Wamp Fever

"Lets get this last trip to the Dreamlands underway," Ciprian suggested as night started to fall.

"I'd rather wait until the next day.  Maybe I won't be so tired," Erevel countered.

"I'd rather wait also," Paullus entered his vote.  "These damned nightmares are causing a passel of problems."

"Okay," replied Ciprian as he headed to the cabin to continue his reading of the Pnakotic Manuscripts.

The next day dawned with Paullus again falling under the Nightmare Dreams madness but the group decided to head to the Dreamlands anyway as they were anxious to find the last gift for The Mad Poet. 

Toward midnight as the rest of the crew had secured the Sellen Starling for the evening, the party again began the Dreamlands Excursion ritual.  Ciprian, Ursina and Armania began chanting the incantation while they passed around the miniature staircase, feeling each of its 70 steps. With each passing, the staircase appeared a bit heavier and a bit larger. Ciprian dropped the miniature staircase on the ground as the incantation was completed.  A portal opened where the staircase landed, revealing steps leading downward as usual.  This worked even though they were aboard the Sellen Starling.  Down the stairs the group headed once again.

The tall buildings of a large city pressed in around a wide square. The sky was low and leaden, and a feeling of oppression and abandonment hung in the air along with a powerful, unpleasant odor of decay. A few scraggly plants formed from yellow ceramic stood in window boxes on the buildings, and a few trees of the same ceramic composition clustered together in a nearby park. The buildings were all constructed of stone and the same yellowish ceramic material.

"What could possibly have happened here," Armania wondered.

As the party head to the east(?) a group of ghasts emerged from the shadows of the buildings and

immediately attacked.  The battle went relatively easily for the party as Erevel was able to kill the creatures in a couple of successful swings.  Paullus on the other hand found himself paralyzed and just as he would overcome the effect a ghast would attack again and he found himself paralyzed.  Luckily the creatures had no weapons and were not able to apply a coup de grace.  Just as the group had rid itself of several of the monsters a few more emerged from the shadows, growling and snapping as they attempted to kill the party.  Several party members became sickened from the ghast stench.

Ciprian started a Bardic Performance against the ghasts. Ursina began attacking with undead damage spells.  Armania fired magic missiles and Gavril attempted to flank the damned things before they could paralyze any more of the party.

After the party had dispatched the creatures and applied some healing, several more ghasts approached with their hands in the air.  They made motions implying attack and did not move close to any of the party.  Three of the ghasts moved to the fore and in gruff voices spoke to the party.

"We are Kharesto, Millahna and Utrenk.  Please forgive out fellow townspeople, we are very hungry and they could not resist the possibility of tasting some live flesh."

The ghasts explain that they are hungry because strange multi-legged creatures have occupied their
cemetery.  They do not know what the creatures are but they have 9 legs with red webbed feet.  

"The creatures are eating the dead we had saved judiciously for ourselves," Kharesto stated.

"What happened to your city?" Armania queried.

Millahna explained that Arventon was once a living city in the Dreamlands, it was struck by a terrible disaster nearly a century ago. All items not made of stone immediately petrified into pale yellow ceramic. This petrification afflicted most of the living creatures in Arventon as well: people, trees, and vermin were all transformed into ceramic statues where they stood. The only exceptions to Arventon’s petrification were a few hundred of the city’s residents, who became ghasts instead. These ghasts have formed a society within Arventon, although none of them know why they were spared the citywide petrification.

"We were suddenly subjected to the relentless hunger for flesh afflicting all ghasts. We turned to the city’s large, old cemetery for sustenance. The corpses of the dead interred beneath the cold soil had
somehow been spared the weird petrification. The city’s cemetery became our larder, and we “protected” the cemetery by positioning ceramic sculptures around the cemetery’s iron fence and whispering prayers to our inscrutable gods to keep the cemetery safe." explained Utrenk. 

"Weeks ago, a group of bizarre corpse-eating beasts came to Arventon. Individually stronger than the us, these creatures invaded the cemetery and now gorge themselves on the corpses that the we had so carefully rationed." Kharesto added.

The group then pleaded with the heroes to head to the cemetery and eliminate the creatures.  They promised free passage throughout the city, as well as some treasures discovered in a city vault if they could slay or chase off the dangerous beasts.

After talking the offer over and getting directions to the cemetery, the heroes agreed as they needed a red webbed foot in any case.  Taking their leave the party headed to the cemetery.

The stinking, ceramic city opened up into an enormous cemetery dotted with mausoleums, monuments, and headstones. The cemetery stretches for nearly a mile in every direction and is ringed by a tall iron fence. A section of the fence was knocked inward, allowing access to the lumpy ground of the cemetery. Outside the fence, a wide ring of ceramic statues stood vigil, facing inward toward the cemetery.

The party approached cautiously as they did not see any creatures among the headstones and

monuments.  The ceramic statues were all humanoids seemingly sculpted in activities such ans walking, speaking, or eating, as though petrified in the middle of ordinary daily activities.  As Armania approached the fallen part of the fence two of the statues came to life.

