SourceMaterial-Avlis Campaign 5, Part 3

This is Avlis Source Material ⚠️Use of this material has NOT been authorized on the NWN Avlis Servers.⚠️ To use any of this material IC on NWN Avlis Servers, you must request approval of this material from the Avlis Team. Send a PM to the Dungeon Masters group on the Avlis forums to begin that approval process. To learn more about what Avlis Source Material is, please click here. You may use this material for non-server-related Avlis events, such as D&D/PnP.		Campaign Title Part Avlis Campaign 1 The "Jade" Campaign Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Avlis Campaign 2 The West End of Time Part 1, 2, 3, 4 Avlis Campaign 3 Vanoviel and The Godslayer Part 1 Avlis Campaign 4 Rune Quest Part 1, 2 Avlis Campaign 5 The Western Underdark Part 1, 2, 3, 4 Avlis Campaign 6 Daggerspace Part 1, 2, 3 Avlis Campaign 7 Into The Wastes Part 1, 2, 3 Chapter 10 As they arrived in Riftside, the adventurers found themselves on a high rise that gradually descended down to a large town. The cavern was immensely high, with only black roiling vapors visible distantly above them. Shortly after entering, a black rain began to fall lightly from the strange cave ceiling. The unusual sight made them concerned, and as they passed a wandering half-orc merchant, the group enquired about the rain. The merchant only had some half-coherent explanation about planar rifts and occasions of weather infiltration from one of The Nine Hells. Ash collected a sample and Lana dared Booker's to sip it, which he did, but nothing happened. Continuing onward, the group found out the location of an inn where they could rest and recuperate. As they walked down the hill into the town, the cavern floor began to slope upward once more to a higher area located in the center of the town where the Inn was. While walking on a busy street, Ash spotted someone he knew from his old sereg'wethrin unit, The Sons of The Abyss. Immediately without warning his comrades, he unleashed a blaring Ray of Sound which looked like a screaming skull flying through the air an impacting the unsuspecting sereg's chest. While his enemy and his friends were still in shock, Ash launched another magic missile. The wounded sereg turned and ran but before anyone else on the crowded street could react, Ash dropped him with a second missile barrage. To finish the task, Ash ran up to the mortally wounded elf, dragged him into an alley, and slit his throat. Aghast, his party members asked what just happened. Ash explained that as an ex-serviceman of a sereg unit, his life was forfeit if any of his old unit members should find him. The sereg he killed was a member and fellow soldier from his unit, and Ash was sure the sereg would have attacked if he saw Ash first. Moreover, there may be other members of his old unit in town. The group decided to get out of public and head for the inn to lay low. They arrived at The Bronze Knob Inn and managed to have some quiet time drinking and listening to the local patrons. Once they had a good night's sleep, they came downstairs for breakfast and found the Inn empty. Immediately in their confusion, arrows flew at them from hidden locations. Gradually they spotted a troop of stealthy sereg'wethrin all around, and a fight began. Over time, the fight turned against the sereg'wethrin unit. Two fled. Two were captured, and the rest died. One of the captured sereg who seemed to be in charge of the group refused to speak when taken back to the rooms and questioned. Ash and Maloney sent the group downstairs and killed him. The second sereg surrendered before the battle was over. He told them that shortly after Ash abandoned the unit due to his discovery of sorcerous powers, the same thing happened to this sereg. He said his name was Berylath, and asked if Ash could mentor him to help him learn to control his powers. Ash reluctantly agreed, noting that the sereg never raised a hand against the party in that battle. The group then packed up and got out of the Inn and began to look for passage across the Planerift River. A goblin fishmonger told them that a nixie named Harlok ran a boat across for a fee, so they sought him out and began to negotiate. Harlok said he would do it for 10gp, the protection of the PC's, and their promise to deliver a couple crates to a noble living on the side of Dwarfbow Lake, about 20 miles to the west. The party discussed it but found that the destination was along their route anyway, so they agreed. As the nixie Harlok poled them across the river on his two-level low-riding barge, the group heard a thumping sound from the cargo hold. Bookers and Lana went to investigate and found the noise coming from a crate, which happened to be one of the