This is my Boomstick

Some times, the patrol forces in the large cities of Zolarion need more firepower than crossbows provide, but don't have time to return to barracks to get a mage. Wands of fireball are expensive, and dangerous in the hands of the sometimes unreliable hands of Eastern Solaria's peacekeepers. Enter the boomstick! Depending on anticipated needs, a patrol may carry one or two of these portable artillery items -- enough to make a difference in a quick siege, but not so much firepower to alter the balance of power between the criminal syndicates and the law.

A 'Boomstick' is a single use wand. When pointed at a square and the command word ('Boom') is uttered, a fireball will erupt in that square, dealing 3d6 damage in a 10' radius. The wand will the disintegrate into dust, its magic spent.

Session 71: Showdown with the Wolf Spider

After returning to Darkshelf, six pieces of the rod in tow, the party met up with Qadeej to plan their next step. He told them that the last piece was being held in the Citadel of Chaos, where Miska was imprisoned in the abyss. The Abolitionists prepared a series of spells, readying for the battle that surely awaited them. The magic users protected the party from poison, and gave them the ability to fly before Qadeej took them to the 87th layer of the Abyss.

The 87th layer is dark, with themes of black and red. Most of the plane consists of interconnected spider webs the size of tree trunks, where spyder-fiends run and hunt whatever creature is unlucky enough to find themself on this layer. A howling wind dominates the layer aurally, and it is said that at times it is loud enough to drive men mad. The citadel of chaos is a massive fortress guarding the plane, roughly a 1/2 mile on a side and dominated by a keep complex whose towers run 700 to 900 feet high. A shimmering white barrier encloses the castle, the cocoon of law that keeps Miska imprisoned.

The journey to Miska's home was harrowing, Qadeej's planar chariot pummeled by the chaos of the Abyss. Qadeej circled the castle, and he noted a gap in the southeast corner. "That must be where the spyder-demons took the last piece through the curtain." He let them down on the western wall, and told them he'd wait to bring them back. Volodemir took out the rod, and it pointed to the central portion of the keep, southeast and somewhat above them.


The castle was strangely quiet, and free of dust and webs. There was a gate made of a strange silvery metal, trapped with hidden blades, that turned out not to be locked, and then some stairs took them up to Miska's apartments. The suite was silent, the floors black marble, and the walls had a mosaic of white, black, and red tiles. The rod pointed to the center, so the party went straight there. Upon entering the central room, Gahl'akr spotted the seventh piece of the rod sitting on a knee-high altar of white marble. Volodemir moved up towards the rod, and three spyder-demons, a raklupsis and two phisarazus, burst in. Unfortunately for the fiends, the abolitionists had grown strong, and they posed no threat. Volodemir took the last piece of the rod, and in no time at all he had the entire rod assembled. Miska then teleported into the room.

Miska is an enormous, armored spider, 15' long. He has three heads. The central head is human and stunningly handsome; two sleek and terrible wolf heads flank the human one. He has four massive human arms covered with long, stiff hairs. The fur on the wolf heads in rust red, as are the hairs on Miska's arms. His human head has long, flowing hair as black as a moonless night. His spider body is blue-black, like a knife blade discolored by a flame, and marked with bands of gray, silver, and blue. His arms are as white as bleached ivory. He roared, and with a single punch caused Volodemir to drop the rod and flee from the room. The battle was joined!

MacGuyver found his weapons useless against the demon lord, but Gahl'akr hewed mightily with his greatsword, taking massive hits from Miska in return. Flint grabbed the Rod dropped by Volodemir, and beseeched Adreham's aid against the foe. Lynnya peppered him with arrows, and Varis unleashed a plague of insects in his face, but nought availed until MacGuvyer pulled the Iron Bands of Bilarro from his pack. One perfect toss and the fiend was caught, unable to burst his bonds. In response, he exploded in a flurry of webbing, and Varis, Goblin, and Flint were trapped in acidic cocoons. The fight continued bitterly, with Gahl'akr shaking off anything the demon spider could deal out. Varis used bursts of eldritch power to blow the cocoon open, magic streaming to injure the trapped wolf-fiend. Goblin teamed up with his spiritual weapon to burst his silken coffin, and dealt Miska a blow that left him unconscious. Flint was freed from his enclosure, and he took the Rod and stabbed Miska through the heart. The erstwhile king of demons was dead, but the rod shattered, and its pieces scattered as if flung by a giant hand.

