"Hand of Vecna" ???

After Demin failed to pick the lock on the silvery door he started to move away but his movement was interrupted by Pretis attacking with his pick.  Lythandar cast scorching burst in the middle of Demin, Pretis and Gofin.  This was followed by Gofin attacking Pretis and Melisana shouting "what is happening?  Why are you attacking us?"  Mara grunted that she was going after green slimy things and she moved up to attack Melisana.  Meanwhile Pretis continued with his attack on Demin and Melisana and Alhellara tried to move as far away from their former allies as possible.  Pretis and Mara kept shouting about attacking green slimy monsters as Mara followed Melisana into the Atrium.  After two rounds of battle the rampant party members sheepishly stopped attacking their allies and apologized profusely.

Gauntlet of the Hand

After the harrowing experience of grafting a Vecna relic to their body the group decided to take an extended rest.  They arose refreshed in 8 hours and immediately returned to the doorway to the Atrium.  Just as before they all could now see through the door into a room with plates of mirror-bright metal tile panels on the floor, walls and ceiling.  The walls and ceiling were covered with heavily graven relief sculptures showing Vecna exterminating thousands.  The room was lit by an eye-shaped lantern which cast a blazing yellow light upon the pile of carrion littering the chamber.  

Vecna's Dark Seduction

The guise of Vecna Stone Golem went on a rampage moving over Mara, Pretis and Lythandar, slamming each as it moved past.  Of course a few Opportunity Attacks were given to the various party members also.  Demin shot off crossbow bolts and Melisana created an area where the Golem had reduced attack, defense and saves abilities.  Gofin used ranged affects with little to show as the party discovered that the Golem's defenses were very effective.  Alhellara's use of radiant damage didn't seem to cause any additional damage but blinding the Golem helped somewhat.  Demin slowed the creature and Pretis charged and dazed the Golem.  Mara assumed the form of mountain thunder and Lythandar kept casting fire affects at both the Golem and Mara.

Skeletons in the Commissary

Mara followed Pretis into the chamber and a full out battle was joined.  While Demin, Lythandar, Alhellara and Melisana remained in the hallway firing ranged and area attacks into the room, the fighters made short work of Ignassi (the robed figure).  Meanwhile the female disciples kept up their dagger and ray attacks.  The Disciples soon fell to an onslaught of damage from Pretis, Mara and Gofin.  With the battle quickly over the group was slightly wary, waiting for the other shoe to drop as the battle felt quick and easy.  Most of the group entered the room, searching for secret or concealed doors or items.

Vecna Reborn

The first adventure that the I prepared for our current adventure was the 2nd edition module Vecna Reborn.  This module take place in the Burning Peaks region of Ravenloft.  Our group is very familiar with Ravenloft given my tendency over the 30+ years that we have been meeting.  Vecna Reborn concerns the attempt of an evil cult to bring about the rebirth of the lich god Vecna in the domain of his arch-foe Kas.  This act will free their master from his misty prison and allow him to gain vengeance upon his enemy at the same time.  A chance encounter on the road passing through the Burning Peaks between Cavitius and Tovag embroils the characters in the plot.

Vecnian Rebirth?

The party was fighting a group of Beetle Swarms that crawled out of the walls as Mara attempted to open a Vecna Reliquary.  The swarms grabbed several party members but before they could use their infected bite the heroes kept escaping via teleport or other means.  Just as the heroes were eliminating a swarm a group of crossbow wielding Fingers of Vecna entered the hallway at their back.  Alhellara positioned her Astral Defenders amongst the crossbowmen.  

In the Pits

The party exited the Reliquary of the Heart and moved to the next door to the south.  This relief carved door was also locked and trapped which Demin and Gofin eliminated.  Inside was another Reliquary this one containing an amputated shriveled foot.  There was also an ordinary door on the southern wall of this chamber.  This door did not appear to have a trap and was not locked.

