Age of Chaos: first encounter, (though technically the third for the others.)
(9/30/08)

I remember complaining to myself about being bored.  Boy did that change!  In a burst of light I was transported to an unfamiliar town thick with the stench of death.  Standing nearby was a dark skinned human woman, a ____, and a ____.

"Um... hi?" I asked, "What's going on?  What's that smell?"

"My name's Angel," answered the human with an air of being in control, "I was minding my own business when *poof* here I am!"

"My name's ____, and this is ____.  We met a ____ warlock and a warforged fighter at the crossroads outside town.  There was a halfling cleric and a human wizard there who claimed there was an impassable invisible wall blocking the way to the town, but one swing of the hammer and the wall was gone.  We were curious so we investigated and were attacked by zombies." He pointed at three mangled corpses nearby.  "We defeated them no prob, though the battle with 3 zombie horses that immediately followed was a workout."  He pointed inside the stable where I could see a horse that looked like it had been stepped on by an elder dragon.  There was something sticking out of it's eye socket that looked like the jaw of another horse.  "The man-loving warlock decided this was too intense for his pansy self, so he fled town.  When ___ and I exited the stable with the others, ZAP!  The human, the halfling, and the warforged all vanished with you two in their place.  As for the nasty smell, I think you have your answer."  He pinched his nose pointed to a nearby minotaur strolling into town.

"Axe can fix you nose problem," said the minotaur with a snort, patting his greataxe.

"Who are you, friend?" Angel asked with a smirk, "And what brings you to this graveyard of a town?"

"Titanus!" he answered proudly, "Not know how get here, but want kill zombies!"

"Tit Anus?" answered ____.

"TITANUS!  Like TITAN!"

"Whatever, cow-boy, don't get your udders in a twist ya walking sirloin."

"Something tells me there's amazing treasure to be had if we purge this place," Angel interrupted, "Let's find out, shall we?"

She boldly strolled further into town and was attacked by two zombie dogs.  From further away, two winged zombies swooped into view and perched on building tops.  Myself and the others instantly sprung to her aid.  We made for a surprisingly good team and soon dispatched the attackers.

ZAP!  The lightning struck again and a human wizard named ___ appeared.  ___ vanished in a bolt and was replaced with a ranger named Shootem Indubak.  We exchanged introductions and explained what was going on.  Shootem climbed on top of a fruit stand told us our options.  "The bar to the east sounds full of zombies as does the building to the northwest.  There's a strange glow and weird noises coming from the shrine to the south.  I say we clear the bar and drink our fill!"

The paladin agreed, but the rest of us voted to investigate the shrine.  He scouted it out then returned to us.  "Looks like a human mage performing a ritual with 4 zombies and a flaming skeleton."

"Sounds fun!" I said, "Let's lure 'em into an ambush!"

The team agreed.  The wizard offered to catch the enemies attention and the rest of us took cover.  She ran into the open and hurled a magic missile at the human mage who returned the favor and sent his undead servants to attack her.

"Fool!" he boasted, "You're no match for me!"

The zombies closed in and attacked the wizard who chose to hold her ground for some reason.  One of them double-fisted her in the face and another grabbed her by the chest.  We sprung to her aid, and destroyed the zombie that was holding her.

"Sure could use some cures here," the wizard gasped.

"Lay on hands!" the paladin announced as he groped her butt.  Understandably the wiz looked relieved and annoyed at the same time.  Nothing like being groped by a zombie only to be groped by a paladin.  Note to self: buy spiked metal shorts and shirt.

The skeleton attacked the paladin with a fireball follwed by the human mage's burst of lightning that hit me and the paladin.  The wiz retalliated with an even bigger ball of fire!

"Minions!" he shrieked as he ran, "come to my aid!"

The doors of the town began to rattle from the zombies inside trying to get out.  It seemed bad, but there was a reason he was paniced.  We had the upper hand.  Shootem finished off the flaming skeleton and the wiz's fireball chased the mage.