After Miska's death, the castle began to fall apart, and spider webbing the size of a purple worm began to plunge through the keep. The party fled to the rampart where Qadeej was to meet them, but he was gone! With few options left, Goblin prayed for divine intervention, and the party was astounded to see Vassa herself appear, clad in her leather armor, bearing her trademark whip and eyepatch. "I would not normally come myself," she stated, "But it appears you have done us a great service. Here, let me take you home." With a crack of her whip and a crack of thunder, a lightning bolt came down around the party, and they reappeared at Arquestan's manor, safe and sound.

Session 70: Bargain with the Devil

The Abolitionists made quick work of the cloakers, only pausing briefly to laugh at Gahl'akr when he flailed about, trying to remove the creature attached to his face. The rest of their explorations outside the temple yielded no fruit, so they returned to finish exploring the interior. Down a corridor on the south end of the temple, they found three rooms, and elected to start with the southernmost. Inside, they found a cadaverous mummy, and immediately attack. The fight is more difficult that the fight against the cloakers, but with the help of a well-timed insect plague, Deitrich went down.

That chamber contained nothing of interest, but to the north the Abolitionists found a well-appointed room with a handsome gentleman who introduced himself as Ulthut. He asked what they were doing in the temple, and perked up when they said they were collecting the pieces of the rod. He said he had been guarding a piece for Arquestan, and inquired what the party intended to do with it. Once the party promised to retrieve the next piece of the rod, he handed them the sixth piece, and told them the seventh piece was in Pandemonium, inside of Miska's citadel, and they would have to go there next.

Session 69: The Forgotten Temple

Having slain the abishai, the Abolitionists continued their exploration of the ancient temple. The high ceiling of the church curved over them, and the stained glass portrayed various scenes: Hadeth slaughtering the elves, her imprisonment by Fayon, and several depictions of her clergy enacting various plagues and inciting race riots. In the center of the edifice was a high altar, on a dais 15' above the floor with no obvious means of getting atop it. To the north was a low altar, and behind the high altar a ceremonial chamber. Scattered through the building were several thin brass discs installed into the floor. Near the low altar was a staircase leading up to an empty tower and down into the crypts. South of the high altar was a corridor, and a door leading outside. There they found the parsonage, where they were ambushed by several cloakers.

Session 68: The Death of Avianca

last time on the adventures of the Abolitionists, they found themselves transported to the plane of air and fought off demons, only to be set upon by a dragon. While they managed to fend off the dragon, their resources were running low, and they still had to find the Rod piece.

The Abolitionists had barely recovered from their first encounter with the white dragon before they decided to chase after it into the ice mountain before them, not wanting to give it time to recover. Kroseek flew ahead and took a quick survey of the mountain. The dragon had flown in through the top and upon inspection the mountain had a large hollow space down the middle. Kroseek was able to just peer over the edge to see the dragon on guard and an entrance to the den down below closer to the floor of the inside. He flew back and the party discussed their options.

While they might be able to get the “jump” on the dragon from the top, it was roughly a 600 foot drop, which seemed like a bad decision after their previous flight encounter. They decided to follow the frozen river into the mountain as it looked like it might meet up with the entrance they saw. They made their way up the river until a path split off going up. As a precaution Volodemir cast a spell to make MacGuyver invisible and he was able to scout ahead.

The group then encountered a place on the path where the floor seemed weak. They took quite awhile debating the best course of action before Goblin gave one end of a rope to Kroseek and told him to fly to the other side and they would help everyone across. MacGuyver quickly ran across the rope with deft elven agility. (insert Luke’s character’s name here) the half-elf was next the cross. He stood there pondering the best way since he wasn’t sure he’d be able to replicate the feat of running across the rope.

Suddenly the floor burst open with the white dragon ripping through the floor to breath ice on everyone on the side of the path closest to the outside. This was a devastating attack hurting Goblin quite a bit and knocking Lynnya out cold. Volodemir while hurt quickly told a joke infused with magic. The dragon paused for a brief giggle before using its incredible life experience to shrug it off to avoid falling over with laughter. Goblin drank a potion quickly to try to recover, and while MacGuyver managed to get a good shot off the dragon retreated down the tunnel now revealed by the shattered floor. Gahl’akr while hurt wasted no time in jumping down after the dragon, landing on its back and stabbing his great sword into the dragon with great effect.

Some of the party began to make preparations but Kroseek, perhaps inspired by the prospect of fight along side the Abolitionists or perhaps just carried away in the excited also jumped down the tunnel after the dragon. Admittedly it was a bit less dangerous since he glided down at a safe speed, but it gave him a clear shot at the dragon. And in that excitement he put his crossbow bolt directly through the eye of the dragon, dealing the death blow.