Observation Chamber - Reliquary Here Reliquary There

As Demin moved into the chamber two ghouls arose from the chairs facing the crystal wall.  Demin heard some whispering and his psychic was bruised and he was dazed.  The rest of the party prepared for battle as they tried to manuver into the chamber.  Gofin headed for one of the Ghouls and soon found herself grabbed and under attack from saliva dripping jaws.  The other Ghoul attacked Pretis with a ranged attack causing ongoing psychic damage and sliding away.  The ghoul then moved up and clawed at Mara.

Archive of Secrets

The pale creature shouted "You cursed demons from the invisible moon" and moved forward towards Melisana.  The party went into attack mode immediately as Pretis move forward and planted the standard.  Demin shot his crossbow and Gofin moved up to shroud the creature.  Dopa Nu' Larseen an undead crazed creature cast a Ray of Weakness at Pretis and then moved past her to attack Melisana with his staff.  Melisana took damage and lost a healing surge.  

Command Post

Opening the doorway provided a view of a large room, 5 humans and an Iron Gorgon.  The area just inside the door was strewn with furniture making creating difficult terrain.  Demin leaped to the fore shooting a cloud of steel at several humans with crossbow and then taking an action point to target one of them again.  Lythandar and Gofin moved up as the Gorgon charged into the fray.  The mercenary humans spread out and fired crossbows at the party entering the doorway.  Pretis moved to the fore followed by Mara.  Melisana wrote the fire symbol amongst the enemy as several more mercenaries moved into a hallway leading into the room.  One mercenary was using a long bow instead of a crossbow.

Supplication Chamber

The party moved to the northern quiet door, which was locked.  Demin moved forward to try and pick the lock at which he succeeded.  Just as the lock clicked the southeastern door opened and 3 Ogres and a half-ogre charged into the Foyer.  A quick battle followed in which the Ogres threw javelins and charged forward.  The half-ogre moved to a group of adventurers and Cleaved their Souls.  Quickly the party dispatched the Ogres and Lythandar decided to inspect the room from which the Ogres emerged.

Tovag Foyer

The heroes passed through the gateway arch into the Adytum.  The entryway ran southwest to a more open area that was lit with a pallid green-yellow light.  In the foyer the characters saw 5 ghouls munching away on humanoid remains and 6 onyx statues of Vecna in various guises.  As they party approached the ghouls did not even look up from their meals, the chomping and gnashing of teeth making quite a racket.

Partly Cloudy

On entering the parallel that resembled Tovag Baragu Prime the party was immediately attacked by humans with robes on.  The group found themselves sort of backwards as the rear of the party was set upon first.  Pretis planted the Standard and the battle was on.  Soon four more Teeth of Vecna appeared and cast fire burst spells into the area of the party.  This caused considerable damage even with the Standard activated.  The group arranged itself to assail the Teeth but some found themselves hit by magic missiles and other area spells.

Ghoulbreak, Farm Isles, Lightless and ...

The hearty adventurers had decided to enter the Ghoulbreak parallel and board up the shack.  Melisana had gathered some wood, nail and a hammer from the stables and the group headed for the ghouls  Demin led the charge in and fired his crossbow at the wandering ghouls.  Alhellara entered with a Turn Undead, Gofin threw a shroud on one ghoul and hit it successfully.  Pretis and Mara entered to attack as quickly as possible.  Lythandar and Melisana headed for the shack.

Crossroads

While looking through the SW gateway the party discussed what to do next.  Try and attract the ghouls to move through the gateway and pick them off as they came through.  Charge through and try for surprise, go back and try and find another route through gateways yet unexplored.  Finally the group decided to move through the gateway two or so at a time, spreading out on the far side to try and surprise the ghouls.  As usual Demin moved in first followed by Gofin, Pretis, Mara and Lythandar.  Bringing up the rear were Alhellara and Melisana.  The party got a first attack on a couple of the ghouls but one noticed them right away and moved forward to attack.

