Avlis Campaign: Chapter 10

[Orleron]

Once entering the ocean, the heroes figured they had about one or two days of underwater travel before they reached the city of Qwandovia. They took some time to settle on whether they wished to swim or walk the ocean bottom to reach their destination. Once deciding that walking was better, they set out. The 33 mile journey to the nixie settlement went fairly smoothly. Tupaia used her sense of direction to keep them going in the proper direction, since underwater visibility was not extensive.

When they approached near to the city, a small group of nixie guards challenged them as to their business there. They noted that even though the heroes looked like nixies, they were behaving strangely for that kind. Tupaia used her command of the aquan language to try to relate to the guards they they were passing through the area to use their portal to the elemental plane of water in order to chase down the evil orc wizard Khalik. This however only served to make the guards very suspicious. They agreed that the heroes would be allowed into town if they gave up their weapons and went immediately to the town elders under escort. They reluctantly agreed to this and were shown the way.

The city of Qwandovia was not like a conventional land city. The huddled stone buildings and congested streets were absent here. Instead, small clusters of buildings ranged about an open area. Most of the structures were built out of combinations of shell and stone, along with bits of driftwood, although some of the buildings were extensions of natural caves, holes, and other depressions on the ocean floor. Each building had at least one story, and some had three or four with circular doors, some of which entered the buildings on a level above the ground floor. The buildings towards the center of the city were etched in mother-of-pearl and highly decorative. One of them was obviously a temple, and the others although they were pretty, had no obvious function. It was to one of these that the heroes were escorted. Once inside, they were placed into a waiting room for a while, and after a small time they were escorted to a small audience chamber where three nixies sat at a dais. One seemed to be a cleric of O'ma, another was a female warrior type, and the third was hard to determine. The three elders scrutinized the adventurers and repeated the series of questions asked by the guards. Eventually, the cleric in the group casted comprehend languages to aid in the discourse. This made things much easier and the elders were able to determine what the heroes intended to do.

In reply, the elders decreed that the heroes would be allowed to use the portal to the elemental plane of water if they completed a small task for the city. The party members did not like the sound of this but they agreed. The elders said that a dragon turtle had recently taken up residence nearby and was harrassing the town. A troop of nixie warriors was to be sent out to kill the thing the next day, and the adventurers were to accompany them.

That night the heroes rested, and early the next morning the nixies picked them up and they set out. After about 10 miles, they came to the mouth of an underwater cavern. Immediately inside was the dragon turtle, apparently sleeping, but no one could tell. The warriors and adventurers split into two groups, with 4 nixies posted outside the entrance to try and prevent escape. The battle was bloody. The dragon turtle was in fact not asleep, and immediately spotted the nixies' attempts at being stealthy. Half of the troop paid for that mistake with their lives when the dragon breathed a stream of hot steam over them. Ari was critically injured in this blast as well. Luckily, Jade fired off a quick healing spell, and Tupaia gave her another healing boost from her wand of healing. In no time she was wading back in. Meanwhile the dragon clawed away at some more nixies. Van got there next and started trading blows with the beast while Andrinor experimented with polymorph spells to little avail. Tupaia supported the mix by summoning large sharks to their aide, and Rynn did the same thing. Jade meanwhile kept up the much needed healing.

After a time, Van was caught in the dragon's breath weapon and then snapped up in its jaws. Luckily, by this time however, the damage inflicted earlier by Van and the others through various means had taken its toll. Just as the dragon was about to finish Van and turn on the others, she reached up from its jaws and hit it in the head with three well placed bludgeoning blows, thereby killing it.

Four nixies out of 15 survived the encounter, and they all returned to Qwandovia. For their efforts, the heroes were allowed to rest and use the portal the next day.

Stepping through the portal was an interesting experience. The plane of water is a featureless ocean with no surface and no bottom. It is water in all directions to infinity. The adventurers soon found out that "up" was determined by one's mind, and that "down" was simply the other way. After a few short falls, the group got the hang of it and with the help of their nixie guide, they set forth to the portal leading to the City of Doors.
The journey was brief, lasting only one day. However, it proved perilous. A voracious group of water elemental sharks assaulted the party first, and they caused some moderate damage before they were dispatched. This encounter however weakened their resolve for the next encounter when they were attacked by four fearsome elementals. Everyone took severe damage before Jade was able to block them off with a ring of steam (fire) and a wall of force. From this safe shelter, the magic users in the group were able to pick them off at their leisure.
After this incident, they all decided to rest. When they were just about to wake up, a huge countercurrent vortex opened up nearby and sucked them in. Most of the group swam to safety almost immediately, but Ari took severe damage from it.... she was unable to swim out for some time.

When they were almost at their destination, they came upon another curious sight: marids were battling efreet who were apparently trying to make a break to escape through a portal to the plane of fire. The water genies known as marids were losing to the efreeti, so the adventurers decided to lend a hand and hopefully make some friends. However, all the marids soon perished in the battle, and the efreeti were dispatched by the heroes soon after. No friends were made afterall.

From there, the party continued on and came to their destination: a huge rock, with many holes and tunnels. This evidently served as a marid community. Deep within lay the portal to the City of Doors. The adventurers dragged with them the bodies of the efreeti they killed and thus gained quick access to the establishment. They were not harshly challenged, but they were watched. Once reaching the center, they came to a large spherical cavern, where there was a portal guarded by some marids, and a marid leader of apparent power.

The Marid leader, Joon, told them they could pass through the portal for a toll. As an example of what could be used for a toll, he showed them a blue sapphire gem left by a previous visitor named Khalik. The orc, Khalik, told Joon that he had gotten the gem off of an elf maiden long ago when he was in T'Nanshi studying elf magic. Her name was Rinturn, or Ringwald, or something like that. Ari recognized that to be one of the gems which belonged to her Ringthon family heirloom and immediately demanded it back. "I want my gem!" The marid looked puzzled that they should be demanding things from him, and he refused them..... so a fight broke out. After a small pitched battle, the party prevailed and recovered the gem, along with a magical bow that could enchant its arrows by the type of gem locked into it.

They entered the portal immediately, for they heard other marids in pursuit. They came up out of a fountain in a small stone building, and breathed a sigh of relief because they were once again on dry land.... that would make things much easier for them.... or so they think.


The End: Chapter 10

[Edited on 1/9/02 by Orleron]

[Vanoviel]

There was agood deal of prolific asskicking in this adventure, but Van did not stab the dragon turtle in the eye. She cruhed it friggin' skull with three vicious finishing shots.

[Orleron]

woops, you're right.... hard to remember everything that happens

[Orleron]

fixed it.... what would I do without you guys to remember everything that I can't?

I usually go over and edit out all my spelling mistakes at some later point anyway when I write these things.

[Orleron]

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