Post by Andy D on Aug 26, 2023 16:41:31 GMT
On Favours For a Friend
I was in Fort Ettin when I was approached to go on a mission to help the Dawnland’s allies of Vorsthold, the dwarven citadel in the south of the Feythorn Forest along the coast. I had heard much from my dear friend Mendal, my dwarven forge cleric, and clan-crafter friend. The technology in Vorsthold, he claims to be superior to that of any clan crafter’s creation. These were big words from my dear and long time friend, for he is most boastful about his own craftsmanship and won’t accept other’s claims of great work, be it stonework, metalwork, or be it tinkering (and lest I forget; jewellery making, which he’s recently gained a talent for).
Mendal has not been to Vorsthold to verify the popular claims about the craftsmanship there, and in the interest of helping him visit the place (and off setting any further claims by him that me and Kavel are working against him for whatever reason), I immediately purchased a Sending spell scroll to contact him and alert him to the opportunity. There was a problem though. From Daring Heights, Mendal would not be able to make it to Fort Ettin in time for the teleportation departure to Vorsthold, and he regrettably (his words not mine) was expected to be fulfilling his temple duties anyway.
I braced myself for a torrent Sending of swearing and blasphemy. Mercifully though, the return Sending was more full of gratitude and request.
“Moradin’s balls, Archie! Fucking temple duties are the bane of my existence! Please go! Put in a good word for me! Remember to mention that…”
Mendal cast the Sending spell himself to finish the sentence he wished to send:
“Remember to mention that I’m a forge cleric and a clan-crafter too! Tell’em I do everything! Stone, metal, tinkering and jewellery!”
I assured my friend that I would go in his stead.
As a side note, it was refreshing to see Mendal use the Sending spell for purposes other than pranking Kavel or sending me his unkind observations about devotees he’d met during his temple duties, as if it couldn’t wait until the next time he saw me.
Concerning my cleric friend, Mendal’s repurposed usage of his divine magical gifts do not stop with the Sending spell. He gets a measure of amusement using the Thaumaturgy cantrip to snuff out my reading light from a far. He feels he has this particular prank down to a T. As he once said, using Thaumaturgy to needlessly magnify his already loud voice, “it’s much funnier to wait until you’re one paragraph into a new page before putting out the light! If I do it as you’re turning the page, it’s less disturbing!”
I confess to my own immature responses to Mendal’s magic-based pranking. He had succeeded in ruining my immersion whilst reading, so I took to hiding his favourite smithing hammer, and hid a plate of jam under a Minor Illusion of said hammer, while the real one was in my satchel. It was most wonderfully amusing to watch him reach for the fake hammer, and put his hand right in the illusion and on to the plate, and hearing, “this isn’t my hammer! It’s fucking jam!”
It must be said, Mendal can appreciate a joke at his expense - and he’s stopped messing with my reading light from afar!
However, Mendal only stopped the Thaumaturgy prank because he didn’t feel that repeating it following my retaliation was suitably creative enough. He has now taken to casting the Create Food and Water spell to produce a 45lbs mountain of bread outside my door to greet me when I wake up in the morning. I would appreciate it gratefully if Moradin were to strike said spell from Mendal’s divine repertoire. Pranks with that spell seem to be the most wasteful use of any spell I’ve so far seen in a cleric’s repository.
On Better Usage of Illusion Spells
Jenna Archelson , the wonderful owner and manager of Fort Ettin explained to us that Vorsthold had a hidden entrance to its uppermost keep, Sunfast.
After my own localised uses of illusion spells, it was pleasant to see such a purposeful usage of illusion magic. There was a naturally formed hidden enclosure that had been magically exploited with the aid of illusion magic to conceal a passage towards the keep of Sunfast. From Sunfast, there was a tunnel leading down to Vorsthold.
The illusion magic on display must have come from a high level spell. I’ve had my eye on learning Mirage Arcane for some time now. I feel quite inspired to keep that spell on my to-learn list. If relationships with Vorsthold persist, I would at a later date wish to enquire how they maintain the illusion? If Mirage Arcane is in use, do they simply recast it every ten days?
On Serious Security
Beets, a fairy fighter, and one of the party’s muscle (the other was a surprise) attempted to ram the stone door open, after Boosya, our party’s harengon cleric’s failed knock attempt. The door did not budge, it was over three feet thick. I wouldn’t have advised Kavel to attempt the same stunt, and said as much.
Security was taken very seriously in Vorsthold. When we were let in, we could see an array, three levels deep of crossbowmen ready to loose bolts at us if we proved to be a threat. Saying we were here to answer the call of General Manteen granted us our lives and access to the next security measure; a Detect Magic and Dispel Magic once-over in case any of us were under someone else's control. Once we were given the all clear, we earned a welcome and an escort down the tunnel to Vorsthold.
