gorge of fire (part 1)

[cellio]

April 27 (Friday)

We're in the gorge of fire. It's very hot here. I wouldn't be surprised if paper would ignite from exposure. So even though we're sheltered somewhat in a tunnel of hardened lava, I'm using magic to keep this paper safe. It's an interesting art -- apply just enough dampness to keep the paper from igniting but not so much that the ink runs. It took me a few tries to get it right, but I think I've got the hang of it now -- though I'm writing through a sort of cloud of mist.

The landscape here is fascinating. Even though I saw it from the tower of Optalis, I'm still stunned by it. We're in a valley that runs between two ridges with stone spikes -- teeth, you could say. We landed near one that is broken off; the parallel to Kotara-nar, Dragon's Tooth, was hard to miss. There is a stream of water at the bottom of the valley, but it's very hot. I wouldn't go in without Liandra's heat-resistance spells. The whole place is hazy with smoke and glows red much of the time. Sunset tonight was especially stunning through all of that.

It's really kind of beautiful (if grimy due to the smoke), except for the part about setting things on fire. I think my companions do not appreciate the beauty of fire as much as I do. Still, we've all benefitted from magic to clean ourselves up somewhat, at least temporarily. The smoke always comes back, it seems.

There are fire-storms that roll down from the other end of the gorge every few hours. Most of them don't make it this far, but two of them did today. We'll have more of those to face as we move on. Liandra's magic protects us from the flames, but only for a couple hours at a time. So we have to pay attention and take precautions when we see the storms getting close. And in their wake, the storms leave short-lived flaming flowers that spit bursts of lava all around. We have to tread carefully, or fly.

There is a magical effect here that I did not expect -- my cold magic doesn't always work, but when it does it's very potent. I expected cold to be effective here, but hadn't considered the possibility that fire would be so overwhelming that cold-based spells might outright fail. I thought I was sufficiently attuned to fire and cold, and the subtle differences in channeling them, but I guess not.

[Smudge]

Oops -- overdid it with the renewal of the mister. Ok, better now.

We arrived this morning via Liandra's tree-walking spell. But we are at the far end of the gorge, because there are few trees up here. Our destination appears to be about 30 miles away; we'll probably be here for three days, or maybe more if the terrain continues to worsen. It's going to be a long trudge. I miss Hrolf; he would have something amusing to say right about now if he were here.

We were attacked immediately upon our arrival. The tree we walked out of, in fact, turned out to be animated, hostile, and huge. It was also very hard; it safely ignored Kyle's attacks entirely -- and most of my magical missiles as well. That's when I discovered the problem with cold spells, too.

The creature had a large "cage" in its "chest", and as it attacked us it tried to pull us into that cage. (Liandra said she had a bad feeling about that but did not elaborate.) It was able to capture Turok, but this did not immediately harm him. Turok said it's the most comfortable creature he's been inside of, actually.

Then it grabbed Kyle and jumped off the short ledge we had landed on. Liandra and I both had the same idea, it seems -- I polymorphed into a troll and she wild-shaped into a bear, and we jumped down and applied brute force to the creature.

At that point the creature burst into flame, damaging Kyle. I was so angry that I rained down a flurry of blows with my sword, doing more damage than I think I've ever done. Liandra and Turok also hit it, and together we killed it and stomped out its embers to be sure.

So that was our "welcome" to the gorge of fire. So much for doing a little scouting before the first hostile encounter.

After some healing we began our trek. A few hours later we saw the first storm that looked like it would reach us, so Liandra applied her magic and we were able to let it wash over us. It was fascinating to feel the intense heat of the fire without being harmed by it. I've felt that in brief bursts, but never for ten or fifteen minutes of sustained exposure.

Turok is naturally immune to fire, so Liandra did not cast a protective spell on him. However, while he is immune his gear is not, and his clothing is now somewha charred. This seems like something that will only get worse, but it's not clear Liandra has enough spells to be able to cover him too. Before this is all over I may have the opportunity to study half-dragon anatomy in more detail than I would have expected.

[Smudge]

A strange thing happened as the storm passed. When it was almost over, we looked up and saw a "dragon" riding the thermals. It wasn't really a dragon -- or, at least, it did not resemble Agondre -- but it was a flying creature with two legs, and its body was twisted and scarred. It was very creepy.

I lobbed two coldballs at it but with little effect. Liandra summoned some arrowhawks, but we found that it resisted lightning about as well as it resisted cold. Magical missiles were my most effective attack -- a theme I suspect will continue through the gorge.

