Showing posts with label H3 - Pyramid of Shadows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label H3 - Pyramid of Shadows. Show all posts

Monday, March 2, 2009

Chapter 13 - Karavakos (The Pyramid of Shadows - Part 3)

Now on the third level of the Pyramid, they face a real labyrinth of Souls, guarded by four-armed skeletons and ghosts. After a difficult battle, in which Fermin and Galen lose their lives, the party overcomes the threat and retreat to regain strenghts.

Back into the fray, they enter in a chamber rapidly obscured by magical fog, as many stealthy creature ambush them in the darkness. The heroes rapidly retreat, and decide to explore a different wing of the complex.

They face several Battle Wights in ancient catacombs, a Skull lord and his Vampire minions in an unholy chamber dedicated to undeath, and finally one more splinter of Karavakos' soul in a chamber completely built from bones... bones who still answer to the commands of Karavakos!

After a difficult fight the Heroes defeat Karavakos and his Ogre skeleton guardians, and aquire the third key to reach the inner sanctum of the one true Karavakos.

Facing 3 magical doors, our heroes deiscover the secret combination to open them, and finally reach the top of the Pyramid, where they must face TWELVE Karavakos!

Luckily, only one of them is the real necromancer, and the group manages to bring him on the edge of destruction. Filled with arcane energies not anymore under his control, Karavakos literally explodes in a flash of eldritch light, destroying part of the Pyramid.

The Head of Vyrellis floats in front of the heroes, and after thanking them, she utters the words: "It's time to go back home".

The party is blinded by radiant light, as all around them disappears.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Chapter 12 - Nightmare Invasion (The Pyramid of Shadows - Part 2)

The upper level of the Pyramid seems to be infested by nightmare creatures called Felspawn. Our heroes have a first encounter with the maddening creatures, who seem to share this level of the Pyramid with ice-related creatures.

Our heroes decide to face the cold regions first, and meet several Eladrin Winter Knights, before entering into the lair of an Adult White Dragon. After failing with diplomacy, the group defeats the Dragon in combat, and obtain the final shard of Vyrellis life-force.

On their way out from the glacial danger, they face a Medusa and her blind Ogre servant. During the battle, Thyghor is petrified by the gaze of the monster, and then crushed by the Ogre. The groups mourns this loss.

After solving the riddle of illusory doors, they get back to the madness-infested zone, where they enter weird corridors, apparently made from living, oozing gray flesh. As they explore this horror, they're attacked by more Felspawn, the masters of a Destrachan and a Grick. As one of the creature dies, its corpse is "eaten" by the fleshy ground, and several corridors are sealed by flesh walls. Then, acid starts to spread in the enclosed corridors. As the situation grows worse, our heroes manage to kill off the last creature.

Galen is down, and the others are slowly but surely dying from the acidic gas. As the last drop of life seems to escape them, Druss manages to open a gash in one of the fleshy walls, and our heroes escape to safety.

Still mourning the death of Thyghor, the heroes continue the exploration of the Pyramid, and meet Zakonik, a huge Minotaur Barbarian. Zakonik considers himself the real ruler of the Pyramid, that he calls "his Labyrinth" and joins the party to kill Karavakos and rule the place once and for all.

Togheter with him, they face more Foulspawns in their own encampment, and proceed to meet one more "version" of Karavakos, this time as a deformed creature of the Far Realm, entrapped in a magical prison slowly descending into the Nightmare lands.

They recover one more key to the Sanctum of Karavakos, and proceed to the upper level of the Pyramid, apparently infested by Undead creatures.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Chapter 11 - Princess Vyrellis (The Pyramid of Shadows - Part 1)

Our heroes return to Winterhaven, where they meet their mentors, and re-unite the slaves with their families. After a short de-briefing with the General, it is clear to all that the heroes' paths are not the same as the Company of the Red Gauntlet and the General releases them from their duties, wishing them good luck for their further, amazing adventures.

The heroes follow the map found on Paldemar's body, and reach an ancient forest. There, they're ambushed by some bandits, but easily take care of them. In an opening in the forest, they find a miniature, shining pyramid laying on the ground, approximately where the Pyramid of Shadows should have been.

A ghosltly tiefling appears to them, revealing to be some sort of guardian of nature. Prompted by the heroes, the image reveals that many secrets await, if only they'll take possession of the pyramid. As they touch the pyramid, the heroes are sucked in the minute object, as the Tiefling's voice spreads around them, mocking them "Welcome to the Pyramid of Shadows... to get free from this place, you'll have to find me and kill me..three times!".

Our heroes find themselves in some sort of refuse pit, as an evil Ettin giant tries to cut their heads, and make them trophies. After fighting him and a couple of carrion crawlers, the party finds among the possessions of the Ettin a magical orb.

The orb reveals to contain the soul of Vyrellis, and ancient Eladrin princess, once wife of Karavakos the tiefling necromancer. The head offers to help the heroes navigate the Pyramid, so that they may all escape. Galen, being the only eladrin in the group, carries the orb.

They face sahuagin barbarians, lizard men hunters, and a horrifing otyugh, the Charnel Lord, as they explore the most rotten part of the weird madness that is the Pyramid.

During their exploration, they recover a moonstone, precious gem that seems to interest princess Vyrellis, although she does not reveal further details about it.



The heroes enter in the Arboreum, a section of the Pyramid ruled by weird plant creatures colled Arboreans. After failed negotiations, they find themselves facing the creatures, and their fearsome druidic powers.

After a well-deserved rest, they complete the exploration of the Arboreum, and discover a region of the Pyramid occupied by a gang of bandits, led by Gharash Vren the Dragonborn. Gharash persuades the heroes to face a "small trouble" he has, namely, one of his former gang member, now turned Werewolf. After the group has handled the beast, Gharash betrays them and orders his man to attack them. Unfortunately for him, our heroes are not so easily beaten, as they manage to subdue the bandits, and take possession of their hideout.

The day after, they finally make their way to the Library, where they face enigmatic creatures called Thought Eater, who apparently feed on knowledge, written or directly from the memories of unfortunate victims. The Thought Eaters are at the service of Arat Karavakos, one of the splinters of the soul of Karavakos. As our heroes defeat him in a difficult fight, they retrieve from him an adamantine key, engraved with mysterious runes, and a riddle.

Further on, they enter a room where the headless corpse of Vyrellis in entrapped in a magical cage. They disrupt the cage, but unfortunately the corpse has been corrupted by Karavakos, and attacks the heroes with unbridled fury. Witnessing the destruction of her corpse only enrages Vyrellis more, and, from her glass orb prison, she once again swears vengeance to Karavakos. Our heroes then face frozen undead and an Ice Demon, and ultimately flying creatures on the stairs that give access to the second level of the Pyramid.