August 15, 2010 - One thing I really like about these guys (and by this, I mean the players, not just the characters) is that they never give up when the odds seem unfavorable. When one method doesn't work, they find another one instead. So when four low-level mercs - each of them just breaking in to the biz - take on an entire undiscovered temple packed with eladrin archers, Faithful, and bizarre creatures never seen outside of these holy grounds, they embrace the challenge. No matter how big that dragon is.

Whoops. Did I say dragon?

WARNING: This chapter contains spoilers for the actual adventure.

Brought to you by Brandon Neff, Trent Neff, Nathan Lauber, Parker Wright and Alan Bainbridge.

Kryxus found another marker hidden in the forest. This was the fourth one he had found. Pairing them with the two Hugh had stumbled upon there was six. Some were carved into stumps, others were overgrown stone tiles placed into the ground. The party interpreted them as pointers, leading the way. As this rate, the drow felt they had to be getting close to the temple. Kryxus called Fear over to examine this newest marker. He had been the only one able to decipher the markings and symbols. As Kryxus and Fear discussed the marker, Hugh spotted an aerial rope bridge spanning between two very old trees. He climbed up the closest tree with ease. First, he examined the bridge, finding it was not in any shape to allow any humanoid creature to cross it. Leaving the bridge behind Hugh climbed a little higher giving himself a better vantage to survey the surrounding area. Turning to face north, an enormous inverted pyramid dominated the skyline. He knew in an instant that it was exactly where they needed to go.

It took the group about fifteen minutes to reach the clearing containing the temple. They were not prepared for the immense plaza and grounds surrounding it. Barringer started out into the open area, eager to mend his wounded pride after being pounded on by the portal guardians. Kryxus thrust his arm out, grasping Barringer by the shoulder and stopped him before he bounded out into the open and gave away their position. “I smell a campfire and cooking meat. Wait here.” whispered Kryxus. With that, he darted out into the clearing using any shadow or obstacle as cover. Not wanting to let Kryxus out of his sight, Hugh silently followed behind.

Ahead lay two guard towers. As they get closer, they noticed that they have succumbed to the ravages of until centuries. The entire tower looked like it was cut in half, leaving one side standing and the other broken on the ground. The second tower seemed to be mostly intact, with large holes eroded into the stone in places. The two thieves reached the side of the second tower without alerting anything to their presence. Hugh peeked through a crack in the tower. Inside four eladrin sat next to a fire cooking a meal. Hugh pulled back from the crack and told Kryxus to circle around to the west and he would circle to the east.

"It is no secret how you feel about me," said Kryxus, " but I will not open my back up to potential attack from whatever is in the other tower. We both go this way.”

With a nod, he quietly circled to the east. As they reached an opening to the interior of the tower they assessed how to eliminate the four eladrin. “I hope you can throw that dagger of yours blind, Hugh!” whispered Kryxus and he activated his cloud of darkness. Stepping out into the opening, concealed in darkness, the two thieves let loose a barrage of metal severely wounding two eladrin. One, however, disappeared before he could be attacked. The mercenaries knew he had teleported but were unsure of where. Knowing the darkness was dissipating, Kryxus stepped back behind the wall leaving Hugh to be the only target. The remaining wounded eladrin backed away and out the opposite side of the tower. The last eladrin darted at Hugh, longsword in hand. One of them teleported, appearing in front of Kryxus with a bow in hand and fired. The bolt stuck him in the meat of his thigh. Kryxus smiled and tore the arrow free, dropping it to the ground and charged, limping slightly. The two eladrin fought bravely but were no match for Hugh and Kryxus. Hugh parried an attack from his opponent before burying his rapier through the eladrin’s chest. He turned in time to see Kryxus delicately extracting the eye from his dead eladrin.

Hugh and Kryxus ran through the tower and out the other side to see Barringer, riddled with arrows, leaning against the broken tower and Fear putting the finishing touches on the last eladrin. Seconds later three arrows struck the thieves, one hitting Kryxus in his shoulder. Another grazed Hugh’s cheek and the other struck the ground between them. Both men dove for cover next to Barringer.