"Master!" he screamed just before exploding into a cloud of black smoke, "Save meee!!"

With that the town quieted back down and we tended to the fallen paladin.

"Guess the bar's next," I suggested after we rested, "We should ambush 'em at the door."

Shootem opened the door, shot 'em, and backed up.

"You like your drinks cold?" the frost zombie behind the bar moaned before attacking, "Coming right up."

The strategy worked well.  They clustered at the door so the Wiz and I could blast whole groups of 'em.  Titanus hit one hard enough to send it flying into another.  Paladin used on pain of death.

"Wait till you see this move," Angel boasted, but her attack missed.  She looked unhappy for the first time all day.

It took a while to take down the bartender, but we were victorious once again!
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:29, Mon 20 Oct 2008.

House Rules for Tuesday night's "Age of Chaos" game.

XP is awarded at the end of each encounter to every *player* that participated.  Players entering combat late (after the first round is over) will have to wait till the encounter is over.  Then they appear in a bolt of lightning.  If more than 6 players show up, the lightning will strike again sending 1/2 the characters to an alternate, seemingly identical realm.  Those players who play leader classes get to pick their teams.  (If only one player has a leader class, he chooses his team as he likes.  If 3+ leaders, they roll for picking rights.  If 0 leaders then defenders choose teams.)

You can substitute characters in between encounters.  ZAP!  Your new character will have the same status: current XP, damage taken, used healing surges, used daily powers, magic items, action surges used, etc.

If anyone goofs on a turn (for example, forgetting to add your feat bonus to your damage roll) you can correct your goof before the start of the next player's (or monster's) turn.  After that, no take-backs.

Leveling up:  Gaining new powers happens the moment you're ready.  If at the end of an encounter you level up, you get zapped with lightning and mysteriously have new powers.  Plan ahead for what powers you'll take next level or game play could grind to a halt.

You Gain new powers instead of replace them at lvl 13, 15, 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, and 29.  However, you can only use the total number of daily and encounter powers you would have otherwise been limited to at those levels.

Action points:

You can spend action points to re-roll failed rolls until you have 0 action points.  (Great for making that daily power hit.)

Everyone gains an action point after gaining enough XP to classify as a difficult encounter without resting.
(At lvl 1 with 5 members, 688 xp or more.  6 members, 825 xp or more.)


Multiclassing:
It is permitted for a cleric to take the paladin's "Lay on Hands" ability as an encounter power instead of the "Divine Challenge" ability as described in the PHB pg 208.  (Want to swap something else?  Ask the DM.)

If you meet the requirements for a racial paragon path, you can take any feature(s) or power your level allows from your racial paragon path instead of taking one from your class, but this does not prevent you from taking a feature or power from your chosen class paragon path in the future.

If you meet the requirements for paragon multiclassing, (PHB 209) you can also choose to take paragon features and powers from either your primary or secondary class as described above with the racial paragon path options.  You may ignore the last 3 paragraphs of page 209.

At level 11 you can choose to multiclass into a 3rd class.  At level 21 you can multiclass into a 4th.  You can also choose to take paragon path features or powers instead of epics using the same rules as above.

You can potentially have paragon features from 5 different sources: racial, primary class, secondary class, tertiary class, and epic destiny, but will still have a total of 5 at lvl 30 like everyone else.

Misc:
Sustainable powers require the player to have line of sight to the power's origin square unless spelled out by the power's description.  (For example, a wizard's fireball will fizzle if it leaves the wizard's line of sight.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:21, Sun 05 Oct 2008.

Seventh encounter. (10/7/08)

We rested in the bar, the three men drinking their ale like it was going out of style.  ZAP!  The lightning struck again!  Titanus and the Wizard vaporized, and no-one replaced them!  We were down to four people.  We then searched the place and found a large sum of money and two very interesting items in one of the rooms.  One was a ring that allowed everyone to share their experience and the other was a box that grants wishes for magic items in exchange for gold (or vice-versa).