Armania's initial reaction was to turn invisible, there was no indication that the statues would attack at this point.  Gavril and Erevel held their actions waiting to see if the creatures would move to attack.  Ursina moved into the midst of the crew ready to cast prayer.  

One statue moved toward Paullus and Erevel reacted to follow it there.  The Guardian attacked Paullus with a longsword in one hand and a shortsword in the other.  The Guardians still appeared to be made of the yellow ceramic but they were certainly humanoid and moved without issue.

As Erevel and Paullus attacked they found that the creature had some kind of damage reduction against their slashing and piercing weapons.  Ursina cast prayer on the group and Ciprian identified the creatures as form of terra-cotta warriors.  He started a Bardic performance against them.

The other Guardian moved to attack Gavril who responded with his own feint using Red Destiny.  Again both the longsword and the shortsword were used in the attack and Red Destiny was reduced in damage.

Armania tried to cast magic missiles but it seemed that the Guardians had some amount of Spell Resistance and the missiles fizzled.  Ursina moved up to attack a Guardian with her holy book, which inflicted bludgeoning damage.  This attack bypassed the damage reduction.  Paullus attacked with his vorpal scimitar, Erevel changed to her mace and Ciprian next to Paullus and gave him a mace and attacked with his own mace.

Gavril and the other Guardian continued to attack each other.  Erevel broke the first Guardian into ceramic shards and he and Ciprian moved down to help Gavril with the second Guardian.  This one also broke into ceramic shards as the party breathed a sigh of relief.

"The ghasts did not tell us about any other creature.  They were either hiding the fact or maybe they didn't know about it," Armania said with concern in her tone.

Paullus sent Barnabas to scout the cemetery and he returned, flapping wildly, an indication that

something was in the cemetery, even if they could not be seen by the party. The group gathered its wits and headed into the graveyard, where the ground was lumpy and broken with caskets and dirt spread haphazardly all over the area, the group found movement difficult in this terrain.  There were many mausoleums and gravestones but the party saw no red footed creatures until they moved further into the cemetery.  Erevel stopped when he saw three nine legged, red footed creatures behind the stones and buildings, while Ursina and Paullus saw one of the same.

Armania identified the creatures as Wamps but received no other information.  Ursina again cast prayer for the party.  Paullus fired arrows at a Wamp before it could move up next to him.  Several of the Wamps moved, one toward Erevel another to Gavril.  Paullus found that a Wamp from the north had come down next to him.  While a fourth came from farther to the east and headed toward Armania.  Gavril attacked the Wamp next to him.  Then two more Wamps moved, another next to Paullus and the second attacked Armania.  Gavril found himself in a weakened condition after being bitten by the Wamp.  Several members felt scared from some miasma that was excreted by the Wamps.

Ciprian identified the creatures as Wamps and found that they could inflict the disease Zombie Rot, they are blind, but have Blindsight.  They are immune to Disease and Paralysis.  He then began a Bardic Performance and moved closer to the center of the action.  Erevel, using once again her Greatsword hit the Wamp in front of her.

Armania moved back from the Wamp and cast Fireball, which encompassed three of the enemy.  Ursina moved in to attack one of the Wamps threatening Paullus.  Paullus pulled his vorpal scimitar and began attacking with it.  

The Wamps attacked, Paullus and Erevel were bitten but seemed to take no ill effects.  Armania was again threatened by a Wamp but it missed hitting her.  Gavril kept up fighting the best he could while Ciprian cast Good Hope.  Erevel swung the greatsword, which did its work effectively.

As the battle raged on Ciprian was bitten but unaffected, Armania kept retreating with Dimensional Steps, with the Wamp following her each time.  She attacked with her wand of scorching ray.  Gavril and Paullus both started to fall low on energy and stamina but kept up their attacks.  Erevel finally killed one of the Wamps followed closely by Gavril.  Ursina and Paullus got rid of one Wamp and Armania began attacking the Wamp closest to Paullus.  

Ciprian and Gavril flanked a Wamp, which soon fell.  Finally all of the Wamps were dispatched and the group drew breath and started healing the most severely injured fellow members. A red webbed foot was cut from three of the Wamps to secure them as the gift they need for the Mad Poet. After that was complete the party began looking around for magic and other treasure in the disrupted landscape.  Among the ordinary items they found a silver ring and a gold ring.  Items of magic were a necklace and a silver bracelet.

Now the serious business of getting rid of the Zombie Rot disease began.  Certain potions were used for some and a restoration was done on Gavril.  Spells were used on others and the group felt sure that they had all been cleared.  At this point they decided to head back to the ghasts to collect their reward.

The ghasts were mightily glad on hearing that the group had routed and killed the Wamps and rewarded the group with equipment they discovered in an armory in the city.  There was a shield, a bastard sword that seemed to be lighter than usual and a mantle.  All were magical and before they left the Dreamlands the group attempted to identify the magic items.

Necklace of Fireballs (type VI)

Bracelet of Friends

Lions Shield

Sun Blade

Mantle of Spell Resistance

Rod of Withering

Then the party attempted to wake and found themselves on the deck of the Sellen Starling just as dawn broke.

DM's Notes:  The party earned 5000 XP for the two nights and now have 73521, needing less than 2000 more to reach ninth level.