mad:

The cloaked men rise from their seats, and their eyes glitter dangerously as they eye the party. A chill enters the air...

...and the battle is joined.

To be continued...

=END OF SESSION V=

Hey, guys. As we all know...Game Night was canceled tonight, and it's probably for the best. Not only did Sarah need some time to move her stuff, and Jim was sick, and Pete was occupied with his family for at least part of the night, but my basement has completely flooded, and it would have been impossible for me to join you at Senor Kramer's place tonight anyway...

My father and I spent hours trying to fix the problem, in the cold and in the rain. I went up on the roof, and the gutters were completely clogged. Not fun. So...in the end, we have good news...and bad news. The good news is that the flooding is probably not getting any worse. The bad news is that the Fire Department was forced to shut down both the heat and gas to the house, plus their pumps were not available to us (as they were being used), and the one we have is not up to the task of expelling all that extra water from our basement. Hopefully, we'll get that sump pump tomorrow...

We'll play another time, guys. I hope everyone else is well, and I'll talk to you soon.

Barry

P.S. Oh, and I'll get back to finishing this journal shortly. Count on it.