We used the box to gear up then stepped out.  The final building had yet to be cleared.  We decided to chance it.  The paladin opened the door.  Inside was a desk and several rows of storage shelves behind it.  The team filed in and engaged in battle.  Two zombies attacked from the right and left.  Then two rancid black balls of slime hit the paladin and Shootem, apparently fired at them from behind the shelves.  I attacked the nearest Zombie and Angel yanked Shootem out of range of the zombie that was in his face.

"Aww HELL!" the paladin groaned as he tried to pull the sticky tar from off his armor, "This stuff saps strength!  I'm not going to be much use to the team like this!"

Him and Shootem both, and soon me and Angel if drastic measures wern't taken right away.  I decided to risk running past the nearby zombie.  It caught me with a punch as I hurdled over the desk, but I made it to the back of the room and attacked the nasty little thing that was tossing that muck.  There were two of them, corruption corpses, but I couldn't reach the second.

Angel and Shootem focused on their zombie while the paladin dueled the zombie that had attacked me.  I managed to take out the corruption corpse in front of me about the time Angel and Shootem finished off their foe.  Then I had to choose between helping take out the second corruption corpse or helping the paladin with his fight.  I chose to let him fight alone, it was starting to look personal between him and his zombie.

"I am DONE with you!" he shouted.  There followed a loud bone-snapping, wood-splintering, gut-bursting kind of sound.  Sort of like snap, crackle, pop!

After the rest of us finished off the last of the corruption corpses, I walked back to the front of the building to inspect his handiwork.  Two arms and legs were sticking out of a paste-smeared dent in the wall.

"Looks like you made it a permanent part of the wall," I mused, "Interesting interior decorating style."

We stepped outside to take our rest and ZAP!  The wizard re-appeared.  Also, Shootem was replaced with a dwarf cleric, and Angel was replaced with a human child.  This was starting to become a commonplace occurrence.  The ring did the work of explaining what had happened so far.  After we discovered the boy had no idea how he got here, but was already an accomplished wizard, the five of us noticed a white cloth waving in the doorway of the building.  A halfling cautiously stepped out.

"Friends," he said, "I'm not a zombie!  Please don't hurt me!"

The halfling bowed low.  “I’m Muya, messenger of the mighty Tavege.  You have done him a great service in cleansing this village!  If you’ll allow me, I’ll go tell of your deeds and I’m sure you’ll receive a fitting reward.  His fort is but half a day’s journey from here taking the east road.”

"OK," said the paladin, "So why are you still here?"

"I was frightened by the zombies so I hid!"

"Not that.  Why are you still here?"

"OH!  Right!  Off I go then!"

Off he ran.  We weren't about to walk all night so we spent the night in the tavern.  The magic box came in handy the next morning when we discovered it could be used to wish for a delicious breakfast.  We traveled the east road without anyone talking about their past.  Nice when a understanding of mutual privacy is reached without any awkward conversations preceding it.

Narration:
Fort Tavage stands on top of a large hill and is surrounded by a 20’ tall wall made of sharpened tree trunks, giving it the appearance of an orcish stronghold.  It’s massive doors are open revealing a bustle of activity inside.

A huge bald man, standing 7’ tall and built like a mountain greets you.  “I’m Panap, the general of Tavege’s army,” he says with a smirk, “Welcome to our humble home.  I’ve heard of your exploits in Parn village.  You have my thanks for purging that place.  We, the Yansay don’t take kindly to zombies or their masters, but we do take very kindly to those who obliterate them.  Come!  Our little village has much to offer powerful fighters such as yourself.”

He leads you inside the fort.  Most of the buildings are built into the walls: stables, barracks, storage, etc.,  In the center, a large open pit with 10’ vertical walls has been dug.  Most everyone here is geared in leather armor, but some have chain or scale mail.  All look upon the newcomers with eagerness, like celebrities have entered town.