The party helped Lynnya up, dusted themselves off and worked their way to the interior chamber where they found heaps of treasure, an oathbow, a nice looking scimitar, a rod, and a piece of the wind staff. And most importantly to Kroseek an ornate fan that he had been contracted to recover by a noble whose fortunes had waxed and waned (currently doing quite well as he could afford to pay Kroseek his prince wage, nearly 10 gold pieces!).

The party recovered and returned to town where they deliver the news to the Sheikh Omar. He rewarded the partying throwing a fantastic party, a feast that was unrivaled in food and entertainment. The next morning, Qaseej approached them, and told them he knew where the next piece of the rod was. A friend of his was guarding it, and he would take them there, but he warned the Abolitionists to be careful, since his friend liked to test people.

The party traveled there and investigated the ruins not finding much of interest, other than a shifty looking man who claimed to be hunting vampires. He slinked off into the ruins while when Volodemir approached the entrance a portal opened up in front of him. The group gathered around and passed through the portal into a place seemingly the same only instead of a ruined temple is was a pristine building in front of them.

Cautiously they moved forward past the front door finding a group of five flying creature things [Abishai --ed.]. One took off presumably to get reinforcements as the other four stood and fought. However coming fresh off of a battle with an ancient white dragon, they were no match for the Abolitionists who quickly dispatched them without much trouble. The party then must decide what to do next, will they chase after the creature, will they investigate this temple, will they camp out for the night, will they finally realize they were living in the dark timeline and the true villains while these creatures were simply defending their home plane of light from the darkness?

Session 67: The Broken Isle

Standing on a beautiful floating island, surrounded by other beautiful floating islands, sounds like a wonderful place to vacation. Not necessarily one to come across flying pig-faced demons chasing a birdman. This was our situation though. We’ve seen and experienced some strange things, but our surroundings have never been in such stark contrast to our present predicament.

Enter Crow. When we first saw him, he was being chased by two flying pig-faced demons. Pigs flying - it's officially happened! I thought it was an ambush, as did one of our number who was about to blast him with a Hex when he begged for our help. Gahl'akr was excited to engage with these demons and ran straight into a melee. I suppose if you are a demon and you see someone run toward you, there are probably two thoughts that go through your head: either they are insane or they know they might be able to  wreck you. So, they did what they knew would be the best approach: they teleported to the other side of the group to engage with those that did not attack them. Gahl'akr made it back to the fray and with a little help from Goblin was able to put one of the demons down permanently. The other, seeing its companion downed, decided it was time to go and teleported to who knows where. Introductions were made all around and our new Aarakocra friend, who was on his way to the dragon’s lair, decided to come with us to aid us in our quest.

Seeing that our destination was at hand, we were excited to get on with our search. The downside was the distance to our goal. Looking down on the island that we needed to get to, the distance looked somewhere around 300 or more feet away. How many magic users does it take to solve this problem? All of us, it seemed. A decision was made: the magic spell of "Flight" would be cast on the stronger members of the group. Goblin, Gahl'akr and Volodemir would carry the lighter members down to the island destination. 

The island destination below us was covered in frost, snow and ice. We knew the piece of the rod we were seeking was with an ancient frost dragon. Our hope was that we would catch this legendary beast asleep or at least unaware. Sadly, the gods did not smile down upon us. During our controlled decent down to the island the beast attacked. Goblin could only fly so fast with a spell cast on him and carrying Flint. The creature opened its maw and breathed frost on Goblin and Flint during their decent. Goblin nearly lost consciousness and pooped his pants. Seeing death’s door, he flew with as much speed as he could muster. The effort got him to within 30 feet of land but that was the most luck that he and Flint would receive. Plummeting to the ground with Flint, the effort was too much and left Goblin closer to death’s door than he’d ever been. One more attack from the dragon and Goblin would be dead! With the creature high in the sky, there was little the group could do to fight it off. Goblin has never been much of the healing kind of cleric. There is one bit of healing magic that is usually kept in reserve for these specific circumstances: it was do or die time for Goblin. Casting "Heal" on himself, Goblin was revitalized and weighed the options of fighting such a beast. There was little time to organize with the group before the creature could do another flyby. But, for reasons unknown to itself the beast decided to fly off and leave us to lick our wounds and take stock.

Confused and a little afraid, we decided to take a short rest and prepare ourselves for the task at hand. Time to finish our task or die trying.....

To the Isles of Infinity, and Beyond!