Before the party left Fort Ettin, Jenna Archelson had told us that the military force of Fort Ettin employed necromancy magic to a considerable degree in combating regular opposition from mind flayers and intellect devourers. I spared a thought for my friend and wizard colleague Dr. Ruthenia Truelove, who would have had lots to discuss on the subject of necromancy with the mages of Vorsthold, if only she was there.
As we approached Vorsthold, we were able to take in the mechanical wonder that is the Thundergate, a triple gate entrance of near immovable stone gates. I would love for Mendal to see the Thundergate and give me his thoughts on it.
Ana, my goliath and multi talented friend, along with Boosya kept an eye out for me to see if they could see signs of Moradin worship inside the city. It would appear that Berronar Truesilver is the deity of choice in Vorsthold, which for Mendal is no bad thing. If my dwarven religious knowledge is correct, Berronar is wife to Moradin in the dwarven pantheon.
On Fighting a Beholder
General Manteen and Archemage Cracksheen explained to us their need for adventurers. There was a beholder that had acquired a telescopic device that was enhancing the range at which it could take lethal pot shots at the people of Vorsthold. The telescopic device was enabling the beholder to encamp itself securely in a cavern just over a half mile away, while it attacked with long range, deadly magic unopposed. The General was confident her soldiers could fight through the tunnel access to the beholder’s cavern and kill it, but not without causing significant casualties. There was hope that a small team of adventurers might succeed absent any fatalities to their party.
The General sent Commander Havengrove with an elite unit of soldiers to run a distraction for us, providing an alternative target for the beholder to concentrate on, whilst the adventuring party approached it. The Commander was one of very few in his unit to survive their mission. His casualties were not in vain though, as the performance of their duty did enable my friends and I to engage the beholder head on.
The aberrant known as a beholder is a curious,and most obviously magical creature; its body hovers in the air. One would assume that in times gone by, the ancestor of beholders perhaps once did possess arms and legs, but when the psychic creature developed a talent for flying, those among its fellows without the talent survived less substantially than those with the evolved talent for flight - flight offers one tremendous manoeuvrability. It would be fascinating to examine the corpse of a beholder to determine if vestigial limbs could be identified.
What the beholder lacks in limbs though, it makes up for in deadly tentacles. The claws of the tentacles, so to speak, have eyes on them. Ten tentacles, ten eyes, and a central eye and enormous mouth on the orb-like body/face of the beholder. Each eye of the tentacle can emit a deadly ray of power. There was a ray for: Charming, Paralysing, Fear-imbuing, Slowing, Enevation, Telekinesis, Sleep-causation, Petrification and Disintegration. The central ray could generate a conal shaped anti-magic field to boot. A truly terrifying aberration for melee combatants and casters alike.
It was little wonder that our accompanying physician, Lucia, a human like myself was trembling as we entered the beholder’s tunnels. I had manifested the mind of my awakened spellbook to act as scout, and defensive means for myself. During the fighting I was able to hide behind a wall, seeing and hearing from my spellbook’s mind; and attacking from its position too. Lucia, it seemed at first would only be offering us medical assistance, and not the divine or druid kind. She seemed out of her league, until her extraordinary transformation into a werewolf or werewolf-like beast. She demonstrated a ferocity I had only seen from Beets, and was key to the savage take down and killing of the beholder.
We suffered injury and deadly magical effects from the beholder’s cleverly and precisely aimed rays. I myself fell asleep due to the Sleep ray at one point. I was awoken by Lucia in her beast form. Ana while grappling the beholder from its underside, became petrified. Beets’ strong and fierce constitution saved her from disintegration.
Lucia, when she reverted back to her human form, had to evacuate her stomach at the sight of blood and entrails covering her body. I assisted her in cleaning herself with prestidigitation, while Boosya came through for all of us with her divine healing talents, which she also employed most generously prior to our engagement with the beholder. I believe her constitutionally enhancing cakes and teas may in part have been responsible for the Commander’s survival. In addition, her use of the Etherealness spell for safety scouting was tactically smart. She was incited in me the desire to add back to my to-learn list, spells such as Greater Invisibility.
On Vorsthold Generosity
General Manteen was most grateful for our performance. We were rewarded with 300gp each, and were bestowed with magical Vorsthold items as well. With no other contender for the Wand of the War Mage, I was able to gain ownership of it uncontested. Beets took the warhammer, and I believe Ana will attempt to find the greatsword an owner.
Before we left, Ana asked to shadow Vorsthold’s smithies. It seems Ana is not just a multi-talented adventurer, but a multi-talented worker too. The General granted her a week’s stay. I followed through with my dear friend Mendal’s request, and put in a good word for him. Though the General was not keen to share any of Vorsthold’s crafting secrets with strangers, she would consider an exchange of ideas and co-working in the future. She gave me her dagger to bring back to Mendal as a souvenir. Mendal was grateful for the gift. He has examined the dagger thoroughly and was impressed with its craftsmanship, and is working on a dagger of his own creation to give to the General to show his gratitude, and perhaps open relationships with Vorsthold further.