“That’s the colosseum!” Panap announces, grinning proudly with a gesture to the pit, “It serves for training our soldiers, and also for providing entertainment.  Many a glorious death match has been fought there.  Seats for our guests!  Food and drink!”

Wooden chairs are brought out and set at the edge.  Panap motions for the guests to sit.  A large keg is rolled out and opened.  Mugs are filled with stiff ale and given to the guests.  Bread, meat, and soups are served.

“Bring in the entertainment!”

A captured goblin is shoved into the pit and tossed a spear.  Then a drake is herded into the pit.  The two begin a fight to the death!

"My money's on the drake," said the dwarf.  Me and the paladin both agreed.

As the fight progresses, a man sitting on a chair carried on the shoulders of two soldiers is brought to the guests.

“Master Tavage!” Panap says with a salute to the one sitting on the chair.

Tavage steps off the chair.  He’s well built, but surprisingly short.  Probably no more than 5’6” tall.  Also, he wears what looks like basic leather armor.

“Entertained?” he asks.  (Waits for reply)

“Then perhaps you’d be interested in a contest for a valuable prize.”

"Yep, interested," answered the paladin.

"We often challenge one another to fights in the pit, and I invite you to do the same.  You can challenge anyone you choose here.  Challenge an ally from your team, challenge some of our goblin prisoners, even challenge me if you like.  Obviously anyone's free to refuse, but they'll be known to be a coward."

"I challenge the paladin!" said the dwarf, jumping to his feet.

Tavage looked pleased with his enthusiasm.

"You're on," said the paladin, "I ain't no coward."

"Nevertheless," Tavage continued with an air of disappointment with the rest of us, "You needn't fear death in these matches.  I have medics on standby to heal anyone who falls in battle."

"I'd like to try my hand at goblin bowling," the wizard said.

"I'm with him," me and the human boy agreed.

"Very well," Tavage answered.

He explained the rules of our matches.  There were some large sums of money to be earned by the winners.  The pit was divided in half with a make-shift fence to separate the two matches.  Me and the two wizards fought three goblins.  In the time it took us to defeat them, the paladin and the cleric fought two matches and started harassing us with "aren't you done yet?" questions and "we're calling you out!" challenges "Us two verses you three!"

The goblins put up a good fight, but eventually we defeated them and accepted our allies' challenge.  We started at opposite sides of the pit.  Our opponents said some prayers for strength and the two wizards stepped forward and hurled magic missiles at them.  Seconds later they were back to full strength thanks to the cleric.

Hit 'em fast, hit 'em hard.  Only strategy that'd work.  I charged straight at them.  The paladin got the drop on me, issued a divine challenge, and smashed me with his hammer.  I was locked in mortal combat.  It was a test of our might.  Which would dish out more punishment faster?  I called upon all the fires within, and with a little help from my new magical veteran's armor, unleashed a devastating double burning blade attack!  Down went the paladin, and the medics rushed him off the battlefield.

"It's in the bag now!" I thought to myself, "Three vs. one!"

With a feral howl, the dwarf was upon me.  His mace introduced itself to my face and fires like nothing I've ever felt before engulfed me from head to toe.  Next thing I knew I was on the sidelines with the paladin while being pieced back together by Tavage's medics.  Talk about taste of my own medicine!

"You're lucky that attack connected," the paladin told me, "My next attack would have been the end of you."

"I don't doubt it!" I answered, "That's why I threw everything I had at you."

The crowd of soldiers was cheering wildly, and as soon as I was well enough I joined in the cheers!  One vs two!  The wizard summoned it's dread fireball, but the dwarf evaded it's first attack.  Much to my surprise, instead of retaliate, the dwarf went straight for the kid!  The strategy worked.  The boy was soon carried off the battlefield by the medics and cured.

