Fury of the Wastewalker Journal - Session Eight (2-3)

The party is able to easily break through the crystal web covering the hole in the cave floor. The adventurers then secure a rope to some stalagmites on the floor of the cave and lower themselves into the hole one-by-one.

At the bottom of the hole is a large finished room. Unlike the cave above, this room has walls and a floor, possibly built centuries ago. This room appears to be some sort of a burial chamber. A closed gate at one end of the room seems to be the only exit. The room is lit by two bright elemental fires. Ancient writing is etched onto the surface of parts of the room. There are relics lying on the floor – some are shattered and others intact. On one side of the room are two crystal sarcophagi.

Barcan is the first to venture out into the room, hoping to learn more about the history of the chamber. After taking just a few steps, he feels a tile on the floor click when he steps on it. A poisoned dart shoots out and hits him in the shoulder. At the same moment the trap is triggered, two large crystal shard golems rise from the two sarcophagi. It looks like the party has awakened something dreadful!

Combat breaks out with the golems. The party has to be extremely careful, though. The floor is full of switches that activate the poisoned darts. Throwing caution to the wind, Yuka, Shikirr, and Castri rush toward the golems and attack. The golems have psychic powers that daze and push the brave fighters around the battlefield. With elven luck on his side, Castri is able to land several punishing blows on one of the golems. Meanwhile, Barcan, Phye, and Jarvix stay in place to avoid the traps while firing off ranged attacks on the deadly constructs.

Jarvix is able to kill the first golem with a mind thrust. Enraged, the second golem rushes toward Jarvix, attacking Barcan on the way. Barcan is hit and pushed onto another trap plate. Barcan is low on health and knows he will be knocked out if the poisoned dart hits him. Thinking fast, Barcan unleashes a powerful arcane attack on the remaining golem. The attack hits, dealing damage to the golem. More importantly, Barcan is able to slide the golem onto a pressure plate, causing the poisoned dart to target the golem instead of him. Barcan experiences a moment of greatness after narrowly avoiding death.

As combat rages, Phye is busy healing the party. Several members are nearly killed as the golem continues to attack. At last, a bolt of fire from Barcan’s staff kills the second golem. The party, badly wounded, rests a moment and Phye offers healing support.

Searching the room, the adventurers find their first valuable spoils of battle. Several gems worth hundreds of gold pieces are gathered up by the party. Additionally, inside the chest of each golem is a metal contraption. Metal is extremely rare, so the adventurers are in awe over the discovery. Phye examines the pieces of metal, and thinks they are pieces of a puzzle used as a key. Perhaps there is a way out of this chamber after all?

Fury of the Wastewalker Journal - Session Seven (2-2)

Phye suits up her new armor and the party takes a few moments to rest and heal. Although the battle was fierce, the group cannot take a longer break. Just being in the treacherous cave causes the adventurers to hear shrieks and see horrific visions echoing in their minds. Phye still suffers from the lingering sickness caused by the sun exposure and lack of food and water.

The cavern extends deeper into the mountain, and the cautious heroes proceed into the darkness. Since the cave entrance has collapsed, there is no option other than to keep moving. The adventurers travel through the twisting and turning cave, knowing that danger could lurk around every corner.

At one point the party enters a larger cavern and in the dim light spots three skeletons on the far side. The adventurers ready their weapons, and combat breaks out. Yuka and Phye are the first to jump into the fray. Suddenly, several gauntlets scattered about the floor become animated, and rush to attack the party members. Fortunately, the skeletons and gauntlets seem to be easily destroyed while doing only limited damage to the warriors. Just when it looks like the party is going to emerge victorious; a ray of energy from above shoots down on Yuka. A giant crystalline spider is the source of the beam, and it drops down from above. At this point, Yuka and Phye are heavily damaged, and they utilize whatever healing resources are available to them. The party concentrates on attacking the spider. Although it starts climbing the wall for a better defensive position, the party members hit the spider several times with melee and ranged attacks.

On the floor of the cavern are some purple crystals. The party figures out that if they concentrate on the crystals while standing adjacent to them, their attacks become more powerful. Understanding this, Jarvix heads across the cavern to be next to a crystal. Halfway to the crystal, Jarvix falls into a crystalline web stretched out over a hole in the floor. The web is strong enough to hold Jarvix up, but he is cut up by the sharp crystal edges.

Meanwhile the party continues to deal a lot of damage to the giant spider. The final blow comes from Barcan. A stream of fire launches from Barcan’s staff, burning the spider to a crisp.

The party searches the room and finds a set of magical crystal scale mail. Yuka claims the armor and proceeds to put it on. The cavern has no exits other than the hole covered by the crystal web. The members look for a way to break through the web to proceed even further into the darkness.

