Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Rangers of Shadow Deep: Burning Light 3

Here's the conclusion of my solo Rangers of Shadow Deep campaign, Burning Light:


Searching for the sacred Decanter of Light in the ruined convent of St. Emilia, the party had explored all but one of the buildings.  This last, the humble Herb Store, they entered at last, supported now by the rescued novice Wilmette and the miraculous avatar of the long dead Saint Doneera.



In the dim interior light, they could see, in the far corner, a monstrous plant, covered in oozing, sticky sap, its tentacle-like vines waving in the air.  Suddenly, a large vine burst out of the ground and wrapped around Hanali's leg.


Innumerable tendrils shot toward them.  Soon several of the giant hopping ants joined the attack against them.


Hanali was deeply entangled by a mass of vines and attacked by the giant ants.


St Doneera and, surpisingly, Sister Wilmette hastily and effectively dispatched the ants.  Bogdan rushed to Hanali's aid but was nearly eviscerated by the sharp boring tendrils of the plant.


As he was about to lose consciousness, a bright vision of the Decanter of Light appeared before his eyes.  Miraculously, all of his grievous wounds were healed.


In the meantime, Kyra flung an explosive cocktail that she had been carrying onto the the massive body of the horrific plant.


As the flames licked about the plant, Bogdan and Wilmette flung themselves upon the vast bulk.  With much hacking and hewing, they destroyed it.  The remaining vines collapsed.


They spread out to search the room for the Decanter.


Wilmette fell victim to a trap and received a dose of harsh poison.  They were able to discover a hidden hole in a corner of the floor.

Within it lay the shining Decanter of Light.


They had little time to celebrate their success.  Horrific howling from outside warned them of approaching evil.  They hastily quaffed their remaining healing potions and set out to fight their way home with their prize.


In the Courtyard, they saw that the three exits were blocked.


Two were guarded by mixed groups of gnolls and wolves.  The central exit was filled with massive bulk of a winged demon, a Terror Wing.


The party shifted to their right, hoping to overwhelm the gnolls and wolves there with a volley of arrow shots.  However, only a single wolf was killed for their efforts.


Saint Doneer did not join them.  Instead, she strode toward the Terror Wing, hoping to distract it and enable the party to make an escape.


Gnolls and wolves swarmed around the warrior saint while the demon roared as it charged her.  But the saint thrust her shining blade into the belly of the creature.  With a shocked roar, the creature staggered back.  The saint pushed forward against the demon.  Now that the demon was beyond the help of its minions, the saint was more equaling matched, inflicting another sharp wound on the staggered demon.

(In game terms, this was the most amazing series rolls in the game.  The villains attacked with a +11 to their die roll vs. St Doneera's +4. The Terror Wing rolled a 3 while Doneera rolled a natural 20 inflicting 10 points of damage on the demon who was reduced to only 6 hp.  The demon was pushed back out of support range of most of its minions.  The saints follow-on attack succeeded and brought the demon down to 1 hp).


The other party of Gnolls charged the rest of the heroes.  Without the aid of the distracted demon, they were cut down swiftly.


Bogdan, who was bearing the Decanter of Light, along with Sister Wilmette cleared the last of the gnolls guarding the breach in the wall through which they hoped to exit.


Bayarma flung a fire ball at the remaining pursuers.


With the severely wounded Terror Wing holding back, the saint struck down one gnoll after another.


Hanali, having witnessed the saint's heroic stand, took up a magic arrow she had been saving and shot it into the demon's back, sending it back to the hell from which it came.


The demon's destruction took the fight out the remaining minions who either were cut down or fled.


Announcing that she had cleansed the convent of the evil that had destroyed it, the spirit of St Doneera returned to the Other World.  Remaining behind was the sword with which she had smote the demon. Sister Wilmette took up the sword with alacrity.


The companions departed the ruined courtyard, the great Prize in hand.  Within a week, seemingly with the protection of the saints, they won free of the Shadow Deep and returned safely to the Kingdom of Alladore where the Decanter would be used to heal those who had been harmed by the evil of the Shadow Deep

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