Twisted

The group took a short rest and did some checking of the area.  They found bodies with skeletal hand and eye tattoos and also bodies with grinning skull paraphernalia.  They recalled that Iuz used the grinning skull symbol.  Looking around Lythandar found three items that indicated arcane magic.  The items turned out to be a Stormwalkers Cloak +3, a Reliable Staff +3 and Defender's Scale Mail +3.  Discussion ensued and Melisana took the Staff, Pretis the Scale Mail and the Battle Standard from the previous encounters, and Demin took the Cloak while giving his Cloak of Protection +3 to Gofin.  Just as the party started to examine the arches in this realm a group of Centaurs came out of the tents and approached the group.

Checkpoint

The hearty adventurers looked around the circle of arches.  Inside the arches more bodies, with the skeletal hand with eyeball tattoo, were found.  The inner circle was about 90' across surrounded by 16 archways standing 40' high.  Melisana decided to circle the outside of the archways looking through each to determine if there was a pattern.  Alhellara stood in the center of the inner circle monitoring the archways to see if anything moved, came through an arch, etc.

Circle of Stones

After taking an extended rest the party arose and looked over Tovag Baragu again.  It seemed to consist of several circles of stone monoliths.  It appeared to be around a mile from one side of the complex to the far side.  As the group was preparing to eat a light brunch Pretis called out saying that she couldn't stand up.  Melisana and Alhellara moved over to examine her and found her laying on the ground where she had spent the night.  Pretis was able to feel her legs but she couldn't move them or stand up.  Everyone started discussing what could have happened when Pretis said that for the last couple of days she had been having a hard time keeping up with the party.  It seemed as though this was soon after they left the library.  Lythandar recalled that they had fought the living shard in Vor Rukoth and maybe this was related.  So Alhellara prepared to perform the Remove Curse ritual and Melisana decided to attempt to aid her.  The ritual was performed and Pretis was able to regain her feet.

Quills of Danger

The party faced three Trolls attacking a flat bed wagon.  Demin, Mara and Alhellara spotted another Troll hiding in the scrub to the left of the party.  The battle was started as Gofin moved forward to shroud a Troll and attack it.  Demin fired a bolt at the hiding Troll and Alhellara blessed the party.  After the Trolls moved forward to attack the party was surprised by a sudden burst of quills from both sides of the roadway.  Out of the woods appeared two Duergar Hellcallers who moved toward the party.  Pretis and Lythandar both maneuvered around to attack the Hellcallers, Pretis seeming to move rather slowly.

Blood Grounds

The group spent an extended rest in the Library and woke refreshed the next morning.  Speaking with the Luminary did not reveal any additional information and the group decided to press on towards Tovag Baragu.  They left the library and found themselves again in the Ruby Court.  Leaving the court they followed the same path out that they came in on.  As they turned a corner in the Blood Grounds they saw before them four Dragonborn.   The Dragonborn moved menacingly toward the party and a battle was engaged.

Plagued

As the hardy adventurers made their way through the ruins of Vor Rukoth they rounded a corner and spied 5 dwarfs in a crossroads.  Several of the dwarfs had crossbows and others had cutlasses.  As they party moved forward the dwarfs moved in to attack.  Demin started by firing his crossbow at the dwarfs, the response was a flurry of crossbow bolts followed by the advancement of the dwarfs with swords.

The Fey Engine

The party caught their breath in the aftermath of the battle with the Ivy Heart and its cohorts.  Taking a short break they scoured the room but found no interesting items.  The far west area was covered with runes, so plentiful that they almost ran together.  Lythandar did an Arcana check and determined that the energy was drawn from all over the graveyard and focused near this area.  Demin check out the doorway leading south, it was open a crack.  He listened but didn't hear anything on the other side of the door.  Lythandar decided to open the doors using his Mage Hand.  Everyone moved away from the area and the door swung open.