One on one now!  Could he pull it off?!  By then he was head-to-toe charred and bloody, but he chased the wizard around the arena, closing the distance between them with surprising speed.

"You couldn't hit the ground if you aimed down!" the paladin taunted the wizard.

"Must be something wrong with my flint," the wizard shouted back, "Can't seem to light any fires!"

There was some truth in what they said.  Attack after attack was evaded by the nimble dwarf.  But at last, a magic missile to the face ended his rampage.  What a match!

Tavage commended us for fighting so fiercely, and awarded the winners large sums of gold.  The cleric was given the largest sum, 400 gold, which he shared with the paladin.  We were invited to return to the sidelines to wager on the combat we'd inspired in Tavage's men.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:02, Wed 08 Oct 2008.

Day 2.  Fort Tavage

In the morning we learned that the Dwarf had been zapped and replaced with a warlord.  We explained over breakfast that this kind of thing had been going on since we arrived in Parn village.

"Perhaps it's connected with my latest annoyance," Tavage mused, "reports of strange things like entire towns becoming overrun by goblins or turned into zombies are increasingly common.  And it's not just in my territory.  I have intelligence that confirms that my rival's lands are having similar problems."

A griffin rider arrived and reported.

"Lord Tavage the source of the undead scourge has been located!  There now stands a black stone Ziggurat in the center of the Bailed Bog where the zombies are gathering!"

"It won't stand for long!" Tavage announced, "Panam!  Ready the men for an invasion!"

Then an evil smirk spread across our host's face.

"I have an idea.  This mutual threat could be just the excuse for a cease fire my rival's been looking for.  Scribe!  Take down this message: 'Kugo.  The source of the undead scourge is at the center of the Bailed Bog.  The enemy grows in strength by the hour.  I already know that they easily destroyed one of your pathetic little villages before you could retaliate.  If you have the nerve, muster your troops to face this foe!  I will allow you to cross into my territory to do so, but this offer will only last till the next moon!  I have no patience for cowards!"

Tavage faced us.

"You lot have proven to have a healthy thirst for destruction.  It's a shame you keep switching around with other people at random.  Otherwise I'd offer you could swear allegiance to me and you'd be officers in my army.  However, there is something else you can do for me.  Deliver this message to Kugo and I will reward you with a lead on where to find a very powerful item."

We agreed, he handed the scroll over, and we set off for Fort Kugo.

"Keer-IPES!" blurted the warlord, "What is that SMELL?!"

Ryujin thumbed at Titanus.

"I can fix that!" chirped Eli cheerfully.  He wiggled his fingers at the minotaur, and the smell of roses filled the air.  "Can't blame him for any bad smells now."

"Nice trick, kid..." grumbled the warlord with a suspicious glance.

Near the border of Tavage's territory, we were ambushed by goblins!  They split into two groups, 5 to the left, 5 to the right.  Ryujin and the warlord took most of the punishment since they had taken the lead.  One of the sharpshooters shot Eli, so he retaliated with his magic.  The warlord nearly jumped out of his skin!

"The hell was THAT?!" he barked, "Aw HELL!  The kid really IS a wizard.  Well...  Fear me, wizard!"

Eli giggled and gave him a friendly wave, but from the unsettled look on the tiefling's face, his words weren't meant as a joke.

The goblins we were fighting weren't a joke either, but fortunately they weren't fireproof, so I gave them a taste of my flame cyclone.  Judging from their shrieks they didn't like the taste.  Judging from his glance, the warlord didn't like it either.  He leaned over whispered to Ryujin.

"If it is power you seek, I hear minotaur horns can be made into a strength booster."

I was too busy killing goblins to bother to ask him what he was trying to accomplish with that statement.  With their allies dropping like flies, the remaining goblins looked rather nervous.

"Drop your weapons!" Ryujin commanded them, "Or you're next!"

They took his advice and surrendered.

"What made you think you could take us?" Ryujin demanded.