When it got close to us it breathed a cloud of poisonous fire at us -- it felt unholy, in fact, and it sapped our strength and constitution. We attacked with missile fire (magical and otherwise) and it dive-bombed me, swatting me with a poison-laden tail and then clawing mightily at me. We were able to take it down, but Liandra had to both heal and restore me and Kyle.

That was the first storm. During the second we waited in the water, and after it passed we saw another "dragon" made of what seemed to be solid smoke. Its eyes glowed red and it spit smoke and fire. We attacked it with missile fire and it too dive-bombed me (why am I such a popular target?), but this time I was ready and I smacked it mightily with Sunrise, and it took to the air. Its next attack was against Liandra instead, but we were able to kill it. Just after I dropped the killing missile into it, it turned toward me, bowed its head, and disipated.

I thought at first that I was imagining things -- why would it bow? But others saw it too. I think it means we are being watched as we progress through the gorge, and something is sending these not-dragons at us, perhaps trying to stop us or perhaps testing us. I hope Garrett isn't somehow behind it.

It was after this storm that we first saw the blooms. Liandra said she had seen these from Optalis, so she helped us pick a path through them. The lava is not the dangerous part, she said -- it's the tendrils that can pull you in. We managed to avoid getting snared. Turok attacked one to harvest its seed; he ate it with dinner and reported that it was very spicy. While I am culinarily curious, I was perfectly happy to leave this one to Turok.

The rest of the day was a long slog over uneven ground. We saw another storm but it burned itself out before reaching us.

As we neared sunset we began to look around for caves in the "teeth"; I thought perhaps one would have a cavity in which we could take shelter. We did find shelter, but only through violence -- as we were walking along, Kyle announced that something was below us and then a huge, black-and-red glowing thing with powerful jaws and hardened skin burst out of the ground in front of us.

Turok engaged it while I flew up. It bit Turok and set him on fire -- so much for his remaining clothing -- and then Liandra cast a quenching spell. That was quite spectacular; it put out all the fire nearby and did quite a bit of damage to the creature. I flung cold at it but it shrugged it off, and then it leapt up and attacked Turok, Kyle, and Liandra with its claws, setting Liandra on fire. Kyle was pretty badly hurt; I heard him say "I know you're on fire but can you heal me?". Liandra cast another quenching spell (on everyone) and Turok attacked it, killing it. I still had a cold sphere active, so I rolled it onto the corpse and watched its skin solidify and crumble.

After it died we saw the tunnel it had left in its wake. Liandra shape-shifted into a dire badger and burrowed out more of it, enough to give us a safe, if cramped, place to spend the night.

Comments

dates

[cellio]

Aug 24 and whenever the next session was (early September?). Sorry, failed to note it.

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

OOC notes on the monsters encountered:
- a wicker man (Monster Manual II)
- an abyssal drake (Draconomicon)
- a smoke drake (Draconomicon)
- lavabriars (WotC web site)
- magma bulette (a bulette with the fire element template from Manual of the Planes applied)

I don't think that the paper would have been at any risk of igniting--Ray Bradbury reminds me that the ignition point is Fahrenheit 451, which is far higher than the ambient air temperature. However, the misting effect (using prestidigitation, I presume) would have been impeded; you'd be certain to make the roll, but you'd still feel the need for an extra push. You might also be using such an effect to keep the ink from drying too quickly.

The wicker man was not actually the tree you came out of; there was a tree in a large pot nearby. (Which the wicker man cast into one of the lava pools as an early action, possibly indicating my abuse of the limits of its programming.)

Why am I such a popular target?
Because you're casting offensive spells. :-)

[cellio]

Thanks for the monster list. I didn't know all of those OOC, let alone IC.

I don't think that the paper would have been at any risk of igniting--Ray Bradbury reminds me that the ignition point is Fahrenheit 451, which is far higher than the ambient air temperature.

True, but there are probably sparks in the air at times too, and Larissa hasn't read Bradbury. :-)

(using prestidigitation, I presume)

That's what I had in mind. Thanks for the info on it being impeded. Fortunately for Larissa, it's a cantrip and she rarely runs out of those.

there was a tree in a large pot nearby.

Oh yes; you're right. I had forgotten that and had failed to write it down.

Why am I such a popular target?
Because you're casting offensive spells. :-)

Well sure, but I'm not the only one. :-) (I should also make it perfectly clear that this is Larissa, not Monica, whining.)