Fury of the Wastewalker Journal - Session Six (2-1)

Just before the party falls asleep, the cave opening suddenly collapses! When the rocks stop falling, the party members realize they are sealed in. Barcan and Jarvix, having knowledge of magical lore, believe the collapse to be caused intentionally and not by any natural occurrence. Some evil power must be at work. Perhaps the Wastewalker is behind this?

Everyone except Phye then proceeds to eat and drink some of the food and water that is in such limited supply. Phye is concerned about conserving resources, so she doesn’t share in the meal. She is sickened, though, and is weaker after going the night without food.

After taking a long and well-deserved rest, the party gathers up some scraps of wood from the cave floor to make torches. They also have a few sunrods, which seem to not burn as brightly as they recalled from earlier use. In the back of the dark cave is a small opening, and the party members crawl through one by one.

At the other side of the opening, the party sees a deep ravine with a tattered bridge stretching to the other side. On the far side of the ravine, the adventurers can faintly see corpses strewn about. Shikirr agrees to cross the bridge to test its strength. He is able to cross safely to the other side, but it looks like any additional weight would cause the bridge to snap and break.

As soon as Shikirr reaches the other side of the bridge, a couple of the corpses rise up from the ground and attack! The hideous creatures, known as corruption corpses, pull out parts of their innards and hurl the contents, dealing necrotic damage to the heroes. Combat quickly breaks out and a couple other party members run across the bridge to the far end of the ravine. Barcan and Jarvix stay back, hurling ranged attacks at the wicked creatures. The corruption corpses are foul and being next to them is so disgusting that it is difficult to attack. Fortunately Barcan hurls a powerful arcane attack at one corpse, sending him over a far ledge.

Meanwhile, the party failed to see that the ceiling of the cave had two oozes hanging above. The oozes drop down next to Jarvix and Barcan. Realizing they are in need of help, Castri bounds back toward Jarvix and Barcan, stopping halfway across the bridge to shoot arrows at the oozes. But as he stops, one of the oozes rushes off to meet Castri on the bridge. Seeing this, Yuka yells out “Castri- hold on – the bridge can’t support the weight of you and the ooze!!” Sure enough, the decrepit bridge breaks. The ooze is able to hold onto the ropes and swings to the wall of the ravine. But Castri is not so lucky. He falls to the ravine floor, only to find a hidden pit below the floor that he also falls through. Poor Castri falls so far that he is almost knocked unconscious.

The battle rages on as the heroes attack the corpses and oozes. Then suddenly a black ball of incorporeal matter appears, blasting the party with dark powers. Fortunately, Castri is able to pull himself out of the pit, and from the ravine floor, he draws his bow and unleashes twin arrows at the oozes above. Castri hits the oozes with the precision of a hunter. Phye, Shikirr, and Yuka manage to kill off the corpses after a few more attacks. Then Castri finishes off the remaining ooze already wounded by Barcan and Jarvix with another deadly volley of arrows. Finally, all firepower is focused on the black mass until it, too, is destroyed.

Gathering up after the battle, the party spots some treasure among the corpses. Two potions that enable vision in low light will come in handy in the dark cave. Additionally, a set of magical chainmail armor lies on the cave floor. Phye picks up the armor, wipes the rotted flesh from it, and puts it on. Trapped in the cave, the party begins looking for a route that will take them even deeper into the mountain and the horrors beyond.

Fury of the Wastewalker Journal - Session Five (1-5)

The adventurers continue their forced march north, not having time to do more than pour some sand over Ralo’s body. A proper burial would be appropriate, but the pursuing storm and the watchful kes’trekel constantly remind the party that stopping would lead to almost certain death. There is some hope, though, as the group approaches the Table Mountains. Perhaps the weary and injured unit could find a place to hide in the hills?

The journey moves on, and at one point Phye thinks she spots an oasis in the distance. She points it out, and the other travelers see it as well. They rush toward the water, yearning to cool themselves from the desert heat. But the water seems to elude the group. They think it is one direction, but as they travel, the water seems to move to another spot. So they continue the pursuit, only to see the mirage move again. Has the glaring sun finally brought the group to the doorstep of madness? The quest for the water takes a heavy toll on the adventurers. Their defenses are weakened because they have expended so much energy in the pursuit of the water that exists only in their delusions.