"We only following orders," they pleaded, "Chief say attack all that travel road!"

"Go tell your chief that Ryujin says he's an ass."

"Yes!  We go tell!"

They ran off.  With all the strange things going on, it's almost refreshing see something as normal as goblins running from a fight they started.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:55, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Day 2 encounter 2 (10/21/08) Road to Fort Kugo.

In a flash of lightning, the team was suddenly much more populated.  In place of the little kid, Eli, was a barbarian named Liberty, the dwarf cleric, a wizard (who's name I didn't catch), and Titanus.  Besides them was me, Ryujin, and the Tiefling warlord.

"Chipotle!" Ryujin teased while pinching his nose, "You're back!  Was beginning to wonder, 'Where's the beef?!'"

"Everyone's always picking on me," Titanus complained.

"They're just jealous," I said, "It's udder envy."

Everyone groaned.

"Well watch your step," the minotaur warned while patting his butt with a smirk, "or you might walk into one of my beef patties."

The grasslands gave way to woods and soon we were walled in on both sides with trees.  We topped a small hill and found the road blocked by a squad of orcs who were roasting what was left of a horse over a fire.  There was 4 of them, and their pet boar.  No surprise, they noticed our rather unstealthy approach.

"By Grummish!" they shouted, "We shall feast on you too!"

With surprising speed, Liberty charged ahead the rest of the team.  The boar was faster than it's masters, and the two clashed mid-way.  The rest of the team caught up and set a line which the orcs matched with their own line except for the raider that the wizard immobilized.

"Hate that I can't attack when I do this," grumbled the dwarf as he positioned himself in the center of the crowd, "but you guys are gunna love this!  Shield of faith!"

In a flash, a shield made of light appeared in front of him then shattered into 7 spirit shields which shot out in all directions and attached themselves to our arms!  I sure did love it!  Especially when it blocked the boar's attack!

A magic bolt zipped from behind and penetrated to the enemy ranks.

"Watch it with those things!" grated the warlord, "Wizards and their...magic."

By the time I was close enough to attack, there were two orcs to the left of the pig lined up rather nicely for my flame cyclone, and I caught them all in the blast!  Ryujin joined me and Liberty against the boar, but after several solid attacks it still didn't look phased!  That's some pig!

Meanwhile Titanus held the other two orcs at bay, but soon after the cleric and warlord moved in to assist him, he disappeared in a bolt of lightning!  Behind our lines, M reappeared in another bolt.  This is the first this has happened mid-battle.  Sure hope half my team doesn't vanish at a vital moment in the future.

"I didn't need that walking sirloin standing in my way anyway," boasted the dwarf as he swung his hammer in a wide upward arc, "Split the Sky!"

The hammer landed squarely between the legs of the orc it was aimed at, and with a howl it flew through the air head over heels before landing face-down 10 feet away.  He stepped forward and hammered a second orc with the same burning attack that felled me just yesterday.

"Righteous Brand!" Ryujin shouted as he swung his hammer, but the boar ducked to evade his attack, "Damn!  I'm starting to take after M!  I couldn't hit the ground if I was aiming down!"

"Never mind the pig, barbarian," the warlord commanded Liberty, "distract these guys for me."

He took her by the shoulder and thrust her toward the center of the line.  Then he leap-frogged over her past them, evading their opportunity attacks.  We had them surrounded!  After that the enemies fell in quick succession.

"Kermit is going to hunt us down," Liberty joked, looking at the dead boar, "We just killed his girlfriend."

"Nah we did him a favor," said M, "He never liked her."

Strangest thing...  I'd never heard the name "Kermit" before, but I knew what they were talking about well enough to laugh.  Can't excuse that one with this new ring.  Something strange is going on that goes beyond undead armies gathering in swamps.  Something very strange indeed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:11, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

(10/28/08) Fort Kugo and the Baled Bog

Further down the road, half the team DID vanish.  All that was left was me, Ryujin, and Liberty.  We came upon a deep, swift stream.  Across the stream was a rope bridge that was wide enough for the three of us to cross side-by side.  Before we even we stepped onto the bridge, 3 zombies clawed up from the ground on the other side.

