Through the eyes of other others

Evilly glinting eyes watched the adventurers as they approached the castle. The youngsters had already checked them out and reported back – a mixed bunch of travellers who had business with Gubrek’s tribe of stunted giants. The party seemed confident enough, approaching the huge glass construct without fear. Or maybe they were just ignorant of the danger they were putting themselves in.

As the party entered the building through the huge entranceway below, she glided down from the roof to hear them deal with Umzik Fasshnorian. Such an arrogant fool. Devouring his heart would be a meal to savour.

“Blah, blah, we’re here for the report.”
“Blah, blah, you must stay and rest.”
“Blah, blah {obsequious tone}, but we need to leave now to pursue the dragon. No need to waste time as we’re rested enough {slightly pleading}”

“Dragon?” “Dragon!” And there was a distinctive odour in the air, a metallic tang almost. Charging into the entrance hall, the red dragon hissed and leapt for the druid.

Through the eyes of others

“Yes”, thought the wizard, “setting up camp a few hundred feet from the edge will give us a great opportunity to survey the world below, once the dawn’s fire and water have gone by. I’m glad Leomund had a fascination for good accommodation.”

Shiny metallic eyes watched the adventurers wake up and wait for the sunrise. Sadly the Lost One was still amongst them – something she just could not understand. Maybe there was something going on that even she did not know about – something she just could not believe.

Looking up she squinted as the sun slowly rose into the sky, raining flame for miles around as it formed into its normal spherical shape for the day. But this far out there was nothing – no over-large sun today at least.

Below her, the ground shook slightly as the life-giving water started to rise up in its never-ending pursuit of the sun. Soon the whole area would be underwater and she looked with interest at the camp to see what the party would do. Set up a magical barrier of force maybe, or float up above the torrent on spell-given wings. Strangely they just watched as the water gushed out into the air and rolled, bubbling and frothing across the few short miles separating them. Initially 50 feet high, the wall slowly depleted mile on mile until, still a full 10 feet, it crashed mercilessly on the adventurers. With great force, they were picked up and bashed against the rocks strewn through the desert before being hurled over the Edge to their doom.

Desperately the druid plunged his masterwork scimitar into the sand before trying to held onto the hilt in one hand and Scooby in the other. The force of the water was too strong and he soon lost grip of both. Morphing into a large squid, he jetted through the water to try and catch the wolf before it was too late...

The monk and the priest were lifted off their feet and smashed into some rocks which luckily trapped them, bruising them badly but at the same time preventing them from being swept to certain death. The guide was almost as fortunate but the rocks, instead of being his saviour, broke his bones. As consciousness faded, limp fingers slipped from the rocks and his fight for life was soon over.

Caught on a tooth-like arrangement of rock on the very edge of the world, the Scout hung on desperately, eyes closed shut against the wash of water and sand that battered away at his body.

Cursing the world and anything within range, the wizard started casting spells at random as he fell towards the surface of the vast sloping wall just half a mile below. He laughed as the Fireball caught the druid’s pet – “damned, flea-bitten mongrel – I always hated it.” The Invisibility cloaked him just as a huge creature swept by plucking a body from the air.

The paladin tried to compose herself as she fell. Time to meet her maker and find out if her deeds had been virtuous enough to .... zzzzzzzz

With a great leap, she was aloft and racing into the vast void below the sands in search of victims to rescue. In the distance a wolf screamed in pain as it became strangely engulfed in flames amidst the waterfall. To her right the Lost One was falling faster and faster to her death. A quick breath and twist of wings was enough but ... was there another falling with the water? No, nothing else could be seen.
Shaking her head gently in dismay, she carefully laid the Lost One on the wet sand before taking to the air again.

The guide's story.

"The castle of the Fire Giants was built by the mighty sorcerer Gubrek Fasshnorian who was able to shape sand into stone and glass. The structure sits in the wasteland and bears witness to the rising sun every day. The blazing light reflected from its surfaces can be seen for miles around as if the castle was some form of lighthouse.

"Gubrek was slain in an ambush by the brass dragon who had led the giant into a trap through double-dealing and trickery. The tribe of giants, now lead by Umzik Fasshnorian, a priest of Surtur, has sworn vengeance and will stop at nothing to find and kill the duplicitous creature. To this end they coordinate efforts with the lord of the desert, the Pit Fiend, and are always on the lookout for those tainted by Chaos who would spy and plot misguidedly on behalf of the dragon.

"Rumour has it that the dragon wields a mighty artefact of crystal that, with its already considerable magical powers, makes it a really dangerous opponent. This crystal sits on top of the dragon’s treasure hoard somewhere buried under the desert. Maybe capturing the crystal would lead to the defeat of the dragon and the return of peace and justice to the realm."

What's a Bee-Vo-Whack?