Wild at Heart

The battle with the Ivy Heart, Firbolg Shell and Zombie Knights continues with Pretis alone with the Ivy Heart, Melisana grabbed by the Shell, Alhellara, Gofin and Mara amongst the Zombies and Demin and Lythandar trying to stay away from the enemies.  The action was hot and heavy as a Zombie moved to face Lythandar and Pretis tried to escape the ivy vine grabbing her.  Demin kept peppering the Shell with crossbow bolts as Gofin and Alhellara tried to hold off the Zombies.  

Perilous Pool

After having defeated their doubles the party took a short rest.  Several members found themselves exhausted from the two difficult encounters they had fought today but it was still early and the party ventured on.  Mara continued south to check out the rest of this area and soon found herself in the hallways the party had found as they came up from the underground passage.  Pretis said that they should pull the lever but most of the party wanted to move away from the lever fearing an attack of some kind.  Lythandar used his mage hand to move the lever and...

Death in the Dark

After killing off the Dark Angels the party discussed their options.  Lythandar pushed for going back into the tapestry room and try to find the southbound passage that seemed apparent from outside.  Mara wanted to exit back out to the west or through the secret door to the tunnels.  Other party members weren't sure which way to head, or should they just try and enter this complex again hoping to find the third "world" that Gofin and Mara had experienced earlier.  Lythandar's thought was that they should try and finish exploring the Garden of Graves before possibly entering a "world" from which no return was possible.

Dark Angels

 As Melisana investigated the statue and Pretis and Demin headed down the hallway a gray angel armed with a scythe suddenly appeared behind the statue.  Demin remembering the gray unicorn immediately fired upon the angel.  The angel responded with a burst that caught several party members in necrotic damage.  The encounter continued with Pretis charging the angel but missing and the rest of the party attacking.  Just after Gofin looped around the statue to come up behind the angel, she found herself flanked by two more angels that just appeared next to her.  The party found that their healing attempts provided less healing than normal. After Melisana cast a Brilliant Beacon of light Mara pulled the last angel into the Beacon.  Just as quickly as the angels appeared they again disappeared.

Broken Catacombs - 2

As the party completed restoring their third sarcophagus a dark shadow moved out of an unexplored hallway to attack the party.  It firstly pushed and immobilized Pretis, Lythandar and Melisana.  Mara moved up to attack the shadow and Gofin attacked with her Noose.  After Demin took a shot at the monster it whaled on Mara quickly blooding her as she felt isolated from the rest of the party.  Free to move again Pretis moved up next to the shadow, essentially bottling it up in a corner.  Demin, Gofin, Melisana and Lythandar peppered it with ranged affects while Alhellara applied healing to the party and also added her own Radiant damage.  It didn't take long before the shadow fell.

Broken Catacombs

Having just destroyed all of the gaming tables in the luxurious room the party decided to take a 5 minute rest.  Demin having gone through the trap door pushed on south in the passageway carved from native rock.  The rest of the party examined the room with Mara trying to retrieve a "magical" light from the chandelier to no avail.  Melisana did an Arcana check in the room and had a sudden vision.

Play With Us

After dispatching the "Eladrin" and the Scarab Swarms the party set about investigating the Sundial.  The burning brazier seemed magical as it revolved around a stone pillar set with a sundial.  The brazier's revolution remained constant, causing the light to move from one number to the next at intervals of one minute; at that pace , a full "day" passed every 24 minutes.  Three other runes on the floor and walls were illuminated every "hour".  Lythandar made a careful note of which runes were illuminated at each "hour", while Mara and Melisana attempted to decipher the runes or any other mystic purpose associated with the sundial.  Alhellara was intent on interpreting the runes which covered the ceiling, floor and walls of the chamber but she failed to decipher any meaning from them.  Demin moved to the only exit from the room, peeking outside while being warned by the others of the obelisks they had seen in that area. 

Damsel in Distress

After a short rest the party moved to the spiral staircase heading up into the oddly shaped building which stood on 50' stilt like columns.  Pretis lead the way up, finding an open entryway into the building.  The building walls were made up of strange curves, bend and angles with rope bridges leading out to the top of the cliff.  As Pretis entered the western end she found it mostly empty.  In the eastern area there was a table with miniature terrain elements laid out on it under some clear covering.  Mara and Melisana decided to investigate the table while Alhellara moved to the edge of the northern rope bridge.  The tableau appeared to be a map and they recognized the building in which they stood.