"Come and get it!" Ryujin challenged, slamming the handle of his huge hammer into the ground with a loud thud.

We charged at the zombies and engaged them about half way across the bridge.  Two of them lined up for my flame cyclone and Ryujin finished off the one to my right.  It looked like it would be an easy fight, but the moment we defeated one, another would pop up on the far side of the bridge.  Fortunately, this didn't last too long.  After three or so new zombies replaced defeated ones, they stopped re-appearing.

In another flash of lightning, Ryujin and Liberty were gone, but in their place was Eli, Pwent, Titanus, and Gray.  We arrived at Fort Kugo without any more trouble.  We were welcomed by a well-built man with spiky black hair who introduced himself as Kugo.  We handed over the letter from Tavage, and he smirked as he read it.

"Yeah," he said, "We're already preparing to invade the bog.  We'd figured out that it was the center of all the attacks."

"Lord Kugo," his cleric said, "This letter confirms my hunch 'n theory that the mastermind behind the attacks is a lich.  This is a problem.  If we defeat the lich in battle 'n combat it won't be the end of it.  Liches store their spirits 'n souls in a phylactery.  Unless you find 'n destroy the phylactery, the lich can revive 'n restore itself after defeat."

"We can find the phylactery," I offered.

"One does not simply slip 'n slide into a lich's lair!" the cleric objected, "It will be guarded by innumerable many undead guards!  Unless.... The lich's forces won't be ready on guard against you while it'd distracted with Lord Kugo's army.  It could just work!"

"I'll make it worth your while," Kugo offered, "I have some information ready on on a quest the reward for which is very useful for people such as yourselves."

"Okie dokie!" I answered.

After performing a ritual to find a back door into the lich's lair, the cleric marked the way on our map.

"Be warned though," he said, "This is not an easy trek!"

Not only that, the baled bog is a smelly place.  Rotting vegetation was everywhere.  Every once in a while, an especially foul stink would bubble up.

"That wasn't me!" Titanus said after an obvious fart, "It was the swamp."

Eli just applied his rose-scent cantrip.  To our right was a pond with a muddy shore and to the left was more mud and a ledge.  Ahead we heard some hissing voices and caught a glimpse of something moving behind a tree.  Pwent and the defenders charged forward, while the wizard and warlock hung back.  From behind the tree came a blackscale lizard bruiser.  A pair of huge alligators lurched forward from the pond.  As if that wasn't enough, rain began to pour down and some horrific monster made of vines emerged.  It summoned magical vines that shot out of the ground and began to choke us!

Eli answered by summoning a huge fireball between the brute and the vine horror.  Pwent and I managed to break free from the vines, but Titanus wound up being stuck for quite a long time.  Meanwhile one of the crocks snatched Gray into it's jaws and began to drag him into the pond!  Pwent attacked the gator while I did my best to block the blackscale's path to Eli.

"Fools!" the vine horror taunted, "Even if you win here you'll never leave this bog alive!"

Eli created a sheet of ice below the bruiser and the vine horror who slipped and fell hard!  What a great way to shut it up!  In a bolt of lightning, Elora Dannon showed up and immediately began to hurling magic missiles at our foes.  Meanwhile, Titanus was poisoned by a dart from a foe I hadn't noticed yet.  A powerful attack from Pwent's hammer was enough to convince the crock to let go of Gray and snatch Pwent instead.

"I haven't forgotten ya, Titanus," Pwent said, wrestling with the vice jaws of the crock, "Just a lil inconvenienced by this new gator-skin boot of mine.  Healing Word!"