After an uneventful day (spotted - one herd of camels) and night (heard - something skittering in the darkness), the adventurers were back at the Belfry en route to the Fire Giants' crystal fortress.

There to greet them were the shifting sands of the pair of swarm-shifter wights the cleric had rebuffed last time. Today they didn't seem to interested in getting too close.

The scout decided to check again for evidence of the dragon - there was a lot of sand in the building that they had just ignored last time that something with a decent burrowing skill could have conceled itself within. Two hours later, the party discovered a large depression which may have been left by a large body lifting itself out of the sand ... and a small mound of dragon poo. Not believing their collective luck, the wizard and druid took samples ... "just in case it came in handy".

By now it was getting dark outside so the party settled down indoors for the night - no need for magical shelter this time. Soon after a roar filled the air as thousands of bats left the belfrey to hunt.

During the 3rd watch, the wights decided to see what life force they could extract from the cleric and paladin. The former, on guard with the monk, battered away at the undead that was clawing at her flesh whilst the paladin was rudely awakened by the attention of the second wight.

Despite taking wounds, the wights were unable to drain any energy and quickly decided to slip back into sand. As they fled up the stairs towards freedom, the wizard managed to destroy one with magic missiles.

In the morning the party waited for the sun to rise and the water to fall. A small torrent managed to pour down through the stairs and the hole in the ceiling where the bell-rope would have been before soaking quickly into the sand. The adventurers hadn't been this close to sunrise before and the druid noticed that the ball of fire seemed to leave a trail of flame behind it for a while before becoming perfectly round five minutes later.

After a day's march the sand around them started to be dotted with chunks of what looked like glass, maybe caused by something intensely hot melting the tiny particles of stone.

Night fell on the tired travellers. In the gloom could be heard "soooo, how hot did you say it had to be to melt sand again?..."

Experience
Swarm-shifter wights (CR4) - 100 xp each
Evidence of dragon - 10 xp each except 50 xp for the scout

Commence the sterilisation process...

Realising that the dire bats seemed invulnerable to weapon blows, the monk leaped on one of them to try and bear it to the ground with his weight where the party could really lay into it. The bat was unable to fend off the leaping monk and was soon flapping irratically around, trying to bite his opponent.

The wizard and paladin, hearing the commotion climbed the sloping stairs to reach the balcony room. The paladin's arrow went straight through the wing of one of the bats and she was amazed to see the hole disappear as the skin grew back. The wizard, on the other hand, blew the bat out of the sky with a scorching ray. These new bats were definitely not as strong as the last ones and a follow-up magic missile put paid to the second just as it was about to sink it's fangs into the monk's neck.

Both bats now lay on the floor, near-death. As the adventurers watched, the dire bats changed into human form and the scout moved forward to administer healing potions, much to the paladin's surprise. Now concious, the naked pair quickly told of their gratitude at being freed from the curse put on them from a swarm of infected bats. Being merchants, they had been attacked while travelling with a caravan in the desert. The remaining members of the caraven had been eaten, leaving the two survivors to swell the ranks of the dire bats in the belfry. The cleric handed over her priest's vestments for one to wear whilst the scout used his tent as material for more clothing.

Meanwhile, the druid took pot-shots at the remaining dire bats circling above and soon brought down the last creature to have survived the wizard's fireball.

Recklessly, the merchants asked if they had time to collect their belongings before setting back to the tower with the party. The scout quickly climbed to the bell tower and liberated a sack containing 540gp, a pair of gems (460gp), a pair of magical sandals and an arcane waterskin made from the hide of a camel.

After an uneventful night, the party reached the tower of the pit fiend. The guards on the gate stopped the party and checked their papers before enquiring about the couple of poorly dressed additions to their group. The scout explained the story of how they had rescued the pair and broken the curse that had been put on them from bat bites. This aroused the interest of the guards and a short spiked devil with a large pug-like "dog" soon appeared. The strange pair soon sounded the alarm after sniffing the two merchants and the guards quickly grabbed them. Next, another pair of guards appeared to block the entrance whilst the captives were dragged off into the sand some way off. When asked, the guards replied that the infection had to be cleansed. Soon two devils carrying a barrel of oil and torches came over to set fire to the captives whilst they were still in the clutches of the guards. After a couple of minutes the screaming ceased.

The scout could be heard to somewhat coldly bemoan the loss off their embryonic trading empire.

After the party paid their adventurer's tithe (-100gp) and had the magic waterskin identified (-200gp), the scout reported their findings to the devil that had sent them to investigate the belfry, handing over the dragon scales that he had found. Most pleased, the devil gave them another mission - to contact the fire giants that lived in the glass castle where the sun rose and collect their reports on the wherabouts of the brass dragon. He provided one cryptic warning - "don't hang around".

Experience
3 dire bats (CR2) - 225 xp each
2 weak were bats (CR3) - 300 xp each