H4 - Throne of Bloodstone

Game History

4th Tarsakh "of the Storms" (April) - 1359, Year of the Serpent

The group assembled, about noon, meeting for the first time at the Inn of the Clowns in XXXXX. Here, Stephan the inn-keeper led the group through to a meeting room, where they all met with Sir Gareth "Dragonsbane", the Baron of Bloodstone, his wife, Lady Christina, his advisors Quillian the Sage, Emelyn the Gray and Celedon Kierney.

Initial Information from Gareth amd his advisors:
“Through consultation of wise men, use of the mystic arts, and the craft of military intelligence, we now know that our opponent is in league with powerful demons. We suspect the Prince of the Undead, Orcus, whose name shudder to even mention. Zhengyi, the Witch-King of Vaasa, is obviously a minion of that fell demon. The Witch-King’s army consists largely of undead. We cannot cross the Ford of Goliad without being at a great disadvantage; if they crossed the ford first we could prevail in battle, but they show no signs of such foolishness, more is the pity.”
“We have been seeking adventurers both brave and powerful enough to enter the castle of the Witch-King in the north of Vaasa, penetrate its secrets, learn the role of Orcus in this matter, and destroy the source of this evil once and for all. “There is virtually no limit to the reward we would pay to rid ourselves of this evil, but there is virtually no limit to the dangers you may encounter in the castle. Come, let us discuss this matter together.”

About the Castle and the land around it:
"Castle Perilious lies to the north of us approximately two days ride. A perpetual gloom lies around a five mile circle around the castle. This haze has been proof against scrying and translocational magics. The entire terrain is tundra, a large expanse of low lying land from the Bloodstone Mountains out until the Great Glacier to the north. There is a haze that covers an approximate five mile radius around Castle Perilious."

"That is where the mapping stops. The one thing that our intelligence has discovered is that with the sudden appearance of the castle and the persistent gloom, the land around the castle has changed. Ravines have formed and what water that was there has seemed to vanished."

Before teleporting, Inyotef performed a divination, asking Anhur for guidence.

1) Does the Witch-King know that this group (all of our characters by name) have been assembled to try to defeat him?	A: "Not by name."
2) Is the Witch-King planning any sort of major offensive in Damara in the next few days?	A: Yes
3) Are there any spies of the Witch-King in this building right now?	A: No
4) Are there any spies of the Witch-King in this village right now?	A: Yes
5) Are there any spies of the Witch-King in this very room right now?	A: No
6) Is it possible to fly inside the haze that surrounds Castle Perilous?	A: Yes
7) If we were to spend a night in Chael's extra-dimensional mansion set up just over 5 miles from the Witch-King's castle, would we be safe from attack by the Witch-King's forces tonight?	A: Unclear
8) Is the haze around Castle Perilous poisonous?	A: No
9) Would the haze around Castle Perilous be physically harmful to us (names of the party) in any other way?	A: No
10) Does the haze around Castle Perilous interfere with magic of any type?	A: Yes
11) Would we have a better chance of avoiding detection by the Witch-King's forces if we walked the final five miles to Castle Perilous, as opposed to flying there?	A: Yes
12) Does the Witch-King use evil outsiders to patrol the land around Castle Perilous?	A: Yes
13) Does the Witch-King have any white dragons in league with him?	A: Yes
14) Does the Witch-King have any other dragons in league with him?	A: Yes
15) Does the Witch-King have any dracholiches in league with him?	A: No
16) Are there any dragons patrolling the land around Castle Perilous?	A: Yes
17) Are there any dracholiches patrolling the land around Castle Perilous?	A: No
18) Has the Witch King scried on any of us in this group (character names listed)?	A: No
19) Is the Witch King's phylactery on this plane?	A: Unclear

Mid afternoonn, the group teleported a half-mile from the haze, and flew, by various means towards it. Reaching it, the group entered it, finding it more like an actual barrier/membrane rather than a fog/mist and once inside, they found that there was no "mist/fog" and that visibility was fine, although the over-all light levels were much darker (making it more like dusk rather than a couple of hours before sundown), and it was rather muggy - unlike the cold temperature outside the haze. The group subsequently performed a number of magical tests to find out what was possible on the other side of the barrier:

Results:
No access to interdimensional travel or related. (For example Teleport, Dimension Door, Blink, Plane Shift, Summoning spells, access to bags of holding etc )
Although it was impossible to scry THROUGH the barrier, once on the otherside, scrying WAS a posibility, as Ella proved with her Mirror.
Other magics also seemed to work as normal (Invisibility, Mage Armour, Detect Magic/Poison/Evil, Mage Hand, Mage Armour) and magic items felt as if they would work fine.

Tests complete, the group had just about made the decision to return to outside the haze, when Skallen, Inyotef and Razen found themselves targeted by some form of hold spell. Inyotef and Skallen shrugged off the compulsion immediately, but Razen was frozen, at least till Inyotef's spell freed him. The group fled outside of the haze, having not seen what had attacked them, and after a moment, teleported to another area a few miles around the edge of the haze. Chael cast Mage's Magnificent Mansion, and the majority of the group disappeared inside, Inyotef and Apohis performing a little side journey - all the way south to Inyotef's homeland and palace - purely to obtain a non-magical back-pack for Skallen. Returning less than 10 minutes later, they too entered the extradimensional mansion, and relaxed - potentially their last night of comfort before they tackled the castle in the morning. Ella and Harold went through what they had seen in the Scrying Mirror. [Picture of castle]

4th Tarsakh "of the Storms" (April) - 1359, Year of the Serpent

The group woke, enjoyed a Heroes Feast, and made their final preparations before heading south, into the nearest ravine and the haze. They walked for about an hour, spread out with Harold and Faylar scouting up front, when a mighty undead worm appeared out of the earth, and nearly swallowed Apophis whole, but for the quick thinking of Razen. A second worm, together with a pair of other undead flying beings appeared. Faylar was swallowed, and Rua, suddenly freed from some magical binding to Faylar, fled the battle - since he had been a slave! Chael disintegrated one of the flying undead beings, who had just been saying that we were all to die for having intruded into the ravines...