At one point the party spots some black and defiled sand in the desert. They are about to investigate when they suddenly hear the hissing of approaching ssuran. The warriors ready themselves for the battle that quickly breaks out. There are four ssuran attacking the group. Shortly after the battle begins, a huge ankheg crawls out of the sand. An ankheg is a large cockroach-like creature with sharp mandibles and poisonous saliva. The shaman ssuran throws a raw egg on Jarvix, hoping the ankheg will mistake him for food and attack. Confused, the ankheg seems to attack both the adventurers and ssuran with its deadly and poisonous spit.

At one point in the battle, the shaman ssuran takes control of Castri’s mind. The poor elf has no control over himself, and attacks his friends. Fortunately Castri is able to break the mental hold after a short while. Meanwhile, the party attacks the ssuran relentlessly. Barcan and Jarvix notice that while they are standing in the black and defiled sand, their attacks are much more potent. So they unleash attack after attack on the ssuran. Shikirr jumps up on a rock and attacks the shaman ssuran with great skill.

When the last ssuran is brought down, the group focuses all attacks on the ankheg. Yuka takes the bulk of the attacks as he bravely battles the giant insect at close range. With several members on the brink of death and no more healing available, the ankheg is finally brought down by Phye’s energizing strike.

The group searches the enemies and discovers two healing fruits and a magical orb that Jarvix claims. They quickly grab up the items and run for cover from the storm that is almost on top of them. The party spots a cave close-by and sprints to it- jumping in just before the sharp stones rain down. As they enter, the adventurers collapse to the floor of the cave, completely exhausted from the perils they have faced for two days without rest. Finally, the party is rewarded with safety and sleep. Barcan is the last to turn in for the night, spending his last few minutes awake searching the night sky for some purpose or hope.

Fury of the Wastewalker Journal - Session Four (1-4)

Character insight for this chapter: Yuka

The party travels through the dark night, the storm continuing to push them north. It’s too dark to know if any ssuran continue to pursue. Once again the brave warriors are challenged by the harsh desert conditions. Although the sun has set and temperatures drop to a more survivable level, the darkness makes travel more challenging. Using skills of endurance, nature knowledge, and other abilities, the adventurers manage to travel through the night without spending too many precious resources.

As the group approaches the Table Mountains the sun rises again, casting it’s burning heat on the party. Then a lone figure appears in the distance. As the group approaches, they see it is a dwarf, dressed from head to toe in protective layers. The dwarf tells the group his name is Ralo, and he waves the approaching party to him. Jarvix and Barcan notice that Ralo displays the secret signal of the Veiled Alliance. The Veiled Alliance is dedicated to practicing arcane magic while preserving nature. The Alliance is opposed to defilers - those who destroy the environment while practicing arcane magic. Jarvix and Barcan respond by acknowledging their membership in the Alliance, and Ralo breaths a sigh of relief, knowing he has found friends.
Ralo tells the group that a ssuran shaman known as the Wastewalker is hunting arcane spell casters. The Wastewalker can be identified by his scars and disfigured features. Ralo sees the group has few supplies, and he offers bread and magical healing fruit to the party. Grateful for any assistance, the group accepts the gifts. Ralo also has a special gift for Barcan. Ralo reads from an ancient piece of parchment, and gives Barcan the ability to turn invisible after casting an arcane spell. Though the power can only be used once per day, Barcan realizes the value of such a gift.

As the adventurers talk to Ralo about where to travel next, the party is suddenly attacked. Two rock creatures known as obsidian dervishes, two sand creatures called dust devils, and an evil looking ssuran surprise the unaware party. As the ssuran screams out “KILL THE DEFILER” he and his allies attack the party, focusing on Ralo and Barcan. Although Barcan yells “WE‘RE NOT DEFILERS” the ssuran is unconvinced. The ssuran shouts back “ALL THOSE WHO PRACTICE ARCANE MAGIC ARE DEFILERS.”

The battle rages and Ralo is quickly killed. The rest of the party is brought to the brink of death as the ssuran unleashes a series of poisonous attacks. The dervishes and dust devils have lethal attack abilities as well, and Castri is knocked unconscious. At one point Yuka manages to grab a dust devil and hold it in place while Shikirr readies an attack. Yuka, enraged after taking several punishing attacks, chants “it’s dead, it’s dead” as Shikirr’s blade swings at the dust devil. Yuka is battling so fiercely, he believes he can will death to his enemies.

Eventually the tide of battle turns and the party manages to damage and kill the enemies one by one. When only the ssuran remains standing, Phy blasts the beast with an energizing strike, and it falls to the desert floor never to rise again.

After gathering themselves up and pausing a moment to heal wounds, the party looks down sadly at Ralo’s corpse. They knew Ralo only briefly, and his death serves as a reminder of the extreme danger they face. Resolved to destroy the Wastewalker, the party again travels north as the storm continues its relentless pursuit.