2.(Bill) Vorstag Iceslider, the Frost Giant's Son, lvl 7 Goliath Ice Reaver of the Tjokren Glacier (g-m), Assassin Rogue-7
3. (Matt) Finnris, lvl 6 Dhari Outcast of the Narthan Highlanders (h-m), Slayer Barbarian-6
17/9/2213: Visit the Guardian of the 9 Glavas Rho at Three Pillars Monastery, & do shopping at the Tiyerna market18/9/2213: Head into the jungle with Marus the Katagian Ranger. Kill a giant crocodile menacing ankylosauri.
20/9/2213: Half a day from Voor Darayn, encounter bar-lgura & babau demons attacking 3 beastmen - kill the demons & send a wounded beastman on his way with word of the Demon Slayers. Reach Voor Darayn & camp in jungle.
21/9/2213: At dawn enter Voor Darayn, encountering serpentmen & dominated human cultists. Take the Spear of Azura from Ghast-ly charnel house.
Into the Jungle of Voor Darayn - by Judith (Aeshma)
In the morning we climb up to the Three Pillar Monastery and speak with the priest Glavas Rho. He is able to confirm a lot of the stories we have heard about Voor Darayn as well as the presence of demons in the jungles – including the Vrock which was foretold by Finnris’ visit to the Fortune-Teller in Quodeth. Before we leave Tiyerna, we commission a suit of black and red sails for Autumn Moon should we need to change her appearance at any point.
Led by Marus, the Katagian Ranger, we head into the jungle. We soon encounter a pair of ankylosauri fleeing a giant crocodile. We quickly kill the crocodile; Finnris takes several of its teeth as a trophy and that evening we dine on crocodile steaks.
Two days later we can see distant glimpses through the jungle of the limestone outcropping on which Voor Darayn is built. Passing through some overgrown ruins we see three beastmen running terrified through the jungle towards us, fleeing from the giant ape demon intent on pursuing them. Briefed by Glavas Rho we immediately recognise it as a Bar-Lgura and ready to attack. Before we can act, its companion, a horn-headed Babau, appears from the jungle next to Vorstag and attacks the rogue.
Vorstag pulls back from the demon and rushes to Finnris’ side, hoping that the Babau will attack the barbarian in preference, but the demon continues to focus its attacks Vorstag. Aeshma casts a spell to ward Finnris from the demons’ powers and ducks into the cover of heavy jungle to shoot at the demons from range as being directly attacked could break her concentration. Having been struck by her holy chakram, the Bar-Lgura leaps into the undergrowth in an attempt to find her.
Once they have teamed up to fight the Babau, Finnris and Vorstag are able to quickly destroy it and turn their attention to the Bar-Lgura. Two of the beastmen manage to escape into the jungle but the third is seriously wounded and unconscious. Once the Bar-Lgura is killed we speak with the surviving beastman once he revives with Marus translating our words into Urgan. The beastman is able to add little to what we already know. Rather than kill it outright, Aeshma argues that it should be released to return to its tribe to carry stories of the “Demon Slayers”.
A few hours later the jungle thins and we reach the slopes of Voor Darayn. With only an hour of daylight remaining we pull back into the jungle to rest until dawn. The next day we leave Marus in the jungle to wait for Zerda and Cassandra while the rest of us cautiously approach the first of the outlying buildings. An open plaza spreads across the base of the hill with a vine-covered statue of Asura at its centre. The statue’s outstretched hand looks like it once held a weapon, now long vanished. On the far side of the plaza, we can see a somnolent serpentman basking in the early morning sun.
With no way to approach him without being seen we sneak up the adjacent stair to the upper levels of Voor Darayn, each of us drinking a dose of antitoxin to protect us from snake venom. The steep karst cliffs are made of rotten limestone and even Aeshma thinks they are virtually unclimbable. We hear the sound of an approaching wagon and duck behind the nearest building. A group of robed and armoured Lomari cultists escorted by a serpentman are dragging a wagon loaded with corpses toward a solidly built mausoleum. The ground before the mausoleum is churned and bloody.
Halting outside they cautiously approach, clearly nervous. One opens the door and a bright light blazes from within. He reaches in and pulls out a glowing spear. From within the mausoleum we can hear scrabbling, hissing noises as whatever is in there is repelled by the bright light of the spear. One by one the corpses are thrown in, the spear replaced in the doorway and the heavy door closed behind it. The cultists drag the wagon back up the hill.
Finnris realises the glowing spear matches the descriptions he has read of the legendary Spear of Asura and we decide to try to grab it. Sneaking up towards the mausoleum we misjudge the early morning light and are silhouetted as we turn the corner near the mausoleum. The cultists and a pair of serpentmen are unfortunately still on guard and move to attack.
Vorstag opens the door to the mausoleum and we see what has been trapped inside: a pack of ghasts. He reaches down to grab the spear and the pack moves forwards, waiting for their opportunity. Vorstag is in a quandary: does he remain in the mausoleum and risk getting attacked by the ghasts, or step back putting himself into the line of fire of the serpentmen’s deadly poisoned arrows?
At the same time, Finnris has moved forwards to engage the cultists, but if the ghasts leave the mausoleum he will be surrounded. Seeing the amount of enemies arrayed against us Aeshma calls for a retreat, urging Vorstag to drop the Spear in the mausoleum doorway to stop the ghasts from leaving. He and Aeshma’s agility enables them to get ahead of the cultists, but Finnris decides to detour to the mausoleum in his retreat to grab the spear, trusting in his greater speed to keep him ahead of the armoured Lomari.
Unfortunately it turns out that the Lomari are not willing cultists, but a dominated Mithran priest and soldiers. The priest casts a Hold Person on Finnris, trapping him, setting him up to be captured or killed by the Lomari soldiers. Seeing no other alternative to save Finnris’ life, Aeshma throws her chakram at the priest, killing him and breaking the spell’s grasp on Finnris. Now released, the barbarian shrugs off the ineffectual blows of the Lomari and joins Aeshma and Vorstag as we all dash for the cover of the jungle.
As we catch our breath in the deep cover of the jungle we can only marvel at the craftsmanship of the mighty and blessed Atlantean War Spear and hope it will be a powerful weapon in our hands against the darkness that still infests Voor Darayn. For now all we can do is wait for Zerda and Cassandra to catch up with us before we renew our attack…
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