Campfright

Failing to get past the 3 statues two different times the party faced the 3 women once again.  Most members were satisfied to move outside the cave entrance thinking that if the Hag once again animated she could leave the area.  Maybe that is what she wanted.   So Lythandar used his mage hand to place a coin into the Crone's hand while standing some distance away but still in the cave.  As the coin dropped into her hand all three statues animated and stepped aside, providing a pathway onward.  Just behind the statues the party found a war pick lying in the cave exit.  Moving ahead they saw two exits from the cave, one headed north and another to the east.

The Hags Have It

The Cyclops guards advanced on the party and caused some initial damage using their reach to stay away from the party members.  The group countered with several attacks doing limited damage to the monsters.  The Cyclops Rambler charged forward and move right through areas occupied by Mara and Pretis and then he swung his greatsword and critically whacked Mara for 67 points of damage.  Only by use of her Bear's Endurance did Mara fail to fall unconscious.  Seeing this Melisana, Gofin and Demin hurriedly moved away from the Rambler.  The battle continued with the party knocking off several of the Cyclops Guard Minions but the Rambler was still upright and attacking. 

Loose in the Feywild

The party found themselves spread out amongst three Huge Crocodiles, each ridden by a Hag.  The encounter was on as the Crocs grabbed Pretis and the Hags attempted to claw at the party from high on the back of the Crocs.  Gofin and Demin found themselves flanking a Croc but Demin attacked and moved away leaving Gofin to battle the giant on her own.  Lythandar summoned the Hellhound (DM Note: A good move considering the Crocodiles had regenerate 5 except when they took fire damage.)  Melisana pushed the second Croc/Hag pair away form her and then cast Written in Fire causing more fire damage to the creatures..  Pretis escaped the grab and she and Mara did heavy damage to the first Croc/Hag pair  Alhellara used a Divine Glow blast to further harm two of the Crocs while granting Pretis an attack bonus.  Gofin used Shadow Jack to join the third hag riding the Croc.

Searching for the Gate

After their meeting with Paelias the party headed for the nearest "village".  It turned out to be a small out of the way burgh.  Checking around the group found that they could purchase a few magical and/or mundane items and they spent some of their gold, much enhancing the good burgher's pockets.  They asked around the village if there existed an area that was shunned by the locals (like a portal which they did not mention specifically.)  A young teen aged boy pointed them towards an eerie woods to the northwest of town off of the normal road.  The party set out for this area in the mid morning.  Soon after noon they came upon a wagon in the middle of the road, no people, no horses, just a wagon.  There was also a ring of standing stones alongside the roadway here.  Demin moved forward and noticed a unicorn inside the ring of stones, while Mara move off of the road and noticed two Displacer Beasts under two rather large trees.

Evil Begets Evil

As the adventurers moved into the room to finish off the cultist minions they heard screams from above followed by a faint chanting.  Demin, Alhellara and Pretis tried to hurry up the stairs while Gofin, Mara and the Hellhound finished off the minions.  Mara moved toward the kitchen/office where he found Virianis lying bloodied on the floor.  After giving him a potion of healing Mara asked where the attackers were.  Virianis replied that they were likely on the third floor up the stairs and to the right.  Demin finding only residents on the second floor move down the hallway and entered a room where him found a window and climbed out to a third floor window.  Alhellara grabbed a resident and asked where the stairs were.  He replied that it was beyond the door behind them.  Lythandar opened the door and 2 minions and a cultist moved out to block the party's entry.