Titanus went from near dead to pumped up!   With a wide arc of his axe, he cleaved from the vine horror into the crock biting at his heels.  The vine horror fell dead, but the bruiser was still going strong.  It slipped around me and charged at Eli, but the attack was blocked by an invisible shield.  Eli retaliated with a thunderwave that sent it sliding back 20 feet and Elora summoned another wizard fireball.  Titanus broke free and shoved it into the mud with a tide of iron.

"Stupid boot!" Pwent hollered at the gator once he broke free.

"This crock is mine!" Gray insisted, hacking at the gator's face.

"Fine by me," answered Pwent, "I wunna wrestle that other gator to make a matching boot for my first one!"

He lunged at the second gator but the first didn't let him get far.  Eli turned his attention the darter who poisoned Titanus, chasing it with his fireball until it died.  Meanwhile Titanus, Elora, and I finished off the blackscale.  Elora didn't wait for Gray to kill the first crock and killed it with her fireball.  The last foe was the second crock who decided to cut it's losses and fled into the nearby pond before the pursuing fireballs could finish it off.

We rested and pressed on once the rain let up.  We entered what looked like an abandoned thatch village decorated with animal skulls.  Probably the home of some race of savages, but where were they?

"Why do you guys always put me in the back?" Titanus complained.

"So we don't have to be down wind of course," was the answer.

"Well the lil boy fixed that with his magic."

"Lil boy?  Well he better watch out 'cause we just stepped into Neverland and Michael Jackson may be near by!"

"But I like M.J.'s music," Titanus said with a smirk, licking his lips, "And I like little boys too!"

"Friggin magic," Gray grumbled, "He may not even be a real boy for all we know."

"I'm a real boy!" Pwent joked in a high-pitched voice.

A gateway at the end of the village led to a fenced-in area where two lizard-man hunters and a mystic were busy tossing bones into a pit.  They noticed our approach and readied themselves for combat.  As usual the martial members and I charged in but a black dragon stepped into view from behind a huge tree!

"Oh no you don't!" Eli said, summoning a huge magic hand that grabbed the dragon by the throat, pinning it in place!  Then he followed up with another summoned fireball!

I moved in an arc to my left to intercept the lizard hunters.  Pwent raised his hammer and bestowed his shield of faith on the team.  The mystic stepped forward and with a chant turned the ground below us into a deep quagmire!  The dragon failed to break free from it's choke hold, but it concealed itself in a thick black fog.

The hunters were flanking Titanus so I yanked one away with lightning lure and marked it with my aegis.  Gray helped Pwent break free of the muck and the two of them moved forward to lend some aid to Titanus.  But the dragon broke free from Eli's trap and swooped in.  It let out a horrifficly loud roar that stunned half the team, then spewed acid at them along with one of the lizard hunters.

Titanus and Pwent were near dead, but the cleric and Gray managed to restore the team back into fighting condition with their skills.

"Think I can't reach ya?" Pwent taunted, "Think again!"

He summoned a spectral hammer that smashed the dragon across the face and continued to pester it for the rest of the encounter.  Eli had his fireball and magic hand attack the dragon and once again it was immobilized in a choke hold!  I decided to shield myself with an acid resistance spell and just in time!  The dragon used it's acid breath on me.

"You're going down, dragon!" Titanus hollered as he readied a big attack.

"Everyone pinch your nipples for luck!" Pwent shouted, taking his own advice.

In shock, we followed his suggestion, but boy did it work!  Titanus hit the dragon with a devastating attack, my next swing killed a hunter, and the last hunter simply fell dead on it's own!  We all just burst out laughing!

To add insult to injury, Elora summoned her fireball right between the dragon and the mystic.  The dragon broke free from the magic hand and tried to cover it's escape with another black cloud, but fell dead from the heat of the fire.  When the smoke cleared the mystic realized it's master was dead and turned tail to flee.

We didn't bother hunting it down.  We hoisted the dragon's head on a pike in the center of town and laughed ourselves to sleep in the village huts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:10, Tue 04 Nov 2008.