ones the captain charged them with delivering to the noble estate on Dwarfbow Lake. As more thumps emanated from the crate, and the two crates below it, the group decided to open one of them and root around in it. They soon discovered a metalic egg with an off-yellow color. Instead of exploring the crates further, however, the group was distracted when the boat was attacked by vicious subterranean river sharks. As they dispatched the creatures and made it to shore, the eggs began to hatch, and soon the group was being followed by three newborn pyrite dragons. Instead of being aggressive, however, the dragons were curious. After some deliberation and searching of the crates, a note was found and the group realized that the eggs were deposited by the dragons' mother into a gold dragon's nest to trick it into raising them. The gold dragon caught the trick, however, and was returning the eggs to the "Lady of the Dwarfbow", which they supposed was a pyrite dragon in humanoid form. Wanting none of that quest, the group tricked the dragons into a distraction and abandoned them, teaching them the phrase "People are not food." in the process. Continuing their journey onward toward Darkstone, the group entered the Pyrite Caverns where they encountered some minotaur bandits and an ooze para-elemental, which they dispatched. Chapter 11 As the trip wore on, the group stumbled on a curious cavern with two lifeless white figures standing outside the entrance. They were unresponsive to any prodding by Bookers, but a sign above the way read "All are welcome" in kharakuro dwarven writing. Cautiously, the group walked past the silent standing figures and ventured inside. There they found a room that appeared to be used as a hospital, with two patients recovering among the beds. Ash woke up one of them, an adomkuro with a bruised face who recalled a terrible attack in the Pyrite Caverns where he was rescued by a mysterious figure in white robes. He knew nothing more. Walking out of that room, the party found a second room with two more figures standing inside. The room appeared to be a laboratory with several newly dead bodies laying on tables, and the two figures regarded them. One was an adomkuro male in white robes and the other was a female kharakuro in plate armor. They greeted the adventurers, introducing themselves as Selan the White Necromancer and Hilda, paladin of Gorethar. Confused, the group quizzed the two on their business and found out that the cavern was used as a way station for the wounded. Selan collected those whom he found in the caverns and did what he could to nurse them back to health, and the ones whom he could not help were turned into neverdead. The man in white robes invited the group to rest and recuperate there, which they accepted. During the night they talked with Hilda about Selan's habits of treating the dead disrespectfully by raising them into mindless neverdead called sadiks. These neverdead were akin to their undead zombie counterparts, but with no rotting. Their hearts would beat and their skin was warm to the touch because they were infused with positive plane energy instead of negative plane energy. Hilda did not think any of this was natural and quizzed the gang on their mission. Kiv explained everything and Hilda was intrigued enough to ask if she could come along. The group deliberated for a short while and accepted, increasing their number. Setting off from the cavern and saying goodbye to Selan, the group finished their journey to Darkstone. There in the taverns they searched for Kiv's contact and found him: a large grumpy minotaur. This minotaur represented the group within Lord Hutha's army that requested the power of runic magic for their gain, and it was Kiv's mission to teach them and give them their initial supplies. He was to stay back and do this, but the minotaur wanted to seal the deal: he demanded that the rest of the group go to Varwat Citadel via the village of Galifanstock. There, the party, as representatives of The Burning Page was to take out a group called "The Fell Pit Gang" which stole runic magic for themselves and was using it to cause trouble in the city. Kiv thought this was a good idea in any case, because though The Fell Pit Gang mostly likely got their runes in a "fair" way by killing a convoy of The Burning Page, he was sure that also meant the gang would not join them and pledge loyalty to the system of runic magic their were trying to establish. Killing them would remove them from the board and help establish the primacy of The Burning Page over runic magic. The group therefore set off the next day without Kiv to head for Varwat Citadel. After a brutal fight with an intellect devourer they continued their journey.