“Damned elves and their bows!” muttered the big man, clearly in pain. “We came up to see if you needed help and noticed some archers hiding in this tower behind me. We kept them off you for as long as we could!”

Fear quickly joined the group. He looked in Barringer’s direction and could see him turning pale with the amount of blood loss he had lost. He belly-crawled to Barringer’s side and began to bandage his wounds. The four companions weighed their options. The eladrin archers were 30 feet above their heads with no way to get to them. Barringer suggested burning them out, winking at Fear. Just then, Hugh saw a brilliant red flare arc into the sky. He knew that others were now alerted to their presence. “We must get to the temple,” hissed Kryxus. “Let’s leave these fools behind. Our mark is in that monstrosity of a place. Enough fighting, we’re wasting time.”

The group partially agreed with the dark elf. Hugh helped Barringer to his feet and the mercenaries darted east and out of range from the eladrin snipers. Fear reluctantly put his fire-starting kit back in his pouch and looked back longingly at the tower before Kryxus dragged him along.

Far from the guard towers, Hugh had spotted a challenge. At first he thought it was some sort of charnel tower, but as he drew near, he wasn’t certain. As the mercenaries approached the massive tower, they were awestruck by its height. Standing straight and tall, the sandstone tower reached upwards of 200 feet, dwarfing the tallest trees, and only being outdone by the mind-bending temple. Indeed, although the tower stretched from the ground upwards at incredible height, the outer edges of the massive upside down pyramid still covered the sky well above the top of the tower. To the mercenaries, the tower top seemed impossibly high, but looking upwards past the tower, the temple’s sides angled up and outwards at such a distance that details were lost in a haze similar to the sight of distant mountains.

As the mercenaries crept closer to the base of the tower, Hugh noticed an odd thing: there were no openings to be seen anywhere on the tower. There were no doors at ground level, and no windows up the length. There were thin stone platforms jutting out from the tower sides at 20 foot intervals, and knotted ropes ran up the side of the tower from platform to platform. A bird, possibly an owl, circled the tower as if looking for its next meal.

Barringer craned his neck as he looked at the old ropes and the thin stone platforms. “Well, I sure as hell ain’t climbing up those weathered ropes.” He turned to the tiefling paladin as if in reassurance, “This is thieves work if you ask me.” Turning to the two rogues, he added ruefully, “Time to earn your pay, boys.”

Grinning in anticipation, Hugh walked to the nearest rope, swinging his arms in large circles to stretch his muscles, and began the climb to the first platform.

Kryxus did not seem so anxious. He stood and stared up the tower.

“Well,” sniggered Barringer, “you going up or ain’t ya?”

Snarling at the human fighter, the drow walked towards the rope and, after looking up one last time to see that Hugh was going up the next rope towards the second platform, proceeded to climb.

As the fighter and the dark paladin stood safely on firm ground, the two rogues continued the long arduous climb to the tower summit. Hugh was ascending at a slightly faster rate, and combined with his head start, would clearly reach the top first. After several minutes of climbing, Hugh reached the top and was literally nearly blown off his feet.

The wind howled in his ears and buffeted him on his narrow perch. The top of the tower was smooth stone only 3 feet thick and formed a circle over 20 feet in diameter. Hugh chanced a glance down into the hollow tower and whistled in unbelief: it was a sheer vertical drop as far down as he could see, the bottom, if there was a bottom, disappearing into darkness. A rotting cloying stench assailed the thief as he stood there braced against the wind, and several bones lay strewn about the tower’s peak.

Hugh took in the view and nearly lost his breath. He could see all the ruins, all the crumbled towers and all the broken walls in the area under the temple. He looked to the southwest and could see the broken guard towers where they had first entered the temple grounds. He could look down at the strange tube-shaped structure that had seemed so tall when Hugh had earlier attempted to climb it; it now looked like a child’s forgotten toy. They had gone there first after leaving the archers. It appeared to be some sort of broken aquaduct or tube raised off the ground. Both Hugh and Barringer had tried to climb the forty or so feet to the nearest entrance and had the bruises to prove that the higher you climb, the harder you fall. Unable to scale the ruin, they headed northeast, towards this massive tower.

