AAR:[7H] Knowledge is it's own reward (2020-06-29 @ 23:59 GMT)

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nathaniel
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Re: AAR:[7H] Knowledge is it's own reward (2020-06-29 @ 23:59 GMT)

Post by nathaniel » Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:18 pm

The Scholars of Throal, knowing my desire to join their ranks decided on a task worthy of an ordeal to join their hallowed ranks. Recover tomes and other bits of knowledge from a hidden book repository only mentioned in a journal recovered from the Cloister of Silence.
With this thin lead I gather Dubhan, Daldorer, and Sandrin to my cause. After a bit of deliberation we head north to Sosanopa then east and south along the river towards Cliff City. After a brief stay with the T'Skrang we headed north east along a cliff side trail. We searched along the cliffs for a few days before Selena of all people found the location we had been searching for.

Selena was getting hungry and spotted a rabbit, she went off to get a snack when she disappeared into the cliff face. It was an illusion and, lo and behold, a lush alcove with the hidden library we were looking for. It was of course guarded by a set of Gargoyles. We tried to 'talk' our way into the repository. Words didn't work that well and our attempts to forge a pass failed. The gargoyles went down slowly as they were big and made of rocks. A pair of espagra join in looking for a free meal. Thankfully we were more than a match for these simple guardians.

The first room we came to had a warning written in the blood of a long dead adventurer telling us to flee this place that it is dangerous. Of course we ignore this warning and made our way forward. The rooms ahead were trapped. Daldorer eye for traps. Dubhan's timely dispels and my danger sense led us though the first few rooms. It wasn't until we got to the 2nd to last room that things got really dangerous.

The 2nd to last room had some sort of spell based fog trap that was used as a way of softening us up for a set of four brutes and a pair of Changelings. Sandrin, Selena and myself went into melee holding the brutes off so that Daldorer and Dubhan's spells could tear them down. Then the changelings showed up. In every encounter I have had with these...things...I have had my bones warped and I was not looking forward to a repeat performance. Once I got a brute down I went for them, I left Selena and Sandrin to handle the brutes. Thankfully Dubhan and Daldorer spells kept me safe while I clawed one changeling to death. Dubhan was on the same page as me and threw stones, Hypervelocity I think he called it, they tore through the air and the changeling.

With the brutes and changelings dead, Daldorer cast recovery getting us all back into fighting shape. WE then headed into the last room. A library with books and scrolls lined the walls. Sadly it was also home to a horror. Or two. I'm still confused as to what exactly happened. All I know is that when we walked into the room there was a blinding flash and when my vision returned our group was split by a wall of ice. From my perspective Dubhan, Daldorer, Selena and I were on one side while Sandrin and Dubhan(!) were on the other.

While I went to work on the dancers Dubhan and Daldorer figured out what was happening. A horror (or two, I'm still confused on this part) used illusion magic to mask itself as Dubhan and Daldorer to feed on our fears. It was cursing our luck and corrupting our karma but before It had gotten the upper hand our casters figured out which thing I needed to punch.

Punches were thrown, Horrors were slain and Books were recovered. We returned to Thoral with our bounty and a story to add to the archive.

-From the journal of Jael, recently inducted into the Path of a Scholar

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