The Plague

As the battle raged Gofin found herself amongst two elf/dryads and a harpy and she teleported out of danger, but was still bloodied.  Mara moved up to the three enemies and as Lythadar hit one of them with a magic missile Mara saw the elf/dryad shudder and begin to topple.  Only it then froze hunched over, as though held by invisible strings.  The dryad turned to glare at Mara, its eyes empty and rolled up into its head.  Faint wisps of sickly gray mist drifted from the Dryads mouth and fingertips.  It then attacked Mara and fell over.  Demin was battling an elf/dryad and a harpy and moved into the trees to hide.   Pretis and Alhellara flanked one of the elves and attacked fiercely.  

You Can Check Out Anytime You Like but You Can Never Leave

After arriving at Valuriss' hovel the party found her awaiting them.  Bratorn had come by and gave her directions to the drainage ditch after she declined to leave with him.  The party set out immediately sticking to "well lit" areas, watching the sky for reavers and hiding from troops of undead soldiers.  Eventually they found their way to the entrance.  It was more a sewer pipe than a drainage ditch, about 6 feet around, filled to about 4 feet with filth and sludge.  Gofin hopped on Mara's back to keep her head above the water.  Lythandar provided light as the tunnel was very dark.   Pretis and Mara moved forward slowly as the bottom of the drain was slippery and as the drain turned a corner Pretis saw two ghouls lurking in the shadows.

Ghoul Attack

After finding the Book of Inverted Darkness in the Shadowed Room the party explored their options.  Some members wanted to leave but didn't know how to get out of the room, Mara was for finding a way out of the windows even though the party was high above ground.  Melisana and Pretis said that the party was low on healing surges and dailies after three battles and thought the party should take an extended rest.  Others were just trying to determine how to get out of the room.  Finally the group decided to take an extended rest given that they held the keys (shaped stones) to getting into the room.  That way they shouldn't be bothered.  Watches were set and the party spent an extended rest.

The Shadowed Room

Just as Bratorn was completing his directions to the Shadowed Room an Imp and an Invisible Stalker appeared in the library with the party.  Immediately they launched into an attack.  The Imp dazed Gofin, attacked her and then went invisible.  The stalker then created a dark zone and launched an attack against Alhellara.  Meanwhile the party spread out to attack the creatures but Mara and Pretis ended up in the dark zone and were blinded.  After one round the door opened and a Priest strode into the room attacking Demin who had moved to try and block the door.  Bratorn stated that this was Hragris, his master, and leaped into the battle knowing that all was lost for him.   Two more priests entered the room and caused much damage with their dagger attacks.  

The Temple of Vecna

As the party continued up the stairway to the Temple of Vecna they saw that a large overhang was above them and that the stairway continued into the platform.  It emerged into the center of  the platform where the party saw a large white building covered with carvings of leering faces and fiendish forms.  There were red and black banners hanging down from various places.  The banners depicted a symbol of a bony, splayed hand with a leering eye in the center of the palm.  There were a set of closed double doors on the face of the large building.   Also noticed were two archways into the outer skull itself.  Melisana crept up to the eastern archway and saw that it continued for some 25-30 feet where it opened up somewhat.  Lythandar moved up to the archway and could see some tables, chairs and a sofa in the larger room.   Pretis moved to the edge of the large building while Gofin moved to look down the other archway where she saw a similar view as Lythandar had seen.

Into Cavitius

After defeating a group of shadows in the Haunted Battleground the party took a short rest and scoured the area for treasure.  Lythandar discovered a pair of Gloves of Ice which he kept being the only member of the party with a cold attack.  The party then moved on continuing down the slope of the Burning Peaks.  Ash still covered the ground which made quick movements difficult.  Soon the party came upon signs of a battle, old corpses, scraps of armor, broken weapons and fallen standards.  Just ahead the party saw a mound of bone and flesh.  It appeared that the bones and flesh of innumerable people and creatures were somehow fused together into a disgusting amalgam of horror.  This monstrosity was certainly one of the Hideous Engines that Marit and the Tovagian soldiers mentioned.  Led by Pretis the group decided to make its way around the mound at the farthest distance possible.  Just as Pretis moved within a few yards of the Engine a single skull on the top started chanting but there was no movement from the horror.