After the death of Arquestan, the Abolitionists set to researching what to do next. Thanks in part to MacGyver's research skills, they found a travel guide in the wind duke's library. Apparently, the Isles of Infinity were a sort of resort for planar beings of leisure, located on the plane of air. The party discussed their options, and Flint suggested he call a planar ally, a kirin, and negotiate with it to transport them to the Isles. The others agreed, and after a couple days fortifying the manor both physically and magically, Flint summoned the rainbow-hued unicorn. She agreed to transport them if Flint gave up the gem "The Heart of the Heir" and owed her a favor. They shook hands/hooves, and Flint also offered her a ring of fire resistance as a gift. She accepted graciously, and their business being complete, with a wave of her mane, the party was off.

The Abolitionists appeared on a normal appearing islet, about 200 feet long, and surrounded by water. Looking around, they noticed three things. First, there was a wooden sign in front of them with writing in a strange language. Second, on the other end of the islet, there was a small white platform. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the islet was floating in an empty void. Sure, there were several other islands surrounding them, but for the most part, all they could see was the bottom of Ardenest above them, devils flitting about its open holes, and the swirl of the elemental chaos below, draining into the abyss.

Flint was able to use his divine magic to read the driftwood sign, which read:

1. Welcome to the Isles of Infinity!

2. Beware adolescent air elementals, they do not take kindly to outsiders

3. For those who are flight-challenged, the platforms may be used to move in between isles

4. DO NOT GO INTO THE JUNGLE IT IS DANGEROUS

The party told themselves they would keep these advisories in mind, and made to move towards the platform. But before they could do so, they were attacked by air elementals. Flint quickly dropped a wall of fire between two of the elementals and Varis, but not before several were able to fly around and attack MacGyver, Volodemir, and Goblin. After two of the elementals were dropped, the other three briefly became whirlwinds, flinging Volodemir, Goblin, and Varis into the surf surrounding the isle. The water threatened to drag them in to the abyss, but the rest of the party was able to deal with the teenaged whirlwinds and rescue their companions (especially Goblin, who swam like a stone).

The platform ride was comfortable, and they arrived at the second island without incident. This island was somewhat larger, perhaps 800 or 1000 feet long. To the left was a forest, out of which rose a large hill or a small mountain, depending on your perspective. At the other end of the island was a cave. After some discussion, the Abolitionists decided to follow the path along the forest towards the cave. While they sauntered along, Lynnya noticed some birds overhead. They appeared to be surrounded by some sort of insect, but as Volodemir looked with her, they realized that the 'insects' were giant eagles, and the birds were rocs! Not wanting to face the gargantuan beasts in their element, the party dashed into the cave, and dashed the hopes of the birds.

The cave was unoccupied, and lead swiftly to a river, beside which was a small boat, apparently made out of the same material as the platform. They climbed into the boat, and it lead them downstream, and out of the island altogether! The river floated down towards the next island without any apparent support, and landed them on a lake. This island was not quite a large as the second, but was almost as long, with a jungle on one end, and on the opposite end next to the lake, another cave. Heeding the sign they were given, they guided the scow into the cave, which led them to a new island, the largest and most peaceful yet. Here they traveled down a river the length of the island, and disembarked in front of the most spectacular palace they had ever seen. Beautiful garden surrounded an edifice of white marble, and gleaming golden minarets rose into the sky. As they approached the palace, they were welcomed and led inside.

The interior was a sumptuous as the exterior, marble halls lined with mosaics depicting scenes of hunting and ancient battles. a large audience chamber where a djinn, Sheikh Omar, sat on a malachite throne. Next to Omar sat a familiar figure -- was it Arquestan? No, it couldn't be, and it wasn't. Arquestan was still dead. This was Qadeej, another Vaati. Omar welcomed them formally, and asked them to step into a nearby room where they would be more comfortable.

The new room was appointed with comfortable couches, upholstered in pink, their white backs matching the material of the boat and the platform. The walls were pink marble, and on the white table was a silver tray containing bread, olives, cheeses, and a carafe of a light wine. Gahl'akr very eagerly made himself a sandwich while the party got to talking. Omar knew of their quest, due to his guest Qadeej. Qadeej explained the reluctance of the Vaati to help the party reassemble the rod, since they did not want to start a new chaos war. The first war, between Paladine and Tiamat, was very destructive, and now with humanoid life firmly established would be catastrophic. But now he's come around. The best way to stop a new chaos war is to reassemble the rod so Miska can finally be killed! And there's a part of the rod here, with one small hitch. It is in the possession of an ancient white dragon that took up residence on one of the Isles. The party reluctantly agreed to help, and Omar transported them to a series of small earth motes close to one another, which he called the broken isles.

Here lightning flashed, and the party scrambled to jump from mote to mote, but they were successfully making their way across when demons swooped in to attack! Next time, we'll find out how the Abolitionists fare in their fight against Avianca the White