Hugh looked out into the surrounding landscape and saw trees. He saw trees that formed a forest that seemed to go on forever. It seemed like he was on a world of trees save for this temple and the ancient crumbling remnants of a forgotten city. Hugh looked up.

Hugh nearly lost his balance at the impossible sight. He had felt as if on the top of the world, yet the impossibly massive temple, that huge upside down pyramid, rose to much greater heights. Even when Hugh looked straight up, the outward leaning sides of the temple continued to stretch up and out. The sight was nearly enough to drive a sane man mad with the impossibility of it all.

Hugh reveled in the feeling of being part of this experience. He felt as though he was an insect that just had its first glimpse of a larger world. Hugh’s body pulsed with ecstasy as he let his mind attempt to grasp his surroundings. He dared to close his eyes and lean into the wind, feeling weightless as though floating in the clouds. Then he heard cursing as Kryxus scrambled over the top, and reality came crashing home. Opening his eyes and turning to the drow, Hugh stamped out the thought to push the dark elf from the top of the tower, but not before imaging the sound the falling, screaming drow would make. Hugh stood smiling at the thought until a shadow enveloped them for a heartbeat before passing.

Hugh’s smile faded as he scanned the sky for the source of the shadow. Then he saw it. “No,” muttered Hugh, “it can’t be. Kryxus, look!”

The drow followed Hugh’s pointed finger and beheld the source of the human’s terror… a green dragon was circling above the two small mercenaries on the tower top. The dragon screeched and began a wide banked turn, aiming for the sandstone tower.

“He’s going to ram the tower,” shouted the drow. “We must get off this tower, now!” The drow scrambled over the side clutching the rope he had just finished climbing and began to descend. The rope slipped through the sweating hands of the rushing drow and he fell.

Seeing the drow fall, Hugh went over the edge and down the rope, descending as fast as he dared.

Kryxus fell to the next platform and held on for dear life. Gasping for breath, he rolled off the edge, reaching for the rope. He managed to descend past the next several platforms, but then fate frowned on him again. He fell as he scrambled down the rope, slamming into the next platform. Battered and bruised, the drow craned his neck to see the dragon racing towards the tower at full speed, seeming to aim at the very platform the drow now stood upon.

Hugh fared much better, and had only a few scrapes to show for his rapid descent. He looked down to see the drow standing on a platform and facing away from the tower. Hugh looked to where the drow was staring and saw the dragon in its rapid approach. From Hugh’s perspective, the dragon would hit the tower below where Hugh now stood. Knowing that death was quickly approaching on reptile wings, Hugh leaped from the platform and fell for a few seconds before attempting to grab the rope. Right now speed was more important than finesse.

As he was descending as fast as he could without actually freefalling, Hugh felt the tower shudder as the dragon made impact not far above Hugh’s head. The jolt made him lose his grip on the rope, and he fell fifteen feet to the next platform. Rocks and debris began to rain down all around him as the tower started to collapse. Battered, Hugh rolled off the ledge and made a desperate grab for the rope, sure he was only seconds from death.

Kryxus made it safely to the ground. The drow looked around and saw Barringer and Fear running towards a crumbled section of wall in the near distance. Limping from a turned ankle, he hobbled after them.

Amid the dust and falling portions of the crumbling tower, Hugh fell the final 10 feet to the ground below. Risking a final glace above him, he saw the dragon veer off and fly towards the temple. Grimacing at the knowledge that they would most likely meet up with the dragon eventually, if they lived that long, Hugh sprinted towards his fleeing companions.

Past Articles

Missed a previous article or did you want a PDF version of something you've read here before? Then you're in luck because we have every previous Dark Emerald article right below, in alphabetical order and dated in brackets.

Adventures of the Misunderstood: Guidelines for Running a Mercenary Campaign (May 15, 2010)
Contains 7 crucial elements to running a full-blown merc campaign without having your players storm out in anger...