[D&D 2e] Eveningstar Campaign 33

My Character

Gairloch Ironheart - Svirfneblin Priest of Grumbar

Companions

Jemmabink - Gnome fighter
Vahael Corrolon - Human Cleric of Helm
Nina - Human Paladin of Helm
Leonardo - Human Summoner
Revoltac - Elf Ranger (Absent)

(Previous notes)

The Amazing Adventures of Jemmabink, the very same adventures that encouraged me to leave the comforts of the Underdark and travel to the World Above, these adventures are no more easy to believe now that I live them side-by-side with the legend Jemmabink herself.

The lock on the iron door would not yield to our key, and we weren't quite ready to force it. We retraced our steps back to the antechamber to try another route. There was a door ajar on the east wall, just the way we left it. Jemmabink and Nina opened the door to a hallway. The hallway had two doors across from each other nearby and another two further on. The second door to the south lined up with the iron door we couldn't open. At its end, the hallway turned south.

When the fighters stepped up to the first set of doors, four pale, emaciated creatures with red eyes burst through. Vahael later identified them as wights. The wights scratched Jemma, making her feel weak. Vahael turned them, and I cast Negative Plane Protection on Jemma, just in case. Vahael concentrated on the ones to the south, while Nina and I attacked the ones to the north. I heard an explosion to the south, indicating my spell was effective at saving Jemma further weakness.

There was nothing of interest in the two small rooms the wights called home. We continued down the hall.

We left the iron door to the south alone, since we knew where it led. I cast Find Traps on the north door. It was clear. I cracked the door open to peek in. The door opened to another small room, but this one was filled with 8 chests and an urn! I shoved the door all the way open so everyone else could see, and that's when the trouble occurred!

A large (12 feet tall), demonic creature with wings, horns, a lightning​-bolt shaped sword, and a whip appeared with a thunderclap out of nowhere. It roared at me, and I froze (typical reaction of a gnome underground). I heard Vahael yell a powerful battle cry to Helm, and the creature froze, stunned! Nina and Jemma didn't wait for the giant to move. They charged it with weapons out! Jemma's attack didn't seem to hurt the beast, so I cast Recitation to increase the deadliness of her attacks. The two hit the creature many times in just a few seconds. Nina's holy sword ended up thrust through the creature's head, and it fell down without attacking even once! We thought for sure it was some kind of illusion, but the beast remained even after slain.

Nina touched the lightning-bolt sword and fell unconscious, looking very sickly. A quick Cure spell made her look slightly better, so Vahael and I cast a few more. She did not regain consciousness, but she looked less close to death. 

Jemmabink found a talking sword named Imp in one of the chests. It was a curious weapon, talking Jemma into hurting herself in order for the sword to heal Nina. We checked, but the sword was not actually evil. It doesn't seem to get along with me or Vahael, but it doesn't work against us either. What it does do is get Jemma to hurt herself. We had a short talk about that, but Jemma doesn't think it's a problem.

After counting the treasure in the chests and closely examining the other artifacts, we came to the conclusion that a small dagger we found was the artifact we sought. I thought perhaps we should leave at this point, but I was quickly talked out of it. The sword stated there was only one room left, and we had not found the remains of Azarak the sorcerer. We figured he was probably a lich and we probably would have a lot of trouble if we needed to destroy him. We carried on anyway.

We traveled down the hallway, around debris meant to keep something contained. Nina read some glyphs under a painting, and ended up staring face-first at an explosion. We had no further trouble getting to the last door of the complex.

I cast Find Traps and Detect Magic on the last door. There were no traps, but it was magically locked by someone with immense power. Luckily the hinges were old and easy to break through. The door came off with little problem.

Inside, an ancient man sat at an ancient desk, mumbling over and over about the precious books surrounding him. It was Azarak, and he was agitated at Intruders. Nina didn't sense evil in him, so Vahael talked him down. The lich Azarak agreed to bring all his precious books into the sanctuary of Deneir we found closer to the entryway. He allowed us to help carry the books. It still took a couple hours.

In the end, most of his books disappeared (accepted by Deneir as a sacrifice?). A few were left, and we were allowed to keep them for ourselves, along with a small cube Jemma seemed to recognize. We gathered up the books and the treasures and headed outside. We expected smooth travels home, but there was a small bump in the road.

We stepped out of the coin to find ourselves surrounded by four humanoids we had never met. A half elf stepped forward and told us to surrender all the treasure we found if we wanted to live. None of us found these terms acceptable, so we attacked. A wall of flame appeared out of nowhere, trying to surround us. The caster of he spell also appeared shortly thereafter. Something unexpected happened, though, and the spell was...sucked?...into Jemmabink, doing no damage to the rest of us. 

Nina and Jemma keep the other side's burliest looking attackers busy, while Vahael and I attacked their magic users with Earthenair and Maximilian's Earthen Grasp...and we took out the rogue who disappeared before appearing to backstab Vahael.

Jemmabink absorbed another fire spell from a wand, and was knocked over. Out of nowhere there was a man in robes standing over her body. He reminded us of the summoner, Leonardo, she had told us about in the past, but we had no idea where he had come from. However he got there, he helped us defeat the ambushing party.

Nina almost died from the powerful magic wand which cast lighting bolts at us twice. We have been able to bring her back, again, from the brink of death with healing from Helm and Grumbar.